Archive | May, 2012

What I Learned from My High School Coach

29 May Me and Mrs. Long at the end of cross country season my senior year.

Over the long weekend, I was fortunate to be able to meet up with my high school cross country coach, Mrs. Long, for a run. She coached Brandi, Amanda and I, and there is no doubt that she played a huge role in where I am today both in my running career and overall outlook on life. She has always inspired me, but with two young boys, many major changes in her personal life over the past year and a 3:14 marathon in April, I can’t help but be in awe of her strength and perseverance.

As I sat stretching after our 10 mile run (something I did NOT learn from the woman who was quite okay with not being able to touch her toes) , I started thinking about all the advice Mrs. Long gave me over the 4 years as my coach and 9 years as my friend.

You call that a hill?
Mrs. Long had a knack for nonchalantly leading us on the hilliest runs in town. As we grumbled about the terrain, she’d wave them away with her hand and say, “You call that a hill? That’s just a little speed bump.” On especially bad (or steep) days when we’d all be complaining at the bottom of a hill we were running repeats up and begging her to cut our workout down, she’d blatantly ignore us and cheerfully yell “Readyyy, go!” over the noise. Bottom line? Your legs aren’t really going to fall off, so just get it done.

Boys are bad.
This was one of Mrs. Long’s favorite sayings (mostly because our high school boys team was known to pull pranks like launching surprise water balloon attacks on the girls team or putting a snake in Mrs. Long’s car). There was nothing truly sexist about it; she was just being protective of her high school girls and wanted us to focus on school and running–what coach wouldn’t?! The thought has always been in the back of my mind though that if I’m going to be with someone, I better be darn sure that he’d pass Mrs. Long’s test and prove her theory wrong!

Have fun.
For the first time in school history, the cross country team made it to the regional meet as a team. It was a huge accomplishment, but I remember Mrs. Long relating it to a video game: “You know when you work really hard in Super Mario and beat a level and then you get a bonus round? That’s sort of what this is; like a super bonus round you weren’t expecting.” I think back to this when I reach and exceed a goal; it’s great to enjoy your accomplishments but don’t put them up on a pedestal because you’re going to have to work hard again to beat the next level.

Mrs. Long and I at the end of cross country season my senior year.

I love that no matter how many months pass, I can always call up Mrs. Long for a run when I’m in town and we pick up right where we left off. Even though she hasn’t coached me for over 5 years, there is no doubt that Mrs. Long will always be my coach.

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Eat Well, Run Well

19 May Farmer's Market Purchases

I normally enjoy running solo; I can run at my own pace, on my own schedule, and I don’t have to worry about carrying on a conversation and breathing at the same time. But this past week, I ran with a friend Thursday evening and joined the Reston Runners for their 5-mile Saturday morning run. After both runs, somehow the conversation turned to what we eat and how it makes us feel.

Don’t overdo it.
My friend Anna and I ran together in college. She was one of the first people I met at school and I’m happy to say she is still one of my good friends and, even though we’re not teammates anymore, she still motivates me to be a better runner. We both have a sweet tooth, so in college we always had the mentality of “I ran X miles in X minutes, so I need to eat more and, hey, a little ice cream never hurts.” Now, I haven’t completely abandoned this notion but I’ve certainly cut back on that eat-anything-I-want mentality (and no longer having an all-you-can-eat cafeteria with an ice cream bar helped, too). After our run on Thursday, Anna made use a delicious dinner of whole wheat wraps, quinoa, peppers and onions, avocado and organic salsa. On my drive home, I couldn’t help but think how differently we were eating compared to only a year or two ago at college…

Make better choices.
And then, this morning after a rolling 5 mile run, I got into a conversation with another runner about how much more important nutrition is to your health than exercise. Neither of us are doctors and I’d obviously still recommend that everyone get out and put a few miles in, but he said something that stuck with me: “You can run as many miles as you want, but if you’re fueling your body with junk then it really doesn’t matter.” He explained that he was in the habit at work of snacking on sweets throughout the day to get a little sugary pick-me-up. When he went to the doctor for his cholesterol check-up, the doctor noticed that his blood sugar was elevated as well. He traded in his sweets for an apple or other piece of fruit and the next time he went to the doctor, his blood sugar was back to normal and his cholesterol had lowered 20 points! It’s amazing what a big impact small changes can have on your body.

Eat fresh and local.
The two conversations in the course of a few days really made me think about what I’m eating. I generally eat pretty healthy (mostly vegetarian and as many whole foods as possible) but there’s always room for improvement. On my way home from the running club, I stopped at the farmer’s market and picked up this fresh, tasty, sustainable collection of fruit, vegetables and herbs. There’s something unexplainably satisfying about handing your money to the person who actually grew the food you’re buying.

I made a protein-packed egg and spinach wrap for my post-run breakfast and can’t wait to cook with the rest of it this weekend. Hope you have a wonderful and healthy weekend!

[P.S. Looking for more inspiration to eat healthy? My two favorites are the book In Defense of Food and the movie Food, Inc. Check 'em out at your local library!]

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My First Marathon: Wisconsin Marathon 2012

14 May 318268_648819334207_51601164_32895865_1576860562_n

That’s right: I DID IT! I completed my first marathon! I finished in 4:17:13, which is faster than my ‘non-goal’ – to finish (in 4:30).

We did it! 26.2, done!

Amanda gave a good rundown of what the race was like; the marathon followed the same out and back loop as the half marathon, then added on another out-and-back loop. I’ll have to agree with Amanda – even though it was a small race with sparse crowd support, it was so nice to be able to pass racing friends. I knew quite a few volunteers, as well. They did a really great job cheering us on!

Thank goodness Sarah Stanley was with me for the race; she wasn’t kidding when she said I’d really need her at the end. I felt great for the first 16 or so; we had a great time chatting, laughing, and high fiving people. The nice thing about having Sarah there was that I just didn’t worry about my time – I let her look at her watch and make sure we weren’t going too fast. My Nike+ tracking was off (clocked in 28 miles rather than 26.2), so I’m not 100% sure on timing, but I probably did the first half in 2 hours or so.

We did a lot of smiling, waving, and high fiving during the first half

Giving my husband, Mike (running photographer extraordinaire) the thumbs up!

Between miles 16-20 was when I started to mentally break down. I just wanted to be done, and knew I still had 8-10 miles left. I started to get some strange shooting pains, and my body started aching. My mile 19 chip time was 2:59:18. I stopped to walk a little at 21 or 22, and then started back up again. I was fine to run through the pain. Mile 23 was when you took the turn to the ‘home stretch’, heading back towards the finish line. Trust me, “only a 5k left” wasn’t much consolation at that point;)

I stopped in that last stretch once – was losing my breath as we headed directly into the wind coming off of Lake Michigan. Yuck! I’m assuming in those last 8 miles I probably ran over 10 minute miles, especially with the walking.

The finish was great – felt a lot of emotions – only felt like crying for a brief moment. I was so happy to be done! You know I gave it my all since I couldn’t even bring myself to have a post-race beer. ;) I could barely walk once I stopped, but after a warm shower and a long nap, I felt pretty decent on that night.

It was harder than I expected, and I’m glad I’m already registered for the Chicago Marathon. No way out; no excuses!

My ‘recovery’ has been quick. The morning after the race, we left for Napa, CA vacation. We did a lot of walking during the trip (and I did a lot of stretching), so that may have helped my recovery, but I was really only sore for 2-3 days after the race, which surprised me. I haven’t run (or worked out for that matter) all week; I am meeting a friend for a light run this week and I’m going to start doing some cross training, but I’m trying to keep the running to the minimum this week as well, then try to start up on some shorter runs next week. I really want to give my body some time to recover and give myself a mental break from training!

Any other post-marathon recovery tips out there?

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The Cheesiest Half Marathon

6 May Wisconsin Marathon and Half Marathon 2012

Wisconsin Marathon and Half Marathon 2012More than anything this year, the one running goal I had in mind was to beat my PR from last year’s Wisconsin Half Marathon. My time then was 2:11:52.

With my previous half marathon times this year being 2:21:58 (Livestrong Half, 2/19) and 2:15:35 (South Shore Half, 4/7), squeaking out a 2:11 seemed like a far way off. I knew I could get close, but I just wasn’t sure if I could get all the way there.

Last year, I was able to train injury-free for months leading up to the Wisconsin Half Marathon. This year, however, I battled some injuries and couldn’t push myself too hard until about 6 weeks ago. And as far as running 10 minute pace long runs? I was able to hold up that pace for the first half of my long runs, but by the last few miles, I would always slow down a lot and really feel the burn in all of my body. I was worried that if I couldn’t hold that pace in a training run, how could I hold it during the race?

I was crazy nervous right before the run started – muscles jumpy, stomach tight and churning, and mind racing. Could I do it? It would be hard and maybe suck a little, but I thought I could do it. Thanks to pep talks from the boyfriend about how hard I have been working, some inspirational videos online, and the happy crowd and friends’ cheering support along the way, I started the race with the 10 minute pace at the top of my mind and really believing in myself.

But, I was nervous after the first mile… I felt like I was going at a comfortable pace, but I was also boxed in with the race crowd, so my time ended up being about 10:30. Crap. I was going to have to make up that extra 30 seconds somehow during the race.

My right leg was also super tight, and my right quad felt like lead. I told myself it was just weird nerves and that the tightness would go away after a few miles, but it never loosened up. Finally at mile 5, I told myself that the crappy feeling wasn’t going away and I would just have to deal with it. So that’s what I did.

The race course looped around the downtown of Kenosha’s harbor and then up north by Carthage College along the lake, where you turned around and ran the same route back. I kept my eye out for some faster friends on their turn back, as well as my sister Brandi, who was running a 9:30 pace ahead of me. It made me happy to see her and my other friends, as well as some familiar faces cheering along the side of the road, so those distractions helped me get through the next couple of miles on pace and without thinking too much about how hard I was running to make sure I got my goal.

Cheering friends

Thanks friends for cheering me on!

When I got to mile 9, I looked at my watch and realized, with 4 miles left, that I could get my PR if I kept up the pace and then picked it up a little bit for the last two miles. I got to mile 11, where one of my work friends did a jig in the street for me, all the while cheering me on. At this point, I was so focused that all I could do was watch and smile, but it helped so much! I had 2 miles to go, and this was where I had to make my move. I picked up the pace a little bit more and kept chugging along.

I got to mile 12, where you turned around and headed back to the finish line for the final mile. Accelerate! I picked up the pace even more and started passing people left and right, hoping that I wasn’t starting to kick too early. I got to the last quarter-mile and just gave it everything I had. I ran by my boyfriend and bro-in-law as they screamed at me that I had to get going to get my time. I heard some other people I knew cheering for me but I didn’t even look around – I kept staring forward at the finish line and ran as fast as I could.

Sprinting to the finish of the Wisconsin Half Marathon 2012.

Sprinting it in the home stretch!

Beep. I crossed the finish line, stopped my watch and looked down.

2:11:05.

Hello, PR.

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Pre-race Ramblings

5 May

Today is the day!

I write this as I sip my coffee and listen to the rain pound on the roof, while I wait for Brandi & husband to arrive before we head to our race: The Wisconsin Marathon & Half Marathon.

For me, it will be my third half marathon this year…and the one I want SO badly to PR at! I am pretty certain I can get a PR for this year, but what I would love to do is beat my time from last year’s race. It was 2:11. To do that, I need to run around a 10:05 pace or under…and that is a tall order from my last half marathon, only a handful of weeks ago, where I ran a little over 2:15. But, for the first time all year, I have been able to run the last several weeks injury-free, allowing me to finally push the pace, do more speed work, and pour myself into hard runs. We’ll see if the work pays off!

For Brandi, this is her first marathon. I know she is nervous, but I think she will do awesome (of course). She is one of the strongest people I know, and if anyone can beat a marathon, she can. Wish her luck over the next several hours as she keeps calm and runs on! As soon as I finish my half, I plan to track down her devoted husband and cheer her on the rest of the way in to the FINISH.

I can’t wait to get out there and run. I think this rain will pass – fingers crossed. The sun might not come out, but that’s okay. I feel sunny and excited on the inside. :)

(And come on, this IS Wisconsin, so can I say I am a little excited about the free beer & brat at the finish line?)

Here we go! Let’s get cheesey.

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