New running gear

I have gotten a little crazy with buying new running stuff lately. First, I got an email about a 10% discount on Zappos because of some class action settlement due to a security breach in 2012. Since I was a customer that year apparently, I got the discount as part of the settlement. Lucky me! I used it to buy Nike running socks.

Then I was reading the latest Runner’s World, and they promoted some running items that caught my eye. The first was a review of various headphones, and I was especially interested in the cheapest pair of Bluetooth headphones called SoundCore. I listen to music on my iPhone XR while I run, and I have Apple AirPods, but I have been feeling like there has to be a pair out there that would feel more secure in my ears while running and also be built to deal with perspiration, etc. This pair was $33 and has twice the battery life of AirPods, so I went ahead and ordered them on Amazon.

One thing I had never heard of but was interested in trying after reading about it in RW is the Koala clip. This is a pocket that you clip into the back of your sports bra and it can hold your phone, ID, etc. I’ve been running with my phone in my hand which is annoying. Running with a huge armband is annoying. Running with my phone in a waist belt that bounces around is annoying. I was hoping this would prove to be a comfortable alternative, even though I’m not sure if it will be too difficult to get my phone in and out during runs.

I also bought two long-sleeved shirts off of eBay due to my over-excitement for the cooler weather. I have way too many running clothes, I really need to organize and get rid of a bunch of stuff! I’ve loved this Oiselle shirt for years so I finally got my own secondhand. I also have long wanted a Lululemon Run Swiftly long-sleeved, and this discounted price worked for me. Both came in great quality and looked great in person.

I got new Mizuno shoes a week or two ago and they are just not working out for me. So I went to the local running store and ended up getting a pair of Brooks Ravenna 10s. I always go back to the Ravennas! I also picked up a pair of Balega socks and a Brooks shirt, and because I purchased shoes, I got a free shirt from the running store.

Log Jammer Half Training: Week One

The plan:

Monday, Ran 3 miles

I finally went to go check my race time at the Revel Run 5K on Oct. 5, and it was 31:31 (a 10:10 pace). I’ve gone walking/running a few times since this race, but this day was my first time running the whole time since the 5K. My ankle has been feeling a little better day by day, but I’m still paranoid, I guess. I took this slow and easy along the river. That night my right foot (which I vaguely remember having problems with during marathon training two years ago) ached, so I iced it while simultaneously having a heating pad on my left ankle. I think the heat really helped my ankle, which was not as stiff the next morning as it has been previously.

On Monday I also went through my two big running duffel bags, which had a bunch of unorganized crap in them. I threw out a lot of expired gels and drink mixes (some as old as 2016), tried to organize like things together in plastic bags (I have a lot of heat sheets from races saved, as well as various non-edible samples from my old Stride Boxes). I’d forgotten about some of the random stuff I have!

One thing that has changed since the last time period when I was running seriously is that I have dropped meat from my diet. I guess you could say I am usually vegetarian, sometimes pescatarian – I will eat fish or seafood every now and then, but sparingly. Regardless, it means I often have to find protein for my diet in other ways, and I think sometimes I really fail to eat enough. As a result, I bought some protein powder and will try to make small shakes most days to make up for my lack of protein elsewhere.

Tuesday,  Gym 

The plan was for this to be a rest day, but I realized I was going to be out of town for my Saturday gym day, so instead I went on Tuesday. Did a quick elliptical workout, then some arm workouts on the machines. Not a long time there because we had plans that night, but I fit it in.

Also, I discovered this week that Daily Mile went defunct – back in March! Shows how out of the loop I’ve been when it comes to tracking my running! Even though I knew people were gravitating to more popular sites and apps to track their mileage, I still used Daily Mile during my last marathon training cycle, same as I had ever since 2010. I’m sad I didn’t know they were shutting down in time to save my data. I don’t think I got an email about it?? Waah. I finally progressed with the rest of the running community and downloaded Strava for the first time; we’ll see if I actually use it.

Wednesday, Ran 4 miles

My lack of energy really got to me during this run! I felt great the first two miles, and then once I turned around to head back the next two miles, it was such a struggle to maintain any kind of decent pace. I shouldn’t be surprised I was so slow, but I was kind of surprised! But the fun part will be seeing progress as long as I am consistent and disciplined with my runs. Afterwards I had a protein shake, hoping that might help.

Thursday, Gym

During my lunch break on Thursday I decided to check out this little running store near work. I ended up getting a few nutritional things since I had to basically throw out everything in my running bag for being expired. I also went to this new juice and smoothie place, Nekter, right next door. I go almost every day! I’ve only been getting smoothies, but I want to try juices too, and maybe one day if I can get over to this side of town early enough I can get a smoothie bowl for breakfast before work.

After work even though I was exhausted, I went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the elliptical, then multiple arm workouts and the leg press. I got my new shoes in the day prior, so for now I’m going to try and break them in at the gym before running in them.

After the gym, I quickly mowed our (small) front yard, which feels like its own form of exercise.

Friday, Rest and travel 

Saturday, Ran 5 miles

This run was great! We are down south and it had rained all night, so the air Saturday morning was pretty cool and there was a slight mist still.

I felt really tired in the middle of the run, but had a second wave of energy and finished strong. This is the longest I’ve run (without walking breaks) in months and months. And it felt good. I was surprised and happy that my pace for this run was faster than the two shorter runs earlier in the week. Of course, it helps to be running fresh in the morning and not after a long day of work.

Sunday, Rest and travel

We went to our first (and likely only) Saints game of the season. I’ve gone to at least one game every season for the last 13 seasons, but it never gets old!

 

I’m back…

Since the San Francisco Half Marathon a year and three months ago (holy moly), I have taken an extensive break from regularly running. I have gone walking/running countless times since then, but nothing serious. My prolonged break this go-around was due to a few reasons: I’ve had on and off knee issues since March 2018, I was burned out, and frankly I just didn’t have much desire to run.

I have done a handful of 5K races since San Francisco, but nothing to write home about. The latest one was two weeks ago when I did the Revel Run 5K. Seriously, three days before this race, I was out on the running path after work and I tripped and fell in front of like 10 people. I strained or twisted my ankle or something, but it felt okay by that Saturday to do the Revel Run.

I don’t even remember what my chip time was, but the point of it for me was getting back out there, doing a race, and remembering how much I love it. Over the past 9+ years of my running life, I have taken a few lengthy breaks from regularly running – but I always come back.

Since the Revel Run, my ankle has been stiff and sore, especially in the mornings when I first wake up, but has been fine to run on. It seems like the older I get, the longer it takes for my aches and pains to heal  – go figure.

I’ve been icing it and taking Epsom salt baths, and it seems to be holding up okay.

All that to say, I suddenly have recently been bitten by the running bug again, in that I have been reading race reviews, looking for local races to do, running on my own more regularly (twice just this weekend!) and bought some new running shoes – something long overdue that probably needed to happen months ago.

My new shoes on their way – Mizuno Wave Sky 2

Maybe this has all made me a little bit too ambitious, because tonight, with only a month and 17 days to go, I registered for the Log Jammer Half Marathon on Sunday, Dec. 8.

I haven’t run double-digit miles in over a year.

But I was looking at the sign-up page, considering whether I could try and run it just to finish, and noticed that there were about 2 hours before the race fee was set to increase by $20. This encouraged my hasty registration.

So I have until Dec. 8 to get in a place where I will feel I can finish 13.1 miles. I suppose I feel confident in my ability to do this because I have finished the distance many times, and because I have a few times impulsively signed up for races I might not have mentally thought I was ready for. And it always turned out fine.

Because I am still tending to my ankle strain and have a sensitive knee, I’m going to aim for three runs a week and two days of cross-training with lower impact cardio plus weights at the gym.

Here is the gist of my plan. I’m sure some of my Monday runs will get switched with Tuesdays, some of my Wednesday runs with Thursdays, etc. As long as I get the miles in and build up the “long runs” each week.

My favorite thing is to go to a restaurant here on Sundays and get brunch – toast with avocado on one slice and scrambled eggs on the other. If I complete this race successfully, that will be my reward 🙂

Here’s hoping! Week 1 starts tomorrow.

Looking to Little Rock: Week Two

Meh…. I ran four times this week, but I still didn’t feel up to doing the amount of miles that I normally would do at this point in a training cycle. It also rained off and on all week, which messed with some of my plans.

Wednesday, Ran 2 miles/8:49 pace

I did this before work, and I got a later start than planned because it was raining heavily when my alarm went off at 6:30. I woke up again at 7:10 and the rain had stopped, so I went out just to get SOMETHING done. It started raining again shortly after I did the 2 miles.

For Valentine’s Day, we went to a really nice restaurant, Ernest’s Orleans. There were free pictures being taken in front of a green screen, so we posed for some! It was funny. It felt like we were at a high school dance taking pictures 🙂

Thursday, Ran 3 miles/8:50 pace

I went out after work to get this done, and it was a struggle. I had a moderately speedy first mile, a faster second mile, and then I was so out of breath that I took the third mile slower, rather than just quit. I’ve found it hard to breathe during faster runs this week. It was annoying.

Saturday, Ran 2.8 miles with “hill work”/10:37 pace

Saturday was a rainy day, but around 5 p.m., after several hours of volunteering at the cat shelter, I was able to go out and run to the local arena where I could do some “hill work” via climbing these stairs five times. My heart was pounding when I was done!

Sunday, Ran 13 miles/10:27 pace

We had to be at church at 10:30, so I headed out at 7 to ensure I would have enough time to do a double-digit run, then shower and dress before church. It was “misting” a little, but otherwise no rain, just wet, cold, dreary – just like last week! But about 20 degrees warmer. Heather McDonald’s podcast and her interviews with Camille Grammer and Spencer Pratt got me through this one.

My foot started hurting again, just like last week… 😦 I wrapped it with an ace bandage and am going to try and spend some time icing it this week.

Little Rock Marathon in two weeks! It’s probably going to be rough. From what I’ve read, the second half is harder than the first, with a 2-mile long hill starting around mile 14, and then a long out-and-back that is mentally tasking, then another hill in the final miles. Yuck. Combine that with my lackluster training and a foot that keeps hurting, and well… we’ll see how it goes!

In other news… I am getting a new pair of Brooks running shoes! They were on sale at Zulily, so I ordered a pretty pair of Brooks Ravenna 8s.

It is always an exciting day when I find a new pair of running shoes! I’ve been running in two different pairs of the Mizuno Catalysts for the past year, but with this Zulily deal, I decided to return to the old faithful Ravennas.

Dallas Marathon Training: Week Nine

Got my new shoes in this week! For some reason this weird combo of fuchsia and orange really appeals to me. I used to be such a Brooks Ravenna loyalist, but this is the 2nd pair in a row where I’ve gotten Mizunos instead. I’ve just been able to find better sales or deals on Mizunos, whereas it feels like I never see Brooks shoes on sale that are in my size.

ANYWAYS, here is this week’s recap.

The plan:

Monday, Rest

Tuesday, Ran 4 miles/8:38 pace

Worst picture ever

Speed run: I was still sore all day on Monday, so when I set out for this run on Tuesday morning before work, I could tell I wasn’t completely recovered from my hard 5K on Saturday.

My legs felt fine for the most part, but I just had trouble getting that extra push that I usually manage to find during my speed runs. Hopefully next week will be better.

Wednesday, Ran 7 miles/8:54 pace

Tempo run: This run started out a little rough, and I thought for a little while there that it was going to be slower than my tempo run last week, and that my speed was going to be terrible all week. But somewhere between miles 3-5, either my PowerBar gel kicked in or I woke up, because I started going faster and feeling strong. I finished with my fastest 7-miler so far from this training cycle.

Thursday, Rest

Friday, Bicep curls and sit-ups

Another LAME “cross-training” day. I need to find a workout I might enjoy and set my mind on doing that every cross-training day.

Saturday, Ran 13 miles/9:58 pace

Long run: I ran the Red River Revel Road Race 15K in downtown Shreveport as part of my 13-mile training run, which was perfect because the race utilized both the Clyde Fant Parkway and the running trail adjacent to the parkway. It was very easy to hop on the trail before and after the race to get in my extra miles.

The race started at 7:30, so I got out to the starting area by 6:45, picked up my timing chip, and ran about 2.7 miles on my own at a pretty easy pace. Then, I ran the 9.3 mile race in 1:31:10, which was a 9:47 pace. I definitely have trouble keeping my pace slower when I’m doing a race as part of a training run, because I get antsy and competitive. I ran most of the race at about 10-10:20 miles, but for the last two miles, I upped it to sub-9 miles and tried to pass as many people as I could. I went into more detail about the race in my recap here.

After I reached the finish line, I had one mile left to run, so I just went back to the running trail and ran a slow mile. I was parked about a half-mile away, and it starting raining really hard as I was heading back to my car, so I ended up jogging some more just to get out of the rain quicker!

After the race, I went straight to the cat rescue and was there until 3:30 or so. (I changed clothes in the bathroom when I got there!) Then I came home and took an epsom salt bath with Dr. Teal’s Pre and Post Workout. This had an icy-hot effect, and it was very… strange. I think I might stick to plain Dr. Teal’s in the future.

Saturday night, we went for a quick bite at Chick-Fil-A, where I indulged in fries and a frosted coffee. Then we went to the Film Prize film festival to finish out the movies we hadn’t seen yet so we could vote for our favorites! I was exhausted and achy at the end of the night.

Sunday, Ran 5 miles/9:50 pace

Easy run: Despite the smile, I hated this run. I was achy, sore, and tired. It was really hot outside. I ran in my new Mizunos, and I probably need to re-lace the shoelaces because the top of my right foot hurt throughout the run, and my left foot kept going numb. I just hated it and couldn’t wait for it to be over.

The end of week 9 means I am HALFWAY THERE!

Ode to the Brooks Ravenna running shoe

I recently ordered a new pair of running shoes after realizing my current pair had about 400 miles (and four marathons) on them. When it comes to running shoes, I am super loyal to one kind – the Brooks Ravenna. My first pair was purchased after I got fitted at the running store in Baton Rouge in summer 2011, and was told I slightly over-pronate. That day I bought the Brooks Ravenna 2 shoes, and I trained for and ran my first marathon in them. Since then, I have gotten two pairs of Ravenna 3, the Ravenna 4 and my newest pair, the Ravenna 5. I have gone off Brooks only twice, both times because I got shoes for free! I won a pair of Mizuno Wave Riders in a Twitter giveaway, and I was given a $100 Adidas gift card by a friend who works for Adidas – with that I bought the Adidas Supernova Glides. I liked both of those, but when it comes to spending my own money, I always return to the Ravennas. Though I definitely veered off trend this time around with a very BRIGHT color!

I do need to think about giving away some of these older pairs I don’t wear anymore, but I don’t think I will ever give away my first marathon shoes. I am way too sentimental.

New shoes

It’s been about ten months since I bought a new pair of running shoes, so I’m probably long overdue.

I saw that Runningwarehouse.com was having a shoe liquidation sale, and picked up another pair of Brooks Ravenna 3’s which were on clearance for $63.

A little googling led me to a 15% off discount code for all clearance items, so my total was $53, and you always get 2 days free shipping. Great deal! So I ended up paying almost half of what I did back in September for this same pair of shoes.

As for running, I hit 30 miles today for July. Yay…

Winner!

I don’t use Twitter too often, which you might notice if you follow me. I mostly use it to read what other people say, and sometimes I’ll reply to someone or whatnot. But being a follower paid off for me big time yesterday when I received a Direct Message from Mizuno Running that I’d won a free pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 15s!!!

This is a version of the shoe, I’m not sure if that’s the color I’m getting, though!

They had been running a promotion that said when they got 2,000 followers, they’d give away a free pair of shoes. Well, they ended up deciding to give away 2 pairs and I was the 2nd name drawn!

I’m so excited!!!

I happened to check my phone and realize that I’d won right as I was checking out at Academy Sports. Here is what I bought:

1) BCG capri running tights

2) Nike Tempo shorts

3) Nike Dri-Fit running socks

4) NIke ankle sleeve for my hurting ankle

5) Nike Water Bottle

6) Gu Brew tablets, Gu Chomps, and PowerBar Energy Gel

My distraction while checking out,  due to excitement over winning shoes, made me miss the fact that the cashier had put the Tempo shorts in my bag but they hadn’t rung up for my final total. When I got to my car, I decided randomly to check the receipt just because I hadn’t been paying attention, and I noticed right away that the most expensive thing I’d bought hadn’t rung up! I went back inside and explained what happened to the customer service lady, and took the shorts back to the check-out counter and paid for them. One of the workers said, “You’re a good girl. I would have left!” I couldn’t do that though! Maybe me winning the shoes was a pre-emptive reward for going back and letting the cashier know about the mistake. Who knows!

Marathon Checklist – An Update

My main reason for starting this blog was to chronicle my quest to finish a marathon, and seeing as how I started it a full 3 months before marathon training was even set to begin, you could say I was a little anxious. Now we are one month away from official start of training, so let’s take a look at the checklist of training “wants” I posted back in late June.

1) CamelBak 2011 Annadel: $49

Status: I ordered the CamelBak Women’s Charm Pack ’10 this weekend for $21 (plus tax and shipping)

I think it will work out just as well, for more than half the price!

2) Nike Swift Y-Back Running Bra: $40

Status: My main goal was to get a good quality sports bra, and in addition to my New Balance one, I recently got an Adidas Supernova racing sports bra on sale for $22.88 at Running Warehouse.com. I really just want the high quality ones for my long runs, and my medium-quality ones are fine for shorter runs and cross-training.

3) Lululemon Run Swiftly Long-Sleeved Tech Shirt: $68

Still haven’t been able to bring myself to spend that much on a running shirt that will only be wearable in the winter, no matter how much I want it. As an alternative, I’ve bought three long-sleeve running shirts from Thriv, waiting for them to be on sale to do so. So I got three really nice, soft running shirts for $66.50. Look at that, three for less than the price of one!

4) Brooks Defyance 4: $100

As I posted the other day, I finally got my feet evaluated and it turns out Brooks Ravenna 2 are the best for me. Very happy to have these babies!

I’ve added something to my list!

5) A healthy IT band.

Still waiting on that one.