Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Archives for January 2011

Compression Gear???

Workout: 6 mile tempo run (2 miles at 11 mm, 2 miles at 9mm and 2 miles at 10.5 mm)

Not sure what pace I should run for my 5 mile race on Saturday. I ran a 5k in December in 26 something, first two miles around 8mm and the third mile at 10mm. I suffered an asthma attack in the last mile and really slowed down. For this race I would like to avoid that by not going out too fast. I think I would like to hit between 8:30 and 9mm splits.

As I am packing up to head back to CO tomorrow I laid out my travel clothes including my Zoot compressions socks.

My feet have a tendency to swell when I travel so I got these compression socks to help and they feel good to run in

Don’t ask me what I am doing in this picture, I’m not really sure.

I also have a pair of Smart Wool compression socks:

I like them booth and I am thinking about buying some compression tights.

Do you have compression gear and do you think it helps? Any recommendations for compression tights?

Week 2 goals

Week 2 goals (a day late) and week 1 follow-up:

  1. Enjoy NYC and try not to lose too much sleep.
  2. Plank every night (this one hasn’t been going so well so far)
  3. Be present while in all day meetings
  4. Pace myself well on Saturday’s race so that I put up a good time (for me) and also not have an asthma attack.

As for week one:

1. Start marathon training (YAY!) I am loosely following this plan from Runners world. I have to add in swimming and biking. If anyone knows of a training plan for someone running a marathon in 4 months and a half ironman 2 months after that let me know! Cory and I are finishing up our plan tonight so I will try to post it tomorrow. DONE =)

2. Put away all Christmas decorations and start thinking about how I would like to decorate for the winter (I am thinking warm oranges to combat the chilly winter) Christmas is away, but no other decorating has happened.

3. Catch up at work without freaking out. Didn’t freak out but still working on catching up, while out of the office :/

Overall not bad. What are your goals/focus for the week?

I am off to a fabulous dinner somewhere, not sure where yet. Happy Tuesday!

East Coast Time

Workout today: sitting on my but……all day

I didn’t get into my hotel until after midnight last night after many delays. Here is the room I am staying in:
I was exhausted and fell into bed but couldn’t sleep. So I am taking the day off and resting. Wishing I was still at home so I could read while watching the snow

Instead I will be watching it snow from this window: When I stayed here in September I made sure to run(and get lost) in Central Park. This time I didn’t even bring outdoor workout clothes, It’s just too cold!

Tonight I am off to Kefi, a Greek restaurant, should be good.

Do you like traveling to New York? If so what do you like to do here?

Good bye Colorado, hello New York City!

This morning started out nice a relaxing and spread up from there. I woke up to about three inches of fluffy white snow =)I took my coffee and Racing weight into our hearth room to read and watch the snow fall. Our 8 mile run had to be moved inside because of the snow so off the (VERY packed) gym we went for 82 minuets on the treadmill. We then hurried home for a quick shower and ice bath, helpful but so painful. I didn’t have much time so I raced around trying to pack and ended up with a 48 pound bag, yikes!

I am now sitting in Denver International airport waiting to fly to New York City for a meeting about evaluating Professional Development. This is my exciting reading for the plane:
I will also hopefully have time to read this book:

Hmmmm, do you think the gummy bears are helping me reach my race weight?

Off to the east coast, catch you all on the flip side.

Things I learned last year:

First off I am a bit sad that this guy will be leaving tonight

Colby, my brothers golden retriever has been staying with is this week while Erik (My brother is single and a runner, just sayin….) is out of town. I love Colby, he is the sweetest dog ever and I will miss having him. But onto things I have learned the hard way this year:

1. DON’T compete physically with your husband, he will win, improve quicker than you and it will make you VERY cranky.
2. Ice is very important, don’t skip it EVER
3. You can get up at 4:20am to work out, just do it.
4. You don’t have to dry your hair or look presentable when going to work, but you will be cold.
5. Weight training is very important to keep up to avoid injury (at least for me)
6. swimming a mile plus in a pool is boring
7. You can’t eat whatever you want just because you’re training for a marathon. It’s hard to burn 600 calories but REALLY easy to eat 600 calories.

What have you learned the hard way?

Some people have asked me some questions so I will address them here:
Jess asked if these were my horses.

I WISH, but no, they belong to Sunriver resort. You can take sleigh rides in the winter and take trail rides in the summer. It is my dream to someday have some property and have horses and goats. Maybe when I retire.

Jess also asked where the Oregon Badlands are. They are in central Oregon, about 25 miles east of Bend Oregon.

Kristin asked how I found my lean body mass. I have this hand held body fat analyzer to calculate my % body fat. It’s not super accurate but it’s something to work from. I then multiplied my weight by my percent lean mass. Example: I weigh 142 pounds, have 24% body fat so my lean mass is 76%. So I multiplied 142 by .76 to find my lean mass is 107.92 lbs. Does that make sense?

Betsy and J.L. asked about a club to support each other trying to get to our race weight. There isn’t a club but maybe there should be, ideas?

Amanda asked what time I go to bed so I can get up at 4:20 in the morning. I try to go to bed at 8:30, but usually don’t end up in bed until after 9. I don’t have kids so I can set my own schedule.

Whew, did I miss any?? Happy Friday lovelies!

Back to reality

Today is my first day back to work after two weeks off. Man it’s hard to get back to the grind even when I LOVE my job and love the people that I work with. I would consider myself a morning person but when my alarm goes off at 4:20 am (seriously) it’s not fun. I got myself out the door and to the gym this morning for a quick 30 min tempo run and an hour of Body Pump. I have pretty much figured out my training plan for January (I just need to decide what my swim intervals will be).

The basic Format is:

Sunday: Long run 8-12 miles
Monday: Rest day with easy yoga in the pm
Tuesday: am interval swim and pm interval run 4-6 miles
Wednesday: Weightlifting class and long swim 2000 yards
Thursday: am spin class and pm yoga
Friday: tempo run with hill repeats 4-6 miles total
Saturday: Long bike ride, on the trainer for now between 60-90 minuets

** I will not be able to follow this Mon-Thur of next week given that I am in New York for a meeting and it is too far to get to a real gym so I can’t swim or bike. I can use the treadmill and elliptical in the hotel’s dinky gym and that will have to do.

All of this is very fluid and changes all the time. I am interested in going to a masters swim practice but I am a bit intimidated, have any of you ever been to one? Would you recommend it? Happy Humpday people!

The Great Weight Debate

I recently bought Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald:
and of course there are a multitude of diet related products, articles, shows, etc. right now. And it has me thinking about weight, athletes and Americans. Hungry Runner Girl wrote a very brave post about her battles with weight and body issues.

I have been lucky enough to never have a full blown eating disorder, but I have struggled with body issues. I think it started when I was a child and danced at a really competitive ballet school. It’s no joke when you hear about ballerinas being pressured to be thin. Americans are in such a weird place in terms of weight, I just heard that over half of adult Americans are obese (can that be true?!?). On the other hand there is tremendous pressure, especially on young women, to be ultra thin.

I don’t want to be thin I want to be healthy, strong and during race season, lean. I won’t lie that part of the motivation is to look better but mostly it is to help my body (specifically my joints) go the distance.

Soooo that leads me to wonder what my “optimal race weight” should be. According to Fitzgerald the average body percent fat for female runners is 12.4% and 7.3% for men. For triathletes the averages are 12-16% for women and 6-10% for men.

I am not an elite athlete so I think I will shoot for the high end of the range and shoot for a 16% body fat for racing season. I calculated my optimal performance weight by finding my lean body mass then dividing that number by .86. My optimal weight is 14 pounds lighter than I am now, my marathon is May 1st so that gives me four months to lose 14 pounds, that seems doable, right?

I don’t know how I will do it yet, I haven’t read that far in the book yet, but I am happy to have some help calculating a weight goal.

Do you know your race weight, do you think weight affects athletic performance?

Goals for week 1 and January

My goals for this week are to:

1. Start marathon training (YAY!) I am loosely following this plan from Runners world. I have to add in swimming and biking. If anyone knows of a training plan for someone running a marathon in 4 months and a half ironman 2 months after that let me know! Cory and I are finishing up our plan tonight so I will try to post it tomorrow.

2. Put away all Christmas decorations and start thinking about how I would like to decorate for the winter (I am thinking warm oranges to combat the chilly winter)

3. Catch up at work without freaking out.

For 2011 I am going to try to focus on a word for each month. This month the word is Kindness. I am going to strive to treat others and myself with kindness. I got this idea loosely from the book the Happiness Project by Gretchen Ruben Have you read this book, would you like to?

Happy Monday!

Huge Ass Half Marathon Race Report

First off, Happy New Year!

This race was BRUTAL! It was very cold, I think it was 12 degrees when we started and a bit windy. The race was difficult and very hilly, I enjoyed the run for about the first 9 miles then the hills started to hurt and I was ready to be done. People huddled around a fire waiting to start

We started with a fairly hilly 4 mile out and back. I liked this part because I got to see my dad again before heading out on a nine mile loop. Out and back with mom (she ran 4 miles today)
One of the many cattle guards we crossed

The loop started with a killer hill up middle of Cinder Butte. Then back down the other side in 12+ inches of snow. Difficult but there were great views and it was kinda fun. Behind us down the hill
Up to the top!

Miles 6 through 8 was on a gentle down hill on packed snow, theses were easy peasy miles. Still feeling good

Miles 8 through 12 were a steady climb back out of a canyon, it started out fine but after a few miles my low back started to hurt and my legs didn’t want anymore to do with it. Can you see my dad? he’s the little person at the finish waving at me. The butte we ran up is in the background.

The last mile and a half (course was a little long) was mostly down hill. It was so nice to be done and filled with a sense of accomplishment. We stopped of at Starbucks on the may home for some coffee, hot chocolate and treats, YUM!

The afternoon ended with an ice bath and a slow recovery walk with my dogs.
Now we have to pack up and head back to reality, wah =(
How was your first day of 2011?

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