It's not even 2011 yet, and I am already signed up for:
- Two marathons - Shamrock in March and Baltimore in October
- Two half marathons - The Cloud Snapple in January and The Maryland Half in May
- A triathlon in August
- A marathon relay in February
8:32
8:06
8:34
8:25
and
8:19
8:28
8:33
8:33 (these look like I actually learned some pacing or something!)
The first run was in a hilly area near my apt and the second was in 22 mph winds (gusting to 31mph!). The second was also with a super fast friend who qualified for Boston (it was her easy run day, haha) which was great because without her I can guarantee those would have been much slower. I feel pretty good about those times, now I want to try to make sure my easy and long runs are a little quicker. I tend to really take it easy on those, which is ok to an extent, but I want to push myself a little and do some long run miles at marathon pace. I haven't done a single track workout yet but I am attempted to get over my fear/hatred of the treadmill on Sunday to do an interval workout! On Christmas Eve Mike came over and did a 14 mile run with me. I felt really good and stuck with my pattern of negative splits so that is a good sign. Tomorrow morning we are doing a 15 miler. I also am really loving this long run on Friday/sleep in and rest on Saturday deal. Sadly once break is over work is going to put a stop to that.
This time around I am really trying to stick with at least some strength training in addition to running. I didn't cut it out completely last time but I slacked for sure. I've heard how a strong core can make you a better runner and help avoid injury, so I asked for this for Christmas.
My good friend Marc got it for me. I don't actually hope to achieve six pack abs, because I love chocolate too much for that. But I do hope for some stronger abs, so I decided to actually take the challenge. Jillian says do the workout at least 5 times a week for six weeks, level 1 for three weeks followed by level 2 for three weeks. I've done level one three times so far this week and lets just say I am terrified of level 2. Jillian stays true to form and works your core like crazy, but also works upper body and has cardio intervals built in. I seriously love/hate her DVDs, they are always an amazingly tough workout. The workout is 35 minutes including warm up and cool down, so it's a substantial time commitment because I am not using it to replace anything, its an addition to my regular workouts. I am hoping by starting it before grad class starts again, during the early part of marathon training before the workouts get really long I can stick to it.
I also got this little baby......
can't wait to try out some recipes! They'll go great with some homemade bread from my new breadmaker :).
I feel like I am stalking you today! ha, I am babysitting & every time I get on to see if someone posted you did!! So, I am not stalking you just bored while babysitting :-). You don't like the tredmill? I love it!! Especially for my tempo/speed workouts!! I can't do more then 5 miles on the tredmill (but then again, I have never tried) but I found that making a mix on my ipod for tempo/speed workouts help! p.s. it is labeled tempo/speed- lovee it! I wonder if Syracuse has somewhere to do track workouts- I have never done one before! Something I will look into! I also want to try the jillian michael abs! Maybe i'll go out & buy it! I have heard great things about it!! Unfortunately for me, working otu was put on the back burner but i will start back on track saturday :-). Okay, I am done writing my book now!
ReplyDeleteI love being stalked! Hearing that you actually like the treadmill is so motivating, I like the idea of making a mix I'll have to try it. I do the track workouts with my marathon training group so you should check out local running stores or clubs in Syracuse!
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