Unplanned Half Marathon PR

Half marathon training has been a little bit up and down over the past month. In early October I was doing great, but the middle of the month was a bit tough due to work getting pretty stressful!

Only about 10 days out from the race now, and although I wish I had done a bit more training this month, I am still feeling prepared! I had one great long run a few weeks ago that definitely helped build my confidence going in to the race - I ran 13.1 miles (half marathon distance) faster than my time from the Dallas Half Marathon last year!

The run was originally scheduled to be 80 minutes at long run pace (typically 9:40-10:00 min/mile for me) and then 40 minutes at 'marathon pace', which essentially should be about 15-30 sec/mile slower than my planned half marathon pace - so around 8:45 min/mile.

The weather was so nice when we started the run (Sam was with me) that I got off to a faster start and ran the first few miles at a 9:15-9:20 pace. I think I was just really excited for it not to be so darn hot outside! And then I started thinking that if I ran the first 4 miles at 9:20, then 5 miles at 9:00, then 4 miles at 8:40, then I could beat my half marathon time from last year (9:04 min/mile average).

I didn't tell Sam what I was thinking until we were almost done with the run just in case I wimped out! The last few miles were tough but by that time I had put in multiple miles below 9 min so I wasn't going to be that close and not finish strong.

I can't wait until the weather cools off even more! I'm really glad I had that good run because the few weeks after weren't filled with too many miles. Hopefully the weather is just as nice or better for the race!

Back Again?

Hi all. Obviously it has been awhile! This summer was really busy in a fun way, but I also was totally kicked off of my routine - including blogging.  The thought of catching up on everything that has happened in the last 4 months is incredibly daunting, so I think I'll just pick up where things are today and sprinkle in some highlights from the summer (and some I still owe you guys from last spring) as I have time to get to them!

Anyway, after I finished my 1200 mile goal in June (yes, I did make it!), I took a bit of a running hiatus for a few weeks because 1) I had been running a lot and 2) it was soooo hot outside. Then in August I picked back up and started a half marathon training plan. I am signed up for a half marathon on November 8th in Port Arthur, which is just about 30 minutes from here so we won't have to travel which is nice!

The training plan I have been using is from the Garmin training website and basically I am using it out of convenience - all of the runs are time-based durations/intervals and I can download them directly to my watch which is great! The basic scheme of the training plan is:

M - rest
T - intervals
W - easy run
T - intervals or hard run
F - rest
S - random - some weeks easy run, some weeks hard
S - long run

There are also extra 30 minute recovery runs in the mornings on Tue/Thu in the plan, but I haven't been doing those because we all know I am not a morning person :) And I don't think I need that many miles anyway.

It has still been really hot out, but hopefully will cool down in the next few weeks! The interesting thing about the runs being based on time, and not distance, is that I usually don't realize how far I have gone until I look at my watch. Today's run was a good example - 15 minutes at easy pace, 15 minutes at race pace, 4 intervals at 10k pace with rest in between, then 15 minutes at race pace.

Somehow that turned into 8 miles - a pretty long run for a weekday! But since I was just running for time, I didn't pysch myself out beforehand like I would have if I had thought I was setting out to run 8 miles!

Other than running, my weight maintenance is going okay. I am up about 5-6 pounds over the summer. We did lots of traveling, which usually meant bad eating, which also meant I was more likely to eat bad even when we were home! But I'm hoping to be back down to 130 before the holidays.

Anyway, time to shower and get to bed! Hope you are all doing well.

Breaking In the New Shoes....

First of all, I had a great weekend in NC! I'll post a recap tomorrow hopefully. But I wanted to stop in with the weekly stats from last week, so here they are:

You can see my running schedule was all messed up last week, but I managed to get all the miles in eventually! I've been lucky that my legs have been feeling good enough to allow me to run 20 miles on the weekends!

I keep forgetting to weigh myself in the morning, I think because I've been extra tired in the mornings recently - probably a combination of all the running and allergy season! I haven't checked it since I've been back from NC, and I bet despite all the running I put on at least a pound or two with all the eating I did. I'm going to have to be careful with all the travel we have coming up this summer!

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I mentioned last week that I really needed new running shoes - my feet had been hurting and both of my pairs of shoes had over 450 miles on them. So on Thursday I finally went out and picked up these beauties:

They are Asics GT-2100. I've been running in Asics for awhile now - before I had the GT-2170s, but they have been replaced by the 2100s. I was a little worried because some of the online reviews said people could really tell a difference with the new model, but they feel the same to me!

I actually already ordered the exact same shoes through Sam's Mom (she has access to a discount program), but we won't be getting those for a few weeks and I just felt that I really needed new ones if I was going to make it to the 1200 mile goal without injuring my foot since it was already hurting. I tried on a bunch of other shoes to avoid ending up with two of the same pair, but in the end nothing else felt quite right. Doesn't help to have extra shoes around - plus, the bright colors are awesome, obviously, so at least I'll have two pairs of a shoe I love!

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I titled this post 'breaking in the new shoes' because I had quite an eventful run on Sunday. I ended up getting a bit turned around on my route and missed a turn. By the time I figured it out I decided just to go back the way I came rather than finish the route because it would be ~14 miles if I kept going and I had told my Mom I would be back by a certain time. So, I adjusted my route and headed back the way I came so that I could finish at ~12 miles and be home in time.

It had been kind of rainy all weekend, but the weather was pretty sunny when I left so I was hoping I wouldn't get rained on! I was out of luck though, because when I was still about 3.5 miles from the house it started pouring. As in, it was a torrential downpour. Luckily there wasn't a lot of thunder/lightning and I was wearing very bright, visible clothing so I felt safe, but I was just soaked!

I had left a map of my route up on my Mom's computer before I left, but since I had altered my route, even if they went out to try to find me they wouldn't be looking in the right place! I don't run with my phone (and if I had it would have been soaked too!) so I knew I would have to run the rest of the way back.

Luckily it wasn't a cold rain, but I was bummed about getting my new shoes totally soaked. By the end I was just running straight through 4-5 inch puddles/streams in the street because I was already so wet that it didn't matter. I was definitely motivated to run faster though:

I started picking up the pace after mile 7 when I had gotten turned around and was worried about making it home on time. But then sometime during mile 9 or 10 it started raining and I was going as fast as I could with water-logged shoes after that!

I have definitely been more sore/tired after that run than usually - but that might also have something to do with being totally off my normal sleep schedule this weekend too! But my shoes are all dried out now and appear to be just fine. Here's to hoping my next few runs are much less eventful :)

Running: The 1200 Mile Goal

So in addition to the races (including my big goal for the year to run a marathon), I also set a goal to run 1200 miles in my 26th year (or I guess my 27th year? whatever, the whole year that I am 26!). This seemed like a tough but reasonable goal at the time - essentially 100 miles/month. I had planned out my training plans from my birthday (June 15th) through the marathon (Feb 17th) and then I would just continue running ~4 times per week until June.

In reality, I had some issues with my knee and several other things here and there, so by the time I finished the marathon, I was 70 miles behind on my plan! That meant there were a lot of miles to go in March, April, May and the first half of June.

The chart below shows my monthly mileage - you can see I really picked it up in December with marathon training, but January was a little lower after my knee issues, and February a was a little lower since I rested a bit after the marathon.

So March and April mileage were basically like marathon training, and my plan for May is pretty similar! And then you can see the plan for June is to just as many miles in half a month as I did in a full month in July-November. So obviously I did not do a great job of pacing myself through the year!!

Overall through, I think it has been really good to have this goal to keep me motivated without a big upcoming race. I've been running 5 miles on the weekdays (3 days/week) and I have consistently been running around 15 miles as a long run on the weekends - that's more than a half marathon! I am going to cut that back to 10-12 miles as it gets hotter outside, but I'm hoping to keep myself consistently in half marathon shape. In my experience it is always so hard to build the mileage back up, so I don't want to cut back too far and then have to start all over again.

And there is definitely something empowering about going out to run 15 miles for no real reason! I think I will probably keep the 1200 mile goal again for next year. My body has been feeling good lately, so I don't feel like I'm overdoing it. I definitely need some new shoes soon though since I've been packing on the miles!

It will be a challenge to keep up the mileage for May and June since I have quite a few weekend trips coming up, but I am so close to finishing now that (barring an injury) I don't think I'll let anything keep my from reaching the goal! It will definitely be satisfying to accomplish a plan that has been a year in the making :)

And speaking of, now I'm off to get in 5 miles today, hopefully before the rain hits!

Interval Training

Today was another Wednesday weigh-in and I am happy to say that my weight was 130.2 this morning after a couple of weeks closer to 132. I'm still sticking with the calorie counting, and although I was over several days last week, I was under on the weekend due to my long run, so I was on plan for the week.

Speaking of the weekend, it has been a couple of days since my last post! Not too much has been going on, we spent most of the weekend working on the yard. I didn't take any before and after pictures because the before was pretty shameful and the after is just average! Not that we didn't work hard, but at this point it was mostly clean up, getting rid of fire ants and the spreading fertilizer/weed killer so hopefully things will grow well in the spring!

I had planned to run 10 miles on Sunday, but I got a bit of a late start so it was pretty warm out (TX winter does not exist, it has been 75 for the past week or so!) and then my left ankle and knee still had some nagging pain so I headed home early and just did 8.5 miles, which I still thought was pretty good the week after the marathon! My right hamstring had also been bothering me, but I think that has mostly worked itself out now.

In addition to working towards my goal of 1200 miles before by birthday in June, I'm also trying to work on my speed ahead of the 5k I am running next weekend. I haven't been trying to run fast for awhile now, so I'm hoping to gain some speed back over the next few weeks! One thing I learned last summer is that interval training is key to getting faster.

Before I started running intervals I had a really hard time running any faster than 10 min/mile - maybe sometimes 9:30 min/mile if I really focused on maintaining my pace, but my body's natural rhythm was at 10:00 it seemed.

When I started my 5k training plan last summer it included interval runs every Wednesday so instead of running the prescribed distance at a consistent pace, I would run as fast as I could for 0.25mi and then recover at a slow jog or walk for 0.15mi. Nothing special about those distances, but the training plan called for 400m (which is about 0.25mi) and the loop in my neighborhood is 0.40mi, so I figured I'd recover for the rest of the loop and then start again. You can also do time based intervals (fast  run for 2 mins, recover for 1 min, for example).

Either way, the whole point is to force your body to do something uncomfortable and get away from its 'default pace'. Once I started doing intervals my other runs got faster too because my body no longer thought that running was only one speed! If that makes any sense :)

Anyway, for today's workout I did 12 repeats of the 0.25/0.15 intervals, with a 0.2 mile warm up for a total of 5 miles. That was the most repeats I have ever done, so I figured the last ones would be tough, but I was hoping to be under 7 min/mi for at least the first half! I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to do them all under 7 min/mi! I always think the charts look fun after I upload the data from my Garmin:

You can see I also wore my heart rate strap. It is not the most comfortable thing for sprints since it straps across my rib cage and makes it a bit harder to catch my breath, but I like to have the data so I can see how fast I might be able to run the 5k. Since my heart rate got up to 190 after a quarter of a mile at a 6:30 pace, I definitely can't run that fast for 3 miles! But hopefully a little slower (near 7:15 maybe?) will do the trick!

Tomorrow I need to do 5 miles again and I am not sure what my plan is for the run. I will probably try to make it a fast run since I'll take a couple of days off before running again on Sunday. Might as well wear myself out!

No More "I Could Never..."

Yesterday I alluded to the 'one big takeway' I had from the marathon. The major realization basically boils down to this: if you want to, you can. Now obviously there are limits to this (having x-ray vision, growing money on trees, turning water into cookie dough, etc.) but I have spent a good portion of my life thinking that "I could never...." - fill in the blank with any fitness or weight loss accomplishment. What I have learned is that if you want it bad enough, you can make it happen.

So my charge to you is to stop saying to yourself "I'm not the type of person who could ever run a marathon" or "I could never have the discipline to cut/count calories and lose weight" because it is not true! It might not be easy or convenient, but (unless you have a legitimate medical concern) you can lose weight and you can exercise (and even finish a marathon!) if you really want it. It might take 3 months or 5 years  but you can do it. The question is not whether you can, but whether you want it enough to work for it and make sacrifices if needed along the way.

I hope that is encouraging for some of you! Sometimes it is also a harsh realization - usually it is only you who is standing in your own way. You'll have to sort out discipline and scheduling and motivation and sacrifice along the way and those are hard things too. But don't let fear of failure or low self confidence stop you from even starting! Because if I can do it, so can you.

Here's my thoughts on how to get from where you are now to finishing a marathon (or any other goal you have - if you are at all sane, you probably aren't interested in 26.2 miles!)

Decide What You Want (And Prioritize!)

To ever get started you need to have a goal. And you need to be realistic in what you are willing to give  up to get there. If your goal is to go to an exercise class three times/week, are you willing to give up two dinners out to eat a month to pay for a gym membership? Yes sounds like the obvious answer, but it might not be the right one for you. Be realistic with yourself on your priorities. Maybe you need that time out with friends to decompress from stress at work and you would be better off not joining a gym at all. You can always exercise for free at home just by walking or jogging. It might be less fun than the exercise class, but you don't have to give up your nights out.

The same thing goes for weight loss - would you rather go all out and cut back to 1200-1300 daily calories and lose the weight fairly quickly just to get it over with? Or would you rather not suffer through those 3-6 months of not eating out, no dessert, etc. (it is pretty rough)? Maybe you would be better off cutting back your calories slightly and losing weight over 1-2 years. Do what will work best for you.

Weight loss and exercise are not the only things in our lives for sure! Don't set a goal of working out five times a week if you know that your family schedule won't allow it - constantly failing at your goal will not make you feel good. Instead start with two dedicated times a week and move heaven and earth to meet that commitment to yourself. It will be far more effective in the long run than trying to fit in five and constantly having to skip workouts.

You have to start somewhere, so make sure your goal is manageable and fits with your priorities.

Set Small Goals Along the Way

If your ultimate goal is a long way off from your starting point, then set milestones along the way. Way back in 2010 when I started exercising I didn't have a goal of running a marathon 3 years later, but if I had, 3 years probably would have been the right time frame from my couch potato starting point!

Setting smaller goals not only helps you stay motivated since the payoff is more immediate, but it also helps you build confidence along the way. Start with something small like "I will walk a 5k by the end of June" or "I will run a mile without stopping within 8 weeks" and go from there. Each success will make you more excited for the next milestone.

This applies to weight loss too - if you want to lose 50 lbs, make sure to celebrate every 10 pounds with a reward or at least an conscious acknowledgment of how far you have come. Always focus on how well you have done so far, and it makes how far you have left to go much less scary!

Move at Your Own Pace

It is easy to go look up a training plan online and think "perfect, I can be marathon ready in 18 weeks"! But in reality, everyone improves at their own rate and there is no cookie cutter training plan for everyone. When I trained for my first half marathon last year I (luckily) left a few extra weeks in my training plan because I knew that I had always had a hard time building distance quickly - I ended up repeating an 8 mile long run three times before I felt ready to move on to 9 miles. Don't feel pressure to meet a certain timeframe - if you sign up for a 5k and you have never run one before, then start your 8 week training plan 12 weeks before the race. That will allow you to repeat weeks if needed, and there's no downside to being over prepared!

Lose Weight (If You Need To)

Running/exercise may or may not help you lose weight. If you keep your eating habits the same, then adding exercise will definitely burn off the pounds. But if you eat more because you treat yourself for exercising, or just because you are more hungry from working out, you may not lose any weight at all. That happened to me with triathlon training in 2010.

BUT, losing weight will definitely help you run. I can hardly think of a running or exercise goal where losing weight would not help (sumo wrestling?). Not only will you likely have more energy, but it is much less of a strain on your joints! I do not think I could have completed marathon training injury-free while I was overweight. Everyone is different, but my joints don't seem extremely strong as is! And I definitely noticed an increase in speed after I lost about 30 pounds. I was consistently running 10 minute miles and struggling to run even a single mile faster than that, but over the summer after about 30 pounds lost, I was really able to pick up the pace.

So, if you have an exercise goal, particularly with running or walking, consider losing weight to help you meet it! And if you goal is losing weight, don't count on just exercising to get you there without also paying attention to what you are eating.

Don't Expect It To Be Fun (At First)

Exercising is generally not fun. Especially when you are first starting out and your body is screaming "WHYYYY!!" Continually remind yourself that you are doing it because it is good for your health. Do you brush your teeth because it is fun? Probably not. Exercising is a part of taking good care of your body too. The minutes or hours you spend working out might not feel fun, but the satisfaction you get from the results will be worth it.

Plus, there are lots of ways to make exercise more fun. Do it with a friend, join a class that you love, buy bright, fun workout clothes, make awesome playlists on your iPod that you only listen to while working out, etc. You may or may not get the "endorphin high" people talk about while running, but always keep in mind - most people don't work out because they love it, they work out because the love the results and it is good for them. That can be you too!

If you want to, you can. That was my big takeaway and I hope you will take some time to think about it. Lifestyle changes can be really difficult, but they are one of the only things in life that we have complete control over! Don't stand in your own way due to fear or self-doubt. If you want something bad enough, make a plan and make it happen!!

Marathon Training FAQs (kind of...)

First, I owe you a Wednesday weigh-in - today's weight was 132, so I am flat from last week. It actually had come down to 130.8, but I've been extra hungry in the few days after the marathon so I've been eating a little above my calorie goal. I'm not really worried about it, but if it keeps going up I will have to reevaluate things!!

I mentioned yesterday that I would write up some of my thoughts on the marathon process. I had one big overall takeaway that I'll save for it's own post tomorrow. For today I'm going to answer what I assume would be the most frequently asked questions about my marathon experience (if you guys had asked haha).

What was the best part about the marathon experience?

First of all, of course finishing was the best part - seeing all of my hard work pay off! But I think in general the best part was constantly reaching a new milestone. Nearly every time I did a long run it was the farthest I had ever run before. Unless I go crazy and decide to run farther than 26 miles, I'll never have that feeling again, so I think getting to have that experience of being constantly amazed at what my body can do was the best part. And that all culminated in the race itself, which of course was a new 'longest distance ever run' for me.

What was the worst part about the marathon experience?

Beforehand, I would have expected that my answer would be the time required for the long runs. But I'll get to that in later section. The absolute worst part was dealing with the self doubt after my bad run. Maybe I need to get better at handling failure, but it took me longer to mentally recover from that than it probably should have. But I'm proud to say I was able to turn it around and think positive and the race went great even after all that worrying! I guess in general, the fear of the training not paying off was the worst part. Hopefully now that I've been through it once, if I decide to do another I can  go in with more confidence and not be thrown off my game by one bad run.

What is one thing that you wish you knew before you started marathon training?

This is definitely where the time commitment factor comes into play. I knew before I started that training for a marathon meant 2-3 hour training runs for several weeks in a row. What I underestimated is that the weekend long run essentially takes up three days of your week. The day before the long run, you don't want to do anything too strenuous, need to get a good night of sleep and need to not eat anything to greasy, no alcohol, etc. Of course there are exceptions, but the run might be pretty brutal. Then, after the long run you are pretty wiped out. And the day after the long run you are sore, so you don't want to do too much then. Add that to running 7-8 miles on Wednesday's and it definitely becomes a big time commitment.

That's not to say that I wasn't able to maintain my normal life while training, but it did mean that I needed to do a lot of planning in advance (you guys know I love having a plan!) and be willing to sacrifice some things for my training. I don't say this to scare any of you off - it was unexpected but manageable!

Do you feel like your training plan worked?

I definitely thought my training plan was appropriate in terms of total mileage, how fast the mileage built up, etc. You definitely need to consider your starting point, but for me it worked out well. I essentially started training in June, and at the time I had completed a half marathon (in March) and was running around 3-4 miles on a routine basis. I used Hal Higdon's training plans after reviewing plans online, I think I picked them someone randomly, but I did like that it was usually 4 days a week of running, not 5 days.

6/11 - 8/19:     Intermediate 5k Training Plan - I repeated weeks 7 & 8 to make a 10 week plan
8/20 - 10/14:   Intermediate 10k Training Plan - Did not do strength training or cross training, oops.
10/15 - 2/17:   Novice 2 Marathon Training Plan - Did not to do cross training, oops again.

So, as you can see, it was a long process! But I knew from previous running experience that it takes me a while to build up mileage, and I also wanted to work some on my speed. So it made sense to work through those 5k and 10k training plans first. I got faster, which helped me set and meet my goal for the Dallas Half Marathon (under 2 hours!), and by the time I finished the 10k plan, I could run 8 miles pretty easily, which was a great starting point for marathon training.

What would you do differently?

I think one thing that would have benefitted my training is to actually do the strength training and cross training that I left out of my training plans. It would have been hard to fit in strength training to my marathon plan, but if I had done some during the 5k and 10k time periods, when my distance was less and I had more time, then I would have been stronger for my marathon training. And stronger = less knee pain most likely! And I do think the cross training would have helped to keep my legs from wearing out towards the end of my training. In the last few weeks I definitely felt slower on my training runs and overall just more physically worn down. The cross training would have helped loosen up my muscles by working out using different muscle groups than running, and still would have been easier on the joints that running.

Will you do another marathon?

I think so, but I'm not sure when. I definitely will do a half marathon again next fall/winter and I want to work on improving my time event further. But I'm not sure if I'll be ready for another marathon next year - it probably depends on what is going on in the rest of my life. But I definitely think I will want to do another one in the next 2-3 years, and maybe even with a goal this time. Under 4 hours would be awesome!

What's next for you with running?

I have a few things coming up - first I am running a 5k here in Beaumont on March 9th - my brother is coming to visit and he is running it too. I would love to beat my previous 5k record, which was a 7:19 pace, but I don't know if that is in the cards since I am just coming off the marathon! But I did a fast run today and it felt pretty good so we will see. Since it is a small race, I probably have a chance of placing in my age group, which would be awesome, but it all depends on who is there that day! My time is fast, but not that fast!

After that we have the Texas Independence Relay, which is shaping up to be super fun since our good friends Declan & Christine decided to do it too. It will certainly be an experience as 12 of us cover 200 miles of Texas roads, running all through the night! Overall, we'll probably run about 16 miles each over 3 different legs, so not too bad compared to the marathon.

The after that, my last  goal is to hit 1200 miles by my birthday on June 15th! I have to stay pretty active to get there, so right now I'm targeting about 25 miles/week. Then maybe I'll start all over again with the 5k and 10k training plans? We'll see!

I'm also looking forward to getting back to other forms of exercise - biking, and maybe some of that strength training I've been needing! We actually have a few fitness classes offered at the office gym now, so I'll try to take advantage of that some too.

We'll thats all of the made-up FAQs I can think of - if you guys have any other questions definitely let me know!!

Austin Marathon Recap

So I am thrilled to say that I am now officially a marathoner! Most of you probably saw on facebook, but the short story is that I accomplished nearly all of my goals from this post:

1. Finish the race. Done!
2. Finish the race on my own terms. Check, since I accomplished #3!
3. Run the whole race (except for walking through water stations and such). Unbelievably, yes! 
4. Finish at a 10 min/mile pace. Almost, my Garmin said 10:10 min/mile - close enough for me!!

This post will probably get a bit long, but I want to document my race experience!

Before the Race

The race started at 7AM, so we got up at 4:45 to have enough time to eat breakfast and digest a bit before running. I ate my english muffin with peanut butter, which was my plan, and then took some Gu  Chomps (basically energy fruit snacks) with me to eat once we got downtown. Turns out the buses weren't running from outside Kelly's apartment, but we were able to drive down and find a parking spot not too far out of the way. By the time we checked our bags in and stood in line to use the bathroom one last time (very important if you are going to be running for 4 hours!) it was basically time for the race to start!

Hard to get a good picture in the dark!

Sam & I got up to the 'corrals' right as the race was starting, but it was no rush since it takes a long time to get thousands of people moving. The way it works is that you line up based on your expected pace, from fastest to slowest, so I was fairly far back and perfectly okay with that. Sam probably should have started a little farther up, but no matter what you end up weaving through people for the first few miles so it didn't really matter. We finally got moving and crossed the start line at about 7:09.

Miles 1-10: Don't Start Too Fast!

For the first few miles I was just focused on keeping and even pace and not starting out too fast! I wore my heart rate monitor that syncs with my Garmin watch, so I was able to keep and eye on my pace and my exertion level. My 'max heart rate' is 190, and I didn't want to end up much above 180 by the end, so I decided to target around 170 for the first half of the race. That meant I had to take it easy on the uphills on miles 4-6, but I cruised a little faster on miles 7-9, which were mostly downhill.

By about mile 10, I felt pretty confident that I would be able to run the whole race. My knees were hurting, but it was a normal level of ache, not the 'my knee can't support my weight anymore' type pain that made me stop a few weeks ago. So I started psyching myself up for that and also focusing on my pace a little bit. I was averaging around 10:02 per mile through the first 10 miles so I thought maybe I could keep it up the whole way.

Miles 10-20: Gummy Bears & Trying to Enjoy It!

I took my energy gel at mile 9, and by mile 12 I was starting to feel hungry! I knew they weren't giving out energy gels until mile 17 so I was a little bit worried. Luckily the race spectators in Austin were awesome and lots of them were handing out food! I grabbed a whole handful of gummy bears from a tray around mile 13, and that hit the spot! By mile 15, my pace had slipped to 10:08 or so, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to get it back down to 10 min/mile, but I was still pretty happy with my pace so far!

I would say that around mile 15-19 is when I started to really enjoy the race. The first 15 miles I was so focused on pacing myself so that I wouldn't burn out early, and worrying about whether or not my knee would start hurting worse, etc. that I really wasn't taking time to just relax and enjoy it! Once it hit mile 20, I was pretty excited that I had now run farther than ever before, but I also started worrying about "hitting the wall" - I've always heard that happens around mile 20!

Miles 20-26: Setting a Random New Goal

I made it through miles 20-23 a little slower (about a 10:30 pace) and at that point I knew I wouldn't be able to hit a 10 min/mile average pace, so I started hoping that I would make it in under 4 hours, 30 minutes. I didn't know exactly what pace that would be, but I figured if I stayed around the same pace I could make it. Then around mile 23 was when I finally 'hit the wall' I suppose. My ankles started hurting, my left one in particular, which I have never had happen before. But at that point I knew there was only 3 miles left and there was no way I was stopping! I checked my watch with about 2.8 miles left and it was 11:09, so I knew there was about 30 more minutes and I could probably still make it!

At this point, my dialogue with myself was getting pretty entertaining. I kept trying to pump myself up with things like "it's okay if you totally ruin your knees - this isn't a training run, it IS the race - who cares if you need surgery later!" (even though my pain was never that bad) and "Rachel, actually lifting your legs is going to be a requirement for finishing the race" (after I dragged my toes a few times and almost tripped). But mostly I just focused on the fact that I was so close to the finish and to my goal of running the whole race, and that I would be so disappointed if I stopped to walk now!

(I should probably mention at this point that I don't think there is anything wrong or shameful about walking during a race - I know a lot of people even employ a run/walk strategy on purpose. In fact, during those last few miles there were numerous people that I passed while they were walking who came running past me a few minutes later - they were able to run faster by taking short walk breaks. It's a great strategy for some people. But for me personally, I had set a goal to run the whole thing and that was more important to me even than my finish time. Plus I knew that for me, starting to walk would make it really hard to start running again!)

The Finish!!

Within the last half mile there was a pretty steep hill (cruel!) but at the top Sam & Kelly & Will (Kelly's roommate) were there cheering so that pumped me up for the last little bit! Sam tried to grab a few pictures, but of course I wouldn't be capable of giving them a normal, smiling face:

I was in the middle of raising my arms to cheer, but I guess Sam took the picture a bit early, so I look ridiculous!

Should have just smiled for this one and it would have been good! But I was in the middle of yelling "I haven't
 stopped yet" as if I couldn't believe it... I look like I'm either lost or mad that someone is taking my picture! Oh well.

As I rounded the corner to the finish line I could see the race clock showing 4 hours and 38 minutes, and since I started 9 minutes after the clock started, my new 4:30 time goal was still in reach! I crossed the finish line after it hit 4:39, but I didn't know if I had made it because I couldn't remember how many seconds into the 9th minute we had crossed the start line!

After I crossed the finish line and stopped, all of a sudden I could barely walk. It's kind of hilarious when you think about it, because literally 2 minutes earlier I was running and now I could hardly move my legs! I guess that's what the adrenaline does for you! I hobbled through the medal area and got a water bottle and a banana and went to get my bag. I sat down on the curb (that felt nice!) and I called my Mom right away. She had been tracking my progress online and told me that I had finished in 4:29:41 - just barely under!!! I was definitely excited about that! All together it was an interesting mix of emotions at the finish - I was so proud and excited but also so tired and relieved to be done that it kind of all balanced out to neutral, or maybe I was just stunned!

Here's a couple of the "official race photos" I haven't purchased them yet (and probably won't), so sorry for the low quality and the copyright watermark - I guess they don't want you taking the pics off the internet (like I just did haha).

I hobbled over to meet up with Sam, Will & Kelly and headed out to lunch after much-needed showers!   We headed back to Beaumont right after lunch, and we were home by 8 so that wasn't too bad. On Sunday my joints were so sore - I waddled more than walked for the rest of the day! But Monday and today and I have had more general muscle soreness, but not too much lingering knee/joint pain. My ankle still feels strained, but I think it just needs a few more days to rest and recover. All together, not too bad for running 26.2 miles! I've had fun recounting the whole thing to family and friends and now you guys - it's hard to believe it really happened!!

It was also awesome fill in a blank spot on my personal records on the Garmin Connect website where I track all of my runs! Note that I actually ran more than 26.2 miles - pretty typical that a race ends up a little longer than advertised. My watch said 10:10 pace for those 26.3 miles, but if you divide my total time by 26.2 miles the pace would have been 10:17.

Well I think that is enough for today, I have some more thoughts on the whole marathon process in general but I will save those for tomorrow! All in all it was an awesome race and I am just grateful that I didn't experience any bad knee pain or any other pain that made me stop. I know it is mostly due to my training but I feel like there is some amount of luck involved - any day can randomly be an 'off-day' so I am thankful that this was not one of those! Thanks to all of you guys for your words of support - as I was running I knew I wanted to be able to report a good race back to everyone!!

Race Prep: The Mental Game

Okay so I've definitely been slacking a little bit in the blogging department again! But now it is officially marathon week so hopefully I'll be checking in more often! First off, today's weigh in was 132lbs. I wasn't thrilled but not too discouraged either - although I have been sticking to my calorie target, I have definitely been eating more junk over the past few days, so I'm sure it will go back down if I stay on track.

So I wanted to write a couple of posts about race day preparation since the marathon is now only 4 days away! (eek!) But these thoughts could definitely apply to any goal, particularly fitness of course - whether it is walking your first 5k or running a marathon. There are lots of important areas for race prep, but today I'm going to brain dump on you guys about mental preparation.

I've heard a lot of people say that for a marathon, your physical training will get you through the first 20 miles, but your mind carries you through the final 6, so I've been preparing myself for that. But I think this applies to any new distance you are running, or a faster pace, etc. I remember when I first started running it took me forever to get up to 3 miles, and almost as long after that to go from 3 mile to 4 miles without stopping. I am sure that if my body could handle 3 miles fairly routinely then 4 miles should have been no problem, but I had some sort of mental block where I always gave up or wouldn't push myself to get there. When I finally did it felt amazing! So here's the strategies I'm planning to use this weekend...

Focus on the positive.

I have been working hard on this for the past several weeks after my attempt at a 20 mile run. Having to stop from the knee pain really shook my confidence and made me question if I could do the marathon. So I've been looking back through the training records and reminding myself of all the successes I've had a long the way. I keep telling myself things like "if you can run a half marathon at a 9:05 pace, you can finish a marathon if you run a lot slower!" and I'm trying to focus on memories of how I felt when my long runs went well. Unfortunately, most of my long runs have been on the same route where I had to stop on my 20 miler and walk back to the car... so I am having a hard time remembering the good ones (although my notes even say that my 19 mile run was "awesome"). But, I did have one great run while I was in NC over the holidays that I can clearly remember how I felt during and afterwards, so I am focusing on that.

Choose a mantra.

I don't know that I'm really into mantras for day to day life, but it definitely helps to have something short and sweet to hold on to for motivation during a tough workout. For at least a year now, I've been carrying a fortune from a fortune cookie in my wallet - at first it reminded me to keep at it with my weight loss efforts, but now it works for running too. A short little phrase that is a good reminder that I have put in a lot of effort in to my training and it will pay off!

Think about why you started.

It definitely helps me to think about all of the progress I had made over the last 13+ months. Losing 40lbs and running my first half marathon. Finally running 3 miles at a 9 minute pace in June (which I thought I could never do) and then running my second half marathon at nearly a 9 minute pace just 6 months later! When I first signed up for the marathon I didn't tell anyone (even Sam!) for two months because I wasn't sure if I could do it. But as I trained through the summer I got more and more confident and I wanted to push myself to this goal. Thinking back to how far I have come makes me grateful that it is even a possibility for me to run this marathon, and proud of myself for making a lifestyle change to be healthier!

Prioritize your goals.

This is going to be super important for me during the race. I keep telling myself that these are the priorities:

1. Finish the race.
2. Finish the race on my own terms. I would rather employ a walk/run strategy then have to walk the last 5 miles any never start running again if that makes sense. I don't want to feel defeated.
3. Run the whole race (except for walking through water stations and such). 
4. Finish at a 10 min/mile pace.

The long shot is #4, so I don't have too much hope built up there - if things are going well in the first half of the race then I will try for it. But I am really hoping to accomplish #1-3. So in case things don't go awesome and I end up having to walk some, I am hoping that reminding myself of my priorities will help me stay positive! My original goal was just to finish since this is my first marathon, and I'll have to remind myself to be satisfied with that if it comes down to it!

Plan & visualize your race.

I am all about this last one because I am a bit of a control freak and I like to be over prepared. So if you are like me, it really helps to review the course beforehand! I haven't driven the whole thing obviously, since we don't live in Austin. But I have mapped out the course, including the elevation changes, so I know what to expect. For example, miles 1-6 are slightly uphill, so I'll plan to keep in slow. Miles 6-9 are downhill, so if I find myself going a bit faster I won't force myself to slow down. Then it is 10 miles of slight incline and the last 7 miles are downhill (thank goodness!). Thinking through the race in my head (and trying to visualize success!) helps me to feel more in control/prepared. 

I think that's enough for now, but hopefully this helps anyone who is fighting a fitness battle in their mind like I often do! Some of it is cheesy but it works! I know I get emotional when a run is difficult and it is hard to keep going so it helps to have a few tricks up your sleeve to stay mentally strong. Any other tips on how to stay in the game? Some people are able to just zone out while they run - I wish I was one of those!!

Ten Days

So we are back from Utah and (somewhat) readjusted to being back to work. I'll post a skiing recap this weekend for sure but first, I didn't do my weigh-in post yesterday!

Yesterday's weight was 131.2 and todays was 130.4 so I think it is safe to say that I didn't really gain on vacation! I was about 133 when we got back on Sunday so I feel like things are just recalibrating to my normal level of eating/activity. Hopefully I'll be back in the 120's soon!!

After my failed 20 miler before we left on our trip, I decided to take a few days off of running to let me knees (and my pride!) recover. Somehow that turned into 10 days since I also didn't run while we were in Utah, although I got plenty of exercise skiing. After we got back I was pretty tired/sore from skiing for three days so I didn't run until Tuesday. Taking that time off was definitely a help physically, but it has been a struggle mentally - more so that I expected.

I didn't realize until I started thinking about it, but ten days is probably the longest I have gone without running in the past 18 months (I guess that officially makes me a runner?!). And especially over the past several months I have put so much mental effort into planning my runs, actually running, and tracking the results that 10 days off was just really weird for lack of a better word. I know that my body is physically ready and the time off helped it to recover, but I feel like I've lost a bit of my 'mental momentum' after not focusing on running for a over a week. So now I am just trying to pump myself back up and finish strong with my preparation because the marathon is only 17 days away!!

This weekend I will probably try to do 12-13 miles, and hopefully no knee pain! That would be a nice confidence booster for sure!!

Weekend Recap

I guess I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus! After my weirdly bad run on Wednesday, I took Thursday and Friday off to rest before my 20 miler on Saturday. I wanted to run Saturday so that I would have a day to recover and then get a good run in today and tomorrow before we leave for Utah to go skiing (woohoo!).

But before all of that, we had some serious business to attend to on Friday night - and 80s themed 30th birthday party for our friend Daniel. About half of the party goers dressed up, and you know we were among them! We had a really fun time and ate too much candy and danced the night away to 80s music! Sam's jacket had a big pouch in front and he kept carrying around his snacks and a water bottle in it, it was pretty hilarious.

So then, Saturday morning we got up to conquer our run. From the start things weren't going great - my left knee hurt for the first two miles, but luckily it went away after 3 miles or so. We did about 10 miles at a 9:30 pace but after about mile 12 my legs started feeling pretty heavy and my right knee started hurting. We had to take a couple of breaks and I was kind of worried that my knee was going to give out because it felt so weak. Finally at mile 16 I literally couldn't run anymore, which was unfortunate because we were 4 miles from the car. Sam ran back to get the car and pick me up and I just kept walking until he picked me up.

I was really upset about having to stop because I wanted my last long run to be a good one! But I had a nice long walk to clear my head because Sam had to run the whole way back before he could come get me, and I decided to just be okay with having a crappy run. I've put a lot of training in and since my goal is just to finish the marathon, I think I am definitely prepared to do that! I think my body has been telling me that it is exhausted recently, so it will be good to give myself a break and make sure I am back in top health for the marathon. I didn't run today because my knees and legs are still sore and I probably won't before we leave for Utah - I think I will get plenty of exercise this week skiing anyway!

Wednesday Weigh-In

I almost forgot that I am doing weigh ins on Wednesday now! Today's weight was 130.8lbs, so I am down a little bit from last week. I've been counting calories again since the start of the year, but I set my calorie target to just maintain my weight and so far it seems to be working. I definitely would love to maintain my weight just below 130 - it would be nice to see the 120s again! But I need to make sure I am eating enough to support my running, so I'm perfectly happy with where I am at for the time being.

Speaking of the calorie counting, I have been shocked by how much food I am able to eat with the higher calorie target! Last year when I was counting calories, my daily target was 1200, and if I 'earned extra calories' by exercising I didn't use them except for maybe 100-200 extra on long run days. Now my base calorie target is 1610 and I'm allowing myself to each more based on how much I burn when running. It's like I can eat all day on run days and still not hit my calorie max, which is awesome! It is also because I am eating smaller meals and healthy snacks (I could kill 1600 cals of cookies in no time!), but its nice to feel like I can have a snack whenever I want.

For example, here's my food long from yesterday. Have I mentioned how much I love the My Fitness Pal app?

You can't see all of the dinner ingredients, but the total was 534, which is a pretty large meal for me (Chicken Parmesan + a salad) and I had 715 calories of snacks throughout the day and I still had 275 calories I didn't even use! It's just crazy after being used only 1200 when I'm counting calories. I'm not super proud of my breakfast choice with the Peanut Butter Crunch, but I have a weakness for that stuff. It definitely does not keep me full though, so I've mostly been doing greek yogurt + a banana.

On a side note, I know I'm late to the party but greek yogurt is awesome. People always told me how much they liked it and then conditioned it with "but its kind of thick" and "you have to get used to it" etc. etc. And so I thought why would I want to try that? I liked my regular yogurt perfectly fine. But they were handing out free 6oz containers at the expo for the race in Dallas and I discovered that it's only slightly thicker than regular yogurt and basically wasn't an adjustment at all haha. And it comes in awesome flavors. So if you've been scared of greek yogurt because of all the conditions on the recommendations, don't be! Side note finished.

Anyway, my 8 mile run did not go as planned tonight. As in, it was only a 3 mile run. For some reason I just did not feel right - the first two miles were great and then all of a sudden my legs felt like jello and I felt slightly dizzy and completely out of energy. So I just went home. It's not very often at all that I feel that bad on a run and it just wasn't worth it to me to keep going. I'm not sure what went wrong, if I was just to cold (it was chilly out and I probably could have dressed warmer) or if my lunch was too big or too small or what. But I'm learning to be better about listening to my body - sometimes there are aches and pains but usually I still feel strong and today was not like that at all! Plus the most important thing is that I get my long run in this weekend so I don't mind a little setback this week. So I guess my last mid-week 8 miler was last week, who knew? I just hope I'm not getting sick with all of this flu mess going around.

Oh and speaking of bright running clothes from this post, today's outfit definitely fit the bill. Too bad I didn't get enough miles in to blind half of Beaumont with my neon shirt. Better safe than sorry!

It's wayyy brighter in person, I promise :)

Also, I apparently need to stop putting my hair behind my ear only on one side - my hair cut looks so lopsided in that picture! Haha oh well. Anyway, I'm off to stretch and then do something mindless before bed!

Last Mid-Week 8 Miler

So today I have my last 8 mile weekday run on the schedule! Granted next week it only drops to 7miles, but it still feels nice to be headed in the other direction. I thought that the long weekend runs would be the worst part of the marathon training because the runs take 2-3 hours, but in reality I have plenty of time on the weekends to schedule it in. Turns out these longer weekday runs are more of a nuisance since they have to be done on a workday so I'll be glad to be done with them!

Speaking of long runs, I have my longest training run scheduled for this weekend - 20 miles! I may even try to do 22 miles if I'm not dying by the end. I can't believe I'm even talking about running that long, but I've done 19 miles already, so I guess 20 won't be too much farther. That's one thing that I didn't really appreciate about training for the marathon - not only does each run make me physically stronger and more prepared for the race, but it prepares me mentally too! I never would have thought I could run a marathon, but each week when I run just a bit farther it builds my confidence. Everyone says that in a marathon, the first 20 miles are all about your fitness and the last 6 are all about your mind, so hopefully all of this training will pay off and I can stay positive throughout the whole race!

It was the same when I first started running - every milestone is important and builds more confidence! I used to run ~1/10 of a mile before I had to stop to walk and I remember even getting to 1/4 of a mile was a huge accomplishment, then a mile, then several. You have to celebrate every bit of progress along the way because it is significant and it keeps you motivated to do more.

After this weekend, I start to taper for the marathon, which basically means my mileage will be cut back for the next 4 weeks to make sure I'm not totally worn out before the race. Typically a 3 week taper is recommended, but we are actually going skiing in Utah next weekend, so I decided to move my 20 miler up to this weekend since I likely won't be able to fit it in next weekend. Hopefully I don't break a leg skiing or anything! I haven't been in 5 years and I was never very good to begin with, but it is always fun anyway :)

I can't believe the marathon is almost here! I've really enjoyed training for it and seeing my progress over the last few months, but I will also be glad when it is over. Right now my activities every day revolve around how it will impact my running days. I'll be glad when I have a little more freedom in terms of planning my exercise. I'd like to get some more strength training in (nothing hardcore, just a Jillian Michaels' workout video or two) and get back to biking some when the weather warms up. I'm toying with the idea of training for a triathlon in August or September, but I'm undecided because there are so few pools to train in here and the memberships are expensive! So we'll see. But overall, I'm excited for the marathon and excited for it to be done too!!

Sorry for the long ramblings and no pictures today! Here's a funny picture of Ruby sitting like a human to satisfy you picture loving folks. She loves having her belly scratched and apparently this is how she thinks she can make it happen....

What a stinker. Happy Wednesday everyone!

Motivation & Accountability

Happy NFL Playoff Divisional Weekend! For those who don't know, we're pretty into the NFL around here - I'm not really sure what I am going to do with my weekends once it's over! (Maybe actually get something done around the house?) Annnnnd Go NC State! I didn't watch the game today since we don't have cable, but we kept the phones on autoupdate while we were running errands. If I was a good fan, I would have gone somewhere to watch it... but 5 seasons of not being able to see many NC State games will take a little of the devotion out of you I guess.

Anyway, the last few days have been pretty typical. After my post on Wednesday, I wasn't able to do my 8 mile run because it never stopped raining. Usually I would run on the treadmill since I don't like to get off my schedule, but 8 miles on the treadmill just didn't sound good. I should have though, because it looks like it is going to be raining all day tomorrow, and I couldn't do my long run today because I did 8 miles Thursday and a fast 3 last night and my legs were super sore. So it could be 12 miles on the treadmill tomorrow - oh well! Netflix will help me make it through.

It can definitely be easy to put off exercising on a rainy day, or just a long day at work, etc, etc. I'm sure you guys struggle with this too. One of the ways I hold myself accountable is similar to what I did with weight loss - planning everything in advance! Recently, this has meant that I've been following a specific training plan for my races. Way back in June, I put together a weekly training plan through the marathon in February. But, you don't have to make a plan that spans months and months (especially if you aren't targeting a specific race or distance). Making a weekly plan (like I do with meal planning) can be just as effective. Some things to consider:

• What are your goals for exercising? (i.e. calories burned, minutes spent exercising, etc.)
• What days will exercise best fit into your schedule? What time of day?
• What other things can you move around or reschedule to make it easier to fit the exercise in?
• Do you need to include any rest days?
• Is there anything specific about this week that needs special consideration vs. previous weeks?

For example, since I am currently training for the marathon, my goal is to run 4 times a week, with distances prescribed by a training plan I found online. I don't have many standing commitments on the weekdays, so any day is good for me - but I definitely need to do my workouts in the evenings because I am not a morning person. Since my training plan has fairly long runs on Wednesday, Sam typically cooks Wednesday so I am not totally crunched for time. I always plan a rest day after my long weekend run, and usually the day before also. So my weekly schedule is to run Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If I have a conflict on one of the weekdays, I'll slide Friday in instead.

Knowing my weekly schedule means I'm mentally prepared for what is coming up, and I think that make me less likely to skip out or do less. It's important to think of it as a commitment and not an optional activity - your health should be a priority!

Another thing that helps is to make your workouts fun whenever possible! Work out with a friend, put upbeat playlists on your iPod or find a podcast that you like and only listen to it when you workout. One thing that works for me is having bright colored workout clothes! Sounds silly, but it's a lot of fun to get to wear ridiculous colors all together. I used to only wear black/gray since supposedly it is more slimming, but that is definitely less fun! Bright colored running shoes are everywhere these days, and I like to wear bright clothes too. If getting dressed to exercise is fun, the exercising gets to be too, right?

Sam calls this my creamsicle shirt - with teal shorts!

Headband that Sam picked out for me at the expo in Dallas

The best advice I can give is that you have to figure out what works for you. But if you never start, you will never know! For me, I have to treat exercise like a requirement and then find ways to make it more bearable. It's taken me more than three years to get to the point where I enjoy running. And to be honest, it really doesn't matter if you like it - just find the type of exercise that you either hate the least or that fits your schedule/budget the best and do it! The best motivation is knowing that you are doing something  good for your health. And it is good for you whether you like it or not, although hopefully you eventually grow to enjoy it too!

How do you guys get/stay motivated?

(Also, Go Packers!)

Rainy Tuesday

Today's weather was gross here - rainy all day and I was dreading having to run on the treadmill. Luckily it was only light rain by the time I got home from work so I was able to do my 5 mile run outside without getting too wet!

At work, they started a "Culture of Health" program last year, which although a bit cheesy, is also awesome. I actually used their meal planning program to get started last year, and we get small incentives to complete health assessments, etc. throughout the year. For the holidays, they did a "Maintain, Don't Gain" program, where we weighed in at the beginning of November and were challenged to maintain our weight within one pound (or lose weight) through the holidays. Anyway, I was worried I wouldn't make it since I had put on some weight in November, but luckily I weighed in a pound below my starting weight, so yay for a free $25 gift card!

I'm really thankful that they are starting to promote health programs a little more - maybe they'll start subsidizing race entry fees soon? Probably wishful thinking :) Although our employee network does do a bit of that for the local Beaumont marathon/half/5k in March, so that's better than nothing!

Which reminds me about another race coming up in the next few months - the Texas Independence Relay. After my marathon in February, the TIR will be at the end of March, where I'll be part of a 10-12 person team running a 200 mile relay from Gonzales, TX to Baytown (near Houston).

We're having a team meeting tomorrow to work out all of the details, but basically we will all run 3-4 legs of the race, which will all be various lengths (3-8 miles). The relay starts Saturday and you run all through the night and then finish Sunday afternoon (the team van follows you along the way). It will definitely be a different type of experience and I think it will be really fun!

Time to do the dishes, watch some Netflix and get to bed. Anyone liking the new blog layout/design? I'm not sure if I love it, but the previous one was pretty lame, so it's an upgrade!

Nineteen Miles

New year, new commitment to blogging? It seems like every year is the same - I am the most productive in the first three months of the year, and then it goes steadily downhill until Nov/Dec when I can't seem to get anything done at all! Including blogging. But so many friends & family mentioned my blogging hiatus over the holidays and it reminded me that you guys actually do read this little blog! So I'm back, and my plan is to update (almost) daily, with shorter, more real time updates on my life. I'll probably post a link on facebook one or twice a week, so be sure to bookmark the blog if you want more frequent updates!

With all that being said, there's a bit of catching up to do before I get back to day-to-day blogging! The big events of the last few months (other than the holidays, of course) have mainly been running related. Sam and I ran the Dallas Half Marathon on Dec 9th, and I was thrilled to meet my goal of finishing under 2 hours! It was a warm and muggy day - not ideal at all for running - so I was really pleased. I've also continued to make progress on getting faster in general... I haven't tested my 5k record in awhile, but I've reset my 10k record several times.

And today, I did my longest run yet - 19 miles! Why, you might ask? Well that's the other big news, which some of you know already - I am planning to run the FULL marathon (26.2 miles) in Austin on Feb 17th. I actually decided a long time ago (June!) that I wanted to do it, but I was scared to commit or to tell anyone until I had some more training under my belt! After half marathon training was going well, I started telling people about the full around November. Once the word gets out, there's no turning back thanks to all of you holding me accountable! Sam is going to run the full also, although he's a seasoned marathoner compared to me (this will be his 4th). Right now, my main goal is just to finish(!) hopefully without any walking, but I would be very excited if I could finish under a 10:00min/mile pace.

Here's my current records from the Garmin website (my watch is seriously my favorite gadget ever):

As you can see, I'm a bit behind schedule on my 1200 mile goal, but I'm confident I can catch up with all the long runs I have coming up for marathon training.

Well that's it for now, I've got to get back to some serious NFL play off watching. Even the dogs are excited (or not....).

I'll sprinkle in updates on weight maintenance and life over the past few months as I blog this week. Thanks for reading!

Quick Check In...

Hi all! So I am working on an official 'before & after' post since I hit my 130lb goal.... but it's not ready yet. I am so not photogenic haha. But I figured I'd check in in the meantime.

This weekend was another lazy one - Friday Sam & I went out to dinner at Chili's and watched 'We Bought a Zoo' - very cute! Saturday it was super rainy here so we mostly stayed in and did stuff around the house, watched football, etc. Sam got a new iPhone 5 so he spent most of the day downloading 50 million apps....

Proud iPhone 5 Owner...

Saturday night we went out dancing with some friends (texas two stepping actually, and yes, we actually do that here - although Sam & I don't do it particularly well...) and had a lot of fun, but stayed out way too late! We did manage to drag ourselves up for a 7 mile run Sunday though (which was the only productive thing we did all day) before watching the NFL for the entire rest of the day :)

I tested out Sam's hydration belt, which didn't bother me nearly as much as I thought it might. I need to be able to carry water/food with me once I get into longer runs, so I figured I better get used to it sometime or other. Last year I did all of my long runs at the hike & bike trail, so I was would pass my water bottle every 2 miles. But since I'm trying out new routes that aren't repetitive loops, I need to be able to carry stuff with me!

First run with hydration belt....

I wore the belt on the front for about 30 seconds before I realized it was much less annoying if I twisted everything around to the back. The 7 miles went pretty well, although I was definitely worn out for the rest of the day. Today I have a 6 miler on the schedule, which seems cruel only two days later! But oh well, the weather is awesome here today so I guess I can't complain.

Stay tuned for before & after photos coming soon!!

Monday Weigh-In + Weekend Recap

Good news on the Monday weigh-in! Back down to 130.6 today. So I guess it was a false alarm? Although I definitely ate much better last week. I started tracking my calories again to discourage me from sneaking extra snacks at work and a home, and I planned out all of my snacks like I talked about last week, which helped keep my occupied and away from the candy jars!

This weekend I was soooo lazy, which is definitely nice every once in awhile. I did manage to get in a bike ride with Sam on Saturday and a 6 mile run yesterday morning (set a new best time for 10k distance!), but other than that I basically sat in my bed and watched football or napped. Not even on the couch haha, straight up in the bed. Sam was catching up on work for most of the weekend and then left yesterday to go to Baton Rouge for a few days for work, so I guess that just made me feel extra lazy!!

Saturday afternoon I did go to a baby shower for my friends Jeff & Sara, so that was fun! I'm very excited for them - it is their first baby, due at the end of October. Of course I slacked off and didn't take any pictures, but here's a few I stole from facebook:

Beautiful Mom-to-be - all smiles!
...and me messing with my hair in the background not
realizing I would be in every single one of these pictures...

Amazing cake that Sara's friend made & decorated!!

Despite all the laziness, my Sunday run was really good, maybe because I was so well rested! I tried something new with my route - typically I either run in my neighborhood or go to the hike & bike trail. The problem is that my neighborhood is tiny, so there is really only a 0.4mi loop I can run without having to get out on a main road with no shoulder/sidewalks. I have run 6 miles on the loop before (15 laps!) but every time you come around again, its just another chance to quit early. And it gets a little boring. The hike & bike is a 2mi loop, but there is no shade at all, and nothing to really look at so it can definitely be boring too. So yesterday I drove to a different (larger) neighborhood, that also connects to other neighborhoods by just crossing semi-busy streets. I parked at an elementary school and the 6 miles seemed a lot shorter when it was one big route rather than repeating a loop! I mapped out courses up to 8 miles, so that might be my new spot for weekend runs. Plus it connects to the one of the only main streets in Beaumont with legitimate bike lanes and sidewalks, so I can hop on to that too when I get to even longer runs...

Okay enough about that, but I'm excited to be trying new things with my running - next weekend I'm testing out Sam's heart rate monitor strap thing. Now if only I could get something done around the house rather than just exercising and sleeping all weekend :)

Running Update: 5K Time Trial

So like I mentioned in my last running post, I'm in the middle of an 8-week 10k training plan. So this past weekend my long run was a 5k (3.1 miles), and was supposed to be a "race pace" aka as fast as possible. My goal for the run was to beat my current best 5k time (24:15) and also break 24 minutes.

Sam came with me out to the "Hike & Bike Trail" which is about 5 minutes from our house. I don't normally run here since it's more convenient to just leave from the house, but it's nice for a change of pace every once in awhile. Since I was banking on a successful attempt, and I figured I needed more pictures on this blog, I made him take a picture of me before we started. Notice my sweet new shoes with neon green laces! And the gigantic watch haha :)

I didn't want to go too fast at the beginning, so I tried to keep near my target pace (7:44) for the first two miles, and then pick it up at the end if I had any energy left. I was so excited when I was able to finish in 23:34! It's nice to see the hard work paying off (and the slightly cooler weather didn't hurt either).

Now my mileage starts to ramp up a bit, 6, then 7, then 8 miles on my long runs over the next few weeks before the 10k time trail on Week 8. I've run 6 miles several times over the past few months, but nothing longer than that so we'll see how it goes.

Sweaty but satisfied :)

Sam ran the rest of the way home from the Hike & Bike, making me look like a wimp, but whatever. Hope you guys are also enjoying the (somewhat) cooler weather by getting outside a bit!