tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17748529559294777702024-03-12T18:58:54.064-07:00Conquering 26.2 MilesRising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-60709921071813744622016-09-06T16:25:00.000-07:002016-09-06T16:25:11.618-07:00The Steel Man DuathlonI began my running blog almost four years ago when I started training for my first (and probably only) marathon. I have not updated my blog in almost two years because I haven't really done anything exciting in terms of running. I have run a few more races in the past couple of years, including my 8th half marathon this spring. When I was running the Bridge Run half marathon in May, I was thinking about how I've gotten a little "bored" with half marathons. I still enjoy running half marathons and they keep me in really good shape every spring. However, I have not really been challenged while running lately and that's probably where my boredom is coming from. During my marathon training, I wrote a blog post about my running bucket list. So this spring I decided that it was time to work on something on my running bucket list.<br />
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During a night of insomnia, I made the impulsive decision to purchase a road bike. A few days later I decided to sign up for my first duathlon. This was towards the end of half marathon training so I felt like I was in pretty good shape. I started biking a couple of times a week and continued running 3 or 4 times a week. There was about a month between the half marathon and the duathlon so I figured that was enough time to train. I began incorporating brick workouts, which are not very fun. A brick workout consists of running then biking or biking then running or run, bike, run. I think that it is called a brick workout because your legs literally feel like bricks when you get off of the bike and try to start running. After you get off of the bike and start running, your legs feel really heavy for the first half mile. It's not so bad after that, but it's definitely a weird feeling.<br />
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As the training month progressed, I was not sure how well I would do at this duathlon. I felt pretty slow on the bike and other bikers would zoom past me when I was out for a ride. I figured that I was out of shape and it was okay because it was only my first duathlon. It had never crossed my mind that maybe I was using the wrong gears because I had read a lot of articles and watched a lot of YouTube videos about road bikes. I did not discover until after the duathlon that I had been using the wrong gears the whole time and one of my gears was also broken. So I went into the duathlon thinking that it would not be so bad and I was hoping that the course would be flat. I certainly was proven wrong!<br />
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On the morning of the duathlon, I woke up feeling slightly nervous as I always do before a race. I honestly had no clue what really went on before and during a duathlon. The Steel Man was also a sprint triathlon, olympic triathlon, aquabike and duathlon. So you could do running, biking and swimming or biking and swimming or running and biking. I think that I would like to do a triathlon someday, but I am not a very good swimmer. The duathlon seemed like a perfect fit for me because the swimming leg was replaced by another running leg.<br />
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When we showed up to the duathlon, I could not have felt more intimidated. There were some pretty serious athletes there and here I show up with a road bike I barely even know how to use. I was immediately flustered by the fact that there were hardly any spots left in the corral for me to put my bike and Jay also got yelled at for going in there because he was not in the race. I also felt out of place because I didn't have a fancy triathlon outfit on. There were people in their wetsuits or fancy biking clothes and I just threw on a tank top and spandex. I figured it was not worth investing in triathlon clothing unless I actually liked the duathlon and wanted to do more.<br />
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There were so many different things to do to get ready for the actual race. You didn't just put on a running bib like you do in other races. You also had to put a timing chip around your ankle, get body marked and get your bike tagged too. When I headed to the start line, I noticed that there were only about 15 people in the duathlon. There were probably about 100 people competing in the different events, but the duathlon was definitely the smallest. As I sized up my competition, I met a girl who was competing in her second duathlon. She had done the Steel Man duathlon last year and came in last place. She told me not to worry because she would definitely finish after me. Some of the other people in our race seemed pretty serious about the duathlon so I did not know where I would fall into the mix.<br />
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We started the race off with a 1.5 mile run. I was feeling really confident and good about my run. I was even towards the head of the pack going into the biking portion of the race. I thought that this race might be a breeze after all. As I headed into the transition area to get my bike, I had no clue what I was going to be in for the next 12.4 miles. I took my bike out of transition and hopped on for what would be the worst bike ride ever. I rode the entire race in the uphill gear and did not even know it. I felt like I was pedaling so fast and people were just flying by me. I was beginning to get discouraged because I had such a good start.<br />
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The bike portion of the race was awful. I felt like I was riding really slow, which now makes sense because I was in my uphill hear, and people were passing me left and right. When you were body marked, they put a D on the back of your calf if you were in the duathlon. They also had S for sprint and A for aquabike. As I was riding, I began to count all of the D's that rode past me. At one point, I think I had counted everyone except for the girl that I had met at the beginning. I was so ready to quit and was getting so embarrassed. I am not an expert biker and was beginning to think that I did not belong in the duathlon at all. The people that rode past me were very encouraging and kept telling me good job. One girl yelled some piece of advice to me, but I could not hear what she said. I am now thinking that she was telling me that I was in the wrong gear.<br />
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As the world's worst bike ride continued, we rode in one giant square of rolling hills. I kept hearing people telling their friends to shift their gears so I did too. Only I now know that I was just increasing and decreasing the difficulty of my uphill gear. We were only about halfway through this LONG bike ride when we got to a long steep hill. I actually saw other people walking their bikes up it, but not me. It might have taken me awhile, but I slowly made my way up that climb. I was so excited that I was over that hurdle until we got to the next big hill. The hills were nothing compared to what we experienced on the last stretch of the biking. There were 40mph wind gusts plus we were on a pretty major road. Anytime a truck drove by it made the wind gusts even stronger. I felt like I was barely moving at all because the gusts just kept pushing me back. On top of that, the rolling hills continued.<br />
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At one point, I was like maybe I should just stop and call Jay to come pick me up. It wasn't that I couldn't finish it. I just was feeling defeated by how hard this actually was. I kept going anyways because this was the challenge I wanted and I was not about to quit. I was so happy when I rode my bike back into Darien Lake and could put my bike back in transition. As I ran out of transition, my legs were feeling super heavy and tired. I was glad to be out running instead of biking though so it was no big deal. The last leg of the race was running the 1.5 mile loop twice. As I finished my first loop, I yelled to Jay and my mom that I was never doing another duathlon. I finished the duathlon in 14th place and there were only 15 finishers. Even though I came in 2nd last place, I was still proud of myself for my new accomplishment.<br />
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A few weeks after the duathlon, I had my gears fixed and I also learned how to use my gears properly. It makes a huge difference when you are using the right gears and it turns out that I am not really that slow on my bike after all. Although I said I would never do another duathlon, I think that I probably would now that I know how to use my bike. I think I would even consider a triathlon if I had some serious swim practice, but for now I think I will work on improving my duathlon. I am not sure what my next running challenge will be, but for now it's back to cross country season and enjoying the fall running weather.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-2985778833776433522014-11-30T16:19:00.003-08:002014-11-30T16:20:42.551-08:00November ..... The Month of the Running ComebackDuring the month of November, I ran 4 races including a 5K, two 5 mile races and a 13K. Here is my place, finishing time and pace for each race:<br />
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I came in 53rd place in the Halloween 13K with a time of 1:15:30, which is a 9:21 min/mi pace.<br />
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I came in 69th place in the Returning Warrior 5 Miler race with a time of 44:00, which is an 8:48 min/mi pace. <br />
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I came in 27th place overall and 2nd place in my age group at the Chilly Chase 5K with a time of 25:55, which is an 8:20 min/mi pace.<br />
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I came in 297th place at the Pete Keyes Turkey Trot 5 mile race with a time of 44:57, which is a 9:00 min/mi pace.<br />
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For someone who just had surgery 6 months ago and is making her running comeback, I would say that those are some pretty great race times. A few months ago I was not sure that I would ever run again or if I would ever be good at running again. It definitely took me quite awhile to get back into running and it was a bit of a struggle at first. I am actually a faster runner now than before I had surgery. Being healthy again makes it much easier to run.<br />
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Out of all of the races that I ran this month, I am most proud of how well I did at the Chilly Chase 5K. I decided to sign up for this race because I wanted to run a shorter race after signing up for 3 longer races this month. I knew that I had a chance to do well in this race because my pace kept continuing to improve and this was going to be a smaller race.<br />
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There were only about 100 people who ran this race so it was nice to run a smaller race for a change. When the race started, I was out towards the front of the pack and there were only about 15-20 people ahead of me. I definitely got caught up in the hype of this race because my first mile ended up being around 7:50 and I never run that fast. I knew that I needed to slow down if I wanted to do well so I did.<br />
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As I finished my second mile, I did not see anyone ahead of me that looked like they would be in my age group. I was feeling good and I knew that I was going to have a really good finish. When I was around mile 2.5, I turned around and did not see anyone who was very close to me. I thought that I was going to be able to finish the race without anyone in my age group passing me.<br />
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At mile 3, I turned the corner to the finish line. I only had 0.1 miles left and I could see the clock at the finish line. I knew that I was going to get a personal record for my best 5K time. I was running as fast as my legs would let me when 2 girls blew past me right before the finish. One of those girls was in my age group. She beat me by 5 seconds and took 1st place in our age group. I was a little upset at first that I was so close and I had missed 1st place by 5 seconds. However, I would say that coming in 2nd place in your age group and getting a 5K PR is still a pretty big deal.<br />
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November was a really good running month for me and I had a lot of great races and runs. I am glad that I am finally back into running and even faster than I was before. I am going to continue running through the winter, but I always cut back my mileage during the winter months. I like to give the body a break from running and I plan to do other forms of cardio this winter. Amy and I actually joined a gym so that we could take classes and do things other than running. It was funny that we both ended up running on the treadmill the night that we signed up for the gym. I have been doing other things at the gym besides running since then. I do not have any upcoming races, but the month of November was definitely a great finish to the 2014 running season.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-24627969310857517882014-11-12T16:45:00.000-08:002014-11-12T16:47:15.176-08:00Things That I Am Thankful ForSo my last few blog posts have not exactly been the happiest blog posts. Recovering from surgery and returning to running certainly has been a roller coaster ride. Some days it is frustrating to not be able to run like I used to, but I am finally starting to enjoy running again. I might not be getting my distance back quite yet, but I have certainly improved my speed quite a bit. I actually think that I can run faster now than before I had surgery. I used to run a 9:30 - 10:00 min/mi pace for most of my runs and lately I have been able to keep my pace below a 9:00 min/mi pace. I was even able to maintain a really good pace at the Returning Warrior 5 miler race this weekend.<br />
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Jay, Amy and I all signed up for this race together, but they ran the 10 mile race. I definitely was not ready for 10 miles and I am glad that I stuck to the 5 mile race. I definitely could not have run 10 miles on Sunday, but I felt pretty good running 5 miles. When I started the race, I went out at a pretty comfortable pace. Shortly into the race, I saw Jackie and we ran together for about a mile. It was nice to have someone to talk to and run with for a little bit. I was hoping to run the race in 45 minutes, but figured that I would probably finish between 47 and 50 minutes. I went out a little more quickly than I should have so I had to slow down a little bit. I did not think that I was going to meet my race goal because I felt like I had slowed down quite a bit. However, I have improved my speed so much over the last few weeks that I really wasn't running as slow as I had thought.<br />
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I ended up crossing the finish line at 44:00, which was a minute faster than I was expecting. This race was exactly what I needed to turn my running attitude around and to really start to enjoy running again. My pace for the race was 8:48 min/mi and I cannot ever remember running that fast before I had surgery. I ended up finishing the race in 69th place out of 231 runners. I was the 22nd female to finish and I was 10th in my age group. I was very happy with how well I did in this race and I am extremely happy that running is beginning to get easier again. I am just going to focus on shorter distances for awhile and not worry about increasing my distance. Sometimes I forget that it has only been 5 & 1/2 months since I had surgery and I am definitely doing very well for someone who is making her comeback.<br />
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As I have been making my running comeback, I have been thinking a lot about how thankful I am to be running again. I am extremely thankful to be so healthy after struggling with stomach issues for 11 years. It was around this time a year ago when my stomach issues began to worsen and running no longer felt good. I love that I am able to run again and I love that I feel pretty good when I am running.<br />
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Lately, I have been thinking about how much my life has changed for the better over the past year and a half and I have Jason to thank for that. It is hard to believe that a couple of years ago I was not sure if I even wanted to stay here. Now we are engaged, we own a house and we are planning our wedding. Jason is the perfect guy for me and I would definitely say that he is my better half. I think that Jason has made me a better person and I am so lucky that I get to marry such an amazing man in just a few more months.<br />
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I am extremely thankful for all that Jason and our families did for me after I had surgery, but there is one person in particular that I owe a special thank you to. I might not tell her enough how much I appreciate her, but I am extremely grateful for everything that my mom did for us. My mom stayed here for a week and a half when I had surgery and her and Jason spent every day in the hospital with me. My mom did a lot of stuff for us right after I had surgery like cooking, cleaning and laundry. When we moved a month and a half after that, I still had some restrictions so my mom came down to help us again. My mom spent another week and a half down here helping us clean our house, my apartment and move. She definitely went above and beyond and I am so grateful that my mom still does so much for me.<br />
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Even though we do not live near each other anymore, I am extremely grateful that I am so close with my family. I am thankful that I still get to see my parents often and that my mom and I talk almost every day still. I wish that I was able to see my brothers and sister-in-laws more often, but I am glad that we still talk often. My family is one of the reasons that I am looking forward to our wedding so much. I cannot wait to have my dad walk me down the aisle and try to keep up with him on the dance floor. We are rarely ever all home at the same time anymore so it will be extremely nice to all be together that weekend.<br />
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I am also very thankful for Jason's family. I love that I have gotten to know Jay's family so much better over the past few months and that we get to spend a lot of time together. I am extremely thankful that Amy was persistent in playing matchmaker for Jason and I. I am really happy that Amy and I have become such good friends and that I am close with her family too. I absolutely love her children Andrew and Maddy and I love spending time with them. I also love seeing how great Uncle Jay is with the kids and I know that he will make a great dad in a few years when we are ready to have kids. In conclusion, my life is pretty wonderful right now and I have a lot more to be thankful for than just running.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-82024642207226463692014-11-05T15:50:00.003-08:002014-11-05T15:50:37.614-08:00Halloween 13K RecapLately I have been running because I feel like I should and not because I really want to. I feel fine physically so that is not why I really do not want to. One year ago, I was having health issues and I still found running more enjoyable than I do now. I think the hardest part is that I cannot run like I used to and I've even said to a couple of people that my prime running days are over. I am only 26 and my prime running days really are over. I have run 51 road races in the past 6 years, including 6 half marathons and one full marathon. The road race total will definitely continue to increase, but the marathon total definitely won't and it's pretty likely that the half marathon total will not increase either. When I was training for the half marathons and for my marathon, I had a big goal that I was working towards and I do not have that anymore. I'm not used to running just to run. I am used to having a running goal and working towards that goal. I do not have a training plan that I am sticking to anymore and sometimes it is harder to force myself to go out and run when I do not have a set plan. I have a couple more races coming up so hopefully that will make running a little more enjoyable again.<br />
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This past weekend, Jay, Amy and I all ran the Halloween 13K. Jay and Amy both had really good race times and they each came in 2nd place in their respective age groups. I finished the race in 53rd place with a time of 1:15:30, which is a pace of 9:21 min/mi. I felt really good for most of the race. The first half of the race was pretty easy for me, but the back half was a little bit tougher. We were running against the wind for the second half and then there was a killer hill between miles 6 and 7. I got a cramp after the hill, but luckily it was not on my surgery side so I was glad about that. Jay waited for me and ran a little bit of the end with me and I even finished the race 8 minutes faster than I did last year. Even though I ran faster than last year, I did not have a fast race time or win a medal or really accomplish anything. I don't feel entirely proud of my race this weekend because I was the only one who did not really accomplish anything. I don't know if I will ever get to the point where I am fast enough to place in an age group. I have improved my pace quite a bit over the past month, but I am still just a mediocre runner.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-34092765270519945932014-10-29T14:32:00.000-07:002014-10-29T14:32:07.669-07:00The Struggles of Returning to RunningThink about something that you love to do. Think about a problem that can get in the way of you being able to do the thing that you love. Think about being told that you can no longer do the thing that you love to do. Think about getting the problem fixed. Think about being told that you can now do the thing that you love again. Think about being told that even though you can do this thing again that it probably won't ever be the same. Think about doing the thing that you love again and it being completely different than it was before. Think about the thing that you love to do being more difficult and having more restrictions. This is exactly what has gone on with my running journey over the last year.<br />
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I stopped running back in March and did not start running again until sometime in August. During the month of August, I would run a couple of times a week and I would only run about a mile or two. When September hit and we went back to school, I was running, hiking, walking or biking pretty much every day. I began running like I had in the past. I was running 3 times a week and some weeks I even got 4
runs in. I began to increase both my distance and my speed while I was running, but things were different this time.<br />
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Before I knew it, I could run 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and even 8 miles again! For someone who had surgery just a few months ago, I could not believe what my body was able to do again. It was almost like I had never stopped running. But I had stopped running for quite awhile and now my body is no longer the same. Ever since I did return to running, my running has been very inconsistent. Some days I can run at a really great pace or a really far distance and it feels great. Other days, running can be a struggle. I am not as fast as I once was and I cannot run as far or as much as I used to be able to.<br />
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Since I began running so much again, I decided to sign up for a few races that Jay and Amy had signed up for. The first race is a Halloween 13K this Saturday. If Jay and Amy had not signed up, I most certainly would not have signed up myself. However, Jay and I do have a great couple's costume picked out for this race and the 3 of us were excited to be able to run this race together. Truthfully, I am not sure that I am ready for this race. I was not sure that I would be ready for this race when I signed up, but I felt like if I kept increasing my distance it would be no problem. <br />
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Did I get back into running too quickly? Did I do too much too fast? Am I pushing my body too far too quickly so soon after surgery? Have I been overdoing it? The answer to all of these questions is probably yes. I hate accepting the fact that there are some things that I cannot do like I did before and one of those things is running. I know that I am probably running too much and I fully intend to cut back on the running now. I spent too many years being sick so often to let running ruin what the surgery has fixed.<br />
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The surgeon told me that I would be able to return to running again, but to listen to my body and know that running probably won't be the same for me anymore. I know that I won't be able to run 20-30 miles a week again. I know that sometimes running 3 times a week will be too much. I know that sometimes I won't be able to go as far or as fast as I would like. I know that I do not need to sign up for races just because Jay and Amy are. I know that I need to find other things to do besides running. The only hard part is that I cannot lift weights or do core exercises so I am pretty much limited to cardio anyways. I do plan to continue running, but I am going to cut back and be more conservative in how far or how fast I run.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-62191007098847010452014-09-28T16:00:00.001-07:002014-09-28T16:00:45.344-07:004 Months Post-Surgery & My Return to RunningIt's been 4 months since I had surgery for a hiatal hernia and I am now the healthiest that I have been in 11 years. I no longer suffer from acid reflux. I no longer have to take several medications a day. I no longer have stomach pain or trouble sleeping at night. I have the nissen fundoplication to thank for the extremely significant improvement in my health. For those not familiar with the nissen fundoplication surgery, my stomach was wrapped around my esophagus and my hiatal hernia was also fixed. When my stomach contracts, the wrap closes off the opening between my esophagus and my stomach so that the reflux no longer comes up. I also no longer have the ability to burp or throw up, which is both a good and bad thing. Some people are able to burp or throw up again after they have the surgery, but so far I have not been able to and that was definitely a challenge during the beginning of my recovery.<br />
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Even though I am healthy now, I still have some restrictions and I have had to make some lifestyle changes. I have to eat smaller meals now and I am not supposed to eat my food too quickly. Sometimes food gets "stuck" in my esophagus when I am eating, but it goes down eventually. I have 5 different incisions from my surgery and sometimes I get some occasional pain in any one of the incision sites when I overdo it. I don't really think much of these minor changes because having this surgery was the best decision that I have ever made.<br />
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The only part of my life that this surgery has majorly impacted has been my physical activity. There are some things that I will never be able to do again and there are some things that I have had to cut back on. Since I had a hernia fixed, I can no longer do upper body workouts or lift too much. Even though I am pretty much recovered, it was recommended that I avoid core exercises for a year to really give my body time to heal. I have to be careful with activities that include jumping or physically exerting too much. Despite all of my limitations, my body finally feels like it is back to normal, or at least my "new normal." I am able to walk, run and bike, which were the 3 activities that I did the most before surgery.<br />
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In the weeks following my surgery, I started using MyFitnessPal as a way to track my calories because I was not getting enough calories right after surgery. Since I was on a restricted diet, I was not eating as much and I did not have a lot of energy. The restricted diet also caused me to lose 18 pounds after my surgery. I was not fat before I had surgery, but I definitely had a few extra pounds. I am finally back down to the weight that I was in high school so I have continued to use MyFitnessPal to maintain my weight.<br />
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After I had surgery, it was a struggle to even walk a 1/4 mile. As I recovered all
summer, I went walking everyday. I slowly built up my distance over the
summer as my body continued to heal. Jay and I joined the FitBit craze and it was great motivator to keep walking. Despite all of the walking that I was doing, I thought that I would never be able to run again. At my 2 month follow-up with the surgeon, he lifted all of my restrictions and gave me the all-clear to start running again. I did not begin running right away, but I did continue to walk and I started biking again.<br />
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It took me almost 3 months after my surgery to finally feel ready to run again. If I had not kept walking everyday, then it would have been an even bigger challenge to get back into running. All of that walking made it a lot easier to get back into running than I had expected. I started out very slowly and did very short distances a couple times a week. I have continued to slowly build up my distance and my speed over the past month, but I still have an extremely long way to go. I still have a pretty slow pace and my longest run has been 4 miles. I usually go out for a 1 or 2 mile run, but I have had a couple of 3 mile runs. This is definitely a huge decrease in the amount of running that I was doing even a year ago.<br />
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It feels to good to be running again, but running will never be the same as it was before because my body is not the same. I will never be quite as fast as I used to be and I will never be able to go quite as far as I used to. I will certainly never run another marathon and I might not ever run another half marathon. I am not going to rule out another half marathon, but I know that if I ever run another one it will be a long time before I ever get there. I don't know if my "new normal" will ever allow me to go that far, but time will tell what my body will allow. I never even expected to be running 4 months post-surgery so that alone is a huge accomplishment.<br />
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It is hard sometimes to know that I cannot run like I used to. Sometimes I get a little jealous when Jay or my friends are running long distances and are running much faster than I am. However, they constantly remind me of the huge accomplishments that I have had in my running career. I have run over 50 road races including several half marathons and a full marathon. I am proud of all of the running accomplishments that I had before surgery, but sometimes I do miss running like it was before. I miss running several times a week and running far distances, but maybe one day I will be there again. For now, I am just happy that I am able to run now.<br />
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My running plan for now is to not have a running plan. I am enjoying being able to run whenever I want and how far I want without any pressure of any big upcoming races. I would like to do a couple shorter races in the near future, but I would definitely not be trying to go for a personal record. It is nice to be able to just run for fun again and not worry about sticking to a training schedule. I am going to continue working on building my speed and distance back up and just run what feels good. For the first time in a long time, I finally feel like a runner again and I am extremely happy to have that part of my life back.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-20601170645648982182014-07-20T10:35:00.002-07:002014-07-20T10:36:13.197-07:00Life without Running<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->I created my running blog a year and a half ago when I began
training for the 2013 Buffalo Marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was able to share my journey from the beginning of my marathon
training until I crossed the finish line at the end of that glorious 26.2
miles. Since I am a math teacher, I naturally included running statistics at
the end of every post during my marathon training. Over my 30 weeks of
training, I ran a total of 527.1 miles over the course of 85 hours, 9 minutes
and 44 seconds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you do the math, it
equates to a total of 3 days, 13 hours, 9 minutes and 44 seconds of running. On
top of the 85 hours of training, it took me 5 hours, 5 minutes and 30 seconds
to cross the finish line of the 2013 Buffalo Marathon. After devoting 90 hours
of running over the course of 30 weeks, I was extremely proud of myself for
accomplishing something that only about 1% of the world’s population will ever
accomplish.
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I decided to continue blogging occasionally after the
Buffalo Marathon because that certainly was not the end of my running journey. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I met Jason shortly after I ran the Buffalo
Marathon and he quickly became a part of my running journey too. He was just
beginning to get into running when we met and we quickly began to compete with
one another in the distance aspect. If one of us went out and ran 5 miles, the
other one would go out and run 6 miles. If one of us went out and ran 8 miles,
the other one would go out and run 9 miles. We were both in pretty good shape
by the end of the summer and coaching cross country helped me to begin to
really improve my speed while running. By the early fall, Jason and I were both
in the best shape that we had ever been in and we began running road races
together. By running road races together, I mean that we would enter the same races
and Jason would always finish well ahead of me. I loved that he was always
waiting for me at the finish line and that running had become an integral part
of our relationship.</div>
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The last time that I wrote a blog post was about 8 months
ago, which was the last time that Jason and I had entered a road race together.
I have run 2 more road races since my last blog post so I have now completed 50
road races since I began running 6 years ago. Those 50 road races include
several 5K’s and 10K’s, 6 half marathons and 1 marathon. I had been hoping to
increase the 50 road race total, but my body had different plans for me. It has
been 8 months since I last posted because I have not run much since then and it
has been 4 months since the last time that I actually went out for a run. After
the Buffalo Marathon, some stomach issues began to worsen and I slowly began to
run less and less. I had dealt with acid reflux for 10 years, but I had still
been able to continue running. A hiatal hernia developed over the last couple
of years and the acid reflux started becoming a problem when I was running. I
decided that it was time to stop running until I was able to get my stomach
issues under control. </div>
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Since I finally had surgery 2 months ago, running has been
and will continue to be out of the question for a while. I know that running
has caused a lot of wear and tear on my body and it certainly attributed to my
health issues. I know that if I ever get back into running eventually, it will
not and cannot be the same as it was before. Truthfully, I am not even sure
that I will ever really get back into running or if I even want to. In fact, I
do not even really consider myself a runner anymore. I am not even proud of my
running accomplishments anymore since I am no longer running. When I began
cutting back on the running a few months ago, I took my 13.1 and 26.2 magnets
off of the back of my car. I worked really hard to accomplish running several
half marathons and a full marathon so I proudly displayed those magnets for
months. After spending 6 years running 3-4 times a week and entering many road
races, I felt like I no longer deserved to display my accomplishments because I
am no longer a runner. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a former
runner, I had always considered running to be a huge part of my life and that
is no longer the case. Some days I would really love to just lace up my running
sneakers and hit the pavement again. Some days I am jealous of all of my
friends who get to go out run and I am sad that I am not out running too. Some
days I really do not miss running at all, but most days I do. I am not sure
when or if I will ever begin running again so in the meantime I will have to
find something else to fill the running void in my life.</div>
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-18342480044493401422013-11-12T17:03:00.000-08:002013-11-12T17:03:23.831-08:00The Returning Warrior ..... And Michele!On Saturday, Jay and I ran The Returning Warrior 10-Miler Race. After the Halloween 13K last weekend, we almost immediately decided to sign up for another race. I thought that I was ready to sign up for another race, but I was honestly not too excited about running 10 miles. Since the Buffalo Marathon, which was at the end of May, I have only run 8 miles a total of three times and I have only had a few 6 mile runs. I have been running a lot still, but I have not been doing a lot of distance running. I did not feel well-prepared for a distance race so I was not sure how well this race was going to go.<br />
<br />
If you have followed my blog, then you know that I was having trouble bouncing back from the marathon. I did not write too much about why I was having so much trouble because I am not one to share too much of my personal life on my blog. This is a blog about my running adventures and not about my personal life. However, some health issues have been affecting my running and that is why it was so hard for me to really get back into running. As the new school year and cross country season began, the stomach issues progressively got worse and my body was telling me that it was time to cut back on the running. I chose to ignore what my body was telling me and continued running quite a bit. I got to the point where it just did not feel good to run and I knew that it was time to listen to my body.<br />
<br />
Last week, I decided that it was time for my body to take a break from all of the running. I knew that it could not be a good thing to have your stomach hurt so much during a run and after a run all of the time. Since I had taken the entire week off from running, I was a little nervous about this race on Saturday. I decided that I was not going to set a goal for myself for this race because I am pretty sure that running too hard and too fast all of the time has contributed to the problem. I told Jay that I wanted to maintain a pace of around 10:00 min/mi and I was expecting to finish the race between 1:40 and 1:45. I knew that this race would be a lot easier on my body if I did not push it too hard.<br />
<br />
Saturday was nice and cool and it certainly was a beautiful day for a race. There were about 350 runners in the race, but about half of the runners were in the 5 mile race and the other half of the runners were in the 10 mile race. I was majorly impressed with how well this entire race was organized. The course was very well marked and there were even clocks at most of the mile splits, which was nice to be able to track your progress. The race followed a 5 mile loop in Otsiningo Park so the 10 milers had to run 2 of the 5 mile loops. The other thing that I loved about this course was the fact that you ran back up some of the same paths that you ran down. It was awesome to be able to see the people running in front of you and behind you. I even got to see Jay and high five him a couple of times.<br />
<br />
I decided to start the race in the back of the pack because I knew that
I would be slower. When the race began, I turned on MapMyRun so that I could get voice feedback at every mile. I wanted to have the feedback so that I could be
sure that I was running a pretty decent pace. As I ran the first couple of miles, I slowly began to pass people and that is my favorite thing about starting in the back of the pack. I did not even feel like I was running that fast, but I was maintaining a pace well below 10:00 min/mi. When we reached the 5 mile mark, the 5 milers crossed the finish and the 10 milers continued running. I hit the 5 mile mark at 47:46 and I could not believe that I was running so fast. I was not sure that I was going to be able to maintain that pace for another 5 miles, but I was feeling pretty good. I ended up finishing the race in 1:35:47 and was extremely happy with how well I did.<br />
<br />
The Returning Warrior 10-Miler was the first race since the Buffalo Marathon that I did not feel awful during or after the race. I have run a couple of times since then and I finally feel pretty well again when I am running. I think that cutting back and taking a break from running was exactly what my body needed. I am going to run a little bit more conservatively for the next couple of months to give my body time to fully bounce back. I plan to have no running plan over the next couple of months. I might still do a race or two, but I am not going to do way too much running like I have been. I am finally feeling good again, but I am going to listen to my body from now on when it comes to running. It might take some time, but Michele the runner is making her comeback!Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-5156522312692332772013-11-02T17:05:00.002-07:002013-11-02T17:15:45.846-07:00The Tale of Jason & Michele: The Running CoupleAbout 5 months ago, Jason's sister Amy decided that she wanted to play matchmaker for her brother and I. I work with Amy and we quickly became friends last year when she began running. Amy and I would talk about running or she would ask for running tips. Amy and Jason both ran their first 5K at the Bridge Run this past spring so Amy knew that Jason and I both had running in common. I ran the half marathon at the Bridge Run again this spring and then I ran my first marathon just 3 weeks later. Jason and I first began talking the day after I ran the Buffalo Marathon.<br />
<br />
When we began talking, I did not want Jason to think that I was some elite runner because I had just ran my first marathon. The truth is that I am quite the opposite of an elite runner. I have run several 5K's and 10K's, a few half marathons and even a full marathon. I am just your average runner who worked really hard and overcame a lot of running obstacles to train for and run a full marathon. I am no special runner and I will admit that I am not even that fast of a runner. I am just a regular runner who enjoys running and setting running goals to accomplish. I would definitely say that running the Buffalo Marathon might just be the biggest running goal that I'll ever accomplish and that is good enough for me.<br />
<br />
If you followed my marathon training, then you would know that I had some major runner burnout after the Buffalo Marathon. I had no desire to run for quite awhile and half of the time going out and running did not even feel that great. I knew that all I needed was some time to bounce back from the marathon both physically and mentally. Since Jason and I began talking right after the marathon, I used my evenings after work to talk to Jason non-stop instead of going out running. We went on our first date about a week and a half after we first started talking and we really hit it off. Jason and I went on a few more dates and we have been happily dating ever since.<br />
<br />
There are many things that I love about Jason and our relationship. One of the things that I love the most about our relationship is the fact that we grew to know each other so well through hiking and running. One of our very first dates was going hiking on the trails at the nature preserve at Binghamton University. Over the summer, hiking became our regular weekly or bi-weekly thing to do. We went to many different state parks around the area and we would spend 3 or 4 hours at a time hiking. We were able to spend time getting to know each other so well over these hikes. I loved that hiking gave us a break from the busy, technologically-dependent society that we live in. It was so nice to be able to spend an extended period time with each other instead of our cell phones. I loved just talking with Jason for hours and exploring the trails and waterfalls at these beautiful state parks.<br />
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I love the fact that Jason and I were able to spend the summer staying fit and active together. As the summer continued, I slowly got back into running and even started biking too. I was beginning to run pretty consistently again and at the same time Jason began to start running pretty consistently too. If you know Jason or I, you know that we are both competitive people and the competitive side came out of both of us in running this summer. If I went out for a 6 mile run one day, then Jason would go out for a 7 mile run that day or the next day. If Jason went out for an 8 mile run one day, then I would go out for a 9 mile run that day or the next day. We spent the entire summer always trying to outdo one another when it came to running, but it was definitely not a bad thing for either of us. Jason runs at a much quicker pace than I do so the competitiveness always came out in the distance of the run. If Jason and I had not been trying to keep up with one another in running all summer, then I think that neither of us would have done much running all summer. By the end of the summer, Jason and I were both in the best shape that we had ever been in and we had running and hiking to thank for that.<br />
<br />
Coaching cross country helped me stay in such great shape all fall and I continued to see improvements in my running pace. Since I had fallen in love with running again and was ready to start racing again, entering road races was a perfect fit for our relationship. Jason and I ran two 5K's together this fall and we both saw significant improvements in our running. So the tale of Jason and Michele leads me to our 3rd race that we ran together today. Jason and I debated between running a 5K or a 13K today. We considered running a 5K because both of us wanted to get another 5K PR. Two nights ago we ended up deciding that we would run the 13K because neither of us had ever run a 13K before. It was also a Halloween race so I knew that this could be a really fun and competitive race.<br />
<br />
Last night, Jason and I talked about our running goals for today. We both always set goals for ourselves when we run a race and try to beat a certain time. I decided that my goal for this race would be to win the costume contest. I had never run a race in a costume before and thought that it would be a really fun thing to do. When I was in college, I was a Rubik's cube for Halloween one year and decided that this race would be the perfect race to wear it for. I told Jason that I planned on running this race instead of racing it. He told me that he was confused because I had just talked about wanting to race again in my last blog post. I have been running a lot lately, but I did not think that I was prepared enough to race a distance race. I had run a lot during cross country season, but I had focused more on speed than distance. I have not even run more than 6 miles at once since the summer so I knew that racing for 8.1 miles was a stupid idea.<br />
<br />
I decided that I was still going to run this race as fast as I could, but I was not going to be upset if I did not break a certain time. I was still aiming for finishing in 1:20, but it was not going to be a big deal if I did not. Jason planned to race and wanted to finish in under an hour. The difference between running and racing for me is that racing is finishing under a certain time and running is just doing the best that you can during a race. When we arrived at the Halloween 13K today, I received a lot of compliments on my Rubik's cube costume. I had a few people tell me that they did not know how I was going to run in that costume and one guy said that he would not be surprised if I ditched the costume somewhere in the middle of the race. My goal was to keep the Rubik's cube on for the entire race, prove those people wrong and win the costume contest.<br />
<br />
When the race began, I headed out at a pretty decent pace. I was well on my way to finishing under 1:20 and was hoping that I could keep a steady pace. However, running in a giant box is kind of difficult. I could not really move my arms too much during running and that definitely slowed me down during the race. However, I was determined to run the entire 8.1 miles with that Rubik's cube on. There were parts of the race that running in a Rubik's cube made a lot tougher. This was not the easiest race for me to run with that extra weight on and limited arm movement, but this was definitely one of the most fun races that I had ever run in. I got so many compliments and cheers from other runners and spectators throughout the entire race.<br />
<br />
My giant Rubik's cube costume and I crossed the finish line in 1:23:13. I was a little disappointed that I did not break 1:20, but I reminded myself that I was not trying to break a certain time today. I also reminded myself that I had just run 8.1 miles wearing a giant box. When I crossed the finish line, there were a lot of people cheering for me and I knew that we had chosen the right race to run in. Jason ended up finishing the race in 58:13 and he was waiting for me at the finish line like he always does. I ended up winning the costume contest so I succeeded in my running goal for today. Jason ended up coming in 2nd place in his age group so we both went home with medals today. I love that running has become such an integral part of our relationship and Jason and I definitely plan to run more races together soon.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-61803309133813739842013-10-28T16:34:00.000-07:002013-10-28T16:41:26.112-07:00The One Year DifferenceIt's been exactly one year since I began my running blog, which means that it has been exactly one year since I began my 30 week marathon training plan. The big difference between this time last year and this time this year is that I have finally considered myself to be a runner. I really began running in 2006, which is when I was a freshman in college, because my college roommate was really into running. I had run occasionally before that, but never on a regular basis. I ran my first road race in 2008 and since then I have run in 46 road races. At this time last year, I had already ran several 5K's and 10K's and I had even ran 4 half marathons already. I decided that it was time for me to attempt the big 26.2, but I still did not really consider myself that much of a runner. I figured that running a marathon was the next logical step down my running path. There were many people who told me that I would not be able to run a marathon and I wanted to prove them wrong. After 30 weeks of long, hard training, I successfully completed my first marathon on May 26th, 2013.<br />
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When I reflect back on my marathon training and race, I realize that this was the moment that I truly considered myself a runner. After the Buffalo Marathon, a friend told me that only 1% of the population ever completes a marathon. As a math teacher, I can truly understand the significance of that statistic. Even though my marathon time was way slower than the average time for someone my age, I still felt like I was part of an elite group. That feeling was recently squashed when I read an article that Hal Higdon posted. I have used, and really enjoyed, Hal Higdon's half marathon and marathon training plans so I follow his status updates. <a href="http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/the_slow_lane/35730/" target="_blank">The Slow Lane</a> was an article about whether or not there is any pride in running a marathon anymore. Everyone runs for different reasons and not everyone runs races solely for the competition. I think that we should be commending the fact that so many people have taken up running as a sport or a hobby.<br />
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I did like that the article talks a little bit about how "fun runs" such as the Color Run and Tough Mudder are not even real races. If you had followed my running blog or knew how my running was going after the marathon, then you will recall that I had some major runner burnout this summer. I was really mentally and physically struggling through many of my runs this summer and had no desire to even be running at all. I ended up running in the Color Run and the Dirty Girl Mud Run and they were exactly the kinds of runs that I needed to kick my runner burnout. By the end of the summer, I was running for fun again and had no specific goal in mind. I usually sign up for races all of the time so that I will always have a goal to reach, but it was great to be able to run however much I wanted to run whenever I wanted to run.<br />
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By the end of the summer, I was more than ready to enter my 2nd year of coaching cross country. I was ready to focus on my athletes' running instead of my own for once. I workout and run with my team pretty much everyday so I knew that I would definitely be in great shape by the end of the season, if not the best shape I had ever been in. After the first 2 weeks of cross country, I was itching to begin running road races again. It had been quite awhile since I had the desire to enter a road race and I was ready to make my return to the race scene. I ran a 5K the day after my 25th birthday and I finished the race in 27:27, which was 49 seconds faster than my previous PR. I had been trying to break 28 minutes during a 5K race for a long time and finally being able to do it was such an incredible feeling for me.<br />
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After my new 5K PR, I realized that up until this point there were not many races that I had run that I had really raced. I did run fast during 5K's, but I never really pushed myself as hard as I could. I enjoyed running 5K's, but I never really had the desire to see how far I could push myself. I knew that I was getting into better shape every week of cross country and that I was ready to really test my limits during races. I realized that being a good coach meant that I should also practice what I preach. I am not really teaching my athletes anything if I enter races just to run in them. I wanted to show them that if you set a goal and worked hard, then you could achieve your goal. I made myself a 5K goal of getting below 28 minutes and I realized that running a 5K is much more of an accomplishment when you have a goal to achieve.<br />
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I ran a few races during the cross country season, but my best race was the Chris Bond 5K that I ran last weekend. I had run this race a few times before in college with my college roommate so Jason and I decided to sign up for it. When you are practicing or coaching meets 6 days a week, entering a race on a Sunday morning does not seem as exciting as when you signed up. I decided on the way to the race that my only goal for the day would be to just break 28 minutes again. Once I got to the start line, I began to feel like this was not a good enough goal. The minute that I took my first step of the race I knew that I was going to be able to get a PR. I felt so good during the entire race and I knew that I was keeping a quick, steady pace. With every step that I took, I began to feel more confident and determined to not just break 28 minutes, but to break 27 minutes. I felt so incredible when I crossed the finish line at 26:49, shattering my old PR by 38 seconds. I am definitely attributing my recent success to the cross country season.<br />
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The cross country season came to an end over the weekend, but I am very grateful for the fact that this season has put me into the best shape that I have ever been in throughout my entire life. I am thankful that I was able to run with my athletes everyday and hopefully be a positive role model for them too. This cross country season made me fall in love with running all over again and gave me back that spark that I needed to enjoy running again. I was frequently reminded of how compassionate and encouraging runners are to one another, whether they are on the same team or not. I was reminded of how unique the bond of runners really is. I was reminded of why I love running so much in the first place, even on days that running is the last thing that I want to do. I was reminded that success is a result of hard work and determination. I was reminded that I really can be considered a runner, even on my slowest days. I was reminded that running is fun and that you do not always need to have a goal. I was reminded that running is the sport that you will love to hate and hate to love.<br />
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When I look back on the past year since I began marathon training, I am really proud of how far I have come as a runner. I ran 13 races this past year, including 2 half marathons and my first full marathon. I shattered my 5K and 10K PR's more than once and I proved to myself that I can accomplish my goals if I work hard enough. The million dollar question is what comes next? I have been toying around with many different ideas for my next big running goal and have not settled on one yet. I have decided that I am going to let the next couple of months just be running for fun. I plan to enter a couple more road races before 2013 ends, but I do not have any major goals set for myself. During cross country season, there were weeks where I was running 5 or 6 days in a row. I am definitely going to cut back a bit now so that I will be ready to tackle my next running goal once the new year starts. I built a really solid running base during cross country so I will be ready for whatever I decide to do next. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy running and get myself ready for whatever comes next. It's amazing what a difference a year can make.Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-46768418347575296422013-08-04T18:10:00.000-07:002013-08-04T18:16:24.815-07:00Life After 26.2: The Inability to PR<div class="MsoNormal">
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</xml><![endif]-->It has been exactly 10 weeks since the Buffalo Marathon and
I am finally getting the desire to run back. I did not do a whole lot of
running in the first few weeks following the marathon and there were many
different reasons for that. With the end of the school year, my brother’s
wedding and giving my body a break after the marathon, running quickly moved to
the bottom of my priority list. The marathon definitely took its toll on my
body and running was a bit challenging physically after that. Running was a
struggle for me from the end of May until the end of June so I decided to take
a few weeks off from running. After my brother’s wedding and a couple weeks of
traveling, I was finally over my runner burnout and ready to begin running
again. When I began running again, it was still a bit of a struggle physically
and that was very frustrating. After a couple of weeks of running regularly
again, my body finally began to bounce back from the marathon and running began
to feel good again.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing that helped me bounce back from the marathon was
beginning to do some more cross training. From November to May, my entire focus
was on training for the marathon and running was the only exercise that I was
doing. My pace for running is still pretty inconsistent right now, but the
cross training has definitely helped my running. Jason and I have made hiking a
weekly thing this summer and 3 hour hikes are definitely a great workout. I have
also started biking a couple days a week too and that is also a great workout.
I really wanted to get into biking because I am considering completing a
duathlon next year. I am not a very good swimmer so a duathlon would be perfect
for me. I know that I will definitely do at least a couple of half marathons
again next year, but I am not so sure about another marathon. If I do not do
another marathon, then I will definitely have the time to devote to training
for a duathlon. That is definitely on my bucket list and I am already thinking
about my big workout goal for 2014.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the remainder of 2013, I plan to take it easy on the
running. I will still enter shorter road races and continue running regularly.
I have no intention of doing any longer races again until late next winter or
next spring. I want to spend some time just running for fun again and enjoying
running some shorter races. I have run two 5K’s in the past month and I was a
little disappointed after I finished each of them. My speed for shorter
distances definitely improved quite a bit after training for the Buffalo
Marathon so I expected to PR in both of these races. I technically did PR at
the Corporate Challenge, but the course was not exactly 3.1 miles. The
Corporate Challenge was a huge struggle for me and I just could not push myself
to go any faster. I was the last one to finish from our team even though I
tried to keep up with everyone. I was pretty disappointed after that, but you
cannot expect to PR every time that you race. I also started running again the
week of the Corporate Challenge so it was no surprise that the race was
difficult for me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent the weeks following the Corporate Challenge just
trying to get back into a regular running routine. Running has definitely
gotten easier again over the past few weeks, but I have still been pretty inconsistent.
Some days running is really easy and I have a pretty good pace. Some days running
is a struggle and I am pretty slow. Despite my inconsistency, I have gotten the
desire to begin racing again. Since I am ready to do some shorter races, I have
been making sure that I run 3.1 miles at least once a week. I ran 3.1 miles 1 ½
minutes quicker than my 5K PR this past week. I was so happy that I had such a
good run that I decided to enter a 5K this past weekend. I thought for sure
that I would get a PR at the Taste of Lancaster 5K, but that did not happen. I
had a really great first mile and I had set into a pretty comfortable pace. It
was pretty hot out that morning and I definitely slowed down during the other 2
miles. I was disappointed when I saw that I was not going to get a PR, but I
was less than a minute away from my best time. I should have been able to get a
PR because I had just proved that I could do it a few days before. I am not
sure why the last two races were so difficult for me and why I now have the
inability to PR during a race. I think that I need to get a couple more races
under my belt and a few more weeks of running before I am satisfied with where
I am as a runner again. I am definitely on the right track now and I am very happy
to finally be bouncing back from this marathon.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For those who were wondering, here are my running statistics
since the marathon:<br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>May 2013</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5/30/13 – 2 miles in 20:11 (10:06 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>June 2013</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/3/13 – 4.25 miles in 39:20 (9:15 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/9/13 – 2 miles in 18:56 (9:28 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/11/13 – 4.5 miles in 39:44 (8:49 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/19/13 – 7 miles in 1:12:14 (10:19 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:56 (7:56 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:34 (7:34 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6/20/13 – 1 mile in 7:40 (7:40 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>July 2013</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/8/13 -5K in 28:29 (9:11 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/10/13 – 5K in 31:29 (10:09 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/11/13 – Corporate Challenge 5K in 28:17 (9:06 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/14/13 – 4 miles in 43:43 (10:56 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/16/13 – 1 mile in 8:16 (8:16 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/16/13 – 2 miles in 17:40 (8:50 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/17/13 – 5K in 29:27 (9:30 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/21/13 – 5 miles in 52:44 (10:32 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/23/13 – 6 miles in 1:00:42 (10:07 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/26/13 – 5K in 29:52 (9:38 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/30/13 – 8 miles in 1:21:19 (10:09 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7/31/13 – 5K in 26:56 (8:42 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>August 2013</u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/3/13 – Taste of Lancaster 5K in 29:08 (9:23 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 7:40 (7:40 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 7:43 (7:43 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 8:34 (8:34 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
8/4/13 – 1 mile in 8:31 (8:31 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
522.05 miles run in 83:51:39 during 2013!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-66030547416347921672013-06-09T15:52:00.001-07:002013-06-09T15:53:35.676-07:00Life After 26.2: Runner Burnout<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->It’s been exactly 2 weeks since the Buffalo Marathon and I
am currently experiencing a severe case of runner burnout. When I say a severe
case of runner burnout, I mean bad enough to want to drop out of all of the
races that I have already registered for this summer. At this point, my lack of
motivation is mostly mental. I was surprised at how quickly my body actually
bounced back from the marathon and all soreness was gone by the end of the
first week. Since the marathon, I have lost the spark to run that I have had
all spring. I just do not want to run at all anymore, but I am hoping that I
can get back that motivation to run again soon. I feel like I have lost
everything that I have worked so hard for over the past few months. I have run
3 times since the marathon and all 3 of those runs have been a struggle. I ran
a very slow 2 miles a few days after the marathon and then took a few more days
off. I was able to get a 4 mile run and a 2 mile run in this past week. When I
went out for the 2 miler, I was actually hoping to do 3 or 4, but my body just
felt like it could not do more than 2. I was easily able to run 10 miles just a
month ago and now it is a struggle to just run 2 miles.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When you train for a marathon, no one ever tells you how
much of a struggle the days following the marathon will be. I knew that there
would be a lot of soreness following the marathon, but that is expected with
any big race. I was happy that I was only sore for a few days and that I
finished this marathon without any injury. While my body was extremely sore for
a few days after the marathon, I actually had trouble sleeping the first few
days after the marathon. The runner’s high lasted for several days and I think
that is why my body was not willing to go to bed before 1am for several days.
The insomnia did not last very long and by the middle of that week I was just
exhausted. When you’re exhausted, running is the last thing that you want to do
so I listened to my body and took some time off. I was glad to have another
excuse not to run. I have had no desire to run since the marathon and had to
force myself to go running the 3 times that I did run. I never thought that
running a marathon would give me such a mental runner burnout. I just do not
have the same passion for running right now that I used to. I have had a few
people tell me that my journey to 26.2 was what inspired them to begin running.
I almost feel a little bit guilty writing this post because this is the
furthest thing from inspiring people to run. Now is the time that I could use a
little bit of motivation myself to begin running again.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think that there are several factors contributing to my
lack of motivation to run now. It is the end of the school year so work is
extremely busy. In fact, life is just extremely busy right now. My body is just
tired from the marathon and all of the traveling and has not really had a
chance to catch up on sleep yet. I have been doing quite a bit of traveling
recently between long weekends, different races and my brother’s upcoming
wedding. I have spent a lot of time in my car over the past couple months. My
running sneakers do not really feel the need to spend time on the pavement
since my car tires have done so much of that. Luckily, things are beginning to
slow down and summer is quickly approaching. Running experts say that it takes
about a month to recover from a marathon so I am hoping to really get back into
it once school ends and summer vacation begins. I have a few races that I am
already registered for this summer so hopefully my body will be back in top
shape by then. My next race is the Corporate Challenge this Thursday and
hopefully the rest of my coworkers will not embarrass me too badly when I come
in last place!</div>
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-35393757424234938952013-05-26T17:48:00.000-07:002013-05-26T17:48:00.017-07:00The Buffalo Marathon RecapI AM OFFICIALLY A MEMBER OF THE 26.2 MILE CLUB!!!!! I completed the Buffalo Marathon today in 5:05:30, which is an 11:39 min/mi pace. I have already had several people asking about how the race went today so here's a recap of my marathon experience.<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Night Before the Race</b></u><br />
I was feeling pretty good about this race because I worked really hard and I was definitely physically prepared to run a marathon. Over the past few weeks, I really had to mentally prepare myself for such a huge task. I was surprisingly only a little nervous last night because I knew that there was nothing else that I could do at this point. I did everything that I needed to do to prepare for the race today. I made sure that I had plenty of water and gatorade all day and loaded up on carbs. I also had all of my running "gear" ready last night. I tried to go to bed early last night, but I was too excited and nervous to fall asleep early. After much tossing and turning all night, I eventually fell asleep last night.<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Morning of the Race</b></u><br />
I woke up at 3:30am this morning and was extremely happy when I realized that I could get 2 more hours of sleep. I woke up at 5:30am and got ready for the big race. I had my bowl of oatmeal and banana, put my running clothes on, got my hydration belt ready, put my timing chip on my shoe and put my race bib on my shirt. We left around 6:10am and my dad dropped me off near the start line.<br />
<br />
<u><b>The Moments Before the Race</b></u><br />
The race did not start until 7am, but I arrived at the start line around 6:30am. I had debated wearing short spandex or capri's and was extremely happy that I chose capri's. It was only around 45 degrees outside when we were waiting for the race to start and it was COLD! I knew that once the race started that these cool temperatures would make for a great race. I got a ton of compliments on my wonderful pink race tank that Brian made for me. People either asked me if I was a math teacher or told me that they did not understand the front of my shirt until they saw the 26.2 on the back.<br />
<br />
I entered the race corral when there was about 10 minutes left to the start. I lined up with the 4:40 marathon pacer and was hoping to stay with the pacer for most of the race. I can comfortably run a half marathon in about 2:15 so I figured that I would do okay starting with the 4:40 pacer. I knew that I would slow down eventually, but I was worried that if I started with a slower pacer I would slow down way too much. I met a lady who came from Syracuse and was also running her first marathon. We decided to run together since neither of us had anyone else to run with and would be able to help each other push through. Neither one of us had a set goal, but we were both hoping to finish in under 5 hours. My real goal was just to be able to finish the race, but a time goal really helped me to pace myself and stick with the crowd.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Miles 1-6.2 (The 10K)</b></u><br />
I decided not to wear a watch for this race because I did not want to be disappointed in my time if I ended up being slower than expected. There were clocks at the relay points so it was good to see my time every 6.2 miles instead of every mile. When the race started off, we were maintaining a pretty good pace. We did not set out too quickly because we knew that it would be a long 26.2 miles. The first 10K of the race felt great. I was happy and comfortable with the pace that we were maintaining. The course was also relatively flat, which is a nice change from what I am used to running. The first 3 miles were through downtown Buffalo and there was just so much excitement and energy all around. We were stuck in a pretty big crowd for the beginning of the race because there were way more people in the half marathon and the relay than the actual marathon. Miles 3-6 were so beautiful to run through because we were running right along Lake Erie and the Erie Basin Marina. I also love that when you loop around the Marina you get to see people running in the other direction. The Marina loop is from miles 5-6 so I was able to see a few people that I know running by, including Molly who was also running her first full marathon. Once we were out of the Marina, we were at the 10K mark and we were holding a steady 10:40 min/mi pace.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Miles 6.2-12.4 (The 20K)</b></u><br />
The 10K mark was the first exchange of the marathon relay so naturally tons of runners began to pass us since they were just beginning their leg of the race. I have run the half marathon twice before, but I forgot how long it feels to run from the 10K mark to the 20K mark. We ran all the way down Ohio St. for more than 2 miles before we reached the Harbor. The 10K to the 20K is a giant loop so you run past the 12 mile mark and then realize that you are actually only approaching mile 7. I had my first Gu packet around mile 7 and was only drinking water every 2 miles at this point. When you pass the 11 mile mark and go over the open gate bridge that I hate, you are really only at mile 8. We ran almost a mile down the Harbor and had another beautiful view of Lake Erie before turning around and running back the same way that we had just come. I also like this part of the course because you get to pass by all of the people that are ahead of you on the other side of the street or behind you on the way back. After mile 10, we began looking at all of the people still making their way down to the Harbor. It was incredible to see all different kinds of people out attempting a half marathon or marathon and you could tell that some people had worked really hard to get there. We noticed that there were many red bibs behind us still, but not too many blue bibs. The red bibs were for the half marathon, the green bibs were for the relay and the blue bibs were for the marathon. This was to be expected because there were way more people running the half marathon and first time marathoners are slow anyways.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Miles 12.4-18.6 (The 30K)</b></u><br />
I lost my new running friend around the 20K mark because this was where I was beginning to struggle. We parted ways and I decided that it was time to slow down my pace, while she kept up the 10:40 min/mi pace. I knew that if I kept running so fast that I was never going to make it to the finish line. You could see the finish line around 13 miles, but this was the point where the half marathoners ran straight to the finish and the marathoners turned off to the right to continue the second half of their journey. The minute that I turned the corner it was like a ghost town compared to what we had just run in for the first half of the course. There were a lot less people running the marathon and the people running the marathon were at all different ability levels. The nice thing about this was that you had plenty of room to run with very few people around you. I was extremely happy to see bananas at the 13 mile mark because I have recently discovered that bananas are great to eat before or during a run if you have stomach problems. I was still drinking water and/or gatorade every 2 miles at this point. I had my hydration belt on in case I needed it, but luckily it was cool enough out that drinking at every 2 miles worked pretty well for me. I learned my lesson during my 22 miler about drinking too much during a run.<br />
<br />
Miles 13 to 16 felt extremely long because it was a straight stretch down Franklin St/Linwood Avenue. I was beginning to lose motivation and energy at this point, but luckily there were a lot of motivating people along the way that helped. I talked to many people along the way and most had run a marathon before and gave me some good tips to keep moving along. We entered Forest Lawn Cemetery around Mile 16 and this was the point when the 4:40 marathon pacer passed me. I walked through every water station, but this was the point when I had to start alternating in some more walking. I really did not want to do any walking during the race, but it was necessary to help me keep running the majority of the race. We entered Delaware Park around mile 17 and miles 17-18 were where I just wanted to quit the race. I did not think that I was going to make it another 9 miles and I was getting really discouraged. It was right around mile 18 that I realized that I had not had a Gu packet since mile 18 and probably just needed a burst of energy. The fuel certainly made a difference and I quickly got rid of my negative attitude. As physically tough as this race was, it was actually way more mentally tough. When you are running for so long, it is easy to lose focus and forget about keeping your mind on the finish line. I knew that my time was getting slower, but I was going to get to that finish line no matter what.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Miles 18.6-24.8 (The 40K)</b></u><br />
The last leg of the relay was right outside of Delaware Park and it was a bit frustrating to see the relay runners just breezing by. Luckily, the relay runners were very encouraging and kept telling us how they could never do what we were doing. Running from the 30K to the 40K was certainly not easy at all, but I was feeling much more confident than I had been before I reached the 30K point. It was beginning to warm up a bit so I began drinking water and/or gatorade at every mile, but the temperature was still comfortable for such a long run. We ran through the neighborhood around Delaware Park and there were still a ton of spectators out cheering us on. The people volunteering at the aid stations were the best and I was extremely grateful for everything that they had at the aid stations. I really enjoyed the oranges at one of the aid stations, which just fell right around the time that I needed a little kick of energy. The Buffalo Marathon does not mess around when it comes to aid stations. They did not have everything at every aid station, but they had everything ranging from water and gatorade to oranges and bananas to Gu and candy to vaseline and tylenol.<br />
<br />
There were also water/aid stations at every mile after mile 21, which was perfect at this point in the race. This forced me to stop to walk at every mile and rehydrate. I would walk for about 1 minute and then run to the next aid station at the next mile. There were a couple of times that I had to stop to walk for a minute in the middle of a mile, but I was able to run most of the stretch from the 30K to the 40K. I am sure that I looked pretty funny every time that I started running again after a stretch of walking. It was hard to lift my legs too far off of the ground at this point so I sort of waddled a little bit until my legs began running again. We ran out of Delaware Park around mile 21, but passed through it again at mile 22. This was the point in the race that I was the most nervous for because I had never run more than 22 miles before. After the awful time that I had at mile 17, I knew that this would not be too bad. I only had 4.2 miles left to run at this point and I would have walked all 4.2 miles if I had to. Luckily, my body was willing to run most of the rest of the race very slowly. Miles 22-24 were a straight stretch down Bidwell Parkway and Richmond Avenue. The straight stretches are always the worst because they look short, but actually take forever to get through.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Miles 24.8-26.2 (The Marathon)</b></u><br />
We turned back onto Delaware Avenue right around the 40K mark and I was happy to be so close to the finish. I got the worst cramp right below my ribs right around mile 25. I am not going to lie about the fact that I had to walk a good chunk of mile 25. I would run about 1/4 mile and then stop to walk for a minute or two. I had been doing so well around the 40K mark, even if it was slow so I was a bit annoyed. I was also a bit annoyed because I could see the fountain in Niagara Square for about 1 mile and it felt like it took forever to get there. During one of my walking stretches, I was fixing my headband and some girl ran past me and asked me if I was trying to look good for the finish instead of keeping running. I told her yes I am going to look good when I RUN past the finish line. The 26 mile mark was right in Niagara Square and that is when I got the biggest adrenaline rush of the entire race. I was going to run right across that finish line and I was going to look good doing it. I came around the corner running as fast as my body would allow at that point and I saw my parents, my brothers, my sister-in-laws and my best friends all waiting for me near the finish. I was so happy to see all of them and have such a big crowd to cheer me on at the finish. I crossed the finish around 5:08, but my chip time ended up being 5:05:30. I was expecting a 5 hour finish so I am still pretty happy with my finish, especially since running 26.2 miles is such a huge accomplishment in the first place.<br />
<br />
<u><b>After the Race</b></u><br />
I was so incredibly proud of myself when I crossed the finish line. When I had turned the corner and saw the finish line, I just wanted to cry because I was so excited that I had made it so far. It was tough, but I made it to 26.2 miles with very few problems. It was an incredible feeling to have that marathon medal placed around my neck and realize that I have just accomplished something that I have worked so hard for the better part of 30 weeks. <span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">If you set a goal, work hard and believe in yourself, then you can achieve anything that you set your mind to! If you had told me 5 years ago that I would successfully complete a marathon, then I probably would have laughed in your face. Running a marathon was physically the most difficult thing that I have ever done, but hard work really does pay off. Thank you to all of you who joined me on this journey to 26.2 miles. Today I am especially thankful for all of the people who cheered me on and helped me get to the finish line. I am glad that my family and friends were there to see me finish, but I am also grateful for all of the other runners and the complete strangers who helped push me along today. I was definitely sore and tired when I was done, but I felt so much better than I did after I completed 22 miles. Stairs were no easy task, but I was actually able to walk/waddle and eat when I was done! I am now officially a member of the 26.2 mile club and I could not be more proud of myself for such a huge accomplishment.</span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><u><b>What's Next</b></u></span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">I am going to take about a week off from running now that the marathon is over to give my body some time to recover. I would like to do more cross training this summer, but I still plan to continue running. I am going to cut back on my mileage for awhile. I plan to run shorter distances and spend more time focusing on speed over the summer. I have several races planned over the next few months including the Corporate Challenge, the Boilermaker, the Color Run, the Tops/Roswell 10K and the Dirty Girl Mud Run just to name a few. I like to do longer races during the spring when the training and race weather is much cooler. At this point, I am not sure if I would ever run another marathon. It's way to soon to even think about that, but it could be a possibility one day. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">The first thing that I said to my family after the race was I am never running a marathon ever again. I am not going to say that it is going to be out of the question, but I am already beginning to think about my 2014 workout/race goal. 2008 was my first road race ever. 2009 was my first half marathon. From 2009-2011, I entered a ton of local road races and worked on improving my race speed. In 2012, I entered 3 half marathons and worked on improving my half marathon time. 2013 was the year that I ran 2 half marathons before I ran my first full marathon. I do not know what is in store for 2014 yet, but I am potentially thinking of something involving biking. I would really love to enter a duathlon, but I need to begin biking first. I think that this summer will be the perfect time to work on cross training and other workouts in addition to running. I am going to take a break from blogging for a little while. I will probably continue blogging after running races, but since I am not training for anything there will be no need for me to blog on a regular basis. So thank you for joining me on my running journey and stay tuned for whatever comes next!</span><br />
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}"><b>26.2 MILES CONQUERED AT THE BUFFALO MARATHON IN 5:05:30!!!!!</b></span>Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-10437057642496973942013-05-22T16:07:00.002-07:002013-05-22T16:08:31.806-07:00The Final Countdown<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</xml><![endif]-->Over the past 30 weeks, I have run a total of 527.1 miles
over the course of 85 hours, 9 minutes and 44 seconds. I cannot believe that I
have run for a total of 3 days, 13 hours, 9 minutes and 44 seconds. I have run
enough miles since the end of October to be able to run from my apartment to my
parent’s house and back almost 3 times! I am now proud to say that ….. MARATHON
TRAINING IS OFFICIALLY OVER!!!!! My body was extremely grateful for the tapering
over the past couple of weeks, especially since “travel” season has started
back up. I have reached the point in the year where I spend a lot more time making
trips home or elsewhere. It can be tricky to get all of your runs in when you’re
traveling, work is busy and the weather is nicer. I have had to be pretty
flexible with my running these past couple of weeks, especially when it has
been so hot out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I completed my
last training run today and now the only thing left on my training schedule is
REST! I never miss a rest day in my training schedule so thank you Hal Higdon
for giving me two rest days before the race. I actually will end up getting
three rest days because I ended up being a day ahead on my schedule. I am
extremely grateful for the rest days and the fact that the marathon is right in
the middle of a 4 day weekend. I am going to drive home right after work
tomorrow and spend Friday and Saturday mentally preparing for the big day.<br />
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I think that I am physically ready for this race, but I am
not completely mentally prepared for this race yet. I have recently discovered
a few things about my body that have made me physically prepared for this race.
It’s no secret that my 22 mile run was pretty rough, but a huge part of the
problem was the heat. I recently read an article that it’s possible to drink
too much water while you are running. I guess I should not have drunk water
every half mile or chugged half of a bottle of water when my dad came to refill
my water bottles that day. I will make sure to be extra conscious of how much I
drink on Sunday. I was really happy when I saw that the weather forecast for
Sunday was going to be a high of 63 degrees. It won’t be too hot early in the
morning and it will be much easier to stay hydrated. I have also recently
discovered that eating a banana before a run really helps your stomach during a
run, especially if you already have stomach issues. I have also used Gu during
several of my long runs so I already have my Gu packets ready for every 5-6 miles
on Sunday. I have also tested out the running clothes that I plan to wear on Sunday
because nobody enjoys chaffing!</div>
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I know that I am physically prepared for this race,
especially after 30 weeks of training. However, I have a total mix of emotions
and feelings about this race on Sunday. I am very proud of how far I have come
as a runner, especially over this past year. I never thought that I would ever
run a half marathon and now I am about to run my first marathon. I am excited
for this race because I have already run the half marathon course twice, which
is the first half of the marathon. I love running through the marina, the
harbor and along Lake Erie. I am glad that I am familiar with the first part of
the course and I am glad that I am not familiar with the second part of the
course. I do not think that running through Delaware Park will be too bad,
especially because this part of the race will be a new running atmosphere for
me. I think that this will help the time pass and not make the last few miles
seem so long. The only goal that I have for Sunday is to be able to finish the
race. I do not care how long it takes me to run and I do not even care if I
have to alternate running and walking a little bit towards the end. I think
that the marathon will probably take me about 5 hours based on how my long runs
went. I can usually run a half marathon in about 2 hours and 15 minutes so I
think that 5 hours is a pretty good judge of around how long it will take.
While I am excited for this challenge, I am still extremely nervous and scared
about my ability to be able to run so far. I just need to head into Sunday with
a positive attitude and remind myself of how hard I have worked to get here
over these past 30 weeks.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I am not sure that I would ever run a marathon ever again
because it is such a huge time commitment to train for, but who knows what my
running future might hold. I am excited to be able to begin running for fun
again and to not have to stick to such a strict running schedule for a while. I
am also excited to be able to start varying up my workouts again. My speed has
improved greatly over the past year, especially since cross country season, but
I would like to spend some more time focusing on speed this summer. I would
like to do some more trail running or hiking or biking or swimming. I really
want to complete a duathlon one day since I stink at swimming. So I would like
to get into biking and maybe that will be my big race and focus for next year.
I just need to get through this race on Sunday and take a short break from
running before I start something new. I am sure that I will have plenty of time
to think about all of these things during the 5 hours that I spend running on
Sunday morning. </div>
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<br /></div>
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Right now, I am thinking about how extremely grateful I am for
everyone who has helped get to the start line. I am thankful for my wonderful
parents and family who supported me during all of this training. At least one
of my parents always shows up for my races and they even stay overnight
somewhere with me when I go out of town for a race. They had also put up with
my crazy running schedule during all of the weekends that I was at home or they
came to visit me. They even came to my rescue when I ran out of water during a
long run or needed help doing something as simple as untying my shoes after a
long run. I am also grateful for all of my wonderful running buddies who helped
me get through these 30 weeks of training. I had many days where I ended up
running on my own, but I also had many days where my co-workers or friends
joined me. I was extremely happy to have company when I was running whether it
was a 3 mile or run or a 19 mile run. I never had anyone run the full distance
with me once I got past 13, but I usually had company for the first half of
most of my long runs. I had friends run with me in some of the best and worst
running conditions and they totally understood how tough some of these runs
could get.</div>
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I am also thankful for all of the friends who supported me
during these past 30 weeks, even if they were not actually running besides me.
I had so many people checking in on my training all of the time and they were
genuinely interested in how my training was going. Believe me when I say that
every little compliment or word of encouragement helped push me through some of
my toughest runs. I was glad to be able to share my running statistics and my
blog with everyone so that they could keep track of my progress. I even have
people who ask me for tips or running advice now. It is so incredible to
reflect back on how far I have come as a runner and to think about how I used
to be the one asking for running tips. This was not the easiest journey to
complete, but you all helped me take on such a big challenge. So thank you to all
of you who have helped carry me through my training and to the starting line of
the Buffalo Marathon. I will be thinking about all of the people who helped get
me to the start line on Sunday and I am as ready as I am ever going to be
conquer 26.2 miles. Be sure to check back next week for a detailed report of my
marathon experience. </div>
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<u>Week 29</u><br />
5/14/13 – 6 miles in 54:12 (9:02 min/mi pace)<br />
5/15/13 – 3 miles in 26:55 (8:59 min/mi pace)<br />
5/17/13 – 8 miles in 1:21:20 (10:10 min/mi pace)</div>
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<u>Week 30</u><br />
5/20/13 – 3 miles in 27:38 (9:13 min/mi pace)<br />
5/21/13 – 4 miles in 41:18 (10:20 min/mi pace)<br />
5/22/13 – 2 miles in 18:30 (9:15 min/mi pace)</div>
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527.1 miles complete in 85:9:44 and only 4 days until
conquering 26.2 miles!</div>
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-92093289159890196442013-05-11T18:21:00.001-07:002013-05-11T18:22:21.046-07:00My Top 10 Funniest or Most Embarrassing Running MomentsSince marathon training is quickly coming to an end and my
mileage is decreasing, I have decided that I am going to bring some humor back
into my blog posts. Before I get into the details of week 28, I am going to
share my top 10 funniest or most embarrassing running moments. These are
probably not the only funny or embarrassing moments that I have ever had
running, but these ones are the most vivid in my memory. Some of these moments
have happened during marathon training and some have been from my past few
years as a runner. As I came up with this list, I have realized that many of
these stories involve being chased by dogs or getting injured. (Perhaps I
need to live in a “bubble” for the last two weeks of training to avoid either
of these situations.) Anyways, here are my top 10 funniest or most embarrassing running
moments for your viewing pleasure:<br />
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1.) The time that I fell off of the treadmill and tried to
crawl back up the treadmill to turn it off before I let myself fall off instead. (See my October blog
post “The Tale of the Treadmill” for the full story.)</div>
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2.) The time that I went snow tubing, landed on my face, got
a concussion and missed 3 weeks of marathon training.</div>
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<br /></div>
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3.) The time that I entered an open cross country race in
college and came in last place by 2 minutes.</div>
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<br /></div>
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4.) The time that I ran screaming through the hills of my
neighborhood because I thought that two wiener dogs were chasing me and they
were really in a yard with an electric fence. (See my January blog post “Who
Let the Dogs Out” for the full story.)</div>
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5.) The time that I ran the Bridge Run half marathon for the
first time in Vibram Five Fingers and sprained my ankle at mile 10 and finished
the race anyways. (I will never go back to Vibram’s after an excellent year of
running in Mizuno’s!)</div>
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6.) The time that I ran in the middle of the street during
rush hour traffic because two dogs knocked down their fence and chased me
across the street. (I avoided getting hit by a car, but I now cross the street
whenever I have to run by this house.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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7.) The time in college that Katelyn and I thought that it
would be fun to run from campus to the Pittsford end of the canal to the
Fairport end of the canal and back to campus on an extremely hot and sunny day.
(We did not end up running the entire time, but it took us 3 hours to
accomplish this and we came back looking like lobsters.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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8.) The time that Sandy and I went trail running, followed
by some hiking where I tripped up a hill and cut my knee open.</div>
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<br /></div>
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9.) The time that I tripped over a pop can during a run and
twisted my ankle.</div>
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10.) The time that Sandy and I were passed by an elderly gentleman
who just breezed by us at the finish line of the Santa Run. (There is a picture
of this online and he looks like he’s making very little effort, while we look
quite the opposite!)</div>
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<br /></div>
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I will recap week 28 now that you've had a good laugh about my running stories. Week 28 of training was pretty great because it was my
second week of tapering. I am now beginning to understand why tapering is so
important to running a marathon. My legs and body are beginning to feel
well-rested between runs and I haven’t been very sore. The decreased mileage
has definitely helped my body and my runs have felt much better this week. I
was able to stick to my training plan this week and did not have to skip or
shorten any runs. I always feel guilty when I skip out on my training so I am
glad that I had a pretty good week. I have been changing up my routes in my
neighborhood for my short runs and the change of scenery definitely made a
difference too. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have a 5 mile loop by my apartment that I usually run, but
on Tuesday I decided to change it up for my run. I went out in a different direction
and I was still a mile away by the time that I got to mile 5. Since I was only
on schedule for 5 miles, I decided to walk the last mile back to my apartment.
I was amazed at how much easier it was to walk back up the hill to my apartment
after spending a few extra minutes walking. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Wednesday, I had the best run that I have had in weeks. I
was on schedule for 8 miles and tried to get out before the rain began. I was
only 1 mile into my run before it started raining and it was pouring rain for
most of my run. I actually felt really good for the entire run and I was maintaining a
very comfortable pace. I changed up my route again so I found myself 1 mile
away from home when I was supposed to be done. Since it was still pouring rain,
I decided to run the extra mile home. Within 1 minute of completing my 9 mile
run, the rain stopped and then the sun came out pretty soon after that. However, I
will take a run in the rain over a run in the heat any day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I ran 4 miles on Thursday and tried a new workout for this
run. I tried Hal Higdon’s 3/1 workout where you run ¾ of the run at an easy or
comfortable pace and the last ¼ of the run fast or at race pace. I ran the
first 3 miles between 9:30 min/mi and 10:00 min/mi, which is a pretty comfortable
pace for me. I ran the last mile at a 7:30 min/mi pace and hauled it back home.
It was a great workout and a nice alternative to a tempo run. I have not really
focused on any speed work during training, but I thought that a change in my
workout would be nice on an easy day. I definitely want to try different
running workouts once the marathon is over and I cut back on my mileage for the
summer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I woke up early this morning to run since I learned my
lesson about starting a long run too late in the day during that terrible 22 mile long run.
However, Mother Nature had other plans for me. I do not mind running in the
rain, but it was pouring rain for a good part of the morning and the weather report
said scattered thunderstorms. I spent the morning and the early part of the
afternoon debating whether I would go out when the weather cleared up or wait
until the morning. I ended up going out to run around 3:30 and I was extremely
happy that it was still overcast. It was cloudy until the last few miles, but
it was not too hot for most of my run. I ran at a slower pace today since I am
trying to get my body ready to run the marathon at a slower pace than my half marathon
pace. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a pretty good run today, but my body is extremely
happy that there will be no more double digit runs until race day. My long runs
are usually not too difficult for me. The hour or two after each long run is usually
the tougher part, but a shower, food, water and the couch usually take care of
that. I do not foresee having any problems next week because my long run is
only 8 miles next week. I cannot believe that there are only 2 weeks left until
the big race. I am a total mix of emotions still about this race, but I feel
pretty good after this past week of training. I am happy that the mileage is
going to be pretty low and I think that this will really help me get ready for the
big race. Here’s a quick glance at this past week before I head into the final
countdown:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u>Week 28</u><br />
5/7/13 – 5 miles in 47:18 (9:27 min/mi pace)<br />
5/8/13 – 9 miles in 1:29:50 (9:58 min/mi pace)<br />
5/9/13 – 4 miles in 38:05 (9:30 min/mi pace)<br />
5/11/13 – 12 miles in 2:08:21 (10:41 min/mi pace)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
501.1 miles complete in 80:59:51 and only 15 days until
conquering 26.2 miles!</div>
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-17711418956756462592013-05-06T14:04:00.003-07:002013-05-06T14:05:50.273-07:00The Bridge RunAfter my difficult 22 mile long run last weekend, I was really lacking the motivation to continue my marathon training this past week. I had to remind myself that the toughest part of training was over and then I was ready to lace my kicks back up. I started my taper a week early because I wanted to run the Bridge Run this past weekend. My body was extremely happy to begin cutting back on my mileage. The weekday mileage is still a little high, but I knew that these would be some of the most important runs left in my training. The weekday runs were a bit tricky this week because the beautiful summer weather has finally arrived. It was cloudy and a bit cooler on Tuesday after school so I was able to get a nice quick run in. On Wednesday, Sandy and I headed to the rail trail even though it was incredibly hot and sunny. She wanted to run 4 miles and I needed to run 8 miles. We ran almost 3 miles before we stopped to walk and then got smoothies instead of continuing. I went back out closer to dusk when it was cooler out and finished my other 5 miles. On Thursday, I met Michelle for a quick run in the early evening. She only needed to run 2 miles before the Bridge Run and I had to run 3 more miles after that since I am still in marathon training. After my 5 miler, I was so happy to have a couple of days off and I was glad that I stuck to my training plan all week. Before I get into a recap of the Bridge Run, here's a look at week 27:<br />
<br />
<u>Week 27</u><br />
4/30/13 - 4 miles in 36:53 (9:13 min/mi pace)<br />
5/1/13 - 8 miles in 1:19:36 (9:57 min/mi pace)<br />
5/2/13 - 5 miles in 50:24 (10:05 min/mi pace)<br />
5/5/13 - <b>BRIDGE RUN HALF MARATHON -</b> 13.1 miles in 2:16:27 (10:24 min/mi pace)<br />
<br />
I ended week 27 with my last race before I run the Buffalo Marathon. Two years ago I ran the 5K for the first year of the Bridge Run and last year I ran the half marathon for the Bridge Run. I was really excited to be running the half for the second year in a row. The Bridge Run is a great race and a great event for Binghamton to host. It's amazing that over 2,000 runners come together to run a half marathon or 5K race in Binghamton. I headed into the Bridge Run with the attitude that this was just going to be a long run for me. I had no goal time or pace that I wanted to maintain. My goal was just to finish the 13.1 miles since I am still in training for the Buffalo Marathon. I did everything that I needed to do to prepare for the Bridge Run, but I still woke up feeling nervous like I do before every race. The nervous feeling went away once I made my way to the start line and got ready for the race to begin. I was a bit later than I wanted to be, but luckily I found Michelle and Brian a few minutes before the race began. We started the race off towards the back so that we would be able to pass plenty of people during the race. We ran a slow first mile and then began to slowly pick up the pace after that. It was a beautiful morning, but it was getting hot pretty quickly. We were doing great for the first few miles without any problems. I got a really bad cramp in my side around mile 7 and I just wanted to throw up and/or stop running, but luckily neither happened! By the time that we got to mile 10 and had passed over the hilliest part of the course, I was feeling good again. I probably could have ran faster if I was actually trying for a personal best, but I was happy to just be running for fun during a race for once. The whole race seemed to fly by and was like a blur to me. There were moments when I thought that I might have a personal best, but I was not disappointed when I did not. Michelle got quiet around mile 12, but luckily we all made it to mile 13.1 without any problems. We finished the race in 2:16:27, which was 5 minutes faster than last year for me and 15 minutes faster than last year for Brian and Michelle. <br />
<br />
I was pretty happy after the Bridge Run that we had all done so well. It was not my best race ever, but I have definitely improved quite a bit as a runner over the past year. I am now only 20 days away from the Buffalo Marathon and I am beginning to feel a mix of emotions. I am excited, anxious and nervous all at the same time. I do not think that I would have been able to run another 13.1 miles yesterday after the race, but then I remember that's why we taper for a few weeks before the race. I am sure that with the lower mileage and time to rest my legs and body a bit that I will be fully prepared for this race. I have my moments where I doubt my ability to be able to run 26.2 miles, especially after struggling so much with 22 miles last week. I know that the race is going to be a struggle, but I have been preparing for 27 weeks. I have ran almost 500 miles since the end of October and I have put a lot of work into training for this marathon. I think that my body is just about as physically prepared as it is ever going to be to run 26.2 miles. I just need to spend the next 3 weeks mentally preparing myself for this race and building my confidence in my ability to do this. I cannot believe that I am going to attempt to conquer 26.2 miles in just under 3 weeks now. This day seemed like it would never get here and now it is so close to arriving. I hope that the last 3 weeks of training get me motivated enough to be fully prepared for this race both physically and mentally. It's not going to be easy, but I am (almost) ready to conquer 26.2 miles!<br />
<br />
471.1 miles complete in 75:56:17 and only 20 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-76233366747999903372013-04-29T16:39:00.001-07:002013-04-29T16:45:42.919-07:00The Real Story Behind the 22 Mile Long RunI can describe my 22 mile long run in two words: IT SUCKED! I did everything that I was supposed to do to prepare for the long run. I drank a lot of water and gatorade in the days leading up to the long run, carb loaded all week, took 2 days off from running before the long run and even got a good night's sleep. I had everything set out and ready on Friday night including my running clothes, sneakers, Gu, water bottles and hydration belt. I wokeup on Saturday morning and I was feeling a little bit nervous about running 22 miles all by myself, but I was as ready as I was ever going to be. A trip home for the weekend meant that I would not have any running buddies with me for the first part of my run and I was going to have to tackle 22 miles all by myself. I had such a great 19 mile run that I thought that 22 miles would not be too bad, but mother nature had other plans for me on Saturday.<br />
<br />
I set out for my run around 9:45am and right away I knew that I should have started at least 2 hours earlier than I had. I was only 1 mile into my run when I realized how difficult this run was going to be. The temperature was already over 60 degrees, or at least it felt like it. I was dripping sweat already so I decided to head back to my parent's house to change into a running tank instead of the t-shirt that I was in. I had my favorite Pandora station on and I continued on my way. The beginning of the run was not too bad and I was doing a pretty good job pacing myself. I was going slower than normal because I wanted to make sure that I had enough energy left at the end of the run. I was feeling really good for the first 8-10 miles, but the temperature was beginning to rise pretty quickly.<br />
<br />
Most of my run ended up being in the direct sunlight and it was over 70 degrees by the time that I finished. This meant that I needed to drink more fluids than normal during my run. My hydration belt holds 40 ounces of liquid so I had 30 ounces of water and 10 ounces of gatorade with me. I also carried a large water bottle that holds about 32 ounces. I thought that this would be plenty of water since I usually drink 2-4 ounces of water at every mile. I was only a few miles into the run when I began drinking water every 1/2 mile, which is something that my body is not used to. I was not going to let myself get dehydrated on such a long run on such a hot day. It was so hot out that the Gu at miles 5 and 10 did not make much difference. It was around the half marathon mark that I realized that the rest of my run was going to be a pretty big struggle.<br />
<br />
I was hot and tired and losing motivation around mile 14. I also was beginning to run low on water. Luckily, I decided to stay on one side of town so that I would be close to family. My route kept me running the roads between my parent's house and my brother's house. I made a quick phone call to my dad and he drove out to meet me and bring me some water. I filled up my water bottles and got ready to continue on my run. At this point, my body had too much water and not enough water at the same time. I was so full from all of the water that I skipped my Gu packet at mile 15. I was still 7 miles away from my goal and was really doubting my ability to be able to finish this run.<br />
<br />
The next 7 miles were far from pretty. My legs were just automatically moving without me even needing to think anymore. I will admit that I had to briefly walk a couple of times during my last few miles. There was no way that my body was going to be able to run all the way to 22 miles on such a hot day without slowing down. I did manage to have some more Gu around mile 17 or mile 18 and I started to get some energy back. When I reached 19 miles, I was really excited because I was about to run further than I have ever run before. The next 3 miles were the longest 3 miles ever. I did enjoy seeing my best friend and her boyfriend during the last stretch of my run. I was so in the zone and focused on finishing that I am pretty sure that I jumped 2 feet in the air from being scared by the car horn. They drove alongside of me for a couple of minutes and that gave me enough motivation to keep moving my legs.<br />
<br />
I was back at my parent's house around 21 miles and was disappointed that I was not done yet. I wanted to be near my parent's around the last couple of miles because I had never run that far before and wanted to be on the safe side. After alternating some walking and running during the last few miles, there was no way that I was going to let myself walk any of the last mile. When MapMyRun announced: "Distance: 22 miles, Time: 4:06:42, Average Pace: 11:12 min/mi," I could not believe what I had just done. The run that had been so much of a struggle for me was finally over and I had actually completed my long run. I was so proud of myself for completing 22 miles, but I was also a little disappointed that I had not run the whole thing without walking. As I completed my mile cool down walk, I reminded myself that it did not matter because 22 miles was a huge accomplishment for me.<br />
<br />
The hours following the long run were a little bit more difficult than the last few miles of the run. However, I learned some valuable lessons on Saturday about long runs. I will never complain ever again about getting up early to do a long run. If I had gotten up earlier, then I would have avoided the hottest part of the day and would not have struggled as much. I do not think that the actual marathon will be too bad because it starts pretty early in the morning. The other mistake that I made was not wearing sunscreen on such a hot day. When you are preparing to run 22 miles, you do not even think about needing to wear sunscreen. Needless to say, four hours of running will result in sunburn.<br />
<br />
I really think that the heat and the sunburn were what caused me to have such a difficult time. I was not too sore after the run and am not even really sore today. I did have some difficulty walking up and down the stairs Saturday and yesterday, but my legs feel great today. When I was done running, I had to have my brother take off my sneakers for me. I knew that once I sat down that I would be done for the day. After a shower, I ate half a banana, kept drinking water and took a nap. I finally had a meal about 3 hours after the run and began to replenish all of those calories that I burned off. It was a little difficult getting out of bed on Sunday, but my body is in much better shape today.<br />
<br />
I cannot believe that I ran 22 miles this weekend. I never would have imagined that I would be training for a marathon one day and here I am at the peak of my training now. It was much more difficult than I thought that it was going to be. Based on how my training has been going, I really expected to be able to complete 22 miles in about 3:45. I do not think that 4:06:42 is too bad for a 22 mile run because this was my first time ever running that far. My only goal for the Buffalo Marathon is to be able to finish the race. I do not care how long it takes me. I have spent many weeks preparing for this and I did not exactly have the most ideal conditions for 22 miles. Even though I struggled a lot this weekend, I am more than ready to conquer 26.2 miles. I know that race day is not going to be easy, but I've worked so hard to get this far. It will also help that my mileage is beginning to cut back now so that my body has some time to recover and rest before the big day. IT IS OFFICIALLY TAPER TIME!!!!<br />
<br />
441 miles complete in 70:52:57 and only 26 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-11347184821228135362013-04-24T14:40:00.002-07:002013-04-24T14:44:43.931-07:00How Running Can Make the World a Better PlaceI haven't updated my running blog in over 2 weeks and there's a few reasons for that. As I suspected, things were pretty busy once we returned from spring break. There's not much time for blogging when you have a state exam to prepare for and you enter some of the most grueling weeks of marathon training. My marathon training has been going pretty well still, but I just haven't been able to find the words to write lately. In light of recent events, there were no words that really seemed appropriate to write. I was not sure what to say or how to say it even, but nothing felt quite right. I've thought a lot about what I have wanted to say and I want the focus of today's post to be what motivates me to run and how running can make the world a better place.<br />
<br />
Although it may seem hard to believe at times, I truly believe that there is more good in the world than evil. However, I do not think that we always see enough of the good in the world. I know a lot of wonderful people, but no one is perfect and we do not all always show the good in ourselves even. I know that I am far from perfect, but I think that we should all try harder to become more compassionate and caring people. I think that we could and should strive to share more of this good with the world. I think that people who are not runners really need to understand how running is just one way that you can share the good with the world. <br />
<br />
Although some people may disagree with me, I truly believe that running is the purest sport of all. I think that road races are a perfect example of that. Over the past few years, I have run in over 50 road races. I have run 5K races, 10K races, half marathons and many other distance races. I cannot think of a single race that I have entered that has not put at least part of the entry money towards a good cause. One of my favorite races that I participate in every year is a 5K/10K family walk/run for Roswell Park Cancer Institute. One of the main reasons why I run this race is because my family has a personal connection to this amazing place. It's incredible to see people of all ages and abilities, including cancer patients, walking or running to support such an amazing place.<br />
<br />
When you see people who have suffered so much in their own lives, it makes you grateful for everything that you have in your own life. It also makes you extremely grateful to be able to have the ability to be able to run and be in such great health. I run for all of those who cannot run, especially those people who would love to run. When people ask me what motivates me to run, I can think of people in my life who inspire me to run. Some of these people are unable to run and that makes me extremely thankful to be a runner. I'm sure that all of my runner friends could think of a person or people or a cause that motivates them to run. I honestly cannot think of just one person or cause that motivates me to run because there are so many inspiring people in my own life. <br />
<br />
I am thankful for all of the people in my life who motivate me to run and I am thankful for having the physical ability to run. The physical aspect of running is extremely important, but I think that the mental part of running is so much more important. Your attitude can easily make or break a run. It's amazing what a good run can do for your own attitude no matter what is going on in your own life or how stressed out you are. If you have never run a road race before, then you probably don't quite understand the runner's high. When you cross the finish line of a race, there is just as much
excitement and energy for the winner as there is for the last place
finisher. This is one of the best feelings in the world and it makes all of the blood, sweat and tears all worth it in the end.<br />
<br />
When your feet hit the pavement for the first step of a run, you are often focused on the finish line. I think that so many of us spend too much time focusing on the finish line and not enough time focusing on the journey there. I think that the same can be said about our own lives. We do not take enough time to appreciate the little things in life or to reach out to one another. A small act of kindness can go a long way and runners display acts of kindness all of the time. You always hear of very heroic acts from runners, but even the little things are what make runners so unique. I cannot think of any other sport where all of the other competitors will wave to you, smile at you or cheer you on. These may seem like very little things to you, but to someone they may mean the world. It only takes one person to change the world, but we could all work together to make this world a better place.<br />
<br />
There's so much more that I could say about running and what motivates me to run, but I think that this sums up my thoughts about running pretty well. I challenge each of you now to help me share more of the good in the world. There is an incredible bond between runners, but I think that all people could also use an incredible bond to make this world a better place. There's no reason why you cannot do one small random act of kindness everyday to help us get to where we should be. As I continue my last month of marathon training, I am going to make it my mission to show more of the good in myself. Marathon training has been tough at times, but this experience has given me the opportunity to really remember what motivated me to begin running in the first place. As I finish up this post, here is a recap of what the past 2 1/2 weeks of marathon training have looked like:<br />
<br />
<u>Week 24</u><br />
4/9/13 - 4 miles in 38:39 (9:40 min/mi pace)<br />
4/10/13 - 9 miles in 1:27:17 (9:42 min/mi pace)<br />
4/11/13 - 5 miles in 49:20 (9:52 min/mi pace)<br />
4/14/13 - 19 miles in 3:11:11 (10:03 min/mi pace)<br />
<br />
<u>Week 25</u><br />
4/16/13 - 4 miles in 38:58 (9:44 min/mi pace)<br />
4/17/13 - 9 miles in 1:29:27 (9:56 min/pace)<br />
4/20/13 - 16 miles in 2:42:48 (10:10 min/mi pace)<br />
<br />
<u>Week 26</u><br />
4/23/13 - 10 miles in 1:32:29 (9:15 min/mi pace)<br />
4/24/13 - 5 miles in 48:20 (9:40 min/mi pace)<br />
<br />
419 miles complete in 66:46:15 and only 31 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-15494726125662304092013-04-06T20:48:00.003-07:002013-04-06T20:55:30.779-07:00Spring BreakIf we are talking about just running, then week 23 was pretty uneventful. However, it was spring break and I was home in Buffalo so the entire week was pretty eventful. I love being home and being able to spend time with my wonderful family and closest friends. I was worried about how my training would go in Buffalo this week, but I only ended up skipping one short run. After a hectic and fun few days at home, I decided that my body needed to take Tuesday off from running instead of getting my 4 miler in. I do not make it home for an extended period of time very often so I had plenty of things that I wanted to do this week. The best part of the entire break was celebrating Dyngus Day with all of the other crazy Polish people in Buffalo. I think that all of the polka dancing that I did certainly counts for cross training for this week.<br />
<br />
Although I kept pretty busy all week, I was able to fit in the rest of my training without any problems. I knew that I could have easily skipped any of my other runs, but I'm trying to take this training pretty seriously. I was worried that being home would cause me to stray from my schedule. However, I think that spring break actually worked in my favor. It is amazing how much easier running is when you are well-rested and get enough sleep the night before any of your runs. The hardest run of the week was probably my 8 miler, but I think that the snow and the cold weather was what slowed me down. I was happy that the temperatures started warming up by the time that I needed to do a 5 miler on Thursday.<br />
<br />
I think that being able to run in shorts and a t-shirt today was probably the reason why my long run was the best run of the week. I am grateful that Hal Higdon gave me a taper week after that 16 miler last weekend and before attempting a new long run next weekend. I knew that today's long run would be easier than last week and I set out for my run with a very positive attitude. I love being able to run through the streets that I grew up on and see so many familiar places or faces during a run. I also love being able to run through new streets that I am not used to typically running on. I was amazed at how easy 13 miles felt today and I felt great throughout the entire run. My body is also beginning to recover much more quickly from long runs and it does not even feel like my 13 mile run was actually today.<br />
<br />
I would say that week 23 was another successful week of training and I am hoping that week 24 is just as successful. I am looking at an 18 or 19 mile long run next weekend so that will be a new first for me. My furthest distance up to this point has only been 16 miles so I am excited to attempt a new distance. I do not think that next week will be too difficult if I can continue to stick to my training schedule and prepare my body properly. There is less than 2 months left to prepare for the Buffalo Marathon and I am still feeling pretty optimistic and confident in my ability to be able to do this. It is amazing how far I have come as a runner and how easy so many of my runs are these days. I am excited to see what the next few weeks of training have in store as I push it a little further each week. Buffalo better watch out because it won't be long until I conquer 26.2!<br />
<br />
<u>Week 23</u><br />
4/3/13 - 8 miles in 1:25:57 (10:44 min/mi pace) <br />
4/4/13 - 5 miles in 50:23 (10:05 min/mi pace)<br />
4/6/13 - 13 miles in 2:09:26 (9:57 min/mi pace) <br />
<br />
338 miles complete in 53:27:46 and only 49 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-55957348882601860442013-03-30T16:05:00.000-07:002013-04-06T20:16:42.439-07:00You Know You're Training for a Marathon When.....<b>You Know You're Training for a Marathon When.....</b><br />
<br />
1.) You buy more than one pair of running shoes in a year.<br />
<br />
2.) You plan to wear closed-toe shoes indefinitely.<br />
<br />
3.) Most of your laundry pile consists of running clothes.<br />
<br />
4.) You can no longer fit all of your running clothes in your dresser.<br />
<br />
5.) 13.1 miles becomes a training run.<br />
<br />
6.) You care more about comfort during a long run than fashion.<br />
<br />
7.) You frequently find a small amount of blood in at least one article of clothing after a long run. <br />
<br />
8.) You constantly have blisters on your feet.<br />
<br />
9.) Your boots no longer zip up over your calves.<br />
<br />
10.) Most of your fluid intake consists of water and gatorade.<br />
<br />
11.) Gu has become a new food group on your own food pyramid.<br />
<br />
12.) You plan your weekends around your long run.<br />
<br />
13.) You make running plans with friends instead of going to happy hour.<br />
<br />
14.) Your neighbors start asking you how many miles you ran each weekend.<br />
<br />
15.) You see the same people twice during a run.<br />
<br />
16.) A 3 mile run can suck one day and a 7 mile run can feel great the next day.<br />
<br />
17.) You start a run with gloves and a headband on and end in shorts and a t-shirt.<br />
<br />
18.) A beautiful day improves/increases your speed.<br />
<br />
19.) 6 or 8 miles are now considered short runs.<br />
<br />
20.) You can calculate your mile splits faster than your phone can.<br />
<br />
21.) You get multiple emails a week from MapMyRun.<br />
<br />
22.) You only buy running clothes or running accessories whenever you go shopping.<br />
<br />
23.) A good night's sleep can make or break your run the next day.<br />
<br />
24.) You have many obstacles thrown your way during training.<br />
<br />
25.) You can take 3 weeks off from running and return to training like nothing ever happened.<br />
<br />
26.) You can now run more miles than it would take you to drive to work.<br />
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27.) Double digit runs are a normal part of your weekend.<br />
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28.) You start a run in snow and end the run in 50 degree weather.<br />
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29.) Walkers and other runners begin to recognize you when you're out for a run.<br />
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30.) You are tempted to run or feel restless on days off.<br />
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I think that this list will definitely continue to grow over the next few weeks and there are probably tons of things that I forgot to add to the list. I will end there for now and talk about this week. Week 22 has been my best week of marathon training yet! I was a little disappointed after the Syracuse Half Marathon because the race was a bit of a struggle for me and it did not go quite as I expected. However, I have quickly learned over the past few months that marathon training never goes quite as well as you planned. This was the first week in quite awhile that I actually completed all of my short runs during the week and stuck to my actual schedule. There have been plenty of weeks where I have skipped a short run or changed the mileage on at least one of my short runs. I decided that I should try to stick as close to my marathon training schedule as possible this week. My 3 miler on Tuesday was a little rough because it was just two days after Syracuse and it was my first run in my new kicks. I went into Wednesday's run expecting to have to shorten my 7 miler, but it actually felt great and I completed the entire run. I was really tempted to skip my 4 miler on Thursday because it was the beginning of spring break and I had a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of me. However, I decided to run before I drove home since it would be dark by the time that I got home. I had one of my fastest runs in weeks because I was so excited to head home and start my spring break.<br />
<br />
I ended week 22 of training with a 16 miler. After my race last weekend, I knew that I needed to prepare my body much better for my long run. I did everything that I was supposed to yesterday. I drank a lot of water, ate my carbs, had plenty of downtime and got a decent amount of sleep. I woke up this morning feeling good and ready to run. I was also excited for this run because I was going to be able to run 16 miles through the streets I grew up on. The change of scenery made a huge difference in my run and I really enjoyed running from one end of town to the other and back. I was also sporting my brand new Mizuno Wave Elixir 8's and a new Nathan Trail Mix 4 hydration belt. I filled up three of my bottles with water and one with gatorade. I grabbed my hydration belt, 3 packets of Gu and my headphones and I was on my way out for my 16 miler. The gorgeous weather today also made the run much more enjoyable. I was surprised at how much easier this run felt than my run last weekend. I felt really good for the entire run and nothing hurt when I was done running. I am extremely happy with how today's run went and I actually feel like I'm going to be able to run a marathon in two months! Here's a glance at what week 22 looked like:<br />
<br />
<u>Week 22</u><br />
3/26/13 - 3 miles in 28:41 (9:34 min/mi pace)<br />
3/27/13 - 7 miles in 1:10:11 (10:01 min/mi pace)<br />
3/28/13 - 4 miles in 35:31 (8:53 min/mi pace) <br />
3/30/13 - 16 miles in 2:41:20 (10:05 min/mi pace) <br />
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312 miles complete in 49:02:00 and only 56 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-46805775014726023252013-03-25T14:11:00.003-07:002013-03-25T16:19:29.167-07:00The Syracuse Half MarathonI decided to keep my mileage pretty low this past week because I planned on ending week 21 with the Syracuse Half Marathon. I did set a personal record for my half marathon time, but I was not entirely happy with how my race went. I kept changing my mind all week about what I was expecting out of this run. I had a goal of aiming for a 2:10 finish earlier in the week, but by Sunday morning I decided that I was just going to let the Syracuse Half be a regular training run. However, the runner's high from the race day excitement quickly changed my expectations once the race began. I had the 2:10 goal in mind still, but I just couldn't push it out yesterday. Even though I set a personal record yesterday, I was both happy and unhappy with my race performance and here are the reasons why:<br />
<br />
<u>Reasons Why I Was <b>Unhappy</b> With My Half Marathon Race</u><br />
1.) If you are a teacher, then you understand how busy and long the month of March can be. I have had some sort of club or activity after school 3-4 days a week for the past couple of months. When I registered for the Syracuse Half, I did not think that this would be an issue because my training was still going well. However, a student council dance and the mathalon competition both fell on this weekend. This weekend consisted of a student council dance Friday night, an hour drive to mathalon on Saturday morning, all Saturday morning at the competition, an hour drive back from the competition, an almost 2 hour drive up to Syracuse after and spending Saturday night with my parents.<br />
<br />
2.) In addition to very little downtime, I did not get much sleep over the weekend. By the time that 6am arrived Sunday morning, my body told me that I should never pack so much into a race weekend. I was very tired Sunday morning, but your body quickly forgets the tired feeling once you start running.<br />
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3.) I followed the rules and did not bring an iPod to listen to for the race. There was an email that was put out saying no headphones allowed and I did not dare to bring any seeing as I almost got kicked out of a race for that once. However, most people ignored the rules, listened to headphones anyways and no one got disqualified for it. I did have my iPhone in my pocket, but I did not have my headphones. I wish that I had brought them with me because I always listen to music when I am running alone and it helps me to run faster.<br />
<br />
4.) There was a lot of uphill running during the first couple of miles of the race. Now this should have been easy for me because I have done a lot of training in hilly areas since there are plenty of hills around here. The inclines in the race were more like speed bumps, but were very much unexpected. I had no idea of the course ahead of time so I went in with the mindset of running an extremely flat course. The inclines slowed down my pace a little bit.<br />
<br />
5.) My Mizuno Wave Elixir 7's are extremely worn out and are ready to be retired. By the time that I realized how worn out my kicks were, it was too late to break in a new pair before the race. So I ran my last race in my Mizuno's and I was definitely sore by the time that I got to the finish. I could feel my ankles rolling in during parts of the race, which can easily be corrected by a new pair of kicks.<br />
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6.) Chaffing ..... I do not need to get into the details on that one!<br />
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7.) I could not find a pace that I was comfortable with for most of the race. I had a very slow start and I never made up for the time that I lost at the beginning of the race. I was glad that I had such a slow start, but I expected to pick up the pace enough at the end to reach my end goal. I know that my splits were probably all over the place, but I could never quite get to the pace that I wanted.<br />
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8.) I hit a wall around mile 11 and was not sure that I was going to make it. I was worn out and my body was tired from the extremely long weekend. I had run 15 miles the week before so this should have been no problem for me. However, I did not give my body enough rest before the race so this was expected. I wanted to just stop and walk, but I knew that it was not going to be an option. It's funny how 11 miles seems pretty easy and the last 2 miles just drag on.<br />
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9.) When I saw the finish line, I felt like I was 5 miles away and was never going to reach the finish. That half mile, or less, felt like the longest half mile of my life and I was not sure that it was ever going to end. I did not have enough energy left in me to kick it out in the end and sprint to the finish like I normally do.<br />
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10.) I was aiming for a 2:10 finish, but was only able to push out a 2:14:50 finish. I had run a 2:08 half marathon in a training run 2 weeks ago so I thought that a 2:10 was a reasonable goal. Even though I still had a PR yesterday, I was just a little bit disappointed in not reaching my goal.<br />
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<u>Reasons Why I Was <b>Happy</b> With My Half Marathon Race</u><br />
1.) I had a concussion less than 2 months ago and have only been back into running for about a month. I was not sure that I would be able to get back to where I needed to be in my training. I have successfully returned to where I needed to be and the half marathon was a perfect check point for me in my training.<br />
<br />
2.) I sign up for most races and run them alone so I was extremely excited to see some familiar faces this weekend. I arrived at the Oncenter around 7:30 and saw Lauren, who I went to college with. We got talking for quite awhile before the race began and we saw Molly, who also went to college with us, when we headed out to the start line. Molly is also training for the Buffalo Marathon and her blog is the one that inspired me to begin my own running blog.<br />
<br />
3.) I started the race with Molly and her friend Steph and we were in the back of the pack. There had to be less than 10 runners behind us at that point and none of us realized that there were so many hardcore runners there. Molly is definitely the most excited runner that I have ever met and that helped pep us all up. We parted ways shortly before mile one and I sped up to a quicker pace.<br />
<br />
4.) Since I started in the back of the pack, I was able to pass many people during the run. I like to start out races a bit slower so that I can pass people during a race. I also like to slowly increase my speed during a race and that helps me to save my energy for the end of the race. All of the hill training that I have done also helped me to pass many people and made me feel pretty good about my race.<br />
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5.) I had the most delicious Raspberry Chocolate Gu around mile 6 or 7. I was extremely happy that there were Gu Packets or Gu Brew drinks at several of the water stops. I just began using Gu a couple of weeks ago during long runs and that little energy boost during a run sure does help.<br />
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6.) I was unfamiliar with the course ahead of time so it made the race go by much more quickly. I was surprised at how quickly each mile went by and I was extremely happy to have a change of scenery.<br />
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7.) Although I thought the 30 degree weather was going to suck to run in, I think that the colder weather helped quicken my pace a bit. It began to warmup while we were running and once the sun came out it was a pretty good temperature for a race.<br />
<br />
8.) I always really enjoy the camaraderie of other runners on race day. Runners are some of the nicest people that you will ever meet and they can be so encouraging during a race. It's so great to have other people cheering you on and seeing so many people stick around the finish line after they are done running.<br />
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9.) My favorite part of any race is always the finish line. I love hearing my name announced as I come across the finish line and then having a brand new medal placed around my neck. The great thing about running a half marathon is that everyone gets a medal. I am now the proud owner of 5 half marathon medals because 13.1 miles is a pretty big deal.<br />
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10.) This was my 5th official half marathon that I have ever run and it was my fastest one yet. I have set a personal record in every half marathon that I have ever run in and yesterday was no different. I finished the Syracuse Half Marathon in 2:14:50, which is a personal best by more than 2 minutes. <br />
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There are 9 weeks of training left for the Buffalo Marathon and I am ready for whatever these next 2 months may have in store. I know that this is not going to be easy at all because I will be running further than I have ever run before every week over the next several weeks. I am a little nervous because I have many trips home planned over the next couple of months. It will be a little difficult to get a double digit run in when travel weekends are already so short to begin with. I will need to be a little creative with my training, but I cannot let myself skip or shorten any of the long runs. On the plus side, I am looking forward to having a few long runs through the streets that I grew up on. These runs will not only be a nice change in scenery, but they will also be much flatter than what I have been training in. The Buffalo Marathon is relatively flat for the most part so it will be good to get some good runs in on flatter land. I am also excited to ditch my Mizuno Wave Elixir 7's and begin running in my brand new Mizuno Wave Elixir 8's. I bought my new Mizuno's at Fleet Feet this weekend as a gift to myself for my mathalon team's 3rd place finish and my PR in the Syracuse Half. I did buy the sneakers on Saturday, but I knew that I would get a PR on Sunday. My old Mizuno's were really worn out and leaving me feeling sore after every long run. I am excited to break in my new kicks and to run my longest runs yet. Here's a glance at what week 21 was like as I head into some of the toughest weeks of training yet:<br />
<br />
<u>Week 21</u><br />
3/19/13 - 3.2 miles in 31:14 (9:46 min/mi pace)<br />
3/20/13 - 5 miles in 47:35 (9:31 min/mi pace) <br />
3/24/13 - <b>SYRACUSE HALF MARATHON</b> - 13.1 miles in 2:14:50 (10:18 min/mi pace)<br />
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282 miles complete in 44:06:17 and only 61 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-73783501080903846802013-03-17T10:20:00.004-07:002013-03-17T10:24:38.384-07:00Little VictoriesThe thing that I love most about marathon training right now would be all of the little victories. I am at a point in my training right now where I am beginning to run farther than I've ever run before. If my training continues to go as planned, then each week will be a new little victory for me for the next several weeks. I headed into this morning's run with some mixed feelings about my current training. This was another week where I only had time to do two of my three scheduled short runs. The short run that I skipped this week was supposed to be 7 miles, but I figured that I would still be in good shape for my long run today. I did everything that I was supposed to do in order to get ready for today. I ate a lot of carbs and drank a lot of water and Gatorade yesterday. I let Friday and Saturday be rest days so that my legs would be good to go for my long run. I was supposed to run 15 miles next weekend, but next weekend I am running the Syracuse Half Marathon so I decided to get my 15 miler in today. I went to bed early last night, but just like the night before any race I had trouble falling asleep. I always get really nervous the night before a race because I am thinking about things like whether or not I did my training correctly, if I am going to set a personal record or if I am really ready for the race. Just thinking about my long run this morning felt like I was preparing for a race. I have never run more than 13.1 miles before and this morning my goal was to complete 15 miles.<br />
<br />
I woke up this morning with mixed feelings about how today's run was going to go. I was not happy to see that the temperature was only 15 degrees when I woke up this morning. I know that part of the reason why I had such a successful 13.1 mile run last week was due to the beautiful weather. I was not happy to be wearing gloves and a headband instead of shorts and a t-shirt. After bundling up, I grabbed two water bottles and two packets of Gu for the run and a bottle of Gatorade and a granola bar for after the run. I was physically ready for my run this morning, but I was not sure that I was mentally prepared for the 15 miles. My usual running partners were sick so I knew that most of my run would probably end up being run alone. Luckily, Sandy and Annette both joined me for part of my long run so that made the 15 miles go much more quickly. My body felt really good for the entire run and my legs maintained a pretty consistent pace for the entire run. I also tried Gu for the first time ever today and refueling during a long run really made a huge difference. I figured that I needed to start trying some sort of supplement during long runs before the actual race. While I felt really good physically, there were many times that I wanted to quit during this run. When I say that I wanted to quit during this run, I mean that I kept getting bored during the run. I really do not enjoy running when I can see my breath or my hair freezes so needless to say there were not many other runners out. I think that beautiful temperatures and seeing plenty of other runners really helps motivate you during any kind of run. I know that the crowd will carry me through race day, but today's run just got so boring with so few people around.<br />
<br />
I quickly kicked my bad attitude and thought about what a huge accomplishment today was going to be for me. I do not know many people who can say that they have ever run 15 miles before. There was a point in time several years ago where I struggled to run just 1 mile. If I look back over the past 4 years as a runner, I have had several little victories. I have completed many 5K's so then I moved onto completing 10K's. Before I knew it, I had completed not just one half marathon, but four half marathons. I am now 20 weeks into my marathon training plan, which is something that I never expected myself to achieve as a runner. I finished my 15 mile run in 2:33:57, which is a 10:15 min/mi pace. I was extremely happy with my time because I plan to run about a 10:30 min/mi pace for the Buffalo Marathon. When I finished today's run, I felt really good physically and I was extremely proud of myself for what I was able to accomplish today. 15 miles is the farthest that I have ever run before and that incredible 15 mile run is my first little victory in marathon training. I am feeling extremely confident about my running now and I am excited to keep having little victories over the next several weeks. I felt so good about my run today that I came home and finally registered for the Buffalo Marathon. I have been training for 20 weeks now, but today I finally convinced myself that I was ready to register for the race. Looking forward, I plan to keep the mileage pretty low for week 21 because I will be running the Syracuse Half Marathon next weekend. I now have 10 weeks left to finish preparing for the Buffalo Marathon. And here's a look at how week 20 went:<br />
<br />
<u>Week 20</u><br />
3/12/13 - 3 miles in 28:03 (9:21 min/mi pace)<br />
3/13/13 - 4 miles in 41:07 (10:17 min/mi pace) <br />
3/17/13 - 15 miles in 2:33:57 (10:15 min/mi pace) <br />
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260.7 miles complete in 40:32:38 and only 69 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-74315734094746188002013-03-10T13:18:00.001-07:002013-03-17T10:26:54.048-07:00The Mile Two SlumpAnother week of training is complete and now there are only 11 weeks left to get ready for Buffalo. I almost stuck to my actual training plan this week, but sometimes teaching just gets in the way of marathon training. The only thing that I missed this week was one of my 3 mile runs. I did not even feel slightly guilty about skipping a 3 miler because the longer runs are way more important. I know that missing a shorter run here or there will not affect my training too much, especially because I have such a solid base built already. I know that the long runs are the most important part of training right now so I headed out for a run this morning with the goal of 12 miles in mind. I am really supposed to be at 13 miles this week, but I had only run 10 miles last week so I figured that I should not push it too much. I met up with some coworkers this morning who are training for the Bridge Run half marathon and only needed to run 7 miles this morning. We all trained together for the Bridge Run last spring and were averaging a pace of somewhere between 10:30-11:00 minute miles. This morning we ran 7 miles in 1:10:05, which is a 10:01 min/mi pace. It's amazing how far we have all come as runners over the past year. Since I am the only person crazy enough to be training for a marathon right now, I continued the rest of the run by myself. It was wonderful to have people to run the first 7 miles with and it made the time go by much more quickly. By the time that I got to 12 miles, I was feeling really good so I decided that 1 more mile was possible. I am not only right back to where I need to be in my marathon training, but I also shaved 9 minutes off of my fastest half marathon time this morning. I would definitely say that this was a pretty solid week of marathon training and the times below definitely show how much my pace has improved.<br />
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<u>Week 19</u> <br />
3/5/13 - 3.1 miles in 28:42 (9:15 min/mi pace) <br />
3/8/13 - 6 miles in 59:07 (9:51 min/mi pace)<br />
3/10/13 - 13.1 miles in 2:08:08 (9:47 min/mi pace)<br />
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One of the things that we talked about during our run this morning was how much better a long run feels than a short run. I like to refer to this problem as the mile two slump. Some of my worst runs have been a 2 or 3 mile run. I don't know how other runners are, but I find it incredibly difficult to find and maintain a pace that I am comfortable with until I am about 3 or 4 miles into a run. I have had so many runs where I was ready to quit around mile 2 and the beginner runner version of myself would have quit. I usually feel so sluggish and unhappy with my pace around mile two and wonder to myself how much longer will it be until I am done with my run. It is amazing how much better I feel after I go a couple more miles and really get into my own running groove. I really dislike mile two and I think that there are so many different possible reasons for this. Sometimes I go out way too hard and fast and use up all of my energy on that first mile or two. Sometimes I go out way too slow in an effort to pace myself and I can never quite get my pace as fast as I want. When I was a beginner runner, I was extremely guilty of starting out way too fast all of the time and then I could never maintain my starting pace. Now that I am a more experienced runner, I usually start out a run pretty slow. I love starting races in the back of the pack and starting out with a slow pace. If I start out slow, then I have the energy to increase my speed slowly throughout my run until I get to the pace that I want. One of the best things about this strategy is the fact that I get to pass so many runners who go out way too hard or too fast. I have been using the MapMy Run app on my iPhone whenever I go out for a run and it really helps me to pace myself. I usually have the voice feedback turned on for every 0.5 miles so I can keep being reminded of my pace and seeing if I need to adjust my speed at all. This morning I decided to turn off the voice feedback because I did not want to hear my progress 26 times this morning. I actually maintained a pretty consistent pace throughout my run this morning. I think that my body is finally to the point now that I can pace myself pretty well without being reminded of my own pace every half mile. I was looking at some of my splits from the past few runs and my pace for mile two is usually way off from my pace for the rest of my run. I am beginning to become even more confident in my ability to run a marathon in a couple months and I refuse to let the mile two slump get in my way.<br />
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238.7 miles complete in 36:49:31 and only 76 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-72758154799642773842013-03-03T15:48:00.000-08:002013-03-17T10:26:46.444-07:00My Running Bucket ListI know many people that have bucket lists and I even have a few things that I would consider to be on my own personal bucket list. I have been thinking a lot lately about how far I have come as a runner over the past few years and I have come up with my own running bucket list. I never would have imagined myself being able to run a half marathon, let alone 4, or even be training for a full marathon. I am beginning to believe that the possibilities in running are endless. I am not saying that I could go out and run a 50 mile race, but there are many running events that I could do now that I never would have been able to complete just a few years ago. I have many things on my running bucket list that I have already completed and I have many more events on my running bucket list that I will actually get a chance to do this year. Now here is my running bucket list in no particular order or importance:<br />
<br />
<u><b>My Running Bucket List</b></u><br />
1.) Run a 5K<br />
<i>-I have completed 16 official 5K's already</i>.<br />
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2.) Come in first place in a race<br />
<i>-I came in 1st place in my age group for my first 5K ever.</i> <br />
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3.) Run in the infamous Boilermaker 15K<br />
<i>-I ran in my first Boilermaker last year and am running the Boilermaker again this year.</i><br />
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4.) Run a half marathon<br />
<i>-I have now ran 4 half marathons and will be running 2 more this spring.</i><br />
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5.) Run in the Color Run 5K<br />
<i>-I will be running the Color Run in Buffalo in August.</i><br />
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6.) Run a full marathon<br />
<i>-I am currently training for the Buffalo Marathon at the end of May.</i><br />
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7.) Run a mud run<br />
<i>-I am running the Dirty Girl Mud Run in Buffalo in September.</i><br />
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8.) Relay a full marathon<br />
<i>-I ran the first leg of the Rochester Marathon during my senior year of college.</i><br />
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9.) Run a Tough Mudder<br />
<i>-This one will have to wait until a year that I have less running events already scheduled and will require a different type of training.</i><br />
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10.) Run in the oldest road race in America ..... The Buffalo Turkey Trot 8K<br />
<i>-I ran my 5th Turkey Trot this past fall and will continue to do so every Thanksgiving morning.</i><br />
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11.) Run a road race in all 50 states<br />
<i>-This one may take awhile to actually pull off, but I'd like to start working on this one soon.</i><br />
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12.) Complete a duathlon<br />
<i>-I am not a very good swimmer so a duathlon would be perfect for me if I actually started biking more and this will have to wait until after I am off of my long distance running kick.</i><br />
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13.) Enter a road race with each member of my family<br />
<i>-I have ran in a few 5K's that my mom walked in, but I would love to have each member of my family be a part of at least one race with me.</i><br />
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14.) Run in a cross country race<br />
<i>-I ran in the McQuaid Invite my senior year of college and I am proud to say that I came in last place.</i><br />
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15.) Compete in a triathalon<br />
<i>-This is the event that will be toughest for me because I am not a good swimmer, but this is another even that I would like to work up to once I am off of my long distance running kick.</i><br />
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16.) <i> </i>Run a race in my hometown<br />
<i>-I have run in the 4th of July 10K through the streets that I grew up on 3 times now and hope to have many more years to come in this race.</i><br />
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17.) Run at least one road race a month for an entire year<i> </i><br />
<i>-I have come close a few times, but I have yet to tackle this one.</i><br />
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18.) Run the Corporate Challenge with my coworkers<br />
<i>-If there is a Corporate Challenge here this year, then I plan to get a group of coworkers together for this.</i><br />
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19.) Finish a half marathon somewhere exciting<br />
<i>-I ran the 50 Yard Finish Half Marathon last summer and finished the race on the 50 yard line of the Ralph Wilson Stadium.</i> <i> </i><br />
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20.) Stay tuned for more!<br />
<i>-I am sure that this list will continue to grow over time and include more races.</i><br />
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My bucket list came out of another week of successful marathon training since I had plenty of miles and time to think about it. I am back and feeling better than ever! I was able to follow my weekday running schedule with no problems at all. Each of my runs were much quicker than I expected and definitely a lot faster than my marathon pace. I guess a hiatus in my running this month really did not ruin the base that I have spent months building. I was scheduled for a 12 mile long run this weekend, but decided to only run 10 miles since I only ran 8 miles last weekend. My long runs should be back on track within another week or two. I had some coworkers join me for 6 of the 10 miles this morning since they are getting ready for the Bridge Run half marathon in May. I will be running the Bridge Run as well, but that is only a few weeks before the Buffalo Marathon. I still have not brought myself to register for the Buffalo Marathon yet. I think that I just need a couple more really good long runs before I can convince myself that I am ready to register for it. I know that I could easily run a half marathon right now, but I still need some convincing on the whole marathon thing. I still have over 2 1/2 months left so I think that this will begin to seem like more of a reality pretty soon. Here's a glance at how week 18 finished off:<br />
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<u>Week 18 (Continued)</u><br />
2/28/13 - 3.05 miles in 27:04 (8:53 min/mi pace)<br />
3/1/13 - 10 miles in 1:42:00 (10:12 min/mi pace)<br />
<br />
216.5 miles complete in 33:13:34 and only 83 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1774852955929477770.post-38794699610434154022013-02-27T17:17:00.001-08:002013-03-17T10:26:40.313-07:00The Return to Marathon TrainingThe past month of marathon training has been quite eventful to say the least! I had to take almost 3 weeks off of running due to a concussion and some neck pain. I was unable to run during week 15 and most of week 16 of training. By the end of week 16, I was feeling much better so I was able to sneak a run in a couple of days before I was officially cleared to return to marathon training. My first few runs back were a bit slow and sluggish, but I am back in action now and feeling better than ever. I did make the mistake of doing longer runs 3 days in a row this past weekend. By the time that I met some coworkers for a 5 mile run on Sunday, I was dragging behind everyone else for the entire slow 5 miles. Now I know why we have rest days scheduled into our training. I am going to do a better job of sticking to my training schedule from now on. I need to remember to keep rest days in there so that I can be at my best for the long runs.<br />
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The short runs during the week are easy to fit into my schedule and I can usually complete them pretty easily. I am scheduled for a 12 mile long run this weekend, but I think that I will probably end up doing 10 miles instead this week. After those 3 weeks off, I let my long run be 8 miles this past weekend so I do not want to jump up 4 miles in one week. I knew that I would need to be careful easing back into my training schedule, but I should be able to get my long runs back on track within another week or two. I am going to live in a bubble for the next 12 weeks and my goal is to make it to the Buffalo Marathon without getting sick or injured again! Lots of people have been telling me that everyone has road blocks or obstacles to overcome in their marathon training. I feel like I am finally back on track and am ready to continue my journey to 26.2. I even signed up for the Syracuse Half Marathon and the Bridge Run Half Marathon, which will both be great races to warm-up for the Buffalo Marathon. I am really excited that all of these races are getting closer and I cannot wait for the spring races to begin. Week 18 of training is going much better than I anticipated and I am feeling confident again about my training. Here's a look at the past couple of weeks of training:<br />
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<u>Week 15 </u><br />
<i>NONEXISTENT</i><br />
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<u>Week 16</u><br />
2/17/13 - 4 miles in 42:58 (10:45 min/mi pace) <br />
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<u>Week 17</u> <br />
2/20/13 - 3 miles in 29:25 (9:49 min/mi pace) <br />
2/22/13 - 6 miles in 59:16 (9:52 min/mi pace) <br />
2/23/13 - 8 miles in 1:24:30 (10:34 min/mi pace) <br />
2/24/13 - 5 miles in 54:48 (10:57 min/mi pace) <br />
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<u>Week 18</u> <br />
2/26/13 - 3 miles in 27:42 (9:14 min/mi pace) <br />
2/27/13 - 6 miles in 56:37 (9:26 min/mi pace) <br />
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203.45 miles complete in 31:04:30 and only 87 days until conquering 26.2 miles!
Rising Runnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10850225881993638525noreply@blogger.com0