Trying to Get Back to Respectable

I have a feeling this will be a good year. 

Here are my goals for the year:
1.) Need to lose weight.  Need to be 146 lbs. (Optimal Race Weight)
2.) Run 3 Half Marathon's and 4 5k's.
3.) PR in a Half Marathon. (Shooting for a 1:30 in at least one of them)
4.) Stretch every day.
5.) Run 1000 Miles over the course of the year.
6.) Stay injury free.
7.) Blog runs more frequently
8.) Have one week of 60 miles running

All of this seems absolutely reasonable but may be a little bit of a stretch.
 

Boy was it cold out there.  The car said 4 degrees and the bank said 9.  Either way, it was very cold outside.  I ran the 5.5 miles in about 8:32 pace which was pretty good considering the roads were slippery and covered in packed snow.  I kept my pace pretty much around 8:20 for most of the run but the first mile was about an 8:53 which makes it hard to get to regular pace.  I am very pleased with the run, don't get me wrong, it was a fantastic run.  I fully understand, I need to get my nutrition under control.  If I don't get it under control, I won't get to a great race weight.  I see what I need to do and once I get back on a normal schedule, I will be back to better nutrition.  I am trying to get the nutrition to a decent degree while I am on paternity leave, but things are comfortable enough now, and I don't want to upset the apple cart too much. 

Not to bad of a start to 2014.  I think we are on the right path, I need to stretch a little more.  The training plan will have stretching in it and also some strength.  That will help keep injuries away.  I feel little aches and pains now but the moderate stretching that I am doing is keeping everything at bay.

Started the half marathon program today, which is why I gave myself off yesterday.  It was only 3 miles and then a strength workout.  I did make sure I got my PM stretching in today too.  The only thing I may have missed was my AM stretching but I think I did some of that (not a complete full stretch).  It is good to feel like I am having real workouts.  I like being able to struggle up the stairs, it means I am working hard.  Makes me feel like I was training for something again.

6xHills.  I ran 200 meter hills on the treadmill.  I did a half mile warmup, then did 200 meters up a grade 6 on the treadmill and then 200 meters on flat.  I was going at about 8:30-8:45 pace for each of the hill pieces, but slowed it down to about 9 minute per mile pace. 

So here is the deal, today was a tempo run and it was supposed to be 40 minutes long.  I ended up doing a 33 minute tempo run.  Part of it was due to lack of energy to finish and I did not want to hurt myselt, as I could feel my calf tighten during the speed portion but the other part was I felt like I would have used the other 7 minutes as a slow pace.  The training guide I am using said 10 minutes slow, 20 minutes faster with a peak coming in the middle and then 10 minutes cool down.  Granted this was my first tempo run in a long time and at speeds I have not used in a long time, however, these are the paces I need to have for the correct time in the half.  I started the speed part at 8 minutes per mile and over 10 minutes reached a high of 6:30 per mile.  Then at the 10 minute mark, I needed to slow down, I had nothing left in the tank and the calf was bothering me.  I think part of this is that I have not done these intensities before the other part I think is the fact that I am so far over weight from what I should be. 

This is the other thing that is getting to me.  While I am still not eating 100% all the time, I am eating better and eating less but I am not losing the weight.  My goal was to lose about 5 pounds before the end of this month and I am not moving anywhere,  My exercise has picked up considerably and my eating has been stable to a little less but this has all been to no avail.  Stressful workout results coupled with not losing weight is frustruating.  Starting to think I will need to get involved with a nutrition coach or something to get this weight back down. 

I had 7x400 today, did a half mile warmup and then walked in between repeats.  Felt pretty good, ran the repeats at 6:00 per mile pace.  Not to shabby.

Was supposed to be an easy 3 but the speed work on Tuesday aggravated my hamstring.  I took it easy, iced and didn't stretch to give it some time to heal.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a 45 minute tempo run, we will see how it needs to be modified to keep this from getting out of control.  The hamstring was feeling strong I am not sure why it creeped back in.  Hoping that it is just a couple day issue and it goes away.

So because of the hamstring tweak on Monday, I ended up taking most of the week off.  I wanted to be careful but at least get my long run in.  This was a 90 minute run and I was able to get 11 miles in.  Pretty happy that the hamstring did not bother me too much.  The time on the run needs to come down a little but now it is about getting in the long runs and having a good 90 minutes.  I was able to keep my cadence to about 180 steps per minute for the first 45 minutes of the run, the second half I slowed down and got very sloppy.  This is something that I need to correct over the next 9-10 weeks.  I will be very careful with any speedwork going forward as I need this hamstring to hold up.  It is not in the best shape but I think that I can make it through the program and to the race.

I am starting to consider possibly working with a coach after this race to get someone to help me through the injuries and then on to a program so that I can beat 1:30 in a fall half marathon.  While I self coached myself for a few years, I also have not avoided injuries.  Those have been a real problem and if I can find a way to avoid them for the long term, that would be the best for me.  I know that may not be the best route but it may be a good opportunity to give it a try. 

Hamstring was a little sore today but got through and did some good stretching.

Held off on the hills yesterday so that I could let the hamstring heal a little more.  Today all day, it felt good. I was moving around for most of the day so I thought that was a good guage to see if I should run tonight,  I did and it felt okay.  No real problems tonight.  We will tweak tomorrow night's run to try to keep it within reason but still push myself.  Probably will take off Thursday and Friday before the 5k race on Saturday.

This was supposed to be a 30 minute tempo run.  I made it a modified tempo run.  I ran the first 10 minutes @ 8:34 pace.  Then 5 minutes @ 7:30, the next 5 @ 7:05, the following 5 @ 7:30 and then finished slowly.  This was good to make sure I did not aggrevate my hamstring.  I felt it a little while I was moving quicker but it wasn't more then a small feeling of something being off. 

I may run a small amount tomorrow but need to keep it fresh for the race Saturday morning.  If I keep feeling the way I do today, I think I will hold up for the remainder of this training plan. 

Actively started looking at running coaches.  I think that I will probably go that route.  I can use the extra help.