Exercise Talk: Training For My 10K

Week 5 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training
Tuesday: strength
Wednesday: 45 min cross training; 2 mile run
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 2 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 90 minute cross training
Sunday: 3.0 mile run

Week 4 Accomplishments:
Monday: 105 min cross training (elliptical)
Tuesday: strength
Wednesday: 2.0 mi run (26:00 min); 30 min elliptical; 10 min track walk
Thursday: strength
Friday: 60 min cross training (walk/run only ran about 0.75 miles)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 3.0 mile run (outdoors)

How am I feeling going into Week 6? One word: Tired. My trainer recommend certain vitamins to take to help with muscle soreness, so I'm going to give them a shot. I am superly encouraged to be enjoying the outdoor running with friends, even though we split up to be at our own paces. They always wait at the end for me, which is super sweet! (Thanks Ladies!) Now I just gotta get that nutrition back on track.

Week 6 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training
Tuesday: strength and 2.5 mile run
Wednesday: 60 min cross training
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 2 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 3.5 mile run

Exercise Talk: Training For My 10K

Week 4 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training
Tuesday: strength, 60 min cross training, 1.5 mi run
Wednesday: 90 min cross training
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 1.5 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 2.5 mile run

Week 4 Accomplishments:
Monday: 90 min cross training (elliptical)
Tuesday: strength
Wednesday: 1.5 mi run (19:30 min); 32 min elliptical; 10 min track walk; 20 min outdoor walk
Thursday: strength
Friday: 60 min cross training (elliptical); 1.5 mi run (19:10 min); 20 min walk
Saturday: 1.5 hour hike
Sunday: 2.5 mile run (outdoors)

How am I feeling going into Week 5? One word: FANTASTIC! My knees hurt a little bit, and I'm not sure how the new shoes are working out. I'm not sure if I'm getting shin splints because of the new shoes or if because I'm running the longer distances in my old worn out shoes. We'll see how all that works out, but I'm kind of pumped for this coming week! Especially since I'll be at 5K mileage this weekend!

Week 5 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training
Tuesday: strength
Wednesday: 45 min cross training; 2 mile run
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 2 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 90 minute cross training
Sunday: 3.0 mile run

Exercise Talk: Training For My 10K

Week 3 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 1.5 mi run (outdoors)
Tuesday: strength and 90 min cross training
Wednesday: 1 mile run and 60 min cross training
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 1 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 2.0 mile run

Week 3 Accomplishments:
Monday: stretch and 1.5 mi run (outdoors)
Tuesday: strength and 60 min cross training (elliptical)
Wednesday: 60 minute cross training (treadmill, 1.0 mi run - intervals)
Thursday: strength
Friday: rest
Saturday: stretch and 60 minutes treadmill (inc. 1.0 mile run)
Sunday: 2.1 mile run and 60 minutes cross training (elliptical)

How am I feeling going into Week 4? One word: ALLERGIES! It was the attack of the allergies with our cedar pollen count getting near 40,000 for two days in a row. I had sinus blockage which lead to my ears popping all the time, which left me dizzy! Finally got to the doctor on Friday and am on some steroids, which have been working! The steroids that I'm on also help reduce inflammation, I think that's been helping me in the long run! Onto Week 4...

Week 4 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training
Tuesday: strength, 60 min cross training, 1.5 mi run
Wednesday: 90 min cross training
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 1.5 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 2.5 mile run

Exercise Talk: Training for My 10K

Week 2 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 60 min cross training
Tuesday: strength and 0.75 mile run
Wednesday: 90 minute cross training
Thursday: 1 mile run / strength
Friday: rest
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 1.5 mile run

Week 2 Accomplishments:
Monday: stretch and 90 min cross training (Town Lake walk)
Tuesday: strength and 60 min cross training (elliptical)
Wednesday: 60 minute cross training (treadmill, 0.75 mi run)
Thursday: 1 mile run / strength
Friday: 40 min cross training (walk)
Saturday: Galveston - hard labor
Sunday: rest

How am I feeling going into Week 3? I'm pretty excited for the challenge. I'm not feeling the greatest due to my allergies, and I fell up the stairs yesterday so my shin is severely bruised, but I think I can do it! Starting Feb 1st, I'm going to have some running buddies who are training for a triathlon, so it'll be a nice change. Onto Week 3...

Week 3 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 1.5 mi run (outdoors)
Tuesday: strength and 90 min cross training
Wednesday: 1 mile run and 60 min cross training
Thursday: strength and 60 min cross training
Friday: 1 mile run and 60 min cross training
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 2.0 mile run

Exercise Talk: Training For My 10K

Week 1 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: strength and stretch
Tuesday: 0.5 mile run
Wednesday: 60 minute cross training
Thursday: 0.75 mile run / strength
Friday: rest
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 1 mile run

Week 1 Accomplishments:
Monday: stretch and 60 min cross training (elliptical)
Tuesday: strength, 60 min cross training (cycle), 0.5 mile run
Wednesday: 45 min cross training (elliptical), 30 min walking
Thursday: strength and 15 min walking
Friday: rest
Saturday: 30 min cross training (treadmill, inc 0.75 mile run), 60 min cross training (elliptical)
Sunday: 60 min cross training (treadmill, inc 1 mile run)

How am I feeling going into Week 2? Well, after a pretty good Week 1, I'm ready for the challenge. I am nervous about the longer upcoming runs, but I have to remind myself one day at a time. I will not do back-to-back runs again, my legs are really sore tonight. Other than that, I think things went pretty well. Onto Week 2...

Week 2 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: stretch and 60 min cross training
Tuesday: strength and 0.75 mile run
Wednesday: 90 minute cross training
Thursday: 1 mile run / strength
Friday: rest
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 1.5 mile run

Exercise Talk: Training For My 10K

Last year, I said to another person who trains with my trainer, "We're going to run the Capitol 10K with a chip time next year!" Well, I'm not sure if she's going to, but I'm training for it - starting tomorrow.

I'm lucky in the respect that I'm friends with so many trainers at my gym, and they all have different areas of expertise. Kellen runs. Kellen runs marathons at really fast paces. I think Kellen even does triathlons. He knows how to train people in this area or at least make recommendations. Kellen actually recommended that I join a running group, but I'm trying to save cash so I took his (and Matt's) other advice and looked on the web for a training program. I found a few, but only one really seemed probable for me: Hal Higdon's Novice 10-K Training. It's an eight week program, but I have decided to take it back an additional four weeks, using the same kind of method.

Week 1 Goals (Minimum):
Monday: strength and stretch
Tuesday: 0.5 mile run
Wednesday: 60 minute cross training
Thursday: 0.75 mile run / strength
Friday: rest
Saturday: 60 minute cross training
Sunday: 1 mile run

I might have a rocky start because I'm just starting to feel better from this nasty cold I've had since New Year's, but I'm going to give it a shot!

The Nike+ Human Race

I had been meaning to blog about the Nike+ Human Race for quite some time now, but my traveling schedule was overwhelming, between being in Tucson for about week, in Austin a week, in Atlanta for a week, in Austin two weeks, and finally in Hawaii for two weeks. I'm catching up now on it!


This race absolutely AMAZING! It was incredible seeing everybody wearing the same color running around corners and up and down hills. The concert afterwards wasn't too shabby either. Our start time in Austin was 6:30 pm the day before Labor Day. Since I knew this, I started training outdoors whenever I could because I knew the heat would play a huge factor for me. In my outdoor training jogs/walks, I was doing a 16.6 minute mile after work in 95+ degree heat. Usually with a morning start time, my goal has always been a 15 minute mile, but with the heat, I changed it to a 16 minute mile. My average race day? 15.9 minute mile! Here were my times:

First 2.5K: 9 minutes, 30 seconds / km
Second 2.5K: 10 minutes, 20 seconds / km
Third 2.5K: 10 minutes, 02 seconds / km
Fourth 2.5K: 9 minutes, 45 seconds / km

It was my first chipped time event, so no guessing this time! A few other interesting facts about my race:

1. I came in 215,394th worldwide.
2. I came in 9,790th in Austin.
3. I came in 73,957th among women runners worldwide.
4. I came in 4,867th among women runners in Austin.

So who's up for it next year? :)

Nike+ Human Race

The Nike+ Human Race is exactly that, a human race for the human race. Think about it, the concept is fantastic: People uniting for fitness. In 25 cities across the world, everybody will be running a 10K at the same time on August 31, 2008. How cool does that sound? Well guess what, even if there is not a 10K race in a city near you, you can still participate at home!

My start time in Austin, Texas is 6:30pm , and it will no doubt be a hot one! But I am still going to run as much as I can of it. I ran a mile today on the treadmill (a first) in 12:10, my fastest time yet (I've jogged a mile before in races). The cost is minimal for a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and fun (there's a concert afterwards). I'm super excited!

Friends who are in town, I'll be sending out an e-mail to see if anybody may interested in joining me. Yawhoooooo!

My Walking Maps

My Walking Maps is a really cool website in which you can track your walking/running routes around town! Check it out, it's super exciting! I mapped the 10K from this past weekend. Google sometimes messes up on this computer, so hopefully you can see the path clearly...

Race Day: Texas Round-Up

I participated in the Texas Round-Up 10K yesterday morning, and I definitely have a few thoughts...

1. The course was more difficult and challenging than the Capitol 10K.
2. The Capitol 10K had more "cheer" support along the way.
3. The Capitol 10K had more music along the course; although the Texas Round-Up did have more music at the end of the course (I believe).
4. We got to see and hear the governor at the Texas Round-Up. I loved hearing how passionate he is about fitness and health.

I'm not going to lie, I found this 10K extremely challenging for a couple of reasons. First, I lacked a good night's rest the night before, I won't dive into details, but I had a blast Friday night! Secondly, it was humid. Thirdly, the course was tougher!

My accomplishments:
1. My first mile was faster than the 5K (but this first mile was slightly downhill compared to the other one). At the 5K, I did it in 14:15, this time, 13:20.
2. My overall two mile was faster than the 5K. At the 5K, I did it in 30:30, this time, 30 minutes even (maybe a bit quicker than that). Now I do have to say, the second mile was really slow for me, but it was continuously uphill, so the fact that I was till ahead of pace was great!
3. I hit the 5K marker at about the same time as the last race.
4. I finished the race in 1:40:00, pretty much on the nose. Much slower than the first 10K when I was chasing Matt (he timed us at 82ish minutes, I timed us at 93ish minutes), but there are several reasons why. The course was much more hilly, and I have not been training for hills as big as these. In addition, due to the hills, my heart rate got into a range in which I was not comfortable with, so I had to slow down a few times. On the hills, if I was jogging, it was in the 85-90% of my maximum heart rate, which is never the case when I'm at the gym.

I'm not sure when my next race will be, it may be the Lone Star 5000 mid-May...we'll see!

First Non-Scale Victory: Race Day

Today I had to give myself my FIRST Non-Scale Victory (NSV)! I wanted it to be ultra-special, and that it is!

I participated in the Schlotzky's 5K Bun Run '08 this morning. I wasn't going to do another race until the 10K at the end of April, but I got talked into it, only for her to have to cancel last minute, life happens. So I decided to do it on my own anyway, and had a blast! Matt (my trainer) wanted me to run the whole thing; I told him I would try, but after waking up to a slightly sore knee, I knew I had to alter that goal. My new goal was to jog a mile, walk a mile, jog the last 1.1 miles. (For those who don't know, a 5K is 3.1 miles, a 10K is 6.2 miles.) This, of course, would be a challenge all on its own because the furthest I have ever jogged on the treadmill was 0.6 miles straight. I also planned it strategically because the "hill of death" (as I would like to call it) was in that second mile, and I knew I'd have to walk up that anyway...

Seeing that we are celebrating my first official NSV, one would assume that I met my goal. In fact, I creamed it! I jogged the first mile with hesitancy, but made it. Once I got into my rhythm, it was quite easy not to stop. I walked after the first "watering hole" which was at 1.1 miles, picked up my jog again until I hit hill #1, which is followed by a nice downward slope (runs pretty nice), with the hill of death just as you round that corner onto 15th street. The hill of death kicked my butt during the Capitol 10K a couple weeks ago, but I knew about it and was ready for it! Overall, I estimate that I jogged 2.6 miles (may be a conservative estimate). So again, here's that fun math stuff; this time I actually remembered to wear my watch:

Mile 1: 14:15 minutes
Mile 2: 16:15 minutes (clock read 30:30)
Mile 3: 15:00 minutes (clock read 45:30)
Finish: 01:30 minutes (clock read 47:00)

Originally I wanted to do it in 42 minutes, after the first mile I said, nope, should be 45 minutes... Turned out to be 47 minutes, but that's okay! I jogged for at least 40 minutes of this thing, and dammit, that's something I'm going to be proud of because the most I ever jogged on the treadmill in intervals was 16 minutes (averaged 4.5mph).

That's my FIRST NSV... Actually, it should be my second because I proved Matt wrong at the gym last week. Now that's a funny story I'm going to have share very soon...

And for those of you who are interested in seeing how wet and miserable I looked during the Capitol 10K a couple weeks ago, click here. I'm in the green tank top. My favorite photograph, by far, is the second one, where I'm racing to the finish line while Matt's high-fiving another friend's success.

More about the 10K

Now that my head's screwed back into place, I can tell you a bit more about my first 10K!

There was a 30% chance of rain, but the weather guys always say that and it NEVER rains here in Texas, so I thought they were lying to me again. For those who don't know, I read somewhere that 30% means 30% of the viewing area, and in Austin, the weather is very different in South Austin compared to North Austin compared to West Austin. Anyway, it was super humid (near 100%), and as we waited for the timed runners to take off, it started to sprinkle then rain steadily. By the time we crossed the start line, it was already 20 minutes into the race.

The Capitol 10K encourages people to dress up, so we got to see a few interesting costumes along the way. My absolutely favorite part was when we were by the University of Texas stadium, we started hearing chanting behind us, you know, soldiers jogging in formation kind of chant. Eventually they pass us, but it was Austin Police Department cadets. They "sang" some interesting tunes for us. OH! And how can I forget, there were bands throughout the course playing for us! It wouldn't be Austin otherwise!

The rain ended about half way through. While the rain was refreshing, I just felt like I wasn't sweating because of the humidity, not to mention the roads get slippery when they're just wet and not soaked. I also had no hand-mouth coordinator when I grabbed water either! I literally spilled half the water down my chest and drank the other half. I guess I have to work on my transitions!

Matt asked me something interesting today: "Were you proud of yourself when you crossed the finish line?" I actually had to think about it because I wasn't sure - but yeah, I was proud. I wish I ran more of it, but there's always next time? Who's up for the end of April?

My First 10K

I completed my first 10K a couple of hours ago. Notice how I said first? I suppose there's more coming my way! I spent most of the race "catching up" to Matt, Terri, and Leslee (sp?), but we all finished. (Just a quick update, we did a run/walk; my "catching up" was always a jog because they were walking so fast!) I meant to time it by my watch, but I forgot my watch at the car, so we had to rely on the race clock or Matt's cell phone. Matt calculated that we did the 6.2 miles in 82 minutes, meaning it was 14.4 minutes per mile, or 4.4 mph. My calculation, though, was based on the time clock, and I got we were doing 15 minutes per mile, or 4 mph. What can I say, I'm a math geek; I do it for my day job. As usual, I think I'm right...I'm a woman after all. :)

I've decided not to do the Bun Run in mid-April, but rather skip over it and do the Texas Round-Up at the end of April. I have a month to train!

I also have to state the fact that Matt did not have to do the 10K with us, but this is just one thing that makes him, as a trainer, above the others. Even though I give him crap all the time, what sister wouldn't?