Mileage Update

Since running with my Garmin Forerunner 305 and uploading my running stats on the Training Center computer program I've realized that I need to keep track of my mileage from Sunday-Saturday instead of Monday-Sunday. So with the New Year I will blog my weekly mileage Sunday to Saturday, which only makes sense since the first day of the week is Sunday.

So since I won't be recording my weekly mileage today (since it is the first day of the week), I will comment on my long run of 7.13 miles today. It....was....great! I was a bit nervous about jumping from 5 to 7 miles, but it was actually quite easy. I kept a slow and steady pace, averaging 11:37 min/miles. It was a great way to end my Winter Break from work. Tomorrow it is back to the grind. So I guess I better go start preparing for the week a little bit.

Races in 2010

To go along with my running goal for this year I would like to complete at least one race each month. I've been looking at the Peninsula Track Club's race schedule and I would like to complete the following races each month:

January: Big Daddy 10K (Jan. 23) and/or Cold F-F-Feet 5K (Jan. 30)
February: Virginia is For Lovers 14K (Feb. 13)
March: Fort Eustis 10K (Mar. 6) and/or Mutt & Jeff's No Ifs, Ands, or Butts 5K (Mar. 26)
April: ???
May: Yorktown Freedom Run 5K (May 31)
June: ???
July: ???
August: Coast Guard Day 5K (Aug. 7) and/or Smart Smiles 5K (Aug. 21)
September: ???
October: Mariners Museum Noland Trail 10K (Oct. 16)
November: ???
December: ???

I will have to update my schedule for a few months that don't have races. So stay tuned....

New Year....New Goals

Since all of the other blogs I have been reading have included goals for 2010, I thought I would too. I really like the idea of setting a goal for miles to run this year. Since starting to record my miles when I began training for the half marathon I have logged 64.61 miles (from Nov. 16 - Dec. 31, 2009). Of course, I have run many more miles than that this past year, these are just the miles that I have recorded.

To determine my goal for 2010 I did not want to set my goal too high. I know a lot of people have set their goals at 1,000 miles for the year, but I didn't want to set my goal that high, based on the amount of running that I have done in the past months. So, I think I will average between 15-20 miles a week, some weeks may be more and some may be less. With that being said I'm setting my goal to....

Run 800 miles in 2010.

I will be ecstatic to reach that goal.

I'm going to try to set up something on the side of my blog to track my mileage.

Here's to running in 2010!

Heartbroken

I am devastated. Ryan and I planned to register for our half marathon at the end of December. So yesterday we logged on to the website to register and it was FULL. Immediately my heart sank. I clicked around on the website trying to find another way (as if that were possible). Then what did I do...I started to cry. First, they were quite little tears that I tried to hide from Ryan. Then they were big, fat sobbing tears. I said to Ryan, "Look at me. I'm crying over running, over wanting to run and not being able to." I never thought that would have been possible. But I have put in so much work training for this half marathon. I was really going to do it. I was committed.

So we proceeded to look at the website some more. The full marathon was still open, but there is no way we would be ready to run 26.2 miles. The training for that is already in double digit miles. Then we looked at the local running clubs website for a chance that there would be another half marathon at around the same time. Well there is one at the end of February, but all the logistics look pretty bad. It is a hilly route and there is a time limit of 2.5 hours. My goal was to finish under 3 hours, but I'm not confident enough to say I would be able to keep up my 12 min/mile pace for 13.1 miles. So I'm not feeling confident for that half marathon...so now what....

I think the plan will be to just keep training for a half marathon as if we were going to run in March. I guess I can keep looking at the Shamrock website each day to see if there are any changes. I'm really bummed, but I've put in a lot of effort so I'm not going to give up.

Garmin Forerunner 305

My husband gave me a wonderful Christmas gift. After a few weeks of this little birdie whispering in his ear that I wanted a Garmin running watch. And this is what I unwrapped on Christmas morning.

I absolutely love it! It is everything that I wanted for my running watch. It tells me my pace, distance, and time. It can also perform many other functions that I haven't quited tested out yet. I am so excited to have it to use for my half marathon training!



This week's mileage:
Tues: 2 miles
Wed: 3 miles
Sat: 2.11 miles ( avg pace 10:45 min/mile)
Sun: 5.1 miles (avg pace 11:25 min/mile)
Total: 12.21 miles



I'm happy I got to complete all of my training runs this week and now I can note my pace thanks to my Garmin!

Wonderful Christmas

Christmas this year was busy! We spent a lot of time with family, as that is how it should be. On Christmas Eve we had dinner with Ryan's Mom's side of the family, then went to church to worship our wonderful Savior whose birth we are celebrating, and then we returned for dessert and gift giving. Christmas day was even busier. ...

Ryan and I woke up and exchanged our gifts to one another, then dressed and headed to his parents house to open gifts, then went to his aunt and uncles for breakfast, then over to my parents house to open gifts, then back to Ryan's parents for lunch, and then back to my parents for dinner. Wheww...it was a very busy Christmas Day. But I am so thankful for reason we get to together and celebrate....and that reason is Jesus. What a wonderful, precious gift that has been given to us all. Amazing!

Cold Weekend

This weekend brought some very cold weather and a lot of snow for Virginia. Although many parts of Virginia got 1-2 feet of snow, we only got about about an inch of snow. But that was enough to disturb Penny. She didn't quite know what to do with the white stuff. Ryan and I had to take her outside multiple times in a thirty minute time period so she could figure out where her potty spot was. This morning when she woke up she seemed to like the snow much better. She was running and playing in it with her head to the ground eating as much snow as she could along the way.

The cold weather also brough with it a cold long run this afternoon. I had a scheduled 5 mile run today. I was quite nervous and had butterflies in my stomach prior to running. I mapped out a route that would take me 2.5 miles out and back for a total of 5 miles. It was a great run. I ran the entire way, except for having to stop at the stop light. My husband was very encouraging and it was nice to have him along for the run. I'm looking forward to my next 5 mile run next Sunday.

Total Mileage For the Week:

Thurs: 1.54 miles

Sat: 3.04 miles

Sun: 5 miles

Total: 9.58 miles

Hopefully next week with winter break I'll be able to actually follow my training schedule a bit better instead of cramming my runs in at the end of the week. I think my legs will appreciate that. And I'll also hopefully get in all 4 runs, instead of just 3.