Running... my first Half Marathon

I signed up for the Charlotte RaceFest 1/2 Marathon in April. And I trained... really hard for this race. I was diligent with my mileage and made sure to stick to my schedule, even on days I really didn't want to. 9 miles was my longest pre-race run... and I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating on that run. All I could think about was a lemon-lime gatorade....

literally... if I could just have ONE SIP of that gatorade, I could have kept running... for miles even. It was terrible. I thought I was going to vomit when I got home. I remember laying down on the hardwood floors and thinking how I would never be able to do 13.1 miles. 

Fast forward a few weeks to race day... which was also the day that tornadoes ravaged the state of North Carolina and it rained and stormed through the race. I woke up at 5 am to thunderstorms and decided then that I wouldn't be participating. Kudos to the many runners that did... and finished but I didn't want my first half to be in the rain.. or to get struck by lightning. 

So along with my friend Liz and boyfriend's sister, I signed up for the Myrtle Beach Mini half marathon in October. I didn't train as much or often as I had previously ... as I was now in classes and it also happened to be football season (GO VT!) So Race day came and I was NERVOUS to say the least. We agreed to run together, the whole time, and to keep running. No walking allowed. I typically maintained a 8-9 minute mile during my training but in the race we ran between 12-12:30 the whole way. We didn't walk. We didn't stop. And honestly... it wasn't that bad. I felt relieved as I crossed the finish line, but it's a different feeling than a 5k. Your body is being pushed in a different way. 

Now... about 2 hours after the race, the real misery set in when my WHOLE BODY began to ache. But that's another story. 

The course is great for the Myrtle Beach Mini... totally flat. They could have used more bands and more fans to cheer the runners on but it was a good first half and now I'm thinking of where my next one will be. 

Running... and detoxing

Today I tried Yogi Detox tea for the first time. I had seen it in the stores before but strayed away from that, along with most "double fiber" foods. I try not to eat much of anything that is processed so Fiber bars are out of the question... but tea, well that's my weakness. I cut out coffee about 3 months ago, so now I have a cup of tea at least once a day. (I have a slight addiction to the unsweetened Black Iced Tea at Starbucks). 

I wasn't sure what to expect with the tea... but it smelled alright so I gave it a shot. And honestly, not a lot happened. The best part of the tea was the cute little quote on the end of the string attached to the tea bag. A detox sounded good to me after last night and having wine, truffles and champagne in my LAST research class EVER! I guess I had higher expectations. I switched over to green tea with mint for my afternoon cup o' tea. Much more flavor for sure. 

Post coming tomorrow about half marathon training and the joy & misery of my first half. Today has been crazy with a full day of work, trying to finish a research paper and last minute responses to chapters I was supposed to have read months ago, AND moving in new furniture tonight. Busy day - so not much time for blogging. 

Running... on a bike

So I did Group Ride this morning instead of running. Giving the usual muscle groups a break and attacking some others today. There is only one instructor at my gym that I really like teaching the class, the other two give a so-so class and spend more time out of the saddle than in it... which feels like running on a bike.


My usual and favorite form of exercise is RUNNING. However, I had been having some knee pain after the Brixx 10k I did in 2010 and couldn't quite figure it out. To me (who does not have a medical degree) it felt like something was torn - because just the certain way I would turn it or strike my leg down while running would sent a sharp, shooting pain from the inner side of my knee upward. I talked to my doctor about it, thinking he would refer me for some testing to figure out the ailment, but no, he told me "You need to build muscle in your legs." SERIOUSLY? I mean, my legs are like the one thing that I hardly ever have to train because they get cut up so easily. I have a V shape in my calf muscle and my quads jut out to the side they are so muscular. So I chalked that conversation up to my doctor just not wanting to spend anymore time on the appointment. 

My aunt's friend is a physical therapist and one night over dinner I was explaining to him my knee pain. He told me to go put on some shorts (which I did... they were my 8 year old cousin's shorts) and then had me do some exercises while he watched how my legs moved. So we discovered that I probably need a little more support in my shoes than my current Brooks Ravenna 2's offer and he said THE SAME THING that my doctor did... I needed to build up more muscle around my knees. Another guy at dinner is a cycler and the PT had him show me his legs, which (I hate to admit it) had very clearly more muscle around the knee than mine. So, this is why I take my weekly cycling class and also try to do a few leg exercises... i.e.: squats, lunges, leg presses and extensions at least once a week.


I'm making a conscious effort to strengthen my legs even though I hate the thought of them getting any bigger and appearing to be like "softball girl" legs. I would like for them to stay intact so that I can keep running and keep fighting my metabolism as it slows down as I near closer to the age of 26.


Post Spin Class Smoothie


- 4 or 5 strawberries sliced
- 1 banana sliced
- Cup of ice
- 1/2 cup of vanilla greek yogurt (more protein in Greek yogurt - I love Stonyfield Oikos)
- 1/2 cup of milk - A scoop of Whey Protein or recovery powder of your choice
- BLEND & ENJOY!

Running Thru December

I doubt I have to say this - but the holidays are ROUGH.... rough on your diet, your work outs and your waistline. If you don't set aside time to work out and prepare your meals... you will very easily get sidetracked by holiday colored wrapped Hershey's kisses, candy canes or Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Latte. 


I vowed to not eat sweets for the month of December to help combat all of the meals that I would be (over)indulging in. On December 1st, my team at work threw a party for me with chocolate cake to celebrate my last day in that role. Epic fail. 


On December 5th, also day 1 of my new job, my new boss bought me a brownie... I'm pretty sure it was laced with some addictive substance. It was heavenly and I immediately wanted more. They had obviously taken it out of the oven a couple minutes early to preserve the gooey-ness.


On December 6, one of my new co-workers delivered a bag of Andes, Hershey's Kisses and Hershey's miniatures to my desk. I devoured them all by 11 A.M. Except for the one that I saved for my boyfriend to help sweeten up his day (we have lunch together pretty much every day). 


Anyway, you can see the trend... I thought it would be a lot easier to avoid sweets and chocolate at least until Christmas day but I couldn't do it. There were too many temptations. So here's how I've negated all of those calories to avoid looking like this: 

Monday - Class day which equals no working out
Tuesday - Made a buffalo chicken wrap for lunch, with carrots and an apple as my snacks throughout the day
Wednesday- Ran 3 miles on the treadmill with intervals on incline of .5-8.0
Thursday - 90 day supreme Total Body workout 
Friday - Ran 2 miles with the dogs
Saturday - 9:15 A.M. Group Power @ ZX Fitness and then a 1.25 mile walk with the dogs
Sunday (tomorrow - but I'm doing it!) - 10:30 A.M. Group Ride class @ ZX Fitness 


The only chocolate I've allowed myself to have at home has been chocolate milk (1%) after a work out. So that's at least partial success. 


Maybe I'll try again in January... but until then, I'll keep planning calorie burning workouts to kill all the sugary goodness that would otherwise go straight to my love-handles.