Getting back into training mode

February 22, 2012 6 Comments

February is almost over, thankfully. It’s lived up to its reputation as my least favorite month of the whole year and I’ve basically taken the entire month off from running/hardcore training/actually trying.

My knee isn’t 100 percent back to normal, but I think I finally have the right brace and I’m working hard on changing a few things around to help it get stronger and healthier.

Now, I’m staring at an excel spreadsheet of a training plan and I’m ready to get started:

I even added a race next Sunday, March 4 that kind of fits nicely into the first full week of real training: the Mill Creek Distance Classic Half in Youngstown. It’s hilly and tough and we’ll see how it goes.

Anyway, I’m excited to be able to get back into feeling like I’m training for something and I’m actually getting ready for my next two marathons and my first 50 miler. I hate to admit, but I’ve felt extremely behind pretty much everyone I know who is training for Cleveland or other spring marathons and have been training for weeks. I even know a few people who have been training for the half for a few weeks and here I am, not doing much of anything.

But I’m trying to appreciate my body for what I can do each day, but I’m looking forward to getting back to where I was and building up to my full potential.

It’s all about the bigger goal now. I’m ready to start doing the work.

Full disclosure: The wonderful people at the Cleveland Marathon gave me a race entry and I agreed to blog about my training and race day experiences. And you should know by now that I’m too snarky and opinionated and everything I post on here are my own thoughts and experiences. 

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three things thursday: I’m a CLE Marathon blogger

January 26, 2012 3 Comments

I feel bad, I haven’t talked about it too much, other than in passing, but I’m a Cleveland Marathon blogger again this year. I know I’ve mentioned I’m running the race before as part of my Mohican 50 mile training. But I’m sure there are some new readers out there, so instead of making you dig, I figured I’d dedicate a three things Thursday to my hometown marathon.

1. I ran the half the past two years and CLE was my very first half marathon in 2010. I started running a year before it and I remember sitting in my room at my old apartment in 2009 reading blogs and news stories about the race and thinking, “I’m going to run that someday.” And a year later, I started this blog with about a month left of training and finishing the race was one of my proudest moments and really helped me realize that I can do whatever I set my mind to.

(talk about clueless when it comes to dressing for the weather... ha!)

2. As I mentioned above, the race is part of my 50 mile Mohican Trail Run training. For me, it’ll be just another day on my feet… with a medal at the end. For the essence of time, money and my overall sanity, I’m mixing long runs on roads and trails (I will be running two long days every weekend) until after CLE and then spend the rest of my training on all of the wonderful trails NEO has to offer. But I can’t deny my love of road races: the crowd support, the bands, the signs, the people from all different backgrounds. I’m excited to run the full CLE this year and finally experience everything the race has to offer, not just half of it :P

3. A while back, some of my twitter friends from other parts of Ohio (like Dave mostly), came up with the idea of the Ohio Triple Crown: Capital City Half Marathon, Flying Pig Marathon and the Cleveland Marathon. Before I was contacted about being a CLE Marathon blogger again, I had decided I was for sure doing Cap City and the Flying Pig as my own personal (and much less expensive and less stressful) Goofy challenge. And then I got a great email about running CLE as well. I still hadn’t chosen Mohican as a 50 miler (I was leaning toward one in August I may still do), so I figured, why not go for the triple crown? I don’t know if anyone who else who was included in the tweets is doing it for sure or not, but it’ll be pretty awesome.

 

Full disclosure: The wonderful people at the Cleveland Marathon gave me a race entry and I agreed to blog about my training and race day experiences. And you should know by now that I’m too snarky and opinionated and everything I post on here are my own thoughts and experiences. 

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run-less monday.

January 23, 2012 9 Comments

Long time no blog….

Not much has happened in the past week other than I’ve been doing things like working my butt off, yoga-ing and not running as much as I should be. I took two days off after Regis, went to hot yoga Wednesday morning and then did my first run (5.65 miles) with running club that night.

Oh and in between, I picked up this and had lunch downtown with my dad:

Yup, two years in a row I was at the top of my AG in the Hermes Cleveland Road Race Series. This year was considerably tougher. In 2010, I crushed everyone (sorry for the lack of humbleness), but this year there were more runners in my AG who participated in more races and I took two months off from the series because of plantar fasciitis. But anyway, I missed the awards brunch to run Regis, so I went down to the Hermes office to pick it up. And sad to say, but I will not be participating again this year because of all of my crazy trail races… that and I moved up an age group now and I like Jessica too much to kick her butt ;) (or fail miserably trying to beat her…)

So, back to the run… Running club was great. I felt awesome, fast and held on to the faster group the entire time (though a few guys were missing, but those are minor details). Nothing hurt. I ran a quick 4 on Thursday and had some soreness and a little bit of knee pain going downhill, but nothing to really bother me.

But Saturday, I headed out on another trail run/adventure. I started the run cold and frustrated (it had snowed all night) and very pissed off because I noticed this when I was putting my shoes on:

Yep. Nice big rip/hole in my Brooks trail shoes. I bought them in late October and don’t remember doing anything to my shoe last week that could have caused it (that foot didn’t get caught in either fall during the race). I was planning on replacing them in February, but I guess I get to now.

Around mile 6, my knee was hurting. By mile 9.5, I had enough and took the roads back to my car, only finishing 12.35 and the rest of the group did 15.5.

I was (and still am) pissed. I’m supposed to be training for Mohican. And Fool’s. And Cap City, the Pig and Cleveland.

I went to yoga in the afternoon to see my friends (Jess, Jen and Julie) at a class at the Yoga Room, led by Becca, who is going through YTT and is going to be super awesome! And with some assistance, I did something I never thought I’d do: a headstand.

Part of me wishes I had a photo to prove it, but that’d be obnoxious. Anyway, I’ve been to so many yoga classes before and never ever even attempted a headstand. The closest to an inversion I was always comfortable with was shoulder stand (and plow, but I don’t know if that counts.) I’ve always thought was too fat or too inexperienced to do it.

I guess all I needed was some help. And to be surrounded with people I actually know.

I’m off for more hot yoga. Fingers crossed I’ll be running again later this week!

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being in the present

January 18, 2012 4 Comments

Two days post marathon and I had yet to run. For some reason, my thighs were still reeling from the race Sunday, though my knee I fell on and the ankle I kept rolling were fine the following day. I decided to play it safe and let my first run back be with the Striders tonight.

Before the race, I decided on two goals for Mohican (both of which coincide with the fitness goals I set for myself a few months ago):

  1. Finish.
  2. Run the race in a sports bra.

So that means I need to get to work on my core strength and do some consistent ab work. And you know, go back to picking up a weight and lifting it myself. Not handing it to a client.

I decided to start with a 75-minute hot yoga class this morning at Cleveland Yoga. I’m going to be honest, I really struggled at the beginning of the class. Early on in the class, the instructor said something about breathing and being in the present in the practice. Yoga instructors say that kind of thing all of the time, but for some reason today, I really dwelled on it and thought about it the entire class.

Of course, I kept thinking of this:

I tried my best to focus only on the pose I was doing at that moment, moving with intention and giving it my best, not just going through the motions.

I left the class feeling more calm, relaxed and like I had just gotten my butt kicked with planks and several balance poses.

The more I think about being in the present, the more I want to make it a standard practice of mine in life and in my fitness endeavors. It seems as if my life lately has been more about where I am going, not how I’m getting there. I’m constantly talking/thinking about the next thing, whether it be a job, wedding planning dreaming (I’m not engaged…), apartment (though that is in the next like six months, I should get on that), racing, Badwater, etc.

I don’t know if I’m just mentally putting my life on hold right now, waiting for winter to end and October to roll around and the LT to come home and giving myself things to look forward to, or if I’m just doing a terrible job at focusing.

Either way, I’m about to start a really huge endeavor. I have no answers or way to try and focus on the present all of the time, but I’m going to try. I know there are moments I’m going to hate. Times I wish I hadn’t signed up for the Pig or Cleveland or Mohican. Days when I’d rather just lay in bed and sleep than go outside and run or work or whatever. But if showing up, taking the moment in and being present can add even some value, strength or fulfillment to my life, I’ll give it a shot.

I guess you can say I’ll try a little less bitching and a lot more namaste :)

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Protecting the long run

January 8, 2012 2 Comments

Since I don’t follow a training plan, I have one simple rule:

Protect the long run.

In a way, I don’t care as much about what I do the rest of the week, but as long as I protect the long run and get at least X miles in, I had a good week. When I trained for Chicago, I only planned out two and a half months of long runs and never cut those short. It worked and helped me feel less stressed and overwhelmed with a short training cycle.

And now that I’m staring at 50 mile training that starts in less than two weeks (ugh, I can’t believe I have a training plan for something and that it lasts almost six months, ew), I’m starting to worry about staying healthy and getting to the finish line on one of the toughest courses in the state (apparently). I’ve had a cold that’s lasted longer than a week (unheard of for me in the past two years). I have to nap every day and then 8-9 hours of sleep at night still isn’t enough and I have this constant tired look on my face. Not to mention, I’ve been taping both feet for plantar fasciitis for some time now and been wearing the stupid night splint again.

I’m not happy.

So something had to give. I have to protect the 50.

I’m currently a few hours away from going to bed without running today.

I’m trying not to dwell on it. I don’t want to settle for mediocrity and tell myself that it’s OK that I only lasted 76 days and that’s still a huge accomplishment. I set a goal. I didn’t accomplish it because I set an even bigger one that requires rest and recovery (thanks Hal Higdon).

With weeks pushing 75 miles, it just wasn’t possible. I’m not a machine. I need to keep my heart, my mind and my body healthy. I know the only person I’m really letting down is myself and I’m the one who’s going to have to deal with it. But I’ll get over it. I know I’ll thank myself later when I cross the finish line at Mohican.

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2012 at the races

January 3, 2012 11 Comments

So, in my last post, I talked about how I finally bought myself a Christmas gift and signed up for my first 50 mile ultra. I’ve been really hesitant for the past two months to sign up for anything or even set a race schedule for myself because of weddings, leave, showers, work, etc.

But I was going crazy not having anything to train for (except for that 50K in a week and a half…). So I wrote a bunch of races on my calendar (in pen) and though I’m only registered for three of them, I’m sure more will follow.

I’ll tell you now, I’m not racing that much this year. In the past two and a half years, I’ve ran 41 races, so I’ve decided to become more choosy on what races I spend my money on. That being said, here’s what I’m doing this year:

Jan. 15: Run for Regis 50K. I’m getting a little nervous about the weather, but other than that, I’m ready for this race and looking forward to it. At least I am when I remember it’s happening and I’m registered for it…

April 1: Fools 50K. Registration opened today… I’ll probably sign up tomorrow. I had originally planned on running this as my first 50K. Haha.

May 5: Capital City Half Marathon. This will probably be the first part of a two-race weekend. But I am so ridiculously excited to run this half marathon again. Of the four I ran in 2011, Cap City was the most fun, best course and had some of the best spectators. I had a really really good time and I’m excited for the changes they’ve made this year and to help celebrate the bicentennial of my state capital.

May 6: Cincinnati Flying Pig. No, I’m not crazy. Traditional ultra training calls for back to back long runs and honestly, a half one day and full the next are not even within the time frames I’m supposed to be training in that weekend. But I’ve always wanted to run the Pig and I figure I may as well just head down to Cincy, since I’ll already be in Columbus.

May 20: Cleveland Marathon. I ran the half the past two years, it’s probably time I run the full. As one of the official bloggers again this year, I’ll be posting about my training (though, let’s be real, I’m more focused on Mohican), so expect a rather unique and not-so-normal training perspective in those posts.

June 15: Mohican 50 Miler. Boom, can’t wait.

July 14: Buckeye Trail 50K. This will be interesting. I’ve ran on bits and pieces of the Buckeye Trail (one day, I want to say I’ve ran the entire thing. Not at once. It goes all the way around Ohio). But from what I hear, it’s a really challenging 50K. Love it.

July 28-29: Burning River 100. No, I’m not running yet. I hope to crew or pace someone. If not, volunteer. But I have to put it in my schedule because well, it lasts for 30 hours… And if you know of anyone looking for crew, I’d love to help!

September 22-23: North Coast 24. I’m on the fence about this one, but it may be a great way to mentally prepare for things to come in 2013.

September 29: Akron Marathon. It’s about damn time.

October 21: Columbus Marathon. I don’t know if I’ll be running the half or the full. I’m leaning toward the half marathon just so I can rest after a big September (like if I do for sure complete 80-90 miles at NC24). But I this race holds a special place in my heart, obviously, so I definitely want to go back.

I’m sure I’ll do the Turkey Trot and Pigskin Classic again. Those are must-do’s every year. Other than that, this obviously isn’t going to be my year of setting new PR’s and getting faster. I’m OK with that, I’d like to focus on just simply going longer.

What’s your race calendar look like for 2012?

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Here’s to 2012

January 1, 2012 7 Comments

Happy New Year!

I couldn’t be happier with the way 2011 ended — I ran 22 miles Saturday on the Regis course. Erin and I joined some new friends, including Kirsten, whose blog I’ve been reading for a very long time and we now finally got to meet and talk and run together:

(Many thanks to her bro-in-law/Facebook for the pic! That was after 14 miles and I was already that muddy. Yuck.)

Those 22 miles rounded out 214 for December. My highest mileage month EVER (my second highest was 170 in November!). Because of laziness in the winter and injury in the spring, I only totaled 1,451.25 for the year. But with all of the crap that happened, I’ll take it. I only had four of 12 months under 100 miles (and March and May were just barely under 100, each had about 96), so I’ll consider it a good effort.

I’m looking forward to 2012 bringing many great things and new challenges. In fact, I plunked down a nice chunk of change and registered for one of those challenges today:

Merry Christmas to me! I’ll be running the 50 mile race on June 16. I know I can do it, but I’m mostly terrified at the thought of it right now.

So, here’s to another year. New races, new distances, new trails, new friends and a whole new journey :)

Happy running!

 

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three things thursday

November 10, 2011 4 Comments

1. I’ve said multiple times that I really, really like holidays. I prefer the spring ones over winter (working in retail for years will do that to you), but I can’t help but get a little excited when Christmas (excuse me, holiday) decorations start going up and I have to start thinking about gifts and food and things of that nature. I can’t wait to decorate my own house someday (my mom and I no longer see eye-to-eye on Christmas decorations). Unfortunately, I only had to do the prep work for the holiday decorations at work and didn’t do the actual holiday boxes and overheads (which is OK with me, it was on a late night and I crap out around 10 p.m.). So every time I see someone repost this picture on Facebook, I can’t help but get a little angry:

For starters, this photo is two years old. Black Friday is on Nov. 25 this year…. And please realize, those Nordstrom employees who are lucky enough to help put together those crazy awesome decorations have to do so very early on Black Friday or very late the night before Thanksgiving.

2. My Garmin strap ripped last week. Thanks to the genius of my brother, I had to use duct tape to fix it:

You can see in this picture too that it’s ripping on the hole where I always put it. I really do not want to buy a stupid velcro strap, especially since the thing’s been crapping out on me already. I’m hoping some nice person (ahem) will just buy me a new one for Christmas….

3. OK. Confession time. I haven’t had a day off running since Oct. 23. After my run today, that will be 18 days in a row. Some days have been as little as 2 miles, others as much as 20. There’s reasons why I haven’t taken a day off, but I’ll save those for another day.

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I forgot what I wore last fall…

November 1, 2011 2 Comments

Sorry for taking a few days off from the blog. I’ve been working my booty off lately. Here’s something I’ve been hiding from you readers: I’ve been working as a personal trainer!

I’m still working my retail management job as well, so add those to ultra training and you get one tired Kali. I’ve had no time for blogging. Or sleeping. But it’s OK, if I have to work my butt off now to get what I want later on, then I’m OK with it. Plus I’m happy I’ve been able to keep busy with something since this past week has been really tough.

Anyway, I had an opportunity to get five miles in some really awesome weather this late afternoon. I did an impromptu run on the Towpath, knowing that when I finally made it home, I wouldn’t want to get out there. But I saw some unfortunate things while I was running.

People running with jackets, ear warmers and tights on.

It was 62 degrees when I got out of my car.

I know, it’s weird. It was barely 30 degrees on Saturday morning when I started running (and didn’t get that much warmer that day) and today it was 62 and sunny. But still, summer to fall seems to be a time when you forget how you dressed last year and have to experiment…again. So here’s a few tips as to how to pick out a running outfit that’s not a furnace on the beautiful fall and soon winter days we’re having:

  • Know your limits. For me, I know it’s time to put the shorts away when it’s either below 30 degrees or it’s below 35 and winds of 15-20+.
  • Loop the first mile around your house or car. If you layer up, you can loop back around to your house or wherever you parked and ditch a layer or two if you’re to hot. Or you can always pick up accessories or a jacket.
  • Write it down. If you track your mileage, track other information too: temperature, precipitation, outfit, how you felt. It makes it easy to go back on a similar weather day.
  • Phone a friend. OK, you really don’t have to call, I just wanted to say that. But ask any friends you’re running with or you know have already gone out for the day.
  • Be prepared. It may be tempting to shop end of season sales and stock up on summer and fall items now, but make sure you have a few good winter outfits now. You never know when a random snowstorm will hit.
  • Check the hourly forecast. Sometimes this is more important than how it is outside at the moment. Will it get colder and darker during your run? Don’t forget to stick gloves in your pocket. Running in the morning and know it will warm up? Wear a light jacket you can tie around your waist.
  •  The internet is smart. Weather.com has a widget you can add to your personalized page to help you out too.

Any other tips for the changing seasons? What else have you been up to lately?

 

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three things thursday!

October 27, 2011 5 Comments

1. We had a Halloween costume/prediction run at running club last night. After an emotionally tiring day, I really didn’t want to bother finding a costume, so naturally, I wore this:

It ended up being super hot. I had on shorts and a running bra underneath and was roasting, even though it was barely 50 degrees and raining. Good thing it had zippers.

2. I did not come anywhere close to winning the prediction part of the run (I was three and half minutes faster than I guessed I would run the “somewhere between five and six miles”). So no free pair of pure project shoes for me. However, I did buy myself a Brooks present:

3. Here’s a random question for you: how much is too much for a race? I draw the limit at $30 for a 5K and $100 for a marathon (unless it’s a major one, like Chicago). And remember I live in Northeast Ohio, not NYC, so I’m going to assume it’s more expensive in cities like that. But here’s a better question: how far is too far? There’s a 5K on Sunday that’s part of the Road Race Series. It’s only like $20 to run (reasonable, obviously), I didn’t run last year and a bunch of my social media runner friends are running. But it’s an hour away from my house. I will spend more time driving there and back than I will be running. Worth it?

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