Carmel Week 13: To Watch or Not to Watch?

To Watch or Not to Watch?

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...that is the question.

Priorities. Moving into our new home on Saturday.

I've always been intrigued by stories about runners who go watchless and run these kick ass marathons and half marathons. Something in me has always been too fearful about doing it. I've become great at it this training cycle, but have yet to do it for a big race. I mean, I train MONTHS for ONE DAY.

I was discussing this in detail with my friend, Britt. She's historically a watchless runner...and a REALLY amazing and fast runner. I was telling her that I feared starting too fast and bonking.

This had me rolling a bit. To clear some confusion, I'm number three.

She helped me to see it in another way. I could potentially be holding myself back by focusing so much on a specific pace. If I'm being honest, I really have nothing to lose. Even though my ultimate goal is to BQ, I have relaxed a bit about when it happens. I don't want that ultimate goal to suck the fun out of running. With that being said, I'm seriously considering the no watch thing for Carmel.

• 2/19: 5.12 miles, 9:14/mile; Chest/Back, 30 minutes. My Achilles has been better, but was still just a tad tender this morning. Once again, I opted to skip hill surges to be safe. I'm confident I can pick them back up next week. I met Sarah and Elizabeth at the dam for a short loop. It was enough to start my Monday off on a positive note.

  

  The Monday crew. [Sarah, ME, Elizabeth]

• 2/20: 10.49 miles, 8:22/mile; PNF/Shoulders, 30 minutes. Finally, a chance to practice marathon pace miles without 80 degrees, humidity and Achilles pain! Workout: 2 miles warm up, 40 minutes MP, 5 minutes "fun fast," 15 minutes MP, 1 mile cool down. I knew I needed to start before 5 a.m. to get this workout finished in time to get the kids up. I was hoping for 4:45 a.m. I also knew I wouldn't wake up that early to do a workout by myself. My friend, Beth, also needed to start early, but her early was 4:15! YIKES. I decided, since she was willing enough to help me out, I would suck it up and meet her at that time. I am so thankful for her! I set my alarm for 3:40 and had very little difficulty getting up. I sent Beth a message saying something along the lines of "Are we going to make this happen?!" Of course, part of me wanted to keep sleeping. She had a track workout, so we met for a road warm up followed by lots of ovals. When B finished her workout, I made my way back to the road to finish up solo. It was a rough start. My legs seemed fatigued. When I reached the halfway point, I finally felt like it was easy (further proving that my body requires a LONG warm up).

  

  This girl is a gem...really, she is one of the kindest souls I've ever met. [ME, Beth]

  
  

  

  I wish my "fun fast" had been faster, but I was pretty close for my MP miles.

• 2/21: 7 miles, 8:59/mile. I must have been worn out from waking up so early the previous morning. I couldn't will myself to get out of bed. I decided to go to the gym for some easy treadmill miles after work. It was a very pleasant run and went by fast. Dare I say I don't hate the treadmill?

  

  I really do love hugs. A simple hug can change how someone feels and turn their day around. I received a hug right when I needed it on this day.

• 2/22: Yoga, 45 minutes. I took my mat to the gym for a Yoga for Runners video I found on YouTube.

  

  I'm doing a pincha challenge on IG. I'm getting stronger as it progresses. I still have to use the wall to get up, but I'm starting to hold it longer!

• 2/23: 22 miles, 9:01/mile. I was excited about the thought of 22 miles (did I just say that out loud), but I was not motivated to run this morning. The forecast showed anywhere from 95-100% chance of rain and mid 40s for temp. Not particularly ideal, in my opinion. I hated the thought of being wet for 3 1/2 hours...while running. When I set off, it was a light rain...totally doable. I was even able to avoid getting my shoes wet in the puddles! It didn't take long for the rain to start coming down harder. UGH. I was soaked. At this point, I just had fun and intentionally splashed around. I had no specific route in mind, but knew I wanted to make my way to my new stomping grounds. I started from my house and went to the Harrison Pond neighborhood via Creekside, Hamilton, and Rose Run. After running all the way down Harrison Pond Drive, I checked out Hannah Park. I realized I was about to hit the half way point, so I decided to just do and out and back. That way, I didn't have to think about my route. I also wouldn't have to worry about running too far or too short. Despite the rain, it was a pleasant run. I felt good overall, fueled well, and was surprised with a great average pace...especially for running solo for that long.

  

  Bam! 22 miles!

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• 2/24: 5 miles, 9:36/mile; Bis/Tris/Stability, 50 minutes. I think you can see in my average that my legs were tired after yesterday! They didn't feel fatigued in the moment, but obviously they were. I did feel my Achilles a bit. It didn't bother me during my long run, but I felt it later that evening. Hopefully a day of rest will bring it back to normal. I met Chris and Jessie in the beginning of there long run to join them for half of my run. I then set off into the silence of a Gahanna Saturday morning. It was the most pleasant silence. Just me, God, and my thoughts. There are so many things on my mind lately, and I really needed this time. Later that morning, we had family time at The Y. My kids love going to child watch! LOL. Works out well for me.

  

  My favorite post run pastime.

  
  

  

  No wall support for a couple of seconds! I was proud of this one.

• 2/25: 3.58 miles, 18:06/mile. Mission: Get Baby Out of Meg's Belly. FAIL. It's still in there. We did enjoy another nice Sunday morning walk with Sophie (my Australian Shepherd).

  

  My buddy. I love our walks. [Meg, ME]

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FIVE MORE WEEKS. I can't believe it. I am so ready to toe a starting line again. It's been forever. 

Carmel Week 12: My Achilles and Vacation

My Achilles and Vacation

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I wanted to attempt a headstand on the dock. I wasn't brave enough to extend my legs.

I ended last week with a bit of Achilles pain. I wasn't concerned because I've had it before. It typically lasts a day or two then  goes away (as long as I do my eccentric heel drop exercise, rest, or just take it easy). When it lingered from Saturday morning into Monday...then Tuesday....then Wednesday...I was getting ready to take more action.

One of the many gators at Babcock Ranch.

I wasn't going to let this Achilles situation get me down...I WAS ON VACATION!! We left last Saturday to stay with my in-laws in Punta Gorda, Florida (just north of Ft. Myers). I was ready to embrace the heat and humidity to make up for the craptastic Ohio winter.

Flexin' with my boy.

• 2/12: 6.05 miles, 9:13/mile; Bis/Tris, 30 minutes. Mondays are typically devoted to hill surges, but not when your Achilles is being a bitch. Two things to avoid are speed and hills. I attempted one hill surge and knew it wouldn't be wise to do more. I decided to just run the assigned number of minutes and be happy with it. When I finished, I was limping slightly. UGH. I iced my Achilles and soaked it in the cold pool. I continued to do my heel drop exercise at least two times per day.

  

  Beautiful sunset.

• 2/13: 11 miles, 8:22/mile. This was not awesome. Nope. Not at all. When I saw the workout on my schedule, I was SO EXCITED!! [2up, 4MP, 1HP, 3MP, 1down] It's the workout I've been hoping to see for several weeks. I couldn't wait to make it happen. I had grand plans to wake up early (pre-sunrise) and get it in before the sun tried to shrivel me up. I slept horribly the night before and opted for more sleep. It was freaking awful outside. The starting temp was 70 with humidity of 96%. It only got hotter from there. I was miserable. I was 4 miles into the run when I had to fix my shoe...it just didn't feel right. As I was squatting to fix it,  I could feel the sun baking me. Regarding my Achilles, it hurt a bit the first half mile, but went away after that. I made it another 2 miles and decided to take a gel. I was hoping it would make me feel better (I was already drinking water throughout the run). I then set off to run my half marathon pace mile. I thought I might actually die when I finished this one. I just wasn't handling this heat and humidity very well. With only 4 miles left, I just told myself to take it a mile at a time. I passed a water fountain and decided to refill my water. Just two miles left. Just make this shit happen, Lisa. I knocked out my last marathon pace mile and couldn't wait to slow down. I felt like complete crap. As I slowed down for my cool down, my Achilles pain set in. NO!!!! The cool down was tough. When I finished, I limped for at least an hour or so. I jumped in the pool to cool off and prayed this Achilles situation wasn't as big a deal as it seemed.

  

  Literally dripping sweat.

  
  

  

  It was a struggle.

• 2/14: 7.01 miles, 8:51/mile. This was a run of randomness. My Achilles bugged me a bit at first, but went away after I warmed up. It was all easy miles so I decided not to look at my watch. I ran from the condo to the bay area then met Jimmy and the kids for breakfast. I conquered one of my fears from my last trip here...the bridge from Punta Gorda to Port Charlotte. It's 1.25 miles in length and scares the shit out of me. There is a pedestrian walkway, but you have cars flying by on one side and huge body of water on the other. I have it in my head that someone is going to push me off of the bridge into the water. Completely ridiculous, I know. I live in fear almost every time I cross this bridge, but something in me feels drawn to it. I HAVE to run over it. As I was making my return to PG, I saw a fin come out of the water. My instinct was the yell the word "F*(!." It scared the shit out of me. Even though I was scared to look, I caught a glimpse of what was coming out of the water...it was a dolphin! My fear immediately turned to joy. I couldn't help but smile. To make things even better, I met my family at our new favorite breakfast spot...sweat and all. I had to have Jimmy bring me an extra shirt for my butt sweat. LOL.

  

  Heading back into PG.

  
  

  

  One of the dolphins.

• 2/15: Sunset Yoga Flow, 30 minutes. I was supposed to do 50-60 minutes of cross training, but I opted to rest my Achilles and do a restorative yoga workout to prep my body for my long run. I was hoping the rest would make a difference for me. I was so nervous about doing my long run with my Achilles feeling how it did.

  

  I enjoyed the sunsets.

• 2/16: 18 miles, 9:09/mile. Today's goal: 11 miles easy, 6 at MP, 1 mile easy. I started off so slow! I'm not sure what the deal was...I was just enjoying myself. I wanted to soak in all of my favorite sites on the last full day of vacation. I said hi to my fellow exercisers, saw more dolphins, and explored a couple of new spots. It was a cool start, so I didn't have to shed my shirt until 6 or 7 miles. It started getting steamy at that point. When I reached mile 12, I attempted to run my first MP mile...didn't happen. I was using my watch to try to get myself in the correct range, but my legs just weren't feeling it. I decided to stop looking at my watch and just listen to my body. I would make an attempt to at least keep my miles in the 8s. Mile 13 was awful. I didn't want to end my run on a bad note, so I didn't let it get me down. From this mile on, I slowly improved my pace. Only one of my miles was in MP range. Bummer. I'm sure it was the heat and humidity. I tried, but it just wasn't my day. The good news is that I had NO ACHILLES ISSUES!! Nothing before, during or after my run.

  

  "Run 26.2"

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  Rough start.

  
  

  

  Better finish.

  
  
• 2/17: 5.03 miles, 9:03/mile. Today was all about soaking in the surroundings since it would be my last run in Punta Gorda. I opted to forgo my strides to ensure my Achilles would continue to heal. I set off as the sun began to rise to take advantage of the chilly low of 58 degrees! I kept my shirt on the entire time! LOL. It was a beautiful way to end my vacation.

  

  Winter in PG, FL.

• 2/18: 3.55 walking miles, 18:20/mile. Since I was motivated to get my run in yesterday despite travel, I was able to connect with Meg for my walk this week. We met early at the dam with the goal of venturing across the dam to explore the roads on the other side. That didn't last long. The dam was an ice rink. I slipped immediately and fell right on my bum. Fortunately, I was good after that. I'm just glad pregnant Meg didn't fall! We turned around and ventured somewhere else. Nobody's got time for that crap

  

  A walk to get the baby out of her belly.

  .

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My Achilles definitely felt better as the week went on. It helped that I was taking it easy and avoiding the things that irritate it. I'm hoping I can get back to normal this week. I enjoyed our vacation, but would have enjoyed it more without kids. LOL. Damn, that Ruthie is a freaking maniac. If we weren't telling her to leave something alone, we were telling James to stop standing close to the TV and get his hand out of his pants. UGH. I love my children, but it's not a true vacation with them. 



Carmel Week 11: Will This Weather Ever End?!

Will This Weather Ever End?!

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For a runner who is training for a specific time goal, this winter has been stupid. If all of my miles were casual and easy, I wouldn't complain so much. It just seems like, when speed day rolls around, it's too slick or too cold to run outside that fast. So f'n annoying. I even had to do my hill surge workout inside due to poor weather conditions. Sometimes, even yak trax don't help out. GRRR!

As the week progressed, it was still snowy on the ground, but the roads were tremendously better. The temps also improved a bit. As the week was ending, we ventured our way to Florida!

• 2/5: 6.5 miles, 8:59/mile. I was going to meet Katie and Elizabeth in Westerville for hill surge Monday, but the road conditions proved to be bad even for driving. I ended up on the treadmill after work which meant missing my typical Monday arm session. I'll make up for it, but I wasn't happy to have to switch things up. I ran 5 easy miles before starting my surges, I set the incline to 6.0 and speed to 8.4 (10x15 seconds), and recovered a few seconds in between each surge.
  

  

  This one had me rolling. The first person I though of? My friend Jen V-S.

• 2/6: 9.39 miles, 8:10/mile. Another Track Tuesday on the mill (10x800m with 400m recovery). UGH!!!!! Although minimal in comparison to other days, there was enough snow to make it unsafe to do speed in my hood and on the track. I struggled, fo reals, during this workout. I *think* I was dehydrated. I made it through 6 repetitions and had to stop. I just had to. I felt famished, slightly lightheaded, and my teeth were tingling! WTF. I was drinking water throughout the workout, but it's like I couldn't drink enough. After a break, I had the motivation to go at it again. I finished my last four intervals and felt much better. Seven of my intervals were at 7:08/mile pace, two at 7:10, and one at 7:13. It's done, and I'm stronger for it.
  
  

  

  Yes. Lots of this today.

• 2/7: 7 miles, 9:12/mile; PNF/Shoulders, 30 minutes. WHAT. A. DAY. Slightly stressful. We had a stupid snowstorm that started just before the early morning running hour. My crew and I decided to cancel mostly because driving looked to be dangerous. I had no idea when I was going to fit in my run. I really needed to lift after work because I hadn't lifted in what seemed like days. Work was super busy and stressful...not to mention horrible driving conditions. I felt like it was dragging. After getting in a quick shoulder workout, I rushed home in hopes that I'd have time to run before James had karate...not so much. UGH. All the eye rolls. While Jimmy took James to karate, I stayed home with Ruthie and finished up some work which included drama I did not want to deal with while my child was screeching in the background. At this point, I just wanted to scream! So much chaos, no run, and it was already 6:45! Just as I hit my breaking point, Jimmy came home, and I was able to get started on my run. I was not feeling it. I was supposed to run 55-65 minutes. I had no route planned and kept changing my mind about how long I actually wanted to run. My main goal was to stay out of the snow as much as possible...that was a joke. I'm glad I had my yak trax. I spent the first 5 miles in deep thought, frustration, annoyance...and then it clicked...I FORGOT TO TAKE MY MEDS THIS MORNING! It's seriously amazing what a little chemical imbalance can do to your thoughts. As soon as I made this realization, it made a world of difference. I finished my run and felt a tiny bit better about why I was struggling with my day. [Side note: I woke up this morning with hamstring pain. I knew it wasn't a big deal, but I was worried that running in the snow would irritate it and make it worse. Fortunately, by the end of the day, the pain had subsided and I didn't feel a thing before, during, or after my run.]
  

  

  Stupid f'n snow.

  
  

  

• 2/8: Power Yoga Flow, 45 minutes. Cross training day made a return to the mat.
  
• 2/9: 20.01 miles, 8:56/mile. My second 20 miler was a success (thanks to Sarah and Britt). Once again, I felt better than I did the week before. After the first half, I felt like I hadn't worked at all. I was afraid to speak my thought out load in fear I would jinx myself. When I dropped off Britt at 15 miles, I STILL felt amazing. I couldn't believe it...when was it going to hit me? I took my third gel and set out to run the last 5 miles solo. Coach instructed me to run the last three miles faster (if I felt up to it). I was a little nervous about running the last mile faster because I knew I would have to deal with some snow. I decided to run miles 17-19 faster just in case mile 20 didn't work out in my favor.
  
  

  

  A faster mile 20 DID work out in my favor!

  I was super happy with the result. I really hope I've hit a positive turning point in my training.
  

  

  [Britt, ME]

  
  

  

  Post-run stability exercises.

• 2/10: 6.11 miles, 8:41/mile. "I'm leaving on a jet plane..." I wanted to get my run out of the way so I could focus on last minute packing and trying to stay sane while the kids drive me crazy. Sarah and I ran the modified sperm route which is 6 miles on the freaking dot (My routing skills are improving). I realized I needed 6.11 miles to get 49 for the week. Naturally, we made it happen. My legs were a little tired form yesterday, but overall good!
  

  

   Reminiscing about our wild days during this run. [ME, Sarah]

  
  

  

  Top pic around sunrise. Bottom pic around sunset....quite different.

• 2/11: 4 walking miles, 17:??/mile. Day one of vaca and the kids had me up at 6 a.m. This was after a night of not sleeping well. After feeding them and chasing them around, grandpa decided it was time to take them to the park. He was brave enough to do this solo so that Jimmy and I could go for a walk together. The walk was nice in the beginning, but quickly warmed up. So humid and toasty...BUT, I will NOT complain. It was better than cold and icy. I did figure out that I will wake up super early this week to knock out my speed workout.
  

  

  [ME, slow husband]

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So, will this weather ever end? For me, for one week, YES!!! I will go from one extreme to the other, but I will be so thankful for it. Throat punch me if I complain about the heat.



Carmel Week 10: Miles Upon Miles Bring Me Smiles

Miles Upon Miles Bring Me Smiles

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Spaghetti face!

Karate time.

This training week brought the end of January training. Naturally, that means adding up monthly miles! Surprisingly, I ran one of my top three months since I started keeping track in 2015:

This week was a HUGE confidence booster after three rough long runs in a row. Overall, I felt great for all of my runs. They had their moments, of course, but I left none of them feeling shitty.

• 1/29: 6.58 miles, 9:04/mile; Chest/Back, 30 minutes. Hill surge Monday. FINALLY, the Academy Park hill was clear of ice. Sarah and I braved the Scary Cherry route to add this hill to our repertoire. It was harder than any of the other hills we've run for our surges (which means we should probably do it more often...hello Flying Pig).
• 1/30: 9.77 miles, 8:11/mile. Speed day presented a 60 minute progressive run (80 minutes total with warm up and cool down). I killed this workout two weeks ago, but it was 10 minutes shorter. Coach added the extra 10 minutes in addition to me attempting to run faster for my overall pace. Despite the new challenges, I survived to tell the story. I felt good until the last 7-8 minutes of the speed section. I was instructed to stay "controlled," so I opted to run my last 5 minutes at 7:19 pace rather than my initial goal of attempting 7:13/mile.
  

  
• 1/31: 10.22 miles, 8:59/mile; Bis/Tris, 30 minutes. If you like being cold and running into crazy wind, today was your day! I was supposed to run whatever felt easy for 60-90 minutes. I was talking with my girl, Lisa B, about her speed workout. We decided that the Wednesday group (me, Sarah, Britt, and Elizabeth) could help her through it. We did the following workout with her, and followed it up with three more miles.
  

  
• 2/1: Power Yoga Flow, 45 minutes. I picked out a random yoga video on YouTube and dared to do it at the gym. I also started a new IG yoga challenge. I had to do a pose that was new to me...baby crow.
• 2/2: 5.13 miles, 9:26/mile. Even though I had the day off, I wanted to get my run done early. I met up with Noemi and Katie on another frigid morning. I believe it was 12 degrees with a real feel of -8. Yikes. I was freezing the first mile, but felt ok after that. I forgot to restart my watch after crossing the road at a stoplight. UGH. I got my stats from Noemi. We unintentionally ran negative splits!
  

  

  I had to borrow Noemi's stats. Stupid me for getting button happy on my watch.

  
  

  

  Gotta love unintentional negative splits!

• 2/3: 18 miles, 8:56/mile. So, so cold! I layered well, but my hands got cold towards the end when water kept spilling on my gloves. Half way through the run, my water spout froze so I had to open the entire bottle to get water. It then would not close all the way, and water kept spilling out. I just couldn't win in the water department! Fortunately, that was the worst of my problems. Amanda made what should have been a nice hilly route through Highland Lakes, but we could not find this specific road. We ended up going up, down, and all around this one small section of the subdivision. Somehow, we managed to get 11 of our miles in there before connecting to the Genoa Trail. I ran just over 13 miles with Amanda, Chris, Brittaney, and Heather. Chris and I had 18 miles, so we ran one more mile together before I had to split off to attempt the last 4 miles at a faster pace. I was quite pleased with how I did! Since that awful 18 miler three weeks ago, I've slowly felt better each week. I would say this week has been one of my better runs despite the stupid cold weather...my joints get so achy in this crap.
  

  

  Three fifths of the crew. [Amanda, ME, Chris]

  
  

  

  BAM!

• 2/4: 2.2 miles, 20:31/mile. Meg, Amanda, and I all volunteered to pass out water at the 5th line 5k finish. We decided to carpool and do our walk beforehand. Due to snow in the eye injuries, we cut it short by 15 minutes and had a spot of tea at Starbucks where I bought this sweet reusable cup for only $2.
  

  

  Cuuuute!

  
  

  

  A spot of tea with the girls. [ME, Amanda, Meg]

  
  

  

  The random margs on the street were begging us to take a pic!

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On a fitness note: After taking a few days off of IG yoga challenges, I started a new one mid week. I was intrigued by the potential challenge of it...15 days of arm balances! YIKES! It's been very interesting and full of curse words while practicing.

Modified EPK2 (my left leg should be straight ahead).

Elephant trunk pose.

Baby crow.