Marathon Training Progress...

I made the decision in November of last year after my second half marathon to challenge myself to run my first marathon on 2010. I started my training back on January 11th of this year I started my training for the Vermont City Marathon on May 30, 2010. Right now I can't believe that as of today my first marathon is only 75 days away.

To date my training has been going by with no big events or issues. I have been able to complete all of my runs. Some of them have been on the treadmill to do the crazy New England weather, the dark, or not having someone to watch my son, Mack. I completed a half marathon in February mostly for the reason that it was on the day I had a 13 mile training run scheduled.

Saturday was the first training day that marked a new achievement for me. It was the first time I completed a run over the half marathon 13.1 mile distance. With the help of a running buddy, Al, I was able to check of that goal in style.

My time does not included the time we had to stop at the stop lights around town which was only about 4 or 5 minutes. When we finished the run I had to map the route on more than one site because I couldn't believe that I had covered that distance in that amount of time.

I did make the mistake of not fueling enough before the run and during the run. I did check up with me at about mile 12 but I was able to push through. It's good that I'm learning these lessons before the marathon. Have to figure out how much more to eat and fuel before next Sunday's 16 mile run.

Right now almost every weekend run is going to be the longest I have gone so it is make this very exciting. I can't wait to see how each run is going to go. I'm thinking that I should be actually doing a long slow run as recommend by most training plans rather than a PR pace. Stay tuned for more training updates.

Vicky

Half @ The Hamptons

On February 21st I ran my third half marathon. I had a thirteen mile training run scheduled for that day and thought running it with 1200 people would be more fun than by myself.

It was a cool and windy morning when we arrived, but the skies were blue and the sun was warm. I had planned to run an easy half just for the training, but I always seem to have a hard time "taking it easy". At the start of the race I thought I was following the 9 minute pacer but in reality I was behind the 8:30 pacer, oops!

After getting off of the beach and into the neighborhoods of Hampton the sun was shining and I actually had to ditch the hat and gloves. The final 4 miles of the course were down Route 1A in Hampton. If you are from the area you know how beautiful the last 4 miles were.

I went out at the 8:30 pace for the first half of the race but then eased back to a pace of 9:00 miles for the second half. Giving me a finishing time of 1:54:47 at a pace of 8:48 miles.

I'm planning on one more half before my marathon (Keybank Vermont Marathon on May 30th) and hoping to try for a PR in that race. For me the best part of the day wasn't the time on the clock but getting to enjoy the race on such a beautiful day. I also got to enjoy the day with a few of my local running buddies.

I'm heading out now to get in a nice easy 9 miles in this New England heatwave of 50 degrees in March. Have to take advantage before the weather changes like it always does in New England.

Vicky

Don't Feel Like Working Out....

I have had one of those weeks at work. I haven't been able to get out of work when I wanted too. I've had to take work home so I haven't gotten the amount of sleep I need. I have had too many other things thrown on my desk this week so I haven't been able to get my regular work done.

Today was the worst day of the week. It was actually nice out tonight and I wanted to get outside for my run, I dread having to run on the "dreadmill". Tonight, of course, I got out of work late and by the time I got home it was almost 6:30pm. I had a three mile run on the schedule and all I wanted to do was climb on the couch and nap. Instead I went right to my workout clothes and got changed and logged into WOWY.

I got on the dreadmill and still didn't want to do the three miles. I decided that I couldn't make the three miles any shorter but I could crank up the speed and intensity and get it done faster.

After 24:35 minutes I had covered my 3 miles tonight. Was it hard to do? Yes, but it was one heck of a workout and not the workout I thought I would have tonight on my way home. After the 3 miles I was dripping sweat, I felt like I could do anything, and my energy was thru the roof.

So next time that you think you don't have the energy or don't feel like getting in the workout. Just get dressed, wowy and push play you will probably amaze yourself.

Have you Committed?

Four weeks ago I post that I had committed to myself, my fitness and my running. I've officially registered for the VT Marathon on May 30th. I sat down and planned out the next 5 months of training. Now 4 weeks into my training commitment how are things going....

• I've gotten in all of my schedule runs and many of them there longer than what I originally scheduled


• I've gotten in all my weight routines


• I've gotten in all of my weekly yoga routines


• I've had trouble getting in my extra cardio for the week.... to be honest I've only got it in two of the four weeks


• I lost 8lbs total in the four weeks...

I've just committed to my workouts and the nutrition followed. There are still big improvements I need to make in my nutrition. There are also new things I need to learn since this is the first I'm I'll be regularly running at least 12 miles on Sundays.

Start with the workouts and the changes will start to happen in your nutrition. You can't fuel your body for intense workouts with junk food. You will start to look for that nutrition that you body needs. So get to the starting line and commit to yourself and your workouts!!! It is good for your body, your health and in turn good for your family.

Am I Dedicated or Crazy ?!?!?

My training schedule this week had a 5 mile run today. I got up this morning and checked the weather on http://www.weather.com/ and this was the current temperature when I headed out for my run.

Yes you are reading that right. Only 3 degrees Fahrenheit!!!! Was I crazy to go out and run in that temperature? Well I'm sure most of you think that I am. I even thought that I was when I headed out to the running group in my car and it was only 5 degrees when I made it to the meeting point. There was only a group of 4 of us that showed up to brave the weather.

I was still thinking I was a little off my rocker at that point. The minute we started running the cold air hurt my lungs, but after a few minutes I settled in and it wasn't all that bad. I had bundled up with plenty of layers and only my face was cold. It was a hard run in the cold and I have to thank my friend Al for running with me, but when we were done it felt great. At 9am this morning I had finished my 5 mile run and had the rest of the day in front of me.

So was I crazy to go out? No, I'm just a runner dedicated to my training plan. If I didn't have a plan and goal then I probably would have just stayed under the warm covers this morning. Instead I followed my plan and I'm having an extremely productive day. So make your plans and stick to them that is the only way to make it to the finish line.

Remember Where You Came From....

We should all keep a reminder of where we came from when we started on this up and down journey for our health and fitness. We all know that photo or that comment that made the light bulb go off in our head and made us realize the way our lives were headed. We are all now on our journey to a healthier life so that light bulb moment all got us to change our lives for the better no matter how painful or embarrassing it may have been.

For me my life changing moment was when I saw a photo of Pat and I from my 10 year high school reunion. Most people are thinking about how they look before they go to the reunion, but for some reason I didn't think I looked all that bad.

What was I thinking! I was wearing a dress that was a few sizes too small. It should have been loose and flowing on my body instead of tight and ready to rip the minute I sat down. It wasn't until I saw this picture that I realized I had to do something about where my health was headed.

In this picture I was more than 40 lbs heavier than I am now and almost 50 lbs heavier than I was in high school. This picture was taken Thanksgiving weekend and the Wednesday after Thanksgiving I committed to make a change for the better for my health.

Now today 4 years later and 40 lbs lighter I'm as fit as I was in high school and have completed two half marathons, a 24 hour relay road race and I am on to the road to my first marathon.

If you had asked me four years ago if I thought I would be doing any of these things I would have said "No Way!". I now look at these to pictures and I realize I'm not the same person I was 4 years ago physically or mentally. I had just gotten comfortable and forgotten about my love for running and for fitness. Both of these pictures are so very important to me because they show the amazing journey of the past 4 years. Plus the first serves as a constant reminder of how hard I have worked to get where I am and how easy it is to go back to where I was. I love the person I am today and I am striving to make myself better everyday. I can't wait to see what incredible picture I get to add next to this story!

Goals for 2010

Most of us have a long road to out fitness and personal goals. The most important thing you can do for your fitness and for your personal live is to set goals for yourself. Make sure you are settings fitness goals for things you can do physically and not just goals for a number on the scale or a pants size. We need to make sure we remember the most important reason to do any fitness routine is to be healthier and to be around longer for our loved ones. The outer physical effects are just a bonus to feeling better and living longer.

I spent a few hours last weekend sitting down and thinking about my goals for the next year. Of course like most of us I do have the scale or pant size goal, we all dream of that "Itsie Bitsie Tinie Winnie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" The goals I’m really looking forward to achieving this year are those things I have never done before but haven’t been physically able to do until now.

My first personal goal of 2010 is to run my first marathon. I have dreamed of being able to say I’ve completed one for over 10 years and this year I’m going to make it happen. Today I committed to that goal and put down my $85 registration fee and I’m now officially registered for the Vermont Marathon on May 30, 2010. To date I have done 2 half marathons and the leap from 13.1 to 26.2 miles is scare and so exciting. I can’t wait to report that I have completed it. So now for the next 18 weeks I will be putting in some serious mileage a long with my Beachbody workouts.

After I have completed my first marathon I will tackling another mountain. Which one? I will have to figure that out after marathon. Maybe another marathon, maybe qualify for the Boston Marathon (I’m dreaming big here). Who knows but I need the goals to keep pushing my fitness forward to new levels.

We all have those “mountains to climb” that we have dreamed of for years, 2010 is the year to make that happen! So write down that dream goal and commit to achieving it in 2010!

Vicky

Marathon Training Week One

As you all know I sat down last Sunday and planned out my workouts until my marathon on May 30th. I would love to set the goal to not miss any of the workouts during this 4 ½ month plan, but I know that is not realistic. I know that there are days that you are sick or there are things that can happen that are out of your control or it is possible to over train and need to change the schedule. So my plan is to do everything in my power to get in my workouts, but if something out of my control changes my schedule I will modify and move on.

As you can see from my schedule for the week I didn’t follow my plan to the letter. I am a mother, wife (whose husband is in grad school as well as working full time), and work full time so I have very little free time in my life. As a result, I’m up at 5:30 in the morning to get in my AM workout and then get my runs in at night. Living in New Hampshire it is dark when I get out of work so I only get the joy of running outside when I have friends to run with and that doesn’t happened most of the time. So a lot of those nights I’ve spent my time running on the treadmill in the basement just to get the miles in.

Wednesday night I just had too many appointments to be able to get in an evening workout, plus I was so busy I missed my afternoon snack, something I don’t recommend, I just had no energy to get on the treadmill when I got home. I have recently had trouble getting all of my calories in daily and after not eating enough on Thursday it caught up with me Friday morning and I didn’t have the energy to bring it with an Insanity workout so I decided to modify and get in Tony’s One-on-One Medicine Ball Core Cardio. It was a good workout and I felt better after I finished and had a little recovery drink. I’m sure you can see that I didn’t get in my ChaLEAN Push 3 workout for the week. I have to figure out how to get the two workouts in on Saturday, because I usually don’t have time to fit in an afternoon workout. My plan for this week is to get the workout in tomorrow morning and yoga in the afternoon.

With sticking to my training plan I was able to drop 2.4 lbs of the 5 lbs I had gained over the holidays (don't tell anyone). A few more weeks like last week and I'll dropped all 5 and be well on my way with my marathon training.

My runs were wonderful this week with the exception of Monday night. I was able to run with friends this week for most of the runs. It is so great to have friend’s workout with you. It makes it so much more fun during the workout and gives you some great quality time to chat while doing something wonderful for your body.

So set your schedule for the week and try to find a buddy to workout with; if you don’t have someone local remember to log onto WOWY, we are all there to support each other! I have my plan set for the week and I am ready to take it on!

Vicky

January Workout Commitment

Almost all of us have a hard time sticking to a schedule and sticking with your workouts everyday. I have to admit with the holiday craziness I haven't been good about getting my workouts in. I have probably only worked out about 4 days a week instead of the 6 I normally do. For me I need to have a goal to work towards. This past fall it was the half marathon I ran on November 1st. Since then I have lost focus without a set goal. So I have now decided to commit to completing my first marathon.

The best way to succeed in your fitness goals it to commit to working out 5 or more days per week. I just spent the past hour planning out my workout schedule for the next 4 1/2 months. I'm running the Vermont Marathon on May 30, 2010 and have planned my running and workout schedule from tomorrow until May 30th. I have put all my workouts on a calendar and posted January here. After I finish blogging I'm posting the plan in the kitchen and my office where I can see it daily to remind me of what I have to do everyday.

I know I'll be spending a fair amount of time on the treadmill getting in some of my mid week miles since it is dark out when I get out of work. Never mind the snow and ice we get in New Hampshire in the winter. I love running, but I hate running on the treadmill. Some of those mid-week runs are going to be my hardest workouts. I'm just counting the days until we have more daylight and I can get outside to run for all of my runs.


I plan to mix up my resistance training with a little bit of Chalean Extreme and a little bit of P90X and Tony's One-on-One series. I hope this plan is the key to success for completing my first marathon, but only time will tell.


Vicky