jianantonic | Entries tagged with half marathon

I'm still woefully behind on reading my friends list, and updating here about my own exciting times, but before I let life get too far away from me, I wanted to at least post some quick updates.

Two weekends ago, I went to St. Louis for the Shantytowne wedding of Bill and Tassy. It was lovely to see so many Shantyfolk, and I had a delightful time. I love the Shantyfolk -- being around them is like drinking a happiness elixir.

Last weekend, I ran a motherfucking half marathon. It was awesome. I finished in 2:14, which is a PR for me. I was not expecting to beat my Santa Cruz time, or even come close to it, but during the race, I just felt good enough to keep pushing the whole time. I feel awesome about my finish. Also last weekend, Christian Sedelmyer and Dave Goldenberg played a house concert at my house. That was fucking awesome. Z and I are going to go see them play another nearby show on Wednesday.

Today, I started a professional development course for real estate. I am signed up for the online pre-licensing courses, which are self-guided and required for licensing. The classes I'm doing this week (and later in June) are not required, but I chose to take them to help get a boost as I get started. It is a little intimidating, but also empowering. I know I'm going to do well. But it's going to be so much work omg. But, I'm going to rock.

So that's what's going on lately. I swear to Jeebus I'll get back to reading everyone else's posts as soon as I have a moment to breathe. With the race out of the way, I will have a lot more space in my brain and life as soon as I catch up on some sleep.

I'm finally starting to feel more human that sick, which is a good thing, because this week kicks off <dramatic music>HALF MARATHON TRAINING.</dramatic music>

I'm doing almost the exact same running schedule that I did last year, with short runs on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and my long run on Sunday. I'll see Ertan every Monday or Tuesday for a strength session, and I'll do at least one Body Pump class per week -- probably Monday and sometimes Wednesday or Saturday. I don't want to overload myself -- days off are important! -- but I also don't want to be weak in every category besides running, so I'm trying to focus more on the strength training this time around. I may shift some days around and do a short run on Tuesdays and then strength on Wednesdays -- that probably actually makes more sense. Can't do that this week, though, because I have a DI training meeting tomorrow during Pump class time. I'm going to be an appraiser at the regional tournament this year, and probably also the state level, if it's when I'm in town. I'm really excited :)

Anyway, I took most of last week off from the gym, because I very nearly fainted when I tried to get through a training session last Monday. Then this Monday, I went to Pump. I thought I'd lighten my weights since I hadn't been in a few weeks, but I actually felt okay doing my usual thing, so that was nice. The squats and lunges were the only part where I didn't feel good -- I didn't feel like I could drop as far as I normally do. Not sure if that's from having been ill or just being out of shape. Either way I'll build my way back to that.

Today I saw Ertan, and I was still sore from yesterday, but it went pretty well. My strength is back, and my endurance is okay, but holy shit, I got so winded doing the simplest thing -- jumps. He had me jump across the gym, squatting low with each landing. It was about 20 jumps per set. It was by far the hardest of all the things he asked me to do, and it was one of the only ones where I wasn't using any weight besides my own body. I was kind of embarrassed at how difficult it was for me. I kept having to take breathers mid-set. But I got through the workout and I feel well exercised now. Tomorrow I'm just running 3 miles, so it doesn't really matter that I'm sore. That doesn't affect my running too much, so it's all good. Maybe I'll run outside if the weather doesn't suck. Big maybe, though -- the weather has totally sucked for the last few days. We're getting east coast style rains, and it's cold, and I'm over it.

I've signed up for another half marathon. The Portland Rock 'n' Roll on May 18th. I guess I'm really doing this. I've been unhappy about how little running I've done since the last one, and would definitely like to get back into that kind of shape, but oh god, training sucked so much last year. I'm giving myself more time to train this time, and I'm also going into it with a slightly different attitude, but it's still going to be hard. While I'm excited that I took this plunge, I know it's going to come with a lot of stress. The new attitude is that it's not my first one so A) I do know I can do it and B) I don't feel any pressure to beat a particular time, or to run the whole thing without stopping, etc. I'm going to let myself take it at a comfortable (hah!) pace. It'll be okay. And several friends have already signed up, too. Anyone else want in? You can stay at my place if you need to travel to get here, and I'll help with airline miles if you can't afford plane tickets. I'm always happy to have additional support, whether it's alongside me in the race or just hanging out and cheering me on.

The new BodyPump release came out this weekend. The workout is fine, but the music is kind of shitty compared to the last few releases, so it's not as fun. It sounds like the instructors don't like it much, either, and they're probably only going to teach it for a couple of weeks and then go back to one of the older releases, which is fine. I did add weight on every track for the first time. So far I had gone up only on the back track, but this time I warmed up with five extra pounds (I know, really going for it), and added five or ten extra pounds to every track. I got through it, but did have to give myself breaks on triceps and shoulders. Chest was a BITCH but I muscled through. I probably should've gone up on squats before now, because that wasn't really too difficult with extra weight. Anyway, glad to see improvement.

I'm kind of stressing over how I will manage my training this time around. Last time I was all in on the running, and basically everything else suffered, and I actually got weaker. I don't want that to happen this time, but I know keeping up with lifting and cross training in general is going to feel like so much effort on top of what I'll be doing already. I want to keep going to BodyPump, and I'll see Ertan every Monday, so I'm trying to decide which days are best for my running days -- last year I did short runs on WTF and the long run on Sunday, with Ertan on Mondays and Tuesdays and Saturdays off. I like that schedule because it coincides well with my work schedule, and even when I'm playing in a bridge tournament, it's easy enough to fit in a long run on Sunday. But will I want to go to BodyPump on Wednesdays after work if I'm running three miles on my lunch break? That feels like a lot for one day. So do I move somethings around? Do I fill in my days off with cross training instead? I just don't know what the most workable situation will be. I'll play with it these first few weeks where the training is low mileage...we'll see. Apologies for how boring this blog will be while I obsess over this for the next few months :)

Well I've had a few days to process the half marathon. The pain is gone and the lingering memory is how fucking AMAZING I felt at the finish line. So, yeah, I will do some more of these in the future.

I likened the experience to losing my virginity...a big step, a lot of mental anguish, soreness...and in the end, not nearly as big a deal as I'd built it up in my mind. I guess you could even say that I had a little bit of fun during the race. Just a little. It was so nice to have friends there with me, and Max by my side all the way. Even though I kept a slow pace (slightly over 10-minute miles), and it was only 1.1 miles farther than my longest training run, I was way more sore after this one than ever before. I'm sure a lot of that had to do with the psychology of it all. In the days leading up to the race, I was barely holding it together. At least next time, the stress won't be so rough. Not sure when next time will be...I have a relay in May which will actually be more than 13.1 miles of running, just broken up into three different segments, so hopefully doable. I won't feel bad about walking any of that, though. It's just for fun. I want to take some time off from the hardcore running schedule I've been doing, but not so much that I lose all the gains I've made in endurance. So I'll probably run a 10K or something soonish, and then look for another half to do in a few months...loose goal of "before 2014." Preferably something I don't have to travel to get to, because that gets expensive.

Yesterday was my first workout since the half. It felt so good to do cardio that wasn't running. My training schedule was such that 90% of all of my cardio has been running, and I've felt very anxious about sticking to the schedule exactly as prescribed. Now that I've done it, I feel like as long as I keep my intensity up, I can mix up my workouts more. Bike weather is here, and soon I'll give biking to work a try -- I need to get my bike tuned up after its winter in the garage, and also need to make sure my body is up to the 14-mile ride now that I've moved farther away from my office, but I think it's doable. I'll probably give that a shot early next month. Tomorrow is my last day for two weeks, though, because I'm going to Gatlinburg and then my crazy Asian jaunt, so biking (and fitness in general, ugh) will have to wait a bit.

Anyway it's not that I loved running 13.1 miles, but I love the shape I'm in, and it's important to me to keep that up. I don't really have a goal of improving my speed or anything like that...I just want to be better at running in general. I guess that could mean faster? But I'm not going to stress about my times. Courses are so vastly different anyway. I just want to maintain my ability to do it. So I'll probably look for some 10K and 15K races nearby over the next few months, and maybe I'll be ready to try another half when it starts cooling down again? Maybe do a few 5K's for speed? I don't know. I don't know how much faster I can get. But it does feel like if I can run for two hours, I should be able to crank up the intensity on a 25-minute run. The point is I have no solid goals, I'm just sort of brainstorming what my motivation will be to continue. Ideas welcome. Running buddies welcome. Marathon suggestions not welcome.

I did it! I was so emotional about the whole thing -- I cried a little bit at the start of the race. Not out of fear, but excitement, relief, general overwhelmedness. Max and I ran together for most of it, and I'm so grateful that he's been a part of this whole thing with me. One of my biggest fears was not that I wouldn't be able to do it, but that I wouldn't be satisfied with HOW I did it, and would feel obligated to do another one and improve. I do not feel that way, though :) I was very pleased with how well I handled the course, the pace I kept, everything. It was slow, but I ran the whole race and didn't feel like death until like mile 12, so that was good. Then I cried at the finish, too. Because that's how I roll.

It was so great to have so many friends here with me. I've had a blast, and I would even consider making this an annual trip, if others were up for it. In addition to the race, we had some great food and games, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium (my favorite!), and spent lots of time in the hot tub. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

SCAfterRace