I Won!

I usually catch up on blogs at night, but I didn't read blogs last night since I didn't get home until almost 11 after running 8.3 with the girls from North Texas Runners. When I woke up this morning I had a comment on my blog from somebody who found me because I won the giveaway Tall Mom on the Run was hosting for $100 towards a pair of Brooks shoes at Onlineshoes.com. Awesome!!! I was so jealous when Pam commented on her blog yesterday about the wide toe box on her new Brooks Ghost 4's and one of my friends was wearing Ghost 4's on our run last night. Ghost 4's have been on my brain since I was told about them a couple months ago before they were out. But I can't make my final selection until I go to the running store and try on my options. I shop online for anything and everything way too much stuff, but I've been groomed to go to the running store and be properly fitted. So hopefully I'll get a chance to do that with my free time during Babysitter Thursday so I can order my new Brooks shoes!

I studied the pictures of shoes in pretty colors the list of Brooks shoes available at Onlineshoes.com and found a few options:

1- There's the Brooks Mach 3 Spikeless. It's purple. All of my running shoes are and have been blue. I can't help but be drawn to something prettier! Cool racing shoe. I've never bought any of those. Am I fast enough or competitive enough to warrant a racing shoe? Do you wear racing shoes for a sub-2 half marathon?(because that's pretty much all I care about right now) But maybe the answer to whether I should have a racing shoe is no- because it only comes in regular widths, as do all of the Brooks racing shoes. Hmmm. Fat feet can't be fast, apparently. Maybe it has nothing to do with fast twitch muscle fibers. I have a new study for somebody to do... fat footed fast runners- do they exist?

 

2- Then there's also the Brooks Adrenaline ASR 8. Another pretty option. Pink and gray. But it's gray because it's a trail shoe! So I ran trails one time when I thought it was hot, but it wasn't really hot, because NOW it's HOT. But the girls at NTX Runners are into trails and I have my first trail date next weekend. So I might be needing some trail shoes, huh?

3- And then there's the Brooks Ghost 4. What I've coveted for months but never actually tried on. Guess what color it comes in? Blue. Well, it comes in a green, but not for wide feet and unless the overall fit of this shoe is just plenty wide, I'll probably need the fat foot color.

So I'll plan on going by the running store after my pedicure and chiropractor appointment tomorrow. I can't wait to post which ones I choose!

Sub-2 Half Marathon Plan

Today is the start of my half marathon training plan. My race is the Heels & Hills & Him Half Marathon on September 25th. I'm already registered. This will be my first attempt at a sub-2 half marathon. I expect that it will still be pretty warm so I'm not placing all of my eggs in this basket. I have quite a few more half marathons on my schedule this fall/winter/early spring (at present moment there are 4) and I'm certain I'll be able to get the sub-2 at least once at one of these races. But at the same time, I'm going to use a sub-2 training plan with some modifications. It's a 10 week plan with 4-5 runs each week. The longest run is 13 miles and the highest weekly mileage is 30. The long runs call for a 10:30 pace, which I believe I can do in cooler temperatures, but is really not comfortable in 90 degree (plus) temperatures. So, I'm giving myself the leeway to make those runs a comfortable pace. I will still push my hardest to achieve the paces the plan calls for on the speed workouts and other runs, especially when using the treadmill.

This plan was published in Runner's World  in August 2010. Dimity (co-author of Run Like a Mother) used this plan and ran a 1:52:14. It's easy to find the article by searching online, but for some reason finding the training plan that ran at the end of the article is super difficult. Here's a link to the actual article and plan online if you want to read the entire article or can't see my screenshot of the plan very well:
Sub-2 Half Marathon Article and Training Plan

The days that I complete each run (and also squeeze in core and strength training and yoga) will be different than the plan because I have to fit them into our funky work schedules but I figured nobody really cares what days I do the plan, but they might want to see the bones of a sub-2 plan.

Loving Running Buddies

Last night I messaged a girl from my running club who lives nearby to see if she might want to join me for 4 miles this morning. She did! Another friend of hers (who also lives nearby) had already asked her to run, so the three of us ran together. There's a short cut that goes between our neighborhoods, so we met there and ran an easy route that I often do from my house. I ended up running 5.5 miles by the time I was back home (could/would have been more but I decided to walk the 3/4-1 mile from my house to our meeting spot). I wouldn't have gotten out of bed to run if not for meeting these girls, but the warm up walk still did me some good. I didn't stop my watch for any street crossings or our stop at McDonald's to refill water bottles and we did some run/walk intervals , so the pace was a little slower. My total time was 1:06:42 with an average pace of 12:07. I'm usually not so consistent with pace but miles 2, 3, and 4 were 12:06, 12:07, and 12:06.

My total weekly mileage was 21.1 which is far more than I've run in a couple of months. My pace is slower than my plan calls for when I run with the groups, but it's so much more comfortable and it helps me enjoy the runs... which in the long run (ha) will make me happier than a sub-2 half. Which will still happen sometime this fall/winter. I look back at my times from cooler weather and I frequently hit the times I need to be getting now. I'm going to follow this plan for the next 10 weeks with some modifications as I need to make them, and maybe by the time I run my September 1/2 I can pick up the plan again and work harder at hitting the prescribed paces since it'll start to be cooler outside.

Scared of Speed

I have a long standing fear of speed, mostly when punched into the treadmill. I remember when I thought a 10 minute mile was unachievable, but I ran my half marathon at a pace of 9:49, so it's not unachievable. It's a mental block. But even now, punching 6.0 into the treadmill is scary. I'm instantly filled with self doubt and fear of failure.

My training plan calls for a 5 mile run with 3 miles at 8:54 pace in the very first week. I've been scared of that run since I laid eyes on this plan over 1 month ago. My 5k PR pace was 8:50, and I'm supposed to tack another mile on before and after repeating that performance? Fear. I keep telling myself that the pace is a goal. It's OK if I don't hit it. What's the worst that'll happen? I just need to aim for that pace but if I have to slow down so I can get those 3 miles in at a tempo pace or take walk breaks between each mile, so be it. But that's next week.

Today I did a 30 minute core class at the gym before hitting the treadmill for a mini tempo run- sort of a mental prep for next week. Since I will be using the treadmill more than I'd like during this training cycle, I've upped the incline to try and level out the playing field with running outside. My adjusted speeds for the run were:
Mile 1- 10:32
Mile 2- 9:01
Mile 3- 10:32

I had to take a little break after mile 2, because apparently my current level of fitness reveals that 9:01 is near puke pace. I really thought I was going to lose it. After a couple minutes in the bathroom I got back on the treadmill and ran the last mile.

Long Run with Run Club

Last night I met 7 other women from my run club for an 8 mile run. The girl who organized the run wanted to do a 3:1 run/walk at a pace around 12:30. I was completely fine with that, given my lack of a long run over 5 miles in at least a month. We did a 4 mile out & back route with short little potty/refill hand held water bottle breaks at each turn around point. We finished around 10:30pm but avoided the hot sun for the majority of the run. There's something about running with other people that makes it a lot less miserable. I was talking or listening to the conversation and didn't have the time to focus on how hot it was or what part of me wasn't enjoying the run. For probably about the last 3.5 miles, I ran ahead with 2 other girls. We dropped the walk breaks and picked up the pace a little.

We did 8.5 miles at an average pace of 12:48. I stopped my watch for the breaks we took at the turn around spots but not for waiting to cross streets. 

Several of the girls live in the same city as me and one lives just a couple minutes away. I'm so happy to have new running buddies!

Running Club!

Last night Jake and I joined a running club (after laying new flooring in the living room for 7 hours). I've seen people wearing their bright green club shirts at races and even in our neighborhood, so I stalked watched the activity on Facebook for awhile to get an idea for how active the group was and where they ran (let's be real- I'm not going to drive 30 minutes to do regular runs for the most part).

Last night was a social run to/from a frozen yogurt place near our house. Just 15 minutes out and back. We did 3.12 miles at an average pace of 10:29. I'm so not used to running in the heat, especially since I've only done treadmill runs for the past few weeks. I walked a couple of times in the last mile. I have to admit seeing the frozen yogurt place was as good as any race finish line and I had no guilt in filling my cup all the way to the top with cake batter fro-yo and Reese's PB Cups.

Afterward we chatted with the leader and a few members before heading home to relieve the babysitter. Everyone was nice and I think it'll be a group I enjoy. I'm jumping right in with the group. People post what they want to run and where on Facebook when they want company, so I'm going to join a few girls for an 8 mile run tomorrow night. My training plan officially starts next week (10 week plan) with 8 miles at 10:30 pace so this will be a little slower, but a good lead-in long run for the plan.

Chiropractor Update/X-ray Review

This morning I went to the chiropractor for a regular visit. I haven't been having much pain since my last visit. He went over my x-rays with me, which I thought were really interesting. As a nurse, I have almost zero training in reading x-rays. I can pick out problems on an x-ray about as well as anyone without medical training. So that being said, he could feed me total crap and I'd have no way of knowing whether it was true or false. Here's one of the x-rays:

See the (basically vertical) line drawn on the x-ray? That's normal spine curvature. See my spine? Not normal. My personal trainer called it correctly several weeks ago. Lordosis (curvature of the spine). It's likely from pregnancy and is just the way my body handled gaining far too much weight 9 months of carrying a baby. Twice. The good news is that I don't have any arthritis, the disk spaces are all good... no damage. So my big question, of course, was how we fix it. Surely there are some exercises I need to be doing or something. According to the chiropractor we do adjustments for several weeks to get the spine where it should be, then we start PT to strengthen the muscles. If my back muscles get stronger right now, they just reinforce the curvature.

Anyone have any experience or knowledge in this area? I'd love input.