Is 20 Enough?

This week I am finishing my first, but unofficial week of marathon training.  Recap post to come.  I have decided to go with Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 program.  One reason I chose this program is because it has two 20 miles runs scheduled, and this year I am attempting to run two full marathon's a month apart from each other.

Yesterday on my "long" run of the week, 9 miles, I was running with the coordinator of our run club.  She also happens to be a level II USAT coach.  She is not coaching us in run club, she just coordinates the runs.  We started talking and my training plan came up.  The short story is, she believes that running only 20 miles is not enough for marathon training and thinks I should run more.  From all the reading and talking to other runners that I have done and I think 20 is enough.  Less risk of injury and you aren't running your race pace, so you are out there a little longer.

But her comments did get me thinking.  Should I try running more than 20 in these training runs.  I have a while to go before I am faced with this, but want to be prepared when the time comes.  I am hoping (knock on wood) that I am healthy for both of these races.  My first marathon I had tendinitis in my right knee and it started hurting 2 miles into the race.  My second one, I had bronchitis.  So my goal this time is to not just finish, but to have much better times.  I would like to run 4:15:00 this year, for at least one of the races.  Knee year I did a 5 hour(not to mention it was Austin, which is a very hilly place to be running with and injured knee), and bronchitis year I did a 4:40.

So I am asking you guys what you have done and think?  Is 20 miles enough?

Weaknesses

Overall I think having a healthy lifestyle means having strength.  Not necessarily physical strength, but the strength  to stay committed to what activity you are passionate about.  The strength to go to bed early, wake up early, skip social events, make the right nutrition decisions.  You get the picture.  And lately I have been letting my weaknesses overcome these strengths.  Lately I can't seem to pass up:

Ice cream

Wine

Candy

Sleeping in

Extra snacks when I don't need them and justify that they are healthy, ie almonds.

Pizza (though it is whole wheat crust)

I had no problem passing these things up before and can't figure out what is going on!!!

I gotta get out of this rut!  So what are your weaknesses?  How do you overcome them?

Weekend fun

So after my whinny post yesterday morning I am sticking with this blogging thing.  Sometimes you just need to whine, right?  Or maybe you just need to wine??

Anyway, on Facebook last night I posted what an amazing weekend we had.  A friend asked me why it was so amazing, and I realized that we really didn't do anything special.  It was just one of those weekend that flowed really well.

Saturday morning the alarm went off super early.  No matter how long I have been getting up early to run that first second of hearing the alarm that early is still shocking.  Anyway, we got up and went and ran.  I did 6 miles and felt pretty good.  I could have gone farther, but had committed to doing 6 with my friend Jenn. We followed that up with a nice little recovery swim.  The cold water feels so good after the hot weather, and isn't as miserable as an ice bath.  After the gym we headed to Starbucks for breakfast.  If you haven't tried their reduced fat turkey bacon breakfast sandwich I highly recommend them.  They are a great healthy option for a quick fast food breakfast.  At breakfast we ran into some friends from our Tri club who were finishing up a bike ride and chatted with them for a while.  We then headed back to the house to let the dogs out and chill for a bit.  Then it was off to the movie.  We saw 'Horrible Bosses' which was hilarious.  We laughed the entire movie.  I think this will be one of those movies that we watch over and over again and keep picking up on new funny things.  So go see it so we can all quote it on Twitter!  After the movie we grabbed a healthy lunch at Jason's Deli (and even passed on the free ice cream, which becomes relevant later in the day)  By the time we got home it was about 3:00.  We settled in on the couch, each with a pug to cuddle with, to watch TDF and promptly took a 2 1/2 hour nap.  It was once of those amazing naps where you feel awesome when you wake up.  We had a little dinner and then decided to end the day at Coldstone, which we did not resist.

Now when we were pulling up to the Coldstone we were behind a mini-van.  Most of you probably know how Jeff feels about mini vans, but if you don't you can learn here.  For the record, I feel the same way about them.  That is one reason Jeff and I knew we were right for each other!  Anyway, as we were pulling into the parking spot, Jeff said, we have to beat that mini-van group to the line, and busted out a "this is what we train for, go, go go!"  We jumped out of the car, and raced to the store, and we beat them!!  It was a good thing too, because it was a family with like a dozen kids.  Jeff and I high five'd each other at our "podium" and indulged.  It was so good, but I know I will pay for it on the scale this week.

Sunday Jeff did some crazy 100 mile bike ride, so I actually slept in.  Went to the gym, did some time on the treadmill and then hit up yoga.  Came home, got some chores out of the way, and then went downtown to Rice Village to meet a friend for lunch.  There is a place down there that has the best mango chicken salad that I was craving so bad.  My friend works down at the Loft there, so it was perfect.  The only bad thing that happened was I splurged again, and got Jeff and I a cupcake from Celebrity Cupcakes which were amazing, amazing, amazing!

So there it it.  Just a nice relaxing agenda that held a lot of my favorite things.  Running, funny movie, spending time with Jeff, spending time with of my BFF's my favorite salad and a nap!  I hope to repeat next weekend.

Thanks for the inspiration to keep blogging.  Happy Training!

To Blog or Not to Blog, that is the question

I think it has been about 3 weeks, or maybe more since my last post.  One reason is because I feel like I don't have the time right now.  I am blocked from all social networking sites at work, so I can't fit it in there.  When I get home from work there is dinner, and then honestly I just veg out on the internet doing stupid stuff before going to bed to get up early to work out.  Then there is the fact that I am not training for anything right now.  If this is just a blog about my work out, it would be pretty boring right now.  Ran 5 miles, ran 5 miles, ran 5 miles, ran 6 miles.  Not very exciting stuff.  I am just trying to build my base back up for marathon training.  And I don't think I can come up with any really interesting or funny posts like my blogging celebrity husband to fill in the gaps between training.

So I have been asking myself if I am going to keep blogging.  I like being part of this world, and have met some awesome people.  But I really feel like I don't contribute anything to this world.  So I am at a crossroads if I am going to keep blogging or not.  I guess like everything else, only time will tell.

Random thoughts early in the morning.

I haven't posted in a while, or for that matter had time to read anyone else's blog in a while either.  Any kind of website that is a social media website is blocked at work, so I have to wait until I get home to catch up.  Sometimes it just doesn't happen, after eating dinner it is time to go to bed for an early morning wake up.  But here is what has been going on.

A couple of weeks ago I babysat my friend's two year old for a weekend.  I decided you need more endurance a two year old than you need to be an endurance athlete.  By the end of the weekend I was EXHAUSTED!  Kudos to those of you with kids that still find time to eat much less train!  I will stick to being an Aunt.

A few months ago, on a whim, I signed up for the Honolulu Marathon.  I got a really great deal on the entry fee, and I have a friend from college who lives there that I can stay with.  I wasn't sure if it was going to happen, but last week I found an awesome price for an airline ticket.  So I am going to Hawaii in December to run with her.  The most exciting thing about this to me, other than getting to see my friend, is that I am actually able to go somewhere in December.  If I was still in retail that would NEVER happen!  The downside is I hear the race is hot and humid.  Will I never be able to escape the humidity??

And speaking of marathons, I am also signed up for the full marathon in Houston in January, not to mention a half in November and a half at the beginning of January.  So yes I am running a half 11/13/11 a full 12/11/11, a half 1/1/12 and a full 1/15/12.  Seeing this in print makes me think I really didn't plan out my schedule to well.  I *think* I have decided that of the two full marathons I would like to really kick ass at Houston.  I need to redeem myself from last year's bronchitis debacle and there is a slight chance for a little less humidity. After my last two marathons I have had the need for about a 2-3 week recovery.  I know EMZ runs like a marathon a week, but I am wondering if any actual humans have run two marathons this close together?  Any tips for training would be greatly appreciated.

With all these running races that I have committed myself to I think my triathlon season is over this year.  I really enjoy doing them, but I do not put enough time in on the bike.  Plus I don't know how I could possibly fit another race into my life right now.  I might do another spring in October, but will have to see how the training is coming along.  My plan is to then next year have a serious chat with my bike to work out our differences and shoot to do an Olympic distance in April of 2012.  We'll see how that goes.  My bike and I aren't even on speaking terms right now.....

Last weekend Jeff and I went to New Mexico for a family reunion.  It was a blast to get to see my brother's, dad and step-mom, and nephew and nieces.  We were even able to fit in a run with this view.



...........Okay, blogger won't let me post pictures right now, so I will have to add them later. Ugg.  Anyway, it was an amazing view.  It was so nice to run there, even with all the hills and the altitude difference.  I learned while we were there that Albuquerque is the same elevation as Denver!!

And lastly, I think I might have a little tendinitis in my knee.  So instead of getting up to run this morning, I woke up at 4am couldn't go back to sleep, cleaned the kitchen and am now icing.  I ran Monday and it felt ok during the run, but was a little tight afterwards, and going up and down our stairs was not pleasant.  I am hoping a couple days of rest, ice and anti-inflammatory meds will make it go away because I do not have time for an injury right now.

Happy training, and I will try to catch up on blogs this week

Tejas Race Report

Sunday Morning Jeff and I woke up at the ungodly hour of 3am. At this time I was thinking how ridiculous it seemed to be waking up that early for a sprint distance race, but at this point I am not really equipped for a longer distance. For this race I had planned on skipping my morning coffee, but I just couldn't. I NEEDED it. So I had my coffee and a whole wheat bagel with some natural peanut butter. Then Jeff and I were off for an hour drive down to the race.

Once we got there we, well Jeff prepped the bikes and then we walked over to transition and got set up and then did a quick run to warm up. About that time it was time to head over to the start. My friend Ann came down to watch and we met up with her, as well as some friends from the Tri club before the race. Jeff was in the first wave, but I had to wait 30 minutes to start.

Now, I know this was only a short swim (600m), but when I saw the distance I started freaking out a bit. Before Jeff headed out he reminded me I had just done 2400m at masters, and 750 at Lake 288, but for some reason this distance seemed more daunting. Maybe because the last race I did was wet suit legal and this time I would be on my own, with a few other people knocking into me!

We killed some time by snapping a few pictures

My "age"


As a quick side note, my least favorite thing about triathlons is the age up thing.  When I was getting body marked I made a comment to the lady that I would not be 35 until December, so she put an astrix next to my age.  HAHAH

So we walked into the water, which felt like bath water, had a 3 minute wait, and went off.  I started swimming and got into a groove pretty early on.  I did much better than the last race, actually swimming freestyle the whole time and didn't do too bad sighting.  I still freak out a bit when I feel feet in front of me and haven't quite figured out how to power through the line of people ahead of me.  After I made the turn at the first buoy there were only about 200m left so I decided to do a little bit of a sprint.  Even though I felt good, I also figured that I was one of the last one's out of the water.  I found out later this was not the case. I was 10th out of the water out of 23, finishing the swim in 12:21.8, or an average of 1:52/100  Overall I was happy with my swim, though I may not look like it coming out of the water.

I ran up to transition, which took me 3:31 (I think Jeff and I need to work on a sense of urgency in transition) and tried to dry off a bit, and then was off on the bike.

The bike was an 11 mile ride, which was on a loop and half course.  I actually passed a few people on the bike, but I take turns very slow and I have a very hard time drinking on the bike.  I wore a camelback to hydrate on the bike, and really can't describe how I look when I am trying to get a drink.  During the bike I had no idea how fast I was going because I forgot to hit start on my Garmin.  I finished in 38:58, which was an average of 16.9 on the bike.  I am happy with this pace because it is an improvement from my last race.  My goal the next few months is to get out there and ride so I am more comfortable on the bike.  Because in addition to not being able to drink on the bike, I am not so great at getting off the bike either.  I can't really describe how I do it, but maybe this picture can.

I pretty much unclip both feet coming up to the dismount line and then wobble off my seat until both feet hit the ground.  It is not pretty.  But I safely got off of the bike with falling and headed to transition which took me  2:17.7 this time.

I headed out for the run feeling pretty good, but again I forgot to start my Garmin.  I actually stopped right before I crossed the mat coming out of transition to fix my ponytail and Jeff was yelling at me,   motivating me to get going since I was in a race and all.  I never really found my legs during the run, but I felt good the whole time.  I passed a lot of people who were walking, so I was pretty happy with myself for running the whole time.  I used the water stations for a couple of sips, but pretty much to dump cold water on my overheated head.  I ended up doing the run 3 miles in 25:47, which was an 8:36 pace.  Way better than I did in my last stand alone 5k!

This was a great race and I will definitely do it again.  I really love running, but am also really starting to love adding swimming and biking before the running.  I finished in 1:22:55 and was 15th out of 23 in my age group.


Thanks to my friend Ann for coming out to support and taking some awesome pictures(my first awesome pictures from a race, which is a whole other blog post!)

Not my best 5k.

This morning myself, Jeff (The Sherpa for once ;) ) and Ruth Ann headed to downtown Houston to meet up with friends to run in The Astro's Race for the Pennant.  Jeff and I did this race last year and I was hoping to beat my time of 25:59.  We met up with some of the group, introduced Jeff to the 4 kids he would be supervising and then headed to the start.  I did do a little warm up job before we got going, and was feeling a bit sluggish, but it was hot and humid out, so I just chalked it up to that.  I don't do well in the heat, but planned on sucking it up anyway.

The first mile sucked, not really because of how I felt, but it was just so freaking crowded.  I truly don't understand why people who plan on walking these races start up front.  Or when they do this, why they chose to form an line across the whole lane.  And then get huffy at people who want to pass them.  So the first mile was a lot of weaving through people.  Plus, for some reason, during shorter races I get super nervous and get a huge adrenaline rush.

About a quarter of the way thru the first mile I found an opening and was able to kick it in a little more.  When I looked down at my Garmin I was doing a 7:45.  I was hurting, but was determined to suck it up.  At about the 2 mile mark we started heading up a Texas hill, or an overpass for the rest of the country, and I heard a guy yacking.  Well that did it for me.  It was so hot and humid and I was feeling it.  I couldn't hold back, but I didn't want to stop.  So I threw up in my mouth, moved over to the side, spit it out and kept on going.  I slowed down a great deal for the rest of the second mile and the beginning of the third.

At this point my friend Ruth Ann, who was behind me for the start of the race, ran past me and said, well what I heard was "come on money", when she actually said, "come on bunny" which is a bit of an inside joke. I told her I had puked and to go ahead.  We rounded the corner to the finish, where I saw my friend Ann taking pictures.  I put on a smile and kicked it in for the finish.

Ruth Ann Finishing Strong

Not such a strong finish.

I kicked it in hard, crossed the finish line, and immediately turned right and threw up again.  So much so that a volunteer at the end of the race came over to check on me.  Luckily the race finished in a tunnel so the crowd of people at the finish didn't get to watch my wonderful finish.

I didn't turn my Garmin off until after I finished throwing up, so it said 28:01.  Ruth Ann said she finished in 27:13 and I was probably about 20-30 seconds after her.  The official results aren't up yet.

I didn't beat my time from last year, but am sure that a few years ago after the first incident I would have stopped running, so overall I am happy with my performance.  There were a lot of people walking today and the fact that I kept running means something to me.  Plus, it was great to get together with friends to run the race.

  I think the combination of the heat, and the coffee I drank before the race didn't mix well.  I typically drink coffee before races, well every morning actually, so I really didn't think anything about it.  The next 5k I am running will be during my second sprint triathlon that I am doing next Sunday.  I think I am going to skip the coffee to see how that goes.  I guess only time will tell.