2012 Goals

I am not going to even revisit my 2011 goals.  If you want to find them - read them whatever - I am gonna make you dig for them.  Sure 2011 is not over yet, but by the looks of my DailyMile training it has sucked when it came to working out and putting the miles down.  Highest monthly miles: 14.  Wowzas.

So in 2012 I am not gonna stress about it. I am getting married in March and that needs to be my main focus.  I do have a half marathon on the books for February which I need to really get some miles in, but all in all 2012 I am just gonna try to find the joy of running and get working out back into my life.  So if that means I only do 1 half, then so be it.

Goal #1 :: Feel REALLY pretty on my wedding day.  I of course want to look good, but I don't want to stress myself out over missed workouts for the next 3 months.

Goal #2 :: Find a work out routine that I love and stick to it.  Mix up the running and the cross training.

Goal #3 :: Run my half marathon in February.  In 2011 I "skipped" / DNS'ed all of my halfs.  I don't want to be a quitter anymore.

Goal #4 :: Run 20 mile months at the very least.  That is 5 miles per week.  That is do able. 

And that is it.  I didn't want to set too many or aim too high.  I want to be comfortable in 2012.

starting over with marathon training.

to date this month i have only run 17.40 miles. this month starting off so well and i was hoping for a 40+ mile month. life got in the way. work got busy and sadly, i have pushed running to the side. not that marathon training was not always on my mind and important, work just literally sucked my life dry. i ran this past friday and this morning for the first time in almost 3 weeks and man was it hard. i have totally lost my base and everything that i had been building so if i want to run marine corps and not want to die, i need to start over.

so as of today marine corps is 14 weeks away which means I have 97 some days to get ready for it. not as much time as i would have liked, but i have to rebuild my base and my cardio and grow from there. i guess we will see how this all plays out, but i going to start my training from the start but on a modified schedule. i won't push too hard too fast, but once i get back to where i was on july 4th (which was 6 miles easy...) i may add more onto my long runs. and i am going to keep up the weekly friday runs to the office.

wish me luck. starting tomorrow it is gonna be all about telling people no and doing my workouts. if that means no to a happy hour or a dinner that means no. the hardest part is going to be dragging myself out of bed on sunday mornings for my long runs.... bye bye social life for about 3 months.

Next on schedule - ING Half.

So I cranked out Disney and now I am onto training for my 2nd half marathon ING Atlanta. It feels so weird to be gearing up for a race so close to home, but it is also pretty cool to know that I can just hop on the MARTA get to the start and then get home. ...it will probably be a little more difficult than that, but who knows. Maybe I should do a test run the weekend before. ANYWAY - ING is a little under 9 weeks away and I took 1 week off from Disney. Learned to walk again - saw the most amazing sports massage guy Tony - sat on my couch and watched reality TV and really did nothing.

Monday I started in full swing to actually train and get ready for the 13.1 miles. Actually... the week that I was doing nothing I pulled a schedule off Runner's World. You have to understand that actually training for a race is a new concept for me. I am the runner/person who semi trains, never really does more than 6 miles and then gets to the starting line thinking WTF Barbie?! So this time, I am going to try my best to take this as serious as possible.

And here is my schedule and plan:
Monday: run the scheduled amount. They have Monday as my "easy day" so I think this will be my favorite day of the week! :o) ...there is one Monday that is a "rest or cross training" day and I think I will make that Monday an Elliptical day.
Tuesday: Is scheduled rest of cross training. I have chose the later and I am going to do a 1 hour spin class every Tuesday night. I did my first one yesterday. It was a butt kicker, I have never sweated so much in my life, I need to bring a bigger water next time, but I also left and was pretty much hooked. Rock on. **now lets just hope it really does help. ha**
Wednesday: The mid week is either a tempo run or speed work day. The miles increase from Monday - but that is fine ... that is so what I need.
Thursday: This is also an "easy run" day - I think I may to this run on the dreaded treadmill to work on pace; however, they have me scheduled for a 12:47 pace and that kills me of slowness. But, I think I will do it on the treadmill and then do like 30 minutes of swimming on top of it. ...there is one day that has a "rest or cross training day" and I will make that an elliptical day.
Friday: MY DAY OF REST! :o)
Saturday: Dun Dun Dun ... dreaded long run day. ....I think I am going to try and get a few of those long runs in at Stone Mountain because I do need hill training and hills are my friend.
Sunday: Another rest or cross training day ... again I have chose the later. I know for sure I am going to do 30 minutes of swimming but I will either combine it with 30 minutes on the Elliptical or 1 hr of Pilates. ...maybe I will switch it up week to week.

...Now wish me luck. My goal for ING is to run at least a 2:30 ... if I could get below amazing but it is going to be one step at a time. I just really hope that I can stick with the training and not be a slacker and then continue the habits on spin classes post race and keep swimming. After all, I gotta use that gym membership!

Rain Rain Go Away...

I have about 3 weeks till my race. 3 weeks children. 3 weeks. And all last week it rained. And all this week it is going to rain. And when I say "rained/rain" I do not mean the little drizzle that is relaxing and okay to run in... I mean downpour... your windshield wipers are on the fastest setting kind of rain. CNN, Fox News, Good Morning America ... they're all talking about the rain in the south and the floods in Atlanta. ...Speaking of floods my area actually has 3 flash flood warnings going on right now. My office actually flooded over the weekend. There was like a mud slide in the Stone Mountain area. Schools were closed there has been so much rain. So this raises the question... how do you train for a half marathon when it is pouring outside?!

I am supposed to have a 10k this weekend but I wonder if it is even going to happen. Heck or if it is worth waking up for. They can have my race sign up fee (it goes to a great cause) and keep their tech shirt. I don't want to catch a cold.

I hate the treadmill but it is the only way. And what makes matters worse is that my apartment complex is so freaking ghetto the machines are broken and they're too cheap to either (a) get them fixed or (b) replace them!!! And on top of the 1 treadmill available the gym is so small that when it rains it gets hot and humid. I ran for 8 minutes last week on it and it looked like I had just jumped in the pool. As much as I do not want to do it I am going to have to suck it up. Prop the door open with a dumbbell, get the air flow going, and just run.

My race is on the 18th of October and I feel like I can so totally knock it out but I want know know that I can so totally knock it out. And this Atlanta weather is killing me and my motivation to do anything.

Girl with the 12 - 13 minute mile.

I realized that I have not done a running song of the moment in awhile. I will get back to doing that eventually... maybe... for now Jordin Sparks & Miley Cyrus are still rocking my world one stride at a time. HA!

So. Girl with the 12 - 13 minute mile. That's me. Slow Poke McGee strutting down Peachtree. Honestly. I thought after all this time my pace would someone decrease (is that even the word) ... you know improve. I am stuck in the 12-13 minute avg. pace when I run and I mean yeah...sure... I walk and I walk more than I should, but you would also think after all this time my stamina would improve as well.

I have my first ever 10k on Saturday. The US 10k Classic on Cobb Parkway. I have heard mixed reviews. Some people say it isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be - others say it is hellish. However, I have two buddies who are doing it as well -- not necessarily with me but they're doing it. I'll take pictures. I'll post them. I need proof of this little adventure of mine. stay tuned. race report on Monday.

Well... it has been an exciting week for Ms. Barbara Ann. And let me tell you why.

1. I hit the 100 mile mark since tracking my training. Sure it took me like 3 months to get there, but in all seriousness - how serious have I really been about this half marathon training?? Now I gotta get to 200 and I hope that does not take 3 months as well.
2. The weather has been amazing. It has been great temps for great runs. When it is 70 degrees and breezy how can you not go out and run?
3. I got my roomie for my trip to San Fran. Well... the GA Chapter has not communicated it to me but Beka has via Facebook. She told me we're roomies so I am taking her word for it. Yay for getting to room with the reason I am running miles after miles!
4. I have run 3 days in a row this week for a total of 10 miles. Lately I have been running 10 miles all week. Stepping up in this running world.
5. I learned that the pocket in my Nike tempo shorts is a perfect little place for my keyless entry fob to my car. No more tying it to my shoe lace and praying it is still there when I am done running.
6. I ran and ran and ran yesterday. When I got back to the parking lot where my car was... I wanted to keep going. So I did. I have never wanted to keep going.

New Attitude. Fresh Start. Take 72.

I feel like I mention a lot that I am going to start taking this half marathon thing seriously. ....And every time I say I will, I try to. I really do. But I fail. Epically. Epic Fail on the past what 508375 attempts to take this running thing seriously. But seriously, as I sit here and blog when I should be running I am vowing to myself that I will run and run with a mission so I do not die in San Fran. I am not going to set out on a mission because I have made up routines for myself in the past and have not stuck to them, but the one thing I will try to do (and notice I said "try") is to just up my mileage every week.

So. I ran 12 miles this week. What is that 1.71 miles per day - lame. Next week I have to run at the minimum of 13 miles. I can run more than 13. But if by Sunday I have run only 10 miles, I have to go out for 3 mile or so run. And I am going off dailymile. They tend to round up. And if I run 13 miles next week... I have to run at least 14 the next. See the trend? That is my goal.

And. I wouldn't say I am going to push myself too hard. Because that leads to injury. But I at least want to be able to run more than 5 miles without the thought of suicide crossing my mind. I am supposed to have a 10 mile long run on Saturday, but we all know that is not going to happen. But I want to try for a 6.5 miler.

Wish me luck. For once I want to actually stick to what I say. Wish me luck! =)