Starting Over

I took a break from serious running in 2010 and switched over to cycling which I embraced wholeheartedly with spin classes and a new road bike. It's now 2014 and I picked up running again last year by training for a 10 miler and half marathon on back to back weekends. However, my running was slow and I was not as dedicated to my training as I should be. I got my long runs in, but my weekly runs were inconsistent. In fact, I've been jogging inconsistently for about two years now. I call it jogging when I have some walking interspersed with the running. I'll go out and do 2-3 miles here and there and even up to 4 or 5 miles with some walking. The lesson I've learned...consistency is key with running. Thus, even though I can run 3 miles (albeit slowly), I decided to start over. My goal is consistency. I started the very simple couch to 5k training program a few weeks ago and I think it's great! It's super easy, but that's what I want right now in order to build my consistency and confidence. Unfortunately, I had a few injuries the week before last due to another hobby, so I took a week off, but I'm back at it now and in the third week of the program. It's quite humbling to be doing this couch to 5k program considering my past running, but I'm not ashamed to know that sometimes you just have to start from the beginning to get back to where you were. This morning's workout consisted of the warm up, 90 seconds of running, 90 seconds of walking, 3 minutes of running, 3 minutes of walking repeated twice and then a cool down. It's so doable that I have no excuse for getting out the door.

Harder Than a Marathon

This post was originally written in July 2011. I could have titled this post several different things besides "Harder Than a Marathon":
Hardest Thing I Have Ever Done
Most Challenging Thing I Have Ever Done
I Question My Sanity
Why do I do this to myself?

I tried to summit my first 14,000 foot mountain (i.e. 14er) this past Saturday. I didn't make it. My body's limits won this time. I must have easily forgot the pain and challenge of Mt. Fuji last summer, because I decided the week before last to hike my first 14er. What that tells you is that I did absolutely no training for climbing a mountain. I workout on a regular basis so my cardiovascular system is pretty good and my legs are strong, but that's at 200 feet (yeah, sea level).

Several of my colleagues hike 14ers as a hobby and they have invited me along for a couple of years now. These are a few of my colleagues that I regularly run and work out with when I am on work trips. I finally decided that this would be the year that I would go since I knew a little of what to expect from hiking Mt. Fuji. They decided to do Missouri Mountain (14,067 ft) which is part of the Collegiate Peaks. Turns out everyone bailed except one guy who I'll call my hiking buddy. My hiking buddy has climbed 10 14ers in Colorado, so this will be his 11th.

We stayed in Buena Vista, CO (7,965 ft) at another retired colleague's cabin. The cabin was great with a rushing stream right and it was fed by a hot spring (i.e. instant hot tub!). When we weren't hiking or sleeping, that's where we were...in the hot tub.

After reading about Missouri Mountain online, I felt confident about going on the hike. It's considered a Class 2 hike so you don't need technical gear or to do any technical climbing. My only concern was the altitude, since I don't handle high altitudes well.

We arrived to the cabin on Friday afternoon. We had dinner at Casa del Sol in Buena Vista where I had a chicken enchilada and a taco. I didn't eat my beans or rice. I probably should have ate rice for the carbs. After dinner we had a beer and enjoyed the hot tub and then headed to bed at 10 pm so we could be up at 5 am. I fell asleep quickly but then was woken up around 11:30 pm by the wind blowing the blinds around. I never went back to sleep...excitement I guess. I think I dozed between 4 and 5 am, but that's it.

We were up at 5 am, got dressed, had breakfast (banana, yogurt, and low fat granola), drove to the Missouri Gulch Trailhead (at 9,540 ft) and were hiking by about 6:30 am. The trail went over a bridge and then started climbing quickly through dense forest. It was difficult early on for me to keep up with John...he moved very quickly, but I tried my best which was probably a mistake. I should've just gone at my own pace as slow as that may be. By the time we reached 10,500 feet, I was already feeling the effects of altitude sickness...I was light-headed, dizzy, and had a rapid heart rate. My heart rate monitor was not working, so I didn't know my exact heart rate, but I know it was high. With Mt. Fuji there were stations periodically, so my goal was just to make it to each station. On this trail, there were no goals to work towards so I stopped periodically, but kept going with the goal to get out of the dense forest and eventually above the tree line. I knew I probably needed to eat after an hour, but my hiking buddy thought otherwise. He said we had had a good breakfast and should keep going. Eventually we did take a short break and had some almonds and cranberries. In hindsight, I should have eaten when I thought I should...I know my body better than anyone else. My hiking buddy did encourage me to be drinking more water, so that helped.

Back on the trail in the dense forest, we came across a creek and at first we didn't think we had to cross it, but soon learned that we did. It had thin logs across it, so I took my time and crossed easily. Soon enough, we had to cross it again and thankfully there were thin logs to cross on. During this time, we met a girl by herself on the trail. This would also be her first 14er, but it sounded like she had trained some for it even though she was from OK. I was surprised to see her by herself, but there were a lot of people on the trail since it was a Saturday, so I wasn't worried for her.

We kept winding upwards on some switchbacks and eventually reached an overlook where we could see the rapids and a waterfall of the Missouri Gulch. Along the trail, there was manure. My hiking buddy thought someone was horse bike riding up here, but I surmised it was a mule. As we hiked a little farther, we came to the roofless cabin (at 1.6 miles) which is a landmark on the trail. A litle after the cabin, you finally come out of the dense forest and into scrub brush. Here we noticed a couple that had set up camp (a tent) and there was the mule. A little later, when I was resting, the couple and the mule passed me on the trail...I guess they were scared to leave the mule at camp.

Today is June 23, 2014 and I realize I never finished this entry or published. I decided to go ahead and publish it today. I made it to almost 12,000 ft and had to stop. I told my hiking buddy to go on so he could summit before afternoon thunderstorms might show up. He almost made it. After resting for 20 minutes I tried going up further , but came across a stream that I didn't want to cross by myself. I ended up going back down the mountain a ways and wait for my hiking buddy. I felt sick the rest of the day. I could barely eat dinner and my headache and nausea did not go away until after 10 PM that evening. If I ever try this again, I will have to look into altitude medicine because I definitely suffer from altitude sickness.

Since my 10 miler...

This post was written 4/23/11...

Since my little 10 miler, I've run once and it wasn't that pretty. My legs felt like lead until I was about 15 minutes into the run. I was supposed to run a 5K last night, but it rained here and was cold and I wimped out. Instead, I have been spinning three times a week and doing other cross training (i.e. elliptical, a little biking, walking, and badminton). My punishment, I mean alternative, for not running last night was to wake up and go to an 1 1/2 hour spin class this morning. The teacher ended the class a little early so we spun hard for about an hour or so (1:08:14) to be exact. The spin teacher on Sat. morning is different than my normal spin instructor. He (Mr. Sat) teaches in order to make you a good cyclist as in outdoor cycling...there's little music and his pushes range from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. I usually don't take his class, but I have gone the past two Saturdays and, I have to admit, I am enjoying it. This morning we did speedwork first and then did some strength, but more strength combined with speed. I am not a speedy person, but I'm sure it's good for me to spin over 110 rpm.

The internet is good for two things...

signing up for a 10 miler and porn. Yep, that's what the neon-colored sign read that a guy was holding on the side of the road during my 10 mile race today. My thought: "Really, that's all you got? You spend the time to make a sign and that's the best you could do?" Let me back up...the first time I passed the sign I thought it read something else about standing up for 10 miles, but on my second time past the sign, I read it correctly. Anyways, the signs that say "Go Mom!" or "Run, Dad, Run!" are more uplifting than that sign. Or my favorite: "In 1 mile you can QUIT running!" Yep, that's my favorite.

HW, CR and I ran the GW Parkway Classic this morning. I swear, the only reason I do these races these days is to be with those girls. It's my first race of some distance since taking last year off from running. I ran a 5K last summer and a 5 mile race at Thanksgiving, but that was it for running races in 2010. It showed...I didn't train properly (my longest run was 7 miles) and I lost steam about mile 7.5 or so. The first 6 miles we were keeping a steady pace, but I ended up walking about a total of a mile to save my legs, so overall my time was a little under 12:00 minute miles...my slowest 10 miles ever. Overall, though, this was a good race that I had been wanting to do for a long time. It starts on the Mt. Vernon hill and ends in Old Town. It's a lot of downhill and a straight course. Plus, there's some nice scenery along the Potomac River. So, I'm happy with how things went.

Until I take off a little weight or just fall absolutely back in love with running, I may just stick to 10Ks (6.2 miles) from here on out. I am still doing my spinning class despite having lots of travel last fall for my job. I did a metric century bike ride (65 miles) in October so that was my big fitness accomplishment for fall 2010 (not to mention the 40 and 50 mile training rides that went along with it). I am looking forward to getting back on the bike now that good weather is here.

My most proud fitness accomplishment in 2010 was climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan at the end of July. It was one of the most mentally and physically difficult things I have ever done. I had never summited a mountain of that height and I was a bit cocky thinking it would be easy since it's only around 12,500 ft. Boy, was I wrong. I was ill-prepared for the amount of time it would take in order to ward off the altitude sickness and how regularly I needed to eat to sustain my energy. I doubted myself several times along the way and I didn't think I was going to reach the top, but I didn't want to go back down either. Even our Japanese friends with us didn't think I was going to make it...but I did. My first summit!

So, after an interesting 2010 and my first race in 2011, I'm sitting here resting my legs and thinking about what's next...

Intense

Yeah, I know...it's been awhile. I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon last October with my worse time ever on a half marathon, 2:24:48 (11:04 min/mile pace). I actually did better than I expected, though, considering my training was very difficult. The course was a bit hilly, but I saw sides of Baltimore I had not seen before and I enjoyed running through Camden Yards and towards the football stadium for the finish.

I did not enjoy training last fall and, in fact, it stressed me out. I was dreading my mid-week runs, etc...not fun. So, I finally decided to take that much needed break from running. I've only been doing recreation runs since last fall - if that. The last race I did was the Boulevard Bolt 5 miler at Thanksgiving. I can't even remember what my time was and they don't give chips to the recreational runners.

I joined a gym near my house in January and finally started doing spinning class. I LOVE IT. It's the only thing that I have found that can get my heartrate and sweat going as well as running. Which brings me to today and why this post is titled "Intense"....I did my first "real" climbing ride outside. Now, I've rode around DC (city, Mt. Vernon, towpath, W&OD) plenty, but evidently any hills you encounter on those trails don't count. My spinning instructor coordinated a small group to go out to Skyline Drive for a twenty mile ride, sounds easy right? I mean, I can ride twenty miles in my sleep. The first five miles are uphill, climbing an initial section of the Blue Ridge Mountains. So, five miles that normally takes about 15 - 20 minutes now took over an hour....yikes. There was also about another mile or so of climbing after some reprieve at mile 5. It was tough, really tough. Thankfully, my spinning instructor hung out with me, otherwise I would have stopped. The spinning instructor told me stories and talked to me on the way up, so it took my mind off of it....good guy. My legs were in good shape due to strength training in spinning for the past few weeks. I started running out of steam around mile 8 or so. I should have eaten a snack earlier. I made it, though. It was worth it....the scenery was beautiful, the downhill was thrilling....over 30 mph! (Keep in mind I'm on a hybrid and the speed limit for cars is 35 mph). A bonus....I'll be on an endorphin high for the rest of the day.

I did have a bit of a nasty fall on the climb. I tried to come up out of the saddle for a short time, shifted to a higher gear, and my handlebar grip came flying off, my handlebars turned, and I went down while the end of the handlebar jabbed into my rib area...knocked my breath out a little. I quickly got up and got off the road. Meanwhile we noticed my glove had come off, too, and had turned inside out....I have no idea how that happened. I had a major adrenaline rush combined with having a bit of my breath knocked out, I got a little woozy, and I had to sit for a minute to recover. I drank some water, felt better, and started climbing again. I almost had one other fall when we stopped at the gate on the way out to see if we had to pay. I forgot my right foot was clipped in and I tried to use my right foot to hit the ground. I recovered and didn't fall. I just started using my clips yesterday after installing my pedals last weekend. Since this climb was slow, I only clipped in one foot.

I think we climbed around 2000'. One guy said the elevation change was 2500' and I think we started at an elevation of about 500'. Again, it was tough, but I did it and am glad.

I signed up to do a Century (100 miles) bike ride in October. Thankfully, it's a fairly flat ride but I've heard the wind can be brutal since it's on the Eastern Shore...we'll see.

Baltimore....finally.

I finally signed up for the Baltimore Half Marathon today. I have been mulling running it for a couple of years now and finally made the commitment before it sells out. I started training this week while I was in WY. I am following a beginner's schedule, but am going to modify it to include some speedwork (hopefully). I guess I should catch up on what's been going with my running.

I trained and ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. It was a great race, in fact I set a new PR for the 10 mile distance. I ran it in 1:33:29 which is a 9:21 min/mile pace...woo hoo! My previous best time was 9:27 min/mile which was the Spring after I ran the marathon and was in great shape. At the Cherry Blossom, I was 3001 out of 8323 females and 562 out of 1678 females in my age group. I tried a different strategy for this race that paid off. Usually, I run very conservative, always conserving energy and usually crossing the finish line strong. This time I decided to run aggressive and not slow unless I absolutely felt it necessary. It felt good and making good time in the beginning (9:20 min/mile), instead of starting out conervative helped me achieve the PR.

After the Cherry Blossom, we (H, C, and me) ran the Pike's Peek 10K in MD. We decided to cross the finish line together holding hands...awwww. We started strong with a good pace, but it was a hot, humid day and even though the course had negative elevation change, there were still some long, gradual hills. I *don't like* long, gradual hills. They just wear you down. Anyways, H and I were keeping the pace, but C had to slow. I got to within a 1/2 mile of the finish line and as difficult as it was, I turned and started walking backwards looking for H and C. H had already slowed to find C. We finally caught up with one another and crossed the finish line holding pinkies....the crowd loved it. They had pure junk food for the post race food....pizza and donuts, it was great. We actually didn't do too bad. We finished in 1:00:31 which is a 9:45 min/mile pace. I was 108 out of 232 in my age group and 602/1296 in females.

After those races, I took a "break" from serious running. I did the eliptical more often and walked a lot. I still ran, but it was short runs and only 2-3 days/week. I have been running consistently for about 4 years now. My first 5K was in Spring 2005. I keep saying that I will do something else, but the running and having a running goal (i.e. race) keeps me in the best shape, by far. Thus, I signed up for the Baltimore Half despite saying I was not racing this fall. I have mixed feelings about it in terms of wondering if I will be motivated for the training, but it always seems to work out.

Still running...

So the last time I posted, I was two weeks into training for the Army 10 miler. I ran the Army 10 miler about 4 weeks ago in 1:39:13. That's a pace of 9:55 min/mile. I am happy with that considering I followed a beginner's training program and my training runs were definitely not that fast. My longest training run was 10 miles and it was on the tow path/cc trail where the majority of my long runs have taken place. Both trails are pretty easy and flat. It was a good race, good weather and I ran strong. I struggled in mile 8 which is typical from last year, too. However, mile 10 (the last mile) was my strongest at a 9:14 min/mile pace.

The weekend before the Army 10 miler, I ran a tough 5K in McLean. It was a very hilly course and my time was 30:40 and pace was 9:53....not much better than my pace over 10 miles in the Army 10 miler. That shows you what a difference some difficult hills and humidity can make.

I'm not currently training for anything and am trying to decide what to do over the winter months. Today I ran around my hood for a total of 46 minutes. Lately I have been going out to run based on time and how I feel and not necessarily mileage. I still very much enjoy running, but it doesn't hold the same status it used to. I used to design my day around my runs, but now it's harder to get motivated at times. I am considering trying something different, but I say this each winter and inevitably I continue running. I would like to focus on my strength training, so instead of running most days of the week, I will probably shoot to run 3 to 4 days a week and then do strength/yoga on the other days. This is just me thinking out loud for now...