Week 2 - The Math Don't Work

Week two down. Three training runs of 2, 3 and 4 miles. Two cross training days and two rest days (should have been one rest day, but Monday sucked). Honestly, the 2 mile and 3 mile runs made me seriously reconsider whether I wanted to run a half marathon in June. My legs felt dead. I did both runs at over an 11 minute pace, which is sort of a bummer. Then this morning I ran my four mile run and felt fantastic. Weather was perfect, legs felt strong. I ran my 4 miles in 42:50, a 10:43 pace. It's sort of odd to me that I run faster when I run longer. Obviously, I have many miles to go before this is a scientifically proven fact. Regardless, I'll take a good 4 miler over a good 2 miler any day. I bought some new running clothes this weekend, so maybe that made me faster. (P.S. I have to blog now since my alternative is watching a show called "Ninja Warriors" with my husband. So far, it appears to be American Gladiators in Japanese, but the losers fall into a pit of murky sewer water. I hope this is a channel we only get for a temporary trial...)

Training Week #1

Well, week one of eleven is down. (Granted, I didn't really start the "training" officially until Wednesday...) To show for this week's efforts, I have three cross training sessions (elliptical x 2, random wii exercises x 1) and two runs (2 & 4 Miles). All that and the wii says I've gained weight. Good times. The wii also says, "It takes time for your hard work to pay off." I'll believe it when I see it Mr. Wii. After watching the last seven holes of the Masters today (Love you, Lefty), I went out for my "long run" of four miles. I feel like quotes are necessary since up until recently, four miles has been a "short run." Anyhow, it's my first run of longer than two miles since January, so it means more than nothing and it means I'm back out there doing something I really love / love to hate. I finished in 43:19, which was 41 seconds better than my goal. (10:55, 11:06, 10:44, 10:34) Overall, I am happy with today's run and week #1. Just like the Wii says, I'm sure my hard work will show results soon! (The wii also said my adjusted age was 52 today. I asked Daniel if that makes me a cougar since his wii age was 33.)

Is This a Good Idea?

I've been posting less lately and my posts have been noticeably absent of one topic...running. Post my roly-poly adventure in the Rock n Roll Phoenix half, I basically stopped running. I could make loads of excuses, but it doesn't seem worth the effort. It was never really my intention to quit running, but without a motivating race I just didn't make the running happen. That changes today, I plan to register for the Steamworks Brewing Half Marathon in Durango, Colorado. The race is in less than 11 weeks. In the last 11 weeks I've run 6 miles. In order to get (semi) ready for the June 19th race, I'll need to run 134 miles in the same amount of time... I probably should have started preparing earlier, but here we are! So, to keep me accountable, I am going to start posting on here about my training again. So, tonight: 2 Miles in 21:57 (10:59 Pace). Run felt harder than a 2 mile run should feel for someone who ran hundreds of miles last year, never mind. Beautiful day, perfect conditions, took the dog for a walk to cool down. She was really happy.