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By kilax, May 6, 2018 6:33 pm

Highlight of the Week: Running a new personal record (PR) at the Wisconsin Half Marathon!

Monday | April 30, 2018: 10 m ride + 6.5 m run + teaching strength class
Indoor Ride Time: 41:04, Pace: 14.6 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, sore butt & legs
Loc: VP Woods Loop, Temp: 67°/70°, Time: 1:00:57, Pace: 9:23 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good, warm
Strength: bench and dumbbells, Felt: good, challenged!
Tuesday | May 1, 2018: 30 min walk + 3.5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 84°/84°, Time: 34:32, Pace: 9:52 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, frustrated I couldn’t turn my neck
Wednesday | May 2, 2018: 45 min walk
Thursday | May 3, 2018: 3 m run + massage
Loc: hood, Temp: 49°/51°, Time: 28:10, Pace: 9:23 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | May 4, 2018: teaching strength class + 1,050 yd swim + 3 m run
Strength: benches and dumbbells, Felt: good, trying to take it easy!
Loc: FitNation, Time: 20:40, Pace: 1:59 min/100 yd, Difficulty: medium, Felt: off at first, not getting enough air! Better as I warmed up.
Loc: VP Woods, Temp: 60°/61°, Time: 28:28, Pace: 9:28, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Saturday | May 5, 2018: Wisconsin Half Marathon
Loc: Kenosha, Temp: 53°/61°, Time: 1:49:27, Pace: 8:16 avg (tangents off), Difficulty: easy then hard, Felt: great then SO HEAVY
Sunday | May 6, 2018: 18 m ride + 1 hour walk
Indoor Ride Time: 1:10:07, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, glad to move the legs

Notes:

• Our week of spring passed and we got to experience summer running Monday and Tuesday. I’m hoping we get some more spring weather before we go back to that! I’m not ready!
• Ugh, my left shoulder/neck is either messed up from something I did in class Monday, or still effed up from my car accident. It was bothering me enough that I didn’t sleep well Tuesday-Friday night, and couldn’t turn my neck much to the right. I’ll get it checked out if it continues.
• This was very much a taper week, where I was running so much less than normal, I was starting to doubt if I knew how to run at all. Ha. Silly taper brain.
• But I could obviously still run, cause I got my half marathon PR, yay!
• Now, to decide what’s next. I’ve been kind of thinking about running a marathon in June. I’ll do some longer runs and see how it goes. It also depends on losing a bit of weight, and my finances. We shall see! Whatever happens, I want to keep my mileage up as long as I can until the oppressive humidity and heat hits and stays.
• Monthly recap time! This ended up being a huge cutback month from March. In April I ran 185.7 miles (24 runs), cycled 80.2 miles (6 indoor rides) and swam 3,318 yards (3 swims). My coldest run was 14°F and my warmest was 70°F. I did 3 hill workouts, 1 interval workout, and 4 tempo workouts. I taught 9 strength classes and 2 fitness boxing classes. I did 0 strength workouts at home. I ran one race, the Fools 5K.

Link to Training Week 445

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By kilax, May 5, 2018 5:14 pm

Woo hoo! I ran a new personal record (PR) at the 2018 Wisconsin Half Marathon by 1 minute and 48 seconds! My new half marathon PR is 1:49:27! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was hopeful our winter weather would make a comeback this week and I’d get to race in weather like what I’ve been training in – usually in the 30s (and windy – but no wind, no gracias). But no, we had our one week of spring last week, then during race week, we saw a few days with highs in the low 80s. Ha! Typical – it seems like every year, this race is either one of the first “warm” days of the year or HELLA windy. I am not sure which is worse!

I decided to still go for my 1:50:00 goal time because eff it – I had been doing some tempo runs at faster than PR pace and thought I could do it. So what if it’s in the 50s/60s and sunny with no clouds (and not much wind, yay)? I checked the weather before the race for my records (53°F, 75% humidity, with a 5 mph wind from the west), put on sunscreen, and didn’t think about it for the rest of the race. It’s not worth my mental energy – it is what it is. When I felt sweat dripping down my arm, and the hot sun on me, I thought “what a beautiful day it is!” and “I am so glad I have sunscreen on!” (I know those temps don’t seem bad, but I am a cold weather runner, and we had NO time to acclimate (ha, like I ever do acclimate to the heat…))

I was thinking about doing a half mile warm up, but nixed it, since it was so warm out. And with the 5K starting at the same time as the half and full (huh?!) I figured I wouldn’t start too fast. I was worried the start would be a huge cluster and I’d start off too slow, but it was fine! The new course (with less turns at the start) really seems to let people spread out, yay!

I had talked a bit of strategy with Pete this week (thank you, Pete!) and he really emphasized starting off conservatively, which I agreed with. So most of my first seven miles were me trying not to go too fast because I felt so great! Goal pace was 8:23 minute miles, and every once in a while, I’d get excited about something and accidentally speed up! But I felt like I was keeping it in check, and hoping I’d have a faster last three miles. And I noticed I was not running the tangents perfectly (despite trying), so I was glad to be a bit under pace and have a buffer!

The race starts in the downtown area and goes south to a neighborhood, then turns around to head back north. During mile 3, my Road ID became loose on my shoe and was clanking against my foot and making me a little nuts. I wanted to focus on how my body felt (awesome!) and not on that. When I saw Steven between mile 6 and 7 near the downtown area, I had him take it off real quick! Thank you, Steven! You rock for so many reasons!

The first seven miles FLEW by. I remembered feeling bored in the first half of the race last year, so I made an upbeat playlist and listened to it the whole time I ran. It worked!

The last six miles are an out and back that goes north toward Carthage College and back downtown to the finish. This part is fun because you get to see everyone out on the course (there is an out and back in the beginning too, but it’s a bit too spread out at that point to see everyone you know).

This part also has inclines. Definitely not hills, but inclines. I still felt great until mile 8/9, but the inclines and the open sun were getting to me. I’d try not to slow down too much on the up, then pick up the pace on the down. For the last four miles, my legs and arms felt like they each gained ten pounds. I would see friends and wave or grunt or try to say their name, but I was obviously running low on juice! (I took a gel at mile 4 and 8.)

But eff it I WAS THERE TO PR!!!! I kept pushing, kept using my pace band (comparing it to my overall time, then to the race mile markers, since my tangenting was off), still trying to keep my buffer. I knew I’d PR if I got in under 1:51:15, but I really wanted that sub 1:50!

The last few miles were HARD! It went from feeling easy and me thinking I’d maybe run 8:00 minute miles to finish (ha) to me struggling to make goal. But I did it! It wasn’t pretty, but I did it, and my positive split is not horrendous.

I’m proud of this race, and these splits. That race pace felt so great in the beginning let me know I trained right and was ready to PR. And I didn’t let it discourage me that it got hard in the end. I repeated my positive mantras – “I feel good,” “I can do this,” “I trained for this,” “I want this,” etc. – for the entire race. I ignored that beating sun (finish temp: 61°F, 63% humidity, with a 6 mph wind from the WSW).

I was SO glad to stop running though. Man, that last mile felt like it took forEVER! I stumbled a bit when I stopped, and a volunteer helped me over to water/Gatorade, where Emily was, and she helped me get four cups of Gatorade, which immediately helped! Thank you volunteers!!!!

Then I met up with Steven and we cheered on the rest of our friends running!

Rachel ran the race (and stayed over the night before!) and so did seven of my Essential Fitness (Efit) friends!

Rachel, Bobbi, me, Judy, Dawn, Rael, and Micah (two Efit friends not pictured)

Steven and I got vegan hot dogs at the food tent, hung out for a bit with friends, then headed home! I love how close this race is to our house (about twenty minutes away), and how easy it all is. It’s well organized, you can park close to the race about an hour before, packet pickup is quick, the aid stations are plenty (I only used a few since I carried water), etc. And bonus – it’s an affordable, smaller race.

This was a big year for the race – they were celebrating ten years since the inaugural! I dig the “cheese” cake logo! And since I am a ten consecutive years in a row runner, I got a blanket! Nice touch!

I’ll probably be back next year, even though every year when I struggle in those inclines (even with doing hill repeats every week since December, what the heck!) I tell myself I’ve got to quit. I just can’t! Maybe they could run the course in reverse? Ha! Or maybe since it’s so dang close, I could go TRAIN on it. Huh, there’s a brilliant idea!

Comments (34)

By kilax, May 4, 2018 4:15 am

Alright, so here’s what happened with my car! (I wanted to share it with a few people first, before I posted about it here.)

On Wednesday April 18th, I went to Iowa to visit family. I knew it was supposed to snow, and had stuff with me to spend the night, if the weather looked too bad to travel.

But, I decided to go home that night. I wanted to spend time with Steven and the kitties before I left early Friday for my trip to Dallas. So I left Iowa just before 8:45 pm to make the four hour trip home.

I felt alert and awake. The drive through Iowa was rainy, but easy, and I was glad there weren’t many people on the road.

A bit after I got in to Illinois, the rain turned to slush. I was actually grateful to be driving through lots of construction on the highway – we all had to slow down anyway, might as well slow down to drive in that crap.

But I was relieved when I got to the edge of the Chicago suburbs and the roads were obviously treated differently and felt less slick. The previous part of the drive had been draining. Just an hour left to home!

Yeah, you know where this is headed.

I was a half hour from home, on our eight lane highway (four lanes each side) when I went in to the left lane to pass someone. Note: I was NOT driving like an ass (ha, I feel like I need to say that – I drive aggressively out here, like everyone else, but I am not an idiot in bad weather).

And my car started swerving. To the right, to the left, then all the way in a right circle, having me face traffic.

YAY!

I was surprisingly HELLA calm during all this. Saying things to myself like “don’t overcorrect the steering,” “don’t slam on the brakes,” and also, “Oh! There goes a semi. Phew, he didn’t hit me. Oh good, that car didn’t hit me either.”

I could tell my back right corner was going to slam in to the median. “Okay Kim, maybe try the brakes now, to minimize the impact.”

CRUNCH.

Ugh.

I ended up facing traffic in the left shoulder. Hey, good thing that all happened near the shoulder, because my car wouldn’t move. The engine would turn over, but I’d press the gas pedal, and nothing. While I couldn’t tell how bad the damage was, I thought for sure I should at least be able to drive it a bit or get more in to the shoulder.

But I couldn’t.

So the actual scariest part of all this was sitting on the highway, facing traffic, hoping someone didn’t hit the same slush/ice as me, and run in to me.

I called Steven right away (he had left his phone on since I was driving so late, thankfully!) then 911. Then I realized I told 911 the wrong highway (94 instead of 294 DUH KIM) so I called them back.

And waited for the police to show up. Hoping no one would hit me, as my windows started to fog over and I couldn’t see out of them because the electronics were failing in my car.

THANKFULLY, a plow came by, stopped on the other shoulder, then drove over and blocked me. THANK HEAVENS FOR HIM.

Then the cop showed up. And we were all confused as to why my car wouldn’t do anything when I pressed the gas pedal. Ugh. So I continued to sit in my car, waiting for the tow. The plow left, but the cop stayed there, and I hoped with his lights on, people would give him space, and not hit either of us!

After what felt like an eternity (maybe forty minutes?) the tow arrived. He took my car, and the cop took me to an oasis, where Steven met me.

Funny thing: I had a zillion bags in my car, because I thought I might spend the night. So I asked the cop if I could bring all that stuff with me, and he said yes, but he didn’t have much room, so I was sitting in the back of his car, cramped in with all my crap, ha! Note: use a suitcase next time, Kim, geesh.

The cop was great. The plow guy was a LIFESAVER (maybe literally?). I was so glad Steven had his phone on, and could come get me.

Steven and I got home after 2:00 am and fell asleep around 3:00. Then were up in a few hours. Yay! I called Geico immediately and they’ve been AWESOME! While I was on the phone reporting the incident, the rental car and inspector people were already calling me. Top notch service from them. [not sponsored] 

We were shocked when Geico told us they were gonna try to fix the car. We knew, as a 2005, it wasn’t worth much anymore. But hey, yeah, please fix it.

Oh! I almost forgot to mention – the day before this trip to Iowa? We had just put $1000 in the car for maintenance stuff. Ha!

I went on my trip to Dallas, and came back, and got a call from the body shop that they found a lot more damage. We were not surprised. Then we got a call last Tuesday that yes, they were declaring it a total loss.

Ugh.

Geico made everything super easy for us. We picked up the check for our car on Thursday, then visited it to get stuff out of it.

My poor baby. We weren’t supposed to part this way.

This was my first “new” car after college. We treated her well and she took care of us (obviously). She had just hit 200,000 miles and I knew she had a lot more in her. Since my new car is basically a replacement of what I had, I expect the same.

So yeah, long arse story about an accident! Oh, and I was fine! My neck was sore for four to five days, but it feels better now!

Emotionally though, the effect was a longer. It was a roller coaster ride, not thinking they would fix it, then them saying they would, then them saying they wouldn’t, then the rush to get a new car, when we weren’t in a position to. And there was some guilt for not telling some people until things were all worked out.

But yeah. All better now!

And I was extremely lucky I walked out of this fine and no one else hit me. It’s a good thing it was late at night and there weren’t that many vehicles on the highway.

F*cking April snowstorms.

Comments (20)

By kilax, May 3, 2018 6:20 am

• These oreos. Delish. [not sponsored]

• THIS HUMMUS. Heart eyes emoji! And paired with Everything Pretzel Slims?! Cat making home alone face emoji! I’m not actually a plain Sabra hummus fan but their flavored hummuses are D-O-P-E. If anyone local EVER finds “Taco Inspired,” please let me know! Gina gets it for me when I visit her in Dallas and I can’t find it here! (Yeah, I used their locator tool but I never trust those.) [not sponsored]

• That random book I picked up at the free library at the train station, The Salt Line, is hands down my favorite novel of the year. I apparently really dig novels set in the near dystopian future, that aren’t written pompously, like that last book I read in this genre. I may check out more by this author, and the books it’s been compared to on Good Reads (Station Eleven and California).
• I tried to pick up another book yesterday at the train station, but the one I chose had a slight issue… wah. Ha.

• If the weather is decent for my half marathon on Saturday, I’ll be wearing this guy! I have an old (2013) half marathon PR of 1:51:15. However, summer has arrived here, and I’ve been running in the 70s/80s this week, so we’ll see!

• Des trademarked “Keep Showing Up” (pdf here). I wonder how soon we’ll see that now iconic phrase on apparel! I bet a piece will find its way to my closet!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 176

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By kilax, May 2, 2018 6:04 am

… is listening to running podcasts while you run!

(Ha, or, talking to someone on your blue tooth headset while running.)

A few weeks ago, as I laced up for my long run, I told Steven how excited I was to listen to some running podcasts during my run.

“Listening to running while running?! That’s so meta!”

Ha.

Somehow I ended up on this running podcast kick. I started with Ali on the Run, then saw someone mention I’ll Have Another, then Gina told me about Running Rogue. Now I’m queued up with hours upon hours of listening time.

And strangely (or maybe not strangely), it does “keep me company” on my runs, and make me feel like I am running with someone.

It does not give me the benefit of running with someone who is speedier than me – podcasts slow me down.

It does not give me the therapeutic benefit of unloading to a real person while I run. Cause, duh, ha.

But it distracts me, and makes the miles fly by, which is something that happens when I run with people. And bonus, it fills my heads with new ideas! So, yay!

Let me know if there are any running podcasts YOU love that I should check out!

With all the awesome teamwork displayed at recent races (Desi waiting for Shalane to use the bathroom at Boston, elite women sharing water bottles at London) I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of having a running support system for being successful in training and achieving my goals and staying motivated. Lots of words to say “I need supportive (but honest!) people to talk to about my running.” I need someone in my corner.

I don’t have that in person, where I live, and that’s okay. I am truthfully more of a solo runner.

But I do have that, through friends and the online community, especially xaarlin, and I am very grateful for it.

So, thank you, for being that for me, friends!

Comments (18)

By kilax, May 1, 2018 6:03 am

There’s a lot of fun social stuff going on in May, yay! Here’s what I’m excited about:

• Getting a massage before this Saturday’s half marathon
• Running the half
• Riding my bike outside
• Going to Cleveland to visit Anne and Terry
• Taking Jen out for a late birthday celebration
• My favorite coworker’s son’s first birthday party
• Our bowling passes starting (we got summer bowling passes this year – you pay a flat fee, then can bowl up to three games, every day, all summer long)
• The long Memorial Day Weekend
• Running the Chocoholic 5K with Rachel (and lots of people from the studio where I teach)
• Going to our first baseball game of the year
• Running lots of miles and enjoying spring weather before the humidity hits
• Earlier and earlier sunrises that get my butt out of bed (& associated afternoon naps)

What’s on your list?