14 Miles and a little tip

Saturday I ran 14 miles. The plan was to run four outside and finish up the last ten on the treadmill so hubby could get to work on time. Too bad the rain started before five am. I could hear it hitting the tin roof and I knew that all 14 miles would be logged on the treadmill. I have a love-hate relationship with my treadmill. I love it! It is an absolutely blessing and I’m no longer a slave to hubby’s work schedule OR the crazy New Orleans weather! I hate it because it is so darned boring to run on.

Two weeks ago, I was scheduled to run 12 miles while being home visiting family. I had a plan to run it on Sunday, 10/6. For some reason I thought I could squeeze 12 miles into the craziness known as my brother’s wedding. As you can guess, my plan was an epic fail. The combination of jet lag, staying up too late and having a tad too much to drink at the reception meant all I could think about the next morning was a big, fat, greasy cheeseburger. I did hop on my brother’s treadmill a few days later but it was too late in the afternoon to pull off all 12 miles, so I logged six.

Having skipped those 12 miles, I knew I had to approach the impending 14 with caution. I started of WAY slower than usual and gradually increased the speed. I never ran faster than 5.3. I am still working on walk breaks when on the treadmill. I started off thinking I’d walk every four miles when I took my gels. After the first four miles, I realized that I was incredibly tired and struggling physically and mentally. Then I decided that walking every two miles could get my through. By the time I reached the halfway point, I knew I was going to have to walk every mile. So I ran .9 miles and walked .1 until the last two when all I wanted to do was cut off my legs at the knees and be done. I finished all fourteen miles and am incredibly proud of myself for not quitting like I wanted to. I tried to not let this crappy run discourage me too much. That is what happens when you skip a long run. Thankfully, I don’t have anything on the horizon that will cause the miss of another long run. 

My next long distance will be 17 miles and that is a very daunting number. The farthest I have ever run is 15. I will continue to work on my treadmill walk breaks knowing that on race day I will maintain a 4:1 ratio. Run four minutes, walk one minute. I’d love to be able to negative split this race (something I have never been able to do since I blow my wad in the first half of each race), but I will focus on finishing. It is my first full marathon and all I want to do is cross that finish line!

Lesson learned: don’t skip your long run!

It's a great day for running y'all!

The Walk of Shame

Today’s schedule had a nine-mile run on tap. I was set. I had eaten the right amount of carbs for dinner last night, drank tons of nuun yesterday and munched on a few pretzels. I knew it would be a muggy run this morning, but I was prepared for it. Or so I thought. I’ve been enjoying my low-humidity evening runs a bit too much I guess. I stepped out the door at 6:25 this morning and all I could think was, "Ugh, nine miles in this?" 

The first mile was slow, the humidity was pressing down on my body and I was still trying to wake up. My second mile got easier. The third mile, I was starting to feel it. My face and neck were getting too warm. I pulled out my chilly pad from the back of my race vest and put it around my neck. It helped a little. By 3.5 miles I got the worst side stitch I have ever had. I stopped running and figured I could walk it off. By the time my garmin ticked mile four, I was in even more pain. That was when I decided to throw the towel in and walk home. That was one painful mile to home. I swear that the Sheriff that passed me on the road would have pulled over and put me in his car if he had not been in the inside lane on Esplanade!

Thankfully I made it home with no accidents. I wasn’t sure if either end was going to erupt based on the level of pain I was experiencing. I got in the shower and then crawled back into bed and slept it off. I’m feeling better this afternoon, but still have that dehydration headache. Not sure what happened this morning, fingers crossed it was a one-time event.

Lessons learned from this epic fail:

1)    Use the chilly pad immediately on the long run. There is NO reason to let myself get overheated first, start off cool and maintain a comfortable level.

2)    Find a breakfast that works. I had half of a banana and half of a piece of toast this morning. That combo obviously wasn’t enough.

3)    Suck it up and run. I know I made the right decision this morning, but it is incredibly hard to run in 97% humidity (or more!). My choice is either muggy mornings or HOT (95 feels like 101+) in the evenings where I will definitely overheat AND run out of daylight.

I will run the missing four miles tomorrow. I know it is not ideal, and I’m really upset that I had to bail this morning, but it was the right decision. I knew it was going to be a hard run when my stomach felt off this morning as I was getting out of bed. Even before the cramp I found myself wishing cars would run the stop sign and hit me so I wouldn’t have to finish, it was that hard; then the cramping hit. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and my body was physically off. The good news is that my new treadmill should be here in two weeks or less so my next long run can be done on it’s proper day with no care to the heat, humidity or hubby’s work schedule. I know treadmill running isn’t ideal, but it’s incredibly practical for my current situation.

Regardless of the craptastic run, I am glad that I was able to get out and do five miles this morning! 

It’s a great day for running y’all!

The Hardest Six Miles I Have Ever Run

I just finished week five of the Jeff Galloway Finish It Marathon Training Plan. My long run was six miles. I can honestly say that they were the hardest six miles I have ever run in my life. I started off at quarter after six in the morning. It was already 80 degrees with 91% humidity. The heat index brought the temperature up even higher. I scarfed down half of a banana knowing I’d need fuel but not wanting to waste time eating a full breakfast and waiting for it to digest. I stepped out of the front door and it felt like I was in a sauna. Ugh. I had a full fuel belt: two flasks of nuun up front and two flasks of water in the back. I set my garmin and started my timer. My legs were slow, the heat and humidity kept pushing me down making me slower. The miles slowly ticked away and I took a gel at mile three. I don’t normally take gels with me on six miles, but figured with the lack of breakfast combined with the weather, I should bring one. I’m glad I did. At each walk break (4 min run, 30 second walk) I would take a sip of nuun. After the second mile I started sipping water and splashing it on my face. After three miles I started pouring water on my neck and my head. By mile five my fuel belt was sucked dry. The only thing that got me home was knowing I had only one mile left.

Lessons learned for a successful run in August in New Orleans:

1. I need to find something I can eat (before my long runs) and then run immediately. Half a banana works. I wonder if I should try adding some Greek yogurt as well? Training for my half marathons, I would eat a bowl of oatmeal. Unfortunately, oatmeal is too hot and I don’t want to get up that early to eat and then wait for digestion.
2. I need to leave the house at SIX am and not any later. Once that sun comes up, it gets H-O-T!
3. I need to bring more liquids. Problem solved. I ordered a Nathan Intensity 2 Liter vest. It should be here before my next long run (7.5 miles)
4. I should consider getting a Frogg Toggs Chilly Pad to keep my neck cool. I loose a lot of water by dousing my neck and head.

Rough run aside, it was pretty awesome knowing I ran six miles in weather most people don’t even leave the house in! Pretty GBA in my book. I’m looking forward to my new vest and experimenting with breakfast options that don’t give me a mid run gut ache.

It’s a great day for running y’all!

Race Recap: Atlanta Half Marathon

This is my second year running the Atlanta Half Marathon. I can honestly say that it is much better (and easier) the second time around. I had hubby drive me down to the expo opening morning to pick up my bib. He dropped me off at the curb; I jumped out, weaved my way through the crowds and hopped in line for my bib. For some reason, my corral was the only one with a line. Thankfully, I printed off the email with my number and was prepared unlike those around me. It was a ton of fun to eavesdrop on the conversations going on around me. I was in the midst of newbies. After getting my bib, I crossed over the chip timers (very classy ATC!) to get my bag and my shirt. It is a nice, technical, long sleeved shirt. Thankfully they had my size this year. That is why I went to the expo the first day and not the second. Last year they ran out of women’s size medium and I had to get a men’s. This year the shirts were unisex and a size small fit perfectly. I ran into a girl in L’s class who was there with her dad. I said hello and then ran back to the curb to meet hubby.

I was nervous all day. I’m not sure why. I think I was even more nervous than I was last year. I was crabby and snapping at my family. I don’t like to be like that. I had the usual carb heavy dinner: spaghetti with bread. Let’s say that the meal was so carb heavy that it hurt my stomach all night. Between the nerves and the carbs, I really didn’t sleep very much at all. I was up every hour, on the hour from 1 am until 5 am. I finally got out of bed at 5:30, went to the bathroom and got dressed. I ate my oatmeal and had a few sips of coffee. At 6 I got hubby out of bed to drive me to the race. He couldn’t understand why we were leaving so early if the race started at 7:30 and my corral started at 7:45.

We hit the road. I was thankful for hubby’s heated seats and my nervous chatter talked hubby’s ear off. The roads were shockingly busy the whole drive. We made it to the interstate and flew through the city, until the Grady curve. If you’ve been to the ATL, you know that the Grady curve is inexplicably stopped every.single.time. There is no reason, it just is. It is kind of like the Ship Canal Bridge in Seattle. It just is. I told hubby to take exit 246. I would hop out of the car at the top of the exit and he could turn left and get back on the interstate to head back home. Easy peasy in theory. We sat in traffic for over 30 minutes. We finally made it through and hubby dropped me off at my exit at 7:20. I ran through the streets and the parking lots to Turner Field. As I was heading down the stairs in the final lot, I heard them singing the National Anthem. I made it to the porta potty, there was still TP and hand sanitizer, Score! I had enough time to get into my corral, start my Garmin and use my inhaler. Five minutes later, my corral started. It was nice to not sit too long in the corral and freeze, but that was not enough time to prep for my race. Thank you traffic!

The weather at start time was 45 degrees. I had left my throwaway sweats in the car but brought my sweatshirt with me. Underneath, I was wearing a skirt and a tank top. I kept the sweatshirt on for the first 1.5 miles. I had bought a cheap pair of kids gloves at target and kept those on until mile 3. I was afraid that my reynaud’s would act up and bother me the whole race. Originally, I had planned to set my timer and walk after the first four minutes, just to keep from starting too fast. It took me four minutes just to work my way through the crows so I bagged that idea. Once the crowds cleared I kept a steady pace. I don’t think I took my first walk break until 2.5 miles. Even then, I think it was long enough to blow my nose and start running again. This is a decent course for aid stations. They have water every two miles. I would walk through each station and grab a cup of water and a cup of poweraid. I would have a few sips of each and then toss them. I took my gels at miles 3, 6, 9, & 12. I knew I was in for it when I was getting tired before entering Piedmont Park. The rolling hills start just as you exit the park. I am not sure why I was tired before. Maybe it was because I had to cut my last long run short? Maybe it was the poor sleep the night before? Maybe it was the increase rise in temperature? We started the race at 45 degrees and I ended the race at 66 degrees. That is quite the jump and the heat really affects my running. While The hills were not as hard as last year. I still had to walk up three of them. I was very discouraged by that. I even did hill repeats this time around. I did see the benefits of my hill work, but it wasn’t enough. I was unable to keep my min focused and not give in to thinking “these hills are hard”. On all of my training runs, I have intentionally found hills to end with to practice the mental battle. I struggled mentally on the second half of this race. Maybe it was due to the traffic and quick start time?

I had sub-goals to run 6 miles in one hour and be at or past the 11-mile marker at two hours. I can say that I accomplished both. It was my race goal to finish as close to 2:20 as I could. My finish time was 2:23! I scored a 10-minute PR from last year and consider 2:23 to be a respectable finish time this year. I am incredibly proud of my efforts considering the cards I was dealt on race day. Ideally, I was going to try to keep my pace at 10:30 miles and not break an 11:15 pace. I kept that up until mile 10 (with the exception of mile 7) and that is freakishly amazing for me!

Yes, that is kick a$$ for me! If I run this race again next year (I’m pretty sure that I will just to beat this year’s time and shoot for another 10 minute PR but race day morning I always say no due to nerves and traffic) I will find even more hills to train on. A friend of mine who ran this race in 1:46 described it perfectly, “The race doesn’t start until you leave the park. It’s a 10k race with a 10k warm up.” While those hills are killer, it was nice to know what and when to expect them. I saw great improvement from last year and am excited to see even more improvement next year!

Mile 7 and on there are some hills

Lessons learned for next time. Training Runs: I will find a way to run 7 miles and then do hill repeats, that will mimic race day perfectly. I will find a way to beat the mental battle and keep my mind focused. I will score another 10 minute PR. I will realize that I am Galactically Bad A$$ (GBA) for running this race and I will not compare myself to others. There will always be people faster than me and there will always be people slower than me—All that matters is that I give it 110%.

Happy running y'all!

The balance of life and running

As you may have guessed by my open letter, my 11 miler yesterday did not go as well as I had hoped. It started on Wednesday. I made a conscious effort all day to hydrate and eat plenty of carbs. Eating dinner I announced to the boys that I was going to crush my 11 miles the next day. I felt strong and I was confident I could. Then it happened. While I was doing the dinner dishes, N kicked L in the face and broke his glasses. It all went downhill. I knew immediately that I couldn’t fix the glasses and would have to drive L down to the ophthalmologist the next day to get said glasses fixed. I saw my run getting flushed down the toilet and it really pissed me off. Not only did N break the glasses, he showed no remorse AND he screwed over my long run, again. I was angry and guilty for feeling this way about my baby.

I thought to hell with it. I poured myself 2.5 ounces of bourbon, put the boys to bed, ate two frozen cookie dough balls and tried to sleep. The problem was, I couldn’t after the alcohol and sugar. I tossed and turned all night long. The next morning I put N on the bus and then L and I hopped in the car during rush hour traffic to head downtown to get the glasses fixed. I was impressed with how quickly we got there, how quickly she fixed them and how quickly we got home. I was able to drop L off at school in time for his at school field trip and all was good in his life.

I then decided it was now or never for my run. I ate a Cliff bar, changed into my skirt, put on my sunglasses, grabbed my water and left. I knew it would be a tough run due to the late start, the heat and my lack of sleep. My first mile was awesome. Then I slowed down. The heat and humidity got the worst of me. I tried to ration my water, but it was hard. At 9.5 miles I thought of stopping but decided I couldn’t. My A-plan goal of finishing the whole run in 2 hours or less was out the window. My new goal was to finish 10 miles in 2 hours. I quickly stopped back at my house to get some more water and a cold towel to wrap around my neck to cool my temperature down with. I hit my goal of 2 hours for 10 miles. I was disappointed that I couldn’t do all 11 miles. I finished said 11 miles in 2:13:35. My worst time for that distance yet. I was so discouraged and exhausted. I know that I had set myself up for failure the night before when I said to hell with it. The whole run was a huge mental battle that I feel that I both won at lost at the same time. I won because I didn’t quit, but I failed by giving up so early.

As a mother runner, my first duty and priority is my family. My second is running. That’s why I am a mother runner and not a runner mother. I struggle with balancing my mom life and my running life. This is one example of how a bad day in my mom life can spew over into my running life. But isn’t that exactly how life is; a perfect (or imperfect) balance of all of our roles? I love running because it challenges me. I push myself more than I would in my daily life. I get angry when one part spews over into the other part, especially if that spewing messes up the balance.

Today I talked J into taking a slow 2-mile walk just to loosen up my legs. We headed out the same time as yesterday when I was heading back to the house for water. As I walked with J, I complained about the heat. He commented that it was more the humidity than the heat. I then told him how proud I was of myself for running those 11 miles in this heat (and humidity). If I was miserable walking today, I am definitely GBA for running in it yesterday! That’s why I run. I may want to curl up in a ball and die while doing it, but as I reflect on my accomplishments later I realize how awesome I really am; regardless of whether I am on my A game in life and running or not.

It’s a great day for running y’all!

6x800s: Not for the faint of heart

Yesterday I had speed work on tap: 6x800. I definitely wasn’t feeling it. All week I’ve been crawling back into bed after putting the boys on the bus and sleeping for two hours. That is NOT me. Overtraining? Possibly. Exhausted? Yup. N has been waking up each night between the hours of 11-4, coming into my room, waking me up so he can use my bathroom and then I have to walk him back to bed. Some nights, this happens twice. I’m an 8+ hours a night kind of girl and do not function well with less sleep. Thank you N for disrupting that! I know that this too shall pass, but it is starting to take its toll on me.

With said lack of sleep, I did not feel like doing intervals yesterday. I was tired. My legs were heavy. Should I just attempt three miles and negative split them? That’s speed work too. Nope. Only a slacker would wimp out like that. I forced myself to get out there, start slow and not crash and burn. You know what? It worked. I’m still not as fast as I’d like to be. But my splits were pretty decent. I’m keeping a steady 8:30 or faster pace during those intervals and that is a fast pace for me! It felt so good to be done. I love that feeling of accomplishment when you finish an exceptionally hard workout. Yea, that’s how I felt afterwards.

I guess the lesson from this all is, if it doesn’t kill you it will only make you stronger and hopefully faster!

Happy Running Y’all!

Respect the distance

Lesson learned from today’s run: respect the distance. It doesn’t matter how far or how short your run is, respect the distance. I had 6 miles on tap this morning. I didn’t think too much of it. I’ve run it before, no big deal. Respect the distance. I did not eat enough yesterday, I didn’t drink enough water yesterday; I went to bed over two hours later than usual. Yup, you guessed it, today’s 6.2 miles spit me up and chewed me out. As I struggled through the last two miles, angry with myself for making rookie mistakes, wondering why I continue to make the fueling epic fail I realized that I did not respect the distance. Lesson learned. Maybe next time I’ll remember.

Happy running y’all!

13.1 and Happy Birthday

My 33^rd birthday was on Thursday. I announced to my children that if anyone asks, Mommy is 29. N (my 5 year old) replied with, “But Mommy 29 doesn’t come after 32!” He was confused until I repeated that from here on out, Mommy will always be 29. He caught on quickly. I later got an email from one of his teachers telling me Happy Birthday. N apparently went to school and told his teachers that it was his Mommy’s birthday and that I was turning 29, ‘atta boy!!!!

I wanted to celebrate my day with a Half Marathon distance. Unfortunately, I had too many mommy responsibilities to do. Can you say Room Mom responsibilities coupled with washing floors and scrubbing toilets??? I decided to celebrate one day late. I can honestly say that each time I run the half marathon distance, it gets easier. Just as I had hoped! I was skeptical and almost backed out. I had only run three miles earlier this week and the pain meds I was on from my cyst really dried me out. I knew that I hadn’t fueled and hydrated properly in the days leading up to Friday, but I decided that I wasn’t going to make excuses. Just shut up, get out there and be your GBA Mother Runner self and get it done! So I did! It was EPIC! I have been training with the Galloway method for the Publix GA ½ on 3/18. I may or may not actually run the race due to hubby’s work schedule, but I wanted to follow a training schedule to keep myself up to snuff. This time around I decided to not take the walk breaks when my timer went off unless I really needed a reprieve. I was able to skip a few walk breaks and I don’t think it really hurt me too much. The next time I train, I will attempt to only walk every 2.5 miles and then stretch it out until I can run the WHOLE 13.1 miles.

It was hot and muggy. 65 degrees and I am not sure of the humidity, but let’s say we had a tornado come through that night, so it was MUGGY. Once again, my need for carrying more water on my fuel belt was the main theme of the run. I took my gels at miles 3, 6 & 9. In hindsight, I should have taken another gel at mile 12 to finish strong. Next time. I was keeping a solid 10:30 pace (not as fast as I’d like to be) until the hills. They are the bain of my existence. I slowed down, dug in and went after them. Mile 10 was my slowest mile (I LOVE my Garmin!!) and I was expecting it to be, since that is my wall. I pushed through and picked up the pace. When I finished in just under 2.5 hours I was ecstatic! I always think I can finish it in 2:20 or even 2:15, but I can never finish strong. Some day…

I finished feeling strong and confident that I can pick up my pace AND thankful for the ability to run!

Lessons learned: Take that last gel at mile 12 to finish strong, keep taking gels at 3, 6 & 9. Buy a Speed 4 or a CamelBak, I live in Atlanta and it is only going to get hotter as the year progresses! Face the wall, dig in, and push on through!!! I’m a GBA Mother Runner!!!

12.5 and My New Toy!

Thursday I received an early birthday present…

This beautiful work of art arrived on my doorstep and I couldn’t wait to try her out! I was so glad that she arrived before my long run! I spent all evening reading over the instruction manual trying to figure out how she works and hoping I wouldn’t break it! If you know me at all, you know that I am NOT the type to read manuals. Only after I have messed something up will I go back to read the how to steps. My way is always better. But not with this beautiful thing, I have waited months to get this watch and now that I have it, I don’t want to break it!

Excited to hit my 12.5, armed with water, nuun, powerbar gels and my new toy, I headed out. I started my stop watch, chrono and then started my Garmin. I immediately tried to lock the bezel (as instructed by the owners manual) and then I had my first user error. Still running, I couldn’t figure out what screen I was on. I lost two minutes and a quarter of a mile but I finally figured it out and got back on pace.

It was nice to know the exact mileage. I have found that my body performs best when taking gels at miles 3, 6, 9 & 12. I was able to tell exactly when to take my gels. Unfortunately, in the excitement of my new toy, I forgot to charge my iPod so it died after 1.5 miles. I ran the remaining 11 miles listening to the birds cheer me on. (I choose to believe they were cheering me on and not laughing at me!) I could hear the Garmin beep at every mile; I could hear the timer go off when it was time to walk. I was flying. I am still using the Galloway run-walk on my longer runs (longer than 6.2 miles). I have found this program to really work with my exercise-induced asthma. I am finding that when my timer goes off, it is hard to stop running. Maybe the next go around I will try running 2-3 miles, then have a scheduled walk break, then run 2-3 more miles. I eventually want to wean myself off of the Galloway plan, I just don’t know how. If you have some advise I’d greatly appreciate it.

Back to my run: I was solid and strong. The hills didn’t kill me as much as I had thought they would. I got tired around mile 9, but was able to pull through it ok. I waited for the dreaded wall at mile 10 and it never really came. Phew! Those last three miles were hard and I was wishing that I had music, but I felt strong enough knowing that I could have run the .6 miles and finished a half strong. Looking at my time, I was actually one minute and 55 seconds slower than the last time I ran 12.5. I blame that on my two-minute loss to Garmin user error at the beginning. I finished strong, I could have run a half easy and I would have kicked my half marathon PR by 10 minutes!

My next long run is scheduled for my birthday, March 1. The Galloway plan has me running 14 miles that day. Since I have not signed up for a half, I’m just crazy enough to follow the training plan; I think I’ll ring in my new year with a solid 13.1 miles. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate myself on my day than running 13.1 miles!

Lessons learned from this run: charge iPod before heading out, bring more water (aka upgrade to a speed 4 or camelbak, eat a cliff bar 10 minutes before heading out- my tummy was growling at mile 6.

Is 2.5 harder than 14.5?

Miles that is. It sounds crazy to ask, but if you run regularly, then you understand that each day is a new day with it's own elements. Take today as an example. I had 2.5 miles on the schedule (Jeff Galloway and his crazy mileage increments!!). I dropped L and N off at school, ran to SBUX to get a cappuccino and then return to the school at 8 am to help wrap the teacher's gifts. The PTA does this every year, and this was my first chance. I really enjoyed it! I am glad that I could do something to help them out. They spend all.day.long with my boys, the least I could do is return a favor!

After wrapping, I headed home and scarfed down a luna bar. I then changed into shorts and a tank top (nice huh? We're going to hit 70 today in the ATL and I'm loving it!!!), laced up my asics and headed out the door. I wasn't even .25 miles in before I realized that I forgot to use my inhaler. Oops! "It's only 2.5 miles, I can do it!" famous last words...

I can't believe how hard it was to run a mere 2.5 without my inhaler. I stopped frequently to catch my breath. pathetic. What's done, is done! A possibly epic run was replaced with, "I'll stop at the top of the hill to catch my breath".

Thankfully, tomorrow is another day and I'll chase that illusive high on Saturday. Lesson learned: always keep my inhaler in my running shoes!

Happy running y'all!!!