Saturday, April 21, 2012
Training ADD
So after doing the Tough Mudder this past weekend I didn't really feel like training much this week, but I did anyway. First my normal training partner, Red, was hurt and couldn't train with me which killed some motivation, but also I worked therefore needing to sleep which also killed some trianing. My strong motivator was the BEAUTIFUL weather we had! Sunny, warm, no rain, and very little wind = great training weather. I did brick work outs Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday was a 41 mile bike followed by a 4 mile run and Thursday was a 700 yd swim followed by a 34 mile bike. I originally planned on swimming about 2400 but realized that my inhaler was in my bike pouch after jumping in so I only swam until I felt uncomfortable and didn't push it. On a cool note though I dropped 4lbs since last week. I think between the Tough Mudder and nearly 80 miles in 2 days that my body was dropping fat like crazy. I'm ok with this. We'll see if this trend keeps up because if it does I'm going to have to alter my nutrition a bit to keep from getting too low. My goal race weight is somewhere between 102 and 105 lbs, that sounds really light but considering the fact that I am only 4' 11" it's not that bad. I was in my best shape and leanest a couple of years ago at 102lbs. I like that weight but it's not seriously a huge goal to get to it, so long as my clothes fit, I continue to get stronger and faster, I don't really care what I weigh. I just thought it was interesting that I dropped weight like that, not complaining though :D
Tough Mudder tid bit or ramble
Dear Sweet Mother of God.....Well it's called the Tough Mudder for a reason! I got my butt kicked, not just kind of where I'm sort of sore later, I am/was covered in bruises, hurt in strange places, and took forever to get my body temperature back to normal! The Tough Mudder is by far the hardest, toughest, craziest "challenge" that I have ever done. For those of you that have no idea what a "Tough Mudder" is I'll give a quick definition. It is a trail run, obstacle course, torture riddled, challenge designed by a retired British Forces guy that loves to watch people in pain. I am in really good shape, I can run for miles, I can lift, crawl, do whatever I need to and normally 11 miles does not put me down for the count but I was crying mercy at mile 3. Yep, I'm doing a marathon in 2 more weeks and I wanted to go home at mile 3. That's a problem.
For the Tough Mudder you run 11 miles and have to go through, over, under, between, around, and in 16 obstacles. That doesn't sound too bad until you realize that the air temperature is only 53 degrees in the sun and the water temperature that you're going through would be lucky to register 40 degrees, and 12 of those 16 obstacles involve you being nearly completely submerged in ice water. Hypothermia was a real thing for 3.5 hours of my day last Saturday. My nails were blue, I'm positive my lips were blue, I was shivering nonstop, and it took me hours after the challenge to get back to feeling normal even after a ridiculously hot shower.
We would run for a half mile or more then have to jump in water, crawl over mud, and swing to another side of a mud pit, get out, run another mile or so, repeat. There were many runners that were being taken to the finish line via "Aquapod" Gator deals, basically 4 wheelers with roll cages that do great in mud and water. The race coordinators started passing out those shiny emergency mylar blankets at mile 4 which was GREAT. I wrapped up like a baked potato and stayed like that for the next 7 miles. I ran with my arms wrapped up under my "blanket" and stuffed the blanket in my shirt when it was time for an obstacle, get out of the water and wrap back up. At one point there was a medic tent where a medic was telling a guy that he was not allowed to continue on until his lips were no longer blue or his temp came up because he was very close to being taken out against his will but for his safety. This course was down right dangerous. Red actually got hurt falling from a "Berlin wall". The wall was a 12' tall wall (hence the name) where you get helped over by being lifted and pulled to the top, on your way down though you're on your own. I lowered myself and was able to negotiate a nice landing from an 8' drop after extending my arms a bit, Red wasn't so lucky and landed straight legged at the bottom. Yeah, he was hurting for quite a while. I have no idea why we thought this was a good idea but now after a week and getting my body temperature back to where it's SUPPOSED to be I definitely want to do this again. That's right, I wanted to quit at mile 3, I battled hypothermia literally for about 3 hours, I nearly drowned taking "The Plunge", was shocked by electricity and temperature, bruised in more places than I can count, and was close to tears multiple times but yet I want to do it again. The people surrounding you are GREAT, everyone helped everyone, there were no physical boundaries of "do not touch me". I was lifted up multiple times by complete strangers because I was stuck in some God forsaken pit and quite simply was too short to get out. I helped lift guys over walls and pushed girls up mud mounds. I was muddy, I was frozen, and I was bruised, but I loved it.
This post turned out to be a lot of rambling and nonsense but I promise that the next post will involve 1) pictures of said bruises and 2) more streamlined useful information for anyone that is crazy enough to want to do this insane challenge. It's called a challenge for a reason, not a race. The signs even say "Tough Mudder doesn't want you to have a heart attack so if you don't feel well please feel no shame in dropping out".
For the Tough Mudder you run 11 miles and have to go through, over, under, between, around, and in 16 obstacles. That doesn't sound too bad until you realize that the air temperature is only 53 degrees in the sun and the water temperature that you're going through would be lucky to register 40 degrees, and 12 of those 16 obstacles involve you being nearly completely submerged in ice water. Hypothermia was a real thing for 3.5 hours of my day last Saturday. My nails were blue, I'm positive my lips were blue, I was shivering nonstop, and it took me hours after the challenge to get back to feeling normal even after a ridiculously hot shower.
We would run for a half mile or more then have to jump in water, crawl over mud, and swing to another side of a mud pit, get out, run another mile or so, repeat. There were many runners that were being taken to the finish line via "Aquapod" Gator deals, basically 4 wheelers with roll cages that do great in mud and water. The race coordinators started passing out those shiny emergency mylar blankets at mile 4 which was GREAT. I wrapped up like a baked potato and stayed like that for the next 7 miles. I ran with my arms wrapped up under my "blanket" and stuffed the blanket in my shirt when it was time for an obstacle, get out of the water and wrap back up. At one point there was a medic tent where a medic was telling a guy that he was not allowed to continue on until his lips were no longer blue or his temp came up because he was very close to being taken out against his will but for his safety. This course was down right dangerous. Red actually got hurt falling from a "Berlin wall". The wall was a 12' tall wall (hence the name) where you get helped over by being lifted and pulled to the top, on your way down though you're on your own. I lowered myself and was able to negotiate a nice landing from an 8' drop after extending my arms a bit, Red wasn't so lucky and landed straight legged at the bottom. Yeah, he was hurting for quite a while. I have no idea why we thought this was a good idea but now after a week and getting my body temperature back to where it's SUPPOSED to be I definitely want to do this again. That's right, I wanted to quit at mile 3, I battled hypothermia literally for about 3 hours, I nearly drowned taking "The Plunge", was shocked by electricity and temperature, bruised in more places than I can count, and was close to tears multiple times but yet I want to do it again. The people surrounding you are GREAT, everyone helped everyone, there were no physical boundaries of "do not touch me". I was lifted up multiple times by complete strangers because I was stuck in some God forsaken pit and quite simply was too short to get out. I helped lift guys over walls and pushed girls up mud mounds. I was muddy, I was frozen, and I was bruised, but I loved it.
This post turned out to be a lot of rambling and nonsense but I promise that the next post will involve 1) pictures of said bruises and 2) more streamlined useful information for anyone that is crazy enough to want to do this insane challenge. It's called a challenge for a reason, not a race. The signs even say "Tough Mudder doesn't want you to have a heart attack so if you don't feel well please feel no shame in dropping out".
Friday, April 13, 2012
Yurbuds Product Review!
Ok, so most athletes have the exact same problem when it comes to training, trying to listen to music without your headphones slipping or earbuds falling out. As most of my friends know I go through headphones like they're going out of style by either breaking them or they just don't fit the way I want them to. My main problem used to be keeping music in my ears when I was running, which makes sense considering I'm bouncing constantly for miles on end, or when I was lifting I would turn my body different ways and whatever I was wearing would just fall out. A couple of years ago I made an awesome discovery of some wrap around headphones made by Adidas. Red convinced me to buy them despite their price tag because he pointed out that in the last 6 months that I've been searching I've purchased at least 3 sets of headphones and the cheapest ones were still $15. If you figure even three pairs at $15 a piece then I've spent $45 on headphones and still wasn't satisfied so that helped me justify the $50 price on the Adidas ones. Well two years later they still work great and are decidedly my go to headphones for marathons and any running race. I love the fact that they wrap around the back of my head but I can just tug them down and run without music so I can talk to Red during the first part of our run and then set them in my ears within a second and have music with no hassle. Well as amazing as these headphones have been for running they just don't work for biking. The wrap around doesn't work with my helmet which left me looking for headphones to bike with again.
I tried Apple headphones that come with any Apple product and basically ended up tying them to my helmet next to my ears so I could listen and not have to push on them every couple of seconds. Apparently I move my head a lot when I'm biking, who knew. Anyway, the slightest movement had them out of my ears. Forget lifting with them because as soon as I would do a plank or accidentally touch the cord they were out of my ears. Red offered me her pair of Sony squishy head phones to try and they would work so-so until I would sweat and then I resumed the push-in-every-5-seconds routine. I saw Skull Candy made a pair of workout headphones called "Fix", so named because they "fix" the problem every athlete has, wrong. I could barely look for cars while having them in my head before having to Fix them, so much for that claim. Finally a friend referred me to "some Ironman squishy looking headphones" her roommate uses. I was on the prowl and discovered Ironman Yurbuds. Best. Earbuds. Ever. Side note, don't buy these at the Apple store because they are no joke $10 more than they are online or at BestBuy. I checked the price on one of the test Ipads while trying to get through people and discovered the price difference so I walked out and bought my new favorite ear buds at BestBuy. Yurbud time!
Once I left the store I immediately started testing these strange looking headphones out. I did the fit test, yes they felt secure and happy, didn't feel loose, and didn't feel like I was going to get an earache after having them motionless for extended periods of time. Next I did the most important test, the nudge test and the yank test. Some headphones fall out as soon as you touch the cord with any amount of noticeable force and these didn't even budge. I then yanked on the cord which is something that happens when running, your arm gets caught on the cord and normally your headphones come flying out. Nope! Barely even registered that they were being pulled on. Now with that being said, yes they will come out of your ears if you pull on them hard enough, they're not glued in. Yurbuds designed their headphones in a way that you can't just pop them in and out, you have to "twist" them in.
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It's the best idea ever. Not only do they have a locking mechanism type design but Yurbuds also has the claim/guarantee that if you're not happy with your fit then they can figure out what size you need buy measuring your ear against a quarter. The package already comes with two different sizes of adapter deals, but if for some reason they don't work you simply take a picture of your ear with a quarter next to it and they go to work from there. Mine fit my ear perfectly which is nice considering I was certain my ears were a weird shape since nothing wanted to stay in them!
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The other great part about these headphones is the fact that they have a 3 button dry mic. It's essentially the exact same deal of microphone/volume control that the Iphone headphones come with but this one is designed to put up with sweat and apparently cancel out wind.
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I've been wearing these around for the past couple days and used them for my "hands free" talking in my car instead of my Apple headphones and everyone said they could hear me just fine. Well yesterday I was on the phone with my mom, using my headphones, and she had a long story she wanted to tell me. Well I had a bike ride I wanted to get in. Hmm...Well Yurbuds saved the day. I went ahead and hopped on my bike fully prepared for her to tell me that she would talk to me later because the wind was too bad or she couldn't hear me, or I couldn't hear her. Something. Nope. Nothing. I tucked the mic in the front of my jersey and sports bra just in case the wind would be too bad and she said she couldn't hear it at all. I thought maybe that would muffle me some, nope she could still hear me clear as a bell. Thanks to this awesome design she was able to finish her story and I was able to get my bike ride in. Ten miles after I started my bike my mom decided the story was over and she had errands to run, I then decided to switch from silence to Pandora for the remaining 14.5 miles of my ride. These ear buds are not for those that love a lot of bass in their music but the quality is definitely still wonderful. I'm a music and headphone snob and these satisfied me just fine. I never once had to push them in, I was able to check for traffic at stop signs without having to adjust, and I could control the volume of music to cross roads and turn it up after crossing without a hassle at all. Oh and I could hang up my call without a problem. I am in love. I STRONGLY recommend these headphones to anyone that is tired of their headphones constantly falling out. I can even do planks and hit my heavy bag without worrying about these budging. Beautiful!
I tried Apple headphones that come with any Apple product and basically ended up tying them to my helmet next to my ears so I could listen and not have to push on them every couple of seconds. Apparently I move my head a lot when I'm biking, who knew. Anyway, the slightest movement had them out of my ears. Forget lifting with them because as soon as I would do a plank or accidentally touch the cord they were out of my ears. Red offered me her pair of Sony squishy head phones to try and they would work so-so until I would sweat and then I resumed the push-in-every-5-seconds routine. I saw Skull Candy made a pair of workout headphones called "Fix", so named because they "fix" the problem every athlete has, wrong. I could barely look for cars while having them in my head before having to Fix them, so much for that claim. Finally a friend referred me to "some Ironman squishy looking headphones" her roommate uses. I was on the prowl and discovered Ironman Yurbuds. Best. Earbuds. Ever. Side note, don't buy these at the Apple store because they are no joke $10 more than they are online or at BestBuy. I checked the price on one of the test Ipads while trying to get through people and discovered the price difference so I walked out and bought my new favorite ear buds at BestBuy. Yurbud time!
Once I left the store I immediately started testing these strange looking headphones out. I did the fit test, yes they felt secure and happy, didn't feel loose, and didn't feel like I was going to get an earache after having them motionless for extended periods of time. Next I did the most important test, the nudge test and the yank test. Some headphones fall out as soon as you touch the cord with any amount of noticeable force and these didn't even budge. I then yanked on the cord which is something that happens when running, your arm gets caught on the cord and normally your headphones come flying out. Nope! Barely even registered that they were being pulled on. Now with that being said, yes they will come out of your ears if you pull on them hard enough, they're not glued in. Yurbuds designed their headphones in a way that you can't just pop them in and out, you have to "twist" them in.
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Twist and lock = doesn't fall out
It's the best idea ever. Not only do they have a locking mechanism type design but Yurbuds also has the claim/guarantee that if you're not happy with your fit then they can figure out what size you need buy measuring your ear against a quarter. The package already comes with two different sizes of adapter deals, but if for some reason they don't work you simply take a picture of your ear with a quarter next to it and they go to work from there. Mine fit my ear perfectly which is nice considering I was certain my ears were a weird shape since nothing wanted to stay in them!
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Completely fills my ear, and doesn't hurt or budge!
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The black Y part is the mic and button control.
I've been wearing these around for the past couple days and used them for my "hands free" talking in my car instead of my Apple headphones and everyone said they could hear me just fine. Well yesterday I was on the phone with my mom, using my headphones, and she had a long story she wanted to tell me. Well I had a bike ride I wanted to get in. Hmm...Well Yurbuds saved the day. I went ahead and hopped on my bike fully prepared for her to tell me that she would talk to me later because the wind was too bad or she couldn't hear me, or I couldn't hear her. Something. Nope. Nothing. I tucked the mic in the front of my jersey and sports bra just in case the wind would be too bad and she said she couldn't hear it at all. I thought maybe that would muffle me some, nope she could still hear me clear as a bell. Thanks to this awesome design she was able to finish her story and I was able to get my bike ride in. Ten miles after I started my bike my mom decided the story was over and she had errands to run, I then decided to switch from silence to Pandora for the remaining 14.5 miles of my ride. These ear buds are not for those that love a lot of bass in their music but the quality is definitely still wonderful. I'm a music and headphone snob and these satisfied me just fine. I never once had to push them in, I was able to check for traffic at stop signs without having to adjust, and I could control the volume of music to cross roads and turn it up after crossing without a hassle at all. Oh and I could hang up my call without a problem. I am in love. I STRONGLY recommend these headphones to anyone that is tired of their headphones constantly falling out. I can even do planks and hit my heavy bag without worrying about these budging. Beautiful!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Worth Repeating
Well this weekend was mile packed and entertaining. This past weekend, Saturday April 7th, Red and I ran with Mojo running for a 20 miler. I really like this group because everyone is nice and encouraging, actually that's kind of a trait for most runners, but anyway. The coach emailed course directions for everyone to follow in case people were separated. It was a group run in the fact that we started as a group and everyone could technically run together, but no one was obligated to stay together. In the directions it said that we would do a 14 mile loop which was the back half of the Flying Pig Marathon we're all doing in 4 weeks, then we could add on a 4 mile loop to get to 18 for our long run, and then we could add another 2 mile out and back for those that wanted to reach 20 miles. Since the plan was for us to come back to the parking lot where we started after 14 miles Red and I opted to only carry one hydration pack and just pick up the other one 14 miles later. Well it turned out that we missed the memo and when the group started we did the 4 mile loop first which meant we wouldn't be back to the car until 18 miles later. Well since I had the awesome idea that we were coming back after 14 miles so I left most of my nutrition in my pack which was in the car. It didn't turn out badly though because Red had more than enough so he was nice enough to share with me for the remainder of the run after I ran out around mile 13. It's really good that Red and I can work so well together and not get cranky because after we realized that we weren't going to be coming back to the car we decided to share carrying the pack so he wouldn't be carrying it the entire 20 mile run.
Red was great and carried the pack the first 10 miles and those were the hardest 10 miles of the entire run. Not only did we climb uphill for almost the entire time, but the first 6 miles I migrated us to the front of the pack with a group of guys who were maintaining a happy 9-9:30min/mile pace. That pace is a great happy pace for me but not so much when you're pushing uphill and carrying a pack. Red was less than amused with my decision to stick with those guys but he never really got cranky. At mile 6 Red simply said "Ok Speedy it's time to slow down and I want a gel". So after that we kind of just hung out doing our own pace for the remainder of the run. We ran into a couple girls that were going the same speed we were but we kind of just hung out with them for a couple miles before they decided to stop at a gas station for a bathroom and water. Since Mojo Running is a free running group they don't supply water like some of the other groups. I am nearly positive that nearly every running group in Cincinnati was running a 20 mile loop that encompassed the back half of the Pig this Saturday. It was really cool seeing so many people running and looking at directions to all essentially go the same way. The other cool part was the fact that since there were so many runners training for the same goal that it meant there were lots of people to give you bits of encouragement and just lift you up a bit on such a long run. I ran into a friend from high school which was really cool and I'm pretty sure that she had no idea how much making me laugh and seeing some one else familair on the course helped. Red and I were passing people and suddenly someone yelled my name which was weird. I turn around and there was Stacy Moyer. I was confused but happy at the same time. She told me I looked like a bad ass running with a backpack, that made me chuckle and also motivated me. You get really tired running 20 miles and randomly I would chuckle when I was tired and be like "I'm not tired, I'm a bad ass running with a backpack" laugh some more and push harder. It's the small things that make you happy running. We ended our run feeling strong and averaging about a 10:30 pace which is about a minute faster than we averaged our other long runs! I was very ok with this! I paid for it today though.
Elevation change for the Flying Pig Marathon course that we ran.
Earlier in the week Red and I were lifting at the gym and ran into one of our friends who is a personal trainer. Well he's been asking if we want to ride together for quite a while now so I told him that we were planning a 50 mile ride on Sunday, my brain didn't put 20 mile Saturday run and 50 mile Sunday run together at the time. He accepted the offer and everything was peachy. Until I couldn't touch my toes this morning. I text Mike (PT friend) and told him he better take it easy and not show up with Zipp wheels (race wheels). He said today would be an easy ride with just a few hills. I knew I was in trouble when his text ended in lol and he showed up with Zipp wheels. Yep. His "easy" pace is to maintain 18-19mph for the first 6 miles. He then had the BRILLIANT *insert intense sarcasm here* idea to do a pace line with intervals on 3-4 minutes maintaining 22mph. Worst idea ever. I swear that he said 3-4 min on then 3-4 min off. I was wrong. Or he decided against it, either way it didn't happen. Red went first and I hung on for all I was worth drafting off his wheel the best I could. Red's bike computer wasn't working that great so when it said he was doing 17 it really meant 23-24. Ugh. I yelled at him and he back off. Then apparently it was my turn right away. Do not pass go, do not drink water, do not breath. Did I mention Mike is a Personal trainer? He gets paid to make people cry in pain. Well I went and I was dying. I took my turn and pushed it and succeeded. This is where Mike excels. He encouraged me whenever the head wind tried to knock me backwards, and kept telling me to keep pushing. Then when I was about to kill someone because we were going to do it all AGAIN he decided to back off and compliment my sweet arm warmers. He chucked the intervals idea (thank God) and we continued on at our "easy" pace. We then did hills, which were a lot better than that stupid pace/interval line, and then migrated our way back to the car. The actual ride took a little over 2 hours including stops and we only went 30 miles. I probably would have murdered someone if we kept going. I was in a not so happy mood during intervals but I did perk up after I ate two gels before we started doing hill repeats. I was originally only going to have one gel but when Mike took a second one I decided it would be best to follow suit.
How I feel like Mike looked suggesting intervals and hills on our "easy" day.
After 50 miles in 2 days of nonsense my legs are tired, they feel fine when I'm sitting but hurt when I go to stand up, but it was definitely worth it. I actually would most likely do it all over again, probably even the exact same way. On a giant plus side, since the workouts were so intense I had steak and baked potatoes for dinner two days in a row. That's definitely a win!
Red was great and carried the pack the first 10 miles and those were the hardest 10 miles of the entire run. Not only did we climb uphill for almost the entire time, but the first 6 miles I migrated us to the front of the pack with a group of guys who were maintaining a happy 9-9:30min/mile pace. That pace is a great happy pace for me but not so much when you're pushing uphill and carrying a pack. Red was less than amused with my decision to stick with those guys but he never really got cranky. At mile 6 Red simply said "Ok Speedy it's time to slow down and I want a gel". So after that we kind of just hung out doing our own pace for the remainder of the run. We ran into a couple girls that were going the same speed we were but we kind of just hung out with them for a couple miles before they decided to stop at a gas station for a bathroom and water. Since Mojo Running is a free running group they don't supply water like some of the other groups. I am nearly positive that nearly every running group in Cincinnati was running a 20 mile loop that encompassed the back half of the Pig this Saturday. It was really cool seeing so many people running and looking at directions to all essentially go the same way. The other cool part was the fact that since there were so many runners training for the same goal that it meant there were lots of people to give you bits of encouragement and just lift you up a bit on such a long run. I ran into a friend from high school which was really cool and I'm pretty sure that she had no idea how much making me laugh and seeing some one else familair on the course helped. Red and I were passing people and suddenly someone yelled my name which was weird. I turn around and there was Stacy Moyer. I was confused but happy at the same time. She told me I looked like a bad ass running with a backpack, that made me chuckle and also motivated me. You get really tired running 20 miles and randomly I would chuckle when I was tired and be like "I'm not tired, I'm a bad ass running with a backpack" laugh some more and push harder. It's the small things that make you happy running. We ended our run feeling strong and averaging about a 10:30 pace which is about a minute faster than we averaged our other long runs! I was very ok with this! I paid for it today though.
Earlier in the week Red and I were lifting at the gym and ran into one of our friends who is a personal trainer. Well he's been asking if we want to ride together for quite a while now so I told him that we were planning a 50 mile ride on Sunday, my brain didn't put 20 mile Saturday run and 50 mile Sunday run together at the time. He accepted the offer and everything was peachy. Until I couldn't touch my toes this morning. I text Mike (PT friend) and told him he better take it easy and not show up with Zipp wheels (race wheels). He said today would be an easy ride with just a few hills. I knew I was in trouble when his text ended in lol and he showed up with Zipp wheels. Yep. His "easy" pace is to maintain 18-19mph for the first 6 miles. He then had the BRILLIANT *insert intense sarcasm here* idea to do a pace line with intervals on 3-4 minutes maintaining 22mph. Worst idea ever. I swear that he said 3-4 min on then 3-4 min off. I was wrong. Or he decided against it, either way it didn't happen. Red went first and I hung on for all I was worth drafting off his wheel the best I could. Red's bike computer wasn't working that great so when it said he was doing 17 it really meant 23-24. Ugh. I yelled at him and he back off. Then apparently it was my turn right away. Do not pass go, do not drink water, do not breath. Did I mention Mike is a Personal trainer? He gets paid to make people cry in pain. Well I went and I was dying. I took my turn and pushed it and succeeded. This is where Mike excels. He encouraged me whenever the head wind tried to knock me backwards, and kept telling me to keep pushing. Then when I was about to kill someone because we were going to do it all AGAIN he decided to back off and compliment my sweet arm warmers. He chucked the intervals idea (thank God) and we continued on at our "easy" pace. We then did hills, which were a lot better than that stupid pace/interval line, and then migrated our way back to the car. The actual ride took a little over 2 hours including stops and we only went 30 miles. I probably would have murdered someone if we kept going. I was in a not so happy mood during intervals but I did perk up after I ate two gels before we started doing hill repeats. I was originally only going to have one gel but when Mike took a second one I decided it would be best to follow suit.
After 50 miles in 2 days of nonsense my legs are tired, they feel fine when I'm sitting but hurt when I go to stand up, but it was definitely worth it. I actually would most likely do it all over again, probably even the exact same way. On a giant plus side, since the workouts were so intense I had steak and baked potatoes for dinner two days in a row. That's definitely a win!
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Experimental Success!
So I have diagnosed myself as ADHD because I have an incredibly short attention span and I can't seem to sit still for an extended period of time. I do triathlons of varying lengths, marathons, and love to craft. After being able to meet literally hundreds of people at various competitions I have determined that being ADD/ADHD is a very common trait in triathletes, that or it's a side effect of all the training we do and high energy level we all have from our training. All of the runners have technical gear, their own superstitions/rituals, and nutrition that they follow before and during every race. I've had nearly the same nutrition routine for the past couple of years and have been looking for something new in order to add some variety to my diet. Running miles, biking miles, swimming hundreds of laps, and weight lifting takes a toll on your body so in order to recover properly and be ready for the next day you need to give your body the fuel it needs. My post workout routine typically includes stretching, shower, and chocolate milk of form. I prefer Silk Soy milk with milk chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast. That combination gives you a drink that is about 16 fl oz with 12g of protein. I could get more protein in my drink by using a different powder but after some of my experiences those other higher protein powders leave a weird taste in my mouth, have a strange texture, and I just simply don't like having to chew something I'm trying to drink. I have been on the look out for new smoothie ideas and finally decided to make my own. I have a new obsession with smoothies and decided that it would be a lot easier on my budget if I simply learned how to make my own, also I get to experiment with different flavors and supplements without spending $5 or more per drink. My experiment yesterday was a huge success! What you'll need for my experimental smoothie:
1 cup Mango (I used Dole Fresh Frozen mango chunks because I am too impatient to peel and cut up my own)
5 or 6 large Strawberries (those I actually cut up myself)
1 packet chocolate Carnation instant breakfast
4-8 oz Tropical V8 Splash (depending on how thick you want your drink)
Blender
I blended the mango, strawberries, and V8 until fairly smooth before adding the Carnation because I didn't want the powder to stick to the bottom of the blender. The end result has enough chocolate flavor to satisfy any chocolate lover while still enough fruit to make it a great fruit smoothie. This drink is about 250-300 calories which is high for a drink, but considering a 20 oz smoothie at Smoothie King has between 300-750 calories this isn't too bad. The Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape is 749 calories for 20 oz and only has 6g of protein. Mine has 5g of protein for a 12 oz glass and about 300 calories. All of my smoothie didn't quite fit in my glass but it was so good that I didn't mind topping it off to finish the rest. The entire blender had 5g of protein and slightly over 300 calories, loads of Vitamin C. I have a strong feeling that as my training progresses this summer that a nice cold smoothie with lots of protein and vitamins will be just what my body needs after long hot runs and rides!
Happy training!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Let the craziness begin!
Ok, well last week was an incredibly slow training week. Red was gone on business so I didn't have my regular workout partner, top that with the fact that I ended up picking up lots of hours at work and it equals a very light week of training. By light I mean pathetic. I did the training with Mojo running which was a great experience but that was the only running I did all week. I biked Thursday afternoon for 20 miles and kept a great pace but that was the only biking I did all week. Those two events were the only training I did between the 16 mile successful loop on Saturday and my abysmal 4 mile run this morning. I call my run abysmal because I felt like my options were a slow shuffle or walking. I tried a new pair of shoes and my legs simply do not like them. The way they are made they interfere with my happy paced gate and make me feel like I'm hyper power walking as opposed to running, couple this with the fact that every one and their brother decided to mow their grass at 10:45 this morning means my allergies/asthma was kicked into high. I finished my 4 mile run in 41 minutes, not terrible, but definitely not what I wanted. I was hoping for somewhere around 36 or so, that obviously didn't happen. I plan on returning the shoes this week and either picking up a new pair and going back to Asics or just using the ones that I have and see if I can just learn how to stretch out my hamstrings.
The reason I opted for new shoes was I thought my current shoes were giving me hamstring problems during any run longer than 10 miles. That may still be true, but tight hammies is a lot better than my legs begrudging me every step no matter what the distance. I have a lot of miles scheduled this week so we'll see how the shoe situation turns out.
Let's check out my ambition level when I made my training plan for this week. I'm counting this coming Sunday in my week because my Garmin starts its weeks on Monday. If I include that then I have about 120 miles of training that I want to accomplish. If the weather and such works in my favor I may actually get more training in than that depending on my sleep/work schedule. I'm excited about my next two weeks of training because right now those are lighter weeks at work which means more training time! Also I plan on running with Mojo running this weekend for a 20 mile course that covers the back half of the Flying Pig Marathon. I've ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon 3 times but I've never been on the course that covers miles 9-26 of the Marathon because the Marathon and Half marathon runners split at mile 9. Here's to a great couple of weeks! I'll keep you posted!
The hardest step for any runner is the first step out the door.
The reason I opted for new shoes was I thought my current shoes were giving me hamstring problems during any run longer than 10 miles. That may still be true, but tight hammies is a lot better than my legs begrudging me every step no matter what the distance. I have a lot of miles scheduled this week so we'll see how the shoe situation turns out.
Let's check out my ambition level when I made my training plan for this week. I'm counting this coming Sunday in my week because my Garmin starts its weeks on Monday. If I include that then I have about 120 miles of training that I want to accomplish. If the weather and such works in my favor I may actually get more training in than that depending on my sleep/work schedule. I'm excited about my next two weeks of training because right now those are lighter weeks at work which means more training time! Also I plan on running with Mojo running this weekend for a 20 mile course that covers the back half of the Flying Pig Marathon. I've ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon 3 times but I've never been on the course that covers miles 9-26 of the Marathon because the Marathon and Half marathon runners split at mile 9. Here's to a great couple of weeks! I'll keep you posted!
The hardest step for any runner is the first step out the door.
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