Cap 10k recap: it stunk

Sorry I’m so lame and have been missing lately. I promise I’m not off having secret, fun adventures. I am studying for my Master’s degree comprehensive exams which are in a week and are draining my brain and my social life. But enough about that.

Amidst the studying, I have had some time to keep running. I knew going into this semester that I would need to keep running up after my half marathon for my mental sanity. So I signed up for a few races to keep me on track. It was a great strategy and reminds me that I need to get out of my apartment and take a break from the studying. Physical movement is good for brain function. It’s science or something.

(Side note: I’m totally into this picture in a narcissistic way. I keep staring at it. I think it is the way my leg looks so long and svelte? Or is it that my shining paleness attracts the eyes?)

I ran the Statesman Capitol 10k this past weekend and I had this idea that I’d be able to come back and tell you all that I had a big PR and was so proud of myself. But the morning of the race, I kind of knew that wasn’t going to happen. I had done some speed work and actually dropped 30 seconds off my average pace/mile (huge for slowpokes like me) and I thought I could drop time off my old 10k time. But then I realized the race started at 9am. And then I woke up not excited at all. I just wasn’t there, mentally.

Like my awesome Hunger Games shirt? Not a single person complimented me. Jerks.

WTF who plans a race at 9am in March in Texas? It was already 70* and climbing by the time the race started, which really isn’t that hot. But then the sun wouldn’t go away and there was not even a breeze. I saw people on stretchers and passed out on the side of the road with IVs because of the heat. It didn’t seem like it was that hot, but everyone around me was dying too. I took far more walking breaks than I did during my entire half marathon and crossed the finish line looking like this:

So sexy it hurts. I know.

I may or may not have puked at the end. The combination of needing water to not dehydrate and not needing water because it makes me feel sick when I run is not good. I drank too much for my stomach but not nearly enough for the warm run.

Discouraged, I grabbed a banana and hiked back to my car. I was pretty upset. I spent all day sulking. And then I got over it. I have another 10k coming up in a couple weeks, at 8am instead of 9am, and I’m going into it prepared to remember that “bad” races can happen and I should just enjoy what my body can do, no matter what speed.

Countdown to exam: 6 days
Countdown to visiting Rahul: 7 days
Countdown to moving to DC: 45 days

why I broke up with Daily Mile

Will this blog ever talk about food again? Better question: will I ever have time to cook and eat again? Sadly I’m right in the middle of preparing for the comprehensive exam for my MA and honestly cooking is low priority right now. Hopefully this weekend I’ll get in the kitchen and make something delicious, but for now my random thoughts will have to suffice. Apologies, etc, etc.

(Oh and if you’re joining me from Skinny Runner, thank you for clicking over!)

So, riding on the coattails of my half marathon I figured I’d talk shop a bit about running. I guess now that I have a medal, I can consider myself a real runner? I think it is funny how new runners are, typically, reluctant to call themselves “runners” because there is a very clear image that goes along with being a runner.

But, I honestly think a website, Daily Mile, has the fault for a lot of my running woes. When I first started running I was logging my miles religiously on Daily Mile, a kind of Facebook for fitness. I found other local runners who friended me and would comment on my workouts and I on theirs. But I started to get really into it — too into it. I compared myself to them, pushed myself to keep up with them, and ultimately pushed myself too hard. I got an injury in my IT band and virtually quit running, mad at the running gods of the universe.

I took over a year off but when I came back to it for this half marathon training, I started my DM account again. And the cycle continued. I completely deleted it and began to log my miles on a spreadsheet on my computer, comparing my stats to no one but myself and much happier, despite my slowed pace.

This is not to say that DM is evil. I met some great people and even had a few group runs because of it. I got to know some local athletes who inspired me in my running and could pass on their wisdom to a newbie like me. But ultimately, social networking of my workouts was not for me. I am far too competitive of a person for it to be productive.

So now I use SmashRun, a website with a much better interface (I think) with the option to push notifications out to Facebook or Twitter. I do neither and keep it all private, but I like the analysis it does of my runs. It tells me that I rarely get my butt out to run on Mondays. It tells me that when I run after 10am, I’m a good 20 seconds/mile slower than average! And it tracks cumulative miles so I feel super impressed that I’m almost at 100 for 2012.

These are just my 2 cents on the issue. Do you use DM and love it? Had you never heard of it before? Do you track your fitness (of any kind!) on some kind of website? Are my questions stupid? 

livestrong half marathon recap

So yesterday I shed (metaphorical) blood, (real) sweat, and (copious) tears as I finished my very first half marathon.

13.1 miles later, I am still alive, really sore, and really proud.

At 6:15am, I headed to Austin’s Capitol building to meet up with my teammates from Team Asha and took some touristy pictures. Here’s my #1 cheerleader from the course… Rahul!

He came to town to visit, cheer for me, and to make me look even paler than I already am.

He took off at 6:45am to start on some mimosas with my other cheerleaders and I nervously made my way to the start line, pairing myself with some people from the Austin Fit pace group I’ve been doing long runs with. The race started at 7am and since 15,000 crazy people had to cross the start with me, it took me until about 7:15am to even run.

The first few miles were great, I was feeling strong and even saw Rahul and my friends Mary and Cliff cheering for me around mile 2.5. It was a huge boost as I saw the steady 3 mile climb up South Congress from there! The turn around to the 3 mile downhill was wonderful, as I saw another few teammates, smelled bacon from a local restaurant, and saw how I was rocking my pace nearly 30 seconds under my usual. I was cautious not to go out too hard, but I was doing okay except some nerves affecting my stomach.

I saw my cheerleading squad around mile 7 for the last time and took off the rest of the way on my own. I had only run up to 10 miles prior to the race, since I missed the 12 mile run with my group. I got to mile 10 and hit a wall, realizing I had never taken in more fuel (Shot Blocks) at mile 8 like planned, and I felt it. With a short break to chew I got reenergized and tackled some rolling hills.

Then I got to mile 11.8 and wanted to cry. I suppose this is the race organizer’s fun little way to torture us all? It was awful. You saw it coming and dreaded it the whole way and climbed something like 8 stories in .15 of a mile. I walked up part of it and felt really out of breath at the end of it. I tried to pull it together but ended up having to walk up another short hill at 12.6… so close to the end!

I finally did manage to pull it together and rounded the corner towards the finish line. I was slightly ahead of pace so I wasn’t expecting friends to be there and I just gave it my last bit of energy. I cried and threw my arms up as I ran the last .05 miles to the finish. I have been dreaming about doing a half for 3 years and had finally completed it!

I felt momentarily like I couldn’t catch my breath but after chugging some water and getting my medal, things got better. I found Rahul, who is the most amazing person I could ever ask to be with, and he was so proud of me that it made me even prouder of what I had accomplished. We reunited with friends, had a mimosa, and then I stuffed my face with bacon and eggs and all was right with the world.

So there it is. My first 13.1 in 2:26:41. I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe I would be happier if I wasn’t hobbling like an old lady right now.

The Color Run Austin recap

It was your typical Saturday morning in Austin that started like this…

And quickly turned into this…

3 of my friends and I decided a couple months ago to participate in the Austin Color Run. It basically takes the concept from the Hindu holiday, Holi (March 8th this year), and combines it with a 5k and fundraising for Habitat for Humanity. The concept of Holi, in the least amount of words possible, is to cover everyone in pigment so we all look the same and no one can see our differences.

So we came up with a great team name, The Violent Lovers (thanks to a Wu Tang Clan name generator…) and bought awesome tube socks from Target for $1.50. I ran with my friends Marcy, Mary, and Cliff and while it was a harrowing experience, I couldn’t have chosen better teammates.

Because of the random drought-busting storms we’ve been having lately, Austin is muddy. But we were prepared and everyone had a towel and some extra shoes and we figured we’d be fine. We were happy and hopeful. We’d gotten emails from The Color Run, who does a great job of communicating pre-race, about a change in location because of the overwhelming interest. Well, despite changing the location, it still caused a 5 mile back up on the road leading to the park. We were on track to get to the park by 8:15am for the 9am start when we hit the traffic. It was horrible. I went 1 mile in 40 minutes. We ended up pulling into a nearby neighborhood around 9am and walking over a mile to the race.

We finally got to the venue and even though we were a little chilly and bitter about the traffic situation, we found out that nothing was on time because of the traffic and other planning failures. I admit I am a little upset about the lack of organization at this point. If the logistics of the race caused them to move venues, perhaps they should have been more prepared for the huge amount of people they were expecting… But we got in line, about 3/4 of the way back, and waited for the staggered start of our “wave”.

We did not cross the start line until 10am (an hour after projected) but we tried to smile and jog to warm ourselves up. But the congestion was awful. People were stopping at every person who had a bucket of the color (an eco-friendly pigment powder) and we walked the first 5 minutes. There were spectators with color, but at every kilometer (of the 5-kilometer race) there was a “color zone” so we figured we’d get color there and dodged our way through the crowd, color-less. The course started to get muddy, but nothing a little washing wouldn’t fix later, so we stayed together and trekked on.

Unfortunately we got to the first color zone to find out they had run out of color. We were all cold, muddy, and not covered in yellow powder yet so the 4 of us started to get a little grouchy. At this point the mud had gotten so bad we could not even attempt to run. Our shoes got stuck and Cliff and Marcy had to physically pull my leg out several times. We started slipping and sliding (see above picture) and people left and right were cursing, losing shoes, and complaining about how there was no color left.

We found a quick cut-through and decided to knock off about .5 miles of the course. At this point I looked at my Garmin watch to find out we had only gone .75 miles total, in over 20 minutes. There was no way I was going 3.1 in those conditions. We start hearing from the chit-chat happening around us that none of the zones have any color left at this point, that it was all used up in the first few waves. People were getting angry. I was getting upset. At some point, Mary and Cliff got separated from us and Marcy and I grumbled and climbed our way through mud. We ended up taking another huge short cut and rounded the bend, seeing the finish line ahead of us. In 38 minutes, we traveled 1.48 miles and I think I used the phrase “They should have rescheduled” about 38 times.

We ended the race with no color on our bodies and found a tent where they were giving 1 bag of color to every participant in exchange for a wrist bracelet. This was the first color we’d seen all morning! We grabbed our bags, miraculously found Cliff and Mary, and we all covered each other in powder.

At the end of it, our shoes were ruined. We ended up throwing them in a box that subsequently went into the dumpster at my apartment (coincidentally, the same dumpster that had to be stepped into when we realized, hours later, that Cliff’s camera — where all these pictures are from — was also in that box.)

We were cold, in terrible moods about the lack of organization from the Color Run and full of complaints. With our shoes quite wet and heavy, we trekked back to my car, tried our best to rinse our hands and feet with water from water bottles, and sat on towels. Bloody Marys and mimosas followed and our moods lightened up a bit. We ended up having brunch at Austin Java and cleaning ourselves up a bit in their bathroom.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about the race. It was an adventure in many ways and it was great to spend my morning with friends, but because of the horrible mud situation and the poor organization at the race itself, I felt like I wasted a morning and $40. If the Color Run is coming to a city near you, I would recommend signing up because I think it could be a really great experience. I think they’re learning from their mistakes and hopefully there won’t be a giant rainstorm for the 10 days prior to your race. I honestly think I want to do the September event in DC, since I’ll be living there by then, so I can give it another chance. It has great potential, but Saturday stunk.

some January motivation

Ahh January… the time of year when gyms are overcrowded and diet commercials abound! Some people take January seriously, and others are totally annoyed by the so-called “January joiners” who invade the gym and produce section. When people roll into the gym with jeans and water bottles full of Diet Coke (bless their hearts), I have to force myself to remember one thing: that was me 3 years ago. Lost, unhappy, 250 lbs, but trying to fix it.

Yep, 3 years ago today I started to change my life on my own terms. As I’ve written about before, my dad died in November of 2008. Here is a picture of me from my mom’s wedding, just a day after his funeral:

Shortly after this, I finished my semester and had about a month of winter break to process things. Slowly, the wheels of change started to spin in my brain and I found blogs about healthy living and weight loss. I investigated my choices. I invested in myself. I started Weight Watchers on January 12, 2009.

I learned about making smarter choices with my food. I liked the burn I felt in my muscles when I exercised. I knew that I had to do something proactive to become a happier person and turn things around for myself. It all started to click.

I started on the elliptical, moved to running (using the Couch to 5k program!), and ran my first 5k! I then ran a 10k and a handful of other 5k’s. I got back into swimming, my childhood sport and first love. I took spin classes. I was healthy.

Over the next year and a half, I lost 80 lbs. I was happy. I was a new person.

In the 1.5 years since I’ve moved to Texas, I gained 10-12 lbs back (depending on what day you asked me). I got a little disheartened after falling out of some new habits and back into some old habits. But since August I’ve been trying to pick myself back up by my bootstraps (because I actually have bootstraps now) and I’ve gotten back on the bandwagon and lost the “moving-weight”. Now, I’m looking forward to getting rid of the final 15 lbs I want to shed. Full disclosure: I’m using Weight Watchers again and have been since November.

So why am I sharing all this with you? I wanted to write it out for myself as some positive reinforcement and motivation for me, as well as anyone out there looking at the calendar and wondering if this year is the year. It is! I did it. And not to sound like one of those tv commercials but… if I can do it, so can you. It wasn’t always easy, and it certainly wasn’t always pretty, but I did it.

My advice: pick some small things you can change and go from there. One change will snowball into another. You’ll be amazed at what you continue to accomplish. Find yourself a mantra (the one I’m using these days was 100% stolen from the Minute Maid orange juice slogan, but it works): “Put good in, get good out.”

Are you using this January to change things up? Are you looking for ways to get healthier? Did you already find a better lifestyle? I want to hear everyone’s stories! I need the motivation and I know other people want it, too!

 

gettin’ ripped

To change subjects entirely, I would like to redirect your attention to my muscles.

In addition to training for a half marathon (read my story here and consider donating here!), I am currently enrolled in a good old fashioned PE class through the institution where I am studying for my Master’s degree. This has been an amazing class and I can feel my body changing every day. I have definitely gained muscle in my arms, back, and legs, and my abs are getting stronger each day.

We start every day with a brief overview of the workout and then we are led in an intense warm up, followed by our workout. If you are interested in doing a more structured weight training program, here’s what I do twice a week in class and once a week on my own:

Warm up:
15 crunches
30 penguins
15 leg lifts
10 zulus <— my own personal hell
25 flutter kicks
15 reverse crunches
30 bicycles
10 bird dogs (per side)
10 standard fire hydrants (per side)
5 forward loop fire hydrants (per side)
5 reverse loop fire hydrants (per side)
10 Superman pushups <— I can’t actually do the pushup component
10 push up plus
20 mountain climbers
10 donkey kicks
10 sky divers
10 back divers
30 second side plank (per side)
die in a pool of sweat

Weight training (sets x reps):
1 x 10 bench press warm up, 45 lbs (just the bar)
3 x 5 bench press target, 60 lbs
1 x 10 bench press warm down, 45 lbs

1 x 10 squats warm up, 45 lbs (just the bar)
3 x 5 squats target, 70 lbs
1 x 10 squats warm down, 45 lbs

3 x 10 bicep curl with dumbbell,  12.5 lbs
2 x 10 (per side) dumbbell row, 15 lbs
3 x 10 French press, 15 lbs <— do this for fierce arms
3 x 10 tricep pull down, 15 lbs
3 x 10 overhead press (with bar or dumbbells), 35 lbs

3 x 10 leg press, 150 lbs
3 x 10 calf raises (toes pointing in, toes pointing out, neutral stance)

**If you don’t know what some of these are, a quick Google search will get you images of them all!

Before starting any weight training, remember that I am not a professional, I am not your doctor (so talk to your own!), and that you shouldn’t try for the weights I am lifting if you are not capable of lifting them! For bench press and squats, you will need a spotter to help you (so modify and do traditional squats with hand weights if you don’t have a rack or lie on a bench and use dumbbells for bench press).

Do you have a weight training program? Or do you just do a few standard exercises after finishing up your cardio?

race recap: Uptown Classic 5k

Wow it has been quite a while since I wrote a race recap! In fact, my last race was in May 2010!

Yesterday I woke up bright and early and headed out to a popular local race here in Austin, the Uptown Classic. Typically this has been a 10k race on a flat and fast course but this year they added a 5k to the event. Not feeling quite ready to tackle a 10k yet (but soon!) I wrangled my friend Mary and another Asha Strides of Hope teammate and dear friend, Vaishno, to run it with me!

While the rest of the country is experiencing a phenomenon known as “fall”, Austin has yet to see this. Well, perhaps we are seeing fall as our average temperature is now 93* as opposed to 105*. The morning started out a bit chilly, but by the 2nd mile I was getting quite warm!

The race was great. It was small, despite its popularity, and it allowed me a chance to explore a part of Austin I’m not familiar with (The Domain). In my half marathon training we’re running intervals with walking breaks but I told myself not to walk if I could help it and I only walked twice: through a water station and for about 30 seconds towards the end until I saw the finish line! I was quite proud of myself for not stopping, despite being pretty out of shape.

About halfway through, a quadruple amputee ran past me on prosthetic legs. I started to cry. I cried not because this man was faster than me, but because he was that awesome. He was a military veteran and everyone whispered about him to their running partner as he ran through the crowd. And I just cried. He, unbeknownst to him, became my hero in that moment and I pushed through the urge to walk and finished the race as strong as I could.

As I crossed the finish line, I saw some Team Asha teammates cheering me on (thanks!) and in a complete daze almost didn’t recognize Mary who was standing at the end of the finish line cheering me on!

I grabbed some water and walked up to the finish line to cheer on other friends and we all headed over to the post-race expo for results and so much free stuff! As we were looking for our results, they started to announce age group prizes in the 5k. Imagine my surprise when we suddenly heard my name being called out. 

I actually said, “Wait, did they just say my name? What do I do?” and some stranger who heard us talking said “Go up and get your prize, silly!”

I ended up getting a respectable 3rd place in my age group (20-24) and Mary actually got 1st place in her age group (25-29) and 3rd overall for the females in the 5k! Granted it was a small race, but I’m still proud! All my friends did so well!

Thanks to everyone for supporting me — y’all are amazing!

we run so they can read

I am sure many people are familiar with the concept of running races to raise money. I think Relay for Life is one of the biggest fund-raising efforts that uses running/walking as their platform. You may also be familiar with Team in Training that trains people to run half and full marathons to raise money for leukemia and lymphoma research.

But did you know that you can run a race to help end illiteracy in India? That’s right. And guess who is running it? This girl.

(Can you spot the lone white girl?)

I’ll be running the Livestrong Austin (Half) Marathon in February of 2012, a feat that sounds laughable to me at the moment as I’m grossly out of running shape. The elliptical in the air-conditioned gym and I have become fast friends this 105*+ summer. But I’m strapping on the running shoes and questioning my decision every day as I train with Austin Fit to run for Team Asha.

While no one charity is better than another, I happen to be running for this cause because it is very dear to my heart. For starters, I am in graduate school for a degree in literature… something not easily attainable for children who don’t have access to quality education. Literacy is something I’ve taken for granted my whole life, having grown up in suburbia with a great school system.

And as for why Asha and not another children’s charity… well there’s a man I’m in love with and he is from India. It seems pretty logical to me. I want to help other people from the country that provided Rahul with the educational foundation to come to America, continue his education, get a job in Austin, and meet and fall in love with me.

I don’t yet have my fundraising page up, but when I do, I will certainly post it for y’all. I know that the economic climate is not favorable right now, but if you can find it in your heart to donate even $5, that would help tremendously. Think about it: for the price of 2 coffees at Starbucks, you can help me raise money so millions of children can read. 

Thank you all for your continued support — I look forward to training and running for the kids of India and for all of you!

race announcement

Boys and girls, it is time to break out the BodyGlide, cuddle with my foam roller, and use the power of positive thinking because I have signed up to run the Bun Run 5k on May 1st here in Austin. I’m probably more qualified for the kid’s 1k Fun Run.

“Running??” you ask.

Yes, I’m aware it has been a while since I ran a race (almost a year, in fact). But since my leg started feeling better and I got new shoes, I haven’t been able to shake the nagging feeling that I should “get back into running”. Since I had to let my half marathon dreams go, I’ve been secretly missing running. My friend Emilie asked if I would do this 5k with her, and while originally skeptical and saying that I would only do it if my leg felt okay, I’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and probably end up walking part of the race. I’m okay with that.

Running-wise, I’m so far behind where I was a year ago when I ran a 10k, but I’m excited. I really enjoyed running short distances and races like 5ks are so much fun. Plus I am publicizing this and making y’all hold me to this.

Oh and I want to have this look on my face again…

New to the blog or just want to relive when I had aspirations to be the next great marathoner? Here are my (few) race recaps for your reading pleasure:
My first ever race – January 16, 2010
Monument Ave 10k – March 27, 2010
Lion’s Club Journey for Sight 5k – April 10, 2010
EquiKids 5k – May 16, 2010

I run to be…

I am happy to report I am feeling much better than this morning Thanks for all the concern!

At the office, I enjoyed a lovely lunch of foods I was craving…

Wheat english muffin with hummus and spinach; fruit salad with Greek yogurt (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, banana, tossed in lemon juice and a touch of powdered sugar... leftover from dessert Friday)

Throughout the afternoon at the office and babysitting, I munched on a handful of almonds, a Kashi TLC bar, 4 bites of an apple until I discovered a worm, and a handful of Goldfish with the kids I babysit.

After babysitting, I went to the gym for a relatively easy workout. I didn’t want to exert myself after last night’s strange events, but I felt well enough to get in a decent sweat session. I did 45 minutes of interval training on the elliptical and then a few minutes of strength training.

When I got home, I wanted to use tofu and a few Twitter friends suggested an Asian stir fry. There was no brown rice in the house so I used soba (buckwheat) noodles and stir fried peas, shelled edamame, red pepper, and tofu in hoisin and teriyaki sauce. Then I combined it all together and it was delicious.

Amazing stir fry

Aaaaaaaaaand dessert. Typical.

Purely Decadent Coconut Milk vanilla "ice cream" with a sugar cookie

Okay, so if you’re like any member of my family, you’ll be wondering how my training for the half marathon is going. Well, I am WAY off schedule. I’m not stressing too much, though, since it isn’t until October. With all the travel, weird knee pain, and strange medical issues, I have gotten away from my plan.

At the moment, I’m watching “The Biggest Loser” , where they are running a marathon. This was making me feel pathetic for the “progress” I’ve made on my half marathon training thus far.

So this got me thinking about why I run and the progress I’ve made overall. Do I run to compete in races and have accomplishments? Do I run to lose weight? Or do I simply run for me? As the half marathon I’ve entered is the Nike Women’s (Half) Marathon, on the entry form there was an option to complete the phrase, “I run to be…” so I put “I run to be AMAZED” because that is what running truly does for me. Every time I get out there I am amazed at the person I’ve become and the things I have accomplished in my life. Not even a year and a half ago I was 250 lbs. And now I’m entered in a half marathon?? LOCO!!!

Even if I am a bit off in my plan, the fact that I am out there trying and have committed myself to running the half marathon is a miracle. I don’t need the recognition of a medal at a race or the pride of my family to keep me running. I simply need to recognize the pride I have in myself for the person I’ve become and it will keep me running. I  am constantly amazed at my own personal progress in such a short time.

How have you amazed yourself lately? If you could finish the phrase, “I run to be…” how would you?