First Half Marathon

first half marathon.  Beginning training for these distances.  Dec. 21 is the next half I will complete with more training.  5K next weekend!

On treadmill - raining all day - don't feel too peppy today - friend's bday party last evening.  But the gym was a friendly place...I am losing a few pounds and hpoe this will help workouts and times.  Yoga 2-3 times a week for stretching help and tennis once a week at least for socialization!

Treadmill workout for 36 minutes of steady running - 4.0 to 5.5 mph - up and down intervals starting and ending with 4.0 and 3.47 miles in all. I guess I will increase the mph with treadmill workouts.  

Well, I didn't want to run because I have myself on a 4 day a week schedule, but I decided after reading info on this web site that I would try the 6 day a week training, so I am adding some more 3 mile days to what I already had planned - I will see how it goes...

Ran 3 in 36 minutes - on treadmill from  4-6 mph, increasing .1 mph/1/mile until I got to 6 and then stayed there 1/4 mile.  That was very difficult, but it was higher mph than yesterday.  I did 1 hour of yoga after and feel good  -  so that's what counts!  Tomorrow I am to run 5 with 6 minutes uphill, so I will head to the bridge because I live in flat Florida!  Also, I lost a pound - every pound decrease will help my speed and I have a few to lose...

Once I get comfortable with this, I can start training smarter, but right now I don't want to get hurt or burned out and I need to lose some weight!

Ran the bridges today X 2 - then flat the rest.  Great day to run and I felt GREAT.  Cool - 60 and a bit of wind at the top.  12 minute miles still - but considering it is a bridge and I ran the whole thing, I am happy.  I must be eating fine with this mostly fruit- veg-protein intake - staying with whoe grains only and not alot of dairy (take D3)  and cacium of course.  So it goes.

Slept terribly - up with my 17 y. o. daughter - school-related stuff!  The run was good - with my friend, Kate, and we played tennis - 3 sets - also.  Not the best running day - tired now and want a nap!

tennis today - after 4 days of running - rest! 10 tomorrow - 7 sat and 3 sun - for a good end of the week and that will be 6 days of running - something i haven't done since my 20's!!!

Night time race with luminaria lined streets - very pretty.  Slow beginning - lots of strollers and families/ narrow streets with parked cars made it difficult to negotiate for the first mile.  Got better after and I think I did 10 minute or less mile the second mile because my 2 mile time was 21 - 3 mile was 31.50 and final time 32.32.  Not my best 5K but not too bad - need to run smarter for these races - just don't know the right strategy.  I am trying to lose weight - but I also have to eat!

Long slow run around the harbor - flat, flat, flat.  Tomorrow I will run the bridges.  I felt good - pushed a bit at the first five and then slower.  Did yoga tonight .  My knees continue to be inflexible - hopefully this is helping.  Staying with a whoegrain, vegetable based diet - trying to keep up the protein - eggs tomorrow for breakfast.

Woke up last night - starving! But did not get up to eat.  Wanted to do 8 today but met a friend on the street that I hadn't seen for awhile so stopped to chat.  Then it was too late to keep going - so I will have to do the long run tomorrow some time!  Yoga has been great and won a doubles match this AM - so plenty of exercise today - also worked in client's garden finishing up with Kim.  I should be tired but I'm buzzed  - need to calm so i can sleep well tonight...

Got Caitlin's cold so that did it for me last week - hope it won't mess up the half marathon on Sunday AM - I know I can finish - just how fast??? Well - I will go for the best I can do.  To Orlando for Caitlin's concert tomorrow so that's that for running as we leave at 6 AM.  I hope the rest of runs I have planned are what I should be doing.  Time will tell...

Hanging on here - alot of Christmas distractions and a very hard run today - probably due to unusually high temperature (80) at noontime and slight dehydration...  Sunday is the half-marathon so I will hang on!

Official time - around 2:25:04 which is 11 minutes faster than the time of the Thanksgiving 1/2  - better this time and as I increase mileage and work on speed, I can feel things getting easier.  I found someone I tried to keep up with during the race and it worked - I also tried to keep pace the whoe race, but 5K = 10.10/mile, 10K was 10:30 and finished at 11:11 / mile. 

Nice long run - this afternoon after it cooled down - about 85 at 1 PM.  What a whirlwind week - great to get out there today -  was feeling like a slug.  Fun holiday - tried to eat "moderately" so that meant taste alot of things - but eat small amounts.  We will see how it all ends up over the next few days - I have been trying to eat to run and stay with quality protein and grain/veggie-based, no sweets.  But that didn't happen yesterday - the sweets part - too much stuff around...

Good thing New Years is around the corner - my running goal is at least 30 miles/week - that 10-15 more than I am doing now, so a bit ambitious, but I know I need to add a day or two -now to do...

No miles today - tennis only, - need to run more days and more miles. december miles were better - but Jan, Feb, March 08 = 165, April, May, June = 23 - this was the months for surgery and treatment - melanoma, July, August, Sept. = 127, and Oct., Nov., Dec. = 132.  So - up the number of days will increase he number of miles run...