Pigtails 50k Race Recap

I am now an official ultra-marathoner!

I'm not going to say this race was easy, and most of it wasn't even fun. Both of which kind of go against my love of running. But I finished! Let's start at the beginning.

As I mentioned before, I had been having some hip pain since I ran the Seattle Marathon. Friday afternoon, I went to my Crossfit gym, just to see if one of the trainers, Scott, could help me loosen it up a bit. From what he deduced, my TFL (tensor fasciae leatae) muscle in my thigh was causing the hip pain. Apparently, my hip flexors were overworked and my TFL was taking over, which it was apparently very angry about!

Once we figured out the problem, I basically tried to give it some relief by finding a trigger point, moving my leg where it didn't hurt anymore, and then trying to relax it for 30 seconds to a minute.

It seemed to work well! Although I still had a little pain when I left, I was feeling much more confident that I was going to get through 31 miles the next day.

By  Saturday morning, the pain had gone away, but my thigh was aching a little bit. That made me a little worried, but figured that trying to release it the previous evening would leave some residual strain.

I met my favorite running girls bright and early at 6:30am and we headed out to Maple Valley to the Cedar River Trail.

Jess, Me and Beth. Different day. Same awesome friends!

For Beth and I, this race would be a new PDR (personal distance record). Beth was running her first marathon and I was running my first 50k. Ready to run hard and take names!

Ready. To. Go! And also cold. Brrr.

Of course, Ultramarathoner Jess has done too many of these races to count, so she was just looking to get a good 50k in the books.

The race itself was small. After going through numerous races with the New York Road Runners in NYC, I will forever be amazed when I am not in a corral with a billion other runners. There were probably around 100 or 200 participants, and the fun part was, most of them new each other! Apparently the trail running community in Washington is a small and tight-knit group!

We started off with a short mile out and back before hitting the main Cedar River Trail.

After we started down the main trail, it started snowing!!! If you know me in real life, you know I am like a little kid when it comes to snow. I get overly EXCITED!!! Seriously, I'm like Buddy the Elf. SNOW!

I started out with four (!) layers on. Even during my coldest race ever (in Central Park, 14 degrees F), I only had two layers on. Haha. I guess I was cold. I finally felt warm enough by mile 6 to shed my outer fleece so I was in 3 layers for most of the race. Beth flew on ahead because she is a speedy little demon runner! Jess and I had talked about sticking together for the race, both stipulating that the other could run ahead if they ever wanted to.

Photo courtesy of Takao Suzuki.

The first 8 miles flew by, I was loving the snow and just enjoying Jess's company and the other runners around us.

I started getting a dull aching pain on the right side of my stomach around mile 10, and I was hoping it would go away. News flash of the day: it didn't.

From then on, I was in a fierce battle with my stomach. It was complete war. Since the race was so small, there weren't any bathrooms along the course. I was on my own.

Around mile 13 I saw a gas station across the highway, so I told Jess I was going to go do some business and she was welcome to take off. Bless her heart, she said she would walk it out so I could catch up.

Catching up to Jess.
Photo courtesy of Takao Suzuki.

I was able to relieve some of the cramps and unsettling, and felt a bit better by the time I caught back up to her.

We hit the turn-around just before mile 14, and I was happy to be heading back.

The next few miles, I was able to ignore my stomach and enjoy myself. The snow had turned to a rain/sleet mix, which was a little less fun, but I was having fun cheering on the runners going in the opposite direction. Slowly but surely, my stomach decided to cramp back up.

By mile 17, I was not having fun anymore. My usual thought process when it comes to running and racing is: if it's not fun, it's not worth it. Usually I'm having lots of fun, but not this day.

I finally had to stop and walk. I told Jess she would not hurt my feelings if she kept going. But she wasn't having it. She told me we were in it together. Be still my heart =)

Frozen faces.

Every time I started running again, my stomach would cramp up and start bouncing around (best way I can describe it). By the second time we had to walk, I told Jess that I thought I may just have to drop down and just do the marathon instead of the 50k. This was probably around mile 20, and I could hardly fathom 6 more miles of this nonsense, let alone another 10. Jess said just what I needed to hear: that we had all the time in the world, and that we just had a short few miles to the aid station, a short 2.5 mile out and back and then another 4 miles and it would be over. I would be in the car again before I knew it. She knew that I could hit this mileage. Just knowing that and the fact that she was supporting me helped a great deal. I made up my mind to plow on.

Frustratingly enough, my body felt pretty good! My hip was fine, and despite some neuroma pain, I was good to go! Minus that darn stomach.

I tried so hard to keep myself out of a negative mindset, but I have never walked so much in a race before. While that was disappointing, I kept trying to tell myself that there were many more races in my future, and this was just a blip along the line.

We turned up a side road to tack on the extra 5ish miles from the marathoners. We were still alternating between walking and running and I was literally hanging on with everything I had. Everytime we walked and had to start running again, it was so painful. At this point in a race, if I am hurting, I try not to walk because starting up again makes it that much worse. My stomach just couldn't take it this day. All I could think about was getting back to the car and passing out.

I was able to get in a good 2.5 mile stretch of running as we headed back to the main trail, where I knew there was only about 5 miles left.

Same trail, different day.

At this point, both Jess and I were pretty quite, and I was so grateful to have my friend there. Every time I made us stop to walk, she would try to brighten my spirits. I was literally just putting one foot in front of the other. I started giving myself goals: walk for .25 miles, run for 1 mile, etc. We finally took off again about .8 miles from the finish and I just put my head down, tried to ignore the cramping and got the job done.

We finished 31.1 miles in 5:09:55. I think our "official" time was somewhere around 5:18.

The finish line. 

After we finished, I got warm clothes on, and we got on the road back home, I was able to reflect a little bit.
I have to say I am very proud of myself. It would have been easy to have thrown in the towel. I have another 50k planned in January, and I wasn't particularly attached or trained for this race. I wasn't having fun and certainly could have bowed out. But I didn't. I totally credit Jess with this, but I stuck with it and finished my first 50k. I didn't crush it, I wasn't anyone's hero, but I did what I said I was going to do despite some severe setbacks. May this be a lesson for the rest of my life =)

In case you are wondering about Beth, she finished her first marathon with flying colors!!

Trying to get warm. Love this girl!

I am looking forward to many more marathons, 50k's and the like in the future, but for this race, I seriously can't thank my friends enough. Knowing Beth was running her first marathon, and with Jess by my side, I was given a boost of support and inspiration I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

My running loves. Always up for shenanigans, and spirit-perking!

Aaaaaannnnddddddddd on to the next!

*As a side note, I feel like I need to mention the tragedy in Newton that occurred on Friday. My heart is full of sadness and I am keeping that community in my thoughts and prayers. Senseless killing is never an easy thing to comprehend and I am still processing and trying to wrap my brain around what happened. 

50k, Picky Bars and a Weekend Workout

Yesterday was certainly a much more "chill" day than Wednesday. Just trying to get these legs rested and somewhat recovered before Saturday morning! Eeek!

I haven't talked much about goals for my 50k, or if I have a plan. And, honestly, I really don't have either. My main goal is just to finish. For most race personal distance records, that seems to be my norm. 

My first marathon, I just wanted to cross the finish line and I literally had zero ambitions time-wise. The same goes for this 50k. I keep hearing that it's just 4 more miles than a marathon, which sounds easy enough. But thinking to my last marathon, I'm not sure I had 4 more miles in me! Of course, mentally, I'll be in a different place, which I guess will make all the difference.

I'm planning on starting out around a 9 minute mile and just try to hold that pace. I think once I get to mile 8, I'll be just fine. It's those early miles that can get sort of mentally daunting for me. 

The things I'm worried most about are pretty much out of my control. I'm worried about my neuroma. The best thing I can do for that is just to make sure my calf isn't tight, so I will be stretching like crazy all day. 

The only other worry I have is my left hip. It's been somewhat problematic since the Seattle Marathon, so I am hoping it will just calm down tomorrow. We will see! I've done all the foam rolling I can, so what will happen, will happen!

In other news, I finally tried Picky Bars. I have heard some pretty great things about these, and they sure didn't disappoint. 

Before I get in to the taste, these bars have some major nutritional thought behind them! First off, they have a 4 to 1 carbohydrate to protein ratio, perfect for recovery! They are a perfect size at 200 calories, and they are gluten and dairy free.

I tried "Lauren's Mega Nuts" (hehe even the name made me giggle) and LOVED it! I think I liked it better than my beloved Lara Bars! Among other ingredients, this bar features dates, peanut butter, brown rice cereal, apricots, cranberries, chocolate chips, and several varieties of nuts and seeds. Whew! So much yum! I highly recommend these and will be getting more!

I taught a lovely High Intensity Interval class last night and, afterwards, realized it would be a fun one to share because it doesn't require any equipment. This workout took my class about a half an hour to complete. This one is certain to get you super sweaty!

Start off doing 100 jumping jacks. Then do 50 reps of air squats and high knees, then 40 reps of the same, then 30. The next section, you do 40/30/20 reps of jumping lunges and sit-ups. The last set is 30/20/10 of push ups and broad jumps. And you finish off with 100 more jumping jacks!

Hope you all have a good weekend! Let me know if you try the workout!

Lack of Recovery and Holiday Love

When I added the Seattle Marathon to my race schedule, I knew I was going to be running a 50k several weeks later.

The plan: Take it nice and easy. Don't push it and kill yourself so you can keep up 50k training.

And I think we all know how that plan went. Lesson learned: I have trouble holding back.

On that note, most people take a good amount of recovery time after a full marathon. I am not most people and I am still hanging on for my 50k's in December and January.

Unfortunately, the marathon has left me somewhat fatigued. Yesterday I was pretty creaky, and my left psoas was very tight and ornery. I pretty much rocked the compression socks all day and was wandering around the gym as slowly as possible.

Neon compression for the win!

I took things nice and slow all day and today I am feeling much better. I'm hoping to feel loads better by tomorrow and get in a nice run at Discovery Park before the rain comes. I'm going to do my best not to beat myself up if that doesn't happen, though. Bigger picture!

So the holiday season is finally upon us! I can't even begin to convey my love for this time of year! I have always been big into the holidays and love everything that comes along with it! (so many exclamation marks)

Case in point. I got my tree all set up and decorated this weekend!

So pretty!

Unfortunately in my move from New York, several of my ornaments were broken. I also lost two of the pieces that stand my tree up. It is precariously balanced against the wall for now. Not sure how to make it more sturdy.

Time for some superglue?

Another sad ornament story: my first year in New York, my parents mailed me all of my childhood ornaments. I never got the package and when I tried to track it down, no one would claim to have it, even though it had been delivered. I remember being so sad because there were so many sentimental ornaments in that box. Obviously I got over it, but seriously! Who steals and box of ornaments?!?!

I went to Crossfit last night basically just to see my friends. I planned to just take it super easy and sit out if I had to. After being mellow like Jello all day, I somehow had tons of energy once I got to the box! Our workout was a take on the Tabata, which is 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of rest. Our coach had us do 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest instead. We did 5 rounds total.

As I said I would, I took it easy and used a lighter wall ball and kettlebell than I normally would have. I started off using a band for the pullups, but by the end made the effort to do them unassisted, even if it was only two in a row. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday!

The Bad Runs

It's no secret that I love running.

It is my social time and my stress reliever. It keeps me sane and gives me goals and a way to push myself past what I thought was possible.

Most of my runs are great. I enjoy just about every single one, whether it's a "hard" run or the miles feel like they are flying by.

Of course, I am only human, and some days, I suffer from bad runs just like the next person. And, of course, the great runs always make up for the bad.

"That's the thing about running: your greatest runs are rarely measured by racing success. They are moments in time when running allows you to see how wonderful your life is." Kara Goucher

Friday evening was not one of the good runs. I was scheduled to run with my friends in the late afternoon. And not just a few miles. We were aiming for 20. I'm not sure what made me think, in my #teammorning body, that I could run 20 miles so late in the day. I've become a bit more accustomed to single digit afternoon runs, but I really did not think through the fact that this was going to be 20 miles. No small feat.

Not only were we running in the evening, but I had a full day beforehand. I had taught aerobics and gotten in a Crossfit workout (Fight Gone Bad! I'll share this another day...) as well. To say my body was probably already exhausted is an understatement. And it had completely slipped my mind that I had run a marathon only 5 days prior. Who am I and why do I think I am superwoman?

With all of my running friends, I think I get into a state that all the miles I put in is "normal" or even below-average. When I have friends training for 100 mile races and putting in 20 mile runs 2 or 3 days a week, I somehow feel like I should be doing the same thing. Never mind that I am NOT running a 100 mile race anytime soon. It's funny how your sense of normalcy completely goes out the window.

Anyways, back to Friday. So we head out to the Cedar River Trail. This is where I will be running my 50k December 15th. It is nice and flat and we had planned to do 10 miles out and 10 miles back.

The entire car ride down, I felt fine. I was singing and dancing to the radio and chatting with my friends. It hadn't really hit me that I had to run 20 miles.

We started our run and it was COLD! This becomes important later. About 2 miles in, I was hurting. Nothing particularly hurt, I was just spent. I was completely out of energy and wondering how I was going to get through 18 more miles. I trudged through the next few miles, trying to drown out the negative thoughts in my head and just listening to my friends talk.

At one point, we turned up another trail and decided to go out 3 miles and back three miles to continue on the main trail. About halfway to the turnaround, I just couldn't run anymore. My body was making it perfectly clear that it was done and I just didn't have it in me to keep going. I kept telling myself to push through but the thought of 12 more miles seemed too overwhelming.

Tired face.

I told my friends to go ahead and that I was going to walk until they caught back up to me. I turned around and started heading back down the trail. Of course, I was beating myself up about not sticking with my friends.

After about 10 minutes of walking and ending up at the starting point of the trail, I decided I felt better and started running back to where my friends were. I was able to keep up with them for a few more miles, but inevitably, I crashed again.

At this point, it had gotten very cold. I'm talking 30 degrees or so. None of us had planned for the cold weather and figured we would've been done before it really got cold. Not so much.

Pretty day! But COLLLDDD!!!

I headed back towards the car (which was still about 6 miles away at this point) and ended up doing run/walk intervals to keep myself warm. I have to admit, I was still beating myself up over not sticking with my friends. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I run 20 miles?

GET WITH THE PROGRAM, BODY!

My friends ended up catching up with me about a mile before the trail end, so I was still able to "finish" with them. It goes without saying that at this point we were all flirting with frostbite.

My friends know me well enough that they had some choice words in the car on the ride home.

They reminded me that I had run a marathon 5 days beforehand and had hardly had a chance to recover from that. I had also done several workouts already in the day and to top it off, my body wasn't used to running in the evening.

After they laid it all out there, it became obvious. I am not superwoman and CANNOT do all the things. Even if I want to. I had tried to pack too much in and definitely needed to back off. My body was literally yelling at me to take a step back. Ok, ok, I will listen!

Right now, my goal has shifted to include more rest and recovery. I don't think my body was ready to go so soon after my "marathon" last Sunday, and I obviously wasn't paying close enough attention. I am running the Seattle Marathon in 2 weeks and want to be good to go for 26.2 more. So for right now, it's neon compression sock time!

Friday Core Burner and Friday Plans

Happy Friday!

Last night I gave this workout to one of my classes. Everyone was hurting and glaring at me by the end, so I figured it was a good one to share with you! Let me know if you try it!

For a 20 minute workout, go through the entire thing twice. Do each exercise for 1 minute each, including the planks. Abs of steel!!

I have the day off before a long weekend working. You can guess what my day is going to involve.

First things first, I've got some group fitness stuff to do at my gym including lots of aerobics. I am supposed to be choreographing a routine so I can show my mentor, but I haven't had time to, yet. I'm probably just going to take his class and then ask him a million questions afterwards. Always a good time. Goal: Don't wear myself out! See below.

This will be next on my agenda today. Our box is doing the workout "Fight Gone Bad" today. I couldn't miss that! This workout includes 5 stations that you move through for one minute each and accumulate points by how many reps you get done. If that isn't hard enough, you do it 3 times through. I've done this workout once before and it wasn't easy. So, of course, that's why I'm excited for it.

And my day is going to round itself out running with these lovely ladies:

Our plan is to do 20 miles this afternoon along the route that Beth is running her first marathon on and I am running my first 50k on. Apparently it's flat and boring, so it's good we will have each other!

I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about running 20 miles so late in the day (team morning all the way), but I am hoping with all the afternoon running I've been doing lately my stomach and body will cooperate!

Its been very cold in Seattle the past few days. Definitely feels like winter out there, although I'm not complaining. I am so excited that I don't have to deal with the freezing New York temperatures this year. I can handle a little rain any day. Anyways, cold weather makes me crave warm beverages, so yesterday I stopped at Starbucks to get a hot tea.

I got the Vanilla Rooibos tea with a splash of soy milk. Hot damn was it delicious! Why oh why did I start the Starbucks addiction! I have a feeling this may be happening again today, but I am going to try and hold off so I can save the Starbucks for a special treat.

I hope you have a great Friday!

Completely Crazy

When I share with people what my training schedule looks like, how many miles I run, or how many workouts I do, they generally look at me like I'm crazypants.

Which I totally am.

But it works for me. I've built up my fitness level to the point that I can push my body to the limits and it knows how to quickly recover. I've been lucky to find several friends who also share in the craziness. One of whom is an ultra marathoner. When I talk about doing 2 a day workouts, this woman is doing 3 a days and running double mileage days back to back. She's pretty much my hero!

Of course, with all her crazy, I couldn't help but be bit by the ultra marathon bug, too. I thought my first 50k was going to be the Fat Ass 50k January 5th. I'd planned to run the Pigtails marathon December 15th and then build from there.

But hold up.

Instead of running a marathon on December 15th for the Pigtails Flat Ass, I think I'm going to run my first 50k. Blame Nicole and Robyn. I think they are both running the 50k and I want to be part of the cool kids club, too! So I'm changing my registration and going to rock a 50k December 15th. Get ready for the crazy!!!

In other news, I got some new shoes.

So white!

I want my current Brooks Ghost's to last me through my January 5th 50k, so I knew I needed some other shoes for my shorter runs during the week. I went into the store and tried on the Brooks Ghost 5 and these Brooks Defiance. I was torn about which shoe to get, but ultimately decided to go with the Defiance to give my feet something a little different.

Scene change.

I've been rocking CrossFit workouts lately. Thursday we did a fun partner workout.

We alternated with a partner between 3 push jerk, 6 wall ball and 9 knees to chest. Ultramarathoner Jess and I partnered up and make it our mission to beat all the boys. We pretty much dominated. Not going to lie.

Sunday night, it was raining and I had just spent 8 hours at work. The last thing I wanted to do was go to Crossfit. As usual, I rallied with my buddies and we all met for the 5pm workout. I was so glad I went. My legs were still a little cranky from my 22 miles Friday, despite running both Saturday and Sunday mornings, and this workout totally loosened me up. Not only that, but it was fun. I love my Crossfit friends and they always put me in a better mood.

Our workout was "Death By....kettlebell swings and burpees". I did a "death by" workout a few weeks ago, but with push ups and pull ups. Both were challenging in their own way!

Every minute, on the minute, we worked. We started with 2 kettlebell swings and 2 burpees on the first minute. Next minute, was 3 kettlebell swings and 3 burpees. And it continued for 16 minutes. I died after 12 minutes, so I cut my reps in half and started again. Woof! Good times! The first few minutes, I was dancing and having a great time, but I was a schweaty mess by the end!

Yesterday, we had another fun partner workout.

This was a shoulder killer. Obviously.

And I thought regular push ups were hard. Try doing them on a pair of rings. Ouch. I'm currently waiting for the DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) to kick in. Because it's coming!

Lots of trail runs with friends this week, some more Crossfit and a longer-ish run on tap for this week! Ready to rock!