7/25/10-Getting back to it again

So, once I did my 10K race back in April I started to get tired. Worn out. I think I pushed too much...and so I crashed for a long while. Only 37.35 miles in May and a whopping 4.5 miles in June; so far for July I've only gotten out there twice (that includes today) for 5.7 miles. I just was so worn out and my motivation tanked big time-not just for the running but for all my exercising. And when that happened, guess what followed? Yup, you guessed it, the food. Not so much the types of food (although there were many more added "goodies") but more so the portions and such. And so I've gained weight back...now, couple that with the fact that my position at work was eliminated and my last day was-get this-my 40th birthday, and my downward spiral is complete. I wound up gaining back 11 pounds of the 45 I lost.

Forward to yesterday. I finally sat down to map out my training plan for this fall to prepare for my first full marathon-hopefully, participating depends on the job situation as I am about to start my fourth week of being unemployed. I decided that regardless of the job thing I will follow my training plan so I will be prepared no matter what. I do already have two half marathons (10/31 and 12/12) that I'm already registered for so I'd need to be training anyway so I figure I should be prepared. Anyway, as I saw the amount of training I'll be doing I thought to myself, "You're nuts-you are back out of shape, you've gotta get a hold of yourself or you'll never pull this off. Now get up off your butt and get back to work!" And so I am.

Yesterday I tried out the warm up and cool down of my new Heavyweight Yoga DVD (boy did that feel good stretching everything out) and I am looking forward to doing a lot more of that, probably using it as part of my cross training regimen in addition to the elliptical and stationary bike. It's a great DVD by Abby Lentz doing yoga as a "big" person. Then I made myself go to bed at a decent time last night so I could get up early today and go for a walk/run before it got too hot out. I had to really push myself out the door, and once out there I finally got going...unfortunately even at 8am it was already 85 degrees with 75% humidity giving a "feels like" of 93. Thank goodness the clouds were obscuring the sun most of the way or my outing would have been way shorter than the 3.03 miles I was able to pull off.

I started out doing 3 min walk/1 min run but after 4 run intervals just walked the rest as my heart rate was in the 160s just walking...like I said, I've been out of it quite a while and as a result am almost back to square one fitness-wise. I felt totally exhausted afterward but I'm glad I got back out there. Now I'm off to plot my return plan...my official "training" for the marathon in January that I hope to do starts in four weeks and I need to start getting back into the swing of things because I will NOT disappoint myself. I WILL be ready for January. I have come too far not to make it.

4/24/2010-Back to basics

The last few weeks I've been taking time off. I think with 5 races within a two month time period and the training to go along with them just kind of burned me out. One day I would like to make it to the point where a half marathon every other weekend is like nothing, but that's still a while away. So now that I've rested and taken some time off, I'm ready to slowly build back up again. That also includes getting back to my normal eating because for the last few weeks along with the taking time off I've also been eating not-so-great. I know I've gained some pounds back (not sure how many as I'm hiding from my scale for now)...not the right direction to go in. So enough of the slacking off, time to ease back into my exercise schedule and walk/run schedule and to restock the fridge and cabinets the right way. I want to be back under 200 well before my 40th birthday in a little over 2 months so no more goofing off.

I'll be getting back to my schedule:
Mon...short miles (3-5)
Tues...gym for cross training (elliptical/bike/weights)
Wed...rest with possibility of Wii Fit
Thu...short miles (3-5)
Fri...gym for cross training again
Sat...long miles (will start at 6 and go from there until my base is built up again)
Sun...rest (unless Saturday is rained out, then long miles can go here)

Come hell or high water I'll be at Disney in January to do the full marathon. I'll be starting my "official" training plan toward the end of August. I plan to use Marathoning for Mortals again since it worked so well for my first half marathon. Between now and the start of that training I'll be working on transitioning from my 3 minute walk/2 minute run toward a 3 minute walk/1 minute run (or something like that; more running than walking anyway, we'll see how things play out). I do already have a half marathon scheduled for Halloween (Miami Beach Halloween Half Marathon) and will hopefully be able to register for a few more things for the fall and maybe December.

Tomorrow will be mapping out some plans for upping my miles again and my walk/run to run/walk transition as well as fall training. I'm also going to program my Garmin to do the beeps every minute so I can start playing with my walk/run ratios like that. If you've never checked one out, I highly recommend it...ever since I received mine (gift from DH this last holiday season), I've absolutely loved it. Accurate and gives you tons of great info regarding your pace, heart rate, distance and more.

Happy Running!

4/11/2010-10K results

Today was the Gumbo Limbo Green Turtle Gallop 10K in Boca Raton. First time I've done a race at this distance, all others have been 5K or half marathon. Day was overcast and humid. Wind wasn't really a factor until the last couple of miles when it was right in your face (but it sure helped cool things a little, temps were mid-70s but with the humidity the sweat was pouring down). Quiet route for the most part, some down A1A and then into a little community for a lot of it, then back out onto A1A again. Wound up finishing in 1:33:27, a 14:58 pace. However, my "official" time was 1:33:44 since it was based on "gun time"...no timing mat at the start (I started my Garmin at the cone that marked the start line). I'm not too fond of these kinds of starts, it is not accurate based on the distance you are doing. Yes, it was only a 17 second difference but at my speed I need to take whatever I can get LOL. Think I'll stick to the D-tag timed races so I get accurate results based on the actual distance of the event.

3/7/2010-13.1 Miami Beach Half Marathon race report

What a fantastic day for a race! Sunny with some scattered clouds and a real nice breeze. 52 degrees at the start, 60 at the finish. Gotta love South Florida in the winter!

Got up at 2:30am to have breakfast and get ready. Didn’t wind up leaving the house until just after 4am for my hour drive down to Miami Beach. The race started and ended in South Beach; when I arrived down there just after 5am, there were people still out from the night before (a few in some rather provocative partying clothes). Ah, South Beach LOL. Got parked and made my way over the the starting area. Walked around for over a half an hour trying to stay warm before making my way over to the corrals. This was set up like A1A was with poles marking the different pace times. We started on time and I headed out at a slow jog for the first block before starting my walk/run intervals. I was again doing my 3 minute walk/2 minute run intervals, adjusting to the water stops and bridges as needed.

The first 3 miles wound through the streets of Miami Beach and brought us over the I-195, AKA the Julia Tuttle Causeway. I did make one port-a-potty stop about 2.5 miles in (didn’t want to take a chance and there were no lines, only wasted about 40 seconds). We did the JTC over and back (about 6 miles total) which included 2 bridges, the 2nd (western) one steeper than the other. The bridges wound up being not too bad, I was still able to keep up a 16 min/mile pace going up...and of course ran down both of them! So actually four bridges with the out and back. We could see the cruise ships docked at the Port of Miami from the JTC...too bad that wasn’t the reward for finishing!

I kept a pretty steady pace for the first 10 miles between 14:30-14:51 min/mile. The last 5K though, I was getting tired (hey, I did just do another half marathon 2 weeks ago) and slowed to between 15:03-15:34 min/mile. The last mile or so was along a boardwalk-type area (but not wooden, was a brick-type walkway) and there were a lot of people just walking along it that weren’t part of the race...they didn’t get in the way though, plenty of room for all of us.

When I hit the 13 mile mark I picked up my pace again and ran the last bit to the finish line. My chip time wound up being 3:16:51, a new PR for me (3 half marathons, 3 PRs). Considering I made the one potty stop I’m very happy with my time on a course with 4 bridges to do. At the finish they were giving free salsa lessons and there was Latin music (all along the course too as well as many drum lines), free arroz con pollo, cafe con leche and free Samuel Adams beer (again no thanks but that booth sure was popular). They were also giving out free bags of “Corn Thins” at the end, they are like rice cake but made out of popcorn instead...got two of those (Flax & Soy and Lemon & Cracked Pepper)...really yummy and actually good for you.

I had a great time and would definitely do this race again, although next year I’m going to try to make Disney’s Princess Half first!

3/3/2010-Coming soon...my 3rd half marathon

That's right, I've gone ahead and signed up for another half marathon. This coming Sunday 3/7/10---13.1 Miami Beach. The course starts at 11th and Ocean Drive, winds thru Miami Beach over to Alton and then onto the Julia Tuttle Causeway-over and back, then winds down back to near where it started. The challenging part will be the JTC as there are two nice-sized bridges on it, so since we are going over and back that's like having 4 bridges. *shaking my head* What was I thinking? (Yeah, I know, I wasn't thinking at all, was I?)

I think I will have the wardrobe part fixed. Still will be wearing my skirt but will have other shorts on underneath that do NOT ride up at all. Haven't decided if I'm just going to wear the skirt over them or cut out the shorts that are already in the skirt before putting it over (so I'm not wearing 2 pair of shorts at once). I'll play around with that over the next two days to see what I can figure out. Tried shopping for more tops and bottoms but there is just not much in the stores out there for my size (warning-rant to follow). Don't these running clothes makers understand that there are bigger people out there running? And we shouldn't have to pay through the nose to special order things that fit? I'm working on getting smaller but you know, it takes time. And let me just say, what Target's Champion stuff says is 2X just ISN'T. #1, the other brands I've tried (Reebok, Adidas, One More Mile, etc) their 2X stuff fits-the Champion stuff is tight so NO, it isn't that I'm bigger than I think I am. #2, running wear in general (especially women's, especially wicking fabric) a 2X top is NOT the same size as a 2X t-shirt (in women's cuts even!). Not even close. I actually fit in XL's now for regular shirts but the 2X running stuff is still cut smaller than the XL regular clothes...where the heck is that coming from? I was extremely lucky to find some sleeveless running tops at my Reebok Outlet store in 2X that fit fine (but you can still see my tummy moving when I run)...but they're all gone now (I was able to get 2, one white and one a pretty sea green color, my favorite running top right now). Doesn't look like they have anything else like those. *sigh*

I will just have to exercise patience with the clothing until some more pounds disappear I guess. Sorry about the rant but sometimes ya just have to let it out, right? Anyway, my right hip area in the front of my leg has been a bit ouchy my last couple of outings (only on the run intervals though) so I may turn tomorrow's 3-ish mile interval walk/run into just a walk or forego it altogether to avoid screwing myself up for Sunday. Cause you know those bridges are going to be a challenge as it is.