What goes up...

This week has been good so far running wise.  I did a four mile run Monday night after work, it was pretty hot and then I did a little over six miles this morning, it was beautiful out!  I also did hills on both of those runs.  I must say running in the AM is a totally different feeling than running after work.  I wake up in the morning ready to go, running calms my head and I needed calming this AM!  My run this am pretty much went like this:

Start:  a little rocky, trying to find my stride (usually takes about a quarter of a mile to set my pace)  I listened to that song Titanium on repeat three times until I past mile one ha!  I am a classic repeat offender.  If I like a song I play the crap out of it!

Middle:  Easy, breezy.  Had a nice pace going, faster than my long distance paces, stoped at a water fountain for a quick drink, the weather was breezy and the pier was beautiful.

End:  Easier than expected.  Hills are starting to just feel like part of the run.  I expect them, I don't fear them, I coast through them.  In fact I look forward to them now.  They are always at the end of my run because I try to challenge myself at the point when I will be most tired.  I know as soon as I get to the top then it's an easy run down.  I really look forward to it now, who would have thunk it!

That is it in a nutshell.  Well that is it TODAY.  I am not sure how anyone else is when running but sometimes I feel like it's any given day how I will feel.  I might feel like total poop tomorrow. 

My run schedule is going to be a little weird the next couple of days.  I'm going to LA to visit two of my besties and I will be running on different terrain and at different times.  I have scheduled it out so I definitely will not miss them, but it will be a challenge to my will to get them done.  I am sure that I would much rather drink wine and chat all night every night, but that is out of the question as far as the nights before my runs :(  Damn the man!  I will try check in while I'm there.  I definitely will take a lot of pictures to log what it looks like to run in Hollywood ha!  Maybe I'll see a celebrity!  Here's hoping!

What weekend?

This weekend was crazy busy!

Friday after work I took the bus down to my mom's house (Toms River).  The bus ride down was pretty calm and I was able to finish my book.  No complaints!  My mom picked me up and we had pizza for dinner.  I grew up down the shore and I love it to death, but pizza stinks down there once you get used to Hoboken/NYC area pizza.  I'm sorry it just does! I went to sleep semi early (10am) knowing I had to be up at 5:15 latest to run.  My mom was making noise around 2:30am and it woke me up.  Well the anxiety about having to do 15 miles and all the traveling I would have to do during that weekend got the best of me and I couldn't go back to sleep.  Around 4:55am, I decided to just get changed and head over to Seaside to start my run.

It was pitch black ha!  Check it out, this is the beginning:

Yeah I was tired but ready to go!  I parked at my girlfriends family shore house in Seaside Park and started to run towards the boardwalk.  It is only about a 1/2 quarter of the mile away from the very start of the boardwalk so that wasn't that bad.  I was a little scared though, prob didn't help that the beginning of my shuffle was KORN ha!  Once on the board walk it was so peaceful.  Everything was closed, the boards where for the most part completely empty (either older people on bikes or left off drunken bastards).  The sky started to turn a beautiful purple, the air was cool and my legs felt great.  The sun started to come up just as I was hitting the end of Seaside boardwalk.  It was surreal.  Like I said in the last post I really tried to soak in the feeling of being alive and able to see moments like that morning.  Then onto Lavellette!  I got on that boardwalk, ran until the end, still feeling good.  Once that boardwalk ended I was ready to find my turning point.  Well my turning point was at least another mile if not more down the road :(  Probably should have taken a look at that!  I felt like my turn would never come.  By that point I had been running for an hour and 15 minutes and was getting nervous that I was running at a super slow pace or I missed my turn.  Well about an hour and 20 minutes I reached my turn around. That calmed my nerves and I settled in for the run back.

I had a great run back for the most part except for the fact that I thought the Lavellette boardwalk was a closer turn than it was so I ran down a street about (1/4 mile) then realized it was a dead end so I had to run back onto the main road!  Frustrating!  After my run was done I ran 15.5 miles (with one stop to go to the bathroom) in 2hrs and 38 minutes, about a 10.2 minute mile pace not taking into account time lost on going to bathroom.  I am definitely happy with that, however my run did not come at no cost.  I was torn up.  My feet where ok, but I got the worst under boob (sports bra) chafe ever!  It really looks like I got breast implant incisions under my boobs they are all cut up!  Gross I know, but hey if you are thinking about doing something like training for a marathon, I guess you should know the good, bad and ugly!  Below is a pic of me finished!  Thank god!

After my run was done, I got showered and me and my perfect nephew went on our journey back to Texas.  We had a blast!  Just the two of us, hanging out, goofing off flying!  I am lucky that he is a good boy, so there was only one potty trip on the plan and he was for the most part very quiet.  We ate pretty bad though.  I got a chicken cheese steak in the Philly airport, then in Houston (we had a layover on way to San Antonio) I had a chicken finger salad, no dressing though.  Either way wasn't the best choices but hell when you travel it's part of the fun right?  Right?

Our goodbyes made me very sad, so they were quick and I stayed at a hotel for one night, then again I was up at 5am making my way back to NJ.  Last night was a super early night needless to say and I did not run this am.  It is really nice out today so I'm going to try and get 4 miles in when I get home.

Overall, my weekend was a total success, run came and went, travel was easier than expected and got to spend some one on one quality time with the most fun boy ever.  It was just very fast!  This weekend will be no different.  I'm going to visit my best friend in LA on Thurs for the weekend, but we are pretty low key people so I think I will be able to relax for a large portion of the trip.  I have my 16 miles mapped and planned for Saturday, even though I will be on "vacation".  I am actually looking forward to it!

Stop and Listen

I listened to my body this week.  After my Tuesday run my calf muscle was tight and sore.  I decided to skip both of my short runs on Wed & Thurs and massage and stretch it out.  I will be doing the 15 miles on Saturday and I definitely think I did the right thing.  My calf is still a little tight and it is now Friday!

Overall this weekend is going to stink!  I will be taking a bus to my mom's house in TR after work.  Then waking up around 5am to get my 15 miles in, showering then off to Philly Airport with my nephew.  I am flying back to Texas with him :)  This is going to be a stressful exhausting day, but really I'm glad I get to spend alone time with him.  It is a day flight so I know he will be chatting up a storm :)  We arrive in San Antonio at 9:05pm then I'm off to a hotel for the night and then up and at the SAT Airport at 5am on Sunday!  Craziness, but at least I will be home in Newark at 1:45pm and still feel like I have some time to relax on Sunday. 

I am hoping that the busy schedule will keep my eating to a minimum.  I did really good this week and lost weight, it is amazing how just keeping it a little lower will make a difference when you are banking so much exercise.

Another reason for the Stop and Listen title is because I work in NYC about 10min walk from Empire State Building.  There was a shooting around 9:07am today.  I was in my office at 9:06am.  We live in a world that I am really started to be scared in.  Does anyone else feel this way?  Whatever side of the fence you are on re: gun laws, a gun never shoots itself.  These are humans making these decisions.  What is going on in humanity?  Life is scary and unfairly short for many people, please stop and be thankful, joyful, happy you are alive.  Maybe if we cared about life more then there would be less of these horrible tragedies.  I know my run this weekend will be focused on just that, my life.  My gratefulness that I am alive.

When 6 Miles is a "short run"

This week started with me f'ing up my training schedule.  I was supposed to do Monday 4, Wed 5, Thurs 4.  Well Monday came and went and I woke up Tues and did 6 with hills and intended to do 4 today and 3 tomorrow.  Well this A.M. was a total fail!  I heard my dog crying in the middle of the night.  Sort of like a breathing wimper.  I waited a few minutes and it didn't go away so I went downstairs to check on him.  I pet him and he just kind of moaned like he was happy to get pet.  He didn't start breathing wierd again so I decided I would rest with him for a few minutes to make sure that it was nothing (it was prob a dream).  Anyway, I woke up around 7:15am and his paw was over my face and his head was on my pillow on the couch ha!  We were total sleepover buddies!  Also, he was fine and ready to start the morning, so I guess it was just a bad dream he was having.  He really cracks me up.  Look at this picture B took of us this Sunday (disregard the deer in headlights look on my face).  Clyde looks like a total pimp daddy dude getting pet!  What a weirdo!

Anyway the point is I skipped today too, ARGH!!! I am meeting up with my Outback girls (I used to work at Outback Steakhouse through college and a bunch of us girls meet up every couple of months and keep in touch, how cute right!) tonight so no fitting mileage in when I get home.  So my goal is tomorrow 6 miles.  That leaves me one mile short for my "short" runs during the week.  What are you going to do, life happens sometimes!  I'm not too upset although I would rather have had 3 to do tomorrow instead of six, but hey no one to blame but myself on that one!

What a Band Aid could do for you

Happy Monday!

This weekend was really awesome!  Friday was a low key night.  I got out of work a couple hours early and B made grilled chicken, asparagus and rice and beans.  Bed was pretty early, around 10:30pm.  I checked the weather for Saturday and saw it was going to be rainy and cool so I decided to let myself wake up natural time since the weather was not going to be that hot. 

I got up to drizzle, bleh.  I walked Clyde with B and decided to walk without an umbrella to get myself used to the drizzle :)  It wasn't a pour like it was a couple days ago but just a light drizzle.  After a 30min walk, I got home, changed into my quick dry gear and bandaged up my foot.  Now I have been having blister problems for almost a month now.  It has been a big issue on my long runs.  My friend took me to Duane Reade and we picked up what he uses for his bad blisters.  Two awesome products: Friction Bock and Band Aid Blister Bandages.  Now my blog is a small little thang that I am not sure if anyone even reads so this review is purely based off of my experience and complete LOVE of how my feet felt.  When I tell you that for 14 miles I did not feel one ounce of pain or irritation from my blisters I am telling the 100% truth.  My only complaint would be the Bandages are hard to get off, but I read I'm supposed to leave them on, so next time I will.  Guys, this run was the longest I ever ran and so far this training the best run.  I was faster, stronger and having fun!  The drizzle was welcomed!  I really kept me cool.  I didn't feel like I was sweating until around mile 7 or 8.  The sun stayed away until I was on my way back, maybe the last 30minutes of my run.  My feet felt like a million bucks and I got my motivation back!  I needed it, all this training was getting to my head and this run put it all back to the motivating force I had in the beginning.  I can do it! Ha!

After my run, B and I had an awesome brunch at our friends, then had pizza and beer at our other friends for dinner and watching a dismal Jets game :(  Seriously, being a Jets fan is soooooooooo hard! 

Sunday was a super exciting day for me.  We went to have brunch with my Dad, Step Mom and B's parents at The Stone House, where we are getting married in one year!!!!  I was a little nervous because I have not been back since we booked it in April.  B and I go there early and just walked around the organic gardens they have on premises.  I really fell in love with this place again.  It is perfect and I cannot wait to get married there, like now!!!  The food and drinks where awesome and our families LOVED it! 

I skipped my run this am because I didn't want to get up and I knew the weather would be cool enough to go tonight.  So tonight I'm going home, running then watching a movie!  Movies rule!!!

Tired

I feel exhausted, worn, tired, etc.  I completed all my shorter weekly runs and I am starting to understand why you need to do them.  After the 13 miles this weekend I didn't take a long break.  All week I have been running on tired legs from the 13 miles (and dancing all night) I did on Saturday.  It is weird but today I felt the strength I was getting from running on tired legs.  It is a fact, I'm going to pushed to physical exhaustion on November 4th, my legs will want to stop moving, I know this.  What I also know is I can run when I'm tired.  I can keep moving one step in front of the other until the pain goes away. 

Ok, so it doesn't really go away, it just becomes euphoric.  I read a really funny analogy this morning in the Metro.  They compared S&M to runners high and at first I laughed then reading further down I understood.  The pain at a certain point becomes euphoric.  Now I am not saying that after a certain point I am having the most mind blowing orgasim I have every had, although that would be freaking amazing, all I am saying is that the pain seems to subside and then you have a burst of energy and calm.  That is what I am feeling now on my long runs, pain then steady calm.  On my shorter runs this week I felt worse in the beginning, like the first mile than I did at the end. 

Overall my run today was consistent with a tough long hill included.  It is at the end of the three miles and I like it now because I know once I get to the top the downhill is nice, long and easy.  Dare I say I am enjoying hills?  That statement will bite me in the arse when I do the 18 mile tune up in Central Park.  UGH, I hate those hills.  I actually think I might try next week's 15 miles in CP just so I can do a tune up to the tune up ha!

Tomorrow I have an off day from running, but I'm going to try do some light weights and squats to build up some muscle.  I'm going to dinner at a fancy spot in NYC tonight because I do not have to run, you know since my life revolves around my runs now! 

On a non-running note, I saw The Dark Knight Rises last night.  It was good, I loved it, but there was someone who came and sat behind us and he was alone.  Immediately I got nervous.  I really hate that this psychopath has made me think this way.  I go to the movies by myself.  I love going to the movies and now I have to get anxiety about it?  Not only did he destroy so many peoples lives and their loved ones he affected a simple pleasure in peoples lives.  I know in time those feelings will subside and that is why the human race is so resilient, but last night it just got the best of me.

Noodles vs Squash

I love sspaghetti squash!  There I said it!  If you are ever hesitant on trying a to substitute pasta with spaghetti squash just go for it.  You are not going to have the same texture or taste of pasta, but you will have a crunchier, veggie concoction that works perfectly with pasta sauce and it is so easy.  I had a small squash that I had B cut in half (cutting it in half is probably the hardest part) and then you scoop out the seeds and place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  Some people put olive oil on top, but I add the oil and salt and pepper when I am finished.  Once it is done, you take a fork and start scooping out the squash.  They call it spaghetti because it looks like angel hair spaghetti when you pull it out.  Here is a picture of the finished product, without sauce.

Add some sauce, cheese & red peppers and there you have it!  A yummy low cal dinner!  Totally filling!

While the squash was cooking I went for my 3 mile run.  The first mile was rough.  I said it before but I will say it again, running at night is a completely different experience.  It is never easy for me!  My shins where sore, my legs felt tired, my energy was low.  After the first mile, I started to get into the swing of it and finished the run fast and added two large hills.  I felt great knowing I knocked it off my training list and had my squash ready to eat!  ALSO, I put my 3 miles into my count today and I made it to 50% of my 365 mile resolution goal!!!  Hell yeah!  Marathon training is pushing me to my goal fast and furious!  I did get a blister again. 

The item I didn't touch on yesterday is the mental exhaustion I'm starting to feel.  Every run day, I'm tired.  Even the small mileage.  The night before my runs, I am thinking ok I need to go to bed to get sleep for my run, I need to eat cleaner foods for my run, I need to give myself enough time to get ready for work after my run, blah blah blah all revolving around my runs!  It's exhausting.  All this thinking, all this preparing and it is still 81 days away!  I really commend people who run many marathons but I am perfectly fine doing just this one for now and maybe ever.  You have to commit a massive amount to the process.  I am sure the race will near kill me with the physical strain I am going to put on my body, but the training is breaking me down little by little mentally.