Race Preparation

A week from tomorrow at 10 am I'll be toeing the starting line in Moab.  The Canyonlands Half Marathon will be my second half and I'm really looking forward to it.  Josh and I are tenitively planning to drive up to the mountains on Thursday night and then drive the rest of the way to Moab on Friday morning. That way, even with the disasterous I-70, we can still get there early enough for Josh to get in a ride.  We haven't been back to Moab since we got engaged there in November of 2007.  Josh was very romantic and proposed under the Delicate Arch.

This is a hilly course and I'm not really going to have any sort of altitude advantage.  I'm trying to remind myself that this is just a training run because it really is. Nashville is the big race!  I'm still hoping that I can come in faster than I did in my first half and finish around 2 hours. Realistic for a course this hilly?  Probably not but a girl can hope. 

At least this is a nice small race, one of the smallest I've ever done. The entry is completely by lottery, so there are only 4000 entries allowed. Lucikly I was able to get in with TNT.

I sent my mentees some tips for race preparation. I thought I'd share them with everyone else. I'm not expert but these are a few things that I've learned:

1. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You cannot hydrate the night before or the morning of the race. You need to make sure that you are drinking lots of water and Gatorade in the coming week before the race. Typically for every two bottles of water I drink, I drink a bottle of Gatorade. If you drink only water and too much of it, you risk depleting your electrolytes which is bad. So please make sure you also drink some sort of electrolyte beverage in addition to water. Also this may be gross but, if your pee is clear you've had too much. You only want to drink enough to have light yellow pee. If you have dark pee, keep drinking.

2. Rest. Don't do any crazy strenuous leg exercises. You want your legs to feel fresh and ready to go. Also, get some sleep. If you are feeling really tired, take that nap or go to bed early. You won't be sleeping the night before (trust me) so you want to make sure that you are as rested as you can be.

3. Eat! I mean it. This is not the week to watch your calorie or carbohydrate intake. Carb-loading the night before the race is not going to do a thing for you. You actually need to build up your carbs over several days, even a week or more. So enjoy that bread, pasta, etc. You can start tomorrow night at Jianna's.

4. Pack everything you need on race day in a separate bag from the rest of your weekend gear. Once you check into the hotel and get all of your stuff from the expo, lay out your outfit, shoes, sock, even your gels for the race on the floor. Pin your bib onto your shirt so you don't have to do it in the morning. Put the toe tag on your shoe as well. You're probably going to be anxious enough as it is that morning without having to get to the starting line and realize you forgot something. When you're laying everything out, if you discover you've forgotten something at home, you'll have time that evening to get to a store.

5. Don't eat anything new. Bring whatever you normally eat before our long runs with you. You don't want to be scrambling that morning trying to find something or having to settle for something you're not used to. It could really upset your stomach.

6. Enjoy! Take in the moment and your accomplishment.

I'm excited to get away for the weekend!  It's going to be a short trip but it should be a lot of fun.

Quick Fundraising Update

It's been a while since I've talked about fundraising. Mainly because it hasn't gone as well this season. No matter how many emails or letters I send, how many times I post it on Facebook...nothing.  I can't even get anyone to respond to Evites. If you can't go, just tell me but at least respond.

As of today there is just over $2800 in my account. Now that is nothing to sneeze at but this close to my race I should already be at my goal.  Josh and I made a hefty donation to help me out...$400. Thanks to Amgen's matching program, $800 will be arriving in my account shortly.  That is about double the amount I should have matched when I was doing my own donation matching campaign.  I know times are tough but it's so frustrating. 

A few weeks back we had an awesome wine tasting event. The event raised a little more than $10,000 I believe.  Thanks to Ryan and Claire, Rache, my dad and Liz, Josh's coworker, coworker Lisa and her husband Roland and my coworker Bob and a group of his friends, I was able to sell 15 tickets which helped me raise $450 to put towards my goal.  With the profit from the silent auction portion, I have an additional $520 to deposit in my account.  Thank goodness for this event otherwise I'd be in a total panic about raising enough to meet my minimum to attend Nashville.

I'm not trying to whine, because I know many of my friends and family supported me last year by donating, but come on, everyone has $10.  Cancer doesn't wait. I'm not asking for anyone to donate to Josh and I's personal checking account.

If you're still intersted in donation you can always visit my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/rm/dhmomu10/jvankirk.  This is going to be my last season with TNT for a little while so I want to make it count!  I'm doing the hard part, the training, all you have to do is donate to help those cancer patients, current and future.

I Found Them!

Today I got way too excited about shoes.  No they are  not super cute heels or sandels for the summer, they're running shoes. In fact they are exactly like two other pairs that are in my closet at home but new.  After a lot of searching I finally found a size 9 womens Asic 2140.  Thank you Zappos!  For some reason Asic decided it would be a good idea to discountinue the only running shoes that I can rely on.  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find them.  I got the very last size 9 pair on Zappos. So excited for their arrival on Friday. Just in time for the longest training run yet this season...eek.

I currently have a pair of their replacement, the 2150, but I swear they are not the same at all.  All weekend I wore my latest retired 2140s around and my ankle started feeling a lot better.  I'm going to blame the ankle pain on the 2150s but will probably keep them around to test them after my ankle has healed and I'm not running on ice anymore. Yep, I think I can say I'm a runner.  These days my closet has more running shoes than heels.  Most of my heels have actually collected a fair amount of dust. Can't wear them during training for fear of repeat tendonitis in the knees and the dreadful calf tightness.  But then again, it seems I'm in a constant state of training right now. 

Enough about the shoes.  I went to the doctor on Friday. Not to worry, just routine check-up.  I go to a family doctor in Fort Collins. Yes, I realize it makes absolutely no sense because I live in Longmont and work in Denver. Here's the thing, it's really hard to find a doctor I like. So since I really like Dr. Abrahamson I figure that I'll haul my ass up to Fort Collins once a year to see him. It helps that he also specializes in sports medicine. After running into my old boss Alan in the lobby, I went back. 

I'm happy to report I've lost 4 of the 6 lbs I had gained travelling and I still have 20/20 vision with both eyes. Each eye by itself...eh.  Dr. Abrahamson wasn't worried about my ankle at all. He said it should be better soon and just keep icing, taping and taking anti-inflammatories.  So everything was fine but just to cover all of our bases he sent me to the lab for some blood tests.  As it turns out, I have a boardline iron deficiency.  The official prescription: eat red meat or chicken thighs three days a week.  I had to chuckle a little bit. 

I'm not sure why, but lately I have just not been into meat. At least a few days a week Josh and I have been having meatless dinners.  I hadn't even really thought about how much I've cutdown on meat intake until I looked at my SparkPeople nutrition diary.  I guess this week instead of making the delicious black bean burgers I had planned, I'll be swinging by the store to pick up some ground beef for real burgers...doctors orders after all.

Back to the grind!

A Day of Running

Today was supposed to be an easy run. And the run itself was easy, except my stomach did not want to cooperate and I changed where I ran three times!

I started at the gym because my stomach was already unhappy from the margaritas I had last night at dinner with my lobster who is finally home!  Well 2.5 miles in I knew there was no way I could run 10 more...it was way too hot.  I took off for McIntosh Lake just a few miles away.

I was having an awesome run when about a mile after my gel, here came my stomach again!  UGH!  I thought oh no problem, I can see the bathroom.  Ran to the door of the bathroom...locked.  Seriously, come on.  Ran to the next one, also locked.  After 7 miles, I drove home just to use the bathroom. Sad right.  I don't know why my body is rejecting gels lately. 

I was pretty hungry when I got home, so Josh and I had some lunch.  I was just going to let the food settle and then be on my way to finish the last 2.5 miles. Well I accidentally doozed off. 

About an hour later I was up and out the door.  The last 2.5 miles done!  I'm glad this was a taper week because this stupid run sucked.  I did have a great pace going though!

Here are the stats broken up: 

Dreadmill-Time:24:10 Distance: 2.5 miles Avg. Pace: 9:40 min/mile
McIntosh-Time:1:05:01 Distance: 7 miles Avg Pace: 9:17 min/mile
Neighborhood-Time: 22:57 Distance: 2.52 miles Avg. Pace: 9:06 min/mile

Totals:

Time: 1:52:08   Distance: 12 miles    Avg. Pace: 9:20 min/miles

I would rather just have done all the miles at the same time, but it was just not in the cards for me today.  Next week is Mission Day so I'm excited to run with the team again.  All of the Front Range teams are meeting near my high school for a huge group run.  It's going to be one of my longest runs of the season...about 20 miles or how ever far I can run in 3.5 hours.  I'm hoping I hit 20 miles and GDF doesn't get in my way.  After the run we'll be enjoying breakfast and celebrating our honored teammates, people in remission, battling cancer and those who lost their battle before we could find a cure.  I missed it last year because I was injured, but I'm not missing it this time!

Injury Update: My ankle feels fine for the most part once I start running and I have it taped.  Running outside today at McIntosh I felt so great.  It was nice to have the wind in my hair and the sun on my face.  Plus, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to maintain a pace under 9:30 min/mile.  It didn't hurt that the only hills around the lake are tiny.  Canyonlands is going to be a rude awakening.  At least the Nashville course is fairly flat with just baby hills and just 500 feet above sea level.

No Turning Back

It's official, I am definitely running in Nashville. Last week I sent in my recommitment paperwork, today I bought my airline ticket.  In 50 days I'l be at the starting line of my second marathon. I am super excited and nervous all at the same time. I did it once, so why not again right?  I should be feeling confident, I was able to go 18 miles on Saturday without a problem...well except for the upset stomach, but I think that was from the pizza.

My ankle is aching but I think there is a good chance it will be all better before race day.  My knees are hanging in there for now. Hopefully they'll continue to put up with my craziness.  I've taken it easy since Saturday.  I did a mere 40 minutes of exercise while in Oregon which is so unlike me.  To my credit, I was working for 10+ hours a day and on my feet most of them.  I've gained 6 pounds in the past two weeks...eek. That may seems like nothing, but I'm just not used to that. I feel sluggish and like I'm losing my fitness. 

Last night I dragged my ass to the gym even though I was completely exhausted from being on the go since 3.30 am.  Half hour warm up on the bike, squats, lunges, arms and abs then a 20 minute stint on the elliptical. I was thinking about running tonight but may just hold off until my quick 12 mile run on Saturday. I'm sick to death of the dreadmill but hey, that's so much better than no running at all right?

My biggest fear is that I've been taking it way too easy with training and one of these days I'm bound to have a really shitty run. I'm just hoping that it's not marathon day.  Canyonlands is just three weeks away.  I'm not really focusing at that race at all, just looking at it as a training run. After all, I will have run 20 miles the Saturday before...13.1 is a lot shorter distance!  The marathon is what's on my mind every day.  Will I make it to the finish line?  Will I get injured again? Will I be able to run faster than the first one?  Is a 4:30 marathon a real possibility?

Apparently I need someone to help me quiet the critical thoughts and doubts in my head.