Mission Accomplished..and then some

And just like that, it's over. All the weeks of training and preparation, some of the runs being quite grueling, and in 1 hour and 57 minutes it's over. Not that I'm complaining that it went by that fast :) (Picture above is me in the orange shirt and white jacket around the waist crossing the finish line.)

My alarm went off at 5am on Saturday. I laid there for a few minutes, then easily got out of bed, got dressed, and took my time eating breakfast and drinking a large McDonald's coffee. I ended up wearing the full fleece jacket, deciding that I would rather be overdressed in the beginning anyway--turns out I wasn't overdressed at all. Mom drove me downtown and I jumped out of the car on West Street, made a quick potty break before the lines to the port-a-pots grew to almost 13.1 miles themselves, and then walked a few laps up and down Washington Street to warm up my muscles. I finally made my way to Corral G and saw my mom leaning over the corral fence scanning the crowd. I was quite surprised since her original plan was to stay inside in the warmth until it was time for me to finish. Like I said before, she's the best :) After what seemed like an eternity of the wind blowing, I was thankful for the race to start just to get some blood flowing and warm up. It was only after I crossed the start line that I realized how much of the wind had actually been blocked by that massive new hotel on West and Washington. Now we were out of the shields of downtown buildings, and it was fierce! My first mile took 10 minutes...not bad since the first one is traditionally the slowest as you are making your way through the bottleneck and the crowd slowly starts to separate by pace. My highlight of race, other than the obvious ones, was seeing an elephant from the zoo, surprisingly close to us looking right at all the runners--it was like he was silently cheering us on and at the same time bewildered by it all. My first mile last year was 12 minutes, so I was ahead of that pace, but still needed to pick up my speed. It naturally happened; I only looked at my time at the mile markers, and each one was consistently 9 minutes. It's a great feeling to know that your body is learning to pace itself and pick one speed that feels comfortable--challenging but sustainable for a distance race. It occurred to me after these few miles of a solid 9-minute pace that THIS is my new speed...10 minutes per mile is no longer my norm. So long to the 6.0 mph that I always thought defined my running and hello to the 6.7 mph that I averaged for the whole race.

By mile 2, I was getting really warm and even starting to sweat. I knew if I took my jacket off completely I would still be too cold, then I had the genius idea to just unzip it a little bit--it had been zipped up practically to my chin. That made a world of difference--I still had the jacket as an outer shell of wind-protection but I had the best breeze blowing in. I never took the jacket off completely until mile 10.

The first 2 miles, as always, were the most awkward and uncomfortable feeling for my legs, but by mile 3 I felt great. Pace was down pat, form was set, and I was enjoying all the sights. I mentally divided up the race into thirds: the leg leading to the speedway, the 2.5 miles around the 500 track, then the leg back to the finish line. The first third of the race came so quickly. I entered the speedway with a feeling of dread--race fans may feel differently, but running 2.5 miles in a big counter-clockwise circle of black asphalt is not all it's cracked up to be. It does, however, make you realize how fast the Indy cars are!! It was when I hit mile 7 and my time was only at 1:03 (still a perfect 9-minute pace) that I knew, unless something drastic happened, I would break 2 hours. Around mile 8, which was inside the track, my knees were starting to ache, but I just told myself it wouldn't affect my speed at all, and it didn't.

The last leg of the race was by far the hardest, specifically miles 10 on. My left shoulder was starting to ache and the cardio effects started to catch up--before that, it was like my body didn't even know that it was running, it was so high on adrenaline and so well-trained for the job. Knowing that I could slow down slightly and still get under 2 hours was a relief. I don't think I ever ran any miles slower than 9 minutes, but having that safety net was nice.

At the last half mile where most people pick up speed, I didn't even feel the need. My goal was already met, so my options were to either sprint and be in pain or just enjoy the steps up to the finish line. I chose the latter and I'm glad because I was able to pick out my mom standing at the very front of the bleachers on New York Street, again leaning over the fence and scanning the crowd. I didn't know if she would know I had a bright orange shirt on under the white jacket that I took off. I was on the other side of the street, but I started waving to her, and after about 5 seconds, she recognized me. Seeing her face light up and the enthusiasm behind her wave meant the world to me. I hit the finish line at 1:57. It could have been 1 hour and ANY number of minutes and I would have felt equally as happy. My silent goal, the one that I was scared to admit even to myself, was accomplished. It was one of those things where as often as people kept saying "Oh I'm sure you'll break 2 hours if you hit a 2:05 during training," I didn't want to be greedy with my goals. My original mission was to beat 2:15, let us not forget. It became apparent to me as I progressed further into training that beating that wouldn't be a problem, again unless something drastic or unforeseen happened during the race. Maybe anything less than 2 hours just sounded too good to be true--at least for it only being my second Mini. Lesson number 897 in my life of not underestimating myself.

I felt great after the race. My hamstrings and low back were sore and tight, but nothing beyond that, except being wet and now brutally cold. I met up with my mom who was so thrilled for me. She was literally there for my entire race--the key moments of the start and finish anyway. We walked a couple blocks to stop by a post-mini tailgate and "redhydration" party (i.e. beer) put on by a fitness center member from work. I was freezing, but still relished that post-run beer simply for the fact that I've never done that before. (As a side note, I read in Runners World magazine once that it is completely natural for runners to crave a beer after a hard workout for the carb-replacement that it offers, as well it being cold and refreshing.)

As we were comparing stories/times, one guy said "Good for you..you said you would finish around 2 hours, and you beat that!" I replied, "Yes I'm very happy, considering my real goal had been to beat my last year's time of 2:15." He looked at me and goes "You got a 2:15 last year??" with the tone of his voice implying he was soooo above running a slow time like 2:15 (even though I knew that's not how he meant it to come across). And he finished with, "Well I would say you blew that goal out of the water!! By EIGHTEEN whole minutes!" I thought to myself, when you put it that way, that's a LOT of time for a runner to shave off! He made another comment that I thought was pretty funny, "I just assumed you had been running the mini for years--I mean I see you in the fitness center working out like a banchee!" I chuckled at that impression of me. I knew upon starting this blog, that some people who only see me in that setting or in certain roles would find it hard to believe I stress out about anything fitness related--but yes, I'm human :) Finally, this guy asked, "So what's the next goal? Or are you where you want to be?" Good question.

Carb Day!

No, not the 500 kind of Carb Day. The day where I'm allowed and supposed to eat plenty of breads and pasta! The little cold I fell down with on Wednesday seems to have dissipated. Yesterday I still sounded like a man all day with my nose stopped up and a scratchy throat, but I felt better. By the end of the day, I even felt great--on my drive home I had the thought, "If the mini were right now, I feel confident I could do it, with energy."

I had a full day of working out yesterday. I had my usual Thursday of teaching stability ball class, total body challenge, and 10 minutes of an abs class. I made total body challenge harder than normal last night. We did 9 weeks of class in Feb/March using Jillian Michaels' Hot Bod in a Box, so class lately has been less intense in comparison. We've been doing all outdoor classes with the spring evenings being so nice. So last night, I still included a few laps of jogging around the pond, but every minute I would have them stop and do 2 strength and 1 high intensity cardio exercise before resuming jogging. Oh, and did I mention they were running with dumbbells the entire time? :) It was a great workout for me too!! In addition to those 2 classes, I also fit in one more training run before race day. I had planned to do that on Wednesday, but when I woke up feeling like death, I didn't. So, I ran 4 miles around the DAS buildings just like I did on Monday, making it my last official mini training run!!

Today, I woke up feeling the best I've felt on any morning this week. I won't be going back home until after the mini tomorrow--Chad has to work, so my mom took the day off from her job to take me to the mini and pick me up. I'm lucky to be 24 and have a mother that still cares about any event I'm in and is my #1 fan. She even came to my 5K last year and admitted she got teary-eyed when I crossed THAT finish line! This morning I had to pack my bag for everything I would need tomorrow. I still have no clue what to wear. The predicted high for tomorrow is only 53 degrees, so no telling how low the temp will be at 7:30am, and the forecast is windy and maybe even rain!! Not exactly the weather I'm used to running in, which makes me nervous.... I brought a variety of workout jackets, thin cottton to heavier fleece, so it will be a game-time decision when I see just how cold it is outside. I packed everything else I could possibly need too...an assortment of medicindes; first aid cream, Advil, Claritin, Tums, Airbourne (which has helped me this week), as well as a Ziploc bag of oatmeal, walnuts, 2 packs of Splenda, and a pinch of cinnamon for my pre-race breakfast. Overpack much??

For lunch today, we had a going-away party for our NIFS interns with food from Noodles. I enjoy that restaurant on any given day, but especially on a day where you need pasta! After lunch we went to the Convention Center to pick up our mini packets--it's always exciting to be in that race environment. I'm bib number 28344 this year. They had the countdown clock going; 17 hours until race kick-off!

The plan for dinner tonight is Buca di Beppo...and now you see why it's carb day!
I hope I can sleep well tonight. The only time I've spent the night at my mom's new place was the night before my wedding, so I associate that room and bed with anxiousness, struggling to fall asleep and the noise of the nearby trains going by.

For everyone out there running the Mini tomorrow, happy carb-loading, peaceful nights of sleep, and good luck tomorrow! ENJOY and we'll share stories at the finish line.....

Cinco de Mayo aka tres days from the Mini

What started out as just Monday blues has progressed into a full-blown cold. I woke up this morning sounding absolutely terrible--nose and chest feeling all clogged up, bright red throat and swollen tonsils, and the worst stiffness/pain in my neck. If you know me, you know how rarely I get sick. In the past year and nine months that I've been at my current job, I've only taken a half day off for being sick. So it figures that the once-in-a-blue-moon time that I catch something, it WOULD be the week before the mini. Honestly, I think it's just pure exhaustion that spurred this one.

We all know about the classic phases of stress: alarm, resistance, and then exhaustion. In college this would always happen to me around finals week. I would work so hard and be under so much stress. I would finish strong and earn the grades I wanted, but then immediately after, I would fall sick and when I came home for breaks it was like I could sleep for almost 3 days straight. In this case, my body has been under a significant amount of physical stress (which is usually what you want to do for results) with my dramatically increased running and also going through a spurt of teaching more group fitness classes than normal. Besides the group fitness, as I've mentioned before, work has been busier for me lately than it has been in quite a while. Usually my workload ebbs and flows: it is pretty hectic around the first of the month as we roll out new programs and turn in reports from the previous month, then I would have about 2 weeks of a lessened work load. Now, it's always busy with all the events we are gearing up for. My to-do list for this week looks like pure insanity, and even if most of the projects are enjoyable and worthwhile things, they still require work. Yesterday I pulled a 12.5 hour day, waking up at 4:30, as I made an early morning trip down to Lilly's corporate fitness center to observe the awesome boot camp that they run down there. The rest of my day was non-stop up until I left at 6:45pm. At the end of last night, I was starting to tell that what I had thought was allergies was definitely something more, so now we're back to this morning where all the cold symptoms hit me full-force.

I got to sleep in since I don't have to be in to work until 12 today, to make up for yesterday's long hours. The first 3 hours of my day will be spent working on boot camp "lesson plans" so at least I can stay in one place and focus on one task. Thank God for the promise of a lighter work load for one day.

Monday Blues

Oh, Mondays. This is probably the worst case of the "Mondays" I've had in quite a few weeks. Usually I don't mind Mondays; sometimes I'm glad to see my fitness center friends and co-workers and share stories of the weekend, and it's usually not too hard to wake up on Mondays when I've had a restful weekend. Tuesdays are when the freshness of the week has already worn off and the reality sinks in that the end of the week is still far away. But today....uggh.

I woke up with the worst allergies I've had in a long time. I normally don't have problems this time of year; September is when my allergies come on strong. This morning I had the full deal: sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes, and a throat so raw and red I could barely swallow. My stomach was hurting, I think from the pizza we ate last night. And I'm just thoroughly exhausted.

My morning coffee didn't even do the trick. For the first half of my day at work, I felt like I was walking around in a clogged up daze...that feeling of taking too much cold medicine, except I hadn't taken any.

Last night, as the clock was pushing midnight, I was lying in bed trying to fall asleep without much luck, and I started thinking about the mini. It's THIS week. Saturday. I started running through all of the logistics...what time I needed to wake up on Saturday, how early we needed to leave the house, trying to remember to take some Tums and ibuprofen just as preventatives, what would I wear if it rained?? But the forecast is predicting clear skies....but it's still 6 days away, so they could be wrong... Somehow I finally fell asleep and dreamt that I finished the mini with a great time. This morning on my fuzzy drive to work, I started to re-live my panicked thoughts about the mini. Then I thought, I am as prepared as I could be for this. Why am I so worried? I've completed all of my long runs, I remained disciplined and stuck to the outlined training schedule only with slight modifications. I'm giving myself adequate rest time before the mini with only 2 short runs on the agenda this week. I've been running longer distances and faster times than I have in my whole life. Still better yet, I've already run the full 13.1 miles and finished in a satisfying time.

To sum up my mood, I don't feel mentally or physically equipped to run a mini-marathon this Saturday. I think going to bed around 9:00 tonight and knowing that I have my week's schedule under control (thanks to knocking out plenty of tasks today) should help me feel more settled and centered. Chalk it up to a Monday?

My question of the day is: Which one creates more pressure? Trying to complete a mini when you have never run that distance before? Or trying to beat a certain time when you well-surpassed your goal on the first one? Today, I'm not sure.

Live Earth 6K

Last week at work, I had the opportunity to help put on and watch a 6K run/walk--a real change of pace since I've been so focused on the race I'm competing in. This race was the Dow Live Earth Run for Water 6K. It was a corporate sponsored event through Dow Chemical and the organization called Live Earth whose mission is to spread awareness of the worldwide clean drinking water crisis. The 6K distance was symbolic of the distance many women and children have to walk each day to get clean water. On April 18, they held a series of races all across the globe: New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Mexico City, Buenos Aries to name a few. Local celebrities and musicians even made appearances at each one. (If you google Dow Live Earth, you'll get plenty of videos and pictures.) Our event was on a much smaller scale and was held on Thursday, April 22. We had 128 participants, which actually is a huge number for us. Even though I work at company with over 1200 employees on-site, and we have a large fitness center membership, our health promotion department really struggles for participation in events. Luckily, this one had coporate backing to it and was a dual effort between Public Affairs and Health Services.

Not only was this my first "big" race to help plan and organize, I also got the job of being the timer which put me right at the finish line, able to see what times people were hitting. It was one of the moments that make me so proud to be a trainer. There were 3 people in particular that had either never run this distance before or had run that distance the week prior to the race for the first time. They all finished with incredible times and in some cases even surpassed the goals they had set for themselves. Two out of these three people were personal training clients of mine, so I was especially happy to witness their race and be able to congratulate them immediately.

After the race, we realized the course was only 3.5 miles instead of 3.7, making it a bit shy of a 6K. In the scheme of things, it doesn't matter. I have full confidence all the runners and walkers that day could have gone an extra .2 if they had to. And besides, the 6K distance was symbolic--not a common race amount.

Today, I decided to run the course myself. It was 2 full laps around the buildings on the DAS campus then 1 lap around the pond right outside the fitness center. I had made it a point to work on speed in the few days leading up to the mini, but today I could tell I was running much faster than my normal pace. I didn't allow myself to look at my watch along the way, so imagine my surprise when I crossed the "finish line" and saw 29:43. I calculated my pace (using the true mileage of 3.5): an even 7.0 mph. I could NOT have run this same time/distance combination on a treadmill. 7.0 is the speed I crank the treadimll up to only during the last half mile or less of my run. Weird.

Shorter Runs and Food Introspection

The past 2 weeks since my practice mini have seemed odd...after carefully planning out my long runs for about 8 weeks, we're on the downhill. I'm only doing shorter runs until race day, so it almost seems like I'm slacking off! This past weekend I was in Cincinnati so I didn't do any running until Monday morning. Since, I was over on work hours from the week before, I didn't have to go in until 2pm on Monday afternoon. I slept in and did an 8-mile treadmill run trying to keep my speed higher than normal. Actually, when I say that, I mean I was trying to match my treadmill speed to the pace I've been averaging during all of my outdoor runs. I still can't explain why I run faster outside--it really baffles me and throws off all my old theories about treadmill running being eaiser. I made it a point to keep my speed between 6.3-6.5 mph for the 8 miles. It was a hard one! (P.S. I always wonder what people must think when they come into the gym with me mid-run, get in their own hour or so of a workout, leave, and I'm stillll running. Some people even witness me hit 6 miles, which is around the point where the treadmill cuts you off with time, then see me re-start the treadmill and keep going. I wonder if they are giving me looks of awe and admiration or looks of pure insanity.)

I didn't leave myself much time between finishing my run and the time I had to be at work--basically just enough time for a quick shower and to fill up my gas tank that was on "E". Normally after a hard/long run I come back up to the apartment and just lay on the floor sipping on some Powerade. In the middle of hurriedly rinsing conditioner out of my hair, I got the distinct feeling that I was going to pass out if I didn't do something QUICKLY. I stopped and sat on the edge of the tub, head between my knees. That did the trick, and I was fine for a few minutes, but had to resort to lying down with my feet up, while trying to munch on some pretzels for the carbs and salt replenishment. At the end of all of the cyling classes I lead, I preach about the importance of staying on the bike until you are fully recovered, heart rate is significantly lowered, and breathing is normal before hopping off the bike. Just like with water/dehydration, if anyone should know the importance of adequate cool-down time, it's me!

On another topic, I've been diligent about logging all of my food and exercise lately. I started 4 weeks before the mini, just to monitor everything going into my body and the types/amounts of exercise I was getting in besides my long runs. I wanted to avoid getting burned out in the last few days of being so gung-ho about exercise and health. We've had some special events at work lately that have required hours outside of my normal 9:30-6:30 schedule and also lot of mental planning. Our big thing for April was the Live Earth 6K Run/Walk (which I'll talk about in more detail), then in May we have a large-scale Health Expo that is rapidly approaching. June will be a big push on a corporate blood donation competition and in August we are putting on a full-fledged boot camp. :):) Some work has even already started for Corporate Challenge which is held in September. In other work updates, I am spending 2 days taking a certification to become a CPR instructor. This will allow me to assist our Occupational Health staff in leading CPR classes. I have a new intern starting in 2 weeks, so I've been organizing her projects and schedule. All in all, exciting events to look forward to that make my job enjoyable, but all require work that has to be fit in amongst personal training sessions and teaching group fitness. See where the burn-out comes in?!

The food/exercise log has been a great tool in keeping me on track. Even if I'm eating things that aren't considered healthy, I have a clear picture of what that day's eating entailed, and how my calories in versus calories out are balancing. Although, the fact that I'm doing shorter runs now instead of 10-13 miles at a time might be making me over-critical of my diet. I have to remind myself the runs are shortER, not short in terms of exercise. It's funny...Monday I had a brief freak-out when I realized I was eating non-light yogurt that had a "whopping" 170 calories as opposed to the 80-100 calories in the yogurt I normally eat. Then I said, "Mechelle. You ran 8 miles today and almost passed out afterwards. Who cares about the YOGURT?!" Same thing today: I went to Panda Express for lunch and as I sat there thrilled about the orange chicken and fried rice, I was simultaneously grossed out by the amount of food. I started berating myself for teaching a fun yoga class then heading straight to a big plate of MSG and fat, hoping that nobody I knew from the fitness center walked in to witness this. As I was trying to decide how I was going to compensate for this by eating a smaller dinner, I realized how ridiculous it all was. As of today, I am still weighing in at 3 pounds under what I call my "happy weight." To top it off, my day of exercise wasn't even over yet, since I teach twice on Thursdays. Once I allowed myself to just enjoy the meal, I ate to my content and threw the rest away--normally I would have eaten every last bite even if I was stuffed. But I listened to my body, and isn't that what eating healthfully is all about? I might be onto something here!

By the way, Chad, if you're reading this, my fortune cookie told me to "Be sure to handle financial affairs wisely."

Mini Practice Run

Well, Sunday 4/18 was the "big day." The day I was scheduled to do my practice mini. I had originally planned on doing the practice 13.1 on 4/24 but we made plans to go to Cincinnati to celebrate my Dad's birthday and make the first official trip on the boat for this season. Plus, I thought it might be good to have 3 weeks to rest from the long runs before the mini, instead of only 2. Especially since most race training schedules will never take you to the full mileage until the day of.

Learning from my past mistakes, I only drank a small amount of coffee on Sunday morning and drank plenty of water all afternoon. For lunch, we went to Olive Garden so I had a carb-heavy meal with pasta and breadsticks. I even held myself back from eating too much salad even though I love it :)

I don't have much to say about this run, mostly because it went exactly as planned. For once. I felt great the whole run, minus aching knees and getting ever so slightly dizzy on the last 2 miles. I stationed Chad out with Powerade in regular increments, 3 times total (It was supposed to be 4, but we got our timing mixed up a little). I didn't even run a new route; I ran the same one I did last weekend for the 11-miler, I just extended it one mile farther to make 13 out and back. (See map.)


My finish time was 2:05:25. Ten whole minutes faster than my Mini time last May!! I was really excited about that, but at the same time, it was completely anti-climactic. Out of all the cars driving by me and people outside at our apartment complex, I was the only one who knew that I had just finished a mini-marathon run, and not just a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. There wasn't a big crowd cheering me on, there weren't other runners around me, there wasn't a medal waiting, and Eminem "Lose Yourself" wasn't playing like it was the last time I ran 13.1 miles. I was quietly proud.

Then, I started to get nervous, only because 10 minutes isn't a lot of room for give and take the day of the race. I started remembering how slow the first mile is since the runners are all packed like sardines, and initially it's a big chore to get around the slightly slower participants. Also, there will be more water stops at the mini that I will take advantage of. On the flip side, I won't have to wait to cross busy roads like Allisonville. And for the water breaks, yes there will be more, but I won't linger as long--my shortest Powerade break on Sunday was at least 30 seconds. Chad said that maybe with adrenaline's help, I'll even break 2 hours at the mini. I don't even want to let my mind go there. I set a goal of beating 2:15, so if my time is 2:14, that will still be something to show.

Really, why let a documented finish time at a huge race determine how proud I am? I already won. I beat my goal on Sunday, again let me remind myself, by TEN minutes. I remember back to last year's mini at how fast my pace was to me at that time--5.8 mph--and how I couldn't believe I kept that speed for so long. This time around, my average pace was 6.3 mph. So if I can't recreate that time in 3 weeks, who cares? I have the satisfaction that I did it once--my watch times just as accurately as the mini shoe tag!

Ok. Who am I kidding? The official mini time is all that matters!!!

Songs of the run:
In My Head -Jason DeRulo
Break Your Heart -Taio Cruz ft. Ludacris
(those first two I downloaded just for this run--needed some new, motivating tunes!)
Pencil-Thin Mustache -Jimmy Buffett (just a good song I don't ever listen to, except when it comes on ipod shuffle!)
Taking Care of Business -BTO (because I WAS taking care of business)
Love Generation -Bob Sinclair (came on during my last 5 minutes of the run!)

Always Learning Lessons

It feels like it's been ages since I blogged about running, when in reality, it's only been a week and a half. Where were we? In case you're wondering if the Oliver Winery trip was worth shifting around my running schedule and doing a shorter run than planned, the answer is a definite YES. It was one of my favorite Oliver trips ever. Great weather, 13 samples of wine, tons of good picnic food, and truly letting myself enjoy a day off work. To think that I even considered NOT going!!

The weekend of April 3-4 was Easter weekend, so we went to see Chad's parents up by Chicago. With those two days and the Friday before of the Oliver trip, I had 3 full days off of working out. I can't remember the last time that happened! These days it feels like a stretch to get 2 days off consecutively.

This past week, April 5-9, was a busy one at work. A few group fitness instructors were out on vacation, which left me covering their classes. It was also my first week of picking up a cycle class on Tuesdays since my co-worker is 7 months pregnant and teaching cycle has become uncomfortable for her to say the least. When all was said and done, by Thursday of last week I had taught 7 classes! And thrown in 2 other workouts of my own. Friday I only taught the 10-minute abs class, and Chad and I played tennis after work. Finally, on Sunday I was scheduled for the 11 mile traning run.

We had gone out to eat at Nickel Plate for lunch on Sunday. One of my favorite menu items there is the strawberry chicken salad: a HUGE bowl of salad with grilled chicken, strawberries, mandarin oranges, walnuts, blue cheese crumbles and balsamic viniagrette--all of which I love. I ate the whole salad thinking it was a better pre-run meal than the fish and chips or the buffalo burger that I also like there.

About two hours later I set out on my 11 miles. (See map below.) I was feeling great initially. I ran through downtown Fishers along 116th which was new scenery for me. By the time I had crossed Allisonville Road, I felt like I could throw up if I tried, but wasn't too worried about it yet. Normally when I get side stitches during running, I can make them go away by focusing on deep breathing and pulling in my abs, but I was getting some stomach cramps that weren't subsiding. I reached 131st and Hazel Dell which was my designated turn-around point and headed towards home. Here my stomach was totally cramping up and aching, top to bottom. My chest had a little bit of a burn in it that felt like acid-reflux. I saw Chad coming up the hill on his bike with my bottle of Powerade Zero. I took a few swigs of that hoping it would revive me, but instead, as soon as I stopped running to take a drink I realized how awful my stomach was actually hurting and knew I probably couldn't take off running again. I started thinking back to that giant salad as well as my breakfast which included scrambled eggs with tons of chopped bell peppers. Basically, not enough high-carb grains and too much fiber and roughage, which is a bad feeling especially when you're running...if you know what I mean. (From a previous experience, I also don't recommend grapes before a run!)

I tried to run for a few minutes, but by the time I reached the corner of Hazel Dell and 116th, I absolutely could not continue. I was so frustrated and on the verge of tears because my legs felt geat, my heart rate seemed on the low end for running, and I still had plenty of stamina left cardio speaking. It seemed like my good intentions were always foiled somehow. Chad was planning on booking it back to the apartment on his bike, then getting his car and picking me up.

I started walking on 116th back east, frustrated the whole time. Even walking at a fast pace made my stomach double over in pain, so I just took it slow, waiting to see Chad's blue Blazer there to save me. Finally I made it back to Allisonville, crossed over, and thought that I would try running again. This time there was still some cramping but it was bearable. The fact that I COULD physically run was a step up from where I was moments earlier. I was able to get up to a pretty quick pace, and shortly after, saw Chad pull up beside me. He must have been able to tell I was going to make it, because he gave me a fist pump out through the sun roof, and I yelled "See you at home!" I made it back pretty much just in time as the stomach aches/cramps/rumbling were coming back.

I peeled off my sweaty clothes and jumped on the computer to mapmyrun.com to see how much of that 11 miles I actually ran versus walked. I was quite surprised to find I actually ran 9.05 miles between my 2 spurts of running. I was already just passed 6 miles when I started walking, and I couldn't have been walking for more than 30 minutes even though it felt torturous. So I felt satisfied. Almost.

Sitting there watching Phil Mickelson clinch his Masters victory, I decided it was bugging me that I didn't RUN the full 11. Here's where most normal people, not mini-training, would think that running 9 miles and walking 2 was a crazy amount of exercise for one day. But what did I do? Put back on my same sweaty clothes and headed to the apartment gym to knock out 2 more miles on the treadmill. Although we were getting ready to head to the grocery, Chad didn't even protest. He knew it was just a mental goal I had to complete. I was back in no time at all, having ran the 2 miles at a speed anywhere between 6.2-7.0 mph. Being a perfectionist, it still bothered me that I couldn't complete the 11 continuously, but three combined efforts was as good as it was going to get that day, so I was happy, mentally settled, and physically exhausted, but not sick or in pain.

The lesson of the run here was, just like I underestimated the importance of hydrating during a run, I underestimated the energy that comes from carb-loading before a distance run. I don't mean a crazy amount of carb-eating; just grains and sugars that are easily and quickly digestable, fueling your muscles and glycogen stores. Protein is slowly digested--great for post-workout replenishment and muscle repair/growth; not great for immediate energy. Fruits are vegetables are great for keeping your stomach fuller for longer with their high fiber, but like any plant, they all have certain elements that are undigestible. When you are doing high motion activites like running, you want all the blood moving to your limbs, and not a lot of activity going on in your digestive system.

It's coming down to a science of running. Even though running is not new for me, running this amount is. There are certain criteria of what to do and what not to do that best prepare my body for a long run and enable good results. Beyond standard rules and common runner knowledge, every person's body is unique and will react differently to foods/drinks.

Dilemma...

I've been faced with a dilemma this week, that made me choose between sticking to my training schedule or taking advantage of a beautiful spring day, off work, at Oliver Winery-- aka one of my most favorite places. (See pictures from one of many of our Oliver trips.) Dow is closed on Good Friday (surprising since even banks don't observe that holiday!), so it will officially be my first vacation day of the year. I had planned to do a 10-mile run since that's what I'm due for this week. Friday was my only chance since we are spending Easter weekend up in the Chicago area Saturday morning-Sunday evening.

THEN, I found out some girls from work are going to Oliver Winery that day. They are planning on leaving around 10 or 11am, which wouldn't give me much time to get in a morning run and shower...we all know I'm not a morning person, not even a little bit. (Good thing the mini was bumped to an even earlier start time of 7am this year, huh?!) And running 10 miles after multiple wine tastings, cracking open a bottle, and then picnicing outside in what's forecasted to be 85 degree weather does NOT sound like a good idea to me. That's just asking for major dehydration.

My gut instinct was to turn down the offer. I made a training schedule for a reason...to stick to it! You could say I even backed out of doing my full 9-mile run last weekend, since I broke it into two separate segments. I like to think two of my best qualities are my determination within myself and my follow-through with other people. It irritates me to no end when others don't have these same attributes, so I hold myself to the same standard. Even if nobody else would know that I skipped a run, I would.

When I talked it over in my head, (if it was ANY place besides Oliver, I could have said no), I realized I WOULD regret not hanging out with my newest group of friends and taking full advantage of a BEAUTIFUL vacation day. Would I regret not doing the 10-mile run? Out of sheer principle, yes. But would it negatively affect my training? No, because I hit the 10-mile mark two weeks ago. Is 10 a monumental mile number to me anymore? No. Mind made up :)

To justify my choice, I started brainstorming of ways to squeeze in a decent length run before Friday. I'm limited with time in the evenings as it would start to get dark before I completed the run, plus I'm usually tired from my work day. Then it just so happened that today, I was able to take an hour and a half break since I only was able to take 30-minutes away yesterday. Even though running around the work campus is not an appealing scene to me (boring loops and running into the same people you see day in, day out) I decided to do it. It was 61 degrees and sunny when I took off which made me a little more gung-ho than I was. All in all, I ran just over 8 miles. Not having water breaks started to be a problem again. Around mile 6, I was pretty thirsty and started to have a couple isolated leg cramps. It's never a good sign when you stop dripping sweat and you just feel salty, which was happening too. I listened to my body and knew I could push through to finish my designated laps, and made sure to hydrate right away with water and some FULL sugar apple juice. Within 10 minutes and a good shower, I felt back to normal.

No 10 miles, but still respectable. Definitely the longest I've ever run in the middle of the work day. Call it a compromise?

The Joy of Cross-Training

Since I didn't get in my usual exercise at work yesterday, Chad and I decided to go on a bike ride last night. It was only the third time I've been out on my bike since we bought them, since I've been so heavily into running and not much else lately. A great little strip of bike path can be found on 106th street between Hague and Allisonville Rd. It's all hills, which makes for a fun bike ride. One small section of it is wooded and has multiple wood bridges to ride over. All in all, we did a 6 mile ride. The problem I have with biking outside is that so far on the streets around Fishers, I have yet to actually feel like my heart rate is elevated enough for it to be called a good workout. Last night, with those hills, was the exception! For more details on the ride, copy and paste this link in your browser:

http://www.mapmyride.com/view_workout?w=287126999363919145

Runner's High

I was reading an article in Fitness Magazine (April 2010 issue, pg. 125) entitled "Why I Run." Four women wrote a short essay about why they run, what made them start and why it outweighs any other form of exercise. Here were their reasons:
-It's the only "sport" I enjoy and can excel in.
-Running at sunrise is the calm before the day's storm of being a parent.
-It gives me inspiration for writing my novels.
-It was a natural form of Prozac after my husband lost his job.

I can relate to all of these reasons in some fashion. Obviously, running gives a plethora of physical benefits. I got to a point in my fitness life where no other form of exercise (minus spinning) quite got my heart rate up the way running did. When it comes to toning leg muscles, same thing. But I'm not going into great detail here, because the physical benefits are only the surface reasons for running.

The first woman in the article wrote that she had tried sports like soccer and failed miserably, then picked up cross-country, and even though when she started she usually came in last place, she eventually was able to run 3 miles in 23:28. I can completely relate to this one. As fitness-orientated as I have become, I am by no means blessed with athletic skill. Little hand/eye coordination and that classic girl fear of (I'm ashamed to say) being hit by the ball. I went to basketball camp in middle school and while I became really great at free throws (I made it into the 10-in-a-row club) the whole dribbling thing messes me up. I enjoy volleyball and played a lot last summer, getting better with each game. I know the first game I play this summer will NOT be pretty. Chad and I have recently been playing tennis, which is one of my better sports (not saying much). When we first bought our rackets I started the trash talk of how I was going to dominate him on the tennis courts. He looked at me and with all seriousness said, "No. I've seen you play sports." Leave it to your husband to be honest. With running, I don't need really any kind of coordination except to know how to run straight and dodge giant potholes---that I can do :)

The second story of "Why I Run" I can't fully relate to, as I'm not a parent--and hopefully won't be for a long time! But I can say that any stress I've felt either in college or real-world can be alleviated with a good run. No wonder I've been in such a great mood lately!

Again, the third story I can't relate to as much either as I am not a writer who's constantly brainstorming of plot ideas for novels. But of course running gives me inspiration for every day life creativity. Inspiration enough to start a blog!

Who can't relate to the last reason for running?? We all need some natural Prozac every now and then. And ANY exercise has this effect. I dinstinctly remember the workout I had 2 years ago on the weekend I found out my parents were getting a divorce. Again, I don't typically workout on weekends, but that Sunday night, as soon as I returned back to my college house up in Anderson I headed straight to the campus gym, avoiding all eye contact with the people I knew, and jumped on an elliptical. Music full blast, pedaling hard, wondering sometimes if the wetness on my face was sweat or tears. Even in situations as dire as this was, every little bit of physical activity helped. One thing that I both love and hate about my job is that no matter my mood, no matter what has just happened in my life, and no matter how rainy and gray the day is, I have to put on a pleasant face and be chipper enough to motivate other people--and be believable. One day at work, I got news that Chad's already meager pay had been cut in HALF due to my least favorite person EVER--Chad's old boss. I cried...hard. And then I composed myself and taught class. (Thank God Chad's new job came within a few weeks after that incident.) Even though I could confide in some of my clients or group fitness participants, there are settings where they need me to be the encouraging one--not the other way around. They are there to workout, be pushed, and find motivation in me that they may not have on their own. It's one of those things, when I pretend to be happy and smile for so long, I actually become happy and realize that my life isn't so bad after all. In fact, it's fabulous.

Why do you run?? Feel free to comment!

The Best Weekend Ever

Ahhh. I love those Sunday evenings where the full-feeling of all the fun things I was able to do over the weekend outweighs the melancholy of knowing Monday morning is looming ahead....only hours away. This was exactly one of those weekends. I'll admit, Friday night I was dreading all the things I had to get done over the next two days: my training run, picking up a cluttered apartment, making a trip to Anderson to pick up our hot-off-the-press wedding album, and multiple commitments with my friend Sarah including a promised workout together---in addition to my training run. But I have to say, this weekend was one of the best I've had in a LONG time. The perfect balance of accomplishing things (if you know me, I'm BIG on checking off boxes on the ol' to-do list) and relaxing.

Saturday started off with a morning run with Sarah. We made the loop to the "workout park" that I've referred to in this blog a few times and did one circuit of strength exercises. From there we jogged in and out of streets lined with our dream first homes, into an adjoining neighborhood (with a HUGE PINK inflatable Easter bunny), and back to my apartment building. Towards the end of the run I could tell Sarah was starting to struggle a bit, and she mentioned several times that she was focusing only on keeping running without stopping to walk. She made it, of course. It still seems so bizarre to me the be the one dishing out the encouragement during a run with a partner. We went inside my apartment and mapped out the route we took, and found it was 2.7 miles. (See below.) Sarah was so pumped that she made it that far, only stopping to do a circuit of exercises that still kept our heart rates up...i.e. step-ups. It took a good hour for me to realize that was the farthest she had EVER run continuously...let alone outdoors, which for most newer runners is hard. After seeing her lose FIFTY pounds and undergo multiple personal training sessions by yours truly, I was so glad to have been there to experience that literal milestone with her.


Even though this run was not a physical challenge for me, and much of it was social (chit-chatting about when will we ever be able to afford houses of our own and who is tacky enough to have a HUGE PINK inflatable Easter bunny in their yard?!), it was during this exact run that I decided I could do this running thing for life. After only a few short weeks of being in runner mode 24/7, I don't want this to end after May 8th! I think I could really enjoy a nice Saturday morning jog. I've always refrained from working out on weekends because it really just makes me think of work. For most people, it's an escape (as it is for me most of the time) and everyone else gets a break from the work week so why shouldn't I? God knows I don't need the extra calorie burn beyond what my job gives me. I've never really enjoyed running with other people either. Usually their pace is faster than mine, or they tell me to set the pace but I still feel the pressure to run faster than what I can maintain for long. I decided we were a good running pair. We know each other's fitness level well enough to gauge when to push the other person, but at the same time, I never minded running at a slightly slower pace than my usual so that we could stay together. This run was just so different...it was shared, fun, and not anything resembling work or pain. And that is ok.

Then on to my training run. I decided to take a different approach and screw the 9-mile run I had so diligently mapped out on Friday. Since I had just run 2.7 miles, I split my training run for the weekend into 2 parts. The morning run combined with a 6-miler would give me the total of 9 that I had committed to. Normally, I wouldn't recommend splitting a training run into two parts since endurance is a key factor of a long-distance race. Just this once I decided to try the two-a-day workout because it does have other benefits (think of it as intervals and why they are so successful--when you have minutes where your body is allowed to recover, you can perform at a higher intensity during the designated hard minutes). Sarah and I grabbed some lunch at Panera and wasted approximately 30 minutes of our lives watching the newest Dane Cook stand-up. Allow me to sidetrack here....formally a huge Dane Cook fan, I wasn't finding humor in any of these newest jokes. He started out with tackling some heavy, controversial issues in a serious tone: racism, politics, suicide, rape, cancer, and the death of both of his parents only months apart. He clearly wasn't trying to be funny. Then when he WAS trying to be funny, his jokes were so raunchy and over the top that I wanted to throw up more than laugh. I find it hard to believe anyone in the audience was giving him more than a sympathy chuckle. This was the guy that only a couple years ago made me laugh until I cried; the guy whose lines I would think of in the middle of class and have to try so hard to stifle a laugh. After one too many jokes about STD's and hookers, I decided I would RATHER run 6 miles than continue this nonsense.

Sarah showed me a route in Noblesville (see below) that she and her husband had mapped out as being a 5K loop. I set out to do it twice giving me a mileage of 6.2. What can I say about this run? It went by SO fast!! I knew I was running at a quicker pace than normal, but I was fully expecting to walk back into her apartment, discover I had only been gone for about 30 minutes and tell her she was WRONG. I got back right at 54 minutes (and she re-mapped the route for validity) meaning I, once again, shattered any previous time. Running 6.2 miles on a treadmill, I would have finished at 62 minutes. Even mentally, this run felt equivalent to a 4-mile treadmill run I did on Thursday. Maybe I'm beginning to retract my previous statements about treadmills being so much better?? I can almost hear the "told you so's" from any REAL runner out there. My favorite song of the run was "Beautiful Day" by U2, because it was, in every way.


PS. I did attempt to use a water-holding belt that I found at Dick's Sporting Goods on Friday night. I got about .01 miles into the run and it was jostling all around. The water bottle is supposed to stay right around the hip area, then as I ran it would migrate to the front of my stomach, then my other hip, then behind, always smacking me as I ran, even though I tightened the belt. Needless to say, I ditched it and re-started the run. I'm almost glad it didn't work out after all, because let's be honest....it was a glorified fanny pack.

I finished out the weekend with eating out at some of my favs (Panda Express and Qdoba), a new hair color (mahogany, they call it), a couple glasses of Riesling, sleeping over at Sarah's since Chad had been gone for the entire day/night (making it our first married night apart), church this morning, making the rounds in Anderson with Chad's family, dinner with him at Greek's Pizzeria (new for us, and I highly recommend it!), and finally, putting together some playlists for the cycle classes I am teaching this week.

And no feeling sick after this run:) Only proud, of both myself and my friend (that I ended up spending 25 straight hours with) for what we have termed the The Best Weekend Ever.

9 Mile Out and Back Fishers Neighborhood Run

This route is offcially the plan for tomorrow. All I did was search "running routes in Fishers, IN" on mapmyrun.com and boom this one came up. It was like they KNEW I needed a 9-mile run! Here is the description: "This route takes you through 5 subdivisions of Fishers. There is usually light traffic and is relatively flat with a couple of very small hills." PERFECT =)

I'm trying to figure out a good way to bring water with me. I know they make running belt-like contraptions that carry water bottles, but the idea of strapping anything on me while I run drives me crazy. I can't even stand to run with my wedding rings on because feeling them move around on my finger irritates me. Nor can I tolerate running with a normal-sized ipod in an arm band. That is why I use the shuffle. Chad will be at work tomorrow, otherwise I would commission him to ride his bike around the same area and deliver occasional drinks of water. Maybe I'll drive through the route and leave water bottles hidden in bushes along the way haha....

Clarification

I wanted to clarify that caffeine in and of itself is NOT bad for exercise. It actually has many benefits when the right amount is consumed before a workout (as a co-worker pointed out to me yesterday.) In my blogs I've only been preaching about the harmful effects of too much before a workout, but I don't want to discredit caffeine completely. They say, if you are used to drinking a morning coffee, then it's actually beneficial to do the same on the morning of a race. (I did that last year before the mini.)

A recent article from Shape magazine:
"Q: Is it harmful to drink coffee before I exercise?
A: Not at all. In fact, it can actually improve your performance. Caffeine makes you more alert and may help you workout longer or at a harder intensity. In an Australian study, runners who ingested caffeine before at 5K shaved 10 to 12 seconds off their finish times. Other research published in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that cyclists who downed a dose of caffeine before a sprint felt less leg pain and had a lower rate of perceived exertion. For optimal benefits, drink up to 45-60 minutes before a workout and stay under 150 milligrams. That's 12 ounces of coffee, up to 24 ounces of tea, or 17 ounces of Red Bull." March 2010 issue, pg. 130

For reference, I had about 20 ounces of coffee that morning :O

Pro: Energy boost and less feelings of pain/fatigue
Con: Dehydrates your cells and could cause a dangerously high heart rate/blood pressure.
As long as you're drinking the right amount to reap the benefits and not slip into any of the "cons" then drink up!

"I don't do decaf"

The title of this blog comes from a quote on one of my coffee mugs...and it's pretty true for me. When people drink decaf coffee I just think "What's the point?" Coffee has been a part of my morning routine for a solid 4 years, and even though that's not ALL that long, I don't function without my morning coffee boost. I don't drink it throughout the day...just one cup in the morning Monday-Friday. (I recently bought a Keurig, and I make the 10-ounce size.) The exceptions are Saturdays where I drink a few cups throughout the morning as I deep clean our apartment, or some rare days in the winter where I have a cup in the middle of the day for the pure warmth. In addition to the caffeine in the morning, I usually have either a Diet Coke or Diet Dr. Pepper in the afternoon as a litte bit of pick-me-up between personal training sessions or other work.

So all in all, I wouldn't consider myself a caffeine junkie, but I feel REALLY deprived and sluggish when I don't have either the coffee or the diet coke.

However, with my increased running as well as what I'm referring to as the "dehydration run" last weekend, I'm trying to be more aware of how much water I'm taking in because I really don't think it's enough. Despite the fact that I always have a big water bottle with me at work that I constantly drink out of and re-fill, there are still times where I find I'm SO thirsty I can't stand it a second longer. I'm thinking that an easy substitution for the afternoon diet soda would be Crystal Lite mix-ins or light lemondae...anything to give some flavor without caffeine, carbonation or calories.

The morning cup of coffee will never get nixed, but I can certainly decrease the amount I drink on weekends. Or consider a switch to decaf if I just really want to enjoy multiple cups.

As far as my diet, I've never been what I would call "strict." People at work sometimes ask if I'm super strict with my diet, and I don't know how to answer that question. I don't ever really feel like I'm being deprived or forcing myself to be hungry. I NEVER count calories unless I'm just curious on any one particular day. There are some things that are just assumed for me: I never eat things like potato chips, snacks like cheetos, or full-calorie soda. I rarely eat french fries, red meat, pork, and I'm not much of a candy person. So some people may call that strict, but that still gives me plenty of room for other foods that aren't so great for you but sure are tasty!

Senior year of college I went through a vegetarian-ish phase. Not for any moral reasons, but just to cut down on cholesterol in my diet. I completely eliminated red meat and pork, and I only had other meats (turkey, chicken, fish) maybe 1-2 times each week. I found that I LOVED things like veggies and hummus, pitas filled with those 2 things, veggie wraps, veggie chili, and even grilled veggie sandwiches. I knew I wasn't getting enough protein, but I felt more healthy than I had in a long time.

My real food weakness is desserts...the more homemade things like brownies, cheesecake, cookie dough, etc. Also, ICE CREAM--of any kind. I don't keep these things in the house, but I love going to places like Cheesecake Factory or Coldstone Creamery. I did one big "No sweets" stunt that started 6 weeks before my wedding. I inadvertently lost 4 pounds, which wasn't the goal, but apparently that shows how many calories desserts had been adding to my diet! Beyond the weight loss though, I felt healthier in a "clean" kind of way...the bloated feeling that comes with sugar was gone, making me feel leaner. Best of all, I felt empowered that I COULD say no to desserts--that was a first.

Now, I'm looking for just a healthy, maintainable, clean diet. I don't believe in completely eliminating any foods--there will inevitably come a situation where I will want to eat one of those "never" foods, so I'm not so much worried about getting rid of all the unhealthy things so much as being more choosey about what I eat and learning moderation. Ideally I would eat sweets only 1-2 times each week. Some weeks that is the case, others it isn't. A few months ago I was in a phase where I always had wine with dinner, usually about 2 glasses. Again, I'm shooting for about 1-3 times a week for alcohol---although we all know wine is good for the heart, VERY high in sugar. And really with any alcohol, talk about emtpy calories and dehydration!

So just my thoughts out loud on eating, drinking, and just being more aware of what I'm putting into my body; considering whether I'm giving my body energy or dragging it down; creating the parameters for a healthy, lifelong diet.

Recovered

Back to feeling 100% again after Saturday's events. Even Sunday, I felt lingering effects of the dehydration...a little dizzy. Mostly I was just starving all day considering my net calorie intake for Saturday was a grand total of 240*. At lunch, I had a full meal at Nickel Plate then still managed to eat a medium sized chocolate brownie chunk hurricane from Handel's...quite possibly the best ice cream ever. (Actually National Geographic did rate it the best ice cream on the planet!)

Today I missed my normal lunch break exercise at work due to a doctor's appointment. I didn't even teach any group fitness classes today, leaving me with a choice of skipping my workout altogether or coming home and working out at our apartment fitness center. (It was way too rainy and cold to do anything outdoors.) Again, some of you may find it hard to believe that I have to muster up that much motivation to come home and workout, but since exercise is just a built-in part of my job, when I miss a workout during the day, it's going WAY out of my routine to get one in past 7pm. Working out on weekends is definitely something I'm not used to, but as you've seen, I'm at the point with training runs where I need to devote more than an hour to my workout--and explore new running terrains other than the goose-poop-covered trail around the pond at work.

So, my small, mundane victory of the day was that I did come home and workout. I made it a cardio cross-training day and did 45-minutes on the elliptical. Does anyone out there have a great apartment fitness center?? Ours is small (which most are), doesn't have the greatest equipment (most don't), and there is ALWAYS either: a stinky guy who smells like a mixture of BO and cologne, both equally as strong, or that macho guy who is just trying way too hard....at least for a tiny fitness center with only one bench.

*When/if I ever track calories for my daily food intake, I use an application on the iphone called "Lose It." When I want to track calories burned during a workout, I use my heart rate monitor (Polar RS 200). I also highly recommend Spark People online if you're interested in keeping a daily log of food and exercise--very user-friendly for balancing calories in versus calories out, keeping you on track with either weight loss or weight maintenance goals. (No, unfortunately I'm not getting paid for any of these advertisements!)

Run #3...What???

Now we're in real-time since the run I will be writing about happened today. And I have full faith this will be the most interesting of my training runs for two reasons....

I told Chad my plan was to run 8 miles outdoors, and I was having trouble picking a route since I don't know any exact mileage of the streets around our neighborhood in Fishers. He suggested a loop we have done before on our bikes--down Lantern Road and into a neighborhood that has a small scale workout park--things such as bars for dips and pull-ups which, by the way, is the site of those incredible 3 pull-ups I mentioned in the first post! According to Chad, who had looked the mileage up before, a loop of going from our apartment to that workout park and back was 1.33 miles. If I did this 6 times, that would give me exactly 8 miles. The idea of repeating a loop 6 times seemed boring (and at times it was) but since it was mileage I knew, I was going to use that plan. For future runs, I plan to map out more exciting runs before the day of.

I took off down Lantern Road on this first day of spring, Saturday, March 20. The weather was truly beautiful--sunny, nice cloud cover at times, 55-60 degrees and breezy. Right up my alley :) The first 2 miles always prove to be the hardest for me, especially outdoors, because as I am getting into the grove and establishing a pace, my knees/ankles/shins are in pain. After 2 loops, I felt great. After 3 loops, I knew I was halfway done, at the 4 mile mark. At 5 loops, I was excited to only have one loop left, however my knees were very achy and my shoulder blades were as well. (After the mini last year, the worst pain I experienced after the run, much to my surprise, was in the back of my shoulders.) No matter how often I remembered to shake out my arms and keep a loose running posture, my shoulders throbbed at longer distances. I paused briefly before embarking on the last loop to stretch out my quads and alleviate some of the knee pain, as well as to stretch out my neck and shoulders. I also felt a little dizzy and flushed but chalked that up to it being a little hot outside at this point. I was on the final stretch back to my apartment when I saw Chad riding his bike to check on me:) I finished up the run, clipping along at a quick pace right behind his bike.

It was HARD. I felt pushed to my max at the end of this run, which was disappointing because, although it was the first outdoor long run, I could not fathom tacking on FIVE more miles in a month and a half. Another disappointing fact was that it had taken me 98 minutes. This meant I was running around 5.0 miles per hour (as opposed to my normal 6.0 on a treadmill)....gotta pick up that outdoor pace if I want to even come close to my time goal.

All this disappointment was washed away in an instant when Chad and I discovered a miscalculation. Using an online tool for mapping outdoor runs/bike rides, Chad asked me exactly the point where I started and finished all 6 of those loops. I heard him yell from the other room "Babe, you ran 10 miles." Incredulous, I ran into the room to see the computer screen myself and the route he had mapped out perfectly. There it was: 10.02 miles. Meaning a.) I skipped past running miles 8 and 9 as my plan laid out and jumped right to 10! No wonder it felt so hard and took so long! and b.) I averaged a 9.8 minute mile, running slightly faster than I run indoors on that nice comfy treadmill belt!! It's awesome what your body is capable of doing, even without your knowledge! I felt amazing!!

Amazing, that is, for a little while....I started to ice my knees which still throbbed and I also had a pretty good cramp in my left quad. No biggie. My head started to throb so I thought that I was really due for some post-run replenishment. Especially after 10 miles!! (For breakfast that morning, I had eaten oatmeal with sliced banana and a maple syrup drizzle and also about 3 cups of coffee--my Saturday morning ritual as I love to make a full French press of coffee and leisurely drink it all. In my defense, I did try to drink an equal amount of water to balance out the diuretic effects of coffee before I ran.)

So, I drank 2 full glasses of Crystal Light raspberry ice and had a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat toast. I started to feel increasingly terrible, pounding headache right in the center of my forehead, blurry vision and seeing spots. The sunlight coming in our sliding doors was excruciating, and I realized as I was texting on my phone, I could barely see the letters. I went and laid down in our dark bedroom, on the floor. Chad brought me in an apple thinking that my blood sugar had to be low, so I ate that but didn't feel any symptoms subside. I crawled into bed but could not get comfortable. It felt like the hangover from hell...and trust me, there was no alcohol involved. I started to feel nauseous from the headache and blurred vision--the nausea came in strong waves and I felt like I could pass out lying down in bed! I called Chad, who had run out on errands, sounding a little frantic and told him to hurry home--I have just never felt this bent out of shape! When he got home, I had him grab my heart rate monitor so I could at least see if anything was wrong there...nope, perfect 68 bpm, very steady. And then, I threw up. A lot. (In a wire mesh trash can, which I don't recommend, but that's all that was handy!) And over the course of the next 2 hours, threw up 2 more times. A lot. Sorry Mom, for canceling our dinner plans!

Classic dehydration according to my own common sense...ok, and Google. Which would explain it feeling so distinctly like a hangover! Of all people to not hydrate enough before a run, and not hydrate at all during the run, the Health and Fitness Specialist should have known better.

Somewhere around 8pm (I finished the run at 2:50pm), I felt human enough to crawl out of bed. You can thank the episodes of today for giving me the inspiration to start this blog that had previously been just a fleeting idea. And now, at 10pm I feel thrilled again at the 10 miles and happy that spring has finally sprung!

Lessons of the run:

• Accurately track your mileage! I got lucky in that I thought I was running less than I actually was, but it can also happen the other way around which can be a bummer! I recommend www.imapmy.com This website allows you to map a run, walk, bike ride, or even a triathlon course!
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! If you feel thirsty, you ARE. I ignored the fact that I was very thirsty during the second half of my run, when it would have been easy to take a tiny detour up to my apartment for some water.
• Nothing beats Saltines, and a husband willing to drive to the nearest gas station for Gatorade. Have both handy!!

Favorite songs of the run (randomly played on ipod shuffle):

• "River of Dreams" -Billy Joel
• "I Need Love" -NSYNC
• "Closing Time" -Semisonic (which fittingly came on as I began the last loop)
• "I Kissed a Drunk Girl" -Something Corporate

Let's Buy Bikes!

On the weekend of March 13-14, my run was supposed to be 8 miles, and I was determined to get outdoors for my first long run of the season not on a treadmill. However, Mother Nature had other plans for me--it was rainy and chilly compared to the 60-70 degree weather we had experienced leading up to the weekend. Combined with that, we had spent some time on both days of the weekend visiting my husband Chad's grandfather in the hospital as he was recovering from a heart surgery--so other things were going on that weekend that seemed more important in the scheme of life.

The other surprise of the weekend is that Chad and I finally forked over the money (yay tax return!) and bought 2 mountain bikes! We spent a great deal of time picking them out and then taking our first (although brief because of the weather ) bike ride together, so the guilt I had been feeling for not running was lifted since we were being active by other means and had made a purchase we had been talking about and dreaming of for quite some time.

So, week 3 of mini-marathon training was a wash. Lesson in being flexible, but I had already completed the mileage I wanted to be at this week, 7 miles.

Runs #1 and #2

My first 2 training runs were on the treadmill in the DAS gym. I'm an avid treadmill runner, which I know all you REAL runners out there frown upon. Yes, I know I'm not getting as "true" of a training run indoors as I would outside on pavement, but having battled shin splints and 2 cases of IT band syndrome (one of which was debilitating and stopped my running for about 4 months), sometimes, I just want to stick with the comforts of a nice, soft treadmill belt. Besides that, I'm a very fair-weather outdoor runner, literally. If it's cold, snowing, raining, about to rain, too hot, humid, etc., etc., I don't run outside. Running for me has always been about 50% physical challenge and 50% enjoyment....and I don't enjoy anything less than warm-and-dry-with-a-slight-breeze running weather:) And in response to all the people that think treadmill running is so dreadfully boring, if you got into music even half as much as I do, you would feel invigorated the whole time! I'm worthless without an ipod.

Since we're back-tracking a little bit, all I have to say is that my first training run, the 5 miles on February 27, was very average. This is a distance I run quite frequently, and I always say that 6 miles is my standard number for "I just want to get a good run in during my 1-hour lunch break." So, 5 miles was fairly easy, but being the first run of any distance since the BOSU dominated me, I didn't want to push my knee.

My next run, which was supposed to be the 6-miler, was on Friday, March 5. I was running back up at normal speed with no knee pain and when I got to 6 miles, I said "I could really run more than this, and I WANT to." So I did, that simple. I ran 7 and felt like I could have gone onto 8 but didn't since I was under time constraints.

Establishing My Training Schedule

My plan this year is to HAVE a plan for my training runs. Last year, aside from just doing my job every day and getting in my normal 5 workouts per week, the only real training runs consisted of an 8-mile run at Anderson's Shadyside Park and a 10-mile treadmill run. I kinda winged it the day of the mini because I had previously done a 5K race (the Big 10 Hoops Day 5K--see pictures) and realized, "Hey! Adrenaline on race-day is better than any training runs you could ever do!" Which I still believe is partly true:)

This year, however, the plan has been to increase my long runs by one mile each week starting with a 5-mile run on Friday, February 27. I had hoped to start sooner, however things were delayed with a minor knee injury. (For those who don't know the story, I was foolishly trying to replicate an exercise I saw on "Biggest Loser." That show has given me so many good training ideas, so when I saw a 300 pound person jump from the ground onto an upside-down BOSU ball, I thought, why can't I?? Turns out...I can't. I made the jump a solid 5-6 times, then on the last jump, I fell forward off the BOSU and landed on my right knee which was bent 90 degrees to the right. OUCH! So for 3 weeks after that incident, I could do no cardio except for cycling which put minimal impact on the leg.)

If I stick with the current plan of increasing my mileage by one per week, that will put me at running a full 13 miles 2 weeks before the actual mini. I want to gauge the time of that practice run to see if it will even be possible for me to beat last year's time. Then for the 2 weeks before the mini, I will do shorter runs and hopefully rest up for race day!

My weekly schedule of exercise looks like this:

• Monday: 45 mins to 1-hour of pure cardio followed by abs (lately it's been either spin classes or a mixture of different cardio machines)
• Tuesday: 1-hour of strength/cardio circuits (usually workouts from Jillian Michael's Hot Bod in a Box)
• Wednesday: 25 mins of teaching cycle, occasionally 30 minutes of teaching a strength class, then one hour of my own cardio
• Thursday: 45-min stability ball strength class, 45-min total body challenge class
• Friday: light cardio OR Hatha yoga class OR skip the workout and go out to lunch with one of my best friends/co-workers :) Sometimes, I just NEED to get out of the gym for my break!
• Saturday or Sunday: Long training run
• Other day of the weekend: rest

Allow Me to Introduce Myself...

For anyone out there who doesn't know my background, I work for the National Institute for Fitness and Sport (NIFS) as a Health and Fitness Specialist in the corporate fitness department. I work at the Dow AgroSciences employee fitness center doing a variety of health related jobs: personal training, teaching group fitness (stability ball class, Total Body Challenge-which is a boot camp style set-up, spinning, and 10-minute core classes), and general health promotion for several different programs and events throughout the year. I honestly LOVE my job :)

I graduated from Anderson University with a degree in Exercise Science. I have always enjoyed working out, however I did not take up running until freshman/sophomore year of college. You may find this hard to believe, since I really do love running now, but in high school I was that girl who DREADED the semi-annual 1-mile run in PE class. It seemed that everyone lapped me around the track and after I was finished with the run, I felt completely sick....yes, after only ONE mile.

At my current age of 24 years old, I am without a doubt in the best shape of my life. I'm at the healthiest weight I've ever been at (note that I said healthiest, not lightest), the lowest body fat percentage I've ever seen, and I have more stamina, muscle strength, and even balance and agility than ever before. (To toot my own horn for 2 seconds, I realized the other day that I can do 3 pull-ups on my own---to do one pull-up without assist was a life-long fitness goal of mine that I truly thought I would never accomplish. I even got teary-eyed!)

With all this said, even signing up for the OneAmerica 500 Festival Mini-Marathon was something that I had put off for a few years...I made excuses because it always fell on or around finals week in college. So, last year, 2009, being my first full year as a college graduate, I had no reason not to. I signed up and finished the mini-marathon in 2 hours 15 minutes. I had no time goals for this first race, as this was the first time in my life to run a full 13.1 miles. My only goal was to finish, and hopefully not have to resort to walking--which I accomplished and beyond that, enjoyed every minute. Where else can you see all the odd side-shows and hear teenage garage bands (that are truly terrible), run a lap around the famous Indy 500 track, and have random strangers yelling your name telling you to finish strong?? (It freaked me out the first time someone yelled, "Go Mechelle!" Then I realized, it's printed on my bib!)

For the record, my goal this year, on Saturday May 8, is to beat 2h 15m. I'm slightly uncomfortable putting this in writing for even one other person to see (big fear of failure). All of my fitness experience aside, this IS a challenge for me, as I don't consider myself a natural-born runner. It's something I work hard to be. The hope for this blog (my first one ever!) is to share ideas of what has helped me train, what routes I've chosen to run, and really just for everyone to see the inside of an average runner's training regimen for a long-distance race.