Thursday

It's Thursday! The Runner's Lounger Take it and Run question for today is from JillWillRun:

It's the morning of your weekly long run... what do you eat and why?

I have struggled with this. I don't want something too big. It can't be time consuming to make. I almost always do my long runs in the morning and I wake up extra early to make sure I eat at least an hour before I run, preferably closer to two hours. It also can't include bananas. For some reason bananas don't sit well in my stomach if eaten before a run and I end up getting side stitches. 

My usual meal is a bowl of cereal (MultiGrain Cheerios are my favorite), a little milk, and some blueberries on top. This has worked well for me for some time now. If I'm on the road for a long run (or race) I will bring a bag of dry cereal so I don't have to worry about buying milk and keeping it cold. I don't like to eat a lot. My main reason I eat at all before a long run is to get my stomach moving and help me go to the bathroom. This is crucial for me or I will have a lot of pain during the run. 

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Last night I met a couple friends out at the Ridge for a 5 mile hilly run. It was a great night and a fun run. Our average 9:57 min/mile. It was challenging but felt good. 

Tonight was an easy 4 mile run with a friend I haven't seen all summer. We run the Cleveland Marathon together in May (first marathon for both of us) and then she went away for the summer so it was nice to catch up. We had plenty to talk about and it made the 4 miles zoom by.

Feeling strong

I have had a really good weekend of running. Yesterday morning I went for a run at Chestnut Ridge Park with some friends. We go there because there are a lot of hills and it's a great workout. We had planned on doing anywhere between 9 and 12. I did 9.73 (according to the Garmin). And it was a great run. I don't usually run with these people so it was great to get to know them and they also run faster than me. So I pushed to stay with them and it felt great. I think I underestimate how hard I can push myself because I'm too scared I'll break and have to walk. 

Below is the elevation chart:

This really doesn't do the run justice. Usually my runs have ascents and descents of 600-700 feet. Yesterday's run had an ascent of 2140 feet and a descent of 2131 feet. That gives a little more indication of just how hilly it was. 

The great thing about running hills is how strong you feel afterwards.

Last night I was debating on running with my usual group this morning. We were only going to do 6 miles but I was thinking I'd be pretty sore from the hills. I stayed up way later than usual last night but woke up around 6am this morning and my legs felt great. I fooled around on the computer, got to watching the Women's Marathon Championships and kinda forgot to eat. I figured this was OK since if the run was during the week I wouldn't have eaten before it and it was only 6 miles. 

We went out for our run. I started out running with just one other girl and we kinda took off. We were chatting so I didn't even realize how fast we were going. When we stopped for water we joined another group and continued on, still running at a good pace. About halfway through the run I was just feeling so great and I felt like picking up the pace. I tried to stay with the group but I got into a zone and my body wanted to go faster. It felt great. I don't find rhythms like this very often. We wound up doing 7.15 and I stayed with the group until about a mile from the end when I knew I could and needed to go faster. So I went. My average pace was 9:06. Had it been half marathon day, I know I could have gotten under 2 hours. 

I'm feeling good now and I can't wait to go back out there and work on finding that rhythm for every (or at least most) runs. 

Take it and run Thursday

I've been wanting to participate in this for a while now. Today's question is from Marlene at Mission to a(nother) Marathon:

When did you know you had become a runner? Was there a defining moment, or was it a gradual progression over time?

Sometimes I still wonder if I should call myself a runner. For the first 22 years of my life I disliked running and stayed away from it as much as possible. I was in Color Guard in high school and during the seldom occasion when our coach would make us run I hated every minute of it. Even in college when I was going to the gym a lot and trying to lose weight I would stay away far away from the treadmill. 

Then in January of 2008 I decided to train for a half marathon. I highly doubted my ability to do it but losing weight by "working out" wasn't working for me. I needed a bigger goal to take my mind off of losing weight and onto something else. I surprised myself during me first run and ran farther than I thought I would though it still felt horrible. As the weeks and month went on I went farther, got faster, and actually started to like running. 

In May of 2008 I completed my first race, the Buffalo Half Marathon. I had such a good time and that night I immediately went online to find out when other races were nearby. The following week I was registered for three more half marathons. It was during this time when I realized that running had become a part of my life and that it wasn't going away anytime soon. That is when I really started to think of myself as a runner. But the other part of this, at least for me, is when someone else called me a runner.

Last fall I was in a running specialty store outside Philly with my mom. She was getting new shoes and I was tagging along. Neither of us had ever been to this store before. My mom was getting fitted by the owner who was very friendly. We were talking for a while and at one point she looked at me and asked me if I had run in high school. I said no and that I run now though. She said, yea you definitely look like a runner. I was surprised because I don't think I look like a runner at all but I was flattered and excited that someone else thought that.

In other news I did an easy 4 miler this morning. I was definitely feeling all the manual labor from yesterday so I took it easy. I am feeling good night and depending on how late I stay up with our company I will try to do a 6 mile tempo run in the morning.

On Saturday I am headed out to Chestnut Ridge Park with some running friends for a tough 12 miler. The hills out there are BRUTAL. I'll definitely have an elevation map of that run!

Summer is finally here...

...and I wish it would leave already. My running hasn't been so great lately. After having such a nice and mild summer here in Buffalo, we are now back to normal (or above normal) temperatures. I don't do well in heat, which is the main reason I decided not to train for a fall marathon. 

Sunday I did a long run with my running group. We did 9.5 miles at an average pace of 9:49 min/mile. It was a very hot and humid day so as much as we tried to run fast to get it over with we were too hot and tired. 

On Monday I had 5K coaching. It was equally as hot and the runners were feeling it. It was definitely a smaller group than usual but everyone that came out did a great job in the heat. I stayed in the back and wound up running a lot more than usual because they were more spread out. So I moved from one group to another to make sure everyone was doing alright. 

Tuesday I slept in. The air conditioning felt so nice :) I worked out a little when I got home but nothing crazy. 

This morning I got up right after 5am to head out for my run. I planned to do 6x800m (not 6x400m like last time). I got through 3 and knew I had been going slower than usual. I looked at the time and saw 6am. I needed to leave for work at 7am because my company was doing volunteer work with United Way today. I figured if I finished my run I would get home after 6:30 and barely have time to get ready and eat so I decided to make 4 my last interval and head home.

I thought about doing the last two intervals when I got home but after volunteering I decided I was good. We did work at a cemetery and it was a lot of hard upper body work; shoveling, raking, and some painting. We got back to work dirty and stinky. Thankfully, my boss let us go early so we could shower. 

Tomorrow I am planning an easy run and maybe finishing up those intervals. My boyfriend's good friend from Jersey is heading up to stay with us for the weekend so I need to get my workout done in the morning. 

I'll leave you with my interval paces from today:

8:50

9:04

8:57

8:41

Yea, those are more like half marathon pace. How am I ever going to finish in under 2 hours!?!

Less than productive week...

This week wasn't as productive on the running front as most. Let's just go through the days...

Monday: 5K Group Run was cancelled because we had Thunderstorm and Flood Warnings so I did about 50 minutes of Yoga. It felt really good. I needed that stretch after Sunday's long, hot run.

Tuesday: I did 5 miles, easy; with 3x(3x30m) sprints on flat ground. I measured the same way as when I did these 2 weeks ago: 3 house lengths. My times looked like this:

9.67 seconds

9.28

8.85

8.73

8.40

8.60

9.20

9.00

8.07

Not too consistent but not too horrible.

Wednesday: I woke up, mentally ready to run but my stomach was not having it. I was still so full from eating too much on Tuesday and I knew the run would be painful until I could go to the bathroom. I decided I would cross train instead. I did an hour of Jillian Michaels DVDs and really tried to push myself. Using heavier weights on moves that I normally would use lighter weights. It was, as always, a great workout. 

Thursday: Wed into Thurs I worked an overnight at work. I got home around 5am Thursday morning and slept until about noon. Then I did some work and more cross training. It was really hot outside and I wanted to hang out by the computer in case there were any issues at work I needed to deal with. I wound up doing an hour and a half of cardio and weights. 

Friday: My plan this morning was to try a 4-5 mile tempo run. As soon as I woke up I knew that wasn't going to happen. My legs are really feeling the workout yesterday, which feels great by the way (more on that in a bit). I started off at a pretty quick pace but my legs just couldn't keep up. I still wound up doing 5 miles at 9:43 pace. Not too bad. 

Back to the sore legs...I have to say I was happy when I woke up this morning and felt the soreness in my legs. I haven't been sore in a long time so it was nice to feel that my muscles had been challenged. I need to switch up my workouts and cross training more so that I can work muscles that don't usually. 

Plans for the weekend: Run or cross train tomorrow, I haven't decided yet. Long run on Sunday, 12 miles. And of course, it's supposed to be another hot and humid day. 

Have a great weekend!

End of Week Motivation

I read an article or blog post the other day (I read so much stuff online and tried unsuccessfully to find it) about motivation and tips to getting in your runs. The author talked about how the hardest part for most people is the beginning of the week and that it gets easier to fit in workouts as the week goes on. I noticed this past week that I feel the opposite. At the beginning of the week I go to bed early, wake up early, get in good runs/workouts, and feel great. As the week goes on I itch for the weekend and start slacking. Case in point, on Friday I slept in and didn't get up to do the 6 mile tempo run I had planned. I was asleep by 9:30pm on Thursday night but I woke up Friday and felt tired so I decided to sleep in and run after work. I even went in to work early so I could leave at 4pm and get in my run before the boyfriend got home.

4pm comes along and there is an emergency at work. I hang around til 4:15pm when they tell me I should leave but could I be on-call in case there are more issues. This means I need to be near my phone and computer. So much for running. I did find that Netflix had the harder version of the Jillian Michaels DVDs I do for Instant Viewing. So I did both of them (Front Side, Back Side) for an hour. At least it was something. The Friday before I took the day off and moved my hill workout to Saturday. This week I didn't think I should move the tempo run to Saturday because I was nervous I'd be so tired for my long run on Sunday. So Saturday I did a lot of walking and cleaning but no formal workout.

Boy was I glad that I took Saturday off! I got up early Sunday morning for my planned 9-10 miles with my running group. I haven't run with them in over a month so I was pretty excited to catch up with everyone. That was until I walked out the door and my first thought was "Ew". It was already 70 degrees with 90% humidity. It hasn't been this hot and muggy all year. I really feel for everyone living in the South. I couldn't do it.

The run sucked. It was hot and gross. It was cloudy and threatening to storm for the first half, then the clouds parted and the sun blazed down on us for the second half.

When we finally got back I looked at my watch and saw we did 9.37 miles at an average pace of 9:32 min/mile. What?!? 9:32? On a day like that? I saw that number and I was so excited. The run felt hard but I thought it was mostly because of the heat.

So that made me feel a bit better about Friday and Saturday. But still, anyone have tips for staying motivated toward the end of the week?

Fall Races!

I just registered for two more Half Marathons this fall bringing the total to three!

I finally registered for Toronto which is my goal race for PRing. I also registered for the Rochester Half Marathon. The friend I did Boilermaker with is doing this one. It'll be her first Half Marathon and I wanted to do it with her. There is not time in mind, just finishing. 

I am also registered for the Philly Distance Run (which happens to be the weekend after Rochester). I was originally going to run this with a friend from High School but she has had a busy summer and hasn't trained so I'm going to this one on my own. My plan is to trot along with my camera and just enjoy the race. I watched and cheered for friends/family last year and it looked like so much fun. I knew I had to do it. 

It's going to be a busy fall but I'm excited. The only race I'm really focusing on is Toronto. The others are just training runs with a whole bunch of other people. :)

I guess I shouldn't do math at 5:30am

Yesterday morning I went out to do 6x800m at about 5K pace. I got outside and set my watch to do 6 intervals with a warm-up and cool down. I set the interval distance to .25 miles (see my problem?) and off I went. After a nice warm-up I started the intervals and felt good. I kept thinking that this is going by way faster than I thought it would. Soon I was done the intervals and jogging home. 

Later, I'm sitting at work thinking about running and wondering what I have planned for the rest of the week when I realize I set my watch for .25 miles instead of .50 miles! I did 6x400m instead of 6x800m. Ugh! I don't know what made me think that .25 miles was about 800m. I'm going to chalk it up to the fact that it was 5:30 am and that I'm not thinking as clearly then. Now I know to set my watch the night before!

Either way, my 6x400m intervals went well. Here are my average paces for each:

1) 8:09

2) 8:32

3) 8:08

4) 7:58

5) 7:47

6) 7:49

I think that's pretty good. And sorta consistent.....

I was thinking about doing 6x800m when I got home last night or this morning but I thought that would be a little much. Today I am cross training. I already did an hour of Jillian Michaels' DVDs that kicked my butt and I'm planning on heading to the gym after work for some more cardio. 

Tomorrow I have a 6 mile Tempo Run scheduled. I'm a little nervous but am definitely going to try my best.  

In other news this week I have gotten back into the habit of cooking dinner every day. I used to cook a lot but sorta fell out of the habit. Last weekend I planned all our meals for the week and have been holding to it. Monday was a healthier Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo. Tuesday was delicious Turkey Burgers. Last night was Apricot Glazed Chicken Thighs. And tonight will be Shrimp Stir-fry. 

I feel so much better when I eat right and am happy I've been sticking to it. The boyfriend and I were supposed to go away Saturday through Wednesday but due to his job we had to cancel it. At least I'll be able to stay on the cooking kick and not have to worry about getting my runs in. Though, I was looking forward to a little vacation and running in a different place. Oh well. 

Sunday Long Run

Good Morning. I didn't get a chance to write about my long run last night so here goes...

Sunday morning I woke up around 6:30 to eat and head out for the run. I was supposed to do a 20K (12.4 miles) increasing my pace every 5K. I decided to do 2 10K loops around my house so I could come back and get some water. I also brought Jelly Belly Sport Beans with me and had some every 5K. This is the first time I ever used these. I have had them sitting around for a while and figured I'd give them a try. I usually use Clif Shot Bloks or Luna Moons.

So I headed out for my run around 7:30 and felt pretty good. It started raining a bit but not too bad and I ran in a cemetery with lots of trees. The first 5K was just about the right pace as was the second 5K. I got home and drank some water (I forgot to buy more Gatorade) and headed back out. I did the next 10K on a somewhat different route so I didn't have to run in the cemetery again, I like it but there are a lot of rough hills and it can get lonely. It had also stopped raining which was nice. The third 5K was just a little bit slower than the pace I should have been at and the last 5K was where the third 5K should have been. My legs were tired and couldn't go anymore. I figured since I haven't run 12 miles since before my marathon in May (Wow, really?), that it was OK that I not hit the pace exactly. 

I came home and drank some Chocolate Milk, made a Smoothie, and stretched for a while. 

This morning I'm not really sore. My abs and back are a little sore. I'm not sure if that's from running or if I slept weird. Tonight I have 5K Coaching and maybe a little upper body. We'll see.

Progression Run and Hills

I switched my Friday run to Saturday. I slept in Friday morning and just wanted to relax after work. So Saturday morning I woke up semi early and headed out for a run. I didn't quite wake up early enough cause it was pretty toasty.

I started with a 25 minute progression run. I have trouble with these type of runs. I generally increase my pace but I don't go as slow as I should in the beginning so the increase is only a little. I also did 3 sets of 300m, 200m, and 100m hill repeats. The distances were definitely not exact. I went to a hill in a park near me. It was the only hill I could think or that was bug enough for 300m. So I ran up the whole hill for 300m and then estimated 200m and 100m. I kept it consistent for all 3 sets. I didn't set my watch for the repeats so it's hard to tell how long they each took me but I'm thinking they were pretty slow. 

After the hill repeats I jogged home. All-in-all I ran 6.5 miles in 1:03:36. 

This morning I did a 20K run but I'll write about that a little later today. Time to go grocery shopping!