Green Stride 10K Race Recap

Ah its been awhile...  This weekend was awesome. Well Saturday, the weather was so nice, and involved a 10K and some beach bars. Can't really go wrong with that!

First the boring stuff... I am still inside training on the treadmill so its not exactly interesting. Last week my workouts went as followed:

Sunday: Rest: Ug after I moved my long runs to Saturdays I been using Sunday as a rest day. This past Sunday I actually got my ass to the gym for a swim. I think I like this schedule for the next few weeks leading up to the half marathon. Long Run Saturday, Swim Sunday and then Yoga Monday.

Monday: Yoga:

Tuesday: 3.51 Miles including warm up and cool down in 34 minutes.... Climbed: 168 feet at an average of 9.59 pace.

Wednesday: 5.00 Mile run in 46:52 with an 9:22 pace. Climbed 671 feet and burned 434 Calories. (I been using the hill interval training on the treadmill a lot more. The trail for the half is suppose to be hilly, so I figured its good for me, also keeps things interesting...)

Thursday: Body Sculpt class + 3.51 Mile run in 34 minutes with a 9:43 pace, 260 feet climbed and 284 calories burned.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 10K Race!

This past weekend my friends Ann and Kensie and my boyfriend Jon signed up for the Green Stride 5K/10K St. Patty's Day race. It was so much fun!  Ann and Jon did the 5K race and Kensie and I did the 10K race. The course was really flat, pretty much no hills. However... the wind was nuts! The first half wasn't that bad and then when you turned the corner it was like hitting a wall.

Pre race... I need to learn how but my bib on straight! ha-ha

Ann got this picture... I thought it was pretty cool... 

I think as normal I got different times for on my watch then the race had. My watch was off about .20 miles the whole time. So when I finished I jogged out .20 miles so it would record as a 10K on garmin. Anyway here where the results on both... 

My splits on my watch were as following: 

Mile 1: 8:03 m

Mile 2: 8:06 m

Mile 3: 8:01 m

Mile 4: 7:51 m

Mile 5: 8:29 m

Mile 6: 8:08 m

Mile 7 (.20 miles): 8:40

I won first in my age group so I won something... $25 gift card for a pair of running shoes at Greater Boston Running Company. I will definitely have to check this out. I want to get fitted for a pair of new running shoes once I have maxed out the ones I have now.


Of course it was the St. Pattys day weekend so their was a bar crawl after for all the runners. Yum Yuengling.

              


Decided to climb the snow bank to get to the beach after...Ya!! Soon enough we will be back here in our bathingsuits.. soon enough!

This week I really hope to get a few shorter runs outside then 11 Miles on Saturday. I can't believe how close this race is! I am getting more excited than nervous though. After running 10 and feeling good and running the 10K this weekend I am confident I can finish.  My goal is to finish under 2 hours but I would like to get under 1:55. Not sure of that's possible... But always can try! 

Newton Hills

This weekends long run was one of the best I have had in a really long time, and dare I even say ever? I am not really sure what got into me.  There are some physical factors that I could add it....

I was wearing my running shoes that I love....and not my pair that are not really good for running! When I bought my first pair I didn't really know what I was doing. Luckily I won a second pair on Fit Foodie Finds from Under Armor that I love. The shoes make the world of a difference!

I was running comm ave.  What motivation! There were so many people running and all different ages... so awesome.  This is part of the Boston Marathon route, and known to be one of the hardest parts and hardest marathons. I ran the Newton Hills to Boston College. When I started running I noticed that people volunteer their time to had out water, and sports drinks to runners training for their races. Like how awesome is that? This is the group that was doing it. Anyway... Thank you!! It saved me when I thought I couldn't go any further!!

My running path was pretty much clear.... no side walks really needed for Comm Ave. Its a one way street that goes along with comm ave.

I ate before I ran, like woke up 2 hours early just to eat! I had a 1/2 whole wheat bagel, low fat cream cheese and banana. I think it really helped!! I think equally as important to what you eat before a run is when you eat, I think that was one of my problems.




Also It was SOOOOOOOOOOOO nice out on Saturday.  Almost perfect running conditions. My Garmin says it was 46 and sunny, yeah perfection.


Newton Hills.

The Stats.

Mile 1: 9:02

Mile 2: 8:11 * I saw this after mile 2 and was like crap! That was fast! I was worried I wasted a lot of energy 

Mile 3: 8:28 

Mile 4: 8:39 

Mile 5: 8:19

Mile 6: 8:38 

Mile 7: 9:16 *Side stitch returns. I feel like this is going to be my "hit the wall mile". 

Mile 8: 8:30 

Mile 9: 8:47 

Mile 10: 8:50

Mile 11(.10): 10:00 

I am not really sure I understand the elevation charts but here it is.. Elevation gain: 428ft

So yeah, a lot better then I have been doing! This Saturday I have a 10k. I hope to get a personal record. This weekend I set a PR for 10k my running it in 53.12. I been hoping to break the 55 mark for awhile now. I am not sure If I will be able to beat that, but always can try right? I also beat my personal record of a 5K with this run, and ran 5k in 26:09. 

Goals: PR in 10K and get under 26 minutes in a 5K. 

Trying Something New: Hills.

This week’s workouts were about not over doing it and getting to feeling better. Which to say, aside from a small lingering cough, I am feeling better.  Actually to my surprise I felt like running actually helped my cold.

Monday: Yoga Fit.

Tuesday: Treadmill Run.

Distance: 3.51 Miles

Climbed: 84 Feet

Average Pace: 10:09/ Mile

Calories Burned: 260

Time Elapsed: 33:42

When I post my runs on the treadmill they include a .10 mile warm up and then the cool down at the end which ends up being around .30 miles. Unfortunately the pace is including those as well. That’s why my pace is so high normally.

Wednesday: Treadmill Run

Distance: 4.29 Miles

Climbed: 108 feet

Average Pace: 9:45/ Mile

Calories Burned: 365

Elapsed Time: 41:55

Thursday: Body Sculpt Class in the AM

Thursday: Hill Training.

So I have read a few blogs about this half marathon I am running and they all alluded to the hills. Well Kensie and I have not been running hills on our long run so I know that I needed to get started with that.  I found this running group on Meet Up in Waltham and met up with them to run some hills at one of the colleges. I must say that has been one of my most enjoyable runs I have had for awhile! I think for a number of reasons, first off the weather was nice... I think it was probably in the low 40’s and high 30’s last night. It was so nice out that day I had my windows rolled down while driving... 

Also it’s been so long sense I have run a shorter distance outside. Longer distance runs are fun and all, but I have missed the short and sweet runs outside. I been avoiding outside well because, its dark. BUT running on the campus I didn't even really think about it. I was also wearing extremely bright running gear... 

Bright enough? I kind of remind myself of a neon watermelon. 

One other reason I think it was so nice is because the hills were actually pretty easy to maintain. Where I normally run the hills are ridiculously hard because of the angle they are. Seriously they go like straight up, but these hills were big, but a lot longer instead of straight up. I really enjoyed the challenge without being overly tired.  I must say I will be back for this, it was a lot of fun!


Also just the group was just really enjoyable. They were all sorts of levels of runners there and I found myself at least for that run someplace in the middle (they were running a half this weekend so I think some of them were taking it easy....).  Just running with people makes the world of a difference. I don't have many friends that are into running, especially that live around me (aside from Kensie on the weekends) So finding some people in town who like to run was a great experience! :) 

Anyway here were the stats for this run: 

Distance: 3.36 miles

Time: 31. 12

Average Pace: 9:17 Seconds

Calories Burned: 297

Elevation Gain: 255 feet.

Mile 1: 9:27 Min/Mile

Mile 2:  9:16 Min/Mile

Mile 3 9:05 Min/Mile

Mile 4 (.35): 9:23 Min/Mile

Friday Rest! Starbucks, and Happy Hour. 

Have a good weekend! 

The Ugly

The good, the bad, and the ugly.  I will write about them all on this blog, and this weekend was definitely the ugly.  On my birthday I started to feel a little under the weather, Jon had a cold and I was clearly getting it so by this weekend it was attacking my body full on.

The cold that has been going around is strange.  It’s like cough that comes from the lungs but it is a full on sinus infection as well with a little bit it of a fever.  Saturday night my eyes were so watery I could barely stand to keep them open watching the Olympics and went to bed around 11:00 on a Saturday night, for me that’s early.

So this weekend not only was I sick BUT the Olympics Men’s Hockey games were on at 7:00 AM Saturday and Sunday. So what did this all mean for workouts?

I had been debating going to my body sculpt class and missing the end of the game. BUT in reality who was I kidding, it was really not debate at all, was I really going to miss this game for my class, NO. Wow what a game it was. Oshie was unreal with getting what I believe was 4 out of 6 shots in the shoot-out. That does not happen. Well party because it is against the rules in the NHL but seriously that was so awesome to watch him do that.  I of course immediately looked him up after the game and he is a center so there is a very slim chance the Bruins would ever go after him. Center is the one position on the Bruins that we are pretty much set with.  BUT that game was crazy and so much fun to watch.

After watching the game Saturday Jon and I went to the gym together to do some strength training. I got about an hour or so in but it was nowhere near the level our teacher brings us to in class. BUT it was kind of nice creating my own routine and also nice to take it a bit easier do to the fact I wasn't 100%.

On Sunday We woke up early again and watched the mens game. Sunday afternoon I attempted a run. I had 8 miles I was supposed to do Sunday but only did a 5k.  Let me tell you 22 degree weather + a cold + asthma does not = a good time to run.  It was ugly my friends it was ugly

Distance: 3.1 Miles
Time: 33.27
Average Pace: 10:47 min/mi
Calories Burned: 267

Mile 1: 10:18,
Mile 2: 10:58,
Mile 3: 10:54
Mile 4: (.10 miles):  12:17.

I got a pretty picture out of it though….

Seriously that was just embarrassing.  Running with a cold you have to stop a lot to get rid of some body fluids, and I also had to stop to catch my breath a lot. When I got home I felt like I ran 8 miles, and for someone who runs 3 miles a couple days of week, that’s when you know your body is not 100%.  With that being said I actually started to feel better throughout the day and was happy that I did it.  

Like I said it the last post, you have to listen to your body. Sometimes it’s hard to know before you started working out. Sunday I saw people running as I went to the grocery store and got supper jealous and was like you know what? I think I feel good enough to do this today. 8 miles, let’s go. As soon as I started I knew my body was not up for it. That’s okay though. It actually fit in well with my training plan.  Next weekend I was supposed to run a 5K race and no longer runs, so I am just going to switch up the weekends and say that was my 5k race.

Snow= Pain

Yikes. Sunday morning was my long run, and let me tell you, running in the snow HURTS. I feel like running in the snow is very much like running on the beach.  My legs are killing me today! I seriously can't wait for this winter to be over... its funny how much I have grown to hate the winter this year sense starting to run.  I think its that with the combo that this has been one of the worst winters we have had over the past few years.

Anuway this is what the majority of the trail looked like on Sunday...

I love this picture I got of Kensie...

I didn't get a picture of my watch but it was a slow run!

Total Distance: 7.30 miles
Total Time: 1 hour 11 minutes and 48 seconds.
Average Pace: 9:50
Calories Burned: 628

Pace per Mile:
Mile 1: 9:16
Mile 2: 9:26
Mile 3: 9:30
Mile 4: 10:38
Mile 5: 10:10
Mile 6: 9:57
Mile 7: 10:04
Mile 8 (0.29 miles): 9:52