Goblin Gallop

This morning, J, O and I ran the Goblin Gallop with my friend L and her husband.  We all ran last year also, and are turning this into a lovely Halloween tradition! This year, however, it snowed the day before the race.  There was none on the ground at the start but it was just over 30 degrees.  If this race doesn't get me ready for the Turkey Trot and the Hot Chocolate 5k...


So, I was getting over a cold this weekend and I decided to not set goals.  Hey, what happens, happens.  It's freezing, which changes running, I have been coughing like crazy to start with, so expectations, while not low, weren't at their highest.


It was freezing.  Freeeeezing.  My running tights were doing their job, as were the arm warmers.  All I wished for were gloves.  Though, by a half mile in, my fingers were no longer numb and I was warmed up.  


About a mile in, I met up with my friends, who we missed at the start (there's a ton of people at this race in very little space).  L and I ran the rest of the race together, which helped me to not walk for all but a water stop.  I'm obnoxious with needing water during a run and need to stop at every water station, even though I was carrying a water bottle.  At the end, we sprinted it out together and both beat our 2010 times!  Thanks, L, for helping me through the race!


I also ended up with my 2011 PR, 35:47.  About 5 minutes better than last year, and only about 1:40 behind my all time PR.  Couple more 5ks this year to make that happen.  Now that I'm feeling better, back to training to make that happen.

Happy Halloween!

30 by 30

So, my fabulous coworker, who has been keeping us all on track in our corner at work and got us all signed up for the Hot Chocolate 5k, asked me Monday what my fitness goals for 2012 are.  To be honest, I hadn't thought about it.  The rock n roll half had been my goal for a couple years now and I accomplished that, plus another half this year.  I know I want to run more halves, but I hadn't thought of a new challenge.  


I'll keep thinking of a physical challenge, but I would like to lose 30lbs by my 30th birthday.  So I'm making it blog official.  I've lost 2 since last week.  They may be the same 2 I keep going up and down with, but hey, good start.

Family 3 miles

I didn't run this week after the race last weekend until Saturday morning.  I had planned on running on Thursday, but I didn't get out early, and by the time I had a chance, I just felt so runned out and just couldn't fathom taking one step.

Yesterday, however, I was ready to go!  Since we're up early with O anyway, it's great to get out early and still have the rest of the day left.  J and O decided to join me on my 3 mile run yesterday.  It's harder to get out the door with we're packing up a jogging stroller, though J does have it down. 

Saturday was supposed to be  "fast" 3 miles, but really I just wanted to run as much of it as possible, and wasn't concentrating on pace.  Usually when I run with J, I do go a little faster, but he said he wanted to run at my pace.  He was in charge of timing our run and telling me when 3 miles was up, since I decided to run without my ipod and forgot to set my watch until a few minutes after we started.  Little did I know, he and O have this part down too, taking us out a little farther than half way and ending at the playground so we can walk and rest back to our house.  Our run actually brought us 3.28 miles in 37:11, a 11:20 pace.  So, I got in my fast run after all, because that is a pace that I have not seen in about 2.5 years.

The run itself felt pretty good.  I walked only a minute to get some water.  I wanted to give up but saw how very close I was to finishing and kicked it out just a bit.  My legs have been hurting during and after running because I need new shoes, but my legs felt alright during this time.  Perhaps I was concentrating more on the fact it was cold and I got to try out my new tights and arm warmers!  I clash horribly and always will since I decided on neon pink arm warmers, but I had to, they're fabulous.  And kept me a good temp for the run, I wasn't absolutely freezing.  My arms especially were nice and toasty and I thought about taking the warmers off after a mile or so.

  

(Yes, this is the best picture of me in my new clothes)

Later in the day though, my knee started hurting again, and was pretty sore all day.  Definitely time for new shoes.  I also managed to sink my old shoes in mud at a corn maze later in the day for good measure.  So, Sunday, I went and got fitted and now have new Brooks shoes.  In time too, my knee still bothered me most the day Sunday too, so no running then.  And nothing this morning either since O was up teething at 5am.  I'm looking forward to trying these out sometime soon!

(J put in lock laces for me too, he found bright green ones to match!  And the details are purple.  I'm a bit upset the neon blue/green sneakers didn't fit as well!)

Diet really is most of the battle

It doesn't matter if you run 13.1 if you still eat poorly, as evidenced by my gain this week.  I do so well in the morning, then, when I get the slightest pang of hunger in the afternoon, I give it all up to eat junk.  Like the doughnuts I ate on the way home yesterday.  They filled me up, but J had dinner waiting and I still ate that too.  I did do amazingly with my water intake yesterday, so I hope to continue with that trend (there was a water bottle in the race bags Sunday, so that's my new work bottle.  Easier to carry around than the cup I was using).


I also needed to add in exercise other than my sporadic running, and the only time to do that is the morning.  I got out of the habit of waking up early a long time ago, but tried again today.  I'm working my way into it, so I started with some push-ups and crunches.  Fingers crossed I make it up again tomorrow!


I also do not think I've been keeping to my goals, so I'm reposting to recommit.


October
-Track calories daily, good or bad
-Drink more water!  
-No more soda
-Run at least 3x a week


I am good at tracking morning calories, but I downloaded livestrong on my phone, so maybe it'll get better?  Water check, soda I have cut back on, but need to cut out.  Running I think I'll move to 2-3x a week.  More often it will be 2 because it's dark before and after work.  And another goal.  Beginning of September, I was a pound away from pre-pregnancy weight.  Today I am 5lbs away.  By Thanksgiving (end of the latest work weight loss challenge!) I would like to be firmly below my pre-pregnancy weight.


In good news, I only have a marathon's amount of miles left to make it to 200 for the year!

I'm a half marathoner

Yes, I realize I could have said this a few weeks ago.  But completing another race this morning, and feeling better during the race and excited for my next, made it more official.  I even got my 13.1 sticker after the race for my car.  I meant to take a picture to post tonight, but it got dark by the time I remembered.

A full report will come, but the race went so, so well.  Let's take a look at those goals.

1. Finish! (At least I know I can this time) DONE!
2. Finish under 3 hours.  (I surprised myself last time and am only feeling better) DONE!
3. Finish under 2:40.  (aka, beat my last time.  A little more challenging, but I do think I can do it) DONE!


I met all of my goals today.  Just barely on the last one, but I kicked it out strong at the end.

Heritage Half Race Goals

Hey, since this is my second half, I can have 3 goals again!

Once again, in order of easiest to complete to a little more lofty:

1. Finish! (At least I know I can this time)
2. Finish under 3 hours.  (I surprised myself last time and am only feeling better)
3. Finish under 2:40.  (aka, beat my last time.  A little more challenging, but I do think I can do it)

I don't know anything about this course, hills or anything.  I do know there's a massage tent at the end, so obviously I must finish in order to get there!

10 miles never felt so good

I went for a 10 mile run this weekend, my last long run before my half this weekend, a training run I missed before my last half.  Even though I survived, which a much better time than expected, last time, I do wish I had the 10 miler under my belt last time.  My confidence for this weekend was amazing after my run yesterday.  I kept a 12:15 mile/min pace on average which felt comfortable, amazingly.  I felt like I could keep up the pace for another 3.1 miles.  So, instead of nerves, I'm excited about this weekend.  As of now of course.

Starting out, it was a little cool and I was afraid that I should have worn my new running tights (pics to come!).  But it warmed up quickly and was a great day.  Enough breeze, enough sun, but not too much of either.  It took my normal mile or so to get into a rhythm, but once I did, I was going strong the rest of the time.

At about 2 miles I saw a deer running toward me!  I wish I was quicker with getting my phone out of my arm band to take a picture.  He just stared for a second before taking off again.  Unfortunately, about 2 miles later, I saw another deer on the sidewalk.  Well, half a deer.  I was unable to get in the road because of a car coming.  I was able to get in the grass and kind of look the other way :(  I definitely crossed the street on the way back.


Other than that, great run!  Technology was on my side, Nike plus and I are friends once more.  And I left my running ticker at 150 miles for the year so it looks like I went over my goal :)  That will be changed to 200 miles at least.  And down this week weight wise, so big yay there as well.

I'm not a morning person, but I am a morning runner

I love sleeping in, even if sleeping in is only until 8am at most these days.  But I realized last week during a 5 mile training run that my best runs come early in the morning.  I planned to get out early, but had some work that needed to get done, so I ended up with an afternoon run.  I'm just not good at fueling properly beforehand!  I know what little snacks I can eat when I first wake up on my way out the door.  I like waking up out running.  Though I think this run was destined to just be a bad one, forgetting the fact that I ate nothing but junk food for lunch right before.


I decided to use my Nike plus for the first time.  I know how far 5 miles is from my house, out and back, so I could really test if I had calibrated correctly.  The first song sounded a little weird but whatever, the mileage was accurate so far.  Second song comes on and there are no lyrics.  Well, some of the chorus has lyrics, but that's it.  I was a bit frustrated with Nike plus, thinking it had some how made some techno mix out of my songs, which is not what I like to run to.  But I went with it and decided that I would have run karaoke.  Except the next few songs that came on, I didn't know the lyrics to the verses without hearing the actual verses.  About a mile in, I decided the current song was just not fit for run karaoke and tried to change it, plus my new game isn't really that much fun.  And apparently ended the workout instead.  Which happened a few more times. In the meantime, I was getting quite frustrated.  How, Nike plus, how am I supposed to run to my theme song when my lyrics aren't there?


After the third or so time of ending my workout (each time resulting in a stop in my run to figure out restarting), I decided screw you Nike, I'm just going to listen to my music without tracking mileage.  The only downside was the fact I forgot my watch and couldn't keep track of my run vs walk time properly, but I figured at that point the run wasn't going to plan, so just walk as needed.  


Anyway, I tried just starting my run list back up on my ipod.  And no lyrics.  WTF moment.  So, I'm standing in the middle of the trail trying to fiddle with my armband.  Turns out when you don't plug your headphones in all the way you don't hear the lyrics, except for some backup singers.  Oops, sorry Nike plus for cursing you out mid run!


Every time I got into a groove, something would happen.  By the time I got my music working, I was about a mile from home.  At that point, I just wanted to get home.  The best part of my workout was wearing my new shorts that are a size smaller than my other shorts.  Same brand, good sale, down a size, yes please I will buy you!

I wear white after Labor Day!

Eh, it happens.  And I still finished in just over an hour, so imagine how my pace would be if I didn't stop so much!

And now for an picture update.  I feel this is rather brave of me, even though on this date I was about 8lbs down from my starting weight for the year.  Last time I posted a before, I wimped out and cropped the picture.  But here I am after a summer of running.  Gotta love the post baby belly that's still around.  Now that I'm loving my legs, that's the next area to be tackled.

Modeling my new shorts and O's toy corner.

Well that's the wrong direction

At least for the weight ticker, I'm almost to my miles goal for the year!  Time to up that one again.  I've been starving lately and trying to be good, especially since we just started another weight challenge at work.  What more can I say that I haven't said any other time I've gone back up.  So on that note, goals are back!  Starting today, as they weren't set the first week of October.


October
-Track calories daily, good or bad
-Drink more water!  
-No more soda
-Run at least 3x a week

I knew my love of free things would get be in trouble eveuntually

This time in the form of another half marathon.  The Heritage half in Haymarket on October 16.  I signed up for the half just two weeks out because I got an email about free registration through Active Advantage.  I tried to get J to talk me out of it, but when he said I could do it and it would be awesome, I signed up.  I still can't believe I did but I'm also thinking I can do this!  And get another medal :)

So, what better motivation to get back in a routine?  J, O and I went for a run on Sunday, and I was testing out my MapMyRun app.  Which logged me at about a mile more than what I mapped out online.  Since the app had be at a 12:02 pace, I'm pretty sure it was off.  Either way, I did at least 7.5 miles.  And it was freezing.  I knew it was going to be cooler, but I did not expect it to stay below 50 for the first weekend in October, plus windy and drizzly.  We were fortunate for most the run that the rain held off, but the wind reminded me that I need cold weather gear for running.

Brrrrr.  It's hard to pose while running.

On the way back my left leg started to feel a little uncomfortable.  I'm not sure if it was a cramp or just needed a stretch, but I did walk a good amount on the way back.  Except for the last mile when it did start to drizzle again.  If cold rain isn't motivation to get home, the food waiting for me was.  I had my sports beans and did eat breakfast but I was absolutely starving.  I totally wished J or I had our wallet in the jogging stroller to stop at the convenience store, but alas, no such luck.


I was proud to have completed so much, walking or not.  When we got back, J asked if I remembered the time when doing so much would mean we got to lay around and eat like crap the rest of the day.  Um, check.  Though in those days, even a couple miles seemed unreasonable to complete.  Instead we spent the rest of the day shopping!


I have 5 miles planned for tomorrow and 10 for this weekend.  I'm actually excited to be out and running again.  File that under phrases I never thought I'd say.