Thursday, January 19, 2012
What's next?
I've gone from being a non-runner (okay, non-active at all) to having completed two half marathons in the past year. I need to figure out what my next goal is going to be so I don't slip back into a sedentary lifestyle. I definitely want to do the 100 pushup challenge, but I'm thinking of finding a sprint distance triathlon to do and start training for that. A sprint distance is a half mile swim, 12 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. I think the swimming would be the hardest part for me because I'm just not a good swimmer. Although my husband wasn't either and then he did the Alcatraz Shark Swim, so I'm sure I could prepare for it. My friend Dani did a sprint tri awhile back and gave me the website she used to find it. They have one at the end of April I'm thinking maybe I'll sign up for once more info is available about it. And after I research training plans to make sure I give myself enough time.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Second half marathon - done!
Way back in May when I was just barely starting to train for the Disneyland Half Marathon I went ahead and registered for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I think there was a coupon code for discounted registration. I don't know why else I would have done it since I still wasn't 100% sold on running at that point I don't think. But after actually starting to enjoy running and how I loved running the Disneyland Half, I was glad I had signed up. The husband actually signed up, too, so we could run together. It was his first half marathon.
The race was yesterday. I was excited about it but nervous because I really didn't feel like I'd been training enough leading up to it. I'd done all the long runs, but I had really slacked on the shorter runs during the week. Like REALLY slacked. I had the mindset that since I'd already done one half, surely I could easily do another. I wasn't entirely wrong, but I probably could have trained a little harder.
My previous half marathon time was 2:45. I really wanted to come in on this one at 2:30. The husband and I had been averaging an 11:30 pace on long runs which would just about put us there (we'd need to do 11:27 the whole time to get a 2:30 finish). We started off really strong, varying between 10:00 and 10:30 but maintaining close to a 10:30 pace. I felt great! I fell into the pace easily, my breathing was good, it was a GREAT morning for a run--not too cold, mostly overcast, wide open streets so runners weren't all smashed together. We had driven the route the day before so I knew where the turns were and how far we had on each straightaway and all that.
I felt great until about halfway through the race when my left calf muscle started to cramp. The right one soon followed. I thought maybe I could run through it and just kept going. Nope, it wasn't going away. There was a Gu stop at 7.7 miles, so I walked through that and then decided to stop for a second and stretch my calves. That helped initially but not long after the cramping was back. I stopped again at some point between miles 9 and 10 to stretch it some more. The whole time I was thinking, "I ran every step of my last half while suffering from strep throat and now I'm having to walk and full on stop because of a stupid cramp?!" I wasn't happy about it, but it HURT. The last three miles of the race were all literally downhill. It had been a gradual incline leading up to that which might have been part of the problem. I hate gradual inclines--I'd much rather power up a noticeable hill than go 1-2 miles where the elevation is just slightly increasing the whole way. Anyway, I tried to enjoy the downhill and let gravity do it's thing and help speed me along. We were still under our pace target at this point, with about 2 minutes cushion built in, so I was feeling pretty confident that we'd finish in 2:30. Then I started getting charlie horse cramps in my calves. I almost full on fell at one point from one of them. It was not cool. So, more walking. My awesome, sweet, wonderful husband stayed with me the whole time, too. I told him to go on ahead because I wanted to make sure he finished in the time we wanted to, I really didn't want to slow him down. Do you know what he said? He told me he'd carry me if he had to. I love him so much.
Right after the marker for Mile 12 there was a bridge. The husband said let's at least run across the bridge and see how it goes from there. I made it most of the way across before I had to walk again because the pain in my legs was AWFUL. By that point we had less than a mile to go. I walked a little and then forced myself to keep running the rest of the way. I knew with all the walking we were going to be cutting it close to hitting our 2:30 goal. I tried to reassure myself by saying that no matter what, at that point I was going to finish with a PR because I would finish before 2:45. It helped a little, but I really wanted my husband to hit his goal. I knew once Sun Devil Stadium came into view that we were in the home stretch. I knew I could make it at that point, and even though it hurt like, well, I can't really say because I think my mom reads this and she would not approve of the word I'm thinking of, and I wanted to walk I kept going. My dumb Nike run tracking app somehow was ahead on the mileage, so it said I was done when I still had something like 0.2 miles left to go. Not cool, man. Not cool. It was a glorious sight when the finish line came into view. We past my BFF's husband waiting in the crowd and gave him a high five. We were cutting it super close to hitting 2:30. Under normal circumstances, I would have sprinted for the finish but as I was struggling to move at that point, I knew that wasn't going to happen. When I stopped my Nike app, it said my time was 2:31. So close!! At that point I was just glad to be done and not have to run anymore. My calf muscles were screaming.
By the time we got home from the race (after all the post-race stuff and going to lunch), the official times had been posted. Mine was 2:30:55 and the husband's was 2:30:56. He's a little butt hurt that his was somehow one second more, but we're both rounding down the time to be 2:30. So not only did I get a new PR and shatter my old one my 15 minutes (18 minutes if I go by my official race time from Disney, which included two bathroom stops), I did it with cramped up legs.
I still have no idea what caused the leg cramps, and I haven't had a chance to research it really to see what it could have been from. My form wasn't any different, I wasn't wearing new shoes (I wasn't wearing new anything!). I don't know. It's especially weird because in all the runs I have ever done, I have never had an issue with cramps of any kind. I'm hoping my next half goes off without any hitches--no sickness, no pain, no cramps. It would be nice to just have a normal run!!
The race was yesterday. I was excited about it but nervous because I really didn't feel like I'd been training enough leading up to it. I'd done all the long runs, but I had really slacked on the shorter runs during the week. Like REALLY slacked. I had the mindset that since I'd already done one half, surely I could easily do another. I wasn't entirely wrong, but I probably could have trained a little harder.
My previous half marathon time was 2:45. I really wanted to come in on this one at 2:30. The husband and I had been averaging an 11:30 pace on long runs which would just about put us there (we'd need to do 11:27 the whole time to get a 2:30 finish). We started off really strong, varying between 10:00 and 10:30 but maintaining close to a 10:30 pace. I felt great! I fell into the pace easily, my breathing was good, it was a GREAT morning for a run--not too cold, mostly overcast, wide open streets so runners weren't all smashed together. We had driven the route the day before so I knew where the turns were and how far we had on each straightaway and all that.
I felt great until about halfway through the race when my left calf muscle started to cramp. The right one soon followed. I thought maybe I could run through it and just kept going. Nope, it wasn't going away. There was a Gu stop at 7.7 miles, so I walked through that and then decided to stop for a second and stretch my calves. That helped initially but not long after the cramping was back. I stopped again at some point between miles 9 and 10 to stretch it some more. The whole time I was thinking, "I ran every step of my last half while suffering from strep throat and now I'm having to walk and full on stop because of a stupid cramp?!" I wasn't happy about it, but it HURT. The last three miles of the race were all literally downhill. It had been a gradual incline leading up to that which might have been part of the problem. I hate gradual inclines--I'd much rather power up a noticeable hill than go 1-2 miles where the elevation is just slightly increasing the whole way. Anyway, I tried to enjoy the downhill and let gravity do it's thing and help speed me along. We were still under our pace target at this point, with about 2 minutes cushion built in, so I was feeling pretty confident that we'd finish in 2:30. Then I started getting charlie horse cramps in my calves. I almost full on fell at one point from one of them. It was not cool. So, more walking. My awesome, sweet, wonderful husband stayed with me the whole time, too. I told him to go on ahead because I wanted to make sure he finished in the time we wanted to, I really didn't want to slow him down. Do you know what he said? He told me he'd carry me if he had to. I love him so much.
Right after the marker for Mile 12 there was a bridge. The husband said let's at least run across the bridge and see how it goes from there. I made it most of the way across before I had to walk again because the pain in my legs was AWFUL. By that point we had less than a mile to go. I walked a little and then forced myself to keep running the rest of the way. I knew with all the walking we were going to be cutting it close to hitting our 2:30 goal. I tried to reassure myself by saying that no matter what, at that point I was going to finish with a PR because I would finish before 2:45. It helped a little, but I really wanted my husband to hit his goal. I knew once Sun Devil Stadium came into view that we were in the home stretch. I knew I could make it at that point, and even though it hurt like, well, I can't really say because I think my mom reads this and she would not approve of the word I'm thinking of, and I wanted to walk I kept going. My dumb Nike run tracking app somehow was ahead on the mileage, so it said I was done when I still had something like 0.2 miles left to go. Not cool, man. Not cool. It was a glorious sight when the finish line came into view. We past my BFF's husband waiting in the crowd and gave him a high five. We were cutting it super close to hitting 2:30. Under normal circumstances, I would have sprinted for the finish but as I was struggling to move at that point, I knew that wasn't going to happen. When I stopped my Nike app, it said my time was 2:31. So close!! At that point I was just glad to be done and not have to run anymore. My calf muscles were screaming.
By the time we got home from the race (after all the post-race stuff and going to lunch), the official times had been posted. Mine was 2:30:55 and the husband's was 2:30:56. He's a little butt hurt that his was somehow one second more, but we're both rounding down the time to be 2:30. So not only did I get a new PR and shatter my old one my 15 minutes (18 minutes if I go by my official race time from Disney, which included two bathroom stops), I did it with cramped up legs.
I still have no idea what caused the leg cramps, and I haven't had a chance to research it really to see what it could have been from. My form wasn't any different, I wasn't wearing new shoes (I wasn't wearing new anything!). I don't know. It's especially weird because in all the runs I have ever done, I have never had an issue with cramps of any kind. I'm hoping my next half goes off without any hitches--no sickness, no pain, no cramps. It would be nice to just have a normal run!!
Friday, December 16, 2011
P90X Before and After Pics
I've been done with P90X for over a week now, but I just hadn't taken the time to have my husband take the after pics of me. He's working from home today and suggested we take them this morning. I really didn't expect to see a whole lot of difference, although I don't know why. I had to buy a size 8 pair of jeans recently, so obviously things had changed. A freakin' size 8!! I have never in my life bought a size 8 anything. I was freakin' over the moon!
So, without further ado, here are my before and after pictures!
My baby boy wanted to show off his muscles there in the last one. :) So, obviously, there was quite a bit of change in my body. I would have liked to have lost a bit more belly fat, but what I lost was pretty noticeable. The last few weeks I didn't follow the program as closely as I did at first, so that may have been part of it too. I generally run on Tuesday and Thursday, so a lot of days I'd skip the P90X workouts for those days since they were cardio-focused. And some days I didn't do the ab workout because I just ran out of time. I'm pleased with my results, though. I don't know if I'd do it again, but that's just because it's a big time commitment every day and working out at home is a lot harder than going to the gym. There are way more distractions when I exercise at home, and I hated that I had to do it during my son's naptime.
So, without further ado, here are my before and after pictures!
My baby boy wanted to show off his muscles there in the last one. :) So, obviously, there was quite a bit of change in my body. I would have liked to have lost a bit more belly fat, but what I lost was pretty noticeable. The last few weeks I didn't follow the program as closely as I did at first, so that may have been part of it too. I generally run on Tuesday and Thursday, so a lot of days I'd skip the P90X workouts for those days since they were cardio-focused. And some days I didn't do the ab workout because I just ran out of time. I'm pleased with my results, though. I don't know if I'd do it again, but that's just because it's a big time commitment every day and working out at home is a lot harder than going to the gym. There are way more distractions when I exercise at home, and I hated that I had to do it during my son's naptime.
Monday, October 17, 2011
General update
I don't know how I've fallen so far behind on all my blogs lately. In the weeks since I've posted I have hit my goal weight--I've lost 30 pounds!! I had a doctor's appointment last week, and she flipped back through my chart and said this is my lowest weight in the 10 years I've been her patient. Wow!! She was really proud of me, and I have to say I am too.
I started doing P90X and as of today I'm six weeks into the program. I really like the workouts, I just don't like that I have to do them during my youngest son's naptime because that really cuts into my time to get things done around the house. But I've learned it's nearly impossible to workout with him around, although initially he tries to follow along which is pretty stinking cute.
I think that's about it. I've started training for my next half marathon coming up in January. I did a five mile run on Saturday morning. My pace wasn't anything to really write home about, but I enjoyed it and I'm putting more value into that than my pace. I think my average was 11:45. Not terrible--and definitely faster than most of my training runs for the last half marathon I did--but not awesome either.
I started doing P90X and as of today I'm six weeks into the program. I really like the workouts, I just don't like that I have to do them during my youngest son's naptime because that really cuts into my time to get things done around the house. But I've learned it's nearly impossible to workout with him around, although initially he tries to follow along which is pretty stinking cute.
I think that's about it. I've started training for my next half marathon coming up in January. I did a five mile run on Saturday morning. My pace wasn't anything to really write home about, but I enjoyed it and I'm putting more value into that than my pace. I think my average was 11:45. Not terrible--and definitely faster than most of my training runs for the last half marathon I did--but not awesome either.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
5k PR!
Well, it was only my second 5K so the fact that I set a PR isn't that surprising. My previous 5K that I ran in May was a time of 38:25, an average pace of 12:02. I decided last night I wanted to shave at least three minutes off of that and get my time around 35:00. I ran with the husband who usually averages about a 10:30 pace. I was nervous I wouldn't be able to keep up, but I also didn't want to slow him down. Let me tell you how surprised I was when my app came on after five minutes and said I was running at a 10:37 pace! Wow!! My average pace for the entire race ended up being 10:47 and my total time was 32:22. Yup, I shaved six minutes off my time! I was pretty pleased with myself, I have to say. I don't think at this point I could have sustained that pace for a much longer run, but it does give me hope for my next half marathon in January that I could potentially average a pace closer to 11:00.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Measurements
The husband and I have decided that once we meet a fitness goal of some sort, we need to have another one in mind already so that we don't just get lazy and fat again. I had decided after the half marathon that I was going to do P90X. I've known several people that have done it and had great success with it and really liked it. Plus I had to take a temporary leave from my gym membership, so this will be a great way to stay active and fit while I can't go to the gym. Yesterday I did a bunch of pre-P90X stuff, and today I'll actually start it. I had to take my measurements so I can track my progress at the end of the 90 days. Once I was done I remembered seeing a notebook in my bathroom recently that had measurements I'd taken one year ago today. it must have been when I started South Beach Diet for the first time. It's amazing how the numbers have changed!!
September 8th, 2010
Weight: 187.2
Waist: 35"
Hips: 40"
Thighs: 22"
Arms: 12"
Chest: 40"
September 7th, 2011
Weight: 160.8
Waist: 32"
Hips: 38"
Thighs: 17.5"
Arms: 10/5"
Chest: 36"
Wow. Those are some pretty significant number changes!! I'm curious to see how my numbers compare 30 days from now!
September 8th, 2010
Weight: 187.2
Waist: 35"
Hips: 40"
Thighs: 22"
Arms: 12"
Chest: 40"
September 7th, 2011
Weight: 160.8
Waist: 32"
Hips: 38"
Thighs: 17.5"
Arms: 10/5"
Chest: 36"
Wow. Those are some pretty significant number changes!! I'm curious to see how my numbers compare 30 days from now!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Run a half marathon - CHECK!!
I ran my half marathon on Sunday! With strep throat and maybe whiplash. I gotta say I'm pretty pleased with myself and think I'm bordering on rock star status because of that. All last week I was paranoid I was going to get sick for the race because my youngest had a cold, my BFF had a nasty cold, and we knew a few other people we'd been in contact with that were sick. Thursday night I thought my throat was starting to hurt, but I was trying to convince myself it was all in my head. Friday morning I woke up and knew that wasn't the case. My husband was trying to convince me still that it was just anxiety or allergies, not strep like I was thinking it was. He was going to Dallas for the weekend for the LSU season opener, so we took him to the airport then went home to pack up and head out. The plan had been for the boys and me to go to my mom's so we could leave for CA around 9:30 or 10:00. Plans changed so that I dropped my kids off at her house then went to one of the Walgreens clinics to get a strep test done. I tend to get strep about once a year, so I normally know when I have it. While I was waiting I had pretty much convinced myself it wasn't strep. It didn't hurt as much as it had in the morning, so I thought maybe it was just allergies. Even the nurse at the clinic didn't think it was going to be strep, but it was. Thankfully I knew that by day three of being on antibiotics I was usually feeling mostly normal, so I wasn't quite as worried. I figured at that point I'd run what I could, take walking breaks when I need them, and go in knowing I wasn't going to have an awesome race.
I got a little worried at the race expo because I felt pretty lightheaded most of the time we were there. Thursday night I woke up and had gotten up to shine a flashlight in my throat to check for white spots to see if it was strep, and while I was up doing that I got really dizzy. I was in my kids' bathroom and went to sit down on the floor outside the bathroom and ended up collapsing as I tried to sit down. I banged my head on the floor pretty hard, so I was worried then after feeling lightheaded Saturday that I'd end up passing out at the race.
Sunday morning my alarm went off at 3:20. I caught the shuttle to Disneyland, met up with Jen, and we headed to the race. We got in our corrals around 5:15. A little before 6:00 they had fireworks at the starting line and then the race got underway. The official start time was 6:00, but it was about 6:20 I think when we crossed the starting line. Right away, I felt awesome. My breathing was great, my legs felt great, the energy from the crowd was fantastic. We started out running on a street by the Disney hotels then around Mile 2 got into the parks. There were Disney characters all along the route, and you could stop to have your picture taken with them, but the lines were all really long. Phineas and Ferb were there, and I would have loved to get my picture taken with them, but not at the expense of waiting in line and losing time. After we ran through California Adventure and Disneyland, we went out on the streets of Anaheim. Every mile or so there were high school cheer squads and marching bands--it was pretty cool. We ran around the Honda Center where the Anaheim Ducks play, then along a river, then into Angels Stadium. We got to run on the track of the baseball field in the stadium!! It was so cool!! They had the Jumbotron camera there so everyone ended up on the Jumbotron.
The stadium was around mile 9.5 of the race. I felt great until Mile 11. Eleven miles was the longest training run we had done, and as soon as we hit it I thought "This is longer than I've ever run." I was just tired at that point. The only walking I'd done was through the water stops. I really, really, really wanted to walk for awhile, but I had made it that far without walking and only had two miles to go, plus if I kept running I'd be done a lot sooner. So I kept at it. I remembered when we got to the Disney parks initially there was a sign pointing one way that said Mile 2 and the other way said Mile 12, so I knew once we got back there we were almost done. I was so relieved to see that Mile 12 marker! One mile to go. At that point there were starting to be a lot of spectators along the course cheering everyone on which was great. I was just so ready to be done! Once we saw the Mile 13 marker, we started sprinting for the finish. It was so crazy--I couldn't even feel my legs, it felt like I was flying! Ah if only running could always feel like that.
My official race time was 2:48:32 which took into account two bathrooms tops. I have a running GPS app on my phone that I use, and I paused that at our bathroom stops, so my time on my app was 2:45:03. I was pretty pleased with that time--I had estimated my time as 2:46:00 when I registered but didn't take bathroom breaks into account. It was just so fun, and I'm so ridiculously proud of myself. Honestly running a half marathon was something I never would have expected to do. I'm already excited for the next one I'm signed up to do in January!
Here are my official stats:
OFFICIAL TIME: 2:48:32
Distance HALF MAR (13.1 miles)
Clock Time 3:05:41
Chip Time 2:48:32
Overall Place 7554 / 12785
Gender Place 4328 / 8368
Division Place 770 / 1241
Age Grade 39.4%
5K (my time isn't posted for some reason)
10K 1:17:08
15K 1:58:08
I got a little worried at the race expo because I felt pretty lightheaded most of the time we were there. Thursday night I woke up and had gotten up to shine a flashlight in my throat to check for white spots to see if it was strep, and while I was up doing that I got really dizzy. I was in my kids' bathroom and went to sit down on the floor outside the bathroom and ended up collapsing as I tried to sit down. I banged my head on the floor pretty hard, so I was worried then after feeling lightheaded Saturday that I'd end up passing out at the race.
Sunday morning my alarm went off at 3:20. I caught the shuttle to Disneyland, met up with Jen, and we headed to the race. We got in our corrals around 5:15. A little before 6:00 they had fireworks at the starting line and then the race got underway. The official start time was 6:00, but it was about 6:20 I think when we crossed the starting line. Right away, I felt awesome. My breathing was great, my legs felt great, the energy from the crowd was fantastic. We started out running on a street by the Disney hotels then around Mile 2 got into the parks. There were Disney characters all along the route, and you could stop to have your picture taken with them, but the lines were all really long. Phineas and Ferb were there, and I would have loved to get my picture taken with them, but not at the expense of waiting in line and losing time. After we ran through California Adventure and Disneyland, we went out on the streets of Anaheim. Every mile or so there were high school cheer squads and marching bands--it was pretty cool. We ran around the Honda Center where the Anaheim Ducks play, then along a river, then into Angels Stadium. We got to run on the track of the baseball field in the stadium!! It was so cool!! They had the Jumbotron camera there so everyone ended up on the Jumbotron.
The stadium was around mile 9.5 of the race. I felt great until Mile 11. Eleven miles was the longest training run we had done, and as soon as we hit it I thought "This is longer than I've ever run." I was just tired at that point. The only walking I'd done was through the water stops. I really, really, really wanted to walk for awhile, but I had made it that far without walking and only had two miles to go, plus if I kept running I'd be done a lot sooner. So I kept at it. I remembered when we got to the Disney parks initially there was a sign pointing one way that said Mile 2 and the other way said Mile 12, so I knew once we got back there we were almost done. I was so relieved to see that Mile 12 marker! One mile to go. At that point there were starting to be a lot of spectators along the course cheering everyone on which was great. I was just so ready to be done! Once we saw the Mile 13 marker, we started sprinting for the finish. It was so crazy--I couldn't even feel my legs, it felt like I was flying! Ah if only running could always feel like that.
My official race time was 2:48:32 which took into account two bathrooms tops. I have a running GPS app on my phone that I use, and I paused that at our bathroom stops, so my time on my app was 2:45:03. I was pretty pleased with that time--I had estimated my time as 2:46:00 when I registered but didn't take bathroom breaks into account. It was just so fun, and I'm so ridiculously proud of myself. Honestly running a half marathon was something I never would have expected to do. I'm already excited for the next one I'm signed up to do in January!
Here are my official stats:
OFFICIAL TIME: 2:48:32
Distance HALF MAR (13.1 miles)
Clock Time 3:05:41
Chip Time 2:48:32
Overall Place 7554 / 12785
Gender Place 4328 / 8368
Division Place 770 / 1241
Age Grade 39.4%
5K (my time isn't posted for some reason)
10K 1:17:08
15K 1:58:08
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