Full Steam Ahead ...Sort of ...

As you saw in my last post, my race line up for the next 4 months is set. As most of you know, right now running is really an after thought since most days I have about 1 hour that I am awake, not at work, or not driving home from work.  With tax season ending in about 6 weeks, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Coming up with a training plan to go from now until the Baltimore Half with the 10k and the 10 miler along the way was a challenge. The biggest challenge is that my husband is running the 10k not the 10 miler but is doing the half. We run together but I know that I will be training for the 10 miler in June but he won't be. So after the 10-miler, I will be scaling back down so that we can start to train for the Half. I also have to keep in mind that I will be studying for the CPA which will be taking up another 20 hours a week roughly.

So my running since the two half's I did last year has just been running a 5-6 mile long run, occasionally a 3 mile mid-week run, and yoga on Thursday. Needless to say, no much but I just don't have the time. My first race I signed up for is a week after tax season ends ... I will not be trained but I am still excited for it and it will be fun. I am not worried too much abut my time but do have a goal.

As you can see - until April 17th, I am not really running much. And even at the "height" of training, I would say I run on the lower end of the spectrum and less than other people. My body tends to prefer it that way so I don't see the need to push it more at this point. I am never going to break and records and as long as I can get better compared to my self - I don't really care about others!

So after the Sole of the City 10K, I will be gearing up for the Baltimore 10-Miler.

Now after the Baltimore 10 Miler, the rest of the summer will be getting ready for Baltimore Half AND trying not to get hurt. I have been having random tweaks over the last few months, so I want to make sure that I don't risk not running it at all. My goal for this is to break 2 and right now my best Half time was 2:19. I know its lofty - but we will see!

The sad part is - I would have done it in excel just like that regardless of if I was posting it to the public.  I am a nerd ... I spent my only day off last week working on my spreadsheet. I even added an column for expected calorie burn. As of now,  Hot Yoga on Sundays is offered, so hopefully that will work out. I want to start doing Hot Yoga and hopefully some extra stretching will help keep my muscles from being less tight. 

How is everyone else doing? 

2012 Race Line Up

So far my running year is a year of all downtown Baltimore races ... Before the year started - I set a budget for entry fees for the two of us ($500). With the 3 events below (a total of 5 entry fees) we are more than half way through the budget. I will look for 1 or 2 more things to do either in November or December. I really want to do another holiday themed one so I can wear my funny costume.


April 21, 2012 - Sole of the City 10K

"April 21, 2012 will be a day for runners. It will be our city, our streets and, of course at the end of it all, our party! Join us for the inaugural Sole of the City 10K. We’ll run the streets of Baltimore and finish up at the newest Charm City Run location at McHenry Row. This is our 10th anniversary so we have the run covered. The after-run festivities will be sponsored by our good friends at The Greene Turtle. We can’t wait to see you!"


Premium: Black Under Armour Escape Lightweight Quarter Zip.

No course map has been posted yet. But it does finish at McHenry Row (Downtown Baltimore)

Goal:  60 minutes. Coming right out of tax season - I will not have trained for this and just will have been doing 1-2 runs a week throughout the winter just to maintain some sort of endurance from last fall. I will be running this with my husband as well.

June 16, 2012 - Baltimore 10-Miler

"This fifth running will feature the same scenic, challenging, yet fun course the starts and finishes at Druid Hill Lake Park near the Maryland Zoo. The course will travel along the North side of town to Lake Montebello and return to Druid Hill for the post race festivities that are SECOND TO NONE for this size race."

Premium: Born Fit 1/4 Zip Jacket with Pocket in the back

Goal: 1 hour and 35 minutes. A little worried about the heat for this - and I will probably not be as trained as I should be. My husband will not be running this with me - I have never ran a race alone. I don't know what to expect - when I run alone, I tend to let up sooner than I need too. 

October 13, 2012 - Baltimore Running Festival (Half)

As much as I hate the almost entire uphill course - this is by far my favorite race from a crowd and excitement statement.  See my reviews. Who doesn't love candy being handed out along the course! 

Premium: In years past - the shirt has been an Under Armour Catalyst short sleeve shirt. So far I have an orange one and a blue one. 

This years shirt is not out yet.

Goal: My goal for this race is Sub 2 hours. This is a lofty goal since my fastest half has been 2:19 but I think I can put more into training this year than last year. Last year I didn't start running until June and had only run about 1-2 times a week throughout my training.  It will be hard but it will be something to work towards. If I miss my goal like I did last year - I will probably enter another half just to try again. Last year at Baltimore I missed my 2:30 goal by 1 min and 41 sec - so I ran Annapolis Half and beat it by 11 minutes. 

What are you signing up for?

Oh and I did yoga today! Way to go for me for exercising 3 of the last 6 days! 

Midweek Blues

I started off last weekend with a run before work on Saturday. It went pretty well and was almost identical to the weekend before.

Weird thing is that I have been doing my outdoor 5 mile runs about 1-1:30 min per mile faster than all of last fall into December. Nothing has changed aside from my pants/shoes. I know compression has benefits but I am sure its not to that extent.

I was hoping for a mid-week run but this week it ain't happening. I will have yoga tomorrow though. 

I have been trying to plan my year of running events. Right now I have Sole of the City 10k in April and the Baltimore Running Festival (Half Marathon) in October. 

I am not quite sure what to do with the rest of my year.  If tax season wasn't encompassing all of the spring, I think I would do the Frederick Running Festival (Half Marathon) but it is way to early in May for a half for me.

Right now I am leaning towards the Baltimore 10-miler in June, especially now that the premium was presented on their Facebook Page.

The Annapolis Half moved a couple weeks after where it was last year (to Dec. 1).

Any fun things I should sign up for?

I have a wish list of running things that I want. I stopped at Dick's last week to check the clearance rack and didn't see much. I did see so many full price things that I want! Oh ... if money was endless....

Here are a couple of the things I drooled over ... If someone really wanted to get me an awesome Valentine's Day gift .....

Under Armour Women's Escape Knit Jacket

Under Armour Women's HeatGear Slice Skirt 

Thanks for reading!

Butter and Yoga?

So on Tuesday I did intervals at the gym and my feet and ankles have felt miserable since.  The treadmill is still giving me fits and last week was actually going well and Tuesday I ran with cinder block feet again and I think that is why my feet are bothering me since they were just sort of smacking the treadmill. I opted to skip cardio/running today and took a 1 hour yoga class (best part, its at work). Our work is pretty awesome and has things like a weekly yoga class right in the building.

So on the way home, what do I smell? Butter! Now - that would be weird, except for the fact I pass McCormick on a daily basis. So it fairly regularly smells like butter and pepper in the air. That got me to thinking, hey that is pretty cool that such a large company is so local. Although, I think one could agree that spices shouldn't be $5 for a little jar.  Then, a few miles more down the road on the way home from work, I pass by Kevin Plank's (founder of Under Armour) property as I see it sit up on top of the hill with amazing land surrounding. Might as well get it out there, but I think one could say that fellow blogger Kelly (Fit for Life Wife) and I love Under Armour.

Here are some photos I found online on the Washington Post.

I tried to take my own but it never came out right .....

I think that is my favorite part of running the UA Baltimore Running Festival. To me, the event has such a great hometown presence. I love the excitement on race day, I love the people outside there homes along the course cheering you on, I love people giving you high fives along the way, and how many people actually thank the police that help facilitate the event.  Oh and I love running through Camden Yards. I look forward to it every year, and every year I complain about the hills and wonder why I do it!

I will be doing the Sole of the City 10k in April and I am pretty excited (crosses fingers for no rain). The premium is Black Under Armour Escape Lightweight Quarter Zip. Here is the description:

"You want a fun, fast and scenic downtown course through Charm City? Check. 

You want food, a few drinks, and good times with friends and family after the race? Yup, got 'em, and done. 

You want a great race premium and bragging rights that you ran the newest event on the spring racing scene? Well-- that part is up to you-- be we've got the goods. "

Now, I am sitting on the couch with my achy feet in a bath of warm Epsom salt water. That always makes them feel better.

I will be looking for new running shoes this weekend! So look for a post this weekend.

As a new year starts ... my life will be dwindling....

As my time off from work comes to an end ... I get to look forward to the months of hell that end at April 15th and a few extra pounds. The months of ordering dinner at work and working weekends with minimal exercise will kill any momentum I had from running in the fall.  My goal is to not completely fall off the running track so that when I start again in April I will not be starting from square one but more like midway through a half training program.

I have already signed up for The Baltimore Running Festival to do the half, but not sure what else I want to do this year. The Annapolis Half Marathon looks like it is moving to December so that will probably be off my list since December weekends are pretty hectic and a 5k in December was just enough for me.

So any ideas what events I should do between June - September? Right now I am looking at Virginia Wine Country Half.

I went to the gym today since it was a tad cold, but more so insanely windy.  I did this workout followed by 40 minutes on the elliptical. I suck on the treadmill, so 20 minutes for me is good.  As I mentioned here ,  me and treadmills don't work but I am trying.

So during this holiday time - I did get a some fitness related items. I got a scale for Christmas from my husband. Okay... I know that sounds horrible but I wanted it. Its wifi enabled and can track and do all sorts of cool things.

I got the Withings Wifi Body Scale.

My dad got me a gift card to Dicks and I was able to get some Under Armour Evo Coldgear Compression Tights. They are much needed for our cold weekend runs. They had a bunch of clearance racks too, and for a total of $50 I got the following (each was $16.47) :

Under Armour Escape 3" Short 

Under Armour Catalyst (made from recycled materials) shirt

And my husband got the Under Armour Headgear Fitted Crew (in orange)

That is pretty much all of the fitness related things from the holidays. My husband got some running gadgets that will work with his future iPhone - but I will review those once he can actually use them in February.

On Christmas Eve we made a pretty delicious dinner -

Here are some photos from Christmas -

We rang in the new year with some good people -

Okay - that was long, Thanks for reading!!!

Almost through the week and no workout?

Last week I was so good and I went three days in a row and then ran 5.5 on the NCR and lots of other running around and cleaning. This week? I have been horrible and haven't gone.  My legs still feel tired from last week. I think too much cardio. 5k on Sunday so I probably won't do anything else til Sunday, maybe elliptical tomorrow.

I did find this picture and think it is great!

Oh - I did also find the rest of my outfit for the Jingle Bell 5k. My knee highs have fur on them! So excited.

And.... Target has these for $12.

]

Thats right - $12 and for 34 pieces of the good stuff. Not the stuff that stains or gets all weird looking after using for a while. I bought two boxes and now we can retire some other pieces and have more for using in the freezer.

Oh! And one last thing - Registration for the Baltimore Running Festival starts on Tuesday and for their 12 days of Christmas there is a $12 discount. Who is in???