Wife Mother Runner Blog - Wife Mother Runner

Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge begins

November 20, 2012

Today I signed up for the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge. I heard about it from Danielle Nardi from www.liverungrow.com . When you refer a friend mention Danielle or I and we can earn points. The reason why I joined this challenge is to make me step up my workouts, diet, intentions prior to the marathon. With it being close to 50 days away, I want to make sure I am healthy and prepared. I have a 23 mile long run and a 26 mile long run on the schedule and those long runs will also help me earn points! I still have to write about my 20 mile long run recap, which went very well.

For the challenge I will be tracking my workouts on Endomondo as I usually do, and will also note my workouts in the blog.

On Sunday I had the Wallingford Turkey Trot 5 mile run and it was a great run for me. I finished 5.44 miles in 52:59. One of my best times since last June. I am done with physical theraphy on my hamstring and it’s feeling 100% better. I am battling an issue with a posterior shin splint which I can hopefully nip in the bud.

So watch for my weekly recaps and points accumulations and decide if you too want to beat the holiday pounds with a challenge!

17 AWESOME miles!

October 25, 2012

Well I did it! I got my 17 mile run done. Friday, October 19 I set out to run regardless of the weather forecast calling for downpours and thunder. This run had been on my mind for weeks. I was mentally preparing for it, mapping out my route and watching the forecast. Every day it was showing rain, and lots of it. I was disappointed. I don’t mind running in rain, but downpours weren’t something I was looking forward to. Thankfully, even though it is October, the temp wasn’t going to be cold. All week it was in the 60s but Friday it was going to be humid and rainy.

The RUN
So this is how it all went down… I got my son on the bus, dropped Adrienne off at school and went home to get the last of my things. As I got home the sun popped out! I wore my capri running pants and calf sleeves and my rain jacket. I hit the road around 9:30. It was warm and dry so I had to take off my jacket a mile into the run. I tied it around my waist and thought about it for the next mile and half. I wasn’t sure if I should head back to the house to drop it off or keep it with me in case I got wet and cold. I chose to keep it with me and around mile 4 it started to sprinkle heavy so I put it back on to stay dry. It worked well. I stayed dry and wasn’t too warm. I had a whole new route mapped out which went down route 17 towards North Haven, past All Saints Cemetery and up North Hill Road, then back up route 17 to Rimmon Road, to route 22, Salem Road and back on 150 through my normal route close to home. The rain really started to come down at the last hour of my run. Around 12:00 it poured. I had to pull out my ear cover band and put that on so my ear buds would stay dry. That worked out pretty well.

FUEL
For fuel, I had my camelback with red gator ade, Gus and a waffle chew. I only used 2 Gus. For breakfast I had oatmeal, skim milk and a banana. I didn’t feel the need for additional fuel after my 2 Gu packs, but my stomach was growling during the last hour of my run. That is a first for me. I never feel hungry while running. I had sufficient energy during the entire run and my legs held up during the additional 2 miles after my 15 mile I did a few weeks back. I cramped up a little when I stopped running so I did the bike for a few minutes and kept moving around before I took my ice bath.

Emotions
I gained a lot of confidence after this run and am almost looking forward to my 20 mile run scheduled for November 10. Having new roads to run on is a major help. I have to think of my new route for the 20 mile run. I liked where I went for this 17 and have to find some variations to it to add 3 more miles while adding new roads. I am not as scared of the marathon. If I can keep up these great long runs then I know I will be ok. I listened to the Two Gomers podcast during the run and one Disney Podcast and that was perfect.

Recovery
I felt pretty great the afternoon of the run and the next morning only had a little soreness in my quads. My hamstring issue wasn’t an issue at all and my shin splint was pretty quiet. I think because I wore my calf sleeves that helped. My physical therapist taped my hamstring for me for the long run. I don’t think I’ll need that in the future, and I am not 100% sure it was what made the run so successful so I will see what happens for future long runs.

My recovery run on Monday was ok. The shin splint is more nagging now than before and I have a run scheduled for today so I have only run once since my 17 mile run and I have to do a 5 mile this weekend. With a hurricane heading in our direction for next week I have to figure out when I can get out to run Monday and Tuesday, then Halloween is Wednesday. Might have to do one day on the bike to keep the legs going despite the weather. I wouldn’t mind running a short run in the weather… stay tuned to see what happens!

It’s been a while, but things are well.

October 8, 2012

I haven’t posted in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been training. I have been training and healing. In August I got injured from a 10 mile race in very hot and humid weather. Since then I was working with Dr. Pat, my chiropractor, to heal that injury. After 6 weeks I went to an orthopedic doctor to check things out. I started PT last week and I am doing well. The issue is a hamstring and IT band overuse injury. I had a steroid and ultrasound treatment last week, the day before a long run and I did really well. So well, that I did my 15 mile training run as scheduled and it was a decent run. The following day I didn’t have much pain and my overall recovery was pretty quick. I think I am back on track to the way I felt prior to the August race and will continue with a few weeks of PT to really help with the inflammation and my stretches.

As for my marathon training, I am up to 15 miles now. I have a 17 mile run scheduled for Oct 19 and I think I’ll be on track to continue with everything as I should. I enjoyed the 15 mile run when I took a new route. Those miles in the new location went by much faster than my same old roads. I am looking forward to mapping out my 17 mile route and will be sure to include many new places that I haven’t run before. During my 15 mile run I used the 3:00/1:00 walk/run ratio and that worked out well. After my injury I had been doing 2:00/1:00.

In the past few months I ran the New Haven Road Race 20K and the Gulf Beach Half Marathon. I finished New Haven with a time of 2:29 and I finished Gulf Beach with a time of 2:39. I wasn’t happy with those times, but I am thankful that I was able to run them and finish them considering the injuries I was suffering from. Someone once said that every race is going to be different. Circumstances will be different, the course, your body, the weather, so you have to accept each race and know that you aren’t going to get a PR with every one.

The Disney World Marathon is less than 100 days away! I am scared, but confident that I am successfully training. I also recall a friend in the RunDisney facebook said that your long runs are to teach your body how to run for that long and to go that far. So I am doing well with the long runs and I do believe that my body is learning how to endure the distance and the time. However, when at mile 11 or 12 of a 15 mile run, your mind does start to question why you are doing this and maybe doing the half marathon would be better than the full. However, like they say, 1% of the world’s population run a marathon, and I’d love to be part of that elite 1% and say I did it. I don’t plan on doing another (I don’t think). But I would like to continue doing half marathons.

Nutrition and Hydration for Marathon training

August 8, 2012

Something I am focusing on the past few weeks is nutrition and hydration for training.

I have learned the hard way how important nutrition and hydration are for long runs. I did the Sea Legs Shuffle 10 mile race this past weekend and suffered an injury. I have a pulled hamstring/piriformis muscle. Everything tightened up on me in that extreme heat and humidity and I didn’t stretch enough after the race. Even though I drank water at every stop during the race, I should have also been taking in some Gatorade. I had one Gu pack around mile 5 and I think I could have benefitted with some more nutrition during the race. I did drink my recovery drink right after the race and had Gatorade once I got home, but I should have stretched a little more before I sat in my car.

I recently read on the active.com site that you need to drink 4 ounces of fluid per mile and it is recommended to switch between Gatorade and water. When not running, it is best to drink 60 ounces of water per day to stay properly hydrated. And for each cup of coffee you need to replace that with a cup of water.

I learned that a major reason why people hit the wall and bonk is because they didn’t continue to hydrate and fuel their body continuously through the 26.2 miles. So I am going to have to work on eating and drinking during my long runs to see what my body is comfortable with digesting.

I wore my camelback while running today to consider that for an alternative water source for the very long distances. At first I didn’t like the way it felt rubbing against the back of my neck while running and jumping around on my back a little bit. I have to see if I can look past that and continue to wear it. I am also going to look into a smaller pack. I used that camelback when I rode my mountain bike so I have to see if there are some made specifically for runners.

Nutrition is still something that I am lacking information on and I am going to try Chomps and Clif bars and see what will work for me to physically eat while running to provide my body the fuel it needs so I won’t cramp up or hit the wall.

Does anyone have recommendations on nutrition tips?

Sea Legs Shuffle… more like shuffle the legs

August 6, 2012

What a race! The Sea Legs Shuffle was similar to the Hamden Hills Half Marathon. That was a tough race for me. It is a 10 mile race but there was a surprise to it. There are lots of hills. I was expecting the shoreline town of Guilford to be flat near the beach. Not true. It had lots of hills. And the weather was hot and very humid and the sun was out. At least with the Hamden Hills half, the sun was still behind the clouds. The thing that saved me in this race was that people watching us run by their homes were spraying us with their hoses. I think I ran by close to 10 people with hoses. The last 3 miles of the race were the LONGEST! And the last mile was never ending.

After the race when I went to my car I was talking to the girls who parked next to me and they said that Branford had to bring in ambulances because Guilford didn’t have enough and people were dropping. I saw a guy being rolled out on a stretcher when I finished and he looked like a lean experienced runner. So I guess I am pretty darn proud I made to the finish standing up.

I had a pretty strong start to the race, but then after mile 3 I had to start taking more walk breaks during those hills. I feel like for most of this race I walked. I really had to. It was so unbelievably hot and my legs were wasted.

My finish time was 2:02:57. After the race there wasn’t much food left so I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t get my chiobani loaf of bread. I didn’t want the pasta or a hot dog so I grabbed a hummus and pretzels, a few cups of water and went to my car and had my chocolate milk that I packed. I put some ice on my neck and took 2 tylenol. I was feeling a headache coming on from the dehydration. I stayed ahead of it by drinking a gatorade while I took my ice bath at home.

All in all, considering the heat, I felt pretty good post race. I did have pain in my hip but kept moving all day and it was a little better today. I took a walk this morning to stay loose. Looking ahead I am intimidated about the upcoming miles and races I have coming up because I struggled so bad yesterday. I reached out to my fellow runDisney facebook friends and got good feedback and support from them. I will plan to sign up for the Labor Day New Haven 20K and I am registered for the Gulf Beach Half Marathon on Sept 15. So I’ll keep pushing forward like I always do. Perhaps once the weather breaks I will be that much further ahead.

I heard something in my Two Gomers podcast today that is helping me with my long training runs ahead. Most likely I am going to bonk. I may not know when it is giong to happen during the long run, but it will happen and you just have to be prepared to deal with it. To do so, you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and tell yourself that you can do this. It is TRULY mind over matter. You have to clear your brain of the doubts because the brain is lacking sugar. You can help prepare for this with Bonk training.

Bonk training suggests the following strategy: on an empty stomach the first thing in the morning, when glycogen store levels are low, consume coffee or caffeine equivalent to 2 or 3 cups of coffee, run or cycle at a casual pace (60% of max heart rate) for 20–90 minutes, and have a normal breakfast right after exercising. This will force the body to “bonk” shortly into the exercise, and subsequently burn more fat to generate the energy. .

Weekly summary:
Monday – run 3.4 miles
Tuesday – walk 3.1 miles
Wednesday – walk 2 miles (weights training also)
Thursday – run 5.3 miles
Friday – walk 2.6 miles
Saturday – rest
Sunday – 10 mile Sea Legs Shuffle Race

Marathon training has begun – off with the weight

July 27, 2012

This week I have been focusing on something that has been bothering me for a few weeks.. my weight.

I bucked up and started a food diary. I am using myfitnesspal.com. I needed to be accountable for what I was putting in my mouth because I wasn’t understanding why the scale was climbing higher than it ever has before for me, yet I am “training for a marathon”. I guess even though you are training it doesn’t mean you won’t gain weight. I also read on runnersworld.com about several others who increase their mileage each week and are also increasing their weight because they think the increase in miles means a free pass to eat whatever you want. NOT TRUE! I am getting back to eating clean foods again and watching my caloric intake. No longer will I just graze through my pantry and have a few Lays chips, a handful of chocolate chips, a little of this, a little of that. All those little this’s and that’s gained me 5 pounds!

A fellow runner in my TeamDisney group on facebook wrote a great blog posting about the numbers not lying. He said it so well. When we start really examining what goes into our mouth and writing it down it makes us stop and think twice about what we chose to eat. If I want that special treat then I am going to have to add a workout to my day to get rid of that treat.

Brian also has some good advice on his blog about exercise.
I started adding a 20-30 minute walk to my weekly routine as well. Just because it is a non running day doesn’t mean I can’t get outside and enjoy the morning and also get in a workout. I added weight training back into my routine. I used to do weights for years and in the past year since focusing most of my time on running I have paused the weight training. So I stepped up my exercise routine this week and I hope to see some results in the upcoming weeks.

Weekly Recap:
Sunday – weights
Monday – 3 mile run
Tuesday – 2.5 mile walk
Wednesday – 3.5 mile run
Thursday – 2.6 mile walk and weights
Friday – 4.7 mile run

I am feeling hungrier now that I have started eating less, but I have successfully lost a pound in a week which is a safe amount of weight loss. I am also hungrier from working out more often so I have to be aware of the food choices I make to choose things that are more filling and not just empty calories. With my fitnesspal.com I am able to see how much I am eating and have been able to enjoy some snacks such as my favorite – popcorn. And I have been making banana softserve so I can have a snack after dinner which isn’t a sugary snack at all. I whip up frozen bananas in my blender and enjoy them on a 20 calorie ice cream cone. The added benefit to this is that I am getting my potassium to help my legs.

In terms of the marathon training. I have been ahead of the recommended Jeff Galloway schedule because I am preparing for the Sea Legs Shuffle in Guilford on August 5. It is a 10 mile race. My average miles are between 16 miles to 20 miles per week and I’ll be interested to see those miles increase the closer to the marathon I get. I am feeling good about my training but I want to adjust my running days. I have been running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and that is not giving my legs enough rest between runs so I will modify that to give myself 2 days off between runs.

While I am a little nervous about the 10 mile race next weekend, I am looking forward to it.