Running wild

I'm a nut. Seriously.

I should be walking and training for the 3-Day that is coming up in November. 60 miles in 3 days.

But I can't stop running!

A friend "challenged" me to a half marathon next January. It is the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon in Anaheim. From the sound of it, you run all around the Disneyland area. It's for women only. I looked at the information online and they said you need to keep a 16 minute mile. Heck, I could walk that. By January, I will have done the 3 day, so even if I walk, I should be okay. I went ahead and registered. They have a kids 1 mile run the day before, and Isabelle agreed to go for it as well. Sounds like we have a fun girls weekend in store for us at the end of January '12.

But I would like to run most of it if I can.  So I signed up for a 10k on the 4th of July. The only other race I've ever done was the Carlsbad 5000 last April, a 5k. My time was good (for me).  I was hoping for finishing under 30 minutes, and I made it at 29:06. This time, I'm hoping to finish under 60 minutes.

I can't help but giggle at myself. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I have always HATED running up until now.  Now I'm poring through the pages of Runners World magazine! Runner's World also has an app I downloaded called "Smart Coach."  You put in your basic information: recent race time; upcoming race; goal; how many miles you want to do in a week; etc.  The app then spits out a training program for you to follow.

I like it because I don't have a clue about how to train for a race. This app does it all for me.  For example, this is my upcoming week:
Monday: Easy 2 mile run at 11:56 pace. That is pretty slow-I'll probably not be able to keep it that slow. But I'll definitely do the miles.
Wednesday: Speedwork 5 miles. 3x800 in 4:37 with 400 jogs. I'll admit that I'm such a newbie that I'm not sure how to read that. But the app has a glossary that I should be able to figure it out before Wednesday!
Saturday: Long run-6 miles.
The days in between are for cross training or rest. I usually take Sundays off. I'll alternate circuit training and other cardio on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

I even went out and got myself a Garmin Forerunner GPS watch. It has a heart rate monitor on it as well. I've been using a Polar F6 monitor for the past year when I exercise. I like to see exactly how many calories I'm burning. I didn't want to give that functionality up. This watch has the monitor, but also tracks my distance, time and I can upload it to the Garmin website. I think it also interacts with a website I use to track my mileage, LogYourRun.com.  (I got the grey one in the middle with the pink stripe.)  I haven't used the watch yet-I'll do that tomorrow on my easy run. I'm sure it does things that I don't even realize at this point!

Yesterday I did my "long" run. It ended up being 6.69 miles. I was really happy that I was able to run for an entire 6 miles.  The only time I stopped was waiting at red lights twice.  I even did a hill that I had to walk before. I was slow.....but I was running it!  I walked the beginning and end for about 1/4 mile and my time overall was 1 hour, 12 minutes. I figure that I easily did 6 miles in an hour, which bodes well for my 10k goal. Not only that, but where I live it is extremely hilly. I don't think the race course has many hills, if any. So that should help make me stronger as well.

So there it is. I confess. I'm turning into a running junkie.

But really. After the 10k on July 4th, I do plan to slow it down and start training for the 3-Day by jumping into the training program. It isn't going to be easy, even though it won't be as intense. It will be all about endurance. Hopefully between that and the 10k training I'll be in good shape to pick up with 1/2 marathon training in the fall!