marathon- complete!

I got a text on Saturday afternoon that I would not need to work on the response this weekend so I immediately threw some stuff in a bag and headed for New Orleans! 2.5hrs later, my buddy Matt met me at the expo and helped me find my bib # and packet. Funny story- when I signed up for the marathon, I must have forgotten that I was signing up for a marathon because I listed my anticipated finish time as 1:59:00... I was hoping I'd end up in the 1st corral, but they stuck me in #17. Just as well.

That night, we went out to an Italian place in Metairie, LA for dinner and I had a GREAT fettucini alfredo and fried chicken dish (gotta love the South). It was a nice opportunity to catch up with some friends and relax before the big run. At dinner, Chrisy informed me that two of our friends had gotten t-shirts made in memory of Thomas for our group of buddies to wear at the Rock 'n' Roll. Matt and I picked up our shirts (which were actually tank tops) and I thought it would be great motivation for me to wear during my marathon debut.

I didn't sleep much. Jimmy had scored us a room at the Ritz Carlton on Canal (there was a massive leak at the hotel he had actually booked) but I was so nervous and anxious (and sad) that I may not have slept at all...  a rough start! At 6:30 we left our hotel and walked to the start at Poydras and Camp St. I was worried at first that I wouldn't be able to navigate us there but there were TONS of people to follow!!! It was amazing. Even more amazing than the size of the crowd was that I ran into my favorite spin instructor amidst the chaos! It was nice to see a friendly face because, of course, I had already gotten lost and separated from my group. I felt nervous about not having pooped yet (I used to get the same way before rugby games) so I got in one of the incredibly long porta-potty lines and waited it out. The gun fired and there were still probably a dozen people ahead of me in line. You can imagine what it looked like when I finally made it to the throne. Why the fuck couldn't I have pooped at the Ritz Carlton?! Anyway, after that horrific ordeal, I hopped into one of the corrals and actually ran into ANOTHER person that I knew. Kay was shooting for a 4:30 finish and I told her I'd hang on for as long as I could. I stuck with her for maybe 2 miles. Haha.

Okay I could give you the turn-by-turn but I'm already bored with that idea.

I finished in 4:50:39, which is a pace of 11:06. I think I feel the right mix of happiness and... I don't know... hopefulness, with that being my first marathon. I'm happy that I was able to finish it and I know there are a handful of things I can do differently next time to improve myself. The first tweak I think I ought to make to my training is incorporating more strength work. My quads and glutes were tired pretty much the entire time, but I never found myself breathing hard. This tells me that it probably was not necessary for me to supplement my cardio work with spin classes as often as I did. I think I would have had a more comfortable marathon if my legs were stronger. The second tweak that I (hope I) will make is incorporating more long runs, even if it means starting my training a few weeks earlier. Having a 20-mile run under my belt was invaluable, but I think my body would have been happier if it was more used to the impact. Exhibit A is my left heel/ankle which I am currently treating with alternating hot/cold packs.

The best part about my run is that I never really found myself hitting a wall. My pace was pretty consistent and manageable and it helped that there were water stations every 1.5-2 miles because I allowed myself to walk for a few seconds at each of them. I expected my mental state to deteriorate at mile 18 or 19, but it never really did. When the miles started to feel longer and longer, I just thought about the tank top I was wearing and how important it was to honor Thomas' memory by finishing well. My pace picked up significantly when I saw all my friends cheering me on in the home stretch. I had taken so long (most of my friends ran the 1/2M and my friend who ran the full with me finished it in 3:20) that I halfway expected them to have already left for the bars. But they were there in their tank tops! I sprinted to the finish and got my medal and snacks and hugged my friends. Side note: I am so lucky to have such great people in my life.

Running my first marathon was a great experience. Here's hoping my second marathon will be even more awesome! Guess what I signed up for today...

October 28, 2012!

I wondered if it was a bad idea for me to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon this afternoon, as I gingerly hobbled across my living room to retrieve my credit card. I think the timing will be good though. I will have wrapped up my last long bike ride 2 months prior to the MCM, so I should be in good shape and I'll probably be anxious to switch my focus from cycling to running. I think it'll work out well.

Anyway, that was my marathon experience! I was somewhat consistent with my training, dropped off the face of the running planet for most of the month of February, ate awful food, slept very little (taking three classes this semester was SOOOOO stupid), and I still survived it. Great success!

Great motivation.

lazy legs

This Monday was my first run since the 20-miler. So weird- I hadn't taken that long of a break from running since... idk, October? It was really nice though. Between work, school, and family time last week, the only workout I got to was Wednesday's spin class. The biggest time suck of last week though?- MGB. I spent the last four months planning a Mardi Gras Ball and now that it's over (it happened on Friday), I feel like I have so much more time on my hands! It turned out to be a great event. The DJ was great, the live bands were great, the food was AWESOME, the photo booth was super fun, the professional photographer seemed to be doing a good job (we'll see when I get my picture back!), and I think it was fun for everyone to get dressed up and celebrate. I'm happy that it went so well and that it is behind me.

Carolina John had suggested that I up the pace on my shorter runs. I think I'm going to focus on that this week. I'm not sure if that's a great idea so late in the game, but running faster gets it over with quicker 8)
Yesterday, I ran 6 miles at a 9:30 pace. I was so much faster earlier in my  marathon training... I'm looking at my training log and I did the same run in November at a 8:59 pace. I don't like that. Is it because I shifted my focus from speed to distance? Yes, my capacity for endurance has vastly increased since November, but why should that change how I perform in shorter runs? I've got another five or six mile run this afternoon before class. Hoping that my lazy legs will carry me to a < 9:30 pace!
Spin class yesterday was rough again. I don't know what it is...  I felt weak and kind of nauseous in the second half of class and almost thought about cutting out early. Is this my body punishing me for taking last week off? Okay body, I'm sorry!!! Now can we get our shit together and wrap up these last 2 1/2 weeks before the marathon??!

On a lighter note, my mom posted this on my Facebible wall yesterday:

Is she saying I ought to drink more? Thanks, Mom 8)

study break

It's been a crazy, crazy week. I cannot believe that it is already Wednesday. I drove back to Mobile this afternoon and I have this icky feeling in my stomach... I hate being here when my awesome family is hanging out with baby Lily without me. But I definitely had to come home. I had already missed three days of work and two classes and my cats were basically starving to death, so it's good that I'm back.

This is week one of my epic FOUR WEEK taper. It was supposed to be three weeks long, but I knew I wouldn't be able to get my 20-miler in this coming weekend so it was either four weeks of tapering or two weeks of tapering. Most people thought that I ought to train on the conservative side, this being my first jaunt into marathoning. This week is pretty shot for me, because of family time and Friday's Mardi Gras Ball and more family time, but I did manage a spin class tonight and I am planning a 10-mile run with Hans while he's here this weekend. I figure I kind of owe it to him, seeing as he was flying all this way to run a 1/2M in St. Pete. (We decided against making the trip so that we can spend time with my family. Priorities!)

Spin was kind of rough tonight. I don't know if I'm still fatigued from my run on Saturday, or just feeling shitty because of all the bad food I've eaten since this weekend (I was POOPED after being up all night at the hospital on Sunday and indulged in a Baconator on Monday... my first fast food of the new year!). After class, a bunch of people came up to me and asked how my marathon training was going. My first thought was, "Damn! I need to stop telling people about this! Now they all have expectations!" but really, it was kinda neat. Except for one of the guys I chatted with who is a very experienced long distance runner and cyclist and has run something like 30 marathons. He asked me how my 20-miler went and I have to say... I was pretty embarrassed to tell him. IT TOOK ME FIVE HOURS. He started doing the math out loud for what kind of pace I was running and I started making excuses "it was hilly, I had a cold/flu-thing, my legs were already tired, etc." All in all, not a very uplifting conversation. But he was nice about it and tried to be encouraging and I know it will motivate me to know that I have people that I am kind of sort of accountable to. I'm the kind of person who likes to keep goals a secret because I hate to let people down almost as badly as I hate to let myself down. Maybe it's time for me to nut up a bit.

Anyway, back to studying :-/

18 miles?? PIECE OF CAKE!

Just kidding, it wasn't actually that easy. I meant to knock this one out on Wednesday, but I didn't get out of work early enough to catch the hours of daylight I would need to run EIGHTEEN MILES. So I ran five and went to spin class instead. As always, Bill's class whooped my ass. I could really feel the burn in my quads as we did the sprint work and lately I've been wondering if I should just bite the bullet and buy some good spin shoes. I have the ones I use for my bike, but I don't think they're compatible with the type of clips on the spin bikes. Hmmm...

Anyway! Yesterday, I mapped out three different ~6 mile loops from my apartment. I left out a bottle of water/gatorade and some GU and hit the road at around 10am. It was very humid and the sky looked like it was fixin' to rain (aww I love Mobile) but the sun burned through at around noon. Then, it was hot. Very hot! I kept my heart rate at right around 155bpm (the upper limit of my aerobic zone) and never felt like I had to breathe through my mouth. Although this run was easy on the cardiovascular side, it felt tougher on my muscles and my joints because my stride was really short and so perhaps the cumulative impact was greater? What was weird (but kind of nice) was that the aches and pains would come and go and be replaced by a discomfort somewhere else. So my left arch (the mostly problematic one) would bother me for about a half hour, and then the pain would switch to my right hip and my arch wouldn't bother me anymore. As I write this, I wonder if it had to do with me adjusting my stride to compensate for the pain in the different parts of my body. I don't think I hurt myself too terribly bad though because I feel perfect today. No lingering soreness anywhere!

I took a break in between loops to grab some water and devour a GU. I feel good about the breaks that I took because they always came just when I was starting to feel tired or thirsty. I didn't time my running or my breaks because I wanted to focus on how my body was feeling and not push too hard- this worked out really well for me! When it was all over, I wasn't exactly tired but my muscles were definitely fatigued and I had to support myself a bit on the railing as I made my way upstairs. But yeah, today I am good as new! I think I will stick with heart rate training for my long runs... seems to be working so far.

Achy Breaky Feet

Yesterday, I planned to do my long run for the week- 18 miles. I mapped out two different 9 mile loops (to keep things interesting for myself), strapped on my heart rate monitor, set a water bottle and blueberry GU outside the gate to my house, and off I went! I tried to keep my heart rate in the fat burning/aerobic zones (50-70%) and would slow down if my heart rate approached 160bpm. Folks, I was moving slower than a swimming sloth.

Leave me alone, lady! Can't you see I'm trying to maintain my target heart rate zone?!

When I finally made it home, my knees and feet hurt but I felt great! My heart rate was low, my breathing was easy, and I was excited to knock my second 9 mile loop out of the park. I devoured the GU and slammed some watered down gatorade and I was on my way! 18 miles?! NO PROBLEM!!!

Two miles later, I was finished. My feet felt like two crushed birds, delicate bones protruding sharply from feathers in my Asics GT-2160s. I hobbled my ass back home and wondered what the fuck had happened. Two miles is a long way to walk when it hurts to walk. When I finally got home and had a hot shower, I realized that I probably hadn't given myself enough time to recover from the 1/2M this weekend. 

Today, I feel... better than ever, actually! My feet and calves are just fine, and I wonder if the stupid long run was just what I needed to flush out the lactic acid (in my feet???). I went to a great spin class during my lunch hour today and I feel confident that I'll be able to handle the 18 miler when I get back from this weekend. Stay tuned!

success!!

The impossible happened!! The official times haven't been posted yet, but I know my raw time was under two hours... crazy, crazy day. I hit a great rhythm at around mile 4 and was able to ride that through mile 11. The last 2.1 miles were a total mind game... I almost convinced myself to walk it the rest of the way, but I knew that if I pushed through the pain I would meet my goal time. In the last mile, I tried to focus on "Violent Pornography" blaring through my headphones, and this quote:

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never pushed through the obstruction." -William James

Thank goodness I didn't give up on myself! :)

My Love's a Revolver

Spin class today kicked soooo much ass. I LOVE Wednesday 5:30pm class because Bill is an incredible motivator and he always has the best music. 2/3 of the way through class, he played this remix of Madonna's "Revolver" and I felt the way I feel in the end of a Bikram yoga class- totally at peace and utterly unstoppable. 

I'll just get it out there- spin class is very sexy to me. They dim the lights and crank up the noise and everyone's in there checking everyone out in the giant mirror in the front of the room. It always makes me feel like I'm in some steamy, spandex-y dance club. Kind of erotic- especially when we're riding in third position... it's a standing climb with your hands on the very ends of the handlebars and your hips stretched waaaay back with your bottom hovering just over the seat. Most of your weight is in your legs and your hands only lightly touch the handlebars for balance. When I'm in third position, I feel like I could ride my stationary bike right over any insecurity or self-perceived flaw I might have. All my anxiety is gone. All my inadequacies are gone. I feel the solidness of my core and my burning, pumping legs and my palms just grazing the PVC-dipped bars and I think, "DAMN, girl!"