Pain

I was starting to have pain in my left hip area last week, so I was thankful to have a super busy week of birthday planning for my oldest baby girl Abbi.

I was so busy with planning the party, school functions and work that I could not get to the gym. So I thought great, a week to rest my hip.

This morning we headed to the gym. Kids are on spring break-momma had to get her run on. I ran for the first time in a week. 2 miles in 20 minutes. not too shabby but not too great either. oh well. I got off the dreadmill and hopped on the stepper. That's when I felt the pain even more. Ouch. I have no idea what is causing the pain, but it hurts. I'm thinking it's a hammy strain of pull? It feels like the tendon leading to my butt bone is over stretched or something. I hope it gets better before my race at the end of April!!! I'm thinking I'm gonna stick to the elliptical (snore) for a bit then ease my way out to running. I'm gonna get my Yoga poses on as well. Pigeon pose anyone?

Shades!

Yee hee hee!!! I found a pair of sunglasses!! woo hoo. They're nothing fancy, nothing great but they do the job. I found them at Walmart- for 5 bucks! Can't beat that. They are super light weight, have grippers on the nose for non slippage and pretty decent looking...

pay no attention to ginormous faucet...

  Now I just need to get out there and try those puppies out. Won't be happening tonight, I have to work. Maybe just maybe-tomorrow after work!

55 and sunny!!!

I'll be doing an outdoor run today, after Ken gets home from work....I'm scheduled to do an easy 30 minute run- I'll report back soon!!!

Damn, I really need those sunglasses!

Cross train~

I didn't do another 4.5 today. I cross trained instead. If that's what it's even called. I just ran two miles, then I did the stepper machine for 30 minutes. Good workout. I know I need to do more weight training, but again, that fear I have...sucks. Monday I'm starting the Beginner's Running 1/2 marathon training schedule-
It looks like this:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Rest	2 mi	Rest	2.5 mi	Rest	3 mi	2 mi EZ
2	Rest	2 miles	Rest	3 mi	CT or Rest	4 mi	2.5 mi EZ
3	Rest	2.5 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	5 mi	2 mi EZ
4	Rest	3 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	6 mi	3 mi EZ
5	Rest	3 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	7 mi	3 mi EZ
6	Rest	4 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	8 mi	3 mi EZ
7	Rest	4 mi	Rest	4 mi	CT	9 mi	3 mi EZ
8	Rest	4 mi	CT	3 mi	Rest	10 mi	3 mi EZ
9	Rest	5 mi	CT	4 mi	Rest	11 mi	Rest
10	3 mi EZ	4 mi	Rest	3 mi	CT	12 mi	3 mi EZ
11	Rest	CT	Rest	3 mi	CT	5 mi	2.5 mi EZ
12	Rest	2 mi	20 minutes	Rest	20 minutes	Race Day!	Rest Day!

I'm hoping to get my long runs in Saturdays-before work. That may just mean I'll have to get up waaaaay early to get them in! It's starting to get warmer- so those early runs may just be what I need~  The 1/2 isn't until August so hopefully, this will allow me enough time to double weeks when I have to.

I told myself that I'm going for a trail run tomorrow. We have a trail by the house that's 2.65 miles around. I trained a bit last year and walked for most of it. I'm hoping that this year I'll run it all the way around- I think I can do it!! I have a hard time with my speed when I'm not on the treadmill. I love the treadmill because it tells me where I'm at. On the road, I usually end up starting too fast and burn out only after a few minutes.
Is that why runners wear those heart rate monitors? I'm always seeing them check their watches while running. Does this help them slow down or speed up? What monitor is the cheapest, yet best option??

Great run!

Great run today- No pain, no boredom ( I was watching CNN-maybe that's the trick) everything felt great! I ran 4 1/2 miles today- in 49 minutes! So freaking proud. I'm following the B210K program and usually when the little guy says, "You are half way done"- I'm walking. NOT today! I felt great, had a 5.5- 5.7 pace going on the treadmill and just felt like I could run for hours. Thank you Anni, for not having poo, thank you for not crying!
I also wanted to rejoice in my speed. I'm still s l o w. Buuuut, I'm getting better! Much better. When I started running way back in 2007 my speed on the treadmill was 4.0. HA! Today, I kept my pace between 5.5 and 5.7. Then I decided to kick it up a notch and ran at a 6.0. For 12 freakin minutes!!!!! That's crazy talk to me :)

This running thing still amazes me. Amazing that I, "Too many Twinkies", can run any amount of time. To actually run 4 and a half miles and not be dead-it's amazing! I'm starting to get my legs back too-that right there is motivation enough! I'm still searching for sunglasses tho. It's eventually going to get warmer outside and I will need them definitely on the Bunny run. Just don't know what to look for.

All in all today was a great running day for me. I surely do hope it's the same way tomorrow. I'd love to get another 4 1/2 miles under my belt!!!

B210K

Have you seen the C25K? Ya know, couch to 5k? I used that app last year to get me to 3.1 miles. I used it on my iphone and ran and ran and ran and finally graduated and was able to run 3.1 miles. YAY! Well, the lovely people who made that app, also made a B210K, bridge to 10K, app as well. That's what I'm using now. I just finished week 3 Day 1. It's a 5 minute warm up, run for 17 minutes, walk for a minute and repeat 2x's cool down 5 minutes. Whew! it was tough!!! Thankfully Day 2 and Day 3 are the same thing. I *might* have to stay on week 3 for more than one week tho. It was hard for me! The first two 17 minute runs were easy peasy. It was the last one that got me. I got bored and wanted to stop. How do you trick your mind into not being bored? Got any tips for me???

March check in...

So, today is March 3rd. YAY!! Almost spring time!!! You know running season is upon us when all of the treadmills are in use at the gym. All the runners out there are getting themselves ready for outdoor running and races. Myself included! As you know, I set a 45 mile goal for this month. So far, I've got 4.5 miles in. Today was a cross training day for me. I wish it was a running day tho. I ran a mile today and it felt a w e s o m e. I felt as if I could've run that 1/2 marathon no problem. Why is that??? I struggle with some runs but other runs, such as today's easy run,  was just that-easy. I even sped it up some! I sure do hope it comes easy for me tomorrow....I wanna run!!