Vegas Week 4 Brings Layers

I'm undecided, do I like running in the heat or the cold? I like the heat because I'm not freezing, I hate the heat because its so much harder to run in and if you want to do it somewhat comfortable you gotta get up early. I hate getting up early. I like it because you wear less clothing and ice baths are actually refreshing. I like the cold weather running because its easierand you're definitely not overheated. I hate the layers in the winter, uhhh I hate the mounds of laundry too. I HATE that even in a steaming hot shower after a cold winter run I still cannot warm up. But I love not being over heated and I love the stillness of the world around you, the colors of the fall and I run my BEST in the cooler months. My love hate relationship with the seasons is another blog for another time. Because today its time to talk Week 4 of my Vegas training schedule.

First let me apologize for no blog last week, honestly it was a boring week of nothing but tempo runs and one long run of 10 miles. Now its onto week 4 and once again training has to be altered this week. I'm shooting my Body Combat certification video this weekend and want to be well rested and energized so I can nail it, meaning moving Saturday's long run of 11 miles to Thursday and Thursday's 8 mile tempo run to AFTER my video taping on Sunday. Today I had 7 miles and interval training. One to two miles of easy warm up then 4x1200 at tempo, followed by 4x200 at fast and then 1-3 easy running in between and then finished off the run with 2x200 sprints at the end. I also did pick up some GU packets and sport beans to try out on my long run this week. I've never used any before for any of my 1/2's but I thought I'd test them out this time and see if they help and how I like or don't like them.

I did NOT want to go outside and run today it was cold, windy, wet and just down right dreary but I put on my layers and gloves and the second my first step hit the pavement I was energized. I ran down to Springdale and did my intervals and then back up and out. I really pushed on the intervals. I should have stopped my watch for my 1-3 easy recovery minutes because I'm not really sure how fast I did my tempo's and then sprints because my Garmin only gives me an average per mile pace but based on one of my timing charts I believe it was less than my goal. (Goal is about 8:45 for the 1200's and under 8 for the 200's) I did have to stop and walk ONCE and I stopped my Garmin for that, when your going up the main hill from the bottom of the cemetery I tried running it, even at a slow pace, but my legs were too tired. So I walked up the hill. Normally that would totally tick me off but this time it didn't because I knew I did what I wanted to do and that was waste myself on my intervals.

My next 1/2 Marathon is only 25 days away (in case you missed it I'm returning to where I ran my first 1/2 in the middle of Vegas training) and I'm ready and can't wait to go back to where it all began Mankato Minnesota. My goal is to come in under 2 hours and I honestly think I should be able to do that easily with out really trying. I think its going to take more mental focus than will power or speed or strength. The Vegas Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon-dubbed the strip at night-is only a small 9 weeks away!

Morton Pumpkin Classic

My New Team RC Gear <3 IT!!!

I'm almost a week late in posting but in my defense it WAS a busy weekend with the girls in town, Sunday football and then I was off work Monday/Tuesday so I wasn't on the computer very much. But here is the rundown on my first ever Morton Pumpkin Classic 10k race.

This race was more of a practice for me and my Vegas training. I wanted to see if I could hold a consistant 8:30 pace for the full 6 miles. Goal attained. And I did it for the most part feeling pretty darn good. That is a HUGE leap for me in my running hobby that I started a mear year and a half ago. I do believe I could have ran faster as my breathing felt normal the whole time and only at mile 5 did my legs get tired. I also accomplised another valuable running goal and that is start slow and keep it steady. Normally when I see people pass me at the beginning it totally ticks me off and pushes me faster but at this race every time I saw someone pass I said to myself "It's too early to go that fast and they will faulter." Sure enough about mile 3-3.5 I passed all of those that I uttered that phrase too and I passed them still holding my 8:30 pace. I started my watch as soon as I crossed the start line, stopped as I crossed the finish. My Garmin run time was 52:27/Avg pace of 8:23. View my full garmin and slipts here:

I have to say I'm not quite sure how the race people got their times, it was chipped time, but there wasn't one of those mats at the start line but they have me finishing at 52:31 which I know is only a few seconds difference but I'm still curious about it. Their age groups were not the normal gouping (less awards-cheepskates) so instead I was in the group of 20-34, finishing 49th in the group but if my counting is correct 19th in the 3-34 group. Needless to say this is a competive race with 1500 people registered. I attined my goal and stuck to some good running rules. I'm very happy and ready to continue with Week 3 of my Vegas training.


My New Race Warm Ups-Front!



Back! :)

Volunteering at IVS Half Marathon



Handing Jess her finishers medal!

 The Illinois Valley Striders held their annual half marathon yesterday in Peoria. The race was more than memorable, not just for the treacherous hills of Springdale Cemetery but for those that lost their lives 10 years ago on 9-11. The race which is held in lower Glen Oak Park and does two loops around Springdale Cemetery started with the 300 plus runners singing the National Anthem. Apparently they couldn’t get the tape/sound system to play the Star Spangled Banner so the runners chimed in and sang instead which turned out to move some to tears. And from what I hear was the highlight of the event and the one that people were talking about the most. I’m so proud of the Central Illinois runners and honored to be amongst you! There were also police and military on hand volunteering at the event as well. In fact I witnessed a member of the military handing out water and Gatorade to runners as they crossed the finish line.




I was also there but instead of running the course I was volunteering. I only began training for my Vegas race on Tuesday and figured it was best to sit this one out. But being a Team RC member I felt like I owed it to everyone to be there so I put on my Team RC shirt and came out. I tell ya it was odd to be on the other end and boy did it make me wish I was running. But it was awesome to be able to see each one of my friends cross the finish line. It was more of an honor to place their finishers medal around their necks and be the first to congratulate them. After the race everyone joined in a pot luck lunch complete with burgers and hot dogs. Door prizes and awards were announced as well. I’ve decided I’m running the relay race next year. As much as I enjoyed being a volunteer it really made me yearn to run.



Congratulation to all the runners to all my Sole Sisters- Jess, Jenn, Marianne, Toby, Heather, oh my there are so many of you I cannot name you all, you know who you are, Congrats on a GREAT race! Congrats to my friend Jill for placing second in her age division, John who ran a great race with little training (your crazy man) to Brad Henz and his partner Maggie on their overall relay championship and to every single runner that laced up their shoes and ran what is one of the toughest courses there is! I’ll see you next year on the course.



And if your looking for another great local race check out the Morton Pumpkin Festival race this weekend, that one I’ll be running in!

Las Vegas Marathon Training: Week 1

The countdown to the Las Vegas Marathon and 1/2 Marathon has begun. For the next 12 weeks I’m back in training mode for what will be my 4th 1/2 marathon. My third will actually happen week 7 of training. Once again I’ve decided to follow the Nike training because it has worked so well in the past for me. But I’ve also decided this time I am going to eat healthier to see if maybe, just maybe I drop about 5lbs (or more) during the training process. Nike has me running on average of 4 days a week, I am doing the “intermediate” training level so a normal week of training has me doing interval running on Tuesdays 6-7 miles on average, Wednesday is a short recovery run of 2-3 miles and Thursdays is hill work and pace runs of 7-8 miles then Saturday is the long run starting at 8 miles and building to my longest run of 15 miles before the tapper down. I’m still working on  my Body Combat certification so I am probably going to cut out the Wednesday short run until I finish my certification (which will hopefully be at the end of September if all goes according to plan).

Today I took to Springdale for my interval runs and averaged a pretty good pace for day 1 at about a 9:15! I did a 2 mile warm up, then 4×800′s at tempo followed by 4×200′s at fast with 1-3 minutes of easy running in between each interval. By the time I was finished I only had a quarter mile to go so I used that plus another quarter as my cool down. The temps have cooled down so that could have been part of the great run but my fingers were cold, I hate running with cold hands. Of course it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a minor hiccup. Yesterday I tangoed with my dogs kennel and end up with a gash and badly bruised foot. I couldn’t wear my shoe as tight as I normally like but like any runner nothing short of death will hold me back. Here is my run on Garmin below.