My New Site is Up and Active!

Good evening!

First off I would like to tell you how much I have truly enjoyed writing this blog and sharing my trials and tribulations as I continue my journey towards a healthy and happy life. Now don't get worried I am not quitting this whole blogging thing. I am just moving!

Now to the second thing I want to tell you. My new blog site is up and ready to go, which means I will no longer be writing here at The Life and Tales of a Runner. My new blog site is called Runner's Tales and if you click on the name you will be taken to the new site.

I really hope that you will find your way over to my new site and will continue reading my blog!

Thanks,
Rachel

Final Race Email from Disney!

Friday – Strength Training

• Kettlebells – Sculpt & Condition Workout (40 minutes)

Before I get to the super exciting news of the day, let me tell you how the rest of my day went. After such an exhausting and amazing run last night, I decided that sleeping in would be better than waking up early and trying to get my workout done before work. I also didn’t want to spend the day being upset with myself for not doing my workout before work. Work today was the same as it has been all week, sort of slow and relaxed. I still have two weeks before my next deadline so I am not having to kill myself at the office.

When I got home, my sister was still working on dinner and indicated she didn’t need any help. I decided that there was no time like the present to workout, I changed into my workout clothes and popped in my kettlebell DVD. After today’s workout, I can honestly say that I am really comfortable with the basic kettlebell exercises. I am completely thrilled by that fact because next week I start working with the Volume 2 DVD. I am a little nervous but mostly very excited. I can’t believe how much I have progressed in the last three weeks.

Now for the good stuff! As I got ready to leave work today, I got an email from Disney. It is the last one before the the race. That is right people! There is only five weeks left before my very first half marathon. I am ridiculously nervous about this event but also super excited. This race email included information about race numbers, waivers, and final race instructions. On the waiver form next to my race number was the shirt size I ordered. I didn’t realize that I would have lost so much weight since I registered and my shirt is going to huge. I quickly sent and email to Disney asking to change my shirt size. Hopefully everything will work out!

It is never too late to be great …

Thursday – 6 miles

• 6.03 miles, 1:03’ 57” minutes, 10’ 36” min/mile average pace,

So my plan didn’t work very well this morning. I had every intention of waking up early and doing my 6 mile run before work. The early mornings have actually been really nice outside … another sign that fall is on the way. I think that because my work had slowed down my body has gone into some sort of hibernation mode. Every morning it feels like my body is trying to get me to stay sleeping. One of these days I will win the war of waking up exactly when I want to.

Work today was pretty uneventful and I had plenty of time to stress about my 6 mile run. Because I didn’t wake up early enough to do it before work, I knew that one of two things was going to happen. If I got home early enough, I would be able to run during the sunset/twilight hours. This option also depended on how hungry I was when I got home and if my sister already had dinner ready.

My other option was the treadmill and not starting my run until after 9:30. The thought of running 6 miles on the treadmill made me very nervous because I barely finish 5miles before the machine forces me to start cooling down. I knew that I could adjust the belt pace during the cool down but then I wouldn’t have any type of cool down. I was also going to have to increase the belt pace to make it all possible. Needless to say I really wanted to run outside.

Unfortunately my hopes of running outside were quickly dashed. I left work later than I wanted and I had to get gas and stop at the grocery store on my way home. By the time I got home, my sister was already working on dinner. So with that, I decided my run was going to be on the treadmill. I really don’t mind running on the treadmill as long as the distance is 5 miles or less. Knowing I had a 6 mile run scheduled and that it was going to be on the treadmill absolutely stressed me out. Rather than enjoying my dinner, I spent the entire time trying to figure out what my pace was going to be so that I completed the distance and didn’t kill myself.

Around 9:30, I was ready for my run and headed over to the treadmill. My training program had today’s run scheduled as a 6 mile interval run. I decided that I would listen to my body and push myself as much as possible to complete the distance in less than 65 minutes. I started off at a pace faster than usual and was able to maintain it for the first mile without over exerting myself. I increased the pace in an effort to make sure that I would finish in time.

After the second mile, I started the intervals. My program had 5x3 minute intervals scheduled for today. The treadmill only does intervals in multiples of 2 minutes. I chose to do to 5x2 minute intervals with 2 minutes of easy running in between. I really pushed myself with my tempo effort tonight. I was running at a pace that I have never attempted before. I was thrilled that I managed to push myself that much.

After the intervals, I had run right about 2 more miles. I finished my run at the same pace I started. Before I hit the 6 mile mark, the treadmill tried to get me to cool down. I forced the pace to stay where it was. When my iPod didn’t start the 400 meter countdown one minute into the cool down, I started to get really worried. But there was no need for me to worry because the countdown started and I actually finished the 6 miles with a minute to spare! I was completely thrilled and really exhausted all at once!

Stop and smell the flowers …

Wednesday – Strength Training

• Kettlebells – 2X Fat Blast Workout (24 minutes)

I am so glad that work is finally slowing down again. Don’t get me wrong though. I really do enjoy my job but I wish the workflow was smoother. It just seems that my workload goes through periods of crazy intensity and calm. While I absolutely enjoy the periods of calm mostly because it allows to catch up on everything it would be really nice to have a consistent level of work. This relaxed period at work has allowed me to refocus on my life outside of work. I cooked a delicious recipe last night that I enjoyed for lunch today and will posting on Sunday with step-by-step pictures. I am also working on a revamped blog site, which I am hoping to roll out this weekend or early next week.

I woke up this morning to do my workout before work. What an empowering feeling it is to actually set a goal and achieve it! I want to always get my workouts done before work because I love how alive I feel. That feeling usually lasts me all day. I also love having my evenings available to get more stuff done. Today marks two days in a row that I have woken up early enough to workout before work. The real test will be tomorrow. I have a 6 mile run scheduled and I really want to knock it out before work. I also really want to run outside.

Back to my regularly scheduled program!

Tuesday - 5 miles + Strength Training

• 5.51 miles, 59' 55" minutes, 10' 53" min/mile average pace, 146 BPM average heart rate
• Kettlebells - Sculpt & Condition Workout (40 minutes)

Yesterday, I decide to ajust my training schedule in response to how my body felt after a rather intense weekend of running. I didn't want to injure myself because I pushed too hard. I really have a tendency to do that sometimes. When I got up this morning, my legs still felt a little worked over but MUCH better than yesterday so I decided to go ahead and so my kettlebell workout before work. It felt great to do some physical activity again. I know it was only a day but it felt like an eternity.

I would have preferred to do my 5 mile run before my kettlebell workout but I didn't wake up early enough. I figured that sitting at my desk for 8 hours would be plenty of time between workouts. I ended up way more than 8 hours though. When I left work, a huge thunderstorm came rolling through and my hopes of running outside tonight were thwarted. I love Florida weather ... but only when it doesn't interfere with my runs! Its ok though because I can always run on the treadmill. My sister had dinner ready when I got home so I didn't get to run until 10:30.

Today's run was scheduled as an easy 5 mile run. So when I climbed on the treadmill, that is exactly what I did. I started with a super easy warm up pace for five minutes. After that, I bumped it up to en easy pace for the rest of the time. At the beginning of the run, I could definitely tell that my legs were still protesting from the weekend. After 10 minutes of running, I fell into stride and my legs followed suit. No more screaming and protesting. Just the gentle rhythm of my breathing and foot falls.