Here we go again!

Training for the Big D Half officially started this week.  Race date is April 14th.  I have a lot of work to do if I want to finish in a respectable time.  It's been so long since I've really trained for a race that I don't think I'll set a PR goal this time.  I'm good with anything under 2 hours.  :)

I'm starting out with slow, short distances but I'm feeling really well.  I just wish it would warm up a little.  I hate going outside when it's freezing!  Today wasn't too bad but I still had to bundle up!

Train hard, eat right, stick to the plan.  No problem.  Wish me luck!  :)

!Dos más!

Two more whole miles this morning.  This is almost embarrassing ... I'm ready for my training plan to have some longer runs!  But I've promised myself to stick to it.  Was a very windy day today but the run felt lots better than yesterday so that's something to smile about!

And I ran it 40 seconds faster than yesterday's two miles so that's great, too!  See ya tomorrow for 2 more.  :P

Two is a very small number!

I said I was going to start slow and follow the training plan.  But to run only 2 miles this morning seemed really strange.  So after I ran my whole two miles, I walked about half a mile so I could get a better view of the beautiful sunrise this morning.

Happy Tuesday everyone ... make it a great day!  See you tomorrow after another awesome two miles.  :)

Hot Thoughts ... And A New Running Partner!

To say that I have not run consistently in the last year is a BIG understatement!  Although in that time frame, I have run a marathon and a 50K ... I was definitely NOT trained properly for either.  I was working through a knee injury, a job change and just plain laziness!  And I had big plans to run Big D in April.  That's not gonna happen.  But now I'm finally ready, finally focused and actually signed up for El Scorcho Sin Lun6.  Race is 19 weeks from today and I'm starting out slow and training the right way instead of just a few long runs here and there.  I loved this race last year.  It's in the heat of the summer and starts at midnight and you run all night long.  Very cool!  And I'm a much better warm weather runner.  Hate the cold!

So here we are at week 1, day 1.  I ran 3 whole miles.  LOL!!  And it was tough.  Mainly because I have always run alone.  But I got a new dog and I'm going to make her my early morning running partner.  HOWEVER ... she has NO CLUE how to run on a leash.  So today was a run and learn.  :D  My arms are sore from re-directing her and making her slow down or stop sniffing trees, etc.  But she'll get there. Meet my new running friend Marly.

Pretty sure she's in better shape than me right now!!  Look at her big smile after our run.  :)

Mondays and Fridays will be my rest days so no running tomorrow.  Then just 2 milers for this week.  I wrote my training plan yesterday and Saturday will be my long run day, followed immediately on Sunday with another long run (though not as far as the Saturday run).  Back-to-back long runs are a good way to build endurance for an Ultra.  Weekday runs will generally be short but Wednesdays will gradually build up to a mid-week 8 or 10 miler just to get some mileage in.  I have a LONG way to go to be ready for this race but I'm feeling good about it.  Just need to follow the plan.  If I do that, I can see a 5:30 finish at the El Scorcho 50K on July 15th.

Happy and healthy ... Here we go again!

Wow!  It's been such a long time since I have posted.  I've gone through a knee injury and run a 50k and a marathon since last writing.  The 50k was run injured (6:15) and the marathon was done without much training (4:57).  But I am now ready to run again.  I'm feeling as close to 100% as a 41 year-old runner can!  So here we are at day 1 of training for the Big D Marathon.  The goal is a 3:45 race (that's about an 8:35 pace).  I have a long way to go but 4 months to get there.  Race date is April 15, 2012.

Here I am before running today.  I was only going to go 6 miles but I was nervous and cold!  Six miles should not seem far to a distance runner.  But today it seemed like an eternity.  But you can't finish without taking the first step!  So here we go on another marathon journey.

I'm not gonna lie ... I started getting tired after the first mile!  It used to be my body that gave out first on long runs.  And that was usually at about mile 18+.  Today, it was the breathing.  I just don't have any endurance at all right now.  I walked a little during miles 3 and 5.  And I got an unexpected break during 5 as well.  Hello train!  I heard it and ran as fast as I could to the tracks but was about 15 seconds too late so I had to wait for it to pass.

At 5.25 I looked at my watch and realized that if I ran really, really fast, I could make 6 miles in under 60 minutes.  That's a pretty respectable time for an out of shape runner so I ran hard.  And I mean as fast as I could go.  I was huffing and puffing and I stopped my watch at exactly 6 miles and could not have gotten any closer to 60 minutes if I tried!  I'll take a 10 minute pace for my first training run but it was an ugly run!

As you can see from this graph, my pace was pretty consistent except the couple of walking breaks.  And my splits actually weren't that bad.  It's a good starting place and it feels so good to be running again!

Tomorrow is my rest day so I'll see ya Tuesday!

Do you think it's possible to sleeprun?!

This Monday long run thing is killer!  And this week it got longer.  Ten miles this morning and I had to be done before 6:45 so I could get the kids up for school.  I think I was half asleep for most of the run.  :)  Here I am at a little after 5am.  That's early even for me.

The sun came up not too long after I started so I got to run my regular long run route instead of circling the neighborhood a couple of times so that was nice.  Here's the weird dome house that I run by.  Looked kind of cool this morning as the sun came up.

 It was a good run.  But pretty difficult after running 16 yesterday.  Average pace was 9:22.  I'm happy with that.  Tomorrow is a rest day then the rest of the week I'm going to concentrate on some speed work because I'm running a 10K race next Monday and I would like to at least place in my age group.

A Sunday Sixteen!

Today was good training for El Scorcho.  I didn't leave the house until 7:30am and it was already 76° outside.  Luckily it was overcast and breezy but very humid.  I ran my long route which takes me way out in the country.  And it seemed even more country today because they have dug up some of the roads and now they are gravel.  I must have run at least 3 miles on gravel which is a lot more tricky than paved roads.

 

A lot of this run is farmland.  My view to the left and right ... fields of some crop!  Obviously I'm no farmer!
 

Then I ran past a cool cemetery.  It was established in 1874.  And this was also my half-way point.  So I stopped for my 5-Hour Energy.  I haven't had any of that in awhile.  I only drink it on runs that are longer than 15 miles and this was my first since White Rock in December.  It's good stuff.  Notice my splits at the end of this post after I got my energy boost.

At about mile 10 I ran past a horse breeding farm.  The sign makes me smile ... first because it has my name on it (Well, almost ... if I spelled Robyn with an "i" it would be my name.)  And the part about "breeding for pleasure" is just funny!

It was here that I met my new horse friend.  He was so sweet!!

And we got to know each other a little too well.  :P  That 3rd picture is just awful ... I didn't even know it was possible to have that many chins!  But he kissed me right on the lips!!

Moving on, I ran through Venus and past my favorite barn of all times.  Love the Texas flag on it.

Then past some really pretty flowers and more fields.  This number 15 marker was at about mile 13.  At about that time I was soooo hot and really wishing it marked my 15 mile mark!

Mile 15 was through the town of Britton (love the old bank!) and across the railroad tracks.

And that's about it.  Here is a very sweaty, very exhausted, very happy runner after 16 miles in the heat.

I was very happy with my splits today.  But they're not quite accurate because I stopped several times to take pictures and my watch auto-pauses.  I need to fix that but that would require finding the owner's manual.  I'll fix it before El Scorcho.  :)

I didn't even realize anyone actually read this blog but me but I have had 4 of you ask me why I don't update it anymore so here ya go.  I'll try to post more frequently again.  Not promising every day but definitely a couple of times per week.  But to prove that I actually have been running, this will get you up to date on my last several weeks.

Whew!  That was a lot of information!!  Good job if you made it this far!  Tomorrow is a 10-mile run.  That's difficult on a school day because I have to be finished before 6:45 so I can get the kids up.  Looks like it will be an EARLY morning!