17 miles this week and a great LSR!

Well it should've been 20 miles this week but due to a very bad storm that left the house without power for a day and the neighborhood in a mess, I canceled a walk/run on Tuesday. But the rest of the week was rather good on the 'run front'!

Monday & Wednesday were TEAM Weight Loss Cardio days. Monday I ran 2.66 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill during my fitness assessment. I could have run faster but decided to ease into the morning at 6AM. Wednesday was a full workout, going 3.25 miles and doing some good work with hand weights and the resistance bands. Oh, those poor shoulders!

On Wednesday night I was supposed to run with my CARA 10K Training group. But I got an email at the last second saying they canceled it because our meeting place was still without power. But I needed to run so I found a 'fun run' in Crystal Lake sponsored by the local running store (The Running Depot). Good store by the way, I might buy my next pair of running shoes there.

They had about 40-50 people there, broken out into multiple groups based upon distance and/or pace. I ended up running with two guys who were doing a walk/run. So we head off. Much to my surprise, these guys are running a 9-9:30/mm pace (that's fast for me). I told them my usual pace was much slower. They kinda ignored my 'hint' and kept running at 2/1 minute intervals. And we were going to run for 40 minutes!

Well, I let my testosterone get the better of me. I couldn't let these guys leave me in the dust on my first time running with this group. My manhood was at stake (note: this is a bad way to think, people! Do not follow my example here!) so I decided to just 'suck it up' and hang with the big boys. So I ran my butt off.

Surprisingly, I was actually able to keep up with them! At the end, I averaged a 10 minute pace, taking into account the walk segments. But the run segments were usually between 9:25 and 10:20 minute mile pacing. By the time we were done, I had run 3.5 miles at an average 10:00/mm pace! Thankfully, there were sandwiches and stuff after the run. I actually felt okay but I knew even with stretching, I was going to likely 'pay for this' on Thursday.

Thursday started with some stiffness/soreness in my left quads. Right quads were just tired. But I had promised a friend that I would walk with him early that morning before work. He lives about 2.5 miles away from me so I had originally planned to run to his place, then walk 3 miles with him, and then run home. NEW PLAN! I drove to his house instead. We got a good 3.1 mile walk in, and I found that it actually HELPED my legs to feel better. Perhaps the walking got them all warmed up and pushed out the Lactic Acid. Don't know. But after driving home and showering (cold shower), they felt great and that made work much more comfortable. So next week, I am walking with him on Tuesday and Thursday morning at 5:30am. This time, I plan on running to/from his house.

Friday was supposed to be another Cardio day. But when I woke up that morning, the body said "More Sleep is Required". So I chose to listen to my body and sleep until 8AM. It made a big difference! Besides, Friday was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 and I did not want to sleep through the movie! (Which was AWESOME just in case you were wondering).

Today was a great LSR (long slow run) day! Some days you get out there and everything just 'clicks'. That was today! I went to my Weight Watchers meeting where I lost 1.6lbs. Score! That brings me to 95.8 in total. I am so close to that magical 100 lbs I can almost taste the victory! Then, I came home to begin my run.

Before I continue, I have to apologize to my friend Mark. He and I had planned to run at a local park this morning at 5:30am. But for some reason, I had it in my brain that we were running AFTER my WW meeting. Ooops! Sorry, Mark! My bad! Hopefully, he will forgive me.

So, back to the run. I decided to run the route I will be taking to my other friend's house (the one who I walk with) so I can gauge who long it will take me. That way I can plan for when to leave the house, right? So I strapped on the fuel belt with bottles of water and G2, turned on the recent podcast from "The Marathon Show", and headed out.

I am not sure what was different today but the running was smooth and steady. It was around 75 degrees, no breeze, and a bit humid, but it was all good to me. I ran the 5 miles at a pretty steady 11:30 pace. Heart zones stayed between 2 and 3, and everything just felt great! If I can run my 10K like this next month, I will be ecstatic!

Tomorrow is a new week and will start it with some Strength/Core Training with my PT Meghan at 9AM. I am looking forward to working on my Core and getting some new exercises that I can do at home. The end of next week will be a long weekend vacation in Michigan. While I am out there in the Manistee National Forest, my plan is to swim the local lake from one side to the other, and then run around the lake back to the cottage. I haven't mapped it out yet but I figure it must be at least a 15-20 minute swim and a 3 mile run. I might film the swim part just to prove I did it. LOL

Updated Race Schedule

Yeah, I found a few more 5K races I want to compete in during the Fall. I see them as speed runs, something to help keep me motivated as I train for the Disney Half in January. And to be honest, the goody bags will be cool too! I think this will be my 'final' run schedule for 2011.

• August: Windrunner 10K
• September: Chicago Half Marathon & 5K (running the 5K)
• October: Chicago AIDS 5K & The Pumpkin Stampede 5K
• November: Hot Chocolate 15K & Schaumburg 5K Turkey Trot
• January 2012: Disney 5K & Half Marathon

Looks like the Fall/Winter is going to be busy! I am going to have to figure out my thermal/cold weather gear needs at some point, right?

It's Race Day and I was Ready!

Today was a great day! First, Saturdays are my usual weekly Weight Watchers meeting and I knew I was going to have a good weigh-in. Today was also the culmination of LifeTime Fitness' "90-day Challenge" program (a weight less/fitness challenge) which ended with a 5K Run. This program started in April with a 5K Run. So I had to plan out my strategy to do both things.

Weight Watchers

I got a great night's sleep so that was the first good thing. I had to wake up for a Weight Watchers meeting at 7AM so I got dressed in my running shorts & shirt and headed for the weigh-in. I did not stay for the meeting because I wanted to have plenty of time to eat before the race at 9AM. I was excited to weigh in 1.2lbs down from last week! So the first objective of the day was met -- I lost more weight! Sweet!

Race Preparation

So I got home and immediately made a quick breakfast of toast, almond butter, a banana, and several glasses of water. Yum!! Then I relaxed and slowly put my gear together. I decided to fill a water bottle with 1/2 water and 1/2 Powerade Zero since I tend to sweat a lot and it was going to be around 76 degrees and very sunny. So after applying sunscreen, setting the heart monitor/footpod, and checking shoelaces, I headed to the club.

First thing I had to do was weigh in at the club since this was the end of the Challenge. Tomorrow, they will announce winners of the Challenge (based upon total weight loss during the 90-day period) as well as the results from today's race. Then I went to warm up before the race started by walking for 1/2 mile on a treadmill. I might have over done the warm up a tad.

Then, as I headed to the race start, I heard a familiar voice. It was Mike Rice and his wife! They came out to encourage me and cheer me on. It was great to see them! Then I saw Meghan, my personal trainer, who was organizing the race. After all the help she has given me, I really wanted to do well in this race to show her how much she has helped me improve.

The Race

I also ran into Natalie, another LifeTime Fitness Run Club member. Natalie is training for a marathon and she is a lot faster than I am. She and I signed out waivers and lined up at the start. And then we were off! I started out pretty fast at a 10:00 pace with Natalie. This is faster than I usually start but it felt good for a while. But then Natalie started speeding up to her 9:30 pace, so I let her go on ahead and settled into an average 11:00 pace.

The cool thing? I was actually passing people! And the people I passed did not pass me later. I can't tell you how awesome that felt. The first 1.5 miles were pretty uneventful. But then came the uphill inclines. These were tough at times but I kept going. I did take two 1-minute walk segments to recover and bring my heart rate down a bit -- it was getting warmer and the sun was beating down. But other than that, I ran the race.

The last half mile was cool! I was running strong and in the distance, I could see the green WISH shirt of Mike Rice. It gave me a boost to see him cheering me on. I finished with a 33:50 time! That was MAJOR given that my original April time was 40:41. And it was over two minutes faster than my Rock-n-Roll 5K time of 36:02! A new PR! And what an improvement! I am stunned!

Post Race

I found Meghan and shared the good news with her. She was so happy! We agreed that I would take a rest day on Sunday and then do my regular TEAM Weight Loss workout on Monday at 6AM, followed by a Personal Training session to focus on Core Strengthening at 10AM. Got to keep moving forward, right?

Then I took a nice cold shower, changed clothes, and went home to celebrate with a nice breakfast. I have to admit that I did not do much more than watch TV for the remainder of the day. But I figured that this week has been pretty busy so I deserved some down-time.

Another Race? Oh yes!

I was thinking about the Disney Half Marathon and was wondering about which corral I would be placed within. My guess is that they will put me in the last one since I do not have a qualifying official time to give them (it has to be a race longer than a 10K). So after doing some searching, I found a cool race called the Hot Chocolate 15K scheduled for November 5th. I decided to sign up for that race. It will give me two benefits: 1) I can use this race to gauge my pacing and fueling choices in preparation for the Half, and 2) the finish time can be used to place me in an appropriate corral for the Half. Of yeah, and the swag for this race includes the coolest Black Wind Running Jacket!

So now that makes my race schedule as follows:

• August: Windrunner 10K
• October: Chicago AIDS 5K
• November: Hot Chocolate 15K & Schaumburg 5K Turkey Trot
• January 2012: Disney 5K & Half Marathon

What a great day!