A of Taste Sloth Flu… and Humble Pie

After several weeks of non-stop shenanigans, my body has finally said, “no more.” I officially have Sloth Flu, also known as a cold coupled with the inability to drag myself away from any warm, cozy surface.

It started on Tuesday, when I came home for lunch and promptly fell asleep. I slept through Tuesday and Wednesday, but made it to work on Thursday.

I felt okay on Friday, so I decided to go ahead with my plan to run the Ocean Isle Bridge Run on Saturday. What’s a little congestion, right? I figured it was all in my head and I’d be fine.

The race started out fine. I felt kind of yucky, but figured it would disappear once the race began and I got into my groove.

The first two miles of the race run over the Ocean Isle Bridge and back. Brutal! I was not expecting this (should’ve looked more closely at the course map) and cursed the race planners in my head. I knew my legs would feel stiff for about a mile afterwards, but I was still feeling dead-legged around mile four.

Around mile five, I realized that hitting my goal would be much harder than I thought. My goal went from 1:40… to 1:45… to 1:48… Around mile six, we turned around and started running into a pretty strong head wind. That’s when I decided my goal would be to finish. Forget about having a respectable time, I just wanted this to be over.

I struggled through the next 7.1 miles. I had my awesome playlist, but it wasn’t helping me feel more awesome. Between the wind, humidity and left-over chest congestion and fatigue from being sick all week, I felt awful. I begged my body to puke, so I’d have an excuse to quit. DNFs aren’t that bad, right? The only thing that kept me going was knowing that my fiancé would be waiting for me at the finish line.

I finally picked up the pace near the 12-mile mark. I was almost done! Plus, I was in danger of getting passed by people doing run/walk intervals. Not today!

My overall finish time was a far cry from my goal… but I finished. More importantly, I learned my lesson and I’m planning to spend the next few days focusing on recovery. I’m going to wait until I’m completely recovered before I sign up for any more races. And, hopefully, I won’t get another bout of Sloth Flu.

Sloth Flu ain’t pretty…

Finding motivation wherever I can

Happy Belated Holidays!

I spent most of the past week in Tennessee visiting my parents for the holidays. I love running in Tennessee, because it’s usually my only opportunity to get in some hill work. It was raining for the first few days, so I ended up logging most of my miles on my parents’ treadmill. The only plus side is that they have it parked in front of the television and I was able to watch I Am Britney Jean… what better motivation is there than watching half naked people dancing?!

I felt pretty sluggish towards the end of the week, but I know that’s probably a result of all the deliciousness I’ve been consuming lately. I feel like I have an extra five pounds of casserole, mac-n-cheese, ham, chocolate, and vodka floating around inside me.

Anyway, I got it done. One more week before I can taper for the Ocean Isle Bridge Run half marathon. 🙂

18+ miles done and helloooo weekend!

I made the best decision ever today by deciding to take today as a “personal day.” I’ll be spending the next four days traveling to and from Tennessee and spending time with family, so I thought it would be nice to have one day to catch up on everything before I go. I still have some Christmas shopping left to do – thank goodness for the internet or I would have a lot left to do.

And let’s be honest, I really don’t want to do my long run tomorrow and then sit in the car for six hours… nor do I want to spend three hours running in Tennessee when I could be hanging out with my family.

I took it easy this morning and spent some quality time with Huck after our morning run. He even helped me do the dishes and straighten up the kitchen.

We tried to take a selfie…

My plan was to run 18 miles today, so I ran two with Huck and 16 by myself. I really, really, really wish I could’ve had Huck along with me during my run, especially the last four miles or so. It’s warm in South Carolina right now (highs in the 70s – seriously?) and I was overdressed, dehydrated and ready to quit by mile 13. I pushed through and ran the “Huck route” for the last two miles and tried to pretend I was just doing my early morning run minus the Huckleberry. It definitely helped.

These are my stats according to DailyMile. I’m happy with my mileage for the week – this is the most mileage I’ve done in one week ever and I still have two days! 50k, here I come. 🙂

Now, it’s time for me to tackle my Christmas shopping. I’m hoping I can get everything finished quickly and then go to my gym and sit in the hot tub for a really long time. My legs – well, my entire body – deserves it.

My next race and plans for 2014

I just signed up for the Ocean Isle Bridge Run half marathon and I’m excited! The half marathon has always been my favorite distance (this will be #18) and my last road half marathon was over six months ago, so I’m antsy for another one. Plus, it looks like a pretty fast course – almost no elevation!

I joined DailyMile earlier this week, so I can keep track of my runs in 2014. Currently, I’m using my Gmail account, RunKeeper and an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all my runs, so I’m looking forward to consolidating everything. I like the analytics provided by DailyMile and the fact that I can see my friends’ workouts, too. Hello motivation!

I’m trying to think of goals for next year. My current mileage for the year (as of today) is 1,350. I feel like 1,800 would be attainable, with a stretch goal of 2,000.

I’ve signed up for the Asheville Marathon in March and I’ve set my sights on the Peak to Creek Marathon in October. I also want to do a 30+ mile race before I turn thirty, so I’m on the lookout for a 50k in North or South Carolina. I have a few in mind, but I’ll need to decide if I’m ready to do one sooner rather than later.

Rudolph’s Rampage Half Marathon

Saturday morning, my friend Amanda and I drove to Columbia for Rudolph’s Rampage half marathon at Harbison State Forest. The race start was 10:00 and we arrived around 9:30 to check in and pick up our race t-shirts. I had no goal time for this race except trying to finish in under two hours. The last trail half marathon I did was over a year ago and it took over two and a half hours to finish.

We started out running on a single track trail, which was frustrating because I kept getting stuck behind people. In the end, this was probably good because it forced me to maintain a slower pace during the first few miles. I was running about a 9:00/mile pace, but it felt like I was running a lot faster because I was dodging rocks and roots, running around twists and turns, and climbing up and down hills.

Between miles five and six, I sped down a hill too quickly and face-planted. It hurt, but I picked myself up and kept going. Fortunately, I didn’t hit any rocks, but I did notice several huge ones after I’d fallen. I made sure to slow down a little bit and keep my eyes on the ground after that.

The course was a double loop and I thought this would drive me nuts, but I liked knowing what to expect the second time around. It began raining during the second loop and things got pretty slippery.

The end of each loop has two hills, one that zig-zags and then one that just goes straight up. My legs were like “I’m done” the first time around but, on the second loop, I knew that the finish was just around the corner, so I kept telling myself, “you’re almost there, you’re almost there…”

My unofficial time (results have not been posted) is 1:59:40. I’m happy that I was able to stay within my goal of “under two hours” and, although definitely not a PR, this is a PR for a trail half marathon. 🙂 I also won a cute mug for placing in my age group, which was perfect for post-race tomato soup.

It rained pretty much all day Saturday, so Huck’s kennel looked like a swamp when I got home. Since Saturday was his birthday, I had promised him a long walk. He ended up getting two short walks between bouts of rain, but he did get some doggie birthday cake and a new toy to play with – a Kong Satellite, which he LOVES! I love it, too, because it gives me a few minutes of peace and quiet.

My workout for today has been giving Huck a bath – that pretty much did me in! He’s not super heavy, just super squirmy and slippery.

Cardio schardio

I’ve been partaking in a little too much holiday deliciousness lately, so tonight’s workout was nothing but cardio. I kept each segment under ten minutes so it wouldn’t get too boring.

Run 1 mile
Bike 2 miles
Run 1 mile
Row 1000 meters

(repeat twice)

This workout was still pretty boring, but hey! Better than sitting on the couch, which I will be doing in 5… 4… 3… 2…

New kicks workout

Thank goodness Monday only happens once per week. Today, I was torn between blowing off the Monday Blahs at the gym or on the couch. I decided to head to the gym, mostly because I had a new pair of Brooks PureCadence shoes in my gym bag. I love these shoes.

I decided to do a combination of strength training and running. I’m running Rudolph’s Rampage on Saturday, so this will probably be my only day of strength training this week.

I started with a 2-mile run on the treadmill, before completing the following workout:

5 sets of:
10 push pulls (40 lb.)
15 kettlebell swings (20 lb.)
15 plie squats (20 lb.)

.5-mile run (3:16)

5 sets of:
10 push ups
15 jump squats
15 plank jacks

.5-mile run (3:22)

3 sets of:
20 sit ups with an 8 lb. medicine ball
10 side planks with row (8 lb.) – per side
20 back extensions with an 8 lb. medicine ball
1-mile run (6:52)

It was a good, sweaty workout. Plus, my new shoes added a little spring to my step. I’m beginning to get excited for the race this weekend, I just hope it doesn’t rain too much and turn the trails into a swamp.

Rainy race weekend

What a busy weekend! Yesterday, the Junior League of Florence held the Home for the Holidays 5k/10k. We are raising money for Habitat for Humanity and we’re planning to build a house for a family in May 2014.

On Saturday morning, it was muggy and overcast. Not exactly great running weather, but we weren’t too worried about that. The main issue was not having enough volunteers along the course to direct the runners.

As we were waiting for the runners to finish, we noticed that the 5k runners were taking a long time to get back. A handful came in under 22 minutes, but it was several minutes before the rest arrived. We found out that everyone got lost and ran too far!

Fortunately, many of the runners weren’t too upset. A few joked that they needed the extra exercise and I’m grateful for anyone who laughed it off instead of yelling at us! 🙂

In the end, we raised money for a good cause – which is all that matters. I’ve done Habitat for Humanity in the past and remember it being a lot of work, but it’s also fun because you get to work with your friends. Plus, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two about how to fix up my house.

The other good news (for me) is that I don’t plan to organize another race anytime soon. I’ll be extra grateful next time I run a race and everything runs smoothly!

After the race, I ate a gigantic sandwich, then took a two-hour nap. I still felt kinda blah, so I decided to go for a run. I ended up running fourteen miles. There was a lot on my mind, so it felt really good to blow off some steam.

This morning, I did three rounds of the 5-to-50 Ab Workout and completed Day 22 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. Now, time for my favorite cardio… Christmas shopping!!

Sore and sweaty

Huck and I took a short walk this morning, before I completed Day 19 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. After yesterday’s strength training workout, my arms were in no mood to complete forty push-ups, but I pushed through slooowly. I made sure to rub out all the soreness with my Grid afterwards. Ah, bliss!

This evening, I did an interval progression run. I started off by running .2-mile @ 6 mph and .5-mile at a faster pace, then gradually increased the pace and distance of the “speed” interval. After 6.2 miles, I was drenched.

How I think I look at the gym:

How I really look at the gym:

Wrong shoe workout

I started off the day with a two-mile run with Huck, before completing Day 17 of the Push-up Circuit Challenge. I can’t believe I’m already halfway done with this challenge!

My workout this evening started off on the wrong foot, literally.

Somehow, I grabbed two different pairs of shoes. The purple shoes are a half size too small, so it felt weird. I decided to focus on weights this evening, sandwiched between two short runs.

Run 1 mile @ 8:40

50 bent-over rows (25 lbs.)
50 squats (25 lbs.)
50 overhead presses (25 lbs.)
100 jump squats
50 bicep curls (10 lbs.)
50 reverse lunges (10 lbs.)
100 plank jacks
50 split jacks
50 half jacks

Run 1 mile @ 8:10

The strength part of this workout felt tough, even with the pitifully light weights I was using. I need to do more upper body workouts or I will end up looking like a t-rex…

The jump squats felt surprisingly easy, so I guess all those butt workouts are paying off. This workout made me kinda glad that I brought the wrong shoe. 🙂