A week in review & '09 sneak preview

I'm such a poor blogger and such a poor blogger friend! I really need to make a better effort at posting... at least to my own journal. After all, this is supposed to be my written record of all of my training.

I'm on week 2 of my new running program. Last week's long run was a blast as all three of us (Julie, Sondra and myself) ran together. Since we each had to approach this run at different paces, Julie gave us specific instructions on HRs and where we should regroup once we reached the harbor. When we got there, Julie ran back and forth between us and provided us with some quick speed burst/HR goals. After regrouping for a final time, we planted ourselves between zones 2-3 and ran back to our starting point. I personally covered a total of 8 miles and shaved 2 minutes off of any previous 8 mile run. This long run was more challenging than any I have done in the past, but now that I'm playing with HR, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I had gotten very used to 'slogging' through a lot of my runs.

There is no group running set for this week, so I'll hit all of my workouts alone... minus the Turkey Trot (which is technically a mega group workout). Once again I'm looking forward to the long run. Julie has me doing the main portion of my run at an 8:1 run/walk ratio with the 8 minute bursts in zone 4. I've never done this before, but I'm totally game. It should be challenging. I know I'll be ready for the 1/2 marathon in February. So excited!

So 2008 is coming to a close. I have only 2 events left on the calendar for this year: Turkey Trot 5K on November 27th and Winter Waddle 5K on December 13th. One of these results will be used for Half-Fast's Shave Your 5K Challenge. My stubble time from last March '08 was 28:19. I already bettered that in August with a 26:23 and I'm hoping to better it again. I should have used my February '08 5K time as my stubble time... it was a 32:00+... what progress I would have seen!! LOL!! Anyway, we shall see what comes of these next two 5Ks as my run mileage has been fairly low lately due to all of my injuries.

Like most other folks around here I've been giving a lot of thought to 2009 and have already committed to a few events:

River, Roots and Ruts Half Marathon Trail Run Relay w/ Sondra- confirmed (January 11)
Heather Gollnick's Iron Edge Triathlon Training Camp - confirmed (Feb 5-8)
Sarasota Grouper Run 1/2 Marathon- confirmed (Feb 15)
Tour de Cure 60 mile supported ride- confirmed (March 1)
Komen Race for the Cure 5k (March 14)
Escape from Ft. DeSoto Triathlon- confirmed (April 11)
Orlando Muddy Buddy (May ??)
Orlando Danskin Sprint Tri-- hoping this will be back to back in one weekend with Muddy Buddy event (May ??)
Riviera Beach Singer Island Sprint Triathlon (June 7)
Heartland Sprint Triathlon (July 26)
Disney's Race for the Taste 10K (Oct ??)
Gasparilla Island 10K (Oct ??)
MiamiMan International Triathlon- confirmed (Nov 8)
Turkey Trot 5K (Nov 26)

Wow! That's quite a list already and I'm sure it will grow a bit. I want to add a summer 5K or 10K and then another August/September triathlon. Plus, I'm sure there will be another December 5k run. What an exciting year I have coming up!