T-6 Texan Trot

The T-6 Texan Trot was a fun race! It was entirely on the runway on NAS. You got to walk through their "graveyard" on the way to the start of the race - it had an eerie feel to it thanks to the cloudy/misty morning. I met up with Alyssa before the race and we bumped into Tina from the Ft Walton beach group. We were the only Eagles flying - it's always fun to run into other Team RWB members!!
We started off the run together, but soon it was Alyssa and me, and then Alyssa left me. For some reason mile two was pretty rough for me. I'm not sure why because the entire course was flat. I'm sure I just started off too fast...seems to be my favorite thing to do. I did use the race to break in my new shoes that I bought at the Run as One event - Brooks Ghost. Again, kinda appropriate considering the gloomy race conditions.

I think the biggest surprise of the race was as you were coming into the finish you realized you were running downhill! I look like I'm really flying in this photo!

Chris and the kids were on the sidelines cheering me on. Alyssa finished just a minute faster then me. We waited and cheered on Tina as she finished. Then we headed over for a free massage!! We got someone to take an after photo of us - nice and relaxed from our massages, but still super hot and sweaty.

Run As One

Chris and I took the kids to Ft Walton beach to run with Team RWB and Team Rubicon for their annual Run as One event. They had a huge turnout! It was great to be able to meet so many other veteran's and their spouses. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the camaraderie.

Run As One is an event meant to honor Marine veteran Clay Hunt who was an original member of Team Rubicon and who lost his life with his battle of PTSD and depression. It was impressive to see so many people together running for such an honorable cause. I'm so proud to be part of such a wonderful organization that no only allows me to meet other veterans but gives me the means to make a difference.
They kicked off the event with some pushups. Can you see me in the background holding Denver pretending not to notice that they're doing pushups?! HA!

They had two groups - a running group and a walking group. Since we had the kiddos we did the walking portion. Of course we didn't bring the jogging stroller so I ended up holding Denver the entire time.

The run started and finished right behind a running store, so of course we had to go in. I got myself a nice new pair of running shoes! I'm glad we were able to make the trip out to Ft Walton beach and be apart of something so special.

Sunday Long Run

For our long run on Sunday we met up at the Veteran's Memorial Park (same place I'll be starting my marathon in November). The goal was 8-10 miles. If you do 8 miles it's the solid line, if you want 10 you tack on the dotted portion in the map above. It's a nice course, relatively flat with a nice bridge incline part way through. I was feeling really good on Sunday because I took it a little slower this week. I started to feel tired around mile 6, but pushed through to 8. Then Coach Michael asked if I wanted to head back or do 10. I said "TEN!" But I need to change it up and do intervals of walk/run. He took that to mean I want to speed train, or at least I've been harassing him for making it feel that way; I actually quite enjoyed those last two miles. It helped make them go by faster. We did 1:1, 2:1 the entire time. The last set was 2 minutes of running and it was the hardest one, but I finished. Here are my totals. Distance: 10.2 miles. Time: 1:43 (10:05 pace).
Mile 1: 9:29          Mile 6: 9:54
Mile 2: 9:42          Mile 7: 9:59
Mile 3: 9:40          Mile 8: 10:04
Mile 4: 9:52          Mile 9: 12:39
Mile 5: 9:49          Mile 10: 10:29

Overall a really great run. I was excited that our last portion was along the water, however my view was more like the image above. It was extremely misty and foggy, so much so that I joked my hat was sweating because droplets were falling off of it.
I'm very excited by my progress. I'm running faster then ever before and I'm doing it for longer periods of time. No walk breaks (until mile 8 when we broke it down). If I keep this up I'm going to be so strong come marathon time!! I'm so proud of myself for how far I've come over the past couple years with my running. Still can't believe I'm going to do a marathon. I might start looking for a half just to see how far I've come. Gotta put those miles in once we start the marathon plan...which looks like this if I haven't already posted it.

http://runfastpensacola.blogspot.com/p/marathon-training.html

The actual breakdown of the page can be found on Coach Michael's website:
http://runfastpensacola.blogspot.com/p/marathon-training.html

Weekly Summary

What a crazy week! Wednesday I headed out to World of Beer in downtown Pensacola for my weekly 5k 'easy' run. Coach says I need easy runs in the schedule. It will get my body use to the pace I want to keep for my marathon. I did much better this week then last! My goal for my easy runs is 11 minutes. This week I did:
Mile 1: 9:44
Mile 2: 9:31
Mile 3: 9:43
I have trouble with starting off slow. I have tons of energy at the start and I end up going out the gate way too fast. This week I constantly said, "slow down, enjoy the run, look at that view!" I found my run a lot more enjoyable then when I'm trying to keep up with everyone else. The group I run with offers a 5k and 10k route option. I eventually want to run the 10k every week. Next week I'm going to tack on some extra distance.
Thursday I met with my trainer. He had a nice little 'surprise' for me - we were working outside. He gave me a 12 pound medicine ball and then we got to work. Now, this was not one of those tiny medicine balls, it was big. There were 4 exercises I did, followed by a 5 minute rest. I'm not sure what the distance I actually covered was; next time I'm going to snag some photos after my workout. I would say that it was the distance of one straightaway on a track.
Exercise 1: squat and throw the 12lb medicine ball up like a basketball (as you throw jump off the ground), run to where it lands, repeat all the way down and back.
Exercise 2: squat and throw the 12lb medicine ball like a granny throw (grab ball off ground, come up between your legs and throw into the air), run to where it lands, repeat all the way down and back.
Exercise 3: squat and throw the 12lb medicine ball behind your head (as shown in photo), run to where it lands, repeat all the way down and back.
Exercise 4: run 700 meters at 80-90%
Rest 5 minutes, repeat two more times.

The times for my run were as follows:
1: 3:29.93
2: 3:42.75
3: 3:29.82
I was so tired. On each run I felt like there was no way I was going to finish without walking. I just kept fighting the urge to walk. I told myself, I got this, I can do this, just slow down a little and you'll make it through without walking. I thought for sure that my last 700 meter run would be my slowest, I was surprised to hear it was my fastest! And when I got home, I had to look up how far 700 meters was! It felt like forever, but really I was thinking about a half mile. It's .435 miles - I wasn't far off!
My trainer said the purpose of these type workouts are to help with my endurance, so that when I'm running that marathon I can push through it. Sometimes I wonder what I talked myself into with this marathon!!
After my workout I got my prize for the pull-up challenge! It was a free two hour rental for either a kayak or paddle board!! I'm super excited. I've always wanted to try both, now I have to figure out which one I want to do the most...decisions, decisions, decisions...

Today is Saturday. It was going to be the start of my speed training, however my running coach had other plans come up so he had to cancel (he's certifying a race course for an upcoming 5k). I can't just go out and do my speed work because Chris has duty so I'm home with the kids. No biggie...I didn't really want to do speed work...right?! I might not get my long run in tomorrow either because of this crazy weather. The past three weeks we've managed to get our long runs in before the storms came; this week we might not be so lucky. This is how I feel about how my weekend forecast is looking...

Sweet!

I had an awesome workout with my trainer, Bob, at the gym this afternoon. I don't know if it was the handful of almonds and craisins or what, but I killed it! Bob said, "Girl you are busting through plateau after plateau today, I don't know what you did differently, but, just wow! It's like you're challenging me to give you an exercise you just can't do." Sweet!!!
I warmed-up on the rowing machine (3000 miles, 15 minutes). I've been using the row machine a lot lately. Mostly because it's fun and new, but also because there is a gym challenge going on, so I get to log my miles. Apparently last month they had a pull-up challenge. I know this because tonight Bob said, "you won the pull-up challenge! I was entering you after all of our sessions." Sweet!!
We did the Octane machine tonight. If you give it your all, it's a beast of a workout! 2 minute sprint intervals followed by an exercise, repeated for 35 minutes. My exercises today were a little different from last time. Instead of just one exercise, we did 3-4 exercises between each sprint. We started with the ladders on the floor that I had to weave my way through. Bob laid out two ladders and I ran/jumped/hopped up one and back the other. Not my feet pictured, but you get the idea...

Then I did ball slams with the 15lb ball and then wall throws, then 2 minute sprints. Next was a round of ladder sprints, then I sat on a chair and pulled myself by my heels around the gym, then onto the rope machine (you sit down and pull a rope) for 30 seconds, and then 30 seconds of the heavy rope whipping exercise.

Another two minute sprint followed by ladders and then squats with 25lb dumbbells. More sprints and more exercises. I can't remember the order of the other exercises but I did assisted pull-ups (twice - 5 each time at 50%), arm raises, arnold presses, more ladders, skipping high steps, weighted step ups, burpees (without pushup), TRX bands - plank (awesome), push-ups (super hard), and lat pulls (pictured below - these are my favorite!!)...

Then I did one more set of 2 minute sprints followed by my last exercise - he really tried to kill me with this one. I had to put a 17 lb sack over my shoulder and sprint from the gym to the other side of the gym (I'd say it was about a quarter mile total - felt like 10 miles). Cool-down was 5 minutes on the treadmill with lots of foam rolling and stretching. Overall I did 5 miles in 45 minutes. It was a great workout and I CRUSHED IT!!!

I rewarded myself with an ice cream cone tonight. It was our seven year wedding anniversary so we had homemade tacos and then went out for ice cream as a family. It was a great way to end my day!!