Texas Half

Just over five years ago, on a cold, dark December morning, my sister Megan and I pulled up in front of the American Airlines Center in Dallas. It is probably most famously known as the home of the Dallas Mavericks, but on one day in December each year it is also home to the starting line of the White Rock Marathon.

Megan was anxious and jittery that morning as she prepared to toe the line of her first marathon, and I just stood there in awe of my surroundings, and her. She had trained diligently for months and was in great shape. I definitely felt fat and pale standing next to her, and there are pictures to prove that was actually the reality of things. I had never seen so many people of all shapes and sizes and abilities gathered in one place to do what a lot of people think is the unthinkable - run 26.2 miles. On purpose. During the time span of one morning. And pay good money to do so!

This morning in December of 2005 was my first real introduction to the world of endurance sports, and from that moment I was hooked. I'm actually not sure what the motivating factor was for Megan to get her to sign up for the marathon, but I am forever grateful that she did. And thankful that she invited me, my sister Michelle, and my parents to Dallas that weekend to be a part of her marathon experience. One year later, in November 2006, I began training for my first marathon. Five years later, I am still running and training every week and loving it. I have an active and healthy lifestyle, have made lifelong friends through running and have been able to travel to places I probably never would have visited (such as the exotic Columbus, OH) if it weren't for a race. Needless to say, I am thankful I was a spectator that December morning! If you are a runner, know that you could be inspiring someone to start running - just by getting out there and putting one foot in front of the other.

All that to say, this weekend I will be heading to Dallas to meet up with my mom, Megan, my cousins Amy and Emily and friend Kourtney to run the Texas Half. I suppose I am feeling nostalgic because this race will also be held at White Rock Lake. After running a 15k this summer, Emily and Kourtney decided that they would like to train for the Texas Half. Unfortunately, Emily has been plagued with IT band and knee issues all fall and will not be able to run this weekend, but hopefully we will get to do a race together this year. I am looking forward to the race, but more excited about spending time with my family! Hopefully I will have a race report and pictures posted fairly soon after I get back home.

With three of my favorite people in the world -
me, Emily, Megan and Amy in May 2010

Kourtney, in an amazing picture with a dachshund bride!

Fall Races

Well, I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would post an update with my fall race schedule.

Upcoming fall races:

• Tri for Sight - September 5th (Lexington, KY)
• K9 Race for a Cure 2k - September 11th (Nicholasville, KY)
• RJ Corman duathlon - October 2nd (Nicholasville, KY)
• Ironhorse Half-Marathon - October 31st (Midway, KY)

I am super excited about these four races. The Tri for Sight is coming up this Sunday, and will be my last triathlon of the season. It is just down to road in Lexington (actually the start is pretty much at KET, where I used to work!) so it will be very nice to not have to travel too far or wake up at the crack of dawn. It is kind of crazy that I consider 4:30am to NOT be the crack of dawn...this is a normal wake up time for me!

Next up I will defend my 3rd place overall title at the K9 Race for a Cure 2k race here in Nicholasville. The race takes place right on Main Street and goes right by our house - it will be nice to have Chad and Emma cheering for me from our front porch! The finish line is right in front of the library, so after I pass by the house Chad and Emma can walk a few blocks to meet me at the finish line.

Then, in early October I will be competing in the RJ Corman Duathlon here in Nicholasville. It will be nice to run to the start of the K9 2k, and ride to the start of the duathlon! This will be my first duathlon, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. I've been trying out some trainer specific workouts on the trainer on Sunday morning (ride 10 minutes, run 10 minutes, repeat 4x) and it has been really fun! I'm looking forward to the race.

My last big race of the season will be the IronHorse Half Marathon in Midway, KY (just about 20 minutes away) on October 31st. Kentucky is always so beautiful in the fall, and the race course will wind through some gorgeous central Kentucky horse farms.

I look forward to posting race reports!

The Trainer

I love my bike trainer. I bought it (an Ascent magnetic trainer) from a friend of a friend this past fall for $100, and I think I've already gotten my moneys worth out of it. I've incorporated three training rides into my 2010 marathon training plan. Last summer and fall I found that riding and swimming really helped with my running, and so I want to utilize the bike as much as possible in my marathon training.

On Sunday I was scheduled to run 4 miles, but it was raining cats and dogs. So, I hopped on the trainer and busted out 45 minutes of intervals. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the end, and I felt like I got a great work out in. The time flew by, too - thanks to podcasts and my Girl Talk mix. I did the same workout last night on the trainer, but this time I incorporated some time pedaling with only one leg, as recommended in the latest issue of Triathlete Magazine. Ay yi yi, that is hard! It was so hard to pedal with one leg. But, I could feel that it was really workin my legs and my core and by the end of my one-legged time I could tell that I was improving. So, those one-leg spins will get thrown into the trainer rides as well!

I am going to shoot for bi-weekly blog posts on Saturday and Wednesdays. In each post, I'll post my workouts for the week and other training news, plus life updates and any crazy stories that come along, too.

Here are my workouts so far for this week:

Sunday 1/17/10

• 45 minutes on the trainer
  
• Five minute intervals on the trainer: five minutes spin, then five minutes in a bigger gear at a faster pace, with a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool-down

Monday 1/18/10

• Distance: 4.38 miles
• Time: 39:34
• AP: 9:02
• Notes: Mondays are normally rest days, but since I didn't get my 4 miles in on Sunday due to the weather, I decided to get the miles in on Monday.
  

Tuesday 1/19/10

AM Run

• Distance: 3.27
• Time: 27:24
• AP: 8:22
• Notes: After 1 mile in, I ran the remaining miles at 5k pace.

PM Trainer

• 45 minutes on the trainer
• 5 minute intervals again, plus 5 minutes (2:30 for each leg) of one-legged spins
  

Wednesday 1/20/10

• Distance: 4.66
  
• Time: 43:09
  
• AP: 9:15
• Notes: This was a scheduled 6 mile run that I had to cut short due to major GI issues
  

As mentioned above, my run today had to be cut about a mile and a half short due to some stomach issues. The problems plagued me during the whole run, which accounted for my slower pace. I kept thinking things would get better, but no. It finally became an issue of turn around and get home as fast as possible, or find a shrub. I didn't want to risk getting arrested for indecent exposure, so I hightailed it home, which was a feat in and of itself. That's probably TMI, but it can be a reality for runners! Now I know to make sure certain things have taken place before my mid-week longer runs!

Also, just another plug for my LIVESTRONG fundraising site. I encourage you to make a donation in honor of a loved one or friend who has battled with cancer. It is an awesome way to honor that person, and to help out other who are dealing with cancer!

Java Jolt

You may have seen the article in the NY Times this past Sunday regarding coffee as a performance enhancer in endurance events. It was a very interesting article - perhaps the most interesting comment was that studies show caffeine does not dehydrate runners (...although there is probably a study out there that shows that caffeine does dehydrate runners.) I normally drink coffee post-workout, but I hadn't given much thought to the actual performance enhancing aspects (other than the mental boost) of drinking a cup pre-workout.

Runner's World Daily featured a response to the article on Sunday, expressing incredulity over the fact that the NY Times article didn't mention anything about coffee's, ahem, shall we say "cleansing" abilities. I've never had to rely on coffee for this type of service, as I have a very nervous stomach. My sister Megan is the same way, and before our lacrosse games in high school, we practically needed to install a revolving door in our bathroom as we would get so worked up. This is probably too much information to share, but its pretty much a fact of life for runners! So, I normally am good to go in the morning sans coffee, but I decided to give it a try.

My main reason for not drinking it before heading to the gym in the morning is mainly due to time constraints. We use a french press for our coffee brewing, which is easy and only takes about 6 minutes total, but somehow the process always seems too cumbersome to complete at 5:15am. I had the bright idea on Tuesday evening to go ahead and brew up a french press of Starbucks Caffe Verona dark roast, ration out a few 8 oz servings, let the coffee cool down, and stick them in the fridge. I also planned out what I would eat the next morning, so that I would avoid the sick feeling you get when you have coffee on an empty stomach.

Wednesday morning at 5:10 my alarm went off and I hopped out of bed, eager to start my little experiment. I poured 80z of coffee into a small mug and heated it in the microwave as I prepared my whole wheat Thomas mini bagel w/ peanut butter and honey. I pulled the coffee out of the microwave and added a splash of skim milk. The whole process took about 5 minutes and was easy enough. I sat down to watch the local news (always very interesting and/or perplexing here in central KY) and eat my breakfast. The mini bagel went down easy, with Emma looming over my shoulder (she was standing on the top of the couch) hoping for a hand out. It was more difficult to get all the coffee down, even a measly 8 0z, but I was able to do it. I continued to get ready to leave, hoping to feel the familiar pangs of "ok, you should go to a bathroom now" that I have every morning but they never came. Uh oh...the coffee was now having the opposite effect! I stalled as long as I could, but eventually left for the gym just before 6:00am. I ran a hard and fast (9:05 pace, that's a good clip for me) 3 miles and felt great both during and afterward.

I tried the coffee and bagel again on Thursday before a 3.1 mile run - and felt great again. Maybe it's a placebo effect, or maybe the caffeine really is helping. I think I will stick with the coffee in small doses before workouts and races. Having the pre-brewed coffee on hand seemed to work really well, so I will probably continue with this method.

I actually have a pre-race ritual of drinking a 6.5 oz Starbucks Doubleshot before any race - from marathons down on to 3ks. My faithful readers will know that I briefly tangoed with an all out addiction to Doubleshots in June of 2007, but now that I have a healthy respect for the strong little brew, we seem to get along just fine.

I will be running the "Lions Run for Sight" 5k tomorrow morning in Lexington - I hope to finish in a sub 25 minute time. I will try to get a race report and pictures up this weekend. And yes, I'll be picking up a Doubleshot on my way home this afternoon!

American Idol Finale

While I haven't kept up with the show much this season, I am watching the finale tonight. So far I have seen three performances, one by Gwen Stefani, one by Blake and Jordin, and one by Smokey Robinson and the top 6 guys in the competition, including the ever-present Sanjaya. I'm flipping back and forth between SNL in the 90's and the American Idol finale, both hilarious in their own right.

Favorite quote of the finale: "I believe it was a haiku. Thank you Margaret." -Ryan Seacrest

On another note, I'm looking forward to gearing up for marathon training. My official 16 week training begins the first week in June, but now I am trying to get a little faster for some local 5ks and 10ks. I can't believe how tough it is to run a fast mile - after months of training at a steady pace, it is hard to pick up the pace for a few short miles. But like most running endeavors, I think about 90% of the task is mental. This weekend I'm running the Jessamine County Skelter for the Shelter 5k. It is a 5k/2k fun run for people and/or dogs. Since doggies are welcome, we are going to make it a family affair and bring Emma along. Due to very short legs, she won't be running - but she will be with Chad to cheer me on!

My goal is to run a 25 minute 5k. While this isn't very fast, it will be pretty fast for me. My 5k PR right now is 27 minutes. I'm hoping to whittle that down to a steady 8 min mile pace - with an anticipated finish time of 24-25 minutes. I'm very happy to be supporting such a worthy cause - the Jessamine County Humane Society - and I look forward to seeing several doggies out at the course!