Long Time No Post! Finding motivation!

Okay ladies and gents (well, mostly ladies), it's been a while and I apologize. As you can guess, not posting is related pretty directly related to being off my game in general. My work schedule is all over the place, and I have been struggling to keep a workout/running/planning schedule with my work schedule is inconsistent.

I spent a little time updating my site today, finally adding to the recipe section, as well as updating my race section!! Hopefully having these races to keep me on track will help with motivation!

In the meantime, I also create a new device to help with motivation, planning and staying on track. This new thing is my inspiration binder :) I spent some time looking through all of my health/fitness magazines and cut out any recipes that looked good, success stories, and any useful facts or quotes!

The idea is that I can grab the binder if I need motivation, or a new recipe for my weekly menu. So far it has been fun, and helpful!

Here is the binder:

Expect more posts from me soon! Including a Race Recap from last weeks 10k! As well as more recipes/food highlights and hopefully some scale victories!

Stalling...

So, if you had noticed by the lack of posts lately, I have been pretty stalled in my workouts recently. Since my races, I have liteally stopped running. It is excuse after excuse. Maybe my body is tired, but mostly it is a mindset for me. I was determined, I had a team training with me, depending on me.

I go through days, sometimes moments where I feel so determined, so ready to get back on track. This is true for my diet as well. Two or three days of great workouts, tracking and eating. Then totally off track again.
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Today I had an interesting new experience. I tried Bikram Yoga(aka hot yoga, a heated room) for the first time. I had heard great reviews from some boardies about it, but I had also heard that it isn't for everyone. I went with Shannon and she did GREAT. I struggled, big time. Not so much with the yoga moves (not that they were easy), but the heat really got me. I felt dizzy, nauseous, and at some points blacked out momentarily. Obviously not the most pleasant experience. I sat down outside for a bit to gather myself and rejoined for the last 30 minutes of mat work. This got a little better for me.

Overall I am really glad I tried this. I do plan to give it another couple of tries, as I have heard that your body gets used to the heat. I will update you as to how it goes for me.
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As for being off track, I need to make my readers (and myself especially) some promises. I am starting the book Women. Food and God. I will also be starting Run Less, Run Faster. I am going to let these books help guide me to start making some better choices with food, workouts, and probably even my mental state.

My goals this week are:
-Run at least 2 times
-Workout at least 4 times total
-Track EVERYTHING
-Find time each day to read, for ME

Thanks for reading, and please help to keep me accountable for my goals!

Warrior Dash!

I haven't posted since my race last weekend! I also pretty much took the week off from running ;) I plan to get together a training schedule to I get back on track, but whats one week!

In other news, this Saturday a big group of us drove down to the So Cal Warrior Dash! Reena(REENA711),   Kelly(SILYSTARRFISH), and Melissa(M525964703) from the boards all met there for the run (along with many of my friends)! It was an absolutely amazing event!

Let me step you through it step by step!

We showed up in our costumes, ready to race!

Starting Line!

Obstacle Number 1: Hay Fever !

 Obstacle Number 2: Junkyard Jam

 Obstacle Number 3: Muddy Muck

Obstacle Number  4: Over and Under (Over walls and under barbed wire)

Obstacle Number  5: Swamp Sludge

Obstacle Number 6: Warrior Wall

Visiting with a fellow turtle along the course!

Obstacle Number  7: Warrior Web!

Obstacle Number  8: Walk the Plank

Obstacle Number  9: Deadweight Drifter

Obstacle Number 10: Chaotic Crossover

Obstacle Number  11: Cargo Climb

Obstacle Number  12:Warrior Roast

 Pic to come

Obstacle Number  13: Muddy Mayhem!

Finish Line!!

Warrior Wash!

Shoes people are donating (pile kept getting bigger)

Some pictures will be added later (Finish line and Warrior Roast)... But you can see what a blast it was! It was more challenging than Nor Cal Dash in October, more obstacles and more challenging obstacles. It was also nice to have the lake for washing, we got MUCH cleaner (other than the bacteria in the lake we had to sign a waiver about). The whole weekend was a blast, and I declare a success! 

**Suggestion to future Dashkateers, pack sunscreen and USE it, OUCH!**

Race Day!

Alright ladies and gents,

The blog that has been requested. I was too mentally exhausted and honestly excited to sit down and write this when I first got home. I also wanted to see how my body felt after a couple hours, to let you know.

Today was amazing. It was tough, I have friends from running club who run halfs regularly, admitting that this was a very tough course. It HAS to be hillier than your average course, otherwise, more people would die running, lol. The hills are a mixed blessing. They keep you awake,  keep you motivated (looking forward to the downhills), and really just mix things up. BUT, they are hard. In some cases, VERY hard. The notorious hill on this run is a good mile or so of straight up hill. Everyone around me was walking. My running buddy, hard determined, just kept running, slow, but still running. I absolutely admire her determination, I can honestly say I did NOT run much of that hill, I did however, speed walk past a bunch of people.

I have to say that I had an new found motivation today, the motivation to finish in under 3 hours. I knew that a 3 mile half required about 13.5 minute miles. Every.Single.Mile.Marker told me if I was on track to finish in 3 hours. I was MILKING my watch, to make sure I was on time. Many times I was off, 30 seconds or a minute, but I kept on, determined. I eventually, sadly, left all of my running buddies behind with this new determination.

By myself, no music, making friend after friend with lone runners, I kept going for the last 4ish miles. I walked more than normal, but when I ran or walked I did it with purpose, continually keeping that goal in my mind. My regular snacks were making me feel sick, so I kept drinking water to keep them down. By the time I got to 11 miles, there was no doubt. I had 28 minutes to finish 2.1 miles. This was very tight, but possible. I knew that to get there I had to give it everything, but I had nothing left. I kept going, on overdrive, no heart, no brain, just body and road. The hills kept coming, literally, till the last .25 miles or so. I kept checking my watch, knowing I was cutting it close, 3 hours was fast approching.

Well the flags were in sight, and I knew that I had to sprint to make it. As I crossed the finish, with Carlos, running coaches, and complete strangers cheering for me, I had to pause my watch. I had to know. 2:59:42. . From my start to my finish, 2:59:42. I made it, to my goal, by a matter of seconds, a matter of steps, a matter of breaths.

I am grateful to everyone who motivated me, encouraged me, supported me, and it literally pushed me those last 2-3 miles when I wanted to stop. This quote comes to mind, "Success lies just past the point where other people quit,"and today this was so true. These last few miles I pushed ahead, and was able to gratefully meet my goal.

Tonight I am icing knees and left achilles. Surely, these are temporary pains that ice and rest will repair. My feet and hands are about back to normal size, lol. And I am guzzling water like none other, but anyways this is the update.

Would I do it again? Surely. Will you be hearing more about my running? Most definitely! And thanks again for the ongoing support!!

 Alex and I pre-race!

 Group Post-Run!

 Me, turning the 13 mile marker, .1 left to go!

Race Medals!

Race Group, post race kickin back :)

3-2-1- Take off!

Today marks three days until my first half marathon! So many things running though my head!

I can't help but think that I am as prepared as I can be! I have run 12 miles twice, test run the race course to get comfortable (11 miles, similar to race route), tested all my snacks and breakfasts, know what clothes/shoes I should wear, know where I need to park, etc. I know all the logistics, but somehow that is not settling to my nerves.

The tempermental weather is also giving cause for concern. Luckliy, (Knock on wood) rain is currently out of the forecast for Saturday. It is however predicted for the two days proceeding. This only tells us that half of course, through the national park (aka dirt paths and rocks) will be MUD and puddles. Lovely.

But no complaints. I am doing this because I CAN. I am doing this because I am able. For my friends and family who physically can't, for my friends and family who don't believe they can, and for myself, who never believed I could or would. I am running, in 3 days.


A quote from one of my favorite movies sums up my feelings about the impending race quite well...

We're gonna die! We're gonna die! I'm going to throw up, and then I'm gonna die! Mommy, tell it to stop!       Whew... ha! Almost lost my *cool* there.  (The Grinch)

The needed boost!

The last couple of weeks I have been going with the flow. Getting in runs when I *can* (when I feel like it). I struggled on this weekends long run, and realized that I really need to focus the next couple weeks. Its crunch time.

My schedule got a bit messed up as I ended up cross-training on my rest day, so I changed my rest day to Monday. That meant running on Tuesday and Wednesday. Since I didn't want to do to medium runs in a row I made Tuesday a shorter run and Wed medium. Lets just say Tuesday was tough. It was HOT outside, it was after work, and I didn't warm up or stretch because I just wanted to get it done. Bad idea. The whole run was a struggle. I got through, with a decent pace, but man was it a pain. My legs hurt, it just wasn't pretty.

I was bound to make Wednesday better, and fortunately it was the best run I have had in weeks! I did a nice 10 minute warm up (walk, jog, stretch). I went in the morning when it was cooler, properly hydrated. Of course GOOD doesn't always mean easy. The run started out okay. I wanted to walk, I mentally *needed* to walk. That dreaded mental block I have been fighting since day one.

On the boards I have shared a tip several times. Recently I have been quoted for this multiple times, so I thought I would share it here. I haven't used AS MUCH since I started running further, but today it's what got me through my run.

When I feel the desire to walk, I ask myself 3 questions.
1. Is your breathing in check?
2. Are your legs feeling okay?
3. Is your heart rate in an acceptable range?

If yes to all 3, I keep running. At that point the question becomes "Why do you think you NEED to walk when you don't?" It's often boredom, or even more it's that I don't believe I can do it. But I can. And I DO.

I thought I would share this. If you end up trying this out, let me know how it goes! It most definitely got me through today's run, and many in the past!

Looking forward to my 8 miler this weekend, and hoping to bring a camera because this was the lovely run from 2 weeks ago I wished I could have captured for you! Now's my chance!

Tappering... Or not!

So a very quick synopsis of this week's running. It basically didn't exist. Well I got in a nice 3 1/2 miles on Monday, and that ended up being the extent of my weekday workouts. I had a week long subbing job that had me quite busy, and I am always looking for an excuse to skip a workout :/

The good news (grumble) is that I made it up today! Met up nice and early with running group this morning! Had to leave the house at 6:15! It ended up being a PERFECT running day. Not too hot, not too cold, just sunny enough! We even had a photo op with my running pace crew!

We were told by coach that we were to do a 9.5 mile run today as a part of our taper before the race in 2 weeks. The problem was, we were on a course new to most of us, with now street signs, postings, etc. Welcome to trail running, the real deal! Warned to look out for deer, snakes, mountain bikers, and fellow runners! Luckily bikers and runners were all we saw this time! There were TONS of people out today, not surprising with the race coming up and the lovely weather.

After getting started, I had trouble getting into my stride. The course was pretty hilly, and very rocky. I have never experienced a trail run before, and it was VERY new and different!  I walked nearly half of the time for the first 4ish miles. I usually use my watch to guesstimate how far I have gone, but that was difficult today with such a different course. People kept telling us, "Just a bit further", so we kept going. Eventually, after 1 and 20 minutes of running, I frustratingly stopped to figure out how far we had gone. My running buddy checked her Garmin to find out we had gone too far, 5.5 miles. Oops. This set us up for just over 11.25 miles when all was said and done.

Fortunately, the second half I found my stride. We had more down hills, and a very apparent negative split (meaning our second half was run much faster than our first). Overall our pace was much improved from the last few weeks!

I am happy to report that, although this was clearly a challenging run, and almost 2 miles further than planned, I am not sore at all tonight! No ice, no limp, good to go! I am feeling a little nervous to do this terrain again race day, but so glad to get a feel for it today! Also looking forward to a true taper run, next week only 8 miles (and we WILL be sticking to course, lol)!