Week 1 Training

I am going to share each week's runs. I ran Jeff's first half marathon with him on Saturday. It was so much fun! I will write a longer report, but today I am going to catch up on my runs. I am 16 weeks away. I am following Runner's World Marathon Challenge schedule. Here is my rough plan each week.

M- Easy run (4 miles) followed by weights

T-Hills- Find the hilliest route I can find (6 miles)

W- Rest (swim, bike or yoga) weights

Th-Pace run (mile warmup, 4 mile pace, mile cooldown- focus on heart rate staying in the 180's)

F-Easy run

S-Long run with a fast finish

This seems like it will be a challenging schedule that will push me and help me get better. Here is how this week went!

M- Easy 4 miler by myself. I thought I would be tired from the half marathon, but I was surprised. My heart rate was awesome!

T-Ran hills with Marnie and Mindy. It was a beautiful morning and I felt stronger than I expected to. I did run in the 170's when we were going uphill. I will try next time to keep it down even lower

W- slept in, then did weights!

Th-Pace run- I was a little nervous because my last pace run with Heather was very frustrating. I was happily surprised to have it go perfect! My heart rate stayed in the 180's or lower the whole time! (Until the very last hill!) I ran under 8:20 the entire 4 miles. This is a good sign for me! The other good news is my weight is now my ideal weight!! I am going to keep focusing on eating healthy and still no sugar. My body is really happy with the way I am eating. I feel great! :-)

Fri- Did 2 miles and lifted weights

Sat- 7 mile long run. I needed to run at 5:30am so that Jeff could leave to go white water rafting by 7. I was very proud of myself for waking up! I had my music and my watch and went on one of my most familiar routes. It takes me up a tough hill, but then I get to enjoy the downhill. I felt FANTASTIC the entire run. This is one of the best I have felt. I was kind of on a time crunch so I didn't keep my heart rate down. I ended up with a fast finish. My last 3 miles were 8:44, 8:22, 8:05 ! My heart rate average was 165 and my pace average for the whole run was 8:50! I couldn't be happier!

So, week 1 was a success! I didn't miss a day and my heart rate is doing awesome! I am so happy. The bad news is I ate the cookie dough for the pumpkin cookies I made and I feel sick to my stomach. I hope I learned my lesson! Back on track. Boston, here I come!