Tag Archives: pr

P.R.ing (Yes, its a verb)

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I can proudly boast that I have been able to consistently PR (beat my personal record) at every race I’ve participated in for an entire year! Well, the only exception to this was the Miami Marathon… but I blame the fact I was in coral “J” and had to run sideways around people more frequently than I ran forward towards the finish, lol (I believe there were 28K participants!)

Here’s what I feel has helped me achieve my goals little by little:

1. Train hard during your off season:  Florida’s off season is the summer.  Scorching heat and oppressive humidity make smarter people stay indoors or run on treadmills. Us crazy people, however, just wake up earlier and run outside anyway.  And you know what?  I think it gives us crazies an edge.  If you can run 9 miles in 85 degree heat, then doing 13.1 in 50 degrees and a cool breeze will feel like a vacation, not a half marathon.  Trust me.  That’s exactly what was going through my head a few weeks ago.

2. Rest:  So, you think that the more mileage you get in during the week, the better off you’ll be?  WRONG.  Give your body the chance to rest between runs.  Running is harsh on your joints and can become a chore really quickly if you don’t start allowing yourself to “forget” how much it kinda sucks sometimes by giving yourself a day’s break in between.

3.  Cross Train:  Now, just ’cause you’re “resting” from running, doesn’t mean you are resting from cardio completely.  Take up another sport like cycling or swimming to keep you busy in between runs.  Weight training and fun classes at the gym also count!

4.  Injury Prevention:  My greatest fear is not being able to run.  But even I skip these and later really REALLY regret it.  Injury prevention/ strengthening exercises are imperative if you want to keep running long-term.  There are some common ones you can find on the web but, honestly, each person’s injury prevention routine should be tailored to his or her frequent aches and pains.  I usually have pulling in my piriformis and inner knees so I’ve learned to do things to strengthen the surrounding areas to prevent things from getting worse.  DO THEM!!!

5.  Eat Well:  Believing that eating lots of carbs will give you more energy or that eating a very low-fat diet will make you a leaner, better runner is just a naive and misinformed way to go about feeding yourself.  I’ve found that I need to be very attentive to my protein, carb and fiber balance for a good two weeks before a race… and good fats are your friend not your foe. You DO NOT want to have a “fiber attack” while running and you DEFINITELY do not want to suffer a day’s worth of serious G.I. issues after your race because your body has basically consumed itself due to being poorly nourished.  Balance is key.  Eat what you like, eat what you NEED and eat CLEAN and BALANCED.

9 miles… or sleep in ’till 9am…?

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dreams

So, I had all the intentions in the world to run 9 miles this morning to celebrate my official first day of complete freedom.  No more shortened summer work schedule, no more assignments due in school, just FREEDOM… But when my alarm went off at 6am, I set it back 15min.. then another 15… then another 15.  At 6:45 I decided “Who am I kidding? I need to sleep!”  So, instead of running 9 miles, I slept in until 9am. (Which I haven’t done in a long, long time.  Not even on the weekends!)

But tomorrow I’m hitting the pavement and I’m hitting it hard.  Because my dreams of running a sub-two-hour half marathon aren’t going to become a reality unless I work at it this summer.  I’m so close I can taste it.  Gonna make those 9 miles MINE!

 

May 4th: Wings for Life World Run

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Sunday I got to participate in an amazing event!  The Wings for Life World Run in Sunrise, Florida.  The event took place in over 30 locations and had over 35,000 participants throughout the world running at the SAME TIME.  The race started in different time zones (obviously) so race start times differed per country but we all started at the same time and ran in honor of those who couldn’t.  The event raises awareness and funds for those with spinal cord injuries and 100% of the proceeds from the registration fee goes to this amazing cause.  Here’s more info on the event:

http://live.wingsforlifeworldrun.com/en

The concept of the race is unique.  Rather than run towards the finish line… the finish line catches up to you!  You must run at a certain pace to hit certain mile markers because once the “finisher car” passes you with its censors (like the timing strip you run over at the finish but just mounted to the car), your time is stopped.  My goal was to run at least 9 miles before getting passed.  Considering the hypochondriacal, neurotic fit I was having Saturday, I arrived at the start not knowing if I would even complete my original goal.  Once I met up with my co-worker who invited me to join her in the race, I was began to feel a little better but was still hesitant.

Once we started, I hit my stride pretty quickly.  I was calm, well paced and feeling energized.  By mile 5 I was beginning to think “I got this…  I only have 4 more to meet my goal and I’m feeling pretty good.”

By mile 6 a short gentleman about my age, wearing crazy metallic shorts and neon compression socks started to run along side me me.  My thoughts at this point were… “what the hell, guy?!”

By mile 7, me and the short guy were running the exact same pace, never saying a word to each other.  We were approaching a water station and all of a sudden a highlighter-yellow-colored piece of paper seemed to flutter out of no where from the sky and landed in front of us on the pavement.  We both looked at it and realized it wasn’t a piece of paper at all… it was someone’s escaped pet parakeet!  I’d never seen one so neon colored in my life.  Me and little dude just turned to each other and exclaimed simultaneously “What the hell?!” and laughed.  That was pretty cool so, I decided it was a good omen that this was going to be a kick ass race and that little dude was pretty cool.

By mile 8 I didn’t even feel myself running anymore and was now on auto-pilot.   The world was just passing by.

By 9.5 I passed Casey who was waiting with the camera.  I was having the run of my life… I was averaging 9:02 and feeling great.  I wasn’t even thinking about the finisher car that was creeping up slowly behind us all.  My random running buddy and I were pumping each other up… “yeah!  We’ll be able to finish a half for sure!  We’re killing it.”

Before I knew it, it was mile 11… and that’s when it happened.  A guy on a bike rolled by and warned us.  “Its coming guys.  I see it about a quarter mile away.”  We decided to push a little harder.  “Lets give it all we got!”

Suddenly, my running buddy shouts, “Ok, lets book it!”  I turned to him and told him I was at max capacity and couldn’t go any faster…  “Turn around!”  He told me as he bolted off.  And there it was… the car!  I squealed as though this were the zombie apocalypse (yeah, I’m obsesses with Walking Dead, whatever!)  and I was getting chased by a walker.  I booked it! But not for long…  I proudly finished 11.43 miles before my race was over.

But here’s what I’m so excited about…  I calculated that if I had continued at my pace of 9:02 for 13.1, I would have finished a half marathon at 1:58!  Safely under 2 hours which is my goal for next season.  I got it in me baby!! woooohoooo!!!  I’m STILL beaming with excitement and pride.