Hills and speed training

I tagged along on another training session with Scarlette.  She was scheduled to do hill repeats and speed intervals and I thought it sounded fun (yes, fun has a new meaning these days!). We met up and headed out for a 10 minute warm-up run to get to the hill. The hill didn’t look so bad at the bottom, but the last few feet at the top were hard. I guess they were supposed to be hard so that’s a good thing.  Each time at the top I had to pause and catch my breath before running back down to do it all over again. We did this four times.

Next we ran to a flat part of the road and did minute long sprints, “hard effort” were the instructions. We had to sprint for a minute then run back for a minute at a recovery pace and do it all over again.  It is MUCH harder to run fast than it is my normal happy pace. Again, it is supposed to be hard so it was a good thing. One interval I looked down at my watch and we were logging a 7:14 pace. I could never sustain that for long, but hopefully it will come in handy at the finish line when I have going in for the win (haha).

I feel so energized now. I have to have a rest day tomorrow but right now I feel like I could go out for another run. I think mixing the training up, taking an extra rest day AND, most importantly, having some company has helped SO MUCH. I really need to reevaluate the rest of my training.  I am certainly going to start doing hills and speed training regularly. I will still stick to the same mileage plan of incremental increases, but instead of just straight running I will mix things up.

During my Christmas days off hopefully I will be able to join her for some more workouts. I also need to reach out to some people in the Spartanburg Running club. One lady offered to run some long runs with me, but I never took her up on it. For some reason I am intimidated to run with other people. I just feel like I am so slow and do not want to hold anyone up. I also breath so loudly! When I get self conscious about this I start trying to breath quieter but then I do not get enough air flow. I know – SO STUPID. Nobody cares. You would think that one of these days I would get over some of this weirdness.

Despite my renewed motivation to run I will take my rest day tomorrow. Sunday is going to be a tough workout – 12 miles. I will once again join Scarlette and do 12 miles a new way – 4 warm-up miles, followed by 4 mile repeats (fast miles with a bit of a recovery in between) then a mile mile cool down. (I know – WHO cools down for 4 miles:)!) I am really looking forward to it. It sure sounds a lot more interesting than running around in circles for 12 miles!

Trail run fun

I had a great run today with a friend. We hit the trails and ran through mud a good bit of the time. It was a beautiful day and a really nice change of pace from my normal training run. There is something special about running in the woods and having to really pay attention to getting over all the rocks and roots in the path. You can’t really zone out so much on a trail run like you can running around the track. It is also fun getting dirty – my lower legs were full of mud splatter.

I plan on doing more runs on the trail – as soon as hunting season is over I will be hitting John’s incredible trails. I have not appreciated what I had in my own back yard until today. I always thought they would be too rough to run on, but they are not too much different than what we did today at the equestrian center.

We have miles and miles of trails – many of the miles John cut with his own hands. I cannot wait to get out there with the Garmin and map my run.

The rest of the day was relaxing and productive. I managed to get a good bit of cleaning done. I had a sudden urge to get all the dust out of the house. It is amazing how much can accumulate!

Tomorrow I will skip my normal rest day and hit the hills. I only have a week left to get in top shape for the half marathon. There are a few hills on the half marathon route so I need to make sure my legs are ready for them. I cannot believe the race is almost here!

OK, I’m ready

Ok – I have typed this post TWICE and some how it has deleted itself. I really do not have the energy to type anymore. Just know that I will do 6 miles tomorrow, hopefully outside, and I am happy.

Help from Hal

This morning I decided to consult my coach Hal about how I have been feeling. Basically I have been tired for a couple of weeks and my motivation has been waning. I still am very motivated for the races and I will succeed, but getting out there daily has really been a struggle. I don’t want it to be a struggle. I want to enjoy myself and feel myself getting stronger and better. Instead I feel tired and sore and weak.

First of all Hal reminded me that I am NOT an experienced runner. I am new, a novice. I have never run a marathon before yet I decided to use his “Intermediate 1″ training plan. This plan is for someone who has already run at least 1 marathon and is hoping to improve his or her finish time. Hal addresses this – he said that people following his program rarely have issues, if they do it is due to one of three things:

1. Not enough base mileage before starting the program.
2. First-timers who use the Intermediate program instead of the Novice program
3. People who run their long runs at or close to race pace rather than slower

So, I probably am a good candidate for point 1 – yes, I worked really hard for a few months getting my mileage up, and I have been working out hard and doing a good bit of running all year, but if I was really honest I could agree that my base wasn’t that great.

Point 2 is truly my problem. I had no business with the Intermediate plan. NONE.  Here and now I am revising the rest of my training. Starting with week 8 I am going to the Novice plan. The Novice plan will still get me to the finish line, but in a more gradual way. The biggest difference is that I eliminate the Saturday long tempo run. The key is still the long runs – I will still have to put in a heck of a lot of miles, increasing to peak at 20 miles a couple of weeks before the race.

Point 3 is a little bit of a concern. I do have to admit that on my last 9 and 11 mile runs I was trying to run close to race pace. From now on I stick to the slow pace.

Another thing I have to do is stop dwelling on the 26.2 miles. I am focusing too much on all the long runs. I need to just start taking it one day at a time, one race at a time. On December 12th I have my first half marathon. Right now I need to focus on it and do well. I am so concerned with the marathon that I practically forget about the half. One thing at a time.

“To get to the finish line, you’ll have to try lots of different paths.”
- Amby Burfoot

Things learned in 14 miles

Yesterday was my first 14 mile run. It was hard, I’m not gonna lie. You would think that after accomplishing such a feat I would be excited and motivated…. right now I am just tired. Don’t get me wrong – I am really proud of myself and I do feel a sense of accomplishment for going so far, but mostly I am a bit scared! At this point I cannot imagine doing 26.2 miles.

However, on a 14 mile run there is plenty of time to think.

I thought about my year so far. Last December is when I had my first thought of running a 10K race. I remember the seed being planted by a friend. She was talking about a girl she worked with that was training and encouraging her to run it. My friend is not a runner and, at the time, I am not even sure how much she exercised. At that point I had already lost 40 pounds and was trying to decide what I was going to do next to keep myself motivated. I had always wanted to be a runner. I signed up for my first 5K in January and continued to have the 10K in my mind. The thought of running 6.2 miles was overwhelming. I doubted that I could do it. With a little encouragement I signed up and started training.

I remember when my long run was 4 miles. I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to do it. I did and was thrilled. It took me a couple of weeks to work up to 5 miles, then 6 miles then my LONG run at 7 miles a week or so before the race. I remember being beyond proud of myself for that mileage.

I thought of all this while running my 14 miles, but no matter how hard I tried to stay positive and focus on my past accomplishments all I could think about was how many miles I had left to go. Mile 6 was hard – at mile 6 I still had EIGHT miles to go. That is really hard to take. EIGHT MORE MILES. I think I even cussed a bit to myself wondering what the heck I was doing out there. Why the heck would I want to run this long. This is absolutely ridiculous.

Mile 7, mile 8, mile 9… same thoughts. At mile 10 it started to get a bit better when I realized I only had 4 more miles to go. There was a point at mile 10 when I was literally running from point to point. I was focused on getting to a particular tree, then a crack in the road, then a bridge, then past a fence. I kept repeating KEEP RUNNING… then I pretended Jillian was yelling at me “Unless you faint, puke or die…. KEEP RUNNING!!”. I kept running. finally mile 11, then mile 12.

At mile 12 a new kind of pain set in. I discovered when chafing starts. I thought I conquered chafing with my compression shorts. I haven’t had that problem in months. I see ads all the time for a product called “Body Glide” to help runners with chafing. Well, I never bought any because I have my fancy compression shorts now.

I am here to report that there ARE other types of chafing. For me it is my sports bra around my rib cage. Apparently it is now too big because it is just lose enough to rub just slightly enough to cause pain. At first it was annoyance, but after awhile, especially when the sweat started rolling it was pretty painful. Trying to ease my pain occupied my thoughts for the next mile.

Other things that I learned:

• Music is important but you can get really tired of listening to the noise after 2 hours.
• Foot pain does not go away the more you think about it
• It is very hard to keep your chest up and run with good posture after 12 miles
• Everything hurts the next day

Hopefully one day I will look back on this 14 mile run the same way I am looking back on my 4 mile run now!

Right now I am very tired and really need to lay down. It is back to running tomorrow. I sure hope my muscles feel better!

 

Thanksgiving weekend recap!

It looks like I missed a couple of days of blogging while I was out being thankful with my family! A girl can’t be at the computer ALL the time! I have thoroughly enjoyed every single day of this holiday. We actually had three celebrations this year; Thursday with John’s side of the family, Friday I cooked just for us (I HAVE to cook Thanksgiving dinner!) and Saturday with my parents, brother and nephew  (Mom’s meal was the best!). The great thing is that everyone cooks the meal slightly different and each have their own specialties so we were not necessarily eating the same thing over and over.

Of course, the BEST part of every day was the fact that I got to spend them with Katheryn and Mollie. Everything is better when they are around.

The grand finale was the after dinner entertainment at Mom and Dad’s – we celebrated by the fire pit. I love fires and being outside on a crisp evening was perfect.

Earlier in the day we toasted with a new drink Dad discovered – the Baby Guiness, I think.. I it is a mix of Bailey’s Irish Cream and a new coffee liquor by Patron made from tequila! It was excellent.

I could have partied like a rock star, but I had to control myself because, as usual, I had my Sunday long run to look forward to – 14 miles ain’t no joke and I had to be good.

This morning Katheryn and I spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree and just hanging out. It was the perfect morning. At noon she was heading to her boyfriends house and I to the track. All morning is was nice and a bit overcast. By the time I got to the track it was sunny. Sunny, windy and hot is good for a day at the beach – not good on November 29th during a 14 mile run. It is amazing how hot a sunny 65 degrees can be! By mile 5 I was really suffering a bit. I had already drank water at mile 4, but it wasn’t enough. I looped back around to the car for another chug. My water tasted funny and I was really worried it was soap. I washed them this morning in the sink – I usually put in the dishwasher. I do not know if I didn’t rinse it out enough or what, but I was a bit worried. Luckily I had two other water bottles lined up and they were ok, but I had planned on drinking all three.

Miles 5 – 9 were hard. More mentally than physically. I just kept thinking how much longer I still had. I tell you, it is really hard at mile 9 knowing there are 6 MORE miles!

Luckily I had some good music. For the first 10 miles I listened to ABBA! It was so much fun – every song was great and had an awesome beat. At mile 10 that playlist was done and I put on my favorite – Lady Gaga. She is the absolute best. Every song on her album The Fame is great. She has a new album out – I hope it is half as good.

I made it -  bit slower than I wanted. I planned on finishing in 2:30, but my pace got pretty slow towards the end and it took 2:40. Actually – that was fine because it was an 11:30 pace and that is really what I was supposed to run for my long run.

At mile 12 I was seriously wondering why the heck I decided I wanted to run this long! WHY – it is really hard. But, I guess that is the point. I needed a challenge and now I have one.

So, another week, more miles. I am supposed to run 15 miles next Sunday, but I have to start my half marathon taper. I will have to modify my marathon training plan a bit for this race. I still have a busy week:

Monday: cross training
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 7 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: 7 miles
Sunday: 12 miles (modified – recommended miles from Hal’s intermediate half marathon plan)

My very own turkey trot

I was going to run in an official “Turkey Trot” in Spartanburg today. Apparently there is an 8K every year that is a great event. I just couldn’t bring myself to drive all the way down there. Instead, I went to the park and had my very own turkey trot.

Today I had to knock out 7 miles. After taking a bit of an unplanned break yesterday I would up and was really ready to get out and run. The extra day of rest really did my a world of good. I got on my new running outfit and headed to the park. It was 43 degrees when I got there, but I had on my new fancy running shirt and some new high tech running pants. Both with wicking material and I am sure other advanced features. I cranked up my music and got my 7 miles done in 1 hours and 14 minutes.

My plan was to wake up early, eat and get my food started for the day. I ended up sleeping in a bit because we stayed up late last night. I ended up going out for my run without breakfast – just some coffee. I wasn’t hungry at all and didn’t feel like eating anything. I got there and set up my car as my water station with my water bottle and some Cliff Shot chews. It worked out well and I took in three chews on my run.

Instead of my random thoughts that I usually have on my runs today I focused on what I was thankful for. There are SO MANY THINGS. I, of course, am so thankful for my family. I do not need a special day for that – I love my family and I can honesty say that every day of my life I think about how thankful I am. Katheryn is the light of my life – I thank God everyday that she is my daughter. I am thankful for John who pushes me everyday to do better. He knows I am capable of things before I am and convinces me to do things I might not do on my own. My parents are my ultimate supporters. They are two amazing people that have always believed in me and have supported me no matter what. My brother is amazing and a constant source of inspiration. I love my whole family everyday.

This year I have so much to be thankful for. I have gained so much this year while losing this weight. It has really been a wonderful year so far. Here are some random things I am thankful for:

• Running – it has saved me. I love it. I challenges me to do better and has opened me up to meeting new people. I have meet a lot of new friends through running.
• Jillian Michaels – she has given so much knowledge about how to change my life and lose weight. I am so happy I discovered her.
• Parks – who ever first decided to set aside land for people to use freely deserves a lot of credit! My favorite running places are in parks and I am thankful I do not have to run on roads all the time
• P9ox – it made me stronger and fitter
• My favorite foods! Greek yogurt, eggs, cheese Ezekiel bread, mandarin oranges, hummus, spinach, Green Monsters, butternut squash, apples, pasta… these are things I eat almost everyday and they make me happy
• Alcohol – yes, I am thankful for wine, beer, gin and whiskey. I love them all, in moderation, of course.
• Garmin. I LOVE my Garmin (well, John’s Garmin that I now call my own). it helps me stay on track. I love tracking my workouts in the Garmin training tool and in Training Peaks
• adidas – not only does it provide my a very nice income, but it makes some of the greatest workout apparel and running shoes there is.
• Magazines – These are my very favorite thing to buy. I love magazines – all kinds.
• Coffee – Starbucks is the best – home brewed French Roast, Iced Lattes and during the holidays the Gingerbread Latte!!! YUMM!
• Living in the South: The weather is mild and comfortable year round
• Training Plans: I really am thankful for people like Hal Higdon take the time to put together wonderful running training plans for me to follow to achieve my goals

Last but not least, there is one more addition to the family MOLLIE! Sweet, sweet Mollie. I couldn’t believe my ears when Katheryn told us earlier this year that she was getting a DOG. Well, it didn’t take more than a few minutes for me to fall in love with her. Now I can’t get enough of her. Whenever she is here I want to pet her and take her for walks. She is the greatest dog ever.

TIRED

Man-oh-man am I tired! I have been really tired all week and I cannot seem to shake it. My muscles are tired, too. I have a lot of running to do yet this weekend so when I am not running I am going to try to just relax.

Today was a LONG day at work! I think every single one of us that was stuck there counted down every minute of the day.  There were plenty of things to do, but all I could think about was coming home and getting on with the holiday.

Tomorrow I am going to hit the park for 7 miles. It should be nice and chilly in the morning!

Not a very exciting post tonight, sorry!

They’re back!

Katheryn and Mollie came back a day earlier than expected and I couldn’t be happier. It was great coming home today and having them greet me at the door. It is going to be a fun week!

Now I just have to get all my runs in. The mileage seems a bit daunting with all the things that need to be done and all the socializing to do. I got my four miles in at lunch today and I will do the same tomorrow. The plan calls for 7 tomorrow, but I will save that for Thursday when I have more time.

It was a really good run today.  It was really chilly out and it was windy, but I averaged a 10:30 pace. I had to take a few extra laps around the parking lots to get to 4 miles, but it wasn’t bad.

Right now I am sitting on the couch with Mollie, Katheryn had an urge to bake so she is in the kitchen making pumpkin muffins and John built another gorgeous fire. Have I mentioned that I LOVE fires?

 

Words from Jillian

I haven’t talked about Jillian lately – she is still my hero, but she is not a running coach so she has not been in my mind lately. Tonight I watched her on a show called “The Doctor’s”. They talked about the up coming holidays and how to avoid holiday gain. The first question was:

How many extra calories does the average American consume DAILY during the holiday?

619 EXTRA calories per day!

WOW – that is a lot of extra calories. I, however, am morally opposed to DIETING on a holiday. I will be enjoying Thanksgiving meal how I want to… eating all the food I enjoy. I am going to have my homemade green bean casserole, NOT steamed fresh green beans. I will have mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and pie. I will enjoy it. I will not gorge myself, but I will thoroughly be thankful for all the delicious food and all my family and friends that I will be sharing it with.

I will also do the following…. WORK OUT HARD! I will not miss a scheduled run – I have a busy week of running and a few holiday meals are not going to get in my way. I used to make excuses during the holidays… it’s Thanksgiving, it’s Christmas, blah, blah blah… those are NO reason not to exercise.

I will also NOT partake in random food eating. The office will be filled with food for the next month. Take today – for no apparent reason Dunkin Donuts brought boxes of donuts. HANDS OFF! I will NOT eat any of these random food offerings at all. If I do decide to eat something at the office it will be planned. For example, last year we had a Christmas cookie bake-off (that I won)… I will know when that is coming and PLAN to have a couple of cookies.

The point is that I think that everything has to be planned to avoid holiday weight gain. It is not inevitable to gain weight. Last year I believe I lost 5 pounds during the holiday. I hope to do the same this year.

On Jillian’s blog today she also talked about being proud of all your accomplishments. She has said this a lot to me (yes, I like to think she actually talks to ME personally!). Do not diminish any of your accomplishments. If you lose ONE pound be proud of that pound. If you run, even though slower than you wanted to, be proud anyways. I really think this is one piece of advice that stuck with me and made a world of difference. You have to be proud of yourself.