Injury Update

February 8, 20162 Comments

This past week has been quite an emotional one, and I apologize to anyone who has been in my path. After the X-Ray didn’t show too much on my tibia, my doctor decided I should get a bone scan done. So Tuesday morning, I headed off to the hospital for part 1 of my scan. I had never done a bone scan before, so I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. But if it was a way to find out what was wrong, then I was on board.

Around 10am I was called back and injected with radioactive dye. I was scanned a few times, and then I was on my way. It was more uncomfortable than painful, but a lot easier than I expected. I was told to come back three hours later for part 2. Because of the inconvenience of the procedure, I ended up taking a vacation day, so with three hours to waste, I did a little shopping. If you’re going to spend a vacation day at the hospital, you should at least make part of it fun, right?

I got back to the hospital around 1:30 for scan number two. This one took longer, and they did a series of shots. I was told that over time, the dye went from my blood, and was now sticking to damaged parts of my bones. Interesting, and weird. I wasn’t given any results that day, but would have my follow up appointment that following Friday.

Surprisingly, the next two days I had very minimal pain, I was hoping that maybe I just needed an extended rest period, and I would be ready to go back to running. Unfortunately, the pain came back on Thursday, and was still present during my appointment Friday. And then, I got the news. My gut was right. Not only did I have a stress fracture in my right tibia, I had two. One in my upper tibia, and one in my lower, both points where I’ve had horrible pulsing pain. And they’re pretty deep too, which doesn’t help. To make matters worse, my left tibia was a bit weak as well. Had I continued to run, it would have been a matter of time before I had a stress fracture there as well. When it rains, it down right pours.

Not what you want to see.

I held it together for the rest of the appointment, but I shed a few tears as I headed into work. Hearing the news of a stress fracture just tears me apart. I’m in new territory here, and can’t be certain how long I’ll be out. I do know that Coastal Delaware Marathon is out though. They still have a half and 9k 😉 Thankfully the doctor understands how much running means to me, and is helping me get back into running in a safe, yet slow timeline. Here’s the projected path of recovering, considering everything goes right.

Week of 1/25 and 2/1: ~~No exercising. Do abs and lift.~~ Check!

Week of 2/8 and 2/15: 15-20 minutes of bike or elliptical, every other day. Continue to do abs and lift.

Week of 2/22 and 2/29: 15-20 minutes of speed walking, every other day. Continue to do abs, lift and bike or elliptical.

Week of 3/7: Run 2 minutes slower than regular pace for 20 minutes, three times a week. Continue to do abs and lift.

Week of 3/14: Run 1 minute slower than regular pace for 20 minutes, three times a week. Continue to do abs and lift.

Week of 3/21: Run regular pace for 20 minutes, three times a week. Continue to do abs and lift.

Week of 3/28 and forward: Increase mileage by 10% only, three times a week. Continue to do abs and lift.

*Subject to change depending on pain.

I’m certainly devastated to be injured. I’ve had every emotion under the sun this week, and sunk down pretty far into a hole of despair Saturday. But I needed to hit bottom, to let my tears out so I can build myself back up. I’m definitely nervous and a little fearful I’ll slip back into injury, but I have to take things slow and learn not to push myself too hard. I’ve had about two years of running injury free, so my time was due. And after 16+ years of running, I can say that I’ve finally had a stress fracture, and I will beat it.

Any tips on recovering from a stress fracture?

January Recap

February 4, 2016Leave a comment

I’ve decided that for 2016, I’m going to get back into doing monthly recaps. I think they really helped to keep me on track, and it’s nice to check in to see where I am once in awhile. Even if I am a few days into February already.

Miles this month: 94.5

Miles this year: 94.5

Favorite workout: Hill repeats on the treadmill

Toughest workout: First attempt at 15-16 miles

Races run: 0

Cross training: Abs + Lifting

Books read: See Me by Nicholas Sparks (37% Complete)

Places traveled: 0

January started out as a strong month. I was ready for a new year, and determined to start running on the right foot. I had a decent base going in thanks to some late races in 2015. Things were looking to be a 100+ mile month, until I was sidelined on the 24th. I didn’t quite reach my goal of at least 100 miles, but I typically don’t reach more than 50 miles in January, so this was a huge improvement.

I did a lot of running on the treadmill, and I can’t help but think that my hill repeats were my favorite workout. I felt strong during and after the workout, when I easily could have passed on doing any hill work at all. My toughest workout was my first attempt at a longer run. Everything went against me running that day and I only ended up with 3.5 miles. Mentally, I need to stress less about the workout and just let it happen.

I didn’t run any races, but I kept up with my ab work and lifting. I’m hoping to stick with it and see how it helps my training this year.

As for my goals of traveling more and reading more, well, I didn’t travel anywhere, but I am working on my first book of the year. It was a bit hard to get into in the beginning, but I’m hoping I can knock out the rest of it during an upcoming trip. Then on to the next book.

The month didn’t end too well, but it could have been a lot worse. At least we weren’t covered in snow and dealing with single digit temperatures all month, like last year. I’m hoping I can bounce back from injury next month and build my mileage up again. No races are on the schedule, but I do have a trip to look forward to!

How was your January? Suggestions on books to read?

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Six

February 1, 20162 Comments

Well, what can I say about this week. I planned on running 32-25 miles, increasing my long run to 17-18 and spending some quality time with my running shoes. That didn’t quite happen, it was actually the exact opposite. I ended up with 0 miles for this week, and here’s why.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ll have random shin pain that really only lasts a day and I try to take the next day off. No big deal, it wasn’t causing harm or making me miss multiple runs. It was just there, and then gone. So after taking a rest day Sunday, I figured by Monday afternoon, the pain would be gone, just like always. But the pain didn’t go away. In fact, it lingered. From a dull ache to a random burst of mild pain, I decided I’d take this past week day by day. Surely after two rest days it would be gone, right?

Nope. Things got worse. When my shin hurt during my entire commute Tuesday morning (45 minutes of driving), I decided to call a doctor. Hoping that since I made an appointment, the pain would go away. That’s typically how it works, fingers crossed.

I had my appointment on Wednesday morning, and the results weren’t great. With symptoms of a stress fracture, we did an X-Ray. Unfortunately, the results didn’t show much, just as expected, with the exception of a minor faint horizontal line near the base of the pain. With what I’m sure was an absolute pathetic look in my eyes, I asked the doctor what we should do. He replied with treat it as a stress fracture and we’ll get some more tests done.

I took the rest of the week off running and will be taking next week off as well. We’re hoping that with two weeks of rest, the pain will be less and I can slowly get back to normal. But here I am, a week later, and I’m still having a decent amount of pain. No biking, no elliptical, no doing anything that will add any more pressure to the leg. But thankfully, no walking boot, at least not yet.

I have a bone scan scheduled for Tuesday morning, which I’m sure will be a delight. And we’ll be following that up with another appointment on Friday to discuss results and what to do next.

I go through moments of no pain at all, thinking that maybe it’s just in my head, to a dull ache, to random bursts of sharp pain. It’s definitely worse after being on my feet for long periods of time and after driving. I’ve never had a stress fracture before, but in my gut, I believe that’s what it is. If it were typical aches and pains, it’d be gone after a few days, but here it is, still lingering, still preventing me from doing what I love. And what keeps me sane.

I’m not exactly sure where training will be going from here. I’m almost 100 percent certain that running the full will be out. Hopefully this is just a minor issue and I’ll be able to get back into training and run the half. This is definitely not where I saw my spring going, mostly because I felt so strong during my runs, and never felt that pain was limiting me. I’m trying to put a positive spin on everything, which has been hard. So for now, I’ll be taking it easy, working on my core, and counting down the days until I can run again.

Honeymoon in St. Martin

January 29, 2016January 29, 2016Leave a comment

A very delayed post, but our honeymoon recap is finally here!

We chose to go to Sint Maarten/St. Martin for our honeymoon. Located about 190 miles East of Puerto Rico, and just South of Anguilla, this beautiful island is both French and Dutch. We flew out on Monday, which gave us Sunday to relax and pack before a week away.

Monday

We flew from Cleveland to Miami, Miami to Sint Maarten, arriving around 2:00pm. Once we landed, we grabbed our bags, took a taxi to the resort, and headed to the pool.

Flying over Maho Beach

We didn’t stay at the pool too long because Tropical Depression Danny (formerly hurricane) brought in some rain. Because we were both quite exhausted from a 3am wake up call, we kept the first night low key and checked out SkipJack’s for dinner. The food was great and after spying some giant lobsters, we knew we’d be back later in the week.

First night in paradise

On the way back, we stopped at the Casino outside of the resort, but didn’t spend too much time there. It was fairly empty, but I guess that’s what you get for a Monday night.

Tuesday

Tuesday was our first full day on the island and what better way to kick off the honeymoon than spend the day on the beach! We started at Bon Appetit for breakfast, then headed down to Simpson Bay.

The beach was basically empty, but we scored two chairs and an umbrella anywhere we wanted for just $5.00, so it was a win. It was amazing to sit back with views of crystal clear water, a good book in hand and tropical drinks at a moments notice. We spent all morning on the beach, took a break for lunch at The Greenhouse, then ended the afternoon with a little Stand Up Paddle board action on the bay. The water was a little rough, and the wind was definitely stronger than we thought. We kept getting pushed out toward the ocean, and it was more of a workout than expected.

Yes, please!

After the beach, we went back to the pool, then got ready for dinner. This time we tried The Stone, which was located on the water. I tried escargot for the first time (not my favorite) and had some delicious shrimp cooked to perfection on stone!

Next up we ventured back towards the resort, but not before stopping at The Red Piano. It wasn’t quite like the piano bar in Columbus I’ve visited, but the longer we were there, the better it got. Or maybe it was the help of a few glasses of wine…

Wednesday

We were supposed to head out on a boat trip on Wednesday, but because of the rough waters and wind ahead of Tropical Storm Erika, our trip was canceled. Instead of stressing about it, we decided to rent a car and head over to the French side of the island. We made our way up along the East side of the island and started at the famous Orient Bay Beach. We walked our way down looking for the perfect spot to sit, including passing by the famous nude beach. We finally settled on Kakao and started the morning with some Bloody Mary’s and beautiful views.

Orient Bay Beach

The water was beautiful, but it was also starting to collect seaweed on the beach from the storm. We didn’t grab any chairs, but we stayed long enough to enjoy the sun and some amazing shrimp and mussels!

Can I have this everyday?

Next as we continued our tour of the French side, we decided to stop at the Loterie Farm. I reviewed the website before our trip and hoped it would be as good as I imagined…it was. It was absolutely beautiful and so relaxing. Loterie Farm is tucked in the side of the mountain and offers swimming, lounging, zip lining and private parties. We took some day beds in the l’eaulonge section and soaked up as much sun as we could get. We enjoyed the swimming in the main pool as well as smaller jacuzzi’s further up the hill. And of course we couldn’t pass on some snacks, so we ordered the smoked fish platter which included swordfish, tuna and marlin. Amazing!

Can I move here?

And the view from the top

After a light sprinkle, Loterie Farm decided to close to prepare for Erika, so we packed up and headed to our next stop of the French side…Pic du Paradis! Standing at 1,391 feet, Pic du Paradis is the highest point on the island. The drive to the top was a little sketchy and very steep, but the views from the top were beautiful.

Top of the island!

After a short stop, we headed back down and around the island to Simpson Bay. Tropical Storm Erika was due to hit the next day, so the entire island was starting to shut down. Because of this, we stopped at the supermarket, grabbed some essentials and made our way back home. But before we got back to the resort, we stopped at L’Isola and I got to enjoy some seafood linguine and tiramisu!

Almost as good as the Seafood Diablo from Thyme2 😉

On the walk back to the room, we stopped at the casino (it was just next door anyway) and spent some time on the roulette table. We both ended up winning, which seems to be a trend for me everywhere except for the Cleveland casino.

Thursday

I woke up Thursday with the expectation that it would be raining and miserable out. Fortunately this was not the case and it was actually partly sunny. I turned on the tv (for the first time all week) to check the status of the storm. Sadly, coverage of the storm hitting Dominica was all over the Weather Channel, and I couldn’t help but be a little concerned we’d have the same.

Due to the storm, everything was shut down. That included schools, businesses, restaurants, stores, basically everything. The wind was relatively weak still, so we decided to venture out and headed down to the beach. The waves were starting to pick up, the current was getting stronger, and spots of dark clouds would roll in and out. When the waves became a bit too much we headed over to the pool.

Hunting for a storm

When you can’t swim well…you don’t test the waters

After a while, we started to get hungry and luckily found a place open with food. Unfortunately, it was the worst experience we had on the entire island. It was a little restaurant just down from The Stone ( the name I can’t find yet). The line was a bit long, but understandable considering the elements. We ended up waiting about 45 minutes in line just to take our order, only to find out that half of the menu was unavailable. Hoping the wait wouldn’t be too long for our food, shrimp and mahi mahi, we stood around with everyone else.

Another 40 minutes later, we finally got our food. It wasn’t the best, but it was fresh and we lucked out that somewhere was open. We were disappointed with our experience, and hoped the day would turn around.

We spent the rest of the day in the room watching the storm from the balcony and checking updates on TV. We stayed in for dinner and I cooked my specialty, pasta for dinner. Domestic wife over here 😉

Watching the storm come in – afternoon.

Storm watching a few hours later.

Friday

On Friday we tried our shot with the boat tour again. Post storm, we had rain overnight, but no damage other than some palm tree branches down. We made our way to the boat shop and secured two spots on the catamaran trip to Prickly Pear Island & Anguilla. They let us know we may not be able to reach Prickly Pear Island due to unknown conditions of the water and that snorkeling would not be happening. We decided to continue regardless.

Onward!

We started on our way out and moved to the front of the boat quickly. It was quite cloudy, a bit windy and we didn’t have too rough of waves. Even though the sun wasn’t out, the views were still beautiful and it felt great to have the ocean air surround us. Luckily the water was calm enough to make it to Prickly Pear and we were even able to snorkel.

Welcome to Prickly Pear Island!

I panicked a bit when I first got into the water, and struggled with the whole breathing into a tube idea. The only other time I had snorkeled was in Bermuda about 10 years ago, so this was not something I really had any experience with.

Darren led the way and we swam over some reefs watching fish swim in and out of the coral. The views underwater were beautiful and I wish I had an underwater camera. We were given 45 minutes to snorkel and it was just about all the time I was interested in. Snorkeling is a bit out of my comfort zone, but it was a great experience. Even better were the views of Prickly Pear Island. The sand was white, the water was teal, and it was absolutely the most beautiful view of the entire trip.

Up next on the boat tour was Anguilla. As we made our way back, I began to notice my skin felt a little warm. I’d been careful all week to wear SPF 80+ to avoid the harsh sun, but forgot to put it on due to the cloud coverage. Rookie mistake. My face, arms, legs, and chest were real burnt, but I didn’t let it stop me from having a good time.

Once we reached Anguilla, we docked the boat and could either swim or take the life raft over. Darren chose to swim and I took the boat. We had a great meal at a little restaurant in Sandy Ground Bay. We didn’t get to explore the island, but we did get to enjoy the water for a bit and even played a game of corn hole.

Anguilla

Back on the boat, I hid myself from the sun for a bit before joining everyone on the front of the boat. The views back were just as beautiful and I felt so lucky to be able to enjoy this wonderful trip so far.

Blushing or sunburn?

Approaching St. Martin

Once we made it back to Sint Maarten, we cleaned up, changed and got ready for our lobster dinner. We made it back over to SkipJack’s and ordered ourselves some oysters and a 6lb Caribbean lobster. Our eyes were definitely bigger than our stomachs and we struggled to eat the entire meal. Still, we knew it was an experience we needed to try and what better time than on your honeymoon?

Just Darren and two lobsters….ha…ha…

Saturday

Saturday was our last full day on the island. We started the morning back at Bon Appetit and I had an amazing chocolate croissant, seriously the best thing I had all trip. Next we drove over to the famous Maho Beach. Do yourself a favor and look for videos on YouTube.

Incoming planes fly over Maho Beach just feet above bystanders on the ground. There used to be a beach, but it has since been covered in giant rocks. It was such a neat experience to watch the planes go over, each time wondering how close they’d get to the ground.

Amazing and terrifying.

Next we drove to Phillipsburg to check out the capital and what we expected to be a busy city. Surprisingly, it was very empty, almost a ghost town, which is apparently normal when it is low season, or when cruise ships aren’t docked. But I have to say, it was nice to have lots of room and not worry about other tourists.

Philipsburg boardwalk

We walked around, checked out a few shops and eventually made our way to the Guavaberry Emporium! Throughout our trip we had tried RumPunch, Best Friend, and Guavaberry Colada, all drinks that had guavaberry rum in them. We tried a few different flavors of the rum and since it’s not available in the US, we decided to stock up on a few bottles. It was surprisingly good, and much better than the last time I had rum in college.

Yum!

We stopped for lunch on the boardwalk before we headed out and had a light lunch of calamari and some more mahi mahi. We made a plan for the rest of the day and tried to figure out what else we wanted to see before we left. We decided to head back to the Loterie Farm, but it was closed for an event. So we drove around Marigot for a bit, then down to Mullet Bay Beach.

We ended up staying there until about 6:30 or so, just long enough to catch the last sunset in paradise. We stopped at 3 Amigos for dinner and had some great shrimp tacos before heading back to the resort.

Final sunset, what a view!

Sunday

Our flight wasn’t until 3:30pm so we tried to cram in as much as we could before we left. We packed our car and drove around to the West end of the French side to see if we missed anything we wanted to see earlier in the week. After a while, we decided we’d seen everything we wanted and headed to the airport.

We were told it takes 3 hours to get through checking in and security. When we got there the airport was empty, so we checked our bags and got a cab over to Maho beach. We sat around for about an hour and a half, watching planes come in and out, and absorbing the last moments of vacation.

Final guavaberry rum punch of the trip!

Our tip to Saint Maarten was absolutely amazing. The island was beautiful and everything was more than I could have imagined. If you ever get the chance to take a trip down there, I highly recommend it. It was hard to leave, but we can wait to visit again in a couple years!

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Five

January 25, 2016January 25, 2016Leave a comment

Week 5 and my main goal of this week was to make sure the pain in my shin was gone, and that I was back to running healthy. I did fairly well in keeping all pain minimal by icing, elevating and wearing compression socks/sleeves whenever I could. And I survived the week without any pain, until the very end.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 5.5 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 3×1600 (8:57, 8:55, 8:51) w/400 recovery, 1 mile c/d + Abs

Wednesday: 5 Miles + Abs & Arms

Thursday: 5.65 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 6×600 hill w/400 recovery, 1 mile, c/d + Abs

Friday: 0

Saturday: 15.6 Miles

Sunday: 0

Total: 31.75 Miles

Tuesday I was back on the treadmill for some mile repeats. I was nervous going in that I’d have some shin pain, so I took my warm up mile pretty easy. Thankfully I was pain free. I didn’t push myself as much as I could have, but I didn’t want to bring on any more pain. I felt good, and decided a step back in training last week was the best decision for me.

I met up with Mallory on Wednesday and we did some easy miles at the rec. It was so nice to finally run on something other than the treadmill, even if the track is 10 laps per mile. We kept things to an easy conversational pace and it went by pretty quickly, despite going around and around for ever.

Thursday I was back on the treadmill for some hill repeats. I decided to move the incline to 5 this time and see how things would go. I felt pretty strong and decided to increase the speed with each one. By the 4th one, I was wearing down a bit, but I pushed myself to complete all six. I may not feel it now, but doing hill repeats every other week will eventually pay off.

Saturday was the first official course run for the Medina Half! Since I didn’t get a long run in last week, I was aiming for 15-16 miles. I was pretty nervous for this run and wasn’t sure how it would go. I think the last time I ran 14+ miles was fall of 2014, so clearly I felt the pressure to run it well.

The goal was to run the half course and tack on miles at the end. The Medina Half course changed this year, and I can honestly say, it’s probably the best course yet. You still wind through a few neighborhoods with gradual inclines, but avoiding the giant hill on Rt. 18 is amazing. And with the addition of a new path and bridge, you now get to spend some extra time around Lake Medina.

I felt relatively well during the long run, fueling at 4 and 10. We had a small group that stuck together and we chatted the miles away, dodging some leftover ice and getting a few Bald Eagle sightings. Once we got back to the square, I ran the last few miles on my own around town, finishing up with 15.6 miles.

Lake Medina

I meant to do my recovery run on Sunday, but I woke up a bit sore and had minimal shin pain. Throughout the day, I still felt tight and the pain in my leg would come and go. Ultimately, I decided to take the day off, and really rethink the next week of training.

Overall it was a pretty good week. I’m at my highest weekly mileage and on track for my highest monthly mileage ever. My only concern is the recurring shin pain. I’ve nearly doubled my mileage, which is probably the reason behind the pain. I need to take a few days to recover and think about how to train smarter while building my mileage. I looked back at Wineglass training, and I didn’t push the longer runs (15+) until week 7 or 8, so I’m a bit ahead of what I’ve done in the past. There’s still plenty of time to get long runs in, so I just need to look at the training again, and see what works and what doesn’t.

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Four

January 18, 2016January 18, 20162 Comments

Week four is done and honestly, I can’t believe we’re already this far into the training cycle. I know that 18 weeks can seem daunting, but knowing that I only have 14 weeks left to get ready still makes me nervous! This week was a rough one, and I eventually decided that it would be a cut back week…on Sunday. Things just weren’t clicking this week and I could tell my body needed a bit of a break.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 6 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 3×1600 (8:53, 8:42, 8:55) w/400 recovery, 1.5 mile c/d + Abs & Arms

Wednesday: 0

Thursday: 5 Miles

Friday: 0

Saturday: 6 Miles + Abs

Sunday: 3.5 Miles + Abs

Total: 20.5 Miles

Tuesday I was back at the rec, and ready for some mile repeats. We started with our mile warm up on the track and headed to the treadmill for our repeats. Last time I did these, I hovered around a 9:00 minute pace. This time I wanted to push myself a little, so I upped the speed. I was in a pretty good groove and despite being a bit bored, I felt like I was doing a good job of working hard. Until my third repeat when the treadmill hit the 30 minute limit and shut down on me. I tried to get back up to speed as quickly as I could, but the overall time was my slowest. We finished up with a 1.5 mile cool down, some abs and an incredibly hard arm workout.

I had to skip my Wednesday workout again this week. I woke up to a migraine in the middle of the night and was still feeling the tail end of it by evening. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I’ve had enough migraines to know running is the opposite of what I should do. I was disappointed I couldn’t get my run in, but I can’t fight a migraine, no matter how bad I want to run.

I was feeling better on Thursday, so I hit the treadmill. I was aiming to run between 5-7 miles, but mentally I could barely make it to two. I switched up the speed every once and while I found a new show on Netflix, I was still bored out of my mind. It was a struggle, but I got 5 miles in. Sometimes treadmill runs are great, and sometimes they’re the last place I want to be.

Looks like we have the same thoughts on treadmill runs.

Saturday I took the opportunity to sleep in and run on the treadmill. I was a little nervous for how it would go after Thursday’s breakdown, but I actually felt great. I increased the speed every 10 minutes or so, and never felt the need for a break or to jump off.

“Faster! Faster!”

Sunday was pretty much a disaster. After skipping the group run at Hinckley, a few of us decided to run in the afternoon. Until the roads got nasty and I was forced back to the treadmill. I wasn’t in the mindset to run long on the treadmill, but I wanted to see how far I could get without struggling. Unfortunately, my shin had other plans when it decided to have a faint pain in it. I knew not to work it hard, and called it after 3.5 miles. Not a great workout at all.

Overall this week was a bit of a roller coaster. I had a few good runs, and I had a few horrible runs. I’ve had a slight pain in my shin from time to time for the past four days, and I know it’s because I’ve increased my mileage by a lot in such a short amount of time. I always do this, and always need to step back a few weeks into the new training cycle. Pushing myself too much now is not worth the risk of injury. I still have 12 weeks left, which is plenty of time to get ready for the marathon.

Sometimes all you need is a bit of rest and recovery.

I also wanted to focus on hydration and sleep this week. I had over 5 hours of sleep 4 of the 5 weekday nights, which is an improvement to say the least. I tried to be asleep by 10pm, which still gave me plenty of time to toss and turn many times each night.

I also made sure to have at least 30oz of water a day. It’s still not enough, but it’s a goal to aim for. And just like Wineglass, I’ve been cutting back on wine and only drinking it two to three nights a week. This will help to keep me hydrated and hopefully allow me to sleep better.

Next week I’ll be back to my higher mileage, hopefully less pain, and some stronger runs!

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Three

January 11, 2016January 22, 20161 Comment

Three weeks in and I’m already exhausted! It could be that we’re back to a regular work schedule after the holidays, the additional miles, or that I’m only sleeping an average of about 4.5 hours a night. Regardless, I really struggled with staying awake and motivated this week.

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 5.8 miles, 2 mile w/u, 4×800 (4:32, 4:32, 4:28, 4:26) w/ 400 recovery, 1 mile c/d + Abs & Arms

Wednesday: 0

Thursday: 5 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 4×1200 hills w/ 400 recovery, 1 m c/d

Friday: 0

Saturday: 13 Miles

Sunday: 6.2 Miles + Abs

Total: 30 Miles

I headed to the rec center on Tuesday with caution, I was expecting the parking lot to be full and every machine in use. Luckily, it was fairly empty. We started with the warm up on the track and moved to the treadmills. I tried to keep my pace as close as I could to 4:30, so I bounced between 6.7 and 6.8 on speed. I felt fine, but felt slow. We finished with a mile cool down, some ab work and some arm work.

I had to skip Wednesday’s workout because a very busy evening. I ended up getting home at 10pm, and by that point it was dinner and bedtime.

On Thursday I had my first hill repeat workout of the training cycle. I prefer to run my hill repeats outside, but in winter I’m limited to the treadmill after work. I wasn’t sure what incline to use, so I started at 4% and increased my speed on every repeat. Each one felt harder and my hips were getting sore, but I could feel the benefit of the workout, especially walking upstairs afterward!

Saturday’s long run ended up being a tough one. I met up with Jennifer, Kate and Mallory at Buckeye Woods and we set out with the intention of running between 6-8 miles. We ran the inlet to the back roads, to the rail trail. I felt ok in the beginning, but started to get hot and tired a few miles in. I took off my jacket around mile 3 and felt a little better. But by mile 4, I was feeling rough. I fueled with Honey Stingers and stripped down to my tank top. Finally, I felt better and we made our way to a connecting housing development, in search of the house with the cat statue. Gotta make runs fun, right? From here, we were back on the rail trail, and headed back to BW. By this point, I was debating if I should just do my long run since we were expected to have bad weather on Sunday.

Tank tops and cat statues. Both odd in January.

Tank top and a cat statue (under the window). Both odd in January.

So we dropped off Kate and headed around the marsh loop. Within these few miles, my knee was starting to become quite sore. Instead of pushing it to the scheduled 14, we stopped at 11. But after a quick drive home, I felt guilty for not hitting my mileage, so I set out for the final three miles in my neighborhood. The knee pain was gone, and I figured the rest of the run would be no problem. Except for when I started to feel weak and delusional 1.5 miles in. So I headed home and called it quits at 13 for the day. Considering I hadn’t fueled since mile 4, I knew why I couldn’t finish up so I only have myself to blame for this one.

Somehow, I think Sunday ended up as my best run of the week. I was glad I did my long run the day before because the weather started to get nasty when I finally started my run. I set out for 6 miles on the treadmill, and got through 3 episodes of 30 Rock. I fueled with Honey Stingers and Gu at mile 2, mostly because it was lunch time and I was starving, I did not want a repeat of the day before. And I had a small break at mile 4 to open the window for colder air. I felt great and ended up increasing the speed maybe every 10-15 minutes.

After my run, I tallied up my mileage for the week and realized I was at 29.8, so naturally I had to get back on the treadmill for .2 miles to make it an even 30.

Tired legs, stronger legs.

Overall, this was another good week. I got four workouts in and hit over 30 miles for the second week in a row. I’m not even sure I did that with Wineglass! I think this week was a little harder than last because of the higher mileage. It will take my body some getting used to, but hopefully it will pay off in the end.

2016 Goals

January 5, 20161 Comment

I may be a few days behind, but I wanted to take time and think about what I truly wanted to accomplish in 2016. 2015 was a wonderful year. There were a few bumps along the way, but overall, it was filled with so much love and happiness. It will be hard to beat last year, but here’s to trying!

Running Goals:

Run 24:30 in the 5k
Run 1:55 in the half marathon
Run 4:30 in the marathon
Volunteer for more races
Race a new distance
Run at least 6 half marathons
Run 1000 miles

Home Goals:

Expand and keep up on our garden
Finish the spare bedroom
Redo our kitchen
Make some big furniture purchases

Personal Goals:

Try 8 new recipes
Travel somewhere new
Read at least 10 books
Lift twice a week
Do ab work three times a week
Save more money
Advance my career
Be ready for the week every Sunday (laundry, lunches, etc.)
Be Happy!

Some goals are a bit lofty, and some I think shouldn’t be too hard to do. My biggest goal this year is to better myself, whether that means as a runner, personally or as an employer, we’ll just have to see. It’s going to be a good year, I can feel it!

What are your goals or resolutions for 2016?

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Two

January 4, 2016January 4, 20163 Comments

Week two is in the books, and it went so much better than the first. I was happy to be back on somewhat of a routine, but having friends around to join in my runs helped to keep me on track. I’m definitely feeling a lot more confident about training after this past week. Especially because I hit my highest mileage in a single week since Wineglass training!

Monday: 0

Tuesday: 5.5 Miles, 1 mile w/u, 3×1600 with 400 recovery (9:05, 8:57, 8:57), 1 mile c/d + Abs & Lifting

Wednesday: 7.1 Miles + Abs

Thursday: 6 Miles + Abs, Butt & Arms from Daily Workout App (DWA)

Friday: 0

Saturday: 12.22 + Abs

Sunday: 0

Total: 30.82 Miles

Even looking over each day, I feel a bit exhausted! I skipped any sort of yoga on Monday, mostly because I just can’t get into it by myself. Which is fine, because Monday is rest or yoga, but hopefully I can find a yoga class to join that fits my schedule.

Tuesday I wasn’t feeling so hot, so instead of going to the gym, I stuck to the treadmill. I had mile repeats on the schedule, so I pushed through and got them done, just above the time I needed. I think I’m actually starting to enjoy speed work on the treadmill because it keeps me focused on the pace, even if it doesn’t exactly line up with the set speeds. I followed up with abs and a little bit of lifting.

Wednesday I met up with the marathon girls and we ran along Lester Trail. My legs were a bit stiff from Tuesday, but it felt good to be on softer ground. I hadn’t been able to run Lester much since the time change, so it was nice to get out there and run one of my favorite trails. Once I got home, I did some abs.

Thursday was a bit tough. My legs were definitely feeling the increase in mileage, but I wasn’t going to back out of the run. I met up with Mallory and we ran two loops at Hinckley Lake. It was a nice change, but it can still be a bit challenging with the smaller hills. We kept an easy pace and walked the slippery bridges, no need to fall and injure ourselves!

So peaceful, but so chilly.

After I got home, I tried a new app that Jennifer had mentioned to us. Daily Workout App or DWA from now on, has a variety of workouts ranging from 5-10 minutes and focuses on different parts of the body. I had been using workouts I’d found from Pinterest, but from now on, I’ll be using this to tone my abs, arms, legs,etc. I think it will be perfect to keep me motivated on lifting and my ab routine.

Home screen of Daily Workout App. So many options!

Saturday was my long run, and I met up with a group of 10-12 at Hinckley. Some of us came early and ran a lake loop. After we finished, we met up with the rest of the group and headed out for our road loop. I hadn’t done a long run in a while, so I was a bit concerned how this would go. The first three miles, most of us stuck together, which helped the miles fly by. It was about the three mile point of the road loop/sixth mile of the day, I took advantage of a decent sized hill and walked/fueled while I had the chance. But once I got to the top, I found myself in between groups and spent the next two miles trying to catch up. Eventually I decided to just do my own thing, and run the pace I was comfortable with. I ended up running the last six miles alone but always had the next group in sight. Typically I would have dreaded being by myself, but I spent the time reflecting on the year, thinking of what I want to accomplish in the next 12 months, and singing “Hello” by Adele.

Tough run, but Bart Yasso approves!

I planned on doing a recovery run on Sunday, but my legs were really sore. I jumped a bunch in mileage, and I didn’t want to overdo it this early on in the training cycle. Instead, we watched the entire Making a Murderer series. Netflix marathon for marathon training? It works.

Overall this week was so much better than last. I ran more, I drank more water and I was able to sneak in a few extra minutes of sleep each day. Mentally I feel a lot more prepared for training, and I just hope I can keep the momentum up.

*Also, Nuun is currently having a discontinuation sale on three of it’s flavors. Right now, Kona Cola, Lemon Tea, and Lemonade are just $4.00! Watermelon is also on sale, but not being discontinued. So stock up before they’re gone!

2015 in Review

December 31, 2015December 31, 2015Leave a comment

What a year! It’s hard to believe that 2015 is over. It seemed to go on forever, I actually forgot many things that happened throughout the year, but it also seemed to fly by so quickly! This year was filled with many ups and downs, but when it’s all said and done, I couldn’t have asked for a better year, filled with so much love! It will certainly be a year I won’t forget, but I’m most definitely looking forward to 2016!

January

MCRR Ladies Night Out
MCRR Banquet
Work trip to Toronto, ON, Canada

MCRR

Toronto

March

Strongsville Super Saturday 5k
Claire’s 18th birthday
Pudge’s emergency stomach surgery

Birthday girl!

Poor little guy

April

My 27th birthday
Canton Pro Football Hall of Fame Half Marathon

Just part of the race swag

May

Darren’s 30th birthday in Vegas
Yard overhaul
Medina Half Marathon

Birthday boy

From bad to better

Medina Half

June

Claire graduated high school

All grown up!

July

Twin Sizzler 5k
Bridal Shower

Tech tee and trouble

So much love!

August

Bachelorette Party in Watkins Glen, New York
Wedding Rehearsal Dinner
Our Wedding!!
Honeymoon in Saint Martin

Watkins Glen, New York

Rehearsal Dinner

Pure love

Paradise

All around beauty

September

Mom’s surprise 60th birthday
Claire moved to Seattle
Volunteered at North Coast 24 Hour Endurance Race
Race with Grace 5k
Harvest 5k
Work trip to Bethesda, Maryland

Birthday girl!

Race with Grace

Bethesda, Maryland

October

Garth Brooks Concert
Medina SPCA 5k

Best concert ever!

Post race with some speedy MCRR ladies.

November

Second Sole Made in America Half Marathon
Thanksgiving in Seattle
Seattle Half Marathon

Made in America Half

Hello Seattle!

Seattle Half

December

MCRR Holiday Run
Tekfor Holiday Party
Frosty 5 Miler
Christmas with Family & Friends

Holiday Run

Frosty 5 Mile

Christmas with our boys

It was a crazy, busy year, mostly filled with planning for the wedding. Running took a back seat, but in the end, it turned out ok. I was still able to run some races, do some traveling and spent time with family and friends. I didn’t meet too many of the goals I set out for myself this year, but there’s always next year!

Goodbye 2015, I’m ready for 2016!

Masher Runs

I am a runner and I am getting stronger

Injury Update

January Recap

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Six

Honeymoon in St. Martin

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Five

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Four

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Three

2016 Goals

Coastal Delaware Marathon Training: Week Two

2015 in Review