Hills

I am at my MILs house for the weekend. She lives on a very steep hill, and every street in her neighborhood has a pretty good incline. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I knew I needed to get a run in since we are here for 3 days. So despite the fact that I am not a morning runner, I don't really have experience training on hills, and it was extremely sunny out, I thought it'd be a good idea to jump out of bed this morning and go for a run around the neighborhood.

FAIL.

I was ready to quit after about 1/3 of a mile. The sun was brutal, and the hills were killing me. No matter where I ran, there was another hill. I stuck it out for 2 miles, and then walked 1 mile. I'm a wimp. It is the first time in a month that I've had to walk during a run. It's good I got some hill running in though, I never do that so it was a good opportunity. But I am looking forward to running on my nice, flat, shady golf course trail again!

It's Official

I am a registered participant in the Rock 'n' Roll Virginia Beach Half-Marathon. I finally had to bite the bullet and sign-up (price is increasing this weekend). Estimated finish time is 2:30 (11:27 per mile). Went on an easy 3-mile run with hubby tonight, our pace was 11:29, 2 seconds off HM race pace. I found this website where you can buy temporary pace band tattoos and I really want one, if only cause it looks so cool!

When I was typing the first sentence of this post, I finally felt the gravity of it. I just registered for a Half-Marathon. Half. Marathon. Something I laughed off less than 3 months ago. And now I can't wait to do it. Yes I have lots of training ahead of me (14 1/2 weeks to be exact), but I know I can do it. And I have the best hubby and RP you could ask for to do it with me!

Nice to meet you, Garmin Forerunner 405

Yesterday we happened to wander into Dicks and found that they had a Garmin Forerunner 405 with heart rate strap on sale for $50 off. We had talked about getting one for awhile so finally we caved and got it. It took me the better part of the afternoon to figure out all the programming aspects, and I took it for its first run today.

No wonder I have pacing issues!

My plan was to do an easy (12 min/mile) 4 miles. I started out between 11:15-11:30 min/mile and tried to slow down. I figured I was at about 12 min/mile and I checked the garmin - 10:45 min/mile. I tried continuously to slow down to 12 min/mile but I am just too used to an 11-11:30 pace. After about 2 miles I thought I was speeding up, and I was down to 11:50 min/mile. I had no idea how fast I was going at any point.

I was disappointed to find out that the golf course trail I am so found of is actually not quite 3 miles. Each mile is really about .98 miles. So by the time I finished 4 miles, it only registered as 3.91 miles on the Garmin. I ran around the parking lot until I hit 4 miles. So technically it's the longest I've ever run, but still only 4 miles.

It's also no wonder I have more difficulty in races when I think I should be fine. Previously I thought I was training at 11 min/mile, but really it was more like 11:15 min/mile due to the miles being shorter. So I thought I should be finishing 5ks faster since the golf course trail fooled me into thinking I was running faster than I was. But at least I know better now.

5K Challenge Re-Cap

Slowest time: 38:15 (12:18 per mile, 4.88mph)

Fastest time: 33:42 (10:50 per mile, 5.54mph)

Time cut: 4:33 (1:28 per mile, .66mph)

Pounds lost: 7.6

Total miles ran or walked during training: 75

Average miles per week: 12.5

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results. I wish I could have gotten a faster 5k time for the last one, but on the treadmill last week I did 3.1 miles in 33:10 so I know I have the ability to. My long-term goal is to have a sub-30 5k. But for now, I'm not signing up for anymore 5ks for awhile. 6 was enough!

Run For Your Life 5k

Interesting. It was held at a hospital/medical school campus, so for the course we did 3 laps around the parking lot and a few buildings. Not the most exciting course. I did it with my RP, who's been feeling a little under the weather this week. After about half a mile I was thinking, why do I keep doing this to myself? haha. I was pushing it though, going a lot faster than usual. For the first mile, we were on pace to hit 33 mins exactly (10:37), but a little after the half-way point RP wasn't feeling it and we had a very short walk break. We stopped again during the 3rd mile so she could drink some water, but that was less than a minute walking probably. We ended up finishing at 33:53, which is still very good for us considering we stopped twice to walk.

We stayed after the race for awhile which I normally don't do. We watched the kids' race, which was really cute. I told my RP to bring her baby next time since all the kids get medals, even if they are pushed in a stroller. We got some cool race goodies, a "Get Energized" wristband, a calorie/exercise/food thing that breaks down the exercise you have to do to burn calories in certain foods, and RP got an apple-shaped stress ball.

When I got home hubby had got me flowers! As a congratulations for completing all my 5ks. Tomorrow I will post some pics and do a 5k challenge summary. Overall I think it was quite a success.

Ten pounds down!

Whoo-hoo! I finally lost 10 lbs! (Of the 18.8 I want to lose). It took about 11 weeks, not too bad. I don't have a deadline for losing it so I'm happy taking it slow. At first I had hoped that running would help me lose weight, but now I want to lose weight so I can run faster. I read somewhere that for every pound you lose, you cut 2 seconds off your mile time. I'll take all the help I can get!

Salute to the Military Red, White and Blue 5K

Favorite race so far. Hubby ran it with me, it was free for him since he is in the AF. There were a lot of military people there. Based on bib numbers I think there were around 500 people total. Last night I had been reading stories about embarassing running moments on RunnersWorld.com and a lot of people had gone to the bathroom (either peed or pooped) on themselves while running, so this has become my new fear. Then today as soon as the race started I felt like I had to go to the bathroom! It was kind of good though because it kept me a little distracted from focusing on running.

The race started out with a loooong hill and had some downhills and then another big hill near the end. We had not trained for hills at all so I thought this would really eat into our time and/or wear us out. But, we did pretty good. Luckily they had mile-markers so I could keep our pace, at 2 miles we were at 21:44 and at 3 miles we were at 32:46. Our goal was to maintain an 11-minute mile pace and finish in about 34 minutes. Our clock time was 33:47, but it took us about 5 seconds to get to the starting line so I am putting our official time as 33:42.

This was my favorite race because the course was challenging but varied (hills, downhills, open sunshine, treed/foresty areas, etc.) and cause we rocked it. It started on the Coast Guard Training Center, which is right on the York River so there was a nice view. We have lucked out with nice 5K views, since last week we were on the Chesapeake Bay. Today was supposed to be my last 5K in the series but last night I signed up for one more. I am trying to get hubby or my RP to do it too, I do so much better when I don't run alone!

Second 4-miler

Ran with hubby tonight since my RP was busy. I checked our pace at every quarter mile and we stayed within 1-2 seconds of 11 min/mile the whole way. I am a bad pacer so I know this was all him. Our finish time was 44:02, over 4 minutes faster than last time, whoo-hoo! Based on this, the Runners World race calculator puts my half-marathon right around 2 1/2 hours, which is our goal. I can't believe my last 5k is this weekend. I'm 95% sure I will sign up for a 6th one next Saturday. But then I am really done, since I will be in NJ and OR for the next 3 weekends after that. One bad thing about the 4-mile runs is that both times I have gotten stomachaches afterwards. Hubby said that is normal and I just have to get used to it!

First 4-miler

Had an awesome 4 mile run with my RP today. We usually do 3 miles during the week but I've been itching to do a longer run and I have another 5k this weekend so we decided to try a longer one today. The funny thing is it felt easier than the first time we ran 3 miles. I think the weather had something to do with it, last week it was in the 80s and very muggy both days we ran, and today it was in the 70s and breezy so it was perfect. We maintained a steady pace (around 12 min/mile, 48:13 total) but we weren't trying to win a race or anything. It's hard to restrain myself from running every day but I'm trying to prevent injury, especially since I have a history of knee problems. Can't wait till Wednesday's run!

5K by the Bay

Killed it! Well, as much as you can when you run as slow as I do. I was supposed to do it with my running partner and my husband but my RP had to stay home to take care of her sick husband. So it was just hubby and me. It was a beautiful course, right on the Chesapeake Bay. It went down a main street aways and then looped around a neighborhood and came back to the same street. It was very hot too, we were right in the sun and I think it was around 80* by the time we finished. On the main street there was basically no shade, but luckily we got a little when we were looping around the neighborhood. There was a water stop after about 2 miles, but the only time I have used a water stop I felt sick immediately after so now I avoid them.

The second half was a lot slower due to strong winds, but we still managed to get a PR (34:58, my goal was to break 35 minutes and we did!). I wanted to make hubby proud! It was his first 5K so of course it was a PR for him. He didn't even break a sweat, he is a fast runner (like 6-minute mile fast) so I am very appreciative that he ran slow for me :) I'm a little sad that next weekend is my last 5K in the series...I may have to sign up for a 6th!

in other news...

I finally got new running shoes! It is an embarassing secret that I have been training in Reebok EasyTones. Definitely not good shoes for running. I wanted to take time though to research and find a good pair since I have one flat foot and I overpronate. So finally, after a few weeks of looking, I bought a beautiful pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10! I had looked at the major sporting goods store here and they didn't have my size, and every time I called the running store here they were sold out. But finally they had them! They are like heaven for feet. I am wearing them right now around the apartment just for fun. I am interested to see how they affect my running...

Tabb High School May Day 5K

This race had a LOT more people than last week, I think around 300. It was mostly teenagers and their parents (it was a HS fundraiser 5K). I got caught up with the crowd and started too fast, my first mile was about 10:40 and by 2 miles I was at 22:11. I was feeling a little sick, I think partially due to heat/sun (it is going to be in the 90s today and we were running directly under the sun), so I took a short walking break. It turned into a 3-minute break, and I figured my time was shot so I just half-assed it for the last mile, running and walking. It's a beautiful day so why not enjoy it! Plus most other people on the course were alternating running and walking so I didn't feel as much pressure to run the whole time. It was funny, a lot of the teenage girls that started out fast had to stop and walk before they had gone 1 mile.

One bad thing about the race was that it was held in the neighborhood across from the HS, and it was 3 down-and-backs on these long residential streets, so it was kind of boring. And not a lot of shade so we were basically running in the sun the whole time.

After the 5K I went over to my usual running trail to do some speed work. It was ridiculous how fast I got tired after the 5K. My goal was to alternate running 1/4 mile really fast, and then walking 1/4 mile. My running sessions quickly turned into 30-45 second sprints instead lol. At first I was bummed how the 5K turned out, but I reminded myself that running every 5K isn't the goal, the 5Ks are just a training tool to get me physically used to running several times a week, and mentally used to races and getting up early on the weekends. So with that perspective, the race was still a success.