5K Prep Race Completed with PR

I had planned to run in a 5K race on campus this weekend to test out my race clothing. That plan was foiled by 30 degree weather and snow. It was totally inconceivable to try and run in shorts, so I had to bundle up. In my haste to get out of the snow and cold, I ran a new 5K PR time of 25:30. That beats by best 5K time by almost seven minutes. Maybe the cold isn't so bad after all.

On a sidenote, the crying kid from the 10 mile race in March was back with his parents in this event. What the heck are they thinking? That kid is definitely going to end up in the bell tower of a college campus with a shotgun.

10 Mile Race Completed!!!

Yipee!!!! I finished my 10-mile prep race on Sunday (3/26). The race was the Run Around Egg Hill 10 Miler. I don't think we did any running around hills, but there was sure a lot of running over hills! My finish time was 1:35, which was 5 minutes faster than my goal of 1:40. I felt great for most of the race, but the last mile was brutal. I wanted to stop and walk so bad. Thank god this older gentleman I had run most of the race with kept me going. I was bound and determined that someone old enough to be my granddad was not going to beat me! The race also had a relay option, which was a little disheartening, because every few miles, a herd of fresh-legged runners came whizzing by.

I may have finished about five minutes earlier if I had not stopped to take care of a kid crying on the side of the road. Here's a little parenting quiz (Jeannie, pay attention because you will need to know this stuff in a few years):

If you have a six year old son that likes to run with you do you:
A) Take some time away from your schedule to do some fun running with your child.
B) Let your child run part of the race with you until they get tired, and then take them (or have a friend take them) back to the car.
C) Make the child part of your race relay team and tell them to run until they see you.

I'll give you a hint, choice C may not be good if the first leg of the relay is three uphill miles. Just a thought though since I don't have any actual parenting experience to base this on. Either way, it was a pretty scarey that I was the only person who stopped to talk to this kid crying on the side of the road (wearing a race entry number - they actually registered him for the race!!!). I do think this kid has a future in racing, however, because he beat me most of the way up a two mile stretch of mountain road.

Well - it's back to training for me. 40 days to train!

Training Week #9 (3/13/06)

This week actually turned out really well, and I got some good runs in. Just one more week to train until my 10 Mile Race on 3/26/06.

Monday
Strength Train (90:00), Taught Core Strength Class (30:00), Walked/Jogged 7 Miles with Personal Training Clients

Tuesday
Ran 4.5 Miles (42:30), Taught Body Sculpting Class

Wednesday
Rest Day

Thursday
Ran 4.8 Miles (49:39), Taught Body Sculpting Class

Friday
X-Train (30:00 on Bike)

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
Ran 9 Miles (1:18:01)

Training Week #8 (3/6/06)

This week was pretty good even though I was traveling with the basketball team to Indianapolis with Doug.

Monday
Resistance Train (60:00), Taught Core Strength Class (30:00), Taught Circuit Training Class (60:00) - subbed for out of town instructor at work

Tuesday
4 Mile Run (37:14)

Wednesday
2.7 Mile Run (27:32)

Thursday
4 Mile Run (39:00)

Friday
Strength Training (30:00)

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
8 Mile Run (1:29:00)

Looking forward to a good week

I am feeling rested and the pink eye is gone. I spent the weekend in Pittsburgh at an awesome sports nutrition conference, where I learned a ton. I started off this week with a great lift this morning and lots of quality calories. I am looking forward to a great training week. 9 Week left to train...

Training Week #7 (2/27/06)

Not my finest week. I had pink eye (courtesy of one of my personal training clients), and I had to wear my glasses all week. I tried running, but the darn things kept fogging up and running down my face. Lame excuse but not running, but hey...

Monday
Took off

Tuesday
Taught Body Sculpting Class (60:00)

Wednesday, Thursday
Took off

Friday
3.5 mile run (33:00)

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
7 Mile Run (69:25)

Training Week #6 (2/20/06)

Another decent week of training...

Monday
5K Run (30:14)

Tuesday
2 Mile Run (19:50)

Wednesday
Strength Training Day

Thursday
X-Train (40:00), Taught Body Sculpting Class (60:00)

Friday
9.8 Mile Run(1:40:08) - HARD! This was supposed to be a 6.5 mile run, and I got confused on the route that I had planned. This may have had something to do with the 20 degree, snowing weather...

Saturday
Rest

Sunday
5K (32:08), Abs

Training Week #5 (2/13/06)

Finally, a productive week!

Monday
Strength Training (90:00)

Tuesday
Taught Body Sculpt Class (60:00), 4.5 Mile Run (45:00)

Wednesday
2 Mile Run (19:20)

Thursday
Taught Body Sculpt Class (60:00)

Friday
5K Run (32:30)

Saturday
7.5 Mile Run (65:00) (in 17 degree, snowy weather:

Sunday
X-Training (cycling, 40:00)

Training Week #4 (2/6/06)

This week was pretty much a bust. I got pretty sick Monday afternoon, and was unable to run the entire week. I did get in some low intensity activity though. I am hoping for a better upcoming week.

Monday
Strength Training (90:00)

Tuesday-Wednesday
No Training

Thursday
Taught Body Sculpt Class (60:00)

Friday-Sunday
Light Walking

10 Mile Practice Race

I have signed up for a 10 mile race in March that I am using as my practice race for the Flying Pig. This race is called the 3rd Annual Run Around Egg Hill 10-miler and Relay Race. It is being held on March 26, 2006 at 2:00 PM in Spring Mills, PA (about 15 minutes away from State College). I am hoping that this race will let me sort of the kinks in my planning for the half marathon. Wish me luck!!

Training Week #3

This week, I was living in a nutritional wasteland. I could not get enough calories or the right food. I don't know where I went wrong, but I gave new meaning to the phrase "garbage in, garbage out." I did finish up strong with a good run on Friday though. Maybe I am a morning exerciser after all (I do my Friday runs in the morning before work)...

While Doug is out of town, I am headed to the grocery store to stock up so I stay out of nutritional limbo next week. Next week I have another jump in my mileage scheduled. Now that I have at least one run a week that is taking me more than 30 minutes to complete, I am going to have to start taking gatorade something similar along to refuel during the run. I am going to start experimenting next week with different drinks. I hate carrying stuff with me when I run, so we'll see how this goes.

Monday
Heavy Lift Day (90:00)

Tuesday
3 Mile Run (30:00); Taught strength training class (60:00)

Wednesday
2 Mile Run (18:30)

Thursday
3 Mile Run (30:30); Taught Strength Training Class (60:00)

Friday
6 Mile Run (55:00)

Saturday
Rest Day

Sunday
Cross-Training on Precor (35:00)

13 Weeks Left to Train!!!

Flying Pig Race Information

For anyone interested in finding out more about the Flying Pig Race, the homepage is below. It is a pretty cool website with lots of info on running and training.
http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/

The course map, with elevation changes are on the following page:
http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/race_information/schedule/2005_half_map.pdf

There is also a pace chart. If you are interested in coming to Cincy to see Doug and I run, this chart will show you approximately what time we should pass by each mile marker. Click on the "Pace Chart" link. If all goes well, I should be right on track with the mid-pack half marathon column.
http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/race_information/course/

There is also information for spectators:
http://www.flyingpigmarathon.com/race_information/spectators/

If I come across any more good links, I will post them.

The Watch Saga Continues

Alright, so anyone that knows me also knows that I can turn any simple scenario into the most complicated puzzle. My replacement watch arrived by mail exactly on time for my Thursday run last week. I was psyched to open up this watch and hit the road. When I opened the box and saw the size of the watch, however, I started to worry. Is Nike making their women's watches to Amazons? This watch hung off my wrist on either side by a good quarter inch. The only positive I could come up with was that due to the size of the watch, I could read the numbers without my contact lenses in my eyes. This necessitated returning the watch, which proved to be more complicated that it should have been, and continuing on the search for the "right" watch. I looked high and low in town (except at the running store downtown, which I avoid like the plague), but I could not find anything small enough with very few buttons. Too many buttons confuse the heck out of me while running, and they're hard to push with winter gloves on (a necessity for running in PA during winter). Finally, in desperation, I went to Target and bought the exact same watch that I had just broken. Needless to say, I really like this watch, since I didn't have to relearn how to use it. Through all this, I have definitely realized that Timex gets it right with their women's watches. I got the Timex marathon for $30. It beat the heck out of these $100 watches that came with user manuals an inch thick! I am back in business with timing my runs.

Training Week #2

This was an interesting week. I took two days to cross-train this week since it was so cold early in the week. I also added my heavy lifting back into my routine two days a week, but I am not sure if this was a good idea. By the time I had to teach aerobics on Thursday, my legs were really tired. Resting on Saturday felt great!

Monday - 120 Minutes Resistance Training and Stretching
Tuesday - 3 Mile Run (Time ?)
Wednesday - 25 Minutes Cross-Training on Precor.
Thursday - 3 Mile Run (Restek 5K) It was 20 degrees out but really sunny. 90 Minutes Resistance Training
Friday - 5 Mile Run (50 Minutes) - It was sunny and 50 degrees, but I was dying the entire way. How am I going to make it 13 miles?
Saturday - REST DAY
Sunday - 35 Minutes Cross-Training on Precor.

Watch Dilemma Solved

Well, I finally got a new watch. It is not scheduled to arrive by UPS until later this week, so I have no idea how long my runs have been taking. At least relief is in sight!

Training Week #1

I just finished training week #1 in preparation for the Flying Pig Half Marathon. (If you are interested in my training runs, they are listed below.) On Friday night, I was pretty tired, but by late Saturday morning, I felt completely recovered.

It was an interesting week of ups and downs. I felt great on my longer runs on Thursday and Friday. I had a personal best time of 56 minutes at the 10K (6.2 miles) distance, but as I hit the reset button on my watch to clear the stopwatch function, the watch broke. I hope this is not an omen of things to come.

The weather is supposed to be nice tomorrow (sunny and high 30's). I am going to get up tomorrow (Sunday) and do my scheduled Monday run in the morning. It is supposed to be cold and rainy on Monday - not a fun way to head into week #2.

Week One Training
Monday - 3 Miles (27 minutes) + speedwork
Tuesday - 40 Minutes Precor (It was cold and sleeting)
Wednesday - Rest Day
Thursday - 5 Miles (48 minutes - ran against heavy wind for the last 1.5 miles)
Friday - 10K (56 Minutes) + 5K at work with training client (unknown time - watch broken)
Saturday - Rest Day
Sunday - 3 Mile Run (Time ?) - I ran with Bowman so this was not a great run. She kept pretending like she had to pee so that we would stop.

Melissa Sets the Goal

After taking quite a bit of flak from my personal training clients about forcing them to set fitness goals but setting none for myself, I decided to rise to the occasion. This week, I registered for the Flying Pig Half Marathon on May 7, 2006. Now, unless I want to lose my $50, I am committed to running in this race. I am counting on all of my friends and family to keep me on track with my training! Feel free to post your comments and encouragement as you follow me through my training.