This weekend Kris and I will be running in the Crystal Lake Half Marathon. D is a distant maybe as it turns out he will be hosting some out of town guests. We're hoping he makes it but I'm sure he'll get his 14 miles in with his buddy or maybe running the Chicago Half that is on Sunday.
Kris and I are using the CL half as just another training run; we aren't racing for time, but instead, looking for some new scenery. I'm going to use this half as a test for my Marathon Day outfit. It specifically says in the training guides to train in the clothes you are going to run in the day of the race one or two times, so I carefully tested a few shirts, pants, hats and I think I have it all set. I asked Kris what he will be wearing and he looked at me like I had 4 heads for asking. Hey, I'm still a girl!
I guess I should start with the shoes. All three of us purchased our shoes at the top notch running store here in Chicago, Fleet Feet. They see how you run, analyze your gait, and suggest a couple of shoes specifically for you. I kind of dread this because I know that they will never steer me towards my favorite athletic shoes; Nike! I can't help it, I love Nike! I think it goes back to my first pair of racing flats with the big black swoosh on the side or perhaps the counting down to getting my first pair of Air Jordan's that my dad promised to me when I made Varsity Basketball. Or the great runner "Pre" and his testing of the original Nike Trainers. Needless to say, according to the running experts, Nike does not tailor to my needs. I wound up with a top rated (read, most expensive) running shoe, Asics Kayano 15 in blue. I will say they have great technology that allows the shoe to expand as your feet swell over distance. Since I basically have Fred Flinstone feet, this is a great feature for me. I've been happy with them and I'm excited to use them with my orthotics once they arrive.
Because I can't have Nike running shoes I will be all decked out in full Nike running gear. Maybe Nike will reimburse me when they see how great I look on race day. The goal of my race day outfit is comfort and to also wear something that I would standout in so friends and family could find me. I've had friends tell me, "I'm the one in the white shirt." Hah! To avoid D's suggestion of wearing Kiss makeup, I'm going with a purple shirt or as Nike calls it "Red Plum." I love this style because the sleeves are long and don't cut into the arm pit. I also have fallen in love with the Nike running capri's and will run in these that have a matching purple stripe. There is a convenient pocket in the back for running gels, pretzels etc. I also have a matching long sleeve shirt to wear over the shirt because I'm planning on a cold Oct. 11th. The good news is I bought both of the tops on sale at my favorite store, REI. Finaly, I'm be wearing my trusty training white Nike visor. I think it's actually a golf visor but it's light weight, keeps the sun out my eyes, and keeps the hair back. Sometimes it's hard being a girl. So many decisions to make! I'm hoping to get a picture of the outfit on Sunday so I can post so you will definitely know what to look for on Oct. 11th. 4 weeks and counting; Yikes!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Virtual Buffet
Last night was our midweek sorta long run of 9 miles. Yep, we usually run in the mornings but sometimes life (exhaustion) gets in the way and we have to adapt. We started our run just after 6:30 pm and we really realized how summer is quickly coming to an end as it was dark for the majority of the run. We also realized that the lake shore path becomes infested with gnats after sunset. I think, between the three of us, we swallowed an entire swarm. Nasty!
It was actually a really nice run. At one point, I put some imaginary blinders on and looked straight ahead and felt like we were running on the paths of the English Garden in Munich. Kris, his parents and I did a Mike's Bike Tour through it on a mild day and between the misty cool weather and the lamp posts, I was in the mood for a pint of beer and a large pretzel.
This brings me to what became a discussion of a "virtual buffet." None of us ate dinner and around mile 6, hunger settled in and a dialogue of what we wanted to eat kicked in. I have to tell you that it was a nice change up to our normal running conversation which usually weighs heavy on the frat house late night topic discussions. Here is a little sample of how things went last night:
Kris: I'm starving, I really could go for something heavy
D: If we keep running on Fullerton, we could stop at Burger King
Starr: That's disgusting, sick, gross, I'm gonna throw up.
Kris: I want matzo ball soup, a big heavy matzo ball (side note: I'm not sure Kris has ever had matzo ball soup and his Norwegian Christian family does not serve this up)
D: I want sushi, roll your own sushi from Dirks
Kris & Starr: Oooh, that sounds good
Kris: Papa John's!
Starr: I want the new cinnamon dough. Only $12.00 for 2 large pizzas and cinnamon dough
D: That's it, I'm doing roll your own sushi on Friday.
In the end, Kris and I ended up having a pot of Mac N Cheese because that's all the energy we had in us.
It was actually a really nice run. At one point, I put some imaginary blinders on and looked straight ahead and felt like we were running on the paths of the English Garden in Munich. Kris, his parents and I did a Mike's Bike Tour through it on a mild day and between the misty cool weather and the lamp posts, I was in the mood for a pint of beer and a large pretzel.
This brings me to what became a discussion of a "virtual buffet." None of us ate dinner and around mile 6, hunger settled in and a dialogue of what we wanted to eat kicked in. I have to tell you that it was a nice change up to our normal running conversation which usually weighs heavy on the frat house late night topic discussions. Here is a little sample of how things went last night:
Kris: I'm starving, I really could go for something heavy
D: If we keep running on Fullerton, we could stop at Burger King
Starr: That's disgusting, sick, gross, I'm gonna throw up.
Kris: I want matzo ball soup, a big heavy matzo ball (side note: I'm not sure Kris has ever had matzo ball soup and his Norwegian Christian family does not serve this up)
D: I want sushi, roll your own sushi from Dirks
Kris & Starr: Oooh, that sounds good
Kris: Papa John's!
Starr: I want the new cinnamon dough. Only $12.00 for 2 large pizzas and cinnamon dough
D: That's it, I'm doing roll your own sushi on Friday.
In the end, Kris and I ended up having a pot of Mac N Cheese because that's all the energy we had in us.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Peaks & Valleys & Pesky Dementors
Anyone that participates in sports or even watches sports has heard a coach or tv analyst comment on how an athlete is “peaking at the right time,” or perhaps has “peaked too early.” Basically, they are speaking to the entire goal of any training program; to be in the best situation to run your perfect race or play your best game when it really matters. In the NCAA tournament, you do not want your team to have its’ best game in the Final Four (ummm, hello UofI) you want it to be in the championship. Our marathon training plan also follows this traditional formula with the goal of getting to the starting line with the best opportunity to finish.
For D, Kris and me, this means that right now we should pretty much be running ourselves into a deep Grand Canyon like valley so that when we taper off our mileage 3 weeks before the marathon we will be hitting the highest peak possible. Have no fear my fellow blog readers; by no means did I peak too early. I was basically swimming upstream in the Colorado River for the last 2 miles of our 18 mile run on Saturday. That means I'm right on track to dig myself out of a ditch by our 20 miler...Can't wait!
Our Saturday run was just under 3 ½ hours and, in retrospect, it went ok (by ok, I mean, I didn't sieze up and stagger to an awkward finish). We had some crazy fog roll in which got us on a very common reference of Harry Potter (all three of us are Harry Potter geeks). When anything kind of creepy happens, we chalk it up to a Harry Potter event. We were running north on the path by Foster Beach and it was gorgeous! We came back south 10 minutes later and you couldn't’t even see the water which was about 25 yards from the path. It was rolling in so quickly we could feel the cool mist. Our only explanation, “Dementors!”
Perhaps the Dementors sucked the energy right out of me because right around this 14 mile marker is where I felt tired. I used my secret weapon, 10 pretzel sticks, and this gave me an extra two mile push but I was left with some cement legs for 2 more miles. D asked me if I wanted to walk and I replied with, “heck no, after all this time, I’m gonna run this 18 mile _ _ _ _ _ (runs with witch).” I have no idea who heard me, but I think it was loud. I finished with a little half mile kick out of pure self motivation to end that run. I was pretty useless the rest of the holiday weekend. I didn't have a “my feet and legs are tired feeling,” it’s an overall exhaustion; like sleep deprivation. Or, like a battle with the Dementors!
Non-bucket List
This weekend we ran 18 miles. I can now check that off the list of things I couldn't care less if I ever did in my life or not. In a couple weeks we have a 20-miler. That's on my list too.
Friday, September 4, 2009
A Shocking Experience
Today I hit up the physical therapist to get a little treatment on my hip. I went for a consultation a few weeks ago and the therapist told me to work on some shoe inserts and if I still had some pain (which is all muscular) to come see her with a script from my Dr. so she could do some "electric stim." Basically, it's an opportunity to get a serious massage covered by insurance. Also, basically, I had no idea what i was getting myself into so I got a script yesterday and made an appointment.
After some massage of my glute and hip area by the therapist, she did some ultra sound to the hip region. It was messy because she put that jelly on my hip and just rubbed what looked like a video game controller over my sore area. It didn't really feel like anything but the therapist said it would break up some of the sore tissue. Ok, I'll try anything that seems legitimate. I think I remember my sister telling me she received ultra sound for her knee therapy. Well, now comes the "electric stim," part.
The therapist pulls out this pack of square stickers and placed four of them on my glute and my hip. She then rolled over this machine that looked like it came right out of a 1980's Sci-Fi movie; all knobs and a meter reading. It was beige. Next was the attachment of cords to each sticker that looked like tiny jumper cables. Pictures of ET flashed before and I wanted to rip the stickers off just like the hero Elliot did. But, I didn't move. The therapist then said, "ok, I'm going to turn this on and you tell me when to stop...you'll know because it will be right before it really hurts." Before I had a chance to ask a question, she turned the knob and I felt a small electric shock in four places. Of course, i didn't want to seem like a wimp so I waited until the pulse was almost too much to take. She then placed a large pillow sized ice pack over my entire hip area.
After a minute or so, the sensation died down a little bit and I kind of settled in. All of the sudden another patient came over and started talking to me about his broken back and his therapy. Here I was, getting my One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest therapy, and this guy was telling me his story of his life. I wanted to say, "look buddy, I'm doing all I can from running out of this crazy house, so could please close the drape around my table and move away." But, I smiled and listened while my hip was vibrating in crazy places.
After 10 minutes, the therapy was done, I stood up, and.....I, Felt, Awesome! About 50% better. I made another appointment for Wednesday and look forward to my next shock therapy.
After some massage of my glute and hip area by the therapist, she did some ultra sound to the hip region. It was messy because she put that jelly on my hip and just rubbed what looked like a video game controller over my sore area. It didn't really feel like anything but the therapist said it would break up some of the sore tissue. Ok, I'll try anything that seems legitimate. I think I remember my sister telling me she received ultra sound for her knee therapy. Well, now comes the "electric stim," part.
The therapist pulls out this pack of square stickers and placed four of them on my glute and my hip. She then rolled over this machine that looked like it came right out of a 1980's Sci-Fi movie; all knobs and a meter reading. It was beige. Next was the attachment of cords to each sticker that looked like tiny jumper cables. Pictures of ET flashed before and I wanted to rip the stickers off just like the hero Elliot did. But, I didn't move. The therapist then said, "ok, I'm going to turn this on and you tell me when to stop...you'll know because it will be right before it really hurts." Before I had a chance to ask a question, she turned the knob and I felt a small electric shock in four places. Of course, i didn't want to seem like a wimp so I waited until the pulse was almost too much to take. She then placed a large pillow sized ice pack over my entire hip area.
After a minute or so, the sensation died down a little bit and I kind of settled in. All of the sudden another patient came over and started talking to me about his broken back and his therapy. Here I was, getting my One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest therapy, and this guy was telling me his story of his life. I wanted to say, "look buddy, I'm doing all I can from running out of this crazy house, so could please close the drape around my table and move away." But, I smiled and listened while my hip was vibrating in crazy places.
After 10 minutes, the therapy was done, I stood up, and.....I, Felt, Awesome! About 50% better. I made another appointment for Wednesday and look forward to my next shock therapy.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Are We There Yet?
Fatigue is definitely starting to set in. Not necessarily physical fatigue, but the long mental haul of training for the marathon. We have now been training for about 13 weeks. We have just over 5 weeks left to go and while that really isn't such a long time, it's 5 more weeks that limit what we can do. Anytime anybody asks me what is going on I feel like my answer is "uhhhhh, running!" At first it was great and exciting and now I feel like a broken record! I mean, I'm still excited and love when we are out on our runs, but I look at my calendar and would enjoy seeing an excursion outside of Chi-town.
It has taken its' toll on our summer fun. Kris and I would love to go camping or up to Door County this weekend, but with an 18 miler on the calendar, it's a no go. I miss Saturday morning Farmer's Markets and long walks with the dog. I know D could have a packed social calendar with the holiday weekend, but again, 18 miles. Basically, most of Saturday is kind of spoken for and we'll have to be in bed early Friday night. After our 16 miler, I tried to drive around Chicago 2 hours after the run and there were lapses in time that I can't even remember. I was worse than a driving teenage texter!
The commitment part of the marathon is definitely the most difficult part. I think that anyone can do it if you put the time in. It's just finding the time or wanting to find the time that separates those who do and those who don't You aren't just putting the time in during the run; you have to account for stretching time and icing time and making sure you're eating and drinking enough (and correctly), and of course, sleeping enough. The senior citizen bed times have come so easily. Oh Stephen Colbert, how I miss you!
I'm sure the next 5 weeks will fly by and I'll soon be posting that, "help me Jesus, help me Oprah, help me Tom Cruise, I wish I had another month of training." I kind of anticipated this fatigue would happen (the shine always starts to wear off new things, just like Cabbage Patch Kids and GIJoe) so I scheduled some fun stuff for us. Well, fun stuff for a marathon runner in training. Next weekend we will be running the Crystal Lake 1/2 marathon. I'm hoping to get some inspiration as we run along routes I used to cover in Cross Country. Then the weekend after that we will be running the CARA ready to run 20 miler. It's like a training run but with a couple thousand people, Gatorade stops and a party afterwards. Then, it's a three week taper to the Marathon.
Oh, and just want to put it out there. The three of us will be on the Lakefront running for about 4 hours on Saturday. We would love for some company along any part of the route if you're interested. Come on, you know you want to! Hit me up, I'll share our route.
It has taken its' toll on our summer fun. Kris and I would love to go camping or up to Door County this weekend, but with an 18 miler on the calendar, it's a no go. I miss Saturday morning Farmer's Markets and long walks with the dog. I know D could have a packed social calendar with the holiday weekend, but again, 18 miles. Basically, most of Saturday is kind of spoken for and we'll have to be in bed early Friday night. After our 16 miler, I tried to drive around Chicago 2 hours after the run and there were lapses in time that I can't even remember. I was worse than a driving teenage texter!
The commitment part of the marathon is definitely the most difficult part. I think that anyone can do it if you put the time in. It's just finding the time or wanting to find the time that separates those who do and those who don't You aren't just putting the time in during the run; you have to account for stretching time and icing time and making sure you're eating and drinking enough (and correctly), and of course, sleeping enough. The senior citizen bed times have come so easily. Oh Stephen Colbert, how I miss you!
I'm sure the next 5 weeks will fly by and I'll soon be posting that, "help me Jesus, help me Oprah, help me Tom Cruise, I wish I had another month of training." I kind of anticipated this fatigue would happen (the shine always starts to wear off new things, just like Cabbage Patch Kids and GIJoe) so I scheduled some fun stuff for us. Well, fun stuff for a marathon runner in training. Next weekend we will be running the Crystal Lake 1/2 marathon. I'm hoping to get some inspiration as we run along routes I used to cover in Cross Country. Then the weekend after that we will be running the CARA ready to run 20 miler. It's like a training run but with a couple thousand people, Gatorade stops and a party afterwards. Then, it's a three week taper to the Marathon.
Oh, and just want to put it out there. The three of us will be on the Lakefront running for about 4 hours on Saturday. We would love for some company along any part of the route if you're interested. Come on, you know you want to! Hit me up, I'll share our route.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
X3 = a Marathon
Wendsday brought us our first 9 mile mid week sort of long run. Every time we hit some sort of milestone we always will say, "ok, that wasn't so bad, but we have x number of miles more to run the day of the actual marathon." That usually leads to some groans, expletives and sick laughter on our way to getting our chocolate milks.
After we finished our 9 today Kris commented that 9 miles was our first official Saturday long run. It was kind of a nice thing to think about considering we all finished with ease this morning and when we ran that 9 miles back on the 4th of July weekend, I thought I would parish on the side of the road in Door County. I finished the last 1.7 miles of that run on the sheer hope that Kris's parents would hopefully be making pancakes. As sweat was dripping down my body and I was sure my face was so beet red that I would scare small children, I kept thinking "pancakes, pancakes pancakes." Lucky for me, a big "Pops Breakfast" which includes pancakes, was awaiting our arrival. Just when I had that nice memory of "run for the pancakes," Darren said, "man, we have to run three of those for the marathon." The little bubble above my head of me sitting down at the cabin to a plate of pancakes feeling accomplished popped loudly. Will I ever feel ready for this race? I have no idea.
One of the most difficult aspects of this marathon training is the constant unknowing of what is going to happen or how I will feel doing it. I can tell you how many crunches will make my abs feel like they are on fire or how playing an entire game of basketball feels and how i will probably be limping around the next day. I have no idea what it feels like to run 18 miles or 26.2 miles. I have no idea how my body will react. Will I get the trots (Oh, God, no)? Will Kris and D have to carry me across the finish line or will I even finish ( I try not to let that thought linger too much). I try to push the more positive thought to the forefront of my mind that I might actually enjoy the 4+ hours we'll spend on the course. I figure that if the last couple of miles comes down to needing pure mental endurance and the ability to will it to happen, the odds are in my favor. Being a vertically challenged athlete, I have a pretty robust mental toolbox...sometimes the mental beats out the physical in sport.
I also have the edge of running alongside my husband and good friend who provide constant support and motivation; I'm a lucky girl. I'm also a girl who will not be left in the dust by two boys. Hah!
A happy 31st Birthday to our friend Jen E. This super woman finished the Chicago Triathlon last weekend. Goooo, Jen!
After we finished our 9 today Kris commented that 9 miles was our first official Saturday long run. It was kind of a nice thing to think about considering we all finished with ease this morning and when we ran that 9 miles back on the 4th of July weekend, I thought I would parish on the side of the road in Door County. I finished the last 1.7 miles of that run on the sheer hope that Kris's parents would hopefully be making pancakes. As sweat was dripping down my body and I was sure my face was so beet red that I would scare small children, I kept thinking "pancakes, pancakes pancakes." Lucky for me, a big "Pops Breakfast" which includes pancakes, was awaiting our arrival. Just when I had that nice memory of "run for the pancakes," Darren said, "man, we have to run three of those for the marathon." The little bubble above my head of me sitting down at the cabin to a plate of pancakes feeling accomplished popped loudly. Will I ever feel ready for this race? I have no idea.
One of the most difficult aspects of this marathon training is the constant unknowing of what is going to happen or how I will feel doing it. I can tell you how many crunches will make my abs feel like they are on fire or how playing an entire game of basketball feels and how i will probably be limping around the next day. I have no idea what it feels like to run 18 miles or 26.2 miles. I have no idea how my body will react. Will I get the trots (Oh, God, no)? Will Kris and D have to carry me across the finish line or will I even finish ( I try not to let that thought linger too much). I try to push the more positive thought to the forefront of my mind that I might actually enjoy the 4+ hours we'll spend on the course. I figure that if the last couple of miles comes down to needing pure mental endurance and the ability to will it to happen, the odds are in my favor. Being a vertically challenged athlete, I have a pretty robust mental toolbox...sometimes the mental beats out the physical in sport.
I also have the edge of running alongside my husband and good friend who provide constant support and motivation; I'm a lucky girl. I'm also a girl who will not be left in the dust by two boys. Hah!
A happy 31st Birthday to our friend Jen E. This super woman finished the Chicago Triathlon last weekend. Goooo, Jen!
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