Saturday's the BIG DAY

I know I've been remiss with this blog the last couple of months - I've been so busy! I know you all understand and are probably very busy yourselves. Well, after five months of training, I'm finally there. Tomorrow, I leave for Seattle!! Saturday is the big day. I have to be up at 3 am to start the race at 7 am. I am so excited and surprisingly not nervous. I've ran twelve and a half miles and eleven miles once and ten miles three times. If I can run those distances, I'm set for 13.1!!
I'm hoping to post pictures next week. Okay - I have to stop procrastinating and go finish packing!

Thanks for all the support and well-wishes :)

Feed Me I'm Starving

(that's my best written impression of Chris Farley as the mall chick with the fries)

I feel like I'm constantly hungry now. I eat breakfast at 6:15 am and my stomach is growling by 8:30 am (I used to be able to make it to 10 am). I wake up every morning STARVING. I know it's because of the increase in mileage and the fact that I'm building muscle, but sheesh! I need to start incorporating more fiber into my diet.

Oh, and on top of my hunger pangs, I am also becoming narcoleptic at night. Poor Mike, he'll come home from work at 9:30 pm and instead of visiting with him, I sitting in the chair falling asleep while he's talking. He's such a good sport though! I absolutely cannot make it past 9:30 pm anymore!

Sprints vs. Hills

Our trainers told us we need to start incorporating hills or sprints into our mid-week runs so that we build more muscle mass. MORE muscle mass? My quads have already increased by two inches each (and I've gained five pounds). Okay, fine.....

Last week I decided to start doing sprints. Here was my run:
1.25 miles uphill to park
10 minutes of sprints
1.25 miles downhill to car

Those sprints nearly killed me! I was all set to do 10 sprints but quit after 8. Truth be told, I'm lucky I didn't quit after two! Here's what my 25 meter sprints looked like:

25 seconds of sprinting
45 seconds of recovery (broken down as follows: 15 seconds of seeing black spots, 20 seconds of fighting the urge to throw up, 10 seconds to get my heart rate down)

I asked Mike if was normal to want to throw up after sprints and he said I was doing them correctly! Now, I'm no expert, but shouldn't the time spent sprinting be roughly equal to the recovery time, if not longer?

I was sore for two days. I haven't quite convinced myself to go again. I know I'm being a wuss, but maybe I should just stick to hills? I know sprinting really helps build muscle, but I really hate it :(

3s

I've been really struggling with my short runs lately. It has really perplexed me how I can get up on Saturdays, run 8 miles and feel great, but those short mid-week runs kill me. Is it my allergies? Is it harder for me to run in the evenings after working all day? Is it all mental?

Yes, those all probably play a part. During my five mile run yesterday, I think I found the root of the problem, though - it takes me three miles to warm up. There I was yesterday, running in gale force winds, up hills and by mile four I was feeling great. By the time I reached my car, I felt like I could have kept going. Miles one through three, though, were awful. It was then that I remembered someone telling me they won't run 5ks (they'll only run 10ks) because they need at least five miles to warm up. When they told me that, I thought they were nuts! Yesterday, I thought back to when I was swimming, and the first 3 laps of my 500s would kill me, and after that I was good-to-go. Now that I know this is how my body works, I won't beat myself up on struggling with my short runs, because know I know I can definitely do longer runs.

I can't believe it, but am I becoming a long-distance runner?

What goes up must come down

I was speaking with a family friend the other day who's an accomplished cyclist. I was telling him how much I hate and dread hills. He told me he used to hate hills, too, until he started seeing them as a challenge - adding a little competition (i.e. to beat other cyclists up the hill) gave him the incentive to make it up the hill. Now, he LOVES hills. I promised him I would do my best to change my attitude about hills. The nest day, I went for my short run and came up to a hill. My first thought was "ugh! a hill..." Then, I remembered what he said and thought (though not believing it at all) "oh good, a hill!" When I made it up to the top of the hill, I was really suprised to realize I had already made it - I kinda forgot I was on a hill. I guess when you don't repeat to yourself "I hate hills, I hate hills," they're not so bad! I

After a few more runs, I also realized that after I make it up the hill and recover, I get a burst of energy - all that extra oxygen from working harder feels good! I can't believe it, but I found a reason to say "oh good, a hill" (and actually believe it)!

Great advice!

The Quest for the Perfect Fuel

At the beginning of our group TNT run a few weeks ago, they gave us a clinic on staying fueled. We had samples of a bunch of Power Bar gels we could try. The gels are packed with electrolites, carbohydrates, and protein to give you the energy you need to run long distances. Even though I was warned they may be a little sweet, I was not prepared for how extremely sickening sweet they are. I chose the blandest flavors (vanilla, coffee, and chocolate - I didn't want to go near the tangerine or sour apple) and tried just the smallest bit of each (I probably had one gel pack total).

Now, those of you who go to Farmer's with me know I have a sweet tooth (my constant diversion towards Guiseppe's gelato...), but this was too much to handle! We had a six mile run and at about mile three I started to get nauseous - just in time for us to hit a crazy hill. Ick.

I knew that I would definitely need to find what worked for me, so I began experimenting. One friend suggested I try Gu Just Plain and I still couldn't believe how sweet it was!

I then found Cliff Shot Blocks, which taste like really large fruit snacks. They're really tasty, but kinda hard to chew while you're running (they're a little too large). Then I found the perfect product (for me): Jelly Belly Sport Beans. They're small and taste like really salty jelly bellys. I eat two beans every 5-10 minutes (depending on how long my run will be) and it keeps me fueled, yet my stomach doesn't feel like it's too full or nauseous. Score! I truly believe these are the key to getting me through my last two long runs!

Allergies

With spring upon us, the multitude of golden fiddleneck, orange poppy, and purple lupin wildflowers popping up on the side of the roads makes for beautiful runs. If only I could enjoy them more! I found myself doubled over, wheezing, trying to catch my breath and cursing the fact that I couldn't even run a mile without my lungs wanting to burst. I quickly realized my environmental allergies (which are a kinda new thing to me) were to blame. I called my allergist and got a prescription for a nasal spray and it has made all the difference!

I found the above picture online of the Carrizo Plains, east San Luis Obispo County.

Hashbrowns

The last two weeks, I've had long runs (7 and 8 miles) that I needed to do on my own (I wasn't able to make it to the TNT trainings). I was a little daunted, but it went great! Thanks to the carrot dangling out in front of me - hashbrowns. Both weekends, I set up breakfast dates to meet me at the Custom House in Avila Beach for breakfast. I'd park my car in Shell Beach, run to the Custom House, and get my breakfast dates to drive me back to my car. If you've never eaten breakfast at the Custom House - run, don't walk, there (no pun intended) - the hashbrowns are AMAZING. I ran very similar routes each week, and chose a mostly coastal route with the last three miles along the Bob Jones trail - a gorgeous way to spend 90 minutes. I was so so so excited to finish the first run, when I ran across the bridge (the last part of the run), I couldn't wipe the smile of my face.

This past Saturday, our buddy Dean was in town and he agreed to ride Mike's bike alongside me. He had plenty of opportunities to hop of the bike and take pictures, so here are a few (now there's proof that I do in fact run, not just my dogs).

My legs were pretty sore yesterday. This week, we have a rest week, which means I will only run 12 miles this week instead of 18. Who hoo!!!

Six dozen cookies later

Don't worry, I didn't eat six dozen cookies (only about one dozen in cookie dough...)

Today I made six dozen cookies - 3 dozen chocolate chip (Mike says they're my best ever), 1.5 dozen chocolate with peanut butter chips and 1.5 dozen oatmeal raisin. I'm going to bring them to work tomorrow as a thank you to all my coworkers for donating to my fundraising. I figure it's the least I could do for them. It was worth it, but man, I never want to see another cookie sheet again!

A letter to my running buddy

Dear Jennifer,
My butt and calves would like to know why you made us run those two hills at the end of our run today.

Love,
Christy

;)

New Routes

Here are two of the routes I ran recently:

Swag

Team in Training gives us incentives for raising money - those of us who'd raised at least $1,100 dollars got a free Team In Training t-shirt and hat (one of those nice moisture-wicking running hats). I know it's totally dorky, but I was so excited! What can I say, I like free stuff!

\

The mental challenge of running

This week, I gained two new running partners - my friend Jen and I are running on Sundays and my friend Darryl and I are running on Tuesdays. Running is SO much easier when you have someone to talk to as you run (yep, I run that slow).

I wasn't quite expecting the mental challenge endurance running brings - everyone talks about how your body hits a wall when running long distances, but no one has really mentioned the mental aspect. I don't mean how you want to give up when your body's in pain, I mean how you get so damn bored and even two miles seems interminable. Perhaps all the long-distance runners I know enjoy the time alone to think and sort out their thoughts, so they don't mind running alone. I used to be that way with swimming in college. I swam 4-5 days per week, and I would use that 45 minutes to practice my speech for speech class or go through the points of an essay for an impending test. Now that I don't have things to memorize, I'm having trouble focusing on things while running alone. All I think about is "how much longer? This is so boring." This hurdle may be just as difficult as training my body for 13 miles.

I will miss the next two group training runs due to prior commitments and I'm freaking out on how I'm going to be able to run 7 and 8 mile runs by myself. I talked with the coach yesterday and she had a really great suggestion for me - run to breakfast where a friend is meeting you. You have two incentives: someone is waiting for you, you have to be there by a certain time and hello, breakfast! I also think I will ask one of my running buddies if they want to meet me half-way and run half with me. There's a similar incentive there, too - someone is waiting for you. Any other ideas?

I know I must get over this, because the reality is I won't always have a partner. Going into a run dreading it because I'll be bored can't be an option. I'll have to work on my attitude.

Just hit my minimum!!!

I stood up in our morning safety meeting at work to thank everyone for their generosity and support. I told them they raised so much money for me, I only have $125 left to raise (I got $50 more dollars this morning). After I stood up, one of the guys walks up and hands me $125 in cash "to meet your goal." Awesome!

eeeeekkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!

Look at that thermometer!

This will be a short post because I am practically speechless. Today, my wonderful coworkers presented me with a large envelope containing $1,110 in donations! They set about collecting donations from everyone at work. I won't share with you my reaction (it included a few explatives), but needless to say I was so touched and VERY excited! As I said earlier, the generosity, support, and enthusiasm people have shown me has made this one of the most amazing experiences of my life. THANK YOU ALL. Your support will get me to cross that finish line!






$175 left to go!