Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Training Schedule for 2/22 - 2/28 (And Quote of the Week)

The training schedule this week is going to be slightly different than the past weeks. I was sick yesterday, so I have to push my normal strength training to Friday. Also, I will be driving home from St. Louis on Sunday. Therefore, my long run will be pushed to next week, Monday. Luckily, this week is a step back week. The long run is only 6 miles (so my legs can rest); I'll be able to easily make that up next Monday.

Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: 3 mile run + Strength Training (Lower Body and Abs)
Thursday: 5 mile run
Friday: 50 minutes Cross Training (25 min bicycle / 25 min elliptical machine) + Strength Training (Upper Body and Abs)
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

Due to it being a step back week and the Sunday run being pushed into next week, the total mileage for this week is only 13 miles. That's going to feel so easy, especially since I ran 21 miles last week!


Quote for the week: "I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying." ~ Michael Jordan

Monday, February 22, 2010

Recap of Week 2/15

This week went really well.

On Monday, I worked out my upper body and abs. I'm proun\d to announce that I was able to up the weights for my upper body exercises. Having great upper body strength is key, because your swinging arms can help you keep running at a good pace when you are otherwise exhausted.

All of my runs from Tuesday-Thursday went really well.

Also on Wednesday, I worked my abs and lower body. I was able to increase the weights on the lower body machines as well. The ab workout was a killer...I could still feel it when I did my ab work on Friday.

I didn't have any problems getting my cross training in on Friday, because my work trip was canceled. Friday's cross training consisted of 25 minutes on the bicycle, 25 minutes on the elliptical machine, and 15 minutes of ab work.

I woke up on Saturday feeling great, so I decided to do my long run then instead of waiting until Sunday. I actually felt so great that I ran 9 miles instead of the scheduled 8 miles. I ran the 9 miles in 1:35:47. This equates to a pace of 10:38!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Rock Sugar Band

The other day John told me about a song that he heard the DJs talking about on Rock 103. We looked it up on YouTube. We found several songs by the band Rock Sugar. They are awesome! I bought their album, and I listened to it during my run today. It is perfect running music! Check them out: www.rocksugarband.com. Here are a couple YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKeA3-n27t8 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpNrqxBWxQM.

All of the songs are staying on my iPod and 3 or 4 of the songs are being added to my special running playlist.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Training Schedule for 2/15 - 2/21

Here is my training schedule for Feb. 15 - Feb. 21. I will be out of town for work part of this week, so some of these will be moved around. However, I will make sure that I do every workout.

Monday - Strength Training (Uppper Body and Abs)
Tuesday - 5 miles
Wednesday - 3 miles + Strength Training (Lower Body and Abs)
Thursday - 4 miles
Friday - 50 min Cross Training + Abs (The type of cross training depends on what type of equipment is available in the hotel gym)
Saturday - Rest (If you consider a 9 hour flight test rest, then Saturday will be a rest day.)
Sunday - 8 miles

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Recap of Week 2/8

Here is a recap of the past week.

Due to the weather on Monday, the gym was closed. Therefore, I wasn't able to do my planned strength training. Instead, I went to the gym extra early on Friday to do my strength training before my cross training. It was a long workout, but it felt really good.

On Tuesday, a 5 mile run was scheduled. For some reason, this run was one of the hardest that I have ever had. The first 2 miles were just miserable. After 2 miles, I told myself that if I made it to 3 I could stop. After 3 miles, I talked myself into 4. Finally, I decided to do all 5 miles. I was very happy afterwards that I completed all 5 miles.

Wednesday, the 3 miles were no problem. For the lower body strength training, I did 5 lower body weight machines. Then, I completed 15 minutes of ab work.

Thursday's 4 miles went really well. I had a lot of energy when I was finished. I was even able to sprint the last 1/4 of a mile.

Today, I ran 7 miles. My time was 1:15:17. I was happy with my time since it was under 11 minute miles. I was struggling between 5.5 miles and 6.25 miles, but I was able to come up with enough energy to make the last .75 miles very productive.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Quote for the Week

"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"
- Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner

Monday, February 8, 2010

Training Schedule for 2/8 - 2/14

Monday: Strength Training (Total Body)
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 3 miles + Strength Training (Upper Body + Abs)
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Cross Train (45 min bike ride)
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 7 miles

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Quote of the Day

"Every run is a gift. Every run is a chance to be where you want to be." - Training for Mortals by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield

Monday, February 1, 2010

Training Schedule for Week of Feb. 1

Due to the ice on the roads yesterday, I had to be creative and modify my training schedule for this week. This morning, I ran the 5 miles I was supposed to run yesterday. The schedule for the rest of the week is:

Tuesday: Strength Training (This will consist of 45 minutes of upper body free weights and 15 minutes of ab work.)
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 2 miles + Strength Training (The strength training will consist of 15 minutes of lower body work and 15 minutes of ab work.)
Friday: 3 miles
Saturday: Cross-Training (Due to pushing cross-training back a day and having no rest day, the cross-training will be easy this week. I just plan to walk around the Pink Palace with my mom while we experience Chocolate: The Exhibition.)
Sunday: 6 miles

The total number of miles scheduled for this week is 20 miles.

It's Official

It's official! Today, I registered for the Chicago Marathon. The Chicago Marathon will be held on October 10. That gives me just a little over 8 months to prepare. In order to help me prepare, I registered for the Germantown Half Marathon on March 21.

My fundraising page for the Alzheimer's Association is up and running (no pun intended): http://memorywalk10.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=337658&lis=1&kntae337658=C607F4C22E9E4281A94B583703680A14&supId=101474907

The following are the links for the Chicago Marathon and Germantown Half Marathon:

http://www.chicagomarathon.com

http://www.germantownhalfmarathon.com/