Exchanged a Run for a Workout!

Friday, I got rained out.. I started to go for a run.. and ended up turning around.  Didn't even make it a mile.  Danced the night away Friday, so I feel like I made up for it!

Saturday, I had some girl friends (Frankie and Marion) come to the gym with me to workout.. this is a rundown of what we did:

1/2 Mile Jog
--- (we went through all of this twice)
Walking Lunges with Kettle Bell Press
30 Plyometric Lunges
1 Suicide
---
5 Clusters : (5 Push ups, 5 Plank Jacks, 1 Explosion)
20 Plank Bow and Arrows R/L 8lbs
20 Plank Side Raises R/L 5lbs
Mountain Climb 1:00
---
20 Step Ups R/L
20 Elevated Lunges R/L
Quick Squats 1:00
Pulsing Squats :15
30 Explosions
---
12 Swoop Lunges with 15lbs R/L
30 Sit Ups
30 Crunchs
20 Plank Twists
Plank 1:00
---
1/4 Mile Jog

This took us about an hour, but we got through it!

Here's proof we survived:

Training Day 9

Tried to run... Rained out :(

Training Day 8

Woke up early and ran 4 this morning. It was a nice run! My Nike+ app messed up but I know the route so I know it was 4 miles. It was great to feel good running! Feel like I'm getting back in the groove!

Training Day 7

I tried to run as fast as I could on Wednesday.. Had to make lunch and a movie! It turned out to backfire on me because my first 2 miles were nice and fast and my last 1.35 miles were miserable and slow. Just glad it's over!

Training Day 6

Today was HOT. I ran with my friend Paige and running at 12:30 in July proved to be rough!!!

Training Day 5

Goodness it was humid today!! Had to run later because of the rain.. 4 miles down.

Training Day 4

Nice hot 5k in Florida today! Had to take yesterday off due to rain! 4 miles tomorrow.

Training Schedule

This is the schedule I am using to train, I am not following it directly, but will run at least the allotted amount of miles scheduled per week!  (Hopefully more)!

10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
9	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	13.1	Rest	21.1

I got this schedule from Marathon Rookie.  So far so good!

Training Day 3

Fastest per mile yet! Ran 3 miles in Florida today!! Feeling great!!!

Training Day 2

I ran again with my friend Leigh today. We ran a SLOW 4 miles. We were struggling but pushed through!!

Tried our best to play tennis after.. Sad truth is we're awful at it... Better stick to running! Rest day tomorrow!!

Training Day 1

3 miles this morning. Tough after my 7 yesterday but made it! 4 miles tomorrow.

Talking with some people about doing a Warrior Run in October. It's a 5k. Looking into it!

Motivation..

So, I realized last night as I was thinking about all of the running I would be partaking in the next year, that I needed a jump start.  My first race would be 3 1/2 months from today and I feel like that is too long to wait.  I need some motivation!  I can train for a half in 9 weeks, so I am going to run my first one in just that...

So now, my first race will be the Talladega Half Marathon on September 16th!  I'll get to run around Talladega Speedway so I'm pretty excited about that!

Today, to start my training, I will run 3 miles.  It's beautiful today, hot, but I should be able to knock these three miles out soon!

Tentative Dates for Races:

October 21st:  Appalachicola, FL
November: TBA
December 1st:  Panama City, FL
January 19th:  Pensacola, FL
February 3rd and 24th: Tallahassee, FL and New Orleans, LA
March 17th: Atlanta, GA
April 27th:  Nashville, TN
May: TBA
June 22: Seattle, WA
July-Decemeber: TBA

Pre-Training

Today, my friend Leigh and I ran 7 miles through Mountain Brook Village.  We went at 7:30 and it was already pretty hot out!! We may not have ran fast, but we had a great time!  Leigh is training for the Lululemon Half Marathon in Vancouver next month!


Followed by a delicious breakfast at Another Broken Egg Cafe... can't beat it!

My Goal

My life used to consist of making commitments and goals to reach when it came to my physical health. Running was an integral part of my lifestyle and being physically fit consumed my life.  I will say that my dedication to my personal fitness a few years back was borderline crazy.  It did allow me to achieve a level of fitness that I, at the time, thought was what I wanted.  I was running 6 to 7 days a week and training with a personal trainer 3 to 4 days a week and attending a boxing bootcamp 2 days a week.  Plus throw in 3 Half Marathons.  Like I said, I was training a lot, but it cut into my personal life, which at the time I didn't think mattered.


After all of my training, plus a few changes of location (4 to be exact) my fitness lifestyle declined and I ultimately got burned out.  There is no reason to go over the ups and downs of the past two years, but I am now in a place that fitness and my personal health is back on the top of my list.  Just this time, I will not put it above friends and family!  


So with all of this said, I am going to try to run 12 Half Marathons over a 12 month span.  I want to try to run one a month, but with dates of marathons, and my schedule, I may have to run 2 a month and skip a month here and there.  The ultimate goal is to feel good, look better, and have fun!


In the past I have run 2 Country Music Half Marathons in Nashville and the Under Armor Half Marathon in Baltimore.  Below is a photo of some friends (Frankie and Morgan) and I running our first half-marathon in Nashville.  (I'm the one waving.)

I hope to have this much fun participating in my next Half Marathons.  On my journey, I hope to share my training progress, photos of fun runs, and my obstacles and achievements.  I'm working on my calendar of races to run.  As life goes, I know some of the races I choose to run will end up falling on dates I  may not be able to make, so inevitably new races will have to be chosen to make up for the ones I may have to miss!


At least I know where I am going to start:  Appalachicola Running for the Bay Half Marathon!  It will be held on October 21st in Appalachicola, Florida.  


I look forward to posting about training for my first race in the 12 month series!