Bizz Johnson Training Week #5

Almost forgot to recap last week! It will be brief...

Monday: Spin class
Tuesday: 7 miles (8:29 AP), weights
Wednesday: 7 miles, weights
Thursday: 8.5 miles (7:43 AP), weights
Friday: 3
Saturday: 13.5 miles (8:51 AP)
Sunday: 7.5 miles (9:15 AP)

Total miles: 46.5 :)

This week my mileage will be off because I am having endometrial ablation surgery today! Yikes!! I took a much needed rest day on Monday, ran a quick 5 yesterday, and a slow 3 miles this morning. I made a promise to my Doctor that I would take the rest of the week easy. If I can get in a total of 20 miles, I'll be happy. Next week I begin my next 6-week block of training. I'm both excited and nervous because I will be starting speedwork and longer tempo runs. I've been messing around with the Garmin over the past two weeks, but starting next week my goal is to run at a certain pace 2x/week. The rest of the week will be scheduled easy runs to boost up my weekly mileage (which will also be increasing). Big changes ahead!

I LOVE my little girls!

Long runs on the weekends are something I look forward to. It's like going on a mini adventure. This morning, for example, I didn't plan where I was going to run...I just made it up as I was running. I used to plot out my courses the night before on mapmyrun.com, but now I don't need to. I just leave out my front door start running!

This morning my plan was to run for two hours or 15 miles...whichever came first. I wanted to take it easy today since I pushed Thursday's workout pretty hard. I ended up running 2:01:00 and completed just under 14 miles. The weather was not ideal. It was overcast and cold. Blech.

My left ankle is still bothering me. I injured it the first week in February up on Mount Lassen. I made the mistake of glisading down the snowy mountain while wearing crampons. The crampons made my body come to a quick stop and I rolled my ankle pretty bad. I've been able to train through the pain, but it really aches after long runs. After this morning's run I came inside, grabbed an ice pack and lay on the floor with my foot elevated on a shelf. No sooner did I get on the floor, my two little ones climbed on top of me full of laughter and excitement.

(Not the most comfortable position to be in, but it made me stop thinking about my ankle!)
I can't even begin to express how much I love our girls, Leah and Natalie. They are such a blessing! (In this picture, they are riding a train of chairs.)

I'm 6 miles away from a 45 mile week. My plan is to wake up early tomorrow morning and run before church. Tomorrow is the last day of week 5 of 6 of base training. I'm excited to bump my mileage up and get into a more serious plan after next week! I'm using a Jack Daniels plan...something that is new to me. From what I've experienced the last 5 weeks, I really enjoy it. I'm nervous about starting tempo runs but at least I know my base work is strong. I feel good and as of this week, my weight is starting to stabilize once again. I'm down 3 pounds since last week and feeling strong. I've been trying really hard to limit sweets in my diet and did well with the exception of yesterday and today. I purchased a bag of Jelly Belly "belly flops" and have been eating them like crazy. Plus, a friend gave me some chocolates today. How can I resist chocolate?! As for the jelly beans, I have a plan to give the remainder of the bag to a friend tomorrow. If they're not in the house (or in my car's glove box hiding), I won't eat them, right?

Week #4 Bizz Johnson Training

I ended up running every single day last week. My plan was to take Monday off, but I ended up running a mile and a half with clients. I'm finding that most of my runs tend to be at an 8:30 average pace (according to the Garmin). My heart rate has been averaging in the mid to upper 140's, so I know there is still room for pushing my pace even faster. I have this week and all of next week before the next phase of my marathon training begins. I'm still working on maintaining a weekly base of 40-45 miles, which has (so far!) been a lot easier than I thought it would be. :)

Monday: 1.5 miles
Tuesday: 7 miles (with speedwork on the treadmill)
Wednesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 7 miles (4 in the morning, 3 in the late afternoon)
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 10.5 miles (8:30 average pace)
Sunday: 7.5 miles (hilly course, 8:50 average pace)

Total Mileage: 44.5!! (My highest total in years!)

I've been trying really hard lately to get my eating habits back under control. My meals are never the issue... it's the snacking inbetween meals that kills me. I absolutely LOVE candy and it's been difficult to keep it to a minimum. Today, for example, I've already had a licorice sugar stick and 4 small chocolate candies from a chocolate store in town. I wake up each morning thinking...okay, NO candy today. But then after lunch my body craves sugary snacks. I even stocked our fridge and freezer this weekend with my favorite fruits, but I still reach for the candy. :/ I don't mind having candy if it's an occassional thing, but eating it every single day of the week has got to stop!

Anyway... that's my rant for the day.

Week # 3 Bizz Johnson Training

What a weekend!! I took first place in the Chocolate Chase 10K on Saturday with a time of 40:48. My prize was a sweet looking chocolate shoe and a cute medal. :)

On Sunday, Dave and I participated in the 100th Bay to Breakers in San Francisco. It was so much fun. It was set up similar to a marathon where each coralle has a different start time. We were in coralle A so our start time was at 7:00 am. Most of the crazies started behind us so the race was fairly normal and calm when we ran...only difference was people were in costume. Every few minutes we'd spot someone either walking or running nude...gross part was most nudies were over the age of 50. Not pretty--especially the men. Yuck. :/

Here are my totals for the week:

Tuesday: 9 miles easy
Wednesday: 7.5 miles easy
Thursday: 9 miles (with 3 miles of speed intervals)
Friday: 4.5 miles
Saturday: 7 miles (6.2 were part of the Chocolate Chase)
Sunday: 8 miles (Bay to Breakers)

Total: 45 miles! (My longest week ever!)

My chocolate shoe prize!

Dinner in S.F.

Bay to Breakers

Bay to Breakers (I made my costume years ago while pregnant with Leah)

Chocolate Chase medal

Bay to Breakers medal

I can't believe it's already Friday! This week has gone by way too fast...

Monday was another typical rest day that included strength training, a 10 mile bike ride and a yoga class.

On Tuesday, my husband Dave dropped me off at one end of town and I ran along the flumes until I got near the back side of our house. I enjoy running near the river around this time of the year because the water is constantly changing. I ended up running 7 miles at an 8:10 average pace. (I'm liking the new Garmin!)

This is one of the many catwalks along the flume.

 One of my favorite swimming holes in the summer time!

Wednesday was a tough day. I did not feel like running at all. My body felt tired and sluggish from the past few days of training. I ate poorly and it was reflected in my run. However, I still managed to get in 7.5 miles.

Thursday I felt great and was ready for some speed work. Throughout the day I ran a total of 9 miles. I did two different speed work sessions on the treadmill that totaled 3.5 miles, then ran the rest of the miles with clients throughout the afternoon.

Today is Friday and my plan is to run to my nephew's baseball game. I need to get in 6 miles today.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend!! Tomorrow morning is the local Chocolate Chase 10K. If I win the race, I will win a chocolate shoe made by Joy Lynn's Candies. I'm fairly confident that I will win tomorrow because it's an event put on by the gym I work at, and as of yesterday there haven't been too many sign-ups that I should be concerned about being faster than me. ;)

Immediately after the race, Dave and I will be headed to San Francisco for this:

We are really excited to be a part of this event! Thunderstorms are in the forecast for Sunday, but with 50,000+ people signed up for the event, I'm sure rain will be the least of our worries. Dave plans on dressing up as Darth Vader (my brother has a costume) and I will be a version of Princess Leia. (My dress is white, but that's the only resemblance!) Plan B is to wear our normal running clothes if it ends up raining. I'll post pictures early next week.

 

The last piece of news is I was contacted by Fleet Feet sports yesterday to review some different socks while training for the Bizz Johnson Marathon! There will be a bag of socks waiting for me at the store when we get back into town next week.

 

Life is good!

Week #2 (of 24...) Bizz Johnson Training

Last week was a good week of running for me. I've been nervous about increasing my weekly mileage, but so far it's been a smooth and easy transition. Highlight of the week was yesterday's long run along the Feather River flume. I'll make sure to bring my camera next time I run there--it is beautiful.

One thing that is new for me is having a day of scheduled rest. Monday is my scheduled rest day, but it's really difficult for me not to stay active. I'm okay with not running on Mondays, but I feel the need to still do something...anything!

Here's last week's recap:

Monday: (Scheduled rest.) Strength training in the morning (1 hour), bike commute to work (8 miles round trip), yoga class (1.5 hours).
Tuesday: 7 miles of easy running, strength training
Wednesday: 6 miles easy, strength training
Thursday: 7 miles (including 4 x 800m repeats), strength training
Friday: 4.5 treadmill run, strength training
Saturday: DIVA DASH 5K!! (see previous post for details), new PR of 19:11!! 5 miles total running on this day.
Sunday: 9.5 miles on the Feather River flume.

Total mileage: 39

One of my friends gave me his Garmin this weekend to use while training. My plan is to start using it tomorrow and keep a record of my stats. Should be fun!

This upcoming week is my first scheduled 40 mile run week. I was tempted to run an extra mile yesterday when I saw I was only one mile short. Oh well... I figure in a few weeks I'll be wishing for shorter run weeks again, so I don't want to push it too much!

"You're my hero, and you don't even know it!"

My mom and I met my sister-in-law, Mindy, in Chico this morning for the 1st annual Diva Dash 5K. We signed up for the event on Easter thinking it would be something fun to do together in honor of Mother's Day. I knew in advance that the event's main focus was to benefit the Girls on the Run program, but didn't realize HOW big of a focus it was until this morning when we showed up and saw numerous women and small girls in their pink racing shirts. I figured out fairly quick that this event was more of a community event than a true "race."

I didn't wear my pink shirt that came in our race packets because it looked horrible on me. It made me look like I have jaundice! There are certain colors that bring out the yellow pigments in my skin, and hot pink just happens to be one of those colors. The rest of our goodies were pretty cool. We got a pair of pink Balga socks and a finisher's wine glass with our race entry. I'm excited about the socks. I love wearing new socks.

When it was time to line up for the race I knew I was going to be the first place finisher. I am aware of who my local competition is and none of them were at the race. (Sheri was there, but was running with some of the young girls.) Paul Smith, who is an amazingly fast running, was at the event to do the bike lead. His bike was covered in pink streamers which was fun to follow.

The Race:

Three elementary aged girls and myself took an early lead. The girls dropped their pace about 150 yards down the road and I didn't see any other runners until I finished and watched them come in behind me. I've never led a race before in Chico and it was a pretty cool experience. Granted, it wasn't a huge event, it was cool to know that I was the race leader. I chatted with Paul off and on throughout the race, but for the most part kept focused and tried to keep a steady pace. My goal was to finish under 20 minutes with a dream of finishing around 19:20. (My PR up to this point was a 19:33 that was set in November at the Almond Bowl.)

At Mile One, I checked my watch and was pleased to see a split of 6:12. It felt effortless. At Mile Two my split was 6:10. Even Paul noticed before I could say anything that my time was faster. At Mile Three I was amazed once again when I looked down to see another negative split. This time it was 6:09. I smiled and cruised in the rest of the way to a finishing time of 19:11!! I was so happy to have a new PR and that is was fairly easy to accomplish.

The race today felt like a major breakthrough. I recently set a new PR for myself at the Bidwell Classic 1/2 Marathon the first week of March (1:29:33), so to have a new PR for a 5K made me confident that training is going well. I'm setting my sights high on breaking 19:00 in the 5K this year. I didn't think it would ever be possible, but after today I know it is.

Below are some pictures from today's event:

Race goodies

My mom and I before the race

1st Place!

Posing with my new medal :)

Almost forgot!! The quote that is at the top of this post, "You're my hero, and you don't even know it!" came from a lady who passed me on the way to the bathrooms about 30 minutes after the race. It was really nice and made me feel good. :) I'll post either tomorrow or the next day with a recap of this week's mileage.