Category Archives: races

Back to Running… and Blogging!

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biking

Proof that I own a bike.

Well, I might not have been around much in the blogging world… which means that I’ve been CRAZY busy in real life. Plus, I finished school in December, so now I don’t use blogging as an excuse to not do homework (anyone else know how I feel?). I guess I just needed a break from talking about running, and actually get outside and enjoy the sunshine! We also bought a house and moved in, repainted and decorated the whole house, I graduated with the big ceremony and everything, and have been training for this race!

I got this bike last year for my birthday, and now that we don’t live in an apartment and I don’t have to drag it down 3 flights of stairs, I get to take it out more frequently! I sometimes even use it to run to the grocery store if my hubs has the car (we are all economical and stuff and can live off one car… now I just need him to allow me to bike to work!). I love being able to bike more and drive less.

Anyways, back to running (because that’s what we care about, right?)… I’m running my first half marathon for the year in a week. YAY!! I’m super stoked, because this is my third race in Williamsburg and it’s my FAVORITE place to run in the whole world. This is my list from last year of why I’m beyond, out of the world, excited!!
In fact, I’m running with the hubs on Saturday for a 10k race, and then hitting the trails for the half marathon on Sunday… I know, I sound so hardcore. I’m going to be crazy sore the whole week… Can you see why I’m so excited? That, and hours and hours in a hot tub. Indeed, this is Heaven on Earth.

Updates to come soon.

Hill Training

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Try these simple steps to gradually increase strength, avoid injury and enjoy running hills.

Our favorite time of year… training.

If you’ve signed up for a new race, a course that you’ve never run before, it might be in your best interest to check the incline of the route. Running hills building strength better than any other type of workout, so don’t shy away from a hilly course. Speaking from experience, it takes much more out of you to run a hilly course compared to a flat course. In fact, my race in June is extremely hilly, and I’m already starting to dread one hill in particular!

According to Runner’s World, “Running inclines forces your muscles to work harder; as you grow stronger, your stride becomes more efficient and your speed improves” (UK 12/12).  If you are avoiding hills just because they are difficult, here are a few simple tips RW provides to gradually introducing hills to increase strength and reduce the challenges to boost your fitness.

1. Start easy-
on your first hill workout, jog for 10 minutes to warm up, then walk two minutes to lower your heart rate. From the bottom of a gentle incline, run up at an easy pace for five seconds, then walk back to the starting point. Run up again for seven seconds, walk down. Finally, run for ten seconds, and walk back down. Repeat as often as possible. Cool down with a 15-minute jog. See step four for maintaining good form.

Running Hills
2. Progress Slowly- Do step one several times, increasing times as possible. Once you are comfortable with that workout, ramp it up. Run up the hill for ten seconds, twice, followed by running up the hill for 15 seconds, twice. Follow this up with running up the hill for 20 seconds, repeat twice before rounding off the workout with a 30-second run.

3. Stick with it-
It’s easy to lose the progress you’ve made if you aren’t out there running hills… but you don’t need to run it every day. RW suggests scheduling a hill run every seven to 14 days. Once you’ve conquered step 2, add extra reps until you are running a total of 10 inclines. If you’re running a race with hills, try to find hills that mimic the course you will be running.

4. Maintain Good Form-
It’s easy to injure yourself on a hilly course, so make sure you are maintaining good form… As you ascend, shorten your stride and keep feet low to the ground. Keep your head, chest and hips perpendicular to an imaginary  horizontal line. On descents, take short quick, light steps (don’t pound the pavement), and keep your center of gravity over your legs (don’t lean forward).

So there are our tips; and if you are a runner, give us your tips on introducing hills into your routine. If you’re a beginner, feel free to leave questions if you have any!

Dead Last Trumps Did Not Start

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If you run without any reason, you are just chasing the wind.
Wesley Korir, 2012 Boston Marathon Winner
This weekend I biked down to the boardwalk and tried to run. After about 3 miles, I was exhausted. Do you guys ever feel that way? Thus, I found this picture extremely inspiring… because I’m proud of myself for getting out there. After beating myself up, I biked back and worked on my strength training routine I’ve been working on. Surprisingly enough, I was able to hold my planks and V-sits for longer than I’d ever done before! I may not be running my best right now, but I’m about to have some ripped abs :)
I’m really thankful that the weather is cooling down this week, and I’ll be able to get out and do a longer run! I’ve got to get some training in to be able to run in the Wicked 10k at the end of October! I’m planning on running it with friends, so we’re going to start our hard-core training soon (yes, I’ll still need to train for this race since I’ve been taking it easy this summer)! Here’s my post from last year: Wicked 10K, which I did in 59:24. My goal this year is to shave at least 10 minutes off that time, and get a time of 45:00 or under!

Breaking a Sweat Without Breaking the Bank

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In this fun beach town, it can be expensive to work out in the gyms in Virginia Beach. But there are multiple ways to do your workouts without breaking the bank! A number of stores and studios are now offering free classes which will have you working up a sweat:

Monday:

Bay Swim: 2865 Lynnhaven Drive. Final Kick: 5:30 pm

Tuesday:

Run Track: 2865 Lynnhaven Drive. Final Kick: 5:30 pm

Wednesday:

Run Club: 616 Virginia Beach Boulevard. Lululemon: 6:30 pm

Bay Swim: 2865 Lynnhaven Drive. Final Kick: 5:30 pm

Thursday:

Run Tempo: 2865 Lynnhaven Drive. Final Kick: 5:30 pm

Saturday:

Run Club: 2865 Lynnhaven Drive. Final Kick: 6:30 pm

Yoga: 616 Virginia Beach Boulevard. Lululemon: 9:30-10:30 am

 

Do you have a complimentary workout I missed? Share it in the comments!

I’m going to keep updating this post to reflect any new workouts I find!

Motivated to Run

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I had a question from one of my friends on Facebook, and thought I’d tackle it on here!  One of my friends Ashley asked:

How do you stay motivated to run? It seems like I am always starting, run for a few weeks and then I stop.

We are all motivated to run for different reasons. Some of us run to clear our minds or get out of the house and others run to lose weight or other athletic reasons. Many enter races in order to have events to train for, and others are motivated to simply run daily. I can’t tell you how to be motivated or how to fit it in because I don’t know all the details of your life, but I can let you know what works for me.

I love entering races with people. I have a few friends who are runners and they inspire me to keep training, and to get those long runs that must be completed on the weekends. Sometimes we even go out together to make sure we get the 10 miler run done in order to prepare for a race. It’s easy for me to get the long runs in, but a 2 hour run on Saturday with homework crushing me isn’t always the most motivating. So entering races with friends keeps me on track!

My whole life is written out in my planner. I’m not a control freak as much as I can’t remember when and where I’m supposed to be, what’s due, and when I’m supposed to go grocery shopping. So I write in my runs, my mileage, and treat it like everything else in my planner. Mandatory. When I finish, I enter them into my Runkeeper App, and track my total mileage for the month. I’ve been averaging 50 miles of running/month since February, which is great for me! Finally, I celebrate all the small successes and take pride in my runs.

As much as I like running with people, it’s hard for me to match their pace, so I usually run alone. I still go to running groups, and still meet up with my girlfriends, but we usually end up splitting up so we can all meet our running goals. It depends how you like to run, but sharing my running goals with a running community has been the best motivator of all!

I also thought I’d share some of my blogger friends blogs I stalk, since they’ve really motivated me to run: Running in Heels, My Pinky Toes, and of course LuluLemon.

If you have questions for me, feel free to put them in the comments section or post them on my Facebook wall. I’d love to do some research and respond in a blog!

Get Back At It

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It can be especially challenging during the summer months to keep a regular exercise routine, and my excuses vary from being on vacation, the overwhelming heat, to too much BBQ last night to get up and get an early run in before work.
But when the break from running is more than a day or two, and grows to weeks or even months, it’s hard to get back in the rhythm.
Here’s how to approach those first runs, no matter how long you’ve been away to avoid injury.

The break -> a week or two
On your first couple runs back in the groove, just take it 2 or 3 minutes slower than usual and run about half of your usual distance. Also include walk breaks.

The break -> about a month
Alternate your workout days with a walking/running routine. On Monday run 15 min and using a ratio of 60 seconds running, 30 seconds walking. Tuesday: Walk 30 minutes. Wednesday run 20 min sing a ratio of 60 seconds running, 30 seconds walking. Use Thursday as a rest day, and Friday repeat Wednesdays workout. Saturday: walk 30 min. Sunday run 25-30 minutes using a ratio of 40 seconds running, 20 seconds walking.

The break -> 60 days or more
It’ll probably take about a month to get back on track. Follow the routine for week one listed above, and on week two run 30 minutes three times a week using a ratio of 40 seconds running/20 seconds walking. For week three use the same running routine, 25 seconds running/35 seconds walking. On week four, go back to week two’s plan, running three times using a ratio of 40 seconds running/20 seconds walking.

If you’ve taken a break from running, I Hope these tips were helpful!

 

Source: Running World, “Back on Your Feet” August 2012 edition.

 

Swim | Bike | Run … and hydrating.

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Don’t tell anyone… But I’ve starting biking. I have a super sweet bike, and in our super tiny cramped apartment, we have no room for it except leaning up against my bed. Our room looks great.
So after having it leaning against my bed for 3 months, my school/work load kind of let up, and I introduced her to the world! Lately I’ve been biking the 3 miles to the beach, running about 5 miles on the sand, and jumping in the ocean for a swim for about 20 minutes. After I bike back, this whole exertion has taken about 2 hours!

People tease me that I should do a triathlon. Nope. I’d rather keep all of my miles in the single digits when doing all three :) (maybe I could be convinced to do a mini-mini-mini triathlon? We’ll see!)

Basically, being near the water is what I’ve been doing in order to ‘keep cool’ while working out this summer. Another important aspect of healthy summer working out is keeping hydrated. I know, everyone keeps talking about our water intake, but what’s some tips on making sure you have enough?

In this heat, it’s important to keep the hydration up… water is vital to our athletic performance and health. Before a long run, a race, or a training workout, drink plenty of fluids. The day before an event, drink extra water and monitor the color of your urine. The goal is pale yellow, not clear.

The morning of the event, drink 2 cups (8 oz.) of fluid two hours beforehand. This gives your kidneys enough time to process the liquids, giving you sufficient time to empty your bladder before the start of your event.

These tips should help out in keeping you hydrated in this extra-hot summer, and will definitely help with post-race throwing up and other problems.

Source: How to Hydrate Before, During, and After a Workout

Back from Vacation!

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Just came back from the best vacation ever! Tyler’s family is much more relaxed on vacation than my family was, so it was an adjustment… and I had to FORCE myself to slow down! We didn’t even have Internet.  Even though it was more relaxed than what my family does, we still did a lot of stuff, and kayaking was one of them! We went twice last week, and I got stuck a couple times because the water was so low- AND I almost died getting stuck over a water fall with rocks jutting out at the bottom! Don’t worry; we only had class 1 rapids on the first two miles, and the rest was pretty calm. :)

Since we were nestled in the mountains in the middle of nowhere, there were plenty of hills to train on. Not that I’m actually training for anything right now, but I can pretend. :)   I was seriously sore every day that I ran. I did a couple four-mile runs, but on those mountain trails, it felt like twice that! It was so awesome to run on such gorgeous trails.Williamsburg Run for the Dream

I did terrible on not eating sugar during our trip, and I’m going to have to pay for it for a couple days. So back to the strict diet from here on in! :) How are your summer fitness goals coming along? What do you find the hardest to maintain during the warmer months?

Eating Healthier

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As a runner, it’s so easy to think “It’s OK, I’m going to run today” and proceed to eat whatever I want. Which is pretty often ice cream, chocolate, brownies… and then I make myself sick. And is not definitely not healthy.

Another Mother Runner

OR it’s the OTHER extreme, and I eat tons when I really don’t need to be eating all that. One of my new years resolutions was to eat more veggies (which is hard to do with such a busy schedule), and I’ve been able to incorporate them into my daily routine, but I want to set higher goals than that (no, I’m not starting the Paleo diet… yet).

Cutting out white flour and sugar is about as lofty of the goals that I’ll setting this summer, while trying to run in the summer heat!
I’m in Virginia, and SERIOUSLY this humility is worse than usual (since  I’d really know what usual is since this is my second May here!).

There are a few really important things to include in your diet is you are a woman running. The first and foremost thing you should be worrying about is your iron levels (this is the one I struggle with the most). This is vital in transporting oxygen through your bloodstream, as well as providing a key building block of muscle tissue. One thing I found interesting is that caffeinated products will counteract with your iron intake… so wait a couple hours after eating or taking your iron supplement.

The next important dietary need is calcium, (you know, all that stress on your bones in running). If you don’t drink milk, purchase calcium added products (soy dream, rice milk, orange juice).

Can’t believe I’m saying this, but the third most important thing to include is FAT, from nuts, olive oil, seeds, and avocado but stay away from saturated fats (which mainly come from animal products. ewww).

Notice the lack of white flour and sugar in this list? Yup. Need to cut those out!

Awesome list of foods adapted from Running For Fitness

What am I MOST excited about?!?

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Oh my GOSH I can hardly take my running shoes off—I’m SO excited about our race next weekend! For some reason, I think if I wear my awesome new lululemon running shorts all week, it’ll come faster!? Cuz my second half-marathon ever, the “Run for the Dream” is only 8 days away!

Well… you ask… what you are most excited about!?

1. Honestly? Because my husband was medically discharged from the military, he is considered a wounded warrior (which means we spend a lot of time rubbing his back and running is very painful for him) BUT! they set us up in a hotel. With a hot tub. YES. (I know, I talked a lot about random things before I got to my point).

2. Running in Williamsburg. It’s gorgeous, I love running in the morning, and this will be the most challenging terrain I’ve ever run.

3. OH MY GOSH this is the 2nd half marathon I’ve EVER done, so I’m uber stoked to KILL it. I know I probably don’t have any new PR’s looming in my future, but I’m excited to do really well :)

4. WHAT?!?!?! BUSCH GARDENS!? Yes, we are also given free Busch Garden tickets for the day before/of the race. Seriously. So the day before we are planning on hitting up Busch Gardens and RIDING ROLLER COASTERS! So after running our poor butts off all morning, we get to try out their newest roller coaster the MACH TOWER.

Awesome.

I can hardly wait :)

 

What’s your favorite part about races? The support from people during the race? The beer at the end? The excitement from running with thousands of people at a time? There’s so many wonderful things about races that I can’t even begin to count them all!