Big exciting news!!
Are you following me on Instagram? How about Brooks Running? Go do both right now – because today I’m taking over the Brooks Instagram handle to share why I say #thankyourunning!
At the top of the list: amazing opportunities like this one!
This is a huge honor – I hope you’ll follow along as I share all the wonderful lessons that running has taught me, and share your #thankyourunning story in the comments!
As my first sprint triathlon draws near, I’ve starting to feel the pre-race nerves kick in over the strangest things. For example, I had a stress dream last week about forgetting my sneakers, my bike having flat tires, a thunderstorm over the ocean at the starting line, and accidentally swimming with my phone in my pocket.
So to alleviate some of that stress, I’ve started checking things off my race-prep to-do list – one of them being my race day outfit. Initially I just thought I’d go to the store and get a tri suit and be done with it, easy peasy. Well, after driving around to 7 different stores for 5 hours on a Sunday with my poor cousin (and returning home empty-handed), I realized I’d have to resort to the trusty interwebs once again.
Enter SwimOutlet.com – my cousin (who’s raced a few tri’s this spring already) got her outfit from here and loved it, so I took a look. To keep myself from getting too stressed out over multiple orders and sizing issues, I ordered basically half of the site in various sizes to ensure that I got it right on the first try. My credit card probably had a heart attack at the initial charge (frankly I’m surprised they didn’t call me about a possible fraudulent charge!), but the upside is that I finally found a suit that works!!
It’s by Zoot (who I’d never heard of before this), and after testing it out for a bike and run brick workout – my first tri-related double workout ever! – I’m officially convinced it’s the one!
This past Saturday, the schedule called for a 10K bike ride followed by a 1 mile run. Not bad in theory – I’ve been kind of doubling up with the DeskCycle during the day and running at night so this wasn’t a huge stretch, but putting the two activities together immediately after one another was an eye-opener. In a good way!
It was gorgeous outside – hot and not as humid as it had been all week – so I jumped into my new Zoot suit (sorrynotsorry), and set off. One thing I did notice was that the tri top rides up a bit, but I’m thinking some safety pins on race day will keep it in check. I cruised along at about 6:15-6:45/mile on the bike, which is a moderate effort. I could have pushed harder, but I wasn’t just looping along humming a song either. My legs were definitely feeling it the two times I stopped for water (I’ve since installed a bottle cage on the bike!), and once I hit 6.2 miles I was pleased with my time of 40:40. 10 miles would be a little over an hour, which I’m totally capable of!
Once I put the bike away, I set out for one mile and went by feel. Immediately I took off and found my leg turnover to be ridiculously fast. I’m talking like 9 minute miles fast – nowhere near my usual 11-12:00/mile pace! I must have been all warmed up and stretchy from pedaling the bike! I checked myself and slowed down to around 10:30, and at about the half mile marker, I flagged. The heat and full sun (it was 12:30 in the afternoon by now) were beating me down, so I walked where I needed and jogged slowly where I could, then took off again at 3/4 mile to finish at 11:24. Not gonna lie – I was shocked at how speedy that mile was after 40 minutes of biking!
I wobbly-leg walked back to the shade of a nearby tree where we took the cooler out of the trunk and I downed a Gatorade so fast I think I can now coin the term “Gatorade Headache”. But it was so worth it – I’d just showed myself that I’m capable of so much more than I think! Sure it was just about an hour’s worth of work, but it’s something entirely new to me, this triathlon thing, and this workout proved that all the work I’m doing is paying dividends, and will continue to every day. And that’s pretty exciting if you ask me!
How about you: when was the last time you surprised yourself?
In 2011 I ran the Woodbridge Run for Pizza with my friend Carolyn and a huge group of people and had a relatively good time. The company was great, but I learned that it’s just one of those races that truly takes everything I’ve got. The combination of the hilly terrain, the weather, and the fact that it started at 7PM made for 4 miles aboard the struggle bus. And while I finished in 45:05 at a respectable 11:16 pace, I vividly recall my mantra for the entire last mile: never again, never again.
The 2011 finish line showdown between me & Carolyn (and Derian in the stroller!)
But, like the stubborn polack I am, “never again” turned into “meh, sure” and I found myself at the starting line last night once again!
I met up with Carolyn about a half hour before the start and we milled around stretching and chatting with our families. The forecast called for thunderstorms but the sky was already clearing, so we slowly made our way to the starting line, talking mostly about how G-D DAMN HOT it was. Seriously, it was like 90 degrees at 7PM, and the humidity had to be around 90%. It was like walking through hot soup!
We also limbered up with some synchronized acrobatics
After a few words from the mayor, we set off on our journey and chatted a bit along the way. Carolyn set the pace at around 10:15/mile, which worried me a bit. I felt OK, but didn’t think I could maintain that pace the whole time, especially with the humidity.
But we kept going through the first 2 miles, walking at each mile marker for water stops – but I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the pace, I could tell. It turns out that even though she wasn’t running a lot lately, the crazy HIIT booty camp classes that Carolyn has been taking have turned her into a superwoman, because even though she mentioned eating 2 ice cream sandwiches before lunchtime, she made 10:30 miles look EFFORTLESS! I was sucking wind and felt my form breaking down bad, but she just clicked on through with a smile. I think I need to check out these classes!
At the 2nd water stop I felt the nasty acid reflux burn kick its way into my mouth and burped a few times. No matter how much water I drank, it kept burning and I had to walk through it. I felt bad – I didn’t want to hold Carolyn back so I told her to go ahead. She hung around for a few more meters, but all that water kicked back on me and I burped up a big ‘ol hunk of my pre-race PB&J (yuck). That’s when I told her to go: she wasn’t going to want to see the end of this.
On the bridge right before mile 3.
So once she took off at mile 2.6ish, I did a few run/walk intervals but started burping again every time I’d start running. At the last interval at the start of mile 3, it was finally too much and I ended up losing the rest of my PB&J (sorry, gross!). It didn’t feel bad though – if anything, the lack of food now made it easier to run! That must officially make me a runner , huh? 😉
I stuck with intervals for the next 3/4 mile, maintaining an 11:40-ish pace. I was still really excited by this – considering my last run of more than 3 miles was a 12:30 pace (in nicer weather!), this performance was much better than I anticipated! It was kind of a bummer to see my friend go on ahead though, especially after all that talk of no running and ice cream sandwiches. But comparison is the thief of joy, isn’t it?
Once I hit mile 3.8, I sucked it up and powered through, rounding the corner and finishing strong (and with a smile!) in 46:46 (Garmin time of 46:49) and an avg. pace of 11:33!
After I crossed the finish line and reunited with everyone, we cooled off in the open fire hydrant at the finish then headed over to the post-race party for pizza and live music.
SWEET RELIEF
The pizza was meh considering I’d just yakked on the course, so I had one piece to call it a Pizza Run, got a few mosquito bites, and we called it a night! Another successful, fun Pizza Run in the books.
Will I do this one again next year? Maybe. The smaller field of runners means there aren’t that many slower folks like me at the back of the pack – and I wasn’t even going as slow as I was earlier this year! I finished 165/208, which certainly isn’t last, but I was alone for most of that last mile. It was lonely, and frankly kind of discouraging back there. But again – comparison is the thief of joy! And looking at it in terms of my OWN performance and how much better I’ve gotten over the past 3-5 months, this race was a huge win for me, hands down.
Ah, who am I kidding? I’ll probably give it a shot next year just to see if I can beat my time 😉
I’m not going to lie – I’ve got nothing left in the tank today. It’s the first day back to the grind after a 3 day weekend filled with gardening, walking, running, biking & swimming, and I am feeling it.
Wednesday I woke up in a terrible mood – I don’t know if it’s the super sticky weather, the summertime blues, or what. So I hit the pavement after work around my office for a 2 mile run (avg. pace 10:56!) to stick with the schedule and felt OK. The air was thick with humidity and I had to deal with the honks of my coworkers as they passed me by on their way home. Maybe my ridiculous ombre-filled outfit had something to do with that?
That night when I got home, though, things started to look up. Because I walked in the door and found myself face to face with this big ol’ box of happiness:
The folks at Arctic Zero sent me a delicious care package filled with 5 of their new Chunky Pints for me to try, and I am 100% hooked. I tried their regular flavors last summer and found them to be pretty good – a nice substitute for when you need that ice cream fix but don’t want to undo all of the great work you’ve done by eating healthy and working out all week. And while I’m not usually an ice cream fiend, all that changed when I tried these babies.
Where their standard flavors are 35 calories per serving (or 150 for the whole pint), these chunky flavors have add-ins that make them a little more decadent at 75 calories per serving (or 300 per pint), which is still peanuts compared to regular ice creams. But I’ll be the first to tell you: those extra calories are SO worth it. I immediately dove into the cookie dough chip and mint flavors, while Mike tried the butter pecan and key lime pie. Soon we were spoon-fighting over who got the last scoop in our bowls, and every night since then I’ve created little masterpieces mixing flavors and adding in things like melted organic peanut butter, reduced sugar chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and sprinkles. Just typing it is making my mouth water… is it dessert time yet?
Aaaaanyway! Thursday I woke up without all the guilt of a post-ice-cream-binge (because of the whole guilt-free, good-for-you thing they’ve got going on at Arctic Zero!) and headed to work for a half day. Before leaving I managed to get my biking in (5 miles in 16 minutes) and then we walked about 3 miles to and from our town’s fireworks show that night.
Thankfully, Friday was nice and sunny and hot, so we took on our lawn all morning. it turns out that “weeding” is really short for “a bunch of squatting and bending over at odd angles to yank out stubborn roots while sweating in full sun for 2 hours”. As a reward, my friend invited me into his pool that afternoon where I went for a dip and did a lap or two, along with a lot of water treading while we chatted for a few hours. I know it wasn’t the standard pool workout, but I counted it – my poor body was tired!
Saturday I woke up early for a pedicure and took a 100% rest day (and loved every minute of it, naptime included)! Because Sunday I hit the grind again pretty hard: in search of a triathlon tank and shorts, my cousin and I walked about 14 miles (slight exaggeration) around 6 different stores, all with no luck. I started to get discouraged (and Wednesday’s ucky anxious feeling started to return), so I dealt with it the best way I know how: with a run.
I went out SUPER hard in the first half mile to burn off the restlessness and kind of set myself back for another 2.5 miles of pain in doing so, but it was OK. I lapped around the park and along the water for the full 3.1, eating bugs (ew) and dodging bats (double ew), but I finished sweaty and exhausted and feeling more like me. My pace was still pretty good considering how much I wanted to die after that first half mile, and given the fact that it was 88 degrees and 80% humidity at 8:30PM!
And that was my 4th of July weekend in a nutshell – how was yours? How are you handling this Monday?
Disclosure: Arctic Zero provided me free samples in exchange for my honest review. Receiving product did not influence my review. All opinions are my own.
When we last left off I was feeling pretty confident about this whole triathlon training thing – and I still am! So I dove headfirst (literally) into week 2 of training with a nice quiet swim last Monday night.
Nothing like having the whole pool to yourself!
I’m so happy: I finally figured out how to avoid the witching hour when swim lessons end at the pool! In the past, I would arrive at gym just as the locker room filled with kids screaming at top volume, playing hide and seek in lockers, splashing each other with water from the showers, and generally causing unsupervised chaos in the locker room. So now I stay at work a little while longer, change into my suit at the office, and arrive to an empty parking lot and silent pool. Bliss!
So I did the 6×50’s on my schedule and rocked them hardcore. Seriously: the breaks I need to take between 50’s are a lot shorter, I don’t start spluttering at the end of the lap like I used to, and I’m generally feeling stronger with each stroke. This plan is really working!
Tuesday was 20 minutes of biking, so I hit the DeskCycle throughout the day and pushed to 30 minutes and 6 miles. It just felt right, even in skinny jeans.
Wednesday was a run day, and I surprised myself with that unbelievably fast 2.5KM I talked about in my last post. I’m not going to lie – I also downed a quick cup of coffee moments before the run while I watched the hotties on the NHL Awards, so my performance was somewhat enhanced by all that extra adrenaline. But what the hell, I’ll take a 9:38 first mile and 10:17 avg. page for 1.6 miles!
Thursday was another swim day, with a full 300M on the schedule. While I still had to hold onto the side of the pool after every 100M to avoid drowning, I tested myself by not pushing off the side (simulating that dreaded open-water swim I’ll face in 4 weeks) and still managed to complete 400M relatively quickly! Yes, I still need to take breaks every 50-100M, but with 4 more weeks of training I’m pretty sure that even if I have to float for those recovery periods on race day, I’m not going to die nearly as quickly as I initially thought! That is, unless a shark happens to catch me straggling at the back of the pack.
Friday was supposed to be a rest day, but a friend and I schlepped into Peddler’s Village and New Hope, PA and managed to clock almost 6 miles of walking! Not exactly restful, but oh so pretty!
The rest of the week’s schedule was kind of thrown off: I drove up to Connecticut and met my best friend of 25+ years for our annual girls’ weekend, and blissfully forgot all about training for 36 hours. We watched Chris Pratt’s thighs (err, I mean Jurassic World), hung out in the hotel hot tub, laughed until our stomachs hurt, talked about life, and drank wine until we passed out giggling in the same bed. She’s good for my soul, this chick.
Did I mention Chris Pratt’s thighs?
As a result, Saturday and Sunday were both rest days – but I hit it hard again on Monday by taking my bike ride to the DeskCycle. And yeah, about that “15 minutes easy” it said on the schedule…
Sorry – I accidentally biked a half marathon in 48 minutes.
To my credit, I felt like I had a little bit of a price to pay by skipping the whole weekend, but it was totally worth it!
Last night’s swim was a little tougher than I’d hoped it be though – I had 3x100M on the calendar but for some reason I couldn’t hold it together past the first 100M. I started spluttering after 150 and had to stop entirely at 200 for a full minute or two. I was super glad to have the pool to myself, because that last 100 was ugly. But it was done!
Now I’m looking forward to getting a run in sometime today, even though it only says I need to walk/run 2.5KM. I have a feeling I’ll end up doing more but can’t wait to run by feel and just fall into the groove again. I missed my long run this weekend and need that runner’s high again!
How’s it going by you? Any of you folks in the US looking forward to a long weekend? And Happy Canada Day to my friends in the Great White North!
Do you remember when you were a kid and all the adults around you just loved to tell you what to do? Brush your teeth! Wear that bike helmet! Stop diving headfirst off the couch!
Ya movin’ with ya Auntie & Uncle in Bel Air!
However, now that we’re older, hindsight has proven that they were really just looking out for us. When you think about it, those shrill commands ultimately prevented our teeth from rotting out of our heads, saved us from high speed bike accidents, and kept us from breaking our necks on the living room floor.
But isn’t it funny how even as adults we sometimes tend to ignore similar good advice, even though deep down we know that it’ll ultimately help us in the long run? Take, for example, cross training.
Back when I first started my fitness journey in 2004, I did a little bit of everything to avoid the workout rut. Whenever I stopped seeing results I’d move on to yoga, strength training, kickboxing, cardio dance, step classes, spinning, everything! Thanks to the gym we lived around the corner from, I did it all, and coupled with running, these activities saw my average mile time go from 13:00 to around 10:30.
Fast Forward to 2012: my husband and I moved to a different town (and away from the gym where all these wonderful activities could be found). Slowly my routine morphed into doing the occasional workout DVD in the living room with lots and lots of running. Then I tore my ACL and things really went downhill.
That creepy ice bath machine in physical therapy was the first sign of trouble.
Once I was well enough to run again in 2013, that’s all I did. Mile after mile I clocked, stuck in the 13-12 minute range. For almost 2 years I plodded along, wondering if I hit my peak pre-surgery and if I was destined to stay slow. I couldn’t understand: Sure, I wasn’t doing much (ahem, ANY) of those other cross training activities anymore, but I was running sooo much! Don’t they say “Run More to Run Better”? All that running made me so tired and achy! “Those magazines are nuts anyway,” I’d think. “Who has time to do ALL THE THINGS while ALSO running too? They don’t know my life, they don’t know what’s best for me. But why am I not getting faster??”
The answer was right in front of me the whole time: I was ONLY running. I was in a classic workout rut, stuck on a plateau and unable to move the fitness needle because running wasn’t challenging anymore.
So I slowly began integrating all of that “other stuff” back into the rotation in early 2015. A zumba class. Biking once a week. Strength training – even a little bit! – each day. Yoga & stretching. Swimming. It took a lot of time, believe me. But after 3-4 solid months of adding these things heavily into the rotation – and yes, cutting back from the super long hours of running – I can say without a doubt that I’m finally starting to see results.
Example A: last night’s 9:37 mile (!!!)
This did not happen overnight, and rest assured that I still have those 12 and 13 minute miles here and there. But I’ve seen consistently lower times in the past month or two, and the only reason I can find for it is that I’m simply running LESS.
I know, I know. I sound insane. But hear me out. I’m not saying don’t run. What I’m saying here is to focus not just on the running, but on your whole body. Now you see what I was getting at with all that “nagging parent” stuff in the beginning of this post.
Remember all that advice you’ve heard about the importance of cross training? Yeah, it’s true! You really do need to work out your whole body to improve. But it takes sacrifice and prioritization. Those hour+ long runs I’d do every other day are now a half hour, and I kind of hate that. But ultimately I love it because that other half hour+ is spent on cross training which will improve my next run!
This is not news, I know. But once you start seeing results you realize the truth. Whether you hate brushing your teeth or biking for an hour instead of running, you can’t deny the awesome feeling you get from clean teeth or a faster mile time.
What do you think? Have you ever had a lightbulb moment like mine? What’s your favorite kind of cross training? What kind of improvement have you seen in your fitness? Share in the comments!
Even though I officially registered for and started training for the Jersey Girl Triathlon last week, I’ve been unofficially “training” for it for a few weeks. In the last month or so, I focused a little harder on biking in addition to running to see a) if I could keep up with two sports and b) if I noticed any improvements in my fitness. And after checking off both boxes with a big fat YES, I went for it feet (fins?) first and am thrilled with how things have gone in this first official week of training.
Since I started in the middle of the week, I had to modify my schedule a bit and kicked off Week 1 with a swim last Wednesday – where I pleasantly surprised myself!
The schedule called for 4x50m in the pool, but I mistakenly thought that the “25” in the distance of our local YMCA pool was meters when it’s really yards. Not a huge difference, but this is just one of a dozen other misadventures I’ve had while swimming that illustrate just how painfully cluelss I am when it comes to this sport.
The last time I swam, I needed to stop after each length to catch my breath and bring my heart rate down to safely make it to the other side of the pool. This time I promised to push as hard as needed for the full 50 each time, and I did! Sure, I needed a few moments in each turnaround to regulate my breathing, and by the 3rd lap I was hanging off the side of the pool gasping for air, but dammit I did those 50’s. And instead of the prescribed 4, I did 6 because I had to know that I could do the 300M distance I’ll have to cover on race day! And I didn’t have to be bottle-fed a Gatorade to get moving again after I finished, so yeah. #WINNING!
The next day I took to the DeskCycle for the prescribed “15 minutes easy” ride the schedule called for, and found myself wanting to push a little harder. I can’t help it when the schedule I’m following recommends that I “try to run” the whole 2.5K recommended for the run workouts. I know what I need to do to maintain my fitness levels, and it sure as hell isn’t walking a mile and a half twice a week. So I did about 20 minutes and covered a little more than 5 miles Thursday, then took the recommended rest day Friday.
Saturday was rainy and cool and breezy (and I had a little too much wine at Happy Hour on Friday), but I still got out there for the 5K bike ride the schedule called for.
I like to think the wind and the mist added to my training – it sure as hell made me work harder fighting through the wind gusts – but really all it did was make me wish I hadn’t ordered that second bottle of wine the night before.
Either way, I got it done (while Mike walked/jogged a few laps around the park) and called it a day! And on a semi-related topic, Friday was officially the last time I’m going to really indulge in the vino until after this race, thankyouverymuch.
It sure was nice having him around in case I toppled off my bike to nap in a roadside bush though.
After a LOT of water and sleep on Saturday, I was ready to run on Sunday. But then Mother Nature laughed in my face and spewed fire and 90% humidity at me. So I fueled up, double-fisted my coffee and water, and headed to the Y for my first treadmill run in months.
multi-tasking at its finest
I’ve talked a bit in the past about how I don’t hate treadmill running as much as some of my running colleagues do. I actually kind of dig the mill. It’s temperature controlled, there’s a bathroom a few feet away whenever I need it, and I can push my pace in a safe, controlled way (and hide the speed decrease button to challenge myself even more) – what’s not to love?
As such, I’m pretty sure my positive attitude – coupled with the bottle of Nuun that I sipped on every 10 mins or so – turned this into one of my most successful treadmill runs ever!
I rocked out to T-Swift and ran negative splits for the first time in my life, and the 10:xx pace was surprisingly easy to maintain, even for the final mile. Time was the only reason I had to cut my run short, and I felt like I could have gone much further. The treadmill and I were both drenched in sweat when I was done, too, which is remarkably satisfying!
While I haven’t been running as long as I was while training for the half, the consistently faster miles I AM running are proof positive that all this cross and strength training really is paying off, finally! After running 12:30-13:00 miles pretty solidly no matter the distance for the past year or so, I’m so relieved and energized to see some results, no matter how small!
So that was week 1 in a nutshell – how has your week gone?
Ohhh boy… what did I just do? After all the thinking and hemming and hawing, and “maybe I shouldn’t”, “maybe I should” flip flopping, I’ve finally gone and done it: I registered for my first sprint triathlon!
That’s right, just 2 days after my birthday this summer (in about 6 weeks!), I’m swimming 300 yards, biking 11 miles, and running 3 miles to officially earn the title of “triathlete” in the Jersey Girl Triathlon!
They say you should do one thing every day that scares you, and this is like, a year’s worth of scary for me. I mean, I know I’m capable of doing this – even if I have to crawl across that finish line I’m still going to finish – but it’s still completely and entirely new to me. But if I never try, I’ll never know exactly what I’m capable of, right?
So now it’s your turn – have any of you ever done this event before? Or a sprint tri of your own? I’m looking for all the advice I can get here, share the love!
After taking on the hills of Central Park in the Oakley Mini 10K on Saturday, I thought my legs would be a lot more shredded than they were when I woke up on Sunday! So when the urge to move hit me bright and early, Mike and I decided to take advantage of the shade at Holmdel Park and headed for the trails.
It was already a hot day just like Saturday – warm and humid by 10am – but we packed up a few water bottles and some Nuun and Quest Bars and figured we’d take it slow. I didn’t plan on running a lot, but knew I wanted to cover 5K to complete 15K in the weekend and get a nice distance in for the Skirt Sports Virtual 13er, too! So we took to the main trail and chatted about life and the week ahead and had a nice slow go of the first mile and change.
We even made a little friend who we caught eating in the tall grass in the middle of the field there! She stood statue-still the entire time we walked by and talked pretty to her, but the next time we passed by she was gone.
Once we got tired of fighting through the swarms of bugs on the main trail, we decided to go into the woods for some relief from the gnats and the sun, and it was absolutely magical.
Seriously, can’t you just hear the Disney birds chirping?
We took on the hills, rocks, roots, and twisty trails together, working up a sweat and smiling the whole time. My favorite part was looking for the oldest tree carvings we could find – we spotted one from 1970! – and imagining the stories around the people whose names were carved into the bark.
Once we got to mile 2.5, we started challenging ourselves at each “Fit Station” we found – old plastic signs and metal bars for hikers to do pull ups, lunges, stretches and climbing. We got more of a workout laughing at how chicken we were to do some of the more intense moves (and how silly we looked flailing around while attempting them)!
I finally felt the urge to run for the last half mile and change, so I jetted up and down some hills and capped off our day’s adventure at a little more than a 5K – all in my Gym Girl skirt from Skirt Sports! I know I’ve said it before, but these skirts really are the best. I ran the Oakley 10K in one and spent all day traipsing around the trails in one Sunday, and never once had to tug at the shorts underneath or stop to adjust myself like I would in regular shorts or other running skits. If you’re interested in checking them out for yourself, use my ambassador code SSJRH20 for 20% off your order!
After all that fun, my legs were finally feeling the burn. So we headed home, split a nice big sandwich, and after a loooong cool shower I spent a good part of the afternoon dozing off on the couch before we finally went to see Mad Max: Fury Road! 🙂
How did you guys spend the rest of your weekend? Do you have any fun trails that you like to run on? Share the love, I’m always looking for a new place to explore!
Jess Runs Happy 