Polar Bear 5K Run - I bailed.

So a few weeks back I signed up to run my first 5k (and first organized race of 2011) of the year.  I chose the Polar Bear Run in Marietta for 2 main reasons. (1) I wanted to see how far I had fallen as a runner after pretty much sitting on my butt since October and (2) I really want to work on my 5K this year so I needed a 2011 starting time.


For week I had planned to not set out to set a PR at this race.  I just knew that I wanted to run it in at least 35 minutes (which is 2 minutes slower than my 5K PR) and I wanted to give my nike free running shoes a race trial especially since i was kind of on the fence about them.

Well, my alarm went off at 6:30 AM on Saturday and I hit snooze. And then I hit snooze again and again and again.  I did not get out of bed and I did not run.  My body was just too tired from this past week and bowling on Friday night that it kept saying "do not do it" --- normally I can just muster through, get up, wake up, and go, but Saturday morning it was SO different.

BUT! I told myself that I was going to not let sleeping in and being a lazy bum hold me back from running 3.1 and today I ran my own little 5k on the treadmill so I could figure out how far I had fallen and figure out my 5k time and my nike frees.

Well.  I ran 3.1 in 35:25 (average pace of 11:25) which is 2 minutes slower than my PR so I guess I did not do too bad.  I felt pretty good the whole run (minus the treadmill shocking me every time I touched it) but I definitely could not go much farther than 3.1 which means I have a lot of work to do over the next few months for Ragnar in June.  But I did remember how much I miss just running and listening to the music.

The nike frees -- I just cannot decide.  I can feel my legs getting stronger but I just do not think they give my feet the support they need (or are used to). 

…starting over… rebuilding it all …

it is time to get back on the running wagon.  i have taken over a month now to do basically anything and everything but work out and run {i have loved the dinners and drinks and hours of lifetime movies}.  i have noticed that my endurance and ability to do things like long dog walks is not where it was this time 2 months ago….

everyone is creating their 2011 race calendars. i have 3 things on mine. a 10k, ragnar, and rock and roll savannah. holla if you're a slacker. HOLLA!

so. to start my 2011 off i am going to run the polar bear run (how fitting with my foto friday lazy polar bears) on jan 22. that is 7 weeks till my next race. it is just a 5k and last year i was getting over the 5k distance… but i think it is the perfect way to ease myself back into running.

i plugged into runners world smart coach and plugged in my “want” 5k time of 30 minutes. made a training plan for 7 weeks and came up with this:

 

week	date	mon.	tues.	wed.	thurs.	fri.	sat.	sun.
1	12/6 - 12/12	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 2	XT	easy run 2	blast 900
2	12/13- 12/19	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 2	XT	easy run 3	blast 900
3	12/20- 12/26	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	east run 3	XT	easy run 4	blast 900
4	12/27- 1/2	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 3	XT	easy run 5	blast 900
5	1/3 - 1/9	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 2	XT	easy run 2	blast 900
6	1/10- 1/16	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 2	XT	easy run 3	blast 900
7	1/17- 1/23	rest/ xt	easy 2 miles	rest/ xt	easy run 3	XT	RACE DAY	blast 900

so here is my training plan… which this month will be hard with heading to Charlottesville VA for Kyle's best friend’s wedding and then going home to DC for Christmas… but I am bound and determined to get in work outs on both trips. ….plus i am going to start making blast 900 a weekly occurrence in my life.

it is kinda weird to see such low miles, but i think it is going to be more fun than anything because there will be no pressure and it will let me ease back into this running thing….  ….now i just have to remember to work out on my designated kyle/barbie gym days.