The Miles Aren't Going to Go Away

I know I've mentioned this before, but running the Market to Market Relay was a challenge for me.

Yes, it would be a bit of a physical challenge since I hadn't been properly training, but that actually wasn't as big a deal as I thought once I got going.  I mean, aside from the heart issues that I'd been experiencing (I'll know more on Friday), I am super healthy and in pretty darn good shape.  So, despite not having run several miles for several months, the running wasn't the real challenge.

The mind was.

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So, to conquer that inner voice that was telling me that this was going to be hard, that I wasn't going to be able to do this, I broke out -- for the first time in my life -- some mantras.

(Side note: the whole "for the first time in my life" piece may not be 100% true.  When I'm running hills with the kids for See-Us Run Des Moines, I tell the girls over and over and over that our butts are going to look so good.  Hey, whatever helps, right?)

Many people think that mantras are a religious thing, or perhaps that they only belong in a yoga studio in the fitness world.  However, that is absolutely not true.  Mantras can be so, so powerful (especially when they're more motivating -- or perhaps more serious -- than thinking about a good-looking butt).

Interestingly, I didn't remember the whole concept of mantras until it was nearly my turn to run.  I knew that I was not going to be able to pull one out of thin air while I was huffing and puffing up a mile-long hill, so I turned to my tried and true source for all things inspirational: Pinterest.

Here's what I came up with:

And:

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As I was chugging along my 2.9-mile route and then my 4.6-mile leg, my mantras were on repeat: "The miles aren't going to go away.  The only one who can beat you is you.  The miles aren't going to go away.  The only one who can beat you is you.

And you know what?

It helped.

I think the first one especially made the difference: I was still going to have to move my body 4.6 miles, whether or not I wanted to.  Those 4.6 miles weren't going to go away.  They would either take a really long time with me dawdling, or they could go by semi-quickly with me running them.  Regardless, my body was going to have to do it.

The second one came into play and motivated me a whole bunch when people started passing me.  I am not the fastest runner in the world, nor have I ever claimed to be.  In fact, I'm certain that some of the mall walkers could beat me in a 5k.  (Some of those people are fast, y'all!)

But, none of that matters in a race.  I run for me, not to come in first, not to win a prize, not to beat so-and-so.  I run for me.  And therefore, the mantra is true: the only one who can beat me is me.

Now, when I talk again about dreading Dam to Dam, remind me of the effectiveness of mantras.  :)

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Peace out, yo.

What are your running mantras?  How do you just keep going when you really don't want to?

Two-A-Days

I was thinking about this blog post in the shower (where all of my greatest ideas occur, obviously), and I couldn't stop thinking about this TV show.

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I'm pretty sure I've never seen a single episode of this show, but regardless, it's the first thing that popped into my head when I realized that I was doing two-a-day workouts.  The commercials must've been swarming the air in the midst of my Jersey Shore addiction, or something.  Oh, and speaking of Jersey Shore: I just bought the JWOWW tanning lotion (don't judge -- on either account) and it's seriously the best lotion I've ever used.  It smells so ridiculously good that I find myself smelling my arms throughout the entire day and into my morning workout the following day.

What can I say?  I'm hot.

Anyway, back to the actual topic of this blog post: two-a-day workouts.

As you know, I've been kickboxing three days a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays) and have been doing strength-training three days a week (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays) at Farrell's.  About a month-and-a-half ago, See-Us Run Des Moines started, and those practices are on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Let me break it down for you: if I do all of the workouts I'm supposed to be doing at the times that I am supposed to be doing them, I will have four days a week of two-a-days, two days a week of one-a-days, and one day a week completely free.

Currently, I am only able to make two or three SRDM practices a week due to job commitments and, lately, doctors' appointments.  Despite only being two or three times a week, though, those two-a-days are killing me.

I mean, Farrell's is super intense.  We're in week nine of the ten-week program, so the workouts are fairly killer in and of themselves.  Adding a full day of on-my-feet teaching to the 5 a.m. workout and topping it all with a two to four mile run afterwards is brutal.

Let's look at yesterday, for example.  The bands workout was our first experience with the "push/pull" strategy.  Instead of doing solely upper- or solely lower-body, we did all push exercises, a combination of upper and lower.  (For example, we did donkey kicks for our glutes since we were pushing our muscles, we did lat raises for our shoulders since we were pushing our muscles, and we did seated leg extensions for our quadriceps since we were pushing our muscles.)  After that tough workout, I worked all day and then headed out with the kiddos for our track workout.  We ran a half a mile to the track and then did six laps (1.5 miles) of sprinting the straightaways and jogging the curves.  We then did two cool-down laps (another half a mile).  All together: two-and-a-half miles, most of which were speed drills.

I was so pooped last night that I could barely manage walking around Target with The Boy.  In fact, I whined mentioned that my legs needed to stop working.  And, I'm not going to lie: I was half tempted to have him push me around in the cart.

So yes: I am doing two-a-days.  And yes: they are tough.  And yes again: there will be whining.

Be prepared.

Good thing today was "just" a one-a-day.  :)

Dam Crazy

Do you remember that race last year where I almost puked at the very end?  The largest 20k in the country? Remember how I was SUPER prepared for it since I had just finished a half marathon not even a month prior?

Well, that same race is happening in just 11 days.

When registration opened months ago, I snagged a spot right away since I know Dam to Dam sells out every year.  After all, it's only open to the first 8,000 entrants.

When registration opened months ago, I had an entire training plan scheduled and vowed to be prepared to run the 12.4-mile race.

When registration opened months ago, I was unaware that I was going to forgo running for kickboxing and resistance training.

So, while I have secured a spot in the race, I do not at all feel prepared.  I mean, I have not run more than 4.6 miles since I ran the marathon in October.

However, I am going to run Dam to Dam, and I am going to run it well.  (And, now I don't have the choice to back out since I put it in writing.  Crap.)  I am in extremely good shape right now: my cardio endurance is up due to kickboxing and shorter runs, and my leg and core strength is up due to resistance training three days a week.  While I was running three to four times a week last year, I wasn't doing any strength training, my nutrition was fairly lackluster, and I did not feel as good as I do now.

The real motivation to crushing Dam to Dam, however, comes from a couple of weekends ago: I felt completely, 100% unprepared to complete my legs of the Market to Market Relay, but despite the wind, the chilly temperatures, and my complete lack of training, I surprised myself and totally kicked butt.

Therefore, I am confident that I can do the same at Dam to Dam.  Let's just hope I can cross the finish line with a smile instead of like this:

We can hope, right?  :)

Amateur Mistake

We're nearly finished with Week Eight for Farrell's, and aside from the three days I spent in Chicago and last weekend's Market to Market Relay, I have perfect attendance.  (Granted, one day in Chicago I ran three miles and did some push-ups and sit-ups, another day I did the same band workout that my team did in the gym, and one of the days I ran 7.7 miles...)

Four days a week, I even do two-a-day workouts.  However, my attendance for those is anything but perfect.  It is hard to make every single practice immediately after school due to various meetings, appointments, etc., but I try to make as many as possible.  And as soon as summer comes, I'll be at nearly every single practice.

Today, however, was one of the days I skipped.  I had all good intentions of running 2+ miles with the kiddos today, but I made an amateur mistake yesterday that rendered me incapable of running today.

Get ready.

CW, one of my grad school friends who is a super great real-life friend, and I went on a walk with her beautiful baby.  I thought it was going to be a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood, and while it certainly was, it was much warmer than I thought, and we ended up going much further than I anticipated.

All of this was wonderful and would've ended perfectly had I planned my outfit accordingly and worn workout pants and tennis shoes.  Instead, I went straight from work in my little plaid skirt and sandals.

While I was super comfortable for the majority of the walk, I soon realized that I was experiencing the worst chafing of my entire life.

This is approximately the time that I started walking like a cowboy in an old western.

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Unfortunately, despite trying to walk as bowlegged as I possibly could, my inner thighs were pretty much raw by the time I got home.  (They were so raw, in fact, that I told The Boy that he was about to see me in my most unsexy form possible: I slathered zinc oxide all over those puppies, caked it on in a thick paste, and camped out spread-eagle on the bed for the entire evening.  HOT, I tell you.  Good thing he loves me.)

And if that's not enough, I have quite the blisters on the balls of my feet.  Apparently the calluses that I had from last summer had gone away.  I'll save you the horror of a photograph (you can thank me later), but just imagine a nickel-sized ball of blister.  Yep, lovely.

Regardless of all of my hot mess-itude, the walk was awesome.  It was so, so, so good to catch up with a good friend, one whom I had not seen for far too long.  I love the friends who -- despite the length of time between reunions -- pick up right where you left off.  Although it had been about six months since we had done our usual get-together, it was like a day had not gone by.  But, it also made me realize how much I had missed CW and how much I need to see her more often.  :)

So anyway, back to me being a disaster.

I skipped running today.  I probably could've managed it, but I also more than likely would have done more damage to my "injuries" and would've caused myself even more misery -- which in turn would've resulted in me taking even more time away from my two-a-days.

I will, however, be running four miles with the kids on Saturday -- whether or not my legs and feet are back to normal.

Eek.

No Caffeine

You know what doesn't mix well with 5 a.m. workouts, thrice-weekly two-a-days, and a full-time job that involves corralling imparting knowledge to 14- and 15-year-olds?

No caffeine.

I'm not a "chug-caffeine-all-day" kind of gal (after all, if I drink caffeine after noon, I'm up all night), but I generally drink a go cup of coffee every morning.  It has become quite the routine, and it offers a nice little jump-start to my morning and, therefore, my entire day.

This is all I want right now.

And, let's face it: it makes me sane.

Well, while I get this whole heart issue under control, I'm avoiding caffeine.  I had a cup of coffee yesterday for the first time since Friday, but I decided that I'd better just go completely without until I glue on my Holter monitor on Friday and have my echocardiogram next Wednesday -- and then get the go-ahead from the cardiologist.

(I'm also avoiding alcohol, but that's not as big a deal since I was maybe drinking once a week anyway, and even then it was a glass of wine or two.  I can live without that.)

So, I write this at 6:30 a.m. after a tough workout and before a long day of work, already tired and wanting to go back to bed.

I may just go to Caribou and grab a cup of decaf.  The placebo effect is a real thing, right?  :)

Ugh.

Wish. me. luck.

Market to Market

Before jumping into my race recap, I have to apologize for the lack of posting last week.  You know, when I was in Chicago, I planned ahead and had posts up every single day.  And when I was in Des Moines, I did not plan ahead for exhaustion and completely neglected the ol' blog.

Oops.

While I should be doing a million and a half other things right now (grading essays, completing Spanish homework, cooking dinner, etc.), I just had to recap the race I ran this weekend.  It was amazing.

Six of my closest friends and I ran Iowa's inaugural Market to Market Relay, a 75-mile relay from Jefferson to Des Moines.

We woke up at 4:15 a.m. and headed across the countryside to the starting line.

It. was. frigid.

We were all bundled up quite warmly while we waited to cheer Runner 1 off on the first five miles of the journey.

At each exchange point, about half of us got out of the car to use the porta potties and to cheer in our runners.

The exchange points were super cool.  Several of them were on local farms, literally next to combines and tractors.  After all, we were in Iowa.

I was super nervous for my first leg of the journey for a few reasons.

First, I felt super unprepared: while I have been running with the kiddos, the furthest I have run since the marathon in October was a measly 2.4 miles.  My first leg was 2.9 miles itself.

Second, I have been dealing with some heart issues lately; according to the doctor I saw on Friday and the EKG, I have "frequent PVCs," and I am seeing a cardiologist tomorrow.  Essentially, it feels like my heart skips a beat and then makes up for the skipped beat by purging a whole bunch of blood with the following beat.  It does not feel good and pretty much wears me out, making me feel super weak.  Interestingly, the only times I don't notice the PVCs is when I'm sleeping or working out.

Third, everyone on my team was über fast and in much better shape than I.

Despite those worries, I pretty much killed it:

I ran 2.86 miles in 30:49.  I started out with an 8:30 pace.  An 8:30 pace.  Who am I?!  Granted, that pace didn't last for long, but whoa.

I know that this does not seem fast to many, but was quite quick for me, especially since the last mile was completely uphill and I actually walked a few times.

I didn't feel super great after that run, but wow, was I proud of myself.

After stretching for all of 30 seconds, I hopped back in the car, and we started driving across Iowa again, passing lots of towns I never even knew existed:

Yes, apparently Jamaica is in Iowa.  Interesting.

Throughout the whole relay, I was trying to eat well and stick to the Farrell's nutritional plan.  Unfortunately, that does not work so well with running races.  Pretty much the last thing I wanted to eat for lunch was the cottage cheese and vegetables I had packed.

So, when we stopped at a convenience store, I picked up some goods:

The Nutri Grain bar went down in approximately two bites, and the cinnamon bears functioned as GU -- immediate carbohydrates -- prior to the second leg of my trek.

And if you thought I was nervous for the 2.9 miles, you should've seen me for the 4.6 leg.  I was a basket case.  My teammates said that they could just see the stress and worry emanating from me.  By the time I was scheduled to hit the pavement yet again, the wind had picked up tremendously (like, gusts of 45 miles per hour), and it was no longer at our backs.

I thought I was going to die.

But...I didn't.

In fact, I kicked ass:

I ran 4.6 miles in 50:30 -- at a faster pace than my first leg.  I didn't stop for one second during that race, not even to walk.  I. crushed. it.

I was so fast, in fact, that my team wasn't even waiting for me at the exchange point.  They thought it'd take me another ten minutes or so.  I loved showing up as early as I did, as goofy as that sounds -- I felt so accomplished.  And, I'm pretty sure I felt the runner's high for the first time ever.

And then I had the best piece of pizza of my entire life:

Casey's sausage pizza.  Seriously.  Get in my face.

After I ran my final leg, we still had four legs to go before finishing as a team.  After an entire day of being in the middle of cornfields, it was nice to finally be back in familiar territory in Des Moines and in our neighborhoods.  Seeing the familiar was wonderful.

Throughout the day, we had been filling in our team scorecard, keeping track of just how long the race had taken us.  We finished in ten hours and 29 minutes.  Yes, it took us that long to run a race.

However, we pretty much kicked butt.  Per the official results below, we finished 15th in our division and 46th overall.  Considering there were over 200 teams, we were pretty darn pleased.

I cannot do this race justice.  Seriously.  I wish I had brought my computer along on the trip so that I could've documented how much fun we were having while we were having it, but alas, you'll have to deal with this lame recap.

Honestly, I had so much fun that I want to do it all over again right now.  Seeing parts of the state I had never seen before was pretty darn neat.  Hanging out with six of my friends all day was so fun.  And running the best race of my life was awesome.

Team Sorta Neat will definitely be back in 2014.

Hunger Solutions

I like food.

No, no I don't.

I love food.

Mmm...snow cones.

I like eating food when I'm hungry.  I like instant gratification.  I mean, why wait to go home and cook when I pass by a Taco John's, a Subway, a Hunan Garden, a Wendy's, and more just trying to get there?

I knew from the get-go that hunger was going to be a difficult factor in this whole healthy-living adventure.

However, I have had relatively few issues with being starving, which I think warrants its very own post.

So, without further ado, here are some tips to avoid tummy rumbles:

Happens all. the. time.

First, plan meals.  I cannot stress this enough: it is so über important to create meal plan and stick to it.  Figure out just how many grams of protein and carbs (or calories or fat or whatever is best for you and your body to count) and create a schedule that requires you to eat every so often.  For example, I schedule my meals three hours apart, and my body has learned that it will intake 30-ish grams of carbs and 16-ish grams of protein.

If I take too long to cook or I forget my snack at home or for whatever reason do not eat every three hours like my body has been conditioned to, I turn hangry (not just hungry...hangry) in approximately 30 seconds.

Also, because my body knows that it will be eating again in a short amount of time, it knows that it does not need to overeat; it knows that it can be satisfied with a smaller amount of food.

Second, eat a lot of veggies.  No, vegetables are not zero-calorie goodness, but they are infinitely healthier and lower calorie than a bag of chips, a handful of crackers, or even a mound of fruit.  The water and fiber content in a bag of baby carrots or a few sticks of celery does wonders to quell hunger.  If I know, for whatever reason, that my lunch may not fill me up as much as usual or that my activity-level is greater than the snacks I brought with me, I load up on veggies and am a very happy girl.

Plus, munching on crunchy carrots or celery keeps me occupied.  Let's face it: half the time we think we're hungry, we're actually just bored...

...which brings me to my third point: drink water.  It's absolutely insane how full you can get from water.  Generally, if I'm "so starving" that I can't wait for a meal or a snack or whatever, I chug a glass of water, and, without fail, am not nearly as hungry as I once thought.

I cannot stress enough how much meal-planning, veggie-eating, and water-drinking have helped squash the crazy hunger that I anticipated would accompany healthy living.

Yes, there are times when I'm hungry for a bag of Skittles or a Thin Mint (or two or twelve), but very rarely (as in so far not ever) does that craving overpower one of the aforementioned tried-and-true tactics.

The ridiculously delicious snacks and meals I've been preparing don't hurt either.  I mean, it'd be pretty hard to be hungry when you're scarfing down Dessert Oats, Crab Cakes, and fruit smoothies.  :)

What are your avoid-the-hunger tips?