The Highs and Lows of the Races

With a family wedding in MN this weekend, I again found myself on the road for a weekend. However, after all of the wedding travel plans were made I realized that with a 3PM Saturday wedding there was a possibility of adding a Sunday race if I could find something nearby for a new state.  I discovered Council Bluffs Half Marathon in Iowa.  It was a 4 1/2 hour drive from the wedding.  My thoughts were to leave the reception and drive directly there, showing up at the startline by the 8AM start...shoot, even leaving the reception by midnight would still give me almost four hours of sleep...which seems about normal now-a-days.  After registering and a few weeks going by I realized that landing Friday morning and the wedding not being until 3PM Saturday meant I could do a local MN race in the morning Saturday if there was one.  Sure enough the Monster Dash 1/2 was being held that morning, so I signed up! It was also my first costume run. 

I decided to run as Little Red Running Hood...a quick run into town to finish my costume the night before my flight found me wearing jeans and a tank top and being perfectly fine, not a hint of a chill...so I had no worries with my costume being too thin.   Sometimes I REALLY don't think things through!!!  Minnesota in late October...nuff said.  I stepped off the plane and instantly searched out a running store!  A quick stop later yielded arm sleeves, compression shorts, compression socks, and an ear band...for warmth!   Friday morning I headed to the start in 31 degree weather...what was I thinking? 

 I hadn't planned on participating in the costume contest, but arriving just minutes before the judging ended I decided to jump in line. 

A quick visit to stage with an explanation of my costume and I was off to the start line. 

Despite the layers, ruffles, and elastic I wasn't worried about chaffing as there was compression gear under nearly everything!   I toyed with whether to try to go sub 2 for a third consecutive race or to just enjoy the run.  I opted to just see how I felt and go with it.  I did realize the air was MUCH more dry than I am used to and tried to grab a little extra water before starting....

I've never grabbed a cup of water from a water table to find it was frozen.  This was not going to be a pleasant race!  A word to the wise if you run this race...hydrate well!  It's hard to realize the cold dry air would mess with your hydration as much as a hot race would, but it truly will and the first water stop isn't until mile 3! 

Soon enough we were off...

I'd left my hair down, partially for warmth and partially for the costume...I'd never run with my hair down for more than 4 miles before, so I was not sure how that would go.  But there was no issue. 

My hood didn't stay up long, it just kept blowing off so I let it stay off.

I got warm fairly quickly but didn't actually get warm enough to really sweat until around mile 9.5 or 10 and even then not too much.  The course itself was pretty good with a decent amount of crowd support/energy and plenty to look at while passing the time.  I didn't see a mile marker until mile 4, but may have just missed them.  There was a lot of uphills...short and slow for the most part, but lots of up and didn't really feel much down.  I still have no idea how we went up so much without going down unless it was just in my head due to the hills of the previous weekend.  Overall I felt good and kept running well, but wasn't thinking sub 2 was happening, didn't dwell on it either though.  At least not until around mile 11 when I checked my time and realized it could happen.  I didn't obsess about it, but that close I went ahead and pushed a little harder than I really felt like.  I finished in 1:59:19!  3 for 3 on sub 2...didn't know if that was a good thing or not...set the bar for the next day.  Not worrying about that, I headed to the info booth to see if they had official times posted anywhere (wanted to verify the Garmin).  When I got there I was surprised to see I'd actually gotten third place in the costume contest!

I verified my time, collected my costume award, and headed to the car...realizing that wearing the hair down for 13.1 miles results in a massive rat's nest!

On the way back I grabbed a few bags of ice and put  myself through a bit of an ice bath because the day hadn't started cold enough I suppose!

Then a quick shower and off to the wedding!  It was a beautiful wedding and a fabulous time!  I won't elaborate much or add pictures as I haven't had the opportunity to ask the bride's permission, but the trip was about the wedding with the races being side activities and the wedding was definitely the highlight of the trip!  After celebrating with the couple for a bit and a 4 1/2 hour drive there was still time for a few hours of sleep in Iowa before heading to the startline. 

Council Bluffs was my first USRA event and I was anxious to see how it was run as they have other races in states I have not completed yet.  My first impression came moments after registering when I saw the statement that there was no race morning packet pickup.  I typically am better about checking that out before registering and panicked that I'd really messed up. I fired off an email explaining the situation and within moments had not just 1, but 2 responses assuring me I could pick up on race morning.  I felt a bit relieved that this would be a good event.  Arriving at the address for the start line at 7AM there seemed to be no start line around.  I noticed a field off the side of the road and a sign saying something about YMCA field so gave it a shot.  There was indeed a dozen or so folks around and the beginings of a start line.  I laughed that there was no way there was going to be an 8AM start when this is what it looked like at 7:05...shame on me...I was WAY wrong!  I picked up my packet and headed across the street to a convenience store, by the time I got back it was a completely different place and race ready!   I would definitely warn others to beware though...it would have been VERY easy to simply dismissed this area as the start and spent the time looking elsewhere and missed the race.

As I lined up I decided not to even attempt sub 2 today...I have been struggling with some health stuff and my ankle has been bad since turning it during Saint Louis, on top of that the cold just made it a no go for me.  Everyone at the start area was incredibly nice.  We set off on the street, but I noticed they seemed to be more concrete than asphalt...not friendly for the ankle.  I'd also been experimenting with shoes for the last two months and as such was testing a theory by wearing my minimalist shoes for the last 4 1/2s...minimalist shoes on this surface wasn't worth testing the theory, but I was already in it with no alternative but to put in the miles. 

At the 1 mile marker we turned off the road and onto a concrete bike path.  The first of 4 water stops on this out and back course was at this point (total of 8 stops given the out and back, water and Gatorade offered at each but no GU, so bring your own if you need it!).   The concerte continued to be a source of discomfort as I took a miserable pounding.

I was already suffering...though I did hope the concrete would give way to a different surface before long and considered running in the grass on the side but was afraid the uneven surface would cause me to turn the ankle worse.

 

While running on the bike path meant no worries of traffic and the water stops were amply manned, it did not afford the opportunity for much crowd support.  There were VERY few people along the course and those that were there did not offer much encouragement.  Other than those at the water stops, during the entire out and back 2 people actually cheered as I ran by...not good for adding energy to a race you already aren't feeling.  Adding to that the fact that there was not much to look at, made for a serious mental struggle to keep pressing on.  I had thought Kansas was a boring course...this proved that Kansas was actually exciting. 

Many times I just decided to knock it out to knock out the state.  I was dealing with major pain and walked frequently, though my heart and lungs felt great.  I actually had so much pain going on that I had to stop twice...not just walk, but completely stop for a bit.  Finally around mile 3.5 - 4 the concrete gave way to asphalt which helped a little, but I still struggled.  This shot is truly a look of pain just before the transition to asphalt.

The course had ample support as far as fluid stops and porta potties, but the crowd support never improved.  Additionally, the turn around point was non-eventful.  Literally I found myself the only runner on a section of the bike path and I happened to notice a small sign on the edge of the path stating it was the turn around point...I tend to zone out during a run and could've easily passed this sign, as I'm sure many could.  I suggest staying alert on the way out so you don't end up passing your turn around and finding yourself way off course with added miles.  On the way back I passed a few of the runners I'd chatted with earlier and they offered high fives and words of encouragment.  There were a few ups and downs of slight hills but nothing major.

The biggest challenge of the course was not the hills, but rather the lack of scenery/energy...overall I'd have to rate this my most miserable/boring race/course to date.  I'm often asked what my favorite race has been.  That is almost inevitably followed with an immediately 'and your least favorite'?  I've always struggled with those questions because I have always found good things about each and every course I have run.  I now have the second part of that question answered regardless of how much running I do in the future.

As we approached the mile 12 marker we returned to the road, I'd actually found myself looking forward to this marker as I knew the last mile would have traffic to contend with but would offer something to look at.

I crossed the line in 2:14:19 despite the many walking breaks and the two stops.  I wasn't upset by that at all.  I'd checked the state, that was the important thing.  An announcement had been made at the start line that the medals had been mistakenly sent to the race director's FL office vs. the race headquarters, so they will have to be mailed...that was a slight disappointment, but things happen - of course, I can't help but wonder if we'll ever actually see a medal based on how slack the race/preparations/course/support were, but I'll give them a shot.  I headed to the car to hit the hotel for a shower before driving back to MN with plans to set some doctor's appointments first thing Monday...I have too many races in the near future to push myself through injury and make it worse.  What a difference a day can make...the high of 3 for 3 on sub 2 and a 3rd place costume contest placing to the low of a barely tolerable race with a lot of pain and the intent to set up doctor appointments.

Too Much Fun to Be Done

In the midst of the discussions about whether or not to double CT and Philly I'd told David I was going to double Indianapolis with St. Louis and he said he was in.  In the VIP area after Denver I'd mentioned to Sherry that David and I were doubling it.  Later that week she emailed that she was considering it and I invited her to join.  She decided to go for it, but she decided to double the fulls!  (She was also already doubling fulls the weekend before!)  I was looking forward to the double weekend and time with friends, plus Rafael had decided to run St. Louis.  I hadn't seen him since Miami last December and was looking forward to running with him.  Rafael had taken the year off from running for golf, so he warned me that he wasn't going to break any speed records, but I didn't care; I was just happy to get to run with him again after having such an amazing time in Savannah last year.  Thursday night as I was getting the boys' dinner and trying to pack (I had to leave for the airport at 3AM), I got a call from Raf...he was entertaining the idea of joining us for the double!!  Sherry, David, and I had been changing our Facebook statuses to stuff about the weekend, the double, and seeing Raf and tagging  him in it; and we got him interested.  Five hours later, he was on a plane.  4 hours after that I was on a plane.  I'd been so looking forward to this weekend for so long, but at the same time it was bittersweet as it would be my last Rock N Roll event for 2012 and therefore the last time I'd see my running friends for the year.  I had another double weekend planned but they were small races that I'd just fit in around other activities that I was already planning.  After that, I had nothing on the schedule until March 30, 2013.  I knew it was going to be a long 5 months with no races and not seeing my friends, but I tried not to let that overshadow the weekend.

I'd been so crazy busy for so long that I was actually looking forward to my flights because it gave me a chance to sleep!  We all planned to fly into St Louis and our arrivals were all stacked with mine being the latest by 10 minutes.  When I landed and turned on the phone I sent a group message that I was there and would meet them at the rental car area.  As my phone caught up I found out they'd all been on the same concourse as me.  I called them and they'd just left the concourse so they met up with me there.  It was great to see everyone.  We proceeded to get the car (I'd rented it...so they had to deal with my driving all weekend!) and set out to the St. Louis expo so we wouldn't have to rush back for packet pickup the next day.  We actually got there before they opened, so we found Rafael's hotel (it ended up being right next to ours), he checked in, we grabbed coffee/hot chocolate, and headed to the expo to wait for it to open while discussing the fact that we were going to freeze at the Indy start!  We were barely an hour into the weekend and we had already had too many laughs to count, the weekend was starting out amazing. 

During the STL expo we each had a little shopping we wanted to do - I'd decided to give CEP compression socks a try as many of my running friends swore by them; I now own 3 pairs and that number is sure to grow!  We also had many friends/vendors to visit with.  Dean Karnazes was at the North Face booth and we stopped to talk to him for a bit.

During the conversation we mentioned we were headed to Indianapolis for 2 of us to run a 1/2 and 2 of us to run a full.  He'd looked puzzled and asked if we were running St. Louis on Sunday and we said yes, same thing, 2 of us running the 1/2 and 2 running the full.  He looked shocked and told us WE were crazy!  Really?  Of all people?  He has run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days...and WE are crazy? 

Our shopping and visiting done, we grabbed some lunch and hit the road for Indianapolis!  Right off the bat we discovered David is NOT a great navigator and Rafael is ENTIRELY too nervous when others (ok, me) are driving.  After about an hour of "are we almost there?"/"how much further?" I laughed at the fact that we could literally all run for HOURS without thinking twice, but 4 hours in a car was too much for us to endure.  We rolled into Indy as the expo was wrapping up and grabbed our packets.  On the way out we met up with another Marathon Maniac and chatted a bit, then headed to grab dinner before calling it a night.  Of course we hit the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner as it was 1 of 3 remaining US based cafe I had yet to visit (St. Louis was another and was planned within the weekend).  After dinner we headed to the hotel, just on the outskirts of Indianapolis and only minutes from the startline.  As Raf had decided to join us at the last minute he didn't have a reservation, but we didn't think it would be an issue...we were wrong.  They were completely sold out.  I had a suite with a sofa bed, so we all decided to make it work and went upstairs to do our pre-race prep and grab some sleep.  I can honestly say I have never laughed so much or so hard in my life...despite the fact that I got sick!  Pretty sure it was from whacky blood sugar levels, but I hurled my guts up 3 times before finally winding down and getting some sleep.  And when I say "some" sleep...we got about 4 hours...but we were all ready to go and at the startline the next morning!

It was indeed a chilly start - the coldest I'd been at so far; and I was thankful to have the compression socks for the added warmth!  (plus they looked cute with the skirt)

As we took our places in the corrals someone in the group mentioned that it was perfect weather for a PR...the comment had been made the night before as well and I'd laughed it off and said I wasn't looking for that.  I hadn't been training for speed.  I'd been training to handle the back to backs.  My intent was to use the 5 months off of racing to train for speed and hopefully break 2 hours in Lexington in March.  We toed the line intent on Rafael and I enjoying a 2:30 run together with David and Sherry starting with us and staying with us for a bit then picking it up to finish the first half in 2:10 before continuing on.  That was honestly my plan.  I don't know what happened, but I felt great right from the start.  I was running strong and within the first 1/4 of a mile decided to run my race.  I never said anything to Rafael, but I knew he would understand.  With the first tenth of a mile I'd pulled away and didn't see him again until the finish.  David and Sherry were right with me for the first few miles, sometimes just in front, sometimes just behind.

And we were running well.  Around mile 3 I started toying with the idea of a possible PR, but I didn't know if I had it in me.  Around mile 5 I'd pulled away from David and Sherry and gotten lost in my thoughts, wondering if a sub 2 was a possibility.  By mile 7 I realized it was and that I had to commit then if I was going to go for it.  I did.  I was running well, the weather was great, the course was beautiful, it was on.  By mile 9 I thought I'd blown it.  I was filled with self-doubt and was second guessing my decision to go for sub2.  My record for the year so far was Kansas in 2:07.  I realized that by pushing for a sub 2 I was running the risk of bonking and losing the chance for a potential PR (2:03 to date) or at the very least a year's best; but I didn't let off the gas.  I'd committed and there was no turning back.  There was a pretty good hill at mile 10 1/2 and I honestly thought I'd lost the chance to sub 2 with that hill...I'd taken it REALLY slowly.  But once I crested it and hit mile 11 a quick glance at the clock showed me that I still have a good shot.  I kept pushing. 

At the 12 mile marker I didn't look at the time.  With 1/2 a mile left I checked the Garmin, unsure if I was going to make it, but pushing hard.  I had 7 minutes left and only a 1/2 mile...for the first time all day I felt like it was nearly guaranteed but I didn't want to get my hopes up too much.  Early on in the race (back when I'd committed at mile 7) I'd gotten a bit excited about the possibility of sharing a sub 2 with the group and had to make myself push it aside - not putting the cart in before the horse; but now, it was right there.

I am the biggest one for getting on my soapbox about not understanding how people push themselves to the point of having to be hauled off the course in an ambulance.  I have also maintained that you can feel it way before then and need to let off the gas if its too much for you.  I now understand.   Literally as I passed the 26 mile marker for the full...with a mere .2 miles to go in the half I was pushing so hard that the thought went through my head "today I'm going to be the one that drops a few feet before the line because they wouldn't back off".  I crossed the finish line in 1:58:31 and I'm sure when the photos are posted my finish photos will show the grimace of the hard work I was putting into the run!  But I was on cloud nine.  I collected my water and headed directly to the results tent to verify my Garmin was in sync with the official results.  When I was handed my print out, it was identical. 

I headed to the massage tent and got a bit of a work on my glutes, hips, and hams before meeting up with Rafael.  He'd done well for just rejoining running as well.  As planned, he and I headed back to the hotel, showered, and packed, then headed back to wait for David and Sherry.  Literally as we walked up to the finish line we heard David's finish being announced.  Sherry had crossed slight before.  Both had had good runs with Sherry running a negative split and finishing the second half in sub 2!  We headed back to the hotel for them to shower, we all packed, and then we headed into Indianapolis for lunch.

As for the the race, it was a great event and I definitely recommend it anyone that is looking for an event in Indiana.  The course is rather confusing on paper.  It was beautiful with the foliage in full effect.  There were a few small hills, but nothing insane.  There was a good turnout so the energy on the course was good.  There was ample and Gatorade (though there was no rhyme or reason as to whether the water or Gatorade was first).  The course wandered through various paved trails and offered a unique experience.

After lunch we eyed the memorial tower in the center of town. 

We decided to check out the view from the top.  Now, what would you expect from a bunch of crazy runners - a $2 elevator ride to the top or sprinting up 333 stairs?  You guessed it...we took the stairs...just because we could!

After our lunch, tower climb, and a trip to Dick's Sporting Goods, we hit the road for STL.  It's a good thing that we picked up our packets prior to leaving STL because we would have never made it otherwise!   Rafael and Sherry napped for a bit in the car and I kept telling David he could (he was obviously tired), but I think they were all afraid to have me being the only one awake!   We'd originally planned to hit the STL Hard Rock Cafe Saturday night, but getting back into town so late we opted to drop off the car, check into our hotel, and go somewhere nearby then grab HRC for lunch the next day.  We ended up going on the recommendation of the vallet and hitting a local italizan place a few blocks over.  The food was great, but after the running and the stair climb, when we saw where the restrooms were we decided no one needed to go that bad...

On the way back to the hotel we decided to have a drink before going our separate ways.  Long after most runners were done for the night, while only the Green Bay Packer's fans (they were in town for a game the next day) remained, we had a few drinks.

And when David decided he wanted to run the race in a cheesehead, I set out to obtain one...and in less than 10 minutes...

Mission accomplished, a little tipsy, and a lot tired, we all made our way back to our rooms to prep for the morning's race and catch a few Zzzs. 

After just a few hours of sleep, we drug ourselves to the start line. 

My intent was to run with Rafael for the day.  Given that I had PRed and Sub 2ed the day before I was looking forward to a chill day.  Krissy joined us ready for the full but second guessing herself.  When she said she intended to decide at mile 13 whether to run the full or half David told her in no uncertain terms that she was running the full.  As we entered the corrals Raf looked me in the eye and told me to go for my time today.  He told me he knew I wanted to run with him and he was back and promised we'd run a race when he had trained, but today I had to go for my time because he knew I wanted it.  I told him I did and admitted that I was afraid I couldn't do it again and it was easier to not try than to fail.  He looked at me like I'd lost my mind and said, "You've got this!  This course is faster than yesterday!  You can totally do it!"  My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas and I thanked him as our wave reached the start.  A quick hug and we were off.  I was literally off like a shot, but I felt great.  Within the first quarter of a mile I heard David just over my shoulder telling me I was going out too fast...I didn't listen.  At .46 miles I turned my ankle badly.  It hurt so bad I wanted to sit and cry, but I wouldn't give up the hope of a sub 2.  I spent three miles trying to convince myself that it didn't hurt too bad and that I could do it.  I reminded myself that I'd run Vegas on a severely sprained ankle without even knowing it so I could do this.  By mile 3 I no longer felt the pain of the ankle...I think it gave up telling my brain it hurt.  I'd also started second guessing whether I could sub 2...it was rough and there were a lot of hills, but I kept pushing.  Somewhere shortly thereafter I got in some weird zone...weird in a good way.  It was almost like it wasn't me running.  I was just passing folks and cruising through the course, but it was like I was watching someone else do it.  It was neat.  Around mile 5 my lovely trance was broken by the reality that I was hating life with the hills, the ankle, and the doubts about the sub 2; but I wouldn't let myself quit.  I seriously didn't think I had it in me at that point, but I decided I would not quit trying until it was no longer a possibility.  Around mile 6 I'd decided Rafael was a liar - and I called him out on it after the race...to which he responded "you didn't expect me to tell you the truth in the corrals, did you?"  This course had a lot of hills!  It was a Rock N Roll event so there was a huge amount of energy and the course was well thought out with plenty of support.  All of the negatively and issues were purely me, battling myself mentally, but I pushed through.  Even though I often felt like it wouldn't happen thoroughout the race, I crossed the line in 1:59:34!  I went 2 for 2 on sub 2s.  I headed back to the VIP area and visited with friends, old and new, including...

Any day you feel the cards are stacked again you for a workout, I invite you to visit getbackuptoday.blogspot.com or facebook.com/getbackuptoday.  I've been truly blessed by the opporutnity to meet so many amazing people through running!

...including running legends like Frank Shorter.

Krissy did indeed finish the full with David!  We knew she could do it, even if she doubted herself at times! 

After a quick group picture at the finish, we headed back for showers and had just enough time for a quick lunch at the Hard Rock before heading to the airport.  The guys had to return my rental car and I literally BARELY made my flight...but everything worked out and we had an amazing weekend!

Rafael was the first our our group to join me and snapped a picture of me with my Rock Legend medal.  This was the further I intended to go with the Heavy Medal series in 2012.  But after such an amazing weekend, it was too fun to be done!  So...I came home and registered for 3 more RNR events to cap out my year with my Rock Idol again!  Of course, Savannah is the same weekend as NC and George had been wanting me to double, so I am!  And I realized if I doubled San Antonio with Huntsville, AL I would get another state AND hit mercury status in the Fanatics!  So....you read it here first...I now have 4 weekends straight of doubles including the Indy/St Louis weekend and am capping it off with Miami!  Ready for more fun guys? 

Ups and Downs of Training

I managed to pull off all of my workouts last week and over the weekend, despite an insane schedule.  The fueling strategy...well, it wasn't my worst weekend but it certainly wasn't my best.  I'm back on track today and eating sensibly while allowing myself some treats as well.  It's not that I am worried about the calories or anything, it's completely that I eat WAY too much straight up sugar.  It's just not healthy.  Case in point...yesterday, I got busy at work and didn't eat all day.  By the time I got into town after work to grab a few things from the store I was crashing hard.  I hit the store and grabbed my favorite candy (Cherryheads)...and immediately ate 4 boxes of them.  That's 360 calories of straight sugar at once without having fueled with REAL food.  Of course that led to a sugar rush and subsequent crash, which leaves me feeling nauseous and not wanting real food.  I managed to eat a little leftover Japanese (let's fight the sugar OD with a salt OD) for dinner.  But eventually just gave up and figured I'd start fresh today. 

So far today I've run 3 miles of hills and I have to hit the gym for back, bis, and shoulders this afternoon, then knock out some abs this evening (I skipped yesterday's workouts due to my lack of fueling).  Today's workout is actually the 3 mile run I did this morning and legs - which I may squeeze in tonight if I'm able to continue fueling properly, otherwise I may let it slide until tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow is a run and stretching.  As for fueling today, I started the day off with steel cut oats, protein powder, and blackberries.  For lunch I had a salad with red wine vinegar, a whole wheat english muffin with chicken salad (made with chicken breast, walnuts, dried cranberries, and plain greek yogurt), and a quarter of an apple.  I've also snacked on a boiled egg with a cup of fresh pineapple.  At 4:15 I intend to have a half cup of greek yogurt (1/4 cup of plain and 1/4 cup of vanilla mixed) with 1/2 cup of blackberries.  That'll give me a half an hour before my workout.  I plan to knock out my upper body work, refuel with 8oz of low fat chocolate milk, wait a  half an hour, then hit my leg workout!  This weekend starts my second set of back to back doubles, I do well with my eating and training for a bit then get slack/lazy, but overall I'm keeping up with it pretty well and with the doubles around the corner, I gotta stick with it!!

Fueling

I'll be the first to admit it, I have HORRID eating habits.  I don't fuel...I get busy, I forget to eat.  That simple.  I've literally gone 4 days without eating a single thing before...I realized it when I stood up from my desk and nearly passed out from a headrush.  A coworker asked when I'd eaten last and as I sat there thinking through it, I realized it had been 4 days.  Now, that was a total out of the ordinary case...but it does show that I am ridiculous sometimes.  Most of the time my days look more like this - wake up, head to work, work through lunch, around 1 or 2 start feeling light headed or weak so grab some candy for a quick blood sugar rush, go back to work, head home, take care of kids/house/etc, cook dinner, eat something healthy/reasonable portion, clean up from dinner, workout on one side of dinner or the other, and somewhere in there find myself feeling really weak or tired or hungry so grab straight up candy or high calorie junk level out.  Some of my favorite go-to's are cherryheads, cherry laffy taffy, twizzlers, or - if I'm feeling chocolate - milkway, milk duds, twix.  Overall my calorie intake stays on an even keel, typically around 1400-1800 daily though I never actually count them...but just because I eat so little and then grab such high calorie stuff when needed.  this is not fueling.  My blood sugar is up and down and my body just fights to have the calories it needs to burn through my workouts.  So, this week, as I was fighting the blahs, I also decided to fight one of my worst habits and to try and get my eating under control so it was conscious fueling.  I spent a few hours grocery shopping then washing and prepping fruits and veggies as well as grilling chicken breast, boiling eggs, making brown rice, steel cut oats, and inca red quinoa on Monday.  Then I put together measured and portioned meals, planning for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, and dinner and including a protien, some carbs, and a little fat for each meal.  Yes folks, I was back to my Clean Eating habits...how I prefer to fuel, I just get lazy. 

Tuesday I felt ridiculously bloated...I haven't eaten that much food in a single day in a long time.  I was totally expecting to have gained weight by midweek but actually found the scale was slightly dropping.  My energy levels were better throughout the day as well.  No more sugar rush/crash.  All of this is stuff I know, but there's a major difference in knowing and doing.  That said, the lack of sugar was also starting to get to me....yes, I'm apparently addicted to sugar in addition to being addicted to running.  By thursday I had such a splitting headache that just wouldn't go away that I broke down and had a dark chocolate hazelnut crisp (I don't know dark chocolate or hazelnut, but it was sugar and somebody had it at work).  The headache subsided.  I decided I'd be better off not going cold turkey and perhaps just limiting my sugar intake.  Friday I had another of these little crisp things and found it actually wasn't that bad.  The trick here is going to be ensuring that throughout the weekend I continue to fuel and keep my sugar down instead of getting busy and forgetting to eat and then hitting high sugar stuff for a quick rush to burn through. 

So, goals for the weekend, fuel properly and fight the blahs to feel amazing...last weekend without a race.  :)

Fighting the Blahs with Amazing

After an amazing month of September, sticking to my workouts and seeing the result, the first week of October was anything but amazing.  I just felt blah.  Not having a race for 3 straight weekends after so many races was a bit of a let down and on top of that I just was tired and overstressed with everything else.  I only knocked out 2 of my full days of workouts the first week of the month and partial workouts the other 3 days - we're talking BARE minimum.  The fact that my knees were a little achy all of a sudden didn't help either.  It was just easier to sit on the couch and veg or catch up on sleep than to get my butt in the gym or out the door.  As the second week of the month rolled around I knew I had to get myself moving or I was going to fall into the old pattern of not training.  On Monday I literally forced myself into the gym, feeling totally blah.  I was cold.  I was tired.  I was weak.  It was back, bis, and shoulders (typically my favorite workout); and I was dreading it.  I started out with a superset of assisted pullups and bicep curls, 3 sets, 10 reps each.  Warmed up a little I continued through my next supersets, getting more and more pumped as the workout wore on until I finally wrapped it up and decided to knock out abs as well.  Workout completed I left the gym hot, sweaty, and pumped - overall feeling great.  So when Tuesday rolled around and I was again blah and again dreading the gym, why did I find it easier to just let it slip by?  I justified with the fact that I'd pulled a REALLY strong 3 mile run during lunch.  It was supposed to be 3 easy miles at 10:18mm, but I felt so great I cranked them all out at 8:36.  Unfortunately it did little to keep me from being so blah by the end of the workday.  Wednesday rolled and I was still regretting missing leg day but just as blah as ever.   I drug my butt down to the gym again and grabbed some heavy weights for squats.  As I started working through each superset I found myself grabbing heavier weights than usual and REALLY enjoying the workout.  Then came the thing I hate most about leg day....step ups.  I have no idea why I despise them so much, but I do.  I've often thought about replacing them with box jumps, but I'm been intimidated by those and figured I'd end up face planted or on my butt...or in the ER.  Totally pumped up from a workout that was so far amazing and about halfway done I randomly decided today was the day and set the weights aside and tried a box jump onto my bench.  Granted, it's a bench, so it's not crazy high; but I was amazed at myself.  I landed it!  No falling, stumbling, injury...well, ok, not totally balanced on the first try but it wouldn't've had any deductions if it were a gymnastics meet either!  I landed it.  So, I kept going...3 sets of 10.  And each one got better and better.  And the blahs were totally gone by the end of them and the rest of the workout and the evening was amazing - including the ab workout I tacked on the end of the leg workout!  Of course it didn't make up for the fact that I'd blown off my tempo run that day because of the blahs.  BUT Thursday was an off day, so I decided to knock out the tempo run then.  And again, at the end of the workday I found myself feeling blah and not wanting to run.  It was a gorgeous fall day with a bit of crisp air, but I'm still fighting accepting that fall is here...forever a beach girl, I'm not ready for summer to be done...so that perfect running weather did nothing to fight the blahs.  I forced myself anyway, not wanting to have 2 weeks of missed workouts, and laced up the running shoes and headed out.  The intent was to run 1 mile at 10:00-10:30, then pick it up to 9:00 for 4 miles, and cool down with a final mile at 10:00-10:30 while running an out and back along the waterfront for 3 miles.  The first quarter of a mile I was grumbling to myself (as usual) about my legs feeling heavy, this being miserable, BLAH....about half a mile in the mental chatter subsided, I realized I felt pretty good, and I glanced at my pace...9:18...sweet...and it was feeling easy.  I hit the mile mark and picked it up.  A little ways in I glanced at the Garmin thinking I'd find I was running slower than I should because it wasn't feeling as tough as I expected, 9:01...not bad...as I hit the 2 mile point I made the decision to turn right and make a loop, knowing it would add about half a mile to my run, but deciding I was ok with that and would just have a little longer cool down.  As the miles ticked on I occassional checked my pace and found each time my pace was increasing!  And I was still feeling amazing!  Most of my miles were down in the 8:38 range.  As I approached the final mile and a half I decided to go one further and keep the pace high throughout the rest of the run.  As I approached the final mile I decided to up it a little more and pass my endpoint to wrap things up with an even 7 miles.  In the end I ran 7 miles with the first mile at 9:18 and the rest ranging from 8:36-9:03 with a negative split and felt amazing.  So today, as I sit here feeling blah and not wanting to workout I'm trying to convince myself if I get off the couch and go knock out my chest, tris, and abs as planned that I'll actually feel amazing tonight.  After having it repeatedly proven to me all week you'd think I'd believe it by now...but I'm still feeling just flat blah.  Guess I'd better go hit the gym and hope for amazing before I decide to be lazy.  :\

Training - Painful?

The day after my competitve training run was my actual speedwork day.  I had a 5 mile tempo run with 3 miles at half marathon pace (9:09 minute miles).  I'd decided to do this one after work and where I work as it is the flattest area of those I run on.  I headed out of the office at 4:15 and set out.  I'd typically go right as it's less traveled, but the road was closed so I had to head left.  I seriously considered just calling it because I HATE running where/when I'll look like I'm trying to be seen and I knew that a lot of folks would be leaving work at 4:30 or 5:00 and they'd all be passing by me.  But I decided to stick to it rather than sacrificing my goal of completing my workouts for a trivial reason when I was doing so good.  (This was the last week of September and I literally wrapped September up with only 2 missed workouts all month!)  I did my first "easy" mile to warm up...my target pace was 10:30mm...I glanced at the Garmin .6 miles in and realized I was hitting 9:28mm...I wasn't stressed over that because they still felt easy.  I actually was happy that I was apparently in better shape than I thought.  The Garmin beeped one mile and I picked up the pace, targeting 9:09mm.  I felt like I was hitting my pace and I'm typically careful to try and run by feel vs. gadgets, so I waited a while to check the watch.  .68 miles in I realized I was running 8:08s.  Not good...I knew I'd burn out long before 3 miles at this rate.  (I'm not a fast runner, I'm a distance runner.  I'd like to be faster and I know to get faster I need to run faster, but my goal right now is getting through the distance of all the doubles, not increasing my speed.  I'm work towards that later.)  I tried to back it off a bit.  I waited a while before checking the Garmin again...1.34 miles and I was holding an 8:37mm pace...ugh...no wonder I was starting to feel this.  I tried to back off a little more...after my turn around point I checked the Garmin again...8:42mm.  I was wearing down quickly and there wasn't much need to "try" to back it down, my body was doing that on it's own.  As I started heading back towards the office, as predicted, the flow of traffic from folks leaving was pretty heavy.  I tried to avoid eye contact with folks and just stayed focused on my run.  I was fine physically, legs were good, lungs were good, heart was thumping along strongly...but my head was playing games with me.  I was having a hard time keeping my pace because I KNEW I'd gone out too fast so I THOUGHT I should be more tired than I was.  With half a mile of speed left my legs were beginning to slow and I felt like I was running through waist deep water.  My boss and his boss's boss both passed me on their way out for the day (one is a biker/part time runner and the other a tri-athlete), I nodded but thought they didn't even see me.  A final glance at the Garmin told me I was holding 9:12mms, not too far below what I was supposed to given how fast I'd gone out, I was ok with that.  The final mile beeped in and I slowed my pace to recover.  This was the only mile I actually hit my target on and I only kept that target for about a quarter of a mile and then picked the pace up again, though it still felt easy so again I was ok with it.  The next morning my boss let me know that the two of them were actually on their way to meet up for a bike ride...where they both agreed I looked like I was in pain when they passed me.  Honestly it wasn't a physically painful run, but it was sure mentally painful. 

Training - Powered by Competition

I've managed to complete an entire month of training and have started (once again) seeing the results of that training.  In the meantime, I've also started creating photobooks of my training/racing from the beginning of my journey (Sept 09) until now, so I've been reliving what periods of training and lack of training do to my performance.  It all just serves to keep me hitting my workouts when I ultimately am feeling lazy.  But what keeps those training runs interesting isn't always knowing the results that will come down the road, typically it's just flat out competition.  Sometimes competition with myself...how many pink smiley faces will I be able to get in my log vs. how many blue frowns will I have?  And sometimes it's competition with others during a race...can I keep up with that runner?  Can I pass that one?  And every once in a while, it's just a good ole fashion competition/foot race during the training run!  This was the case on a recent 4 miler...as the weather is getting cooler more and more folks are hitting the road to train.  I parked in my usual spot for 3-4 miles and hopped out, totally not feeling a run, but determined to put in 4 easy miles so I could check the workout off in my log.  I immediately realized I'd forgotten my headphones...oh well, find a satellite, start the Garmin, go.  Goal pace for the run was 10:30mm, nice and easy, course was rolling hills, nothing crazy. 

About a half mile in I'm descending a decent hill knowing that I will soon be hanging a left and beginning the biggest climb of the course.  Looking ahead of me I see another runner approaching and silently hope he keeps heading straight and doesn't make the same turn.  I'm pretty sure I see a look on his face that is also hopeful we aren't going for the same turn/hill.  He looks fairly fit, I'm feeling fairly weak.  We approach the turn at the exact same time and both angle onto the road and begin our climb.  I feel myself pushing it harder than I typically would and try to reel myself in...I know it's just a competitive drive and I'm not wanting him to 'beat' me up the hill...but I also know I shouldn't push too hard because this particular hill tends to drag on forever.  I can feel him trying to surge, and my pace immediately picks back up.  I realize I'm not going to be able to fight the urge to beat him so I focus on fighting the urge to cream him....I'll just stay slightly ahead and not go all out and kill myself...that said I keep my steps short and light and my breathing slow and controlled as I power up the incline.  By the halfway point I'm no longer feeling him on my shoulder.  By the top of the hill I'm SOOOOOO tempted to glance back and see just what the gap is, but I don't...no need to rub salt in the wound..and at this point it wouldn't really matter if it were 2 steps or 20 yards, I beat him.  :)  As we approach the main road I use the opportunity to glance over my shoulder (checking for oncoming traffic of course!) and see that the gap is only about 15 yards...I also see that he is turning in the opposite direction...defeated by a chick!  Oops....reel in that competitive nature and keep going...I've got 3 miles left!

As I tick off another half mile or so I see another runner approaching...I focus in to see if it's the same guy...nope, someone new.  As we head towards each other we both pick up our pace a little....we're going in opposite directions, but we don't want to be seen as 'slow'.  We nod and semi-grunt a greeting as we pass...and both register we're at about the halfway point of this particular loop of the neighborhood going in opposite directions.  I know my thoughts went to getting to the other side of the neighborhood and past the halfway point there before he could and I'm pretty sure I saw the same look cross his face.  The race was on.  I pushed it up the next small hill, cranked it out on the descent, and went hard through the 2nd biggest climb of the course, knowing that he only had 1 slight uphill on his half of the course and determined not to let these hills let him beat me.  As I pushed past the halfway point, trying to slow my breathing and look relaxed, I saw him rounding the corner.  I made a right to head back to the big hill knowing that he'd spotted me and satisfied that he knew I'd finished .9 miles of hills in comparison to his .6 miles of semi-flat. 

As I approached the hill I'd overtaken my initial victim on I was scanning the area for new blood...nobody.  As I wound back to the neighborhood loop I again scanned for another runner...nothing.  In the distance I saw someone walking a dog.  I'd passed them during my last push to beat neighborhood guy.  They were walking, not much competition...just as I thought it, she started jogging!  She kept running and I kept closing the gap.  Just as I approached I suddenly realized this was pretty stupid...that dog was pretty big and I was running up behind it fairly quietly...I did NOT want to surprise it!  I tapered off a little, and as if reading my thoughts the dog turned and lunged in my direction.  There was still plenty of space and the owner held the leash tightly and stepped to the other side of the road.  I didn't slow my pace and passed quickly, and kept running...noting not to let my competitive nature be the end of my training!

I secretly wondered if neighborhood man was doing multiple loops and if I'd pass him again along the way.  I quickly realized it was nearly dark and I was the last fool on the road, so I switched the competition to personal, push the pace through the last half mile and climbed the hill to the end, trying to beat my intended pace of 10:30mm.  I finished 4.25 miles in 42:29...yep...beat my pace and my distance! 

I'm not a fast runner...never have claimed to be...I know I won't likely ever pull an age group award, but if you happen to be running in the neighborhood when I'm out there...there's a chance I'm going to engage in a foot race...even if I don't mean to.  And I'm pretty sure you're gonna accept the unspoken challenge...maybe we weren't really feeling the run when we started, but it'll certainly be powered by competition and we'll both knock out a great training run.