1/2 Marathon Finish Line

So how did it all end...

It was a beautiful day for a run.  The day started off foggy and cool at 59' but the temperature was upper 60's by the end of the race.

I woke up dark and early at 5:30 and got to Turner Field at about 6:15AM plenty of parking , got a great space right near the exit.  I met up with my running buddy Tashawn and we jogged around dropping stuff at each others cars before the race.  Then about 10 minutes before race time we decided we might need to make a porta stop b4 the run. Porta spot 1, no entry these are for kids only, porta stop 2 OMG why is the line soooo long. National Anthem starts, 7 minutes til start time. Porta stop 3, okay this looks promising, 5 minutes later we obviously picked the WRONG line.  I finally get in and here the announcer say...1 minute to start time, I dash out just as she is making the 30 second countdown!

Ready - Set - and we are off!

Mile 1 - okay my pace is a little to fast, our goal is 10 min miles so we can finish at 2hrs and 10mins. If we start to fast we'll burn out. Feeling good tho, the crowd is thick but the first mile is pretty much downhill.

Mile 3 - okay i've completed a 5k, still ahead of my pace, averaging about 9:30 miles. But geeze this rout is hilly, we've gone up at least 3 hills already.

Mile 6 - We've just hit piedmont park! Okay i've completed a 10k, still ahead of pace, I am feeling it tho a bit in my calves. We just finished a hill and flattened out, i feel like I am getting a second wind. I think a pebble got in my shoe?

Mile 8 - Somewhere between mile 8 and 9. Me and my run buddy part ways.  Now the pace is evening out about 10 minute miles.  There is definitely a pebble in my shoe.

Mile 9 - another incline, must keep going, i can see that it keeps going uphill just looking at the crowd ahead of me.

Mile 10 - Phew okay , Oakland cemetery, another incline, i love you calves, please make it, just 3 more miles

Mile 11 - Okay coming into the home stretch, and another hill. 

Mile 12 - And another incline, everyone is looking for the mile 12 marker, whoohoo there it is.  Just one more sharp incline, oooh man, hello quads. At this rate I will probably finish right at the 2:10 mark.

Mile 13 - Finally, I am almost there. 0.1 mile to go... i didn't know .1 mile could feel so long. Up the hill to the olympic rings and it's all downhill from here. I try to sprint but I barely have anything left in the reserve.  But, then I see the actual finish sign so i open up my stride and finish as strong as I can.

Unofficial Finish time: 2:09:46 about 10 minute miles

kcal: 1769

HRR: Avg 181 BPM, Max HR 191 BPM

I was actually faster last year.  I feel like this course was a lot more challenging than last year.  But so far I am really sore but I do not think it is a stress fracture this time...I guess we'll know for sure in about a week.  And yes it is confirmed some how a piece of gravel got in my shoe? but no blister - I saw a guy with a heinous blister on his foot at the end of the race owwwww.

I will definitely post pictures as they get sent to me.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Health and Happiness

L

1/2 Marathon TOMORROW

The Pre-Game Plan

Weather: Weather is looking good for tomorrow morning. Partly cloudy and a cool 55'. Considering I have trained in 40' weather, I am looking forward to the 10' boost, it will probably feel like 60' once I get moving. I probably won't even need gloves or earwarmers yaaay!

Hydration: I will get in 12 glasses of water before 8pm tonight. I don't want to be up all night, and I don't want to need to make a stop during the race. Then I plan to grab a sip of powerade/water at each hydration station.

Fuel: Last night I had a Publix sub for dinner got my carb and protein storage started. I had oatmeal for breakfast and chick-fil-a chicken noodle soup and small fry for lunch. For our course run practice I had salmon and mashed potatoes and I felt great after the run, so I ate the same meal again this evening. I have not been training with breakfast in my stomach so I don't plan to change that in the AM but I will have a Larabar in my car for post race fuel.

Gear: I'll be sporting my adidas supernova's. They are light as a feather and mold to my foot perfectly, this will be their less long run before they are retired to casual walking shoe. I'll be wearing my Atlanta Half Marathon in Training shirt and my C9 Champion sportsbra, running capris, and light weight running jacket. The ploar visor and FT7 will be in place. New headband/earwarmer and running gloves will be in car just in case. And, this year I will be wearing my pink cancer awareness expandable running pouch. It is about the size of a pack of gum but expands large enough to hold keys, id, phone, map, snacks, and lip gloss .

Now I just need to pin my number on my shirt, lace in my D-tag, and get a good nights sleep at least 5 hours, 7 would be best, but I am not asleep yet and I want to be at Turner Field by 6am to find parking.

Health and Happiness

L

Super Natural Body Building and Fitness Pro & Amateur Event

(from the competition November 6th)


The SNBF competition was soooo much fun !!!

I spent the majority of my weekend post competition imagining myself standing on stage with rippling muscles striking various poses.  Oh yeah I walked around my friends striking poses ;-)  I can't help it I am a fitness geek!  I will most definitely be in attendance at the Mr/Ms Olympia in Vegas next year.  Bodybuilding competitions are like dragoncon for fitness geeks!

I was so in awe by all of the competitors.  There definition and symmetry was amazing.  One of the female competitors had lost over 100 pounds.  The age of the competitors ranged from teens to 75.  It was just so empowering seeing all these competitors who look so phenomenal and it was all natural.  One of the guys bios included how he did not water or carb restrict and  he was soo defined. 

I was expecting each person to just walk out and strike a couple of poses , but this was much more than a pose off, it was a production.  First all the contestants walk out and line up together.  Then they each strike their mandatory poses.  Then the real fun begins, the individual displays.  The MC reads a short bio and then the contestant does a 60 to 90 second choreographed demonstration of poise and strength to music that reflects their personality and style.  The figure competitors get to wear costumes! And some of the bodybuilders wore costumes as well.  It is sooooo much more than posing and soooo entertaining from the figure contestant dressed as wonder woman and the other dressed as iron man (my 2 favorites) and the male body builder performing as a jabbawockeez dancer.

I was also really impressed with the female body builders, they were not as manly as I had assumed, they were very feminine looking, basically more muscularly defined than figure.  So that made me think, that maybe, I could do bodybuilding?...novice bodybuilding. 

If you are a fitness professional or enthusiast and you have never been to one of these shows you are missing out! I definitely plan to make catching a show an annual thing.  It really inspired me to get back on track , maybe one day I can be on stage posing and rippling.  ;-)

Check out this link to see photos from the November 6th show : SNBF

If anyone knows of any other shows going on in Atlanta let me know, this was my first one, and it was sooo much fun.

Health and Happiness

L

1/2 Marathon Training: Week 12

Wednesday
Mode: Participant Back to Abs Class
Time: 40 minutes
Calories: 158

Mode: Teach Sweat and Burn
Time: 49:34
Calories: 436

Friday
Mode: Teach Cardio Kickboxing
Time: 40:12
Calories: 423

Saturday
Mode: Course Run
Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 2:18:20
MPH:
Calories: 1813

Sunday
Mode: GRAVITY Personal Training Class
Time: 7 hours

Course Run:
So this weekend was a big weekend.  It was course run time.  Towards the end of our training we do one last long run as a group, and we run the actual course! I was excited and nervous.  Looking back over my logs I can see my training intensity was tapering off the past 2 weeks, and this week I was sick so I only cross trained and did not do any running training.  So I contacted one of my running buddies and we decided we would help pace each other through the run.  Last year I got my first stress fracture and could not do any training for a month after the run. I was on complete impact rest, even walking was painful. So yes, I was nervous about doing a course run and injuring myself before the run.

So we met up in the gold lot at turner field and the run coaches informed us about last minute route changes and encouraged us to run in pairs or small groups for safety.  In my head I just keep thinking did I wear enough layers, too many layers, is my ankle gonna be okay, is my run partner gonna be a whole lot faster than me and have to leave me, will I get lost? We make our way to the start line and my run partner decides I can set the pace - I am cold, I hope I don't get lost, I hope I don't hurt myself. And off we go. Mile 1 to 6 no problem for us, nice steady pace, actually quicker than I anticipated, about 6 MPH/10:00. We nearly missed the sign to mile 5, luckily the run coach was only a few paces ahead of us, and then we hit Piedmont park.  So we decided to take an extended water/powerade stop to check out our course map - if you have never been to Piedmont park it is HUGE and this is not a place you want to make a wrong turn.  Now there is a group of about 15 of us trying to decide where to go next, then our run coach saved us and guided us through the park.

After Piedmont it was pretty smooth sailing,for the next 2miles except all the stopping.  It was killing my momentum, plus all the sudden stops were causing all the blood to rush from my muscles to my digestive track and kept causing me pain.  Then we turned down boulevard and had to make another decision, high road or low road, at this point we also passed the walk for peace going on in town,  an onlooker pointed out the directions the previous runners went. Once we hit Oakland cemetery we hit our 10 mile marker, and amazingly I was feeling really good but, I decided I should pull my pace back just in case.

Now I feel it. Luckily not in the ankles but the feet and muscles of the leg are just getting fatigued. Mile 11 through 12 are pretty much an incline and I don't like it.  My arms are sore, my abs are sore, and my feet are sore.  I pull back even more, I don't want to injure my ankles or muscles. I pull it back to just quicker than a walk. It is mile 13 and on a race day I would absolutely book it and sprint down the hill pass the Olympic rings, so I have to block that out and ease it on in. 2:18:20

Yaaaay I survived my course run!!! No limp, general muscle soreness but nothing horrible. I guzzle down as much powerade and and water as I can and dive into the samples of larabars. MMMmmm Powerade never tasted so good.  I feel confident I will do great at the actual race and I am thinking I can safely finish in 2:10 minutes and take off 5 minutes from my time last year.

1/2 marathon goal: 13.1 miles in 2:10

Health and Happiness

L

1/2 Marathon Training : Week 11

Runner's Training Journal

Monday
Distance: 3.5
Speed: 6.0, 6.3, 6.5, 6.8 MPH
Mode: Treadmill, Increased speed to meet HR requirements
Calories: 384

Wednesday
Mode: Cross Train - Taught Strength and Cardio Class
Time: 46 minutes
Stretch: 5 minutes, Full Body, 10 seconds each
Calories: 394

Distance: 2.75
Speed: 4.0 to 6.5 MPH
Mode: Treadmill, Hills (3.0%, 6.0%), 30:60 work recovery split
Stretch: Shoulder stretch, Tricep stretch, Biceps stretch (10 seconds Rt and Lt), Quad, Calf, Hamstring, Leg Swing (10 seconds ea, Rt then Lt), Bent over bi-lateral hamstring stretch, Rt hamstring, Lt Hamstring, Inner Thigh Stretch (10 seconds each, repeat 3 times)
Calories: 409

Distance: 0.75
Speed: 3.5 MPH
Mode: Treadmill, Hill(3.0%,6.0%, 9.0%), 30:60 work recovery split
Calories: 94

Friday
Mode: Cross-Training, Taught - Cardio Kickboxing
Time: 45 minutes
Calories: 378

Saturday
Distance: 10 miles
Speed: 5.6 MPH
Mode: Treadmill 4 miles, Outdoor 6 miles
Calories: 1251

November To Do List

So here is what I have going on this month:

+ Nov 6th attend SNBF Competition
+ Nov 14th GRAVITY Personal Training
+ Nov 20th - 21st potential ACE Training Opportunity
+ Nov 25th Half Marathon Race DAY!!!
+ Nov 29th Budget and Finance in Sports Presentation
+ Nov 30th Biomechanics Presentation

+ Nov 6th attend SNBF Competition
This will be my first visit to a bodybuilding competition.  I am really looking forward to watching how everything works.  This is a brand new world to me.  If they seem like a positive organization I may finally come out to their training workshop in Febuary.  I would love to compete in at least 1 figure or bikini competition before my 30th birthday.

+ Nov 14th GRAVITY Personal Training
I am already a GRAVITY Group instructor and now I am going for certification number 2.  One of my goals is to be a master trainer in some fitness technique.  Being a master trainer means that you have shown depth of knowledge in your art and demostrated an ability to teach, then you are allowed to certify others in your field.  I just think that would be one of the coolest jobs!  Travel and Train that's all I need.

+ Nov 25th Half Marathon Race DAY!!!
I have skipped quite a few training runs.  Trips out of town, fatigue, pains.  We only have 3 more training runs until the race.  Next weekend is our course run and then I will really know where I stand.  But, I am still looking forward to it, even tho I will have to miss a family trip to Florida.

+ Nov 29th Budget and Finance in Sports Presentation
Currently in construction

+ Nov 30th Biomechanics Presentation
Currently in construction

In other words...November is a very busy month, whoohoo I like being busy!

Health and Happiness
- L -