Sickness and half update

Last week was a bit miserable, bleh.  Being stuck to the couch with a fever, and coughing up a lung was pretty much our week.  Thankfully I think we'll be back to normal soon.  We're still spending most of our time coughing, and get tired very easily, but each morning we're a little stronger!

Half training has been...postponed until further notice.  Any running, actually - but we'll start back as soon as we're able!  However, even when we can get back to it, I have a feeling we may still put a hold on the training.  We'll be making a trip to Malawi in a few short months, and won't have time for it while we're there.  Life happens.  You have setbacks, there are some things you can't control - that's life.  But when those things do happen, you can look on the bright side and do all sorts of great things, even if it's not what you first had in mind!  

There will be lots of opportunities to do a half, and I look forward to them!!  Buuut,with all the above being said, we're going to do some other fun stuff with our running!  We're still going to try to slowly increase our weekly mileage, and also start including some fun speed workouts!  Overall = Exciting.


Hooray for Christmas! What?  Yes.  Yes it is nearing the end of March, but I can still celebrate because we got a box with the stuff we ordered from Amazon.com using our Christmas gift card!

 I've been loving reading this while we've been infirmed! [I ordered it back who knows when, so I didn't know about Kara Goucher's book, or I might've gotten that]

 I also got these beautiful headphones! My other nice ones had broke, so I'd been using a pair of "super-cheapy-fall-out-of- your-ear-every-two-seconds" kind.  So excited to test out these puppies.

If you get a chance, go check out Erin's blog! She has such a cute blog, but hardly any commenters {well, neither do I, heh heh :) } - so go show her some bloggin' love!

Bad news and Great news!

The bad news is....I'm sick.  Along with Jacob and Luke.  Our fevers are taking turns going up to 104ºF.  Yuck.  

The Great news is...Jen In Training is having an awesome giveaway! Check it out. 

http://jenintraining.blogspot.com/2011/04/giveaway.html

Week 1

Hola bloggy friends!  Week one of half training  is complete!  Well, except for our Sunday short easy run of two miles.  Jacob isn't feeling great, and has a fever, so we're not going out today.  Hmm, might do some Pilates in a bit though so I don't feel like a complete Sunday afternoon couch potato...?

So here's a quick overview of workouts this week:

Monday: 40 minutes of strength\stretch training. Pilates arm and stretch workout, followed by ab ripperx.

Tuesday: 2 mile run - first run in our official half training! 

Wednesday: Lower body and arm work, with ab ripperx

Thursday: About 2 mile run - Luke's shin splints started acting up, so didn't go as far. Jacob and I did some splits as well.

Friday:  Pilates arm segment, stretching, and ab ripper. Yes I am working on my noodle arms, and we try to do ab work on our off days. 

Saturday: 3 mile run. Slower time, because we had to do the hills and those slow me down, but maintained a steady, strong pace, so still happy with it!


We're probably going to have to switch our long Saturday runs to Friday, because we are beginning a Saturday afternoon class with the ladies from Church, so won't be able to run then.  It should work out fine!

I'm still a bit scared about our half training.  I'm not worried about getting injured; I'm extremely serious about stretching, no matter how long\short the distance.  I even sometimes ice because the terrain is often uneven where we run.  Almost anything to keep from possibly getting injured!  

I'm a bit scared because...it's a long distance, and progresses fairly quickly.  When we were training for our 10k, it seemed like it had us running 2 milers every single run, and took forever to build up to the 10k.  Great for building your base, but sometimes frustrating and boring.  That won't be a problem now, though!  If I have trouble with a particular week, I know we can repeat it - it's just a little fear of the unknown distance.



I think that before too long, I'm going to do a nice picture post for you all.  Heh heh.  Now you have time to mentally prepare.  Until that time, here's a little comic for ya!

 I think this applies to way too many women!

Aaaalso, remember.....!

Ready, set, go!

Today was our first run for our half training.  It was so great to get out there and have a run!  I'm really excited to have a schedule again to follow.  I'm still a little bit nervous about running such a long distance, but I'm going to take one run at a time, and before I know it, I'll have done it!

So, apparently I drink a bit of water.  I was cleaning my room up today, and took these out to the trash.

These are 1.5 litre bottles of water.  There's actually five of them I'm holding, one is hiding.  These built up after just a very few days. (Excuse the hair...Real life, bloggy friends!)

Hooray for hydration!

What's your favorite beverage? Do you drink alot of water?

The plunge

Happy April, everyone! Oh, and this post isn't a April Fool's post a day late. Thanks.

This week I've only logged a few running miles, but it's been full of other good stuff!


One of my goals for this year was to complete a 10k.  Check!  At the time I put it into my list of goals, I knew that I'd be able to do it, but I still wondered if I could.  It turned out to be alot easier than I expected!

My brother, Jacob suggested we start training for a half.  Hooray! Hold on...Gulp.

This is the face I would have if 3 months ago someone told me I could start training to run 13.1 miles. Get serious.

But...wait a second, let me think about this.  I've come a really long way in 3 months, and running the 10k was alot easier than I thought.  To me, 6 miles seemed almost impossible.

And if Oprah could start at about 200lbs, and train for and run a full marathon,  at 5'9'' & 130lbs, I can train for and run a half. 

I researched online just to make sure that it wouldn't be too much for me, but it suggested training for a half if you've run shorter distances, and\or you can run 30 consecutive minutes.  Yep, and yep.

Hmm, I can do it!!!

I've been researching and googling for tips, because running that far is completely new to me.  If you all have any advice that could help me, please share!  

[For example: If you run some longer distances, what do you wish you would've known starting out?  What was the hardest thing you ran in to? What was the easiest? Was it easier than you thought?]

This is the training schedule we'll be using.  We almost went with Hal Higdon's schedule, but this one had the longer runs on Saturday, which works better for us, since we have worship on Sundays.  We're going to do stretching and strength on Mondays, etc.

I know I'm going to need help from you all along the way! 

:)




"Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'"


"The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win."
 
~

My running journal is on the ready. Bring it on.