Running SF Half marathon and gaining strength with Basic Training

Wow, the last 3 weeks just flew by! So many things have happened meanwhile but unfortunately I had no time to update my blog. But I will try to do better in the future. I ran the San Francisco Half Marathon 2 weeks ago, it was so much fun – until mile 10. In contrast, the last three miles were really hard. I guess this is because most of my training runs were around 8-10 miles, I only ran 2x 12 miles but that didn’t include as many hills as the course for the race. Oh well, I made it. My time wasn’t brilliant – I ran 2:16:25h, but at least it is 7 minutes faster than my last half marathon. I think I can do much better if I train a little more, I haven’t been doing a lot of running lately. I love running (and we run a lot with bootcamp as well), but I prefer runs that are 30-60 minutes rather then 2-3 hours…I have to decide soon if I'll run the full Nike women’s marathon in October (for which I am registered…) because if I do, I do have to ramp up my weekly mileage significantly. I’ll go for a run this weekend and make a decision…

I am still doing Basic Training (bootcamp) three times a week, I simply love it. We are currently in week 5 of the second session, and it is so amazing how much progress I have made during the last 6 weeks. In the first session I always used to be the slowest person in the group (being second to last felt like a victory...). It didn’t bother me too much because in the end, I do this for myself and I am fine with others being better. But now I am never in the last place – I am pretty much in the middle, it is unbelievable how much faster and stronger I am now. For sure, there is still a lot of room for improvement, but I can tell that I really benefit from my workouts. I also met so many nice people in the class, I am looking forward to see them and work out with them every day.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been doing the Bar method the last 3 weeks and I miss it terribly. But paying $250 for one month is just too much money if I only go 2 or 3 times a week. I hope to pick it up again in two weeks though, my abs start losing their shape and they got mainly formed by the Bar method. So overall, my workouts have been really good the last couple of weeks, I feel fit and happy. Life is treating me well at the moment :)