half marathon ... check !

formerly called am I ?)(king crazy... (the answer to that question is 'of course', by the way...)

several days ago, Rick was seriously questioning whether or not he would be able to finish the full White Rock without severly injuring his ankle... he asked me if I wanted to do the half, I said if he wasn't going to do the full, I may TRY the half (no training since September - longest distance was 8 miles). he was kinda wishy-washy about it, so I just said FINE, I'll do the half... **that night**, I got charlie horses in my legs... and the night after as well... and my toenail looked 'off' and felt weird..

so I swore Rick to secrecy.... if I was going to fail miserably, I didn't want the world to know... only person I told was my twin and that was just last night. she's completed a marathon & half before so she was very helpful on the tips...

we stayed at a hotel to be close to the race, J slept in our room and was up - a lot!! sleep for me was sporatic at best...

we left for the parking lot a tad after 5am, getting to what turned out to be the perfect spot... a little sleeping and (too) little eating*... i just was not hungry... had 1/2 piece of marble loaf and a few sips of chocolate milk... tummy was already in gastro distress due to nerves and I didn't want to push things... immodium can only help *so* much... plus, the lines inside the AAC were crazy for the bathroom and this tooshie doesn't touch porto-lets if I can help it!!

I was in wave 'E' aka the slow people's heat... there were people my size, bigger, older, younger... a good mix! there were even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!! and a guy who ran TWENTY-TWO half/marathons since February 2009! CRAZY!!

it took about 12 minutes to get to the actual start line, no fighter jets this year but confetti was apparently on clearance... lots of it falling..

speaking of falling (sorry, couldn't resist), there was this woman who did fall right at the start line. she was ok and got up right away.. I only mention this cause that is SO!! me.

mile 1 was thru downtown Dallas and way too hilly for my liking... it was funny to see all the bopping heads go up the hill...

the rest of the miles were primarily thru residential neighborhoods... VERY nice houses, a lot of the residents were outside cheering us on... very nice!

one stretch that stands out is mile 7-8... it was basically a (VERY) long u-turn... each 'line' of the U was well over 3/4 mile... it was dreadful!

the last 5k was through the Katy Trail... the only good thing about that was I didn't have to worry about getting hit by a car... yes, although I was not last, I was on the (really) slow side and there were maybe 100 people behind me, so they were opening streets to cars every once in awhile... although I did tell a cop about mile 8-9 to just let a car hit me so it'd be over ...

the bad thing about the Katy Trail is the lack of race support ... what would happen if I really couldn't make it? tripped, whatever?? and the fact that towards the end they had benches... very very bad thing... I'll admit I did sit to stretch for about 25 seconds about the 12 mile marker...

i came * * this close to quitting a couple times ... not only because of my blisters (which were fully formed and completely throbbing by mile 4)... but since i hadnt eaten much i was dizzy (dizzier than normal) for many of the early miles...

i finally forced myself to eat a shot blok every 2/3 - 1 mile after that and that seemed to help a bit...

all in all, a crappy race simply due to the fact that I was not adequately trained and was SLOW (!!!!!)... I was so slow I did not get a finisher's shirt... they will supposedly mail me one... I missed the race set time cutoff by less than 5 minutes, but I missed it none the less... so what do i have to show for my efforts, achy body... entire body... from shoulders to tips of my toes, extreme fatigue and an amazing finisher's medal.

if i didnt have the STUNNINGLY AMAZING support from Rick & Karri via text messaging, i wouldnt have finished.

IF I choose to do more long distance racing, I WILL properly train...

ok ok ok ... :P

so i was told i need to post more often... i will really try to do that ... i really will, but no promises.

you can follow me on facebook (under my real name is most active) or twitter.com/losingjusme   right now, i'm better with short little bursts of stuff ... i also have a running blog as i've signed up for 2 half marathons and a full marathon... my first half is in AUGUST... eeeeeek!!!  the full is in December and 2nd half is March 2010.

so that means i am getting my ass back to the gym on a regular basis, i am filled to about 6 or 6.5 ccs in my band (going every other week for fills cause my doc is great!!), i think i have good restriction right now... i did get a small piece of pork chop stuck tonight ... it didnt cause sliming, etc, but it just wouldnt go down... so i took a gulp of crystal light and up it came... now i dont recommend doing this all the time, but if you're stuck ONCE IN AWHILE, i see no problem doing it... i will be on liquids my next 2 meals because of it...

my new running / training blog is   http://christinesrunning.blogspot.com   i will try to update both as much as possible... :)

omg ... must.eat.carbs.....

apparently those 6 miles took everything and more outof me.

i did have a bowl of cereal when i got home but i was WIPED OUT... i literally couldnt get off the couch. slept for well over an hour.. it took all the energy i had to heat up some tortellini we had last night.

felling much better now and i surprisingly didnt scarf them down and no PB ... YAY!!!!

now i can actually get some stuff done.

05June08 - LONG distance day

DAMN it was long and i was so freaking slow. SOOOO freaking slow. yes, the long distance is supposed to be about 20% slower than your average, but at times, it felt like i was crawling. about mile 4-5 my feet were really getting sore... and i was just thinking oh damn, i will need to do this at least FOUR MORE TIMES in Chicago...

can i do it? fuck, i really dont know. i REALLY REALLY dont know. and i know i have about 18 more weeks of training, but fuck... i cannot imagine going even more than 10 miles. seriously.
blah...

04June08 training

scheduled for cross training today. 30 mins at the gym. working on my schedule now, it will more than likely be about the same as Saturday.

03June08 training

holy crap! awesomly amazingly wonderfully great run today...

i pushed myself - HARD... i have to admit i havent been running much. more of a fast walk. well today i decided to just suck it up and do it. so i walked ... and walked a little more (averaging about 4-ish MPH) then i ran a block... (averaging about 6-ish MPH)... then walked for a little more then ran. but this time instead of running 1 block, i ran 2 blocks ... i did this a few times and it felt great.

i then did my normal sprint from the corner of my street to my house and i freaking BOOKED it... i ran faster than i've ever gone before ... and Garmin registered TEN !!!!! MPH... holy freaking shit!

so, yeah.... it was an amazing run.

things i did differently:
wore new socks... they are really nice and i cannot remember the name of them for the life of me ... soft .. sof something ... they are extremely snug and fit like a second skin.

tied my shoes tighter... MUCH tighter. i went to Luke's (running store) Sunday and they said that may be the reason i lost my toenail. the shoe needs to be tight enough to where you cannot kick them off at the end of the run (i'm SOOO guilty of that)

wore a running skirt... yes, a skirt. it was weird at first, but after 5-10 minutes it felt good... i do however, need to get some body glide. chub rub of the thighs... **eye roll**

i did set a new pace goal for the next 30 days. last goal was 5 runs with a pace of 14:58 / minute or faster. this new goal is 5 runs with a pace of 14:49 / minute. this will be very very tough for me as i am not fast at all. but i will push myself to do it.

thats just f'ed up...

ok ... so on August 24th, i am scheduled to go 16 miles.... my DH is currently looking to run a half ..

look what he found ...

http://hottesthalf.com/

crazy?? .. yup...
thinking about doing it? ... yup...

01June08 - training day 6

mixed feelings about this one. Garmin was pretty inconsistent. i'd be going the same pace and it would range from 15:12 min mile all the way up to 24:xx min mile!!! very frustrating. but, i cant blame it all on Garmin. i was really tired physically and my glutes were really sore. the first 2.5 miles just seemed to crawl. thankfully the last half went quicker...

i am beginning to get to know our neighborhood really well!! ;)

31May08 - training day 5

ok, so it was SUPPOSED to be a cross train day, but i wanted to 'seal the deal' in the challenge with my DH ... i wanted to win DAMMIT!!!!

sooo, i did a short run - on the treadmill a ... 2 years ago, walking a mile would have had me heaving ... today, i ran a mile ... ;)

also kicked ass in the cross training -
3 sets each
ball fly 15 reps
ball s press 15 reps
ball curl 12 reps
ball crunch 15 reps
plank 20-26 secs 3 reps
3rd set only 2 reps - i was beat
leg extension 12 reps 52 lbs
3rd time 15 reps 61 lbs
leg curl 15 reps 52 lbs
3rd time 61 lbs
hip abductor 15 reps 75 lbs
3rd time 15 reps 85 lbs
leg press 61 lbs 15 reps both legs
52 lbs 12 reps ea leg
2nd time 69 lbs both 61 lbs each (same reps)
3rd time 20 reps both 12 each (same weight as 2nd time)

so yeah, i kicked some major ass!!

30May08 - training day 4

MUCH better today ... it was about 74 degrees out and a nice breeze ... of course, it was about 5am... Garmin said my fastest was 7.1 MPH!!! OMG.

29May08 - fuel

my food and calories burned.

breakfast was kinda high in cals, but i was seriously not hungry until 1030... normally i need to 'snack' about 900.... hmmmmm

29May08 - training day 3

hotter than hades out tonight ... so exhausted, had a shitty pace, but i made it the 40 minutes.

its f'ing hot...

see ????? 90 frickin degrees...

thats what i get for staying in bed this morning...

the map of today...

isnt this just the coolest?? here is my run this morning - even the side of the street i was on!!!

kewl!

27May08 training - day 1

is 'turtle-esque' a word? cause that was me this morning ... S L O W...

but that's why im training.... stronger, faster... do it.

week 1 training Chicago

first week of training for Chicago, my long runs will be on Sundays

ok... day 1

up at 4:51, SO not wide awake, but here we go... 40 mins

sent from my iPhone ;)

goals...

thanks guys for posting your goals...

my immediate goal is to start training next week (Tuesday). here is my training schedule (long distances are on Sundays so that will be posted NEXT week.

ideally, i want to do all of these 100%. its not that difficult (about 40 mins a day), its just getting up and doing it...

18May08 training

i met up with TexasBecky and we walked this morning. it was great! she kept me on a great pace. averaged 15:00 even ... thats the fastest walk i've had post plastics. we sprinted twice and it was a great sprint ... the 45 mins flew by, i just wish i could have gone a full hour, but my DH wanted to get a run in before it got too hot.

update on my toe - nail is hanging on by almost literally a thread ... ewwwww.

17May08 training

not a bad one at all. not great, but definitely not bad.

towards the end, i tried a new technique - short stepping... basically take short steps instead of long strides. see on the Nike+ where things go UP for a bit, i was short stepping it there ... below is more info on short steps. my pace was significantly faster i was short stepping. next time i will do the entire time out with short steps and see how it goes.





Training tip: Take Baby steps and be sure to count them.
Lisa's tip of the day----COUNT YOUR STEPS!!! I did not believe my coach last year--didn't believe him this year...UNTIL this morning.

Walkers should be at 70 steps per minute (per foot) and runners at 90 steps per minute (per foot). You accomplish this by taking SHORTER steps....not more longer ones. It will feel foolish--I felt like a Looney tune on steroids trying to shuffle along....though I have been affirmed that I looked just fabulous (but of course!). I got to 90....I went from a 13:42 pace 2 weeks ago to a 12:55 pace today and that is with 3:1 intervals. Now some of that is the fact we didn't run the bridge--but with the bridge I was at 4:1, so that is an impressive improvement.

Count your steps--and work on getting close to the 70 or 90 per your activity. If counting for a minute is hard, just count for 30 seconds (35 steps for walkers and 45 steps for runners).

Now here is why this is important:

With every step (at least for running)--you impact with 3x your body weight with each step. The longer the stride (and the less steps you take)--the more in the air you are between steps--and the more weight/stress you are place on your legs (ahem--KNEES!). Shortening the steps does a few things: It increases the turnover rate, gives you less time in the air, and it lessens the impact and reduces the risk of injury and strain to your knees and other parts of your leg.

And here's the best part--at least for me anyway....I was not running fast--but I felt like I was zipping along (though as a zippy turtle) and it did not feel fatiguing to me.

If you are several steps away from 90 (or 70)...make a goal in the workout to shorten the strides to increase the amount of steps you take. It may take one or two workouts--it may take several.....but you will eventually get to 90. As training progresses and as your walking or running regime continues on well past Disney....you will notice as you get stronger, that your strides will naturally get longer...(a clue is that your step counts start going above your goal....time to lengthen the stride a little bit). Your body will then be telling you it is ready to take bigger steps.

Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase BABY steps.

If you are a mortal--and want to get FASTER...the key is to step shorter--and not reaching as far as you can with your foot.

Happy Training!!!