7/28/05: Good times for all—the first SMART gathering for 2005!

And needless to say, I got my butt kicked, and looooooovvvvved every second of it. For those of you that don’t know anything about SMART or what it is, let me explain. SMART is the Official Marathon and Half-Marathon training program for the Houston Striders running club. SMART officially kicks off August 13 and will be approximately 5 months of training (well 6 if you started training in July like you are suppose to-ahhemm!) leading up to the Houston Marathon and half-marathon on January 15, 2006! Woohoo, can’t wait! Anyhow, the program is free (THAT’S RIGHT-FREE!) to anyone who is a current HARRA member and member of the Houston Striders. That comes out to about $40 or so a year to get top-quality training, support the Houston running community, and (in my humble opinion) be a member the best running club in Houston!

Anyhow, back to the topic at hand…the program today (and for the most part every Tuesday and Thursday) consists of a 2 mile warmup, sillywalks, 400m x 5 at a 5k pace, a ‘Boot Camp’ of lunges, pushups, crunches, and a 2 mile cooldown. So in the end, you not only walk away with a solid 5 miles of running, but also a nice upper body workout and sore abs. FUN! And the park we do SMART at (Terry Hershey park in West Houston) is beautiful minus the hordes of bikes/walkers you have to avoid from time-to-time. (Just keep your eyes open and run single file is the key I have learned). I can’t wait til next week and hope to see everyone again. (Eric—bring some more beer!) The only downside to the deal is driving out there…I-10 is a nightmare/parking lot/death trap all the time so I think I might start driving down Memorial Drive to get there. Good times for all, overall and yes Steve, I will be back next week. (You haven’t scared me off yet:))

Stats:
WARMUP and COOLDOWN: about 10:09/m x 4 miles
400m x 5: about 1.52 x 5 (danggggggg, that averages out to about a 7:42 mile!)
TOTAL TIME: 40:46 for WU and CD
HEART RATE: n/a
WEATHER: About 90 degrees, maybe 80 % humidity.

7/27/05: Polo Club Loop with the Striders/PIMsters…

I have to admit tonight was NOT the night I should have been running. I only got three hours of sleep and my nutrition for the day left a lot to be desired…however I knew I NEEDED to get this run to get me mentally ready for SMART tomorrow. Of course, a 5.6 mile course that I have never ran wasen’t really wasen’t I expected when Steve said we were going to run ‘easy’ today. It was a nice run, don’t get me wrong. The route we ran is comprised of 1.5 miles of Memorial Park Loop, then up Memorial Drive towards 610 (HARRA just layed down some crushed granite on it this past weekend-Heaven!) and on the frontage road around to the Houston Polo Club. And then back. It was a great time, especially running with Strider Mark on the way back (thank you!) I had never seen a polo club so I was in awe at the green-ness of the grass and the rows of horse stables. Of course, I was the last runner in (and back!) so I got a rather shortened view of the club, lol. But the cold water at the end made it worth it. I look forward to running this route again, and possibly throwing in a loop or two around Memorial before I do it. I’m up for a partner sometime too if anyone is up for it…I promise I won’t slow you down, too much!

The Stats:
Mile 1: 11:10
Mile 2.5: 20:15
Mile 4: 15:43
Mile 5: 11:26
Mile 5.6: 5:08

TOTAL TIME: 1.03
AVERAGE PACE: about 11:36/m (a really slow day!)
HEART RATE: n/a
WEATHER: About 85 degrees, maybe 50 % humidity.

7/25/05: 2 miles at the (boring) 24-Hour Fitness…

Tonight was the first time I have ran since the “Strider’s Special” last Wednesday. Yeah, I know, I suck for slacking on my running. I will certainly be paying for it when I join up with the other SMARTies on Thursday for the first SMART night. Ohh, my body is hurting already. Actually I have no idea what to truly expect…anyhow, I got in 2 quick miles at the gym tonight because it was so hot today and I knew there was just no way I was going to make it on a run outside. Although I was running at a slower-than-my-normal pace (about 12 minute miles) my legs felt very fresh and strong. Maybe the days off were better for me than I thought. I had planned on running 5 miles but, 2 is better than nothing. Looking forward to another “Strider’s Special” on Wednesday!


The Stats:
ABOUT 12 minute miles
MILEAGE: 2 miles total
TOTAL TIME: 23.49
HEART RATE: n/a
WEATHER: a/c coolness

7/20/05: The Weeky PIM/Strider's Special at Memorial Park...

And believe it or not, the ONLY time I have ran since the Lunar 5k. For some reason, due to my obnoxious travel schedule this past weekend, I have not ran since Saturday. It sucks, and I should be punished. I'll be lucky if I fit in 14 miles this week. My body is telling me it's upset by feeling achy and tired. This is NOT the week to feel this way. And add to the fact I will be out of town again this weekend. Arghh, who would have thought summer would be so crazy...

Anyhow, we did a speedwork tonight consisting of 30 second sprints with a 30 second recovery for 16 minutes. I think I was able to do about 10 repeats around the 400m track. I think that's pretty good considering that the top runners probably did about 14-16 repeats. I wasen't breaking any speed records but I certainly tried to hold my own (alone, at that).

The Stats:
ABOUT 4 miles total (Sillywalks, 1 mile warmup, 2 miles of 30 second repeats, 1 mile cool down)
TOTAL TIME: about 45 minutes
HEART RATE: 175 av 185 max (this was off tonight for some reason. my heart rate should have been higher)
WEATHER: HUMID (almost 100% due to the rainfall an hour earlier) and about 85 degrees

7/16/2005, My birthday AND the Lunar Rendezvous 5K!

Today, more on impulse and wanting to do something ‘note-worthy’ for my 25th birthday (an age-group changing year!) I ran the Lunar 5K in Clear Lake. After getting little more than 4 hours of sleep, I managed to get in my car and make the 1 hour trek to NASA. I had never actually been there so I got a little lost and there was also some dumb construction, so I was, needless to say, a little panicked about making it to the race in time. I hurridly paid my $19 registration fee (not bad for race day!) and ran to my car to throw my packet in there. I did a little stretching (literally about 2-3 minutes because I got there sooo late!) and I was off! I don’t even know that I had caught my breath when the gun went off. Eager to get going though, I passed up the infamous Jon Walk as he hollered “Hey, slow down there Jessica” or something like that. I was like “Are you talking to me?! Hey Jon!” We chatted for a little while before we settled into our paces. I think he saw the “It’s my B-day!” that I had wrote on my shirt in red tape (that later started to fall off around mile 3! Annoying!). I knew we ran pretty close in pace though so I kept him in my view as he passed me up again. I knew I could keep up with him though, so I kept pushing myself for negative splits. Finally at mile 2 as he stopped for water, I caught up with him and started to attempt to pass 25 people (well 26, one to grow on!) as a little birthday tribute for me. It worked! Jon ran with me about half a mile before I left him and made a very noble and steady push to the end. In fact, I sprinted the last .2 mile! Although not a PR for me (acording to my watch-I only missed it by 6 seconds!) I felt I ran really great and strong and the crowd and my fellow runners cheered me on as the birthday girl so it was tons of fun to ‘fly across’ the finish line to a great crowd. (Pics here to prove it! :)

Afterwards, Jon and I chatted some more (along with his daughter Waverly who got a good picture of us!) and caught up on some local running news. It’s really nice to meet someone with so much knowledge of a sport we both truly love and it’s nice to have someone do such a great service for the Houston-area! And I believe I also told him I couldn’t wait til the next race so he can pass me up again and then I could get him in the end! :)

The Stats:
Mile1: 9:52
Mile2: 9:49
Mile3: 9:17
Mile3.1:0.38

OFFICIAL TIME: 29:37
AVERAGE PACE: 9:32
HEART RATE: 183 Ave 200 Max
WEATHER: 85 degrees, 80 % humidity(not really sure about this)

7/15/05 ,What I thought was going to be a short 2 mile run...

Turned into an hour adventure through some rather quiet and peaceful parts of the city. I decided earlier today I am going to do the Lunar Rendevous 5K tomorrow that is taking place in Clear Lake right by the Space Center. It's my birthday and it's an age-group changing year for me (25) so I figure-why the hell not. Plus I was in a good mood as I am OFFICIALLY a Houston Strider!!!!!!! Woohoo! I also enrolled in the SMART marathon training program at the same time (well I am doing SMART Lite, which is for new marathoners and the halfers. I am only doing the half this year. There is always next yr for the full!) The weather has been freak-ishly cool the last few days too and I had to get a nice run by my house as the sun was setting. The sky was simply stunning as the sun went down it was bluer then I ever remember...what a great evening. Anyhow, I'm excited about tomorrow's race and hope to PR as long as the rain stays at Bay (literally) and the heat stays away a little longer. I would like to break 29.00 minutes but I would be happy at 9:15 too. If you end up racing it, I will be wearing a singlet that says:
"It's my Birthday!"

The Stats:
ABOUT 2.4 miles total
Mile0.8: 8:16
Mile1.6: 10.00
Mile2.4: 10.16
TOTAL TIME: 28.32 minutes
HEART RATE: didn't wear
WEATHER: HUMID! but cool/breezy, around 85 degrees

7/13/05, “Strider Special 5.6”

Tonight was the weekly PIM/Striders Summer run which I have been partaking in the past few weeks. I like to call it the “Strider Special” as it is usually a route Mr. Steve Shepard selects 5 minutes before we set sail…it usually varies in length depending on how much of it you want to run, as there are always a few that turn back, but usually somewhere between 4-6 miles. Today we did about 5.6 miles and the first half of it for me (from Memorial Park down Memorial Drive to the Waugh bridge-I think) I ran very strong and with a another new Strider, Heather. This girl is fairly fast so I did a pretty good job keeping up with her although I can tell I was holding her back. It was still fun to talk though and hear about her job as Fitness Director at Rice University. On the way back, I ran with Strider Lynlee and she told me about her expierences running the Sunmart 50K! Wow, what an inspiration to me. I can’t wait to run the marathon NOW! Lol.

The Stats:
ABOUT 5.6 miles total (I didn’t have mile splits for the route we did)
TOTAL TIME: about 50 minutes
HEART RATE: 174 average 190 max
WEATHER: HUMID! About 90 degrees and 90 % humidity (I think! It was brutal!)

7/11/05, another 24 hour fitness treadmill run...

I usually try to do my long runs on Sundays since I don’t usually have much time to run longer than an hour during the week…however my travel plans from this past weekend interferred with that and I couldn’t get in my long run in until tonight. And it was on the treadmill to boot…I am sure like every other runner out there, I DESPISE treadmill workouts. Usually it gives me a chance to watch the evening news and David Letterman though. Anyhow, I ran 8 miles tonight despite the tiredness I felt in my legs. Also, my right knee starting aching a little after mile 6. Strange. I am going to keep my eyes on my knee closely the next few days and treat it to lots of ice and stretching. I hope this isn’t going to be a reoccuring problem, as I am just getting over an achy right shin. Not my best run tonight, but I am trying to stick as close to the Houston SMART lite plan as possible. (3 miles easy, 3 miles half marathon pace, and 2 easy). Good times!

The Stats:
Mile1: 11:25
Mile2: 11:25
Mile3: 11:25
Mile4: 10:15
Mile5: 10:15
Mile6: 10:19
Mile7: 11:26
Mile8: 11:16 (I pushed it a little)

TOTAL TIME: about 1:28
HEART RATE: did not wear
WEATHER: A/C coolness

My first 10K: "The Toughest 10K in Texas"

I ran my first 10K this past weekend in Lampasas, Texas (which is about 20 miles west of where my parents live). I had such a great run, despite the 12 hills that make this the ‘Toughest 10K in Texas.’ I felt I ran pretty ‘conservative’ and was actually able to run a negative split in mile 6 and sprint the last .22 mile! I met and had conversations with two very nice runners, Jesse Keller from Kingwood and Cliff Hatfield from Corpus Christi. Jesse’s encouragement kept me going strong from miles 1-3 and Cliff was able to get me to push in the last two miles where I thought I would weaken due to my sore shin. Miles 1-3 were the toughest for me, just because it took me a while to get my breathing strong and my legs awake. Three-fourths of the other runners in the race passed me up right away. Oh well, I thought, I just really want to finish strong. I stopped for water at mile 1.5 and wanted to stop again at mile 3 but they ran out of water! Not cool, I actually wanted to make a comment about it to the race management afterwards but forgot. A mile 4 I knew I was going to finish strong and stopped one more time for water and started to push myself. At that point I knew I could have used some Gatorade but I had forgotten my fuel belt at home. As I saw the mile 6 sign, I kicked it up and my breathing started to get crazy—I actually felt myself wanting to hyperventilate. I finished with a huge smile on my face as I crossed the finish at exactly 1:04:00. Nice! My goal was to finish in under 1:05, so I knew it was possible, although in my training runs I have never run a 10K in under 1:07! Great PR for me, and can’t wait for the next 10K, it’s a really good distance for me. I would like to finish under an hour, and I think that’s very possible for me.

The Stats:
Mile1: 10:05
Mile2: 10:14 (I missed the mile 2 split somewhere so I just estimated on my watch)
Mile3: 10:14
Mile4: 11:35 (Long water break)
Mile5: 10:36
Mile6: 8:55
Mile.2: 1.03 (For some reason that doesn’t look right but like I said, I was sprinting like a mad dog!)

OFFICIAL TIME: 1:03:45.65
AVERAGE PACE: 10:16/m
HEART RATE: 150 Ave 192 Max
WEATHER: 85 degrees, 30 % humidity