My first tempo run

Last night was an awful night for a run but look at me now.

Tonight was suppose to be a nice easy run. I met up with Amy, Troy and RC and we ran the course route for Saturday's mission run. I went out with Troy and told him that I was going to take it easy at a 11 pace.

NOT!!!!!!!

It was feeling soooo goooood when I was out there and forgetting about last night. I was in the grove and decided to see what I might be able to see what I could do the course in. That was fun!

Negative splits

This is how all my runs should look like with the negative splits. I really tried to do this today while I kept looking at my watch to perfect this. My HR average was 139. I could not believe how easy it was this morning. It felt really great just to be out on the loop again.

Have a great week.

D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E + AWESOME RC = New PR

Yesterday I ran the Strawberry Festival 5K in Reynolds GA. I was kind of not sure if I would race or not. Well it was supper time and we wanted Chinese food for supper. I went to our local restaurant and we sat down for supper. I opened my fortune cookie and it said that you will be granted a special reward. So then I told myself that I have to go now. LOL

I normally try and get to the runs about 1 hour before the race and warm up and stretch but I did not get a chance today. I got there and signed up and went out for a short warm up lap with Amy. The weather was great in the low 50's with low humidity. I ate some peanut butter with wheat bread and now I am feeling great. I am ready to run.

I lined up, turned on my MP3 player and reset my watch. I had already planned to go out slow and watch everyone just run off and leave me. I always go out to fast and pay for it in the end. It was killing me to see everyone leave me. But I was not going to break this cause that is one of the things that RC has told me. Boom the race is on and we are off and running.

Mile 1: 9:02
Mile 2: 8:58
Mile 3: 8:58
Mile .1 : 8:56 pace

With this time, I now have a new PR of 27:08. I think the official clock said 27:06 but I am not sure. When I was approaching the end of the race, I looked up and saw the clock when it said 26:20 and I told myself to hold the pace and just get a PR. I thought for a second that I might break 27 but I told myself that if I did that then I would not have something to look for next time. I was pumping my fists cause I knew I was getting a PR today. I have not beat my time in 2 years.

I crossed the line and was awarded a new PR. I felt great. I was on cloud nine. Then I found out I was 5th in my age group. Man I thought for sure I would place in my age group but not today. I would just have to settle for a new PR. LOL. I am sorry I can't believe I just said that.

Once again I would like to say thank you to RC for his knowledge and support.

My new marathon pace

I went out last night to the track and tried a new schedule. RC showed up and told me to try my marathon pace on my 30 min run and see if I could keep my HR at 153. Well I thought it would be like running a 5K so I decided to give it a shot.





30 minutes running = 2.99 miles = 150 average HR





My goal for the run was to keep a 10:07 with an average HR of 153. I nailed it and did a little better. I was feeling good last night. I was surprised because the night before I did my long run. I used to have to take a day or two off to recover but not now. The training is paying off. Consistency really works.


When I got through, I was told that each week to extend the run by 5 minutes or so and before I knew it, I would be holding this pace for a marathon. WOW, I never really looked at it like that. I think it is all coming into perspective now. It does not happen overnight but it will eventually happen.

I now that the charts don't reflect super human speed for some people but it is a major improvement for me.

Have a great day.

Gator-Go 5K

Saturday was my first 5K run since around Christmas time. I got into the habit of training for long runs like marathons and not trying to get any faster. Now that has all changed. This race doesn't show a big change in my abilities but I did not walk any during this race. There were alot of hills and some cross-country trails also.

I tried to think before the race of what time I was shooting for and I thought I was going to get somewhere in the 29's. Well I missed it be a little bit with a time of 30:29.

My RC showed up before the race and talked with me about thinking about my split times, running 2 miles for a warm up with 30 sec sprints put in with it and then lots of stretching. I have never ran 2 miles before racing 3.1 miles. I did not know what to think about that but looking back, it helped me to keep my HR up and not crash.

I am possibly running another 5K this weekend that will be somewhat flatter so that I will get a better view of how my training is progressing. Also I hope that I will not have anymore problems that will keep me from running.

More to come later. Have a great day.

Time to get back on track

First before I get started I would like to give a big shout out to a great friend of mine that completed a big task. Stef a.k.a. The Princess Runner completed her first triathlon this weekend. That is something that I have always wanted to do but have not attempted. Stef did and came away victorious. Congratulations to her for her accomplishment.

Myself, well I have not had a good week. I got word that my Uncle in Alabama died after receiving a bone marrow transplant and getting some kind of virus that the doctors could not beat. My family and I have been back and forth to Alabama and working on funeral preparation and paperwork. It put a toll on us and I am glad it is over for now.

Running is FUN again!

Tonight was a fun day of running. I brought back so many memories of why I got into running. It is FUN. I can see in just one week a small improvement in my HR staying down at the same pace. This is fun.

While I was running my 30 minutes tonight, I set my goal in 30 minutes to run at a 10:55 pace. I upped the pace 5 seconds to just push myself a little more because I find it harder to run slower and I want to see an improvement. Well the charts say it all. I AM IMPROVING. I LOVE IT.

My RC was at the track tonight and it was like seeing the principal in the hallway in school. He was watching to see how things were going. I found out tonight I need to learn how to keep my big mouth shut. As I would come around the corners, I would tell RC how my HR was staying in the low 140's at a 10:53 pace. Well when it was over tonight he informed me that I need to work on keeping the HR in the low 150's. Well now my goal pace is 10:45.

NO MORE 11's. I have seen improvement and I am setting my Level 1 base. C-O-N-S-I-S-T-E-N-C-Y is the key word to my gains. Not missing more than 1 day in a row and running at least 5 days a week with one long day of 6o minutes. My food intake has changed also to eating 5-6 small meals a day and that helps in my goal pace of running.

I have my first 5K this Saturday and I plan on running negative splits for the first time. It will be interesting. Normally I would normally go out and just run. Now it is about listening to my HR and my body. Getting my HR in control will make my times fall down.

Have a great day and keep running.