Thursday, November 20, 2014

Into Week 5 and going strong

Well as my title would suggest (obviously), I'm into week 5 of half marathon training and I'm going strong! I have some soreness after yoga and strength training sessions and foam rolling is rough but for the most part running is feeling more and more natural.

Today was an "off-day". Now I don't mean "rest day", I mean "OFF-day". Today my 4-mile run was majorly off. I went into it after a good warm-up too (which I'll admit I am often too impatient to do). My L lower leg was burning, I felt sluggish and about mile 2 I just about pooped myself. Thankfully I made it to the Rite Aid. I blame my 2nd cup of coffee, which I usually never drink before a run! My body has just been a little bit off today. Nothing to totally throw me off my plan. I am hydrating better today and I think the #2 issue should be resolved. It was just hard...I didn't even want to think about how the half marathon is 9 more miles!

Generally speaking my body is feeling a lot better since starting running. I was dealing with an ulcer, and was having issues with gas and constipation and some blood sugar-regulation issues when I began my half marathon plan. Since then it seems most of the gas/constipation issues are very rare, and the ulcer is healed nicely. Running seems to work out a lot of stuff digestively speaking. I am more careful about what I eat for sure as well. I also feel like the energy I expend during a run helps to regulate my blood sugar and of course offers much-appreciated endorphins. I'm relieving stress and my body feels so much better. It also trickles into other areas of my life as well and I am getting better at remembering my vitamins, stretching, drinking more water and generally taking better care of myself. Of course these are generalities which did not exactly apply to today ;)

Also I am part of a small but active running group on Facebook. We report in on our daily runs, share funny pictures and helpful articles we find online. I like having a group with like-minded ladies.

I'm getting so excited about my target race! The Carlsbad Marathon/Half Marathon has a Facebook page as well and they post something every couple of days, such as a recent video. I am really looking forward to this race!


Sunday, November 9, 2014

Capping off Week 3 of HM Training

Today I finished up week 3 of half marathon training. It has been a pretty good week. Life is very busy so my schedule can vary from week to week. My #1 goal is to get my runs in, followed by yoga sessions and then other cross training as I can. Everything is coming along. I am feeling less like I am dying during my runs as my body gets back into shape. I know it will just continue to get better.

Yesterday I had to work and along my commute is a Road Runner Sports store, including a Clearance store. Every time I pass I drool wishing I could stop. Today I finally did. I didn't have a lot of time but I stopped! I looked at shoes first but the shoes at the Clearance store were all gently used and I'm just not into that. The shoes at the regular store were all full price (upwards of $100, no thanks) so I did not end up buying any shoes. The Clearance store did have tops and bottoms and a few new shoes but I just didn't have time to sift through everything. I did end up buying some calf sleeves (non-compression), a new running visor, a pack of Gu Brew tabs and a new running jacket. It is more like a light windbreaker, but exactly what I have been looking for. It has vents you can unzip as you warm up. It doesn't get all that cold here in SoCal but a jacket is really nice to have for many reasons, and will come in handy if I get up early any day for my run. I haven't had this type of jacket since I left my Eddie Bauer one in my gear-check bag at the Eugene Marathon so it was time.

Today's run was great. I love the calf sleeves! I have been wanting to buy some for a while because even though my achilles is strong, I'm still building my calf back up and my L ankle kind of feels it a bit . Today everything felt good...actually felt normal...and that's a great feeling!

Add caption

9:16 per mile! Yahoo!!

I walked to warm up and then jogged about a mile before I arrived at the track. Then I did the rest on the track, focusing on my form and breathing. The last mile I took a couple 20 second walk breaks but then the last 300 meters I really sprinted. I am very pleased with my time. After my workout I did some push-ups, sit-ups, tri-dips, etc and finished up with 10 stadium stairs. I'm feeling great!

I also wanted to mention that this morning I was not feeling great. I woke up with vertigo, and just not feeling very good. Post-run I still have a little bit of it but running really felt good and I am glad I got out there and got it done.


Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Week 3 of Half Marathon Training!

So here I am...week 3 of half marathon training! I wanted to wait a couple of weeks before I posted to make sure that I would stick with it. Sounds backwards...wouldn't I post it so that I would have to stick with it? Well I did post this picture on Instagram...

At it's start it is nice and clean and white...since then I've been adding colorful sparkly star stickers. Gotta love little extras like that!
I had to find a way to get myself back on track and this has worked for me! I think my caution was due to my being unsure how my leg would handle running. Right now I run 3x a week, yoga 1x (although I'm going to start making it 2x) and sneak in XT when I can, but it hasn't been consistant because my bike tires are flat and I don't have a pool available. I usually consider a nice long walk or hike my XT. I am hoping to look into strength training classes at the gym where my brother works, and though the yoga I do is serious strength training yoga (not your gramma's yoga!).

My body is tolerating the training very well. I take frequent walk breaks as needed and do 10 stadium stairs after each run as much as I can (sometimes the field is locked). I definitely notice that my legs tolerate the activity differently. My right butt might be sore while my left shin is...or my L hamstring might be super tight but my L is perfectly fine. It's really weird and I have to really concentrate on my form and make my (lazy) left leg perform properly. My L calf muscle just isn't as strong as my R. This is why I walk as needed and stretch often. My L Achilles is super strong but I'm all about preventing injury these days!

Exciting news for me is that I'm all registered for the Carlsbad Half Marathon Jan 18! I'm so excited to get back out and participate in an event of this caliber! I don't even care what my time is or anything else...I think I registered with an estimated finish time of somewhere between 2:00-2:15. Even if I don't make that time I won't care. I'll just be glad to get that medal and know what my body is capable of again.