Slightly Disappointed, But Even More Proud

I'm a little disappointed in myself, but at the same time, proud. This week was supposed to be a 31-mile week, but ended up being only 21 miles... Why a ten-mile difference? Well, Thursday I was supposed to run eight miles, but it turned into a seven-mile run due to a pop-up storm and the fact that my legs were just killing me. Then, yesterday I was supposed to run 13 miles, but since I didn't wake up until around 9:30 AM and by the time I got outside to run it was around 10-10:30 AM and the humidity was hard to bear, my 13-mile run turned into a painful five-mile run... I was ready to give up around mile two! It was so hot and humid, plus my legs were still pretty sore... But, I pushed myself to get to the five-mile mark... Afterwards I felt like I ran 13 miles! I was sweating profusely!

Well, anyways... Like I said, I am also sorta proud of myself this week. Normally, I would have been so disappointed I wouldn't be able to stand it and probably would have kept running and hurt myself. I tend to push myself too hard and in the past it's led to injuries or burning myself out. It's not like I skipped out on my 20-mile run! It was just a shorter, long run - no biggie. Not going to lie though... I even Googled, "Is it alright to skip a long run?" -lol- Someone actually skipped out on a 20-mile run! Now that, that would be bad, considering I only have one 20-mile run in my training. Missing out on a full 13 miles won't kill me. Heck, maybe it'll make me even stronger for having a shorter mileage week!

Friday after work I went to Kent State's Recreation Center for the FIRST time as a KSU student! I went on an Elliptical for about 20 minutes and then did upper body. KSU's rec is A-MAZ-ING! I'm so used to BGSU's tiny little, old rec center. KSU has multiple weight room and cardio areas that I couldn't decide which one to go workout in first! Check out the YouTube video to the right about Kent's Rec Center. Pretty sweet, huh? I'm going to try to go there more often after work on Mondays and Fridays since I don't have classes - maybe even on the weekends for my cross training!

Well, today (Sunday) is going to be a REST day. Tomorrow is Labor Day, so you know what that means? The Aurora Labor Day 5K! That's the main reason why I am taking a rest day today - so that I can run well tomorrow and MAYBE even PR... Maybe... It's supposed to be a five-mile run tomorrow, so I'll run two after I get done with the 5K as a cool down. I'll do another post tomorrow to let ya'll know how I did! :)

Have a great Labor Day weekend! :)

Seven More Weeks to go!

Whew... Eighteen miles down this morning! Only seven more weeks until the BIG day! I can't believe how fast this training/summer has gone by... I start my first week of graduate school this upcoming week - YIKES! Excited/nervous at the same time. But, I've already posted about that, so I won't bore you with the details. :)

Anyways, this week was pretty good running-wise. I did five miles on Monday and Tuesday, with a full body strength training workout after the run on Tuesday. Rest on Wednesday, ran eight miles on Thursday and then another rest day on Friday.

Dinner!

Blake and I were going to run yesterday (Saturday) morning, but we decided to have Miles sleep in his cage since he's been sleeping with me in my bed every night. Not a good idea... he cried ALLLLLLLLLLL night. He may have slept for three to four hours at the most, which also means I only got about three to four hours of sleep on and off. I felt dead the next day... So, instead of dragging myself out to run, I took another rest day! I've actually taken three rest days this week. One was on Wednesday, Friday and then Saturday. I felt pretty good this morning though. We ran the same place as last week - the trail at Silver Springs in Stow. My stomach felt a little yucky when we first got there... The night before I had lemon-pepper chicken, whole-wheat organic macaroni and cheese and green beans for dinner. For a snack I had some Triscuits last night and then this morning about 30 minutes before the run I ate a Luna Bar. I think it may have been the Triscuits. Maybe I'll try having yogurt or something the night before.

Around mile 17 is when I started to feel it. I just wanted to be done! I was also getting a little hungry. But, I finished! We ran 18 miles in about three hours and nine minutes. Not bad considering we walked up some big hills and stopped a couple times to drink. Overall, the run was pretty good. I didn't feel as good as I did last weekend, but not too bad either.

After our run I drank some low-fat chocolate milk. :)

Well, this week is another 5-8-5 week and then a 13-mile run during the weekend. Not too bad!

Have a happy Sunday! :)

Seventeen Miles Later and Feeling on Top of the World!

Guess what? I ran 17 miles yesterday! That was the farthest I've EVER ran! Also, guess what? I'm farther in my training that I made it to last year! VICTORY! I feel so accomplished and even better about running 26.2 miles in a couple months. I felt amazing during and after the run yesterday and am not as sore as I thought I would be today.

So, Blake and I got up at 5:30 AM yesterday to get ready for the run. I ate half of a whole-grain bagel and about eight-ten ounces of Gatorade about 45 minutes before we ran at 6:30 AM. We drove to Silver Springs in Stow, which is part of the Cleveland Metroparks. It was really foggy and dark out when we first started off. It was nice though. It was cooler than our usual 9 or 10 AM runs. We saw quite a few fellow runners out about an hour into our run. A few other runners who passed us asked how far we were going and what we were training for. At first, I felt ashamed that these guys were passing us, but then when they told us how far they were running (seven to eight miles) and heard that they've ran quite a few marathons, I didn't feel so bad. Running double their distance made me feel a little better about them passing.

I wish I had a camera on me. It was so beautiful and green everywhere. If you've never ran at Silver Spring, you need to! There are a couple bigger hills, but for the most part, it's a nice, flat path. From mile one to mile 10 I was apprehensive about the pain I would soon feel around mile 13-16. But, fortunately, it really never came. I never got to the point where I cursed at myself and legs in my head, where I wanted to just keel over and die! It actually felt quite good! At around mile 13, I wanted to go faster and felt invincible! Those endorphins really kicked in! I kept asking Blake if we could go faster, but he didn't want to run out of gas. Which, was probably a good idea. We ran at about a 9:45-10 minute-mile pace for the most part. Except we walked up two humongous hills and stopped for a potty break. We ran 17 miles in two hours and about 52 minutes. Not bad! Especially for our first 17-mile run!

Nom nom! I sure did deserve it!

Afterwards, I felt AMAZING, on top of the world! It felt good to complete so many miles all before 10 AM. I even treated myself. We stopped at a Circle K to get some CHOCOLATE milk. Last time I only took a few sips, but this time I drank the whole 16 ounces of it! It was orgasmic... Oh, how I've missed chocolate milk! After that I wasn't really even hungry, so I showered and got ready to head to PA to see my dad with my sister, Lindsey and Grandma. Then I didn't eat lunch until 12:30 PM, which was a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce (Iceberg - BLAH), cucumber and mustard with some yogurt and a banana. I was sleepy most of the day, but not too sore. Even today, I'm not all that sore! I attribute it to the chocolate milk. :-)

Today is SUNDAY! YAY! Normally it's a long-run day, but boy am I glad we ran yesterday! I think today I'm going to do my Jackie Warner circuit training. Then I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day.

Have a great Sunday! :)

Possible Reasons I Didn't Run the Full Last Year :-(

So I'm in the middle of the sixth week of training (WOO). I'm a little anxious about the next three weeks, because last year I gave up my marathon training at week nine! I ran 15 miles the week before and the day I was supposed to run 16, I just couldn't do it anymore. So, I called the Cleveland Marathon and told them I'd be downgrading to the half... Whomp whomp whomp......... That WILL NOT happen this year! Here are the factors that I believe played into me not completing my full marathon training...

1. I started training in the winter months and was in Bowling Green... Let's just say BG isn't the funnest place to run over 10 miles in.

2. I didn't have much motivation/support. Blake wasn't planning on running the full marathon in Cleveland and wasn't too thrilled about running that much. It really helps to have someone training with you. Now, Blake IS training for the marathon with me, plus I'll be joining the Grunt Girls, so I'll have TONS of support. Not to mention this blog. This is the main reason I started this blog - to vent about my training, get support and track my feelings and thoughts during the 18-month long process.

3. My body was just too exhausted. Maybe it was stress from school, poor nutrition or training, but I was so tired and sore ALL THE TIME. Hopefully more regular yoga and my early strength training will help my muscles from all the strain of road running. Plus, even though I already eat healthy, I'm trying to eat more carbohydrates and protein so my body can recover from those long runs.

Deena Kastor

4. TOO MUCH REPETITIVENESS! I only ran on roads and sidewalks, occasionally a treadmill. But, this time around I've been doing some trail running and plan to do more with the Grunt Girls. Trail running emphasizes different running skills, muscles and joints from your shoulders down. The ankles and knees really gain strength, but it also provides comfort from the hard pounding on the pavement, which can cause shin splints. Also, because of the unpredictability of the route, trail running improves your proprioception (the sense of balance and where the body is in space). According to Life Time Fitness, that's how American runner Deena Kastor won the bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics Marathon. Therefore, MORE TRAIL RUNS!

This week's schedule looks like this: Monday I did upper body to give my legs a rest from the weekend's cardio workouts which included a 12-mile run on Saturday and a 10-mile bike on Sunday (my legs were KILLING me!). Tuesday was an easy three miles with some core work. Today was also an easy three miles, but Blake ran with me this morning. :) Tomorrow is going to be a six-mile pace workout. It's supposed to be 97 degrees tomorrow! YIKES! I'll have to get my run in early in the morning to beat the heat. Then I'll take a rest day Friday, Saturday hopefully a nice bike ride and then nine miles in the Peninsula with the Grunt Girls. :)

New Training Schedule and NOMalicous Food

Hello there! Yes, that's right I created a NEW word - NOMALICIOUS. It means food that's so good you just want to NOM it.

So, I was on Hal Higdon's website yesterday and saw that he had TWO different types of Novice training plans... He only has one of them in his book, which is the easier one for those who've been running for less than a year (what kind of crazy  person would just start running in less than a year and run a marathon anyways?). Novice 2 is for those who have been running for a while and have done half marathons, 5Ks and such, just never a marathon before. That's me! Here's the schedule... It's really not a whole lot different, but the mileage is higher in the beginning and adds "pace" runs. I think those are either like tempo runs or race pace. We'll see how I feel. I am on my third week now, so obviously the first two weeks were different from this schedule, but not too much. This is the plan I'll be following from today on. I even ran four miles today instead of three because yesterday I only ran four when I was supposed to run five.

Marathon Training Schedule: Novice 2

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	Rest	3 m run	5 m pace	3 m run	Rest	8	cross
2	Rest	3 m run	5 m run	3 m run	Rest	9	cross
3	Rest	3 m run	5 m pace	3 m run	Rest	6	cross
4	Rest	3 m run	6 m pace	3 m run	Rest	11	cross
5	Rest	3 m run	6 m run	3 m run	Rest	12	cross
6	Rest	3 m run	6 m pace	3 m run	Rest	9	cross
7	Rest	4 m run	7 m pace	4 m run	Rest	14	cross
8	Rest	4 m run	7 m run	4 m run	Rest	15	cross
9	Rest	4 m run	7 m pace	4 m run	Rest	Rest	Half Mar
10	Rest	4 m run	8 m pace	4 m run	Rest	17	cross
11	Rest	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	18	cross
12	Rest	5 m run	8 m pace	5 m run	Rest	13	cross
13	Rest	5 m run	5 m pace	5 m run	Rest	19	cross
14	Rest	5 m run	8 m run	5 m run	Rest	12	cross
15	Rest	5 m run	5 m pace	5 m run	Rest	20	cross
16	Rest	5 m run	4 m pace	5 m run	Rest	12	cross
17	Rest	4 m run	3 m run	4 m run	Rest	8	cross
18	Rest	3 m run	2 m run	Rest	Rest	2 m run	Marathon

Blake ran with me this morning. It was a nice, cool, sunny morning. Perfect weather for a morning run. I didn't have to work until 11 AM, so it was nice to relax after my run before work. OH, and I got to watch LIVE with Regis and Kelly. :) Always a plus. I'm off tomorrow and of course Monday for the Fourth of July. YAY four-day weekends! Two 5K's this weekend too, one Saturday night and the other Monday morning.

Dinner tonight was Hawaiian chicken on the grill, corn-on-the-cob and homemade garlic red mashed potatoes. NOM NOM! Mom worked the grill. :)

I forgot to post the picture of my home-made chicken pot pie me, my mom and Blake made Sunday night. We made everything from scratch, including the WHOLE WHEAT crust. OMG, it was AMAZING! Blake and I have also been making our own smoothies pretty much every night. They are NOMalicious too! Ever had a smoothie from Pulp? Well, our's is better! We use about a half a cup of ice, cup of fat-free Activia yogurt, handful of strawberries, two bananas and two tablespoons of honey... Mmmm...

Tuesday night was turkey tacos with whole wheat tortillas, romaine lettuce, salsa and cheese. I had leftovers Wednesday. I think my seasoning made me sick though... Been running to the bathroom all day. =-/

Well, tomorrow is an off day for the legs! Going to do arms and abs. Then Therese and I are going on a hike at the Peninsula. :-)

Today I Don't Feel Like Doing Anything... Nothing At All...

Happy Friday! It's almost 7:00 PM and I haven't melted yet because I haven't ran or worked out. Hallelujah! As I mentioned in a previous post, I HATE rest days. But, today was an exception. I got up early to go into work early this morning and decided not to do my P90X Plyometrics as planned. I got out a little later than usual from work too. I had it set in my head that I was going to workout right when I got home - I was even somewhat annoyed when my boss asked me to stay later because I was thinking, "Dude, are you kidding me? Don't you know that I was planning on doing P90X soon? GRRR..." But, I soon got over it, extra money - yes please! :)

Instead of working out when I got home, I headed to me bed and took a nearly TWO-HOUR nap! It was pretty amazing... Much more refreshing than an hour of jumping around, at least today anyways.

This is a BIG accomplishment for me. If I say I'm going to do a workout, I do it and maybe that's not always the best for my body. Sometimes my body just needs a rest. Not only did I run yesterday, but I did strength training and went on a nice long hike with a good friend. I'm still struggling with that "voice" in my head from my eating disorder trying to tell me to not eat, to workout more, but I've learned to ignore it. So, maybe to some people missing a workout day is no big deal, it is the usual and working out is something to celebrate. For me it's the opposite. It's still a little hard to swallow that I didn't workout today, but I didn't do it and I'm sticking by my guns! Go me!

Eating my whole-wheat pizza with green peppers and broccoli now. NOM NOM! Blake is too, but his has pepperoni, lots of pepperoni, on it.

Noah wants some too!

Nom Nom

Well, that's it for today... Tomorrow morning is a 7-mile run. It's supposed to be a nice 70-degree day out tomorrow, can't wait! =-)

Stay Fit my Friends!

Colleen

The Most Important Meal of the Day

Happy Thursday everyone! Wow, FOUR followers in four days. :-)

No work today, YAY! That means I get to sleep in until 7:30ish, eat breakfast before I run, watch ALL of Good Morning America and LIVE with Regis and Kelly. YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY! I actually kind of like running before I eat breakfast, but most mornings I'm starving when I wake up, so it's kind of nice to eat before. Either way, I HAVE to eat breakfast in the morning. I don't know how people cannot eat something in the morning. Actually I do... Most people who are not hungry in the morning, it's because they ate too much the night before. If you eat the right amount of food the night before you should be slightly hungry when you wake up in the morning. Plus, a nice well-balanced meal in the morning revs up your metabolism and helps you eat less throughout the day. People who eat breakfast tend to weight less, proven fact.Check out this article if you're a non-breakfast eater. Lose Weight: Eat Breakfast

NOM NOM NOM

My breakfast this morning, and most mornings for that matter, was my all-time favorite whole-wheat Giant Eagle's bagel with Jif's All Natural Creamy Peanut Butter (has much less fat, calories and sodium then regular peanut butter) and slices of bananas on top and a glass of skim milk... NOM NOM!

I wouldn't say this is the BEST breakfast to have before a run. The peanut butter seems to stick to my insides while I run. And milk is also not the best either... But, it's so good and it gives me energy. It's better to eat this after my run because of the amount of carbs to fat ratio with the peanut butter, wheat and milk. One of my best before-workout breakfasts is oatmeal with almonds and blueberries... Or Post Grape-Nuts with grapes and skim milk. I love me some Grape-Nuts! Those are pretty much it when it comes to breakfast for me. The bagel and peanut butter banana one is what I eat pretty much everyday, but I try to mix it up a little with my other two favs.

I can't wait until my mileage increases over the next couple of weeks. I LOVE when I get up into the 30-miles plus weeks. By the middle of my training program is when I feel the best. This week is only a 16-mile week. Three miles three times during the week and then my long run on Saturday will be seven miles. Some people may think I'm crazy, but running is seriously my FAVORITE thing to do and if you're following this blog then we're probably on the same page. I may not be the fastest or run the furthest, but I sure do enjoy it when I do run. I do have my days where it's a struggle, but why would I want to do something that's easy? I like a challenge, hence why I'm running my first marathon in a few months. :)

Courtesy of Netflix

After my three-mile run today I decided to do some strength training since I had time. I found an excellent workout video on Netflix called The Trainer's Edge: Integrated Strength Training. He's no Jillian Michaels or Jackie Warner, but this guy knows what he's talking about! He doesn't just focus on one muscle group, but he does a whole bunch of muscle groups at a time. I did this workout last week and felt it in my arms and obliques the most the next day. 


Now I just got done eating my yummy home-made turkey chili from last night (so much better the day after) and waiting on the rain to calm down so me and my long-time best friend Therese can go on a hike! We've been friends since we were like four years old! :-)


Stay dry my friends!


Colleen

Going Gym-less this Summer!

Good Morning! So, I did it - I gave my legs a rest! :) Because even Hal Hidgons takes off days. He says in his book:

"For those who failed, often the reason was that they trained too hard and were too unwilling to take days off."

Maybe that was my problem last year when I attempted to train for the full marathon in Cleveland. I resisted rest days but not resting enough.

I plan to take off at least one day a week for my legs to recover. On my cross-training days of Monday and Friday I'll either do some strength training, with legs or just my arms and core. Then on Sunday is when I plan to ride my bike. I think another mistake I made last year was not enough strength training in the early weeks of my training. I would just run and ride my bike, no weight-training or yoga. Although I will be resting at least one day a week, I will be working on my arms and core on the days when I give my legs a rest.

I worked out my arms and core this morning actually though with the lovely Jackie Warner and her video Personal Training with Jackie Warner.

She is a BEAST! Check out those abs! Jealous... She has a 40-minute circuit-training workout that focuses on all of your muscles - it's a killer! You can pick and choose certain body parts too and that's what I did this morning. Her ab workout is pretty awesome! I actually think she's better than Jillian Michaels, and that says something!

The real meaning of this post is to say that I am going gym-less this summer. I normally go to a gym every summer like Snap Fitness, but I decided to save money and just do my workouts at home. I've got TONS of different workouts to do right in my bedroom, why waste money at a gym? My summer equipment includes two sets of weights, 5 lbs and 15 lbs (I would like to get a 10 and 20 lb weight too), resistance bands, 6 lb. Empower Ball, Swiss Ball, a treadmill in our family room, my road bike and a Yoga mat.
I also have my favorite workout DVD's. The best, of course, is Jackie Warner's as I mentioned already. I also have Jillian Michaels' Yoga Meltdown, which is about 30 minutes long. I also have the P90X workout videos on my computer. The ones that I usually do are the Yoga (an hour long) and, my favorite, Plyometrics. Plyometrics is jump training and a little less than an hour-long. If you want to sweat, this is the workout for you! I really think this workout will help me with speed.

Once school starts in August I'll definitely take advantage of Kent State's Recreation Center. It's AMAZING! So much better and bigger than BGSU's Rec Center...

So, that is it for today. I'm actually running a little late on getting ready for work. OOPS! P.S. I HATE my job... Trying to find a new one.... Ok, well I don't HATE it, it's just not me...
I need something that is actually in my field. Business and Entrepreneurship to me is BORING... The people are nice though.


Stay fit my friends!

One Week Down, 17 More to Go!

Why hello there! Thanks for visiting my blog and for reading my first of many blog posts! I can't wait until October 15, but I'm also excited for this training program and to see the progress I will make. I am using Hal Higdon's "Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide" for my training program. I am on the novice program since this will be my FIRST marathon.


Woo hoo! Week one of training for the Columbus Marathon complete! It really wasn't that difficult. Three miles on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then six on Saturday. I also rode my bike today and did some strength training Friday on my rest/xt days. But, I figured he's starting off in lower mileage and will build up.

This is my first post, so it's pretty short - not many obstacles, YET! Legs are a tiny bit sore, but nothing I can't handle. :)

Here is a picture of my Mizuno Running Shoes. I have a little over 250 miles on them now, so in the next 250 miles I plan on buying the Nike LIVESTRONG Lunarswift+2  Shoes - see below. I've heard some great things about these shoes. Plus, they're yellow!


I'm going to try to update this thingy a few times a week - usually after my Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday runs. I'll also be sure to share articles I come across that may appeal to my fellow runners.

Stay fit my friends!                                                  

Colleen