2012: Running

2012 brought a whole new adventure in running. I went from not being able to run at all in January, to completing my first full marathon in September. A few injuries along the way, but a great running year.

Total miles ran: 915

Total races: 10

Awards won: 2

5k’s

Run 4 Home. Second in age group

Oshkosh 5k.

Fox Firecracker 5k. 5k PR

Packers 5k. Ran with my sister.

5M’s

Festival Foods Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving

10k’s

Bellin Run

15k’s

Noodleini 15k

Half-Marathons

Cellcom Half-Marathon

Cheesehead Half-Marathon. 2nd in age group

Marathons

Fox Cities Marathon.

The majority of my races this year were ran in the summer and this summer in Wisconsin was HOT! It seemed like every time I had a race it was ridiculously hot. I did a lot of my training in the afternoon after work, which I think helped in these races because it was obviously hotter in the afternoon. Most of my runs took place on the Fox River Trail, either near my house or in DePere. I also ran quite a bit on Saturday’s with my running group.

I had a great racing season in 2012 and I expect 2013 to bring even BIGGER races and accomplishments

Sidelined…Again

Seriously, maybe I should just plan injury into my training plans. This is just getting ridiculous. At least this time it’s not my knee (although then it might be an easier fix).

Monday: I had scheduled 4miles. I went to my normal spot and started out. I felt okay the first mile, but then mile 2 started and my shin started to hurt. Bad, bad, bad. I ended up walking back and ending my run.

Tuesday: 7miles scheduled, but I wasn’t sure if I could run them. So I planned on testing out the first mile and see. Yep, stupid shins. So I quickly scheduled a chiropractor appointment because he helped my knees and then I went to Runaway Shoes and purchased some expensive awesome compression socks. I iced and compressed like a motherf’ker last night.

Wednesday: I wore my less expensive awesome compression socks to work today. Fashion diva here. And then went to the chiropractor where he tortured my shins (because, you know, I have shin splints). Went to the YMCA instead of running and even the bike hurt. So I did LOTS of weights. Taking out my aggression.

My plan for the rest of the week:
Thursday-rest. I have an appointment tomorrow after work and I’m going to just come home and rest, compress, and ice, ice, baby. It’ll be a grand time.
Friday- Day off of work, so I might go the YMCA early in the day because I have things to do in the afternoon. We’ll see how the rest day goes tomorrow.
Saturday- Sad to say, but I probably won’t be going to my running group. YMCA is again on the plan. Though there is a trail that runs right in front of the Y, so, if I’m brave, I may try out my shin on there.
Next week- All next week I’ll be up north. I plan on bringing my running clothes, but if my shin isn’t better, I’m going to walk a ring around the lake. Walk, walk, walk. Stretch, stretch, stretch.

So that’s the plan. I’m really frustrated because my training was going so well, but I’m doing everything I can right now to get back in the game.

June Summary/July Goals

June was a pretty successful month. Juneathon, friends, running. It had it all! Let’s see if I accomplished any of my goals for the month and make some new goals for July!

June Goals:

–Juneathon: Accomplished. I worked out every day, logged it, and blogged about it. I tried new things and I feel a lot better with my body.

–More strength training: I would consider this accomplished. Going to the YMCA helped me with this. I was able to use different machines there and use heavier weights there too. Welcome back, strength training

–Running Group: Accomplished. I met with them every Saturday (except the Saturday of the Bellin Run). I also went to one of their fun runs and to the monthly meeting. Everyone in this group is so positive and encouraging.

–Sign up for the Fox Cities Marathon and one other race on my schedule: Big time accomplished! I was able to sign up for the Fox Cities Marathon at a discounted rate at the Bellin Run race expo and I signed up for the rest of my races this summer.

–Go to the YMCA and take a spinning class: Sort of accomplished. I joined the YMCA, but I didn’t take a spinning class. I usually go to the Y on Friday’s and there aren’t classes offered on Friday’s. But I usually make an attempt to get on the bike while I’m there.

–Take more pictures: Accomplished. I managed to get to the Appleton Botanical Gardens and I took more pictures family functions this month and when I hung out with my friends.

–Visit one friend: ACCOMPLISHED!! I visited my friend, Tom, in Madison last weekend. And this weekend I was able to see him again, along with my other friend, Ella! Yay! Those were two of the best weekends and I hope I am able to to more stuff with them the rest of the summer.

–Finish one book: Epic fail. It’s really hard for me to read anymore because I don’t get any breaks at my job. At Walmart, I used to read on both of my 15min breaks and during my hour lunch. But now I really don’t have time when I get home because I have other things I want to get done.

June Summary:

–Ran in the Bellin Run! It was a lot of fun, despite the heat.

–Got new hours at work. 7am-3pm. It’s nice to get done an hour earlier, but getting up at 5:30am sucks sometimes.

–Started watching the new Dallas series. So far, so good!

–After seeing my uncles Ironman tattoo, I started thinking about maybe doing a triathlon in the future.

–I started taking three more multi-vitamins and I feel awesome.

July Goals:

–Take a spinning class this month: Maybe I can accomplish this goal in July

–Keep going to my running group: I would like to get some friends in my group. That was one of the reasons I joined was to make running friends.

–Get my school stuff straightened out: Look at my schedule, do my FAFSA, lame stuff.

–Keep visiting friends: I hope I can continue to see my friends and maybe see my cousin this month too!

–Start thinking of where I could work once school starts: ugh

–Attempt some speed work into my training

–Write out my schedule for the upcoming week on Sunday night

–Continue to keep up on blogging: with Juneathon, I had to blog once a day. It was hard some days, but not impossible. I don’t want to blog every day, but at least three times/week.

This month my family and I are going up north for a week, so I’m not sure how many of these I will be able to accomplish, but we will see!!

Juneathon Day 30: Out with a Bang!

Well, it’s the last day of Juneathon and it conveniently landed on my longest run since the half-marathon!

I was really nervous going into this run. My last 12mile run was really hard and I didn’t want a repeat performance. So I went in thinking about going slow and not worrying too much about my pace/time.

I met up with my running group again and we set out at 7am. I always seem to start out too fast when I’m with my group, so I tried to start near the back, with no success. My first mile was pretty fast.

The second mile and half of mile 3 were probably the toughest until the last two miles. I’m not sure why, I just didn’t feel right. But then I got into a pretty decent rhythm and it was smooth sailing from there. Literally, I felt awesome miles 3.5 to mile 10. My pace felt decent, I wasn’t straining to keep the pace I was going. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

There were two water stations and since this week’s route was an out and back, we hit each one twice. I brought along a packet of sport beans and a Peanut Butter Gu (I hadn’t tried that flavor yet. SO GOOD!). I took the beans whenever I felt like and I took the gel at mile 8. The first and last water stations I took water and the second and third I took Gatorade.

On the route this week there were TONS OF HILLS!! Oh my gosh, so many hills. And not just little hills either, these were pretty big hills. And since it was an out and back we had to do these hills TWICE. Gah! So lots of practice with hills this week.

Miles 10 and 11 were tough. It was getting pretty hot. I always try to kick it up a notch that last mile, but it was really hard.

Mile 1: 8:47 (ambitious)
Mile 2: 9:09
Mile 3: 9:39 (ouch)
Mile 4: 9:13 (yay!)
Mile 5: 9:26
Mile 6: 9:30
Mile 7: 9:13
Mile 8: 9:43
Mile 9: 9:29
Mile 10: 9:43
Mile 11: 9:33
Mile 12: 9:33

Overall, I’m really happy with this run. I was thinking about being in the  pace range of 9:40+ but all but two of my miles was above that, which I’m very happy with. If today would have been my half-marathon, I would have killed it.

Juneathon Day 30: 12mile run. 1hr 52min.

Juneathon Day 27: Experiment

Yesterday was in the 90′s (again), so it was a good thing I only had a 3 mile run. While I was at work, I got to thinking that I haven’t done a run where I didn’t worry about pace since I got my Nike+watch. I decided it would be a good day to run on feel instead of hounding a pace, especially when it was so hot.

I parked at a different spot by the trail, because I had to get home quickly after. But the whole trail was open! Yay! I put my screen so I just saw distance and headed out.

Unfortunately, the spot on the trail that I was by had no shade. And no shade for almost that whole first mile. The second mile had some more shade, but barely. When I turned around, the wind was blowing at me (and it was a pretty strong wind!) and I could tell that I may have gone out too fast and the heat was getting to me. Even though it was really hot, this run seemed to fly by.

I got back to my vehicle and was dripping with sweat. Yuck. Luckily I had some water in my car and I quickly drank that.

When I plugged in my watch to my computer, I was anxious to see how my run had gone. Well, it was as expected, I went out pretty fast and lost (a lot) of steam as the run went on. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Mile 1: 8:39

Mile 2: 8:57

Mile 3: 9:19

I don’t know how many of these kinds of runs I’ll do where I don’t look at my pace. But yesterday was so hot and it was only 3 miles, so it was a fun little experiment.

Juneathon Day 27: 3miles. 27:59.

Also, last night I had a meeting with my running club. The guest speaker was the race director of the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon (remember the one that got cancelled mid-race). It was interesting to hear what all goes on in calling a race and other little details. He did a very good job at explaining everything that happened this year. And he also talked about what is being looked at for next year to make the race better.

 

Juneathon Days 24 and 25

Sunday I had to attend my cousins graduation party in Milwaukee so I just did some crunches and push-ups. Nothing thrilling.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY (really really really) want to PR my upcoming 5k. Basically anything under 26min. My plan is go just go all out. Run like I’m going to die and then keep running. So I figure I’m going to have to practice faster running. Today I attempted fartleks with much success.

My Nike+ watch has a feature where I can tap the screen and it makes a lap. I used this feature to time myself with my fartleks.

The plan today was 4miles. I ran the first mile regular, then sporadically ran the middle 2miles, and ran the last mile regular again. Here are my mile splits:

Mile 1: 9:11

Mile 2: 8:51

Mile 3: 8:39

Mile 4: 9:05

I rested for about 30secs between each fartlek. Comparing the first few intervals to the last ones, I did get faster:
First few:
0.19mi- 8:12pace
0.14mi- 8:03pace
0.15mi- 8:26pace
Last ones:
0.20mi- 8:00pace
0.29mi- 7:51pace (yay!)
0.22mi- 7:46pace

This was my first attempt at it and I felt AWESOME after. It was so great. Better than just straight running for 4 miles. Fartleks and some speed work will be in my future training.

Juneathon day 24: crunches and push-ups

Juneathon day 25: 4miles. 36:21

Juneathon Day 23: Running and Walking

Yesterday I had my Saturday morning group run. After last week’s bad 10miler, I was a little nervous about this one. This week was only 7miles, but I was still nervous.

As usual, I got to Runaway Shoes at 6:50am, but I made sure to use the bathroom BEFORE we started running. Lesson learned from last week. While waiting for the port-o-potty, I chatted with a guy about running schedules and which distance we were both doing. He said he was a novice and asking ME about this stuff. I’m a novice myself! This is my first marathon, so I’m still learning. But it was cool to talk compare schedules with someone else too.

We did our stretches and then headed out. This run was so.much.better than last weeks. Complete difference. I felt full of energy and ready to go. This route was actually the same route we did three weeks ago, but most of the routes we run are on the Fox Cities Marathon race course. So it’s nice to get familiar with the terrain.

There were water stations at miles 3 and 5. I took water at the first one and Gatorade at the second. The last time we ran this course, I pretty much followed one guy the whole time. I tried catching up to him, but he was always the same distances in front. Surprisingly, I followed him this time too. Deja vu. This run felt a lot better than that one though. Maybe we are both getting better, haha.

Mile 1: 9:12

Mile 2: 9:10

Mile 3: 9:20 (water station)

Mile 4: 9:02

Mile 5: 9:16 (water station)

Mile 6: 9:08

Mile 7: 9:08

Oh yeah, I beat my 10k PR on this route too. 57:01! Yay!

When I was done, I quickly grabbed a piece of bagel and left because I was heading down to Madison to visit my friend, Tom.

He showed me around Madison and I had a great time! We walked all over State Street and by the lake. The weather was absolutely perfect. Needless to say, it was a great Saturday

Juneathon Day 23: 7mile run. 1hr 3min. Walking around Madison.

Marathon Training: Day 1

And so it begins….MARATHON TRAINING! I’m so excited. Pushing and testing my body this summer. Participating in Juneathon in a few days. Endorphins!!!

Surprisingly, on this Memorial Day, my run was has been the better part of my day. And my run even started off a little rocky.

Seeing that I had the day off, I was able to run my route by my house this morning. Hooray! It’s shaded, very peaceful and there is usually no one else on this trail. I gathered my things (watch, car key, visor) and drove to my route. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized that I forgot my iPod. Boo. I can’t remember EVER working out without music. I was tempted to go back to my house to get it (a 2 min drive), but didn’t really feel like it. It was already really hot, so I just wanted to get running.

I synced up my watch and was off.

Hello Trail

It was only 9:30am, but it was already almost 75* and really humid. The breeze helped a lot, although the trees blocked most of it. Seeing that I didn’t have my iPod, I focused on my breathing. 3 inhales with 3 steps:2 exhales with 2 steps. It was actually really nice without music because it was such a nice (warm) morning and I could enjoy it a whole lot more.

The plan for today was 3 miles. I’ve been REALLY trying lately to start off SLOWLY. The past few runs I’ve done really well with making the first mile either the slowest or one of the slowest. It always seems weird going slow, but I know I will have energy left over for the rest of my run.
Mile 1: 9:35
Mile 2: 9:47
Mile 3: 8:55

After 3 miles, I was so sweaty from the humidity. I went home and plugged my Nike+ Sportwatch into my computer, and nothing happened. My computer was displaying a malfunctioning message. I tried everything I could think of to fix it, but I ended up calling Nike+ Support. 35min later and countless attempts at fixing it, the only solution was to go to Target and return it for a new one. So this afternoon I went to exchange it. Hopefully this one will have better luck.

Have you ever had any problems with your GPS watch?

Are you good at starting your runs off slow?

Go Big or Go Home

I’m doing the Fox Cities MARATHON in September. There, I said it. No going back now.

After thinking, pondering, and looking over training plans, I’ve decided the marathon is what I want to do this year. My half training is going really well right now. I enjoy my longer runs and always look forward to them. My plan right now calls for a 3 mile run on Monday and Wednesday’s. I never really look forward to those because I just get into a groove and rhythm and then I’m done. My longer runs are so much more enjoyable because after a while I forget I’m running and it’s just me and the path a head of me.

My half is on May 20 and then I have a week rest and start into my Marathon training. I’m using Hal Higdon‘s Novice 2 plan for the Marathon, like I’m following for my Half training. I like his plans because they are simple to follow and I can easily move things around to fit my life. I want to join the Pacesetters of the Fox Cities running group because they do long runs for the Fox Cities Marathon on Saturday’s. There are about five Saturday’s where my long run length is the same as what they are running, so I would like to join them for those runs.

I’ve also found five races that I would like to do throughout the summer.

–Bellin 10k: June
–Firecracker 5k: July
–Sawdust Day’s 5k: July
–Pacesetters XC 5k: August
–Cheesehead Half-Marathon: August

So, yes, that is my summer and I’m super excited. I can’t wait to run outside, push my body and see what it can do

Do you have any big goals for the summer?