RLRF (MP, WK 6, KR2)

I didn't plan such a busy day today, so there was some boredom. Some bike riding in the morning, lunch, scrapbooking for a bit in the afternoon. But the mail came, and in it was my newest running skirt. Yay for being on clearance!!!

And then I whipped out some of my fancy shoes since I HAVE A JOB INTERVIEW ON FRIDAY!!! My calf muscles look pretty amazing, wouldn't you say?

And then A headed off to dance class. I was going to sign her up for ballet, but I waited too long and it was full by the time I tried to register her. Instead, she is taking something called "Poppin' Rockstar" and she learns basic jazz, hip-hop, lyrical and "free form." She had a blast.

After class we headed to the gym, where I had a run to get in. I started the run dressed like this:

And halfway through the run I ripped off my shirt because I was so hot. Like the second time EVER I have done that. Look at how sweaty I am :(

Anyway. RLRF (MP, WK6, KR2)

6 mile run:

1 mile easy - goal 11:09, actual 10:58

5 miles @ mid-tempo pace - goal 9:49, actual 9:46

*1 mile easy - goal 11:09, actual 10:34

Total - 7 miles in 70:34

The run didn't call for a "cool down," but I felt like I needed it, so I threw another mile in. **Knock on wood, the RLRF program seems TOTALLY AWESOME**

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Summer Is Almost Over

Yesterday A was bored out of her mind. Nothing seemed to entertain her. So I planned a SUPER full day.

First on the list? Going running.

Lake Arbor

It was pretty hot by the time we got to the lake. 77 degrees. Luckily, we had a breeze. It helped IMMENSELY. A didn't need the rest breaks like before. She did awesome:

We ran the loop about a minute faster than last week. She is gonna rock the 5k at Disney in a few weeks!

Next up? Quick trip to Starbucks and then on to the water park! We have season passes so it's a great thing to do that doesn't cost us anything.

Waiting in line... they were PACKED

I figured we had a few hours there before the afternoon storms were going to start and A had a blast!

We ended up not leaving until 1:30, and I was STARVING, so we headed home and had lunch. Then, off to get A a haircut:

All of the above took most of the day. I spent the remainder of the afternoon vacuuming, cleaning the carpets, and making dinner.

Then it was off to the gym. L has a new "thing" to entertain us at the gym. Every time we have a class, we are going to wear a shirt we have gotten at a race. In chronological order. So today? The shirt from my first 10K - the Bolder Boulder, Memorial Day 2008. I can't remember if I'm rockin' a side kick or a roundhouse:

I am STILL super sore. Why??

As an aside... Check on my link top left hand corner of my blog for Razzy Roo. Enjoy either 10% off an entire order using the promo code listed, OR, use code GLITTER40, for a FREE glitter band when you spend $40. Have I mentioned how much I love Razzy Roo??

Happy Tuesday!

RLRF (MP,WK 6, KR1)

I have been out of commission for the last two days. I have barely been able to walk because my legs are SO INSANELY SORE from my race on Saturday. I'm relieved that Facebook now does this "On this day last year" status flashback, because apparently I was super sore last year too.

Anyway, I still had a run to do today, and I wasn't really too pleased that it was speed work. I stretched and off I went...

So, I have been taking the time to write down EXACTLY what I need to do for each run. Unfortunately, I left my list at home, so I had to guess. Luckily, I remembered that this ONE race decided to be in kilometers instead of miles. Why, RLRF, why? Anyway:

20 min warm up - goal 10:45-11:09, actual 10:59
1K - goal 5:24, actual 5:28
400 RI - goal 11:09, actual 11:11
2K - goal 11:20, actual 11:21
400 RI - goal 11:09, actual 11:11
1K - goal 5:24, actual 5:28
400 RI - goal 11:09, actual 11:11
1K - goal 5:24, actual 5:27
400 RI - goal 11:09, actual 11:11
10 min cool down - goal 10:45-11:09, actual 10:31

Considering how my legs felt, I am super pleased with how this went. Next time I will remember my list and get the splits a bit closer to goal pace.

Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Idaho Springs, CO
Saturday, August 13
Half Marathon #40
Weather - Sunny, HOT

So. My 40th half marathon, and my second time running the Georgetown to Idaho Springs. I registered for this one long enough ago that it was only $35. I wanted a race in August so I didn't go two months without running a half. I guess I feel that I lose training. Anyway.

We did the usual pre-race dinner at... Applebees. But no dessert. (Crazy, I know).

I even saved a little bit of room for a beer:

I went to bed at a pretty reasonable hour and actually slept well for once.

Alarm goes off at 4:50. I get dressed, eat my bagel with peanut butter, and L and I head out. Quick stop at McD's for a coffee, and then we head into the mountains. We arrive in Idaho Springs around 6:00, but by the time we park and use the port-o-potty and wait for the shuttle, it is already 6:30 before we are on the bus to Georgetown. Of course the race doesn't even start until 8:00. We arrived at the lake later than last year, the sun was already up and it wasn't as cold.

There is only a tiny building to wait in out of the cold before the race starts. Maybe 100 of us were able to cram in there. I labeled my bag and dropped it about 25 minutes before the race started - which gave us some time to cycle through the bathroom lines. (Which, incidentally, they had a TON more of than last year. +1)

MATCHY, MATCHY!

Start

There are pacers this year (if there were pacers last year I don't remember), and we lined up somewhere around the 2:10 pace. Of course, like every other race, there are a TON of people that do NOT belong that far up. It is slow going the first half mile or so.

The first mile passes and I'm already melting. Also unlike last year, there are mile markers at EVERY mile instead of only even numbers like last year (+2). I realize I am in trouble when I have to walk at about mile 1.5. My thighs are so tight I barely can jog. I'm moving so slow I am pretty much walking. I do a very awkward run/walk until the first aid station at mile 2, and then I have to pull over and stretch. It helps a bit, but I am worried. I was very optimistic going into this race. I felt prepared and rested. Did NOT think that my legs would suck.

Blazing. Hot. Sun.

Even when my legs finally started to loosen a bit, I just felt tired and drained (I practically sound like a broken record, pretty much every race lately has been like this). I got passed by the 2:10 pacers shortly after the 2 mile marker, and the 2:15 pacer a mile or so later. I cannot remember walking so much in a race. I honestly walked at LEAST once every single mile. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. This course is relatively flat with very minor uphills in the first 2 miles, but then is pretty much a pretty extreme downhill the rest of the course and it just KILLED me.

I guess this race just messed with me. I felt I had a good excuse for walking in the beginning, but because of my early struggles I ended up running with people who walked a LOT. So... I walked a lot. There were aid stations every 2 miles with Powerade and water. I kept filling my water bottle at the stops. Because of all my walking I was a lot more thirsty than usual. Did I mention it was HOT and SUNNY?

Somewhere around mile 6.5

Mile 7ish?

I kept hoping to catch back up to the 2:15 pacer. Actually, what I really wanted was to beat my time from last year - 2:11:08, but that was just NOT going to happen. Disappointing.

Mile 9.5 - Kill.Me.Now.

I was really starting to wonder if I was ever going to finish this race. The last few miles actually seemed easier than the beginning, and for the first time (probably ever), I think I actually had negative splits in this race.

Mile 12.5ish

I remember walking at this sign last year, but it was only the second time I walked during that whole race. From this sign to the finish line (.75 miles at most), I must have walked at least three times. My legs felt like crap, I just wanted to be done. I actually ran the last .25 of the race, crossed the line, and immediately ran into L. We walked to the finisher area and drank a ton of water and gathered our goodies and then walked back to the car. On our way a man stopped us and said, "Hey, didn't you two run Longmont? In a different outfit?" Yep.

Official Time - 2:16:11
Overall - 1598/2526
Age Place - 154/246
Garmin Time - 2:16:13
Garmin Distance - 13.12 miles
Mile 1 - 9:46
Mile 2 - 11:01
Mile 3 - 10:48
Mile 4 - 10:10
Mile 5 - 10:55
Mile 6 - 9:47
Mile 7 - 10:17
Mile 8 - 10:46
Mile 9 - 10:09
Mile 10 - 10:38
Mile 11 - 10:02
Mile 12 - 10:41
Mile 13 - 10:04
Mile 13.1 - 8.23

Of note:
1. According to the drops in pace I took 23 walk breaks. 23. Most of them were 45-60 seconds long. Keeping that in mind, this actually was a pretty decent overall pace.
2. Even though I am SUPER disappointed in how this race went, I looked through the RLRF book and if I look at the KR3 section, the pace I kept is only ONE second off my HMP. (I think 20 seconds faster than MP). So. I guess not bad. Again, considering how awful I felt and ran, I found this interesting.
3. This race was MUCH better than last year. I mean, it isn't the race's fault I sucked. Key things that were improvements over  last year?

• Mile markers at EVERY mile
• Many more port-o-potties at the start line
• A pint glass finisher award!!!

4. Really, my only complaints of this year:

• 3 oz Dixie cups are TOO small for aid stations. They had to fill them all the way up and that was messy and awkward. Plus they are super cheap and flimsy and I ended up getting tons of RED Powerade all over my socks and shirt (I have NO coordination when I race).
• Same stupid cups at the end (.25 away from the finisher line before there even IS water). The pint glass was great, they should have given that out right after crossing and not even bothered with the tiny cups.
• They ran out of Powerade :(   - this whole race is 100% for charity, so everything they have is from donations, so it isn't really the fault of the race, but the fast people and their family/kids should save some stuff for us slow folks.

Overall, I can't complain too much, just hope next race goes better.

Ride the Wind

Training wheels have been off for about twenty minutes of ride time. Thank goodness she picked this up quickly. Teaching her how to do this was extremely traumatizing. I'll never survive her learning to drive.

Three Things Thursday

1. Did you know that in only ELEVEN days school starts? I don't know if A is more excited than me or not. I am REALLY looking forward to going back.

2. I've been doing the RLRF program for about two weeks now. Hard to say yet if it is helping or not, but I like having a PLAN. This weekend I am running a half (locally), and it is the first time I'll have ever run a course twice. I hope it doesn't suck.

3. I AM OFFICIALLY REGISTERED TO RUN THE SAN FRANCISCO MARATHON IN 2012. I'm so super duper excited.

My Mojo is Back!!

RLRF (MP, WK7, KR2)

5 year olds take AWESOME pictures.

The 5 year old that TOOK my awesome picture

In order to complete this workout, I was going to have to go to the gym EARLY. Normally we have about 80-90 minutes of workout time because the daycare closes at 8:00. So to extend my workout time, I had to get my running in BEFORE dinner. Arrived just after 4:30, dropped the kids off, hopped on the treadmill.

MY MOJO MUST BE BACK!!! This was NOT the worst run ever!!

10 miles @ MP

Goal pace - 10:42

Actual pace - 10:40

Total miles - 10.02 in 1:47:00

AWESOME!!

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Giving Back

Here are some pictures that were taken of the aid station that A and I worked on Sunday at the Boulder 70.3 triathlon. It was a LOT of fun!

RLRF (MP, WK 7, KR1)

Holy. Crap. This program is NO joke.

10-20 min warmup

3 x (2 x 1200) (2 min RI)

(4 min between sets)

10 min cooldown

That's me in the blue plaid top and black running skirt. I figured that since I had such great luck wearing the OTHER shirt Lisa J sent me, this one might help with my INTENSE run. (FYI, these shirts are soooo comfortable. Love them).

20 min warm up @ 11:08 (goal 11:09)
1200 @ 6:42 (goal 6:40), .18 in 2 min, 1200 @ 6:42 (goal 6:40), walk 4 min
1200 @ 6:42 (goal 6:40), .18 in 2 min, 1200 @ 6:41 (goal 6:40), walk 4 min
1200 @ 6:41 (goal 6:40), .18 in 2 min, 1200 @ 6:40 (goal 6:40), walk 4 min
Cool down - 10 min @ 11:06 (goal 11:09)

Total - 8.42 miles in 1:28:11

This wasn't a super FUN workout, but I did it. I had the goals, and I met them all. It was definitely a challenging run!

No Rest For the Wicked

Saturday

I had a long run scheduled. A really long run. Remember that Lisa J sent me some awesome new running tops? Well I decided that wearing one of them would be PERFECT for my run of insanity on the treadmill. Agree?

So yes. I set my alarm for 5:35 (am if that wasn't clear), got dressed and drove to the gym.  Did you know that the gym is practically deserted at that hour? RLRF run schedule:

RLRF (MP, WK8, KR3)

20 miles @ MP

+ 30 sec/mile

That's right.  TWENTY miles. Other than my 4 marathons and 1 ultra, I have only run 20 miles ONCE. And that was last October. And it took me 3:48:42 to run 20.14 miles. Well, let me tell you that it went... great. I mean, as great as it could possibly go.

20 miles @ MP

+30 sec/mile

Goal Pace - 11:12

Actual Pace - 11:07

Total miles run - 20.21 (longest training run EVER)

Total treadmill time - 3:45

I. Freakin. Rocked. This. That is all.

As an aside, I decided to try the race belt that Hippie Runner sent me. I obviously didn't need it since I was at the gym on the treadmill, but I wanted to know if their claim of "no bouncing" was in fact true. I'll say this... I wore it the entire first hour of my run (took it off when I had to reset). It didn't bounce at all during that time, in fact, I forgot it was even there. I did have my iPhone in there, so there was weight that I should have noticed. Once minor complaint is that I can't make it as tight as I would like so I have to wear it a bit lower than I am normally comfortable with, but since it doesn't move around, I'll deal with it. GREAT PRODUCT.

Sunday

Yeah, don't think for a SECOND that I am bad ass enough to do this race. But... I did sign me and A to volunteer. The aid station that we were scheduled to work was a Vegas theme, and we committed to working for the busiest four hours of the race. Did you know that in 24 hours notice it is nearly impossible to come up with an appropriate "Vegas" costume for a 5 year old? I did my best. Luckily I still have the outfit I raced in for RnR Las Vegas. Here we are pre-race:

And here is the aid station that we were going to be working along the run portion:

It. Was. Hot. Crazy hot. A was the only kid volunteering and she was given the task of handing out cups of ice. I was at the first table handing out cups of Gatorade. We arrived at the trail head parking just before 9:00 am, and the bulk of the runners started arriving sometime after 10:00. I really thought that A would only be able to stand the heat and standing for 2-3 hours. My sister was racing, and since the run part of the course was a loop, we got to see her pass twice. A was SUPER excited about that:

A hands W some Gatorade

In addition to cheering on my sister and all the AWESOME athletes, I was lucky enough to spot Beth (and husband Ken) from Shut Up and Run doing their first half Ironman! It's very different to be on the volunteer side of racing, and I have to say that it was a fun and rewarding day. I know how much I look forward to the aid stations when I am running and I hope that we provided the racers with some relief in the insane heat.

A decided that we would stay until the very last runner came past because "all the runners need to have something to drink." Man, I love this kid. It was sometime after 2:30 that the last runner (who looked pretty damn strong) came by. We helped tear down and clean up a bit, then we headed out. It was 98 degrees when we got back to the car. Insane. I would have broken down and cried if I would have been racing in those conditions. There was NO shade on the course.

A absolutely LOVES the shirt that she got for volunteering:

If you haven't volunteered lately, you should.