Hill work

With two runs in since vacation I am feeling okay, not happy with my mile times but that will come back as I get all those running muscles back to work.

I have noticed the difference in my cardio stamina from all the swimming, it doesn't take nearly as much time to recover when I hit the higher zones and come back down.

Due to the way the Women's Half is laid out with the first part from The Country Music Hall of Fame to Centennial park being mostly up hill, I have changed my last 25 days of training to mostly hills.

I am fortunate that I do not have to go searching for hills to run I have a GREAT training hill just out side my door and actually the property that we live on has some nice elevation for my back off days. It's nice because a loop around the property is exactly 1/2 a mile.

I am grateful that I still have the desire to do better, be better and achieve more with my life and running career. I can feel the changes in my body and the building of muscle.

I am also grateful for a husband that not only has been there for every race but has found his own desire to run and train and be healthy.

Till the next time

FCR & Hubby

Seattle Vacation

Wow the end of July and beginning of August just seem to fly by. I got in far fewer runs than I would have liked in July due to the heat. I traded off and did extra work in the pool hoping that it might off set some of the lost road work.

We had a blast in Seattle with Hubby's brother and family. We did all the touristy stuff your suppose to do when in a new city.

I fell in love with the weather and the atmosphere in my first trip to the Pacific Northwest. I could see us living there after Hubby graduates.

The only downfall of our trip was the flight from Cincinnati, Ohio to Seattle. One row back and across the aisle was a extremely chatty woman whom for the entire 4 hour flight did not stop talking ONCE. She was so loud that I and the person in the row in front of her could hear her over our music playing with the sound turned almost all the way up. Never in my time flying have I ever experienced someone doing this on an overnight flight. Most travelers sleep, read, listen to music, they do not expound to the entire plane the benefits of eating kale, and not drinking out of plastic bottles for 4 hours at a volume that can be heard all over the plane.

Aside from loud talking, kale lady most of our flights went well.

Once back in Nashville Hubby and I have resumed running, early mornings at 5am. My next half marathon is just over 30 days away and my cardio seems to be good, my stamina could use a boost. That means conquering the hills around my home for the next 25 days as much as I can seeing as how the first half of the race is up hill.

Till the next time

FCR & Hubby

PS. To the passenger that sat across the aisle and endured the kale lady, my many thanks for helping share in our mutual irritation.

Summer break is almost over!

As many of you might or might not know I've been absent here most of June and July due to taking care of one of my nieces this summer.

That has meant spending lots of time in the pool and boy do I feel the difference, my muscle mass is up and I am toned up like crazy. I'm guessing that my total inches lost is now close to 30!

I have also been able to start back running on Saturdays, well one Saturday so far this summer. I am also battling an ovarian cyst on my left side. Doctor says no stress, but I stress more if I can not get out and do something.

Okay enough whining.

What does my late summer race schedule look like? Just one so far that is the Women's Running Magazine 1/2 Marathon. Which I just realized is up hill for the first 6.5 miles. I guess Conference drive and the GoodNaz 5k route are my best friends for the next several weeks. I am looking forward to doing some running in Seattle the 9-16th. Nice cool runs I'm hoping.

Well that is the summer update and hope to have great training news and Seattle running pictures for you all soon.

FCR

Our next adventure

As I might have mentioned Hubs and I are starting our foster parenting classes the month of June in combination with that we are doing our first charity fundraising walk/run.

Walk Me Home is the signature fund-raising and awareness event for foster care in America. We know not everyone can be a foster parent, but Walk Me Home is a great way to support the over 513,000 children in foster care. This year thousands and thousands of walkers will participate in Walk Me Home events across the country, raising funds to support the life changing programs and activities of foster care associations throughout the United States.

The link above will take you to our page where you can join our team or donate. There will be a "donate now" button over there =====> soon. Hubs is working on the coding as soon as I get off the computer.

You can also "virtually" walk with us.

With foster care and adoption so close to our hearts we want to make sure that we take the time to share it with our friends and families.

If you don't feel that a monetary donation is something you can do please feel free to support, cheer, pray and share our story with others along the way! We are grateful for any support on this journey we can get!

FCR, Hubs and Team Blaisdell

Hendersonville Classic 5k

I need to start off by saying that due to catching up with life after the Country Music 1/2 Marathon I have not been training the way I should have been. Due to the heat and humidity and my failed attempt at a recovery run just after CMM 1/2 where I ran longer than I planned and got dehydrated and heat exhaustion I have not been running in the humidity like I should have been.

I have not foregone training completely I have just been enjoying the oh so cool waters of the pool.

Not only have I adapted fartlek training for the water I have been adding to my swim distances just about every day. I'm really bad at recording those but I am trying to do better.

The jogging in the water in tough! Not to mention the squats and pull ups. Not as easy at one would think it should be.

All that work in the pool has paid off. Today Hubs and Mom B and I ran the Hendersonville Classic.

My goal was 45 minutes, not only would it be a PR but my fastest 3.1 mile run. The first mile went as expected just running out the kinks and as I explained to Mom B making my body realize that this was not some cruel joke and that I was going to continue to run for 3.1 miles.

The humidity was a bit of a factor but not as much as I expected it to be. Wore my new Swiftwick 12 olefin's and did not have to do the usual mid mile one stop and stretch.

The first mile was at a 17 minute pace which seems to be the pace that my body wants to settle into. At least this race was a consistent 17 min/mile pace.

The results look like this: I finished 41 out of 43 keeping up with the I refuse to be last mantra, Hubs was 11 of 11 and Mom B was 14 of 17, we all had new personal records. I am just amazed at how well Hubs has done since he broke his leg in January. Again according to most doctors he should still be in physical therapy and a brace of some kind. We are continually amazed at how fast he healed and how fast his recovery has been.

41 FCR 52:43

11 Hubs 42:11

14 Mom B 50:54

I even had enough gas at the end to run hard to the finish line. I call it "both feet in the air at the same time finishing" I know it seems like a silly goal but it feels so good to have that much left over at the end. Now I need to work on getting 2 minutes shaved off that time. I would love to have a consistent 15 min/mile pace by the race in September.

Till Next Time,

FCR and Hub's