My longest run ever!!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Now that I am officially registered for my first Half Marathon in September I have been thinking about true blue training. Now that I have been serious about it and running with a purpose I have a much better understanding the difference between the training runs. My schedule this week started with an LSD (outside) last Sunday for a total of 6.42 miles with an av pace of 12:40, Wednesday was what I consider my tempo run (outside) and that one was at my race pace and I actually ran a 5k in record time and that run was 4 miles with an av pace of 11:33. Friday I ran on the treadmill just to build mileage at an easy pace and that one was 5 miles. I did a great job of getting my scheduled running ST along with core work through the week and did not miss one workout. Yay me!

That brings me to today’s run and that was scheduled LSD and I was able to run it outside with my beloved Garmin. Since my long runs are extending beyond an hour I decided I had better take some fuel with me and I am glad I did. I also trucked a little bottle of water with me to wash down the Gu Chomps (experimenting). I hydrated well before the run so I didn’t haul a huge bottle of water with me.

I have also been pondering which training method I was going to use and after today’s run I decided to follow Jeff Galloway’s interval running. I dusted off my Gymboss and set it for 4:00/0:30 run/walk intervals and it actually felt perfect all through the run. It made the time go fast and I seriously could have run beyond my time and mileage but I know better.

With all of that out of the way, here are the stats of today’s long run:

Mile 1: 11:50 av pace
Mile 2: 12:03 av pace
Mile 3: 12:22 av pace
Mile 4: 12: 39 av pace
Mile 5: 12:48 av pace
Mile 6: 13:22 av pace
Mile 7: 12:57 av pace

Yep folks, that is a 7.40 mile run and it is my longest ever!! I burned 664 calories and this took me 1:33:33 for an av pace of 12:37. I am very proud of this run and felt so strong throughout ALTHOUGH I could tell after 50 minutes that I needed fuel. I had Gu Chomps on hand as I picked up several brands in various forms to try and see what I like. The Chomps were too big and they got stuck in my teeth but they did the job.



It is truly amazing how my body is responding to all of the running ST and Candi the PT was so right on the money when she said my endurance would go through the roof. It has and I just marvel with what my body can do now. I also feel very blessed with having my very knowledgeable and supportive Spark friends to guide me along my journey. Thank you so much and all of you know who you are!!!



Now, it’s a new week with a new running schedule and I shall continue on!!

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I did the splits!!!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Did I grab your attention with the pithy title of this blog? Good! I actually have split times for my cyber running buddy Mike (GSDMIKE) after my awesomely Sparktastic run today. Oh how I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Garmin!!!

6.42 miles
1:21 total time 12:40 av pace
4.7 mph av speed
570 calories burned never to be seen again

Now for my SPLITS:
L1: 11:53
L2: 12:03
L3: 12:26
L4: 12:49
L5: 13:14
L6: 13:03

It is a gloriously sunny day yet very chilly at 27 degrees and I took this golden opportunity to hit the streets. As you can see in my photo I am getting attired very nicely thanks to Christmas $$$ and a great coupon!! I love this Nike Livestrong jacket and feel very cool wearing it. I wanted something that was very bright for safety purposes and this will do just that.

I felt very very strong throughout my run and this is the second longest distance that I have run since I started running last June. I took it slower than I would have nornally of course as I wanted this to be my long slow run this week as I am building mileage. The one thing that I have noticed is that hills are quite a bit easier now that I am in great shape thanks to my running ST. I don't get winded nearly as much as I did before. I find my mind just wandering now as I am not thinking about how bad I feel or how I need to stop and take a breather. I love that feeling!!

Come Spring with races starting up I will be good to go and I truly look forward to seeing exactly what I can accomplish with my running in 2010!!!

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I BLEW OUT THE COBS!!!!

Monday, January 18, 2010

For the first time since my Reindeer Ramble 5k race December 6 I was able to run OUTSIDE and TOTALLY blow the cobs out!!!!!!!! Oh it felt so good and after all of my PT sessions and ST I felt so strong!!!! Please note all of the exclamation points!!!!! I have needed this so badly and since a lot of snow has melted our streets are clear. FINALLY!!!!

Another item on the agenda that I wanted to address was to use my Garmin Forerunner 305 for the first time!!!! My time is lousy because I was stopping to fidget with it but I don’t care!!!! More exclamation points!!!! I uploaded the run (and stops and starts and walking the dog for 10 minutes) and that worked slicker than snot!!!!! Now I just need to delve into the instruction manual and get down to serious business with my Garmin. My buddy Mike (GSDMIKE) will be demanding split times and I need to figure out how to do that…soon!

Just when I have been feeling the winter blahs my endorphins are just oozing all over the place and I needed that BADLY. Have I mentioned to any of my Spark running friends just how much I love running????!!!!!!!!!

Garmin stats:
4.52 miles (GPS and not guessing!!!!!!!)
80 minutes (lots of dinking & fidgeting with Garmin and stopping to get dog for walk))
17:45 av pace (see above note LOL)
426 calories burned forever!!!!!
1076 ft. total ascent (whatever that is)
1014 total descent (see ascent note LOL)

I think its pretty safe to say that my times WILL improve when I quit stopping to fidget with Garmin!!!!!!!!!! LOL

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GRFXGIRL Haiti Family UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday, January 15, 2010

Diana and Bernard's Haiti family is ALIVE!!

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal.asp?id=GRFXGIRL

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New GRFXGIRL Haiti update as of Thrursday afternoon!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Diana and Bernard still do not know anything about their family members in Haiti but they may have some BIGTIME help! This what she wrote on Facebook and she asked me to post it on my blog:

HUGE HUGE NEWS ... I got home to an email from CNN asking me about my ireport on missing family. They asked me several questions and want to call us and possibly put it on air along with our family photos. I told them about the hotel Le Plaza they are using as their news staging area is where we stayed last year in February and that we know James ...the general manager. We told them our family is only 5 or so blocks from there and could they show pictures from our street and check on our family !!! Praise be to God we may have the ear of CNN on the ground in Port Au Prince. I will keep you posted !!

www.sparkpeople.com/mypage.asp?id=GR
FXGIRL

PLEASE keep our fellow Sparker in your continued prayers. Thank you so much!

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