I will try to keep this short and sweet because life feels like a treadmill set just a hair too fast and I’m struggling to keep up! I really can’t complain since I am really truly blessed with the things that keep my life so full but I could use a vacation day from work every now and then just to play catch up!
Monday – I had a little bit of achilles tendonitis after those nice big hills at the end of the Princess Half and I think I earned a little bit of rest so I took the night off. I actually planned to go to Kazaxe (a great class at my gym if you aren’t a long time reader) but knew I needed to give my achilles tendons the night off.
Tuesday – Eased back in with a Hip Hop Cardio class at my gym. Nothing dramatic. Felt good and I was glad to be back at it and sweating again.
Wednesday – Planned a very relaxed 3.1 but was full of energy. My pace felt easy to start but took a bit more effort towards the end. 8:21 average pace. I decided I am sick and tired of always having to wear running capris (TMI but my thighs always chafe if I go with shorts or a running skirt) so I am committed to opening up a whole new world of fitness fashion to myself. I will figure out a way (I’m hoping that eventually converting fat to muscle will help someday but, until then, I’ll have to resort to other means). With the help of some Vaseline, I managed to complete this run in this lovely outfit:
Look at those bare legs!
Thursday – Ran a nice relaxed 8:25 average pace at my weekly group run. We ended up tacking on an extra mile to make this a 5 miler.
Friday – I was having some glute and hamstring soreness on my right side on Wednesday and especially Thursday so I had originally planned to take Friday off. I woke up feeling better though and couldn’t resist throwing my running stuff in my bag. I ran 3.1 truly easy miles in my mom’s neighborhood at 9:04 pace.
Saturday – Off. We had a fun day at Magic Kingdom since my mom’s friend was in town. I’m sure I got quite a few hundred walking miles in.
Sunday – It was super cold out but that’s not excuse to miss a long run. I think it was somewhere in the 40 degree neighborhood when I started out and I froze at first. I decided not to wear my arm warmers figuring I would warm up. I guess I did eventually. I actually had a great 11 mile run at an average pace of 8:54. This is definitely my fastest long run to date so I am encouraged that I should be able to bring my half time down if I work hard for the next 8 weeks or so.
Tonight – Back to Kazaxe tonight plus I tacked on an easy 2 miles on the treadmill immediately after class at 9:05 pace.
In Other News:
I am so excited that there will be a Marathon and Half Marathon in Celebration, Florida in 2014! Although I think it’s going to be tough for there to be any sort of large crowds on our little streets, I am excited to see what this event will be about. The Town of Celebration Marathon and Half Marathon will take place on 1/26/14 and costs just $50 for the half if you register early. Registration opens on 5/1 and you can count me in!
ALSO, I am excited to really buckling down in preparation for the Nike Women’s Half DC at the end of April. I stay in Half Marathon shape pretty much year round but I am currently working on identifying a training plan to kick things up a notch. I will keep you all posted as I figure things out. I plan to really work hard but I am so excited to see what I can achieve!
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Do you stay in race shape year round? Prepare for specific races? Both?
Why Hello Dolly! 
Cute skirt! I used to stay in “half marathon” shape, but overtraining injuries led me to have to scale back running. I started CrossFit, which I found did some great things for running in terms of strength, but concentrating on that over distance running killed my endurance. On the other hand, it seems to have put my injuries to rest. I’m currently working on getting back to race shape – taking it very slowly.
Thank you Jen! Injuries have ended many a fine endurance running training plan unfortunately. I’m glad to hear that you have found an alternative that you enjoy. I would like to try Crossfit at some point. It seems like a great strength builder! Thank you for reading!