10 weeks down, 8 to go...
Quick Stats:
Miles Run - 42.1 (295.1 total)
Miles not run - 3.9 (in my defense, I had just run a half marathon and didn't have anything left to get finish the 17 miles I was supposed to run on Saturday)
New pairs of running gloves - 1 (thanks for the gift, good people at the Get in Gear races)
One more week in the bag. The next few weeks will be the toughest. If I can make it through those, I will be ok (or so I keep telling myself). I had a great 8 mile pace run on Thursday. Of course, this meant that my legs weren't exactly in the best shape to be running a half marathon on Saturday, but workouts like those are a great confidence booster. I average around 8:10-8:15 for the whole 8 miles. Yeah, it kicked my butt, but in a good way. I even dragged my old body out of bed early Sunday so I could get in an easy 4 miles before work. It was cold, it started to rain, but it was either that or not be able to walk the next 3 days. Getting old is tough.
Speaking of which, coming up this week, I will get one year closer to 30. I think I'm in the middle of a 1/3 life crisis. Maybe this whole marathon thing is part of a pending breakdown. We shall see.
I also got some kind words of encouragement from a stranger this weekend. Yesterday while at work, one of the organizers and I somehow got on the subject of running. He told me that he has run 52 marathons so far. He's ran a 2:41, he's been to Boston, New York, you name it, he's done it. And he's still running with no plans to stop anytime soon. I brought up that I was planning on doing Grandma's this year and thinking about Twin Cities this fall. We chatted about my training program, how many miles I'm up to, how many miles I plan to do, how my half marathon had gone, etc.. And his expert opinion, I'm going to be just fine. No worries that I'm not going to finish. After my disaster on Saturday, that's just what I needed to hear.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Get in Gear Half Marathon
Saturday morning was the Get in Gear Half marathon. Official time 1:59.34. I was a little disappointed in my time. This is 3 minutes slower than my time last May. I was really hoping for under 1:50, but there's always next time. From the beginning, my legs were dead. That would be my fault from doing a hard training run on Thursday and then going to the gym on Friday instead of resting. With my daughter being sick all week, I probably wasn't getting the sleep I needed either. But having your body in shape is just half the battle. There are so many other factors on race day that you have no control over.
The Weather - Mother Nature was not smiling down on all the runners that came out on Saturday. When I woke up that morning, it was overcast and threatening to pour at any minute. About a half hour before I was planning on leaving, the rain started and it wasn't letting up. Even more ominous was the flash of ligtning and thunder that greeted me as I walked out the door to my car. Cold and rainy, not the best conditions for 13.1 miles. While it wasn't pouring come race time, there was still a steady light rain. When I got home and peeled my wet clothes off, I swear I had to be lugging around at least 10 lbs of extra weight.
Parking - With these bigger races, just finding somewhere to park is a challenge in itself. They had blocked off the park where the race was to start and finish that morning and had all the runners park at the VA about a mile away. I left me house at around 7:30 (race was at 9:00). It took about 20-25 minutes to drive there, and another 20-25 minutes to manuever my way through race traffic and finally find a spot to park.
Shuttle Busses - To get everyone from the parking lot to the start line, the race had organized a small fleet of school busses to shuttle runners back and forth. Now these busses had to battle the same long lines of cars trying to find a parking spot as I had, meaning long lines waiting to be picked up. Last year when I ran the 10k race at this same event, it was quite a bit dryer, so I just jogged down to the start so that I didn't have to deal with the hassle of getting a seat on a bus. Smart move a year ago. With it being wetter this year, I decided to wait in line for the bus in hopes of getting another 5-10 minutes of keeping dry and warming up before the race began. I almost ended up in a bussing riot. When the fleet of busses arrived, I was a little ways back in the line, somewhere around just being able to squeeze on to the first bus, but probably more likely in line for the 2nd. Well, some genius woman decided to pull in behind the first bus, forcing the later busses to have to park farther back. Then the driver of the 2nd bus decided they were going to go ahead and open their doors to let people on, even though the first bus was still loading and almost full. The other busses followed suit, and people in the middle of the line started hopping on the busses in the back. Well, this meant that the people towards the front of the line were SOL. About 10-15 more people were able to squeeze on that first bus, leaving another 20 or so standing out in the cold rain until the fleet returned from dropping off the line jumpers that were behind them. I managed to be the last person to squeeze into bus 1. Suckers!!
Bathroom lines - You have never seen as many people in line for a porta potty as you do at a race. Going pee is a contact sport race morning. It gets dirty. If the person in the line next to you is distracted when the porta potty between your 2 lines opens up, run as fast as you can as soon as you see the knob start to turn. Or just do what the guy about the mile into the race decided to do and pee into the trees lining the course. Classy, man, classy.
The Starting Corral - Corral is the perfect choice of words for the starting line at a bigger race. Just think of 1000s of people (4633 to be exact) all lined up trying to run at the same time. We really did look like a herd of livestock. You have walkers for the 10k that line up in the front even though everyone else behind them is there to run. You have people in headphones that have no clue that the race has even started. It's pure chaos. My gun time was about 4 minutes slower than my chip time (they have timing chips on the back of the bibs that sensors at the start line and finish line can read so you can get a more accurate race time). That meant that it took 4 minutes just to get from where I was lined up in the pack to the start line.
But I did finish, and just squeaked in under 2 hours, which is ok... I guess. Next race is a 10k in 2 weeks. This one just so happens to fall on a rest week, so I'm hoping my legs will be a little fresher. I would love to run the 10k in under 50 minutes. This will also be the 4th race in the Greater White Bear Grand Prix (3rd that I have signed up to run).
P.S. - There was no way I was going to run another 4 miles after the race Saturday. I do feel a little guilty not getting in my full long run for the week, but I was cold, wet, and exhausted. Plus I needed to make sure I had enough time to take a nice long hot shower and have lunch before heading off to work. The rain did stop while I was on my way out to work, letting me at least stay dry that afternoon.
The Weather - Mother Nature was not smiling down on all the runners that came out on Saturday. When I woke up that morning, it was overcast and threatening to pour at any minute. About a half hour before I was planning on leaving, the rain started and it wasn't letting up. Even more ominous was the flash of ligtning and thunder that greeted me as I walked out the door to my car. Cold and rainy, not the best conditions for 13.1 miles. While it wasn't pouring come race time, there was still a steady light rain. When I got home and peeled my wet clothes off, I swear I had to be lugging around at least 10 lbs of extra weight.
Parking - With these bigger races, just finding somewhere to park is a challenge in itself. They had blocked off the park where the race was to start and finish that morning and had all the runners park at the VA about a mile away. I left me house at around 7:30 (race was at 9:00). It took about 20-25 minutes to drive there, and another 20-25 minutes to manuever my way through race traffic and finally find a spot to park.
Shuttle Busses - To get everyone from the parking lot to the start line, the race had organized a small fleet of school busses to shuttle runners back and forth. Now these busses had to battle the same long lines of cars trying to find a parking spot as I had, meaning long lines waiting to be picked up. Last year when I ran the 10k race at this same event, it was quite a bit dryer, so I just jogged down to the start so that I didn't have to deal with the hassle of getting a seat on a bus. Smart move a year ago. With it being wetter this year, I decided to wait in line for the bus in hopes of getting another 5-10 minutes of keeping dry and warming up before the race began. I almost ended up in a bussing riot. When the fleet of busses arrived, I was a little ways back in the line, somewhere around just being able to squeeze on to the first bus, but probably more likely in line for the 2nd. Well, some genius woman decided to pull in behind the first bus, forcing the later busses to have to park farther back. Then the driver of the 2nd bus decided they were going to go ahead and open their doors to let people on, even though the first bus was still loading and almost full. The other busses followed suit, and people in the middle of the line started hopping on the busses in the back. Well, this meant that the people towards the front of the line were SOL. About 10-15 more people were able to squeeze on that first bus, leaving another 20 or so standing out in the cold rain until the fleet returned from dropping off the line jumpers that were behind them. I managed to be the last person to squeeze into bus 1. Suckers!!
Bathroom lines - You have never seen as many people in line for a porta potty as you do at a race. Going pee is a contact sport race morning. It gets dirty. If the person in the line next to you is distracted when the porta potty between your 2 lines opens up, run as fast as you can as soon as you see the knob start to turn. Or just do what the guy about the mile into the race decided to do and pee into the trees lining the course. Classy, man, classy.
The Starting Corral - Corral is the perfect choice of words for the starting line at a bigger race. Just think of 1000s of people (4633 to be exact) all lined up trying to run at the same time. We really did look like a herd of livestock. You have walkers for the 10k that line up in the front even though everyone else behind them is there to run. You have people in headphones that have no clue that the race has even started. It's pure chaos. My gun time was about 4 minutes slower than my chip time (they have timing chips on the back of the bibs that sensors at the start line and finish line can read so you can get a more accurate race time). That meant that it took 4 minutes just to get from where I was lined up in the pack to the start line.
But I did finish, and just squeaked in under 2 hours, which is ok... I guess. Next race is a 10k in 2 weeks. This one just so happens to fall on a rest week, so I'm hoping my legs will be a little fresher. I would love to run the 10k in under 50 minutes. This will also be the 4th race in the Greater White Bear Grand Prix (3rd that I have signed up to run).
P.S. - There was no way I was going to run another 4 miles after the race Saturday. I do feel a little guilty not getting in my full long run for the week, but I was cold, wet, and exhausted. Plus I needed to make sure I had enough time to take a nice long hot shower and have lunch before heading off to work. The rain did stop while I was on my way out to work, letting me at least stay dry that afternoon.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Week 9 update
Halfway there!!
Quick Stats:
Miles Run - 28 (253 total)
runs skipped in favor of bday parties and the zoo - 1 (but it was only 4 miles)
flat tires on the jogging stroller - 2
Ahh, rest week. I love the easy ones. It couldn't have come at a better time too. Spring sports started up, so once again, I'm juggling a crazy work schedule. While it's not quite a crazy as the fall and winter season's it's still 6-7 days a week, and random hours. Getting back in the swing of things and not having to worry about how I was going to fit in a 17 mile run helps tremendously. We were also having some illness and sleeping issues with my daughter. She'd been waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble getting back to sleep. Running on little sleep to no sleep is not fun.
But I do feel well rested and ready to attack the tough few weeks ahead. This Saturday, I'm running a half marathon to get a better idea of where my body is at. Last May, I ran my first half marathon in 1:56. This time around, I'd love to be under 1:50. Part of me is torn as to whether I want to run for a personal best time, or since I'm supposed to do 17 miles this week for my long run, treat the race more as a training run, so that I can finish up with an additional 4 miles as soon as I'm done. Guess it will all depend on how I'm feeling race day.
Quick Stats:
Miles Run - 28 (253 total)
runs skipped in favor of bday parties and the zoo - 1 (but it was only 4 miles)
flat tires on the jogging stroller - 2
Ahh, rest week. I love the easy ones. It couldn't have come at a better time too. Spring sports started up, so once again, I'm juggling a crazy work schedule. While it's not quite a crazy as the fall and winter season's it's still 6-7 days a week, and random hours. Getting back in the swing of things and not having to worry about how I was going to fit in a 17 mile run helps tremendously. We were also having some illness and sleeping issues with my daughter. She'd been waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble getting back to sleep. Running on little sleep to no sleep is not fun.
But I do feel well rested and ready to attack the tough few weeks ahead. This Saturday, I'm running a half marathon to get a better idea of where my body is at. Last May, I ran my first half marathon in 1:56. This time around, I'd love to be under 1:50. Part of me is torn as to whether I want to run for a personal best time, or since I'm supposed to do 17 miles this week for my long run, treat the race more as a training run, so that I can finish up with an additional 4 miles as soon as I'm done. Guess it will all depend on how I'm feeling race day.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Week 8 Update
8 weeks down, 10 more to go
Quick Stats:
Miles Run - 37 (225 total)
Bags of Easter candy finished off - 2 (probably would have been more, but that's all I had left)
sunburned noses - 1
I survived another week! Got off to a rough start early in the week from the lingering soreness from last Sunday's long run, but finished off strong with a 15 mile run yesterday. Now I get to look forward to another recovery week. My body needs it.
My biggest accomplishment this week was my 15 mile run. I've been staring down that run on my calendar ever since I started training for Grandma's. It had been my biggest opponent. For some reason, I was terrified of having to run that distance. I've never ran anything longer than a half marathon (13.1 miles) before now. Last week's 14 mile run didn't seem that scary. If you add in the warm up and cool down I did on the day of my half marathon race last year, 14 miles wasn't that much more of a stretch. But 15, it seemed so long. But I did it yesterday, and other than sheer boredom from about mile 9 on, and being pretty ticked that the water fountain at mile 11 was still shut off for the season, it wasn't any worse than any of the other long runs I've done.
Quick Stats:
Miles Run - 37 (225 total)
Bags of Easter candy finished off - 2 (probably would have been more, but that's all I had left)
sunburned noses - 1
I survived another week! Got off to a rough start early in the week from the lingering soreness from last Sunday's long run, but finished off strong with a 15 mile run yesterday. Now I get to look forward to another recovery week. My body needs it.
My biggest accomplishment this week was my 15 mile run. I've been staring down that run on my calendar ever since I started training for Grandma's. It had been my biggest opponent. For some reason, I was terrified of having to run that distance. I've never ran anything longer than a half marathon (13.1 miles) before now. Last week's 14 mile run didn't seem that scary. If you add in the warm up and cool down I did on the day of my half marathon race last year, 14 miles wasn't that much more of a stretch. But 15, it seemed so long. But I did it yesterday, and other than sheer boredom from about mile 9 on, and being pretty ticked that the water fountain at mile 11 was still shut off for the season, it wasn't any worse than any of the other long runs I've done.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
A Little Retail Therapy
I love shopping, and sporting good stores are no exception. I can drool over a pair of Nikes like most other women drool over Manolos. While I would cringe at dropping anything more than $50 or $60 for any of my other pairs of shoes, no price can come between me and a good pair of running shoes. This being said, I made a pilgrimmage to Dicks with the family this week in search of a new pair of shoes and some solution for carrying water with me on long runs.
I walked out of there with a bag full of running gadgets.
I can't help it. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I had to have the Curvyman headphone cord wrapper upper thingy. Along with getting dehydrated on the long runs, I need to figure out the fueling issue as well, so I helped myself to an assortment of Clif and Gu fruit chews. I'm still holding out hope that my daughter will magically start sleeping in until 9:00am so that I can go on early morning runs before she wakes up, so I got an LED light armband. It took a load of restraint not to walk out of the store with the whole display case with all it little running gadgets and gizmos, so really, I was showing a great deal of restraint just getting those few things.
And I even remembered the shoes and water bottle!!
I walked out of there with a bag full of running gadgets.
I can't help it. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I had to have the Curvyman headphone cord wrapper upper thingy. Along with getting dehydrated on the long runs, I need to figure out the fueling issue as well, so I helped myself to an assortment of Clif and Gu fruit chews. I'm still holding out hope that my daughter will magically start sleeping in until 9:00am so that I can go on early morning runs before she wakes up, so I got an LED light armband. It took a load of restraint not to walk out of the store with the whole display case with all it little running gadgets and gizmos, so really, I was showing a great deal of restraint just getting those few things.
And I even remembered the shoes and water bottle!!
Friday, April 9, 2010
3:00 am - Woken up by my toddler wanting a Kleenex. 2 1/2 hours, a dosage of Tylenol, and a sippy of water later, she finally fell back asleep. The whole family has been fighting our annual spring cold the last week or so with my husband and daughter getting the worst of it. She's mostly over it now, just a little stuffy and the occasional cough. She didn't wake up crabby, like she normally does when sick. She just wanted to blow her nose, but then decided it would be more fun to play. For the most part she was in a good mood (she might have cried a little when I maybe not so nicely told her to go back to bed so mommy could sleep). This morning she is in great spirits. Me, on the other hand, I'm exhausted. It looks like the universe is plotting against me getting in my 15 mile run this week. Hopefully, I'll be able to sneak it in on Sunday and try to tough out an "easy" 7 miles instead today. On the plus side, the shorter run means maybe sneaking in a nap before work!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Feeling it now
It's been 4 days since my 14 mile run, and my legs are still dead! I've had some soreness and fatigue before after a long, hard run, but never like this before. Even after my half marathon last year, the soreness only lasted a few days. The 17 year old I was channeling a few weeks ago has apparently been replaced by a 97 year old. I had planned on doing my long run of the week, 15 miles tomorrow, but unless the happy healing fairies come by tonight to untie the knots that have taken up residence in my butt and thighs, I might have to move it to Sunday and do the 7 mile run that I had planned for that day instead. That is if my ancient body can handle even that.
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