Half Marathon Update - Week 5 & Raffle WINNER!!

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Since beginning half marathon training 5 weeks ago I often find myself really looking forward to my weekend group runs.  It's a time to learn new things and sometimes meet new people.  This week was no exception.  Except that it was a little bit different because my Sunday (group run day) began at 3 am.  I'd volunteered to go to Chicago to help put flyers on cars on the marathon course.  Unfortunately, I woke up no less than a zillion times throughout the night to check to make sure that I hadn't missed my alarm.  I hadn't and would go back to sleep but given the number of times I woke up clearly I did not have a very restful night.  Anyway ... I think I was so worried about getting to Chicago on time that I'd completely forgotten about thinking about the run.  Once we started running I realized that this was going to be a VERY long run.  It sucked.  I completed the five miles as planned but it was slow because I ended up walking part of the route.  This was completely mentally defeating and even while it was happening I hated myself for it.  On my way home from training and throughout the day I kept wondering what I'd do tomorrow (aka today) - take a rest day, run or bike?  I finally decided to run and since the training schedule had another 5 miles on tap I decided to knock it out.  It went spectacularly, probably because I actually mentally prepared myself for this run.  When things got a little hard out there I just kept thinking how cool it'd be to text my coach after and tell her I ran all 5 miles with no walking and no stopping.  For the record - sending that text was as awesome as I'd thought it would be!

Let's talk about the rest of the training week:

Here's what I was supposed to do:

Monday: Run 4 miles

Tuesday: Crosstrain or speed

Wednesday: Run 4 miles, medium effort

Thursday: Strength

Friday: Run 30 minutes, easy

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Run 5 miles

Here's what I actually did:

Monday: Run 4 miles

Tuesday: Bike 13.46 miles

Wednesday: Run (5K to 10K Week 8, Day 1) 5.93 miles

Thursday: Bike 4.36 miles, strength train

Friday: Run 30 minutes

Saturday: Bike 10.29 miles (Failed at the rest day)

Sunday: Run/Walk 5 miles

Ok ... enough about training.  Let's announce the winner of the SPIBelt Raffle!  Thank you everyone for donating/entering my little giveaway.  I'm thrilled that I've now raised more than $2000 for CCFA and your contributions are so much appreciated!  The winner, as chosen by a random number generator, is

 <insert drum roll please>

PAM C!!

Again, thank you so much for participating.  I have another raffle to put up in a little bit so stay tuned because if you already donated you're already registered for that giveaway too!

Half Marathon Training - Week 4 and a RAFFLE!!

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This week I was coming off my shiny new PR high from the Bucktown 5K.  Being able to run that fast for 3.1 miles made me realize that all the training is paying off and that I really need to complete all the required training elements every single week because on December 2nd I'm going to need every single ounce of that training to work in my favor.  So, here's what coach wanted me to do this week:

Monday: 3 miles
Tuesday: Cross Train or Speed
Wednesday: 3 miles, start easy build to fast finish
Thursday: Strength
Friday: Easy 30 minutes
Saturday: 5 miles, start slow last 3 fast
Sunday: Rest

Here's what I actually did:

Monday: Bike 9.31 miles/42 minutes
Tuesday: Run 5.88 miles (W7D3 of the 5K - 10K program I've been doing)
Wednesday: Bike 11.91 miles/56 minutes
Thursday: Speed (10 minutes slow, 20 minutes fast, 10 minutes slow) & Strength train
Friday: Off (I thought I'd be running on Sunday so I took an early rest day)
Saturday: 5 miles with the TC Group
Sunday: Bike 12.4 miles/54:13

Overall I feel really solid about the training I did and feel like I'm making good progress.  The run on Saturday with my TC teammates did not go exactly as planned.  I'd intended to run an 11:00/mile but the first two were in the 10:XX range.  I struggled to hang onto that pace so the last 3 miles were slower, especially the last one because I ended up walking about a quarter mile.  I was disappointed with this but I was talking to Coach Bill who gave me some advice about speed training (it's necessary even though it sucks) and I really appreciated that.

Photo by SPIBelt (because I couldn't make it look this good)

Now for the fun part!  The fabulous folks at SPIBelt have donated one of their very fabulous belts to help me raise money for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation!  I got my SPIBelt for Christmas last year and have LOVED having it.  I've used it while walking, running, biking and hiking.  Pretty much anytime I'm going out alone I have that handy little belt with me.  At first I thought that it wouldn't be big enough to hold both my phone and my house key/cash/ID etc.. but I've been able to store my iPhone, a full size CLIF bar, car/house key, ID & Cash with no problem.  Even with all of that in there the belt stayed securely on my waist and didn't bounce at all!  These things are AMAZING!

In order to be entered for the raffle you just have to do one thing!  For every $5 donated to Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (using that URL) you get an entry to the raffle.  Please share this with everyone you know so we can share the SPIBelt love and raise a lot of money for CCFA!  The contest is open now through next Monday, October 1, 2012 at which point I'll pick (using a random number generator) & will post the winner with next week's training update.

Edited to add:  I have a few more raffles to do and once you've donated you're entered in all of 'em!  So donate now!!

Good luck everyone!