Spartan Shape-Up, Day 151:
Good Afternoon, BlogLand! Despite the extreme craziness of this holiday season, it was a good day. It was Long Run Day. Yep, the official plan for LRD is to get out there and run more than my usual 3ish miles.
I didn't run yesterday, as I was overtaken by holiday craziness... so I was determined to go today. Plus, when I got up and looked out the window, it looked like a pleasant, sunny day. ... Right until I looked at the thermometer. A balmy 15 degrees. High of 20 today, supposedly. Not to be deterred, I reminded myself that people DO run outside in the winter, without turning into popsicles, and I would warm up if I got moving. I put on a bunch of layers (Seriously, Santa, I need Under Armour Cold Gear. PLEASE? I've been GOOD!), laced up the sneakers and got in the car. I was smart enough, though, to bring a super warm sweatshirt for post-run, cold sweaty me.
I was cold, already. This does not bode well, I thought to myself. It was noon and I could see my breath, my car was angry about moving, and I was going to go RUN?! A LONG RUN?! WTF.
And then I remembered. Several of my Spartan homies (Remember Guest GT, Todd? and Margo the Great? to name just a couple!) were in NJ, competing in the World's Toughest Mudder Competition. While I do not yet know all the details, I know that it was COLD there, and it involved them doing laps of the course (swimming it wetsuits, obstacles, etc.), for more than 24 hours. Apparently, several times they had to break the ice to get through the obstacles. Many people pulled out for hypothermia, or close to it. Margo and Todd did 30+ hours of that. Despite my badassness not even being CLOSE to theirs (yet!), surely I could handle ONE HOUR outside, in dry clothes, right?
Yes. The only answer was yes.
So, I STFU and drove to my Long Run spot. It's an indefinitely long out and back... which is good, because then I feel like I have no choice but to run back, however far I run out... because I have to get back to my car and all. haha...
I got out of the car, shivered in the cold breeze (Oh yeah, I was running next to a large, frozen body of water... there was a cold breeze!), walked over to my starting line, started the tracker and I was off. I've elected to go without music the last few times, as it seems to help me pay a little better attention to the technicality of my running; I pay more attention to my breathing, how my feet are falling, my strides, etc. Plus, it conserves the battery on my stupid old phone (new one this week! ee!), so it doesn't die halfway into my run....
So, I ran. The first mile was COLD. My muscles were not warm, I was not warm, the wind was not warm... I was like, WHY am I here?.... and then I saw another runner. Cue my competitive streak. Clearly, if THEY could do this, so could I. I was feeling really badass, right about a mile and a half in, when I realize that the icy wind was making my eyes water..... which was then promptly freezing to my face. Yes, folks, I had frozen tear-cicles on my face. AWESOME. You're sad you didn't go running today, now aren't you?
I kept running, my legs started to loosen up a bit and I warmed up... I even stuck my hands actually OUT of the sleeves I had them balled up inside of! Running down a sunny stretch of road wasn't all that bad, for the most part... I was sweating, breathing pretty evenly, and all was well.
... and then I hit the shade, around mile 2. Still running. Only in the shade, with the wind, I swear it was 10 degrees colder. I could feel the outsides of my legs, and my butt go a little cold (the numbness didn't come until later...), and decided that hey, no big deal... if they went numb, then it wouldn't hurt so much later? No different than sitting in an ice bath!!
Back into the sun I ran, and I was starting to feel a little tired. I ran and shook out my arms, to try and release the inadvertent shoulder tension that I was building up.... Shake arms, concentrate on breathing, turn over my feet. Just. Keep. Moving.
You see, BlogLand, I had a goal today. Must run an entire 3 miles with no break. Absolutely. Then, the goal would be to see how far I could go past that 3 miles, without a break. I had no idea where that would be.
At around 2 and a half miles, I trotted a U-turn in the road, and began my trek back. Still running. Okay, I was feeling like I was on track. I was not a speed demon, but I was chugging along steadily. I looked at the scenic VT dirt road stretched out in front of me and had a sudden realization: The damn road is a slight rolling incline from here, as far as my eye could see. I'd never noticed that before (see what happens when you go without music?). But, I was working for a long, non-stop run, and refused to be deterred by tiny rolling hills!
At mile 3.5ish, I was back in the shade. My neck was cold (yes. I need a scarf or something, I've determined), but I was warm with the exertion. My legs were warm in the big muscles, but the outside were pretty damn cold. It was also at this point I noticed the most fabulous part - running in the shade, with the wind, being really sweaty, had caused the sweat to form tiny ice beads on all the tiny hairs on my face. Yep, I had a tiny shield of sweat-ice-beads all over my face.
At that realization, I decided I was not going to stop running. Partially because a) I'd come this far, and damnit, 5 miles sounded a lot better than 4.25 or something... and b) if I stopped running now and had to walk the rest of the way back to the car, it was going to be really, really cold.
Still running.
By running, I mean, after I passed the 4 mile mark (feeling pretty awesome, at that, because I still hadn't stopped for a break!), I was pushing. Digging really deep and keeping my eye on the prize. I could do 5 miles. All I had to do was keep my legs moving. They were strong (I thought of the awesome squats I can do at Crossfit!), they'd been conditioned (I thought of all the time I'd put pounding the pavement from the summer time)... 5 miles was nothing. I just had to keep. moving. I found myself counting to ten, with my foot falls. Get to ten, then the next ten. I paid close attention to my breathing, remembering the GT's words that I would tire more quickly if I didn't get enough oxygen to my muscles.
The last mile was a bit zombie-like. I was tired. I was cold. All my head was thinking was 1,2,3, DEEEP BREATH.......4,5,6, BREAAAAATHE.....7, 8, 9, 10. AGAIN. 1, 2, 3.... and so on.
Then I had a little bit of a tiny epiphany. I had successfully run (thus far) more than 4 miles without stopping. I assessed my physical state. I still had more gas in the tank. I was doing it. Feeling a bit more uplifted by that thought, and a few quick thoughts of the wind-free car I could get in, and the giant warm sweatshirt that awaited me, I picked up the pace a little bit. I was in the homestretch.
The evil part about the homestretch is that in the particular way that I ran the route, I have to run BY my (nice, warm...) car for a quarter of a mile, before turning back to it. But, run I did. WAHA. STILL running. I admit, at this point, I had the phone out and was checking the mileage every few minutes, to watch for when it it 5 miles.
As I checked it the last time, I saw 5.04 on the tracker. YES. Trotted down to a walk. Ahhhhh..... My first walk in almost an hour. Felt nice. Stretched out my legs at a walk, and was recovering and walking back to the card. AND FREEZING. Shortly after you stop running, your body isn't quite as warm. But you're wet and sweaty. And Cold. I couldn't get back to the car fast enough. I jogged a little bit to get there.
Sitting in the car, warming up (it, and me!) and sipping some water, I texted the GT with the good news. My first long run that was a smashing success. It looked like this:
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.” - Frank A. Clark
Spartan Shape Up, Day 149:
It was a Run day today, BlogLand. WOO! And yes, it was a WOO! I didn't get up early today, to run, like I should have... So, all day at work I promised myself that when I got home, I would strap on the sneakers and get it done. I had a rest day yesterday, and two lazy days in a row (without good excuse! Which there almost never is one...) is just not okay. It's too easy for me to fall into the "well... tomorrow..." trap.
When I got home at 5:30, it was dark. Cold. And I definitely wanted to put my comfy pants on and hang out in my house. HOWEVER. Triumph! I donned my spandex (yep. it's happened.), laced up the shoes and got out the door... In the dark! I elected to not use any music and just listen. And look at the Christmas lights... which turned out to be an unexpected bonus of running at night (which I typically choose not to do...).
I have some more solid running goals now, incidentally. Since I've proven to myself that I can run the whole 5K distance, now it's about improving that and moving forward. Try and get more distance in... but in the absence of distance (like, I didn't really want to be running all around my town at 9pm on a Friday...), I'm going to work on improving my times. My best time so far, over this distance, is 10:32 min/mi at the 5K race last weekend. I've never been able to get under 11min/mi at home, by myself, however. Although, I have also never been able to run the whole thing - until after that race... SO... it's all about growth. Today, I was pretty happy with how things turned out:
Time: 33:22 min
Distance: 3.07 mi
Ave Pace: 10:51 min/mi
UNDER 11 mins, AND I ran it all. It would've been faster (closer to my race pace...) if I didn't have to stop briefly at 2 crosswalks. I am also really happy to report that my first mile was well under 10 minutes - 9:30 or something like that. It is unfortunate that my last mile was pretty slow and brought down the average. I'm getting there, though. That crazy Mental Block was bigger than I ever could know... The achievements I have made in the last week have been bigger steps than I've taken in the last month. I've been trying to improve my mile time under 11 min for... well... ever. And you all have heard me bitch and moan about not being able to run the whole thing. One race was a real game-changer.
That said, now I need to sleep - it's CrossFit in the morning. But I'm sleeping (tired!) but happy. I'm feeling proud of myself and accomplished, again. YEAH!
It was a Run day today, BlogLand. WOO! And yes, it was a WOO! I didn't get up early today, to run, like I should have... So, all day at work I promised myself that when I got home, I would strap on the sneakers and get it done. I had a rest day yesterday, and two lazy days in a row (without good excuse! Which there almost never is one...) is just not okay. It's too easy for me to fall into the "well... tomorrow..." trap.
When I got home at 5:30, it was dark. Cold. And I definitely wanted to put my comfy pants on and hang out in my house. HOWEVER. Triumph! I donned my spandex (yep. it's happened.), laced up the shoes and got out the door... In the dark! I elected to not use any music and just listen. And look at the Christmas lights... which turned out to be an unexpected bonus of running at night (which I typically choose not to do...).
I have some more solid running goals now, incidentally. Since I've proven to myself that I can run the whole 5K distance, now it's about improving that and moving forward. Try and get more distance in... but in the absence of distance (like, I didn't really want to be running all around my town at 9pm on a Friday...), I'm going to work on improving my times. My best time so far, over this distance, is 10:32 min/mi at the 5K race last weekend. I've never been able to get under 11min/mi at home, by myself, however. Although, I have also never been able to run the whole thing - until after that race... SO... it's all about growth. Today, I was pretty happy with how things turned out:
Time: 33:22 min
Distance: 3.07 mi
Ave Pace: 10:51 min/mi
UNDER 11 mins, AND I ran it all. It would've been faster (closer to my race pace...) if I didn't have to stop briefly at 2 crosswalks. I am also really happy to report that my first mile was well under 10 minutes - 9:30 or something like that. It is unfortunate that my last mile was pretty slow and brought down the average. I'm getting there, though. That crazy Mental Block was bigger than I ever could know... The achievements I have made in the last week have been bigger steps than I've taken in the last month. I've been trying to improve my mile time under 11 min for... well... ever. And you all have heard me bitch and moan about not being able to run the whole thing. One race was a real game-changer.
That said, now I need to sleep - it's CrossFit in the morning. But I'm sleeping (tired!) but happy. I'm feeling proud of myself and accomplished, again. YEAH!
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
""The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places." -Ernest Hemingway
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 147:
It was CrossFit Day, BlogLand! I do love me some Crossfit, but I have to tell you, it does not get any easier (at least not yet) getting up in the morning to be at class for 6:45am. I started to argue with myself this morning... but got up, and did it. I'm in a good place with my training at the moment, and I am not going to break that streak.
SOooo... Today was CrossFit.
It went like this:
It was CrossFit Day, BlogLand! I do love me some Crossfit, but I have to tell you, it does not get any easier (at least not yet) getting up in the morning to be at class for 6:45am. I started to argue with myself this morning... but got up, and did it. I'm in a good place with my training at the moment, and I am not going to break that streak.
SOooo... Today was CrossFit.
It went like this:
Warm Up: 3 Rounds Of......
- 400 M Ski
- 10 Burpees
- 10 Wall Balls
Whew... I tell ya. I love how Crossfit "Warm ups" are most people's workout. LOL. I am happy to report that for all three times, I did my 10 burpees without stopping, all in a row.
Then we moved on to my more favorite part - Lifting!
Strength/Skill:
- Overhead Squat: 5-3-3-1-1-1 (20#, 30#, 40#, 60#)
This is where I would like to note how much I hate any sort of overhead lifting... mostly because I'm not so good at it. haha... For some reason, my shoulders just don't do that, without a lot of objection. BUT, I do like the challenge of getting through it and trying to get better. I could've done more than the 60#, I'm sure... but I just don't feel confident in holding something over my head like that. The squat portion - no problem at all. The T-rex arms just aren't confident... YET. So, I elected to stay lighter with this one.
However, there was a rack-mishap (one of the rack heights wasn't pinned in all the way), and when I dropped my last one on the rack (60# total). One side didn't stay up, and I ended up catching the bar on the back of my shoulders - mostly where it should be... but it bounced a bit, and now I have sore spot at the bottom of my neck/top of my traps. Ouch. Ah well. Casualty of war. LOL.
Then, we move onto the WOD!
Workout: 21-15-9 Of.......
- Sumo Deadlift High Pull (40#)
- Knees 2 Elbows
* For Time: 6:30 min (ish)
So, Sumo Deadlift High pull is a good lift for me (no overhead!), but I'd never done it in a WOD like this... so, again, I elected for lighter, to see how I could handle it over the time span. The verdict is that 40# was definitely too light for me to really challenge myself. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't "easy"... but I definitely could've gone harder.
What made up for that was Knees to Elbows. BLEH. Again, just need to work on the strength to hang for longer periods of time. It is less my abs/core that struggle here (although, they do struggle. lol)... but more just being able to hang from bar long enough to get more than 5 in, in a row. And 5 is pushing it. GRR. Stupid arms.
THEN... just for fun... there's an:
After Party:
- 50 Box Jumps (16" box)
* For Time: 3:02
AH yes. Box jumps. Jumping is tricky... but there is something very simplistic about this movement. It's hard to do, especially when you're tired, but when it comes down to it, you just have to jump on the box. Step down. Jump on box. It is easy to take those one at a time, if you need to. I was pretty damn happy with 50 jumps in 3 minutes. Particularly because I used a taller box that some of my classmates (Ladies, that 12" was totally a cop-out. You know it. ).
I am feeling a bit achy today... like my 'bad' ankle is a little tweaked, and my legs are a bit sore... but, I suppose box jumps and squats and stuff will do that. Nothing a good sleep won't fix up. With that, I will leave you with a quote that made me laugh:
AH yes. Box jumps. Jumping is tricky... but there is something very simplistic about this movement. It's hard to do, especially when you're tired, but when it comes down to it, you just have to jump on the box. Step down. Jump on box. It is easy to take those one at a time, if you need to. I was pretty damn happy with 50 jumps in 3 minutes. Particularly because I used a taller box that some of my classmates (Ladies, that 12" was totally a cop-out. You know it. ).
I am feeling a bit achy today... like my 'bad' ankle is a little tweaked, and my legs are a bit sore... but, I suppose box jumps and squats and stuff will do that. Nothing a good sleep won't fix up. With that, I will leave you with a quote that made me laugh:
"Sweat is my fat cells crying."
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
"When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be."
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 146:
Well, BlogLand, I am happy to report that I am pretty sure my Mental Block (which was more like a fortress of some sort...) has been thoroughly decimated.
I think I needed Sunday's race - and all the personal victories associated with it - to prove some things to myself, that I wasn't able to do on my own. I hadn't really realized just HOW much I had needed that, until today's run.
Today, I went out for my 5K loop, as per usual. And I ran. And ran some more. And I did get a little tired at one point, but there was no more question mark in my head of whether I was capable of pushing through that - clearly, I was. I had. .... So I did. I just kept running. There were a couple of times that I did some slow, shorter strided recovery times, but still running. I didn't even really think about walking. I didn't need to.
What I likened this to was having a new car (akin to the new body I'm building). When you first get this new car, you have no idea how long it will go after the gas light goes on. So you are really cautious in the beginning - as soon as that gas light goes on (or you get a little tired, running), you stop the car (walk break.). You just have no idea how far it will go on E. Then that day happens that you're on the highway, far from a gas station, and you are on E. Oh crap. You have to keep driving. No other options (... or you have to keep running, because your GT won't let you stop, because he knows this is all in your head)... and suddenly you realize... Wow. Apparently, my car does, in fact, go MUCH farther on "E" than I thought. Or, in my convoluted analogy, You find yourself at the end of a 5K race, with an excellent time, having taken no walk breaks.
I think today, while I was running, I knew that the tired waves would pass. I could keep running through them and come out the other side. Hell, I had demonstrated to myself that I could even throw some hills in there and keep running. Today's route was flat!!
I had no idea the amount that my own mental doubt and insecurity was affecting my running progress. I think, somewhere deep down, as much as I was giving myself these pep talks, and *wanted* to run the distance without breaks, etc.... there was a deep, quiet, doubting part of me that really wasn't sure I could. It was the same negative whisperings from Old Me that tell me that Fat Chicks can't do this stuff, that I must look ridiculous when I run, that why would I think I could run a Spartan Race, when see, I can't even manage 3 miles. You know that voice. We all have it. Mine is just getting really bitter that I keep squashing it and proving it wrong (WAHA!). However, I really didn't realize how much that part had decidedly convinced my subconscious of this. I only really realized today...
... after I'd run the entire 5K, with no walk breaks... and I totally could've kept going at the end. No problem at all. Not only that, I did it at an excellent pace (for me):
Time: 34:38 min
Distance: 3.14 mi
Average pace: 11:03 min/mi
I am a little confused at the accuracy here, as the splits that it shows say I did individual miles in much faster times... but. Hmm. Irregardless, I'm pretty darn happy with NO walks, at an 11 min/mi pace. Particularly considering it must've been actually faster than that as I did have to stop and wait at a cross walk. Sub-11 min/miles. Easily. And I could've (should've!) kept running.
No. Mental. Block. I needed the support to bust through that wall, more than I could know, I guess. Finding myself on the other side of it is really liberating... I CAN do these things. I have now done it on my own, with the concrete knowledge that I could.
Ah, and THEN, the GT and I began the What's Next conversation. Up to this point, this is what was next. I needed to be able to run the entire 5K. I've done that twice. With gas left in the tank. (How long have I been holding my training back, with this silliness, I wonder?) Should I learn to be faster? Concentrate on going longer? What's next?
The consensus seems to be that I'm going to work on mileage, as ultimately, I'd like to be able to handle the more-involved, longer, Spartan races. Speed is less of an issue, while being able to cover the distance (sometimes up to 12 miles) is a big concern. The GT assures me we can get there, if that is what I want. So, on we push, to the next step in my Spartan Shape-Up... he mentioned something about working toward a 10K (6.2 miles). But I'm not afraid. I'm EXCITED. YEAH I'm going to run a 10K, at some point. YES, I want to train, so I can run the Spartan Supers. Push me! I feel like I've really broke down a big insecurity barrier... let's take advantage of that and really see what this body can do! HA!
I don't have the specifics of the training plan just yet... but, stay tuned, BlogLand... the next few months are going to be a wild ride!
Well, BlogLand, I am happy to report that I am pretty sure my Mental Block (which was more like a fortress of some sort...) has been thoroughly decimated.
I think I needed Sunday's race - and all the personal victories associated with it - to prove some things to myself, that I wasn't able to do on my own. I hadn't really realized just HOW much I had needed that, until today's run.
Today, I went out for my 5K loop, as per usual. And I ran. And ran some more. And I did get a little tired at one point, but there was no more question mark in my head of whether I was capable of pushing through that - clearly, I was. I had. .... So I did. I just kept running. There were a couple of times that I did some slow, shorter strided recovery times, but still running. I didn't even really think about walking. I didn't need to.
What I likened this to was having a new car (akin to the new body I'm building). When you first get this new car, you have no idea how long it will go after the gas light goes on. So you are really cautious in the beginning - as soon as that gas light goes on (or you get a little tired, running), you stop the car (walk break.). You just have no idea how far it will go on E. Then that day happens that you're on the highway, far from a gas station, and you are on E. Oh crap. You have to keep driving. No other options (... or you have to keep running, because your GT won't let you stop, because he knows this is all in your head)... and suddenly you realize... Wow. Apparently, my car does, in fact, go MUCH farther on "E" than I thought. Or, in my convoluted analogy, You find yourself at the end of a 5K race, with an excellent time, having taken no walk breaks.
I think today, while I was running, I knew that the tired waves would pass. I could keep running through them and come out the other side. Hell, I had demonstrated to myself that I could even throw some hills in there and keep running. Today's route was flat!!
I had no idea the amount that my own mental doubt and insecurity was affecting my running progress. I think, somewhere deep down, as much as I was giving myself these pep talks, and *wanted* to run the distance without breaks, etc.... there was a deep, quiet, doubting part of me that really wasn't sure I could. It was the same negative whisperings from Old Me that tell me that Fat Chicks can't do this stuff, that I must look ridiculous when I run, that why would I think I could run a Spartan Race, when see, I can't even manage 3 miles. You know that voice. We all have it. Mine is just getting really bitter that I keep squashing it and proving it wrong (WAHA!). However, I really didn't realize how much that part had decidedly convinced my subconscious of this. I only really realized today...
... after I'd run the entire 5K, with no walk breaks... and I totally could've kept going at the end. No problem at all. Not only that, I did it at an excellent pace (for me):
Time: 34:38 min
Distance: 3.14 mi
Average pace: 11:03 min/mi
I am a little confused at the accuracy here, as the splits that it shows say I did individual miles in much faster times... but. Hmm. Irregardless, I'm pretty darn happy with NO walks, at an 11 min/mi pace. Particularly considering it must've been actually faster than that as I did have to stop and wait at a cross walk. Sub-11 min/miles. Easily. And I could've (should've!) kept running.
No. Mental. Block. I needed the support to bust through that wall, more than I could know, I guess. Finding myself on the other side of it is really liberating... I CAN do these things. I have now done it on my own, with the concrete knowledge that I could.
Ah, and THEN, the GT and I began the What's Next conversation. Up to this point, this is what was next. I needed to be able to run the entire 5K. I've done that twice. With gas left in the tank. (How long have I been holding my training back, with this silliness, I wonder?) Should I learn to be faster? Concentrate on going longer? What's next?
The consensus seems to be that I'm going to work on mileage, as ultimately, I'd like to be able to handle the more-involved, longer, Spartan races. Speed is less of an issue, while being able to cover the distance (sometimes up to 12 miles) is a big concern. The GT assures me we can get there, if that is what I want. So, on we push, to the next step in my Spartan Shape-Up... he mentioned something about working toward a 10K (6.2 miles). But I'm not afraid. I'm EXCITED. YEAH I'm going to run a 10K, at some point. YES, I want to train, so I can run the Spartan Supers. Push me! I feel like I've really broke down a big insecurity barrier... let's take advantage of that and really see what this body can do! HA!
I don't have the specifics of the training plan just yet... but, stay tuned, BlogLand... the next few months are going to be a wild ride!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Sometimes, you just need an Axe to tear down a Mental Wall.
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 144:
It was RACE DAY, BlogLand! An interestingly eventful one, even:
My day began somewhere between the Ass-Crack of Dawn, and the PRE-Ass-Crack of Dawn. What this means is that, when I left my driveway and made a beeline for the Dunkin Donuts down the road for coffee, the moon was still up. No joke. I got up, got coffee (sweet Nectar of Life!), and was on the highway by MOONLIGHT (looked full, even.).
I was headed out to Walter's Run, a 5K race down in West Roxbury, Massachusetts; A smallish run (not chip timed, about 400 people), but local to my GT and Ms. Fit Bee, and a great way to spend a Sunday.
After driving away from home about an hour or so, my phone working as a GPS in it's car mount, I suddenly realize I have NO BATTERY. Commence Panicking. (Why? Well. How else would I get there? A map? I couldn't call for directions, if my phone (with all my numbers in it!) died.) OH no. After some jiggling of wires, I see that I can get my phone to do a little intermittent charging, as long as I don't hit any bumps, and I start running through Plan B in my head. Shortly thereafter, I hit the NH State Liquor Store Rest Stop. After gathering some sustenance (ever try and get a healthy snack out of a vending machine!?), I happened to ask the attendant if he knew if the big Liquor Store might sell phone chargers. I must've had a bit of a Damsel-in-Distress look or something, because after a few questions, he offered to give me his "extra" one in the car. I told him I had no cash. He shrugged it off. He literally GAVE me his car charger, knowing he'd never see it again (I did offer to return it on my way back). Wow. Who knew the kindness of strangers was still alive? I took this as a sign that this day was meant to be a Good one, and off I went.
After a slight detour to pick up My Supreme Awesomeness of a GT, we went searching for the run... which proved to take a bit longer than anticipated, causing us to be skidding into a parking lot, and jumping out before the car even stopped moving (alright, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration...). Really, we had a WHOLE 8 MINUTES before the gun went off. Oh yeah, we were parked a block away, and no, we hadn't picked up our numbers yet. However, again, the Cosmos smiled on me today, and the organizers apparently decided to delay the start a few minutes, because enough people were running late (ha! no pun intended!). This allowed us JUST enough time to find the gym, grab our numbers, get into the starting crowd, and hear the gun just as we were pinning our last pin in place. Woo! Close one.
We started out at a comfortable pace for me, toward the back of the giant mass of people (leading me to think that my *actual* time might be about 15-20 seconds faster than posted...). I'm not a fan of this part. It's hard to find your stride, get some open road, and not run a bunch of people over all at the same time. I suppose that's why the more competitive types start more up front.
This run started on a slight downhill (Yay!), and leveled out nicely; a great relief after last week's Santa 5k hills! Then we turned up our first "hill". Now, I don't mean to pick on you people that live in flat places. My family is from, and I spent much of my younger years in, Massachusetts. However, when we turned up a wee little rolling "hill", and I heard the lady just behind me start bitching about the "hill," I must admit, I rejoiced a little bit. "If this is what they consider a "hill" around here, I'm going to be all set!!" I thought to myself. You see, there is no "flat" run in Vermont. We're the Green Mountain State. There is a reason the Death Race originated here (aside from the Awesome Crazy people...).
I felt pretty good for the first mile and a half-ish. GT helped keep me at a not-too-fast pace, as I am inclined to fall into, in these competitive situations. I was enjoying the change of scenery, the beautiful day, the company, and getting to stretch my legs after 3 hours in the car.
Then the battle began.
I had the first hint of desire to take a walk break. We had gotten past my warm up and entered the land where the actual work began. My breathing had picked up a bit, and I had to focus on getting the job done. GT and I began to talk (... and by "talk", I mean he imparted knowledge, and I panted grunts of affirmative understanding, between sucking in deep breaths.) about the importance of taking deep breaths... shallow breathing would tire me out more quickly, by not getting enough oxygen to my muscles. I kept running.
Then came the hill. Okay, Massachusetts, it would seem you do have a hill. It wasn't a terrible one, but it was late in the run - more than halfway through. Corrected by the GT, I kept my pace at energy-saving short, but quick, strides. I didn't look at the hill. I looked at the feet in front of me. Right, Left, Right, Left. It was hard now. My brain was heavily suggesting that a walk - just a tiny one! - would be a good plan. You know, tiny recovery. Then I tried to remember how frustrated I feel every single time I come back from a 5K distance, knowing I walked a bit. I latched onto that feeling with an iron mind, and focused in on the GT's coaching words. Short Strides. Right, Left, Right, Left.
We crested the hill and a woman informed us that we were less than a mile from the finish! As much as I wanted to be excited about that, and some of me was, I was trying to recover from the hill exertion. That wasn't happening easily. This is where I would walk, if it was just me running. My brain was screaming that a walk was all we could do. Between heavy breaths, I admitted to the GT that now, I wanted to walk. I didn't stop my labored trot, but I said that out loud. I had felt the inner excuses begin swirling around in my head, why it would be okay to walk, how I was still too fat to think I could do this, and on and on, and needed to stop that process. THIS was the proverbial vertical wall that I couldn't figure out how to get over on my own.
Today, however, I wasn't alone. I can't remember exactly what was said, the moment that I panted out my Walk Confession... but the answer I felt, from my invaluable GT, in my brain was a solid, inarguable, rock-like, "No." There would be no walking. He wasn't going to let me continue getting in my own way. Physically, there is no reason I can't run that distance. But I've been failing because of a long-constructed set of mental hurdles that I have been having trouble identifying and getting over on my own. Today, apparently, we were going straight through them. I WANTED to (so badly!), I just needed someone to believe that I could, right then, at that crucial moment when I started to doubt that myself.
We turned a corner... literally, and figuratively. I was STILL RUNNING.
Yep. Mental hurdle? Begone! I was still running, and I had actually recovered a bit. My legs were turning over, I was concentrating on taking deep, refreshing breaths, and we were still moving forward. It didn't feel bad. I didn't feel bad. My lungs had not, in fact, exploded and my legs, in actuality, had not turned to cement blocks.
Then it happened. The Rocky Theme began emanating from the GT's phone. I laughed, realizing that (omg) I was having fun. I didn't die. I could do this. I was doing it. Nothing like a little Rocky to bring you to Life's big revelations.
In the distance, I could see that the crowd had thickened... it was the finish line. FINISH LINE. I hadn't walked. I certainly wasn't walking now. Oh hey, wasn't I here to try and beat my previous times, too? Cue the Sprint to the Finish.
This may be my favorite part of any competition. Races or otherwise. That moment when you don't have to 'save up' anymore, no more pacing yourself... just go. I kicked it up. I do wish I had really realized that was the finish line in the distance, earlier... I'm thinking I could've done it sooner. But there are always going to be those things to improve upon... At that moment, I was running to the end of a race that I had actually, truly, RUN for the first time in my life.
Wow. If you had said that to me a year ago, I would've laughed in your face. Hard.
Straight into the finish chute I went - happy, smiling and triumphant for more reasons than I could enumerate for you. Coming up along side me, the GT reported in on how he thought we had done "unofficially". Smiles and sweaty hugs were all I had at that moment. Confirmation. Wall, Gone.
Official Results:
Time: 32:40
Ave. Pace: 10:32
That means we hit another goal - finish in less than 34 minutes. I think we did that quite successfully. My previous best time was 34:40... we shaved TWO MINUTES off it. I *averaged* under an 11 minute mile over a multiple-mile distance, for the first time EVER.
There's no excuses now. I have the proof. I CAN do it. I DID do it. Nothing's stopping me now. We're in uncharted territories, and I'm not afraid. Aroo!
To add to the coolness factor of the day, we spotted Colleen Fit Bee, chillin' at the finish, waiting for some more of her friends. (Rumor has it Colleen did it in a ridiculously awesome time, placing 5th?). It was pretty fabulous to meet another one of the Spartan Chicks, in person. That network has been so inspirational, motivational and supportive of me through all of this, that I hope to meet each and every one of them. Colleen's similar major-weight loss journey, to successful marathoner has been nothing short of remarkable. She's living proof that it's possible, if you want it bad enough.
All in all, an excellent day. The only part that went slightly wrong, was the fact that I didn't cool down/stretch enough post-race. Instead, I went and sat and had some lunch (Yum!), then got in the car and sat for another 3 hours. After a solid hour in the car, my knees had begun to stiffen and throb a bit. OW. OWWWW.
Wasn't going to bring me down though... there was too much awesome in today. Came home, worked on re-hydrating, swallowed a handful of Ibuprofen (I may need to buy stock in this company...) and liberally applied the Tiger Balm to my achy knees. Awwww yeeeahhh. Feeling much better already.
....... When's the next race?
With that, BlogLand... I leave you for today. It's time to hit the pillow - Crossfit comes early on Mondays!
It was RACE DAY, BlogLand! An interestingly eventful one, even:
My day began somewhere between the Ass-Crack of Dawn, and the PRE-Ass-Crack of Dawn. What this means is that, when I left my driveway and made a beeline for the Dunkin Donuts down the road for coffee, the moon was still up. No joke. I got up, got coffee (sweet Nectar of Life!), and was on the highway by MOONLIGHT (looked full, even.).
I was headed out to Walter's Run, a 5K race down in West Roxbury, Massachusetts; A smallish run (not chip timed, about 400 people), but local to my GT and Ms. Fit Bee, and a great way to spend a Sunday.
After driving away from home about an hour or so, my phone working as a GPS in it's car mount, I suddenly realize I have NO BATTERY. Commence Panicking. (Why? Well. How else would I get there? A map? I couldn't call for directions, if my phone (with all my numbers in it!) died.) OH no. After some jiggling of wires, I see that I can get my phone to do a little intermittent charging, as long as I don't hit any bumps, and I start running through Plan B in my head. Shortly thereafter, I hit the NH State Liquor Store Rest Stop. After gathering some sustenance (ever try and get a healthy snack out of a vending machine!?), I happened to ask the attendant if he knew if the big Liquor Store might sell phone chargers. I must've had a bit of a Damsel-in-Distress look or something, because after a few questions, he offered to give me his "extra" one in the car. I told him I had no cash. He shrugged it off. He literally GAVE me his car charger, knowing he'd never see it again (I did offer to return it on my way back). Wow. Who knew the kindness of strangers was still alive? I took this as a sign that this day was meant to be a Good one, and off I went.
After a slight detour to pick up My Supreme Awesomeness of a GT, we went searching for the run... which proved to take a bit longer than anticipated, causing us to be skidding into a parking lot, and jumping out before the car even stopped moving (alright, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration...). Really, we had a WHOLE 8 MINUTES before the gun went off. Oh yeah, we were parked a block away, and no, we hadn't picked up our numbers yet. However, again, the Cosmos smiled on me today, and the organizers apparently decided to delay the start a few minutes, because enough people were running late (ha! no pun intended!). This allowed us JUST enough time to find the gym, grab our numbers, get into the starting crowd, and hear the gun just as we were pinning our last pin in place. Woo! Close one.
We started out at a comfortable pace for me, toward the back of the giant mass of people (leading me to think that my *actual* time might be about 15-20 seconds faster than posted...). I'm not a fan of this part. It's hard to find your stride, get some open road, and not run a bunch of people over all at the same time. I suppose that's why the more competitive types start more up front.
This run started on a slight downhill (Yay!), and leveled out nicely; a great relief after last week's Santa 5k hills! Then we turned up our first "hill". Now, I don't mean to pick on you people that live in flat places. My family is from, and I spent much of my younger years in, Massachusetts. However, when we turned up a wee little rolling "hill", and I heard the lady just behind me start bitching about the "hill," I must admit, I rejoiced a little bit. "If this is what they consider a "hill" around here, I'm going to be all set!!" I thought to myself. You see, there is no "flat" run in Vermont. We're the Green Mountain State. There is a reason the Death Race originated here (aside from the Awesome Crazy people...).
I felt pretty good for the first mile and a half-ish. GT helped keep me at a not-too-fast pace, as I am inclined to fall into, in these competitive situations. I was enjoying the change of scenery, the beautiful day, the company, and getting to stretch my legs after 3 hours in the car.
Then the battle began.
I had the first hint of desire to take a walk break. We had gotten past my warm up and entered the land where the actual work began. My breathing had picked up a bit, and I had to focus on getting the job done. GT and I began to talk (... and by "talk", I mean he imparted knowledge, and I panted grunts of affirmative understanding, between sucking in deep breaths.) about the importance of taking deep breaths... shallow breathing would tire me out more quickly, by not getting enough oxygen to my muscles. I kept running.
Then came the hill. Okay, Massachusetts, it would seem you do have a hill. It wasn't a terrible one, but it was late in the run - more than halfway through. Corrected by the GT, I kept my pace at energy-saving short, but quick, strides. I didn't look at the hill. I looked at the feet in front of me. Right, Left, Right, Left. It was hard now. My brain was heavily suggesting that a walk - just a tiny one! - would be a good plan. You know, tiny recovery. Then I tried to remember how frustrated I feel every single time I come back from a 5K distance, knowing I walked a bit. I latched onto that feeling with an iron mind, and focused in on the GT's coaching words. Short Strides. Right, Left, Right, Left.
We crested the hill and a woman informed us that we were less than a mile from the finish! As much as I wanted to be excited about that, and some of me was, I was trying to recover from the hill exertion. That wasn't happening easily. This is where I would walk, if it was just me running. My brain was screaming that a walk was all we could do. Between heavy breaths, I admitted to the GT that now, I wanted to walk. I didn't stop my labored trot, but I said that out loud. I had felt the inner excuses begin swirling around in my head, why it would be okay to walk, how I was still too fat to think I could do this, and on and on, and needed to stop that process. THIS was the proverbial vertical wall that I couldn't figure out how to get over on my own.
Today, however, I wasn't alone. I can't remember exactly what was said, the moment that I panted out my Walk Confession... but the answer I felt, from my invaluable GT, in my brain was a solid, inarguable, rock-like, "No." There would be no walking. He wasn't going to let me continue getting in my own way. Physically, there is no reason I can't run that distance. But I've been failing because of a long-constructed set of mental hurdles that I have been having trouble identifying and getting over on my own. Today, apparently, we were going straight through them. I WANTED to (so badly!), I just needed someone to believe that I could, right then, at that crucial moment when I started to doubt that myself.
We turned a corner... literally, and figuratively. I was STILL RUNNING.
Yep. Mental hurdle? Begone! I was still running, and I had actually recovered a bit. My legs were turning over, I was concentrating on taking deep, refreshing breaths, and we were still moving forward. It didn't feel bad. I didn't feel bad. My lungs had not, in fact, exploded and my legs, in actuality, had not turned to cement blocks.
Then it happened. The Rocky Theme began emanating from the GT's phone. I laughed, realizing that (omg) I was having fun. I didn't die. I could do this. I was doing it. Nothing like a little Rocky to bring you to Life's big revelations.
In the distance, I could see that the crowd had thickened... it was the finish line. FINISH LINE. I hadn't walked. I certainly wasn't walking now. Oh hey, wasn't I here to try and beat my previous times, too? Cue the Sprint to the Finish.
This may be my favorite part of any competition. Races or otherwise. That moment when you don't have to 'save up' anymore, no more pacing yourself... just go. I kicked it up. I do wish I had really realized that was the finish line in the distance, earlier... I'm thinking I could've done it sooner. But there are always going to be those things to improve upon... At that moment, I was running to the end of a race that I had actually, truly, RUN for the first time in my life.
Wow. If you had said that to me a year ago, I would've laughed in your face. Hard.
Straight into the finish chute I went - happy, smiling and triumphant for more reasons than I could enumerate for you. Coming up along side me, the GT reported in on how he thought we had done "unofficially". Smiles and sweaty hugs were all I had at that moment. Confirmation. Wall, Gone.
Official Results:
Time: 32:40
Ave. Pace: 10:32
That means we hit another goal - finish in less than 34 minutes. I think we did that quite successfully. My previous best time was 34:40... we shaved TWO MINUTES off it. I *averaged* under an 11 minute mile over a multiple-mile distance, for the first time EVER.
There's no excuses now. I have the proof. I CAN do it. I DID do it. Nothing's stopping me now. We're in uncharted territories, and I'm not afraid. Aroo!
To add to the coolness factor of the day, we spotted Colleen Fit Bee, chillin' at the finish, waiting for some more of her friends. (Rumor has it Colleen did it in a ridiculously awesome time, placing 5th?). It was pretty fabulous to meet another one of the Spartan Chicks, in person. That network has been so inspirational, motivational and supportive of me through all of this, that I hope to meet each and every one of them. Colleen's similar major-weight loss journey, to successful marathoner has been nothing short of remarkable. She's living proof that it's possible, if you want it bad enough.
All in all, an excellent day. The only part that went slightly wrong, was the fact that I didn't cool down/stretch enough post-race. Instead, I went and sat and had some lunch (Yum!), then got in the car and sat for another 3 hours. After a solid hour in the car, my knees had begun to stiffen and throb a bit. OW. OWWWW.
Wasn't going to bring me down though... there was too much awesome in today. Came home, worked on re-hydrating, swallowed a handful of Ibuprofen (I may need to buy stock in this company...) and liberally applied the Tiger Balm to my achy knees. Awwww yeeeahhh. Feeling much better already.
....... When's the next race?
With that, BlogLand... I leave you for today. It's time to hit the pillow - Crossfit comes early on Mondays!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
"Fear is part of the process. If you weren't scared, you'd be in trouble." ~ Bruce Jenner
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 141, 142 & 143:
Dear BlogLand. I swear I haven't been slacking. It has just been a busy/mentally-challenging few days.
Wednesday's Crossfit workout left me completely incapacitated in my upper body. Major stiff and sore. DAMN YOU PULLUPS. I was still sore on yesterday, and even today, I can feel the stiff sore at the bottom of my bicep when I try to straighten/stretch out my arms. CLEARLY I have identified a weak point that needs to be challenged more. I'm contemplating which over-the-door pull-up bar I'm going to buy with my next paycheck, so I can start working on this more, from home. After chatting with the GT, apparently, I also need to practice just "hanging". I was like, uhm... wtf? But apparently, while we are considering the Spartan Race obstacles to overcome, Monkey Bars is one of the most challenging for me, I anticipate. He says it it my grip/strength ability that will help/hinder me the most there... which I can work on by just hanging and holding my bodyweight for periods of time. I can just see it now... Watching TV... Everyone's sitting on couches, easy chairs... I'm hanging in a doorway.... OH geesh.
Speaking of Spartan Race Obstacles.... I DID IT. I am OFFICIALLY registered for The New England Spartan Sprint in Amesbury, MA. in August. They have my money. I am committed. The GT seems to think that I will be ready to go for some of the Spring Sprints, but that one in August is my GOAL race, so I will be attending that and taking names, either way.
I'm not going to lie, BlogLand, when I signed up for that race and clicked "submit," I felt a little bit nauseous. Like, what did I just DO?! *insert anxious, self-doubting, freak-out* However, what's done was done, and I reminded myself that it was what I wanted, and if I had already come this far.... So. A little pep talk was needed... but my GT helped with that, and I surfed my Spartan Chicks group for some inspiring motivational posts... and took a deep breath. All would be well.
Then I got excited. LOL. I started plotting what other races I could do. I am also very much looking forward to travelling to some of the races. Going to have to get THAT schedule in early so that my work doesn't slap me in the face when I give them the list of Friday's that I need off to travel to races. haha
In other news, No Bread has been a bit tricky lately. With the holidays upon us, there's been a lot of cookies around, goodies, etc. Yesterday, my office ordered my favorite - Buffalo Chicken Pizza - and I wanted to die inside a little bit. I WANTED PIZZA. However, I stuck to my guns. No bread. I ate my turkey/salad lunch. Somewhat angrily, I admit.
However, today I got on the scale, for a check-in that I haven't done in a while. I am: 213.4 pounds. That means I have lost just about TEN POUNDS since November 4th, by doing this No Bread Challenge. Yeehaw!! Maybe a big change was just what I needed to get my metabolism running again. I'm hoping to be under 200 by the time I go on my annual vacation (to the Carribean, in March!).
So... Things are good. Getting better. I think I just needed a day or two off to rest my brain and de-stress a bit.
Tomorrow, I'm travelling to a 5K race in Massachusetts.... After I expressed my thought that I was really aiming to get a new PR - Under 34 minutes and/or no walks - my GT informs me that we're going to do it. I am mildly afraid of what he might have in mind, but looking forward to having the extra support that might get me over this hump.
Stay tuned, tomorrow will be a Race Recap - and a new PR! Cross your fingers....
Dear BlogLand. I swear I haven't been slacking. It has just been a busy/mentally-challenging few days.
Wednesday's Crossfit workout left me completely incapacitated in my upper body. Major stiff and sore. DAMN YOU PULLUPS. I was still sore on yesterday, and even today, I can feel the stiff sore at the bottom of my bicep when I try to straighten/stretch out my arms. CLEARLY I have identified a weak point that needs to be challenged more. I'm contemplating which over-the-door pull-up bar I'm going to buy with my next paycheck, so I can start working on this more, from home. After chatting with the GT, apparently, I also need to practice just "hanging". I was like, uhm... wtf? But apparently, while we are considering the Spartan Race obstacles to overcome, Monkey Bars is one of the most challenging for me, I anticipate. He says it it my grip/strength ability that will help/hinder me the most there... which I can work on by just hanging and holding my bodyweight for periods of time. I can just see it now... Watching TV... Everyone's sitting on couches, easy chairs... I'm hanging in a doorway.... OH geesh.
Speaking of Spartan Race Obstacles.... I DID IT. I am OFFICIALLY registered for The New England Spartan Sprint in Amesbury, MA. in August. They have my money. I am committed. The GT seems to think that I will be ready to go for some of the Spring Sprints, but that one in August is my GOAL race, so I will be attending that and taking names, either way.
I'm not going to lie, BlogLand, when I signed up for that race and clicked "submit," I felt a little bit nauseous. Like, what did I just DO?! *insert anxious, self-doubting, freak-out* However, what's done was done, and I reminded myself that it was what I wanted, and if I had already come this far.... So. A little pep talk was needed... but my GT helped with that, and I surfed my Spartan Chicks group for some inspiring motivational posts... and took a deep breath. All would be well.
Then I got excited. LOL. I started plotting what other races I could do. I am also very much looking forward to travelling to some of the races. Going to have to get THAT schedule in early so that my work doesn't slap me in the face when I give them the list of Friday's that I need off to travel to races. haha
In other news, No Bread has been a bit tricky lately. With the holidays upon us, there's been a lot of cookies around, goodies, etc. Yesterday, my office ordered my favorite - Buffalo Chicken Pizza - and I wanted to die inside a little bit. I WANTED PIZZA. However, I stuck to my guns. No bread. I ate my turkey/salad lunch. Somewhat angrily, I admit.
However, today I got on the scale, for a check-in that I haven't done in a while. I am: 213.4 pounds. That means I have lost just about TEN POUNDS since November 4th, by doing this No Bread Challenge. Yeehaw!! Maybe a big change was just what I needed to get my metabolism running again. I'm hoping to be under 200 by the time I go on my annual vacation (to the Carribean, in March!).
So... Things are good. Getting better. I think I just needed a day or two off to rest my brain and de-stress a bit.
Tomorrow, I'm travelling to a 5K race in Massachusetts.... After I expressed my thought that I was really aiming to get a new PR - Under 34 minutes and/or no walks - my GT informs me that we're going to do it. I am mildly afraid of what he might have in mind, but looking forward to having the extra support that might get me over this hump.
Stay tuned, tomorrow will be a Race Recap - and a new PR! Cross your fingers....
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
“When you have to make a choice and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.” -William James
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 140:
I woke up on a better side of the bed today, BlogLand. I managed to get my head in a better space, held myself accountable, and got my ass out of bed this morning. Off to Crossfit I went, in the dark, rainy morning. It's true. Getting the sneakers on and out the door is always the worst part.
Got to Crossfit and did the
I woke up on a better side of the bed today, BlogLand. I managed to get my head in a better space, held myself accountable, and got my ass out of bed this morning. Off to Crossfit I went, in the dark, rainy morning. It's true. Getting the sneakers on and out the door is always the worst part.
Got to Crossfit and did the
Warm Up:
- Confluence Warm-Up, x2
I can't quite remember all 10 exercises, but there were push ups and mountain climbers, jumping jacks, superman's, air squats, "dancing crabs"... basically 10-20 of each exercise, getting your body warmed up for the WOD ahead...
Then, it was onto:
Workout: Strength Day: Power Snatch......
- 12-8-5 (to start, having never gone heavy with this move before: 40#)
- 3-3 (50#)
- 1-1 (60#, 70#)
That was interesting. Power snatch is a tricky move. I struggle more with anything I have to put over my head. I don't have the strength/flexibility/mobility in my shoulders yet to make these easy moves to do correctly. Correctly being key, as it is easy to injure oneself if you are lifting too heavy, or doing it incorrectly. While I absolutely know I could've done more than 70# here, I elected to keep the weight here and learn the move more intuitively. I don't have the time, nor desire to be injured! Plus, this particular instructor remains on the cautious side with me, because I'm "new" still. He clearly does not yet recognize my inner beast. I am not as delicate as I look?! LOL.
THEN came the real fun.
- After Party: Death By Pull-Ups......
- 1st Min, Perform 1 Pull-Up
- 2nd Min, 2 Pull-Ups
- 3rd Min, 3 Pull-Ups
- And So On Until Clock Catches You (or 20 min)
UHM. YEAH. We've discussed my T-rex arms. I can't do pull ups. And I confess, I HATE using the bands to do assisted pull ups. I constantly feel like I'm going to slingshot myself into oblivion, or snap myself in the face or something. Totally undermining my badassery. However, You just can't do Jumping pull ups for a challenge like this. I had to at least give it a go and figure out where I could get to. A benchmark for improvement.
I got to the realization that I have TOO much body, still, for my tiny sad arms to pull up. They tried. I used the damn bands. I got through 7 minutes following the formula, using the bands. Then, from minute 8-11, I think I got 7 reps each, and then only managed 3 reps/min for each minute remaining.
It was a good effort. I'm just not there yet. Did I see it to the end? YES.
... and then my shoulders and back began to cry. I swear.
I went to put on my heavy Spartan Race sweatshirt to leave the gym, and I swear that thing weighed 400#. I struggled to get it over my head. My arms were shaking. Got out to my car and attempted to drink from my mostly-full nalgene bottle.... YEAH. FAIL. I totally had to use two hands. Went home to shower... washing my hair, with both arms over my head, was an exercise in Will, for sure.
The Most Tragic Moment: I went to pick up my fresh coffee to start the work day, and couldn't carry it safely with one hand. Hello, total muscle failure.
Luckily, this has improved as the day has gone on, and moved into general muscle ache and OW.... But, I take it as a bit of a badge of honor. I worked that hard. Plus, it means that I'm growing new muscle. YEAH. SOMEday, I'm going to be able to do *one* pull up, unassisted. SOMEday. One day at a time.
Incidentally, today was the last day of my 20th week of training. 20 WEEKS. Holy shit. It continues to amaze me. What I am capable of, continues to amaze me.
Never let your outsides keep the real you inside. Never.
Not choosing to change IS a choice.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
The only journey is the journey within. -Rainer Maria Rilke
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 139:
I had a little bit of a "day" today, BlogLand. It was a tough one. My alarm went off this morning for Run Day, and I shut it off and groaned a bit. It was early. My bed was warm. I heard light rain outside my window. I didn't want to. At all.
Why didn't I want to?
I'm frustrated, in short. I am, by nature, what one might call an "achiever"... or ridiculously competitive. Once I have my eye on a goal, I am constantly pushing for the next step, next small goal to check off. For instance, in my Spartan Shape-Up journey, losing weight has been at the forefront. I knew what I had to do. I've been diligent about my eating habits. When I started to level off, that wasn't going to be acceptable, so I sought out something that would help keep moving me toward the goal ("No Bread").
Or, in this case, I decided that I wanted to turn 30 and be in shape enough to successfully complete a Spartan Race. When I broke that down, getting in Spartan Race shape involved learning to run. First goal, run short intervals, until I could run for 30 minutes. Check. Next, Run 3x a week, moving up the mileage on the legs. Check. And so on and so forth, bringing us to the present day. Currently, the goal I've been working on is to be able to run a 5K with no-walk breaks. The other goal that I've alternately been working on with that are to be able to average under 11min/mi. over 3ish miles.
I have been working on that goal - run a full 5K, no breaks - for quite a while now. I have not been making any forward progress of late. Not anything remarkable, anyway. I've had really bad days, some better days, and all matter in between.... but I haven't had any breakthroughs. I've done better (less walk breaks), but STILL can't quite break through the 'wall' and get that achievement. I've tried to wait it out, get more miles on my legs, waited for my body to catch up with my training, run a Long Run every week, got in better general shape.... and STILL, no full 3K run.
For an Achiever, being able to check something off the Achievement list is, quite possibly, the most maddening thing in the world. Particularly when you've been as patient as you can, tried every new approach and felt like you were doing all the right things. I haven't been slacking off, I haven't been dodging workouts.... and yet....
... here I am. Lying in my bed, torn about whether I wanted to get out of it and lace up my sneakers or not. Did I want to stay on my quest to Spartan Shape Up and beat my head against this stupid running wall only to NOT hit my goal again, or curl up back in bed and enjoy another hour or so of sleep.
I feel a bit guilty, but today, I chose Sleep.
THEN, I rallied my inner Spartan and reached out. I talked to my Chicks, I threw it all at my GT. I am strong enough to pull out of this self-pity party, before it becomes a pattern that I don't want to repeat.
Again, I have to note the wise words of my GT. After spewing my frustration and upset and defeat at my GT, he reminded me: "So you're training more, eating less and not progressing? See what I'm doing there?" At which point, I admit, I tried to argue. Then again he reminded me that this is why most normal humans make one change at a time to allow themselves and their body's time to adapt... not just jump feet first in the deep end and figure out how to tread water before you drown. I guess that is what I've been doing. For the last 139 days, I've been in a constant state of flux. The next workout to master, the next step to get to, how to improve my eating, etc. My body and life have been in upheaval. I'm not one to do "gradual".
He also took a moment to remind me to cut myself some slack. I know that running is my weak point, thus by nature, I hyper-focus on the weak point and work to improve it. Work hard. I HAVE been doing all the right things. But I can't force my body to catch up. It needs to have a little time to do what it needs to do to learn and grow. My brain also needs to back the eff off a little bit. This is supposed to be fun. This is to make myself better. I need to get back to enjoying it. My GT suggested I break it up a bit - go for a hike, run without checking the mileage, snowshoe.
Although, the GT did make a request. I have not been keeping my Food Log since I began the No-Bread thing. Apparently, GT feels that I need to get back on this wagon. Nutrition may or may not be playing a part in my progress plateau. One thing at a time; I ease up on myself a bit, re-commit to the detailed Food Log, and just keep plowing forward. One thing at a time. ONE.
*deep breath*
And with that, I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow morning is Crossfit, and it looks like we're Power Snatching the Crazy right out of the Crack 'O Dawn workout, followed by a pull-up Afterparty. Ohhh yeah. This will be fun. :-)
I had a little bit of a "day" today, BlogLand. It was a tough one. My alarm went off this morning for Run Day, and I shut it off and groaned a bit. It was early. My bed was warm. I heard light rain outside my window. I didn't want to. At all.
Why didn't I want to?
I'm frustrated, in short. I am, by nature, what one might call an "achiever"... or ridiculously competitive. Once I have my eye on a goal, I am constantly pushing for the next step, next small goal to check off. For instance, in my Spartan Shape-Up journey, losing weight has been at the forefront. I knew what I had to do. I've been diligent about my eating habits. When I started to level off, that wasn't going to be acceptable, so I sought out something that would help keep moving me toward the goal ("No Bread").
Or, in this case, I decided that I wanted to turn 30 and be in shape enough to successfully complete a Spartan Race. When I broke that down, getting in Spartan Race shape involved learning to run. First goal, run short intervals, until I could run for 30 minutes. Check. Next, Run 3x a week, moving up the mileage on the legs. Check. And so on and so forth, bringing us to the present day. Currently, the goal I've been working on is to be able to run a 5K with no-walk breaks. The other goal that I've alternately been working on with that are to be able to average under 11min/mi. over 3ish miles.
I have been working on that goal - run a full 5K, no breaks - for quite a while now. I have not been making any forward progress of late. Not anything remarkable, anyway. I've had really bad days, some better days, and all matter in between.... but I haven't had any breakthroughs. I've done better (less walk breaks), but STILL can't quite break through the 'wall' and get that achievement. I've tried to wait it out, get more miles on my legs, waited for my body to catch up with my training, run a Long Run every week, got in better general shape.... and STILL, no full 3K run.
For an Achiever, being able to check something off the Achievement list is, quite possibly, the most maddening thing in the world. Particularly when you've been as patient as you can, tried every new approach and felt like you were doing all the right things. I haven't been slacking off, I haven't been dodging workouts.... and yet....
... here I am. Lying in my bed, torn about whether I wanted to get out of it and lace up my sneakers or not. Did I want to stay on my quest to Spartan Shape Up and beat my head against this stupid running wall only to NOT hit my goal again, or curl up back in bed and enjoy another hour or so of sleep.
I feel a bit guilty, but today, I chose Sleep.
THEN, I rallied my inner Spartan and reached out. I talked to my Chicks, I threw it all at my GT. I am strong enough to pull out of this self-pity party, before it becomes a pattern that I don't want to repeat.
Again, I have to note the wise words of my GT. After spewing my frustration and upset and defeat at my GT, he reminded me: "So you're training more, eating less and not progressing? See what I'm doing there?" At which point, I admit, I tried to argue. Then again he reminded me that this is why most normal humans make one change at a time to allow themselves and their body's time to adapt... not just jump feet first in the deep end and figure out how to tread water before you drown. I guess that is what I've been doing. For the last 139 days, I've been in a constant state of flux. The next workout to master, the next step to get to, how to improve my eating, etc. My body and life have been in upheaval. I'm not one to do "gradual".
He also took a moment to remind me to cut myself some slack. I know that running is my weak point, thus by nature, I hyper-focus on the weak point and work to improve it. Work hard. I HAVE been doing all the right things. But I can't force my body to catch up. It needs to have a little time to do what it needs to do to learn and grow. My brain also needs to back the eff off a little bit. This is supposed to be fun. This is to make myself better. I need to get back to enjoying it. My GT suggested I break it up a bit - go for a hike, run without checking the mileage, snowshoe.
Although, the GT did make a request. I have not been keeping my Food Log since I began the No-Bread thing. Apparently, GT feels that I need to get back on this wagon. Nutrition may or may not be playing a part in my progress plateau. One thing at a time; I ease up on myself a bit, re-commit to the detailed Food Log, and just keep plowing forward. One thing at a time. ONE.
*deep breath*
And with that, I'm going to go to bed. Tomorrow morning is Crossfit, and it looks like we're Power Snatching the Crazy right out of the Crack 'O Dawn workout, followed by a pull-up Afterparty. Ohhh yeah. This will be fun. :-)
Sunday, December 4, 2011
"Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way." -Satchel Paige
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 137:
It was RACE DAY, BlogLand! Today, I ran in Burlington, VT's inaugural Santa 5K, for Make-A-Wish. In short, 1200 people in (mandatory!) Santa suits ran through 5K around downtown.
As for me, it was a weird experience. Good, bad and everything in between. I was really apprehensive about this last night, and nerved up, as my last few runs haven't been stellar. I've been feeling really frustrated that I can't seem to get over the hump and run the whole 5K non-stop. And by "really" frustrated, I mean like seriously starting to beat myself up about it. Am I not doing enough? Am I not working hard enough? Am I not pushing as much as I could be? Can I even do it? .... You know, the really awesome stuff that creeps in when things get difficult. I have been fighting it, and continuing to work, and getting reassurance from my gurus along the way, but I was feeling a little insecure about running the 5K.
To add insult to injury, I was going to have to go it alone. I had many friends that would've signed up, but no one expected the event to sell out as fast as it did. I was the only one who got successfully registered. It still sounded like fun, in a way, and I wanted to keep pushing and challenging myself and having these goals to push forward to, so I resolved to do it - alone, as necessary. For anyone that knows me, this may have been one of the biggest evolutions in my Spartan Shape Up. Confident Independence. I am, by nature, a social butterfly. I want people around me, I gather people to me. Doing things alone is counter-intuitive... Instinctively, I want to share these events with people that matter to me. "Alone" is not something I typically enjoy, or do well. However, in Spartan Shape-Up Land, I've found that there is a real shortage of people that want to keep up with me, or do what I need to do, etc. so I'm learning to go forth on my path, whether or not I have company.
However, this does not make it easy. I went last night to pick up my Santa suit. I have instinctive Fat-Chick-Syndrome every time something says "one-size fits all" or something to that effect. Although, apparently, in cheap Santa-suit land, if you were over like 5'6" you got a Mens. Period. I got this suit home, and with mild trepidation, opened it up. Oh it fit. Like it fit to the point where me and my roommate and probably another friend could've gotten in the pants, if need be. Thank God for drawstrings, and some creative tucking.
More difficult was getting out the door this morning, and knowing that there would be no cheering section, at any point. I donned my Spartan hoodie, laced up my favorite Inov-8's and resolved that it didn't matter; I was going to take the advice of all the running gurus, and "run my own race" anyway... What did it matter if I had a cheering section? It was just like doing any other Sunday run, aside from the fact that I was doing it in another town... and in a Santa suit.
The only time I felt really awkward was the down time between parking my car and beginning the race. All the waiting Santas (1200 of them!!) were milling in clusters, chatting with friends... and there I was. I stretched a bit and reminded myself that it was irrelevant. This was a good time to get my head in the right space and remind my legs what we were here to do. The goals I was working towards were to finish in less than 35 minutes, and ideally, run the whole thing with no walk breaks. To help motivate myself and prep, I reviewed some recent inspirational posts on FB and smiled at the "you got this!" comments from my far-away friends (who I am eternally grateful for!).
As Start Time got closer, we started to cluster more outside... there was the college a capella group doing some great tunes (as a former musical theatre, show choir and chorale veteran, I have a real soft spot for a capella music), spectators gathering and a general buzz of festiveness in the air. The sponsoring restaurant had people running giant vats of post-race breakfast to a few different spots in preparation.. and let me tell you, it is an awful tease when a HUGE pan of sausage goes wafting by you at 9am.
Suddenly, it was time. The Make-A-Wish guy gave us a festive motivational speech and the clock was off. The one thing I'd never experienced before, that I'm sure you race veterans will identify with, was the slow, annoying start. It was hard to carve out an appropriately paced spot for myself for the first block and a half or so. With 1200 people needing to settle into their paces, I suppose that's just bound to happen though. I was working hard to cut through the crowd though, as I was really trying to at least match my previous 5K race time. As I got stuck in the slow-moving mass in the first bit of the race, I could FEEL the seconds ticking away. Did I mention I have an eternally competitive drive?
The initial stretch was a nice warm up. A lovely long down hill toward scenic Lake Champlain. It was a beautiful sunny, brisk (high temp, 37 degrees *before* the stiff wind-chill) morning, and it did feel good to stretch my legs. The downhill definitely did allow me to separate from the mass a bit - it certainly helps to be just -that- much taller than your average woman. It means your strides are just -that- much longer a lot of the time, allowing you to just find yourself some space. Although, I should've known, any time you enjoy a down hill in Vermont, that means a killer uphill is sure to follow. This time was certainly no exception. As we ended our downhill at the lake, we turned to truck up a long, slow, moderate hill. At this point, we really began to separate the people there for the fun of the Santa spectacle, and those that were there to run. Interestingly enough, I found myself solidly in the latter group, as I plowed up that hill (leaving many a dude in my dust. I smiled and thought to myself, as I passed each one, "You've been chicked... and YOU've been chicked... and YOU...."). I may not be fast, but there's a lot of muscle on these tree-trunk legs and it can push me slow and steady up a hill like that.
Oddly, I found myself grateful for that hill after a while, just because it really gave everyone more room to move. The mass had really stretched out, the Hill had claimed many a runner and changed them into a walker, and you could finally extend your arms without feeling like you were going to poke someone in the eye. I did crest the hill at a run, and rounded on to the flat... but was feeling the exertion from the hill (it was an evil hill, people.). I pushed on running more than I wanted to, but finally allowed myself to recover and drop into a walk for 15 seconds. That's all. Count to 15, back to a run.
We ran through some nice scenic, mostly flat-ish areas of downtown, working up a couple smaller inclines, which I felt I handled really well in stride. I had found a pace that I was able to pretty evenly maintain, and a runner in front of me that I had my eye on to catch. I find, for me, this is a key element. It helps me to have someone to mentally chase down. Even if I never catch them, it helps me to have a sort of pace car to keep me going at a better clip.
Right around mid-run there was another evil hill, and I admit, I walked *at the top* of this one for another 15-20 seconds. I did NOT however, walk on the hill, as many people did. Waha. Small victories.
Refreshingly, as we got to the end of the coarse, we headed down a long, steep incline - Cliff Street (why are they ALWAYS "Cliff Street"??). I was tired at this point, but I remembered that I wanted to use downhills for recovery time, so I let my strides lengthen a bit and make up some time, as I enjoyed the slightly less taxing effort of the downhill. We rounded the last flat, and I suddenly recognized where we were again... ALMOST there. I was tired. I wanted to walk. Then I heard a spectator say that we had less than half a mile to go. Well, damn. Can't walk in the last half mile. Turned another corner and I could almost see the finish line down the hill and around the corner. YES. DOWN THE HILL. I figured this was time. If I was going to make up the time from the slow beginning, here would be it. I opened up on the long downhill and whizzed by many tired Santas. I embraced gravity, and (maybe slightly recklessly, as I did ponder what would happen if I tripped...) let fly. If you're not going to go guns blazing, what's the point, right?
I came whipping down that hill (I was somewhere in the neighborhood of a 9 min/mile at this point), and rounded the last corner. It was a short sprint (maybe 400m?) to the finish. People were cheering. There was a dude pacing with me at our fast clip, there were jingle bells. I could see the clock. My mind knew where I needed to be to beat my previous time, and my legs felt nothing at this point. I dug a sprint reserve out of somewhere and hauled ass (pardon my expression, but it seems to more clearly express the point) to the finish line, with half an eye on the clock, half an eye on the dude trying to beat me (he must need someone to chase down, too), and one full eye on the imminent SLOW MASS in front of me, before the finish line. I thought a really bad string of obscenities at this point. I was not hauling ass here, just to have my time-beating efforts thwarted by these lollygaggers!
Now. Yes. They were being festive and group oriented. They had linked arms - 8 PEOPLE ACROSS - and were *skipping* to the finish as a group. I appreciate the spirit there. I'm sure the news camera loved it. I KNOW this is not a *serious* run. But I was taking it seriously. So was the dude who was hauling ass up the other side, in my periphery. Suddenly it dawned on me - THIS WAS CLOCK BLOCKING. Dear Carrie Adams, I now comprehend. I feel your rage on this phenomenon.
How does the story end, you ask? Well. I said the fastest tiny prayer to whatever deity would listen, begging that this blockade get the eff out of the way, so I could continue my line drive. Magically, the seas parted. Well, ONE person let go of arms, leaving me *just* enough room to do some sort of high-speed crazy-person dance maneuver and get through to the finish line. For perspective, I crossed the finishing line at just over a 6 min/mile pace. My normal pace is around an 11 min/mile. For me, I was cruising.
Crossing the finish line, I still felt good. Riding high on that adrenaline rush, I snagged my pretty awesome finisher medal (Bling! woot!) and was immersed into a crowd of finished Santas. Suddenly, a tiny wave of sadness rolled over me. My eyes flashed around the crowd looking for someone to share my exhilaration with... people that were there cheering for *me*... but I was suddenly reminded that there wasn't going to be anyone. I was pretty happy with how I had done - particularly after I milled over and checked my official time - just slightly diminished by the fact that there was no one there to share with. Then I remembered - I had you all, BlogLand! I took my ridiculous Santa suit/medal/sweat self-portrait and sent it off to FB. I texted the results to my GT. I wasn't alone in my success, I would just have to share it differently.
I wandered back to my car to shed the hot-as-hell felt Santa suit. (Seriously, that was the worst part. Yes, it was a cold day and when the wind came up, I was happy to have it... but all things considered, it was WAY too warm.) I redonned my Spartan hoodie, so I wouldn't freeze to death with cooling sweat, and called my mom to share in my victory. She's not athletic in any way, but is supportive in anything I do. It was nice to hear her affirmations.
Mom couldn't really chat, so I was left alone with my thoughts, for the 45 minute ride home. I stopped to get the best "recovery" drink EVER (Regular Dunkin Donuts Coffee. OH yeah.), and headed out. I did come to a few breakthroughs, through this process. I thought about my fabulous sprints to the end... My legs did this easily, and they weren't tired. Surely this means I could pick up the pace a bit over the course of the course? Further, one would think that if that energy is IN there, then I should have absolute confidence in the fact that I should NOT have to take a walk break. Plus, I again felt like a runner, crossing that finish line. My time was respectable and I know I was focused and doing everything I could to push myself to the end.
My revised goals for next week's 5K (With Colleen to meet and subsequently chase down, and my fabulous GT to flog me forward) are to a) Run the 5K in less than 34 minutes, and/or b) average less than an 11 minute mile.
Today's race shook out like this:
I'm pretty okay with that. My placing puts me just about in the lower-middle (average), my time is ONE whole second faster than my previous 5K, and my average mile time was a new PR by a couple of seconds. A good run, particularly since I went into it feeling a little less than confident.
Interestingly enough, it seems that I did actually achieve some of what I'd hoped to - My times/paces are improving. Looking at the mile splits on my tracker:
Mile 1 pace: 10:45
Mile 2 pace: 11:30
Mile 3 pace: 10:34
I started out strong, and finished strong. Clearly, I need to work on that middle piece - and typically I find that that is where a lot of the walking wants to happen - but those breakdowns make me feel a bit more successful. If I could run my last (tired) mile in 10:34, then in theory, I should be able to run ALL of my miles that way, right? or at least sub 11 minutes? That's what I'm going for.
Now, I sit home with some achy knees... I should know that hard, fast downhills on knees that have damaged cartilage aren't great. But, what's a little soreness, anyway? And now... to bed. Crossfit is early tomorrow, and there's just no rest for the wicked... ;-)
--------------
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 138:
My internet connection died (!!?!?!!?) last night, BlogLand. It was a veritable crisis, particularly when I wanted to share about my Santa run! However, I thought I'd tack today's short-ish entry on the end.
Life got in the way today, it seems. I missed my CF class (I was actually sad!), and had to work early/late for some overtime, and there was no time to workout. I did make some excellent quinoa breakfast pudding stuff, though, in preparation for some good No-Bread breakfasts.
HOWEVER, I did want to chime in my two cents about the Zensah Calf Compression sleeves I bought (yes. Hot PINK.). I love them. A whole lot. I have some pretty chronic trouble with my calves being tight and/or cramping during runs. WELL, I ran the whole 5K in them yesterday and had zero issues with my calves. Even on the long uphills. I wore them for an hour or so post-run to help recover, and let me tell you, my calves felt fresh. WOO. If I had known all along that Compression sleeves would be the answer... Seriously, I highly recommend them. These Zensah ones are super soft, yet seem durable, and have some fancy sort of ribbing design to "pinpoint" particular parts on the muscles, as well as to help with shin splints. I don't know if they really did anything, but it made me feel like I was getting more for my money. hehe!
And with that, I'm out, BlogLand. Tomorrow's a run morning. I'm intending on donning my new lovely calf sleeves (they did add to the keeping my legs warm, perhaps that was part of the help?), and heading out for a pre-work go. 3 solid miles is what I'm aiming for. No walks!
It was RACE DAY, BlogLand! Today, I ran in Burlington, VT's inaugural Santa 5K, for Make-A-Wish. In short, 1200 people in (mandatory!) Santa suits ran through 5K around downtown.
As for me, it was a weird experience. Good, bad and everything in between. I was really apprehensive about this last night, and nerved up, as my last few runs haven't been stellar. I've been feeling really frustrated that I can't seem to get over the hump and run the whole 5K non-stop. And by "really" frustrated, I mean like seriously starting to beat myself up about it. Am I not doing enough? Am I not working hard enough? Am I not pushing as much as I could be? Can I even do it? .... You know, the really awesome stuff that creeps in when things get difficult. I have been fighting it, and continuing to work, and getting reassurance from my gurus along the way, but I was feeling a little insecure about running the 5K.
To add insult to injury, I was going to have to go it alone. I had many friends that would've signed up, but no one expected the event to sell out as fast as it did. I was the only one who got successfully registered. It still sounded like fun, in a way, and I wanted to keep pushing and challenging myself and having these goals to push forward to, so I resolved to do it - alone, as necessary. For anyone that knows me, this may have been one of the biggest evolutions in my Spartan Shape Up. Confident Independence. I am, by nature, a social butterfly. I want people around me, I gather people to me. Doing things alone is counter-intuitive... Instinctively, I want to share these events with people that matter to me. "Alone" is not something I typically enjoy, or do well. However, in Spartan Shape-Up Land, I've found that there is a real shortage of people that want to keep up with me, or do what I need to do, etc. so I'm learning to go forth on my path, whether or not I have company.
However, this does not make it easy. I went last night to pick up my Santa suit. I have instinctive Fat-Chick-Syndrome every time something says "one-size fits all" or something to that effect. Although, apparently, in cheap Santa-suit land, if you were over like 5'6" you got a Mens. Period. I got this suit home, and with mild trepidation, opened it up. Oh it fit. Like it fit to the point where me and my roommate and probably another friend could've gotten in the pants, if need be. Thank God for drawstrings, and some creative tucking.
More difficult was getting out the door this morning, and knowing that there would be no cheering section, at any point. I donned my Spartan hoodie, laced up my favorite Inov-8's and resolved that it didn't matter; I was going to take the advice of all the running gurus, and "run my own race" anyway... What did it matter if I had a cheering section? It was just like doing any other Sunday run, aside from the fact that I was doing it in another town... and in a Santa suit.
The only time I felt really awkward was the down time between parking my car and beginning the race. All the waiting Santas (1200 of them!!) were milling in clusters, chatting with friends... and there I was. I stretched a bit and reminded myself that it was irrelevant. This was a good time to get my head in the right space and remind my legs what we were here to do. The goals I was working towards were to finish in less than 35 minutes, and ideally, run the whole thing with no walk breaks. To help motivate myself and prep, I reviewed some recent inspirational posts on FB and smiled at the "you got this!" comments from my far-away friends (who I am eternally grateful for!).
As Start Time got closer, we started to cluster more outside... there was the college a capella group doing some great tunes (as a former musical theatre, show choir and chorale veteran, I have a real soft spot for a capella music), spectators gathering and a general buzz of festiveness in the air. The sponsoring restaurant had people running giant vats of post-race breakfast to a few different spots in preparation.. and let me tell you, it is an awful tease when a HUGE pan of sausage goes wafting by you at 9am.
Suddenly, it was time. The Make-A-Wish guy gave us a festive motivational speech and the clock was off. The one thing I'd never experienced before, that I'm sure you race veterans will identify with, was the slow, annoying start. It was hard to carve out an appropriately paced spot for myself for the first block and a half or so. With 1200 people needing to settle into their paces, I suppose that's just bound to happen though. I was working hard to cut through the crowd though, as I was really trying to at least match my previous 5K race time. As I got stuck in the slow-moving mass in the first bit of the race, I could FEEL the seconds ticking away. Did I mention I have an eternally competitive drive?
The initial stretch was a nice warm up. A lovely long down hill toward scenic Lake Champlain. It was a beautiful sunny, brisk (high temp, 37 degrees *before* the stiff wind-chill) morning, and it did feel good to stretch my legs. The downhill definitely did allow me to separate from the mass a bit - it certainly helps to be just -that- much taller than your average woman. It means your strides are just -that- much longer a lot of the time, allowing you to just find yourself some space. Although, I should've known, any time you enjoy a down hill in Vermont, that means a killer uphill is sure to follow. This time was certainly no exception. As we ended our downhill at the lake, we turned to truck up a long, slow, moderate hill. At this point, we really began to separate the people there for the fun of the Santa spectacle, and those that were there to run. Interestingly enough, I found myself solidly in the latter group, as I plowed up that hill (leaving many a dude in my dust. I smiled and thought to myself, as I passed each one, "You've been chicked... and YOU've been chicked... and YOU...."). I may not be fast, but there's a lot of muscle on these tree-trunk legs and it can push me slow and steady up a hill like that.
Oddly, I found myself grateful for that hill after a while, just because it really gave everyone more room to move. The mass had really stretched out, the Hill had claimed many a runner and changed them into a walker, and you could finally extend your arms without feeling like you were going to poke someone in the eye. I did crest the hill at a run, and rounded on to the flat... but was feeling the exertion from the hill (it was an evil hill, people.). I pushed on running more than I wanted to, but finally allowed myself to recover and drop into a walk for 15 seconds. That's all. Count to 15, back to a run.
We ran through some nice scenic, mostly flat-ish areas of downtown, working up a couple smaller inclines, which I felt I handled really well in stride. I had found a pace that I was able to pretty evenly maintain, and a runner in front of me that I had my eye on to catch. I find, for me, this is a key element. It helps me to have someone to mentally chase down. Even if I never catch them, it helps me to have a sort of pace car to keep me going at a better clip.
Right around mid-run there was another evil hill, and I admit, I walked *at the top* of this one for another 15-20 seconds. I did NOT however, walk on the hill, as many people did. Waha. Small victories.
Refreshingly, as we got to the end of the coarse, we headed down a long, steep incline - Cliff Street (why are they ALWAYS "Cliff Street"??). I was tired at this point, but I remembered that I wanted to use downhills for recovery time, so I let my strides lengthen a bit and make up some time, as I enjoyed the slightly less taxing effort of the downhill. We rounded the last flat, and I suddenly recognized where we were again... ALMOST there. I was tired. I wanted to walk. Then I heard a spectator say that we had less than half a mile to go. Well, damn. Can't walk in the last half mile. Turned another corner and I could almost see the finish line down the hill and around the corner. YES. DOWN THE HILL. I figured this was time. If I was going to make up the time from the slow beginning, here would be it. I opened up on the long downhill and whizzed by many tired Santas. I embraced gravity, and (maybe slightly recklessly, as I did ponder what would happen if I tripped...) let fly. If you're not going to go guns blazing, what's the point, right?
I came whipping down that hill (I was somewhere in the neighborhood of a 9 min/mile at this point), and rounded the last corner. It was a short sprint (maybe 400m?) to the finish. People were cheering. There was a dude pacing with me at our fast clip, there were jingle bells. I could see the clock. My mind knew where I needed to be to beat my previous time, and my legs felt nothing at this point. I dug a sprint reserve out of somewhere and hauled ass (pardon my expression, but it seems to more clearly express the point) to the finish line, with half an eye on the clock, half an eye on the dude trying to beat me (he must need someone to chase down, too), and one full eye on the imminent SLOW MASS in front of me, before the finish line. I thought a really bad string of obscenities at this point. I was not hauling ass here, just to have my time-beating efforts thwarted by these lollygaggers!
Now. Yes. They were being festive and group oriented. They had linked arms - 8 PEOPLE ACROSS - and were *skipping* to the finish as a group. I appreciate the spirit there. I'm sure the news camera loved it. I KNOW this is not a *serious* run. But I was taking it seriously. So was the dude who was hauling ass up the other side, in my periphery. Suddenly it dawned on me - THIS WAS CLOCK BLOCKING. Dear Carrie Adams, I now comprehend. I feel your rage on this phenomenon.
How does the story end, you ask? Well. I said the fastest tiny prayer to whatever deity would listen, begging that this blockade get the eff out of the way, so I could continue my line drive. Magically, the seas parted. Well, ONE person let go of arms, leaving me *just* enough room to do some sort of high-speed crazy-person dance maneuver and get through to the finish line. For perspective, I crossed the finishing line at just over a 6 min/mile pace. My normal pace is around an 11 min/mile. For me, I was cruising.
Crossing the finish line, I still felt good. Riding high on that adrenaline rush, I snagged my pretty awesome finisher medal (Bling! woot!) and was immersed into a crowd of finished Santas. Suddenly, a tiny wave of sadness rolled over me. My eyes flashed around the crowd looking for someone to share my exhilaration with... people that were there cheering for *me*... but I was suddenly reminded that there wasn't going to be anyone. I was pretty happy with how I had done - particularly after I milled over and checked my official time - just slightly diminished by the fact that there was no one there to share with. Then I remembered - I had you all, BlogLand! I took my ridiculous Santa suit/medal/sweat self-portrait and sent it off to FB. I texted the results to my GT. I wasn't alone in my success, I would just have to share it differently.
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| Santa 5K Run, Burlington, VT |
Mom couldn't really chat, so I was left alone with my thoughts, for the 45 minute ride home. I stopped to get the best "recovery" drink EVER (Regular Dunkin Donuts Coffee. OH yeah.), and headed out. I did come to a few breakthroughs, through this process. I thought about my fabulous sprints to the end... My legs did this easily, and they weren't tired. Surely this means I could pick up the pace a bit over the course of the course? Further, one would think that if that energy is IN there, then I should have absolute confidence in the fact that I should NOT have to take a walk break. Plus, I again felt like a runner, crossing that finish line. My time was respectable and I know I was focused and doing everything I could to push myself to the end.
My revised goals for next week's 5K (With Colleen to meet and subsequently chase down, and my fabulous GT to flog me forward) are to a) Run the 5K in less than 34 minutes, and/or b) average less than an 11 minute mile.
Today's race shook out like this:
| Place | 736 (Out of 1257, I think?) |
| Net Time | 34:42 |
| Pace | 11:10 |
I'm pretty okay with that. My placing puts me just about in the lower-middle (average), my time is ONE whole second faster than my previous 5K, and my average mile time was a new PR by a couple of seconds. A good run, particularly since I went into it feeling a little less than confident.
Interestingly enough, it seems that I did actually achieve some of what I'd hoped to - My times/paces are improving. Looking at the mile splits on my tracker:
Mile 1 pace: 10:45
Mile 2 pace: 11:30
Mile 3 pace: 10:34
I started out strong, and finished strong. Clearly, I need to work on that middle piece - and typically I find that that is where a lot of the walking wants to happen - but those breakdowns make me feel a bit more successful. If I could run my last (tired) mile in 10:34, then in theory, I should be able to run ALL of my miles that way, right? or at least sub 11 minutes? That's what I'm going for.
Now, I sit home with some achy knees... I should know that hard, fast downhills on knees that have damaged cartilage aren't great. But, what's a little soreness, anyway? And now... to bed. Crossfit is early tomorrow, and there's just no rest for the wicked... ;-)
--------------
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 138:
My internet connection died (!!?!?!!?) last night, BlogLand. It was a veritable crisis, particularly when I wanted to share about my Santa run! However, I thought I'd tack today's short-ish entry on the end.
Life got in the way today, it seems. I missed my CF class (I was actually sad!), and had to work early/late for some overtime, and there was no time to workout. I did make some excellent quinoa breakfast pudding stuff, though, in preparation for some good No-Bread breakfasts.
HOWEVER, I did want to chime in my two cents about the Zensah Calf Compression sleeves I bought (yes. Hot PINK.). I love them. A whole lot. I have some pretty chronic trouble with my calves being tight and/or cramping during runs. WELL, I ran the whole 5K in them yesterday and had zero issues with my calves. Even on the long uphills. I wore them for an hour or so post-run to help recover, and let me tell you, my calves felt fresh. WOO. If I had known all along that Compression sleeves would be the answer... Seriously, I highly recommend them. These Zensah ones are super soft, yet seem durable, and have some fancy sort of ribbing design to "pinpoint" particular parts on the muscles, as well as to help with shin splints. I don't know if they really did anything, but it made me feel like I was getting more for my money. hehe!
And with that, I'm out, BlogLand. Tomorrow's a run morning. I'm intending on donning my new lovely calf sleeves (they did add to the keeping my legs warm, perhaps that was part of the help?), and heading out for a pre-work go. 3 solid miles is what I'm aiming for. No walks!
Friday, December 2, 2011
“Triumphs without difficulties are empty. Indeed, it is difficulties that make the triumph. It is no feat to travel the smooth road.”
Spartan Shape-Up, Day 134 & 135:
Dear BlogLand... I totally passed out early last night, so no blog. My Bad, I'm sorry. I DID however get my run in and everything, so now to make up for the missing post!
Day 134: Run Day!
So, I got up yesterday, feeling a wee bit stiff from the previous day's CrossFit session. I'm going to blame it on the series of "Good Mornings" that I did... My hamstrings were stiff and NOT all amount moving. However, I was a run morning, and I figured that it'd be good to move them around a bit and warm them up.
I decided to go a route that I haven't gone in a while... It's my dreaded "hill" route, which involves a pretty substantial uphill in the first 5 minutes.
I started out okay, deciding to take a slightly slower pace to begin, knowing that I'd have to get that hill. I did plow right up the hill, non-stop; I was pretty proud of that. My legs were still feeling kind of tight... but, if I stopped every time I was stiff, sore or tight, I'd never get anything done. hehe
On I trucked. Not exactly feeling like a graceful gazelle. I pushed and pushed, because the goal I'm working toward is to be able to run 5K without any walking... so far, I've not been able to do this. I was really hoping today was going to be the day. I pushed and push, and felt a little nauseous, but I kept running. However, I still had to walk, here and there. I found that really disappointing. My legs just didn't have it. They felt so freakin' heavy. I tried all the mental tricks I've learned, all the techniques, but I still had to walk - there was no way around that. The stats for the run, overall, were pretty BLEH too:
Time: 38:50 minutes
Distance: 3.26 miles
Pace: 11:55 min/mi
I'm not happy with this. Particularly since the goal was no walking. I would like to babble the excuse about sore hamstrings, or something like that... but. There really isn't an excuse. It just wasn't awesome. HOWEVER. I DID get out there and run.
I had a tough couple of hours after that, when I got home and looked at the stats, knowing I hadn't run the whole thing, etc. I've been working really hard and just want to RUN and ENTIRE 5K. At this point, I feel like that shouldn't be that hard to do. Physically I MUST be capable (My all-knowing GT assures me that I *am*). For whatever reason, I just can't seem to find the groove, or push past whatever mental hurdle is blocking me from getting there. I was feeling extremely Un-Spartan after that run. I tried to rally a bit, reminding myself that it was VERY Spartan of me to get out there and run, despite the fact that it was cold (at first), and it was early, etc.
However, I may have opened a can of worms. My GT and Guest GT (Sergeant Sedlak!) are both off in Texas this weekend at the Spartan Race Super... but both have it in for me when they get back. Sergeant Sedlak has informed me that he and his giant leap-tall-buildings-in-a-single-bound legs ARE running 5 non-stop miles, shortly after he gets back. He's going to chase me. (!!!).
Next weekend, I'm headed down to Massachusetts for Walter's Run where I'm meeting up with my GT, and Ms. Colleen Fit Bee. I'm anticipating a mental flogging by my GT to minimize/eliminate any walking moments I may think that I need, in that race, if he doesn't virtually coach (live mapping on iMapMyRun + texting!) me before then.
I will get over this weird hurdle. I think I may just have to accept that I need some help to do that. Not something that I naturally accept all that easily. I'm not sure why I'm having such difficulty, but I'm calling in the reinforcements now. I expressed to Todd and my GT how at a loss I was with this, and how I was doing all the "right" things, and I didn't know what to do... and it seems like they've both got a plan.
ANYWAY. That day did pick up just a little bit, as I got in the mail my new Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves. And yes. I bought them in HOT PINK. Why? Because I felt that if I was going to be wearing them around, looking ridiculous, I might as well fully commit to the ridiculousness!
I tried them on and wore them around the house for an hour or so, and they feel pretty promising. I may try racing in them this weekend, and see if that helps with the calf cramping, etc. A full review to come, after I've more fully tried them out...
Today, Day 135, was supposed to be a run day. But I'm hurting. Totally had to Tiger Balm my hamstrings last night, and swallow a few more Ibuprofen. I'm feeling a bit insecure about this weekends race (particularly after that last run I had), and really need to get my legs in shape. I'm thinking of picking up some Epsom Salts tomorrow, so I can have a nice, hot bath tomorrow, too. I think tomorrow I may go for a little run (1-2 miles) just to warm up the legs and move the blood around a little. But pretty much, it looks like I'm going to take a couple of rest days, until Sunday's race. Must. Get. My Hamstrings. back. GRR.
So, That's where I am right now, BlogLand. Sore and a little disheartened with the running... BUT, not to worry. I'm rallying the help around me, and I WILL push through to run a full 5K before the new year. I promise. That's my Goal for myself.
Stay Tuned!
Dear BlogLand... I totally passed out early last night, so no blog. My Bad, I'm sorry. I DID however get my run in and everything, so now to make up for the missing post!
Day 134: Run Day!
So, I got up yesterday, feeling a wee bit stiff from the previous day's CrossFit session. I'm going to blame it on the series of "Good Mornings" that I did... My hamstrings were stiff and NOT all amount moving. However, I was a run morning, and I figured that it'd be good to move them around a bit and warm them up.
I decided to go a route that I haven't gone in a while... It's my dreaded "hill" route, which involves a pretty substantial uphill in the first 5 minutes.
I started out okay, deciding to take a slightly slower pace to begin, knowing that I'd have to get that hill. I did plow right up the hill, non-stop; I was pretty proud of that. My legs were still feeling kind of tight... but, if I stopped every time I was stiff, sore or tight, I'd never get anything done. hehe
On I trucked. Not exactly feeling like a graceful gazelle. I pushed and pushed, because the goal I'm working toward is to be able to run 5K without any walking... so far, I've not been able to do this. I was really hoping today was going to be the day. I pushed and push, and felt a little nauseous, but I kept running. However, I still had to walk, here and there. I found that really disappointing. My legs just didn't have it. They felt so freakin' heavy. I tried all the mental tricks I've learned, all the techniques, but I still had to walk - there was no way around that. The stats for the run, overall, were pretty BLEH too:
Time: 38:50 minutes
Distance: 3.26 miles
Pace: 11:55 min/mi
I'm not happy with this. Particularly since the goal was no walking. I would like to babble the excuse about sore hamstrings, or something like that... but. There really isn't an excuse. It just wasn't awesome. HOWEVER. I DID get out there and run.
I had a tough couple of hours after that, when I got home and looked at the stats, knowing I hadn't run the whole thing, etc. I've been working really hard and just want to RUN and ENTIRE 5K. At this point, I feel like that shouldn't be that hard to do. Physically I MUST be capable (My all-knowing GT assures me that I *am*). For whatever reason, I just can't seem to find the groove, or push past whatever mental hurdle is blocking me from getting there. I was feeling extremely Un-Spartan after that run. I tried to rally a bit, reminding myself that it was VERY Spartan of me to get out there and run, despite the fact that it was cold (at first), and it was early, etc.
However, I may have opened a can of worms. My GT and Guest GT (Sergeant Sedlak!) are both off in Texas this weekend at the Spartan Race Super... but both have it in for me when they get back. Sergeant Sedlak has informed me that he and his giant leap-tall-buildings-in-a-single-bound legs ARE running 5 non-stop miles, shortly after he gets back. He's going to chase me. (!!!).
Next weekend, I'm headed down to Massachusetts for Walter's Run where I'm meeting up with my GT, and Ms. Colleen Fit Bee. I'm anticipating a mental flogging by my GT to minimize/eliminate any walking moments I may think that I need, in that race, if he doesn't virtually coach (live mapping on iMapMyRun + texting!) me before then.
I will get over this weird hurdle. I think I may just have to accept that I need some help to do that. Not something that I naturally accept all that easily. I'm not sure why I'm having such difficulty, but I'm calling in the reinforcements now. I expressed to Todd and my GT how at a loss I was with this, and how I was doing all the "right" things, and I didn't know what to do... and it seems like they've both got a plan.
ANYWAY. That day did pick up just a little bit, as I got in the mail my new Zensah Compression Leg Sleeves. And yes. I bought them in HOT PINK. Why? Because I felt that if I was going to be wearing them around, looking ridiculous, I might as well fully commit to the ridiculousness!
I tried them on and wore them around the house for an hour or so, and they feel pretty promising. I may try racing in them this weekend, and see if that helps with the calf cramping, etc. A full review to come, after I've more fully tried them out...
Today, Day 135, was supposed to be a run day. But I'm hurting. Totally had to Tiger Balm my hamstrings last night, and swallow a few more Ibuprofen. I'm feeling a bit insecure about this weekends race (particularly after that last run I had), and really need to get my legs in shape. I'm thinking of picking up some Epsom Salts tomorrow, so I can have a nice, hot bath tomorrow, too. I think tomorrow I may go for a little run (1-2 miles) just to warm up the legs and move the blood around a little. But pretty much, it looks like I'm going to take a couple of rest days, until Sunday's race. Must. Get. My Hamstrings. back. GRR.
So, That's where I am right now, BlogLand. Sore and a little disheartened with the running... BUT, not to worry. I'm rallying the help around me, and I WILL push through to run a full 5K before the new year. I promise. That's my Goal for myself.
Stay Tuned!
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