First Week Down, 11 To Go

My run today concluded my first official half marathon training week. I ran 4 miles today on the treadmill in about 48 minutes. I did the iTread 1 60 minute workout. I ran the whole thing except for the last 5 minutes, since I hit my goal. I went a total of 4.5 miles with warm up and cool down included. It was really challenging; I definitely pushed myself. I'm interested to see how I do outside next week.

Overall I've been feeling pretty good, but my right knee is really bugging today. Tomorrow is a stretch/strength day, so I'm hoping my knee problems will be gone after I stretch it out. Next weeks workout is a repeat of this week, I'm feeling pretty good about it. I wish my sister was here to do it with me again!

Its been a looong (but fun!) 10 days!

My sister, Rachael, came to visit us for the last 10 days. It was great to have her here. She really motivated me to work out! This last week was also the first official half marathon training. I had mixed results. I really worked hard, but don't feel like I got that much running in. I have to run 4 miles tomorrow. I'm not really sure how I'm going to do that, but I'll do my best. I haven't decided if I'm going to run at the beach or on the treadmill at the gym. I should probably run outside on long run days.

This past week we did the P90X Core Synergistics video twice. We were SO sore after the first round. It's a great video. We went for a 10 mile bike ride today which was a lot of fun, and we spent a lot of time at the beach. Unfortunately, since I have had company in town, my eating has been pretty bad. I'm ready to get back on track. Starting....Monday. haha. Tomorrow is the first Seahawks game of the season and will probably justify celebrating, especially after my 4-miler.

I've gotten extremely addicted to the FarmVille game on Facebook. It's ridiculous. I even woke up at 3:30 one morning to harvest because I made a rookie planting mistake. Between training and Farmville, I don't have time for much else these days :-)

Better get off to bed! Its almost like Christmas Eve I'm so excited about the Seahawks game tomorrow. And I can't wait to get that 4-miler over with!

Stretching is the best!

I haven't been able to work out much since my workout last Thursday. My calves were SO sore for 3 days afterwards. I didn't think it was a good idea to run because I was in so much pain, so I waited until Tuesday and ran 3 miles on the treadmill. I did the 40 minute iTread 1 at about 5.5. It felt good, butI was definitely tired the entire last mile. I'm planning on doing it again tomorrow.

Today I did the P90X - Stretch video. It was really challenging but felt so good. I tried to do the yoga video, but it was really hard. I think once I get a bit better at the stretching video I'll start integrating yoga. I feel great today and I'm definitely going to do this stretching more often. I think it's really going to benefit my training.

I hope I can walk tomorrow!

I had a pretty good workout today. I did iTread 1 20 minutes. I did the first mile at 6.0 and the second mile I probably averaged 5.5. I walked part of the hill in the workout and for a minute to recover from the hill.

After my 2 mile training run today, I headed down to the weight room to work my legs. I figured today would be a good day since I only had to run two miles and tomorrow is a rest day. It felt good to lift! I think it'll be good for my legs too. I need to do some research and find out the best way to weight train for distance running.

Tomorrow is a rest day! And Friday! Beau and I are going to meet some coworkers at the viper room after work. I have to behave. Long run outside Saturday morning. Its supposed to be a hot one too, ugh!

Birthday update!

It's been a couple days since I've updated. My birthday was last friday and Beau took me to San Diego for a long weekend. My workouts got messed up and I haven't had a chance to update the blog! So here's what I've been up to:

Wednesday Aug 12, 2009: 40 minute iTread 1 @ 4.0

Thursday Aug 13, 2009: I was supposed to run 2 miles after work at the gym, but Beau came home from his gig early to surprise me for my birthday. So, I skipped today's run.

Friday Aug 14, 2009: My Birthday! I had the day off work today. I slept in a little then got up and ran around my neighborhood. I think I ran somewhere between 2 and 2.25 miles. It was pretty hard running outside! I really struggled.

Saturday Aug 15, 2009: Rest day. Today I celebrated my birthday with too much food and drink. We watched the Seahawks vs. Chargers game in San Diego too! So much fun!

Sunday Aug 16, 2009: I was really excited to use the super fancy treadmills at the W. They had TV screens and looked really nice. There were only three treadmills in the small workout room, two in front of windows and one in the middle in front of a wall with a picture on it. I got stuck at that one. The treadmill hardly had any TV stations and the touch screen didn't work very well. I decided to turn the tv off and just use my iPhone. I had 2.5 miles to run. I started out at 5.2 on the treadmill at a 1.0 incline. I quickly got tired so I slowed my speed down to 5.0. About 1 mile into it I had to stop and walk. I started running again once I recovered but I brought my incline down to 0.0. I ran about another mile before I had to walk again. Then I finished the last .5 at 5.0 speed with 0.0 incline. Really really tough workout.

Monday Aug 17, 2009: Rest day.

Tuesday Aug 18, 2009: Today I did iTread 1 40 minute after a .25 warm-up walk. I did an average of 5.0 speed and ran the whole way, about 3 miles. I cooled down for about 5 minutes, stretched and went home. I was so dreading the workout after my run on Sunday. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it wold be. Thank god.

Wednesday Aug 19, 2009: Today I went for a 60 minute walk (about 2 miles) around the neighborhood. It was a really nice evening. My leg joints are are definitely feeling the run (and the extra lbs) my right knee is kind of bugging too. I'm going to start doing some yoga videos to loosen up I think. I'm going to try to get up early tomorrow to get my run over with, I only have to do 2 miles tomorrow, so I'm going to try to do them at a faster pace.

First Run

Today I had my first official training run. I guess it was more of a test than a training run. I wanted to see where I was at, so that I had a good starting point for my training. So, I got on the treadmill and ran until I couldn't run anymore. I didn't want to push myself too hard but I wanted to feel challenged. I ran 2.5 miles at a 12 min/mile and a 1.0 incline. I read once that if you're going to run on a treadmill to run at a 1.0 incline so its similar to running on the road.

I feel pretty good now. I can feel the run in my knees a little. Hopefully that'll pass with more training. I guess the real test will be whether or not I can walk in the morning. Tomorrow I'm planning on doing some cross training, then I'll get back on the treadmill on Thursday. I don't want to look too far ahead, its scary, so I'm just going to take it one day at a time.

Lastly, I've decided to use Hal Higdon's half marathon novice training program. I used the same program last time I trained and felt challenged and prepared.

I have always wanted to be a runner

For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to be a runner. I almost got there in 2005 when I trained for and ran the Seattle Half Marathon. I really felt like a runner when I crossed that finish line. But soon after my husband and I picked up our whole lives and moved to Los Angeles where I put running on the back burner. But I'm back! I am once again training for the Seattle Half Marathon. I'm going to blog about my experience training and being new to running. I'm hoping that blogging will inspire me to continue running after accomplishing this goal, so I can continue to set and meet bigger and better goals for myself!