And then there were 8…..DAYS

    
 

Marathon Training numbers 12/12/11-current 4/8/12

Running Miles 774.37
Swimming Miles-8.36
Biking Miles-67.32
Yoga-24 classes
Weight workouts-10
Massages-9
Spin classes-3
Pilates-2
Races-9 (8 running and 1 tri)

                As I sit down to start typing this it is hard to believe 17 weeks have gone by since I started this journey, well I take that back 2 years have almost gone by starting back to picking out my first marathon, training and completing Richmond to qualify to then start training for Boston on 12/12/11.  It was tough for me starting out going to a running only focused training plan as I have said in the past I am used to doing a lot of cross training and having a personal trainer.  I literally was caught with my phone in my hand several times thinking “I am just going to call, I have to go back to cross/strength training!” then the other voice in my head would say “do not do it, you promised yourself 18 weeks of following a running schedule, you will be so mad at yourself if you have a horrible race knowing you did not do what you set your intentions to do.”  This internal conflict along with a little whining to the hubs : ) occurred for most of January and February as I built my mileage, hit my workouts and trained regardless of the weather conditions and time of morning.  Then about the last day of February I had an epiphany, I picked up the phone and called William right away stating “oh my gosh I have 4 weeks of hard build up and 2 back off weeks and Boston will be here, gosh I am going to miss this.”  The moment I hung up the phone I promised myself to not worry about or think about all the “workouts I was missing” but to be so grateful for the workouts I was able to do with all the wonderful help and fellowship of friends that I have been running with.  Sitting here today still since that moment I have been grateful and have not thought nor said what I have not been doing and having fun with what I have been doing.

                I took some time today to go through my running journal and reflect upon my workouts, paces I have run and distances I have ran to build some confidence and be even surer of my training.  I started out planning to run with a friend of mine who is a little faster than me but also going to Boston, however, an injury left her sidelined at the end of January.  She had to run at 5am which I was doing to have her to run with.  When she called to say she was out per MD orders, I said to Wm I would train by myself that way I could go later and not have to be up so early.  Well that week mentally ended up being

awful.  I had a 10 miler on Monday, a 11 mile workout Tuesday followed by a 7 mile run with strides Wednesday then a 5 mile recovery run on Thursday.  Needless to say by Thursday I was sick of myself, sick of running and continued to think I bet it would feel better poking my eyes right now then running this 5 miler.  I was crushed and replayed the week to William and a friend of ours Rick on Saturday’s run of that week as we did the Columbia Marathon preview run course as part of my first 20 miler.  Rick as those of you from Columbia know is an excellent even pace runner and ambassador for the running community.  He had mentioned that he was signed up for his 31^st marathon at the end of April and would be happy to do some training runs/workouts together.  Rick has been a godsend to me the last 2 and half months, we have shared many workouts and miles of smiles and I have had a lot of time to pick the marathon pro’s brain.

                Going through my running journal today allowed me to reflect upon just a few of my favorite runs/workouts over the past 17 weeks although honestly, I loved them all.  When I get to the start line in Hopkinson I will think of lyrics from my favorite singer Kenny Chesney as he said it best as to how I will be feeling at that moment. “Yeah, I hit walls and I wanted to quit. I picked myself up but the truth is I didn't get here alone. That road's just too rough and long, I might be the one the spotlight's on but I know I did not get here alone.”

Memorable runs-

12/24/11-13 miles on Erie Canal path in NY with Wm. 8 at MP (we were a little fast as it was cold!)  24 degrees and snow packed trail.

1/4/12-10 miles with Jen from Irmo Dam to Broad River Road and back.  19 degrees, 4:50am only people in sight out that morning. 19 degrees in Columbia is cold.  We ran over the instate to Broad River which the traffic at that point is horrible.  Jen almost tripped, a truck kind of swerved towards us then coming back towards the Dam I fell.  Yes, this is the reason I do not trail run, I fell road running!  I ripped my tights at the knee, ripped 3 layers of tops at the elbow and ripped both my gloves.  Thank goodness for a lot of clothes because I just scuffed up some skin and we had a lot of laughs.

1/20/12-5 mile recovery at 5am at the YMCA with my brother in law in NY.  My family made  sure I got in all my workouts and had a place to run while home for my niece’s birthday.  This gave me the evening after we watch Olivia all day to frost cupcakes with my sister for her party.

2/25/12-22 miler with Rick and using LRAH as tempo run at MP for 6.2 miles of our 22.

3/22-3/26/12-Boat track workouts with the hubs where 11 laps equaled a mile, we still got in 22 miles while gone on our cruise we also explored a State Park when we got back to the terminal for a 9 mile run.

3/27/12-my last 20 miler was scheduled for 3/25/12 however, we were in the Bahamas for the hubs big 4 0 therefore, I was puzzled going into the cruise how/when I was going to get that 20 miler in.  I emailed Rick for guidance and he suggested 3/27 the next morning that we would be back to have my last 20 miler about 3 weeks out.  I wrote back to thank him and also let him know that I would be in contact with him about how/where I was going to do run before work then we could share some miles together.  He wrote back that he would meet me, he had a course, he would do all 20 and to have a good trip.  Who does that?  What a friend!

Well that was just a few of my runs I have had over the past 17 weeks.  I could write about every workout I had and all the memory I created however, this entry would be way too long and I have them all in my running journal.  Looking back, I owe to it myself, my family, my husband, my friends, the guys who have ran 100’s of miles with me over the past 17 weeks to go into this race and do the best I can and to give the course all I have.  I will let me goals be known with of course first and foremost to finish and have appreciation for the ability to run, however, I feel that is a given so A goal, 3:27, B goal sub 3:30 and C goal sub 3:35 to re qualify.  I do not know what will happen nor would I change anything about the past 17 weeks even after I know the outcome next week. “Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart.  Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise.”  RUN HAPPY-K

New Year, New Month, New Goals-Month Review

Monthly Numbers-
Running Miles 200.54
Swimming Miles-4
Biking Miles-0
Yoga-9 classes
Massages-2
Races-1 Red Noise Run

  Looking back on January it was a great month, strange but great.  It was awesome to complete an entire month of my marathon workouts and miles.  This is the highest running volume month I have ever had, largely because running is all I am really doing.  This has been the strange part er to be honest with you the hard part.  I am a fly by the seat of my pants type girl.  I love to do what I feel like doing that day, swim, bike, run, go to boot camp, ect but then in the same breath my more Type A self  is really enjoying just focusing on one thing at this moment to get my workouts and miles in and do what my plan says to do that day.  I have been changing the font on my schedule to red when the workout or run is completed which brings me great satisfaction.   The number one thing I miss most is personal training however; I know that taking a break to complete this goal at this time will be worth it.  I have thought about going back to lifting heavy and more cross training a number of times however, I owe it to myself, my family and friends to be as rested as I can workout after workout to bring my most well trained self to the start line. I promised myself for 18 weeks I was going to train like a runner and do everything my plan said to a T so far it’s been going pretty well.
  I have been able to run a lot of miles with a lot of friends this month which has been fun.  I have been meeting my training partner at 5am once a week for our middle-long distance run.  The week before last I mentioned to Wm that my legs were tired coming up the hill at the finish (11 miles and we ended on a big ole hill!) We both kind of wrote it off as just being tired and the finish.  Then later that week I had 10 miles, 5 at 1/2 MP pace (7:30.) I noticed at the pace seem tough and my legs were burning after the first mile.  Again, I mustered through it and wrote it off as a hard training week.  About this same time Wm asked when I was going back for blood work to check my Iron level, I asked him why as I stood there chomping on ice! 
*FYI-Craving and chewing ice (pagophagia) is often associated with iron deficiency anemia**
  I went to my follow up appointment on Wednesday 1/25/12 and really thought my levels would be fine.   I was born with anemia and I have been getting blood checks my entire life.  It never really had an effect on me until we started running in 2008.  I have been going through monthly checks since back in 2008 when I experienced my first dec in Ferritin resulting in poor performance and fatigue.   I have my lab records all saved of my hemoglobin and ferritin results since 2008 so I can correlate my levels to how I feel and how my running is going.  After being under the care of a PCP with very little increase in my ferritin and Hemoglobin I was referred to a hematologist in June of 2011.  He recommended Iron infusion to try to inc my ferritin which was chronically low to try to protect my hemoglobin level, per the MD the body always try to protect the hemogloblin so it is the last to drop.  In June my ferritin was a 13 and Hemoglobin  10.1 prior to the infusion.  The infusion went well and I followed up in July Hgb was 13.1 and ferritin was 78!! This is as high as it ever has been but it was a false positive as so much Fe was added to my body with the infusion this was not correct,  needing more time before another draw .  I spent most of the fall shoring up tri season and spending a lot of time with my trainer knowing that my running schedule was about to be where all my winter would be spent.  My running miles were down and I felt great. 
 Follow apt in October-Hgb 13.7 highest to date and Ferritin 40 also highest to date.  Great!  The infusion worked, life is great.  No need to follow up until Jan.  I laughed with the MD as I was leaving his office as I knew marathon training was only 6 weeks away. I asked to be monitored monthly until April starting in Jan so we could be on top of it, if there was any decreases starting to be seen. 
Wednesday 1/25 go in for blood work and the MD comes right in to ask me what  I have been doing for the past 10 weeks as my Hbg was down to a 10.  I reminded her I was marathon training and she said she would call me Friday with my ferritin level.  Friday she called and it was a 5, which is the lowest it has ever been. 
Back to the infusion center I went on Tuesday.  It went okay; it is a little painful at first to get the needle in but then is just a long afternoon of sitting there drip by drip.  I have to go back tomorrow (Thursday) and then again Tuesday for 2 more infusions then I should be done for the time being. 
 On the positive side I hit my paces on just about all my workouts this month and ran 200 miles with a ferritin of 5, I am looking forward to feeling stronger when I am back in a therapeutic range and hopefully will not have such a struggle with some of the hills/speed work!   I still continue to remember how blessed I am to be out on the roads and have the will day after day.

See ya on roads and Run Happy! 

Where Have Your Brooks Taken You?

My 2010 Ultra Goal Evolves

In Early 2010 I set a goal to run an Ultra and at that point I had never run a marathon and set my eyes on  the FATS 50K on 10/3/2010. This race is part of the South Carolina Ultra Trail Series a series that I would go on to run a few more events in 2011... When I told Kristin of my goal I asked if she would come support me and either volunteer or just float around the course in support.. Of course she would have none of that and said that she was running it also.. So that Summer I came up with a training plan to get us ready for our Ultra Debut and along came 10/3/2010 and us finishing with Smiles on our face in 7:51.

FATS 50K 10/3/2010

We had so much fun we decided we would do another Ultra together and this was going to be in our own backyard with the Harbison 50K on 1/8/2011. This would be a double loop course that had two 6 mile stretches of pretty technical single track trail called Spider Woman. Kristin and I stayed together for most of the event and once again finished with a smile on our face in 7:12

Harbison 50K 1/8/2011

Since we had accomplished two 50K events we thought we would jump back into the South Carolina Ultra Trail Series and take our talents to a 40 miler.. We chose the Enoree Passage 40M on May 1, 2011 and in the 6 months since our first Ultra we had a whole new set of Ultra - Friends and that made this event even more fun... This was the first of two Ultra Challenges this month and I will get to the second challenge later.. This event was 20 miles out on the Palmetto Trail and then 20 miles back to where we started.. Kristin and I made it to mile 20 and we felt pretty good nutrition wise but Kristin was struggling with a very tight IT that was really limiting her ability to run. So if you can't run then walk and turn your day into a hike with the Wife on a beautiful day on the Palmetto Trail. We made it back and finished in 11:38 but we finished and yes we finished together with a smile.

Enoree Passage 40 Miler 5/1/2011

May 29, 2011 at the Long Cane 50K will go down as one of the toughest day's I ever had running.. First I was running solo I did not have my teammate. She was taking this one off after her IT issues at Enoree and was biking 100 miles with Friends. Today was very warm with a morning low of 66° and the dewpoint in the lower 70°'s most of the day and this my friends is not a good recipe for running 31 miles.. Everything started okay but by about mile 18 my calfs began to get tight and begin to cramp at various motions.. I really thought I took care of my nurition, salt and liquids but the lack of evaporation and copiuos amounts of sweat was just to much and my calfs just shrunk to half their size and I was done.. I sat at Mile 20 Aid Station for 10 minutes pondering if I should try to finish or DNF.. I thought about my teammate and just decided to catch the car ride back and call it a day... I had made it about 20 miles in 4:30 that day.

Lon Cane 50K 5/29/2011

 Our last Ultra in 2011 was the One Epic Run and this was Kristin's Birthday Idea.. Back in the Summer she told me she wanted to run her age on 12/10 and luck have it she was turning a 50K(31)... This course was a 2.98 mile loop in Croft State Park that we would have to do 10 times then figure out how much more for 31 miles flat. This event was actually a 24 hr event so you had folks out there attempting all sorts of distances and we met some really fun people... We finished in 7:22.

One Epic Run 50K 12/10/2011

In November 2010 after we did our 1st Ultra we went up to Richmond, VA to run our first road marathon and as usual Kristin and I ran together and we finished in 3:33 and that yielded Kristin a ticket to the Boston Marathon so she had her own road training to do and was not going to be by my running side for year 2 of the Harbison 50K: Presented by Half-Moon Outfitters on 12/7/2012. This made me a little nervous cause my last solo Ultra pursuit did not go so well.. If you recall from above this course is a double loop and a tad bit different from last year. I got around in loop 1 in 2:50 and loop 2 in 3:10.. I should have not stopped my watch at the aid stations so I would have known that I was only 21 seconds from breaking 6 hours.. I was very pleased with my result and although I am still pretty sore everything feels great and am looking forward to my next Ultra..

Haribsion 50K 1/7/2012 - Me in the Brooks ID Shirt

Since October 2010 I have run in 6 Ultra's, 1 Road Marathon and 1 Course Preview of the Original Columbia, SC Marathon Course... All From setting a Goal in 2010 to Run an Ultra.

 

Marathon Training Week 1

  Wow the day I have been waiting for since November 13, 2010 when I finished my first marathon in Richmond, Va has finally came this week-Boston Marathon Training!  Richmond was my first marathon and I have not done a marathon since so I am going into Boston as my second road race marathon.  I have dedicated myself to a 18 week training plan with a friend of mine who's a strong runner and is training for Boston as well.  We have the same goal so having her to do workouts with is wonderful. 

  This week being my first week, I have learned some lessons about what cross training works well and what does not. I think I may have lifted a touch too heavy with my legs on Thursday making Friday's hill repeats not so fun and my legs still a little sore going into Saturdays run. 

  Richmond was a day I will never forget, the 26.2 miles were so much fun and to be real honest with you, we really did not follow a training plan to prepare.  We ran A LOT of races and added miles before and after the race.  We did our weekday runs and long runs on the weekend, however, we did not many workouts specific to marathon training.  It was just on of those days when everything that could go right, went right.




Richmond Start Line



Richmond Finish-2nd favorite day of my life!



 

I told myself after Richmond and thinking about Boston 2012 (which felt like-never, never land away) that I was going to go into this marathon having trained like a runner, plan and all.  Well before I knew it December 2011 was here and training was about the begin.  This training like a runner came with some sacrifices.  I decided to no longer train with my personal trainer after almost 4 years, I will not lift as heavy as I had in the past and also will not do as many races.  Time on my bike, swimming and weights will have some places in my training plan but not as a means to wear me out more as cross training. 

Training plan, running journal and 26 miles to Boston book!

 
  I have gone through a lot of internal turmoil over this decision to give up some of the workouts I am so used to doing weekly to be more rest and have more time to commit run workout.  In the end I think it will be the right decision.   I am so excited to be where I am and honored at this privilege.  When I get to the finish line where my husband and entire family will be waiting on me I want to know that I gave it all I could!

William raced 13.1 yesterday while I had a training run

Week 1-26 miles
Monday-8 miles 4 at 1/2 marathon pace-I did not do this workout as I had done 31 miles for my 31st Birthday so I took complete rest days Sunday and Monday of this week to make sure I was rested!
Tuesday-Yoga
Wednesday 9 miles (med long run)1:15 8:20 pace at 0500-Hilly route to get used to the rolling
then 1000m swim after our run
Thursday 3.25 mile walk, weights and 1150 swim
Friday-5 recovery pace with 6 hill repeats (3 x 10 sec and 3 x 1 min)
Saturday-12 miles 1:38 (med long run) 8:12 pace-great rolling course and finished on a big up hill
Sunday-walk 2 miles, 600m swim and weights

17 weeks to go----woo hoo!

One Epic Run One Epic Weekend--An Ultra Tale....

    Ultra history-In October 2010 we completed our first 50K, we actually did an ultra before we even did our first marathon in November of 2010.  In January 2011 we completed our second 50K and in May we did the Enoree SC 40 miler.  We have a pack that we always stay together on the trails, easy does it and we just enjoy each others company.  After the Enoree 40 miler I told William that I wanted a break from ultras, he of course said that was okay and went on a few weeks later and did another 50K while I stayed back to ride with friends.

   In July we were going over our schedule of events left for the rest of the year and I told William that I wanted to run a 50K for my 31st Birthday!  William thought it was a great idea and we started to work on finding an event.  We had an idea of a few in the area when our friend Joseph informed us he was putting together a race on my Birthday that was a 24hr run but participants could do any distance.  We were thrilled and started to plan out our weekend plans for December.

One Epic Run was an EPIC event.  The race took place in Croft State Park.  It was a closed 2.96 mile loop that was technical and challenging but also beautiful.  William and I both run trails in Brooks Cascadia and we agree that it is the best trail shoe for us and would be for you.

   

We were able to meet so many different people on Saturday that all had different goals and stories that they wanted to share.  Our goal was 10 loops then get the last residual mile on the road by the aid station so that the Garmin would read exactly 31 miles. 

We did not have to carry any water or fuel with us as the loops were only 3 miles.  We had our cooler and fuel in a bag right were we came out on the loop.  Also, the volunteers and aid station was top notch!  The PB&J was amazing, there were like 10 different kinds of jelly to choose from!  JPP rocked the PBJ!
10 loops went by really fast and never got boring.  It was also funny how 90+ runners could get so spread out over 3 miles!  Every time we would come up on friends they would sing Happy Birthday.  One of our friends even sang me Happy Birthday in Russia.  It was so fun to do what I love to do for the day of my birthday.

After we celebrated with friends, had cake and headed to our hotel in Greenville.  There were still a lot of runners when we left as many had plans of running all 24hours!

  We went and checked in, had a celebration drink and sat in the hot tub!  I wanted to have my Birthday dinner at Whole Food, as we only get to go there when we travel.  Dinner was delicious and then we spent the evening shopping and walking around the stores.  We did practice some yoga as well as our legs were very tired but we were happy that we really did not have any pain.

 

Sunday morning we had brunch plans at Larkins on the River with a great friend of ours.  We had a wonderful meal with great company.  The restaurant is beautiful with great menu items and ambiance.  We highly recommend it and cannot wait to go back next time we are in Greenville. 

 

We then walked around downtown Greenville and went ice skating.  William is so good at whatever we do, he was cutting up the ice. I was worried if we stayed any long he was going to be recruited to the ice capades!

Gosh, the City of Greenville is so beautiful and really put us in the holiday spirit. 

I am very blessed to have had such a great birthday and one that I will never forget.  2011 was a neat year, we started the first month of the year with a 50K and ended the last month of the year with a 50K!

Until next time--Run Happy!

Girls just want to have fun-weekend review!

Another weekend over, time goes way too fast!
Friday 12/2/11-I took the day off, I tend to take Fridays as my rest day.  After a tough week and to be ready for the weekend it works well.  William normally takes Thursdays off since that is a travel day for him.  William ran on lunch Friday and did his run workout 12x400's at the Dam.  After work we had a great time with our running friends celebrating a friend and inspiration to our running community's Birthday!

Saturday 12/3/11-What a special day!  We volunteered for the Girls on the Run 5K at Saluda Shoals Park.  One of our 2011 goals was to volunteer at a rac,  really wanting to give back to the community.  One of our tri friends is a coach for GOTR and told us about this run back in September, we are so glad she did!  We had a blast and the passion our friend who coaches a team has for GOTR just showed through when we saw her with the girls.  William had the only water stop with 3 other people for 700-800 runners plus all runners had to run with a buddy.  He was very busy and excited to see things from the other side.  I had the opportunity to run with an incredible 12 year girl, who is a runner girl!  She taught me more than I tough her Saturday and was a girl after my own heart in her running style. She ran a great race and ran faster than she ever had.  She was so sweet and encouraging to her teammate as we went back on the course to cheer them on.

                                                                           

GOTR is a great program, I wish this was around when I was in Elementary and Middle School, it is very empowering for these girls.  A lot of our smiling running friends were there volunteering andcheering which made it a lot of fun.  We then hit the Saluda Shoal trails for a 8.5 mile run which included 10 x 1 min fartleks and 4 miles with friends.  We had a great time running and catching up with them both. 

Sunday 12/4/11-Christmas decorating and Sunday brunch of course!  Then we hopped on our mountain bikes and road a mile to the gym (awesome!) quick swim workout-250m warm up 10x50 then 250 cooldown.  Quick transition to change and off to Pump class for some weights.  After we hopped on our bikes and road down to our community parade then road on home!  It's a great day when we do not have to start the car to go the places we want to go riding, running or walking makes it so much more fun.

Have a great week and Run Happy--Tesm Schmitz