LB Training Week 1

Last week I began training for the Long Beach half marathon on October 17.  All and all it was a great first week!

Monday was a rest/cross train day, so I did my 6 hip extension exercises that my physical therapist gave me to stretch out my IT band and strengthen my hip adductors.

Tuesday I stopped at the beach on my way home from work to run my 2 miles @ 13:32 pace.  That was a little bit of a challenge and I struggled with holding back and trying to maintain that pace, but it really helped me get a better feeling for paces.  Every time I looked down at my Garmin, I was between 11:03 and 13:36.  I ended up running about a 12:50 pace.

Wednesday was rest/XT, and I did my 6 hip exercises again.

Thursday I ran 2 miles again at 13:32 pace (this was actually Friday's workout, but I switched days).

Friday, since I took the day off from work, I ran my first tempo run (Thursday's workout).  I ran 5 miles, including a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down.  The 3 miles were to be ran at an 11:53 pace, but I ended up running them between 11:48 and 12:40.

Again, I'm learning to FEEL my pace :)  Unfortunately around the last mile, my foot started aching.  I bruised my the outside of my foot bone two weeks ago before I started training so I took a couple days off to let it heal.  Well, I guess my tempo run aggravated it because I couldn't walk without having an extremely sharp shooting pain for the next 3 hours after my run so I just kicked back and relaxed, which I hadn't done in far too long!  It was nice.

Saturday I rested.

Sunday I had 6 miles on the plate, but my foot was not in running condition yet.  But there was no way I was going to let a day of training go to waste.  So I googled the running to cycling ratio and learned that for every mile you run, it's about the equivalent of biking 3.5 miles (of course there are many factors that go into it such as pace and resistance).  So I headed to the gym and rode 21 miles (6*3.5 = 21) in 1:38.  I've never cycled outside of a spinning class before, so I'm pretty pumped I rode 21 miles!  Whoa!!  I can't imagine cyclists who ride hundreds of miles in one sitting!  That's endurance!

So week one was a success.  I didn't miss a workout, and I feel very good about each one.  9 more weeks to go!

On another note, I start my MBA program @ Chapman in a couple of weeks!  This weekend I got my student ID, parking pass, and my books for the semester!  I blocked out my ID number and personal information, but here's my student ID!!!

I'm so pumped!  I LOVE school and I LOVE learning!  I'm so excited about B-School because it's right up my alley...I was a finance and economics double major, and my first two classes are Accounting&Financial Analysis and Economics Analysis.  I can't wait!

Happy Monday!!