What I Learned About Race Walking Will Surprise You.

I'm going WAY back to marathon weekend for this post.  Do you remember when I said that after the race the roof of my mouth hurt and that I couldn't swallow?

Well that feeling continued into that evening too and it made it difficult for me to thinking about eating a big meal.  After looking over a few menus we decided on going to Wolf Gang Puck because they had Butternut Squash Soup and Mashed Potatoes!

As you can imagine there was quite a crowd there that evening. As we were waiting in line we met two sisters ( I think they were from Ohio) who also did the marathon. The one sister had the same mouth problem as I did. We thought that was weird.  Anyway, because space was limited in Wolfgang Puck they invited my sister and I to sit with them.

Okay, so this is where the story becomes interesting. We learned that these sister are Race Walkers!  They finished the Disney World Marathon in 5:35! That's not bad for a runner let alone a WALKER. And guess what? That's not even their PR. I believe they said their PR for Race Walking was 5:05.  Now that's crazy isn't it?

I became intrigued with this whole race walking thing.  I am normally a fast walker anyway so I thought this could be something I could work on during the Spring/Summer.  I tried to do some research on the topic to get some tips but I couldn't find much at all.

I started walking at the park and just moving my arms and picking up the pace.  I could get my pace to a 14-ish mile per minute with ALL walking.  I guess I would be okay to do a Disney race since the minimum mile per minute is 16.  But could I hold that pace for an entire marathon?  NO WAY!!!  Race walking is hard and and it put a lot of strain on my ankles.  Obviously I was doing something wrong.

                                                         Then I came across this video .

Yes, this is a Holderness family video (You know how I love the Holderness family) so it is a bit funny but Penn is actually getting tips from a legit coach.  Can you believe the record for race walking is 5:38 per mile?

So if you watched the video you would find that the key is the "swagger".  I haven't tried the race walking since I watched this video but I did incorporate a little bit of  this "swagger" during my last run for a little bit and to be honest it actually made my running feel better. Maybe there is something to that!  -M

So what are your thoughts on the Race Walking?  Do you have a little swagger in your run?

We are linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Weekly Wrap...September 11 already.

Oh gosh, it seems like the month of September just started and already it is going by so quickly! I am continuing to train for my half marathon in November and am looking forward to another 5K this Saturday. 

I've increased my "long" runs to 6.2 Miles now! Yay!  My long runs are done on Fridays (for now), so since I did not work last Friday I got up with the intentions of doing my 6.2 miles. My mom came to the trail with me so she could get in a walk and then we planned to ride our bikes on the trail. 

 Long story short, I miscalculated where the turn around point was (because I didn't start at the beginning of the trail) and only ended up doing 4 miles. I was going to turn around and finish the last 2 miles but I saw my mom was already finished with her walk so I decided to call it quits and hop on the bike instead.  Turns out we did 16 miles on the bike!!!!  Needless to say my behind was sore!

So I think 4 miles running and 16 miles on bike was enough to warrant some beach time!  So that's what we did. The hot sand on my feet felt fabulous!

No work again on Monday so I was back to the trail and really did do a long run of 6.2 miles. I felt good but when I went home to log my run I noticed that I did this exact same distance (on the exact same trail) this time last year. Last year I was 2 minutes faster AND the weather that day was 20 degrees warmer!!!!  What is going on with me?????

Tuesday and Wednesday were work days. I have to say I have the best principals ever. After work on Tuesday we had a meeting and the principals had an ice cream truck outside for all the teachers!

Thursday I swam with Baylee. She had another little lab friend over to swim.

Friday I got myself back to the gym!  Afterwards I did a 2 mile run through town.

Saturday I did 4 miles through the park and it was so hot and so humid! I tell ya even after only 4 miles, I was exhausted. All I wanted to do was take a nap but I had to go home and getting ready for a wedding later that day.

Sunday Scott, I and Baylee were up bright and early to go spectate at our town's half marathon.  So you are probably wondering why I didn't participate?  Well, the name of the race is actually The HILLY Half.  So does that explain it?  We wanted to go support Baylee's Veterinarian.  It was her very first half and I know she was worried about it. It was nice cheering on some other runner friends too. Every time I would clap Baylee would get so excited so I had to cut that down to a minimum.

This is Baylee and her vet. She is one of our favorite people for obvious reasons!  Check out her hat. It says "Dog is good".

What did you do this past week? Did you have off Monday?  -M


We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for the weekly wrap!

Rock n Roll VA Beach Half Marathon

This past weekend was the Rock n Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon. I have been running this race the last four years and each year it has been just as hot and humid as the years  before. I didn’t think that this year would be any different. Weeks leading up to the race it had been unbearable with the heat and humidity. Therefore my longer runs did not happen. I was just going to use this race as a long training run. My running buddy and I decided to run it together, since he wasn’t going to “race” it.  This is how it all went down.

              

            

Before
The week before the race the forecast was calling for a tropical storm to come that weekend. We thought maybe that will bring a little relief to the heat wave that has been here. Friday night I went to pick up my race bib and packet and found out the concert that night was canceled as well as the mile on the sand the next morning (glad I didn’t sign up for that). And the
band for the following night was moved into the Convention Center. Everything was on schedule for Sunday morning at this point.

Cute race shirt for this year!

Luckily I didn’t have to work on Friday night, which I was very happy about because I would have hated to be on my feet all night long. I needed to rest, because on Thursday I went paddle boarding with a friend. We went in the ocean this time, and with the storm coming the water was a little rough, which resulted in me falling off a few times. The next morning  I was running and wondered why my calf was sore. I came home and saw a bruise on it the size of a baseball. I iced it and prayed for the best.


The Storm
Friday night was the calm before the storm. It wasn’t until about 1 am when it started. It was so loud with the wind and rain that it woke me up and I could not get back to sleep until hours later. The storm was still going on when I woke up later that morning, and of course now we had no power. Well my roommate and I both needed coffee and breakfast. So IHOP here we come. Everyone else must have known IHOP was opened because we actually had to wait to get seated. We had a great breakfast and took our time while we charged up our phones. Because after all why would we rush home with no power? It wasn’t until later that afternoon the power eventually came back on.
We got another email saying the race was still on the following day, but the Headliner Concert was moved into the Convention Center. And the concert for right after the race got moved to another stage on the Boardwalk. There was going to be limited entertainment and props throughout the race due to the gusty winds that were still supposed to be in effect.

Race Morning
I woke up race morning and grabbed my pre-race breakfast, a bagel. I went to cut it in half, and cut my finger in the process. What a way to start the morning off. After eating my breakfast and coffee we were headed to the race. Luckily I had VIP parking so we didn’t have to leave super early. When we arrived I was able to head inside the Convention Center to use the restroom and get VIP bag check. Then it was time to line up for the start.

From the Runrocknroll IG. See, no start banner.

It looked different this year from years past since they didn’t have the Rock n Roll banner up at the start like they usually do. Soon enough the gun shot off and we were off. We wanted to keep a conservative pace since neither one of us planned to “race it” I always start off way too fast in the beginning of races and I usually pay for it later. This day was different. Right from the start I was feeling great and we were keeping a good pace. I think the weather had a lot to do with it. It was cool and windy with little humidity, so much different from the previous years. I remember telling my friend I don’t feel like I am running a race. I feel like it is just a weekend long run, and he agreed. Maybe it was because of the weather. Either way, we’ll take it!

Running on the Cours
We were about half way through the race and he asked me how I was doing and if I needed to back off on pace to just let him now. I responded that I was still feeling good, but I would tell him if I needed to. He told me if we kept up this pace that I was heading for a PR. I thought to myself I didn’t want to get too confident since we have quite a ways to go but that did give me a little more pep in my step to continue going at that pace. Runs always go by much quicker when you have someone running with you. Chatting along the way always helps too. Even if you are not talking, just knowing that the other one is there and you can motivate each other to continue on when the going gets tough.

We had just passed the 10 mile mark so a 5k is all we had left to go. I try to always break down the mileage in a race. I find that it always helps, but maybe it’s just a mind game. I thought to myself we already ran this far so three more miles is nothing. The course is always the same so if you ran this before you know what is coming, back over the bridge, around the inlet, and down the boardwalk to the finish line. You always see people walking by this time, especially over the bridge. I wouldn’t say it is that steep, but having run 11 miles prior to this, it feels like it. I think at this point the adrenaline kicked in and I kept on pushing through. After the bridge, we were running around the inlet at this point and I told him I really wanted to pass the guy wearing a Yoda backpack. I mean come on, this guy is about twice my size and who knows what he is carrying in that back pack.

 My friend asked if I had it in me to pick it up. I told him not quit yet but maybe once we got on the boardwalk. Soon we hit the boardwalk and there was a major headwind, so needless to say I wasn’t able to pick up speed. He went ahead of me a little to try and block some of the wind, but that didn’t help much. It was hard to see the finish line because there were no banners above, but I knew we were getting close. We crossed the finish line at the same time and congratulated one another. And Yes, I managed a PR…Yay! I thank my friend for helping me out with that. The weather also helped. Why can’t every year be like this at Rock n Roll Virginia Beach? This is just what I needed to keep me motivated to continue my training for Chicago.

Post Race
After the race, I went to Rockfish to get my gear check back and have my VIP brunch.
 It was delicious, and the mimosas hit the spot. After arriving home I relaxed in my Jacuzzi tub before
napping the rest of the afternoon. That evening we went to the concert at the Convention center. This year’s Headliner was Culture Club and the Romantics opened for them. Maybe I am too young but I only knew about two of their songs. In years past, I felt the Headliners were more well-known bands that appealed to more of the population. At least we did have VIP so we able to have complimentary food and drinks during the show. Overall it was a great weekend. I am writing this the day after the race and I wish I didn’t have to work this evening, because yes, I am sore! But it was worth it! -L

We are linking up with the gals from the Friday 5.

Does It Really Matter?

If you were participating in an Olympic event, would you be happy just to be there?  Would you walk away disappointed if you didn't bring home a medal?  Would you be disappointed if that medal wasn't a gold one?  Would you be disappointed if you only brought home ONE gold medal?

My one and only "silver medal" for winning 2nd place in my age group. Would I like to earn more? Of course so!

I thought about this as we were watching some young Olympians just miss placing for a medal. I would console them from my couch by saying  It's okay, you made it to the Olympics, that is something to be proud of whether you bring home a medal or not.  The other day Marcia mentioned that Olympians that do not place should at least get a participation medal.  I would have to agree with this. They were among the best athletes in the world to make it to the Olympics, they should walk away with something at least.

Okay, so enough about the Olympics. Everyone wants to do their best and if they think they are capable of more (ie earning more than one gold) than of course they will be disappointed because, well, they expect more from themselves.

When I was doing my 10K run on the trail the other week, I happened to look down at my watch and see that it hit my PR time for my best 10K race.  However, on this particular day, I had one more mile left to run. WTH???  I'm really slowing down.  10K race time are often used for corral placement at larger races and I have been milking my sub 60 minute 10K for all it was worth. I often wonder if I will be able to get a time like that again in a 10K race.   Part of me doubts it because it has been a struggle lately for me to break 30 minutes in a 5K race. I mean I can do it, but it's tough and I can't imagine keeping that pace for essentially what would be TWO 5K races in a row!   But then again part of me thinks I've already reached that goal of a sub 60 10K, whats it matter if I do it again or not?  (I related this to the Olympian winning a gold medal and then being disappointed because he doesn't have more).  I need to just be proud that I reached that goal at one point in my running and if it doesn't happen anymore, o well. Does it really matter?

Another distance that is a monkey on my back so to speak is the dreaded marathon.  As you know, marathon number one was run when I was severely injured and marathon number two was run uninjured (but exhausted after mile 20).  And as much as I am proud of this race, there was a lousy 3 minutes that kept me from missing my #1 time goal.  I did have other goals that I did reach during that 26.2 miles though so that made missing my time a little bit easier to swallow.  Part of me has the urge to run another marathon just to see if I can do it.  But a part of me knows how HARD and time consuming marathon training  is.  Again, I tell myself that I am one of one percent of people who ever complete a marathon and my time wasn't that bad so does it really matter?   -M

So now you hopefully understand why I related this to the Olympics.   When you have reached  a goal, do you keep trying to reach it over and over again?   What happens when you keep missing it?

Deb's word of the day is Plethora so I thought this post would fit perfectly with her theme.

Are We Setting Ourselves Up for Exhaustion?

This post was created in my head during mile 5.6 of a 6.2 mile run.  It was 92 degrees out and the humidity was like a gazillion.

 I went out that Friday determined to break out of my 5 mile rut.  I'm calling it the 5 mile rut because 5 miles had been my longest run ALL SUMMER until that point. I have loads of free time in the summer so why hadn't I taken the time to run further?  Exhaustion, that's why.  I will fully admit that I ended some 3 and 4 mile runs completely exhausted. I love the summer and I will never complain about the heat because in my opinion it is better than extreme cold, but yea, heat, humidity, and running do not mix.

I of course am not telling you anything that you don't know or haven't experienced yourself but on this run, a thought came to me.  Many of us are training now for fall half marathons.  Some of you are already up to 11 miles and your races isn't till November, Kudos to you folks!   When I was out on the trail running 6.2, I couldn't even imagine continuing to run 6 or 7 more miles.  In fact, I'm starting to feel burned out from summer running already and as you see I haven't even gone very far.

So my thought is this.....Are we burning ourselves out by running during the summer and ending completely exhausted from heat and humidity?  I feel like by the time the cooler weather comes around I wont feel like doing my longer runs. What if we concentrated on only strength training and running shorter distances would that prepare us enough to run our longer runs once it cools off?  I know most of you are thinking  If I did that, that would only give me a few weeks of long runs and I need more than that".   But do we?   Is it better to go into some long runs with a solid base of strength training and shorter runs or go into it completely exhausted with some crappy runs under your belt?

Of course this is just a thought and it may be a delusional one because I am completely exhausted right now.   Do you feel like you got lots of quality runs in this summer? Please chime in and tell us what you think.

*Disclaimer: I ran an additional 6.2 miles today and the weather was a bit cooler and my run went much better. I really do think heat effects me more than I thought.  -M

We will be linking up with the gals from TOTR.

Fitness Friday

Last week was certainly a hectic one. I wanted to make the most of it since it was my last week of summer vacation.  I'll let you in on a little secret. With the help of my mom, I've been doing some home improvement projects around the house and it included a LOT of painting! Said painting is something that threw my running schedule off last week.

I wanted to give you a run down of my week (but mostly I wanted to re-live it through my words because I felt so productive).

Monday- We had already been painting all weekend but I wanted to get up early and get our materials prepared and do some touch ups before my mom arrived to help me.  We were painting outside so it was important that I started before it got too hot. Because of this I missed my scheduled run in the morning. I was going to do it later in the evening but we ended up going out for Pizza instead. Spending time with my parents was worth missing a run.

Tuesday- I thought about calling Monday's run a wash and just picking up with my next scheduled run on Wednesday but I felt compelled to get out and walk on Tuesday to make up for Mondays missed run. I planned to walk because my feet had been sore from standing on the ladder so much all weekend and on Monday.  I got to my running route and started walking.  Then I picked up a run to only the stop sign and thought I'd run to the stop signs and then walk to the next street. Turns out my walk with a little run thrown in turned into mostly running anyway and my feet never ended up hurting!

Wednesday- School hasn't started yet for us but I did have to go into work.  I felt bad leaving Baylee home all day even though my wonderful mother came to visit her.  When I got home I changed clothes and packed Baylee up to do errands with me. We went to the vet to buy dog food, went to the Library, and then we went to the trail so I could do my scheduled 3 miles. Don't worry, Baylee didn't run 3 miles.  My mom walked her only a mile while they waited for me to finish.

Thursday was another day that I had to work so of course I wanted to spend as much time with Baylee as possible when I got home.  Thursday is not a run day so I didn't have to worry about squeezing one it. It was a shopping day instead.

Baylee went to Lowes with me and she was a big hit!  Everyone was so friendly to her.

My friend told me that TJ maxx was pet friendly as well. I had to run in their quick so I decided to ask and sure enough it was!

                                                              Baylee is now a Maxtinista!
She was SO good at the stores. I wish I would have known years ago that TJ Maxx was pet friendly!

Friday: I was up by 6:15 and it was SO foggy out that I decided that I had some time before I got out for my run. I sat in bed and read for a little bit and then around 7 I took Baylee for a short walk around the neighborhood.  The kids in our neighborhood are back to school already so we had fun talking to them at the bus stop.  They like Baylee!  Afterwards I headed to the trail. This was the day I finally got out of my 5 mile rut!  I actually ran 6.2 miles and didn't die!

Were you productive last week?   -M

                                       We are linking up with the gals from the Friday 5.

Happy Trails....or not

The other day I was up bright and early to do my  run on the rail trail. I had my ipod and Garmin ready and was excited to do my run.  As I approached the trail I noticed a swarm of students running my way.  It was the local High School/Middle School cross country team.

I don't know how long these kiddos had been out on the trail but boy they looked beat. Either that or it was just way too early for them. As to not intrude on their run I decided to run the opposite direction on the trail.  I ended up running towards even more kids running up the trail. I noticed not one of them looked happy and none of them were wearing any tech type clothing. They all had cotton t-shirts on. What are these coaches teaching them? Why aren't they wearing breathable fabric?  No wonder they all looked so miserable.

Okay, back to my run.  I was feeling good and thought I was having a pretty good run.  After the first mile I looked down at my Garmin and noticed my time and thought,  Gee, that kind of stinks. I had to remember that I was going for good solid mileage and not time. I also had to remember that I was listening to the radio on my ipod. EVERY time I listen to the radio instead of my running playlist my time is slower. It must be because I don't have control over the upbeat music that I usually run to and also listening to people talk does not make me run fast. This is one reason I don't think I could ever listen to a podcast while I run.

In the end I did complete 5 miles and was pleased.  I mentioned last week about how I had pain in my knee after the run. I iced it as soon as I got home and hadn't had a problem since.

How was your last run? Do you ever listen to the radio on your run?  -M