Best Of Clark County 2013 - Please Vote!

***Please vote for my blog!***

The "Best Of Clark County" contest through The Columbian, our local newspaper, has started up for 2013: http://www.columbian.com/bestofclarkcounty2013/.

My blog won last year thanks to all of your votes. I would love to win again!  Not only do I spend a lot of time drinking coffee from local coffee shops, carb loading in local restaurants, working out many hours per week at the rec center (which is part of Vancouver's Parks & Rec department), and running the trails, streets, and parks in Clark County, but as someone striving for a degree in human development/fitness/public health, awards like this one could help my career on down the road. :)

1. The make you set up an account in order to vote. (I know it's a pain, but it just takes a few seconds.) 
2. Open your email account & activate your account by clicking the link they send.
3. Once you've activated your account, type www.willrunforcoffee.com in the "write in vote" section at the bottom of the voting page. 

Thanks for your support!

January 2013....over already?

Where did January go?  Time really flies.  I'm still here.  Not really blogging much, but still running for coffee (of course)!

More Workouts
Back in late December, we decided to up our strength training workouts in hopes of becoming stronger runners, more athletic, and healthier individuals.  Funny how all the extra workouts lead to less blogging.  I have no apologies for you.  I love what we're doing.  I love that my 14 year old has managed to become involved in a healthier lifestyle.  As a matter of fact, he has lost 7 pounds so far!  I wish my 12 year old would jump on the wagon, but she's not ready yet.  I started the strength training workouts using 8 & 10 pound weights.  Over time, I've graduated up to 20 pounders.  There are several exercises that require 25 pounds from me!  I'm seeing much improvement in this department.

Horrible Weather For Running
This month brought funky weather.  More ice and snow than usual, but especially more ice.  From that, we immediately switched to pouring rain with an average temp of 42.  42 is tolerable.  I actually enjoy running in 42 degree averages, but when it's raining as hard as it possibly can rain...that makes for a different story.  We're ready to see the sun, dry roads, and steady temps.  Most people would simply hit the treadmill, but I typically end up injured when I do so.  I'm hesitant to try it due to fear of injury.

Goals
My goal for the year was to finally beat my half marathon PR.  I was confident that would work for me at the beginning of training season, but I'm no longer certain it will happen for me.  After 6 weeks of training, I am slower than ever.  The weather hasn't helped.  There were a couple of weeks in a row where we had to run slower due to the icy sidewalks/streets.  I'm simply not hitting my training goals.  Maybe things will turn around.  Maybe they won't.  Only time will tell.  It's the end of January.  My race isn't until mid-April.

I hope your January went well, and you're meeting all of your goals.

Today is the 11th of January...

...and I am beyond thankful that it's a rest day for me!

Every muscle in my body aches.  Our intense P90X weight training DVDs, cardio classes at the gym, and running for the week finally caught up with me, bitch slapped me, and hung me out to dry.

I'm sure being sick isn't helping my energy level any.  MAN I'm tired.

Tomorrow is our long run day.  7.5 miles.  I know I can do it.  I've done it hundreds of times before.  They will be hilly miles on an unpaved trail, though.  That, I have not done hundreds of times.  Those types of miles have proven to be extremely challenging for me.  I'm just going to keep telling myself, "Hilly trails build character & will clear all the goop out of your chest faster than coughing or antibiotics will."

Whatever keeps me going, right?  I need some coffee.

Celebrating 19 Years of Wedded Bliss At The Corvallis Half Marathon

Happy 19th Anniversary to us!  

As of January 8th, Kent and I made it through 19 years of wedded bliss.  In an attempt to make it another 19, we gifted each other entries into the Corvallis Half Marathon.  Of course, the thought behind this is that running will keep up healthy over the next 19 years.  (My knees might argue with that thought.)

We ran the CHM last year, and fell in love with the entire event.  From start to finish, it's really a great race.  And for the record, the word "love" says a lot when you consider I was rockin' severe IT band issues at the time, and cried/walked/cursed the last 3 or 4 miles of the race.  I hobbled onto the football field to get my finishers medal, and pinky swore things would be different in 2013.  The key for me is hip alignment.  The second I feel them getting wonky....off to the PT I go for an adjustment.  Happy hips = happy knees, in my case.

I've got a time goal in mind for this race, and I'm hopeful our 2013 winter/spring training plan will allow me to achieve success.  I've been trying for three years to hit this particular mark, and have come within 60 seconds  of it TWICE.  Uggg.  So frustrating, but I can clearly do it since I've come that close on more than one occasion.

I think this race will mark half marathon number 13 for me.  It's my first race of 2013.  Maybe 13 is my lucky number?  We shall see.

2013 Winter/Spring Training Plan

We started the new training plan a week early to make sure it was going to "jive" with our schedules.  It's working beautifully for us.  We've seen great results with all of the weight training added to the schedule in early fall.  That is something I very much want to continue...if not increase over time.  Here's to a happy & healthy 2013!

2013 Winter/Spring Weekly Schedule

Day	Activity
Sun	90 min. Yoga / Flexibility
Mon	Run 3 miles (AM) 60-90 min. Weight Training  (PM)
Tue	60 min. Cardio Class or Cardio DVD 30 min. Ab Work
Wed	Run 3 miles (AM) 60-90 min. Weight Training  (PM)
Thu	60 min. Cardio Class or Cardio DVD 30 min. Ab Work
Fri	Rest Day
Sat	Long Run (See Schedule Below)

2013 Winter/Spring Long Run Schedule

Date	Miles
12/29	6.5
1/5	7
1/12	7.5
1/19	8
1/26	5
2/2	9
2/9	6
2/16	10
2/23	7
3/2	11
3/9	8
3/16	12
3/23	8
3/30	13
4/6	8
4/14*	13.1
4/20	6-8
4/27	6-8

Please note, before you start any running plan or exercise program, check with your doctor to ensure you are healthy enough to do so. :)

Movin' on up!

AHHH!!!!!  I did it!

1.  One of my goals was to eventually be able to do my entire P90X Chest & Back workout with 20 pound weights....and I can now!  Go me!

2.  Some of the push up styles that I could barely do on my knees when I first started a couple of months ago....I can now do on my toes.

3.  Also, I have moved on to doing my "cheater style" pull ups with one foot instead of two.

If you're not into the P90X DVDs, this chatter probably means nothing to you.  Since this blog is all about me.....well...just know that it's important info.

Summer of Tank Tops, here I come. (One of my goals for the year is to finally feel comfortable in tank tops.)

New Year's Day 5k...that turned into a 4 miler

Happy new year!  We're starting the new year off in a typical way....SICK.  Ugggg!  For as long as I can remember, I'm sick over most of Christmas break & well into the new year.  Lucky for me, this respiratory virus I'm rocking at the moment didn't hit until AFTER our New Year's Day 5k.  [Phew]

Here's a summary of how our new training plan for the new year was kick started...

We start all of our runs from home with a quarter mile "warm up" walk up the big hill behind our house.  At this point, we were trying to convince ourselves it wasn't cold out....or slippery.

As soon as we entered the neighborhood by the WSU campus, I could see the snow capped mountain range!  

A closer look at the mountain range.

One of our favorite parts of running through campus is the view.  If you stand in the middle of the fountain area, you have a view of all the big mountains.  Here's Mt. Hood.

It's rare to see Hood this time of year!  We're usually socked in with clouds.  Lucky for us, it was abnormally sunny out.

And of course, St. Helens.

Here she is up close.  (The mountain...not the speed walker.)

We had a pretty light snowfall a few days prior to the new year, but the temps stayed cool & the snow stuck around.  

Well, it stuck around on the foliage.  Everywhere else had turned to crunchy, slippery ice.  

Too bad we ran across this sign at the end of our run.  It's a warning about the ice (hospital parking lot).   We could have used a warning like that the second we stepped out of the house. lol

See all of the shiny stuff???  That's black ice.  This picture pretty much sums up what we endured during our New Year's Day 5k.  Cold and slippery.  All of the ice made for one of our slowest 5ks to date. lol

And of course, as with most of our weekend runs, the finish line was the local coffee shop.  You can see in the background reflection that it was getting fairly dark by the time we left. Top that with a trip inside the grocery store next door AND a quick run through to see if Goodwill had anything I couldn't live without, and it ended up dark and cold. Miserably cold.  It must have dipped into the 20's by that point.  Being dressed for day time temps and lighting, we ran all the way home just to get it over with.  That made our 5k a solid 4 mile run.

As I said above, we were off to a good start until illness hit.  I ended up having to skip this weekend's 7 mile long run.  If you check your calendar, you'll see that that was the first official long run of our training season.  Not a great way to start off a training plan.  As of today, I will get back on schedule with my shorter mid week runs.  The coughing is under control as long as I stay medicated and have my asthma inhaler on hand.  I still have that feeling of chest pressure.  It feels like someone is sitting on my chest...making it difficult to take in a deep breath.  So the plan is to keep is short and simple until I'm 100% again.  

PS....I'll be sure to post our 2013 winter training plan soon!  We've kicked up the weight training and cross training even more than last year.  Here's hoping we see results of all our hard work come race day.