Hoka 10k 2018

Hoka 10k 2018

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Highs and Lows- Week 12

These girls. Some are missing but always there in spirit.

Three weeks until the Columbus Half and six until my big race!!! I'm trying to keep in mind that I have only three more intense weeks of training and everything after that should be easy peasy. I've had a lot of fun this training season but I'm looking forward to tapering!
 
This week, I felt no order. I knew the hubs would be traveling for three days so I just needed to get in the miles. I did my two longest/fastest/whatever workouts before he left so that I would only have an easy 6 miler to do with James in the stroller. I also decided to do my long run on Friday instead of Saturday (I'm sure there was a reason for that...I just can't remember what it is!). So, basically, my week was a little screwy. Here are the highs and lows:
 
LOWS:
  • My one and only low is that I had a major bad attitude on Saturday and my friends had to deal with it while we ran. The run itself was awesome (see HIGHS)!
    The face of annoyance and frustration. The coffee helped out.
 
HIGHS:
  • Solo mid-day 8 miler. I was supposed to do this run EARLY Monday morning but it just wasn't in the cards. Fortunately, my work day went to crap (and I didn't carpool with the hubs) so I was able to run before my boys got home. I wasn't sure how this run would feel considering I did that 40k trail race two days earlier, but I actually felt great! No fatigue or pain!
    My pony was lookin' good that day...so were my "boobs" in that new bra that had about 2 inches to fill up. Had to keep my shirt on that day.
     
  • Track Tuesday. As usual, I was partially scared/partially confident going into this workout. I had 8 total miles including 6x1200m at 5k pace with 400m recovery. I hit pace on all intervals but my body didn't feel like it would be able to when I ran the first two. This workout confirmed that I need at least a 4 mile warm up to feel good. After a 2 miles warm up and the first two intervals, I felt like I finally hit my stride!
    James wanted to stretch with me.
     
  • Stroller Run with James. I left my easy 6 miler for the day I knew I'd have to stroller run. I actually love my runs with James. He's at the age where he talks the entire time. That boy is happy if he has a snack in his hand and the wind blowing through his hair! I unintentionally had some speedier miles in there but it felt easy so what the heck, right?!
    My boy loves his stroller runs.
  • Long Run. This training season, I knew I'd have to do some of my long runs on Friday mornings because of Jimmy's volleyball schedule. I also knew that my girl, Marion, had some Fridays off of work. She's one of my perfect training partners! Marion had her last 20 miler this week so I met her for the last 18. Like a good friend, I asked her to run some race pace miles with me. Hehehe. Workout: 18 miles with 2x4miles at race pace somewhere in there. There was no real method to when I decided to run the intervals. I knew we'd be back at our cars to drop off headlamps and refill water at 10 miles. So, I just decided that the first interval would be miles 7-10. To make it somewhat challenging, I decided we should end our long run with the last interval. We all know the last 4-6 miles of the marathon are the toughest! I am VERY happy with our workout. For the 18 miles that I ran with Marion, we averaged 8:20 min/mile! By far my best long run average this training season. Our first interval miles were 7:42, 7:54, 7:47, 7:45. We were trying to slow down that second mile but I guess we were feeling comfortable in the mid 7:40s. Our second interval miles were 7:52, 7:49, 7:28, 7:37. Not gonna lie...it felt great to end the long run with some faster miles. Starting that last interval took a little more focus. I wasn't feeling it at first, BUT, as the miles were counting down, I mentally checked back in and was ready to conquer the task! Thank you, Marion, for agreeing to my crazy workouts! Sometimes I wonder if I'm sane.
    We totally rocked this run and I'm not afraid to admit it. Embrace the good and the bad.
     
  • Post long run run. Does that make sense?! No hilly Sunday for me this week. Did 10 miles with some of my favorites this morning...missed a few of my besties, though. It was the oddest run. The conversations were all over the place! Keeps things interesting. They got to hear me bash T. Swift and Katy Perry, yell at a butthole who told us to cross the street then got pissed and zoomed off with his little penis and loud, uncool car; Theresa taught us the art of the f-word and Marion tried to convince us she was a beyotch; Karen fell and took it like a boss...blood streaming down her leg but whatevs; Dani enlightened me on my future as a parent of a boy. The list goes on and on. Those are the best runs.
    Poor Karen!


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    What's next? A scary tempo run this week and a 22 mile long run. EEK.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Highs and Lows- Week 11

Coffee and Cardio. I accidentally stopped by Schneider's on the way to pick up donuts for my girls.

The past month has been rough on muh body. From chest pain to GERD to menstrual cycles to more GERD to flu to nausea... BAM! Somehow, I've managed to truck along. After surviving the worst long run ever last weekend, I was miraculously healed for my birthday. On Monday, I started getting that same chest pain along with heart burn. By the time I got home, nausea set in and I was miserable. I somehow managed to keep my son alive while Jimmy played volleyball that evening. I made James go to bed 30 minutes early because I didn't think I could stay up any longer! I win the mom of the year award! I thought for sure I'd feel better when I woke up....not so much. I was nauseous all through the night and into the morning. I ended up calling in sick and staying home. I literally stayed in bed ALL DAY LONG. I didn't go to the bathroom, I didn't eat...I just laid there, pathetic-looking. Just after 4 p.m., I woke up completely soaked in sweat. I felt tremendously better. I was still fatigued but I could move and I wasn't nauseous.
 
I thought I felt better the next day but probably did too much. Same story the following day. I honestly don't know how I made it through my workouts. My GERD had me all messed up and my lower GI was not right. Here are my highs and lows:
 
LOWS:
  • I ROLLED MY ANKLE. I was 2 miles into my easy Monday 6 miler when I stepped on the edge of the sidewalk and my ankle went kerplunk. Not gonna lie, it scared the piss out of me. It hurt like the dickens. I've done it a bazillion times before but this was one of the worst. I needed about a minute to walk it off. The other ladies were wonderful and didn't leave me even though I told them to keep going. I was able to finish my run without pain so I thought all was good. My ankle was inflamed the rest of the day. When I got home, I iced it and took some ibuprofen. All was good after that. The following day was a rest day so I knew I'd be fine (what I didn't know is that I would develop flu-like symptoms later that day!).  My ankle has been completely fine since the incident!
    This is how you ice your ankle on the road while working.
     
  • I skipped my speed workout this week. UGH!!! They are always my favorite workouts! I had no choice. I was SO SICK on Tuesday and knew there was no way I could get up at 3:30 to prep for it. I had 10 miles total including 6x800s at 6:45 pace in the second half of the run. NOT HAPPENIN'! I knew I would want to get my miles even if they weren't as fast. I opted to split my 10 miles into two workouts. I did 4 miles on Wednesday afternoon at a faster pace (8:13 average) and did the other 6 on Friday morning at an easy pace (9:30).
    Post 4 miler. It was a gorgeous day! I just wish I hadn't been recovering from that weird flu thing!
     
  • My mid-week 8 miler. Although I was thrilled to run with Felicia and catch up on life, I felt like total crap the entire time. My GERD was full force. I ate half of a granola bar before the run and it felt like it was stuck in my throat. I was burping the entire run. I was also having some lower GI rumbling. I dropped the mother load when I got home. It was awful.
    Random pic. I know it's hard to see but I used my sidewalk chalk skills to draw me (the tall blue girl) outrunning another person (the yellow girl). James always makes me draw things and I was running out of ideas. ;)
 
HIGHS:
  • Trail Race a.k.a. my long run and hilly Sunday all rolled into one. As you guys are aware, I ran the Hocking Hills Indian Run on Saturday. It was a 40k (nearly 25 miles) and I had 26 miles planned for the weekend: 16 for my long run and 10 for hilly Sunday. I don't need to recap the awesomeness of this race...just click the link. I think I earned that extra 1.?? miles that I missed over the weekend! I was so thankful I felt better on Friday going into the weekend. There is no way I'd be able to handle this course feeling the way I felt earlier in the week!
    Pre-Indian Run Fun

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Even though the start to my week was ROUGH, it ended with one of my most memorable racing experiences thus far. What's next? The hubs is traveling for a few days this week so my schedule is a little weird. I have just 48 miles this week and jump to my highest mileage the following week including a 22 miler! If I can run Hocking Hills, that 22 miler doesn't scare me.

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Hocking Hills Indian Run 40k

Dayum.
 (If one word sums up the experience, that is it. Blog over.)
 
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I felt this was the most appropriate headband for this race.


I don't even know where to start with this race. I'm still in disbelief that I even ran this thing. It hasn't quite sunk in.
 
I signed up for this race after running 1-2 times at Highbanks (which, by the way, does not even compare to this course!). I was obsessed with running at Highbanks and wanted to experience what trail racing was really like. This race is only $25! You could pick between 5k, 10k, 20k, 40k, and 60k. When I registered, I opted for the 20k because of the assigned mileage I had on my training program. Long story short, I was peer pressured by Amanda to join her for 40k!
 
I tried not to think about 40k being so close to marathon distance (24.85 miles vs. 26.2 miles). I basically ran a marathon! It seriously baffles me. I knew going into it that my pace would have to be much slower. Not knowing the course and also being inexperienced in trail racing, I had no idea how fast to go out. I wanted to make it a point to only look at my watch to check mileage and go by feel for my pace. I took the very laid back approach and stopped at every water station to eat and drink something. There was also one bathroom break and a mid race break to tend to my wounds. The road racer in me was very bothered by this because I knew that the clock was ticking and that all of these stops would be included in my final time. I tried not to let myself care and I just rolled with it!
 
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Pre-race smiles with Amanda.


The start was a "ready, set, go" situation. I started at 7 a.m. with the 60kers since Amanda had originally planned that distance. We met a couple of girls at the start and talked about potentially running together. The first couple of miles were rolling hills on the road. I'm talking legit rolling hills...not what I used to think were rolling hills on Dublin Road! LOL. In the next mile there was a distance of about 0.75 miles that dropped about 370 feet (if I read Garmin correctly). The first loop, I tried to control my descent. This is where I lost Amanda and started running with Lauren (one of the girls we met). I am so thankful for Lauren. There is no way I could have kept up with Amanda for the entire 40k. I'm just glad I didn't have to do it alone. Anyway, this descent was no joke and it was apparent in the second loop how hard it really was to go downhill. Although I allowed myself to go faster the second lap, I could feel it like crazy in my legs.
 
After the insane downhill, we approached what was called "Steel Hill." Per Garmin, it was a half mile ascent of 300 feet. It was absolutely killer. The first lap, I jogged up part of it then walked up the rest. Lap two was all about walking! Even walking was hard! At that point, we were on the trail. I can recall a couple more significant uphills on the trail (not sure which miles). I just remember that the trail handed us every type of surface you can think of: grass, one muddy area that you could easily maneuver around, little rocks, big rocks, roots, etc. It was all there.
 
For me, things didn't get too crazy until we hit the 8th mile. There were more rocks and the ground was very uneven with a lot of holes. It was at this point that I tripped and fell. I think I stopped paying attention to where I was stepping because I needed to take a drink of water.
When I did that, my left foot hit a rock that was slightly elevated above the ground. I fell onto my right side. I have some trail rash on my lower leg, knee, and hip. My elbow was hurting so I assumed it was also trail rash. When I looked, it was bleeding like crazy! I also had blood on my finger. I couldn't tell how bad it was because of all of the blood, but there appeared to be chunks of skin hanging off of it. I rinsed it off in the bathroom to get some of the dirt off and decided I would wait until we finished the lap to get a medic to look at it.

Battle wounds.


The terrain that the trail had to offer us next kept my mind off of my fall. I'm not a trail runner but I believe they would say this section was "very technical."  There were so many rocks, roots, holes, steep descents, etc. It was cray cray. Once we made it past that, we were back on the road for our final ascent. The grade of this uphill wouldn't seem horrible on a normal day. It was actually very tolerable. It just sucked that it was at the end. No one wants to end a race going uphill!
 
When we arrived to the lodge to start lap two, I stopped to get food and drink as well as see the EMT to bandage up my wound. I felt like it took forever but it was worth it. Again, the road runner in me was counting the minutes. It took so long that my Garmin actually auto saved my first lap so I didn't get my continuous time. The medics finally cleaned and bandaged my elbow. I did have two good sized chunks of skin hanging off. I felt like I earned my spot in the trail club!
 
Lap two was the same exact course but with some extra walking. Lauren and I chose to walk up hills that we were able to jog up during the first lap. We also took our time at the water stops. I accidentally left my gels at home so fueling was an issue for me during this race.
 
My official race time was:
 
4:30:07!
 (1st in age group, 3rd female, 18th overall)

Of course, it bugs me that I took minutes at the rest stops, bathrooms, with the medics, etc. but I was still happy with that for my first experience!

Post race and we're still smiling.
 
I hate being boastful but I was so freaking proud of us. Amanda and I stepped out of our comfort zones and did something we wouldn't typically do. I feel like you can't truly understand this course unless you actually run it. It is, by far, the most difficult course I have ever run. There is absolutely nothing in Columbus that compares to what I experienced today. I am so thankful for legs that can run, jump, perform agility moves and even trip over rocks. I just want to give a shout out to all of my cheerleaders who were thinking of me during this run (and "suck it" to the ones who wished me to hurt myself or get eaten by a mountain lion). I expect a speedy recovery since I didn't run all out. Now it's countdown to the Columbus Half!
The finisher gift. I believe it was made by students at a local school.


Sunday, September 13, 2015

Highs and Lows- Week 10

New race shoes and capri weather! I'm not looking forward to packing away my shorty shorts.


 
Double digit weeks! Now I feel like I can count down the weeks to my race. Thoughts that have been running through my mind all week:
  • "I'm tired."
  • "I wish my race was NOW."
  • "I need to rest."
  • "My entire body feels so tight!"
 
 
My training was challenging last week and I was feeling it at the beginning of this week. I think my main mistake was running too fast on Sunday. I needed more of a recovery pace after my long run. The legs were pretty tired throughout the week but I think I took my rest days when I needed them the most. I ran a few more miles than I had planned but it was still a cutback week for me (ONLY 14 miles for my long run).
I also started my freaking period and it's been making me feel like total crap. My running usually isn't affected by my cycle. For some reason, the last two months, it has been making me more fatigued and very tight.
 
 
LOWS:
  • Run For the Health of It. This "4 miler" turned 3.74 miler was a spontaneous thing for me. Someone couldn't run and needed a person to represent them. I needed an easy 6 miler for training this week so used this race to do it. I really should have rested Monday but I couldn't pass up this opportunity to have some fun with Baby Boo. We did a 2 mile warm up and I was SO sluggish (10:28 avg.). I wanted to keep the race easy and ended with 9:18 average. It bothered me that the race wasn't 4 miles so, of  course, I had to run the 0.26 miles afterwards.
    #jd3 and me at the race.
  • Mid-distance run. I was scheduled to run 8 miles at whatever pace tickled my fancy. I decided to do a 9 miler with Lynn and Tamara. Average pace was 9:15 starting slower and getting progressively faster. There wasn't a single moment in this entire run that felt good. It was the worst run (minus the company). I felt like complete crap the entire time (this was also the first day of my period...UGH. No wonder it was awful).
  • Long run. As mentioned above, it was cutback week for me...14 measly miles. Ha! I can safely say it was the worst I've felt in a very long time. My period hit me full force during this run. Everything from mid-back on down was SO TIGHT. The weather made the run a little adventurous. It rained the first few minutes (which I typically don't mind) but there were unavoidable puddles everywhere and my feet were soaked. It reminded me of the horrible DC experience and I did not want to relive it! The girls were very encouraging throughout the process despite my constant whining. I remember, at one point, I had to stop and fix my sock because it had shifted in my shoe and was hurting the bottom of my foot. When I sat down to fix it, my breathing was totally normal. I wasn't tired AT ALL (cardiovascularly). My body just felt like complete crap. I think I need a re-do on this Powell route.
    Marion, Dani, and Theresa...the only reasons I survived that run.
HIGHS:
  • Race pace run. After a rest day, I felt like I was ready-ish for this always scary run. I didn't sleep well the night before but, when I did sleep, I dreamt that me and my girls had a successful run. For that reason, I was confident going into this workout. The weather made this run more challenging but we managed to keep pace. With 2 warm up miles and 8 race pace miles, we managed an overall pace of 8:11 with 7 of 8 race pace miles being sub 8:00!
  • Hilly Sunday a.k.a. My Redemption Run a.k.a. My Birthday Run. After a horrible long run, I was nervous about getting up and running on my birthday. I didn't want a bad run to set the mood for my day. I intended to run 4 easy miles before meeting up with Theresa who wanted to get 6 (including 5 at race pace). I woke up and decided I didn't want to do the extra 4 so I slept a little longer (my present to me)! We had such a great run. I felt tremendously better and was able to run sub 8:00 miles! Thanks to Theresa for surprising me with birthday hats and coffee creamer!!!
    Adults like party hats, too! Thank you, Theresa!
  • Hilly Sunday continued. After the day's commitments, my boys took naps and I donned more running clothes. I only needed 4 more miles!! I was joking with some girlfriends about what I could do for my last 4 miles. After several HILARIOUS jokes (because we're funny like that), Kim's beer mile idea had me intrigued. I'm not a beer girl but I do like cider. I grabbed one and put it in my mailbox so it was ready for me. I did three hilly miles in my hood, sat in my driveway to drink my cider, and went crazy on the last mile!
    Could I have run a little faster? Of course. Would I have thrown up? Probably.
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What's next for Lisa? I have an exciting week ahead of me! I'll be running my first trail race on Saturday!! The Hocking Hills Indian Run. I'm excited to join the one and only Amanda Cooke!!! I will not be tapering because I don't plan on caring about my time. It will be my long run for the week. :)

 
 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Highs and Lows- Week 9


WEEK 9. You know what that means?! (you probably don't). It means that I'm half way through marathon training!! It also means 9 more weeks until baby making kicks in full force. And, hopefully, 9 more weeks until I get my BQ.
 
This was the first week in a long time that I looked at my training plan and had to give myself a mental pep talk. I had 53 miles planned (my highest in 4 months) including an insane track workout, a "casual" 10 mile run during the week, and my first 20 miler of the season (with race pace miles planned). Increased miles during the work week always make training a reality for me. That's when you know crap is gettin' real. Here are this weeks highs and lows:
 
LOWS:
  • Three 3:something o'clock wake up calls. When the weekly miles increase, my sleep decreases. I think I had two 3:40 wake up calls and one at 3:50. It was rough. I can't make myself go to bed earlier (believe me, I've tried). For some reason, I've had trouble staying asleep this week. When I wake up in the middle of the night, I can't seem to fall back asleep. I knew things were rough when I fell asleep in the passenger seat on our commute home last Thursday!
  • My 10 miler. I debated whether or not this was a high or low. I did enjoy my first 4 miles with Dani and the last 6 with Lynn and Tamara. They are some great girls. I decided, though, to make it a low simply because this was day 3 of getting up early and I was SO SLEEPY. If I could run and sleep without falling, this would have been the day to do it. It did end well with a Schneider's donut.
  • Hilly Sunday. Second week in a row for hilly Sunday to be on the low list! It's never the running partners, of course. They are the ones who get me through these runs. Today, it was fatigued legs. I fully expected the fatigue after my long run. Honestly, I ran way too fast today. I probably would have felt a little better if I added 20-30 seconds per mile. Fortunately, the number of hills were minimal BUT the intensity of them was high...a steeper quarter mile hill and a gradual, will-this-ever-end kind of hill about a mile long.
    It wasn't just hilly Sunday, it was sweatband Sunday!
 
HIGHS:
  • The mother of all track workouts. Seriously. So many words/phrases crossed my mind before, during, and after this workout. I got the idea from my friend, Lynn. I converted minutes to appropriate mileage and performed it on the track. I also did an extended warm up because I needed 9 miles that day. My warm up was 3.5 miles and a lot faster than it should have been (Average pace 7:59...oops). That's what happens when your friend is chatting with you about sex and child birth. Bahaha! This first interval (see pic) starts with 5k pace and subtracts a few seconds each time the interval distance decreases. For me, the 1200m segment was the toughest at the beginning because, mentally, I felt like I had to run another mile repeat. Theresa and I ended up hitting all of our planned paces except for the 600m interval. For me, that was the point I felt my legs become like jello. It took everything I had to try to make pace for that one. I walked away from this workout thinking "This was the absolute hardest workout I've done in YEARS." Our overall workout, including warm up, intervals, and recovery periods, averaged 7:55 for 9 miles. Of course, I was thrilled about that considering my goal for my full.
    That killer workout.
  • Recovery Run. My Wednesday recovery run was exactly what my tight body needed after that track workout. I got to meet Allison and run with the non pregnant version of Megan! (P.S. Megan is a rock star. I can only hope to get back to running that quickly after my next pregnancy! You go girl!)
  • My first 20 miler. O.M.G. One of my goals for this training season was to practice pre-run fueling (and of course fueling during runs). I woke up 1 1/2 hours before my start time to try to eat. I was able to eat most of an egg and a powdered donut. I also took three gels during my run (mile 5ish, 10.5ish, and 14.5ish) and drank 48 oz. of Gatorade/Water mix. No GI issues, no need to pee! Workout: 7 mile warm up, 3 x 3 mile repeats at MP (marathon pace 8-8:12) with 1 mile recovery, cool down to 20 miles. It was so dang humid and hot that I told myself I would be happy with my workout if I could successfully complete 2 of the 3 intervals...especially since I'd be solo for the last 6 miles. My crew really helped me through the first 14 (Marion, Karen, Amber, Caty, and Dani). Much love to you ladies! Overall thoughts: pace felt great but the weather was wearing the body down a bit. I'm very happy with my result and feel more confident about my ability to BQ in November.
    The 7 mile warm up and first 3 mile interval.

    [1 mile recovery, 3 mile interval] x2, 2 mile cool down

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What's next? I spontaneously bought a bib for Run for the Health of It, a 4 miler in Westerville on Labor Day. I'll stroller run that VERY SLOWLY with James tomorrow. I will turn it into my 6 mile easy run for the week.


Thursday, September 3, 2015

August Mileage

Group run in Delaware

Three things stand out about August:
  1. I was an emotional mess.
  2. I had a couple of injury scares.
  3. My week of chest pain.

#jd3 and I did not have a good run.
Yep, that pretty much covers it! It's slightly frustrating how close I keep getting to 200 miles. August stats:

183.76 miles running, 1 hour Hip Hop Fitness

Yes, I've been slacking with my Hip Hop class. Not because I don't want to go but because of aches and pains that I need to rest, schedule conflicts, etc. As I'm upping my mileage, my body needs more rest. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to go on my cutback weeks.

Gearing up for Emerald City Half and Quarter Marathon.

I made the goal of running 200 miles in the month of September (also my birthday month!!!). I've never made a monthly goal but I want to make 200 happen!
That week I had to eat soft food and liquids.

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My longest run of this training season! 18 miles!!

September appears to be a fun month of training. I have my first 20 mile training run and my first trail race!

Do you have any races this month?