The good news is the only thing I'm slacking on during training is updating this blog. The past three weeks have been intense, but honestly a lot of fun. Stepping up into the intermediate training bracket has worked wonders on my stamina and endurance. I’ve added sprint training and tempo training into my mix and I think it is really helping! My first race I was just focused on making it to the finish line without dying, and this year I have an actual time goal of 2:10. I know with hard work and consistency with this training I will hit that goal. I purchased a Garmin 410 watch (what am I kidding, that monster isn’t a watch) and am IN LOVE with it. It tracks my mileage, pace even my pace next to my ‘ghost runner’ and as soon as I get home it transfers to my computer when I walk in the door. It will show me the route I ran and exactly what pace I was running every second of the way. So I know when I slack off.
The big thing I’m still not really doing is strength training. I know this is vital to my success so that will be a priority in the upcoming weeks. I have my EA Active so I have no excuses not to do it!
Yesterday I went for a 7 mile run. It was POURING outside, but after 5 seconds of grumping about it I remembered I’m a Seattle girl and rain is nothing. So with that I put on my trusty hat and stepped out of my car. The run was awesome, minus almost getting attacked by squirrels near Lee gate. Those little buggers just LOVE to run right into my path and stop. Slightly comical for anyone who chooses to watch because I usually yell at them and bolt to the other side of the street. I like to time my run where I start at the gym so about halfway through I can practice a hydration station at my house. I have my mini of Gatorade and make a short pit stop before powering through the rest of my run. I like these mile build ons because in my head I tell myself, Self, you did 6 last time, it’s ONLY a mile more. After that I guilt myself a bit and finish up my race. When I got back home and transferred my info, I discovered I ran at a 10:34/mile pace! That is ROCKING in my goal setting strategy. My goal pace is 10/mile which would put me in at 2:11 for the race. I even walked a few times and it all averaged out, so I was pleasantly surprised.
This week my Tuesdays bump up to 4 miles, I have a 7x400 on Wednesday, then Sunday is an 8 mile run. We have an Army lacrosse game the same day so will have to probably get up early and run that 8, but it shouldn’t be a problem! Here we go with week 5!!!
