Lemons and Lemonade

Sometimes I just have to stop and look around and remind myself how good things really are. Today was one of those days. It started out with waking up tired and being 15 minutes later than I wanted to be to work. It went downhill from there with screaming emails from a client and demands from my project manager that I'm not equipped to meet. It culminated with a rejection letter from the job I really wanted and just KNEW I was going to get.

I felt my mood spiral downward and I knew I would most likely snap on the next person to demand something from me. Thankfully it was close to lunch and I hatched a plan. I would run it out. I thought about a sign for a trailhead I had seen a few weeks back and decided I was going to check it out. I changed in the bathroom and let the secretary know where I was headed (for safety's sake) then headed for my car.

I arrived at the trailhead to find utility workers running new electrical lines right in the parking area. No new trail for me. I *almost* let the feelings of defeat take over but then I decided I NEEDED to run. So I drove around looking for a neighborhood with some decent sidewalks. I parked at a corner market and took off into the hills of an upscale neighborhood. I was almost out of time but I wasn't out of frustration. Two miles later I felt better, at least enough that I could face the rest of the afternoon without having a meltdown.

When I got back to my desk I had an email. It was simple but exactly what I needed. I was given the okay to announce my big news! I've been chosen to represent Aquaphor as an ambassador and team member! I'm super excited to have a new team and a new opportunity to do what I do best, RUN! And trying a new product is always a bonus! So look out for all the dirt once I get some samples to try and share!

To top it off, marathon training has been going perfectly even if I am only 9 days in. Sunday I ran my 5 miles which were supposed to be at marathon pace. I was dead on pace until 3.5 or 4 miles when the 90* heat caught up to me. I still finished, albeit slower than planned, and felt good about not giving up. Monday was cross training and my trainer put me through a tough upper body and core workout with a little leg thrown in. It was a good workout.

When I got home that night my husband had flowers for us to plant. The baby was having none of it so we let the girls color with chalk on the garage floor while Shane and I worked. I think our little garden turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! And the rain can't wash away the girls artistic works since they're safe and sound in the garage!

After my quick two miles at lunch I made it through the afternoon. After dinner the baby wanted nothing but mommy time and I knew I still had miles to put in. How to balance the baby's clinginess with my need to follow my plan? Stroller run! I only needed one more mile to fill out my plan for the day but Ash was enjoying her run so much I didn't want to stop either so we made it 2 miles. We ran on the trail which was wet from the rain storms that came through in the afternoon. I was surprised how many people were out walking dogs, running, biking and enjoying the cooler weather. Ash had a blast pointing out everything that caught her eye and waving to people and dogs along the trail. It's hard to be upset when I'm around such a happy baby. I probably did my legs in a little more than I should have but I wouldn't trade those 20-ish minutes for the world!

Day 6 Baltimore Training

I ended up sleeping in this morning. I woke up and asked my hubby what time we needed to get moving to make it to the race and he said it was already too late. I can't say I was too disappointed. It's been a good weekend so far and extra sleep was a bonus.

I walked 2 miles with the dogs after work yesterday evening. Once I got home the dogs plopped down and went to sleep. My husband was getting ready to leave for work and my mom had already picked up the kids for the night. I was a little lost on what to do with myself. Thankfully my best friend decided to invite me out to the bar. I don't usually drink but I figured I deserved a little time with my bestie and a drink.

I only stayed for about an hour and a half but it was nice to talk about a lot of the stuff that's been bothering me plus playing pool and silly songs on the juke box. Driving home I felt lighter and a little bit more hopeful than usual as of late. I enjoyed reading a book for about an hour and then hit the sack. Finding out I wasn't racing this morning just made my extra couple hours that much more enjoyable.

When I finally dragged myself out of bed my husband was just coming up from the treadmill. He told me he'd run 8 miles in 59 minutes. Oh the time I could save on training if only I had his speed! Instead of smacking him I padded off to the kitchen to find some food. I forgot how much I can actually eat when I start running regularly. My 'normal' appetite returned full force today and I'm dreading the next grocery bill.

After two waffles with peanut butter and syrup plus coffee I was satisfied enough that I thought I could get in my long run while the kids were still at my moms. I hope I won't have to make switching Sunday long runs with Saturday pace runs a habit but it seemed like the best option this weekend. I mixed up some nuun and loaded my pockets with GU and headed out.

I guess I should know better than to let the baby play with my iPod but it seems to be her favorite toy. Of course that meant that today my running playlist was deleted and my music wouldn't shuffle. I lost a lot of time the first two miles taking walk breaks to manually flip songs because I was sick of listening to a certain one five times over. I finally got one playlist to work and shuffle so I just went with it and hoped I could make up the time I'd lost.

I was doing well when I reached the 5 mile turn around, about 1-2 minutes behind schedule. I picked it up as I head back but, by the time I hit the more residential sections of the trail, the heat was high and the sun was baking. I was drinking more and slowing down. I tried to focus on just maintaining pace but it was hard. I started throwing in a short walk break every mile. By mile 8.5 my bottle was empty and I was getting angry. I probably walked way more than I should have the last mile and a half but I was afraid of getting overly dehydrated.

I finally made it back home a little over 2 hours after I set out and checked my first long run of this training cycle off the list. It felt really good to do that and I feel surprisingly good for having run more miles today than I have in most weeks the last two months. I have some little aches but I'm pretty sure I just need new shoes. It wasn't a priority when I was barely running but now I'll have to budget for another fitting quickly.

All in all, I'd say I'm happy with things so far. Just 127 more days of training to go!

Resting Ain't Easy

It's Friday and it's Day 5 of Baltimore training. On the schedule today? Rest. Insert deep sigh here.

After two months of laziness I'm ready to jump back in and find the woman who took an hour off her marathon time. I'm ready to find the me that would run 5+ miles and THEN go to CrossFit. What I'm not ready for is the mental fortitude it takes to embrace rest. I know I need it and I WILL do it but I'm a mess right now.

I had an interview yesterday that I feel went spectacularly. I talked with the placement agency that found me afterwards and she thought I would have an answer by 5PM today. I'm a bundle of nerves and ready to jump out of my skin at every sound. My phone hasn't left my pocket yet (nor has it rung). I made lunch plans with some of my coworkers in hopes I can let go of some of this nervous energy over some pizza and wings.

It's not helping that I have decided to pull out of the Hatfield McCoy Marathon this weekend. I'm not in marathon shape and I'm not willing to injure myself to finish and check another state off my list. My husband and I set our sights on a local 10k instead. I'm schedule to run 5 miles Saturday and 10 Sunday so I think doing 6 Saturday and 9 Sunday is a good compromise as long as I hold myself back in the race. Even thinking about trying to contain my competitiveness is draining but I want to PR so bad at Baltimore that I can taste it!

The good news is that it's almost lunch time! Just another hour and then I can enjoy some conversation and company that doesn't revolve around my inability to sit still today! The good news is my work is all caught up with plenty of time to spare for the weekend. I guess a rest day is good for something after all.

Happy National Running Day!

In case you somehow missed it or were living under a rock, today is National Running Day! So what's on your agenda?

I'll be celebrating by trying to cram 5 miles into my lunch break. I don't foresee this going over well at work but you can't argue with a national holiday right?! And if you want to get really into it you could always do something like this video from Runner's World! I think I'll go running as Busy Mom today. Oh wait, that's every day...

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Day 2 of Baltimore marathon training is in the bag. I should probably be giving myself a pat on the back for making it this far considering my training track record. Well, I sort of did, I gave in and ate a brownie but only after my post-run banana! That makes it okay right?

What's nagging me is that I used the McMillan pace calculator to figure out my pace guidelines for training. I based it off my PR and goal of 4:30. As I was plugging in numbers I was a little terrified. I expected to see 8's and 9's all over the place and to feel inadequate. To my surprise it was all 10-12 minute mile paces.

Here's what I got:
Recovery: 12:34 - 13:04
Long Run: 11:34 - 12:34
Easy Run: 11:34 - 12:04
Tempo: 10:04 - 10:30
400m: 2:10 - 2:18
800m: 4:32 - 4:45
1200m: 6:59 - 7:20
1600m: 9:19 - 9:40

What surprised me is these paces all seem SLOW (for me). Following common advice I would ideally start out at the slower end of each range at the beginning or training, move into the middle, and finish at the faster end in 18 weeks. However, I tried today (I swear I tried!) and I just can't seem to do it.

Today's plan called for 3 miles easy. Without thinking I set the treadmill for 5.5 MPH. I realized quickly that was too fast. I nudged down to 5.4 MPH. I felt like I was slogging along and tried to tune out the little voice in my head that all the other gym-goers were staring and laughing. After a mile I ate my pride and went down to 5.3 MPH. After 2 miles I went down to 5.2 MPH. I ended up doing the 3 miles in 33:54 for an 11:18 average. TOO FAST!

I'm not sure what to do. I'm not used to trying to go slower. I assume I'll be better able to avoid injury and tolerate high mileage but there's the downside of the time factor. By the time I changed into gym clothes, ran, cleaned up and changed back I'd been on lunch for an hour! Tomorrow calls for 5 miles and I don't know how I can do that as a lunch run but I have to because our soccer season finale party is tomorrow night. Not to mention the bruising my ego is experiencing when I add these times to my log book.

Ahhh, the woes of marathon training begin again. And I ask myself, "Why do I do this to myself again?"

I Think I Can...

I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. I have a job interview this week that I feel really good about. It's made dealing with everything at work a little easier when I think that I could be out of there by the end of this month. The reduction in stress brought back the return of my running mojo just in time to focus on the Baltimore Running Festival marathon as my goal race for the fall.

I did the 5k back in 2009 when I was running for Team Under Armour. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to going back. I have the added benefit of running for a new team this year. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to announce which company just yet so look for that in a future post!

I also get to look forward to running with a friend. One of my fellow runners from RnR DC is running Baltimore as his second full marathon. We have very similar paces and marathon time so we've set our sights on going 26.2 in 4:30 at Baltimore. It should be a HUGE motivator to have another person depending on me to train right and run a smart race.

Knowing that I have 19 weeks to get ready I printed out an 18 week training plan and started today to give myself an extra 7 days should I need to rest or repeat a week for any reason. Today was just cross training but it felt good to have a reason to get my butt to the gym. My favorite trainer, Ryan, put me through a tough upper body and core workout. Then I got to run around with my soccer kids for an hour at our last practice of the season. Even though I'm excited to get my weeknights back I am sad to be done. I had a great group of kids this season and Gemma isn't sure she wants to do soccer in the fall so this may have been my last go-round as coach.

I'm feeling strong though. A tough 5 mile race on Saturday, an easy 4 miler on Sunday, and lots of cross training today and I still feel ready to start the running portion of my marathon training tomorrow. I want to do this training cycle right and really find out what I'm made of. I set a huge PR in Savannah and I want to feel that rush of accomplishment again. This time I plan to train a little harder AND smarter.

It's time to break out the pace calculator and nail down my goal paces for each training run. Every run should be about adding value to my training, not just miles. Quality over quantity and making sure I'm in the right shape to run a 4:30 marathon. It's not going to be easy but nothing that's worth it ever is, right?

So now comes the hardest part for someone like me, rest. Instead of curling up on the couch and enjoying the quiet of a sleeping house, I will head to bed and let my body recover. After that comes trying to whip my diet back into shape which means no more skipping breakfast in favor of coffee! It also probably means I'm going to have to plan ahead on packing my lunch instead of throwing in the first things I touch every morning. I can do this!

Run For Alex 5 Mile Race Report

When my husband told me he'd signed me up for a 5 mile race on Saturday I can't say I was really thrilled. For the last two months I've been barely running and I don't think I've run 5 miles at a single time since Umstead. I resigned myself to this race being some form of torture and hoped that I wouldn't DNF a 5 mile run. I was pretty sure I was going to be embarassed no matter what.

Saturday was cool compared to the recent temperatures and I appreciated being able to wear a jacket at the starting line. The race actually has three distances: 1 mile, 2 miles, and 5 miles. At the starting line I was wondering if it would be okay to drop down to one of the other races. The Run for Alex is a memorial for a 15 year old girl who was killed by a speeding car while walking home from soccer practice. Part of the race is a head-to-head challenge of the local schools' track stars in honor of Alex's track record. Being surrounded by teenage boys and girls who looked like stalking lions was intimidating for someone who feels like a blob of jelly right now.

But I took a deep breath and placed myself in the front of the mid-pack group. Shane reminded me not to try to keep up with him and then we were off. I went out trying to focus on treating this like a long run. About a tenth of a mile into the race we made a turn off the main road and started heading uphill into the countryside. I checked my Garmin and I was running sub-9 pace. I pulled back into the 9's and tried not to grit my teeth as several people passed me.

When I say we headed uphill, I mean UP hills. I didn't realize the race was a loop so I just kept telling myself to make it to the turn-around and then it would be all downhill. After about 15 minutes I realized I wasn't seeing the leaders coming back and it must be a loop. I continued tackling the hills and reminding myself to take short, quick strides. It seemed to work because by mile three I hadn't walked yet. Then we encountered what people were referring to as 'the mountain'. It seemed to be straight up and there was no end in sight. I kept up my shorter strides and passed a few people who were walking but about 2/3 of the way up I couldn't keep up the momentum and began to walk. I reached what I thought was the top but it turned out to just be a left turn and then we continued on our journey towards the heavens.

Finally we came to a downhill which began right at a cow pasture. I couldn't help but wonder what the cows thought of the herd of crazy humans running past their field. That helped to lift my spirits after the big hill and I picked up the pace a bit. I checked my Garmin and was shocked to realize that I just might be able to make a sub-10 average pace if I really let loose on the downhills. I pushed as hard as I dared and tried to monitor my breathing because I was sure a blow up was coming after months of laziness.

After that false start to the downhill there was one more uphill to tackle and then it was almost straight down to return to where we'd started. I set my sights on a group of men in front of me and didn't even bother reeling them in. I just let gravity take me and blew by them on a steep downhill. I could hear them complaining about wrecked quads and I wondered to myself how I could still be fit enough to not feel the strain.

At the bottom of the downhill we made a quick left turn and I passed another pair of men running together. I looked for women to catch and saw only one. A girl in hot pink shorts about 100 yards ahead of me. I tried to pick up the pace even more but we were headed slightly uphill again and I didn't have it. I got close to her but she crossed the line about 30 seconds before I did.

My official time was 50:43 for a 10:08 average pace. I never would have imagined I still had that in me. I was 192/241 overall and 18/25 in my age group. Not really an impressive placing but better than I'd hoped for. Shane finished in 38: 32 and took third in his age group. I guess my goal for next year will be to keep up with him. Definitely going to have to add some hills if I want to do that. Oh, and ya know, run too!