Training, Party Planning, and Racing!

Hi all! I'm still half marathon training. I did a 5 mile run yesterday with Kim. It was awful. Last week I missed my Wednesday run and Thursday bootcamp because we got 14.2" of snow! We haven't had that much snow ever in my life! It was the 2nd most snow on record and the most snow since 1951! It was doing great at melting away, but we are in a blizzard warning right now, so I hope it doesn't interfere anymore with my training!

February 9, I participated in my first relay race! It was a 5 mile relay that Kim did with me. I was going to do the 5 miles alone, but convinced Kim to do the relay. We each did 2.5 miles. I went first and Kim finished! It was really fun and I did really well! My 2.5 split was 28:11. The course had to have been long though. I forgot to turn on my Garmin and when we started, it was still searching for satellites. I started it about .25 or so in and when I got to the exchange it read 2.47 miles. It was a cold and super windy day, but it was so much fun! It was called the Cupid's Combo and the baton was a fake rose!

Me and Kim! We wore matching outfits!

Action shot of me running! Next to our empty river!

I'm registered for quite a few races right now. Next up is St. Patricks Day 4 mile on March 17th. I'm not registered yet, but will be doing a 10k March 30. I thinking about doing a 5k March 24. I'm registered for my spring half May 5, a 10k June 1, and another half September 14!

Training is going well,  minus the snow we've had. I got a new pair of shoes last week. The new Mizuno Inspire 9s. I ran in them on one 3.5 mile treadmill run. My toes went numb, but I'm not giving up on them yet. I love my Inspire 8s.

I'm SO looking forward to the time change in a couple of weeks! I want to do more evening runs!

I've been planning Elliott's 3rd birthday party the last couple of weeks! She's going to have a cowgirl party! We are renting a building at a park here in town and they have pony rides and train rides! I think she will have a lot of fun! I can't believe she is going to be 3! Crazy!

I'm still losing weight also! Yay!

Checking In!

Hi everyone! I'm checking in again!

I have finally broken through my weight loss plateau! I couldn't be happier! A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend researching how to break through a plateau and the only thing that I could come up with that I wasn't already doing is calorie cycling. So I checked out a calorie cycling calculator and made out a three week plan to try.

Well, it just so happens that on the Monday I was to start my calorie cycling, I woke up in the middle of the night coughing, fever, and body aches. Ugh! I went to the doctor tested positive for Influenza A. (Side note: the way they test for that is by sticking a cotton swab up your nose. Like WAY WAY WAY up your nose! It was awful! I may have been upset if I hadn't tested positive for the flu and they stuck that thing way up my nose for no reason!) So, I was out of commission for a few days, but still went ahead with the calorie cycling (CC) anyway. The first week, I lost 3.2lbs. That is HUGE for me! I wasn't sure if it was from the CC or from the flu, but I was happy to have reached a new low weight!

I continued the CC for the next week, seeing what would happen. I was sure that the weight loss was just a FLUke (haha! Get it? Flu-ke! Like, the flu! Okay, I'm done!) But I weighed in this morning at 181.4 which gave me a 2.8lb loss for the second week of CC! I'm so stoked!

I have 3 different cycles I'm using. After this week, I'll go back to the first one again. I hope I continue to lose!

There is a 60lb difference in these two!

New PR!

So, I have 3 long runs left before I start to taper before Prairie Fire Half Marathon. I am feeling really undertrained right now.

I was sick all last week, so I didn't do any training runs. I had signed up for a 5k on Saturday and I had planned on going to the group run before hand to get all my miles in. When my alarm went off at 6am Saturday, I knew that there was no way I was going to do both. At about 630am, I texted Kim and asked her what time she was planning on going down the the race and she said around 715am. It started at 8am, and we still had to pick up our packets. I asked her if she wanted to ride together and she said yes. So I met her at her apartment and we went over to the race. She asked me why I hadn't gone to the group run and I told her that I still wasn't feeling 100% and she said I didn't even sound like I was 50%! I still planned on running the 5k hard and trying to PR. My goal was 40:59 or less.

We got there and got our packets and pinned on our numbers and went back to her truck and chatted for a little bit. Then we got out and went to the starting line. There were way less people than I thought there was going to be! We started off and I immediately felt my lungs burning. I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to keep up with Kim, so I just fell into my own groove. I run the whole first mile and my time was 11:00 which is the fastest mile I've ever run! After the first mile I got into a walk/jog and was keeping a pretty good pace despite the fact that my lungs were burning like crazy, I was having a hard time breathing, and that I felt like I was going to vomit.

Kim and I post race! A PR for both of us!

I made it back close to the finish line and Kim had finished and come back for me. I had put in my headphones, but pulled one ear bud out when I saw her. She asked me if I needed water and I told her no, and then she asked if I wanted her to take my headphones and I said "No, I'm listening to The Final Countdown right now!" and a couple people near us giggled at that :)! I was getting close and a guy who had finished already started cheering me and told me I was almost there! I got to the straightaway and saw 38:xx on the clock and gunned it to the finish. I finished 39:11! I'm so happy to finally have a sub 40 min 5k! I know that is still very slow, but I've taken about 4-5 minutes off my time since March! I got through the finish chute and got my water and a piece of watermelon and then Kim and I chatted and watched the awards. The two overall winners were both over 50 years old! That inspires me! If I keep this up, when I have 20 years practice, maybe I'll be able to get an award someday too!

My Girls On The Run coaching starts tomorrow. I ended up getting to work with the younger girls. We had our parent meeting last Wednesday and we had only one girl signed up for our site for the 6-8th grade, so I got reassigned. I'm excited and nervous!

I don't have much to report on the weight loss front. I really need to get my act together. I've lost less than 10lbs this summer! I thought it would be easier to lose weight over the summer... To be honest, I haven't really been focusing on that. That stops now!

Labor Day was uneventful. Saturday was the 5k, Sunday Paul and I took Elliott to the zoo and then we had lunch with my brother and his fiance, Monday we did nothing except go for frozen yogurt. I'm on vacation from work for the rest of this week.

I'm running the Tiger Trot 15k this coming Sunday and I am SUPER nervous! I was looking at the course map, and it is so long!

I'm going to try to get back into regular posting as well! So I hope you all hear from me again later this week!

Change of Plans

I'm still here! I've had some time to think and I've come to a hard decision. I have decided to postpone my half marathon. This decision was both hard and easy. Here is how and why I came to this decision.

I got to a point where I was dreading my runs. Last Monday I had a 3 mile run and I was dreading it bad. I texted Kim and asked if she wanted to run, but she didn't respond, so I headed to the park by myself. I set out and turned around fairly quickly. I ended up doing .82 miles and was feeling really crappy when I got a text from Kim that said that she was on her way. So she got up there and we did 3 miles. It is SO much better for me to run with Kim. It makes it enjoyable! When we finished the run, it was almost 10pm! The next run, I was dreading, and ran it on the treadmill. The next run I was dreading and didn't do.

So, my excuses reasons are, basically that it is too hot to train! Where I'm at, it is over 100 degrees every day and I either have to get up and run in the morning, or wait until 8pm or later. My runs are going to get longer, so I'll either have to get up super early or be running until 10pm at night. I don't want to do either. So I decided to do the Prairie Fire 5k and then I will train for the Wichita Half Marathon that is held in April, so I'll be able to do my training in the winter/early spring. I don't feel proud of this decision, but I think it is best for me. Just running in general is a challenge for me, much less running in super hot temps.

So, my focus for the rest of the summer is going to be on weight loss. Since I started running, my focus has been on running and my weight loss has slowed. So running is going to be an aid to my weight loss for now.