This morning i did a spin for my warm up. 9 min, 3.2 miles.
 Then when i checked outside to see how light it was, i noticed it was not completely dark, just a cloud cover. But there were a few slices of almost light blue peeking through the clouds. The temperature was 34, so i decided to go out in the still dark chilly morning.

The sidewalks were covered with ice crystals that crunched under my steps, but the streets were ice free. It was a peacefull morning out as i carried a flashlight and ran a figure 8 route through my hood to finish off 2.1 miles in 24:10.
I felt very happy that i finished this run without any walking breaks today! Yay!
Finished up with 116 stability ball crunches.

Last night was the weekly weigh in for WJ Biggest Loser and I was down 1.6 pounds, which is great until i realized I had worn jeans the first two weigh ins and last night i wore track pants in anticipation of going on their weekly walk. Well, i just weighed those two pairs of pants and the difference is 1 pound, that means i was only down .6 of a pound!! I will excuse myself this week because it was super bowl Sunday, and lots of fattening foods, but now, i need to exercise a little self control here!

Todays run was 4 miles in 44:45 min. on the treadmill. I did a one minute walk break at the 2.25 mile mark. Then some stretches for my sciatic nerve pain, which has been bothering me a lot this week.
That is why i did not go on the walk last nite with with Biggest Loser group - too much pain.
Can't wait for the sun to rise a little earlier so i can go do some of my morning runs outside.

I just did a little spinning last nite - 26 min, 6.79 miles, and 104 stability ball crunches, because my sciatic nerve was very painful yesterday. Today is also a painful morning. I need to be more dedicated to doing the exercises i have for it.

Sunday's long run was a bit of a tough one. It was a 5 miler outside.
All thermostats said that the temperature was 24 degrees, but it seemed warmer. I wore tights and one long sleeved cold weather shirt. One with a 1/4 zipper in front, thumbholes in the sleeves and soft moisture wicking on the inside, a regular baseball hat and no gloves. I was already sweating by the first mile, so I stayed on the shady side of the streets as much as possible.
I started with 8/1 intervals, but by the mid point of this loop, i was already running out of steam, so i shortened my running intervals to 6/1 and continued that for the rest of the way. 6/1 works out much better for me right now, although i have 2 long term goals: running halfs at an 8/1 interval for a while, then i really want to be able to run the whole 13.1 without walking intervals at all.

This 5.1 mile loop started at Bingham Creek Library in West Jordan, running up a bit of a hill for the first .5, then it flattens out for the rest of the distance. There never seems to be downhill, so somewhere it must do a gradual slope back down. This loop has 4 streets i can run down to turn around, each being 1/2 mile apart so i can do loops in distances of 3,4,5 or 6 miles from this same starting point. That is convenient. I do pass 6 churches on the 5 mile loop, and if i am running on Sunday at a time close to 9:00am or 11:00am, it can get dangerous as there are always people late for church who do not want to wait for a runner on Sunday and they will cut me off if i am crossing their path. I have had to stop in the crosswalks or by driveways on a number of occasions to avoid being plowed down.

My time on this run was 58 minutes, for 5.1 miles. Not impressive, but definitely not my worst.

Third day in a row, and it was a struggle, but i got it done, and, as always, I feel much better for having got my run done. 3.5 miles, 41 min. Then 4 strides: 8 min pace for 50 seconds each with a one minute cool down in between.

I'm trying to add light runs on Thursdays, to get 3 running days in a row per week, hopefully to get stronger. Todays run was 2 miles in 23 minutes. Then i did a short spin of 2 miles in 9 minutes.
I found another half marathon training plan and have decided to follow this one. The website is not listed on the printout, so i am not sure where it came from.
It follows this pattern:
Mon - rest or walk
Tues - cross
Wed - run
Thurs - cross (and i will run short this day too)
Fri - run
Sat - cross (but this is probably going to be rest or short cross session)
Sun - long run

Looks good to me!!

Yesterday was a rest day, and there is not a lot to say about today's run.
It was a treadmill run for 40 min, 3.5 miles. I had to do a one minute walking break during miles 2 and 3.
Finished off with 20 lunges and 55 stability ball crunches. My sciatic nerve pain makes the crunches a bit painful.
My plan this week is to run 3 days in a row, today, tomorrow, and Friday.
I am still perusing other 1/2 marathon training plans.... in search of the perfect plan!!

Tuesday nite was our 1 week weigh in for West Jordan's Biggest Loser Competition.
I lost 1.2 pounds, but i think it was because i wore lighter clothes this week.
Some people lost a lot of weight for one week, one man even lost 14 pounds. I am beginning to think that he and possibly others wore hidden ankle or wrist weights on the initial weigh in. That is a lot of weight to lose in one week!!