Three Things Thursday

1.  The Hay's in the Barn!!

It's race week.  More specifically race day is TOMORROW.  GULP.  I've been fighting some major taper crazies the past couple of weeks.  I am reliving Ogden in my mind over and over.  Training so very hard for a race where I mentally just fell apart.  I don't want that to happen again.  The thought leaves me a bit terrified.  But at this point The Hay's in the Barn!  I've done everything I can.  I trained smart.  16 weeks and I didn't miss a single run.  NOT ONE.  23 Barbell Strength classes were taken in an attempt to make me stronger physically.  7 Yoga classes were taken in an attempt to make me stronger mentally and physically.  I didn't start those until the last 6 weeks.

But yet I am still sick with nervousness.

I do not want to fail.

I know that running a marathon at any pace is not considered a failure.  But for me, I need a PR.  This will be my fourth marathon.  Since my first (my current PR) I've ran one for fun and I've run one in an attempt to PR.  For 16 weeks I've put my heart and soul into this training. I don't want it to be for nothing.

So here it is, I'm throwing them out there ABC goals:

A.  Run a 4:15 or better.  This is what I've trained for.  Training has gone very well.

B.  Just beat 4:21:19.  Anything better is a PR.  I'll take a PR.

C.  Just don't have a heart attack and finish.  Enjoy a couple days away with my husband.

The bottom line is that I won't be happy with anything less than a B.  If I don't PR then I don't know that I will ever attempt a PR at this distance ever again.

That's the thing with the 26.2 distance, it's painful.  SO. INCREDIBLY. painful.  When they say if it doesn't hurt then you aren't doing it right, they are on to something.  But the bigger challenge is that when it does start to hurt, as I know it will, I need the mental strength to push on and not give up.

2.  My Strategy

I have bought my favorite Roctane Gu's.  Ogden I made the mistake of sucking down un-caffeinated gels.  I lacked energy for sure.

I will run with my favorite caffeinated Nuun.  I also feel like these give me great energy.

I will wear my cute red outfit.  Because if I look good, I'll feel good.

I will not go out too fast.  Another mistake made at Ogden.

I will give it my all on race day.

I will NOT give up.

I will leave NOTHING in the tank.

3.  What's next?

Regardless of what happens in Phoenix starting next week I'm pulling my eats together.  These past couple of weeks I've been so hungry all the time.  I'm reading The Power of Habit.  Already I'm thinking about ways that I can change my relationship with food.  I have continued to go to my Weight Watcher meetings on Monday's, however I've been steadily gaining rather than losing this past month.  I've put back on 5 lbs of the 18 that I lost at the end of last year.  So I need to pull it together and drop 15 lbs.  I also purchased 21 day fix after being inspired by Fancy Nancy.  Hopefully it will arrive early next week.  I would like to think that I will document my 21 day experience here on the blog.  Might be a fun challenge for me.

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Wish me luck!

I'm off to barf now.

Training Cycle Complete

Well this week I completed my training cycle for the Salt Lake City Half Marathon this Saturday. I used the Hal Higdon Novice 2 plan this time around.  I really liked the plan because I had heavier mileage on the weekend (when I'm not working) and shorter runs during the week (when I did have to work).  I didn't miss a single training run this entire cycle.  It certainly helped that we have had such a mild winter here in Utah this year. 

This past weekend I peaked with my 12 mile long run.  It was the longest I've ever run on a training run.  I felt amazing until about mile 9.  And then those last 3 miles I was miserable.  Both of my knees were killing me and I was just physically done.  It was really strange and honestly freaked me out a ton.  I had done long runs where I could pull out a 9ish minute mile the last mile only weeks before.  But on Sunday I was running 12 minute miles the whole time and I had nothing left those last three miles.  It was all I could do just to put one foot in front of the other.  I would be lying if I didn't say it shook my confidence big time.  I'm a big believer in sticking to a training plan and you will be successful. 

Here are a full family of deer we saw right in the middle of our run.  Beautiful!

I tried to figure out what I had done differently that led to a bad run.  I had hydrated well the day before. I hadn't had a "bad" dinner (I've made that mistake before).  I was wearing my calf compression sleeves for my run and I haven't been wearing them, but that shouldn't cause my knees to feel so awful.  I've run long runs before wearing them.  I ran an extra day during the week that week, perhaps that had a negative affect.  I mean maybe my legs were just plain tired.  That's possible I suppose. 

So I adjusted my schedule this week.  I had originally planned to run 3 miles on Tuesday, 2 miles on Wednesday and then rest two days.  Instead I ran my 3 miles on Monday, 2 miles on Tuesday and picked up an extra rest day before the race. I hope the extra rest helps. 

I'm also a little worried about my pacing strategy going into Saturday and I guess I'm still a little undecided.  My first half marathon I finished in 2:45.  I knew I could have ran it faster.  At the end I really wasn't spent the way I felt I should have felt.  So I know I will PR this weekend, it's almost a given unless something tragic happens.  My goal I feel comfortable that I could push myself decently and still accomplish is 2:20.  My pie in the sky goal is a 2:15.  When running my pace runs on my training plan I ran them usually between 9:30 and 10 minute miles.  Based on that I should be able to run a 2:10 race.  But I just don't know that I can hold that kind of pace for 13.1 miles.  I feel like that's way too aggressive.  But could I maintain a 10:18 pace the whole time?  That should shoot me in at 2:15 and I think it's "possible".  It's a slightly downhill course, with a moderate hill from mile 11-12.  I don't want to bonk at that hill.  They have pace groups too, 2:20 and 2:10, but not 2:15!

*sigh*

See my dilemma?  I also had one training run where I went out way too fast and I had to walk just to get my heart rate down.  I don't want that to happen on Saturday either.

My sister in law has lofty goals for a 2:10 and by brother is running with her.  Do I try and keep up with them some?  My brother was a great rabbit for me when I ran my PR 5K back in November.  Do I use him again? 

*sigh*

I have trained in rain and snow this time too.  Evidence here:

However this Saturday lookie what we have: 

SEVENTY NINE DEGREES!!

I'm thinking the 7am start will not be the usual chilly we've started with most Sunday's.  So that's good. But with a 79 degree high that day I bet by 7am we could be close to 50's.  And that is perfect running weather to me.

I guess the only thing I know for sure is what I will be wearing:

Lululemon Race Back Tank (matching my sister in law)

Running Skirts Sparkle Heart Skirt (matching my BFF)

They don't actually match that great .. but I will match my two ladies and that means more to me anyway.  At least I know what I'm wearing right?

I'm really excited that this will be my husbands first half marathon.  And we will be running it together, unless of course he leaves me behind like he did the last long run we did together.  It was actually kind of funny.  He came with my run buddy and I.  We all started together.  We joked about how it was like having our own bodyguard.  Then when I was dealing with some Garmin issues he pulled ahead.  But he doesn't have a Garmin and he hadn't started his Runkeeper app on his iPhone.  So I kept wondering how the heck he would know when to fuel and when to turn around.  Well he didn't.  After about 4 miles Rebecca dropped back and so the three of us were very spread out on the trail.  I started closing the gap on him and once he saw me coming he sped up some more.  At which point I was like, whatever.  As we hit the hill and also hit the turn around point I called his name (he listens to his music really loud) and he didn't hear me.  So I turned around to find a guy coming up close behind me.  He laughed and said, "he missed the turn around didn't he?"  YEP!  It was funny.

I digress .. hopefully he doesn't pull ahead on Saturday and leave me in his dust.  haha.

Well there you have it.  I've dropped off the face of the blogging world for over a month and here we are. 

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Does anyone have any advice .. suggestions  .. experience they can offer me with regards to my pacing debacle?  I would really appreciate any help.  I've got to figure this thing out and soon.

Winter Running

I have to say that am really falling in love with Winter running.  I am just coming up on my 1 year running anniversary and Winter was really a season that I was intimidated by.  I worried about slipping and falling.  But most of all I worried about the cold temperatures.  Now granted we have had a relatively mild Winter so far here in Salt Lake City.  But when I first moved out here from California about 17 years ago (that sounds like SO long), I digress.  When we first moved out here I had been running pretty regularly in California for awhile there.  It was September and I was forced to run in the early evening after work and school.  I don't know if it was the change in temperature or the altitude or a combination of the both, but frankly I felt like I was sucking air bad.  Quickly, as the temperatures continued to drop I dropped off with my running as well.  Since that was my only previous experience with Salt Lake Winter running I expected to really struggle as we rolled into the colder months. 

My mindset has since changed.  I have never paid SO much attention to weather forecasts in my life as I do now.  It's not just the temperature though, it's whether the wind is blowing.  Or whether it's cloudy versus sunny.  Because if it's 30 degrees and sunny I can actually expect to feel pretty warm. But 30 degrees and cloudy is a totally different story.  When it's windy I will grab my favorite Brooks jacket and I'm golden, because even if the wind drops I can peel it off and quickly roll it and then tie it around my waist.  All whilst not stopping my run.  I haven't yet had to test this jacket in any kind of wet weather, but thus far I LOVE it.  I run all my weekday runs right in the middle of the day on my lunch break.  So it's actually the warmed part of the day.  I'm always in capri's regardless of the temp, this includes when there's snow on the ground.  And I'm never cold.

Another item I have to be careful to choose is which hat I wear.  I have a great Saucony beanie that I go to when it's colder or windy.  But if I don't need the warmth then I go for my Brooks ball cap so that I can keep the sun out of my eyes.  I wear glasses and so it's important to not have to squint if I can help it.

It's all about finding the perfect balance of layers.  For the most part I usually get it right.  And that makes for a very happy runner.  Funny, because now that I'm loving Winter running so much I'm actually starting to stress about the Summer months!  I don't think my noontime jaunts are going to go down too well.  One thing I've thought about is maybe going slightly earlier, if I could get away with maybe a 10:30 lunch break.  Guess we'll have to wait and see .. but I'm thinking it won't be nearly as bad as I am expecting. 

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What's your favorite season to run in and why?

Week 6 - Complete

So week 6 of my Half Marathon training is complete. 

Observations in Bullets:

• The first mile of my short runs (this week 2 miles total) feel SO hard.  Yet, when I do twice the total distance the other days those first 2 weren't as hard.  Definitely mind over matter.  Clearly knowing I only had to do 2 made it seem like they should be REALLY easy.
• My calves felt a little sore this week.
• Today when I did my long run (6 miles) the last 3 felt easier than the first.

So basically I'm really kind of buying in to the whole distance running is half a mental challenge.  I'm getting that now.  While I haven't run any miles on the treadmill lately, it's almost making me nervous for when I don't have any choice but to log some mill runs.  Am I ruining myself?  I used to LOVE my treadmill and had absolutely no problem running 6 miles on there.  We shall see.

This weeks plan called for the following:

Monday  -  Yoga.  It was easy and I have to admit I really enjoy Yoga Monday's.

Tuesday - Run 4 miles.  I ran by work and it was a little sluggish.

Wednesday - Run 2 miles.  I felt really sluggish but then it was over.  A little dodging and weaving around classrooms of children.

Thursday - Run 4 miles.  It felt good to get out this day.

Friday - Rest day and rest I did!

Saturday - Cross train 40 minutes.  I didn't do a thing.  I'm not good at this cross training stuff.  It feels like such a chore to get it in and Saturday's are so busy for me.  I need to think about how to get better at this.

Sunday - Run 6 miles.  I was up at 6:45am and my friend Rebecca picked me up.  We headed down to our usual spot and logged the miles quickly.  We tried our first round of "fuel".  Blueberry/Pomegranate GU Chomps.  They were tasty.  Sweet .. but tasty.  Well .. okay .. they weren't gross.

I can't believe that we have passed the halfway point in our training and it just gets harder.  I keep questioning whether my body can handle it.  I read blogs by all these other runners and the vast majority of them are so much younger than me. I never really thought of myself as "old" but kind of I do these days.  I will be turning 37 exactly 1 week prior to race day.  Gosh I feel old.  I beat up my body as a teenager.  I played all kinds of sports including softball, basketball, volleyball,  and swimming.  The softball took a serious toll on my body I think. I have bad knee's because of it.  So now I wonder if I've ruined parts of me.  Not to mention I've carried 4 babies and had 4 c-sections, the last one was less than a year ago.  But I am a classic Type-A personality. I will push myself because basically I get a rush out of doing it.  Plus I'm uber competitive.  And it feels good to be pushing myself athletically again.

I digress .. again.  So this week we're upping things again.  Here's what we've got on the schedule, I'd be lying if I said it didn't intimidate me.

Monday - Yoga
Tuesday - 4.5 mile run
Wednesday - 3 mile run
Thursday - 4.5 mile run
Friday - Rest
Saturday 50 min cross train, I really hope to get on the bike
Sunday - 7 mile run (I've never run that far in my life)

From this weeks long run on, they will all be distance PR's for me. 

Deep breath ...

I'm a little scared.

Oh .. but look at my cute family!  We took some family pictures last weekend and I love how they turned out.  These weren't professional (I feel like I should point that out).