T-6 Texan Trot

This is the second year I've done the T-6 Texan Trot. It's a great and fun race on the runway behind the National Aviation Museum on NAS Pensacola. We had a really good turnout of Team RWB members this year. Last year there were three, this year there were nine of us!
Kristy, Arin, and I before the race.

My goal for this year was to beat last year's time (28:15); however I got sick so my goal became to just finish. I did surprisingly well (28:59). I was slower then last year, but I ran the whole thing without any walk breaks and I finished in under 30 minutes! I was 25th female overall out of 140. Not bad at all for being under the weather.
Coming across the finish line...

 I look like I'm flying in this one!

Bill got me just after finishing too. I'm smiling in this one!

We are hanging out cheering on our team mates as they finish.

A fun group shot from after the race!

The T-6 plane.

My bib from the race and my special coin! I guessed the time the T-6 Texan mascot would finish the race. In fact I didn't just come close, I got the exact time! Sweet!!!

It's a pretty cool coin.

Down and Out

April was just one of those months. It started off amazing! I made it to all 4 bootcamp classes and had 25+ miles of running. Then on Saturday afternoon (April 4th) my throat hurt and by Sunday I wasn't feeling much better. I spent the rest of April suffering through this dry, hacking cough. It would wake me up at night so I wasn't getting any sleep. During the day I felt okay, some days I was a little light headed, but overall I was alright. I tried to workout a few times during the last couple weeks. It wasn't pretty. I always started this dry coughing spell when I attempted to run; even just walking would bring it on. I decided to just listen to my body and I took it easy. I seriously hate being sick!

April Camp, Week One

Woo-hoo!! I completed an entire week of bootcamp. It feels like ages since I've been able to accomplish that goal. It was a great first week back too! Chris has a class right now so he has to be at work by 7, which means that I need to leave camp at 630 (15 minutes early) if I go in the mornings. On Tuesday and Thursday night's I've started swimming and Wednesday nights are my runs. Mornings just seem to fit my schedule better right now, even if it means cutting it a little short.

Monday started off on the wrong foot. It was raining so camp got moved indoors which meant I couldn't go (just not enough time in the mornings for me to drive to the other location). Monday nights are normally bad since Chris has bowling; however this week I made it work. Chris stayed home with the kids and fed them dinner then he just brought them over before leaving for bowling; they only had to entertain themselves for about 30 minutes while I finished up.

The first day of a new camp is usually "easy" compared to the rest of the month. Troy has a lot going on so he keeps it simple. We had to do 25 reps of pusups, situps, squats, superman's, and then we ran a lap. Repeat that 5 times. It was a great first night back.

Distance: 2.7 miles

Calories: 645

Tuesday I was able to go to morning camp. We started off with gasers (a fancy name for speed work). Then we did timed alternating exercises. 30 seconds double walking lunges, 30 seconds jackknife pushups. Repeat for 4 or 5 minutes. We continued that patter for bicep curls/Sumo squats; Situps/planks; Burpees/attack squats. Then it was time for me to go. Bummed I missed the last set of gasers as I actually enjoy speed work. 

On a side note my tailbone was not happy with me. 125+ situps on Monday, plus more situps this workout. It became quite obvious that I was sore when I got in the shower - OUCH!

Distance: 1.4 miles

Calories: 429

Wednesday I do not do bootcamp as there is no morning class and I run in the evening.

Thursday was called Goblet Tabata.

Morning set up with my "goblet"

All those cones = suicides

Basically we picked out a weight and we kept it for the entire workout. I went with a 12 lb medicine ball. I wanted to do more, but since it's my first week back I figured I should try and take it easy. We did an exercise with our "goblets" then we ran a super suicide. Squats, situps, squat kicks, double walking lunges, etc.

Distance: 1.5 miles

Calories: 410

Friday I was rewarded for going to bootcamp all week with a glorious sunrise! You know it's beautiful when  everyone else in class posts photos of it too...

My photo. It wasn't hazy, just humid

Coach Troy's photo

Rebecca's photo

The workout was not quite as glorious as the sunrise - Legs, legs, legs. 100 yards of double walking lunges (I did 40 yards with a weighted bar above my head), 100 squats, 80 triple walking lunges, 80 (40 each leg) pendulum lunges. That's all I accomplished. I never made it to 60, 40, 20 sets. Those lunges kill me every time. I always make sure my knee almost touches the ground on every rep. No point in rushing through them. Great workout, but man are my knees done!
Distance: .8 mile
Calories: 412

Time Off and March Miles

I took almost three weeks off from bootcamp. I still can't believe that's how long it took for my back to start to feel better. During that time I didn't really do too much. I still took Denver to the seawall and walked while he rode his "train."

 

 I went swimming...

I'm not the greatest swimmer, but I find that with each session in the pool I feel more confident. Last week I actually swam with my head in the water. It was slightly frightening. I had the worst time with my breathing. I'm so used to breathing through my nose with running that it was probably quite comical watching me. I watched a few videos on swimming technique and tried to do some of the things they suggested:
1) Don't constantly kick. Instead twist your body more from the hips and do one strong kick instead of a million flutter kicks. This helped me greatly with leg cramps. The first two times I went swimming I got cramps in my legs while swimming from kicking so much. This time I twisted a little more and kicked a little less and had no leg cramping. It actually made a lot of sense once I got in the water.
2) Stand at the edge of the pool and practice breathing. I felt a little silly but I also feel like it worked. I held onto the end of the pool and put my face in the water, then I went through the motions of swimming and would bring my head up on the right side. It helped with my confidence.
The worst thing about swimming with my head in the water was I started getting water in my ear. I've never had that issue before and it was quite annoying. Although keeping my head in the water did keep my goggles from fogging up so that was nice. I could see, but couldn't hear! I'll get this swim thing figured out soon enough.

I ran.

For six weeks I ran 21+ miles a week. The last three weeks I ran 5.7, 27.6 (half marathon), and 3.5. A lot of those miles were just walking too. 

My total for March was 100.23! My highest month ever. I wasn't very consistent this month. February averaged 20 miles every week (21, 21, 23, 23). In March I was all over the place (34, 31, 5, 27, 3.5). I prefer to keep it more consistent, so that's the plan for April. 

Military Heroes 5k

The Military Heroes 5k was a bit of a joke when it comes to races. The whole thing was put on by a fraternity. They had the course marked wrong, so we only did 2 miles instead of 3.2. The race started at 10 am which could've been a really hot day, but they got lucky and it was overcast and somewhat cool. There were about 30 people total at the race and most of them were my team mates. They also had nothing but water for when the race was over. You just had to laugh and roll with it all. It was a fun morning run with my team mates!
Here is a group shot from after the run.