Thank you for your contribution!
Woodie and Steve Wisebram
Mary and Phillip Liebman
Training-
I got new shoes, YAY!!!
The first thing that I did when I got home from buying them was label them. I've got one pair specifically designated for Boot Camp and one pair for Team in Training. I think that will help me keep my shoes nice. The guy at the Big Peach Running Co. told me that it takes ~23 hours for the insoles of a pair of shoes to recover from an hour of running. If I wear my shoes in the morning for Boot Camp and then in the afternoon to train, they don't fully recover and they don't provide the same amount of cushioning. As soon as I put on the new shoes I instantly felt better. My feet and knees are still a little sore, but only after running, as opposed to all of the time.
I've been zooming along with my training. I think that my conversation with Coach Jo REALLY helped me out. I'm not forcing myself to run quite as many miles, so I am running much better quality miles. It is nice to feel like I have "permission" to back off of my training enough to make it to September. I'm still making sure to get my long runs in, but I don't run as many of the shorter runs, and I'm doing some more cross-training too.
We had our nutrition clinic on Saturday the 12th. It was interesting, but it was also about 300 degrees outside, so I was itching to get outside and actually run. I think that part of my antsy-ness was that I think that I have a fairly good sense of what my body needs in order to function well. 9 months of Boot Camp is kind of making me a nutrition snob. My mom came to the clinic and then we ran together. We were scheduled to run 4 miles, but I think that we ran more like 3.5. It was a nice shady run. I need to figure out something to to about my knee braces though. If I have them on tight enough to help my knees, they cut off the circulation to my lower legs. I think that I'll end up wearing one on my left knee and letting my right leg get the circulation. We had a team tailgate after the run which was nice. I really enjoy hanging out with everyone. This has been a great experience so far.
On Sunday, it was raining most of the day, so I ended up just going for a short hike in the woods behind my apartment. Bryan and I found a hole in the fence that leads right to the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.
I've been taking it a little easy this week, sort of. We had a "Track Workout" on Tuesday. In reality, one of the coaches for TNT's Sister Program, Hike for Discovery, is a personal trainer. He gave us a "Strength for Runners" session. It was really interesting and fun. He had these things called battle ropes. Basically you take a 60 foot rope and wrap it around a pole. Then you grab each end and have to make it "wave" all the way from you to the pole. Talk about a workout. I'm still feeling the effects, 3 days later.
I started advanced Boot Camp training on Monday. We have 10 classroom sessions and 10 intense workouts and then I'll be a "Master Trainer" and I'll be able to train other instructors. The workouts are super tough and it made it harder for me to get my runs in, but I'm definitely in better shape now than I was when I did my instructor training to start with. Group Training this weekend is at the Church again. The routes from there are really pretty nice, although you can really start to see the difference between the half marathon training and the full marathon training. Most of my buddies that I've been running with are training for the full, so I don't get to run with them as much. They are seriously ramping up their mileage, while we are fairly slowly adding miles. Some of them have tried to convince me to switch to the full marathon, but I'm going to stick with the half. I don't have time each week to adequetly train for the full and I would rather have a successful, stress free half marathon. Who knows, maybe one day I'll get the nerve and the time to train for a full marathon. I no longer think that it is ridiculous, although I have no plans to do that for the near future.
Miles Completed-92.2
Miles to Go- 159.2
Fundraising-
I finally got everything worked out to get my waterbottles made. The company that I'm working with (Design Enterprises) has been amazing. Yara, their art manager, has really helped me out getting the logo ready and helping me to choose the right waterbottle. They couldn't help me out with my first choice bottle, but they suggested another, bigger waterbottle and they decided to donate almost half of the cost. They also waived the shipping fee and the set up fee for the printing. I can't believe it. Now, the donation that will come from each bottle will be bigger. I approved the final artwork yesterday, so they should be here in 3-5 business days. It has been such a long process that I'm getting a little antsy. I just can't wait until they come in. I was hoping to have them by the group run this weekend, but they won't be in until next week sometime.
In addition to the water bottles, I'm working with my mentor group on putting together an event. We have been talking to a couple of different places about putting on a Parent's Night Out. Basically, you drop off your kids and for ~$25 we entertain them for 4 hours. We did such a good job soliciting a place that I think that we are going to have 2 nights. 1 at a church where we will have ~4 different "rooms" set up (crafts, movie, playground, etc.) and another one at a place called "Leaping Lizards." "Leaping Lizards" is a really cool business. Basically, they purchased a bunch of bouncy things (bouncy castles, giant inflatable slides, etc.). They rent a warehouse and blow up all of these inflatables and they you pay admission to come and play. I don't think that we are going to be able to keep all of the money from that night, but it is much less effort on our part. They just opened an new location and have been planning to have a percentage night for a charity. Whitney, my mentor, happened to call them when they were planning it and they decided to make Team in Training their charity. We will make some percentage of all of their business that night. It is really cool.
I don't think that I realized how much people and companies are willing to give if you just ask. It helps that all of the donations are Tax-Deductable.
I also got an email from the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Apparently, I've qualified for a challenge. If I can raise all of my money by September 15th, I'll be entered into a drawing for a $300 Shopping Spree on race weekend in San Fran.
I can't decide whether I'm excited about the challenge or if it overwhelms me. I guess that just means that I need to get my fundraising done a month early, but those 4 weeks might be important. I think that I'm just going to continue working on my fundraising and then see how it goes. If I make it to September 1st and I have a ton left, then I won't worry about the challenge. If I only have a little left, I'll really push myself and my fundraising efforts. We shall see.
Funds Raised- $2325
Funds Remaining- $1675 (I like to watch this get smaller)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Thank you for your contribution!
Kris and Jim Hamilton
BZ and Jay Tannenbaum
Jenn and Jim Robertson
Suzanne Barksdale
Jean and Chuck Held
Sheila and Larry Moriarty
Catherine and Richard Haining
Margaret and Matt Mulry
Jean Elsea
Training-
Wow, I've done a bunch of training since my last post.
I guess I'll have to summarize.
On Saturday the 28th, I had to skip the Group run because I was leading part of the Boot Camp Saturday workout. It was tough, especially after I made a bunch of bad hydration decisions the night before. We had Boot Camp graduation, then a bunch of campers and instructors continued celebrating at a club. It was a hot and humid Saturday morning and we had a tough hill workout planned. Let's just say that it was rough! Even though I wasn't at the group run, I ran 2.5 miles(according to Tim's nifty watch gadget) and it was all uphill!
Sunday I ran by the river, nothing eventful, other than being ridiculously sore.
Monday, the 30th, was the first day of our July boot camp. I didn't do much running and I took the afternoon off too. I was in serious need of some recovery time from Saturday.
Tuesday was another track workout. I think that track workouts are even more fun for me than Group runs. In the track workouts I can chat with everyone, not just the people who run at my pace. This workout focused on stride rate, or turn over. It was interesting to hear that the most efficient runners -like me :-)- take 180 steps in a minute (90 on the R and 90 on the L). We started the workout with a few laps around the track just counting our steps. It became obvious that your stride rate has nothing to do with your pace. You can take 180 steps a minute and run a 15:00 mile or you can take 180 steps and run a 7:00 mile. After our counting laps, we did a couple drills. It made me feel like I was boot camping again. We did High Knees, Bum-Kicks, Skipping, and Bounding. Who knew that those things not only gave you a cardio workout, but they increase your efficiency too. It was a lot of fun, but it was a tough workout.
On Wednesday, I went for a run at the River with my coach, Joanna. I've been pretty exhausted recently and I've been starting to hurt so I wanted to talk to her about what I could do to make Boot Camp and Running work together. We had a great run. From talking to her, I've decided to take another rest day from running because my current rest days are not really rest. I'm boot camping those days. I'm also going to make sure that one of my run days is actually cross training. Hopefully that will help my body make it to October. I'm still trying to decide if I want to take Wednesdays off of running so that I never run 3 days in a row, or if I want to take Sundays off so that I have a true rest day with no activity. I think that I'm going to mix it up and see how I'm feeling each week and see when my boot camp days off are.
Thursday I took the day off because Friday was the 4th of July. I woke up early and ran in the Peachtree Road Race. For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Peachtree is the largest 10K in the world. 55,000 people wake up on 4th of July and run 6.2 miles down the most famous street in Atlanta. For anyone living in Atlanta, you should check it out. It is more of an event than a race, but it is always a blast, think about running through a mall at 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve, now make it 80 degrees with 90% humidity. That is the Peachtree.
This was my 5th year running and I think that it was the most successful. Bryan and I ran together again. We ran the first 3 miles without stopping, which was impressive. We ran about 1/2 of the rest of the way and walked the other 1/2. There are so many people who compete in this event that they start in waves, not all at the same time. The elite runners started at 7:30am. Bryan and I crossed the START line at 8:45am. We kept up a pretty good pace, even with our walk breaks and averaged about a 12 minute mile. Not too shabby.
I woke up early again on Saturday for our group run. There weren't very many people there, but there were still more than I expected with the holiday weekend. I just did a light run of 2 miles or so because I was a little stiff from the Race, but it was a good run. The last hill up from the river is always a killer.
I took Sunday off this week and here I am. We did a sprint workout this morning at Boot camp, so I'm pretty exhausted, but I'm going for a run this evening. I think that I'm going to stop on my way home and get some new running shoes. I was trying to alternate my two pairs between running and boot camp, but I'm now at the point where both pairs of shoes are wrecked and my knees and feet are really starting to hurt. I'm hoping that buying new shoes will fix that problem. Unfortunately, that means that I have to buy 2 pair, and I haven't been able to find my favorites other than at a specialty running store ($$$$$). But, I figure that shoes are cheaper than co-pays and surgery.
Miles Completed- 74.7
Miles to Go- 176.3 (before September)
Fundraising-
Wow, you guys ROCK! I am solidly past the halfway mark. Thanks to everyone for their generous support. I finally got the thanks postcards in and started writing them. Then, in my infinite wisdom, I tried to sort my address list by last name.
Well...the names got sorted, but not the addresses. I'm slowly working on re-connecting the names with the addresses. I apologise if it takes me longer than it should to get you a thank you note. It has been an interesting mix of memory and process of elimination to get everyone attached to the correct street.
On a happier note, I've been working with a manufacturer to create a fundraising product. I wanted to make something that is appropriate for my event, but fun and cool at the same time. I finally decided on a product. I'm making aluminum water bottles with the Team in Training Logo on them. I'm still working out the final details (I'm trying to get the company to donate all, or part of the cost), but I should be finished with hammering out the details by the end of the week and then I'll be able to get the bottles within 2 weeks. Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you more info. Yay! I'm finally feeling confident about the fundraising part of it. We have re-commitment on August 7th and I've already doubled my re-commitment minimum. It is a big weight off of my shoulders to not have to stress out about it.
Funds Raised- $2175
Funds Remaining- $1825
Kris and Jim Hamilton
BZ and Jay Tannenbaum
Jenn and Jim Robertson
Suzanne Barksdale
Jean and Chuck Held
Sheila and Larry Moriarty
Catherine and Richard Haining
Margaret and Matt Mulry
Jean Elsea
Training-
Wow, I've done a bunch of training since my last post.
I guess I'll have to summarize.
On Saturday the 28th, I had to skip the Group run because I was leading part of the Boot Camp Saturday workout. It was tough, especially after I made a bunch of bad hydration decisions the night before. We had Boot Camp graduation, then a bunch of campers and instructors continued celebrating at a club. It was a hot and humid Saturday morning and we had a tough hill workout planned. Let's just say that it was rough! Even though I wasn't at the group run, I ran 2.5 miles(according to Tim's nifty watch gadget) and it was all uphill!
Sunday I ran by the river, nothing eventful, other than being ridiculously sore.
Monday, the 30th, was the first day of our July boot camp. I didn't do much running and I took the afternoon off too. I was in serious need of some recovery time from Saturday.
Tuesday was another track workout. I think that track workouts are even more fun for me than Group runs. In the track workouts I can chat with everyone, not just the people who run at my pace. This workout focused on stride rate, or turn over. It was interesting to hear that the most efficient runners -like me :-)- take 180 steps in a minute (90 on the R and 90 on the L). We started the workout with a few laps around the track just counting our steps. It became obvious that your stride rate has nothing to do with your pace. You can take 180 steps a minute and run a 15:00 mile or you can take 180 steps and run a 7:00 mile. After our counting laps, we did a couple drills. It made me feel like I was boot camping again. We did High Knees, Bum-Kicks, Skipping, and Bounding. Who knew that those things not only gave you a cardio workout, but they increase your efficiency too. It was a lot of fun, but it was a tough workout.
On Wednesday, I went for a run at the River with my coach, Joanna. I've been pretty exhausted recently and I've been starting to hurt so I wanted to talk to her about what I could do to make Boot Camp and Running work together. We had a great run. From talking to her, I've decided to take another rest day from running because my current rest days are not really rest. I'm boot camping those days. I'm also going to make sure that one of my run days is actually cross training. Hopefully that will help my body make it to October. I'm still trying to decide if I want to take Wednesdays off of running so that I never run 3 days in a row, or if I want to take Sundays off so that I have a true rest day with no activity. I think that I'm going to mix it up and see how I'm feeling each week and see when my boot camp days off are.
Thursday I took the day off because Friday was the 4th of July. I woke up early and ran in the Peachtree Road Race. For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Peachtree is the largest 10K in the world. 55,000 people wake up on 4th of July and run 6.2 miles down the most famous street in Atlanta. For anyone living in Atlanta, you should check it out. It is more of an event than a race, but it is always a blast, think about running through a mall at 4:30 pm on Christmas Eve, now make it 80 degrees with 90% humidity. That is the Peachtree.
This was my 5th year running and I think that it was the most successful. Bryan and I ran together again. We ran the first 3 miles without stopping, which was impressive. We ran about 1/2 of the rest of the way and walked the other 1/2. There are so many people who compete in this event that they start in waves, not all at the same time. The elite runners started at 7:30am. Bryan and I crossed the START line at 8:45am. We kept up a pretty good pace, even with our walk breaks and averaged about a 12 minute mile. Not too shabby.
I woke up early again on Saturday for our group run. There weren't very many people there, but there were still more than I expected with the holiday weekend. I just did a light run of 2 miles or so because I was a little stiff from the Race, but it was a good run. The last hill up from the river is always a killer.
I took Sunday off this week and here I am. We did a sprint workout this morning at Boot camp, so I'm pretty exhausted, but I'm going for a run this evening. I think that I'm going to stop on my way home and get some new running shoes. I was trying to alternate my two pairs between running and boot camp, but I'm now at the point where both pairs of shoes are wrecked and my knees and feet are really starting to hurt. I'm hoping that buying new shoes will fix that problem. Unfortunately, that means that I have to buy 2 pair, and I haven't been able to find my favorites other than at a specialty running store ($$$$$). But, I figure that shoes are cheaper than co-pays and surgery.
Miles Completed- 74.7
Miles to Go- 176.3 (before September)
Fundraising-
Wow, you guys ROCK! I am solidly past the halfway mark. Thanks to everyone for their generous support. I finally got the thanks postcards in and started writing them. Then, in my infinite wisdom, I tried to sort my address list by last name.
Well...the names got sorted, but not the addresses. I'm slowly working on re-connecting the names with the addresses. I apologise if it takes me longer than it should to get you a thank you note. It has been an interesting mix of memory and process of elimination to get everyone attached to the correct street.
On a happier note, I've been working with a manufacturer to create a fundraising product. I wanted to make something that is appropriate for my event, but fun and cool at the same time. I finally decided on a product. I'm making aluminum water bottles with the Team in Training Logo on them. I'm still working out the final details (I'm trying to get the company to donate all, or part of the cost), but I should be finished with hammering out the details by the end of the week and then I'll be able to get the bottles within 2 weeks. Let me know if you are interested and I'll send you more info. Yay! I'm finally feeling confident about the fundraising part of it. We have re-commitment on August 7th and I've already doubled my re-commitment minimum. It is a big weight off of my shoulders to not have to stress out about it.
Funds Raised- $2175
Funds Remaining- $1825
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
