Week 11 complete!

Week 11 is complete. I ran my longest run ever on Saturday; 16 miles. I was really nervous the night before thinking that I would have mental issues during the run. But I surprised myself and had an awesome 16 miler! I felt great the entire time. My legs were slightly sore when I finished, but that is to be expected.

I can't believe how quickly the marathon is approaching. Only 7 weeks to go!!

Week 11- mid week update

I am in the midst of week 11 and so far, so good. Only 7 more weeks to go until the marathon!

Here is my training for week 11.

Sunday: 2.69 mile run, .75 mile walk (recovery after the half marathon on Saturday)
Monday: 45 minutes on the AMT, weights for shoulders
Tuesday: 4.27 mile run
Wednesday: 4 mile run, weights for biceps & triceps
Thursday: 8 mile run
Friday: rest
Saturday: 16 mile run (longest run ever!!)

Week 10 complete and half marathon review

I finished week 10 of marathon training by running a half marathon. The course was the most difficult course I have ran. Lots and lots of hills!!! But, even with it being the hardest course I have ran, I was able to PR! My previous half PR was 1:50:20 and my new half PR is (drum roll please) 1:46:26! My goal for this race was 1:48 and I was able meet it and beat it!!

Of course my dad placed first in his age group. Which is no surprise to me, or anyone else for that matter!

After having such a great finish time, I am finally starting to feel that I will be ready come 10-18-09!

3 half marathons in less then a year.

And I am pretty proud of that!! I will be running my 3rd half marathon tomorrow morning. I also ran a half marathon in April and in October of 2008.

I am hoping I have a finish time of 1:48. I had this same goal in April, but was unable to achieve it. I PRed but still. It wasn't the time I had hoped for. So I was slightly disappointed. Let's hope I can find the strength to meet my time on this hilly course!!

Week 10: mid-week update

I am half way through with week 10 of marathon training. Only 8.5 more weeks to go, and not feeling ready. This always happens after having a rough run. Which I had last night. These mid-week semi longer runs are always my down fall. I can run a strong long run on the weekend, but then run an awful 7 miles during the week. WTH? Of course, I am a better morning runner than an evening runner. I really should try to get up in the morning when I hit those loner mid-week runs.

So far the weeks training looks like this.

Sunday: rest
Monday: 3 mile run, weights for biceps & triceps
Tuesday: 7 mile run, core work
Wednesday: 4 mile run, push ups, core work
Thursday: cross train, weights for back & shoulders
Friday: rest
Saturday: Half Marathon (scheduled for 15 miles. if I can beat my previous HM PR, then I won't worry about the additional mileage. If I don't, well it's back out on the course for 2 miles)

My first black toe!

A while back my dad made a comment about how I have yet to get a black toe or lose a toe nail. Well, this morning my toe is black! Thanks for jinxing me dad!

I've ran 13 miles before and this has never happened. I ran 13.2 saturday and now I have a black toe. Does that officially make me a runner? lol

I think the toe nail is next to go...

Week 9 complete

Week 9 is complete. I finished off the week with a 13.2 mile run near my in-law's lake house. I ran is in 2:03. Not too bad considering the hills. The hills can be brutal! But it's a good work out and good for my training.

Somerset Stampede Half Marathon

I just signed up for my 3rd half marathon. It is one week from tomorrow! I figured, since I am scheduled to run 15 miles that day I may as well run the half. If I can run the course in 1:47, then I will not run the additional 2 miles as per my training schedule. If I do run slower than a 1:47 finish time, then I will head back out on the course after cross the finish line to run the additional 2 miles.

Not sure if it was a good idea to run this, but what the hell. I've been having race withdrawals so this will satisfy me for the time being!

Week 9

I can't believe in less then 10 weeks I will be running my first marathon. I do NOT feel ready!! I signed up with a goal time of 4 hours but am beginning to doubt my ability to run it in that time. I will be extremely upset if I do not meet my goal.

Anyway, my training for week 9 has gone like this; I did 50 minutes of intervals on the elliptical along with pushups and abs Monday, ran 4 miles on Tuesday and ran 7.2 miles yesterday. I will be going to the gym tonight with Chris for a 15 minute bike warm up and upper body weights. Tomorrow I have a 13 mile route mapped out for Saturday morning and an easy 3-4 miles on Sunday.

Back from Hawaii and back to my training

I had a fabulous time on the islands of Oahu and Kauai, but I am also glad to be back to my normal routine. I have over 1200 pictures to go through. Once I have time to do so, I will dedicate a post to my Hawaii trip and will include many pictures.

I was able to get some running in along with hiking and biking. But now that I am home, it's back to following my training program to a T!