The Wall

When most runners think of The Wall, I would bet that they think of that mental block that pops up around mile 20.  Now, I've never run a marathon, so I don't know what this is like at all, and I don't pretend to.  While I was running today, I got to thinking about my own situation and realized that I've had a wall in my life for the past two years, since I picked up running.  Before today's run I weighed myself (and a good thing, because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have known that I sweated out about 2.8 pounds of water).  I weighed in at 204 pounds.  Four stinking pounds stand between being a 200-something pound woman and a woman who hasn't been in the 100-somethings since middle school.

Over the past two years, whenever I get to this point, I freak out.  I can't do it.  I sabotage myself.  I hit this mental wall that tells me I'm not good enough to break through.  I think having this revelation will really help me.  In the past, my future happiness hasn't been enough to keep me motivated.  I don't know how to be anything other than fat.  What will I do when I'm not obese anymore (that is a ways off - 184 pounds and I'm "overweight")?  Who knows.  I won't have anything to hind behind, that's for sure.  But I won't find out unless I get there, and I think it's worth finding out.

Today I ran 6 miles in 1:17:38.  That's slow, by most people's standards.  Not for me!  I'm getting faster, and I can feel it with every run.

13:36

13:21

13:45

13:31

These are my paces for 4 recent runs around the 6 mile distance.  Today's pace was 12:53.

Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Recipe for a good day

Today was good - work was positive, I got in a solid workout, my roommate took me out for a belated birthday dinner, and my team won trivia night at the local bar. Good thing I'm an alcohol-free vegetarian, or else our winnings may have been too tempting to resist (beer and fried wings).  Really, I just play for the glory of winning.  That, and I'm pretty trivial.

After finishing my workout, I was only moderately happy. I suppose I thought I was a lot slower than I was, but I did the math and for my workout I averaged an 11:04 pace. Looking over the numbers, I am very happy! I ran two miles (5.5 mph & 5.6 mph) and then did some intervals. I thought for sure the walking in between running intervals would have brought me down a lot more, but apparently not. I did 3.75 miles in 41:30. Not too shabby! Right now, there's no way I could keep up that pace for more than 4 miles or so, but I'm working on it!

I also did some squats and lunges last night, which I am most definitely feeling in the quads and glutes today.  Tomorrow could end up being a rest day, but in all honesty, I think my body is runnable.

Also, Miss Zippy is hosting a GU giveaway - check it out here.

Forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned.

Before today, it had been over a week since I last ran. In fact, before my lunch-break run today, my last run was the half-marathon. This thought pains me! To be somewhat fair, I took the day after off, and then I hiked ~8 miles on Tuesday and on Wednesday. I worked from 9am to midnight on Thursday. I have no excuses for Friday. My parents came to visit on Saturday, but that is a lame excuse. Sunday (my birthday!), I went for a hike and swam. On Monday I wanted to go for a run SO badly, but I was stuck at work until 8:30. The school gym closes at 8 and it's not safe to run outside alone at night where I live.

Anyway, the only time I could find to run today was at lunch, so I packed up my gear and the second it hit noon, I flew down the six flights of stairs to get to the gym. Then I realized I forgot my ID, which I need to get into the gym. Woops! Back up the stairs, then back down again. It was a good, solid run. I don't think I've felt that good on a run in quite some time. I felt powerful! Perhaps it was just my long absence. I ran 3 miles in 32:45 which is SUPER speedy for me. Anyway, it made the rest of my work day considerably better.

I'm signed up to run a trail 10k on July 17th. I don't know who I think I'm kidding - I've never run trails before. This could get interesting.

Erm.. recovery. Sort of.

So it's been a few days since my first half-marathon. I planned on not running for a few days, and I've stuck to my guns. No running for the first couple of days. My back was more sore than it's ever been post-run, but it's gotten much better. Almost no pain!

Though I haven't been running, I haven't exactly been resting. I don't know what the protocol is on these sorts of things, but my work can be very physical. Monday was an office day, but yesterday and today were field work days (studying forest canopy cover), which means lots of hiking. Today we did about 8 miles. I'm not sure about yesterday, but I'm pretty sure it was about the same. With scouting trails, getting lost, and carrying packs and equipment, it's no day in the park.

It's kind of funny, because after running 13 miles, my legs felt great - take away the soreness of my feet and my back pain (oh, just those little things?), I could have kept running. My legs never got sore. Give me two days in the field, and I'm aching! Anyway, the next to days are office days, so I;m planning on a couple of short runs for tomorrow and Friday. Sunday is my birthday and I'd like to treat myself to a long run! I'm planning on running my favorite 8 mile route :)

You should all head over to Tim Wilson's blog and enter to win a pair of Mizuno shoes, a tech shirt, or a Strands goodie bag! Not many people have entered, so your chances of winning are high, but you've got to enter soon! The giveaway ends tonight (6/16). Also check out Rad Runner's awesome Arnica giveaway!

That's all I've got for now. Happy running!

Half-Marathoner!

It's over. I did it! I am a half-marathoner! I ran it in 3:07:20, which is way slower than the vast majority of people (just an observation, I'm quite proud!), but was just right for me. It's also technically a PR, and I'm excited because it's my first! In terms of the race, I had three goals in mind:

A. 3:00
B. 3:15
C. Just finish

As I watched the three hour mark pass, I just cranked it up and told myself to get in under 3:15 (the race started at 8:00 and awards were handed out at 11:15). I would have been happy with any finish, but I've got to confess that I'm quite pleased that I didn't have to default to goal C.

The race was great, and I met a few awesome people along the way. I wore my CamelBak, as I need water way more frequently than the average Joe. Aid stations were situated at 1.5, 2.5, 5, 7, 9, 10.5, and somewhere near 12, and they were a sight for sore eyes. I downed water and Gatorade going through each of them. No asthma or allergy problems, thank heavens!, and the weather was exceptional - around 60 degrees and overcast, though a bit humid. Way better than the forecast of 80 degrees and thundershowers.

Here's a brief overview of the events of the race and my thought process:

1: What the HELL am I doing running this thing? I have 12.1 miles left. I am the dumbest person in the world.
2: Met a cool girl from Vermont, made me feel better about life and running. Started a bit too fast, so I eased up and said goodbye to her. Also had to hit a toilet real bad, but there was no way in hell I was losing time on the lines. I decided to wait for the next one (mile 5).
3: Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to put this ginormous hill here? You think it's over, turn a corner, and there it goes again. I saw someone else struggling up and said to her "What goes up must come down." She flew ahead of me.
4: Where the hell is that toilet? I need to go something fierce.
5: Sweet lord, salvation! And no lines. I was in and out in 2 minutes, took some Gatorade, and powered up the next hill.
6: Met Lily and Kristin, two lovely women who gave me moral support and company for about 2 miles. They are sassy and lovely. Makes me forget about the pain.
7: We've passed the halfway point! Hit an aid station and walk up a long hill to give my feet a bit of a rest.
8: What the hell am I doing? I can't do this. Shut up, of course you can!
9: Insert a lot of mumbling and cursing about the cruel person who thought it would be a good idea to put a mile long hill this close to the end.
10: I didn't even see this marker. At this point I'm run/walking. My back is aching and my feet are cramping.
11: Met a nice woman from Florida who didn't have a chance to do any hill work. Poor flat-lander. She was a powerhouse!
12: Just one more mile right? I think I'm going to die. Okay, not really. But even though I know that I am so close, I just can't even fathom finishing. My right foot is cramping something awful.
13: 0.1 miles to go. This is where I feel like an Amazon warrior. SPRINT.
13.1: DONE! So smiley. And Lily and Kristin stuck around to watch me finish. They were so sweet!

Lessons to take away with me:

1. I don't really need to pee much when running long distances, likely because I sweat so much. The more you sweat, the more salt you lose. My forehead was like the shore of the Dead Sea. Maybe invest in some salt tabs or something.
2. I sweat a lot and dehydrate fairly easily. CamelBak is a good idea for longer distances for me, and I'm quite glad I decided to run with it. Aid stations every ~2 miles is not enough fluid for me.
3. After a race, I can't eat immediately. I downed an entire water bottle, cracked open a Gatorade, and tried to eat an orange. The orange made me gag. Stick to the fluids for the first 20 minutes, then go for a banana.
4. Stick with running socks. In fact, invest in more. I picked up two pairs of SmartWool running socks yesterday at an LL Bean outlet (they're somehow defective and thus very cheap, but can't find any flaws), and they were the most wonderful things I've put on my feet in quite some time. They weren't lying when they said no blisters.
5. Running with people makes the time go by so much nicer. I wish I had friends or knew people who ran a snail's pace - it would be nice to have someone to pass the time with. Though Lily, Kristin, and a couple of other kind folk were there with me part of the way, I spent most of the time running alone.
   

I'm in the middle, flagged by Lily on the left and Kristin on the right.

The aid stations were well stocked even for the super slow people (i.e. me), and the volunteers were great. It was especially nice to get cheered on by kids who were volunteering. So cute! My only complaint about the race is that for the last two miles, when few people were left on the course, there were no volunteers or police officers to help with traffic (the roads were only partially closed). Other than that, it was an awesome inaugural race, both for Worcester and myself!

I will take a day or two of rest, and then back to the old grindstone. Gotta keep moving!

Allergies!

My allergies have been consistently acting up since sometime last week. I don't know if it's because once triggered, my asthma doesn't allow my body to recover or what, but up until today I've been feeling like crap. Breathing has been a laborious chore, and to be honest, it's been a pain. I've relied on my rescue inhaler more times than I can count in the past few days, whereas in the past few years, I have been able to count the number of times I've needed to use it on one hand.

Sunday morning I went for my long run. I was stupid, changing my route halfway through. I ended up extending it and then getting lost. Really dumb. I was smart enough to pack my inhaler in my CamelBak, because after about 7 miles my lungs were feeling it, and breathing started to hurt. I walked a few miles in hopes that if I let my body cool down a bit and recover, I would be able to run some more. I wasn't, and I was really bummed about it. Then I got caught in a crazy thunderstorm complete with huge bolts of lightning and the kinds of thunder you can feel in the pit of your stomach. I was just about a mile home when it hit, and by the time I got home it was letting up. Figures. I was so soaked that it looked as if I had jumped in a pool. To add insult to injury, I wasn't even able to time the run because for a while my watch was MIA (but I found it this morning!).

So all in all, it was a pretty disheartening ordeal. I have my half-marathon this Sunday, and in my heart I just want to push as hard as I can, but I know that's just dumb. I started feeling better yesterday, but I still had to use my inhaler once this morning, though that's an improvement over every 4 hours. Anyway, I've focusing on my lungs, not pushing myself over my limits, and hoping I can get in at least one more solid run tomorrow. If not, that's okay too, I'll just have to let the chips fall where they may. I just want to finish my race healthily. It could mean walking part of it, but I'll take what I can get.

In other news, I got my RoadID today! I'm very excited. It's wider than I expected it to be, which is actually a little reassuring because I was nervous about it looking like some sort of bracelet and being overlooked in the case of an emergency. Thankfully, it is quite clear that it's an ID!

Road ID, Sore Calves, and Thunderstorms, oh my!

Today my run was pretty lackluster. I aimed for 5 and got in 2. I guess some days are just like that. Within the first mile my poor calves were aching. I don't usually have sore leg muscles (I have relatively weak core muscles, they're usually the first to feel it), but I supposed I've been running a lot recently. I've logged just over 21 miles in the past 7 days, which is a lot considering how poor my training was going before (anywhere from 5-12 miles/week). I ended up forgoing by 5 mile route for my 3 miler and only running the first and last miles of it. Oh, well. I've been working really hard, and I suppose some days you just have to take what you can get.

Weather over here on the east coast is going to be pretty rough for the next couple days with thunderstorms galore! I'm excited, as thunderstorms are one of my favorite things ever Right up there with puppies and science fiction novels. ANYWAY. It was supposed to rain on my run today as the forecast said 80% thunderstorms in my area... I suppose I was in the so-called "lucky" 20%. Bummer! This weekend I'll likely be able to squeeze a rainy run in, though.

I also just ordered a Road ID! I am really excited about this. I live in arguably the 2nd largest city in New England (we'll have to wait for the Census results to be sure... Send it Back!), where Massachusetts drivers are as reckless as they come. I prefer to run outside, and carrying ID is a pain in the behind but totally necessary. Even growing up in a small town on Long Island with lots of runners, I knew the importance of carrying ID. A mother of my sister's friend was struck by a vehicle that broke her back while on a morning run. She has since recovered and made a return to running (this was many years ago), but the point is that accidents can happen to anyone and everyone, even to super-safe long time runners in a small town full of runners. Most of my friends who run opt to either run on treadmills (sadists) or without proper ID (idiots).

Do you run with ID? If not, or, if like me you just don't want to have to deal with carrying a license or some other form of ID, look into a Road ID. With my purchase came a code for a $1 off coupon (it's not much, but it's something!). The code is good for 20 uses and is valid for 30 days.

Road ID coupon code: ThanksBrenna764089

Alright, time to relax a bit! I'm off to enjoy what my garden has given me. Mmm, kale and berry smoothie. So refreshing!

Breathing: Something I've Taken For Granted

In high school I was incredibly unhealthy. For a moment, put aside the fact that I was almost completely sedentary and weight 235+ lbs, I had myriad environmental health issues. I've had asthma since childhood, which I blame on being brought up in a smoking household (if you're a smoker, do yourself and everyone around you a favor and QUIT). My mom and step-dad have since quit, but it seems like one of those things that just can't be undone. Anyway, I also had incredibly awful seasonal allergies... in spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Imagine that!

Before I saw an allergist for the first time at age 15 due to an incident involving a banana nut muffin (because why would anyone go to an allergist for anything other than anaphylactic shock?), my life was completely miserable. If my asthma was under control, it was only a matter of time until my allergies kicked in, which would in turn make my asthma flare. I wasn't on any medication at the time aside from my albuterol inhaler, so these events would also lead to bronchitis, which eventually became chronic. I didn't know anything else - it was just the way life was. A few times a year it would get bad enough to see a doctor for a prescription, but most of the time I just dealt with it. My allergist informed me that I didn't know what if felt like to be healthy, prescribed me allergy meds and an oral asthma med, and life got better.

Then I moved to Massachusetts, and my dependency on my medications disappeared. I no longer had the allergies that made my asthma flare up that induced bronchitis. I was free!

Jump to four years later. It appears as though my body has caught up with the pollen here. My allergies have returned (though not in full force). I hadn't had to use a fast acting inhaler in Massachusetts, save for one (maybe two) times my freshman year until two days ago. I kept telling myself that it would all pass, but it did not. Cue asthma attack last night.

I forgot how scary it is not being able to breathe. My inhaler was no use, and I ended sitting up awake for a few hours before I got a handle on my lungs. So that sucked.

Anyway, I ended up only running 2 miles today. I was kind of bummed, but at the same time, I'm just glad to be breathing relatively easily again. SO, if you can breathe with ease, count your blessings! Wheezing is the pits.

You know you've had a good workout when...

...you look like this:

A miracle that I still somehow manage to appear happy (I kid!).

Now don't get me wrong, I am an exceptional sweater by society's standards. It could be the dead of winter, I'll be sitting in a t-shirt, and I'll still have sweat stains. However, I would consider this t-shirt a mark of greatness. I nearly saturated the whole thing! Anyway, today I killed it at the gym - I ran 3.0 miles in 34:25, which is a good time for me. Then I biked for a while, and I finished up with 2.0 miles worth of intervals, working up to 6.2 mph (super speedy!) from 5.0 mph and then back down. One of the better gym workouts I've had. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the treadmill and gyms? Maybe not recently, but I hate them. Today was positive, though!

Also, this was my second workout of the day! After watering my garden this morning I went to visit a couple of friends I haven't seen in a while for a kayaking adventure! One friend lives on a lake, so we spent an hour and a half circumnavigating the shoreline and a couple of little islands. All in all, a pretty awesome day!

Let me leave you with some more post-workout views (because I know how much everyone loves a good sweat sodden t-shirt):

I like how the pit stain is indistinguishable from boob and/or back sweat.

This is my victorious pose!

P.S. - The back of the t-shirt reads, "Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."