wk 18, day 4

Thursday, November 10, 2011

goal: 3 mile run

I don't think I meant to run sub 8 miles this morning, it just happened! After running longer distances for so long, it's fun and easy to run anything less! It was a NICE, FAST, and chilly run this morning and it felt GREAT! Last run before MARATHON on Sunday!!!!

Feeling excited and ready for Sunday. My nervous energy has turned into excitement:)

accomplished: 3.12 miles / 24:26 / 7:49

LAST WK OF TRAINING! week 18 is HERE!!

wk 18, day 1
Monday, November 7, 2011

goal: 4 miles; 1st and 4th mile regular pace, 2nd and 3rd mile at marathon pace.

Today's plan was to run the 1st and 4th mile about 9/9:30 pace and the 2nd and 3rd mile about 8:30 pace. I ran the first mile in 9mins, second mile in 7:30, third mile in 8:30, and fourth in 9:30. Not too bad. As you can see pacing on shorter runs isn't my strong point!! LOL! I've been able to pace just fine on long runs, so I'm not too worried about Sunday.

Felt really nice to run a short and quick run.

accomplished: 4.04 m / 34:30 / 8:32 pace

wk 17's amazing accomplishment

Week 17 accomplishments:

•  Ran 29.26 miles
• biked 8.29 miles
• swam for 40 mins
  

****I acutally worked out everyday (minus Sunday)!!!!****

It was a great workout week. It was also very fulfilling. I didn't do any P90X this week and won't next week either. I'm gonna pick it up again after the marathon. I was so happy and proud of myself for running, biking, and swimming, AND placing with the baby @ Saturday's 5k! Such a huge week. Next week's workouts will be slim due to tapering... only one week left!

USAA 5k w/ Xia Bliss & 3rd place!

wk 17, day 6

goal: run this 5k and push Xia and survive! I didn't actually set a goal for this run.

Suprisingly, I didn't set a goal for myself. I didn't for several reasons:

1. I was filling in for someone else (age 35), so I wasn't "official" and placing wouldn't matter
2. I haven't competed in a 5k with the stroller and won...didn't think my chances were great
3. the marathon is one week away...don't want to try to win a 5k and hurt something!

We started out and I was off. Since I had the stroller, I had to wait and push myself towards the front. I had a good speed and felt great. I got to the first mile in about 7/7:30 minutes. Got to the 2nd mile around 7:30. I started feeling tired the 3rd mile and waiting to see the finish line and then sprint my way to the finish line. Well, we were going up an incline, turned a corner and there was the finish line!!! I didn't get to sprint for as long as I wanted to, but I made an impressive finish with the baby! I finished in 24:27. I pushed little Xia and still rocked it!! It was a great run:)

I had to leave right afterwards, so I didn't know anything about where I stood. Well, fast forward two days... Monday morning my friend texted me and told me that I placed 3rd in my age category!!! WOOHOO!!! I didn't get a medal or anything, because of the mix up with my age and the age of the friend I filled in for. Just knowing I placed was enough for me! I went, ran hard, pushed the baby and still placed!!!! Even more momentum for next weeks marathon.



accomplished: 5k (3.1m) / 24:27 / 7:53 pace

Xia and I pre race

unscheduled park run!

wk 17, day 5
Friday, November 4, 2011

goal: it was suppose to be my day off!!

Well, today was going to be my day off from running, but I've been eating too much Mexican food!!LOL! No, actually Oscar needed to get a run in & I told him that I wanted to join him. I pushed Xia in the stroller and ran nice and slow. I have the 5k in the morning and I want to be ready! It felt really good on my body. Glad I ran.


accomplished: 3.25 miles / 32 mins / 9:56 pace

Xia (21m) and the calves at Hardberger Park

wk 17, day 4

Thursday, November 3, 2011

goal: 8-9 miles

What an awesome run! It's my last "long run" before the marathon. I'm getting a little nervous! I was suppose to run 8-10 miles on Saturday, but my friend invited me to run the USAA 5k this wkend, so I decided to do my long run today and do a short, fast run on Saturday.
I'm still nursing my hip, but w/ 2 days off from running and lots of stretching, I'm doing much better. Ready for the marathon, before my body falls apart!!LOL!

accomplished: 8.41m/1:19:23/9.26pace

wk 17, day 3

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

goal: swim

Swim today was great. Nothing timed. Just me, the water, and lap swimming:). I was out of breath sooner than I wanted to be, though. Trying to build up endurance in the pool...70.3 on my mind for the future!!
I got a good cardio workout in and know it was good for my hip pain and other joints as well.

accomplished: 40 minutes of swimming

happy november!

wk 17, day 2

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

goal: 30-40 min bike ride

I can't believe that we are in the month of November already! This is the month I tackle the full marathon! woohoo!

I had good ride this evening. I've been having some hip joint pain so I cycled tonight. I plan on swimming tomorrow, run again on Thursday and maybe do Yoga on Friday. I'm going to stretch real good and find some magnesium gel and hope it all helps! We'll see what happens!

accomplished: 8.29 m ride/40 min/12.5 pace

booootiful family workout:) wk 17 begins...

wk 17, day 1

Goal: run 4.5 miles

We ran at the park today. Oscar ran solo and I ran pushing Xia in the stroller. We were hurrying so we could get home and go trick or treating with the neighbors! It was Xia's first time to walk the neighborhood in costume.
I'm not sure how accurate the time and distance are. I didn't fell like I was running 8 min miles with the stroller! I'm thinking we might have actually ran closer to 4.3 miles and possibly in 40mins. I didn't have my stop watch & used my ipod stopwatch. At one point I stopped it so we could show Xia the cows, and when I went to start it up again to finish our route, it was still running...anyway... it was a nice family jog:)

accomplished: 4.5 miles / 36:30 / 8:06 pace

We even had some time for Xia to slide! Her reward to sitting in the stroller during our run:)

spooktacular week 16 accomplishments!

Week 16 accomplishments:

• 30.06 miles of running
• 9.73 miles of biking

Had a great week of training. So ready to be done with training and run the FULL MARATHON already!!!
We had a wedding to attend yesterday evening and there was a lot of buzz among our friends about me running the marathon. It was even more motivating and made me even more ready to run! Can't believe it's only 2 wks away...scary!

wk 16, day 6

Saturday, October 29, 2011

goal: 13 miles

It was cold this morning! I woke up on time, but decided that it was too cold & maybe I could run tomorrow...so I went back to bed!!!!  I got a couple more hours of good, quality sleep and then decided to go out. I felt so lazy and guilty! I bundled up (a little too much!) and ran.
The real motivating factor was two of my friends had gotten up around 4am in the freezing weather to go run 11 miles. If they could do that, then I could do 13 at 8am!! The weather turned out to be perfect for a long run. I stopped about mile 5 or 6 for a bathroom break. Really want to work on that...don't want to stop on marathon day!
So glad I got out today. Totally worth it:)

accomplished: 13.04m / 1:59:14 / 9:08 pace

wk 16, day 4

Thursday, October 27, 2011

goal: 11 miles

I had to dig deep today to keep my pace at a decent rate. Mentally I was strong, physically I was ok. I had a banana before leaving & it wasn't enough, because I became very hungry mid run!!! Next time, more food!! I had a few sore joints this am as well. Particularly my right hip. I think a great stretch will make things all better:)

accomplished: 11.02 mile run/ 1:48:24 / 9:50 pace

wk 16, day 2

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

goal: bike ride for 45 minutes

Went riding after lunch. The weather was awesome!! It was a great ride, nothing too ambitious. I need to ease back into riding again. After doing 4 triathlons in 4 months, I got burnt out on riding! It's been nice riding for "fun" these days.

accomplished: 9.73 miles / 47:53 / 12.2 pace

week 16 begins...countdown is ON!

wk 16, day 1
Monday, October 24, 2011

goal: 6-8 miles

Had a awesome family fitness day! We went across the street to the elementary football field this evening where I ran laps, Oscar ran sprints & Xia ran at least a half mile!!! Aren't we a fit family?!:) Xia thought she cool running like mom and dad! Then she played in the long jump sand pit.

Accomplished: 6 miles approx (24 laps)/ 56 mins / 9:19 pace

week 15 accomplishments and diet update

Week 15 accomplishments:

• 32.24 miles of running
• 5.38 miles of biking
• 38 minutes of swimming
• 2 P90X strength dvds

Very proud of my workouts this week...except that I haven't done abs in quite some time. I MUST do abs 3x next week!!
Update on my calorie counting... Well, all went very well this week, overall. The weekend was rough with my long run, activities, and baking!! The first few days I was losing, then over the wkend I saw the numbers creep back up. I let myself have sweets Friday, Saturday, & Sunday. That in itself is unusual, but we had a birthday party, and other gatherings that we attended & I justified because of my long run and burning so many calories. I must say that I am very proud of myself because I stuck to my calorie counting and counted the calories from the cake, candy, etc. I am not giving up and will continue to count this week. We do have dinner plans on Thursday night and a wedding on Saturday night. I will plan out Thursday night carefully, and will let Saturday night be my "free" day! I really want to get about 5lbs off before the marathon. Here's to making that happen!

wkend run - 18 miler

wk 15, day 6
Saturday, October 22, 2011

goal: 18 mile run - between 2:45 - 2:55

I told myself I wasn't going to over eat this week in preparation for my 18 mile run (last week I over ate in fear of not being able to have enough energy to complete my 20 mile wkend run). By the time Friday late afternoon arrived I was STARVING. All I could think of was eating a huge pasta and pizza meal. Sure, why not. Carb up the night before a very long run. Well I ate half a pasta dish and a great big slice of pizza. Yup, that was too much!!! I woke up with a slight headache from over eating. Never again!! I was still full from Friday nights dinner that I only ate half of my english muffin with pnb and honey on it!!

I left the house around 6:30am. I took a 16.9 oz water bottle in addition to the 24 oz on my hydration belt. No camel bak this time around. I came back last wk with blisters on my back from that pack moving around so much. Luckily it proved to be enough water.
I had a good pace and felt strong. I had 2 gu gels and 1 pack of sports beans. This time around the gels didn't gross me out as much as last week. They really seem to do their job and maybe that's why I could stomach them. I still managed to find a CVS and stop and pee about 5 miles in. I really don't want to be stopping during the marathon.
Overall I had an awesome run and made GREAT time! I am so proud of myself for pushing through these runs. I find myself looking forward to Saturday mornings to see how far I can push myself. I like the way I feel, I like starting the wkend off strong. I am so grateful, happy, and amazed at my ability to run like this. I can't wait for the marathon to see what I can do and accomplish such a great feat!

accomplished: 18.03 mile run - 2:47:52 / 9:18 pace

mid day run

wk 15, day 4
Thursday, October 20, 2011

goal: 6-8 mile run

I had a choppy morning with errands, etc, so I decided to do a mid day run. The weather was awesome & I thought it'd be manageable. I didn't plan it good enough, I guess. I had to pee, and was hot and hungry... made it 4.09 miles and called it a day! Still pleased that I got a run in. Note to self: sacrifice a little sleep to get a quality run in!

accomplished: 4.09 mile run - 38 minutes / 9:23 pace

swim day

wk 15, day 3
Wednesday, October 19, 2011

goal: am-P90X legs and back, pm- swim

LOVE me some legs and back workout! Morning P90X dvd went great:)
Had an awesome, afternoon swim. I wanted to stay longer, but was out of time. I had a steady lap pace and was knocking out laps like a pro! I was stumped towards the end of my swim with ear pain. The water was coming in my ear and wasn't leaving. It was really annoying and distracting. I finally managed to breath only on my right side and it minimized the discomfort. I can't wait to go again next week! Very positive swim experience:)

accomplished: am-P90X legs and back, pm-38 minute swim

wk 15, day 2

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

goal: 10 miles

Awesome evening run! The weather was great. I had a spring in my step and maintained a great pace:) Very pleased:):)!!

accomplished: 10.12 mile run - 1:29 / 8:46 pace

cross training monday

wk 15, day 1
Monday, October 17, 2011

goal: 30 minute bike ride and P90X shoulders and arms

Slow and leisure bike ride to help ease my sore musles from Saturday's long run. Felt great. Then I worked out my upper body - awesome workout!

accomplished: 30 minute bike ride (5.38 miles / 10.9 mph) and P90X shoulders and arms