June 2013 – Zenaida Arroyo

Month: June 2013

30
Jun
2013

Weekly Workouts, June 24-30, 2013 and June in Review

categories: Half Marathon Training, Monthly Review

Workouts this week:

Monday – Cardio
Rode my bike along the lakefront. I forgot my Garmin but I think it was about 9 miles.

Tuesday – 4 x 1200 (2 min RI)
Done. It was tough and I struggled to get them done.

Wednesday – Cardio
Skipped the bike and instead went for a massage. My legs were sore. 🙁

Thursday – 2 miles easy, 3 miles @ short tempo, 1 mile easy
It was rough but I only did 2.41 miles. I was very tired. I did not want to get up in the morning and told myself that I would feel better once I started running. Nope, did not happen.

Saturday – 8 miles at HMP, 10 minutes walking
I ran with my college friend, PA, who is running the Chicago Marathon in October. I have not seen him since last year in October. We had a great time! For the most part I was able to keep up with him but struggled towards the end. With a half mile to go, I told me to “go” and he did. That was OK with me because I did not want to hold him back and I told him that various times. He was cool with staying with me for most of the run.

I cannot believe that we’re already halfway through the year. This month I ran 80.43 miles compared to 73.89 last month. This year I’ve ran 467.83 miles and I’m a bit behind if I want to meet my goal of running 1,000 miles this year.

I ran two half marathons: Rock ‘n’ Roll San Diego and Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle. My best time was in San Diego (2:22:06) but then did not so good in Seattle (2:30:39). Oh well. I should not be so hard on myself and expect a good race every single time. Actually, it can be a good race if I just change my attitude. Is it all about the finish time or the experience? If it’s the former than I’m in trouble because I have many more races this year and I don’t expect a PR at each one. It can be a fun race if I don’t focus so much on the finish time but instead pay more attention to the course, the volunteers, the runners, and anything else associated with the race. So my plan for the rest of the year is to enjoy my races.

I’m thinking of doing the 4 on the 4th race on Thursday. My 4 mile PR is 44:28 from November 2008. Yes, it’s been that long. I think it’s time to find out if I can set one this year.

27
Jun
2013

Three Things Thursday, June 27, 2013

categories: Three Things Thursday

1. I’m thinking of moving my blog over to self-hosting and not use blogspot.com (or wordpress.com). I have an idea for the domain name and am in the process of finding out if the same name is available in Twitter and Instagram. But now the problem is whether to use WordPress or Blogger for the self-hosted blog. Any advice?

2. For my birthday last year I received a Keurig coffee maker machine. I LOVE it and is the best thing ever. Recently I came across K-Cups to make iced coffee. It is so good and sweet. I found out today that Dunkin’ Donuts has something similar. I will definitely be making a trip there soon.

3. Thanks to Netflix I am finally watching “Grey’s Anatomy”. I remember some friends of mine were hooked on it but I never bothered watching it. Also, I watched the first season of “Scandal” in one evening (only 7 episodes) and am hooked. Unfortunately, season two is not available on Netflix but someone suggested HuluPlus. I checked and it is only $7.99 per month which is what I pay for Netflix. I might make a switch just to watch “Scandal”. Are you a fan of any of those shows?

Just Keep Running!

24
Jun
2013

Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon

categories: Race all 50 states, Race Recap, Rock 'n' Roll Race, Running

Done, state #21.

I took an early flight from Chicago and arrived in Seattle around 10:30am. There was no hotel shuttle and a cab was too expensive, so I took the light rail. I bought an all day pass for $5.75. Score!

I booked my hotel, The Roosevelt, through Southwest. I loved it! It was a block and a half from the light rail/monorail to get to the expo AND the start line. Plus, it was close to Pike Place Market and many other stores and restaurants and I thought the price was reasonable.

The expo was cool! I bought watermelon flavored Nuun tablets and three Sparkly Soul headbands. Unfortunately, I lost one (red, blue, white) that I was planning to wear with my new ProCompression socks in a 4th of July race. I also purchased monorail tickets to the start line (Space Needle) and back to the hotel. I met Mel from Tall Mom on the Run. She is really nice and we chatted for a little bit.

That evening I had pad thai from Wild Ginger. I went to bed at 8 pm because my body was still on Central Time plus my alarm was set for 5:25 am.

Race day came and I got ready. I walked to the monorail to get to the start line. I had to use the bathroom and found one inside a building. Then I proceeded to follow the crowd to the start line. I realized I had to go again to the bathroom and left my corral to use the port-a-potty. They smelled horrible! But when you have to go, you have to go. I got in line again and had trouble with my Garmin. No satellite. Ugh, I got out and saw Mel again. I realized afterwards that I did not take one picture with her.

Finally it was time to go. I encountered my first hill after mile 1. I thought it was never going to end. Of course there is always a downhill which was nice. I liked the view and felt really good at this time. At mile 6 we ran next to Lake Washington. It was just beautiful!! Plus, it felt good to be in the shade. I stopped to admire the view and also to see pictures of soldiers that died during the war. That made me really sad.

At mile 8 there was another uphill and I refused to run. I was tired. It was after the mile marker that we ran in a tunnel. I did not like that AT ALL. It was hot, dark, loud, and long. I swear it was about a mile long! There was a band playing close to the end of the tunnel which made no sense. I ran as fast as I could because I just wanted to get out of there. We then ran in the highway/expressway and it was mostly downhill. We passed Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field.

I always find the last 3.1 miles of a half marathon to be the MOST difficult part of the race. That is where I struggle the most. I need to remind myself that it is only a 5K and not difficult at all. Mile 11 is when the first marathon runner passed me up. He was fast! Right before mile 12 we ran in another tunnel. Not happy about it again. The last mile was mostly uphill. Ugh! Two more marathon runners passed me up. A little before the finish line a runner had collapsed and that freaked me out. I had no energy to run/sprint to the finish line. My legs were not cooperating at all.

Here are my splits:
Miles 1 through 4 – 9:37, 9:45, 11:24, 10:02
Miles 5 through 8 – 10:58, 10:55, 11:43, 11:47
Miles 9 through 12 – 12:37, 11:48, 11:45, 12:44
Mile 13 – 10:32

My finish time is 2:30:39 and according to my Garmin ran 13.42 miles. Am I happy with it? No. I really struggled in this race. It was HOT and HILLY.

I got three medals at this race!

1) Running Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon

2) Running both races in Portland and Seattle

3) Running 7 Rock ‘n’ Roll races

After the race I went back to the hotel to shower and change. Then for lunch I went to Tap House Grill. The burger and beers (sampler) hit the spot.

Afterwards I walked over to Pike Place Market but was not impressed with it. I ended up just walking for a little bit before heading back to the hotel.

22
Jun
2013

Weekly Workouts, June 17-22, 2013

categories: Half Marathon Training

Workouts this week:

Monday – Cardio
25 minutes on the elliptical was quite a workout for me. I did intervals and did not get bored at all. The time went by fast!

Tuesday – 5 x 1000 (90 sec RI)
Done. It was tough and I struggled to get them done.

Wednesday– Cardio
25 minutes of intervals on the elliptical. Loved it!

Thursday – 2 miles easy, 3 miles @ short tempo, 1 mile easy
Did not run. I was supposed to do yoga but instead took a break since I had a half on Saturday.

Saturday – Half Marathon
I ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Seattle Half Marathon. The weather was great at the beginning and there were some parts of the course that I liked. It was HILLY and HOT towards the end! My finish time is 2:30:39. I tried really hard to finish close to 2:22 or 2:23 but had no energy towards the end. I will have a recap on Tuesday. I will be taking a break from races for a few weeks. My next one is Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon, July 21, and I am really excited about that one.

20
Jun
2013

Three Things Thursday, June 20, 2013

categories: Three Things Thursday

1. I do like running on the treadmill. I watch TV and/or listen to music on my iPhone. I like it even more when I need to do speedwork because it keeps me on track. I’ve read in several places to set it at 1% incline. Here is the link to a conversions chart. When I do speedwork I set it at 7.5 (since I am “supposed” to run them at an 8 minute mile) but according to the chart I am actually running them at an 8:20 minute mile. What? I guess I need to crank it up to 1%. However, I recently read a post on Become a Better Runner! from Women’s Running Magazine (tip #21) that states to up the incline to 3%. Yikes!!

2. Last week I saw “Spirit of the Marathon II”. I can honestly say I liked it a lot and found myself a few times in tears. Watching the movie inspired me to run another marathon. I know I’ve signed up for the Goofy Challenge in January but I am not looking at it as a “real” marathon or to PR but more as a challenge since I’ll be running a half marathon the day before and to have fun running through Disney.

3. And something not running related, I am upset that the San Antonio Spurs lost Game 6 on Tuesday. I was really hoping they’d beat those cocky Miami boys. Let’s hope they win today! By the way, did you happen to see that cute little kid, Sebastien de la Cruz, singing the National Anthem at Games 3 &4? Oh my! I am embarrassed to admit that I STILL don’t know all of the words to the National Anthem. I can sing a few words to it and do so at my races but that’s it.

Just Keep Running!