Swim Report

Laps in the pool this morning. I did the alphabet thing again, with a geography category. I only made it to X this morning before I ran out of time (600 yards). It is so crazy the thought process one goes through when working out. For example, I counted Arkansas three times... one for A, one for K, and one for S. And then I forgot how the alphabet goes and put W before V. Crazy.

CycleFit

We did something a little different in CycleFit today. Perfect timing, as I finally recruited someone to come to class and then we switched it up! We did a little warmup and then a 21-minute long race simulation. So we were more or less on our own to "race as hard as we could" for the entire time. Judy did tell us what she was doing, and I think most of us just copied that. I know I did anyway... I ended up burning 442 kJ, but I'm just not good at envisioning racing scenarios. If it were an actual race, I'd probably put forth more effort, but I just can't do it for a pretend race. I much prefer the method she usually cues us on (power zones, perceived effort, or cadence). However, Shelly enjoyed the class and may stick with it! I hope she does. Just because I love CycleFit and want everyone else to love it too. :)

NROLFW

Workout B of Stage 1 seemed easier than Workout A. Today I did deadlifts, dumbbell shoulder press, wide-grip lat pulldown, lunges, and swiss-ball crunches. Again, I had more trouble with the lunges than anything else. I find it difficult to balance sometimes. My legs were still sore from Monday, but I think it's more because I broke my right ankle in high school and it just isn't as strong as it should be. I have a hard time balancing on it. But maybe this will help fix that.

Today was a little entertaining because there were a lot of guys working out this morning. So there are like four around me, lifting much bigger weights and then there's me right in the middle with little pitiful ones. I hope they were impressed that I was lifting instead of making fun of me in their heads. Not that it really matters anyway. I'm impressed with my efforts to get stronger and be in better shape, and that's what's important.

Run Report

Ran 2.9 miles with Shelly this afternoon around campus. We got a late start due to some troubles in lab.

Also, I found this virtual Turkey Trot 5K at A Journey to Thin. Since I'm already doing the Bloomington Bagel Company's Turkey Trot 5K, I'm totally using that! I'm really looking forward to free coffee and BBC bagels. I eat there like twice a week, so clearly, I have no problem getting up early on Thanksgiving to get free bagels. And I convinced Seth to do it too. And most likely Shelly and her husband, Grant. Woot!

Swim Report

I read this funny article this morning while drinking my coffee. She pretty much nailed what goes on in my head when doing any sort of lap, but I have an even shorter attention span in that I can't count past four. I'm pretty sure this is due to the years I spent in band.

Anyway, I thought this alphabet thing was genius, so I tried it this morning. It totally worked! I made it all the way to Z! Only I didn't limit myself to any category. I just thought of whatever I could that started with whatever letter I was on. Sometimes it was people, many times it was food (especially candy products...), and for some reason P started with possum and ended up with all the P elements in the periodic table. There are a lot. I counted lead. And then spent the rest of the lane debating in my head whether or not that was legitimate.

So, clearly that article was meant for me. But I'm quite proud that I swam 650 yards this morning.

NROLFW

I started the New Rules of Lifting for Women this morning. I'm really excited about strength training!

However, Stage 1 is already kicking my butt! This program is going to hurt. In a good way.

I love how this is a quick, simple workout, but you definitely get some bang for your buck. Today's workout was 2 sets, 15 reps of five exercises: squats, pushups, seated row, prone jackknife, and step ups. Given how much I use my legs with the cycling and biking I do, I expected squats at least to be easy. Boy, was that a terrible assumption. I also expected the seated row to be hard since I feel that I have limited upper body strength, but it was very easy and I will definitely have to increase the weight. I'm looking forward to mastering these exercises and really knowing my way around the gym. And getting stronger and leaner in the process.

Run Report

It's amazing what not really running for a week can do for you. I really wanted to get out there, even though it is super windy this weekend, and I must have needed that run because I ran fast! I did 2.84 miles through the neighborhood and the part of the Clear Creek Trail I normally avoid in 28:25 for an average pace of 10:00 min/mile on the dot. I was sort of pushing it, but felt great. I think I have to attribute part of it to the most awesome playlist ever. I found it on fitbottomedgirls and it has quickly become a favorite. I even danced around my lab to it earlier this week.

Booty Playlist

1. Ms. New Booty by Bubba Sparxxx
2. Rump Shaker by Wrex N Effect
3. Back That Thang Up by Juvenile
4. My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas
5. Shake Ya Tailfeather by P. Diddy featuring Nelly
6. Booty City by Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
7. Shake Your Booty by Public Enemy/Flava Flav
8. Bootylicious by Destiny's Child
9. Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe
10. (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty by KC and the Sunshine Band
11. Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot
12. Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

Seriously. Get this playlist. I highly recommend it. 

IMM Official Photos and Swag

 Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon official photos are up! Brightroom Photography took the pictures. I look pretty stupid in most of mine, especially the finish line photos. Here are a couple proofs:

To the right, still happy

I'm not ashamed to admit I applauded the entertainment. And some of the people cheering for me.

Towards the end, carrying my Garmin. Can you tell my left hand is swollen? I love the look of concern I have.

Falling asleep at the finish line. Seriously, this was the best finish picture. Will work on that for future events!

Half Marathon Medals

 I also managed to forget to put my pictures of the swag on my last post about the IMM. Here's some of the goodies I got:

This thing is red. I don't know why my camera thinks it's orange.

It's a pretty nice medal.

Gender specific shirts!

 

 

 I read online that the shirts run small, so I ordered a large. Maybe this was different than last year, but I probably could have done with a medium. I like the shirt though. They also gave us toboggan-style hats, but that thing is in the other room and I don't want to go get it to take its pictures. Also, it's sort of ugly. 

Commitment

I just registered for the Beach to Battleship 70.3 on November 3, 2012.

This is for real. It's going to happen. I'm going to make it happen.

CycleFit

I was exhausted and my head hurt all day at work today. I don't know if it's because I got up early to swim this morning (and then felt dry and smelled like chlorine all day despite showering afterward) or if it was just one of those days. I didn't have high expectations for CycleFit. But I surprised myself and still burned 461 kJ of energy! I couldn't quite work at the level I think I was supposed to, but it still wasn't too shabby.

And, I wore my Monumental Half Marathon shirt to class today. Turns out another regular ran the half as well (her fourth half)! She finished about ten minutes ahead of me (I think)! Awesome! :)

Commute

Time: 22:53

Distance: 4.996

Average Speed: 13.1 mph

Max Speed: 23.3 mph

Calories Burned: 167.9

Fat Burned: 19.5

First commute after Daylight Savings Time. Used my lights but made it home before it really got dark. Perfect weather today.

Also, my legs feel great after the half. They really recovered well. I think it's the compression shorts. I need more of those things! 

Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon

I DID IT!!!

I can put that 13.1 sticker on my car and pretend I'm a queen for the next week!

So, how did it go? Glad you asked!

Got up at 4:30 this morning and choked down some oatmeal with peanut butter and honey. I was just so nervous/excited/etc that it was hard to eat! We made the drive up to Indy and waited at the starting area for about 45 minutes. It was good we got there so early because I left my Garmin (and the camera) in the car. I almost made my crazy dream come true! Luckily Seth went to retrieve them.

It was SO. COLD. waiting for the start. Barely above freezing this morning. I had on an old pair of Seth's sweat pants over my capris and my raincoat to keep warm. I paced around a bit until we had ten minutes left, when I handed Seth my raincoat and joined the marathon 4:40 pace group.

Me at the start (awesome sweatpants, huh?)

Seth holding his awesome sign

Only the marathon had pace groups, and they split off at around mile 7 when the two routes diverged. But since the 4:40 group was pretty much the pace I was aiming for in the half, I thought I'd stick with them as long as I could. Turns out, the 4:40 group had a subset of half pacers! Yay!

Then, we were off! I was running right with the pace group and handling the congestion pretty well. It had been so cold, I left my warm up sweatpants on and actually anticipated wanting to wear them the whole time. I don't do cold so well. But around mile 2.5-ish I warmed up and wanted them off. Plus they felt weird. I stopped when I got to a good spot, but I could not get them off over my shoes! I had to sit on the ground and work them off! I have no idea how long it took, but it seemed like forever. And in my wrestling with the pants, I think I accidentally hit the lap button on my Garmin, so after that it didn't beep with the mile markers. (It still took 1.0 mile splits, they were just off by a bit.) Lesson learned with the warm up pants. Take them off before the start so you don't waste time later!

I saw Seth for the first time around mile 4 I think. He almost missed me! I had to yell at him as I passed. He was clearly easier to see with his amazing sign.

 

There I go

I was still working to catch back up to my pace group. They were further ahead of me than I wanted them to be (dumb pants). I could see them, but I wasn't next to them as I had been. I was running a pretty good clip to get back up there. I really didn't want to lose them. Playing that game, the first six miles just flew by. Before I knew it they were over. There were also lots of spectators and cheerers in this section. There were some places with bands set up and running around downtown was really pretty. I've never been to Indy during the day, so it was nice to see all these things up close and personal. Maybe next time I'll try to carry a camera so I can capture the sights.

After the first six miles, it got a little more boring. Less spectators and we moved away from the real downtown area into the historic districts. Really pretty houses through there, but I think I preferred the downtown area. I saw Seth again around mile 7 (maybe? 7-10 kind of run together for me). I saw him in advance and waved so he'd see me. I was starting to get a bit tired by this point.

On the right, in green, getting tired

And then the marathoners split off, just as I finally caught up to my pace group! And then my half marathon pacers started walking! I actually think one of them was having a bad day or something. She seemed a little beat down. So I ended up passing my pacers. I had a goal not to walk! (Except through the water stations... I just can't manage to run and drink out of a SOLO cup at the same time.)

Anyway, the next few miles were tough for me. They really blur together. The only thing that stands out was passing the Children's Museum. The cheering section there was amazing! They were all wearing green with frog hats and bouncing on these giant green balls. They were very enthusiastic. I loved them. I saw a lot of signs telling me to go faster in these miles. I didn't really like that. I also saw some encouraging signs. I even saw a That's What She Said sign! And I saw a sign that I'm pretty sure was made by my friend Carman, whose husband also ran the half today. (He ran at a 6:00 min/mile pace and came in 24th place. He's pretty awesome.) Oscar's sign said "How bad do you want it?" above a giant handlebar mustache. Pretty much the best sign ever.

I eventually only had two miles left to go so I tried to pick it up a little. I got some extra motivation when the elite men's marathon leaders passed me! They were so inspiring and it's crazy to think that they ran twice as fast as me for twice as long. I was really tired, but I cheered for them (the top four ended up passing me) as they went by.

And then it got a little depressing. My Garmin hit 13.1 miles (2:20:37... right in my goal range!), but I hadn't even passed the 13 mile marker yet. I was prepared for 13.1 miles, but I was not mentally prepared for 13.49 miles. I was unhappy that I wasn't going to officially meet my goal and I was really ready to stop running. Also, my left hand (the one I wear my Garmin on) had swollen up like crazy! I could barely touch my fingers together and my wedding bands were really tight! I was a little concerned about that. I took my Garmin off hoping it would help. Running does make you swell a little and I think maybe my watch was just too tight at the beginning and that stuff just couldn't circulate very well after the running swells settled in. Or maybe I need to look into some salt tablets to put in one of my water bottles? Losing too many electrolytes and start retaining water? Regardless, I had gone that far; there was no way I was stopping until it was over!

I finally rounded a corner and saw the finish line. I ran down the shoot.

Almost there!

I could still make my less than 2:30 goal according to the clock. I ran as fast as I could. I don't remember what the clock said exactly (2:29:5x), but I made it. I crossed the finish line and got a space blanket and some food and a finisher's hat and medal. I was tired and freezing and puffy, but I did it!

Finisher!

I am so proud. And thankful.

Official results:
Time:  2:24:47
Pace:  11:04 min/mile
Place:  3271/4586
Division Place:  321/480
Gender Place:  1602/2590

Garmin data:
Indy Monumental Half Marathon 2011 by jamadren at Garmin Connect - Details
Time:  2:24:41
Distance:  13.49 miles
Pace:  10:44 min/mile

Taper crazies

Okay, maybe taper week is driving me crazy and I just didn't know it!

I jumped awake at 4:17 this morning in a panic. I had dreamed that I was late to the half marathon tomorrow, but they still let me start when I finally got there. I proceeded to run at what I thought was my normal pace (of course I forgot my dream Garmin in my haste to make it to the start line), but when I got to the half-way-ish point there were weird loop-da-loops and turnaround things. Actually they really seemed to resemble some stem loop structures from last week's lab meeting. Anyway, one of these loopy things you had to do twice, and somehow I got all confused and thought I was lost (or maybe I was lost, I don't know, it was a weird dream), and then finally I hit the 6 mile mark and there was a race clock that said it had taken me two hours to get there! I woke up at this point all crazy because I thought it was Saturday and I was actually late for the half. Luckily Seth informed me that it was still Friday and that I was crazy and should go back to sleep. But I was all jazzed up and had trouble calming down. I still felt confused and not 100% certain it wasn't Saturday.

Hopefully tomorrow will go much smoother than my crazy dream race.

Run Report

Training plan called for a little two-mile run this morning. I love how less than six months ago running for two miles was incredibly painful (not actual injury-painful, just omg-I'm-out-of-shape painful) and now it classifies as a "little" run. Since it was so short and it was cold and drizzly this morning, I did my two miles on the treadmill at an easy 10:30 pace, but I was still dripping sweat less than a half mile in! It is SO HOT in the gym. I think I'm just going to have to get a balaclava and some running tights to maintain my progress over the winter. I think I'd rather bundle a little and run in the Midwestern winter than pass out on the treadmill in the overheated gym. I might draw the line at YakTrax though.

CycleFit

Power challenge in CycleFit today! I like power challenges, but this one was not the best scheduled for me. Hopefully working at that hard of an effort won't hurt my half this weekend? I mean, this is Sparta taper week!

New 100% Power Zone effort = 215 Watts, up from 205!

Goals

I want to talk about goals. Since the Indianapolis Monumental Half Marathon is in three days, let's start there! Here are my goals related to that:

1. Finish
2. Finish in less than 2:30
3. Finish in less than 2:24:06 (11 min/mile pace)
4. Finish in less than 2:17:34 (10:30 min/mile pace)
5. Have fun!

I already plan to wear my medal for a week and pretend like I'm a queen. I already told all my friends they had to at least pretend to be impressed. I will be very happy to finish between 3 and 4. Faster than 4 and I'm wearing my medal for the rest of the year while pretending I'm a queen.

After the half, I have some other goals in mind for the winter. Although in my mind, they're called plans. Here are my winter plans:

• I've been doing core and weight exercises on Wednesday mornings at the gym. I'm planning to take that up a notch. I want to do core exercises at least twice a week and will be starting The New Rules of Lifting for Women. I'm really excited about building strength. This can only help me in my athletic development. 
• I will continue taking CycleFit classes. I love CycleFit and I don't want to lose any gains I've made in my biking this year. I may also get some spin DVDs so I can train better at home too. I have a trainer. I should take advantage of it.
• Start swimming. Swim at least once per week. I may even finally sign up for those swim lessons at the SRSC so I don't have to worry that the lifeguards are secretly laughing at me while I flail myself from one end of the pool to the other. Also, I want to swim correctly and efficiently. 
• I would like to continue running at least two, but preferably three days per week. I may start working on getting faster.

That's a lot of exercising to schedule around a full-time job, husband, dog, holidays, all that life type stuff. But I think I can do it, and I think I will be happy about it. Plus, most of this is indoor stuff, so I won't be deterred by possibility of freezing. (I can't wait to move somewhere that does not have this winter nonsense when my husband gets out of grad school.)

And finally, here are some random long-term and/or fun goals, in no particular order:

1. Become an Iron(wo)man
2. Run a sub 30 minute 5K
3. Run a marathon
4. Do a Rock N Roll race
5. Do a Disney race
6. Complete a century bike ride
7. Do RAIN
8. Conquer Mt Tabor in the Hilly Hundred
9. Cross-country bike tour
10. Lose 30 pounds
11. Figure out how to work yoga into my routine as well
12. Make my blog more interesting/popular
13. Eat better more consistently
14. Convince my husband to work out too

This is all doable, right?

Run Report

It's taper week!

Some people hate to taper. Drives them crazy. I think I'm going to like it. 

Today I ran the slowest four miles ever. I don't know if it's because my body just shuts down when it's less than 40*F outside or if having Halloween candy for dinner was a bad idea (What? Candy isn't carbo loading?) or if my legs are still tired from running ten awesome miles and then dancing all night in a dinosaur costume (and by dancing all night, I mean shuffling around for a couple hours because I don't actually possess any dancing skills), but I just could not get a move on this morning. I was SO. SLOW. Painfully slow. Like, I-haven't-downloaded-my-Garmin-data-but-I'm-pretty-sure-that-was-12-min-mile slow.

In happier news, I signed up for the Pile on the Miles challenge at runeatrepeat.com for the month of November. I'm excited about this! Yay for motivation after November 5th!