It's the holiday season, and that means parties and celebrations with friends. Each weekend is another holiday get-together, fun times with friends and lots of food and drinks. Having started my training in the beginning of December, I knew that moderation at each holiday party would be the key to keeping up with my training. And I did great. This plan worked like a charm through seven holiday parties.
Then I innocently went to have a drink with a good friend to celebrate his new job. It was perfect becasue it was the beginning of my 12 day vacation, and I had my entire workout schedule planned out. In addition to the runs, there would be yoga and kinesis, and I'd have all kinds of time to make great, healthy meals, and it would all be perfect.
Six glasses of sparkling rose' and several plates of delicious tapas later, and day one of my training utopia was derailed with a raging hangover. Now I'm not much of a drinker. In fact, I tend to be the designated driver more often than not, and because I'm an early bird morning person, I'm home and in bed no later than 10:30 most nights. Because of that, I love to get my workouts done in the morning.
So you can see how a six glass of champagne fueled hangover might change my plans just a little. Doing my scheduled 3-mile run at 8:00 am as planned was pretty much out of the question. But I figured I could make it to yoga at 10, especially since my friend Jessica was meeting me there to try out my studio. Wouldn't be cool to stand her up. Besides, I figured the yoga would force the toxins out of my body, and then I'd be good to do my run afterward.
As I discovered, the reality was much different. The problem with yoga is that you spend a lot of time bent and twisted in weird positions, much of the time with your head below your heart. I learned (the hard way) that when you are dehydrated and operating on champagne fumes, this can cause dizzyness and lightheadedness. Who knew? By the end of class, most of the toxins were trying to get out, but they hung on long enough to make my 3-mile run afterward impossible (as well as pretty much all other planned activities except lying on my sofa).
I'm happy to say that I did manage to do the 3-mile run today, and I ran the whole thing, albeit a little slower than normal. Regardless of having my training thrown a little off track (and making my first full day of vacation a little uncomfortable), I would do it all again exactly the same way. Because while doing every bit of my training is important to me so that I can succeed at this goal, a fun night with a good old friend is just as precious if not more. I might just try and limit myself to four glasses next time.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
What the Hell is a Fartlek
fart·lek
[fahrt-lek]
Show IPA –noun
a training technique, used esp. among runners, consisting of bursts of intense effort loosely alternating with less strenuous activity.
That is the official dictionary.com definition. I added that here because when I first read "20 minute fartlek" on my training schedule, I have to admit that the first thing I heard was the Beavis and Butthead voice echoing in my head - "Hee hee. She said fart." And as it turns out, my friends are no better than me as they all had the same reaction. Peas in a pod.
Knowing that fartlek must be important in the world of running training, I figured I'd shelve my inner 13 year old boy, look it up and take this technique seriously. As it turns out, the fartlek may be just the thing that makes me realize the benefit of the treadmill. I wasn't bored, it had variety, and my short 20-minute run went by in a flash.
My fartlek today consisted of four 5 minute cycles: 4 minutes at a higher intensity (around a 7-8 effort level) and slowing down for 1 minutes (to around a 5-6 level of intensity). During each cycle, I bumped up the speed on the treadmill 0.1 mph, and during my slow cycles, I kept up the jogging, just at a slower pace. My mile pace ended up around 12:05, which is a significant improvement. I can see how the periodic fartlek training will be a great tool in helping me increase my pace.
The conclusion? I think the fartlek has made the treadmill my friend, if only for today. Thank you, fartlek.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Week 1 Complete and Random Biggest Loser Thoughts
Week one of the training schedule is complete. Maybe here is a good time to share the training I'm doing. I'm using this website. I liked it because it seemed doable, with the longest training run being a 20-mile run. I figured if I could do 20, I can certainly do 26. I hope. After laying out the schedule, training started on December 5th.
This week's training - three 2-mile runs. I did two of them outdoors and one on the treadmill. Just an aside here. I HATE the treadmill. I usually want to stop running after about 30 seconds on the treadmill because I get seriously bored, so to make it two miles is a chore. I use the treadmills at my kinesis studio, Vera Fitness, and they are state of the art. Each treadmill has its own TV with full cable TV, and it will give you every stat you could ever want. But it doesn't make the treadmill any easier for me. Anyone with treadmill tips, they are appreciated.
Anyway, week one is in the books and was a success; I did all my runs, with a cumulative pace time of 12:52 per mile. My goal is to get to an 11-minute mile or below by race day, which is pretty ambitious given my slow pace today, but something I think is achievable with consistent training, strength training, intervals and yoga, all of which I'm incorporating. At first, I just wanted to finish faster than that Elizabeth chick on this season's Biggest Loser when she did the final four BL marathon. But when I saw she ran a 7 hour and 17 minute marathon, I figured I could raise the bar just a bit.
And now for my rant on Elizabeth. Has there ever been a Biggest Loser contestant that has skated through doing less and learning less than Elizabeth? I love Biggest Loser because it always inspires me to do something. And I'm always inspired by 99% of the contestants as all of them usually have so much farther to go to their goals than I do. But for some reason, Elizabeth just gets under my skin.
Don't get me wrong. She's probably very nice. But she never got voted off because everyone knew she wasn't a threat, and she always seemed to say just what she thought she was supposed to say - that she needed to stand on her own two feet, blah blah blah, but it never seemed like it came from her heart. I've never seen anyone on that show that seemed less sincere, and then she proved it when she went home before the marathon.
For those that didn't see it and don't know the show, the final four contestants are always sent home for 6 weeks to see how they do on their own. Miss "I know I need to stand on my own two feet" decided that the first thing she should do when she got home was move in with her boyfriend, and the second was stuff her freezer with frozen burritos and ice cream. Of course, when trainer Jillian Michaels showed up (which she should have known would happen since it happened EVERY OTHER SEASON) and found all the junk food in her freezer, Elizabeth blamed it on the boyfriend. Of course she did.
Anyway, congratulations to her for finishing the marathon, but I hope America selects Ada for the final spot in the finale, and I hope I can do better than the 7 hours and 17 minutes Elizabeth clocked.
Tomorrow is the beginning of training, week 2. I'm scheduled for a 3-mile run, but I'm doing a full 5K, the Jingle Bell Run. Weather forecast is for pouring rain and 40 degrees, and I expect the Santa hat to be soaked by the end, but the goal is to run the entire 3.1 with no walking.
Next - Jingle Bell Run results and week 2 - How do I train when I have to travel.
This week's training - three 2-mile runs. I did two of them outdoors and one on the treadmill. Just an aside here. I HATE the treadmill. I usually want to stop running after about 30 seconds on the treadmill because I get seriously bored, so to make it two miles is a chore. I use the treadmills at my kinesis studio, Vera Fitness, and they are state of the art. Each treadmill has its own TV with full cable TV, and it will give you every stat you could ever want. But it doesn't make the treadmill any easier for me. Anyone with treadmill tips, they are appreciated.
Anyway, week one is in the books and was a success; I did all my runs, with a cumulative pace time of 12:52 per mile. My goal is to get to an 11-minute mile or below by race day, which is pretty ambitious given my slow pace today, but something I think is achievable with consistent training, strength training, intervals and yoga, all of which I'm incorporating. At first, I just wanted to finish faster than that Elizabeth chick on this season's Biggest Loser when she did the final four BL marathon. But when I saw she ran a 7 hour and 17 minute marathon, I figured I could raise the bar just a bit.
And now for my rant on Elizabeth. Has there ever been a Biggest Loser contestant that has skated through doing less and learning less than Elizabeth? I love Biggest Loser because it always inspires me to do something. And I'm always inspired by 99% of the contestants as all of them usually have so much farther to go to their goals than I do. But for some reason, Elizabeth just gets under my skin.
Don't get me wrong. She's probably very nice. But she never got voted off because everyone knew she wasn't a threat, and she always seemed to say just what she thought she was supposed to say - that she needed to stand on her own two feet, blah blah blah, but it never seemed like it came from her heart. I've never seen anyone on that show that seemed less sincere, and then she proved it when she went home before the marathon.
For those that didn't see it and don't know the show, the final four contestants are always sent home for 6 weeks to see how they do on their own. Miss "I know I need to stand on my own two feet" decided that the first thing she should do when she got home was move in with her boyfriend, and the second was stuff her freezer with frozen burritos and ice cream. Of course, when trainer Jillian Michaels showed up (which she should have known would happen since it happened EVERY OTHER SEASON) and found all the junk food in her freezer, Elizabeth blamed it on the boyfriend. Of course she did.
Anyway, congratulations to her for finishing the marathon, but I hope America selects Ada for the final spot in the finale, and I hope I can do better than the 7 hours and 17 minutes Elizabeth clocked.
Tomorrow is the beginning of training, week 2. I'm scheduled for a 3-mile run, but I'm doing a full 5K, the Jingle Bell Run. Weather forecast is for pouring rain and 40 degrees, and I expect the Santa hat to be soaked by the end, but the goal is to run the entire 3.1 with no walking.
Next - Jingle Bell Run results and week 2 - How do I train when I have to travel.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Five Simple Words Started it All
"Sure! I'll do a marathon."
Yep. Five words spoken over a bottle of wine on Whidbey Island in April, and now I'm signed up for my first ever marathon, which I will be running next June, and which is why this blog came to be.
But those aren't the five words that got me off the couch. Those were five very different words, spoken to my friend Colleen in 2002 when she suggested that I do the Danskin Triathlon wtih her.
"Sorry, I don't do triathlons."
Five words, said with such confidence and disdain, knowing with complete certainty that I wasn't an athlete, and wondering why she'd even suggest that to me. I wasn't an athlete! Coudn't she see that? The height of my athletic achievement to that point had been finishing an occasional step class at the gym. But those words also felt so self-defeating. They really bothered me, and they stuck with me.
Six months later, I was out and ran into a woman who was riding her bike in the cold rain. She was older than me and weighed more than me, and when I asked her why she was crazy enough to ride her bike in the rain, she told me she was training for the Danskin Triathlon. In that moment, that conversation with Colleen came back to me, and I asked myself, "Why don't I do triathlons?" The minute I got home, I signed up for the 2003 Seattle Danskin Triathlon.
Since that time, I have completed 10 sprint triathlons, nine 10K runs, 1 half marathon and countless 5K fun runs, charity runs, beer runs and anything I can find. I've gotten my friends to join me, met new friends through this and even started a Facebook Group called Seattle Monthly Runners.
Which brings us to the purpose of this blog. I WAS a couch potato, but at one important moment in my life, I decided to get off the couch and try things I never thought I could do, and it changed me. It has been challenging and frightening and empowering and something I will probably do until my body won't allow me to anymore.
Which is why, at age 43, I've decided to take a big step up and tackle the big white whale. A marathon. A friggin' marathon. 26.2 miles. Twice as long as any run I've ever done, and ten times as daunting. I'm a slow runner, so in addition to building my endurance, I'm also hoping to improve my speed. Did I mention it was daunting?
So I am starting this blog, and I'll be sharing my adventure here. The training, the struggles, the victories, the setbacks, and ultimately, the race. I'm hoping that readers will share experiences, insights, tips and encouragement, and if I can inspire even one person to try a 5K when they thought they never could do something like that, then this whole endeavor will have been a success.
I learned when I signed up for the first triathlon that if I told everyone I knew that I was going to do it, I couldn't back out. I was committed. Well, a bigger goal needs a bigger audience. Not only am I telling all my friends, but my Facebook community, the Twitterverse and ultimately, the world wide web. If you're interested in joining me on this journey, I hope you will subscribe and comment and share your stories with me as well. Wish me luck!
Next up: Training: Week One - Tackling the Treadmill (which I hate)
Yep. Five words spoken over a bottle of wine on Whidbey Island in April, and now I'm signed up for my first ever marathon, which I will be running next June, and which is why this blog came to be.
But those aren't the five words that got me off the couch. Those were five very different words, spoken to my friend Colleen in 2002 when she suggested that I do the Danskin Triathlon wtih her.
"Sorry, I don't do triathlons."
Five words, said with such confidence and disdain, knowing with complete certainty that I wasn't an athlete, and wondering why she'd even suggest that to me. I wasn't an athlete! Coudn't she see that? The height of my athletic achievement to that point had been finishing an occasional step class at the gym. But those words also felt so self-defeating. They really bothered me, and they stuck with me.
Six months later, I was out and ran into a woman who was riding her bike in the cold rain. She was older than me and weighed more than me, and when I asked her why she was crazy enough to ride her bike in the rain, she told me she was training for the Danskin Triathlon. In that moment, that conversation with Colleen came back to me, and I asked myself, "Why don't I do triathlons?" The minute I got home, I signed up for the 2003 Seattle Danskin Triathlon.
Since that time, I have completed 10 sprint triathlons, nine 10K runs, 1 half marathon and countless 5K fun runs, charity runs, beer runs and anything I can find. I've gotten my friends to join me, met new friends through this and even started a Facebook Group called Seattle Monthly Runners.
Which brings us to the purpose of this blog. I WAS a couch potato, but at one important moment in my life, I decided to get off the couch and try things I never thought I could do, and it changed me. It has been challenging and frightening and empowering and something I will probably do until my body won't allow me to anymore.
Which is why, at age 43, I've decided to take a big step up and tackle the big white whale. A marathon. A friggin' marathon. 26.2 miles. Twice as long as any run I've ever done, and ten times as daunting. I'm a slow runner, so in addition to building my endurance, I'm also hoping to improve my speed. Did I mention it was daunting?
So I am starting this blog, and I'll be sharing my adventure here. The training, the struggles, the victories, the setbacks, and ultimately, the race. I'm hoping that readers will share experiences, insights, tips and encouragement, and if I can inspire even one person to try a 5K when they thought they never could do something like that, then this whole endeavor will have been a success.
I learned when I signed up for the first triathlon that if I told everyone I knew that I was going to do it, I couldn't back out. I was committed. Well, a bigger goal needs a bigger audience. Not only am I telling all my friends, but my Facebook community, the Twitterverse and ultimately, the world wide web. If you're interested in joining me on this journey, I hope you will subscribe and comment and share your stories with me as well. Wish me luck!
Next up: Training: Week One - Tackling the Treadmill (which I hate)
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