Friday, February 28, 2014

Believe you can!

It's been a while since I posted any kind of update. I had gotten a bit down on myself being back in physical therapy and not hitting my goals for workouts. BUT the negative thoughts didn't last long. This week has been awesome!

physical therapy 
I tore the labrum in my left hip in April 2012. I spent 4 mos straight in PT then and "recovered" well. I was able to keep running. I trained well and ran a 23 min marathon PR in November, injury free/little pain. However, I took a tumble late December and seemed to have jarred things on the ol' left hip a little. I wasn't having a ton of pain/issues but my tailbone was really bothering me. I didn't fall directly onto my tailbone so I ignored it for a long time.

I went to the dr, had an x-ray and got good news. No broken/fractured or bruised tailbone. He put me on anti-inflammatory meds for a couple of weeks and said to call back if I still had trouble. I did. I was sent to a PT specializing in women's health therapy (more on that later). It's so weird how all our "parts" connect and one thing leads to another. The tailbone was overcompensating for the hip stuff. So, once things were resolved with the tailbone after 2 visits, the hip flared up reallly reallly bad.

I've been in PT for 3 weeks with great improvements. I'm trying hard to remain positive in that I won't require another visit to the orthopedic dr OR surgery for my hip just yet. I believe if I just be patient in listening to my body and do my PT exercises as told that I can continue to run well and prolong any kind of surgery talk.

easy runs
It's been repeated to me over and over how important it is to take it easy on the runs labeled "easy run." I know why an easy run day follows a track/speed day. Your body has to recover. Easy runs should be done at an easy pace (for me during marathon training this was 9:45ish, now I'm told to stay around 10:00). The competitor in me, I guess, wants to always work hard. I'm motivated most of the time and like to run with my friends (who typically are faster). Going a bit faster on easy runs wasn't always easy but I got use to it and that became an easy pace for me.

BUT then the marathon and blah blah. My body was tired, this happened and that. And guess what? Yep, that "easy" pace became much harder especially on my easy days following a speed workout. Why? Because I wasn't allowing my body the rest/recovery it needed! Guess what happens when we push hard back to back? More prone to injury! I am not saying that is why my hip is a little flared up BUT it gives me a good reason to listen to what is being told of me and my easy run pace.

So, that all said - I take my easy runs easy and I feel so much better doing so and not letting the pace control my mood of the run. I believe that if I listen to what I have been told and am patient with the easy runs I will see the improvement I want in all my runs - long, short, easy, speed, races!

the track
In the last month or so I have been having a terrible time hitting my paces for track/speed workouts. This may be partly because I have gone to the track dreading what was on the schedule. A bad attitude rarely results in anything positive! It could also be that this winter has been terrible. So much cold, rain, snow and just too much winter around here.

However, this week has been great. I lost the attitude of "I cannot hit that pace for that workout," and I said, "Screw you mother nature and your sub freezing temps." I went to practice, listened to my coach when he told me my paces and then I ran them. Boom, bam, bizzle.

My training right now is based on speed and getting faster for my upcoming races.  Here is how this week looked. I do speed work at the track on Tues/Fri.
Tues - drills - 2mi warmup 12x400 2 mi cool down (goal 2:05-2:00 progress down, 1:00 rest btwn)
1:57 1:59 1:56 1:58 1:56 1:57 1:56 1:57 1:57 1:58 1:59 1:56

Fri- drills - 2 mi warmup  10x200 2 mi cool down (goal :53-:55, 200 m recovery jog btwn)
:53 :52 :53 :55 :52 :51 :51 :51 :50 :48
Coach ran the last one with me as a birthday 200!

I believe that if I go to practice with a positive attitude and tell myself, "I can," when I am given my paces then I WILL! 

What I learned this week:
When coach says be patient - be patient.
Lose the negative thoughts - you will see positive results.
Keep the easy runs easy and allow the body to recover. 

And for my biggest bit of advice (not that this is even an advice post, lol) ------


Believe you can and you're halfway there!

Monday, February 10, 2014

Strawberry Plains 10k - race recap

The details -
When - Saturday, February 9, 2014
Where - Strawberry Plains, TN
What - Strawberry Plains 10k/Half marathon
Weather - 38 degrees and cloudy



For the past few years I have not only ran this race but volunteered. Actually, my first time ever at this race I volunteered only. This race is one of my favorites. I typically would choose to run the half (and have in the past) but this time the 10k was on my schedule. I was thankful for that! Given my last race (10 miler a few wks ago) I wasn't overly thrilled to be racing at all but definitely was glad to be running the shorter of the 2 distances.

I had a very off week last week. I only got in 2 of my scheduled runs and one other workout due to my body not cooperating. I will get into that more, but let me just say that as a result I was totally unsure of how things would go on race day.

Since I was volunteering for food prep we had to be there by 6:30am. Worked out well for us. It gave me plenty of time to get up, dress and eat before we needed to leave. I usually struggle with pre-race morning breakfast but on this race day things were perfect. I should make myself a huge note of that and keep doing that for every race day. Note about food prep - I made a bazillion and 42 peanut butter sandwiches on race morning. I may never eat a pbj again.

About 20-30 minutes before the race start my running friends and I got ready to head outside for our warmup. I was pretty chilled when we started out but was happy after a mile in to be warm enough that I wouldn't freeze during the race. My lungs felt great and my body was doing well. 1.5+ warm up and we headed to potty one last time before lining up. Since I had eaten breakfast at 5am and race start was 9am I decided to take a gel before the start.

We are usually advised to line up close to the start so as to not have to dodge walkers. I knew what my start pace should be (9:00-9:10) and felt pretty good where we placed ourselves in line. Once the gun went off I was a bit faster going out than needed so I tried to slow up a little to save energy when I would need it. I felt good. Really good considering my week and the pain I'd been having.

The plan was 9:10-9 to start and then speed up, however here are the actual splits:
9:00
9:22 (dropped a glove, stopped to go back and pick up. DUMB!)
9:17
9:15
9:19
9:13
1:32

Overall, I am really pleased with my race. I didn't hit my paces according to the plan BUT I was consistent and felt good the  entire time. Other than the one tiny walk break to pick up my glove that I had dropped I don't think I'd do much differently. This wasn't a 10k PR for me but since it's the first time running this course it is a course PR.

Where did I finish up?

Garmin time - 56:59
Gun time - 57:01
Chip time - 56:58

95/284 overall

and..... 1st place Athena! I'll take that since it wasn't close to being a PR race for me.I scored an awesome beanie, scarf,  and gloves (to replace the ones I ditched, goodbye Nikes).


It was really great to run with my friends and team mates. We all celebrated our own victories on Saturday. Several of us placing in our age/divisions and setting new PRs.

Did you race this weekend or finish a long run? How'd it go?

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

WW - hill repeats (and it's not wordless!)

 
I had a hill repeat workout on Friday. Typically I go at 5am to practice but put off my workout because I wanted to sleep in. We had some snow during the week. When I got to the end of my 2 mi warmup this was the sight of my hill. Snow and ice. I had never ran such hard hill repeats but I am glad to have gotten it done. I felt a bit like  a beast for accomplishing that after a long work day.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Motivational Monday - a shameless plug

If you know me well enough you know I don't like to brag on myself. You might also know that I'm shy, very shy. I don't remember the details of who or how I was pointed in the direction of the website but I was emailed, filled out a survey, answered a few questions and voila.. my weight loss/running story was suddenly made very much more public! I'm on weight loss expert nor am I an elite runner but I do have experience in both areas. Here is an article posted yesterday about my story. 
I like to think it's the perfect little bit of motivation I needed right now to keep me going in the right direction. 

Kimert Run's Weight Loss Success Story

Since I've already told you I am not an expert or elite runner here are a few more things I would like to add.
- I've been there. It's HARD not just at first but every single day.
- You have to start somewhere. Take baby steps.
- No magic pills, no magic shakes, no magic wraps will give you long lasting success.
- Diet and exercise - 100%
- Commit and find a support group willing to commit too.
- Believe. Know you are worth every step it takes to reach your goals.