One Month Post Marathon: Am I a Marathoner?

One of my Goals was to Smile at least once every Mile!

Exactly a month and two days ago I completed my first marathon at Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota. It was amazing to represent Saucony and wear products that I love and truly believe in at this premier event. I think more accurately though I raced my first marathon. Finishing was never one of my fears. I knew I could crawl to the end if I had to. My biggest concern was running what I deemed a decent time and competing against the other women in the race. What I deemed a decent time changed from when I first discussed my marathon goals with my coach to what we discussed in the middle of training and finally what we decided was reasonable in the weeks before. Originally I had an ultimate goal of 2:43 a realistic goal of 2:46 or so and a minimal goal of breaking 2:50. By the morning of the race the ultimate goal was to break 2:50 and I was determined to be happy if I made it.

Seeing the clock with a 1.2miles to go at the 25 Mile marker I tried to smile as I knew I could break 2:50. The pain in my quads was killing me, but by the grimaces in my finishing photos I know I gave everything I had that day finishing in 2:49:25.



Fueling!

Before the race when I could walk with ease!

My splits reveal how I "raced" rather than ran this marathon. You can see where my splits drop under 6:20 pace right after I decided I had been running with a group that had settled on too slow of a pace or someone passed me that I thought I should go run with. Putting those surges in at the time seemed like a great idea. Why? Well I felt fine at 10 miles, 12miles, 13miles, 15miles, 16miles, and even 19miles, but I agree with my coach that those cost me a faster time in the end. I still have a lot to learn about even pacing in marathon racing and training.

Mile	Mile Splits
1	6:12
2	6:16
3	6:11
4	6:22
5	6:21
6	6:13
7	6:18
8	6:23
9	6:25
10	6:14	Surge
11	6:27
12	6:15	Surge
13	6:15
14	6:24
15	6:19	Surge
16	6:13	Surge
17	6:33
18	6:31
19	6:19	Surge
20	6:40
21	6:45
22	6:39
23	6:53
24	6:49
25	6:35
26	6:29
.2	(6:23pace last .39 on Garmin)

Post race with my awesome mom, Polly!

The ultimate goal is still to break 2:43 and run the Olympic Trails B Qualifying standard, but until then I am focused on making myself more prepared for the next marathon cycle. This fall my top priority as always in my athletes. I am really excited about the returners and newcomers we have and I am ready to be in full "Cross Country mode." So in tune with that my fun/big race this semester is the USATF Club Cross Country Championships in December. I will be focusing on 5k, 10k, and half marathon training this fall as I put in the best consistent weeks of training that I can and I am excited for how those weeks will help me in the spring.

I foolishly ran a July 4^th 5k which prolonged my recovery, but the past week I finally felt “Normal” again so I’m excited to be getting my mileage back into the 60s this week.

Grandma's Marathon: Here I come Ready or Not!

Grandma's Marathon and my first time racing 26.2 Miles is now just 42 hours away! To say I'm excited is an understatement. I literally had a dance party the last 10 minutes in the car before Ryan dropped me off at the airport, but don't let this statement fool you prepping for my first marathon has not been a party every day.

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A few weeks ago I started a blog that I wish I had finished to post. I had titled it "Getting into a training groove for 26.2." This fit at the time the way I was feeling. It started "Despite the Ups and Downs I have been struggling through the past weeks with marathon training I feel like I am finally hitting a good groove the past two weeks. Perfect timing since I really only have a few more weeks to gain as much fitness as I can before tapering for June 21st!"
Since then I probably had the roughest 7-10 days of my entire training cycle. I suffered my second "run, walk, cry." (A catchy name for a not so pleasant experience) I have only experienced this feeling while training for the marathon. I had one a few weeks into training when I stranded myself out too far on a long run the Sunday after a big travel weekend and just felt awful and couldn't imagine how I was going to race 26.2 miles when I couldn't even get myself to run over 14 miles that day. My second "run, walk, cry" was brought on by my hip/hamstring majorly flaring up. Even though I was seeing a chiropractor who felt he could finally fix my hip after the misplacement he believed was caused in March 2011 when I was hit by that truck while running it was feeling particularly awful that week and pulling with every step. Those 7-10 Days I felt physically broken down and mentally I couldn't seem to get myself to a good place about training.

Luckily after a few talks with my coach, some easy running days, and a fantastic sport massage my body came back. And then this week my mentality has now jumped from a good place to an awesome place! (It doesn't hurt that after seeing my chiropractor again my my hip/hamstring is feeling much better and we think we've finally figured out how to make the "fix" stick).
I honestly can't wait to see what I can do Saturday. I think part of this excitement comes from the peace I have made with the fact that I can't change my preparation now. Training for my first marathon is now over. It was what it was and it will have to be good enough for Saturday.
So physically ready or not I am mentally ready to enjoy pushing myself through racing 26.2!
Now if I can just manage to run the first half smart...
Find Your Strong.

During my Training I ran a few Half-Marathons as workouts. Just wanted to share a few pictures below.

The Start of the CRC Half Marathon
Ran a smart progressive effort. 1st female, 2nd Overall 1:24:48

The Patriot Half-Marathon
Where I learned that Rockwall, Texas is HILLY!
1st Female, 5th or 6th Overall, 1:25:24

My Mom came out to cheer at the Patriot Half even in the rain. 

Marathon Training Update!

Marathon training and I have had a Love/Hate relationship the past 6 weeks. But after this past weekend’s 2 hour and 30min run (20.3 Miles) I am finally feeling confident that I have the Time on Feet long runs down and my hilly mid-week long runs have been clicking all along. Thus, I am starting to lean more towards a loving relationship with marathon training.

Now my major goal is to learn how to mentally and physically get through my marathon pace/effort workouts. The only part of my training I have not figured out. (I even count that I figured out how to run EASY on my easy days as an accomplishment…this is what you have to do to survive the first weeks of marathon training…give yourself credit for the most ridiculous “accomplishments”  well at least in my world..) Now back to Marathon Pace sessions. I wrote mentally first because based on my other training and my 2 “workout races” the Marathon Pace sessions I am being given should be well within reach physically. I find the half marathon pace sessions very doable right now, but somehow can’t get my brain to sustain my effort on slower, longer intervals and sessions. My solution is to try to prepare better mentally and break the session up in my mind like I do my long runs. I try to never over think the fact that I will be out running for over two hours so maybe I shouldn't think about mile reps 4-8 until I've done #3. Also, this week we are going to just focus on the effort and less on hitting my actually goal pace for the session. I need to just complete the prescribed session this week as my minimal goal. (This past week I hit the mileage goal for the day, but changed what I was doing to shorter reps at half marathon pace since mentally that was all I could get through).

"I think I'm getting the hang of this Marathoner thing"

The plan worked! I got through my first Marathon Pace session correctly yesterday. I did 2 X 4 miles at Marathon Pace and even though it got pretty windy by the end I was never discouraged. I think one of the major factors was that my fiancé Ryan volunteered to ride his bike while I ran which made a huge difference. I didn’t think about how much I had left I just cruised along.

This morning I have an easy Mid Week Long Run and then the next challenge will be longer surges in my Long Run this weekend!

A  few other  updates:

More Amazing shoes for More Awesome miles!

Huntsville 10 Mile: Texas 10 Series: Very hilly course. Ran 6:10-6:20 the first 5 mile loop then chatted the whole second loop with new friend running 6:30-6:40 pace (We split the prize money and points for the series). Then I finished up 20 Miles total for the day!

Rock n Roll Dallas Half Marathon: Ran Marathon Goal Pace and was happy to still be the 4^th Female overall.

A great “Ice Bath” swim in the Pacific Ocean after a great 20 Miler in Long Beach. Had great company from one of my Kiwi athletes for the 1^st 14 Miles. 

Grandma's Marathon in 7 weeks!

Grandma's Marathon: 2 Weeks Down, 14 To Go!

My 16 weeks of official preparation for my debut in the marathon has begun! I have two solid weeks of training under my belt and 14 weeks to go to be as fit as I can be when I toe the line at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota on June 21st!

I am really excited to be training hard again. It has been 8 months since I have had a set training plan. Coincidentally that was right after I raced the US Half Marathon Championships in Duluth, Minnesota. Having raced in Duluth before was one of the main reasons I chose Grandma's Marathon. I loved my experience in Duluth and I like that I have run on half of the marathon course before. The timing is also perfect since Conference and the Preliminary NCAA Rounds are both in May so I will have a week or two of "down time" before my big race.

I had fun this fall adjusting to my new coaching schedule and enduring lots of pain as I raced hard without any solid training. I'm hoping enduring racing two 30ks off of 30-40 miles of easy running a week some how prepared me for how much the last 6-8 miles of the marathon will hurt. I at least think some mental toughness was gained from those endeavors. That mental toughness combined with getting back to the higher mileage I've known for the majority of my running career will hopefully have my body and mind prepared.

I have a few races planned this spring that fit with the training plan that one of my experienced, professional marathon friends has be wonderful enough to lay out for me. She has raced some great marathons in her career and I trust her guidance as I prepare for my big day.

Also, the best news since my last blog came the day before my birthday this past month when I found out I would be representing Saucony again this year as a member of their 2014 Saucony Hurricane Team. I am so excited to be able to race for Saucony in my first marathon!

Mean Green Distance News:
We wrapped up our Indoor season two weeks ago at the C-USA Indoor Track & Field Championships and it was a great conclusion to a strong Indoor campaign that saw many athletes set big personal bests.

A few of the highlights from Indoor:

Jo Adams ran an 11 second personal best to set the school record in the Mile with a time of 4:38.83. She also was Runner-Up in the Mile and 3k at Conference.

Excited for what she can accomplish in the Outdoor Season!

The Men set three distance school records this indoor season: 800, 5k, and DMR.
The DMR set the record at the Conference meet while also taking a Runner-Up finish.

Proud of them! Conner Bey, Bryce McAndrew, Alex Hita, & Austin Yaeger

The Outdoor season gets under way this next week with some of my group opening at TCU on Friday and the rest will open up at Texas Relays in two weeks!

Texas 10 Series: College Station

Sunday morning in College Station was the first of seven 10 mile road races to be contested across the state in 2014 as part of the Texas 10 Series. I was excited for the series as soon as I discovered it on the Run On! Race Calendar. Actually experiencing the first race this weekend I have gained even more excitement for this series. The event was extremely well organized, had amazing volunteers & police officers, an excellent course, fantastic announcing, and was great fun for every runner. I personally appreciated that the race organizers had decided to give the lead woman in the race a lead bicycle as well as the overall leader. This proved to be invaluable as we closed the final mile and he cleared a nice path for me to the finish line amongst the 5 Miler finishers. The water stations were awesome and proved to be fantastic cheering sections out on the lonely windier back stretch of the loop. Those young ladies pumped me up to push even harder!



The Start!

As many posted on the Texas 10 Series Facebook page it was really just the weather that got in the way of the event reaching perfection. All the runners met the strong wind from miles 2.5 to 4.5 on the 5 Mile loop that we repeated twice. I decided not to look at my Garmin splits once I hit the wind because I was feeling great and had moved into second place overall (1st woman). This was a smart idea since I might have discouraged myself if I saw the 6:21 mile I split for mile 5. I felt the best I have in quite a while on the second loop after I took my GU at Mile 6. I pressed hard into the wind to finish in 1:01:15 as the 1st Woman and 2nd Overall. My Halfway split was 30:29 so I was happy to have maintained pace pretty well the second loop. I was most pleased with my last 2 miles into the wind being faster than the first loops windy miles.

Splits:

1^st Loop: 5:54, 5:49, 5:59, 6:13, 6:21

2^nd Loop: 6:04, 5:53, 6:06, 6:10, 6:16

Putting up the North Texas "Eagle Claw" as they announced me as the University of North Texas Cross Country Coach

One of the biggest accomplishments I feel I had this weekend was being mentally tough on Saturday evening. With my athletes we talk about mental preparation for every race and how you cannot allow how you feel on your pre-meet or even warm-up the day of the race deter you from the goals you have outlined for yourself. Saturday afternoon I had gotten a pretty bad headache that manifested into a stomach ache by the time I was able to sit down to dinner at 8:30pm. I didn’t eat too much and felt pretty gross. Instead of letting this deter me I got chocolate milk and went straight to bed. I woke up feeling much better and for me there’s nothing oatmeal and a Starbucks coffee can’t overcome on race morning. How great I felt during the race made the night before seem like a distant memory. I was glad I had not panicked just because I wasn’t feeling how I wish I felt less than 12 hours before my race. The body is often tougher than we think especially if we’ve trained our mind to help us push the body to do what we want it to do. #FindYourStrong

Next Race in the Texas 10 Series: Boerne, TX 3-30-14 http://www.texas10series.com/interior.cfm?pg=7

Rogue 30k: Wind, Exciting Miles 7-11, and Owwwww....A Painful Finish

The chilly temperatures and strong wind (25-30mph) didn't deter me this morning as I started the Rogue Distance Festival 30k in Cedar Park/Austin. {Mainly because I had already paid $85 to enter and Ryan & I had made the trip to Austin the day before} But seriously I lined up ready to still fight for my goal of running 6:20-6:30 pace with an ideal goal of breaking 2:00:00 (6:26 pace).
I made friends on the starting line with a woman hoping to run the half marathon at 6:20-6:30 pace. The gun went off and we settled into our rhythm.

We're hard to see here as we're about to pass the stroller that got off to a speedy start

We chatted a bit the first few miles which offered a bit of a distraction as the first 4 miles went relentlessly into a head wind. We picked up another runner at about mile 4 and he worked with me through mile 6.5 and then I was on my own. This was okay since there finally wasn't a head wind! It seemed to take me a little bit to feel the rhythm since my legs felt like jello after running into the wind for so long. But then the miles just started clicking off and I ran the inclines and declines with a solid pace. I kept my focus on a man I could see in the distance ahead of me but he turned off just before mile 12 for the half-marathon. About a half mile later the course turned and I was facing my dear friend the head wind again. I struggled for a mile hitting 6:45, but then the course had some turns and I got back to 6:30. My hopes were up I thought 2:00:00 was still within reach. Then straight on head wind greeted me again. I felt beat. I was struggling to run 6:50-7:00min pace as I battled the last 4 miles of the course. I managed to finish with a 6:36 pace effort for the last .6miles (.7 on my Garmin) and averaged 6:33 pace for the race setting a new PR of 2:02:18 besting my old PR from my November debut of 2:02:33.

Finishing what I started

Splits:

Mile 1	6:22
2	6:33
3	6:38
4	6:28
5	6:32
6	6:30
7	6:12
8	6:20
9	6:14
10	6:18
11	6:15
12	6:23
13	6:47
14	6:32
15	6:59
16	6:51
17	6:44
18	6:57
.6	6:36

I'm happy to have won my 2nd 30k and to be 5th Overall in the race, but I definitely finished feeling beat. Beat down by the wind. The part that hurts is that I really feel I could have broken 2:00:00 in a 30k today, but the fact that I didn't fuels my fire to get back to regular training and have myself fit and ready to reach more challenging goals even if I face adverse weather conditions again.

Shivering a bit receiving my award

Overall, it was a great event and I think it was the perfect way to end my month of racing. While enjoying competing again the past month I also wanted to teach myself how to endure through pain & discomfort and learn to persevere when a race is not going to plan. This 30k provided the perfect lesson plan.
Also, the next time I head to Austin to race I hope Ryan and I have more time to go out and explore the city.
Up Next: Mean Green Distance starts official practice and we head to College Station to compete at our 1st Indoor Meet January 17th!

Month of Racing: 3rd Weekend Update!

After racing last weekend in Virginia I spent the week in New York with my parents, sister, and Ryan. I had some great runs on Staten Island while we were there and of course enjoyed all of the Holiday festivities that the City had to offer.

Inside Radio City Music Hall seeing the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular with Ryan & My Family

Then we flew back to Denton on Friday and drove to a race Saturday morning in Arlington, Texas. The Don Zetnick Winter Run 10k was my first 10k since July. My goal was to break 36:30 after running 17:37 in the 5k in Virginia last weekend. I felt great running splits of 5:37, 5:39, 5:45, 6:01, 6:07, 5:56 (closed 5:26 pace) and finishing in 36:18. The 2nd mile of the race reminded me of the Jingle Bell 5k I did in Dallas 2 weeks ago. The whole mile we kept going down a slight decline and although I felt great I knew in the back of my mind that I would be climbing back up this for mile 5. So I was actually pleased with my mile 5 split since so much of it was up hill.

The 10k & 2 Mile Start

(The woman with the stroller is in the 2Mile/ had to clarify after some Facebook teasing on this photo)

Same with the young man in this photo (The 10k & 2 Mile shared a start & finish) My athletes teased me about this photo on Twitter

Running hard the last half mile

Side View

The finish

After enjoying meeting so many individuals at the Carrollton Runners Club Prediction 5k two weeks ago I went Sunday morning to their Monthly 5k & Mile runs for a workout. I got in a solid effort running 5:41, 5:48, 5:45 on my Garmin for an official 18:18 5k. More importantly I had fun visiting with the other runners there. I met another individual who loves Saucony (just like one of the sponsors I met at Saturday's race) and it turns out she was at the Arlington race as well and raced the 2 Mile there. I always enjoy hearing more about other's goals and it was fun chatting with several individuals who like myself are getting back into shape and have some fun goals set for this spring.

So far this month of racing has gone really well especially in regards to what I was hoping to gain from it besides just fitness. It has given me confidence of what I can accomplish next year as I lay out an actual training plan. If I can run these times off just running 30-40 miles a week I know that I am still capable of accomplishing so much more when I add in specific workouts and higher mileage. 

This month has also reminded me that at my core I LOVE competing.

I already knew without a doubt that I love competition. After all that is a key part of coaching and I have never been happier than I was this fall training and coaching my athletes through a whole season of competition especially the championship portion of the season. This month of my own racing just reminded me that I still enjoy competing myself and competing will be that much more fun when I have been training hard for it. This spring will still be a test of balancing. As my own training and racing will continue to be a side note of my coaching, but I know that it invigorates me and makes me a better coach when I am still pushing myself physically to be the best athlete I can be. I still think I can learn more from training and racing myself that I can then use to help make my athletes better. So well my body is still able and my mind is still willing I am going to devise a smart schedule and get in some morning training sessions and some Sunday races this spring. 

Next stop for the 4th weekend of my month of racing is Austin, Texas: Sunday January 5th.