10K Training is in full swing!

After taking a few weeks off from a regimented training program, I decided it was time to get back to it.  Last week I hopped on my treadmill and started out with Day 1 of the 10K101 program.  This picks up right where the 5K101 training leaves off.  Warm up and cool down walks with run/walk intervals in between.  Day 1 started with eight minute tempo (these are faster) running interval reps.  I wasn't ready for it, bad day, out of condition already or what, I don't know, but I didn't complete it.  I hadn't planned to start until the end of the month anyway, this was just to feel things out.  I knew if I picked up here, I would sacrifice speed from the very start.  This was not how I wanted to train for my 10K.

Last week a friend began her 10K training and mentioned using a phone app.  I looked into them and found a free 10K training app that starts from the very beginning, as if you weren't able to already run a 5K distance.  The first week begins with a five minute warm up walk and ends with a five minute cool down walk with around ten reps of 60 second runs and 90 second walk intervals in between.  It is a 14 week program (42 days), and I am able to incorporate my own music into the program.  Not bad for a free app.  The program fits in nicely for speed work training as well.

Let the training begin!!

I plugged in the treadmill and turned on the app and had officially begun my 10K training!  Whoo-Hoo!!  I can do these short intervals way faster!  Easy peasy!!  I will nail these tiny little intervals!  Wait?  What? You want me to do that again?  And Again? More?!  Hold on a sec, why am I so drained?  Come on now, this should be cake!

Well, it wasn't cake.  It is not a good idea to start off too fast or you won't have anything left for the rest of the training.  I reduced the pace as I went, back to my average running pace and decided, I would work on building speed a little more gradually than I first started out.  The original pace I selected was most certainly doable for me, but not repeatedly.  Not yet, but it will be!  And it won't take long!  I finished Day 1 of my 10K training yesterday.  It was a little tougher than my cocky self thought it was going to be, but I got it done.

As the day went on and I started thinking about my shorter long term goals, I started getting an itch to run a full marathon.  I wanted to skip right over the half marathon thing and go for the real deal!  But, I had a plan, I was going to do a full marathon in 2016.

However, this idea kept popping into my head throughout the day until finally I couldn't ignore it any longer.  I made up my mind I would go right from 10K training into half and then full marathon training and would plan to do my first full marathon in 2015.

Once I committed to the decision, I became so excited about the idea, I had to proclaim it on Facebook, you know, because that's what we do ;)  It was wonderful to put into words and make it real and I am blessed to have so many supportive people in my life.

So, here begins my long journey from 10K to marathon.  I hope you'll join me with your adventures in running and share your challenges, goals and successes!

Here's a little something to motivate you (and me!)

I love watching the Kona Ironman running and participant stories.  Enjoy.

HAPPY RUNNING TO YOU ALL!!!

be YOU!

On a daily basis, I am bombarded by negative input from friends and strangers, badmouthing themselves and others.  This puts me over the top!  And fatalistic thinking, good grief, I won't even get started on that one!  I don't understand why people try so hard to be someone they aren't, or constantly compare themselves to someone else.  We are each born with our own beautiful, wonderful and unique gifts, just for us, no one else.  The particular combination of all things us, that which makes us who we are on this plane.

While I do agree, it is important to be aware of things about yourself you would like to see a change in for the better, and take steps to make those improvements, for example health, kindness, patience etc, we spend far too much time trying to please everyone else and for all the wrong reasons.

It is physically impossible on this plane of existence to be ALL things to ALL beings.  Impossible to make everyone, everywhere, happy at all times.  And why would you even want to??

Why are people so worried about impressing complete strangers, worried about a stranger's opinion of them, people they may never see again in their life??  Why are they least concerned about this with the people they see every day, like family.  Perhaps, we feel like family will love us regardless, and we take it and them for granted?

People get so worked up speaking in front of strangers, or worry about impressing someone they don't know at a party.  Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to be your natural self and let the ones who appreciate you come to you.  If someone doesn't like you, why would you even want to be around them?  If you change your natural self to please someone else, you will be living a lie every time you are with them.  Forget about it if you marry someone under false pretenses!  That is not going to end well at all!

I am not talking about being an evil monster if someone says something you don't agree with, or anything like that, but truly being your best version of you.  The you that comes naturally.  The you that lights up when a certain type of music comes on, the you that forgets all about the icy cold temps because you want to get that one last perfect photograph, the you that perhaps loses themselves when they are singing, and so on.

Find the best version of you and the things you enjoy and build on them.  Do not build your life, your future on someone else's expectations of who you should be and what you should be doing with your life, because it is just that.  It is YOUR life.  Make it a good one.  Make it the best you can.  Every single day may not be roses and sunshine, but dust yourself off and try again.  Get out of bed the next day and go get them!  It is exciting not knowing where we will be this time next year, next month or even tomorrow.  The world is open to you and for you.  Now, go out there and make a difference in your life!!

"Shake It Off"!!

HAPPY RUNNING OR SINGING OR GARDENING OR WHATEVER IT IS YOU LOVE TO DO!!

what now?

After completion of the four races, back to back in four weeks, I wanted to set some new goals for myself.  When I went out for my long training run the following weekend, I decided to try for four miles straight through.  They didn't need to be fast, they didn't need to be pretty, they just needed to 'be'.  And they were.

I was so proud of myself, but I felt it.  Every inch of me felt it.  After a few days, I was still feeling it and by the following week, Monday, I woke up sick.  My aches and pains were feeling better, but I was dealing with some stomach issues now.  I was sick from the time I got out of bed until 6:00 that evening and spent all of Tuesday recuperating.  After which, again I ached all over from being ill so much.  Fortunately, it didn't appear to be any type of bug, bacterial or viral, but some intestinal blockage which I have never done well with.  'Call the ambulance, I'm sure I'm dying' kind of deal for me.  I am an absolute baby when this happens and my body completely betrays me.

I decided to give my body a rest and took that week and this past weekend off as well.  I will ease back into a routine by walking, which I have been doing with the pups, but plan to increase mileage on my treadmill.

I have become frustrated with the response time on the treadmill when speed training.  It doesn't increase speed quickly enough, and then when I'm ready to cough up a lung, it does not decrease quickly enough.  I have been wondering if there is still such a thing as a non-motorized treadmill.  Do they still make them?  You know the kind, the one they use in the beginning of the Jetsons?  At least it starts out that way until they get it going too fast?  (I never understood why they weren't concerned a little more about 'gravity'.)   I decided to look them up, they DO exist!  A manual treadmill is what it is called, I ordered one immediately.  I will post an update on how well (or not) it works out for me during the upcoming cold weather.

As for the 'what now' question, I will be working on hill training for my next scheduled race in March of 2015.  We are doing a 10K bridge run, this will be an increased distance and an increase in hills and endurance.  I am looking forward to the challenge.  In truth, I am looking forward to kicking the challenge in the bum!  After this, the goal is half marathon training for a race sometime in 2015 and the ultimate shorter long term goal right now is my first full marathon in the Fall of 2016 with a few awesome friends.  

I have not been 'dieting', no counting calories, depriving myself, obsessing over every morsel I put into my mouth.  I have however been making better choices.  I am vegan and prefer whole foods versus processed foods.  If I am hungry, I eat.  If I want something yummy, I try to make it myself.  There are times when it is not convenient to do so and I will make exceptions, but I do NOT beat myself up about it.  I try to move in some way every day, and I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables.  Since I'm a vegan, this works out really well for me.  I want to see a lot of color on my plate at each meal.  If there is no green, even if it's just a small amount, at every meal, it feels like something is missing.

Organic & Non-GMO tofu, scrambled with onions tri-colored organic peppers, garlic, salt, pepper.

Since my last recorded higher weight in February, I have lost 21 pounds, and since beginning my running again, I have lost 13 pounds.  The 13 pounds came off naturally in three months by keeping active and eating primarily organic whole foods.  I am letting my body heal itself and trying not to get in the way.  It is rewarding me by balancing itself and letting go of the excess gravity.  Thank you my beautiful and wondrous body, you are making the running more enjoyable with every bit of gravity you release!!

HAPPY RUNNING TO ALL!!!!!