Epic Eleven

As I write this post, I am on a serious runner's high. This morning I went for an 11 mile run, and it was FANTASTIC! As terrible as the weather was last week, that's how unbelievably perfect the weather was today. I wore pants and my Team in Training practice tech tee. This outfit left me without pockets, so I had to get creative with where to put my key. I used to just loop it through my shoe laces, but when I did that I found myself constantly looking down to make sure it was still attached, which was very annoying. Instead, I thought up a little key contraption:

 I threaded my headphones through the top of the key and then kept it flat by wrapping a hair tie around the key and my shuffle. Brilliant, or so I thought. The key ended up flying out of the hair tie and bobbing around on my headphones after running for about 5 seconds. I ended up just wrapping the hair tie through the key and wearing it around my wrist. Not perfect, but it worked, maybe I'll buy myself a super cool Spi Belt (essentially a fanny pack for runners).

Before I left I set up a little fuel station in my living room:

A clemintine and water

My plan was to run a mile to the trail, run out 2.5 miles, run back 2.5 miles, and then run the 1 mile back from the trail. This would get me to 7 miles, and then I would stop for some water and a couple sections of clemintine. Then I planned to do a 2 mile loop around campus, stop for more water, and then finally do 2 more miles. I stuck to the original 7 mile plan, but I ended up doing the whole 4 miles at once. My legs felt really tired after my quick pit stop at home. After ~1.5 miles though my legs felt better and so I didn't want to stop for another break. After the 11 miles, I did a one mile cool down walk. Here are the splits with some notes:

Mile 1: 10:18 (waited at a light for a while, walked slowly down the steps leading from the bridge down to the trail)

Mile 2: 9:48 (on the trail, feeling great!)

Mile 3: 9:58 (on the trail)

Mile 4: 10:10 (around the 3/4 mile mark I was starting to feel a little tired, wishing water wasn't ~2 miles away)

Mile 5: 9:59 (feeling better, still on the trail)

Mile 6: 9:39 (back to the part of the trail I feel most familiar with, feeling great!) 

Mile 7: 10:26 (walked very slowly up the stairs leading from the trail to the bridge, got stuck at a light)

Water break with 2 sections of clemintine for some fuel. I probably should have had more but my stomach didn't like it. 

Mile 8: 9:50 (on campus, feeling a little icky)

Mile 9: 10:25 (on campus, legs feeling really weak, 2 hills)

Mile 10: 9:55 (feeling much, much better, ready to rock out these last 2 miles)

Mile 11: 9:21 (!!!!! I sprinted at the end pretending it was the end of the race)

Total run time: 1 hour, 49 minutes, 54 seconds!!!! 

Mile 12(.01): 17:18 (cool down)

Total time: 2:06:54

I definitely could have ran 2 more miles and completed a half! It was awesome! Maybe it was because of the weather, or that I ran over half on the trail (which I generally find slightly easier than on the road), or that I got a really good night's sleep, but whatever the reason I feel like I completely rocked those 11 miles!!!! 

As I was running, on this gorgeous day, I thought about Dad. Not only was it perfect running weather, but it was also perfect golf weather. And we all know Dad loved a good golf day :) 

Antigua, 2007

I see stretching and a nap in my future!

--Melissa 

Adventures in Puerto Rico

My calves have been really stiff since our 10 mile run on Saturday. I think because of all the rain it affected my stride and I was running slightly differently than usual. I also blame the stiffness on the fact that on Sunday Vic and I sat on a train home from NYC for hours. Usually the day after a long run I bike for a while to flush out my legs. But, NYC was fun, I got to meet Vic's friends from Puerto Rico (Hi Hilary!)

 Me and Vic in NYC

I'm now back at school and even though I was still stiff when I woke up this morning I wanted to get back into my routine and I went for an early morning run. It seemed especially early since I forgot to switch my Garmin on day light savings time! I took it nice and easy today doing my usual 5 mile route. When I got to the 5 mile turn around point, my watch said that it wasn't quite 5 miles yet and I ran a bit further. So either the past few weeks I was doing less than 5, or today I did more than 5. I am annoyed with my watch and I kind of wish I had splurged and got the more expensive Garmin which you don't need to calibrate, but I also don't really care about a tenth of mile. For the rest of training I'm just going to go by my watch, and if it's a little more or less...oh well! Today's splits:

Mile 1: 10:29

Mile 2: 10:38

Mile 3: 10:18

Mile 4: 10:14

Mile 5: 10:20

.87: 14:33 (cool down)

I'm going to do a lot of stretching later today (I didn't have time this morning because I had to get to class) so hopefully that will loosen me up a bit!

Anyway, a lot of people have been saying that we are crazy/nuts/other adjectives for doing this race. This got me thinking about other crazy things I've done. Last May, Mom, Dad and I went down to Puerto Rico to visit Vic. Dad wasn't feeling to great, but he still made an effort to have a great time and try new things. One in particular was when the 2 of us rented a jet ski and went out on the gorgeous ocean. I was scared out of my mind and screaming at him to slow down the entire time. But it was a ton of fun and something that I will never forget doing with Dad! 

Us in the pool, May 2009

Dad and Me, May 2009

--Melissa

Soapy Knees

We officially joined the double digits club!!!

For those of you not in the northeast, it is monsooning today. But, when you have a 10 mile run planned a little (or a lot) rain isn't going to stop you! It wasn't easy running with soaking wet clothes, but we did it! And we did it with a lot of laughs! Here are some of the funny highlights (some of which we're sure you had to be there for, but we'll share them anyway):

1. When we were getting our gear together for the run this morning Vic was filling up her water bottle. She filled it up a little too high and it spilled onto the floor, she said sarcastically "oh no, my shoe got wet". We were both hysterically laughing before we even left the house because we both knew we were going to be more than a little wet once we were at Kelly Drive. 

2. We decided to run out 3 miles and then back 3 miles to stop for water and an orange slice at the car and then out and back for 2 more miles for our total 10. At just about 3 miles we were getting excited for our first turn around, but little did we know that the running path was very, very close to the road at this part. We learned this the hard way when a car came speeding by us right through a gigantic puddle. A tidal wave of disgusting Philadelphia street water flew up and splattered ALL OVER us. If we had seen it happen to anyone else it would have been funny and we couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous we were for running through the torrential downpour.

3. After our water break, we were around mile 7 when Melissa glanced down and noticed something on her knees. She stopped running because she thought something was wrong with her, Vic stopped too. Then Melissa realized that it was SOAP! There must have been detergent still on her pants, and because of the rain her knees were actually bubbly with soap! We were cracking up as we started to run again.

 

4. There were geese everywhere on this run. Not gigantic geese like the one's Melissa saw on her run up at Lehigh, but they made up for it in quantity. On our water break one even went right up to Vic!

5. When we were at about mile 6.5 we saw some familiar faces! Two of the other TNT members were running in the opposite direction and yelled out to us "I guess we weren't the only crazy ones today!" Well, that or all 4 of us are crazy!    

6. At mile 8.5 we were pretty excited that we were nearing the end and we started to go a little crazy and we busted out some dance moves (believe us, they were awesome...nearly as awesome as our singing voices). Just then another runner going in the other direction passed us and laughed at us a little. Hey, it's not worth it if you're not having fun! :)

7. Also around mile 8.5 we were convinced that it had stopped raining. In reality it had just slowed a little bit, but by mile 9 it was a monsoon again. We thought it was pretty funny that we were convinced it had stopped.

Then before we knew it we were done 10 miles in 1 hour and 46ish minutes! Not too shabby considering we were literally soaking wet! Now we are off to take a little nap and then head up to New York City in this gorgeous weather :)

--Victoria and Melissa

High School

Today I headed out to the high school track again. I ran 1 mile and it was off by .01, then I ran a second mile to calibrate it again and it was off by .07. The first mile didn't bother me, being .01 off is not a huge deal, but .07 would definitely add up. I asked a woman who was walking around the track if she knew whether the track was 400 or 440 meters (sometimes tracks are 440 for some reason). She said she had no idea but she thought 400 and she asked why. I told her I was trying to calibrate my watch and that it was giving me the wrong distance. She said "oh well that's a good thing!" I thought to myself...yeah...if you hate accuracy?! Clearly this lady had no clue what she was talking about.

I decided to do another mile on the track even though I really did not want to run around in circles anymore. In the middle of my third mile, a gym class from the high school came outside. I have never seen girls more overdressed for gym class in my life. I am SO glad I'm not in high school anymore! It reminded me of the movie Mean Girls:

You would think people would learn after seeing Regina George get hit by a bus in the movie! Anyway I asked one of the gym teachers about the length of the track and he said he was almost positive it was 400. I calibrated my watch for miles 3, 4, and 5 and they were all off by .04-.07. Each of the 5 miles was also off in different directions. By this point I had ran 20 laps around the track and I was ready to go. So for future reference, I know that my watch will not be 100% accurate. I was more concerned with my pacing though because on Monday night's run, it was saying I was running 12 minute miles when I was obviously running faster than that. Today at least my pacing was more accurate (give or take about 15-45 seconds in either direction depending on the mile):

Mile 1: 9:45
Mile 2: 10:19
Mile 3: 9:03
Mile 4: 9:09
Mile 5: 9:19

While mile 3 seems fast for me for a 5 mile run, it is possible because for the first half of the last lap I picked up my speed and for the second half I all out sprinted. But since that lap was off by about .05 it's also possible that mile was more like 9:33...who knows! I really wanted to run a little on the streets because that's where my pacing was all screwed up the other night, but I figured 5 miles was enough for one day. So we'll have to see how the watch holds up on Saturday morning at Kelly Drive again when Vic and I take on TEN MILES! Then we are off to NYC for the weekend!

--Melissa

Too much technology

My Garmin has been giving me nothing but a headache! After Saturday's run I knew I had to recalibrate my watch. Last night, Vic and I headed to the high school track to do both our watches to make sure it was 100% accurate. However, it made my watch worse! After recalibrating, we hit the road for 4 more miles of running. I ran slightly further than Vic and it said that I was running a shorter distance (?!) it also said I was running a really, really slow pace. It was really frustrating! I called Garmin to see what's up today and the guy on the phone told me to try and manually calibrate my watch. It's based on a percentage and will take a lot of trial and error...ugh! But I'd rather it be accurate so tomorrow I'm going to head back to the track. I hope I don't feel too much like this:

Anyway, on a much brighter note the weather was so gorgeous last night that I got to run in my TNT training tee! It was so great running in short sleeves. The only problem was that I had no pockets for my iPod. So, today I went to the apple store and bought more technology! Hopefully this little guy won't give me any issues:

I love it already!

Today I went to the gym for a cross training workout. I planned on biking and strength training but my legs were feeling really tired and I decided to skip the biking. As I was leaving, I got a little freebie trial session on this new thing they have at the gym called a power plate.

At first glance I was skeptical, but since it was free (usually I think it costs like $30+) I decided to give it a shot. It's this vibrating plate thingy and you do regular moves on it. I started with squats, and for 30 seconds you do squats while the plate vibrates. The only difference between this and a regular squat (other than the vibrating) is that you lift your heels too. The power plate is used a lot for sports injuries...hello IT band! I told the demo guy about my injury and he had me do some hip moves next. Then just to check it out I did push ups and tricep dips on it. Oh my goodness...insane!

The whole shtick of the power plate is that it's supposed to give you a 2 hour work out in 30 minutes. I could definitely see how because it was really tough! Afterward, my hips felt SO loose! I don't think the guy was too psyched about giving a free session, otherwise I would have asked to stay on it longer!! It was awesome!

--Melissa

Impulse Shopping...

After a FABULOUS first run with my sister yesterday, I didn't think our running life could get more perfect.


Each week we're getting less and less sore after our increasing-mileage runs, and each week the thought of 13.1 miles (or 13.2 as Melissa recently pointed out  to me as the actual length of our course) is becoming less and less overwhelming.  We did NINE MILES YESTERDAY, made really good time, and had a blast doing it.  I'm so excited and proud of us for embarking on this journey!


So, as I was saying, I didn't think our running life could possibly get any better, until today's trip to - where else - Bryn Mawr Running Company.  If you haven't been there and you're a main liner/runner/running wanna-be, you absolutely must check it out.  After all of our raving about it, Melissa and I took Mom there today in search of new running shoes for her.  


Since I tend to be *slightly* impulsive in my shopping (I like to call it doing my part to support the economy), I said to Mom and Melissa when we walked in, that under no circumstances was I allowed to buy anything.  Shockingly enough, that didn't last very long, as Melissa pointed out that my running shoes - which I absolutely adore - are sold in HOT PINK!  Clearly I could not pass this opportunity up.  


So I'm now the proud owner of PINK Nike LunarGlide+, but I'm not sure if I'm going to save them for after the race, or start to break them in soon.  I'll have to make the judgement call in the next couple days - but now I'm just super excited.


Think Pink!
Victoria

PS - Mom also got new running shoes today so we at least accomplished that as well.

Nice, Easy Nine!

This morning Vic and I woke up at the crack of dawn to go down to Kelly Drive for my first ever Team in Training group run. I was nervous beforehand because would you believe I have NEVER run with people! Running has always been my solo thing, but as it turns out I absolutely loved running with the team and my sister today!! When we arrived at Kelly Drive it was pretty cold, but it was a gorgeous day and once we got moving it was the perfect day for a 9 mile run! Before we started Vic's TNT mentor showed me some new IT band stretches which I will definitely be doing again.

For the first 5 miles Vic and I ran with 3 other TNT team members and were rocking a nice steady pace. We were running behind the others and it was a really comfortable few miles. After the water station, Vic and I ended up in front and we were even faster! We ended up losing the other team members which was a shame but we were on a roll and nothing could stop us! As we were about to complete "the loop" at Kelly Drive, Vic and I doubled back for a 1/4 mile in order to hit the 9 mile mark for the day! We completed the 9 miles in 92 minutes and 45 seconds!

This morning when we started our run my watch was acting weird, and I kept gaining mileage compared to Vic's watch. When we finished mine said 9.52 and Vic's said 9 miles. It was so strange! And annoying! I'm going to recalibrate my watch on my next run, so hopefully that will fix it.

Anyway, as we were running I had a funny Daddy memory. When we were little we would occasionally go biking at Kelly Drive. One time, Dad loaded up the car with our bikes and we headed off to the Drive. When we got there and Dad took the bikes out, he found that all of the bike tires were flat! I forget what happened, but I think he ended up going home again to get an air pump or something and we still went on our family bike ride! Dad to the rescue :)

After toady's run I took a great nap, but I'm still pretty sleepy! I'm off to relax!

--Melissa

Hitting My Stride

So I rediscovered the joy of running last night.  We had a Team In Training special mid-week practice at Kelly Drive, so I left work early expecting a lot of traffic (as there usually is) on the Schuylkill Expressway.  Shockingly, I got there 30 minutes ahead of the team, so I decided to go for a solo run instead of waiting.  I ran five miles and my body was just humming.  I can remember just a few short weeks ago when I could barely run 5K!  I’m so excited that my body is finally succumbing to the torture I’ve been instilling on it, and accepting the fact that do or die, I’m going to finish this half marathon!  I so enjoyed running outside, and the path on Kelly Drive was very well lit, so I think I will continue to head out there at least once a week for my mid-week trainings.  It’s so much better than the treadmill!

Last night was also a special night at home because I got a message from one of Dad’s favorite nurses at Hahnemann (we love you Jami!)  It’s so nice to hear from others about the relationships they had with Dad, and to be able to maintain connections with those people who were such a big part of our lives in 2009. 

Perhaps the strangest part of this whole thing is that life does go on - whether you want it to or not.  I’m still faced with all of life’s mundane tasks like grocery shopping and getting gas in my car.  I still have to put one foot in front of the other everyday – whether it’s for the walk from my car to work – or to complete a slightly more daunting 13.1 miles.  Whatever it is, I know my Dad’s with me every step of the journey.

--Victoria

zzz

Just dropping in for a quick post. I had the worst night of sleep ever last night-- first I couldn't fall asleep and then I woke up just about every hour. Ugh! But when my alarm went off this morning I was ready to run! Since I was so tired I had a hard time moving fast, so I settled into a nice steady pace and ran the exact same route as Tuesday's run. Except I ran on the far side of the street for one block because of 2 scary dogs (I think they can smell my fear), so it was actually .02 miles longer than Tuesday :)

It was absolutely gorgeous out this morning. Fingers crossed that all this winter nonsense is finally over!!

Today's splits:

Mile 1: 9:59
Mile 2: 10:15
Mile 3: 10:07
Mile 4: 10:04
Mile 5: 10:12
.79: 13:12 (cool down)

It was a nice run, and now I'm officially on spring break! Woo! Tomorrow is a much needed rest day and then I'm off for my first team run on Saturday-- 9 miles!

--Melissa

Butt Kicking

This morning sort of felt like SPRING!!! I hopped out of bed this morning to go for an outdoor run.

 

I haven't been able to do an early morning outdoor run in a while because of all the snow we've gotten, but today there was not a flurry in sight and the roads were dry! I was really happy because I fully blame the treadmill for my sore IT band last week. (Maybe it really is the dreadmill!!) I'm still not feeling 100%, but it is definitely somewhat better. I knew that I didn't want to do my run on the treadmill though, so it was either outside or not at all.

Instead of treking down to the trail, I decided to just run on the roads. I really like running on the trail, but it's been pretty muddy and I also think it's good to change it up occasionally. In the interest of time, I skipped my warm up mile this morning. I figured one time skipping it wouldn't be a terrible thing. There is a little loop that I thought was 2.2 miles from my house and back--turns out I was right! So I did that loop, and then just randomly ran up and down the streets and eventually across the bridge to the north side. I hit 5 miles just I reached the end of the bridge and then I turned around and walked the .77 miles home.

It was a gorgeous morning and perfect for an early morning run! My splits weren't great for a short-ish run, but I tackled several hills! I had been trying to avoid hills but I know that the race won't be completely flat so it's good to incorporate them sometimes. Anyway, here are the splits:

Mile 1: 9:38
Mile 2: 9:51
Mile 3: 9:49
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 5: 10:08
.77: 12:55 (cool down)

Now my glutes are yelling at me. It could be from a number of things:
1) Sunday's 8 mile run
2) Falling down the stairs on Sunday night. :( Yup, on Sunday night my roommate was sitting downstairs watching TV and I ran to go tell her something. I was only wearing socks and I slipped on the stairs. I kind of flew over them and landed at the bottom.

 

Taken at the Vatican in Rome :)

3) Today's hills

One of these things totally kicked my butt!!

--Melissa

A List!

I had an utterly amazing run this morning at Valley Forge.  The ice patches were scarce - finally - and I ran with two teammates who really kept me going and motivated throughout the entire 7.84 miles!


I'm so excited to be able to say I've run (more than) half of a half marathon, and just felt like I could do anything after completing this morning's run.


Unfortunately, by 2 PM I really hit a wall.  I had a splitting headache and my whole body was/is achy all over.  


I've put together a list of my top 10 lessons learned and musings from today.


1.  Hydrate hydrate hydrate - before, during, and after
2.  Running with others is so motivating - my teammates and I kept one another going the few times we felt like quitting, and it was so nice to have others to help me keep my pace
3.  Running while it's snowing is not so bad - at least you don't overheat...and it's so pretty!
4.  Orange slices are a great mid-race snack - they really rejuvenated me for the 2nd half of the run.  I think I was smiling from miles 3.5-5 from ear to ear thanks to that little orange at the TnT water stop :)
5.  Stretch stretch stretch
6.  <3 my iPod
7.  I need to come up with a better, more specific meal plan for pre and post run
8.  There are seriously seven people in the world - I keep running into people that are somehow connected to Dad and our family.  It's unreal.
9.  I could never in a million years be doing this without Melissa's support (and nagging) for me to stick with the training plan - apparently doing 20 minutes of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred DVD doesn't count as half marathon training...

10.  My sister and I really are going to accomplish this goal of finishing our first half marathon!

Next week Melissa will be home for spring break - so we get to run together!  I am so excited to have my frister (friend + sister) back!

Till next time -

Victoria

Melissa-1, Weather-0

...for today at least! I feel like the weather has won a lot over the last few weeks but today I beat any imminent bad weather! Let's back up to the beginning of the weekend first...

I was feeling pretty discouraged on Friday when my IT band started acting up, but I decided to try and not let it get me down. In the afternoon my roommate was driving to the gym (I usually walk) and I decided to hitch a ride and do some strength training since I couldn't run. I pumped some serious iron and felt much better after!

Yesterday my legs felt better, but not perfect...so I decided to take one more rest day. I stretched a bit and decided it was a good thing I was taking a break because the pain was definitely less constant. Instead of working out, I watched a movie with my roommate. Guess what we watched?

you know you love it!!!!

Last night I checked the weather and it said it was supposed to snow today, and I came to terms with the fact that I would probably be running my 8 miles inside. However, when I woke up it didn't look bad out at all. I checked the weather again and it said it wasn't going to start snowing until 2 or 3pm (now it says it's not going to start until 7pm!). I decided that I would try and beat the snow. Just before I left Vic called and said that she had just gotten back from her run with TNT and she said she had done about 8 miles and that it had gone great! I was so unbelievably proud and I knew that if she could tackle 8 miles so could I, so off I went! 

It was a little bit "misty" out as I was doing my warm up mile, but I figured I'd suck it up for a little and by the time I started to run it was only partly cloudy and there was not a trace of rain or snow! I went down to the trail where I usually run, and it was incredibly snowy, icy and muddy all at the same time! I ran 4 miles there (2 miles out and 2 miles back) and I was going to do that one more time, but I was starting to get frustrated with slipping with every step and being ankle deep in snow at times. It also caused my time to be pretty slow, so I decided to get off the trail and hit the road. 

 

this is what I felt like!

I ended up finding a stretch that was about 1.3 miles up and back that was snow-less, so I ran that 3 (plus a tiny bit) times for a total of 8 miles. It was an extremely hard run because of the first 4 miles and in the last 4 miles I tackled some mini hills, but I feel so accomplished now! Here are my splits:

Mile 1: 15:50 (warm up)

Mile 2: 10:18

Mile 3: 10:45 (I was ankle deep in snow for part of this one, which definitely slowed me down)

Mile 4: 10:43 (see above)

Mile 5: 10:38

Mile 6: 10:27

Mile 7: 10:09 (check out these negative splits!)

Mile 8: 10:18 (IT band started to hurt a little, see below)

Mile 9: 9:45

Mile 10: 17:06 (cool down)

.18: 3:03 (cool down)

For a total of 10.18 miles in 1:59:06. The running took 1:23:47.

Throughout my run I kept "checking in" with my hips and IT band to make sure I wasn't over doing it. They weren't in pain, just felt a little bit weak (if that makes sense) for the majority of the run. Once I'd been running for 7 miles (8 with the warm up) my IT band was nagging me a little bit, but I figured it was just because I'd been running for an hour at this point and not because of anything serious. When I got home I stretched, and I'm icing my legs now so hopefully that will help! 

Not only was this run a little more physically challenging than usual (because of the first 4 miles through snow, and because of my hips/IT band) but it was also a mentally difficult one. I wasn't quite prepared to do an outdoor run today and didn't really give myself time to process that I was, in fact, doing a run outside today! When I was doing my pre-run stretch I was doing a calf stretch called the spider walk, where you lie on your back and I almost fell asleep again! Needless to say, I was kind of tired today and it caused me to almost quit running and walk a few times (but I didn't!!). As I was running if I started to think negative thoughts, I would say out loud "you can do it!". If anyone had been nearby, I probably sounded absolutely nuts, but it seriously helped! In my last mile I picked up my pace and I said out loud "come on!" several times, which helped me get a sub-10 min mile. These aren't my usual mantras (and I usually just pump myself up in my head) but they helped me get through a tough run today. 

I'm off to relax for the rest of the day and I'll probably stretch and ice a few more times. 

--Melissa

Frustrated

I am frustrated!

 

Why? Because my IT band is really bothering me! On Wednesday it was a little tight, but I went to my spinning class because I actually thought it would help to get my legs moving. On Thursday I woke up to go for my run, but I knew I was in too much pain to do it, so I decided to take a rest day and stretch a lot. I did all sorts of stretches, from calf strengthening to hip strengthening to your basic IT band stretch (stand with one foot over the other and push your hips to the side until you feel it in your outer torso, hip and upper thigh). I thought that would help but when I woke up this morning it was still just as sore! Argh! 

I had planned on doing my long run for the week today, but I think I need to wait. When I originally injured my IT band I ran through pain for at least a week (maybe even 2! So dumb!) and while it drives me crazy to take days off from training, I think it's what I need. I was going to do my 8 miles today and a shorter run on Sunday, instead I think I'll do the 8 miles on Sunday and cut the shorter run from my week. Hopefully my IT band is on board with this plan :-/ and hopefully I'll be posting on Sunday after a great, pain-free 8 miles!

--Melissa

Snurricane?!?!

Ok, so I know I promised to stop talking about this awful wintry weather...but there is going to be a snurricane this weekend! What is a snurricane you ask?? A snurricane (I just really like saying that word) is essentially a snow hurricane:"a storm that will deliver near hurricane-force wind gusts [with] blinding snow falling at the rate of over an inch per hour". Um...what?! I'm not usually one to freak out about the weather, but in this case I'm freaking! Not because I'm nervous about it (well maybe I am a little...hurricane force winds?!) but because I'm going to be stuck doing my runs inside! (Mom, try not to panic!)

This morning I woke up to rain. I thought about doing my 5 miles outside, but decided to stick to the treadmill since at 6:30 am I was still half asleep and didn't want to have to worry about deciding where to run or pacing myself. I trekked to the gym in the rain and was kind of beating myself up for ditching my outdoor run (I couldn't just switch to an outdoor run because I didn't have the proper gear on) but then it started sleeting and it hurt! So I made a good call on the gym this morning! I changed up my speed pretty frequently and I wasn't wearing my Garmin, so I'm not sure what my splits were exactly. I had the treadmill on a slight incline and ran 5.25 miles in 49:37, then I walked for the last 10+ minutes for a total of 6 miles. Not too shabby before 8 am!

If the weather is as bad as they say it's going to be it looks like I'll be inside for the rest of the week :(

I'll leave you with this little cartoon that I thought was funny:

Come on Spring!!!

--Melissa

Running Music

Today my training schedule had a 3-4 mile run. When I woke up I really didn't feel like going for a run. My legs were still kind of sore from my long run on Friday, and I was tired. I think that there are definitely times when you need to listen to your body and take a break. However, today was not that day! I was just feeling kind of lazy and I knew once I was out running I would feel better. I laced up my (still muddy) sneakers and headed out. I went back to the trail because I like running there but it was still pretty gross. Today's splits:

Mile 1: 16:01 (warm up)
Mile 2: 10:09 (.1 was still walking)
Mile 3: 9:18
Mile 4: 9:27
Mile 5: 9:08
Mile 6: 16:44 (cool down, .1 was still running)
.19: 3:18 (cool down)

The trail was snowy/icy where I usually start running so I walked through this part and then ran a little extra at the end. At about 2 and half miles I was running over what I thought was a snowy patch, but it turned out it was ice and I twisted my ankle a little. I kept running, but was freaking out because I was worried that I really hurt myself. After a minute though I felt fine. Phew!

When I hit 3 miles running I was about ready to quit. I was near the start of the trail (I was planning on doubling back for a half mile to finish the 4 mile run), and I was just ready to be done. Right when I was about to call it quits, the next song on my iPod came on. It was Rock & Roll by Eric Hutchinson. Now this song would probably pump anyone up, it's got a good beat and is just fun! But this song is extra motivational for me because Daddy loved it! He is actually the one who introduced it to me, which is rare in our house where I do most of the music recommendations. So instead of stopping I picked up my pace and finished those 4 miles! I love that just thinking about Dad can motivate me so much!

Here are a few more of my current favorite songs for running (in no particular order):
Everything's Magic- Angels and Airwaves
Hologram- Katie Herzig
How Fast- Rocco DeLuca (it's only about 2 minutes long, and one of lyrics is "how fast can you run"...so appropriate!)
Bulletproof- La Roux
Stripper- Soho Dolls
3- Britney Spears
Bad Romance- Lady GaGa
You Make My Dreams- Hall & Oates
Believe- The Bravery

Some of those are not songs I would usually admit to having on my iPod haha. But, they pump me up and are great for running! My cousin Jon sent me a mix recently (thanks Jon!) and I can't wait to add that music to my running mix too!

--Melissa

The Muddiest 7 Miles

Hi! Sorry I've been MIA but it was just one of those crazy weeks where you barely have time to sleep...let alone blog about your half marathon training! To quickly recap, I did a shorty run on Sunday outside because we were supposed to get more snow and I was worried that I would never get to run outside again! I did a treadmill run on Tuesday because it was just looking a little too slippery out even though it only flurried here.

Vic wrote about how she conquered her fears last week, and today I conquered one of mine! For some reason, I was SO nervous about today's run. TNT's schedule said 7 miles, and even though I've run that on the treadmill many times, I was shakin' in my Nike's thinking about doing it outside. I think I was nervous because I had done my past few long runs inside and this run would be much further than any run I'd ever done outside before. I could have chickened out and done this run inside because it's still pretty snowy on the ground around here, but I know that if I want to tackle the half marathon in a few short months, then I need to do more runs outside.

Dad was always up for challenges. We were so proud of him with his awesome new office building. Now I'm pretty sure Dad wasn't "afraid" of this, but it was still something he went into head on and accomplished. I plan on taking this attitude for completing the half marathon, and for many other aspects of my life.

 Dad in front of his office as it was being built, January, 2008

Anyway, the weather was gorgeous today, and before I left I even decided to ditch a layer of clothing. I walked down to the trail by the river, but when I got to the path that leads to the trail it was completely covered in snow! I decided to trek down a little further to where the actual trail is and saw that there were some snowy patches, but it looked okay. Well, I was wrong! On the spots where it was snowy it was really difficult to run because it was kind of slippery (not dangerous slippery, but annoying slippery). On the spots where it wasn't snowy it was SO muddy. I was ankle deep in mud and it was really tough to run on it! My beautiful white sneakers are now a lovely shade of dirt! :(

I decided to suck it up though and kept running. However, at about mile 1.25, the trail stopped and it was all snow. It was at this point that I also saw 2 of the biggest geese I have ever seen in my life. Seriously, they were huge. Anyway, I turned around and continued on the slippery/muddy path. When I got to my starting point I thought about hitting the streets, but decided to keep going on the trail (it goes for about a half mile in the other direction too) and then I did the whole trail again plus a little more to get to a total of 7 miles. I have no clue why I decided to stay on the path instead of going on the streets! Oh well.

Before my run I thought about possibly walking for some of it, but once I was going I was in the zone and I didn't stop once. When my Garmin finally said 8 miles (1 mile warm up plus the 7 running) my legs slowed to a walk and they felt like they weren't even attached to my body! It was so crazy, but it made me glad that I didn't stop to walk because I'm not sure I would have been able to start running again (after walking for about a half mile my legs felt normal again though).

Because of the conditions of the path, my pace was significantly slower than normal. In a way, this is a good thing, I've been trying to get better at pacing myself instead of going all out and not being able to finish the half. I would love to say that I could finish the half at my fastest pace, but I'm just not sure that's realistic, so my main focus is just finishing it! Here are today's splits:

Mile 1: 15:15 (warm up)
Mile 2: 10:12
Mile 3: 10:28
Mile 4: 9:59
Mile 5: 10:04
Mile 6: 10:19
Mile 7: 10:16
Mile 8: 10:02
Mile 9: 16:48 (cool down)
.11: 1:49 (cool down)
The 7 miles of running took 1 hour 11 minutes and 23 seconds with a total of 9.11 miles in 1 hour 45 minutes and 15 seconds.

I hope the next time I head down to the path it's less muddy, otherwise I'll have to find somewhere new to run! I'm off to stretch!

--Melissa

ICE ICE BABY

This morning I got to go ice skating - oops I mean running - with the Philly summer team for Team In Training at Kelly Drive.  Needless to say, it was a bit slippery out there!  


We started the session off with an inspirational story of a Leukemia survivor, some tips from our coaches on pacing for a longer run (you should be able to hold a conversation), and most importantly - how to run through the slippery and icy conditions we were about to face.


The coaches told us to look a few feet out in front of you for any icy, or black ice patches, and walk where necessary.  We were also warned of an unplowed section of the path around mile 1.


Running through the parking lot to get to the trail (about .2 miles) was just fine and completely clear, but by the time we made it onto the path I was already walking - or shuffling along.  It was very icy and I was extremely nervous about falling.  


After another .2 miles, I realized I was getting no where fast, and decided to face my fear and start a light jog.  There were points where I had to walk, and I definitely was slipping a bunch, but fortunately there were no season-ending catastrophes.


Around mile 1.4, I reached the unplowed section.  At this point I had caught up with a group of runners from another TnT team, and we were running/walking/stopping single file in a one foot wide section of packed down snow.  After about .4 miles of that, we saw a plow at the end of the path ready to start cleaning the area up after we passed by!


I literally had to climb over the plow, hanging on to the tires and all, to get to the next icy section of the trail.  This portion is where I really hit my stride, I wasn't even noticing how cold it was out!  


At this point, a crazy fast runner sped by me, which really inspired me, and started me thinking about what else inspires me and keeps me going in the face of my fears.


My Mom was at the top of my list.  In the face of our family's biggest fear - losing Dad - Mom is setting such a great example for Melissa and me.  She's successful and motivated when it comes to work, getting things organized at home, and hitting the gym regularly.  She was quite a champ shoveling our massive driveway through the blizzards this week too! (She and I did a WAY better job than the city folks over on East River Drive...)


Melissa as well is such an inspiration to me.  She's kicking butt in her last semester of school, working 30+ hours a week, and would most likely be lapping me at the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon if we hadn't committed to racing together!


Of course, Daddy is our number one inspiration for racing this half marathon.  He taught us how to seize life and make the most out of any situation.  In the midst of his cancer treatments, he could be found working hard, and playing hard.  He even had a Hole In One last summer - in between chemotherapy sessions.  He never acted scared in front of us, and always seemed to just roll with the punches.  Daddy was fearless.


By the time I got to the halfway point - around mile 2.6, I had harnessed that fearlessness of Dad's. I was truly invigorated and very proud of myself for making it to the halfway point.  I trudged back through the snow and ice and finished the 5.3 mile loop in a little over an hour.  I know that time isn't anything to write home about, but given the conditions I was still quite pleased!


What today's run taught me, along with my experiences grieving over the past weeks, is that sometimes you have no choice but to face your fears head on.  You might slip every once in a while, and you may even fall.  But that's okay!  I'm fortunate to have a support system of my entire extended family, my Team in Training team, and my friends to help pick me up those times that I do fall.  


Thanks for helping me conquer my fears!
Victoria

Half of a half!

Yesterday Mommom sent me this picture of her, Grandpop Victor, Aunt Joyce, Aunt Helene, and Daddy. I don't know that I've ever seen a picture of the 5 of them, so it was pretty special!

 

Anyway, last night I was thinking about my workout schedule for the weekend, and realized that it made much more sense to do my long run today rather than tomorrow. My legs felt really fresh from taking 2 days of rest and it would be silly to waste that! I also figured that all this snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so regardless of whether I did my run today or tomorrow it was going to be inside. So I ended up doing my long run today, I'll do a light bike ride tomorrow with some strength training, and maybe I'll run a few miles on Sunday. Even though that wasn't my original plan, sometimes you just have to be flexible!

On my own training plan I had 5 miles scheduled, TNT's plan had 5-6 scheduled. I decided to shoot for 6 because I was doing my run on the treadmill. But I ended up running 6.5 and then walking to cool down a little for a total of 7 miles! I was worried that I would get bored, so I decided to do intervals and I played around with the incline. Splits: 

0-.5 5:00 1.0 incline 

.5-1 4:17 1.0 incline 

1-1.5 5:00 1.5 incline 

1.5-2 4:17 1.5 incline 

2-2.5 5:00 2.0 incline 

2.5-3 4:17 2.0 incline 

3.-3.5 5:00 2.0 incline 

3.5-4 4:17 2.0 incline 

4-4.5 5:00 1.5 incline 

4.5-5 4:17 1.5 incline 

5-5.25 2:30 1.0 incline 

5.25-5.5 2:09 1.0 incline 

5.5-5.75 2:30 1.0 incline 

5.75-6 2:09 1.0 incline 

6-6.5 5:00 .5 incline

Running total time: 60:38 

6.5-7 7:22 (cooldown) 0 incline

7 miles in 68 minutes 

Phew! It was tough! I was a sweaty mess afterward. But it was half of a half marathon! So I just have to double that and I'll be ready for race day! I have a very fun weekend planned, hope you all have a good one too!

--Melissa

Planning

I made a mental note to stop talking about snow on here, because I've written about it so many times. But after yesterday's insane snow storm, I feel like I can't just ignore it! I woke up yesterday to a sea of white. I knew that getting to the gym was out of the question so yesterday quickly became my rest day. I was kind of glad because even though I love waking up and hitting the gym, I could tell my legs needed a rest. The gym ended up being closed an hour or 2 later, so I definitely made a good call on that one. There was so much snow, around the corner from our house someone built a GIANT snowman:

Hard to see, but that's me standing next to it!

Today I had a 2 mile run scheduled. Obviously running outside wasn't going to happen. The gym also didn't open until 8am, but since I have class at 9 I knew that wouldn't be enough time to get there and back and shower, etc. So I decided just to nix my workout for the day.

At first, I was pretty bummed about this. I rarely take 2 days off in a week, but I've realized that you have to be flexible or else you are going to drive yourself crazy! I love to plan...whether it be my workout schedule, class schedule, a to do list or a shopping list. I live by my planner and write everything down. However, every once in a while things are beyond your control and they don't go according to plan and you just have to LET IT GO! I just adjusted my plan for the weekend instead of worrying. Instead of Friday rest, Saturday run, Sunday cross train. I'm going to do Friday spinning, Saturday run, Sunday cross train. I think my legs got plenty of rest these last 2 days and that I'll be fine. Of course if my legs tell me otherwise I'll just re-plan!

We also got an email from our Team in Training coach saying to be safe, and not to overcompensate for miles missed this week. It is much better to miss 1 or 2 workouts than to over train and end up getting injured and missing weeks of workouts.

I ended up kind of getting in a workout anyway today when I dug out my car! Woo! My arm muscles are screaming now!

Let's hope all this snow melts quickly and I can start talking about spring!

--Melissa

Snow Memories

Due to the weather, I thought I'd start today's post with some snowy daddy memories. I have several, but I'll just tell a few stories. Here we go!

1. I remember one snow day we were sledding on a hill up the street from our house. There were 2 hills, one was much smaller than the other and I was perfectly content sledding down that hill over and over again. Dad, of course, was trying to convince me to go down the much bigger and scarier hill. I, of course, refused. Just before we were about to go inside, Dad somehow convinced me to conquer that giant hill. I ended up with my head in a huge pile of snow! ;)

2. One birthday when I was little (I think it was my 5th birthday), there was a huge snow storm. Our power went out late at night and our alarm was going crazy! Mom, Vic and I were all huddled under a blanket. Soon, it was Dad to the rescue! He got home from work (you know him...always working late) and took us to the Four Seasons hotel. In the morning there was a candle in my pancake! 

3. This one isn't so much a story, but Dad LOVED a good snow day. He was just like a kid-- excited to go play in the snow!

I can't say that I share Dad's enthusiasm with the snow. Sure it's fun for about 5 seconds, but after the initial thrill wears off I'm ready for the snow to be gone!

 

Last night as I was walking back from my night class, which by the way is approximately a 47 second walk away from my house, I realized just how COLD it was! I checked the weather when I got home (47 seconds later) and it said that the "feels like" temperature for the morning was 5 degrees! No way was I running in that! The sidewalks were still a bit icy in spots too, so I figured it would be safer to run on the treadmill. Our training plan for the day said 2 miles, TNT's training plan said 4. Since this was an inside run, I decided to go for the 4 miles and run at 1.0 incline. Here are today's splits (by the way, I made a mistake when typing up Sunday's splits and they are fixed now):

Mile 1: 9:49

Mile 2: 9:40

Mile 3: 9:31

Mile 4: 9:13

Mile 4-4.5: 10:00

Then I cooled down with a .5 mile walk.

After my run, I bundled back up and started to walk home. I was pretty bummed that I had decided to run inside because it was really sunny and a lot of the snow had melted! With all the snow that we are about to get I'll probably have to do Thursday's run inside too. Oh well, hopefully this weekend's run will be outside! 

--Melissa

Train Endure Achieve Matter

This week, as Melissa mentioned, we had our Kick-Off Party for Team In Training at The Great American Pub in Conshohocken.  While the event itself was underwhelming - it was mostly focused on fundraising and meeting teammates and coaches - it was very nice to see my sister, and we did get some cool paraphernalia including:


-  A Team In Training Bag
-  A Team In Training Training Shirt
-  A Team In Training Bracelet


I've added the bracelet to my wardrobe to go along with my other anti-cancer (is there such a thing as pro-cancer???)  jewelry:

Cancer Sucks Bracelet made by the Hahnemann Nurses for Dad (with a "P" for Phillies!)

TnT Bracelet

Whenever I'm feeling down I can just look down at my wrist to remind me of why I'm training so hard, and they also serve as a constant memory of Dad.


Today I ran another long run, this time on my own, and sadly in the gym because of the foot and a half of snow on the ground.  Our Team In Training run at Kelly Drive was canceled due to the weather - which was a bit of surprise because they claimed to never ever cancel a practice no matter what!  Anyway, it was nice to be able to sleep in.  Unfortunately I forgot my iPod - but that's a much better mistake to make on week 4 of training than to make further down the line when we're running for hours at a time!


Hopefully next week we'll get a warmer, outdoor run with the team.
--Victoria

Ready for Spring

So I'm going to pass on the recap of the kick off because it was just okay and I have other things I want to write about today! Here's the one picture that I took at the kick off though (so much for needing to charge my battery!):

 

the sign out front...very exciting I know...

Anyway, as I'm sure you all know it SNOWED this weekend! Danielle (my roommate) and I went on a little snow adventure on Saturday. It was nice to walk around campus and have a sort of "active" rest day. We took lots of pictures! Here are a few highlights:

 

the church

 

red!

 

Alumni Memorial Building

 

we built a snowman!

 

Snow buddies!

 

Now that our snow adventure is out of my system I am SO ready for spring! Last night I was debating about whether or not to do my run outside. I finally decided that it was better to put safety first and avoid the icy roads/paths and I did today's run on the treadmill. The plan that Vic and I designed for ourselves called for 4 miles today. The Team in Training plan that we got at the kick off called for 3-5. Since I was doing my run on the treadmill I felt like I was cheating just a bit and since technically the TNT plan said it was okay, I decided to run 5 miles today. I walked to the gym which is probably a little more than half a mile and I called that my warm up. Then I hopped on the treadmill, I put it at a 1.0 incline to simulate running on a road a bit more than running without an incline--the splits:

Mile 1: 10:00

Mile 2: 9:49

Mile 3: 9:40

Mile 4: 9:31

Mile 4-4.5: 9:22
Mile 4.5-5: 9:13

Those 5 miles took a little more than 48 minutes, and then I walked to finish off the hour for a grand total of 5.78 miles for the day.

It's definitely easier to get negative splits when you don't have to pace yourself! As I mentioned in my first post, I used to love, love, love running on the treadmill. I kind of see everyone's point now about how much better running is outside. At about mile 1.25 I was bored already and I wished I could have been outside. However, by the end I was in a groove and didn't mind it so much. Running on the treadmill is physically easier (in my opinion) than running outside. I hope that all this snow melts quickly so I can be back to running outside later this week! 

--Melissa