Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Fairfield Half Marathon....Epic Fail!


As I told you in a previous post, I signed up for the Fairfield Half Marathon for motivation. I incorporated yoga, pilates and speed work into my training. I felt more confident going into this Half. About a week out from race day I found out that Fairfield is a top rated race and it is hilly.  Not what I was expecting but I was ok with it. I was going to try to PR anyway. I even had a friend running the race so that made it even more fun. To add to the excitement there were world class runners participating in the race. They would be done before I was halfway through the course didn't matter. Just knowing I running the same course added a "cool" element to the day.

The week before I tapered my running and enjoyed sleeping in.  I stayed hydrated and watched what I ate so when race day came I was ready and itching to run. Danielle and I arrived early to get our bib, stretch and use the porta potties several times.  Hahaha.  Before we knew it was time to head to the start. 

About .25mi in Danielle was off like a shot. She's faster than me. The first 3 miles I was 9:25 to 9:48 pace. Much faster than in my last Half. Miles 4 to 7 were a struggle.  The hills were killer and I was trying not to mentally give up.  My pace slowed to between 10:10 - 11:09. It was a struggle. I finally got tired of hearing my MotoACTV telling me a pace that was not acceptable. So I kicked my butt into gear, turned on my music and got my pace back into the mid-9's for the next 2 miles. During mile 10 fatigue set in but when I heard my pace was above 10 I got pi**ed and sped up.  I was feeling good, singing, and happy in the fact I was in the home stretch.  I ran another .75mi when this happened.
Yup, I face planted! We were running against traffic while a fire truck was coming from behind us with the siren blaring. We all moved over to left as far as possible and I was so close to the runner in front of me I couldn't keep track of the road. There was a raised storm drain and I tripped over it.....2.35 miles from the finish. I waited for medical personal to come check me out so that I could get up and finish.  Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen. They thought I needed stitches and I got a bump on the side of my head. When all was said and done I could have finished. I didn't need stitches and I had squirted so much water on my face that all the dirt was out of my wounds.

Disappointed? That's an understatement. Angry, more determined, more motivated? Yeah, that's about right. In about 3 weeks I am going to run that course. Not for the tshirt.  Not for the medal. Not for a PR.  Not for anything else but for me.  I started out that day with a goal and it may not have happened as I had planned but I will make it happen.

I am already on the mend. After only 2 days I look so much better. The human body is so amazing.
I am proud of the race I ran up until that point. I ran it smart and strong. Had I finished I would have PR'd on a course so much more difficult than my first. Knowing that will get me through until I can run the course again and until next June when I will run it again. You heard me Kenyans.  You've been warned!

The moral of the story? Things don't always work out the way we plan and they can get pretty ugly but it doesn't mean they can't.  We all have it in ourselves to achieve the goals we want but it is up to us to make it happen.

Happy Running!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Taper week is here!

Well, I am less than a week away from my second Half. This time around I am a little more confident and a little bit more motivated.  Last time when I was this close to the race I was psyching myself out.  I was doubting myself even though I trained well and smart.  Now I am ready to push myself. I know I can go the distance but the question is, can I PR? We'll find out soon enough!

I ended last week with a 10 mile long run.  I kept a nice pace and recovered quickly.  Both very good signs.  I followed up on Sunday with yoga @ Lululemon Westport.  Attending yoga the day after a long run really helps to stretch my muscles and I am not as sore.

Today I ran and played with my MotoACTV.  It has a neat feature that lets you set goals. I chose to set a time and distance goal, 4 miles in 40 minutes.  It didn't work exactly how I thought. It told me when I reached each mile and when I was .60 miles away from completing my run.  I was expecting it to tell me to speed up or slow down according to my pace.

Mile      Pace
1            10:02
2            09:36
3            09:49
4            09:16
Avg Pace: 09:41
Total time: 38:48

This was a pretty good time for me given my recent snails pace I have been running.  To finish off the week will be running 3 miles and 2 hrs of yoga on Wednesday and 2 miles on Friday. Some runners hate taper week but I look forward to it as I get to sleep in and rest my legs. I am going to take full advantage of it since in a month I will be following an official Half Marathon training plan which requires training 6 days a week for 12 weeks. Oy vey!

Sorry I don't have any photos to dress this post up but I haven't gone "Full On Blogger" yet and carry my camera everywhere I go.  Here a great photo that a member shared:



 Happy Running!!

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Back at it!

When I finished my week of rest after my Half Marathon last month I felt a little lost. My next Half is not until the middle September and the only race on the calendar before that was a 10k at the end of June.  After a couple days of running I lacked motivation and didn't know how many miles I should be running I knew I needed to find a race or anything to work toward.   I was contemplating running in the " Stratton-Faxon Fairfield Road Races Half" before I ran "Run Like a Diva". I didn't want to sign up for another Half before I ran my first.  Makes sense, right?! It didn't take much thought before I was signing up.
Now, I'm back to 6 mile base runs, 3x a week and a weekend long run. This week's long run was 10 miles. Oh yeah! I officially have 2 weeks to train. It's a short time but since I never let my mileage fall it is ok.

I was so excited when I noticed about a month and a half ago that I was getting faster.  A few weeks prior I started a strength training routine. I had read that strength training makes you faster and I did think about that but, as with anything else for me, it didn't hold much weight. After all, a theory is just that a theory......and I'm hard headed.  I need to experience things for myself before I believe it.  Now, I am back running the same mileage but my times are super slow.  Why? Ding, ding, ding!!!! I haven't done any strength work in over a month. I now have the motivation for strength training I didn't have before. Yay!!
I've decided to do yoga on Sundays since my long runs are on Saturday.  Muscles should get a good stretch after runs, especially long runs.  Today I went to Lululemon - Westport.  Every Lululemon store has free community events like yoga.  Check out your local store calendar for more information. This week mine is going to have a running lecture.  Can't wait to get new information.

Today was also cooking day. I made fresh strawberry sauce for the banana "ice cream" I am going to make once the bananas are frozen.  For breakfast this week I baked egg whites, loaded with veggies (basically I used the egg whites to hold the veggies together) .  It is going to be so yummy topped with pico de gallo.  I also picked up a whole watermelon. I hope we eat it all before it goes bad.

It's been a good weekend. Busy with work and domestic chores but that's ok. Next weekend is fun weekend with my boy!

What did you do to be active this weekend?  Do you cook on the weekend for the week ahead?

Next blog we will discuss "Clean Eating". Until then, Happy Running!