Resting

Last night I went to the pool to stretch out my sore legs. The second I got in the pool, my leg stiffness was gone. I felt no pain! (The picture to the right was just something I found online. It's not my pool, obviously, but I wish it were!!!!)

It helped so much! I always tell people if they are in any kind of pain or soreness, swimming cures it! My legs feel 90% better today. It also helped to sit in the hot tub for 10 minutes I'm sure.

The downside of the Shamrock: I think I hurt my ankle. Yesterday it started to bother me. Today is a little better but it's still troublesome. I wrapped my ankle last night and slept with it on. I also wrapped it today. I'd rather be safe than sorry so I'm trying to rest my ankle.

Years ago, I had surgery on my right ankle to repair the ligament. It was extremely painful. I also sprained my Achilles in my left ankle 3 years ago. Luckily, this current pain doesn't feel like either of those old injuries.

UPDATE: I'm going to the doctor tomorrow afternoon to see what's up with my ankle. I'm crossing my fingers it's nothing awful. :(

After Party

Here are a few more pictures from the after party at the Waterfront. It was fun! To the left is a picture of me and my very cold boyfriend, Michael. :)

To the right is me with water and the Stanford's salmon chowder. YUM.

We didn't stay a long time. I could feel myself starting to stiffen up and my legs were a bit shaky and jello-like. I was ready to go after I finished eating. A hot shower felt great. Soon, a nap!

According to my Nike+, my pace was 8'01!

I just wanted to point something out about the run today. I saw so many people of different sizes and shapes running the 8k with me. If you EVER feel like you can't do something, think again! YOU CAN! :)

UPDATE: According to the Shamrock Run website, my time is 52 minutes and 48 seconds!

I DID IT!!!!!!

I ran the Shamrock Race 8k WITHOUT WALKING!!! This is huge for me! That being said, let me start from the beginning...

Parking was a nightmare so we gave up and found a garage. I found my friend Robyn amidst the 21,000+ people and we made our way to the starting line for the 8k. I am VERY happy that the weather turned out nice today! No rain. The sun was out, but it was pretty cold. There were a LOT of people there for the 8k so our start was pretty slow. I felt stiff for the first mile but started to warm up after that.

We ran up Burnside and turned onto Broadway. I tried to take a few pictures during the run but they didn't really turn out great. Sorry. :) I was feeling pretty good with my pace. I saw a few people trip and fall but they seemed okay. One girl fell right in front of me and I helped her up but she wasn't scraped up too badly.

After turning onto Broadway it was uphill the rest of the way to Terwilliger. Ooof! It was okay though. My heart rate monitor said I was peaking at about 190 beats! Yikes! But my legs were doing okay so I didn't walk. It leveled out and I felt some relief for about a mile. I was excited that I had gone as far as I had without feeling like I needed to walk at all.

Turning from Terwilliger we headed back to Naito Parkway. I could see the finish line and it was all downhill! The last mile was where I started to hurt a bit. My ankles and feet weren't too happy but they weren't screaming at me either, so that's good.

A few yards from the finish line I started to sprint. I saw Michael on the side cheering for me and taking my picture! That gave me the extra little push to run as HARD AS I COULD! I crossed the finish line in 53 minutes and didn't walk at all!!!!!!!!!

It was hard to make my way through the crowd to where I was supposed to meet Michael but I finally did. I was choked up with emotion when I saw him. I gave him a hug, he kissed me and I felt so relieved that I had finished. It was a great feeling having reached my goal: completing the race without walking.

Race Day!

Woke up at 6:45 am (time change and all). For breakfast I had:

1 piece of Trader Joe's Organic Oats and Honey bread, toasted
1/2 a banana
1 serving of honey
Gatorade

Almost time to leave for downtown! I slept ok. A lot of my dreams were raced related: I was waiting for my turn to run, I was late getting to the starting line, etc. But I feel pretty rested. The sun is coming out and it looks like it will be a dry morning. Yay!

One thing (hopefully not TMI)...when I'm nervous about anything, I have to pee. Very frequently. Uh oh!

Preparing for the Shamrock

I set out my stuff for tomorrow. I am not a morning person. And with the time change tonight, I imagine I will be a stumbling mess tomorrow. My kitty, Yggdrasil, helped me organize my gear. He likes to think he's crucial to everything I do. :)

Shamrock Eve

I slept in this morning (which was fantastic!) and had a piece of toast with peanut butter for breakfast. I went to the gym to do a light workout on the elliptical. The sun was out and I was tempted to go for a walk but I knew that I would end up running (not good before the race). I felt like my gym experience today was pretty mediocre because I was so concerned about NOT hurting myself before tomorrow's race.

After the gym, I met up with my great friend, Robyn, and we headed to the Adidas Campus in NE Portland to pick up our run packets. Traffic was a nightmare, parking sucked, and the lines to pick up the packets and t-shirts were horribly disorganized. What a disappointment! But we got out stuff and it didn't take all day, so that's good. We headed out for sushi for lunch! YUM!

Lunch was great and I got my sushi fill. Next stop, Trader Joe's to get the ingredient's for tonight's dinner.

I'm obsessively checking the weather report for tomorrow. So far, it's changed hourly on whether or not tomorrow morning's run will be rain or not. We'll see!

5 Days Until Shamrock!

Today I had CPR training for work so I did not get my lunchtime run in today like I had hoped. For lunch I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a very grain-y and oat-y bread. It was tasty and very filling. I was so full I didn't have to eat a snack in the afternoon. During the training, they discussed strains and sprains, which I found very interesting since I've suffered from both before! I figured I would share the info here since exercising of any kind can cause a strain, sprain, or worse. Remember to RICE.

REST...Protect the injured muscle.
ICE...use ice packs for 15-20 minutes at a time on the injured area. (Longer exposure can damage the skin, so don't over do it.)
COMPRESSION....reduces swelling. Wrap the area in an ace bandage.
ELEVATION....reduces swelling.

NOTE: If your injury does not improve within 24 hours of the injury and you did the RICE diligently, call your doctor asap.

I went to the gym tonight since it was very cold out today and the gray clouds were threatening nasty rain (and I was right!). I spent 40 minutes on the stair-master and then did about 20 minutes of weights. It felt good to be back in the gym and working on my weight program! Tonight I spent most of my time on my upper body (especially my triceps). I burned 540 calories.

Dinner was left over Spinach Ravioli and pesto (my sore throat is much improved!) and steamed cauliflower.

There are 5 days left until the Shamrock Run. I feel very unprepared. I wish I could get one last long run in before Sunday but I think that would do more damage than good at this point.

UPDATE: I forgot to post my weight in yesterday's post. I weighed in at 158.

I Hate Rest Days

Yesterday I listened to my body and took a day off. I was feeling rundown and was worried about getting sick so close to my race. Several people in my office are battling a sore throat/cold/sickness too. I immediately drank Emergen-C, had a Zinc lozenge and today I'm drinking Airborne. I will NOT get sick!

Dinner last night was the Costco spinach ravioli with pesto instead of olive oil. The ingredients in Pesto (garlic, basil) are excellent for sore throats. I ate it preemptively! (Sorry the picture didn't turn out great.) I also had a really yummy salad.

Snack today: oranges for Vitamin C!

The Shamrock Run is about 10 days away and I'm starting to get excited--and anxious. I'm trying to listen to my body and not overdo the training. I've read articles that say I should rest before a race and taper down my runs. So next week will probably be pretty light on the exercise.

According to weather.com, it's supposed to be overcast but not rainy today until after 1pm. That means I could run at lunch today. I'm waiting to see how my body feels. I don't feel as run down today as I did yesterday and I got a really good night's sleep.

Why do I hate Rest Days? Basically, I exercise so I can eat. When I take a day off, I tend to feel guilty for not working out. I haven't quite figured out how to NOT feel that way. I got a few books that I'm trying to read in hopes I can cure myself.

QUESTION: Do you feel guilty when you don't work out?

Training for the Shamrock Run

Sunday, March 14^th is the Shamrock Run in Portland. It will be my first time participating and my first “long” run! The last race I did was Run Like Hell (5K). Shamrock is an 8k. I’m confident that I can do it and that my time will be decent.

My 5k time was pretty good – and I’d had the flu! And I didn’t know what to expect. I do now, and I think I’m prepared for the 8k. The biggest problem I am facing is the weather. I’m a fair weather runner and I’m not ashamed to admit it! Who wants to run in pouring rain? Icky. I have a running rain jacket I’ve yet to use. I will definitely be bringing that! I recently bought a visor and a running hat.

There’s about 3 weeks until the run. (GASP…I thought I had more time!) So I need to get on the stick with my training! It looks like I have about 17^th days to go!

In preparation, I was reading websites, running books and training guides. My favorite quote: “What pace should you run? Go slow. There is no advantage to going fast during your long runs, even for experienced runners.” PHEW! Big sigh of relief. My goal for the Shamrock Run is to complete it with a decent time. I’m not racing anyone. I’m training to be able to compete in Hood to Coast.

My training is going well so far. I’ve been able to complete 2 long runs with minimal soreness. And those two long runs were done in my VERY hilly neighborhood. I believe that has helped me. My goal is to be able to do a few more long runs before the Shamrock. Rain or shine!

QUESTION: How do you train for events? Email me at 110pounds@gmail.com.