May the wind stay at my back and may angels give me wings to fly.

I started avidly running in April of 2007, 8 weeks after my little boy was born. I was only running about 15 miles a week just to lose baby weight but a friend of mine was thinking of running the Honolulu Marathon. I made the bold move of doing it with her with the simple goal of just to finish. I finished my first marathon in 2008 with a time of 5:13. In 2009 I started running more miles, up to 40 a week when my schedule would allow that much. I signed up for my second Honolulu marathon and finished with a time of 4:48. That was with only 6 weeks of training, two of them being taper weeks. I finished with tears of joy and one other thing, the strong desire to run every runner's dream...BOSTON! I have some real good days and some real bad days but I hope someone finds inspiration in my spirit and strength. If you dig deep enough you will find the strength to do whatever your heart desires. "Don't follow your dreams...CHASE THEM!"

Sunday, July 25, 2010

2 week update

It's been a couple weeks since my last post mainly due to a horrid hormonal week that left me full of lead when running. This week I did all my run except for Friday due to a very sore right quad from lunges.

Anyway, I'll skip the hormonal week because nothing good EVER happens that week. I just run what my body will allow. However, this past week was okay but could have been better. My fartleks went really well and for the first time I extended the intervals to 6 minutes. THAT was hard! My goal for fast pace is always to be a full minute below MGP which is 8:35, so I aim for a 7-8 range on fartleks. This week, I did it! Even for the 6 minute interval! Grant it I thought my legs would fall off, but hey, that will get better in time. :) This weeks long run was a little tough though, not sure why yet. It was hot even before the sun came up and I didn't take an endurolyte. I didn't have my garmin working so I had no idea of my pace. My first 8 miles were great but I may have been going too fast because I started to fizzle...then my legs started to tighten up and the last 3 miles I had a side stitch again and had to stop and go. It just wouldn't go away this time.

I've been a little shakey on confidence again about qualifying for Boston in December but I think that is due to just a bad 2 weeks of running. Some things I just can't control but I need to get my spunk back into my runs. That needs to happen this next week. That WILL happen this next week. I've broken through to my marathon pace now I have to work hard to extend the miles with it. Hard and tough for me but I'm far from being a quitter and will push my body as hard as it can go. Slacking off is not an option and neither is quitting. Time to shove off the bad runs again and focus on what I know I can do!

This next week will be a no fail week.

May God give me speed, strength, and endurance!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

My highest mileage week ever!

So this past week was intimidating a little because I have never ran 56 miles in 6 days. The most I've done is 42. I just took it day by day, massaged, ate well, and rested while I could. I had to do 2 TM runs, one 10 miler and one 8 miler fartleks. Both a bit boring for me but I did it. I had speedwork pretty much all week so by the time I had Friday's fartleks I had to walk out the last quarter mile but my fast pace was pretty good, 7:15-8:30, slow pace 9:30. I welcomed a leisurely 4 mile run Saturday although I had considered not running it. I'm glad I did though. I had a goal for the week and I wanted to met it. Today's long run was a little tougher than last weekend because I had a lot of miles on my feet already and I was not really mentally ready. I decided to mind trick myself into thinking the run wasn't 16 miles but that meant running up a 2 mile incline. The last 4 miles was run/walk and the last mile was an all out walk due to right hamstring discomfort. Luckily all is better now after an ice bath and shower. I did well the other days with my running and held my MP when I had to and made sure to take it easy on runs that I was told to.

My nutrition has improved with an increase in protein, more fruit, and more raw veggies. My weight has stayed the same but my measurements have decreased. However, the weight stabilization could be due to the increase muscle in my quads and hamstrings that are noticeable now. Yay!

Another week = a week of success. Next week a little less mileage and a little easier with the pace to give the legs a break. It's going to be another good month! Last month I logged 148 miles, my most in a month ever. I look forward to July!

I live. I dream. I run.