Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Why do we sabotage ourselves?

I dont think Im alone when I say I tend to totally give in to food sabotage! All my life I have battled with controlling how much I eat of something because it taste so darn good I just can't get enough - well until I bring myself to the verge of being sick! You would think I would learn and there are studies out there that say - "don't deprive yourself give into those cravings and if you do eat till you are sick chances are high that you won't want it again for a long time" That doesnt seem to happen for me. I can do so well for a long period of time and then I get that urge and when it hits I can't get enough of anything, and usually I will chose sugary, salty, and crunchy food and my mindset tells me to eat it all, everything then it will be out of the house and you wont have the temptation tomorrow. How do I learn to not let those taste set off that indulgent trigger?
From an early age food is used as a reward, and usually those foods are not healthy choices. Do you remember being young and doing something that pleased your parents and they were so excited they gave you a treat, like a cookie a dish of ice cream? Did you ever hear them say "Hey sweetie, I am so proud of you hear have an apple, or a banana or lets steam a nice dish of broccoli?" As I get older I still tend to use that "reward" system - you just ran 70 miles this week you "deserve 3 pints of ice cream, some pizza and anything else you desire!" Truth is I know it poisons my body and makes me feel like total crap afterwards but sometimes I just lose focus. There has to be something that causes us to lose this focus because we can stay of track for so long then BAM it hits and we have to be sure not to let it swallow us up and keep us under its control. And it can be a very powerful thing! At least with my life, food has always been top priority. If I go to lunch with my parents the topic at lunch will always involve whats for dinner?
I must stop doing this to myself, it is not worth the guilty feelings nor the way my body feels after eating the crap!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Shamrock Marathon Race Report



Decided to take off a day earlier then planned and glad I did. I found a hotel that had a room for friday evening and it was only $55 per night, wasnt even worth that! I inspected the mattress upon arrival for bed bugs. They "upgraded" me to a king room since it was just me and they had someone else needing 2 queen beds and my upgrade included a hot tub bathtub...LOL trying to step into this and out of it to just shower was an experience. On the wall and ceilings the pipes and rust were showing, I was glad I was only there one night. I woke up Saturday am and got out of there fast, stopped to grab a sandwich at Panera and a bagel for race morning then headed over to the expo to check things out. It was a nice expo and got myself last years finishers hat, it didnt have the year on it so I thought for $3 why not!! After that I went to see if my regular hotel was ready but it wasnt, I did get checked in and decided to walk around to find some lunch and the hotel clerk called when my room was ready. I sThat evening I found a nice Italian restaurant for supper and laid down around 10pm. I woke up around 7am and had my bagel dipped in some peanut butter, a diet dew and a banana about 40 minutes before the start. I have been having some ITB issues so I decided to wear a strap on my ITB and hope it would keep it from acting up. I wasnt sure what the weather was going to be like so I packed shorts, a skirt and some knickers with a lululemon tank top. I chose the shorts and I have ran in them for some 16 milers without problems same with the style of tank top. There is just one pock in the shorts and I stuffed my gels in it but the weight of them kept trying to tug my shorts off me so I left only one gel in the pocket and ran with the others for awhile until finally sticking one inside the panty liner of the shorts and ate one about mile 6 which was much earlier then normal but I was tired of carrying them. The course headed down the main street then up a highway type ramp which took us away from the beach for awhile and over towards Camp Pendleton. It was around mile 8 when we went thru the marine base and this was the highlight of the race for me. It was actually kinda emotional as well and you wanted the entire 26.2 miles to be right there! Groups of soldiers lined the base, some in dress uniform, some in green camo, some which appeared to be bootcampers dressed in white. They roars and chants were so encouraging all you could do is run and smile. I felt a little discomfort from the ITB strap and while running just reached and tugged it a little to change the position.It was probably about mile 14 or so that I decided to stop and move the strap and when doing so I found I was covered in blood from where the velco had rubbed. It didnt hurt too bad but I looked awesome! I also could feel my inner thighs starting to rub together and knew that was going to cause some discomfort soon, I didnt have any or bring any body glide but I had run a couple longer runs in those shorts without a problem. When we came back to the beach we got to run on the boardwalk next to the ocean, it was very pretty but the headwinds were killer. The winds seemed to be blowing at us alot during the run and I kept thinking when we turn and head back it will be nice to be at my back, didnt seem like that ever happened though. It musta been around mile 18 when I noticed my thighs were covered in blood too, there was a medic station by the porta johns and I had to tinkle anyways, thank God they had some petroleum jelly. I grabbed 2 sticks full and rubbed them onto my thighs and jumped in the john to pee, my shorts now were also covered in blood and it was kinda embarrassing because it looked like I had a monthly accident. Oh well, I was covered in blood behind my left knee from the ITB strap rubbing and now blood on both thighs and my shorts - cool I've seen and read about people with bloody injuries finishing races, this was gonna be a good story. :-) It actually didnt hurt that bad. I had also heard there were beer stations on the course and indeed there were. I saw 3 of them, At mile 24.8 as we were heading back to the beach I decided to grab a cup of beer, why not! I havent had any alcohol since one night over Christmas at the family beach get together and that was probably only 4 or 5 times all of last year! It was a 3 gulp cup and I just had 2 gulps, there were several folks taking in a drink here, including a lady just in front of me. About a half mile up the road there she was puking LOL. I never felt labored during the run and wasnt trying to PR but things felt pretty good so I just kept going and when I realized I could probably finish in under 4:30 I sucked it up and just kept trotting away. My legs on occasion felt tired and my left patella had some strange sharp pains a couple times but all in all I felt pretty good. I finished in 4:29:14 my Garmin had me going 26.4 due to weaving in and out across the roads. Got my medal and then they gave finisher hat and finisher sweat shirt. My hotel was right next to the finish which was awesome, I decided I would go grab a shower and then come back to the after party since I was covered in blood. Once I got in the shower I realized I chaffed in many other areas as well. I put on some knickers and my finisher sweatshirt and headed out barefoot to the beach, the sand between my toes and the arch of my foot felt amazing!! I had an italian sandwich and chips while sitting on a big sand bank looking into the ocean. Each participant was allowed 4 free yuenglings, I had 2 and decided that was plenty. I walked up and down the beach with my barefeet for quite some time then went back to the room to find a place for dinner. I left Monday around 7:30am and stopped at Colonial Williamsburg since I have never been but quickly realized that is a much longer trip then an hour or so stop so I grabbed a map to bring home. I also stopped at The Greenbrier for their famous Banana Split!! It was amazing!It's funny cause I always try to remember more about the race while racing and when I go to type up a report I forget so much! After I am done I end up remembering and may come back to edit.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Last Chance for Boston Race Report

This was my birthday weekend and I turned 44 years young. I decided friday afternoon that I may as well run my age in miles since I was doing the marathon Sunday and had a 10 miler on tap for Saturday and missed another couple runs during the week. So on friday afternoon it was yulky outside and I decided to rent a movie and do a nice slow 5.5 mph run on the dreadmill while watching a movie, I chose Courageous-NOT a dreadmill movie unless you are really trying to train you lungs! I got choked up so many times with a lump in my throat trying to fight the tears and trying to breathe but there was no way I was running any slower! I did 8.5 that day then on Saturday morning headed out early for 9 and couldnt remember my route and took the extra mile and ended that day with 10.5....so now I will be running more then my age but oh well. :-)
I am still trying to take this marathon all in because it left me in complete astonishment! I signed up for this marathon because I had a long run on my schedule of 24 miles for this weekend and 10 the day after so I thought why not do the 10 the day before and jump it to 26 the day after. The month of February I had so many different set backs that my mileage was low for the month and I didnt want it to get to me. A couple of days before this race a friend actually warned me that it wasnt a good idea to run a full marathon on a one mile counter clockwise loop with my left ITB having been causing so many issues since the night time trail marathon. WOW - that thought never even crossed my mind but when I thought about it it made perfect sense to really watch how I was feeling. I promised I would stop if it started to get to me. When I got to the packet pick up the day before I was speaking to some of the workers who are runners and getting their opinion and one gal battles ITB in her right knee and she too was worried with it being my left side and all the turns, she suggested I bring my foam roller with me and leave it by their tent in case I needed to roll it out at anytime. I was so glad I had a roller in my car even though I didnt end up needing it. I stayed at my brothers house and his wife and kids had me a birthday cake and ice cream....nice pre race meal yes? :-) I slept pretty good and got up early so I could do the early start option at the race. This marathon due to the one mile loop course has a 5 hour time limit, my best marathon to date was a 6:09 (remember too that I dont train for real marathons I train to just get done after biking 112 miles and swimming 2.4) I still am not training to run a marathon I am training to FINSIH a 50 miler so in my mind with the way things have been going for the past couple months I thought I bet I could do a 5:30 marathon! And the thought entered my head that during the Shamrock Marathon in a couple weeks I may just push it with all the people around and helping motivate me I may just try for a sub 5:00 their. I ate a panera cinnamon crunch bagel with a little peanut butter, a diet dew, and had a banana about 30 minutes before the start. There was probably about 30 or so that did the early start. It was only about 20 degrees but I dressed appropriately. The race director wrote all our numbers down and timed us down to a GO.....I started with a younger guy and an older guy for the first lap-each asking questions about what races have you done to each other and the normal Q&A. After the first lap I was feeling decent and they were already doing a couple walk breaks and water station breaks and I dont mind running alone at all. I dont typically listen to music especially at races because I love to eavesdrop on others conversation and giggle. When I got to mile 6 or 8 I decided to grab a water...in my head was Trixie making a statement a couple months ago about proper nutrition and hydration and I am not good at being proper with this. I wasnt thirsty but knew I had been running and sweating for over an hour and I needed to start with some hydration. I do remember at mile 8 thinking holy shit I have to go around this damn circle 18 more times!! I dont think I let that discourage me at any other point. The next thought that kept repeating in my head was from an older man I met at the Frozen Sasquatch race, I met him near the beginning and he was a pretty well seasoned ultra runner and marathon runner and his famous words that I will never forget were "I do these ultras because they make a marathon seem easy" At mile 13 I decided to take in my first gel, for the race I took in a total of 4 gels about every 3-4 miles after the first one, I also then started rotating water and gatorade but went every 2 mile before drinking. That works very well for me! I dont recall what mile but my right hamstring area that has been tightening up on me started feeling like it was actually seizing up so I kicked up my leg on a table or a light post every so ofter and stretched it out. My hydration musta been good too cause I had to have a potty break. Franklin University had a tent set up and their track or cross country team was doing relays all day. I made a connection with a man at their area around mile 10 and each lap he was good at motivating me while I was good at making some silly wise crack. At one lap he said...wow you are a minute early. I never really hurt during the race it just got a little boring at times so I made a game. When we passed the timing mat we then ran by the different tents that were set up and down this stretch that the wind blew right at you, and it was a bitter wind where I was glad I wore my buff so that I could pull it up on my face on that section, I also knew once I made it down that .25 of mile and turned the corner the road changed a bit then i would see the policewoman in her car then would be turning one more time thru like a park area then another turn and then back in the circle. I played that game over and over. They were playing music and the song somebody call 911 was repeated several times and I had to giggle, I thought the Hamster Dance would be appropriate as well due to the fact that going around and around had you realizing what a hamster must feel like in that silly wheel. I had 2 miles left and was feeling amazing-In my head I told myself you are at the gym and its 2 miles to the house and you are done-a typical training route I take in town. My last mile pace was a 9:18??? When I hit my garmin at the finish my final time was 4:40:13!! HOLY COW first of all an hour and twenty nine minute PR, secondly 50 minutes faster then I ever dreamed and thirdly I turned 44 and ran 44 miles over the weekend and ran this in 4:40??? How does that happen....seriously there is no way you could even try to do that! After the race I jogged over to my person...he knew it was my bday cause each lap I shared something with him but he didnt know how old I was, how many miles I was running over the weekend nor my finish time. He got a kick out of it too, sometimes things that are so cool to you may not be as cool to another and I tend to forget this. I went back to my brothers and showered then to Cap City and grubbed then headed on home. My favorite overhead conversation of the day was when a couple gals and a guy were running behind me and we were coming upon an older gentleman that wore a tank top over a long sleeve shirt that read 50 marathons in 50 states then in red big letters said TWICE....the young guy was trying to make conversation with the group of young girls and reads the shirt out loud and then says, "wow thats like running 100 states" I found that to be the dumbest and funniest thing I had ever heard.