runners problems

Accountability Monday and Half Marathon Goals

- Mel 1 Comment

If I don’t have a plan, I won’t do what I’m supposed to — and having a plan means so much more than just adding all of my runs to my calendar and signing up for a class on MindBody (and, honestly, this applies the same for my personal life). WHY AM I DOING ANY OF THIS?!

What it means: Drafting a WHOLE workout to include the different warm-up exercises that I’ll be doing and for how long, what the focus of my run is (instead of just going out to accomplish a certain number of miles for the day), and planning out my cool-down and stretching routine.

An interesting thing happened: This process has made me much more attached to my workout and makes me feel TRULY accountable for my routine rather than showing up at the gym and not knowing what to do or plugging in my earbuds and tuning out on a slogging long run. It was a total mind-shift on my health and fitness. It may sound like a “no duh!” thing, but I’ve been exercising without purpose or focus for a while — it was really important to give more meaning to my healthy lifestyle and be more mindful of my decisions to do something and how I budget my time.

One of my goals for 2016 was to run a 2-hour half marathon, which I’ve decided to make happen this October at the IMT Des Moines half. To accomplish this, I will need discipline, speed and power, and a little help from my running community. My training officially starts in late July, so for now I’m focusing on my running base (mostly with consistency), my core, and overall body strength.

And also, just as REST has always been integral to my mental health and prevention of burnout, and given my awful Dam to Dam race last weekend, I took a week off to rest my body and mind. It was important to reflect on what went wrong and WHY. Well, Why #1 is that my training program was practically non-existent. There wasn’t one single week where I ran more than twice, and several weeks where I didn’t run (or workout) at all. Though I was a little surprised on how dehydrated I was on race day, especially with how conscious I am over my water intake and that I didn’t even have a drink the night before!

I sincerely want to follow through on a training program and be all “EFF YEAH, MEL!” Making the practice as important as the completion of the goal is my new purpose.

Anyway… SUNDAY I got my shit together and put together a great workout — and finally used my in-home TRX suspension trainer (and today I remember why I LOVE IT so much, woof!).

Warm-up: Jump rope for 3 minutes
Upper body strength: TRX arms and shoulders video workout, about a 20-minute workout
Cardio: A 15-min interval workout on the treadmill (a little over a mile in total)
Burpees (‘cuz burpees, baby!): 39 total, though I maxed out at 18 straight without stopping
Running strength/power: Strong & Fast Workout 1 from Runners World; 5 movements at 15 reps each/each side (took me around 15 minutes to complete)
Cool Down: Then some light yoga stretching to cool down

30-something workout Des Moines
Working out at home in my matchy-matchy Fabletics.

It felt like the perfect workout. And it felt REALLY good to plan it out and make it happen.

Goals for this week:

  • Run three times — including going to check out a new run club. No mileage requirements; do one interval/speed workout.
  • Do my regular Wednesday session of yoga.
  • Two sessions of TRX (I’ll likely do a similar workout to Sunday’s).
  • BURPEES with every workout! (I wonder if I can do them every day? HA!)
  • Get through our BIG bike ride on Saturday! (EEEK!)

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 76

- Mel 2 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY! Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). And the rest of us in the Blogger Tribe are sharing our posts today, too. The prompts for June 12 (Week 76) :: Planning, Loving, Reading, Wishing, Feeling.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and camp out with the Tribe on Facebook!

Planning:: out my running bibs and medals wall! I’m so excited that I have the space to put up all of my memories in my workout room, and I’ve already made some purchases to help pull this whole thing together. There was a lot of great inspiration out there on Pinterest, and I can’t wait to lay mine all out. I also plan to include some items from my roller derby days. It will be an inspiration wall to hopefully lead to motivation in keeping my new goals on track!

With that, I’m also starting to plan out my training for the IMT Des Moines Half Marathon in October, including finding some run groups and group runs in the area.

Loving:: I am loving the crap (pun intended?) out of my morning coffee routine. So much so, that I find myself willing my brain to sleep with the promise of waking up to the warmth of a delicious black drink. I’m still mostly keeping to my “no coffee after noon” rule at work, but LOVE weekends when IDGAF I’M DRINKING MORE COFFEE.

Reading:: I’m in the middle of two different books right now: In the Name of Gucci: A Memoir (hardcover) and We’re All Damaged (Kindle book).

After finally catching up on my Shape and Running World magazines last night, I’m also reading about some TRX upper body workouts to crank out this week, now that I finally set up the system in my workout room. NEARLY A YEAR AFTER BUYING IT.

Wishing:: that I could figure out my living room arrangement. I spent an hour making minor chair adjustments… and something is just not working. I bought a slipcover for the black leather sofa, but it’s much more blue than gray, which probably has something to do with throwing off the color balance in the room. But it feels haphazard and OMG it’s what I struggled with for the duration of the time in our Pittsburgh house — it never felt right!

I’m considering pulling out the leather sofa to see how the room feels without it (which would then both leave us with less sitting area and an empty space along the window). And then it might be another call into 1-800-Got-Junk. I HAVE NO IDEA.

Feeling:: I’m feeling a little nervous about this bike ride we’re doing next weekend. While it’s a day-long event with multiple stops along the route (BACON!), it’s still 78 miles in total, and uh… I haven’t been on a bike at all this season.

Sunday Lately for this 30-Something:: Week 70

- Mel 6 Comments

Blogger Tribe_Sunday Lately It’s Sunday morning and the Blogger Tribe is collectively sharing their Sunday Lately posts. Sunday Lately is a weekly linkup hosted by the Blogger Tribe (lead by Angelica, Meghan, Nicole, and Katy). The prompts for May 01 (Week 70):: Completing, Visiting, Repeating, Writing, Scheduling.

Catch up and read all of my past Sunday Lately posts and join camp with the Tribe on Facebook!

Completing:: Even though we have bi-weekly cleaning appointments (and they were just here this past Thursday), I just completed mopping all the floors on the 1st floor because they all smelled like wet dog. WTH!? It’s like they cleaned a house before hours with dogs and used the same mop water. After two days, it didn’t dissipate, and I couldn’t take it anymmore.

Visiting:: Today, we’ll be visiting ALL THE HOME STORES. Ha! Now that we’re mostly settled in, we’ve figured out a few needs for our living spaces. Plus, we’ll be hosting our first out-of-town visitors this month!

Repeating:: Despite how bummed I am about not returning to Pittsburgh to run the marathon with friends this weekend, I need to repeat how I felt immediately upon running the PGH Half last year: I don’t EVER want to run that again. It’s difficult in this current moment because I was so excited to take on the full; but last year, I was miserable (I only signed up this year because I had won a free entry and wanted to join a few friends running their first marathon). But… I was really overwhelmed by the crowds. UGH THE CROWDS. And the weather is always totally unpredictable. It’s a conflict that I thought would be resolved with not training appropriately and moving away and separating myself from the city. Instead, it’s bubbled up emotions that I wasn’t really ready prepared for.

Writing:: I’m currently writing down some lists for a possible 30-day challenge project to take me through the next year. Because…

Scheduling:: It’s BIRTHDAY MONTH!!! Besides making plans for the BIGGEST DAY/LAST YEAR of my 30s, my scheduled Birthday Fix arrived a week early — and it’s seriously one of my favorite Stitch Fix boxes [affiliate link] that I’ve ever received (seriously!!!). I really feel like they curated it specially for me and my style (I asked for a Fix specific for my birthday celebrations, to include some new shoes and a pink dress and THEY DELIVERED).

Stich Fix Birthday Box WIN!
Stich Fix Birthday Box WIN!

The CUTEST Adrianna Papell floral dress, the Pixley green tropical print blazer that I asked for (over a white lace-up top that’s not really my style but ended up looking super cute on), and the Franco Sarto heels that I had pinned! I also received a pair of distressed Kut from the Kloth denim, which are my second pair from the brand — I really like how they fit me!

Race Recap: Gasparilla Challenge Day #2 (Half Marathon and 8k)

- Mel 2 Comments

I ran the Gasparilla Ultra Challenge in Tampa last month, and moved only a couple weeks later. I’m finally wrapping up my race experience. Read my recap of Day #1, if you missed it!

flat mel day 2 gasprarilla
Same bib, different day.

Day #2 included a half marathon and an 8k. This would be my 4th half — my last half marathon was in September (when I was training for the Niagara Marathon). I couldn’t find any record of running an 8k race, but I had a couple 5-mile races to compare pace to and plan out my strategy. This experience was no comparison to the day before — my knee felt GREAT using a brace, but I was definitely feeling my body fatigue in the second race and the heat was borderline unbearable. I won’t underestimate it, the last few miles of this Challenge were pretty rough.

Start Line and Course: It wasn’t as cool as Day #1 at the start, but I still wore a long-sleeve throw-away to the start line. We began earlier, and it was SUPER dark for a few miles into the course — at one point we were running on brick or cobblestone roads, and I thought we were all going to trip over one another. It took a while for the course to thin out too.

While the start line and beginning of the course were different than the first day, the end of the course and finish line of the half and 8k were the same. At the start line of the 8k, there were several of us that were randomly clustered together who were running our last race of the challenge. It was a fun group, and it was awesome to commiserate over our experience so far (and our will to finish). Though, the course: same fan groups, same lady shaking her poms, same music guy… I was definitely cranky by the end of the 8k.

I stuck with the 2:15 pacer for the half marathon for a couple miles, until I realized that I was running his race strategy instead of my own. I didn’t feel bad about walking through a water stop and letting them run ahead (it seemed he was skipping water stations every 2-3 miles). I would gain some traction further on in the race. Later in the half — around Mile 10 — I saw the 2:20 pacer pass me and decided that I was going to attempt a PR and knew it was maybe possible to gain a few minutes but STAY AHEAD OF THAT PACER (at the time, I had zero idea what my total time was, as I only watch pace for the current mile on my Garmin watch).

Medals and Swag: Like the previous day, these medals do not disappoint. The half marathon medal and shirt are my favorites.

gasparilla day 2 shirts ultra challenge

Bonus: That Ultra Challenge finishers medal is something else. SO HEAVY.

gasparilla ultra challenge jacket medal

Random Bullshit: Uh, my “bonus” from the day before (the cold towels at the finish) were not available on Day #2. Now that I was used to that perk at this race… that’s some bullshit! It was longer distance on Sunday AND hotter. I just couldn’t understand the reasoning (plus, you know, HOT and I was cranky AF).

Also BS, the volunteers had already packed up the water stop at Mile 4 of the 8k. I was sincerely ready to lose it and stopped dead in my tracks. The water stop ended up somewhere a quarter of a mile later or so, but… WHY?! I was definitely feeling dehydrated.

After Party: We packed up and drove to Sarasota after Sunday’s race activities (thankfully, I had enough time to take a shower before checking out).

30something gasparilla challenge all medals chocolate milk
Spoiler alert: I FINISHED!

TL;DR
The Great: Honestly, summing up my entire Gasparilla experience, this was one of the best-managed races that I’ve ever participated in – especially considering the logistics of some 30k+ runners and four different events over two days.
The Good: Both days, I had pacers from Pittsburgh. I met a few others on the course, too, with the same randomness of location.
The Bad: One bloody sock, a couple of blisters at the tips of my toes and a bruised toenail. This challenge wrecked my feet.
The Ugly: Those last few miles, man. ROUGH.

Some people have asked if I would do this race again. Heck yeah, in a heartbeat. Though, I really wish that I had friends running this one with me. There are definitely other challenges out there that I’d like to add to my trophy room first before going back to Tampa. I learned that I really like challenge/multi-day races, and even though the mileage was split between two days, finishing gave me a little more confidence to pursue a 50k.

RESULTS
Half marathon official finish time: 2:17:17 — a new PR!

Splits: 11:07 (1) / 10:27 (2) / 10:27 (3) / 9:59 (4) / 10:21 (5) / 10:16 (6) / 10:45 (7) / 10:20 (8) / 10:46 (9) / 10:32 (10) / 10:31 (11) / 10:31 (12) / 9:46 (13)

8k official finish time: 54:00 ON THE MONEY (but nothing that makes me rich! lol)

Splits: 10:06 (1) / 10:40 (2) / 11:11 (3) / 10:36 (4) / 11:17 (5)

gasparilla finishers certificate 30something