Run a 5k Race: I DID IT!!!

The days before the race:

• Other than a light 30 minute run on Friday, I did absolutely NO running and made sure any aerobic activity I did was low impact. I also upped my carbs slightly for maximum glycogen on race day. I know this was only a 5k, but over preparation is how I deal with my unknowns.

Sat 11/23 PM:

• High protein and good carbs for dinner
• Surprisingly even with pre-race jitters, I fall asleep easily.

RACE DAY – Sun Nov. 23, 2008

5:45 am:

• Thanks to my lovely CAT who does not come with a snooze alarm, I am awake 15 minutes before the alarm.

6 am:

• Alarm sounds and I literally BOUNCE out of bed! HB snoozed the alarm for himself and I go about getting his coffee and making him breakfast. It was the perfect activity for me to calm my nerves before I imploded from anxiety. For once, I allow myself to comfort my emotions with food, even if it’s a bowl of cereal.

7 am:

• We leave for the race, which is only about 5 minutes away.
• My tummy is in knots and I feel like throwing up!!!

7:10 am:

• We park and when you talk about Fight or Flight, I am in full Flight mode. I start BAWLING my eyes out. Thank goodness HB has skills when it comes to calming me down. I stop crying right when I realize that my eyes will be puffy in the pics. Vanity ALWAYS wins.

7:20 am:

• Beach at this time of morning = FREEZING and I literally climb and cling onto HB like a koala bear for warmth.
• I have never been around this many fit looking people in my life. I feel like a martian who’s just touched down at her home planet.
  
  Starting line
  
  Finish Line

7:30 am:

• I brave the cold and take off my jacket for a pic. :):) (Excuse the no-make up look)
  
  With HB!
  
  Me, braving the cold without my jacket (:O

7:35 am:

• OMG do I have to pee or am I just cold??? (I found out that I was cold and nervous. TMI?)

7:40 am:

• They call them Olympic stretches, but what they’re really having us do are stupid Mickey Mouse type exercises. I feel even dopier when I start stepping all over myself. I am so uncoordinated!

7:50 am:

• Line up at the starting line!
• A couple of people were doing these sprint things at the starting line and the race director told them to stop. I feel intimidated by their fitness. And I am SO SHORT!!
• HB tries to get me in the front of the line for pics, but I am super shy and put myself in the 3rd-4th row.
  

8:00 am:

• There’s the horn… MADNESS!
• It’s a small race, but I still feel like a buffalo crossing a river with a herd.

Mile 0-1:

• “PAAAAAAAACE YOURSELF!!!” I say to myself but it’s really hard.
• My right foot feels constricted from my tight laces but I decide to wait it out (thankfully it loosened itself later).
• I felt claustrophic behind these girls so I put my mind to my form and started pumping my arms really hard. I slid past them easy and settled down again.

Mile 1-2:

• Mile 1 split is 7:57 – WHAT!!!!!! I have never broken into the 7 MM area in my entire LIFE!
• I’m getting really nervous as I feel myself slowing down. I am SO cold.
• The sight of HB with the camera calms me down immensely
• To calm my nerves, I look to my right at the ocean. I echo HB’s words to me: “You have nothing to worry about, you’ve done this before.”
• I am using a girl in white as my pacer and my heart sank when she got further away from me. People are passing me now. Lesson: slow the H down next time
• I pass a guy laying on the ground on his back, clutching his left leg. I’m grateful that I am not the one on the ground.
  
  I was right to pick out a pink outfit, right??? LOL

Mile 2-3:

• I am very relieved to see the mile 2 marker, though it seemed to take forever. My watched showed that I clocked in at 8 minute-ish. A quick calculation means I can finish this thing before 28 minutes!
• I can’t find my gusto… WHERE IS MY GUSTO!!!
• Right before mile 3 my pacer went off track and stopped running. I use another pacer – a guy in black and push myself to keep up with him.
  
  I’m a bit embarrassed by the expression on my face…
  
  You can kinda see my glutes jump out of my leg. I’ve never had that kind of definition before!
  

Mile 3-3.1:

• There is a guy right in front of me…
• It wasn’t until I saw HB at the finish line that I found my strength and sprinted towards the finish line, BLAZING past the guy in front of me! (I realize now how rude that was – oops) I come in hooting and hollering and went straight in for my hug from the #1 in my life who supported me every step of the way: HB
  
  Sprinting… Blazing… Watch out dude! He ended up placing 1 second after me – oops on my part. (I kinda like the way my abs look in this pic heehee)
  
  I’m done!!!
  
  Is it over already???

Race Notes:

• They calculated my time at 25:08 and 8:07 pace. Not too far is my net time, which was at 25:05 with a pace of 8:05. This is the fastest I’ve ever run, but I have to account for the fact that I have a rancid amount of hills on my regular route and this was all flat terrain.
• I placed 3rd in my division and #51 out of 215!
• All the men in their 70s were faster than me… LMAO!
• The 2 top male finishers were in their 30s and the two top women were in their 40s – INSPIRING!
• I couldn’t stop smiling. I felt very special when their photographer took lots of pics of me running. :):)

Other notes:

• This race was a true MILESTONE. I now know that running is my sport and fitness takes a real part of my life.
• I’m debating whether or not to do another 5k in December…
• It was just FOUR months ago that I could barely walk for 30 minutes, let alone run anywhere!

xoxo

100 Push Ups: Week 5, Day 1 #4

36-40-30-24 max: 21/30/35/41

It looks like I haven’t done a push up since last Thursday, but I actually did do some on my own last Friday – or was it Saturday? Hmm. Not important. Regardless, over the weekend, I decided to start the week over again – a good decision that was, because I did worse than the first time I attempted it. * sigh

Set 1: Wow did I just pump out 36? I hope I didn’t mis-count.
Set 2: Slowed down considerably at 35. Starting to sweat and my joints are cracky!
Set 3: Shaking at 30. Mental.
Set 4: I am so sweaty! It took my abs to get through it. 40+? Yeah right!
Max: Collapsed at 21. Got back up and pumped some more until collapse at 30 again. I am mad about my progress (or lack thereof) so I pump out 5 more for 35, then 6 more for the kill.

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

OHR: Week 6, Day 1

How Goes It

Today was supposed to be an EASY 30 minute run but it ended up being 30 minutes of absolute misery.

First of all, I was not interested in getting out of my snuggly warm bed at 6 am. HB snoozed the alarm for himself and I tagged along for the extra zzz’s. What I forgot about is how much more torturous it is to get myself up when the snooze button is involved, so instead of sleepily sliding out of bed as I would have without the snooze button, the forcing myself out of bed action ended up being this sloshing-slithering-uncoordinated move with my eyes still kinda shut and my mind in a serious haze. By the time I stood up straight, I recognized that I wasted 23 minutes on extra supposed zzz’s so I then jumped into my running gear and rushed out of the house without a few sips of tea (caffeine!) or a puff of my inhaler (adrenaline boost!).

Oh – before I get into the run, I just want to also mention how badly I did NOT want to run. Yeah, my mind started playing tricks like imagining a strange pain in my right knee, which mysteriously disappeared when I opened the door – HA! The mind is such a tricky thing and I’m very proud of myself for shushing that devil on my left shoulder.

So yes, the run. Misery. I was just SO tired. Here’s the recap:

Mile 0-1:
I am deeply unhappy and cursing like a sailor in my head, but that is not unusual, since it’s a bunch of a$$hole hills greet me in the beginning of the run.

Mile 1-2
Since the hills are over (for now), I usually pep up at about Mile 1, but today I am STILL tired. I try to go for some gentle pick ups but I kinda forgot about it within a couple of minutes max. I just kept chugging along and exchanged forced smiles and “good morning’s” with dog owners picking up poo. (Obviously we were both faking our enjoyment with our respective activities)

Mile 2-3
At mile 2 I focus my attention towards my form and my legs, telling my trunks to lift up by the thigh and go short strides. That lasted seconds. At about 2.5 I start whining and thinking about quitting. It wasn’t until I saw a bumper sticker reading “ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING” that I remembered a quote from a running book I recently finished: “If you think you can, you’re right. If you think you can’t, you’re right.” That pepped me up real big. I have one last bitchy ass hill that goes up steep after a slow .5 mile incline. I put together my mental power and push through it. I am SO relieved when I get to the top!

Mile 3-Finish
It’s flat again, so I’m happy that I managed to get through the run yet I was VERY happy to finish too. Sure this was a miserable run, but I got the opportunity to teach my body and mind to push when I’m tired. Priceless!

Notes:
There are at least three reasons why this run was like it was today:

1. I ran a lot on Sunday and gave myself only 1 day to rest
2. I forgot to eat something right away after the second run on Sunday
3. I was without a few sips of caffeine and the adrenaline boost from the inhaler (Not likely)

Regardless, I’m putting it behind me and look forward to Thursday’s run (Thanksgiving woohoo!), which will be a 53 min run (33 min + two 10 min intervals). Call it my own private turkey trot!

Stats

30:00 – 3.26 miles @ 9:13 MM

2.15 mi marker: 19:45 @ 9:12 MM

(Okay so when comparing to my previous runs, I wasn’t as slow as I made myself sound. But the experience was hoooooorrible. Blech.)

Conditions

56° F, Overcast

See more progress on: Do the One Hour Runner (OHR) program

OHR: Week 5, Day 3

How Goes It

Ok – I am utterly ridiculous!!!

I actually did this run on Sunday, after completing my first 5k race. I came home after the event, fussed around, took a nap and woke up climbing the walls. I read something in my Runner’s World Complete Book of Running on how it’s okay to run twice in a day (as long as you keep within the weekly mileage limitations) so long as you have a rest day following, sooooo I decided to go on a run to expel the extra energy and ended up doing the Week 5 Day 3 run.

The temperature warmed up since the race, but it was still chilled enough to make it perfect for running. I left my thoughts drift, but I took great care to pace myself, and by the end of the run, I had TONS of energy left still to burn, which was a good sign.

I have to mention also my recent joy of running sans iPod. I stopped using the music for entertainment purposes a long time ago; instead, I used the songs as timing device to check my pace, mark my improvements, and to tell me when the run is over. Well, using the same old playlist got old pretty quick and felt like a distraction to my thoughts. Now that I have my super duper cute hot pink sports watch, I can use the the timer/stopwatch functions for my runs! Many people use music to help the time go faster; for me, listening to the birds in the trees is what transformed my runs to a magical experience.

Stats

38:00 – 4.22 miles at 9:01 MM

Conditions

60°F, Sunny

See more progress on: Do the One Hour Runner (OHR) program

Run a 5k Race: Equipped and READY!!!!

I got some goodies yesterday for Sunday’s race:

Item #1: New race outfit

Matching hat, jogging bra and shorts – all pink pink PINK!!!!! I asked HB to take pics of me in action, and with this lovely outfit, he can’t miss me even if he tried (in short of wearing a siren on my head). And besides, who says you can’t look cute in a race, huh?

Item #2: New waist pack

My old fanny pack was bulky, uncomfortable and frankly, a pain in the fanny (pun intended). Massively annoying. This is a nice meshed pack that I can shove my necessaries (not a word) i.e. phone, inhaler, iPod, ID, etc. minus hinderance. Speaking of carrying stuff, I ordered a RoadID a bit ago, I’m hoping that will arrive before Sunday.

Item #3: SuperFeet

I took the advice of a very experienced runner to get a pair of SuperFeet. You can never be too careful, and I hear knees are important

Item #4: Watch

Actually I’m getting a cheap one from Target today. To the advice of Bob1623, I will want to calculate my net time. If I happen to find a hot pink one, that will be beyond purrrfection!

Item #5: Quench Gum

Anyone tried this stuff before? My inhaler gives me cotton mouth; I’m hoping this can help allieviate.

Item #5: New Calendar

Not pertinent to the race, but certainly helpful. It’s got tons of good info for a newb like me.

Is it Sunday already???

See more progress on: Run a 5k race

100 Push Ups: Week 5, Day 3 #2

20-20-24-24-20-20-22 max: 25

Set 1: Super easy cheesy Parcheesi (I love that game!)
Set 2: Ditto
Set 3: Warmth in the arms and body, similar to how I felt in Set 4 in Tuesday’s session. Feeling a little ill-confident at this point.
Set 4: Arms are burning!
Set 5: Arms burned a little less, but I can “feel” the workout. Elation floods my body and the poor attitude I started with today went out the door. WHOOP WHOOP
Set 6: Since only 20 push ups were needed, I went slower for a better workout.
Set 7: Oooh I can feel it in the chest a bit.
Max: I knew 50 was out of reach, but I talked myself into doing at least a couple more than the max last time (25). What surprised me was that I thought I’d reach 27 only, what a pleasant surprise to blast past that to 31!!!

Notes: I did a upper body few movements beforehand in attempt to alleviate the cracking, which seemed to work. As far as progress, I’m not sure whether or not I want to continue to Week 6… I might do the exhaustion test just to see where I stand and then go from there.

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

100 Push Ups: Week 5, Day 3

20-20-24-24-20-20-22 max: 25

Set 1: My arms felt a bit stiff, but otherwise very easy
Set 2: Felt my body weight in this one, but done with no sweat
Set 3: Getting slightly warm…
Set 4: Getting warmer… Starting to feel the need to focus.
Set 5: Getting harder, mental power needed to get to the 20.
Set 6: Even harder, my neck keeps cracking and the breaks feel short.
Set 7: Arms are burning!
Max: I knew already that I wasn’t going to get to max, but I told myself (in a very stern voice!) that I must get to 25. I’m not sure if I correctly guessed my exhaustion point or it was power of suggestion, but at least it was somewhat of a decent number.

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

OHR: Week 5, Day 2

How Goes It

Brr!!! The run started out so cold today that I made sure I jogged slowly after my initial 5 minute walk just to make sure I was warmed up enough to do today’s run.

I have a weird habit of running full on out in the beginning of my run and puttering off later, so today I focused on going easy until 1.5 miles into the run, when I started to push my pace. My heart beating wildly, I started fantasizing about the shiny new Garmin HRM that I asked HB to reward me with after I complete my first 10k. That is, until I realized I forgot to memorize my 19:06 marker – oops!

The sun started beating down at about mile 2.25 – just in time to tackle a slow half mile climb. Yay! (total sarcasm here) At this point I felt incredibly overdressed as I huffed and puffed my red little face up that hill. Oh the joys of hill running!

Finally in the homestretch of the 32 min run, I gathered up my rocket power and tried my best to blaze to the end and ended up running it at 9:04 MM. Not bad!

In reviewing my numbers, I’m pretty surprised that I completed the 10 minute intervals following the 32 min run at such a fast pace (for me), because I remember feeling dead tired. My legs weren’t to the point of feeling like lead, but they were starting to get pretty heavy. Maybe the pep talking worked? Whatever the case may be, I’m pretty excited at “settling” into 8 MM. Yeah!

Stats

Run Intervals:
Set 1: 32:04 – 3.54 miles @ 9:04 MM
Set 2: 10:00 – 1.13 miles @ 8:51 MM
Set 3: 10:00 – 1.14 miles @ 8:47 MM
Total: 54:04 min and 5.81 miles

Conditions

58°F, Sunny (air quality MUCH improved today)

See more progress on: Do the One Hour Runner (OHR) program

Exercise Daily: Day 126

You know you’re a fitness nerd-nut-whathaveyou when you decide to do an easy 2 mile run “just for the heck of it.”

Okay so I skipped Curves this morning– but only thanks to my LOVELY cat who decided to meow incessantly at 5:22 am. Arrrrrrgggghhh! Sadly, cats do not come with snooze buttons. Annoyed, I sent my other cat after the meowing one (benefits of having two furkids) and opted to sleep through the time I was supposed to work out. I think I used that time to dream of cupcakes.

With the temperature at 77 degrees and climbing, I’m SO glad it wasn’t a long run. It took me 18 minutes to complete, which comes up to 9:01 MM – WOAH what??? An easy run for me is at 9:01 MM? That’s crazy! (For me, anyway) It wasn’t that long ago when I was killing myself just to get to 9:01 MM.

Another oddity was running without my iPod, so I had no sense of time whatsoever (I don’t use it for the music, but for timing and marking purposes instead). It was really nice though to hear everything that was going on (birds chirping! cars vrooming! hammers hammering! listening to a woman spill out her private business on her cell phone!) and easier for me to focus on breathing and form. When I start running for distance and get the Garmin HRM, I can imagine myself running without my iPod. Just me, myself and the world… (And the occasional squirrel) Bliss. :)

To the advice of my new Runner’s World Complete Book of Running, I ran on asphalt instead of sidewalk today. While I’m sure my knees thanked me profusely for it, I was even more pleased at how then far away from dogs it helped me to be. And no more worrying about dirtying my beautiful Asics with dog poo! Now, why didn’t I think of this before? Thanks Runner’s World!

See more progress on: exercise daily for 150 days

100 Push Ups: Week 5, Day 2

I skipped my push ups on Wednesday because… well, I didn’t feel like it! I’m so over the program that it was really difficult to get down to it, although I’m really glad that I completed it.

19-19-22-22-18-18-22 max: 36/50

Set 1: Easy. Like nothing!
Set 2: I felt my weight, but still super easy.
Set 3: Arms started warming up and my neck cracked every time I went down. Weird.
Set 4: Not as easy as previous sets, but still super easy.
Set 5: No problemo.
Set 6: Harder, but not “hard”
Set 7: Less easy than Set 6, but Still not as difficult as I’ve had it before. Low burn in my arms.
Max: I smashed into a mental block at 36. I quickly wrote the number down and managed to get out 14 more for a total of 50. Not sure if that was my true exhaustion point, as it was a mental fight all the way. This set made me super sweaty!

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups