One Month

Whenever I picture "Future Lizz" I always see her different than how I am right now. No matter how far into the distance I imagine I look like a version of myself that is nothing like how I look today. Sometimes I’m thinner, other times I’m tanner, occasionally I’ve chopped my hair short or dyed it black or blonde. Almost always I've inherited some sort of fashion sense and learned to do my makeup correctly. Sadly, in reality, my appearance for most of my life has remained constant besides the occasional blonde streak. 

Aug 2011                      May 2006

The Chicago Marathon is one month from today and even though I'm aware of my tendency to over-exaggerate "Future Lizz" I can't help but imagine myself as different  at the starting line. Between now and then I'm not going to get the six-pack abs, bionic legs or deeply tanned arms I see in my head as I imagine racing. I probably won't have the spiffy purple tank top or expensive compression socks I like to daydream about. Despite my best efforts to pin it back, my hair will most likely still end up in my face even though in my imagination it remains pulled back and seamless throughout the finish. 

And even though I let my mind get the best of me sometimes I do have the confidence (I think) that I'll be prepared to finish, hopefully beating my last time and coming in under 4 hours. I have done and am continuing to do what is necessary to run this race to the best of my abilities. I have left events and get-togethers early in order to be up in time for my early run, I have changed my diet to better include more protein and less Smarties (I said less not zero), I have become impossible to talk to because I only ever want to talk about running and I have sacrificed a small chunk of every paycheck towards shoes, plane tickets, running gear and food to try and contain my teenage boy sized appetite.

I'm nervous it is going to rain. I'm obsessed over what the temperature may be. I'm paranoid that it will be "run in place" windy. However, when it comes down to it, one month from today the weather will bring whatever it decides, I'll look the way that I look and I'll be there at the starting line -- a little less chiseled and fashionably dressed than I've imagined -- ready to give it my best shot.

Deni-Hill

Ah, the return of the early morning workout. I missed you.

 5:30am came fast yesterday.  I didn’t get into bed until 9:30pm the night previous and didn’t fall asleep till after 10:00pm, which is a really late night for me. When you run a lot sleep becomes integral to the recovery process. They say that for every mile you run during the week (I ran 60 last week) you should sleep an extra minute each night. Moreover, I should be sleeping an extra hour every night on top of the recommended 7-8. Needless to say the 7.5 hours I ended up getting did not feel like enough.   

I had an easy 5.5 miles to do yesterday. I headed outside for my run and it was borderline cold out when I started! I felt great for the first mile and actually had thoughts like “I bet this will be my best run ever”… then came the big hill. 

Picture from Google Maps. Does NOT do its insanity justice.

 You see, there are two routes I can take from my apartment. One route is flat for about a mile and then gradually uphill (some parts steeper than others but mostly just a 1% grade) for about 3.5 miles before a nice big downhill for a half mile and the rest is flatish. The other way (the way I went yesterday) is flat for about a mile, gradual include for about a half mile and then a HUGE FREAKING HILL for about .5-.75 miles.

However, after that hill it’s downhill for the rest of the run. So I always try to decide if I want to slowly torture myself (the first route) or have a short, but incredibly difficult hill encounter (the second route).  

Somehow I always brainwash myself into thinking the hill isn’t “that bad” or “that long” and think only about the nice long downhill after it. On paper it doesn't look so bad! The grade isn't very steep and it's only a mile... all reasons I convinced myself to choose that route yesterday morning. Well of course, like always, it kicked my trash. It took me from feeling “great” in my first mile to “I think I need to stop” during my second. I eventually pulled it together and pushed through the hill and enjoyed the rest of my downhillish run.

Once I got on my bus, my 7.5 hours of sleep caught up with me and I fell asleep. Yep, I was one of those people.

This morning the alarm was set for 5:40am and I had a 45 minute tempo run on the agenda. Tempo runs are carried out a few different ways, but are usually described as running at a “comfortably hard” pace for the allotted time.For me my “comfortably hard” pace is about 8:00 minute miles. 

I did not feel great when I woke up and didn’t really know what to expect. Luckily my warm up mile was very easy and before I knew it I was cranking up the pace. I think weird things when I do runs like this to keep myself from looking down at my mileage. Today, I had the song “Good Time” stuck in my head, I made a to-do list in my head for work, made a pros and cons list for washing my hair before work or after work, added up how many miles I’ll end up running this week, thought about what we needed to buy at Costco and of course imagined crossing the finish line in Chicago.

I ended up doing 7.5 miles with my warm up and cool down.

For those keeping track my running "pros" list for washing my hair before work won.

 Tonight I plan to go on the above mentioned Costco trip and enjoying our weekly taco tradition.  Just one more run before my rest day! Wow. That almost makes me sad. I’m shooting for between 8-8.5 miles outside, but I might chicken out since it’s staying dark longer and I’m not a fan of running when you can still see the big dipper.

My Hungriest Week Ever: Part Two -- "The Long Weeked"

21 miles. My second run of 20+ miles during this training cycle. Dare I say I was -- excited?

Saturday: I originally planned to wake up with Ben and ride in with him to work to utilize the trail right next to his building. However, I woke up about 10 minutes before our alarms were set to go off and heard rain. If it had just been rain I might have been brave and gone out anyways, but there was also thunder and lightening and I didn’t want to tango with that combination. I went back to sleep and hoped that the weather would clear up by the time I got up.

After two more wonderful hours of sleep I awoke and the weather looked better. I was still a little weary since the  forecast said 80% chance of rain, but I headed out anyways. I started out on my favorite 10 mile loop around my neighborhood thinking that I would do it twice, but didn’t get started till after 10:00am so I knew it might get too hot and/or rain so my back up plan was to go to the gym to finish the second half.

Well – I ended up going to the gym for the second half, but not cause of the rain. The HEAT. By the time I had run the 10.5 miles in the loop (the added .5 coming from the run to the gym) I was drenched in sweat and wanted to run without my hydration pack weighing me down. I headed to the gym and ran at a pace a little faster than what I was doing outside while watching the movie Bewitched. I’m not sure what my average pace was between the two settings, but it was a little slower than my last 20 mile run, but still satisfactory.

I had planned to take a nice leisurely walk home, but as soon as I walked outside there was a huge crack of thunder. Now I’m maybe a bit of a baby when it comes to thunder and lighting. I blame it on the assembly they made us attend in the 7^th grade drilling into our head how lightening is the number one killer of natural disasters. So even though my legs were tired and my body was spent all it took was the sound of thunder to scare me into running. I hated every second of it and wanted to stop, but my plain old fear kept me going. It’s a good thing I started running when I did because once I was a good 10^th of a mile away it started down pouring. Not “this is an uncomfortable drizzle” but rather “I can’t even keep my eyes open and it took 5 second for my shoes to be soggy” type of rain. 

Rainy, not sweay.

After a nice warm shower and a quick 30 minute power nap I planted myself on the couch and refueled with a huge bowl of Greek yogurt, Cheerios and grapes. So yummy. Call me crazy, but cereal is my FAVORITE post-run meal. I always spend my runs dreaming up luxurious breakfasts of eggs and french toast and pancakes, but once I finish all I really want is cereal and fruit.

Ben got home around 3 and we decided to head to 4:45 movie downtown. We hadn’t seen each other since Wednesday night, so we were anxious for a date night. Before we left I went on a quick shopping trip. Mission: find pants that fit. Those who know me well know that I generally buy my pants a size or two big, because I don’t like feeling super constricted. The only problem is when you lose a little weight they go from being comfortable big to downright baggy.

I found pants and two shirts for 25 dollars. Not too bad of a haul!

Ben and I ended up seeing Premium Rush, which we both really enjoyed. It was an entertaining movie that wasn’t necessarily anything special, but I’d watch it again. Next up was a trip to Chili’s. I know, so fancy. By the time the movie was over those 20 miles were really catching up with me (I had snuck in some candy and kettle corn to the movie and had a PB and J before we left). I annihilated the chips and salsa and my entree. I was still hungry when we got home so I also went to my standby of things covered in peanut butter and bowls of cereal while Ben and I watched the recently added to Netflix 4^th season of Parks and Rec from the beginning. 

Sunday: I did not sleep great on Sunday night and despite going to bed after midnight (ridiculously late for me) I was still up by 8. However, I woke up with a surprising amount of energy and excitement for my recovery run that morning. I took my time getting around to it though and spent my morning watching TV and preparing my Sunday school lesson.

After about 2 hours of lazying around I did my 30-minute Jillian Michaels video and headed out to do an easy 6 miles. I usually do my recovery runs on the treadmill to keep myself from going too fast, but after a week relegated to the treadmill after work I was itching to run outside. So even though it was a bit warm I did my best to keep it slow and enjoy my run.

Soon after my run came church and teaching Sunday school. Ben and I teach kids 12-15 and they are such good kids it actually makes it hard. One time we were teaching them about peer pressure and I said:

“Have any of you even been invited to a big party?”

And showing their total innocence one girl said, “you mean a birthday party?”

Ben was working all night, AGAIN, so I made myself a huge tuna salad and planted myself on the couch for most of the night. When I got bored I decided to go for a walk. 

View of the Bountiful Temple on my walk.

I ended up walking for about an hour and a half. Wanna know what I thought about for most of the walk? What I wanted to eat after the Chicago marathon. I kept going back and forth between pizza and make your own sandwiches for an entrée and ice cream, cake, cookies and pie for dessert…

I rounded out my night by making some chili and corn bread and watching Julie & Julia on tv.

Monday: Ben had to be to work by 10am and I wanted to do my run on the trail next to his job so I was up and doing Jillian by 9 despite another late and mostly sleepless night.

I had zero expectations for this 10 mile run. I had only run this trail once before and so I was pretty unfamiliar with it. I knew it was less hilly (although still had rolling hills) than my neighborhood route so I went for it.

This turned out to be one of those runs that made me feel like I am not crazy for having the goals that I do for this marathon. I did one warm up mile that was around 9:10 and the rest were all sub-9. My last mile came in at 8:20, which for me, is a fast last mile. That was in spite of the heat too! It was over 80 degrees by the time I finished. 

Sweaty, not rainy.

 I did a mile walk cool-down and headed to the store (I go to the store a lot if you haven’t noticed). I still had about 6 hours to occupy myself while Ben was at work. After watching some TV I was starting to feel lazy so I decided to do a deep-clean of the apartment. However, I had a kitten that wanted to be paid attention to that was following me around so I tried splitting my attention.

"Pay attention to me!" -- Veronica

I was able to scrub down most of the apartment before picking Ben up from work at 6:00pm. I made chicken stir-fry for dinner, we watched Breaking Bad, Ben’s parents stopped by, Ben and I ate some brownies and ice cream and I went to bed and set my alarm for 5:30am (back to morning workouts!) 

All in all it was a really great long weekend. I was feeling slightly burned out at work and having the extra day off really revitalized me and by the end of the day I was actually looking forward to working the next morning! 

But lets be honest -- I was looking forward to my run more :-).

My Hungriest Week Ever: Part One

My week as an after work runner went great! I was hungrier than I could have ever imagined most days since I didn’t get home from work/running till between 6 and 7 and I spent the daytime at work being careful what I ate so it wouldn’t interfere with what my run… but I would still call it a success!  Here is a day-by-day recap after my Monday evening 8.5 miler.

Tuesday: Ironically enough even though Tuesday was my “short” “slow” run it was my hardest of the week. I think it had something to do with eating too early before I left work and it not sustaining me through the 1 hour 20 minute bus/train ride home. I was starving the whole 6 miles AND I was watching TV so I was being plagued by commercials for delicious looking pizza and unhealthy, but yummy looking, fast food.

I also knew that I had Ben waiting for me at home for a mini-date to go to one of our favorite quick, cheap dinner places – Zupas. By the time I finished my run, walked home from the gym and got in a quick shower it was already after 7, which meant we didn’t get our food till almost 7:30 and at that point I think my blood sugar was at a zero. I was HUNGRY. When I get hungry I get super emotional. My stomach doesn’t growl, but I get very light headed and start to cry if anything even minor messes with my mood. I devoured my sandwich and salad and continued eating more when we got home before heading to bed. 

This sandwich was my salvation.

Wednesday: I got to drive to work Wednesday, which is about a once in a week occurrence so I get revel in it when I get the chance. I spent most of my day very anxious about my run of 11 miles after work. I can usually push myself through 11 miles even if they are miserable and slow, but THESE 11 miles were supposed to have 10 at goal marathon pace and I couldn’t just limp my way through that -- I needed serious energy and stamina to get through it.

I mixed up my pre-run fuel since my "fail" the day before by trying to add a little protein in the mix to keep me fuller as well as keeping in something carby to give me energy. Instead of oatmeal I opted for cheerios mixed with a helping of vanilla Greek yogurt.  It did the trick! I did a one mile warm up and then knocked out 5.5 miles at my goal marathon pace and another 4.5 at above marathon goal pace for a total of 11. I was dead and starving by the end, but as you may remember Wednesday’s are TACO NIGHT so I had a delicious filling meal waiting for me.

Thursday: Even after yesterday’s successful “hard” run I was worried for the hill workout I had on the agenda for after work. Leave it to me to spend my day anxious about a 7 mile run instead of something actually important. My main worry was that there was a football game going on at The U and I was paranoid about my train and bus being delaying and even making to the gym at a decent time. The later I got to the gym the hungrier I knew I would be. For once public transportation was a major win and got me off campus and out of traffic in no time! When I got to the gym I was feeling a little hungry, but I knew this run was the only thing standing in my way of tomorrow's rest day.

Now, pace miles are difficult, but HILLS are scary and my arch-nemesis. I constantly battle with them whenever I run around my neighborhood and the hills in my first marathon were so killer I had to walk up the last few. Luckily, this evening's work out ended up going pretty well! I kept my speed at 9:10 miles through the whole workout and did a really simple routine very similar to intervals, but changing the elevation instead of speed. Here is how it went down:

Warm up for 2 miles @ 1.0% incline
4.0	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
4.5	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
5.0	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
5.5	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
6.0	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
5.5	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
5.0	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
4.5	.25 miles
0	.25 miles
Cool down 1.5 miles at 1%
Total: 7.5 miles

I couldn’t stop smiling after I was finished. I had actually done it! I had actually gone running every day after work and had a rest day awaiting me tomorrow. I finished every workout as prescribed and didn’t make any excuses. To celebrate I picked up a diet caffeine free coke to go with my bagel bites for dinner (can't sleep if I have caffeine after 4... well not as early as I was planning on going to bed anyways).

Yes, I was excited enough about this to take a picture of it.

Friday: By the time I get to Friday I am simultaneous so happy it’s a rest day and excited for my long run the next morning that work is just a necessary evil. I love my rest days. I can almost feel my muscles knitting together and thanking me for the day off. I am also SO hungry and spend the day making up for any calories I may not have gotten in through the week while carbo loading for the next morning’s run. Don’t judge, but I had pasta for first dinner, french toast for second dinner and various things slathered in peanut butter throughout the night as well as who knows what else. I was an eating machine. 

Ben was working again, so most of my night looked like this: