11 miles, sickness and foot happiness

Last weekend was my first 11 mile run and of course it was a milestone not just because of my foot, but I've been fighting a cold for over a week. I'm happy to say, the run was great but I paid a price. The cold that I'd been doing so well to ward off hit me like a ton of bricks on Saturday. I was exhausted all weekend and am still not over it. This week was my recovery week so if I had to pick a time to get sick, this is it.

Here are my stats from Saturday's run:

Total distance 11 miles

Average pace 9:37

Mile 1- 9:57

Mile 2- 9:36

Mile 3- 9:29

Mile 4- 9:19

Mile 5- 9:28

Mile 6- 9:37

Mile 7- 9:30

Mile 8- 9:17

Mile 9- 9:55

Mile 10- 9:45

Mile 11- 9:50

The last three miles were slower. I was running by myself at that point and knew I took mile 8 too fast. There were also a lot of hills during the last 3 miles. My pace was supposed to be 10:22 so I'm not concerned at all.

The best news of all is my plantar fasciitis. I had NO pain during or after my run. None at all. I was actually pain free for a few days. There is mild pain now and my heel is a little sore (I've done two 5 mile runs so far this week), but nothing major. I think if things stay where they are now I'll be fine for the race.

I've got two 4 mile runs left for the week and I'm going to focus on getting more rest. Okay- five hours of sleep last night was not a good idea and did nothing to help me recover. If I'm in bed by 9:30 tonight I should be good to go tomorrow.

Next week is the hardest week of my training. I had to switch things up a little as my hubby will be out of town the following week. I've got a 10 mile speed workout on Wednesday and an 11 mile run on Saturday with two shorter runs thrown in. If I come through those feeling good I know I'm going to rock the Princess. We leave 3 weeks from tomorrow!

10 miles!

Well, I passed the 10 mile test. I was especially anxious about yesterdays run because I haven't run 10 miles since the Princess last year and by 10 miles I was walking. My fascia ripped at 9 miles and things went downhill from there.

I couldn't sleep on Friday night and was up way before my alarm on Saturday. I also got my period on Friday so that always makes me stress about running. The good news there is that I won't have it for the race. That is a huge answer to prayer!

It was 17 degrees when I started running. I ran with Julie (my usual running buddy) and Alice joined us for about 6 miles. It was FREEZING! It took almost 4 miles for my fingers to get warm. Everything else was fine and there were actually times I was sweating. There was a wind, though so I'd go from sweating to freezing. I'm posting my splits just so I have them. It really helps to look back and see what my pace was. I do know that they were too fast. All my long runs have been too fast this year. They are over a minute faster than last year's training. I'm not sure why. I'm not trying to run fast. In face, Julie and I are always saying we need to slow down and it feels like we're slowing down, but we're not. My training plan says I should be running them at a 10:33 pace.

Average Pace 9:33

Mile 1 9:54

Mile 2 9:18

Mile 3 9:18

Mile 4 9:23

Mile 5 9:32

Mile 6 9:28

Mile 7 9:25

Mile 8 9:32

Mile 9 9:49

Mile 10 9:47

I felt great at the end of the run and definitely could have kept running. My foot hurt a little on the last half mile. I iced it twice and stretched a lot. My right hip has been really tight after my longer runs. I've found rolling it out on a foam roller really helps.

5 weeks to race day! I'm so excited!

ramblings...

I did it again and I'm not even going to go there. Drop the guilt over neglecting the blog.

Now that I have that out of the way.....

Less than 6 weeks until race day. This is geeky, but every time I go to the Disney Princess Half Marathon website and surf around I get knots in my stomach. seriously. I know; get a grip. I'm walking that line between being super excited and terrified. I've put my goal out there (meaning the words "I want to break 2 hours" have actually come out of my mouth when other people are around and not just spoken in my head), and I'm feeling some fear of failure pressure. It's a good thing (I think).

So far my longest run is 9 miles and I've thrown in speed work and tempo runs during the week. My training is actually going unbelievably well and I'm hitting all my goals. The only nagging factor is my foot. My plantar fasciitis is teasing me. Right now it's only talking to me- soreness in my arch and pain in my heel, but not when I run. I've gotten new shoes that I'm wearing only for running (except for right now- I stepped in dog poo with my other pair and am too lazy to clean it off). I'm wearing sneakers all the time I'm not sleeping (yes, even to church!) I'm icing after every run, massaging my foot with a golf ball every night, wearing my night splint and stretching like a mad woman. I don't think there's anything else I can do to help it. I have a 10 mile run on Saturday and that will be a huge test because 9 miles is where I fell apart at the last Princess race. If at any point my foot goes from talking to me to yelling at me I will immediately back off.

My eating isn't great but it isn't horrible either. I haven't lost the 10 pounds I wanted to. I'm not running as many miles each week as I probably should, but you know what? I'm okay with that. I can't do it all. I am a perfectionist by nature (at least that's how I want myself to look), but I've decided it's not worth it. I can only do what I can do and in my opinion, that's enough.

10 weeks until the Princess Half

I actually should have written this post on Sunday as it's now almost 9 weeks until the race. I'm feeling AWESOME and my training is going exceptionally well. I've decided I'm going to go for it and try to break 2 hours in the half. I've also decided that the key to that happening is to drop 10 pounds. That's 1 pound a week- definitely do-able. My starting weight as of last Sunday is 155.2. If I can get down to 145 it will be amazing!

Here are my workouts for this week:

Monday- 2 mile easy run

Tuesday-off

Wednesday- 7 mile speedwork on the treadmill (3x1600 at an 8:34 pace)

Thursday-off

Friday- 8 mile long run (Christmas Eve)

Saturday and Sunday-off (Christmas Day in PA)

I need to pick up a few more days of working out and specifically work on strength training. The running has been going really well and my plantar fasciitis is great.

As far as weight loss goes; my goal for the week is just to eat sensibly and drink more water. Let's be realistic- it's Christmas. I'm making 7 different kinds of cookies and moderation is the only way to go. I'll be at my in-laws for the weekend and obviously only have so much control over what I eat. I'm going to try to make good choices. Once the holidays are over I'll try to be more strict with my eating.

Go Shutterfly!

I posted previously about the promotion Shutterfly is having: giving away 50 photo cards in exchange for a blog about their holiday cards. I've spent some time looking at their website and the choices of cards they offer. Now, I may not be the most experienced card shopper out there. I admit, I tend to look on the cheaper side of things. Although my dream is to get creative with my holiday cards, I always revert to the old standby: postcard layout with a simple picture of the girls. I have to report that I an in Shutterfly dream-land. I am impressed with their cards (and not only Christmas photo cards). I've found some cards that I am in love with!

The first place I looked was here: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards.

And the first card I fell in love with was this one:

You just can't get any more classic than that. Black and white, red monogram accent; I love it! I've always loved black and white photographs. They are just so timeless. I love that the card has space for six photos. We are a family of six and we could fit everyone into their own space. Ultimately, that is what I ended up not liking about this card. I can't figure out how to arrange the photos. I don't like the idea of six individual pictures and the combinations of people don't work out equally. Although I love this card, I decided to keep searching.

Here is my perfect card:

I LOVE the colors, and the layout is perfect for our family picture. This is the perfect card for a family of 6. I have the whole thing designed. In the middle is a group picture of the six of us with individual pictures of the girls on the sides. That really appeals to be because I feel like you can get a better sense of their personalities through multiple pictures.

Although it doesn't have the classic feel of the first card, the colors are clean and crisp. The black and white pictures are a nice contrast to the colors. Even though I don't think I'll be using black and white pictures, I like that there are only two colors on the card. My color pictures won't make the card to busy. The pictures are arranged so as not to be distracting (I like the symmetry.) I also love that I can personalize the card on the inside. This is such a step up from our usual postcard type Christmas card.

To be honest, although I love sending Christmas cards, my hearts desire is to do a photo calendar for my parents and even myself. If I ever get organized and start planning for Christmas before December actually hits, this link has everything I need: http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars. While I'm getting myself organized, my goal was to get my tween daughter some "cool" writing paper for Christmas this year. It didn't happen. If it had, it would have looked like this: http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/notepads

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/notepads/candy-bracelet-notepad?sortType=1&storeNode=60314

Oh well, I guess she'll have to wait another year to be cool. In the meantime I hope to enjoy my awesome Christmas cards!

Shutterfly promotion

I was surfing my sister's blog and checked in on one of her links I always read (Praying for Bennett) when I came across a promotion for 50 free Christmas cards for bloggers. "Wow," I thought, "I'm a blogger. I should check it out." Then I wondered about the definition of a blogger. I blog (occasionally). Don't get me wrong, I like to blog; I just have a really hard time actually sitting down and writing. But I do get there- sometimes. Which got me thinking; does the definition of a blogger require that someone actually read what your blog? That would disqualify me. Because no one reads what I blog. I'm really fine with that, but I wonder if I'm qualified for this promotion. Maybe I should wait for the promotion for 50 free Christmas cards for blogs. That's what I am- a blog. I like that; it fits well.

Anyway here's the link: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Since I'm back in training mode and exhausted, I plan on checking out the website tomorrow. I hope I actually do qualify because with an unexpected car purchase and three December birthdays along with Christmas this month, I could really use some free Christmas cards!

I won a mental battle!

I woke up at 4:50 so I could get my 5 mile run in early. I was hoping to meet my running buddy but it was pouring so I knew I was headed to the gym. There is a tornado watch in effect so I was a little hesitant to drive, but I've been full of excuses lately so off I went. It is so surreal driving in the dark with leaves flying and rain pouring. There was a tree down at the end of our street so I was on alert all the way to the gym.

The workout today was a tempo run: 1 mile warm-up, 3 miles at a 9:10 pace and 1 mile cool down. The treadmills at my gym automatically turn off after 30 minutes so I knew I'd have to break up the run a little. The run started off a little rough as I had to make a pit stop after .25 miles. *** WARNING***(This is way TMI but my husband won't listen to anything that has to do with that time of the month. If you are reading this and are like him: DON'T READ ON! I tried to tell him I need to tell someone about my victory, but he said to call my sister. It's 7:20 AM and my sister's sleeping so, sorry I've got to tell it here. Let's just say I had an emergency where I had to jump off the treadmill and run to the bathroom. I could have easily left the gym at that point but chose to continue. That was a victory in itself! I was worried I wouldn't get the whole run in but I did and then bolted out the door back to my car.)

Anyway... back on track. I did the first two speed miles at a 9:05 pace but thought I was going to puke. My heart rate was over 200. It was time for the treadmill to stop so I took that as a natural break and recovered for .25 miles. The last mile I played a little game with myself where I held a 9:13 pace for 2 minutes, 9:05 for 2 minutes, 8:57 for one and then went the other way again (9:05 for 2minutes and 9:13 for 2). It makes the time go by so much faster. I finished my cool-down and I was done.

I felt so good for pushing through that workout! I'm so glad it's done! I don't know why I struggle so much with speed workouts on a treadmill. It is so mental for me.

I'm back home and it's pouring out, but I'm done with my workout for the day. My running partner is running a marathon on Sunday (she was supposed to run Philly but got the flu on Friday). I'm going to run the last 7 miles with her. I want to be running the whole thing, but I need to be happy about where I am. The plantar fasciitis is in a very good place and I'm running pain free. What more could a girl ask for?