Last Week

So, after a slow start last week due to general apathy and the ICEAPOCALYPSE...

Me. At the beginning of last week.

I picked things up towards the end of the week and had a decent week of "running."

There were two notable runs: 

1. A Tempo Run that just happen to be in the middle of the Tom King Half Marathon.

2. A 9.5 mile Trail Recovery Run.

The tempo run was great. My plan was to run in the 9s for a few miles and then turn it into a progression run with the last few miles being around 8:00 pace. 

HAHAHAHHAH. Yeah right.

I started off in the back, in what FELT like a slow start. But in reality, my first miles were 8:43, 8:26, 8:25. So, at that point, I was like... ehhhh.. fuck the progression, let's just see if I can hold on. 

8:36, 8:23, 8:17, 8:17, 8:16, 8:18

I was holding on! And feeling great! I mean, it felt comfortably hard. But, I felt good. Really good. I was passing people easily and not ever getting passed. And then all the sudden I see the pack ahead has stopped at the entrance to a bridge. And I can hear a guy yelling STOP to the runners and then all I can hear is the word GATOR. And in my runner brain.. I'm thinking. GATOR as in ALLI-Gator. So, I get there and have to stop and we are all standing there pissed and people are like.. "glad I'm not running a PR" and everyone is grumbling and the guy is like... "Sorry folks, we have to get this gator across for a medical emergency." And then I was like... ohhhhh ATV gator. Got it. So, the Gator finally passes and we set back out on our merry way. According to my watch and my chip time, I was only standing around for 20 seconds. But, that 20 seconds felt more like 3 minutes. 

Apparently the stop got me going, because I ran that mile in my fastest pace of the day: 7:46. Although, to be fair, I feel like the mile markers might have been incorrectly placed, because I don't think I slowed down much, but my next mile read 8:57. 

And then, as if someone flipped an energy switch... I just completely DIED. My last two miles were a 9:14 and 10:13. It felt like I was running through quicksand. I chalked it up to probably starting out a bit fast and not doing a lot of speedwork lately and just rolled with it. FIGHTING the urge to just stop and walk the entire rest of the way in. I was absolute toast. I ran the last .1 (which is super exciting because it's on the field at Titans Stadium and people are cheering and you're on the jumbotron) at 10:00 pace. Bwhahahahahahah. 

Anyway, I was pretty happy because I got a fantastic 11 mile tempo run in with a 2 mile cool down. 

Added Bonus... The KoB ran the thing as a training run and won $100 bucks. Goddamn, he is such a show-offy asshole. 

The rest of my Saturday was spent at a baby shower for my niece:

 Is she not the most adorable baby in the world?

And then I ate a helluva lot of food/beer/ice cream. Yay for anniversary re-do!

Sunday, Leo and I drove up to Beaman Park to meet Melissa for a trail run.

The three of us ran 9.5 glorious miles in that park. I am in complete love with Beaman Park. There are tons of trails and the trails are in such fantastic shape. It's all run-able and there are some good hills, but they aren't ridiculous. Basically, it is trail heaven. And as an added bonus: there were only 2 other people on the trail! BLISS. 

This is definitely going to be a regular weekend run for me.

The rest of Sunday was spent mostly lounging around and enjoying rare cuddling... 

You thought I was going to say from the KoB?

Yeah, no, The KoB doesn't cuddle.

The muskrat doesn't typically cuddle either. 

That's why photo documentation was required.

One tired, dirty, stinky, happy muskrat.

The week got off to slow, crappy start... but it finished strong. It was a good week.

 

 

Guilt Free Recovery

I am REALLY living up this recovery period. I run whenever I want, how many ever miles I want and it's good. Strangely enough, I haven't even really gained all that much weight the past few weeks either. Definitely less than I normally do during a recovery period (normally, I pack on 8-10 pounds all from alcohol pretty much immediately after I cross the finish line). I have even made meals out of chocolate covered nuts (lunch one day last week) and milk and cookies ice cream (dinner the other night) and my clothes still fit the way they did before the race. WEIRD. I'm pretty sure I picked up some kind of tapeworm over the holidays, but, I'm not complaining.

 Stocking up for Christmas Dinner at my parents house.

The biggest thing though is I finally don't feel guilty about rest days or slow miles. I don't think that's ever happened since I started running. I think the two years of consistent training has made me realize that time off isn't the end of the world. I'm not going to lose fitness or endurance (that isn't re-gainable, that is) and I'm not going to gain 50 pounds. It's okay. Enjoy it while I can, because soon enough my life is going to be running and taxes. Yay for winter! Ugh.

I am also WAY excited about 2014. I've got one big trip on the books for May and once The KoB gets a work trip scheduled, I'll be able to pick my Spring goal race. Right now... I'm thinking either Oklahoma City in April or The Flying Pig in May (where I would find out if the 3rd time really is the charm). Which means that training would start to pick up around the beginning of January. Which, is uhhh.. next week. GRRRREAT.

Anyway, I hope you all had a happy, merry, and safe holiday!

Recovery

For the first time in a long time... my recovery from a marathon isn't haunted by a feeling of unfinished business. I PRed on a tough day and I am happy about that.

The most important thing is that I feel like I know where my missteps in training were. And they are pretty easy fixes... like... instead of blowing out my track workouts every week... leave a little gas in the tank for the rest of the week. Also, not shortening so many of my mid-week long runs. The bottom line is.. I just gotta keep working.

I'm going to run a late spring Marathon. I haven't picked a race. But it will likely be at the end of April/beginning of May. So, for the next 4 weeks or so... I'm just going to run whenever I feel like it, sleep in (as much as a muskrat dog will let me), eat a pint of Ben & Jerry's Milk and Cookies ice cream for dinner, skip a run when it's cold as shit or raining... basically.. I'm just going to run when I wanna run and try to reboot a little.

No coincidence that insulin is on my christmas list.

It's good. I'm happy with how 2013 turned out. There were some ups and downs, but I saw definite improvement and a bunch of PRs. And I think most importantly... I finally got my stomach issues figured out.

I'm enjoying this little break from training, but I'm looking forward to starting to train again. Particularly since I already know of two friends training for marathons this spring (Cheryl and Liz expect lots of friday night texts of... WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING TOMORROW?) and a couple of other friends who will hopefully decide to do a spring marathon (I'm looking at you Coach and Melissa). Especially since I will probably pester you both to death about it.

There was a brief moment where I realized I am REALLY close to having 2500 miles for the year and I really wanted to chase that number. But, I dunno... I'm not sure if I have 83 more miles in me before January. And honestly... why is 2500 any different than 2451? Who gives a shit? (well, I kinda do).

 

But for now, I'm going to try to stay focused on just recovering and try not to think too much about my future training plans (that mindset will probably only last for about another 48 hours) or hitting 2500 miles for the year. If I do, then great. If I don't... oh well.

Recovery Weekend

Technically, last week, I was recovering from the Ann Arbor Marathon. So... I ran 9 miles total. Wahoo.

I'm happy to report that after about 6 weeks of basically not giving two shits about running, I am now quite excited about getting into a new training cycle and cranking out some workouts. I am sure all this excitement will go straight out the window as soon as I realize it's SUMMER, goddamitt.

Anyway... here's how I spent my last weekend before getting back into training.

I consumed about a bazillion calories in one slice of my

brother's birthday cake. COCONUT Cake. Mmmmm.

Plus it was a professionally decorated cake

with a golf motif. FANCY.

Then I spent some time trying to convince my dog that he can swim.

He preferred just sitting in the water, though.

There was some fishing...with no results.

Leo caught a bit of sand.

And on the way home we spotted an Eagle's Nest!

Base

Dude... ever since Eugene, I have just been OVER running. I mean, I guess that's bound to happen when you spend like 34 weeks or some shit training for a goal race (that just ends up getting sabotaged by GI distress/troubles). I figured that after a couple weeks of easy running that I'd be ready to get back on the training horse.

Hahahahahahahah WRONG.

Here's the deal.... you train all winter/spring for a goal race. You bitch and moan about the cold weather, about having to wear tights in April, etc... and then you go run your goal race and you come back and rest and lay around and eat Puffins and Pixie Stix for 3 days and then go outside for a run and it's a goddamn inferno outside. And just like that... you went from bitching about the cold wind to bitching about the hella awful humidity.

Everyday I'm like... okay... tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow I'll be excited to run! and then tomorrow comes and I'm all... fuck this running stuff. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal*, but I am deathly afraid of losing my base. So, yesterday, in an attempt to make this week ANOTHER easy week with multiple days off, I emailed my Sensei**.

Dear Sensei,

How long does it take to lose your base after a race+recovery time+general lethargy time?

My Sensei assured me that if I take another easy week or two that it likely will have "an extremely small impact on your fall races."

Holla!

* It wouldn't be a big deal except at some point soon, I gotta start training for my September Marathon.

** Yup, I have a Sensei and a Coach. Two different people to answer my dumb ass questions and guide me through my training. BOOM, Bitches!

More Recovery

When I got back from Eugene, Coach suggested a brilliant recovery plan:
Week 1: 10 miles
Week 2: 20 miles
Week 3: 30 miles

How easy is that, right? And things were going well, I was enjoying the low mileage, the sleeping in, the poptarts for dinner... until about Thursday of last week... then I looked at my log, all sad and empty and started thinking about WHAT'S NEXT? (My favorite recovery activity).

I sent coach an email with my thoughts on the subject.

So, here it is folks... I'm going to run a goal race in September and then another goal race in December. The races have been picked out, the goals have been set and I'm going into these goals with a determined mindset. I KNOW I can do the training and be where I need to be at the start line of those races, the unknown OF COURSE is my stomach. I'm sure you are all sick and tired of hearing me talk about my fucking stomach, but... ya know... it's a problem. I've got a few ideas of things to try that I will be testing out during training and I just have to be hopeful that something will either work or I'll just have some sort of miracle race. Either will work for me.

While my GI is the unknown... the wildcard is uhhh.. training in the summer. WTF? I haven't trained for speed in the summer... umm... ever? So, this should get really interesting. I am going to have to somehow buck up and get over the heat and try to complete workouts in the hell that is Nashville in the summer. It will not be pretty, y'all. Expect lots of posts about me whining and using the heat as an excuse for missing my targeted paces.

One thing I am considering, is trying to do my workouts in the evenings instead of in the mornings. I realize that the temperature is lower in the morning, but the humidity is usually at it's highest then. I'm thinking that maybe hitting the track in the afternoon, might be hotter... but less disgusting. TBD.

So, this is my last week of recovery. And while I don't expect to be hitting high mileage again for a few more weeks, it feels good to have some races and goals picked out.

 Apropos of nothing.

But, it's A CAT AND A SLOTH!

Recovery

I said it in my last post and I'll say it again.. FOR REALZ this time. I am taking a break. Wanna know how many miles I ran last week? 9!!!!!!! As in.. NOT EVEN DOUBLE DIGITS. And you know what's even crazier? I loved every minute of it.

Also, of course, I love my dog: I love how scruffy he is, how he struts when he walks, and how he picks up the biggest stick he can find and tries to walk with it in his mouth. But, one of the unexpected things I love about him is our walks. We walk 2-4 miles every day and damn, it's so enjoyable.

Well, it's enjoyable when he isn't yanking my arm out of 

socket when he sees a squirrel.

I think all that walking has helped with my recovery, too. Both physically and mentally. It's nice to have to get out of bed at 6am and take a nice stroll with the dog rather than wake up 7:30 and be foggy headed at work for the first hour or so. (Also, it's nice to not feel like a total sloth the week after a marathon).

The photos from the race came out... and per usual, I look like a fucking ghost.

Despite appearances, this is NOT 

the first time I've ever seen the sun.

Sadly, all the photos of me are from the end of the race... post shit/puke/side stitch. So, instead of looking awesome and excited about a PR possibility, I look like a cranky bitch.

Actually, I don't even know what this face is.

Am I even awake?

I like how it looks like I just totally busted through

that cone there. Bitches can't be reined in by a fucking cone.

 

The best part is that this time I got to finish on Hayward Field.

 

And for comparison, here is what running a 2:47 looks like

A goddamn cakewalk, for chrissakes!

Could you at least make it look like it's HARD????

 

All of my pictures I look like death on a stick, but of course The KoB's look like a fucking Nike ad.

Ugh. Where are my pictures in front of that sign?

Oh right. I was probably behind a tree somewhere.

In other news, a reminder for the 6 local people who read this blog (which includes 3 bitches, The KoB, and my mom): 

RUN BITCHES 5K 

this Thursday 6:15

@ Edwin Warner Park

Details on the race are here.

But really, all you need to know is that the course is flat, there are prizes for first overall Bitch and Sonsabitch and there will be booze, pixie sticks, and reese's peanut butter cups for the rest of us. Come on out!

Recovery

Thank Yous:

Thanks for all the comments on my race report. I'm always overwhelmed by the support that I get from the interwebz. I appreciate you all taking the time to send me a message of shared disappointment, congrats or encouragement. It means a lot.

Thanks to my Coach who was the perfect mix of excited about my PR and understanding of my disappointment of race day. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it many more times, but it's awesome to have a coach that I not only respect, trust, admire, and like ... but that also gets me and what I'm trying to do. She's really the best.

Thanks to The KoB. Of course, he's kinda forced to listen to me drone on and on about me and my training. But, he never acts like it's annoying or makes me feel like I'm a self-centered brat. Thanks for answering my questions and ALWAYS giving me the... "ask your coach," when I ask your opinion about whether or not I should run a race or whatev. Thanks for all the training runs and the encouragement, and the 26.2 miles of holding my water and shotblox, and well... everything, ya know?

Thanks to Jeff and Melissa for not only carting mine and The KoB's asses around all weekend in Birmingham, but also for being supportive and just generally awesome people.

Thanks to Cheryl for being an awesome team-mate on this Run Bitches team we got going on. I'm am not surprised in the least at how you kicked ass at the race. I'm so psyched for you and proud of you!

Thoughts on Puking:

To be honest... I'm kinda over the whole thing. I'm over talking about it. I'm over thinking about it. I'm over people asking me what I think it was... But, to address a couple questions that came up in the comments, I'll get over myself and answer them.

My thoughts? I think I was just nervous as shit. Interestingly enough, I was never really nervous about the pace I had to run (a sign of good training?). But, I was nervous about everything else. At the start, I was nervous about my corns hurting (they didn't really end up bothering me all that much, btw!), at mile 9 I was nervous because I had to pee, at mile 13 I was nervous because I stopped to pee, at mile 14, I was nervous because I had sped up after the pee stop. I mean... I think the basic answer is that I had a nervous stomach. I can't really explain why I KEPT throwing up. But, it's clear that everything I put into my stomach that morning never got digested. GROSS. So... I guess it had to find a way out somehow.

My other possible explanation? Running fast is a whole other ball game for my stomach. Sure, I had practiced my pre-race routine and I had practiced fueling, but I never practiced that and THEN gone out and ran race pace. So, my idea is to maybe test fueling and pre-race food before a Tempo/Marathon Pace run in the future.

It wasn't food poisoning because I was totally fine after I threw up after the finish line and stopped running.

Future Plans:

Of course, I was on marathonguide.com on the way home. But the choices are just not good ones. And it's not a good time of year for me to jet off another weekend to run a redemption race. So, I've signed up for a 5K and a 10K and I'm going to keep running and try to keep my fitness up and run the occasional workout and hop into the occasional race. But, there is no redemption race planned. The KoB and I have plans to run some races later this spring/summer... so, if I can keep my fitness up till then, then maybe I'll let it ride for one of those races. But, I could also just become a lazy bum. TBD.

Recovery:

I only ran 15 miles last week and I enjoyed the break. I've been sleeping in and working a lot and I made this DELICIOUS meal. I spectated a race that the KoB ran. And got all the business of talking about the race to friends, acquaintances, etc over with. I'm not really sad. And all I can say is that I have a fire in my belly. And if nothing else.. I have faith that my legs and head can run the pace I want to run for a marathon right now. My coach and her training plans, they are right on target. And I'm making hella progress and am optimistic about my racing future.

Easy Street

Before I went to Santa Rosa, my coach warned me:

In an email dated 8/16/12-
Also, you might as well start wrapping your head around taking the 2-3 weeks between SR and the beginning of training VERY easy and light. I'm talking 15, 20, 25 for those weeks. Maybe not even that much mileage. I know it's frightening. 

And, after I pretended like I didn't read that...

In an email dated 8/21/12-
Yes, next week begins a couple weeks of Oh Shit! I'm Going to Lose ALL My Fitness! ...which you won't. 

I was DREADING these two weeks. All I could think about was how I've been working hard to build up my base and how awesome I had been feeling on my runs. It's easy to take a rest when you're feeling like shit or your runs are shit... but when you're feeling good? It's like a death sentence. 

So, after the race, I stomped around for a few days. Stupid rest weeks. I shook my fists in the air and bitched that I'm not fast enough to need rest weeks! Only speedy bitches need rest! The pace I run is equivalent to rest weeks! I complained to the KoB about these goddamn rest weeks. He annoyingly always agrees with Coach. Hmph. And, finally it did start to make sense. I am getting ready to go through a 22ish week training plan for a marathon. Two weeks of forced laziness before that is a good idea. Otherwise, I might be wanting to blow my brains out at week 8 instead of week 15. 

And then sometime around last Friday (more specifically, I think it was 6am, when I was STILL IN BED.) I was like... uhhhh... rest weeks kinda kick ass. I had been thinking about this the wrong way. Instead of thinking about how I was missing out on running... I should have been thinking about what little luxuries I can enjoy these two weeks. For instance, I can sleep in! I can bail on a run! I can drink a whole goddamn bottle of wine on a Tuesday night! I can stay up late! I can be a NORMAL person for two weeks! So, I've been embracing this coach-imposed laziness. I'm a little nervous that I'm in for a rude awakening next week when I have to go back to getting up every morning at 4:30. But, for now... I've still got a few more days left with my snooze button and I'm going to enjoy it.

Me. On Monday.

There is one frightening thing I've discovered though.... how much I can sleep. Most nights, I'm still getting into bed around 8:30/9:00pm and I will sleep HARD until 7am. Yesterday morning when I woke up after sleeping for 11 hours, I felt like I could have slept for another 2-3 hours. I had a fleeting thought that maybe I had contracted mono or something. And even with 10-11 hours of sleep one day, I'll still be sleepy by 8:30 the next night. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME? 

Anyway, all this to say, I am so freaking excited to get started with my marathon training. Training for a race is my favorite thing and this time around I'm committed to putting all my heart, soul, and body into it. 

And if anyone is interested in getting drunk with me and/or keeping me out late on a weeknight, then you better give me a call before Sunday, or ya know, I think I'm free February 22, 2013.

Product Review: Vega Sport Performance Protein

 So... I haven't talked much about my diet on here in awhile. Mainly because I've found that your diet is kinda like your dreams: as much as you want to talk about it, nobody else really gives a shit. And also because, last summer I did some tweaking to my diet, found what works for me and have been happy as a clam ever since. The END.

A couple of months ago, my ass was dragging. I was training for the shittacular DNF marathon and I was super fatigued. I bitched and whined in my running log about how dead my legs were and how awful running felt. And my coach sent me a nice little note with a pep talk telling me to take some easy/rest days. Which, I did. She also mentioned that when she gets dead legs that she revs up her protein intake a bit and that she's noticed that it helps.

Meh. Protein? Admittedly, I'm a little irrationally sensitive to the protein issue. But, I just assumed that I was getting enough protein. I eat pretty healthy, all the nutrition should be there. Including protein!

Uhh... except, it turns out, it's not there. The seed was planted and I started thinking about my diet and how much protein I get. I came to the conclusion that I get about 15-25 grams of protein a day. Hmmm... probably not enough.

So, I picked up a huge ass container of this the other day:

Vega Sport Performance Protein

Full disclosure, I don't really know what the hell all the mumbo jumbo about glutamine and BCAAs means and I don't really have any interest to find out. All I know is that it's plant based and the nutritional stats seem pretty decent:

26 grams of protein and 120 calories and no sugar?
Okay, that seems reasonable enough.

I've only been using it for a week or so and as I have droned on for the past zillion blog posts, I'm not exactly having the greatest runs lately. So, I can't really speak to whether or not it's helped with recovery, leg fatigue, or performance. But, I've been able to incorporate it into my daily life seamlessly. I just scoop out a serving and add it to my lunch smoothie. Easy. I kinda wish there was a "non" flavor, but the vanilla flavor is pretty mild.

In my eyes, if it helps with recovery or performance, then that's just a bonus. The real success is realizing that just because I'm eating healthy, doesn't mean I'm getting everything I need. Sometimes it's good to be reminded to take a look at your diet and see what you need. I would have NEVER given a second thought to protein if my coach hadn't mentioned it. And while, the hippie in me kinda hates the fact that I'm not getting enough of what I need from my daily diet, I'm pretty happy with this protein supplement that seems about as natural as you can get (in a giant tub).

Anyone else use protein powders? Can you tell any difference in performance or recovery?

On Compression Socks for Recovery.

So, just to bring you up to speed here... Saturday I'm running a 50k. And then the next weekend, I'm running the Chicago Marathon. This shouldn't really come as much of a surprise to most of you... because I'm an idiot.

I honestly feel like I'm in good shape to do this (No, I'm not in denial... I'm being legit, yo). But, I did get a brilliant idea yesterday... COMPRESSION SOCKS.

I've always shied away from things that I feel are mostly for "fast" runners or "serious" runners (I mean, it took me like 4 years of running to buy a Garmin for chrissakes), so, I've stayed away from the socks. But, I'm thinking that they might help with my recovery between the two races.

So, I need your help folks... Should I jump onto the sock wagon and shell out the dough for a pair of recovery compression socks? Do you have a pair? Are they worth it? What brand did you buy?

Recovery

Sunday... 14 mile group training run... fun times.

After the run, (which went by amazingly smooth and was... dare I say... FUN?!?!?) I got home, took a shower and crawled into bed for a little cat nap. I tossed and turned and dosed off and on for 2 hours (rather fitfully). I got up, made some lunch and was in such a daze. Whenever I got up off the couch (which was truthfully, only a couple of times), I would start to black out... (a sure fire sign of dehydration for me... used to happen a lot when I was taking water pills for my blood pressure). So, I started to drink some water... but the blackouts kept coming... Ugh. Not fun. Luckily, they only last for a few seconds at a time...

I decided that the only way to really re-hydrate and start feeling better, was to get up off my lazy ass, throw a dress on and head to a wine tasting in a penthouse unit at a swank condominium building...

Nothing like WINE as a recovery drink. A couple of hours later feeling fresh and sweet, I was all... dehydration? What dehydration??... let's go to the Patterson House! Where I had two bourbon and gingery drinks and called it a night at 8:30.

Don't you love Sundays? (Particularly Sundays where literally all you do is run 14 miles and then get drunk at 4pm?) God bless marathon training.

The Aftermath.

You can read the recaps of each 3 stages here...
Stage one: Raccoons suck ass.
Stage two: Lookout Mountain is pretty dang cool.
Stage three: For the love of God, who picks a trail that you can't run for a trail race??

So, going into the 3 stages race I kept wondering what I would be able to compare it to...

Would it be harder/easier than a 50k?

Would it be harder/easier than 2 marathons in 2 days?

And as it turns out... it's really uncomparable... in effort. I mean, It's not as hard as running 30+ miles in one day... but I wouldn't exactly call it easier to run 60 miles in 3 days. Does that make sense? Of course not. It's definitely more FUN I think than running 30+ miles in one day. I mean... we still had a half a day to bum around, eat a LOT, drink boxed wine, and make fart, sex, and bowel movement jokes (typical runners). Which was nice. After my 50ks... I'm usually spent and it's usually 8+ hours later(although that hasn't kept me from going out and getting drunk afterwards). But going to bed and knowing that you have to get up the next day and run a shit ton of miles... is... kinda depressing.

One thing I can say... is that I was the most sore after those 3 days than I have been in my entire life. I mean, I thought P90X could bring the hurt.. hahahahah. ha! Puhlease. Tony Horton's got nothing on 60 miles in 3 days. I mean, we're talking... CAN BARELY WALK on Monday sore. It was sad. Once I got up and started moving I was okay-ish.. but those initial few steps were brutal.

For example, Sunday, after I got home from the race, showered, and unpacked... I went over to my parents house and when I got there, they were in the basement...

"Hello...." I hollered down...

"Hey!!!! Come on down."

"Umm... really? Down the steps?"

"Yeah, come on down. We're watching golf." And in the background I heard my dad say... "tell her to drive around back and come in through the garage."

So, that's what I did. Seriously. I went outside, drove around to the back of the house and went in through the basement. All to avoid going down the steps.

But by Tuesday, I was feeling a lot better and by Wednesday... no more soreness!

I do still have some battle scars though...

Random Bruise. (Ugh. my paint tools weren't working well, today).

And my knees are still a little banged up.. but the Neosporin is working wonders.

Overall, though... I'd say that this was one of the most rewarding and challenging things I've ever done. I'm so happy that I signed up and did the race and I had a blast running/walking/falling/sliding down the trails and I really enjoyed the company that I was with, too. My friends Phil and Theresa were great throughout the trip... we had plenty of laughs, and though I always finished hours behind them... they never made me feel rushed or bad for making them wait around on me. They were the perfect weekend mates!

And the people I met.. my running buddy.. Drew (sooo inspirational and motivating) and the countless others that I met both on the trails and off were amazing. The vibe is so different at these races... it's so chill and fun. Definitely more my style.
The best news? I think that weekend really got me excited about running again! I'm re-energized and ready to tackle some new obstacles and distances! And the trails... there's just something magical about them. It's a battle with yourself, instead of a battle with other people and I LOVE that.

To be completely honest.. I have little interest these days in running road races... I'm signed up for the Chicago marathon and I'm excited to run with my friend for her first marathon and in one of my favorite cities!!!!!, but I'm more excited about the weekend before when I'll be running the Stumpjump 50k again!

Oh yeah... and you know how I was trying to decide about whether or not to do the Lookout Mountain 50 miler in December? Umm... yeah, I decided. I'm doing it! (although, I guess technically I shouldn't announce that, because I'm not officially signed up yet, but that will be happening in a couple of weeks... along with signing up for the stumpjump).

Lookout Chattanooga, you're going to be seeing a lot of me in the next few months...



Race Report: Stumpjump Part 4: The Aftermath

After the race, we hopped in the car and I think April was asleep by the time we got out of Chattanooga. I was still reeling from the race and was boring my parents to tears recounting as much of the race as I could remember.

We stopped at a rest stop just outside of Chattanooga and getting out of the car was no small feat. We hobbled our way inside and I found that once I started moving, I was fine. But those first few initial steps were painful and slow.

We settled back in for the rest of the 2 hour drive and again, April fell asleep and I yammered the whole ride home. About 15 minutes after our stop I immediately starting to feel an uncomfortable sensation in my butt and hamstrings. A dull, aching pain. Luckily, someone in the car had some advil, so I took a couple of those and about 20 minutes later, the pain was mostly gone.

We arrived home to Nashville around 6pm. We immediately took showers and decided to go out for a celebratory dinner! We hit up Mafiaozas and while the place was packed, we scored a parking spot right out front and 2 seats at the bar immediately!

We drank a couple of bottles of wine, had a nice big pizza and salads and enjoyed chatting up the bartender and some of the people around us. It was good, it was fun.

After dinner and that 2nd bottle of wine and an additional glass of wine for me, April was starting to get tired. But, I, always the dumb one, urged her to rally! Let's celebrate! More! She ended up rallying and we headed to 12 South Tap Room for a beer.

Total buzz kill. The place was kinda empty (it was probably close to midnight by this point) and we all know how tired, understimulated, and drunk Amy gets: SAD. And we also know the only cure for Drunk, Sad Amy: more booze in a different location.

Where to go?? My local bar of course! I headed over there and that's when things get a little fuzzy. I remember chatting it up with my bartender, I remember scoring bar seats, and that's about it.

Apparently, we were looking fairly good, though

We woke up the next morning at 11am and I was like... holy shit! I've wasted the whole freaking day! I can't believe I slept that late! And I got out of bed and was hungry. I didn't really notice the soreness too much. But as the day wore on... it was clear that my quads were absolutely trashed.

April and I bummed around and ate a LOT. And we came across two random discoveries. First, the jeans that April had been wearing the night before were on the floor in the bedroom and when I picked them up so that I wouldn't step on them, I noticed that they were wet. Like, really wet. No smell... just wet. Then later in the day, we noticed that a couple of shirts that I had in the floor of my closet were wet, as well. Again, no smell. Just wet. There was also an unopened Blue Moon on the coffee table. Apparently, we came in at 2am and thought we'd keep on drinking???

I talked to my bartender about it a week later and he confirmed that we were pretty trashed, but, we made sure to pay our tab (which was the first thing I thought of when I woke up! Did we pay our tab!!!???!!??!!).

Anyway... that whole Sunday, I was just basically tired and sore. But I felt pretty decent. My worst day was Monday. Monday, I woke up feeling ok, but as I sat at work longer and longer, I started to feel shittier and shittier. And eventually, I went home for lunch, slept for an hour and a half and thought I'd feel better. I didn't. I ended up throwing up at work (usually I'm only throwing up at work cause I'm hungover, not cause I'm sick). Luckily, that seemed to do it for me and after that, I started to feel better. I think I just still had all the remnants of shotblox and alcohol and being so tired.... I think it just all caught up to me at once. I took all of Monday off from activity. Walked Tuesday morning and started back with running and yoga on Wednesday.

Overall... the recovery period wasn't that bad. My legs felt pretty fresh pretty quickly after.

Now that Stumpjump is done... I've got the Bourbon Chase Relay this weekend to worry about!

Post Big Sur

So, it was time to celebrate...

First up? The customary Cheeseburger, fries, and milkshake...

Ohhh yes. In-n-Out Burger. Yum. Yum.

Once we got back to San Francisco, we showered and got dressed to walk(or limp in Vandy Montana's case... he acquired a nasty blister and a slightly sore hip from his PR effort) San Francisco and enjoy it's freakishly beautiful 70+ degree weather.

Our hosts guided us downtown where we hopped into a cab and headed to Haight Street to Alembic Bar, as it was supposed to have shit-ton of scotches for Vandy Montana to delve into. Me? Surprisingly, despite my penchant for all things alcoholic, I just dont have a taste for scotch, so I stuck with their speciality cocktail list and ordered myself something called a Blood and Sand. Tasty.

After Alembic we headed down the street to a bar called Toronado. It was here I stumbled upon yet another delicious beer find on my trip: Death and Taxes. A black lager made by Moonlight out of Windsor, California. Soooooo freaking good. I had 2. And then a half of another beer.

At Toronado... Yeah.. I got a little sun at Big Sur.

At this point, it was time for food... So we headed to the restaurant and.. conveniently for us there was a wait! Convenient because there was a wine bar next door called Wine Jar. Just enough time to have a glass of wine before dinner.

Finally we were seated at dinner at Woodhouse Fish Co. Where we dined on a few orders of fresh raw oysters and half of the group (including me) ordered a cioppino dish with a whole dungeness crab sitting on the plate looking at us. Messiest thing you've ever eaten in your entire life. Crab covered in tomato sauce? Yeah.. MESSY. And delicious.

Afterwards, all the locals headed home as they all had to work the next day which meant Vandy Montana and I were left on our own to finish the celebrations. We hit up a couple of bars (Harrys and Blur)... had a few drinks.. a shot or two ( I recall a car bomb and a jameson shot) and then headed back home for the night.

It was a fun night. Good drinks, good food and most importantly, good company to share it all with.

A Fresh Start.

So... February as a month, was AWESOME. I turned 30, I celebrated my birthday with my favorite people in the entire world in one of my favorite cities in the entire world. I had another birthday celebration with my family a couple weekends later, then I spent a weekend partying in Nashville with friends who were in town.

A good month socially. Indeed.

A bad month for running. Battling the flu and various hangovers made for some really shitty and really short runs.

So, I'm chalking it up as a recovery month. Which... I haven't had in awhile and after 3 marathon+ distance races in as many months... I'm not beating myself up about it. I'm feeling good and well-rested.

So, today is March 1 and I'm ready to start a new month. I'm ready to get back into the nitty gritty of training.

8 weeks to Big Sur!!!!!

Recovering

See that circled spot on my leg? That's the point of injury. If you pay attention to the sidebar of the blog, you know that there's a place where you can check out our mileage or workouts for the past few days. And if you pay extra close attention, you know that my mileage has been missing for the past couple of weeks. Yeah yeah, sometimes I'm lazy and don't actually get my workouts entered into RunningAhead, but this time, that's not the case. I've actually been sidelined by a pulled groin/upper thigh injury.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a horrible long run. It was only 12 miles...pretty short in the grand scheme of things...but it seemed so. freakin. long. And hard. And hot. And miserable. And by the end of it, painful. By the end of the run, I could barely walk due to shooting pains in above circled area. So I went home, iced it and pretty much stayed off of it for the remainder of the day.

It's been a couple of weeks now and I am just now feeling like I can run without a lot of pain. I've squeezed out a few 2 and 3 milers and today I got in 4 slow miles. I can pretty much run fine as long as I make it through the first quarter mile of painful limp running. By that time, I'm warmed up nicely and can go with little to no pain. And another plus is that I'm not experiencing any pain after the workout. In my book, that's a sign that I'm good to go and good to get back on track with the marathon training.

Here is my dilemma. I'm not sure of the best way to get back into the routine without pushing it too much and going backwards with the healing process. This is week 8 of the training schedule and I think I can get through the week's runs with no problem...4 and 7 mile runs. It's the 15 miler that's on the calendar for this weekend that I'm worried about. Is it dumb to strive for all 15 after 2 weeks off? My last long run was 12 and then I missed a 9 and a 14 miler. Should I go for the 9? The 14? And if I don't do the full 15, when is the best time to return to the exact training plan? Questions. Questions.

I'm leaning toward running 12 or 13 miles and just assessing the situation at that time. I'm not too worried about my time off, but I cant really afford any more!

Problem.

So, what's my new favorite post-run recovery drink?


Yes. This could be a problem.

Getting Cocky...

And sadly no, I'm not referring to my beloved alma mater (who, in case you're wondering had 7 players drafted this weekend. Including the Mr. Irrelevant 256th player drafted. Boo-ya).

No, I'm referring to me. I started thinking about how it had been so long since I'd done the 11.2 at Percy Warner Park... and I missed it. I missed the awesome feeling I always got from finishing it. But, in the back of my head, I was thinking... is it too soon after the marathon to tackle hills? So, I texted Vandy Montana for his opinion. Not only did he think it was fine for me to do the 11.2, he wanted in on the action, too.

So, there we were... around 6pm yesterday starting the 11.2. The park was gorgeous. Everything had greened out and there were honeysuckle blooming all along the course. It was awesome and even though it was about 85 degrees, it wasn't unbearable thanks to a nice breeze and the shade of the trees.

Everything was great until we hit a really short, really steep hill at mile 7. Once I made it up the hill my legs were on fire. Which, honestly, is normal for me on that hill. But, it usually goes away pretty quickly... Yesterday, it did not. For the rest of the run, my legs felt like they were on fire and it was super painful. It was everything I could do to keep from tearing up. I had never felt pain like that in my legs. I made Vandy-Montana slow down and then stop with me a few times and walk for a few seconds, thinking that that would help... but, it didn't. And all I could think about was how I still had the worst hill of all to go... 9 mile hill. At the base of 9 mile hill, I told Vandy-Montana to go on without me. He was feeling good and I hate bringing other people down to my pansy level.

I basically walked 9 mile hill. I would try to run for a little bit at certain parts... but, I'd end up stopping to walk for a good while. Once I got past 9 mile hill I was able to run mostly. I think I stopped a couple of times, but by this time it was getting really dark in the park and I just wanted to be done. Luckily the last mile is all down hill, and the further I got down the hill, the lighter it became. I made it finally and felt fine when I got in the car.

Once I got home, I could barely walk inside. I hobbled into my place. My legs were wrecked, my feet were killing me, I was tired and hungry. I got inside and attempted to eat something, but as I stood in my kitchen, I started feeling dizzy and could tell that I was starting to get that black out-y feeling. So, I sat down on my kitchen floor for a minute or two until it passed. Eventually, I made my way to the couch... exhausted. I did muster up enough energy at one point to take a cold bath, thinking that might help my legs some and it seemed to. I was just utterly trashed.

Today, my legs and feet are a little sore, but nothing terrible. I'm taking today off and am only going to run light tomorrow. I'm planning on doing a tough trail run on Thursday morning, that I REALLY want to do, so I'm going to try to nurse these legs back to fighting form before then. I think a couple of ice baths and some light runs before Thursday will go a long way to repair these trashed legs.

I guess sometimes it's good for your body to tell your brain... WHOA... now.. back up there, missy.

Pain in the Groin... no, not what you're thinking...

So, after the 20 miler on Saturday, Vandy-Montana and I met up with some peeps from the Nashville Striders to run 10 miles on the Natchez Trace Parkway and then indulge in some biscuits at the Loveless Cafe.

Now, I take some funky pictures... (it's a problem, I'm working on it), but this is quite possibly one of the strangest pictures of me, ever. For one... I've got some kind of weird hunchback thing going on... and two, the look on my face is pretty frightening. I'm attributing it to the fact that they had just placed a huge ass platter of biscuits on the table in front of me and at that moment, it was suddenly... "Let's get up and walk outside away from the hot biscuits to have our picture taken!" Anyway... it was a fun run and breakfast. I enjoyed meeting other runners who are just as obsessed with running as I am (and with food and booze, too! a common theme with runners, it seems...).

Anyway, on the drive home, I noticed some pain in my right inner thigh everytime I hit the brake. It wasn't anything crazy. Just a light, tender feeling in my inner thigh (I know, that sounds kind of good, right? But, it wasn't a good light, tender feeling... unfortunately). I pretty much forgot about it after the drive, though.

Monday I ran a little 5 mile recovery run and then Tuesday, I had big plans... The plan was to get up extra early (I was out the door at 5:30) and get in a good 10-12 miler before taking a rest day on Wednesday. Things started off fine, I was feeling good... but around mile 2, I felt like I had a catch in my right thigh. I figured it would just work itself out eventually... but by mile 4, it was more pronounced and was concentrated in the upper middle part of my thigh. I slowed down a bit, I tried changing my gait, and stretching my quad (where I thought the pain was coming from)... but nothing really helped.

Finally, when I hit 6 miles, I had to stop and walk. But, walking didn't really stop the pain, so I ended up half walking/half jogging/hobbling the mile back to my place, giving the commuters on Music Row quite the chuckle, I'm sure. The pain was concentrated in the upper part of my thigh, so I kept assuming it was just a sore quad. I iced it a little at work, left my high heels in the closet for a couple of days, and figured a rest day was the only other thing I needed.

This morning, I started my run and of course, the pain was on my mind, and while I definitely felt it during the entire run... it wasn't all that painful. No wincing... no need to stop. But, I did decide something... it's not my quad. It's actually my inner thigh... my groin, if you will. Which, is kind of weird... I thought hockey players were the only people who got groin injuries.

Despite being wayyy sleepy, wayyy hungover, wayyy wet and damp outside, and despite the groin injury, I had a great run this morning! I felt like I could run forever. (And... I kinda did... I was a little late for work this morning... heh heh oops).

The pain in my groin isn't constant and it isn't severe, so I really don't think it's anything to get all worked up about. I'll just ice it some over the next few days and I think the tenderness will go away. By the way... do you have any idea how awkward and uncomfortable it is to ice your groin and inner thigh? I'm pretty sure by some people's standards... I'm now in an intimate relationship with a bag of frozen peas*.

*There are about a trillion jokes I could insert here about past boyfriends, current singledom, etc... but, I'll spare you the trite comment. It's the least I can do after so many posts about poop and now groins.