Big D Half!

Or should I say, Phil's first half marathon. Phil and I both signed up for the Big D. I really need something to train for, because when it is cold outside I just want to stay at home under a blanket. The Big D is on April 6th and it starts in fair park and you run through lakewood and many of the historic areas of old east Dallas. It should be fun!

I have been a slacker :(

I'll admit it. I've been slacking. So I promise that I'm going to run this weekend. I didn't want to leave my house last weekend in the nasty weather. But now it is pretty outside and I have no excuses. Last week started off pretty good. Phil and I went for a nice 20 mile bike ride on Sunday with our friend John Michael. It is always good for me to go with the guys because they like to ride the hills that I hate to make myself do. Tuesday Phil and I went on a 3 mile run and Thanksgiving morning we ran 4.5-5. I'm sure we cancelled it out with all of the good food we ate...but it WAS Thanksgiving!

Nike Women's Half!

I haven't posted in FOREVER. I'm so bad about that. I was traveling the week prior to the Nike half and the week after, and then I was sick the next two weeks. Yikes.

So the Nike half...it was amazing! The weather in San Francisco couldn't have been better. We had so much fun out there and it makes you want to pick up and move there. We picked up my packet in Union Square and went by the Nike Town store where they had a huge wall of names on the window which included all of the names of the people running in the event. It was really neat!

The day of the run started out chilly, and I decided to wear my 3/4 length tights. It was very organized for such a big race and I really appreciated the pace groupings as it was really nice to not have to worry about passing walkers and slower runners at the start of the race. The run itself was the prettiest I've ever participated in. We ran through downtown, through the Presidio where Phil's uncle lives, up by the Golden Gate bridge and then came around and down to the beach. It was just gorgeous. The hills were very long, and I was very sore from them, but they didn't kill me on the day of the race.

I actually had a PR which I was very glad to have since I even stopped to go to the bathroom in the middle of the race. I couldn't find the bathrooms at race start unfortunately or it would have been an even better PR. :) If you are considering a marathon or a half marathon I would highly recommend this race! It is a neat experience to run with that many other women and they have pretty good crowd support as well. And you can't beat the Tiffany's necklace that you receive for finishing rather than a medal. That's pretty cool!

Triathlon #2!!

Triathlon numero dos was this week and it was awesome! I am officially hooked. I've already been scanning the calendar for the next tri and unfortunately most of them are pool tris with short swims :( very sad. I improved my 5k by more than a minute and dropped my pace to 8:27. I'm really happy with that and with a little work I hope to get it down to an 8:00 pace. I improved my bike pace as well although the bike was a bit shorter in this tri. It was really windy so one half of the course was extremely slow and the other half was fast. My swim pace was pretty much the same, slightly faster and it remained my best event. I placed 5th out of 19 in my age group.

Here's what my workout week looked like:

Monday: 3.5 mile run
Tuesday: Shoulders
Wednesday: 4 mile run, 30 minute dog walk
Thursday: 1000 meter swim, 1 hour dog walk with Emily
Friday & Saturday - rest days and lotsa walking at the mall with Liz!
Sunday: Sprint Triathlon (750 meter swim, 12 mile bike, 5k), more walking at the State Fair

Training Update

I am now 1 month out from the Nike Women's Half Marathon! I'm so excited about the whole trip and I think it will be a really neat experience! We will be out there for 6 days. It will be a fun vacation and good to see our relatives.

In other news, I signed up for the Stonebridge Triathlon that is this coming Sunday. I'm super pumped about this race!

This past week was a pretty good training week. I didn't swim and I should have, but I'm going to make an effort to get up to the gym for some combination stationary bike and swim workouts.

Funny story about my long run this past week. I normally run at White Rock, which is what I did on Saturday. If I'm running more than 9 miles, I typically do a loop around the lake and keep running and double back to my car. This time I decided I would go off on a side road and wind my way away from the lake and then come back to it. Well, that didn't work out so well. I got back on the trail and I was running...and running..and running, and suddenly I realize I'm on the trail that we take to get to the lake from our house, only I was running to our house! I was already at 9 miles or so and I chose to just run home and surprise Phil that I was home without my car. Hehe. He took me back to get my car later that day.

Workout Recap:

Monday: Recover from Triathlon
Tuesday: Ran 4 miles
Wednesday: Ran 3 miles
Thursday: Off
Friday: Sprints in the morning. 12 mile bike with Missy at the lake in the evening
Saturday: Ran 13 miles

Triathlon Week!!!!

My first triathlon was this past Sunday and it was an amazing experience! I love doing something new and it was really fun and a perfect day weather wise as well. This was a sprint tri consisting of a 500 meter open water swim, 18 mile bike and a 5k. Phil, being the athlete that he is beat me, but I came in 2nd in my age group! I couldn't believe it when we pulled up the results at home that night. So, sometime this weekend I need to drive out to Grapevine and pick up my award. :)

I had a really good workout week and I feel much better about my half marathon training as I've been running more often and more consistently. I need to up my mileage on my weekly runs but at least I'm out there running.

On a crazy note, during my long run on friday morning I saw two coyotes at white rock. I thought I was seeing a stray dog at first and then it turned around. A second later another one popped out from the woods. There was a guy behind me and we both turned around and went the other way. I'm not even going to mess with wild animals!

Monday: 5 mile run
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 3.5 mile run
Thursday: 500 meter swim
Friday: 11 mile run
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Triathlon!

Back to Training!

A decent week! I should have run one more time, but that's life.

Monday - 18 mile bike ride
Tuesday - 3.5 mile run
Wednesday - Off
Thursday - Played Tennis
Friday - Swam 1000 meters, biceps workout
Saturday - 9 mile run