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Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Nancy. I decided to retire early and my last day at the Fire District was December 31, 2020. My dream to do this pigs 'n poultry thing full time started on January 1, 2021. So far so good...

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

No More Rain Please

(photo credit: Google Images)
Yeah, so I woke up this morning to hearing rain coming down. I was not in the mood to do yet another training run in the rain. I've done enough in the past couple of weeks. As a native of the good ol' Pacific NW I'm cool with the rain, that's what it does here, but I've had it! The rain slows me down...and I do not like that feeling!

So, I postponed doing Speedwork until tomorrow...easy pilates was on the menu for today. I HAVE to get out tomorrow morning! If not, I'll have to skip this run, and that is not an option. I'm only a little obsessed.

Also, after a brief discussion with the "coach" I'll be doing 2x1600 tomorrow with 800s in-between. That's the plan right now, I could very well revert to last week's intervals...we'll see.

Oh...I'm ahead of Pace Bunny on runningahead.com. That makes me happy.



Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Becoming Speedy

(photo credit Google Images)

The plan is to do a fartlek session tomorrow. Last week I did a 3x800 training and did alright. Now I'm wondering if maybe I should do the training that I should have done last week this week...which is 2x1600 w/800s in-between (total 4 miles with warm up and cool down). I have yet to make friends with the fact that I would be running at not quite race pace for four laps in 12:05 - TWICE.

My "lightning" quick calculations tells me that I would have 3 minutes to complete each lap - which would be totally doable as last week my 800s allowed me 5:43 per 2 laps and I consistently came up with at least 20 seconds to spare with each interval.

"Coach" Tom (aka the hubby) will be at the track timing my laps - which is nice, but it could be a boring job for him. The good thing is that he'll be on his bike, so he could ride a lap or pace me while I'm running and then sprint ahead to call out times....hmmm...that could work!

I do have a little concern though, I haven't had a decent run since my last speedwork training and have been a little discouraged. Yesterday was miserable as my legs were tired and it was raining and windy - nothing to be discouraged about there...right?

Fartlek Baybee!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Week One Done


So, last week I decided it was time to find an event, register and train for it. This week was week one of a 4 week training plan to run the Freedom 5k on June 15.

This week's training:

Sunday - Rest (gotta psyche myself up for the week)
Monday - Easy 3 miles run
Tuesday - Easy Pilates
Wednesday - Speedwork, Dist: 4 mi, inc Warm; 3x800 in 5:43 w/400 jogs; cool down.
Thursday - Rest (YAAAY)
Friday - Yoga
Saturday - Long run - 4 miles.

Probably the most comfortable run this week was my Monday run - 3 miles, easy-peasy!

Since I have not been good at doing speedwork in the past...because I'm pretty much a whimp...I was pretty proud of myself for doing the whole speedwork plan for this week. I'll tell you what, it HURT, but I did all three intervals in 5:20, 5:19 and 5:16. Also, I was informed by my "Coach" - Tom - that getting faster is not the norm. I should have been getting slower - I guess I'm a little motivated to keep within the time prescribed for each interval :)

Long run Saturday was a little rough. I had sore muscles and was feeling not so great about running. Legs felt a little heavy and my arms were sore (stupid downward dog). I'm hopeful that in a week I'll feel better and do better if I continue to follow my plan. There isn't a reason why I shouldn't.

Next week is pretty much the same, except Long Run will be 5 miles instead.

Freedom 5k here I come - run, Run, RUN!!!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

4 Weeks

So, earlier this week I had mentioned that I needed an event to give all this running a sense of purpose.

Well, after some surfin' around yesterday I decided that I should register to do the Freedom 5k on June 15. I thought about doing this run last year, but I don't remember why I didn't. No matter, I'm good to go this year.

I have 4 weeks to get race ready - as in reach my runnersworld.com time goal of 37:10. I can't remember the last time I ran a 5k in a time close to that (although I think my first run at one of my Duathlons may have been an 11+ minute mile). The first two weeks I have speedwork sessions for my second run of the week and then a tempo run in the 3rd week and the final week before the event is SUPER easy and one last speedwork session. Long runs on Saturdays will be either 4 or 5 miles. For once I'm looking forward to Speedwork - go figure. Should be fun - trying to psyche myself into fun training mode.

Tom will be coming with me to the track at the middle school to time my intervals for me, that way I can will know how I'm doing right away and make adjustments as needed. The one thing I'm not terribly excited about is that the intervals are 800s and I will have to do 3 during those particular runs. We'll see how things go - I'm good at making some training days shorter than they should be. However, this morning I did a four mile tempo run (mostly) and managed to do the 4 miles. So really, anything is possible. Just gotta be mentally tough and not let my whimpy body take over, because I KNOW that I'm capable of so much more!

My goal is to keep to the training schedule and not sleep in on Monday because that's what I've been doing. I want the option to do some cross-training on my off days.

Besides the Freedom 5k I'm planning to run the 4th of July run in Ridgefield on the 4th of July (duh) and then I'm hoping to do the Run Girl Run in August. Nothing in September...yet. Run Like Hell in October and then the last run for the year Hot Buttered Run.

The disappointing thing for me is that Tom has not been released to run by his doctor yet so I've been doing a lot of running around the neighborhood by myself. It looks like I may be running a lot of these events by myself, unless he gets a green light before October and he might be able to do Run Like Hell...hoping and praying...

With all these possibilities in place I'm feeling a little more complete as far as what run events I have in mind. Now, if I could only get myself out on the time trial course with the bike club...that would be PERFECT!
This is as of today (May 16)
I'm ahead of pace bunny by 2 miles!

Run, Baby, Run!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Go Ahead...

photo credit: RunnersWorld.com

Haven't posted in over a week...so here is something to bring a smile.
 
I really gotta get myself an event to train for on the calendar, I'll see what I can come up with.
 
The good news is that I'm ahead of pace bunny :)

Monday, May 6, 2013

1/2 Mile Behind

I have been a little delinquent with my posts here. In the big picture, I haven't done much. Oh, I've been running, but last week was all easy runs and all 3 miles. So really, nothing exciting. Actually none of these runs are that exciting. This week I'm starting my runs tomorrow because I was a little tired this morning AND I let the fact that I had no Gatorade Prime keep me from getting up and out the door. 

Tomorrow WILL be different. It has to be, otherwise I'll be doing my long run next Monday and that's just wrong. So, this week is another Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday run week. IF I'm feeling motivated enough I may get out and do a hill workout either Wednesday or Sunday. Nothing is for sure...except my run tomorrow :)

That's right pace bunny, I'm coming back. This 1/2 mile behind will not last....what was life like before pace bunny? A lot less neurotic, that I know.


Tom definitely will not be running anytime soon. Dr. Gambee has given him the green light for cycling with a little more effort than just easy pedaling. However, he is saying no standing while pedaling. Okay, so riding a  faster than a snails pace is good! I'm wondering just how long it will be before we are out on the Time Trial course again...

VROOM!