Tri- City half marathon

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a great weekend.  I spend mine completing one of my 2015 goals, which was running the Tri-city medical half marathon in Carlsbad, CA.  I set this goal on my 30th birthday and feel accomplished that I was able to follow through with it.  I created a running plan to follow, but fell a little short and did not prepare for this race as well as I had for prior races.  That being said I still set my time goal high, with a completion time of 2hrs.  

The morning of the race I felt relaxed and confident, the week prior I ate a clean diet, maintained good sleep habits and stretched my muscles daily.  These good habits really seemed to help we feel great on race day.   

Once I got into my "wave" group I was ready to go, the first 7/8 miles I cruised up and down the coasts rolling hills.  Once I finished mile 8 my plan was so slow slightly and speed up again for miles 11-13, that would have worked if I had not eaten an orange slice!  I had to slow my pace due to a major side cramp, I was really bummed but pushed along and finished the race in 2:02, 2 minutes slower then my goal.  I am very competitive with myself and was really bummed about my time and how I felt at the end of the race.  I am glad I completed the race and feel great about how strong my first half of the run was, now I am ready to beat that time and continue my weekly runs.  

Lesson learned here:  Don't eat the orange and over prepare. 

Until next time!

Carlsbad  beach

Start of the race

Motivation Monday {half marathon training}

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We celebrated a friends 40th birthday with many good friends we had not seen in a while.  That being said with left over endorphins from a great saturday workout and some liquid courage.. wine ;) a friend and I decided to sign up for a half marathon.  This will not be my first but it has been about 2 years since I ran my last one.  It took that long to decide I was ready to put in the time and energy to start training again.  I wouldn't necessarily call myself a runner, at least not right now, but I do hit the pavement or treadmill about 3-4 times a week.  I love the feeling of heading out for a long run and seeing where my mind and at times feet take me.  I started to crave that feeling again and decided it was time to "lace up the sneakers".  To be honest I don't take training for a half marathon lightly, I am very competitive with myself and always set out to beat my fastest time.  

So... no better time then now to start training for the Tri City Carlsbad half marathon find info here.

I have used this training plan for the last 3 half marathons I ran, and plan on using it again.  If you are looking for a running program I highly suggest it.  You can find the full site here.

Week	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat.	Sun.
1	Off	Fartlek (4M)	4M	4M	Off	3M	6M
2	Off	Fartlek (4M)	5M	3M	Off	3M	7M
3	Off	4-5 Hills 5K-10K pace	5M	3M	Off	3M	6M
4	Off	3-4 Long Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	8M
5	Off	5-6 Hills 5K-10K pace	3M	4M	Off	3M	7M
6	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	4M	6M	Off	5M	9M
7	Off	3 x Mile 5K-10K pace	3M	5M	Off	3M	7M
8	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	5M	6M	Off	5M	10M
9	Off	6 x 880s 5K-10K pace	4M	7M	Off	3M	10K Race (Or 8M run)
10M	Off	4 x Mile 5K-10K pace	6M	7M	Off	6M	12M
11	Off	5M	5M	8M	Off	3M	8M
12	Off	5M	5M	8M	Off	3M	RACE DAY