Week 10!

It is crazy that we are in week 10 already...that means I am almost halfway through training.

Here is a little recap of last weeks workouts. Well where do I begin...ha ha. My long run from week 8 turned out to be 5 mile completed out of 12. It was probably not the best idea to run 12 miles on 4 hours of sleep after staying up for Harry Potter at midnight. I had to get the run in on Friday since we were in Charleston all weekend for Dan and Katie's wedding.

Wedding weekend kicked my butt. I had Jeff and 4 of his friends as my dates as I ended up being the only girl that could go. Keeping up with them was achieved pretty well, but I was paying for it on Sunday and the rest of the week. The mid week workouts were decent, nothing of greatness and I took the entire week to catch up on sleep.As I ran last Sunday, I kept thinking 3 more months..wow I do not feel like I am ready. It was a long 13 mile run in the heat that only turned out to be 11 completed. My whole right leg seemed to be very stiff and tight throughout the entire run. Also, the heat was not helping. 2 things were learned from this run.

• 1: No more running on the greenway. The fact that I can see my mileage plays with my head and makes the run even longer than it really is.
•  2: I need to start the runs even earlier. 7am is still too hot for long distances

This week however has been fantastic! I took Monday as a rest day and did some Pilates to keep my muscles stretched out and hopefully help with my ailing hip. If anyone belongs to the Charlotte Metro YMCA's, check out Beth's class Monday and Friday 10:30-11:25 at Ballantyne Village. She is great! I went to physical therapy at Carolina Sports Clinic. Dr. Brad has been great trying to figure out what this hip flexor is doing. Yesterday was a nice 4 mile run with Julie. Good pace and good company.

Today I had 1/2 mile repeats. I figured might as well start as early as I can, beat some of this heat. Up and at it at 5:30am was quite the change from my routine but weather wise was perfect! I started the workout at 6 with a nice mile warm-up. For the 1/2 mile repeats I was shooting to stay in the same time frame as the previous time. So anywhere between 3:55-4:05. My first one was 3:55. I thought to myself, 'oh no, I've already started out too fast'. After a 3 min recovery, I went for the 2nd one. This time 3:55 again. Seriously? SO the next two came in at 3 came in at 3:54! I felt fantastic through them all and I guess I really am getting stronger. Who would of thought? As I was just thinking 3 days ago, I am no where, where I should be at this point.

Today gave me a good confidence boost of training and performance. Hopefully this carries over to the 14 miles ahead of me on Sunday!

Repeats will be the death of me

This past weeks mid-week workout was the dreaded 1/2 mile repeats. I was introduced to repeats while coaching track. I use to feel bad for the A Distance group when Coach Zelk made them do 800 repeats after doing a 2-3 mile warm-up. Also, I kept thinking, thankfully it's them not me.

Well Tuesday night held a rude awakening, when I opened Training Peaks, to see what the Wednesday work out was: 10-15 min warm-up, dynamic exercises, 3-4 strides, 5 1/2 mile repeats w/ 3-5min recovery in-between, and a 5-10 min cool down. All of that for a total of 60 minutes of exercise.

It has been proven that if you have someone else to meet to workout with you are more like to make it to the workout and finish the workout. I knew this workout was going to be a tough one, so I talked my lovely boyfriend Jeff into doing the workout with me. That way I knew I would get it done and have a fairly good workout.

The warm up was good, I could feel I was a little sore from Yoga and ART from the day before, but after a little stretching that went away. My 1 and 2 repeats were between 4:08-4:05. Not too bad for the first two. The 3rd one came in at 4 flat. The most I had been resting at that point was 4 min in-between which seemed to work better for me than 3 min. For the 4th repeat I came in at 3:56! I was ecstatic and feeling good, but worried I may of just ruined my last repeat. After a nice 4 min recovery I went out for the 5th thinking 'oh no! I am dragging and feel tired'. I pushed through for a time of 3:55! I was excited and felt fantastic after each one, and felt stronger as the workout went on.

I know I wouldn't of done so well if I hadn't had someone there to workout with making me accountable. We may of not ran together for the repeats, but I pushed myself through them all, not wanting my boyfriend to think I was going easy. Come on here, I am the marathon runner..not him, so of course I had to show off! ha ha.

I have 12 miles on tap for tomorrow! It will be a nice sssllooww long run!

Item of the week!

Being a runner, there are lots of fun  gadgets, accessories and apparel out there just waiting to be tried. Working for a running company, I get the privilege of being the first to get to test out these fun things.

Each week be on the look out for the item of the week. This week I will start with socks. 

Socks

Socks are probably one of the most important items of running. Here are a few key rules to purchasing socks.

1. Cotton is Rotten! Cotton causes chaffing and blisters since it holds the sweat in like a sponge and rubs against the shoe while in motion.
2. It has to be the right fit. A sock that is too big will rub and a sock that is too small will fall down during the run and cause blisters on your heel.

My favorite socks right now are the Feetures Elite. These things are AMAZING! The support in the arch is that like a compression sock, so it is very supportive. They are light weight and thin. 

Not only has this sock been fabulous, but the medium cushion and compression sock that will be out on the market this fall are FABULOUS too! For $13.99 these socks are totally worth it! Go get yourself some!