Friendly advice

Friday night, my partner T and her little daughter A met up with Wells L, her partner C, and we got to meet their friend L for the first time. It was a lot of fun and VERY educational. I absolutely LOVED chit chatting with these girls about race experiences and listening to their advice.

As you know, T and I have the Fort 4 Fitness 1/2 marathon coming up in a few weeks...which is what we've been training for for the past 5 or so months. This will be our first mini. We'll be running a 10 mile race Saturday to get a feel for actually racing at that distance. We've trained at all distances up to 13 miles, so this run will truly be a practice test for what is to come in the near future.

Here is some pointers that the girls gave us:

Race day prep:

Figure out how you are going to start the race. (We usually start out running for 5K's, but on these long runs, we decided to just start the race out with our run interval as apposed to running with the group for as long as we can.)

When are you going to fuel?  We use Bloks when we fuel.  We discussed the intervals for fueling when on long distance races.  It was decided that mile 3,6,9, and 12 or 4,8, and 12 would be best and is what the girls have used.  Saturday, we will be fueling at miles 3,6, and 9. 

What is your interval?  This is something that changes often.  Due to the heat of the day, we decided to go for 1:05/2:45 run/walk intervals.

Much much much more information, tips, and questions were asked/given at our dinner with friends..but there is only so much room on my blog.  :)  All of it was taken to heart and discussed between my partner and I.

Saturday morning, 7:30AM, T and I will be kicking off our 10 mile Parlor City Trot run!!!  Rock on!!!

Ummmm...really?!

Wrote this post Friday and I'm just now posting....oops.


Soooo disappointed!  I went home after dinner with some awesome gals (more on that to follow) to lay out my outfit for the Parlor City Trot 10 mile I have tomorrow.  I have new knee high socks that I have not tried before...so now was a good time to start trying if I'm thinking of wearing some for F4F 1/2 marathon.  No one told me that big girls not only have to endure finding special shops for their specials sizes, funny looks when you buy the running clothing/apparel, no we also have to buy special SOCKS?!  I tried the socks on and my fabulous calves had them puppies stretched to the max....NICE.  :( 


I was disappointed that they didn't look like I wanted them to, so I started thinking of other options.  I could turn them into arm warmers....?


What would you do?  Wear them anyway?  Try to turn them into something else?  Accept the loss and throw them in the donation bin?

Anger is a motivator!!

Yesterday was in the top 10 for worst work days.  By the end of the day, I didn't want to talk to anyone..including my husband...not that he did anything wrong.  I was just so upset that I didn't want to speak....period.  I emailed my partner that I wasn't going to be much of a social bug and that I'd be running alone.  I called the hubs to let him know as well.  I went home and layed stuff out for dinner, got dressed, barely stretched (bad idea...feeling it now!) and hit the road RUNNING.  No interval beeper...just steady running.  It's amazing how much anger can push the body.  I knew I couldn't go too far because I had dinner to make, I was running on an empty stomach, and I was running out of water quickly.  I contemplated doing 3 miles, buy my water supply wasn't going to last.  I stopped mid-way and rested...letting my heart rate come down as to avoid it beating out of my chest.  I knew I was pushing myself in every way...probably too far too fast...but I was determined.  I ended up RUNNING 1.88 miles.  The furthest to date.  I know it doesn't sound like much to most of you out there...but that was SOMETHING for me.  My calves are aching today, but will recover. I can't say that I'm necessarily "proud" of my run considering the mood...I kinda feel like a child that threw a fit in the grocery store...rolling on the floor screaming because mom won't buy me my favorite kind of cereal.  I did the run for anger, not mileage...perhaps that's the difference. 
I must say, I felt better after the run.  I wouldn't say that I was less angry, but I was less something.  I talked to the hubs, trying to talk through the anger and frustration.  By the end of the night, I was still in a tissy...typical me...and so silly to be worked up over such stupid things that won't last forever...but it is what it is.  Now that yesterday is in the past, it's time to look forward to the future...


My partner and I are meeting up with Wells L and her partner "C" tonight to get some pointers for our BIG race at Fort 4 Fitness.  We also have the Parlor City Trot 10 Mile race in 2 days, so we'll be practicing our strategy then.  I'm excited to gain some wisdom from these girls.  They've been to many races at 1/2 marathon distances, which are much different from the 5K's that we've done. 


If you could give a new runner once piece of advice about running a race, what would it be?

Rain...

Ummm...is it wrong to pray that the rain will continue just so I can get out of running 5 miles tonight?  My husband and I moved furniture last night and my hip bone was screaming with pain at 3AM.  No idea what I did...moving furniture isn't exactly an ergonomically safe thing to do.  I took some Ibuprofen, which allowed me to get back to sleep approximately 2 minutes before my alarm went off.  I feel like a zombie walking around the office this morning.  Uggg.

Let's hope for a second wind!!!!

Did I mention that the Parlor City Trot 10 Mile is coming up this Saturday?!  Yeah.  Let's hope I'm more well rested and prepared for that one!!!

13 Miles Complete!!!

Sunday has come and gone, and so has our 13 miles!!!  So excited that we did it!!
We chose a rather slow interval, but we really enjoyed it.  We did a 1:05/3:00 which later we switched to 1:05/2:45 run/walk.  We weren't exactly happy with our time, but this was practice and we learned a lot.  Here is how it went:

Miles 1-4

Went FAST!!!  We talked the entire way.  We were high 5ing each other at how fast that long stretch of road past (our last run on that road seemed like an eternity to get through).  Love that we could pass areas where we had collapsed in pain on previous runs...and on this one...we just ran by pointing and saying "remember when?...or Remember that time?!"  We both felt great, everything was going good.

Just starting off...Mile 1.

Miles 5-7

VERY familiar trail for us.  It too flew by.  When we reached our potty/water station, we realized that we needed to step it up and move a little faster.  To make things more interesting, my "aunt flow" decided to visit me a week early (not surprised since I went off birth control recently).  My husband had to come to my rescue...poor guy.

 Half way done and still smiling!

Miles 8-10

Okay, now we were feeling the pain.  We were speed walking more and the talking had come to a halt.  I had my Iphone to listen to, so that helped.  It was starting to get dark by now and I was wondering if we shouldn't cut it short.  The last leg of our run was in the country meaning no city lights!  I didn't like the sound of that.  But we kept on going and the light was minimal, but enough for us to see our feet. 

Miles 11-13

There was light at the end of the road!  We made our last turn and the city lights could be seen...so glad because it was now pitch dark out.  We started pushing through the pain and ran through intervals.  How freakin' awesome is that?!  That tells me that our interval was a good one...since we could push through at the end with out extreme exhaustion and pain and run through intervals at the end!  Everyone wants to see a runner finish hard...not crawl across without an once of energy remaining.  When we ended our run, getting to the car was a chore!  The stiffness and pain was kicking in now that we had stoped moving.

Look how well my partner sticks out in that bright yellow shirt!

I went home and stretched on the living room floor.  Moving was so painful!  I literally crawled up the stairs to take a shower.  After the hot shower, I was feeling better.  I poped 2 Tylenol PM pills and crawled into bed.  As expected, I had a little trouble sleeping.  But, this morning, I feel great.  Yes, you bet I'm walking funny and there is still some minor pain, but I was shocked at how good I feel.

We can now say that we have done the distance of a half marathon!  How freakin' cool is that?!  I'm so proud of us.  We set out this year to accomplish something that seemed so far out of reach, and here we are...3 weeks away from completing our first 1/2 marathon!!!!!!  Where did the time go?!  We've noticed how much healthier we are, how simple a little jog down the road is now compared to when we first started.

Thanks for all of the good luck wishes.  We survived!

13 Mile Route

As stated in my previous blog, my partner T and I will be running our first 13 mile training route on Sunday.  I have mapped out exactly 13 miles in our home town. 

  I created this route using walkjogrun.net.  It's an awesome site.  Can you read the calorie count that we will burn down in the bottom right hand corner?!  1870 calories!!!  Sweet!!!  That's not the pace we'll be going, so it's hard to know for sure just how many calories we will ACTUALLY burn, but to be anywhere near that ball park is pretty impressive!  We'll be sure to carb up that day.  I'm starting to feel excited about it.  We've trained on all of these roads before.  We have potty and water stations planned out and emergency contacts in place should we need some "emergency" water or potty breaks...or get attacked by a random dog. lol  It's happened before.

Here's my biggest problem, and I'd like to see if any one else out there has the same issue.  After a long run or a "fast" run, I'll get back home around 8 or 9 and I will NOT be able to sleep.  I might be extremely exhausted...but my body is still on adrenaline or something and I end up tossing and turning all night.  I seriously hope that that won't be the case Sunday night...or else people will have to steer clear of me at work!!!  I might just carry the coffee pot back to my desk with me Monday morning!!! lol

New Gear

So I found this adorable little running skort on ebay.  I got it in the mail yesterday and I was thrilled!!!  I have some new knee high socks that I'm going to pair with it. 

The pink leopard ones obviously match better, but that color of blue is my fav. so I just had to get them.  I haven't decided when I'm going to wear this.  I'm running 4 miles tomorrow morning, so I might try out my style then.  I'll be going solo this time.  I had my husband help his technologically inclined wife download music from my old computer from college to my ipod.  The music is definitely a help when solo....I'm learning to like it.  I must have a partner, but a solo run is always good to clear the head every once in a while.

Sunday, my partner and I will be setting out to do our first 13 mile run.  Ugg.  I sorta have a bad taste in my mouth about those distances.  Our 11 and 12 mile runs weren't great..in fact...they sucked.  I know that we CAN go the distance, but my poor partner will have to listen to me complain about my aches and pains for the first half.  Eventually, I will get sick of hearing myself and just shut up.....it's our routine sadly enough. 

I really want to try to mentally prep myself for this.  I'm hoping my partner and I can work out a "rough draft" of a plan.  These 13 mile runs are good practice for how our 1/2 is going to go.  I'm going to work on mapping out a route today.  I hear that the weather is supposed to be cooler....well...cooler than the freakin' 90's we've been so used to.

It was suggested to me that I start listening to books on tape (or however you do it...ipod...CD...I don't know).  I love to read and running has really cut in to it.  I think I could go longer distances getting caught up in a good story.  Do any of you listen to books when running???