Thursday, June 30, 2016

Ragnar Trail Relay.....REALLY?!?!?!?!?!

So earlier this year, I took a look at what I completed last year in my running adventures (a half marathon, half relay, 15K, 10 mile, a few 10K's and a bunch of 5k's) and decided that I wanted to go down a different path.  I decided that I wanted to do a Ragnar Race, I had 2 options Trail or Standard.  I decided that I wanted to try Trail Ragnar.

After speaking with some of my running friends, we decided to get a group together and try this thing out.

We are running Northwoods Ragnar Trail Relay Sept 23rd in Wassau WI, holy moly!  Seeing has how I still consider myself new to running and that I've NEVER ran trails, I decided I need to do some major trail training.

My friend Carrie and I decided that we would sign up for the Endless Summer Trail Series Races in Minnesota (its one race a month on different trails) and do the Ragnar Training.

With 2 races under my belt the Lebanon Hills 6Mile, and the French Park 5K, I fully know where my weakness's are.  HILLS, HILLS, HILLS!

I decided to start the 12 week training plan a week early (only because I had already put it all in my planner).

So this is 13 weeks prior to Ragar...This is what my training looks like this week...

Sunday: Cross Training: 60 Min of Kettlebox.....Kettlebox kicks my butt every week.  Its a warm-up, then 15 minutes of kettle bell work outs, then 30 mins of boxing/kickboxing followed by cool down.  I love the class!!!!! Go New Hope YMCA

Monday:  Hills (20 Mins).....Did I mention that Hills are my weakness?!?!  They stink, they are horrible and I have a hate/hate relationship with them right now.  My knees are bad and I have to wear braces to run hills, and lets be honest I am over weight still and running up hills leaves me huffing and puffing...My mind is set however that at the end of this I hope to have a Love/Hate relationship.  Let me for the record say that 20 mins of Hills seems like a really long time, and for those 20 mins I was only able to go 1.3 miles

Tuesday:  Active Rest......I decided that I need to do some stretching and foam rolling today because holy heck were my muscles sore after those hills...I also biked 10 miles to keep my feet moving

Wednesday:  20 Tempo Run....This is new to me, so 5-10 of warm up walking/jogging and then 5 mins of running, 1 min of jogging back and forth up to 20 mins.  I didnt mind this as much as I thought I might.  I was pretty sleepy during my run, I decided to get it done before work so I was out running at 5AM.  I was rudely woken from my sleepy slumber however when the sprinkler system decided to kick on and spray me completely!

Thursday: Active Rest......Today I am going to walk for about an hour

Friday: REST YES I LOVE FRIDAYS!!!!

Saturday: 40Min Long Run....I decided that I am going to be doing half of my long runs on trails and half on the road.  I am signed up to run a half marathon in October so i want to use this training for dual purposes.

Why did I take this on again??!?!?!