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!