Its been about 10 days since the marathon and I'm feeling the urge to exercise again. The freedom in my schedule is really nice. I don't have to fit in a run if I don't feel like it. While I have not weighed myself, I do fear a major weight gain if I just sit around. I googled post marathon training and read varying things. Some say rest 1 day for every mile you ran (26 days) while others like Hal Higdon provide a whole plan for the four weeks following the marathon, but most seem to say listen to your body.
My new regimen will be to do the weight circuit one day a week with 15-20 minutes of cardio, I'll have a swim day, a yoga day (thanks to my Groupon) and possibly a weekend long run. I would like to be able to keep my endurance up around that 10 mile point. A 90 minute run feels very cleansing to me. That really would be great to fit all that in. We'll see, its the plan for now.
Yesterday I did the weight circuit for the first time in a LONG while. So long was my time away from the circuits that my account was deactivated!!! Its rather embarrassing going up to the fitness desk and asking them to reactivate your account. It had literally been only 8 days since the marathon and I already felt like a fat crap. Once reactivated I worked my way through the circuit. Today I am feeling ALL my upper body muscles, I'm enjoying the soreness though.
In other news, I think my feet are shrinking. My poor feet. By the end of my training three pairs of running sneakers remained each a different size, 9.5, 10 and 10.5. I ran the marathon in 10.5, trained mostly in the 10, and the 9.5 I wore around when I was not running because they were supportive even if tight. While training I also lost a toe nail and then during the marathon my big toe nail became bruised so now I have a big purple toe nail. Hopefully all will heal in time for flip flop season. It is a relief thought that my feet will shrink down a little. Before kids, I was an 8.5!
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Wizard, Please Give Me an Imagination
Best Halloween treat the kids got was this little "Wizard of Oz" book. I've never read the book but its definitely a favorite movie of mine. I started reading it from the perspective of an author. I am just so amazed that anyone could be so imaginative. I went to the library and happened to find a book called "Finding Oz" by Evan I. Schwartz, its about how the author of "The Wizard of Oz," L. Frank Baum, came up with the iconic story. I'm enjoying reading the two books at once. Its so inspiring to read about a successful person who failed and persevered. I don't know what I'm going to write my story about but I'm feeling like the project is worth pursuing.
Possible Ideas so far for my book:
(1) Children's book with Montessori themes possibly about a marathon, incorporate a map, flag, counting, history of marathon
(2) Interviewing my grandmother and mother - writing about some family anecdotes but also about our shared experiences in being women, as in childbirth, child rearing, being a wife, first job, first date, etc. How similar/different the common experiences are? How did our decisions create the lives we have? What does it all mean/benefit/impede to my own daughters' and their life decisions?
(3) Writing an outlandish fictional novel, I am enjoying thinking about this one a lot BUT everything I think of I feel like I can relate it back to a movie or TV show or something I've seen before... must keep thinking. L. Frank Baum didn't write the "Wizard of Oz" first...
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Creativity Wanted
I'm still basking in the glory of being a marathon finisher. The whole experience has shown me that I can persist and accomplish anything I really want. Embracing confidence, hugging self.
My new challenge is creating a story of some sort. I'm concerned about my creativity though. When painting with my kids last week, I traced our IKEA placemats. I could have made anything in the world. Hello Persistence, could you call your friends, Originality and/or Creativity? Tell them they are invited to my victory party. Thanks.
My new challenge is creating a story of some sort. I'm concerned about my creativity though. When painting with my kids last week, I traced our IKEA placemats. I could have made anything in the world. Hello Persistence, could you call your friends, Originality and/or Creativity? Tell them they are invited to my victory party. Thanks.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Perfect Marathon Weekend Experience
I did it! I did it in 4:11:24!!! I've wanted to do this for so long! I am in the finishers club!
Arrived in Philly Friday afternoon. Checked into the hotel, Sheraton Society Hill. Headed out to the Expo. Pleasant walk through Philly to the Convention Center. Weather was great, as was the hotel location. I never know what to expect at these Expo things. I loved the marathon shirt and that was what I was most excited about at the Expo.
At the Expo, I listened to a talk about nutrition in the last 24 hours before the race from a nutritionist from Runners World. The talk got me nervous because the speaker was encouraging of eating (what seemed like to me) a lot. Gue and energy bars plus drinking lots while on the run which I don't normally do during training, certainly not in the amounts she was talking about. She gave great reasons, they are all things that break down easily so they don't give you a full feeling while running but they will give you energy and help out on your sodium and potassium levels. Obviously I am not against eating and drinking but I try to keep it to a minimum while running since I hate portable potties and the thought of standing on a really long line to use one. Never the less, I have a stronger fear of being the person the EMS people have to scrape off the pavement so I bought the gue and I already planned on having a pre-race and during race bar. So I was all set nutrition wise. I decided to run with my water bottle and use it only after the 20 mile point. Plus getting Gatorade and/or water at all the water stations that were not too crowded. During the race I found the Cliff bar Gue and Power Bar to be a nice distraction during the run. After the run, I felt better hydration-wise then after some of the half marathons I'd done. Good nutrition advice, all this snacking didn't effect my pace at all either.
My awesome husband was great about doing all things running this weekend - attending the running expo, going away yet getting to bed early, eating Italian for dinner (when it gives him heartburn), finally waking up extra early race day and then endlessly scanning the crowd to look for me. It was very much appreciated and I felt very loved. Plus we had a lot of fun! Found lots of little places to grab our meals, drinks, or coffee while out and about. Philly is a great city. Perhaps we'll move there. Saturday we just took a nice long walk to the Art Museum to check out the start and then had lunch. Took a cab back to the hotel because I didn't want my legs to get too tired. Napped and then went out to dinner.
Sunday morning we woke up at 4:50am. I made coffee in the room and ate a Power Bar. Then I showered and dressed. My husband got our car and drove me to the start as well as another runner we offered a ride to. Pretty smooth morning. Me and the other runner got within a few blocks of the start and jumped out of the car and walked to the start. Thousands of runners, had to look around a little for our corral. I was in my corral at 6:43am and began stretching, race start was 7am. As the sun came up, it definitely warmed up a little. I left my old coat and scarf on a fence. They were collecting all the discarded clothes for the homeless. Eventually in the first few miles I even threw my gloves off. Got a little emotional as we moved toward the start, especially when they played a Bon Jovi song. Just being in the moment and trying to absorb it all.
It was crowded for the first 10 miles, with runners and cheering crowds. Funniest sign I saw, "Paul Ryan says the last hour doesn't count." There was even a makeshift water station set up by some fans except it was beer not water! My ankles got tight in the 5th mile and then it subsided. The crowd thinned out a lot more once the half marathon people turned off. There were still points along the race that seemed pretty packed and I had to maneuver through a "wall" of people a few times. For the most part though it was not too difficult to find pockets of room. There were various bands playing all kinds of music all along the route that kept the runners and the crowd pumped. I loved that they put your name right on the race number so people could cheer you on using your name. The race definitely got tougher after the half point. I would say Mile 17 I really started to ache. Mile 20 was a turn around in Manayunk which was kind of nice to make it to that point and then turn towards the finish. Just after mile 24 was my wall. I heard someone say, "Just 2.5 miles to go!" I was pretty happy with my time at that point, very close to finishing at 4 hours maybe even less. But I just had to rest my legs a little. I finished up the other half of my Power Bar while walking, used my water bottle, regrouped and basically had to do that 2 or 3 times in that last little stretch. Finally finished at 4 hours 11 minutes 24 seconds and I'm thrilled with that!
Arrived in Philly Friday afternoon. Checked into the hotel, Sheraton Society Hill. Headed out to the Expo. Pleasant walk through Philly to the Convention Center. Weather was great, as was the hotel location. I never know what to expect at these Expo things. I loved the marathon shirt and that was what I was most excited about at the Expo.
At the Expo, I listened to a talk about nutrition in the last 24 hours before the race from a nutritionist from Runners World. The talk got me nervous because the speaker was encouraging of eating (what seemed like to me) a lot. Gue and energy bars plus drinking lots while on the run which I don't normally do during training, certainly not in the amounts she was talking about. She gave great reasons, they are all things that break down easily so they don't give you a full feeling while running but they will give you energy and help out on your sodium and potassium levels. Obviously I am not against eating and drinking but I try to keep it to a minimum while running since I hate portable potties and the thought of standing on a really long line to use one. Never the less, I have a stronger fear of being the person the EMS people have to scrape off the pavement so I bought the gue and I already planned on having a pre-race and during race bar. So I was all set nutrition wise. I decided to run with my water bottle and use it only after the 20 mile point. Plus getting Gatorade and/or water at all the water stations that were not too crowded. During the race I found the Cliff bar Gue and Power Bar to be a nice distraction during the run. After the run, I felt better hydration-wise then after some of the half marathons I'd done. Good nutrition advice, all this snacking didn't effect my pace at all either.
My awesome husband was great about doing all things running this weekend - attending the running expo, going away yet getting to bed early, eating Italian for dinner (when it gives him heartburn), finally waking up extra early race day and then endlessly scanning the crowd to look for me. It was very much appreciated and I felt very loved. Plus we had a lot of fun! Found lots of little places to grab our meals, drinks, or coffee while out and about. Philly is a great city. Perhaps we'll move there. Saturday we just took a nice long walk to the Art Museum to check out the start and then had lunch. Took a cab back to the hotel because I didn't want my legs to get too tired. Napped and then went out to dinner.
Sunday morning we woke up at 4:50am. I made coffee in the room and ate a Power Bar. Then I showered and dressed. My husband got our car and drove me to the start as well as another runner we offered a ride to. Pretty smooth morning. Me and the other runner got within a few blocks of the start and jumped out of the car and walked to the start. Thousands of runners, had to look around a little for our corral. I was in my corral at 6:43am and began stretching, race start was 7am. As the sun came up, it definitely warmed up a little. I left my old coat and scarf on a fence. They were collecting all the discarded clothes for the homeless. Eventually in the first few miles I even threw my gloves off. Got a little emotional as we moved toward the start, especially when they played a Bon Jovi song. Just being in the moment and trying to absorb it all.
It was crowded for the first 10 miles, with runners and cheering crowds. Funniest sign I saw, "Paul Ryan says the last hour doesn't count." There was even a makeshift water station set up by some fans except it was beer not water! My ankles got tight in the 5th mile and then it subsided. The crowd thinned out a lot more once the half marathon people turned off. There were still points along the race that seemed pretty packed and I had to maneuver through a "wall" of people a few times. For the most part though it was not too difficult to find pockets of room. There were various bands playing all kinds of music all along the route that kept the runners and the crowd pumped. I loved that they put your name right on the race number so people could cheer you on using your name. The race definitely got tougher after the half point. I would say Mile 17 I really started to ache. Mile 20 was a turn around in Manayunk which was kind of nice to make it to that point and then turn towards the finish. Just after mile 24 was my wall. I heard someone say, "Just 2.5 miles to go!" I was pretty happy with my time at that point, very close to finishing at 4 hours maybe even less. But I just had to rest my legs a little. I finished up the other half of my Power Bar while walking, used my water bottle, regrouped and basically had to do that 2 or 3 times in that last little stretch. Finally finished at 4 hours 11 minutes 24 seconds and I'm thrilled with that!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Another Bump
Trouble with the ankles and I am nervous. I was supposed to do a 10 mile run yesterday. I had so much tightness in my ankles that I ended up only running 5. The first 4 miles I was experiencing some pain which was making me so nervous. The thought of getting injured when I am so close scares me. I am glad that I decided to cut the run short and ice. I suspect I ran too many days in a row last week and too fast on the treadmill. The good news is that I think my ankles loosened up during mile five but I was already in front of my house so I baled on the second loop.
My husband heard from a friend who was supposed to do NY Marathon and will now be doing Philly. Now I'm excited to just enjoy the weekend and meet up with friends. I can't believe we leave on Friday!
My husband heard from a friend who was supposed to do NY Marathon and will now be doing Philly. Now I'm excited to just enjoy the weekend and meet up with friends. I can't believe we leave on Friday!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Two Book Reviews
Finished Chopra's "Muhammed" and was a little disappointed in the ending. All the information that was in the afterward yet barely touched on in the book kind of annoyed me. Hate to be too hard on Chopra since he did write a fiction book not a biography but I didn't like that information just being dumped out at the end and not explained at all within the book itself. I went to the library in search of a Muhammed biography and realized there was none. Then I remembered it was one of the cons Chopra listed in the book that you can't actually write about the prophet. I'm still interested in the muslim religion just have to keep an ear out for another book suggestion.
No Muhammed biography plus antsy four year old equals pick anything and fast. In keeping with my interest of the moment, the middle east, I picked "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" by Paul Torday. Its really a fictional British story set partly in the Yemen but like I said antsy four year old. I really liked the book. The story was great. I especially felt the theme was completely inspiring. Dream the impossible and then make it possible. First you have to have faith, then comes hope and finally love. Words to live by. I felt like it gave me a different perspective of how people in the middle east can live with so little. Living in the desert with the absence of so much, even in the landscape, perhaps facilitates your thoughts, actions, being into keeping yourself open to God.
I was talking to my mother-in-law about "Salmon Fishing..." and she loves the movie. Said it was one of her favorites even. I have to see the movie now. Upon further discussion we realized the book and movie have completely different endings. Another reason to see it. Which will I like more? I think the movie ending has everyone ending up happily ever after whereas the book has this great surprise ending where the characters make some realizations about themselves but are not necessarily happy ever after.
A few weeks ago I went out to dinner with family and my cousin mentions he's writing a screenplay. Well, it really set something off in me. I kept thinking about his story. But what really keeps bothering me is how difficult it is to come up with anything truly original. Makes me admire the "Salmon Fishing" story even more because its definitely unique. Wondering if my next project should be to write a fictional story (novel?)...
No Muhammed biography plus antsy four year old equals pick anything and fast. In keeping with my interest of the moment, the middle east, I picked "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" by Paul Torday. Its really a fictional British story set partly in the Yemen but like I said antsy four year old. I really liked the book. The story was great. I especially felt the theme was completely inspiring. Dream the impossible and then make it possible. First you have to have faith, then comes hope and finally love. Words to live by. I felt like it gave me a different perspective of how people in the middle east can live with so little. Living in the desert with the absence of so much, even in the landscape, perhaps facilitates your thoughts, actions, being into keeping yourself open to God.
I was talking to my mother-in-law about "Salmon Fishing..." and she loves the movie. Said it was one of her favorites even. I have to see the movie now. Upon further discussion we realized the book and movie have completely different endings. Another reason to see it. Which will I like more? I think the movie ending has everyone ending up happily ever after whereas the book has this great surprise ending where the characters make some realizations about themselves but are not necessarily happy ever after.
A few weeks ago I went out to dinner with family and my cousin mentions he's writing a screenplay. Well, it really set something off in me. I kept thinking about his story. But what really keeps bothering me is how difficult it is to come up with anything truly original. Makes me admire the "Salmon Fishing" story even more because its definitely unique. Wondering if my next project should be to write a fictional story (novel?)...
T-7 Days until Marathon
I can not believe that next week at this time I will be waking up for the marathon! Its finally here and I am amazed that 22 weeks of training is ending, not without bumps, of course.
Hurricane Sandy kinda threw off the routine. I ended up missing a medium run and then taking several days off in a row. After the hurricane and six days of not running, I finally got back out and I was slow. I wasn't trying that hard but still 10:20 minute/mile average. I had two shorter runs at this slow pace last week. Then magically I go for my long run and 9:05 minute/mile average. Go figure! This week my pace has been staying low. I tweaked the schedule a bit to fit in all the runs so mileage wise I'm not behind. I definitely realized that I don't want to leave myself with too many days of rest before the big day. I must stay loose. I'm kind of worried about my ankles since that achilles tendonitis still flares up.
I'm thinking that perhaps I want to get some music on my phone. I normally do not run with music. I like being in tune with my surrounding, mull over my thoughts, plus I just feel safer. BUT, I have never ran a marathon, maybe I should plan a little motivation for myself say past mile 20.
There's been a few Facebook friends who have completed marathons this season, mostly first timers like me. One of them said that the last mile felt great because you know you are actually going to finish. I loved that comment and now I am eagerly awaiting that feeling around mile 25.
Wondering what the whole experience will be like. Since NY Marathon was cancelled, Philadelphia Marathon added 3,000 spots for runners from the cancelled marathon. I feel for the people that trained for that marathon. That has to be extremely disappointing. I actually did have that happen to me when the triathlon was cancelled last August for Hurricane Irene. Here it comes, my own selfish view, I am wondering if its going to be too crowded. I didn't sign up for NY Marathon mainly because its too expensive but also I kind of wanted a smaller marathon. Philadelphia Marathon seems to be getting bigger and bigger. First it sold out at 27,000 participants crazy early and now they are adding 3,000 more spots. Plus I gotta check out how the start actually starts. How will I feel when all the half marathoners turn off to finish their race and I still have a second leg?!? Perhaps, a smidgeon of worry is setting in too.
Hurricane Sandy kinda threw off the routine. I ended up missing a medium run and then taking several days off in a row. After the hurricane and six days of not running, I finally got back out and I was slow. I wasn't trying that hard but still 10:20 minute/mile average. I had two shorter runs at this slow pace last week. Then magically I go for my long run and 9:05 minute/mile average. Go figure! This week my pace has been staying low. I tweaked the schedule a bit to fit in all the runs so mileage wise I'm not behind. I definitely realized that I don't want to leave myself with too many days of rest before the big day. I must stay loose. I'm kind of worried about my ankles since that achilles tendonitis still flares up.
I'm thinking that perhaps I want to get some music on my phone. I normally do not run with music. I like being in tune with my surrounding, mull over my thoughts, plus I just feel safer. BUT, I have never ran a marathon, maybe I should plan a little motivation for myself say past mile 20.
There's been a few Facebook friends who have completed marathons this season, mostly first timers like me. One of them said that the last mile felt great because you know you are actually going to finish. I loved that comment and now I am eagerly awaiting that feeling around mile 25.
Wondering what the whole experience will be like. Since NY Marathon was cancelled, Philadelphia Marathon added 3,000 spots for runners from the cancelled marathon. I feel for the people that trained for that marathon. That has to be extremely disappointing. I actually did have that happen to me when the triathlon was cancelled last August for Hurricane Irene. Here it comes, my own selfish view, I am wondering if its going to be too crowded. I didn't sign up for NY Marathon mainly because its too expensive but also I kind of wanted a smaller marathon. Philadelphia Marathon seems to be getting bigger and bigger. First it sold out at 27,000 participants crazy early and now they are adding 3,000 more spots. Plus I gotta check out how the start actually starts. How will I feel when all the half marathoners turn off to finish their race and I still have a second leg?!? Perhaps, a smidgeon of worry is setting in too.
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