November - Already?

Well look at that. The 11th month is already here.  I had high hopes for this year, including making it back to 150. 

However, over the course of a year, I have done some pretty amazing things.  I have run my 5th half marathon, my 4th 10K, completed a 12 week lifting program and done 1 full (and 2 half) Whole30s.  I have tested some new things to see what I can do to make myself better and healthier. I have dragged my family through most of it (they are great sports!)

So I am not where I want to be with my weight. And I honestly haven't had my body fat tested lately, although it's on my list of "Things to Do" next time I go to the gym.  But I feel like I have a greater understanding of my body, what makes it tick and what makes it sloth... 

I am in a fitness group that will start reading It Starts with Food as a group this week.  The plan is to do a GROUP Whole30 starting January 1, after reading the entire book.  I haven't committed to it yet, I just haven't decided if I am in the right place mentally. But the more I talk to people, the more I find myself saying "Oh, that wasn't a problem for me during my Whole30!" or "Whole30 fixed that in me!" and wonder why I wouldn't do another one?  It will have been 4 months since my last attempt and will probably be a great time to go for it.  I know Paleo is NOT for me as a lifestyle, but a good kick-start never hurt anyone. 

My weigh in on November 1 was a wakeup call (166). I'd been drowning myself in candy for a good week. I knew my October weight out was going to be HORRIBLE. Things can only go down from here.  So I recalled my first goal of the year - to fit into that Believe shirt. I still have time - my goal is to wear that shirt as much as possible starting the day after Thanksgiving. What does that mean? That means I have to clean up my food for the rest of November. I have to be spot-on with my working out and my water intake (I STINK at drinking water!! Coffee until it's time for wine, people!) 

I am definitely reevaluating the weight goal of 150 that I originally had for myself. I no longer think there is a magical scale number that will make me suddenly "healthy." Instead I am going for fitting in certain clothes and a body fat percentage as close to 22% as I can get.  I think I've mentioned this before, but the lowest I've ever gotten my BF% was during the clean eating phase we did last year. We still eat pretty closely to that, although I have never found a whole wheat or rice pasta that tasted worth eating so we still eat white pasta.  But I have homemade spices and sauces now for a long time and will continue to do so.  

So sorry for the rambling post. Nothing earth shattering today, just trying to get all of my thoughts out on what the last 10 months has brought me - almost right back to where I was at the start of the year...    

Addicted

Coming off of two excellent race weekends has me all messed up - like, it's making me think I actually enjoy running! ;-)

I registered for the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon in April!

Now my challenge will be not losing all of the fitness I have gained in the last several months. I have yet to sit down and make a plan, but I know I want to keep some long runs (several a month) in my schedule.  Who knows, maybe I'll do a half marathon training run and run the full 13. 

I've done this race before. It wasn't my most shining moment. But I'm coming to realize it wasn't about the course or the race - it was about my training and my mental place. It was about the way I fueled myself and the way my mind worked during races back then.  I am in a different place now (and they've apparently changed the route now, phew!) I have decided to give it another try. 

If anyone wants to join me, you are welcome! ;-) I always love to have people to run with during races!

Half Marathon #5 - Check!

So as I mentioned, I wanted to PR from last year. Last year's time was 2:21:40 and this year I just wanted to get 2:20. It's all I wanted, all I expected from myself. 

And I KILLED it. 

I knew going into this that I was going to have to have a 10:40 average to make my PR. I started off and my first few miles according to my Garmin were looking good, low 10's. I purposefully tried to slow myself down so that I didn't wear myself out too early. And I found it hard to slow down to a 10:40 pace!!  I kept reminding myself if I started to ache that I CAN slow down - I was under no pressure to keep going 10:15, 10:20 miles. But every time I tried to slow down to 10:40, I found myself moving right along with the crowd!

Everyone was so nice on the course! I ran into some familiar faces and made some new friends along the way. I normally don't remember much of my runs, but I was trying so hard to ENJOY this one!! I know that my tendency is to speed out of the gate, so around mile 3 I warned myself I needed to slow down a little bit. But mile 4.5-5 was the "High Five zone" at a farm where they invite spectators to high five as the runners go through! As soon as I knew the farm was coming up, I sped up a little (hence the 10:11 mile at 4) to see my family!!  And it was worth the sprint because I got two of the sweetest little hugs ever. 

The next few miles is through a community. I tried to keep my headphones out and take in all the sights of fall (the weather today - PERFECT. Mild temps, no glaring beating sun...), appreciating all the people who came out to cheer for runners.  Once you come out of the community, it's almost mile 8. That starts a SLIGHT uphill. Mile 10 - the ONLY true uphill run in this race! Sort of mean that they put it so close to the end, but it is what it is!

Once I hit 10 miles, I had my favorite thought - "Now it's just a Tuesday run. A 5k!" And when I looked down and realized I had a 5k left and was only at 1:42??  The writing was on the wall that I would PR, by how much was the question. 

I kept going, tried to keep myself from sprinting at that very moment. My Garmin was off by about .2/mile and I kept having to remind myself - MORE than a mile left, MORE than a half mile, etc.  As I rounded the corner to the street I knew the finish line was on, I knew it was TIME to sprint! I saw my family again right at mile 13. I didn't ALL OUT sprint like I usually do, but I was at a good clip into the finish line. I paused my Garmin, got my medal and tried not to explode. The clock as I passed said 2:17!!! Could I have possibly broken not only 2:20, but 2:15?!!!

Once I finally found my family, my first question for my husband was "Did you get the text? What was my official time??" 

2:15:27. 

ZOMG, I shaved SIX MINUTES off my time from last year!!!!!! 

 

I have a 10K next weekend. then no more races on the books for awhile. I may try to sneak a few 5ks in before next spring race season, but I'm definitely going to keep going and training! I never in a MILLION years thought I could hit 2:15. Now it makes me wonder what else I am capable of doing!! 

Race Day EVE!!!!

Tomorrow is the MO'Cowbell 

Half Marathon!!!!!! 

When they said yellow, they meant YELLOW!

I started having pre-race nightmares on Monday and have had race-related dreams almost every night since! Ran 6 miles on Tuesday. Thursday I ran TWO SLOOOW treadmill miles and went to Yogalates. 

Packet Pick up, complete.  Charging my devices today. Laying out my clothes (once I figure out what to wear, the weather is going to be everywhere from 50-70 tomorrow morning!) 

Next time I check in, I will be a five time half marathon finisher!!! 

T-14 Days!

It was a good week for me to be a runner! 

Thursday I headed to the park for that "no more than 4 mile" run I mentioned when I last posted.  I have found that I am better with out-and-back runs - the certainty of knowing where I stop, the "run home" that always gets me moving - they just work for me. So with four miles in mind, I started running. I hit 2 miles, though, and was making such good time and felt good, so I said what the heck, let's go for 2.5 before the turnaround. 

I ran most likely my FASTEST 5 miles EVER on Thursday!! I felt good! I know I can SPRINT that fast, but I can't usually go for longer distances with that pace. I was on a such a high knowing I had it in me to run that! 

Sara has having some foot and leg pain so she was unable to do our first taper run this week. Hoping she rests up and gets better (only TWO WEEKS until the MO' Cowbell race!) in time for the race!  I seriously considered just not going this morning.  My family was out late last night seeing our favorite Beatles cover band, I had a few drinks, stayed up late to finish some laundry, etc.  Sara and I have been meeting at 6:30! That means I've been setting an alarm for 5:45 (and getting up around 6 ;-).  I told myself last night I would "sleep in" and set my alarm for 6:30.  I contemplated rolling over as "Sunday morning" started playing, but I got up anyways.   I was running a little behind my own schedule but still forced myself out the door.  

I despise the first mile, mile and a half, two miles of a run. Is that just me?! They are SO hard, drudgery and if it were up to me, I would quit during that part every time (is this why I see so many people RUNNING before RACES??). I feel heavy, clompy, slow and in pain for easily that long. Once I pass through that, I can ease into a rhythm.

  

Apparently, I excel at "the turnaround."  If you look back at my runs, especially recently, more often than not I get faster the further I am into my run!  My "turnaround mile" is usually one of my fastest (my last few runs my last mile has been my speediest of all.)  I love having my Garmin and being able to analyze the data from my runs. It gives the number-geek in me a chance to shine. :-) 

Total stats for today looked good! I cut 4 minutes off the 8-miler time from August 31st, so that gives me a small hope that I am improving, even slightly.  

I took Terrie's Friday morning cardio class this week and didn't fall to the back of the pack like I have been in recent months. THAT felt good too! The class had the equivalent to **34** flights of stairs on Friday - it's an amazing workout! Another "NSV" on my journey. 

My IT band has been acting up today, so I am going to scale back this week. Yoga and a run around my neighborhood (slow and low mileage) on Tuesday, hopefully a quick run Wednesday and Thursday will be Yogalates and another quick neighborhood run. Sunday I am planning on a 6 mile run as my *gulp* LAST taper run!! I can't believe the race is coming so quickly! I can't believe how excited I am for this race!! 

Now to make myself a Uni-Kitty costume for the Halloween 10K! 

Last long run ?!

 Sara and I tackled our longest long run yet - 10 miles - on Sunday. Having quit my Whole30, I wasn't sure how I was going to be feeling. Truth - it was amazing. We were pretty consistent through the whole run. It was closer to the average pace I will need to PR the Cowbell race in (YIKES!) 17 days and I felt GOOD at the end (you know, like maybe I could go another, say, 3.1 miles ;-) 

I had NO knee pain whatsoever. I sat down trying to figure out what I did different this past week that I hadn't done in the previous weeks. The ONLY thing I can think is that I didn't run on a treadmill at all last week. Again, not sure that is the thing that caused my pain, but it can't hurt me to avoid the treadmill until after my races. Downside is that the elliptical, stationary bike, rowing machine, etc just don't raise my heart rate the way running does. So my total calorie burns will be considerably lower, but I will deal with it. 

This weekend starts our taper, we'll be going 8 miles. To be honest, I would feel better going another 10 simply because I still don't feel ready for this race!! But I also know I need to trust the process. I keep telling myself I will go for a longer run during the week but, well, life gets in the way. I had planned to run Tuesday (the weather was PER-FECT!) but had some errands I needed to run. I had one hour before I had to get Little Guy from school so instead of giving up, I ran 2 quick miles in my neighborhood. BOY do we have hills! My "quick" 2 miles totaled 14 flights of stairs on my FitBit! 

 Tomorrow is yogalates, but it isn't until 10. I am hoping for a quick run (probably no more than 4) tomorrow before class.