Weekend of Freedom, or Weekend of Laziness?

Probably a little of both. I don't have any obligations this weekend. I was thinking about hitting either the double cross up in TN, or a half marathon here in Anniston, but honestly i just really hate the cold. I have no desire to be out in it. I had thought about doing the half because it's sponsored by my running club, and I know a lot of my buddies will be there. Some of the guys who don't even run that much that I bike with will be there too. I'm wussing out because I don't think I want to be out in below freezing weather.

I will have a schedule of runs that I will follow, though, coming up because they count for points in my running club. Actually, I never blogged about it, but back in December I won 2nd place in my age group in a competition for a series of runs. The Anniston Runner's Club sponsors so many runs throughout the year and you get so many points for placing in them. It's a really competitive thing where people kinda get obsessed about it, because they want the end-of-year t-shirt. Yeah, I got caught up in it, too. So, my age group got so competitive that it came down to that half marathon back in December. I was able to maintain my position, and secure my t-shirt. It's alotta fun to have that competition.

Here's a pic from the annual banquet. Both of the gals in the pic are phenomenal runners. I've got some serious competition!! But I gotta say that everyone I've had any contact with in the club are really friendly. So it's awesome to be able to run with such cool folks.

This is the sweet shirt:

Anyway, I've got a chance to redeem myself for this weekend, and not be known as the wusser-outer. Everyone's going riding at noon out at Choccolocco. *sigh* My name is mud if I don't go...Just when I got myself comfortable on the couch, too!

Running

Saturday I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon. I really enjoyed this longer distance. It gave me time to get in the groove & just go with it. The only problem I had was some stomach cramps, which eventually went away. I'm not sure why, but I get the same cramps whenever I'm on a long bike ride. It's not like a side stitch, because it actually feels like cramps in my stomach as if I ate something bad. I'm going to start experimenting with different pre-race nutrition plans to see if I can prevent this. Other than that, though, the run was good. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and I was able to run non-stop. Afterwards, I didn't feel too sore, and now that it's a couple of days later, I'm still doing pretty good. I was more sore after that stinking duathlon I did in Fort Payne where my seat broke. I ended up riding the entire 10 miles standing up on the mountain bike portion. I got severe leg cramps and had a hard time walking a few days later. This 1/2 marathon was pretty fun, though. Finished in 2:10, which I'm happy with for it being my first.
I'd like to use some sort of pacing method next time, like timing each mile. I used my HRM, but only for the actual rate. Which is something I'm still learning about & trying to figure out...I can't seem to push myself over the 170 to 175 mark, except for short bursts. Is this just a limitation of my ability right now? How do I push past this? I've started interval training on my bike, but it looks like I'll have to start doing the same with running.
Other considerations I need to look at include the clothes I wear. I seem to overdress at first, and then end up carrying all the extra stuff. It was so cold out there (about 29 degs), but I definitely warmed up after I got going. I'd like to find some gloves that would just cover my fingers and halfway down my hand. Maybe I'll try to do some mods on gloves I already have.

I had felt like I hit a plateau in my training for a bit, but I'm thinking that adding some long runs like this to my training will be just the trick to getting over the hump.