Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
week 15 nov 16-21
- Where: adidas
- Difficulty: 2
- Notes:
- Where: rexius
- Difficulty: 5
- Notes: it was beautiful out though it wasn't even 40 degrees. i got to test out my cycling tights and they kept me warm and the wind didn't get through. the trail was all muddy and torn up so i ran in the bike lane. i had a fiber bar and water before i left and the couple burps i had at the beginning of my run came with a little surprise each time. gross. on the way back i stopped by the dog park and got a drink of water. as soon as it hit my stomach i got kind of nauseous. this was a hard run to keep going on. there were so many times i just wanted to walk. i did once but you've got to hand it to running, it's faster than walking.
my race [half-marathon (13.1 miles)] started at nine but we got there at 8:30, a little later than i would have liked. i made alvin stand in the porta john line for me while i ran around the parking lot to warm up. it was 38°! luckily it didn't rain AT ALL. it was absolutely beautiful. we were really lucky, even the forecast said it would rain, or at least be overcast. when i finally got my turn i realized i hadn't taken my endurolyte or gel yet and this was 5 'til. i told alvin i'd meet him at the starting line but i got confused and started panicking when i couldn't find him and wondered if there was any chance at all some random person would have at least one extra gel if things got really dire.
i finally found him right in front of the starting line, downed my endurolyte and gel (luckily it was chocolate so to me it was just like pudding) and got as close to the middle as i could manage. the beginning of the race was so weird. they had us run around the parking lot and basically go through the starting line, the wrong way, and onto the course. it was really crowded at the beginning but finally started to thin out after the first mile. OH, there were absolutely NO mile markers. NONE. not a single one. when i really wanted to know i had to ask the volunteers and even then they really had no idea. around 55 minutes a girl behind me asked the mileage and the guy said, "um, 4 miles or so?" uh, i don't think so unless my pace is 2 minutes slower than i'm used to. i even made myself a pace bracelet. though it wasn't totally useless it was more than a bit frustrating not knowing how i was doing.
around the first mile mark i could hear someone coming up behind me with a short stride and it turned out to be this old man. it looked like his strides were about as long as me walking. crazy. oh, oh, there was also this woman i was behind who i heard, uh, pass gass. TERRIBLE. so gross and smelly. i promptly passed her. it was really interesting to watch everyone's gaits though.
for some reason, maybe i drank my fluids too quickly or maybe it was just nerves, i felt nauseous the first couple miles. i was really afraid i might throw up and thought about how embarrassing that would be. i think i took my second endurolyte and gel too early but not knowing the miles or where the aid stations were (on their intro letter they just said there will be "plenty" of aid stations. there weren't even any on the map. who does that?) i was in a bit of a pickle. the first 4 miles felt difficult as usual. there were lots of little downhills so i got out ahead more than i would have otherwise. (do people not know how to take advantage of downhills? it didn't seem like anyone else got any faster on them) then i hit my stride and was ok for another 4. after that i wanted to die. it was about that time that my hip pain really hit me and started to spread all along my leg, from the top of my hip down to my knee. i wonder now if it’s my IT band. it felt really awful and i wondered if me avoiding sugar all week made any difference at all. but i kept going to save face :)
i kept pace with one guy for about a mile and a half. we passed each other a few times. the last time i finally asked him if he thought we’d make it :) he said we were around mile 11 (thanks heavens!) so we should be good. he took off from there. there was a pack of 3 women in front of me. somehow i ended up passing them all. the last one was ahead of me for a little bit but we hit this really amazing downhill and i just took off. that was at the end of the line so i started to sprint as much as i could bring myself to do. as i got to the finish i started crying! all i wanted to do was find alvin and hug him and chloe. it was so nice to finally be able to stand still.
my weight lifting partner from my class even came for the end! She’s a sprinter with the university on scholarship (!!) and she says i’m amazing. so weird, i even saw one of my seminary teachers for high school there (sis. haws). her daughter was running her first half, too!
so there it is, super long. and i almost forgot to give you my time: 1:55, give or take a little. i forgot to stop my watch but it was right around there. i was shocked! that's an 8:51 pace. and i was getting frustrated a few weeks ago about my speedwork and not being able to get down to 8:49?! ah well, c'est la vie.
Tuesday: weight lifting, walk 1 mile
Wednesday: pilates
Thursday: weight lifting, walk 1.5 miles, spinning
Total Miles:
week - 20.1
all - 233.74
Monday, November 9, 2009
week 14 nov 9-14
- Where:
- Difficulty:
- Notes:
- Where:
- Time: 65 minutes
- Pace: (warm+5mi@9:31+cool) warm+ 5mi@8:52+ cool
- Difficulty:
- Notes:
- Where:
- Time:
- Pace: (10:56)
- Difficulty:
- Notes:
- Where: rexius trail
- Difficulty: 4
- Notes: this was a really nice run, actually. it didn't take me so long to get into my groove, maybe a couple miles.
Tuesday: weight lifting
Thursday: weight lifting
Total Miles:
week - 14
all - 213.64
Monday, November 2, 2009
week 13 nov 2-7
- Where: track
- Difficulty: 2
- Notes:
- Where: adidas trail
- Difficulty: 9
- Notes: sucked, sucked, sucked. i couldn't get to the right pace (8:49) and have officially scrapped pace training.
- Where: to amazon trail and back
- Difficulty: 5
- Notes: alvin and chloe came with me and it was great to have the company but really sucked having to push the stroller. alvin is still sore two days later :). i told him he just needed to run with me more often.
- Where: river
- Time: 1:39:10
- Pace: (10:56) 9:42
- Difficulty: 7
- Notes: after my really crappy run on wednesday i broke 10 miles!! eff yeah! it felt so good! it took me about 5 miles to hit my stride but once i did i knew that i could do 10.
Tuesday: weight training
Wednesday: pilates
Thursday: weight training
Friday: spinning
Total Miles:
week - 19.22
all - 199.64
