Gettin’ my arms back baby!

      Women hardly ever get to feel strong. I have been lifting weights for about 3 to 4 times a week for 2 months now and it shows, finally. I absolutely love going to the gym for weigths. Lately, due to scheduling issues I go mostly in the evenings and find that tons of 20-year-olds hang there at nightnot necesarily to work out either. It's a 24-hour gym and once there, it's nice to know there is no rush to finish,time is lost. I don't do free weights. I know how to use free weights; I'm selft-taught and many, many times in the past I've done free weights from home, but I prefer the machines for now. Plus, at the gym there are only two benches which are usually taken up for 10 minutes at a time, so, that would not be an option anyway. Something odd about looking at yourself in a mirror while working out around 20-30 people, I'm not there yet. Also, working out at home is never an option. Most moms would understand; who wants to relax in a place you are likely to be asked for a sandwich? 
        Weight are one thing, but I stopped doing my runs at the gym. I use to watch whole movies as I ran on that treadmill, I find that I can no longer do this...for now. I know during the fall and winter I was doing ALL my long runs, as long as 20 to 22 miles at the gym, but I am totally burned out on that option. I am very much enjoying doing my runs outdoors, super early, before the sun comes up or in the early evening, soon after the sun has gone down. 
         Come June, I need to start long and longer runs to get ready for MCM again. As much as I am looking forward to more formal training runs, I am also enjoying the off-season, so relaxing. I have to confess, I am not really pumped up for the MCM as I have been in the past. This will be my 4th MCM, after the 5th I can get in any year so this race is working towards that goal of 5 mcm's, yet, I am not looking forward to the hurried nature of a huge race anymore. I feel I am emotionally transitioning to loving the ultra community more and more and may need to start doing 50K's just to be able to do trail races. Something about those races that feels much more like my tribe. Being surrounded by amazing, yet, super humble and supportive people really makes me love life even more and there is nothing else like it. 
         Which brings me to my goal of getting faster to the forefront. I need to start getting a bit faster if I want to do some of these races. I need to start working on speed, even if it's only once every 2 weeks. I must confess I hate, hate, hate speed work, I even hate hills, and I despise making my workouts super structured, totally. not. my. style. I know I am a workout rebel so I will continue to train as I please, listening only to my body and not giving up, anything beyond that, I cannot make any promises. Running is between my head and my body and for right now speed runs are a huge NO, regardless of how much I need to be getting faster.......I may change my mind later, but that's the beauty of being your own master, you get to choose. 
            

Just getting it done, period

              This past weekend was a holiday weekend and I had 16 miles planned for yesterday, Sunday but my body said, "NO way". Now being 3 weeks away from marathon #9 I could not just NOT run! So I slept in, had a nice morning making myself new earrings, sipping coffee with my hubby and listening to him respond to every cool article he came across in the paper. The morning was glorious. After my kids sent off to bed I left the house and drove 5 minutes to the 24-hour gym I am a member of and ran for 4 hours until 1am. While running, I watched 3 or 4 episodes of Project Runway season 9 and then the newest episode of Walking Dead, which was heartbreaking and thank God it was hreathbreaking, cause it kept me awake and kept me from thinking how tired I was. I ran out of Gu  at home except for one yucky flavor and lost all my salt pills for some odd reason but had enough salt pills in a pill box I used for the last marathon, so I used those. So yes, I ran 4 hours and had 3 bottles of water, 4 salt pills total and only 1 yucky Gu. The gym has unlimited 10-minute hydro massage which I took full advantage of right after finishing and boy was it pure heaven....one can adjust the settings so I basically got a 10 minute bum massage, heaven!! 

                 I got home at 1:30am and made myself a quick and COLD burrito roll with cheese, chicken, and cream cheese, I know, disgusting. But it hit the spot. I took a hot, hot shower and was happy to learn that I had minimal chafing thanks to the KT take I had my 10-year old apply earlier in the night, she's a pro at applying this stuff, you'd think she's a PT. I put on a huge sweatshirt and placed a towel over my pillow and went to bed and slept with a huge smile on my face. I did it. By not making it such a huge thing in my head I managed to do something that if thought over too much would certainly seem crazy. By the end of the night I had burned 1,240 calories and I did not quite know how to put that into my MyFitnessPal app, a calorie/nutrition app I use to monitor what I eat. I chose to just give Sunday 3 hours and Monday 1 hour. The way MyFitnessPal works is that it gives back to you the calories you burned as allowance for more food. I felt this was a good solution for it only gave me 310 calories extra for the next day and the allowance for the Sunday I could not really use up seeing as all I wanted to do was go to bed. 

It's not failure...It's wise

                       I don't see this as failure.....starting this week, I switched to the most basic marathon training plans I could get my hands on....Not only that, I am also loosely going to follow it only for the long runs and just make sure I get in 4 miles three times a week plus weight-training once or twice a week. 
                During the summer I was able to complete up to 8 miles on a weekday and not have it dent me. But now that school starts back up and I have to teach I would need to get up at minimum 4:20am, and that is just when I run 4 miles. Partly it's the fact that I am a slow runner but I cannot change that much at the moment. If I were to complete an 8-miler during a workweek I'd have to get up at 3:20am!! That would not be easy to maintain and keep my sanity and health. Last week, I did an 8-miler and was trying to do a 17-miler the next day and felt a painful pull in the back of my thigh. The LAST thing I want is to get injured. Then, I remembered that my 50-miler is 6 months away and that technically I am still just training for just marathon for the moment, and to top it off, I am just training for a marathon I want to finish and not win or even PR, at this moment. 

* 4:20am: Wake up to get ready for the day
* 5:20am: If I were to run 4 miles I would need to leave the house 
* 6:20am: Get home to shower and change 
* 6:50am: Leave home  
* 7:25am: Get to work  

               So, it's with great assuredness that I made this decision to lighten my load and I already feel a ton better. 

Week 6, day 1 Intermediate 1, Hal Higdon

            I am loving my training plan, for once. Usually training plans ask too much from me too fast and I abandon ship soon after starting. For most of my past races, aside from my first marathon, I have made up my own plan as I went, but not this time. I am on week 6, day 1 of Hal Higdon's intermediate 1 plan and it is progressing slowly enough that I feel strong and capable on most runs and unlike other years, it has not been a struggle keeping up. This weekend I completed a total of 18 miles and the only side affect was a bit of crankiness, and not even the usual soreness the next morning. 
              For my 2 days off during the week I am totally taking the day off completely, no guilt, no cheating, just rest 100%. Over the years I have grown to value of these days off as essential parts of all training plans. Only with proper rest in between intense training periods is one able to come back stronger each time. Most of my speed PR's we've earned on days I took 1-2 days off running. I tend to liken these days off to pauses in all songs, they are just as essential as the song, yet, any song would not sound right without these gaps of no song; song and no song, they each complement one another just as running days and non-running days; they each make up a part of a whole. 

              What plans do you use? 
               

week 4, day 3...feeling strong baby

             It's sad when I think about how most women rarely get to feel the way I feel after a run. It's tough to describe the feeling exactly, but after a run, I feel a combination of utterly invincible, imperfectly beautiful, powerful beyond belief and just so blessed and joyful all around. Everything is right with the world right after a run, and one can think and make decisions with crystal clear clarity for several hours after. When people ask me about running, which RARELY happens by the way, but in the rare, rare occasions when they do ask me about it I always make sure to add in there that running is my anti-depressant, not only that, but I think of it as the love of my life. In describing it this way I can successfully communicate (in mainstream "America-speak") the importance and the intensity of the relationship. So yes, when asked about running I almost always bring out the intense, romance-speak to make sure to communicate just how essential this activity is in my life. 

      On that note, I had a GREAT run today. Not one part of my body hurt and no breaks were needed. It was a straight 6 miles, with the last two being much faster than the first 4. What more can one ask? 

             

Dare to dream big, but work small

          When I crossed that 50K finish mark on October 11, 2013 lots of things changed for me, but primarily in the way I relate to my own body. All my life I have been like an entity, totally separate from my body, driving my body through all these potentially dangerous habits. First, the stupid diets from Atkins to the Soup diets, all the way down to the an eight-day lemonade fast, yes, I only drank lemonade with cayenne pepper for 8 days. Then came the smoking in my 20's, then the staying up ungodly late hours to party and dragging myself around for the next few days. All these are example of how my body is being treated as dispensable. But crossing that 50K finish line after 10 hours, 29 minutes, 45 seconds  made me see how much my body can give back if given the proper care and training. And please!!! know that in the running world this is not a fast time for a 50K, in fact I came in DEAD LAST, so know that by no means am I bragging....but I DID finished under the cutoff by 15 seconds, in other words....I finished and that was quite huge for ME.

         One might think there is no difference between "making" one's body train and run a 50K and "making" one's body run 7 miles on zero training, at first glance, both experiences ARE hard on the body. Well, there is a huge difference. For one, for the 50K that is, you are working with your body over a period of months to slowly scale up your training to be ready for what it's going to go through. It's a painstakingly long process that requires tons of planning, lots of learning and mistakes making.  As the training slowly increases your body takes time to heal during the schedules rest days and comes back stronger. On the other hand, the 7 miles on zero training is absolute suicide, even 3 miles on zero training is dangerous, but I hear about people doing this quite often these days. Just going out there and pounding their body mercilessly and never once checking in, never once realizing it's going to be a bitch tomorrow when I wake up.

         If there is one thing I have learned from long-distance running is all kinds of facts about my body, how it operates, what is bound to injure it. I know that on cold days I can cause my shin to spasm, especially if I try to pass a slightly faster runner on a hill, which sadly HAS happened (and caused me months of recovery). I have learned that insoles are overpriced pieces of shit that cause more damage than good, I have learned that the first 2 miles of any runs will make you hate life but once it goes away you will be so grateful that you're running, I have learned to recognize which morning aches go away by noon and which aches are more serious and may require a day off. I have learned that a good bra is worth every penny and that Vaseline under my arms is absolutely necessary if I am to run 8+ miles, I have learned that good socks, again, are worth every penny. I have learned that I can wear shorts and a t-shirt in weather as cold as 40 degrees, bundle up any more and I will be tying my extra top around my waist at mile 3. You see, all this knowledge comes from the training. The training is not just an annoying meaty center meant to be ignored. In so many ways, the training IS the race. Just like in life, the end result does not encompass the experience of the journey. The certificate, the graduation, the promotion ceremony all are just mere stamps on the enormous and lengthy path it took to get there.

          Perhaps that is why I have been so cheery these past few weeks. I started my training plan and once again I am on this journey, this long trudge to the top, every day focusing on that day only. I have always been a person who needs a purpose. There are two kinds of people in this world, the incidental types who let life happen to them and the hopefuls. The "hopefuls" need an idea, a dream to chew on and as long as they have that bone, they can go through all kinds of hell and all will be fine because like holding a map, the Way is clear. Therefore, following this plan is very much like having this dream that one day will be realized, but I am not concerned about that now, THE DAY, I have learned, comes soon enough, but to have it come you need not focus on it, just trudge along, day after day, step after step.

         So choose the right plan for your current fitness level and dare to dream big. Keep your nose to the grind and make each day count. Before you know it, you will be on top of the world and in a world where instant gratification is the only language, no one will know how you ever made it so far.

Epic 16 Miler Planned for tomorrow's long run...battling fears

            I am getting ready for an epic 16-miler run for tomorrow through the towns of North Springfield, Burke, and Annandale. I will be running on three nature trails, Lake Accotink, Wakefield Park and Mill Creek Park. I cannot wait!! Seeing as I am staring before sunrise, there is one thing that's always a part of my planning, safety. I am pretty sure safety, in terms of rapes and abductions, is not an aspect most men have to consider much when planning their epic 16-miler, while for most pre-sunrise solo running female, this is a HUGE part of our planning. 
               I was telling my hubby just today that for some reason I feel much more unsafe here in the suburbs that I ever did running in Washington, DC. Perhaps it's my own bias; I may have seen too many horror movies, and in most of them random killers come from way out in the the suburbs or even further away from rural areas where they could easily shack up in a family member's basement, pay no rent and do their evil deeds in the total privacy of their secluded location. In the city, on the other hand, I have always believed, and maybe falsely, that it's merely impossible to just live in the city without a job, and anyone with a job therefore is less likely to abduct or rape random runners in secluded areas. I know, I know, all this ridiculousness is a huge absurd list of assumptions and fear all rolled into one. But, logic is a very weak opponent once fear has taken hold. 

       No matter what my fears tell me I have long ago chosen not to be dominated by my fears. The familiar quiet streets I now run on and the quiet dance of extended shadows of my slow moving body which accompany me on each pre-sunrise run are part of what makes this MY run.  One naturally develops a deep familiarity with the streets one most often runs on and that helps one feel more at ease, out there in the dark. 

          

                 

Week eight done baby!!

             I did it. 14 miles and my pace was MUCH better than last week's long run. I ran into this little guy on mile 4. Must have fallen yesterday when it was super windy. 

                      I had a huge goal for this run...First, it was originally a run meant for yesterday but because I chose to do a very hard speed-run Wednesday I was still sore from the effort and since this run I wanted to meet a speed goal I could not afford to be sore at all. So I waited an extra day but then stupidly forgot to not overdo it and volunteered for my son's travel team and helped weed for an hour. This was a whole hour, bent over pulling stubborn weeds and beating wet dirt off heavy roots on the  baseball field, and oh did I feel it this morning, especially on my back. So you see, this was not going to be a good morning. The other obstacle was my time. Last week my time was so bad that if I continued this way I knew I'd be pulled off the course at the MCM if I continued running this slow. Needless to say I needed to bust a move on this run to at least meet 14mm, or close to it....seeing that I still have 8 weeks to perfect my run. 

I got to midpoint and stopped my watch and what was my speed? 14mm.....now this is still very slow for most people, but, seeing as last week I was way slower, this was fantastic. I almost broke out crying right there. The time for the last 7 miles was a bit slower but not significantly, so I am super excited. Now all I have to do is work on my speed during the shorter weekday runs. So far improvements are happening and things are heading the right direction. 

          My friend Jenna texted me an image of herself doing a headstand and it was sent at JUST the right moment. I so needed encouragement at mile 8 and 9...we texted for a bit. Another encouraging scary happened at mile 13. I see a woman with a hydration belt running towards me, she smiles as she approaches and I gave her a high five....a high five....I have ALWAYS wanted to do this but always felt too shy, too conflicted about how it would be perceived....but this time, it felt very natural and her hands went up and away she went past me...very cool!

Like every long run, there is ALWAYS some kind of adventure. at mile 13.90 I am sprinting to the finish and a chihuahua comes out at me on the street. I could not just leave it there to potentially get run over so I start looking around for its owner. He won't just come up to me, but kept barking and growling in the cutest way. Even the scanty hairs on its back was up, I had to laugh and take a picture. Finally, the owner saw her from her yard and came out to retrieve the dog. Mission accomplished. I ran the last .10 and stretched against my car as I always do after any run....so nice to be back home. 

This is a happy face....

Secret to injury and stress-free running

               This morning I got up at 6am to get to the gym early. I was not feeling the run at all; my legs felt heavy from yesterday's weight lifting session. But, I was ready as ready can be. For the past 2 weeks I have been using a very successful formula for non-injury and it works for me. Not sure it works for everyone, but so far I've been able to incrementally up my miles each week without stressing my body (and mind) out.

Here is the formula for non-injury and stress-free milage increase for marathon training:

1. Do all runs that feel long to you this way: the beginning 90% at an easy aerobic, and 10% of the end at much faster pace. You should be fully warmed up by this point therefore your "sprint" should be quite easy to accomplish. 

2.  To help keep you at an easy pace listen to audiobook, podcast, comedy, news, or watch a movie (if on a treadmill). Below is a comedy show on Netflix I watch on my run today (during the aerobic portion of my run that is). 

3. To do your "KICK" at the end make a fast paced playlist on your music player and ONLY turn it on then. I personally have a Spotify and my account name is Miriamsart, in case you want to follow me. 

4. As your training progresses, and you feel stronger, increase the percentage in which you sprint. (these will become your speed runs). 

5. I use to not be a proponent of cross-training. In fact, I always was the one runner who swore she only loved to run, therefore would ever only run. But THE WEEK I began weight-lifting every other day I noticed an increase in the power in my legs and my core. Just remember not to do a BIG weight lifting day (for your legs especially) the day before a long run, or you WILL suffer. 

6. Always bring water with you. Take sips as needed. 

7. ALWAYS, I mean ALWAYS stretch after running....below are the three stretches I ALWAYS do after every single run....

This is the face of a proud runner. Now to face the day. 

Morning after 4 miler.....

            Today I feel a lot better than I had in the past few weeks after having run several miles. I am starting to suspect that the main cause of my pain was made worse by my old sneakers. I guess my plan of turning my sneakers into minimalist sneakers by simply not buying new ones ever is not quite working. Yesterday, for my run, I used another pair (Brooks Pure Connect3) and voila! pain over.

        I am trying not to celebrate quite yet. Tomorrow is day 7 of my 1st week of marathon training and it's a five miler. If after THAT run I feel okay-ish THEN I will celebrate. But now I am still cautious about calling myself healed. In the meantime, I have an MRI appointment in a month for this issue. Hopefully it will be fully resolved by then. But one day at a time. Right now I am just trying to focus on making tomorrow's treadmill run successful. 

         Today I did weights at the gym. For the first time it occurred to me that the one most significant gift I've received from this injury has been my new awareness of other forms of exercise, such as weightlifting, uphill walking, swimming and of course, the dreaded elliptical. Nevertheless, I LOVE weightlifting so much that I will continue to do it even when I'm fully healed. 

        Here is the 16-week plan I am following for marathon #7, The Marine Corps Marathon in October 2016. Yes, I know, it's a one 20-miler marathon training plan. With all that's on my plate this fall, from extra after-school classes to working on getting Nationally Certified; I am not trying to even PR, just trying to finish. I am also looking into possibly doing a flat 50K race in December somewhere south of the DC area. 

Local Hills for Hill Repeats

These are local hills in my neighborhoood. I put in a question on the Facebook page for Springfield chapter of Mom's Run This Town (MRTT) and these are the suggestion given to me by other local (mom) runners and MRTT members. I thought of sharing what was shared with me so that others may benefit.

"Lake Braddock Drive through the signal hill neighborhood is basically one giant hill. If you run Braddock to Mount Burnside Way, it's about 1 mile steady downhill, turn it around and it's a steady 1 mile uphill. If you just want half a mile, do just Lake Braddock or just do Mount Burnside, both are about 800m. Neither are super steep, but they are long!"

"Hillside is pretty long, but it basically one big hill.", "start at Moverly (sp?) and run Hillside up to the signal light on the intersection with Rolling

"Olley Lane would be a good candidate. I mean the Olley Lane between Twinbrook and Guinea off of Braddock road. "

"Greeley Blvd. From Old Keene Mill to Rolling Rd. is a long hill. "

"Kings Park West, East Lake Drive is a nasty long hill! Gainsborough Drive (by the lake) and Powell Road also have hills that qualify for this length."

Powell Road

Milage totals for past 3 years....

Total for year 2013-1352 miles
Total for year 2014-1429 miles YES!!
Total for year 2015 is 786 miles (not too good....)

I am not too happy with these numbers. But, at least I now know what I need to aim for.....to get back to 1429, my all-time high I need to run at least an average of 27 miles a week.....let's just round that off to 30 miles a week as a base. 

Monday
Tuesday 5
Wednesday 8 (or 4 miles Monday & 4 miles Wednesday)
Thursday 
Friday 4  
Saturday 9
Sunday 4

Training plan for 2 marathons in the fall...3 weeks apart

            I am running the Marine Corps Marathon (marathon #3) and the Anthem Richmond Marathon (marathon #4) in the fall  of 2014 and basically chose Hal Higdon's 18-week Intermediate training plan and then to be ready for the second marathon I repeated the last 3 weeks to make it into a 21-week training plan with small adjustments to week 19 to allow for healing from the first marathon. I am actually starting on week 3 with 27 miles for the week and could not be more excited about this plan.

Notice on week 19, instead of doing a week with 5/8/5/4/ and 12 miles...I will allow myself to do a week with 3/5/3/4/ and 12 miles.

New 16-week training plan- Runner's World

                I was all relaxed in my running schedule until I did the math and figured out that I am EXACTLY 16 weeks from my next marathon, the North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon in Virginia. I looked around online and decided on Runner's World's Running 16-weeks Plan. It has very specific schedule with tempos, speed, long runs and 3 days off a week! But, I am not getting off so easy. It has FOUR 20 mile runs embedded in the program. I may be biting off more than I can chew....but we'll see. So far, I am pumped for springtime and know the warmer days alone will get me out there more. I printed out the plan and posted it on my fridge and made a copy to carry around with me to work. 

13-week Marathon Training Schedule

Marathon Training Plan

for 

GW Birthday Marathon Feb 16th, 2014

Okay, so after exhaustive research, I came up with this training plan to follow for my next marathon. Seeing as I JUST finished a marathon I needed to take 'healing' into consideration. I also suppose I could pay someone to make me a marathon training plan based on my goals. But I feel at this point I know my body enough to know what I need to tweak to meet my goals. My goals being to beat my time in my next marathon. I am adding in some speed work, some hills (Tuesdays) and the back to back long runs will help me get stronger and heal faster. The idea of having three 20 milers scares me a bit, but I know it will provide me with the confidence I need going into a race wanting to PR.

	Monday	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total miles
11/18					5	4	8
11/25		4	3 speed	5			14	26
12/2		4	3 speed	5			12
12/9		4	3 speed	5		R	Half	25
12/16		4	3 speed	5		9	12	33
12/23		4	3 speed	5		10	20	42
12/30		4	3 speed	5		6	12	30
1/6		4	3 speed	5		10	20	42
1/13		4	3 speed	5		6	12	30
1/20		4	3 speed	5		10	20	42
1/27		4	3 speed	5		4	12	28
2/3		4	3 speed	5		4	8	24
2/10		4	3 speed	5		2	RACE!!!	14

50K training coming to an end.......ready to crush this race

                         Woke up 3:45am Saturday to get ready for my first every 26 mile run. It was one of those mornings where I could have easily turned around on my pillow and gone back to bed. But I had come too far to do that. I got up, made coffee, filled my hydration pack, packed some GU, snacks, ibu, smeared anti-chafing cream in key areas and was on my way. It was dark for almost 3 hours of the run. I ran from my home to Maryland and back to DC, going south on Massachusetts avenue all the way to Downtown DC. I was doing amazing, feeling strong. Every once in a while I would text Chris what milage I was at and he would send me some cute encouraging words one of my kids had said to convey to me. But at mile 22, I got 3 consecutive texts urging me to get home that my daughter, who is 6, has gotten accidentally hit on the face by her big brother with a metal baseball bat and that we needed to take her to the ER. I found a cab after much work and we rushed to the ER. All turned out well and we felt so incredibly lucky to get our little momma back home in one piece. Today, Sunday, I did 11.5 miles on tired legs and feel I did the best I could under the circumstances. Total 33.5 mils for the weekend.....I think I am ready to crush this 50K!! 

Below are pics from my adventure....
The Monument, sun has come up finally...

I used the bathroom at the Lincoln Memorial......cleanest bathroom in all of DC. 

Me looking tired and sweaty!!

My little sweet momma being so patient and positive after being hit in the face with a bat.....she even smiled for the photo......