1/2 Marathon Training Day 5

I'm gaining a little more confidence and it's only day 5.  My goal this afternoon was to jog 2.25 miles and walk to make a total of 3 miles.  I got to 2.25 and thought, "heh, I bet I can do another lap."  So I did!  I was a little tempted to jog 3 miles, but didn't want to push it too hard...I don't want to injure myself, you know!

Treadmill total:
Jog 2.5 miles
Walk .5 miles


Also, I wear a heart rate monitor to track not only my heart rate but the number of calories I burn during a work out.  The past few days I've been burning about 600 calories during my workouts, which means I'm pretty much busting my @$$ during my 45-60 minute sessions.  I'm going to try to track this as well on the blog so I can see how my heart rate decreases with the amount of exercise I do everyday.  I'm sure the format of these posts will change over the course of the next few months, but this is purely selfish blog.  If I get a little bit more confidence, I'll post the pictures I'm taking each week, as I really want to see how my body changes over the course of the next few months as well.  When I went through my big weight loss change (50 lbs in 6 months) a few years ago, I never took photos along the way to track my progress.  I've pretty much maintained since then (with a few gains and losses along the way), but I'm curious and excited to see what happens from here on out!

1/2 Marathon Training Day 4

Cross-train day:

10 minutes walking - incline: 3, pace: 3.5 - 4
Weights: legs
Interactive race bike: 5.3 miles in 23 minutes
stretch

Wondering if I'll ever know what it feels like (until after Nov. 6, that is) to have muscles that don't have just a little bitty tinge of ache, in a good way that is.

1/2 Marathon Training Day 3

Oy, what a crazy day at work.  I took my workout clothes to the office with me with hopes I could hit the gym and treadmill during lunch, which just plain didn't happen.  After a super crazy day, I finally made it to the gym and managed a 2 mile continuous run and about 1.5 miles of walking.  The Monumental run in Indy requires that participates run the first 7 miles at a 15 min. mile pace or less, so I figure if I can do any training at a max of that pace, then I should be good to go, even if I end up walking some of it in the end (which is not the goal, by the way....I want to run the whole damn thing).  I tweaked my training plan today based on the fact that I can, in fact, run 2 miles continuously.

Tomorrow's a cross-train day and I'm determined to lift some weights to get my legs a little stronger and avoid some knee injuries during training.

1/2 Marathon Training Day 2

I trained for and ran a 5k a few years ago and neglected to do any cross-training and ended up with some knee pain.  Since that was only 3 miles, I am determined to make sure I do plenty of cross-training and weight lifting.  Man, was it hard to get on the elliptical at home tonight.  I was exhausted from work, which has been somewhat stressful and hectic lately.  But hey, I did it.  A whopping 30 minutes, which is really nothing to brag about, but at least it's something!  Tonight I also managed to create a plan for myself for the next 15 weeks and what I need to do each day.  I'm wondering how well this will work!

1/2 Marathon Preface + Training Day 1

A few weeks ago my friend, Jamie, posted something on the facebook stating she was thinking about running a 1/2 marathon in Indianapolis in November and wanted to know if anyone else was interested.  I foolishly (we'll see?) mentioned that I might be, and the idea was born.  A few weeks later, I found myself strategically planning out my vacation time and wondering if I could financially make it work.  I continued to tell Jamie I was still working on it.  This past Monday night (7/26/10) I was goofing around on my computer while my dear husband was washing cars and cleaning out the garage and unpacking the camping gear from the weekend, and I found a round trip flight to/from Chicago for $240 (including taxes) that I just couldn't pass up.  I bought it.  I might have freaked out a little in the mean time.  I got excited and scared and might have peed a little knowing that I'd be seeing some friends who I hadn't seen in about 5 years.  I called an old friend (my first friend I met when I moved to Indiana) and told her she better be damn sure she's going to be in town the first weekend in November. 

Anyway, that began my trek on this 1/2 marathon kick.  Not gonna lie, I really wasn't sure at that time that I was going to be able to run 13.1 miles by November, as I wasn't sure I could even run a mile on Monday night.  So I decided to take my dog, Seymour, for a 3-mile walk (he was thrilled!) that night after purchasing my plane ticket.  A little over 1/2 way through the walk I decided to jog a little bit.  I figure I probably ended up running about a mile before I got to my house.  Satisfied with myself, I went inside.  I think I dreamed about Chicago...

Fresh

I'm honestly starting this in order to blog my way through a 1/2 marathon training program with hopes that I'll continue once that's finished....