Bananas and Toast :D

Vacation Ramblings Part I: Phoenix, AZ

2011-09-06T12:42:00.000-04:00

Ahhh vacation has been great. I've been doing a whole lot of nothing which is how I like it... I actually picked up a book I liked in middle school only to realize it now has a sequal and a third one on the way on Sept 27th! So of course i picked up the first and the sequel and am now working my way through them;

The series is;

"Abarat" by Clive Barker. Totally recommend it!

In addition to reading novels and eating myself silly, I've also been running. Yesterday was really really rough because it was freaking 92* at 4:30am! Phoenix is nuts. I have a feeling running in Hell would feel pretty similar. Yesterday's run since it was so hot was just done on flats, around the block...

Not a bad pace at all for me considering it was 92 **!!! And then today dad took his mountain bike out so that we could go explore "the papagos". Papagos are like giant sand dunes except they are actually made of rock. They are pretty neat and the ones near my dad's house in Phoenix have mountain biking trails all around them (which are pretty awesome to run :D)

This is a picture of the park we ran in and here is information about the actual run!

Again not bad considering the hills :D Check out this elevation map! I did a nice couple hill repeats on a super steep part near the end....

All in all this vacation has been great so far, looking forward to some more relaxing and more running once I head back home to sticky Orlando!

Vacation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-01T20:50:00.000-04:00

So as of right now I am OFFICIALLY on my "18 day" vacation. I start work again on the 19th of September. I'm so excited.

What am I going to do???

I think I will start the first couple days with 2 half marathons in 3 days... one tomorrow morning and one Sunday morning and during these I will try out.......

Look! I won Gu from Mallory at Sit for your job. Run for your life.

She is pretty freaking neat!

Then I'll probably do a lot of this....

(Running) Except i'll be in......

Phoenix Arizona for the first 6 days ... and yes I totally plan on running some of those "mountain things" lol

I will also be doing a lot of;

And eating some great foods!

And drinking lots of this;

I really want to make this vacation about 'rejuvination' and 'loving my body' before our 'busy season' picks up again in October (and doesn't end until April of next year!)

But in addition to just being healthy I will also engage in the following;

Excessive tv watching and snack munching;

Reading useless fiction novels (such as Endless Love by Scott Spencer

Eating some of these;

and mainly just enjoying life. Time to reap the benefits of having a job that gives you 5 weeks of vacation right off the bat. I DID earn it though that's for dang sure!

August Recap and Thoughts of the Future

2011-08-31T20:33:00.001-04:00

So August... was a pretty awesome month! Ending with 4... days of rest haha. I'll run tomorrow, I promise!

So... recap!

Miles Ran - 141 (+4 from July, or 3% increase)
Strength Training Sessions - 2 ... yes... that's TWO. No wonder my knee is aching. Time to get back to those dang physical therapy exercises!
Unplanned Rest Days: 2 (missed a 10 miler early in the month and an 8 miler yesterday)

Other Highlights:

First Back-to-Back Long Run (10 miles both days) - felt great!
18 miler and a 20 miler, both were good
Hit my all time high for weekly (40mpw) and monthly (141mpm) running mileage (even WITH missing those 2 days)
Did day ONE of the 100 pushup challenge hahahahaha... yeah I guses I wasn't that dedicated.

Fitness Goals For September:

Strength Train 4x/month (Mondays?) - Including Pushup Challenge
Yoga 4x/month (Sundays?)
Miles ~ 152
First 15k Ever (Sept 24th)

Other Goals For September:

Use my vacation as a time to really focus on my body - and treating it healthily.

Focusing on Fruits/Veggies
Focusing on "whole foods" as much as possible
Focusing on WATER

Don't know why it's so hard for me to drink water. When I really focus on drinking more water for at least 2-3 days I notice SUCH a difference, I become less bloated, and I just feel miles better. **sigh** If only I could keep up with it!

I'll leave you with this... my favorite running song right now. Listen to it, you'll want to go run :D

Eh....

2011-08-31T17:42:00.000-04:00

I haven't run in .... **counting** 4 days and may not run tomorrow. Work has been absolutely nuts to the point where I am doing nothing but waking up, working, coming home, working and going to sleep and repeating whole process. So, I decided for the sake of my own health taking a few days off isn't going to kill me.

This is all worth it though because I have a EIGHTEEN DAY vacation from work starting Friday and I plan to make the best of it by filling it with... absolutely nothing :). Oh, and a bit of running too (a BIG bit of running).

So... yes I miss you running but I will see you again very soon. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...

20 Miles and Thoughts on Long Runs

2011-08-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

So I ran 20 miles yesterday. It was pretty cool. I actually wasn't all that worried about the run beforehand or during it. Despite the 80*+ weather and killer humidity I never felt "bad" during the run. Never wanted to quit. Actually had a lot of fun since I was running with two people who had never done a 20 mile training run before! It was neat to experience your 'first time' again through someone else's eyes...

I just can't believe how far I've come. These long distance runs (18+ miles) really do seem to just be a matter of experience. I did a quick lookback of where I came from with these long runs and it was actually pretty neat...

My first 18 miler...

I remember I had a panic attack and had to walk more than a mile of this run. I think the only reason I wrote "I feel super :D" on my dailymile is I was trying to convince myself that. The truth is I injured my knee on this run and it completely knocked out my first marathon (which was supposed to be the Chicago marathon on 10-10-10). Instead of running a marathon on 10-10-10 I was in bed crying. Not cool. That didn't make me like the number 18 very much...

Second 18 Miler...

This one was miles better than the first one and more than 6 months later (training for ANOTHER first marathon. Although I had a weird foot cramping thing going on and I was super worried about being an idiot and hurting myself AGAIN. I was hoping it was not deja-vu from the last 18 miler. Good news is that it wasn't. My foot was just cramping. Massage and ice and it was fine in a few days...

First 20 miler (ended up being 21 due to different route)

This run was probably one of the best runs of my life. I felt strong the entire time, had no real aches/pains/issues like the other long runs, and I just felt amazing. I wish I had just had this as my 'long run' before the marathon because i would have gone into the marathon with a hell of a lot more confidence. Instead.... I did another 20+ miler....

First 22 Miler...

Turns out i sprained my calf on mile 2 of this one. Mile TWO and I still ran 20 more. This is Lauren being hard headed and stubborn. It really did feel like deja vu with the my first 18 miler because just like i felt myself injure my knee in the 18 miler and still finished when I shoudln't have, I FELT my calf strain but didn't stop. This resulted in 2 weeks of complete rest within the month before my marathon and really killed my confidence. TWO weeks off.... however. I still finished my marathon in good spirits :D So, for those of you who have to take time off, it doesn't stop your ability to finish!

"Last' Long Run before marathon

This was my last long run before my taper for my first marathon and it was joyous simply because a.) my calf had healed remarkedly and b.) I got to taper after this ;). I was super tired because i did this coming off 2 weeks of complete rest, but happy everything was good :D

So all in all I'm glad these long distance runs are getting easier. It's been a rocky road. I've learned...

1. Pack plenty of food

2. If you feel a sharp pain, stop... there's always another long run

3. Some long runs just suck, some don't. Be thankful for both becuase the crappy ones make you realize how awesome the non-crappy ones are.

That's all :)

I Need Your Input! Marathon Bucket List!!

2011-08-25T20:44:00.000-04:00

While trying to keep my mind of my impending 20 miler in less than 48 hours, I made my "marathon bucket list". I want to know... what am I missing?? What's on YOUR list??

Oh and I plan on doing individual "race research posts" on each of these to explain WHY it's on my list. It may take a really long time to write them all but... I think it'll be fun. I love research projects!

Name	State	Month	Season	Year	Status
~~Chicagoland Spring Marathon~~	~~Illinois~~	~~May~~	~~Spring~~	~~2011~~	~~Done~~
Savannah Rock N' Roll	Georgia	November	Fall	2011	Registered
Big Sur	California	April	Spring	2012	Registered
Bataan Memorial Death March	New Mexico	March	Spring	?	?
Napa Valley	California	March	Spring	?	?
Fargo Marathon	North Dakota	May	Spring	?	?
Ogden Marathon	Utah	May	Spring	?	?
Run the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon	Washington	June	Summer	?	?
Lake Placid Marathon	New York	June	Summer	?	?
San Diego Marathon	California	June	Summer	?	?
Missoula Marathon	Montana	July	Summer	?	?
Pikes Peak Marathon	Colorado	August	Summer	?	?
Chicago Marathon	Illinois	October	Fall	?	?
Marine Corps Marathon	Washington DC	October	Fall	?	?
St. George Marathon	Utah	October	Fall	?	?
Wineglass Marathon	New York	October	Fall	?	?
Mount Desert Island Marathon	Maine	October	Fall	?	?
Newport Rhode Island	Rhode Island	October	Fall	?	?
Steamtown	Pennslyvania	October	Fall	?	?
TWIN CITIES	Minnesota	October	Fall	?	?
New York City Marathon	New York	November	Fall	?	?
Philadelphia	Pennslyvania	November	Fall	?	?

Oh and some eye candy! One photo from each race!

Amica Marathon - Newport, Rhode Island

Bataan Memorial Death March

Big Sur

Chicago Marathon

Chicagoland Spring Marathon

Fargo

Lake Placid

Marine Corps

Mt. Desert Island

Missoula Marathon

Napa Valley

NYC Marathon

Ogden Marathon

Philadelphia Marathon

Pikes Peak

San Diego Rock n Roll

Savannah Rock N Roll

Seattle Rock N Roll

St. George

Steamtown

Twin Cities

Wineglass

Enjoy!

OMG fixed my comment leaving problem!

2011-08-11T13:07:00.000-04:00

So the last couple weeks, half the time I tried to leavea c omment on a blog i got some weird error about how I wasn't authenticated to leave the comment which was weird since I've never had the problem before.

Anyway googled it and found an answer and now I can leave commments on other's blogs! Oh, and in case you tried to leave a comment here and got the same error, it should fix MY posts as well. **sigh** I should have googled earlier...

If you're having the problem, go here to fix it;

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=7be4562c722b8120&hl=en

3 Things Thursday (Stealing this Line :D)

2011-08-11T09:56:00.002-04:00

So first time I've ever done a "3 Things Thursday" (totally stolen from Redhead Blogger - http://cautionredheadrunning.blogspot.com/)

But it seemed to fit as there are 3 things I want to discuss!

1. I am in LOVE with my 110% "Play Harder" Compression capris (I have the ones on the right in the image below). They are basically compression capris, except that there is a "second layer" covering them, and you can slip these little ice sheets between the layers and it becomes a "Pants-Ice-Pack". Today I wore them and slipped the ice sheets in around my knees, it felt so good. The "pockets" around the knees actually go ALL hte way around the knees so you don't have to have the ice in a particular spot or anything. Overall it's amazing. I can ice and still go on with my day like a normal human being (walk around, cook breakfast, get the mail :D)

p.s. if you live near track shack they are having a 20% sale right now (these babies are included!)

2. I am also in love with Blue Diamond Salt N' Vinegar almonds. Do you like salt n' vinegar chips? I do.. I love them in fact, but rarely eat them because they are unhealthy. These things taste exactly like chips (even have that crunchy feel) but they are freaking healthy for you! Just a tip, measure out an ounce BEFORE you start eating them and put the rest AWAY or else you will end up eating way more than you want to (I know from experience :D)

3. I had a great run this morning despite the disgusting weather outside. And it really really is disgusting. It was a tempo day, here are the splits!

3.5 mi Warm Up

Mile 1 0:11:25

Mile 2 0:11:34

Mile 3 0:10:38

Mile 4 0:10:08 ** half of this was at tempo

6.5 mi Tempo Run

Mile 5 0:09:39

Mile 6 0:09:59

Mile 7 0:09:16

Mile 8 0:09:18

Mile 9 0:09:09

Mile 10 0:09:37

That's all folks!

100 Pushup Challenge!

2011-08-09T23:22:00.000-04:00

Well I took the initial test and guess how many consecutive pushups I can do....

**drumroll please**

6

Yes, only 6. It said consecutive so I don't think you're supposed to take breaks for the test purposes anyway. I think that's about right cause looking at the program for "6 pushups initial test" looks pretty intense for me! (see middle column). I'm not even sure I can do that first week. I think I'm going to just switch to girly pushups when I can't do regular ones anymore. And then just repeat the weeks until I can do all 3 workouts with all REGULAR pushsups. That's the plan for now. It's going to take me longer than most I think. My upper body strength (or lack thereof) sucks.

In other news, I think I want to take up some yoga. I've just been doing some sun salutations lately the night before my runs and I think it really helps my knee. I spent an hour and a half learning/practicing some new moves today and I really enjoyed it. I wish yoga classes were free.... :-/

This hurts my quads just looking at it! I was practicing this one tonight, but modified using a 'yoga strap' (or a belt in my case) to grab onto my anke...

Source

Modified vesrion that i was doing (except replace cool official yoga strap with my belt haha)

Source

18 Miler - OMG it was hot!

2011-08-06T16:34:00.000-04:00

We had our 18 miler today (I'm in training for the Savannah Rock N'Roll marathon) and boy oh boy was it hot!!!

We started at 4:20am and it was already 84* with thick thick humidity. It only got worse from there!

I had to stop for some bathroom issues (see giant difference between 'total time' and 'moving time') in mile 7 and mile 10. But overall i felt that it went really well. If what they say is true about the heat above 80* slowing you down 2 min/mile, then I was super fast today ;)

Splits:

Map:

My traditional "Post Long Run" Reward Cupcake (today it was a s'more's flavored cupcake)

It was pretty epic.

And nowwww resting for a while. I think I might start the 100 pushup program tonight :) I kept waiting until a time when I was "rested" because it recommends you get an intial pushup test when you feel rested, but I never do. I actually feel like I'd have more energy tonight since I got to sit and home and relax all day rather than during the week when I have to work all day :D Does that make sense?

Hello World!

2011-07-31T12:21:00.000-04:00

I'm going to try to make this bullet-point-format since I don't have a lot of time (as usual) and have a lot to say!

First, sorry for disappearing, again. Work is crazy, it's all I can do to fit in my running (which is going AWESOME as you will see).

Second, I miss everyone :( after I write this post I will be heading over to....

Agile Toes... for some major inspiration
Readhead Running... for some great writing and laughter!
Girl Running... don't know where you've been girl but I love you!
Mom Vs. Marathon... for some practical real-life thoughts
Muddy Runner... for a reason to smile
I Run Like a Girl... for funny random running posts (she just gave herself FROSTBITE in the middle of the summer... LOL)

Third, I am training for my second marathon right now, the marathon will be "Rock N' Roll" Savannah Georgia edition. Looks georgous....

My training schedule is way heavier than for my first marathon. Hoping to "feel better" at the end of this one :D See comparisons following;

Training Program for "Chicagoland Marathon" (read blog post here: http://bananasandtoast.blogspot.com/2011/05/chicagoland-race-recap.html)

Training for Savannah Georgia;

I circled in RED where I am in the program right now.

Overall I feel;

Much more tired on a regular basis, although this is getting better. At first the higher mileage was really wearing on me.
Powerful... running 10 miles in the morning before work and then being able to perform normally all day at work is something new to me. It's an amazing feeling.
Fit - my legs are hard as rocks!
Unflexible - ummm running this much is making me very tight. I am having to focus a lot more on stretching...

Overall Thoughts;

I'm feeling good - I really wanted to try a more advanced program this time and this is definitely a more advanced program! I'm also incorporate speedwork and hillwork this time around. I feel amazing, if not a bit fatigued and I can't wait to see what the season brings!
I do hope I can listen to my body however and if I need to cut it down a bit I can... hoping that by keeping up my physical therapy exercises as well as stretching/yoga I can keep myself healthy and injury free!
Note: This is a coach approved program :D hehe

Combined Comparison (click for larger image)

Other Things:

Considering signing up for Big Sur (thinking about doing it tonight as its filling fast) anybody else running it??

Totally loving my running group still! Look, here's a pic of us being social and normal human beings! (I'm in the white baseball cap)

All the ladies are doing Savannah together! :)

Got a Garmin 610! Pretty neat... I want to run with it a bit more and then I'll make a pros/cons post hopefully :D (but if you can't wait, here's a super in depth review I read before I bought it)

I do love the new garmin connect website though, see my latest run! (you can get the EMBEDed code for your run report, LOVE it!)

Dialogue of a Run... Uncut... Unspellchecked

2011-06-23T16:06:00.002-04:00

**click power on - garmin, set on brick wall to catch some satellites** Hope it picks up quick, there are a lot of trees around here...

**stretch... breathe... count 1-2-3-4-5-6...** Oh look... my cowokers are going out for the night. I like her shoes... I like her skirt... screw it, I want her whole outfit....

*switch legs... stretch... breathe... count 1-2-3-4-5..* It's perfect weather out, we don't have trees like this in Florida... we don't have HILLS like this in Florida... **deep breath** I can do this... hell I'm excited to do this!

*wrap ipod wire around ipod 1, 2, 3 times.... secure under clip... swing arms around, check and make sure there is no restriction of movement.... we're good... press shuffle...* It's starting me on "nicki minaj"... I'm good with that, it's happy but not too fast. Don't want to burn myself out.

*pick up garmin, check reception, check! secure on wrist, wait no, too tight, loosen up two holes, wait, no, too loose, don't want to chafe my wrist like last week, there we go, just right*

*deep breath... press "start"... legs start slowly turning over down hill*

Wow, this downhill is steep. I wonder if all 6 miles is going to be like this. Are you supposed to lengthen your stride and speed up or stay controlled? It's the beginning of the run, probably should stay controlled... wait, that's not fun, let's let 'em fly! Oh wow... that's a lot of pounding on my legs, let's try controlled again, there we go... that works....

This trail, wow this trail! I can't believe the greenery, it's georgous. There are so many trees! *check garmin - .20 miles* I wonder if I'll lose satellite reception from the tree cover.... *check garmin again - .25 miles* It appears the garmin is still working...

There goes a golf cart... man those things are flying. I better make sure i keep my music on low enough that I"ll hear the motors behind me. It would really suck to get run over by a golf cart while on this beautiful run. I wonder if they'd take me to the hospital.. maybe not...

**trail option, straight across street or hard right** I think I'm going to go straight, wait no, I'm going to the right... i'm going to forgot that when I come back, make a decision... okay... when I see the stop sign and the house remember I DIDN'T want to run across the street.... I'll remember that right? **On I go...**

Look another jogger! **wave**

Ahhh another option, both set of trails look like. I'm going to go left. I need something to remind me to go right here when i come back... oh look a green garbage thingy... okay when I see the green garbage thingie go right! Right at the green garbage thingie!

**passing a really nice neighborhood** I think I'm going to run through there, the houses are beautiful! Look! a for-sale sign... i wonder how much that is going for... i think i'm going to look it up on zillow when i get home... definitely! I would like to live here...

**check garmin - 1.5 miles** Hey I'm a quarter done....

Awww look at this bridge, it's so cute. This would be such a great date place. Too bad I'm single!

**boom boom boom boom** I love this song....

Wow I've never run up a hill this steep **grab trail with toes, push off with calves... feel the burn in my quads....** oh... my ... god...

Uh oh, trail ending, guess I'm turning around **check garmin - 2.5 miles** guess I'll have to do some looping around the parking lot in order to get my 6 in... or maybe I'll just go straight at the green garbage can? Yeah I'll do that, give myself a few more.

Look cute bridge again! That went faster on the way back...

Okay... there's the green garbage can, go straight instead of right. Let's explore a little! Whew, big hill! This is going to be fun coming back up. I think I'm on teh golf course... probably shouldn't be here... hmmmm I should probably turn around now.

**check garmin - 4 miles** Yay just gotta make it home at this point. I can do that. Man this is a great run, my lungs are screaming at me, my legs are pounding, but I feel great.

Ahhhh big hill... I knew this was going to suck coming back. PUsh Push Push!!! **silence in my brain** push.... grab... push.... gasp.... come on.......

Oh thank god... it ended. Wow, I feel like I'm giong to cry. This must be what they call a runners high. I bet I look silly running and smiling like a madwoman... **sniffle sniffle** I really am going to cry. I love it here... I think I could stay here forever, I wish I COUDL stay here forever, just running... I don't want to get back to the hotel...

Stop sign... hard left....

*check garmin - 5.5 miles*

Okay runners high over, where is the hotel? Up that big hill? Oh yeah... let's end this thing. **push... breathe... push....* I bet my average pace is pretty good... i'm feeling strong. **Push push push** last 1/10 of a mile! **Push push push***

**press stop on garmin.... turn off ipod... wipe sweat off face**

Ahhhhh it's over. Wow, I'm radiating heat. I'm really smelly. I hope nobody tries to ride the elevator with me.

That was a great run.....

Chicagoland Spring Marathon Race Recap

2011-05-16T00:14:00.001-04:00

Chicagoland Spring Marathon Race Report

So.. wow! First things first;

I am a Marathon Finisher!!!

Second, here’s a bulleted summary for those that don’t want all the details
• Weather sucked (strong winds, rain, chilly temps that got chillier as we ran)
• Finished in 4:54:49
• Got 3rd in my age group
• Course was georgous, well run marathon, I’d recommend it
• Very small marathon (235 full finishers)
• I cried at mile 19, and at the end
• I want to do another one :D

Splits:
Mile 1: 10:51
Mile 2: 11:04
Mile 3: 11:13
Mile 4: 11:12
Mile 5: 11:07
Mile 6: 11:03
Mile 7: 10:54
Mile 8: 11:10
Mile 9: 10:39
Mile 10: 11:46
Mile 11: 10:29
Mile 12: 11:22
Mile 13: 10:44
Mile 14: 11:18
Mile 15: 11:01
Mile 16: 12:00
Mile 17: 11:01
Mile 18: 10:58
Mile 19: 11:09
Mile 20: 11:53
Mile 21: 12:23
Mile 22: 10:42
Mile 23: 11:24
Mile 24: 11:26
Mile 25: 11:09
Mile 26: 11:25
Mile 26.2: 3:16

Now that that’s out of the way, time for the full race recap! The alarm went off at 4:45am this morning and I spent a full 15 minutes contemplating whether or not I REALLY wanted to do this, hearing the howling winds outside and checking my phone for a last time, seeing that winds were up to 17mph and only forecasted to get stronger as the morning went on. Winds chills were 38* F and forecasted to drop until 2pm this afternoon. I was freaked… and not looking forward to the race. But, I got up, stretched/foam rolled/dressed and made a PB&J. My bowels decided they didn’t feel like moving this morning but I figured that’s fine since they rarely did before my long runs in training.

I ate the PB&J on the way to the race, washed down by a diet coke (hey… they say don’t change ANYTHING from training right?) and then my stomach started gurgling. Uh oh… then mom and I ran into traffic but due to her amazing mob-boss-car-driving-skills we were able to hustle our way around slow traffic and side roads to get to the race 30 minutes before start time. I decided to get my chip (a little Velcro thing that goes around your ankle) and check my gear before I hit the porta potties to let loose Mr. and Mrs. Bowels that were now all packed and ready to go :D.

Gear check was uh…. They tied a plastic trash bag to the handles of my bag and wrote my # on it with a sharpie and then put it on the sidewalk. Yeah… okay. And then once I got into the porta pottie, Mr. and Mrs. Bowels decided that it was too cold out and they’d rather just stay home and chill by the fire. Needless to say I was not able to go. That made me nervous… but once again… has happened during training so I wasn’t too worried.

I met up with the 5 hour pace group and introduced myself and got to know everyone and then all of a sudden everyone started moving. Our pace group leader said “oh, I guess they just started the race!” so off we went! Thank goodness for the timing mats or else I would have lost 2 minutes not realizing the race had started!

I stuck with my pace group strictly through mile 6. I’m really glad I did too because I’m pretty sure I would have rushed that if I hadn’t. My legs felt amazing! Go taper! But at mile 6 I realized I didn’t need to go QUITE that slow so I sped up a little. Not toooo much but just a few seconds per mile.

I saw my dad around mile 8 for the first time and I had to yell out his name for him to recognize me! It was kinda funny. We missed the first photo op, but not worry there were many more! My dad drove around to almost every spectator spot there was to see me! I must have seen him almost 8 times throughout the race. It was amazing! I didn’t really think I’d care that much about having crowd support or whatever since I like running by myself but it actually meant a LOT to see him so many times. It was very uplifting. Anyway, back to race report…

Miles 6-13 were pretty good. My legs felt good, things were going well, I wasn’t thinking about the distance or the cold. Things were just… good. I constantly had to force myself to slow down and take walk breaks to keep my pace under control (very happy later on I forced myself to slow down!). I took in the georgous scenery and enjoyed my playlist.

Mile 13.1 was where I started to really feel the distance wearing on me. I was surprised because I wasn’t expecting to feel it until mile 16 so that kind of worried me, but then I realized I was going a lot faster than we go in training runs so I guess it made sense to feel it sooner. When I saw my dad at mile 15 I was started to really feel it. I remember telling him “10 ½ miles to go…” and him telling me “just your normal run, you got this!” and me thinking “oh goodness, I hope so”.

I saw him again at mile 17 and told him “uhh dad…. I’m dying” and him kind of chuckling. This is where I knew the last part of the marathon was going to be tough. I wasn’t actually that bad at that point, I think I was more mentally dying than anything else because I knew if it hurt at THAT point, the last 6 was REALLY going to be hard. But, I was still positive because at this point I started to think “wow, I may actually finish this thing”.
Then I saw him at mile 19 ½. Somewhere between mile 17 and mile 19 my “mental fatigue” turned into real physical fatigue and I started to panic. This has happened in a couple of my training runs too so I wasn’t too caught off guard by it. I knew that the “not able to breathe heart racing out of my chest” would stop as soon as I walked for a bit and took a breather. Poor dad saw me coming down the trail and got the camera out… and I had just enough air to yell “No…. Pictures…. Dad…. No…. More….” Before I burst into tears. He gave me a hug and told me, “one step at a time, just take it one step at a time, run down that path, back here, and then to the finish”. I’m really glad I got to see him at that point. The “little path” he was referring to was a 3 mile out and back north and then south and the wind was coming from the north at 20mph at that point. So there I went, down the “little path” straight into the howling wind. I just kept telling myself I’d see him again in 3 miles. Halfway through this out and back (mile 21ish) there was an aid station the volunteer there asked me “are you at the end of the pack? Do you think there’s a lot of people behind you?”. I was so angry I could have strangled him. What a rude question to ask first of all, second of all I don’t know, third of all… ummm… sorry you’re cold and wet but so am I. Sorry to the volunteers out there but I was having trouble sympathizing with him at that point. Every OTHER volunteer on the course was amazing though, just throwing that out there. I felt bad for all the rest of the them because they were out there in the freezing rain, just to cheer us on! Man it was great.

Anyway saw dad again at mile 22 and at this point I knew I’d finish. He asked if I was feeling better and I said “yeah, I know I’ll finish now, but HOLY HELL THIS SUCKS” and that made him laugh. And he said “well yeah… you just ran 22 miles!” and that made me laugh. Then he got in his car and left for the finish line, and I plodded along. The last 2 miles were slightly uphill and into the wind, that sucked. But, I could see the finish and just wanted it so bad. When I saw the “mile 25” sign and looked at my watch I saw “4:40:00” and I knew that I had 20 minutes to make it 1.2 miles and still be “sub 5” at that point I started running again (I had been walking) and I told myself to just ‘jog it in… jog it in…” and that’s what I did. When I saw my mom at the finish I knew I was going to cry, but held it together long enough to get across the finish line, and then broke down. It was just such a release of emotion… crazy built up tension from almost 5 hours of running. I just lost it. And then I realized how bad my legs hurt. So… I kept walking. Parents had to help me get around and whatnot. It was pretty entertaining. I couldn’t seem to do anything by myself (i.e. open a bottle of water or climb up steps or untie my shoes :D). It was really nice having help! My step-mom even bought me pretty yellow finishing flowers :D.

Side note here…. To the race directors – please do not use Velcro “around the ankle” timing chips. I now have a nice red chafing line ALL the way around my ankle. It looks like someone tried to cut off my foot. Not cool.

All in all I’m soooo happy I did it. Was it pleasant? Ummmm parts of it were. Parts of it were not. The wind was REALLY tough and it was also tough not being able to move my fingers past mile 3 (getting gels open and whatnot became impossible so I had to go on just Gatorade the last half). Plus with the rain, I was sooo wet.. and cold. It was just… gross out. But am I happy I did it? Ohhhh yeah. So happy. I can’t wait to do my next one. My legs actually don’t feel that bad! I think staying mobile today helped. I didn’t sit around all day like I would have liked :D.

Oh and… I’M A MARATHON FINISHER!!!

Enjoy some photos! :D Since it was a small race, there aren’t any “on the course” ones. However, my dad will email the ones he took before I yelled at him next week, so you’ll see those from me then :D

Last Pre-Marathon Post

2011-05-14T21:09:00.001-04:00

Hello all, in less than 12 hours I will be running my first marathon. Next time you hear from me hopefully I will be a "marathoner" and not just a runner.

All my bags were packed...

"Carbo Loaded" at the airport while reading the "pre race jitters" chapter... again....

Got my #....

Charged Necessary Electronics

Set up Race Outfit/Gear

Re-stapled my amphipod belt... yes I'm ghetto.... but they say don't change anything from training!

Looked outside at the weather.... crappy (you can't see the strong winds in this picture but trust me, they are there)

Double checked the forecast... yes... it really IS crappy.... notice the 26mph winds???

And now, my goals for the race. That book in the earlier picture says you need to set 3 goals for your marathon. The 'best case', 'probable case' and 'worst case' scenario goals. So here it goes.

Best Case:
In this scenario, the forecast is miraculously wrong and I show up tomorrow to limited light winds, the temperatures are in the 40's and actually feel like the 40's, my breakfast settles fine and my bowels decide to move BEFORE race start. I feel amazing and don't rush the start. Goal would be to finish in less than 5 hours and finish with a smile.

Probable Case:
In this scenario, it's raining slightly and winds are between 20 and 25mph. It's in the 40's but feels like 30's. But, I trust my training, don't rush the start, conserve energy for the windy parts and push through. Goal here is to finish in 5 hours or a little more and finish with a smile.

Worst Case:
In this scenario, it's downpouring, winds have miraculously reached hurricane strength and I can barely stand. It's actually below freezing and I'm worried about hypothermia. I rush the start because I'm too worried about finishing before hypothermia hits, so my legs die on me at mile 18 and I have to walk the last 8 miles. Goal here is to finish before the 6hr 15min mark so I can get my medal...

Other Case:
Something goes horribly wrong and I either don't finish or I don't finish in 6hrs and 15min.

I think I'd be okay with Scenarios "best to worst", I wouldn't really be okay with "other" but I could live with it. I know I'll complete a marathon eventually if it doesn't happen tomorrow.

Bottom line is, I'm worried about the wind but excited about the fact that I'll most likely be fine and be a marathon finisher in less than 17 hours. We'll see :)

5... I mean 4 days left - Marathon Playlist!

2011-05-11T00:21:00.000-04:00

I guess since it's past midnight there's technically only 4 days left until this dang marathon. I'm trippin. Seriously trippin. All my runner friends have warned me about the mysterious taper elves who come grab your hamstrings and other muscles during taper, but I still freak out every time I have a random cramp. Anyway, so much to do, so little time.

But, the main reason for this post. Finally finished my marathon playlist tonight. The playlist is based on 5mph (the slowest my training runs have been). There are areas to cut it short if I need to if I'm really surpassing that. I thought putting it into stages would help me break the marathon up into bite sized chunks. Six of them to be exact. Did I mention I like numbers? Yeah... I'm an auditor.

Anyway, the "stages" of the playlist are;

1.) First 50 minutes (guessing miles 1-4.5ish) - slow songs that make me feel good but not "too" good. Meant to keep me at a normal pace and enjoying my "jog" at this point. Country, alternative, soft rock. I'll know this stage is over when I hear my first hip/hop song ("Nice & Slow" by Usher)

2.) Next 90 minutes (guessing miles 4.5-12ish) - fun songs from my past or just feel good hip hop songs that'll make me smile, but again, nothing too motivating here. Trying to keep the feeling light and airy.I'll know this stage is over when I hear my first "serious" song ("Resistence" by Drake)

3.) Next 52 minutes (12ish - 16ish) - This is my contemplative, transition phase. These songs are slow, but serious. Meant to set a mood for the next part of my run. Get me prepared to be in the zone, but not too much in the zone yet. I'll know this phase is over when I hear my first Eminem song ("When I'm gone")

4.) Next 34 minutes (Miles 16ish-18.8ish) - This is my Eminem interlude. Yes, every race needs an eminem interlude in my opinion and this is mine. This is the start of the "okay it's alright to get in the mood now" phase. If I'm feeling super speedy at this point I may go ahead and skip the Eminem interlude, or some parts of it. This is where I can cut my playlist down. I'll know this is over when I hear... duh... a song NOT by Eminem ("Racks" by YC)

5.) Next 26 minutes (Miles 18.8ish - 21ish) - This is my "get in the mood" phase. A couple of my favorites, that'll put a pep in my step but not make me like... grit my teeth and start pushing yet. Again, depending on how fast I'm going, this phase can be cut short too. I'll know this phase is over when I hear my first "Kick it" song ("Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah)

6.) Last hour (Miles 21ish- 26ish) - This is my "push it" phase. All songs in this phase always make me go faster in my training runs. These are the songs I've used as finishers in my 5k's, and 10k's and half marathons in the past. Hopefully these songs will give me what i need to finish strong.

So now if you've read all that, here are the actual songs :D

Stage 1 - Start Slow:
Needtobreathe    Won't Turn Back
Needtobreathe    Something Beautiful
The Band Perry    If I Die Young
Dierks Bentley    Draw Me a Map
Sara Evans    A Little Bit Stronger
    John Anderson - Seminole Wind
Florence + The Machine    Dog Days Are Over
The Goo Goo Dolls    Slide
Michael Franti & Spearhead    Say Hey (I Love You) [feat. Cherine Anderson]
Candlebox    Lucy
The Goo Goo Dolls    Iris
Florence + The Machine    Cosmic Love

Stage 2 - Have fun, Smile, Enjoy the memories:
Usher    Nice & Slow
Usher    Papers
Baby Bash    Baby Bash f. Frankie J - Sugar Sugar(how you get so fly)
Blackstreet    90s R&B - Hip Hop - Blackstreet - No Diggity
Fergie    Glamorous
Gyptian    Hold You (Hold Yuh)
K-Nock, Quad City DJs & The 69 Boyz    What You Want for Christmas
Jay~Z    On To The Next One
Keri Hilson ft. Lil Wayne    Turning Me On
Kid Cudi    Cudi Zone
Ludacris    whats your fantasy
Mario    let me love you (album)
Nelly featuring Paul Wall, Ali & Gipp    Grillz
The-Dream    Falsetto
Trick Daddy    Sugar (Gimme Some) Ft. Ludacri
Trillville    Trillville - some cut (clean edit)
VARIOUS    cupid slide
Waka Flocka Flame    Grove St. Party (feat. Kebo Gotti)
Wiz Khalifa    Black and Yellow
Britney Spears    Till the World Ends
2Pac/Bone Thugs-N-Harmony    Thug Luv

Stage 3 - Okay, time to focus:
Drake    The Resistance
Drake & Young Jeezy    Unforgettable
Eminem    Infinite
Jackie Chain    Rollin' (feat. Kid Cudi)
Kanye West    Can't Tell Me Nothing
Lil Wayne    Lil Wayne- Pussy, Money, Weed
Lil Wayne    Ms. Parker
Lil Wayne    Every Girl in the world
Lil Wayne    I'm Single
Wale    Contemplate
Nicki Minaj    Save Me
Nicki Minaj & Rihanna    Fly

Stage 4 - What? Eminem? Yep!:
Emimen    When I'm Gone (Clean Radio Edit)
Eminem    Superman
Eminem    Square Dance
Eminem    Till I Collapse
Eminem    Not Afraid
Eminem    Seduction
Eminem    Love the Way You Lie (feat. Rihanna)

Stage 5 - Go for it! You should be smiling now!:
Y.C.    Racks (feat. Future)
The Black Eyed Peas    Just Can't Get Enough
Lil Wayne    Lollipop
YG    Toot It and Boot It
Cali Swag District    Teach Me How to Dougie
Black Dada    Imma Zoe

Stage 6 - Okay seriously, GO FOR IT!!!:
Tinie Tempah    Written In the Stars (feat. Eric Turner)
Big Sean    My Last (feat. Chris Brown)
Nicki Minaj    Did It On'em
New Boyz    New Boyz - You're A Jerk
Nicki Minaj & Eminem    Roman's Revenge
Lil Wayne    Fireman-DIRTY
Kanye West    Power
Kanye West    Runaway (feat. Pusha T)
Chris Brown    I Can Transform Ya (Feat. Lil' Wayne & Swizz Beatz)
Katy Perry    E.T. (feat. Kanye West)
Travis Porter    Bring It Back
Lil Wayne    A Milli
Wiz Khalifa    Say Yeah
Chris Brown    Look At Me Now (feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes)
Lil Wayne    6 Foot 7 Foot (feat. Cory Gunz)
Kelly Rowland    Motivation (feat. Lil Wayne)

The extremes of tapering advice...

2011-04-26T12:43:00.001-04:00

Here is some of the tapering advice I've received lately (in humor)

On Training
"Don't taper... just keep training... then your marathon will just be like a normal training run and you won't psyche yourself out"

vs.

"Cut your mileage way down, like 30% of what you were running, hell I doubt it would even hurt to just not run for a while..."

On Weight
"Stay out of the kitchen and try not to eat everything in sight..."

vs.

"Nourish your body, this is not the time to be watching your weight"

On Nutrition
“Protein the first 2 weeks, and then carbs! And low fat!”

Vs.
"Just eat what makes you feel good.... anything that makes you feel better in these last couple weeks is a good thing and you’re not going to gain enough in 3 weeks to make a difference"

vs.

"Don’t change anything!!! Eat what you’ve been eating”

On Mental Prep

“Keep yourself busy… with things that don’t involve wandering the kitchen aimlessly”

Vs.

“Think about the marathon, envision yourself having a great time”

Vs

“Try to forget about running… sex helps… “ (yes I ACTUALLY got that advice from someone)

Taper Time!!!

2011-04-24T10:20:00.000-04:00

Ahhh there's so much to say. I'll try not to let this post drag on and on....

First, the reason I haven't updated since my 21 miler... 5 weeks ago? Well, I had 22 miler on the schedule for 2 weeks ago and ended up spraining my calf (I DID finish the dang run though, but perhaps I should have cut it short?) Anyway, long story short, I had a mental breakdown thinking that last year was happening all over again... and then I went and saw a doctor who told me no running for 7-10 days and I'd be fine. Well... I waited 8 days (I didn't even crosstrain, totally just sat on my butt) and... drumroll please... calf is fine. I ran 19 yesterday as my "last long run" before the marathon and felt good. Well... I mean I'm incredibly sore, but nothing actually "hurts" in a bad way. Apparently 19 miles is hard to run after missing an entire week of running AND missing last week's long run. Haha. But I'm happy.

So yeah, didn't want to update until I knew if I'd still be able to run the thing or not. And apparently, I am still on track to run it!

As I said, yesterday's 19 miler went pretty well. I used it as a test run for the real marathon, meaning I wore the same outfit, ate the same foods the night before, the morning of, and during the run, and wore all the "gear" I'll wear during the real marathon (ipod, garmin, etc.). Everything worked out well. I now have the following runs under my belt

19 miler (yesterday)
22 miler (2 weeks ago)
21 miler (5 weeks ago)
18 miler (8 weeks ago)

So I feel pretty prepared. I'm still kinda.... freaking out though? I don't know. I'm getting butterflies and I'm 3 weeks out! I think it's because I've finally completed all the technically "hard" parts of my training and now I'm just waiting. I've never been "here" before in my training so this is very new.

So I guess... taper. Gahhh!

How much do you guys usually cut back during taper time? I've never really done it before and I've heard a bunch of different things. My pace group leader suggested that I do the following;

Normal Week:
Tuesday - 6 (speed), Thursday - 6 (Tempo/Hill Run), Saturday - 10+ (Long Run)

Taper Weeks:
Week1:
Tuesday - 6 (tempo), Thursday - 4 (Easy), Saturday - 10-14 (Easy)
Week 2:
Tuesday - 6 (Easy), Thursday - 4 (Easy), Saturday - 10 (Easy)
Week 3:
Tuesday - 3 (Easy), Thursday -3 (Easy), Sunday - 26.2 (Marathon!!!)

p.s. I really need to stop watching "spirit of the marathon"... seriously. LOL

21 Miler! For the first time ever....

2011-03-20T16:25:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying that I ran 21 miles yesterday. First time I'd ever run over 18 in my life. Was supposed to be a 20 miler but due to a little impromptu-routing on the way, ended up being 21. I don't mind though because the main point is this:

When I finished, I felt like if it WERE race day, I could have gone another 5.

That being said, I cried profusely afterward. It finally feels real to me. I will be running a marathon in 8 weeks. My first marathon ever. I'm of course going to keep doing all my preventative work (strengthening, rolling, and stretching), but I think at this point I can stop walking on eggshells and start to be excited about this dang marathon. Up to now I've been thinking in my head "you still might get injured... it's okay to back down.... 26 miles is really different than 14,16, or 18...."

But man... 26 miles doesn't seem that different from 21 now. Oh and I can cross off a running goal for 2011 (to complete 20 miles). :D

So.... 8 weeks til the big day.... the breakdown is as follows;

Next Weekend: 10 - recovery
6 weeks left: 14 miler
5 weeks left: 22 miler
4 weeks left: 10 miler
3 weeks left: 20 OR 18 miler depending on how I feel.
2 weeks left: 10-14 miles dependign on how I feel
1 week left: 10 miles
0 weeks left: 26.2 miles.

Booya!

And in case any of you are wondering why my training schedule seems kinda weird (22, 10, 20, taper...) it's because I'm training with a group and most are training for an April 30th marathon, 2 weeks before mine. So I had to modify the end of the schedule a bit. That's why the last one might be an 18 miler. My coach says that since I'll have had a 22 miler under my belt, the 18 should be fine to maintain the muscle tone. But she also says that a 20 miler that day will feel okay since I will have done 22 before... so we'll see. That last run before the taper is still kind of up in the air at the moment.

MAPS!

18 Miler!

2011-02-20T17:41:00.001-05:00

So yesterday I had the second 18 miler of my life. If you remember, the first (recap here: http://bananasandtoast.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-hm-race-recap-18-miler.html) I felt like crap a lot of the time, had a panic attack and ultimately ended up injuring my knee to a point where I couldn't walk for days and couldn't run for a couple weeks. This one was completely different. The run itself felt good other than a sore foot (not sure what's up with that, it feels fine today lol).

But yeah... I was incredibly nervous when setting out on the run since it was THE run that marked the end of my training last year. I even told myself that I wasn't allowed to sign up for another marathon until I was able to complete an 18 miler successfully. Well, I didn't stick to that, but even if I had, I would now officially be able to sign up for another marathon!

It does seem I have a wall though, at mile 16. This happened last year too. My group leader saw me kind of shut down mentally at mile 16 yesterday and told me to cover my watch with my sleeve so I wouldn't be able to see it anymore. That really helped. Something about KNOWING I'm past 16 miles screws with my head apparently. But physically, things were fine :). I'm pretty happy.

So, in summary, I'm really happy :) This whole marathon thing might work out after all. T minus 12 weeks at this point... I have a 20 miler, 22 miler, and another 18 miler and then a 2 week taper between me and this race :D.

Me in my ice bath afterward!!

Greatness is upon us

2011-02-14T23:22:00.000-05:00

No idea why I named this blog post something so cheesey but... I feel pretty cheesey right now. Just had an AMAZING 6 miler. I'm talking, left fast, slowed down only once or twice, and came in fast. Felt amazing... figured some stuff out, daydreamed a bit, mostly just enjoyed myself and the power that I felt tonight for some odd reason. This is one of those runs that just "makes life make sense". For some reason everything felt like it was going to be okay and that i was exactly where I needed to be, doing exactly what I needed to be doing at that moment. I teared up a little... and then blew snot on my sleeve (it was a bit chilly and windy). Uh-maz-ing

On another note, someone mentioend in my last blog post they would be scared to run a 700-person marathon in case they end up being the last one, or the only one on the course! I started thinking... what WOULD it be like to be the VERY LAST person on the course? I think as long as they still have aid stations open I'd be okay with it. Official cut off time for this course is 6 hrs 30 minutes. So, I'm thinking I'll be okay :).

That's it... heading to bed now. Got another 13 hour day tomorrow (busy season!!!!!)

Updates... Ramblings.... Other Things

2011-02-12T10:03:00.001-05:00

Long Run Recap (10 Miler Today)
Today I completed run #1 of 13 in my training cycle. Technically I started training before this but since I've been doing long runs for a while long I'm not sure where to start it and in all honesty, I PAID for the marathon this week so I feel like I'm truly "training" now. LOL. But, the important thing is that today's run went well.... considering.

Considering the fact that I set my alarm for 4:30am but when it went off I fell back asleep. Woke back up at 5:10 (supposed to leave the house at 5:15) totally panicked and threw myself together and ran out the door with only a handful of pretzels and a diet coke. Didn't foam roll beforehand and didn't really stretch all that much (big no-no on long runs!) and was cold as HECK this morning. I didn't have time to check the weather so I threw on my "49-ish" degree outfit when I really needed my "42-ish" degree outfit but thankfully someone from the running group lent me their extra layer.

So... all in all I'm glad it's over. Everything feels fine except my hamstrings are tight and my right IT band is a little angry with me. I'm not surprised since I barely stretched beforehand. I just foam rolled and it seems to have helped a bit. Hopefully a few more rounds of that today will calm anything else down.

Race Update
I talked to the race director this week about some questions I had about the race that weren't on the website yet. He told me that they are expecting only 700 or so full marathoners. That makes me SO happy. I do my best when it's just me myself and I and a few other people. Rock n' Roll Chicago was one giant mass of people and honestly that didn't make me too happy. I'm getting more excited about this race every time I find something new out :). I researched flights, I should be able to round-trip it for around $165 (total!) and it looks like I can get a cheap hotel around there for around $70/night. Hopefully my dad and I will split a room so that'll come out to $35/night. I also have to help pay for the rental car we'll be getting, so that's another $15-ish"/day. Not too shabby.

I also decided to cancel all my other half marathons and whatnot until the race. Focusing on one goal at a time. I'd still like to see a sub-2-hour half but perhaps that's in the cards for later this year? Maybe??

Foot Doctor
Due to my coach's suggestion I finally went in for an orthotics evaluation. He said that I didn't need anything too drastic but basically the inserts I HAD in my shoes (the special "superfeet" ones that I keep buying) are good for me, but they wear out really quicky and don't provide consistent support. So I'm getting orthotics but not crazy ones, just basically the inserts I had but in better quality material that won't wear out. That way they should support me evenly throughout my training. The price tag on those gave me heartburn but I decided that I'm going to do it. I decided not to sign up for Marine Corps because it seems all-in-all the orthotics are going to be about the price of a marathon + travel. So, I'll break even for the year. If I really want to do a fall marathon I can find one here in Florida to jump into. I feel like the orthotics are more important. So, those should get here in about 2 weeks hopefully! Until then, I'll just keep doin what I'm doin :)

Other Things
I read this article in Runner's World last night and it almost had me in tears. It describes perfectly what I've been feeling for so long and yet find hard to explain to people. I scanned it in and hopefully won't get hit with a copyright suit, but I'm hoping that it's okay since I'm saying RIGHT HERE that it's from RUNNER'S WORLD, NOT me.... =]

Runner's World Article Link

Injury Paranoia?

2011-02-09T17:13:00.000-05:00

I'm putting this post out there because I'm feeling a little crazy at the moment and I'm hoping that maybe someone can relate, or offer wisdom. Lately I’ve been experiencing what I can only describe as “injury paranoia”. It started a couple weeks ago when, after a very successful 14 miler I decided that I wanted to try the whole marathon thing again. I was hoping it was just nerves but it hasn’t really gotten any better.

I’m so terrified that this marathon journey is going to end the same way the last one did… in injury. I’ve been stretching, and foam rolling, and ice-bathing, and taping, and warming up and cooling down every workout as well as strength training my quads, hamstrings, and VMO muscles every week. I’ve been emailing my coach non-stop about tips and tricks to remain injury free, and even wearing an old pair of running sneakers when I run errands rather than my normal flats. I’ve been paying acute attention to every twinge and tightness I feel during any run and taking it easy when in doubt. And yet… I’m paranoid.

Last night I looked at my calendar and realized that I injured myself 13 weeks before my marathon last year. This Sunday will officially BE 13 weeks from THIS marathon. That didn’t help. Then I realized that my flight to Chicago to run this thing will be on Friday the 13th. Then I went for a run at the gym and felt some knee pain but couldn’t tell if it was in my head or not. I could feel it when I focused on it, but not when I didn’t. When I was done running and stopped the treadmill the room started spinning. I was pretty sure I was going to faint. It reminded me of exactly what happened on my 18 miler almost 7 months ago.
I feel like I’m losing my mind. I want to move on and let my injury go. How do you all do it?

Thank you! (I signed up)

2011-02-08T08:10:00.000-05:00

Wow, I just wanted to thank everyone who commented on my last blog about whether or not I should run the marathon I was looking at. I wasn't expecting much of a "turnout" since I've been so absent from the blog-world as of late, so I just want to say thank you again!

I signed up last night! I guess it's official now :D And to answer someone's question from the last blog post, I DO think I'll be ready in time. I think I've finally left my injury in the dust. I think as long as I keep up with all my preventative care, it should be good :). Well that and I'll hopefully be seeing a doctor in the next couple weeks about some custom orthotics. My running group coach seems to think I'd be a good candidate for them.

I can't wait until this weekend when I'll have some time to catch up on everyone, I miss allya'll :) Thanks again for the support!

Marathon?

2011-02-06T20:35:00.000-05:00

So I'm eyeing a marathon and I want YOUR opinion!!

Well there ya go! It's the Chicagoland Spring Marathon and Half Marathon on May 15 2011 in Schaumburg Illinois. I bet you didn't get all that from the banner there... :D

I need your help because I just can't make the last "for sure" commitment decision here. I'm 95% sure I want to do this race but I want to hear what you guys think first!

Because I'm a nerd this will be organized as "pros and cons"

Pros:

Small Race (half marathon capped at 1000, full marathon capped at 2000
Half marathoners split at mile 5 so it should thin out fairly early in the race (as opposed to mile 13)
Inaugural year so maybe fewer people?
More "nature" than urban
Cheap entry fee
Near relatives
Don't have to rent a car (see reason above)
Plane tickets are pretty cheap there
Good time of year (though chance of being too hot)
Portillo's Hot Dog House right near park! (see pictures below :D)

Cons:

Inaugural year so maybe some first-year mishaps?
Trail seems narrow, first 5 miles may be a bit jam packed
Chance of being hot that time of year. If weather fits the "average" it'll be perfect but any warmer could be bad.

Course Map:

http://www.allcommunityevents.com/chicagoland_spring_marathon/chicagoland_marathon_map.pdf

Video of Race:

Photos of the Course:

Taking a week off, and first week of work!

2011-01-09T09:13:00.000-05:00

I started work last Monday and I have to say I'm more excited now than ever! This past week was all training at my local office, and then this week will be all national training in New Jersey! I was actually able to get in my normal amount of miles this past week running-wise but was worried about being able to run in New Jersey. Our schedule they set up has us busy breakfast to after dinner plus I'm going to have a roomate and I don't want to wake her up at 4am so I can go run on a treadmill. It just doesn't really make sense. Thank goodness this is the last training like this, after this point I'll always have a single room to myself so I can go ahead and wake up and run at any given time of the night :D.

But on that note, I emailed my "coach" and she gave me permission to take Monday-Friday off! I haven't taken a week off in a lonnggg time and honestly I'm kinda looking forward to it. I'm not even going to bring my running stuff so I have no temptation because I know if I have my stuff I'm going to feel guilty about not using it. Even as I'm writing this though I'm actually thinking "well maybe just shoes... and an outfit... just in case" lol. I really think a week off would be good for me though!!

So, normally I run around 6-7 miles on Tuesday and thursday, and 10+ miles on Saturday or some 3 days of the week. Her recommendation was the cut out tuesday and thursday and then only do 6 miles on saturday and then jump back into my normal routine the next week. I wanted to ask your guys' advice on if that seemed good. I'm pretty stoked about taking a break!

Oh and lastly, I ran FIFTEEN miles yesterday! The longest run since my injury and I felt absolutely marvelous!

2011-01-03T17:15:00.003-05:00

So my "real job" starts tomorrow which will require a bit of traveling. I'm trying to create a "complete list" of "anything and everything I'd need" to run while traveling. My plan was to put EVERYTHING on the list so that I'd have a default list, and put all these things in a bag and then right before a trip I can figure out if some of them are unneccessary for that particular trip (like earmuffs) and take those out of the bag and put them in the "holding box" in the closet. So, no I don't plan on taking EVERYTHING on this list with me on every trip.

But, does it look like I"m missing anything? Anything you ALWAYS have in your running bag??

Running Shorts
Running Shirt
Extra Clothing Layers
Gloves
Running Bra
Running Socks
Running Shoes
Running Underwear if not built-in
EarMuffs
Sunglasses
Bandaids for Toes
Neosporin
Knee Tape
Scissors for Knee Tape
Ibuprofen
Immodium AD
Food for Actual Run
Extra Food for After
Water Bottle
Fuel Belt
Waterproof Baggie for Phone
Hat
Jacket
IPOD
Wire for IPOD
Garmin
Wire for Garmin
SpiBelt For Food
Extra Hair Ties
Race Directions
Magazines to Read at Start
Chapstick/Aquaphor
Washcloths

EDIT: Recommendations from other Readers! I wanted to add them to make a SUPER COMPLETE list :D

From 4:30 or Bust
-Sunscreen
-Safety Pin
-Drawsting Bags
-Plastic Bags for Wet Clothes

From Aimless Runner
-Salt Tablets
-Body Glide

From Sit for your job. Run for your life.
-Road ID!!
-Headbands/Barrettes

One of the Best Races of my Life!

2011-01-02T13:18:00.002-05:00

DeLeon Springs Half Marathon

This race was an hour away from my house so I got up pretty early today and a nice hour commute to figure out what I wanted my goals for the race to be. I decided since my knees felt funky last night to just have a good race, a fast long run, and a good time. I got so much more!

When I got there it was "misting" and around 65 degrees. I thought it was pretty perfect. I did wear a hat today though to keep the sweat from running in my eyes since it was VERY VERY humid (like... literally mist floating around) so I knew I'd be dripping. I'm glad I wore it too!

I started my watch a few seconds late because there as no timing mat at teh beginning and I was waiting until I hit the timing mat to hit my watch, but after looking at my official posted time online I only started it about 4 seconds too late. Felt like longer! There were about 300 people when we started (the half marathon and 5k started together) and at the 5k turnaround it seemed about half the people were turning back to finish their shorter race. The race official at the turnaround point wished all of us half-marathoners good luck as we "bolted" past the "Turn around NOW for the 5k!" sign!

At this point I was feeling pretty good but low on energy. My goal was still to have a fun race. The scenery was absolutely georgous, with the sunlight streaming through the autumn leaves and every now and then there'd be a breeze and a bunch of nice golden leaves would flutter down around me. I was listening to Dierks Bentley - "Draw Me A Map" and it seemed to fit this "country" landscape really well. I had set up my playlist so it would start out with really calm songs and slowly build up to my "pushing it" songs toward the end.

After we hit about mile 2 my knees were feeling really good. I did have slight pain in my left one somewhere along the course but I don't remember where and it went away after a mile or so. Around this time (mile 2ish) we had our first aid station. Since the course was an "out and back" I made a mental note to eat the last of my "energy" at this aid station on the way back. If I had one comment to race directors it would be to put more aid stations out there! There were only 3 (so 6 if you count hitting them on the way back as well).

Around mile 5ish we started seeing the faster runners coming back. It was pretty inspiring. I actually like out-n-backs because I love watching all the people who are ahead of me and are now on their way back, and then when I'm coming back I like to inspire the people that are still on their way out. I like it, lots of camaraderie. It was around this time one of the faster males on his way back (he actually won his age group) caught my attention. He had this amazing smile on his face and right before he passed me I saw him put his arms out to the side and look up and kinda laugh, almost as if he was just... so happy. I don't know, but it made me cry. Maybe I was just emotional (races do that) but THIS is the reason I love running so much. It brings so much joy to me and other people, and that joy is so contagious! When he passed me yelled "looking amazing!" and he yelled back "stay strong!" and we went our separate ways. It was a nice moment.

When I came up to mile 12, they had the only clock on the course set up. I saw 1:54:XX and I was in disbelief. I had no thoughts about a PR the entire time until I saw that, I was just out enjoying myself. I even set my garmin on "distance only" so that I wouldn't be tempted to worry about my pace. Once I saw the clock though, the adrenaline kicked in and I hit the ground hard. I remember my old pace buddy telling me "the last mile is supposed to hurt, but it's only 8 minutes of pain, take it" and I started to push harder. Then when the last 1/2 mile hit and the course turned onto the gravel road that led to the finisher's area I remembered another mantra "claw the ground" and I did just that. I pictured every step as my feet and toes grabbing into the gravel and digging my way into the earth, "making my mark". I passed one person, and then another, and then I just started sprinting. Once in the finishing chute everyone was screaming and since I was the only person in the chute I got all excited it was for me. The guy that I saw earlier was yelling "kick it kick it kick it!" and I did! It was the most amazing finish of any race I think I've ever had. As I was driving back home I couldn't shake the incredible happiness I felt. I remembered my post from yesterday about how I was scared about the future and for some reason, right at that moment I just felt like everything was going to be okay. The feeling hasn't gone away :) Maybe it's runners high, I don't know, but I hope it lasts a little while!

The results:

2nd Place in my Age Group
PR by over 2 minutes!
Time: 2:04:23
Pace: 9:30/M

SPLITS: I'm consistent!

1 - 9:20
2 - 9:28
3 - 9:28
4 - 9:33
5 - 9:35
6 - 9:29
7 - 9:44
8 - 9:23
9 - 9:40
10 - 9:17
11 - 9:22
12 - 9:34
13 - 8:38

One of the best races of my life!

My First Year as a Runner

2011-01-01T13:59:00.000-05:00

So, 2010 was one of the best years of my life. I can remember saying the same thing about 2009 a year ago but if I had to choose I'd pick 2010 as the NEW best year of my life. This post is going to be running related, yes, but also life related. Because I think the two tend to intertwine.

What happened in 2010?

Running-Related

I started running (technically started December 2009 but only ran 18 miles the entire year lol)
I ran 866 miles
I completed two half marathons, a 10k, 4 miler, and several 5k's
I completed an 18 mile run
I learned about ice baths, ibuprofen, compression stuff, knee braces, IT straps, athletic tape, and the importance of real, unadulterated rest.
I overcame shin splints
I overcame runners knee in my RIGHT knee (left knee is now acting up but I'm not going to focus on that :D)
I joined an amazing training program and met some awesome people

Other-Life Things

Started and finished grad school
Passed the CPA exam
Moved into a 1 bedroom apt, living ALONE for the first time
First time since 5th grade I've been single for an entire year
Grew up a little :)

So yeah, this year has been amazing. As for 2011 I have three main goals.

Goal #1: Marathon!!!
I'm going to run a full marathon in 2011. I'm stoked

Goal #2 Balance
I'm starting a VERY demanding job in 2 days and it's going to take a LOT out of me. I need to focus on maintaining work-life balance. Hopefully goal #1 will help with goal #2 because it'll be harder to just be "too tired" to workout if I have a goal in mind. At least, I'm hoping.

Goal #3 Overcome Fear
I'm absolutely terrified about starting this next part of my life, and as cheesey as it sounds I think a big reason I'm terrified is because I'm single and I feel like I'm facing it alone. I know I can do it, I'm just scared about what "doing it" entails. So, I want to try to stop being so scared and just... enjoy the ride :) I have a beautiful life. I've worked incredibly hard to achieve it, and now it's time to reap the benefits.

And just for fun, some pics from 2010!

One of my first 5k's

Don't I look like I'm in pain?? lol

Still in pain...

My new Garmin watch in March! I was in love...

My training schedule in March (when I started training for my marathon)

The 5k where I PR'ed and got 3rd my age group!

Meeting up with Redhead Runner and Aimless Runner!

First Ice Bath!

First (and last) 18 miler!

Running with my mom @ the Elmhurt 4 miler!

My hat signed by Jeff Galloway himself!

Meeting Jeff Galloway with Girl Running!

First Gu experience

Me after my first Half Marathon

Me running my first half marathon

My medal from my first half marathon!

More medal!

After my first 10k!

After the OUC Half Marathon

Running the OUC Half!

That's it Folks!

Post Holiday "Fun"

2010-12-26T11:13:00.003-05:00

First note, I need to start seriously thinking about what I want my 2011 goals to be! I'll be posting that somewhere around Dec 31st :D. I'm excited!

Second.... ohhh the holidays. They've been great. Seriously, awesome! This season brought me my first long distance race since my injury as well as a new apartmenIt, some wonderful time with family, and my very first attempt and making dessert from scratch....

Yeah, it was a sucess! The pie crust was a pain in my butt but after talking to some women in my family I now have few "secrets" in my back pocket for the next time I want to attempt this again :D.

What goes along with homeade desserts? Eating too much... lol. I don't regret it though it was an amazing selection of food (including homeade Indian food from a family friend who was staying with us from India!)

Overall, a great great holiday season. Now it's time to run some of that off! Ran 9 miles today because it was incredibly windy and 10 just didn't feel necessary lol. I'll make up the extra mile somewhere else... or not because I have a half marathon in a week. We'll see :)

Next up.... Deleon Springs Half Marathon a week from today! w00t w00t!

p.s. real job starts next Tuesday! Eeeeks!

The Plan

2010-12-25T16:58:00.002-05:00

This post is more for me than it is for any of my readers... but I wanted to put some goals in writing.

For My Knee:

@ least twice/week

Strengthen Quads w/Leg Press (Individual & Combined Legs)
Strengthen VMO w/Leg Press while squeezing kickball between knees

@ least once/week

Strengthen hamstrings somehow? (machine in gym apartment?)
Strengthen Abductors somehow?

As Much As Possible!!!

Stretch...

Hamstrings
Quads
IT Band
Calves
Hips/Glutes

I really need to be working with my knee. It gets really good and then I forget about it and it gets bad again REALLY quick. If I'd just keep up with this stuff it would be perfect.

Possible Races (I'm eyeing these) --> I think it would be neat to do a half marathon a month for the first four or five months of 2011 and then train for a marathon for the fall of 2011 :) The bold ones are ones I'm doing FOR SURE. The rest are just possibilities.

January 2nd - DeLeon Springs Half Marathon (De Leon Springs, FL) **REGISTERED AS OF 12/25/2010**
January 23rd - Ocala Half Marathon (Ocala)
February 27th - Gasparilla Half Marathon (Tampa)
March 13th - Sarasota Half Marathon (Sarasota) OR March 6th - Orange Blossom Half Marathon (Tavares)
April 10th - Irongirl Half Marathon (Clearwater)
May 15th - Chicago Spring Half Marathon (Chicago) - optional, I couldn't find any Florida races so if I have a few vacation days I'll do this one :) If not, I'll just not race this month :)
June - October : Marathon Training
Oct. 30th - 36th Marine Corps Marathon (Arlington, VA)
November - Recovery!
December 2011 - OUC Half Marathon (Orlando, FL)

Brooks Adrenaline 11's and Hot Guys

2010-12-12T19:21:00.000-05:00

So, important things first.

Brooks Adrenaline 11's (Female Size 7 1/2)

I bought these last Saturday. I wore them on a 6 miler Tuesday, a 5 miler Thursday and an 11 miler today. My conclusion is this: They don't feel any different than my Brooks Adrenaline 10's. And I think that's a great thing because I loved my 10's. I've heard from other people they feel more "cradled" or whatever in the heel but I don't know, maybe I always tied my shoes so tight I never noticed OR it could be that i have my own separate sole inserts and the "cradling" was achieved by whatever inserts Brooks made and since I had to take those out to put my inserts in I wouldn't have noticed the new style of insert? I don't know, but the shoes are great. I haven't had any "growing pains" even though I didn't "phase out" my old shoes. I meant to, but after the first run didn't feel any different than my old shoes I decided to just jump in head first to this pair :D.

So, I love them.

Second thing, I didn't want to run today. I didn't want to run yesterday and actually skipped my run yesterday. Today I decide that I can't skip again and just tell myself to go out for 3 miles or whatever. And then I walk outside and it's like 20 mph gusts of wind. No thank you. So then I decide to go to the gym, already dreading having to run on the treadmill. But once I get there I realize there are an incredible amount of hot guys at our campus gym today. Staring at this wonderful scenery inspired me to run ELEVEN MILES... on a TREADMILL. Apparently since finals are over all the hot guys have all decided to spend their waking hours working out. That is quite fine with me as I think it's going to do great things for my fitness in the next couple of weeks :D

Running song of the day:
(There's a freaking ACCORDION in this song!)

OUC Half Marathon Race Recap - PR by over 20 min!

2010-12-04T23:16:00.001-05:00

So today was the OUC Half Marathon. And because I like doing it this way, I will be writing about it in bullet form :D

Cold! But perfect. 41* @ the start and warmed up to just about 50* when I finished
I ran it in 2:06:52 - a PR by over 20 min!

My previous PR was 2:27....

I love my marathonfest (training program) pace group! They were amazing.
Course was awesome. Except when a lady cop told us at mile 10 that there were no more bricks, and then more bricks appeared around mile 11. Not cool
Pretty good crowd support for a local race
I'm really sore....
I thought I was going to puke the last mile. I learned that I need to drink water and not gatorade at the water stop at mile 12 if I'm planning on sprinting the last mile.
I tried to make a conscious effort to vocally thank every policeman I saw on the route :)
At mile 7ish my fingers weren't working because they were cold and when I went to grab a water cup from a volunteer I ended up dumping it all over him (he was like 12 years old) AND then I yelled Sh*t in front of of everyone. Yeah... whoops. I guess the mouth-filter was frozen too. <--- Super embarrassing!
My parents took me to an AWESOME brunch afterward. Mimosas taste really good after half marathons :D
Splits:

Mile 1: 9:56
Mile 2: 9:54
Mile 3: 9:25
Mile 4: 10:00
Mile 5: 9:42
Mile 6: 9:24
Mile 7: 10:02
Mile 8: 10:01
Mile 9: 9:59
Mile 10: 9:40
Mile 11: 9:37
Mile 12: 9:08
Mile 13: 8:23

Other Running News:

Got my new shoes today (Brooks Adrenaline 11's)

they didn't feel as good as my old ones do but bear in mind I tried these on after my half marathon today so I'm not sure any shoe would have felt good. My feet really hurt and I had blisters. Store guy told me to try them for a couple weeks and if they don't work bring 'em back. I hope they work though because I don't want to have to change models!

November Recap & December Goals

2010-12-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

What went on in November?

Ran 73 Miles
Completed a 10k in Phoenix (Auto-PR)

What do I want to go on in December?

Definite:

Run 80 Miles
Complete a half marathon (OUC on 12/4/2010)

"Reach" Goals:

Complete a 5k IF I'm feeling completely recovered from the half (Reindeer Run 12/11/2010)
Learn how to swim :) (or at least do 1-3 hr training session to get the "basics" down enough to burn some calories in a pool :D)
Fit in an extra 5 running miles to bring total to 85... eventually next year I want to bring my base to 90 miles/month. This month will be a bit hard though with the two races. It's a lot easier to run 90 easy miles than 85 miles including a half marathon and a 5k lol!

Other Noteworthy Things

Ordered new shoes today! I've been running in the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10's for the past year. I ordered the GTS 11.... anyone have any experience with the two? I'm a little worried :( If they don't work, they still sell the 10's online so I'll just stock up on those but I really hope I can work with the updated ones.
BROOKS ADRENALINE GTS 11 SHOE - WOMENS

I've been running in the same running bra forever.... (I only own one). I like it because it's got significant padding and that padding hides the so called "headlight" effect that happens in some women (me in particular!). I went shopping for a new bra today since I've kinda killed mine by wearing it for EVERY RUN the past year. Is it just me or is it impossible to find a well padded sports bra for women with no boobs? I wear an A cup but I still want enough padding to... ummm... hide things? It's frustrating. I ended up just ordering my same bra (see below except I ordered in black) from online since they didn't have it in the store.
BROOKS GLYCERIN SPORTS BRA

10 miler and Reflections

2010-11-27T16:37:00.003-05:00

So I ran 10 miles today. That was the last thing I wanted to do before I was officially "okay" with registering for the OUC half marathon next weekend. I told myself if this run went well, I could go ahead and sign up. Well, the run went well! So I guess you'll be seeing me at OUC in 7 days!

This long run was special for a couple reasons. First, it was in Phoenix! Georgous georgous city. I love the scenery here but the dryness is bothering me a bit. My throat stuck to itself when I tried to swallow and my skin kinda hurt when it became too salt loaded (it felt kind of sunburned from the dried salt).

The second reason it was special was because I started running exactly a year ago today. I think I went about 1 mile? My first real year as a runner. I set goals, achieved most of them, and really transformed myself into what I really believe will be a lifetime runner. So, I guess I just want to spend a little time reflecting on where I've been this year.

I started running exactly a year ago, after Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. They ran a half marathon that weekend and inspired me to begin running.

Goals for 2010:

-4 Miles (Ran 2/14/2010 in 37:30 - 9:22/mile)
-5 Miles (Ran 4/27/10 Pace 10:25)
-6 Miles (Ran/Walked 6 1/2 miles 3/14/2010 in 01:09:40)
-8 Miles (Ran/Walked 3/21/2010 - 1:26 - 10:43/mile)
-9 Miles (Ran/Walked 4/29/2010 - 1:33 - 10:17pace
-10 Miles (Ran/Walked 5/6/2010 @ 11:25/mile)
-12 Miles (Ran/Walked 5/20/10 11:27/mile)
-14 Miles Ran/Walked on 6/3/2010 @ 10:53/mile
-16 Miles Ran/Walked on 7/1/2010 in 3 hrs (11:17 pace)
-18 Miles (Reached 8/7/2010 in 4 hrs)
-20 Miles
-22 Miles
-Break 26:57 on a 5k (Reached 3/28/2010)
-Complete a 10k (or a race of similar distance) (Completed 11/25/2010 in 39:38 - 8:42/mi)
-Complete a half marathon (Reached 8/1/2010 in 2:27:11)
-Complete a full marathon
-Run 4 days in one week (Reached 2/21/2010)
-Start Cross training 2x/week
-Start Strength training 2x/week (Started week of 3/22/2010)
-Keep up core work (@ least 2x/week) for 6 weeks (Reached sometime in April)
-Wear out a pair of running shoes :D

So as you can see, I met a lot of them. Never made it past 18 miles on a long run, and I never did complete my marathon but I'm okay with that. I don't really know how to judge the cross training goal because I did cross train for a while, but not in the way I had originally planned when I made that goal. So, overall I'm really happy with this list.

My achievements (PR's):

1m:   7:58 (7:58/mi)
5k:   26:39 (8:36/mi)
4m:   34:01 (8:31/mi)
10k: 53:58 (8:42/mi)
Half: 2:27:12 (11:14/mi)

I'm also really happy with those times :) I haven't run a 5k since March though so I really need to do another one soon. I have a feeling it's going to be a PR since my 4 miler pace is actually faster than my 5k pace! I also haven't done a 1 mile test since February......... one of these days :)

So, all in all I'm really happy with 2010. I'm not setting 2011 goals **yet**. I'm going to make a post about that closer to New Years. I have a feeling it'll be success just if I can keep running regularly as I'm going to start my "big girl" job on January 3rd and will have a whole lot less time to work with! It's been great just being in college and having such a flexible schedule.

Alrighty, that's it for now! Good luck to all my space coast runners this weekend!

Mesa Mi Amigs 10k Turkey Trot Race Report

2010-11-25T17:40:00.000-05:00

Whooo that was a long title! So, this race was great. I put my garmin to only show me distance and then just ran my race. However, around mile 2 I did kinda find someone who I thought was holding a good pace and then followed them through the rest of the race. I think I just... do better with pacers :D. He may have been creeped out, I know he looked behind him a few times and I was always there! But his sweatshirt said "coach 2010 softball team" so I'm telling myself that he likes leading people ;)

The only thing I didn't like about this race was the finish, up this little tiny winding path that could only fit 2 people wide. There were 2000 people in this race! The conditions were hardly conducive to an ending "push" so I just ran the finish as fast as I could. When I crossed the finish line and actually checked my time I was shocked...

Official chip time was: 53:58! First 10k ever and under 9min/miles the entire time. I was hoping (like fantasy-goal-ing) for 9 minutes miles so the fact that i beat my "reach goal" is amazing. I'm super excited for the half marathon next weekend (OUC). I'm going to do the same thing, set the watch at distance only and find a good pacer :).

Is that cheating in your opinion? Tagging behind someone? Would it annoy you?

Oh, and it was cold, and perfect, and well perfectly awesome :D

Not sure how many of you still read my blog lol...

2010-11-22T18:35:00.000-05:00

So it's been a really long time but I want to start blogging again. Honestly I was scared to write about running because it seemed any time I got excited about or starting planning races and whatnot, the knee decided to act up again.

But it's time to face things and grow some courage, also I'm going to put this out there and hope that having some support will force me to stay true to my goals.

So what's been going on? The real story this time?

Some of you already know that I've struggled with an eating disorder in the past. Running really helped me overcome this. However, somewhere around July I started to get quite fatigued. I guess I thought eating more would give me more energy and I began to overeat. I figured there was no way I'd gain weight running as much as I was. Unfortunately, I gained 6 pounds.

That may not seem like the end of the world to a lot of you but to me it was devastating. I immediately cut down my intake... it wasn't long before the restricted calorie intake started affecting my running. I could barely finish 6 milers, and I began to struggle during my long runs. My weight dropped, along with muscle mass that I'm sure I needed to support my running. A month later, I got injured on my 18 miler.(see previous post on that)

I saw doctors and physical therapists who all told me my injury was minor and that I'd be back running within 3 weeks. 3 weeks later, nothing had improved. They didn't know why but I did. Once I stopped running I stopped eating. I didn't see a point. My physical therapist explained to me that the goal was to build supporting muscles in my legs. It felt pointless, I was pretty sure my body wasn't going to build muscle since it needed the few calories to keep me alive :-/

I went to a nutritionist and let her know what was going on. We were able to stop the weight loss. I still wasn't ready to gain anything back. Maintaining my weight seemed to be enough though to make the physical therapy work and I started running again.

I'm back "kinda" where I was at the beginning of my marathon training (minus 7 pounds). I'm running 5/6mi two times a week and have a 10+ run on the weekend. Knee is achey the first 2 miles but always calms down. I still refuse to gain any weight (regardless of WHAT the pounds consist of...) and because of that my nutritionist is still telling me that I'm still at high risk for injury. :-/

I'm feeling stuck. I'm happy with the amount I'm running but would really like to run a marathon. I realize exercise of that intensity requires appropriate nutrition but I'm too focused on the number to let myself eat enough :(. So instead I'm just sitting here at 20ish miles a week feeling depressed. It all comes down to choices.

So I guess I'm writing this post to first be honest with everyone (including myself) about what is really going on with my running. And to put some concrete goals in writing so I have somewhere to keep track of my progress toward them. Any and all comments/support/whatever is welcome.

Goals:
-Maintain weight
-Don't add extra runs during the week JUST to burn extra calories.
-Run a 10k this Thursday and LISTEN to my body (this'll be my first race since my injury). If the knee acts up, lighten up the pace. Set Garmin to only show distance, not time/pace.
-Run the OUC Half marathon in 2 weeks, again LISTEN to my body and try to be happy that it is able to run 13.1 miles. That in and of itself should provide satisfaction. Set Garmin to only show distance, not time/pace.
-Keep up with PT exercises at home 2x/week
-Stretch at least before/after every run
-Don't cross train. I need to learn to be okay with eating without exercising every day.

So if you're still reading this, thank you for your support. I'm going to go catch up on some blogs now (I have THOUSANDS of entries in my google reader! lol)

5 miles :) Slight knee pain...

2010-09-20T15:12:00.000-04:00

Ran 5 miles on the treadmill today. I woke up way too late to run outside and I have class until 9pm tonight so no running after class :(

Knee felt pretty good! Got a little sore around 4.5-5 miles which is exactly what the physical therapist told me would probably happen. I guess we'll just keep it at this point and keep strengthening the VMO muscle and hope that we can raise that threshold little by little :)

Anyone else with runners' knee that wants to pass on tips??? I think I'm finally emotionally ready to take advice from people ;)

Ran 4 miles outside!

2010-09-18T20:30:00.001-04:00

First off I have to say how happy I am to be running outside again. I'm finally secure enough with my knee I don't have to run on a treadmill (for fear the knee pain randomly appears I didn't want to be stranded 2 miles away from my house lol). It felt sooo good to be outside. The neighbors probably thought I was nuts though since I was grinning ear to ear and singing along with my IPOD. I don't care though, I bet they can't run 4 miles :)

And on another note, more self-discovery on this recovery process. Last night a friend came over and while we were discussing life he told me he was actually happy I injured my knee. He told me that I used to the be the girl that everyone thought was nuts because of how much I loved running, and how happy I always was when I was talking about or doing it. Then after I started training for the marathon I didn't seem so happy about running...

I was obviously upset and was about to tell him that he was wrong and I was the happiest marathon training girl ever...

and then I realized he was kinda right. I loved training for the marathon because I felt powerful and strong and special and like I could do something very few people could. It was a great accomplishment. But it did leave me incredibly tired, a lot of the time. Even my midweek runs would sometimes be really hard simply because my legs were so dead from the weekend. I have to admit, going out there today and busting out 4 miles without feeling much more than one or two "I'm kinda getting tired" thoughts was absolutely amazing. It's kinda nice not having "dead legs" :D

Not saying I don't want to train for another marathon, I definitely do. I'm just pointing out some more positives of recovery :) Fresh legs!

Now off to eat a petite breaded chicken breast stuffed with broccoli and cheese (in the frozen food aisle - AMAZING) and a garlic biscuit. Yum!

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Broccoli-Cheese-2-Servings-Stuffed-Chicken-Breasts/13908638

^^ go buy them, seriously, amazing!

Prescription to Run :)

2010-09-16T15:00:00.000-04:00

Physical Therapy Appointment Today:
-Did my normal strengthening, stretching routine
-PT had me run 1 mile on the treadmill at a "fast" pace to make sure speed didn't cause pain - it didn't :D
-my prescription is to run every other day and work my way up to 5 miles again :)

When I asked how fast I should be increasing speed and he told me my body would let me know. That's terrifying, I've never been very good at listening. So I think my "real" homework is to REALLY let my body tell me and actually listen :)

Feeling Hopeful :D

I'm not running Chicago :(

2010-09-15T16:30:00.001-04:00

Sooo it's been forever since I've updated but I've decided it's time to get out of my depressed funk and denial, face the issues and pick myself back up again. I'll try to make this short as possible (but keep in mind I'm covering the past 6 weeks because I've been too depressed to make ANY updates lol).

**big breath...**

I ran my 16 miler and hurt but didn't feel like I was in the "dangerous" hurt zone. A couple weeks later I ran my first half marathon ever, the rock n'roll Chicago half marathon. It went well, though I remember finishing it and feeling like there was no way on earth I could have re-run that course to make it a full. But, I was told by my marathon training team that was normal to feel after a first long distance race.

So, the next weekend I headed out for my 18 miler, the longest distance to date. Around mile 16 I started feeling the same pain I felt during the previous two 16 milers, and I just remember thinking "it's 2 more miles, whatever" and so I ran. At mile 17 of my 18 miler I had a panic attack. I couldn't stand up and got very dizzy and lightheaded. I didn't know what was going on but I figured I was just stressed out from the run. My legs(knees) were shaking like crazy and not holding me up but I figured that it was just the dizziness from the panic attack causing that. I finished the 18 miler and had to be helped to my car because I could barely walk. The next day I just felt dead but I figured that was normal. I gave myself two days of recovery.

Then I tried to run... and my right knee said "ummm nope, thanks for trying but nope". It just wasn't working. It would switch between sharp pain that would quickly build to all of a sudden just giving out on me. I've had ITB pain before and even though I knew this wasn't ITB I figured I could fix it the same way I fixed the ITB which was just stretching and a band to go around me knee. I went to the running store and bought a patella strap and figured I'd be all good in a few days. Few days goes by, I try to run again. This time I'm too stubborn to stop when I feel the pain and completely kill my knee. I can't walk for a week.... I started using my arms to grab the railings and pull myself down the stairs at my apartment complex because the feeling of bending my knee felt like I was slicing my cartilage...

So I gave it a week. I figured a week fixes anything. Wrong... tried to run again and couldn't walk for the next week... again. Finally made an appointment with a doctor and realized at the office when he made me compare my right knee to my left knee that the right knee was twice as large. I guess I never noticed because I was only looking at the right knee lol. Anyway, he did an MRI and told me I just had a bad case of "runner's knee" and that it was super common, and I should be out running again in a couple weeks with some physical therapy. I asked him about the marathon and he gave me the "go ahead" thumbs up sign... I felt good.

I started physical therapy that week and was very diligent about my exercises. The knee started to feel better but i still couldn't get 1 mile without it giving out. After trying a few different tapes/taping methods we finally found one that worked the best and I am now up to 3 miles without my knee giving out. I'm very proud of myself but...

During physical therapy yesterday my therapist and I had a serious discussion about the race. I'm not progressing at the rate that he or my doctor thought I would be. It's been almost 6 weeks since my last long run (the 18 miler) and actually 6 weeks since any run over 3 miles. My group is supposed to run 22 miles this Saturday morning and the thought of that makes me want to puke.

I asked him if he thought I could do it. He said that it really wasn't a good idea. He asked if I could get a refund and when I told him no he said to "run a little of the course then to try and get some of your money's worth". I made the decision (not like I had a choice) at that moment not to run Chicago. I want my first marathon to be one that I can finish.

So, how am I feeling about all this? Terrible. I had a really hard "cry myself to sleep" night and a "let's go to denny's and gourge myself on ice cream" day and I've now whined to ALL my running friends as well as my family about how miserable I am about the decision. And AFTER all that??? Well I'm finally starting to feel like things will get better soon.

I think the biggest regret I have at the moment is not treating the half marathon as a huge accomplishment. Since i was training for the marathon, the half just seemed like a training run. I wasn't really excited for it or during it. I just did it to prepare for the "real" one. I let that moment slip by unnoticed in my life and I really regret that.

But, other than that I am really trying to focus on the positives and my new goal which is to get healthy and be able to run just for the fun of it :)

My positives:
-I can now run 3 miles without any pain or my knee giving out on me!
-I can bike freaking 40 miles on a mountain bike in less than 3 hours with some serious hills
-I don't have to wake up at 3am for long runs at the moment!
-I've gone out with friends again for the first time in months because I "don't have to run in the morning"
-My knee problem does NOT require surgery
-The physical therapy exercises are seriously making my legs look awesome lol
-I am young, I have plenty of time to run a marathon later
-I am young, my body will recover from this even though I pushed it WAY beyond where it could go
-My body will forgive me for abusing it and not listening
-I have amazing friends/family who are supporting me through this

and last but not least...

-I am incredibly lucky to be one of those people who enjoy the feeling of **actually running**. I have incredible admiration for those who don't enjoy but do it because they are disciplined, and want to stay in shape, and love the feeling of accomplishment after. I'm not sure I could stick with it if I didn't like the feeling **during**. But I do, I love it I love it I love it. The quote "the only runners high I've ever gotten was from when I stopped running" never applied to me and I need to remember this as I try to get healthy again. I need to run because I want to, not because my schedule says to, or because I want to run a marathon. I just want to run because I like it. Running is NOT about a medal or about a timestamp or about bragging rights. It's about fun, enjoyment, freedom.

When did I forget that??

p.s. GOOD LUCK TO ALL MY CHICAGO-ERS!!! I can't wait to read about your experiences :D

Update! HM Race Recap + 18 Miler

2010-08-07T13:44:00.001-04:00

Sooo I've been missing. Truth is I've been struggling. But, I'd like to give a quick update on how I'm doing for the few of you that are following me :D A lot has been happening in my "running world" so here it is!

August 1st - Chicago Rock n'Roll Half Marathon

Now a quick race recap... I made the cardinal mistake of getting overly excited and NOT taking my walking breaks that I've been taking during my training. So, long story short at mile 11 i just kinda died. Walked the last 2 miles with a few short running breaks. Finished in 2:27:11. Pretty proud of that time since it included a LOT of walking. Met a few very cool people. Experienced my first long distance race, so overall I met my goals. Oh and did I mention I had BRONCHITIS! Yeah.... I also got very sick (intestinal-wise) after the race. Note for anyone else running this race - the porta-potties in the beer tent don't have lines ;D)

Next....

18 miler today! I survived!

4:00am-8:00am - 80-82degrees - 90% humidity

It was ROUGH. It kinda switched from "good" to "ick" back and forth for the first 16 miles. Then at 16 miles I had a MAJOR panic attack. I don't know what happened but I freaked out. Couldn't breathe, almost passed out. We walked for a mile and then I was able to run again for the last mile. It was super weird. I have panic attacks somewhat often but never during a run before. I think I just exacerbated the situation because I felt it coming on and then got even more anxious because I didn't want to have a panic attack in front of my running buddies which just made it worse. A couple cars stopped and asked if I needed a ride home which made it even MORE embarrassing. Oh well... it happens. Nobody has ever died from a panic attack so I just keep telling myself that when they happen :D.

But, it's done :D Yay!

16 miles and Exam Stress

2010-07-18T15:51:00.000-04:00

So yesterday we had our long run. It was 16 miles. If you remember last time I ran 16 miles it was on my 21st birthday and I cried through miles 15 and 16. I thought "hey whatever it's the first time I've hit these miles, that's okay". Well yesterday I was crying by mile 12 and didn't stop until I finished, and actually didn't really even stop then. I think 16 miles might be my "wall distance" or at least one wall that I need to get through.

My group leader however did make a good point that given other circumstances, it may have just been a "bad run". For example, I barely slept the night before (I was nervous about a wedding I was in yesterday), the temperature was absolutely ridiculous outside (as well as humidity) and the fact that I am extremely stressed about the first part of my CPA exam which is supposed to be on Wednesday (more on that later). So, I'm going to try to chalk this up to just a bad day, bad run, bad whatever and get past it.

Map....

Not even going to go into the splits they were pretty bad :(

Second half of this post is about this crazy exam that is the reason I've been seriously slacking on any kind of blogging-buddy commenting :( I need a 75% on each part of the 4 parts of the CPA exam in order to get licensed. I signed up to take the first (and hardest) section on Wednesday of this week (I signed up more than a month ago thinking I'd be ready). Well... I'm not ready :( and I don't think I'm close enough that 3 days will fix my not-readiness. I took a practice final-simulation exam today and got.... *drumroll please...*

68 percent.... blahhhhh. This was a good exercise for me though because I was able to see that I'm not uncomfortable with ALL the material, just like half of it LOL. At least now I can "hone in" on the sections that I'm doing really bad on (example lecture F3) and hopefully get that score up to a 75 percent. You can pay $70 to reschedule your exam and I think that's what I'm going to do unfortunately. Goodbye "massage budget" for the next 2 months.... I need to pass this thing :(

So that is my life right now. studying, running, eating, sleeping, and repeat....

p.s. I HAVE been reading your blogs and am so inspired by all of your progress. Especially my Chicago Marathon buddies getting "up there" in their distances!

The leg bone connected to the.... knee bone!

2010-07-09T14:34:00.002-04:00

You know that old song...

The toe bone connected to the heel bone,
The heel bone connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone...

Yeah I might be losing my mind a little. Give me a break I've been laying on a heating pad for an hour, I might have feverish hallucinations...

Anyway my running has been crap this week. I didn't stretch well enough before my 16 miler last Thursday and had some hip pain afterward. No big deal I thought... it'll go away. I ran a 4 miler on Saturday (really fast for my pace!) and had more hip pain afterward. No problem I thought, it'll go away. Unfortunately it didn't. I ran 3 miles on Monday trying to "loosen it up" and just made it so I was limping when I was just walking... not good.

Tuesday and Wednesday I rested figuring 2 days rest can cure anything. It didn't. Still limping when I'm walking. I made an appointment with my training group coach (who happens to be a sports masseuse) to see what she thought about it. Thursday morning (before my appointment) I ran (gimpily) 6 miles. Why did I run 6 miles? I don't know, maybe so I could make the pain excruciating so I could tell her EXACTLY WITHOUT A DOUBT where it hurt. Who knows...

When I finally got to the appointment she took one feel of my muscles and told me (surprise!) it WASN'T my IT band OR my hips that were the issue. That amused me. Those were the two things I was focusing on stretching figuring the pain either came from tight hips or a tight IT band pulling on the hips.

She asked me to lie on my stomach and poked around my back (which I thought was weird) and then all of a sudden she pokes a certain spot and OH MY GOD!!! PAIN IN MY HIP!!!

I say.... "OH MY GOD THAT'S THE PAIN!"
She says.... "yep that's what I figured"
me: "really?? why would you figure that?"
she: "when your lower back is really tight it pulls your pelvis up into a tilted position when you run which puts strain on your hips which then pulls on your IT band, let me guess, you're having IT band problems too?"
me: "yep"
she: "do you stretch your lower back?"
me: "you can stretch your lower back??"
she: "yep"
me: "oh... well no then I've never stretched that before..."
she: "okay well then, this should be an easy fix for you, that's the good news!"
me: "cool!"

She then showed me some lower back stretches and recommended I get a heating pad to lie on before I do the stretches and at other random times to loosen up the muscles back there.

Results?: I'm already walking without pain today! I have a long run tomorrow so we'll see how that goes but I've been given the green light to run (as long as I'm not limping).

Yipeeeee! I will no longer look like THIS when I run!

My Chicago Vacation....

2010-07-04T20:33:00.001-04:00

My Chicago vacation this weekend has been absolutely amazing... but it needs to end soon before I gain so much weight the plane won't take off with me as a passenger... Yeah I'm just kidding but seriously now :D.

I've been here since Friday morning to celebrate my 21st birthday weekend and the 4th of July with my wonderful parents in my hometown city :D. Since then I've....

*Feasted at Uncle Julio's (including steak fajitas, queso dip, fried balls of dough with powdered sugar on top, tons of chips and salsa, and yummy soft flour tortillas)

*Feasted at Bin 36 (including the world's most fattening cheese and a selection of wonderful wine, along with seared tuna, and freshly baked bread)

*Ordered an amazing pizza from Piece Pizza with a ton of meat on it (just how I like it)

*Brunch at Nookies (scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, yummmminess!)

Oh and fitness-wise...

*Ran a 16 miler on my b-day
*Ran a 4 mile race with my parents
*will run 6 miles (hopefully) tomorrow and have a "guest training session" with my parents' personal trainer :D

Ahhhh it's been a weekend of bliss. Time to get back home tomorrow night and kick my "healthy" self back into gear :D.

No guilt... it's my birthday weekend :D

4 miler in Elmhurst

2010-07-03T11:15:00.001-04:00

Finally something to talk about! Today I ran the Elmhurst 4 miler on the 4th (or rather the weekend of the 4th). It went awesome. My overall pace was 8:30/mile. If it were a 5k it would have been a PR (my fastest 5k pace is 8:36/mile). So... I'm kinda disapointed it wasn't a 5k because while I DID PR (this was my first 4 miler) it didn't feel as meaningful since I've never done it before so I wasn't really beating anything lol.

I think a big reason I did so well was cause it was in the mid SIXTIES. That's right folks... SIXTIES. It was freaking awesome. After running in Florida, coming up here was like turning the calendar back six months to December. Ahhh cool weather running. Makes me miss the city.

Splits (by Garmin):
8:47
8:10
8:19
8:15

Total Time: 34:01
Distance: 4.07 (by Garmin)

16 Milessss

2010-07-01T18:15:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to start with the image. THAT is what I ran 16 miles around this morning from 4-7am. It was about a 2 mile loop so basically a giant track. Wowww talk about mental toughness. I passed my car EIGHT times!! It took me exactly 3 hours.

So not much to say as usual. I've been lacking in creativity and thought lately unfortunately. But the run went well miles 1-14. Miles 15 and 16 I cried through. I had no specific pain it was kinda just my entire lower body radiating through me every time I took a walk break. It was intense.... my body was just exhausted. But overall was able to finish strong and felt good :).

And by the way.... today is... MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!! Yepppers... time to go have some fun now :D

Things are good...

2010-06-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

I realized I haven't updated since Monday in regards to my training. I'm REALLY tired. I'm thankful I'm not injured and in no real pain but the training has been tough on my overall energy level. I'm hoping in a couple weeks I'll be acclimated to the new mileage/cross training.

Overall though it's going really great! So... quick summary and I'm off to bed for a nap :D

Training This Week:
Mon: 6 mi easy run
Tues: 5 1/2 mi speedwork
Wed: Rest
Thurs: 4 1/2 mile hill training
Fri: Corework
Sat: 12 mile long run
Sun: Cross Training - 20 mi Bike Ride

Oh and check out my training plan.... finally put it online!

Compiled List of Chicago Marathoners!

2010-06-17T16:58:00.001-04:00

It's time to party folks. Chicago is... 114 days away and I don't know about ya'll but I'm SUPER excited! Anyway here is a (hopefully accurate) list of all of our friends in the blogging world who are running Chicago. I suggest you all follow all of them and let's all support each other :D.

Name	Blog Title	URL
	20lbs by 2 years	http://20lbsby2years.blogspot.com/
	Agile Toes	http://agiletoes.blogspot.com/
Lauren	Bananas & Toast	http://bananasandtoast.blogspot.com/
Junie B	Boston Dream Pie	http://bostondreampie.blogspot.com/
Tara	Colorado Runner	http://taralovestorun.blogspot.com/
	Eat Run Litigate	http://www.eatrunlitigate.com/
Erin	Eri-thon: From 0 to 26.2 in 30	http://eri-thon.blogspot.com/
Stevi	Going the Distance	http://thehonakersjourney.blogspot.com/
Kim	iLax Studio	http://www.ilaxstudio.com/blog/
Jim	Just Run Jim	http://justrunjim.blogspot.com/
Jessica	Lets Get Fit	http://jessicaisgettingfit.blogspot.com/
Jen	No one said it was easy…	http://runjenhrun.blogspot.com/
	Psychobabbles of a Running Fool	http://nomoporker.blogspot.com/
	Puerto Rican Kenyan	http://prkenyan.blogspot.com/
Ethan	Rise of a Champion	http://beyond26point2.blogspot.com/
Lish	Road to Chicago	http://superindi.blogspot.com/
Lam	Running Laminator	http://therunninglaminator.blogspot.com/
NYFlyGirl	Training Hard, Hardly Training	http://www.eatrunlitigate.com/

Who's running Chicago on 10-10-10?

2010-06-15T12:49:00.001-04:00

I want to update my "Chicago Marathon Blogging Buddies" blogroll on my sidebar... yeah I know it's been non-updated for a while but I'm working on it!

Just leave a comment if you're running Chicago and I'll add you to it!!!

Not an option!

2010-06-14T12:20:00.000-04:00

Getting up at 4:30 this morning was tough... immediately after the alarm went off I started thinking about my options. I started with the whole "give me one good reason why I need to get up now... I can run later at the gym... I can run tomorrow..." And the problem is I actually like running on a treadmill unlike other blogsters so being able to run outside isn't even a motivation.

I just need to stop thinking about other options. Getting up is what I'm going to do. No options... no weighing decisions. This is what I used to do and it worked fine. Alarm goes off... DON'T let the brain get started and just do it. That's it.

Anyway, great 6 mile run today! Starting real "structured" marathon training this week! Schedule will be:

Monday: 6 miles easy
Tuesday: 5 miles including speedwork
Wednesday: Rest (including hard corework and strength)
Thursday: 6 miles hills or tempo run
Friday: Cross training (plus easy corework)
Saturday: Long run (10-22 miles)
Sunday: Rest (including hard corework and strength)

Today's 6 mile run splits (negative-ish YAY!)
Mile 1: 10:40
Mile 2: 10:47
Mile 3: 10:15
Mile 4: 10:19
Mile 5: 10:11
Mile 6: 9:30

Total: 1:01 - 10:17/mile

(image from: http://goodbadandugly2.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/getting-up-early-delusions/)

First Long Run with Group

2010-06-12T16:01:00.001-04:00

This morning was the first long run with my marathon training group. It was pretty fun. Next time I think I might bring my ipod to listen to in ONE ear (I saw some doing that today). At some points when I didn't feel like talking it got kind of boring to be without music. It was nice having water stops hosted by the group and not having to carry my fuel belt!

The group was supposed to be going 10. I went 12 because I just felt like and I wanted to get in some extra miles for the week. I had a discussion with the group leader/coach after the run because I felt like I was going to have a hard time sticking to the schedule (and just doing the required miles on teh long runs). He helped me see WHY we have shorter-longer runs and WHY I should stick to the schedule. I'm glad I did. From now on I'm going to stick to the scheduled run. On another note.. no more weeks under 20 miles until after the marathon :D. I'm pretty excited.

Oh and I met like 4 other people in my group running Chicago! Very cool :D

Totals:
Miles: 12
Total Time: 2:24:45
Average Pace: 12:03/mile

Mile 1: 10:43
Mile 2: 13:23 (water stop)
Mile 3: 10:35
Mile 4: 15:04 (water stop)
Mile 5: 10:58
Mile 6: 15:08 (water stop)
Mile 7: 11:18
Mile 8: 13:52 (water stop)
Mile 9: 11:30
Mile 10: 11:45 (water stop)
Mile 11: 10:10
Mile 12: 10:05

From Runner to Rider :D

2010-06-11T11:20:00.000-04:00

I woke up at 4:00am this morning and headed out for an hour and a half bike ride. I ended up getting started a bit late so it was cut short to an hour and 20 minutes but I still feel good about it. This was the first time on a bike in years (since 2003?). I got my old bike from high school back and had the local bike shop give it a makeover. I told them I'd be riding in the dark so to do something to make it visible. They put enough flashing/nonflashing lights on that thing to make me look like a carnival parade float! I'm not complaining though, the cars DEFINITELY saw me. I even had a headlight :D Pretty neat.

Lessons learned today:
1. I was jealous of the runners I saw (I'd rather be running too) but I tried to focus on how fun it felt to go so fast and have the wind in my face. My legs are thanking me right now too since we have a long run tomorrow. I doubt they would be so happy if that were a 5 mile run this morning :D

2. There's a reason bike shorts aren't 2'' long. I wore my spandex running shorts today and got some serious chafing in the inner thigh area around the seat. Whoops

3. It's much easier to drink a water bottle while riding a bike than drinking while running. Score!

4. It is good etiquette to yell "passing on your left" when you're about to zip past an unsuspecting runner on the trails. But... if the runner is wearing an ipod and blasting it so loud they cannot hear you, it's okay to not feel any guilt when you scare the living crap out of them as you zoom past.

5. Helmets are cool. EVERYONE I saw riding this morning was wearing one (including me :D)

6. Don't reach out for stationary items while riding your bike... the bike keeps going. For example, when approaching a stop light don't assume that reaching out and grabbing the pole with both hands will stop you. Instead your upper body will stay attached to the pole and the rest of you will keep going. Yeah.... seriously embarrasing.

7. Wind in your face = less sweat in your eyes = actually being able to see the beautiful sunrise.

All in all it was a great cross training experience. I want to try to get in a 1 1/2 to 2 hour bike ride once a week.

And no that is not my bike but if that were red, it would look EXACTLY like mine!

I'll think of a title later...

2010-06-10T11:31:00.000-04:00

*Big breath* Maybe I should have posted half of this post earlier in the week to make it shorter but oh well... I'm a little behind. What else is new?

Marathonfest started Tuesday morning at 4:30 in the morning. I had to leave my house at 4:00am. I was actually so excited I couldn't sleep Monday night. I've been looking forward to the start of this program since I signed up a while ago. How was it? In one word... disappointing. But don't worry this story has a happy ending on Thursday (this morning). But... I'll start with Tuesday.

I got there and had no idea where to go. I parked where the handout said to park but couldn't find a way to get around the fence that went around the track so I ended up having to walk all the way around the block and that was frustrating. As soon as I got to the track I saw a whole of runners taking off. I asked the last one in the group "is this marathonfest" and he replied as he ran by "yeah we're warming up feel free to join" and then off he went.

Joining a warmup where I had no idea how long or at what pace they were going (and they were SPEEDY!) didn't sound like a lot of fun so instead I meandered over to the track in hopes that I could warm up properly by stretching and jumping in place since I didn't want to get too far from our workout-start area. There were a few others there, no one said anything to me... I realize at this point in the post I'm seeming very needy. I guess I was just expecting someone to be there to greet new people on the first day and make them feel like they're in the right place. Something to make this seem at least an ounce of comfortable.

That's when... Robin appeared and made my morning at least a little bearable! We walked around the track and I told her that despite my text the previous night saying how "not nervous" I was, I was suddenly very nervous. We quickly found out her group was not training in the same place mine was and we had to part ways. I was pretty sad about that. We waved goodbye and I put on my big girl panties and got ready to do speedwork.

The leader then explained what we'd be doing... some set of laps around the track, rest laps, more running laps, another couple rest laps... and then handed out pieces of paper with pace charts on them and goal times for the marathon. It all looked pretty foreign so I passed them on to the next person without really reading them. She mentioned "10k pace" at one point so I figured I'd just use that as my pace.

After about an hour of "the workout" we were done. Robin appeared again (she's magical!) and asked me how I was feeling. I was just short of bursting into tears. I told her I was disapointed and bummed. No one had talked to me, I felt alone even though there were 100+ people on the track... it wasn't at all the happy group experience I was looking for. Being the concerned "mom" she is she recommended maybe I switch to her group since they seemed to be a bit more friendly... I told her I wanted to try this for at least a week and see how it went. She gave me a chocolate chip clif bar from her car (this woman is SERIOUSLY magical :D it's my favorite flavor), gave me a concerned hug, and drove away.

I spent the next few days really thinking about what I wanted to do. Running has always been fun for me. Granted I've had a few hungover runs but those were mood-specific, not workout specific. If I had don the same run not hungover it WOULD have been fun. I feel like this speed workout wouldn't have been fun regardless (especially since I was in a GOOD mood this morning). I talked to my friends about it who are also doing hte program (but in the evening so they were not at the workout) and they told me "speedwork isn't supposed to be fun but you won't reach your full potential otherwise".

I feel like that is complete BS. What the heck is my "full potential" anyway? Is "full potential" what you get when you put EVERY second you possibly have into training? Cause if that's it I can't do that anyway and I don't know why I'd even aim for "full potential". In my mind... running is a condiment to my life... like ketchup. I like ketchup... but the main idea isn't the ketchup, it's the fact that the ketchup makes the hot dog so good (in this analogy the hot dog is life). If the ketchup stops tasting good I'd rather just have the hot dog. Or... if the "really good "brand of ketchup becomes too expensive I'll switch to the generic because it's really not about "how good" the ketchup is. I kinda feel the same way about running. Running makes me happy. It helps me keep stress out of my life. It's super fun. If it stops being these things then why am I doing it? What's the point? I was starting to think I just wanted the hot dog. Screw the fancy-schmancy "training program" ketchup and go for the grocery store brand (a.k.a. training on my own).

This is why I didn't write a blog post on Tuesday. I knew it would be negative and and I just wanted to give this a real chance before I ditched or bashed it on the internet. I've talked to others who have done the group and LOVE the experience so I figured maybe it was just a bad day... try again?

On to Thursday (this morning)....

As bad as Tuesday was, today was THAT good. We were not doing speedwork (thank god) but instead doing a 3.1 mile time trial to determine our pace groups for the upcoming long runs on the weekends. I already picked a pace group (a nice slow one with walk breaks) so I wasn't really concerned about my time. I had even emailed back and forth with my paceleader, telling her my story and I knew what she looked like from facebook (yeah.. I'm a stalker :D). I was excited to meet the people I'd be running with on Saturday! I knew in order to be "fast enough" for my pace group I'd need to hit a 31:00-32:00 minute 5k. My average is 27 minutes.

So... right before the start of the 5k I met a woman (not in my pace group) who was also training for her first. We started talking and realized we have the same 5k pace so we decided to run together. Furthermore, seconds before the gun went off I realized I was standing next to my paceleader and my future group! I waved cheesily and said "Hi!" and she said "Are you Lauren?" and we quickly introduced me to the group. They all seemed seriously fun and laid back. I was already feeling great at this point...

The 5k went great, I ran with the girl I had met first and we finished in 27:15. I asked the organizer if I could stay in my "slower" group even though my time put me in a faster group and she said "of course!". After the race I met back up with someone from my pace group named Mark (I think?) and we talked for a while. He told me the group is one of the more laid-back ones and mostly just full of friendly people that like getting long runs in on Saturday. This sounded amazing to me after hearing so many people stressing about their times and paces at the speedwork on Tuesday. We waved goodbye and I walked to my car with a giant grin on my face. I am REALLY looking forward to Saturday now. The schedule said 10 miles but Mark is going 12 and I have a feeling I'll be joining him. I don't really want to drop down to 10 after doing 14 last week.

So.. all in all it was a great experience today. Check out my NEW marathon training schedule as of this week. Pretty exciting.

Once again, thanks Robin for being so supportive of me!

I can't believe ANYONE out there would really read this ENTIRE post lol!

Blogging Buddy meetup with an awesome surprise!

2010-06-05T21:21:00.001-04:00

So today I met "MJ" from "Girl Running" . Let me just say she is an absolute sweetheart and amazing to hang out with. We went to Track Shack to get her some real running shoes :D (though I must admit she did pretty darn well picking out her last pair... they were basically the same as the ones the professional fit her to today!). Then we went to Cheesecake Factory and had some AMAZING food (in addition to the chocolate chip pancake breakfast extravaganza this morning). I think I'm just going to count today as a nutritional disaster and move on....

While we were at track shack looking at neat things to spend our money on, we noticed an skinny runner-looking man in running gear. I whispered to MJ "Is that Jeff Galloway???" she peeked behind the tower of sports bras and said "I don't know... I think it might be!" We both whipped out our blackberries to confirm but neither of us could find a good enough picture (or shall I say no picture on a blackberry is clear enough to confirm an actual siting) so we instead asked the saleswoman at the front desk.

**drumroll please**

It WAS Jeff Galloway! MJ and I immediately became insanely giddy and ran around the store looking for things for him to autograph for us. We each found a hat :D Then we made our way over and got them signed and we each got some personal running advice from one of the best ;).

It was truly awesome.

Awesome Running Date :D

2010-06-05T12:52:00.001-04:00

So earlier this week a guy asked me out on a date.... a running date! I was a little apprehensive because normally first dates mean dressing up and putting on makeup, and doing my hair. Having a first date completely makeup-free while sweating my ass off didn't seem like something I would normally be excited about. But... I was. And for good reason apparently it was a ton of fun!

We went to Wekiwa Springs State Park (which if you haven't been there I highly recommend it) and ran the trails for about 2 miles and then ran around the roads for another 3. After the run we jumped in this....

Yeah talk about awesome. The cool water felt great on my legs (after I spent like 10 minutes ACTUALLY GETTING IN) lol. We finished up the morning with chocolate chip pancakes, scrambled eggs and sausage patties. It was awesome :D.

Note to all you guys out there; running DOES make a good date! Just make sure the girl is okay with being makeup-free!

14 milesssssss

2010-06-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

I'm very tired so I'm going to go take a nap soon but I wanted to update the blog on my newest long run :D. But, since I"m lacking energy this will be a very short straight-to-the-point highlights post. Hope you don't mind!

14 miles
2 hrs 32 min 10:53/mile pace
Faster than my pace for my last 12 miler, and recent 10 miler! Pretty awesome.
Food:

Sharkies organic energy chews during run (awesome as always)
We had a horrible storm last night and no power so my "pre long run dinner" last night ended up being cold pasta and peanut butter and jelly. I might have to remember that, apparently it worked well :D
I took Robyn from Running Circles Around Turtles' advice and put a fat free egg product on my english muffin before the run this morning (just eggbeaters microwaved in a mug into a circular shape). I definitely think this was an amazing idea, I felt like my breakfast energy lasted much longer than normal (normally I just have two plain english muffins - today I had one english muffin w/1 scrambled egg beater on it)

At 13.1 miles I threw up my hands and yelled "I just ran a half marathon!!!!!" it was pretty awesome.
Ironic I had a nightmare about cockroaches last night and I saw an unreasonable amount of them on the road today.. Nasty
Friend joined me for the last 4 miles.... it was nice being able to break it up in my mind as a 10 miler and a 4 miler with a friend
No "targeted" pain (shins and IT band felt okay) just overall achiness...

Overall? Great run!

SPLITS:

May Stat Post

2010-06-01T12:30:00.000-04:00

Yayyy Time for Monthly Stat Post. I love these....

May 2010:

Miles Ran: 97

Weekly Breakdown:

Week 1: 22 miles
Week 2: 23 miles
Week 3: 19 miles
Week 4: 26 miles
Week 5: 22 miles
Note: These don't add up to 97 cause dailymile rounds and because week 1 included April days :)

Time Ran: 16 hrs 53 min
Average Pace for ENTIRE month: 10:56/mile
New Experiences:

High-fived by a random stranger on a run
First double digit run
Joined Marathonfest (a local marathon training group)
Ran in sports bra and felt super confident!
Ran 6 miles nonstop
Ran 7 miles nonstop
Had a gym crush

I hope June is just as good :D

p.s. what's everyone doing for national running day tomorrow??

Oh and some pictures of the trail I've been favoring lately:D

7 Miles Nonstop!

2010-05-30T09:26:00.000-04:00

So after my nonstop 6 miler a few days ago (the longest I've ever gone nonstop) I ran 7 miles nonstop yesterday! What led to this? Well I felt so dang great at 5 miles... and then 6 miles... I just kept going. The funny thing is the first 3 miles of the run kinda sucked. I had even bargained with myself like if I ran 4 I could stop... etc. I'm going to try to remember that feeling next time my first 3 miles suck. I just wish the run felt that good from the beginning.

Do the beginning of YOUR runs suck?
If so, how do you get over it?
Any tips for me?

Badassery

2010-05-27T12:07:00.000-04:00

According to the urban dictionary:

2.	badassery
	Engaging in seemingly impossible activities and achieving success in a manner that renders all onlookers completely awestruck. Did you see that badassery? He just took down a whole battalion with nothing but his hands!

Yep.... this post is all about "badassery". So the plan today was to run 6 miles nonstop. I usually do long runs on Thursday but I did a 12 miler last week so this week was the "cutback" week which apparently means I'm supposed to run half the distance of my longest long run. So, 6 miles it was. I decided I didn't need walking breaks. (Note: my longest run before today without walking breaks was 5 miles).

So I already felt like a badass (maybe like a 6 on the 1-10 "badass" scale) the second I started running, knowing that I was going an entire mile (or 20%) more than I've ever gone without walking breaks. I was feeling pretty darn good about myself. Then I realized about a mile in that i'd forgotten my hat... and it was pretty warm out. Meaning, there was sweat dripping into my eyes. "No problem" I thought to myself "I'm a badass... I can deal with sweat in my eyes!". (badass scale up to a 8ish/10 at this point)

Yeah... that thought lasted all about 5 minutes. I mean it was STINGING. I kept wiping it away and that stung more because my face is so sensitive. At this point I was not feeling so badass (dropping to a 5/10). I looked around... I did not bring a towel, I did not bring a kleenex, nothing. I briefly considered turning back to go get my hat and then I looked own and saw it... my shirt! I'd like to mention here that I've always kinda judged women who run in their sports bras when it's not completely necessary (like is it really THAT hot outside???). But at that moment, the stinging in my eyes overruled my judgmental bias toward shirtless runners and I did it. I took off the shirt (yeah I was wearing a sports bra! lol), rolled it up and tied it around my forehead. There we go. Instant sweat-band.

I have to admit, I REALLY felt like a badass now! (we're up to a 9/10 on the badass scale!!) I mean... there I was... running in a sports bra with my gleaming six pack for all to see. Yeah... not so much. But it still felt pretty cool. It was right about this time that I was feeling extremely cocky and confident... I was feeling strong, I was running fast, I was amazing... just about to reach my 10/10 on the badass scale and then it happened... I got PASSED by another women also running in a bra, with a six pack... wait for it... PUSHING A BABY JOGGER with TWO largish CHILDREN in there!!!! I mean these were not like babies. These were miniature humans! Okay... my badass scale officially has dropped to like a 3/10 at this point. I am just an average shirtless runner who forgot her hat today.

I just want all of my blogging buddies who do that (push little humans in joggers while you're running) that when non-pushers see you, we are awestruck. You TRULY ARE badass!

Silence

2010-05-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

So... I've been having trouble thinking of anything to say lately about my running. I figured I'd make a post since I haven't made one since my last (also relatively speechless) run....

Sat: ran 5 miles
Sun: ran 3 miles
Tues: ran 5 miles

-doing an hour of corework every other day... starting to see results...

But yeah... I don't have much to say. Normally I'm worried about my blog posts being too long. Not so much right now!

I am very stressed about school and CPA studying so I think my brain has turned to mush, and I don't even think about anything while I run anymore. Boo. Hopefully i'll get some inspiration in the next few weeks!

12 miler..... kinda quiet? lol

2010-05-20T10:35:00.000-04:00

So you'd think for running 12 miles for the first time I'd have a ton to say. Honestly I don't. It went well.... a friend joined me for the last 3 miles. It was very... uneventful lol! I can't believe I have nothing to say.

I guess I'll share my garmin printout since I have nothing else of value to add :D.

Life is good... I'm lookin forward to catching up on my reader this weekend :D

What am I made of?

2010-05-16T10:19:00.000-04:00

what am I made of??

A lot more than I thought apparently. Yesterday was a test of physical strength but I think it was more of a test of mental strength. I had a 5 mile run on my calendar for the day and also what i thought would be a leisurly paddling ride down wekiva springs. I figured no problem I'll just run after the paddling trip.

Our "leisurly" paddling trip ended up being 7 hours long with about 5 of those paddling and the other 2 just enjoying the river (but outside nonetheless). Our group leader wanted to go upstream since they opened up a new section of the river so the first 2 hours was going upstream and back. The second half of the day was a more than 6 mile paddle downriver with about a 1/2 mile of turning around and going back for a lost kayaker.... yeah.

Throughout the whole trip I was more and more convinced the 5 mile run just wasn't happening. I was physically exhausted. By the time we got back to the dock I had myself convinced I was going home, eating a giant bowl of pasta and then taking a nap and seeing what i felt like in a few hours. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

Then something weird happened on the way home. I went from wondering if I was going to do my run at all to wanting to just do it right away and get it over with. I knew if I went home and sat down I wasn't getting up again. My entire upper body was aching, and my entire body was just.... tired. I got home and ate 1/2 a bag of sharkies energy gummies, filled up my water belt with ice water and headed out.

The entire drive to the trail I just kept telling myself "I realize this will suck, it's 88 degrees outside, feels hotter, and I'm exhausted... but this is not a test of physical strength but mental strength." I stopped looking at it as a run and more of just an hour of mental conditioning. How long can I stand something miserable? An hour? That's all I'd need....

The run DID suck. It was hot. I was tired... but I wasn't really focused on that. I was focused on my body. How strong my body actually was physically. How strong I was mentally. I didn't even allow myself to wipe the sweat off my face because this was a test of mental strength and sweat running down my face annoys the hell out of me so what better way to test mental strength right?? lol. By the time it got to my lips I licked it up and thought "yay.... I'm recycling electrolytes". Yeah go ahead, call my gross. I like to think of it as "efficient".

Finished the run, faster than most of my other 5 mile runs. Went home, ate, and crashed. Today I feel like a dump truck ran over me yesterday. I have to run 3.5 miles at some point today. Not sure how that will go. Maybe that'll be a test of my ability to just go slow and take things easy. Who knows. It'll get done though, I know that.

I am Lauren, hear me roar!

image from: http://www.firehow.com/images/stories/users/80/heat-exhaustion.jpg

What is Marathonfest?

2010-05-12T10:46:00.000-04:00

For those who asked.... quick rundown.

Operated by Track Shack in Orlando
Facilitates 2 weekly workouts a week PLUS a long run on the weekend that gets longer incrementally for whatever marathon you're targeting (they give you a custom schedule based on which marathon you want)
Has educated coaches to help you through things..

Link Here: http://www.trackshack.com/training/training-marathonfest.shtml

I'd encourage anyone near Orlando to do it!

Updates!

2010-05-11T15:58:00.000-04:00

Joined Marathonfest @ Track Shack in Orlando. Anyone doing it too? (I know Robin from Running Circles Around The Turtles is doing it :D)

A little sad about having to throw away my awesome schedule that I spent sooo long on since they'll be giving me one.

Ran 5 miles this morning w/o IT band strap. IT Band did great...

shins are angry with me and will probably stay angry with me since I don't have time to ice until tonight :(

Thursday is my last day at work and then I just have school and marathon training til the end of the year. I'm extremely excited about having SO many hours per week back!

(never realized how much time my "part time" job was taking up until I think about how much time I"m GOING to have...)

Signed up for the Chicago Rock N Roll half marathon (http://chicago.competitor.com/) on August 1st. If you want to do this sign up now it's nearly full!

Decided against the regular half marathon in September due to school obligations

Fell in love with these shorts by adidas....

Too bad track shack doesn't have any more in my size and I'm too loyal to their store to go anywhere else... apparently I'm going to be waiting for the next shipment in June :)
http://www.zappos.com/adidas-glide-short-pink-buzz-black

That's it!!!! :D

Finally caught up!

2010-05-10T10:58:00.000-04:00

By the time I logged in this morning to my google reader I had EIGHTY THREE unread posts. Yikes. I've been reading them since around 7:30 this morning (over three hours!) and finally have now caught up with all of them. Wow, the blogging community is doing such great things. You all are SO inspirational!!!!

As for me... I did a nice 3 miler yesterday which was gonna be super fast until I got a horrible neck cramp (see pace chart below how the pace was slowly getting better and better until mile 2 where I got my cramp from playing with my ipod). Good run nonetheless though.

That brought my training total to 23 miles for the week! That's the most i've ever done. Cutback now and I'm super excited!

Test run without IT Band Strap

2010-05-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

Yayyy I ran 5 miles today and decided to test out how my IT band felt without the support of the IT Band Strap. Result: It went great! I started out nice and slow and picked up the pace a little at the end but was just trying to have a nice easy run for the IT band.

I still plan on using hte strap every other run for the next week and then only on the long runs for the next month. Hoping that after that I can get out of it altogether. I may have to always use it for my long runs, but we'll see.

If anything I'm thinking I'll just carry it with me on my spibelt (like I did today) so if I feel it getting to the point where it's going to affect my run I'll just put it on mid-run. What do you guys think?

Next week is cutback week! I'm excited lol.

p.s. I was so taken aback by the beauty on my run today I started crying. I think I was just so awestruck and already ecstatic because my knee was doing so well, the emotion just overtook me. It was neato!

p.p.s.s. I have like 50 unread things in my google reader but i'm going to spend later today (after my nap) catching up on all your posts so get ready to have a bunch of comments from me :D. Can't wait to see how everyone is doing!

Yay for healing IT Band! :D

image from: http://drblessyl.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/it-band.jpg

First double digit run!

2010-05-07T10:20:00.000-04:00

10 miles... 1hr 54 minutes.... 11:25/mile pace

Felt pretty good. My legs were definitely hurting by the last mile but that's to be expected I guess :). Had a friend join me for the first 3 miles and I think next time I want to have her join me for the last 3 instead. But... the first 3 were in the dark so that's why I wanted someone with me. I still think that's the smartest way to go in Orlando. We're not exactly the safest area.

Very proud of myself!

Back to 3rd grade....

2010-05-04T18:23:00.000-04:00

Warning: Dad... you may want to skip this post too! Sorry :D

I have a crush! More specifically I have a gym crush. Gym crush as in, guy at the gym that I've seen the last 3 times I've been there now that I'm sure has no idea I exist, but provides me much motivation and daydreaming material to pull me through endless miles....

let me back up a bit. Let me first explain that at the UCF gym, the treadmills are on the second floor on kind of a balcony thing, overlooking the weight floor. Yes that's right, as I run I get to stare at the weight floor (and the wonderful human beings of the male race that inhabit it during the day).

Well one of those humans happens to be a perfectly normal-looking (as opposed to steroid-pumped-lookin) toned guy with beautiful brown wavy hair that kind of bounces up and down when he does pull ups (25 today!!! I counted!!).

Okay I sound like a creep.

Anyway...... I ran 5 miles today. It was good. Like I said I had entertainment. LOL Oh and I skipped my strength training cause my motivation decided to go home and suddenly I was feeling VERY tired. :D

10 miles on Thursday!!!!!! I'm so nervous.......

Proud of My Mileage...

2010-05-03T11:02:00.003-04:00

I finally got around to putting ALL my workouts (from when I started) into daily mile so I could actually analyze my mileage and I'm amazed! I really have come so far...

First image is my "monthly" miles...

Dec: 18miles
Jan: 35
Feb: 44
Mar: 67
April: 78
May: 8... and counting

Second image is my weekly miles. This impresses me more cause I can see the "building" pattern (if that makes sense). And it makes me feel better about my "bad" weeks because they don't seem to hurt the overall flow of the chart.... I'm not going to write them all out separately cause there are a LOT of weeks... I hope you can read the small numbers!

Stinky run and I got my feelings hurt...

2010-05-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

So I'm hungover (sorry dad if you're reading this), cranky, tired, and really groggy. I got in at 5am last night and slept in til 1pm so it was a nice 87 degrees and humid outside when i finally rolled out of bed. I considered eating a real breakfast and running tonight at the gym since I didn't eat much last night but then quickly realized I really didn't want to run today and if I didn't go at that moment I'd probably just blow it off. So I grabbed and english muffin and out the door I went.

I got on the treadmill and walked 5 minutes and then started jogging. This was my thought process the first 10 minutes... "Oh wow.... oh wow this sucks.... it's okay it's the first mile it always sucks the first mile.... it'll get better."

10-20 minutes looked like this:
"wowwwww this sucks. I'm sooo tired.... I feel dizzy. This sucks... maybe I should stop after 3 miles...."

and then at THAT point I remembered that someone on a different blog posted that when you want to quit you should tell yourself to just go until the next mile marker (or whatever increment) and THEN decide whether or not you should quit... I guess once you get that extra distance you'll want to go another increment.

Anyhow... this was my mind's response to THAT thought; "what do you mean 'reconsider what you feel like at 3 miles' it doesn't freaking [not the word I used] matter what you feel like at 3 miles... you're gonna finish this damn run cause it's your own fault for being an idiot last night when you knew you had to run this morning so suck it up big girl and don't even think about quitting cause it aint an option unless you faceplant on the treadmill from exhaustion... THEN you can quit"

I almost started crying on the treadmill. I hurt MY OWN feelings. Seriously. I've never been that mean to myself before. I'm sure it's just because I felt so sucky but seriously who IS that mean girl in there? Ever since I started running it's made me very loving and respectful to myself. I'm so proud of everything I've accomplished I can't believe I'd be that uncompassionate when talking to me...

Long story short I finished my run, felt like crap. Still feel like crap. Dizzy, nauseous, and going back to bed now.

Recap:
5 miles - 54:40 total time - 10:56pace.

(the good news here is that it was relatively pain free :D)

9 Miles and Friendly People :)

2010-04-29T14:05:00.000-04:00

Ran 9 miles today! Farthest I've ever run in my life! I meant to try 5minrun/1minwalk because the marathon training group near me does that interval (that's the lowest interval they have). I was nervous about it and about 4 miles in I was thinking those 5 minute intervals seemed like they were lasting forever! The longest I've done is 3 min run/1 min walk. By the end I was hurting, I really pushed the last 1.5 miles simply because I wanted it to be over quicker.

I took my gymboss interval timer off my shirt so I could put it on my cooldown interval and when I looked at it I realized I had been on 6 min/1min intervals. No wonder the 5 min segments seemed like they were lasting forever.... I started crying when I saw that. I think I was just so exhausted and then frustrated because I feel like 6:1 is too much from 4:1 and I'm going to be regretting it tomorrow....

Anyway I'm happy it went well. I'm happy I got 9 miles in today... I wish I had done the interval I meant to and maybe I wouldn't be hurting so bad, but happy nontheless.

Oh and for the friendly people, I was on mile 7 and some lady who started riding he bike when I started running and I guess she was ending her bike ride at that point when she passed by me again and she like stopped her bike and said "great job!!!!!" and she was like really enthusiastic. It was pretty freaking awesome. It's exactly what I needed at that point.

Mile Splits:
Mile 1- 10:13
Mile 2- 10:51
Mile 3- 10:49
Mile 4- 10:50
Mile 5- 10:17
Mile 6- 10:30
Mile 7- 10:15
Mile 8- 10:10
Mile 9- 8:42

Average: 10:18/mile
Total Miles: 9
Total Time: 1:32:43
Calories Burned: 811 (awesome!!! I'm thinking pumpkin pie.... :D)

Oh and I tried Sharkies for the first time on my run today. They were pretty good!

If running could be effortless, would you even want that?

2010-04-27T21:54:00.002-04:00

So I'm a nerd and I was thinking about superhuman powers on my 5 mile run today. I thought to myself as I passed by the sorority and fraternity houses on campus "if I could have any superhuman power what would it be?".

The first thought that came to mind was "I wish running was just... easy. Like I could go out there on any day (even if I took a few weeks off running) and run without any pain and stomach issues as if I was training daily that entire 2 weeks, and my lungs never felt like they were going to explode...."

And then I continued to think and I realized that if the challenge was gone, if there was no reason to keep pushing, if there wasn't a reason to train consistently, I wouldn't. A big reason I like running is the challenge. It's hard, and not a lot of people like it because of that. I want to be seen as the girl that isn't afraid of hard work... hard, sometimes frustrating, sometimes painful work. And it's the requirement of work. I like the fact that I won't get better unless I push it, and find ways around the pain. If it was easy.... I'd hate it.

lol what do you think? If you could have a superhuman power of "effortless running all the time" would you take it?

p.s. for arguments' sake let's say you still burn the same amount of calories and such.... the only thing that changes is the way you FEEL.

A great weekend full of running and smiling :)

2010-04-25T12:52:00.000-04:00

I had such an awesome weekend! Seriously, awesome.

Saturday:

I ran a 5k with 2 of my fellow bloggers, Robin from Running Circles Around Turtles, and Morgan from Caution: Redhead Running, and last but not least Harold from Aimless Runner.

The 5k was awesome, my IT band was bothering me and poor Robin's foot was not exactly 100% awesome so we went pretty slow but it felt great! I even had enough energy to run back to the start instead of taking the smelly sweaty shuttles! ewwwww

Mile Splits for the 5k:
Mile 1: 13:18
Mile 2: 13:17
Mile 3: 13:43

Sunday:

Today I was supposed to run 3 miles, I ran 3.25 because a ran .25 less than I should have yesterday. And.... it was awesome! I really contribute that to Morgan for showing me some great IT band stretches yesterday. The knee felt great. Shins kinda painful still (I think I forgot about those while my knee was hurting). But I'm ecstatic! And I ran negative splits!

Splits:
Mile 1: 10:00
Mile 2: 9:58
Mile 3: 9:18
Last .25 miles: 2:05 (8:11 pace)

And some great photos from Morgan's camera! There are a few w/Robin too but those are on her camera so as soon as I get them I'll post! :D

Post Race Pics!

Me (nike shirt), Morgan (cool blue/green tank), Harold (bright yellow)

Me (Nike shirt), Morgan (blue and green tank)

Long Run

2010-04-23T09:34:00.002-04:00

I completed my long run yesterday (8 miles) at around a 12:20 pace which I'm ecstatic at. I'm ecstatic not because the pace was so awesome (it wasn't lol) but because my IT band, while it definitely didn't feel good, didn't hurt so bad I was limping at any given time (like last time). I contribute this to stretching and buying an IT band compression strap (see pic below).

The run was super fun, I brought along a friend who normally does my 3 miles in the morning with me. I told her she could definitely complete this since we were running 2 min/walking 1 min the entire time and going pretty slow. She felt great afterward and that was just icing on the cupcake :)

I don't know how it works but going for a run with someone in the morning just makes my mood so good for the rest of the day. We joked and laughed for an hour and a half and I swear I was giddy for at least 5 hours afterward. At one point I had to run back to the car to get some more water in my water bottles and we got there a little before our scheduled walk break so we decided to run circles around the parking lot until my gymboss timer told us to walk. Running circles then turned into us running in circles with our arms extended out to the sides making airplane noises and pretending we were fighter jets. Took me right back to first grade. Dont' get me wrong, I love running with music, I really do. But there's something about being a complete goof with a friend for an hour and a half that you can't replace with an ipod.

To all those "running buddies" out there (mine or anyone who is a running buddy to someone else), your role is so important, never underestimate the joy and inspiration you bring :D.

(source)

"Do not underestimate the intimacy of running, and the people with whom you share your miles." -Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers blog, Runner's World.com

5k in Winter Park Saturday? Who's running?

2010-04-22T18:31:00.000-04:00

Let's all meet! Email me your emails (or leave a comment). I have an idea for a meeting spot but don't want to post it on here for obvious reasons.

Please note:
*I'm having "MY IT Band hates me" issues at the moment so no actual racing for me. I'll be jogging it though - looking forward to some amazing scenery!

Event Details: http://www.trackshack.com/events/individual/trees/trees.shtml

Core Workout :D

2010-04-21T14:54:00.001-04:00

My Favorite Core Moves:

NOTE: I take no credit for coming up with these or the images, they are all from other websites which I have linked to within this blog post. I just picked out my fav's :D

From: http://exercise.about.com/library/bltotalcore.htm

Ball Pass
Begin by lying on your back with the legs straight up (bend them if needed) and holding the ball straight up over the body. (A) Put the ball between the feet, squeezing them to keep the ball in place, and lower both the arms and legs down towards the floor. (B) Bring them back up and take the ball in your hands. (C) Lower the arms and legs down towards the floor again and continue, exchanging the ball between the hands and feet for 8-12 reps.

Ball Plank with Leg Lift
Get into plank position with the feet/shins resting on the ball, hands under shoulders and abs contracted. Keeping the core tight, lift the right leg off the ball a few inches and lower. Lift the left leg off the ball and lower. Continue alternating legs for 8-10 reps on each side.

Plank on the Ball

Jacknife
Begin lying on the floor with the legs straight up (knees slightly bent if needed) and hold the ball behind the head. Lower the legs a few inches and then bring the ball up as you bring the legs in, touching the ball to the toes in a full crunch. Lower and repeat for 10-12 reps.

Regular Plank AND Plank w/Arm Lift
(http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/8-Killer-Ab-Exercises.htm?page=3)

Regular Plank is pretty self explanatory

Starting at the top of a pushup position, bend your elbows and lower yourself down until you can shift your weight from your hands to your forearms. Your body should form a straight line. Brace your abs (imagine someone is about to punch you in the gut) and hold for 60 seconds. If you can't make it to 60 seconds, hold for 5 to 10 seconds and rest for 5 seconds, continuing for 1 minute. Focus on form: Don't drop your hips or raise your butt.

Plank w/Arm Lifts (a little more advanced)

Get into the plank position (toes and forearms on the floor, body lifted). Your body should form a straight line (A). Brace your abs and carefully shift your weight to your right forearm. Extend your left arm in front of you (B) and hold for 3 to 10 seconds. Slowly bring your arm back in. Repeat with the right arm. That's 1 rep. Do 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps, resting for 1 minute between sets.

Basic Side Plank

Lie on your right side with your legs straight. Prop yourself up with your right forearm so your body forms a diagonal line. Rest your left hand on your hip. Brace your abs and hold for 60 seconds. If you can't make it to 60 seconds, hold for 5 to 10 seconds and rest for 5; continue for 1 minute. Be sure your hips and knees stay off the floor.

Side Plank w/Rotation:

In a right-side plank position (A), brace your abs and reach your left hand toward the ceiling (B). Slowly tuck your left arm under your body and twist forward until your torso is almost parallel to the floor (C). Return to the side plank. That's 1 rep. Do 2 or 3 sets of 5 to 10 reps on each side, resting for 1 minute between sets.

Next Couple are from: http://exercise.about.com/od/abs/ss/abmoves.htm
(These are more ab-specific and less general core)

Knee Tucks

Get into a pushup position with the ball under the shins/ankles (easier) or the tops of the feet (harder).
Make sure the body is straight, back flat and the abs engaged.
Roll the ball in, bending the knees towards the chest as you squeeze the abs.
Try not to push back with your arms but, instead, keep all the movement in the knees.
Don't collapse the back as you roll the knees in.
Return to start and repeat for 10-16 reps.

Ball Pikes

Ball pikes are an advanced version of the knee tucks shown previously and are very challenging. You can always modify the move by keeping the knees slightly bent or by shortening the range of motion and only lifting the hips a few inches, lifting higher as you get stronger. The key to making this move challenging is to use the abs to draw the hips up, rolling the feet on top of the ball.

Get into a pushup position with the ball under the shins/ankles (easier) or the tops of the feet (harder).
Make sure the body is straight, back flat and the abs engaged.
Squeeze the abs and lift the hips up towards the ceiling, rolling the feet on top of the ball.
Keep the legs straight for more of a challenge, ending in a straight-leg pike with the toes on the ball.
Return to start and repeat for 10-16 reps.

Rotations on the Ball

This advanced move not only works the core, with a focus on the obliques, it also targets balance, stability and flexibility. To keep this move safe, keep the exercise slow and controlled and keep the knees in line with the shins and ankles rather than twisting them to one side or the other.

Lie with ball under shoulders, neck and head, hips lifted in a bridge position.
Hold a medicine ball or light weight straight up over the chest.
Tighten your abs and rotate your torso to the left as far as you can, allowing the hips and legs to move naturally with the motion.
Rotate back up and then rotate to the other side.
Repeat for 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps (one rep includes both the right and left sides).

Side Bridge w/Hip Drops

The side bridge is an advanced exercise, particularly if you do the move on the forearm (another option is to balance on the hand). Adding a hip lift really challenges the obliques, making this a great overall core exercise. You can modify by keeping one knee on the floor or by taking the feet wide instead of stacked on top of one another.

Lie on your side balanced on the forearm and feet.
The hips and feet should be stacked on top of one another.
Holding the torso steady, slowly contract your abs and lower the hip toward the floor (you don't have to touch).
Avoid sinking into the shoulder.
Bring the hip back up and repeat for 1-3 sets of 10-16 reps on each side.

Next are from: http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/fitness-worth-the-weight-24094

Abdominal ball thrust
Boosts abdominal power and core control, plus upper arm strength
3-5 sets x 10 reps
You'll need a partner for this. Sit in the crunch position and hold a light medicine ball above your head with your arms outstretched. Holding the ball, keep your arms above your head and lower yourself to the ﬂoor behind you. Then perform a sit-up and throw the ball from your chest to your partner. They should then return the ball to you.

Russian twist
Boosts core muscle control, plus abdominal and hip ﬂexor strength
3-5 sets x 20-30 reps

Sit in the crunch position holding a small medicine ball. A good starting weight would be 2-6kg. Rotate your trunk while holding the ball, but try to maintain a straight back. At the same time, perform a cycling action by straightening your leg in the direction of rotation.

Next from: http://haveyoumetkasey.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html

Hamstring Roll (for that perfect butt! :D)

Lay down with your back on the floor and put your heels on a stability ball. Lift your pelvis so your body is straight and in a pike position, arms on the floor at your side helping to stabilize you. Pull your legs towards you, rolling the ball as you go, until you are in the position shown in the picture. Roll the ball back to the starting position and perform 12 times.

Next from: http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/blballworkout.htm

Oblique Lift
In sidelying position on the ball with leg bent, fists on the temples, tighten obliques (muscles around the waist) and lift torso off the ball, pulling the ribcage toward the hip. Repeat and switch sides.

Last from: http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/gear/equipment/best-stability-ball-exercises/?page=5

Ball Pass

Lie on your back holding an exercise ball and lift your feet so your shins are parallel to the floor.
Lift your head, neck, and shoulders, and place the ball between your legs.
Now lower your legs and reach your arms back.
Come back up and grab the ball.
Continue to pass the ball back and forth from your hands to your legs 10 to 12 times.

Okay not last, but not everyone has TRX bands lying around but I LOVE them. I can't seem to find any websites though with a list of their exercises so I guess you'll just have to take my word for it lol.

ITB Pain still....

2010-04-21T10:23:00.004-04:00

Not much to write about. Went for a 5 miler yesterday and it's pretty official - my IT band hates me.

My Action Plan:
*Easy 2min run/1 min walk for my long runs and maybe a 4/1 for the other runs for at least a week
*Foam Rolling (trying to get this in 2x/day)
*Stretching (at least once per day holding for 1min+ on the IT band)
*lots of advil.... :(
*Icing (@ least once per day)
*Strength training hips/glutes/quads 2x/week (first time was yeterday and man I'm sore - I've never worked my hips before!)
*Thinking about getting a knee strap (haven't bought it yet - any recommendations?)

Let's hope this all works though it's SO hard to find time to do all this. Seriously. The foam roller takes forever when I do it right (stopping on all the tender spots until they feel not so tender).

Anybody else have tips? I really appreciate the ones you guys wrote on my last blog. Thanks so much!

Image From: http://epicself.com/category/easy-massages/page/2/

Really Disappointed

2010-04-18T14:08:00.000-04:00

So I missed my race yesterday due to the fact that I had to pull an all nighter writing a term paper. I figured... no biggie, I'll just run the distance today instead. The distance would have been 7.4 miles.

I wake up this morning pretty pumped, eat breakfast and check the weather. Turns out it's supposed to thunderstorm all day :(. I can run in rain but not lightning. Okay so I'm a little frustrated but I still want to run so I head to the gym. Since 7.4 miles seems too much for a treadmill (I always feel kind of weird being on a treadmill for more than 5 miles) I headed to the indoor track and started running.

Everything was going well until about 1 1/2 miles when my left (inside) IT band started feeling funky. I thought "well that's normal, I'm running on a teensy tiny track, I guess it'll just be sore after my run today and i'll make sure I ice it and it'll all be better in a few days" because that's what normally happens when I track-run. By 2 1/2 miles I swear I could FEEL the band snapping over my bone ever time I extended my leg. I thought "okay.... no more track" and walk over to the treadmills to knock out the other 5 miles.

I start on the treadmill and for the first couple minutes things are good and then my knee pains returns with a vengeance. For about 3 minutes I gritted my teeth and decided I was finishing my damn run. But then all of a sudden my foot hits the treadmill and my knee just decides it's done. My leg buckles and I can't make my knee work :(. I came about 1 inch from faceplanting on the treadmill and was just able to stop the treadmill before I made a complete fool of myself.

At this point I was still determined to finish my workout so I decided I would go use a stationary bike so I limp myself over to the bike and get on.... it took about two rotations of the pedals to realize that every downstroke made my leg feel like I was inserting a knife into my knee. Okay.... I gave up. I tried and I failed. Done.

I'm so freaking upset. I need to remember to stay away from tracks. Seriously.

Marathon training starts tomorrow officially! Though it IS a rest day, it starts "week 1" of my program....

Lessons Learned:
1. Stay away from track. Feeling weird on the treadmill is sooo worth it
2. Check the weather before planning long runs. If I had gotten up 2 hrs ealier i could have been outside

My Running Playlist

2010-04-15T19:53:00.001-04:00

After seeing so much on other people's blogs about their playlists, I decided to post mine for you all to laugh at. Keep in mind;

-Like Kerrie T. - I like to feel like a badass (as in blinged out gangsta-runner :D)
-I have a very diverse taste in music and like to shake things up while I run
-The playlist is about 7 hrs and I run with it on shuffle. I'm non-commital and can't commit to songs in a certain order.
-Songs are listed as "Song Name - Time - Artist" :D (easiest way to copy from my itunes)
-Yes there are a few repeats, those are songs I wouldn't mind increasing the chance of hearing on my run (since it's shuffle lol)

Hope you find some new (or old that you've forgotten about) song ideas :D

Again    3:09    Flyleaf
Bawitdaba    4:27    Kid Rock
Bedrock    4:45    Lil Wayne Feat. Drake, Nicki Minaj & Lloyd
biggie smalls and bone thugs n harmony - biggie smalls and bone thugs - notorious thugs    6:07
Blah Blah Blah (feat. 3OH!3)    2:52    Ke$ha
Bone Thugs 'n Harmony - The Crossroads    3:49
Breakeven (Falling to Pieces)    4:21    The Script
Bulletproof    3:28    La Roux
Carry Out (Feat. Justin Timberlake)    3:56    Timbaland
Click Click Boom    4:12    Saliva
Crank_Dat_Soulja_Boy(Supaman) Clean    3:44    Soulja Boy
cupid slide    4:40    VARIOUS
Cyclone f/ T-Pain (Radio Edit)    4:01    Baby Bash
Drop The World    3:49    Lil Wayne
Duffle Bag Boy    4:31    Playaz Circle Feat Lil Wayne
Face to Face    3:56    Sevendust
Fighter    4:06    Christina Aguilera
Gangsta Love    3:58    Snoop Dogg ft. The Dream
Gettin Jiggy With It    3:51    Will Smith
Giddy On Up    3:30    Laura Bell Bundy
Happy Pills    4:46    Candlebox
Hard (feat. Jeezy)    4:11    Rihanna
Heaven    3:50    Live
Hey, Soul Sister    3:37    Train
Hot Mess    2:50    Cobra Starship
How Low    3:27    Ludacris
How Low Can You Go (Dirty)    3:29    Ludacris ft Shawnna
How Your Love Makes Me Feel    4:06    Diamond Rio
I'm a bitch    4:08    Meredith Brooks
I'm Goin In (ft. Lil' Wayne, Drake & Truth)    3:35    DJ Capcom
I Can Transform Ya (Feat. Lil' Wayne & Swizz Beatz)    3:49    Chris Brown
I Get Off    3:04    Halestorm
I Got 5 On It    4:08    Luniz
I Got It Ft. Big Block    4:03    Gorilla Zoe
I Wanna Rock    3:56    Snoop Dogg
Imma Be    4:17    Black Eyed Peas
Imma Star (Everywhere We Are)    4:23    Jeremih
Imma Zoe    4:41    Black Dada
Independent    4:16    Webbie
Infinite    4:02    Eminem
Intergalactic    3:52    Beastie Boys
It's Alright    5:24    Candlebox
Jay Z and Linkin Park - Numb & Encore Remix    3:23
John Anderson - Seminole Wind    3:58
Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil' Wayne - Let It Rock    3:56
Lauryn Hill & Fugees - Ready Or Not    3:48
Lemonade    4:06    Gucci Mane
Let Her Cry    5:08    Hootie & The Blowfish
Lil Freak (feat. Nicki Minaj)    3:56    Usher
Lil Wayne- Fireman-DIRTY    4:28
Lil Wayne - Lollipop    5:14
Lil Wayne Ft. Young Money - Every Girl in the world    4:53
Long Way Home    6:14    Endeverafter
Lucy    5:00    Candlebox
ludacris- whats your fantasy    4:36
Ludacris - Roll Out    2:34    ludacris Roll Out
Magic Stick    3:32    Lil Kim feat. 50 Cent
Money To Blow ft. Drake, Lil Wayne    4:22    Birdman
My Chick Bad    3:37    Ludacris & Nicki Minaj
My Dad's Gone Crazy    4:27    Eminem
My Life Ft. Lil Wayne    5:25    The Game
Nas with Lauryn Hill (of the Fugees) - If I Ruled The World    4:42
New Boyz - You're A Jerk    3:12    New Boyz
Norma Jean Riley    3:05    Diamond Rio
Old School Rap - Cypress Hill & House of Pain - Jump Around    3:18    Cypress Hill
On To The Next One    4:17    Jay~Z
One Eight Seven    4:28    Dr. Dre Feat. Snoop Dogg
Pony [Album Version]    4:12    Ginuwine
Push It    2:35    Static-X
Quad-City Dj's - C'mon Ride the Train ('N Ride It)    7:31
Rain    3:27    Creed
Rednexx - Cotton Eyed Joe    4:14
Rude Boy    3:43    Rihanna
Savior    4:02    Rise Against
Say Hey (I Love You) [feat. Cherine Anderson]    3:56    Michael Franti & Spearhead
Sometimes    5:11    Candlebox
Square Dance    5:24    Eminem
Steady Mobbin    5:11    Young Money & Gucci Mane
Superman    5:50    Eminem
Survivor    4:13    Destiny's Child
Switch    3:13    Will Smith
Telephone    3:41    Lady Gaga ft.Beyonce
There It Go (The Whistle Song)    3:04    Juelz Santana
This Romeo Ain't Got Julie Yet    2:43    Diamond Rio
Three Doors Down - Loser (3)    4:25
Thug Luv    5:08    2Pac/Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
TiK ToK    3:22    Ke$ha
Till I Collapse    4:58    Eminem
'Till I Collapse    4:58    Eminem
Trillville - some cut (clean edit)    4:14
Turn My Swag On    3:44    Soulja Boy
Turning Me On    4:09    Keri Hilson ft. Lil Wayne
Twisted Transistor    4:12    Korn
Waffle    3:31    Sevendust
Walking in Memphis    4:19    Marc Cohn
When I'm Gone (Clean Radio Edit)    4:42    Emimen
Where's Your Head At    4:44    Basement Jaxx
White America    5:25    Eminem
White Liar    4:48    Miranda Lambert
Your Decision    4:43    Alice In Chains

Choose your running partners wisely!

2010-04-12T16:31:00.001-04:00

Time for the weekend running recap :D

Saturday's Run:
4 1/2 miles in 41ish minutes - 9:05min/mile

*It went really well. I pushed comfortably hard and ended up making this an accidental tempo run but that's okay. I'm pretty happy with it :D. Felt great. One of my fastest training runs ever and felt good.
Could definitely FEEL shins but they didn't hurt (if that makes sense)

Sunday's Run:
3 miles in 28ish minutes - 9:23min/mile

*Okay my shins were already hurting this morning from yesterday's run so I meant to do a nice slow recovery jog. So... I picked a friend of mine who hasn't run in months (I conveniently forgot she was a cross country track star in high school). Anyway we take off and I'm constantly telling her to slow down and a couple times she just went ahead and then had to double back when she realized she had left me in the dust lol. Needless to say I did not get my 10-11 minute/mile recovery jog I wanted but I did discover a friend who will be great for a 5k race or something lol. Oh... and I'm in a lot of pain now. Note to self: do a running background inquiry BEFORE choosing a recovery running buddy!!

Other highlights:
*my super long slowly building marathon training starts next week. I'm stoked
*my midweek runs are now switching from required miles run to required mintutes run. I'm pretty excited for this too.
*12k on Saturday (7.4 miles). I'm stoked, if not a bit nervous

8 miler, alligators, and a genius idea!

2010-04-08T18:25:00.000-04:00

So I came up with this amazing idea and I just had to share. I was running my 8 miler today w/my step-dad and every mile my Garmin beeped to let me know I was making progress (oh what a BEAUTIFUL sound!). That gave me this wonderful idea, and when someone decides to make a ton of money off it, they should buy me a new running shirt or something.

So... imagine a Garmin that instead of beeping every mile instead yells out motivational things like "wow... 4 miles?? you kick ASS" and then "5 miles??? You're crazy girl!" and then... "6 miles?? Hope you brought a good post run snack you crazy runner girl!"

I'd call it the "Charmin" (get it???? instead of the Garmin?? I know so original). I'd have to make sure I put a warning on the box that says "not responsible for injuries caused by you pushing yourself harder than normal due to incredible motivation"

Yeah I'm lame.

Anyway... run recap:

8 miles - 11:49pace - 1hr 35 min (Run/Walk ratio 2:1)

And some fun pics (we saw lot of gators but didn't get pics of a lot of them because we were running)

Me after the Run! What you don't see here is I have little gnats stuck to the sweat all over my face. It was pretty disgusting lol

My Step-Dad!

Look at the cute little gator!!! ;D

If anyone near central Florida wants to run this park with me let me know. I loved it, it was beautiful!

Struggling with fatigue :(

2010-04-06T13:42:00.000-04:00

Ran 4 1/2 miles today at a 10:29 pace. Felt very tired. I've been really struggling with fatigue the past 5 days or so (hence the lack of posting). I really just want to pass out and sleep for a week. I'm getting enough sleep, I'm pretty sure I'm eating enough. I don't know what's wrong with me.... hopefully it fixes itself soon I need my energy back!

Highlights:
*Ran 19 miles last week for the first time ever!
*Plan to run 20 miles this week for the first time ever!
*Ran 8 miles w/my parents on Saturday and will run 8 with my step-dad on Thursday and pretty excited. I love how running brings me closer to people.
*Shins still hurt but I can see it getting better.
*I can see myself getting stronger with weight training!
*I can see myself getting more flexible... I can touch my toes now without bending my knees!

So life is good, running is good. I will be catching up on all your blogs as soon as I turn in this GIANT research paper I've been working on the past week :(.

Anyone have an extra pair of shins lying around?

2010-03-31T11:40:00.004-04:00

So yeah, if any of you have an extra pair of shins you're not using, could you please mail them to me? I'll pay postage :D.

I guess I should be happy my quads and hamstrings are feeling so amazing, and I am happy about that. However, the pain in my shins were back on this morning's run. I'm icing, advil'ing, and praying. We'll see what happens on Friday's run.

Run ReCap:
3 miles - 10:17 pace (30:53 total)

On another note, I got a massage last night (she focused on trying to work on the knots in my shoulders AND legs). I didn't know you COULD get knots in your legs but apparently I have done it. I'm amazing. I need to stretch more.

This post seems really negative, but i really am happy with my progress, pain is just a little discouraging. But like I said yesterday at least it's changing spots rather than one consistent spot. :(

Oh and apparently the following poses are supposed to strengthen your shins and help with shin splits (so says my personal trainer). Hold them until you either tire in your lower legs or you completely lose balance (I usually lose balance first). I will definitely be doing them...

p.s. if you decide to try them try to find a website explaining exactly how to do it - I had my trainer sitting there telling me where I should be pushing and whatnot so it's not exactly self-explanatory from the pics...

Dancer's Pose

Warrior's Pose III

Tree Pose

Ice baths, oatmeal, and irritable quads....

2010-03-30T12:10:00.000-04:00

d a slow 4 mile run (my hamstring has been bothering me lately) on the treadmill. Hamstring was great, I was pretty ecstatic. Then however I had my strength training with the trainer and seemed to have pissed off my quad muscle.

Hoping it's nothing an ice bath and a few days of icing won't fix. I'm actually hopeful because it seems like lately my pain comes and goes in random parts of my legs but it's not the kind of pain I had in my shins when I first started all this running stuff that just built and built until it was shooting pain. This seems to come AND go.... which is nice. I'd rather it JUST go but whatever.

Run Recap:
4 miles - 40:25 (10:06 pace) on treadmill @ 1% incline

Fun pictures....

Training Plan on the Fridge! Crossed off today!

Mmmmm Ice bath!!

Oatmeal to eat while in the ice bath (I get cold!)

Yummmmy breakfast after ice bath!

PR & Age Group Award :D

2010-03-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

Had my 5k this morning and it went really well! I love smaller races because...

1. No one to weave in and out around
2. Easier to win in your age group :D
3. You get to know people more (I met a couple of cool people I talked to before and after the race)
4. You really feel like your race entry was needed because it wasn't like you were one of hundreds. It's neat getting thanked in person by the person/organization benefiting from your race entry fee.
5. Parking RIGHT next to start line :D

Oh funny thing, I was pacing off a guy who must have been like 80 years old for the first 2 miles before I passed him at the end. Just goes to show you're never too old :D

RESULTS:

Time: 26:39 (Pace 8:36/mile)

Age Group (Female 20-24): 3 of 6
Place Overall: 41 of 147

Splits:
Mile 1 - 8:21
Mile 2 - 8:30
Mile 3 - 8:34

Okay so my goal to run a negative split race was once again a failure, but who the hell cares, I PR'ed by EIGHTEEN (18) seconds!!!

I really gotta learn how people slow down in the beginning. It's so hard! I was DEFINITELY feeling it on this one, my legs had trouble moving the last mile.

Next race is a 12k! Intense... I'm just running that one to finish, not for a time goal. Anyone going to be in central florida on april 17th and want to run the clermont earth day 12k???? :D

Oh, and my # and award!

Run & Strength Training

2010-03-26T16:20:00.000-04:00

I still hurt from the strength training session on Tuesday when I went for my run today. So I took it easy and went incredibly slow so I could save my legs for the 5k on Sunday. I'm thinking I shouldn't have signed up for a 5k the week I started strength training but oh well. If I don't PR then at least I have an excuse :D. I asked the trainer to avoid my legs today and we focused all on core and upper body, so I can just hope it helps my legs recover before Sunday.

Pain Report:
*Left IT band is very achey, along my entire leg. It's weird.
*Right knee is slightly achey but not bad at all.
*Right shin hurts while running but not in everyday life activities

On a positive note I picked up my race packet and goodies today for Sunday. Apparently the first 75 people to register received a tech shirt and I was #74! Score! I drove the course and the last part (the tenth of a mile) is DOWNHILL. That's going to provide for a hell of a kick. I want to PR so bad, but we'll see.

Oh and I also bought some shorts and convenience no-tie laces (see pic above) :D

Ouch!

2010-03-24T09:20:00.001-04:00

My personal trainer wanted me to record what hurt at 24 hours and 48 hours after our appointment. Well it's been 24 hours, and is "every single inch of my body" an option for "what hurts?" I hope so because that's what I'm putting on the sheet of paper.

But since she wants me to record this stuff the following hurts most;
1. Butt
2. Hamstrings
3. Inner Thighs
hurts second most;
1. shoulders/upper back
2. forearms
feeling really tight;
1. back muscles

But really when you wake up in the middle of the night because you can't find a comfortable position because every body parts hurts when pressed against the mattress..... yeah.

I can't wait til I build up some muscular strength.

Oh and the ironic thing? My shins and calves, the two biggest problems spots for me feel great today. I even went for a run this morning(albeit a very wobbly/limping run) and didn't feel it AT ALL in those two spots. I'm wondering if it's really so miraculous or if I just hurt everywhere else so much the chronic lower leg pain is somewhat masked. I'm hoping it's not the latter option.

Run Recap:
Easy run for the week. 3 miles.. 9:04/mile, 27:11 total. Felt great besides my aching butt/hamstrings/innerthighs :D

And.... surprise surprise there was actually someone else in our apartment gym at 6:00am, RUNNING next to me on the other treadmill. It was kinda neat, there is never anyone in that gym, especially at 6am. I probably went a little faster than I normally do because I was being watched! lol

Oh, and one more thing. I have this drying rack set up in my room to hang all my running clothes on. I used to just use it after I washed my stuff and now i just hang on sweaty stuff on there to dry too, so really it's just turned into my running clothes storage area. Anyway, I finally took the cotton tank tops off of the drying rack and put them in the regular closet with the rest of my clothes. I realized this morning i have enough actual running shirts I haven't used the cotton ones in a while... it's time to retire them to "regular clothes" once more. It felt empowering...

(a perfect pic of what my drying rack...I mean running clothes holder looks like :D)