Training For My First 10K

From Funny Zombie Quotes

Well, I did it. I picked another race to sign up for so that I have a running goal in sight. I will run in the Pirate and Zombie fest on October 6th in Anchorage. I’m pretty excited. This is the first time I will be running this distance. I have done 5Ks, 5 Milers, and 12Ks previously. This race is 12 weeks away which gives me time to really train for it. After looking around for a training plan I decided to take the trips from livestrong.com and will be running three days a week, cross training three days a week (one of which will be strength) and will have one rest day. I may have trade an additional cross training day for a rest day if I need it. The running part of the plan basically looks like this:

Week	Short Run	Short Run	Long Run
1	25 mins	20 mins	2 miles
2	30 min	35 mins	3 miles
3	30 mins	35 mins	4 miles
4	35 mins	40 mins	4 miles
5	35 mins	40 mins	5 miles
6	30 mins	45 mins	5 miles
7	30 mins	45 mins	6 miles
8	45 mins	30 mins	6 miles
9	45 mins	30 mins	7 miles
10	45 mins	30 mins	4 miles
11	45 mins	30 mins	3 miles
12	45 mins	30 mins	Race Day

I’m looking forward to the training and the race to come.
How well do training plans work for you? Do you stick to them?

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3 Miles + Strength Intervals

So, I’ve been a bit off my running schedule lately and I needed some motivation to get back with it. I started looking at fall races and found a couple of 10K races I may sign up for. I also wanted a running workout to get my butt back out there. I decided to try another interval workout since I really enjoyed the last once. Here is what I came up with.

At the end of mile 3 I also added on 20 crunches and 10 bicycles per side repeated twice, downward dog stretch with 20 cross body high knees (my totally made up name), and a nice pidgin stretch for each side.

Every time I finish a workout like this I feel like I have accomplished so much and I love it.

I followed my workout by trying this Crookneck Squash Frittata recipe from Alton Brown. Mmm, I’m feeling back on track.

Piecing it Together & Sweating it Out

Okay people, I have a confession. I TRY really hard to be organized and on top of it but sometimes I fail and my unorganized, tripping over my own feet, true self comes out. Earlier this week I totally had one of those days. I did manage to get out of the house on time with most of the essentials for an after work run (shirt, shorts, sports bra, sock and shoes) which is a miracle that does not always happen, but I managed to forget my arm band, headphones, headband and hair tie. On some days this would be enough to derail me but I stuck it out, pieced it together and ended up with a solid sweaty workout that I thought I’d share.

First of all I had this mishmash of hair accessories in my purse so yay!

And, I turns out I had a spare pair of ear buds in the car! Sweet! So I decided to shove my phone in my bra and get out there for a run and break it up with some strength training interval moves every mile. I ended up doing a little over three miles which meant four interval breaks. I basically took the Runner’s World 7 minute strength training warm up plan and interspersed it for most of the interval breaks. It ended up looking like this:

	Reverse Lunge	Single-Leg Hops	Single Leg Reach	Plank with Alternating Leg Lift	Y Squat
Start	12 per side	5 per side	12 per side	5 per side	12
Mile 1	12 per side		12 per side	5 per side	12
Mile 2	12 per side		12 per side	5 per side	12
	Crunches	Bicycles	Plank with Alternating Leg Lifts	Downward Dog with Alternating Leg Crunch	Pigeon Pose
Mile 3	30	20 per side	5 per side	10 per side	1 per side

You probably noticed that I skipped out on the single-leg hops at miles one and two. That was for two reasons. First, I kind of hate them and secondly the ankle I previously hurt didn’t feel strong while doing the first set and I didn’t want to skip out on the rest of my workout because of it. I also choose to mix up the interval at mile 3 with a focus on core and stretching. Man, pigeon at the end of a run always feels amazing!

Also, since I was such a mess when I went to do this I wrote myself a cheat sheet on my hand… I know, very Junior High of me. Oh, well it got the job done.

I felt sweaty and tired at the end of my workout but surprisingly good the next morning. I’ll have to try this again.