Ow... ow... OOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

We focused on arms last night at Warrior Camp.  I am so sore I could barely wash my hair this morning.  Shampooing is overrated. 

Warrior Camp

Holy hell, did I work out hard last night!!!  First, you should take a look at this video of the Warrior Camp instructor's phyisical abilities.  Okay, I tried embedding a video but it was just taking too long.  Follow this link instead and watch the video...  http://www.adapttraining.com/camps/warriorcamp.html.  Seriously, it's amazing! 

In last night's class, we did pre-testing.  If I were taking the four week class instead of just the free first week, we would spend the last day of class doing the post-testing and I imagine the improvement would be pretty impressive.  Alas, as it is, I'm pretty pathetic on the upper body strength.  But, then again, we don't call ourselves the T-Rex's for nothing!! 

First, the entire class did a timed wall sit together (I lasted over 2 1/2 minutes) and then we went to a variety of stations to be assessed.  I couldn't even manage one chip up but did manage four whole push-ups (boy style!).  Then, I couldn't get up to do the wall assisted handstand so I had to do 2 minutes of downdog instead - which was obviously a piece of cake and the only easy part of the testing!  Then, we did these flexed delt arm hang things...  I only lasted ten seconds there.  I did pretty good on the elevated lunges - lasting 28 seconds with my right leg back and 45 with my left leg back.  Lastly, we did this brutal exercise called ADAPT shuttle runs.  Two weight benches are placed 10 yards apart and you have to run back and forth 10 times for a total of 200 yards.  At each bench, you have to step or jump to the other side of the bench and back all while carrying a 7 pound medicine ball between both hands that you can not drop or take even one hand off.  I managed the first go round in 1:38.  Then we got a one minute rest...  and I finished my second round in exactly 1:38 - which was pretty impressive because they only tell you that you need to finish the second round within ten seconds of your first time. 

Needless to say, it was tough and also pretty depressing to find out how out of shape you can be and still manage to complete marathons.  Tonight's class will just a normal class so I'm really looking forwrad to it...  even if I know it's going to kick my butt!! 

Adventures in Cross-Training

I have a huge confession ladies: first week of marathon training and I didn't run a single step!

My excuse is rock solid, though. I've had a cold all week AND I just returned to Austin last night after a very fun vacation to California. So, instead of 3, 5, 3, 5, and 8 mile runs, my week went a little like this:

Monday - 8 mile mountain bike ride around Lake Tahoe (at over 6,000 elevation!), rock climbing in the evening



Tuesday - All day rock climbing

Wednesday - Rest / recover from cold
Thursday - Hike 7 miles into Yosemite wilderness (up to 8,000 feet)

Friday - Hike 10 miles out of wilderness
Saturday - Rest / fly home

So... my intentions were to make it to this morning's group run, but I am still so sore from backpacking ten miles the other day that I can barely walk up and down our stairs.

Last year, I started marathon training two weeks late and was able to catch up fairly quickly. Looks like I am continuing my tradition of playing catch-up - starting tomorrow, it's ON!!!

Week 1

Week 1 of training was a total success for me!!  I nailed all my runs and felt great doing them.  The return of the tiredness, hunger and leg burn feels unbelievably comforting.  I know it is very, very early in an 18 week process but I feel so positive and energized...  and that's a great way to start.  

M - 3 miles at 10:32, Socks class
T - 5 miles at 10:37, pilates
W - 3 miles at 10:35, aerial yoga
T - 5 miles tempo (9:59 pace)
F - rest
S - 8 miles at 10:09
S - rest

Am I Crazy?!?!

Today's Groupon is for a month unlimited TRX and boot camp classes at a gym SW.  Not only am I seriously considering it...  I'm trying to get Ty to agree to do it with me in November.  Looking at the schedule, we could hit the 10:30 TRX Intro and Recovery after our long runs on Saturdays.  On Sundays, we could make the 9:00 boot camp and still not miss too much football.  There is a class almost every evening around 6:00 - if we hit one or two of those a week, PLUS marathon training, it would be AWESOME!!! 

Anyone think this is too much and might lead to overtraining?  What if I promise to slow down and focus only on marathon training (with maybe a little cross training) in December and January? 

WTH?!?!

So, your reaction to this might be the same as mine - what the hell is that?!?!  For me, it was swiftly followed by - you do know that I'm marathon training, don't you?!?!!?  To answer your question, it's shredded beets, shredded turnips, shredded squash, julianned chard and diced green tomatoes sauteed together then topped with diced red tomato.  Shockingly, it wasn't all that bad.  Not great, either but not bad at all!  I cleaned my plate...  but then I was still hungry, as would be expected, so Ty graciously made me a plate of cheese and crackers. 

New Running Duds

I was at Costco last night picking up gobs of pasta (I am marathon training, after all!) and organic can sugar for my latest canning extravaganza.  So, natch, I had to check out their selection of workout clothing.  Of course, I NEEDED a couple of new things...  to celebrate the start of marathon training!  Two new jog bras and a pair of capris...  YAY! 

First Day of Training!!!

Wow - this day sure came quickly!!  It is our first offical day of training for the Austin Marathon!  While I am excited, I'm also preparing to be really tired for the next four months.  The good news is that I found my endurance to be higher and my recovery times shorter while training for my second marathon.  Hopefully that trend continues as I prepare for my third.  I'm also kind of ready for the beat down of training because the pay off always seems worth it:). 

Here's my weekly recap:

M - 3 miles and Socks
T - 3 miles and pilates
W - 5 miles and aerial yoga
T - 3 miles
F - rest
S - 6 miles
S - rest

Saturday Morning Group

About a year and a half ago, when Ty and I had decided to train for the Portland Marathon, we attended a Saturday morning free group run out of Fit Right NW, a local shoe/running store.  That day, we met Megan.  Two Saturdays later, we went back to meet up with Megan again and also met Krista - and immediately the four of us hit it off!  Since then, I've been regularly running with Krista's Saturday morning running group.  She sends out an email the week before to around 50 peeps (not sure on that number - totally guessing!) with the meeting place and route.  They are usually out and back routes so everyone can start together and pick their poison for the day.  

It was through this group that I was lucky enough to meet Faith and Jody - my training partners for the Eugene Marathon and, now, the Austin Marathon.  Over the past year and a half, I've met a lot of amazing people through this group.  Runners come and go as the hectic-ness of their lives and the distances in their training plans vary.  We saw Jody leave us for Eli's graduate work in Austin and today we're about to wish Luke a great 8 months of working in Alaska (at least he'll be back soon!).  

Luke is one of the more unlikely members of our group.  A regular smoker, his fabulous new-ish girlfriend has inspired him to become more healthy.  He's battled some knee pain but still managed to make a lot of the runs.  Luke usually ends up finding a place right behind the girls and he's had to endure many a conversation about poop, periods and other topics that I'm confident he'd rather not know exist!  My absolute favorite run with Luke ever was an out and back from Fit Right NW up to the top of Terwilliger Hill.  As we were descending, I heard a crinkle-crinkle behind.  I turned around and Luke was munching on a candy bar!!!  Technically, I think it was a Power Bar or something along those lines but still!!  A Gu is about all my stomach can handle on a run and here's this guy eating a CANDY BAR?!?!  Amazing...  I am going to miss you, Luke!

Where have I been?!?!

First, I must apologize to all my loyal readers for my hiatus.  What's that?  I don't have any readers?  Loyal or otherwise??  Oh... 

Jess and Jewel wo-manning the Run Oregon booth at the Portland Marathon Expo

Ty and I spent a busy two weeks of evening after work getting ready for Run Oregon's first marathon Expo.  We then both logged two 12+ hour days manning our booth at the Portland Marathon Expo along with our VERY good friend Jewel (who you may know from mentions on my other blog...  oh wait, that whole no readers thing again!!).  The three of us estimate that we personally talked to about 1,000 runners and we managed to get 630 entries into our Vibram FiveFingers giveaway. 

So, all this to say...  this is why I haven't found the time to blog as regularly as I would like.  But, as life returns to a normal level of activity, I'm hoping that I'll be back on here at least a couple of times a week. 

I'll use this post to update my weekly summary for last week:

M - 4 mile run, Socks class

T - 3 mile run, pilates class

W - hours of kickball

T - rest

F - rest

S - 3.5 mile run

S - rest

A little too much on the resting but I'm hoping to make up for it this week - stay tuned!! 

The Truth Hurts

So, I hurt my quad Monday morning and took Monday's run off. I was itching for a run today even though my leg was still tight. I thought a run would loosen it up, followed by some serious stretching. Jess and I started running and we were talking about my fears that my feet aren't ready for barefoot running, even after easing into it and running consistently in the Vibrams for the last 6 weeks. I've noticed that my feet are tender, especially in the morning, and my ankles don't warm up for a half mile or so.

Then I tripped.

I've always been kind of a klutzy runner, but in the fingers I snag my toes a lot. I remember my high school coach yelling at me "Pick up your feet, Donnally!" This time, when I snagged my toe I felt my right quad pull and snap. It was terrifying. While walking back to work, I stopped occasionally to massage my muscle because it hurt so badly. This was real pain, not just hurt. I made it back to the office and was smart enough (Thanks, Jess!) to do some internet research that told me to ice my thigh and NOT massage it. I stayed at work long enough to do the recommended "20 minute immediate icing" then left my bike at work and bussed it home.

A beer (which I fully believe helped me AND my muscle relax) and icing every 2 hours have made me less fearful, although I've decided to wait until the official day of training to run again.

Now, to the title of the post: I've never really had problems with running. I've been running since I was 14 (with some time off :). I ran cross country, indoor track and outdoor track for almost 4 years in high school and then ran for years afterwards in shoes and never had problems. After reading "Chi Running" two years ago, I changed the way I ran and it made it easier and fun. After reading "Born to Run" I felt like there was still a better way. I tried the Fingers for a while and then got worried after Ty hurt himself, so I took it down a whole lot. I tried "transition shoes", marathon racing shoes that would be my trainers. I ended up really hurting my Achilles. I went back to my Asics and everything was fine. Eight weeks ago, I started running again in the Fingers and thought the weakness and tenderness was from building muscle. After the last two weeks of long runs, I've had to ice my feet--after 6 miles.

I know that running in shoes will be better for me. Honestly though, I feel like a bit of a barefoot running failure.

I was born to run. Maybe I was born to run in shoes.

Sometimes running is hard

Look at that bright and shiny pool! This is the view from our living room window...

We moved into our new digs over the weekend. It's a two bedroom apartment in one of those complexes with a pool, a gym, and free cable. It feels like we are on vacation in southern California. I can't wait to host Faith and Jess for the Austin marathon! And anyone else who wants to travel to Austin, for the marathon or just for fun. E and I decided that having a guest room was our number one priority, so come on down!

As a result of all this moving - hauling all of my worldly possession into the U-haul, out of the U-haul, up the stairs - I have been SO tired. Yesterday I took TWO naps. And on Sunday, when I went to do a "long" run of 5 miles, I felt like each leg weighed about a million pounds. It was one of those runs that gets me thinking, "How will I possibly be able to run a marathon?"

Except, oh yeah, I already have run a marathon. Two actually. It's all part of the training I suppose. Some days you just have dead, million pound legs. Thanks, Sunday's run, for reminding me of something very basic: Sometimes running is hard!

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Upcoming posts:

- Austin Marathon Project's brutal new abs workout (y'all are going to love this!)
- Backpacking as cross-training
- Debatable t-shirts that I found at Goodwill

Reflections

Monday mornings are a good time for reflecting.  Last week was a great one for both my running and my cross training.  I started the week with three exercise classes and ended the week with two bike rides.  I typically take Fridays and Sundays off but I ended up headint to the track on Sunday with a walker friend and running a pretty fast (9:00 average) three miles.  For this, I have Onya to thank - she had to be on leash due to a soccer game and she was singularly focused on catch up with our friend on each and every lap.  Needless to say, it was much more of a workout than I would normally schedule for the day after a long run!! 

All in all, I ran 23 miles and biked 7 plus attended three fitness classes.