Getting Stronger!

This week has been pretty hectic...the holidays always are! I did get MOST of my training runs/exercises in...

I am extremely bummed that the Sarasota Grouper Full Marathon has been called off. The PR guys decided to work on the half marathon because of lack of registrants. There are usually about 3,000 runners but only about 450 run the full. Total bummer. I'm glad I had the chance to have run it once though!

I have chosen the Gasparilla Full on Feb 28, 2010 instead. This will be the last full for Gasparilla too. Gives me even more incentive to run it. My friend Bill Bonetz is running it also!!! MORE incentive! Bill is running Space Coast tomorrow. His wife Mary is doing the half. I'll be tracking their progress!!!

Turkey Trot 5K was awesome. I was hoping for a 25:55 but I did 26:31. Missed a PR by 2 seconds...lol. BUT...I beat my friend Josephine. (With love and respect..haha!) I felt great after that race. Very minimal cramping/pain for the first time in over a year. Very pleased.

I did my 8 mile training run Saturday. It was SO COLD...I had to wait until after 1pm for the sun to warm up. About 1/2 a mile out my boyfriend, Garmy, kicked. Guess he can't keep up with this ole girl...haha! I did my regular 3 mile loop back to my house...ran in and changed his batteries and ran right back out. I ran the 3 miles in just under 28 minutes, a faster pace than I wanted for a long run but I think it helped tame the wild horse inside me because I held a steady 10:10 for the next five miles. Heather was so right about slowing down. I ran the 5 without stopping and I ran an 8:40 on the last half mile. LOVE the strong finishes.

Today I feel fabulous! Changing my nutritional habits, the B-12 and potassium seem to be making a huge difference. I also have embraced the dreaded OATMEAL. UGH. Could there be anything more gross?????? Heather swears by it, so I gave it a shot. I'm sure she doesn't put 3 tablespoons of butter and a half a cup of brown sugar on hers though. The whole time I was eating it, I willed the stuff into my muscles. Instead of wanted to spit it out, I actually got it all down. Feeling so good after the longest run I've had since last March will keep me on track. I'm FIRED UP!

I am going back to the gym next week. I dropped out while I fixed myself. All the exercise classes combined with running was too much. I'm going to work it all back in slowly, starting with spin and yoga. I soooo miss yoga! My husband and I are waiting for the P90X too. That will work in very well with marathon training. It'll get Bobby back in shape after the back and neck surgeries too.

Now I will go check out Celmore...see if he's still on track too! I'm sure he is!!!!

Marathon Training

Yeah...MARATHON training! As in FULL. I have decided to go for it! I finished my 1st week of training and I have gone completely off the guide. I did 6x400's Thursday, (7:35 pace each lap) but after that, I ran to the beat of my own feet. As usual. I don't know why I even attempt to follow a guide! I am going to use it as just that though...A GUIDE. If I learned one thing in the last 2 years of my running...it's LISTEN TO MY BODY...and I am this time. And it's working!

I also got a little advice from a very, VERY respected person in our running community...Heather Butcher. I saw her the other day and told her I did 7 miles in 71 minutes. Which I was (and still am) proud of. Then I told her I walked a few times. She told me if I had to walk, I was going too fast. Hmmm...seriously?? What about the Galloway method????? At the time of our conversation, I thought 2 things...1) Could I really be going too fast??? and...2) I'm gonna just keep on keepin' on.

OH...and Heather also told me she HATES to run distance when training! WHAT??? She's done like...3 IRONMEN and 12 full marathons! She told me she mostly does 400's. And her times are to die for. I know I'd die for them. She also told me to cross train with swimming and bike. But I don't really get into those. I will attempt another spin class Monday night though.....

So Steve came over this afternoon and we decided to do 5 miles. I was scheduled to do 7 yesterday, but the 6x400's I did Thursday kicked my behind. I also had my little grandbaby Collin Saturday from 6am to 5:30pm. By the time he left, I wasn't running anything. Today I was still sore and tired, Steve is just recovering from ankle and knee glitches, so we agreed on 5 miles. He had done one 4 miler a couple weeks ago and was ready to go for 5.

As we started the run, Heather's advice came back to me. I thought...ya know...it won't kill me to slow down about 15-20 seconds a mile. Plus I wanted Steve to finish comfortably without pain...I silently agreed to myself I'd stay at 10:15. Or so. I was surprised to keep finding us at a 9:30 pace. I kept signaling to slow it down. There is a patch of grass at one point on the route that I never run across (balance and neuropathy issues) and I did still walk that. Mighta been 15 seconds. We continued on, by mile 3 or so, we walked again, about 45 seconds, so I could chew a glucose tab. Those don't feel too good when you breathe them into your lungs, it's a good idea to walk when eating those. Unfortunately for Steve, that walk ruined the rest of his run. He had to walk/run the next mile or so then called it quits because of his knee/ankle.

I kept running ahead about 1/2 mile and back tracking to stay close by. I did finish the 5 miles. The average pace was 10:15...and ya know...I did feel fine. Even tonight...the cramping is minimal and I don't feel like I over did it at all. Tomorrow I'm going to just do 2-3 miles. I want to save something for the spin class...

The training schedule I chose from the "4 months To A 4 Hour Marathon" is a very good plan. I will commit to the shorter runs during the week, long runs for a weekend and the 400's. I'll just do them when I feel it's the best time. Even though the 400's totally wore me out, I kinda liked them. =)

Thursday is the Turket Trot 5K. My family is going and I love that!!!! Kirstin is walking it with Collin and her friend Ashlee is going with her with her baby Madison. Bobby is bringing Kerri, Emily and Robby too. Steve is thinking about it. He's being a chicken. Or shall I call him a turkey????? LOL

Wednesday Is THE Big Day

I'm going to run tomorrow. Instead of the thrill, the excitement, I'm feeling kinda....nervous! I haven't run for 12 days. I have tried to rest the knee and let it heal. I still did my classes, even spin. I should admit my knee felt tender at the last spin class (along with another part of me that should NEVER feel tender) so I kept it a little less ferocious than the others in the class.

Tomorrow I'll just take it easy. Keep a slow pace, do some walk/running. Enjoy the nature and the company. We have a new runner who joined our Running Club. Jim ran with him last week, (I had to go home because I thought I was getting the flu)...(but it wasn't the flu)...(so I missed Runners Club)...(but I wasn't feeling well anyway) ANYWAY...Jim ran with Chris and told me he was doing awesome! Chris is training for his very first half marathon! Just between me and you Blogger-friends...I'd be very curious to see how he feels after running 10 miles. That was the distance I came away from KNOWING I was going to do a full marathon. Out of 15 of the Endurance Project team members, I think Bobby was the only one who got that too. By our 10 mile training run, his wife, Michelle said he was taping the full marathon map of the Sarasota Grouper Marathon to his fridge...LOL..Bobby is going to teach me to dive and swim, incidentally.

I'm so wicked tired. I'll post after running tomorrow.

To all my hurting, injured running friends, please feel better soon. Rest up and be strong for the next run. We need to take care of ourselves so we can do this crazy thing we love so much.

Namaste!!!!

Back To Running Tomorrow

My new Bloggy friend , GQ ran a 5k today and PR'd!! Yippeee for GQ!! May I add that he's testing out my iPod theory of relativity??? I just did....tee hee

Now back to ME...

I think I've gained about 40 lbs this week. I kept eating like I was still running. Whateva...I'll burn it off in other ways. Like jumping jacks or something. Geesh ya piggies. But wait...that's a good idea too....hmmmmmmmm

My knee is still making sure I know I damaged it, but part of rehabbing an IT band is to start running again, slowly. Which scares me because I have a full marathon in 5 weeks. I talked to my coach today and told him the worst thing that could happen is I don't PR. He thinks I will. I believe him. As long as he says what I wanna hear...haha! At times I'm a typical woman....AT TIMES!

Anyway, I'll run Sunday until I feel the twinge of pain, then walk until it stops, run again etc....I figure I'll turn around at the first pain and head back. I am hoping for at least 2 miles. I won't push it though.

I'm waiting for quite a few race reports...I hope everyone posts soon. i can't wait!!!!

Half Marathon Training

The FCA Half is in 10 days. I feel less prepared for this race than I ever did for the full marathon last March. I feel old, tired and sore. Not as sore as I was, but still sore. I didn't do much cross training in the gym this summer. When I trained for the full Marathon last fall I cross trained every other day. I ran Mon, Wed and Fri (Fri was always a light run so I could do some distance on Saturdays) and then I was in the gym for weights or cardio. And the only two injuries (only!!! LOL) were a pulled flexor from yoga and a pulled achilles from stepping in a hole. Oh yeah, and a dog tried to eat me. Other than that tri-fecta I was perfect....HAHA! Oh wait! How could I forget I got the flu the week I was to run my 20 miler???? Maybe I wasn't feeling too prepared then either. So what's that? A four-fecta???? I ran the full marathon with 14.7 miles being my longest run. Pfffft....this half should be a cake walk. (yeah right)

BTW, when I saw Jim at the gym and told him about my hip/glute pain he told me to rest it before I could even ask about some exercises for strengthening those areas. I knew it.

Let us count the catastrophes during this Endurance Team Training period together....

3 nice pancreatic flare ups (it's kinda nice I shared this with all of you, now I feel free to discuss it with you...lol) over-hydrating troubles (which I have figured out and are no longer having any troubles I'm happy to report), upper respiratory failure (ok, not complete failure but the cough was sooo annoying when trying to run) complete loss of the use of my legs 3 weeks ago after that 9.5 mile trek I went on after being sick for 2 weeks, (maybe not complete loss, but it KILLED to walk) anyway...what else??? Oh yes. I think I have a pinched nerve or sciatica or a tumor growing on my lower back/upper glute area. You choose. They all have the same outcome for me. PAIN IN THE A$$. (I don't like to use foul language. Swearing is not too lady-like. I hardly ever use profanity. My husband is a wicked liar.)

So...I think I'll run that half in 1:57:43. (in my dreams) Who says I'm losing my humor????
More like 2:22:22. I'll be ok with that. I hope.

I think all of you know me well enough by now, that no matter what happens Oct 11, 2008 at the FCA Half Marathon, I will be there. I will be smiling. I will be happy. I will be among friends who I have come to care very much about. Being there to see them reach their goal and knowing I got to be a part of that will by FAR be more important to me than my finish time.

This is the last time I will air my complaints. Thank you for listening.
xxx
Kim

PS. I probably will still complain now and then.
xxx

Space Coast Marathon

I have registered for the Space Coast Marathon for November 30, 2008. I am very, very excited! It feels good to be committed once again to another goal. I will admit though, it's kinda the same feeling I got when I found out I was pregnant with my 2nd daughter. Which was a mixture of excitement, happiness and that feeling of "OH MY GOD! WHAT WAS I THINKING???" Hahaha!!

I went into the Sarasota Marathon not fully understanding what I was about to do.

I'm going into the Space Coast Marathon knowing full well what I just signed up for...a lot of hard work. A lot of training. One more thing to be proud of. And I'll be doing a couple things differently. Namely my diet. Nutrition is going to be a prime focus this time around. I have never been very good about eating in general. I sometimes forget to eat and at other times I eat until I have to go lay down. Just yesterday morning (oooh, a James Taylor song!) I was headed out the door for a gym class and my husband was still home. He asked me why I was working out without eating first. It didn't even occur to me that I hadn't! But I was already running a little late so I just left anyway. I was planning on running at the gym after class, but my husband's question stuck in my mind, so I went home to eat first. He's right, I need to make nutrition a priority. HEARD!!

Another thing I'll be doing is speed training mixed in with my long runs. Last time I was just going for endurance. I had never run before so I had a lot to learn in a very short time. I see that now. I also see I still have a lot to learn. I didn't even know what a tempo run was until last week.

I haven't really been doing much upper body workouts either. I plan to get in much better shape for this next marathon. I want some Sherry abs!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, maybe I'll be able to wear an outfit like Deana Kastor!!!! (yeah right...lol)

I have something to look forward to again. I love the excitement of the marathon. I love being a part of something that brings all kinds of people together. Men, women, young, old....every shape, size and color from all over the globe. It was so cool the morning of the Sarasota marathon to look out my motel window and see so many people walking over to the starting area. It reminded me of when I was too little to go to school yet and I'd watch all the kids walking by my house on their way to school. I wanted to go. I wanted to know where they were going and be a part of it too. That morning of the marathon, watching from the window, hearing my husband ask me if I was ready to go....I felt so happy that I could. I wanted to open the door and yell "WAIT FOR ME!" Instead, I walked hand in hand with Bobby, so thrilled to be there, so grateful to have a loving, supportive husband to see me off on that morning. I almost felt like that little girl again, so excited that I got to go.

And now I get to go again. Anybody want to come too?

Body For Life Update (kinda)

As you can see, I've been working really hard to look like this. At the gym everyday, major cardio workouts and free weights. Yoga and core exercises have paid off. I can't give you the secret of how I got my dark brown eyes to turn green for that picture. Or why I look 20 years younger. And those boobs look fake, I know.

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Ok, ok. That's not me. OOHHH big surprise! My husband thinks I look like this though. I guess the brain washing does work! Or proof that love is blind, either way works for me. Maybe that's why we've been married 12 years yesterday! Yes!! Congratulations to us! I told someone it was my 12th anniversary and they said these days 12 years is like 32 years. Well it feels like 32 years. KIDDING!!!!! It actually still feels like the honeymoon phase. Except for the 4 kids. These days we fall asleep on the couch waiting for the kids to fall asleep so we can have our alone time. We wake up at 2am, go brush our teeth, hug and go to sleep. We had to hang curtains on the OUTSIDE of my son's window so when we kiss in the jaccuzzi he won't bang on the window and laugh at us. On Saturday mornings we are sometimes awakened to one or more of the kidlings jumping into the middle of our bed. We look over their heads and just smile. When the kids see us cuddle they tell us to get a room. We tell them we would if we had a sitter....

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Body For Life has taken a backseat to my misery over the hip flexor pain in the...well, hip. I've been off it all week. I haven't reverted back to my potato chip behavior but I haven't been eating right. I start over today. I am going to dive right back into it and not think about running this week. Until Friday. I know it's not really a week PER SAY, but I will go easy on Friday.

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I got my spikes in. Cute. Purple. Pink was unavailable in my size but the purple is really pretty. I'm so dying to try them out. I walked around the house with them on (spikes not attatched). They feel like slippers. Absolutely no support. I can see why they're just for laps. I'm looking forward to getting some speed work in, but I have to be able to run first I guess.

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I will admit to being very down these last few days but today is a new day. I'm taking my son to get some new pool toys and I'm going to lay in the sun while they play. I'm going to reflect on all the good things in my life, of which there are MANY, I'm a very, very lucky woman. Jeez, I'm so mushy today!

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Okay, off to get some pool stuff!

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I'm Going For A Run....

In a minute! I came in looking for Sherry. Her husband fell 40 feet last Friday and was in ICU for 3 days! He's still in the hospital but doing better. I don't have all the details, Sherry just said she's hoping to get him home for the weekend. I hope to hear from her soon, but she may be tied up for quite some time. Hugs for you, Sherry!

I ran last Friday and have been fine. Yesterday I wore sandals with 2 inch heels and was limping by the end of the evening. My flexor did not appreciate my choice of footwear and complained. I heard and will obey, no more heels for me. Lesson learned.

Off I go now. I have some thoughts to think.
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YMCA Runners Club Report

That sounds so impressive, huh? Like there were 20 people running this morning....lol. It was just me and Coach Jim, but it was a great run. I have had a hip flexor injury since the marathon almost 5 weeks ago. I have attempted to run twice, the first time went well, but then I was hurting again. The second time I couldn't even run more than 5 steps. I wanted to run last Wed but Jim said to wait. I'm so glad I listen to him, he was right AGAIN.

So....I took my core exercise class this morning at 9am. I love that class. Got me all stretched out and ready. OH...the new running shoes I got were not very comfy, I mentioned this to Jim the other day and he looked at them. Come to find out....they are for people who hit the ground heel first. I'm a nuetral runner and so those shoes were not right for me. He pointed out the extra lift at the heel and no gel at the inside ball of the foot. Hmmmmm.....made me wonder if that had any effect on my running lately. Or lack thereof. Jim advised me to wear my old faithfuls for today's run, and I did.

HUGE difference. I felt the initial tenderness, nothing too bad, but I noticed right away the pain on lift off and impact was gone. I'm thinking that the flexor was irritated by my feet not hitting the pavement correctly. I am expecting my new Asics Gel Stratus in a couple days. YAY!

We started off slow and steady, my muscle felt better and better with every step. My happiness level rose right along with it! We did the walk/run, staying at about a 9-9.5 mm pace. We decided on a 3 mile run. Today's quote was "Retain The Improvement". Which just means "Don't Over Do It And Screw Up The Future Of Your Running, Kim". Yeah, see?? I can read between the lines.

On the run back, I was introduced to a little something special. It's called a "fartlek". Pronounced "fahlek" The "T" is silent, didn'tcha know??? Here's what happened....a man ran past us (as if we were running slow) and I jokingly sped up and passed him (being a smarty-pants) and then slowed back down. Jim said that was a "fahlek". Hmm....seemed interesting. He said people use the technique for speed training. Hmmmm, even MORE interesting. So we gave that a shot. You run a normal pace for about 5 minutes, then do a full out sprint for a very short distance, like 50 feet. I LOVED IT! I felt like a rebel because I've been holding back, keeping a 10 mm pace for the marathon training. It felt spectacular and I can't wait to do it again!!! I feel excited about the speed training, I wanted to start Monday but that "quote for the day" kept popping into my head. You know...."Retain The Improvement". So I'll see how I feel Monday....HA!! Just kidding!!! I'll give it another week. But then I'm OFF!!!!

I'm still doing the happy dance. I'm so happy. Sherry....ready for a run girlfriend?????
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Cape Cod, Ma Marathon

OOOOOOOOOHHH....guess what I found out????? The Cape Cod marathon is a qualifying marathon for BOSTON! But, I'd need to shave 1 hour, 47 minutes to do that. In seven months. For a 42 year old woman, I need to have a finish time of 3:50:59 from a qualifying marathon. I need to run this past Jim. He'll tell me like it is. I already asked him what he thought my finish time would be for Cape Cod, he said 5 hours, but that was before I started thinking about Boston. I saw Jim this morning but he was busy and I was too chicken to ask....LOL

This is all happening because I can't run, so I went and bought a couple of books about women who run. I was up past midnight reading about these phenomenal women, they made me so excited I couldn't sleep. I got out of bed and started looking at marathon maps and happened across the list of qualifying races for Boston. I thought "NO WAY", then I thought, "Well, why not?" I feel excited just writing this!

I wonder if I should do a half sometime in July as a gage. This flexor better hurry up and heal. I have some plans, babyyyyyyyy.........
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Very Exciting News

I work at a local restaurant a few nights a week, and the high school track team pops in after their meets. I know a few of them because they belong to my Zoomers running club. Tj, whose Dad is the high school track coach (and his Mom is into sports rehab too, sporty family!) and Matteo, whose Dad is also a Zoomer, are always with this group. Anyway....I enjoy talking to them when they come in. I mentioned to TJ's dad that I was going to start speed training as soon as my recovery from the marathon is over.

Here's the exciting news.....he actually invited me to train with the team after school!!!! I almost cried!! They do speed training and distance alternating days. I was speechless. The opportinity to even watch these kids train is exciting. I see them at the races, I see them running down the street, I've talked to some of them...they're a great bunch of talented kids. And talk about speedy! I hope they don't mind a 42 year old lady trying to keep up with them....I plan to go over there Monday to check them out. I can't do any training for a couple more weeks, but I love seeing these kids. So I'll be a cheerleader for them until I can run too.

TJ asked me for my finishing time for the marathon and I stupidly asked him what a good time would have been for me. Yeah, I asked a kid that has a 4.5 mm average....lol. So he said 4:25. I hit him....lol...I told him 5:33 and he very sweetly said that was actually a great time....LOL. Whatever TJ!!!!! LOL... He's lucky he's so adorable.

So now I've been surfing the net for some pretty spikes....Asics has a pair I've been checking out......
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Runner's Club at the YMCA

We run every Friday morning together. It's a great time to talk about times, aches and pains, races etc. Jim, my trainer, has had to miss the last couple of weeks due to other commitments so Mike has been running with us instead. Mike is a speedy guy....LOL...at first he was KILLING me because he keeps a steady 8 minute mile and I'm SUPPOSED to be training on a MUCH slower pace for the marathon training. But being the competitive woman I am, I try to keep up. This is so wrong of me on so many levels. It proves I have no self control. Sighhhhhh....yeah, so anyway...Maria decided to join us this morning too. She's even faster than Mike. She can run so fast she's like a blurr. I knew all week I was running with these two maniacs. (I'm saying maniacs in a loving way) Here's the conversation I had with myself on the ride over to the gym.....

SELF: Ok, now you know those two are fast.

KIM: Yes, yes I know!

SELF: This is your chance to stay true to your pace time.

KIM: Yeah, but how about we TRY to keep up and see what happens??

SELF: Don't be ridiculous. PRACTICE YOUR PACE TIMES!

KIM: Jim won't even know, he has a training. (snicker, snicker)

SELF: PFFFTTTT....you know I'll tell, I have a big mouth. Besides, if you can't control yourself NOW, you won't in the marathon either. Then you'll fizzle out in the 5th mile.

KIM: I hate talking to myself, you drive me crazy. (turns up the radio)

So I get to the gym and stretch out. I kept telling Mike and Maria I was going to do my pacing. I told them not to wait for me. I emphasized how slow I was going to go. What a joker I am. I ran right beside them. SIGH, no self control.

By the time we got 1/2 way there I could feel my body asking me ever so politely why we were not doing our pacing. I ignored myself. I'm really good at that. I told Mike and Maria I was only doing 2 miles at this pace and they decided to stay with me. On the run back I did do the power walks. I had to, my lower left leg muscle was killing me. I pulled it on my 14.4 mile run last Saturday. Oh, did I mention I ran 14.4 miles last Saturday????? (HA!!!, still feeling proud) Also, I saw Jim on his way past us....LOL. I wasn't too far behind Maria so I'm sure he knew I wasn't doing my training. The sweet man never said a word...LOL. I think he knows by now I'll tell him anyway.

By this time Mike had pulled up ahead of me. Just for kicks I decided to sprint past him. OH THE SHEER SATISFACTION of passing Mike!!!! Hahahaha!!! I guess I should confess one thing....Mike had sprinted in the beginning to catch up to us, we started at the back of the gym, he started in the front. So in his defense he did his sprint earlier, which makes it harder. Maria used this time for the warm down, so in reality (my own of course) I also sprinted past MARIA! YEAH BABY!!!!!!! This is why I love the Friday morning runs (OK, that's sounds so gross....) I love these Friday morning practices. Yeah, that sounds better, but I'll leave in the weird sounding remark for your reading enjoyment. I love it because it's fun. These people are so nice. I have been enjoying every minute of training for this marathon.

Mike is going to come by my house in the morning and run 5-7 miles with me, depending on my leg muscle. I'm seriously going to do my pace training, I swear. I have a pace band for the marathon that should get me finishing the marathon in 4:59 (thanks Joe) I'm going to use it in tomorrows run.

I'm going to promise to run my pace training times tomorrow with Mike. There. I put it in print. Now I have to do it. I haven't broken a promise to my blog friends yet, have I? No, I haven't.

Thanks for being here guys. I'll be back!!!