New Year DNF

Happy New Year!

My favorite way to kick off the New Year for the last several years has been participating in the Winter Series New Year's Day races.  Our local running club offers a 3.5 mile race and a half dubbed the Hangover Half.  I've done the 3.5 a few times, I cheered Joe on the year Mia was born as he ran the Half as his first half, and last year I ran the half.   It's a tough half because the course is boring, just loops of our State Office Campus and University.   Plus the whole course is like a giant wind tunnel.

Last year was definitely tough but I felt great having finished and I finally broke 2 hours in the half.  This year I really had no goals going in, just that I wanted to finish under 2 hours.  I woke up feeling not great but didn't think much of it, I just thought that I was tired from the holiday week and eating too much junk throughout the week.  I thought a good run might help.

At the start I ran into a bunch of my Strong Running Mama friends.  Felice, Bridget and Tami were all doing the 3.5 miler and we talked about how tough the half was last year.  My friend Jenny and I decided to try to stick together for the half since we both had the same goal.

Right from the start I had trouble keeping up with Jenny but kept her in my sights as motivation to keep going.  About 2 or 3 miles in my stomach started feeling queasy but I just kept going and as I did it just kept getting worse.  I thought I might have to stop and get sick on the side of the road but tried to hold it back.  By the time we got to the 6 mile turnaround I knew I was done.  I made a mad dash for the bathrooms and got sick.  It seems the stomach bug that has been plaguing a lot of my friends and family over the holiday week had finally got me. 

I spent yesterday getting sick and sleeping.  Today I feel a lot better but not quite myself.  I am just hoping Joe and Mia stay healthy now.

I know I did the right thing by stopping when I did but I am still bummed about not finishing. 

Holiday Running

Despite all of the craziness of the holidays somehow the last two weeks ended up being my highest mileage weeks for the month.  I took advantage of having some time off from work and having Joe home a little more than normal and got some great runs in.

My friend Jenny convinced me to join her last Sunday for a run organized by some of the members of ARE, a local running club.  The run was a 10 mile run up to Thatcher Park.  Thatcher Park is basically a huge cliff just outside of Albany with gorgeous views of the surrounding area. There are picnic areas and lots of hiking trails in the park.  I've spent a lot of time up there over the years but I never considered running up it.  When Jenny told me about it I thought it sounded both awesome and crazy at the same time. 

Here's the elevation profile of the run:

There were two groups running.  One was starting earlier from SUNY Albany and running 15 miles to the top.  We started with the second group that started at a parking lot a little closer to run 10 miles.   The first 6 miles were great.  They were mostly rolling hills and nothing too difficult.  It was when we got to mile 6 that the real climbing started.  Jenny powered up the hills but I struggled a bit and had to take a few walking breaks.  My legs felt strong but I kept having trouble catching my breath which I think was due to the chest cold that I am just getting over.  The views along the way up were amazing.  Even though it was tough it seemed to fly by because there was so much to look at. 

When we finally got to the top most of the 15 milers were already there.  They are so fast! They had all sorts of food and drinks for us and we took a bunch of photos before loading into the cars to go back down. 

View from the top

I was exhausted the rest of the day but I felt so accomplished! Jenny and I have both agreed that we will do this again next year and maybe even do the full 15 miles.

I'm Back

There's been a lot of fun stuff going on around here since the marathon.  Running has taken a backburner for the most part but I've still been getting some good runs in.  I PR'd in both the Stockadeathon 15K  (1:17:28), and in the Troy Turkey Trot 10K (49:21).  Other than that we've been enjoying life around here and I have been trying to run to maintain my fitness as we end the year.  I'm still unclear about what's on my 2013 racing schedule but I have a few ideas.  In the meantime, here's what we have been up to...

Joe and I went to Hawaii

 

 

We cut down and decorated our Christmas tree

 

 

We celebrated this little munchkin's 3rd birthday

 

 

And Mia and I had a girls weekend/shopping trip in NYC with my mom

 

We've been having so much fun lately.  The holiday season has been great so far because Mia is so into it this year.  She really gets Santa.  I'm looking forward to just enjoying the next few weeks!

 



LUNGEVITY

This summer I met Lois through our Strong Running Mama group and through her I also met her friend Jenny.  Both of these women I have come to consider friends.  Jenny and I have spent a lot of time training together for the Hudson Mohawk Marathon since we had similar goals.

I first met Lois at the Make it a Great Day Half Marathon in May.  There was a pretty big group of Strong Running Mamas running it and I really only met Lois briefly at the start.  A few weeks later I was looking for a group to do an early weekday run with and Lois responded by saying that she and a few friends had a run planned and I was welcome to join them. 

As we were getting ready for that first run together Lois pulled out an inhaler and took a few puffs.  I just assumed she had asthma and asked her about it.  She then told me that not only did she have asthma she was also a lung cancer survivor celebrating 6 years of life.

Her story has been an inspiration to me all summer as I trained to try to make my goal.  She is one of the most positive, determined people I know.  She truly lives life to the fullest.  She's an amazing runner.  She was not only a runner before being diagnosed with cancer but she ran her next marathon nine months post surgery and she hasn't stopped.  She ran her 10th marathon on 10/10/10 and has run many more since then. 

Lois, Jenny and Lois' daughter will be running the NYC Marathon on November 4th to represent the Lungevity Foundation.  I encourage you to check out their page and consider donating.

I'm so excited for them.  They are going to have an amazing race in NYC.

Newtons

My speedy friend Jenny has been raving to me about her Newtons all summer.  I've been considering trying them out but didn't want to try out new shoes during marathon training.  Last night our local running store, Fleet Feet, was holding a Newton clinic so it was the perfect opportunity for me to try them.

As soon as I got there I saw Darlene, a fellow SRM.  It was great to see her since I really haven't had a chance to catch up with her since she injured her ankle last year.  I think the last time I saw her was in the spring at the Freihofer's Race.

The Newton rep gave us all shoes to wear and gave us some background on the shoes and how they could help us improve our form.  The shoes felt strange at first but not in bad way. They were very lightweight and because of the way they are designed it felt like you were standing differently in them.

According to the Newton website they are:

"designed with a minimal “drop” – or height difference – between the height of the heel and the ball of the foot. A more level-to-the-ground platform positions you to support a natural running motion."

Also instead of a foam base they use a:

"biomechanical sensor plate, which allows you to sense the ground so you can stride more efficiently and lightly – some might even say intelligently, the way nature intended."

The rep took us outside and went through some drills with us on proper running form.  I found this part extremely interesting.  He talked to us about shortening our strides and showed us the difference between an optimal running form and an incorrect running form.  I've never taken a form clinic before so this was all very helpful.  We did some drills like high knee drills and butt kicks and a very funny skip step drill that made us all look ridiculous but was helpful in demonstrating the points he was making.

Once we put all of it together and ran I could really see how the shoes could help improve form so I decided to get a pair.  I am due for new shoes and since I'm not really in training mode right now it's the perfect time to try something different.  I can always go back to my trusty Asics. 

They fitted me for the Lady Isaac's.  They are considered a transitional shoe as opposed to other models like the Gravity.  They are the recommended model for making the first switch to Newtons.  I took them out for a short run today to see how they felt and so far so good.  Both the rep and Jenny advised me to break them in slowly so we'll see how they feel after the next few weeks and I'll give you an update on how I like them.

Back to Normal

I'm finally starting to feel back to normal after being so tired last week.  I'm back to running and feeling great.

Friday evening was a gorgeous but cold.  Since it did nothing but rain here last week Mia was itching to go to the playground.  I decided that was the perfect reason to try a few miles.  I ended up running 4 slow miles with her in the stroller and I felt great.  Once the run was over I felt like myself again.  I guess I just needed to force myself back out there.

Sunday my friend Elisa needed to run 22 miles.  While most of our running group are just coming off their marathons, Elisa is running NYC next month so this was her long run.  A bunch of us decided to try to help her through it by running some of it with her.  The plan was to help her through the middle 10 miles.  Of course we woke up to very cold rainy weather.  Poor Elisa! It was the kind of day when you just want to stay in bed.  We couldn't bail though, Elisa needed to get her run in! Elisa has helped so many members of our groups get through their first half and full marathons that it just didn't seem right to let her run out there in this weather by herself.  So off to meet Elisa I went and I'm so glad I did.  While it was cold and rainy once we started running it felt great to be out there.  My legs felt loose and I didn't have any pain.  Plus it was great getting to run with Elisa, Lara and Melissa D. I felt like I could easily do more than 10 and offered to help Elisa finish the rest but she told me she needed a few solo miles.

Today I overslept so I squeezed in 4 miles at lunch and managed and 8:58 pace.  Again I felt like I wanted to do more but unfortunately I needed to get back to work.

I'm still trying to figure out what my next goal is, trying to get myself into BQ shape, an ultra, another goal...I'm just not sure yet.  I'm kind of in that place right now where I want to do everything and having a hard time deciding what to focus on.  It feels weird to not be on a training plan right.  In the meantime I guess I will just enjoy my runs and try to cross-train a bit.

Tired and Lacking Motivation

The first couple of days after the marathon I was pretty sore, probably more sore than I’ve ever been after a marathon. By Wednesday most of that was gone. The one thing that has remained is exhaustion. I keep telling myself each morning that I will get up and do an easy run but I can’t drag myself out of bed any earlier than necessary. I should instead run at lunch but I haven’t felt like that either. I have no energy and no motivation. I’m not even motivated to doing something else.

I’m giving myself until Sunday and then it’s back to it. I think some SRM’s are planning to run in the morning which should give me motivation to get back out there. It’s always more like catching up with friends than working out when we run together. Then next week I think I am going to plan a few runs and focus more on cross-training while I contemplate what my next goals are. Maybe my body and mind need a bit of a running break.

Anyone else feel like this after a big race?