Doctors Orders

Hello!

It has been a while since I have written anything about how it is going, well today is the day everyone learns what has been going on. In March I ran the NYC Half Marathon which was the greatest experience I have ever done. It was my first half marathon and I loved every pain staking minute of it. 6 miles thru central park, down 7th Ave toward Time Square, across 42nd Street, and down West Side Highway to the finish line. Since then I have been suffering from dehydration and weird dizzy spells.
I blacked out on the subway on April 25 let me tell you not the most fun I have ever had, But I had a really great best friend who took care of me and my things while I was down. He also got me off the subway, drank some water, and walked the rest of the way to work at a very slow pace. I made a doctors appointment for May 25...the soonest they could get me in.
When I went to see the doctor the first time he ordered blood tests, EKG, and an Echocardiogram. The blood tests came back with a slight touch of anemia, and the heart tests came back clear. They have now ordered a holter monitor test stating that I have an irregular heart beat that they want to see if it acts up in the 24 hours I am wearing the monitor. He also ordered more blood tests and a trip to the cardiologist.
So today I am a science project wearing the holter monitor 5 electrodes sticking to my skin reading everything my heart does. I will see a cardiologist on July 27 and hopefully have all the answers I need. I also will have more blood taken to check the anemia levels and we will indeed go from there.

What this means for my running life is...slower, which I didn't think was possible, and less miles. I will be running 14:00 minute miles and no more than 5 miles at a time. Till the end of July I will be running no more than 5 miles at a time at roughly 14:00 minutes a mile pace. Now this is a set back I don't have to stop running. I will be training for the Bronx 10 miler and for a second Ragnar from Cumberland Maryland to Washington DC. I will most likely not be running as runner 8 as this leg is 23 miles total. But I am part of a team and amazing team and I will cover the miles they need me to it just may be a little slower than I had hoped. This is not an end just a new beginning with a challenge.

-F

Not a Happy Post

 They say the first step in fixing a problem or addiction is to admit you have a problem. I have a relationship problem with food. I can justify any sweet treat in my life...other foods no problem I like fruits and veggies better than McDonalds and pizza any way and have for a couple of years now. The problem I deal with now is sugar. I use to say that it was fine I can eat cookies, pie, and cake every day because i was training for a half or a 15K or whatever. Now I am train for Ragnar starting on Monday and I really want to get faster and I truly believe that if I loose a few pounds and trim down a little bit it will help. I was running my best when I was 10lbs lighter I wasn't a speed demand by any means but I was running a 12:30-11:30 minute mile and now I am running a 14:00-13:00 minute mile.

I am not sure how to kick this sugar problem. I have tried to do 30 day detoxes of no sugar, the first week no meat, no dairy, no bread, strictly fruits, veggies, nuts, and anything that comes from the earth. Week 2 you could add back in meat. Week 3 add back in small amounts of dairy. Week 4 add back in bread if you want. All of the adding back in is optional, however processed sugar and sweets are always off limits. I tend to turn to sweets when things go bad, things go well, things are boring, and things are just normal. I eat them all the time.

I want to make my team proud of me and I want to be proud of me. I want to perform to the best of my ability and to know I have trained my best and my hardest and have given it everything I've got. I am working on a plan to make this better to make this happen, to make me the best me I can be. The best person, the best runner, the best friend, the best girlfriend I can be. When you feel good about yourself that confidence is felt by others.

75 Days till Ragnar!

Today

Today I ate over half of a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Today I got turned down for a grant to fund a project I wanted so badly to work on, which led to the eating of the cake. Today I felt sorry for myself, which led to the eating of more cake. Today I ate nothing but cake yellow with dark chocolate frosting. Today I felt ashamed of eating that much cake in one day and for not following my plan for becoming a better runner. Today I thought about all the things I have declared to do in my fitness goals and have fallen through because I didn't put the effort forward.
But today I did something amazing. Today I joined a team to run the Ragnar Relay from Miami Beach to Key West Florida. Today I joined 11 of people who I owe my best to. Today I threw away the rest of the cake I had eaten so much of. Today I vowed to give up processed sugar till thanksgiving where I will have pie and then continue to not eat processed sugar. Today I became the 8th slot runner meaning I will run leg 8 which is 7.9 miles, then leg 20 which is 6.2 miles, then finish with leg 32 which is 1.8 miles for a total of 15.9 miles in 2 days sleeping in a van and having a great time and crossing the finish line as a team. Today I agreed to a training program that starts next week. Today I became awesome!

Week 1 & Week 2 Recap

Week 1 Monday: Yoga videos...I was trying supliment in any way I could being in a place where I had no access to a gym or a set of weights.

Week 1 Tuesday: 3 miles run broken down into Run mile 1, run walk 1/4 miles for mile 2, run 3/4 walk 1/4 for mile 3. It wasn't to bad but I ran at 12:00 and even in California it is hot.

Week 1 Wednesday: Cross train. I did a 30 min walk down the beach. It is so pretty there I got in as much beach time as I could during the last week.

Week 1 Thursday: 3 mile run broken down into Run 1.25 miles, 1/4 mile walk, 1/4 mile run, 1/4 mile walk, 1/2 mile run 1/2 mile walk. Again at 12:00 it was hot and the sun was intense the only saving grace was that there was a breeze.

Week 1 Friday: 30 mins of cross train...I spent 30 mins walking on the beach, it was my last chance to see the Pacific ocean so I took my cross training there.

Week 1 Saturday: Travel day! I flew back to St. Louis on this day so there was no working out involved.

Week 1 Sunday: 4 mile run...We did 4 miles but not in a run. The temperature was 105 degrees and 110% humidity...which meant we did a combination of times walks and run for the first 2 miles, and then walked the second 2 miles. I chose to get the distance in even if I couldn't run.  

Week 2 Monday: Stretch & Strengthen...Was replaced with lap swimming in the pool...when you have a pool I say use it. It's a great full body workout. 

Week 2 Tuesday: 3 mile run. I had a procedure the morning of this day which kept me from being able to run, however it didn't keep me out of the pool so I did lap swimming in place of running on this day.

Week 2 Wednesday: Cross...YOGA! I was at home this week and I have a yoga class that I really love to take so I used my cross training day as an hour and fifteen minute yoga class.

Week 2 Thursday: 3 mile run. Was a 1 mile run and a 1 mile walk with 1 mile missing. I got up at 8:00am to run and it was already 100 degrees outside. I decided after mile 2 it was not worth risking passing out to get the last mile in, so I hoped in the pool and swam a few laps.

Week 2 Friday: I took my rest day

Week 2 Saturday: Party Prep and 5K race day...No cross training

Week 2 Sunday: 4 mile run. Yesterday we ran the Trails for Tails 5K down on the Katy Trail to raise money for 5 acres animal shelter and to honor a friend who passed away earlier in the summer. So the Race and extra mile went like this...1 mile run, 2-3-4 miles 1/4 mile walk 1/4 mile run.

So after the 2 weeks I am getting more time under my belt and spending more time running than walking...that's the goal. The goal for this half marathon is to finish in under 3 hours and to decide if I like training for this distance.

-Felicia

Week 1 Day 1

 

All right so today started day 1 of half marathon training, though not a running day still an important day. So today was Stretch & Strengthen seeing as I am still in California and haven't set up a way to these non running workouts I chose to find a couple of good yoga videos. I am not a huge fan of yoga videos I would much rather be in a yoga studio with a teacher telling me what to do, demonstrating, and walking around giving me pointers on how to be better or if I am doing it wrong, but we work with what we've got.

The first video was a power yoga video about 11:00 of work and focused on balance and core strength which is something I need to work on.
Power Yoga Workout to stretch and strengthen-Fullbody workout-class fitsugar. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EkjlkYVzpA

Vinyasa Flow Workout-Yoga Workout-class sugarfit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvN_KRcweL0

If you copy and past the links you can check out the work outs! I will most likely be doing these 2 videos for the next three weeks, maybe I'll add one more to make a half hour workout, but until I get settled in NYC and find a yoga studio I can afford once a week here we are.

Happy Monday everyone!!!

-Felicia

Training Proogram Selected

As the title says I have selected a training program. I have decided to go with the Hal Higdon Novice 1 training program. I looked at a bunch of options and decided that this one fit into my everyday life and was the most flexible when it came to having to move runs around. Because I work freelance sometimes my long runs need to be on Fridays and sometimes they need to be on Saturdays and this program allows me to move long runs around between Friday, Saturday, and Sunday due to the fact that scheduled Friday is a rest day, Saturday is cross training, and Sunday is long run.

This week we are in right now my long run will be tomorrow Saturday and I am hoping to hit the 2 mile mark so that when I start in on the Higdon training I am right up to mileage. Next week my long run will be on Friday because on Saturday morning I will be driving to LosAngeles to see the Chinese Theater as well as the walk of Fame and then flying back to Missouri.

Ok so I have included the plan I will be following as well as the link to the Hal Higdon website because he has a bunch of training programs for all different distances.
http://www.halhigdon.com/ 

 Have a great weekend everyone!

-Felicia

Welp here goes nothing

All right so this blog is back in action! This afternoon I did a crazy thing and set a goal for my end of year race. I may not meet all of my 14 in 14 races this year but I will run my first half marathon! That is right you heard me correctly I have officially registered for my first half! So what that means is that this blog has just become my outlet of all things good, bad, and other wise about training for this half.
About my new adventure... I will be running the NYCRUNS Running Festival of Lights on November 23 in Sore Road Park Pier in Brooklyn, NY.

 

Th rest of this post for the most part is going to be clips from the website about the race.

The route claims to be fairly flat the only downside I see to it is that it is a double loop which means you are looking at the same scenery for the whole time...something I usually try not to do so that I don't get bored with what's around me and start focusing on the fact that my left leg hurts or my right side aches a little or my left foot fell asleep a mile back...but I will start early incorporating this into the training plan. 

Alright well there you have it the details of my first half marathon. Training will start for real at the top of next week. This week I will find a training plan I like and I will try to increase my short run to 2miles. 

-Felicia