This summer I ran a half-marathon located in another city. The location wasn’t that far, maybe an hour or an hour and a half from home. But when you need to be there at six in the morning that is very far!
So my cousin and I decided to stay the night before the race. The race was in the wine country and there are not a lot of hotels around there. But there are a lot of bed and breakfast places. The other thing the surrounding city had was rooms for rent located in people’s houses. You could rent the room, like a bed and breakfast, but there wouldn’t be other guests.
As it turned out my cousin had a friend who grew up down there and that friend’s parents still live there. And they had a room that they rent out to guests and they were gracious enough to let us stay the night there. Because of their generosity, I want to make them a thank you card and a little gift.
I first used some crayons from my son’s art kit and made a little rainbowish pattern on a mini canvas. The min canvases and easels can be found at Michel’s Craft Store and are about 3″x3″.
Using my Silhouette Cameo I cut out the dandelion, floating seeds and words out of different colored vinyl. Because of the waxy nature of the crayons and the texture of the vinyl I went ahead and sealed it all with some Mod Podge, then added the adhesive rhinestones.
I thought the words ‘relax’ and ‘breathe’ fit well with the room they let us use. It was a very calming house and atmosphere, which was just the thing we needed prior to our race.
I also designed and cut out this thank you card using my Silhouette Cameo.
UPDATE:
My dutiful sister has informed me that the canvas says ‘breath’ when I intended it to say ‘breathe’
*sigh* such is my life. it is always after I post it that she finds the errors…
Yep, that stroller I talked about before, the one that I was so excited to get. Yeah, that one. I hate it.
It is so heavy and hard to steer because it is misaligned. It adds a minute or two to my pace and I can’t run as long with it.
Last Wednesday while Ian was in school I decided to take Sid for a run. Not only was I slow by after two miles I had to stop. I just didn’t want to push it anymore. I was running in our neighborhood, so I went back to the house. Parked him in the grass and did sprints up and down the street in front of our house.
I love that I have the freedom to still go for a run when I just have one kid, and I probably still will….but you bet your sweet ass I’m gonna bitch about it the whole time!
So to recap my speed training last week; ran two miles with the stroller at a 11:52 min/mile pace. I ran 3.14 miles at a 10:54 pace, and 3.20 miles at a 10:42 pace. Those were on the treadmill and the distance includes my cool down time.
When I did the 3.14 miles I walked about 1/4 of a mile twice during the run. But the last one, the 3.20 miles, I didn’t walk even a 1/4 of a mile once. To me this shows that I am improving my lung function, which is making me stronger and faster.
And then there was last night. Last night I ran the first mile at 10:42 then increased the speed for the second mile to 10:31. For the 3rd mile I increased it again to a 10:21. But at the almost 3/4 mark I increased it again and again at when I had 1/10th of a mile to go. I was at just over 32 minutes when I hit 3 miles so I kept running till I got to 33 minutes, then started my cool down, for a full five minutes. My total run was 3.30 miles, I had a technical issue during the first mile that set my time back by a minute, but other than that I didn’t walk at all.
I updated my iOS for my iPhone, recently and there is a new app that Apple installs with this update. At first I was like “ugh! another Apple forced app that I don’t use but takes up space on my home screen!”
But then I opened it and found something I could use! (no, this is not an endorsement, just my opinion) It’s called Health, or referred to as Healthkit.
Some of you may already have known this, but I didn’t, the iPhone has a motion sensor (at least the 5 and higher does). This means it has a pedometer capabilities. Again, this may be old news to you, but not to me. I have been wanting to record my steps as well as my miles running. A GPS app, like Map My Run, won’t work inside my building where I work, especially in the stairwells. Now I can! This is exciting news to me, so I thought I’d share it. I can also record the flights of stairs I take each day, and it connects to Map My Run so I don’t have to record my runs twice. (It also works with Nike Fuel)
You can also record a bunch of other stuff, but the exciting thing for me is the pedometer function. Plus it has been recording all month, I saw on Sunday I took over 9,000 steps!
After my half marathon I realized I need to work on my speed.
I haven’t really gotten below a 11:30 min/mile since I got sick in June and mostly I maintain a 12 min/mile. I am OK with what I have been running, but I need to pick it up. Now, I’m not looking to run a 6 min/mile (yet…) but training to run faster will help me in the long runs. (yep. pun intended. you’re welcome)
The major reason I want to increase my speed is to increase my VO2 max. When I can increase the amount of oxygen uptake to my muscles, I can run longer.
Do I have a speed training plan?
Nope not yet. I am looking into it, doing some research. My cousin goes to a weekly running training group with a coach, but I don’t got time for that! I will figure out a plan that works for me. Don’t worry, I’m sure I will tell you all about it.
Right now I am going to start small. I have a goal for my 5k in November. I am actually running two races in November, a 5k and a 12k. I want to run the 5k in 30 minutes, that is a 10 min/mile. I have six weeks to get there.
Yesterday I decided I had to get back to the treadmill. I don’t have an awesome pace watch like a Garmin, and I can’t accurately judge my pace when road running. Plus I find that I will push myself (pace wise) on a treadmill, because I have set the pace, and the belt is moving.
Last night I set my pace to just under 11 min/miles (5.5 mph treadmill setting) and ran for a mile. I then walked, at semi-fast pace, for half a mile. I picked up the pace and ran again for one mile only slightly faster, 10:46 min/mile (5.6 mph), then walked again for the last half mile.
With my warm up (which was a slow walk because I was looking for a show to watch) and my cool down, I ran a total of 3.14 miles in 42.28 minutes. The cool down and warm up portions added up to about 6 of those minutes. Next time I will keep better track of the actual times, so I know how long it really took me.
This plan is all fine and good if I am only going to run 3 miles, but next year I want to run 26.2! Which is why I am going to figure out a long-term speed plan, and incorporate it into my marathon training.
I normally don’t write posts on the weekend, but this just had to be shared.
Here in Oregon we are into our Indian Summer. Meaning it is more than half way through September and we will have a high of 93° today. I couldn’t run early morning cause my husband had to work, I didn’t want to run tonight because I am getting up and running 8 miles in the early morning.
My four-year old had a soccer game at 10:45 this morning, so I decided to run to the game. I’d put the two-year old in the stroller and run the short 3 mile distance to the game. It’s actually less than 3 miles, but I added a loop to make it three miles. I figured if my kid could run around and play soccer, I could run to the game, right?
No big deal.
It’s 10 o’clock and I tell my husband I’d be leaving in a few minutes.
Husband: the game’s not till 10:45. You sure you want to leave this early. It’s only like 20 blocks.
Me: it’s actually just over 3 miles.
Husband: yeah, and at a 10 minute mile…
Me: I don’t run that
Husband: you should be under that
Me: uh…nope. I run a 11-12 minute mile, but I’ll have the stroller so it will be more like a 13 minute mile.
Husband: wow. you’re slow!
So it’s a good thing that after almost two decades I can spot his sarcastic wit, or my dear husband would have become my dearly departed husband!
I pack up and leave for the game. It’s hot, ok, it’s only like 80° but it is hot when the sun is beating down on you and you are running. The stroller is heavy and pulling to the left. Like bad. I had to stop about a quarter-mile into the run and adjust the front wheel. Then about 20 feet later I had to stop and take the front wheel off and put it on the other way.
That helped, somewhat, but it was still heavy! I swear my kid has gained 10 pounds in the last week.
I realized my ideal temperature to run in is between 60-70° preferably with out rain, or blaring sunshine and without pushing a stroller.
After about 40 minute, my husband calls me, but I don’t answer. I’m sure he was just wondering what field they were on, not where the hell I was.
We get there a few minutes late, watch the game, I talk to people and when I get back to the car I realize I am missing one lens of my sunglasses.
Yep. I just spent the whole time with one lens and I had no idea. I don’t even know when I lost it, but my husband said I didn’t have it at the game. Was I on my run like that? Did I say ‘hi, good morning’ to all those people like that?
I Tri and Craft 