Follow Through Friday - Half Marathon #1 and Two Pins Moved

Well I did it! I completed my first of the two post-baby half marathons marathons I signed up! And even better, I got myself a PERSONAL RECORD! You can read my race recap of the Celebration Half Marathon here. Overall it was a great run and I'm so happy that I got a PR with my first half after having a baby only 4 months ago! Other than that, I've been REALLY good all week. Even at a 3 year old's birthday party with a ton of cupcakes/cookies/candy. I even logged a cupcake in My Fitness Pal and hubby talked me out of eating it, although I did still end up with a cookie since EM didn't finish it and I couldn't let it go to waste LOL. I did allow myself to eat over my calories on Saturday night since I was out for a friends birthday and knew I would be running the next morning so figured a nice pasta dish would be good to to "carb up" for the race. I also ate the post-race refreshments, which were a handful of different samples from the local restaurants but it really wasn't too much and I was good the rest of the day. The rest of the week I've been spot on with my calories. I usually do well on weekdays, it's the weekends that I usually struggle since we are always out and about doing things. And I got to move two pins on the motivation board because of it!

I got my other runs in as well although Thursday night I wasn't feeling it, so I stopped at 2 miles (was supposed to be 45 mins). I then walked for 15 minutes and started feeling more into it and then knocked out another mile running, which I pushed myself at and probably ran my fastest mile in a really long time.

Weight: 166.4

Half Marathon training (even though I ran one half, I'm still considering it training until I get to the Disney Princess):     

     Run 1: 13.33 miles in 2:37:35 (11:49 pace) 

     Run 2: 2.72 miles in 30:00 (11:01 pace)

     Run 3: 2.00 miles in 22:47 (11:23 pace)

     Run 4: 1.00 mile in 10:15 (10:15 pace)

Other:

     Walk: Friday – 0.50 miles

     Walk: Tuesday – 0.85 mile

     Walk: Thursday – 0.83 miles 

Total Weekly Miles Logged:  21.23 miles

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 10.2 lbs

Plan for Next Week: 
For Friday through Monday it will include a 5k on Saturday (was supposed to be a 10k but all I could find was a 5k, figured it would be nice "cool down" from the half and I plan to run it with a friend so not trying for any special time), one 30-minute run and a 45-minute run (at race pace).

Celebration Half Marathon Race Recap

1st Race Medal of 2015

Back when I was pregnant, I made an impulsive decision to sign up for an interim half marathon during my Princess Half Marathon training. I was planning on using this more so for training, but since my training was going well, I decided to try to PR it. I’d have to say, the training really makes a difference (this is my first half that I successfully trained for) as I never felt completely spent during the run. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still sore today but definitely not as sore as I usually am after a half and I felt GREAT running the whole time, whereas in the past I always really struggled during the last few miles during a half.

 

Pre-Race Picture with Friends

The race was in the town of Celebration. I loved the course as it went through a lot of residential areas and there was a good amount of encouraging signs and people out there cheering us on. Several of the mommas from my MRTT group were out there cheering us on as well. They moved along the course as we ran so got to see them in several locations, such a great group of ladies! Can't wait to get to know them better and maybe join them for some spectating in some future races! The city had signs up and down some of the roads and I read every single one of them; some of them were very funny. My phone was in the compartment on my water bottle holder or else I would have taken pictures but some of my favorites (that I can remember) were: “ you are running better than our government”, “don’t be deflated like the other 11, be like the 12^th (referring to the NFL football drama), and  “It may not be Disney, but at least we didn’t get you up at 2am”  which was so true, I was able to leave my house at 5:15 (was about a 30 minute drive), had to park a good 3/4 mile away, wait in line to pick up my packet and still had 20 minutes to kill before race started at 7am! I found another race recap blog post and they had a picture of a few of the signs.. plus some other great pictures of the beautiful course, and much better pictures in general, check them out here!

I do have two complaints about the race itself. One is about the course itself and the portions that went over their boardwalks. There were several sections that were on the boardwalks, which are narrow and slippery, and it wasn’t even raining.  Plus, you had to jump up a curb onto the grass to get onto them which isn’t exactly the safest thing to do. I saw several people fall (not badly, but definitely slipped and tumbled) and more people just slipping in general. At one point I saw a bunch of people conjugated right before the entrance to the one section of the boardwalk and  was thinking to myself, well that’s a dumb place to be hanging out (thought they were just spectators) it’s already narrow enough there. Well, I ended up seeing one of the MRTT mommas on the course and ran a few miles with her and she filled me in that a girl had tripped on the “lip” from the pavement to the wooden boardwalk and cracked open her head and her husband who was running but is also a paramedic stopped to stay with her along with several other runners who stopped to make sure she was ok as they waited for the medics to get there. I found out later on that a 3:30 marathoner also fell in that same spot, so he was running pretty dang fast. (the half and full marathon were the same course, just two loops for the marathon). Both will need plastic surgery for their injuries. I really hope the city re-thinks this portion (and most of the boardwalk portion) of the course for next year. I’m sure there were other injuries as well but those two were definitely the most serious that I heard about.  I couldn’t stop thinking about those runners and how easily it could have been me who fell too.

My other complaint was as you approached the finish line, you came around one final corner and on one side of the street they had chairs and streamers/barriers but on the other side, it was open so people were of course lined up to cheer on the finishers, which is great.  However, since there was no barrier, people were constantly crossing and several runners were coming around that corner pretty fast (when I was watching, several placing marathoners were finishing) and had people crossing in front of them. And the people crossing were taking their time, pushing strollers, walking with toddlers, holding food, etc. At one point someone dropped a bowl of fries (which when smashed to the ground would be slippery) – what made it even worse, it was a race volunteer and she put little effort to clean it up. Finally another spectator went out there quickly and scooped them off the course. I even saw some runners just taking their time crossing the path. I was just appalled with how rude everyone was with people who were trying to finish. And it wasn’t like this was the end of the race either, there was still hours worth of finishers coming though after the point I was watching, and I imagine it only got worse as more spectators joined the crowds.  My recommendation would be to either not allow people to stand on that side of the street or put up some sort of barricade so people wouldn’t be so tempted to cross. It wasn’t even so much as to the fact people were crossing though as it was WHERE they were crossing, right as runners were coming around a corner and wouldn’t be able to see people in their way. I saw several runners have to swerve to prevent running into spectators.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the run. It was VERY cold in the beginning (40’s) but as soon as you hit mile 1-2, you are warmed up and lots of people start shedding layers. I wore a hoodie until right before the start and gave it to a non-running friend to hold for me and then just ran in pants and a long sleeve shirt and mittens (well one mitten as I lost the other somewhere between my car and walking to start line) with one of those “toasty hands” hand warmers. I also had on a headband which covered my ears. By like mile 3, I had ditched my one mitten and the hand warmer and exposed my ears and was completely comfortable the rest of the race where temps got into the high 50’s I believe. I would choose this weather over the heat any day! They had plenty of water and aid stations throughout the whole course and great post race refreshments (from a bunch of the local restaurants in Celebration). Their swag bag had a nice HeadSweats hat in it and some other goodies! I was overall really impressed with the organization and efforts put forth by the Town of Celebration!

 

Post Race Excitement!

Overall, I really enjoyed the race and plan to do it again next year! It’s limited to only 2500 runners, which makes it nice and not too crowded. The course is great, lots of spectators cheering you on and pretty flat so helps if you are trying to PR. I ran the first mile with 3 friends, one who was running her 1^st half, and then split off from them as their pace wouldn’t have gotten me a PR and I really wanted to try for it. I’m so glad I tried, because I definitely hit it! According to RunKeeper and all the zigzagging, I really beat it with an 11:49 pace but in terms of the PR, I use my official chipped time and it was 2:37:16 which is a 12:01 pace for 13.1 miles! So proud of myself for PR’ing and even more proud of the fact it was just 4 months after having a baby!

My Stats:

Official Chip Time: 02:37:16 (overall pace of 12:01)

Place: 1126 of 1808 finishers

Place: 371 of the 1222 Women Finishers

Place: 66 of the 114 in my Women’s Age Division (25-29)

10k Split: 1:15:45

15k Split: 1:52:34

My RunKeeper stats (which accounts for the zigzagging)

13.33 miles in 2:37:36 (overall pace of 11:49)

Fastest Mile: #10 at 11:02

Slowest Mile: #1 at 13:32

Slowest Mile (once I split off from my friend) #8 at 12:17)

Follow through Friday - Fully Committed to get #fitin15

YES! I did it! I’m back to where I was in Early December. I did a 10k (virtual) race hosted by the awesome Moms Run This Town group over the weekend and saw a picture that completely disgusted me. I mean, I was wearing a shirt that was too small (it was cold out and my long sleeve running shirts are all too small still) but still, I looked like the Michelin man and it was enough for me to say, I need to cut the crap (junk food) and get serious. Ironically, back in 2009 when I lost a bunch of weight, it was picture that did it for me too. I finally feel fully committed! I went grocery shopping and stocked the fridge and even cooked a real dinner twice this week – Tilapia. I usually eat prepared salads, frozen veggie burgers or something else in frozen form, so this was a nice change up!

Since my first of 2 half marathons is this weekend and the other at the end of February, I didn’t want to lose the momentum of having races on the horizon, so I signed up for a few more races this week as well. All of them are medal races too (I’m a sucker for Race Bling)! The first one is a 5k on January31st, the next is on February 7^th and is a 5k and 10k  Distance Dare (9.3 miles) and the other is on March 14^th and is a 2 miler and 10k Distance Dare (8.2 miles) which I did last year. I’m sure I’ll sign up for a few more in the spring before it gets too hot, just trying to work them into a busy schedule! Ahh I’m loving running again and it feels so good!

With my commitment, I should be able to hit all my dietbet weigh-ins in February (I have 3!), be down about 10 lbs for my cruise at the end of February, and fit into some more of the clothes in my closet and feel a little better about myself!

Weight: 168.8 <--- totally scheduling that facial now!

Half Marathon training:     Run 1: 6.16 miles in 1:14:58 (12:10 pace) 

     Run 2: 2.68 miles in 30:00 (11:11 pace)

     Run 3: 4.03 miles in 45:00 (11:10 pace)

Other:

     Walk: Friday – 1.23 miles

     Walk: Sunday – 2.96 mile

     Walk: Monday – 0.79 miles (plus walked around SeaWorld all day)
     Walk: Tuesday – 0.83 miles

Total Weekly Miles Logged:  18.68 miles

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 7.8 lbs

Plan for Next Week: 
For Friday through Monday it will include Celebration Half Marathon, one 30-minute run and a 45-minute run. 

Moms Run This Town Frozen Booty Virtual Race Recap #MRTT

RACE BLING!

Last summer, I learned about virtual races. I had never knew they existed. But pretty much some organization hosts them, you run the distance on your own (home, treadmill, etc.) and they send you a medal. Well, the awesome running group I belong to, Moms Run This Town, hosts them twice a year. My local chapters (I belong to two local chapters since both run in my area – Central Florida and Clermont) took it a step further and decided set up true events, so that we could run the races together! I participated in the Central Florida Chapter’s event this weekend. (The Clermont chapter event is in February, but I won’t be participating since I already did this one).

all of us

Our chapter leader, Olivia, did an awesome job of getting volunteers and sponsors and was able to provide race t-shirts (which is super comfy – I wore it Sunday!), swag bags, refreshments, a photographer and raffle prizes! Plus the awesome medal! The swag bag had some great goodies in it, and the bag itself was a nice canvas tote! This was probably the nicest swag bag I’ve ever received! One of the Mom’s husbands does photography, so he was there to capture the event. Check him out at http://www.5starphotos.net/ -- all the pictures in this post are his.

Olivia and another MRTT Volunteer setting up the post-race refreshments

There were about 30+ participating in the race plus volunteers, some running the 5k and some running the 10k. Our volunteers set up the course on the West Orange Trail, complete with a water stop at the 5k turnaround point, balloons/streamers at the start and finish, and for each person who finished, they held up a ribbon for us to run through! Unfortunately, we must ave turned around too early for the 10k (we were using a Garmin, but you never know) so the 10k distance was a little short for myself and the two moms I ran/finished with. Regardless though, it was an AWESOME event and they did an awesome job putting it together. The weather started off chilly (for us Floridians, the 50’s is cold!) but we warmed up quickly and it turned out to be a gorgeous morning for a run!

 

and we're off!

finishing the race.. ignore my boob sweat, I told you it warmed up lol

I really enjoyed talking to the two moms I ran with for the run, it’s always more fun to run with someone and chit chat! We stopped for like a minute at the water stop to talk to our awesome volunteers and to refill our bottles (so my time would have been a tiny bit better had we not stopped) and then I definitely indulged in some of the post-race refreshments (cake pops, cookie cake, munchkins = YUMMY! – there was healthy stuff too but I made bad choices). As a winner of the raffle, I picked a MRTT car magnet. There were some really awesome prizes (someone even donated a Disney ticket, which was obviously the first to go) but when my name got picked, the best items were gone (or at least the ones I would have picked). I’m happy to finally have a car magnet for my car since I’m finally actively participating in the MRTT group and runs now!

I can’t wait to participate in their next Virtual Race this summer!

Race Stats from my RunKeeper (wasn’t a chipped race):

6.15 miles in 1:14:58 (overall pace of 12:10) 

Fastest (complete) Mile: #1 and #2 where both at 11:58

Slowest Mile: #5 at 12:59 (where we stopped for water and chatted) 

and just a few more pictures

Raffle Table

you can really see the nice quality swag bag in this picture

Follow Through Friday - Can't Out Exercise a Bad Diet

I had a great week, well, exercise-wise anyways. On Saturday, I got my long run in with some of the moms from MRTT. I think 4 of us started together but 2 of girls didn't have to run as far so just myself and one other did the full 11 miles. I'm really enjoying my long runs with the Moms on the weekends, it truly makes the run go by so much faster! I was however annoyed that my 100% charged phone died during our last interval which is just ridiculous! Next time I need to remember to turn off my blue tooth in order to save battery power! I had to manually adjust my RunKeeper from the 10.77 miles it logged to the true 11 miles we did, so my stats below may be a little off. The rest of this week, I was in Cincinnati on business travel. The hotel gym was literally ONE treadmill and ONE bike. That's it. They do offer free passes to Planet Fitness, but I didn't want to deal with that (borrowing the rental car, finding the place, going out in the cold weather etc). Luckily, both times I went to use the treadmill it was free. Well, technically the 2nd time, my one coworker was on it, but he was finishing up so I didn't have to wait for it. (The same can't be said for my coworker who got up at 5:15 to run one morning only to find the treadmill occupied by another one of our coworkers - there was a handful of us traveling together - she was not happy lol). The one girl I traveled with did have a YMCA membership and she convinced me to check out one of the group fitness classes with her while we were up there, so I even got a Boot Camp class in. Which reminded me why I need to do strength training... even the 3 lb dumbbells were heavy for me for the exercises! Both runs were followed by walks as well, so I got in a decent amount of exercise, especially for being on travel.

However, even with all that exercise, you can't out exercise a bad diet. I'm pretty sure I've posted about that before. This week was tough again. Is any week not? I feel like a broken record. I've been getting my exercise in but can't seem to get my eating 100% under control. I was on business travel this week which means every meal is eaten out. I did make SOME better choices - instead of a waffle and muffin for breakfast, I had a yogurt; instead of fries with my entrees at dinner, I had veggies. On the negative side though: I had a 450 calorie cookie (thanks to the catered in Panera for lunch), I drank a decent amount of beer (even though I said I wasn't going to drink all month), I ate the table bread, etc. I also don't drink nearly enough water when I'm not in my normal routine (and don't have my huge 32 oz jug with me).  On top of it all, I'm completely bloated from my period. All of that is reflective in my gain this week. I can only be mad at myself about it, and I am. Especially since my dietbet weigh in is tomorrow and it's very unlikely I'm going to make it, although I will be getting my water in today at least, which will help a little bit!

I have a 10k tomorrow, which is (hopefully) going to feel like a breeze after the long runs I've been doing on the weekends. I'm curious to see how my training has helped me with this as well. I always seem to push myself more in race settings, so hopefully I'll see some improvement in my speed. 

Weight: 174.0

Half Marathon training:
     Run 1: 11.00 miles in 2:15:10 (12:17 pace) 

     Run 2: 3.94 miles in 45:00 (11:25 pace)

     Run 3: 2.66 miles in 30:00 (11:17 pace)

Other:

     Walk: Sunday - 0.5 miles

     Walk: Monday - 0.83 miles
     Walk: Wednesday - 1.56 miles
     Boot Camp Class - 45 minutes

Total Weekly Miles Logged:  20.49 miles

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14: 2.6 lbs

Plan for Next Week: 
Continue the half marathon training plan, for Friday through Monday it will include: a 10k race, one 30-minute run and a 45-minute run (at race pace), 

Follow Through Friday - I'm Back!

Well, hello there 2015! I swear I haven’t completely forgotten about my loyal Follow ThroughFriday readers (all two of you haha) I’ve just been extremely busy. I fell off the wagon with my eating and gained some weight the last few weeks but think I’ve got myself back under control. Too much beer and wine and cookies will do that to you! And I swear that’s not WHY I haven’t posted, it’s truly because I’ve been so busy, I’m obviously reporting it now anyways. On the contrary to the eating side of getting fit in 15 (#fitin15), I HAVE been sticking to my half marathon training plan. I did miss ONE long run, which means I’ve only missed two runs TOTAL and I’m on week 9, so that’s pretty dang good (especially considering I’ve never stuck to a plan more than like 3 weeks before!).  I’ve also noticed that I’m feeling pretty good after my long runs. I’m a little sore, but I can move and as long as I keep moving, I’m do ok.  

For 2014, I logged 271.04miles (115 which were in Nov/Dec). I’m sure there were a few walks that were missed as well but considering  I did ZERO  exercise for like 6 months while pregnant, I’m pretty happy with my miles. I hope to do way more than that this year though (especially if I want to hit my 30x30 goal of 1000 miles – which may have been a little bit of an aggressive goal – same with the quantity of half marathons, but we’ll see where I end up)

I did run again with some awesome ladies from MRTT for my 10 mile run last week, and plan to run with them again tomorrow for 11 miles. It’s so nice to have someone to chat with for 2+ hours of running! Sure beats running around the neighborhood that’s for sure!

So let’s see where I left off (since my last post on 12/19):

Week starting 12/19:

               Weigh in: 171.8

Half marathon Training:

Run 1: 2.91 miles in 35:00 (12:01 pace)

Run 2: 2.54 miles in 30:00 (11:48 pace) ß PACE RUN

Run 3: 8.06 miles in 1:40:12 (12:25 pace)

Additional Walks:  2.32 miles

Total Miles for week: 15.83

Week Starting 12/26:

               Weigh in:

Half marathon Training: 175.8

               Run 1: 3.75 miles in 45:00 (12:00 pace)

               Run 2: 2.52 miles in 30:00 (11:54 pace)

               Run 3: missed my long run of 9 miles L

Total Miles Walked: 2.0 miles

               Total Miles for week: 8.27 miles

Week Starting 1/2:

               Weigh in: 177.2 

Half marathon Training:

               Run 1: 10.15 miles in 2:04:37 (12:16 pace)

               Run 2: 3.65 miles in 45:00 (12:19 pace)   ß PACE RUN

Run 3: 2.55 miles in 30:00 (11:45 pace)

Total Miles Walked: 0.81 miles

               Total Miles for week: 17.26

Today’s Weigh in: 171.6  ß  Lost that HOLIDAY BLOAT!! Woohoo!

Overall Weight Lost since "Starting Point" 10/24/14:  5.0 lbs

Plan for this Week:

Continue the half marathon training plan**, for Friday through Monday it will include: an 11 mile run, one 30-minute run and one 45-minute (one at race pace),

**My half marathon training plan got skewed a little since the 10k I signed up for is next weekend vs. this weekend and I added in another half marathon at the end of the month, so there is a little bit of shuffling being done. I had wanted to do a 11:00 pace for the half but I haven’t gotten there yet so I’m aiming for a 12:00 pace (2:37:12 finish) which would be a PR for me. My (p) runs have been close to there, although honestly I haven’t completely expended myself so I’m sure they could have been a little faster. I’m going to attempt to dig deeper on my shorter runs in hopes to improve my speed a little bit. I also did just read an article about “Yasso 800s” which seems to be mostly directed for marathon runners, but in the comments, people state it helps increase speed for shorter races too so I’m going to give it a try during one of my 45 minute runs. They suggested starting at 4 intervals, which would be 2 miles of speed work and then the recovery. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.

Oh yea, I signed up for another two DietBets the last few weeks. I signed up for the "Get Lean in 2015 with Chris and Heidi Powell" which is a 4% in 4 week bet and then another 6 month transformer bet. I missed Round 3 of my current Transformer bet (which sucks because it was such a high pay out this time too!) but I'll make it back in the rest of the game. 

Next 3 weigh ins for DietBets need to be at the following to win:

Transformer (Dec 17) Round 1: 170.1 by January 17 

Transformer (Oct 7) Round 4: 165.6 by February 7

Get Lean in 2015: 173.8 by February 2 (already there! - my initial weighin was super high because of my holiday bloat)