My Fitness Pal

                 Have no fear, fellow bloggers, my training plan is here.

I had a few requests to post up my new training plan, so I did. I even put it on it's own page. Feel free to check it out, follow along with me, etc. I have to say, I like the fact that the traiing plan incudes easy walks in them. Sometimes it's nice to go out and just take a short, relaxing walk to keep the muscles warm and stretched. If I hadn't mentioned before, the plan is actually one designed by Jeff Galloway (though I think I tweaked one or two things). I was doing some research about different training plans online and came across this one. I really liked it, so decided to go with it.

He does include a few runs that have "MM" next to them. "MM" stands for Magic Mile. Basically, the Magic Mile is a one mile timed trial run that you do at a good, but hard pace for yourself. You take that mile and multiply it by 1.2 (for half-marathon training pace). This gives you a pace time for your training runs. There's a whole explanation HERE, along with a handy calculator that lets you see different paces/times for different races. It also gives you a walk/run ratio that seems easy to follow (depending upon your MM).
For me, my fastest mile when I push myself is about 13minutes. Therefore, my training pace will be 17:54/mile. When I do "MM" runs, my goal will be 15:36/miles. Make sense? It took me a bit to wrap my head around as well. ut, I think it's a pretty nifty guide.

Another thing I wanted to discuss today was this app I have on my phone called My Fitness Pal. Does anyone else have it? I love it. I was tossing around the idea of doing Weight Watchers online, but I'm cheap and didn't want to pay $20 a month for it decided I liked My Fitness Pal app better (plus, it's free!). I plug in my current height, weight, daily activity level, and how much I would like to lose per week. It then calculates how many calories I should be eating per day. From there, I input what I eat and drink either by searching food, or using my camera to take a photo of the barcode where it auto-searches the product for me. I can also input my cardio and strength training. Just like with Weight Watchers online, if I exercise, I get more calories to eat back. So, if I know I want to have a small bowl of ice cream tonight, I know I will want to burn some extra calories at the gym beforehand. It's pretty sweet.

My favorite part though? You can connect with friends who have the app as well and leave comments for each other. I can see exercises that friends have done and send them supportive reminders when I see they haven't logged in for a few days. It also has a corresponding website http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ that's user-friendly and has some great user forums.

I've been using it for awhile now to try and get myself back on track. So far, it's been a huge help! I suggest checking it out, and feel free to friend me on there (biggergirlsrun2). We can help each other out! YAY!



Every New Beginning

First off, let me say thank you to everyone who left me a comment on my last post. You don't know how much I appreciated hearing all of your supportive and kind words. Truly, thank you!

I had a moment of clarity in between bouts of craziness yesterday.
I've decided that instead of trying to continuously revamp and re-do my plans to reach my goals for this year, I'm just going to start over.

Simple as that.

Today is a new beginning. I'm starting fresh and excited. And, I have new goals!

Turns out I won't be able to do the Diva Long Island Half this year. So, instead, I'm going to do the ING Hartford half again. Why not? I had a blast last year! I'm also in the works of making sure I can get to the Disney Princess Half in February next year (but more to come on that later).

I have been doing some research and I think I found a great training program (designed by Jeff Galloway nonetheless). It's 19 weeks and the runs seems pretty doable. 3 runs a week, plus one easy walk. I realized this past weekend, just how out of shape my body is again. I haven't really run in awhile (though I have gotten to the gym and done arc trainer and elliptical machines- not the same though).When I finished my Race in the Park 5k this past Saturday, I was SORE. I mean, felt like those 3.1 miles were actually 13.1 miles, sore. Today is the first day that I can walk without wincing. That, to me, is unacceptable! I used to have no problem running 3.1 miles and being only slightly sore the next day and I want to get back to that.

I've even started setting up a support system to help me stay on track. I've asked family members, my boyfriend, and coworkers to help me make sure I do my runs and stay disciplined on my training. I'm printing out my training schedule so that everyone has a copy so I have no excuse like, "I can't remember what I have to do today". I WANT to be held accountable for my training. I've even come up with some back-up plans in case a morning run is missed (keeping an extra pair of running gear in my car so on my lunch break, I can sneak in a short run). I feel confident that I can do this.

I'm hoping that you all will hold me accountable as well. I truly feel that a huge part of my success last year at the half marathon was because I was blogging so often and you all were amazing enough to leave comments, supportive notes, tips, tricks, advice, etc. I want to do that again. I'm going to start off slow and work my way up (just like with my training). My goal is to blog 2 times a week, then 3, then 4, etc, etc. Even if I didn't run or train on a particular day, I still want to blog. I may even give my blog a face-lift (if I can figure out how to work this new blogger layout. ugh.).

Sound like a plan to yall? Seems like a good start to me!
Cheers to a new beginning!!

Hitting A Wall

I'm excited! I had such a great run today! My friend Chris and I met up before we were to go see a show and decided to run. He lives across the street from a beautiful park called Walnut Hill Park. Absolutely gorgeous (and it is the same park where my May 5k is going to be held.)- it has a perfect 1 mile loop which means we could run and not have to worry about keeping track of mile markers. 


We ended up actually running about 2.5 miles in total, which is fantastic in my opinion, especially considering that both of us are novice runners. As we were starting our third mile I got a major cramp in my right thigh muscle. Well, more like my thigh/groin area. The same place that hurt when I ran to the library the other day. I ended up having to stop and do some stretches to work it out, but I was able to keep running. Yay fortitude! 


Anyway, I was going to wait to post my blog until tomorrow, but I saw an article on Active.com that caught my interest and I wanted to discuss it here. It was written by Jeff Galloway, "a 1972 Olympian who ran the 10,000 meters and was an alternate on the marathon team. He is the author of more than a dozen books on running, including Galloway's Book on Running". (Pretty impressive stuff, eh?) He wrote an article about how sometimes during races, or even training, you can "hit a wall" where your body loses energy and just cannot go any further. Galloway says that in order to prevent this from happening you should 1. reserve your energy while running by using a run-walk-run method and 2. while training, make your long runs longer than the race you are training for.


Let's tackle the first point: For myself, I use a run-walk-run method solely because I am a beginning runner and haven't yet worked up to being able to run more than 2 miles before my body needs a break. However, there are tons of people out there who can straight-run a marathon or half-marathon, etc. (And isn't that kind of the point anyway?) Galloway says that "Marathoners, for example, run an average of 13 minutes faster, in surveys, when they shift from running continuously to using the run-walk-run ™ method..." mainly because they start reserving their energy early on in the race. The earlier one stops to walk during a run, the better they will be able to perform because they are, essentially, stabilizing their energy levels and maintaing a consistent energy level throughout their entire run. This is as opposed to starting out fast and strong, exerting mounds of energy and then having none left for the later miles. 


Now, on to the second point: Most training schedules that I have seen have you run under the total miles you need to for whichever race you are training for, i.e. training for a full marathon and the longest run you have is 20 miles before tapering. I was told that the training is set up this way so that your body gets close to the mileage it has to run, but then you leave it wanting more. The tapering helps your body wind down so you are rested for the big day, but that the excitement of Race Day will help push you through those remaining miles. However, Galloway thinks that running over the amount of miles that you are training for, i.e. running 29 miles on a long run before starting to taper, is better for your body. I'm assuming it solely helps the body adjust to the distance it needs to endure before Race Day actually hits. 

Questions for Today:

1. What is your best 5k time?
Today's practice 5k which was 41 minutes (6 mins less than in December).


2. What do you think of Jeff Galloway's ideas on avoiding "hitting a wall"? (Most specifically, his longer long run theory?)