!

good thing i went running yesterday morning (4 miles, 1% incline, 9:30/mi pace), because i had no idea then that the rest of the day was going to turn into one long happy celebration . . .

for those who are not readers of my regular blog, josh and i are now officially engaged :)

and i am on top of the world. i'm going to hit the gym early this morning (early for me is 7:30, i know that doesn't impress most people, but hey) to work off some of the excess energy. yay!

catchup

friday: 5 miles. i can't even remember how fast i went, but i'm thinking probably pretty slow.

saturday: 3 miles at 10:00/mi pace, because i wanted to be rested for sunday's long run.

sunday: so i missed the group run due to a slight overindulgance in champagne, fume blanc, and beaujolais the night before. i think i probably would have collapsed in a dehydrated heap had i tried to remain stoic and attend the 8 am session, so it's probably good that i bailed. i did, however, run 12 miles on the treadmill in the afternoon. and no, it wasn't all that bad. the first 9 miles were at 10:00/mi pace and the last 3 at 9:30.

total mileage for week: 31. though to me they felt like 31 relatively crappy miles, at least they happened.

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one more week of 35-ish mileage, and then i'm going to start a short 5K training program to work on speed. i'm not sure if there is going to be an actual 5K involved - i may just do a time-trial on the track at the end! but i'm excited to add back more speedwork -- i feel like i've gotten truly slower since the marathon (although josh thinks i'm crazy).

whip me into shape

i think i'm finally back to normal (heh, a relative term)! or i hope so, anyway. a brief update:

wednesday: 6 miles, 57:30
1st at 10:00/mile pace
2nd at 9:13/mile pace
3rd and 4th at 10:00/mile pace
5th at 8:34/mile pace
6th at 10:00/mile pace

i took thursday off, so i'll be running tonight, probably around 5 miles. i can't decide whether it would be better to increase the number of days i run to 6 per week, or whether i would just get frustrated trying to fit them in. probably the latter, because i'm super-consistent with 5, yet i love my rest days.

i can't wait to start a specific 'program' again. for some reason, when it comes to running, i love being told what to do. this doesn't apply to any other area of my life, really. interesting.

ps: i was reading yesterday about the difference between a boring running 'log' and much more interesting running 'blogs.' i hate to admit it, but i think this journal falls somewhere in the first category. this is because my actual blog is seperate, because i started it first and i don't want to bore people who read that (all 3 of them) with running stuff. i have a personality, i swear!! just not really on this site.

a.m.

most of the time, i'm an afternoon/evening kind of runner, with the exception of my long runs, which i am forced to do at 8:00 am on sundays because i like to go with a group. this morning i actually forced myself to do it in the morning - and it wasn't so bad! maybe i'll try this more often - it's 4:57 pm now and it's nice to NOT have that hanging over my head for after work.

the #s:

5 miles total
1st mile - 10:00 pace
2nd - 4th miles - 9:30 pace
5th - 9:00 pace

weekend miles

saturday: 6 miles, 9:30 pace on the treadmill. this was the first run where i've felt good and strong the whole time since the marathon. it was especially fun because runner's world had just come in the mail, and i'm a big enough dork to love running while reading that.

sunday: was it the heat, lingering marathon fatigue, or something else altogether? i don't know the exact reason, but this morning run kind of sucked. well, actually, despite the suckiness, it was a lot of fun -- josh actually came with siobhan (a great running partner i met at the forest sunday runs) and i and he managed to hold it down to our pace. we ran 9 miles (i couldn't handle 12) and it felt harder than it had felt before to run 14. i'm going to have to get used to drinking a lot (of water) and sweating a lot, because summer in durham has never been referred to as mild.

in other news, i've decided i am going to go for the pfitzinger 18-week, 55-max miles per week plan to train for the november marathon (philadelphia)! i don't start until late july, though, so i'll keep my plan of continuing ramp-up mileage and then i'll add in some sort of 5K-focused speedwork until then . . . although i still need to find an appropriate 5K. we'll see . . .

ho hum

wednesday: 3 miles, felt kind of tired. 10, 9:30, and 9-minute paces, except the last .25 was at 10:00 mpm because i wanted to quasi-cool down.

thursday: 4 miles, 40 minutes.

my running has not been great this week. i mean, i've DONE what i've planned, but it hasn't felt so hot. i guess maybe (?) the marathon did take a slight toll on me? i feel oddly out of shape considering that just 2 weeks ago i completed the hardest running challenge of my life.

either today or tomorrow, i'll do a steady 6-miler. sunday, i'm hoping to get out in the forest for 9. i hope i get my stamina back in time!

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argh. the cute nike shorts and top i ordered from roadrunnersports came yesterday, but all were too big. as for the shorts, i learned that apparently small in one brand does not equal small in nike. i am debating over either ordering the extra-smalls or to just cut my losses, send it all back, and shop for the shorts/top in a real-live-running-store where i can try things on. sometimes online shopping can get extremely frustrating.

enough with the 10 minute miles already

ok, so i finally picked up the speed a little bit yesterday.

4 miles:
1st at 10 mpm pace
1.5 miles at 9:30 pace
1.5 miles at 9:00 pace

i could have kept going but again - just ramping up.
it's apparently not a very steep ramp.

today i'm headed for an easy 3 after work. i'm already excited for sunday's long run! i hope the weather will be nice . . .