Running My Own Race

Making a Move

2010-01-27T16:31:00.002-06:00

This past week, Running My Own Race turned one year old. I started blogging last year as I started training for the Fargo Marathon and have had no shortage of things to write about since. It's been a lot of fun to connect with so many people from near and far. Blogspot makes it so easy to decide to write a blog one minute and start publishing the next.

I've decided to move my blog to my own web page, runningmyownrace.com. The main reason I'm moving it is my own curiosity about setting up a domain and how to design a web page. I would also like a little more flexibility with some of the structure of my page, but it really isn't a knock against blogspot.

If you head over to my new site, you'll see that it looks a lot like this one. All of the old posts and comments are over there. You'll also notice that there are some tabs at the top of the page. One of them says "Contest Entry." I know some of you may have to make a change to a bookmark, a link, or something in your reader to make the switch with me. I have a little contest as a thank you for making the switch. If you go to the Contest Entry tab, leave a comment and I'll enter you in a drawing. You'll have to go and check it out to see what the prize is. Leave a comment by noon on February 14th and you will be entered.

When I first started this blog, I didn't want to tell anyone about it. I was self conscious and didn't know if anyone would really care about what I thought about running. The most rewarding thing about this process has been reading about what everyone else is up to, where they are on their journey, and what they think about running and all kinds of other things. Thanks for visiting me here and all of your encouragement. I hope you'll stay with me so that the only thing that really changes is the address in your browser.

Not Frozen, Just a Little Soggy Half Marathon

2010-01-24T16:50:00.013-06:00

Mike and I have been planning all winter to do the Securian Frozen Half Marathon. Only a wicked wind and below zero temps would dissuade me, so I was surprised when it was over 30 degrees and it looked like we might decide against going. The forecast was for sleet and 25 mph winds, so when we went to bed we decided we would make the decision about going in the morning.

We peeked out the window and it didn't look too bad. We got dressed and decided to give it a try. I stepped out on the driveway to see what it felt like outside. It had iced over night, and the pavement was so slippery that I couldn't make it back into the garage. My feet kept slipping and Mike had to pull me back in. When we backed the car out, it just slid down the hill sideways and got stuck in the snow. When Mike stepped out of the car to assess the situation, he literally slid standing up all of the way down the driveway to the street, about 100 ft. He put on some cleats, and after digging us out twice we finally made it to the street and were on our way. The major roads were fine and we made it safely in plenty of time.

We saw lots of friendly faces right away. We saw Jenny, Guy and Diane. Then I saw Julie and went over to say hello. It was great to see her and she is just as adorable in person as you would think she is from reading her blog. She was ready for her first half marathon. Here we are:

She said she was looking for Steve, who was now over chatting with Jenny and our other friends. After introducing Julie to the whole group, we took a photo:

This is a great race because you get to park in the parking garage that is connected to the Securian office building. All of the registration and packet pickup is inside, and the start line is 25 feet out the door. I waited inside until they said that we had 30 seconds until the start of the race, I stepped out the door and lined up right behind the 2:15 pace group. It was in the low 30's and sleeting a bit.

Surprisingly, the pack moved pretty well in the back and we were able to hit our pace right from the start. Since we were moving right away, I was toasty warm and didn't mind the sleet. Wearing a baseball cap kept my face dry which made me more comfortable. It stopped sleeting after a couple of miles, and I had enough layers on to keep the moisture out for the rest of the race. The windy conditions had worried me before the race. It turns out that the wind was coming out of the south and we were reasonably protected by bluffs. There were only a few sections that I noticed the wind and it didn't effect me at all. What had looked like a nasty day turned out to be just fine.

The course is a out and back along the river, so around mile 4 I started to see the leaders heading back on the other side of the road. It was great to look for all of the friendly faces and cheer for them. I saw Steve first, then Mike, Guy, then another group of friends that included Helen, Bulent, and Kami. I saw Jenny and Julie running together and they looked awesome! I also saw Steve Quick out there giving moral support. Seeing everyone made the middle miles of the race pass quickly.

I ran pretty consistently, hitting the miles right around 10 minutes. The course had a few inclines and rolling hills, but the only challenging hill was right at the end. After the first few miles, I had left the 2:15 pace group and slowly caught up to the 2:10 pace group. I knew that they were running a little slow because I started after them and I knew I was on pace for 2:11. Sure enough, they picked it up during the last mile and left me behind. I came in at 2:10:55 which is right at a 10 minute pace. I felt great the whole race and felt like I ran the right pace to finish strong.

Honestly, being the slowest in a group stinks most of the time. The one time that it is the absolute best to be last is when all of your friends are waiting for you at the finish line. Thanks to everyone who waited out in the cold for me. I know they were freezing just standing around after running, but they were a welcome sight for me. It is also nice to have a speedy husband who is willing to run and get the camera and take everyone else's finishing picture. Here is Kami, Helen, Bulent and Guy. Guy PR'ed by 5 minutes!

Here are Jenny, Julie and Diane celebrating their speedy race. These ladies are fast! This was Diane's 10th consecutive Frozen Half.

Here I am, finally making it to the finish. Can you see that person behind me? Proof that I didn't come in last.

The Securian Frozen Half Marathon is a lot more fun when you do it in person with everyone else instead of on the treadmill by yourself. When you do the official race, you also get a super cool coffee mug. Since I don't drink coffee, I'll just have to try it out with some hot chocolate.

Race Planning

2010-01-19T22:14:00.010-06:00

Apparently, I am not the only person trying to plan their race calendar for the 2010 season. I had confidently listed a triathlon in June on my race schedule, only to find out while I was out of town this weekend that it was already full. After a minor fit, I got myself together and decided I better get serious about what races were important to me and get myself registered. My credit card is a little tired.

The first order of business was to sign up for the Disney Half Marathon 2011. Mike wants to do the Goofy Challenge again and it fills up quickly. With my heart set on running the NYC Marathon 2010, doing the full marathon at Disney two months later is not feasible for me. Running the half marathon will give me some motivation through the holidays. After running half of the marathon in 2009 and not getting a medal, the Donald Duck Medal will be a welcome reward. I still have getting that Mickey Medal on my to-do list, but it's going to have to wait until 2012 or later.

Next, I did some homework and found a replacement for my now-full June Triathlon as well as a sprint tri for July. For June, I signed up for the Lake Waconia Triathlon on June 27th. With a .5 mile swim, 20 mile bike, and 4 mile run it is longer than a typical sprint race. It will be good incentive to get the tri training in early in the season. I've been in the pool a little bit, but I haven't had any time on the bike. I better load it up on the trainer and get going.

The other races on my list are either not open for registration yet or I've already signed up. I can't believe it's only mid-January and I've already had to figure out what races I'm committed to. I'm sure I'll add some smaller road races along the way. I had wanted to try another Olympic distance triathlon this summer, but with training for a fall marathon I'm going to hold off. If everything is going well and I can sneak one in, then I will. For right now, though, I want to leave my schedule light enough to concentrate on getting the miles in for the marathon.

Besides freaking out about my race schedule during the weekend, Mike and I did get in some lovely skiing as well as a beautiful snowshoe hike. Here I am with our friend Cyndi on our last day of skiing. Cyndi just ran the Disney Half Marathon which was her first half marathon. Yeah, Cyndi! I'm hoping that I sufficiently nagged her into doing it again next year.

This is Mike and I at the start of our snowshoe hike:

I took a little pit stop with Marie and Buddy. Buddy is in the middle in case you couldn't figure it out.

It was a wonderful weekend in the mountains with a great group. Now that the holidays and our ski trip are over, it's time to settle down and get to work to get ready for the season. The Frozen Half Marathon is still on my schedule for this weekend. The temperatures look promising but the forecast is calling for freezing rain. I don't mind running in the cold or in snow, but I may have to draw the line at freezing rain. I've decided to wait until race day and make the call as to whether I'm going to go over for the race.

The Races on My Schedule List looks long over on the right side. I can't wait to start checking them off of my list. I'm hoping to meet up with a lot of friends along the way and have a lot of laughs and smiles. I'm sure there will be some aches and pains as well as some disappointment as well, but running has taken me on a great ride so far. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Frozen Training

2010-01-09T16:34:00.007-06:00

Brrrr! I know I live in Minnesota and all, but come on! It has been crazy cold here. Morning temps have been well below zero without even factoring in the wind chill. So far, I've been able to avoid the dreaded treadmill. When it's below zero, I've headed to the local recreation dome. On Thursday, it was a balmy zero with no wind, so friend and I headed down to the lakes. We ran 7 miles and every ten minutes observed that it really wasn't so bad out. Sad when zero seems like a break in the weather.

There is no wimping out because of the weather as I only have two more weeks to get ready for the Securian Frozen Half Marathon. The tag line for this race is, "The few, the proud, the frozen." I've never done this race before, but in a funny way it has special meaning for me. I had never raced further than a 5K when I decided to train for the Frozen Half in 2006. Being the over-planner that I am, I checked the website in August 2005, wrote the date on my calendar and mapped out a 16 week training plan. With about 6 weeks to go until race day, I went back to the web page to get the registration information. The race was now listed for a different date, the day before I had it on my calendar. The information I looked at originally was from the previous year. I had checked so early that they hadn't updated it for the next year yet.

I had comitted to volunteer for a school activity on the real race day and it was a big event. With weeks of planning and training already in the bank, I decided I would run my own virtual race the following day. When I got up the next morning, it was well below zero and it was windy. I didn't have any experience running in temperatures like that. What to do? I ran my race on my treadmill. Here I am at the finish:

Mike made me my own race number and you can see where he wrote my finish time on my bib. I had never run that far before. Going the distance was very difficult for me and I had a lot of knee pain the entire time. I had wanted to finish in 2:30 and I beat it by 56 seconds, so I was glad and relieved to have it over with. I was pretty proud of myself and I didn't want to turn the treadmill off and erase the display.

It took me over a year to run my first official half marathon. Now I've run more than 13 miles many times. Although 13 miles doesn't scare me like it did just 4 years ago, it isn't something that I take lightly. I'm going to have to be creative to get in some miles between now and the race. Mike and I are going to squeeze in a couple days of skiing next weekend. I'm planning on getting in a 10 mile run tomorrow and then hopefully at least two more runs before we leave. I never have any luck running at altitude, so skiing and snowshoeing will have to suffice until we get back. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the warm up promised by the weather service lasts until race day. I really don't need to be frozen to be proud.

Dashing into 2010

2010-01-02T10:19:00.010-06:00

It's the New Year and I had a race on January 1st, so it looks that I have three jobs to do in today's post: assess last year, set goals for this year, and recap the race. I thought blogs were supposed to be fun and that sounds like a lot of work. Let me see if I can get through the boring stuff and so I can talk about the race, which of course is the fun stuff.

Eight weeks ago, I set four goals to get me through the last eight weeks of the year. My conclusion? The last eight weeks of the year isn't the best time to be setting goals. We had our trip to IM Florida, travel for Thanksgiving, a trip to Vegas, Christmas, New Years... does that sound like a list of excuses? I knew you were smart. Here is what happened combined with the goals for 2010.

Strength Training The goal was to continue hitting the gym twice a week with the benchmark of doing three sets of 15 push ups. While I didn't make it to the gym twice each week, for some reason I can now do three sets of 15 push ups. Maybe I was fatigued before and that's why I had trouble cranking out the push ups. Whatever the reason, I somehow made my goal without doing the work. For 2010, I'll keep up with my twice a week lifting schedule and see if I can legitimately make some gains in strength that will help with with my racing and maybe keep me healthy.

Flexibility The goal was to make it to yoga six out of the eight weeks. How many times did I make it? One. My only accomplishment in this area was that I bought a yoga DVD. I haven't even taken the shrink wrap off of it, but it is in my house. I've decided that with running 4 days a week and lifting 2 days, making it to the gym for yoga one day a week is not going to happen. For 2010, my goal is to do a better job of stretching at home and to fit yoga in when I can.

Nutrition I was supposed to lose 5 pounds. What did I lose? One pound. Does that even count? I mean, I feel a little dehydrated, so I'll probably have a glass of water and be back to where I started. This is back on the list of things to accomplish for 2010. I hope to get the pounds lost before I have to wear spandex in front of a crowd again.

Running Finally, something that I said that I would do and I actually did. The goal was 160 miles and I hit 165. Yeah! Goal for 2010: run a fall marathon with no pain. Sounds like a simple goal, but there is so much that goes into making that happen. I have at least 10 months to drone on about every facet of this goal, so for now I will just leave it at that. Hopefully it will be the New York City Marathon, but if I don't get in I will find another one.

Whew! I didn't like all of that. Accountability... yuck!

Polar Dash Race Review

New Year's Day, the temperature was zero. Hey, let's go run a 10K race. That sounds fun! Well, it didn't sound fun, but Mike and I headed downtown with our friends Josh and Jennifer. We got there early enough to park close to the start line and then sat in the car waiting for it to get close to race time. For the hour that we sat there, I mostly irritated the group by fretting over my clothing selections. I had brought layers of various thicknesses, and arriving at the ultimate combination of layers is a science. I don't want to be cold waiting for the start, but I don't want to get hot during the race. What to wear in the cold is a big deal for me. Sorry, it's just the way I am.

With 10 minutes until start time, we jumped out of the car and snapped a couple pictures. I didn't post the one with Jennifer in it because all you can see is her eyeballs. Here we are with Josh before jogging to the start line.

Josh was running the 5K which wasn't chip timed and Mike planned to run fast, so they waded to the front. Jennifer and I found two other running friends, Lisa and Cindy, and we lined up at the 10:00 pace line. Within minutes we were off. There was no wind and the group kept us warm for the short time we were standing around.

The four of us girls ran and chatted and had a great time. All of us were just out there to have fun and to start the New Year off on the right foot. The streets were clear and the course was very nice with a few rolling hills. We stopped mid-race to snap a picture. The guy we gave the camera to was having a hard time figuring it out, and he was kind of joking around and being silly. I finally said, "Let's go, it is a race you know!" Not very nice of me, but I was getting cold and the clock was ticking. Here we are:

It's a cute picture and I should be more patient. Sorry I snapped at you, picture man.

I finished the race in 1:01:43 which is a 9:56 mile. That's not bad for taking it easy and stopping for a photo op. Here I am with Cindy heading for the finish:

Here are the girls showing off the very nifty medals. These medals are super cool and were worth braving the cold.

Both Mike and Josh PR'ed and I was very happy with my run, so it was a great day. The most important thing: my clothing choice was impeccable! I wasn't cold at the start and I was comfortable for the entire race. Of course, I noted what I was wearing and the conditions so that I can use this information for future clothing decisions.

The Polar Dash is part of a 4 race series that I am doing this year. I hope that this race is a good indicator of what is to come because it was a lot of fun and was well coordinated. Having friends to run with is hard to beat, too. I didn't get to see Julie or Amy out there. The sun was really bright and it was hard to spot the 5K'ers when they passed us on their way back. Hope to see both of them at a future race!

Welcome, 2010! So far it's off to a good start.

Goofy Memories

2009-12-27T21:56:00.005-06:00

A couple of blogger friends, Brian Flash and Marlene, are getting ready to run the Goofy in a couple weeks. This consists of running the Disney Half Marathon on Saturday and the Disney Marathon on Sunday. I started this blog just two weeks after Disney 2009, so I haven't forced my Disney story on you yet.

The Goofy fills up quickly, so Mike and I registered for the 2009 events as soon as registration opened in 2008. Mike signed up for the Goofy and I signed up for the Marathon. I was in the early stages of training for my first Fargo Marathon and I had also already registered for the Twin Cities 2008 Marathon. Before running farther than 15 miles, I had committed to running three marathons in 9 months. You can see where this is going.

By the time Disney rolled around in early January, I was dealing with shin splints and decided that I would just run half of the marathon. The actual Half Marathon was full and they wouldn't let me transfer to that race, so on marathon day I crossed the timing mat at the half marathon mark and walked off the course. After a short walk, I boarded the monorail and rode it back to Epcot to the finish area to wait for Mike.

While I was waiting, I figured I would go to the medical tent at the finish and get some ice for my shins. The medical tent was huge with probably 100 cots and at least 2 medical people standing by each cot. As I walked in, every person in the tent looked up and started applauding. I was the first woman racer they had seen that day and I'm sure they thought I was one of the elite females if not the female winner. I had to yell to the whole tent that, no, I was injured and had taken the monorail. Of course, once they came to their senses and really looked at me, I'm sure they would have figured out on their own that something was up.

So that is my goofy Disney story. I didn't get a medal and I can't wear the t-shirt, but I did get a standing ovation from the medical tent. Not finishing that race was a tough decision to make, one that I made with my head and not my heart. In retrospect, I think it was a smart choice. I ran Fargo 2009 well and with no serious pain. I think I will have to revisit the Magic Kingdom at some point and get that medal, even if there is no applause.

XC Ski Lesson

2009-12-18T20:58:00.004-06:00

In the fall of 2007, my son joined his school's cross country ski team. It looked like a lot of fun and the team was always in need of parents who could ski to help out at practices. Over the holiday break, the team went away to a cross country ski "resort" where they basically skied, ate and slept for three days. I saw the pictures, and I think "rustic" would be the kindest way to describe the accommodations. Since they are teenagers, they don't care much about the surroundings and had a blast skiing and hanging out. The team needs a few parents each year to come along and help, but the catch is that you have to know how to ski. Although I can downhill ski, I had never been on cross country skis. I asked for skate skis for Christmas and made it a goal to learn to ski well enough by the time he was a Senior to be able to go along to camp.

It's two years later and my son is now a Freshman on the team. That first year, I skied a few times and succeeded in aggravating my already nagging IT band problem. Since I was training for my first marathon during that time, I gave up the skiing for the season. Last winter, I tried again with limited success. I skied a half dozen times and didn't get past being petrified. I still hadn't made it to the point that I was having any fun.

Yesterday, my son's running coach emailed that he was going skiing today and would I like to meet him and get a few pointers. Yes, I would! I waxed my skis, changed the tips on my poles from roller skiing tips to snow tips and scrounged up my lobster mittens. Part of me was worried that he would laugh and say that I was doing it all wrong. The other part of me was hoping that he would laugh and say that I was doing it all wrong. Maybe if I was doing it wrong, that would mean that the right way was somehow easier than what I had been doing. It certainly couldn't be any harder because, geez, my way was just so hard!

The good news is that I was doing it right which is, of course, also the bad news. We went to a flat area and he showed me a couple drills to do without poles. Apparently, gliding requires standing on one ski at a time which requires being able to balance on one foot while moving. Balance is not one of my strong points. After getting warmed up, we did a short loop course which had some down hills and, unfortunately, some up hills. Going up hill is challenging to say the least. I think my triceps are going to hurt tomorrow.

After making it around, we did a couple more drills and I started to get the idea of gliding on one ski at a time. Notice that I said that I got the "idea", I don't think there was actually a lot of gliding going on. We took another lap around the course. Even though I was getting tired, I felt like I was getting the hang of it and forgot about being afraid. It was a beautiful day to ski. After a stretch of very cold weather, today was in the mid twenties, the sun was shining and the course through the trees was peaceful.

Ever since I set the goal of learning to ski, my heart just hasn't been in it. I've taken little steps toward that goal, but I'd never been able to actually picture myself doing it and enjoying it because it is so difficult. Getting some expert help and encouragement has made me excited about really dedicating myself to learning how to do it. Normally I'm rooting for a snow-less winter so that I don't have to fight the snow during my runs. Now I am torn! There is snow in the forecast for next week, and I find myself pretty excited about it. Maybe I will make it to ski camp after all. I'm sure my son will be thrilled. Ha!

Vegas Race Report: Part 2

2009-12-13T20:02:00.003-06:00

Things have been a little crazy this week, so I'm just now getting a chance write about the Vegas Half Marathon. Don't mistake my delay as a lack of enthusiasm about the race. If you have heard anything about the Vegas Marathon from years past, it might not apply any longer. This was only the second year of the new course and date, and the first year for Vegas as part of the Rock 'n Roll series.

With both the half and the full starting together at 6:15 a.m., Mike and I were up at before 4:00. My eye will still swollen from the Santa fluff incident from the day before, but I could at least see out of it and my nose wasn't running. I looked terrible but it wouldn't effect my race. Because I had broken my camera, there was no decision to make as to whether to bring it. I would just run with my race belt and some throw away clothes. We boarded the monorail at 4:45 and headed down the strip.

I'll go ahead and get my only complaint about the race logistics out of the way at the beginning. This race was conducted with a minimum of volunteers. Organizers certainly planned for this situation. The bag drop was in the same location as the bag pick-up after the race. Large tables with cups stacked three levels high were at every water stop, but there were few people actually handing them to you. The GU's at the GU stop were just sitting out on tables. After the race, you were handed a medal in the package instead of having a volunteer put it over your head. None of these things were incredibly inconvenient or effected my race, it was just something that I noticed.

The star of this race is the course. The race starts at the very south end of the strip outside of Mandalay Bay. After a short trip south, the course takes a u-turn and heads straight down Las Vegas Blvd. The strip is completely shut down for the race. Not only was it a heck of a lot of fun to run down the strip as the sun came up, but the road is completely flat. There is not a single rise of any kind for the complete 13.1 miles. After running past all of the casinos, all the way down to the Sahara and into a little residential area, a four point turn sends everyone back down the strip on the other side of the road. Marathoners turn off at 10.5 miles, but us lucky half marathoners continued back to Mandalay Bay. With few turns and no hills, this has to be one of the fastest half marathon courses out there.

The weather was perfect for running with temps in the mid thirties and virtually no wind. With 17,800 half marathoners and 5,800 marathoners, the start was very crowded. Everyone was assigned a corral and they tried to stagger the crowd out by pausing people at the start line. I decided not to try and weave around people and just take the first mile slow. After a 10:52 first mile, I was able to pick it up a little bit and get into a groove. By mile 4, I was running 9:35 pretty consistently and was feeling great.

This was my fourth half marathon and my time was my second fastest. I finished in 2:09:45 which was well under my goal of 2:15. This race was by far my favorite half marathon. My PR is from a race that I truly suffered the whole race and was sick at the finish. During the other two half marathons I was in pain from IT band issues. This race was completely different. I started easy and slowly picked it up. The course was easy and fun. I felt like I was truly running and not just shuffling along. I felt good throughout all 13.1 miles and was never in any pain. What a blast.

Since I signed up for this race just for fun, I didn't have any expectations other than to just have a good time. I certainly didn't plan on having any epiphanies, but that is kind of what happened. Having such a great day has redirected the way that I think about my body. Before I started running seriously a few years ago, I was pretty happy with my body. I don't mean the physical attractiveness of it, I mean the actual functionality of it. I've always been active and played sports, and my body never let me down. I had skied, hiked, swam and pretty much done whatever I wanted.

With running more miles, my body started to fail me. I got injured. I looked around at my peers and realized that they were more gifted, that they had been given better functioning bodies to work with. I was perturbed that my mind and personality was that of a runner but that my body just couldn't take me where I wanted to go. It didn't seem fair that I could work as hard as someone else but that I was somehow stuck running a 10 minute mile.

Running down Las Vegas Boulevard with the sun rising, I felt like I was flying. I know that others saw a middle aged, shuffling woman, but to me it felt like my legs were striding out and I was moving gracefully. I was truly thankful for this body and what it has allowed me to do. It may not be perfect, but I should appreciate it and treat it with more respect than I have in the last couple of years. So at the end, when I crossed the finish line with a big smile and in no pain, I was thankful and I will try to remain thankful for what I have, flaws and all.

Vegas Race Report: Part 1

2009-12-07T19:09:00.012-06:00

Okay, folks, this weekend report is long enough that I need to divide it up into two posts. For those of you with a short attention span or that just can't stand the suspense, here is the Reader's Digest version: I ran a Santa Race on Saturday and I beat my time goal on Sunday. Now, for those of you that are still reading, here we go.

While Mike and I were on the plane on Friday, we struck up a conversation with two women across the aisle. It turns out that they were doing the Vegas Marathon and had volunteered at Ironman Florida. They had signed up for a Santa Race on Saturday for charity. Well, a race to Mike is like a party and heaven forbid that there be a party without him. We got the details and kissed sleeping in on Saturday morning good-bye.

The idea of the race was to try to break the Guinness World Record for the most Santas in a race. The registration fee included a five piece Santa suit to wear for the race and to keep. This was the cheapest Santa suit imaginable, so there would be no point to giving it back. Luckily, both Mike and I had packed some extra running clothes, but since we knew we would be wearing the Santa suit on top, we didn't bundle up too much. Big mistake. The race didn't start for two hours and we were freezing by the time Robin Leach gave a few words and all the Santas sang a silly song.

Here we are trying to stay warm and checking out some of the booths before the start. They actually had a lot to eat and drink which really helped.

Watching all of the Santas wandering around was pretty amusing.

In the end, there were 8,000 people dressed up as Santa and ready to run or walk. I was a little worried that I would lose Mike and that we would have trouble finding each other because everyone looked exactly the same. I convinced him to run with me, even though he didn't look thrilled that running my pace would bring down his 5K racing average on Athlinks. He didn't need to worry. This race was purely for charity purposes. There was no attempt at timing, and the 5K course was only 2.5 miles long. He was a good sport about shuffling along with me and it was kind of surreal to be running in a sea of red Santas.

Here is a short video of the start that will give you a little idea of what it was like:

It would have all been worth it to support a cause and to be a part of such a spectacle except I had two mishaps. The first was that I dropped my camera while we were waiting around. It is broken beyond repair and certainly solved my dilemma as to whether I should run with it during the half marathon on Sunday. The other bad thing was that I think some fluff from my Santa suit went up my nose. After the race I started sneezing, my nose wouldn't stop running and my right eye kept watering. I thought that maybe it was a cold, but it felt more like a needle in my sinuses. Sorry, too much information. You get the idea.

After cleaning up, walking around the Vegas Strip and having lunch, we went back to the room and I took a little nap. When I woke up, my right eye was so swollen I had trouble seeing out of it. I looked ridiculous. With a swollen eye and a nose that would not stop running, we ended up eating a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant and going to bed early. Yes, we are boring accountants. We didn't do any drinking or gambling. Cyclops lady and her husband put out clothes and gear for the race the next day, set the alarm for 4:00 a.m. and went to bed around 8:30.

I'll tell you about the half marathon tomorrow!

I'm Going to Vegas, Baby!

2009-12-01T19:25:00.003-06:00

The Las Vegas Marathon and Half Marathon are this weekend and I'm getting pretty excited. Mike will be running the full and I'll be doing the half. I've been checking the weather forecast each day and this is what it says right now: low of 38 degrees, high of 59 degrees, and 4mph winds. Perfect! The race starts at 6:15 a.m., so it should be in the 40's for my whole race. I love it!

Seeing that the race is only 5 days away, I guess I should do a little planning. The most important thing first: what am I going to wear? I bought a new pair of running shorts for the occasion. After running the last month in tights, it will be great to be in shorts again. As for the shirt, our Thanksgiving Day run nicely provided an ugly, gold, long sleeve cotton shirt that will serve as the perfect throw away shirt for the start. I can always count on that race to provide a hideous shirt that I am happy to chuck to the side of the road. Some poor homeless person will probably end up wearing it, bragging to all of his friends that he ran a 5K in Indiana. I'll wear my tried and true tank underneath and hopefully will be comfortable within the first mile or two.

To bring a camera or not to bring a camera? The few times I have run with a camera, I have never stopped to take pictures. I'll be running by myself as everyone else that I know is either running the full or is a lot faster than I am, so I won't have anyone else to take pictures of. On the other hand, I've never run a race in Vegas before and I'm guessing there will be some picture worthy events and people along the way. Has anyone run Vegas before? Did you wish you had a camera? I would have to wear my race belt with a pouch to accommodate it, and I just don't know if it's worth the extra weight and jiggling. What to do?!

Since it is a race, figuring out what pace to run might be a good idea. I started thinking about my schedule for next year. In January, I already have two races penciled in. I'm hoping to do a 10K on January 1st and The Securian Frozen Half Marathon on January 23rd. I've decided to concentrate on the January 23rd race and train pretty hard for that. Since it's only 7 weeks after Vegas, I've decided to not push too hard for this race. I have some chronic hamstring soreness, so if I go all out in this race I may not be able to train as hard as I would like right afterwards.

Ultimately, I have to think about the two half marathons together. Vegas will be flat and ideal temperatures; The Frozen Half will be hilly and horrid conditions. Vegas will be fun and full of smiles; The Frozen Half will be miserable no matter what pace I run. My goal for Vegas is to finish in 2:15 and hopefully come out of it in reasonable condition. My goal for The Frozen half will be to beat my Vegas time by 5 minutes. Secondary goal for Vegas: to beat an Elvis or two. Secondary goal for The Frozen Half: to not freeze to death.

Thanksgiving Thank You

2009-11-26T16:51:00.005-06:00

Apparently, all of you have not been paying attention to the strategy here at Running My Own Race. See, while all of you set goals for yourselves that you stretch and push to achieve, over here, I promote the low bar strategy. Training hard is a must, but when it comes to goals, I generally shoot for an average performance. After all, average is in the middle between the best and worst possible results, so there is nothing wrong with planning on an average performance.

No, not you guys. I ask you for help setting my Turkey Trot 5K goal, and you give me goals that are more than just a little stretch. On the one hand, I was really flattered that others have confidence in me. On the other hand, I was really feeling the pressure not to let everyone down. I said I would run my fastest, so lining up for the race this morning, I was a little nervous.

It was a great day for a 5K. It was overcast and hit 40 degrees by the start. We met a couple friends before the race. Here is a picture of Mike and I with our friend Josh who was running his first race. We talked strategy before the race: be controlled the first mile, push it the second mile, and hang on for the third mile. Congrats to Josh on his first 5K! He did great and it was so fun to watch him become a "real" runner by racing.

Since we had just talked to Josh about strategy, did I listen to my own advice? No way. You guys gave me some really tough times to match, so I ran as fast as I could from the start. Mile 1- 8:19, Mile 2- 8:30. After mile 2, I was really struggling. I was truly running as hard as I could and it was all I could do to hold on to the finish. Mercifully, the course was a little short. I think it was .05 miles short. Sure, .05 miles isn't very far, but I was so tired and hey, for me .05 miles is probably 15 or 20 seconds. My total time 25:39! Overall pace 8:16 for 3.1 miles.

The moral of the story is that your strategy of setting a stretch goal really works, because it really motivated me to try and live up to your expectations. There was one guess that was faster, but I ran faster than all of the rest of the guesses. I am taking note that a little pressure is a good thing and will keep it in mind when I set my goals for future races.

Brian Flash had the winning guess! He guessed 25:40 and I'm so excited to tell you about his blog, Team Flash. Brian lives in the west suburbs of St. Louis, MO, only a few miles from where I grew up. I love that although we never met when I lived there, we have "met" through the blogger world. This is a great time to start following him because he and his brother just signed up for Comrades, an Ultra in South Africa on May 10, 2010. He has a great sense of humor and I can't wait to follow his training and ultimately his journey. His wife, Kathy, and the rest of the family runs and they just look like they are having a blast. Thank you Brian and everyone else for your motivating goals!

I love running a Thanksgiving Day run. In my running life, I'm thankful for everyone who listens to my boring stories about training, races, and injuries. I'm thankful for everyone who shares their boring stories with me because, honestly, I don't find them boring. I'm thankful for my husband who is always the first one to tell me I can do something. I'm thankful for my friends who run my pokey pace with me and enrich my life by sharing their lives with me. Thanks for all of your words of encouragement and the smiles all of you give me by sharing your stories in your blogs and comments. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Turkey Trot Preview

2009-11-20T20:56:00.004-06:00

Before I head to Las Vegas for the half marathon, I have one other little race to take care of. When we used to live close to family, I would cook Thanksgiving dinner on occasion. Although I am not much of a cook, I can actually put together a nice holiday meal by relying on favorite recipes. Now that we are always traveling for Thanksgiving, we are the lucky guests at another's table. Since I don't have the pressure of getting the turkey in the oven, a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving is a must.

I was just on Athlinks.com checking out my previous Turkey Trot 5K times. Have you been over to Athlinks? I love it because it keeps track of all of your races, times and paces. You can look up other runners, too, but of course I would never do that because we should all just be worried about ourselves and who cares about what anyone else is doing. Ya, right. Anyway, I was noticing that my PR pace for a 5K is 8:08 per mile from back in 2007. Last Thanksgiving my pace was 8:10, but when I ran a 5K this spring my pace was 9:16. It appears that I have slowed considerably.

While its too late to set a goal for the 5K that I could actually do any training towards, I think I will set a goal just for motivational purposes. More accurately, it would be a guess as to what my time is going to be. I've been feeling slow lately, so it's hard for me to guess how fast I could actually go if I were willing to suffer for a whole 3.1 miles. Do I want to suffer? The half marathon is the next week, so maybe I shouldn't suffer too much.

I don't know what time to pick. Does anyone want to help? Maybe you should give me my goal pace for the 5K? Here are the facts: my pace at my last 5K in the spring was 9:16. I also ran an 8K in the spring and my pace was 8:52. The Thanksgiving race this year is held on a reasonably flat course. This is a charity race, so it's questionable if the course will really be 3.1 miles. I'm going to go by the time and distance as recorded by my Garmin. Leave me a comment with your predicted pace. I wish I could give the winner a prize, but seeing as you all don't live next door, if you are the closest I will link to your profile/blog in my next post and hail your prediction skills. I promise to run my fastest!

Ironman Florida: Guest Blog

2009-11-14T21:56:00.004-06:00

Most of you know me simply as The Bike Sherpa, but actually my name is Mike. I’m Beth’s husband and this week I’m honored to be the first ‘guest’ blogger at Running My Own Race. Last week I finished my first Ironman triathlon in Panama City Beach, FL.; a course which is generally considered to be the easiest Ironman course – a flat bike and run and generally cool weather. Fortunately, last week was no exception.

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, well before the Thursday deadline for packet pick-up and the mandatory athlete meeting Thursday night. At the packet pick-up all athletes receive an arm band that has to be worn throughout the event, 5 gear bags and the standard number bib, chip, etc. My folks also drove in on Wednesday from Indiana. The rest of Thursday and Friday was spent driving the bike course, shopping at the expo, picking up Beth and the kids at the airport and generally obsessing over what to put in my gear bags. All that would have been just fine if it wasn’t for the constant stream of super-fit athletes running and biking past our condo. As Beth mentioned in her blog, it’s intimidating to see such a concentrated collection of highly trained competitors.

Saturday morning started early. Beth and I dropped off my bike and run special needs bags around 5:15 a.m. and then proceeded to body marking. That left us with nearly two hours to wait in the lobby of the host hotel, get into my wetsuit and say hello to my folks and the kids. I’m not a particularly confident swimmer, and I’ve never swam in the ocean so I wasn’t really happy to see that conditions were much choppier than I’d seen the last two days.

The 2.4 mile swim is completed over two laps and has a two wave start – a small group of pro’s and everyone else (approx. 2,500 people). I’m still searching for the right word to describe my reaction to starting the swim. Terrifying is probably an overstatement, but not by much. On the outbound leg the water was so choppy and crowded I didn’t see any of the 5 guiding buoys until I reached the outbound corner buoy. I intentionally stayed wide, found some open water and was able get into a rhythm. Other than my wetsuit chafing my neck (a painful experience in salt water) the rest of the swim was uneventful and I left the water feeling good, ready for the bike.

On my way to the transition changing area I saw Beth and was able to give her my wetsuit. Getting on the bike went well; the only real drama came around mile 4 when an elderly couple nearly forced me off the road by making a right turn in front of me (of course with no turn signal). I wouldn’t say the 6+ hours on the bike flew by, but it really wasn’t bad. I mostly concentrated on getting to the special needs bag, then the halfway point and then counted 10 mile increments to the finish. About 1/3 of the bike course had a stiff headwind, but miles 70-95 were on a smooth-as-glass road that had been paved the day before. Fortunately I was able to master the technique of grabbing water and Gatorade bottles while cruising at 15mph. Most importantly, I achieved my primary goal of keeping my heart rate below 140. I only averaged 18 mph on the bike, but I felt pretty fresh after transitioning to the run.

The out and back two lap run course is as flat as promised with a water stop every mile. I was able to run the first 6 miles with a 9:30 pace, but then realized I was pretty dehydrated and walked through most every water stop through mile 23. It was great seeing my family at the turn, but difficult to head back out for the last half realizing I had at least another 2.5 hours to go. The last 3 hours of the run were in the dark so the temperature was perfectly cool. Again I concentrated on keeping my heart rate down –averaging just 135 BPM. I managed to run the last three miles, finishing the last .2 miles with a respectable 8:30 pace. There are a few moments that are forever seared into my memory: my wedding, the birth of our kids and now the experience of hearing my name called as I ran the last 10th of a mile through the finishing chute. The experience was overwhelming. After all, this is the moment I’ve thought about over and over during the countless hours I’ve trained. I even forgot to look at the clock; I was so thrilled to be done. I was happy to learn that I beat my 13 hour goal, finishing in 12:49.

I’ve run over 10 marathons and completed 2 half iron triathlons – in almost every case I’ve felt pretty good within 10-15 minutes of the finish. Not this time. Two hours after getting to the condo, getting a shower, eating some real food, etc. I still felt terrible. Fortunately, some Vicodin came to the rescue and by the next morning I felt well again. That’s a good thing because by 11 a.m. I was on a plane to Atlanta connecting to a flight to Paris.

“Are you ready?” I must have heard that question hundreds of times from well meaning friends and family. Of course this simple, terrible question is what I asked myself thousands of times during each swim, run and bike training session. Were you ready to get married? Were you ready to give birth to your first child? The truth is that there’s no way to really know if you’re prepared for a completely new challenge. And asking that question, at least for me, reinforced my uncertainty. So my advice to friends and family is to avoid this question. Instead, ask about the athlete’s training, the course, nagging injuries, etc. Anything but, “Are you ready?”

And now here’s some advice for those of you considering an Ironman. I think the most important criteria/requirements are:

A supportive spouse. It is especially helpful if your spouse is also an endurance athlete. My 150 day training program required nearly 300 hours of actual training, during which I also traveled 60 days for business. As you can tell from her blogs, I am especially blessed with a great spouse.
Great kids. Katy and Brady were just as understanding and supportive as Beth. I consider it a great compliment that Brady now wants to try triathlons.
A good job. I have a good job in that it allows me afford triathlons – this is not a cheap sport. On the other hand, my job requires a lot of domestic and international travel. That definitely makes it harder to train, especially biking and swimming. If you travel like I do, you better get used to hotel treadmills at 10 p.m.

I am NOT a great athlete. I was never chosen first or second or even third on the playground. But I’m patient, smart and competitive. And I don’t mind suffering. If this sounds like you, then I’m sure you too can be an Ironman.

See you at Ironman Wisconsin in 2010!

Ironman Florida: The Spectator Report

2009-11-11T19:37:00.010-06:00

Isn't goal setting is supposed to motivate you to reach your goals? Usually right after setting goals, people try really hard and have some success at first. It's only after some time has passed that they get lazy and fall off the wagon. Well, I had one day on the wagon and then I was pushed off. I couldn't help it. It's all Ironman's fault.

My 8 week countdown until the end of the year started last Thursday. That day I got in 7 miles, so Day 1 was a success. The next day, the kids and I boarded a plane to Panama City, Florida to watch my husband, Mike, compete in his first Ironman. After several hours of sitting, changing planes, and carrying way too much luggage, we arrived in sunny Florida. Mike picked us up and we went to the Ironman Expo to people watch and do some shopping for him. That left just enough time for an early dinner and then it was off to bed at 8:00 so that he could get a good night of rest. Day 2: Fail. No exercise and lots of eating.

Saturday was Ironman Day. I've asked Mike to do a guest blog about his Ironman race, so I don't want to give too much away. Since I know the suspense is probably killing you, I'll tell you that he had a great race and not only finished, but had a good finishing time. I'll let him tell you all about it from his perspective.

For the kids, myself, and his parents that came to spectate, it was an exciting and exhausting day. I was up at 4 a.m. to go with him to the start. I'm so used to being the person that is nervously waiting to line up, it was fun to be the support crew. On the one hand, I wanted to assure him that he was well trained and that he was going to have a great day. On the other hand, it is an Ironman race and anything can happen. Just because someone has a bad day doesn't mean that they didn't train well or that they aren't a great athlete. Sometimes it's just not your day or something fluky happens. I wanted him to know that he could be proud of what he accomplished getting to the start line. He wasn't as keen on this line of thinking. He had trained to have a good day and that is what he wanted to focus on. Apparently not every one finds comfort in my strategy of setting the bar low. So, after a few "you will do great" pats on the back, he was off.

We headed down to the beach for the mass start. The pros started first and about 2,500 age groupers started at the sound of the cannon ten minutes later. This was quite a sight to behold. For me, this was the best part of the race to watch. The sight of all of those arms churning in the water was like no other race I had seen before. The race was two loops, so we got to see the athletes get out, cross the timing mat and take another 1.2 mile lap in the ocean. As the professionals exited the water, they calmly walked across the mat, waded back in and started swimming again. As the first of the age groupers exited, they ran across the mat and rushed back into the water, spending a lot of energy running through the water until they could start swimming. Mental note to self: take a tip from the pros and don't spend a lot of energy at the beginning of the race just to save a few seconds.

How is it that when you are watching a race, you are screaming your participant's name at the top of your lungs and they are 3 feet in front of you but they somehow don't hear you? I guess swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean might have something to do with it. Even though he didn't see us, we were able to see Mike get out of the water and head for the transition. We saw him leave on his bike and he looked great.

Although we didn't get to see him on the bike, we did see lots of the other participants. My main impression was that bike shops around the country must be making a lot of money. I don't recall seeing a single road bike. Granted, we were watching the athletes who were in the front half of the bike leg, but the number of high end bikes equipped with expensive racing wheels was mind blowing. As each one passed, I just kept thinking, "There goes $5,000, there goes $5,000..."

We had brought some folding chairs so we settled in to watch the run. During this part of the race, what I kept thinking was, "That person has zero percent body fat, that person has zero percent body fat..." The physiques on these athletes was quite impressive. Again, we were watching people that would later finish under 13 hours, but I kept waiting for somebody show me a little bulge or something! The runners didn't have as much energy as you normally see at the beginning of a marathon, but at the first mile when we saw them the first time, all but a very few of them were running at a decent clip.

We got to see Mike quite a bit on the run, so that was great. I knew once he made it past the halfway point in good time that he would make it to the finish. We headed to the finish area where the announcer was greeting every finisher by name and saying, "You are an Ironman!" It was awesome. About 30 yards from the finish, directly across from us, we saw a man get down on one knee, pull out a ring and propose to a woman. She started crying and I was thinking she had better hurry up and give her answer because, you know, this is a race and the clock is ticking! She said yes and miraculously, after 140.6 miles, he popped back up and ran across the finish line.

I was so happy for Mike when I saw him enter the final stretch. He looked so happy and he was announced as an Ironman. We rushed out of the viewing area and waited for him to come through the finish area. He had on his medal and, although he looked tired, he was upright and talking so I was happy. Now, back to me, me, me! What did I do after I helped gather his stuff? I went to KFC for the first time in a decade and got fried chicken. I was starving and I couldn't help it. I ate my chicken and all of the chicken that the kids couldn't stuff down. Day three of my 8 week challenge: no exercise and bad eating. Fail, but not really fail since I got to be there for Mike's big day.

Here is my final take away from the race: At a marathon, you see all shapes, sizes and ages. At an Ironman, it is a uniformly fit group. Since Mike was understandably tired and we left right after he finished, I didn't get to see the athletes that finished in the final 4 hours of the race. Maybe there was a wider variety of physiques among the later finishers. Of course, those athletes had to sustain their level of effort for even longer, so I would think they would require even more endurance and more hours of training. When I saw Mike run his first marathon, I saw other people that looked like me and I thought that the marathon was something that, if I trained really hard, I could do. I'm not there yet with the Ironman.

The next morning we were able to sleep in a little and headed home. A mechanical problem with our flight led to a missed connection, so it was 13 hours later before we finally made it home. Day 4: No exercise and lots of airport junk food. Fail.

When Monday came I woke up and put myself back on the wagon. Sure, I'm not as lean or as strong as those Ironpeople, but I can do my best and try to meet my goals. I made it outside for a run on Monday and Tuesday and it was back to the gym today. This morning I registered for the Las Vegas Half Marathon taking place on December 6th. It will be my first Rock 'n Roll event and I'm pretty excited about it. Oh, my Ironman husband? He signed up for the full marathon. Geez!

Countdown to the End of the Year

2009-11-04T19:01:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago I wrote about some off season goals that I had for myself. They were: strength training, flexibility and nutrition. There are 8 weeks left in 2009. It's time to put some numbers and details to my goals and see what I can get accomplished before December 31st.

Strength Training
I'm already lifting 2 days a week and have been incorporating more leg exercises. The goal is to continue to hit the gym twice a week and to get the legs nice and strong. I won't bore you with what weights I'm lifting now and how much more I want to lift. Since push ups seem to be a good benchmark for fitness, I will say that my goal is to be able to do three sets of 15 push ups. Right now I can do 12 for the first set, 8 the second and 5 the third. Obviously I have some work to do.

Flexibility
I've been faithfully stretching, but I missed yoga last week and am going to miss it again this week. I need to come up with an alternative for when I can't get to the gym at class time. Maybe a yoga DVD for home? In the meantime, I am committing myself to getting to yoga 6 out of the next 8 weeks. I'm going to learn to use the yoga blocks since I'm having trouble with some of the poses. I will borrow a yoga DVD from the library and see if that is a viable alternative. I wish I could set a goal like touching my toes, but that isn't going to happen in 8 weeks. Attendance will have to count as my whole grade for now. Maybe in 8 weeks I will have improved enough to have an actual performance goal.

Nutrition
I've done nothing in this area except eat Halloween candy. Is that good? Oh, I checked out a book about nutrition for endurance athletes. I haven't read it and it's two weeks overdue. Not good. My goal for this area is to lose 5 pounds. I'm 5 pounds heavier than I was this time last year and trying to lose a few pounds will force me to work on nutrition. No, the 5 pounds I gained is not muscle. It's nice of you to say that, but trust me, it's not. Eating healthier will help me look, feel and hopefully run better. Besides, those triathlon clothes are not forgiving!

Running
When I talked about goals a few weeks ago, I mentioned that I wanted to keep running, swimming, biking, roller skiing, etc., but that I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it all in. Well, no surprise, I can't. I've decided to concentrate on running for the next 8 weeks. I'm going to run 4 days a week for a total of at least 20 miles a week. I'll still try to get on the roller skis for 20 minutes here and there to get ready for the snow, but I'm just not good enough at it for it to be a big part of my exercise plan. So, the goal is 160 miles between now and December 31.

That's it! Eight weeks to get some things done. I'll have a challenge right from the start since we are traveling to watch my husband participate in his first Ironman race this weekend. The whole family is excited to cheer for him. I can't wait to be inspired by all of the athletes and I couldn't be more proud of my athlete who has trained so hard for many months. How was he able to have a full time job that includes a lot of travel and be a great husband and father and train for Ironman? Well, first of all, he has a great wife... ha, ha, ha. Honestly, from my point of view, it looked like pure hard work and determination. I'm sure I'll see more of that this weekend!

Racing the Rain

2009-10-29T19:49:00.006-05:00

Thursday has been my long run day for a couple of years now. Having kids with busy weekend schedules and a working husband that already has dibs on Saturday long runs, I need to get my long run out of the way during the week so I can play car pool driver and sport spectator on the weekends. My favorite benefit of the Thursday long run is that it gets it out of the way, so when Saturday comes around, I know that I already have mine in the bag.

Today was Thursday and there was a 85% chance of rain starting at 8:00 a.m. My kids leave for school at 7:20. The moment they left, I turned on the Garmin, turned up the iPod and bolted out the door. I was determined to get in a few miles before the rain started coming down. The 2 mile loop around my house is perfect for days like today. Yes, it's boring, but knowing that I'm never more than 10 minutes from home makes up for it.

The air was saturated enough that the ground was wet, but for the first loop it was just foggy. During the middle of the second loop, it started to mist. I could see to the west that the air was thick with moisture and that the rain was on its way. At mile 4, it still wasn't raining. Now I was kind of disappointed. I had figured my run would be cut short by the rain so I really hadn't mentally prepared for more than 4 miles. Where was my excuse? I started out trying to beat the rain but was now was getting irritated that I wasn't going to get out of my run early. I rounded the nearby subdivision which adds another mile, and thankfully it started to precipitate a little more than a mist. I decided that this was a legitimate sprinkle. Whew! Now I could head home with no guilt. I hit the driveway right at 5 miles and was still pretty dry. Sure, 5 miles doesn't count as a long run, but it's the off season and it was raining. See, I couldn't help it!

Next Monday, November 1st, is a big day on my running calendar. The Plymouth Dome, my winter sanctuary, with it's AstroTurf track, temperature controlled atmosphere, and walkers that don't pay attention and hog the whole track will be open for the public. There is a "usual crowd" at the dome and I have to admit that I miss them. Let's face it, runners are a pretty homogeneous group compared to the general population. Walkers, however, are very diverse. They come in all ages, some walk with evidence of a battle against an injury or disease, some are very serious and some are there to socialize. They all make for great people watching and help pass the time on the little track.

So this Monday will mark my freedom from the weather man. Bring on the rain, the snow, the bitter cold winds. I'll have my hodgepodge of regulars and the dome as my back up plan. Thank you, taxpayers of Plymouth, MN. It's no wonder Money Magazine voted Plymouth the best place to live in 2008. What more could anyone want from their tax dollars than to provide me with a place to run all winter long?

Talking About Running

2009-10-21T18:10:00.006-05:00

Everyone knows that I like to talk about running. I can't help it. To be honest, my life is thankfully uneventful most of the time, so that leaves my hobby as pretty much the only thing to talk about that doesn't involve cleaning or kids. So, what am I talking about when I talk about running? Here is something I found over at Half-Fast that I think is pretty interesting. At http://www.wordle.net/, you can input your blog address or other web page. Wordle will then do a word count and create a piece of art with the posts. The words used the most are bigger and there are different fonts and color schemes to choose from. Here is another one that I created from this blog:

Once the cloud is created, use of it is free for any purpose as long as wordle.net is credited. I was so happy with my result that I clipped the cloud above, went to Vistaprint.com and ordered some pads of paper and pens with the artwork on it. I was surprised how cheap it was. My husband thinks it's hilarious that I've created marketing materials for my blog, as if I were actually making money off this thing.

Do all runners talk about the same things? A book that explores talk about running is "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running" by Haruki Murakami. Murakami usually writes surreal fiction, but here he writes about running and how it effects his writing and life. At times the book is slow moving, but I was surprised how his thoughts about running mirror my own. He writes about becoming a runner, and not just someone who runs occasionally for exercise. Murakami has run marathons and ultras and he notices the effects of aging on his performance and attitude. He writes about the stamina required to write for extended periods of time and he credits running with conditioning his mind and body for the task. The realization that a male writer from Japan, who in many ways couldn't be more different than me, has similar thoughts as me was comforting. It made me feel like I speak the same language as a larger community.

I'll let you know how my blog shwag turns out when I get it in a few days. I've been feeling good and running consistently, albeit slowly, the last couple of weeks. Hopefully there will be lots of running to talk about in my future.

Back to Basics

2009-10-18T18:29:00.005-05:00

After my last post, everyone had a lot of great race suggestions. Thank you! They all sound like so much fun, it's hard to pick which ones to run. I have to admit that I'm kind of enjoying this pause in my schedule. Ever since I signed up for my first marathon, I've had at least one marathon on my schedule. This is the first time in over 2 years that I haven't been registered for a race. Once a big race is on the calendar, it eliminates so many other choices. Having just about every race as a possibility makes for fun daydreaming.

Even if I don't get into NYC Marathon 2010, I've made up my mind that I will do a fall marathon in 2010. Besides planning races between now and then, I have a few things I need to work on to get ready for marathon training next summer. Here are the big ones:

Strength training. I'm already strength training a couple times a week, but I need to train more specifically to my needs as a runner. My hope is that stronger legs in the spring will decrease the likelihood of injury next summer.
Improved flexibility. Touching my toes is not even a remote possibility for me. I'm lucky if I can touch below my knees. My stride is abnormally short and my back gets unbearably tight after a run. I've been practicing yoga once a week for the last 6 weeks and, although it's embarrassing, I think it's helping. I've also enlisted the help of a professional for some ART work and I am spending a lot of time each day stretching. Hopefully, devotion to becoming more flexible will keep injury and back pain away.
Better nutrition. Have I mentioned that I don't really cook? I am capable of heating, but not really cooking. I just don't have the patience or the know how. As a result, my whole family is not eating as nutritiously as we should. There have been many runs when I ran out of energy and I know that poor nutrition is to blame. Previous attempts to work on this area have failed miserably, so it's going to take some solid dedication to improve.

Of course, I also want to keep swimming, training on the bike, and roller skiing/cross country skiing throughout the winter. How am I going to have time to do all of this and keep the house clean, the children cared for, the husband happy and the pets alive? I haven't figured that part out yet!

October?

2009-10-10T15:51:00.003-05:00

What a crazy week this has been. I had mentioned that after the race I didn't feel well. It turns out that the kids and I had H1N1. We had all of the symptoms including a very high fever, but we all made it through okay. The kids missed some school but didn't have any complications. I had to go to the doctor with a sinus infection that I developed along the way. After some antibiotics I'm feeling like myself again.

This morning, I woke up and there was a dusting of snow on the ground. I couldn't believe it! I know this is Minnesota, but come on. I had overslept and had to rush to get ready to meet a friend to run. This was my first run since the TC 10 Mile and since I had been sick, so I was excited to get back out there but also a little nervous about my energy level. I quickly threw on my twenty degree weather uniform: my trusty running tights, a technical short sleeved shirt and a quarter zip top. We ran an easy 5 miles and enjoyed the snow covering the trees still showing their fall colors. Strange! The cold air felt surprisingly wonderful and I ran just fine. While I like running in the winter, I hope fall returns for a few more weeks.

The wrapping up of my race schedule and the changing seasons has me thinking a lot about what goals I'm going to set for myself. As I mentioned, I'm going to try to get into the NYC Marathon 2010, but that is very far away. I want to roller ski and cross country ski, but I want that to compliment my running this winter, not take away from it. Usually, I lift weights twice a week but I haven't been very consistent about that the last couple of months. I would like to work on that so that my legs are strong enough to pick up the marathon training when it is time.

All of those plans are great, but I need a race close enough that I can plan around. I think I need a half marathon on my schedule. Maybe a race in December like the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon? Doesn't that sound like fun? Or maybe an early spring half marathon? Any suggestions?

TC 10 Mile Race Report

2009-10-05T16:30:00.004-05:00

Shhh... Don't tell anyone about the TC 10 Mile Race. Since entries for the race are sold in a lottery system, the more people that know about it and try to get in, the harder it will be for me to get in next year. I think I'm screwed.

The TC 10 Mile is my new favorite race. I lined up with 7,000 others on Sunday and ran in perfect conditions. It was in the low to mid 40's at the start and throughout the race with just a very slight breeze. The course cuts through the Minneapolis downtown and follows the Mississippi River. After crossing the river, a couple of turns lead to Summit Avenue and its a straight shot to the Capitol in St. Paul. Although the trees aren't as colorful as they usually are, it was a beautiful fall day.

Because the TC Marathon starts an hour later, the course is stocked with water stops and fans cheering along the way. I felt a little bit like a cheater when our course intersected the Marathon course at mile 19 of the marathon. By that time we had only run 3 miles and it felt kind of funny to run through the ALARC Wall while I was still feeling so good. Eh, I don't feel that guilty about it. It was fun to run the same course that I ran in the marathon last year and actually be able to enjoy it and look around at all of the beautiful trees and homes along Summit. Cresting the hill and running down to the Capitol was a blast.

This race was even more special because my husband and our 14 year old son ran it together. Here we are staying warm in the Metrodome before the start:

Have you seen Men In Black 2? Will Smith tells Tommy Lee Jones that he is "New Hotness" and that Tommy Lee Jones is "Old and Busted". Mike put these shirts together at 10 p.m. the night before the race. He and I thought they were really funny, but I'm not so sure what the 14 year old thought. He humored his dad and they ran the whole way together. They finished in 1:18:53 which is a 7:54 mile. At the beginning of the race I told my husband to not hurt the child, but I think the next race I will be telling the child to not hurt his dad.

Okay, okay. What was my time? It was 1:38:47 for an average pace of 9:53. Yeah! The weather was a huge factor in me beating my time goal for this race. My legs felt strong the whole way and the cool temps helped me keep my heart rate under control. The last mile was my fastest at 9:25 and I finished feeling good. I had a little trouble bending my legs enough to get my sweatpants on afterward, but I felt great during the race.

So I beat my time goal, but what about not frying my hamstrings? Well, they certainly didn't bother me during the race. After the race, we had just enough time to hobble to the car, get home, shower and go to a wedding. All of the sitting was causing my hamstrings to tighten up. I didn't worry too much because I had planned to go to yoga on Monday and that would really help to loosen them up.

But... about a half hour after we got home from the wedding I got a terrible headache and chills. I was running a fever of 102 and immediately had to go to bed. My son got the same thing a couple hours later and he and I are home sick today. This is not helping with my post race recovery. I'm pretty stiff and sore from lying down all the time, but I don't have much choice. Of course, I medicated myself enough that I could tell you all about it, but when I'm done I'm going back to bed.

Now, I know everyone else out there is a serious runner. You don't need to be messing around with some piddly 10 mile race. You should sign up for the full marathon. That will be great for both of us, because then there will be a better chance that I will get in the 10 mile next year and then I'll cheer for you during the marathon. See? Now I have to go to bed so that I can get well enough to run again soon.

Almost Done

2009-10-01T21:43:00.004-05:00

I'm getting excited for the TC 10 Mile this Sunday. Usually I don't announce my goal time for a race, but this time I'm going to out on a limb. I'm hoping to finish in 1:45, which would be an average pace of 10:30. With my hamstring issues, I haven't been able to train as I would have liked and, gosh darn it, I've been slow these last few months. Finishing in 1:45 and not frying my hamstrings would equal a successful day. It will be hard to let everyone pass me by, but there's nothing I can do about it. I'm slow and I haven't trained hard enough to go full out for 10 miles.

One of the reasons I'm getting excited is because this is the last race on my schedule. Do you know what that means? It means it's time to sign up for more races! Signing up for races is the best part of racing, at least for me. Hmm... I think that says something about me as a runner. I've been thinking a lot about which events I will race next season. The only decision I have made so far is to enter the lottery for the NYC Marathon in November, 2010. I love New York and that race is the only one that temps me to train for another marathon.

It's supposed to be perfect weather for racing on Sunday. It will great to be part of the event even though I'm doing the shorter race. Good luck to everyone who is racing this weekend and thanks to everyone who is going to be out on the course. I'll keep an eye out for all of you! If you see me and I'm running slower than 10:30's, try to look encouraging. I keep telling myself that it's only 10 miles... of course, 10 miles is kinda far...

New Wheels

2009-09-27T20:49:00.007-05:00

I have a problem: I want to do too many things. I consider myself primarily a runner. It took me many years of running to consider myself a "runner" and not just someone who runs. Now that I am a runner, I make sure that I run at least three days a week. Somehow I feel that if I don't hit three days a week, my runner status will be taken away. That leaves me four days to fit in a little rest, other activities that I know that I like, and activities that I want to try.

With the last race on my schedule, the TC 10 Mile, approaching on Sunday, I've been sneaking in a couple new activities, one that I think I will grow to love. Last Christmas, my husband gave me these:

I had tried cross country skate skiing the winter before and just couldn't do it very well. I thought that roller skiing would be good cross training for running and would help me learn to ski. I asked Chad, a fantastic runner who recently had a blog post about roller skiing, for some advice. His advice was to learn to ski on snow first since snow is a lot softer than pavement. This is very sensible advice from someone who knows what they are talking about.

Did I listen? No. I've been waiting for the tri season to end to give roller skiing a try and I just couldn't resist. It took me a while to gather everything that I needed: skate ski boots, poles, helmet, and knee pads. I had to stop by Gear West for some help putting the right tips on the poles. It's no fun to start a new activity unless you can do a little shopping, so I got a pair of XC ski gloves so I wouldn't get blisters. I also asked the experts for some advice on getting started. The advice was: Go to a very flat, newly paved parking lot for a very, very long time.

Luckily, the schools right by my house just had all of their parking lots repaved and, with today being Sunday, were empty. As I parked in the biggest of the lots, I noticed a young couple getting out of their car with a little girl and a bike. Apparently this was also a good place to learn to ride a bike. The little girl and I are in similar situations: learning to stay upright on a new set of wheels. I moved to a smaller lot across the street to give us both some space and privacy.

The good news is that I didn't fall down. I took my time and am sure that I looked ridiculous wobbling around on the skis. Right away I noticed the my shins were getting tired. I guess I am flexing up my toes so that I don't catch the tip of the ski. After about 20 minutes, I was getting around the parking lot pretty well. I decided to quit for the day while I was still upright and before my shins started to really hurt. Shin splints is something I don't need right now. Hopefully some short sessions on the skis will help with my form and get the right muscles in shape so that I don't get hurt.

Starting skiing today reminded me so much of when I started to run. I only made it 20 minutes today and I'm sure I didn't make it even 20 minutes the first time that I ran. I don't know how long it will take me to be able to negotiate an uphill or make it down a hill safely, but I think what I've learned from running will help me along. I know Chad is right and that I will fall down many times, but maybe by the time the snow flies I will be ready for some real skiing.

We Interrupt This Program...

2009-09-23T20:11:00.006-05:00

... to state the obvious: Please wear your helmet. Please make your kids wear a helmet. Yes, I know all of you do this already. You are perfect and do what you are supposed to do. You are good parents and your kids love wearing their super cool helmets.

My 14 year old son went over his handlebars today when something he was carrying got caught up in the spokes of the front tire. He went over the handlebars and hit his head. Here is his helmet after the accident:

He has a head ache and is scraped up but is going to be fine. Here is his bike tire:

I'm sure that the helmet saved him from a serious head injury.

I'm thankful we live in a society today that promotes people wearing seat belts and helmets. When I was a kid, we made fun of people wearing seat belts as if being safe was uncool. I remember wearing a seat belt for the first time when I wasn't much younger than my son is now. It felt strange and constricting and a little over protective. I'm so glad things have changed. I'm so glad I am typing this right now, stating the obvious, instead of sitting in the emergency room.

Square Lake: Wrap Up

2009-09-15T21:17:00.003-05:00

After I posted about Square Lake without knowing my results, I continued to sit at the computer and click the refresh button repeatedly. There may have been some mild cursing between clicks, but beyond that I was mostly just wasting my time staring at the screen. About 20 minutes after my blog post, my husband walked in and mentioned that the results had been posted, just not on the web page indicated on the race website. The results were on a completely different page and didn't show up on any of my google searches. So frustrating! At least I have them now and can put my race into perspective.

There were 376 people in the race and 25 in my division of women aged 35-44. In my division, I finished 17th out of 25 with a time of 2:14:29. Overall, I was placed 281 out of 376. I was the most pleased with my swim time. I swam a half mile in 18:42 which placed me 8th out of 25 and 208 out of 376. Swimming has turned out to be my strongest leg this first season which has been surprising to me.

As I had suspected, my bike leg was slow. I was also correct that the course was shorter than the 18 miles advertised. The results indicate that the bike was 17 miles, and I think it was closer to 16.5 miles. My time of 1:00:48 gives me an average pace of 17.3 m.p.h. using their math, but 16.4 m.p.h. using mine. I really think I am right about this one. Either way, my place of 15 out of 25 is a little slower than I would have hoped. This is one area that I think I can improve on during the winter. Riding with my bike on the trainer on bad weather days doesn't sound very exciting, but I know I can bike faster than I am currently.

Finally, the run portion. I ran exactly 5 miles in 50:09 for an average pace just over 10 minutes a mile. I wish I could say that I see lots of potential for improvement in this area, but I just don't see it happening. If the conditions had been better, I think I could have run about 30 seconds a mile faster at the most. I certainly need to keep up with my run training, but given my limitations, I don't see my times getting markedly faster. I ranked 15 out of 25 for the run and am actually surprised I didn't finish a little lower.

My overall finish of 17th out of 25 is just about where I think I should have been. I'm feeling good after the race with the exception of some knee pain. There were a lot of steep downhills which I ran pretty hard to try and make up time that I spent walking up the hills. I've been icing it quite a bit and it is just starting to feel better. I think I should be able to run on a flat trail tomorrow and then hopefully get back on a normal running schedule.

The next race on my schedule is the TC 10 Miler. I'm very excited about this race even though I haven't gotten in any runs in over 7 miles. I can't believe it is only two and a half weeks away. It's been unseasonably warm here the last couple of weeks, so I'm hoping that some cooler temperatures will arrive soon. I love training in the fall and I'm looking forward to running more now that my triathlon season is over. The kids are back in school so I can venture a little further from home to run. I just picked up a book from the library detailing running trails in Minnesota. Boy, I am a running nerd... I'm getting so excited about running someplace new. I can't help it!

Square Lake: Race Results

2009-09-13T19:44:00.014-05:00

I've been clicking the refresh button on my computer screen every five seconds, but the results from the triathlon I did yesterday still won't appear. Since I've always downplayed the importance of my results, mostly because they are mediocre at best, I'll go ahead with my race report without the benefit of knowing the exact outcome. Maybe I'll get lucky and they will be posted before I'm done writing.

The Square Lake Short Course was the final triathlon on my schedule. It was a .5 mile swim, 18 mile bike and 5 mile run. Square Lake is in Stillwater which is an hour north east of Minneapolis, along the St. Croix River. The lake itself is a beautiful, spring fed lake with clear water and a nice sandy beach. The area around the lake is comprised of rolling hills and beautiful trees that are just beginning to show their fall colors. The best part of the scenery was my own cheering section consisting of my daughter, my friend, and my mom who was visiting. My mom had never seen me run a marathon or do a tri before, so it was great to have her there. My mom reads my blog (Hi, Mom!), so she kind of knew what to expect. My husband was unable to attend, so having the three of them there meant a lot to me.

The water was calm and the perfect temperature for swimming in a wetsuit. Here I am with my mom and daughter before the race.

Getting in the water and warming up before the swim is one of the best lessons I've learned this season. I started the swim calmly and got into a groove right away. I decided to spot less often and concentrate on staying relaxed. I may not have swum the shortest line around the course, but I enjoyed this swim more than any other race I've done this season. I stroked consistently the whole distance and got out feeling good. Since I probably didn't swim the fastest line, my time may not have been my best pace, but I feel like this was my best overall swim.

After exiting the swim, there was a run up a few flights of stairs to the transition area. I took it easy up the steps and I didn't have a very fast transition. I know I'm supposed to rip off my wetsuit super fast, but I'm just too worried that I will tear it. The wetsuit is a big investment, and I would rather take and extra 20 seconds to get it off than damage it. I exited with my bike and was feeling pretty calm.

The bike course was very scenic with lots of long inclines. With the 5 mile run following the bike, I planned to save some energy for run. During the first 5 miles or so, I was passed a little bit. We were not marked with our age for this race, so I couldn't tell if those passing me were from my wave or a later one. I only passed a few younger women on heavy bikes, so I'm guessing that my bike split will be a little slow. The road had a crack in it just about every 4 feet, so it was a very bumpy ride. This had to slow everyone down. My Garmin says that the course was only 16.5 miles instead of 18 miles. I think my time was around 1:01:30 which would be just over 16 m.p.h. It's not the greatest pace but I was working hard and felt like I was spending the right amount of energy so I would have some left for the run.

Transition 2 had slight slowdown when one hole of my number ripped out of my race belt. I was able to affix it, but it took me about 15 seconds and my number was crooked. Other than that, I made it out of T2 and onto the run without incident.

The run included quite a few hills and it was starting to get fairly warm. I'm still recovering from hamstring tendinitis in both legs and the uphill portions were difficult. I decided early on that I would walk the uphills and run the downhills and flats. This turned out to be a good strategy since I was already running pretty slowly on the uphills. I didn't loose too much time when I walked them but was able to at least conserve enough energy that I could run the rest.

Here I am coming up the last big hill. I was walking when my friend saw me and yelled to me. Of course I quickly started running again. I was caught!

I think I finished the 5 mile run in about 50:06, so just over 10 minute miles. While that pace is sure to put me towards the bottom of the results, I am satisfied with my run given the tendinitis and the hilly course.

Here I am coming down the final incline. I like this shot because you can see my terrible running form and the muscles in my right leg. It makes me kind of happy and sad all at the same time.

Finally, the finish. Since the results still aren't posted, all I have to go on is the clock time in this picture. It says 2:35. Since my wave started 20 minutes after the gun, my time should be right around 2:15.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get to see my swim time and how I finished in my division. No matter how the results turn out, I'm pretty happy with my race. I was feeling a little worn after a full summer of training and I wasn't sure I was going to have the energy to give this race my all. I felt like I gave a consistent, hard effort and that I put into practice a lot of what I had learned over the season. It's great to end the season on a good note so that I have some enthusiasm to continue with swim and bike training during the fall and winter. Hopefully they will publish the results soon so I can stop hitting refresh!

Home Again

2009-09-04T19:35:00.005-05:00

I'm home from our two state juggernaut which included 26 hours of driving, plenty of family visiting, and way too much junk food. Finding time to write has been difficult because I also was able to fit in several workouts and now I have post workout chores to do.

Usually, I like post workout chores because they give me an excuse to sit down for a little while when I am tired. The primary chore is to download my workout from my Garmin 305 to Training Center, the software that comes with the Garmin. If you don't have a Garmin, now is a great time to think about getting a 305. The newer models are out and the 305 is a bargain. A few weeks ago Best Buy had it on sale for $120. Amazon.com usually has a competitive price for it. Add the bike kit which gives you speed and cadence and you have the perfect workout companion. It records all of your workout data and then transfers it to the computer.

After I download my workout and either pat myself on the back for a great performance or lament the poor showing, it's time to record the info in my log. Log? Training Center is a log in that it lists all of your workouts in date order. A simple click on the date gives you all the details including a map of the route and a heart rate and speed chart. Good enough, right? Uh, no.

A couple years ago, before I had a Garmin, I started recording my workouts on a bare bones, free workout tracking site. Less than 50 people use it and its run by a guy out of the goodness of his heart. He posts monthly and yearly running mileage totals and tracks your monthly average speed. When I started, I went back and recorded several months of previous workouts, so I have a lot of workout history on this site. When I was marathon training, it was great to be able to go back and compare runs to previous training cycles. After each workout I log my stats here so that I have a continuous record.

So, that should be plenty of data recording... for your average person. But, I am not average in this department. I started to get worried that the guy who maintains the bare bones site would get tired of it and shut it down, so I decided I better have a back up. Starting a couple months ago, I also record my workouts on Training Peaks, the free version. Is anyone using the Premium Version? The upgrade to the Premium Version is $20 a month, so I haven't given that a try. THAT would seem excessive, as opposed to what I am doing (sarcasm). I've been slowly going back and uploading my old workouts to Training Peaks so that I'll have plenty of history there. If anyone loves the Premium Version, let me know. Given my obsessive tendencies, I could be convinced to give it a try.

As you can see, since I was able to work out several times while I was on vacation, I've been very busy downloading, logging, and re-logging workouts. That along with washing the mountains of smelly laundry created by myself and my Ironman training husband has left me with little time for much else. I am happy with the track workout, long swim, 40 mile bike ride, strength training at the gym, and 5.5 mile hilly run I accomplished while we were gone. I'm a little sleep deprived since almost all of these occurred in the early morning hours, but I'm still thankful I got them done. If I could have only passed over the chocolate pie, hamburgers, fries, pizza and multiple servings of ice cream, I may have come home in a little better shape than I left. Instead, I am 2 pounds heavier. Thank goodness I haven't gotten around to tracking my weight. That would be crazy!

Packing Up

2009-08-26T22:08:00.003-05:00

Before I started running marathons, packing up for a trip seemed a lot less complicated. I checked the weather forecast for the destination, packed up the kids, we loaded the car and we were off. Since training has become a bigger part of our lives, there is a whole new dimension to trip planning and packing. We are leaving to visit family in two different cities, so we are gearing up for the long road trip.

Since Mike is training for Iron Man Florida and I've got two races coming up on my schedule, we will have to fit some workouts in while we are gone. You know you are passionate about a sport when you are going on vacation and you think more about the workouts than you do about the rest of the trip. I've been thinking about where I can do my hill workout, when I'll do my long run, and how I could fit in a swim. The gym I belong to just built a fancy new location in the second city we are visiting, so I'll try to juggle my schedule so that my strength training can be done there. The thing I'm most excited about is that we are taking our bikes with us for the first time on a trip. I need to spend some time on Map My Ride to find some suitable bike routes.

All of this activity not only requires an extra level of planning, but also a lot more packing. Workout clothes, water bottles, fuel belts, Gatorade, Gu, goggles, running shoes, hats, and helmets all have to be gathered up and packed into the car. Of course, all of those sweaty, wet clothes will have to be packed back up so I better throw in some plastic bags so they don't stink up the rest of my clothes. While I'm excited about bringing my bike, I am a little worried about it getting rained on. I'll put a baggie over the seat, but with rain in the forecast for the first day when we are driving many hours, I'm sure it's going to get wet. Better pack some towels and chain cleaner/lubricant!

Maybe it sounds selfish to be taking time to workout while visiting others. I try to fit most of my workouts in during the early morning hours while everyone else is sleeping or busy doing their own thing. I've come to accept that it's just something that I need to do for myself and I'm not going to feel guilty. If I can have my hour or two to myself then I'm more relaxed about what happens the rest of the day. Just because I'm visiting others doesn't mean that I can't take time for myself. Right? Does it sound like I'm still trying to convince myself?

Baby Hill

2009-08-23T21:04:00.005-05:00

This weekend was my first attempt to incorporate hills into my run and bike training. With my upcoming triathlon and 10 mile road race being on hilly courses, I figured it was time. I know most of you other runners do hill workouts as part of your regular training, but I am a wimp. If I could run on a flat trail all the time, that would be just fine with me. A few hills on the bike are a welcome change of pace, but I would prefer to stay seated and not have to stand and grind the pedals.

My plan for Saturday morning was to go to Baker Park where there is a really long hill broken up by a couple short plateaus. There is a parking lot about a mile away from the hill, so I planned to drive to the park, run to the hill as a warm-up, do the hill three or four times, and run back to the car. Before I go to bed each night, I always have my workout for the next day planned out. What time am I leaving? Where am I going? What am I bringing? I don't like surprises.

You can see where this is going... my son had a Cross Country practice and needed to be dropped off and picked up at the same time I was going to run. I only had an hour after I dropped him off to get my run finished. This meant I had no time to drive to and from the park as I had planned. The plan became: find the nearest hill and run it. That's it. There was no time for searching out the perfect spot. The beach where we did the Splash & Dash was right there and I remembered that the first half mile was up a steady incline. I parked at the beach and took off. As I did my first trip up, I measured out a quarter mile. Up and down the hill I went 8 times. After the last climb, I went a little further so that when I got back to the car I would be right at 5 miles.

Technically, I guess it was a hill workout. The hill wasn't very long and honestly, it wasn't super steep. It wasn't the well planned workout that I had hoped for, but it will have to do. Since my hamstrings have been hurting, maybe it was good that I didn't pound them on this first attempt. They felt fine today and I was able to ride the bike for a hilly 26 miles. Since the run hill was pretty easy, it's too early to say whether I truly like hill workouts, but I will say that it went by fast and I liked the short efforts.

We're headed to St. Louis, MO for a couple days next week. During my last run out at Forest Park, there were a couple of nasty, long hills. They will make this week's hill look like a small bump in the road. Until then, I'll keep working on the run on my regular flatter, sane routes. They are still my favorite!

Hills In My Future

2009-08-20T20:57:00.007-05:00

My list of upcoming races has been slowly dwindling as the season is in its final month for Minnesota. The Square Lake Short Course is on September 12th and then the TC 10 Mile is on October 4th. I'll spend the next three weeks training for both races and then concentrate on the 10 Mile. I've been thinking about what goals I have for these last two races.

The Short Course race is longer than a regular Sprint but shorter than the Olympic distance. It will be a .5 mile swim, 18 mile bike, and a 5 mile run. My understanding is that the bike and run courses are very, very hilly. Hey, at least the swim course is flat! Ha... ha... Hills and I are not the best of friends. Gentle, long upward slopes and I are good buddies, but steep hills are my enemy. I've never done a hill workout before, but I think it's time that I put some on the schedule. A 5 mile run after a hilly bike ride will be a real challenge for me. My training for Square Lake will focus on the run. Even if my time is slow, I want to run the whole way and conquer the hills.

Luckily for me, I understand the the TC 10 Mile course is also very hilly (note sarcasm). My Square Lake run training will fit nicely into my training for this next race. In addition to running, I'll be continuing to address some physical issues I've been having. Since the 14 mile charity run I did at the beginning of August, I've been struggling with hamstring tendinitis in both legs. I mentioned that people were asking if I was limping or hurt, so I decided it was time for some medical intervention. I got my hamstrings worked on, did some ART (Active Release Technique) Therapy, and I'm doing exercises to strengthen the hamstrings. It's all working and they are feeling better, but my pace is consistently 30 seconds a mile slower than it really should be. My goal for the TC 10 Mile right now is to forget about pace and get the training miles and exercises done. If I can make it to race day injury free and run the race without pain, that will be a success. I love running in the fall and winter, so I want to be healthy when the race is over so I can enjoy the cooler temps.

So I guess I have a lot of hills in my future. I'll do my first hill workout this weekend. I'm a little nervous about it, but it will be fun to try something new. I was nervous for my first track workout and it turns out I like track workouts. Unfortunately, I'm not optimistic!

YWCA Sprint Triathlon

2009-08-16T20:25:00.014-05:00

Today I raced in the YWCA Women's Triathlon. This race is for women only and is held at Baker Park which is only 5 minutes from my house. I do a lot of my training at this park, so I signed up early for this one. The race sold out quickly so I'm glad that I did. About 450 women showed up after early morning hours of pouring rain and lightning. Just as I left my house, the rain stopped and conditions were fine for the race.

About half of the racers were doing their first tri and this was just my third. It's amazing to me that after just two races, a lot of the nervousness I felt at my first tri was gone. I got to the race, got marked, set up my transition area and hit the porta-potty. I signed up for this race with a friend and we have been training together this summer. It was great to have a friend there as support and company. As I came out of the porta-potty for the second time, who did I see?

My husband taking my picture! It was so humid the camera lens fogged up. Thanks, honey, for that great shot. It's just what every girl wants, a picture of herself coming out of the bathroom. Really, though, it was great to see him and our daughter before we headed down to the beach for the pre-race meeting. I was ready to go!

The Swim

It's been warm here the last week, so I decided to swim without my wetsuit. I got in the water and swam around a lot before my wave. The water was a little cold, but once the race started I was fine. The start was crowded with some jostling and I swallowed a little water, but it wasn't too bad. After rounding the last buoy, I ran into a lot of swimmers doing breast stroke and back stroke. I switched to breast stroke so that I could see better around them. I can do breast stroke just about as fast as I can freestyle swim, so I don't think it slowed me down. The swim course was for sure longer than 500 yards. Winning times were about 3 minutes slower than last year's times. I came in about 3 minutes slower than I had expected at 13:09. I finished 30th out of 99 in my division for the swim.

The Bike

I had biked the course before the race, so I knew it was going to be hilly. I decided to push myself as hard as I could on the bike. Looking at my results, I was ranked 16th for the first transition, so I gained a little going into the bike on the faster swimmers. Quite a few had worn wetsuits so that slowed them down. I think I then held my place throughout the bike. About 12 miles into the 15.5 mile ride, 3 over 50 women passed me. They were amazing but I was surprised that more older women didn't pass me. There is no denying that the bike is just a heck of a lot of fun. My average speed was 17 mph, which on the hilly course was a little faster than I had expected. In my division I was 16th out of 99 at 55:01 for the 15.5 mile course. Again, this was longer than the advertised 15 miles.

The Run

The most shocking thing to me this triathlon season has been that the run, which I thought was my biggest strength, has turned out to be my biggest weakness. I don't mean that I'm markedly slower than I thought I would be. I've always been a slow runner and I knew going into it that it would drag my time down. The surprise has been how difficult it has been just to complete the distances and how hard it is to run after the bike. By the time the run rolled around, the sun was out and it was warm and humid. The leg started on an uphill and I had to walk right away to catch my breath. I did better the second mile, and the third mile brought more walking up a hill. I walked more than I had hoped and my time was slower than I would have liked. The course was actually 3.2 miles instead of 3.1, so my time of 30:40 gave me an average pace of 9:30. I finished 28th out of 99 in my division for the run.

In the end...

Overall I finished in 1:44:49 which was 17th out of 99 in my division. I'm pleased with that and felt like I had a good day in general. The Sprint Distance is a good fit for me right now. I feel like I've learned a lot this summer and I particularly feel more comfortable on the bike. I can see that the run is where I really need to improve. I have one more triathlon this season, Square Lake Short Course on September 12th. The course is quite a bit longer than the Sprint, but it's shorter than the Olympic (thank goodness). I have almost a month to get ready for it. After today, I'm looking forward to getting back to training.

Splash & Dash

2009-08-12T19:53:00.007-05:00

In July, Steve posted about an event he did called "Splash & Dash". It's a series of three sprint races, each consisting of a 200 meter lake swim, transition, and a 1 mile run. After the first swim and run, you take a little rest and do the whole thing over again. It's hosted by Gear West, our local Tri store, and it looked like a lot of fun. The first one of the series in June had been cancelled due to weather, and Steve had done the second one in July. The last one was last night. The location was 5 minutes from my house and the weather was perfect. No excuses!

Steve had linked to a video of the last event, so that helped me get mentally and physically prepared. I could see that no one was sitting down, putting on socks and tying shoes during the transition, so I put Yankz on my shoes so I wouldn't have to tie them. Steve said he was okay with the short run with no socks, so that alleviated some anxiety I had about that. Other than that, it looked like goggles, swim cap and shoes were all that was needed.

I could also see from the video and the results posted that everyone racing was pretty fast. They only had 7 participants for the July race, and the slowest mile recorded was an 8:44, with only one other time over 8 minutes. I knew that I would be the slowest person there. My daughter was going to the race with me, so as I was packing up I decided I better warn her. She's 13 and, although she still likes me, I'm sure I embarrass her on occasion. I told her that there were going to be some fun athletes to watch because they were so well trained and that she shouldn't be surprised if I was quite a bit behind the pack. She said, "Mom, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you are going and doing it." Now I was ready.

I saw Steve and met his wife, Sarah, right away. It was so great to meet them. Thanks to both of them for all of their warm smiles and encouragement! I got in the water and got acclimated while everyone got ready. There were 16 of us and it was very casual. I stayed back and got in the water last because I knew I would be slow. The water was pretty shallow so I actually walked out quite a bit. The transition for the run was fun because it was so quick. I rinsed my feet, pulled on my shoes and I was off. Before I knew it, the first heat was over with. Although I clocked the slowest run time with a 8:52 mile, I actually came in ahead of two other women. Of course, one woman had shown up late and got in the water after I had already completed a lap, and the other woman had never open water swam before. Still, I thought I did okay.

After a rest, it was back to the beach to do it all again. The new swimmer opted out of the swim, so this time I was the last person out of the water. I was 4 seconds slower than the first time but only 30 seconds behind the lead woman. I had purposely gone in the water last, so no surprise here. My second mile time was 8:45. I was pleased with that! Honestly, that is about as fast as I can go right now. I came across the line last, but there were lots of people there to greet me and I was happy.

They had hot dogs after the race and I had a chance to chat with the other racers. Triathletes are the nicest group of people. I love how they encourage each other and all different levels will share tips and stories with each other. I had lots of sand in my shoes, but other than that I was no worse for wear. It was a great evening. Here are a couple pictures:

Receiving instruction before the start. I'm in the yellow top.

Me in transition during the first heat. Look, no socks!

Me coming across the finish. Thanks to Steve for this picture!

Next year I'll put all three of these races on my calendar. It will be a fun way to check my progress during the season as well as a fun evening out.

Corn Days

2009-08-09T21:11:00.006-05:00

One thing I've grown to love about Minnesota is all of the summer festivals. Although we are only 20 minutes west downtown Minneapolis, we are on the edge of the suburbs. Just a few miles to the west of us is rural, Midwest America. Just about every weekend during the summer you can jump in the car and within an hour find yourself in a town center packed with locals enjoying the fruits of the season. My husband, Mike, and our son have ventured to a few of these to run their 5k races. They have a lot of fun collecting t-shirts and have even brought home a medal or two since the races tend to be small.

This weekend our local festival, Corn Days, was held at a church just a mile or two from our house. This morning, Mike, our son, and myself headed over for the Corn Days 4 Mile Run. With the exception of a few days in June, most of this summer has been cool and breezy. This weekend, though, has been hot and humid. Having not acclimated at all, I just struggle in these conditions. I completed the 4 mile, hilly course but that is the only good thing I have to report about my performance. My time was pitiful even though I ran my best. The worst part, though, was when Mike and two other people later in the day asked why I was limping. Hey! I'm an athlete! People are supposed to say, "Wow, you look so strong and agile!" not, "Are you in pain?" I guess some ART therapy or some deep tissue massage is in my future.

After the race we filled up on pancakes in the church hall. A t-shirt and a pancake breakfast, now this is my kind of race! After a quick trip home to shower, we rode our bikes to the Corn Days Parade. Our daughter was on one of the "floats", which consisted of people walking behind a flat bed truck. This was comparable to the other floats in the procession. The most professional entertainment was the high school band. Mostly it was local businesses, the fire department, and kids organizations throwing candy on the street. It was adorable. We had a great time and saw lots of familiar faces. I gathered our daughter after the parade and we went to the festival. We ate lots of junk food, listened to a local band, visited with friends and then walked home.

What a great day. The icing on the cake was when I got a call this evening that a running vest that I had bid on in the silent auction was mine for a great price. I even fit shopping in somehow! Thank goodness small town, middle America is alive and well.

Running All Over Addiction

2009-08-03T20:40:00.005-05:00

A few months ago, my husband I agreed to run as a team in the Running All Over Addiction event held this last Saturday. The run was created and hosted by a friend of ours to raise awareness and money for organizations that help people along the path to beat addictions. This is such a great cause that we didn't hesitate to commit ourselves to it. In the spirit of the cause, the run was 28 miles. The 28 signifies the number of days in many recovery programs.

Yes, 28 miles. Yes, that is farther than a marathon. Since we signed up as a team, each of us committed to running 14 miles. At least I had enough sense to know that I could never run 28 miles. When I agreed to run 14 miles, it was right after my last marathon and, frankly, 14 miles just didn't sound that far. 14 miles? Hey, I can crank that out any old time. No big whup. Oooh... I deserved something bad for getting cocky about my running.

As I've been lamenting all summer, my running since the marathon hasn't been the best. Only in the last few weeks have I been able to put together some 6-7 mile runs at a reasonable pace. I was starting to panic that about the 14 miles. Since the event was a run and not a race, I knew I could walk a lot of it, but that was just not appealing. I'm getting ready for my next triathlon in just two weeks and I was counting on this week to get some good training in. Hobbling around for several days recovering from the run just wouldn't work for me.

As any good mother of a 14 year old son would do, I talked him into running 7 of the miles for me. See, teenage boys are good for a lot of things: mowing the grass, reaching things on tall shelves, and running for their old lady. I was off the hook. I could stay in my comfort zone and our team would still get their 28 miles. Problem solved. Until... his best friend invited him over for a birthday party/sleep over. No matter how desperate I was to avoid running the whole way, I just couldn't ask him to miss that. Now I was on my own.

Did I jump into the run committed to running the whole way? No, are you crazy? I asked our friend/run organizer if I could drop after 7 miles and catch a ride to the finish. Seriously. She very nicely said yes. Now, keep in mind that many of the other people running were doing the whole 28 miles and some were even tacking on more mileage as training for marathons and ultras. This was an impressive group. Was I embarrassed that I was going to be the only quitter? No. I was committed to not overdoing it and doing what was best for my body.

It was a beautiful, cool morning with a breeze. It was a point to point run on a flat trail, the Luce Line, so the wind was at our backs the whole way. I ran the first 6 miles with a great group and we went at a leisurely pace, even for me. None of us was in a hurry and we were just enjoying the day. The rest of the way I ran with my friend and she very nicely ran my pokey pace with me and we chatted non stop. We reached 8 miles and I totally forgot that I was going to drop. Now I would have to wait until the next stop around 10 miles to catch a ride. I got to mile 10 and I felt really good. On to mile 12. At mile 12, I was tired but doing surprisingly well. Heck, now we are only 2 miles from the finish. Might as well go the whole way.

Despite all my worrying and planning for the worst, I made it! I had been in this funk lately, and I had it in my mind that I just couldn't run more than 7 or 8 miles right now. This run showed me that, if I take it slow, that I can still run long. I felt fine yesterday and did an easy bike ride. Today was the official start of my TC 10 Mile training and I did a tempo run. I hit my time goals and got the training off on the right foot. I really feel like the 14 mile run has gotten me over a mental block. On Thursday I'll do my first long run for the training cycle, 7 miles. I'm looking forward to it now and know that I can do it if I just do it at my own pace. I'm even more excited about the TC 10 Mile and am even thinking about signing up for a half marathon for the late winter or early spring. I hope that is the last I see of this running funk for a while... it was stinky.

Runner's Feet

2009-07-31T20:05:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make. There is a pile of sandals in my closet that is going unworn. My feet have only seen the light of day in sandals once so far this summer. Normally, I am a lover of bare feet and cutesy sandals. Since I started logging more miles, however, being a runner and sandals have not gone hand in hand. About a year and a half ago, I struggled with Plantar Fasciitis. I had a little flare up this winter, but for the most part I have been able to keep it under control by changing my shoe wearing habits. Wearing running shoes with orthotics all of the time, in my mind, is a big reason why I have been able to stay pain free. I'm not about to risk foot pain again for the sake of cute shoes.

All this running shoe wearing has left me with Runner's Feet. It's not that they are all gnarly or anything, but they are Minnesota Winter White while my legs are Summer Runner Tan. Not a good look. On the plus side, the toe nail that fell off this Spring is fully regrown so all my nails are present and accounted for. With no marathon training this summer, I don't even have any black nails or blisters. Hopefully my feet aren't a total lost cause.

This weekend I'm going to have to expose my feet to non-family members, so I'm going to have to take some corrective action. We have an event on Saturday night that is going to require me to wear something other than shorts or jeans. I'll be donning a casual dress and, even though it is casual, I don't think that running shoes would be appreciated by the host. It's time to prepare for sandals. I'll be spending the next hour or so exfoliating and applying self tanner. Tomorrow will bring another round of self tanner and then some nail polish. Orange feet with tan legs will be an improvement over blindingly white feet with tan legs, but I'm guessing not a lot. As long as it just draws less attention to my feet until I can get some sun on them.

Race?

2009-07-26T21:52:00.005-05:00

The race schedule on the right says I was supposed to run a 10k this weekend. A last minute tournament came up for my daughter, but I was hopeful all week that I could still make the race. The tournament was actually closer to the race course than my house and the race started at 7:30 a.m., so I kept my fingers crossed that I could get the race in before the day full of games started.

It didn't happen. She had an 8 a.m. game, so the race was out. The race volunteers were nice enough to switch the registration at the last minute to my son and he run with my husband. I was sorry to miss the race. I'm also sorry that I don't get to wear the super cool t-shirt that my son will be proudly sporting.

Since the tournament was special, the team stayed at a hotel for a couple nights even though it was only 45 minutes away from home. I still needed to get my run in, so I woke up at 5 a.m. on Saturday to get 5 miles in before we had to get ready for the day. While I hate having to get up so early, once I'm up I love running on the quiet streets all alone. It was just getting light as I headed out. We were near the airport, so the planes were coming in low with all their lights shining. It was quite a sight. While I wished I would have been racing, running with the planes over head and the sun rising was enough to put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. I didn't get a cool t-shirt, but I did get some quality time with my daughter and that's pretty cool.

A Runner Again

2009-07-19T21:21:00.005-05:00

A month ago, my running was in the toilet. After adding biking and swimming to my training, I felt completely sapped of energy and enthusiasm every time I headed out for a run. Just 6 weeks after running a marathon, I couldn't even run 5 miles without walking. I was starting to worry that I had lost my running mojo and that maybe my days of counting myself as a runner were numbered.

I'm back, baby. Cooler temps, a change in my training and a little luck have worked their magic. No, my running bucket isn't filled back up yet, but I can see that the momentum has shifted and the level is slowly rising. I still have a long way to go before I am running the miles I would like to be, but the worm has turned.

Having grown up in St. Louis, MO where hot and humid summers are the norm, you would think that I could handle a little heat. If I did at one time have a tolerance to the heat, Minnesota cold winters have frozen it out of me. We had some warm temps a few weeks ago after a cool spring, and I just never got acclimated. We are back to our cool summer and I couldn't be happier. Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles with cloudy skies and temps in the low 60's. Perfect. I ran strong the whole way and kept a reasonable pace.

I hadn't intended on changing up my training, but life intervened. I had been doing two workouts most days of the week. I felt good for all of the workouts except for the running. While on vacation and since we've been back, I've just had time for one workout a day. My pool time has been suffering, but it's leaving more energy for running. Luckily my next two triathlons are short so I'm not worried about not being able to complete the swim. Things will be busy for the next few weeks, so this schedule will be the norm for a little while. Maybe it's for the best right now.

Finally, a little luck! The Twin Cities Marathon on October 4th has a companion race, the TC 10 Mile. This is a very popular race and there is a lottery for entry. A couple years ago I tried to get in but wasn't selected. This year I entered the lottery with Mike and our 14 year old son as a group. Either the whole group would be selected or not selected. This year I was lucky and we got in. Yeah! I'm really excited about our entry and 10 miles is the perfect distance for me right now. It's not an overwhelming prospect with the tri training but it's enough to make sure I continue to build my long runs. A little motivation goes a long way and I couldn't be more excited about having this race on my schedule.

Admitting that I'm feeling better about running is a little scary because I don't want to jinx myself. In general, though, I feel like I'm on an upswing and I can't hide my relief. The forecast for tomorrow is for a cool morning with temps in the low 60's and sunshine. Looks like a great day for a run!

Get Lost

2009-07-16T21:58:00.007-05:00

I'm back from our family vacation to Vancouver and Whistler, BC. One of the things that I enjoyed most in Vancouver was the two runs that I did in Stanley Park. There is a wonderful bike and running path all the way around this urban park. It borders the ocean for most of the 10k run, with beautiful views of bridges and a light house.

On the first run, Mike took off with our teenage son and I quickly lost sight of them. I figured it couldn't be too hard to figure out the route, just follow the sidewalk until the water was in view and hop on the trail. After that it was just a big circle. I quickly found myself off of the paved sidewalk and on a dirt path in the middle of a forest. The trees were bigger than any I have ever seen at home, and the forest was so dense that I couldn't see more than a few feet off of the trail. I knew right away that I had gone the wrong way.

Since I run alone in parks a lot, I get asked by other women quite often if I am afraid. It occurred to me as I was on this secluded path that maybe I should be afraid. I was, after all, lost. No one knew exactly where I was. I had no cell phone. I had no ID on me. Maybe there was some person hiding in the bushes, waiting for some unsuspecting tourist to wander by. As I was running in this beautiful, urban oasis, I knew in my gut that I was not afraid. I was excited to have found this secret garden, alone in a huge city far from home and seeing things I had never seen before.

Every few months, someone tells me that they would love to walk or run at our local park but they are afraid to go there alone. I'm always a little surprised when I get asked why I am not afraid. I am lucky enough to live in one of the safest cities, in one of the safest states, in one of the safest countries in the world. I have the luxury of living within walking distance of an extensive park and trail system. What a waste not to take advantage of it. My presence on those trails makes it safer for others to use them. I am always grateful when I see someone else on the trails, not fearful.

I understand that there is a slight risk to what I am doing, just as I understand when I get behind the wheel of a car that there is a risk to being on the roads. I don't want to live my life being afraid. I want to do what I love and, honestly, if someone wants to crouch behind a bush and do me bodily harm, then so be it. I would rather take that small risk than sit at home with the 100% chance that I will miss out on the peace that being alone on a run in a beautiful place brings.

In Stanley Park, it was less than a mile before I was out of the trees and spotted the water. There was the main path, filled with bikers, runners and walkers. I enjoyed the views and the people watching. I made it the rest of the way just fine and Mike and son were waiting for me at the end. My favorite part of the run, though, was getting lost. It was fun having a little adventure and it gave me a story to tell. I'll have to remember to get lost more often.

Fit for Fun

2009-07-06T00:15:00.007-05:00

Just like other athletes, I like to talk about this or that race. Races help give focus and motivation for training. They are the extra little push out of the bed when the weather is nasty. They are the end date of the training schedule to count back from to plan workouts. They are a yardstick to gauge efforts. Races, though, aren't the reason why I run, bike, swim, lift, or do whatever else I choose to do each day. Staying healthy to live a full and active life is my goal, as I'm sure it is for all of us that have come to accept that there is no Olympics in our future.

Crossing the finish line is fun, but the true reward of training comes in both everyday and extra-ordinary activities. Being able to carry laundry baskets up the stairs, playing with the kids, and having the physical stamina to clean house all day and still walk the dog at night are some of the ways that I put my physical fitness to use everyday.

This week I've been lucky enough to do some extra-ordinary things. I'm getting some quality time with the family, and for our family that usually involves lots of outdoor fun. We've been mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, and riding a zip line. During the steepest steps of the climb, standing on the pedals of the mountain bike up the trail, and paddling down a long river, I was truly thankful for a fit body.

Taking in the views of beautiful mountains, paddling the river with beavers, and sighting bear tracks on the banks were all part of my race today. Sharing the journey with my smiling kids and husband is a greater reward than any race medal. This week has been a reminder for me to not get caught up in whether I beat my race goal or what place I finished. I am reminded that getting out the door for that run is more important than what what pace my watch reads at the end. I hope I have many more races like the one I had today. In the meantime, I'll keep training for the rest of life.

Rochester Olympic Triathlon Report

2009-06-28T17:12:00.008-05:00

I've been sitting here for a few minutes, trying to put a label on my Rochester Olympic Triathlon experience today. Sometimes we do things that are obviously good, fun, or successful. Sometimes we fail, have a hard day, or know we could do better. Well, I can't quite boil Rochester down to just "good" or "bad", so I'll just tell you about it and maybe by the end I will figure it out.

There were only 62 women doing the Olympic distance, and they were an impressive group of athletes. All 62 were in one wave and everyone looked like they had seriously trained. I lined up with Natalie and Amy, both looking well trained and ready to race. I was able to get into a regular swim stroke right away and didn't have any serious bumps or problems. We did two loops in the lake, with a little beach run over a timing mat between the laps. I swung out and went too wide during the long straight away on both laps, which added extra distance. The .93 mile swim was my longest open water swim yet and I finished in 31:27. This is slightly faster than the pace I swim at the pool, so I'm satisfied.

You may remember my constant complaining about removing my wetsuit at the last race. Oh, ya, I also complained about the open wound on my neck from my new wetsuit. Well, no complaining today! The race had "strippers", so I sat down and the nice man ripped the wetsuit off in two seconds. Yeah! I also solved my neck problem with two applications of New Skin followed by plenty of Sport Shield. My neck came out of the race with no chaffing or pain. Two thumbs up!

Not to digress too much, but let's talk geography for a second. My understanding is that icebergs came across the northern part of Minnesota and scraped it flat. This is the reason why there aren't many big hills where I live. Well, apparently the icebergs stopped in Rochester and deposited all of the dirt into great big hills. Gee whiz! Not only was the bike course unbelievably hilly, but the wind was fierce. On flat parts of the course where I should have been cruising easily, I was working hard just to maintain forward momentum. When my chain fell off around mile 9, I was actually happy because I got to get off the bike for a couple minutes. When I had to stop to fix the chain, I lost the gaggle of people that were my speed, so I rode the rest of the 24 mile course with very few people in sight and no spectators. I was a lonely and it was a very tough ride. I finished in 1:38:26 which is right at 15 m.p.h. Again, I would say that I was satisfied given the conditions and that I had no one around to chase down or keep up with.

Somehow I came through Transition 2 without my race number belt. When the race was over, it was gone, so I think someone took it and that is why I didn't see it and think to put it on. I wouldn't have minded except I had a GU on the belt. I was really wishing I had it about a mile into the run. My legs felt okay but I felt sapped of energy. I ran the first mile and ran/walked the rest of the 6.2 miles, finishing in 1:06:05, or about a 10:36 pace. While the run wasn't one of my prouder efforts, I was tired and I feel lucky that I was able to manage anything less than 11 minute miles.

Mike did the race, too, as well as our friend Brian. Here we are afterwards:

I guess, in my ideal world, I would judge a race on whether I did my best and how my performance compared to my training. In that world, I would say that the race was difficult but that I still finished each leg of the race in the time that I would have guessed given my training. When I think that way, I am satisfied.

When I look at the race results, I finished 52 out of those 62 women. In my division, I finished 13th out of 13. Hmmm... that doesn't feel so good. Does that mean that I'm not good at this and that I didn't try hard enough? I wish I was faster and that I could say that I came out at the top of my division. I'm coming to grips with the idea that it's just not going to happen for me. I'm training two hours a day, 6 days a week. I think I'm going to have to be satisfied with the idea that I lined up with those other women and that I was proud to be a member of that group. I'm still working on that line of thinking... to be honest I wish I had placed a little higher in my division.

In the end, I guess I would characterize myself as being satisfied with my race. I now realize that the Olympic distance is much more difficult than the Sprint. During the Sprint race I was able to keep myself going on adrenaline, but the Olympic course is a mental and physical challenge. I'm glad that I did it, but I'm also relieved that my next two races are shorter. I've only been training in all three sports for a couple months, so doing the Olympic early in the season was a probably overly optimistic. I'd like to try another Olympic next summer, after I've had a full year of training like this. Hopefully next time I'll be a little bit faster and have a little more fun. For now, though, this is just fine.

Hair!

2009-06-24T14:47:00.009-05:00

I had been running for a few years before I decided to run a marathon. How did I go from running 15 miles a week to training for a marathon? I decided that I was getting old. I turned 40 in the summer 2007 and decided that if I ever wanted to run a marathon, I had better get going. I started training a couple months after my birthday and completed Fargo before turning 41.

Another thing I decided to do because I was getting old: Grow out my hair. Here is what I looked like last summer:

I like short hair. It's sassy and sporty and I think it suits me best. But let's face it, many of the women I see running have cute, swishy ponytails. I wanted to be part of the ponytail crowd. No, I didn't want to look like this:

But maybe like this:Kara Goucher, what can I say. She's fast, she's got great abs and legs, and she has a super cute ponytail. Kristin Armstrong has a column in Runner's World and a blog on their website. She is constantly writing about her and her friends' swishing ponytails. It's like some womanly secret that us short hair people aren't able to share.

My usual mode is to do my own thing which is almost always contrary to what everyone else is doing. But that ponytail is just so sporty! Figuring that I would have lots of time as I get older to have short, sassy hair, I decided that I wanted that swishy ponytail one more time. If I was going to grow my hair out and put up with the awkward in-between stage, I better do it now.

A year later, I have my ponytail. Mission accomplished.

I had mentioned a couple of posts ago that my new wetsuit gave me a raspberry on the back of my neck. A couple of days after that first swim, I gave it another try, this time folding my wetsuit down to prevent more chaffing. That didn't work. I was left with a pretty big open wound, a big bruise and quite a bit of swelling. It wasn't healing very well at first, so I had to shave the hair off of it! AHH! A year of growing my hair out, the ponytail finally in action, and I had to shave the hair at the bottom of my hairline. Here's a picture from behind. If you look closely on the right side, you'll see the mark.

So now I'm going to have a lovely scar on the back of my neck that will be visible in ponytail mode as well as when I finally get some sense and get my short hair back. Maybe I can have a little tattoo there with an arrow pointing to it that says, "Didn't use Body Glide." I guess the scar will speak for itself. In the meantime, I'm sure it will look plenty dumb when the hair starts growing back.

The suffering that sport requires! I've been swimming in the pool while my neck heals up. I'll be slathering on the Body Glide for the Rochester Olympic Triathlon on Sunday. I'm getting excited!

Buckets

2009-06-16T19:10:00.003-05:00

Until I started marathon training in the Fall of 2007, I had never run with anyone else. I was lucky that my husband met Jenny through a run club and introduced us. She ran a few long runs with me during that training cycle for Fargo 2008. I remember that I was struggling with the higher mileage, and she told me about buckets. She said that running fitness was like a bucket with a little hole at the bottom. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to fill up the bucket the first time. Once the bucket is full, it's about consistently filling the bucket a little at a time to compensate for the little hole at the bottom.

Before the Fargo Marathon 2009, I felt like my Running Bucket was pretty full. After the marathon, my bucket was a little low from the effort, but nothing to worry about. Shortly after, I took my Running Bucket and dumped some fitness into a Swimming Bucket and a Cycling Bucket. My running fitness helped me jump into both of these sports and enjoy them from the start. I feel strong when I am doing them, and am not struggling the way I did when I first started running.

The Running Bucket, however, has paid the price. It is very, very low. It's pitiful. I'm still struggling to run 4 or 5 miles without walking. I was going to run 6 miles today, but needed to walk the last 2 miles. There were moments in the run today, though, that I felt like my old self. For the first time since I started the tri training, I think I'm making headway in filling the Running Bucket. My legs are feeling stronger and my quads and hip flexors are complaining less. I'm starting to feel like my body is adjusting to the increased training hours and the different activities. I'm not there yet, but I think I just need to keep at it and not give up.

The Rochester Triathlon is only 12 days away. On the one hand, I don't think I'll be ready for the Olympic distance in time for the race. The 6.2 mile run after the .9 mile swim and 24 mile bike is going to be a challenge. I'm predicting that I will have to walk some of the run, particularly if it is at all hot or humid on race day. But on the other hand, I know that I wouldn't be pushing myself to get my run back together if I had just signed up for the Sprint.

For now, I'm going to try my best to fill my bucket. I don't know long it will take until it's brimming again, but I feel fortunate that I have the good health and time to find out.

Wetsuit Try Out

2009-06-14T21:31:00.007-05:00

I tried out my new wetsuit on Friday. The weather was overcast but warm enough outside to go for an open water swim. I met a friend at Little Long Lake which is about 20 minutes from me. Only little fishing boats are allowed on this small lake and the water is very clean. If you look carefully on the far side of the lake, you can see a beach with canoes and paddle boats. That's a YMCA camp but we didn't see any campers. A lot of triathletes use this lake to train, so I feel lucky that it is so close.

We swam across to the YMCA camp in about 7 or 8 minutes, so I'm guessing it's about a quarter mile. Then we swam back to the boat launch, and then back and forth two more times. We rested a few minutes between each length, so we were in the water for almost 50 minutes. The water was chilly but tolerable. The workout highlighted for me how much tougher it is to swim non-stop without those convenient little breathers every 25 yards at the pool. I try not to hang on at the pool, but I do take an extra breath or two and then get a good push off the wall. Not only are there no breaks in the open water, but it also takes energy to spot where you are going. I can see why open water training is so important for longer races.

My wetsuit passed the test with an A-. It kept me warm and was comfortable. I was able to get it off after the swim without a problem. I do, however, have a pretty good raspberry on the back of my neck where something was rubbing. Ouch! I think I can figure out what's going on and hopefully remedy it with a little Body Glide. All in all, I'm really happy that I bought it.

Today, Mike took me on a bike ride from our house to Watertown, a little town about 15 miles away. The entire route is perfect for riding with big wide shoulders and only a few stops. Mike uses this route quite a bit for training, but the ride was new for me. It was a great ride! Here we are after we got to Watertown and had a little hydration. Then it was back on the bikes to head home.

It was a total of 29 miles and it took us about 1 hour and 50 minutes. I was too slow for Mike to train with me on a regular basis, but it was a good ride for me. We averaged 15.8 mph each way and I was sufficiently tired when we were done.

After a little nap, Mike and I met our friend again for another swim at Little Long Lake. This time we swam about 35 minutes with just a few little breaks. Just two days later, the water was noticeably warmer. There were even some hot spots that were a little shocking as I was swimming along. The weather was beautiful so there were some other people fishing and swimming today, but it was surprising how peaceful and quite it was just a few yards away from the dock.

I feel pretty lucky to live somewhere where I can swim, bike and run so easily right from my house. Now that the snow has melted and the temperatures are above freezing, excuses are hard to come by. The challenge now is to squeeze as much fun in as possible while the weather is good. It's Minnesota, so I better hurry!

Working Out the Kinks

2009-06-11T21:28:00.008-05:00

My triathlon last weekend pointed out some things I need to work on. My number one problem during the race was my wetsuit. As I complained about at length, I couldn't get the wetsuit off over my calves. The wetsuit that I rented was a couple years old and had reinforced knees. This area wasn't very stretchy and resulted in me being frustrated during T1. In my own defense, I don't think my calves are extra large. I thought that the numbers on my arms and legs were cool, so Mike took a picture of my calves. Here's a picture so you can judge for yourself:

See? I think my calves are a pretty normal size. If you think they are big, I would appreciate your keeping your thoughts to yourself, thank you.

Living in Minnesota, the temps are still dropping into the 40's at night. It's going to be quite a while before the lakes warm up enough that I'm going to be happy swimming without a wetsuit. During the race, I noticed how much easier it is to swim with one. I like the extra safety that the buoyancy adds, too.When I returned the rental on Monday, it also happened to be my birthday. I decided that it was time to buy my own, proper fitting wetsuit. So here it is, my new swimming partner:

This Blue Seventy is not only girlie and cute, but it is super flexible. I was able to get it off in the changing room in 30 seconds. Yeah! For my birthday, my parents gave me a super cool Blue Seventy triathlon bag. Us girls love it when our accessories are coordinated!

I'm going to try it out for the first time tomorrow with a lake swim with a friend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will keep me warm and afloat. This will be my first real open water workout, so I'm a little excited and a little more nervous. I'll let you know how it goes!

I'm a Triathlete!

2009-06-07T15:44:00.007-05:00

I finished my first triathlon today, the sprint distance race at the Buffalo Triathlon. I am a triathlete! I'm still prouder to say that I am a runner, but the triathlete thing is pretty fun, too. Let's start with the results first:

.25 mile swim: 8:33

Transition 1: 7:09

13 mile bike: 49:27

Transition 2: 3:47

3 mile run: 26:46

Total time: 1:35:39

So much happens during a triathlon, I'll try to just hit the highlights. Buffalo is the second largest tri in the state and the first big one of the season, so we saw lots of people we knew. I met Natalie in person for the first time before the race. It was very cold and wet this morning, with temps in the mid 40's and light mist. It was freezing waiting for the swim waves to start. That was probably the worst thing about the race.

The water was 70 degrees, but compared to the air temp it seemed reasonable. I had a little panic attack when the swim first started, and it took me a few minutes to calm down and take some regular swim strokes. I finally got in a little groove and I came out without any one kicking me, so I'll call it a success. Here I am after:

As you can tell from my T1 time, I had a little trouble in Transition 1. I could not get the wetsuit off over my calves. I had practiced before the race and I knew this was going to be an issue. I am so glad that I had rented and didn't buy this suit because it was so frustrating. I lost at least 3 minutes and a lot of energy trying to pull it off. This is something I need to get figured out before my next race.

The bike was chilly and hilly, but thankfully uneventful. I noticed that older men with super cool bikes were passing me, and I was passing younger women with heavy bikes. Having a lightweight tri or road bike is such an advantage. Given the hills and the wind, I was happy with my speed of 15.75 m.p.h. I need to practice getting on and off my bike... that was a little embarrassing but I didn't wipe out or interfere with anyone else. Here's a bike picture:

The run went pretty well! My pace of 8:55 was better than I had hoped. This is when I was thankful that the weather was chilly. It was perfect for running and helped keep the fatigue at bay. My legs felt a lot better than they did on my brick run a couple weeks ago. Being sick this last week probably helped in that it forced me to give them a rest. It was mostly my cardiovascular system that was trying to keep up. It had been an exciting day and I was breathing heavily.

That's it! I finished happy, tired, and all in one piece. The race has given me some confidence for my Olympic distance race, and it has pointed out what areas need work. My husband, Mike, came along and was a huge support for me today. Not only did he take pictures all along the way, but he prepped and carried my bike, helped me set up my transition area, and took my coat from me right before the swim. I would have been a Popsicle if he hadn't been there. I don't know what I'm going to do at my next race when he will be busy getting himself ready to race.

I can't say enough good things about Buffalo as a race. It was very well organized. I always knew where I was supposed to be going, and there was plenty of support in the water. The swag was also first rate: a super-cool t-shirt, visor and water bottle, not to mention a great medal!

I'm Up!

2009-06-03T13:47:00.007-05:00

After three and a half days in bed with a fever, headache, sinus pain and general malaise, I'm up! The doctor gave me some precious antibiotics on Monday, and by Tuesday afternoon I was able to stay vertical long enough to get some laundry done. Today, I'm still too snotty and fatigued to exercise, but I was able to meet a friend for coffee/Diet Coke and PICK UP MY WETSUIT!

Even though I haven't worked out since last Friday, my triathlon has stubbornly stayed on my calendar for this Sunday. For a little while I was thinking about not doing it, but I've decided that I will do it barring a relapse. The entry fee has been paid, the wetsuit has been rented, and my bike sherpa has agreed to come along to cheer. The stars are aligned so I am going to be at the start line.

The combination of missing this last week of training and coming off being sick makes me a little worried about the race. The fact that it is a Sprint makes it a lot easier to contemplate doing it with a little less training and a little less energy. It finally came down to the fact that I need the experience. Having not done a triathlon before, I know nothing. Even if I just get through the swim, I know it will give me more confidence going into my Olympic distance tri at the end of June. If I feel great, then great. If I don't, then I'll just take it slow and try to learn as much as I can along the way. That's one benefit of doing something new: I'm guaranteed a PR. Well, I guess that's assuming that I finish.

I know some people wouldn't want to risk a DNF, but I look at it a different way. This is not my race for Olympic Gold. This is not my lifelong dream. This is just one of many steps along my path to enjoying life. If I have to drop out, then that's what I'll do. Who cares? My goal this summer is to try to find an activity that is healthy and that I enjoy. End of story. In the meantime, I guess I'll get to add worrying about water temperature to my weather related obsession. The forecast is for the lake to be 70 degrees. I've never done any open water swimming... is that cold?

Thanks!

2009-05-31T13:29:00.004-05:00

Thanks for all of the great advice and encouragement everyone shared on my last post. I'm glad to know that this leg fatigue is normal and that others have gone through the same thing. The comments regarding the bike are very much appreciated because I was conflicted about whether I should cut down on my bike time or stick with it. It makes me feel so much better, except...

I feel awful. When I ran on Friday, I could tell I was getting a cold. I've run with colds before with no problem. Normally, I feel better while I'm running than not when I have a cold. I posted to my blog and didn't give it any more thought. As the day wore on though, I felt worse and worse. Terrible sore throat, chills, headache, no energy... this is more than a cold.

Yesterday, I was in bed all day with a fever. Today I'm up a little more because the body can only take so much laying down. I've felt better after childbirth than this. Blah.

Nature has imposed a work out hiatus on me. In the long run, it's probably a good thing. My biggest disappointment is that I didn't get to volunteer at the finish line today. My husband, Mike and our 14 year old son went. They directed half-marathon finishers into the finisher's area. Mike said he saw lots of local runners that we know and that everyone looked great. I wish I could have been there.

Hopefully I'll be feeling like myself again in a day or two so I can get a few more workouts in before my tri next weekend. I pick up my rental wetsuit on Wednesday and I'd really like to get in the water with it at least once before the race. Right now I don't think I have the strength to pull it on and off.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, healthy weekend. I can't wait to read all the race reports and hear about every one's day.

Losing It

2009-05-29T10:08:00.003-05:00

Why does running confidence seem to fade so fast? It takes such a long time to develop, and then it can disappear in no time.

Only 21 days ago, I ran 26.2 miles. That's a pretty long run, I did it in okay time, and I felt fine shortly after. That all adds up to running confidence. Now, just three weeks later, I'm somehow doubting I can run 6 miles. Why? Well, for starters, I haven't run more than 5 miles since the race. I had the lower mileage planned to give my legs a chance to recover and to be able to pick up the cross-training that I need for my triathlon season. Still, my sureness in my running ability has started to fritter away.

Another reason that I am doubting myself is that the little mileage that I am doing seems a lot harder. I've decided to blame the bike for this. On the bike, my heart rate stays low and I get to go fast. I'm just not good enough on the bike yet to really push myself to the max. Running is the exact opposite. It just seems a lot harder and I feel like I'm going so slow. The leg fatigue from the new bike training is playing a role, too. Since I'm a shuffler, I use my hip flexors a lot when I run. The hip flexors are getting quite a workout on the bike. Now when I run, my legs are feeling heavy.

Whine, whine, whine. The dumb thing is that my pace is actually okay. I'm running the pace that I should be and my heart rate is fine. It just seems so hard! I was going to do a brick workout tomorrow which would be 20+ miles on the bike and then just a 2 mile run. I think instead that I'll go out and conquer that 6 miles on a hilly course. I need to get my running chops back! Even though this triathlon stuff is fun, I still feel like I'm a runner first and foremost, so I want to make sure that doesn't slip away.

On Sunday I'll be volunteering at the finish line of the new Minneapolis Marathon and Half Marathon. Good luck to everyone running! I'll either be doing back-up timing or giving out medals. Hmm... which one sounds like more fun? Good luck to everyone that is racing this weekend!

First Brick Workout

2009-05-23T11:53:00.003-05:00

I have this weekend and next weekend before my first triathlon, so I figured I better get out there and try a brick workout. This past winter I did a bike/run workout using the bike on a trainer and the treadmill, but I only did it once and it was pretty hard. This weekend was the perfect opportunity to try a real brick. The weather this morning was a sunny 60 degrees and my legs are feeling a little more rested from the marathon, so there were no excuses.

I mapped out a 20 mile bike ride from my house and set up a little transition area in my garage. About 6 miles into the bike, I noticed I couldn't get one of my shoes out of the clips. Turns out I lost a screw from where the clip attaches to the bottom of my shoe and the other screw was very loose. Luckily, my bike mechanic/husband packed my little saddle bag with a set of hexy-screwdrivery-things, so I was able to get the single screw remaining tight enough that I could make it for the rest of the ride. Other than that, it was an uneventful, beautiful ride with fantastic weather and lots of other bikers to say hi to along the way.

When I got home from the bike ride, I quickly got myself ready for the run. Halfway down the driveway, I realized that I still had my bike shorts on. I had worn some spandex shorts underneath for the ride so I could just slip the bike shorts off and not have to run with the chamois. I have a pair of tri-shorts, but right now my newbie tushie needs a little more padding on the bike. That is probably TMI, but the point is I had to stop, take off my shorts and toss them in the yard. I'm really happy that I practiced the transition and will definitely practice this a few more times before the race so I don't forget anything.

So then it was time for the run. I never really thought about what "brick" was supposed to be referring to, but it instantly came to me as I started to run. My legs certainly felt like "bricks" for the first mile. Surprisingly, my pace was a little faster than I would have expected and my heart rate was fine. It seems like it was just a weird sensation in my legs that wasn't really effecting my performance. I only ran 2 miles, so it will be interesting to see what happens when I have to run farther. I have another bike ride tomorrow, though, and I didn't want to tire my legs out any more than the 2 miles I had planned.

After surviving my first brick workout, I'm looking forward to trying it again. I learned a lot from it and it breaks up the time having the transition in between activities. Right now the race is still far enough away and everything tri related is new enough that training is just a whole lot of fun. I'm guessing next week, when the race gets closer, that I will start to get nervous. For today, though, fun is good.

Feeling Like Summer

2009-05-19T20:52:00.006-05:00

I usually take craptastic race pictures, but this one from Fargo isn't too bad. Since I paid good money for it, I've decided to get the most out of it and post it.

If you look really carefully, you'll see that both of my feet are off the ground at the same time. The guy who took this must be a real professional, because this is a state that is rarely seen when I am running. I look happy and that's what really counts, I guess.

Somehow, Minneapolis has skipped over Spring and we are straight into Summer. It was 80 degrees today and yesterday and it's been very blustery. Luckily, it is still pretty cool in the mornings when I run. I got out this morning for an easy 4 miles and the weather was perfect.

My legs feel strong but there is still a lingering tiredness from the marathon and probably the new bike training. I'm keeping the running mileage pretty low for the rest of the month, just running 4 days a week and 5 miles or so at a time. Once I get acclimated to the addition of the biking and swimming, I'll try to pick up some more miles.

I must go and obsess about the weather now.

Mixin' It Up

2009-05-17T21:21:00.003-05:00

One week out from the marathon, I'm working on letting my legs recover while I try to get ready for my first triathlon. Recover and train at the same time? I'm giving it a try. After training for 3 marathons in one year, I really want to give my legs some time to fully heal.

I took 5 days off from running. I lifted weights, swam a couple times, and did a couple spin classes this week. It was nice to get up and decide what I was going to do based on the weather and my other commitments instead of being dictated to by a schedule. It's the first time in 18 months that I haven't had a schedule telling me what to do each day.

I ran a few miles on Friday, and then again today. Today was a beautiful day, and I just had to get out on my bike. You may recall that the fork on my bike was cracked. Trek sent a loaner fork so I could use my bike while they come up with exact fork for my particular model.

Clad in my Mother's Day bike helmet and Sidi shoes, my first outdoor bike ride of the season almost ended 5 seconds after it started. I clipped into my pedals with my new shoes and quickly realized that I could not get them unclipped. They must fit my pedals more snugly than my old ones. Panicked, I struggled to twist and pull my foot out. I thought I was going to have to make an emergency landing in the grass. I finally got them unclipped safely. Luckily, my bike mechanic, Mike, was home and with a quick pedal adjustment, I was off on an 11 mile ride.

This was just a quick ride to try and get more familiar with my bike. I'm still not very good at keeping a straight line, especially when I'm down on my aero bars. I'm nervous grabbing for my water bottle, and I still have to really think about what I need to do to shift gears in the right direction. I'm getting the hang of it, though, and it's a whole lot of fun.

After I was done, I took off my front tire, flatted it, and practiced changing it. I did it, but very slowly. If I had to do it in a race, they would be closing the course by the time I was finished. I'll have to practice that some more, but I was glad I at least got it accomplished.

Tomorrow I'll get to wake up and decide what I feel like doing based on the weather and my mood. I'm hoping to try a longer bike ride and maybe get in a short swim. I'm glad this first triathlon is a short one and that I have zero expectations, because I'm really enjoying this little "do whatever the heck I feel like" break.

Fargo Wrap Up

2009-05-13T12:15:00.008-05:00

Now that the Fargo Marathon 2009 is over, I wanted to share a little bit about the race.

I guess I should start with the only negative experience that I had with the race. When we got to the expo at the Fargo Dome, they were in the midst of running all of the kids' races. Unfortunately, this really ruined the expo experience for us. It was congested, little kids were running around everywhere, annoying announcers were screaming into the PA system. I usually love milling around the expo, checking out all of the booths and shopping. It was all we could do to get our packets, buy a sweatshirt and get out of there. If we do this race again, we will check when the kids' races are running and avoid them at all costs.

Now, on to the good stuff!

Above is the beautiful poster for this year's event. The same artwork is on the medal and the back of the race t-shirt. It really is a lovely piece of art that depicts one of the main streets on the course. I love both the shirt and medal and have given the shirt Favorite T-shirt Status.

Because of the flooding, the race was changed to a two loop course. The course could not have been flatter, which was wonderful. Last year, the course was packed with spectators the entire way. Given the weather conditions, it was good that they were only spread out over half the distance this year. I think some of the course would have been lonely if it had been one loop. The spectators were wonderful and supportive. The marathon was also a celebration of their victory over the flooding, and it was wonderful to see them smile and party.

I heard some other runners mention congestion during the first mile or so of the race. I started back with the 4:30 pace group, and this is the first race that I did not have that problem. It could be that the pacer with the balloons was effectively a breaker for the rest of the group. I also noticed a lot less pushing at the start. I think racers are getting smarter, knowing that if they hurry over the mats that they will just end up walking after their time has started. This year, we walked pretty slowly up to the start and only started running right before the mats. No problems with congestion for me this year.

There were plenty of hydration stations on the course. All of them had water and Powerade. There was a GU handout station, so we hit that twice. Lots of bathroom opportunities. There were also lots of medical personnel on bikes checking in with the runners. This marathon had excellent race course support and I can't say enough good things about it.

Finally, I am so glad that I ran with a pace group. I wish I had done this in earlier races. While I did chat with a few other people in the group, I really didn't socialize a whole lot. There were a few people that ran and talked with the pacer the whole way. They did not seem to be working hard at all and looked like they were just out for a fun, casual run. If you are looking to socialize during a race, the pace group would be a good way to go. There were plenty of us, though, that were just busy doing our thing and that was fine.

The pacer walked through all of the water stops. I really can't run and drink at the same time, so I was relieved when I saw that this was his strategy. Towards the end of the race, I tend to walk to much and procrastinate getting going again. Having to keep up with the pacer kept me moving.

The best thing was that following the pacer meant I could mentally relax through the first 20 miles. I didn't have to look at my Garmin and constantly adjust my pace. Since I wasn't looking at my watch, I didn't look at my heart rate and worry if it was too high. I just watched the guy with the balloons and kept up. The next half-marathon or longer race that I run, I will use a pace group again.

Fargo is in the books! I'm feeling good and recovering well. I've been in the pool and on the spin bike a couple times this week. Most importantly, I've taken a nice, long nap each day. My first run will be an easy 3-4 miler on Friday. I'm going to be interested to see how my legs feel. I'm excited about getting ready for my first triathlon. It's only 3 weeks away. Nothing like a little pressure!

Fargo: Race Report

2009-05-10T16:04:00.009-05:00

After eating whatever I wanted for dinner last night at Friday's, dessert at Dairy Queen, and breakfast at McDonald's today, I guess I have thoroughly celebrated my calorie burning day at the Fargo Marathon. I'm ready to tell you all about it!

Right before we left to drive to Fargo, the McMillan Calculator and I had a serious discussion. With all of my determination to not worry about my time, I still needed to figure out if the 4:30 pace group was the right group for me. Since I've already done some racing this spring, I have some current times to put into the calculator. No matter what I put in, it kept spitting out 4:40 as a marathon finish time. That sealed it for me. I would start with the 4:30 pace group and hang with them as long as I could.

For all of my worrying about the weather, it couldn't have been better for running a marathon. The temperature was probably 36F for the start and couldn't have gotten too much over 40 by the end. It stayed cloudy with light winds. There were a lot fewer spectators than last year, when temps in the 70's and high humidity brought out the crowds. I love the spectators, and I felt sorry for them in the cold, but I couldn't have been more thankful for the weather yesterday.

Within a few miles, I knew I was in the right group. The pace was challenging enough that I didn't feel like I was going too slow but not so fast that I didn't think I could keep up for a good part of the race. I found another runner to chat with on and off and cruised through the first 13.1 miles feeling like I figured I was supposed to be feeling: tired but not struggling.

Each mile after, I just concentrated on keeping the pacer right in front of me. By mile 16, I knew I was going to have to lose him eventually. By the 17th mile marker, my Garmin said 17.44 miles. Being part of a large group, it wasn't possible to take the turns very tightly, so I'm sure this added distance. Because of the added distance, we were actually running closer to a 10 minute pace instead of 10:18. At mile 18, I made the conscious decision to slow down a little. At the mile 19 marker, the pace group was still only 20 yards ahead of me. You would think I would be happy, right? I was more like a scorned lover. I was done with them, knowing that I couldn't keep up. I didn't want to think about them any more. Having them ahead of me was a visual reminder that I was falling behind. By mile 22, I couldn't see them anymore and I was happy.

Miles 24 through 26 I ran around a 10:50 pace. I was tired. It was all I could do to keep myself running. I was thankful that there were many water stops along the way, often with more than one per mile. I walked through these and then got myself going again. I just wanted to be done.

Even though I was tired and hurting, I was not in pain. At TC Marathon, I was in pain, the kind of pain where you know your body is telling you something. Throughout this whole race, though, I was so happy that all of my parts seemed to be working. No back pain, no foot pain, not knee pain... I couldn't believe it. It made me so happy. All of the stretching and visits for ART have actually resulted in a pain free marathon. I don't mean that those last 6 miles didn't hurt, because they most certainly did, but it hurt like a marathon should. I came in at 4:34:35 with a smile!

So, I guess it's time to stack up the race against my goals. I did not shart myself. I did not worry about having to take a bathroom break, although I was thankful that I didn't have to. I talked with some other runners along the way and chatted with a couple of women that I had met at the Ron Daws 25K. I did not practice my race day phoblography, but only because I trusted my camera to my kids who promptly forgot it in the car. Oh, well. Most importantly, I felt like I ran the race that the day and my training brought me. It was hard, but I was happy. I know for certain I crossed that finish line with a big smile on my face.

Since we didn't have a camera at the race, here is a picture of me after we got back to the hotel. It had been a cold race, so you can see my lips are still purple.

Here is another one of Mike and I before I gorged myself at Friday's:

Next time I'll tell you what I thought of the Fargo Marathon as a race and whether I liked running with a pace group. Thanks for muddling your way through this long post and for all of your kind words and encouragement!

Far- GO!

2009-05-09T17:16:00.003-05:00

With so much to tell, so many body aches, and two kids that are anxious to go out to dinner, I'll have tell you the whole story when I get home tomorrow. But for now:

Finish Time: 4:34:35
Mood: Very Happy!

Good luck to everyone who is running tomorrow and speedy recovery to everyone who ran today. I'll get the full race report posted Sunday or Monday. Have a great weekend!

Get Set!

2009-05-07T12:49:00.005-05:00

Today is my favorite day in the whole marathon training cycle. With all of the training done and it being too early to start packing the suitcase, it's a great time to take a breather and appreciate all that has happened prior to the race. Once the race happens, it colors my thinking about the training that went into it. If the race is fantastic, then I feel great about my training. If the race doesn't go according to plan, then the training was terrible. In an effort to avoid that, I've been thinking a lot today about the training itself and the value of it.

Because of the training:

I addressed my IT Band and lower back issues and have been able to keep them both under control with lots of stretching.
I worked through a recurrence of Plantar Fasciitis and my foot feels great now.
I enjoyed training with others, working to get over my insecurities about being too slow and holding others back.
I got out of my comfort zone and trained in all kinds of weather. I used the treadmill and the indoor track when needed.
I learned how rewarding it is to read other's blogs, reading their stories and celebrating their successes as well as empathizing with their obstacles.

Thanks to everyone who has visited here, whether silently lurking or sharing your thoughts. I want you to know that it is very much appreciated. I've learned a lot as well as had many laughs and smiles because of you. Thank you!

Tomorrow I'll be packing up and driving to Fargo with Mike and the kids. I am optimistic that I'll have some fun on Saturday. The kids are well and Mike is a lot better with just the remnants of a cold remaining. I'm feeling pretty well! I've been queasy for the last couple of days, but it's been getting better instead of worse, so hopefully by Saturday I will be 100%. Best of all, the weather forecast is not for hot weather. It looks like it's going to be cold, a little windy with a slight chance of precipitation. I'll take it!

I'll try to post something on Saturday and let you know how it went. I'm adding a couple of last minute goals to my list. I stole these directly from Steve. He is an inspiration and is hilarious. When I read these, I thought, now here is a man with a lot of experience that knows what he is talking about:

Keep from shartting myself.
Not cross the finish line hitting my watch. I want to come across that line with a smile!!

Good luck to everyone else at Fargo and other races this weekend, including cyclists!

On My Mark!

2009-05-04T19:50:00.004-05:00

The Fargo Marathon is quickly approaching. It seems like it's been months away forever, and now it's surprising close. It's kind of freaking me out! Since we have to travel and do the hotel thing, there are all those extra logistics. All of these little planning details are making the marathon more and more real.

You would think that since I ran the same race last year that I would have a certain comfort level. I do in some respects. I know where we'll park, how great the spectators are, and what to expect at the finish in the Fargo Dome. That's all good stuff.

There's also some things I know that maybe aren't so good. I know how hard a marathon can be. I know how heartbreaking it can be to watch the time click by and your dreams about your finish time slip away. Fargo was not a good race for me. It was hot and windy. My heart rate sky rocketed over 170 before mile 4. I was walking on and off before I hit the half-way point. My 4:58 finish was a good 30 minutes slower than I had hoped.

The worst thing was that the whole race was very difficult for me. If I had run a good 20 miles and then had to walk the rest, I could have accepted that. If I had run the whole way slowly and still came in at 4:58, I could have accepted that. But I had trained harder than my race indicated and I knew it from the very first moments of the race. It sucked.

After Fargo, I regrouped and changed my training plan for Twin Cities. I ran much better and felt like I fulfilled my marathon dreams. I was really proud of my training and my race. I'm now trying to tap into that confidence and forget that Fargo just happened to be the place where I had a bad race. A year has passed and I have a lot more experience and miles under my belt.

Today I was really thinking about what solid steps I could take to make this race a good one. This is what I came up with:

Remind myself daily that getting to the starting line injury free was my number one goal.
Good nutrition leading up to the race.
Hydrate well in the days before the race.
Stay away from caffeine.
Stretching well each day and before the race.

I also made a big decision about the race itself. I decided that I'm going to run with the 4:30 pace group. I've never run with a pace group before. Anyone ever tried it? At Twin Cities, I started out way too fast and really suffered at the end. I finished in 4:27, but the last 6 miles were really painful. I'm hoping that, even though I may finish with a slower time, that the pace group will help me run more consistently and that I'll feel better. I'm also hoping that the camaraderie and company of the pace group will help me achieve my number two race goal, which is to have some fun!

So that is my game plan as of now. The only other thing on my list is CONSTANT HAND WASHING. Everyone in my family is sick with a cold except me. Right now, my son is sitting next to me coughing and blowing his nose. My kids were home from school today because they cancelled school do to a probable H1N1 infection on their campus. My husband worked from home today because he feels so sick. While he's not busy at the computer infecting my keyboard, he's lying in bed feeling miserable.

Hopefully everyone will be back at school and work tomorrow and get their germs away from me! I hope that all of you who have races coming up this weekend stay healthy, too!

Retail Therapy

2009-05-02T22:24:00.008-05:00

Since I'm tapering, I'm spending less time running and more time worrying about my triathlon. Yes, I've been in the pool and plan to do more of that, but I really want to give my legs a chance to rest before the race. That has meant no time on the bike and taking it easy on the legs in the gym.

So, what is a girl to do? My solution so far has been to do more ~~shopping~~ planning. I've been trying to get everything ~~bought~~ organized so that I can get on my bike right after the marathon. As I mentioned a while ago, Mike put aero bars on my bike for Valentine's Day. I've ridden the bike several times on the trainer since then. Mike, my ~~bike mechanic~~ husband, brought it upstairs to get it tuned up to ride outside a couple weeks ago. When I got ready to take it for a test ride, I noticed that the handlebars didn't turn to the left very easily. Thinking that it must have had something to do with the installation of the aero bars, I figured I would just stop by the bike shop sometime and have them adjust it. No hurry, no big deal.

We went to the bike shop today to look at helmets for Mother's Day. Are you seeing a holiday gift pattern? They looked at the bike, took it to the workshop, and hemmed and hawed for a while. Then... the bad news. They pointed out that the fork on my beautiful, Trek Lemond bike was cracked. Ugh! It had to have been there when I bought it. I had bought the bike somewhere else, but this store tells me that Lemond's are great bikes and are fully warrantied for a year. I had bought the bike on May 4, 2008. Today is May 2nd. Whew!

We jumped in the car and headed to the other bike shop. My bike is now waiting for the Trek rep to look at it this week. It is covered under the warranty, but I'm going to be without a bike for a little while. I'll know more by the end of the week.

To help me get over the disappointment of my cracked bike, I did some more ~~shopping~~ planning. We found some great Sidi shoes on clearance in my size. Then we headed to REI where they had bike helmets on sale. I got a new bike helmet that complements my bike very nicely. See, there is such a thing as retail therapy!

Swim, Swim, Swim

2009-04-28T20:10:00.005-05:00

The Fargo Marathon is only 10 days away, so what did I do today? Why, swim of course! I'm starting to freak out that my first triathlon is only 4 weeks after the marathon and I've only been in the pool a couple times. The bike is an even worse situation as I've only ridden a little bit on the trainer this winter. My legs are feeling pretty sore though, and with the marathon quickly approaching I don't want to start hammering my legs on the bike. So, it looks like swimming will be my new activity until the marathon is over.

As a kid, I swam on the neighborhood swim team until I was 13 or so. I was never very fast at freestyle, but I managed to make it to conference a few times swimming breast stroke. If you saw me run, you would see why breast stroke and I were a good match. My leg likes to kick out in egg beater fashion when I run and swim. It's not a very efficient technique for freestyle swimming or running, but it's a match made in heaven for swimming like a frog.

Today was the first of my four lessons with Sarah, a swim coach at my fitness club. She's done a marathon and some triathlons, so she knows what I'm looking to accomplish. I don't need to be kicking my guts out in the water to get on the bike with my legs already toasted. Being able to swim at a decent pace and get out of the water without noodle legs is what I'm looking for.

So what happened? I loved it! Sarah watched me swim some laps and smiled and said that she was "pleasantly surprised." Now, as a kid, I was a pretty good athlete. I played all kinds of sports and, with the exception of softball, was always one of the better kids on the team. As an adult... not so much. I'm not flexible, so I'm terrible at yoga. I took an aerobics type class at the gym and could never figure out why I was always going one way and the rest of the class was going the other. Running, as you know, is a passion but no one is "pleasantly surprised" by my results. Really, the only evidence of my athletic prowess as a youth is my ability to shoot dirty clothes into the hamper from across the room.

But today was different! She was "pleasantly surprised" and I loved being in the pool. After she assessed my stroke, she had me do some drills with the pull buoy and swimming on my side. I had a little trouble staying afloat with the side swimming drill, but I survived. I did a kicking drill that became much easier when she lent me some flippers. Then she had me do four sets of two drills followed by 100 yards of freestyle. I still don't get the lingo of how you describe the workouts, but it made sense that the drills worked on an aspect of technique and then you try to put it all together during the freestyle laps.

One of the things I love about running is the feeling that I get when I'm done. I'm just too tired to be anything but relaxed about everything. I had the same feeling about swimming today. Afterwards, I just felt very calm and relaxed... and relieved that I seemed to be on the right track. I'm guessing that open water swimming will be more challenging than doing some drills in the pool, but for right now, swimming and I are friends.

Drug Free Running

2009-04-23T14:14:00.005-05:00

Today was my last double-digit mileage run before the Fargo Marathon. I was a little nervous about it because last week I had a mini-anxiety attack prior to and during my 20 mile run and it didn't go so well. I had pretty much decided that the panicky feeling was due to drinking some caffeine before my run, but I still had some lingering doubts. I tend to be the anxious type, so maybe I was truly having some mental problems. It wouldn't surprise me at all if I had just psyched myself out.

Since last week's run, I've been trying to stay away from caffeine. I've also been thinking about a book I read and wrote about here on my blog, Mind Gym written by Gary Mack. Gary is a sports psychologist and gives a lot of helpful advice. He talks extensively about self talk and how it effects performance. Gary says that research shows that if a batter tells himself, "Don't miss the ball," that his brain just registers "miss the ball" and he is statistically more likely to miss. If he tells himself something positive, like "swing strong," he is much more likely to get a hit. I've been thinking about my self talk and how I may be sabotaging myself.

One of my goals this training season has been to have more fun and not be so results oriented since, quite frankly, my results are kind of crappy anyway. As a result, I find myself thinking things like, "It's okay if you walk" and "Just try to make the distance." By lowering expectations, I figure that I'm removing any performance pressure and will hopefully feel less stressed. Of course, I also say things to myself like, "I think my heart is going to explode," and "This sucks." I'm guessing that this is also not helpful.

This morning I stayed away from the caffeine and the carbonated drinks and went to my favorite summertime trail, Baker Park. I had 12 miles to run and Baker is a 6.2 mile loop which was perfect. I dropped a cooler around mile 3 and put one at the start. It was a beautiful day even though it was windy. Since Fargo is likely to be windy, I figured it would be good practice.

Even before I started, I felt better than last week. I felt calmer and more focused. I tried to think to myself positive thoughts, like "feeling strong" and "enjoy the day." I actually did feel more relaxed and was able to get in a groove within the first few miles. I always think that after running 20 miles, that a shorter distance like 12 miles will seem short and easy, but it never does to me. I envy people that can crank out that kind of mileage easily. It was still hard for me, but I never felt panicked and overwhelmed. My heart rate stayed at a reasonable level and my legs felt strong the whole run.

Today's lesson for me: no caffeine, lots of positive self talk. Pretty soon I'll be the running version of Stuart Smalley... I'm ~~good~~ strong enough, I'm ~~smart~~ fast enough, and doggone it, people like me!

We Have a Winner!

2009-04-20T20:40:00.006-05:00

Mike and I ran a 5K on Saturday at St. Thomas University. It was a race put on by the Young Alumni Association to raise money for scholarships for St. Thomas students. Now, Mike and I are neither young nor Alumni of St. Thomas, but Mike works with Abby, who happens to be young and an Alumni. She also happens to be one of the organizers of the race, so Mike and I signed up. This was the first year for the race, so that made it a little extra special for those volunteering and running.

The race had about 100 people sign up to run and another 20 or so to walk. Mike kept joking with Abby by telling her that she needed to have age groups for the race, preferably with an age group of 42 to 42 and a half. She may be young, but she wasn't born yesterday. There were no age groups, but they did have a free Sun Country airline ticket for the winning male and female.

Mike and I arrived in plenty of time to get our numbers, timing devices, and t-shirts. We milled around one of the student buildings to stay warm. It was a little colder than we had expected, so we walked out just right before the start.

I had already decided that I was going to take it easy for this race. I had just run my 20 miler on Thursday and my legs were still feeling less than energetic. I moved to the back of the pack and Mike moved up to the front. Being that there was only 100 people and that it was chipped timed at the beginning and end, it was a nice, relaxed start. I ran the first mile with two women who were talking triathlons, and we discovered that we were all interested in doing the same race in August. We separated after a little bit and I settled into 9:10ish miles. That was fast enough that I felt like I was giving it a good effort, but not so fast that I was struggling.

The race went down Summit Avenue, then turned left and went down along the river. About one and a half miles into the race, I saw the police car leading the lead runners back towards the start/finish. There was Mike, my husband! A young woman was leading the group, followed by a youngish man who looked like he wasn't going to make it much further, and then there was Mike! I was so excited to see him with the lead group.

Shortly after I saw him, he passed the other two runners and took the lead. There was another man behind him, a very fit 50ish runner who tried to keep up. Mike was able to hold him off and he won the race with a time of 20:46. Pretty nifty! He said it was very exciting to have a chance to lead a race and run behind the pace car. While he knows that his time wouldn't be fast enough to win a larger, more established 5K, it was still quite a thrill and was a PR for him. Here he is after the race, awaiting the grand prize:

This may have been a small race, but the organization and freebies were first rate. The race was chip timed at the beginning and end. The course was beautiful and very accurately marked every mile and kilometer. There were free St. Thomas bags and water bottle cozies for everyone, as well as Cliff bars and bananas. Of course, we can't forget about the t-shirt. All great stuff!

We will have to sign up for this race again next year. It's for a worthy cause, put on by a great group of young people, and of course Mike will have to defend his title. If word gets out about how nice this little race is, I'm guessing that it will attract some talented runners. Maybe we should try to keep it quiet...

Next Stop: Taperville

2009-04-17T15:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I ran the last 20 mile run on my schedule. It wasn't the greatest. I'm definitely a cold weather runner, and it was pretty warm yesterday. It had to be in the 60's when I was done and it was windy. I know that doesn't sound hot, but after training in very cold conditions, it takes a little while for my body to acclimate to the heat. I also had drank a caffeinated soda before the run, which I have never done before. I had a panicky feeling for the first couple hours and had a hard time settling into a groove. Anyway, between the heat and the caffeine my heart rate was up. I had to walk a few hills and my pace was slow, but I got it done.

Since the 20 miler is done and the marathon is 3 weeks away, that can only mean one thing: It's Taper Time!! The first day after the last 20 miler is the best. I still have the lingering sense of pride over finishing the long run (even though it wasn't the confidence booster I had hoped for) and the marathon is still too far away to worry about. Even though there are still plenty of training runs left, I certainly feel like I can take a little bit of a breather. I'm hoping to get outside on the bike and in the pool on a more regular basis.

Good luck to Velma who is running the St. Louis Go! Marathon this weekend!

Weather Obsession

2009-04-14T15:19:00.005-05:00

When we take on something new in our lives, we can usually guess the ways our lives will change. For instance, when I had a baby, of course I knew I would love being a mom and find it incredibly rewarding. I also figured that I would be changing diapers, cleaning up bodily fluids and losing a lot of sleep. Same thing with training for a marathon, I figured I would feel stronger and healthier, as well as feel sore and tired.

Some things, however, hit you by surprise. I never, in my wildest dreams, would have guessed how much laundry a family of four could generate. Seriously, you would think that we are all changing clothes every 5 minutes given how much laundry I have to wash and put away each day.

In the case of training, being on a training schedule has brought about a severe case of Weather Obsession. Checking the weather and then worrying about it is one of my top priorities. I guess I would have to put keeping the children alive and keeping my husband happy enough not to leave me higher on my priority list, but Weather Obsession has been steadily climbing the charts.

To satisfy my obsession, I have a thermometer by my bed that tells me the temperature outside. I have another one in my bathroom so I can consult it while I'm getting ready. I have to check the weather forecast before I go to bed each night during which I tend to moan and gnash my teeth when when the forecast doesn't compliment my running schedule. I celebrate when it is my day off and it rains, and I can't sleep at night if I have a long run scheduled and it's supposed to snow or storm. The worst of all my fears... wind. I can't stand running when it's really windy.

I know I'm not alone in my Weather Obsession because Mark H. had a nifty link on his blog to a great National Weather Service site for the Twin Cities. It gives so much hour by hour information that you may need a meteorological degree to figure it all out. I am now addicted to that site. Thanks, Mark.

My husband likes to pretend that he doesn't care about the weather. He likes to act like this is all my problem. But then, right before we go to bed, he'll ask if I want to check the weather. He laughs like he's just humoring me, but I know that secretly he wants to know the forecast just as badly as I do. He's not fooling anyone.

Thanks to my Weather Obsession, I can happily report that, not only is today an incredibly beautiful day, but that Thursday looks like a great day for my last 20 miler before the race. It's going to be 43 degrees when I start and in the mid 50's when I'm done. There is less than 10% chance of rain and the winds will be 10-13 mph (a little windy for me, but hey... not too bad).

Did I mention that I get really angry when the weather forecast is wrong? Well, I guess I'll tell you about that another day. For right now, I'm just so happy that Spring is finally here!

Anticipating PRD

2009-04-08T16:04:00.009-05:00

Marathon racing, for me, is a lot like a roller coaster ride. The high excitement of signing up for a race is like being at the top of the big hill that starts every roller coaster. This hill creates the momentum and excitement that will be needed to take riders up and over all of the big hills, curves, and loops along the journey back to the station. At the end of the ride, everyone is smiling and instantly wants to get back in line and do it again.

With a marathon, though, there is no getting back in line to race again the next day. While some of my running friends have amazing abilities to recover and race again within a couple weeks, my body just can't take it. I tried jumping back into training for the Disney Marathon right after the Twin Cities Marathon and it didn't work for me. Knowing that my body is going to need a break, I am anticipating Post Race Depression (PRD and yes, I made this up so don't try to Google it).

In an effort to avoid the post race let down, I signed up for my first triathlon. I'll be doing the Buffalo Sprint Triathlon on June 7th. It will give me something new and different to look forward to right after the race. I'm figuring that the marathon training will take care of the running, and that I can do the training that I need for the swim and bike while I taper and recover from the marathon. The swim is .25 miles, the bike is 13 miles, and the run is 3 miles.

Since the race is June 7th, I declared yesterday, April 7th, as my first official day of triathlon training. Being a female, I kicked off my training season by going shopping! I decided I better get my wet suit situation figured out since the water will still be very cold on June 7th. Luckily, Gear West is only a couple miles from my house. Everything in Gear West just looks like so much darn fun!

I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in a wet suit, so I decided to rent one. For $40, I can use one of theirs and see how I like it. I've done some other pre-season shopping over the last couple months. My husband, Mike, had aero bars put on my road bike for Valentine's Day (very romantic!). I bought some top of the line bike shorts which I love, and some tri shorts which I haven't tried out yet. I have some nifty goggles and a sweet road bike from last season.

Hopefully I'll think this triathlon thing is a lot of fun because I signed up to do an Olympic distance on June 28. I'm thinking that both of those races will be enough to keep me motivated and that I'll avoid PRD. It's going to be hard to stay depressed while I'm busy planning and doing two new activities, and of course, there is always the cool new gear to cheer me up!

Ron Daws 25k- Race Report

2009-04-04T18:12:00.005-05:00

I had a 20 mile long run on my schedule this week, so my coach suggested I run the Ron Daws 25K race. I didn't know anything about Ron Daws before today. He was a marathoner from this area in the 60's and 70's. He ran on the Olympic marathon team and was inspirational to a lot of runners in Minnesota. The course today covered some the training routes he ran and there were some testimonials before the race about his impact on others and the sport.

I had to get in an extra 5 miles to get the full 20, so I went to a nearby trail early and got them in before the race. I knew there would be no way I would have the energy to do it after. I got to the race and changed into some dry clothes: my marathon outfit contender. Jenny and Guy met me there. Here is a picture of Jenny and I before the start:

It was pretty chilly at the start, maybe low 30's, then warmed up for a little bit when the sun peaked out. It was cool again later when it clouded up, so I'm glad I wore something long sleeved over my UA tank. Another reason I was thankful I had my long sleeve top: the tank chaffed my underarm so badly in the 4 miles that I had the long sleeve off that it is still hurts. Ouch! I didn't put on any Body Glide, so I guess I was asking for trouble. All in all, though, I was happy with my clothing choice. I think some Body Glide will remedy the situation. Outfit approved!

This race was unlike any other race I have been in. For starters, the entry fee was only $4. There was no race t-shirt, only 3 water stops with just water, and I counted only 3 people cheering along the route. What it did have though, made up for what it was missing. The caliber of athletes there was truly astonishing. I ran an average pace of 10:13 per mile, and I seriously think I only beat 5 or 6 people. It wasn't only the athletic prowess of the participants, but also their attitude that impressed me. I've been at races that are an out and backs and, usually, all of us people in the back cheer on the leaders as they pass us. Today, when the leaders passed me, most of them had something encouraging to say. I was really touched by that.

I also really enjoyed the course today. It had a little bit of everything. Some of it was roads through subdivisions, some was a flat rails-to-trails path, some was a gently hilly path with the feel of a trail run, and some was a paved path in a park. There were some really big hills, but it was always interesting and that helped the time pass.

There were also some great people in the back of the pack. For a couple miles, I couldn't see anyone in front of me or hear anyone behind me. I really thought I might be in last place. I was okay with that since I was running according to my plan, but I was getting a little lonely. Then, on a really big hill, I ended up walking about 25 yards. About 5 people passed me. I'm usually not excited about being passed, but today it made me happy. The 5 of us encouraged each other and keeping them in my sights kept me going. Jenny ran back for me at the end which made finishing a lot more fun.

All in all, I was really happy with my miles today. I ran 5.2 miles before the race and the race ended up being 15.6 miles. My average pace for both runs together was 10:11 which I thought was about right for me. The difficulty of the hills during the race kind of made up for the little break between the runs. When I ran the Bear Water 20 miler before the TC Marathon, I ran all out and was just completely dead at the end. It kind of threw me psychologically because I knew the marathon would be even tougher. Today, I ran slower than I did at that race (10:11 vs. 9:41 for the Bear Water Run), but I felt like I was pushing myself plenty. I felt like I could have run at least a couple more miles. Honestly, I'm happier running a little slower and smiling at the end instead of going a little faster and wanting to curl up in a ball and cry for the last two miles. I think I'm finally learning that smiling is good. I hope I remember that on Marathon Day!

Outfit Test Drive

2009-04-01T16:47:00.006-05:00

What do guys have to do to get dressed for a long race? I'm guessing they do some nipple protection, strap on the Garmin/Polar/watch of their choice, throw on some old clothes and head out the door.

Women? Not so simple. We want to look good while we are racing. What is the point of running a marathon if your race picture looks terrible? Yes, I know there is still a point to it, but it sure is a lot more fun when you look cute and fast in those finish line photos. I ran the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon in some Race Ready shorts. They were perfect in that they held all of my GU's and emergency Imodium, but when I saw the race pictures? Not so flattering on my legs. I'm sure that on other people's legs they would be mighty attractive, but on me they just hit me in the wrong spot. It was a tough race and I PR'ed. Did I buy a picture? No way.

With two really long runs left before the Fargo Marathon, its time to test drive an outfit and see how it performs under pressure. On Saturday, I'm going to be doing the Ron Daws 25K (15.3 miles) plus an extra 4.7 miles to get my 20 miles. The weather is supposed to be craptastic. The forecast says there is a 30% chance of a rain/snow mix with temps in the morning right around 40 degrees. Given that Fargo just got snow dumped on them again and the marathon is only 5 weeks away, that may be pretty close to race day conditions.

My husband is probably thinking, "Honey, you ran the Twin Cities Marathon in the exact same weather conditions just last Fall. Why don't you just wear that same outfit?" Silly man, I don't want to run two marathons in the same outfit. Does a movie star go to the Oscars in the same dress that she wore last year? No, no, no. Get with the program. If signing up for a marathon isn't a shopping opportunity, then I don't know what is.

Dick's Sporting Goods... I love to go to Dick's so much that, when we pass it on the highway, my husband tries to distract me so I won't insist that we stop. With recent economic conditions being what they are, I have tried to avoid going there as much as possible since I am incapable of leaving the store without a pair of Nike Tempo Shorts or a 1/4 zip top in my shopping bag. Needing a marathon outfit was the perfect excuse to go and I caved.

While I am usually an Nike girl, I will be test driving a pair of Under Armour shorts and tank top at this weekend's race. I really don't like to be hot while I'm running, so I'll take a throw away shirt for the start and dump it after I warm up. I'm still having sock problems, so I'll be trying to work that out, too. It looks like this race only has 3 stops and only serves water, so I may have to wear my hydration belt with some ~~Gatorade~~ Powerade. Jenny just took a job at Coke and the Fargo Marathon serves Powerade, so I'm trying to convert.

Jenny and Guy are running also, so I'll ask one of them to take a test picture of me so I can see the outfit's photogenic qualities. I'll also be assessing comfort, wicking, and chaffing issues. I hope this outfit passes the test. Of course, if it doesn't, I guess that means I'll just have to start all over and shop for a new outfit. This being a girl thing is tough. Good thing I'm up to the challenge!

Road Trip!

2009-03-27T15:59:00.006-05:00

The kids are on Spring Break this week, so we packed up the car and headed out for a quick road trip. We moved to Minnesota almost 5 years ago, and much to our surprise, no one in either of our extended families has decided to make the move to the North Country to join us. Can you believe that? For some reason, below zero temperatures and big snowfalls don't sound enticing to them. Mike, who loves winter, is convinced that they must all be crazy. I'm guessing they feel the same way about our love for Minneapolis.

Our move several states away from home means that we have to travel pretty far to find someone that is required to enjoy spending time with us. Tuesday we took out and drove 10 hours south to St. Louis, MO. The weather gods shined on us and we hit two very nice days of weather in between days of cold and rain.

Unfortunately, the marathon schedule doesn't stop for road trips, so on Thursday Mike and I headed down to Forest Park for our long run. Luckily, this is a cut back week so we only had to put in 15 miles. There is a nice bicycle path around the perimeter of the park that is perfect for a long run. Forest Park is a beautiful, urban park with a zoo, art museum, science museum, history museum, boat house, outdoor theater, paddle boats, golf course, tennis courts, ball fields, and even a large outdoor skating rink. Can you tell that I got the full tour on Thursday? The park is also right next to Washington University and downtown, so there is a wonderfully eclectic group of young and older park users.

On my first lap around the park, I had a "restroom emergency." This time of year, not all of the restrooms in the park are open, and as I neared the Science Center I was getting desperate. The museum wasn't open yet, but I spotted a sciency looking fellow getting out of his car. He took pity on me and let me in to use the facilities. Thank you, Science Guy!

Here is a picture of the Science Center that I took on my second lap. I love taking pictures during a long run for my blog because it gives me a good excuse to stop for a few seconds!

There are several lakes in the park. Here are some people fishing in Jefferson Lake:

I finished the 15 miles in reasonable time with no complaints, although I was certainly glad I didn't have to go any farther.

When Mike and I lived in St. Louis, I had just started running and had worked myself up to running for 30 minutes. At that time, I was still sticking to the familiar areas around our house and didn't venture very far away. It's kind of funny that it took moving away for us to seek out new places to run. Since we've moved, we've run Forest Park a few times and even done a trail run in Castlewood Park. It's kind of fun to look at the place where you spent most of your life with new eyes. I certainly wish I had taken advantage of beautiful Forest Park when it was closer.

Now we're in Indiana for a day and then it will be time to go home. I'm hoping that the snow that Minneapolis got while we were away will be gone by then and that Spring will be there to stay. I miss my runs at Baker Park and on the Luce Line and could really use some nice warm days to get me through the next 4 weeks of tough training.

I can't close without saying that my thoughts and best wishes go out to those in Fargo. The marathon is 42 days away, and I hope that when race day arrives the city will be celebrating it's victory over the flood waters. Thanks to Tom who has been updating his blog with pictures and news and Natalie who has gone to help with the sandbagging.

St. Pat's Day Human Race Report

2009-03-22T19:40:00.016-05:00

Today was the Human Race in St. Paul. It is billed as the season opener for the racing season with a 5K and an 8K, or for Super Humans, the option to do both. I can see why it is such a popular race. The race is very well organized with chip timing at the start and finish. The course is along Summit Avenue, a beautiful boulevard with lovely historic homes and beautiful trees. I ran this same stretch during the Twin Cities Marathon, but I have to admit that, since it was very late in the race, my mind wasn't totally functioning and I didn't appreciate the beauty as much as I did today.

My two kids, Brady (14) and Katy (12), ran the 5K which was held first and Mike and I ran the 8K. Here is Mike with the kids after we picked up our numbers and shirts. Katy and I decided that we would dress for St. Patrick's Day, so she is sporting a green tam.

The packet pick-up and after race snacks were all held in the University of St. Thomas' Field House. It was nice to get in out of the wind and have a place to relax before and after the races. Here's Katy and I sporting our festive hats together. I swear that I am not a drug addict... I just cannot keep my eyes open when someone takes my picture with a flash. (It must be genetic, because Katy appears to have a similar problem.)

The kids ran first and did a great job. The official results aren't posted yet, but Brady ran around 22 minutes and Katy around 33 minutes. I'm glad they got out there and had a great time. I'm also happy to report that they take after their father more than their mother when it comes to running. I spotted both of them with both feet off the ground at the same time while they were running. This is a feat that I have yet to accomplish.

While we were lining up for the 8K, I recognized Jean from his blog. It was so nice to meet him in person. He is just as charming in person as he appears to be in his blog. Hopefully we'll get to meet up with him again at the Ron Daws 25K or at Fargo.

It sounds like Sunshine was out there too, but I didn't see her. Sorry, Sunshine!

I was pretty happy with my race. I had tried to do a short run on Friday, but my legs were just too tired from the 19 miler on Thursday. Today I just went out and figured I would go with the flow and see how I felt. Happily my body decided to cooperate with my mind today and I found myself racing along just fine.

My Garmin had the race as 5.07 miles long, so my 44:07 finish time was a 8:42 pace. I got a little faster each mile, with the first mile coming in at 8:59 and the last mile in 8:17. It helped that the first half was slightly uphill and into the wind, so coming back was slightly downhill with the wind to our backs. Mike ran well, but due to operator error his watch didn't start. He thinks his finish time was around 34 minutes. Here we are after the race.

It was a really nice, family day for us. Everyone was happy with their race, the temps were great, and although it was a little windy, it was certainly nothing to complain about for March in Minnesota. I wish I had some funny story about some big gaffe that I made, but everything was nice and boring. I can live with that!

Rocky Moment

2009-03-19T18:37:00.006-05:00

I had to run 19 miles today, and the thought that kept popping into my mind the whole way was: Why does the marathon have to be so long? I don't mean the actual reason Why. I know about the history with Pheidippides and the Olympics in Britain and all that. What I mean is Why! Why! Why! It's just so bleeping long!

My quad muscle, which is the only muscle in my leg that has never hurt before, hurt from mile 8 on. My lower back was so tight the last 12 miles. Geez! It was so hard. I can't believe that I've actually run two marathons before and this is still so hard.

So I'm running and suffering and closing in on mile 17, and the song that comes up on my iPod is "Gonna Fly Now." Yes, I mean the Rocky theme song. My kids and I were dorking around and, long story short, I ended up with it on my playlist as kind of a joke. Since the iPod doesn't know it was a joke, the song comes on. I am embarrassed to say that I cranked it up. I need this song. It's making me feel better... I'm grooving and moving. Did you know there are lyrics in that song? Well, the words, "It's so hard,now... Trying hard, now..." play in my ears and... I almost started crying!! I mean actually crying! My throat seized up and I thought tears might start flowing. The words "Trying hard, now" just summed up everything that I've been feeling. I just can't try any harder. I'm slow, I stink at this, but I am trying as hard as I can and that is going to have to do.

Did you know that it's really hard to run and cry at the same time? I was able to take a couple deep breaths and keep it together. I don't think anyone saw me. Whew!

So that is my embarrassing story for today. I was terrible. I suffered. I almost cried. Don't tell anyone, okay?

Pesky Little Details

2009-03-17T16:20:00.007-05:00

As I mentioned, I got quite a blister on my toe after my terrible slogfest on the treadmill last Thursday. Oh, the agony. The blister is right by my toe nail, so every step is complete torture. When I try to sleep at night, my toe throbs and complains with every touch of the sheets. Isn't it funny how we can suffer terrible pain and mental anguish during a marathon and come out smiling, but walking around with a blister is unbearable and makes us snap at strangers and family alike?

After careful examination and experimentation, I have determined that my sock is the culprit. Either my feet have grown or my socks have shrunk because the end of the sock shwoops down and presses on my toe. Apparently, after 17 miles my toe has had enough of the sock pressure and revolts.

I went to my local running store yesterday to pick a replacement. This is dangerous territory. If I get a sock that is too big, then it will bunch up under my foot and cause a blister on the bottom of my foot... that would be a catastrophe. A sock that is too thin may not protect my foot from rubbing. I've tried the two layer socks and they are not for me. After 20 minutes, this is what I picked out:

They are Smartwool PhD Running Socks. At $12.49, they may very well be the most expensive pair of socks I have ever bought. They say The Highest Degree of PERFORMANCE on them, so I figured I would try them out. I ran 6 miles with them today and they were great! I was worried that they would be hot since they are Smartwool, but they seemed fine.

The real test will my 19 miler coming up on Thursday. The weather forecast looks perfect with a low of 28 and a high of 46.

I had figured that long distance running would be hard and painful. I didn't realize, though, how many little details had to be worked out. Does your hydration bottle jiggle up and down when you run? Does your GU fall out of your pocket? Does the iPod case you wear around your arm keep slipping down? Do your headphones make your ears bleed after hours and hours of wear? All of these annoying little things can take lots of time and money to work out. If you don't figure them out, they will slowly drive you crazy and sap all of the joy out of your run.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my toe and my new socks get along. 19 miles will be hard enough without thinking about my socks!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-03-12T16:01:00.004-05:00

The Good: I got my 17 mile run finished.

The Bad: It was -12 degrees when I got up this morning. I kept waiting for it to warm up, but at 9:00 it was still -10. I gave up and headed downstairs to the treadmill.

The Ugly: I had to stop 4 times to stretch out my back, twice to change Lost DVDs, and once to go to the bathroom. By the end, I was running slower than a twelve minute mile. I have a huge blister on one of my toes. I'll spare you pictures. If you would like to see blister pictures, I'm sure Steve has some blister pics you can look at.

I'm just glad to be done! Please, Spring, I need you. The weatherman says it's going to be 50 degrees by early next week. I hope that forecast is more accurate than the one that said it was going to be in the teens this morning.

Intervals at the Dome

2009-03-09T13:33:00.007-05:00

Today is Monday, so it was back to the dome for some speed work. I will be so happy when all of this snow is gone and I can do my intervals on a regular track. I live just about a mile from our neighborhood school, so when the ground is clear I can run over to the school for a warm-up, use the track, and then cool down on the way home. It works out very well. Of course, when school is still in session, I tend to be a distraction to the elementary schoolers, many of whom already have a short attention span. Too bad for them! I gotta get my speed work in! If it keeps snowing, school may be out of session by the time the track is clear.

Speed work on the indoor track is not ideal. The track is small, with about 5 laps equalling a mile. As a result, there are a lot of turns and they are sharper than a normal track. I have to take it easy and slow down on the turns because they are hard on my little broken body. There are also a lot of "mature" citizens at the dome that I would prefer not to run down as that could cause me further injury. No, really, they are very nice and, if anything, I feel bad that they are worried that they are in my way... which they are... but I don't mind because, hey, at least they are moving their bodies which I admire... but I digress. The bottom line is I have to take it easy when stepping around them which slows me down. It's a little more difficult to hit my target split times than normal when I go there.

Now that I've laid the groundwork with a lot of excuses:

Last week, I sucked big time. The whole time I thought I was running fast. I felt fast (for me, anyway). I checked my Garmin occasionally during the intervals and thought I was hitting the right pace. When I got done with my workout, though, I checked the splits and I was way slow. I couldn't believe it! Bummer. (Do people still say "bummer" or am I showing my age a little?)

Today there were a lot of people at the dome because it is yucky outside. I was all set to have another crappy day. I don't know why, but today I was super fast! I easily beat all of my split time goals and felt great! Why is that? Why do we have good days and bad days? All I know is that I am very happy with my workout and the bad workout from last week is now forgotten. I love that about running... sometimes all it takes is one good run to renew your motivation and optimism.

Training Schedule

2009-03-05T22:04:00.003-06:00

I got a question from Virtual Runner about my training plan. I love to drone on and on about every aspect of my running, so an open invitation to talk about my training plan is like a dream come true! Let's dive right in because I can hardly wait!

Ideally, I would be running 5 days a week. I would have one long run day followed the next day by a short recovery run. Then I would have a speed work day, a medium distance day, and another shorter run. Because I've had plantar fasciitis and shin splints in the last couple months, I am using a four day running schedule. For the fifth day, I am riding my bike on a trainer for 30-60 minutes. To complicate things, I do weight training three days a week and have started swimming one day a week to get ready for my summer triathlon.

So for me, I do speed work on Mondays and a medium length run on Tuesdays. On Wednesday I lift weights and try to swim afterwards (I just swam for the first time in a long time this week. I hope I can keep it up.) On Thursdays I do my long runs and on Fridays I do a recovery run and lift weights. Now that the running season is really getting going, my lifting on Fridays will probably just be core work. Saturdays I try not to do anything, and Sundays I ride the bike and lift weights.

If you are new to marathoning, Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield is a great place to start. It covers everything you need to know and has several training schedules to choose from. RunnersWorld.com also has training schedules that you can generate by putting in information such as: how hard do you want to train, how many weeks, etc. I have also used the McMillan Calculator to figure out what pace I need to be doing my speed work and goal times for races.

I'm very lucky that I have time to train while my kids are at school. My husband works full time and travels a lot with his job, yet somehow he manages to fit his training in. Sometimes it seems like all I do is keep the kids alive, the pets fed and get my training done. I have so much respect and admiration for people who train and keep their personal lives going while they work at the same time. I know I'm very lucky to be able to put a lot of focus on training at this point in my life. I'm certainly trying to enjoy it!

FYI... 16 Miles Is Really Far

2009-03-02T21:05:00.003-06:00

It looks like it might rain here on Thursday, my usual long run day. The thought of worrying about the weather for the next three days was too much for me, so I decided to get it out of the way today. It was really cold, 5 degrees, but sunny and not very windy. I loaded up my cooler and headed out to my home course for 16 miles. Each lap around my house is two miles, so I had 8 laps to crank out.

Sometimes when I think about my long runs, I have to fool myself into thinking that it's really not that far. I just tell myself that it's only a mile or two longer than last week's run, so what's the big deal? Turns out, 16 miles is really far. I've trained for two marathons before, so it's not like I haven't run that far before. I felt just the usual level of crappiness for the first 14 miles, but the last two miles were hard. I'm pretty sore and my heel is reminding me that the PF is still an issue.

All of that wouldn't be so bad if my stomach was not still rebelling 9 hours after I finished. I changed from regular GU to GU Roctane for this run. It's the same as regular GU but with an amino acid added to it. I have no idea if this is why I am feeling so terrible, but I definitely need to get it figured out in the next couple of weeks. Anybody have issues with Roctane? It could be that I washed it down with G2 instead of water. I've heard of people having issues combining gels and Gatorade. I thought I would be okay with G2 since it has less carbs, but maybe not. I'm just glad I finished my run before the "trouble" started.

Tomorrow I'm running with a friend for 5 miles. Hopefully a good night sleep will settle whatever it is that is bothering me. It is supposed to warm up here over the next week. Maybe today was my last run in single digits. That would be wonderful!!

Favorite Race T-Shirt

2009-02-26T19:37:00.007-06:00

One of my favorite things about racing is getting the race t-shirt. Maybe after I've run a hundred races I won't care about it, but right now I still love getting the race tee. I would prefer a finisher's shirt, but I'll pretty much take any shirt. I'm running a St. Pat's race in a couple weeks and was checking out the pictures of the shirts from last year. Not too bad! On the registration form, you actually get to pick if you want a long or short sleeved shirt and if you want it in cotton or a technical fabric. This is my kind of race!

When I don't like the t-shirt, I'll wear it as a throw away shirt when it's chilly at the start of another race. We run a Turkey Trot that consistently has the ugliest long sleeve shirts I've ever seen. Because they are so cheap and don't breathe, you would never want to run in it. For that very same reason, it worked perfectly at the start of the Twin Cities Marathon. It was cloudy and chilly at the start (it later poured down cold rain). After a mile or so I was warmed up and I just tossed it on the sidewalk.

When I get a shirt that I do like, I want to wear it all the time. What makes a race shirt a favorite? Is it the design and color of the shirt itself or does it have more to do with the significance of the race? My favorite race t-shirt is my favorite because it is the perfect blend of wear-ability and race significance.

The Bear Water Run is a 20 mile race scheduled three weeks before the TC Marathon. Advertised as a tune-up for the marathon, it is the perfect last 20 mile training run before the big race. A course with a lot of short, steep hills, it was one of the toughest runs I have ever done. About 12 miles into it, it started to rain and, being September in Minnesota, it was cold. Turns out this would be an omen for the marathon. It was hard and I wanted to stop, but somehow I kept shuffling along. At least with the marathon, when you want to stop you can just tell yourself that when you're done you will be a marathon finisher. During a 20 mile race three weeks before the marathon, all you can tell yourself is that you better suck it up because the marathon is 6.2 miles longer. Not exactly a heartening thought.

When I came into the finisher's area, I could see people who had already finished wearing their finisher's shirts. Did I think, "Oh, thank goodness a dry shirt because I am freezing cold and wet?" No... I thought, "Hey, that shirt isn't half bad! I need to keep mine nice and dry so I can wear it after I take a shower." Oh, by the way, I did end up getting so cold in the rain that I went into a porta-potty to take off my wet shirt and put on my nice, dry, long sleeved finisher's shirt. I forgot to lock the door and some poor guy opened it right as got my wet shirt off. Ooops! He was mortified. I had my sports bra on, so I didn't see it as a big deal, but I think I traumatized him.

I know it's not the most attractive shirt ever, but it goes with jeans in the winter and khaki shorts in the spring and fall. I wore it to clean the house today and it reminded me of how proud I was to cross that finish line. Now I just need to score the perfect short sleeved shirt before summertime!

Race Goal

2009-02-24T14:29:00.009-06:00

It's a little over 9 weeks until the Fargo Marathon. The long runs are starting to get truly long and we've made hotel reservations. The excitement of signing up for the race has passed and the time has come to start thinking about a goal for this race.

My usual tactic for goal setting is to set the bar as low as possible. My first half marathon was Fargo 2007 and my goal was just to finish. I came in at 2:15 and I was very excited that I ran the whole way without walking. (The picture above is of me at that race. Yes, I know it looks like I'm walking, but that is how I look when I run. Sad, isn't it?) For my first marathon, my goal was to beat Katie Holmes' time of 5:29:58. Given my half marathon effort, that was a conservative goal. Even though I walked a lot of the race, I still came in at 4:58 which was well ahead of my goal. After I hired my coach, he helped me set a more aggressive time goal for Twin Cities. My goal if everything went right was 4:15. My secondary goal was 4:30. Running in the pouring, freezing rain with bronchitis, I finished in 4:27. I was ecstatic.

So now it's time to look ahead to the Fargo Marathon on May 9th. My coach would like me to try to improve on my TC time. That is a reasonable thing to expect and I get where he is coming from. Over time and with practice I should be able to learn and improve my performance. For Twin Cities I was sick and the weather was crappy. My head says that he is right and that I should try for that 4:15. But...

I don't want to. Sure, I want to train hard, use what I've learned and try my best. I just don't want to use the finish time as the yard stick for success. I'm 41 years old. I've had just about every injury a runner can get including the Plantar Fasciitis that I'm getting treated for right now. I'm slow. No amount of speed work, weight training or stretching is going to alter the fact that my body just doesn't move very well. If I finish in 4:25 vs. 4:35, will anyone really be impressed? I know the PR is the Holy Grail for runners, but a PR for me won't make me a Boston Qualifier. I think this race needs to be about something else.

Now that I've just committed Runner Blasphemy by saying that time won't be the standard for me for this race, what will my goals be? I want to toe the start line of this race pain-free. I want to be relaxed and make idle chit chat with those around me. I want to not be worried whether I may lose a minute or two because I need to make a bathroom stop. I want to practice my race day phoblography* and bring along my camera. Basically, I want to have fun. Yes, I want to run my best. Yes, I know that 26.2 miles is going to suck after 18 miles no matter what. Yes, I want to feel like my training prepared me for the day. If I run whatever my best is on that day, have a few laughs, and finish the race uninjured, then I think that should qualify as a success. Now, if all of that should happen to take place in less than 4 hours and 27 minutes, then that will be icing on the cake.

* My friend Nate asked me what it is called when you take pictures for your blog, and I made up phoblography.

I Heart Running Tights

2009-02-20T18:30:00.005-06:00

I love running in my running tights. Yes, I know that most of my posts have a picture to accompany the text. You are not getting a picture of me in my tights. I said, "I love running in my running tights." I did not say, "I want you to see what my butt looks like in my running tights."

Yesterday I had to go 13 miles for my marathon training. By the time a friend arrived to gut it out with me, it was 11:00. The sun was shining, but it was still only 5 degrees and it was pretty windy. I'm not very good at deviating from my schedule, so if it says 13 miles, by golly*, that is what I'm doing. Should I wait until the next day when it will be 20 degrees warmer? Heck*, no! Actually, I do have other things to do in my life than run (hard to believe) and my schedule was jam packed today. After the crappy* run on the treadmill last week, I was determined to go outside no matter what.

I know people make fun of runners in tights. You know what? I don't care. When I'm shuffling my sorry-self around the block for over 2 hours, I only care about a two things: (1) how much pain am I in, and (b) am I too hot or too cold. That's it. If you have to see a little jiggling or don't care for the curve of my bum*, then too bad for you.

My Under Armor Cold Weather tights always keep me just the right temperature. I've run in them from 35 degrees all the way down to zero. I never get too hot or too cold. As long as I keep moving, my lower half is always just right.

Tights also prevent any chaffing issues. I know, it's something that non-runners would be too embarrassed to talk about. Runners will tell you with no hesitation that a hot spot from a chaffing pair of shorts or a top is sheer torture. I have a scar on my leg from a pair of shorts that rubbed me raw. Runners of all shapes and sizes get hot spots, so stop blaming me for excess rubbing. I'm just your regular sized person who, because she is so slow, gets to spend extra time on her runs and therefore tends to generate a little extra friction.

If you are not a running tight fan, I say give them a try. You may feel a little self conscious at first, but let's face it: you can't see your own butt while you're running anyway. Everyone else can just avert their eyes if they don't like the view. Try going a few miles in those warm, toasty leggings and you may just find yourself a running tight convert.

*In everyday life, I have no problem cursing like a sailor. Seeing as how this is a public forum and that my kids may read this, I have used expletives that are G-rated.

Book Review: Mind Gym

2009-02-17T20:52:00.011-06:00

My Fancy Dancy Coach gave me the book Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack for Christmas. My first thought was, "Hmm... does he think I have mental problems?" This is probably a legitimate concern. Since he is my coach and I am worried that there may be a pop quiz at some point, I have finished reading it and am prepared to submit my report. I will resist the temptation to copy someone else's review off of Amazon and try to give you the highlights of what I learned.

Before I begin, I should disclose the fact that I follow absolutely no sports. In the last year, I watched the last 15 minutes of the Super Bowl. That's it. This book is filled with inspirational quotes, advice, and anecdotes from top athletes in many different sports. Other than recognizing their names, I really don't know much about any of their careers. If you follow sports then you may get a kick out of getting inside these top performers' heads. It has also come to my attention that Alex Rodriguez, who wrote the foreword, may be in a little bit of trouble. Just thought I should add that in the spirit of full disclosure.

Mind Gym, as the title suggests, is about the mental aspect of athletics. Gary Mack is a sports psychologist that has worked with all types of athletes and teams. Some of the topics he covers include:

the way people defeat themselves and sabotage their own success
detailed visualization to mentally prepare for best performance
goal setting
relaxing the mind so that it doesn't get in the way of the body
being in "the zone"
the qualities of "inner excellence"

There were several lessons that I will try to incorporate into my "mental game". Mack observes that it is human nature to like to practice what we already do well. We tend to avoid areas that we are weak. I notice at the gym that I avoid exercises that I don't do well. I also don't like to do agility drills because it's embarrassing. Mack says, "Work on your weaknesses until they become your strong points." I'll give it a try.

Relaxation is a key to peak performance. There is a section specifically on running. One study showed that sprinters ran faster at 90% effort. This is because opposing muscles relaxed instead of being tense and counterproductive. I've noticed that when I'm tired, I'll try to relax and actually find myself running faster. Focusing on relaxing may help with speed and fatigue.

The final lesson that I'll share with you is Mack's discussion of Aristotle who said, "Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do." I make an excellent habit of following my work out schedule. I rarely miss a run or workout. I like to ignore other aspects, though, important things like nutrition (I'm eating chocolate covered pretzels as I write this). All of our daily habits add up to the ultimate performance and our ultimate performance is comprised of more than just one race. It is not our best or our worst effort, but the culmination of all that we do.

Mind Gym is a quick read and certainly worth the $11 on Amazon. Let's face it, most of us runners are head cases and could use a little mental help.

Valentine's 5K- FFFK Results

2009-02-14T17:05:00.010-06:00

As I wrote a few days ago, I committed to running a 5K today in honor of Non-Runner Nancy whose freakish flexibility has forced her to give up running. Thanks again to USJogger for hosting the Freakish Flexible Five K in her honor.

Since USJogger said the rules were a little flexible, Mike and I decided to run a real 5K instead of staging our own virtual race. We ran the Valentine's 5K around Lake Harriet this morning along with several hundred other hearty souls. And, as an added bonus, we will be able to use our times in The 2009 Shave Your 5K Challenge over at Half-Fast. (Can you tell I just learned how to hyper-link?) In these tough times, you have to get value out of every race!

Here is the start and finish area at Lake Harriet. As you can see, it was a cloudy and cold morning. Temps were in the low teens and it was a little windy.

Here are Mike and I in the car before the race. We were able to park on the side of the road directly behind the start line. We stayed in the toasty car until a few minutes before the start. Then we just hopped out and lined up towards the front of the pack. We just ignored those nasty looks from those who weren't smart enough to park in such a great spot. Hey, if they had slipped us a few bucks (or given us a pitiful look) we would have let them sit in the car with us!

It was snowing a little, but all of the sidewalks were perfectly clear. After the first quarter mile or so the crowd broke up enough that I could run at my own pace. The sun came out and I was thankful for the cold temps since I was sprinting my little heart out! I despise being hot when I run, so once I got going I was glad for the breeze and the cold.

Here we are after the finish. Mike cruised in at 21:53, not a PR but pretty good given the crowd and that it is the first race of the season. I finished in 27:07. Even though it is almost 2 minutes slower than my PR, I was really happy. My plantar fasciitis flared up this week and my legs have been feeling heavy during my training runs. I was honestly thrilled that I was under 30 minutes.

We were able to meet up with Kris, a friend and fellow runner who was there with a couple friends all training for a marathon in May. Here are Kris and I:Yes, she looks very cute in her Valentine-ish pink Target top. Why didn't I think to wear something red or pink?

There was no official timing, but they did give us a very nice, long sleeved technical shirt and heart shaped cookie at the end. Gotta love a cookie after a race! Happy Valentine's Day and loving thoughts to Nancy!

"Lost" on the Treadmill

2009-02-12T14:05:00.004-06:00

The wind was howling outside today, so I wimped out and stayed inside for my long run. While training for the Fargo Marathon last year, I watched the Jason Bourne series of movies when I was forced on the treadmill. That will get a person's heart rate up! There were times that I was so startled that I'm surprised that I didn't fall off the treadmill. When training for Twin Cities rolled around, I started to watch the Lost series on DVD. Because this winter has been brutally cold, I've had a lot of time on the treadmill to see what happened to the survivors of Oceanic 815. Today I started Season 4 and I am more engrossed in the story line than ever.

Other than the distraction of Lost, my run was one of the worst I've had in a long time. I was slow (even for me) and unmotivated. Worst of all, half way through the 11 miles the bottom of my foot started hurting. This time last year I had plantar fasciitis in that foot, and I've already been dealing with shin pain on that same leg. I'm sure it is all related. Bummer. I'm having a hard time even walking around. Luckily, I have an appointment with my Dr. tomorrow who has put to rest some of my other issues and has made a lot of progress with my shin. Hopefully he will be able to give me some relief.

I hope the weather improves for the sake of my training, but I don't mind a rainy day here or there. It gives me a chance to check in on Jack, The Others, and all of the other castaways. I can't wait to find out what happens to all of them. How do you keep yourself entertained on the treadmill?

The Treadmill Stinks

2009-02-10T15:20:00.003-06:00

'Nuff said.

The Freakishly Flexible 5K

2009-02-09T14:19:00.005-06:00

After I signed up for my first marathon, I found my self spending a lot of time thinking about running and training. I started looking for running blogs so I could hear other people's stories and hopefully learn something along the way. One of the first blogs I happened upon was Non-Runner Nancy's. I enjoy and admire so many things about her blog. I love her attitude towards running. She is always positive and approaches things with a playful attitude. I admire her support and enthusiasm for others. I enjoy reading about her virtual races and am always amazed by how they bring the whole blog/running community together.

In Nancy's last post, she talks about why she can't run anymore and what that loss means to her. There were two things that she said that made me stop and re-read them. The first was, "I'm mourning the lessons of being so bad and having to remain positive and everything it taught me." This statement struck very close to home for me. So many times I've talked to my kids about why running means so much to me even though I'm so slow. We've talked about how you can have a passion for something even if you are not the best at it, and that there are so many things in life to learn and they don't all come through doing something well. I've hoped many times that they won't be afraid to try something just because they might look silly or fail. Having to remain positive and motivated in the face of mediocrity and injury is a test that a lot of us runners have faced.

The other thing Nancy wrote was, "I learned how to run my own race, something so valuable in every day life." I can list so many reasons why I named this blog "Running My Own Race", too many to get into right now. The fact that someone else mentioned it as something they learned through running made me smile.

In homage to Nancy, USJogger is hosting The Freakishly Flexible 5K on Valentine's Day. Everyone will race in honor of Nancy and post their results and love for her. I'm planning on running an actual race for my virtual race, The Valentine's 5K. I'm sad that the first virtual race that I get to blog about is one that is in honor of Nancy instead of one in which she is running. I'm glad, however, that she started something that I can share in and show her my gratitude. I'm sure she'll find a new avenue for her humor and enthusiasm and hopefully she will share that ongoing story with us.

My Winter Home Course

2009-02-05T16:28:00.013-06:00

I have to admit that I'm a creature of habit. I wish I could say that I was constantly seeking out new places to run. Dean Karnazes, ultra marathoner and author, talks about leaving his house with a few dollars in his pocket and running wherever his feet happen to take him. I like to think about running in exotic places, but when it's time to put the shoes on, I just can't do it.

Maybe it's because I'm still relatively new to running. I started running about 5 years ago, but up until about 18 months ago I never went more that 6 miles. When I started marathon training, it forced me to find longer routes. This honestly brought me more stress than joy. Running to me is still a science, not an art. Running is difficult enough for me that I need to reduce the possibility that something could go wrong. I need to be able to have access to Gatorade, Gu, and preferably a bathroom.

When there isn't snow on the ground, there are several places that meet my running needs. But in the winter, it's a lot tougher. An amazing number of people run outside all winter long here in Minneapolis. My problem: all of the runners pack down the snow making running on those trails more like running on the beach. Have you ever run on the beach? Well, it stinks. After a few freeze and thaw cycles, the sidewalks become a sheet of ice. Again, stinky.

In this land of high taxes called Minnesota, I happen to live in a city that believes in sidewalk cleanliness. There is a sidewalk that goes past my house, around a city baseball field, through the local school complex, past the police station and past city hall. If anyone slips on any part of that 2 mile stretch of sidewalk, I'm guessing the city is worried about a law suit. The upside for me: the sidewalk is cleaner than my kitchen floor. Anytime it snows, my sidewalk is plowed and brushed clean before the local streets ever hear the plow coming. This 2 mile loop of sidewalk has become my home course in the wintertime.

While others might get bored running the same stretch over and over, I find it very comforting. I even have to run the same, counter-clockwise direction every time. I love knowing which parts will be cold because of the shady trees and where I will have the wind in my face. I love knowing exactly how long it takes to climb the one slow, long hill in front of the school. I love passing my house every two miles "just in case," and I love being able to get a drink out of my cooler every 20 minutes.

It was a balmy 18 degrees this morning when I headed outside to my loop. I put my Gatorade in a cooler to keep it from freezing and left it at the beginning. I finished my 5 laps (10 miles) without incident, exactly as planned... just how I like it.

Me vs. JLo: The Match Up

2009-02-02T21:08:00.009-06:00

I'm already regretting that I said that I was going to take on Jennifer Lopez's triathlon time. Note to self: check a person's finishing time before mouthing off a challenge. I've never done a triathlon, so maybe I'm wrong, but unfortunately for me her time doesn't look too bad. Here is the breakdown:

.5 mile swim: 20:52

T1: 6:09

18 mile bike: 1:14:36

T2: 3:09

4 mile run: 38:51

Total time: 2:23:38

I've never done any open water swimming, but I know it takes me about 35-40 minutes to swim a mile in the good old pool with no one kicking me in the face. I don't see any advantage for me there. What about the transitions? I'm guessing that it takes a little longer to get that curvylicious body of hers out of that wetsuit, but anyone that has a PUH (personal umbrella holder for those of you that don't read Perez Hilton) probably had a special coach to teach her exactly how to strip as quickly as possible. (I'm always looking out for you men. Trying to keep you reading!) Again, I'm not seeing a big advantage for me. Her bike was about 15 mph which seems pretty normal depending on the terrain. For the run, she ran just under 10 minute miles which is probably comparable to me on a day when I didn't run and swim just minutes beforehand. Hmmm... this is not looking good.

To add to the idiocy of my challenge, I am doing a much longer race than Ms. Lopez. I will be doing 1.5K swim (.932 mile), 25 mile bike and 6.1 mile run. Even if I try to just beat her pace, I think I'm going to have a tough time since I'm going so much further. Oh, and Mike (who convinced me to sign up for the Olympic distance instead of the Sprint) just happened to mention that the bike on this course is extremely hilly. Thanks, Mike. That might be some good information to share with me before I sign up.

Now, JLo did have twins just 6 months before this race. You would think this would be a big plus in my column. I guess I will have to concede that point and mention that she does have unlimited funds for training, a chef, and equipment. I could go on and on about the fact that she trained in California where it is perfect training weather every day and I have to live in &%$#* Minnesota where it was 5 degrees today.

Does it sound like I'm kind of copping out of this challenge? Good, you are getting the right idea.

Me vs. The Celebrities: Round One

2009-01-31T11:43:00.012-06:00

In November of 2007, I was in New York City to watch my husband, Mike, run the NYC Marathon. The day before the race, we walked to Central Park to watch the Men's Olympic Trails and were stunned at the speed and athleticism of the racers. We didn't hear about the tragedy until later that day, so we left the park in awe of the athletes and inspired by the pursuit of their dream to go to the Olympics. The next day, I cheered Mike on as he reached his goal of breaking the 4 hour mark. He did this only four weeks after running the Twin Cities Marathon in record heat. At mile 10 of the race, Lance Armstrong, an inspiration to millions of cancer survivors, ran right in front of me. I saw Paula Radcliffe, who had a baby the previous year, lead the pack of elite women. Not far behind them was my son's Cross Country coach, a local woman about my age and running just minutes behind the world record holder. That day, I saw countless people of all shapes, sizes and abilities run past me and achieve their goal. It was enough to bring me close to tears.

So, given that entire weekend of being witness to a thousand dreams, what did I take away as my primary motivation for my first marathon? Katie Holmes. Katie Holmes gave birth in April 2006 and completed the marathon just 18 months later in NYC. Of all the things I saw that day, for some reason I became obsessed with her time of 5:29:58. All through my training for the Fargo Marathon, people would ask me what was my goal and I would always answer the same, "To beat Katie Holmes." Why? Her real-person time of 5:29 was inspiring mostly because it was so average. This wasn't like Lance Armstrong finishing under 3 hours, or even Oprah running a respectable 4:29. Katie's time was that of a real person... a real mom of a toddler with a real life and a real body with real limits. In fact, having never run a marathon myself, I thought it was on the slow side. Yes, I was quite sure I could crush it. For goodness sakes, even if I had to walk, at least I could beat Katie Holmes.

So what happened? Well, I did finish over 30 minutes faster than her, but unlike her, I was not able to appear in high heels at my husband's movie premier later that evening. No, I laid in bed for several hours, limped to Applebee's for dinner, then limped back to bed. No high heels for this girl. So, while technically I beat her, I think it would be fair to say it was pretty darn close.

This past fall, I was minding my own business and training for another race. Wouldn't you know that another celebrity had to go out, mere months after delivering twins no less, and complete a triathlon. Curse you, Jennifer Lopez! Get ready celebrities, I'm bringing on Round Two. Rochester Triathlon- you are on my schedule and I plan to crush JLo and her luscious booty! (Men, get your mind out of the gutter.)

Soyjoy

2009-01-30T14:09:00.007-06:00

Oh, Soyjoy, my feelings about you are so conflicted. You have just the right amount of calories mixed with a little protein making you the perfect afternoon snack. If only you didn't taste like cardboard. I try to love you, whispering positive sweet encouragement as I open your wrapper. But then you reveal your true, dry, tasteless self. The problem is... I just can't quit you Soyjoy. You go on sale at Target and tempt me with your claims of my insides smiling. Nowhere on your box or advertising do you claim to be delicious. You are not a poser, pretending to be a cookie. No, you are upfront with your no nonsense, wholesome goodness. The worst part is... I actually feel a lot better after eating you. I feel energetic and don't have the sugary crash that your sweet cousin the Fig Newton gives me. I don't want to admit it but, Soyjoy, you are worth the sacrifice. Yes, you are still too expensive at full price, but I promise to stock up on you when you go on sale.

TGI Wednesday

2009-01-28T13:11:00.010-06:00

I like Wednesdays. For the past few of years, I've been lucky enough to meet a great friend at the gym for some strength training. For the first year or so we were joined by our third amigo who sadly had to leave us for a different gym. We have stayed friends and we are grateful we still get to see her, but we miss our lifting days with her.

We are a threesome again thanks to another friend joining us. We have a great time laughing and sharing stories about kids, home, and other parts of our lives. We somehow manage to lift a few weights in between all of the conversation.

This picture of Brenda (on right) and I was taken pre-workout this morning. I wish I could say that I was all sweaty and buff after the workout, but honestly we mostly gabbed. She is very kind to work out and spend time with me given that she is stronger, funnier, and nicer than me. She has inspired me with her healthy lifestyle, creative mind and open heart.

I usually run alone five days a week, so going to the gym and spending time with friends is something I look forward to every Wednesday. We missed Chris this morning, but that will give us twice as much to talk about next time.

Taking it Inside

2009-01-26T13:55:00.015-06:00

I'm a pretty hardy soul, but the temperature when I got up this morning was negative 15 degrees. My Plan B for Mondays is to go to the dome. There is a nice artificial turf track and plenty of obstacles (older walkers) to keep things interesting. Here is what it looked like when I got there:

The inside is netted off for soccer and other activities. Today, it was set up for pre-schooler play time. Not too many pre-schoolers when I got there, but it was pretty busy when I was done.

On my calendar was my first "speed" workout. When I first started running, my plan was simply to run. When I decided to train for my first marathon, I modified my plan to run far. That plan was only moderately successful. I did finish my first marathon, but with a whole lot of walking involved. For my second marathon I enlisted the help of a coach who wanted to complicate things by introducing things like intervals, stretching, weight training, and even more running into the plan. This resulted in a better second marathon effort. My coach and his fancy-dancy schedule won my allegiance and are both in full employ for this round of training.

The four miles with a few pick-ups went by quickly and it was a balmy +3 degrees by the time I left. Let's hope the heat wave continues!

First Steps

2009-01-25T16:02:00.005-06:00

Thanks for joining me here at blogspot for my first day of blogging.

It is a week of fresh starts for me. This week I started my training calendar for the Fargo Marathon and I started Running My Own Race. Running is the type of activity that doesn't really have a start or an ending date; it just seems to go on and on. For me, it wasn't as if one day I wasn't a runner and the next day I was. Instead, it was a gradual change that occurred over a few years. As I looked at my new, fresh calendar, I thought it would be a good time to try something else that was new. Runner types like myself not only like to run, we like to talk about it... all... the... time. I know that listening to me talk about my training can be boring for non-runners or for people who aren't sleeping with me, but the compulsion to talk about it is not easily controlled. I sympathize with anyone who has had to listen to me talk about my training. Those who know me can catch up with me here in small doses and on your own terms. Those that may stumble upon it may like to read about someone else's journey. I hope you will share your journey with me by commenting or by telling me about yourself. Runners and other athletes have a lot in common and it's nice to read about others' hopes, problems, successes and failures and know that we are all on a similar path, just running our own race.