Eat Clean

Yesterday I started a week long goal of eating healthy.  Only a week?  Well, it seems if I make a goal of eating clean for any period of time longer than a week I don't meet it.  So, right now, I'm working with a week. 

For this week, my goal is eat a minimal amount of processed foods.  Eating foods a natural as possible.  Not some kind of crazy "raw" diet.  And some things are just going to have to be processed.  But, my goal is to go with as natural of a diet as I can. 

I know, in order to maintain a healthy diet over a long peroid of time, I'll have to go back to the yummy Zone Bars that I love so much. 

As I type this I'm sipping a strawberry/banana/soymilk smoothie.

On tap for this weekend, a trail 5K in Dublin and a long run on Sunday.  By Monday I should have a full 7 days of clean eating under my belt, and a race report.

 

Sweetheart 12K 3/20/10

This past saturday we finally got to run the Sweetheart 12K, which was originally scheduled on 2/13/10.  The race was rescheduled due to approximately 5 inches of snow.  Yes, we live in Georiga, NO we are not used to snow!

I'm glad the race was rescheduled.  I had signed up to run the 5K in February, becuase I had only been up to running for 2 weeks post injury at that time.  I changed our entries to the 12K once I knew the re-scheduled date.  Having run a 15K last weekend, I wasn't worried about the distance at all.

I decided that after not doing so well on the Geico 12K, I was going to PR on this one.  Not just a little PR, but go from 1:06:45 to 1:05.  To do this my mile splits would have to average at around an 8:45 pace. 

Race morning came around, and what do you know.  Normal "Kat with a Goal" wasn't grouchy?  Why, I have no clue.  I wasn't nervous, grouchy, cranky, irritable, Nothing.  Weird.  We got to the race about an hour early, socialized some, then ran about a 15 minute warm up.  The weather was perfect.  About 45 degrees, sunny, and no wind. 

The race started at 8:00 AM and we were off.  My splits were as follows:

1- 8:58

2- 8:47
3- 8:36
4- 8:44
5- 8:42
6- 8:53
7- 8:43
.21- 8:00

I wish I could have picked it up a bit on mile 6, I just lost my steam. 

So, you see this race was  7.21 according to my Garmin.  A 12K is 7.45, so the race was about .25 off.  That's ok though.  My Garmin time was 1:02:59, and let's just factor in another 2 mintues for the missed distance and that STILL put's me at a huge PR of 1:05 on the dot.  I'm taking it as a victory either way and I am very happy with my results!

This weekend will be a Race-Free weekend.  I'd like to get in a decent long run this weekend since there won't be a race to concentrate on.

Yesterday began Phase 3 of my training program.  I will get in my usual speedwork each week, as well as a Tempo run each week.  I'm going to be sure to get in my long runs in preparation for my May half marathon.

Gate River Run 2010

My 5th running of the Gate River Run was a success.  Chuck and I had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed our tradition of running the best run of the year in Jacksonville FL.

We headed out of town on Friday morning and got to the race expo around lunch time.  We picked up our packets, and 10 of our friends packets.  We walked around the expo for about 2 hours then went to the hotel to check into our room.

The hotel was very nice, the Embassy Suites on Baymeadows.  After unpacking and going through our expo goodies we met up with a few friends, Mom, and her friend E.  Lunch at Wild Wings was great.  So maybe beer and spicy food wasn't the best idea for a "night before a race" meal.  Oh well, I had fun anyway. 

Friday night was early to bed.  I laid down at 9:15, and suprisingly fell almost immediately to sleep.  Me... who usually has insomina for no reason at all.  5:00 AM came early and I was up, in the shower, dressed, ate my bagel with peanut butter and was ready to go by 6:30.  We ended up leaving later than I wanted.  Which resulted in heavy traffic coming into the downtown area.  On the way to the race I realized after my peparation I still managed to forget my Garmin.  Luckily Mom let me borrow hers.  I was such a grouchy butt on the way to the race.  I'm always grumpy on race morning.

Once we got to the stadium and parked, we visited the porta-potties.  Then found our corral section to line up in.  We waited for about 30 minutes.  Then it was RACE time!

The entire 15K was as enjoyable as it has been every year I have run it.  We had no expectations of running a fast time, we just wanted to do it and enjoy the day.  We finished in just a few seconds over 1 hour 30 minutes.  This was a few seconds slower than last year, but who's counting?

The race has a great beer trailer, all of us enjoyed the refreshments.  Once we all got our fill, back to the hotel to get cleaned up.  Lunch on Saturday was at the Seven Bridges, a nice restaurant with a micro brewery.  I tried the brown ale, had fettucini with parmesan shrimp.  Then for dessert Chuck and I sampled the dessert tri.  Oh Yum.  The bread pudding was amazing!

Once we were full from lunch we all headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit.  The hotel has a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 that includes free drinks.  We were all there to enjoy the "spirits"!  After that was over we wandered over to the Omaha Steak restaurant for dinner.  I wasn't hungry, so I just had a potatoe. 

We were all full, happy, and tired, so we all went to our rooms to get a good night sleep.  8:00 AM to rise Sunday morning, and go out for a windy recovery run down Baymeadows.  We got in 3 miles at a slow pace, just to stretch out the muscles and get some blood pumping.  For breakfast we enjoyed the hotel's complimentary hot breakfast.  After filling up, we showered, packed and headed to the Jacksonville Landing to say goodbye to our mini vacation spot.  We had smoothies and shopped for about an hour before heading back to Georiga.

The trip home was uneventful.  (That's good right?)  And back to work Monday morning.

This week is my last week on Phase 2 of my training.  Last night was my speed workout, which went well.  I will either start my Tempo runs this week or next week.  I'll wait and see how I feel.

Cantrell Center 5K

Last Saturday, Feb 27, 2010 was the 2nd Annual Cantrell Center 5K, as well as my 2nd go at the race.


♥I've got love for this race♥


1.  It's about 1 mile from my apartment.
2.  I go to the Cantrell Center about 2 times per week to swim.
3.  I like the staff at the Cantrell Center.
4.  It's a Big Race.
5.  It's chip timed.
6.  It's a RACE, come on, I love races! 

Race morning was great.  I woke up In A Good Mood.  For the remainder of the morning, I REMAINED In A Good Mood.  How crazy is that.  I'm notorious for being a grouchy butt on race day.  We didn't have to get up too super early since the race was close by.  Our babysitter showed up not only on time, but early.  Everything just fell into place.  I bet the biggest factor was the fact that I wasn't trying to PR or meet a hard goal!

We had picked up out packets early so we didn't have to mess with any of that stuff.  No tummy upset for me.  We did a good warm-up run of a little over a mile.  Before we knew it, it was race time.

Coming back from my injury, I decided that my "Race" would really be a 3.1 mile "Tempo" run.  My tempo pace varies from 8:20  to 8:35 (depending on distance), so my goal was to start around 8:35 and end at around a 8:20 pace.  My actual performance was pretty true to my goal.  Granted due to the hill on the last mile of the course I spiked up to about a 8:45 for a bit.  Overall my pace was 8:26. 

After the race I chatted with a few of my running friends and enjoyed the crowd of happy "5K'ers"  I'm ready for the 12K next weekend at Geico. 

Untill Then...

Phase 1 Down

I havn't done much blogging since I've been back to running.  Which makes since, because Phase 1 was somewhat boring and uneventful and I didn't have much to say.  I am happy to be back on the road / treadmill.  I've enjoyed it although I've been less than motivated.  I think once I get back to a few quality workouts each week that will improve.

For the last 3 weeks of training in Phase 1, I'll just hit the highlights:

Week 1 - 15 miles
Week 2 - 11 miles
Week 3 - 12.6 miles

Yeah, that looks pretty sorry on "paper".  But I am mixing in a lot of weight training, I've been swimming 1-2 times per week and we've been riding our new road bikes... since we want to complete the Rock & Roll Sprint Tri in June.  I have been busy even if not running a lot.

Some other highlights of the last three weeks:

My daughter Shyenne has started running with me.  We plan to run her 1st 5K on April 24th, the day before she turns 9.  She's up to 1.5 miles.  She needs 2, 1 minute walk breaks.  I can already tell she's improving.  It's nice to be doing something that I love with her, not to mention it being great for her health.

I ran my first 5K of the year on Saturday.  I wont go into much detail about it, becuase there was no pressure, no plans, no stress.  I just ran 3.1 miles, that's it.  My time was 27:47.  I was very satisfied with that. 

I sold my old car, a Chevy Malibu that I bought new in 2000.  Chuck and I bought a "new to us" 1999 Ford Explorer Limited.  We almost came out even buying the Explorer after selling the Malibu.  I'm loving my new bigger vehicle.  The Malibu had no A/C and summer will be here soon.

One last thing... I got my hair cut.  It had gotten pretty long, I had about 6 inches cut off.  It feels much better, I'm happy with that change too!

I need to post pics... maybe next time...

Can I do it ALL?

I've spent the last month doing a lot of planning for the 2010 year.  Planning RACES!  I love races.  I love planning ahead, pre-registering.  Getting all prepared for the race once race day gets close.  I was happy with our devotion to running and racing last year, for 2010 I want even more. 

I would love to run, and race hard every single weekend.  I know that's not possible.  Races take a toll on the body, cost money to enter, and then there's childcare to arrange.  It's a good thing that I like to plan ahead, otherwise we'd be in a mess and probably get nothing accomplished.

Right now I've got everything I want to do through June figured out.  Lots of races to run and even a few trips to take.  One BIG thing Chuck and I would LOVE to do is a Sprint Tri.  There will be one close by in Macon on June 5th. 

Planning for the Tri will be all new for me.  Here's what I've got nailed down so far:
I need to register by April 1st.
We need a babysitter for the morning.
I've already began swimming laps.  Continue swimming at least twice a week until the event.
Buy a Road Bike!  Train on the bike at least once a week until the event.
Get necessary gear (attire, accessories, etc)

Ok, That should do it.  I'm sure I'll think of plenty more as time goes by and I talk to more experienced Triathlon competitors.

Who's That Girl

Running on the treadmill at the gym last night?  Me, yep, me. 

I was cleared by the Dr. last week to start back to running this week.  I could have done my first run on Monday night I guess.  I waited until Tuesday night because running Monday would have messed up my running every other day plan. 

Last night I got to the gym and walked 30 minutes at about 4mph on the treadmill.  Chuck and I then worked chest and triceps.  We threw in a few core exercises for fun.  Then it was go time.  Time to see if I was fully rested, healed, and ready to go!

I stepped up on the treadmill, fastened my mp3 player, set up my garmin to track my HR, and set the speed to about 3.5 to warm up for about 5 minutes.  My heart was beating fast and I felt so nervous.  Just as nervous as if I was about to run a race!  I just focused on my music and the cooking show on the gym TV and chilled out.  Warmed up and stretched.  Let's do this.  I set the speed to 5.5mph (about a 10:55 min mile)  Ran at that pace for a mile, then went to 5.7 for a mile, and ended at 5.8 (10:20 min mile) for the 3rd mile. 

The run felt great.  I never got tired.  I had no heel pain.  I felt like ME again. 

When Chuck and I got on the treadmills they were crowed, so he got on one about 3 or 4 down from me.  By the halfway point of my 3 miles most of the other people had finished and the treadmills cleared out.  I looked over at Chuck and smiled.  I big REAL smile, the kind that you can't stop even if you wanted to.  Not smiling because your supposed to.  I was smiling because I was truely happy.  Even when I turned away to make sure I didn't fly off the back of the treadmill.  I couldn't quit grinning!  I realized I must look like a total dork with that smile pasted on my face sweating like crazy running on the treamill. Oh well.

Well that's it.  I did it.  Now I feel like I can start planning and look forward to a smart balanced training program.  I'll run 3 miles again on Thursday night.  I hope all goes well.

Great news from the Doc.

Yesterday morning I had my follow up visit with my podiatrist. 

I was so nervous sitting on that table waiting for her to come in and give me the verdict.  I knew that the pain was gone.  Really, I can walk barefooted and no heel pain.  In shoes, no heel pain.  I can do a one legged calf raise on the injured foot, no pain.  I can walk on my toes, no pain.  All of the original symptoms I had were gone.  Thanks to REST, the stupid boot, meds, and physical therapy. 

Knowing all of that, I was STILL scared that she'd tell me to wait longer to run.  Or that she'd move my foot around and it would hurt somewhere new.  Ok yeah, I was being neurotic... I can't help it.

Survey Says:  Kat can start running next week!  She said I can ween myself off of the boot for the rest of this week and start walking on the treadmill for exercise.  I'm thrilled to know that the end is near.  My only fear now is that once I start running again the pain will come right back.  My remedy for that will follow.

I do want to go back and say that I've been keeping up with my non-running training nicely.

Week 3 of Injury (Jan 11 -17)

• Swimming Total: 1 Hr 40 Min. 2,000 meters
• Elliptical Total: 1 Hr
• Stationary Bike Total: 30 Min.

Total Cardio: 3 Hr. 10 Min.
*I also lifted weights and trained Abs 4 days this week.

Week 4 of Injury (Jan 18 - Jan 24)

• Swimming Total: 55 Min.
• Elliptical Total: 1 Hr. 30 Min.
• Stationary Bike: 30 Min.
• Arc Trainer: 1 Hr.

Total Cardio: 3 Hr. 55 Min.
*Lifted weights / Abs 3 days this week.

As of today, I'm on 5 full weeks of Rest.  I'm doing good at the gym so far this week too.  Tonight I teach my body blitz class, afterwards I'm going to treat myself to a nice 30 min. walk on the treadmill.  Fun stuff!

I think I did a decent job holding onto my cardio fitness as well as my sanity over the last few weeks.  I'm looking forward to running my first race of the year... the Sweetheart 5K.  I usually run the 12K, but this year I'm scaling back, not only on the distance but also on the speed.  I think I'll just treat this run as a tempo run.  Not all out race pace!

Now, back to my re-entry as a runner plans.  I'm following RC's direction.  I am going to start back to Daniel's Training phases.  This time I'll officially start with Phase One.  I've got Phase 1 - 4 tenatively planned out through the end of May.  More to come once those plans are firmed up.

My next post, should once again be a post about RUNNING!

A Fresh Start

As much as I've dreaded the arrival of Sat. Jan 16th for the past two weeks, the Museum of Aviation race ended up being a wonderful day for me!

If you have been reading this blog, you know running the Half Marathon {that I invested 12 weeks of hard training into} was sidelined by achillies tendonitis.  The only running I've done since Christmas is running my mouth, whining about NOT running. 

The day of my goal race (goal was to break 2 hours) snuck up on me sure enough. 

Last week Caryl posted on the Macon Tracks forum that she needed help stuffing packets on Friday.  Since I'm off on Fridays I decided to go out there and join in the helping.  Friday morning I got my workout in early, showered and headed out to the base.   I was quickly put to work folding shirts, then we teamed up and started assembly lines stuffing packets with the appropriate bib numbers and sized t-shirts.  3 hours flew by before I knew it and then I had to go pick up Shyenne from school.

While I was there on Friday I mentioned to Caryl that I might come in the morning, to help give out packets and do anything else they needed.  I KNEW that when Chuck's alarm went off for him to get up and get ready to go run, I would never go back to sleep.  I knew I'd stew and stew over not being able to run my race.  Why not go ahead and get up, get out there and at least participate in the race by helping out some more.

Mom was going to run the half marathon as well.  But on Thursday she started feeling very sick and had a chest cough.  On Friday when I mentioned going to the race she offered to watch the kids for us while we were gone. 

Saturday morning we got up at 4:30, got ready and headed to the base by 6AM.  I got to work right away handing out packets, taking ID's, and answering questions.  It was great seeing my running friends beforehand and wishing them a great race.  The announcers called runners to the starting line.  I gave Chuck a goodbye hug and good luck kiss and he left to go line up.  We were still putting everyone's ID's in alphabetical order.  Michele Archer said that she could use help handing out finishing medals, I had nothing else to do for the next 2 hours so I was on board.

Not only was volunteering at the race a rewarding experience, but I was able to see so much more by not running.  I got to watch the winners of the 5K and half marathon.  I got to watch RC and many other Tracksters finish. 

The best part was standing at the finish line when my sweetie Chuck came through.  Finishing in 2:07:17, a good 6 minutes faster than his half marathon time in Jacksonville this past October.  Being able to put the finisher medal on Chuck after his accomplishment made me feel great.  I would have never been able to do that had I run the race with him.    I found the sliver lining to my cloud : )

Now, that that's over with... I can stop whining and complaining!  Time to move on, focus on a fresh start. 

I go see the Dr. next tuesday, so I should only have a week left in this boot.  I should be able to resume my running soon after that.

I'm relying on RC's expertise as well as common sense this time.  I will start on Daniel's Phase 1 of training.  I will not over train.  I will focus on being balanced and staying injury free. 

Bring on the February races... even though I may not "race" them... I'll be there!

Heartbroken

You know how it felt when you were in highschool and your boy/girl friend broke up with you?  At first it hurts so bad, your heart is broken and you know you'll never love again.  A little time passes.  For the most part your ok... then a memory hits you and it feels fresh and new and hurts all over again.  You miss him/her.  You want him/her back so bad.  More time passes and you know your ok.  You can live without this person.  THEN, you see him/her again.  It all comes rushing back.  Ouch. 

Ok, well I feel like running broke up with me.  Dramatic?  Maybe. 

The feelings are so much the same.  I got injured and running left me.  I keep telling myself that it's no big deal.  I can survive without running.  It's not everything.. I have much more in my life than just running miles.  I know this. 

Then, I'll remember a race, or a certain running route I like... or what it feels like to be in the middle of an awesome tempo run, sweating, heart pounding, legs screaming... loving every second of it.

I miss it.  A lot.  I know, I know... I WILL run again.  This isn't forever.  It damn sure feels that way right now though. 

Running will take me back.  It just has to.

Enough of that.  I just needed to get out some girly whining that nobody really wants to listen to.

Last week (1/4 - 1/10) I was a very dedicated little cross training chick.

I did about 4.5 hours of cardio (elliptical, arc trainer, and stationary bike)
I swam a total of 1700 Meters (1 hour and 20 min. total swimming - yes I'm slow)
I did weight training twice and Abs twice

I am keeping my cardiovascular system in shape if nothing else.

This week started alright. 

Last night I swam 1000 meters and worked out back and abs.  Good workout.

I was hopelessly optimistic that I would be able to participate in the Museum of Aviation race this year, despite my injury.  Reality has set in in stages.  First I resigned myself to the fact that I would just walk the Half marathon.  No sub 2 hour goal would be achieved.  Then I realized that the half marathon was out of the question.  I couldn't walk across the room without limping... how could I walk 13 miles?  Not going to happen.  So, I talked to the M.O.A. organizer and she said I could change my half registration to the 5K.  Cool.  I decided that I could just walk the 5K.  OK, yippy.  I'm pumped up again.  At least I could do something, right?

Wrong again.  I went to see Dr. Onderko again this morning.  She is keeping me in the boot for 2 more weeks.  Then she said I'd "ween" off of it.  She said no walking (except for the obvious moving myself from place to place).  No impact cardio.  Just elliptical, bike and swimming.  Ahhhh.  I left her office and started crying, again.  Knowing I can't do anything on Saturday.  The first race I'd planned to run of the year.

I guess I'm ok now.  I know I have pleny of time once I heal to do all the things I'd love to do with my running goals.  I know I have years and years to run the Museum of Aviation races.  That doesn't keep it from hurting my feelings right now.

2010 Goals

2010 Goals…

I was going to wait until I was healed up to officially state my goals for the year. I was thinking it would be too hard, not knowing exactly how long I’ll be I.J. (as Chuck would say). I can’t wait though. I’m jealous of all these other healthy runners posting their goals. So, I’m going to go ahead and post mine as well. If I it turns out that don’t meet the specific running related goals, only if this injury is the reason, than I won’t hold myself accountable.

Here Goes:

Mileage: 1300
PR: in the 5K

Marathon: Complete 1 in 2010, with a 4:15 time goal

Health: Once I heal from tendonitis, not to get injured again.

Diet: Eat clean at least 90% of the time. Weigh 5 lbs. less by next New Years.

Tone: Do weight training exercises at least 2 time per week.

Core: Do Abs AT LEAST 3 times per week.
Explore: A Sprint Triathlon OR the Warrior Dash in May
Mind: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Try to chill out and not let little things bother me so much.

Injury Overview & Trip to the Foot Doc.

I’ve come to terms with my “injury” although I still feel some sort of denial or disassociation with the fact that I… ME… really have an injury that is keeping me from doing one of my favorite things, Running.



I think I’ve done a good job of keeping up with the progression of this problem. But, just for me and my need for organization, I’m going to sum it up from the beginning


Sunday Dec. 20 - I ran my 16 mile long run in training for the Museum of Aviation Half Marathon.


Monday Dec. 21 – I ran an easy 4 mile treadmill run, maintaining a 10 min. mile. The last .20 of a mile I noticed some discomfort in my left heel. Not enough to stop me in my tracks, besides, I was almost finished with the run anyway.


Tuesday Dec. 22 – I went to the track for speedwork. I ran about 3 miles to warm up. I noticed the discomfort had turned into pain. I tried to ignore it. I decided to do the speedwork, on my first 400 meter interval I was in so much pain that I couldn’t keep my pace where it should be. I decided to forego the rest of the workout.


Wednesday Dec. 23 – I rested today. Iced my foot a few times.


Thursday Dec. 24 – The Macon Tracks Christmas Eve run was this morning. I decided I was going to run 6 miles. When I got up Thur. morning my heel really wasn’t hurting. As soon as I started running there was pain. Pain enough to make me alter my stride. My hard headed self kept running and ended up running about 5 miles. I was in pain the rest of the day. Walking was more uncomfortable than running.


Friday Dec. 25 – Sunday Dec. 27 – RICE! I didn’t have to work these days so I iced and heated alternately as much as I could stand. I also did about 3 hours total on the elliptical machine on Sat. and Sun. Even the elliptical is somewhat uncomfortable.


Monday and Tuesday Dec 28. OK, I’m fed up at this point. Frustrated and upset. I WANT to run, but I can’t even walk without limping. Nothing seems to make my heel feel any better. I email Amy and she tells me to give Brian at Peidmont Sports Med. A call. He isn’t at work today so she emails him and asks him to see me ASAP. I limp through the day, pouting : ( OH, and I’ve decided to go the ENTIRE week and not work out AT ALL. Yes, total rest. Nothing. My brain and my body were just going to have to get over it.


Wednesday Dec. 29 – Brian e-mails Amy and tells her to get me to call him. He graciously fit me into his schedule for the day. I needed some answers, just for my mental well being. I was about to go crazy. He took a look at my feet. No pedicure and all. Yikes. Did some prodding and bending and said that it’s probably Achilles tendonitis or less likely a stress fracture. We talked a little about the shoes I was wearing (which I had moved to a Neutral shoe). He said I should probably be in a stability shoe like I wore before. He said that my left arch was a little lower causing some problems… obviously. He set me up with an appt. to see Dr. Onderko about my heel to find out for sure what the problem is. I will see her Tuesday next week.


Thursday Dec. 30 – Monday Jan 4 - A lot of “resting” icing and LIMPING. Oh, and Monday, after my week of no physical activity I worked legs & abs at the gym and went to the Cantrell Center to swim laps. Did a total of 800 meters in about 40 minutes.


Tuesday Jan. 5 – At 8:30AM I go see the Foot Dr.


Melissa, Brian’s sweet wife, did my X-rays when I first got there. It was nice just knowing that the person that was working with me runs too. Then I go to talk to the Doctor.


She checks out my X-rays and says that IF it’s a fracture, that it wouldn’t show up on the X-ray anyway. She feels around on my heel. Asking what hurts and what doesn’t. She does some weird little test where she hit a metal thing and put it on my foot. She said if it hurt, it would be a sign of a stress fracture. But it didn’t hurt, thank goodness. I will go back and see her in a week, and if it hasn’t gotten any better she wants to do a bone scan to be sure it’s not a stress fracture.


I took advantage of being there and using her knowledge, so I went ahead and asked her a few questions about my toes. The toes next to the big toes always hurt when I run long distances and get black toenail. Over time this lead to some ugly toenails on those toes. She explained that my bunions are the culprit in that scenario. Thanks to genetics. Thanks Dad!


She gave me a boot to wear on the left foot so I won’t limp so bad, and end up hurting other things by compensating my stride. She said NO running for at least another week. I got an Rx for some steroid that is supposed to make me feel better. Lastly, I have a few appointments with Brian. I should learn some stretches and strengthening exercises to make this better and keep it from happening again.


I can do the elliptical, bike, swim, and lift weights. That’s it for right now. Less than two weeks until the MofA Half Marathon. This isn’t looking promising at all is it?

2009, A Look Back...

With four full days left of the year 2009 I might as well go ahead and do a little year end analysis.



I’m almost embarrassed to post my 2009 running goals, seeing as how I didn’t quite meet them all. Although, I guess I didn’t do too bad.


These are the goals that I wrote into the front cover of my training log book:

Plan- Run 900 miles in 2009

Actual- With 4 days remaining of the year, I am currently at 1190.81miles.

Plan- Complete my entire “manual” running log book.

Actual- Yep, it’s full and complete. There’s just something in me that can’t rely entirely on a computer log. I like writing it all down!

Plan- Run at least 1 Race every single month.

Actual- I ran a total of 20 organized races this year, running at least 1 each month.

Plan- Run my 1st Half Marathon (In 2 hours or less)
Actual- I completed the Jacksonville Marine Corps Half Marathon on Oct. 3, 2009… although it took me 2 hours, 5 minutes and 56 seconds.

Plan- Explore Trail Running

Actual- Easy enough. We ran a total of 73 miles of trail running and 2 XTerra trail races.

Plan- Beat Race PR’s on my 5,10,12 & 15K distances.

Actual – Not a single PR this year. Although I did get very close to PR’s I set in 2007 and never quite got close to again in 2008. This is going to be a focus on my 2010 plans, seeing as how I failed on this one! Thanks to RC, now I know HOW to do this one.

I am going to wait a few days and ponder my 2010 goals. One problem I’m having is that I got a sudden injury in my heel and ankle area last week. Very bad timing for an injury. It is hard to be optimistic and goal oriented when I am not even sure how long this problem is going to have me out of running. I might see a Dr. and get some more definite answers. That will be another post.

Go With The Flow

I've accepted the fact that I am injured.  It has fully sunk in and I'm OK with it.  Really, I am.  No, I'm not lying.  Ok, maybe a little.

Since the painful slow Christmas Eve run at the loop on Thursday, I rested all day Friday, Christmas day.  I soaked my foot in ice water & applied heat in 20 minute increments.  Chuck massaged my heel a lot too.  We went to my Mom's for Christmas dinner.  In between soaking & heating my heel, I ate and we watched movies on HBO all day.

Saturday I bucked up and took RC's advise.  Which was to spend equal planned running TIME on the elliptical at my desired Heart Rate.

Meet my new buddy.  The Arc Trainer!

See, I hope this sweaty fling is short lived.  I don't want it to turn into a long term affair.  Although I am thankful to have a gym membership and access to cross training equipment.

Saturday I spent 1 hour total with an Avg. Heart Rate of 162 on this bad boy.  Sunday (today) I managed 2 hours total.  My equivilant running time should have been a 2.5 hour workout, but I couldn't manage another 30 minutes. 

Thanks to Shyenne's new Kindle.  The two hours of cardio went by as quickly as I could have hoped.  I'm reading Midnight in Madrid.  Pretty good so far.  Shy's grandpa got her new nifty electronic book for Christmas.  But she's sweet enough to share with her Mom!

This week's training hasn't been totally wasted.  I still got out and burned some calories.  Hopefully I'll be back up and running soon enough.  With the cross training I should be able to pick up where I left off.  I might even take advantage of the running break and get some swimming practice in.  One of these days I am going to do a sprint Tri.  Maybe sooner than later. 

Christmas Eve 2009.... Long Post

This holiday season has been less than stressful for me.  Simply put, we decided that we were only going to do Christmas shopping for our kids.  We set aside a budget.  In November we went out one friday and spent that budgeted amount on the kids presents.  What do ya know, we were done shopping.

The next weekend was Thanksgiving.  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went and bought a tree and wrapped all of the presents.  We decorated the tree, placed the presents underneath.  What you ya know, we were done with decorating and wrapping presents as well.

I havn't given a second thought to the holiday hussle and bussle since then.  I am very thankful to not work in retail anymore.  Oh, how that made me hate the holiday season.  That's behind me now.  All I've done this year is sit back and enjoy.   Well, maybe I threw in a lot of running in there too!

A month has gone by and Christmas will be here tomorrow.  In the morning I'll get to watch my sweetheart Shyenne inspect her loot from Santa and open her gifts.  The rest of the day's plans are to eat a lot of food and relax.  Ahhhhh. 

As for running.  I could whine and complain on this one.

I decided on Tuesday, two days after an amazing 16 mile training run for my Half Marathon in 4 weeks.... to run my first Marathon.  I decided that instead of running the Snickers Half Marathon on May 6th, I'm going to bite the bullet and run the FULL MARATHON!  So, I emailed RC about my decision.  I asked for some advise and reassurance that I'm not insane for wanting to do such a thing. 

His answer was simple.  Yes, I could do it.  Although, if I want to do the full marathon in approx. 11 weeks, I would have to commit NOW.  He gave me a few training tips and a long run plan.  As soon as I read the email I was all in.

THEN... wouldn't you know.  Tuesday night's track workout came around.  We got there really early because I got off of work early and I didn't want to drive all the way back to Bryon then come back to Macon.  Amy showed up early so me, Amy, Chuck & Mom did some slow laps to pass the time. I ran about a 2 mile warm up. During the warm up my left ankle and heel was hurting, pretty darn bad.  RC finally showed up and gave us the game plan.  Which sounded super fun.  4 x 400's then a 2 mile "race".  Everyone was to guess their 2 mile time at tempo pace and then run it with no Garmin for pacing help.  There were even prizes involved for the winner who runs their actual time closest to their planned time!  What a cool "speed workout". 

I started running my 400's and immediately my heel and ankle was hurting SO bad that I couldn't hold even an 8:30 pace.  It was just the pain, not my breathing or my legs holding me back.  I did 3 400's and stopped and told Chuck how much pain I was in.  I'm not a baby, I'm pretty hard headed and will stick through a lot of things that hurt.  But this hurt REALLY BAD!

He told me I should really sit out the 2 mile run, that I should hold back now and not hurt anything any worse.  I knew he was right, and against everything in me, I didn't do the race.  I had tears in my eyes watching everyone else participate.  I just DONT like to quit.  I felt like a quitter, even though enough of me knew that I was not running for the right reasons.

I didn't run at all on Wednesday.  I iced/heated/rested/alieved... and used our TENS unit on my heel/ankle area. 

Thursday morning was the Macon Tracks "Christmas Eve Loop Run".  There was plans for everyone to bring treats and we would enjoy hot chocolate after our run. 

I was apprehensive about the pain in my foot.  I decided that I would run 2 to 3 miles out and back, getting around 4 to 6 miles in depending on the pain.  I told Chuck that I WOULD NOT cry and get all bent out of shape if I had to stop and walk. 

At the begining of the run Michelle Archer asked if she could run with me, we were running about a 10:20 pace.  She hasn't been running for about a month and wanted to start back slow.  We were perfect company.  We chatted and ran, slowly.  The pain in my foot kept on nagging.  It wasn't getting any better or worse as we ran.  A few times I stopped and walked with Michelle because her stomach was bothering her.   Walking hurt more than running.  I eventually ran a total of 5.28 miles.  Not bad I guess.  I would have loved to run a tempo run.  But that was out of the question.  My pace ended up being aound 11:00 min miles. 

I talked to RC and he is pretty sure that I developed achilles tendonitis.  I didn't realize that could come on so suddenly.

I'm worried that this is going to seriously interfere with my Marathon training plans.  Although there is no need to worry.  There is nothing I can do to make it disappear.  I can just do the RICE and see what happens.  Hopefully I'll be able to run some quality runs and my long runs soon.  I don't want to miss too much. 

We will see what happens???????????????

Reindeer Run 5K 2009

The Turkey Trots are behind us, bring on the Christmas holiday season! I started out right with my 3rd running of the Reindeer Run in Macon. To be extra festive I put together a little elf costume to wear for the race.

My Step Mom Michele was in town for the weekend so we were able to bring Shyenne and Chuck’s little boy Chase to the race. Michele was there for moral support and to keep an eye on the kids. The kids ended up being excellent race photographers.

As for performance expectations on this race, I wasn’t geared up for a PR. Having run the race before I knew there were a few challenging hills. My goal for the race was to at least get close to my PR, in the 24 min. range would suit me fine.


Chuck, Mom, Michele, Shy, Chase & myself got to the race about an hour early. Chuck and I headed out to warm up. We needed to warm up our muscles for the race, plus it was just COLD out and I didn’t have much covering my legs. We got in about 2 miles before the race started.

RACE TIME! I wasn’t nervous for this one. Just excited and jumping around. The race started on an incline, and stays on an incline…. For what seems like the first 2 miles! I had a hard time keeping my pace anywhere below an 8:00 pace. But I held it steady. Around mile 2 I saw my fellow age grouper Amy and decided that if I could keep her in my sight than I would end up with a decent time.


Running the final stretch of the race I saw Michele, Shy, & Chase cheering and taking pictures. It was great to see them at the end like that. I saw the time clock up ahead, I was in the 24 min. range. I pushed out all I had left in me to keep it under 25. My Garmin read 24:47, the official race results say 24:51.


I am very pleased with this race. It was a strong effort. It was a hilly course. I came in very close to my old PR… something I’ve done twice since I started training under RC’s guidance.

A little Inspiration

I have such an optimistic view today.

Although it’s raining outside, and according to the forecast, it should be raining like this for the entire day.
That’s ok though. Work is slow right now. I have one project to take care of by the end of the day. It shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes to complete. So, what am I to do?
I’ve gone ahead and printed a 2010 calendar to plan for some races for the upcoming year. This gets me all excited and in the mood to run! I went online searching for all sorts of races, 5K’s to marathons, road races to trails. Anything fun, new, different, same old favorites…you name it.
I quickly realized that one year is not enough time to do everything I want to do. For example if I pick a 5K that I’d like to PR on, I can’t expect to run a Marathon the weekend before. Chuck and I also have our kids every other weekend, so I have to keep in mind that if we want to run a race on the weekend we have kids, we would have to arrange for a babysitter. So you see, it’s not wide open to run whatever we want to run.
This fun search for races around Georgia and maybe even Florida, got me all in the mood to run… I was feeling my mojo.
Last week was a down week for me, running and otherwise. I was just not feeling it. I’m past it now and feeling wonderful.
I decided to go through the blogs that I follow and just randomly read over everyone’s past year of blogs. I came to the realization, that even though we say it to each other as a comfort when a fellow runner is down… but we ALL really do go through the same things.
Each and every runner that blogs goes through the same cycles.

• The “Oh my, I’m going be the best runner ever, I’m going to hit every workout, every pace, run every day, I’m a beast”
• Then the, “Ok, I’ve been running a lot, now what"
• Then the, “I hate running, I havn’t run in X amount of days, weeks, I wish I had the will to go out and run, what’s wrong with me?”
• Then the “OK, I’m through whining about this, let’s get out and run, do my best, be a strong runner, eat right, and hit every planned workout”

We all go through the same cycles. The beautiful thing is, that we always end up back where we started. Fully motivated, recharged, ready to go out and conquer the world.
Not only that. By reading all of my fellow runner’s blogs I remembered one reason I love running so much. It is such an individual experience. We can all be runners, but we all have our own goals. We can be at so many different levels of ability, yet compete in the same event. We don’t have to win the race to meet a goal. We just go out there and do it, do our best, and set our own bar higher and higher as time goes by.
All of this may have been inspired by the amazing speed workout at the track last night.
RC posted the workout on the Macon Tracks site, he called for a 1 mile warm up, 6 / 20 second strides, 2000m – 1600m - 1200m – 800m – 400m all at interval pace followed by a 1 mile cool down. It sounded tough, then I thought about the fact that after the first interval, it would only get easier. Sure enough, we got to the track early since we wanted to get started to get back to Byron. Mom was watching the kids for us so we didn’t want to be out too late.
We warmed up for our first mile, easy. We did our strides. I did NOT want to start that first 2000 meter interval – 5 laps on the track at a goal pace of 7:38. Ugghhh. Regardless, we started it. The first lap I ran a little too fast, so I slowed my roll a bit. Then I settled into the 7:30’s.
2000m – 7:37 Pace, complete.
Then we walked a 400m and geared back up to do a 1600 interval, one mile at a goal 7:38 pace. The pace felt good, I felt strong, and my stride felt very steady.
1600m – 7:35 pace, complete.
During our 1600m the regular group was meeting up for a briefing from RC about the night’s workout. I was already into the workout and I didn’t want to cool back down so I just ran through it. After finishing the 1600 meters (at a 7:35 pace) the meeting was just finishing up, and I looked at RC’s dry erase board where the workout is always written out. He wrote “Killer Intervals”. Ha Ha. The cool part is I knew I had already completed the first two and the last 3 would be a piece of cake!
I ran the 1200m interval at a 7:31 pace.
The 800m at a 7:38 pace, and the 400m at a 7:27 pace.
Overall I stayed under my planned pace of 7:38 so I considered the workout a success. Now I’m ready to tackle the Reindeer Run on Saturday. Hopefully I’ll have a good report from that race. PR or not, it will be fun!

Bartram Forest Winter Run

I just had a good feeling about this race from the beginning. I had heard a few things here and there from other Macon Tracksters about this race. I had planned to participate in it from the very first time I heard about it. After reading the race information I knew it was going to be a good one.  Of course, I was right.

I’m not even sure if it should be called a race, maybe more of an event. The whole idea is that you can run a 50K, a Marathon, or a “Fun Run” completing as many of the 5 mile loops as you wish. My plan was to do the Fun Run version of the event, to complete 3 loops running approximately 15 miles.

Not only was the event extremely laid back as far as which distance you wanted to run, but there was no definite start time, you could stop after each loop and indulge on a wonderful spread of homemade cookies and treats, grilled cheese sandwiches, water, gatoraide, coffee, and more. Sounds good doesn’t it?

We arrived in Milledgeville in plenty of time to get ready to run. Only to discover that there was only one bathroom and the line was very slow moving. Not using the potty was NOT an option. After that we still had to go back to the car and get our Garmins and stuff. Once we got back down to the start line, the race had already started. This is the first race I’ve ever missed the start of. Guess what? It didn’t matter. You could really start whenever you wanted to. So we started the Garmin and off we went.


The loop went something like this:

For about a mile we ran on singletrack trails. It wasn’t too technical. I just wore my regular road shoes. Not too hilly, not hard at all. Then we wended up on some kind of crazy newly made trail that seemed to be freshly bush hogged. It was grassy and uneven. There were holes everywhere and these nasty little small tree stubs that kept trying to grab my shoes. This lasted about a mile or so. Then for a good mile and a half we were on service roads with decent packed surfaces. I remember 1 GOOD hill and another not too bad hill up a power line road. The last mile and a half was back on a double track trail that was pretty easy to maneuver.

I ran loop #1, felt great. Stopped for a few minutes for a cookie and some fluid. Then headed back out for loop #2. On the second loop Chuck’s ankle and Achilles was bothering him really bad. So I kept up with my pace but he slowed down so he wouldn’t hurt himself any further. After loop #2 we stopped again and I ate a rice krispy treat and drank some more gatoraide. Chuck decided to sit out the last loop because he was really hurting. Mom and I took off for our final loop around the forest. The last loop felt the best for me. I ran it faster than each previous loop. While running the last section of trails back to the finish line I saw Chuck up ahead. He decided to run the course backwards to the water station then turn around to get about 3 miles. I finished my “fun run” strong and felt like I could handle two more loops and do a marathon. I have good sense so I quit while I was ahead. We snacked on some of FM’s fudge then headed back to Byron.


I finished with in a total of 2 hours, 30 minutes and some seconds. Not too bad.

Sunday morning when we got up I felt like I had been beat with a really big stick. My whole right side was sore. I guess “good” sore, not injury sore. Today is Monday and I still have some soreness in my calves, quads, and hips. Wow, those hills and uneven terrain really did me in.


Next year, I plan to do the Marathon.

Thanksgiving Week

Last week was a test for me. It all started with my Long Run Half Mile Hell Run that I’ve already written about. As far as running goes, the day was just bad. Not only did my running suffer starting on Monday, but my healthy diet did as well.


Monday-
About 10 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts greeted me when I arrived at work. I had no will power to deny them, so I ate 4 stinkin’ donuts for breakfast. Then, to make things worse, we celebrated the Warden’s birthday by ordering pizza and we all brought homemade treats. Unfortunately I participated in the celebration. Uhhhhh…
That night, thinking I was all past my blunder of a run on Sunday, I was just going to run on the treadmill, 5 miles. Yeah right. I had a tummy ache and ended up only running 3 easy on the treadmill. I was still in my funk apparently.

Tuesday- Track workout. I did the workout RC posted, which looked something like this:
3 Sets of (2 x 200, 2 x 400, 1 x 800), with the exception of the last 800 on the last set. I did horrible as far as hitting my goal times. My stomach hurt because once again, I ate too much at work… too much of the wrong food!
Wednesday- Rest Day. I worked until about 2 then we headed over to Brunswick for Thanksgiving. We ate dinner out and I had massive amounts of fattening food at the restaurant.

Thursday- Turkey Day! For breakfast we had Pecan Pie! Then we sat around and watched T.V. until noon. Then my mom and I went out (in a strange neighborhood, where apparently the dogs arn't used to runners!) and ran and "easy" 4.5 mile run. We didn’t eat dinner until after 4 because Chuck’s Mom had to work. Once we finally ate, I ate so much I was in pain.

Friday- I planned to run my tempo run, but we slept late, ate pie for breakfast, then drove back to Byron. By 5 PM I knew a run was not going to happen! I didn't even stress about it.

Saturday – Bartram Forest fun run. I think I’ll post a whole separate blog for this one! As far as food goes, I ate whatever I wanted at the race. Later we went out and had Mexican for dinner.

Sunday – RESTED AGAIN! We were so sore from the forest run that there was no way I was going to run. I spent the whole day cleaning the apartment. We also went and got our Christmas tree and decorated for the holiday. I finished off the bad eating / slack running week with Pizza Hut pizza and a Yuengling lite. No more junk for me!

I still managed to sqeak out just over 29 miles for the week.  Which wasn't the 40 I had planned on, but far better than I was doing 6 months ago.  If 29 miles is my lazy week, then I think I might be OK with that!