Comments (60)

By kilax, May 9, 2016 6:23 am

Yay! After a few crummy years, I finally had a good race at the Wisconsin Half Marathon!

Although, if you look at my splits, you wouldn’t think that…

Um, what the heck is going on there?

Ha. Well… we had some wind on the course. Which, truthfully, was better for me than sun and heat, which had been forecasted earlier in the week. I may have finished with the same time in the sun and heat, but would have been miserable. Surprisingly, I wasn’t miserable with the 17 mph constant winds from the north and (felt like constant) 33 mph gusts. I thought it was funny. And I just laughed. Laughed, laughed, laughed.

I laughed in the first mile, when I tried to start out slow. My plan was to run an 8:30 mile and see if I wanted to speed up or slow down from there. I kept trying to slow down but the wind was pushing me forward. Okay then. Guess we’ll go with it (8:10 first mile?!?!) and have some ugly splits. There was so much wind at my back and none in my face, that I started to get too hot – my sunglasses fogged over from touching my face. Yuck! It was still warm when we started – 67°. It dropped to 52° by the time I finished, though – yay!

This course starts by going south for 2.5 miles, then turns north for the five middle miles (in to the wind) to a turn around, back south for 4.5 miles, then north for the last mile or so. I thought as soon as we turned north, I’d feel the wind that was pushing me forward in my face. Not entirely! The downtown residences and buildings blocked some of that. Cool! (What did not block any of it? People. I was trying to get in a pack for some protection, but always seemed to be running with no one right in front of me. Oops. But I suppose this is the only time I’d want that!)

Where’d we have to go to really feel the wind? To the lake. Oh my gosh, it was nuts there. Sand was blowing off the beach and all over everyone (ha ha, I took a hot bath when I got home and there was sand all over in the tub when I was done!). There were times I didn’t feel like I wasn’t moving. But, it made me barely notice the inclines on the course this year! Score!

Here’s a photo I tried to take of the sand blowing all over – you can see the wind created some dunes that aren’t usually there! I also tried to take a photo of the caps on the wave, but my photo is crap, ha ha. Note the blown over course marker cone – A LOT of the mile markers were blown over. Craziness. 

So you can probably guess which miles were going north in the screenshot above – 6, 7, 8 and 13. I felt like I was keeping the same effort in to the wind as I was with it at my back, but I decided NOT to push it more than that, just to keep the same pace, and feel like death for the last miles of the race – it was a huge goal of mine NOT to finish with a death march.

When people got to the turnaround to go back south, with the wind at their backs, they smiled. I did too. I thought, “Finally!” But I didn’t feel it at first. What the heck? Did the wind stop all of a sudden?! Oh no it didn’t! There it is, pushing me up this hill! Wheeeeee!!!!

I ran three decent miles (9-11), and was happy that the out and back portion didn’t get to me as much as the past years. I was pleasantly surprised to see two friends from Efit around mile 11 and that pumped me up!

Then in the the last mile and a half my body was like, “meh.” I stopped at mile 12 to fill up my water bottle (hence that slower mile). And then we headed north for the last mile and my body was like, “SUPA meh.” Ha! So I ran another slow, not feeling like I was moving mile. And I definitely dropped the effort on that one.

I tried to have a decent finish though, and not look like death when I crossed the finish like. Success?

Note: Steven got a lot of pics of me making concentrative running faces. Of course, I am only sharing the smiley (read: flattering) ones.

I finished in 1:53:07, which is a second fastest half marathon time for me. Cool!

And even though my splits were HELLA crazy, I am proud of this race. I kept a steady effort until those last one and a half miles. I enjoyed the race despite the nutso wind, and the race itself went by really fast! I saw a lot of people running, and saw a lot of people I knew spectating. And had a good time.

But… I am happy it’s over! This is not the race for me to try to PR, which I write every year, yet, I still think I will train and PR it, when spring is a really hard time of year for me (with the weather shift to warmer and more daylight, I get a bit depressed and put on weight). So. Let’s see if I say I am going to try to PR it again next year. SOMEONE TELL ME NO!

Next up running-wise – I want to train for a 5K in October. That’s it for now! I’ll keep my mileage going and see what I can do with any fitness gained from 5K training.

Other tidbits:

• Rachel got her PR! I am so proud of her. She ran a fantastic, even race on this stupid windy day. YAY!!! (This was especially important to me (WAY more important to me than my race), because I wrote her training plan and was highly invested in it – we’ve been chatting most days about her runs since January.)

Anne, Rachel and me! Anne ran the 5K!

• Brian’s (my boss at Efit) son, Sam, completed his first half marathon, in a push chair! A team of people (including his mom, brother, a few relatives, an Efit trainer and Efit classmate) all took turns pushing him on the course! How cool! I was so stoked to see them during their race and kept wondering when I would! I love this picture of Sam smiling!

• I am so grateful Steven comes and takes pics at my races! I am sad I forgot to get a picture of us together though. Wah.
• Steven was getting set up at his first photo spot (mile 1) when he heard the race start. He said as soon as he heard the horn blow to start, the wind picked up. What wonderful timing. At about that time, I said to Rachel as we were standing waiting to start, “they were right about one thing – the wind!” She actually saw lightening before we started! Eek! But nothing happened. No rain. Just some nice clouds covering the sun for some of the race!
• Major props to the volunteers this year. Dealing with that wind must have been a nightmare. I saw someone trying to pick up cups as they were blowing every which way! Eek!
• I can’t imagine doing the full marathon in that wind, either – I think their last eight or so miles would have been in to it. Props to them, too.
• This is my eighth year running this race! I’ve run every year since the inaugural. So I feel like I have to keep doing it, even though I am finding out I am kind of… not so interested in it anymore. Maybe I will stop at ten years. Ha.
• I had a KILLER headache on Friday – most likely from the huge weather shift we had. Highs in the 50s Thursday, then 80s Friday. Then back to the 60s, Saturday. Ha ha. No wonder it was so windy. I’m happy the headache went away cause it was baaaaad.
• I love how the race medal has a cape!

• I carried my own water, but took some of theirs on course, too. I did stop twice to drink their cups, and at mile 12 (MILE 12 HA HA!) to fill up my water bottle (I was soooo thirsty). I took a gel at 4, 8 and mile 11.5 (was hoping it would help – not so much… just made me soooo thirsty).
• I ended up with 13.18 miles, which is pretty good. I tried really hard to run the tangents!
• Edited to add: my knee didn’t bug me during the race, yay!
• Edited to add, II: the wind made it a big problematic for spitters like me. Eek.

Comments (4)

By kilax, May 8, 2016 8:31 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running a solid race at Wisconsin.

Monday | May 2, 2016: 20 m ride + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 1:15:05, Pace: 16.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt:good, sore quads from Sunday!
Strength: Sand bags and Slam Balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Tuesday | May 3, 2016: 4 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 60°/62°, Time: 33:08, Pace: 8:16 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: hot
Wednesday | May 4, 2016: rest
Thursday | May 5, 2016: rest – massage day!
Friday | May 6, 2016: teaching strength class + 3 m run (incl. 5×1:00)
Strength: soft balls and cones, Difficulty: easy, Felt: not good – bad headache
Loc: hood, Temp: 82°/83°, Time: 24:52, Pace: 8:17, Difficulty: medium, Felt: OMG SO HOT
Saturday | May 7, 2016: Wisconsin Half Marathon
Loc: Kenosha, Temp: 67°/52°, Time: 1:53:07, Pace: 8:37 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: fine
Sunday | May 8, 2016: rest

Notes:

• Last week I complained about runners not acknowledging each other on the Chicago Lakefront Trail… this week, it was all about too many tourists out around the museum campus, not paying attention to what they were doing! Ahh, tourist season. A good reminder for everyone to pay attention to their surroundings, especially if on an exercise path. And during commute time in busy areas. And… all the time. Please.
• I normally feel antsy not running my typical amount during taper, but this time, I felt so lazy and didn’t want to run at all. And this week, I tried to get extra sleep (I took a nap one day on lunch break, slept a bit after work another day, and used my Friday off for a nap! – maybe I was intuitively doing this?! (pdf here)). I’ve just felt so tired lately.
• So, yeah. Really lazy this week. Hopefully this is not a sign for how all of May will be!

Link to Training Week 341

Comments (15)

By kilax, May 5, 2016 6:24 am

• Ha, I started looking for the MBP bracelet while my snister was here and after she left. I had a feeling she left it here! I found it Tuesday am when I went to get dressed – she had attached it to the hanger of a new shirt I got when I was with her. Ha! Good one, snis, good one…

• My second race of the year, the Wisconsin Half Marathon, is in two days! And today is my second (!!!) rest day/pre-race massage day! I put in miles, but didn’t train as hard as I could have, on the roads, or in the kitchen. Going for a PR or running “for run” will be a race day decision, depending on how I feel, and the weather. I’d rather have a solid race than go out too hard and die, as I have the last two years. I don’t want to end the spring racing season with that feeling. Again. But I’ll bring this pace band just in case. (Also, this race doesn’t have the best monthly timing for me, so there’s that.)
• Christina did a lot of research and found a house for all of us (ten people!) to rent when we’re in Alaska! I really appreciate that she did all that hard work and coordinated everything. It looks like the place will have some great views:

• It’s been so nice to use the new bathtub, but I seem to have lost my hot bath stamina – I can’t stay in there as long as I used to without getting dizzy/too hot. I’ll have to build it back up. Maybe I should write a training plan? Ha ha.

• Really random thought: I never volunteered at a race last year! I need to make sure I do that this year!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 97

Comments Off on Training Week 341

By kilax, May 1, 2016 5:43 pm

Highlight of the Week: My BiL accompanying me on my long run!

Monday | April 25, 2016: rest
Tuesday | April 26, 2016: 4 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 41°/41°, Time: 33:14, Pace: 8:18 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay/tired (need more sleep)
Wednesday | April 27, 2016: 6 m run
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 46°/46°, Time: 50:18, Pace: 8:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | April 28, 2016: 12 m ride + 10 mins strength + 5 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 45:16, Pace: 15.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 43°/42°, Time: 45:07, Pace: 9:01 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: tired/stressed about getting things done
Friday | April 29, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: Sandbags and slam balls, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good but so tired
Saturday | April 30, 2016: 10 m run (w/Will on bike)
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 44°/46°, Time: 1:28:03, Pace: 8:48 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | May 1, 2016: teaching fitness boxing + 3 m run (incl. 4×400) + 10 m ride
Strength: Boxing and body weight moves, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 47°/46°, Time: 26:14, Pace: 8:44 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: not so great
Indoor Ride Time: 40:09, Pace:14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• My sleep schedule was messed up this week because of flights (three nights with less than four hours of sleep) and it really threw me off. I am going to focus on getting better sleep this week!
• My left knee felt fine last week, then on Friday at class, I tweaked it doing a side lunge. I only felt it then, but I am definitely keeping an eye on it!
• April recap time! In April I ran 185 miles and cycled 114.4 miles. I taught 8 strength classes, 1 fitness boxing classes, and 1 outdoor cycling class. I rode my bike 7 times outside of class, and also did 5 strength sessions at home. My coldest outdoor run was 21°F and my warmest was 67°F.
• It’s a bummer my April schedule only allowed me to teach fitness boxing once! I am on schedule to teach it three times in May and twice in June! That’s more like it, ha ha!

Link to Training Week 340

Comments (7)

By kilax, April 30, 2016 11:30 am

Today was my 100th run of the year!

And I got to do it with my brother-in-law, Will! Yay! I always love it when someone will ride slow with me while I run.

It’s hard to believe we’re one third through 2016! Craziness! I’m doing well on my few goals for the year:

• a weekly (average) running mileage of 40 / 786 miles – averaging ~45 a week
• speedwork once a week / 22 speed sessions – averaging 1.25 sessions a week
• cycling at least once a week / 36 rides – averaging 2 rides a week
• strength training outside of class once a week / 20 sessions – averaging 1.15 sessions a week

Hoping to keep it going!!!

Comments (23)

By kilax, April 28, 2016 6:29 am

• Grrr. I haven’t updated on the bathroom work in awhile because work was mostly on hold while we waited for custom order bullnose (rounded) trim tile to come in. The tile finally came in. And… it was wrong. So we aren’t using it – we’ll do a metal trim piece instead. All that waiting for NOTHING. Ugh. The contractor is working on it again, and I HOPE it will be finished today* – I have house guests that arrive tonight!!!

This tile photo is pre-grout, so it will look different finished

• Lame. My work announced a steps contest yesterday, but only “walking” steps count. No running. Boooo!!! Ha.
• Sigh. They also had an announcement where they called the Chase Corporate Challenge a “marathon,” then immediately, a “5K.” It’s actually a 3.5 mile race. So… neither of those. Ha ha. Yeah, that would only bother runners.
• Odd. I ran on the Chicago Lakefront Path during lunch break yesterday. Every time I run it, I am surprised how few people make eye contact, nod, or say hello to people going the opposite way. It feels so odd to me not to!

• Oops. It was windy during my run yesterday, so I ran in to the wind for the start, with the wind at my back on the return. I wonder if I am going to regret doing this on race day – I almost always try to run in to the wind first, but it’s not like you can control that at a race! Maybe I should have done more of a purposeful mix to work on mental training (believe me though, I had plenty of runs that were all windy, or where the wind shifted to in my face on the way back, or there was no way avoiding it on the way back, etc.).
• Aww. Dad’s kitten pics are getting cuter and cuter!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 96

*highly unlikely

Comments (25)

By kilax, April 24, 2016 9:20 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running while Steven rode his bike with me!

Monday | April 18, 2016: 10.5 m run + 10 m ride + teaching strength class
Loc: to VP woods, Temp: 51°/65°, Time: 1:40:58, Pace: 9:37 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Indoor Ride Time: 41:25, Pace: 14.5 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, sore sit bones!
Strength: sand bags, body bars and slam balls, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good/hot
Tuesday | April 19, 2016: 5.3 m run (w/xaarlin)
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 46°, Time: 51:10, Pace: 9:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Wednesday | April 20, 2016: 6.2 m run (incl. 4×400, 2×800, 1×1600)
Loc: hood, Temp: 53°/56°, Time: 51:39, Pace: 8:20 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, held back by wind
Thursday | April 21, 2016: 20 mins strength + 10 m ride + 4.7 m run (w/Steven on bike!)
Indoor Ride Time: 39:55, Pace: 15.0 mph avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: good, shaky from strength training
Loc: Lake Andrea, Temp: 64°/67°, Time: 41:17, Pace: 8:47 avg, Difficulty: easy/medium, Felt: stronger as the run went on
Friday | April 22, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: sand bags and slam balls, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Saturday | April 23, 2016: 6.3 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 40°/40°, Time: 56:27, Pace: 8:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: lazy
Sunday | April 24, 2016: 8 m run (w/Steve & Gina (on bike))
Loc: McKinney, Temp: 60°/66°, Time: 1:10:38, Pace: 8:49 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• Blah, I felt lazy this week. The warmer weather does that to me! Looks like my mileage is already starting its summer decrease… quite a bit early. And it didn’t help that I skipped my long run this week. I had plans to do it Friday but my schedule was out of my control and by the time I could go, I was in such a bad mood I knew a windy run would make it worse. YES, sometimes running DOES make things worse. For me, anyway.
• The good news is, my left knee (that was bugging me a bit last week) feels fine now. Awesome!
• I ran an easy (just under) sub 9:00 pace in warmer/more humid (for me) conditions in Texas Sunday morning, which gives me hope that Wisconsin won’t feel super horrible if it’s warm. However… I am starting to really not care about the race, so who knows if I’ll even go for a PR! This happens to me each year with the race – I lose interest. Yet each year I think it will be different. Hmm… that’s dumb.
• Let’s end on a high note – Gina got in to the Chicago Marathon! Yay! I am excited she gets to experience it! This will be my first time going down for the race (to spectate) since I ran it in 2010!

Link to Training Week 339

Comments (20)

By kilax, April 20, 2016 6:26 am

While discussing RAGBRAI with Gina yesterday, I noticed something very interesting about the Day 7 course…

Image from here

Do you see it?

How about now?!

Um, the course goes through a winery town? Whut, whut?!?!

This will make for an interesting end to the ride! Muah ha ha. I actually rode my bike once after having a drink (and burger and fries) and guess what? It was a horrible thing. But that was 30 miles on crushed limestone on a mountain bike (after already riding 30 miles). This will be 10.8 miles on roads on a road bike (after having ridden around 40 miles). Hmmm.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, did you notice I said “discussing RAGBRAI with Gina”? She signed up! YAY! Dad, Will, Julie, Gina and I are all signed up for Day 7!

During my bike ride with Efit on Sunday I was thinking about how much I enjoy RABGRAI, and I’m stoked Gina gets to experience it for the first time this year! It will be fun to plan out the details when it gets closer. It’s just over three months away! (<— how is summer just around the corner?! Eeek!)

Comments (13)

By kilax, April 19, 2016 4:20 am

Quick witted, I am not.

I was running loops in a preserve recently and passed a guy who was walking. We said hello.

Eventually, I passed him again and he said something to me. I couldn’t hear him and asked him to repeat himself.

“I saw your twin out here, too!”

Quick, Kim, think! What is he talking about?

Oh! He must have seen someone who looks like me, wearing shorts and a tank, and a hydration pack.

“I’ll have to look for her!”

And I run on. A few seconds pass and it hits me – duh, he was referring to seeing me the first time. To me lapping him. He was making a joke.

Gawd, I am so slow to get some jokes. Ugh.

So I had a mile or so to work on a response when I saw him the next time. “We must be triplets!”

Of course, I never saw him again. Sigh.

And unfortunately, I can’t blame this on runner brain. I am like this most of the time. Sigh, again.

The deer returned yesterday and Steven took real photos of them! Awwwwwww.

I need to come up with a bird (also: squirrel, duck, deer, and so on) seed budget. They clean me out pretty fast!

Comments (4)

By kilax, April 17, 2016 6:33 pm

Highlight of the Week: My first outdoor ride of the year on my road bike!

Monday | April 11, 2016: 10 m ride + 6.8 m run + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 39:12, Pace: 15.3 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good for the legs
Loc: VP Loop, Temp: 48°/49°, Time: 58:07, Pace: 8:33 avg, Difficulty: easy-ish, Felt: tired, pissed at the wind/at work
Strength: kettlebells and boxing pads, Difficulty: easy, Felt: okay, definitely going to feel it in the legs!
Tuesday | April 12, 2016: rest
Wednesday | April 13, 2016: 3 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 42°/43°, Time: 25:20, Pace: 8:26 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but stomach upset from eating crappy
Thursday | April 14, 2016: 5 m run + 10 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 46°/47°, Time: 43:22, Pace: 8:40 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne loop, Temp: 50°/52°, Time: 1:28:44, Pace: 8:52, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, annoyed with bugs on trail
Friday | April 15, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: sand bags and slam balls, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Saturday | April 16, 2016: 14 m run
Loc: to Lake Andrea and back, Temp: 40°/50°, Time: 2:10:35, Pace: 9:19 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, until the last 1.5 miles – HUNGRY!
Sunday | April 17, 2016: 37.4 m ride (Efit) + 20 mins strength + 3 m run (incl. 5×1:00)
Loc: Bristol, Temp: 38°/65°, Time: 2:51:02, Pace: 13.1 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: hood, Temp: 67°/67°, Time: 25:29, Pace: 8:28 avg, Difficulty: mostly easy, Felt: good

Notes:

• This was a good week for my body to tell me it wanted some rest, because I was already feeling kind of lazy! I rested on Tuesday because I had run the previous six days and my body felt tired. Then on Thursday, I felt some twinges in my left knee during my runs, so I rested Friday. I felt the twinges (they come around mile 2.5 and last a few minutes) on Saturday, too. I think my left leg is OVER running on the camber of the road and it’s time to hit up the trails and get off the shoulders. Hopefully that helps! I’m going to pay attention to it and cut back (cry!!!!) if I need to. If not, the next two weeks will be high mileage then I’ll take a few days easy before the Wisconsin Half.
• It got hot here this weekend. High in the low 70s both weekend days. BLAH. Not ready for that, running-wise…
• … it was GORGEOUS for cycling though! We had an Efit cycling event on Sunday that we had planned way back at the beginning of the year to be our kick off session of intervals (and then a bonus ride after). I can’t believe how much we lucked out with the weather – especially after last week, ha! It was such a treat to get my bike off the trainer and ride outside. My bike rides so smoothly and I love it.
• I started thinking a bit about my pace for the Wisconsin Half. If the weather is right (and I feel right – questionable – my stomach’s been odd for weeks) I’ll be going for a PR. My previous PR is just under 8:30 pace, and I’ve had several easy 10 milers at 8:30 or under pace, so I could definitely try for faster than that!
• Xaarlin ran a fantastic (7+ minute!) Boston Marathon qualifying time at the Carmel Marathon yesterday and it just made my day! I was elated to see all her hard work result in her reaching a dream she’s been chasing for several years! Congrats, xaarlin!!!

Link to Training Week 338