Power of One – Week 4

Mmmm. This past week?  Is that what we’re talking about?  Well, it hasn’t been all that I was hoping it to be.

Friday I did take that class offered by a local Physical Therapy place. It’s called CoreAlign.  The idea is to strengthen your core and that will make you stronger in other areas of your exercise life.  It was a good workout, but I didn’t sweat.  I felt my leg muscles being used (which they loved).  And I felt my upper back and arms (which were mildly sore on Saturday).  It was fun and interesting to find out where my weak spots were.

Saturday I went out for a short run of 3.1 outside, which was really my first run since Disney.  I wanted to see how everything felt.  For the most part my muscles felt tired, but I’m attributing that to the fact that they hadn’t been used for running in almost 2 weeks.  It’s amazing what a little break does to your stamina!

And I did end up starting 100 miles in 100 days – only to realize that I *need* new running shoes.  I had been walking my daily mile on the treadmill but I totally forgot about it on Sunday.  That’s what happens when you’ve been going warp speed for 6 months and you have a day where you don’t *have* to do anything.  So Monday I put on my running shoes and decided I’d get two quick miles in on the treadmill.  And then the edge of my right foot cramped up…with every step it hurt.  And it hurt through most of yesterday.  I’ve decided that I’m going back to my Vibrams for now for everyday life.  My stride while wearing my VFF’s is the only time my foot doesn’t feel ouchy.  I’m hoping to be able to find a good pair of shoes on Sunday when I’m up by the Nike outlet that don’t cost an arm and a leg – because right now I don’t have that to give.

So I feel like I’m in limbo right now.  This is the first time in a long time that I haven’t been getting a good cardio workout done 3 days a week.  It makes me sad.  But at the same time I know that I’m supposed to begin training for my half in May in the next week and a half and I’d really like to not be hurting when I start training again.

My plan for the week.  Get on the treadmill and get my mile in every day.  I need to move.  Get on the Wii and do a workout with EASports twice.  Drink more water (I’ve been slacking here and drinking more coffee because work has been crazy.)  Eat decently.  I’ve been eating good foods, but not enough.  My pendulum swung all the way to the other side from my eating during training – and that’s not good for anyone in my house.

I’m hoping I feel better mentally by this time next week with some good, pain-free miles under my belt.

 

Power of One Check-In – week 3

This past week was one most of resting up and enjoying my down town of not running a bazillion miles.  Although Saturday morning was beautiful and sunny and I thought, “what a great day for a run!”  But I didn’t.  I respected my week of rest and by Thursday I was feeling no lingering pain from running the marathon.  (Btw, I *love* saying that!)

On Monday it was an unseasonably warm January day and since it was a holiday, so we went on a hike as a family.  We have great trails literally a one-minute drive from our front door.  The girls did great.  I wore my Five Fingers so I was actually slower than them on the partially rocky trail.  I actually did jog in places where it was all dirt or sandy.  And it felt good!

Before we left for the hike, though, I got on the Wii and did a 25-minute workout on EASports Active 2 (? I can never remember which version I have.)  So my legs were already a little tired going into the hike.

One thing I realized that surprised me was that I was used to eating a certain amount of food trying to keep up with my exertion.  I’d serve myself a plate of food at meal time and have trouble finishing it.  And I snacked A LOT through training and have found that I’m looking to snack when I’m not hungry.  So carrots are my friend lately.  (Along with the box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts that no longer exist.)

So this next week?  My plan is pretty loose at this point.  I’d like to get on the treadmill mill a couple times for 3 miles or so.  Definitely get on the Wii – because my muscles are a little sore from doing it Monday.  I still need to call and set up my Christmas present of two appointments for core physical therapy.  Maybe I’ll make that call today.

I am excited though because Beki is planning on coming to visit in May and we are going to run a half marathon in May.  So my training for that officially begins in February.

I’m still debating on joining April for her 100 miles in 100 days.  I know I *should* do it…just because, but I’m debating because it could become more of a PITA of being one more thing on my to-do list everyday.  But I’m still thinking about it.  I will make my decision before my tomorrow start-date is over.

I’m hoping you had a good week of making progress towards *your* goals.

 

Goals. We all need goals.

**Update: I need a mileage goal for the year.  Last year I hit 883.  I won’t be training for a marathon (probably) but I’d like to hit 800 again this year.  If I end up being crazy again, so be it.  Maybe one year I’ll aim for 1000 miles.***

I’m not sure I’ve ever participated in one of The Sisterhood’s projects.  Don’t be hating, okay?  I didn’t need to sort through my pantry.  I didn’t really want to dream big with the letters to myself.  And this year is no different, but I feel like playing along with setting goals for this year.

My problem right now sitting here staring at the computer is I’m not sure how many races I can plan.  T works for the state of Nevada.  In case you haven’t heard, Nevada is trying to keep up with California in the “our economy sucks worse than yours” race and doing a pretty damn good job at keeping up.  So race fees? Well, forking over $100 a pop for half marathons is a little steep.  And I’m not sure I can justify paying $30 for 5k’s – even though I’d love to get out there and do them.  There’s actually a 5k series that runs from April through September that I’d be thrilled to do.  I think it sounds like fun…but the overall cost is $200.  At this point? That’s not happening.

And then mix in the fact that there may be some huge life-changing things happening this year, I don’t feel like I can commit to races.  So my goals can’t be race specific.

I’d like to run a sub 25-minute 5K.  I think with good training and speed work I can accomplish this.  Even if it only happens on my treadmill at home.

I’d still love to run a sub 2-hour half marathon.  If the life-changing thing doesn’t happen I’m planning on running the Nike Women’s half marathon again this coming October.  I’d also like to run with The Sisterhood in San Diego – not because I want to run in San Diego again (because that race sucked for me), but I want to run with my girls again.  Count in me working insane hours to get my ass to Fitbloggin in May for the 5k and maybe a couple of other 5k’s locally.

T and I have decided we want to get the girls involved in running.  Even if it’s not a lot, I’d love to be able to sign them up for the kids 1-mile fun runs and have them enjoy it.  If we make it to San Diego I think it would be awesome to have them do the Kid Rock 1-mile run.  That way they can really see what I love about racing.

In regards to money? I’d like to keep our head above water.  I’d like to work my fingers to the bone in order to take some of the pressure off of T.  He works really hard and I wuss out some evenings.  I can’t do that this year.  Granted, if the life-changing thing happens, then I probably won’t work at all, but the situation will lend itself to paying off bills fairly quickly.

So, did I make any actual concrete goals?  Yeah, not so much.  But I will keep running.  I will keep eating relatively healthy.  I will keep training – even if they are only races in my head.  For now, that will have to do.

 

Power of One – Check In

This past week has been awesome.  How could I top the week of the Disney World Marathon?  Where I got to spend the weekend with Brooke, Audrey, and ChristieO?  It seriously rawked.

Because of my taper the only actual exercise I’ve gotten between last Wednesday and today was the marathon on Sunday.  Unless you count the 8 hours T and I wandered around Epcot on Monday.  But we ate bratwurst in Germany and drank wine in Germany, Italy, and France.  I also ate a ton of crappy food on the plane yesterday and drank Coke.  But whatever.  I effin’ ran 26.2 miles!  Ha! I never thought I’d say that.  And I’d never thought that I’d be looking at when I want to do my next one.  I also enjoyed wings and margaritas on Sunday night and a big bacon cheeseburger for lunch on Sunday.

So, this week? I’m going to call it awesome.  I’m looking forward to this week being a mellow one in the realm of exercise.  My schedule is packed and I don’t really have time to do anything.  So I’m not gonna.  Saturday or Sunday I’ll probably fire up the Wii.

Here’s to getting back to eating healthy so my body doesn’t revolt.

 

The Disney Marathon – race recap

Holy schmoly! Where do I even begin? This weekend has been a whirlwind of excitement.  From our luggage not making it to Orlando with us, but thankfully showing up Saturday afternoon.  Getting to meet Brooke and Audrey and see ChristieO again has been fabulous.  Despite our cozy quarters in the hotel room, Brooke, her husband, T and I seem to be getting along quite nicely.  Well aside from the couple on the floor above us having a little too much “fun” (if you know what I mean) while we were trying to fall asleep last night.

So, on to the race.  It was a bit nippy this morning as we headed out.  Cooler than I expecting, but I knew it was supposed to warm up, so I dressed lightly in shorts, a running tank w/a tech tee over it, my running sleeves, and a hat with a my new 26.2 Disney BondiBand.  Disney really had their stuff together.  ChristieO had heard some people had trouble getting on the buses to the start line for the half marathon because the lines were so long, so we planned to meet at 3:15 in the hotel lobby.  The buses were running between 3 and 4 a.m.  And if you remember 3 a.m. EST is midnight for me.

The bag check area was easy to find.  We all had time to visit the port-a-potties on more than one occasion.  ChristieO and her tri-buddy, Nicole wore pink tutus and pink fairy wings.  They were pretty cute together.  Once we got to the corrals my fingers were numb and my teeth were chattering.  Like I said, it was a bit nippy.  I was impressed with Disney’s wave starts.  After San Diego, I’ve been leery of wave starts.  Granted there were only 17,000 people here and 30,000 in San Diego, but it moved so quickly.  T and I crossed the start line together at about 10 minutes after the gun first went off.  There were fireworks with the gun and then with each subsequent wave.  That was pretty cool.

In the beginning I kept reminding myself that this truly was a marathon and to just take it easy so I didn’t wear myself out.  I did *not* want to hit the wall.  My hip was amazing.  No pain or twinges at all.  The ankle? Well, it held up.  One of the highlights of the race was the aid stations.  They had huge containers with pumps of BioFreeze.  I made it a point to stop at every aid station and rub BioFreeze on my ankle.  As the race went on, I started rubbing it on my knees, and at the last aid station around mile 23, I just rubbed it all over my legs.  The funny thing is that in the beginning of the race when my fingers were so cold, I couldn’t figure why they weren’t warming up.  *smacks head* Uhm, duh, BioFreeze all over them.  Obviously my brain was preoccupied.

I *loved*, absolutely *loved* running through the parks.  The in between times on the highways and back roads of Disney was a bit slow.  The volunteers were fabulous.  There was always someone there cheering you on.  Our names were printed on our bibs, so I had a ton of “Great job, Kristen!”, but I didn’t care.  Someone was making an effort.  I made a point to stop at various places along the course to have my picture taken with some of the characters.  I can’t name them all now, but I know I met Sleeping Beauty, Chip & Dale, King Louie and Balou, Rafiki, Jasmine, Rapunzal & her beau.  I refused to stop for more than 4 people in a line.  I didn’t want to lose that much momentum.

There points in the race where had I been running at home alone or on my treadmill, I would have just called it quits.  There was no way I was doing that today.  But I remember hitting mile 16 and thinking, wow, only 10 more miles. That’s funny right?  Because I thought it was funny.  Then I hit 18 and remember thinking that I was more tired at the end of this 18 than I was at the end of my two 18-mile training runs, but that might have something to do with the lack of sleep.  Anyway.  When I hit mile 20 I took a picture of myself with the sign behind me.  This was a milestone.  I had never really gone more than 20 miles.  I was headed into unchartered territory.  The next two miles were good though.  By the time I hit mile 23 I told myself that I had a 5k left.  That was it.  Just a measly 5k.  Easy peasy.  Yeah, not so much.  That 5k felt like the longest 3 miles I have ever run.  At this point I was chanting in my head “right foot left foot right foot left foot” and remembering to stay in form and not slap my shoes on the ground out of exhaustion.  I knew I’d hurt myself if I didn’t pay attention to my stride.  Because I was so focused on my stride, I was sure I had to be getting close to mile 25.  But nope, there up ahead was the mile 24 marker.  Ugh! And then I did it again.  I was *positive* I had missed the mile 25 sign and I had to be getting close.  But nope, look up there! Mile 25.  It didn’t help that a ton of people along the course kept saying “you’re almost there! You’re so close!”  It seemed like I would just keep running forever and never hit the finish line.  But finally (phew) I saw looked up and saw the finish line.  I had just enough gumption to sprint, as only one can sprint after running 26 miles for the first time, but sprint nonetheless the last 100 m or so.  And then I prompted began crying.  And not the pretty tears streaming down your face, but full on sobbing.  I couldn’t believe I had actually accomplished this.  I mean I knew I would, but those last three miles were soooo hard.

After I collected my space blanket and my medal, I picked up all my snacks.  Hey race coordinators! Take a note from the Nike Women’s Marathon.  Provide bags at the finish line.  I took all the snacks they had which included: a soda, bottle of water, orange, muffin, Lara bar, and Powerade.  Have you tried carrying all of those things while trying to manage a space blanket in the wind? It’s tough.  So just get someone to donate in the future m’kay?

I met up with T and ChristieO’s friend and we waited for Brooke and ChristieO to finish.  It took me probably 30 minutes to not feel like sobbing.  This was such an emotional experience for me.  The training was so hard and long.  The culmination of knowing I had completed this race and had my friends here with me was amazing.  I can’t even describe it.

Race Results: Time 4:48:27

Overall: 5790 out of 13,522

Age Group (30-34) 1961 out of 6267

Brooke, ChristieO and I pre race.

Some of my biggest supporters were on my wrist.

The fireworks after the gun went off.

The picture I took at the mile Karena said she wanted me to earmark as “hers”.

Mile 20.  Entered unchartered territory.

The medal!!

T and I with our medals

Me, ChristieO, and Brooke with our medals

WE ARE MARATHONERS!!!

 

The Road to Disney

I’m currently sitting in the airport waiting for our plane to take us to Phoenix where we will hop on another flight which will take us to Orlando. Where the Disney Magical Express will take us on the literal road to Disney.

The figurative road leaves me verklempt today. ChristieO and I started this training early. If I remember correctly it was July when we got our training schedules from Coach Joe. July 2010 seems so long ago. There have been tears and pain along with some elation at crossing new lines – can you say 20-mike runs? One of them on the treadmill?

I am beyond excited to get to Orlando and meet Brooke and Audrey and start our long-awaited fun together. But I’m sad too. This weekend is going to fly by. And then instead of anticipation I will have amazing memories. It’s going to be like post-Christmas letdown only worse!

But I wouldn’t miss it for the world!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

 

Testing

Testing out blogging from my phone for this weekend. I may actually not take my laptop with me to Disney!

And if anyone wants to donate to the awesome pictures of Kirsten running her first marathon to include pictures with Disney characters, I’d be happy to take your $80. Just leave me a comment!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

 

Power of One – Checking In

How can we be a week into this challenge already? Which means that I’m that much closer to Disney.  Yikes!

This past week has been good overall.  Yes, there was booze on New Year’s Eve.  Yes, there were chips and dip (one of them being an incredibly yummy chocolate chip cookie dough dip to be eaten with graham crackers!).  But, all things considering I’ve stayed on track for eating healthy.  I’m an overachiever, if you haven’t noticed, and during tapering for a race I don’t carb-load for one week, I do two!  :)   But not really.  I just keep eating the way I normally do with significantly fewer miles being expended.

I accomplished a 5-mile run on Thursday on the treadmill and then I was planning on running Saturday afternoon with Beki (she and her family came for NYE!), but we had a little surprise of a few inches of snow on the ground when we woke up to the new year.  So I ended up hitting the treadmill for my last “long” run of training of 8 miles.  My motivation has still be waning, which is, at this point, more annoying than anything else.  But yesterday I did my very last training run in prep for this *little* marathon (insert eye roll here).  And it was good.  4 miles of a tempo run.  Four.straight.miles.  I haven’t run 4 straight miles in I have no idea how long.  I have either been stopped by traffic lights or brokenness or my own mental exhaustion.  I probably would have wussed out and walked a bit, but I was cramming those four miles into a 50-minute time frame in which I had to pick up my youngest at preschool.  So, I did it. And it felt good.  I did not feel my hip at all.  I did start to feel the pull in my ankle, but it wasn’t painful.

So this week? This week is going to be full of not a whole lot.  I have packing to do…for myself and the kids – who are spending the weekend with my parents.  And then next week will be resting from running.

Oh! I did get EASports Active for Christmas and I tried it out last Thursday evening.  It was a good workout, though I only burned 110 calories in that 24 minutes.  With running I burn about 100 calories per mile.  But I need the strength aspect of it.  So that’s what I’m planning on working on next week.

I am most excited to get to see ChristieO again.  I’ve missed that little powerhouse!  And I get to meet Brooke and Audrey for the first time! Sooooo excited about that.  So here’s to the coming week in which I will complete my first full marathon!!