MEDIUM LONG RUN - 13 MILES ON THE TM

Got to the gym with plenty of time to get my run in. Plan was for 13. Was feeling strong and felt I would shoot for it and bail if I needed to, since I ran the Bronx half just 5 days ago. But the legs felt good and I completed my run!! Still don't like how the TM stops when I hit 9 miles, but this time I was able to get my legs going to finish. I guess an upside was that my HR dropped even more when the TM stopped and then I had to start again, LOL

14 miles in 2:11:26, avg pace 10:06

Avg HR 131 Cardiac Drift: 144

M1 10:06 avg hr bpm 119 Cardiac Drift: 129
M2 10:06 avg hr bpm 127 Cardiac Drift: 136
M3 10:06 avg hr bpm 130 Cardiac Drift: 142
M4 10:06 avg hr bpm 133 Cardiac Drift: 146
M5 10:06 avg hr bpm 134 Cardiac Drift: 143
M6 10:06 avg hr bpm 131 Cardiac Drift: 138
M7 10:06 avg hr bpm 134 Cardiac Drift: 144
M8 10:06 avg hr bpm 135 Cardiac Drift: 144
M9 10:06 avg hr bpm 133 Cardiac Drift: 138
M10 10:06 avg hr bpm 134 Cardiac Drift: 136
M11 10:06 avg hr bpm 134 Cardiac Drift: 140
M12 10:06 avg hr bpm 135 Cardiac Drift: 143
M13 10:06 avg hr bpm 137 Cardiac Drift: 143

RECOVERY RUN - 5 MILES

Got to the gym a bit late, playing on the computer and catching up with old friends on face book LOL So, my 6 miler turned into a 5 miler as I had to pick up kids at school. No worries though, it was a recovery run!

Ran 5 miles in 50:09

Avg pace of 10:00

Avg HR 132 Cardiac Drift: 146

M1 10:00 avg hr bpm 119 Cardiac Drift: 128
M2 10:00 avg hr bpm 132 Cardiac Drift: 140
M3 10:00 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 140
M4 10:00 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 146
M5 10:00 avg hr bpm 139 Cardiac Drift: 146

TEMPO - 6 MILES

Didn't do a progression run today, but ran all my miles today at 6.0 speed. Legs felt really good.

Ran 6 miles in 1:00:03 Avg pace of 10:00

Avg HR 133 Cardiac Drift: 144

M1 10:00 avg hr bpm 122 Cardiac Drift: 133
M2 10:00 avg hr bpm 130 Cardiac Drift: 137
M3 10:00 avg hr bpm 134 Cardiac Drift: 141
M4 10:00 avg hr bpm 137 Cardiac Drift: 142
M5 10:00 avg hr bpm 139 Cardiac Drift: 144
M6 10:00 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 143

PLANNED SPIN DAY TURNED IN TO A COMPLETE REST DAY

I was planning to drop kids at school and get to the gym for it's 9:30am spin class. That didn't happen. Did some stuff at the kids school and then since I missed the spin class did some errands, and then just hung out and relaxed.

I feel good, and will be ready for my Tempo/progression run tomorrow!

LONG RUN - 9 MILES ON TM, SHOULD HAVE BEEN 16, BUT RAN OUT OF TIME, AND HEY, I RAN THE BRONX HALF YESTERDAY LOL

Woke this morning and the legs felt great! And I was able to sleep almost 10hours, so over all I was/am a very happy camper. I dropped the kids off at school, did some things and hit the gym around noon.

I knew my legs felt good, but wasn't sure if I'd be able to run the full 16 for my long run, so I set the TM to 5.8, and started running. First 6 miles were over before I knew it, and decided to keep going. Made it to 9 with no troubles and then the TM stopped. I want a TM that goes for 2+ hours!!!!! When I went to start it up again, for round two to finish the run, my legs didn't like how the speed was different. Going from a stop to a run. ARGGHHH. So I decided I had a great run and didn't want to push it.

Set the TM to 5.8, and ran all miles at that speed.

Ran 9 miles in 1:32:27 Avg pace of 10:16

Avg HR 139 Cardiac Drift: 154

M1 10:26 avg hr bpm 135 Cardiac Drift: 140
M2 10:15 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 152
M3 10:14 avg hr bpm 139 Cardiac Drift: 150
M4 10:14 avg hr bpm 141 Cardiac Drift: 154
M5 10:14 avg hr bpm 140 Cardiac Drift: 151
M6 10:14 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 149
M7 10:14 avg hr bpm 140 Cardiac Drift: 147
M8 10:14 avg hr bpm 140 Cardiac Drift: 153
M9 10:14 avg hr bpm 138 Cardiac Drift: 139

Tomorrow is no running, but I will try to get to my spinning class after I drop kids at school!

BRONX HALF MARATHON

ADDED MY REAL RACE REPORT BELOW

Just posting results, as it's been a long day. I will fill in the rest of the race report tomorrow when I am more awake. Waking at 3:30am for this race has finally caught to me. Time for some ZZZZZZs!!

Official time 2:07:23

My Garmin says I covered 13.25 miles, but that included the zigzaging:(

Avg pace 9:43

avg HR 157 Cardiac Drift: 170

Great run. Didn`t want to push it, found a great comfortable pace and stuck to it!

M1 9:57 avg hr bpm 142
M2 9:25 avg hr bpm 156
M3 9:27 avg hr bpm 159
M4 9:25 avg hr bpm 160
M5 9:22 avg hr bpm 162
M6 10:11 avg hr bpm 163 (we were running into the wind at this point)
M7 9:32 avg hr bpm 161
M8 9:43 avg hr bpm 157
M9 9:43 avg hr bpm 156
M10 9:41 avg hr bpm 158
M11 9:43 avg hr bpm 155
M12 9:43 avg hr bpm 154
M13 9:43 avg hr bpm 159
last .1miles 1:33 avg hr bpm 167

The day started early, WAY early. Usually for my races, my alarm goes off at 4:30ish, but today I was up at 3:20, 10min before the alarm was due to go off. My 6 year old Allie woke, and wished me good luck, and then she climbed in to bed with Mr. Beachy, while I made my oatmeal & banana (my staple pre-race meal), and got out of the house by 4:10, to meet John B. at 5:00am, and to be at the race by 6am (we didn't know when they would begin to close the roads). We found a parking spot, thankfully on the Grand Concourse, and then found the start/finish, then walked to the Bronx Science High School to get our bibs. While we were walking, it was pitch black, and we were commenting how warm it was. I checked the weather on my iphone, and it was telling me 53 degrees. I didn't believe it. Once at the H.S., we got our bibs and hung out inside for awhile and this is where we met up with my brother's friends, John, Amy and Nancy. They were super friendly. We went back up to check our bags, around 7:30, and again commented on how warm it was. Sun was starting to come out, and the day looked just perfect. I checked the weather again, and it now said 55F and sunny. I really was thinking, I'm in trouble, I'm way over dressed. We checked our bags and made our way to the start at about 7:45am.

OMG, the weather could not have been more perfect, except I didn't believe it. They had been predicting 47F and 20-30MPH winds, and I figured at 7-8am it would be cold, NOPE, it was 56 at the start and winds, they say were only 7mph. I actually enjoyed the wind, cause it cooled me off LOL I wore way too much clothing and was HOT. I wore full length tights, and wind pants on top of those. And I wore a long sleeve cool max shirt, with a long sleeve cotton shirt on top. I knew at the start I was way over dressed, but didn't feel like ditching these clothes to good will, so I ran on as dressed. By mile 2ish, I was saying. Today's clothing should have been shorts and a singlet. LOL I actually welcomed the windy conditions, as it helped to cool me off LOL Oh well, race was GREAT.

I originally wanted to run this race at a 9:09 marathon pace (but my OVERALL goal was to run it as a training run, not to push it, as I really wanted to be able to run my run on Monday), but once I started I realized 9:09 wasn't happening as I was too hot. Plus, prior to the race I met Amy, who was running her first half marathon ever, and decided I'd run with her. She was thinking 9:30 would be doable. So off we went. It was amazing. We chatted the whole race and I learned all about her running/training journey. What amazed me most was that I have never chatted/talked/spoken during a run, let alone a race. Once we began talking I quickly thought, uh oh, am I going to make it? Will I end up sucking wind, keeling over from the conversation, but I didn't, and it was the greatest conversation to have with a new runner! As we hit about mile 4, and we were warmed up, I asked Amy if she wanted to speed it up a bit, and maybe aim for the 9:09, she said no, and I said, no problem, we're hitting our splits pretty well, lets stick with this. We both crossed the finish together and it was fantastic.

I still had a lot of gas in the tank, and was happy cause I knew I'd be running again tomorrow. Not sure if I will do 16 as planned, but I will definitely run 6 and then see how I feel!

TOTAL REST DAY - TOMORROW'S THE BRONX HALF MARATHON

Really didn't do anything today except bring my girls to Karate at 9:30am. The remainder of the day/night was spent lounging around playing Xbox and relaxing and drinking water. I feel ready for tomorrows run.

Plan is to wake at 3:30 am, out the door by 4:15am so I can meet John B at 5am, and then be at the race site before 6am when they close the roads, and then between 6:30 - 7:30 get our bibs/t-shirt (you know, the only reason I'm running this race is for the Long Sleeve T-shirt LOL), then race starts at 8am.

Pray for warm weather. They are predicting highs of 49F, and 20-30MPH winds, so I'm a bit concerned it's going to be chilly/cold, as 8am is not high/peak temp weather time. YIKEs, and with serious winds. Oh well, I am a runner, and we run in anything, right?? LOL

MEDIUM LONG RUN - 8 EASY MILES ON THE TM

1:05pm - Got to the gym, today had 11 miles scheduled for my Medium Long Run, but chose to do 8, as I have the Bronx Half on Sunday. Tomorrow is a complete and total rest day!! Realized when I got to the gym I forgot my little snickers, which I've been popping about every 3 or 4 miles depending on the distance I was running. Oh well, still had an awesome run and my legs really felt like they wanted to take off.

Set the TM to 5.6, and ran all miles at that speed. Ran 8 miles in 1:24:30 Avg pace of 10:34

Avg HR 132 Cardiac Drift: 146

M1 10:39 121 Cardiac Drift: 130
M2 10:33 129 Cardiac Drift: 142
M3 10:32 132 Cardiac Drift: 142
M4 10:32 132 Cardiac Drift: 141
M5 10:32 135 Cardiac Drift: 143
M6 10:33 136 Cardiac Drift: 144
M7 10:32 135 Cardiac Drift: 144
M8 10:32 138 Cardiac Drift: 146

Overall a great run, and my last run until Sundays race. As I am scheduled to run 6 on Sunday and 16 on Monday, I am flipping those runs. I think I will run 3 warm up miles before the race to make my miles for Sunday 16.1, and then have a nice recovery 6 mile run on Monday, and then Spin tuesday, etc. etc. etc. for the week.

I still would like to run the race at marathon pace (say 9:09), but will make that final decision at the start of the race. I think I'm ready for it, but I also am in the middle of training so I don't want to go crazy, plus it's going to be cold, so I'm just running it at a doable/training paced run.

RECOVERY RUN - 6 MILES ON THE TM

12:40pm - Got to the gym, had a really good run today. Legs are really feeling strong! I finally found 'mini' snickers, so packed 2 up for my run. I ate 1 about 30 minutes before my run and then another half way thru (at the 3m mark). Not sure if I needed it for such a short run, but wanted to try it out. And never ate the last one.

I set the TM to 5.6 and ran all miles at this speed. I really felt like I could run forever, or bump up the speed and just take off, but remembered today was a recovery run and just enjoyed the slow, easy pace watching my tv show on my iphone.

6 miles in 1:03:22, avg pace 10:33

Avg HR 134 Cardiac Drift: 150

M1 10:39 124 Cardiac Drift: 140
M2 10:32 134 Cardiac Drift: 143
M3 10:32 135 Cardiac Drift: 145
M4 10:32 138 Cardiac Drift: 147
M5 10:32 138 Cardiac Drift: 151
M6 10:32 137 Cardiac Drift: 147

TEMPO/PROGRESSION RUN - 7 MILES ON TM

Had a great run at the gym today, once again BR411 was on the TM next to me! He ran 3 and then worked out with weights, while I ran my tempo/progression run. Legs felt really good. With each mile they felt stronger and stronger. Nice, since again, I was a bit concerned how they would feel after yesterdays spinning class. Well, I think I passed the test, I did the Long Run Monday, Cross training spin class yesterday, and then my tempo/progression run today and each day my legs felt great!!

12:30pm - got to the gym, all TM's were available and hubby and I chose our mills and started running. I set the TM to 5.6 for the first 2 miles, then 5.8 for the next 2 miles, then 6.0 for the next 2 miles, then 5.6 for the last mile as a cool down.

7 miles in 1:12:00, avg pace 10:17

Avg HR 135 (no clue what the cardiac drift was, as it was in the high 220's due to interference, ARGHHH)

M1 10:39 118
M2 10:33 138
M3 10:13 141
M4 10:15 136
M5 9:54 139
M6 9:52 138
M7 10:31 132

Again, my legs felt great. Felt like I could have continued running forever, but stuck to the schedule as I don't want to over train, and I have a race (Bronx Half) on Sunday, though I plan to run that race as a regular training run (or maybe at marathon pace, we will see how I feel come race day morning: also depends on the weather LOL)

CROSS TRAINING WORKOUT TODAY: SPINING CLASS 'FINALLY'

Well, I dropped my kids off at school today, and hit the gym at 9:30am for a spinning class. FINALLY after talking about doing spinning for MONTHS, I finally made it. I was a bit concerned how I would do/feel after yesterdays 14 mile long run, but my legs felt awesome when I woke this morning and I finally decided to BELIEVE in D10's wisdom of crosstraining, and got myself to the class. and man am I glad I did. OMG, it was AWESOME!! I definitely didn't push it, but I worked it for sure. Class was about 1:08:00 with warm up and cool down, and my Avg HR was 131, Cardiac Drift: 157

I think one reason that I liked it so much was that my legs are so much stronger today, than they were the last time I attempted a spinning class. God knows when that was. LOL With having a years worth of running miles behind me, this spinning can only strengthen my legs even more. Using muscles in my legs that running doesn't. I know, I know, D10, you said this to me numerous times, but I am finally in the right frame of mind to stop, listen, and do what you say!!

I felt very strong while riding the bike in the upright/running position, and felt OK when sitting on the bike seat riding the flats or coming upon the hills. Interesting that in the seated position my legs burned more, or felt more tired, as opposed to the standing position. But either way I completed my first CT spinning class and will definitely do spinning on Tuesday mornings and HOPEFULLY on Saturday mornings from 8-9am, if time allows for it, as it's the weekend:)

I really have to thank D10 for continuously encouraging me to get off the road and CT to give the legs a break, and bearing with me when I would say yes/sure, and then ignore/do the running thing instead. (I've been told I can be a stubborn old fool) I still think my legs can withstand running 7 days a week, as my runs are usually done at 70% HR or lower, and NO running intervals are involved (or speed work, other than races), so it's not so taxing on my body, but now that I have FINALLY taken the CT/spinning plunge (or more to the point, D's advice!!!), I will never go back. When I completed the class I was completely soaked (I LOVE THAT), and felt like I got a great workout.

I am now ready for my 6 mile run tomorrow. Unfortunately or fortunately depending how you feel about the Mill, my run will be done in the gym on the TM, again, as BR411 is outside as I type this, snow blowing the driveway, as we probably have 4" and more is still falling LOL. Snow sure is pretty, but enough is enough, I want Spring to come so I can get my roads back. LOL

LONG RUN - 14 MILES ON THE TM

12:20pm - Got to the gym and thankfully no one was on the TM, haven't run 14 on a TM this year and with the 'new years resolutioners' the gyms been crowded and was a bit concerned I'd get kicked off. While I ran, all the mills were being used, but they cycled off and on perfectly, so I was able to complete my run!

14 miles in 2:23:52, avg pace 10:16

Avg HR 140 Cardiac Drift: 151

M1 10:39 125 Cardiac Drift: 137
M2 10:14 135 Cardiac Drift: 154
M3 10:14 137 Cardiac Drift: 146
M4 10:14 138 Cardiac Drift: 145
M5 10:14 141 Cardiac Drift: 150
M6 10:14 142 Cardiac Drift: 151
M7 10:14 140 Cardiac Drift: 145
M8 10:14 139 Cardiac Drift: 147
M9 10:14 142 Cardiac Drift: 149
M10 10:14 140 Cardiac Drift: 151
M11 10:14 141 Cardiac Drift: 147
M12 10:14 144 Cardiac Drift: 151
M13 10:14 145 Cardiac Drift: 152
M14 10:14 148 Cardiac Drift: 151

JUST SIGNED UP FOR THE BRONX HALF MARATHON WHICH IS IN 7 DAYS & HAD A GREAT 6 MILE RUN WITH BR411/HUBBY

I've been putting it off cause I don't want to freeze my ass out there, but decided I need a long sleeve t-shirt (and isn't all this running about getting the t-shirt LOL) I've completed 19 runs for January 09 for a total of 107 miles, and ran today for 6 more miles for a total of 113 so far for the year, but all the miles have been run inside on the TM. I'm not worried about the distance of the race Sunday, I can easily cover the 13.1 miles, but a bit concerned that I'm going to freeze, but like I said, I WANT THAT SHIRT. LOL Plus, I'm due to run at least that for my long run and I'd rather run with a crowd. LOL so I will be going into the Bronx next Sunday for the Half Marathon!

2:10pm - Was able to run with hubby/BR411 at the gym on the TM cause my folks came over and watched the girls. Thanks Mom and Dad!! I know you all are probably saying "what, you ran inside today, when it finally hit 47F", but BR411 didn't want to run outside for his long run, as the roads are still icy and very sandy, so I agreed and we hit the gym. Thankfully there were two TM's available next to eachother and off we ran. It was nice running side by side. Can't wait for the warmer weather to come so we can run together more often.

I set the TM to 5.6 and ran for 1:04:00, legs felt good and I think it was a nice warm up for tomorrows long run (14 scheduled).

My avg HR was 144 cardiac drift: 221 (HR interference again, ARGHHHH)

M1 10:40 136
M2 10:40 131
M3 10:40 131
M4 10:40 131
M5 10:40 135
M6 10:40 135