5 Things Thursday

1. Last week I had a really good workout week for me. I ran three times, did two swims, two weight workouts and a tiny core workout. This week, I have ran one time. That is all. And it is Thursday. :/

2. Next week I FINALLY get to see my husband. He is in Louisana for the summer working on astronomy research. I miss him horribly.

 

(the last known picture of me and my husband

@Chimes in Baton Rouge, LA)

 

 

3. On Saturday, I ran 8.23 miles at Brushy Creek.I was pretty happy with it as it is the longest run I have done this training cycle and also my longest run since the Marathon wayyyyy back in February.

During the run, I saw a couple walking their scottish terrier and I was pretty impressed as no way Eva could be out there that long!

 

 

 

4. Since Spanish started for summer school ( wow alliteration! say that 5 times!), I haven't finished one freaking book! I've been carrying Up the Down Staircase around in my backpack and it is just begging to be finished for the 3rd time. One of my most favorite books!

 

 

 

5. Throwback Thursday Workout: This time last year, this is the workout I did ( I need to do more hill repeats lately. Whenever I can get my butt up to go to Run Group, I can tell the hills are getting a lot harder).

 





Walk/Run Hill Repeats #2- Still Slow, but one more this time!

Still slow, but happy that I did an extra one this time and I took Eva along. She did pretty good for a dog with short, stubby legs, lol.
My knees have been acting up since sunday though. I hope they pull it together. 7 repeats of a .18 hill ( .09 up and .09 down):

 

 



5 Things Since Austin Marathon

I know I haven't done a blog in a while. Since January really, not counting my recap of the marathon the other day.

So here are 5 things that have been going on lately.


1. Tuesday I went for a run in Town Lake for the first time in forever. It was really nice to have a change of scenery. I have been in a running rut lately and I think I just need to run different places. That usually helps bring me out of it.

 

 

(Pics from my run today)

 

 

2. Last week I got accepted into grad school at Texas State for the Master of Literature program! I am really excited about it but I am really worried about Spanish. I have two Spanish classes and a PE class left to finish this summer to FINALLY get my Bachelor of Arts in English. Graduation is Aug 9th. I'll let you know if I make it!

 

 



 

 

3.  I am suppose to be on like week #7 of my training for my second marathon, San Antonio Rock N'Roll. I am not doing very good. I am behind and struggling this time in a way I wasn't before.

I'm not exactly sure what my problem is.

 

 

4. The nice thing about the Spring Semester being over is that I have more time to read books just for enjoyment lately. Although since Spanish class has started I have barely read. These are the books I have read this summer so far:

 

 

 

 

5. The next big race that I want to do is the Heels, Hills and Him Half Marathon in September. In 2010 and 2011, we did the 10k there. Vince even won 1st place in his age division (2011)! The course is not really hilly and I am hoping to finally break 3 hours on what would be my third half marathon. My first half was about 3:14:00 in Jan. 2011 and my second was like 3:07:00 in Nov. 2011. I think I have a decent shot of under 3 hours, but if not, a new shiny PR would be nice! :)

 

 



 ( Pics from the 2010 race)

 

 











Austin Marathon Training Recap- (Really Late I know)

20 Things I Learned While Training and Running  my First Marathon
(with photos sprinkled in!)

1. Join a run group! While I'm not as good about going lately as I was during the summer last year, every time I go, I enjoy it. The encouragement, advice and hard workouts really help a lot.

2. Most of the time, I really don't need to have gloves, jackets or a hat. My body gets hot at about mile 2 and then I just end up carrying a lot of stuff. So I have gotten a little better about overdressing for runs. Although I do like to wear pants when it gets cold as I notice my legs stay cold for a while. 

3. Get a Flu shot! Sheesh. I have never been more sick during training then this last two months. After getting  an upper respiratory infection, I followed that up with the flu. Then another upper respiratory infection. While the doctor said there wasn't much I could do about the infections, I really should have gotten the flu shot. But I learned my lesson!

4. I run the majority of my runs with music. Everyone once in a while I don't because I always worry I will get dependent on my music for racing and then what if something goes wrong and I can't listen to music? For the marathon, I brought my I-POD shuffle and my cell phone. To make a long boring story short, both of the batteries were running short and I only had music for miles 1-5 and 18-26.2. Not having music on hills was hard, but saving my music for the end was the right decision. I feel better knowing that I raced 13 miles without music so I won't have to worry if that happens again.

5. I really think it would have been a good idea to race some longer distances. During training we raced two 5k's and one 10k and that's it. We had planned to run a 30k race late January, but it just didn't happen. :( Next time I will try and plan better.

6. In a weird way it was kind of freeing to not have a time goal. I haven't raced a distance that I never did before since I did my first half marathon January 2011. At the time, I wasn't sure if I could even do 13 miles ( I hadn't run more than 11 miles during my training). During the marathon, I just wanted to make sure I finished before they closed the course ( 7 hours). I thought if I shot for 6:30, that would allow me plenty of time in case I hit the wall. Which I did. My first 13.1 was 11 minutes faster than my last. So really only trying to make sure I finished freed up a lot of pressure for me. Well, until that last mile when I was afraid I wasn't going to make it lol.

7. Keep up cross-training. It really helps combat soreness. I was pretty good about this at the beginning of training with swimming. But as I got busier and my runs got longer, I took more rest days and didn't really cross-train. I think that my body benefited more from that.

8. Get a lot of rest. I am happy to say that  marathon week I made getting rest a big priority. I  got 7-8 hours of sleep every night. I guess you could say I am responsible! :)

(Vince and me the day before at our shake-out run on Town Lake)

9. I really need a lot of water during my long runs. A lot. A lot. A lot. I'm glad I always bring water bottles as I have noticed that not all water fountains on the trails are always on. So I guess what I am saying is be prepared!

10. Speaking of be prepared, during long runs I try to bring one more gel then I really need. This ended up coming in handy when Vince was doing a 18 mile run and lost one of his gels. Jamie to the rescue! I gave him my extra gel and everything was A-ok.

11. Also, I really began to see how much I like to mix it up when I run. Although I have been running for about 3 years, I have never run as much as I have during training. I was at the point sometimes where if I ran San Gabriel Trail (which I do love) one more time, I was going to lose it. So I do like that in general we ran back and forth between San Gabriel and Brushy Creek for our long runs. We even did two long runs at Town Lake. During training, I ran in Del Rio, San Antonio, Old Settlers, Lake Pflugerville, indoor track, out door track, and around georgetown. Also the treadmill a couple of times. Yuck on that.

12. But speaking of running around georgetown, that is something else I really liked about run group. Before run group, I never really ran in downtown  or around the houses over there. I really like the change of scenery. So even in familar places I guess there's always a new area to discover.

( me and my dad after I crossed the finish line!)

13. And speaking of mixing it up, I have to mix up the gels, especially with the long runs. We usually alternate one caffeine gel with one non-caffeine gel. I say gel but about 70% of the time we end up using jelly belly sports beans cause they are a lot cheaper. At REI, if you buy 12 you get a 25% percent discount! 

14. I also discovered that I really like the Honey Stinger Bars for runs that are longer than 15 miles. This is a free endorsement and I am not being paid! Although if they want to pay me in Honey Stinger Bars (or cash), I would not object. 

15. However, I do not like lemon-lime gatorade. Unfortunately, a lot of long distance races seem to like using this. So for our longer runs closer to the race, we would drink that flavor to get our stomach used to how it would feel while we race. But if anyone is reading this and knows why this flavor, I am interested in knowing. I also would like to suggest the blue gatorade. That is all.

16. I waited too long to get new running shoes. This was due to procrastination, lack of planning and money. Next time, I will try to get my shoes sooner. This time, I got my shoes about 5 weeks before the race. So still a little bit of time to break them in, but my decision to run my first run in them as a 15 mile run I think, was probably not a good idea. I think that is part of the reason why my hips were hurting me.

( Right before crossing the finish line).

17. The cold weather really isn't that bad once you start running. I need to remember that because once it gets back to being hot as hades, I will regret cursing the cold. 

18. The mental aspect of doing long runs during training is so important. As much as we train for long runs to prepare our body physically to be able to do a marathon, mentally I think it's important to know that you can deal with being on the road for a longgggggggggggg time.

19. I think I hit the wall around mile 18 or 20. It was really bad for about a mile or two. I was feeling sorry for myself and started to cry and was in pain and everything. But I knew that around this time this would happen as I always hear people talk about it. So I guess my point is to be prepared for the rough patches.

20. Crowd support at marathons is amazing. I think for this reason alone I would find it difficult to endure a marathon that is small. When I was feeling down or tired, those funny signs, high fives and cheers really made me feel better.

( My medal!)

Monday Mumblings- Less than 3 weeks till the marathon!!

1. So the biggest news is that Friday I ran my longest run ever- my 20 mile run! Taper officially begins today, so it was a nice way to go out. At first I was kinda bummed because it took forever ( 5 and a half hours!)

But I did fall at about mile 6 and stuck it out.

It was pretty hot for January by the time I finished ( around 75 degrees). Still though, I RAN 20 MILES!!
Here are some pics from my run-

2. The first book from my Independent Study that I am reading right now is Betty Smith's
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It's almost 500 pages, so it is definitely a time commitment. But it is very engrossing and such a beautiful story. Read it!

3. We are racing in the Cupid's Chase 5k Saturday! I don't know what to hope for as far as time wise. I haven't been doing a lot of speed work and have been focusing on my endurance, so I am not really sure what to expect. But I did PR at this race last year, so I am really hoping to do alright. Still, I think it will be a nice change of pace from marathon training.

4. Right now I am in the midst of planning for our 3rd wedding anniversary trip! We got married during spring break because we are in school and I wanted to be able to do something without us missing class. I am really looking forward to it!

 

 



5. Taper is now here! I have been looking forward to it so much but it's weird now to think I have run my longest run until the marathon. I'm so nervous and excited and nervous and excited. Still kinda tired from my 20 mile run and that was 3 days ago. I can only imagine how I will feel following the race!

20 DAYS TILL MY FIRST MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



You take the good, You take the bad.... 36 days till the marathon

(Pics from my long run Monday)

I just wrote this long post that I deleted where I basically just complained about my hip problems this week but even I am tired of hearing about it, so I know everyone else is. Despite having a good long run on Monday ( no blisters! 4th longest run ever!), I have only run 2x since then. Wednesday was a horrible treadmill run where I only did 3.54 miles. Today I tried (after taking two days off) to do a long run. But no go. However, I did go further ( 5.86 miles) and my hip did feel a lot better than Wednesday. As soon as I came home though, I just felt awful. My stomach was hurting during the morning, my throat feels like it's on fire, my body feels achy. I just hope I am not getting a cold.

But anyways, it's really easy for me to get worried about things. I was born worried I'm sure. Like Dorothy mentioned to me in run group, since I am new to marathon training and it's so close, I am hyper sensitive to everything. So in an attempt to keep things positive, I'm writing a list of things I am grateful for:

- I am grateful that I have made it over 6 months in marathon training without an injury.

- I am grateful that my books and syllabus for my Independent Study Class were approved!

- I am BEYOND grateful for run group. Although I don't go as often as I should anymore, everyone is always so nice and helpful to me! Thank you Erin, Dorothy, Rain, Mick, and Joe! ( And anyone else I forgot to mention!)

- I am grateful my husband just left to go to the store to get me some soup and medicine!

- I am grateful that my presentation was approved for work and that I get to go to Corpus Christi for 3 days next month!

- I am grateful that I only have 2 more mammoth long runs before Taper. I know people complain about taper, but lately training has been hard and I could use the break in intensity.

- I am grateful that I got to spend time with my baby sister. It had been over 3 years since I last saw her and she's so awesome. I love and miss her so much.

- I am grateful that for Christmas I got three new Nike shorts! I guess people know I'm a runner. :)

- I am grateful for my Senior Poetry Workshop class I am taking this semester. First time taking a senior level workshop class so I'm kinda nervous but excited as I know it helps me with my writers block a lot. 

And this isn't really a "I'm grateful for" but it is a "Damn it, I need some cheering up!" so... 

I'm registering us for the Cupid's Chase 5k today! We just missed the early bird price but it's still really cheap. Like I mentioned before, we did this race last year and it was great! It was also the last time I PR'd in a race. And you know... PR's always feel good! 

Catching Up- 42 days till the marathon!!!

With finals, going out of town and starting a new job over winter break, I haven't been the best at keeping up with my blog. I don't know how other people consistently update. But here goes.

1. I ran my furthest run of the training season ( 17 miles) on December 16th, 2012 at Brushy Creek. It was extremely difficult but I was proud of myself for finishing.

( In all the time I have been running at Brushy Creek, it's only recently I noticed the dinosaur section. Sometimes when I am tired and stuck on the trail, I feel the dinosaur in the egg.)

2. I got several books that I wanted for Christmas. Currenly I am reading Barbara Walters memoir, Audition. It's really good so far.

3. I beat my original running goal for 2012 and ended up running 715 miles for the year! Almost twice what I ran in 2011! My goal for 2013 is 800 miles. 

4. If you are in to board games and I really am, I would recommend Zero. Vince and I recently got it at Target. It's a pretty cool Trivia game where the point is to answer the question with the least obvious answer and get the lowest points. 

5. Although I mentioned before that I was interested in doing the Rogue 30k in late January as I thought it would be good practice leading up to the marathon, I instead decided that I really needed new running shoes. I have been running this whole time in Nike Trail shoes that have ( in the last month) really gone down hill and are giving me blisters. So given the choice between registering us both for an expensive race or buying new shoes, I choose new shoes! I think I made the right decision. 

6. I would like to become a tea person. I don't like coffee and I love hot cocoa but there's not much variety there. I recently got a great tea set ( my first ever!) from Vince for Christmas and some really good tea so I just think maybe I could be that Tea person. Is a tea lady very different from a cat lady? I'm not sure...

7. I am really thinking about signing us up for a local 5k in early February here in Georgetown. It's the Cupids Chase 5k and last year I got a PR on the course so I am obviously a fan. It's a really good deal and it is put on by a friend of ours from run group. Prices go up by Jan.11th, but right now it's only 17 bucks which is a great deal. I'll let you know what I decide! It's about 15 days before the marathon, so I think it will be alright but might talk to some people who know more about things than I do before I make a decision. 

( The shirt from last years race.)

8. I have been trying to find more things to do that don't involve us eating out and that are relatively cheap. The problem with wanting to get out of the house is that you end up eating out a lot which isn't really cheap and doesn't help you lose weight. So last week when my little sister was here visiting we went to Peter Pan Putt-Putt Golf, which was only 8 bucks per person and for 18 holes, is a pretty good deal. We also took my family to check out Pinballz, which is another one of our favorite places. It's an oldtimey video, pinball, arcade game place. They have air hockey too which my family loves. There's not a cover charge and you just pay per game. So I'd recommend those two places. They are both in Austin, so it's a little bit of a drive, but worth it I think. 

( My dad and I fixin' to play Air Hockey.) 

(One of the statues from Putt-Putt golf. Doesn't it make you think of Reptar from Rugrats?)

I am kinda really freakin out about the marathon. It's only 6 WEEKS AWAY. I really think taper is going to throw me for a loop and I still have yet to do my 20 mile run!!!!! So nervous but excited. Recently on the website, they posted a pic of the finishers medal. I am hoping if I keep looking at, it will serve as inspiration for me to continue as I WANT ONE!!After training since last July for this thing, I just hope I finish!

( I think the yellow is the marathon one.)

Ten Things Thursday

1. This is a picture from my run today. I woke up late and ran about 3 and a half miles. The weather was great! I even swung on the swings a little!

2. The  last season of How I Meet Your Mother is on Netflix now. Love that show!!

3. Tuesday I finally made it back to Run Group! It was a hard hilly run for me but felt good. Here's a pic of the Christmas lights from the beginning of the run:

4. Tuesday night Vince and I went to Trivia Night at Pluckers. We've only gone to a Trivia Night event once before, in Oklahoma, but we had a lot of fun so we wanted to try it at one of our favorite restaurants. We were Team Flying Turtles and we did not do good lol. The catergories were like sports, science, nerds, television, medical, david bowie, labryith, and buisness. It was still fun though, but it is easy to see how big teams have a huge advantage. 

5. I saw this the other day on one of the running pages I follow on facebook:

 

6. Recently I bought a new tea that I am in love with! I really recommend it. 

7. I had a goal for the year to run 579 miles. I really don't remember why I set that amount but that's not the point. I still have about 3 weeks left and I have already run 640 miles! I know! You are impressed! I can tell! It's probably more miles then anyone else has ever run in their whole life ever.

8. I was trying to do my homework and then Dorian came onto my desk and didn't want to move. I fear he is being ignored by the end of the semester drama. 

9. I'm really not sure the best way to do a taper. I know it's still a ways off, but I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. I think it's suppose to be reduced mileage 2 weeks before the marathon right? Like 60% two weeks before, 30% week before type deal? I'm just curious to hear any suggestions from peeps!

10. In 72 days I will be running my very first marathon!! Getting more excited every day!!!