Whole Life Challenge

Yes it's been too long since I've blogged anything.  I haven't been very motivated to run and feel like I can't blog if I haven't been running.  It's not like I've been lying around on the sofa, eating bon bons.  I have been going to crossfit 2-3 times a week.  I've also been hitting the treadmill all of the other days.  But I am not signed up for any races.  I felt like when I run races, I have to train and I don't have the time to train while doing crossfit.  So I decided to take a year without signing up for any races, and run just for enjoyment.  That was good in theory, but with the heat, I have found no enjoyment.  So I've been just walking on the treadmill.  It's not the end of the world, but I know it's done a number on my endurance to have taken off so much time from running.  Wednesday I did my first run on the streets in months.  I only went 3.5 miles and I felt like it was the worst run of my life.  I'm used to going out for a run, and running the whole time.  I am not super fast, but I never feel the need to walk.  Well Wednesday, I walked...often.  I felt like a failure.  But the weird this is, when I was done, my time wasn't all that awful.  It just reminds me that I need to be consistent.

This week the Whole Life Challenge that I'm doing through crossfit has challenged each of us to take 10 minutes every day to contemplate. Whether it's through meditation, journaling or whatever it's about being mindful.  So I've decided to blog this week.  It may not be about running, but it will be my thoughts about the day.  It's funny because I thought my thoughts were going to go in a completely different direction today, but once I started typing here I am.

It's been one week since the WLC started.  I didn't think I'd be able to do the diet portion of the challenge.  But I've surprised myself and have been fine with the diet.  I have only lost one point and it was a conscience decision.  I had a tri tip that I'd marinated before the challenge.  I didn't want to waste it, so I ate it and subtracted the point for the marinade.  It's definitely interesting to stop and think about how all foods are prepared.  I'm learning a lot and am glad I signed up for the challenge.

Crossfit Family

Today was my son's fourth crossfit class.  It's official that he can now beat me at most any WOD.  I knew the day would come quickly, but I thought I'd get at least two weeks on him.  This was his second time beating me, so I guess he's got me.  That doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying though!

Today we did:   dumbbell thrusters (men 35#, women 20#)
                          box jumps (men 24", women 20")
                          ab mat sit ups
21-15-9

He finished in 5:30, I finished in 6:33.  Not bad for me and really good for him.  His water polo coach was there too so I'm sure that was a good incentive for him to go faster.  Chris finished in some crazy fast time, oh yeah 4:57.  So he pushed Stephen and Stephen pushed me.  I guess that's the way it's supposed to work.

I have to say I'm loving going with my son.  It gives us something to talk about as well as things to work on together.  I hope soon hubby will join us.

Top Ten Running Songs

Here's my top ten on my running playlist.  I need new ideas...

#1- Sweet Caroline by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
#2- I Want You To by Weezer
#3- The Rock Show by Blink 182
#4- Young Blood by The Naked and Famous
#5- Jolene by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
#6- Bleed American by Jimmy Eat World
#7- Hey Ya! by OutKast
#8- Jump by FloRida
#9- Young, Wild & Free by Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
#10- Untouched by The Veronicas

I'd love to see some other top 10 lists.  I know some people don't listen to music or listen to podcasts.  I need my music loud and fast.

Top Ten Reasons I Run

#1 - I started to run because I hated it so much.  Weird I know.  But I was doing Crossfit and all of the WOD's involving runs always made me so mad.  So I took a year off and learned to run.  And I fell in love with it!

#2 - No excuses- Six months before I really decided to become a runner we were in Hawaii.  I didn't want to lose my fitness, so I made a conscious decision to run every day before the family woke up.  I ate & drank a ton while I was there and only gained one pound.  You can run anywhere, anytime!

#3 - Friends- I have met some great people through running.  Some on social networks that I've never met in person, some I've met or become closer to from running.

#4 - Food- I love food and have never been able to eat like good girls are supposed to eat. I eat a lot.  I try to make good food choices, but running lets me eat those extra calories without too much guilt.

#5 - Tech Tops- I've gotten some fun new tops at races along the way.  I love the conversations that start when I wear one of my tops out in public.

#6 - Shock Factor- I love that look when someone asks how far I went and I either say, "10 miles today" or "it was just a short 6 today".

#7 - Pride- I am so proud of myself when I look at how far I've come after only having been running for 13 months.  3 miles used to seem like such an accomplishment.  Now I would only run that distance if it was for a race.  Not because I HAVE to, but because I CAN.

#8 - Bling- I'm not one that picks races for the bling.  But I do have all of my medals on display in my closet.  Every day when I get dressed, I look at those medals and think about how far I've come.

#9 - Gear- I'm a technology junkie, so any excuse to buy something new to help me become a better runner, I'm there.  I love hitting my mileage limit and getting to go buy a new pair of shoes.  I love trying new ways to fuel.  I love it all!

#10 - Solitude- After about 6 months of running, I thought I should find a running group.  I wasn't able to find one in our area that ran at the times I wanted to run.  I did find time to go out on runs on several occasions with other runner friends.  And you know what I found, I prefer to run alone.  I love my friends, and even my hubby, but when I run I like to be alone.  I like to crank up my music and zone out.  I don't want to worry about talking to someone or pacing them.  I just want to run and let my thoughts wonder.

Surf City Recap

I waited a bit to do my recap because I've had many different thoughts on this race.  Overall I have to say it was terrific!  The entire weekend was a lot of fun and the race was flawless.  We stayed at the Huntington Hyatt so that we'd be able to walk to the start without worrying about parking.  We went down on Friday and had dinner with friends at Captain Jack's in Sunset Beach.  It's one of our favorite places to eat when we're down there.

Saturday, we hit the expo early so that we could avoid the crowds.  It was a beautiful day and I think if we'd gone much later it could've gotten hot in the tents.  It was organized and had lots of great vendors.  That evening we had a large group for dinner and carbo loading at Mamma D's in Newport Beach.  Another fabulous meal with outstanding service.

Woke up at 5:50 on Sunday, ready to run!  We walked over to our friends trailer and toasted my bagel and enjoyed a cup of coffee.  Around 7:00, my twitter friend @CarrieSinCa stopped by to introduce herself.  My friends (that don't do The Twitter) thought I was insane to invite someone I've never met over.  One friend (who shall remain nameless) even wanted to know what her half PR was because she didn't want to feel intimidated by someone super fast coming by!  Runners are funny!  Anyway, it was great to meet her and my friends all thought she was awesome for stopping by to say hi!

Finally it was time to line up.  It was an amazing day and the race started on time.  I felt great most of the race.  The inclines didn't bother me at all.  I didn't like the downhill more than the uphill.  That was the only time my knee gave me any trouble.  But as soon as we flattened out, I was feeling good again.

I keep my playlist on shuffle so that I'm always surprised on my runs.  This was the first time I've ever encountered ALL of my old songs coming up.  I didn't have one new song and it was bumming me out. So I started double clicking my headphones to fast forward songs I didn't like around mile 5.  At mile 8 I realized I wasn't hearing my splits.  I pulled out my phone to find out my runmeter had turned off just past mile 6!  I was so bummed that I wouldn't have an accurate time.  But I just turned it on and kept going.

When I past the finish line the clock read 2:07.  I was bummed because I thought we'd started about 4 minutes in.  All of my splits seemed to be on track for a sub 2 run so I walked through the finish a little dejected.  I didn't see anyone I knew, so I decided to head back to the trailer, where we'd agreed to meet.  I ran into my hubby and our buddy who'd been taking pictures of us along the route.  They told me our wave didn't start until nearly 8 minutes and that I'd definitely finished sub 2.  That brought my spirits up! Soon after Sarah showed up and a few minutes behind her was Lisa.  They both had great runs as well!

Lisa said that this race always posts results same day.  So around noon I checked out the results page. It had my 3 mile split and my 8 mile split but didn't show a finish time.  Lisa and Sarah both had times posted and were very happy with their results!  I finally went by the tent and asked about my results.  I was told that meant I didn't finish.  I assured him that I did finish and had a good time (for me!).  He said that once my splits were confirmed that the back up system was in place and my time would be posted.  He said it would be up by 3PM that day.  It wasn't.  So I waited until Tuesday and then I filed a form with them requesting that they look into my results.  By Thursday I had an official race time!  I was so happy to have an official time.  But it seemed a little generous.  My official time was 1:55:02.  That seems a little fast.  After using what I had from runmeter and looking at my start and finish time, I'd estimated I was somewhere between 1:57-1:59.  Now most people don't complain about a faster time than they'd figured, but since it now is a new PR I want it to be accurate.  At this point I'm sticking with the time and knowing that if I want another PR, then I'll just have to run faster!

So overall, I really  have no complaints about this race.  Everything about it ran smoothly and we had a fabulous weekend with friends to boot.  I will definitely do it again!  Oh and my hubby did a great job taking pictures for us!!

Training high school athletes

Today I'm going to post about someone other than myself.  My post today is about my 16 year old son, who is a junior in high school.  He's always been involved in competitive sports, and we've always kept a very rigorous schedule with those sports.  I'm just wondering if there is a line and how you go about coming back from it with the pressures of getting into college right around the corner.

Here's the lowdown:  He had played competitive ice hockey for 8 years before entering high school.  Upon entering high school, he decided to try water polo.  He knew if he stuck with hockey, he'd have to go to boarding school on the East coast and he didn't want to do that.  So he started a sport he'd never played in his life going up against boys who'd played for years.  He made the Freshman team and enjoyed the lower key schedule.  By the end of the season, he was being pulled up for some JV games.  At this point, he felt like he'd made the best decision ever.  He loved having teammates nearby and loved being home for dinner.  Along with water polo in the fall came the requirement to swim in spring.  Again he'd never swam competitively but he was willing to try.  He wasn't the fastest but found he had stamina, so he swam the 500m.  He was also warned that to advance, he needed to join the local club water polo team.  Being new to club he was on the B team, so the schedule was still fine.

The following year, he made Varsity!  He wasn't a starter, but played in every game including the CIF finals.  On varsity thought the schedule got pretty tough.  He was also on the A team for club, which included 3x/week practices from 6:30-9:00 after having swam from 3-5.  Plus they did weight training 3 mornings a week before school.  He barely made it through.  We allowed him to skip a club practice if he had a lot of homework and somehow he did it.

Now it's his junior year and we're back in the time of year that is overwhelming.  Add to that, we had him go out for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) team and he made it!  It's such a great accomplishment but one that adds all day practices a couple of weekends a month.  His club team is now practicing 3x/week from 6-9 with no excuses for homework.  His schedule right now looks like this:

Mon: AM weights 6:20-7:20
          PM swim 3:00-5:00
Tues:  PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit workout 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Wed:  PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit workout 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Thurs: PM swim 3:00-4:00
           Club crossfit 6:00-7:00
           Club pool training 7:00-9:00
Fri:      PM swim 3:00-5:00

Plus tournaments for club, swim meets for swim and ODP weekend training.  Although right now it's pre-season for swim.  When the season begins he may not get some of the breaks he's getting right now from training.  My question is this, is this normal?  In my opinion there are some really great things he's gained from working this hard, but I've also seen a lot of kids burn out.  So I'd love to hear what you think and if it's too much, where do you cut back?

RnRLV-The infamous Las Vegas Half Marathon

This was to be my second half marathon and the first one I was to run with Nikki my 14 year old daughter.  She had run a 10k with me a few weeks before and struggled a little so I was just a bit concerned about her making the whole 13.1 miles.  I told her we'd just incorporate a few set walking breaks into our run. (I HATE to walk in my runs, but knew that it would probably help her get through it.)

So we went up Saturday and headed straight to the Expo.  It was too crazy to even find parking, so my husband dropped my daughter and I off and took off to find somewhere to wait.  We made our way through the expo and had a good experience.  No complaints there, we even easily changed our coral.  He didn't feel safe in the car though and wasn't happy to be left waiting for so long.

That night we had  a good pasta dinner with a group of friends that were running as well.  No drinking, and early to bed.  Next morning we headed out for pancakes and eggs.  Being a later race, we figured a good, big breakfast would be the right thing to do.  One pancake (big) and two scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee.  For my last meal, I just grabbed a wrap at Starbucks at the Mandalay Bay.  It was nice and light.

We said goodbye to Sarah when she headed out for the full!  Waited around until it was time for us to head out and find our coral.  We lined up, excited and ready to run.

Me, Lisa and Nikki!

The energy at the starting line was great!  It was cold, but not unbearable.  We were ready to get started though.

Finally we moved along and were released to start!  It was so exciting.  But that was the end of the excitement.  I felt just like cattle.  It was 4-5 miles before we were moving at even close to a 10 minute mile. (Generally I run about 8:45, but with my daughter was aiming for 9:30.)  So we were way behind target pace.  But the problem was trying to get around people.  It was dangerous.  We were weaving, running on the back side of water tables (thankfully not drinking from them!) and kept losing each other. Around mile 8 we saw a lady fall.  It was my biggest fear.  She got tripped up from another runner and landed on her hands and knees.  Luckily she was running with a guy who scooped her up and got her to the side.  I felt so bad for her, it had to have hurt!  But we kept running.  

Since we were so far behind our pace, we decided to skip the walking breaks I'd planned.  Between mile 8 and 9 I told my daughter I wanted her to eat some fuel and get some water.  So we each had a Stinger Waffle and grabbed a water at the water station.  It had finally thinned a little bit, but we were still having to jump into the full marathoners lane to pass people.  I couldn't believe it wasn't going to ever break free!  Around mile 12 was when my daughter spotted the naked runner!  

No that's just Nikki at the Expo!

We even found out later that my husband had given the naked guy a high five!  He said he was looking for us and giving people high fives and didn't realize he was naked until the last minute!  Only in Vegas!

I'm not sure where she found it, but the last three miles Nikki found a burst of energy.  I was surprised at how fast she was going, but wasn't going to be one to slow her down.  We crossed the finish line and came to a complete grid lock.  It was a mass of people that wasn't moving.  I knew we were going to start cooling off fast and I wanted to get her inside as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately there wasn't a quick way to move.  We had to just shuffle along with everyone else.  After about 20 minutes, we finally made it to get a "blanket".  It was definitely a matter of luck to grab the ones being thrown through the air.  But thankfully we each got one and were able to keep moving.  We took a short cut through the gates and headed into the hotel.  At this point, both of our stomachs started to hurt.  Nikki tried to go into a bathroom but the line was long.  The lady in front of her told her, "The line isn't moving because everyone is pooping."  She decided she couldn't stay there.   We decided to try to make it back to New York New York, where we were staying.  We walked to Luxor and tried to catch the tram there thinking it'd be faster.  It was outside though, so it was FREEZING.  When the tram pulled up, it was jam packed.  Bill told Nikki and I to just squeeze in and he'd walk back.  We did. And then two others tried to as well.  That pushed a lot of people over the edge since the doors wouldn't close.  People were freezing and wanting to move.  

We made it back to the hotel. Nikki went to the bathroom.  We found our other two kids and headed to the car.  As soon as I got to the car, I knew something was wrong with my stomach.  I've run plenty of runs at that length, so I knew it wasn't that.  I had been a little queasy all day and figured maybe I'd picked something up.  But Nikki was feeling really sick too.  I still just figured it was a bug or something.  Of course later after reading all of the posts, I realized it may have been something else.  I find it hard to believe that we would've gotten sick from drinking water at only one station.  But after seeing that volunteers weren't using gloves, I think it would've been very easy.  We were sick until Wednesday.  I couldn't eat anything until Tuesday.  (No recovery meal after the run at all) To me, it doesn't matter. That wasn't a run I'd enjoy doing again.  It was too expensive and WAY too crowded for me.  It was fun to run the strip at night, but not enough so that I'd ever do it again.

Our final time was 2:18.  I was very pleased with the time considering the crowds.  Beyond that, I was so proud of Nikki for getting out there and running it with me.  At fourteen years old, she can say she's run a half marathon and no one can ever take that from her!  I don't know if she'll ever run another one, but at least now she knows it's possible.

I decided to wait awhile before posting my recap of this race because I wanted to have some time to let the bad feelings subside.  It was a race I ran with friends and my daughter, and for that I will always have fond memories.  

Have you ever ran a race that you loved and hated at the same time?