First - thanks SO much to those of you who have already donated! And thank you to everyone who has offered such awesome words of encouragement - I feel like I've barely started this experience and it's already pretty darn amazing :)
So, I think I figured out how to post links to my training runs (thanks Jed!). I've put links below to my runs from Thursday (7/9), Sunday (7/12), and yesterday (7/14). Right now, my training schedule consists of 6 workouts a week - 2 days of jogging, 1 speed workout, 1 long run, and 2 days of cross training.
The jogs are only 30 - 40 minutes - they're supposed to be "recovery runs," where I keep my pace slow and let my legs recover from the two hard workouts of the week - the speed workout and the long run. But, as you'll see in my workout from yesterday, my "recovery" runs aren't what I'd call relaxing yet ... a 40 minute jog is still pretty hard for me, but as the time (and workouts) pass, it's getting easier and easier ...
Thursday (7/9) was my first speed workout - 6 quarter mile repeats run at an 8:00/mi pace, with a 10 minute warm up and cool down jog. The point of this workout is to get my legs used to moving at a fast pace - that way by Nov. 1st, I'll be ready to cruise at my marathon pace of 9:10/mi. I was prepared for this workout to kill me, but was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I was able to do it, I actually enjoyed it, and I felt great afterwards! Hopefully my second one tomorrow morning will go just as well :)
Sunday (7/12) was my first long run - 7 miles. After feeling so great from my speed workout on Thursday, I really felt like I had this one in the bag ... not quite! The run got off to a rocky start for a few reasons ... (a) for the first mile or so, Jed and Gracie (my two year old) jogged with me - Gracie was feeling extra chatty and anytime I'd get too far ahead, she'd holler at me to come back ... (b) my water bottle refused to stay in its belt so I ditched it in the first 15 minutes - not a good call as I realized about 30 minutes later ... (c) I had no clue how to use my nifty Garmin watch, so I never really understood if I was running at the right pace (I wasn't - it was all over the map) ... and (d) it was frickin' hot and I was really thirsty! But all that craziness aside, I DID IT!!! I actually ran 7 miles in an hour and 20 minutes without collapsing or throwing up!! Yahoo!!
My long run this Sunday will be 9 miles - this time, I'm not sure I'll drag Jed & Gracie out with me, I've got new water bottles that should stay put, I understand my nifty Garmin watch, and I'm going to hit the pavement before it gets ridiculously sunny & hot! I'll try to stack the odds a bit more in my favor ...
I'll do my best to keep these updates coming at least once a week - and again, thank you all SO much for your support!
Posts
Awesome stuff, Katie. We're all rooting for you.
ReplyDeleteYou will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly your body adapts to the workout. We're just built to get stronger. It takes a lot to ruin the human body, but not very much to make it work like a Swiss watch. LOL
Good luck with the water bottles!
Love you =0)