Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
NYC Half Marathon - 2013
As mentioned before, I knew quite late about my entry through the lottery and without a decent running base, I had a few choices. I could just run to run, or I could run it as best I could to see how much I could push it knowing full well there was no chance in hell that I would come close to a PR (currently sitting at 2:02:xx. I figured I would just run it as a long training run...
Until I found out my friend Jaime was also going to do it with Runwell, a wonderful charity (kinda last minute decision for her)...one of which she has been running for recently as she prepares for the 155mile, 7 day time limit of running Iceland!!!!
When I found out she was doing NYC as well I asked her if she was going for a PR or just as another training run. She planned that just to run but if she got a PR that would be a bonus. So then I asked for her PR and knew then what I wanted to do.
I would run with her and try to get her a PR.
Jaime is a slower pace than I and generally run/walks. I knew even with run/walks I could help lower her mile pace if she didn't mind being uncomfortable sometimes. :)
I will post another entry about the race itself, the course and what-not, but for now, she got a PR. My work was done :)
Probably could have gotten a bigger one had we not talked the whole time for the first 11 miles, plus stopping twice to hug our family members...blah blah blah.
When we were in the corral we both told each other how we don't talk when running. Well that was BS! We talked and talked and talked! It was the most fun of a half marathon that I have ever had! Oh I guess I should mention we had never met before this trip! We both knew someone, and became FB friends, then when she decided to train for her first marathon (Chicago 2012), I helped her out a bit through messaging.
We are like 2 peas in a pod!! It was so awesome to throw my own competitive nature out the window for a change, plus it made it easier for me to just focus on having a good time and not going cuckoo about my lack of training for a faster time.
Here we are in the lobby of the hotel before heading to Central Park for the start of the race
OK that's all for now. I'm exhausted but back in Nebraska!!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
These Vagabond Shoes...
...are longing to stray...
Well it's almost that time.
Time for a little bit of New York! New York!
I did my last 'long' run on Saturday which was 8 miles.
When I got up to check outside to see if the snow had arrived, it had not, and the wind didn't seem to be blowing that hard. Yet.
But within the hour of me just waking up and enjoying my cup of coffee, the snow had started and the wind had kicked up something fierce.
The storm was on its way.
So I resigned myself to yet another Saturday run on the treadmill.
I just turned on the tunes and started cranking them out.
Nothing exciting, just a run.
I took yesterday off instead of going to the gym for a workout as it was snowing again, and it just seemed more like a stay in day and give the body its rest.
Today, while cloudy, no snow, but still quite windy. And COLD. Blah.
5 miles done with some rowing and a hard ab workout.
Tomorrow I will do 4 miles, take Wednesday off since I will be traveling to NYC. Thursday will be 3 miles in Central Park.
Friday I will do 2 miles in Central Park, then take Saturday off and Sunday is race day. Or rather this time around 'run' day.
I will write another post before I leave with my intentions for Sunday.
And wouldn't you know it, while I am gone the weather here is supposed to warm up to SEVENTY DEGREES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!?!??!
Oh well, I know Spring is on its way...just a little bit longer... :)
Friday, March 8, 2013
There's Been A Change in the Weather
While yes that is indeed a true statement in that sentence structure, meaning that we got a few warm days this week and I got to run outside even skipping Step inside the gym to drain the last bit of sunshine and dry roads/trails instead...that is not exactly what I meant by that title.
What I mean by it is kinda in the way I might say "I got my running mojo back"...and the 'change in the weather' is really about the changing of an attitude and finding my way back to what I didn't realize I was missing...
We’ve all been there. We’ve all hit a slump of some kind and it suddenly became a little harder to lace up our sneakers for a run. For me it began late March 2012, when at CrossFit I managed to mess my lower back up again in a really bad way with my disc slipping and subsequently pinching my sciatic nerve. It was so much worse this time than the first incident in that I was physically unable to do much of anything and even getting out of bed each morning was painful and had to be done in a certain way. Anyway, 2 months of being down from running was tough enough and just when I was getting back into it, I made the initial trip to NE for a job interview and the next thing I knew I was moving cross country and that presented a whole new set of reasons why my running and mileage slipped as much as it did. At first I kept it up but then it just slipped more and more. Yeah I was running, but it was piddly mileage at best.
And once Winter really hit here, it was becoming even harder and harder for me to be motivated. Plus in my mind it was OK because well I didn't have any reason TO run...no race on the calendar...etc. I stayed in OK shape by doing different sorts of things with running mixed in instead of the usual other way around.
I gained a few lbs, moreso got flabby so to speak, where I gained more in inches than in true lbs, but there was a little of both. I've lost that now, but this whole section about weight gain etc is fodder for another post at another time.
Anyway, it felt like I was just going through the motions of training — using it as a way to stay in decent shape, sure, but with my heart and mind somewhere else.
But only recently have I started to feel like I’m really back.
You know that feeling where you not only don’t mind running, you actually can’t wait to run again tomorrow? Where you wish you could just fast forward your life eight weeks, and see what kind of progress you’ve made by then? That’s where I am now, and I’ve missed this.
Over Christmas when I found out I was selected in the lottery to run the NYC Half Marathon and the training for race in March, I felt my passion for running begin to wake up. But in the past two weeks, it feels like that passion for running is on an espresso and yerba mate bender.
So much so that it is partly what fueled me to sign up for Colfax in May (another half) and for the 3rd time, Chicago (full)
I can credit three things for this new exuberance:
1. My new running habit. Or rather my reborn running habit.
2. Amazing sources of inspiration. As in people, one in particular who singlehandedly, with their incessant mantras and training posts on Facebook, each day in front of my eyes...watching their training for 5 marathons in as many months, with their 1st one just last October, on their way to running the 100 miles in Iceland this coming August...and now we will run not only NYC together, but Chicago as well...
3. Meditation and mindfulness.
I’ve done a lot of sitting meditation and concentration on my breathing over the past months. While I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible with sitting, I’m really interested to approach running and the depths of physical fatigue and even pain that accompany it — from this new perspective of learning about myself.
For this, I can credit a book I’ve been reading called Running with the Mind of Meditation. Yeah, I’ve been reading a lot since I moved. Mostly from the Bible, but a lot of other books/genres as well.
And behind all of this, as important as any of these three things, is the break from running that I took. If I hadn’t done that, I think I’d still be stuck. Don’t feel bad about “quitting,” if you know it’s what you need.
I know from what I’ve written before that a lot of you sympathize with the running rut and have dealt with your own, and maybe still are. How’s it going for you?
Runners experience these up-and-downs because, well, we're just human beings. We experience these in life, why expect anything different in our running-life. What's important is to be mindful that this too shall pass.
Slumps happen, and often times at what seems like the worst possible moment - like, just when you're feeling strong and on top of it all, ready for a breakthrough - and then, bang, slumpsville, or worse injury, or worst of all, both.
Well injuries are one thing, but slumps seem so unnecessary, so seemingly stupid. Can't we all just keep pushing and improving and pushing and improving until the bitter end? Well...no. No, most of us can't - or at least we won't.
So what's a slumping runner to do?
Some recommend a break, and that may be called for depending on the situation (for instance if you are experiencing overwhelming fatigue). But a break is not always the answer. Sometimes it behooves us to push on, doggedly, even through the hard, tedious, unmotivated runs that we drag ourselves through.
I believe that you have to be out there on the good days and the bad days, and the really really sucky days, to capture, to stumble upon, those magical days that you might otherwise miss. Sometimes a change happens, for no apparent reason, when you're least expecting it - and you would never know if you weren't out there.
Being a runner is not all about loving it every single moment - just like a good marriage, or friendship - it's not all good all the time. If those are your expectations, you're in for a big let down, and you'll probably give up when perhaps you don't really want to.
There's gobs of advice and suggestions for upping one's motivation: Sign up for a race, join a running group, explore new routes, get a partner, plan an exotic running vacation, etc...But the fact remains that for most of us we must find our own reasons for going on, getting out and doing it - and these suggestions may work for a while, but it's unlikely they'll get you through a real, robust case of slumpiness.
For me it is pure habit that gets me through it. Habit takes a long time to develop, and if you quit every time you hit a rough patch, then you won't develop the habit to keep running, to just do it every day.
Instead, you will develop the habit of quitting when you just don't feel like doing it - and that's okay, if that's what you're after. It's not what I'm after, and I believe it's not what most runners are after. If it were we wouldn't complain about slumps - we would welcome them into our lives like an old friend, use the time to do something else, and then pick it up again when the mood strikes. but no. Most runners hate the slump.
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London
Running is not a state of being - it's a state of doing. You are what you do, and you must accept the ups and the downs. And though the ups are a whole lot more fun than the downs, they are all part of the journey.
If it were easy it wouldn't matter so much. If it does matter, then that means you're a runner - and you should just go for a run.
What I mean by it is kinda in the way I might say "I got my running mojo back"...and the 'change in the weather' is really about the changing of an attitude and finding my way back to what I didn't realize I was missing...
We’ve all been there. We’ve all hit a slump of some kind and it suddenly became a little harder to lace up our sneakers for a run. For me it began late March 2012, when at CrossFit I managed to mess my lower back up again in a really bad way with my disc slipping and subsequently pinching my sciatic nerve. It was so much worse this time than the first incident in that I was physically unable to do much of anything and even getting out of bed each morning was painful and had to be done in a certain way. Anyway, 2 months of being down from running was tough enough and just when I was getting back into it, I made the initial trip to NE for a job interview and the next thing I knew I was moving cross country and that presented a whole new set of reasons why my running and mileage slipped as much as it did. At first I kept it up but then it just slipped more and more. Yeah I was running, but it was piddly mileage at best.
And once Winter really hit here, it was becoming even harder and harder for me to be motivated. Plus in my mind it was OK because well I didn't have any reason TO run...no race on the calendar...etc. I stayed in OK shape by doing different sorts of things with running mixed in instead of the usual other way around.
I gained a few lbs, moreso got flabby so to speak, where I gained more in inches than in true lbs, but there was a little of both. I've lost that now, but this whole section about weight gain etc is fodder for another post at another time.
Anyway, it felt like I was just going through the motions of training — using it as a way to stay in decent shape, sure, but with my heart and mind somewhere else.
But only recently have I started to feel like I’m really back.
You know that feeling where you not only don’t mind running, you actually can’t wait to run again tomorrow? Where you wish you could just fast forward your life eight weeks, and see what kind of progress you’ve made by then? That’s where I am now, and I’ve missed this.
Over Christmas when I found out I was selected in the lottery to run the NYC Half Marathon and the training for race in March, I felt my passion for running begin to wake up. But in the past two weeks, it feels like that passion for running is on an espresso and yerba mate bender.
So much so that it is partly what fueled me to sign up for Colfax in May (another half) and for the 3rd time, Chicago (full)
I can credit three things for this new exuberance:
1. My new running habit. Or rather my reborn running habit.
2. Amazing sources of inspiration. As in people, one in particular who singlehandedly, with their incessant mantras and training posts on Facebook, each day in front of my eyes...watching their training for 5 marathons in as many months, with their 1st one just last October, on their way to running the 100 miles in Iceland this coming August...and now we will run not only NYC together, but Chicago as well...
3. Meditation and mindfulness.
I’ve done a lot of sitting meditation and concentration on my breathing over the past months. While I haven’t even scratched the surface of what’s possible with sitting, I’m really interested to approach running and the depths of physical fatigue and even pain that accompany it — from this new perspective of learning about myself.
For this, I can credit a book I’ve been reading called Running with the Mind of Meditation. Yeah, I’ve been reading a lot since I moved. Mostly from the Bible, but a lot of other books/genres as well.
And behind all of this, as important as any of these three things, is the break from running that I took. If I hadn’t done that, I think I’d still be stuck. Don’t feel bad about “quitting,” if you know it’s what you need.
I know from what I’ve written before that a lot of you sympathize with the running rut and have dealt with your own, and maybe still are. How’s it going for you?
Runners experience these up-and-downs because, well, we're just human beings. We experience these in life, why expect anything different in our running-life. What's important is to be mindful that this too shall pass.
Slumps happen, and often times at what seems like the worst possible moment - like, just when you're feeling strong and on top of it all, ready for a breakthrough - and then, bang, slumpsville, or worse injury, or worst of all, both.
Well injuries are one thing, but slumps seem so unnecessary, so seemingly stupid. Can't we all just keep pushing and improving and pushing and improving until the bitter end? Well...no. No, most of us can't - or at least we won't.
So what's a slumping runner to do?
Some recommend a break, and that may be called for depending on the situation (for instance if you are experiencing overwhelming fatigue). But a break is not always the answer. Sometimes it behooves us to push on, doggedly, even through the hard, tedious, unmotivated runs that we drag ourselves through.
I believe that you have to be out there on the good days and the bad days, and the really really sucky days, to capture, to stumble upon, those magical days that you might otherwise miss. Sometimes a change happens, for no apparent reason, when you're least expecting it - and you would never know if you weren't out there.
Being a runner is not all about loving it every single moment - just like a good marriage, or friendship - it's not all good all the time. If those are your expectations, you're in for a big let down, and you'll probably give up when perhaps you don't really want to.
There's gobs of advice and suggestions for upping one's motivation: Sign up for a race, join a running group, explore new routes, get a partner, plan an exotic running vacation, etc...But the fact remains that for most of us we must find our own reasons for going on, getting out and doing it - and these suggestions may work for a while, but it's unlikely they'll get you through a real, robust case of slumpiness.
For me it is pure habit that gets me through it. Habit takes a long time to develop, and if you quit every time you hit a rough patch, then you won't develop the habit to keep running, to just do it every day.
Instead, you will develop the habit of quitting when you just don't feel like doing it - and that's okay, if that's what you're after. It's not what I'm after, and I believe it's not what most runners are after. If it were we wouldn't complain about slumps - we would welcome them into our lives like an old friend, use the time to do something else, and then pick it up again when the mood strikes. but no. Most runners hate the slump.
"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." - Jack London
Running is not a state of being - it's a state of doing. You are what you do, and you must accept the ups and the downs. And though the ups are a whole lot more fun than the downs, they are all part of the journey.
If it were easy it wouldn't matter so much. If it does matter, then that means you're a runner - and you should just go for a run.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
I Got Lucky This Weekend!
After countless weekends of snowy, icy, cold-ass, or a combination of any of those, this past Saturday when I woke up and immediately checked my phone, I saw that it was 31deg outside with a wind chill of about 28, and very little wind!!
Woohoo!
We get to do the longest run of this training cycle before NYC Half OUT.SIDE!
The night before I went back and forth on what I should wear but settled on a long sleeve Lulu and capris. Turned out it was perfect.
Since I live at the top of a hill it was my plan (and will be going forward in training for Colfax and Chicago) to drive the mile down to the little convenience store and do 2 mile loops from there; having water it the back of my car so that I could get fluids every loop. This way the run would be flat and I wouldnt have to continually run up that long ass, long incline of a hill every single time!
Worked out great!
I started shortly before 7 at the temps above and when I was done it had only reached 40. So, so, so perfect!
I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive running that long outside since I had been doing all my long runs on the treadmill, but honestly I felt like maybe, just maybe, it helped in some weird way. I felt so free and strong.
And because I was apprehensive, I set my Garmin for 4/1's just to be on the safe side so as not to burn out and feel defeated. Even with the 4/1's I averaged about 10:30 a mile. That's how great I was feeling!
After doing 5 loops, I decided to do the last of it out past the Community Center on the bike/running path just for a few hills and to just get a different scenery. After running those loops I was starting to get a bit loopy myself!
I don't have a lot of expectations from the half there in NYC given that I really didn't have the time to train, only finding out at the end of December, but at least I feel confident that I won't entirely embarrass my inner runner-self.
Of course I am already stalking the weather and while I am hoping for cool temperatures, I would really like it to be just that temperature where I can get away with shorts and a short sleeve, with arm warmers if need be.
I got the cutest green plain Lulu shorts and the green Run Swiftly short sleeve since the race IS on St. Patricks Day after all!!!
So that 12 miler is behind me now. This coming Saturday I'll do 8 miles for the weekend before the race. The weather for next weekend doesn't look good here for an outdoor run, but I am hoping that it changes between now and then.
Planning on doing a bit more mileage during this week (weather looks good except for tomorrow), with my usual Thurs night Step class.
I even still went to the gym today; did a couple miles, about 1700m on the rower, some CF, some weights, ab's, and even some yoga stretches. Felt great to get a workout in on this lazy Sunday.
2 weeks to race day!
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