Progress.

Obviously I haven’t made progress in trying to sit down and write twice a week, but I AM making progress in my half marathon training. That’s something, right?

I’m currently in the middle of Week 6 (YIKES!! That means this thing is in less than 2 months!) and things are looking up. I ran a 4 miler yesterday with an average pace of 10:31/mile, which is better than 11:00+/mile. Still not where I want to be, but at least I can say I’m trying. I busted out 2 miles this morning in a 9:59 average pace, but that was about all I could do at that pace. My race goal is 2:15, so that’s what, a 10:20 pace? Doable at the rate I’m going… I do need to bring down my longer run paces though. Right now I’m going at a leisurely pace instead of a workout/training pace, but I’m concentrating on getting through those distances at the same time. That mental block is still (somewhat) in the way, but at least I am running 100% of the time now. I do have an extra week built into my training schedule, so if needed, I can repeat a week. So far, so good though.

I do have to confess I’m failing miserably at the strength and cross-training aspects of this training plan. I get to the pool to swim and I have no motivation. I think part of my problem is that I’m trying to do it only once a week, so it’s easier to sit and talk to the lifeguards than it is to get my ass in the pool. The other thing is time. With our basement being all out of order for the past few weeks, things haven’t been where they belong and I haven’t taken the time to put them back. C did put the weights back the other day, but now I need to find the time to use them. I have no excuses. I just lack the energy and motivation.

One shameless plug before I sign off for the day… for my birthday, I asked for a hand-held water bottle. One of the things I’ve always been awful about is staying hydrated. I’ve talked with a few people on some message boards and via Twitter and they all suggested getting a water bottle with a strap and also using some gels/bloks to keep the energy levels up. This is the water bottle I settled on.

LOVE IT.

I did a 6 mile run with it last weekend and it took a little getting use to, but overall? I’m in love. Not only did it make me drink water throughout the run, it really didn’t bother me like I thought it would. I did switch it from hand to hand occasionally because my hand got sweaty, but I’m sure after a couple more runs I won’t even think about it. I highly recommend it for runners (or walkers) who need some sort of water bottle that doesn’t get in the way, especially for those like me where they can’t stand to have something like a fuel belt wrapped around their waist. I’ve got enough giggling going on, I don’t need more!