George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Miler recap

One of my goals this year is to run longer distances. In November, one of my friends asked me and a whole bunch of our friends to run the GW Parkway Classic in April. I thought about not doing it for a hot second, but then decided, why not? I have plenty of time to train and accomplish the goal of running 10 MILES!!! The longest distance I had run before was a 10K and I was deadly afraid of that 10 mile mark, mainly because I did not want to disappoint myself or my fiance if I was not able to do it.

I started our training in January to give ourselves enough time to accomplish our goal. I usually take my race training very seriously, trying not to skip a workout, specially the weekly long runs, but as many of you know life happens and sometimes things come up. In January and February I took it easy because I was jut building my millage back up. In March and part of April I upped my millage and concentrated on my long runs and how to be successful on them.

Here is my millage by week:

Week 1: January 28-February 3
Monday: 3.18
Tuesday: zumba
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 3
Friday:off
Saturday: 2.1 walk
Sunday: 5.5

Week 2: February 4-10
Monday: off
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 2 walk
Thursday: 4
Friday: off
Saturday: off
Sunday: off

Week 3: February 11-17
Monday: 3
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 5
Friday: off
Saturday: 2.33
Sunday: 7 in a double session due to cold weather

Week 4: February 18-24
Monday: off
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 4
Friday: off
Saturday: 2 walk
Sunday: off

Week 5: February 25- March 3
Monday: off
Tuesday: 2 walk
Wednesday: 3
Thursday: 3
Friday: off
Saturday: 3
Sunday: 8 run/walk 4/2

Week 6: March 4-10
Monday: 2 walk
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 3.3
Thursday: 4
Friday: off
Saturday: 3.67 race
Sunday: 6.30 race

Week 7: March 11-17
Monday: 3
Tuesday: 2
Wednesday: 3
Thursday: off
Friday: off
Saturday: 3
Sunday: off

Week 8: March 18-24
Monday: off
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: off
Thursday: off
Friday: off3 walk
Saturday: off traveling to florida
Sunday: 5

Week 9: March 25-March 31
Monday: off
Tuesday: 2
Wednesday: off
Thursday: 1
Friday: 3.13 around Disney Art of Animation and Pop Century
Saturday: walk around Magic Kindom and EPCOT
Sunday: off drive back home

Week 10: April 1-7
Monday: 2.25 walk
Tuesday: 3.05
Wednesday: off
Thursday: off
Friday: 3.18 race
Saturday: 3.92 race
Sunday: 9.06 walk run 6/1

Week 11: April 8-14
Monday: off
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: 3
Thursday: off
Friday: 3.18 race fastest 5k
Saturday: off
Sunday: 10 miles mock 1:45:00 6/1 run/walk

Week 12: April 14-21
Monday: off
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 2
Thursday: 3
Friday: 2.57 race
Saturday: off
Sunday: GW Parkway 10 Miler 1:40:00

I did not train like I really wanted to but as I said, life happens. At the end I was able to accomplish this goal.  The last few races I have been able to shift my thinking to a more positive one when it comes to races. I have come to understand that racing it's all about having a positive mindset.

The week of the race I was a little nervous. I had done 10 miles the week before so I knew I was ready. The day before the race my calf muscle started hurting and I found it hard to walk. I was nervous that it would prevent me from running the race. I made sure I iced my leg and elevated it. The next morning it was still bothering me, but there was no way I was not going to not do the race. I had put in the time and hours, so there was no way. I was going to complete it if it meant that I had to walk or crawl it.

At the end I ended up racing it and my left did not hurt until mile 7 or 8. At that point I was having such a good race that I put that pain in the back of my mind.

 I think I am a run walk convert... I was able to not only to run a faster pace, but I was able to maintain it due to my walking breaks. Also, the way the walk breaks worked out, I ended up walking most of the hills and you all know I hate hills.

Overall this has been my favorite race so far. We started at Mount Vernon (George Washington's house) and ran along the Potomac all the way to Old Town Alexandria. It was a flat course, which I really liked. We got to run on the road, so we were able to take in the scenery. One of my favorite places that I ran by was the Collingwood Library which will be the site of my wedding in August. So that was fun. Also, running through Old Town Alexandria was great also. Being able to run through such a historic place was amazing.

If I can run 10 miles so can anyone. The key is to train and never give up. Although I really enjoy racing, I am taking a break from it for a while. This does not mean that I will quit running, it means that I want to concentrate on other things in running in order to get better at racing.

I am looking forward to doing this race every year from now on.

Stay tuned for more posts on my awesome running adventures.

Until next time, keep your feet traveling
Nats

George Washington Parkway 10 Miler Training Week 1

Last Monday was the first day of my first 10 Miler training. I was peered pressure by some of my running friends but I'm really glad I a going to do it. This will be a great and new challenge in my running career and I am looking forward to it. I am hoping to be posting weekly updates on this journey.

Last week was the first week of training and it was pretty easy. I did not follow my training to the T because I was busy with work and other things so I switched things around and did the workouts.

Since it is January in DC, I barely run outside so 3 out of my 4 runs where at the gym. Also, I try to make one of my runs a walk so I can put less pressure on my legs and knees.

So here it goes.

This was the plan I had to follow:
Monday- 2 miles
Tuesday- Rest
Wednesday - 5
Thursday-2
Friday- rest
Saturday-7
Sunday- off
Total- 16

This is what I did:

Monday- 3 miles treadmill
Tuesday- Rest bud did Zumba
Wednesday- Rest because of a work training
Thursday- 3 (was supposed to do 5) because I had to wait for a treadmill at the gym
Friday- Rest (was supposed to do 2, but got caught up on wedding stuff)
Saturday- 2 mile walk
Sunday- 5.5 mile run at the C&O canal with our group.
Total- 13.5

I will be changing my training days because I now work Monday nights so I will not be able to run.

Overall I felt good to be back into a running routine, because I feel like I've hit a plateau and I need to get away from that.

My goal for this 10 miler is to finish it. I do not want to have a PR, but I will because it will be my first one.

I'm really looking forward to accomplishing such a great goal.

Stay tune for this week's update next week!

Until Next time, Keep your feet traveling...

Nats

Engagement!

For Christmas 2012, my now fiancé and I decided to go visit his dad and girlfriend in his native Rochester, New York. Since we are avid runners we wanted to go running somewhere around the Rochester area while visiting his family and friends. On December 23, 2012 James and I decided to go for a morning run at Mendon Ponds Park. He told me he wanted to take me there because his grandpa had planted a lot of the trees in that park and he had done a lot of his Cross Country meets in High School there. Since I have taken him to most of my significant places in my native Puerto Rico, why not return the favor. We woke up super early to drive to the park. When we got there I realized that it was a little colder than expected and I knew it was going to be a rough run.

We set off on our run and 1/2 into it I was struggling. James, who runs way faster than me, stayed with me through the entire run (which is rare). While running he started to talk to me about a conversation he had with his mom about finding his perfect match. I found it odd that he wanted to talk about this during a run, and I certainly did not want to talk because I was cold and struggling to run in 20 degree weather. He kept talking about even though we fight and disagree in certain things he knew that he couldn't have found a better match for him. Although I was flatter by his words (now) all I wanted to do at the time was turn back and go home. We decided to turn around and only run for about 2 miles. When we got back to the parking lot, I told James I wanted to take pictures of the pond and the park. He told me to go ahead that he was going to put the jacket I borrowed from him back in the car (he actually went to get the ring from his car safe).

I started to take pictures of the pond and of us there. All of a sudden I see James coming towards me and he started to talk again. This time he said, "the reason I was not worried about your grandma's ring getting stolen last night it's because I have it right here" (The night before our neighbor texted us to see if we were home and we automatically thought we aware being robbed). At that point he got down on one knee and asked me the question I have been waiting for a while "Will you marry me"? Needless to say I started to sobbed and it took me a little while to realize that I had to answer him. Obviously, I said yes.

Soon after I posted on facebook and texted all my closest girlfriends. We got countless messages from people congratulation us.

Later that day, we went to the Genesee Brewery to watch the Bills football game and to celebrate our engagement. It was truly a great day and everything I had thought about this day being.


It's funny how things turn out. Now I'm looking forward to our wedding happening in 182 days (August 3rd). Maybe that will be another blog entry intself and hopefully will include some running in it...

Until then, keep your feet traveling!
Nats

Right before the engagement

My grandma's right, now my engagement ring

James and I right before the engagement

Running 600 Miles in 2012

As must of you know I only started running 2 years ago. In 2011, I pledge to run 365 miles for the year, equaling to 1 mile a day. When it came time to come up with a running goal for 2012 I had to think long and hard to settle on a number. The number at first was 500 miles. As soon as the new year started I started training for the St. Patrick's Day 8k and the Kingstowne Striders 6 race series (Bunion Series) first race.

Soon I discovered that I was running 50 miles a month and that if I kept on that pace I was going to actually run 650 miles instead of 500. Right there and then I decided to settle for the 600 miles goal, that way when the racing season ended in November, I could keep running, but take a break at the same time.

I kept my normal training of running 5 days a week, doing a long run during the weekend. I tried to keep to my schedule as much as possible, but I was flexible with it because things always happen since I am a teacher and I have a life outside of running.

During the summer I ate, breath and slept running, I wanted to make the most out of my time off. I either ran inside or at the gym, but I always made time for running, even when we went on vacation to Puerto Rico. Also, we did track workouts with our running club.

I have to say that when I had to go back to work on August I started feeling the effects of running exhaustion, but I kept at it, because I knew what the results of it would be.

Needless to say when December 29th came and I reached that amazing goal, all I could think was, I can't wait to start running toward my new running goal: Running 700 miles in 2013.


Here are all the races I did in 2012:
St. Parick's Day 8k in DC-March
Striders Fest 8k- May
Race for the Cure- June
Post 4th of July 5k- July
Happy Haunted Trail Run 5k at Disney- September
Columbus Day 5k-October
The Color Run-October
Fill the Shoes 5k- November- New PR 28:57
Girls on the Run 5k- November
Jingle Bells 5k- December-

Keep running!

Until Next Time,
Nats

Rest Day Workouts

Hey everyone!


It's been a while! Although is summer and I was off I was still busy traveling and having family coming to visit and best of all running and enjoying lazy days at home.

Lately I've been obsessing with Pinterest and all the cool stuff they have there. I really like looking at food, fashion and I'm always on the lookout for new workouts that I can do. Right now my workout consist of  4 days of running followed by abs. I tried Nike Training Club (which is similar to insanity) but I was super sore after and my running performance decayed. So in the efforts of doing something extra that does not involve running I decided to do some research and see what else I could do. Today, while looking at the Health and Fitness part of Pinterest I came upon a cool idea:

A bucket full of different workouts that I can do on my "rest days" and not get bored or hurt while doing it. I think this will be the perfect thing for me because I think I won't get bored since there are completely different workouts each time. So here is what I did:

I went to Walmart and bought craft sticks, then, I thought about workouts that I have done before and I enjoyed doing in the past and decided to put them in. After that, I went on Pinterest and found workouts I would like to try. The workouts are can take from 1 min to 30 min. So I know that some days I will have simple workouts and some days I will have a full workout.

 jumbo sticks 

Here are the 25 workouts that I put in the jar:

30 min. zumba on the Wii
20 russian twists
10 mi abs (from 10 min Pilates)
30 flutter kicks
15 min of Ab Burner Nike Training Club workout
30 leg kicks
50 jumping jacks
30 mountain climbers
arm workout (any you want)
Level 1 abs from ABS app on iPad
Level 2 abs from ABS app on iPad
10 side lunges
10 minute legs from 10 min Pilates
10 burpess
30 minutes Pilates from 10 min Pilates ( any workout in there)
10 minute arms
Nike Training Club Crunch and Burn
Nike Training Club Stretch guide
20 squats
20 inner thigh lifts
NTC slim chance
10 push ups
3 30 second planks
Daily Workout Plan from Pinterest
Denise Austin Pilates for Everybody

I also included 5 blank ones to give my body a break sometimes.

I look forward to doing all these workouts and getting myself in better shape. My goal is to inspire others to exercise and have a better and healthier lifestyle.


I hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to writing many more.

Until next time,
Nats