Week 3 Workout.

Sorry I never got Week 2's workout Schedule up, but here Is week 3.

Week 3

• Monday - Rest
• Tuesday - Run 4 miles easy.
• Wednesday - Warm up with 10 to 15 minutes of easy jogging. Run 6 x 400 meter repeats at 10 seconds per mile faster than your 5K pace or about 25 seconds faster than your 10K pace. Jog for 400 meters between repeats. Cool down with 800 meters of jogging.
• Thursday - Rest or cross train.
• Friday - Run 4 miles easy.
• Saturday - Run 2 miles easy.
• Sunday - Run 5 miles easy. You make another increase in mileage here. Remember to keep you pace easy. You will increase your longest run by one mile each week.

Today's 4.1 miles 48mins 23 secs

The pace has finally gotten into 11 minute range and I am happy about that. I was supposed to do just 4 miles but when I was cruising Greenlake I had to run a bit farther (ha ha ha .1 miles) to make sure I was at least getting the miles in. Today was a day where I lacked complete motivation but from a few posting on facebook and a pep talk from my boss I drove to GL and headed out after a headache of a parking situation. So there I was waiting to pull into a spot on my left but had to yield to the car that had just pulled into the lot I was sitting WITH my blinker on. I very patiently waited for them to pass when much to my surprise they just pulled right into my spot. It took everything in my power not to just drive home and say the stars were stacked against me. So I cruised around the other two parking lots and got nothing there, so I headed right back to the location of "the incident" and a spot had opened up right next to the one I had originally wanted to park in. Now I had the option of saying to myself wow what a great parking spot its basically right where I wanted to be OR be filled with animosity toward the driver that was still in her driver seat and send evil vibes her way. I will have you know I went with option 2. But it gave me some great motivation for the beginning of my run. It was not the right thing to do but sometimes you don't have the discipline for the right thing and today I was just lucky to be running. So I am sorry to the woman that was the parked next to me and may have received an unfriendly expression. Now that I was off and running I found myself thinking what do you think about when you run like the song on the Ipod, work, boys, how far you have left and or how far you have gone. I always seem to get stuck on the how far until this is over topic. Then when I hit some random point it comes to me wow I've been running for while and could keep going, only a mile left wow that is totally doable. If someone would have told me two weeks ago that I would be running for almost an hour and feel good, I would have never believed it. So that was my silver lining and my victory of the day. I can run longer then I thought I would be able to and it's only week three. I started my run in a pissed frame of mind and well by the end I thought I will be able to do my 5 miler at the end of the week ( got to love endorphins!!). Once again running won I did not (I try to hate it but I always like and even enjoy the second half) and I am excited for my next work out.

-RR-

Week three Has begun.

Update- I am completely committed now! If for some reason it decided to quit this journey( which I do not plan on doing) It will cost me $227.98 Because yesterday I bought my plane ticket to Denver. What a great deal thank you Southwest. I will be getting there at 6:30 the Thursday before the race and will wake up Friday for a nice little two mile run the last run in my training schedule. This outing I am sure will be a good indication how different the air is up there. I am sure it will be more difficult but my goal is still to run the whole thing no walking. Even if I have to slow my roll that is okay. I got some good news yesterday A- My Seahawks tickets are in the mail. B-I get to go to a Bronco's game after my 13.1 mile jog. Who knows if I'll be up for it but I will make myself up for it. Nothing that a post run beer can't cure I say. On the docket today I have a 4 mile ez jog and I am looking forward to running in somewhat cooler conditions. Running in Chelan was a little different. I have also found that I don't so much enjoy the first two miles of my runs but after they are over I am in a bit a groove and actually have fun. Sorry I have no pics from the weekend oops.
-Rookie Runner-

Friday early morning 3 mile.

Looks like my new favorite thing to do is run in the mornings on Friday. It is just a great way to start the day and I usually have something going on, on Friday night and have no time for a run. SO yesterday morning I hooked up the blackberry and went out for my three miler. First time I really enjoyed my whole run my pace was even faster then usual and I am getting more comfortable with it all. I still find myself messing with my form to see what the most efficient way to run is. I have really gotten sucked into this whole training thing and find myself online trying to learn as much as I can about nutrition, clothing and everything else. A friend of mine is currently training for a full marathon and so I like to pick his brain for tips and tricks he has learned during his training. It also gives me someone to talk about running with because as interesting as I have come to find it, my friends really don't care about pacing, hydration and the occasional blister I may have ( I know those all sound so very interesting). Today thank goodness is a simple 2 mile jog just to keep my body moving which is good considering I'm headed out of town to watch two of my friends get married. I will get to snap pics with a new camera lens I got. I'm very excited for todays events and to see if I can capture some of the magic with my camera. Well Off to hit the pavement before I hit the road.

-Rookie Runner-

Interval Traning

Last week when I did intervals it was on a hill that equaled zero fun. This week maybe because I am used to running a little bit more it was my favorite workout of the training thus far. I ended up running 3.75 miles because my warm up was only 10 mins. I also realized once I was done with my last 800m interval I didn't have to run 400m then an 800m cool done I could just go straight to the cool down stage so that was a great little surprise. I am doing a little bit better on pacing, I know where my goal pace is for the faster speed and I just take it back to a slow jog for my recovery. So it didn't feel like I was running for distance even though this has been my farthest mileage yet. Lesson in this is - don't knock it until you try it. I went into this workout thinking it was going to be H-E-Double Hockey Stick, and it wasn't. I also had some distractions. Today I have the day off and well kinda find myself wanting to run anyway ( I won't but I could). Today is my day to get girlie, I am attending a wedding this weekend and I need a new dress and I have a $100 dollar gift card to Nordstrum burning a whole in my pocket so shopping I shall go. Once again I will be out of town and trying to get my workouts in so I hope it all goes as planned, I developed a bit of a blister on one of my feet and I am kind of freaking out because I don't want one of those annoying little things that make a run miserable. So off to a running store to see what they have for this fix. I am kind of excited for tomorrow because I will make it over the 20mile mark after my run I may have to wake up early and check out the "runner wave" on my pier route. I'm off to enjoy my day off and try and get some pictures on this blog of mine.
Rookie Runner- Out.

Week Two Day One

If you have been reading this blog you may have caught on to my erratic schedule I tend to keep. I always think that I have time to do it all and well, I don't. I thought that I would try and run at the same time every day and make this part of my daily routine but as you can see I kinda just squeeze workouts in between my social life. I mean come on I would hate to miss out on fun for my ever so rewarding runs I take myself on 5 days a week. I also said I was going to try and stay away from the treadmill but sometimes that is better then nothing. Which brings me to yesterday's adventure. I had let you know I would be running Greenlake a great hidden gem in Seattle (and by hidden I mean If the weather man says there is a 25% chance of sun this path is packed like bring a horn on your bike and or stroller cause things can get crazy out there!). Well in true fashion I was running late. I got home from work at about 5pm and had to meet my sister at 5:40 and thought I'll be good to go she'll be running late anyway I'll have just enough time to park and run. I may have under estimated a little thing we like to call rush hour... oops. So While driving I realized I was not going to make my Greenlake run but maybe I can just park at the zoo and run around the park there. That is exactly what I did and when I parked and looked down at the time I realized 3 miles was not going to happen so I ran for 1.5 miles. and had just enough time to meet my sister( the one on the right in the picture above) at 6 a little behind schedule but it was fine. We sat back in the park and had a great time listening to great music for about 2.5 hours then we headed home. I had a 3 mile run planned and I know that I need to work on my endurance. So going home and running another 1.5 miles and adding to the previous 1.5 I had run earlier was not going to cut it. It was dark so I headed down to the treadmill, where I decided I have to get my body used to running the correct mileage. So I hopped on and ran the 3 miles like I was supposed to, it was not outside but it better then nothing. I did this run in 33 mins so I was feeling good another small victory and back on the right path after the skipped run on Sunday.
Today I have interval training ( what I have come to call death training) it switches things up a bit but it is not easy. Today's workout will consist of 15 mins of an easy jog to warm up ( jogging for 15 mins for me is still not easy fyi). Then I proceed to run 4x800m at my 5k pace and because I skipped that 5k race this weekend I'm not even sure what that pace is. I just know it is faster then the easy jog I will be warming up with. After I run the 1st 800m I get my heart rate back down with an easy jog for 400m. This takes place 4 time then I get to cool down with an easy 800m jog. I am hoping that because I will be tacking all this information it will take my mind off the distance I will be covering (4.25 mile I have estimated). We shall see.
I'll be giving my update this evening hopefully. But I have friends coming over at 6 tonight to celebrate a birthday not mine) on the roof top. It has turned into quite the hip little joint. So once again I'll be finding a way to squeeze in a workout before the fun starts.
Rookie Runner-Out.

Time for my First confession-

What a wonderful weekend I just had. It was so great to be out on the lake playing beach volleyball for hours and sipping on a few beers here or there. I rolled into camp at about 10 pm on Friday night and chatted and caught up with old friends, and went to bed a little too late. After a semi good sleep I was up and at em. I knew it would be along day and if I didn't run early I would not run at all. So I strapped up my new running shoes (which I found out soon enough that they are not good running shoes at all, they just look fast) and hit the road. When I can back to my 20 plus friends I got teased about my fast looking shoes that were not carrying me very fast ( so they nick named me FloJo ha ha very funny guys). That and I missed out on red beer breakfast so I may have lost some cool point again. After a shower in the lake it was time to play and that is just what we did. This is where my confession comes into play I somehow this weekend got a touch over served Saturday day/night. So my 3 mile run that was supposed to take place on Sunday didn't end up happening I needed to have my beauty rest Sunday and just relax in the sun. We did not hit the road to home until about 6pm So by the time I go back it just was not going to happen. So, week one ended with a big F+. I got one out of my two runs in and that was it. But tonight I will have better news I will be heading out to Greenlake to hit the 3.1 mile loop before I head to the Mary Chapin Carpenter concert. That's right you heard me correct. I'm 27 years of age and the highlight of my week/summer is happening tonight with a Mary Chapin Carpenter Concert. My sister and I grew up listening to her and I got free tickets at work last week so we are heading for the show this evening. This week my workouts increase by a mile from last week so this should be a good test, to see if I can really be a runner. I think the real test is just not missing any workouts which I will not do this week.
Rookie Runner-
P.S. I almost forgot this weekend I got the chance to meet a couple that trains for marathons/ Iron man triathlons. What a great inspiration and wonderful to hear all about how they attack workouts. It makes it seem that a little 3 miles run shouldn't be too hard, you got to start somewhere right??
-RR-