Marathon Training - Week 7 Wrap Up

July 30th-Aug 5th ~ 19.7 Miles

Day 44 ~ 5k Recovery Miles
Day 45 ~ Sick
Day 46 ~ 50min Bootcamp
Day 47 ~ 5k Base Miles (Bad Day)
Day 48 ~ Base Miles (dreadmill), Dance
Day 49 ~ Rest (Carb up, Grocery shopping, Chill with the hubs)
Day 50 ~ Long Run (9 miles)


Not every week or every workout will be paved with rose petals and showered in rainbows. Sometimes, life gets in the way. Sometimes, emotions get the better of us. This week was like that for me. Actually, let me re-phrase. Sunday was amazing. I had awesome splits. The weather was perfect. I had the best time running the 5k loop around Cancer Survivors Park. I volunteered for MRTC (Memphis Runner Track Club.) Life was good and I felt great about myself. Then Monday happened. Stupid Monday. 

Mother Nature kicked my ass Monday morning. I wasn't even trying to fight her on that one. But it was a really sucky start to the week. It seems like if I have no motivation on Monday, the rest of the week ends up shot too. So we chalked Monday up to being a total bust. I told myself I'd work through it and everything would be okay. I wasn't going to let negative Allison get in my way. 

Tuesday I crawled my hind parts out of bed and went to the gym. Boot camp felt pretty good. I had a good feeling that the rest of the week would get progressively better. I went to work, prepared to do the damn thing and turn the week around, then I got a call from my dad. My mom was in the hospital and it sounded serious. The doctors never seem to be any help when you're trying to find out what the hell is going on. It was frustrating. I didn't have anything to tell the family, nothing to tell work, and I didn't want to leave until I knew what was going on, or at least until it looked like she was feeling better. I spent most of Tuesday at the hospital with her, went back after work Tuesday night. Still didn't know much and had a really hard time sleeping because of it.

Wednesday came and I couldn't roll my butt out of bed no matter how badly I wanted to. All day long I beat myself up for not rising and shining and hitting the pavement like a good little runner, but I just couldn't do it. Later that night, I made a promise to myself that I was going to take all that bad energy out to the trail (asphalt trail) and leave it there. I was supposed to run five miles, but I didn't. Instead, I ran three incredibly hard and possibly too fast miles, and I left every bit of the icky on the pavement. I felt like a million dollars after.

The rest of the week got better. Thursday, I did five miles on the treadmill watching The Barkley Marathons on Netflix (by the way... I will NEVER reach that level of insane. I'm putting this in writing... NEVER. EVER. EVER. Watch the documentary and you'll get it.) After the miles, I spent seventy minutes in my most favorite class of all time--Dance Fusion at Germantown Athletic Club with Cari. Her dance class is one of the best things to ever happen to me (from a fitness perspective.) She honest to gods makes working out sooooo much fun. I was so exhausted when it was over, I slept like a baby. Thankfully, Friday was a rest day.

As always, the end the week ended on Saturday with a nine mile long run--which is still not long for me. I won't start getting worried until we're above fifteen miles. The great thing was four miles were long gone before I started feeling it at all. The long, gradual hills from downtown to midtown were a pain in my glutes. But I got it done. I pretty much slept all day after. My body needed it. Badly. And to make things better, by the end of the week we knew what was going on with my mother and she was on her way to recovering. 

ALSO...
In my search for perfect fuel, I came across two new to me products that I foresee becoming staples in my running gear. 

The first was the Cinnamon Waffles from Honey Stinger. I had one before my two long runs to knock off the grumbling belly and give me a little extra boost in the begging. Oh. My. Gods. Those things are freaking delicious. I think I might have to carry them for my actual run. Most of these Gu/Jellys/Gatorade things have a weird taste to me. I mean, I pretty much know I'm eating pure sugar, but this was liking siting down with a cinnamon waffle. Sooooooo yummy! (Click on the picture for more info)

The second was Tailwind Endurance Fuel. I tried the Tropical Buzz first, and again, it was absolutely delicious. I liked this because it didn't make my water fizzy and salty. It added a wonderful fruity taste without color, and to make it even better it's all natural and all organic. 
(Again, click the picture for more info)

Marathon Training - Week 4 Wrap Up

July 9th-15th ~ 17.3 Miles

Day 23 ~ Recovery miles
Day 24 ~ 20 min HIIT (WRWM Coaching)
Day 25 ~ Boot Camp
Day 26 ~ Base Miles, 20 min HIIT
Day 27 ~ Base Miles, 30 min HIIT
Day 28 ~ Rest Day
Day 29 ~ Long Run



Still didn't go to dance class Thursday or lift weights on Wednesday night. I've been totally slacking at that. Not because I've wanted to. Adjusting to waking up around 4am to go run has been a challenge. Usually by the end of the work day, I'm beat and I just want to go home and veg out. Week 5, gets worse. I was on vacation... hahaha.

I had one comical day when nothing came together. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Well, almost everything. I didn't hurt myself, but this LOUD bug whose nap I ruined nearly gave me a heart attack, but I couldn't check my heart rate because my watched wasn't fully seated on the charger and was dead when I woke up. That would've been day 26. The picture says it all, right? If everything's going wrong, don't panic. Make the best of it.

Women's Run Walk Memphis started up again. This is my second year as a beginner runner coach. I toyed with the idea of coaching the intermediate group--which is comprised of women who've been running and can hold about a 12 minute or better pace. That would've been a good group for me to coach, but the beginner group is where my heart is. I started there two years ago, at least sixty pounds heavier, and truly having no desire to be a runner, and here I am. I NEED to pass that on to the women who showed up exactly like I did because running has probably been one of the most rewarding and empowering things I've done for myself.

Day twenty-nine I was supposed to run with Breakaway Running (only the most awesome running store in Memphis. It's so much more than a running store) but I had to knock my miles out early because my best friend in the whole entire world was getting married at 2pm and I had a two hour drive to get to her!

As a side note, I drank all the coffee but didn't get a chance to read much of the book.

Race Day! The Hill & Dale 8 miler

I've listened to runners talk about how fun and exhausting the long runs in Shelby Forest can be. During the 10 mile races, I watched runners zoom across the finish line in less than an hour. One hour! After being out there, I don't know how the hell they do it. Those hills don't play, and they're one right after another. But the course is one of the most beautiful in and around the city.

Here is a video from the infamous switchbacks. It took less than three minutes to climb, but felt like it lasted forever. We ran down those hills, then attempted to run back up them. On the way, we passed a girl who'd fallen and hurt her hand. She was being walked back to the finish line. My heart sincerely broke for her.



After the run ended, I felt great. I didn't have any shin pain, which was something I'd been battling for a while now. My feet didn't hurt. Life was good! I survived! A few people cheered my name--wonderful people I'd met in the Memphis Runners Track Club. I stormed across the finish line with a battlecry. That's not an exaggeration. I ran so hard it felt like I'd been speared in the center of the chest. After all, that's what we do. Finish hard, like a freakin' warrior.



So, I pretty much spent all of Sunday in the bed or on the couch, on a heating pad. Not because I had a serious injury. Nope. I'm proud to report there were no foot, knee, shin, or hip pains for this one. In fact, I didn't really feel like I'd been bulldozed by death as I'd expected to be. The soreness was in the glutes, quads, hamstrings... all those big muscles in the top of the leg. Sunday felt like I'd leg-pressed my way to eternal damnation. I verbally compromised with those muscles every time I got up or sat down--yes, that includes the toilet.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with the entire day. It started with Confident by Demi Lovato and ended with me feeling pretty damn... confident. I felt like a real runner. I ran the switchbacks. That's kinda a big deal around these parts. I laughed a little as I typed that, but there's some truth in it. Someone told me that doing Hill & Dale was about bragging rights. Now I know why.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog...

Enjoy this one minute video of me freezing my butt off while trying to form coherent sentences.

Let me start by saying that making the video above was a HUGE step toward self-confidence for me. I hate my voice about as much, if not more, than having my picture taken. However, part of the reason I'm doing this is to break through all those stupid little issues I have with myself so I can love myself more.

The Beginning...

The decision to make a change, like a lot of people, came after seeing a particularly hideous picture of myself and absolutely hating the way I looked. The picture was from my nephew's wedding and I swore that picture would never see the light of day. I promptly pursued weight loss. I dropped about 80 pounds in 9 months. I wasn't smart about it. Sure, I exercised and ate like a bird, but I also took Phentermine and lost the weight way too fast. As soon as I stopped, almost all of it came back.

In 2013, I decided to go at it again. This time, I planned to be a lot smarter about it. I went out an bought myself a Fitbit and I stuck to a diet that was no more than a 1,000 calorie deficit. I got up almost every morning and went to the gym where I walked a couple of miles, then I went to work every day. I was doing the bare minimum, but it was something and I felt a million times better. I lost 20 pounds pretty fast. Then I plateaued and I got discouraged. I gave up.

Thankfully, my stubbornness didn't last too long. A few months, maybe. I bought a treadmill so I didn't have an excuse not to walk. I started doing 5Ks with a good friend and co-worker (I walked my very first 5K in March of 2014 and completed it in just under an hour.) We started doing Fitbit challenges with friends. Life was good and the weight was coming off again. Then another friend and co-worker said to me, "Come do the women run walk with me," and my first reaction was, "um... no." I had absolutely no desire to be a runner. Zero. Nadda. Zilch. That was in June. In September, I ran the graduation 5K in a little over 37 minutes.)

Now...

I participated in the St. Jude 5k in December, which was my first time ever running that race, and I have to say it was one of the most rewarding, most magical experiences of my running life. Seriously. The runner's high was incredible. I finished 3.1 miles in 34:17. My goal had been to finish in under 36 minutes and I can't begin to explain how proud I was for beating the hell out of my goal and setting a personal record for myself.

We're going into 2016, and I've already committed to doing some pretty hardcore races (for me anyway.) I'm doing the Hill and Dale 8 miler on January 2nd. I've signed up to do the Hot Chocolate 15k in Nashville. That's 9.3 hilly miles that I swore a month ago would kill me. And last but not least, the Navy 10nm, which is NOT 10 miles... and it's in the middle of summer. That one might kill me. 

The purpose of this...

A couple of the lovely ladies from my Fitbit challenges said I was so inspiring I should do a blog. I thought--think--they're crazy, but I'm a little crazy too so I figured what the hell. Why not? I figured I would do this for myself first, then for anyone else who might need a little motivation to kick start their fitness goals. Who doesn't need a little motivation, right?

What works for me...

I like goals. I like challenges. I like competition. And I LOVE rewards. For every week I've been a well-behaved little runner, I give myself what I lovingly call "fat-full Saturday." On Saturday, I still get up and go to dance class, still go out to The Greenline and run, but I also allow myself to eat whatever I want. I've earned it. And by giving myself that day to enjoy, it's easier to keep making good choices every other day of the week. I set small, realistic goals. When I meet one of those goals, I get a reward--be it a shopping trip or a tattoo or a slice of cheesecake. The reward itself doesn't really matter. It's recognizing that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do.

The biggest, best, most helpful thing I do for myself is surround myself with friends who have similar goals, who want to be healthy and lose weight. Those wonderful people add a whole lot of fun to exercising. Sure, being alone is great too, but having someone there to tell you to keep going really helps. I'm thankful for every single one of those people.