Monday, September 28, 2015

Park to Park Half Marathon - Saturday, September 12, 2015 - Cedar Falls, IA

It was the perfect morning for a PR (personal record) in a half marathon.  44 degrees and gorgeous out, like no wind and a flat trail.  Bummer was I couldn't push it, not at all.  I have a super huge race next Saturday, one I made the goal of for over 3 years ago, the Air Force Triple.   This is where you run a 5k on Friday night, then the next morning run a 10k at 7:30a.m. then at 8:30a.m. the Half marathon.  I've wanted to do this ever since I heard about it 3 years ago, but I didn't have my 10k time under an hour yet.  I worked on that for a long time, last year I did a 10K under an hour, then this Spring I did it again only a tiny bit faster.  I have also been working on my milage to increase it so I could ran 3 races within 16 hours.

Anyway so long story shorter, I had to take it easy on the half marathon and not push my speed.  Park to Park is my most favorite race of the year, although through the 6 years that I have been doing this race I have seen it decline a little.  First our names are NOT on the bib anymore.  I miss that, for I scrapbook all my bibs and I liked having that personal touch.  The race director only orders a certain amount of logo bibs so if he runs out, or the race is overbooked then some people get a generic bib who show up to packet pickup near the end, it's not when you register, it's when you pick up stuff.  Then this year he ran out of the really nice Custom medals, he had some really cheap ones made with a sticker on them.  People that finished late in the race got a cheap medal with a stupid looking ribbon and a sticker on it.  Not cool, so had I finished late, even though I signed up near the beginning of sign ups, it wouldn't have mattered.  I felt bad for those that had the cheap looking medal, it wasn't fair.  I am fortunate to have really great friends who live in Cedar Falls so they picked up Jason's and my bib early.

I did okay for a time, not my worst so I have much to be thankful for, especially since I wasn't sure if I'd do this race since it was only 1 week away from my big goal race, but decided to do it anyway and just have fun.  Jill and I ran together almost the entire race and talked a lot.  I had fun and enjoyed running.
Lisa, me, Jill and her daughter just before the races started.  I ran with Jill almost the entire race.
A bunch of friends from church that run!


Bib with finishing medal.

Many of the Roosters.  There were quite a few missing, but it was great to be with these fun friends of our team!


Week 39 of training for 2015

Monday: Sculpt class, Stability ball class, walked .5 miles
Tuesday :Ran 1.11, Sculpt class, walked .5 miles
Wednesday :Stability ball class, Ran 5.52 miles, Biked 6.20 miles, walked .5 miles
Thursday:Swam 1800 yards, Sculpt class, walked .5 miles
Friday :Les Mills Body Flow class, 6.16 miles ran, walked .5 miles
Saturday:  Ran 9.50 miles, walked 1 mile
Sunday:  Walked 2.5 miles

Totals for Week 39 of 2015
2 Stability Ball/Sculpt classes
3 Sculpt classes
1 Les Mills Body Flow class
Biked 6.20 miles
Swam 1800 yards
Ran 22.29 miles
Walked 6 miles

This was a recovery week since last week was the Air Force Triple races.  Had planned on biking and swimming more, but with the wedding and getting our house ready for company and an appraisal I only had time for a little of everything.  Next week will be better with my mileage back up for running and more swimming planned.

Totals for Year 2015
Swimming:  110,096 Yards=  62 miles 976 yards
Elliptical :    14.45 miles
Biking inside: 274 minutes 
Biking Outside:  432.54
Zumba class:  5.5 classes
Sculpt classes: 167 classes
Les Mills Body Pump:  1 class
Les Mills Body Flow class:    34 classes
Walking:   96.55 miles
Running:   1033.67 miles 
Vinyasa Yoga:  1 class
Hiked 2 miles with stairs


Thursday, September 24, 2015

Week 38 of Training 2015

Monday:Ran 3 miles, Sculpt class
Tuesday:Swam 1968 yards, Sculpt class, Ran 3.45 miles
Wednesday:Ran 5.05 miles, Sculpt class
Thursday :Swam 1550 yards, sculpt class
Friday :3.14 miles ran
Saturday : Ran 6.18 (Air Force 10K) and 13.2 (Air Force Half marathon) miles
Sunday: Rested

Totals for the week:
Ran 34.02 miles
Swam 3518 yards
4 sculpt classes

Just hit 1000 miles running for the year!  Yahoo, 1st time ever.

Totals for Year 2015
Swimming:  108,296 Yards=   61.53 miles 
Elliptical :    14.45 miles
Biking inside: 274 minutes 
Biking Outside:  426.34
Zumba class:  5.5 classes
Sculpt classes: 162 classes
Les Mills Body Pump:  1 class
Les Mills Body Flow class:    33 classes
Walking:   90.55 miles
Running:   1011.38 miles 
Vinyasa Yoga:  1 class
Hiked 2 miles with stairs

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Week 37 of training for 2015

Monday:  Ran 10.40 miles, Swam 1000 yards, did a combo Body Combat, Cxworks and Body Flow class, walked .5 miles
Tuesday:Sculpt class, biked 8.10 miles, walked .5 miles
Wednesday:Ran 5.10 miles, Sculpt class, walked .5 miles
Thursday:Ran 3.05 miles, Swam 1500 yards, walked .5 miles, Sculpt class
Friday:Les Mills Body Flow class
Saturday:Ran 13.20 miles, walked at least a mile
Sunday:Biked 11.05 miles

Totals for week 37:
Ran:  31.75 miles
4 Sculpt classes
Swam 2500 yards
Walked 3 miles
Biked 19.15 miles
1 Body Flow class
1 hour Les Mills combo aerobic class


Totals for Year 2015
Swimming:  104,778 Yards=   59.53 miles 
Elliptical :    14.45 miles
Biking inside: 274 minutes 
Biking Outside:  426.34
Zumba class:  5.5 classes
Sculpt classes: 158 classes
Les Mills Body Pump:  1 class
Les Mills Body Flow class:    33 classes
Walking:   90.55 miles
Running:      977.36 miles 
Vinyasa Yoga:  1 class
Hiked 2 miles with stairs


Monday, September 7, 2015

Week 36 of training for 2015

Monday:Les Mills Body Flow class, Swam 800 Yards, Sculpt class, walked .5 mile
Tuesday :Sculpt, Les Mills Body Flow class, walked .5 mile
Wednesday:4000 Yards swam!! Sculpt class, walked .5 mile
Thursday:Sculpt class, Biked 10.21 miles, Ran 3.02 miles, walked .5 mile
Friday:Ran 3.18 miles, Swam 1000 yards, Les Mills Body Flow class, walked .5 miles
Saturday:Biked 7.10 miles, Ran 1.5 miles
Sunday: Walked 3.25 miles

Totals for Week 36:
3 Les Mills Body Flow classes
4 Sculpt classes
Ran 7.75 miles
Biked: 17.31 miles
Swam: 5800 Yards = 3 miles 520 yards
Walked: 5.75 miles

Recovering from my marathon last week, didn't do a lot of running, but did swim extra and did 3 Yoga classes this week.

Totals for Year 2015
Swimming:  102,278 Yards=   58 miles 198 yards
Elliptical :    14.45 miles
Biking inside: 274 minutes 
Biking Outside:  407.19
Zumba class:        5.5 classes
Sculpt classes:        154 classes
Les Mills Body Pump:  1 class
Les Mills Body Flow class:    32 classes
Walking:   87.55 miles
Running:      945.61 miles 
Vinyasa Yoga:  1 class
Hiked 2 miles with stairs




Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Nebraska State Fair Marathon - Grand Island, NE - Saturday, August 29, 2015

The morning was perfect.   It was cooler, foggy, misty and nice.  All except for the massive high humidity.  The first 3 hours of running went really great, well all except the bathroom stop at mile 8ish.  I really had to go and lost precious time because of that stop.  But after that things were going very well.  I was on track for a massive PR and feeling amazingly wonderful.  At mile 14 I had to adjust my sock and toes.  I put more Vaseline in the left sock to avoid a blister.  More time lost.  I should have fixed the right foot at the same time because at mile 17 I ended up having to do just that.

The course was well marked and I felt like I always knew where to turn.

So I'm not sure if my hydration was off or the lack of sleep from the crappy hotel bed or the travel there or what was wrong but I was doing amazingly well until  mile 18ish then I fell apart.  My legs felt heavy and tired, my stomach  hurt, I was thirsty constantly, and my desire to run was gone. I wanted to stop more than anything.   Nothing hurt but I did feel heavy and thick and so thirsty and I was just done.

Then I see Jason at mile 19.  He had some Gatorade and my roller stick.  I rolled different parts of my body and took some sips of Gatorade.   He left and I ran on.  The next 7 miles were not fun.  It only got hotter and hotter out and this race didn't have ice baggies at the water stops.   I know those would have helped me for I just needed to cool off.  Every time I saw another mile marker I was so happy.  Bummer was I knew that I would miss my PR by only a few minutes because of how slowly  I was going. I know had the weather not been so bad that I could have shaved some serious minutes off the PR.  Next time I hope to do just that.

I should have been so happy with my finish but instead I was incredibly disappointed because of how sick I felt.  Bummer to do so well for 19 miles then the whole race gets trashed in the last 7 miles.

Oh well, to me a 5:04:54 is a respectable finish time especially given how my first 2 marathons went and I need to remember that finishing is the best feeling in the world.  There are many in this world that would be perfectly happy with finishing a marathon at any time.

After the race I rushed to my car and back to the hotel for a shower.  The hotel was only giving us 30 minutes late checkout and they didn't even want to do that until I begged them.  Seriously, I told the hotel, Holiday Inn, that I was a slower marathon runner and I would barely get done with the race and back to the hotel before 12 noon and I would desperately  need a shower.   They granted me a half hour.  Obviously none of the front desk staff are runners.  I won't stay at a Holiday Inn ever again.

I got showered then took a swim in their pool.  I feel swimming helps a lot with my recovery.  Then Jason and I went to the State fair because you get in free with your race entry.  We walked around a ton and I know that helped my legs as well.

A great day then back to Iowa we went.  Would I do this race again?   Most likely  not because I'm trying for a marathon in every state and even if I repeated the state of Nebraska  again then I'd go for a different, more well known marathon with more extras.

Great things about race:
Chip timed which was accurate.
Race bib for your scrapbook
Flatter than flat course.
Long sleeve dri fit shirt that says marathon on it.
Some food at the end like bananas, cut up bagels and chips.
Finishing medal
Lots of volunteers on the course
Cold water at the water stops.
Gu the course.

Things that need improved:
Ice baggies at the last 5 water stops (those help temendously when it's a hot race)
Port a potties at the start
More food at the end for ALL finishers.  This is one of my pet peeves when races do a 5K and a half race in addition to the marathon.  Those people finishing early eat all the food.  Save some for the later people please.  Or just start bringing the food 2-3 hours after the marathon starts then all marathoners get food.  Don't let people that didn't run grab food.
Different shirt for each race distance.  All the shirts said Marathon on them, even the 5K shirts.
The finishing medal was ok, not terrible,  but not amazing either.

The start line at 6 a.m.  It was foggy, misting and kinda cold.  Perfect for running.  If only it could have stayed that cold.
Printed on the ground.
A picture Jason took of me at mile 19.  I was starting to struggle in the heat.  I see now that I really lean back when I run.  I need to run more forward.  This is something I'll work on.

My final time
Right after returning to the hotel before the amazing shower and dip in the pool.

The shirt
Finish photo after a shower.
My bib #

One might say.... She likes to run!

This is my cubicle at work