Happy Thoughts!

I was trying to work on some homework but after spending over an hour trying to figure out some stupid computer program I gave up and decided to move onto something happier, like running!

Last Saturday was my first "long" run of my half-marathon training, a whole 3 miles. But hey, we all gotta start somewhere. I once again made my way over to the high school track and plugged along. I actually ended up doing 3.2 miles (5K) because I wanted to see what my time difference was compared to my 5K I did on the treadmill a few weeks ago. BUT then I hadn't programed enough intervals and I ended up walking the last half mile, I'll try again later. In the end I got in 3.2 miles in 47:40, with my 5 min warm up and about 8 min cool down (stupid intervals) I had an average pace of 14:55 per mile. My running interval was 00:45/1:30. On the treadmill this had felt too long of a rest but running outdoors it seemed just about right. This week's long run is 4 miles and I've already got my route mapped out so I'm not running around the track like a hamster...

Onto to week 2 of training started this morning. Due to the weather, BTW, I swear Sara and I have the same weather even though we're 8 hours apart, anyways, I ran on my treadmill. I did shave down my rest intervals and ended up with 00:45/1:15 and it was perfect! My speed is usually around a 5.3 or so but I've found that my calves/shins don't hurt as much when I bump it up to 5.5. I did two intervals at that speed, 10 intervals at 5.7, and my last 2 intervals at 6.0! I was pretty proud of myself. Without counting warm up and cool down, I did 2 miles. I did my first mile in 13:15 and my second one was 14:04. I think my walking pace was a little bit slower in the second. But my numbers could be totally off because I was trying to scribble them down while I was walking and yelling, I mean, nicely telling my kids to leave me alone.

After this morning's run I decided to add a food pod to my collection of running paraphernalia. I have the Garmin 220 GPS/Heart Rate monitor watch that I'm absolutely in love with. It's super accurate and I can program my intervals into it, something that other Garmin watches didn't offer. With this particular model it says you don't necessarily need the foot pod because the watch has a built in accelerometer that measures your cadence when on a treadmill, the downside to this is that it doesn't actually measure the distance you've gone and I can't modify my run to add the distance. Do I really need it, probably not, but I want to make sure that I'm getting an accurate timing/mileage on my treadmill.

Oh, and one more thing. A few weeks ago I bought my hubby and I the Jawbone 24 athletic wrist bands. We're those techie nerds that like seeing how many steps we've taken, how our sleep is, etc. Well mine has just kind of crapped out on my the last few days so I'm sending mine back. I'm trying to decided if I want to replace it or try out the FitBit, it's biggest competitor. If you have one, which do you like and why? 

And for your viewing pleasure here's a couple of pictures. The first two are my training schedules, the first for the Glass Slipper Challenge and the second is the Pensacola race, I have them hanging next to my treadmill. Ironically, the timing working out that just as I finish my Pensacola race, I start training for the next one. Perfect timing!

 AND THIS is me after my long run on Saturday, don't I just look awesome?!

P.S. I almost forgot the best part! The hubs and I decided that him and our three girls are going to come to the race in Orlando, too! The girls are going to run in the kid races and I'm still trying to work on Derek to run the 5K with me. So excited!!!! I don't know if the girls are more excited to go to Disney World or see their Aunt Sara!