Week 1 Training Recap

So I made it through week of 1 Boston training and I am so happy to be back on track.  My feet are a little sore; they were enjoying their rest but my legs feel amazing.  Here is what my week looked like.

Monday: Elliptical for an hour and strength training.  I hate the elliptical so I have to force myself to do this every week.  My strength training is going great for both arms and legs.  I can tell on my runs how much stronger my legs are finally getting.  Total workout was about an hour and a half that day.

Tuesday: 8.29 mile run in 1:09 for an average pace of 8:22.  Way too fast for my target easy runs, but I was just too excited to be running that I didn't slow down.  This non-easy pace was felt on my medium-long run the next day.

Wednesday: 11 miles in 1:43 pace for an average pace of 9:21.  This couldn't have been a worse run physically because of my stomach.  I made it about 7 miles in when my stomach decided it wasn't there to play that day.  I pushed but had to stop every mile to get my stomach to calm down.  I had a suggestion on Dailymile to do situps after this happens, so I may try this next time.  Not sure if it will help me, but what can it hurt right?

Thursday: 5 miles in 44 minutes for an average pace of 8:44.  This was supposed to be a recovery run and this was obviously not a recovery pace.  One of my goals this training cycle is to work on running easy on recovery days, and I need to focus on this.  Sometimes it seems difficult to run slow when you know you need to go pick up a kid from daycare.  Thursday I did my arms workout and Wednesday I got in my legs workout.

Friday: 11 miles in 1:40 for a 9:05 pace.  This run made me so happy.  My treadmill seems to be off in calibration.  What this means for my treadmill is that it says one pace, but it is actually running about 17 seconds faster.  This is why you may see my treadmill runs usually approaching the 9:30 pace even though it is around a 9:15 pace with the correction.  (I post the time from the treadmill, not what it would be corrected.) Running 11 miles at a 9:05 pace really made me happy and proved that I can run faster on my treadmill.  I swear that thing loves to mess with my head.

Saturday: 5 miles in in 44 minutes for a 8:42 pace.  Did I mention I don't know how to slow down on 5 mile runs.  Enough said.  I am switching my long runs to Saturdays next week so I am hoping running my recovery run after the long run will slow me down a bit.  I did get my arms and legs done as well today.  I love having a TV in my home gym, makes these workouts much easier to accomplish.

Sunday: 15.15 miles in 2:19 for a 9:10 pace.  I ran my long run this week with Steph.  Our time included many wardrobe malfunction walking breaks as we never pause our Garmins.  I don't think we actually ran slower than a 9 minute pace while we were moving.  Amazing amazing run.  We pretty much got lost in conversation and it was really a great therapy session for me.  Sometimes it is really nice to have someone from outside your family give you input to your complicated situation.  Meeting Steph has been one of my favorite parts of blogging and can't believe how much I look forward to our conversations.

My total for the week was just over 55 miles in 8:18.  I am happy with this total and happy my legs were ok with running again.  I really think the extra rest got me both mentally and physically ready for this training cycle.

Sorry for the boring training recap post, but I have my first Anatomy and Physiology test tonight and my mind is obviously elsewhere.  I have also been working on finding Physical Therapy offices that will let me observe so that I can build up my observation hours.  Yes, school has taken over, but my goal is to maintain 3x a week posting so we will see.

How did your training go last week?  One of my running partners finished her first Ultra Marathon on Saturday and her race recap is worth a read.  Congrats Colleen!!!!

Joining a Run Club

I am a very shy person.  Meeting new people is very hard for me as I don't know how to make small talk at all.  I usually run on my own, because even when running with people, I run out of things to say.  Back in September I got a phone call that pretty much changed things for me.

In September, I was getting close to quitting my job and I was home from work for some reason.  I was about to head out the door when I got a phone call.  A woman, Cindy, on the other line introduced herself as a woman I had met on the track this past summer.  She was laughing because she looked up my name from the results of a race she had seen me run in and then looked up my phone number.  She was getting set to run a 200 mile relay in two weeks and their team was short a person.  They were looking for a local runner and she thought of me.

What Cindy didn't know is that I had been wanting to run a relay for years. My lack of being outgoing really prevented this from happening as I spoke to very few people at local races.  Some people recognized me, but no one really knew me.  I didn't know 12 runners that I could convince to run a relay with me so it would always be just a dream until that moment.  I, without knowing anything, committed immediately to this relay.  My excitement to run outweighed my fear of being around new people.

The Reach the Beach Relay was September 16-17th, 2011, and it was a weekend I will never forget.  Hopping in the van with five ladies I didn't know on that Friday morning was very scary, but the nerves quickly went away.  All five women in that van were so nice and incredible runners.  I learned to push myself to a point I never thought possible and also that motivation from other runners can really help.  Our team ended up taking 3rd in the Masters Women division, averaging an 8:01 pace over almost 200 miles.  I was so proud to be part of such an amazing team.

On the way home from the race we got to talking about the Boston Marathon.  A few of the ladies were already registered to run and I was waiting to register because of the rolling registration.  One of my teammates asked if I would ever join her running club which offers group runs on the Boston Marathon course as well as transportation to the Boston starting line.  I admitted to her that I have always wanted to join a running club before, but due to my shyness stayed away.  They thought it was funny I would be scared considering I had spent the past 36 hours with complete strangers and had a blast.  I considered the option, but kind of put it in the back of my mind.

Fast forward a few months and here I am getting ready to run Boston.  I know I want to run on the Boston course, because I can.  Not only do I fear talking to new people, but I also fear new running routes.  I am afraid of being on an 18 mile training run and getting lost.  So, I re-evaluated my past few months....

• I now run with someone nearly once a week.  This is a huge change from the past where I never ran with anyone.  
• I spent 36 hours in a van with five ladies I had never met and had fun.  Runners are a great group of people and I love listening to them and I love having someone other than my poor husband listen to me talk running.  
• I learned during the relay that there is a lot of experience to soak up from runners who have been running a lot longer than me.  Most started where I have and are now where I look forward to being in the future.  

This combined with the fact that I wanted firsthand knowledge of the Boston race convinced me to finally bite the bullet and join a running club.  I am now a member of the Greater Lowell Road Runners Club.  I am nervous to meet my new running friends but also very excited.  The experience that they have can only enhance my experience with running.

Yesterday, I received many emails that only got me more excited that I joined the running club.  I am about to sign up for the bus to the starting line and looking at how to incorporate some of their group runs into my schedule.  The running club also has a program for kids so my girls are going to get to be involved as well.  I can't believe I waited this long to join, but am so thankful I finally had the final kick to get me to join.  I guess you can say my hesitancy allowed me to find a group with people that I know I liked from the start so I am not jumping in blindly.

Have you joined a running club and if so what was it that convinced you to join?