Meeting Personal Goals

I am working toward running the Las Vegas Rock 'N' Roll 1/2 marathon in under 3 hours. The first time I ran in January my time was 3:06:29. The second 1/2 in San Diego was 3:02:05. I was so disappointed that I was so close but yet so, so far away! I am still kicking myself for not running five more minutes, or one more mile.

I have been through some pretty huge ups and downs in the past four months. I ran the San Diego 1/2 in June and was in my peak of performance. I then spent 16 days in the Biosphere and then three weeks traveling to visit family. My exercise was sporadic at best. Not only was my exercise sporadic, my weight that I had worked so hard to take off decided half of it wanted to come back.

One morning I flipped. I put on a dress from the spring before when I had lost a ton of weight and it was tight on my hips. I then stood on the scale and realized I was half a pound away from a point I said I would NEVER reach again. I lost it. My poor husband didn't know who he was looking at as I stomped around the house fuming and raging about my weight and how I felt about myself. I was a crazy woman. Absolutely nuts!

I went to my trainer at the gym and nearly had an emotional breakdown asking him what I needed to do. He said that I needed to cut out all sugars and to not have any carbs whatsoever after 3 PM. Top that off with some pretty intense 1/2 marathon training and I had a recipe for success. In my first week I lost 8 pounds! Now, 10 weeks into the thick of it, I have lost a total of 21 pounds. It is so incredibly worth it.

I spoke to my trainer about my training and he has set me up with a pretty intense program that I am LOVING. In general, it looks something like this:

Sunday: Long, Slow Distance for 3 hours
Monday: Off or Boot Camp at the gym
Tuesday: Run (Usually 4-6 miles easy, meaning I feel great at the end and am not breathless at all)
Wednesday: Intervals (For example, this week)
1/4 mile 2 minutes 30 seconds
1/4 mile 2 minutes 30 seconds
1/2 mile 5 minutes
1/2 mile 5 minutes
1 mile 10 minutes
1/2 mile 5 minutes
1/2 mile 5 minutes
1/4 mile 2 minutes 30 seconds
1/4 mile 2 minutes 30 seconds
Thursday: Off or light run
Friday: Run
Saturday: Run and see trainer

It kicks my butt and makes me feel good when I meet the goals set out for me. To be honest, I was terrified of the three hour run he wanted me to do today. The longest I had run in a very, very long time was a two hour run two weeks ago. I ran nine miles at a 4.5 mile per hour pace. I was fine cardiovascularly, but exhausted bodily. Would I be able to do three hours? I had taken a light week to recover this past week and had run 3-6 miles easy four times with no intervals or longer runs throughout the week. I was completely recovered and felt wonderful.

This morning at 5:30 I set out on my three hour run.

I ran 13 miles in just under 3 hours.

I did it. It was a complete breakthrough. The only thought I had was "Las Vegas, you are going DOWN!" I knew that if I could run 13 in the time I had set as a goal a month and a half before the actual run, I could totally blow that time out of the water and beat it. I am going to push hard, run those intervals and my 3 hour Sunday runs and love every minute of it.

I have even set a new goal. I set it before I have even finished my current one. I am going to run the San Diego FULL marathon in June of 2012. This will be my birthday gift to myself. My trainer is putting me on a now adjusted training program so that I will be ready. I figure I have eight months. Anything is possible in eight months! A year ago I would have laughed at you if you suggested I run a full marathon. Now, today, I feel anything is possible.