March, you were a good apple

I can't believe that yet another month has come and gone already this year.  We are already 1/4 of the way through!  

March Recap:

I participated in two races this month.   Consider my goal of running one race/month all year thoroughly trounced for March.  The first was the last Frozen Foote in the 4 race series.  My time over the three races in the series that I participated in decreased by 6 minutes over the 4 mile distance!  The second race was the Orebed Sugar Shack 5K.  This was on a slushy dirt road and I ran with Jacki and we talked the whole time.  Our time was 35:07, which is pretty slow for us on a 5K, but truly I was much more worried about falling on my backside than I was about going fast!  

I ran 88 miles this month!  Incredible!  (40mile/month goal)  If only I had not had the mental and physical setbacks that I fought at the end of the month, I would have made it to over 100!   My case of the blahs followed closely by a stomach  bug cut out two training runs (a 7 and  4) and a long run down to 3 miles instead of 10.  I also missed a run last week because Tom and I went "out"  Wednesday night and I didn't make up the lost run because I was still recovering from being sick and didn't want to push it too hard.  

Also this month marks my longest run to date!  15 miles.  Wow.  It seems impossible, and really,it almost is. It sure feels like it should be!  I have only 3 more "longer than I've ever run before" runs left in the training program before the actual marathon in 8 weeks.  I will go 16 this weekend coming up, and then I have an 18 and 20 mile run left with step-back weeks of shorter distances in between.  

Am I proud of myself?  Yes.  You bet.  I'm going to hold it together and run this race.  Then I'm going to keep holding it together and run some more races.  :) Why?  Because I can and that is a beautiful thing.

Boilermaker!

Yes, the Boilermaker gets a post of its very own.

The first time I heard about this race was in graduate school. My labmate's father had a heart attack and subsequent heart surgery.  He was in pretty poor health.  My labmate was an avid runner, biker, and overall outdoorswoman.  She and her father decided to run the Utica, NY Boilermaker together.  The race is a 15K in July (boil anyone?).  It is also very popular because of the live entertainment along the race route and the huge after party.  Jacki ran the race last year and this year Tom and I will also be partaking!

The registration opened on March 22nd at noon.  I sent myself a google reminder so that we wouldn't miss it.  They cap the 15K at 14,000 runners (wow) and it was completely sold out when I checked back ~2 hours later!  yikes!

If you want to read more about The Boilermaker check out the site below.

Boilermaker

Thanks for reading! :)

Ragnar Relay Mania!

For quite a while Tom and I and my other running friends have been talking about Ragnar Relays.  These are 12 person team relays over a very long distance, ~200 miles.  At this distance each runner runs ~ a half marathon or more spread out over 3 different runs over the course of two days.  Teams have two vans of 6 people and there is always a teammate running until the race is done -even overnight!  Exciting!

There is a Ragnar Relay in the Adirondacks this fall and Jacki and I put TWO teams together!  Our other running friend Rachelle has agreed to captain the other team.  We are so excited.  Jacki and I were hoping to get at least one team together and then all the sudden we had 22 people ready to go.  I'm sure there will be much more to talk about later.  If you want to learn more about Ragnar check out the link below.  

Ragnar Relay, Adirondacks

If you would like to join us there are (as of this moment) still two places left in my van of 6!  The race is the weekend of Sept. 26 and 27.

It's going to be epic!  

Sometimes you just need a kick in the pants

Last night was my 15 mile long run.  Longer than I have ever run before!  YAY.  

I almost didn't make it.  I got to 12 and thought I was completely out of steam.  I was on the treadmill in the garage.  I was nauseated and my calves were burning like crazy.  I came in and ate some more pretzels and sat down to talk with Tom and the kids.  I also complained to my running amiga Jacki in a text that I just couldn't do the last 3.  She told me in no uncertain terms to buck up and finish the run.  I told her that I guess I would try but that she had to explain to my mom why I had died and also give my eulogy.

For the previous 12 I broke the run up in 3 mile chunks.  After 3 miles I would walk while I drank water or Nuun and ate some salted pretzels.  I also had a vanilla Accel gel left over from my half marathon last fall.  I had only ever tried the chocolate and liked it.  I took one little taste of the vanilla.  NO WAY.  Not good at all in my opinion.  When I started walking after 12 miles I was so stiff and nauseated.

For the last 3 I stopped at 1.5 miles and then at 2 miles (yes only .5 miles later), but then I pushed through and did the last mile.  I was thoroughly exhausted when I came in.  Tom had put the boys to bed.  I didn't get to see them very much yesterday. I am very thankful that Tom is so supportive because it took over 3 hours for me to do the 15 miles.  I'm thankful also that Jacki told me to get back out there and finish the run.

Now a new battle (caution T.M.I. beyond this point). I've been fighting lower G.I. problems on long runs (anything over 6 miles) and I have them pretty under control by eliminating lactose.  Cheese seems to be the biggest offender.  Last night after getting cleaned up I was overwhelmed by nausea and threw everything up. Big sad face here.  This left me completely whipped.  I could barely get my PJs on and braid my hair.  I made a new glass of Nuun electrolyte solution and cautiously drank that and took a few tentative bites of banana.  It was enough to get me feeling well enough to go to bed.  I took the banana and Nuun with me to bed and when I woke up in the night I had more bites and sips.  By this morning I felt just fine (other than my stiff calves).

The two biggest suggestions that I have found and received from people on the Women's Running Club (closed facebook group that you can join-this way people can't see when you ask questions about G.I. issues, LOL) are to make sure you cool your body off after a long run because your core body temperature can go up to 101 while running for hours and this can happen even in the cold and this contributes to nausea.  Big ooops here I like to soak in a hot bath after a long run.  Guess I won't be doing that again.  Shower for this girl.  I know people suggest cold ice baths for their legs after long runs, but there is NO WAY I can do that after a long run in the Winter/Spring after being so cold during the run.  The other suggestion is that gluten, like lactose can cause G.I. distress in endurance athletes.  So, I guess now I need to cut gluten for a bit and see if I get improvement.  Pretty much your G.I. track gets the short end of the stick while you are running.  All the blood rushes to your muscles and the surface of the skin to keep you running and cooling you down.  I think it's pretty obvious that with digestion not working well that your intestines and stomach are left in a state of peril.  Fun Fun!

Who would have thought I would be willing to give up dairy and wheat products?  I guess you can imagine just how much I don't want to feel sick when I run!

This training is getting really "REAL" now.  Only 8 more weeks!  Excited and worried about the G.I. issues.  Thank you for reading! Have a great week everyone!

Training Hat!

How did I forget to post about this little gem?  

Maybe over a month ago Tom and I received packages from the Buffalo Marathon!  Look what I have! YAY!  It's a nice tech hat.  The back says "I'm training for the 2014 Buffalo Marathon".  

If you see me around just wearing this for fun, I'm pretty excited to do this.  Unfortunately it's still a bit cold to wear it all by itself.  I wore it out one day with an ear band wrapped around the outside.  HA! 

Thank you all for the support.  It's not easy to do this and each of you mean a lot to me.

Happy reading and Train On! 

Pure Drift!

Oh YAY!  A new shoe post! 

I've been having some left foot pain and my toe nails are still not happy with my shoes. Apparently I need to go up yet another half a shoe size.  I've been looking at Brooks because they are supposed to be pretty spiffy running shoes.  I spent almost an entire week doing internet searches and looking at different pairs of shoes. 

 There is a cool shoe finder programs on Runner's World and also Brooks has one of it's own.  They can be accessed here: 

Runner's World Shoe Advisor

Brooks Shoe Advisor

I narrowed down my choices by carefully reading reviews people had posted on the sites.  I chose the shoes pictured above, Brooks PureDrift because they have a very large toe box area and they have a very flexible sole.  They are also on clearance!  Nothing like fancy running shoes for $55!  These are also a lightweight minimal shoe, and I'm interested in trying different types of shoes (read Born to Run!).  I was positively bursting with excitement to try these!  

I took them outside for a quick 3 mile run on the 18th (yup-little backlog here because of the "funk").  I felt fast in them!  I don't know if it's the lack of padding in the bottom that made it feel like I had better get my feet going or if I was just feeling good that evening, but they felt pretty nice.  I finished 3 miles in 29:16, which is pretty good for me considering I wasn't at a race!  I also wore them on Tuesday on the treadmill and they seemed just fine there too.  My toes of tons of space!  Ah :)

I think we're coming around the bend (finally)

So I had a case of the blahs last week.  I'm pretty sure that my momentary setback into the land of feeling depressed and anxious was due to training and not sleeping enough.  I just didn't want to do anything but lay on the couch.  I HATE feeling like that.  Isn't that why I started doing this almost a year ago?  So that I don't have to feel like that?  I guess training for a marathon is pretty intense... Who would have thought? HA!  

I didn't do that 4 mile run Saturday night.  I got in bed.  Darren woke us up in the night and had been sick in his bed... FUN!  Sunday rolled around and I did major grocery shopping.  Darren seemed fine.  By the time I was ready to run my 10 mile long run I had started to feel a bit queasy.  I did 3 miles and came in to take a quick potty break and I just couldn't go back out.  I laid down and felt worse and worse.  

Oh no!  Not illness after slacking off!  I'm never going to get to run again! AHHH!  

The next day I was very weak and then Jeremy got sick.  Even more fun! Thankfully Tom never got really ill and we're finally past all that illness and slacking.  Now, back to work!

I ran 3 miles Tuesday night and it was pretty tough.  I felt pretty light headed after two miles but I stuck with it.  Hopefully now that two more days have gone by I will feel well tonight when I do 7! 

I'm so behind on posting exciting stuff.  Don't be surprised if I get a bunch of new posts written in the next few days!

A case of the Blahs (oh no!)

I've been pushing on and on and all the sudden I hit a wall.  Thursday night I should have gone for a 7 mile run.  I didn't.  I felt "sick".  I took a nap at 7PM because I couldn't not take a nap.  I'm really not sure if I was actually sick or if I just hit an over trained moment of weakness.  Last night I went to Zumba.  It's Saturday.  I haven't run since my Tuesday 3 mile run.  So now I've missed two mid-week training runs.  A 7 and a 4.  I'm going to try and get on the treadmill tonight after I get the boys in bed.  I think I'll try to do the 4 that I missed last night. 

I hate the feeling of a funk.  It feels like it won't end and that I will always feel "funky".  

Hopefully getting back on the horse tonight will break this case of the blahs... especially since I have 10 miles tomorrow!  

First jog stroller run of the year!

Yay!  It was 45 yesterday!  Yes, above zero! 

Slated for the day was a 3 mile run so I dressed the boys warmly, strapped them into the stroller and away we went.  I should have known they were very comfy.  It got quiet after the first half mile.  Also, a novel feeling while running: I was hot!  I got down to only my ear band, one long sleeve shirt, and my long tights.  

What a nice run, but man are they heavy to push!  Here we are at the end.

Thanks for sending me a breath of spring!  Back to a snowstorm and cold today.  

Happy reading!  

The Frozen Foote Series

Oh my!  I finished the Frozen Foote series in Canton this morning.  I ran 3 out of the 4 races (I missed the one in Dec.) so I got a shirt!  I'm wearing it right now and it fits great :). 

I'm extremely proud of my efforts in this series!  For you to understand my pride let me detail my past performances.

The first race started out beautiful.  It was a sunny and warm day in January!  But then it started pouring.  I was not trained well because of my fall/winter slack off and I was pretty disappointed in my time.  I also had to walk at some points.  It's a hilly course and there is a pretty big hill right at the end of the 4 mile course.

There are the stats from January.  Don't get me wrong, I lapped everyone on the couch that morning, but that was a pretty slow pace for me, or it would have been last fall.  I was completely out of gas.

So I trained for the following month being much more aware of adding hills to my treadmill runs.  Also I just naturally ran more as our marathon training began.

I was much better prepared for the race 4 weeks later in February.  I knew the course and was ready to shave some time off.  I was so greatly relieved that my training paid off and I shaved 5 minutes off my time!

Hooray!  A 10:30 pace is much closer to my speed.  

For the last month I have been further preparing for this last race in the series.  Last night I wondered to myself if I could go faster. Should I try to go faster?  My mid-week long run I had to dramatically slow down and keep the incline at or below 1.5% because the back of my left knee was quite painful.  A hamstring issue.  Last night at Zumba I stretched my legs really well before and after class and this morning my knee felt pretty good.  I decided to go for it.  To push as hard as I currently can. 

The weather was perfect this morning for a winter run.  Very light small snowflakes, about 30 degrees, and overcast. The only unfortunate thing was that we ran into the wind on the way back this time.  It made the last 2 miles tough.  I'm also pretty convinced that there are more downhills on the way out.  My thighs were screaming on the last very long hill. I felt my body sugars completely drain.  My legs and whole body were quite shaky.  I kept the faith.  I kept my form.  I kept breathing and slowly the depletion went away and I just kept chugging along.  And you know what?  I ran under 10 minute miles! Yippee!  For me this is great.  So I shaved 2 more minutes off my time!  And my knee feels pretty good :)

Rock on running.  I'm ready to meet your challenge of many more miles.  Show me where the road leads...

And please, bring me some Spring?

February in Review. Time flies when you are busy!

February is always a very busy month for our family.  Tom and I started dating 14 years ago on the 12th, then there is Valentine's Day on the 14th, my father's 80th birthday was on the 16th and then Tom's birthday was on the 20th!  Phew!

The last week of February was spent taking care of our two children.  They were both very sick.  Thankfully they were not sick at the same time.  Our oldest was sick first and started to feel better after a few days, then the baby started to get sick and man, oh man, was he sick.  I didn't herald the exact end of my running month because the days slipped together in a sleep-deprived fog created by a cranky, feverish, and not sleeping toddler (I think he literally slept 3 hours in a two day span).  Finally, days later his fever subsided and he started sleeping again.  He's still recovering, but I'm sleeping back in my own bed and not on the extra twin bed in the boys room! Yay, small victories!

So back to running.  Even when little Darren was very sick I only missed 1 run, a 3 mile mid-week run.  Lately my running week has looked like this:

Monday: Resting (if my long run was on Sunday from the week before.  If the long run got pushed to Monday then this was the long run.  We're up to 10 miles now.  My last long run was 7; a step-back week).

Tuesday: Shorter mid-week run.  Right now these runs are 3 miles for Tuesdays.  If I'm behind this run is on Wednesday after Zumba class.

Wednesday: Mid-week long run.  These have gotten up to 6 miles. I do Zumba on Wednesday, so I run after class at night.  It's pretty brutal.

Thursday: Shorter mid-week run.  These are also 3 miles.

Friday: Rest.  Sometimes I do Zumba on Friday night.  It just depends on what our weekend plans are.  I like to do Zumba twice a week, so I pick between Friday night and Saturday morning.

Saturday: This is supposed to be the long run day, but I usually do long runs on Sunday.  Sometimes I do Zumba in the morning, but this usually ends up a rest day.

Sunday:  Long run day.  Coming up this weekend is 12 miles... I'm really not excited about it.  I'm starting to get nervous about the long runs.  Pretty soon I will run farther than I have ever run before!


February Goals? Met!
I completed a race (goal of 1 race/month), the 4 mile Frozen Foote and I ran 61 miles this month (goal of 40/moth)!  Yay me!  I missed two runs, one at the beginning of the month when I was sick, and then one I missed at the end of the month when Darren was really sick.  Not too shabby.

I'm finally ready for March!  And there are only 24 days of it left.  I'm so ready for milder weather and for the snow to melt.  For now I'll stay the course and keep putting one foot in front of the other whenever possible.

Happy reading everyone and have a great weekend!