Training Log

2012 Houston Half Marathon

2012-01-20T20:34:00.000-05:00

2 weeks ago, my coach emailed me a goal time for the Houston Half Marathon. The goal was 1:40:24. I admit, I freaked out a bit seeing this. My previous half marathon PR was 1:48:3x. But my training had gone well ... still 13.1 miles with average minute per mile under 8 min? I wasn't so sure. But I knew I wanted to give it my all. So going in, my A goal was 1:40:24 or faster, my A- goal was sub 1:43, my B goal sub 1:45 and my C goal was a new PR.

We got to Houston on Friday after leaving Boston at 6:30am. I went with Dave & my mom. Our first stop was the expo, which was big and well organized. I did a pull up hang for 60+ seconds at the Marine's station to get a coffee mug. That killed my arms. After the expo we headed to my uncle's house, where we were staying. We hit up Whole Foods for lunch and it was delish! After lunch, Dave & I went for an easy 4 mile run, it was warm out! My legs felt great during this run and I was feeling good. We had a delicious dinner that night and went to bed before 8.

Saturday morning we were up at 6:30am and heading into Houston at 7am. Thank God for Starbucks! Needed my coffee. We watched the Olympic Marathon Trials that morning and it was so inspiring. I was so happy for the top 3, and devastated for the 4th place finishers. It was amazing to be there watching these athletes accomplishing the goals they had been working so hard for. We saw the runners at mile 2, 10, 18 and 26. I loved watching Meb finish especially, he was so thrilled!

We spent the rest of Saturday relaxing and fueling. I watched the first half of the Patriots game on Saturday night, I was very thankful they had a sizable lead so I could go to bed early. Dave, of course, stayed up to watch.

I slept surprisingly well that night until waking up for good at 4am. I took my time eating and getting ready before we left at 5am. There was a bit of traffic getting there but not too bad. We porta potty hopped until finishing some with basically no lines, after taking care of business, it was off to the corrals. Since I was in Corral A, I had to be in by 6:40am. Then I just stood around for 20 minutes, boring ... took a gel and retied my right shoe at least 3 times. I think the retying thing comes from my figure skating days.

At 7am, we were off. It was a bit crowded for the first mile. And there was an bit of an uphill but I was fine, settling in well.

(Garmin splits, 1.01 time (pace))
Mile 1: 8:02 (7:57)
Mile 2: 7:38 (7:33), definitely spread out here ... didn't realize I ran the 2nd mile this fast, probably a bit of a mistake.
Mile 3: 7:42 (7:37), don't remember anything other than joining the marathoners here
Mile 4: 7:41 (7:36) ... find the 3:20 marathon pace group and try to run just behind them ... they're going a bit faster than I expected though
Mile 5: 7:33 (7:29) ... ooops
Mile 6: 7:34 (7:29) ... consistent at least ... ideally I should have been in the high 730s here I'm thinking. Took a gel with caffeine here ...
Mile 7: 7:39 (7:34) ... feeling good
Mile 8: 7:37 (7:32), I remember thinking just hold it in the 730s for 2 more miles, I can drop down to the 720s the last 5K and maybe run sub 140 ...
Mile 9: 7:40 (7:35), separate from the marathoners here
Mile 10: 7:43 (7:38) ... take another gel and try to drop the pace but can't ... just hang on to the 730s ...
Mile 11: 7:49 (7:44) and we're heading in the wrong direction ... keep repeating 1 line mantras to myself ... cannot stop, cannot walk, just go ... you can do anything for 20 minutes
Mile 12: 7:51 (7:46), just hanging on
Mile 13: 7:44 (7:39), ok maybe sub 141? Into the wind here, it sucked
Last .11: 7:12 pace
Total: 1:41:00 and I'm thrilled. Not sub 1:40, not 1:40:24 but a 7+ min PR and a great race for me!

Lessons learned:
- Still need to hold back for the first few miles
- I can run a whole half marathon without walking
- I am mentally strong
- Setting hard too reach goals is a good thing
- I need to believe in myself more, my coach knew I could do it, I was doubtful.
- Don't do a pull up hang the day before - my arms and shoulders were killing after the race
- Concrete sucks to run on

I'm still feeling great about this race, yeah I didn't reach my goal but I was close and I will get under 1:40 next time! I usually have major stomach issues during and after races and I didn't deal with this at all ... so awesome.

A quote that really describes how I've been feeling:

"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark."
~ Michelangelo

Up next: Cooper River Bridge Run (10K) ... not sure if I'm racing it or running it yet.

2012

2012-01-12T08:21:00.000-05:00

2012 is going to be a big year for me. I'm getting married. As if that's not enough, I'm also going to be training for my first (and second) half ironman. I think a lot of people think I'm crazy to do this but for me, I need more than one big thing to focus on. That doesn't mean I won't get stressed out or everything will go perfectly smoothly but I'm pretty sure I can do it. I have a lot of help, my fiance especially. He makes us dinner every night so that I can just come home and relax. He doesn't care that I go to bed before 9pm most nights of the week and he does a lot of the cleaning too. I'm very blessed to have him. I also only work 4 days a week, so I have a whole extra day to rest and work out. So while the next 7+ months will probably be crazy, they'll be manageable and fun too! Of course, we're adding a 4 month old puppy to the mix on Monday so we must love the crazy!

Isn't she adorable?

But before Dash comes home, we're off to Houston for a race. Dave & I are both racing the Houston Half Marathon on Sunday. I have a pretty big goal. When I got my schedule for this month from my coach, I freaked out a little when I saw the time goal. But she knows I can do it and so do I. I'm going to have to be mentally tough for sure. Being mentally tough is definitely harder for me than being physically tough. I mean I was a figure skater for years, and I fell so many times everyday. My body is used to pain, it's used to falling and hurting. But my head has always held me back and it's time for me to fight that. I posted this on facebook yesterday:

“The greatest battle is not physical but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit, cannot be silenced for good. They must always be answered by the dignity that simply refuses to give in: Courage. We all suffer. Keep going.” — Graeme Fife

I'm going to be courageous this weekend. Yeah, I'm going to suffer but that's a part of racing. I'm ready to push myself out of my comfort zone. This is my year.

Long weekend

2011-04-10T19:32:00.000-04:00

On Friday, my mom and I flew out of Boston at 6:15am, we got into NC around 10:15am. Then we hung out at the mall there and ate lunch. My brother picked us up around 12:45pm. Then we circled around Jacksonville, NC for about an hour fighting over which GPS direction's to take. Finally we settled that and headed out, back to Boston. After a long drive full of unhealthy food, loud music (thanks Cody), some fighting, rain, slow speed limits with cops all around and in a packed to the brim car, we made it back to Boston around 3:15am. I crawled into bed and didn't wake up until Saturday afternoon.

I was not up for any physical activity on Saturday, I was bone tired. So we just did some grocery shopping, relaxing and movie watching before heading to bed early.

I slept in again this morning, missing my yoga class. But sometimes sleep needs to win especially on a weekend with a long car ride with barely any sleep. When I did wake up, I got all my stuff together and headed to the Y to swim. I swam 1600 yards in about 45 minutes and felt the strongest I have felt since I started swimming. The lessons are really paying off it seems. I'm thrilled. After my swim, I went for a 1:05 bike ride, covering 16.05 miles. I got a bit lost in some neighborhoods on this ride but it was enjoyable just riding around and enjoying the gorgeous day. When I got back from my ride, my mom wanted me to run with her, so we did an easy 3 miles at a nice pace.

It was a good day of training to end the weekend on. I spent the afternoon resting, and watching the Masters. Now it's time to get ready for the week ahead. I hope it's a good training week.

A bit of a breakthrough

2011-04-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

On Tuesdays I like to go to my Vinyasa Yoga class from 6-715. Now this can sometimes be hard since I work just over an hour away and I can't leave work until 5 most days. So yesterday, I managed to leave a 4:55 but it was raining so I wasn't sure I'd make it. Luckily I did, due mostly to my lead foot ;). Anyway, yoga was decent. I couldn't relax completely so I didn't get the best practice. Oh well, some days you do and some days you don't.

After yoga, I was agonizing about going to swim. I was exhausted and hungry. I was ready to just dial it in and head home. I even called Dave to debate it with him, luckily he pushed me to go and I went. I swam for just under 30 minutes, doing 1000 yards of backstroke and freestyle.

My breakthrough is really two things, I suppose. One - that I didn't just give in and go home, skipping swimming. I've been lenient on myself too much recently and let myself skip planned workouts. I can't do that if I want to improve. My second breakthrough was trying bilateral breathing on free and realizing that although I always breath to the left, I actually have better technique with breathing to the right, so I'm going to really focus on bilateral breathing and my swimming technique in general for the next few months and worry less about speed and endurance. I've come to realize that in swimming, technique must come first because with bad technique you're never going to really get faster and build endurance. So during tomorrow's lesson I'm going to slow it down and really focus on the details. I believe it will pay off.

I'm hoping to get outside for a brick tonight - short bike and short run - my first run in weeks! I hope it goes well. I'm trying my Saucony Kinvaras rather than Brooks Ghost since the Ghosts seemed to be hitting on a certain spot in my foot and repeatedly aggravating it the few times I've attempted to run since February's half marathon.

Good weekend of training

2011-04-04T10:56:00.000-04:00

Friday: Went to a Vinyasa Yoga class from 8-910, which was great. I really enjoy Vinyasa and I have an excellent instructor. After yoga, it was off to the pool. I did 800 yards. I was exhausted after having swim class the night before but I felt pretty good. I even managed to circle swim with 2 other swimmers at one point and I didn't mess up haha. Besides training, I spent the rest of the day getting drug tested for one of the sites I work at, having lunch with my mom and then getting a pedicure with her. Dave and I went out that afternoon to watch the Sox home opener and then hung out at home with a friend that night.

On Saturday, I went to yoga for a 1.5 hour class in the morning. It wasn't as challenging as Friday's class but it was good. I had accupuncture and a massage on Saturday, both were awesome and much needed. Then my mom and I took the dog for a hike. I went out again Saturday night even though I was exhausted.

Sunday, slept in a little and then headed to the pool. I did 1000 yards in 31 minutes, I felt pretty good today although I really need to get past the hump of only being able to swim 100 yards at a time. My breathing and endurance suck. I must get better if I want to swim 1/3 of a mile in less than 15 minutes during my July triathlon. I need to find out how to best breathe and really focus on it. After my swim, I biked outside! for an hour. I did about 14.4 miles in an hour, which is pretty decent I think considering I was on a hybrid bike not a road bike.

Which brings me too - I was thinking about upgrading to a road bike this month since I want one. But now I'm thinking I should stick with the hybrid for my July triathlon and make sure I really do love triathlon before I move up to a road bike no matter how much I really do want a road bike now. If I wait, I can save up and get a nicer one which is a plus too. I'm not sure what I'll do - still mulling it over.

My plan for this week is:

Monday: 1 hour spin class, maybe strength train

Tuesday: 1 hour, 15 min yoga class, 30-45 min swim

Wednesday: 1 hour bike ride, 30 min run (if my foot cooperates)

Thursday: 1 hour spin class, 45 min swim class

Friday: rest day - off to NC for the day.

Saturday: possibly 1.5 hour yoga class if I'm not too tired, 1 hour bike, 30 min run (dependent on foot)

Sunday: 45 min swim, 1 hour run (dependent on foot)

Have a fabulous week!

Swimming and Motivation

2011-03-31T16:06:00.000-04:00

Sometimes, I'm such a slacker and it's something I really hope to improve on. I didn't used to be this way. I practiced figure skating 6 days a week and hardly ever missed practice. There were no excuses, if I didn't feel like it, oh well, I had to suck it up and go. I need to get that attitude back.

This week, I planned on swimming Monday after spin class but I talked myself out of it since I would have to wait around for the lap lanes to open for 45 minutes and I felt bad that Dave had to wait on me. Then, I decided I'd swim yesterday at 8pm, so I went home after work and relaxed. Then I had to drop off a form for Dave's parents, which is conveniently near the Y I go to. But then we got to talking and I stayed there longer than I planned and I knew I had told Dave I'd have dinner ready for him when he got home, so I skipped swimming. I suck.

I will be swimming tonight since it's my class night, I also will go to spin before. I plan on swimming either Friday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday too. No excuses.

On a better note, I've been attending yoga relatively consistently over the month of March and I think it is really helping me relax, focus and spend time healing my body along with my mind. I'm really enjoying it and hope to continue to go 2-3 times each week.

Off to find some motivational quotes!

It's been awhile

2011-03-29T08:23:00.000-04:00

I'm a crappy blogger, oh well. But I'm doing something new to me this summer and I figured I'll maybe try to blog about it again. I know I won't be consistent and I may not stick with it but today I feel like trying. And this is my blog so I'm gonna write in it.

I'll be attempting my first triathlon this summer - a sprint triathlon on July 17th. It's a 1/3 of a mile swim, 9 mile bike and 5K run. I'm not too worried about the run or bike but I am concerned about the swim. I started swim lessons 3 weeks ago and seem to be progressing. I can swim about 100 yards consistently now and I'm hoping to start swimming 3-4x a week so that I can quickly increase that distance. Breathing seems to be my biggest issue when it comes to swimming, so that's my main focus these days.

I'm also in the process of researching a road bike that costs less than $1,000 to buy. I have a hybrid bike I have been using for awhile but I'd really like something a little faster for the triathlon. I'm also taking spin class 2-3x a week and using my trainer until the weather cooperates for outdoor riding.

My running is zilch right now. I ran a half marathon at the end of February and PRed but I also aggravated my left foot in the process, I think it's just a mild case of tendonitis but I'm giving it another week off since when I tried to run last week it didn't go great.

So that's where I am at now, we'll see how everything progresses over the next few months.

slogging through six

2010-09-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

so i had a 6 mile threshold run planned for this morning. but my long run has been moved from sunday to saturday and while both types of runs are important, right now quantity is more important to me than quality. so i decided that i would just do a 6 mile easy run this morning and that during tomorrow's 12 mile progression run, i'll try and hit the last two miles @ hmp.

it was gross when i woke up this morning, misting, grey and humid. not ideal conditions for any type of run. so i waited until the boyfriend headed out for work, and then set out for my easy 6 miles. easy? yeah right. my legs rebelled against me from the start. they were just tired and heavy. still, i decided i would do a hilly route today instead of just a blah flat one. yeah, definitely should have stuck with the flat, usual route. my first hill comes right after i hit one mile. it goes up, up, up for just over half a mile. i could feel it in my legs already. get to the top, it's flat and then downhill to round out the mile. i finish up mile 2, turn around and go up the previous downhill. not feeling it at all. make it up the hill and it's downhill again, yessss! i get back down to the main road and decide to not do the next hill i had planned and just finish up the remaining 3 miles if i can. and i barely could. seriously, wtf was up with my legs this morning. i was so sluggish and just couldn't move. but i made it back home. stretched and took an ice bath. yes, an ice bath after 6 measly miles. oh well, my legs needed it.

here's hoping that tomorrow's 12 miles go much better than today's 6 did. my boyfriend is joining me on the bike again which is always great support! we're having a houseguest this weekend so the rest of the weekend will be spent going to red sox games, watching the patriots and probably eating more than i should. i swear i'll try to keep the eating in control it's just so hard at all these sporting events and going out to dinner with people etc ... but i'm really focused on the weight loss goal right now so it's important for me to keep it in check. anyway ... maybe i'll take some pics or something this weekend to liven up the boringness.

Staying on Track

2010-09-15T09:38:00.000-04:00

So, I had a crappy summer. I've written about it. I've thought about it. I can basically sum it up as lack of running, extreme tiredness and no motivation. Well, that's not going to carry over into fall. I've got some goal races coming up and it's time to dig deep, focus and stay on track.

So what have I done? I've rewritten my training plan for my upcoming Half Marathon (October 17). I've made myself get over Sunday's horrific 10K performance and I've recommitted. I love running but it isn't always easy and getting better and getting faster takes work and commitment. I'm extremely lucky at this stage in my life that my life is very simple: I work part-time, I don't have a husband or children and I can commit myself to training. I do have a boyfriend but as a professional athlete (so weird for that to be true), he understands that I'm all about running, eating right, sleeping and recovering until January 30, 2011. I'm waiting to see how I do at my upcoming half marathons (October and November) but if they go well, I'd really like to try to qualify for Boston in January. It seems unlikely right now but with hard work and some luck, maybe I can do it. If I go 1:44 for either half marathon, then I'll go for the BQ. If not, just sub 4 or sub 3:50. We will see.

So this week the plan is:
Monday: 6 mile recovery run, strength training - lower body
Tuesday: off, it was Dave's mom's birthday so we went out with them and I worked all day so didn't fit the workout in.
Wednesday: 6 miles easy, abs, strength training -upper body
Thursday: yoga and walk or recovery run
Friday: 6 mile tempo, abs
Saturday: bike ride and yoga
Sunday: 12 mile progression run

September 6-12 Review including an awful 10K race

2010-09-13T14:15:00.001-04:00

Quick Recap of Last Week:

September 6: Easy day, went to the track with the boyfriend since he had a sprint workout to do and I did just a short recovery run (1.5 miles). Before going to the track, I did a 20 minute ab workout. Since it was Labor Day, we had a fun rest of the day, played 9 holes of golf with one of my friends and then had a cookout at the boy's family's house with some friends. It was a good, relaxing day after my progression run the day before.

September 7: Did an easy 3 miles (9:30 pace) and arms and abs. Nothing special about the day.

September 8: Did a track workout, 4x800 @ sub 5K pace (7:22) was the goal:
1 mile w/u
1st 800: 3:34 (7:07 pace)
400 recovery
2nd 800: 3:39 (7:18 pace)
400 recovery
3rd 800: 3:41 (7:22 pace)
400 recovery
and then I somehow messed up my Garmin so I only have the last 400 of the last 800 which was 1:45 (7:00 pace).
1.25 mile c/d

So it turned out to be a good workout, on pace and I felt good.

Did an ab workout before the track workout.

September 9: Just a leg workout and a short walk. Nice easy rest day, which was good because I had a long workday.

September 10: I worked in the morning and then had to help my mom change a flat tire, so that took some time. I had dinner plans at 6, which meant leaving my apartment by 4:50. So I ate lunch at 2:10 and then had to head out for my planned 5 miles right away. I only managed 3.75 miles since my stomach rebelled the whole time. Oh well!

September 11: Complete rest day.

Sunday: 3.1 mile w/u, 10K race, short c/d. So going into the race, I didn't really have a time goal since I don't think I'm in as good of shape as I was at the time of my 10K PR in Feb 2010 (47:35), so I was hoping for sub 49ish. I head out really fast (6:20 pace) but settle in quickly and the first mile is 7:30ish, as is the second mile. I felt good, legs felt fine and then I was crippled by a side stitch. It was like 10 knives were stabbing me in the side at once and I couldn't stand up straight. This continued for the next 3 miles which turned the race into a major fail (53:30). Ughhhhh. Oh well at least I get another chance at a race in 2 weeks (5K) which will hopefully give me a better idea of my fitness for October's half marathon.

Progression Run

2010-09-05T17:28:00.000-04:00

The boyfriend and I drove to our destination for this morning's run(me)/bike(him). First, we were going to go to Walden Pond but then about halfway there, I questioned whether bikes were allowed there. A quick look at the website (thanks blackberry) told us that no bikes were allowed. Ooops. So I went to the Mass DCR site and found a Rail Trail nearby that we headed too. 11 miles of paved trails. Glorious. And it was only 63 degrees at the start!!

I had an 8 mile progression run to do with the last 2 miles either moderate or hard, I'd decide when I got there.

Mile 1: 10:26, 147 avg. HR
Mile 2: 10:02, 151 avg. HR
Mile 3: 9:44, 156 avg. HR
Mile 4: 9:39, 159 avg. HR
Mile 5: 9:20, 1:64 avg. HR
Mile 6: 9:15, 163 avg. HR
I decided to run mile 7 moderate and mile 8 hard:
Mile 7: 8:40, 168 avg. HR
Mile 8: 7:43, 176 avg. HR

For the last mile, I gave the boyfriend my Garmin (he was riding alongside me) and told him that: 1. I'd like to run a sub 8 mile and that my heartrate should be between 176-180ish as that's my half marathon heartrate. So he stayed right beside me and paced me which worked out really well. I ran hard for that last mile and was very happy to see the 7:43 and the perfect average heart rate. Maybe all hope isn't gone for a half marathon PR in 5 weeks even though my running hasn't been consistent the past few weeks.

I hit 20.7 miles for the week, which is a good place to keep building from after coming back. I'll aim for 25 this coming week including either a 5K or 10K race on Sunday. I haven't decided which distance to race yet, probably doesn't matter since I doubt I'll PR at either distance.

Have a great holiday weekend to those of us in the US!

Trail Running

2010-08-30T11:46:00.000-04:00

I did my first trail run this morning. It was a great new experience. OMG are there some hills in those trails and lots of roots! It was fun but hard especially as my first real run in a week. It ended up being a pretty short run since I just wanted to test my foot and see if the softer surface helped it. I'm happy to report that my foot was feeling fine and that I got a great workout in, with some nice views.

View overlooking the marsh.

Another body of water along the trail.

Next time I run this trail, I'll have to get some pictures of the hills! They really got my heartrate up today.

Run stats:
2.79 miles
30:00 min
10:46 min/mile
Average HR: 147bpm
Max HR: 176bpm

a short run and some cross training

2010-08-29T21:04:00.000-04:00

since i took the week off from running, i've been doing a decent amount of walking. this helped me judge if my foot was feeling okay and also helped me get some exercise in since i'm not a fan of the gym, especially mine with it's crappy ellipticals and only a recumbent bike which bother my knee. anyway, after a 2 mile walk yesterday, i decided my foot was feeling pretty good and i could try some running today.

so, my parent's chocolate lab, remy, and i headed out to a path behind my parent's house this morning and did some running. there's a nice wide dirt road back there and rarely anyone out there so it was a nice soft surface for me to test my foot out on and it allows remy to run freely and not have to stay right with me on her leash. we did about a mile back there and then i figured we would walk a mile but remy wanted to run so we did some running on the streets and my foot felt fine! i'm so excited. i'm going to do 2-4 miles on a different trail tomorrow and see how it goes. i'm crossing my fingers.

then tonight, i went out to the club to hit golf balls with my dad which is actually a pretty good workout. probably more of a workout for my brain though, since my dad (who teaches golf) kept instructing me and i had to focus but it helped a lot and i'm getting to the point where i'm hitting the balls much better and much more consistently which is fun. i'd like to get to the point where i can play 18 holes with dave since i know he'd enjoy that.

in other news, i got a new (to me) car this weekend! a 2005 toyota corolla with only 47K miles on it. i'm so excited. i have air conditioning again, thankfully. i've been so miserable in my old car this summer.

it was a pretty good weekend and this should be a great week since dave comes home in 2 days!!!

summer's almost over!?!?!?!

2010-08-26T21:21:00.000-04:00

i swear if i could think of things to blog about more and if i thought i was a good writer, i'd blog more. but my life is pretty boring and i'm not a very good or interesting writer. oh well.

anyway, i can't believe that labor day is less than 2 weeks away and that summer is about to come to a close. it's been a different type of summer for me. it's probably been my laziest summer ever to be honest. i quit my full time job on june 9th and have been working part time since then. very part time. which has been nice but it will be good when it picks up again soon. i'm enjoying my new job and it doesn't involve sitting in front of a computer all day as my old job did, which is so nice. i need to be more active in my workplace so that i don't get bored.

besides not having a full time job, it's also been a lackluster summer of training. first, it took me way longer than i expected to recover from my marathon. then i struggled to get used to running in the high temps and humidity, as this was my first real summer of training in that type of weather - last summer in new england was cold and dreary most of the time. and i just wasn't motivated for some reason. i didn't have a purpose and i was exhausted all of the time. i still need to get a medical work up too since i'm still having a lot of symptoms that can't be explained but my insurance/new pcp is taking forever to come together, so hopefully i'll get in this fall. and now that i am motivated again, i have a little injury. ughhhh i'm so injury prone. i managed to be a figure skater for 12+ years and only have 2 big injuries but in running i have little things pop up so often. this time it's from wearing my new saucony kinvara's too much too soon. i think (am crossing my fingers) that it's just a ligament strain, i had something similar last fall too. i don't think it's a stress fracture, as there's no bone that hurts to press on or tap. it's on the inside of my foot near the arch, same spot as last year. so i'm taking this week off and icing it a lot. i've also taken this week to refocus my diet and weight loss goals. i have 15 pounds to lose and i will do it by january 1st. i'm dedicating myself to it once and for all. i'm sick of people telling me i look fine and don't need to lose weight. numbers don't lie and i have weight to lose. plus it will make me faster, which is my real goal.

so after this mini training break, i'll be back at it. i have a half marathon october 17th and i'm just hoping to go sub 1:49:00 there now, whereas before i was looking for 1:45-1:47. oh well. then i will switch my focus to the houston marathon in january, where my mom will be running her first half marathon! goooo mom! she's come a long way quick with running.

the other biggest difference in my summer is that my boyfriend has been gone for most of it. he spent july playing in a baseball league in new york, he was able to come home a few weekends that month at least. but after that league ended he got picked up my an independent league on the west coast and has been out there playing since. it's been an adjustment, living alone and being in different time zones but my boyfriend can now say he is a professional baseball player, which is quite the accomplishment and i am so freaking proud of him. i can't wait until he is home next tuesday though!

anyway, that's my summer in a nutshell (there was a lot of fun in there too that i didn't touch on) and i'm hoping for onward and upward from here. i can't wait to have a great marathon training cycle and hopefully going sub 4 in houston!

Two Good Runs

2010-08-01T20:46:00.000-04:00

Friday, I ran my first threshold run in forever. And it was hard. I did not hit the target's I set for the two ten minute intervals (HMP and 10K Pace). I ran 2 miles easy for warm up, then I was supposed to do 10 minutes at HMP. I set my Garmin for 8:00-8:20 pace for this part of the run and I ran it at 8:17, which was in the range but slower than I was hoping for. Then I ran 5 minutes easy before the next 10 minute interval of 10K pace (7:30-7:45 set on the Garmin), and I only managed 8:09. Then 2 mile cooldown for 7 miles total. I really need to work on my threshold runs. My plan for this week's threshold run is to run 2x10 minutes at HMP and to embrace the suffering during the run. My new mantra is "pain is good" and of course, "pain is weakness leaving the body". Of course, I mean good pain not injury pain.

So even though I didn't hit the paces, it was a good learning run and I still did push myself. I just need to get used to pushing it so that I can get faster this half marathon cycle.

I also played around with my Garmin before the run and I finally used Garmin Training Center to create a workout and transfer it to my Garmin. It was great to have the Garmin tell me when to run what segment of the run and it also beeped speed up when I was slow and beeped when I hit my target zone. I'll be using it a lot more!

Then I had my first double digit run since my marathon, meaning I hadn't run more than 9 miles in 2 months, eeek! I ran a 10.2 mile progression run with the last 15 minutes between moderate and hard. It felt good, I average 9:17 pace for the whole run which I'm happy with considering how slow I had been running due to the heat recently.

Total miles for the week: 34.3 miles
Total time spent running: 5:27:48
Average pace for the week: 9:33 min/mile
Number of runs: 5 - one easy with hill sprints, one recovery, one easy with fartlek intervals, one threshold and one medium long progression

Best week of training in a long time! Next week should be even better, I hope :)

Catching Up

2010-07-29T14:40:00.001-04:00

A busy weekend made me fall behind in the blogging world! My cousins were in town for the weekend and we had a lot of fun, although my running suffered and I ate way too much but family time trumps that in my books. Then my brother left to head back to Japan, which was hard but he's only there for a little while longer.

Anyway, check out Jodi's blog: http://runjodirun.blogspot.com/2010/07/thumbs-up-thursdayashley-cavicchi.html. She does Thumbs Up Thursday and this week, she asked to spotlight me! Thanks, Jodi!

As far as training goes this week:

Monday - ran 6 miles in 57:17 and then did 5x8 second hill sprints. Did the flexibility program from Advanced Marathoning afterwards.
Tuesday - set out to do 7 recovery miles but my stomach was not having it and I just felt off. So I did 4 slow, recovery miles in 41:48. Wish I could have managed more but it's all I had in me that day.
Wednesday - 35 minutes of a power yoga podcast.
Today - 7 miles in 66:15 - fartlek run, 8x20 seconds @3-5K pace. I did the first 4 20 second intervals at 5K pace (7:18 - I was on the treadmill so it was easy to be consistent) and the second 4 intervals at 7:08 pace. Felt really good during this run.

Miles for the week so far: 17 miles

Still need to get more cross training in. I'm working on it!

The real workout of the day - cleaning!

2010-07-22T20:55:00.001-04:00

Whew! I just cleaned my whole apartment - a nice deep clean. It took about 3 hours total. I clean weekly and daily but not as intense every time as I just did. It didn't help that I had laundry to do while cleaning, and to put away along with a full clean dishwasher to empty that I had been putting off. But I'm done! Now I can relax and enjoy the weekend. My aunt and cousins, plus another cousin are all coming into town this weekend and the two cousins my age are staying with me! Should be a fun but sad weekend. Sad because my brother has been home on leave for most of the month but he has to go back to his base in Japan on Monday :(. It'll be good to spend time with everyone though, I'm excited!

My other workout today was an easy 3 mile run:
Mile 1: 9:25
Mile 2: 9:39
Mile 3: 8:28

I had planned on more but I ate some chips that has wheat and dairy in them beforehand (stupid impulse) and my stomach wasn't feeling it. I hadn't run since Saturday as my ankle had been tweaky. No pain today though! I'm going to try and get out early tomorrow and do a 6-8 mile progression run. Then I'll try for a recovery 5-7 on Saturday and a 9 mile progression run Sunday. I'll need to get up early to get those in so that they don't cut into family time but I think I'll manage.

23 miles for the week at the least I'm hoping ... need to get back into the 30+ miles/week next week. Must start going to bed earlier and consistently doing my early morning runs. I need to figure out some tricks to make this happen ....

A Sub 7 Minute Mile ... Finally

2010-07-19T19:28:00.001-04:00

Back in high school, I had to take PE for only one year ... I was a sophomore. So we had to run the mile for the National Fitness Test or whatever it is called. I can't remember. Anyway, I'm a pretty competitive person so despite the fact that I didn't run back then, I decided on the day of the mile that I'd just try and keep up with the fastest girl in the class. Now, most of my class didn't care how long it took them ... well mostly the girls. So it was basically just the two of us for the girls that really ran. I remember that I managed to run the mile in 6:53 that day. Then I didn't run again.

Since I've started running again, I've tried to run a mile all out only a few times ... but I haven't been able to break a 7 minute mile. I know, crazy that I did it in high school when it didn't matter that much to me and now that I care, I can't do it. So my boyfriend wanted to go to the track this weekend and I was like sure ... I could use a change in pace and scenery. So after my speedwork on Thursday, I did a slowwwww recovery run on Friday going by heartrate only. I've grown to realize how important these recovery runs are ... but that's another post for another day. Anyway, by doing that nice recovery run on Friday my body was ready for Saturday. So we get to the track around 9, it's HOT and HUMID and the sun is beating down. I start with a warm up mile (10:xx pace) and feel sluggish. I feel like I don't have it in me today but I'm going to try anyway. The boyfriend has always been able to run the mile faster than me, so he's going to pace me and I'm going to use him to draft so that I can hopefully get my sub 7 minute mile finally.

So we start out, I had put my Garmin on the opposite arm than I usually wear it and facing in so that it's harder for me to glance at constantly ... I don't want the distraction and I just want to push myself. So after one lap of the track, I finally look down and we're going 5:55 pace ... I yell up at the BF, you're going sub 6 pace ... and he gradually slows down a little. The next lap and a half slow a little and then I get fed up about 2/3s of the way through the mile and pass the boyfriend ... I just had more than him that day, which is unusual. It probably helped that he had been pacing me. So I run the next lap and a halfish by myself ... and I finish in 6:48!!! I was thrilled.

After the mile, we did some other sprints and hills, then cooled down. While I was cooling down, my boyfriend made friends with the kindest elderly man who had been doing laps, he is 87 and looks about 70! He walks the track to stay in shape and he was so nice and talkative. I told him I only want to live to 87 if I'm as active as he still was!

I haven't run since Saturday since I'm having some minor ankle pain that I'm babying. I had a massage today and I'll put arnica gel and ice on it tonight. I'm hoping for a good early morning progression run tomorrow.

Nutrition and Running

2010-07-17T08:00:00.000-04:00

I’m always interested to know how other runners eat. I know that there are runners, well people in general, that just eat whatever and either choose not to or don’t worry about nutrition. I wish that could be me. I actually am somewhat restricted in what I eat as I try to get healthier and lose weight and I wonder what it’s impact may be on my running.
I never eat: red meat, poultry, pork etc … the only meat I eat is fish
I try to rarely eat: gluten, dairy, things with artificial sweeteners and to rarely drink: alcohol, soda
I try to only occasionally eat: corn, white potatoes, vinegar, yeast and a few other random things based on a nutritional evaluation.
Now if I were to only ever eat things that I made for myself and to never go, this may be easy-ish but it’s not. I haven’t eaten any meat but fish since December 31, 2009 and that was hard for family and friends if I ate at their houses. Now that I rarely eat gluten or dairy it’s even harder for me. But because of how I feel after eating these two things, I’m trying to make the sacrifice. I know for a fact that both have negative impacts on my running. Gluten not only causes stomach distress for me but it also contributes to numbness in my calf and foot. And well, dairy just makes me feel like crap which sucks because it’s so tasty.
My biggest worry in my new diet was getting enough calories and protein for running. Now I’m not talking about huge amounts of protein because I tend to think we obsess about protein a wee bit too much in this country and most people consume too much not too little. Anyway, the calorie thing is kind of crazy to worry about since I am trying to lose weight after all but I find that even with meal planning some days I’m only reaching ~1200 calories, which in my mind isn’t enough during training. Maybe if I weren’t running 5-6 days a week in addition to lifting it would be okay for me but I am active. So I shoot for at least 1500 calories and I try to be on plan 85-90% of the time. I do give in and eat gluten or dairy if I don’t think it will affect training. I do drink when I go out with my friends. It’s all about balance.
It’s funny because I still wouldn’t be able to eat most of these things even if I didn’t run … they just don’t sit well with me and make me feel crappy.
Do you have any dietary restrictions? Are they for your training or for your general well-being?

Refocusing this blog - Running History ... And current goal - Qualify for Boston

2010-07-16T10:55:00.000-04:00

Ahhh, yet another attempt to start blogging again! We'll see :) But I hope to be dedicated to not only blogging but commenting on other blogs actively. It's a big goal of mine. But below I'll talk about my current biggest goal:

My current goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In order to do this, I need to shave 30 minutes off of my current Marathon time. Now I’ve only run one marathon and finished it in 4:10:47. I need to run a 3:40:59 to qualify for Boston. I’m aiming for 2012. I know I won’t be running Boston in 2011 because I’d need to run a qualifying time by October 2010 and that’s not going to happen since I’m not planning on running another marathon until January 2011. So I have some time but I need to get committed. I’m currently training for a half marathon in October and focusing on increasing my mileage and doing some speedwork.
I suppose I should start by describing my running history before I start blogging about training to qualifying for Boston because I will qualify, it’s just a matter of when. If I have a goal, I’m going to get there and it’s not like the Boston Marathon is going to cease to exist, so I have my whole life to get there. Although if I’m honest, my goal is to qualify for Boston before I have my first child. We’ll see though. Anyway, back to my running history.
I started attempting to run in 2007 as a sophomore in college. My boyfriend and I would run a loop by his house a few times a week at most. And I just used gmap pedometer to see the distance of the run since I never had before, it was a 2.5 mile loop. Now when I say we ran, I mean we attempted to run it and did walk sometimes. Anyway after a few months of that I did my first 5K in May 2007 and finished in 27:30. At this time I was also a figure skater and on a collegiate club team. Skating was my first love and my priority. That summer was to be spent training at my home rink with my long time coach. I was skating 4 days a week and working a lot so I pretty much stopped running at all except for occasional runs on the treadmill. Then I injured my back in late July 2007. Now I had hurt my back before and dealt with pain and physical therapy many times. But this was different, it just didn’t go away like I was used to. So I saw a specialist again and went through a myriad of tests. I was eventually diagnosed with spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis. Basically I have a chronic back problem with stress fractures that never seemed to heal. I was advised to stop skating and all impact activities. I’m stubborn though. When college started up again in the fall, I resumed skating on my team despite the pain. I was in physical therapy with a physical therapist who I had been seeing for awhile. He thought I could keep skating and when I mentioned starting to run again he was encouraging. At the same time, I saw another specialist that was highly recommended. After my appointments with him I was basically devastated. He told me that I shouldn’t skate, should never plan on running etc … He painted a very dim future for me, but I still would not give up. I decided to finish that season of skating and had an okay season despite the pain and inability to practice much. My team made it to Nationals that year and didn’t finish as high as we usually did but it was fun.I didn’t run often during this year as the doctor had advised against it.
The summer of 2008 I stayed at school to work and since I couldn’t skate I needed something to do that felt like a challenge and pushed me. I began doing couch to 5K on the treadmill at the gym. I learned that I shouldn’t try to run too fast just comfortably and to not push myself too much. I was finally able to run for real it seemed! Running wasn’t hurting my back at all either. I did a 4 mile race that September and finished in 34:30ish, I don’t remember for sure. Amazingly, I won my age group (it was a small race haha)! I was really into running now but still didn’t know too much about it. I just ran. So I decided I should work on building mileage up. I ran a lot of 3 mile runs that fall around a reservoir near me. I ran a 5K at Thanksgiving and finished in 25:37! I thought that was great and I wanted to do a 10K that spring. Unfortunately I injured my knee that winter and didn’t run again until May 2009. I consider May 2009 to be the real start of my running career since I had never really run consistently with a focus before then.
In May 2009, my boyfriend and I decided to do a half marathon in September 2009. We started training and we were using a Runners World Smart Coach plan but eventually switched to Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Marathon plan. The summer of training was definitely a new challenge but I learned to love running longer distances. I finished the half marathon in 1:56:23 and I was hooked. I wanted to started training for a marathon immediately but injuries stopped me (shin splints mostly – was tested for compartment syndrome since I was dealing with numbness too). I ran a few other races that fall (2 5Ks, a 10K). I worked on maintaining mileage that winter, going to PT for my shins and just focusing on getting better. Since I couldn’t run the marathon I had wanted to in February 2010 I began looking for others. I ended up training for and running the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon on May 30th. It was a challenge, mentally more than physically but now I’m ready for more. I know that I need to increase my mileage a lot and I don’t want to get injured again so I’m being smart and slow about it. I’m training for a half and then I will start another marathon cycle.
This blog will now chronicle my life, my training, my goal of losing 15-20lbs to help me become faster and hopefully eventually a BQ!

I needed that speed!

2010-07-15T20:00:00.001-04:00

So I’ve had kind of a crappy few days. I was under the weather all day yesterday after consuming a bit too much red wine with a friend the night before. Anyway, I spent most of the day on the couch being lazy instead of getting a workout in which is what I should have done. And then I stayed up too late watching crappy TV.
Then when I woke up this morning I was in a bit of a funk and kept putting off my workout and just being lazy in general. I did some work and just putzed around. I finally made myself put on my workout clothes this afternoon but I didn’t go workout right away. I cleaned my bedroom and bathroom, then I did some laundry. I made crockpot bean, lentil and veggie soup. I did some more work. I still wasn’t motivated to go workout. I talked to my boss. I tried calling my boyfriend for motivation. He didn’t answer. Then I was like well whatever, I’m going for a run I have to. And when I went to go suddenly my back was tight and my stomach was bothering me … ugh. This is why I like to workout in the morning. Anyway, then I called my mom to complain. I decided not to workout and to continue to be lazy.
But then I got fed up with myself. Just go run, even if it’s only 2 miles. So I did. Since my stomach was bothering me, I decided to go to my gym rather than outside. So I get there, get on the treadmill and start running. During the first mile I decide I should do some speedwork. Originally I decide on 4×800 @ 10K pace working down to 5K pace. But then I decide I don’t want to do 4 800′s cause I’m like that. So I did:
1 mile warm up
800 @ a little over 10K pace
800 recovery
400 @ a little over 5K pace
400 recovery
200 @ just below 5K pace
200 recovery
100 @ 3K ish pace
a recovery between 200 and 400 length recovery
100 @ 3 K ish pace
100 recovery
200 @ 3 K ish pace
200 recovery
400 @ 5 K pace
400 recovery
800 @ 10 K pace
800 recovery
.62 cool down
5.63 miles, 52:18 minutes. I had to take a picture so I’d remember when I got back to my apartment:

I felt so much better after my run:
Sometimes you just have to get out there and do it even if you don’t feel like it. Believe me, I needed that workout and some speedwork to get me out of whatever funk I was in.
I have an 8 mile progression run scheduled for the morning, so I should start getting ready to hit the hay!

Motivation

2010-06-22T20:58:00.000-04:00

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
- Aristotle

Motivation. Gosh, I wish I was always motivated but I'm not. Sometimes, I'm overly motivated and can't wait to get out there and run or lift etc ... Other days, I just want to lay around and do nothing.

I've worked out for the last 12 days straight. But I'm seriously lacking any motivation these days. I'm making myself get out of bed in the morning and go. And still, I pushed back a run scheduled for this morning to tomorrow because I just could not go. I don't know what's going on but I feel like crap these days, I'm exhausted and my legs feel tired and heavy every time I run. I've been having to take walk breaks on even my short runs.

But I'm still going, I'm still working out. I've done the 30 Day Shred for 11 days now and unlike pretty much everyone else who does it, I have no visible changes. Ugh ugh ugh. My body is just stuck. But I'm sticking with it, I'm going to give it everything I have for 30 days.

After all it's the days we push through, we keep striving that will pay off and make us stronger. So I'll go to bed earlier to try and get some energy, keep eating healthy despite not seeing results, and keep pushing during my workouts because soon I'll have a good run, an easy rewarding run and I can't wait for that. And I'm sure that after that run, I'll be motivated to keep going each day. I just need to keep chipping away and be patient. My energy and love for running and working out will return.

Just another boring training plan post

2010-06-21T15:34:00.000-04:00

I had a great week of training this past week. I ran five times, for a total of 17.6 miles as I slowly build the mileage back up after my marathon. I did the 30 Day Shred Level 1 everyday. I did my flexibility program once, and did extra core work twice.

My legs definitely are still tired from the marathon despite 3 weeks having passed. I have heard though that it takes a day per mile that you raced, so hopefully by June 25th, my legs will be peppy again. I started half marathon training next week so I need my legs to cooperate. I'm following Hudson's Level 2 Half Marathon training plan for the the Sun Half Marathon (accompanies the Bay State Marathon) on October 17th.

My training plan this week is as follows:

Monday - easy 3 miles, 30 Day Shred Level 1, core workout
Tuesday - easy 3 miles, 30 Day Shred Level 2
Wednesday - 30 Day Shred Level 2, core workout, flexibility program
Thursday - 7 miles total - possibly doing a 5 mile race, 30 Day Shred Level 2
Friday - easy 4 miles, 30 Day Shred Level 2
Saturday - bike ride, 30 Day Shred Level 2, maybe yoga
Sunday - easy 6 miles, 30 Day Shred Level 2, flexibility program.

Luckily, I have all this planned out in my Google Calendar as well as a spreadsheet so I'm keeping track of it pretty well.

I realized during my run this morning that I need to be getting up earlier since it's HOT out now. I mean it was only 3 miles but dang the heat definitely was noticeable. I left around 8:25 so I'm going to start aiming to leave between 7-7:30am. Plus, then I'll get started with my work for the day earlier too. I've started a new job working mostly from home this week, so I'm adjusting to a new routine right now. I'm loving the flexibility so far.

Training Plan for 6/13-6/19

2010-06-14T11:00:00.001-04:00

Sunday - Easy 4 miles and Flexibility Program from Advanced Marathoning - Done
Monday - 30 Day Shred and Core - Done
Tuesday - Easy 3 miles and 30 Day Shred
Wednesday - Easy 4 miles, 30 Day Shred, Core and Flexibility Program
Thursday - Easy 3 miles and 30 Day Shred
Friday - Easy 4 miles and 30 Day Shred
Saturday - 60 minute bike ride, 30 Day Shred and Yoga

Total Miles Planned - 18
Total Core Workouts Planned - 2
Total Flexibility Workouts Planned - 2
6 Days of 30 Day Shred
1 Bike Ride
1 Yoga Session

Now we'll see what gets done.

Marathon Training Thoughts

2010-06-11T09:26:00.000-04:00

I began training for my first Marathon on January 4, 2010. I originally planned on running a marathon on May 2, 3010. I followed a Higdon based plan with my own tweaks.

January: I was in physical therapy the majority of this month for shin splints. Luckily, I was able to run fine for the majority of my runs despite the shin and calf problems I was having. My long runs were 13 miles, 8 miles, 12 miles, 14 miles. I ran 126.6 total miles.

February: In February, I went gluten free for Lent and noticed an improvement in my running. I used to deal with numbness in my feet, mostly my left foot and it didn't happen while I was GF. I ran a 10K on February 7th and PRed by 3 minutes, in 47:35. I then ran a half marathon on February 28th and PRed with a 1:49:02 (previous PR was 1:56:23). I felt pretty good then and after my half I really began to focus on marathon training.

My long runs in February were: 7.2, 15, 11 and 13.1. My total mileage was 96 miles.

March: In March, I decided to push back my marathon from May 2, 2010 to May 30, 2010. My long runs this month were: 10, 16, 17, 11. I ran 133.6 miles in March which was a new mileage PR.

April: A big month of training. I dealt with one week of being injured this month too. I feared a stress fracture but luckily it was not. I'm still not sure what it was but it was definitely metatarsal pain that ended up just going away. It was close to a neuroma location, so that's possible too. My long runs were: 19, 20, 12 and 22. 155.9 total miles for the month.

May: May was an up and down month. I ran a 5K PR on May 8th - 22:53. But maybe I shouldn't have pushed it during the 5K because I paid for it the next few weeks. My long run the day after was my worst ever, it should have been 20 miles but ended up being 17.7 miles. I hurt all over and was so slow. Then the week after my knee started giving me fits and I had to basically take the week off, two weeks before my marathon. Ugh. Was not good but I pushed through. Ran 17.7 and 8 miles as the two long runs I managed for the month. Then it was time to taper. My taper was pretty extreme because of the knee. May mileage before the marathon was 73.1

Total mileage for the 5 months was: 585.2. I ran 85 times, for an average of 6.88 miles per run. It was a total of 22 weeks of training for the half marathon followed by the marathon. I averaged 26.6 miles a week for those 22 weeks.

What will I do different next time?

I'm running a goal half marathon in October 2010. Then I'm hoping to run the Houston Marathon in January 2010 but it's gone to a lottery system so hopefully I get in. For my half marathon cycle I'll be following a Hudson half marathon plan. I'm debating between Hudson or Pfitzinger for the marathon training cycle. I'll definitely be running more miles, more speedwork. I also plan on being more diligent with cross training (weights, core and stretching). I'm starting Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred today and will continue doing it when HM training starts. I'll also do the core and flexibility workouts from Advanced Marathoning 2x/week each. I'm also scheduling in yoga and bike rides. After 30 Day Shred, I'll do a strength training routine 2x/week.

Also, I'm going to be focusing on my nutrition and recovery for the upcoming cycles. I'd like to lose 10-15lbs and eat much healthier. I also need to get more sleep and spend more time focusing on recovery. Luckily I will only be working 25 hours a week and mostly from home, so I should be able to get more sleep than I was at my last job which required a commute and long hours.

So we will see how the next cycle goes!

2010 KeyBank Vermont City Marathon Race Report

2010-06-05T10:18:00.002-04:00

It's taken me almost a week to sit down and write this report. I haven't been blogging recently but there's been some changes in my life recently (quit my job, will be working part time in my new job etc ...) that mean I will be able to blog more hopefully, which means that for my next marathon cycle, I'll have a good record of my training and such.

Anyway, on to my first Marathon race report.

We left for Burlington, VT on Saturday around 9:15 after I had run 2 easy miles that morning and packed basically my whole life. I have a major packing problem, it's bad. We got to VT around 1pm and headed to the expo. I picked up my race packet and then watched a video of the course with my boyfriend and mom. Then we walked around the expo for awhile, I got a very nice sweatshirt and a few other things. After the expo, my mom decided she wanted to figure out where to park the next day so we drove down to the start and played around with the best place to park, the easiest way to get there avoiding traffic etc ... I wasn't sure if they'd drive me in the morning or if I'd take the shuttle from the hotel but we wanted to figure things out. Headed to the hotel to check in after. They had an indoor pool and hot tub so after we got settled in, we headed down there for awhile until my aunt arrived from Canada. My aunt got there around 4ish and we headed over to the mall and did some shopping. My mom was worried about me walking too much but I was fine.

Next up was dinner at UNOs as they have a good gluten free menu and I had been eating gluten free leading up to the race. I got a salad, gluten free veggie pizza and mashed potatoes. It was very good and I ate a lot which is usually really hard for me.

After dinner we had to stop at Kmart as I had forgotten peanut butter for my brown rice toast in the morning and we needed a cooler since our hotel rooms didn't have fridges. Then it was back to the hotel to relax for the night. Just hung out watching the Red Sox, some lacrosse and Roy Halladay's perfect game. I started trying to sleep around 9:30 after having a little crying spell about being nervous. I slept restlessly for the first 2 hours as our room had 2 double beds and the boyfriend and I tried to share one but it sucked. We ended up separating and then later switching so that I would have the better bed. I finally slept continuously from about 11:30pm-5:45am which was good.

Sunday morning, I woke up, tried to force down 2 pieces of brown rice toast and peanut butter (I only managed about 1 piece) and then I got dressed, put sunscreen on, drank gatorade, body glided etc ... We left the hotel around 6:40, parked easily and got to the start area by 7ish. I immediately used a porta potty and then we walked around some, just trying to stay relaxed and focused. Took some pictures (I'm with my mom in the first one and my aunt in the second).

Around 7:30 I used the porta potty again and then headed to the start line around 7:45 and found the 4 hour pace group. I talked to some of the other runners hoping to run around 4 hours and then we were off!

Mile 1: 9:39 - A little slow but it was crowded at the beginning and slightly uphill to start. I felt good, was talking and relaxed.
Mile 2: 8:54 - Made up the time, still going through the town with people out cheering.
Mile 3: 9:05 - On pace, feeling good.
Mile 4: 8:53 - I think this was a downhill heading out of town to the beltway which was so boring.
Mile 5: 9:03 - Just running along
Mile 6: 8:46 - A little too fast, which will hurt me later on. Took a GU Roctane at the end of this mile. I was also carrying a water bottle with Nuun and a propel packet in it.
Mile 7: 8:52 - Still too fast, out on the beltway.
Mile 8: 9:00 - Slight uphill, still feeling good and relaxed.
Mile 9: 8:45 - Back into town, tons of cheering. My mom got a picture of me

I was waving and smiling when I saw them here. I felt good.
Mile 10: 9:32 - Started feeling not so good, I got goosebumps, was freezing, felt out of it and started freaking out. I also had to pee really badly. Lost the pace group on purpose this mile since we were banking a little too much time I thought and decided I'd just use my own pace band that I had made.
10 Mile split - 1:29:52
Mile 11: 9:45 - Finally saw a porta potty just as I was about to pee my pants, also took a salt packet during my pit stop thinking it would help me.
Mile 12: 9:26 - Things continued to go wrong and I walked a little up a hill. Feeling really worried about how I was feeling and if I could do it. I was playing a mental game with myself already! Ugh, the lessons I will learn from this.
Mile 13: 10:08. Still not getting back to where I needed to be. In the woods now I think, with less support. Throw my water bottle away and start using aid stations and walking through them. Trying to tell myself to man up here.
Half marathon split - 1:59:40 - still on pace for a 4 hour marathon but slowly losing it. I'd be happy with sub 4:30 the way I was feeling.
Mile 14: 10:08. I could just not get it together.
Mile 15: 10:42. Included a huge hill on which I spotted my boyfriend, mom and aunt and started crying since I was feeling so defeated (my mom took the picture below before she realized I was crying, it's hilarious to me now). I wanted my gatorade from my mom and she didn't have it. They just told me to go don't stop. Apparently they felt awful because they just pushed me away but I needed it and started to feel better soon although I was doing 4 min run, 1 min walk for awhile after.

Mile 16: 10:56. Feeling better although not great, this part was mostly neighborhoods.
Mile 17: 9:57. Same.
Mile 18: 9:56. Still through neighborhoods, feeling okay, know that I can push myself to finish now and that I'm going to do it.
Mile 19: 9:48.
Mile 20:10:07
20 mile split - 3:10:06. I tell myself now that I can run 6.2 in an hour and will finish sub 4:15 and I'm going to try to get sub 4:10. I also stop walking as much. My right piraformis is killing me but whatever.
Mile 21: 9:47 - hard downhill into the bike path during this mile I think. It killed my quads.
Mile 22: 9:46
Mile 23: 10:06 - ok only about 5K left, I can do this.
Mile 24: 9:52
Mile 25: 10:03
Mile 26: 9:12 - Trying to finish strong, come into the finish area with tons of spectators. See my mom and aunt and go crazy.
. 2 miles: 1:48:22 (8:36 pace)
26.2 miles: 4:10:47 - almost sub 4:10 but not quite. I'll take it though.

Immediately start trying to walk through an incredibly crowded finish area. I wanted a diet coke and got that and then we started walking back to the car as I could not handle the crowds, it was not well organized at all IMO. To get to the car though we had to go up a few hills which sucked but the walking was good for me.

We got back to the hotel and I took a freezing ice bath and then a nice warm shower. We went to the Outback and I ate a ton of bread since I could finally eat gluten! Tasted soooo good.

Spent the rest of the day hanging out, had some Ben and Jerry's, relaxed and then had a restless night of sleep before we headed home Monday. I was sore until Wednesday and did my first post marathon run on Thursday.

So my first marathon is in the books and although it was full of ups and downs, I'm thrilled with it and can't wait to do another. I also have some reflections on training etc ... that I will try and post tomorrow.

Weekly Recap 4/5-4/11

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

Monday 4/5 - 20 min Yoga for Runners and 35 minutes of abs and strength. Didn't have much soreness from the 19.25 miles the day before.
Tuesday 4/6 - 5.05 miles, 45:20, 8:59 pace. Did 6 hill repeats during the 2nd mile. Felt good. 15 minutes of strength.
Wednesday 4/7 - 45 min strength and intense foam rolling
Thursday 4/8 - 7 miles, 1:03:40, 9:06 pace. I ran the first 6 miles outside and then headed inside to my apartment's gym due to gastro issues. Bad move, the treadmill just aggravates my calf way too much, so instead of doing 4 on the TM and getting a total of 10 for the day, I only did 7.
Friday 4/9 - rest day!
Saturday 4/10 - 10.6 miles, 1:39:30, 9:24 pace. I dropped my Garmin on the sidewalk during the 3rd mile and it crapped out on me. Damn. I was improvising the route too and shooting for 10, so I'm glad I knew enough landmarks and the mileage from my apartment for them, so I got over 10 miles. I bought a new Garmin 310XT that afternoon. 60 min of power yoga and 20 min abs and strength in the evening.
Sunday 4/11 - 20.4 miles, 3:15:28, 9:35 pace. I felt decent during this long run. Headed out and it was overcast and pretty warm. I tackled about 4 hills in the first 5 miles and was feeling good. My foot had a nagging pain near the toes for most of the run though and I'm really hoping it's nothing like a stress fracture. I got down to the beach around 8 miles, ran about 2.25 miles out, stopped at CVS to buy a water to refill mine and the person in front of me had like grocery shopped in CVS and spent 100 dollars and took forever! That was an unexpectedly long break. Headed back down the beach, and then repeated the beach route again for mileage. I realized I had run a little more along the beach than needed when I got to my turn off spot with about 3 miles left, when the spot is 3.25 miles from home. Oh well, I'd run more. So I just ran until I got to the store past my apartment where I buy gatorade and that was 20.4 miles.
I feel awful though, my brother called twice during my run and I didn't answer because the number was weird. I rarely ever get to talk to him because he's stationed overseas (Marines) and I missed his calls. I want to cry because I really miss him and would have liked to talk to him. Ugh. I hope I get a call again soon.

Total miles: 43.1 miles, 6 hours and 44 minutes of running, 9:23 average pace
3 hours and 15 minutes yoga, strength and abs

Weekly Recap 3/29 - 4/4

2010-04-04T20:37:00.000-04:00

Monday, 3/29 - 4 mile recovery run on the treadmill. 40:05, 10:02 min/mile. Felt good.
Tuesday 3/30 - Abs. Just a quick workout.
Wednesday 3/31 - A little bit of strength training.
Thursday 4/1 - 9 miles, outside. Gorgeous evening. Ran along the beach which was so nice. 1:20:56, 9:00 min/mile. Did some strength training too.
Friday 4/2 - rest day.
Saturday 4/3 - 9 miles at MP. Started out too fast, didn't eat before my run so I bonked ugh. Really had to push myself to finish but I did it. The last 3 miles weren't at MP though unfortunately. 1:19:26, 8:50 min/mile.
Sunday 4/4 - 19.3 miles. I was determined to have a negative split on this run and to feel strong through out after yesterday's run. I got up at 5:20, had a piece of brown rice toast w/ pb and got ready. Headed out at 6, ran 9 miles at around 9:50 min/mile pace, stopped back at my house to switch water bottles and pee quickly at 9.75 miles and then headed out for the rest. I had 1 bottle of propel/nuun for the first 9.75 miles, then had a GU roctane during my pit stop. Brought another bottle of propel/nuun for the next 9.25 miles and had a pack of sprots beans between 14-16 miles. The second half of the run averaged about 9:25 pace with the 19th mile being sub 9. I felt so good and strong. When I was done, I felt soooo accomplished. It's my longest run yet! 3:05:00, 9:37 min/mile.

Weekly mileage: 41.3 miles, 9:21 min/mile average pace

Weekly Recap 3/22 - 3/28

2010-03-28T13:20:00.000-04:00

I've been so busy with work the past few weeks and haven't been up to writing. I'm basically going to start just doing weekly recaps for myself and race reports when I race on this blog as I lack the energy/time to do much else these days but I'd like to have weekly recaps to go back and analyze for myself.

3/22 - Rest Day. Should have biked and lifted but I was too exhausted and still recovering from the week of work before as I had stayed at work until 10pm 3 times that week.
3/23 - 4.07 miles, 34:07, 8:24 pace. I felt amazing on this run and it just went so well. It was in the pouring rain and I actually love running in the rain, I find it fun and love hopping over puddles etc ... I also did Runner's World Never Get Hurt program, core work and foam rolling after my run.
3/24 - Rest Day. Left work early as I wasn't feeling well and came home and fell asleep until 7:30pm. Too exhausted to work out.
3/25 - 9 miles, 1:18:55, 8:47 pace. Nice run, gorgeous weather. I had a little foot numbness and tight calves but felt good overall. A little faster than my usual mid week runs but it wasn't bad.
3/26 - Rest Day.
3/27 - 9.2 miles. I had signed up for Tall Mom's Virtual Race, so I decided to do a 5K time trial in the middle of this run. Ugh, bad idea, it did not go well. I warmed up for 3 miles and then set my Garmin for a 5K, finishing in 24 minutes. I started out and just wasn't in the right mindset. I can't race unless I'm actually at a race. I finished in 25:34 8:13 pace, which is barely faster than my HMP but oh well. Overall, 9.2 miles, 1:21:35, 8:55 pace. It was cold out this morning too and I wasn't happy about that as I had put most of my winter running gear away and had to pull some of it out.
3/28 - 11.4 miles, 1:42:51, 9:02 pace. Awful run. I was supposed to do 12 but talked myself into 11.4. I felt awful, so tired. I can't believe my pace was 9 min miles, I felt like I was moving so slowly. But it's done and now it's time for stretching, a smoothie and an ice bath.

Weekly mileage: 33.6 miles
March mileage: 129.7 miles (I have one more March run)
2010 mileage: 352.3 miles

Hyannis Half Marathon Race Report

2010-03-04T21:24:00.002-05:00

1:49:02.

So why am I disappointed … I shouldn't be. I made it under 1:50:00 which was my 2010 goal. But I feel as though I didn't leave everything out there. I don't think I've learned how to race yet but I need to realize that that is okay, it is a learning process and this is only my second half marathon. I've really only been racing for the last 6 months as before that I never trained etc … and did not run consistently. So I've only been a trained runner for about 6 months and I've cut 7:21 off of my half marathon time. That's a good thing not a bad thing.

I did feel so so much better during this race than my last half marathon. So here's a race report, a few days later, so we'll see what I remember.

Saturday: Got up after not sleeping well the night before. I woke up nauseous twice randomly. Not fun. Dave and his friend had stayed up until 2ish playing video games but luckily I managed to fall asleep around 11. I got up and quietly headed out for an easy two miler. It was snowing lightly and it was very pretty and peaceful out. I was feeling good about my running. We headed out around 11 since I needed to go to the running store for a rain running jacket. Yep, I didn't have one and rain/snow was the Sunday forecast. After stopping there and a few other places, we headed down to the Cape. I was able to sleep some of the hour drive which was nice. Stopped by the Expo and picked up my number. It wasn't an overly impressive expo, a lot of running stuff for sale but not many free samples anywhere. Oh well. We headed to the hotel to check in and then spent some time in the pool/hot tub before going out to dinner.

We went to dinner at UNOs since they have a Gluten Free Menu and I'm currently GF. I had the cheese and tomato pizza which was pretty good and a salad. We ate early and just headed back to the hotel to relax and watch the Olympics. I managed to fall asleep around 10 and stayed asleep until 4. I woke up at 4 and couldn't fall back asleep until almost 5. Ugh.

But I got back to sleep and slept until 7am. Got up and made my waffle with PB (smuggled a toaster into the hotel room for this) and had some coffee. We headed out around 8:45 thinking we were only a 5 minute drive away and we'd be fine for a 10am start. Not quite. There was quite a bit of traffic and then we had to park far away so I had to decide at the car what to wear. At this point it was overcast but not too chilly, I ended up with capris, a short sleeve running tee, my new running jacket, and a headband. I bought cheap gloves when we got to the Expo since my hands got cold walking there. So we got there and it was about 9:30. I grabbed the gloves and said bye to Dave since he wasn't running. I headed to the porta potty line which moved dreadfully slow and I was very worried about missing the start but the porta potty was so necessary. Finally got in around 9:55 and then ran over to the start. This was not my plan, I had hoped to get a ten minute warm up in after the porta potty. Ooops. I was stretching in the jam packed starting area. There was literally no room to move around though. We finally got started around 10:08am.

Mile 1: 8:29 – my HR monitor was a mess this mile, it said my HR was 195 and kept saying HR too high over and over. Eventually it settled down. I knew there was no truth to it since I felt good and the mile was nice and easy until my stomach started cramping. Ugh. I just kept running through it. This mile was nice and flat but included a lot of maneuvering around people due to the crowded start.

Mile 2: 8:05 – Faster than I had planned at this point but I was feeling good. My running jacket was driving me absolutely crazy though. Bad choice. It kept riding up and I had my Sports Beans in my pocket along with gloves, so it was driving me crazy. My HR strap was bothering me too and I wished that I would see Dave to give it to him. I also wanted to take the jacket off but I couldn't since my fuel was in it and my ipod was in the little ipod pocket. Damn.

Mile 3: 8:01 – I honestly don't remember much about this mile.

Mile 4: 8:10 – I think the first water stop was during this mile, I managed to grab a water and keep running while I drank it. Feeling good and right on pace.

Mile 5: 7:58 – Ooooh, getting a little too fast at the beginning. But feeling good, some downhills here. I think we were along the ocean at this point but I don't remember much. It boggles my mind that people can remember intense details of their races, I just can't, I wish I could.

Mile 6: 8:17 - There was a hill here but not a bad one. I think I took some sports beans and there may have been water. Still feeling good.

Mile 7: 8:09 - I don't remember anything here.

Mile 8: 8:20 - I think there were some hills here.

Mile 9: 8:51 - I had to stop to take in some Sports Beans here, I couldn't eat, run and breathe at the same time. I was getting hot and really wanted to take my jacket off. There was a water stop here too.

Mile 10: 8:18 - Feeling good again, except for a minor stumble in which I twisted my ankle. Ugh. They had only a small part of the road for us to run on and it was right on the shoulder and crowded. I was worried for a second but my ankle recovered fine. Started to notice the pain from my blister here. It always feels like a rock is stuck in my shoe at that one spot.

Mile 11: 8:05 - There was a girl in her yard cheering us on while jumping on a mini trampoline. It made me smile and gave me some energy.

Mile 12: 8:34 - Unfortunately, I had to stop for sports beans again. Why, I don't know. I should have just kept running.

Mile 13: 8:10 - Almost there, I'm thinking I'm definitely going to be in the 1:48 range according to my Garmin.

Mile 13.1: 1:35:25 (7:13 pace) – I had a nice kick up the hill at the end, hitting 5:35 pace at one point and passing about 5 people which felt amazing! My Garmin measured this as .22 miles.

Final time: 1:49:02 (Race chip official time) 8:20 pace/mile

Garmin stats: 13.22 miles, 1:48:54, 8:14 pace/mile

It's so weird to me that my Garmin is less than the official time since I started it after the start mat. And my official time is usually a good 10+ seconds less than my Garmin. Weird, it must have been off that day but whatever! It's a 7+ minute PR and only :03 off of 1:48:xx, so I'll live. I'm much happier now looking back at it. Now it's time for the Marathon training to really begin!

Half Marathon Goals

2010-02-23T15:05:00.001-05:00

Eeek, it's going to snow on Sunday! That's what I get for running a half marathon in New England in February, I suppose.

A Goal: Sub 1:48:00. McMillan Running Calculator thinks I can pull off 1:45:53. I disagree, so I'm giving myself two extra minutes for my pie in the sky, reach for it goal. I just don't think I have the mileage in training for a sub 1:46:00 right now.
B Goal: 1:48-1:51:59. I will be extremely happy with any time in this range. Preferably, sub 1:50:00 but I'd take sub 1:52:00 right now especially if the conditions are bad.
C Goal: 1:52:00-1:54:00. I'll take it but I won't be thrilled.
D Goal: A new PR (1:56:23 is my old one). I won't be very happy with anything over 1:54:00 though.

My PR was on a very hilly course, my long run going into it was a 10 miler the week before and I stopped twice for at least 3-4 minutes total during the race due to some foot issues.

This training cycle, I've done 2 10 milers, 1 11 miler, 2 12 milers, 1 13 miler, 1 14 miler and 1 15 miler and I've PRed by 3 minutes in the 10K and this course is supposedly much flatter. So if there is not decent improvement, yes I will be disappointed.

I need to start figuring out what to wear, what to pack for the weekend etc ... I'm so anxious for some reason and it doesn't help that I've been staying up to watch all the figure skating in the Olympics every night. The Ladies start tonight, so I definitely won't be going to bed early! I hope I don't sleep past my alarm tomorrow like I did this morning.

2/15 Training Week

2010-02-21T17:00:00.032-05:00

This week was my second to last week of training before my Half Marathon (2/28) next weekend! It went really well overall and I'm feeling confident. I'm working on my goals for the Half and will update this week once I decide on them. I've looked at the 10 day weather forecast and it's not looking good, so I'm hoping that changes!

Here's a recap of this week

2/15 - 15.04 mile run 2:23:18 (9:32min/mile) - recapped in previous post
2/16 - Lifting Day - 10 minutes on the stationary bike to warm up. Followed by: 2x12 squats (25lbs). 2x12 pushups. 2x12 dumbell rows (25lbs). 2x12 step ups (20lbs). 2x10 prone jacknife. Also did Week 3 Day 1 of hundred pushup challenge - pushup sets of 14, 18, 14, 14, 27.
2/17 - 3 mile run 27:40 (9:14 min/mile) on the treadmill, not a great run because I hate the treadmill but it got done. 20 minutes of foam rolling, using The Stick and a tennis ball for some spots.
2/18 - 5.10 mile tempo run 45:00 (8:50 min/mile), Mile 1 was warmup followed by Mile 2: 8:34, Mile 3: 8:27 and Mile 4: 8:08 and then cooldown for 1.1 miles. Not bad, felt pretty good increasing the speed each mile. I just wanted to get a feel for Half Marathon (8:15-8:20) pace.
2/19 - Rest day. Went out for Happy Hour after work to see a friend who is moving to CA this weekend. Then came home and crashed. I was exhausted.
2/20 - 5.20 mile run 46:17 (8:55min/mile). Nice easy run. Spent two miles trying to pass another runner in front of me and finally did and stayed ahead :). I needed something to focus on since my heart wasn't really in the run for some reason.
2/21 - 11 mile longish run 1:42:38 (9:20min/mile). Really good last long run before the Half. I ran down to the beach, which was soooo windy but the sun was out so it wasn't bad. I started in capris, a short sleeve tee, new lululemon arm warmers and my Brooks jacket. I had my Brooks jacket off for about half of the run though when I was out of the wind. I ran the last mile in 8:06 as I decided to see if I would be okay for half marathon pace at that time and it felt great. My last mile includes a decent sized hill too.

Week: 39.3 miles 6:04:54 time spent running.

I hope my good feeling carries into next weeks half!

15 Mile Run

2010-02-15T14:07:00.001-05:00

I have a mileage PR - 15.04 miles :). I did it this morning, luckily I have today off so that I could get out there for my long run.

I ran 3.38 miles on Saturday morning. I was supposed to do 5 miles but Dave's little sister had a swim meet that we were going too, so I didn't have much time. Still, they were good, fast miles so I was okay with it. We spent the rest of the morning at the swim meet sitting on some awful benches. So uncomfortable. Then Saturday night, I headed into the city to see a friend who is moving across the country next week. There were about 8 of us and we just hung out in a friend's hotel room watching the Olympics and catching up. I was debating whether I'd do my 15 miles the next morning or wait until Monday since I had it off. I only had one glass of wine since I wasn't sure. But then I stayed out later than I planned, still not too late, only 12:15ish since I had to rely on public transportation and it stops running at a certain point. So by the time I got home, I figured I'd just go to bed and see how I felt when I woke up.

I didn't feel too great when I woke up, I was just tired and blah. Then my hamstring started randomly cramping, so I decided to wait a day. Dave's hamstrings were bothering him too, so we're blaming it on the awful benches from the swim meet. We just hung out together yesterday, did a little shopping and then I napped before watching the Pairs short program of the Olympics. Went to bed as soon as it was over so that I could get a decent nights sleep.

I got up and headed out around 8:15 this morning. I'm living in a new area so I had mapped out a run to try but I knew it wasn't 7.5 out so I'd have to do some improvising. I headed out and 3.3 miles later, I was at the water! I was sooo excited to run along the water. I ran out about 3 miles and then back stopping once to take some sports beans and to text Dave to turn on the ice maker since I had forgotten! Then I decided to go past where I had turned onto the water but that didn't work out so well since it went to a major road that didn't seem to safe. So I turned around, crossed the street and ran back along the water but on the opposite side which had a nice trail that weaved in and out of some woods and park. I took some more sports beans now. Turned around at 10.6ish miles and finally when I got back to the road I came in on it was time to head back. Finished up the last 3.3 miles, which included a huge hill with about .5 miles left! That was a killer.

I'll have to take my camera with me next time because there are a lot of nice views from the water, especially since I could see a lot of Boston as I ran. I love the route down there, so I think in the future I'll just plan to do that part of the run 2x instead of going elsewhere to add miles.

Total: 15.04 miles, 2:23:18, average pace 9:31 min/mile (with a nice negative split!), average HR 161bpm

I made sure to stretch a lot and then I took a nice 20 minute ice bath. Eeek, I shivered for awhile after that! But now I feel great. I do have a few blisters but they are recurring ones not new ones. I'm planning on trying out some new shoes after my half in two weeks to find a blister solution.

Now it's time for chilling on my couch and watching the Olympics. I love the Olympics sooo much.

Ugh speedwork.

2010-02-11T21:13:00.000-05:00

For my Thursday runs I've been trying to do some type of speedwork just to get my legs moving faster. Today I had 6x800 planned at about 3-5k pace. I got on the treadmill after staying at work late and I was already exhausted and frustrated but I was determined to get my 7 miles in, even though my legs have been rebelling against the treadmill lately, I had no choice since it was dark and icy out by the time I got home. I wish there was a track near me that was lit as that would be a nice change of scene. Anyway, I got on the treadmill and warmed up for 1.25 miles and then did my first 800 @ 7:13 pace. Ugh. I was already struggling. Did a 400 recovery then for the next 800 I went a little slower, about 7:20 pace. I got through it. Then another one, this one only at about 7:30 pace. After my next rest interval I went to up the speed and just couldn't do it. My legs were fighting me and since I have a half in 2 weeks, I decided to listen to them and just finish the 7 miles at least. So I only did 3x800. But it's something I guess.

I'm struggling to recover from Sunday's 10K. More than I expected. Oh, and I know my mile times posted in the race report probably don't make sense for a 47:35 finish but my Garmin was off. Which is normal for Garmins. It was about .10 of a mile short. At first I thought the course would be short but they had it mapped on MapMyRun and it was 3.1 (it was a 2 loop course) and I repeated it in Gmaps Pedometer to verify and it was 3.1 miles there too. So, I think it was just my Garmin that was off. I have to always remind myself that that is possible and not to rely on paces from my Garmin too much.

So, since I'm struggling to recover and my back and legs are bothering me, I decided it would be a good idea to ice bath tonight! Eeeek it was an extra cold ice bath but it was much needed! I at least got to talk to my brother through email during it on my Blackberry. He's stationed overseas so it's always nice when I get a chance to chat with him! It's morning there, so it works out perfectly when he's on email and I'm at home chilling.

Not much else to report. I'm going to try Bikram Yoga tomorrow night. I'm excited. Dave's going with me too. And then I have 5 miles scheduled for Saturday and 15 miles for Sunday. 15 miles will be my longest run ever! I have to figure out a route because there is no way I am doing it on the treadmill like I did for my 14 miler two weeks ago.

47:35!

2010-02-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

Finished my 10K in 47:35 today. Made it in 1:25 under my goal.

I got up this morning around 8:15 and had a Luna bar and got everything ready. It was frigid this morning but I wanted to wear capris since I hate tights, they restrict my calves too much and my calves are what cause most of my problems. So I decided to go with the capris and bring a pair of tights in case I changed my mind. On top, I wore a base layer long sleeve C9 tee, then a Nike Drifit Fleece on top and my Brooks jacket over it. I wore a bright pink lululemon ponytail hat, SmartWool socks and my UnderArmour gloves. Haha, I seem to have had every brand I own on this morning. My boyfriend and I left around 8:55 for the race since I had picked up our numbers yesterday. Ate a banana on the way. We got there around 9:20 and walked around for a few then sat in the car warming up for awhile before jogging for about 10 minutes to get warm enough to stretch. The race was supposed to start at 10AM so we lined up at 9:50ish and stood there for awhile. It didn't start until about 10:10.

Mile 1: 7:50. Had to weave in and out a lot at the beginning since a lot of slower people started at the beginning. Dave was ahead of me at this point, so I caught up and ran with him for awhile. Felt really good here. The sun was shining and I was getting pretty warm. So thankful for my sunglasses since it was bright today!
Mile 2: 7:47. This mile was half into the wind and that was not fun. The course was right on the water which definitely made it even worse. Felt fine here too.
Mile 3: 7:54. Had a really narrow part of the race on this mile and it was right on the water and very windy!
First 5K split: 23:59. About 25 seconds off of my 5K PR. Not bad!
Mile 4: 7:52. A lot of switching back and forth between negative thoughts and positive ones. I have to be better with the positive self talk. My left calf was starting to bother me but wasn't too bad. Convinced myself that I was strong and I would not stop and walk at all.
Mile 5: 7:55. Back into the wind. Hard but not too bad. My left foot was a little tingly now.
Mile 6: 7:49. Felt really good and just kept pushing.
.2: 7:37 pace but I forgot to turn off my Garmin right away so I think it was faster.

My Garmin has 47:45 as my time but the official race time is 47:35! Nice, I think I started it a little early and then forgot to turn it off right away.

I'm so happy with this result and I hope my good training will carry me to a 1:50 half marathon in 3 weeks!

After the race, Dave and I met up with my mom and cousin who is in town for brunch. It wasn't great and I was freezing from being sweaty and then being in the cold not moving before we went in for brunch but I was still so happy plus it was good to see my cousin again one more time before he headed back to NYC.

So, I had a great weekend and a great race!

Now GO SAINTS!

Quick Update

2010-02-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

I have my first race of 2010 this weekend. I'm running this 10K: http://bostonrunner.com/ss2010info.php. I'll be sure to post a race report. My goal is sub 49:00. I really want it and I'm going to push as hard as I can and fight to the finish. I don't think I've ever given it my all in a race, so this one I will be. Plus, I want to get an idea of my fitness to make a goal for my upcoming Half Marathon.

Quick recap of the year so far:

Total miles: 137.7 miles

January miles: 126.6 miles
January 1-3: 17 miles
January 4-10: 27 miles
January 11-17: 21 miles
January 18-24: 29.5 miles
January 25-31: 32 miles

February miles: 11.1 miles
February 1-7: 11.1 miles so far, probably will add 2 tomorrow morning and about 8 on race day for a total of 21.1 miles

Doing pretty good so far this year, can't wait to see what happens Sunday!

2010-01-10T18:57:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling colorful today so I'm changing up the font a bit :)

I headed out for my long run this morning. The temperature read 15 degrees feels like 0 degrees so I dressed as warm as I could: a pair of running tights, a pair of fleece running tights, a long tank to keep my midsection extra warm, a fleece turtleneck, my Brooks running jacket, gloves, hat and a balaclava. I looked a bit ridiculous with the balaclava and sunglasses on but the sunglasses were necessary since the sun was bright and we still have a lot of blinding white snow on the ground. I was very warm from the beginning of my run. I had planned to do just 6.5 miles out and 6.5 miles back for a total of 13, well apparently the road I was headed down is much shorter than I thought, only 3.5 miles so I ran up and down and around some side streets to get the mileage up. I finished in 2:05:14 for an average pace of 9:37 min/mile and an average heart rate of 161bpm. Just perfect :)

I came home and got into my ice bath with as many layers on my upper body and head as possible, along with a cup of hot green tea but it was still frigid! It took me about two hours to warm up after the ice bath and it also took me awhile to eat anything since my run made me feel a bit nauseous this morning. Not sure why. Then I had to watch my Patriots play absolutely awful and lose. Ugh. But the boyfriend and I were at his parents for dinner and it was delicious! His aunt made this apple and squash dish which I loved. I will definitely be making it myself soon!

I said I was going to post about core exercises this weekend but I have a little bit of work to do so it's going to have to wait.

Ending with a running quote that I get in my email daily from Runners World:

As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are
- Joan Benoit Samuelson

26 miles so far

2010-01-07T22:23:00.000-05:00

I've run 26 miles in 2010 so far and I am thrilled with the start I am off to, especially since it's been mostly pain free! I only had some pain during Tuesday's run but once I stretched around mile 2, it went away.

Runs this week:

Tuesday: 5.01 miles, 46:53, pace 9:22 min/mile
I ran outside and it was kind of miserable because the sidewalks on the main road aren't paved, so I ran up and down my side road and one circle for 5 laps. Oh well I got it done and it was a decent run despite some calf twinges.

I had PT on Wednesday in between my running days and it was much needed. I love massage and ART! So nice. I had to do one new hard exercises, stepping into alternating squats on squishy half circle type things, so the flat side on the ground and I was stepping on the rounded squishy one. Eeeek, it was hard and everyone was watching me. But I got it done and it helps my leg strength.

Thursday: 4.00 miles, 36:10, pace 9:03 min/mile
This run was done on the treadmill. I alternated incline and speed with each song, so song 1 - flat and 6.3, then song 2 - incline and 6.3, song 3 - flat and 6.4, song 4 - more incline and 6.4 etc ... for 8 songs which was most of my 4.00 miles, and then I sprinted the last .4 of a mile or so, increasing the speed every .05 miles. It was a good workout!

I've also been doing some Core Training and I think this weekend I'm going to work on a post about that but for now I have to go back to doing some work I brought home. (Yes, one of my goals was not to do this but I had PT twice this week, so it's just makeup work for time missed, not extra work I'm bringing home. As soon as PT is over, bringing work home will end).

Treadmill Running

2010-01-03T20:49:00.001-05:00

It snowed all weekend here in MA. I woke up yesterday and was debating about whether I wanted to go Power Yoga then run or run then go to Power Yoga. Then I looked out the window and realized I probably wouldn't be running outside. I like to run in the snow but when it's constantly snowing, I have to worry too much about plows which is no fun. So I knew I needed to go the gym and run on the treadmill. Then I decided not to go to Power Yoga at all since I had taken too much time in bed making up my mind and would have had to rush to clean off my car and help my mom shovel. So I got up, did some shoveling and cleaning off then picked up the boyfriend and headed to the gym. I decided I would switch Saturday's 5 miles with Sunday's 12 miles in case I couldn't make it out at all on Sunday.

So, on Saturday I did 12 miles on the treadmill at the gym, with a dead ipod. Oh my gosh, I was soooo bored. I just started at the time and distance the whole time. I was going 1/12th of the way done, 1/6th of the way, 1/4th etc ... But I did it, 12 miles in 1:59:10. Just shy of two hours, with the second 6 miles a few minutes faster than the first. The only time I had to stop was when the treadmill ran out of time, since the longest I could set it for was 99 minutes. So I had to reset it to finish the last 2+ miles. I felt pretty good. My calves didn't bother me at all, which thrilled me. I took an ice bath after and relaxed all afternoon.

This morning, the snow wasn't as bad as yesterday but the roads still weren't very runnable. So back to the gym we went. Luckily, 5 miles go by a lot faster than 12 miles even when they are recovery miles. I ran it in 51:33 or something and my heart rate never went above 154 which was good. I was a little sore after the 17 total miles but not bad.

I did day 3 of the 30 Day Shred tonight and Level 1 is definitely getting easier for me. I'm sure when I move up to Level 2 it will be killer though. I'm going for 10 days at each level.

Back to work tomorrow, so it's early to bed for me tonight. I'm so thankful for the time off I get due to working for a University. It's really nice. I loved being able to sleep in, run whenever I wanted, nap if I wanted etc ...

So I read “Skinny Bitch” and …

2010-01-01T18:48:00.001-05:00

It really has changed the way I think about food. I was already leaning towards becoming vegetarian after watching the documentary Food Inc. a few weeks ago and reading "Skinny Bitch" sealed that for me. So as of yesterday, I have given up meat. I'm debating about what else will also go. I should give up dairy especially since it has really negative effects on me and that part of the book really struck me. I've always found it weird that humans are basically the only adult mammals that consume milk and well I don't even like milk, it's other dairy products (cheese, ice cream etc …) that will be harder for me to give up, so I'm still processing this part. I think I need to give up a lot of, if not all, the dairy I consume because I do notice the effects of it on my body it's just harder to let go of than meat for me. So I'm starting with meat and will continue with the process from there. I'm sure I'll read "Skinny Bitch" many times while going through this life change, as it really does lay it right out there for you. And, I think that while I'll end up giving up meat and dairy, I may not give up fish which may seem weird and I'm not sure I can explain it … but it's something I'm processing. I'm really just starting out right now and I think everything takes time and I don't want to rush anything so for now gone from my diet are:

Meat
Soda

I'm researching and processing

Dairy
Seafood
Caffeine
Artificial sweeteners (well they're going for sure, I just need to wean myself off of Propel and Crystal Light packets and then I'll be done. I haven't had any today!)

FYI: Skinny Bitch is very blunt, lays it out there and has a lot of swearing … just a forewarning if anyone's interested in reading it. It is very informative though and I really enjoyed it. I need to buy "Skinny Bitch in the Kitch" for recipes now.

So this is part of my 2010 journey … we'll see where it takes me.

2010 Goals and Tentative Schedule

2009-12-31T19:43:00.001-05:00

I have a long list of goals for 2010, some are running-related, some are not and in some ways, they intertwine.

2010 Goals:
- eat clean
- 8-10 servings of veggies and fruits daily
- cut soda of my diet completely
- limit sugar intake, cut out artificial sweeteners
- limit the amount of work I bring home
- spend my time wisely
- learn how to let go and relax
- deal with some personal issues that need to be dealt with
- work on all of my relationships
- save a large amount of money for an eventual downpayment on a house (We have decided not to go the condo route and will be renting instead, starting January 30th. I'm so excited to decorate the new apartment! It has a real fireplace and a washer/dryer in unit!)
- lose weight

Running Related Goals (although some of the above will definitely effect my running, especially the food related ones)
- Run 1,000 miles
- Set PRs in every distance:
5K: sub 23:00
10K: 48:xx
10 miles: 1:24:xx
Half marathon: 1:50:xx
Marathon (well I don't have a PR here yet so goal is ...): 4:15:xx
- Possibly complete a sprint triathlon

2010 Race Schedule - Very Tentative

February 7, 2010 - Super Sunday 10K
February 28, 2010 - Hyannis Half Marathon
April 11, 2010 - Road Race by the Sea 10K
April 25, 2010 - George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Miler
May/June 2010 - 5K
July/August 2010 - 10K, if I race at all
September 2010 - Half Marathon, possibly the same one I did in September 2009 ... or no race at all
October 2010 - Bay State Marathon
November 2010 - Probably some Thanksgiving Day Race
December 2010 - no races

I'll be back in the next few days with a post about my 2009 running, and recent run recaps. I also want to write some about a change in my eating habits/lifestyle that I'm undergoing after reading "Skinny B!tch" this week.

Happy New Year! Have fun tonight and be safe!!!

Injuries that just don't stay away.

2009-12-19T20:48:00.000-05:00

Since this summer, I've been dealing with a calf injury. My official diagnosis is basically shin splints though. And I'm in physical therapy. But it's getting worse not better and I don't think it's just shin splints. It affects my calf, my arch, my knee and my shins. I feel like there is a vice tightening around my calf when it's really bad. Then there's the foot numbness that the doctor's have not figured out yet, which I feel should be a priority but they seem to think just deal with the shin splints and it will all go away, well I disagree. I'm getting really frustrated because I cannot run fast, I cannot run hard and I cannot run over 20 miles a week it seems without the pain reoccurring. I think all my race plans for 2010 are officially on hold and I will be trying to get to the bottom of this, cross train and hopefully resume running again, slowly in hopes of a fall 2010 or a 2011 race ... makes me sad but it's not the end of the world. I'm 22, I have many running years in front of me.

Happy Holidays!

A relatively nice weekend

2009-12-13T22:29:00.001-05:00

Hello all!

It's been a good weekend. On Friday night, Dave met me in Boston and we went out with an old friend of mine from college. It was really good to see her again and to meet her boyfriend. Another one of our figure skating teammates also came out and even though I had to leave soon after she arrived, it was really good to see her too! I wish we lived in the city so that I could see my friends more often without the commute. Dave and I took the train back, I had had a few drinks and fell asleep on the ride back. I usually sleep on my commute in and out of work on the train, so I'm very good at sleeping on trains these days.

I did pay for those few drinks the next morning on my 4 miler. I headed out in what was supposed to feel like 15 degree weather. Well, I was wayyyy overdressed. Then my feet felt like lead and I just didn't feel like I was in a groove at all. I was hoping to do a marathon pace run (9:09ish) … my splits were

Mile 1: 8:56, avg HR 159

Mile 2: 9:02, avg HR 164

Mile 3: 9:07, avg HR 165

Mile 4: 9:07, avg HR 169

Total: 4.0 miles, 36:15, average pace 9:03, average HR 165

Not bad despite feeling off to the whole time. After my run, cooled down, made a recovery smoothie, changed and headed to power yoga. It was a good class but it's still hard for me. I think I need to go more than once a week but I just don't have the time, which stinks. After yoga, I continued my morning of work outs and headed to the gym to meet Dave. I did 10 minutes of hill warmup on the elliptical, then tried to do some pull ups (did 2!) and then did my lifting session: deadlifts (total weight 95lbs), shoulder press (25lbs each hand), lat pull down (70lbs), lunges (30lbs total), and stability ball crunches with a 25lb plate. It was a tough workout after everything else that morning.

My afternoon consisted of a Target trip with my Nana, a nap, a trip to the mall to buy part of Dave's present and Trader Joe's. I watched the Bruins and Celts with my dad then headed to bed.

I had about 10 miles on the schedule today, so I got up around 7:30 to get some food into me and then dallied around until 8ish. Headed out for my warm up around 8:20. Goal pace for LSR is 10:09-10:39, HR 150-165ish.

Mile 1: 9:52, avg HR 134 – felt good, trying to slow down but since my HR wasn't high I kind of let it go

Mile 2: 9:54, avg HR 157 – still getting in a groove, my left calf was a light tight and crampy but loosening up

Mile 3: 9:42, avg HR 160 – woah too fast and this was a hilly-ish mile too

Mile 4: 9:27, avg HR 159 – definitely too fast

Mile 5: 9:44, avg HR 165 – HR too high … one hill in particular caused it. There's a hill on Dave's street that always gets me

Mile 6: 10:04, avg HR 156 – stopped at Dave's house for him to join me and I took a GU. Take off my gloves since I'm pretty warm now.

Mile 7: 10:12, avg HR 156 – Dave is good at pacing me. This is where I should have been the whole time.

Mile 8: 10:24, avg HR 157 – a little slow but within the range I want. Miles 7 and 8 are hilly.

Mile 9: 10:48, avg HR 151 – included a stop to get a rock out of my shoe, I hit lap instead of start/stop

Mile 10: 9:53, avg HR 153 – stopped and got a Gatorade for once I got home on this mile. Felt pretty good still

Total: 10.0 miles, 1:40:06, average pace 10:00, average HR 155

I went a got a massage about 2 hours after my run, it was much needed! My back, ITBs and calves needed some work. I need to go more often since I think it really helps. Met Dave and friend for lunch and Patriots watching after my massage but I wasn't feeling too great and the Pats were not playing too well so I left at halftime. Watched the second half at home and then just relaxed. Went back to Target for some gift shopping, made sugar cookies and watched the season finale of Dexter. WOW. What a twist. I knew it would be crazy but this was just wow. I'm not sure I like it but …. It had to happen I guess.

Off to bed now, busy work week ahead but it's my last full week before intersession. Only 7.5 days left then 10 days off! I love working for a University!

Goodnight L RHR 165

Updating my blog from my brand new laptop!

2009-12-09T22:31:00.000-05:00

My Christmas present to myself arrived today! I got a new Toshiba laptop in the online deals on Black Friday, it cost less than $450! Now I'm getting used to the new keyboard, which is somewhat difficult but it just takes time :) Tomorrow I'll install my Garmin software, it's going to be so nice to upload my data from runs again!

It was miserable out today, so I had to go to the gym and use the dreadmill to get my workout in. So Dave picked me up after work and we headed over there. I had four miles on my schedule, so I headed to the treadmill and did about 4.1 miles in 40 minutes, I walked about .3 of it between warm up and cool down. It felt pretty easy even though time goes by sooooo slowly when I'm not running outside but I got it done and that's what matters. After I ran, I had to lift which I have been putting off since Monday because I'm exhausted but I did it. It was Stage 1 Week 4 Workout A from the New Rules of Lifting for Women, so I had:

squats - 65 lbs
rows - 25 lbs
pushups with feet on stability ball
step ups - 40 lbs
prone jackknife

I was dying by the end of my workout because while it may be short I push myself to the limit on each exercise and it was even harder than usual after a run, I usually try to do it on a run rest day and a run day with less than 3 miles but that option is being phased out as my runs become longer. I'm sure I'll get used to it and it will pay off :)

This week so far:

Monday: elliptical 10 minutes, PT exercises for about 30 minutes, PT work done to me for about 30 minutes, walk 25 minutes fast
Tuesday: run 30 minutes (3 miles), stretching routine
Wednesday: run 40 minutes (just over 4 miles), lift 20 minutes, stretching routine

Planned for the rest of the week:

Thursday: run 3 miles, PT and whatever that includes, stretching and foam rolling
Friday: Stage 1 Week 4 Workout B in the am since I'm going out after work
Saturday: run 4-5 miles, power yoga
Sunday: run 8-10 miles, lots of stretching and foam rolling

Great 9 Miler!

2009-12-06T20:51:00.000-05:00

I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow and I was actually really excited to get out there and run in it. I had planned 8-10 miles this morning and Dave and I had an appointment at 10:30, so I needed to be back by 9 to get ready and head out. So it was an early morning, I headed out around 7:30 and walked a little to warm up and then I started running. My goal on longer runs is to run 10:09-10:39 pace but I struggle with going that slow, even though I know LRs should be paced 60-90 secs slower than marathon pace and my GMP is 9:09 for a 4:00 marathon. Anyway, I've also been paying more attention to HR on runs, so this morning I was watching my pace and HR.

Mile 1: 9:51, 146 avg HR. Felt great, headed into the sun, was able to run in the road instead of the snowy sidewalks since it was so early out and there weren't too many cars.
Mile 2: 9:50, 164 avg HR. Headed past the pond and just took in the gorgeous morning. I was so comfortable in my black Nike tights, black Nike turtleneck, UnderArmour gloves and hat. I didn't get too hot and I was never cold. I did step in a puddle on this mile and my foot was a little chilly. I think I need some better socks.
Mile 3: 9:55, 165 avg HR. Up and down some rolling hills. I was running a new route which was hillier than I expected but I felt good. Stopped for a GU at the end of this mile since I hadn't eaten breakfast. I brought 2 GUs just in case but only needed one.
Mile 4: 10:06, 164 avg HR. Ran down Dave's street here, planned it that way in case I needed a bathroom stop but I didn't. Felt really good. His mom said she saw me later. One big hill in this mile. Finally closer to the right pace.
Mile 5: 9:49, 166 avg HR. Turned on to another main street, which was very rolling. Felt good, had to worry a little more about cars here, so jumping back and forth between street and the snow covered grass.
Mile 6: 9:51, 167 avg HR. Felt really good mostly, my back was getting tighter but not bad. Happy to have my new handheld water bottle at this point.
Mile 7: 9:52, 166 avg HR. Not much that I remember about this point in the run.
Mile 8: 9:47, 167 avg HR. Almost done, heading back into the sun. Felt great.
Mile 9: 9:14, 164 avg HR. Felt great at the end. Had to head past my house a little but it was ok because it gave me a cool down walk back. My right foot hurt a little bit but not too bad.

Total: 9.00 miles, 9:48 avg pace, 163 avg HR even though most were higher, I guess my first mile helped? 971 calories.

Came home and took a quick ice bath before showering and heading to apartment hunt with Dave. I thought we may choose an apartment today but we've actually reconsidered and may be buying instead! Probably around March/April, since we want to use the 8,000 tax credit. I'm so excited though. I just want to be closer to work and have an easier commute. I can't wait for us to move in together either.

Had to watch the Patriots lose this afternoon, which really sucked. I did nap through half time and some of the 3rd quarter since I was exhausted but I saw most of the game. I also had to get some work done for tomorrow, which is a good thing especially since I have PT tomorrow and will have to take a long lunch.

Have a great Sunday night!

I'm an awful blogger

2009-12-05T12:32:00.000-05:00

I just can't keep up. I read a ton of blogs but never update my own. Oh well, I'll keep trying. I do have more time now that I don't have class two nights a week since I decided grad school wasn't right for me currently.

So running - just been running on and off, dealing with some injuries. I'm in physical therapy for my shin and calf pain. I had a compartment syndrome test a few weeks ago and it was negative luckily. Hopefully PT helps and I'm ready to start marathon training later this month. I did run a Turkey Trot 5K but had an awful side stitch around 2.5 miles and had to stop since I couldn't stand up straight. Finished in like 27:55, which is the same as my PW. Oh well, I wasn't quite on pace for a new PR anyway. Dave got one though, which is awesome! I went out and ran another 5 miles that day since I was so unhappy with my race. Then we played football with Dave's family and I got to guard the 6 year old, well he can run fast and for a long time. We played for like 2 hours and I think I got another mile in with all the running haha. It was fun though.

I've started going to power yoga once a week and lifting twice a week, although I may try and increase the lifting to three times a week if I can. But then I wouldn't have a real rest day, so I'm not sure. I'm doing New Rules of Lifting for Women but only the lifting schedule not the diet part. Although my diet does need an overhaul ... but that's gonna wait until January, haha.

In other news, Dave and I are apartment hunting and hopefully will find a place tomorrow and move in January 1st. We saw a great apartment on Wednesday that I love. It's 1 bedroom, huge living room with a dining area, nice sized kitchen, porch and it has a fitness room and laundry on the same floor. We also could have stacked laundry in our unit if we want. But Dave wants to see a few more apartments before we make a decision so we're going back tomorrow. I'm hoping the great apartment is still available! I'm so excited to move out and move in with Dave.

So lets see if I can be a better blogger again.

Tufts 10K Race Report

2009-10-14T13:07:00.000-04:00

Result: 50:36. Feeling: Disappointment.

So I had never run a 10K heading into Monday's race but I wanted to finished between 48min-52min, or so I said but secretly my goal was less than 50. I got up relatively late since the race isn't until 12pm. Headed over to the boyfriend's house after getting my stuff together and stopping at Dunkies. His two aunts were running as well, and we were driving in with his mom and 1 aunt and picking his grandmother and other aunt up at South Station. Headed in, the drive was easy, picked up everyone etc ... I finally decided to wear my old shoes after much debate. Got to the race, had to find our bib numbers and then go to number pickup. My line was extremely long, for some reason the line was 1-1500, whereas every other line seemed to be in groups of 500. Not sure why. Got our numbers and stuff. It was about 11:15 now. I visited the porta-potties twice and hung out. I took my salt before the race and then went and lined up in the middle of the 7 min mile group.

The race started and I felt ok, my stomach was bothering me and I was worried about my foot. But at the beginning there were a lot of people and it was really energetic. I also still had my Garmin on autolap and it always hit a mile marker before the official mile marker, which sucked. I started it right as I crossed the start line too, so I must have not run the tangents well. The following stats are from my Garmin:

Mile 1: 7:28
Mile 2: 7:29

I felt good but when I saw the numbers, it seemed a little too fast but I probably should have just ignored the numbers looking back now.

Mile 3: 7:59

Trying to hold back a little and my stomach started really bothering me here. So I decided to stop at the porta-potty on the course, and then I still had to walk some after to try and get rid of a bad cramp.

Mile 4: 9:01

That mile sucked. Includes porta-potty and walking.

Mile 5: 8: 19
Mile 6: 7:57
.34 miles: 2:29 (7:24 pace)

Decided I needed to just suck it up and run, so I did. My foot and stomach hated me but I finished. Not very pretty but I'll take it. I really wanted a sub 8 min/mile pace but my official min/mile pace is 8:09 even though my Garmin has me running further and at a sub 8 pace. I figure I ran wide on some turns and I didn't pause when I ran into and out of the porta-potty, so I was bound to have some extra mileage on there. I really wish I hadn't had to stop. Everyone I went with thought my time was great and it is, don't get me wrong, I just know I could have done better.

Next time, sub 50 for sure.

First run in a week

2009-10-07T20:19:00.000-04:00

It was only 2 miles but it was a run! I hadn't run since last Wednesday since my foot had been acting up. I think it was/is plantar fasciitis and mild tendonitis, which I'm going to continue to treat. I saw my doctor a few weeks ago and she wasn't concerned so I'm trying not to be. I did buy a Strassburg Sock, and honestly I can't tell if it's making a difference yet or not but we will see.

So I ran my two miles in 18:36 and felt really good. I had a few twinges in my foot but I think that was because I was overthinking it.

And boy did I need this run. I've had an absolutely awful week between work and grad school and I needed some me time. Some free, don't think just run time. And even though it was a short two miles, it helped my mind so much. Ahhhh love running.

I have a 10K Monday and it's a guaranteed PR since I've never raced a 10K before, sweet! The boyfriend's aunts are doing it also, so it should be fun. I just hope it doesn't snow! That's what is predicted but I doubt it will or at least, I hope it doesn't!

In addition to the three day weekend, I don't have one of my classes next week! Yes! So, so relieved to have a little break.

MIA

2009-10-02T18:05:00.001-04:00

I've been on a bit of a running hiatus since last week's 5K. My foot has been bothering me again, I think it's just a mild case of tendonitis but I'm resting and icing to not make it worse.
I did run once this week, 3x800s on the treadmill on Wednesday and it actually felt really good but my foot ached afterwards so I won't run today. I think I'll take this weekend off, bike and do yoga instead, maybe run once or twice before my 10K on the 12th and see how I'm feeling. If this little break doesn't do the trick, I'll have to head back to the doctor and I really hope it doesn't come to that.
This injury has also affected my planned marathon training. I was planning on starting an 18 week marathon training program on Oct 19th for The Breast Cancer Marathon on February 21. Unfortunately it's looking less likely that I will be ready to start training by then. Plus, I was already worried about training for a warm weather marathon in the New England winter. So now I'm looking at a DC Marathon in March or possibly Nashville in April, I think. If I do DC, the boyfriend has family there so that would be nice and if I do Nashville, I have family there. So hopefully one of these two relatively later winter/early spring marathons works out and I can start training soon.
So that's my update for now. Hopefully I'll have a good cycling and yoga weekend along with the hours of studying I have to do for an exam Tuesday.

5K PR!

2009-09-26T12:36:00.001-04:00

I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure 5K this morning. I got up at 6 and got ready. Headed out, stopped at Dunkin Donuts to bring the boyfriend coffee and breakfast since he was nice enough to drive me in. I went over to his house, dropped off my car and we headed into town. The drive took way less time than we thought, there was no traffic and there were no parking lines, score! Except we were there so early. But that's okay. It was chilly so I had sweatpants and a sweatshirt on over my race clothes. I got my bib number and put my timing chip on my shoe and then we walked around the expo. It was nice but emotional, I lost my grandmother two years ago to breast cancer and there were bibs that could be filled out 'In Memory of ...' so I did one of those for the back of my shirt and broke into tears as I was writing Meemom on it but the volunteers there were understanding of course. The the boyfriend and I took our stuff and walked it back to the car and then headed back and just walked around. I used the porta potties twice before the race, did a little jogging and stretching and then we lined up.

The starting line was emotional too as they had a breast cancer survivor speak then. I teared up a little and told myself I would push as hard as I could through this race since it isn't anything nearly as hard as what my Meemom went through or anyone else battling cancer.

The race route was a little weird and choppy, there were a lot of U turns. But it was soooo flat, which definitely contributed to my PR. It was great to see so many people out there in support of the cause, there were over 7,000 participants. The 3.1 miles went by very quickly and then the finish line was in site, and the clock said 23:xx, and I was so so happy. My gun time was 23:46 and my chip time was 23:34! My old 5K PR was 25:11! I had a huge smile on my face as I finished. I think it may have been my best race ever and even though the day was emotional, it was also great.

Here are some pictures:

The race started at the World Trade Center on the Seaport.

A runner's shirt that the boyfriend liked

Before the start of the race

Starting line

The boyfriend getting a picture of me running by. I have the Recovery socks on and bib on the back. (Wore the pink Recovery socks since they were pink and I wanted to be as pink as possible!)

Near the end

Finish line! Furthest to the left :)

Have a great Saturday and good luck to anyone racing this weekend!

Injuries, Track and 5ks

2009-09-24T22:06:00.000-04:00

I've been a little MIA the last few days. After my run on Saturday, I started having some sharp pain in my left foot. Ugh. So I rested it and iced it. The pain didn't go away so I went to my doctor on Tuesday, praying it wasn't a stress fracture.. And it wasn't! Just a ligament strain. My doctor is a triathlete so she understood my worrying but assured me I could run this week, which is good because I have the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k this weekend. I'm really excited for this race, since I'm doing it in memory of my Meemom (grandmother), who passed away 2 years ago after battling breast cancer. I'm really hoping I can PR.

So I didn't run Monday due to my foot. But yesterday after work, the boyfriend and I headed to the track. I wanted to see how fast I could run 1 mile. The first track we headed to is closed for repairs apparently, although there was someone on it. But the sign said closed and we didn't want to disobey so we headed to another track. I did a mile warmup, pretty slowly. Then stretched out before my fast mile. I just wanted a 7 minute mile even though in high school without training I was faster than that. So I ran my 1 mile in exactly 7:00, blah. I want to get faster. I know I said it was my goal but I really was hoping for faster. Oh well something to improve on. After my mile time trial, I did one cool down lap of walking and then 1 800, followed by 400 recovery and a mile cool down. It was a pretty good workout although the track was quite dark when we finished. There are lights that supposedly can be turned on but we couldn't get them to work. Luckily, my mom knows the Athletic Director, so we'll contact him and see if we can figure it out since the track is really nice, they recently redid it and I'd love to be able to use it more but I need some light.

My foot didn't hurt too bad at all during the running and I iced it last night. Today it felt fine, so I think it's on the mend! I've actually been writing this blog post all day and it's taken me all day. I had a work conference today so the boyfriend dropped me off at the train at 7:20 and I headed to it. I got off the train and was crossing an intersection when my boss pulled up beside me in her car so I didn't have to walk the 10 blocks to the conference in heels at least. It was really good timing! The conference was good but very long. The food was excellent, which I appreciated. After the conference ended at 4, we had to head back to work since both my boss and I had class tonight and we work on campus. I just quickly checked in, changed and headed to my Epidemiology review session from 5-6, and then I had Epidemiology from 6-8:45. I kept updating the post throughout all of this on my phone and I'm finally getting around to tweaking it and posting it. I'm off to bed now. I've got 2-3 easy miles on the schedule tomorrow and then my 5k Saturday!

Hills

2009-09-19T21:16:00.000-04:00

The boyfriend and I headed to a nearby state park this morning because he wanted to ride his bike not run and I wanted to get in some hill work, and there are some good hills there. We headed out and I did a little over one mile of warmup with him, some of it on trails which I really enjoyed. Usually, the boyfriend rides his road bike but today he wanted to do some trail riding so he rode the mountain bike. After our warmup, I went back out on to the main road to run this hill:

I think this may actually be the downhill view of it. Here's the uphill, I think:

Anyway, it was a nice size hill even if the pictures don't necessarily show it. I did about 6 hill repeats.

After I was done with hill repeats, I met back up with the boyfriend and we did a cool down, which actually involved more hills. Fun! Did 4.75 miles total which is less than I originally planned but when I looked back at my schedule for the week, I had planned on 2 miles yesterday not 3.1 and 5 today so I ended up with more miles than planned anyway, so I'm all set. My garmin and training log are downstairs right now so I don't have all my stats and will have to edit later to add them. I'm having a little bit of arch pain, so I'm babying that right now, hopefully it will be better in time to run Monday but if not the day off won't hurt me.

I spent the rest of my day helping my mom clean (I'm living at home until January) and boy did we get a lot done. We completely reorganized both bathrooms, the kitchen cabinets and the fridge. I also did another little project, my dad is a magazine hoarder and has about a million golf magazines. Well about 100 of them resided in a wicked basket in our living room and it looked really messy, which drives me crazy so I went through them all and arranged them by year (some dated back to 1996!) and then by month and boxed them up for him. So now they're in a box in the basement and when he needs an article, he'll know where to find it and I'm happy because they're out of sight. I'm an organizational neat freak which is completely opposite of my parents so it felt really good to get some things organized today.

I also helped the boyfriend go through all of his clothes and clean his room since his family is selling their house soon and it needs to be clean for viewings.

We did not get to go apple picking as planned :( but we will soon. Just too much going on today. I did however get my apple pie. I met up with one of my best friends from high school for dinner tonight and had apple pie for dessert after my clam chowder bread bowl, yummmm. It was so good to catch up with my friend too since we hadn't seen each other in a while and she just moved back to the area.

A busy but good day. Tomorrow will be a homework day so that I don't have to do my homework on lunch breaks like I did last week.

- Ashley

Running with my dog

2009-09-18T19:55:00.000-04:00

My chocolate lab is one of my running partners. Or really, my only running partner right now except for the boyfriend who will run with me when he feels like it. And well, Remy, my chocolate lab, isn't the most consistent runner. She gets so excited when she realizes that we're going running that she takes off on the first mile. I basically just let her drag me until we get into a relatively steady rhythm. Then we hit our turnaround point at 1.3 miles and it's my turn to drag her home. She's got to learn about endurance, can't go out so fast.

When I run with Remy, we usually do a 2.6 mile out and back and then I drop her off at home. She gets to lay in the grass and catch her breath while I finish my run. I really do love her company on those 2.6 miles though. She stays by my side (well kind of), keeps me company and makes me feel safe. I hope I can get her up to about 4 mile runs eventually but we will see. For that, not only does she have to learn how to pace herself better but I have to try and find a slightly different route which is hard in my town which lacks consistent sidewalks to run on. I find it really unfortunate how many towns around here do not have sidewalks that make it safe for people to go out for a walk or run in their neighborhood. Although, I personally only run on sidewalks when I'm with Remy because I prefer the feel of the road but it's just not safe enough with her.

So Remy and I ran tonight. She did 2.6 miles and I did 3.1.

Stats:
Miles - 3.1
Time - 26:36, avg 8:35 min/mile
Mile 1 - 8:29
Mile 2 - 8:40
Mile 3 - 8:37
Mile 3-3.10 - 8:15 min/mile pace
Calories - 326

I just iced my foot which I tweaked somehow on the run and now it's time to relax and watch the Red Sox.

Have a good night!

Busy weekend ahead

2009-09-18T07:40:00.000-04:00

I get to go into work late today. Although, it's because I have to go to the dentist this morning. Ugh. I haven't been in way too long, bad I know. Hopefully my teeth are still in good shape but I have been having some issues with one tooth so I'm glad I got in this week. Hopefully I'll still be at work 12-5 and get enough done so that I don't feel stressed about what's waiting for me at work Monday.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping to get 5-6 miles in with some hill repeats. The boyfriend and I are going to a state park near us and he can ride his bike while I run. I know I need hill training and there's this one huge hill so I'm going to do it .... ummm well I haven't decided how many times yet. But enough. After running, laundry and cleaning majorly needs to be done. Then we're going apple picking! And then the boyfriend's mom said she'd make apple pie, which I've been craving for weeks.

I'm also having dinner and drinks with an old friend tomorrow night. I haven't seen her in a year and I'm so excited. It will be so good to catch up.

I'm also trying to decide if I should go get a gait analysis and fitting for new shoes this weekend because I think I need to go up half a size in shoes. I've had trouble with some foot numbness during training and while I think some of it has been resolved if I salt before and during runs, I also think that my feet swell a lot and my shoes get too small, so a half size bigger may help. I just can't decide if I want to get fitted this weekend or wait until next weekend after my 5k.

Off to get ready for the day, I'll be back tomorrow with a report of my hill repeats and maybe some pictures.

Posting from my phone

2009-09-17T07:46:00.001-04:00

Just have time for a quick post from my phone today since I have to do my Epidemiology homework during my lunch break. Don't worry, I take public transportation to work so I'm not driving and writing.

I ran for the first time this week last night. The boyfriend picked me up after work and we headed to the track. I did .75 miles warm up then 1x200, 1x300, 2x400, 1x300, 1x200, and then 2x100 with the boyfriend. Cool down was another .75, I had planned on a mile but it was getting dark and cold and he wanted to go. It felt so good to be running again and I wasn't sore at all. My blister from the race was still bothering me a little but it didn't get any worse, which is always good.

No running planned for today, I have class from 5 to 845 and my only goal is to stay awake.

Oh, and I got my training log from Runners World yesterday which was really exciting. I think it will be really helpful with my training.

Have a great day!

Mile splits from the half

2009-09-15T08:43:00.000-04:00

Just posting my mile splits from Saturday's half.

Mile1: 8:34
Mile 2: 8:11
- went out a lot faster than I had planned on
Mile 3: 8:46
Mile 4: 9:49
- lots of stopping to retie and adjust this mile
Mile 5: 9:17
Mile 6: 8:57
Mile 7: 8:50
Mile 8: 8:56
- finally some consistency
Mile 9: 8:31
Mile 10: 9:09
Mile 11: 9:14
Mile 12: 9:00
Mile 13: 8:32
Last .17(according to my Garmin it was .17 not .10): 7:23 pace

I really need to work on maintaining a steadier pace but I think the hills and stops really contributed to my inconsistency. I also need to work on starting a little slower but adrenaline makes that really hard.

Next up: back to running tomorrow night. I start Marathon training October 19th so until then it's speedwork and semi long runs. I'm doing a 5k September 26th and a 10k October 12th.

Have a good day!

Half Marathon Done

2009-09-14T13:23:00.000-04:00

I just deleted all my previous posts from this blog. I'm starting over from scratch. I just ran a half marathon this weekend and in about 5 weeks, I will begin marathon training! Right now, all I'm doing is complaining about my sore legs though. Hopefully I'll go for a short run on Wednesday. I do have a 5k on September 26th that I'd like to PR at so I need to start training again.

Half Marathon Report

Dave and I had a nice pasta dinner at his parent's house on Friday night before the race. I went home relatively early and even went to bed early because the Red Sox were rained out, so I had nothing to watch. I slept surprisingly well on Friday night which I was not expecting at all. I woke up a few minutes before my alarm at 6:15 and it was raining still. At this point, I'd been debating whether to wear tights or shorts due to the rain. I wear compression socks when I run due to some calf and foot problems so I did not want them getting wet. I decided I'd go with running tights and a pink Saucony singlet. Got dressed and everything ready to go. I grabbed a Luna bar to eat on the way and my mom and I headed over to Dave's to pick up him and his mom. It was downpouring most of the ride down to the race. We get to the registration and it is not overly organized and we have to stand outside in the rain but luckily it didn't take too long.

We met up with Dave's friend at registration and after we got our numbers, we grabbed what we needed from the car and sent our moms off to breakfast. The race start was about 1/3 of a mile from registration so we walked there. There were a few bathrooms at the building there and the lines weren't too long. It had stopped raining now and luckily didn't rain for the whole race.

We got started about 15 minutes after we got to the starting line. Dave and his friend wanted to start closer to the back, so I did too. We headed out to a relatively fast first mile (8:33) and I felt pretty good. Sometime during the second mile, I separated from Dave and his friend which was fine as we planned to run separately. My second mile was 8:11. It started getting pretty hilly after those first two miles and I really regretted heading out so fast. I got water from a water station for the first time at mile 3 (8:40something). After mile 3 I started to have some problems with my foot. My left foot went numb, as it has sometimes in the past, and I could barely feel it strike the pavement anymore. I stopped to retie my shoe but that didn't help much. I did have salt in my tights pocket so I took that which helped except for the fact that I took it without water, gross! My fourth mile was like 9:55 or something. Not good. But the salt helped A LOT! My foot slowly regained feeling.

I took my first GU sometime between 5-6. I was also walking through every water station at this point. I had to stop and stretch and retie my shoes a few more times before mile 7. I don't have all my mile splits with me anymore so I'll add them in later when I'm at home and have my Garmin. But once I stopped to tie my shoes for the last time and check to see what was bothering my right foot I was pretty steady for the rest of the race. I got gatorade sometime and was still walking water stations and some parts of the bigger hills which I wasn't thrilled about but there were way more than I expected.

I did have a moment at Mile 10 when I wanted to stop. In training the furthest we had run was 10 miles, so I felt a little undertrained but once I got water, walked and GU-ed at Mile 10, I was off and running for the rest of the race. I needed 9:30 min/miles for the last 3 miles to finish under 2 hours which was my goal.

I hit mile 13 and was running down the homestretch. I saw my mom and Dave's mom taking pictures and my mom wanted a high 5 but there was no way I had any energy for that. I crossed the finish like around 1:57:20 according to the clock at the finish line. Goal accomplished!

I almost passed out as soon as I stopped and my whole body seized. I couldn't believe how hard it was to walk but I got over to my mom and gulped down some gatorade. I then stretched and walked around waiting for Dave and his friend to finish. They finished about 9 minutes later and we took some pictures. I took my shoes off at this point and the blister on my right foot was killing me. Ugh. Got some food from the tents but I wasn't too hungry.

So that's it. My first half marathon. My official posted time is 1:56:23 which is 8:53 min/mile. Not bad! Especially in the weather and hills.

Marathon here I come!