The Incredible Shrinking Krista

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sheer Joy and excitement...

So I keep asking myself if I REALLY think I can do this, train for a half marathon and run 2 in 3 months.  Do I really have it in me?  Can I really finish in under 3 1/2 hours as is required by the Princess Half Marathon pace?  Am I setting myself up to fail?!?!

Well, here's what I figured out....The minimum pacing requirement for the Princess Half Marathon is 16 minutes/mile and maintaining that for the entire 13.1 miles.  So, I felt like I was incredibly slow at the 5k, and was wondering how far I had to go to get up to pace for the Princess. 

So, I decided to go look at my splits for the Diva Girl's 5k.  According to the results website, My average was 16:50/mile at the Diva, this was with no training at all.  I set a goal for a pace of 17min/mile, and beat that by 10 seconds/mile, which doesn't sound like much, but it worked, and it is a HUGE success in my book.  So, basically, in order to be able to meet the pacing requirements, I need to shave 50seconds per mile off my pace, and I have 9 months to do that.  I feel like this is COMPLETELY do-able. 

So--I usually hold off on setting goals for anything other than finishing until the day of the race, knowing where I am physically and mentally.  How well I have trained, etc.  I am NOT going to get wrapped up in success or failure of the mission being based on time, but in a perfect world, I'd like to finish the Battleship Half in 2:45 on November 4, and then maybe finish the princess in 2:30.  These are pretty lofty goals right now, and I'm aware of that.  I have always said that people will rise to the expectations you set for them, so I'm setting my expectations high and shooting for the stars.

Krista

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

1st day of training

So, I went to the gym tonight and started my training for the Princess half marathon.  It was tough, and I must say again, how much I HATE the treadmill.  I can't decide if it is the lack of control I have, and not being able to speed up and slow down w/o pushing buttons, distractions, tv's, and all that jazz.  I'd rather just be able to walk when I can walk, run when I want to run, jog when I want to jog, etc.  I had planned on doing 45 minutes on the treadmill and only made it just under 30 minutes.  I burned 532 calories in my workout.  I will be doing cross training tomorrow, jogging again on Friday, and then a "long" run on Sunday (only 3 miles).  I'm on my way to the princess, and the Battleship Half Marathon in November.  I'm going to do this.  There is NO stopping me!!

Krista

Monday, May 28, 2012

Let the excitement begin...

So, I need to start training this week for my half marathon that will happen in the first weekend of November.  I am hoping to finish it in around 3 hours, and doing a run walk ratio of 2:1 for the entire half marathon.  I find myself typically starting out jogging longer than that, and it causes me to get more worn out and I don't have the endurance to continue that.  I'm going to be getting 2 things when I get paid this week to help me, the 1st will be the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run timer, so it lets me know when I need to jog and when I need to walk.  I'm also going to get a hydration belt I think.  I don't like carrying my water during my longer walks/runs, so a hydration belt would be nice.  I also have noticed that I tend to want water on courses at the times where there is no water stop.  I'll be jogging/walking for 45 minutes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, doing long runs for a specific distance on Saturdays.  I am also going to be doing some cross-training, and getting my endurance and cardio increased. 

The other thing I am seriously considering and reading up on is looking at the Primal Blueprint for eating.  So far it has been pretty interesting, and I have heard people say that with PCOS it is the best thing to do.  The doctor that will be doing my surgery next month has recommended it highly with my PCOS and says it really is the best thing to do for my body.  I've just started reading it, and it is really kind of a common sense approach, more than a "diet".  I need to finish the book before I make any specific decisions.  I'm hoping that the training, cross-training, and increased activity will help me get this weight off and I will run the half in November at just under 200#, then run the princess at around 160#. 

I appreciate your reading, your encouraging comments and your support! 

Krista

Saturday, May 26, 2012

injury update

Well--after my slow recovery from the Princess Half marathon 2 miles I had gone to an orthopedist who suggested I have surgery on my ankle to "clean it out" which would sure-up the tendons and ligaments in my ankle and also get rid of the bone chips and things from the years of repeated ankle sprains, etc.  He said that it was totally up to me, but I felt tlike this would be the only way to get my ankle to cooperate with my fitness goals and running goals. 

This past weekend though, I ran the Girls 5k at the North Myrtle Beach Diva Half Marathon, and my ankle was pretty sore after I finished.  The difference was, I immediately iced my ankle, and iced it off-and-on all the way home that night.  I could barely walk all day Sunday, but when I woke up on Monday morning, My ankle was fine.  I had no pain, no swelling, no limp, NOTHING!!  I think this is going to be totally do-able, I'm just going to havae to wear my brace and ice my ankle after each exercise session.  I really don't want to have surgery if I don't have to, and it looks like I'm going to be able to avoid it. 

Running has been teaching more and more about myself, and I'm really enjoying the learning process.  I'm going to continue down this path, and I WILL finish the Princess Half Marthon in February.  I WILL do it in under 3-1/2 hours, and I will do it strong, and feeling good.  I've got this!!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Isn't it amazing

What the body can do, when you take your mind out of the driver's seat?  I started the 5k today, and it was truly the first race that I have ever started and had no one with me, no one to lean on, no one to encourage me, this one was ALL up to me.  I made sure my iPod was charged overnight so as to not have a repeat of the very boring, and uninspired Princess Half Marathon attempt with no tunes.  I decided at the beginning to make sure I was in teh very back of the pack when the race started.  You see, at the beginning of the Princess Half, I wanted to be in the front of my corral, my logic was sound (get as far ahead of the balloon ladies as possible), but the overwhelming sense of failure and solitude that rained down on me very quickly after crossing the start line was incredibly difficult to reconcile.  I can remember telling the guy on the bike who was encouraging me to catch the balloon lady that I was physically fine, but emotionally devastated.  That was the only way to describe how it felt to start at the front of my corral, knowing there were hundreds of runners behind me, and then get passed like I was standing still by nearly every, single one of them.  I decided on a different approach for today's race, and started myself in the very back, you see, that way, I knew no one was going to pass me.  I put my headphones on, and I started moving.  I was the one passing folks, not many, and not at the speed that I got passed, but I was in control.  I found myself jogging, and singing, and really enjoying this solitude.  The fact that this race happened on a Sunday morning, in one of my favorite of God's creations, the beach, didn't hurt either.  I called on God to get me strength and perserverance.  I was reminded of one of my favorite scriptures, which is VERY LOOSELY about running, Hebrews 12:1 which says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  The fact of the matter is, every single person out there running was running a different race.  We all had our own experiences, reasons, and justifications for what we were out there doing, but I really feel like fitness is the race that God has put before me. 

The first mile went really well, and I realized fairly quickly, that it isn't my joints (ankles, knees etc) that are keeping me from the running that I want to do, but my cardiovascular endurance.  My lungs are what gives out on me, each and every time.  So, I plan to embark on a rigorous schedule of swimming, running and other cardiovascular exercise to build up this endurance.  I felt pretty good after the first mile, and we were headed up a small hill where we got dumped back in with the half marathoners around their mile 4.5, our mile 1.5 I'm guessing.  After we saw the 1 mile mark for the 5k, we never saw another milemarker for the 5k'ers on the course.  I haven't decided yet whether this is a good or a bad thing, because I just kept going and thinking, "Have we really not gone 2 miles yet?!?!  Seriously?!?!  HOw is that possible?!?!?!  The fact was, we had gone 2 miles, and honestly, before I knew it, we had gone 3 miles, and some very sweet ladies were handing myself and some of the other runners/walkers (read turtles) our tiaras and boas so that we could finish the Diva in style.  I finished my 2nd 5k in 52:15, which is about 1 minute and 26 seconds slower than my last 5k, not a trend I intend to continue.  THe best part of today was that when I crossed the finish line, my VERY handsome and amazing husband was there waiting for me.  Probably a good thing I didn't see him until after I had my medal, my rose, my ginger ale and my bagel, because had I seen him approaching the finish line, I would have been a puddle of tears.  maybe my finishing photo won't be too bad, since I was able to hold it all together...who knows!

As I said above, I am going to be embarking on a training plan to build my cardiovascular endurance so that on November 4th, I can finish my first ever half marathon.  I am doing this in an attempt to get a good corral placement for the Princess Half Marathon next February.  In a perfect world, I'd like to finish in under 2 1/2 hours, but in reality, it is much more likely to be around 3 1/2 hours.  I am starting the couch-to-5k training plan, then picking up the Jeff Galloway half marathon training plan.  The Battleship half has a pace requirement of 4 hours, and a dedicated start for those that are going to walk, and it is an hour earlier than the runners...there's a nice switch. 

At any rate, another notch in the fitness journey belt...with many more to come.  I told my husband this weekend that it is my plan to get myself into shape, and then do 1 destination endurance race each year.  My bucket list of races is increasing, specifically, the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco (No medals in this race, just a tiffany necklace, handed to you by a firefighter in a tux), the NYC ING marathon, and the Goofy.  The Goofy is a Half marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday.  Oh--and in 3 years, the year that I turn 40, rather than celebrating with a trip to a far off beach resort to drink myself into oblivion like so many people I know, I fully intend to earn my Coast-to-Coast medal at Disney, which means I have to run a full or a half at Disney Land, and Disney World in the same calendar year...in orther words, 2 races, 3 medals....I like the sounds of that!!!

Until next time!

By the way, my favorite slogan I saw on a shirt today?  "A goal is nothing more than a dream with a finish line!"  I like that one, A LOT!!

Krista