Miss having a running buddy

4 weeks into training for my 2nd half marathon, and have done ALL my runs solo! :( I don't mind running solo, it is just nice to every once in a while (especially long runs) to have a running buddy! Sarai trained with me for the Carlsbad Half in January and we ran a lot of our long runs together...I miss her! None of my friends have signed up for the La Jolla half in April, (actually, I don't have many friends who like to run :(, so I kind of should have known!)....so I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of training by myself...hopefully Sarai's knee feels better soon so that she can at least run with me a little! Sorry, kind of a depressing post! OH WELL...BOOO! On a more positive note, I did have a nice run this morning with Mason in the jogger after dropping Kaitlyn off at pre-school! Went to the beach and jogged 4 miles...it was a beautiful morning! Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 9:52
Mile 2: 10:04
Mile 3: 9:38
Mile 4: 9:57
Average pace: 9:53

After the run, I took Mason down to the beach, where we played in the sand, and looked for sea shells...there were none on the beach...wierd! Anyways, been a uneventful week...just the same old same old!

Give away!

Mel over at Tall Mom on the Run is having a Running Essentials Giveaway...go check it out! She is giving away 3 things...yes, 3!

1. A Golite handheld water bottle. This is great for all you out there that have yet to buy one! ;)
2. A RoadID eCard worth $31.50
3. A sample of the new Jet Blackberry Gu.

So go check it out!!!!!!

Kaitlyn's FIRST day of pre-school!

Well....that day finally came! Kaitlyn was soooo excited to start school. I had signed her up for the afternoon session, so she had to "Wait around all day", as she put it before she got to go. She got all dressed in her new shirt that she picked out yesterday! Here is my little Kate-Kate!

I am still in shock that she will really be starting kindergarden in August! Geez...time has flown by. And another thing, it was really strange, but nice having only Mason for 3 hours today. It felt good giving him the one on one attention that I gave Kaitlyn for the 2 and a half years before he was born. We went for a short 3 mile run on the beach, then he got to play on the beach and get wet in the ocean...too bad I didn't have my camera! :( But he was always asking "Where Kate-Kate?" So cute!

My only real concern is that there are only 2 other kids enrolled in the afternoon class. Not really what the hubby and I were thinking of as far as simulating the classroom enviornment. I talked to the teacher and she said to give it until next week to see if more kids enroll, and if not, then we can possibly move her to the morning class where there are 12 kids. But eventhough there were only 2 other kids, Kaitlyn said she had fun with the 2 other boys, and the teacher said she did well!

Oh, and here are a few pictures of Kaitlyn getting her Jonas lunch bag!

Valentines/President Day Weekend

We had a pretty busy Valentines Day/President Day weekend! Friday, we went the the Wild Animal Park with the kids; Saturday and Sunday, I worked...and it was a busy weekend! A bunch of people were in town for the holiday weekend...so I made lots o' tips! ;) Here are a bunch of photos from our family trip to the Wild Animal Park on Friday! Hubby had the day off, and our year passes are going to expire next month. It was a beautiful day out and we met my cousin and her 3 girls for some Wild Animal Park fun! :) Kaitlyn & Mason got their faces painted...they LOVED it! Kaitlyn decided on swans, and Mason a lizard. So cute!

Valentines Day this year was kind of not really a priority, which is totally fine. We didn't make any plans...mainly because both kids were getting a cough. Since we havn't had a date night in a LONG while, hopefully when the kids get better, we can finally use our free movie tickets, and go out to dinner. That will be our post V-Day celebration! :)             Training this week was so-so. I didn't get in all my training runs that I had planned. :( I did get in my speed run and my long run, but ran out of time by Sunday to do my 5 mile run. Oh well! What can ya do, life happens! I still have 10 weeks until race day, so I am not too bummed about missing 1 run! I did get in a long run today of 9 miles. And sorry for you all that are dealing with snow right now, but dang...it was hot here in San diego today. Went out around 2 to the coast of Carlsbad, and it was hot! It looked like a summer day out! TONS of people out, especially at the beach! My run was not what I expected though. I was really slow, and tired by mile 5. I think it was that I had such a long and busy weekend at work...on my feet for almost 17 hours! Yeah, I was beat even before I went running. Here are my splits:
Mile 1- 9:40
Mile 2- 9:22
Mile 3- 9:36
Mile 4- 9:42
Mile 5- 9:40
Mile 6-10:00
Mile 7-9:54
Mile 8- 10:07
Mile 9- 10:00
AVG PACE: 9:47 min/mile

    I did try out a new GU. Chocolate Outrage. It tasted pretty good (like chocolate frosting), but I still have a hard time dealing with the texture of it. I nursed it from mile 5 to 7, and still hadn't finished it! Yikes, I think I will be sticking to my Sports Beans! But I am glad to have gotten my long run out of the way already...so now I just have to sqeeze out 2 more runs this week. (A 4miler and a 5 miler).

   Kaitlyn is really excited! She starts pre-school on wednesday! :) She can't wait, we will be going to Target tomorrow and picking out a "new" outfit for her for her first day of school. I will post pics on Wed! Ya-Ya also will be dropping of her new Jonas Brothers lunch bag she got her for Valentines Day...YES, my daughter is 4 1/2 and is already in love with the Jonas Brothers...GEEZE! And it will only get worse?! AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First "long" run with the Garmin

I was so excited to finally use my Garmin for more than 2 miles! It was pretty chilly when I left the house at almost 5 o'clock, so I wore a long sleeve shirt and just straped the Garmin on over my shirt, which actually made it more comfortable on my wrist bone. But it didn't bother me at all during the run! It was really cool to see my current pace and how far into my run I was. I also LOVE the auto-pause feature. I have it set up to pause anytime that I am not moving...which is great for all the stop lights!  I drove to the neighborhood I grew up in (because there are a lot of light posts, and I am scared to run in the dark, hehehe) and unfortunately, this neighborhood is hilly. But it is good training! :)
Mile 1:    8:59
Mile 2:    9:28
Mile 3:    9:56
       4:     9:47
       5:     9:38
       6:    10:16 (HILLY!)
      7:      9:35
Average pace of 9:40
     My schedule called for a "long" run of 7 miles this week, but since my 8 miler was really only 7.73 miles last week, I decided to make up for it on this run. It all evened out! :) Excited for tomorrows cross training day of kickboxing! :) Rouge Underground here I come! Off to finally shower and spend time with hubby!

Can't wait to take the Garmin out for spin #2

Well, I got my Garmin on Friday, but it rained and rained, so I couldn't take it out for a spin :( Saturday, after work, I can't remember what we did exactly, but we were busy. So Sunday after work I had about an hour before we had to be at my mother-inlaws for super bowl and SIL's b-day celebration; so I decided to try out the Garmin and see how far it was around the block. According to Garmin, it was .66 miles...so I ran around twice and then down the street for a grand total of 2.01 miles. It was a hard run though, all hills! Garmin told me this:
Total Distance: 2.01 miles
Total Time:      18:40 avg pace 9:17
Mile 1:            9:17 (avg heartrate 162)
Mile 2:           9:16 (avg HR 167) IS THAT TOO HIGH?
Total calories: 224

It also told me a bunch of different stuff which I totally don't understand yet, but I'm working on it! My main love so far, other than it telling me my total distance (which is HUGE, now I don't have to clock all my runs), is that I can see my average pace, and I now know that I have a good race pace, but that I am running too fast in my training runs. At least according the the McMillian training calculator. That is a whole other thing that I am confused about. According to it, I should be running my long runs at 10:35 to 11:35. But why? Shouldn't I be running them faster? Anywho....I will be taking Garmin out on its' first long run tonight, so I am excited to see what it tells me. I only have to run 7 miles, but I am excited to try a new route!

As far as training went for last week:

I was scheduled to run a speed workout of 3 miles, a tempo run of 4 miles, and a long run of 8.
Did the 3 speed, did the long 8, but I ran out of time to do a continuous 4, so did 2 on thursday, and 2 on sunday! Oh well!

This week's training:

• 3 miles of speed training : DONE (Great run too, by the way!)
• 7 miles (TONIGHT)
• 5 mile Tempo (Friday)
• Kickboxing (Thursday)

Oh! AND I guess I am supposed to name my Garmin?! I have no idea! Any suggestions???

And I will leave you all with a goofy pic from last night...before bed time, hubby and I were playing with the kiddos and decided to give ourselves piggy noses with scotch tape! (WHY? I don't know, but we had fun laughing!)

My Garmin :)

     I am SOOOOOOOO excited! I ordered my Garmin Forerunner 305 this afternoon....and I can't wait for it to arrive on Friday! I have been wanting to get one sooo bad. With all the races and training that I am going to be doing this year, I know it will be put to good use! I was debating between the 305 and 405; I read tons of reviews, and it just seemed that more people thought the 305 was easier to use...and cheaper :)
    I ended up ordering it off of amazon and got FREE 2 day shipping! So it should be here Friday! I would love to hear anyones reviews/thoughts if you have one!

Anyways, just wanted to share my excitement! :)

Give away!

Hey ya'll! I have never entered a giveaway yet, but I have been in the market for some sort of hydration belt, and Tricia over at Endurance Isn't Only Physical is having a give away! Check it out HERE! This hydration pack looks exactly what I have been looking for. I have tried on the velcro style packs, and to be honest, I like the clip belt idea better! Here is the Nathan's Hydration Belt/Trail Mix:

I really like the concept of this one! Adjustable waist, 2 10 oz. water bottles, and a small pounch for my keys and nutrition!!! I hope I win! :)

Training plan

     So, after hours and hours of trying to figure out a doable plan for my 2nd half marathon, I think I finally got it! And, if anyone, anyone at all, has ANY advice on the plan, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment. I am a fanatic about having a plan that will do me good!

Training Plan

 I have scheduled only 3 running days a week. Two of those will be on the dreadmill and the long run on the road. With 2 kids, it is hard to get out after the hubby gets home from work, so 1 time a week is all I get! But I am ok with that. The days will also not be consistent, as I work weekends, so long runs are usually done on either Tuesday or Wednesday!

     Anyways, The shortest run of the week (3 or 4 miles) will be speedwork. This will consist of a mile warm up, and the rest of the run will be 800 yard bursts, followed by a 400 yard recovery jog. The goal of this workout is to obviously increase my speed...hehehe! The 2nd run of the week will range from 4 to 6 miles and will be more of a "race pace" run...or recovery run :) depending on how I'm feeling! And the last run of the week will be the long run. In my training for the previous half marathon my long run started at 5 miles and increased to 12 miles. So for this training plan, my long run will start at 8 miles and vary up to 14 miles.

     My goals for this training was to one, increase my longest run from 12 to 14 miles, and two, to increase my weekly miles a little bit. Hopefully by incorporating the speed run into my plan, I will decrease my time and run a PR! :) Happy Training to all my running buddies out there! Oh, and also, if anyone has recommendations on the Garmin Forerunner, please let me know...I was thinking about getting the 305! Thanks!

~Kelly

Long week

For some reason, last week felt SOOOO long! Maybe it was due to the fact that it was a week off from running. (Well it was supposed to be! I did 2 recovery runs of 3 and 2 miles...so I didn't count those!) But I start today on training for the La Jolla Half Marathon, the 2nd of my Triple Crown Series! YAHOO! We are supposed to get another round of El Nino here in San Diego, so I think I have to try and get my long run in by tomorrow afternoon! Short post today, but I just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed reading everyones posts this week...it really does keep me inspired! And if anyone is not a follower of Sarah, AKA SkinnyRunner, it is a MUST...her blog is so fun to read, and she has a ton of reviews (I lUV my reviews!) Until I have more thoughts....Have an awesome Monday people!
~Kelly