Today

Today I ate over half of a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Today I got turned down for a grant to fund a project I wanted so badly to work on, which led to the eating of the cake. Today I felt sorry for myself, which led to the eating of more cake. Today I ate nothing but cake yellow with dark chocolate frosting. Today I felt ashamed of eating that much cake in one day and for not following my plan for becoming a better runner. Today I thought about all the things I have declared to do in my fitness goals and have fallen through because I didn't put the effort forward.
But today I did something amazing. Today I joined a team to run the Ragnar Relay from Miami Beach to Key West Florida. Today I joined 11 of people who I owe my best to. Today I threw away the rest of the cake I had eaten so much of. Today I vowed to give up processed sugar till thanksgiving where I will have pie and then continue to not eat processed sugar. Today I became the 8th slot runner meaning I will run leg 8 which is 7.9 miles, then leg 20 which is 6.2 miles, then finish with leg 32 which is 1.8 miles for a total of 15.9 miles in 2 days sleeping in a van and having a great time and crossing the finish line as a team. Today I agreed to a training program that starts next week. Today I became awesome!

Week 1 & Week 2 Recap

Week 1 Monday: Yoga videos...I was trying supliment in any way I could being in a place where I had no access to a gym or a set of weights.

Week 1 Tuesday: 3 miles run broken down into Run mile 1, run walk 1/4 miles for mile 2, run 3/4 walk 1/4 for mile 3. It wasn't to bad but I ran at 12:00 and even in California it is hot.

Week 1 Wednesday: Cross train. I did a 30 min walk down the beach. It is so pretty there I got in as much beach time as I could during the last week.

Week 1 Thursday: 3 mile run broken down into Run 1.25 miles, 1/4 mile walk, 1/4 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2 mile run 1/2 mile walk. Again at 12:00 it was hot and the sun was intense the only saving grace was that there was a breeze.

Week 1 Friday: 30 mins of cross train...I spent 30 mins walking on the beach, it was my last chance to see the Pacific ocean so I took my cross training there.

Week 1 Saturday: Travel day! I flew back to St. Louis on this day so there was no working out involved.

Week 1 Sunday: 4 mile run...We did 4 miles but not in a run. The temperature was 105 degrees and 110% humidity...which meant we did a combination of times walks and run for the first 2 miles, and then walked the second 2 miles. I chose to get the distance in even if I couldn't run.  

Week 2 Monday: Stretch & Strengthen...Was replaced with lap swimming in the pool...when you have a pool I say use it. It's a great full body workout. 

Week 2 Tuesday: 3 mile run. I had a procedure the morning of this day which kept me from being able to run, however it didn't keep me out of the pool so I did lap swimming in place of running on this day.

Week 2 Wednesday: Cross...YOGA! I was at home this week and I have a yoga class that I really love to take so I used my cross training day as an hour and fifteen minute yoga class.

Week 2 Thursday: 3 mile run. Was a 1 mile run and a 1 mile walk with 1 mile missing. I got up at 8:00am to run and it was already 100 degrees outside. I decided after mile 2 it was not worth risking passing out to get the last mile in, so I hoped in the pool and swam a few laps.

Week 2 Friday: I took my rest day

Week 2 Saturday: Party Prep and 5K race day...No cross training

Week 2 Sunday: 4 mile run. Yesterday we ran the Trails for Tails 5K down on the Katy Trail to raise money for 5 acres animal shelter and to honor a friend who passed away earlier in the summer. So the Race and extra mile went like this...1 mile run, 2-3-4 miles 1/4 mile walk 1/4 mile run.

So after the 2 weeks I am getting more time under my belt and spending more time running than walking...that's the goal. The goal for this half marathon is to finish in under 3 hours and to decide if I like training for this distance.

-Felicia

Week 1 Day 1

 

All right so today started day 1 of half marathon training, though not a running day still an important day. So today was Stretch & Strengthen seeing as I am still in California and haven't set up a way to these non running workouts I chose to find a couple of good yoga videos. I am not a huge fan of yoga videos I would much rather be in a yoga studio with a teacher telling me what to do, demonstrating, and walking around giving me pointers on how to be better or if I am doing it wrong, but we work with what we've got.

The first video was a power yoga video about 11:00 of work and focused on balance and core strength which is something I need to work on.
Power Yoga Workout to stretch and strengthen-Fullbody workout-class fitsugar. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EkjlkYVzpA

Vinyasa Flow Workout-Yoga Workout-class sugarfit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvN_KRcweL0

If you copy and past the links you can check out the work outs! I will most likely be doing these 2 videos for the next three weeks, maybe I'll add one more to make a half hour workout, but until I get settled in NYC and find a yoga studio I can afford once a week here we are.

Happy Monday everyone!!!

-Felicia

Training Proogram Selected

As the title says I have selected a training program. I have decided to go with the Hal Higdon Novice 1 training program. I looked at a bunch of options and decided that this one fit into my everyday life and was the most flexible when it came to having to move runs around. Because I work freelance sometimes my long runs need to be on Fridays and sometimes they need to be on Saturdays and this program allows me to move long runs around between Friday, Saturday, and Sunday due to the fact that scheduled Friday is a rest day, Saturday is cross training, and Sunday is long run.

This week we are in right now my long run will be tomorrow Saturday and I am hoping to hit the 2 mile mark so that when I start in on the Higdon training I am right up to mileage. Next week my long run will be on Friday because on Saturday morning I will be driving to LosAngeles to see the Chinese Theater as well as the walk of Fame and then flying back to Missouri.

Ok so I have included the plan I will be following as well as the link to the Hal Higdon website because he has a bunch of training programs for all different distances.
http://www.halhigdon.com/ 

 Have a great weekend everyone!

-Felicia

Welp here goes nothing

All right so this blog is back in action! This afternoon I did a crazy thing and set a goal for my end of year race. I may not meet all of my 14 in 14 races this year but I will run my first half marathon! That is right you heard me correctly I have officially registered for my first half! So what that means is that this blog has just become my outlet of all things good, bad, and other wise about training for this half.
About my new adventure... I will be running the NYCRUNS Running Festival of Lights on November 23 in Sore Road Park Pier in Brooklyn, NY.

 

Th rest of this post for the most part is going to be clips from the website about the race.

The route claims to be fairly flat the only downside I see to it is that it is a double loop which means you are looking at the same scenery for the whole time...something I usually try not to do so that I don't get bored with what's around me and start focusing on the fact that my left leg hurts or my right side aches a little or my left foot fell asleep a mile back...but I will start early incorporating this into the training plan. 

Alright well there you have it the details of my first half marathon. Training will start for real at the top of next week. This week I will find a training plan I like and I will try to increase my short run to 2miles. 

-Felicia

Week 4

Wekk 4 went great the weather was perfect and it just felt good. It left me feeling happy and confident that I could do this. I finished stations 6 and 7 of We Get LOST in Running during week 4. I am very close to finishing the We Get Lost in Running Series which means I am going to need some more virtual runs/races to enter. Virtual races for me are like setting goals. Though there is no one else there to run with me it is my way of setting a distance goal and a training period to meet said goal. i have also found that in my line of work doing big races in person is almost impossible because I very rarely know where I am going to be for an extended period of time.

I started week 5 today and will be starting it again on Wednesday. It didn't go well so I am going to try Week 5 Day 1 all over again. I had to walk the last running section because I was feeling over heated and like a hunk of metal instead of a person. But this will not get me down I am determined to finish Couch to 5k before I leave California for the summer!

Well time to shower and head to the beach! I hope everyone has a lovely Monday.

-Felicia

Only Time Will Tell

I have been away for a while I know the third year of graduate school was killer! But it is over and I can happily say that I now have 2 MFA degrees one in lighting design and one in scenic design! However I can also say that I am not the 9 mile runner I was before year three started, which is a little sad but sometimes you have to postpone one goal to reach another. Now that graduate school is over I am on to my next grand adventure and right now that means living in California.

Let me tell you if you have not ran in a long time California is the place to start over! The weather is always amazing you don't have to deal with those 100 degree days or the fact that it has rained 12 days in a row. I have been here since the middle of May and can tell you it has not rained one time since I have been here and that it has been 65-70 degree and sunny every day! (I am getting spoiled) I have decided to start over from my beginning which was the couch to 5k app back in 2011. I chose this path to start over because it worked so well for me the first time. Couch to 5k for me was an easy increase in time and distance that led me to being a 9 mile runner.

My goal for the summer is to finish the couch to 5k program as well as to get a  full running 5k back under my belt. Right now I just finished Week 3 Day 3 of an 8 week program so I am well on my way. My next goal following the running a full 5k is to get said 5k under 40:00 this is something I want to do more than I can explain.

I will say life is tough right now I live in a three hour time difference from all of my family and my other half which means talking to people is almost impossible on a regular basis. I also have found that the only time I really find me is when I am running all the rest the time I am worrying about how my relationships are holding up in this weird time warp I feel like I live in.

I don't think I will be an every day blogger again for a while but I will try and post at least once a week about my runs and the cool things I get to do in California!

-Felicia