Hello friends!
Yes it has been a long time since I last blogged. I love to blog, yet it sometimes falls to the wayside that I need to keep up with.
A lot has happened since we last spoke. The marathon was 3 weeks ago and fabulous time that was! Despite injury, I LOVE THE CHICAGO MARATHON! It is probably one of my favorite races I've ever done. The crowd, excitement and sights the entire time, truly make it a unique race. There were definitely times throughout the race, I totally forgot I was at mile 17 or 22. It was a great time despite my hip and knee wanting to fall off. I owe a big thanks to my fabulous boyfriend for jumping in the race with me keeping me calm and taking my mind off the pain. I came in at 5 hours. 30 min past my goal, but with injury, I was happy to finish.
Now after all that and taking time off due to my lovely IT band, I am now in recovery mode. Thanks to Dr. Brad at Carolina Sports Clinic and Justin over at Trysports , we have figured out the cause of problems is posture linking to stride length. I have a nice straight posture that is extended back too far causing my stride to be too lengthen causing me to heel strike and add pressure onto my hips, IT band, and knee. So now with that diagnosed, it's time to work on form and mechanics. In comes "chi running". It is the concept of breathing, good posture, openness through the joints, and using gravity to bring you into the run, rather than powering against gravity. It will be a gradual process of changing form and posture, but will decrease injury and increase performance.
My goal here is to document my journey in chi running and how it's helping me recover. I've got big plans of running the Naples Daily News half marathon in January or Disney Princess half in February. So follow along and see how it goes!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Week 10!
It is crazy that we are in week 10 already...that means I am almost halfway through training.
Here is a little recap of last weeks workouts. Well where do I begin...ha ha. My long run from week 8 turned out to be 5 mile completed out of 12. It was probably not the best idea to run 12 miles on 4 hours of sleep after staying up for Harry Potter at midnight. I had to get the run in on Friday since we were in Charleston all weekend for Dan and Katie's wedding.
Wedding weekend kicked my butt. I had Jeff and 4 of his friends as my dates as I ended up being the only girl that could go. Keeping up with them was achieved pretty well, but I was paying for it on Sunday and the rest of the week. The mid week workouts were decent, nothing of greatness and I took the entire week to catch up on sleep.As I ran last Sunday, I kept thinking 3 more months..wow I do not feel like I am ready. It was a long 13 mile run in the heat that only turned out to be 11 completed. My whole right leg seemed to be very stiff and tight throughout the entire run. Also, the heat was not helping. 2 things were learned from this run.
Today I had 1/2 mile repeats. I figured might as well start as early as I can, beat some of this heat. Up and at it at 5:30am was quite the change from my routine but weather wise was perfect! I started the workout at 6 with a nice mile warm-up. For the 1/2 mile repeats I was shooting to stay in the same time frame as the previous time. So anywhere between 3:55-4:05. My first one was 3:55. I thought to myself, 'oh no, I've already started out too fast'. After a 3 min recovery, I went for the 2nd one. This time 3:55 again. Seriously? SO the next two came in at 3 came in at 3:54! I felt fantastic through them all and I guess I really am getting stronger. Who would of thought? As I was just thinking 3 days ago, I am no where, where I should be at this point.
Today gave me a good confidence boost of training and performance. Hopefully this carries over to the 14 miles ahead of me on Sunday!
Here is a little recap of last weeks workouts. Well where do I begin...ha ha. My long run from week 8 turned out to be 5 mile completed out of 12. It was probably not the best idea to run 12 miles on 4 hours of sleep after staying up for Harry Potter at midnight. I had to get the run in on Friday since we were in Charleston all weekend for Dan and Katie's wedding.
Wedding weekend kicked my butt. I had Jeff and 4 of his friends as my dates as I ended up being the only girl that could go. Keeping up with them was achieved pretty well, but I was paying for it on Sunday and the rest of the week. The mid week workouts were decent, nothing of greatness and I took the entire week to catch up on sleep.As I ran last Sunday, I kept thinking 3 more months..wow I do not feel like I am ready. It was a long 13 mile run in the heat that only turned out to be 11 completed. My whole right leg seemed to be very stiff and tight throughout the entire run. Also, the heat was not helping. 2 things were learned from this run.
- 1: No more running on the greenway. The fact that I can see my mileage plays with my head and makes the run even longer than it really is.
- 2: I need to start the runs even earlier. 7am is still too hot for long distances
Today I had 1/2 mile repeats. I figured might as well start as early as I can, beat some of this heat. Up and at it at 5:30am was quite the change from my routine but weather wise was perfect! I started the workout at 6 with a nice mile warm-up. For the 1/2 mile repeats I was shooting to stay in the same time frame as the previous time. So anywhere between 3:55-4:05. My first one was 3:55. I thought to myself, 'oh no, I've already started out too fast'. After a 3 min recovery, I went for the 2nd one. This time 3:55 again. Seriously? SO the next two came in at 3 came in at 3:54! I felt fantastic through them all and I guess I really am getting stronger. Who would of thought? As I was just thinking 3 days ago, I am no where, where I should be at this point.
Today gave me a good confidence boost of training and performance. Hopefully this carries over to the 14 miles ahead of me on Sunday!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Repeats will be the death of me
This past weeks mid-week workout was the dreaded 1/2 mile repeats. I was introduced to repeats while coaching track. I use to feel bad for the A Distance group when Coach Zelk made them do 800 repeats after doing a 2-3 mile warm-up. Also, I kept thinking, thankfully it's them not me.
Well Tuesday night held a rude awakening, when I opened Training Peaks, to see what the Wednesday work out was: 10-15 min warm-up, dynamic exercises, 3-4 strides, 5 1/2 mile repeats w/ 3-5min recovery in-between, and a 5-10 min cool down. All of that for a total of 60 minutes of exercise.
It has been proven that if you have someone else to meet to workout with you are more like to make it to the workout and finish the workout. I knew this workout was going to be a tough one, so I talked my lovely boyfriend Jeff into doing the workout with me. That way I knew I would get it done and have a fairly good workout.
The warm up was good, I could feel I was a little sore from Yoga and ART from the day before, but after a little stretching that went away. My 1 and 2 repeats were between 4:08-4:05. Not too bad for the first two. The 3rd one came in at 4 flat. The most I had been resting at that point was 4 min in-between which seemed to work better for me than 3 min. For the 4th repeat I came in at 3:56! I was ecstatic and feeling good, but worried I may of just ruined my last repeat. After a nice 4 min recovery I went out for the 5th thinking 'oh no! I am dragging and feel tired'. I pushed through for a time of 3:55! I was excited and felt fantastic after each one, and felt stronger as the workout went on.
I know I wouldn't of done so well if I hadn't had someone there to workout with making me accountable. We may of not ran together for the repeats, but I pushed myself through them all, not wanting my boyfriend to think I was going easy. Come on here, I am the marathon runner..not him, so of course I had to show off! ha ha.
I have 12 miles on tap for tomorrow! It will be a nice sssllooww long run!
Well Tuesday night held a rude awakening, when I opened Training Peaks, to see what the Wednesday work out was: 10-15 min warm-up, dynamic exercises, 3-4 strides, 5 1/2 mile repeats w/ 3-5min recovery in-between, and a 5-10 min cool down. All of that for a total of 60 minutes of exercise.
It has been proven that if you have someone else to meet to workout with you are more like to make it to the workout and finish the workout. I knew this workout was going to be a tough one, so I talked my lovely boyfriend Jeff into doing the workout with me. That way I knew I would get it done and have a fairly good workout.
The warm up was good, I could feel I was a little sore from Yoga and ART from the day before, but after a little stretching that went away. My 1 and 2 repeats were between 4:08-4:05. Not too bad for the first two. The 3rd one came in at 4 flat. The most I had been resting at that point was 4 min in-between which seemed to work better for me than 3 min. For the 4th repeat I came in at 3:56! I was ecstatic and feeling good, but worried I may of just ruined my last repeat. After a nice 4 min recovery I went out for the 5th thinking 'oh no! I am dragging and feel tired'. I pushed through for a time of 3:55! I was excited and felt fantastic after each one, and felt stronger as the workout went on.
I know I wouldn't of done so well if I hadn't had someone there to workout with making me accountable. We may of not ran together for the repeats, but I pushed myself through them all, not wanting my boyfriend to think I was going easy. Come on here, I am the marathon runner..not him, so of course I had to show off! ha ha.
I have 12 miles on tap for tomorrow! It will be a nice sssllooww long run!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Item of the week!
Being a runner, there are lots of fun gadgets, accessories and apparel out there just waiting to be tried. Working for a running company, I get the privilege of being the first to get to test out these fun things.
Each week be on the look out for the item of the week. This week I will start with socks.
Socks
Socks are probably one of the most important items of running. Here are a few key rules to purchasing socks.
- Cotton is Rotten! Cotton causes chaffing and blisters since it holds the sweat in like a sponge and rubs against the shoe while in motion.
- It has to be the right fit. A sock that is too big will rub and a sock that is too small will fall down during the run and cause blisters on your heel.
My favorite socks right now are the Feetures Elite. These things are AMAZING! The support in the arch is that like a compression sock, so it is very supportive. They are light weight and thin.
Not only has this sock been fabulous, but the medium cushion and compression sock that will be out on the market this fall are FABULOUS too! For $13.99 these socks are totally worth it! Go get yourself some!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Logging those miles
Every once in awhile I have those long runs that everything seems to not be in my favor. I chose a route that was very shady because already at 8:30 it was 76 with high humidity and rising fast. The heat was not bad until mile 3.5 where I was on Carmel in the direct sunlight. This then brought on the sweating much faster. Good thing I decided it was a jog bra kind of run. Surprisingly I was not regretting the choice of wearing compression socks. They kept me cool and my legs fresh.
At about mile 4.5 I swallowed a bug, which is always fun. Once I turned onto Sharonview, I came to all the down hill areas. Well this lead to my knees hurting on the outside, signaling the sign for new shoes. I probably needed them about a month ago, but let's be honest what runner actually heeds the exact date their shoes go out? I stretched the Brooks Ravenna 2 pretty far since I got them at the end of February and trained for a half marathon, as well as running a few track practices in them.
After my realization of new shoes, I came to the last major hill on Colony and I about died. After a month of not going to physical therapy and half doing lunges, squats, and hip exercises, I was definitely wanting to kick myself. My right hip was killing me, and I definitely knew it was all my fault for it hurting. I knew the first thing I was doing this morning was calling Dr. Brad for an appointment.
After that my hip was hurting so bad, I was having to do a run/walk situation. At mile 8 it was too rough, that I didn't want to keep hurting it and had to train smart. I took a rest day today and have a hill workout and physical therapy to look forward to tomorrow!
Good night everyone!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Marathon training has begun!!!!
Chicago 2011 here I come!
I am finishing up the 4th week of marathon training and it has been going well! I have been getting my training from the fabulous folks of Chicago Endurance Sports and Training Peaks. It has been an adjustment to move run days to monday and friday, and start cross train days to tuesday and thursday. For 3 years now my run days have been tuesday-thursday and then long run on saturday or sunday. So this change has been an adjustment. The week day runs are good because CES does everything by time. Distance is only used for long runs.
I had my first 5k predictor run last wednesday. I ran the 5k in 26-27 min. Time was off due to a watch malfunction at the end. I felt strong and good for it. Granted I was back in Chicago, so the elevation was much flatter, but it was on one of the 90+ degree days, but I ran early enough in the morning,so it was similar to being in Charlotte.
The 7 mile week, I experienced a little hip flexor pain on the left side, which was new for me, but the right side has been doing great. I have attributed that pain to not keeping up with my lunges and squats and no PT for the week. Since then though things have been feeling good.
Looks like things are on track and going well. I have a 6 mile run tomorrow so that should be a nice run for a cutback week! The blog will be updated more frequently so be on the look out for more posts!
Happy running!
I am finishing up the 4th week of marathon training and it has been going well! I have been getting my training from the fabulous folks of Chicago Endurance Sports and Training Peaks. It has been an adjustment to move run days to monday and friday, and start cross train days to tuesday and thursday. For 3 years now my run days have been tuesday-thursday and then long run on saturday or sunday. So this change has been an adjustment. The week day runs are good because CES does everything by time. Distance is only used for long runs.
I had my first 5k predictor run last wednesday. I ran the 5k in 26-27 min. Time was off due to a watch malfunction at the end. I felt strong and good for it. Granted I was back in Chicago, so the elevation was much flatter, but it was on one of the 90+ degree days, but I ran early enough in the morning,so it was similar to being in Charlotte.
The 7 mile week, I experienced a little hip flexor pain on the left side, which was new for me, but the right side has been doing great. I have attributed that pain to not keeping up with my lunges and squats and no PT for the week. Since then though things have been feeling good.
Looks like things are on track and going well. I have a 6 mile run tomorrow so that should be a nice run for a cutback week! The blog will be updated more frequently so be on the look out for more posts!
Happy running!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Wow how time flys...
Sorry friends that I have been MIA since february! Working 3 jobs and training has gotten very hectic. As with any time one is juggling many things on their plate, each aspect will slip here or there. Sadly for me the blog has been totally neglected. To give a brief life update things have been going well. Track is fantastic. I love coaching and I have a very good group of girls. It's weird hanging out with high schoolers again. I have definitely had to watch the topics we talk about and comments that are made, it's definitely a little more work than being the new member educator. But the season has been going great and is almost over! The other jobs are going well. Back on the job hunt for something full time in Charlotte or Chicago. It's crazy that it has almost been a year since I graduated, and I feeling it's really time to focus on something full time. Also that 2-3 jobs is getting a little too crazy.
Training and racing wise, training slipped every now and then from the crazy hectic schedule and my own lack of sleep I had been getting. The race was this past weekend. It was a wet one for sure. Right before the race the rain started up again. I started out a little aggressive with the first mile of 8:30 (about 20-30 seconds faster than normal race pace). I was feeling good and kept that pace despite the pouring rain and aggressive hills. At mile 4, I was at 34 min! I was totally on track to finish under 2 hours. But then mile 7 happened and the hip pain flared up. I experienced this same thing back in September at the Chicago Half Marathon, but at mile 11 so I powered through it. This time it was a lot more sudden and severe. I knew that if I kept going it was going to be a tough recovery. I was on a road close to the apartment, so I did a run/walk until mile 9 and turned off the course. I was hoping to make it back to the finish line to see Jeff finish the race, but missed him by 3 min.
Overall, I feel like I raced safe and I felt very good cardio wise and everything. I need to focus on getting the hip tendon stronger. I went to pt on monday, and found out it was strained. So my new goal is working on getting that stronger and remembering to not race on the edge of the road from now on.
Training and racing wise, training slipped every now and then from the crazy hectic schedule and my own lack of sleep I had been getting. The race was this past weekend. It was a wet one for sure. Right before the race the rain started up again. I started out a little aggressive with the first mile of 8:30 (about 20-30 seconds faster than normal race pace). I was feeling good and kept that pace despite the pouring rain and aggressive hills. At mile 4, I was at 34 min! I was totally on track to finish under 2 hours. But then mile 7 happened and the hip pain flared up. I experienced this same thing back in September at the Chicago Half Marathon, but at mile 11 so I powered through it. This time it was a lot more sudden and severe. I knew that if I kept going it was going to be a tough recovery. I was on a road close to the apartment, so I did a run/walk until mile 9 and turned off the course. I was hoping to make it back to the finish line to see Jeff finish the race, but missed him by 3 min.
Overall, I feel like I raced safe and I felt very good cardio wise and everything. I need to focus on getting the hip tendon stronger. I went to pt on monday, and found out it was strained. So my new goal is working on getting that stronger and remembering to not race on the edge of the road from now on.
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