Monday, October 29, 2012

No frills

Week 2, took off a race and decided to keep it simple and attempt the same goals from week #1.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

It's a wrap

I finished up my first week of goals, one down many to follow. I also FINALLY got a preseason race in (yay! only took almost 2 months).
First order of business, the goal board. I am missing 2 checks on my list, not entirely thrilled about that. I guess I could technically check off the last run in conjunction with the race, but I had intended to get in 5 run workouts plus the race, though I may have overextended my expectations. I will let that slide, only because I need to gradually build back in and not injure myself. The one I can't let go is the lift, there is no good reason for me to not have lifted twice.
Now that the depressing part of my post is done, I can rally with the semi exciting. March 15, 2009 was the last time I raced a 5K, the last preseason I raced was 2008. It's been a long time coming and I've been dying to get a distance PR. I finally broke down earlier in the week when I received an email from USATF for a race at Ichan Stadium that they were offering $10 off the $35 registration fee. I peeked into the race info to see if it suited me, and of course what caught my eye was *prize money*. I like prize money. The next round of business when prize money's involved is looking at past results to see if you could possibly vie for the loot. Of course that is not always indicative of whether you can get it but it gives you a clue as to at least know what kind of comp to expect. From the past 2 years' results if I was in the shape I think I am/should be I could at least pick up 3rd. Ok I'm sold, $50 wins back my entry fee plus a little extra. A couple clicks, a credit card number entered, I'm signed up, entry is paid, I'm in, no excuses. Saturday rolls around when I get to the stadium I have 2 things on my mind a stellar 5K PB and 3rd place prize money. As I pick up my bib peeked down the list and spotted one of the distance girls. Rah-roh hopefully she's the only one, if not I can kiss the PM goodbye. I scan around but see only a couple guys from the team, I might be ok. Then I go into the stadium to stash my bag while I warm up and get a huge surprise. Nope it wasn't distance girls it was the sight of a Brand spanking newly resurfaced track!! I'm pretty sure I looked super silly jumping up and down and squealing like a little kid. Yes I know that makes absolutely no sense unless you've raced on Ichan's track in the past couple years, more however if you've ever raced a 100, 200, or 400 in those outside 7 lanes in the past 2 years. Horrible and atrocious, seriously I'm not kidding. I sort of got lost in the splendor of this surprise that I almost forgot I was racing. Focus. After I finally composed myself and warmed up it was time to go down to the start of the race (on the track! Yay! Oh my gosh I get to be one of first to run on the freshly minted track! Um sweet! Doh focus!). I happily only saw the 1 distance girl teammate I spied at the registration pickup table, 3rd place might not be off the table, though I had I feeling I'd definitely have to work for it.
The gun went off and I had to control myself from taking off especially with the start on the track. I eased into a comfortable cadence as I watched my teammate breeze ahead. Mile 1 6:26, ok good on pace but need to hold onto pace, place 2nd female. Turnaround point is a little over halfway, as I round the bend I can see whose behind me, and what do I see 2 girls running side by side way too close to me for comfort, if both pass me no PM for this chica. Plan now holds on for dear life to place. Mile 2 split 6:47, yikes fell way off pace PB now likely out the window, still holding 2nd female but afraid to look behind me to see how close those girls are to me. The last mile was a blur my legs and lungs were on fire, it was taking a lot of taking to myself to push through. Mile 3 split 6:45, at this point I'll take it, the last .12 finished on the track. The sad face part was I was 40 sec off of my PB, gah bummer. The hip hip happy face part of it, I finished 2nd female overall! Woosah! 1 place higher than I thought I would and that meant my first ever winning of prize money! Let's hear it for some PM! $100!!! Super duper stoked, made not hitting my time goal sting a little bit less, only a little bit. Yeah I know makes no real sense, but it's my real feelings.

My prize and plaque 
The newly resurfaced track!!



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Dreams don't work unless you do

A lack of entries is haunting my training log yet again. And again it has nothing to do with me forgetting to record my workouts, nope it's me not being consistent in my training AGAIN. I can come up with all the excuses in the book but in the end when I'm frustrated with my races, those excuses aren't going to console the disappointment. I needed something to jump kick me back into reality.
 I copied the post title from a believe I am poster, when I saw it it lead to some serious motivation to add to my inspirational blackboard . The saying really resonated with me and the blank spots that were accumulating in my log/book, and that was the catalyst to my new weekly goals in addition to season goals. As a personal trainer I understand the need for smaller goals inside of the bigger goals for clients, it helps keep the moral up to reaching the big one (Often times I forget to apply what I preach to others to myself).
I decided to start by taking just a few simple goals and chalk them up on the blackboard every week for "weekly goals". Getting a preseason race in was one that needed to be on that 1st weekly lineup (after all 2 of my preseason goals were race time goals).  Then of course consistent running/workout days were absolutely necessary. I figure if it's in my face I'm less likely to slack. I mean the blackboard is hard to miss at 4' x 4' and one of my most satisfying things to do besides killing a monstrous workout is checking things off on a "to do" list. Then of course to keep myself honest I would share it here and in the social media world. With 500+ "friends", 100 something followers, one of them my coach, many my teammates, someone should be bound to call me out if I slide, and yes please don't hesitate to call me out. Also if you have any ideas for rewards/punishments (I use the word punishment incredibly loosely) for for completing/not completing goals, I'd really like to hear them.

The start of week 1

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Let's get dirrtty

There is this new wave of obstacle and mud runs that have been popping up all over the place. It's almost as if it's the new marathon. Usually I pay them no mind, since most that people want me to do are either in the spring or are too far of a distance both no gos for me. They're also astronomically priced. Then it happened I found myself signed up with a team to do a 5K mud obstacle course. I guess it was only a matter of time. This one happen to be for the Special Olympics so I guess it was hard to say no to that, and it was in the fall so it wouldn't interfere with my training or racing.
So Saturday morning I commuted my way to Brooklyn to meet up with my team and do this. I had no idea what to expect, not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way I warmed up as I would a cross country race, lined up at the start and then took off. I did have in my head that I wanted to be the fastest woman. The first couple of obstacles where meh and there was a lot of running, thought this isn't so bad. I had 1 guy in front of me and no one really behind me. Then came the another round of obstacles which included 10ft tall walls to climb and the mud pit. I thought I'd like the mud, I was wrong, it literally stuck to my hands like a glove and wouldn't shake off and to add was FREEZING. As I was running to the next part of the course I attempted to wipe it off on my already muddy clothes but it didn't work so well. Most of the next part was trail running and 2 of the hardest things of the course. 1st the low pipes to crawl through, I'm a relatively small person and I thought I was being swallowed by the pipes. Then came a 30lb or so sandbag run towards the end, I wanted to die. I managed to muster through it to last few things and crossed the finish line fairly unscathed as the 2nd person in my heat. Then later to find I was the fastest overall female! Woosah! and I helped my team to first place.



A very muddy bootay
The Team
Now that I have done one and know what to expect, would I do another? That's TBD but it's not off the table.
Yay! I did it!