Tour de Seminole County

Today I gave my knees a well deserved break. I have recorded about 11 miles this week already and I started to feel some soreness in my left knee. So this morning I set out to take a long bike ride using Zach's sisters old Mongoose. Zach lives in Seminole county which is home to tons of bike trails. He told me the quickest route to get to one and I was off! I spent about an hour riding my bike trying to petal as fast as I could. I tried to use google maps to figure out how many miles I traveled, and it was probably around  11 or 12 total.  I could not avoid being embarrassingly passed by other bike enthusiasts who were riding their very expensive looking road bikes. Either way, I got a good sweat going and my quads were definitely sore afterwards. So it was good to give my knees a break, since I have no where to do any type of cross training. Since Zach and I are leaving tomorrow morning, I will take tomorrow off for travel. We will be traveling to Raleigh, NC to spend the night with Zach's good family friend. The following morning we will travel back to Erie where I will hopefully be able to get home in time to go for a run at the gym.  This being the end of my first week, I have to say everything is going well so far. I feel great, and I cant wait to increase my mileage next week. Unfortunately I will have to do this back in cold, dreary Erie Pa. The good thing about going back is that I have access to a gym nearby and I can utilize cross trainers, weights, and treadmills. The downside is that I will be leaving this amazing weather and the benefits of running outside.

Today is New Years Eve! I will not be out celebrating out this year due to Zach's weak stomach and our plans to get up in the morning to drive to NC. But we will be having a very nice dinner with his family which is nice since we are not sure when we will be back down to Florida for a while. NYE is one of my favorite holidays because its like a new beginning. It is a chance to start over and reflect on the past year of your life. 2011 was an amazing year. I was able to finally move in with Zach and get own apartment together. He is truely the love of my life and makes me so happy to be with everyday!  There is not much that I would like to change in 2012, I feel very happy with my life. Starting this training program so close to new years is also a good motivator to keep going strong. I want to start out 2012 in good shape and good health. I am excited to see what this new year will bring! I hope everyone who reads this has a great new year!!!
See ya in 2012!

Uhhhhh Running??

This morning was a little rough.... I woke up with a pretty significant hangover, due to the excessive tailgating I participated in yesterday for the Champs Sports Bowl. We didn’t end up getting into the game, but we had a great time! Today I woke up dragging my feet, but sucked it up and got ready to go to Weikiva Springs with Zach's parents and their two dogs, Bogey and Boomer. Again, the weather was gorgeous! It was a perfect sunny 70 degree day. We had a picnic lunch in the state park and then took the dogs on a walk around a trail. The nice air and sunshine was a really good cure for my hangover. When I got home, I had a relapse. I wasn’t feeling well and I knew that I needed to go out for a run. I kept waiting and waiting hoping that I would get a sudden surge of motivation to workout. Finally it was 5:30 and the sun was quickly going down so I sucked it up and laced up my shoes. I decided today's run would be a slow leisure run. Again, the cool crisp air was an instant motivator for me. My run went really well. I ran approx 3.5 miles and it took about 33 min. Zach's neighborhood is a golf club community so I ended up running around the coarse. It made for a very scenic and relaxing run. I felt so much better after I came home and stretched for about ten min. So although I thought my day may have been ruined from my drinking the day before, I ended up having one of the nicest runs that I have had in a while! I felt very good!  Here is a picture of the State Park we were at today:

 

Champs sports bowl!

Today I am blogging from my moblie phone on my way to tailgate at the champs sports bowl! So todays blog will be short and sweet. I woke up this morning a did a nice 3 mile run at a good strong pace. I wanted to push myself and run at a faster pace rather then just do a leisure run. It was good! Suprisingly cold though. I also got lost in zach's community haha. Well I'm off to tailgate and get silly with zach's brother and sister! Go noles!

Rest and Digest (some delicious seafood)

Today was a very fun day for me; fun in a few ways: (1) Zach and I got our engagement photos taken today! (2) Zach, his parents, and I spent the day together visiting  DeLeon Springs,  Osceola national forest, and one of the best seafood restaurants I have been to. Today I was too busy having a wonderful time to even think about training. Now, most people would think that the more running one person completes would therefore better their training. This is not the case. Having the mindset of running as often and as far as you possibly can, can eventually lead to plateau or injury. There are many benefits that runners get from taking a day off from training.  A book titled Run Less, Run Faster was written by an award winning marathon runner who dedicated a whole chapter to rest and recovery. The author suggests that rest, should be an important planned/ structured component of the training process. The more difficult the workout, the more important recovery is to your body. For example, I must plan my rest days to be structured in order to give my body efficient recovery after my long runs. Now, keep in mind life does not revolve around this training program, so some days I will be forced to take off due to events or tests that are going on, and that’s fine. But on weeks that I can help it, I must plan my rest days effectively in order to let my body recover the best way it can. Its best to listen to your body; if you notice muscle soreness or aching, your body is telling you it needs a break! Injury is the last thing you want to slow you down during this process.  When in doubt, think:

Quality Training + Quality Nutrition + Quality Rest = Quality Results

Running from Birds!

Today I woke up early with Zach to go to the Winter Springs High School track. I completed a short high intensity run that was a series of 1/4 mile runs as fast as I could with about a min break in-between. The run went great, it was definitely hard but it was nice because it was short in duration. I ran about 5 1/4 mile sprints (which was about 1 time around the track). It took on average 1 min and 45 seconds to get around the track and I took about a min break in-between. My training program is designed to increase how many of these sprints I complete each week in order to increase my sprinting endurance. The most important aspect of this is to make sure that the times for each sprint stay consistent. I did not want to run the first sprint really fast and run my last one significantly slower. Although it’s sprinting, endurance is important. The run went really well although there was a distraction while I was running. Zach's high school is right next to Lake Jessup, the most populated alligator lake in the world, so there is a lot of wildlife in the area. While I was running on the track, there were a number of vultures and hawks flying above the track. I felt like at any minute one was going to swoop down and attack me, but Zach assured me if that happened he would knock the bird out with his bare hands.

On another note, today was suppose to be the day that Zach and I were to get our engagement pictures done, but due to bad weather in the area, we decided to postpone it until tomorrow morning. So I am getting up at 6am tomorrow morning to get ready for our pictures! We are meeting the photographer at Daytona Beach Pier to begin the photo shoot while the sun is rising. Then, the other half of the shoot will take place at Sugarmill botanical gardens in New Smyrna beach Florida (which is near where Zach originally proposed). I am very excited to get these done! Also, today Zach got the iphone! He is very excited to finally be up to speed with today’s technology. I will more than likely take tomorrow off due to the engagement photos!

Compete VS Complete

During my training, I am more focused on competing in this half marathon rather than completing it. My first half marathon was an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment and doing so without any walking was my main goal leading up to the race. During my training, I rarely focused on how fast I was running or strategies to increase my time because I had nothing to judge from. Just finishing the 13.1 miles was enough. Now that I am on my second race, I am taking more interest in learning about training in a way to increase my half marathon time. To me, competing is finishing my half under 2:08 min.  I was able to read two excellent books (thanks to my dad who bought them for me) that addressed some strategies of running. Running seems like it would be simple with not so much strategy behind it, but really it’s the opposite. There are many factors to bettering yourself as a runner, and I was able to identify some of these while reading.

Here is a website that I found with some interesting information on improving race time
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/half-marathon-training-593

Intensity is one of the most important factors to focus on when trying to decrease your time. When designing my training program, I varied the intensities of my workouts as suggested by my research. It is important to incorporate faster, shorter runs into my running schedule in order to work on decreasing my mile time. During my last half marathon training schedule, I focused on how many miles would run per week. I found that running less mileage per week at a higher intensity will actually help decrease my half marathon time. This new focus will hopefully help me in my hopes to improve! I know that this new training will require mental toughness and that I push myself harder but I figure if I can get through 5 years of Cleve Wright, I can push myself for 12 weeks.

Today was my first day of training. Zach and I were busy shopping for clothes for our engagement pictures all day so I wasn’t able to get outside to run until it was dark around 6:15pm. My run went well; I followed a trail outside in Zach’s neighborhood which was well lit with street lights. I wasn’t sure how far I was going, or where I was going in that matter, and I ended up running for about 40 minutes.  I wanted today’s run to be an easy-going joy run, which it was. The weather was perfect and I found the run to be peaceful and I loved it! Tomorrow I am planning on going to Zach’s high school track to begin some higher intensity runs, which includes 4-5 fast paced ¼ mile runs which short breaks. This is one of the higher intensity workouts that I am including in my workout to decrease my mile time. Good first day!

Merry Christmas!

Greetings from sunny Florida! This picture was taken outside my fiance's home in Winter Springs Florida where it is currently an average of about 75 degrees!  Today marks exactly 12 weeks until the Rock and Roll National Half Marathon. Instead of beginning my training, I spent my Christmas day stuffing my face with delicious food! Can you blame me? Tomorrow will mark my first official day. I am going to take full advantage of this amazing weather until I leave back to cold Erie, Pa. I look forward to starting my training tomorrow and burning some off some Christmas calories!

My FIRST POST!

I am excited to say that this is my first time writing a blog. I was skeptical at first, but I think that this will be a really good way to keep myself motivated during my half marathon training. Another good motivation, is that one of my best friends is blogging with me! We are both going to share our journey during this 12 week extravaganza of running! Today is Christmas eve, which marks the eve to The official first day of training which happens to fall on Christmas. During the next 12 weeks, Monika and I will embark on a long strenuous workout routine which will eventually prepare us to run 13.1 miles on March 17, 2012 (Monika's birthday and St. Patricks Day).  An early Christmas gift to my running endeavour is a new pair of shoes! I love brooks shoes and I am excited that I have a fresh pair to run in to begin my training. These are the Ravenna II by brooks and they are super comfortable! Who would have ever thought a small running store in Hickory, NC would have size 12 women's running shoes? NOT ME!

This is just an little introduction to what there is to come! I am currently in Florida spending Christmas with Zach's family so time is limited! I am excited to have some more blogs coming your way soon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!