Growing Up

It’s time for my blog to change, grow and become something that I hope will be better than ever. I missed my first blogiversary (remind me next January 5th) but now I’m looking at what amazing things I can add in year two. The main focus for my blog has been and will be my running. But hearing about the miles I run, or the races I tell myself I’m going to do can become repetitive. So I’ve come up with a few ideas on ways to expand my blog….

• Featured bloggers
• Giveaways
• A to Z April Challenge
• Favorite places
• Weekly recipe
• #marchphotoaday (mostly for instagram)

Obviously nothing is set in stone, but I do want to see what else my blog has to offer.

After seeing cute photo’s that Kimi has posted, I decided I had to get in on this fun. So I did a little research and found the photo a day challenge for instagram. I’m excited to try it out for the month of March. I won’t post every photo on here, but you can see them on Twitter. If you’re interested in doing it too, here’s what you’ll need to do.

So now that I have some ideas on making this a better blog, what do you think?  What should I add to my blog??

Platte River Training: Week 9

Week nine and I’m back! This week went so well, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s now down to the final seven weeks. How is race day coming so quickly? My two biggest goals this week were to run without pain, and to create a workout room in my apartment. I started the week with smaller mileage so not to stir up any problems, I also made sure to tape my arch for extra support.

“Don’t worry, I got this.”

The tape worked pretty well. I had a little pain throughout the week, mostly after a long day on my feet, but it didn’t bother my running. I felt confident enough that I’m better (knock on wood) to finally register for St. Malachi. This means there are only two weeks until the first race of 2012!

Monday: 3 Miles

Tuesday: 3 Miles

Wednesday: 4 Miles

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: Sick

Saturday: 3 Miles

Sunday: 11 Miles (Morning: 8, Afternoon: 3)

A pretty low key week until Sunday. I ran with my childhood neighbor, who was nice enough to go at a slower pace for me. However, he’s been in California for a year and a half, so what better time to catch up than while running….I struggled with this run at some points. I’ve been training alone so I’m not used to going back and forth on paces. I’m also not used to talking and running. Needless to say I had to cut it short to just 8 miles. I was determined to hit 11, so I did the last three later in the afternoon, at a 9:10 pace. Where was this pace earlier? And where did it come from? Training is paying off, it just decides when to show up.

So I survived a week with minimal pain, one goal accomplished. Second goal, I transferred part of my living room into a workout room.

Before 

After

Not much, but it’s a start. And unfortunately no treadmill. But I can be a little more productive in my own living room, instead of the gym with everyone around. Plus, I have the perfect spot for my new bag that I won from Jess and Ellie!

Happy Valen-versary!

This past weekend was a pretty fun one. The fact that Valentine’s Day fell on a week day and the hour distance made it a little hard for Darren and I to get together. We also have our anniversary coming up in a week, but someone decided they wanted to go snowboarding in Colorado that weekend (hint: not me) So we celebrated both Valentine’s Day and our anniversary this weekend.

We started Saturday with a trip to the new Greater Cleveland Aquarium. It was super busy, we had to wait an hour in line just to get our tickets. The structure was absolutely amazing and I loved seeing all of the sea creatures. It is definitely a place for those of you who have kids, they will love it.

My favorite

Check out those teeth!

“Can I swim with him?”

After the aquarium we headed to the IX Center for the Cleveland Golf Show. This part of the day was purely for Darren, I still don’t think I understand golf any better than before. But he had fun, and I was content after I found a giant glass of wine to keep me company.

“Look how good I am”

After a long day we headed to Nemo Grille, absolutely amazing. This is defitenly a date night restaurant, and everything on the menu is superb!

Yumm…Salmon

It was a fantastic weekend, tons of fun on our day dates, an amazing dinner and exchange of a few gifts. I’d say I’m pretty lucky

Platte River Training: Week 8

Officially half way through training for Colorado, and unfortunately this week has been the worst week of training. I took a week off to let my arch recover. My schedule actually worked out that I was pretty busy after work, so I wouldn’t feel like a complete waste by not running all week. Thursday was the only day I got some miles in. I attempted the treadmill and ran two miles, I felt pretty good, but didn’t want to push it.

The pain has gotten a lot better and only happens once in a while, but it’s still almost every day. I’m hoping that with limited pain, this week will allow me to get back to a semi normal schedule of training. I just have to be patient and be thankful this is happening now, instead of the week before the race.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: Rest

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday:  2 Miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: Rest

Here’s to a new week of hopefully no pain and many miles!

Platte River Training: Week 7

I can’t believe it’s already week seven, I feel like I just started training and here it is flying by. I started the week with lower mileage because I was pretty tight from Sunday’s 10 miler. I had a massage on Wednesday at Revalations that I found for half off from Groupon. I was pumped to have a whole hour of relaxation, but even though it felt wonderful, I did leave a little disappointed. A majority of the time was focused on my back, and barely on my legs. Even more disappointing, my quads and hamstrings weren’t even touched and they needed the most attention. Major bummer

Friday was the turning point of the week when I woke up with pain in my left arch. I had a few bad days within the past year with arch pain, but this was beyond normal, so I knew I was in trouble. I decided to take off for the rest of the week and let my foot recover. There are still two months until Colorado, so I’m not extremely nervous yet, but I don’t want to be in anymore pain than I already am.

Monday: 3 Miles

Tuesday: Rest Day

Wednesday: Massage

Thursday: 3 Miles

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: Rest Day

I’m a little bummed out this week, 6 miles is definitely on the low end of where I wanted to be.

Regardless I have to focus on the big picture, which is why I was so excited to see this come on Friday!

I may have two months until the first half, but I have eight months until the real test. Every moment of training is crucial, and sometimes you have to be patient.

Training times four

After six weeks of preparation for the Platte River Half, I’m finally to the point in my schedule where I’m training for four half marathons at once. My main focus has been on my Colorado trip, only because this is the first half of the year. But, I’ve been keeping the rest of the races in the back of my mind. Besides, none of them would be possible without any of this preparation. So here are my training schedules for the next three half marathons after Colorado, all of which are a continuation of Platte River training.

Earth Day Half Marathon-April 22nd

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
(April 16)	4 Miles Easy	Rest	3 Miles Easy	4 Miles Easy	Rest	2 Miles Easy	13.1

I’m really excited for this race for two reasons. It’s one week post Colorado, so after running in crazy altitude I should be in excellent shape And it also happens to be on my birthday, my favorite day of the year! I’ve been looking forward to racing on my birthday since summer. To me the perfect way to celebrate my birthday is running 13.1 miles!

Cleveland Half Marathon-May 20th

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
(April 23)	5 Miles Easy	Rest	5 Miles Speed	4 Miles Easy	Rest	10 M	Rest
(April 30)	5 Miles Easy	Rest	5 Miles Tempo	4 Miles Easy	Rest	9 Miles Long	Rest
(May 7)	5 Miles Easy	Rest	6 Miles Tempo	4 Miles Easy	Rest	9 Miles Long	Rest
(May 14)	Rest	3 Miles Easy	3 Miles Easy	4 Miles Easy	Rest	2 Miles Easy	13.1

Just like many local runners I’ll be participating in the Cleveland Half again this year. I’m looking forward to enjoying the race instead of being a giant ball of nerves. Plus I’m running for Team JDRF, supporting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I’m not running this race for me, I’m running it for those affected by Diabetes.

Sunburst Half Marathon-June 2nd

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
(May 21)	4 Miles Easy	Rest	5 Miles Easy	4 Miles Easy	Rest	8 Miles Long	Rest
(May 28)	Rest	3 Miles Easy	4 Miles Easy	Rest	2 Miles Easy	13.1	Rest

My second out of state half and it will be on the beautiful grounds of the University of Notre Dame. Unfortunately the finish has been changed from ending inside the stadium. I still think this will be a good, flat race, and I’m excited to explore South Bend.

Compared to last year, it’s weird to think I’m training for four half marathons at once, all within a few weeks of each other. And even two weeks from now, I’ll be training for a fifth half. Knowing I’ll have a big race every couple of weekends can be a little overwhelming, and possibly tiring, but I know it will just make things go well in October for the full!

Platte River Training: Week 6

I am so pleased with how this week of training went. It was the only  time during traveling that I was able to get all my workouts in. Even better, my legs felt great the entire time. A majority of my week was spent in Dallas, humidity and warmth included, but it was a nice change from the Cleveland “winter.” Unfortunately I didn’t get to run outside. The location of our hotel didn’t allow for a safe route in the heart of downtown. But, the workout room made up for it with a beautiful view of the pool and the skyline of the city.

Downtown Dallas

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 5 Miles

Wednesday: 3 Miles

Thursday: Rest Day

Friday: 4 Miles

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: 10 Miles

This week’s biggest accomplishment? That 10 miler up there. I somehow pulled off PR pace and ran it in 1:33, which would give me a 2:04 half! Despite some ups and downs in the past few weeks, I’m doing better than last year Bring on Colorado!