Epic Fail

Or how I survived a 16 mile run. Or how running in a group really saved my ass today.

OK, wasn't really that much of a fail since I did actually get the mileage in. But were they good miles? There's a term in the running world called Junk Miles. They are defined as "Runs at an easy pace inserted into a program in order to reach a weekly or monthly mileage total rather than for any specific benefit."

I'm thinking that's pretty much what I did today. Not so sure. What I did today was not the brightest idea I've ever had. In fact, I think it was pretty much stupid. I ran 16 miles, with no running for 8 days, and my last run being 2 weeks ago of 8 miles and the week before that was 12. Can we agree stupid? :-)

The sun is now starting to get real lazy and when my alarm went off at 6am, it was barely up and definitely not above the roofs. Which made me feel lazy too. Not cool Sun, not cool!

I was still out to the trailhead of the Great Western Trail by 7:15am. I was getting everything ready to go when a bunch of people went running past me. I recognised a few people in the front of the group. Then someone from my NITRO group was there and he passed me saying that I could join them for their run to St. Charles on the path. I told him that I was only doing 16 (the email they sent out said that they were doing 18). He said that it's only another mile to the end. That got the wheels turning. So I asked if there was room for me in their cars (they had dropped some cars at the end) and he said yes. So I took off with the group!

This guy passed me. His butt was soaking in sweat.

They all didn't have any water bottles with them since a husband of a runner was out there dropping stuff along the way. I had my 4 bottle water belt with me though so I just went by the first stop.

But then my left shoe started to cause my toes to go numb. I loosened the laces and let them come alive again. Started to run. Got the same problem. Stopped again later on and adjusted them again. Took off running. Still went numb. This time I stayed with it and kept going.

This guy was like a Kenyan. Apparently, he was running 22 miles starting in St. Charles.

When I hit the horse farm, it was about 9 miles and I knew then that I was venturing into uncharted territory. Never been past that farm. At one point, I had to stop and take off my shoes for a little bit because the bottoms of my feet were burning. I also loosened up my laces a lot more at that point to let them wakeup.

The 3 women passed me at that point. And at the next water stop, I had joined back up with them and we were all keeping pace together. That was around 10.40 miles. Eventually though, I had to walk. At 12 miles, I started walking and one of them joined me but I told her to keep on going cause I had no idea how long I would take. I ended up walking the entire mile! But it was much needed.

2 of the women I was running with.

Once we got in toward St. Charles the path became paved and quite shaded so that felt nice. Everyone was having problems with the heat. Wasn't good. One guy ended up being picked up from our group.

Me walking in the 12th mile.

I thought that when I hit 13 miles, I would be able to keep on going with the running but that didn't happen. I had to pause and walk. Did so again in the 14th mile and the 15th mile. Once I hit 16 on my Phil, I knew I could walk and not care. It felt so much better. However, my calves started to cramp and my hip started to hurt as well.

Near the end! 3 miles to go!

I walked up to the shelter and the runners there were applauding me. I just told them that it was the dumbest thing I've ever done.

We actually didn't leave the shelter until about noon. I was thinking of taking an cold water bath immediately but wasn't sure if it was still going to be beneficary for me to do so. But I did it anyway. Felt good. Im laying here on my couch now and my legs are starting to hurt. So I'm gonna need to get up and do something here soon. Also, need to turn on my AC I think. It's hot today!

I was going to do an organised bike ride tomorrow but decided against it. There's no way my legs would be able to handle that.

My Garmin stats which does not count the pauses at the water stops.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 859 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: -79 ft Date: 08/15/09 Up/Downhill: [+331/-410] Time: 07:22 AM Difficulty: 4.1 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 76 F temp; 78% humidity 79 F heat index; winds S 12 Performance Distance: 16.00 miles Time: 2:54:51 Speed: 5.5 mph Pace: 10' 56 /mi Calories: 1651 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 18 -1' 38 6.5 +1.0 +23 ft 2 9' 26 -1' 30 6.3 +0.9 +7 ft 3 9' 36 -1' 20 6.2 +0.8 -10 ft 4 10' 22 -0' 34 5.8 +0.3 +9 ft 5 9' 36 -1' 20 6.2 +0.8 -13 ft 6 9' 53 -1' 03 6.1 +0.6 +3 ft 7 12' 00 +1' 04 5.0 -0.5 0 ft 8 10' 39 -0' 17 5.6 +0.1 +10 ft 9 11' 39 +0' 43 5.2 -0.3 +43 ft 10 10' 53 -0' 03 5.5 +0.0 -23 ft 11 10' 42 -0' 14 5.6 +0.1 -20 ft 12 11' 02 +0' 06 5.4 -0.1 -37 ft 13 19' 44 +8' 48 3.0 -2.4 -17 ft 14 10' 50 -0' 06 5.5 +0.0 -13 ft 15 12' 36 +1' 40 4.8 -0.7 -29 ft end 11' 28 +0' 32 5.2 -0.3 -10 ft Versus average of 10' 56 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 16 miles, Great Western Trail, NITRO, pictures

Just a quick update on sickness

As I mentioned I got sick on Sunday night and was dragging butt on Monday. On Tuesday I was also dragging but not as much, Wednesday I was feeling back to a 8. I thought it was food poisoning. I showed my date this bump on my stomach and he thought it was a spider bite. What?! He said that one gets sick about 24 hours after a spider bite too. Well, I was in the woods on Saturday so I guess I could have gotten it then. And I did notice the red splotch first on Saturday night/Sunday morning. Doesn't really itch though. I still put some Cortisone on it though, just in case. Cause nearly a week later the red is still there as well as the bump!

This guy looked it up and claims that he knows that I got bit by a brown recluse. I don't know about that because those aren't really found around here AND it's kinda big that I wouldn't have noticed it??

And I still haven't ran since last Saturday when I did the 10 miles. I did get up this morning, was out of bed at 6am but I just didn't WANT to run. How weird is that? I know I MUST run tomorrow morning and I'll do 5 miles or so.

I've gotten this question about three times and my answer is always the same, so I'm starting to think that someone is wrong. When you runners don't run, do you feel sluggish or crabby, you miss running and feel like you NEED to run to expend that energy? I don't. If I don't run, it doesn't bother me. I don't feel guilty, I don't miss it. Nothing. People have said that the people they know that are runners are just opposite of me. So when they ask me if I feel the same way their people do, I feel like I'm not a real runner then. It's quite weird actually.

I have a NITRO running picnic to go to though I won't be able to stay too long (plans came up), just enough time to drop off my cupcakes and buy my NITRO tech shirt. So I won't be able to partake in the 2 mile predication run. Which would have been cool, my first one.

I also want to wish Erin good luck in Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon this Sunday. She's already out in Napa and is enjoying a few days before race day. She's also taking a few extra days as well as a vacation. At the end of the race, you get a wine glass and a glass of wine! Sounds delish!!

Categories: NITRO, sick

Am I a fish or a runner?

I get enjoyment out of the little things in life. Most days it's wearing the most annoying colour combination while running. :-) Today it was a red shirt with lime green shorts. TeeHee!

I started out with a short sleeve shirt on and those shorts. It was 61 degrees so I figured it was a good outfit. First time wearing this shirt. I got it from the 8k I ran a few weeks ago. I ordered a small but the sleeves nearly came down to my elbows! And it was waaay baggy on me. Must be a small unisex. I couldn't get comfortable in it today though.

I had decided to run about 40 minutes total. I pushed myself hard the first bit. I knew I was running WAY fast. But I realised that 40 minutes is still 40 minutes no matter how fast/far you go. That's the difference between running miles & minutes. 4 miles will be different times depending on the day. So I tried to slow it down but I couldn't tell exactly how fast I was going. I MISS PHIL!!!

About 10 minutes into my run, things got hot. I pulled up the front of my shirt and tucked it under my sports bra. Then about 10 minutes later, I couldn't take it any more and I took my arms out of it but left it around my neck and tucked it under the shoulder straps of my sports bra. So then I was just running in my sports bra pretty much. By the end of my 40 minute run, my back was DRIPPING. It was a little misty out but it wasn't that. I'm pretty sure it was sweat or moisture from the air. I got home and checked weather.com. Yea, 95% humidity. Wow! No wonder why my lungs felt like I was swimming out there. And that's why I got so hot so fast. I only passed 2 people on the course and actually one of those came to the meeting that I'm going to talk about now.

This Saturday my running group, NITRO, is putting on their very first race! A 5k & 10k plus a kids race I know that I've mentioned it before but just wanted to get one more plug in. There's still time to sign up or you can do race-day registration for a few bucks more. Anyone wanna join in on the fun?? :-D

What's gonna be even better is that I'm also volunteering (I am in the group after all!). They put me in the most awesome position EVER. Beer Server (or as 2 people called me tonight Beer Wretch! HA!). I'm the only one so I'll be pretty busy. And it's gonna be easy, I just need to take their ticket and check to see if they have their hand stamped (to prove that they are over 21). Luckily, it'll all happen after most people are done with their run so I don't need to push and practically kill myself to finish fast. Which is good cause I don't think I could. I'm guessing I'm gonna go 57-58 minutes. I wish I could say 55 minutes but I haven't done that in a 10k since 2007 when I was training for my first half. I was in super-duper shape then.

I also got to talk to someone before the meeting about heart rate and the difference between anaerobic and aerobic. I can read that stuff all day long but it won't stay in me head. But when someone TELLS it to me and explains it, then I'm fine. That's why I SUCK at online classes. I need to hear it rather than just read it.

I don't know if I'll do anything tomorrow for exercise. It's too cold to do any cycling (um, Mother Nature you DO realise it's the end of May right??) and I can't really run since I'm getting a tattoo tomorrow afternoon. I shouldn't run immediately after getting it. I probably shouldn't run on Saturday either but I'm getting more Yes' than No's on Google so I'm gonna do it.

Categories: clothing, NITRO, tattoos, volunteer

Ahhh, PEOPLE!!!

Tonight I attended a planning meeting for the NITRO 10k/5k race that we're putting on at the end of May. I'm getting really excited about it! I signed up to run it but will also volunteer for the after crew. It's going to be such a fun race! A few of us stayed after to talk and it was soooo much fun to talk to people about running and training and races and experiences. I don't have anyone to talk with those things with (which is probably why I blog so damn much) and it was nice to have people that know what I'm talking about. Sure, people ask me about my running but when I tell them I ran 16 miles at a 10 min/mi pace, they don't understand how cool that is and they say that I'm crazy. That's NOT exactly the support I need to hear, ya know?

On to running: I ran 7.1 miles today. I don't understand why but Bones In Motion is no longer letting me publish to my blog. I wrote them an email so hopefully they'll get back go me. I didn't touch the settings with anything so I don't know what happened. Anyway, it was a very lovely day -- Except for the wind. Blah. I was actually nervous about it but I pysched myself up by saying today is just a fun run, going out there to enjoy the day and the springtime and not caring about time. The wind was pretty strong like 23 mph or so and coming from the south & west. I head south & then west first off. So great. I wore 2 layers on top & 2 layers on bottom. I also forgot my headphones and I didn't even notice it until I reached my starting point after a few minutes walk. I thought to myself well, this is going to be a boring run.

My splits were really fast for the first 3 miles. Then at 3 miles, I headed out of the woods and south so I knew then that my times were going to slow down and sure enough they did. Then into the park where it was a little more woods and along Kishwaukee River where it was flooded! Wow! It receded a bit so I didn't have to worry about slushing through too much though there was a place where the water was on the path and it was pretty deep.

Once I turned around and headed back north though, it seriously felt as if the wind had died. Like it wasn't going anymore. But of course that's just it was at my back and I didn't feel it against my face anymore. I also heated up a bit. I had to pull up my sleeves of both my shirts. Should have worn a short sleeve under my jacket. Along the path back, I heard a rustle in the woods. I looked over and I see deer again! Really REALLY close to the path! Awesome! If I had my headphones on I never would have heard them! So I stopped and got a few good pictures. One of them had a mark, missing fur, on her ribcage behind her left shoulder. Don't know what that was all about. I finished up the run pretty strong. I looked down at my Garmin and at one point it say my pace was a 12 minute mile. So something was wrong with that. But all together 7.1 miles in 1:06.34 for a 9:22 min/mi pace. Pretty happy with that.

Picture time!!! (click to see them bigger)

Whoops, had to run around that!

Kishwaukee River flooded

A little water on the path

I can't remember the name of this place but just noticed today that it closed!

More water on path inside Hopkins Park

Kishwaukee River flooded even more!!!

This puddle was pretty deep and I hate running up that hill

Role players?? I don't know I see them every Wednesday I run down this path though

Little bitty bit of snow left over!

This is the deer that has the bad spot.

He's ready for Easter this time!

Stats:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 04/01/09 Up/Downhill: [+269/-265] Time: 04:43 PM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0   Weather: Fair and Breezy   50 F temp; 37% humidity   50 F heat index; winds SW 23 G 28 Performance Distance: 7.10 miles Time: 1:06:35 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 23 /mi Heart Rate: 175 bpm (Avg) Calories: 757 184 bpm (Peak) Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Heart Rate (bpm)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 58 -0' 25 6.7 +0.3 159 +23 ft 2 8' 59 -0' 24 6.7 +0.3 175 -13 ft 3 9' 16 -0' 07 6.5 +0.1 178 +23 ft 4 9' 26 +0' 03 6.4 -0.0 179 -33 ft 5 9' 49 +0' 26 6.1 -0.3 178 -7 ft 6 9' 50 +0' 27 6.1 -0.3 179 +40 ft 7 9' 34 +0' 11 6.3 -0.1 177 -20 ft end 6' 40 -2' 43 9.0 +2.6 180 -9 ft Versus average of 9' 23 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 7 miles, NITRO, pictures

An early morning workout during the week!

I stayed late at work on Tuesday night for an extra hour. So I decided that I might try to run in the morning before work and go in late to make up for that hour. Believe it or not, I did it!

My alarm went off at 6:00am.
I finally got out of bed around 6:40am. (I was seriously tempted to just skip it)
I got to the YMCA at 7:05am. (barely anyone there! Awesome!)
Did a 4 mile tempo, with a half mile warm up and half mile cool down in 46 minutes! 10:00 min/mi warm up/cool down and 8:57 min/mi tempo speed. (Schedule says 5miles but eh, 4 was good enough for me, I don't have any down weeks in my training)
Done running at 7:50am.
Got home around 8:05am.
Showered at 8:10am.
Left for work around 8:35am.

I don't think I'll be doing that again on a normal workday, unless I go in late. I am just not an early morning person. I did notice that today, my legs felt really heavy all day. On top of all that, I didn't eat breakfast before hand (no time since I got out of bed 40 minutes after my alarm went off) and by the time I got home, my stomach was growling and making noises. I also didn't have any Gatorade on hand to drink immediately afterwards. Another not so smart move. But I must admit that it feels good & different to be done with my run early and not have to worry about it when I came home from work. :-)

Tonight was a NITRO meeting & seminar. Our first seminar of the new year. It was on weight training and core workout. *sigh* I know that as a runner I _need_ to do that but I just don't have the discipline to keep it up all the time. I remember to do it once or twice and then I get lazy. My core especially will help me be a better runner but do I really need to be a "better" runner? I'm pretty happy at where I'm at speed wise and distance wise. My core is not really gonna help my toe tendon problem.

The NITRO shirts came in as well. I saw 2 prototypes. The squirrel logo printed out well with what I did to it. Unfortunately, it was not the logo that I created. My squirrel had running shoes, a water bottle and was running on a trail. I also had it coloured brown instead of the red and the 5 o'clock shadow that it had. On one version I had (that no one saw) I also gave it a visor & earbuds for it's ears. It really looked like a runner then! Very cute. But only a few liked the brown version. And apparently, no one really cared for the shoes or the water bottle. One person actually said they looked creepy. Oh well. This is why I'm not an illustrator for a living.
I went to Wal-Mart before the meeting and bought a big bag of chocolate; Whoppers, Kit-Kat, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups & Hersey's Milk Chocolate bars. I walked into the new FitWorkz gym with one of each in my hands. I felt bad but hey, it's not like I run to lose weight. When I wasn't running, I was pretty much this weight --OK, maybe like 5-10 lbs heavier but I could have lost that with not drinking as much beer & Taco Bell after the bar!-- so I'm not really doing it for the health benefits. I still watch what I eat just cause I'm a vegetarian but my candy I will still have and overindulge in, if I want to. :-)

Categories: mid-week run, NITRO, tempo run

Squirrel running

NITRO had another meeting tonight. We have a logo, which is a squirrel running. The squirrel is an inside joke to a few people in the club (I'm not in on it). But the more I think about it, the more I think it's appropriate that we use it as our logo. Think about it... squirrels are always running across streets, outrunning cars and being chased by dogs. What do runners do? We run across streets, hoping that we don't get hit by cars that "don't see us" and use pepper spray to beat the dogs that want to bite our ankles. So I guess I get it now.

We were supposed to have a pro graphic designer do the logo but I guess it never came through. So our VP came up with the squirrel running and then put a tank on him (in MS Paint!) and our name, NITRO, on it and it became our logo. He sent it to the person doing the shirts but it was too small of a DPI to print. So somehow, I got looped in to fixing it.

So here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking of keeping the running squirrel just need to freshen up his "tank" and then maybe also throw something in there that make it looks like a runner. Shoes on his feet... running towards triangle flags or a finish banner or something. We'll see. I don't want to step on anyone's toes and who knows what exactly I can do in such short notice. I'll be thinking about it though! If anyone out there has suggestions, let me know! Check out the website above for our current squirrel. I'll be keeping that particular squirrel but just doctoring it up.

Categories: NITRO

A warm day!

I sent out a notice to the NITRO group asking if anyone was willing to run 8 miles on Saturday morning. I had 2 bites of interest and have it confirmed with one. It's a guy and well, as I said a couple posts ago, they're usually faster than me. And sure enough, he said that he was looking to run 8:30-9:00 min/mi. I told him that's my 5k pace and I'd be done at 3 miles. He said that he'd slow it down depending on conversation. I don't know if I'd be able to even converse at 9:30 pace. So I have a feeling that it will be a lonely run but he suggested one route (Ramm-Butts) which he said are roads by the trail I usually run on. I won't know it so I hope that I can at least keep him in sight so I won't get lost. The great thing is that we're meeting at 8a so that'll be nice to sleep in a little. It's gonna be windy though. 20mph winds from the SSW. And because of the warmish-cool weather, it's gonna be difficult to know how to dress tomorrow. I'm going to wear my new running clothes though!! Looking forward to trying out the new pants & shirt!

The group that meets at 7a, and I have ran with a few times, invited me to a get-together that one of them is throwing Saturday night. It's Mexican-themed and so I'm bringing an appetizer. I co-worker gave me a Pinto Bean Salsa that I think I'll try to make. Seems easy to make. I hope I have the guts & courage to go meet up with these people. Last running party I went to, I didn't know anyone and didn't really talk to people. I'm not much of a socialite and don't know how to talk to people I don't know. It always helps when I go with someone I know so then I won't feel awkward and we can talk off each other. We'll see.

Has anyone ever ran a relay? I'm interested in learing about them and would love to know how it works. I understand the jest of it but not so sure about the sleeping & what happens in between legs. I was thinking of the Illinois River to River Relay. There's a group from Genoa, of all places, called the DeKalb Corn Dogs. It would fun to participate in one someday!!

Categories: group run, NITRO, party, relay

NITRO

Tonight was the first meeting of NITRO for 2009. NITRO stands for Northern Illinois Trail Runner's Organisation.

Unfortunately, when I read NITRO, I think of nitroglycerin, which is used when people have a heart problem, which is why people start running to lose weight and lower their chances of having a heart attack. I just find that kinda funny.

Anyway, our dues were discussed. A new website is now available. There's gonna be a race scheduled at a Honda dealership & racetrack. 10k, 5k and a kids fun race at 9am on May 30th. The website has an electronic sign-up if anyone would like to sign-up! :-) Unfortunately, I might be volunteering at one of the water stations. The 10k & 5k will be out and back heading in different directions of the Great Western Trail from Sycamore Speedway and then we'll come back and finish around the racetrack. Kinda cool right? Logos for the group & the race will be finished up soon.

So, anyway I'm excited about it this year. I plan on participating in more of the group runs on Saturday mornings at 7am. It'll help out with the motivation aspect.

Categories: NITRO

Another accident

My 3 mile runs are not getting any faster. I used to run it in 26, 27 minutes. Now I can barely make it under 30! I know, I know, I only started running again after a month off a few weeks ago. It's gonna take some time to get my cardio back up and going but damnit, I liked the conditioning I was in before. I know I won't be placing in any age categories for my upcoming races.

Today something new happened to me again. Well, not really new. It's happened in 2 of my races. My very first one and my 8k this year, in which I never really trained and pushed way too hard at the end. I had a leaky bladder. I was walking a few steps after stopping running and boom it felt like I had to pee. I stopped, stooped over and tried to hold it in. A few many drops managed to trickle out. Yuck. I'm not alone, see here. It even happens to men!

Now off to take a shower before my Northern Illinois Trail Runner's Organisation seminar. It's on Pilates tonight!

Categories: bathroom, NITRO

Bi-training

I did something unusual today. I ran from Hopkins Park but then before that I biked down to the park! It was only 2 miles. Then I ran 4.25 miles. And biked the 2 miles back. I was cold on the way back though since I was all sweaty from the run. It was a tough 2 miles back though.

Yesterday I biked for 45 minutes on the recumbent bike at the Y. I ended up going 16.5 miles too! I have to cross-train like crazy because of the bike ride I'm doing in a few weekends!

Tonight I'm also going for a NITRO (Northern Illinois Trail Runner's Organisation) seminar on endurance. I also joined them too. It was only $5 so I think it's worth it.

Categories: NITRO