weekly recap

I thought I should do a weekly overview of my training.  Just in case I miss anything during the week, and also so I can see what I have done that week. The perfect time for this will probably be Sunday night/Monday morning. 

This week was just half a week long.  I decided to start this on January 1st for two reasons. 
1) It's the New Year, and what is a better excuse?!
2) I was working until the 31st - I am a tour guide and it doesn't give me much opportunity to really focus on my running when I am away.  (And I won't be touring again for at least another 5 months)

My week:

Thursday: Early morning run, at a moderate pace: 5 miles. 8:47min/mile

Friday: Early morning run, at an easy pace: 4 miles.  9:19min/mile

Saturday: Morning parkrun timed 5k, with warm up and cool down: 4 miles.  8:24min/mile

Sunday: Rest!  Calves feeling a little sore, so decided to stretch them out.

Weekly total: 13 miles

Great start to the year!  I can slowly keep adding the miles.

parkrun

I didn't write about my run yesterday.  I was planning on hill repeats, then I remembered that parkrun was happening.  Parkrun is an organisation that operates all over the world, they offer weekly timed 5km runs - for free!! I joined a while ago, but had never gone to one.  (I don't think they have them in Hawaii, but the one I went to was about 5 minutes away from my parents house in Australia).

I thought it could be a great idea to get a timed 5k under my belt to see where I am now and to give me a base for the year to come.  Great idea!

I arrived feeling very nervous. I'm always nervous before any sort of speedwork.i think I just want to perform at my best, whether it is a race or just 400m repeats - I want to reach my goals!  I went for just over half a mile warm up, then went to start the event.

There where a lot of people running, all different ages and abilities - and a bunch of first timers.  It had a very friendly atmosphere, everyone was very welcoming to the newbies!  The run started and took us through the beautiful park, on trails.  I started out a little too fast, and into the second mile I wanted to quit!  I kept pushing, and had positive splits.  Not the best racing I've done.

Mile 1: 7:51

Mile 2: 8:03

Mile 3: 8:04

Mile 0.1: 7:04

But I got a PR!  I think it was about 20 seconds faster than my previous time.  I finally broke 25 minutes, with an official time of 24:46.  I am extremely happy with this, the last month I have barely run at all -I think I ran 37 miles in December, compared with over 100 for October and November each.

I then cooled down with an easy jog to make my mileage for the day a total of 4 miles.

Now I am excited to have a great base, and see if I can improve on my time.  My ambitious goal may be to now break 24 minutes!

Today I was thinking of a longer run, but my calves are feeling a little sore so I am taking a rest day.  I will start my long runs soon enough!

#NewYogiNewYear

I have wanted to start yoga for a while.  I did it a little in high school, then never again.  I found a beginners challenge on Instagram, and so I am excited to start with that. It is simply a pose a day - easy!  I am also going to try and find more guides for me to get into it.  I feel it can only help for both running and surfing.  My friend also spoke really highly of Bikram Yoga, and I think there is a place near where I live back home, so I will look into that too.

The first day, the bridge pose.

I did my run this morning, just an easy pace.  The hills here kill me!  I am at my parent's house, and if I want a run by the beach I have a huge hill to go over to get there, and of course it is sitting there waiting for me on the way back.  3.5 miles at 9:19 pace.  I tried some surges at the end, just speeding up and slowing down.  Nothing too exciting, and I think I didn't run them long enough.  I figure anything is better than nothing though!

I think I may try hill repeats tomorrow, I'm excited for them!  Weird, I know.  But I have heard running hills is a great way to improve speed and form.