"The Jam" Thursday - What is blowing up my iPod

Have you ever woken up in the morning and thought, "why is my alarm going off this early?  It's Saturday for heaven sake!"  Only to be rudely awaken to the fact that it's not Saturday and it is actually Thursday morning.

Cue this scenario this morning for me.  Le Sigh...

It is Thursday and that means it's "The Jam" time, where I share songs that get my legs pumping and my booty bumping.  This weeks "jam" idea is courtesy of a great Twitter friend of mine, Jill Barnes (sweetest thing ever!), of a song that is on my rotation but I haven't posted about.  It's a fun song and a bit of a blast from the past since this song was released towards the beginning of her solo career.

So today's "jam" is:

Wind It Up by Gwen Stefani

I remember rocking out to this song during late nights at work.  Cranking up the volume and singing along in an empty office building.  Now I listen to this while running and helps me rock out a bit when I need a good distraction.  The video is funny and yes, you guessed it Jill, a take from the movie Sound of Music.  It's quite funny, I love Gwen's sense of humor with her video. 

Hope you all have a great Thursday (only one more day to go until the weekend!!) and enjoy todays "jam"!

End of Week 17 Half Marathon training

Another week has gone by, more training runs and another week closer to the goal of my first half marathon.  I know it sounds so cliche, but it feels so surreal to think about how far I've gone in my journey and that it's almost over, the race is 4 weeks away.  This doesn't mean I'm going to stop here.  Oh no...I've got the Rock n' Roll Seattle half marathon in June and Disneyland Half Marathon weekend in August.  My friend Danielle is also trying to talk me into running the BMO in Vancouver, BC on Cinco de Mayo.  I said I would go cheer, but I'm not sure if I will run, though I heard it is an AMAZING course and a really organized race in general.

So this weeks training was pretty much like all the others, just with an increase in mileage on my long run.  It was:

Tuesday: 30 min run/walk
Thursday: 30 min run/walk
Saturday: 12 mile long run  <---YIKES!

If you can remember from previous weekly training recaps I can never get a Tuesday run in to save my life.  Well, I got one in at the beginning of the week!  <shock and awe ensues!>  I was able to get off work a bit early on Monday and spend some time with the hubby, so when I got home I immediately changed into my running gear, grabbed my hubby and we were out the door!  He had wanted to go running that day, so I figured we could spend some time together running since I needed to get some time in on the road as well.

We ran around our neighborhood, which is no easy feat as we live on a big hill and everywhere around us is hills, so just by running around where I live I will always get hill training.  Check.  Hubby was having a bit of a tough time breathing during the run, the hills plus the horrible air quality we were having because of the week+ of fog/stagnant air, didn't help.  So we walked a bit more than what my run schedule called for, which was fine with me, because I was hurting myself.  Oof!  Now I know why the schedule calls to wait until Tuesday to run after a long run of 11 miles.  My muscles were so incredibly sore and just not wanting to work in general.  Boo hiss!  Regardless, we got through the run and cheered each other along the whole way.

Thursdays run didn't happen.  I was not feeling well for most of this week.  Achy and had a headache off and on most of the week.  I wanted to rest to make sure that it didn't turn into a full blown illness.  So I decided to rest, I didn't even go to Pilates either, so I really just took it easy this week. 

Saturday came and I was headed to Alki Beach to run along the water there, if you've ever seen "Sleepless in Seattle" Alki beach is the place where Tom Hanks played on the beach with his character son.  Just to give you some background on where I was.  On the schedule for the day was 12 miles.  I had 2 friends meeting up with me at 11am for 6 miles, so I went early to get 6 miles done on my own and then run with them for the second half of my run.  If I'm going to have company for my runs and they won't be there for the whole thing, I prefer them joining during the second half, because the conversation tends to help distract me from the pain I'm feeling.  HA!

So out and back along the beach is 6 miles total, so I would make the trip twice to complete my mileage.  Good thing it's beautiful out there, otherwise I would have been bored!  The first 6 miles were good.  Watched the scenery around me, ran along the trail with TONS of other runners and got lost in my own thoughts.  It was a peaceful run actually and quite enjoyable.

Then I got back from my first time around, my running partners had arrived.  It was nice to have these ladies with me to help with my next 6 miles, I would need them more than I knew.  When I had gotten there to meet them, I started to get a pain in my lower left calf, a pain I had never had before and was troubled with it because it hurt with every foot strike.  Ugh.  I found that if I adjusted how my foot was striking it wouldn't hurt, so I had to be very aware of how I was running as to not aggravate it.

We continued on with the last 6 of my run and the first three were not bad.  Tried to keep a good and steady pace and felt pretty decent.  We had stopped and stretched half way through, so at 9 miles for me, which turned out to be not so good of an idea for me as my hips completely stiffened up during that time.  I was running like I had just gotten off a horse after a long ride.  So. Not. Pretty.

But by this time I wanted the run to be done.  I wasn't hurting per se, I was just more wanting to get the mileage over with.  So as we were heading back to our starting point and running into a really nasty and cold headwind (slowing you down by an average of 20 seconds per mile) some thing happened that I had never experienced before.  

We were about a half mile from the end when I completely zoned out.  It was kinda like tunnel vision if only for the fact that I didn't hear anything or really feel anything, I was just so focused that my mind zoned out.  When that happened, my body completely took over.  My stride became effortless and my pace, amazingly enough at mile 11.5, picked up.  The ladies that were running with me, said all of a sudden I just started to pull away from them and I was going a lot faster, making it tough for them to keep up.  When I got to the finish point and confirmed it on my Garmin, I "woke up" out of my zone out and was surprised to see what I saw.  We had been running an average of 12:45 min/mile, however in my last .5 mile to the end I was running an 11:15 min/mile.  I had picked up that much speed at the very end and I didn't even know it was happening.

 

I was able to look down at my Garmin and admire this though.  12 miles, done and in the books.  At that point, I was hurting, but knew I could have gone another 1.1 miles to complete the half marathon distance.  Knowing that and feeling that ability was humbling and exciting all at the same time.  For the first time I really felt confident enough to admit to myself that "Yes, you can run the half marathon distance...and live to tell the tale after!"  HA!  I was elated, but still hurting a bit, so not a lot of celebrating. :)  It's crazy to think that I've actually been able to run 12 miles by my own two feet, and also to think that this eventually will not be a feat for me.  That this distance will be something that I will do with some sort of regularity for my future race training.  That right there, boggles the mind!

So another week in the books and only three more training weeks before I hit my taper week (hahah...I actually said taper week and was actually referring to me, oh boy I crack myself up!).  Then it's off to Orlando to run with the Princesses!  AAAHHH!!!  I can't believe it is almost here, I'm so freaking excited!!!  But I can't get ahead of myself, training first, I have to prepare properly for this race.  It's my first half and I want to make it a good one!

Momentum Monday: Negative Energy

Hello Monday...we meet again.  Let's try and make it not quite so quickly next weekend, eh?  

Another Monday means another weekend of relaxation and a long run.  I'm still riding off the high of finishing my first ever 12 mile run on Saturday, it still feels weird to say that I accomplished that.  But I did, I have the pics and witnesses to prove it!

Speaking of my witnesses, one of my friends that came and ran with me on Saturday brought up a really good point that I wanted to talk about today.  Without divulging too much information about the situation, she has an ill family member that has her quite upset and the fact that the doctors don't know whats wrong, makes it that much more difficult to bear.

She said last week that she would come out to run on Saturday, but then her family issue happened and she decided against it.  On a split early morning decision, she decided to get herself out there and run with us.  Why?  Well today's Motivation was completely appropriate:

source

She knew that staying at home she would be stewing about whatever terrible scenario she had in her head.  She also knew that running would help give her a nice break in her routine and to think about something else.  She also knew that running would help her shake the stress and negative energy off.  How appropriately put.  

I can't think of a better way to deal with stress than to run.  Whether it is for a couple of minutes or many miles, the release of what you are keeping inside through the movement of your body is so therapeutic.  There have been countless times where I have looked between a bottle of wine and my running shoes on the floor and tried to decide which one would be the best to deal with my stress/anger/anxiety/negativity/etc.  

I would long for the bottle of wine, because that was an old habit of mine.  I would have incredibly stressful days, where I would go home and open a bottle of wine only intending on having a couple of glasses.  Then before I knew it, the bottle was almost empty and although I wasn't feeling those feelings anymore, they were still there waiting for me.

When I started choosing my running shoes over wine, I found that when I was done with my run, however long it might have been, I felt better.  I breathed easier and the weight had been lifted off my shoulders.  The run had given me time to process what I was feeling and to release anything I was holding onto...and yes, that includes tears.  I've had runs that have stopped dead in its tracks because of a bawling session.  It's okay, cry it out.  You probably needed it.  

What I'm trying to get at is that I know I felt better mentally, physically and psychologically after a run during stressful times.  It may not be for everyone, I understand that.  But next time you are having a particularly stressful/negative day, or week, give it a try.  Lace up your shoes and hit the road or the treadmill or trail and just run.  Leave the stress in your dust.

"The Jam" Thursday - What is blowing up my iPod

Ah...my Thursday/Friday is here once again.  Oh how I adore three day weekends.  It's the only thing that keeps me sane when I work my insane hours during the week.  They also allow me to decompress and really gear up for my long runs on the weekend.  For some reason I always feel rushed when I work on Friday and get up early on Saturday for my long run, does that happen to anyone else?

You may have noticed that race talk is really starting to pick up on here.  With the race 32 days away the anticipation and excitement are really starting to build up.  I'm so nervous, excited, thrilled, cautious, geeking out over this race weekend, that it's pretty much all I think about lately.  The training has really helped me to feel stronger and more confident about me and my ability to run this race.  A feat I thought was insurmountable, is now well within my grasp.  It's such a great feeling.

Which is actually a great intro to "The Jam" for this week.  It's from an artist that I've watched and listened to from the very moment they were discovered.  She's got such a powerful voice and I just love her.  Today's "jam" is:

Catch My Breath - Kelly Clarkson

The lyrics are pretty powerful and the beat is a great motivator.  I like to listen to this when I need a little (okay...a lot!) encouragement towards the end of my long run.  Plus it's a bit of a double entendre when speaking of listening this during a workout.  HA!  I hope you enjoy the listen and have an awesome Thursday!

End of Week 16 Half Marathon training

It is the end of Week 16 in my training and I'm feeling more confident with each passing week.  The mileage keeps increasing and I keep attacking it with a strength I've never seen in myself before.  Let's take a look at the training for this week.

Tuesday: 30 minute run/walk
Thursday: 30 minute run/walk
Saturday: 11 mile long run

Tuesdays run didn't happen.  I just started taking a pilates class that I go to on Monday and Wednesdays and I'm LOVING the classes.  They are really working my core and legs, I have that good sore feeling after every class and I'm loving it.  Though this past Mondays class really worked my legs and they were kinda useless on Tuesday.  I have also been in meetings until late in the evening almost everyday, essentially killing any opportunity I have to run after work.

Thursdays run didn't happen either.  I spent the evening hanging out with my sister, a tradition we haven't been able to do in about a month.  I was intending on going on my run during lunch, but then those damn work meetings were stacked up so I only had 30 minutes inbetween, barely enough time to have lunch, let alone run!  

So with my week day runs being a bust this week, I was really looking forward to my weekend run.  Saturday was going to hold 11 miles for me and I was nervous.  I knew how much I hurt after 10 miles and I knew I needed encouragement.  So I was glad that I was able to get my friend Danielle to come out and run the second half of my 11 miles with me.

So Saturday morning I started out on my own.  It was a foggy morning (again) and really cold, like 33 degrees cold.  Brrr...

I was off and running on my own for a while.  It was quiet with TONS of runners around that morning.  So it was good to have so many people around!  The first 5 miles of my run were FANTASTIC!  I felt good, strong and fast!  I was able to get into a good rhythm and before I knew it I was running around 11 mi/min.  Which is really fast for me.  It was nice feeling so good that when my walk breaks came, I felt like I didn't need them, that I could run straight through them and be fine.  I did take my breaks, but I felt so good.

Right before I met up with Danielle (and our friend Erica came out for a short 4 miles) to finish my last 6 miles, I took some fuel and was feeling good.  I met up with the ladies and we all headed out on the trail again.  The further and further we went along, the worse and worse I was feeling.  Sluggish and achy.  My right hip was starting to really give me issues.  Not sure what it was, but it is still pretty stiff.  

Erica left us at 4 miles and Danielle and I continued for the last two miles.  I'm so glad that Danielle was there, those last two miles were tough, with the last one of course being brutal.  The distance seemed to tick off SO SLOWLY!  I felt like I was running in slow motion, it was painful.  Then, it was over.

 

I was done and 11 miles had been stomped.  I couldn't believe it.  Looking at this picture even now, I still can't believe it.  11 miles done.  By me and me alone.  No one did it for me.  I had company along the way, but I was the one who did the work and ran those miles.  I'm in awe of what my body has been able to accomplish, at how focused mentally I have become on these runs and how much confidence I have gained from all of this.  

It is more than just the miles, it is the knowledge and proof that you are able to make something so seemingly difficult to accomplish, attainable.  It really is a head game at times, the battle of wills mentally on what you can and won't do.  Your body is an amazing thing and can accomplish amazing feats, if only your mind will get out of its way!

To say I'm nervous about 12 miles on Saturday is an understatement.  Though I have come so far now, I don't want to stop.  It's in me now and I can't let go of it.  I've taken down 11, I'm going after 12 with a vengeance.