91 days to go

Bad news... this morning I planned on running 7 miles, but at 5.5 miles in, a muscle in my back started giving me trouble and forced me to slow down and eventually stop.  The funny thing is that I felt really good up to that point.  I kept up a 5.5 pace for over 45 minutes, breathing was easy and not labored, and I maintained an even stride.  I was really enjoying my run up to that point.


I ran 6.6 miles (in 80 minutes) today, but probably should have stopped by 6.  I had my mind set on a 7 mile goal, though, and once I get my mind set to do something it's difficult to not do it.  (Especially, when I know I have friends and family reading up on my training - I want to prove I can do this!)  It didn't help that my husband and I spent the rest of the day walking around at the Philadelphia Auto Show.  My pedometer tallied up 5 more miles as a result and my legs are beyond worn out.


I think I may be pushing myself to go too far too quickly.  Only last week I started adding a fourth run to my weekly schedule.  On top of the extra run, I ran almost 7 miles last Saturday (my farthest run yet).  I ran this past Thursday too and covered 5 miles in 60 minutes.  I need to be smarter not only about eating right, but also about how often and how hard I run.  I've read in a few sources that runners aren't supposed to increase their weekly mileage by 1-2 miles.  Here I am increasing my mileage these past two weeks by probably 5 or 6 miles.  Needless to say, this week I will be taking it easy.  Hopefully that pulling muscle in my back was a once and done incident.  Please keep me in your prayers as I train!

94 days to go

I had every intention to run at least 4 miles today. A friend and I were going to run outside this afternoon, but something came up and she had to back out at the last minute. I decided to run outside anyway since I already had my gear with me. Now, I am NOT a cold weather person and despise having to run when it's chilly outside. I think the high was something like 44 degrees today. That translates to "cold" in my book. Everything under 50 degrees is cold! Anyway, I went to a local park and ran the blacktop trail they have there. It looked like it was marked as being a one mile loop. I ran around three times and felt pretty good. My legs felt strong, I had a lot of energy, and I was moving at a good pace. I expected running outside to be a lot harder since I have only been training on the treadmill and the last time I ran outside was early December. The sun was beginning to set at that point, so I decided to call it quits for the day. When I got back to my car I checked my cell phone. I had set it on to the timer mode before I started. It had only been 25 minutes! Either I ran a lot better than I thought, or the trail at the park was very off. I doubt I ran faster than a 6 mph pace (AKA 10 minute mile) so I'm guessing that I ran between 2.25 and 2.5 miles which kinda bums me out. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day.

96 Days to go

It's been a long day.  Maybe my body hasn't fully recovered from Saturday's run, but I'm tired.  I started receiving an email from runner Bart Yasso describing a weekly training plan to prepare me for the race.  The last couple of months I've been trying to run three times a week.  Now that the race is getting closer and I want to make sure I'm thoroughly prepared, I am upping my number of runs to four times a week.  This is going to make my life even more crazy, but in the end I think it will be worth it.

Today I ran 4.3 miles in 52 minutes, including the warm up and cool down.

On a side note, my copy of The Complete Book of Women's Running finally arrived today!  I wanted to do nothing but read it this evening, but unfortunately it got put on the back burner as some school work was necessary.

98 Days to go

Big day today! I trudged through the snow to the gym and ran/walked (mostly ran) 6.9 miles in 85 minutes – a new distance record for me! I ate breakfast this morning, but after I got home from my late morning run I started feeling sick to my stomach. I big green salad with tuna, beans, pasta, and cheese fixed all that. My legs feel super tired, but other than that I feel pretty good. ☺ I’ve been more self-conscious of what I’m eating recently. I’ve always been pretty good at eating a healthy diet, but I’m making an extra effort to eat more fruits and vegetables along with drinking more water. We haven’t checked the mail yet today, but I’m hoping there’s a package from Amazon when we go out later tonight! On a side note, I can't figure out why my posts are not in paragraphs. They are when I write them, but for some reason they disappear when I post. Sorry!