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
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Group Runs and Cross Training
Thank you for your contribution!
Fred Elsea
Betsy & Bill Papania
Mary Elsea and Michael Hull
Ryland Brooks
Debbie Pierce
Training-
Our group training was back at the river again this past Saturday. The group was a little smaller because there was a fundraising yard sale at the track, but it was just as fun. We did 3 miles again. It was much easier than the last time we ran at the river, although the big hill at the end still killed me. For some reason(most likely dehydration), my right calf cramped up right as I came out of the park on my way back. It made the hill tougher, but I still managed to get most of the way up the hill before stopping. It was nice to run most of the way with Laurie again. I feel like I've really started to make some friends on the Team. All in all, it was a good training session.
On Sunday, I decided that I needed to take a break from running, but I still needed to get in a workout. Bryan has been bugging me for a while to go cycling with him and he finally got his bike tuned up, so we went to the Silver Comet Trail for a little ride. It is a beautiful trail that is a part of the Trails from Rails program.
Now, for those of you who don't know me, it is important to remember that other than the leisurely ride on the comfort cruiser at the beach, I don't bike. I rented a bike from the Silver Comet Depot. They just got a new type of Bike into the rental dept. on Saturday, Cafe Bikes. It is kind of like a hybrid (road/mountain) except it is styled to look like an older european bike with fenders and the like. I thought that I would try it out, especially because it looked less intimidating than the road bikes. I liked it, although it was a little heavy and the pedals got a little slippery when it started to rain.
The last time that Bryan and I went biking (in the fall) we only went about 10 miles. I wasn't sure how far I'd be able to make it this time either. I'm in much better shape, but biking is a whole new set of motions. After about 4 miles, my legs started to burn. We ended up biking from Floyd Rd. (SC Depot) to Florence Rd., way out in Powder Springs. According to my Silver Comet Guidebook, it is 7.6 miles out, 15.2 miles round trip. Not bad for a non-biker.
I took Monday off of running, but we did a sprint workout for Bootcamp, so I definately got a workout in. Tuesday, I ran in bootcamp and that is it. I was still pretty sore from biking and the sprint workout, so I didn't run anymore. We had some friends visiting bootcamp, so I did a bunch of cardio and plyometrics (jump exercises) there.
Today I got lucky. It is my scheduled longer miles day for Team in Training, AND it was our scheduled long run day for Bootcamp. Ahh, the joys of creating the Bootcamp Schedule to match up with my life. We had a gorgeous run around Chastain Park. There are a couple of good hills and I got to run with a whole new group of people. It was great. Especially seeing the look on the faces of the group I was running with. A bunch of them thought that there was no way that they would make it around the park in time. Everyone did a great job. It was tons of fun.
Miles Completed- 56
Miles to Go- 195 (before september)
Fundraising-
I finally got my Thank you Postcards ordered. I'm not incredibly happy with them, but they should look pretty good. They shipped today, so I should see them fairly soon. DHL says that it could take up to 7 days, but they are only coming from Michigan, so I'm gussing that I'll have them sooner. That means that I'll have to get postcard stamps and such this weekend.
I officially sent in my first group of checks to Paycor, the processing company. I kept on putting it off because checks kept on coming, but I finally decided that I didn't want to be holding on to that much money. I'll just have to send another group within the next week. What a wonderful problem to have. Thank you all for your support.
I also really need to look through my box. I had a group of letters that I didn't mail because I was missing a piece of the address or something. At this point, I need to go back to those and get them out. I'm plugging along!
Funds Raised- $1790
Funds Remaining- $2210
Fred Elsea
Betsy & Bill Papania
Mary Elsea and Michael Hull
Ryland Brooks
Debbie Pierce
Training-
Our group training was back at the river again this past Saturday. The group was a little smaller because there was a fundraising yard sale at the track, but it was just as fun. We did 3 miles again. It was much easier than the last time we ran at the river, although the big hill at the end still killed me. For some reason(most likely dehydration), my right calf cramped up right as I came out of the park on my way back. It made the hill tougher, but I still managed to get most of the way up the hill before stopping. It was nice to run most of the way with Laurie again. I feel like I've really started to make some friends on the Team. All in all, it was a good training session.
On Sunday, I decided that I needed to take a break from running, but I still needed to get in a workout. Bryan has been bugging me for a while to go cycling with him and he finally got his bike tuned up, so we went to the Silver Comet Trail for a little ride. It is a beautiful trail that is a part of the Trails from Rails program.
Now, for those of you who don't know me, it is important to remember that other than the leisurely ride on the comfort cruiser at the beach, I don't bike. I rented a bike from the Silver Comet Depot. They just got a new type of Bike into the rental dept. on Saturday, Cafe Bikes. It is kind of like a hybrid (road/mountain) except it is styled to look like an older european bike with fenders and the like. I thought that I would try it out, especially because it looked less intimidating than the road bikes. I liked it, although it was a little heavy and the pedals got a little slippery when it started to rain.
The last time that Bryan and I went biking (in the fall) we only went about 10 miles. I wasn't sure how far I'd be able to make it this time either. I'm in much better shape, but biking is a whole new set of motions. After about 4 miles, my legs started to burn. We ended up biking from Floyd Rd. (SC Depot) to Florence Rd., way out in Powder Springs. According to my Silver Comet Guidebook, it is 7.6 miles out, 15.2 miles round trip. Not bad for a non-biker.
I took Monday off of running, but we did a sprint workout for Bootcamp, so I definately got a workout in. Tuesday, I ran in bootcamp and that is it. I was still pretty sore from biking and the sprint workout, so I didn't run anymore. We had some friends visiting bootcamp, so I did a bunch of cardio and plyometrics (jump exercises) there.
Today I got lucky. It is my scheduled longer miles day for Team in Training, AND it was our scheduled long run day for Bootcamp. Ahh, the joys of creating the Bootcamp Schedule to match up with my life. We had a gorgeous run around Chastain Park. There are a couple of good hills and I got to run with a whole new group of people. It was great. Especially seeing the look on the faces of the group I was running with. A bunch of them thought that there was no way that they would make it around the park in time. Everyone did a great job. It was tons of fun.
Miles Completed- 56
Miles to Go- 195 (before september)
Fundraising-
I finally got my Thank you Postcards ordered. I'm not incredibly happy with them, but they should look pretty good. They shipped today, so I should see them fairly soon. DHL says that it could take up to 7 days, but they are only coming from Michigan, so I'm gussing that I'll have them sooner. That means that I'll have to get postcard stamps and such this weekend.
I officially sent in my first group of checks to Paycor, the processing company. I kept on putting it off because checks kept on coming, but I finally decided that I didn't want to be holding on to that much money. I'll just have to send another group within the next week. What a wonderful problem to have. Thank you all for your support.
I also really need to look through my box. I had a group of letters that I didn't mail because I was missing a piece of the address or something. At this point, I need to go back to those and get them out. I'm plugging along!
Funds Raised- $1790
Funds Remaining- $2210
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Yay! I'm getting there!
Thank you for your contribution!
Mary Grace Diehl and Michael Jablonski
Ann and Don Teddlie
Jim Shirk
Mike Baker
Neva Morrison
Rachel and Ralph Greil
Paul Liebman
Laura Heinlein
Dean and Steph Saxe
Elizabeth Jablonski-Diehl and Jeff Newcamp
Peter and Paula DeVaux
Training-
As good as my intentions were about running in Tampa, it didn't happen. We drove down on Friday and went to the rehearsal dinner. I was exhausted, so I slept in on Saturday and then went to the wedding. It was beautiful and I had a blast. Even though I didn't run, I did dance for almost 5 hours, in heels. I think that should count for something. On Sunday, Bryan and I went to Fort DeSoto Beach for a little bit of sand and sun. We ended up wading through the water for about a mile to get to a less crowded portion of the beach, then we swam for probably 2+ hours. It wasn't running either, but it was exhausting. Then we drove home Monday and I didn't get a chance to run then either.
But then, Tuesday came. I started the morning with my feet feeling much better. I think that I really needed that break. I lead our boot camp workout and we ended up running about 2 miles, mostly hills. If anyone reading is in Atlanta, we ran up the hill by the Chastain playground. It is a killer. As much as I enjoyed my weekend off, I was ready to get back to running. We also had a Track workout Tuesday afternoon. The focus of this workout was breathing patterns. After running a couple of warm-up laps and stretching, we had a quick chat about form and breathing and then we did some drills. CoJo told us that the most aerobically efficient runners breathe in or out every 2 steps. Most recreational runners fall somewhere between 2 and 3 steps per breath.
I never knew that it could be so hard to run and breathe at the same time. On our first drill, we had to run a lap and either inhale or exhale with every step (in on L foot, out on R foot). After I got over the sound of 15 people breathing in and out in unison (in sounded like a bunch of women doing cheesy Lamaze breathing)I ran my lap. I thought that I was going to die. It felt like I didn't have enough time to breathe in before I had to breathe out again. We then repeated the drill with 2 steps per breath. It felt OK, but I wasn't really comfortable. I took a quick break and ran taking 3 steps per breath (in- R,L,R, Out- L,R,L). I ended up feeling like I had too much time to breathe in. It was like taking a big breath in and holding for a little bit. Our final drill was taking 4 steps per breath. I felt like I was drowning. I would have to lift my shoulders to breathe in and then I felt like I had no air left to blow out by the time I got to the end of the 4 steps. After the drills, we ran a couple of laps to cool down and then chatted about the drills. I think that I'm most comfortable breathing in for 2 steps and out for 3. I'll have to pay attention to that. I'm guessing that will be helpful information as I get further into my training.
Wednesday morning we ran about 2.5 miles in boot camp then I ran another mile when I got home. I used the treadmill in my apartment complex and I've decided that I'm not going to do that again. After training outside and being in boot camp for so many months, I can't handle running in place like that. I need more visual stimulation.
This morning, was Bring a Friend day for boot camp. We did a field workout and I didn't run very much, so I ran a mile around the park after we cleaned up from camp. I'm trying to decide if I want to run tomorrow morning on my off day from boot camp. I think that it would be better for me to take the day off so that I can be fresh for our Saturday run, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.
I have to say that all of this running is really making a difference. I can feel a real difference in my endurance during our group runs. Also, I feel better during boot camp. I'm not struggling as much to stay at the front of the pack when I'm leading. Yet another benefit of my training.
Miles Completed- 45
Miles to Go- 206 (before September)
Fundraising-
YAY! I'm getting it done!
My letters went out late last week and I'm starting to get donations in. I have to say that it has really reduced my stress level. Every little bit gets me closer and closer to my goal. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Please don't feel slighted if you mailed me a check and you don't appear on my website yet, I promise, it will show up. Online donations will show up on my website within 24 hours. Offline donations take almost 2 weeks to be processed. Honestly, I'm very relieved to watch the little thermometer rise on my fundraising page
I'm still working on those Thank-You postcards. I finally found the perfect place to get them printed. I took a couple of pictures for it, but for some reason the top of my head didn't make the photo. It looks a little strange (thanks CoJo). I think that I just need to enlist the help of a more qualified photographer. I'm really hoping to get it done this weekend. I'm going to be pretty busy, but I'll make it happen.
Thanks again to everyone who has donated so far! I'm solidly past the 25% mark and heading to 50% quickly.
Funds Raised- $1440
Funds Remaining- $2560
Mary Grace Diehl and Michael Jablonski
Ann and Don Teddlie
Jim Shirk
Mike Baker
Neva Morrison
Rachel and Ralph Greil
Paul Liebman
Laura Heinlein
Dean and Steph Saxe
Elizabeth Jablonski-Diehl and Jeff Newcamp
Peter and Paula DeVaux
Training-
As good as my intentions were about running in Tampa, it didn't happen. We drove down on Friday and went to the rehearsal dinner. I was exhausted, so I slept in on Saturday and then went to the wedding. It was beautiful and I had a blast. Even though I didn't run, I did dance for almost 5 hours, in heels. I think that should count for something. On Sunday, Bryan and I went to Fort DeSoto Beach for a little bit of sand and sun. We ended up wading through the water for about a mile to get to a less crowded portion of the beach, then we swam for probably 2+ hours. It wasn't running either, but it was exhausting. Then we drove home Monday and I didn't get a chance to run then either.
But then, Tuesday came. I started the morning with my feet feeling much better. I think that I really needed that break. I lead our boot camp workout and we ended up running about 2 miles, mostly hills. If anyone reading is in Atlanta, we ran up the hill by the Chastain playground. It is a killer. As much as I enjoyed my weekend off, I was ready to get back to running. We also had a Track workout Tuesday afternoon. The focus of this workout was breathing patterns. After running a couple of warm-up laps and stretching, we had a quick chat about form and breathing and then we did some drills. CoJo told us that the most aerobically efficient runners breathe in or out every 2 steps. Most recreational runners fall somewhere between 2 and 3 steps per breath.
I never knew that it could be so hard to run and breathe at the same time. On our first drill, we had to run a lap and either inhale or exhale with every step (in on L foot, out on R foot). After I got over the sound of 15 people breathing in and out in unison (in sounded like a bunch of women doing cheesy Lamaze breathing)I ran my lap. I thought that I was going to die. It felt like I didn't have enough time to breathe in before I had to breathe out again. We then repeated the drill with 2 steps per breath. It felt OK, but I wasn't really comfortable. I took a quick break and ran taking 3 steps per breath (in- R,L,R, Out- L,R,L). I ended up feeling like I had too much time to breathe in. It was like taking a big breath in and holding for a little bit. Our final drill was taking 4 steps per breath. I felt like I was drowning. I would have to lift my shoulders to breathe in and then I felt like I had no air left to blow out by the time I got to the end of the 4 steps. After the drills, we ran a couple of laps to cool down and then chatted about the drills. I think that I'm most comfortable breathing in for 2 steps and out for 3. I'll have to pay attention to that. I'm guessing that will be helpful information as I get further into my training.
Wednesday morning we ran about 2.5 miles in boot camp then I ran another mile when I got home. I used the treadmill in my apartment complex and I've decided that I'm not going to do that again. After training outside and being in boot camp for so many months, I can't handle running in place like that. I need more visual stimulation.
This morning, was Bring a Friend day for boot camp. We did a field workout and I didn't run very much, so I ran a mile around the park after we cleaned up from camp. I'm trying to decide if I want to run tomorrow morning on my off day from boot camp. I think that it would be better for me to take the day off so that I can be fresh for our Saturday run, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to do.
I have to say that all of this running is really making a difference. I can feel a real difference in my endurance during our group runs. Also, I feel better during boot camp. I'm not struggling as much to stay at the front of the pack when I'm leading. Yet another benefit of my training.
Miles Completed- 45
Miles to Go- 206 (before September)
Fundraising-
YAY! I'm getting it done!
My letters went out late last week and I'm starting to get donations in. I have to say that it has really reduced my stress level. Every little bit gets me closer and closer to my goal. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Please don't feel slighted if you mailed me a check and you don't appear on my website yet, I promise, it will show up. Online donations will show up on my website within 24 hours. Offline donations take almost 2 weeks to be processed. Honestly, I'm very relieved to watch the little thermometer rise on my fundraising page
I'm still working on those Thank-You postcards. I finally found the perfect place to get them printed. I took a couple of pictures for it, but for some reason the top of my head didn't make the photo. It looks a little strange (thanks CoJo). I think that I just need to enlist the help of a more qualified photographer. I'm really hoping to get it done this weekend. I'm going to be pretty busy, but I'll make it happen.
Thanks again to everyone who has donated so far! I'm solidly past the 25% mark and heading to 50% quickly.
Funds Raised- $1440
Funds Remaining- $2560
Thursday, June 12, 2008
It is all starting to come together!
Thank you for your contribution!
Nancy Skinner
Donna Nance
Training-
After our Saturday run, I was pretty much exhausted, although not quite as much as last week. Sunday, we were supposed to run 3 miles or cross-train. I figured that I do enough running during the week, my body could use a break. I went to my complex pool with every intention of swimming some laps, but I have to admit that I didn't end up really swimming for fitness. There was a lot of floating around in the water and relaxing instead. Monday was our day off from TNT, but I still went to Bootcamp in the morning.
On Tuesday, I did both. We had a tough workout in Bootcamp in the morning, with a fair amount of running. After work, I went over to my parent's house and went for a 2.2 mile run with my Mom. It has gotten hotter and hotter, which makes running hard. Even with the heat, I kept up a pretty good pace. We finished the 2 miles in 22 minutes and 30 seconds which works out to about 11 minute miles. A little slower than I would like to run, but with the heat, I didn't want to over do it.
Even with slowing down, I'm starting to think that two-a-days are not really the best plan. Wednesday morning, I woke up with extreme pain in my right arch. I've had some problems with it before, so I did all of the things that the physical therapist told me to do. I wore supportive shoes, rolled my foot over a golf ball and a frozen water bottle, and I stretched my lower legs a lot. It helped, but I'm still pretty tender in my arches. I emailed with CoJo about it and she gave me a couple of other suggestions to help out.
Because of the pain, I've decided to take a couple of days off of running. I didn't run last night. I did go to Bootcamp this morning, but the workout allowed me to lead and encourage without too much running. I would bet that I still ran about 1.5 miles both yesterday and today, but it was split up during the workout. I'm not planning on running this afternoon, and tomorrow, Bryan and I are driving down to Tampa for his brother's wedding. I'm not going to go to Bootcamp, and I won't be running either. I'm already feeling better and hopefully the couple of days off will get me back to 100%. I'm planning on running on Saturday and Sunday, but I'll be off of running and bootcamp on Monday, so that will give me another chance to rest up.
Miles Completed- 34
Miles to Go- 218(Before September)
Fundraising-
Yay, It is all starting to come together. My letters went out the other day. I've spoken with a few people who have received them, so I'm guessing that most of them will arrive in the next few days. I've even seen some donations that came directly from those letters. It is exciting and reassuring to feel like I'm really getting going. I've done some more research about postcards, so those are going to be done soon. I hope to take my photo tonight and get everything set up and ordered. I checked through Kinkos to see what it would be like, and they wanted to charge me almost $150 to print the postcards. I decided that was too much, so I'm going to order them online. I can get them for closer to $30, which is much closer to my price range. I'm even thinking about contacting the company and asking if they would be interested in donating the cards as a gift in kind. Even if that doesn't work, I'm OK spending $30 on them. I'll be in Tampa this weekend for a wedding, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done on the fundraising front.
I'm still working on something to do with the Spa basket that I won. I'm also trying to brainstorm an idea for an event. Some of the people in my mentor group mentioned putting together a parent's night out event. I think that with all of the experience that I have from Pace Camp and other Pace events, that I would be able to put together a pretty awesome night. We shall see.
Funds Raised- $650
Funds Remaining- $3350
Nancy Skinner
Donna Nance
Training-
After our Saturday run, I was pretty much exhausted, although not quite as much as last week. Sunday, we were supposed to run 3 miles or cross-train. I figured that I do enough running during the week, my body could use a break. I went to my complex pool with every intention of swimming some laps, but I have to admit that I didn't end up really swimming for fitness. There was a lot of floating around in the water and relaxing instead. Monday was our day off from TNT, but I still went to Bootcamp in the morning.
On Tuesday, I did both. We had a tough workout in Bootcamp in the morning, with a fair amount of running. After work, I went over to my parent's house and went for a 2.2 mile run with my Mom. It has gotten hotter and hotter, which makes running hard. Even with the heat, I kept up a pretty good pace. We finished the 2 miles in 22 minutes and 30 seconds which works out to about 11 minute miles. A little slower than I would like to run, but with the heat, I didn't want to over do it.
Even with slowing down, I'm starting to think that two-a-days are not really the best plan. Wednesday morning, I woke up with extreme pain in my right arch. I've had some problems with it before, so I did all of the things that the physical therapist told me to do. I wore supportive shoes, rolled my foot over a golf ball and a frozen water bottle, and I stretched my lower legs a lot. It helped, but I'm still pretty tender in my arches. I emailed with CoJo about it and she gave me a couple of other suggestions to help out.
Because of the pain, I've decided to take a couple of days off of running. I didn't run last night. I did go to Bootcamp this morning, but the workout allowed me to lead and encourage without too much running. I would bet that I still ran about 1.5 miles both yesterday and today, but it was split up during the workout. I'm not planning on running this afternoon, and tomorrow, Bryan and I are driving down to Tampa for his brother's wedding. I'm not going to go to Bootcamp, and I won't be running either. I'm already feeling better and hopefully the couple of days off will get me back to 100%. I'm planning on running on Saturday and Sunday, but I'll be off of running and bootcamp on Monday, so that will give me another chance to rest up.
Miles Completed- 34
Miles to Go- 218(Before September)
Fundraising-
Yay, It is all starting to come together. My letters went out the other day. I've spoken with a few people who have received them, so I'm guessing that most of them will arrive in the next few days. I've even seen some donations that came directly from those letters. It is exciting and reassuring to feel like I'm really getting going. I've done some more research about postcards, so those are going to be done soon. I hope to take my photo tonight and get everything set up and ordered. I checked through Kinkos to see what it would be like, and they wanted to charge me almost $150 to print the postcards. I decided that was too much, so I'm going to order them online. I can get them for closer to $30, which is much closer to my price range. I'm even thinking about contacting the company and asking if they would be interested in donating the cards as a gift in kind. Even if that doesn't work, I'm OK spending $30 on them. I'll be in Tampa this weekend for a wedding, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done on the fundraising front.
I'm still working on something to do with the Spa basket that I won. I'm also trying to brainstorm an idea for an event. Some of the people in my mentor group mentioned putting together a parent's night out event. I think that with all of the experience that I have from Pace Camp and other Pace events, that I would be able to put together a pretty awesome night. We shall see.
Funds Raised- $650
Funds Remaining- $3350
Monday, June 9, 2008
Cool new tool
I heard about this cool website on Saturday.
www.MapMyRun.com
When I get a chance, I'll link my runs to my blog. It is really interesting to see exactly how far I ran. I'm planning on using it a lot in the future to plan my runs. It is a lot better to go out with a map than to kind of blindly jog along.
www.MapMyRun.com
When I get a chance, I'll link my runs to my blog. It is really interesting to see exactly how far I ran. I'm planning on using it a lot in the future to plan my runs. It is a lot better to go out with a map than to kind of blindly jog along.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Thank you for your contribution!
Leanne Heller
Training-
I went to the Big Peach Running Co. on Wednesday for the unofficial TNT group run. It was HOT!!
There was an interesting group of people there. Most of the TNT people were training on the intermediate or advanced schedule. I'm training on the Basic schedule. Mostly because my plan is to complete the half marathon, not so much compete against others. I ran my 3 miles mostly by myself, but it was kind of nice. I really enjoyed the new scenery. I think that I'm going to try to run there most Wednesdays. Even though there aren't that many people that are at my level, it is nice to at least have some people to stretch with and it is nice to have water stops provided. I have to say though, I must have lost 5 pounds in water weight. I've never really been interested in drinking sports drinks with any regularity, but I decided that I really need to get more fluids and more electrolytes, especially when I'm working out twice a day. I walked into the grocery store on Thursday and Gatorade was on sale 10 for $10. I got a couple different flavors, so we will see which I like the best.
We had a Group run after the fundraising clinic today.
I ran with "Loony" Lisa, from my pace group on Tuesday. It was nice to have a running buddy who was at my same pace. She really motivated me to continue running when I wanted to stop. It was nice feeling like I actually accomplished something. Running more than 2 miles is still pretty hard for me, but it is getting much easier. I'm really working on pace and it seems to be helping. Our pace was supposed to be a 10 minute mile. Lisa and I did our 3 miles in 33 minutes, but that included 2 water stops. Other than the 2 water stops (mandatory in the current Atlanta weather) and the 2 major street crossings (Habersham and Valley), we didn't stop the whole time. Lisa and I even had the energy to sprint it in to the finish. Go us! It was also great. As we were going down the street, a group of cyclists passed us. Usually, they just zip on by, but this time, one of the riders cheered for us and shouted "Go Team!" Everyday I'm more and more surprised by the number of people who have completed an even with TNT. Everyone is so supportive that I am getting more confident about my ability to actually do this. The one thing that I really do need to change is that I need to remember to bring a towel to runs. I was literally drenched when I got back to the group today. Even wearing a dry-fit shirt, I had beads of sweat running down my shoulders, arms, legs, back, and forehead. I couldn't even find a dry spot on my shirt to wipe the sweat out of my eyes with. I guess that is a good thing, my body is cooling itself down. I have found that I'm not getting as hot and sweating as much outside of training, but it is starting to make my car smell since I sit my sweaty butt on my seats twice a day. Oh well!
Thanks everyone for your support!
Miles Completed- 32
Miles to Go- 220 (before September)
Fundraising-
Funds Raised- $550
Funds Remaining- $3450
Leanne Heller
Training-
I went to the Big Peach Running Co. on Wednesday for the unofficial TNT group run. It was HOT!!
There was an interesting group of people there. Most of the TNT people were training on the intermediate or advanced schedule. I'm training on the Basic schedule. Mostly because my plan is to complete the half marathon, not so much compete against others. I ran my 3 miles mostly by myself, but it was kind of nice. I really enjoyed the new scenery. I think that I'm going to try to run there most Wednesdays. Even though there aren't that many people that are at my level, it is nice to at least have some people to stretch with and it is nice to have water stops provided. I have to say though, I must have lost 5 pounds in water weight. I've never really been interested in drinking sports drinks with any regularity, but I decided that I really need to get more fluids and more electrolytes, especially when I'm working out twice a day. I walked into the grocery store on Thursday and Gatorade was on sale 10 for $10. I got a couple different flavors, so we will see which I like the best.
We had a Group run after the fundraising clinic today.
I ran with "Loony" Lisa, from my pace group on Tuesday. It was nice to have a running buddy who was at my same pace. She really motivated me to continue running when I wanted to stop. It was nice feeling like I actually accomplished something. Running more than 2 miles is still pretty hard for me, but it is getting much easier. I'm really working on pace and it seems to be helping. Our pace was supposed to be a 10 minute mile. Lisa and I did our 3 miles in 33 minutes, but that included 2 water stops. Other than the 2 water stops (mandatory in the current Atlanta weather) and the 2 major street crossings (Habersham and Valley), we didn't stop the whole time. Lisa and I even had the energy to sprint it in to the finish. Go us! It was also great. As we were going down the street, a group of cyclists passed us. Usually, they just zip on by, but this time, one of the riders cheered for us and shouted "Go Team!" Everyday I'm more and more surprised by the number of people who have completed an even with TNT. Everyone is so supportive that I am getting more confident about my ability to actually do this. The one thing that I really do need to change is that I need to remember to bring a towel to runs. I was literally drenched when I got back to the group today. Even wearing a dry-fit shirt, I had beads of sweat running down my shoulders, arms, legs, back, and forehead. I couldn't even find a dry spot on my shirt to wipe the sweat out of my eyes with. I guess that is a good thing, my body is cooling itself down. I have found that I'm not getting as hot and sweating as much outside of training, but it is starting to make my car smell since I sit my sweaty butt on my seats twice a day. Oh well!
Thanks everyone for your support!
Miles Completed- 32
Miles to Go- 220 (before September)
Fundraising-
I got my letters turned in. Ok, not 100, but I turned in 92 which I think is close enough to 100 to count. I have some others that I want to get out, but I think that I'm going to either hand deliver them, or send them out as a group. I had a few that I need to send internationally, so I'm going to need to send those on my own to make sure that they get enough postage.
We had our TEAM fundraising clinic this morning before our group run. It was great to hear everyone's ideas and talk to Maureen from the society about some of my ideas. Also, after the clinic they held a raffle for a spa basket.
I won!
Depending on how my other fundraising stuff goes, I'm either going to use it as a raffle prize or an incentive of some sort. Yay, I'm getting closer and closer. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out.
Funds Raised- $550
Funds Remaining- $3450
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
