Countdown!

The Countdown
So my first half marathon is 13 days away.  I'm both excited and nervous.  I have no doubts I will finish; the only doubts I have are with actually achieving my stretch goal of sub 2:50 or realistic goal of finishing sub 3:00.  It's only a matter of approximately 30 to 45 seconds a mile.  Mental over the physical. 

I ran 10.5 miles on Saturday and it took me 2:30 to do so.  I don't quite understand how it all works yet, but with that time it's hard for me to see that either goal is achievable. I did take it "easy" and kept an LSD (long, slow distance) run an LSD run, which I don't have a tendancy to do.  I tend to get out there and try to run a race every weekend.  I'm getting better about it, now that I am beginning to understand pacing -- I have a way to go yet.  All that said, I was running on lack of sleep and not the best nutrition from New Year's Eve.

They say that with tapering, proper nutrition and the general raceday adrenaline, that I will do it.  I want to believe it, but I also don't want to set myself up for dissapointment.  This weekend I'm going to run the last 6.2 of the course to mentally prepare.  Wait!  I just realized that's half of the half!  LOL 


Oly Distance Training:
Training has been going well.  I figure if I managed to get it all in during the last 2 weeks with the holidays, I should be able to balance my schedule a little better.  I may try a couple of early morning workouts and just get to work a little later and stay later to make up time.  I only had to compromise 1 workout -- instead of drilling 1300m in swimming, I just did a 1300m easy swim so I would have juice left for my Sunday mad spin.

Sunday we had a mad, 2 hour long spin class, followed by a 30 minute easy run.  After my LSD Run on Saturday and swimming 1300m I was pretty tired Sunday, but was glad I made it through... even if my run pace wasn't much faster than my power walking!  LOL  Next week's mad-spin is 3 hours with a 45 minute run -- just in case last Sunday's wasn't enough of a challenge.

The training schedule is wild and defnitely more weekly mileage than I've ever done before.  Last week I logged 65+ miles between swimming, biking and running!  I didn't believe it until I saw my log.

1/4/10 Nutrition:
B-Fage Total 2% Fat Greek Yogurt, 0.5 serving
B-Strawberries, fresh, 0.66 cup, halves
B-Horizon Organic 1% Milk, 1 cup
B-Optimum Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein - Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor, 1 serving
B-Regular Coffee, 2 cup (8 fl oz)
B-Organic Half & Half, 4 tbsp
L-Boar's Head EverRoast Oven Roasted Chicken Breast, 4 oz
L-Bell Pepper (Green) 1 Med, Raw, 1 serving
L-Oroweat Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin, 1 serving
L-Yellow Mustard, 2 tsp or 1 packet
D-Chicken Breast, no skin, 4 ounces
D-Romaine Lettuce (salad), 1 cup, shredded
D-Brown Rice, long grain, 1/4cup
D-Red Ripe Tomatoes, 6 cherry
S1-Apples, fresh, 1 medium
S1-Gouda Cheese, 1 oz
S2-Power Bar Energize Berry Blast Fruit Smoothie, 1/2 serving
S3-Swiss Miss No Sugar Added Hot Chocolate, 1 serving
S3-Optimum Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein - Vanilla Ice Cream Flavor, 1/2 serving

Calories: 1,262
Protein: 130 g
Carbs: 123 g
Fat:  28 g