working at it.

i have been running steadily for 3 weeks straight now, since being sick. hurray! the last 2 weeks have been steadier, with the first week just "getting my legs" back.

my pace is not at the place it was during the summer/early fall, but i am trying. i did my second official long run today (6 miles!), and it went well. i have not run 5 or 6 miles in months.

i did really well during the summer, waking up before dawn to get out and get in mileage before work nearly each day. i saw some amazing sunrises during those runs. now, i am trying to get back that speed and mileage that i had during the summer!

i am not signed up for any races yet, but i am using the princess half marathon on feb. 26th as my goal. even if i don't get to participate in it, at least i am getting in the work. so i am training toward that race as my goal for now. i do hope to be able to do it, and then i will want to go for the disneyland half in september to get that extra medal---->(coast to coast).

i feel pressure to figure out if i can get to florida in february, as the deadline to have your name printed on your bib is december 1st. i don't have to have my name on my bib should i participate, but it'd be nice! you pay a lot for those races, might as well get what you can! we'll see. having my name on the bib isn't the end all, and if i have to hold off and miss my name on the bib, then i will. i want to be smart when "buying" this race and trip. so long as it doesn't sell out before i am ready to commit, i am good. name or no name on the bib, i want to run. december 1st is a goal to work toward for commitment, and it's ok if i can't commit then, i won't die b/c my name is left off my bib. my other goal is to commit when i feel ready to, ($ and otherwise).

my goals in this "training" are to focus on as many good, decent runs, with less junk miles as i have had in the past. this means working on speed by doing tempo runs and speedwork more than i have in the past, runs at determined paces, figuring out a race pace, long runs that are slower than goal pace, some mixed paced long runs too, and getting in some hillwork at the park. in my past training plans, i focused more on just running, rather than these sorts of things. i am hoping that these will help me to improve on finish time in other races as well this year, which is the point of doing them! i will say, that i did more of that sort of thing (but not enough) for the myrtle beach race i ran a year ago, and which holds my half marathon pr.

should i run the princess, my goal is to stop less along the route, and try to improve my disney race time. i know i won't pr, due to the fun of this race (to do so, i'd basically have to not stop at all, and at disney, i just can't do that!). since i ran this race last year, and got lots of photos, my plan would be to still stop for a photo op along the route, just not as much as i did last year.

i also want to run outside as much as i can; i am hoping to be more brave than i was last winter. we'll see.

i do have my little treadmill for back up, but i do enjoy seeing my speed and distance (i am addicted to my garmin...helps me to control my pace and of course distance outside), which my treadmill no longer gives me. but at least it works and i can run on it if needed, and that is what counts! (last winter, i basically did just that, and ran for certain amounts of time rather than knowing the distance....i.e...outside 3 miles = approx. about 30 minutes give or take, so the treadmill i'd run 30 minutes and hope i was near that distance. let me tell you, running on it for 2+ hours is not so fun though, no matter what kind of treadmill it is!).

currently, in the last 2 weeks, i have done some speed intervals, and it is good to do this on the treadmill. it works out fine with the state of my treadmill, i just use my stop watch to control speed intervals, and then adjust the speed dial slow/fast for each interval.

i have lots of time to work until the princess race, and i am really hoping to get down there to do it, and then head west in the fall to get in my first disneyland race/medal, and that special 3rd medal!