2020 Labor Day 10K

 I ran the Labor Day 10k on Monday, it was 75* and the sun was shining with no cloud in sight, the only comfort was 10 mph winds coming from the SouthEast. My extremely overzealous goal was to place within the top 3 overall female, but when pulling up to the race and seeing so many people, I told myself just to focus on a PR and beat my old 10k PR.
I lined up near the front, right behind some of the fast guys who I assumed were doing the 5k. Many kids passed me up and a few guys did, I think there were a few women ahead of me. I tried to hold a good steady pace, although I might have started out too fast, I don't regret it.
Mile 1 - 8:08
Mile 2 - 8:36
Mile 3 - 8:57
By the end of the first loop, the way they had it set up, I could see who all was ahead of me and how many women. I quickly realized that the woman that had been ahead of me most of the first loop was in the lead. As we headed into the 2nd and final loop, I managed to get ahead of her and stay ahead of her. I was tired and the sun was cooking my skull (as it always does), I sure wish I didn't overheat so easily. 
Mile 4 - 8:22
Mile 5 - 8:27
Mile 6 - 9:09
.2 - 8:07
The out and back section which is/was the 2nd and 5th mile was my most difficult, basically you're running through a parking lot and then turning around and running through it again. But it was the final and last mile where I struggled, my skull was cooked and the wind just kept pushing and pushing me back. With only half a mile left, I had to walk just a little... I could feel a side stitch still threatening to derail me, it had been trying to ruin me since mile 3 and I was determined not to let it. I looked back and for a moment didn't see anybody behind me, but the second time I looked and saw her so I got my ass going. I didn't have any kick in me, none whatsoever, my brain couldn't even tell my legs to move faster, it was freaking fried.
With only .3 miles to go I got confused for a moment before remembering to get off the pathway and onto the parking lot, people were already starting to leave so I had to dodge some cars or watch them carefully because obviously they weren't paying attention to me.... 5-10 mph can still hurt if that car runs you over. Just coming into the finish and I had to actually move over more because an SUV cut a little too far over.
Crossing the finish line, I was thrilled and relieved to be done. The other chick was almost a minute behind me, but I was just happy to be done.

2021 LBL 50 Miler - New Game Plan

So I'm hoping to change up my training just a smidge, as the weather cools off more and more, I'll be able to do more in the mornings and afternoons... Praying schools don't shut down.

The new plan - Sundays/Tuesdays/Thursdays I'll go to the gym for multiple muscle groups, then either rollerblade 10-13 miles or after dropping my son off at school, I'll go run the loop at Audubon, building up from one loop to 3 or 4 loops.

Mondays and Fridays will be easy 5-7 mile runs, and Wednesdays will be my mid-week long run. 

Saturdays will be my long runs, and layer in training I'll occasionally substitute the Sunday weight lifting for another (few miles shorter) long run for back to back weekends.

2021 LBL50 Training - Week Two

Monday I didn't go to the gym, but I did go for a run after dropping my son off at school. It was humid....

Tuesday I got up and went to the gym, decided to change up my strength training and hit multiple muscle groups.

Then I went out to rollerblade, it was still relatively humid.

If that wasn't enough, later that day I decided to take Jetta for an easy 3 miler. It was cloudy and breezy enough, and around 77° so it wasn't too bad. We took plenty of walk breaks to make sure Jetta stayed as cool as possible.

Wednesday I did not want to deal with the humidity, but I knew it needed to be done. Out there, I was very tempted to cut my run in half or so, 5 miles in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. In the end, I got the entire 8 miles done that morning.

Later in the afternoon/evening, I did some decline push-ups, dumbbell curls and diamond pushups.

Thursday I woke up not feeling great and a bit sore, I felt like I didn't get much sleep. I didn't go to the gym, instead I just slept in. After dropping my son off at school, I had a dental appointment and after that I decided to go ahead and get my run in. Originally it was gonna be an easy effort 5 miler but I was feeling good enough and I wanted to get it done. I ended up with a 6 mile progression run.

Friday I didn't get up til 4:30 am, the local weather forecast promised 67° but it was 73° like my weather app said. They did get the humidity right though, it was low which made the temperature pleasant. I took Jetta to the trails, I can't begin to count how many spider webs I ran through but it had to be in the high hundreds. The trails weren't too bad for all the rain earlier in the week, but there were some sections that were either flooded or muddy and slippery. Between miles 1.45 and 1.8 was a section that felt more like bushwhacking instead of running. All in all, it was a nice run..... It was trail therapy, 5.3 miles of therapy.

I got a pretty good amount of sleep last night. I woke to my son stirring restlessly at 3:18 am, 12 minutes before my alarm. I didn't have any coffee or food, but I did have some water. I got my hydration pack ready and myself, I was out the door by 4:05 am. The goal was for 17.7 miles to finish up the week with 45 miles, but somewhere in between miles 10 and 13 I decided to go ahead and run 18 miles. 

It was a gorgeous 57° and very low humidity, it was amazing and slightly chilly at the start. It warmed up just a smidge when the sun rise up over the horizon a couple hours later. 

I finished 18 miles in 3:06:57 with an average pace of 10:23 min/mile.

Giving me 45.3 miles for week 2 of training for the 2021 Land Between the Lakes 50 Miler.

Training for the 2021 Land Between the Lakes 60k (or 50 Miler)

 Okay, again I am just failing at this blogging thing... but in my defense, it's only been like a little over 3 weeks since I ran my first ever solo marathon. I felt really good the day after the marathon, like surprisingly good. I went ahead and took Dorian for a very easy 3 mile hike, kind of felt sore but not bad. Friday I got in 12 miles of rollerblading and more walking with Dorian, I rollerbladed again on Saturday - 15.1 miles. I was rather surprised by how good I was feeling, I mean the last 4 marathons I had felt so damn sore for like a week after the race. 
I got back to running that next Monday, and I've just been going after it since.... like my body is feeling fantastic and I have to force myself to take it easy or take a rest day. My main focus was to maintain a mileage and workouts while taking it easy before my next training cycle (which in fact started this week).
I'll just give a quick run down of the two weeks before the last one.
August 10-16: I ran 34.6 miles and rollerbladed 10.4 miles, of course I went to the gym and worked out.
August 17-23: I ran 37.4 miles and rollerbladed 21.1 miles, and of course I went to the gym and worked out.

So I maintained a good mileage base during those two weeks while taking it easy just a bit, but I noticed that as I've been dropping the lbs, my pace has gotten faster. 

Okay, so for Week 1 of the Training - August 24-30
I ran 5.1 miles Monday afternoon, I was going to take that day off after running 12 miles Sunday but I was feeling good so I ran. It was like 90 degrees with so much sunshine and I was just being cooked, but I survived.

I try not to focus on my weight or anything, but as I have dropped below 150 lbs, my abs are starting to show and that is awesome. I had to take a pic on Tuesday and compare it to me back in 2017 at what I considered my best.

I think I weighed 140 when I took that 2017 pic, and in the 2020 pic I weighed 147 lbs. I've got quite a bit more muscle on me now than I did then.

Tuesday I went to the gym for Back and some Glutes before going out and rollerblading 12.2 miles.

Then, if that wasn't enough... just before picking Dorian up from school I decided to go out and run 3.5 miles. It was freaking hot, like 91 degrees hot and the sun was shining but there was still some serious humidity out. It was death, I felt like death plain and simple.

Wednesday I went to the gym first, hitting Delts with some Chest thrown in. I was going to go for a run but I was so damn tired so I went back home and back to bed, figuring I'd run after taking Dorian to school.... boy did I slightly regret that decision.
The first 3 miles or so was fine, but then the sun and heat started to get to me. I think the weather said 73 but as the sun came out more, it felt like 80 but still humid. I just felt really sick towards the last mile, but I ended up with 7.7 miles with a surprisingly easy effort pace of 9:47 min/mile.

Thursday I hit the gym again, focusing (again) on the Back and some Legs this time. 

I was not feeling too good afterward but I wanted to get out and get some mileage on my rollerblades. I almost called it done at mile 5 but pushed on and got 10.4 miles.

Friday was just awful, it was freaking almost 80 degrees and humid as hell. I headed out the door for what I wanted to be an 8 mile run but I was seriously considering turning around and going back home within the first mile. It was just nasty out there, like the last few days or couple of weeks have been a pleasant 70-75 degrees in the morning but this was freaking miserable. I ended up with 6.2 miles and felt drained for most of the day.

40LB SledgeHammer Productions - Race Timing & Event Management had put out a notice that they had a new insurance company and would be holding the new first of their series for the Friday Night Fever Trail 5k series this Friday. July's race which would've been the first had been postponed to the end of the series (November) because they had lost the old insurance company due to all this nonsense (I will not speak of its name). I had debated all day about doing the race since I ran that morning and felt like crap most of the day. Well by late afternoon I decided I was going to do it, it had been raining all day and I knew the trails would be muddy and flooded and figured I'd just have fun with it.
I got in a .7 mile warm-up on the beginning section and the ending section of the trails and knew what I was in for, as long as I was prepared for it all, I'd be okay. These sections were probably the worst when it comes to mud and flooding so if I could handle those, I could do great on the others.

The RD stated that .25-.35 miles of trail were not runnable so the usual 5k course was probably just under 3 miles. Friday was a torrential downpour most of the afternoon, luckily it slowed to a drizzle by 6 pm (the race was at 7). I decided just before the start that I would get behind the fastest 3 guys, I did not want to get stuck behind any slow people or clumsy people when we did hit the muddy sections. Back in June, I won 2nd place Female at the Howl at the Moon 5k, beaten by a 12-13 year old girl who is obviously on her school track & cross-country team, she beat me by like 2-3 minutes. I knew she was there, and I was determined to either stay with her or beat her.
It was chaotic at the start, the 3 guys got ahead of us and one boy (probably 10-12 years old) stayed with me for a few minutes before speeding ahead. Maybe 2 or 3 other guys got past me, I can't remember but I was focused on staying ahead of the girl. I slipped a little but could hear someone behind me so I just kept pushing it, once we reached the levee and got upon it, the very girl I was worried about managed to pass me which was frustrating, I won't lie... but 5k's aren't my specialty, speed is just not a gift and I've come to terms with that.
I stayed just behind her and even closed the gap once we got back on the single-track and had to maneuver around a fallen tree, I stayed with her. There was a guy just ahead of her and I was just behind her, we came to a fork and she followed the guy to the right before they both realized they were supposed to turn left. The guy managed to get back on track quick and ahead of me but I got in front of her and stayed on his feet. At one point I managed to move past him, I think we were half-way or less than that but I freaking gave what kick I had and should have saved for the finish, but I wanted to put as much distance between me and them as possible. I just kept pushing it until I could no longer hear them splashing through puddles and mud, I caught up to another guy and stayed behind him. We came out onto the levee again and followed the markers, but he slowed down and I pushed ahead. I wasn't about to look behind me to see where the girl was, but I assumed she would no doubt pass me on the levee (for some reason fields and levees are a weak point for me, mentally). I just kept pushing and trying to hold a steady pace. I was by myself, nobody ahead of me and nobody immediately behind me. I reached the single track trail that leads back to the start/finish, I only had about .4-.5 miles left and held on with everything I had, expecting that girl to show up out of nowhere and pass me... nothing. The final .1 is through a field and I was 100% certain she would finally catch me and zoom right past me, so I pushed harder.
I came to the finish and realized I had won 1st place Female, I looked back and still didn't see her or anybody. About a minute later she popped out of the woods along with 4 or 5 other people. My Instinct said 2.6 miles which is typical, it is usually behind the race course measurements by something like .2 miles. 
The race had me finished at 24:44 with a pace of 7:58 min/mile for 3.1 miles, though my Instinct says 24:50 with a pace of 9:35 min/mile.
Later Saturday I talked to the RD and was told that not only did I win 1st Place Overall Female but I won 2nd Place Overall!!! I guess some of the guys in front of me took wrong turns and got lost or ran longer, so by default I won 2nd place, I'll take it lol.

I took Saturday off from doing anything and ate pretty awful throughout the day... not a whole lot but just awful choices. I got up this morning and wasn't feeling too great due to my bad food choices the day before, but I got ready and headed up to Friedman Park where I could loop if I wanted to and keep my water, gatorade and gu in my SUV rather than carry it with me. I paid dearly for eating horrible, my GI hated me and at mile 9.5 I seriously wanted to call it a day and be done. I didn't want to go backward or do the loop again so I just kept running in one direction and looped around another way and down some busy streets that didn't have a pathway so I had to deal with traffic. In the end, I got my 15.1 miles done and survived. 

So I ended up with 41 miles of running for the first week of this training cycle, and 22.6 miles of rollerblading. Not bad.... 

The 2020 (Virtual) Go! St. Louis Marathon

So back in March, the marathon had been canceled and the RD had given 3 options - defer to 2021, refund or defer to the virtual option. I chose the virtual option... since I had put in all the training and was at that moment feeling good. Well, by the time I had received the race bling in the mail, I had been dealt an injury in my left quad. So I had to take time off from running, rekindled my love with rollerblading which helped. I won't go into April, May, June, and July but I recovered and continued rollerblading, running and hiking, and going to the gym once the gym opened up in June. 

Over the last couple of weeks, I had been feeling pretty good with my running and working out and overall training. Last week I saw the weather forecast was showing a break in this nasty, humid heat we've been dealing with. So I decided that I was going to attempt my solo marathon on the coming Sunday.

Now I've been dealing with tooth pain for about three weeks, I had scheduled my appointment for the 18th (it was the soonest they could get me in). It had been a minor, dull ache but was causing me some headaches,  but that Saturday night things got really bad. I couldn't sleep and no amount of pain killers helped with the tooth pain or the terrible headaches that would not go away. 

By the time the pain had gone away, at around 5:30 am, I knew it would be a huge, stupid mistake to try and attempt any kind of serious run (I had A LOT of pain killers in my system, ibuprofen and excedrin).

Through Sunday and Monday I used tips from friends, rinsing and gargling warm salt water (nasty) like multiple times a day. I bought Orajel toothache rinse AND the one for mouth sores, and numbing gel. Monday and Tuesday I didn't even need ibuprofen or anything, although I did take some before bed so I wouldn't wake up in pain.

The Plan: So a woman I idolize and hope to one day grow up to be just like her (she turned 50 back in June and looks freaking amazing), she runs ultras and is always out running like anywhere from 20-40 miles, sometimes on a work day! I want so much to one day be able to join her and the other ladies who just constantly run like nonstop and have so much fun doing it. She asked about my route and suggested Friedman Park, which I run at often - it's mostly a 5.3 mile loop but there have been some add-on pathways that are out and backs. After a minute of thinking about it, I realized it was a great idea (though I hate loops)! I wouldn't have to really carry anything on me, and could keep water, gatorade and even my energy gu in a freaking cooler with ice (gu tastes better if it's kept cold). I could also keep my Monster Muscle Protein Shake in there as well, so that was the plan and I was excited. Not having to carry a hydration pack would mean I could just wear a sports bra (the pack can sometimes rub my skin raw if I don't have anything between the pack and my skin).

This morning I woke to my 1:45 am with a headache so that was a bit of a disappointment, I almost considered just staying in bed and saying "F" it. But damn it, 59 freaking degrees in July!!!!! I could NOT pass this up, no freaking way. So I got up, reluctantly took some Excedrin, tried to eat some oatmeal but didn't want to. I got all my stuff ready and headed out, I figured if anything I would at least try for 10 miles or something. I also figured that if I posted on FB at the end of each loop with pics taken during that loop, it would hold me accountable and I would make sure I'd complete the entire 26.2 miles.

The first "loop" was 8 miles, I stopped at my SUV and had a Cola gu (it don't taste like cola, I couldn't decide between root beer or pumpkin spice)... and while ingesting that crap and some water, I decided that this next loop I was going to do my best to fit as many miles as I could in it (using the out and back pathways) so I decided to grab my handheld and put some gatorade in it and I grabbed a Chocolate Outrage gu.

Onto the next loop I went, feeling good and relieved that the headache had disappeared. I took the new add-on which was about 1.5 miles and at the end of it I went a little further down the road, determined to get as much as I could in there. By the time I got back on the actual loop, I had acquired 12.35 miles.

I stopped and took a pic at the halfway point, and had my second gu.. the chocolate outrage is way tastier than the cola crap... just wish I had water instead of gatorade to wash it down.

One thing I do like about these solo runs is that I get to stop and take pics and stuff and not feel like I'm being left behind. Guess one could call this more of a long run than a race, lol.

On the second loop, as I reached the park, to my disappointment it was starting to get busy. I really didn't want to come back through this between miles 23-26, nobody would understand why I look like I'm dying. 

  

I made it to my SUV with 18.45 miles finished, I wasn't majorly tired yet... though it was starting to wear on me, mainly trying to quickly come up with a plan to finish the remaining 7.75 miles without having to go through the park. I managed it, though the mistake I sort of regret was turning down a side street at mile 21 and going through one of the suburban neighborhoods with awful concrete streets... my legs were feeling pretty okay until that point.

I survived it though, I finished the run in 4:43:40 with an average pace of 10:50 min/mile and I actually wasn't feeling too bad until an hour later. Now my legs hate me and I just want to sleep....

A Whole Lot Has Happened Since January

First, I haven't posted since January 9th... and I feel horrible about it. I had a rough time during the training for the Go! St. Louis Marathon, January and February was tough but I trained and worked hard through it, the 20 miler was the hardest in March and I ran it on a very sunny day with temps in the 60's and winds in the high teens. I got sunburnt and my legs felt beat to shit, so when I found out a week later that the event was canceled, it sucked even more. 
Since then, things have been a bit of a fuzzy image but I kept my running going and my weight lifting as well... then the gyms closed and I only had running.
Running was going really good, I was stretching my shins and calves and it was helping and I could feel myself getting stronger and my easy runs were dropping back into the low 10 min/mile pace that they used to be in.
And then about 2 weeks ago I noticed my knee was aching, I took a cutback week and did my best to take care of it. The ache would come and go for a couple of days, and then it began to move around on my lower quadricep area and back to the knee. Then nearly a week later I noticed it would start at the knee, move to the lower quad, then to the outer side of my thigh between quad and hamstring or near the ITB. Then a little over a week after the first start of pain, it would start first deep on the inner part of my quad, around the Vastus Medialis or the Sartorius... I'm not real sure but I originally thought it was my adductor that was giving me issues. Again, it would come and go, sometimes the run would suck for the first couple of miles or not really at all. 
I ran 15 miles last Sunday and it actually went okay, and I was very pleased and hopeful. I ran 5.6 miles Sunday and it was sore but I wasn't surprised since I had ran 15 miles the morning before.
Wednesday I took Jetta out for a 3 miler since I got up late and couldn't get the 10 miler in that morning, everything started out fine and my legs felt fine. Then as I was finding a good pace and feeling good, Jetta hit her breaks on me. Instead of stopping and letting her do whatever stupid thing she just had to do, I immediately put my left leg forward and not only pressed down with all of my weight into that leg but all of her 63 lbs as I pulled her forward to get her moving again. That was all it took, my left quadricep went from feeling okay to hurting and complaining. We finished the 3 miler, it ached the whole way. Throughout the day I took Ibuprofen, my Hammer Nutrition Tissue Rejuvenator supplements, my Shell Shock CBD oil and rubbed Runners High Herbals Super Herbs Plus ointment into my legs hoping it would help. That night I ran 7.2 miles, legs were sore starting out but eased up some and I was hopeful that maybe I didn't fuck things up as badly as they had seemed that morning... I was wrong.
I took Thursday off, and Friday morning I got out to run 9 miles. Sure enough... about 4-5 minutes into the run it came on and never left, the pain was everywhere but mainly deep in my Vastus Medialis area and it sucked. It effected how I ran and I was pissed off and miserable. For the first time in a long time, I had to cut my run short. I stubbornly ran 7 miles and called it a day, since then I haven't ran and I'm hoping and praying a week off from running along with my supplements and ointments will help. 
I am also hoping that the gyms will open back up and I can at least get back to weight lifting... until then though, I'm doing whatever I safely can do at home without irritating my leg. 

Go! St. Louis Marathon - Training Week 1

So I kicked off the training cycle for this year's Go! St. Louis Marathon, and it went pretty well. My right lower leg still seems a bit tight, but not painful.
Monday I hit the gym and decided not to run afterwards.

Then Tuesday I went to the gym again, knowing I wasn't going to go there on New Year's Day since it would not be opening until 6 AM.

Then I went out for what was planned to be an easy 5-6 mile run but I ended up with 7.1 miles, very slow miles. The wind was blowing 13 mph with gusts up to 18 at some points and I made the mistake of doing this particular course in reverse so the hilly section had the wind hitting me in the face.

Thursday I didn't make it to the gym, at this point I was dealing with some nasty sinus issues or flu or something. Later that day, before picking Dorian up from school I managed to get in some miles.

Friday I forced myself to go to the gym, I wasn't feeling as awful as Wednesday or Thursday but still wasn't feeling 100%

I can't remember why but I didn't go for a run immediately after the gym, instead, I went later in the day just before I had to pick Dorian up from school. I took Jetta with me and it was raining and chilly and we ended up soaked to the bone, but overall it was a good run.

By Sunday morning, I had a rough time getting up and going. I didn't get great sleep that night, and I knew I had at least 12-13 miles to run this morning. It was pitch black outside and of course, I choose the route where between miles 5 and 8, there are tons of potholes and hills. It was still dark out when I reached those roads and I had to slow down and even walk at times because I was not about to get injured at the start of this training cycle.

Thankfully that didn't happen, it was slow going but I managed to get 13.1 miles done (which also gives me my January half marathon on Strava).

That gives me 31.2 miles for week 1 of this training cycle, and hopefully I can continue this progress with no hiccups.