Woke up to beautiful weather today aka no rain, only 85% humidity with legs like lead decided to go out and tackle my 4x1k @5k pace with 3 mins recovery, this time I decided to make sure I could see the pace on my Garmin so as to make sure I hit the pace been off with the last couple of runs and also decided no music, need to focus on form and breathing.

The 1st one was a struggle only to find that I was running too fast, 2nd felt good, 3rd was a complete struggle and 4th was fine, I also had the pace wrong for the 5k was thinking 8:36 but it was actually 8:41, I did look before I left the house so ended up with 8:09, 8:29, 8:38, 8:38 but most of all love that during the 1k run avg HR stayed under 165.

Finisher today was 20/10 Tabata for 3 rounds jump rope, then 4 exercise repeat twice using my ugi ball and for the 3rd round various KB exercise with 1 rep of walking planks thrown in. I am loving this since I am able to get a great workout in when short on time, I still use Tabata Workout  Music just makes it easy.

After work met up with Shelby at the Silver Lake Police station to run 7 miles on the Bike and Hike towards Burst Park, was sure how this was going to go leads still felt like lead but otherwise I felt fine, heavy downpour before we started but it cleared up and it didn't start back up until the last miles, the run felt good, had a honey waffle before the run and that may have helped.

Hanging with Chalean again

I think for the first time in a long time my energy level is coming back and I am beginning to feel like myself again, for the first time this year I actually had energy and the desire after work to tackle my yard which looks more like a jungle, I have to take a picture tomorrow, I love this path way, it is so inviting and when the butterflies and hummingbirds are around it is even more livelier.

Got up earlier today and did my 1k interval and I have to say that it felt great and I didn't have to slow to a work after the 5k pace to catch my breath and was able to just keep running in and out of hard and easy with no problem. After the run, I added one of my favorite strength workout from Beachbody Chalean Extreme Push 1 since it targets mainly the arms and legs, also kept my eating in  check today, hopefully I can start working on losing the 10# that is sitting in my mid section. Dynamic Flexibility after the 1 mile warmup run.

Am looking for a new hydration system, I have a Nathan Handheld that I love but I need something for longer runs that either goes on my back or waist. I am thinking maybe get a multi bottle system since it will be nice to have multiple things to drink instead of the same thing for long runs.

I need to get back on the trails, ready miss running with the groups and the strength my legs got from all the hills.

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

 Buddha quotes (Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.)

A1k repeat after a 14 miles long run and a 7 miles base run was an interesting idea, can I really pull it off and stay on pace on tired legs. I really wasn't sure what my legs were going to feel like waking up this morning, but getting out of bed they felt fine, no aches or pain, so either the recoverite or the self massage to my legs or both is working. I decided to do the repeat on the lifetime fitness treadmill in the fitness center of my resort, one it is still hot and humid, still hilly, and I really want to hit the pace and the only way to ensure that is to do it on the treadmill back off if I can't handle the pace but I wanted to eliminate all the other variables that could make me fail.

I did the Dynamic Flexibility in my room before leaving for the fitness center, then did the 1 mile warmup @ recovery pace and then started the 1k repeat, the first was very hard not because of my legs but because I was still having problem breathing even thou I was indoors. I check my heart rate and I was still in zone 3 but on the higher end so I started making an extra effort to control my breathing. The 3 mins was enough to get my heart rate down to zone 2 and the other 3 intervals went fine, finish off with 1.4 miles @ base - recovery pace. Ended up with 5.9 miles @ 10:05

Got back to my room and then tackle Womens Health Bootcamp Week 4

20 split jumps

25 high knees

15 squat thrust with pushups   repeat 5x

side to side lunges - 15 per side

20 inchworms  repeat 2x

20 v-ups

20 situps    repeat 2x     23:01

then I added 1 mins plank, 30 secs side plank and 1 min elbow to hand plank.

Ate and took a nap, later went and saw the movie inception with the family, love it.

Week 14 Review

One more week down, and it was a good one, still hot but life goes on.

Monday
Plan:7 miles base pace (10:51 - 9:54)
Actual: 7 miles, 10:22 avg pace
Added some striders at the end, got back home and did some glutes and upper body work from exercise TV

Tuesday
Dynamic Flexibility -10 mins -done
1 mile warmup @ recovery pace 11:00 - done
Plan 4x 1k @ 5k with 3 mins
Actual 4 x 1k @ 8:17 pace with 3 mins @ 11:00
1 mile cool down @ recovery pace  11:00
Ended up with 5.64 miles average pace of 10:20

In the evening after work, did Steve Cotter Extreme KB Upper Body and Abs with my oldest son.

Wednesday
Plan: Cross Training
Actual: 1 hour on the Stepper then did Womens Health Bootcamp wk 3, the Turkish getup were hard.

Thursday
Dynamic Flexibility -done
1 mile warmup @ recovery pace-10:52
4 miles @8:36 pace
1 mile cool down @ recovery pace 10:52
6 miles 9:27 pace

After work I met up with Julie, she was kind enough to met up with me to give me the marathon bars I won on her site during her 1 year blog anniversary giveaway.  We had an interesting discussion about following a training plan, this all started when I asked what her next race was, she had a 5k schedule for this weekend. She loosely follow a training plan, but keep it flexibility to be able to race as needed, which was what I use to do about 2 years ago but my biggest problem was I love to race so probably raced more than I have properly trained for, I also wasn't getting any faster because I did all my runs at the same pace and didn't really challenge myself but ended up with overuse injury which I am still dealing it. Julie has a wonderful blog where she talks about her training and her adventure into multi sport, she is also sponsor by Marathon Bar.

After leaving Julie, I went over to meet my Chiro Dr. for some adjustment, I love talking to him because he is a triathlete, even though he is fast, I know he train hard for it so I always enjoy hearing about his training plan and past race result, funny enough I had the same conversation with him like I just did with Julie, he is working on breaking 4 hours on the marathon during his Ironman race later this year. He just did an half Ironman, to test out if his current training plan is working and he did the HM in less than 2 hours. He is following a training plan to make sure he stayed focus on his A race and only did specific races to gauge his progress and test out race day strategic.

In the evening, did Steve Cotter Extreme Kettlebell 10minsCardio and 2 rounds of the Lower body workout with my son.

Got my first order from Hammer Nutrition, ordered on Sunday, got it on Thursday with lots of freebie.

Friday
Took an unplanned rest day due to be being busy and planning for a getaway trip

Saturday
My intention was to wake up early, do my scheduled long run before we head out the door for Virginia, but I must have been so tired that I didn't getup until my husband woke me up saying it was getting late. We got to Virginia around 5pm due to multi accident on I95, I then decide I will cross train and switch long run to Sunday but I was so tired and also decided to spend the day with my family.

Sunday
Woke up at 7am, ate a slice of health nut bread with peanut butter, made my cafe latte perpetum (love the flavor) and headed out through the streets of Williamsburg, Va, it was already hot and very humid. I found the 6 mile asphalt trail that goes around the Ford's Colony Golf course, there are actually 3 asphalt trails around the golf course/resort, 6, 4 and 3 miles they intertwine somehow and quite hilly. I did the 6 mile loop twice and part of the 3 mile loop for my scheduled 14 mile run, since the loop passes the front of my room, I came back in  twice to refill there was no water on the route or gas station or store and it was too hot. My first time in I also ate a tropical flavor hammer gel. Had no problem with the perpetum or gel, not as fast a pace as I wanted but based on the 3 H - heat, humidity and hills it turned out to be a very hard run. Average pace = 10:55.  Ended the week with 32.83 miles.

Since I moved the long run to Sunday, and I know we are traveling back Thursday, I have to try to keep all my other runs on their scheduled day which means I am going to have to do the 7 mile BP tomorrow, 1k repeat on Tuesday, and the Tempo run on thursday before we leave or I can move that to Friday since I will be home then I will be running my long run on tired legs since this is 4.5miles at 10k pace.

I forgot my marathon stick, so no way to roll out the aches and pain, doing the best I can with some golf balls, we'll see how I feel tomorrow, did do a cold water soak after the run.

Still need to loose 10 pound  but not really doing much about it.

Week 13 - Build 2 Phase

Start of Build 2 phase

Training objective: Continue to build endurance; increase fatigue resistance at 5k pace and 10k pace; build efficiency at HM and marathon pace

Woke up early this morning but was groggy and tired so went back to sleep and moved the workout to after work. Didn't leave work as early as I would have liked so didn't start the workout until about 8:30pm which was after dinner and rest.

I decided to use the advanced workout feature in my garmin, so input today's workout into the training software and then downloaded to my garmin

1 mile @ recovery pace (12:12 - 10:52)
3x1k @ 5k pace (8:17) with 3 mins rest
1 mile @ recovery pace (12:12 - 10:52)

Actual workout
 1 mile @ 11:46
1k @ 8:36
1k @ 8:52
1k @ 8:32
1 mile @ 11:19

When I ran I had it in my head for some reason that my 5k pace was 8:36 and not 8:17, it was very interesting to see that my body listen to my head not the garmin since it stay around where my head said it should be, oh well my legs felt fine even though it was still very hot and humid.

Got back and did Barry's bootcamp Mission Specialist Lower Body Advanced and a thorough stretch on my own. Did Dynamic flexibility before the run.

Today was 1k intervals, I decided to give the Running Mate Lamp Post Drill a try, first time around instead of doing the short interval I did my required 1k @ 3k pace with 3 mins recovery, the music was great and the segment actually workout pretty well, so did

Dynamic Flexibility
0.4 mile warmup
4x1k @3k pace with 3 mins recovery

then restarted the Lamp post drill and did it as required with 8mph for the first round and 9mph for the second with recovery at 4-5mph, 4 mins recovery at 6mph, stopped when I got to 6 miles and cool down then did Cathe Slow and Heavy Legs to finish things off.

Yesterday only did 3 of my 6 scheduled 6 miles run since my ankles were still kind of sore and then did Cathe 4Ds Chest & Back, going down the stairs was kind of painful felt like I just ran 26.2 miles, massage and ice, no pain today.

I woke up this morning dreading my workout thinking I have a 3 miles tempo at 10k pace but got excited when my schedule shows 4x1k interval at 5k pace, okay so neither is a barrel of fun but I enjoy the intervals more than the tempo run but they are growing on me. So today's workout was

Dynamic Flexibility from Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training for Runners Book
1 mile warmup at recovery pace
4x1k @ 5k pace with 3 mins recovery
3x0.1mile all out sprint with .1 mile recovery pace
Recovery pace to 6 miles

Cathe 4DS Legs, Core + Stretch

Yesterday there was so much going on, so all I could manage was level 3 of 30 Day Shred.

Getting my son ready for college, we are taking him down on Thursday, so there is so much to get done and the fact that his financial aid is still screwed up and payment is due, makes things quite stressful.

Am trying to start getting to bed early so I can be getting close to 8 hours rest but it seems every time I try I always end up with a work crisis. Yesterday, was a perfect example, got into bed by 9:15pm and actually fell asleep right away only to be woken up at 11:36pm by my operators, after resolving the problem couldn't fall back at sleep. Toss and turn till 1:15am then got up and got a warm glass of milk and check email, got back into bed at 2:45am and reset the alarm for 5:30am but got up at 6:15am so not enough time for my planned workout, this is a non running day so went for a nice short workout.

Pilates Perfect-Buns & Thighs, I highly recommend this 10mins sequence, it really shows how weak my left leg is compare to my right and it seems to target just about every part of my leg.

Jillian Michael's 30 day Shred level 2


Yesterday
Dynamic Felxibility

6 miles - 3x1k intervals, I was able to stay on pace this time without excess rest and also added 3x.1 puke level (9mph) it is amazing people can run at this level for a long time.

Cathe 4DS Legs and Core + Stretch

Pilates Perfect Silhouette

Dynamic Flexibility

1 mile warmup @ 4-5.4mph (recovery pace)
2 x 1K @ 7.2mph (5K pace)
1 mile cool down @ 5.4-6mph (recovery to base pace)

Barry's Bootcamp Code Red