Akron Half Marathon

Gun Time: 2:17:28
Chip Time: 2:15:10 10k 1:03:30 15K 1:35:30 10:19 pace

Left the house at 5:30am, race start time was 7am sharp, got there about 6:23am, this was very well organized, parking was not an issue since all the city lots were free. Walked over to the starting point and used the potty right away since there was no line which was a good idea but there were potties all along the route across from the water station.

Had a hard time deciding what to wear for the race, since it was cold and I know it was going to warm up I couldn't decide, started out with long pants and long sleeve top but I was concern since I haven't ran in them before so switch back to short pants and short sleeve top and added a jacket which I took off at mile 3.

I stayed with the 10:20 marathon pacer, and pacer Jim did an excellent job keeping us in pace and entertained, he walked us through most of the water stop (15-20 secs) and told jokes through the run. We separated from the marathoners at mile 11, boy was is lonely when they left so from mile 11-13.1 I ran by myself, this was the first run for me without my mp3 player but there was marching band and different musical group on the route. Took 2 gel on the route and water at all stop except for the first one.

Not sure what happened to my Garmin between mile 11 and the end but I got weird result but looking at data from mile 1 - 10, my fastest pace was at mile 3-9:51 and my slowest was mile 1 at 10:47. This was a significant improvement over my first race went from 11mim/mile to 10:20.

Wore the adrenaline, didn't really have a choice will go back to vertical runner to find a new shoe, wore 2 different socks wore pro treads on the left and power max on the right . It was awesome watching Vince and the rest of the elite runner when we started, boy are they fast and graceful, want to be them when I grow up.

After the race went over to the massage area and got a very good 15mins massage, forgot where I packed since the start and the end point where different so took a while to find my car, then stopped at a Mexican restaurant and ordered some beef nacho just have a taste for Mexican food, then stopped at the store and got a bag of ice. Got home took a ice bath while eating my nachos and then got in bed, put my legs up on the headrest and took a nap. Taking inventory same place on my knees hurt, I may just go see a sport doctor but I had no problem running with it but may be losing the nail on my left big toe.

Signing up for Stomp the grape 10/20

ahh Life is good

Woke up happy this morning, reflecting on life, got up and did TT abs B and then 2 miles on the treadmill, then I got on the stepper and did 500 steps then on to the bike and did spinning for 5 mins. I decided to return the beast today, when I started running it I can tell that it makes mt feet heavy and tired, I switch back to the adrenaline and all was well with the world again. Got my box of GU from Amazon, just waiting for the socks. When to a spa event by the city today, got a hand message and a foot reflexology. I think I may try both of them for in house service since they are very reasonable. My feet feel wonderful after the foot reflexology.

No run

No run on the schedule for today so did 30 mins yoga quickie with Eoin Finn this is a wonderful practice with lots of focus on opening up the hips.

Long Day

Woke up tired o skipped my workout this morning, then my son(16 years old) wanted to go for a run this evening so I went with me, he is not a runner, absolutely hates to run so I couldn't pass up the chance to run and chat with him. Then I came back and did TT abs A increasing the weights to 25#. Am really worried that I am not ready for this race, it hurts every time I go out to run, mentally and ready, physically am not sure

Last Long run

Yesterday was my last long run before my race on 9/29, I went on the killer trail again the goal is to be able to run the whole trail without walking, it is mainly hills, with elevation changing from about 870ft to 1300ft, it is brutal on the legs and knees but it is humbling. Wore the beast still not sure how I feel about the shoe but i think I am going to keep it, my legs were fine after the run but they fatigue faster but it could be because it was a midday run and I also have no GU or water, i need to order a water body if I want to continue running the trail and away from home. The city trail have lots of water fountain but the state park and the neighboring city trail have no water.

Today is a rest day since I have only had one all month.

Bought 2 new Nike sport bra.

TT Abs C + 2 mile run

Didn't get that much sleep tonight again, last night was our football game due to today being Yom Kippur, so my son was up late again doing homework due to the band not getting back till 10pm. Did all the TT workout with 25# DB and then did my 2 mile run wearing the Brooks Beast replacement which I picked up yesterday, still not sure about the shoe, my shin hurt again when I ran with it, will try it again and may just return it and get the adrenaline again. Order some socks and a mixed box of GU from amazon. Need to plan what I need to do next month.

Need Sleep

We had some friends stop by last night and they spent the night they were on their way to DC from Chicago and realize they were close to us and they stopped, it was good to see them but it wasn't part of the weekly plan. Also my son's band team had a joined band practice with another school, can you imagine 520 band students playing at halftime boy are they loud, this of cause means my son's homework wasn't complete and he didn't get to finish until almost midnight so I offered to drop in off at school so he could at least get an extra 20 mins sleep, poor kids. Couldn't get up at 4:30am to workout but I ended up getting up at 5:45am after my brain went through my daily agenda and realize that I may not get a chance to fit it in if I don't do it now, but instead of running 3 miles I did 2.5 since I ran out of time, I only have 2 scheduled for tomorrow so will make it 2.5 instead. At end I added some sport drill butt kick, high knees and side run.

TT Abs B + 4 mile run

I was really tired this morning, woke up at 2am for some reason and couldn't go back to sleep so I wasn't sure if I was up to my scheduled workout but decided to just do what can and call it a day but I felt fine after I started so I got every thing in. I am really dreading the B workout of the TT abs, but I got through it did 2 rounds instead of 3 supersets then I got on the treadmill was thinking only a 2 mile run but I got in all four even though I didn't have any drinking water around but I didn't want to stop. Did fastest 2 miles today in 19:11 min. I realize today I can actually run a lot faster on the treadmill than I have going, so need to kick it up a notch and challenge myself. Bought a pair of 25# dumbbell at Target on sale for $12 and workout shorts and skorts both on sale.
Trying to find a massage therapist to help with the aches and pains so stopped by one today to check out the facility, am hoping to find a small place and not a big spa, so the MT can get to know me and my body better.

Speedwork

On schedule today was 3x1600 meters with a 400 meters recovery jog, scheduled mile was 6 miles so I did following all at a 1% incline on the treadmill
400 meters @ 4.0 mph
400 meters @ 4.5 mph
1600 meters @ 5.8 mph Repeat 2 more times for 3 sets

I was pretty amaze I could keep that pace for that long and feel fine after wards

then did

400 meters @ 4.0 mph
400 meters @ 7.0 mph repeat 1 time for 2 sets

then

200 meters @ 4.0mph
200 meters @ 8.0mph repeat 1 time for 2 sets

Cooldown

This was an awesome workout, I couldn't believe I could keep the fast pace. The goal will be to move the 8.0mph to 400 meters and the 7.0mph to 800 meters and there is still the time goal for the 2 miles.

TT ABs A + 2.65miles

Couldn't wake up this morning, it was cold and I was tired, so did an evening workout instead, came home did TT abs A then went to the park early to pick my son up from football and got a run in while waiting for him was suppose to do 3 but only got in 2.65 miles in before he was really and I decided to cut it short since he has had a long day and still have homework ahead of him.

I preview the online info on my 9/25 run, need to do some hill workout. I think I am going to sign up for a November half and that will be it for the season until Feb for the Arnold Classic 5K if I can squeeze it in.

Salt Fork State Park

What at Salt Fork this past weekend for a women's church conference, it was a runner's paradise, we stayed at the lodge and without kids and husband I was in heaven. Got up Saturday morning was going to do a 10m miler but my roommate wanted to join me so I switch my schedule and did 2 5 miles instead since I normally don't get a chance to run with a buddy I wasn't going to pass this up. It was a very good run considering she normally doesn't run but take spinning class, she was panning on running only 3 and then we were going to run/walk the rest but she ran the whole thing, I was so proud of her. 5.20 miles 65:59mins

Sunday, I went for the other 5 miles it was foggy and cold but such a wonderful run, love seeing the deer and the wild turkey. 5.27 miles 55:20mins

Did both run without my mp3 player, first time for that and my new Adidas short was fine, workout great didn't use glide on both run or eat or have accelerade. Just got up and went

TT Abs C + 3 miles

Today was 3 mile run I use the pyramid workout from podrenaline it was nice, took things easy since with this the first program I am doing that is having me run everyday even though it is lower mileage than the previous program. I also did workout C of the TT abs workout.

Returned my shoe yesterday, instead of going a size up, Vince wants to try a wide instead, he thinks the next half size up is way too much toe run.

I pick up 2 running shorts from the Adidas outlet store, I have been looking for shorts with compression shorts underneath them instead of the underweat underneath since they always rise up when I run and I hate that.

Going away for a church women's conferenc today, hoping I will be able to get my long run in since I am not that far from a State Park, actually one of the largest in Ohio.

4 mile run

Scheduled for today was a Tempo run did

1 mile walk at 4mph-1% incline (14:08mins)
2 mile run at 6.0 - 6.2mph -1% incline (19:50mins) :)
1 mile hill work at 5mph with incline from 1-5% (12:00mins)

20 Karen Voight Yoga Stretch

TT Abs B + 3 Miles

Yesterday, did TT workout B and 3 miles on the treadmill

DB Bulgarian Split Squat - 20#
Elevated Pushup hand on yoga block
Inverted Rows
Bear Crawl
KB swing - 35#
Burpees
Turkish Get up
Plank
Side Plank

It is beginning to get cold over heard but it is a perfect running weather, need to start figuring out how to dress for colder weather.

Today overslept so did 2 miles on the treadmill in the morning and then while my son was at Bass practice did 2 more miles. I was looking at my McMillan Report http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm and it indicated based on my best 5k run I should be able to do 2 miles in about 18:40, well right now am doing it in about 21:45, so I think this will be a nice goal to work towards. So for today I did 4 of my scheduled 5 miles.

Day After

I woke up this morning with minimal aches and pain so did my scheduled workout as planned, well minus 1 mile due to lack of time.

TT Warmup + The Biggest Loser 2 DVD warmup
Prisoner Squats - 12 reps
Pushups - 10 reps
Stickups - 10 reps
Spiderman Climb - 6 per side Repeat 1X

TT Abs A
Split Lunge 15#, 20#
Chest Press, 15#, 20# Repeat

DB Row- 44#
Shoulder Press - 12#

Lying Triceps Extension - 15#
Chin-ups Repeat

Ball Rollout
Ball Jackknife
Med Ball Chop 8# Repeat 2x

3 mile Walk using itread 21

Sage Yoga Hip Opener

I am going to return the shoe I bought last week, I think I need a bigger size to accommodate my left foot and I really need it since my other shoe is still wet from yesterday.

I had an intersting conversation with one of the ladies while running yesterday, I found out that she lived around the Rocky River area which is where I have been going for a free Crossfit workout on Saturdays, the workout is about 30mins and well organized, I mentioned the workout to her since it is free but she indicated that she only runs not strength training since she doesn't need and can't fit it in anyway. I can understand elite runners limiting weight training but I do not understand regular runners skipping, I view lots of runner's blog to see how they are training since I am new at this and notice that a lot of them run long miles but with no cross taining or strength training, even in offf times when they have no plan race. How do you grow as a runner or prevent injury, if all you do is just run and not give the body a break via cross training and strength training.

First Half Marathon

The race is done and I finish with no walking except at the water station still haven't master the run drink technique yet. The weather was very nasty rained hard through out and it was very humid. I could barely see with my glasses and at some point started following the white line on the road.
I got to the race location at 7:15am and went straight to the portable potty before the long lines form, then I went and picked up my sweatshirt, glad they gave us sweatshirt and not T-shirt since it was much needed after the race.

I stood way behind the 2:10 pacer there was suppose to be a 2:20 but he/she was no where to be found and off we went, it took me about 1:30 mins to cross the start line and I felt fine, my legs clicked in right away, I didn't have my usual waiting still the end of mile one for the pain to stop and legs to click in.

I met up with Lia at about mile 2 and I hung with her till about mile 7.5 when I had to keep going because she was already slowing down on the hills funny enough I think she could probably be a better runner than me or at least she have done more races and is 6 years younger but she talk her self down, she knew there was a hill and was afraid of it, also knows she is going to slow down at about mile 10, I tried to encourage her as much as I can but I couldn't slow down any more since it hurts my knee to go too slow on hills and I wanted it over with, so I completely left Lia at about mile 9.

It was a funny race, the city ordered them to take the big mile markers down so as I was crossing mile 1 the markers were coming down, there was nobody telling time at the mile markers, they ran out of water at mile 10, which was a crucial point since it was the top of the hill, the road wasn't close and there was also a bike race and they passed us about mile 5 and went another direction. Did I say I was wet. :)

Mile 1 10:14 Fastest
Mile 2 10:33
Mile 3 10:58
Mile 4 11:02
Mile 5 11:53
Mile 6 11:27
Mile 7 11:14
Mile 8 11:17
Mile 9 12:06 Slowest Nasty Hill
Mile 10 10:45
Mile 11- 10:18
Mile 12-10:32
Mile 13-10:52

Next HM is scheduled for the 29th, actually it is the first half for the Akron marathon and I got a reduced fee for signing up for both HM so I went for it. Back to training but I feel fine, my knee and feet hurt slightly but not unbearable.

Last SP workout

I have decided to switch to the TT abs workout next week, my abs right now seems like the weakest/ugliest part of my body so maybe a little more focus will help, so today was the last Summer Project, I may come back later and finish up the last 2 weeks.

1x16
1.Overhead Squat-22#Body bar
2. Bent over Row-115#
3. Step-ups 44#KB
4. Bench Press - 20#
5. Hack Squat - 56#
6. Reverse Crunches
A1. One Arm KB snatch - 26#
A2. Clap Pushups from Knee
A3. Forward Lunges

Beginning to get a little bit anxious about the HM, but I know I am prepared and can finish even if I have to run/walk, will try to get things setup tomorrow, am still not quite sure how to get there so I am going to try to leave early, hopefully I don'i forget to eat.

Last running day

Well, today is my last scheduled run before the race, I tried out the beast and balega on the treadmill this morning running 5 miles , my feet felt fine but my left hip and shin hurts about 2 miles in but felt better after a stretch am going to go out for about 2 this afternoon when I go to pick my son up from Football to try the shoe out.

I feel I need to try to find a running group, instead of doing a lot of the runs on my own especially the long runs but my local group here, when I check the website seems a little intimidating , with lot of people winning age groups and stuff like that and somewhere on the website it says there runs are at an 8min pace and nothing about all abilities welcome, so am not sure about that.

The local running store I went to yesteday actually do a trail running 101 class, am going to try to go to that, I'll love to trail run since I have so my park trails around me but I am not up to going on a trail by myself. This same group also put on long races around the area, so I am going to try to keep an eye on their website so as to find out when they have planned events.

New Shoe + Sock

After my run yesterday, I knew I needed to look for a new shoe and sock, my feet just didn't feel fine and I had to ice my right foot this morning. So while at Vertical Runner to pick up my race bib, I decided to use their help in finding a new pair of shoe and socks. Tested many shoe brand and style and settled on the Brooks Beast (this is a men style but it fitted the best) and balega socks was in love at first trial. I also bought 2 packs of Gu outrageous chocolate, it taste just like fudge for the HM. I had a wonderful inexperience their, it was nice to have someone observe the shoe while when I had them on and when I decided on which one I wanted, I ran outside with it just to make sure, people probably thought I was crazy, 90 degree heat jogging with jeans on.

Today did summer project for Monday and Wednesday combined, well my way anyway and then added on 2 miles using the new itread hill series, nice run.

Looked at the Buckeye HM website and they have pacers for the race with the last pacer being 2:20, so I am going to hang with them and see how I do.

If I am going to be a runner, I may as well start training and paying attention to my gear, I couldn't believe I paid $10 for a pair of sock but running in them my feet was in heaven and with the side of my feet didn't feel like they are going to fall out so we will see how they do in training, I have 30 days to test ad return the shoe if they did not work.

I need a goal race for October, so have to keep looking probably something less than a HM so as to give my body a break from the double this month

Back Home

Got back from Chicago late last night and all is well just need to readjust again, this one day vacation are hard, the kids get use to staying up late and sleeping in just when they are just getting use to getting up early.

Sunday
Elliptical Hill and KB workout

5, 10 using 26#

Snatches
Cleans
C&P
Jerks
1 arm swing
front squats workout time 42:17 mins


Monday
150 reps workout 3x

15 situps
25 BW Squats
15 push ups
50 jumping jack
20 mountain climber
10 close grip pushups
15 situps

this took about 13 mins this was a quick no nonsense workout.

Tuesday
Skipped the morning run just too tired but got a run in the evening when I went to get my son from football, went early and ran we scheduled 4 miles easy run, this wasn't pretty but I did it. I had to test out my knees and toe ( did some thing to it when I played soccer with the kids on Saturday in the park), too a while to get my legs back and through out the run I was really wondering if I am up to really running a HM, my legs are just not catching up with what or where my brain things we should be. Need to keep icing the toe and knee but they wern't as bad as expected.

Realized today the the right sock plays an important part, the new Adidas's performance socks are just not working, my feet hurt and it feels like the shoe has no sole left even thou they are only about 2 months old, will look for running socks tomorrow when I pick my package for the HM.
4miles 11:27pace found a new route behind tech middle school only went half way, I tried running on the track at the middle school but my feet was hurting, it was very soft felt every bones and pain in my feet but it felt fine when I moved back to the grass or black top.

New Month-Goals

After my initial post I realize that this is a new month and I have to set my goals for the month.

Goals:

1. Run 2 HM already schedule for this month
2. Get to bed before 10pm which means limit my nightly computer time.
3. Keep up with weekend 2 hour runs
4. Do yoga at least once a week
5. Work on my nutrition

August Review:

On the road today

We are in Chicago for the weekend, got here early this morning not much to do, started reading Anabolic Diet that I got off of ebay on Thursday but got bored and missed my workout so I took th ekids to the park with me instead of them just sitting in tth ehouse playing wii and I did my workout while the kids played, it turned out to be really nice workout.

Walked 4 times back and forth betwen the soccer field then went to the playground did 25 pushups, 25 mountain climbers, 25 body weight row 2x

walked 4 times between soccer field then 15 pushups, 15 bodyweight row, chinup with 15 count hold, hang with 15 count hold and 15 BW squat 2x

walked 4 times between soccer field then 15 squat, chinup with 15 count hold, drop plank with 15 count hold, tricep pushup, BW squat and chin up with 15 count hold

This took about 30 mins and it was quite a workout, my heart rate got up to 145bpm

It was intersting how my body feel after missing my workout today, Saturday is normally my long run and not doing anything felt weird, I also took a nap because my body needed it and that felt great too. I am also trying to control my eating so I have been eating a lot of watermelon better than the alternative.

In Dave's Whitley's blog yesterday, he said "NEVER apologize for your strength!" that is so awesome when I acheive a goal it is mine and I should never compare myself to someone that can do it better, I will get there some day I just have to keep setting my goals one step at a time and I am so proud of me.