Home State (and hydration belt)

Oh Michigan how I love you! I had planned on running more while down in the Outer Banks, NC, however I really try to make sure the running I do doesn't turn into torture. I realize that not every run is going to be fun or easy or pain-free. However I do know that when I am running in a climate that is too hot, I feel tortured. So rationalizing aside - I didn't run any more than the three times in NC because it was STINKING HOT! When the temperature at home reaches 75 I head to the gym. In OBX the heat index at 6am was like 90. Sooooooo I wimped out. ;-)

That all being said...we drove the 14.5 hours home yesterday (ate like CRAP) and I'm recommitting myself today to my calorie count and running. Enter the 5 mile run today. The 5 beautiful, wonderful, fairly easy, COOL, 68 degree, 5 miles that I ran at 10:30 am!!!!!! Thank you beautiful Michigan weather! (Granted later this week it's going to be in the 80's...but still!)

I've had some runs that have left me not only thirsty but feeling really sluggish. I purchased the hydration belt that I tried out today (and loved!), but I've also been thinking about what I'm taking in before my runs. Sometimes I don't eat anything, or sometimes its whatever I've eaten for the meal the hours before the run. However I think that I'm really needing some instant nutrition before my runs. So I ate a GU before the run today to see if that would affect how I feel on this run. My plan for today was to reach for 5 miles but I hadn't run much in OBX, and I ate like crap yesterday and didn't drink much water. This left me feeling skeptical about the success of the run today.

The hydration belt that I bought is a Nathan Speed 2R Auto-Cant in Medium. The website gives the measurements for a hip size of 32-38". I have a hip size of about 38" but I have a waist size of 29 so I thought that I wanted to buy a belt that would fit as I lost weight.  I stretched it over my hips when I got it and I can Velcro it but it's very tight. So I put it around my natural waist and Velcro it pretty tight and it works perfectly. I'm used to wearing a training pack around my natural waist with my phone in it anyways so this wasn't much different.

My pace started out at 13:26 for the first mile. I have such a hard time maintaining a lower pace during easy/long runs and then I burn out too quickly, so I tried to not push myself into a higher pace. My heart rate stayed around 160 which was excellent. The hydration belt did not budge! I couldn't feel it bounce or slosh or anything. I took a sip after the first mile and realized that the drinking mechanism is something I will have to get used to. Its not a mouthpiece you open with your teeth or suck on to get water out, its more designed to squirt into your mouth. Back in the belt I could hear the water slosh around when I took my ear buds out but I didn't feel any difference in the weight between a half empty bottle or a full bottle. About 1.2 miles in I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. Uh Oh! So I aborted my original route and turned around to head back home. The second mile was the same pace as mile one and I felt pretty good. I made it home (after an unintentional detour) at mile 2.66 and paused my Garmin so I could go inside the house to use the bathroom. Once I came back out I decided to run my old loop to finish off 5 miles. My splits at this point were getting faster but my heart rate stayed around 165. As I continued the run I got used to the water bottles and how to squirt them in my mouth without slowing down or chocking. The water bottles each hold 8 ounces which I think is perfect for what I'm using the belt for. I don't need or want to drink a lot of water on my runs, but I remember that thirst from the 7 mile run a couple weeks ago and I need a little something to help get me through.

I finished the run without walking and feeling really good. I only had about 6-7 ounces to drink between the two bottles which was good for a 5 mile run. The hydration belt didn't make me sweat more, it has wicking material that worked really well on this sweaty run. I think that between the water available to me all the time as well as the GU before the run really helped make this run as good as it was despite the lack of good nutrition and water yesterday. I am really happy about today's run and I'm really happy with the hydration belt. So now I'm sitting watching last week's Extreme Weight Loss with Chris Powell and I'm going to be getting ready for a training session for work. All in all a good day! :)

PS....I forgot to take pictures of me in the belt today but I will be posting them soon!

Long and picture-ific!

I have a lot to post about! Saturday was such an amazing day. And it started with a great run! 

Picture this: 6 am on Saturday morning. The sun not quite up yet and very few people on the beach. Low tide was at 4:15 so tide is still out. The beach had hard packed sand from the receding waves and there was enough wind to cool you off but not enough to blow sand at you. This is how my 2 mile run began. 

I was able to run with the sunrise and it was glorious!

Both miles felt so good which was such a relief after the miserable 4 mile run on Friday. It was tough work running in the sand and I could feel all of the different muscle groups in my legs working together just to propel me forward but the wind kept me cool. It was such a different atmosphere than I am used to running in and it was a welcomed adventure!

Saturday was my one year wedding anniversary with my husband PJ and I knew we had dinner plans. We went to the beach in the house my mom and her fiancé are building in the morning because they have a great yard and dock to launch their kites for kite boarding. I sat by watching them and sunbathing. Not a bad way to relax! After we came home PJ and I cut into out top tier of our wedding cake we had frozen for a year...and it was fantastic!

It tasted just as good as the day it was made! Shortly thereafter we exchanged gifts. We decided to go with traditional gifts and the first year is paper. I made him a photo book on shutterfly.com and wrote out 52 reasons why I love him on paper that I folded into little hearts that he can open every week for the next year. He painted me a scroll with a big tree in all 4 seasons and wrote me a love note on the bottom. He also made me a book of all the things he knows about me/us and silly things like what superhero I would be: Allergy Girl. Haha we got ready for dinner and headed out to a restaurant called 1587 inside a bed and breakfast on Roanoke Island, NC. The restaurant was semi upscale with a gorgeous interior and a very nice menu. We started out with a flatbread appetizer with buffalo mozzarella and basil and a balsamic glaze. 

It was SO good! We had bread and butter as well before our entrees came. I ordered the filet mignon with a Demi glace and mashed potatoes and seasonal veggies. 

PJ ordered grouper with a risotto cake and some kind of okra salad. 

All of it was fantastic! We had créam brûlée and a chocolate mousse pudding for dessert. I forgot to snap pictures before I dove into those!! Halfway through dinner we were remarking how pretty the place was and how quaint the B&B was and just then PJ slid a brass room key across the table. He had secretly planned an overnight trip! He even packed my bag and snuck it out to the car so I wouldn't notice! He's such a romantic! We had champagne in the room and our anniversary night was perfect. I couldn't have been more surprised!

It was wonderful and the whole day just seemed perfect. I couldn't have asked for more. Needless to say Sunday became my rest day since we stayed away for the night. I was happy to see that my hydration belt showed up Saturday so I will be using that on my run tomorrow. Today we went to the beach and boogie boarded and had a quiet night. This vacation has been so much fun and so relaxing. I'm starting to get sad we must leave on Wednesday. I guess that's when you know your vacation is a success.  It's getting late so I'm going to go to bed so I can hopefully get out there early for my run! Let you know how the hydration belt works tomorrow!

Hot and humid

This morning my dogs woke me up at 5:45 again my shaking their collars. I had already been on the verge of waking up since I went to bed at 7:30pm yesterday! Who goes to bed that early on vacation? This girl does! I took them outside and the sun hasn't risen yet so it was just getting light. I thought about going for my run then but my book distracted me. What a mistake that was! I ended up going out at 7 am and it was so humid! I got to the one mile mark with a pretty good time of 12:26 but was starting to get tired. I thought about turning back but I put in writing I was gonna go 4 miles and I didn't want to wimp out. By the time I hit the 2nd mile I was getting really tired. I was adding in a couple little walk beaks and I was sweating more than ever! By mile 3 I was walking more and super frustrated. I am so not used to the hot and humid running! At home when it's over 75 I go to the gym and run on the treadmill. Here it's 75 with a lot of humidity so it makes it feel so much warmer. The only saving grace is the wind. There was quite a breeze today which helped a little bit. I limped the 4th mile home with about half walking and half running. It was miserable and sweaty! 

I've been thinking of ways to hydrate while I'm out for my long runs back home ever since my extreme thirst episode last week. Today proved to me that in such high humidity and heat I need to have water so I looked on amazon and found a hydration belt that I had rush shipped to my moms so I can try it out this week. I'll write a review of it early next week when I've used it. 

As for the rest of my day I layed around reading and napping for a while. We went to the grocery store to pick up some food for the dinner PJ was cooking tonight. He made fajitas and they were so good! After dinner we went for a dusk walk along the beach with the dogs. The wind was blowing so hard and whipping us with sand but it was still a pretty nice walk. We went about 1 mile on the beach not including the walk in from the house. The dogs had so much fun when we let them off leash to run a bit. All in all a great vacation day!

Beach time

After a 4 day stretch at work PJ and I got off Tuesday morning ready for a crazy day. We slept for a couple hours (I slept way more than PJ did) and we got up and spent the whole day preparing to leave for our trip to the Outer Banks, NC to see my mom. Since we have been on a midnight schedule we decided to just leave Tuesday night rather than trying to sleep and waking up early. We made pretty good time and got to OBX around 3:30pm.  15 hours of driving was not good for my eating. We did mostly snacks and mostly bad ones at that. I'm a sucker for snacky foods! 

After we got unloaded we went down to the beach and built a fire. Several of us played in the waves and I got pummeled right into the beach! Then I found what looked to be the head of a jelly fish without the tentacles in my bathing suit bottoms and I. Freaked. Out.  I thrashed and got knocked over again. Needless to say I looked pretty. We ate smoked sausage cooked over the beach fire and watermelon and stayed until tide came in. I went to bed around 8 and slept soundly for 10 hours! At around 5:45 my dogs woke me up to let them out. Once I was back in bed I kept thinking about running and how it is the perfect time. I peeled myself back out of bed and put on my running gear. I haven't run in about a week because I've been working so I planned to take it easy today. I warmed up and headed out around 6:20. The sun was still low in the sky so I didn't need sunglasses. It was humid but not unbearable. I ran down the road until my watch beeped a mile and then turned around. I ended up at 2.05 miles in 25:27 minutes with an average pace of 12:38. Not bad for an easy run in a warmer climate. 

Now I'm sitting on the beach reading and blogging watching my family boogie board. Not bad huh? I waded into the waves a bit but was too scared to boogie board and get creamed! I did find out that I have some sort of allergy to something in the water tho...

All of those are hives! I'll be taking some Benadryl later! Tonight we are having rotisserie chicken and baked potatoes. Yum! Tomorrow I think I'll try to get up early again for a run. It was nice to be out in the calm early say. I felt very serene. I am planning on 4 miles tomorrow at an easy pace and then later in the week I will have my long run and a tempo run. 

Long run

Originally I had planned to go out with a friend early in the day and run later. When my friend cancelled, I had to make a quick decision about when to do my long run. I didn't sleep much last night since I'm all turned around with my sleep schedule so I woke up at 5ish and decided to read. I'm really into a new series my husband got me on called "The immortal instrument series" and boy is it hard to put down! At 8 I ate some peanut butter and toast and had a big glass of water before continuing to read until 9:15. I came to part 3 in my book and decided to run while it was still cool and before I lost track of more time. 

I set out to do 7-8 miles around 9:30. I planned my route ahead I'd time and decided to do it backwards than I normally do. The first 3 miles went great. I felt good and my heart rate and breathing were comfortable. Around mile 3 my right foot started to hurt a little bit. I tried a bit of walking near a stoplight but that actually made it feel worse so I kept running. Around 5 miles I seemed to hit my wall. I all of a sudden got super thirsty and tired feeling. It just got worse through the next mile. I can't remember the last time I've ever felt that thirsty! I was even considering asking someone who was out in their yard working for a drink of water. My pride held me back and I kept running. I never have carried a water bottle with me because it felt too bulky or odd. After today though I will be looking into a handheld water bottle. The further I seemed to go the more tired I felt and I found myself walking more and more even with the pain in my foot. I was feeling pretty discouraged. Finally I arrived home after 7.3 miles in an embarrassingly slow 1:45:47. I keep telling myself that I should be proud I finished and didn't give up. My foot however still hurts and it see,s to be the tendon running along the top of my right foot. I took some ibuprofen and I'm hoping by tomorrow it feels much better. 

After my run and 3 huge glasses of cool water (ahhhhh) I showered and got a text from my friend who cancelled on me saying she was now available for lunch if I was. I drove out and met her at a little diner in Ann Arbor called Cafe Marie's. I had the grilled chicken cherry salad and boy was it delicious! I came home after a long lunch with my friend and cleaned up the kitchen. After a short nap I got up and PJ made turkey burgers and sweet potato fries. It was good and I felt like I've had a pretty good day food wise. I ate 3 meals with minimal snacking and that's what I'd like to make habit. I get into trouble when I snack a whole lot. 

Now I'm laying in bed watching some tv and gonna finish my book! Then it's bedtime for this tired girl! I'm gonna try to run an easy couple miles tomorrow if my foot is feeling up to it. Wish me luck!

Here are some things I need to keep in mind as I run:

An attempt at interval(s)

I hate the day after my stretch at work. I'm exhausted and all turned around and feel incredibly lazy. I was not made for midnights my friends. This is why I'm excited that I am moving to a day/night rotating shift later in August. I will work 3 weeks of day shift and one week (or weekend as I'll plan it) of night shift. Since PJ works nights, it will definitely alter our lives, but I think once I feel straightened out and on a "normal" schedule it will all work itself out.

So on to what I've done since I woke up at...7pm. Not a whole lot! Since I posted early this morning that I was going to run today I couldn't wimp out. As much as I wanted to just sit on the couch all night long, I made a commitment to myself. That being said...I also waited until the very last minute to get down to it. At 8:30pm I had a choice to make...outside or gym. I HATE the treadmill. I'll use it when it's really, really, hot out; but I'm not a fan. At 8:30 tonight the sun was just starting to go down and it was drizzling outside. So...treadmill or rainy run?

I chose rainy run. Last week I drove around my entire block and clocked it in at 1 mile exactly. So with that in mind I decided to run laps around the block so that if it started to pour or if it just got to dark I could come back in. I ran a warm up lap and saw it was getting dark pretty quickly so instead of running an easy 4 miles, I changed to some speedwork. This is an area I need a lot of work on. I tend to wimp out early and have a hard time pushing myself. So after the warm up mile, I ran 800 meters (1/2mile) at a pretty hard effort. It ended up being a 11:02 pace which I'm pretty happy with. I recovered for the remaining 800 meters. By this time I was rounding my house again and it started really raining. And it was dark. And I'm kind of a wimp. So I called it quits for the night.

All in all - 2 miles in today with one interval. Next time I'm going to allow for more time and do a little more research into interval training and try, try again.

Tomorrow is my long run. I'm getting up early (for me) to go walk with a friend and her newborn in the park and then have some lunch, so my run will be later in the day. Here's to hoping it cools off tomorrow evening!!

Back to the grind

After my wonderful mini weekend getaway to Grand Haven for our races, I hopped right back into work mode. Working 3 12 hour shifts a week has some nice benefits, but man does it screw up my weeks sometimes when they are stacked up together. Especially when I pick up overtime, like I did this week. I picked up Sunday night so PJ and I could go into work together and that started my stretch. When I'm working these stretches all I do is sleep in between shifts and because its daytime sleeping I often don't sleep well. So yesterday I took a Benadryl right before bed and I was out like a light. I woke up disoriented and later than normal so I had to rush to get ready!

Tonight however starts my 2 nights off between stretches! I am going to get in some good running! Since my body feels much better with a couple days rest since the 10K I plan on doing an easy 4 mlies Wednesday, my long run on Thursday and an easy 2-3 on Friday before work. I think I'm going to make my long run this week 7-8 miles depending on how the 4 later today go. 

The Coast Guard Run sent me an email today with a link to pictures! I was pretty excited!

I loved that the beach is in the background! I think I'll buy the digital copy. Eventually I'd like to make a scrapbook of race stuff. I've kept my bibs and medals and even the timing chips. ;-)

I'll update later on how my easy 4 miles go.