Finally!

I finally feel like I'm getting faster. Yesterday, I was actually scheduled for an easy 3 on my training plan for a 10K at the end of May. But since I haven't actually signed up for that 10K, I went ahead and stuck with my weekly pattern of easy/fast/short/long that seems to be working for me. I thought I'd try a 5K and see how fast I could go. I warmed up with a quarter mile, and my left knee felt wonky, so I figured I'd better take it easy. I cranked the ol' treadmill to my normal 6 mph (or 10:00/mile). Much to my amazement, after a quarter-mile, my knee felt fine and I bumped it to 7 mph (8:34/mile) and took off. I started bumping it up a little more after a mile and a half and finished the 5K in 26:05! Someday, I WILL break 25!

And my dear friend Chandra has challenged me to do 50 crunches and 25 back extensions a day. Apparently, I'm a sucker for a challenge because I'm finally adding in this core work. I've made 3 days so far...I know, I know...it doesn't sound like much, but it's progress.

I did have to forego the back extensions yesterday. After this crazy long week of TAKS tests at school, my back isn't feeling so hot. And this week is why I run. I know I'm going to need that run tonight (and maybe a beer when I finish...lol)!

I'd like to get this habit down for a couple of weeks and start adding some push-ups and squats. There's this cool challenge site for doing different amounts of different core exercises. One of them is here: Two Hundred Situps. The others are linked from there. You take an initial test and follow a plan to get you to that goal. Eventually, I think I'm going to do that...maybe this summer?

I'm interested to see how finally getting some core work in will affect my running. Hopefully it will help me build strength and speed.