Liz Runs the Mile High City

Redline 13.1 Westminster: Race Recap

lizruns — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 01:23:45 +0000

It took me a while to get this race recap up. April is a CRAZY month, including two sets of visitors coming to Denver, a business trip for Neil, planning and attending my cousin’s bachelorette party in NYC and peak marathon training. My cousin’s bachelorette is the day after my last long run and I plan to refuel appropriately with alcohol.

Anytime I do a race for fun, I find myself fantasizing about PR’ing in the days leading up to the race. Even if I am not sufficiently trained, I dream that the pieces will magically fall in place and I’ll have the perfect race.

Before my last marathon, I incorporated a half marathon into my training. I had an awesome race and knew I wanted to do a race during this training cycle as well. So on April 7th I swapped my scheduled training run (12 miles with 6 miles at goal pace) with the Redline Westminster 13.1.

Needless to say, I was hoping I would PR in this race. The race turned out to be a good decision for completely different reasons (Spoiler alert: I didn’t even come close to a PR!).

This was one of the smallest races I have ever done – less than 200 hundred people. The race director told us some details about the course before yelling “go!” and we were off. The first few miles I ran quickly on adrenaline and a slightly downhill incline. But as soon as I hit the first uphill incline at around mile 3-4 (not even steep enough to call a hill), my legs felt fatigued and a little bit sore.

At first, I was a little bit appalled that I could feel tired a few miles into a race in the midst of marathon training. But then I thought back to my last long run from the weekend before. It was 20 miles and by far the hardest training run I’ve done. Ever.

I felt like I had run a marathon after all those hills.

It also probably didn’t help that the day beforehand I went on a ~3-4 mile hike with my family and then spent the afternoon on my feet cooking for Passover.

My confidence was slowly but surely leaving me with every fatigued step I took. But then I realized something: 13.1 miles at goal pace on tired legs is a much better indication of my ability to execute my plans on marathon day.

With that re-evaluation, I decided to slow down, enjoy the beautiful scenery and just make sure to finish in under 2 hours.

I’m happy to say I accomplished this goal and actually felt pretty good about myself. My pace was all over the place (I took walking breaks at mile 6 and 10 to eat my Gu and dealt with a few parts with headwinds), but I felt strong at the end.

For now, I’m focusing on my marathon next month. But watch out half PR – I’m coming to get you in the fall.

Life Update

lizruns — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:09:43 +0000

Last night I had insomnia and I found myself wanting to blog for the first time in a while. I’m not sure if anyone out there is still reading – but I think moving forward I will blog every now and then, especially after races. After all, I’m not sure if I would still be running marathons if the support from this blog hadn’t carried me through the rough times. And I’m terrible at keeping in touch with people, so at least my friends and family will know I’m alive and well.

I’m still pinching myself that our move to Denver turned out so well. I hope Neil isn’t getting annoyed by the fact that I declare my love for Denver on a daily basis. Some of the reasons I’m happier has nothing to do with Denver, but life changes in general (much better job, much safer neighborhood). Some of the reasons are completely thanks to Denver (the people, the views, the weather, the mountains and parks, the running club). I think we’ll be staying here for a while.

A good job really does make life better. I always thought to myself, a job is just a job. I thought it wasn’t a driving force in my overall happiness. But now that I have a job that I look forward to going to, I realize how much of an impact my job has on my quality of life. Also, I learned that nice and pleasant co-workers and bosses make a HUGE difference. I look back and wonder how I dealt with a negative culture for so long.

Marathon training has had some rough patches, but I’m finally getting faster and more confident. This has been the hardest, yet most rewarding, marathon training cycle yet. I’m currently in week 4 of the speed phase of training. The first few weeks of marathon training were pretty depressing as I adjusted to the altitude. Then when speed training kicked in, I really struggled to mentally push myself. In the last week, things seemed to have clicked finally. I had an amazing interval workout this week. It wasn’t easy – it’s not supposed to be – but I knew I would hit my paces. My goal pace workouts have gotten increasingly easier. I’m about to start my peak month with my first 20 miler on Saturday.

However, I think I’m ready for a break. Right now, I’m signed up for my first 70.3 in August. I’m on the fence if I will actually do this race. Like I said, this marathon training cycle has been hard because I’m really pushing my limits. If I do this tri, I will have no break after marathon training, which means 8 months of intense training. That really isn’t me. I also want to spend the summer exploring my new home, with lots of hikes and trips to breweries. I’ll make a decision on this post-marathon.

Leela is happily adjusting to her new life. We’ve had Leela for almost 2.5 years and HER SEPARATION ANXIETY HAS FINALLY SEEN SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS. Sorry, but I had to scream that because it is a really big deal. We can actually go out on weekday evenings without feeling guilty. Maybe the move finally showed her that we will always take her with us and we will always come home? Or maybe she has just gotten ~~older and wiser~~ less hyper. We have an amazing dog walker who writes the best notes for us every day – they are so good that we started a blog about Leela! Yes, I’ve officially transitioned into crazy dog lady.

Five Things Friday

lizruns — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:03:53 +0000

I haven’t had much motivation to blog lately. I’m not sure what it is, since this marathon training cycle isn’t more or less exciting than the other ones. I guess I’m a little bored of writing about running. I also don’t have as much time to read other blogs because of my new job, so I guess I feel disconnected from the community. I’m thinking about starting another blog without a running focus because I do love having an online journal.
Goal pace runs make me happy. I get a lot of confidence from each of these runs. Last weekend, I had a 12 miler with 6 miles at goal pace. Another girl at run club was doing the same workout and we pushed each other through. That made yesterday’s run – 5 miles with 2 at goal pace – seem like a piece of cake.
My best friend Lauren and her fiancé Dave are on their way into town. This means a guaranteed awesome weekend. At our post-elopement wedding reception they performed a rap for us instead of a toast, so you know they are cool. I’m counting down the minutes.
As marathon training ramps up, I get more scared of injury. We’re going skiing this weekend. The more time I invest in marathon training, I’m less and less willing to risk injuring myself on the slopes. Plus I have a constant paranoia about shin pain from my stress fracture, and ski boots always make my shins achy. I think I will be spending more time drinking bloody mary’s than actually skiing this time around.
Vega is offering a free trial of their Sports System on their site! Hurry up because it says limited supplies. And go!

The Cross-Training Corner

lizruns — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:07:06 +0000

In the last month I’ve been in a really good place with running. I’m running more days a week than I used to – 4 days instead of 3. The good runs far outnumber the bad and I’m starting to get my speed back. (Knocking on wood so I don’t get injured tomorrow).

However, I’ve definitely put cross-training on the back burner. Last week I ran 37 miles (more than usual for this stage of marathon training because I did my long runs on a Sunday and then the following Saturday) and NO cross-training!

I’ve been here before and I’m sure some of you have. Usually I end up slacking on strength training at some point during marathon training, but certainly not so early in the game. So I’ve decided to make it as easy as possible for me to keep up cross-training.

I set up a workout space in a room we now lovingly refer to as the gym-slash-library.

With my iPad, I can watch TV and movies on my bike trainer. I also upgraded to the paid version of Workout Trainer, so I’ve been following up with a strength training workout after I hop off the bike.

This week was much better for cross-training. This week I ran 25 miles (4 runs), and did 2 trainer rides and 2 strength training sessions. It is pretty depressing how fast my upper body muscles get weaker when I don’t make the time to strength train. Not dying during strength workouts = motivation to keep up with this routine.

Kill the Hills

lizruns — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:31:03 +0000

I’ve been incorporating hill workouts into every week of marathon training this time around. Since hills are painful, I downloaded some new tunes for some extra motivation.

I call this playlist “Kill the Hills” and I may or may not say that motto in my head on really tough inclines.

The Show Goes On by Lupe Fiasco
Part of Me by Katy Perry
Rack City by Tyga
Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson
Ni**as in Paris by Kanye West & JAY Z
We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris) by Rihanna
I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston
Young, Wild & Free (feat. Bruno Mars) by Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
Strange Clouds (feat. Lil Wayne) by B.o.B
Lights by Ellie Goulding
Domino by Jessie J
Dance (A$$) [Remix] (feat. Nicki Minaj) by Big Sean
Halo by Beyoncé
Devil Wouldn’t Recognize You by Madonna
Beat Goes On by Madonna Feat. Kanye West
The Boy Is Mine (Duet with Brandy) by Monica
If It’s Lovin’ That You Want by Rihanna
Date Rape by Sublime

I randomly found “The Boy is Mine” in my massive music folder and couldn’t resist some old school jams! I can remember when that video was on all the time.

What are your favorite old school songs to workout to?

A Weekend of Walking

lizruns — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:50:05 +0000

I’m coming off of another great Denver weekend. This one was made great by having our first visitors – my mom and dad.

When my mom found out I was moving to Denver, she pretty much bought plane tickets immediately. I’m close to both of my parents, so I’m happy they were able to make it out. I’m also happy they are both in great shape because we were very active for a winter weekend. Before they arrived, I started off Saturday morning with a 14 mile training run with Runner’s Edge.

After picking up my parents from the airport, we went to the biggest dog park known to man.

(My parents weren’t the only visitor – recognize this face?)

Then we walked all around downtown Denver and ended the night with an amazing meal at Bittersweet. My legs were dying by the end of the day though.

Sunday was more walking: another long dog walk around Sloan’s lake, walking and shopping around Boulder, and a walk around our neighborhood.

Today, we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park for snowshoeing! We were supposed to take a guided tour, but it was cancelled because of high winds. We decided to head up anyways. It was very, very windy and at first I wasn’t sure if we should be driving on windy mountain roads. But it ended up being a great time.

I can’t wait to go again, but maybe we’ll wait for mild weather.

I also can’t wait for more visitors, because they got us moving all weekend and seeing parts of Denver we hadn’t seen. Do visitors get you out of your shell?

Slowpoke

lizruns — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 02:41:58 +0000

I can’t imagine running without my Garmin. I’ve had it for over 2 years and it has made marathon training so much easier. I love being able to head out my door without an exact route and hit whatever mileage I need to hit.

However, since I’ve moved to Denver I’m a little less in love with my Garmin. Mainly because I can easily look back at all my runs and see that I’m running much much slower these days.

One of the reasons I like long-distance running (and probably a reason I haven’t been getting much faster) is that I prefer to run at a comfortable pace. On top of that, I’m actually following the guidelines to run my long runs at 1-1.5 minutes slower than goal pace.

As a result, here is a depressing look at my 12 mile run 2 weeks ago, compared to some 12 milers at sea level.

This morning, I had a 4 mile run on the schedule with 2 miles at goal pace. I was nervous that I have gotten slower and that my goal pace would be tough.

I’m happy to report that running faster was not only easy, but fun. I tried not to look at my Garmin too much and just zoned out to my music. I ended up running a little faster than goal pace, but it was worth it for the much needed confidence boost.

One of my favorite things about marathon training is that it empowers you and makes you feel stronger with each run. Next up to make me feel better – long runs with more miles at goal pace.

My Favorite Fitness Apps

lizruns — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:45:41 +0000

I know, I know. This post has been done before. But it hasn’t been done by me about my favorite apps. So here it goes.

My Fitness Pal (Apple & Android)

Official description from website: Now you can log your food and exercise wherever and whenever you’d like – even if you can’t get to a computer. With our mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7, your MyFitnessPal account is always at your finger tips. All our apps work with our website and have access to the same comprehensive database of over 1,469,000 foods and restaurant items. Any changes you make on your phone will be synchronized to the web and vice versa — so you always have complete and up-to-date access to your account

When I was packing up the old house, living at my parents’ for a week, then moving across the country I knew my eating would be out of whack. Add onto that the holiday season, I decided to start tracking my calories using this handy app.

Now that things have settled down I’m still using it. At first, it was because I had lost a few pounds using it. Now that I’m in marathon training, it’s hard to know when I’m eating too much and when I’m not eating enough, so it is a very helpful tool.

I like the app because it syncs across my computer, phone and iPad and has every food imaginable in it.

p.s. If you’re on My Fitness Pal, my user name is lizrunsdc if you want to friend me! Or just make fun of me when I come home from work hungry and dive headfirst into a bag of Tostitos leftover from the Superbowl.

Seconds Free (Apple)

Official description from website: Seconds Pro is the ultimate fitness timer available for the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad allowing you to create and save fitness timers for HIIT, Tabata, Circuit Training and more. Seconds Pro provides limitless flexibility, while maintaining a simple, stylish and easy to use interface.

Remember that time there was over a foot of snow and I was trapped in the house? Well this app made designing a workout a breeze.

I decided to include Neil in a circuit workout. I just entered the exercises I wanted to do into the app and the length of time for each. We did each exercise for one minute, and did the circuit twice. You can add time in between moves to rest. It was cool because the audio would tell you what was exercise was coming next. The only problem with the free app is that it doesn’t save your past workouts.

Workout Trainer (Apple & Android)

Official description from website: Get in shape with workouts coached by expert personal trainers! Just in time for 2012 are Workout Programs that help you achieve your fitness goals.

Do you ever just want someone to tell you what to do but don’t want to shell out the money for a personal trainer?

This app has a ton of free workouts. They are guided by an animated personal trainer and have videos showing each move. If you pay, you can get access to more workouts and the videos have a real, human personal trainer guiding them instead.

It also keeps track of all the workouts you have completed, which is cool if you want to add notes and track your progress.

I am really loving this app for nighttime weight training, when I’m too tired to be creative on my own.

As you can probably tell, I really only download free apps. I’m sure there are better ones out there if you are willing to pay up. Next on my download list, the new Map My Run app for a Garmin back-up.

What are your favorite fitness apps?

Sushi & Skiing

lizruns — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:44:50 +0000

This weekend was a great one. I met a bunch of Colorado bloggers on Friday night:

From left to right: Heather, Courtney, Lynne, Tiffany, Lauren, me and Heidi. Picture stolen from Tiffany.

We went for sushi happy hour and then to see The Vow. Now you know I must have wanted to meet these girls to see a romance movie….but I made sure to warn everyone that I have the same taste in movies as 15 year old boys, so they couldn’t hold it against me if I laughed at them when they cried. {In all seriousness, it wasn’t so bad. You get to see Channing Tatum’s ass at least}

Hopefully that will be the first of many meet-ups – blogging is a great way to meet people.

Saturday was my first day of Colorado skiing. Neil and I went with Lauren and Phil and had a blast.

I haven’t skied in about 10 years and amazingly I didn’t fall. (I’m also extra cautious/slow because I don’t like falling so don’t be impressed).

We went to Arapahoe Basin, where the views were amazing and we could enjoy beer between runs.

Sunday was wrapped up with a 10 mile run with Erin and Lauren. I’m glad I had a running date because it was 9* when I woke up and I was in no mood to run and/or get out of bed. Erin took us on a trail run through Boulder. Views included mountains, lots of cute pups and a cow that decided to block our path while giving us the evil eye. That’s not something you see every day. It was gorgeous, but way harder than road running. Now I know how Erin is so speedy. Maybe that will rub off on me?

Wordless Wednesday: It’s cold out

lizruns — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:38:25 +0000