Holy PR, Batman

Yesterday I ran the UA Memorial Day 5 Miler which I like to run every year as a celebration of the anniversary of my running. I started running four years ago this month and this race was the first one I did. This race is particularly tough because it's hilly and because it has a lot of people in it. My goal was to PR which I didn't think would be too hard to do, but I didn't expect what I got. The whole race went well and I picked up speed each mile. In the end I posted a 36:49, which is a PR by two minutes. I won 3rd in my age group and I was 19th overall in the women's division. I am pretty pleased with these results.

Now it's back to the triathlon training.

What is my problem?!

I've been doing a pretty good job of training for this triathlon. I've been trying my best to keep my running miles above 20 per week, do all my swimming workouts, and get on my bike for a long ride at least once a week. I even did a 63 mile ride this past weekend that wasn't so bad. My problem is...my nutrition sucks! I was in such great shape heading into the Boston Marathon and since then I feel like I've just let it go to waste. I haven't run as much since the marathon because track has just taken over my spare time. And because I haven't run so much I just don't feel as fit. But, I'm still eating like I was running 30-35 miles a week. And I can't stop the candy bar craze I've got! I eat at least a candy bar a day! I NEED to go to the grocery store today. Our cupboards are baren. Today will probably be a run/swim day. I may have track one more week (states are next week) but I'm going to try to start following the training plan as closely as possible and incorporate bricks and nutrition while biking. Once I get my eating under control and start getting back to my regular training, I think I will feel a little more confident about this triathlon.

I've got a lot of work to do

Last night I went on a long bike ride with Dave, Andy, Rich, Nancy, Tony, and his son Nick. After riding with them, I'm in serious trouble for this triathlon. They were so much faster than me. Andy rode with me because I was struggling to keep up, but I don't think he got a very good workout. And, I was riding at about 16 mph so it wasn't like I was going slow. And poor Dave. He was riding a mountain bike and really wasn't able to keep up. He had to do the whole ride on his own and he looked pissed when we got back to the cars.

Seriously, I don't know what I got myself into. I want to do this race to say I did it, but the competitor in me doesn't want to go there to suck either. And I'm starting to panic because only two months until this race and I don't know if I'm going to be ready in time. Plus I don't want my running to suffer because I need to be doing all this other training. It's really frustrating me.

I'm No Lance Armstrong

Hey! Congratulations to Grace Yang on completing her first half-Ironman. You're inspiring. And congratulations to Erin Ford for winning the daggone half-Ironman. You're a stud.

Anyway, I suck at bike riding. Two years ago I did a sprint triathlon that I bought a swanky bike for and I didn't do much riding then and I still don't today. Now that I've committed to this half-Ironman I should probably get out there and train on the bike since it is the majority of the race. So yesterday I went for a two hour ride on some country roads. My bike ride was less than 30 miles and I was only averaging around 15 mph. That's terrible!

My arms, neck, and shoulder were really sore so I thought I would go get some aerobars to help ease the burden. I went to a prominent bike shop in Dublin and got terrible customer service and when I finally did get help he did nothing but insult me and my bike and just kept telling me that I needed to be fitted. Yeah...and... Then he wanted to charge me $125 for the fitting and wouldn't even talk to me about aerobars until I got fitted. What a jerk! Needless to say, I walked out of the store without getting anything. Now I don't know what to do about getting fitted. I've asked some friends to help me and I'm wondering if there's somewhere else that will do it cheaper, much cheaper.

Any suggestions?

What was I thinking?!

Yesterday I decided to sprint with some of my high school girls. What a stupid idea! I ran 6x200 with 200 recovery in between; 1/2 mile warm up; 1/2 mile cool down; and 2 miles with Dave after practice. I sprinted hard too. And after practice I thought I would screw around with the high jumpers and tried to jump. Except, being the gymnasts that I am, I took off of two feet and plowed into the barn and landed very ackwardly on the bar.

Today I am super sore in my legs and my abs from the running. But, I also have a very large welt on my behind from high jumping. I'm so stupid. I think I'm going to take today off. I can barely move let alone try to run. I'll use my track meet tonight as an excuse for not having enough time.

Oh My Feet!

Okay, so you're all going to think this is weird.

My training this week for the triathlon has been a swimming focus week. I've done three of four workouts, all of which are really long compared to what I'm used to swimming. You would think I'd be really sore in my arms or maybe even my abs or back. No. My feet are the sorest thing on me. I don't know what it is about swimming but it makes my feet hurt so badly. I'm even having a jabbing pain in my left foot today from swimming. It's so weird!

Let the Training Begin, Again

I took off approximately one week and now it's back to training. I was going to start my training this past Saturday with a light 5 mile run, but it was raining outside and I had gotten home really late from a track meet and it just wasn't worth it to me to get out of bed. But, I did get up early yesterday morning and went to the gym to do a swim workout in preparation for the triathlon. This was my workout:

Warmup: 4 X 150 swim, kick, pull, swim
Workout: 1650 ladder (275,250,225....25)
Cooldown: 200
Total: 2450 meters

This workout was hard. Especially since I haven't gone above 1000 meters since last summer. It totally wore my out and I never got a nap yesterday because my mom's in the hospital and I had to visit her and I had to watch my sister's kids so she could go to the funeral home for a friend. I'm still very tired today. And, my ribs are sore from the swim.

It's good to be back in the swing (or swim) of things.

Boston Marathon

It was hard and yet it was easy. It was hard because of the hills and the heat. It was easy because I’m in great shape and the miles just seemed to tick by.

We started our race morning by meeting as a group in front of the Park Plaza Hotel and walked together to the Boston Commons to catch the bus. The bus ride took FOREVER! How can 26 miles take an hour in a school bus? Once we got to Hopkinton there were people everywhere and it was hard to find a place to set up camp. Being the nervous person I am, I immediately had to go to the bathroom and spent the next 40 minutes waiting in line. By the time I returned to camp I had just enough time to eat a Powerbar and half a bagel and then once again line up for the bathroom. When I returned from this bathroom break, it was time to move to the corrals. This was a challenge. They herd you like cattle through these corals but only let you into the one to which you’re assigned. We heard the National Anthem and saw the flyover and then everyone applauded which must have meant the starting gun went off. It took FOREVER to get to the starting line. And what was dumb about the whole thing is everyone was running up the hill to the starting line. Why? It was uphill and the time doesn’t start until you cross the mat. Andrea and I didn’t run until we hit the mat. The first couple of miles seemed slow and controlled. We were turning 8:10s to 8:15s. The first 10 miles seemed to take a really long time. At mile 9, Andrea said I was running too fast for her so she dropped back. I was starting to feel fatigued too, but decided I would run at least to the halfway point before taking a walking break. I must say, Wellsley was a bit of a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong—it was deafening, but in my mind I just pictured it differently. I caught my dad right at Wellsley and we chatted a while and then I pulled away. He said he was proud and everyone turned around. A beautiful “after-school special” moment.  When I reached mile 14’s waterstop I walked through it. And then I walked a lot more after that. I walked up the hills; I walked down the hills. And despite all the walking, I was still making good time. The first hill in Newton was brutal but so were all the downhills into Boston. I saw John Kerry at Heartbreak Hill. He’s one tall man. Once I reached Boston I tried to run as much as possible because of the crowds and because I was getting closer to the finish line. I took a popsicle from a lady around mile 22 or 23. It was terrific. It was a super hot day and I couldn’t get enough water. I drank so much I felt like my belly was actually expanding. But by the end, I didn’t drink as much because the waterstops moved to the right-hand side of the road and I didn’t know and I missed a waterstop or two. At mile 23 I looked up and saw the Citgo sign an dknew the end was near. I ran the last two miles. I saw Dave and Mom right before the turn at Herford. No one told me there was a hill there! I finished in 3:53:19. Looking back I wish I wouldn’t have walked as much as I did, but I don’t think I anticipated as good of a time as I got while I was doing the walking. Had I known I was going to do a 3:53, I think I would have walked a little less and then done a little better on my time. Hindsight. I’d like to say that I thought about a whole lot during the race or really contemplated things in my mind. But, I didn’t. I really was numb to what was going on around me. In the last two miles I thought about my grandpa who died a few weeks ago and knew that he was watching me run for the first time. That really helped me get to the finish line. I would like to try Boston again to see if I could do better, but I’ll have to requalify this year to get back there. Overall, I’m pleased with the way things went and happy with my Boston experience.

I must say…my quads are KILLING me! Those hills must have been a lot harder than I thought they were.

Happy Birthday to me!

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be 27. And yes, I'm spending my birthday running a marathon. My family was supposed to have a birthday dinner last night (because I have a track meet tonight and we leave for Boston tomorrow) but my sister and nephew were sick so we didn't have it. But, my sister did call me (like, a million times on everyone's phones) to give me my present. She got me this really awesome Nike running outfit that had pink shorts (I LOVE pink!) and a white T-shirt top with two different colors of pink stripes. She was going to put my nickname (MJ) on it so people would scream out my name when I run the marathon. But the outfit was so awesome I asked her not to put my name on it because I'd like to wear it all the time and not just in marathons. Plus, I had already "ruined" a shirt by putting my name on it for Monday.

Great gift, here's the thing. My sister is the average American...works because she has to and lives paycheck to paycheck and usually that doesn't cover it all. She had told me prior to yesterday what she wanted to do for my birthday and said she had to wait until Thursday to buy the shirt (she told me she was going to get me a pink shirt and put my name on it) because that's when she got paid. This already made me feel guilty because she didn't really have the money to even buy me a gift. And I'm okay with her not getting me a gift. Then I went yesterday and she had bought me that whole Nike outfit which I know was way more expensive than just a pink shirt. Now I feel really guilty about taking this gift. I talked to my mom about this and she thinks I should accept the gift because Amy wanted to buy it for me and it made her happy. I almost want to thank her by buying her a gift certificate to somewhere, which I know would probably insult her. Maybe I can just find a way to do something nice for her and return the financial favor without her really knowing it. Any suggestions?

By the way...absolutely LOVE the running outfit she got me. I'm going to wear it Sunday in the Patriot's Run.

I'm Ready

Not much to say...5 days to go until the marathon. Tapering is going well, I'm mostly packed, feeling confident. I'm ready.

Safety Dance

We can dance if we want to...we can leave this world behind.

No seriously, there are a lot of saftey rules I follow when running. One, I only run during day light hours. I actually learned this the hard way when I was running in the dark and took a big spill because I couldn't see what I was doing. Two, I never jaywalk. I do this because I've had two warnings from police officers and getting a $60 ticket is not high on my list. Three, I try to stay on paths or at least on roads with wide berms. This one is hard to do when you live in a small town and there are no sidewalks. But, there is one safety predicament I seem to find myself in that I don't know what to do about.

Yesterday I did my run on a path I probably run 2-3 times per week. I was having a difficult run and was walking. Behind me I heard a russle in the field beside me. I turn around and there was a HUGE dog charging at me. I yelled "OH SHIT" and screamed at the dog "NO NO NO!" Luckily the dog stopped right at the edge of the path. The owners yelled for it and I told it to go home and it did. This isn't my first run-in with very large dogs. It seems to happen to me every couple of months, and I don't know what to do about it. I don't want to carry mase because I'm afraid that it will accidently go off and spritz me and with my asthma I think that could be really bad. I wish people would keep their dogs securily in their yards or on a leash. I could have been killed by that dog yesterday.

Capital City Half Marathon

Last week's weather was amazing. We had temperatures in the 60s and 70s and I was able to run the whole week in a T-shirt and shorts. Of course, until Saturday when I ran the Capital City Half Marathon. This day called for rain and wind and pure yuckiness. Instead of rain we got snow and got a lot of wind. The race is a minature version of the Columbus Marathon. It goes east on Broad Street not very far and then goes through German Village. It continues for four miles up High Street to Lane Avenue, hangs a left and then hangs another left at Tuttle. At Tuttle you go down almost all the way to Larkins Hall (at OSU) and hangs two sharp rights and you go around the stadium. This isn't on the streets; it's on the sidewalk right next to the stadium. You then continue north on Tuttle and turn right on Woody Hayes, right on College Avenue, right on 12th, left on Neil, wind your way through the Short North and then finish on Neil in the Arena District.

Here's what happened to me. Dad, Doug, and I started way too far back and wound up having a slow first mile, 8:45. Then we fell into pace and Dad told us to go ahead around 3 miles. He said he had to go to the bathroom. Going up High Street was into the wind and it was snowing sideways into your face. It was a wet snow too and my clothes were drenched and I was cold. At Broad and High I noticed my shoe was untied so I stopped and tied it and Doug went ahead. I tied my shoe and kept running, passing my dad at Nationwide and High. He yelled, "this sucks...I can't even run" as we passed the windiest part of the race where the freeway goes under High Street and nothing blocks the wind. When I reached the next mile marker I was at 8:08 and that included a water stop and my shoe tying so I knew I was flying. Shortly after the mile marker, I passed Doug and he didn't look like he was having fun. When we turned on Lane Avenue I saw Darryl ahead and caught him and talked to him for a while. By this point my hands were numb and he said he belly was numb. Thinking about it when he said it, my belly was a little numb too. The trip around the stadium sucked. Whoever thought that was a good idea needs to think again. Coming back up Tuttle was pure mud puddles and I quickly discovered why everyone was running on the sidewalks by the architecture school. As I went under the school I had a big snowball drop on my shoulder. It kinda hurt. As I was running up Woody Hayes, I started reminiscing about running Columbus two years ago and qualifying for Boston. This is where I was walking and crying and realized that I was still ahead of pace and only had three miles left and could qualify. It was nice to be at this point in the half marathon and still feel fantastic. When we turned left onto Neil, I saw a girl I used to run with and I took the next mile and a half to catch her. She saw me there and pulled ahead just a little. I let her for a while but then I pushed ahead of her for the last mile. As I crossed the finish line, a foot stepped in front of mine on the right to beat me out. It was the girl I had caught and I was pretty deflated at that point. But, being that we were wearing chips, I actually beat her by 2 places. First time I've ever beat her in a race. I finished in 1:42:55, which I wasn't trying to do, but the race felt fantastic. I never felt tired or winded and I really had a great run. I was underdressed, though, and my hands got really wet and cold and lost feeling and I was really concerned that I was getting frostbite. As soon as my dad finished I made him take me to the car and go home because of my hands. Hopefully next year the weather won't be so bad for the race.

It's Taper Time (Kinda)

The long runs are over. Halleluiah!!!! I did 20 miles on Saturday. I was scheduled to do 22 but 20 was plenty and two more miles were not going to make a difference.

So now that the long runs are done, it's officially taper time. Except, it's not. This week I intend to do over 30 miles and I'm doing the Capital City Half Marathon on Saturday. I am saying right now that I'm not going to race it, but I think it's going to be a pretty solid run.

Track meets start this week so it's a good thing it's taper time because it means less time to run. Luckily one meet is at home and the other is at a school really close to work, so I'm going to have time to run before the meets and still get in three or four miles before I have to work.

It's looking like I'm actually going to make it through training successfully. Yippee!

I'm Famous!

Our track team hired Otis Winston as our new jumping coach. For those of you who don't know, Otis was a member and captain of Ohio State's basketball team back in the early 90s. What most people don't know is that Otis was a standout in track and field too. He was a three time state high jump champion in high school and also won the long jump one year. In college he was an All-American, Olympic trial qualifier, Ohio State record holder (7'4-1/2"), and placed third in the NCAAs.

The local newspaper (New Albany News) did a profile on him and he mentioned by name me and my dad as the people who convinced him to coach at the school. I got my name in the paper. I'm famous!

In real running news...(1) our bib numbers are out for Boston. Mine is 12880. (2) My runs are going really well. Yesterday's was pretty choppy. I did 1/2 mile. Then had my runners do a time trial. Then I ran 2-1/2 more miles on the track. And finally I ran 3 more miles on the treadmill while the kids were in the weightroom. Got it done and that's all that matters.

Sad News

This post is going to have nothing to do with running, but I know some people might be interested to know.

My grandpa died last Friday (March 18th). He's been sick for a long time and fell really sick last week. He went to be with the Lord around 8:00am while Grandma was washing his feet. How beautiful and poetic and Biblical. My brother-in-law, Rob, is a paramedic and was the one who pronounced him. The police chaplain offered a prayer for the family (I missed this) and we all consoled Grandma as the funeral home took my grandpa's body.

The last few days have been filled with family and friends as we had showings on Monday and the funeral was yesterday.

Grandma has been taking all this pretty hard and she should. My grandparents were married 64 years. I can't imagine losing my best friend after 64 years. My mom seems to be okay but I've noticed her crying a lot. Surprisingly I've seen my dad really ripped up by this. I don't know if it's because Grandpa was like a father to him (Dad's dad lives in Kentucky and we don't see him very often) or if it's because it brings back memories of when his mother died. Myself, I'm doing okay. I'm sad because I have really great memories of my grandpa and I'm really going to miss him. But at the same time, I'm comforted knowing he's not going to be sick anymore and knowing that he passed while Grandma was taking care of him...the way it was meant to be.

One more long run

There's one more long run to go before Boston. Saturday we ran 20 miles and in two weeks we'll do 22. In typical fashion, it snowed Friday night and the trail was covered when we started. In addition, it was sleeting the first couple miles of the run too. But, then the sun came out and it got warmer and the run wasn't so bad. We ran north for the first 5 miles and then south for the other fifteen. When we got in the campus area the wind was so strong that it knocked both Andrea and I to the side. Overall, I think the run went well and I'm not really all that sore.

How quickly you fall out of shape

Yesterday I didn't have track practice because the boys basketball team was playing in the regional semifinals (they lost), so I took the time to do some extra training. I went to the gym and ran three miles on the treadmill and then went for a swim. This is the first time I have swam since my eye surgery, which was four weeks ago. At that time I was able to swim 1000 yards continuously and probably could do more. Yesterday my plan was to swim about 800 yards. I quickly learned, however, that I had fallen out of swimming shape in that four weeks. I was able to do 400 yards and struggled throughout. I might go back to the gym today after practice to do a little more swimming. I think it helps my running a lot and I need to get on it if I'm going to do the triathlon this summer.

Math, Diet, and huh isn't that interesting?

Have y'all read the new Runner's World out now? It has an article in it about diet and exercise just like every month. Usually they don't mean that much to me, but this one I found particularly interesting especially with what I've been finding out in my spinning classes. First it said to maintain your body weight you should take your current weight and multiply by 13 and this was the number of calories I needed in a day. For me that was slightly under 1500 calories. Then it said if you wanted to lose a pound a week (not a high priority for me, but I would like to get down a little for better racing) that you should cut 500 calories a day with reduction in food intake and exercise. It also said that running a mile equaled 100 calories.

So, I experimented to see where I was. On Tuesday I ate what I usually eat and then some and had about 1900 calories. I did 3 miles of running and 45 minutes of spinning on Tuesday. Our spinning instructor said we would burn about 800 calories during the spinning class. So 3 miles equals 300 calories plus 800 calories from spinning is a total of 1100 calories burned. Let's do a little math. 1900 calories eaten minus 1100 calories burned leaves me with 800 calories to keep my body functioning.

Here's what I learned. I am not getting enough calories everyday to keep my body functioning properly for what I am putting it through. I probably crave sweets and chocolate all the time because I don't have enough calories to burn fat during my workouts and instead burn glycogen, sugar. If I want to lose any weight, I need to consume more calories so that I can burn fat during my workouts. Explains why the only time in the last several months that I lost any weight was at Thanksgiving and Easter.

Isn't that interesting?

Tough Run

Saturday's long run was really tough. The plan was to do 2-1/2 laps around Highbanks which is about 15 miles. Not only is this tough to do at any time because of the hills, it snowed a fair amount last week including Friday night and the trails were covered. Andrea, Dad, and I did the first three miles together but Andrea said she wasn't feeling it so she stopped and said she would do it on Sunday. Dad and I ran together until the next hill, but I went up it faster and then I had to run all the rest by myself. My stomach started hurting going up the big hill and I had trouble catching my breath the rest of the way. I stopped after one lap and Dad did the second lap. I didn't want to have to do the entire 15 miles again on Sunday, so I headed out again on Saturday afternoon and did an additional 8 miles. So, my mileage for Saturday was 14 miles and my mileage for the week was 31. This week ought to be a big week...20 miler on Saturday!

I just don't know!!!

I was over at Sue's last night and I was talking to her about her sister-in-law, Grace. Grace did the Wendy's Triathlon last summer and this summer is planning on doing a half Ironman. This morning I've been chatting with Andy who again is pushing me to sign up for the Muncie Endurathon. I'm so torn!!! I just don't know what to do!!! I really want to try it because I think I have the endurance for it, but riding a bike for 56 miles is not exactly what I call fun. If it was just swimming and running, I'd sign up in a heart beat. I'm just not really sure when/how/where I can fit in bike training. Right now I take a 45 minute spinning class twice a week but I know that's not enough. I wish there was a training program out there on how to do a half Ironman for marathoners. I just don't want to compromise my running. I'm not willing to give up my daily run.