Delayed

Well hello!  I’m currently still in my bed trying to convince myself to get out and get ready for work :).  My alarm went off this morning, I immediately called our emergency weather hotline, was excited to hear we were opening 2 hours late, and rolled over and went back to bed for an hour.  That means I should plan to get there around 10:30, so I’ve still got some time to relax.

I made it to the gym last night after work and got in a 4 mile run at an easy 9:30 pace, and then I made myself go grocery shopping.  It had been two weeks since I really went and stocked up on food, so I had a big job ahead of me.  In order to not go completely crazy and buy everything (which I tend to do when I shop after a workout) I wrote out my meal plans and only  bought things on my list.  I still spend a butt load of money, but at least I know exactly what I’m doing with everything I bought.

So I finally got around to making my training plan for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler yesterday, and I think it looks pretty good.  Here it is, what do you all think.

 

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Then after I made it, I realized that the Thursday and Saturday runs scheduled for March 10 and 12 might not  happen since I’ll be in Chicago on vacation with Darren.  Although maybe, because he’ll probably want to go to the gym also.  I guess we’ll see.  It’s pretty much the exact same plan I followed for the Philadelphia Half Marathon, just with shorter long runs on the weekend.  My last few runs I’d been having some sore shins and burning feet, so you know what that means.  Time for new shoes!  I found my favorite Aasic 2100 series sneakers at Running Warehouse for cheaper than in stores, and they arrived yesterday!

Alright, I actually do need to go get ready for work now.  My new cell phone is “On Truck for Delivery” so I’m hoping if I procrastinate enough it will get here before I leave and then I can mess with it at work all day ;).  Happy 1st day of February!

Let’s Discuss

Well I’m happy to report that I feel much less like death today, although I’m still exhausted.  As you can probably guess, no run happened last night.  What did happen was I put on my pajamas the second I walked in the door at 5 pm, got in my bed, ate some taco bell, and didn’t move for the rest of the night.  It was awesome, although the house still looks like a bomb exploded and there are remains of food everywhere;  I’m hoping to take care of some cleaning tonight.

Anyway, since Cherry Blossom training was supposed to start yesterday, let’s talk about the training plan.  As I mentioned last week, I signed up for the virtual training plan so my runs are emailed to me every day.  Here’s what I received on Monday, for the first week of training.

 

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With the specific descriptions for Monday and Tuesday’s workout being this:

January 24, 2011

• Distance: 4-6 miles
• Goal: Easy conversational running for the entire distance
• Tip #1: Go easy today. Tomorrow will be your first speed session. Your training pace on an easy day should be approximately 90 seconds slower than your current 10K race pace or at 60-70% of maximum heart rate.

January 25, 2011

• Distance: 4-6 miles
• Goal: Include 6 hill repeats
• Tip: Run at least a mile warm up before starting the hills. Find a moderate hill approximately 200-400 meters long. Try to surge up the hill keeping your arms relaxed. Jog down the hill and repeat. If running the workout on a treadmill, adjust the treadmill to 2.5 or 3.0. After completing the workout, run at least a one-mile cool down. (www.potomacriverrunning.com)

Now, maybe running 6 days a week works for some people, but I know my body and with my history of IT band troubles, there’s no way I’d make it through more than two weeks of that training plan before I was sidelined again.  Also, when I trained for my half I think my longest weekly mileage was around 30 or so miles; you’re running that much in the first week of training with this plan.  So, what do you guys think?  Should I scrap this plan all together and make my own, or mess with this one cutting out running days and subbing cross training.  Ready, set, discuss.

Either way, tonight’s run will not be a hill workout.  It will most like be 4ish easy miles at around a 9:40 pace while I sweat my ass off on the treadmill.  Fun times!  Anywho, last night as I was laying in bed reading shit on my computer, I stumbled across some comics on The Oatmeal.  This one particularly made me laugh my ass off because as I was reading it, my cat was sitting next to me, alternating between meowing, attempting to lay across my chest, and just staring at me.  Obviously I was sucked in for hours.

Alright I’m out of here, seriously though, how do we feel about this training plan?

Hot and Sticky

So the only good thing about yesterday mornings two-hour meeting, was that the rest of the day went by pretty quickly.  Also right after I posted, I received this email from the Cherry Blossom organization.

Training for the Race

We are pleased to offer two training options to help everyone prepare for the race – the free Virtual Training Program, presented by New Balance; and our in-person training program hosted by Potomac River Running and supported by New Balance.

Our Free Virtual Training Program

Developed by Coach Kirt West and running legend Bill Rodgers, our Virtual Training program offers three levels this year — beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The 10-week program, which has helped thousands for runners prepare for the 10 mile over the years, starts on Monday, January 24. Participants in the Virtual Training program will receive a daily email with a suggested workout for that day plus a weekly overview. If you did not sign up for this program when you registered, you can still sign up by visiting: http://www.cherryblossom.org/theraces/vt.php. New sign-ups will be taken until February 1. The program will be closed to new sign-ups after this date, although runners already enrolled will be able to switch from one program to the other.

Why yes, thank you, I will sign up for a free virtual training program.  Now I don’t have to make my own, hooray!  In order to get myself into training shape, I’ve been gradually trying to up my mileage at the gym.  Last night I did about 3.6 miles, in what felt like an Amazon Rainforest.  I don’t know what the problem is at my gym, but the temperature is absurdly warm.  Yesterday, the afternoon high was about 50 degrees, so it was even warmer than usual.  Not only is it hot in there, but the air is heavy and humid.  Even with the built in fan on the treadmill blowing in my face I was having trouble breathing and sweating like a monster.  This could be a problem for any run longer than 4 miles in the future.  Le sigh.  I followed up the 3.6 mile run with another mile on the elliptical and called it a night.

Tonight I am meeting my bff Jill out for some drinks, because we have a lot to catch up on!  It is just plain ridiculous that I have been living in VA for two months and haven’t had a chance to see her yet, and now it looks like she’s going to be leaving DC :(.  Jill was my college roommate senior year, so who knows how many drinks “a few” will turn into, because silly things tend to happen when we get together.

As expected, this snow “storm” arriving tonight is only supposed to drop an inch or two on the ground.  Just enough to make the terrified southern drivers of DC and VA freak out, and my road rage to erupt.  Also, I heard on the news this morning that people in DC spend more time in traffic than anyone else in the country.  Congrats to us!  Anywho, happy Thursday!  Is it really not the weekend yet?