Flying Feather 4 Miler

Every Thanksgiving it's tradition in my family to run a race. We have been doing this as long as I can remember. We used to run a Turkey Trot where we would race for pies, but we have switched to the Flying Feather 4 Miler where the swag includes bottles of wine to all the finishing participants over 21. I don't like pumpkin pie, so this was race was an easy choice. :)

The race was to be treated as a heart rate test for Coach. I warmed up for 15 minutes before the race. Then I was supposed to build through the first mile and blast the last three miles. Instead, I ran every mile exactly the same pace.

Mile 1 - 7:32
Mile 2 - 7:25
Mile 3 - 7:36
Mile 4 - 7:54 (according to Dave's Garmin, this mile was a little long)

My average HR was 181 with my max at 192.

I learned two things from this race:

(1) I only have one pace and that's marathon pace. And Coach wholeheartedly agreed.
(2) I have increased my lactate threshold and the HR zones need revised. Coach has readjusted them and the training start next week.

As I stated in an earlier post, I am highly competitive. Around the two mile mark, a guy decided to run right on my shoulder....FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE RACE! Every time I made a move, he'd make it with me. I like to race up inclines and so did he. When I'd relax, he'd relax. Finally, with about a quarter mile to go, I blasted it and dropped him. He did thank me after the race for setting a good pace. He also insisted he was too old for this. Dude, I'm older than I look and probably just as old as you are. You just got beat by a girl!

My time was 30:30 which is a PR and I finished 7th out of 128 in my age group.

Hopefully, they'll be a picture to come!!

Wii Fit Update

Tonight I redid my Wii Fit fitness test. And although I still suck at the balance test ( which is amazing considering I teach balance beam), I am now 32 years old. Yahoo!

You're the Inspiration

To say that I'm competitive is a bit of an understatement.

In college I had two friends who I loved dearly but competed with them fiercely for grades. And they were ultra-competitive with me. Funny enough, although we all got our degrees in engineering, none of the three of us use them. One is in sales, one is a stay-at-home mom, and I own my own business.

I met my closest friends, Helen and Andrea, while running. I love them dearly too, but the three of us have been competing with each other since we met. I was the first of the three of us to qualify for Boston, but the two of them are now just a smidgen faster than me in the marathon. And everyone knows we love to compete with each other. Helen and I both ran the Columbus Marathon. She ran a 3:25 and I ran a 3:30. Others let me know that Helen just edged me out. Thanks! I already knew. I finally thought I was getting an advantage when I hired a coach, but then Andrea moved to Denver and is training at altitude. :)

Sure, I'm competitive with myself, but really I loved to beat people. I love to be fast and I long to win.

A few years ago I ran into a friend of mine from college during a marathon. It was her first and maybe my 3rd marathon. We both qualified for Boston and both went to run it (although I had a broken foot and couldn't run). Ever since then she has gotten faster and faster. A few years ago I watched her run a 3:19 marathon. I got an e-mail from her this week that she had done a half marathon. I looked up her time--1:29. I felt two things when I read it--(1) I will never be that fast and (2) I want to be that fast.

My next race is a half marathon in February and my goal is to be better than a 1:41.

Thank you, my friends, for "inspiring" me to work harder and kick your butt!!

(Seriously, though, I do love y'all.)

Adventures in Babysitting

For the last 8 weeks I have been teaching gymnastics three days a week. Gymnastics and teaching are not new to me as I spent 8 years as a gymnast, taught a little in high school for my uncle's gym, and then spent another 6 years after college coaching track. But, I've never really had a whole lot of exposure to children in general. I didn't grow up babysitting and although I see my niece and nephews quite a bit, I rarely watch them on my own or even with Dave.

Some of my classes I teach are heavenly and others are very painful. I have one class in particular that has been probably one of the most challenging thing I have ever done. I have had to seek assistance from other instructors and parents. I've had to write incident reports. And for someone who likes to cuss and throw fits, this class has really pushed me to the limits.

Last week I thought I had the class finally in control. We were in the last five minutes of the class and following all the rules on the trampoline. One of the girls was sitting next to me. She hadn't been feeling really well and had been coughing the whole class. Suddenly, she starts throwing up! I think I jumped higher than I ever had and ran on air to get to the office for help. The girl's mom and my manager come out to help me as I gather the rest of the class and escorted them somewhere else. Luckily that class is a bunch of three year olds and everyone will recover and it's a good thing I'm not squeamish.

I have never had a job as hard as this.

Feeling My Age

I work with a lot of college students. And when they find out I'm 30 they say "No Way! You don't look 30!" I don't look 30, whatever that's supposed to look like, and I certainly don't feel 30. I'm in the best shape ever!

My dad turned 57 yesterday and for his birthday my mom bought him a Wii Fit. Yes, my dad plays the Wii everyday. On the Wii Fit, you set up accounts where it measures your weight, your BMI, your balance, along with your real age to determine the "age" you are based on your health. My dad took the test first and he came out to be 57. Dave took the test. His real age is 31, but the Wii told him he was 27. My sister took the test. Now my sister is 6 months pregnant and they told her she was obese and her BMI was off the charts! My sister's real age is 27 and they told her she was 22. So I took the test. I have reason to be confident, as I stated above. My BMI was normal, my weight was about 116, but I didn't do so well on the balance test. When they calculated my age it came back with 47.

FORTY-SEVEN!!!!

Are you freakin' kidding me!? My family laughed so hard they fell off the couch.

Thursday Thoughts

This coming summer Dave will be doing his Ironman in Couer d'lane (yeah I know I spelled that wrong, Dave), Idaho. We have decided to make the trip via car since we've both want to travel cross country. We plan on leaving a week before and heading to Chicago where coach lives and then heading across the northern states for a quick trip to Idaho. After the race we plan on taking two weeks to travel around to come home. Some places we're thinking of going includes Seattle, Salt Lake City, Colorado Springs, Demver, and maybe get down to the Grand Canyon. We're looking for suggstions for places to go, things to do, and people to see. Any thoughts?

By the way, we're not interested in Yellowstone because Dave's been there like a million times and I've also been there. I'm not really a nature girl and Dave has done most National Parks between Ohio and the west coast.

So think of something really creative and unique. We're heading your way!

October Totals

October was a pretty good month even though I was tapering and then recovering.

Run = 80.7 miles
Swim = 8200 yards

We discovered in October that our pool is 25 meters instead of yards. No biggie but Training Peaks doesn't like to record things correctly in meters. So I'll just pretend it's yards.