Running While Away

I just got back from Boston a few days ago. I am super-tired. I spent a week there participating in the National Education Association Resident Assembly.  If you're curious about what I did in Boston, feel free to follow my adventures here.

This is a picture of me, Bradley, and Katie, the 3 Medina delegates.

I've been to Boston with my family before, so I knew where to run (Boston Common); plus, our hotel was about half a mile from there. The only problem was that I had to be at the Ohio Caucus every morning at 7:00, and we never finished our day before 10:00 PM. That meant a 4:30 wakeup if  I wanted to run or lift weights.  Well, that is what I do during the school year, so I sucked it up and set my alarm for dark o'clock crazy every day. Most days I made it.

The first thing I had to do was get a picture at the finish line for the Boston Marathon, of course. You may remember that the last time I posted from Boston, my picture showed me stepping on the finish line. I have since learned that this is a no-no, so I had to take another picture to reverse the bad mojo.

No stepping on the line!

Then I ran loops in the Park and Boston Common.

I JUST NOW noticed that my Cleveland head band is upside down. What the hell is the matter with me?

Each day that I ran outside I managed to do at least 4ish miles, and one day I did 5ish miles, but there was no long run this week. I just didn't have the time. I did add at least 20-some miles of walking this week because we walked everywhere, but I didn't officially record it.

There were two days that I ran 2 miles on the treadmill and then lifted in the fitness room, and that was a luxury because my weights are crap, and so far I have been too cheap to buy what I really need.

I am especially proud of myself for running after three hours of sleep on the evening of July 4. The alarm system went off in our room, and a recorded announcement told us to prepare to evacuate. Katie and I walked down to the lobby from the 22nd floor; that was fun. 

This is EXACTLY how we look after walking down 22 flights of stairs at 3:44 AM. I'm not wearing a bra here, by the way, so that was interesting.

When we got the all-clear, everybody jammed up the elevators, so I walked back UP to the 22nd floor. By the time I got up there, it was time to get up to run, so I just changed into my running clothes and ran back DOWN the stairs to go to Boston Common. Damn, I'm dedicated.

When I got back from Boston, I needed to get back to group runs, so I responded to two running posts with the Burning River Goddesses. On Saturday we ran loops at Hampton Hills for a total of about 6 miles.

Look how matchy I am with my BondiBand headband! I am wearing  matching compression socks, too! #stylista

On Sunday we ran from the Boston Store to Pine Lane and back for a total of about 8 miles, and then Renee and I put in two more miles on the Towpath.

I'm wearing my Orange Mud HydraQuiver here. It has grown on me. No, really, it has GROWN ON ME. Can someone help me take it off?

I intended to eat a banana and do 5 more Towpath miles after Renee left me, but it was so hot and humid, and I felt so tired from my trip, that I called it a day after 10 miles.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I call it a day after 10 miles.

Overall, I think I did the best I could under the circumstances of travel and heat.  I started this week right by doing over an hour of yoga--really good poses that I knew I needed to do--and I jumped into 5 miles today.  I'm going to get back into those 45 mile weeks again, and now I'm going to try to focus more on trails because Burning River is coming up!

What is the focus of your training? Whatever it is, I hope you Run Happy, Peeps!

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Mud Helps You Recover

I dropped the ball on two awesome photo-ops today.  I'll regret both of them forever.

First, today was the day I went back to running.  I was a bit nervous about it.  Would it hurt?  Would my legs give out?  Would I hate it?  Shelby and I decided to do a trail run together so we could rehash the marathon (so we don't drive everyone else crazy). I distinctly remember Shelby messaging me, saying, "Do you think we'll be ok on the trails with all this rain?"

My reply, "Pssshh.  We'll be fine."  Remember that.

On the way to Pine Hollow, I saw a gigantic, beautiful bald eagle light on a tree branch right next to the road.  I pulled over and got out of the car to take the picture, and a car came speeding by in the opposite direction and scared him away.  He was gorgeous.

This is EXACTLY how it looked, except there were no mountains, and no snow.

Shelby and I ran the Wetmore Trail; we had only run it once when it was very hot.  Today felt just right, in the high 50s, but it was definitely muddy and wet.  We found out just how wet it was when it came time to ford the first stream.  There was a flat rock in the middle with water swirling over it, and we figured we'd just get the bottoms of our shoes wet, so we sucked it up and stepped in.  No biggie.

At another crossing, we used some rocks and logs; my right foot slipped and I went in up to my knee.  Funny; no biggie.

At the next crossing, there was really not much help.  We saw two potential places to wade; one looked relatively shallow and had a log crossing.  I told Shelby, "Just cross on that log or walk through.  It's not deep; you can see the bottom. You go first."  She carefully put her foot on the log, slipped, and fell right in the stream.  I managed to ask her if she was ok before I started laughing, and the two of us were laughing so much I forgot to take a picture, dammit.

This is EXACTLY how Shelby looked falling into the stream.  We always run trails while wearing string bikinis.

After that crossing, we ran through a large puddle, and I lost a shoe.  I had to walk back through the puddle and pull the shoe out of the sucking mud, and it wasn't easy.

All in all, we both had our share of mud today. Mud heals, right?

We did four miles on the Wetmore Loop and called it a day, but I wasn't ready to call it a day just yet. I think part of the reason why the run felt good to me was that I was running in my Bondi Band compression socks.  I've worn compression calf sleeves on the trail before, but today I decided to go for the whole shebang, and I really liked it.  I should have taken a picture (so I guess that's THREE shots I missed) because they were the pink argyle socks, and I looked super-cute, if I do say so myself.  Remember, Peeps, that I am a Bondi Band Ambassador, so if you want to order some compression wear (or headbands) of your own, you can use my code (TroubleRun) for a 10% discount.  Click here to check out the possibilities. Anyway, I felt really good, so on the way home I stopped at Hampton Hills and added another mile and a half. THIS time I remembered to take a picture:

You know what else heals (besides mud, compression socks, and trail running)?  Massages.  Today I'm going for a massage so I can recover from the marathon.  I've been foam rolling and doing yoga and strength training all week, and now I'm ready for a little muscle love.  Based on previous experience, as I am a very tightly-wound person, I suspect that the massage itself will NOT be relaxing, but I will be very glad in a few days that I got it done.

How did you recover from your fall race, Peeps?  Are you back at the running thing?  Have you taken any mud baths?

Speaking of mud baths, next week I'll be posting from a guest blogger on how to treat your running clothes.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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A Snapping Turtle Meaner than Me

Megan and I ran 13 miles on the Towpath last Sunday.  The weather was perfect, but the run seemed difficult because we were both wondering how we were going to DOUBLE that mileage and then add .2 FREAKING miles in a few weeks.  Shelby tells me not to think about it, but it's hard to turn off the crazy, you know what I'm saying?

The monster snapping turtle helped distract us from our angst:

Seriously, he was YUGE!

He was blocking half of the Towpath, and we were afraid to cross in front of him because snapping turtles have those long, snakelike necks AND we thought he might lunge for us.  It was an existential problem, too: Can I really run faster than a turtle?

I was too afraid to find out.

Then, a man ran past us, totally in the zone with his earbuds, didn't even look at the turtle, and ran right in front of him.  Nada.  He left with all his toes intact.  So, after some nervous squealing, we ran as fast as we could past the turtle.  He looked pissed, but he didn't try to bite us.

Stephani and Megan: 1, Turtle: 0

We began our run with members of TORN (The Ohio Runners Network), and I caught up with them at Szalay's later when I bought some corn.

Notice that I am the blogger, but I am the ONLY ONE who never knows where the camera is.

Other fun surprises:

My Ragnar belt buckle arrived!  It is so heavy!

Also, I know you never see me without a Bondi Band (Click here to order from them and use my code, TroubleRun, for a discount), so here is a recent picture when the Kabyle Chef actually took a night off and we had dinner out:

My hair is purplish-pink now!  I love it!

Speaking of dinner, I really need to regain control of my eating.  I've stopped my nightly glass of wine with dinner (since the Chef isn't there to enjoy it with me), but I've replaced it with ice cream.

Alas.

I fear the taper will not help this situation.

How is your taper going, Peeps?  Ready to kill anyone yet?  Have you eaten all your kids' candy bars?  No? Just me, huh?

Well, I hope you do better than I traditionally do.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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16 Miles!

Well, the mileage is ramping up.  Last Sunday Shelby and I ran 16 miles--the farthest I've ever run!  You know what?  It wasn't too terrible.  In fact, our last mile was our fastest, and overall we finished 48 seconds sooner than last week's 15 miler.  Damn, we're good!

I hear a lot about training burnout, but the novelty hasn't worn off for me yet.  I'm doing my best to stick to the plan and take care of myself while still doing interesting things to shake it up a little.  Like what?  I'm glad you asked.  Here are some of the ways I am preparing myself for the Akron Marathon:

1.  Track work

Wednesday Night Hell. . .er-- I mean Fun!

Wednesday is track night, and the members of TORN have been meeting to do a little speedwork in 90-degree weather.  Why?  Because we are awesome that way.

2.  Recovery-Wear

I love my compression socks!  I wear them after speed workouts and long runs.

















3.  Protein

I like chocolate.

I've upped my protein, particularly after workouts.  Muscle Milk isn't the most delicious shake on Earth, but it was on sale at BJs, and it has only 130 calories per carton.  Sometimes I eat plain Greek yogurt sprinkled with Grape Nuts, but frankly, I look forward to this shake.

4.  Friends--Old and New

I still run with my TORN peeps, but I decided to branch out, and I recently joined the Canal Rats.  They meet around 5:30ish AM, which suits my schedule. The only problem is that they are MUCH FASTER than I am; however, for two weeks in a row, there has been a kind soul who waits for me at the turnaround point and runs back with me.  Today that kind soul pushed me to an 8:39 mile in the last mile, and I am grateful for it.  I have decided to label my Canal Rats days the tempo run.

Thankfully, not this kind of Canal Rat.  Yuck.

5.  New Challenges

Of course the marathon is new, but I'm also running two new races in August: The Burning River Relay (Leg 7, 15.6 miles in the dark!) and the Ragnar Trail Appalachians ultra relay (3 loops of 10 miles each in 24 hours).  Trail running is a different animal than road running, and I'm looking forward to these weekends to see what I can do.

If I say it enough, I should start believing it.

6.  Rest

I am doing my best to get to bed at a reasonable hour.  Since it is summer, I also get to incorporate my favorite form of recovery: naps! God, I love naps.

All in all, I still have about eight weeks to go before the Akron Marathon, but I feel that I have a lot of exciting stuff to do in the meantime.  Let's hope I can keep a positive attitude.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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Run away from Snapping Turtles!

Today ends week 1 of marathon training.  I feel pretty successful with my runs this week.

On Monday, instead of doing yoga, I wheedled The Kabyle Chef into walking/running three miles with me.  We definitely did more walking than running because The Chef has not been taking his daily walk/runs on the treadmill lately as he has switched to a mostly evening schedule.  He was feeling the pain, so I hope he realizes that he has to get back on the horse. . . so to speak.

This was before.  He wasn't so happy after.  He's cute though, right?

Shelby and I finished the week with twelve miles on the Towpath.  Twelve sweaty, humid, muggy, and sometimes rainy miles.  The first nine miles were almost effortless; we chatted so much that we didn't feel any sort of discomfort.  Then, at mile 9 it kicked in.  Suddenly we were very quiet. . .too quiet.  Shelby likes to run ahead of me in the last miles; she calls it "smelling the barn" (Horse people are weird).  I think this is a great challenge for me because my energy tends to lag big time in the last miles.  Luckily for me, Shelby knows what I'm thinking when I stop talking, and she turned to me in the last mile and shouted back, "This is not one of those runs where you think about running a marathon later."  Thank you.  That was EXACTLY what I was thinking, as in, "How in the HELL will I run 14.2 MORE MILES on marathon day?"  So, I listened to the boss and stopped thinking about it.  Instead I thought about ginger beer.

Highlights:

A nice breeze in the last miles as it started to cool down a bit.

A huge snapping turtle.

This is not EXACTLY the snapping turtle we saw.  I was afraid to stop and take his picture because he was telling me he would bite my toes off if I did stop.

As a Bondi Band Ambassador, I was lucky enough to receive my first pair of compression socks.  I'm wearing them now to recover.  The first time I tried them on, I was in heaven!

It's like a thousand fingers massaging my legs!  And they are animal print!

I love these socks.  I wear them after my intervals, tempos runs, and long runs.  I already knew I love Bondi Band headbands, but now that I know I love compression wear, I may be their best customer.  If you want to purchase any Bondi Band products, use my code (TroubleRun) to get a 10% discount.  Check out the cool designs on the compression socks--argyle! pirates!

My real challenge starts next week, Peeps.  I'm going down South to visit the family, and I've got to keep up the training. Will I survive the heat and humidity?  I know I can do short runs in that kind of weather; I'm worried about my long runs.  We shall see.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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