I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend.  I don’t think I’ve gone three days in a row without a blog post since I first started FitFeat last year, missed you all!  It was a C-R-A-Z-Y busy weekend!

It started Friday night a group of girls getting together to celebrate Beth’s birthday with some All-You-Can-Eat sushi.  It was a lovely time.  The miso soup was CHOCK full of mushrooms (bonus!), and I also had two slices of Sweet Potato Tempura, a salad, and a few rolls from the shared plate (like the avocado roll and the cucumber roll).

When 9:00 PM started closing in, I had to be a party pooper and excuse myself, or I knew I’d be tired for the Saturday morning run.

I got to bed a hair before 10 then got up at 5:30 and had my pre-run meal.  This time I had one slice of Ezekial toast with almond butter and a sliced banana, drizzled with a bit of raw honey.

I packed up a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar in my little backpack along with my hydration pack, and a coconut water.

MSP and I drove over to a local trailhead where I knew they had restrooms, because I knew I was going to need it after two cups of coffee and some water that morning!  We arrived at the trailhead where a sign that said “Restrooms closed for the season” was posted.  WHAT??? Who does that? Is the park closed?  Noooo.  Not cool to close the bathrooms, Parks & Rec peeps!

MSP generously decided he’d run (rather than skate) the early miles of the outing with me so that I could be on a dirt path at first, then we’d plan to swing back by the car where he could switch to rollerblades and we’d head onto the bike path.  We each put on our VFFs and took off.  About 2 miles in, I knew I was going to have to detour to SOMEPLACE where I could use a restroom.  If it wasn’t such a busy trail, I’d have run off into the bushes.  We hit up a city street and ran to a nearby gas station to borrow their facilities, then ran back to the trail.

After 4.65 miles in our FiveFinger shoes, our calves were telling us we’d done enough ‘barefooting’ so it was time to make the switch to my trail runners, and MSP to his rollerblades.

At 5.69 miles I drank my coconut water and had a few bites of my Larabar.

At 9.81 miles, I took a look at the time and knew that I was running late.  I had to be at Keri’s YOGA grand opening at 1:00, still had to run back to the car, try to get in a post-workout drink & meal, shower and get ready, and drive 40 minutes to her studio.  And the route back was primarily uphill.  So we turned around and when we got back to the car, my total mileage ended up being 14 rather than the planned 16.

With all the ups and downs of the hills, my Garmin told me that I had a total ascent of 2,161′ and a total descent of 2,138′.  (Good Lord it’s hilly here!) My average heart rate this time was 147 bpm, which is good since I was aiming for 143.  This required a s-l-o-w pace, but I’d promised myself I wasn’t going to worry about that.

To save time, we hit up Jamba Juice on the way home since I knew I wouldn’t have time for a homemade green smoothie at the house.  I picked one with mango, orange juice, pineapple juice and 8g of protein powder, plus a double shot of wheat grass on the side.  Not ideal in my book, but this would have to do the trick.

The downside to this run is that my knees were REALLY bothering me again.  They felt GREAT while I was running in my barefoot shoes.  But shortly after  I switched to my regular shoes, they started to ache (especially the left).  There is no rhyme or reason to what part of my knee hurts in order to troubleshoot and tweak future runs.  Sometimes it’s the inner left knee, sometimes the outer left knee, sometimes just an overall burning.

While it is disheartening to say this ‘out loud’, I’m going to need to adjust my training goal for the sake of saving my knees.  I don’t mind muscular soreness (actually I oddly enjoy muscular soreness) but joint pain is not something I’m willing to mess around with.  Every run 10 miles or more on this journey has caused some pretty nasty knee pain, so I need to figure out what is at the root and fix it before I add any more distance.

It occurred to me during this weekend’s run that there is a reason someone dreamed up the idea of the HALF-MARATHON:  because 26.2 is too LONG! 

I don’t think a marathon is out of the question, and maybe even yet this year.  But I can say with a fair amount of certainty that it won’t happen on May 16.   The smart thing to do is focus on building up my PAIN-FREE mileage in the VFFs since I don’t experience any knee issues when running in them.  I’m currently near the 5-mile mark in them and aiming to progress at about 10% increases per week, maybe a bit more.

I could talk about my pros and cons, and all the thoughts that went through my head while coming to this conclusion, and how hard it was for me to make this decision (then share it publicly).  It’s been an internal dialog now for about 3 weeks.  But the long and the short of it is I talk a lot about listening to our bodies and I’m listening to mine at the moment.  I’m bummed, but I need to do this in a way that doesn’t cause damage or injury.

On a positive note, the yoga open house was fantastic and VERY helpful after the long run.  The Kripalu style of yoga that Keri teaches is different and fun. With moves like “Windshield Wiper” legs, how can you NOT have a good time?  I think going forward whenever time allows, I will try to schedule enough time for some yoga on long run days because it really seemed to speed up the muscular recovery.

What was your fun fitness over the weekend? Our city had the annual Running of the Green 7k race that a few people I know ran, and a client of mine in WA state ran her first 5K in a St. Patty’s Day race.

Have a MARVELOUS Monday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 13 Weeks Till 26.2
• Well Hello Vibrams, We Meet Again
• There’s a Fire Up in Here

Today I realized that buying a car is about as time-consuming as buying a house, with about as many signatures!  We were at ONE dealership for over FIVE hours.  Yowza!  I don’t think a single closing on any house I’ve ever owned took that long.

So this evening I’m rushing around a bit, and going through MapMyRun to see if I can find a decent 16 mile route for this weekend’s L-O-O-O-N-G run.    Oh. My. Gravy. (That’s my new favorite phrase thanks to Amazing Race – Christy knows who I’m talkin’ about!)  So yes, “oh my gravy” is the nice way of saying holy freaking you-know-what, 16 miles is HELLA long when you see it laid out on a MAP.

I am scheduled to go to my friend’s yoga studio Grand Opening at 1:00 PM.  I’m starting to think I should just jog straight there.  That may be my only chance of arriving on time!   (Keri, I’m kidding, I’ll be on time!)

If you happen to live in the Denver area (or know someone who does that you can spread the word to), you’ll want to check out Keri’s new yoga studio at Om of the Rockies.  She is offering a FREE YOGA SESSION this Saturday at the Open House, which starts at 1:00 pm.  Check out her website for more info by clicking HERE.

Just looking at the logo makes me feel relaxed, so I’m SURE it’s going to be heavenly.

I can’t wait to see her studio space and enjoy the session she’s teaching after my long run, not to mention some wine and cheese being offered afterward!   If my knees feel great this weekend, I know I’ll have Keri to thank for that!

Have a terrific evening Fit Friends!  I have a long day at the office tomorrow, followed by a birthday party, the long run on Saturday, the yoga open house, and Alice in Wonderland Sunday morning!  Busy weekend for sure!  I may or may not get out here to post over the weekend, but if not I’ll definitely be here for MARATHON MONDAY!  Wahoo!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Give That Cold the Boom Boom Pow
• There’s a Fire Up in Here
• Busy Bee

I hope your Tuesday is off to a great start.  Mine is flying by quickly as usual!  It started this morning with another gorgeous outdoor hilly run with one of my clients.  After our usual loop we added in some hill sprints.   Some of you asked in yesterday’s Marathon Monday post comments about further info on getting faster by going slower.  I did reply to those comments but thought I’d also bring it up briefly today as well.

In addition to working your body in the aerobic range so that you can build up your body’s ability to burn fat as fuel on long runs, you’ll also want to incorporate some faster training on your short runs (plus weight training and flexibility, but again that’s a whole other FitFeat post )

You can Google running programs and find a TON of free info on the internet that will tell  you how many miles to run each week based on your goal, on which day, that you need to do tempo runs, hill repeats, speedwork, yada, yada, yada.  I don’t follow any of them as written.  I’m not knocking them by any means.  I’m sure they are great plans (and maybe if I followed them I would complain less about my achy knees!)  But the minute I see a schedule detailing that I have to do X, Y, Z on these days and A, B, C on the other days, my eyes glaze over and the rebellion sets in immediately.     I spent too many years being overly obsessed with counting every minute of exercise and every calorie I ate to ever want to do that again.  For me, that’s the express train to Boredom City.

Yes I do get in “tempo runs” and “speedwork” but they are primarily unscripted.

I incorporate intervals during my week in a variety of ways, but I couldn’t guess as to whether they are 400, 800, or 1600 meter repeats – ask my running buddies how I feel about trying to calculate math during a run.    When my legs are running, I promise you my brain switches off.  So looking at the fractions of miles on my Garmin and converting to meters when I’m running?  Not gonna happen.

I can’t say whether I’m running at my “5K pace” or my “10K pace” because I don’t race at those distances, so I don’t track that.  I pay attention to my pace and my heart rate as they relate to each other, but not as they would relate to which race distance pace they might equate to.

What I can tell you is that I love to blast out different types of intervals and that’s basically my speedwork.  Today after our run, we picked the steepest hill and did sprint intervals for 10 seconds, then recovered until my client’s heart rate was down to around 70% of max, then we shot off for 10 more seconds, repeat, repeat, etc.  On my own, I might do this for 20 seconds, then continue walking up the hill for 40 seconds, then sprint for 20 then walk 40 and so on, until my sprint and my walk aren’t easily discernible.  Maybe I’ll find a landmark (tree, sign, streetlight) and sprint to it, then recover, find another, sprint to it and so on.

At home on the treadmill, after a good warm-up and maybe a short run, I’ll bump the incline way up and do some incline interval running.  One day I might spend 30 seconds crazy-fast, then 60-90 seconds recovery, then repeat.  I do this for the amount of time I have and/or for the amount of time I enjoy doing it.  I don’t do X, Y, Z and A, B, C as written in a plan though.

My “tempo runs” are the ones I do for fun at my normal “happy, but pushing a tad” pace, usually with a friend and sometimes on a treadmill.  Or maybe a hike (speedwalk the ups, run the downs). But again, unscripted.

To do well at running distance, yes you do need to factor in a variety of running styles:  long slow runs, short fast runs, speedy interval training, incline work.  But to do it well and be happy doing it?  Maybe you just need to march to the beat of your own drum a little.    Find out what you like and do it.  Find out what you don’t like then figure out how you can tweak it slightly to make it something you dislike a little less so that you’ll still get some done.

***

OK friends, I am off to the dentist to have him look at my second broken crown in a year.  I’m going to ask if he’ll give me a gold crown this time, so that I can stop paying a thousand bucks a pop for these porcelain ones that keep breaking on me.  (FYI if you have porcelain crowns, be careful with SEA SALT!  Both times my crowns cracked I bit down on some sea salt that must have had a good chunk o’ minerals in that crystal…)  I’d rather have a gold tooth than give up sea salt though.

Next time you see me, maybe I’ll be rockin’ the Flavor Flav look:

Peace out yo!  ha ha!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Autumn Vegetable Ragu with Pumpkin, Fennel and Sage
• Weekend of Weddings
• 9 Weeks Till … ???

So as you may recall my 14 mile run didn’t go too well.  I was awake a lot the night after that run because of my knees aching and I had a lot of time to think.  I really went back and forth a lot about whether I wanted to continue this journey.  By the time Sunday evening rolled around, while I was pre-writing the next day’s Marathon Monday post, I knew that I would press on for the time being but that I would definitely have to make some adjustments.

Prior to this experience, when I would run what I consider “comfortable” distances (in the vicinity of 3 to 5 miles) I enjoy running a 10:00 minute mile average pace.  It’s a pace at which I can carry on a conversation with running buddies yet still feel that I’m getting in a good workout.  I can run faster at those distances if I really want to challenge myself, but usually not much faster than an 8:45 or 9:00 minute pace.  The best half-marathon I completed was a time of 1:59 which is a few seconds over 9′s for the whole distance.  I was ecstatic when I crossed that finish line.

But that was 2006.

It occurred to me when I signed on for this ‘challenge’ that I’d be upping my distances in a BIG hurry and was concerned that I’d be forcing the distance progression too quickly.

Mainly because leading up to the start of our training 7 weeks ago, the farthest I’d run in the months recent to that time was 4.25 miles. It’d also been 3 years since my last half-marathon.

And during those shorter runs, I’d run at a pace that had my heart rate pretty high (mid to high 170s), without concern because I wasn’t aiming to improve my body’s aerobic capacity, increase my oxygen consumption or improve my lactate threshold.  I was just running for fun.

Now let’s talk a little about heart rate.  There are a number of methods one can use to determine their estimated maximum heart rate and the levels of training intensities as a percentage of that estimated max.  Short of doing a field test, the simplest method (but considered less accurate than other methods) is to subtract your age from 220.  For me, at 37 years old, that places my max at 183 beats per minute (bpm).  You can also use the newer equation of 205 – (.5 * age).  That one puts me at about 186 bpm.

So using the 186 bpm as the starting point, here’s what my heart rate looks like at various intensity levels:

Over the course of our recent runs, my heart rate has looked like this:

This means that I am generally working at intensity levels of 90-95% of my MHR.  For well over two hours!

Wanna know where I should be for long runs while training for a marathon?  65% to 75%  (121 to 140 bpm)

Now, I’ve known that I’ve been running at a rate that is too high.  If I had a client tell me that this is what they’d been doing, I’d be sitting them down for a serious chat.

I have been letting pride and ego get in the way of proper endurance training.  (Here’s what goes on in my head:  I don’t WANT to run slower than I already am because I already FEEL slow.  I really like having people to run with and if I go even slower I’ll lose my running buddies.  I ran a half-marathon at a 9 min mile at 155 bpm, I just need to suck it up and push through.)

But I also know that I’ve been running at an anaerobic level which isn’t going to do much to improve my AEROBIC level if I don’t start training at it. (Aerobic basically means “with oxygen” and anaerobic means “without oxygen” – there’s a little more to it than that, but that’s a whole other discussion and this is already a lengthy post.)

The point here?  I have to slow down to get faster.

Seems weird huh?  Here’s why:

Once I take the time to start running in my aerobic zone I will train my body’s energy system to start burning fat as fuel (rather than carbohydrates [glycogen]).   As that happens my pace will increase, but at the lower heart rate level. So I’ll slowly be getting faster, but without having to work at 95% intensity.

So this past weekend, while my running buddies were out of town, I decided to do a 10 mile training run where I focused all of my attention on my heart rate and none of my attention on pace.

My goal was to keep my heart rate under 143.  During the first 5 miles that wasn’t too hard to accomplish because I was running downstream.  Coming back from the turnaround point it did creep up a little as I had a gradual incline (if 1,150’ of ascent is considered ‘gradual’).  Truly there is no place flat to run when you live near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Even when it LOOKS and FEELS  flat I get home and plug in my Garmin to find out it’s not even close to flat.

I finished the run with an average heart rate at 150 bpm, so I was around 81% intensity.  I need to drop that down a bit further on the next one (16 miles) and really focus on staying at LEAST under 143.  As much as I hate to see the snail’s pace I was running at this week get even SLOWER, I know it is what must be done.

The outcome:

• The run itself was VERY enjoyable.  MSP was kind enough to rollerblade alongside me while I ran and it was so nice, pointing out scenery and having a few hours of quality time together. (Thank you MSP – I know it took a lot of time out of your day!)
• My knees still hurt this time (concrete bike paths be damned!!) but they recovered pretty well by the next morning.  So well that we were able to take the dogs out Sunday morning for a hilly 5 miles, so that’s a great sign. And I didn’t even ice them Saturday (or take a torturous ice bath.)
• No issues sleeping the night before or the night after the run.
• No physical (or mental) fatigue afterward.

The trick will be finding out whether I have enough time to build up my speed within the aerobic zone before the marathon date of May 16.  (Or maybe pick one in May that’s at sea level rather than a mile high – that would definitely improve the heart rate!)

Today’s discussion question:  do you monitor your heart rate when you exercise?  Or do you follow the RPE method?  (Rate of Perceived Exertion) I have used a heart rate monitor for cardio since I became a personal trainer in 2001 and I have to admit, I love it. It helps me keep an eye on when things aren’t working as well.

Speaking of running, I want to give a big shout out to Beth who ran another half-marathon this past weekend at DisneyWorld. Nice job Beth!!  If you are interested in helping Beth raise money on behalf of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please click on the Team In Training banner in the right side-bar to donate.  She’ll be running her first marathon in June in support of this great cause.

Make it a GREAT week everyone!

– Shari B. =)  (aka The Tortoise!)

***

For further reading on the topic of heart rate training and aerobic endurance:

http://www.duathlon.com/articles/1460

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267–1039-1-2X5-2,00.html

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 9 Weeks Till … ???
• 11 Weeks Till 26.2
• Barefoot Sunday

Which means another installment of MARATHON MONDAY!

When I was growing up, a phrase my mom often used was, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.”  Try as I might, I seem to break this rule more often than not.  I’ll definitely be breaking it today as I recap my 14 miler from this weekend.

To sum up this run in one word:  DISCOURAGING.

To start with, I had a pretty rough night of sleep leading into which doesn’t make for an energetic start to a long run right off the bat.

Since our meet up time was planned for 7:45 this week, I ate my pre-run meal at 6:00 am.  Two slices of Ezekial cinnamon raisin toast with almond butter on one and coconut butter on the other.

I made my date snack to take along during the run, this time using coconut butter in the pit ‘void’ rather than coconut oil.  I also crumbled half of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar into a baggie to bring in my Camelbak.

It was 26 degrees at the start of the run and a little breezy so I took a fleece and a light windbreaker plus a scarf with mittens since we’d be running directly into the wind during the first half.  My calves were still sore from the Thursday run in my VFFs and for some reason my low back was stiff, so I arrived about 15 minutes early to get in a good warm-up and do some stretching before we took off.

At about the 5 mile mark, I was really feeling blah.  Just wasn’t feeling the run this time.  The spotty night of sleep wasn’t helping the situation.  My heart rate was running high, staying between 175 and 180 bpm so I kept trying to run a bit slower to bring it down.  I really prefer to keep it under 170 on the flats.  I had my fuel at this point because I was hoping for a little energy boost.

Finally we reached the 7 mile mark and turnaround point. As soon as we headed back the other direction, it became very clear that we’d been running a pretty good incline during that first half.  I knew we were running “upstream” along the creek, but didn’t realize how “UP” it was.  This is the elevation graph from my Garmin:

From there until mile 9,  I felt so much better.  My HR was back down to 164.  My knees weren’t screaming as badly.

We used the ‘walk one minute at every mile’ strategy again this time, which my heart rate was thankful for:

But unfortunately it didn’t seem to offer the same relief to my knees.

The run just seemed to drag on forever.  I felt cranky the last few miles and spent a lot of time ‘in my head’, questioning my desire to run a marathon.

I already knew I was going to be miserable the rest of that day.  Bags of frozen edamame weren’t going to cut it this week.

Gonna have to bring out the big guns:

I picked up 20 lbs of ice on the way home and built a torture chamber ran an ice bath in the spare bathroom.

I did two rounds of immersion of my knees and lower legs in the ice bath.  I had a hot bath (with Epsom salt) waiting in the other tub as soon as I got out of this one.  I’m not kidding you, my lips were BLUE!

Throughout the rest of the day I iced my knees three more times with bagged ice.

From a “FUEL” standpoint, since I was in such a hurry to get home and finish stretching, I scrapped the planned banana and glutamine drink.  While buying ice at the gas station, I got a GREEN MACHINE  by Naked Juice to chug in the car.  This juice is so high in sugar that I would rarely choose to drink this any other time – but is why it was perfect for replenishment directly following a workout where I’d burned 1,237 calories.

I drank the whole bottle.  66 grams of carbs (56 of which are sugars) and 800 mg of potassium.  After I was home for a while I had a hard-boiled egg for a shot of protein and two Umeboshi plums for a sodium boost.  I also took ginger root capsules AND bromelain for inflammation.

Then to top the day off, while I was in the car driving back from the run, I got a weird tickle in my right nostril like I inhaled something funny.  And I had one of those sneezing fits where I thought I was going to run my car off the road!  It was about 10 huge sneezes in a row and then my right eye got really squinty and watery.  It was BIZARRE to say the least.  I don’t know WHAT it was, but I felt like I had a cold the rest of the day:  I sounded congested and my nose ran nonstop.

I’m thinking I’m developing an allergy to distance running. 

The best part of the whole run?  The SUN was shining and it was 50 degrees by the time we’d finished.  (I have to find a silver lining somewhere, right?  )

I didn’t have a stellar day and I had a lot of “pros and cons” running through my head the rest of the weekend (cons are currently winning) and questioning whether the knee pain is worth it.  The thought of having to add 12 more miles onto the distance I just completed almost brings tears to my eyes.   We’ve adjusted our training schedule to accommodate some out of town trips for each of us in the upcoming weeks, so from here on out we’ve planned the long runs for every other weekend.  So I’m hoping that putting some distance (no pun intended!) between this long run and the next will give me some time to regenerate some excitement. I know not all runs are great runs.  I certainly don’t expect that.  I’m okay with having runs where I’m just not ‘feeling the groove’.   It seems that every other run so far has been one without pain (meaning one is good, one is bad, next is good, etc.), so maybe when it’s time for the 16 miler, that will be the day my knees decide to be happy.  Time will tell!

Did I mention the sun was shining that day?    Ha ha!

Have a marvelous Monday blog buds!

– Shari B. =)

PS:  If you didn’t get a chance to see it, you have to check out yesterday’s Sunday Comedy post.  It’s short and it will bring a smile to your morning!

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Natural Chef Culinary School Recap: Breakfast, Eggs and KIDS!
• 9 Weeks Till … ???
• 10 Weeks Till 26.2

No, wait.  Wrong story.

It was a COLD and DREARY morning…

The kind of morning where one takes a look out the window and a sane person says, “hmm how about a second cup of coffee and a nice warm blanket?”  But no one ever accused me of being sane. 

When I checked to see what Oscar was wearing (Oscar is the little guy on my indoor/outdoor thermometer) he was totally decked out in his snow gear:

(He wears Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses when it’s warm out!)

So I figured I better bundle up too.

Not only do I look scared in that pic, I also look like I’m ready to rob the local saloon!  (Or maybe just the nearest Nike Outlet…)

Since there was new snow on the ground overnight, I even broke out the gaiters to keep snow out of my socks:

So I had my pre-run snack – one piece of toasted Ezekial.

I was close to home this time, so I didn’t need to pack up all of the postworkout gear that I had with me last week.

Driving up the road to the trailhead, I was thanking my lucky stars that we’d decided last weekend to make this week’s run a shorter one.  This kind of weather isn’t necessarily conducive to making me feel motivated

But you know what?  It ended up being a beautiful run.  The trail was soft with new snow (which made you feel a little like running in sand) and light snowflakes were falling.  We saw three deer in the first half-mile and I even saw a my friend Wendy along the trail!  Crazy Great minds think alike! 

By the end we’d accumulated 6.39 miles and many feet of ascent (and descent).  1,130 feet actually!  The green line below shows elevation from my Garmin during the run.

The second big climb got the best of me and I had to walk for a minute, but overall I felt fantastic on this run.

Fuel during exercise was a Sunsweet prune at the 3.63 mark, with a sip of water.  I came directly home afterward to get my stretching done and had my a post-workout shake of chocolate Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer (one scoop) blended with water and half of a banana.

There was ZERO knee pain, no need for icing or soaking in the tub.  It’s amazing how 6.39  miles is what we now consider a “short recovery run”.  Next week – my longest distance ever:  14 miles.  I’ve completed five half-marathons at 13.1 miles.  So this will be the first time I go beyond that distance.  I’m looking forward to breaking that ‘barrier’!

I’m sorry – did I just say I was “looking forward” to a 14 mile run?  Told ya I wasn’t sane! 

Have a MARVELOUS Monday friends!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 11 Weeks Till 26.2
• Painting Stairs = Leg Workout
• The Poor Example

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend whether or not you were celebrating Valentine’s Day.  And a happy Presidents Day to you today, especially those of you who get the day off of work!  Guess what else it is?

It’s Marathon Monday!

We are 13 weeks away from the marathon.  Our planned long run for this weekend was 12 miles.

It occurred to me as I was getting ready Saturday morning that I’m a little neurotic when it comes to getting out the door for a run.   As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of an overplanner (remember when I was packing for my Michigan RV trip?)  I would love to be that person that just decides to take off running willy nilly when I feel like it.  But I’m not.  I have to plan for it.

You’ve read previously in my blog that a 90 minute rule works best for me before a run.  Which means that I have to eat any pre-run food no later than 90 minutes before.  Any closer and I get a crazy cramp in my lower left abdominal area that hurts so bad I can barely walk let alone jog.   Our start time this Saturday was 8:00 AM, so at 6:30 on the dot, I ate.  This time an Ezekial english muffin rather than Ezekial toast:

After getting dressed in my gear, it’s time to pack!  I have a little post-it note ‘checklist‘ that I keep because inevitably I will walk out the door without something, especially that early in the morning.  This week, without my handy note, I would have actually left without my Camelbak of all things!

Here’s the pile of stuff:

Crazy, huh? Questions for my running readers:   Do you do that when you have a long run planned?  Or are you a “roll-out of bed and hit the pavement” kind of runner?

When deciding what jacket(s) to wear, I checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer.  I can’t remember the last time I was so EXCITED to see 30+ degrees outside!  All of our training runs so far have been started in weather around 17 degrees!  This meant I wouldn’t have to worry about my water freezing in my hydration pack.

After last week’s unhappy knees, I made a few adjustments for this run:

1.) I wore a different pair of shoes.

After learning more about barefoot running and the importance of LESS support for your feet, I chose to wear my beat-up old trail runners that don’t have much tread left on the bottom in hopes that this would force me more onto the balls of my feet much like I am in my VFFs.

2.) I brought back an old technique that I sometimes used when I trained for my first half-marathon in 2004:  run a mile, walk a minute.

This strategy allows you to still build conditioning for the distance, but eliminates some of the fatigue your leg muscles will experience.  I’ve always liked this training method because it makes a long run more of an ‘interval’ workout for me when I know it’s broken into mile segments, so mentally I find it easier.  From a speed standpoint, we’ve been averaging 10 minute miles on our long training runs.  You would think adding these walk breaks in would slow us down to 11 minute miles, but it didn’t.  We averaged a 10:20 pace this week!  So when we were running, we were running FASTER.

3.) I iced my knees in the car on the way home from the run.

I didn’t have frozen peas, so frozen EDAMAME had to do the trick.    And I had to pack them in a thermal lunchbox with an icepack to keep them frozen!

4.) I kept moving as the day went on.

Last week I was exhausted and just wanted to stay off my feet, so I caught up on some reading.  Unfortunately I think this allowed my legs to really tighten up.  So this time while I was pretty beat, I made sure that I kept busy and kept my legs moving.  We ran errands, went to Costco, and did some chores around the house.

***

Fuel during the run: 2/3 of a Coconut Cream Pie Larabar at the 5.55 mile mark.

Immediately following the run, while stretching: coconut water, glutamine recovery drink and a banana, plus a ginger root capsule for inflammation

Post-workout meal: vegetarian chili with red quinoa, spinach and nutritional yeast.

The outcome of the adjustments this week: My knees were a little sore directly following the run, then more sore later in the day, but almost back to normal on Sunday.  Whereas last week, I was still hobbled on Sunday.  So that’s a huge plus.  I also didn’t feel extremely sleepy as I had the previous week.   The bottoms of my feet didn’t feel ‘raw’ and I didn’t have any blisters.  So all in all I’m very pleased with how this long run went.

What’s a little daunting from here on out is knowing that all of our long runs will be more distance than a half-marathon.  Yikes.  I’m looking forward to 14 miles, because up until now I’ve only run half-marathons, so 13.1 has been the cap on my distance.  It will be fun to surpass that.  (I say “fun” now – let’s see what I say when I’m actually RUNNING it that day!) This is where you dig a little deeper and remind yourself that you chose this goal for a reason and get EXCITED!

***

Don’t forget that we have FLEX-IT FRIDAY coming up this week, so get your ab shots in to my by Thursday afternoon!

Have a MAGNIFICENT Monday!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 9 Weeks Till … ???
• Well Hello Vibrams, We Meet Again
• There’s a Fire Up in Here

Was anyone else disappointed with the commercials during the SuperBowl?  I always look forward to hilarious commercials during the game.  Yesterday – not so much! Thank goodness for the E*Trade babies – it seems they were the only ones with a hint of comedy!

Welcome to “Marathon Monday“!  As I mentioned in last Monday’s post, I’ll be making a weekly feature now through mid-May where I’ll keep you up to speed on what I’m doing to train for the Colfax Marathon.

The plan for this weekend was 10 miles.  I realized Saturday afternoon that I could only count on 2 hands the number of times I’d run 10 miles in the past, at least from what I remember.  One hand for the 5 half-marathons I’ve completed, and the other hand for the 5 ten-mile training runs I completed leading up to each of those half-marathons.

I was up before the alarm clock at a little after 4:00 and had a cup of half-caff coffee.  I had my usual pre-run fuel at 5:30:  one slice of Ezekial toast with raw organic almond butter, organic unsweetened coconut flakes and a drizzle of raw local honey.

We were meeting at 7:15 and I wanted to be there a little early to get in a good warm-up.  I’ve found that when I really take the time for a proper warm-up my heart rate throughout the entire run stays a little lower which makes the run feel less exhausting.

It was a BITTER start to the day again:  foggy and damp, 18 degrees with windchill.  We did an out-and-back route on a dirt trail, which ended up being frozen ruts with a lot of ice on it.

This time I was smarter and kept water OUT of the tube for my hydation pack so it wouldn’t freeze.  So I didn’t drink as early as I would have liked, but I was holding off until I really needed it because I knew once I suctioned the water into the tube there was a good chance it would freeze quickly.

At the five mile turnaround, I ate my homemade exercise fuel, a date stuffed with coconut oil.

I had a second one with me but didn’t feel that I needed it.  However, at mile 8 I was really starting to feel beat, so maybe I misread my need for energy.

Right at the 10 mile mark, we took off in a sprint for a tenth of a mile to wrap it up.

I did a few stretches before getting in the car to head home, and  I drank my glutamine drink.  Once at home I went through a longer stretching session and ate a post-run meal of 1/2 sweet potato with a sprinkle of goat cheddar, and a side of hummus with crackers.  I knew a green smoothie would be a better choice, but I was SO COLD that I just didn’t want anything that would make me feel more chilled than I already was.

Next it was time to soak!  I put a wetsuit on my Kindle:

And added some Epsom salt to the water:

The best part of any run is the stretching and soaking afterward!

Last week I felt GREAT after our 9 miler.  This week, I felt totally DRAINED and ACHY.  My knees were really unhappy the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday (and I’d even taken my ginger root caps!)  I tried to determine what I had done differently:

1. The terrain was much more bumpy (so maybe that affected my gait/cadence enough to irritate my knees?)
2. I didn’t have two dates and a Starbucks decaf soy latte, like I had last week

Those were the only differences between the weeks.

I won’t lie – it was disappointing because it affected my level of productivity for the remainder of the weekend.  So I’m toying with the idea of doing next week’s long run on Sunday instead so that I can still have a very productive Saturday (including getting the dogs out for their walk), with Monday being an upper body strength day to let the legs recover while I’m sitting at my desk at work (as opposed to letting them recover while being a bump on a log on Sunday).   The downside is that means I’ll most likely be without my running buddies.

Other adjustments I’ll keep in mind for next week’s 12 mile run are:

• bump up the size of my pre-run meal (two pieces of Ezekial)
• ice my knees directly following the run to combat the inflammation

Well friends, it’s going to be a LONG drive to work this morning thanks to the snow so I better scoot!  Have a marvelous MONDAY!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 9 Weeks Till … ???
• Join Me for Free Yoga (If My Legs Still Work After 16 Miles…)
• Sprint, Rest, Repeat

Lookie lookie what showed up yesterday!

My Vibrams are here! Weeeeeeee!  Aren’t they funny?  This pair fit PERFECTLY!  I wore them to the grocery store and Goodwill.  I didn’t notice anyone looking at me like I’m some kind of fool yet, but I may have been keeping my head bent low under my hat. 

I’ve been torturing my dogs with them. Riley can’t get enough sniffing:

And Rascal thinks they are some sort of strange playmate and keeps slapping his front paws down and wiggling his tail in an effort to engage this new friend in a game:

So far I’m LOVING them.  I wore them around for about 4 hours yesterday.  Some of that time included running 2.25 miles.  We’ll see how the calves feel later today – I hope I haven’t made them insanely sore for tomorrow’s long run!  (Which will be done in my regular running shoes, NOT these.  You are supposed to wear these for 1-2 hours a day while your muscles, tendons and ligaments get used to them.  Obviously I’m already bending the rules, but I’m not crazy enough to try 10 in them – yet.)

I will say that running in them on the treadmill was a vast improvement over running in my socks or even sockless.  I’m DYING to get outside with them to see what it’s like on the trails.  Maybe Sunday if my legs aren’t fried from tomorrow’s run.

A definite plus:  if you are feeling bored with running, this gives you a whole new reason to be excited about it!

I’m off to get in an upper body workout before the work day starts.

Which team are you rooting for this weekend in the SuperBowl? Since neither the Broncos nor the Steelers made it far enough, I don’t really have a favorite.  But I at least try to root for an AFC team, so I guess I’ll be cheering on Colts.  What I WON’T be cheering about is the halftime show.  The WHO?  Really?  Damn you Janet and Justin for forever messing up fun and edgy halftime shows!  That was the last good one!

Have a FABULOUS Friday!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• 9 Weeks Till … ???
• 13 Weeks Till 26.2
• There’s a Fire Up in Here

First thank you to everyone who has already voted for Dyson to help her win $10,000 for Freedom Service Dogs.  I really appreciate the support.  If you missed that post over the weekend, it’s not too late to check it out and cast your vote!

Weekend 2 of marathon training is behind me (maybe a new FitFeature:  Marathon Mondays?)  I was a little nervous about this one because the speed of progression from my 5.48 mi run 2 weeks ago, to 7.6 last weekend to 9.14 this past Saturday had me a little worried that my knees were really going to make me pay.  But I took a lot of care post-run and the day afterward ended up being completely pain free.  Here’s how the day went down:

We were meeting at 7:00 AM and I had a 30 minute drive.  I ate my pre-run food at 5:30 (you know me and my 90 minute rule!)  It was a morning in need of some EXTRA BOLD coffee:

And this time I only did ONE piece of Ezekial toast (last time I did two and it felt to ‘heavy’ in my system even 90 minutes later).  A light schmear of almond butter, a drizzle of raw honey and some coconut flakes:

At 6:30 I was out the door.  Check out the MOON!  (Horribly blurry I know, but my camera does NOT take dark pictures well at all…)

When we started the run at 7:00 it was 19 degrees and breezy.  I was sorry that I hadn’t brought along my scarf to wrap around my face.  And it turned out to be cold enough to freeze the water in the tube from my hydration pack completely SOLID – no water for the entire run!  I started feeling the lack of water around mile 7 -  a little sluggish and really thirsty from breathing the cold air.  That was the only downside.  The run itself was fantastic.  It was a clear morning, the company and conversations were great, and the time flew by, making it seem almost easier than the 7.6 the week before.

Taking Brendan Brazier’s advice, I did want to fuel during the run with coconut oil and dates.  But I didn’t take the time to make his Direct Fuel Bites recipe – instead I cut the pits out of two dates and where the pits had been I stuffed coconut oil.  They worked great during the run – I ate them at the halfway point when we turned around.  Easy to chew and digest.

Directly after the run I was meeting up with a friend at Starbucks so on the way, I drank a glutamine recovery drink and ate two dried PLUMS.

At Starbucks I had an unpictured grande decaf soy latte.

I was limping around pretty good by this point – both of my knees were getting incredibly tight and achy.  So when I did make it home I went straight to the floor for some stretching.  I spent about 20 minutes really focusing on calves, hamstrings, glutes, quads, piriformis and hip flexors.

I took two Ginger Root caps to fight off some inevitable inflammation (many many thanks to Joan for the ginger tip back when my hip was stiff!)  Then I ran a hot bath and steeped myself in some TEA:

All of these little tricks worked because I felt great the rest of Saturday and all of Sunday.  MSP even commented on how well I was moving around compared to last week’s run.

Bring on the TEN next week – I’m ready!

Speaking of long runs, Berni will be running her first half-marathon next weekend, so let’s all put some FAST FitFeat vibes out there for her!  And Carrie starts her training next week for her next half-marathon as well!  And reader Beth will be deciding whether to take the plunge into full marathons or not by week’s end.  She’s been a half-marathon pro recently, traveling around the country to race in a lot of fun events!  Sammi signed up for a half in September!  Cindy wants to run her first 5K this year (which I KNOW she’s already completed on the treadmill, so I think she means in a race format…) 

Lots of running goals goin’ on!  I LOVE THAT!! What’s yours?  Share your running or fitness goal here! We love giving out good luck vibes!

Have a MARVELOUS Monday friends!  Make it a great day and a FIT week!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• Give That Cold the Boom Boom Pow
• There’s a Fire Up in Here
• 16 Weeks Till 26.2