Week 12 of 13: 12 miles in 2:00

Yay, this was my first taper run.  I only had to run 12 miles and was happy to gain a few hours back in my life.  I went down to a friends in a flat area, no hills!!

We started around 6:30 and looped back a few times to grab different runners every 3 miles or so.  My piriformis was still acting a little crazy, and my hips were tight.  

I just kept thinking about food AND the fact that this was the last double digit run.  I was maintaining a 10:15 pace which is great because that was the goal marathon pace.  

I managed to run 12 miles in 2 hours, which is average, but given my pain I was happy.

I then ate probably the best bagel of my life.  I'm so mad I didn't take a picture.  It was a french toast flavored bagel (that is made with maple syrup), with vanilla walnut cream cheese. 

Week 11 of 13: 17 miles in 3:03

All week I had been debating where to run my final and second 20 miler.  Last week I ran 20 super hilly miles in 3:33 and was definitely feeling the after effects.  My piriformis was on fire and any wrong movements sent me into intense pain, identical to that of a herniated disc.

I was back and forth between finding a flat stretch of earth, or just sucking it up on the hills.  I finally decided to suck up the hills.

Now, the area where I live is very hilly considering Delaware is a flat or below sea level area.  I actually bought in the area because it reminded me of where I grew up, and that it was super runner and biker friendly.  :)

I like to think I run with finesse, but I know my mind and actual running gait vary, A LOT!

This is how I think I look:

Last week, not so much.  I ended up walking most of the hills to avoid the revenge of my piriformis.

In case you have no idea what i'm talking about, it's a literal pain in the..

And this pain seemed to become more aggravated with running up and down hills.  

One of my friends running the marathon (there's actually a good number of us running), met me and we started our 20 miles of fun.

The weather has been bipolar here ranging between 30-75 degrees during the month of October.  The morning of this 20 it was 32 degrees.  I had to dig out a hat, gloves, long sleeve, and bought new running tights.  I bought some new socks.  My biggest concern was wind on skin.  Particularly the area between my pants and socks.  Yikes!

We left and started the 20 mile run.  I was still hurting from the week priors 20 miler.  Most people take a fall back week in between their 20 mile runs, I didn't have the option because I took a rest week earlier on.

My long run pace is between 10-11 minute miles.  I was holding strong for the first 10ish, but was mentally falling apart.  My poor running buddy, she probably thinks I'm crazy!  Talking to myself and trying to figure out what was wrong with me I'm sure was an interesting sight!

I then came to the conclusion women with hips and butts shouldn't run, ever!  Now this is totally ridiculous, but I don't think I'm meant to run for hours and hours.  I've got a lot more to drag around than those super skinny marathoners.

Maybe I'm wrong.  If anyone knows of any Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce esq woman that runs fast, please let me know!

At this point I decided that maybe I should get more into my strength and yoga workouts.  And start to train for triathlons over the winter.  I like to run, but this run had changed my "love" for of it 100%.  Mind you, this was all going through my head as I ran.  

My running buddy kept coming back to check on me, and I was running, just a bit slower.  I maintained a 10:20 pace during this run.

What kept me going was fuel.  Why? Because I'm a super fat kid at heart.  I love these gu chomps in orange, I think i'll use them for the marathon since they use less energy to chew.

We were about 6 miles in when we passed a Redner's 18-wheeler pulled over.  I figured the driver was either lost or looking for food or a bathroom.  Until we realized he wasn't.  As we approached said truck, the truck driver was outside of the truck.  It was around 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning and this driver was on the ground it appeared was doing something on the ground.  

And then we saw it.  A dead deer was on the side of the road.  My immediate reaction was that the truck hit the deer and the driver was helping the deer.  Then my brain clicked and I remembered this was a deer, not a human.  As we passed, I realized the driver was taking all of the deers internal organs out, to what we later figured out, he probably planned to eat.  Now I know that people hunt, and kill animals.  However, the road this was happening on was not wild forest, it was leading into a classy area where this type of thing doesn't happen.  I still need to get in touch with Redner's.  The fact that their driver was cutting a deer up, then it appeared taking it in his truck (which i'm sure transports food) i'm sure is against numerous health regulations.  Yuck!

We continued on and found a bathroom, then ran to a park to get some more mileage in.  From this point we looped back and ran most of the prior mileage.  

At mile 12 I told my buddy that I'd let myself stop at 16.  I was hurtingg.  I initially stopped at 16.4 and was freezing, remember how it was 32!  I decided to run a bit more because the stretch was going downhill.  I ended up running 17 miles in total in about 3 hours.  If i hadn't stopped my watch this 20 would've taken 4 hours, including an hour to walk the remaining 3.

This was the longest run of training, then straight into TAPER!!

Week 10 of 13: 20 miles in 3:33

The peak of training arrived, a week later than it should've!

I initially planned to run 20 in a flat area, but couldn't seem to find a decent route or stretch of road with shoulders.  Since I was running alone, I needed to be safe.  Running on roads without shoulders is just a bad idea.  There are a lot of local parks where I can run, but they are typically 1-3 miles in total.  Doing almost 7 loops of the same route becomes painful while running.

I decided to stick with my 20 mile route from last year.  I would run 10 miles to the football stadium of the local university, and run back.  An out and back loop doesn't sound too bad, right?  Until you factor in that one loop is the equivalent of the Broad Street Run.  Which I PR'd in this year in 1:30.  All I knew was that this run wouldn't be done in 3 hours, it was also a slower paced long run.

I packed my shot bloks, camelbak, covered myself in body glide and was out the door.  I also had to go to kmart before my run to buy new earbuds, since my other pair broke.  There was no way I could run 20 miles without music.  I started out too fast (for this run).  I was at an 8:45-9 pace for the first few miles and knew I needed to slow down.  So I slowed closer to a 10 minute pace.

Throughout the run I felt like I was running at a 15 minute pace, but every time I'd look down my watch was between 10-10:15.  This was a good feeling, even though I was hurting.

I stopped 4 or 5 times during the run to stretch out my glutes, hips, and low back.  It felt like everything was knotted together.  I've had IT band issues and a herniated disc, so I was a little concerned.

I finally made it back 3:33 and tons of hills later in one piece.  I showered, took advil, and then went and got this amazing burrito.  I try to avoid this place if I'm not training, but after 20 miles this was amazingggg!

Today, I woke up and felt ok.  Until I got to work, I knew something was wrong with my back.  I called my chiropractor and made an appointment to see her after work.  They use these little buzzy pads to stimulate muscle contractions on your back.  I was ok before I got this part.  When I got up to walk to her office I could barely move (very reminiscent of when I herniated my disc).  

So I am back in rest mode icing and eating advil all day.  I just hope I can make it to this marathon in one piece.  Fingers crossed and saying prayers.

Only 3 weeks to Philly Marathon! eek

Week 9 of 13: Rest

This week I should've run 20 miles, but opted not to because of my foot pain.  I'm 100% stubborn when it comes to sports related injuries and pain.  But I also know the last few times this has happened, my lack of rest has made me so much worse.  I can't stay away from exercise for another 2-4 months again.  I become a crazy woman without it!

I steered clear of running most of the week and just did my yoga and strength workouts for the week.  By Wednesday I was starting to feel ok and went for an interval run, which I completed sans pain! Yay :)!  I then ran again on Friday and Saturday.  My total mileage for this week was around 20 miles, throughout the week instead of one 20 mile run.

I was hoping my increase in rest, (again) would lend itself to a decent week of running.

I then started looking ahead to my 20 miler the next week.

Week 8 of 13: 17.5 miles and a Duathlon

So after a week where I think I rested, I decided to go crazy and do a long run and a duathlon.

Yes, this makes sense.  I pushed off the 18 mile run from Sunday to Friday, then didn't want to miss the duathlon.

I was supposed to run 18 miles, but managed to get 17.5 in.  I think I ran it in 3:15ish (I should probably check out my garmin).  After the weekends of bike events and being sick I was happy just to complete 17.5 having not run in 3 weeks since the half marathon, where I was in fact really sick.

My issue with this run was my feet.  I broke my sesamoids years ago and also had turf toe aka everything hurt and I couldn't walk.  I was eating Advil like candy.  Anyway, anytime I get foot pain I immediately send myself to the broken sesamoids and taking 2 months off of running.  I don't want to go back to that!

That day I came back and rested, ate, and headed back to my friends in Dover.  Why, you ask?  Because I was doing my FIRST duathlon the next day.  And while this may sound crazy, it was only $15.  $15 for a race of any kind is a steal, so if it took me 5 hours it was still worth it.

The duathlon consisted of a 5k, 10 mile bike, and a 5k.  Now, typically for duathlons and triathlons you train and do brick workouts, which are two sports back to back.  Once or two within the past 4 months I've run then biked, or biked then run.  But, that was only twice.  Given that I ran 17.5 less than 24 hours before I didn't know how I'd feel.  I initially thought 1:30 would be feasible, then adjusted as time went on to 1:45.  I ran the first 5k in 29 mins (more than normal, but ok with my long run before), I have no idea what I did the 10 mile bike in or the last 5k.  I did finish in 1:43 though, which I thought was decent considering everything else.

And I got this fun shirt!

After I got home from the duathlon I immediately started googling my issue, that had gotten worse.  I mean, doesn't everybody?  Apparently not, my friends and family always joke I trust google a bit too much.  I have to say google has been good to me.  As a single woman it's helped me fix, repair, and purchase with greater finesse than any opinion I could've asked for!

What I discovered was that I had plantar fasciitis that had started or was flaring up.  This was confirmed by my chiropractor the next day.  All week I took it easy and rolled my foot across frozen water bottles.  Blehh..

Week 7 of 13: Rest?

This is really bad, I have no clue what I did this week.

I worked Friday night into Saturday evening and think I planned to run on Sunday, but don't know or remember if I did in fact run.

After all of these cycling events I was getting worn down, so I think I did take the weekend off to make sure I didn't get sick again.

Mental note: blog weekly to avoid this going forward.

Week 6 of 13: Bike to the Bay

I'm over a month delayed on keeping this up to date.  Here's what I remember from Bike to the Bay.

The week prior to Bike to the Bay I was sick and I was just getting over the funky cold that had taken me down.  I also had an inhaler for my cold induced asthma.  Really asthma?  Every time I get a cold, I get asthma.. WHY?!  I guess I shouldn't complain, I could have asthma everyday.

I left work and headed down to my friends house, since they lived 5 mins from the start, and I live about 45 minutes from it!  I was running late and met them at an awesome italian pizza place.  I had a great dinner with soup and pizza.  We needed to carb up for the next day. :)

When we got back to their house we made sure everything was situated for the ride and pumped all our tires back up.  Apparently the fluctuating temperatures were causing my tires to lose air each week and were required a lot more air before each ride.  And no, they weren't flat.

We got up early, like we do for all these events.  The good thing about this ride was that every 10-12 miles was a rest stop with food, drinks, and potties.  We then went and picked up our race materials and bibs.

So, this is the first Bike to the Bay event I've done and everyone is required to raise $300.  Typically when you do a charity event, you have a month or two past the event to raise all the money.  Well, not Bike to the Bay!  Race morning they would check your total raised amount, and you paid the remainder.  Thankfully I had an awesome group of supporters and my $300+ had been raised beforehand.

The ride itself wasn't too bad, but my chest and asthma pain were thankful for each rest stop.  Just as I would start to hurt, we'd hit a rest stop.

We had planned to bike 100 miles (we'd done it two weeks before and were confident).  Thankfully the group we biked with was only going for 75, and I was more than happy, given I still wasn't 100% recovered.

So, here we are after 75 miles.  Money raised, 75 miles biked.  I think I'll do it again next year, it was a lot of fun! :)

Week 5 of 13: 13.1 in 2:09:57!

I've entered the three week span in September where every weekend I have a bike tour or run.  I ended up sandwiching a half between two century rides.  After killing the first century ride last weekend, this weekend was the half.

In between all of these events, I've been doing yoga, modified strength training, and minimal running and biking so my body doesn't fall apart.  Well, my body had other ideas...

While I was resting, I picked up a funky cold.  A funky cold that had me feeling off on Thursday, weird on Friday, and so bad Saturday night I didn't think I'd be running the half.  I was very upset, but realized this was only a training run for the marathon and that there would be other runs.  I was so sad that I wouldn't have a new medal from a race.  I know this sounds funny, but it's almost what you train for--the race experience.  The awesome shirts and medals don't hurt either.  :)

I hydrated a lot, took the really good, expensive Mucinex, and took Afrin (so I could breathe).  I mapped out what I'd wear, and if I went and what time I would wake up.  I was in bed by 8 on Saturday, and passed out.

I woke up at 5 on Sunday morning, and must've had an overnight miracle.  I could breathe, and decided I was doing the half!  I ate, pulled all of my stuff together and went to meet my friend who was also doing the half.

It was so early when we headed to Philly the sun was rising.

And, it was very picture worthy:

By the time we parked and figured out where we belonged, there were 15 minutes till the race started.  We got our token picture while waiting for the porta-potties.  We also heard the race start and saw corrals moving up, as we were in line.  We missed our corral by about 5 minutes, so we just popped in with another group and started running.

Initially our plan was to stick together.  My goal was under 2, even though I listed on my registration that I'd be done in 1:50.  My running buddy was shooting for 1:50.  

Now, with all of this sickness I wasn't too sure how my body was going to respond.  I had my Garmin and planned to maintain pace per mile to make my sub 2 half marathon happen.  What I forgot to do was change my Garmin to pace instead of speed.  I used it last week during the century ride, and neglected to change it back.  So as we were running it was saying what I thought was a 6, 6.5, and 7 minute pace.  I knew this was way off and I was really annoyed it wasn't cooperating.  Then it hit me, this was the equivalent of the speed on a bike, not my running pace that I wanted, and really needed.

The first 3 miles I was maintaining my 9 minute pace, then I lost my running buddy and started to experience chest pain.  Chest pain that caused me to walk at least a minute for each of the remaining 10 miles.

This was NOT what I had planned or hoped for and it was really frustrating.  As I would hit each mile I started calculating out what speed I'd need to run to finish under 2, and I watched it slowly drift away.  Just as I thought in my mind I had it, i'd have horrible pain that would induce walking so I could breathe.

At this point I just kept moving and breathing as I needed to finish this run.  I came up to mile 13 and just booked it, I was rubbing my chest the entire time trying to fix my breathing as I sprinted uphill to the finish surrounded by a TON of people.  I ran under the clock as my Garmin read 2:09:57.  Not exactly what I had hoped for, but I did still PR.  

My only frustration is that had I not walked, I know for a fact I would've been able to run the half under 2.  With everything else in life, things happen and you just have to go with the flow.

I then found my parents and sister at the finish.

I probably shouldn't have run yesterday because today I'm not feeling so hot.  I now have an additional things to mark off on my running checklist:  running a half marathon with a cold.

If nothing else, I think I've earned some running credential for that!

Week 4 of 13: 100 miles in 6:30

So I obviously didn't run 100 miles this week in 6.5 hours.  I instead decided to do a century bike ride (and also my first organized bike event).  Why not go for the century the first time?!

I ran once this week and did 10x100's, did yoga once, and got my strength workouts in twice.  The rest of the week, I rested.  I also hydrated a lot prior to the bike ride.

Friday after work I went and stayed at a friends house because she lived in the same town as the ride.  We really carbed up the night before with pizza, cheese fries, and bread.  If I was going to burn 4,000+ calories, I'd need some fuel.  :)  It also doesn't hurt that I LOVE food.

We were up at 5:30 to begin the adventure.  And, I conveniently remembered to document this adventure in pictures.

We arrived close to 7, and looked a little sleepy:

Here we are.  Either biking the century or 62 mile ride.  This was right after the local paper took our picture and names, as we were looking at the map.  Since the official start of this ride was 8, and we started at 7 there weren't tons of people around.

The first rest stop was 24 miles in, I think.  It's pretty bad when I don't remember what happened yesterday.  This rest stop had cookies, tons of PB&J and gatorade and water to refill our bottles.  Oh, and most importantly, lots of potties.  We all looked pretty good at this point.  And the ride to this stop was pretty fast, we were averaging 18-20 miles per hour.  A group of men were in front of us, so we decided to try and keep pace.  Around the later miles we regretted that decision.

We then came up on rest stop 2, somewhere around 44ish miles, again I think.  This stop is known for it's pie offerings.  Peach, apple, pumpkin, and shoefly pie were all options.  I opted for a big piece of peach--it was delish.  And for the record, I don't typically like pie.  We still were feeling pretty good at this point, and there were still a decent number of riders around.

Rest stop 3.  Oh, where to begin.  At this point we had separated from the larger group of people we had been riding with who were all doing 62.  At the turn we contemplated turning to complete 62.  At this point I would've been totally fine having biked 62 miles.  But, for some reason at that point we decided to forge ahead.  We met up with two others doing the century.  We managed to keep pace with them until about this stop, but we were slowing to a 17ish pace, and couldn't maintain a 19-20 pace even drafting off of them.  My riding buddy was in pain and it sounded like her IT band.  I don't mess with IT band pain.  After my full last year was almost derailed from an inflamed IT band, I fear them.   She called her husband and we decided we'd stop at their house (conveniently located on the route).  From our poor map reading skills we thought it would be about 75 miles.  We mentally only had 13 more to ride.  The plan was to complete the ride there, not take a rest.

These smiles were forced.  We needed some yoga at this point.  I refueled my gatorade and joked with another cyclist that our gatorade bottles had too many mixed flavors, but that we could care less.  I also got a super soft oatmeal cookie, it was like heaven.  Oh, and another PB&J. :)

Something happened in between these two stops.  We thought we were headed to complete 75 at their house, but the route had other ideas.  We weren't going to be anywhere near there at 75 miles.  Around 72 miles we hit another rest stop, which we obviously stopped at.

And, these are the smiles of death.  I equate this stop to mile 20-21 in a marathon.  Digging deep into yourself to complete the final stretch.

We felt rough, more so just super stiff.  I was getting some low back pain, and my buddy had IT pain.  But it seemed to relieve itself a bit after her seat was adjusted.  This stop they reinforced that we only have 28ish miles to go.  Now, thinking of this today means a few more hours.  Yesterday, this meant we beasted 72 miles and were roughly 3/4 of the way there.

So we were off, and decided to take our time and enjoy the last 28 miles.  Since this ride was in the country it was beautiful.  This was a pretty view, and I conveniently got really good at biking and taking pictures.  So here's my biking buddy while we road.

We then passed a local state park and pretty pond.  Again, here we are.  We did stop for this photo and left our bikes on the other side of the road.

 At some point during the ride I thought it would be amazing if we got wet from a farm sprinkler.  We road by fields all day long, and I know a lot of sprinklers at some point spray the road.  If you look far down the road, there was a sprinkler!!  I was super excited.

This photo was supposed to show my water covered sunglasses from the sprinkler, instead it just appears to be an awkward selfie.

We then passed a large pumpkin patch.  Those orange dots are the pumpkins, it looked better in person.

We then finally stopped at their house at mile 85, refueled and hit the road again.

And, WE DID IT!  100 miles biked in 6.5 hours, not including stops.  It was then time for a BBQ and it was delicious.

So the moral of this story is that anything is possible, and the reward is so much greater with struggles!

Week 3 of 13: 16 miles in 2:57

This post is actually over a week behind, shocker!  So from what I remember here is my 16 mile weekend recap of training.

I needed to get a 16 mile run and a long bike ride in last weekend, so I opted for the run on Friday and the bike on Sunday.

I ran 16 miles with two friends on Friday and ran through most of the local area.  I have to say that I've never run most of the area we ran, so it was interesting to see on foot.  It had rained the night before, so it was muggy, very muggy!

We all met up by 6, I think, or was it 7?  Either way it was extremely early, but also early enough to beat the mid-day heat.  None of us thought that since it was Friday there would be traffic.  Since it was the start of our weekends, we all assumed everyone else was at home sleeping.  Except it wasn't, it was Friday, and everyone was going to work.  We ended up running with rush hour traffic-- that was interesting.  Thankfully most of the area we ran had shoulders or sidewalk to run on.

My goal for the marathon is 4:15-4:30, so these long runs I try to keep around 11 minute miles.  I don't want to burn out for the actual marathon.  Per my fabulous training schedule passed down from a friend, that a friend created 11 minute miles are perfect to finish the marathon in my goal time.

By the end of the run I had averaged roughly an 11 minute mile.  I prefer to pace my entire run at the same pace.  At the start of the run we were going a bit faster than I wanted to start.  I'm really like a turtle, a slow and steady finishes the race type girl!

We finished as it was starting to become disgustingly hot, and I was happy to stop.  We then went to the local, AMAZING bagel shop, and got breakfast.  Total side note:  this is the bagel shop I went to during college, except in college we would all have showered and looked cute.  On Friday I went into the bagel shop, stinky, sweaty, salty skin, no make-up, and starving--and i didn't care.  Funny how things change!

Saturday was a rest day and I really rested and enjoyed catching up on trashy TV.  I was also resting up for my 66 mile bike ride on Sunday.

Sunday morning came around, fast.  I was up around 6 to wake up and get to the spot by 8.  I arrived and met up with friends and others we were meeting to bike with.  And we were off..

Now, I just bought a road bike in June.  So this whole road bike thing is totally new to me.  The only thing I really knew was that I should never bike alone.  I had gone on probably 6-8 rides between 20-50 miles, but 66 was by far the longest ride.

The ride was relatively flat, but given the strong head wind and hills towards the mid-point, I wanted to die.  We biked 33 miles to Chestertown, MD to eat then biked 33 back.  The ride there was ok because I had food to look forward to!  The ride back wasn't as pleasant.  I decided to get an omelette for lunch, which was fine, it was my other food choices that weren't.  We split loaded cheese fries and I got a beer.

By mile 36 I started cramping up, I should've avoided the beer!  I also hadn't hydrated properly before my 16 miler, or on Saturday.  Apparently I thought I was superwoman, again.

We eventually made it back.  66 miles were complete in roughly 4:45!  Phew, if the 100 was at that pace, we'd take forever.

Week 2 of 13: 14 Miles in 2:35ish

So it's now Monday of week 3.  Yikes!  The only reason I remembered to blog about Saturday's run aside from the fact that I'm eating lunch, is that my calves hurt.  I mean, hurt.  And, I cleverly decided to wear super high heels today, but they are super cute.  :)

Friday morning I went for a 21ish mile bike ride with a friend along a nearby canal.  It was a pretty ride, but given the water, it was very windy.  It was definitely a great workout, especially since I have two, not one, but TWO 100 mile bike races in the next 3 weeks.  And, a half.  There is potential I have really lost my mind.  Life is short, live it up while you can.  Right?!

Friday afternoon I ate some pasta for my run on Saturday and cleaned my mess of a condo.  Saturday morning came quickly, at 5:30.  When I wake up earlier than I do for work to train, I've clearly got some reason to be up. 

I met my two co-workers at a nearby school.  These are not your normal meet for 3 miles friends, these are the crazy I'm doing a trail ultra, and running my first full marathon friends, i.e. they are crazy like me.

So we started running around 7ish..on hilly trails where most people bike.  Now I run trails every now and then, but typically pretty slow.  I'm always afraid I'll twist my ankle, so I totally look like a granny when I trail run.  I felt like I'd never run before, and was definitely lagging in pace a bit.  I also decided it would be fun to fall about 2 miles in, so in addition to my bike bruises and cut, I added some more to my knees and hand.  I look like a 4 year old kid who is constantly playing outside!

Thankfully the first 7 miles were on trails and the remaining 7 were on the road.  Nicole and I got into a groove and knocked out the last 7 miles on the hilly road.  Some of the hills were more of a struggle than others and our pace drastically decreased.  The final hillly stretch we ran up required a lot of motivation as we questioned what we were doing.

But we then got to the light, made a left and .03 miles later were done!

My Garmin wasn't cooperating with the woods, but I think we ran 14 in 2:35ish. 

Roughly 3 months to go!

Week 1 of 13: 11 miles in 1:53

Second marathon, here goes nothing!

I've been so wrapped up in biking and doing speedwork that I forgot I had a marathon coming up (or didn't want to face it).  In less than a month I've got a half-marathon and two 100 mile bike events, then the marathon.  See, no real need to acknowledge it yet.

Since I started blogging last year to account for marathon training I figured I should do it again to compare.  I unfortunately didn't run 11 miles at all during training last year, so I've got no comparison this week.  I did run 10 miles in 1:45 and 12 miles in 2:20, that being said I'm doing better! :)

I decided to look at my long runs differently than last year.  Last year I was pushing my limits just to see if I could in fact do it.  Now that I know I can, I am much more relaxed and don't stress out about the long runs.  

Friday was one of my best friend's weddings, so I needed to run 11 in the morning.  Because there was no chance I was running Saturday am.  I woke up at 6, filled my CamelBak, turned on my garmin and was out the door.

Living in a hilly area provides great interval training during my easy, long runs.  I decided any pace would be ok, but given that I want to run a half next month under 2 I couldn't run at a 12-13 minute pace.  I settled in around a 10-10:30 pace, which is now a lot easier than it was last year.

This was a great run and wasn't bad.  When I started training last year, I really felt my life was taking a hit with all the training.  Training has now become an ordinary workout schedule.  I exercise 6 days a week, sometimes twice a day.

This year I also decided to watch my caloric intake.  I don't want to lose weight, but I want to make sure I'm no overeating my 11 mile runs.  Because let me tell you, after a 20 mile run I think about food the last 5 miles.  I also eat like there is no tomorrow when I return, I just don't need to gain a pound per additional mile!

3 months till to go, marathon under 4:30!! :)

Eat.Pray.Bike?

I clearly should've done some extra praying before today's bike adventure...

As much as I love, love, love running, running in the heat I hate.  Like most other runner's I perform much better in cooler temperatures (like snow and rain).  Every year there is a local Bike to the Bay event to fundraise for MS, and every year I want to join.  This year I finally signed up, after coming nowhere near my half-marathon goal and needing a change.  Then realized I needed a bike..

I shopped around a bit and wasn't having much luck, so I settled (sigh) for a performance hybrid in turquoise.  The bike itself I wasn't so impressed with, but I LOVED the color.  I am a very visual person so anything in blue/green/aqua I'm all about.  After riding 50 miles in total I realized it was time for a road bike, my comfort was shot after more than 10 miles at a time.  And, said turquoise bike is now on Craigslist pending a buyer. :)

I'm signed up for a lot of exciting events in September: a 62 mile bike tour, another half-marathon, and a 75 possibly 100 mile bike ride.  While I'm training a lot, I realized I'm essentially training for a half ironman, minus the swim.  Why hadn't I signed up for a sprint triathlon?!?  I am now potentially adding a sprint tri in October.  The swim just happens to be in the ocean, because I obviously swim all the time in the ocean (yeahhh, right).  Oh yea, and I'm doing my second full marathon in November!!  Needless to say, my workouts are hmm hectic.

I've been building my base mileage for these bike rides and have gone on two 30ish + rides.  I am now that person on the road that everybody hates, or in my Mom's case causes constant worrying.  

Today's ride was good.  It was earlier in the day so we weren't smoldering and traffic wasn't too cumbersome.  We road out and it was a great ride, sun was shining, I wasn't getting sunburnt, we waved at some amish families, and we saved a turtles life!

The ride back wasn't as great.  Sun was still shining, but we had crazy rednecks yelling at us to get off the road.  They clearly are putting on blinders when they pass these signs.

And, aside from these signs and marked bike lanes all over, Delaware is number 5 for the most bike friendly states: http://bicycling.com/blogs/thehub/2013/05/01/washington-tops-2013-bicycle-friendly-state-ranking/.  They clearly didn't interview this crazy lady.

We were 3/4 of the way back when it happened, I wasn't paying as much attention to the beveled road, and I fell.  Hard.  

The closest comparison I can come up with is when you get into a car accident.  You know what's happening, but your mind has almost disconnected.  At least that's what I'm telling myself, because if not I shouldn't have wiped out that much.

Somehow my handles dented and cut up my leg, and I now have two very large bone bruises and am finding walking difficult.  My bike chain fell off, the whole left side of the bike was scratched, I ripped up all the comfort grip on my handlebars, and I had blood dripping down my leg.  I looked like a hot mess.

Thankfully I went biking with a friend and she stopped and helped get compose myself and fix my bike. This is why you don't bike alone.  

We then had a very sweet older man stop as he was driving to make sure we were ok.  Thank you sir, you totally made that crazy woman null and void.

This is just the beginning of putting on spandex shorts that make my thighs bulge, and getting yelled at as I dodge cars and the beveled road.

Make a donation to stop the fight against Multiple Sclerosis: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/DEDBikeEvents?px=12285616&pg=personal&fr_id=20707

Broad Street Run: 10 miles in 1:30:57!!

Yesterday I ran the Broad Street Run in Philly for the 5th year in a row with one of my good friends.  Every year we pull others into this running adventure too: coworkers, boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, friends with bucket list items (you get the point).

It's become a tradition to get a hotel, too.  Which in thinking about it is funny (we live 45 minutes away).  And, I didn't even get a hotel for my half or full marathon (both in Philly too), there's just something about the nostalgia of this run.  I mean, it is the biggest 10 miler in the country!  We are required to do it up.  And doing it up this year aside from the hotel, was to wear red socks.

And after searching, I finally found some.  I ran for Boston.

Saturday I should've eaten carbs, but didn't want carbs (the whole, you always want what you can't have- but backwards).  I ended up with this delish greek salad instead.  

We headed up to Philly Saturday night and conveniently were staying next to a Target.  So we obviously went shopping and bought snacks.  We were out so long, by the time we walked back and ate snacks, we were in bed.  

We were up at 6:30 to head out by 7:30 and catch out taxi to the start.  Didn't we look great, and partially asleep?!

We all had goals in mind.  I came up with a ridiculous goal of 1:30.  I honestly don't know how I thought I could run that fast, or where that goal came from, but there it was.  Earlier in the week I told someone that my ultimate goal was 1:30, I'd be excited with 1:35, and anything less than 1:43 I'd PR.  So any of those would suffice.

We started the run and were off.  I watched my garmin the entire race and just tried to gauge how I felt during each mile.  I maintained an average pace of 8:45-9:10 the entire race.  During mile 8 I wanted to just stop, and walk, or maybe cry.  I was starting to hurt, my calves were on fire.  At this point I couldn't stop, I was killing it and would actually make my time.

Up until a few months ago I was an ok runner, averaging between a 10-10:30 pace, figuring these hips didn't run that fast.  March I PR'd in a half and a 5k and thought I could PR for Broad Street too.  Never, did I ever think I could go from a 10 minute paced half marathon in March, to running a 9:06 pace for a 10 miler 6 weeks later.  

But, I DID!  And although I can't even comprehend how I managed, I'm so thrilled I met my goal.  I was running to the finish and was within seconds of hitting 1:31- I beat that by 3 seconds.  

After the race we celebrated (with free beers).  Which was a good thing, because we then had an hour plus wait for a taxi back to the hotel.

 Cheers to Broad Street next year and the years to come.  Even though every year we say it's our last. :)

2 PR's, 1 week.

I ran my second half-marathon on St. Patrick's Day on a pretty hilly course.  It must've been the luck of the Irish, because I took 22 minutes off my last half time.  Now before I make it sound absolutely amazing, let me explain my reasoning why this happened.  And, why anyone else who is "slower" (than most other runners at these things), can do it too!

• My first half time was 2:33 a little less than a year ago.  At that point that was the furthest I had ran, and it was an ugly, boring course on a rather hot day.  I was just happy to complete the run, at that point said I wouldn't run that distance again.

• I was still experimenting with fuel and was still taking mint chocolate gu gels (which I've since discontinued) because I realized my stomach didn't appreciate them.

• In between these two half marathon's I did run a full marathon, which totally changed my perception on running. And fuel, and water, and stretching.

• I started doing speed work, intervals, tempo runs etc about two months ago.

• I added two days of strength and yoga in the mix too.

• The running plan I followed had me running a 9:15 race pace, yea..

The day before, my parents, for the first time that I can remember, had a themed party, for St. Patty's Day.  I obviously couldn't miss this, so I went and decided not to drink alcohol.  My food the day before was all over the board: steak, baked potato, cornbeef sandwich, cake, cookies, and LOTS of water.  I figurd my time couldn't get any slower, so why not experiment with food.  Again, this wasn't the smartest idea, I could've eaten much cleaner.

It was then the morning of the half.  I started running and maintained a 9:30-9:45 pace for the first 7 miles.  The hills then kicked in and decreased my pace closer to 10-10:30.  I just made sure i was at or below a 10 minute pace.  When I ran up the ridiculous hill at the end I finished in 2:11, it must've been adrenaline because thinking of that today makes me cringe.  Probably because my body is still recovering, I'm pretty sure I strained my calf.  I ran once last week since the half then ran a 5k on Saturday.

I went into the 5k with hopes of beating my time from last yeat at the same race.  My time last year was 29 something.  The night before the run I went to happy hour and had pizza and beer, again not the best idea.  I got to the 5k and decided I wanted to run it between 26-27 minutes.  If I didn't have to bob and weave through 85% of the people, I think I could've made my time.  I still pr'd and finished in 27:58.  I beat my old PR from 5 years ago of 28:27!!

Next half goal is under 2 hours and next 5k goal is 25-26!

Speed work, most definitely works and saves you time running extra, unnecessary mileage.

Tempo what?!

Since I can't just run a marathon and take a break I've signed myself up for more races.  I ran a 10 miler in January, plan to run a half in March, and another 10 miler in May (if i'm selected in the lottery).

Work recently added an itty, bitty gym, but it's a gym nonetheless.  The one awesome perk is that a trainer runs the gym, and nobody is really ever there.  This came at the perfect time, because the YMCA and I had to break up.  The rate for a single person had gone up to $57/month.  One of many reasons I feel society forces us to get married.  The rate for a family was $89 for 2-1,000 people in a given family unit.  As a single woman I cannot afford to subsidize everyone else's membership.  The gym became obsolete during training, anyway.

The trainer at work met with me when they opened to assess my body fat, fitness and flexibility.  She created a weight training routine for me, as well as a running plan to help me beat my last half time (2:33, which shouldn't be hard to beat).  In 6 weeks I had gone down 2% in body fat, and started to run by her plan.  By the way, going down 2% in 6 weeks was apparently a good thing!  I guess when I told her to get rid of the "jiggle", she listened.

When she showed me my schedule of runs, I laughed.  I would still be running 4 days a week which was good.  Here's the funny part, she included things like tempo run, interval run, lactate threshold, race pace.  Things I had only ever seen in runners magazines- and reserved for serious runners.  After researching and figuring some of this out, here's my take on these runs:

• Tempo run- warm up, run for a set time at your threshold pace, cool down.  For me this means running at 8:38pace (and hopefully not vomiting at the end)

• Easy/long run- this is what I considered to be "my pace", apparently not after running my fastest mile in 8:30.  My so called pace of 10-11ish is considered easy- and is only reserved for long runs.  This made me sad, and made me miss my marathon longs runs- just enjoying life! 

• Intervals- warm up, sprint a certain distance, regain breathing for a minute, repeat (usually 4-6 times), cool down.  I must say these are my favorite, I feel like a Kenyan Olympian, (i'm sure the visual is not as awesome) and I don't end up with a medal.

• Race pace run-  Based on my mile time, I should be able to complete a half or less in a 9:15 pace (or less).  This again, made me laugh.  So I tried it.  I've only had one run so far at race pace- and I was shocked when I actually did it.  I ran 4 miles in 37 minutes. Maybe there is a method to this madness.

After running a marathon I thought I'd run out of blog ideas.  I'm such a newbie runner, I'm sure I could continue this for the life of my running adventures and always have something to say.

My lesson of the week (which I shouldn't have had to learn):

Running without socks, in rain, with orthotics in shoes, ends badly.  4 blood blisters, badly.

Happy Running!! :)

Why I LOVE Running..

I started "just running" 6 years ago.  Back then, I had no idea what I got myself into.  I've now trained and ran everything from a 5k to a marathon.  Running changes you.

Here are my top ten reasons, why I LOVE to run:

1. Running is my stress reliever
2. The unspoken runner camaraderie
3. The motivation you provide to others
4. You get out of running (and life), what you put in
5. The excitement that friends and family share at your first big race
6. Embracing the term "you must be crazy"
7. Pushing your body to the limit
8. Having a deeper understanding of  nutrition
9. Running wherever your feet take you
10. New appreciation for every season- and the clothing made for it!

Since my marathon

I've been slacking on this blog, time to get up to speed.  Really, this is the best procrastination I can come up with to avoid my online faculty training to teach.  Oops..

Well, I'd always heard running a marathon changes you, just like getting married and having kids can.  BUT, I just took this in stride (pun intended) :) and trained and ran a marathon, not really understanding this philosophy.

They say for something to become a habit it must be repeated for I think 6 weeks.  Multiply that by 3, and you've got newbie marathon training.  Habit set in stone.  I now workout 6 days a week, and if I miss a day, I'm way off.

I decided to run a marathon for a few reasons, some of which I realized after the fact.

1. Running a marathon is a big deal.
2. I didn't want to lose the training from my half marathon.  Which looking back, wasn't  much in comparison.
3. Training is mentally tough i.e. will toughen you up, or make you cry!
4. Running in the dead of the summer heat and humidity is just ridiculous.  So why not try it.
5. Marathon training takes time, and I've got plenty of that.  No distractions here!
6. Get more in shape.  I've heard stories of weight gain and loss, and well I just thought I could be another story of weight loss.  Then I realized my bone structure wouldn't change if I ran 1,000 miles.
7. Join the 1%.  I'm competitive in my own weird way, so if there's a chance I can do some others haven't/can't/wouldn't dream of- I'm usually in.
8. To prove myself, and anyone who ever told me I couldn't, wrong.  I was always just average in everything growing up, and I didn't want that anymore.

The first few weeks after the marathon I didn't really want to run, and when I did I didn't enjoy it.  Apparently this is totally normal, and the fun did return a few weeks out.

Back to number 2 from above, I didn't want to lose all of my training.  That being said I wasn't venturing out in the early morning for any 15 mile runs either.  So I decided to stick with 4 runs a week.  The 3 during the week between 3-4 miles a run and the weekend mileage around 8-11 miles a run.  I've also stuck with yoga twice a week and added strength training twice a week.

My goal is to run a race decent race every two months.  So the marathon was November 18, two months out put me at the January Icicle run 10 miler.  So I just maintained mileage and ran 10 hilly miles in 1:46- not bad considering I hadn't been all out training, and my downhill 10 mile time is a minute less typically.

And in two more months I'll be running the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon, conveniently on St. Patrick's Day.  Maybe I'll dress up like a leprechaun....maybe not.