Saturday, October 27, 2012

Fall Update!

Hey, looks like it's only been a little over a month since I last published something. Not too bad. Naturally, a million things have happened since then. Life just keeps whizzing by. It's hard to keep up.

Ok, big news first... We found out where we're going.

**DRUM ROLL**

East Coast, baby.

My husband picked up command of a flying squadron at Andrews AFB. He didn't think he had a shot of getting it, and he's thrilled. We were in shock for a couple of days because of the three scenarios that were likely, this one was the least expected. We also didn't know very much about this area as opposed to TX and CA, where we thought we'd end up. Where are the good schools? Where do we live for a decent commute? Where are the good swim teams? This caused a bit of stress in those first few days after finding out (for me-hubby tends to roll with things better). However, after the counsel of TONS of friends we have out that way, it's looking more and more like we'll be living in Alexandria, VA. It apparently has good schools and Olympic-caliber swim teams, and it's a 25-minute drive to base. SOLD! We looked at several other areas, but we got enough feedback to come to the decision that Alexandria will likely be the best option for us. Anyway, we have 7 months to figure out all the details... We're outta here at the end of May! Yikes!

Hmmm. What else has been going on? On the family athletics front, the Johnson boys are back to it in the pool. And by boys, I mean the actual biggest boy, not just the biggest kid. Ha! 

Off to the pool!

Both Evan and Mike swam in the recent Yuma Heat Invitational meet. Evan came away with 3 state cuts (50 breast, 100 IM and 200 free) and 5 regional cuts. Mike came away with 2 cuts for the Nationals Masters meet in May. Woohoo! He qualified in the 50 free and fly and just barely missed the cut for the 200 free. So proud of them! They sure are fun to watch. It was also fun to see my 6', 185 pound husband stand on the starting blocks next to a kid not much bigger than Evan (it was a mixed age-group format for the meet). Hahahahaha!

Ok, so concluding with running....

It's all good! I'm healthy and chipping away very slowly at my weekly miles. I've done a sloooooooooooooooow weekly mileage increase over the last several months. I think it just has to be that way for me because I'm so injury prone. I'm off for an 18-miler later this morning, so that will close my week at 50 miles. It feels like it's taken forever to get here! 

Other "running" things in easy-to-read bullet format:
  • My 5K 3 weeks ago ended up being 3.3 miles on my Garmin. UGH! I finished 2nd place female with a 22:31. That's a 6:48 pace and was pretty much my goal for the race (sub-6:50 mile), so I really was happy with it even though the course was way too long. It appears that the first woman was in the 13-15 year-old AG and ran a 19:56. DANG. Also, it was at night, and it was before the temperatures here broke. 93 degrees at the start. That makes me even happier that I could run at that pace.
  • I've been doing 1-mile time trials at the track every 4 weeks. I started in August with a 6:29. That one felt like death. It was 87 degrees at 5:45 am that day. Ridiculous. September was a little cooler...6:23. My October mile was run on Tuesday. 6:10!!! What a difference it makes with *normal* fall temps. I'm optimistic that I'll see my sub-6 goal by year's end!
  •  Just signed up for a half marathon in Phoenix next Sunday. Feeling fairly optimistic about snagging a new PR. Fingers crossed. 
  • Yuma Territorial Marathon is now 13 weeks away. I'm feeling GREAT about where I am in my training. I was running 50 mile weeks about 6-8 weeks before Carlsbad, and I ran a 3:38 there. With 13 weeks to go, I'm at 50 mpw and will continue to eeek it up each week. My coach thinks a sub-3:30 is definitely within reach if I continue to stay healthy.
And that's all she wrote! See you after my half next weekend!



11 comments:

  1. I loved reading about and seeing your husband! You must be very proud of him and this new position. I bet you'll love the East coast - with everything available.
    Great swimming by the Johnson jocks!

    Great idea for you to be doing these time trials. Do you base your training at all on them, or are you going still by HR? In any case, it's a good workout!

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    1. Hey Raina! You know, to be completely honest, I really have no idea why I'm doing the time trials other than for me to see something "tangible" to show that I'm improving. Ha! I have been REALLY lazy about wearing my HR monitor too. I've just been heading out there and making my easy days easy and my hard days hard. I've also been *trying* to be diligent about my strength/core work. My primary focus, truly, is just to stave off injury. That means that my progress is slower than others. I hate to compare, but it's just the nature of running sometimes. It helps me to take "blog breaks" because when I see others who can up mileage even 10% per week (I've been upping it about 1% per week seems like), I get discouraged that I'm not getting faster at at quicker rate. But, it is what it is, and I'm just trying to find gratitude in health, even if it is at the expense of an aggressive training cycle that yields big time drops.

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    2. You are so diligent Allison! Just don't give up. I bet you can increase much faster than that in mileage, if you are willing to completely sacrifice speed for awhile. The danger is usually in trying to increase mileage AND speed at the same time. I totally relate to wanting something tangible though!!

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  2. Oh my gosh - see ya Yuma!!!! I'm sure you and your family will love it out there!!! Congratulations!!!
    Slam that half, hope it's a great one, come on PR!!
    I'll be in Tucson in December, I'll wave at you from across the state!

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    1. Kathy, I see that you are doing Tuscon! If you get a chance, incorporate a lot of downhill training into your schedule. Two of my friends did Tucson last year, and while it was massive PRs for both of them, their quads were TRASHED for a good month afterwards. Good luck, and enjoy the race!

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  4. Good to see ya on here again! Yes, you have had a lot happening in your world. Maryland/ Virgina area is a big change. I'm sure you will love it. Lots of big races in that area of the country. :-)

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  5. I'm so glad you're escaping the desert! Not that East Coast humidity is fun, either, but it's shorter at least. My mom grew up in Alexandria (Navy brat) and she has lots of fond memories of it. Enjoy!

    And yay for the "all good" in running. I can't wait to see what you'll do in that half of yours. I wish I could say I've run 18 miles....Is it safe to say you are BACK?

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    1. 18 yesterday was ROUGH! I felt "back" until that run. Whew! Had to wait until 10 am to do it (childcare reasons), and it was quite toasty already. Felt like a marathon to me! But hey, we all need a few of those tough runs during marathon training, right? It's all about how to deal with discomfort.

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  6. Dang, your legs are fast!

    Congrats on the move! We lived in Virginia about 7 years ago and looooooved it! It was awesome to be close to DC, and all the "free" (still paid for by our taxes) things to do there. You will love it!

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  7. Alexandria is a great place!! How exciting to be heading east... that's where we hope to move at some point, too.
    Awesome job with your training and 6:10 mile! I'm glad I'm not the only injury-prone one... I should have been building back as slowly as you did, because my shin keeps setting me back. Hoping to nip it in the bud for good this time!

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