Wednesday, October 9, 2013
26.2!!
Hi Blog I never write in. I thought I'd let you know I ran my marathon, finished under my goal time (Which was anything under five hours) and had a blast and am ready for the next one!!! I ran lots of long training runs that paid off and now I am a marathoner!! Yay!!!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Things nobody tells you about marathon training
1. You'll gain weight
2. You'll start to get pissed off at your Garmin if you see numbers you don't like
3. You never have time to dry your hair/make it look presentable
4. You ARE going to get pissed off at some point along that 16 miler.
5. Hopefully you like salt because its your new fav accessory as your sweat dries to create an awesome new mask on your face.
6. You will start to think Gu tastes yummy and get envious when you see other runners taking their gel and you haven't hit your mile to rip yours open.
7. You'll swear at kids, old people and families if they don't get out of the way when your are running that really awesome mile, man.
8. You start to say hi to random runners and hope the ones going faster than you are only on mile 5 or something, not mile 18 or something like that.
More to come.
2. You'll start to get pissed off at your Garmin if you see numbers you don't like
3. You never have time to dry your hair/make it look presentable
4. You ARE going to get pissed off at some point along that 16 miler.
5. Hopefully you like salt because its your new fav accessory as your sweat dries to create an awesome new mask on your face.
6. You will start to think Gu tastes yummy and get envious when you see other runners taking their gel and you haven't hit your mile to rip yours open.
7. You'll swear at kids, old people and families if they don't get out of the way when your are running that really awesome mile, man.
8. You start to say hi to random runners and hope the ones going faster than you are only on mile 5 or something, not mile 18 or something like that.
More to come.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Run, run and run some more
Hi blog. So much is going on over here! But I'll just chat about running. I've run quite a bit the last 6 days, 25 miles in fact! I have a 15-mile run planned for Saturday along the ocean. Sort of looking forward to it but also nervous as that will be my longest distance ever.
My 13 miler on Saturday went well and I even finished at a reasonable time despite it being at a slow pace for me. Tonight's 8 mile run went extremely well and I felt really good the whole time. I even ran more than 8 cause I am a Garmin freak and my watch didn't start working until .25 of my run and I needed it to read 8 exactly.
Speaking of 8, less than 8 weeks left until PDX. I am very nervous for my marathon because I know my training has been nowhere near what it should be. But, I think I can finish which has become my main priority right now.
Other thoughts on marathon training: I have gained weight. I will be the first person to say serious runners are not in this for weight loss. This is an endurance sport and you have to eat a ton and fuel your body properly to see good results and build a lot of muscle. I can see a complete transformation in my legs and abs. My calf muscles have gotten enormous as have my quads. I am totally OK with this and love my strong sturdy body. In fact when I shave my legs I am usually taken back by how strong and cut my legs are.
I must say though I haven't been making the best eating choices. I just want carbs, carbs, carbs. I need to eat more fruit and veggies. My two pieces of fruit a day and three servings or so of veggies aren't cutting it. I know for most people that is seriously awesome but for someone who usually eats 3-4 fruit servings and 5 veggies servings it's not anything to write home about.
Running so much has made me feel that it's OK to have a beer after work and eat snacks before dinner, two things I never did before. I can say my beer intake has tripled. For some bizarre reason nothing quenches my thirst or tastes as amazing after a long run then a beer. Hmmmm odd.
In other news I am a year older. 26!!! The same age as marathon distance. Crazzzy. Bedtime. Have lots to do this weekend and a 15-miler on my radar.
My 13 miler on Saturday went well and I even finished at a reasonable time despite it being at a slow pace for me. Tonight's 8 mile run went extremely well and I felt really good the whole time. I even ran more than 8 cause I am a Garmin freak and my watch didn't start working until .25 of my run and I needed it to read 8 exactly.
Speaking of 8, less than 8 weeks left until PDX. I am very nervous for my marathon because I know my training has been nowhere near what it should be. But, I think I can finish which has become my main priority right now.
Other thoughts on marathon training: I have gained weight. I will be the first person to say serious runners are not in this for weight loss. This is an endurance sport and you have to eat a ton and fuel your body properly to see good results and build a lot of muscle. I can see a complete transformation in my legs and abs. My calf muscles have gotten enormous as have my quads. I am totally OK with this and love my strong sturdy body. In fact when I shave my legs I am usually taken back by how strong and cut my legs are.
I must say though I haven't been making the best eating choices. I just want carbs, carbs, carbs. I need to eat more fruit and veggies. My two pieces of fruit a day and three servings or so of veggies aren't cutting it. I know for most people that is seriously awesome but for someone who usually eats 3-4 fruit servings and 5 veggies servings it's not anything to write home about.
Running so much has made me feel that it's OK to have a beer after work and eat snacks before dinner, two things I never did before. I can say my beer intake has tripled. For some bizarre reason nothing quenches my thirst or tastes as amazing after a long run then a beer. Hmmmm odd.
In other news I am a year older. 26!!! The same age as marathon distance. Crazzzy. Bedtime. Have lots to do this weekend and a 15-miler on my radar.
Monday, July 29, 2013
My First 10K
Can you believe despite all the races I have run I have never done a 10K? Well, on Saturday I finally did my first one and had a blast trail racing. I forgot how excited I get on trails and how much I love it.
Lauren drove us out to Lake Chabot bright and early and we picked up our bibs. Waited around for the 10K to line up and before we knew it we were off. This was the first time racing with my Garmin and I had no problems and it didn't hinder me like I though it might. Th first 1.5 miles was on a paved trail with small rolling hills. I clocked a 9:40 for the first mile but noticed the course was running long. Ended up being a 6.4 mile run rather than 6.2
After we hit dirt things started to get more difficult. There was a 900 foot climb to the top of mile 3.2 so basically I climbed for over a mile and it was EXTREMELY steep. I managed OK and enjoyed the challenged but clocked a 15 minute mile for mile 3. YIKES.
I managed to get back a little big of that time but forgot how bad I am at racing down steep hills. I struggled and nearly slipped a few times. Once we hit pavement again I picked up the pace a lot and raun the last 1.5 miles with an average of 8:50 min miles and crossed the finish line strong and so happy.
Lauren wasn't far behind and we both agreed the race was super fun. The after race food was awesome, too. They had It's Its!! YUM.
Final time: 1:10:47
8/33 age group
114/313 overall
Lauren drove us out to Lake Chabot bright and early and we picked up our bibs. Waited around for the 10K to line up and before we knew it we were off. This was the first time racing with my Garmin and I had no problems and it didn't hinder me like I though it might. Th first 1.5 miles was on a paved trail with small rolling hills. I clocked a 9:40 for the first mile but noticed the course was running long. Ended up being a 6.4 mile run rather than 6.2
After we hit dirt things started to get more difficult. There was a 900 foot climb to the top of mile 3.2 so basically I climbed for over a mile and it was EXTREMELY steep. I managed OK and enjoyed the challenged but clocked a 15 minute mile for mile 3. YIKES.
I managed to get back a little big of that time but forgot how bad I am at racing down steep hills. I struggled and nearly slipped a few times. Once we hit pavement again I picked up the pace a lot and raun the last 1.5 miles with an average of 8:50 min miles and crossed the finish line strong and so happy.
Lauren wasn't far behind and we both agreed the race was super fun. The after race food was awesome, too. They had It's Its!! YUM.
Final time: 1:10:47
8/33 age group
114/313 overall
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Listening to my body (part II)
Despite getting a massage after my poor excuse for a seven miler Saturday I still took Sunday and Monday to rest as I typically do this training schedule. Monday is usually yoga and Sunday is always full rest. Tuesday I laced back up and stretched like a mofo before an easy short run. I ran at my normal pace and felt fine. I stretched and rolled afterwards and did squats and lunges and called it a day. Then yesterday my shins were on fire all morning. I have no idea why as I usually don't have shin issues and I have been pretty much on an extreme cutback the last week.
This morning I laced back up again and headed up for another easy three miles and felt great and pain free and my shins hurt less. But now I am nervous about my long run and if my body will revolt to 13 miles after only having to run 22 miles the last week and a half.
Perhaps I need new shoes? I realized I have about 400 miles on these guys I am running in right now. For now I am a bit frustrated and scared about getting injured but also scared about not sticking to my training plan. I figure listening to my body is more important than junky miles if I want to get to the start line healthy. I am also reassessing my idea of a sub 4:30 and just wanting to finish.
Sigh. I realize writing solely about running (no pun intended) is so very self-indulgent but I really like to externalize all of these thoughts and keep track of progress. So with that, on to the rest of the week and hopefully less pain and more smiling.
This morning I laced back up again and headed up for another easy three miles and felt great and pain free and my shins hurt less. But now I am nervous about my long run and if my body will revolt to 13 miles after only having to run 22 miles the last week and a half.
Perhaps I need new shoes? I realized I have about 400 miles on these guys I am running in right now. For now I am a bit frustrated and scared about getting injured but also scared about not sticking to my training plan. I figure listening to my body is more important than junky miles if I want to get to the start line healthy. I am also reassessing my idea of a sub 4:30 and just wanting to finish.
Sigh. I realize writing solely about running (no pun intended) is so very self-indulgent but I really like to externalize all of these thoughts and keep track of progress. So with that, on to the rest of the week and hopefully less pain and more smiling.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Aloha!
We're back from our mini-vacation. It was beautiful and warm. I wish we had one more day to lay on the beach.
The good news is I managed two pain-free runs and got a sports massage. Ahh. Much needed.
Back to the grind and time to gear up for my 14 miler.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Terrible, horrible, no good news
I laced up for my little four mile jaunt yesterday and as soon as I hit my third or fourth stride the back ligament on my right leg seemed to catch on something every fifth or so stride. I didn't feel any pain but I know that is NOT normal for me and tried a ton of stretching and did squats and lunges to see if I could loosen it up but nothing seemed to stop it.
I am angry, scared and mostly sad. I hope this is just my body telling me to take a few extra rest days and that I will be fine after resting my legs and perhaps a massage but it is frightening. The odd thing is it doesn't hurt at all and it doesn't "pop" or stretch or whatever it's doing when I am just walking. I know my calf and hammies are super tight so I am assuming that has something to do with it.
For now I am going to rest and cross-train and hope I can run four on Friday. I think four rest days may do the trick? Ugh. Let's hope so.
I am angry, scared and mostly sad. I hope this is just my body telling me to take a few extra rest days and that I will be fine after resting my legs and perhaps a massage but it is frightening. The odd thing is it doesn't hurt at all and it doesn't "pop" or stretch or whatever it's doing when I am just walking. I know my calf and hammies are super tight so I am assuming that has something to do with it.
For now I am going to rest and cross-train and hope I can run four on Friday. I think four rest days may do the trick? Ugh. Let's hope so.
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