Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon

I picked up my running friend Ivana and we headed into the expo for the Rock 'n Roll marathon that was at the DC Armory (which was surprisingly easy to get in and out of). It was a ton of fun!!
Note: my hair looks seriously bad from behind. ICK!

I spent too much money I'm sure, but it certainly didn't go to waste. Three headbands, one waist belt, a pair of arm warmers, and a new pair of sunglasses for running (not pictured since I have them out in the car). Katelynn picked out the pink headband (I think it'll work great for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler coming up on April 7th!)...she didn't want to take it off either.

I changed my mind about what I was going to wear at least a dozen times. The shirts we got were blue (I was hoping for green since it was St. Patty's day weekend) and short sleeved. It wasn't supposed to be very warm, but I figured the arm warmers would help IF I decided to wear the blue shirt (I really wanted to wear green!!). They were calling for rain too. Every where I looked said something different. I debated on taking a change of clothes incase I got soaked, but I figured it'd be quicker to just catch the metro home and change later. After running for almost 3 hours in the rain what's another hour to get home before changing?!? This is what I ended up wearing...

I tied my jacket around my waist incase it ended up raining then I could just throw it on (it didn't bother me until about mile 11 or 12 then it started flapping and it drove me nuts - LOL). I did wear my shamrock headband, but I wore my hat too incase it rained. I was so annoyed! I had no idea the hat looked so funny. I couldn't find my race hat anywhere so I just grabbed one of Chris's - it did bring me good luck though! My arm warmers were awesome!! I loved wearing them. I also decided not to wear my skirt since I've never worn it for long runs. I was very comfortable except for my feet. I need new running shoes. My Brooks just rub my foot the wrong way below the toe. They are great for low mileage but once I get pass mile 8 or so it starts to throb.
Race morning: I got up super early since we were taking the metro into the race. I met Jennifer at her house and Ivana followed us (we had our own little caravan going on). We picked up Jennifer's friend Heather along the way too. The trip in went very smoothly and we found the start line easily enough.
I found the setup a little odd. They had different start corrals for the different waves (which was fine), but in each of the corrals they had port-a-potties facing into the corrals, so you ended up having these weird snake-like lines in the corrals of people trying to use the port-a-potties before the race began. There was no one separating the corrals either so once the race started everyone just moved forward and kept mixing together...which actually meant there were no port-a-potty lines closer to the front since they had already left to start the race. I ended up starting 30 minutes after the gun.
Also, the baggage check lines were quite ridiculous!! Drop off seemed easy enough (some of them had longer lines then others though); however AFTER the race those lines were insanely long and I was so glad I didn't have to wait in them. I was expecting it to run a lot smoother since it was a big race. I was quite surprised with how poorly the set-up at the start and finish were laid out.
The race: I ended up running the entire 13.1 miles with Jennifer's friend Heather!

We hit it off and chatted the entire time. Her pace was perfect for me. We walked up one or two hills (there were several and two of them were seriously huge!) and through some of the water stops, but that was it. She was an excellent partner! She liked to count things while we ran - men in kilts (I think there was one), person using the bathroom in the woods (that was hilarious! They just pulled down their pants and did their business - and they were wearing bright orange! It was too funny), number of men in tutu's - 1, number of barefoot shoes - 3, etc. It did help the miles go by.
Here is the recap on how we did...

Not bad at all!! I'm super happy with my time - 2:26:29!! I told Heather at the start that I wanted to finish under 3 hours, but I'd be really happy with 2:30-2:45. We definitely beat it!! She told me to leave her if she started to fall behind or hold me back, but I stressed that I'd rather have someone to run with then try and do it alone. Besides, I hadn't run more then 10 miles in training I was going to really, REALLY need help with those last few  miles. And help me she did! She was great. I hope to run another race with her again sometime.

I might also look into fuel belts. I didn't grab any water at the first few stations, but around mile 7 I believe (right after the massive hill) I started using the water stops and I tried the GU. I had a pb GU at one stop and an orange one (I believe) a while later. I actually really liked the taste and followed by a few sips of water it really did work well for giving me energy. Some of the water stations were crazy (I learned later that a lot of the volunteers didn't show because of the rain)...some didn't have any cups, some had cups, but no water in them, it was just craziness. A water belt would've helped me with those stations.
An unexpected surprise: my friend Patti came to cheer me on! Well, that, and she volunteered. And believe it or not she found me! In a crowd of 30,000 racers she managed to find me before I started running! And that was without using a phone. She found my corral and just started moving forward - she found me in a line for the port-a-potty - ha, ha!! After the race she gave me an awesome gift and even drove me to my car at the metro stop (it was on her way home) so I didn't have to ride the metro back. Only one small problem with the ride - we had to walk 3 miles to her car!! HA! What's 3 more miles after running 13.1?!
Here is a pic of Jennifer, Ivana, and Heather. They all had bags checked, so I headed home while they stood in those crazy lines. Katelynn had a birthday party at noon that I was trying to make it home for (my sister ended up taking the kids to the party since I was running so far behind). Next time I promised I'd stay for the after party - then maybe I'll make it into a photo. LOL

Catch-Up

I'm still here. I've just been avoiding talking and/or thinking about exercise/weight/fitness/health/etc. I have been completely unmotivated lately...really it feels like ages since I've been excited about working out and getting fit. I didn't feel like blogging because then I'd have to admit how horrible I've been feeling and doing with all of it. I signed up for challenges hoping that would motivate me, but all it does is make me angry that I'm not doing any of them like I wanted. My back has been bothering me a lot lately too, so every time I did the burpees or jumping type motions (similar to burpees where your in push-up position and jump your legs in out, sideways, which ever) it would hurt and then the next day I was hobbling. I missed the plank challenge, and wished that one wouldn't have gotten so crazy with times at the end. I was actually thinking of creating my own little challenge just to keep me going. Something I know I CAN do and that I'll WANT to do and that will keep me motivated and not feel deflated at the end of the month when the numbers are so overwhelming. I'm going to work on it while I'm away for Easter. The break will be nice - it'll be good to see my folks and to get away from this big, empty quiet house. HA! My house is super tiny, but it feels HUGE when Chris is gone. So, anyway, just wanted to say that I'm still here, just haven't felt the urge to blog about anything, and the few times I did feel like it I was embarrassed that it'd be so long. I'm going to disappear again for a bit while I'm at my folks place, but when I get back I plan to be focused and ready to get with the program.
Since Chris has been gone I've been seeing a trainer. We've met a few times now. Her name is Shannon. I like her a lot! I'm always sore after our workouts. I also like anyone who says I'm a beast and that I'm one of her only clients who could hang with her. She also told me she could have me ready for a fitness competition by the fall. Really?! I don't think she was looking at the same body. It didn't help with the blues any either - all I could do was look at fitness competitors and then look at me and I felt so discouraged. There is no way I could get these thighs that small, um, pass the pizza please. LOL
I also had my computer crash on me which caused some panic for a few days. My sister came over and got me all squared away with a wireless router and my laptop and phone all connected and running off of it! She's so awesome!!! I found someone to fix my desktop, but that's taking forever, so I'm so thankful my sister had an extra wireless router and could hook me up.
I'm still running too. I'll do another blog on that so I can recap my first half marathon. It was awesome!!

March Madness

We have our own type of madness going on around here. The end of February was crazy with getting Chris ready to head out. I finished up the challenge with 19 out of 28 days, so not bad; however all the days I missed were the last 9 - oops!
Tomorrow I'll be tackling my final long run before the big race on the treadmill. I attempted it on Friday and it was a complete nightmare. My friend Tabitha watched my kiddos and I met Jennifer to run, and I was miserable. I couldn't keep up with her, I couldn't breath, it felt like I'd never ever ran one mile, yet alone the 12 I was shooting for. I ended up giving in at mile 4. Today there will be no running. I will have fresh legs when I hit that treadmill tomorrow. The kids room only keeps your kids for two hours, so I'll see what I can get done. Hopefully it won't get too crowded otherwise I'll be hopping from machine to machine to get it all in.

I'm taking over Chris's personal training sessions while he's away. It didn't take me long to figure out which trainer I wanted either! I was running on the treadmill on Thursday and one of them hopped on the treadmill next to me and started doing sprint training at 9-point-something. She looked so happy when she was done, I waved her down and started talking to her. Before long I blurted out, "will you train me?" She got super excited and told me she'd love to help me get in shape for when my husband gets home. Her husband is military too, so she understands a lot of the stuff I go through. Anyway, we hit it off pretty well and I scheduled my first session with her for the following day - yesterday!
Knowing it was my first one and that we'd probably spend the majority of time working out a schedule, I figured it wouldn't hurt to run the 12 miles afterwards. It really wasn't a bad/hard session. Did some pushups, burpees, lunges, dips, clean and jerks, some ab stuff. She really just wanted to see what I was made of, and the more we did the more excited she got. She said, "oh this is going to be awesome!" Well, sweet! She wants to meet 3 times this week with one of them being an hour (they only meet with you for 30 minutes at Gold's) AND she said she'll e-mail me a meal plan. Cool!
I was feeling really good afterwards and really "excited" to do my last long run. I have no idea why it was so hard. I seriously couldn't catch my breath, and honestly, I felt like a huge failure. It could've been because I was tired from the trainer (doubt that one though), or maybe I was too hungry (didn't feel hungry, had a good breakfast and a protein shake 30 minutes before I ran), or maybe the cold (it wasn't really that bad). I just don't know what it was, and I guess it was bound to happen sometime. I won't let it get me down. I'll try again tomorrow on the treadmill. Next week it's all short runs for me, and then it's the race!! I'm really super excited!!! I can not wait for the energy of a road race.
I found some challenges again for March. I'm doing 3 of them. Two are leg challenges and one is an arm one. Combining the two leg ones makes for a nice, quick at home workout.

 

 Then I found this arm one to add to it (Curvy, Confident, and Fit is an awesome and very motivating facebook page).

I saw an ab one too, but I couldn't complete his plank one and I'm pretty sure doing 300 ab exercises every other day for a month will drive me insane, so I'm skipping that one. I might try and do it once a week just for fun - ha, ha!
I'm hoping to stay positive through out March; with Spring right around the corner it shouldn't be too hard!

Week 8 of Half-Marathon Training

Week 8 of half-marathon training done! YEAH!! 8 miles today, and they felt pretty great. My first 3 miles were at a 9:30 pace, then the next 3 miles at a 10 minute pace, mile 7 was surprisingly at a 9:30ish pace, and mile 8 was at 10 again. The weather man was calling for rain and snow, so I really was not looking forward to my run this morning. Thankfully, he was wrong and it was just cloudy with the sun popping out every now and then (I wore only one pair of pants and had to remove layers from the top as I went along). Last night (or rather early this morning) my daughter (she's 4) also decided that she wanted to sleep walk. I found her at 4am downstairs calling for me asking why I left without her. I put her back in bed and she just rolled over and kept right on sleeping. Of course I couldn't get myself back to sleep - I just kept having visions of her running down the street. At 6am I gave up and just got out of bed. Made some coffee and Chris made breakfast sandwiches - note to self NO BACON on long run days. YUCK! My running partner was not having such a good day either and forgot to take her Advil for her ankle, so she cut out a little early (she still knocked out almost 6 miles with me before breaking off for home).
Regardless of every thing that seemed to be going wrong this morning my run was actually really good. Once I got home and showered I had a ton of energy too. Now what to do with all this energy?!
I can't believe there are only 4 more weeks until my first half! I certainly hope all these training runs are going to pay off and make it somewhat easier on race day. Either way I'm super stoked for March 16th and the Rock 'n Roll half!!!!

February Challenge Update:
I'm still doing really well with my February challenges too. I took one rest day so far (last Sunday) and I've only missed two days of planks (I got all the other exercises those days, but put off the plank until later and then never got to it, no more putting it off until later!). I'm really proud of myself for sticking with it and knocking them out each and every day. They are starting to get harder as the month goes by, but I'll keep on keeping on.

Sprints

Part of my half-marathon training is speed work (or as I like to say sprints...just sounds cooler). Every Thursday I head over to the track on post and I warm-up with one mile (around 8:30-9 minute pace). Then I'll do a mile of sprints (I believe they call it 100's) - I sprint the straight section and then walk the curves. I repeat this for an entire mile or 8 times. I follow it up with a slow jog for another mile.
I came across an article on bodybuilding.com about sprint training. This is what they recommend:

For beginners, it is advisable to start sprinting at 50% speed until you feel comfortable and gradually increase your speed after every sprint. A typical sprinting workout that any average person should be able to do is 6-10 100-meter dashes. Each 100-meter dash can be done at any speed.
After each 100-meter dash, you should walk back to the line slowly; your rest between each sprint is your walk back to the starting line. When you get to the line if you are still fatigued then rest a minute or two before starting again.

Looks like I'm right on track with doing 8 sprints. I might increase it to 10 soon. It certainly couldn't hurt any. The biggest reason I do sprints is because it makes me faster. It also doesn't hurt that it slims my quads, butts, hips, and abs! I'll do any exercise that's going to help get rid of my saddlebags.

Yesterday when I was at the track I had the coolest encounter! It's exactly why I love running and runners. The past three weeks when I go the same two guys have been there chasing each other around the track. They are there when I get there and still going strong when I leave. Usually the guy with shaggy hair and beard is chasing the black haired guy and I always imagine one day he'll catch and beat him. As I was walking the last curve and getting ready to start sprint #8 the black hair guy sprinted past me followed by shaggy guy. I was a little tired but since it was my last one I needed to give it all I had, so I was happy to have someone to chase. I hit the starting line and took off. I surprised myself because I actually caught up to the shaggy guy and we 'raced' to the finish. He gave me a big grin as we finished (I was barely half a step behind him) and then thanked me for pushing him. Of course I thanked him too! He totally pushed me on that last sprint and it was awesome!

Noticeable Changes

My friend Patti put these images together for me. The one in the middle was taken July 2011. The outer photos were taken this January. Down 44 lbs and many, many inches.
I've been starring at these photos a lot over the past 24 hours. When I first saw it I smiled and thought I've come so far, but then I started thinking that really there isn't much of a change. Chris got mad at me. Patti got mad at me. Jenn got mad at me. "YOU LOOK GREAT!", they all said. Okay, okay. Fine. Thanks. Why do I have such a poor self-image of myself?!? I'm sure it has something to do with years and years and years of telling myself that I'm just well proportioned and big-boned. In high school I weighed 155 and wore a size 12. I've never been smaller then that, even when I was in the military. I am actually in the best shape of my life right now, and it's time to step back and appreciate all that hard work.
I took a deep breath and started looking at the photos from bottom up, glancing back and forth from one to the other. First noticeable difference - my calves. I've never measured them, but they look about half the size they were. Then I started thinking that I actually do have the difference in most of my measurements...Chris and I took them in May 2011 when we were going to start P90X. Here is my before photo...so flattering, and taken about 2 months before the one above.

May 2011 / January 2013
Weight: 202 / 158
Chest: 41" / 36"
Waist: 41" / 32.5"
Hips: 45.5" / 38"
Thighs: 32" / 25.5"
Arms: 16" / 12"
Photo from now. Tabitha said I need to show the one with my abs...it does look like I have them. I also have a before photo taken without my tank top, just in my sports bra, but, um, yea, not going there.

There are days when I feel like nothing is working, when I just want to give up and eat, eat, eat. On the days that I do indulge and eat crap I always feel bad and it NEVER tastes as good as I remember. I really have come a long way. I have a lot to be thankful for and proud of. I used to journal all my workouts (still do), so when I was looking up my measurements I came across my old workouts.
There was a ton of walking and Exercise tv workouts, but my favorite was on July 26, 2011 when I started C25K. It really was the start of it all. All I could do was jog for 90 seconds. I walked for 2 minutes. Repeated this 6 times for a total of 21 minutes. I was exhausted when I was done, but determined to keep at it. Fast forward to a year and a half later: I ran 10.4 miles this past Saturday while training for my half marathon. It took me one hour and 55 minutes (averaged out to an 11 minute/mile pace). I did that. Me. The girl who could barely run for 90 seconds a year and a half ago. WOW!
I also came across three goals I made for myself:
1. To wear shorts above the knee.
 - not sure I'll ever be comfortable enough to accomplish this one, it's still on my goal list!
2. Lower cholesterol
 - I need to schedule a physical to find out if it's lowered. September 2009 I had a physical and was told I had borderline high cholesterol (it is in my family). It's when I decided to change things. I met with a nutritionist, learned how to track calories, and measure food. Getting pregnant with my son changed a lot of things, but I refocused again a few months after he was born. I really do need to go and get it checked again.
3. Improve overall fitness.
 - I can say without a doubt that I have done this! I couldn't imagine my life without running or going to the gym. I feel stronger and healthier then I ever have and I don't plan on ever going back to the way things were!

Since it's Valentine's Day I figured I'd end with a special valentine that I found on Facebook this morning - love it! So, to you from me - HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY my fellow fitness friends!

February Goals

It's hard to believe we're in February already! January was such a crazy month for me and I really let my emotions take over which made my progress suffer. This month I really want to stay away from daily weigh-ins and anything else that's going to make me crazy; which lead me to this post - it's time to get some goals for the month figured out.
1) Get motivated!
For some extra challenge I went ahead and joined a couple (4 to be exact) challenges on Facebook this month. I figured I could use some extra motivation to get moving so why not. I originally had signed up for more, but once I started putting them all on one calendar I realized how crazy the month was getting, so I dropped out of some; seriously, I wasn't trying to un-motivate myself - LOL. I'm now on day 7 and still going strong. The plank challenge is by far the toughest one! I look like a block of jello while doing them especially since we've hit the 2 minute plus mark. The guy running the challenge (a facebook page called, "Get your ass to the Gym") gave some pretty good advice: hold the plank for as long as you can and then drop down for 5 seconds and then get right back up there. It really does help. My biggest problem though is once I drop down for 5 seconds I have trouble holding it for long periods of time. I try to get to at least 1:30 before I drop. Finishing the month off with a 4:15 plank seems scary, but I know how much stronger my core will be for it.
2) Weekly Weigh-In and Taping
The girls and I are going to do a weekly weigh-in on Wednesday's. I'm hoping this keeps me from going mental by weighing myself daily and freaking out about the numbers. Also, since my biggest goal is not to lose too much more weight (maybe 10 more) I'll be doing my measurements. When I took them this is what I found out:
Beginning January / Beginning February
weight: 159 / 158
chest: 37 / 36
waist: 34 / 32.5
thighs: 26.5 / 25.5
hips: 37 / 38
arms: 12 / 12 (flexed: 13)
Looks like the little bit of LiveFit Trainer I was able to stick with plus my running was working. I was too busy crying about a number on a scale to notice. My pants were fitting tighter because my hips got bigger (probably because my butt was lifting from all the squats/lunges/running). So, my goal for this month is to not focus on the number (it'll just serve as a guide to make sure it's not creeping upwards) but to just keep working hard.
Here I am wearing 2 pair of pants, knee-highs, and 4 shirts getting ready to head out for my 20 degree run this past Saturday.

3) LiveFit Trainer Restart and Personal Trainers
I skipped the last week of phase 1 for LiveFit trainer and started phase 2 this week. The biggest reason is because phase 2 has cardio and I need to work on my running (especially since I've got lots of big races this year). I'll be doing the LiveFit Trainer until my hubby leaves again, then I'll be taking over his personal training sessions. I'm not really sure what the trainer will want to do, so for now I'm focusing on LiveFit and running and then I'll think about the trainer when the time comes.
4) Weight Loss Challenges
I dropped out of the one on post. I think that's part of the reason for the big freak out last month. It was silly to enter when I really don't want to lose that much more weight, my goal is to tone up and just get stronger. The challenge on post is all about the numbers and their scale showed me going up every week for 3 weeks so I decided to drop out and not focus on numbers. I also reminded myself that I joined the Gold's Gym one and I need to get my head in the game if I want to be successful with it.
5) Eating Clean
Today is day 2 of Phase 2 LiveFit Trainer and so far so good with following her plan. Saturday I'm meeting my best friend to celebrate her 30th birthday so I'm going to focus on eating clean until then so I can splurge a little with her (nothing crazy - just Starbucks and maybe dessert!). Yesterday's breakfast: 5 egg whites, 1/2 an Ezekiel english muffin, hot tea.

 Yesterday's lunch: 6 oz chicken breast, 4 oz sweet potato, huge salad, lots of water.

Yesterday for snack 1 I had pumpkin protein bars. Snack 2 (which is more like dinner) was 4 Tilapia tacos with broccoli slaw. My after workout drink: 8 oz almond milk, 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup pumpkin, and lots of ice.
Today for breakfast - 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 8 oz almond milk, 1/2 cup blueberries (lovely color isn't it?!?!), and hot tea.

I'm really proud of myself for no junk yesterday! I'm hoping to keep it up for a few more days. I'm very excited for February and positive thinking. Here's to many optimistic thoughts and a month full of great, inspiring blogs!!