Kara Runs

Someone just gave me a really great idea in reference to accountability and morning exercise.

Don’t have someone to meet up with in the mornings to workout? (Yes!) Find yourself hitting the alarm and saying “screw it, I’m going back to sleep”? ( YES!) Find a buddy and promise each other one thing: that you’ll text the other a picture of A) your smiling face outdoors/at the gym/in the car on the way to the pool (or maybe just a picture of the gym, if your early AM face isn’t a beautiful as mine. HAH! Kidding.) and B) a picture of the stats on your watch/your sweaty face/your bike helmet hair post-exercise.

Example #1. Yay for early AM biking! And helmet hair!

That helps a little, right? Still motivates you to get up because you know someone is counting on getting that picture, and someone else is out there getting their sweat on. You’ll probably feel pretty guilty if you’re still in bed, right? Right.

As for the past few days in my world…

I’ll start off with the good news:

I joined a gym around the corner from my office and I completed my first lunchtime workout today! Let me tell you, I feel so refreshed and productive for getting a little exercise in in the middle of my day. I almost felt like I was doing something wrong…I’m not usually in a gym at noon on a Monday. I kept thinking, “Isn’t there somewhere I’m supposed to be?! Like eating pizza at my desk or something?!”

Nope. I soaked up every last minute of my hour lunch break.

I biked for 20 minutes while I read the book “You Are An Ironman” by Jacques Steinberg. SO GOOD! It follows six “weekend warriors” on their quest to finish Ironman Arizona 2008. It’s unbelievably inspiring. (On the train this morning I had to stop right when the participants woke up on race morning. I’ve been dying to read more all morning.) I then did some arm lifts, foam rolled, and viola! A productive lunch hour. It wasn’t much and I definitely need to do more tonight, but I’m proud that I was able to fit in some extra activity. My flabby arms are excited that they hopefully won’t be so flabby much longer.

Random note:

“Blow Pro Faux Dry” dry shampoo works wonders! Baby powder actually works in your sweaty hair too. Stock up. (How attractive am I talking about sweaty hair? I know, very!)

Fab. Makes life so much easier.

Another tidbit of fabulous news: Brendan ran with me again on Saturday morning! We hit the track early and did a combination of run/walking for a total of 3 miles. We also added in some plyometric exercises after each lap or two. We did sets of pushups, tricep dips, and planks with arm lifts. As always, I loved working out with him, although I think he hates my drill sergeant style when working out together. I need to work on that so he doesn’t run far, far away from me.

Maybe I’ll invite “replacement Brendan” next time, too.

Post-run we split the best sandwich in the entire world. I would have taken a picture if I hadn’t eaten my half in less than a minute. Seriously, ask him. Less than a minute. Turkey, avocado, honey mustard, soft bread. I think there was bacon on there. Glorious. Ahh I’m drooling. The rest of the weekend involved lots of friends and fun and buying of crock-pots. (Send me your favorite crock pot recipes, pretty please!)

Bad news:

I had the worst run I think I’ve ever had in my entire life on Friday. Unless I’ve just blocked out all my other horrible runs (which is very likely) I’d like to nominate Friday’s 8 miles as the “Worst Run Ever”.

This picture actually isn’t even from Friday, but this is how I felt. Yikes. Just giving you photos to blackmail me with in the future, I suppose. 

I’m about 90% sure that Philly will be my Fall marathon of choice. Since it occurs a little later in November than most marathons (like NYC) I’m still about 20 weeks out, but I created a training plan and am pumped to get started and slowly work my way back into marathon shape as to prevent injury this time around.

Oh my NYC Marathon medal! How did this photo get in here?

I decided to do my “long run” on Friday because I went out of town for the weekend and didn’t want to worry about it later.

Luckily I was able to leave work at 1pm. It was humid and warm, but not unbearable because the sun was covered by clouds. After a fairly uneventful 3.5-4 miles, I gradually started to notice a burning sensation in my chest that felt suspiciously like heartburn. Now, I never really get heartburn so I’m not positive that’s what it was. (If it wasn’t, I probably have bigger problems to worry about, right?! Yikes.) I started feeling more and more uncomfortable; like there was a little ball of fire right in the center of my chest. I remembered I ate an apple right before heading out the door. I usually have a banana with peanut butter, but all I had in my house to accompany my peanut butter was an apple.

BAD NEWS.

I mean, I’m assuming that’s the culprit. Although I have eaten apples before running before. But today, it was no bueno. (Another reason not to try new things on race day!)

So there I was, right smack in the middle of a big loop. I stopped to walk for a minute with every intention of starting back up again. However, every time I started to run again, I felt horrible. I’m pretty sure I walked 3.5 of the last 4 miles. I felt miserable not only physically but mentally. I’m not even sure I can count it as an 8 mile run. (What do you think?) It took me SO LONG and all I could think about was Gatorade and a shower and not moving anymore. Once I was home and hydrated, I was golden again.

So, what can I do better next time?

Stick with pre-approved foods.

One of my favs on longer runs! Yum.

I think I’m getting to an age where my body isn’t just like “whatever” anymore. There were times in college that I would go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant with friends at 7pm, eat a burrito and chips, and then go for a run at 9pm and be fine. I’m totally serious. (On The Border anyone? Man we loved that place!) How terrible does that sound right now? What a model athlete I was.

So what have I learned? I’M GETTING OLD. Sigh. Let’s pretend my birthday isn’t coming up in two weeks.

I wonder if the timing honestly had anything to do with it. I ran in the middle of the day, after sitting at work and after lunch. My diet was definitely less than ideal that day; pretty sure I had pizza for lunch. Don’t tell anyone. That whole combination definitely didn’t help matters. When I run at night it’s usually pre-dinner, which I’m guessing is why I don’t have so many issues then.

As I’m still learning, nutrition is key! We all know this. Abs are made in the kitchen, remember? I need to review my “Foods for Marathoners” book apparently.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?

P.S. Check out my guest post about dealing with injury over at Lora’s blog, Crazy Running Girl!