marathon training

Mermaid in Training

/ Jess / Leave a comment

After buying my new swimming gear a few weeks ago, I finally made the leap (dive?) and hit the pool at our local YMCA last night after work for some cross training.

So I slipped into my swimsuit and immediately had a small panic attack when I looked down at the rest of my swimming accoutrements and realized I had NO CLUE how to properly use them. I bought the swim cap, wax ear plugs, and goggles because they looked cool, but once I found myself shivering in the freezing cold locker room staring at these foreign objects on the bench before me, I panicked. Did my hair need to be wet to put the cap on? Then what was the cap for if my hair was going to get wet? Does it go over my ears? If it does, do I need the ear plugs too? Should I walk out with the goggles on or put them on in the pool?

photo 3Like I’ve said before, sometimes it really is hell inside my mind.

So after a fruitless Google search and some mild cursing for being so totally pathetic, I just decided to wing it and slapped everything on to the best of my ability. After pulling a third of my hair out by the roots trying to get the swim cap on, nearly losing the wax in my ear twice, and pinching myself hardcore with the goggle strap, I was ready to rock.

photo 1

Or at least I looked like I was ready.

It became clear that I needed to have some confidence if I was going to pull this off, so I grabbed my towel, took a deep breath, opened the door to the pool and flip flopped out to the closest bench.

I slipped into the water and pretended that it wasn’t as cold as it was. Little kids were getting swimming lessons in the far lane, for god’s sake! So I pulled my goggles down, dipped under, and kicked off… and felt myself break into the biggest smile since I crossed the finish line of my last half in April! It was amazing!

For the next half hour I did lap after lap, trying out every swimming stroke my grandma ever taught me in our backyard pool, none of which I know the proper names for. Some I’m pretty sure I even made up as I went along. But I loved it! The rest of the pool cleared out and I found myself alone in my last few laps, in my own little sound-proof world (thanks, wax earplugs), my heart beating out of my chest as I finished one lap and geared up for another.

photo 2Finally, as I glanced behind me at the clock to see how long I’d been in, the poor teenaged lifeguard who had been standing there waving at me since I couldn’t hear her finally got my attention: “I’m sorry but we have to close the pool because of the lightning storm!”

I hadn’t even noticed, but it was indeed storming badly outside, so I hopped out of the pool, toweled off, changed into dry clothes and relaxed in the locker room for a minute: I felt ike I’d worked out hard but I wasn’t sweaty and gross like after a run; I was just fresh and dry and blissed out on an endorphin high!

So overall, I’d give swimming an A++. I cannot wait to go back! How about you? Do you swim for cross training? Any triathletes (or tri’s in training) out there? Let me hear it!

3 towns, 10 miles, 1 bathroom break

/ Jess / 12 Comments

This week marked week 4 of marathon training, and it passed pretty unremarkably, until yesterday that is… let me explain:

Since it’s been a month, this was my first experience of training while PMS’ing. Which… WOW. That’s all I can really say. I don’t know whether my husband is ready to walk out or just throw a chocolate cake at me and be done with it. The combination of waking up early, being sore all the time and not eating my usual comfort foods made the holy trifecta of awful, and my hormone swings on top of everything else made it a pretty angry week.

My sucky run on Tuesday was mitigated only by the fact that I got to wear fun new Brooks “Run Happy” shorts that totally matched my shoes:

photo 12That smile? Yeah, it’s fake.

It was a hard 3 miles and my time was physically embarrassing, but it was done. So I went to bed angry. Then Wednesday I did yoga on the beach with some friends instead of running for my last “crosstraining instead of running Wednesday” and found myself doing some not-very-zen things like cursing the instructor and wishing I could be on the boardwalk eating curly fries and lobster rolls instead of getting sand where sand should not go with a bunch of granola-chomping hippies. Thankfully, the friends I did the class with were of the same mind, so things worked out.

photo

We call ourselves the Yoga Misfits and we’re thinking of getting jackets made.

Thursday was pretty much the worst day ever. Work was a nightmare, my hormones were raging, and I physically couldn’t bring myself to break through it and go for a run. I promised myself I’d go first thing Friday, but to keep myself from murdering someone, I instead had some chocolate cake and went to bed angry at 9:30. I considered it a public service.

It worked, because Friday morning I turned a corner. I churned out 3 faster miles and rocked out to some “We Didn’t Start the Fire” and even had a woman drive by and applaud me (her kid in the car seat behind her was clapping too)! That gave me some good motivation to rock my long run, so I plotted a course that took me through 3 nearby towns, went to bed early Saturday, woke up early Sunday and had hubby drive me 10 miles out to begin my first double-digit run on this training schedule!

It was overcast and actually kind of cool out, which was a very nice change from the 85 degrees I’ve been running in the past few weeks. However, it was still humid as hell. And so I was drenched by about mile 2, which I discovered when I stopped for an emergency bathroom break:

photo 5

When will I learn and not pick light colored shorts?

Even despite the beautiful view, the good pacing, and a solid fueling plan, I had soaked clean through my shorts, thus rendering null and void any cool points I had accumulated up til then.

I kept at it though and felt OK til about mile 6. Glancing at my watch, I realized I’d been running for more than an hour so I took a break and grabbed some water from my belt to wash down some Sport Beans. That’s where the day took a turn.

The bottle I carried my water in had been stored in the cabinet I keep all of my scented candles in, too. And it also gets very hot there. Thanks to osmosis, the various candle scents had permeated the plastic of my little handheld Nathan water bottle, making my water taste like every damn Yankee Candle I ever owned.

inVAGKCJhnwwxWhich tastes like exactly what you think it does.

After taking my first horrible gulp of funk-water, I gagged on the side of the road and panicked: I still had at least 2 more miles to the Quick Check I had planned on getting water from, and these Sport Beans had turned my mouth into a foul pasty desert!! But I sucked it up (literally), swished some nasty candle-water around my mouth to keep it hydrated, and walk/jogged the next 2 miles to get fresh water.

When I arrived at Quick Check, I downed a bottle of water so fast I gave myself a brain freeze, then walked back outside to find that it was POURING! So I took it as a sign and waited, stretching for a good 5 minutes while the rain subsided. Once it cleared, I set out again and thought “2 more miles! You can do 2 more miles, that’s nothing!” and sure enough, I did! I wanted to quit a few times, but I found that this 10 miler was much better than the 10 miler I did while training for my last half. Then, I wanted to give up at 8 and had to walk almost the entire last 2 miles. But yesterday I pushed through, found a few new songs on my running playlist and made it all the way to my parents’ house at mile 10.00, where I promptly collapsed in a heap of hair and sweat.

photo 4…so much sweat.

So while I was a little frustrated with how much I had to walk after the candle-water incident, I’m pretty proud of my final push. It was a strong finish to an otherwise so-so run, and I’ll take it!

However, last night while basking in my post-long-run bliss and updating my training diary, I discovered that I’d read it wrong: as it turns out, I was only supposed to do 9 miles yesterday. 10 is next week’s long run. So that means I have to do this all over again.

giphy

Excuse me while I go sit in the corner and rock back and forth, crying and laughing uncontrollably.

How did your week go? Any training milestones you’re proud of? Have you ever read your training calendar wrong and screwed yourself? Please tell me I’m not the only one!

Find Your Balance

/ Jess / 5 Comments

With marathon training in full swing, I’m starting to notice a pattern: it’s all about balance! If I work too hard one day, I set myself back for 3. Read on!

So Week 3 started off a little slow: my rest day Monday turned into rest day Tuesday too because my knees were dying from the beating they took on the treadmill Sunday. 7 miles on the mill was a nice accomplishment, but DAMN. So Wednesday I hit the speedwork hard (on the treadmill too, will I ever learn?) and found the extra day of rest really paid off: I was coasting through 2 minute intervals that beat my usual 11-12 minute per mile pace by almost 4 full minutes! After a warm up jog I did 2 rounds of 2 minute sprints at 9:30, 8:57, and 8:34 (!!) broken up by 90 seconds of fast walk breaks. And I could have kept on going if it weren’t for that pesky “work” thing!

Feeling good, I opted to plow straight through the weekend with activity every day to make up for that missing day. So I kicked off my 4 day weekend Thursday with a full hour of cross training: HIIT with Jillian and the Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout DVD.

photowhile listening to old school hip hop instead of Jillian’s voice.

After my workout, I was all set to enjoy a “me” day like a real housewife of NJ and I ended up wandering around a mall for 3 hours, touching everything and buying nothing. My legs started to get that post-workout weakness in the afternoon, so I refueled at Panera and ran (walked?) some more errands and made it home by about 5, logging around 4 miles of walking throughout the day. And that’s where the wheels kinda fell off the wagon.

Friday morning, I felt like rusty metal. I was supposed to do 3 miles, but I opted instead for a shakeout mile to get things flowing again and surprised myself with a 10:00 mile, even. The skies opened up for the next 7 hours so after a day of BBQ’ing, I walked the other 2 miles that night at the park after the rain cleared for our local fireworks show and made my 3 miles.

Come 8:30AM Saturday, I was raring to go (hey, it turns out resting really does work!) so I brought the bike down the park with the hubby. It was one of those “let’s see how far I get” days, and when I found I was able to ride on my old waterfront running path now that it was all fixed up post-Hurricane Sandy, I just couldn’t help myself and did a full 10K on the bike in 38 minutes!

photo 3I didn’t have enough hands for the .2 so just use your imagination.

But the 20-30mph wind gusts ended up shredding my legs and Sunday’s long run was NOT happening when my alarm went off at 7:30am. I got .12 miles in before the heat and the intense pains coming from my good knee scared the hell out of me, and I opted to try again later that night when it was cooler and my legs had a true rest. So I did nothing for the rest of the day except nap on the couch and visit the farmer’s market for some fresh avocados. After some yummy Amy’s Organic tamales for dinner (with my patent pending homemade guacamole!), I hit the pavement at around 8:30 and truly enjoyed my 5 miler around town! It was cooler and quiet, traffic was calm, and I coasted through all 5 miles! I did end up sprinting through the last mile, partially because my route took me next to my church which is super creepy at night.

photo 2like, Scooby-Doo level creepy

After some stretching and foam rolling, I hit the hay and week 3 was complete! It wasn’t very pretty, but it got done. I realize I need to re-integrate that extra day of running in the middle of the week – the cross training is great, but I don’t want my speed and endurance to suffer for it. It’s all about balance though, and I need to make sure that I keep the extra work in there but in smaller doses.

How is your training going? Are you noticing any patterns in your workouts? Any lessons to be learned outside of your usual fitness-based goals? Share with me in the comments!

A Polish 5K = 3.5 Miles

/ Jess / 3 Comments

Glossing over the fact that I lied to you last week when I said I would blog at least once a day (sorry!), this weekend was another eventful and active 48 hours that I can’t wait to tell you about!

It started on Saturday morning at our town’s local 5k. This is a fun one – usually only about 100 people at the most show up for a few hot, steamy miles around our town in support of our local first aid and fire department, ending at the swim club for a BBQ and a free day at the pool. Delightful! Or, it would have been delightful if it weren’t about 100 degrees by the time the gun went off at 9am. And if someone had monitored the course mapping. Because I about dropped dead when a volunteer at the 3.1 mile marker told me “You’re almost there, just another half mile over that hill!”

Yes, it turns out at Polish 5K is 3.5 miles.

the-more-you-knowOr at least it is in our town.

Either way, I finished, running through every damn firehose they had out on the course with my cousin who’s run this thing pretty much every year since it started – and it was a good time!

photo 4she posted this on IG with the hashtag #imoldershestaller

After the race, we spent a few hours blissfully hanging out in the pool – complete with high dive action! I faced my fears and did a half a cannonball off the highest board they have, but when my contact lens tried to make a break for it out of my eyeball as soon as I hit the water on my second jump, I called it a day.

photo 1point those toes!

I spent the rest of the day napping and watching Dirty Jobs because I secretly wish I was married to Mike Rowe, and told myself to prepare for the 7 miles I had to do in the morning.

The number 7 was on the schedule, but it scared me. I’d only run that distance a few times before for half marathon training. That kind of distance just doesn’t come naturally,  you know what I mean? Like I’m not one of those people that laces up after work and disappears for 7 miles. My town isn’t even that wide across, for crying out loud. BUT – when I opened my eyes at 8am Sunday, I told myself that this was the moment that would make or break my training. I could either roll over and say “Screw it, I’ll do it tomorrow” and have even less motivation on a Monday, or I could pop out of bed, get dressed, shut up and run the damn 7 miles because I have to run 26.2 in a few months and skipping this 7 won’t do me any favors.

I’m proud to say I went for option #2 and ran 7 miles – on a treadmill! By the time I finished my pre-long-run ablutions, it was about 92 degrees and 93% humidity. I was not about to die at mile 3, so I headed to the Y and picked a corner treadmill, where I proceeded to sweat my ASS off. Seriously, it looked like someone took a garden hose to the damn console by like the first mile. I was equal parts disgusted and impressed.

photo 2Note the one dry spot of the whole outfit near my right boob.

Full disclosure: I walked at least once a mile because I was seriously feeling the humidity. The Y – while temperature controlled – is still a really humid place. But I did the full mileage, even after doing 3.5 the day before. The most demoralizing part was having to re-start the treadmill after the first 60 minute time limit ended to finish the last 2 miles… It took a lot of discipline to hit start again, but I did it, and dammit, I earned the birthday cake I ate at my friend’s kid’s birthday bbq later that day.

The best part about running 7 miles and going to a BBQ? Holding it together for the length of the party just to come home and jump into compression socks before passing out on the couch for 2 hours:

photo 3No, seriously. I didn’t even change out of my dress.

So that was my active weekend – what was yours like? 🙂

Boot Camp “Fun”

/ Jess / Leave a comment

Today, just like last Wednesday, I decided to do cross-training instead of running the miles that were on my plan. At this point, I don’t want to subject my knees to 3 days of running in a row just yet. I had a simple 3 miles today, so I opted to take a free 45-minute boot camp class with my friend before work instead of running for 45 minutes.

Which it turns out was kind of like opting to shave my head and setting my scalp on fire instead of combing my hair.

Anyway – I heard about this class randomly on Facebook at 9pm last night and was intrigued: Back in 2010, I’d taken this very same boot camp for about 3 months when the camp was just starting out. Three times a week after work, I’d join 10 other sweaty folks in a garage for an ass-kicking of epic proportions. Then, with wedding planning in 2011, life got hectic and my wallet got tighter so I didn’t go back. Fast forward to now, when I’ve been looking for something fun and intense to add into my training.

So I asked my friend who is currently a boot camp regular if he wanted to come with me, and he said yes (yay!). Then I set my alarm for 5:20, laid out my clothes, and went to bed early. Waking up before the sun was not something I enjoyed, but when I got there I was greeted with the same old familiar face of the class leader (who did not remember me) and the same old ridiculously insane workout.

photoI’m surprised they didn’t give me a mop afterwards to clean up my sweat.

After warming up with 5 minutes of jumping jacks, planks, and stretches, we broke into groups of 6 and jumped into 40-20’s: Alternating between 40 seconds of 2 exercises 8 times at each of 4 stations, with 20 seconds of rest between each set (MATH!). The punishment began immediately with ball squats/wall ball tosses, followed by 24 inch box steps. I purposely wore my knee brace to keep myself under control (and frankly, to get the instructor to cut me some slack if it looked like I was wimping out), but I surprised myself with my leg strength!

The rest of the workout got progressively harder as I got weaker: 44lb overhead bar presses and 10 squats/1 sprint with a 10lb sandbag on my shoulders, TRX cable tricep dips and kettlebell tosses, topped off with sled pushes across the length of the gym and lifting a tire that may as well have weighed a thousand pounds because my jelly arms couldn’t even lift the damn thing. Seriously, I spent all 4 sets of those tire presses with the stupid thing around my neck because that’s as far as I could lift it.

By the end of the 45 minutes, I was shredded. I haven’t done a super-high-intensity workout like that since before my injury in October of 2012, and that fact was very apparent. I started struggling at just 20 minutes in. It was a wake-up call: I’m nowhere near as strong as I used to be. But instead of getting discouraged, I thought about how much stronger I’m going to be in a few months of training! It was exciting to get my blood pumping again, to feel the “totally spent muscles” burn, to gasp for air between sets.

I’m not saying I’m going to sign up for 3 times a week, but it was definitely a win in the cross-training department. What about you? Do you do boot camp (or Crossfit or TRX or anything else that makes you sweat like a beast)? What’s your favorite cross-training workout?

Week 1 of 18

/ Jess / 6 Comments

Well I’m still here! I know I’ve been quiet lately (ok, SILENT), but it’s been a very eventful first week of marathon training and I’m really excited to share it with you!

So I’m officially following Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 plan, and I adapted it to allow for extra cross- & strength-training (and to accommodate my still-kinda-new-ACL). I started on Tuesday of last week – in this plan, Mondays are rest days. This works out perfectly because I’m usually pretty active during the weekend, and Sunday long runs keep me from going out drinking on a Saturday – so even my liver wins! So after mentally prepping and adjusting my diet accordingly on Monday, I was good and ready for an early morning 3.1 miler on Tuesday!

Image I know that it should be 3 miles, but does anyone else have a hard time just running 3 without the .1 to make it a 5k? No? Just me? Ok then. Moving on!

Anyway, it was hot. And humid. Frankly, it felt like I was running through chicken soup. I was leaking from every pore and slow and kinda hated it, but I kept telling myself to soak it in because it was my first training run for my first marathon. How stinking cool is that? I got to watch the sun come up over the bay as I ran loops around the park, said Hi to some little baby bunnies out for breakfast with their mom on the side of the path, and I got through it with a smile. Winning!

To enhance my training, I also decided to add 15-20 minutes of strength training in each day. Even if it’s 3 minutes at a pop in front of the TV while the commercials are on, I’m getting it in. Arms, abs, back, and legs, no body part left behind (ew). So I did my 20 minutes with some coworkers in the office gym in the afternoon, and topped off my day in the evening with my handstand challenge practice.

Come Wednesday, my knees were extremely achy from wearing high heels at work and the humidity. So I invoked my training plan tweak and opted out of running, choosing instead to get the mileage the plan called for (4 miles) done on the elliptical. This saved my knees a LOT of pain, and it worked out fantastically.

ImageYou can tell it’s working because I look like death!

I still got all the cardio benefits (I was dripping with sweat!) by keeping close to my running pace and loved it. When I added another 20 minutes of strength training and more handstands into the mix that day, I was shredded.

So when Thursday called for 3 miles, I was surprised (not really though) to find that my body was not having any of that. I got my strength training in, but suffered all day through my monthly migraine (any of you ladies experience the same hell as me every month?). By the time I got out of work, I wasn’t even close to motivated to run 3 miles. It was 95 outside, about 97% humidity, and I was out of Motrin. I call that The “Trifecta of Suck”.

BUT – when I got home, I put on my gear and told myself to get out there. Even if I did one mile, I’d call it a win. So I got out there in the soupy weather and walked for most of a mile, threw in 4 sprints of around 8:00/miles just to get my heart rate up, and as soon as that damn Nike+ app said 1.00, I called it. I was just not feeling it. But I didn’t beat myself up – I chose to be happy with my training and chalked it up to good experience, and looked forward to rest day Friday!

ImageInstead of 🙂 or 😦 I decided on the third option, not shown here-  :-/

After resting (and yes, having a slice of homemade pizza) on Friday, I attacked Saturday and Sunday with what I can only describe as an intense desire to KICK ASS. And kick I did!

Image I tackled Saturday morning with an 8-mile bike ride before breakfast, and felt unstoppable. It was my longest ride since before my surgery, and I felt like I could have easily kept on going! Then Sunday I attacked my 5 mile training run in under an hour:

Imageby 32 seconds, but it counts!

And then punished my legs just a little bit more with 2 hours of hiking and trail running at Holmdel Park.

ImageMy legs were so tired I tried to ride the deer home.

Then I finished the day with some more handstand practice and looked forward to resting today!

So that’s my Week 1 (of 18). It’s kind of scary to think that I have to keep this up for another 17 weeks (my god I’m starving and exhausted!) but I’m feeling stronger than ever and very excited to see where this training takes me!

How about you, are you training for anything right now? How’s it going?