Sunday, August 5, 2007

Marathon Woman is Human

This week I had to face the fact that I am not invincible. I thought my only problem was speed but this week I had the challenge of a sprained ankle (from a fall at tennis due to forgetting to wear tennis shoes). After a visit to my sports medicine physician I accepted her recommendation that I not run for one week and do various types of rehab therapy. So like I told Coach John, after waiting 25 years to start working on racing again, I guess I can wait one more week. But the amazing thing is that I found that I could swim. Ive tried many times in the past but never was able to coordinate my head in the water with breathing. This week I just did it and it felt like I knew how to swim. So Ill work on that and next year will plan to do the Danskin Triathlon. I also biked 2 hours with Joan today, so even though Im not running Im certainly not slacking.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Interval Training

Today Karen and I joined our Galloway Group for a one mile miracle mile and then a supposedly 6 miles run. When we measured the 6 mile run it was really a 5 mile run. So we went from speedy 10-11 min miles to 12-13 miles in seconds. However, it was a good run as we did intervals (ran fast for 2 mins, HR 160, and then walked 1 minute). I think this is what I have to do to get faster and get used to the heavy breathing that comes with running faster.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Marathon Woman

As many of you know, earlier this summer I began to train for a marathon. Having completed several half marathons over the last few years I thought it was time to give myself a bigger challenge. Along with my friend Karen, I enrolled in a Galloway Run/Walk Marathon Training Program in Mequon, Wisconsin.

To date the longest run we've completed was 19 miles along the lakefront. The run/walk format makes it fairly easy to go the distance with almost no soreness the next day. The only downside is that I am slow (almost walking pace slow-14 mins/mile for the long distances, 11 min/mile for shorter distances). Im hoping that now that my endurance is where I need to be, my pace will pick up. At this point the runs will be shorter (10-12 miles for the weekly long run) until it gets closer to February, so I can work on pace.

The marathon I've chosen to participate in is the Galloway Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, Florida on February 17, 2008. I would love for any friends and family to join me either as a participant (there's still plenty of time to train) or a supporter who just comes along for the fun.

Ill keep you posted on my runs and progress.