Sunday, December 28, 2008

Finals, Work, and Christmas

Life has been busy since my last entry, to say the least. I had finals, been working a lot, and Christmas has come and gone. Here is a little catch up from the last couple of weeks:

It has been SUPER cold in Colorado, which provided quite a challenge for running outside. The Sunday before finals the high outside was 10 degrees; not suitable for wimpy Brittany. So I did the unthinkable and did my 1hr 45min run on a treadmill at the gym. At first I thought I would just do an hour, but by that time I felt really good and just kept on going. I would have to say that listening to loud music helped as opposed to just watching the TV at the gym.

The rest of finals weeks I was able to get most of my runs in, but I had to do some fanagaling to get my 2hr run in. The gym was to close Friday night, and then it was supposed to be super cold again through the weekend, plus I was on-call on Sunday. So instead of running Thursday, I took the day off and visited Heather in Denver and then did my 2hr run on Friday .

I would have to say that my run that day was the most peaceful and serene run that I have had yet. It was chilly in the morning and all of the trees were perfectly frosted and there was a low lying fog. I wish I had a camera with me to take a picture! The great scenery kept me going for those long 2hrs. I think I did around 10 miles that run, putting me a a pretty good pace! I was super tired and sore after the run and was feeling it for the next couple of days (but no new blisters, hurray!).

Since then it has been hard to get my running in. I have been working a lot more and it was still very cold. Having to either run very early, very late, in the freezing cold, or during my lunch breaks, made it hard to run. I will just write off this week to Christmas craziness. I hope to get back at it this week and do a long run next weekend since I have several days off after New Years. I will get to try out my new pedometer from Tristan and (hopefully) get some new shoes this week (final!).

Monday, December 8, 2008

First Big Blister


I got my first big blister yesterday on our long run for the week, which was for an hour and a half. I had been getting sore spots on my feet with my normal runs that had never developed into mcuh. But yesterday we were running through snow more and my feet got wet pretty early, which added to the blister making. I was able to keep running through it, though! I popped it with a needle that evening to drain the fluid, which definitely made it feel better. It still feels fine now, but today is on off day with no running. Hopefully it doesn't start acting up tomorrow for my 45min run.

Here is the plan for week 7(!!!): Tuesday 45min, Wednesday 30min, Thursday 70min, Friday 30min, Sunday 1.75hrs.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Snow

The first snow has finally come to Fort Collins, thus pushing me inside to run. I am just not hard core enough to run in 20 degree weather, let alone 20 degree weather while it was snowing. I did the treadmill at the gym yesterday for 30 minutes and will be doing it today for an hour. Bummer to have to run at the gym, but I would rather do that than run in the freezing snow.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Another Cold Windy Run

Yep, it was super coldy and windy again on our long Sunday run, which was 1 hour and 20 minutes today. Davey and I are once again exhausted from our riduculously long run. We are now trying to stay awake and study, though we will see how long this will last.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving Doesn't Stop This Turkey From Woddling!

Yes, yes, it's Thanksgiving, but that doesn't stop my training! This morning I was up early to start some food in order to get a 55 minute run in before the rest of the family showed up. Since The Boy (aka Tristan) arrived last night, Davey and I made him do our 55 minute run with us. Keep in mind that The Boy has much longer legs than us, and our turkey woddle was, in the end, too slow for him. He ending up running backward as has as we ran forwards, walked for a while, and then ran to catch up to us. Silly, I know...Anyways, great run with Davey and The Boy!!! We were able to burn off some of the calories we were to eat today and to get our metabilism going. Also, we ran the same disance that we ran with our first 1 hour run as we did today in 54 minutes. In other words, we took 6 minutes off a run today!!! Hurray for a day off tomorrw!!! Word...

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Against the Wind

I'm still breaking records, well, my own records at least. Today was a 70 minute run that went very well. It was very windy and Davey and I were running into the wind a good portion of the run. It definitely added a lot of resistance to the run and slowed us down a little bit. None the less, we did very well and ran around two different parks! We estimate that we ran almost 6 miles (we took the GPS, but it wasn't tracking the whole time).

This week is Thanksgiving so I have to kind of play around with my running schedule to get everything in. Here is the basic plan: Tuesday 45min, Wednesday 30min, Thursday (Thanksgiving) 55min, Saturday 30min, Sunday 80min. Tuesday I have an eye appointment in Denver in the morning, so I have to figure out if I am going to run early in the morning or when I get home. Only problem will be if I don't get home until after dark. Then on Thanksgiving, I might be able to get a run in after preparing some food and before everyone show up. I might just push that run back to Friday, though.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Beautiful Day!

It is supposed to get close to 80 degrees outside today! I love this weather! My fun this morning was also beautiful and the perfect temperature. Actually, I started off wearing a jacket because it was a little chilly, but I took it off ony 10 minutes into my run and was fine from then on our in just a t-shirt. My 40 minute run was great thanks to the perfect temperature! I wish the weather could stay like this for the rest of the winter! But alas, it is supposed to get cold again on Thursday :(.

Plan for Week 4: Today 40min run (done!), Thursday 50min, Friday 30min, and Sunday 70min. No new shoes yet. I'm actually feeling better running in the shoes I have, so I might hold off on getting new ones for a while.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

60 minutes

60 minutes...That's how long Davey and I ran for this morning non-stop. We are exhausted, to say the least. It went pretty well. Our pacing was good and we didn't have to take any walk breaks. I just can't believe I actually made it. The first 30 minutes I kept thinking, "Do I get to turn around yet?" Then once I finally hit 30 minutes all I could think was, "I'm ONLY half way done." One hour was a lot for me considering my "normal" runs in the past were only 30 minutes. This was twice of that. In about a month, though, I'm supposed to be running 2 hours at a time. That would mean that my hour run would only be half way. I must really be crazy to be doing this. Sorry about the rambling, my brain hasn't quite recovered yet.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Burr!!!

I have always stayed away from running in the cold because I HATE being cold. But like I said before, I hate the gym even more and would much rather run outside, so I am starting to force myself to run when it is cold. This morning it was about 35 degrees, by far the coldest temperature that I have run in. I bundled up (but not too much so I didn't overheat) and went ahead and did my 35 minute run for the day. Surprise, surprise, I actually survived the cold.

Plan for this week: 35 minute run today (check!), Wednesday 20min, Thursday 45min, Saturday 20min, Sunday 60min. That's right, I am running 5 days this week and ending it all with an hour run! My 45min run last Sunday went well, but I have to admit, 60min seems like a big jump from 45min. I also want to get some new running shoes this week because my ankles are starting to hurt. I will post again when I get new shoes:).

Friday, November 7, 2008

The Coming of Winter

I hate the cold. The only thing I hate more than the cold is the wind. Yesterday was both cold and windy, thus forcing me inside to run at the gym. I gave up on the tract. It is too mind numbing to run a round in a circle for 40 minutes. So I ran on the treadmill for the first time EVER. It was actually pretty good. I could set my pace and mph so I knew how fast I was going. My biggest complaint is that it is way to warm in the gym and I was seating like a pig (nice visual, I know). I am so used to running outside that I hardly sweat during my run, and anything sweat quickly evaporates. In the gym, though, I had sweat dripping down my face, which not only was gross, but very distracting to my run. I also still prefer looking at the scenery and running in silence as opposed to watching the gym TV and having noise all around me. My outdoor runs are much more clearing to my head.

So as winter comes, I am going to try to run outside as much as a can. There really is no substitute for it. I'm just going to have to get over the cold and run.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

I'm not trying to make excuses...

Today was probably my worst run yest. I'm not trying to make excuses for myself, but I am trying to analyse why I had such a bad run.

First, I was supposed to go for a 45 minute run on Sunday. The night before, though, Davey and I went to a Halloween party at Beth and Bryan's (I was Hunter S. Thompson and he was Oscar Zeta Acosta from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"). We partied a little too much to say the least and I was out of commision for my run on Sunday. Then I had to decide if I would do my 45 minute run on Monday, but that would me I wouldn't have a rest day until Friday and I felt that it would be just too hard of a week if I did that. So I decided to take Monday off and repeat Week 2 of the training schedule. I have a couple weeks to spare with the training, and I thought it wouldn't hurt to repeat these early weeks in order to build-up to these super long runs. Anyways, three days off from running was way, WAY too many days off. I could definitely feel the fact that I hadn't run since Friday. My legs got really tired and I had to take several walk breaks, when normally I wouldn't have to take any breaks at all. Bummer...Second, I wore warm running pants since it was cold out, which was also a bad idea. I got way too warm and I felt like I couldn't get rid of any of the heat I was building it. Third...I thought I had a third reason, but appartenly I don't.

Hopefully the rest of the week goes better. Tomorrow is a rest day, but I might do the stationary bike at the guy to repent for my non-running sins this weekend. I guess no one said this would be easy.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

No Turning Back Now

So I just finished registering for the Horsetooth Half Marathon at Active.com. Registration was $50, so I better follow through with this or else that money is going to waste. It's just a little bit more motivation for me to do this :)

This afternoon was a 35 minute run. I've been trying to do these "shorter" runs faster than my "long" run. Today I actually almost made it as far as I did on my 40 minute run on Sunday. What does that mean? I don't know. I just like the idea that when I try to run faster, I can actually go further. Hopefully in the end these short-fast runs will help improve my overall speed come race day.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Week 1: Done!

Davey and I went for a 40 minute run this morning and I feel great! I've never run 40 minutes without stopping before, and I even had energy to spare! This training actually seems to be doing me some good. I think the important part about doing the long runs is making sure that I pace myself and to not try to run too fast. I definitely found a good pace for myself today. Then on short run days, I try to run faster that I normally do to help increase my speed. It feels really good to actually feel myself become a better runner. Now I just need to keep the energy up for the rest of the week. Training schedule for Week 2: Tuesday 35min, Thursday 40min, Friday 30min (this run is really supposed to be on Saturday, but I work that day), Sunday 45min.

Registration opened up this week for the Horsetooth Half Marathon, I'm going to register once I get enough money. The sooner I register the better so I can't back out of this thing.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Mucous Making Machine

So I hit my first bump in training this weekend when I got a pretty bad cold which made me miss class on Friday and work on Saturday. Obviously, I wasn't able to go running. I am almost better today, so training will resume this afternoon. Unfortunatly, I am going to have to start my running program over since I missed a couple days and don't think my body is quite ready to start off where I left off. So here is the plan for this week: 30min run today, 35min Thursday, 30min Friday, and 40min Sunday.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Running in Circles

I ran the track at the gym today for the first time in years, which wasn't nearly as fun as running outside. Not only that, but it was really hot in there making my run a lot harder. My legs are definitely feeling it! Two positives about my run today:
-While I kept getting lapped by people that were running really fast, they weren't running for nearly as long as I was. That made me feel a lot better about my slow pace.
-I ran 35 minutes without a break! While I have run for that long before, I usually have to take a break. Not this time!

Even with that, I keep thinking of all those those things that I have going against me with my new goal:
-I'm fairly short, so my strides aren't very long, thus I have to take more steps than taller people.
-I had pneumonia a couple years ago and my lungs have never been the same since then. Hopefully by the end of the journey my lungs will no longer be an issue.
-I have predominantly fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are the type that are better for sprinters and strength training. What I really need is long-twitch muscle fibers, the type found in long distance runners. Once again, I hope this training can help change my predominant muscle type.
-I really should lose some weight so I am carrying less on my runs.

I can't really think of anything I have going for me beside the fact that I am so stubborn and don't like to give up. If any body knows of any other positives please let me know, because I could really need them!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

WTF??? What and Why

Lets face it, I am a goal oriented freak. But not that normal type of goal oriented freak, that special type of freak. I don't just need a goal, I need dates, times, and schedules.

For the last several years I have started to run outside with Davey. Yes, I wanted to lose weight and become a faster running, but these goals were too vague for me to really stick to them. I would run a lot for a couple weeks and feel really good about it, but would eventually get busy and get out of shape again. The closest I got to staying in shape was running the Fast and the Furriest 5K for the vet school (which was my very first race) and trying to get in shape for the weeding. I have also entertained ideas of "someday" running a marathon ever since watching a
Nova episode about everyday people running the Boston Marathon. Until now, I never really thought too seriously about it.

What really prompted this delusion was when Davey started receiving a runner's magazine (we didn't order it and not really sure where it came from). I started reading it and though, "Hey! I could do this!" So being one of those special goal oriented freaks, I got on the computer and started searching for a race that I could start training for. I needed something sufficiently out of my league where I had to actually train for it and not just half ass it until a month before the race. A marathon, though, just seemed like too much too fast. Now, a half marathon, that was more up my league!
The Horsetooth Marathon stuck out to me right away. It's in Fort Collins, happening in April (plenty of time to train but also not too far away), and sponsored by my favorite brewery, New Belgium!

So here are the details:

When
: April 19, 2009, 8:30am
Where
: Fort Collins, CO
Distance
: 13 miles
Course
: Staring at Hughes Stadium, goes north along Horsetooth Resevoir to the Poudre River, then east along the river ending at the New Belium Brewery in Old Town
Why
: Because I need a goal to help me lose some of the vet school pudge. Plus, I think I've finally lost my mind!
How
: A training program for beginning runners starting yesterday. It is a 20 week program for a beginner training for a marathon, so if I can get through this I should be good! See the schedule for yourself!
Website
: http://www.horsetoothhalfmarathon.com

Heck, you never know, if I get through this maybe I'll do the
Colorado Marathon in May!