A Quick Catch-Up!

Hi all!

My apologies for not writing so frequently.  I've been extremely busy but haven't completely lost track of my running schedule.  So I'm gonna give you a quick update on my last few work outs/days.

Beginning with last Tuesday!  Last Tuesday I went to the gym again.  I decided to try the "Random Hills" work out.  I set it for 30 minutes with an additional warm-up and cool-down.  This was good for me!  There were times I was struggling and I had to slow the speed down for a bit but for the most part I was able to complete the work out with minimal adaptations being made.  I'm still adjusting to treadmill speeds/inclines and trying to find the right levels for me for each work out.  For this work out my max speed was set at 5.5 and max incline was 6.5.  I ended the work out by running 2.8 miles of hills in 30 minutes.  I was feeling pretty good after this so I did an additional 20 minutes of "Random Hills" on the bike logging another 5.6 miles at level 10.

Wednesday I surprisingly went on a run in sunny California!  Although, the sun wasn't out anymore by the time I was able to go for a run.  I was hoping to do a nice easy run and well, I suppose it wasn't too difficult but it turned into a 4 mile run.  I guess I can't complain since part of it was through sand and the rest of it was along the beachfront.  Plus it was an opportunity to run in 60+ degree weather!  Who knows when I'll see that again around here... :(

Thursday and Friday were too busy or I was too exhausted to even think about going for a run.  These 3 day trips with one FULL day of location shooting are exhausting BUT tons of fun!  Then Saturday I flat out slacked.  It was in the single digits when I was contemplating on going for a run and after being in warm weather for a few days I couldn't bring myself to do it.  Putting on all those layers and venturing out there seemed like the worst idea ever.

Today I was struggling too.  I really, really didn't want to run.  So I killed time by doing a pilates DVD.  By the time I was done with the DVD it had reached 10 degrees so I figured I better do it while the sun is out.  Plus I figured this might be my only chance to run outside before the 10K Race next Sunday...eek!  Oh, and I figured it would help justify all the yummy Game Day food I'd be inhaling for the Packer Game! Ha...oops.  Surprisingly, I had a pretty pleasant run for taking a couple days off and eating lots of delicious but not so good for me food on location.  I only had planned to do a 2 mile Easy Run and I ended up doing 2.76 miles instead.  I used one of the "coaching" programs on the RunKeeperPro App and it worked out pretty nice.  They give you updates as you run, tell you when you hit a mile and give suggestions for either speeding up, slowing down or even walking for an interval.  I chose the "2 Miles with Rest" program and that consisted of a 5 minute warm-up, 1 Mile at a steady pace, .25 Miles at a slower pace, and 1more Mile at a steady pace.  Like I mentioned before it was chilly out but the sun shinning and lack of wind played a huge part in the success of this run.  It also helped that the sidewalks were fairly clear of snow or it was packed down so hard I felt pretty stable maintaining a good pace on it.

As for the rest of the week, I'm hoping to get to the gym Mon, Tues and Wed, take Thurs off, do a light, easy 2 mile run outside Friday morning (cause I have the day off, yippee!), rest Sat and 10K RACE DAY SUNDAY!  I'm not sure what my work outs will be yet at the gym but hoping to do one run of at least 4-5 miles, another day of at least 3 miles and then either a shorter speed work out or some more random hills.  I'm gonna try and add in some cross training if possible too but I want to make sure I don't over do it and have no energy left for this upcoming weekend's run.  Also this week I need to finalize my 1/2 Marathon Training Schedule.  If any of you have suggestions or have used programs that you really liked please send the tips my way!

Alrighty, that's it for now.  Until next time!

PS: WAY TO GO PACK!!!  SUPERBOWL 2011 HERE WE COME :)