week 2 days 5 and 6

my lower back was really sore yesterday, so my cross training was a pretty quick yoga. stretched out my legs and back, but i was still really having issues with pain, so i took it easy the rest of the day.

got up for a early morning walk/run with elaine. was planning on doing 4 miles...i took a wrong turn, and ended up doing 4.75. my goal was to get to 4 miles in under 48 minutes, and i did.

splits

mile 1: 12:07

mile 2: 11:40

mile 3: 11:44

mile 4: 12:09 (4 miles at 47:41)

last mile was tough. i then walked most of the remaining distance for a total of 4.75 miles in 57:40. overall, the run/walk went well. it felt good during the run and i know i will be sore tomorrow, but even my back is not as bad as it was yesterday. i do believe this is the longest distance i have EVER run/walked. it will only get longer as i continue to train! i am pleased with today. the fact that i could run part of it and walk part of it was good...hoping to up the amount of running during each outing.... but it all depends on how my knees are feeling! will do some yoga later on today, and probably a bit tomorrow!

tomorrow is a rest day! out again on monday!

Week 2 day 4

got to go out tonight. i actually was able to run a bit tonight, which was nice. i think the new shoes really helped, but i also took some ibuprofen before i ran...not because i was running, but because of the recovery from the surgery yesterday. it was a beautiful night for a run. around 78 degrees and 50% humidity. perfect!

my workout was supposed to be 40 minutes....so i started the first 25 minutes and did walk 4/run 1 just to feel out the running to see if i could handle it. the last 15 minutes i upped it to walk 3/run 2. splits were: mile 1-13:24, mile 2-12:32, mile 3: 12:17. was glad that i got faster as the workout progressed, and it felt pretty comfortable. all in all, i did 3.2 miles in 40 minutes. right around a 12:30 pace.

was not able to get yoga done afterwards, but hope to get some in tomorrow! hope i can continue to run!

Week 2 day 3

the surgery/procedure went really well. they put the anesthesia mask on me and i was talking about the beatles cirque du soliel in vegas, and then the next thing i knew i was waking up in recovery. as i was recovering, i asked the recovery nurse if i could go for my training walk tonight. he told me that would not be a good idea, i could possibly trip and screw up my training altogether. he told me to wait until tomorrow...so....i guess it will have to wait. my knees feel good today, but i am still feeling pretty icky from the actual procedure and the anesthesia. not sure if my knees feel better because i am taking ibuprofen around the clock, or if they are just starting to heal a bit. we'll see tomorrow. i was told i can return to normal activity starting tomorrow!

Week 2 day 2

today was a cross training day. it was a nice night...low 80s and 50ish% humidity, so i decided to go for a bike ride. went just under 6 miles (5.9) at an average speed of 12 mph for 29 minutes. my max speed was 20 mph :) there were a couple of stretches of road that were quite challenging, but i did it!! came home and did power yoga afterwards for 25 minutes. i am finding that yoga is quickly becoming my favorite part of the day!

i went to columbus running company today and had them help me pick out a new pair of shoes. my right foot tends to roll inwards a bit, so he suggested some stability shoes. i tried on 4 or 5 pairs, and ended up getting brooks...the same shoes i bought last time...but i was in desperate need of a new pair. all the support was gone out of my last pair. it's amazing how good they felt as soon as i put on the new pair!

i have an outpatient procedure scheduled for tomorrow morning...so i hope to be able to go for a walk tomorrow afternoon/evening!

week 2 day 1

my training schedule had me going for 35 minutes at a walk 3/run 2 pace. still couldn't run, so i made my goal to do 2.5 miles. so i walked at a somewhat relaxed, but still pushing myself pace. i did 2.5 miles in 37.11 minutes. knees still really bugging me, but hoping a break from running will help with recovery.

came home and did namaste yoga, sun-wind. this was focused on shoulders and legs. it felt good, but knees are still giving me grief. i can't deny that i am getting frustrated. i want to run, and my body will not let me...it is so frustrating to be held back by pain. i really want to be able to run the half-marathon in october, but it is starting to look more and more like i am going to have to walk it...and this does not make me happy.

i will continue to train, and hope that my body starts to grow more accustomed to the pace i would like to go!

Week 1 days 1-6

Well, we spent the first four days of this week in Vegas. I didn't do any running, but we walked, constantly. pretty sure all the walking we did makes up for the lack of running. i should have had it keep track of how much we walked each day...it was insane. If you are interested in seeing any of the pix I took, you can visit this link:

Pictures of Vegas

we left early monday morning, and got home late thursday. spent the day on friday just recovering, and then picked up kayla from camp.

i got up this morning and tried to go for a run. it was 82 degrees with 75% humidity at 9:30 am. i started off with a plan of doing 3 miles at a pace of walk 3/run 2...however, when i started the first run, my knees hurt so much i almost cried. i tried to keep running, to see if they would loosen up, but it just go worse. so my plan became, do 3 miles at a fast walk. i wanted to get to 3 miles in under 42 minutes. first mile split was 14:07, second mile was 13:59, and i pushed myself hard to get the last mile to 13:47. total time was 41:55. so, i met my secondary goal. i am not sure what i am going to have to do to get some relief. for now, i will continue to go about my training with walking. i hope that will change as time progresses... i may try to get another cortisone shot...it seemed to help last time.

after my run, i did 25 minutes of yoga. my favorite part of my work out...really stretches out my legs and keeps me from getting too sore (aside from my knees of course).

hope to be back on track for my training this week. i will be able to post more often now that i am back in ohio! :)

week 0 day 7

today is my rest day for the week....well kind of. both girls are leaving today. tea is going to spend some time with the grandmas and papas up in the canton area and kayla is off to adventure camp! so today is spent doing last minute laundry and packing and driving down to camp! will have to run tomorrow...not sure when though. will be on a plane at 6am headed for las vegas!! woohoo!!! i haven't started packing my own stuff yet....so that will take place later tonight once both kids are gone. very excited about this week. should be a good one for the whole family!

update to come from vegas tomorrow!!!

week 0 day 6

as i have a lot to get done today, i am posting earlier than normal.

went out for 3 miles. kept my pace right around 12 minutes. total of 3 miles in 36.5 minutes. walked for 3 minutes then ran for 2 minutes and repeated for the entire 3 miles. the weather was crazy. it was about 73 degrees.....but the humidity was 90ish%...and not a cloud in the sky. really had to push through, but it felt good to finish in less time than my previous time this week. once i get warmed up, my knee doesn't bother me at all...but it will cause me pain as the day progresses.

came home and did some yoga that was designed for long distance runners. it really stretched out the lower body. felt good and i am ready to go for the day. still have to take my osteo-bi flex and ibuprofen... hopefully it won't be too bad today.

now i am off to get the house cleaned, laundry done, and everyone packed for our various trips. excited about my first trip to vegas next week!!

Week 0 day 5

got up this morning and went for a 21 minute 4 mile bike ride. then i came home and did 25 minutes of yoga. the bike ride was more challenging than i thought it would be. i am used to taking rides with my girls, and the pace is considerably slower. however, it was nice to do something different. i really needed to stretch my lower body, so when i finished the bike ride, i came home and did some yoga. i hope that i will get better with the yoga poses the more i do it, but i felt a lot better after i finished. my right knee is bothering me a little, but i hope that the osteo-bi flex and yoga and new shoes will help that.

thanks for all the encouragement! it really motivates me to keep going.

week 0 day 4

got up this morning and went for my run first thing. it was a humid morning, but i met my goal. i wanted to do 5 repetitions of walk 3/run 2. i also wanted to get my pace under 13 minute mile. i was able to do both. i did the 25 minutes and did just over 2 miles. my pace was 11.57 minutes/mile. the beginning was tough, but once i got through the first cycle, i was a bit looser and it was good. the air being so humid made it a bit harder, but i finished!

today was the first time i tried running before i had eaten breakfast....not sure if it made it harder, but i am thinking i will be sure to eat before i run..at least have a fruit smoothie. i definitely need some new shoes...but that may have to wait a few weeks... i would love some suggestions from anyone on good running shoes for when i do go buy them.

tomorrow will be a cross-train day. i am probably going to do some cycling and maybe some yoga again.

Week 0 Day 3

so, today i tried to do some yoga.  it really helped the pain i was feeling in my joints.  i just did something that was on the fit channel this morning...i think it is called namaste yoga.  it was really nice and i will probably try to do that at least a couple times per week.  i may even try to look into a class if there are any in the area.

after i finished yoga, we ate breakfast, packed our lunch and headed off to zoombezi bay.  it was a beautiful day for it and between walking and swimming for 4 hours, it was good to be moving around.  tomorrow, i will go for another run...not sure how long it will be, but i am aiming for between 2 and 3 miles.  i am also going to try to increase my running/walking ratio to 2/3 (instead of 1/4).

thanks for all of the encouraging words, and keep them coming.  i will definitely need them!

until tomorrow....

Week 0. Days 1 and 2

one of my life goals has been to run a half marathon... it has been a really long time since I have done any running....well, to be honest, since i have done much of anything.  So this week, begins my training for running/walking a half marathon.  i will most likely do a combination of running and walking, but i will play it by ear.  later in my training, if i am feeling good, i may try to run all of it...we'll see.  

This week is week 0...since my official training starts next week.  I will be using Jenny Hadfield's half marathon training program for running/walking. She splits the week up into 3 training runs, 2 days of cross training, and one long run.  most weeks train 6 days, but occassionally she throws a 2nd day of rest in there.  it is a 13 week program, so, i guess that means the race is 13.5 weeks away.  it is sunday, october 17th.  i am really excited to do this, and hope that i can achieve this life goal.  

i am using a program for my droid phone called cardiotrainer.  it tracks my route, tells me my average speed, how far i have gone, how many calories i have burned, and gives me updates as often as i want.  it is a pretty cool program.  

my first run was yesterday.  i started this week by doing a walk 4/run 1 pace.  yesterday i went just under 3 miles in about 37 minutes.  i felt pretty good afterwards.  i have arthritis in my knee, and the only thing i am afraid of is having painful joints. 

today i went for another run....same intervals.  walk 4/run 1.  today i kept up a 13 minute mile pace...that was my goal, and ended up going 3.25 miles in 43 minutes.  the last 4 minutes/0.25 miles was my cool down, so i did 3 miles in about 39 minutes!  better than i thought i would be able to do at the beginning.  I came home and took some ibuprofen to fight off the soreness in my joints...other than that, it is not too bad.  

tomorrow will be a day of "rest".  will spend the day with the girls at a water park...so we will be active the entire day, but no running tomorrow.