Weekly workouts

Scott and I moved out of our house last week! We had a close date on our new house of today but the loan under writers are questioning the appraisal of our house since the lady flipped it so quick. SO we are loving with my parents for now and that is greatly impacting my working out. I miss my treadmill :( they have a treadmill but it just feels different to me. However I have been loving their elliptical and having been doing better about abs and arms. Can't wait to be in my in town house where I can run in town!

Running Sucks!

A few weeks ago I purchased my running sucks shirt and I love it! I actually purchased two Cancer Sucks shirts for a friend that is dealing with breast cancer. When I saw the running sucks shirt I knew it would be perfect for post long run days and great for after my marathons. The shirts are a great price, come in quick and are soft & comfy! Here is the blog and the Etsy site if you are interested in getting your own Running Sucks shirt. There are TONS of colors to choose from.

Lessons Learned

After my race I went shopping for some retail therapy and to stretch my legs during the 8.5 hour drive home. I found this Nike Store with a huge 'Hit the road not the wall" sign", how appropriate! I was hoping there would be a shirt but I could not find one. After my mile 23 shut down and pity party I had some serious reflecting to do.

1. Don't set big goals! However, I do not think a sub 4 was the impossible but it was a stretch since it was asking for a 12 minute PR after not doing a marathon in 4 months. I have always had an A, B and C goal. While I have played with the other goals in my head I had never thought about anything else but the sub 4.

2. Envision the other options. I have read many strategies on envisioning yourself finishing and rehearsing how you would feel at the finish. During all my long runs and training runs I have had these visions of me crossing the finish line under the big clock saying "3:55:50" and my parents would come hug me and I would be SO excited. When I saw that number get to 4 hours and 4 hours plus some change I didn't have another vision in my head.

3. NEVER think other people will be disappointed. I do not know one person that would ever second guess my effort at a marathon but I felt like so many people were cheering for me to meet that sub 4 I was embarrassed to cross the line with anything else. I started thinking about what I would say and what my reason would be. So silly now that I look back on it but I once I thought about "disappointing" my parents I started crying and even became hysterical at some points. Once I started crying that much my chest started to tighten and my breathing was a mess.

4. USE your mantra! My Mantra is "get mad at it" and "push"! It took me 1.5 miles to get mad at it and push it out. I kept letting myself get distracted by other things; shirt, ipod, iphone, time truck and other runners. I totally lost focus on what I was doing.

5. Do NOT run with my phone. There are medics and volunteers on the course. I should have never called my parents and husband to tell them I had not made my goal. Instead I should have pushed hard to gain my time back and get closer to my goal.

6. Do NOT do complicated math when you are delirious from running 23.5 miles. At 18 and 20 miles my time was spot on! I should have stopped calculating. It was slowing me down and I was wrong with my math. On the way home from the race I pulled up the 9:09 lap times and my lap times and I was within seconds for every mile until I feel apart. If I had not stopped to walk I would have been a 4:03-4:05 easy; possibly a sub 4 if I had pushed out the end.

7. Realize that if you are going to be a 50 stater you have plenty of more races to get it right and you have to be slower on some races.

8. Make friends. I made friend with a guy named Ryan from 5 until mile 15ish but never remade a friend from that point. The people I had been noticing and thought about talking to did finish ahead of me. The mental distraction of talking to others is a huge benefit and mental trick.

9. Start your GARMIN when you cross the mat not at the gun. STUPID mistake on my point but I was always wondering how much I might be off from the real race time.

10. Learn from it and move on! The race is over and I have plenty more races. PLUS it is no big deal if I do not go sub 4. I should just enjoy the excitement of completing each race and doing the best I can that day.

Marathon #4 Recap; Presque Isle, Erie, PA

Let me start off by saying I finished!! For those of you that do not want to read the entire post.. it was a 4:10:00 which was a PR by over 2 minutes. The race was great! Nice small town, BEAUTIFUL scenery AND the weather was perfect. Low 50s start and 70 at the finish.

I drove to Cleveland on Friday to stay with my friend Monica and headed to Erie on Saturday. The weekend was great! Nice and low key with lots of good food and good company. We found our hotel and expo with no problem. Plus we made a great choice to get the pasta dinner at the expo. $10 for a full meal and we were able to eat at the park and enjoy the scenery.

Brrr! It was cold at 5:30 am! We were good little girls and went to bed at 8:30 pm and were up and ready to roll by 5:15 am. There was a lot of wind and it was a little chilly so we rocked our trash bags until the start. We were all able to make our important bathroom stop in the nice park restrooms before it was super crowded then it was wait time.

Miles 1-15 were perfect! Everyone knows that I wanted a sub 4 marathon and have trained my butt off for that time. I was nailing my mile times and feeling PERFECT! I met a guy named Ryan a little before mile 5 and we talked and kept it stead all the way to mile 15. I made a pee stop in the woods and perhaps this was an omen but I PEED in my pants : ( I held it for too long and could not get my shorts down quick enough. Good thing it was hot enough people might have thought it was sweat.

I also left Ryan because he had run 30 some miles the day before at a 24 hour run in Cleveland. He is a marathon maniac and it was so much fun to talk running with him.

If you make this picture big you will see there is no smile on my face at mile 19 : ( At mile 18 I was on the nose to make right at a 4 hour marathon; maybe even a few seconds short. As I got closer to my parents at mile 19 I was super emotional because I knew they were watching my time and I was starting to doubt whether I could hold it or not. I broke into tears when I saw them. They did not think anything of my tears since I cry at every marathon. I did not tell them I was doubting myself and they did not reassure me I was going to make it. Barry knew at that time that I was 90 seconds ahead of schedule. Well I guess my marathon brain was messing with me because miles 20-23 I was doing BAD math in my head. I just kept figuring that I was minutes too slow. The more I thought about it the "slower" I got. I was running 9:15-9:30 but was freaking out because it was not a 9:09 which is what it takes to get under 4 hours. I was not stopping to look at the time I had in the "bank" from running some miles under pace. Mile 23 a time truck pulled up beside me and I figured I had 29ish to run the rest of the race. I told myself that was a good pace on a good day when you are just running 3 and convinced myself I did not have it in me.

This is when I did something I NEVER do. For the first time I stopped and walked. Not only did I stop and walk but I pulled out my phone and called my parents to tell them I was walking it in. At this point I was crying so much they did not know if I was hurt or not. I then called Scott and told him I was "F***ing pissed". In a very nice way he told me to get it together and run it in for a PR which was still very much attainable. I fixed my stupid iPod and started listening to my favorite running songs on my iPhone. At mile 24.5 ish I told myself to kick it in for a PR. It took a while to jump start my legs again but I was able to knock out some 8:45 paces : ) My stepdad had ran to check on me and found me a little after the 25 mile marker and I was running so "fast" he could not keep up with me. I was super ticked at myself for so many reasons! It took me a few minutes to find the joy in finishing a marathon in 4:10:00

Notice the lack of shirt as I finish. I was so mad that I took my NEW Saucony dry fit shirt and threw it down! Seriously I must have been out of my head from low blood sugar or something. I learned many lessons this past Sunday and am still reflecting on the whole situation. There will be more blogs about this race for many reasons! I need to re-look at my strategy to take sub 4 and I need a small attitude adjustment after the way I reacted to failure.

JUST 10 miles : )

So today was a great day because I ONLY ran 10 miles! WTF?!??!! Who says that! But seriously after weeks of 16, 18 and 20s you will take 10 in a heart beat. I was super tired and grumpy for the first 5 but I stuck my music in my ears and really picked it up for the last 5 miles. The past was sub 9 for sure (8:50 I think) so I was super excited about that. Now it is time to give the knees and hips a break with less runs and a less demanding pace and be ready for Erie! I am going to get the bike on the trainer and do bike, run, bike run and then a rest day when I travel. Monica and I plan to shake out our legs with a 3 mile jog the morning before and then it is race day.

Most people know I have my eyes on a sub 4 marathon. I think the possibility is there but I also know it is a big jump from my 4:12 in May. The plan is to go all out at this one and learn from my mistakes. If I crash and burn I will drag myself into a finish and have a better plan for training and my 26.2 in West Virginia in November. In the past I have been real conservative in the beginning and had nothing in the tank at the end SO why not give some more in the beginning and see what that does : ) I have trained harder this time around so I am hoping I will be able to suck it up at the end and fight thru the pain better than before. OR I will take a finish however it comes.

Thanks for those that continue to read and follow along!

Happy Birthday Parker!

Three years ago I gave birth to my little guy. He continues to amaze me each day with his every thought, action and words! What a remarkable thing to be a Mommy. Each year I love looking back at the picture books I make each year. It is amazing that he was so small and helpless. I picked just a few of my favorite from when he was just born and a few days after he was born to share. Hard to believe 3 years have came and gone; I wish life had a pause button.

I need to TAPER!

I am wore out! Work is mentally exhausting and leaves me with no energy to work out. This week was a hot mess of half done workouts. Some were outside, a lot inside, 3-5 miles, some Shred, some crunches and some pretending I know how to do arm workouts. Sounds like a great marathon training plan, huh??? OH WELL! Life happens.

We are in the middle of selling our house and buying another so most afternoons are spent running papers from here to there and stressing about large amounts of money : ( Which leaves me too tired to think about knocking out an awesome 6 or 8 miler in the middle of the week. Good news is the new house is in town and in my favorite running area that I currently drive to so that I can run. SO one day I might get to run outside during the week as long as Scott is home. Pretty sure you can't go run and leave your kid sleeping in the house solo.

Long run was GREAT! ummmm..... I might be lying! We posted some big numbers for sure. Like 10:40 paces : ( WHAT THE HECK?? Didn't I just run a 20 miler in 9:09. Bottom line my hips were sore, legs were tight, it was hot and we did what we could. Both of us were having a rough day and decided to talk the whole time and just finish. Well sorta I wanted to call it day and just do 16 BUT Jeremy really wanted to get in 18. GO him for talking me into it. I told myself I could have ice cream if I did all 18. We ended up with like a 9:40 pace or something like that. Basically didn't look at the watch too much because I knew we were slow and I was sick of feeling like we sucked.

Time to taper. Going to get in decent runs this week, 10 miles next weekend (hopefully my pace might start with a 8) and then I am going to give my legs a pretty good rest race week for sure. Hoping to knock out some packing tomorrow while we are home most of the day that way I am not lifting, bending and stretching a lot the days right before the race.

Those are my ramblings for the week! I still read your blogs I promise but my time on the computer is much less right now with all the house buying/selling events. Hopefully I will have pictures to share soon.