Cherry Blossom 10 Miler

Yes, I have been a terrible blogger and now owe you two races. I am going to get them in before I owe you three!

I am going to try to keep both of the Cherry Blossom and Nike reports pretty short. I have a lot of complains about both (because of me, not because of the races themselves) and I don’t really feel like dwelling on those, so short and sweet!

I can’t even begin to describe the nerves I felt going into Cherry Blossom. I was TERRIFIED that I would not be able to “beat the bus.” Fun news- I was not the only one. Being in the second to last corral, I was surrounded by people who were nervous about not finishing quickly enough.  That really did not help me. My nerves combined with the fact that it was about -10⁰ (actually temp, feel free to check), I was shaking! Luckily, Pasty was kind enough to start with me.

Note: My headband says "Run, Walk, or Crawl, Just Finish"- took that literally!

Note 2: I did NOT want to give up that jacket before the start due to the -10⁰ weather!

Our goal was to stick with the 11:30 pacer as long as possible. This ended before we even crossed the start line because the pacers ditched their sticks and blended into the crowd… not cool man. Not cool. Anyway, here was a quick breakdown of the race:

Miles 1-4ish: Patsy and I ran together at about an 11:30 pace (first two miles under and around 11). All was good, the bus could kick rocks. A little after mile 4 my right foot reeeally started hurting. I had to take a walking break and try to stretch it. Basically from that point forward my mantra became “beat the damn bus.” I was doing walking/running intervals, but my foot really hurt.

Mile 7- Shortly before mile 7, my right knee started hurting (probably from over compensating for the knee pain... cool). When I passed the mile 7 marker I actually contemplated sitting my tush on the curb and waiting for the darn bus. Well, I don’t like attention and really didn't want to talk to a race volunteer who would inevitably come and make sure I was ok. Also, I was sure that I would wait long for the bus to reach me then it would take for me to finish.

I finished the darn race cursing in my head at the people who were lying about how close we were to the finish. I finished in 2:07:11… a 12:43 pace. Not exactly the 11:30 pace I was shooting for, but given the pain, I was happy I finished. I called Sara when I was done to see if they were still around, and I was so emotional and upset that I was in pain that I started crying while talking to her. Yep, I’m so mature! Eventually I got ice, put my big girl panties on and then was fine.

The PT that helped me with ice said it was probably just sore planter fascia and it probably just needs to be stretched more on a regular basis.  So that’s what I did between Cherry Blossom and Nike and that seemed to help.

Overall, not thrilled with my time, but happy I beat the bus (moreover, that I didn’t see the bus at all except on an out and back coming the other way)! J

Up next- Nike Woman’s Half…

Back in the saddle again...

Four straight days of (legit) working out under the belt! Woohoo! (baby steps)

My plan for this weekend was a long run one day and strength another, preferably in that order. I volunteered at the B&A Marathon Saturday morning and got done a little later than expected. Given my evening plans, my choices were run and not watch the Maryland game or do strength after the Maryland game... Obviously I chose watch the Maryland game! I did my strength with heavier weights than intended because I didn't have the time (read: desire) to continue my search for my missing weights. (I am obviously taking small steps in the not be lazy bum category)

Saturday night and Sunday I ate lots of yummy food thanks to Monica's Pinterest adventures and my mother in law's St Patrick's Day cuisine. Unfortunately none of this food was good fuel and most of it being bad for me or bad on my tummy. This led to my long run Sunday being cut a bit short due to some puking. Eh, win some, lose some- learned a valuable lesson about proper nutrition.

Yesterday I went to a kickboxing class (thanks Groupon). It was good and kicked my butt and made me sore, but I needed those things! The only downside was every girl in there looked like this:

It was a little intimidating to say the least!

After kickboxing I went and finally got new running shoes!!! (I went for new shoes in November and had to return them because they made my toesies numb aaaaand now just went back) The sales lady was like the 10th person to tell me my current shoes were too small and I would probably lose a toenail and blah blah blah. Yes these people were probably right, but I loved them and never had any problems. Aren't they always telling runners to listen to your body? Well my body loved those damn shoes...but I'm over it because my new shoes are fantastical:

Aren't they beautiful?!?! I love them and they make my heart happy. PS they are actually the only reason I ran today. Yup, I'm awesome!

Anyway... I did say I would post my plans so we can see how closely I stick to them, so it here it goes for the rest of the week:

Wednesday: cross training (goal-P90X plyometrics)

Thursday: run 3-4 miles (goal- run and strength)

Friday: rest

Saturday: run 7-8 miles

Sunday: cross training/rest (goal- get the bike out!)

There it is! Let's see how it goes.

How about everyone else- any fun runs/workouts planned?

I'm baaaaaack

It has obviously been a while since I’ve written a post. This is mostly because there has not been a lot to write about. “But Sabrina, you started this blog to write about your running and you have four half marathons and a 10 miler on the calendar for this year, so you must have lots of training to write about,” is probably what you are thinking. And you would be right, I have a lot of training to write about so totally wrong, I have been the biggest slacker ever. As you know, I have a tendency to ramble and write long posts, so I’m going to keep this simple. This is what I have been up to since my last post:

Thanksgiving Day:

Ran a 10K in Miami (hello PR nice to meet you)

I was super inspired and excited to reach the half marathon distance. Then I came back to Maryland (hello craptastic cold weather)… then before I knew it Christmas came and I had only ran maybe ten times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  No worries though, the hubs and I were leaving for our honeymoon two days after Christmas and since we were going to be in sunny warm weather, I would run every day. Ok, cool, plan set.

The honeymoon was amazing. Puerto Rico and Miami were both BEAUTIFUL. The weather was perfect the whole time. How could you NOT run in this weather?!?!  Quite easily actually.  We ate, relaxed, drank, ate more, relaxed more, threw in some hiking, kayaking, and walking. Oh yeah, and I ran… once… for a mile… on a treadmill. How awesome am I?!

Fast forward to February 16^th :

Ran my first half marathon.

It snowed, rained, sleeted, and hailed the entire time. I was freezing and wet. Since my training had been going so well I did awesome I ran only a handful of times within the month (I only needed my long runs, right?!!?), I wanted to die. Ok, maybe not die, but I was certainly not a happy camper. I finished though… yay!

Even though it was rough, I was glad I did it. It really inspired me to get back on a real training schedule. This time was different. I was going to get back into it or die trying. I even felt good enough to run that Wednesday and was so happy I wasn’t sore and was ready to start.  

Whelp then I didn’t.  I have run three times since then.  To make it even worse, my working out in general has sucked since the half. My friend Katie and I have a “challenge” set up regarding working out. It involves having to pay the other person if we don’t work out a certain amount of times a week. Well most weeks the money is enough motivation to work out. Unfortunately sometimes it has not and I’ve had to pay her- Katie, by the way has never once had to pay me. This is reason a zillion Katie is a better person than I am…anyway I digress. Where was I going? Oh right, work outs sucking. One rule we set when we first started the challenge- each work out had to be a half hour, so each of mine have been… but they have been some of the saddest half hours of working out ever seen.  Seriously pathetic. Many of them have included me yelling at the DVD instructor and then only half ass doing the move. I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE MY WEIGHTS AND BANDS ARE!

But then this happened:

Actually no. I was going to try to find a picture of me now because I have put back on way too many of the pounds I worked so hard to lose, but I don’t feel like it. I’m going to save the little of what is left of my dignity. Go on Facebook or Instagram and see my sad sad downfall. .. or just look at the above picture from the half in February.

The above are really hard for me to admit about how my training and general “healthy living” is going.  But I hit a low point last night and realized I needed to make a change. I thought about when the last time I was really motivated and sticking to my training (before Thanksgiving,ouch) and tried to think about the differences.  Well, I was blogging. I was telling the world (or Elana who may be my lone reader- hi Elana!) what my training plans were and then reporting on how I did. Blogging kept me accountable. Since apparently I am five and only have self-control to save face, I decided I needed to start blogging again.  

So there you have it, recap of the last few months and my plans to start blogging (oh yeah and training) again.  I have had such good intentions and great plans and have failed so hard, but hopefully this will help.  I’ll start posting my weekly plans sometime this weekend. Since my training has been so sporadic, but I have two long races in April, I need to figure it out still. I’ll keep you updated. J

How about you, ever fall into a workout slump you felt like you couldn't get out of? What did you do to get back on track?

Training week 6...

This week of training was definitely what I needed to bounce back from my miserable attempt at last week.

Monday 11/5: Strength and stretch- nothing special, just the same old

Tuesday 11/6: 4.51 miles in 48:41. Pretty even splits, 10’27”,10’50”, 11’, 10’58”… pretty stoke that none of them were over 11 minutes! This was the day I learned to run. I had said before that I caught myself going too slow for no good reason (lungs were fine, legs were fine), and that day I decided to actually do something about it for the whole run. You know what I discovered?That I wouldn't die! Crazy right? Totally thought that pushing myself harder than I was would result in my lungs exploding or legs dying, but guess what…neither happened. Who knew?!? (Yes, Sara, Mike, and anyone else who told me so before, I know you knew… just had to get there on my own)

You know what the craziest part is? My legs feel better running faster and my lungs may take a little longer to get used to it at the beginning of each run, but they did get used to it! I never thought that would happen. I was very surprised when I realized half a mile in that my lungs did not feel like they were going to explode anymore. Craaaaaazy.

Wednesday 11/7: For the first time I decided to go with the cross training option instead of the short run. I decided to do a Firm Cardio and Burn video to get both cardio and strength in. I have to say I did NOT enjoy it. I have liked my experiences with the Firm videos in the past. I did the Firm Express videos for a while before the wedding and I liked those. This time however, no thank you. I really did not like it. I may be just this specific video, so I will eventually give the express videos another try, but I don’t see myself doing this one again. At least I got some cardio and strength in for the day!

Thursday 11/8: Attempt number two at 4.5 miles. I was convinced that I was going to go back to my 13 minute/mile speed and that Tuesday was a fluke. Guess what!?! It wasn't  woohoo! 4.5 miles in 49:06. A little slower than Tuesday, but not a ton! My splits were a little less consistent as well (10’04”, 10’41”, 11’30”, and 11’12”), but still pretty proud of myself!To finish a second 4.5 mile run at an under 11 minute pace made me quite happy.

Friday 11/9: Rest- FYI- my husband is the best and planned an awesome date night! Dinner and two drive in movies! So much fun and we also discovered the BEST sandwich in the world:

It is Townhouse Kitchen and Bar in Fells Point’s sandwich called the “Footlong Grilled Cheese.” It has cheddar, farmer’s cheese, pepper jack, candied applewood bacon, chipotle spread, and two fried eggs on a baguette.OH EM GEE, heaven on a plate. It is sweet and spice and I could eat it every meal. This has nothing to do with my training, but I needed to share!

Saturday 11/10: Rest/chasing around kids for four hours! J

Sunday 11/11: Long run day… this was the first time in a few weeks that I had done my long run on the day I was supposed to. Since I had previously moved it to earlier in the week due to scheduling or just deciding mid run to turn a short run into a long run, I had more time to dread it this week. Katie, Mike, Elana, and anyone else I complained to about it- sorry, but thanks for the encouragement and faith that I could do it. Katie asked a good question- I will obviously have time to dread a new long distance before my first half, will I dread that as much? I don’t know the answer to that, but I hope it is no! Anyway, 7 miles- 1:22:40 (average 11’48”/mile). My slowest mile (mile 3) was 12’45” and fastest (mile 7) was 10’59”. My splits hovered between 11 and 12 minutes, with none of them exceeding 13 minutes. I was happy about this to say the least! These were definitely going through my mind near the end:

Truth!

I wanted to walk so many times, but didn’t! Woohoo!

However, I have NO idea how I am going to add another mile to that…ack. I stopped immediately after my app announced I met my goal… not one more step.

Anyone have insight into getting to these longer distances? How did you know you could make it to the next distance?

Update: Anyone have ice bath advice? I think I am going to attempt it next weekend...

Training week 5 AND Sara's half!

This week was NOT an ideal training week to say the least. I could blame Sandy on a poor start to the week, but that would be lame because 1. I was only affected in the "it kept me stuck in my house way", not the real devastation way that the people who were really hit experienced (are still experiencing) and 2. Let’s be real, the main reason is I’m lazy… Quick recap, but then more about the exciting part of the week- getting to see Sara run her second half marathon!!

Recap:

Monday 10/29: Strength and Stretch with Mike before Sandy really hit! We got up super early and turned on storm coverage, so I figured we should take advantage of that (oh and that we weren't going to work/school). At one point Mike referred to me as Monica…I told him that given that I have a husband and job he couldn't get me down like Chandler did Monica… if you don’t get what I’m saying… watch some Friends, it will do you good!

 

(This is not actually from the scene I am referring to, but still appropriate)

Tuesday 10/30: Sandy still had some lingering effects, so no running outside and my gym was closed… and I’m lazy... next…

Wednesday 10/31: 6.43 miles at 1:24:18, fastest mile (mile 1) 12’02”, average mile 13’06”. I started this run with the intention of it being my 4 mile run. Then around mile 3 I realized I had been going slower than necessary, so I decided to make it my 6 mile run… then I decided to turn it into a 10k… then I forgot my app wouldn't alert me when I reached a 10k since my goal was 4 miles… so I ran a little more. Put some sprints in there, overall happy with it. Longest I've ever run, so yay! J

Thursday 11/1: Totally had the intention of running… then it was cold and started to drizzle… and I’m lazy…moving on…

Friday 11/2: 1.01 mile at 10’47”. Goal of run- 4 miles… goal of evening- make it to Happy Hour with Katie and Leah on time… any surprise which goal won out?!

Saturday 11/3: More lazy/driving to NC

Sunday 11/4: GOT TO SEE SARA RUN HER SECOND HALF MARATHON! Thursday Monica and I decided we were going to drive down to NC to surprise Sara during her half marathon. I so rarely have weekends free to do something like that, so I was super stoked. We drove down Saturday, got to have dinner with Chris, an old friend in Raleigh, and then wake up Sunday to see Sara! Parking was busier than I thought it would be, so we missed Sara at the start, but got to see her at the first half mile and then five more times throughout the race! I don't have a picture of her face filled with confusion when she saw us, but it was great!

Sara's husband is like pro spectator. He knew exactly where we needed to be when and how to get there. There was no thinking involved on my part, so that was awesome! Also, fun side note: Sara's husband is super tall, like SUPER tall (6'10" or 11" I think?!?)... anyway, all the walking with him made me realize my leisurely walking pace is that of a giant... cool.

Now to sum up the race in pictures:

Look how happy they look!

Isn't she pretty?!?!

Freezing, but finished!

Yes, the GLittles obviously made the signs- they would have been a lot nicer at Little made them!

In summary, as a training week- it sucked, BUT the weekend made it an awesome week in general. Getting to catch up with an old friend and a road trip with a sister to surprise a sister- awesome!

Luckily, I have bounced back from the lousy training week and have had a good week so far (long run still pending)... anyone have some good tips regarding how you bounce back from a bad training week (day, month, etc)?

Training weeks 3 and 4 (part 2)

Still have power, for now. That means I was able to get showered and dry my hair... which was totally necessary given that I'm sure I'll be back out in the rain soon trying to get Titus to go potty! In case you were wondering, the big baby that won't go potty in the rain looks like this:

He is the 120 American Bull Dog! AKA Giant baby! 

Frankie, the golden, loves the rain and would stay out there all day.

They are both VERY good at the pathetic look!!!

In case anyone was wondering, if you ask them, Mike and I are to blame for Sandy.

Ok, back to training updates:

Week 4:

Monday 10/22: Supposed to be strength and stretch... no surprise, that didn't happen. Getting home from work at 8:30PM is lame/I suck at doing strength.

Tuesday 10/23: 3.5 miles at 43:47, 12'29"/mile average, fastest mile (3rd mile) 11'. For this I took Sara's  advice and reversed my route, putting the uphills near the beginning/middle of the run instead of the end. I had quite a bit of calf pain and had to stop twice to stretch and I pretty much hated the whole thing. Random man walking on the other side of the road who tried to get my attention while I was stretching did not make me any happier. I had to take my ear buds out to hear him ask me, "do you run every day?" Dear creeper, I am not in the mood, please move on before I snap. Thanks! However, shortly after that, "Baby Got Back" came on Pandora so life got better/that's when I sped up! :) I also took Sara's no walking advice... we will see how long this lasts!

Wednesday 10/24: 3.2 miles at 41:57, 13'54"/mile average, fastest mile (mile 1) 13'24". Ran this with Katie! We did lots of walking/running intervals. Running in Columbia is nice! I wish I didn't view it as so far away to do every time I run. Running with friends is fun as well! Katie is hard core and did strength afterwards. She motivated me to do it too. Except then I went grocery shopping, did dishes, and then planted my butt on the couch. Womp womp... maybe next time. Lesson- Katie rocks, I do not! This is not a new lesson, but one worth putting in writing.

Thursday 10/25: Big day! 5 miles, 1:02:54, 12'34"/mile average, fastest mile (mile 5) 11'25" (closely followed by mile 3- 11'40"). Three big points of this run: 1. I actually woke up and did it before work. Granted, I didn't have to leave until 10:20 that day, but still a win. 2. I ran the whole thing! and 3. I didn't hate life the whole time! Woo!

Another great thing about this run, is it means I am half way to my brightly colored new shoes! I promised myself bright colored running shoes once I can run 10 miles... half way there baby. Bad thing about this run? I didn't plan out a 5 miles run, oops. My last minute plan was use my 3.5 mile route and add two mile loops of the park I pass. Construction though did not allow that to happen, so the run involved 4 loops of the park which was less than ideal. Despite that, once I hit the 3rd mile I actually started feeling pretty good. I didn't feel like death anymore and was able to finish pretty strong. I'm happy with the results. Mike also ran with (read: way ahead of) me, which was nice. He looked at me like I had ten heads when I asked him to come with me, but oh PS I'm running 5 miles. But he came, because he is awesome!

A little HIMYM obsessed... it's ok.

Friday 10/26: Was going to do strength, but I didn't. Are we sensing a pattern here?

Saturday 10/27: GLOOOOOO RUN! Fun run 5K after dark at the National Harbor. Did this with some fun people. See said fun people below:

Fun people before Glo Run

As I said, this was a fun run, but I couldn't help but track it/add it to my app. 3.29 miles in 46:03, 13'59"/mile average, fastest mile (mile 1) 13'44". This run was fun, but I would probably not do it again. There was a dance party thingy before, which was fun, but the run itself was quite dark most of the time. Before you say, "duuuuuh, it's a glo run, it's supposed to be dark," the problem with it was that a good portion of the run was on gravel/dirt and this was not the safest/easiest to run with no light. They had three tents and you went through each twice (the route was an out and back). The black light and disco light tents were fun. The strobe light tent was not. Karilee and Monica chose to run around it on the way back. They were smart. Katie and I were not as smart, so we sprinted through it instead. Elana and Jeremy went before us with the sprinters, so I was happy to catch Elana on her way back and scream her name!! Overall, fun experience. Crab and shrimp pizza and Sam's Octoberfest at Cadillac Ranch after was great as well. 

Sunday 10/28: Rest day. Katie and I volunteered with a great non profit, Monkee See Monkee Do, at a local school for kids with special needs. This was a great experience that I may write a whole post about later! In case I don't I do want to say, you should check out the blog the whole organization got started from. Glennon and her monkees are great!

I am aware that I sound like a broken record, "I promise myself I'll do strength this week"...blah blah lies. Well thanks to Katie, now I really will. We are beginning another workout bet, which she kick butt at last time while I watched from the IR list. Anyway, it involves paying money if we don't work out. While I would give that girl every penny to my name if she needed it, losing money to her in a bet is not gonna happen. No way Jose! Thank you Katie for figuring out how to get my butt in gear! (PS- totally already did strength today!)

Shoes and money are currently motivating my training schedule (I promise I'm not that shallow)... What motivates you to keep it up? Also, what fun runs have you done that you would recommend?

Updated: Any one have any Sandy approved cardio suggestions if I have no power tomorrow?

Training weeks 3 and 4 (part 1)

Ok, I promise I will get better at weekly updates, but for now here is week 3 and 4...

Week 4 was drastically different than week 3, in a good way, so yay! I didn't hate every run in week 4! Woohoo!

Week 3:

Monday 10/15: Was supposed to be Strength and Stretch... remember how Mike and I promised we would do this together? Yep, didn't happen. Oops

Tuesday 10/16: 3.51 Run 42:40, average 12'09"mile, fastest mile (mile 1) 11'30". I did this run in a near by community. I had picked up a coworker from this neighborhood once so I knew it was a decent length. What I had not noticed was that it is lots of hills!! Oy, will not choose to run there again soon.

Wednesday 10/17: This was the day of my fall in the happiest place on earth... grr. FYI- I still hurt. Yesterday at church Mike and our friend Dan discussed how I would play softball with the team in the summer, I had to remind them that I fell while RUNNING, so if we add a bat and ball I am most certainly ending up in the ER... anyway, the run- I fell at 4.20 miles, so until that point- 1:00:17, average mile 14'20", fastest mile (mile 1) 12'27". Needless to say, this run was VERY slow. I was taking in the sights and listening to Betty White's audiobook, so I was a little distracted (are we surprised I an uneven sideway jump out at me?!). Also, for the first 3 miles I wanted to die quit. I did a lot of walking/running intervals, but if it weren't for the sights and book, I probably would have stopped. Oh, also it took me 20:29 to walk the 1.06 miles back to the hotel from my fall. This included my stop at the gas station to try to clean up/get water, so I guess not too bad.

Thursday 10/18: Supposed to be a 2 mile run and strengthen, but I still hurt so I opted to rest

Friday 10/19: Supposed to be 40 minute cross training. I would like to say I opted to rest because I still hurt, this is kind of true. My knees did still hurt. buuuuut I also stayed out with other conference attendees until 2:30AM and had to be down at breakfast/ready to check out at 8:00AM. My official story is my knees still hurt.

Saturday 10/20: This was supposed to be a rest day (UMD Homecoming- woohoo!), but I obviously had running to make up AND (most importantly), Sara and her husband stayed over and we decided to run together. I did 3.12 miles in 40:26, averaging 12'56"/mile, fastest mile (mile 1) 11'20". I can't believe Sara actually ran this slowly with me,  but she's awesome a did! She implemented 2 rules: 1. No walking, "you can run as slow as you want, but no walking" and 2. Sprint the last .1 mile. I broke both of these rules...oops... Sara, I totally walked during some of your sprints :). Also, since Sara had done a few sprints, she didn't know when I was .1 away from 3 miles, so I only sprinted .02 miles... until she came back and realized I was now walking and made me sprint to the car. Running with friends is fun...even though I felt like death during it (showed in my time as well).

Sunday 10/21: Race for the Cure in Hunt Valley. Fun story- Mike and I paid an extra $5 to run the timed race, but we still can't figure out where to find our times haha. There was no tent or setup there, and we cannot find them online. Glad I used my Nike+ app. 3.26 miles at 36:29. Average mile 11'09", fastest mile (mile 1) 10'48". I did not feel great during this run. As previously mentioned, the day before way Maryland's homecoming. There was lots of beer and unhealthy food consumed, so even though we were in bed by 9:30 the night before, my body was piiiiiissed. That being said, I am very happy with how I did. This is the first 5K race I have done that I actually ran the whole thing! Super happy with that. I knew going into this that the race path had a lot of hills (started and ended on uphills... thanks), so I knew I was going to want to walk. By the time I had finally gotten to the point where I decided to walk up the next hill (around mile 2), I saw in front of me a man with TWO prosthetic legs. Any guess as to what he was doing up the hills?! Oh yeah, he was running. What freakin' excuse did I have to walk up them if he was running up them? None. So I didn't, I kept running. Thank you random man for unknowingly motivating me to keep running!!

Ok... this was going to be weeks 3 and 4, but I need to get in the shower before we lose power (thanks Sandy). I will posted week 4 when I get out if we still have power!!

Any stories of what sights have motivated you during a run?