Marathon training Week 1 rundown

I am so excited to be blogging again. I am keeping a personal journal of my training experience as suggested by the Non-runners Guide To Marathon Training. I am really enjoying that process so I decided to just blog it as well so I can share with everyone because it is true you have different emotions every day and people only tend to see the outcome of the labor and not the process and I am all about that process. It's what gets you there to that point you know? All the bad days and the monumental breakthrough days, they all get you to that one singular point where you reach your goal. It's all encompassing. 

So anyway, back to the point. I am using a training plan from Myheartracesblog.com and it is going pretty well. She has a 16 week plan so I am doing week 1 and 2 and then doing it again since I started with 18 weeks until the marathon. Yesterday was my long run day I had 6 miles.

It was cloudy when I woke up and I was trying to hurry and get going before it started to rain but it had started right before I got to where I was going to start my run and I almost turned around to wait it out but I stopped myself from going home because when I did the Wine and Dine it rained the whole way so I know that I needed to train in all conditions because I don't know what I will be getting myself into come race day so out I went. I turned my Garmin inward and my phone in my clothes and went at it. I decided to run a bit faster but comfortable rather than try to hold myself back. I had the energy and I just went for it. I ended up running a 9:10 average pace which I thought was good so I am going to try and aim for that pace for my marathon. We will see what happens from here until then and if I can maintain that pace but for right now that is my goal. 

Overall the week went well I ran 4 times last week and I felt like I could have run more which is hinting that I am not over training by any means but that I am right on course. I have been doing PiYo and that was pretty good I really enjoyed the stretch but I think I am going to add some weight training twice a week. A big mistake that I noticed when I trained for my half marathons and what I have been researching is that I dropped everything and almost had to build muscle again because I wasn't cross training SO with that said 2-3 times a week I am going to strength train and once a week rock a yoga workout so that I am working on everything; strength, flexibility, and my runs. Maybe this will keep me at the pace that I need to be for that marathon and of course if I get too tired than I will be backing off some and incorporating more yoga to my life.

I plan on posting my favorite podcasts, books, and running gear that I am into! Until next time!


XO Jeannettte

A marathon and a story about a girl

I have been hit by the running bug again and I have now scheduled myself for a marathon in December. I will be running the St. Jude Marathon in Tenn. I am really excited about running this race and I am honestly pretty scared at the same time!

My son went back home, his summer vacation with me is over and I decided that instead of crying that I would do something bold and sign up for a marathon. I had my heart set on Puerto Rico but my husband got the best of me so St. Jude it is. Now that I am registered and all that I am very happy with my first marathon ever choice.

This race is important to me because my niece had the unfortunate news of having cancer. She was admitted last December and she is now thanks to the team at St. Jude in remission. I am so happy that she is in remission but she still has a long road ahead of her. I had heard about this marathon on a podcast and researched it and when I first did I was just scared that I wouldn't be able to do it so I clicked off the registration page. You could say that my son gave me the courage to run this race.

St. Jude is an amazing organization! My family has not had to pay for the hosiptal visit and have incurred no cost to them as far as her stay goes. Donations from those generous people like you and I pay the bill so that the kids can get their treatment. I think that in itself is an amazing gift to those children and families that may not be able to pay for treatment. The longer that my niece is under their care and the more I learn about St. Jude over time the happier I am that God placed this race on my heart to run.

I am running this one for Ellie Mae. I am running because if she can go through all this treatment with a smile on her face then I can run this and suffer through with her. Even if just for a moment being that it is not even the same. Every time I run I take a minute to think of her and it gives me the motivation to keep running in addition to Hebrews 12:1

This will be the race that will let me know that I want to pursue running marathons more often and it will give me that sense of accomplishment towards a goal. I know that this is going to be mentally, emotionally and physically demanding. I am thankful to my husband who is going to be helping with the kids on my long run days and for his backing on this whole adventure. He gets the pay off of getting a mini vacation so it's a win win right?

Jeff Galloway Method

Today I was going to rest but I felt great when I woke up at 5:30 this morning with my trouble that I decided to do my run. I am not going to be able to run on Saturday so that will be my rest day so tomorrow will be a short run. I just switched out my long run and short one.

So yesterday I was listening to the podcast The Running Lifestyle and I heard an interview with Jeff Galloway and since I am doing the Disney race this November I thought it would be cool to try out his method. I must say that while listening to him yesterday I was a bit intrigued.

If you don't know about his method than what it is, is a style of running that over time will improve your time and decrease the chances of injury. For me, well. Sign me up! I was a bit hesitant at first because the prospect of walking had me instantly thinking that I was a failure for even stopping runners run not walk. Thinking like that isn't going to get anyone anywhere so this morning I thought....well Jeannette why not? I mean you have nothing to lose.

I got out this morning and set my Runkeeper app at intervals with 3 minutes of running and 30 seconds of walking for 15 intervals. I thought that would take me at about an hour but I misjudged it by about 4 minutes but that's ok I just ended my run running for a few more minutes. My goal today was to try the run walk run method for 6 miles.

I can tell ya that the first few intervals I was like WHAT. THE. HECK. I just started and I am walking but instantly I stopped those negative thoughts and thought that I just had to trust the process. It wasn't until about half way through my run that I realized the magic in this method! I felt no pain and now 4 hours after my run I am not feeling cramped up or even like I am going to be sore tomorrow. I kept my pace at 9:30 the whole time which I was good with and felt great doing it. Through the end of the run I decided that I would stride a bit longer to go a bit faster and that helped keep me motivated to run until the end. I would totally recommend this style of running especially when you are trying to get used to running and you want to keep going on long runs. I think that I am going to stick to straight runs for anything that is under 5 miles and use the run walk run method for my longer runs and see how I like that.

I have to say that it would be beneficial to set up the intervals on your phone and not look at your watch to time your intervals because then it would probably be super annoying and not helpful. The Runkeeper app just beeped and the sweet lady told me that my interval had started again. I wasn't really paying attention to the intervals after awhile just enjoying my podcast on my run.

I think everyone should give it a try and see if it is for them and if not well hey you had nothing to lose and you tried something new to see if it was a good fit.

Here is a pic of my splits for the run and some of my intervals.

One of these days I will take those cool stills of me running........

3 mile run and Kayla

Today was probably the most beautiful day all week. It is going to be a short post because I am eager to get back out there and read for a little while before lunch time!

My daughter woke us up at 5:30 this morning and MAN I was tired when I woke up but I took my probiotic, L-Glutamine and protein shake and waited out the hour and a half before I could take her to daycare. I was a little bit not happy with her as she slept like a champ yesterday....it must be her teeth? Who knows with kids. This one for sure I call trouble because that is what she causes LOL. I mean it in all good fun.

I was reading my Marathon book yesterday and I got about 120 pages into it and she had these awesome journal entries that she added into the book and I think that I might do the same. I am not sure I can keep up all these blogging days but I can commit to once a week sitting down and blogging about my training experience. It's something that I haven't done before so for me to remember what this is all like I plan to do it. Plus, I really liked reading her story and the blogs of others so maybe I can offer up some motivation and be able to look back at my life one day?

So anyway, I got off track. I dropped the baby off this morning and I seriously just wanted to close my eyes and take it all in because seriously it feels that great out here. It's like 70 degrees a nice breeze and that humidity that I had been fighting was gone. I was a little sore but I went for it, I had three miles in my mind so that is what I set out to do. I got started and crazy enough I was able to keep my pace all along which was about a 9 minute mile. I am pretty stoked about that and I aimed to keep it there because it was such a short run so why not push. As I was almost done I caught a groin cramp that I am still trying to release but it dulled down almost as soon as it started. I am totally taking that as a sign that tomorrow is probably going to be a walk day for me. I was almost done and the pain had went away so I decided that I would try to see if I could PR on a 5K which I think my fastest was 29 minutes I don't know I don't really keep track of that but today I finished in 28:30 which was super cool! I was so excited.

Through out my run I was listening to a podcast call The Running Lifestyle and she had Jeff Galloway on her show and I was totally intrigued by the run walk run method. SO much so that I am going to try it out on my 6 mile long run to see what exactly this is all about. I am going to do more research on it, I think that I have to do a thing called a magic mile where I run a mile as fast as I can and then I will be able to gauge where I am at in addition to see what my run walk run splits are......This sounds pretty exciting but we'll see if I am into it or not. I am not really training for anything right now so it's not going to be a loss.

UGH I did the Kayla workout Week 5 Wednesday......it was upper and core and those are pretty much my weak spots......I probably should have waited until this evening or this afternoon to do it because my performance pretty much sucked. I am just going to leave it at that and just go with the fact that every workout isn't going to be 100% and sometimes you just have off days and today was one of them. I'll get it next time :)

My sister is driving up to visit me and she will be here tomorrow. I really can't wait until she comes! I have been spoiled this summer with my parents coming home to help me out with the kids and my sister coming up with my niece and nephew and her hubby. The house is going to be packed but it is going to be such a great time. I will have to fill you all in on that adventure after she has gone.

Until next time!

5 miles why not?

Today my daughter let us sleep until 7:30 which is seriously a blessing. I have my son home for the summer and she is now sleeping in our room and I love my kids to pieces but I can't wait until she can have her room back!

So anyway, I woke up at 7:30 this morning and got ready for my run and got my daughter ready for daycare. We got there around 8 and by 8:15 I was off running. I didn't really know how far I was going to run but I knew I wanted it to be close to an hour so I just went with the flow and went as far as I could. 5 miles was how far I went.

My run was pretty flat which is just what I needed because yesterday I started week 5 of the Kayla Itsines workout and let me tell you my legs felt a little bit heavy. Today's run was pretty good, I started off a bit fast I have to keep in mind to keep my pace through it's just that I go and well.....yeah I get a bit tired. You can see from my splits that I stayed steady after mile 1 which was a 9:07 mile.

Today was pretty humid and hot especially since I started out at around 8:20 so it only got hotter from there. The humidity almost felt like I had something over my face keeping it a bit hard to breathe. Maybe, it is just me getting used to pounding the pavement again who knows?

I have loosely been thinking about running a marathon so I started reading this book. I do get that I am not a beginner runner but I will be if I do decide to run a marathon a beginner marathoner. I have only read the introduction as it came in the mail today and already I am liking the ease and humor that the author has. I feel like it is going to be a light and easy read and that I will learn a bunch from it. 

I will share the things that I have learned with reading the book :)

After I came home from my run I ate breakfast and I showered and I took the kids to the movies. We went and saw Inside Out. It was a really good movie, we all really enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't get it on DVD or anything but it was nice to relax and enjoy some time with my kids and listening to them laugh at the same things that I did and then others they didn't LOL I love how movies an a few adult jokes in there to keep the parent occupied and entertained. I would recommend it though if you are looking for something to do with your kids.

I am kind of running out of ideas of things to do with the kids other than the big plans I have for them to go and visit The Flume in New Hampshire and to go to the Childrens Museum in Boston but who knows what I come up with? What do you like to do with your kids during these long summer days?

I am a runner

Any time that something has defined me with the exception of the military I have silently walked away from it and moved on. In the past I have run two half marathons and running has really been my therapy over the years. My love for running has really started in Alaska, there was nothing else really to so and I saw that other people had lose weight with running so that is where I started my initial journey. I did run in the Army but there is something about it being part of your job where you just do it. You just run. I prided myself in getting faster but when I got out of the Army in 2002 I just let it all go. So back to Alaska, I started running there and joined all the races that the Island promoted, like the 5K's and 10K's. 

I was ALL into it I got running shoes and bought running clothes and even got the subscription to Runners World. Yeah......I was a runner then. Then came the winters and I stopped running. I liked to call myself the running Diva but let's get real running in an Alaska winter isn't for the faint of heart and I had only been running for a few months. I waited until the summer came and then picked up running again. I remember seeing an ad for the Disney Princess Half marathon and I remember telling my husband right in our garage that I was going to run that run one day and when we moved to Mass that is what I did. I signed up for the race and geared up for my first half marathon. I didn't train well for it because well......winter came. LOL Yeah I didn't run in that ish! ha ha! So my training did go so well but I finished the thing in 2:13. I kept running after that but then I got pregnant and I had to slow it down and I signed up for the Disney Wine and Dine half and after I had the baby, around this time last year I started training for that. That training was a lot better and I was able to run the whole thing in 2:12 but I recovered a TON faster because I actually followed the training plan that I found on the internet. 

Winter came again and again I stopped running, this year I am singed up to do the half marathon at Disney again in November so I am going to start running again along with doing the Kayla Itsines workout plan to keep up with strength training because I believe that is something that you should never give up. 

I am excited to be running again and I really need to do a ton of research on winter running and the gear for that and get off my butt in the winter and run. This time I am going to keep up with it and truly make running a big part of my life again. 

I don't know what training plan I am going to follow this time I have 2 that I have my eye on but we shall see what happens. 15 weeks out so I have a week or two to decide what it is that I want to do. I can't wait and I am so excited to be able to run again. Now if I could only give as much time to blogging as I do exercising I guess I would be in better shape! 


Happy running. 

Getting my eating in check.

Summer time is here and I am slowly falling off the healthy wagon. It happens every summer doesn't it? I am ready to get back on the train though so that I can feel better about myself. Of course I am going to make the best choices that I can but IT IS the 4th of July holiday weekend and that calls for a few drinks! I have been working like crazy 2 overnight days this week which is really stressing me out because my son is here on vacation and has been since Sunday but I feel almost as if I have not been home at all. Not to mention he plays with his brother all the time so it makes it a bit like we are never in the same place at the same time. I am READY to be home.

We have plans to go to the beach and to watch fireworks here in town (traffic permitting) I can so anxious to be able to get out of work and to actually spend some quality time with my family as I feel like I have been working non stop. I think I have seriously been at work more than I have been home this week.

So needless to say I have a little bit of time on my hands so I have made a meal plan for myself for the next two weeks. Keep in mind that I don't mind eating the same thing every day and I am probably going to change things around in the dinner department because my mother is home and she cooks dinner so I will be more than happy to accept the break and REALLY jump on the train when she leaves.

Without further ado here is my meal plan.

I plan on attempting to take pictures of what all I am eating so that you can see but I am not that great at remembering stuff like that ha ha. I just am so hungry and ready to eat that well........I just eat it.

Soon I will be updating you all on what workouts I am doing. I am really excited to share and to be doing something different even though it makes me rather nervous to do something out of my comfort zone that I know works.