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Today marked my first "official training day". I've been building a base up until now. And now, now is the time things will start to get a little bit more serious.

I'm using the workout program here and I'm pretty excited about it. It consists of three key workouts during the week.

Key Workout 1 - Interval - (45 sec/mile faster than 10K race pace, followed by recovery time)

Key Workout 2 - Tempo - (25 sec/mile slower than 10K race pace)

Key Workout 3 - Long - (45 sec/mile slower than 10K race pace, which is my PMP)

You're probably wondering what PMP means. That would be my planned marathon pace. Which is determined by my 10K race pace... which I don't know.

So, I'm going to sign up for one! I will have worked up to 6 miles just in time for a local race here, so I think I'll sign up for that one. It should be interesting... and probably pretty slow. But that's okay. I'm going for completion, not record breaking times.

One of the things about the program I'm following is that it isn't just about adding mileage... there's a lot of changing things up that I feel will really improve my overall pace. Which, let's be honest, I can use.

So without anymore babbling about my workout program... here's what I've done that I haven't written about.

Saturday

Distance: 3 miles

Time: didn't keep track

Monday (interval)

Distance:3.25 miles

1/2 mile warm up

6 x (1 min hard, 3 min easy)

2 minute cool down (I ran out of time, this should ideally be longer)

Between these three main workouts I cross train. Which means, I get to bike, swim, and play tennis and basketball... or anything else for that matter.

177

It's been a while. I've been struggling a little with getting motivated to get up early. Hopefully this week will end better than it started.

Monday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 36:00

Pace: 13 min/mile

Tuesday

Sport: Tennis

Time: 1:30

Fun Meter: It was so much fun! I found another fun tennis buddy. :)

Wednesday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 32:00 min

Pace: 10:40

Thursday

Sport: Biking

Time: 1 hour

Friday (running)

Distance: 2.5 miles

Monday

Sport: Volleyball

Time: One hour

Tuesday

Nothing, not one thing.

Wednesday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Time: no idea

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My super cool niece running the best race of her life (to this point).

Wow! I have reached an important point in my training. Today I was thinking about how I will run tomorrow, and I was excited about it! What?!? Finally. Up until now, I have mostly dreaded my workouts. I think this is a critical change that will really help me make some progress.

I finished off last week on a high note. I met all my training goals and felt pretty good doing it. I haven't felt too many aches and pains. This is a great thing too.

Thursday (biking)

Distance: 11 miles

Time: roughly 50 minutes

Friday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Pace: roughly 12 min/mile

Here's to another great week!

As a side note, my super cool niece ran an awesome race this past week and is one of the top runners in the state. She took an entire MINUTE off her personal best time for a 5K. That is AWESOME! Way to go girl!!!

And... let me also add that she never ran until I got her to sign up for a sprint triathlon. She did it, and after the race told us she would NEVER run again because it hurt. And... look at her today! Of course I don't take any credit for the work she has put into running since then, but I did help her recognize a talent. :) That, I'll take credit for doing.

184

One nice thing about running is all you really need is a good pair of shoes. This is the shoe I'm using... sometimes. I've got two pair I'm trying to decide which pair is better for me. I like these. The problem with running is that there is also some cool gear out there that can be tempting. Here's my temptation...

Okay, lets get back to reality. So far, I'm right on track for where I would like to be as far as mileage goes. Monday I only got two miles, so on Tuesday I got in my extra mile. I've been doing better about waking up in the morning to get my workouts in. I even got up at 5:30 am to get my biking in. My knee is feeling good, though my legs are feeling a little fatigued today. My pace isn't really improving much. But I really do believe as it gets cooler things will naturally speed up a little bit. I've got about a month left of building up my base, and then the miles will start increasing.

Monday (running)

Distance: 2 miles

Time: 24.00

Pace: 12 min/mile

Tuesday (biking)

Distance: 12 miles

Time: didn't keep track

Pace: no idea

Tuesday (running)

Distance: 1 mile

Time: didn't keep track

Pace: no idea

Wednesday (running)

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 37:26

Pace: 12:30 min/mile

189 days left

It looks like I'm not going to get much mileage this week at all. Only three miles. I've been giving my knee a break... sort of.

Wednesday I did a class at the gym called "kick it". It really should be called "punch it" because that's mostly what we did. My upper body is a little sore from it. I think it was good way to work on my cardio without causing too much stress to my knee.

Friday (today) I played tennis. I love it. There's a little league of ladies (mostly 60+) that play on Friday mornings. I played with them today and it was great. I'm sure tennis isn't the best on knees, but I haven't noticed anymore pain in it... so I'm going to get back on schedule. We played for three hours... in blazing heat. I literally could have wrung out my clothes afterwards. I didn't... that's gross. Why am I even talking about this?!?

As far as getting in lots of miles, this week wasn't the best. But, I did get in four solid workouts. I'll take what I can get.

Sadie

192

After extensive google research, I'm think I've got patellar tendonitis. I love how easy self-diagnosis has become with the internet. It saves a lot of money, and you get to learn how to say cool things... that really only mean... "sore knee".

So, my knee has been hurting me the past few days. Nothing major, just some pain that I've never had before. It looks like the best things to do are:

-rest
-take Motrin
-ice my knee
-and stretch

My favorite advice found on mayoclinic.com, "don't try and work through the pain, it will only make it worse". That's exactly what I had planned on doing. But now, I get to take a break, eat some ice cream, and watch a few Office episodes when I should be training.

Okay, not really. I'll just be doing some lower impact type activities for the next few days and see how it goes. I'll see how the elliptical feels, and if that's a no go, try swimming.

I did workout today, before I diagnosed my "sore knee". Here's the stats:

Distance: 11 miles
Time: 57 minutes
Pace: 11:57 mph

The first two miles we were just riding around waiting for light... then we hit it pretty hard. Think we'll be investing in some bike lights.

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It was Big Boy's first day of kindergarten today. I didn't get up and run at six, I guess I was too nervous to go. So, after we rode our bikes over to the school, I made him hug and kiss me goodbye in front of his potential friends, and I watched him go sit in his spot with obvious excitement I came home. And I was lost. I didn't know what to do next. I wasted time doing this and that... and then around ten I decided I should get my run done for the day.

Here's the stats:
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 35:28 minutes
Pace: 11:49 min/mile
Temp: 89, feels like 99 (according to weather.com)
Humidity: 69%

I will not run at ten in the morning ever again. I was happy that I ran the whole way. I almost threw up once. And I got honked at once to0. The end.