Peachy Keen

Okay, so I am a bad blogger. But I promise I have a lot to say in this post!

Last weekend was somewhat eventful. After my 6ish mile bridge run downtown, I had a little calf pain on the left side, so I decided this was a good opportunity to get some new shoes: Nike Air Pegasus. I had always been under the impression that they only came in the trail model, but these are actually pretty sweet road shoes...

Also, I did a brick workout last Sunday - 750m of swimming followed by 40 minutes of biking (while watching Wimbledon - so happy Nadal won yesterday!). It was a pretty good workout that I would have liked to have followed with a run, but the rain and possibly my legs weren't going to allow that. But it was good to feel the transition from using my swimming muscles to my biking muscles. Overall, a very good workout for a Sunday afternoon!

Monday was boot camp, a nice strenuous workout followed by yoga, both of which were good for the craziness that was my work week. But I know nobody wants to hear about that. So I'll skip to the good stuff:

The Peachtree Road Race.

It was definitely the experience I was told it would be. And experience is definitely the word. The spectators were amazing - not just the folks working the water stops, but people with signs, posters, tshirts (including my mother and sister!), costumes, handing out watermelon, Flavor Ice, donuts, beer... and the really inspiring part was running up Cardiac Hill (which no matter how they bill it is nothing compared to the Hart Bridge from the Gate River Run) past the Shepherd Spinal Center and seeing everyone in their wheelchairs lining the road and cheering us on. They are the real heroes and incredibly inspiring. They had tons of sprinklers set up, and by the end of the race I was soaking wet! They even had an Episcopal priest sprinkling holy water! I made sure to cross myself just in case - I hadn't gotten to Cardiac Hill yet, I wasn't sure I'd make it! My time wasn't my best, but the experience was amazing! (Check out some aerial views here from the AJC. My official pictures are here.)

The weekend in Atlanta was great, too - I got to eat at some of my favorite places (Varsity and Henry's) and hang out with some of my favorite people - My mom, my sister, my stepdad, my brother, and my in-laws. Not to mention my very first trip to IKEA! (Words truly cannot describe its awesomeness...) And even though they lost, I still got to see my Braves play. (I promise that as soon as someone - anyone! - sends me some pictures, I will post them!)

So, that's my first post today. Now let me get some work done and I'll put up something that isn't in past tense!

Back By Popular Demand

I would love to say I haven't posted because I have been super busy, but I really haven't said anything because I haven't had anything to say. I know this is odd for me. However, when I stop to think about what I've been up to, maybe I have been busy. Oh well.

Monday night was boot camp and yoga. Led by someone who had been in the military and actually gone to boot camp, I was honestly expecting more of a workout. I mean, yeah, we ran a mile (with no walking, thank you!) in flight formation, but that really wasn't so bad. Especially since, hi, I'm a runner. Anyway, went to yoga afterwards then came home.

Tuesday I had planned on swimming, but the weather looked iffy, so I got on the bike instead. This was the first time I had really tried to get in an honest to God bike workout, not just trying to put in some form of cardio. I did 35 minutes on the "Alpine Pass" setting with the resistance somewhere between 6 and 8 (depending on how it felt and the bigger hills), and came out to about 15 miles. My quads were burning but it was so worth it! Afterwards, I had my lovely Polar body assessment... apparently, I am walking around in a 26 going on 31 year old body, with the possibility of going down to a 26 going on 20 year old body. I have great flexibility and nice calm blood pressure, but a horrible VO2 max and not a whole lot of strength. Between lifting weights, swimming, running, biking, and yoga, you'd think I was the most in shape person ever, but not so much.

Thursday, however, I think I might have met the most in shape person on the planet. Our boot camp instructor for the evening, Kaleigh, has to be the fittest person I have ever met. This girl could do mountain climbs, weights, and all the ab work in the world with her sunglasses still on her head and without breaking a sweat. This girl is unreal, the total picture of what healthy and in shape is supposed to look like. She's got to be like 22. I'll tell you right now that I wasn't in that good a shape at 22, and there's a pretty good likelihood that I never will be, even if the Polar assessment says it's possible. But it won't be for lack of trying.

I think the scale is finally catching up to my food intake. It is always kind of an eye-opener to see that you are carrying around 46 lbs of fat - makes you think about all the chicken wings, Zaxby's, brownies, and beer you're inhaling. And while I would love to chalk my 4 lb weight gain up to getting more muscle, I am pretty sure that's not the case. As much as I want to eat well, and have already mentioned that I run better when I do, I know that I go through phases where I am on a steady diet of junk. I try to blame it on PMS, but that only lasts a week and my junk food binges can go on for like two months. I am lucky I have low cholesterol and blood pressure and I need to enjoy it while it lasts, but more importantly I need to make it last longer and make it work for me while I am trying to work out, be healthier, and go the distance. And folks, nutritionists aren't kidding when they say that Diet Coke isn't good for you - one gulp will kill my craving for water all day. I just won't want it when I'm drinking soda - I just want more Diet Coke!

It's going to be hard to break these habits getting ready for Peachtree, but it's necessary. I am afraid to be dehydrated in the concrete jungle on the most crowded, scorching day of the year in Atlanta, and I am afraid that when combined with a low glycogen store from not enough good carbs, I am going to have a mental and possibly physical meltdown that will turn this lifelong dream into a grueling torture fest. I don't want that. I have looked forward to this so much and for so long that I don't want anything to ruin it. The same thing goes for the marathon - as we get closer and closer hydration and nutrition are going to become more and more of a performance factor for me. While I'm not trying to win any medals for finishing first, I am trying to go the distance with the least amount of misery involved. Why not prevent it by eating well, drinking water, and getting back on the wagon? So, after eating at three of my favorite North Georgia culinary empires - the Varsity, Henry's, and Buckner's - it really is going to be time to get serious. Again. For real. Finally. I just need a way to be held accountable. Any suggestions?

Getting ready for Peachtree is also going to involve some hill training. I want to charge up Cardiac Hill the same way I charged up the hills for the ING Atlanta 1/2, and since there aren't any hills in Northeast Florida to train on, we get to do the man-made variety - bridges. So, without further ado, here is my planned run for tomorrow, starting and ending at Panera so I can treat myself to a well-earned souffle: (*note, this isn't 100% exact, but it's darn close)

Hydration Nation

I was out of water bottles this morning, so in order to get a bottle I could run with (and I *always* run with at least one bottle), I downed half a small bottle of Gatorade G2 (huge fan). I was afraid this would upset my stomach but I didn't have any problems. I was actually a little more hydrated than usual, given that I didn't feel the need to hit the half water/half G2 nearly as much in the beginning as I usually do. I weighed myself before and after the run and was about the same, so I know I put back as much as I lost.

I go through phases where I drink a lot of water (like maybe four 24 oz bottles a day) and then I get back on the diet coke kick. As much as I have been talking about it lately, you can tell that I have been more on the DC than anything helpful. However, I know that when I have been drinking more water all week, I race better. And, apparently, I do better when I have been drinking before the race. So as I get closer to Peachtree, I am thinking about how hot it's going to be and how much I am going to have to drink in order to not be a heatstroke casualty in the concrete jungle.

Woo Hoo!

Today was great! I set out to do 2 miles but, you know, time just gets away from you when you're having a good run. It ended up being 2.7 miles. I was trying to do a run-walk-run ratio of 1-2-1, but it ended up being more like my usual 1-1-1 with a few 1-2-1 thrown in. My foot, my ankle, my legs, my spirit - everything felt great!

So I have no reservations of jumping back in, starting with the OES Run for the Pies on Saturday and, 23 short days (and 9 training runs!) from now, Peachtree.

Slow Going

So I do have a report for today - I ran.

Slowly.

My legs were just fine but apparently not working out for a month isn't good for your cardiac ability (surprise, surprise). But after walking a mile, I ran off and on for a few minutes, and it felt great. No pain at all. I was smiling the whole time.

Without further ado, Peachtree Road Race in four easy weeks. Wish me luck!

Undefeated.

So the ankle sucks. Ice is helping A LOT, and I think learning some stability poses in yoga will really help my ankle, as will P.T. (signed up to go on Friday!) I keep trying to think in terms of what's coming next, like the Peachtree, or Vegas... but then I read this.

Jerks.

I realize the message board is a bunch of people who are probably at the worst end of things - seemingly a bunch of surgery folks looking for someone to tell them anything - but when you read that some of them are never the same again, especially as distance running goes, it's really heartbreaking for me. I am taking that pretty hard. And I know that those people are different than I am, and mine may not be as bad, and I may not have to have the surgery, or I might and it'll be good as new, but between my being impatient and my ability to latch onto the worst case scenario, I'm just not excited.

However, let's keep in mind here the things I CAN do.

Bike.
Yoga.
Weights.
Swim.

All things I enjoy, even if they are just distractions from what I really want to be doing. I just can't let the defeatist attitude get a hold of me.

Destination: Atlanta (again)

When I was about 12 or 13, I had this obsession with entering contests in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I actually won three of them. One was the elusive Peachtree Road Race entry. Now, clearly I entered these for the satisfaction of winning, not the acutal prize. But when I got my number I was dead set on being able to run - only I was one of those sedentary, Oreo-eating, watching Brady Bunch reruns after school kind of kids; overweight and not remotely athletic. I couldn't run 100 yards, let alone 6.2 miles up two large hills downtown. I played fullback on the soccer team because it required the least amount of running (and the most amount of tackling, which is why I was so good).

My, how times have changed. That was half my life ago, folks.

This year is different: Billy and I both got accepted into the race via the lottery system. And finally, 13 years and countless miles later, I will lace up my favorite Nikes on July 4th and run the Peachtree Road Race.

Bring it on.