getting you up to speed

Hi Blog,

Ok I know I haven't written in a while. But like I said I have been kind of busy training. I'll give you some of the highlights....

I ran my first 10 miles last Sunday on 10/10/10. How exciting is that. My time was 2:18:04. The average pace was 13:48 min mile with my max pace of 7:43 min mile. According to my Garmin i burned 894 calories. The run went very smoothly up to mile 6. At mile 6 I fell off the side of the road and twisted over on my ankle a little bit. I was terrified thinking I re-injured my poor ankle. However, after further evaluation I realized the ankle was ok. A little tender but ok... so I finished the remainder 4 miles to complete my first 10 mile run.

This week my training was not very good. I had a bad cold which had me in bed most of the week. I got some antibiotics and attempted the "Pumpkins In The Park" race last night. My time wasn't very good. 37:22 for a 5k. But considering I still had a stuffy nose and chest congestion I guess I did alright. It was a lot of fun and my friend, Nancy Wingo, made first in her age group.

Coach Bernie wants me to do another 10 miles tomorrow so I am going to rest today. I am hoping to better my time from last week. My ankle is ok but still a little tender and my right knee is a little sore. But I am hoping they will be rested by tomorrow morning. My goal is to do the 10 miles in 2 hours 10 mins.

Wish me luck.

8 mile run

Dear Blog,

Sorry I haven't written in a while but I have been sort of busy.... training or a maraton. :) Today was freakin' awesome. I ran 8 miles along the banana river. It was a little cool and a nice breeze. It took me almost 2 hours. But I made it. I am very happy with my progress. My friend, Hika went with me. She was only going to do 4 miles but I talked her into to doing 8 with me. Actually I think she really wanted to do 8, it wasn't very hard to talk her into it. We had a really fun run. We were the last ones back with the group, but it didn't matter. The important thing is that I ran 8 miles.

Last Sunday we met at Cocoa and ran part of the 1/2 marathon course. I did 6 miles, but it was still very hot and very sweatty.

Next week is 9 miles, But I have no doubts I can do it! :)

Training with coach Bernie

I ran 5 miles today with my training group. It is a beautiful run along the Banana River. The path is right along the river, I mean very, very close to the river. It is a really pretty run. I ran with a lady from our group. We are very close to the same pace. It was a very enjoyable run. we talked the whole way and made the time go by very quickly.

I was stressing a little about not doing more miles. Group 3 did 8 miles today. But Coach Bernie said in 2 weeks I can transition to group 3. Then from there I will probably need to add some extra miles to be ready for the full marathon in January. But I will talk to Coach Bernie about that once I transition to group 3 and am able to keep up with that. As the time gets closer I am feeling the pressure to up my miles, but I also don't want to mess up my ankle any more. I think it will all work out. I am trying to stay positive, I want to do this Disney marathon so badly. I would be very disappointed if anything went wrong now. I am lucky to be under coach Bernie. He is very knowledgeable and very patient with me. :)

If only I could see my results

Ok as you know my Garmin is really great. And after my run I was feeling really great. I was feeling 10 years younger and strong. I was really on a high. Then I went to look at my Garmin for my results.... and humbly reached into my purse to pull out my reading glasses so I could see the screen. Dammit. And I was feeling so good. If only my eyes worked as good as my legs. Oh and BTW. My Garmin does tell time. It is just so little at the bottom of the screen I didn't see it. LOL But with my Garmin and my reading glasses ... I can do anything. :)

I beat my last 5k by almost a minute!!!!!!!

That is right. You heard me. I beat myself. LOL Today I ran the Turtle Krawl, to help the Sea Turtle Preservation Society. My last 5K was on July 3rd, the Firecracker. My time then was 36:45.0 and my average pace was 11:50 minute mile. Today my time was 35:49.1 and my average pace was 11:32 minute mile. And according to my Garmin, my best pace during the run was 8:33 minute mile. That sprained ankle didn't set me back much on my time. Now I just have to work on distance.

The ankle didn't swell up too much... just a little. But I iced it good and took a nap. :) Tomorrow is my group run. Coach Rick says 5 miles. Lets see how I do. I am ready. I feel good. Hell! I feel great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

garmin on a bike

Ok today is my cross training day. So I took my bike for a ride. It was windy and cloudy, but no rain. And believe it or not a little coolness in the air. It was a nice bike ride. I would have gone longer but it started getting dark and I don't have a light. However, the garmin worked with amazing accuracy. It tracked my pace and distance. I love that little watch. A guy at work was teasing me about spending $150 for a watch that doesn't tell time. I said it will tell me how far I want and how long it took me to get there, it just won't tell me what time I got there.

But I don't care I LOVE my garmin.

Oh and my training???? 30 min bike ride, 5 miles. :) According to the garmin I used 500 calories. But I question that.

Afterward I had some whole wheat pasta, veggie sauce with soy sausage. YUM. :)

Garmin forerunner 305

Today was an exciting day. Today is the day I decided to buy my dream gps watch. The coveted Garmin Forerunner 305. After much research and months of debate I bit the bullet. I wanted so badly to use it on my run tonight. But when I got it out of the box the first thing the instructions said was to plug it in and charge it for 3 hours. So by 10:30 tonight it will be charged up and ready to go. But by 10:30 tonight I will be on my own charger (my pillow) and so not ready to go. So the anticipation will have to wait until the morning. I can't wait to get up. I won't run of course. But I can still use the watch. Yes I will use my fancy gps watch to map out the same mile I walk every morning. LOL

As for my workout today... This morning I got up and walked one mile. This evening I jogged/walked 4 miles in 1 hour 58 seconds. I did a little tempo running. 4 minutes of faster running along with slower runs and walks. My ankle seemed to be doing fine with the faster bursts. I think it is ready to start taking on a little more speed work. Of course I say that now as I get ready to ice it. We'll see how it does in the morning.

Sweet dreams. As for me I will be dreaming of my Garmin. :)