Me & Eminem

Today I ran my longest distance ever.  And it was 8 miles of Nashville hills.  I knew how great I felt two weeks ago after running 7 miles by myself and mentally was not even a little afraid of running 8 this morning.  But sometimes things don't go EXACTLY as planned.

First. My running partner in Nashville isn't the most prompt girl you've ever met.  We were scheduled to meet at 8am this morning and at 7:48am she asked if we could push to 8:15am.  Honestly - I said no. I was up and ready to go and didn't want to push this run off any more.  (This should have been my first sign that today's run wasn't going to be the best.)

Second. We didn't really have a route planned. We both "just figured" if we combined some courses we usually run it would end up about 8 miles.  Not so smart.  At 3 miles we stopped after running up Demonbreun (the BIGGEST hill EVER) thinking we had gone about 6 and you can imagine both of our disappointment to find we had only gone 3.  [Please note: At this point I was ready to give in and run straight to my car. I was dunzo.]

Third. We ended up having to stop & start a bazillion times because of stop lights - which just so you know, stop lights in Nashville are like...10 minutes long.  So we never got a real pace going.

But low & behold, we kept on going & ended at 7.9 miles.  I like to consider this 8 miles. Yay me!

Hil - do you know we're 6 weeks away from the first half marathons in our crazy turning 30 plan?  I feel really good & thank you for your cross training post. It was a huge reminder that I HAVE to get more cross training into my routine.  Yoga for me this week, woot woot!

**Oh! & did you get the Eminem/8 mile reference?  Sometimes I forget that I might be the only one obsessed with this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFYQQPAOz7Y

Merchandise

Ever since we signed up for this Disney race, I find myself wanting everything Disney/Princess or Running around me...

Cross Training

Last year, I ran my first half marathon. I loved the experience and followed the training schedule to the T - except for my cross training. I was so proud of my consistent running that nothing else mattered. I didn't have any major problems or injuries during my training - just normal soreness you would expect from an increase in physical activity.

All this is true, until the mileage really started to climb past 7 and 8 miles. Every week I was running longer than I ever had before. I noticed that my knees were really hurting (I expected this as I've had knee problems since I was young) and my hips and down the side of my leg were incredibly sore the day or so after a long distance run. Once I finished the half and the pain didn't go away, I scheduled an appointment with a sports medicine doctor and found out that I had injured my IT Band on my right side. When I asked her what caused this she said it's very common with runners. "Did you do any cross training during your training?" "umm..No" - that's why it's common because runners don't cross train.

You don't use all your muscles when you run. As a result some get stronger and have to compensate for your weaker muscles and this can cause and over working of certain muscles or injuries.

It took FOREVER for my IT Bank to heal after the half last year because I had ignored it for so long. So this year, I got myself a strength trainer and have been sure to get in my cross training. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! My running is faster. I feel stronger. And my arms are looking pretty kick ass these days (If you'll allow me to toot my own horn).

I feel the need to tell you all this because my Nike+ app doesn't log my cross training. I got Tuesdays and Thursdays after work and I usually also get in a Saturday session in the morning after my long runs (this might have to be on hold now that we're doing 8+ miles on the weekends).

That's all for now! How much do you love this great fall weather for your runs!

Best Running/Blogging Partner

What would I do without Hilary as my best running & blogging partner?

8 Mile Update...Sorta

This past weekend, I had every intention of running 8 miles with my HMTT...but....

I was in my amazing, sister in law's wedding. And quite honestly, enjoyed myself too much Friday night to deal with running :)

And while it didn't quite make up for my 8 miles, I did run 4.35 tonight after work.

See!

Confession Post

I guess this is where I have to be honest...I'm having an "off week."  And when I say "off week" I don't mean that my runs have been challenging or difficult.  I mean that I haven't even opened my running clothes drawer in my dresser, and I believe my shoes are currently under a pile of clothes in my room.  I definitely wanted to give myself rest after Saturdays' 7 mile run (Hil, I'm looking for some proof to post on here that I went out and ran 7 miles by myself - stay tuned!) but I think I've taken the rest idea a little too far.

Have no fear, I'm not going to beat myself up about it (but I might beat myself up about the evening of boozin' at the Country Music Hall of Fame Young Professionals event I went to last night, followed by a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza around 10:30pm last night) BUT this is life, right?  I think it's only fitting that I started the morning checking in on my favorite running blog and she had posted this:

I couldn't agree more!

7 Miles!

Saturday, HMTT (Half Marathon Training Team), completed 7 miles and here's my proof! And if there was any chance you didn't believe how different in size my waist and my butt are to each other...check out how much higher my water belt as to sit in comparison to my running buddy Kendra :)

New Kicks

New running shoes are a big deal for me.  More so than probably most runners who follow the all-important “Replace your shoes every 500 miles” rule because I don’t follow that rule.  I follow the “Replace my shoes when my feet/legs/body start hurting” rule. 

In my first few weeks of training I’ve been ignoring every ache and pain that my body has been screaming at me because I KNEW it was telling me to get new shoes.  As a loyal patron of Road Runners in Richmond, VA I had to accept the fact I needed to find a new running store in Nashville, TN.  Saturday morning in the pouring rain, (Obviously I moved my long run to Sunday as you’ll learn: I don’t run in the rain. Ever.) I went to Team Nashville to get some new kicks.

The crew at Team Nashville were super friendly and basically gave me a hard time from the second I walked in decked out in Virginia Tech gear.  It didn’t take long to realize these were my kind of people.  They fit me in some of the most badass running shoes I’ve ever owned and I’m so pumped to hit the ground running. Literally. [Oh, I should probably share another running shoe confession: Most runners probably follow the all-important “Don’t buy running shoes based on the way they look” rule.  Yeah, I don’t follow that one either.]

This past weekend I hit 6 miles and felt really good.  The only issue I’m running into is my body begging me for food.  Goal for this week is: Proper fueling.  I’m notorious for clocking in a long run without the proper follow-up of nutrients.  48 hours later there usually isn’t enough food on Earth to satisfy me and you should probably get out of my way should you see me because I may chew your arm off and eat it for a snack.  Yum.

Alright Mizunos, let's do this.

Slow & Steady with Nike +

Football season is in full swing and I'm happy to report that UVa is currently undefeated at 2-0. Yesterday, UVa beat Penn State in the final seconds when Penn State's freshman kicker kicked the ball wide left in a failed field goal attempt.

Go HOO's GO!

The week before, we beat UofR - tailgating was fun, our new seats are fantastic and the game was rather boring.

I bring this us because my long runs are Saturday mornings. For the UofR game it wasn't a problem because kick off was at 3pm so I could run with my buds at 7am and then head up. However, the Penn State game was a Noon kick off. This meant that needed to be out the door by 7:30AM and this meant that there would be no Saturday running for me. And honestly, thank goodness, because I didn't get home from work until after 1am. Getting up for tailgating was hard enough.

So I don't have pictures to prove that I run. But I do have my Nike+ screen shot :) Friday morning, I met Katie at her house at 5:45am and we took off for our 4 mile run - and here's my proof!

You may not know this about me but I am a data junky. So when I saw all the new statistics that Nike+ has added to their site - I got so excited. What I find hysterical is that they have classified me as "Slow and Steady" - which I suppose is accurate. Though what this doesn't show you is my pace was hindered by the fact that I started my watch and then stood still for 2 minutes while Katie and I figured out our route - oops. My year stats also how that my runs are 70% in the morning. Love this stuff!

Happy running!

"Slow & Steady"

It's worth noting that Natalie totally got me in to Nike+ - thanks lady!

HMTT Week 3

I missed week 2 so that I could properly celebrate Hils' Bachelorette Party in the OBX. I'd love to tell you that I ran while I was down there...I did bring my running stuff but that's as far as I got :)

So Week 3 was 4 miles. I came decked out in my new sunglasses - which I didn't need and my running belt - which I did. All in all it was a great run. 4 miles in 42 minutes. I started off a little slow but after the second mile I really felt like I was getting in to gear.

Kendra, me and some random guy fist pumping

This is right at the end with Michelle, a lovely 2nd resident at VCU I met on the run

Still having some trouble with my IT band on my left side. Evan (THE trainer) is helping me work through it. It's a pain in the tail for sure. 

Katie has joined the HMTT group too! LOVE having her there though her 8:30/mile means I don't see her a lot ;)

Until next week my friends!

H

HMTT Week 1

It's my favorite time of year...not only is football season about to start which really means tailgating (who watches the game anyway!?), but it's also Half Marathon Training Team time. I loved my experience so much last year. I met two great ladies: Jillian and Kendra and you'll see them throughout my journey this year as well.

Week 1 was 3 miles. Sounds so easy with all my training! However, the sun was BEATING down on us. The running wasn't the hard part - it was the heat. But we made it through to run another day.

Jillian and Me

Help me understand why the shutter always goes go when you look like you could be fast walking rather than the Kenyan like sprint you actually were....Things to ponder.