"Unofficially" Training

First of all, I'd like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have donated towards my Team In Training fundraising effort! I am very grateful for each and every donation.

I woke up at 5am on Saturday for my first unofficial training run with the TNT group. The run didn't start until 6:30am, but I needed two cups of espresso before heading out the door. The Arizona team has two training groups. One in the East Valley and one in the West Valley. I met with the East Valley group in Gilbert and ran a 4.5 mile loop south on the canal from Lindsay and Guadalupe to Warner, which was the turnaround point. I recorded the route with my Garmin Forerunner 205.



A little background about the Forerunner. I work at a company that designs high-sensitivity GPS receivers that you will find in several consumer products, including the Garmin Forerunner. A group of us from work started hiking the trails at South Mountain in October 2006. We never really knew what trail we were on or how far we went. And since we work for a GPS company, there's no reason for us to get lost hiking at South Mountain! So to support the economy and increase our product sales, I bought the Garmin Forerunner 205 for $250 at REI. Yes, I know one purchase isn't going to send our stock price soaring, but that's how I justified spending over $100 on a luxury item. It's very cool though. I have my Forerunner display set up to show the pace, distance, length of workout and current time. At the end of the day, I upload the data to my computer and can get plots with our distance, elevation gain (really cool when hiking), pace and speed at each position of the workout. I can also upload the data to motionbased.com, which will provide the Google Earth kml file. This helps us to see the trail we hiked and scope out any others we'd like to try next time.

Back to running... There were about 20 walkers/runners in our Team In Training group. We talked about hats, hydration belts, and socks. The best accessory to long distance running is the fuel belt (www.fuelbelt.com). It doesn't bounce as much as the Camelback, and I found out that the Camelback will trap body heat as you run. This isn't much of an issue in the wintertime, but is definitely a problem during the summer months in Phoenix. We also talked about Bodyglide to avoid chafing during running (like from shorts, straps, any place where your body constantly rubs while running). I've never had a problem with chafing in all of the running that I've done, but then again I've never attempted 26 miles. Maybe Bodyglide will help me run faster! Wishful thinking.

I ran with Joshua who is training for the Maui Marathon in September. I had a bit of a muscle twinge in my left hamstring from a previous run, and I was worried how it would go at the group run. It turned out not to be a problem once I warmed up. As suggested by our coach, we tried to keep conversation going throughout the run to increase lung capacity. It seemed to make the time go by a little faster. Our average pace was 10:26min/mi. My goal is to finish the marathon under 4 hours, so I will have to pick up the pace a bit. This was a short run too, it'll be interesting to see if I could keep a 9:30-10min/mi pace during the 10-13mile runs.

I also met Amy, my TNT mentor (and a UNM alumni I would like to add!). She is running in the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon on June 3, 2007. What's interesting about Amy is that she was not a runner before joining the Team In Training group and now she is on her third marathon. It's inspiring to know that you don't have to be running your entire life to be a marathoner. Good luck Amy!

It was a lot of fun, I'm looking forward to the next run!

How it all got started...

I haven't always been a runner. I was a chubby kid that watched Scooby-Doo and ate ice cream after school. As I got older, my weight would swing between being really fit to being really fat... It was only until I finished college that I really started taking care of my health. My health-conscious attitude started with the yearly blood test required by my health insurance. The results of my first test opened my eyes. I had a cholesterol level > 200 and I don't even want to talk about my triglycerides. I thought my blood test would come out excellent, I weight train 6 days a week, have protein shakes after each workout, drink green tea, there could never be anything wrong with ME, never! But something was wrong with what I was doing, so I started to think about what I was eating and how I was working out.

I needed more cardio, that was for sure, and running was convenient. Tons of treadmills in the gym, I could choose any one of them, any time of the day. I was determined and driven, I decided I will start with 5 miles on the treadmill. Ha! Not that easy, who was I kidding! After a week of achy legs, feet and stomach muscles, I decided 1.5 miles would be good enough. Plus if it took 25 minutes to do this, I'm ok with it just as long as I didn't stop.

Fast forward to January 2006. The marathon craze started. Everyone was asking me if I would do the P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll half marathon. No way! I could never run 13 miles, especially since I am so slow, it would take me all day! But my inspiration came from a lady at work who lost 30 pounds all in preparation for the race. She wasn't interested in anything other than accomplishing the goal. I was so impressed by her determination and courage to do this on her own. I made myself a promise that I would do the P.F. Chang's half marathon in 2007, no excuses.

Then the serious challenge began. Ok, so now I REALLY need to do 5 miles on the treadmill. I still didn't care about my time, not really interested on being first to the finish line, I just didn't want to stop. Five miles was not easy. It took one hour to do it, and I would have to take walking breaks. Almost every day in 2006 I got on the treadmill, logging 3, 4, or 5 miles at a time (I have to say, I love my TRUE treadmill). I had a few long runs, nothing to brag about, not even on a blog.

Then the day of reckoning. P.F. Chang's Rock and Roll Half Marathon, January 2007. It was bitterly cold in Phoenix that weekend. Record lows and rain the day before the race. I was not prepared, luckly my boyfriend bought me a long sleeve running shirt at the Expo. I was filled with anxiety as we waited to start, shaking from head to toe. I don't know if I was shaking because it was cold or because I was afraid that I couldn't finish. I was also nervous that the people behind me would be pissed that I was so slow! Then the race started. By the time I knew it, one mile came up and we saw the first band. I was excited, people were cheering us on and I was passing other runners at a comfortable pace. Then three miles, six miles (still excited), 10 miles! I stopped a couple of times to tie my shoe (you would have thought that I would have figured out the double knot the first time). By the eleventh mile, my legs were numb, I heard a couple of young girls scream, "just two more miles!". Two miles? I can do that! But my right knee was killing me, my hip flexor was screaming and it took all the energy I had to push myself those last two miles. Then I crossed the finish line. I can't believe I did it.

Then reality hits. Oh, the pain! My hip flexor was in serious pain, I couldn't put any pressure on my knee. I just wanted to transport home (for Star Trek fans). Beam me up, get me out of here! The parking maps sucked and I had to walk another 3 miles to get to my car. I was freezing by then, the temperature was 45F when I finished, all I wanted was some heat. But I was still floating from finishing 13.1 miles. Wow, what a feeling!

I couldn't run a mile a week after the race. I tried massage therapy, yoga, glucosamine. Three weeks after the race, I could hardly sit or walk because my right knee was killing me. This sucks! What do I do now? I didn't want to hear cross training because I didn't want to bike or swim, I wanted to run! I started acupuncture at the Southwest Center for Oriental Medicine in Phoenix with Sherri Taylor. Oh, it is so awesome. I'll have to do another post solely on my experience with acupuncture, but I have to say, my knee pain was virtually gone after my third session. Thank you Sherri!!

Five months later, I'm still running on the treadmill, but I started cross training with Patty, Jose, James and Raja by hiking and taking spinning class. Overall it's healed some of the imbalances I had in my legs. So now that I'm feeling better and injury free, I committed (yes I know, it's a scary thought) to run the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco (yup, 26.2 miles) with the Arizona Team In Training.

More to come, the challenge has started all over again...