Weekend Wrap-Up and Week 12

20 miler done on Memorial Day on the beautiful and almost flat course of the Mt. Vernon Trail which starts in Alexandria, VA and goes into DC. Only looking to improve from here and goal for this training run was to stay steady and get to 20! 

Also I wanted to enjoy the trail and my legs appreciated the mostly flat terrain yet there where a couple of good hills.  I started the trail at mile 8 which is a bit before Alexandria and went south to the begining of trail (George Washington's House) and then turned around and went into Alexandria and then turn back to the middle of trail where I parked my car.

  

Here some facts about the trail from their website:

The Mount Vernon Trail is a big favorite of area cyclists. The trail offers wonderful views of the Potomac and DC monuments. There are also several points-of-interest along the way, including George Washington's home at Mount Vernon, Olde Town Alexandria, Arlington National Cemetery, and the local's favorite Gravelly Point (at the north end of National Airport's main runway).
The trail is some what tricky to follow as it passes through Alexandria because there are actually two route choices, both of which are on street. The more popular route is along the waterfront, via Union Street. There are several shops and restaurant around the King Street intersection. However, some may find that North Royal Street provides a more direct route. Either street route is quite bicycle friendly.

   

On Sunday I did 10 miles and on Saturday I did 4 miles. I will do 4 miles this Friday as I still need to make up a 4 mile run. I will then have left a 40 minute tempo run to make up to catch up to schedule.

I did the 45 minute tempo run last Thursday and 5 mile run on treadmill last Wednesday.

Week 12 looks like this -

 

May 25 - Monday - 4 miles (did this on Saturday - pre make up if there is such a thing)

May 26 - Tuesday - May 26 - 6 miles

May 27 - Wednesday - 5 miles

May 28 - Thursday - 7x800

May 29 - Friday - Rest (4 miles)

May 30 - Saturday - 6 mile pace

May 31 - Sunday - 12 miles

Though I have a 20 miler scheduled for next week I will actually be doing my next 20 mile run in New York with the New York Road Runners (NYRR) on July 26th. This is a fantastic trainer as you under race conditions as you are timed, there are water stops and you are running with others. I have always done at least one of these 20 mile runs that NYRR puts on when I have trained in the past and it has always helped me gage where I am training wise and toughens up my legs as running in Central Park is always a good run. I also will do the second 20 miler they put on in August.

 

So June is right around the corner! Summer plans besides running - hitting some water parks and enjoying beach time. What are your summer plans?

 

 

Delayed Weekend Wrap Up and Week 10! Hooray!

So quick weekend wrap up - I did not run 9 miles on Mother's Day yet had an amazing Mother's Day :)! 


I decided then that I would meet Week 10's demand and will add the 9 miles now to my 40 minute tempo and 4 mile workouts that I need to fit into my schedule within the next weeks as these workouts where missed completely from Week 9.



Week 10 Workout is below:
Monday          5/11          3 miles
Tuesday          5/12          9 miles
Wednesday     5/13          4 miles
Thursday        5/14          6xhills
Friday             5/15          Rest
Saturday         5/16          9 mile pace
Sunday           5/17          19 miles
________________________________
Total                                44 miles



Monday's 3 miles was done on the treadmill at gym.




Tuesday was a tough day as I went out with all intentions to run my 9 miles during lunch and I began on my route yet my watch took the longest time to find my location. By the time the gps on the watch was ready I had been out about 30 minutes already and decided to go back to work and do a weight training workout in the gym instead with hopes to run after work. I did a leg workout at the gym yet was not able to run after work.



Wednesday was the first time I think this year that I was able to get out in the EARLY MORNING on a WEEKDAY to get out for my run! I got out at 6am - though my goal was 5:30am which I am going to stive for - and got back in about 7:45 am and had 15 minutes to get ready for work yet I was so happy to have made it out! I completed my 9 miles in abouat a 10 min/mile average pace.


I figured that once a week for my longer run weekday workout -Tuesdays - I will go out between 5:30am and 7am to run this workout. By the way...I could not do any of this without my amazing Husband who I owe my ability to run too.  The time that it takes to train is ALOT and I try to run when it is less intrusive to my family, i.e., during work and early mornings yet anytime away from work and my family is time sacrificed and my husband had been awesome in helping reach my training goals!!!!



Today, Thursday I will do 4 miles and tomorrow morning I will do 6xHills as my schedule shifted due to Tuesday's botched workout. 



Ok Wednesday's weigh-in results are below! I finally got a digital scale so I can report on how my weight changes and will be taking measurements with my cool new pink measurement tape on a bi-weekly basis from now. 


Starting my journey I was about 153 pounds (I said on April 15th's blog I was about 150 but I will go of 153 as that is what my report states from annual physical before my journey began so will start there) and as of Wednesday's weigh-in I am 146.8 pounds so 7 pound weight reduction.



I was hoping to be unde 143 meaning losing about a pound a week, yet I have been slaking in counting my calories daily and will begin afresh as of tdoay with calorie counting on my app (Everdayhealth) and journaling all food intake. No short cuts - READING ALL LABELS!!!! DOCUMENTING ALL CALORIES!!!!





So measurements from April 15th on old measuring tape are below.  I mention my old measuring tape as it was short and I had to do much calibrating to get to these measurement below. Yet I will use as that is all I have. My new pink measuring tape is better and more accurate so going forward I should be good!
Bust        33
Arms      12
Waist      34
Hips        40
Thighs     22



Yesterday's Measurement on my new cooler tape are -

Bust          32
Arms         12
Waist         32
Hips           41 - I don't think I gained an inch yet think my measuring last month was off so let see 
                          how I do in 2 week ;)
Thighs        23  - same thinking as above for hips :)

Looking forward to these measurement going down as my journey continues!  I feel great and continue stretching yet can get better.  Weight training still needs work and will get a more detailed schedule going soon.


How do you keep up with all the moving parts of your fitness life balanced!? From diet to calorie counting to workouts to following a training program; there are a lot of moving parts yet the journey is all about getting those parts in sync and enjoying the benefits!


Here's to BQ'ing in 2015,
Yvonne

  

  

 

Half Marathon Down and Completing Week 9

 198    Yvonne     Silver Spring  MD     417    35 F      31 30-39     1:58:40.1   9:04/M

http://www.charmcityrun.com/content/results/overall_mdhalf_15.htm

Yeahhh, I finished the half marathon in 1 hour and 58 minutes at a 9:04 min/mile pace. I came in 198th place...lol...out of 711 runners who ran the half marathon and 31st place in my age group (30-39).  I am  happy to be under 2 hours yet this shows I have A LOT of work to do still. You can view the race results at the link above!

This half marathon was a challenging one which took place in the community of Maple Law in Fulton, MD.  As a runner who ran the race last year put it, "its a challenging half" and a runner who stood behind me at start line said she heard it was "hilly"!  Yeah, so did I, yet I knew this going in and I wanted to train on this difficult route to really challenge myself through the tough parts.

Where there is a hill, there is a valley....kinda like life!  So I pushed through the hills and tried to devour the declined sections by pushing myself to really go faster during the downhills. The first 4 to 5 miles felt all up hill and it was really difficult for me to start this way as I did not warm up before the race which would have helped - maybe running about mile would have been ideal.  The rest of the course was rolling with up and down hills. Yet I am happy I got to the finish line. 

 

As to training, unfortunately I did not run yesterday as I had planned to do 4 miles Friday and I also missed my 9 miles on Tuesday.  I know....so this definitely affected me this morning. I am looking forward to hitting all my workouts next week.

On Thursday I did do the 6x800 speed workout on the treadmill and did all 800 meters (.50 miles) at a 8:00min/mile speed with a 200 meter (.25) lower speed pace in between.  I felt really strong at this pace and will now no longer go under 8:00min/mile or 7.5 speed on treadmill for speed work. 

Tomorrow -Sunday, I plan on doing  9 miles instead of the 40 minute tempo workout. I want to get this 9 miles under my belt for the week and will make up the missed 4 mile and 40 minute tepo workouts later in schedule.

It's Mother's Day tomorrow and that is why I said I plan on doing 9 miles....it will be really hard to get out of bed yet I am going to look at the workout as a gift to myself! 

Hope you have an amazing and Happy Mother's Day !

Where did Week 8 Go and Hello Week 9!

Along my 17 mile run selfie :)

 

Wow, Week 8 is a blur for a couple of reasons...one, parents came to visit for the weekend and after my high from running 16 miles I lost a bit of momentum, yet I am  getting back on wagon and looking forward to Week 9 with a half marathon at the end!

Last Monday I missed Monday's 3 mile workout :( various excuses from work to fatigue. On Tuesday I made it up by doing 3 miles on treadmill and did not do the 8 miles for this day yet made it up on Friday.

On Wednesday I did the 4 miles for this day on treadmill and finally got in a squat workout!

I missed Thursday's 40 minutes tempo run and will make this workout up on a later date on training schedule.

 On Friday, instead of rest, I did 8 miles on treadmill as make up for Tuesday's missed workout. First hour I did 6.63 miles and last 1.40 miles in 11:43 minutes. Getting better as was under a 9 min/mile for this workout!

 

On Saturday I ended up missing my 8 mile run as the parents, hubby, I and Enzo went sightseeing. I could have gone out for my run yet I blew it and opted to stay in bed...one of those days. Yet it was a amazing day and I ended up making up the 8 mile run on Sunday. Definitely fatigued my 8 mile outside run was slow and it was on my trail which had more inclines as I knew I would be slow so opted for the harder workout with store inclines due to my lazy Saturday.

So I am at week 9 which is suppose to look like this -

May 4       Monday       3 miles

May 5       Tuesday       9 miles

May 6      Wednesday   4 miles

May 7      Thursday       6x800

May 8      Friday.           REST

May 9      Saturday        REST

May 10    Sunday.         Half Marathon

 

However week 9 for me will look like this as my Half Marathon is Saturday not Sunday and I had to make up my Week 8 - 17 mile long run today as yesterday turned into .... yes an unexpected rest day...will need to elimate these unexpectancies asap. The 17 miler started sluggishly yet I after a couple of miles I got into a good rythm though slow. Unfortunately I thought I had enough battery life on watch yet it died when I hit mile 14.3...so I had about 2.7 miles left that did not get recorded. Yet I took picutes to show that I did 1.2 miles from around mile 14.5 and then from the park to my house is like alittle over a mile - so I should of hit 17 miles! Will make sure I have a full battery on my watch and not rely on 3 bars for runs longer than 13 miles!

 

 

My Week 9 Schedule now looks like this -

May 4    Monday            Rest

May 5    Tuesday           17 miles

May 6    Wednesday       9 miles

May 7    Thursday          6x800

May 8    Friday              4 miles

May 9    Satruday          Half-Marathon

May 10  Sunday            40 minute tepon run (make up from Week 8)

 

I believe I race better when I have ran they day before. I have rested before a race and have felt sluggish at the start. When I are ran be for a race I have felt stronger at the start so the 4 miles will be a light run just to get in the mileage and my legs warm for the race.

So looking forward to my race on Saturday. I picked up my number yesterday! So ready to finish off week 9 with a race!

 

I have not forgotten about "Wednesday Weigh-Ins" and looking forward to seeing my progress weight and inches wise - will do this next week Wednesday to celebrate week 10 and hopefully be 10 pound lighter from my starting weight and hopefully decrease in inches as well.

 

 

Here's to BQing' on 2015,

Yvonne