goals - Live from La Quinta

What’s Beautiful: Running Faster and How To Get There

May 8, 2013 · by Debbie · 26 Comments

I am feeling so fortunate that I was chosen to be part of the Under Armour What’s Beautiful program! This is a sponsored program in which I was selected by Fitfluential to participate. The timing is perfect as I set about planning my training program for my next half marathon, The Costume Party Run.

The What’s Beautiful project is a competition with the goal of redefining the female athlete. Women are invited to set goals for themselves and then go out and achieve them. They are encouraged to try things that they never thought that they could, share their stories, team up with other women with similar goals, and work together to accomplish amazing things.

The best part is that the Under Armour What’s Beautiful program is for everybody. Not just elite level athletes, but ordinary women who would like to push themselves to achieve the extraordinary.

Anybody can join, compete, and be rewarded for their efforts. All you need is to sign up , choose a goal, and share your journey. You can also be a part of a team, either by forming your own, or joining a team of women with similar goals.

It was pretty easy to select my goal. I am actually in the middle of week one of my nine week training program for the Costume Party Run. I came very close to finishing my last race in two hours, in spite of the hilly course and my asthma problems. My What’s Beautiful goal is: Run my first post-50 year old sub-2:00 half marathon in July! I WILL.

Part of the fun of the What’s Beautiful project is that you are encouraged to share your progress by completing challenges and uploading pictures and videos, so of course I will be doing that too. There are even prizes involved! Great Under Armour swag guaranteed to motivate you even more, plus some grand prizes that are really awesome.

I have the goal, so I must create the plan to get there. This is week one of my nine-week training program, and I have already started the work, even though I just finished writing the program today. I based it on my last program, with a few tweaks. So, how am I going to go from a 2:05:41 to a sub-2:00? Here’s what I’m doing different:

More long runs. I’m already in good shape, so I’m picking up where I left off. After this weekend’s nine-miler, I will be right back into the 10+ range. I’m even planning a 14 mile run this time around.
More focused speed workouts. In this training cycle, Wednesdays will alternate between intervals (mostly 800s or longer), and tempo workouts (working up to four miles at tempo pace).
A few “negative split” workouts during my long runs. I love these and they are so effective for teaching you to run fast even when you’re tired.
Now that my work will be slowing down, I will get back to the gym.
Yoga (I can hear you ~~laughing~~ saying “yeah, right.” But really, yoga.
I have an appointment with my asthma doctor next week to see what we can do about the exercise induced asthma. It is something I have dealt with for a long time, but now that I’m training harder it is becoming more of an issue. I haven’t been to this doctor for about seven years, haven’t needed to. Alan is suggesting I try Montelukast, the generic version of Singulair, a pill that you take once a day that he says has been amazing for his asthma.
There are virtually no hills on the Costume Party Run course. Yay!

I’m confident that if I follow my training schedule, stay injury free, and manage my asthma, I can achieve my goal of a post-50 year old, sub 2:00 half marathon. If you’re interested in the program, click on the thumbnail for a full size version. I’ll probably make a few more tweaks along the way, but here you go:

I hope that you will take a few moments to check out the What’s Beautiful website and think about joining the challenge. Then, you can click on over to my page and follow me (I’ll follow you back, I promise). I also started a team, Team Awesome, which I invite you to join. Our goal is to run, walk, skip, or jump across the country (and you can take that either literally or figuratively). Basically, our goal is to get moving, keep moving, and rack up some mileage.

Here are some details about What’s Beautiful from the Under Armour website:

Together we’re redefining the female athlete by setting epic goals and pushing past where we’ve ever been and where we thought we could go. Join us. Set your own personal goal. Then document your journey by posting videos and photos that tell your story from start to victory.

We’ll continuously post challenges for you. But that’s just the beginning. Show us your journey. Show us what makes your story the one that stands out from the rest. If you meet your goal, set a new one. Make it even bigger. Prove to everyone, and yourself, that you have more than what it takes.

Each week, Under Armour will be giving away swag bags full of loot to participants. they will feature top performers on their website. after 8 weeks, they will announce 10 finalists who have documented the most impressive & motivated journeys toward the goals. mid-July, winners will be announced! three winners will receive a trip to Costa Rica for a 4-day retreat.

I hope that I’ve got you excited and ready to get started! What are the goals that you would like to achieve?

Filed Under: goals, La Quinta, training, What's Beautiful · Tagged: Costume Party Run, FitFluential, goals, half marathon, running, team awesome, training, Under Armour, What's Beautiful

The Training Plan: Finally Getting Started on Goal #1

January 25, 2013 · by Debbie · 9 Comments

January has been a challenging month (boy, that’s putting it mildly). Way back at the beginning of the year, I made what I thought were achievable goals for 2013, both for this blog and for my training. I still think they are very achievable, but to this point in the year I have taken no steps toward achieving them. I can honestly say that I have done the best that I can, but circumstances have ~~ganged up on me~~ made it challenging.

I was sick for the first 10 days of the month. Really sick. I didn’t run at all for eight days. When I did feel better and start back, I knew I needed to concentrate on building up my endurance. That proved difficult because the next weekend I had to travel to San Diego, and didn’t run at all. Finally, last weekend, while dealing with the memorial arrangements for my aunt, I made sure I took the time to run. Those runs were great because I challenged myself a little bit, both by the effort I put forth (with my Marine running partners!), and the distance (15 miles in three days). That made me feel like I had a starting point from which to start.

I am excited to say that I picked a race, the La Jolla Half Marathon, which is on April 28. It is a tough race with a lot of hills, so I will incorporate some hill workouts in my training. I’m almost afraid to say this out loud, but I would like to finish in two hours. It’s been a few years since I’ve run under two hours in a half marathon, but last year I finished in just under 2:13 with basically zero training. So, what’s a minute a mile?

As I said, La Jolla Half Marathon has hills.

I have put together a training plan. I will have four running days a week. I’m planning one long run day, one tempo run a week alternating with a hill workout starting at about week six. After a few weeks of building endurance, I’m adding an interval workout on the track once a week. The final run will be a medium long (usually six miles because it’s on a work day), moderate pace run. I’m happy that Alan will be joining me for the track workouts, something we did together for years, always at about 5:00 in the morning. I’m pretty sure he will join me on my long runs too, because he’ll be training for a 70.3 triathlon and will be increasing his mileage too.

My running schedule is a little odd because of my work hours. Three days a week I work at 5:30 in the morning, so running before work is out of the question. I know myself, so running after work is pretty much out of the question too. That means I run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. If I plan three focus runs per week (interval, tempo or hills, long run), there is no way to avoid having two hard workouts back to back. I have chosen to be a weekend warrior, running my tempo or hill workout on Saturday, followed by my long run on Sunday. Plus, I plan to attend a yoga class on Saturday. Sounds like a lot, but I will note that I’m training for a half marathon not a full, so my longest run will be 12, not 20-something. Still, a challenge, which is okay. I hope to be up to the challenge. If you’re interested, my plan is in the google doc below.

Click on the pic for the google doc

So, off I go! It feels good to finally get started on my training. Now, on to those blogging goals (and to get going on month one of the Blog Improvement Challenge!). I’m also joining Katy Widrick’s 28 Day Blog Challenge in February and I’m really excited about that (you can still join!).

I have a feeling I won’t be slowing down any time soon!

How are your goals going? Have you made adjustments? Are you up for a Blog Challenge?

Filed Under: La Jolla Half Marathon, La Quinta, running, training · Tagged: Fitness, goals, half marathon, La Jolla Half Marathon, Racing, running, training

Weekly Reader: Inspiration for a New Year. And the h.h. gregg Gift Card Winner!

January 8, 2013 · by Debbie · 30 Comments

Okay, I won’t keep you waiting until the end of the post (but I hope you stick around until the end). The winner of the $100 h.h. gregg Gift Card is…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations Kenny! I’ll be mailing you your gift card right away.

Now, onto our regularly scheduled programming.

Have you ever read a great book, seen an inspiring movie, or heard a great joke, and thought, “I’ve got to share that!” Of course you have! Here are a few things from my Reader in the last ~~week~~ few weeks that inspired and motivated me, made me happy, sad, and angry, made my stomach growl, and made me laugh.

My grandson, at three weeks. What could be more inspirational than that?

Go Vegan!

If one of your resolutions (or goals, intentions, plans) for 2013 is to reduce or eliminate animal products from your diet, here are a few helpful posts.

Angela from Oh She Glows has a series on going vegan. Her posts include Vegan How To: Part 1 (How to Make the Transition, Most Popular Vegan Recipes of 2012, Vegan How-To: Replacing Dairy Milk, which she followed up with, Carrageenan in our Food (vegan or not, be sure to check it out).

If you want to stock your vegan cupboard, Cadry from Cadry’s Kitchen has got you covered. Her post My 25 Kitchen Essentials will get you started (be sure to read the comment for even more ideas).

Looking for the best recipes? Try Spabettie Recipes – Best of 2012, Better with Veggies’ Best of 2012: Top 10 Recipes, Choosing Raw’s Best of 2012: My Favorite Vegan and Raw Recipes, Cadry’s My 20 Favorite Posts of 2012, and Healthy. Happy. Life’s Top 30 Posts of 2012.

Get Fit!

Whether you’re looking for a workout or looking for some motivation, these posts have you covered:

Heather from Better with Veggies has listed her Best of 2012: Top 5 Workouts. Tamara, from FitKnitChick, has so many awesome workouts that I can’t pick one. Instead, check out her Youtube channel for a bunch of great video workouts.

As you know, I made fitness goals for 2013, as I’m sure many of you did as well. But the post I loved the most was from Kierston, from CandyFit. Her post A Lifetime Resolution says so much about the lifestyle change that she made a few years ago.

Some bloggers chose one word to define their goals and vision for 2013. Heather chose Balance, Lindsay picked Nurture, Amanda selected Purpose, Jesica picked Discipline, and Danielle decided not to limit herself to one word and instead chose three, Success, Joy, Balance. I found it hard to pick just one word too, but Balance feels right to me. What word would you choose?

Nora Tobin has been writing the Fit Vegan Challenge series on the Fitfluential blog for many months. Her post always includes a vegan meal suggestion, vegan recipe, a calorie burning exercise, and a lot of motivation. To get you going in 2013, her latest post is The Fit Vegan Challenge: Back on Track 2013. Check it out.

If you’re feeling a little down on yourself, lacking motivation, or worried that you can’t achieve your goals, check out Amanda from Run to the Finish’s post, How to Use Affirmations and 67 Free Examples. I guarantee you’ll feel better about yourself.

Get Writing

Because so many of my readers are also writers themselves, I like to share a few posts that can help bloggers achieve their goals. I know I certainly made goals for my blog this year!

Stanford, over at Pushing Social, always has great information to make your blog better and more successful. His 10 Blogging Commandments for a Successful Year will help you make your own plan. And since you really can’t look forward and plan without looking back and reviewing, be sure to read 12 Ways to End Your Blogging Year with a Bang.

When you write, how much do you reveal? How much should you reveal? I’ve read a few interesting posts on the topic lately. Tessa, from Amazing Asset, wrote a piece for the Healthy Living Blogs Blog Tip Thursday series, Honesty in Blogging, that I really enjoyed.

Well, that should get you reading for a while. What have you read lately that inspired you? Did you write something that you’re proud of and would like to share? Please do!