ONE MONTH TIL RACE DAY

HOLY BALLS! 

It’s so hard to believe that we are only 1 month away from Race Day!!!  What’s just as hard to believe is that we’ve actually been sticking pretty closely to our training program for all but 8 weeks at this point!  CRAZY!

This week so far has panned out to be a good running week.  I hope it continues since Saturday is our first 8-miler!  EEK! 

We were supposed to run 4.5 miles 2 days this week but decided to push ourselves a little bit and bump it up to 5 miles instead.  All along we’ve been planning to run the 5-mile loop at the Tempe Town Lake, so on Tuesday we both packed bags before work and agreed to meet there around 5:30pm.

Suzanne’s boss John (with whom we are also friends) decided to join us.  He works out regularly but usually doesn’t run more than 3 miles per day.  It was good having him run with us!  He kept pace with us for the first half or so, then started pulling away from us.  When we rounded the last turn to run the stretch from Priest back to the Beach Park, John waited for us and ran with us.  He encouraged us to pick up our pace, so we all ran the last mile(ish) together.  It was fun!

Afterwards we went to Macayo’s to chow down on some super-yummy comida Mexicana.  YUMMO!  And we had a blast at dinner!  We told old drinking stories, cracked jokes… it was a great time!  Suz & I have always had fun hanging out with John, but we didn’t see much of him for about a year because he had an insecure girlfriend who didn’t exactly embrace us.  It’s nice to have the old, “Fun-John” back! 

While at dinner on Tuesday we all agreed that we’d meet back at the Beach Park on Wednesday after work to knock out another 5 miles, so we did.  Wednesday’s run was AWESOME.  We took an entire 10 MINUTES off of our run!  The exact same route, mind you!  CRAZINESS! 

When we first started out, I was so tired and unmotivated, but knew I needed to suck it up.  Plus I was already dressed and out on the lake, so why would I not finish?  Then on top of that, my knee was hurting again.  But about a mile into the run, my knee stopped bothering me… or perhaps I simply forgot about it, since it’s 90% a mental game?  Either way, I felt great, and I could tell we were running at a better pace than we had run on Tuesday.

When we were halfway, I asked Suzanne to check the time, and I couldn’t believe it!  We had covered the first 2.5 miles at a 10-minute pace (which for us is pretty good!).  And rather than stopping to stretch or walk or anything, we just kept on going!  Upon reaching Priest, we stopped for about a minute to stretch, walked for less than a minute then went back at it.  We kept each other at a good pace the entire way.  During the last mile(ish) I was trying to lengthen my stride a bit.  Finally we agreed to sprint the last 50 yards or so.  I hadn’t run that fast in a LONG time, and while I can’t maintain a pace even close to that, it felt SO good to do it!  Hellll yeaaahhhh! 

John had finished well ahead of us – we found him meandering around the Beach Park.  We agreed to get dinner again.  This time I picked – My Big Fat Greek Restaurant – because I’ve been craving a gyro.  Of course it was super yummy, it always is, but I was devastated because once my platter arrived, I ate about 5 bites and was full.  SAY WHAT??? Yeah.  That’s right.  I was full.  How that happened is beyond me, but it did.  I kept picking a little bit, enjoyed my glass of not-so-red wine, and packed the rest up to go.  Now I’ll be eating gyro meat for the next 3 days!  And that’s in addition to my leftover enchiladas from Macayo’s on Tuesday!  Yay for leftovers and not having to cook!  Wahooo!!! 

(Side story:  I had asked our waitress for the house red.  I didn’t really care what she brought to me; I just wanted cheap red wine with my dinner.  She offers me whatever wine is on special, so I buy in – I tend to be a sucker for an up-sell.  She comes out a few minutes later with a glass of white wine!!  Lucky for her I like both, though I prefer reds.  But what I didn’t understand is why she would offer a white when I had wanted a red??  Suz thinks maybe she was new and was just pushing the specials as much as she could, as she was trained to do exactly that.  Either way, the wine was fantabulous!  But I don’t remember what it was called!  I guess I’ll just have to go back and scope out their vino menu sometime & hope I can figure it out!)

Looking ahead to Saturday, we are scheduled to run 8 miles.  Right now I’m actually pretty excited about the run, but I acknowledge that it may not go nearly as well as last night’s 5 went.  So we’ll see! 

Throughout this week I’ve been reaching out to some of my friends who are runners, seeking advice on training.  Maresa had a lot to say, most of which I already knew/agree with/practice, but it was great to hear it from someone else.  Here are the highlights:

1.       Feeling ambitious is a good sign.  It shows that progress is being made.

2.       Running is fickle:  Each run is an isolated event.  Just because you run well today does not mean that you will do the same tomorrow or even the next day.  Either way, stay focused on completing TODAY’S run and don’t compare it to other runs.

3.       Stick to the program.  (Beth had very insistently provided the same advice earlier this week, just reiterating.) 

4.       Have faith.  Know that your program is working and your foundation is being well-established. 

5.       Listen to your body.  Eat when you’re hungry.  Sleep when you are sleepy.  And rest when you are tired (even if it means not training for 3 days!). 

6.       Our bodies are amazing machines.  Physically your can do just about anything.  It’s the mental aspect that can make it difficult.  So…

7.       Stay out of your own head.  Focus on the sun shining or the birds singing.  (One of Scott & Maresa’s friends suggested listening to books on your iPod – I think this is a GREAT idea!  I feel like if I did that, I’d get lost in the story & run for days!)

Thanks to Maresa and Beth and everyone else for the continuous support and advice as Suz and I are training.  Love you all!  J

Recap of Last Week...

On Saturday I ran the most I’ve ever run in one outing…  7 miles!  Ok, so I didn’t actually run the ENTIRE thing, but the point is that I went out and I completed it!  Details on that later, though… 

Last Tuesday was the first day I had run in over a week since I hadn’t been feeling well the week prior, and then was in Vegas for 3 days.  So I was nervous about how my body may feel.  Luckily when I set out for my run, I was feeling pretty good.  I maintained a 10-minute pace, which is great, but in my head I miscalculated my route and only ran 3.5 miles instead of 4.5!  Whoopsies!  I was already inside my house by the time I realized this.  And, yes, I should have gone back out to run 1 more mile, but I didn’t. 

Wednesday Suzanne and I ran 4.5 miles together.  Overall it was a good run.  It seems like FOREVER ago already!  (I guess when you’re running 3-5 days a week, it all starts to blur.)  We walked almost the first half mile.  (We really need to stop getting caught up in conversation and focus on running instead!)  I remember that I got really hot about 2 miles into the run and had to shed a layer, so we walked for about 30-60 seconds.  Then around mile 3.5 I got a side stitch so we walked for another 1-2 minutes then pushed though and ran the rest of the way home.  

Thursday was shopping night with Beth, so while I did not run, I was walking around the Chandler mall for a few hours!

Then Friday evening was Steve’s birthday party, so we didn’t run that day either… 

Saturday morning I slept in until about 9:15am.  When I got up I made myself a toasted PB&J then took my time getting out the door.  I didn’t want to eat and then run right away because when I do that I usually start feeling like I’m going to vomit about 1 mile into my run.  Also, I prefer to take my time getting out the door on weekend mornings because if I roll out of bed and run right away, I usually feel sluggish.  If I sit around and relax a bit before running, I usually feel better because my body has time to wake up and my muscles can warm up a bit.  So it was 11am by the time I got started.  Normally at this time of year, running at 11am is a good idea because it’s not quite so cold.  But it’s been abnormally warm here for the past couple of weeks, so with the warmer temperatures and the warm sun, it was actually quite warm on Saturday.  

I had purposely mapped a slightly-longer-than-7-mile route for this run so that I could walk a little if needed but still run a full 7 miles.  I mapped this run along the canal, heading west from 64^th Street.  My halfway point was 48^th Street, but I walked from 48^th to 44^th Street, stretched for a minute, then walked back to 48^th before running again.  From 48^th I ran to the water station at 56^th Street, walked a little bit, and then ran most of the way to 64^th Street.  I felt myself slowing down with each step, and shortly after passing the water station, my left knee started bothering me, making it harder to run.  I thought that once I got off of the canal and back onto the sidewalk that my knee would hurt even more, but to my surprise it didn’t hurt at all.  BUT, at this point, I was so exhausted that I could barely get one foot in front of the other!  And I had less than 1 mile to go!  Bummer!  For that last mile, I alternated between running and walking.  I’d walk for a few minutes, think that I was good to run the rest of the way home, start running, and then find that the running was a huge struggle.  So I walked more than I ran for the last mile… 

… but I completed it!  I covered about 7.5 miles that day!  I have NEVER run that far at one time, so this is a HUGE accomplishment for me, and I’m still in disbelief that I did it!  

What is scary is that we are less than 5 weeks from Race Day!  Now I am concerned because if I get tired after only 6 miles, and have to face 13.1 in just over 1 month… I’m not sure how I’m going to make it!  I know that Race Day will be completely different though!  With ALL of the runners, the bands along the way, and everyone cheering us along… But it’s still intimidating!

I still feel like I should've been out more last week, but after having 2 good runs already this week, maybe it's good that I eased myself back into my program... Here's a snapshot of last week:

Sweet November

I LOVE looking at this calendar on MapMyRun!   It's a great way to see what I've done day-to-day, and it helps to keep me motivated when I see my total miles run/walked and the calories burned.  I'm a visual person, so this is perfect for me!

The crazy thing is that when I look back on November, I feel like I could have/should have done a lot more!  December is going to be even worse since I took last week off in an effort to keep myself healthy.  I keep forgetting that I actually did walk last Monday (it may have been Tuesday??.  Feels like FOREVER ago!  But the good news is that I'm healthy!  I was a little stuffy last night after my run, but today I feel fine, so I keep crossing my fingers that I stay healthy!  Lots and lots of fluids and Emergen-C for the next 6 weeks!

To Run or Not to Run?

I woke up yesterday with a little bit of a tickle in my throat, and a slightly “heavy” feeling in my chest.  Today is a little bit worse, plus my entire body is starting to feel jello-y.  Ugh.  SO NOT COOL on many levels.

At this point, I haven’t run since our 6-miler on Saturday.  This is the longest span of non-running days that I’ve had in the past 6 weeks.  And now that I’m feeling worse, things aren’t looking good as far as hitting the streets again within the next few days.  I did at least go for a walk last night, and I know that’s better than doing nothing at all, but I’m not so sure that being out in the cold was the best for me either, despite the fact that I was bundled up.

I do have a gym membership, not to mention a fitness center in my office building, so I do have the option of running on a treadmill, but just the thought of any sort of excessive physical exertion makes me feel even worse!  So I’m most likely going to take full advantage of the REST AND FLUIDS approach to getting myself back to 100% ASAP.

Aside from the training aspect, I need to be healthy for Vegas this weekend!!!

Either way, please let me know your thoughts, experiences, etc.  Do I man up and just run?  Or do I rest as much as I can over the next 3 days in hopes of feeling semi-normal to go to Vegas, and then pick up with my training next week?  

In my first post a few weeks ago, I talked about the physical changes that I was noticing in my body after just 2 weeks of training.  I’m still seeing a difference, but I do feel as though it’s not as much as I had expected.  The first few weeks my weight fluctuated as much as 5 pounds from one week to the next but since then I’m simply maintaining my starting weight.  And while it’s not about the number on the scale, this was kind of surprising as well.  I mean, I went from doing almost NOTHING and eating pretty much whatever I wanted to running a significant number of miles per week and making much better food choices, including minding my portion sizes and therefore my overall daily caloric consumption.  And yet I feel like I’m stuck.  

I have NOT been utilizing any sort of strength training thus far, and I know that this will most likely create a dramatic physical change.  For the past 2-ish weeks I have wanted to incorporate my kettle bell workouts into my training schedule, but am hesitant.  Based on past experience with my kettle bell, I know that my entire body will be very sore for a few days, and I’m afraid that that will ultimately affect my running.  The bottom line is that I just need to suck it up, start doing the kettle bell workouts, and run through the pain.  I just haven’t made up my mind to make it happen.  I’ve also considered that this week may be a good time to start the kettle bell workouts since I probably won’t be running since I don’t feel well.  If I do the kettle bell today and Friday, then I’ll have 3 full days to recover before running again on Tuesday, which should be ample time.  

Now that I’m “talking” it out, it all seems pretty simple… Kettle bell workouts will commence this evening around 6pm.

On top of all of this, Suzanne has been asking if I want to incorporate the P90X plyometrics workout into our program.  It’s not that I refuse to do it… well, ok, so maybe I sort of do… I want to do it, don’t get me wrong.  I always feel good after doing this workout.  (Exhausted!  But good!)  I just cannot get my head in the game with it right now.  I definitely have a love-hate relationship with Tony Horton and all things P90X.  And I have some of the same hesitations that I addressed above – soreness, not having enough time to recover before running, etc., so we’ll see…

 I had emailed Maresa (The Bride!!!) yesterday, talking about her upcoming wedding weekend in Vegas, but also about running (this is typical of us at this point).  I had mentioned to her how strange it feels not to have run since Saturday.  She wrote back saying that if I have that feeling that I’m officially becoming a runner.  WAHOO!  And last night Suzanne & I were talking about how we feel as though we aren’t running enough.  Can it be true?  After years of wanting and wishing and hoping (and even a few futile attempts along the way), I’m FINALLY becoming a runner??  It doesn’t seem possible after only 5.5 weeks of training, but maybe this time is THE time that will change me!

Only 2 more work days til Vegas!!  Hopefully it’ll fly by! 

Only 14 Miles to Vegas!!

Yet another week of training has flown by!  We're (un)officially into Week 6 (we didn't run yet this week, so it won't be official until tomorrow).  I can't believe how fast time is passing!  I guess between the 40+ hours per week at work and the ever-increasing number of miles we're running, plus all of the extracurricular activities, this is to be expected, but DAMN!

Last week was a pretty good running week for me.  We ran Tuesday-Wednesday-Saturday last week.  I can't remember if we "cross-trained" (read: walked) at all - it's all a blur. 

We ran our 4-mile runs before work both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Tuesday I remember being so, so, SO cold during most of our run.  And I was haulin'!  I'm not sure if it was the 2 full days of rest (Sunday and Monday) before running again or if it was the fact that it was so cold at 5am, but something kicked me in the rear end and kept me moving that day.  Wednesday my left knee was really sore again, so it slowed me down a good bit.  Also, Suz and I slowed to a walk and before we knew it we had walked a quarter mile because we just kept chattering away at each other.  Oops!

Thursday was not only rest day, but it was THANKSGIVING, which could only mean one thing in this household... FOOOOOOODDDDD!!!!!! 

Suzanne, Nick and I cooked a full Thanksgiving spread at our place on Thursday.  Suzanne and I were really worried about how dinner would turn out, being that it was our first time actually cooking to this extent, but EVERYTHING turned out so, so yummy!  We were actually emotional about the simple fact that we cooked dinner.  I was trying not to cry as we started eating.  It's silly, but it meant a LOT to me (us) that we managed to pull this off.  Suzanne tackled the turkey (cleaning AND cooking) and mashed potatoes, and she baked a pumpkin pie on Wednesday evening.  I took on the stuffing and the gravy, with no actual recipe, just verbal directions and a general list of ingredients/cook times from Mamaw, plus the memory of what Mamaw's stuffing and gravy should look and taste like.  I hit both spot-on.  Boo-yah.  Nick was in charge of sweet potato casserole, dinner rolls, and apple pie.  It was all perfect!!  And, of course... (Warning:  I'm about to get sappy!)...  While I couldn't be with my family or most of my friends/favorite people, it was wonderful to spend the day and share this first-time cooking experience with two of my closest friends.  *Tear*

Friday I had to work (boo), but my counterpart Scott and I agreed to skip out early and make up the hours this week, so I was home by 2pm and Suz and I hit the Scottsdale Fashion Square around 3:30pm.  While we did not actually exercise on Friday, I think it's safe to say that shopping for nearly 6 hours sufficed as cross-training for the day.  And if my body didn't get a full workout in that day, I assure you that my checking account did!  ;)

Saturday morning Nick met me at my place and we set out on the canal for our first 6-mile run.  I have to admit... it wasn't all that bad!  Except that it was COLD!  It was only 39 degrees when we set out around 9am.  Say what?!?  WE LIVE IN ARIZONA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!  This is unacceptable.  But after just a mile and a half, I was quite toasty and had to shed one of my three shirts during our first stretch break.

Since we ran northeast from my place, McDonald was the halfway point.  Once we reached it, we'd just double back to my house, and that would be exactly 6 miles. 

When we started, it seemed like it was soooo far away, but about a 1/2 mile from McDonald when I spotted the bridge over the canal, I realized that it really wasn't all that far.  When we reached McDonald, we stopped for maybe 5 minutes to stretch and strategize.  Since I don't want to hold Nick back on his training (and since he's 6'4" and has a stride length that probably doubles mine), I encouraged him to run ahead of me and meet me back at my place since I hid my key under my car.  I also challenged him to make it back before Ohio State kicked off at 10am, which gave him 28 minutes to cover 3 miles. (He made it back at exactly 10am and managed to catch kick-off!  Yay for Nick!)

For the second half of the run I was battling myself more mentally than anything.  I watched as Nick's red t-shirt became a blob, then a dot, then completely disappeared as he ran ahead of me.  But I used that as my motivation to keep pushing ahead.  I kept telling myself to keep running just in case he decided to stop and wait for me, because if he had done that, I didn't want to keep him waiting any longer than necessary.  Probably a strange way to motivate myself, but it works for me (I used the same method when we ran at the Tempe Town Lake for our 5-mile runs - pushing myself so that Beth, Steve and Nick didn't have to wait so long for me to catch up to them). 



My round trip with 2 stretch stops and minimal walking was 1:11:00.  If you shave off 5 minutes for stretch/rest/strategy stops, it works out to a 10:47 pace.  I'd like to think that my first few miles I'm pacing faster, and then the last half of my run I slow down.  Actually, I know this is the case because for the first half of the run, Nick slows his pace to run with me, but I also know that I increase my pace to try to keep up with him.  (I'm gonna start calling him Ichabod Crane because his legs are so damn long!)  Either way, knowing that I AM SLOW, I stopped for a few minutes along the way, etc., I'll take this pace!  I've never run a good mile pace.  The best I ever ran was in 12th grade when I ran an 8:24 mile. 

Speedy Gonzalez I am not. 

But I'm doing it!  I'm running the required mileage each week.  And each week it's getting easier.  I'm still nowhere close to ready to run the entire 13.1 miles, but each Saturday when we knock out another long run, I feel more and more confident that I might actually be able to do just that! 

In 5 weeks of training I have run/walked over 68 miles in 16.5 hours and burned approximately 5800 calories.  WOW!

This week we'll be running Tuesday-Wednesday with our long run on Friday (6.2 miles) after work because on Saturday morning we leave for Vegas!  My good buddy Scottie's getting married!  He and his FABULOUS fiancee Maresa are getting married in a run-thru wedding during the P.F.Chang's Rock N Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon!!  I'm so excited to share their special day with them, and the fact that they're running similar race as we are, it's given Maresa and me even more to talk about and bond over!  I love her already and am SO excited to finally meet her in person!! 

So, in a sense... Only 14 miles to Vegas!!

Feed Me Seymour!!!

Week 4 is officially behind me.  In only 4 weeks, on foot I’ve covered over 45 miles.  And according to my Workout Calendar on MapMyRun, I’ve burned over 3800 calories!!  Holy crap!

Last week we changed up our routine a bit, running Tuesday & Thursday instead of Monday & Wednesday.  I think this was actually very beneficial to me.  Mondays I’m usually dragging – after coming off the weekend, working a full day… By the time I finally get home around 6pm on Mondays, the last thing I want to have to do is run!  So knowing on Monday that I didn’t have to do that after work was great!  

Tuesday I got tied up at work later than usual, so when I was finally walking out at 6pm, I told Suzanne she could go ahead without me, and that I’d run alone that night.  By the time I got from my building to the parking garage to home and out the door, it was 6:45pm.  I’m not sure if it was (1) my late start (and therefore a strong desire to get home), (2) the fact that I was running alone at night (albeit on busy streets), or perhaps (3) the fact that I really AM starting to feel like my training is working, but I pounded out a pretty darn good run – 3.5 miles in 43 minutes (with a few minutes of walking in there).

Wednesday morning we got up at 5am. (I think I just threw up in my mouth a little – I HATE getting outta bed that early!) to do our cross-train workout.  We set out on “The Fruit Loop” as I call it, our 2.7 mile loop that we’ve been walking/jogging on-and-off for months.  By the time we got out the door it was 5:18am (so, I move a little slow in the mornings!).  Once we rounded back onto Osborn, Suz suggested that we run home, mostly because she was on a time crunch.  We walked in the front door just before 6am, which was perfect for her since she had to leave for work no later than 7am that day.  

Let me tell you how amazing it was to get to come home from work Wednesday evening & not have to run!!!!  Ahhhhhhh, sooo, sooo nice!  But what do we end up doing?  Going to the mall, of course!  Which means we were walking around for 2 hours anyway.

Thursday evening we had to run 3.5 miles again.  I felt good the whole way, but Suz’s shins were hurting her, so we walked a little bit here and there.  I knew exactly how she felt when she said that she felt as though she was wearing flippers on her feet as she ran.  It sucks!  That’s how I had felt the week before when my shins were hurting me!  No bueno.  Despite this, we still finished in a decent time, though.

Friday was “rest” day!  I didn’t get out of work until after 6pm Friday, so I was glad that we didn’t have to do anything!  At this point it’s merely a faint memory, but we sat in front of the TV all evening and watched Dirty Dancing and Hannah Montana:  The Movie.  Yeah, that’s right!  Do. Not. Judge.

Saturday was our second 5-miler!  Nick, Beth, Steve, and I ran at the Tempe Town Lake again.  Since Ironman Arizona was hosted at the Tempe Beach Park on Sunday, there was a lot of activity around the Town Lake this weekend.  There were LOTS of super-duper-fit men and women buzzing around, getting ready for Sunday’s event.  I was a little worried that this may be intimidating, but I actually found that I didn’t really care that they were around.  

This Saturday’s run was pretty decent! I still had to walk for a minute here and there, but overall I felt really good.  Nick even commented about halfway through the run that I was keeping up a lot better than I had last week.  WAHOO!  My body was definitely kinder to me this week.  My knee did not bother me at all!  I had a little bit of an issue with my shoe rubbing my foot, but that wasn’t until the last mile(ish), so I just ignored it until we were finished.  I did struggle a little bit on the last quarter-mile (or so) stretch.  Beth and I were running and chatting and suddenly I felt like I was NEVER going to finish.  I get this feeling sometimes on shorter runs too, but this time it was really bad!  It makes me nervous about Race Day.  If I feel like this on a 5-mile day, what is Race Day going to be like?!?!

The last two weekends, I feel like all I’ve done is eat!  After our run on Saturday, Nick and I stopped at Einstein Bros. and got food to go so we could go back to my place to watch the Ohio State v. Iowa game (wow, was it a close one!).  I was actually hungrier AFTER I ate my wrap than I was before.  Luckily only about an hour and a half later, Suzanne said she was hungry, so she volunteered to go on a Subway run for us since we were watching the game.  Even after that, I was STILL hungry!  O.M.G.!!! 

Suz & I did a little shopping Saturday evening – stocking up on the necessities since we’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner!  After we finished shopping we agreed to go to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  Mmmm… Red meat!  Surprisingly I didn’t eat as much as I thought I might, but it was OH. SO. GOOD.  Yum!

Since I LOVE food, I’ve always joked that I wished I exercised like Michael Phelps so that I could eat like Michael Phelps (He eats 12,000 calories a day when he’s training!!!  So, so jealous!)  But now that I feel like all I do is eat, I think I’ve changed my mind about wanting a diet like that.  It sucks to constantly be hungry, and considering that I’m not exercising THAT much yet, I can’t even imagine how he must feel.  The poor guy must, literally, ALWAYS be hungry!!!  

Looking ahead to the next week…  We run 4 miles, cross-train 2, run 4 more, and then finish off the week with 6 miles on Saturday!  Working all week, plus increasing our mileage, plus cooking Thanksgiving dinner?  This week’s gonna fly!  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, FRIENDS!!!!