Three Days, Two Wins, One Disaster

The past three days have consisted of a little bit of everything - one fantastic mentoring session, one awesome race PR, and one horrendous long run.  Can't win 'em all I guess?

Saturday morning was the kick off workout for the No Boundaries program that I'm mentoring at Fleet Feet.  First let me show you our sweet mentoring shirts, you know I'm a sucker for a good tech tee.

front

back. like a boss.

I was with the 10k & 5k 2.0 (like level 2 of the 5k program to get you faster).  Their workout was a two mile time trail and the mentors were assigned to be spread out throughout the group to pace/encourage/etc.  

It was interesting being on the other side of things but I definitely enjoyed it.  I was towards the back (shocking for such a speed demon like myself) and chatted with my little group of people around me.  Once my group was done I went back out with some of the mentors to run in with the others still out there.  

Not to get all mushy and teary-eyed after only one day, but I'm really excited to work with these groups and see their progress towards their goals.  During my training for the half, one person's positive or encouraging words during a run could make all the difference in my mindset and belief in myself.  Sometimes it was the only thing that kept me going!  My goal is to be that person to these runners, because I know what a difference it can make.  I'm excited to pay it forward!

Enough of the deep reflection, let's talk about what an awesome race experience I had on Sunday.  It was my first 5k since November, when I ran my first race ever.  My time from the November 5k was 41:19, and my goal for Sunday was to come in under 35 minutes....

boom.

Mission accomplished.  Cutting almost 7 minutes off my 5k time was no easy feat, but I'm so excited I did it.  This was my first race that I actually "raced" -- usually I just "run" races, not aiming for a specific finish time.  It was totally different to keep a constant eye on my watch, making sure I was on pace for my goal, and pushing myself when I wanted to slow down.

It wasn't easy, but it was an awesome feeling knowing that I pushed myself and achieved the goal I set for myself.  Not only was my chip time under my goal, so was my gun time.  As I was running toward the finish I saw the race clock ticking towards 35 minutes and I'll be damned if my gun time shows over 35 minutes.  I full on sprinted (which in reality, according to my garmin, was only a 9:20 pace) and clocked my gun time at 34:58.  Boom.  Mollz for the win.   

frontier field, home of my first official PR 

Naturally I was on a total runner's high after my exciting race yesterday, so I used that high to fuel a long run today.  The Buffalo half marathon is TWELVE DAYS AWAY and I've done ONE long run since April 29th.  No bueno.

No bueno would be an understatement, because my run today was AWFUL.  I ran with Emily for the first time in a long time, which was just about the only positive of my run.  I felt all out of sorts, my legs weren't on board and my mental game was shot.  

It was brutal physically and mentally and that's all I'm going to say about that.  Chalking this up to a bad run and a lesson learned (not a good idea to skip long runs for a month).  We finished just over 8 miles and that point I was ready to take what I could get.

worst ever.

We collapsed in the grass to stretch when we were done, although this was my view for the first five minutes:

sky.

I laid "stretched" on my back for a few minutes before my body felt like stretching for real.  I was borderline thinking that I may need a stretcher in order to get upstairs, or that I would have to sleep on my lawn because I couldn't move.

stretching in my new kicks

One final note about tonight's run:  It. was. HOT.  Hot as in you could feel the sticky humidity the second you walked outside.  Hot as in I had to rock a bandana to catch the sweat pouring out of me.  Because I want you to understand how brutally hot it was, and because I've lost all sense of shame in showing you awkward and unflattering pictures of myself, I'll leave you with this little gem:

hint: that's not water.

You're welcome for that picture.

A Week Full of Adventures!

What a week it's been!  My biker's high from Sunday definitely carried me through my random adventures this week.

Tuesday was my usual run day and because I think I'm all cool and multi-sport now, I decided to ride my bike to Fleet Feet.  I felt super badass riding into the parking lot until I realized that I forgot my bike lock at home.  What an amateur mistake.

They let me keep my bike in the back room and thankfully the Fleet Feet staff are really good babysitters because my baby was safe and sound when I got back from the run.

The run itself was actually really good; it was the first week in a LONG time that I actually ran and completed the entire hill workout.  I was on fire.

wham bam thank you mam

I was feeling so awesome in fact that my run/bike high convinced me it would be a good idea to sign up for my first ever trail race...

...which just so happened to be the following evening.  I didn't even have time to register my impulsive decision until it was 5:00pm on Wednesday and I was getting ready for my first trail race.  And my first "official" race as a Fleet Feet team member!

check out my sweet jersey

Steph signed up for the race too so I was excited to have someone to run it with.  I was also glad that I had zero expectations because it was so NOT what I expected... but in a good way, I think.

We started off on relatively flat single track trails and I felt like I was on a cool little nature run.  The men started about 10 minutes after the women, so after only a few minutes we had the lead male hyenas zooming past us.  We had to stop and pull over a few times to let them by which was annoying, but better than being trampled.

see ya

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting to be hiking up steep dirt hills, dodging roots in the ground, jumping over fallen trees, or sliding down muddy hills.  I mean I guess that's what trail runs are after all.  Who knew.

It was WAY tougher than I had anticipated but I'm surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it.  It challenged me in a completely different way than I'm used to but dare I say I liked the challenge?!  Would I do another one?  Absolutely!

trail runner!

steph, rob & me: thumbs up for trail running!

thanks to Barb at fleet feet for being an awesome race photog!
i sure am glad she was standing at mile 0.1 rather than the finish. woof.

I was sore the next day which didn't really surprise me considering the running hiking of the trail race.  I took yesterday as a rest day and opted for a nice little nap as my choice activity of the day.

I was debating running or biking today and couldn't make up my mind, so when Brie suggested we bike to her parent's house for dinner, that was all the motivation I needed to choose biking.  Give me a burger and some corn on the cob and we've got a deal.

The ride there was quick and easy and we only had one minor incident with traffic.  When it comes down to adhering to traffic rules versus potentially becoming road kill, I'm throwing all rules out the window.  Cyclists have rights too ya know.

Dinner was fantastic and I ate like I was planning on sitting in my car to drive home, not hop on a bike for another 7 miles.  Oops.  The ride back turned out to be just as good as the ride there and it was quite an enjoyable little excursion.

I was very proud of Brie for not stopping or complaining (too much).  My goal is to make her an active fitness loving fool just like me.  Baby steps :)

post ride....x2!

Tomorrow I have my first day mentoring the 10k training group at Fleet Feet!  I'm so excited I feel like Christmas.  And Sunday I'm doing a 5k, which will be my first one since November when I started running.  I'm hoping to shave about 20 minutes off my time.  Well, someday.  I'll settle for a few minutes on Sunday.  See ya on the flip side of another exciting weekend!

Tour de Cure = Completed!

I did it - 40 miles biked in the Tour de Cure!  What an experience!

I treated last night like any other pre-race eve (which has come to be like my Christmas eve) and carb loaded, hydrated, and made sure I had all my gear ready to go.

a bit more gear than for a running race!

My alarm went off far too early this morning, but I was excited and ready to get going.  Our team jerseys made the outfit choice super easy, so I was ready in about 7 minutes flat.  A new record.

Brie's dad picked us up and we all headed over to RIT where the ride started.  Some of our team were doing the metric century and century rides, so we got there early enough to take a team picture and see them off for their ride.

Brie's Buddies!

100 and 63 milers about to start

I was surprised at how un-nervous I was, especially considering my lack of training and the fact that I've only ridden 20 miles on my new bike.  I was too excited at everything going on to be nervous!  Pictures are always a good distraction from nerves.

me and brie!

thumbs up and ready to ride!

My nerves didn't kick in until we were at the start line getting ready to head out.  It was then that it hit me that after only a handful of "training" rides and one 20 miler on my new bike, I was setting out to tackle 40.  What have I gotten myself in to?

at the start line ready to go

just hangin out with some bikers

My nerves got the best of my about 30 seconds later when I struggled to get my feet in my cages; I was so flustered and couldn't get my feet in and almost fell off my bike and took 4 people out with me.  Awesome start to the ride.

Once I regained my composure I was good to go.  I stuck with Brie and her dad for the first few miles and just took everything in.  There were some killer hills the first few miles and I was silently cursing thanking Becca for making me do hills on our ride the other day.

There was a rest stop at mile 9 and even though I didn't feel like I needed to stop, I did and filled up my water bottles and waited for Brie and her dad.  I headed off before them so I was on my own for this part of the ride.

I got the brilliant idea to play my itunes on my phone which was in my jersey pocket.  Lucky for me I still had my awesome half marathon playlist on there so I started jammin out to some great tunes.  Lady Gaga, Drake and Sugarland did a fantastic job at keeping me company.

At mile 21 there was another rest stop; I stopped to refill my bottles and had half of a PBJ sandwich which tasted amazing.  I also ran into Alyssa from my half marathon training class who was also riding the 40!

hfm does the tdc!

We chatted for a couple minutes and then headed off for the second half of the ride.  I was surprised at how good I was feeling at the halfway point and was excited for the last half.  

My one fear I had coming into the ride was that I would be wishing it was over and not take the time to enjoy the ride.  I had coach Becca's voice in the back of my head reminding me to enjoy the experience and I was surprised at how easily I was able to do that.  Even when I looked at my Garmin and saw 19 more miles to go, I was happy to be out there and still going and enjoying every second of it.

About 6 miles from the end, Brie and her dad (who rode the 25 mile ride) ran into me in their car (not literally) so I stopped for a minute to get a cold water bottle and douse myself in some ice (it was HOT... 85+ degrees and humid).  Brie was a great photographer and got some action shots:

perfecting my action pose

thumbs up to feeling awesome at mile 34!

There were a couple more hills to tackle in the last few miles and I was surprised at my ease in taking them on.... I was actually having fun with it.  Who would have thought that a 700+ foot elevation gain ride would be so much fun for me?!  On the last crazy hill, one of the hardcore cyclists who passed me told me I was doing great and told me to "make this hill your bitch!"  Damn straight.

elevation map - i made you my bitch.

I made a friend during the last few miles who said he loved my music.  He was 58 years old and I could tell you 90% of his life story.  Man was a talker.  Who knew you could learn so much about someone in 7 minutes?  Thanks for riding with me kind sir, you were quite entertaining.

Riding through the finish line was an awesome feeling - I did it!  And not only did I complete it, I had fun, enjoyed the ride, and felt WAY better than I expected to.  I honestly felt like I could have kept riding - I didn't want to stop!

I forgot to start my garmin when I started (shocker) so I'm a liiiitle ocd anal that it doesn't say 40... but I promise that I really did ride 40 miles!!  I also didn't stop the time at the rest stops, which was about 30 minutes total, so my total riding time was probably just under 3 hours.  Crazy!

40 miles - check! 

brie's mom is the cutest.

After cheering in the 63 & 100 milers, it was time for the second best part of the day aside from the ride - refueling aka eating everything.  I found Becca after she finished the 100 (no big deal) and told her that she was in my head on repeat the whole ride.  Coach Becca for the win.

running/biking/life coach

No first Tour de Cure would be complete without the obligatory picture with the start/finish line in the background:

me and brie!

At last year's Tour de Cure, Brie and I joked that we'd be riding in the 2012 tour... little did we know that we would actually follow through on that!

The whole day was awesome and it was great having the team to cheer for/cheer you on.  I'm proud of myself for relaxing enough to enjoy the ride and have fun and complete the whole thing!  If I can do 40 miles on non-existent training, what else can I do?!  I never cease to amaze myself what I am actually capable of when I put my mind to it.  Maybe Definitely next year I will be joining my other teammates on the 100 mile ride!  Watch out Tour de Cure 2013!

Brie's Buddies post race - what an awesome team!

Thank you to everyone who donated to my ride, supported for me and cheered me on, and helped make today such an awesome day!!!

Another Week Down...

Because it's Friday and I'm tired and lazy and ready for my late afternoon nap, I'm going to let my pictures from this week speak the 1000 words that I will be neglecting to type in the next 10 minutes.  Ready, go.

Tuesday was a run day and I was super pumped to rock my brand new running skirt:

how fun is this?!

It's okay if you don't like it.  Only two people out of about the 57 I polled did.  It's fine.  It's my new favorite piece of running apparel.  It carried me well through the 3 sloooow miles I ran that night.

Wanna know what else I did on Tuesday night?  Welcomed a new member to my little family:

welcome my perfect little road trek :)

Great deal + wishing I could be a hardcore cyclist = time for my first road bike purchase.  Here she is all settled in at home with her new matching handlebar tape:

Words can't describe my excitement.  I am literally treating this thing like my child.  My friend Becca who is basically an Ironman athlete took me for a ride yesterday on the new wheels.  It was fantastic.

me and big blue before our first ride together

I learned so much about biking and listened to Becca talk the whole time since the hills were a liiiittle killer for me and my lungs can't handle hills and talking simultaneously.

609 foot elevation gain. no biggie.

We did 21 miles and I'm feeling much more confident and excited about my 40 mile Tour de Cure Ride on Sunday.

post ride!

Side note: do you know how hard it is to take a picture of yourself and someone else, on your iphone, while trying to get two bikes in the picture as well?  There were numerous outtakes, but none as special as the one below.  If you've ever seen those Elf Yourself videos, please notice the similarities of the big head small body in the pic and prepare to lol

elf yourself?

Thumbs up to my first ride with my new bff (my bike, not Becca.  Sorry Becca)

In other news, the Tour de Cure is two days away and we get our sweet team jerseys today:

pretty legit

I'm pumped for the ride on Sunday, even though I've done minimal training (that's an understatement).  Pretty much I'm winging 40 miles and hoping to not die.  At least I'll look super awesome with my bike and jersey.  Wish me luck!!

Birthday Weekend Festivities

...And by "festivities" I mean running and biking :)  I took Friday (my birthday) as a rest day and hydrated with wine at lunch and beer at dinner.  My physical activity that day consisted of power walking through the outlet malls and working up a sweat trying things on in the fitting rooms.  Active rest day?  Sure.

Yesterday my sisters came to visit and while Kelly was at work, Heather and I headed out for a bike ride. It's been over two weeks since I've been on my bike (oops) so it was nice to have my sissy to ride with on my first ride back!

sissy bike time!

Heather's bike is WAY more legit than mine and made my hand-me down Trek look like a Wal-Mart Huffy.  She was pedaling away up hills and I was teetering along behind her trying not to die.  The bikers I've talked to have said that if I had a better bike I'd be able to ride much easier, and while I've semi-bought into this statement, I mostly just thought I was somehow getting really out of shape and that my running endurance didn't translate into biking endurance.

To test the theory, I made Heather switch bikes with me about halfway through our ride (there's power in being the older sister).  I was SHOCKED at how much easier it felt to ride on her bike!  I was tackling the road like it was nothin but a thing, and Heather, a MARATHONER, was getting tired and winded on my Trek-Huffy.  Who knew a good bike could make such a difference?!

I made a deal with her (again, the power of being the big sister ;) and she's letting me borrow her bike for the Tour de Cure next week.  Maybe now I won't feel like keeling over and dying after my 40 mile leg.  At least not as much as if I was taking Huffy out for the ride!  Big Red is a total game changer for the Tour.  Watch out.

post ride, that's big red in the background

Once we switched bikes the ride was awesome and way fun for me!  We did a nice route that included roads and the canal... I didn't even get us killed when we were making left turns on the road.  I think that means I'm moving on up in the cycling world.

thanks for a great ride sissy!

Since I finally got back on the bike yesterday, that meant only one thing for today... long run!  My next half marathon is 27 days away and I've done ZERO double digit runs since my first half... 5 weeks ago!  Needless to say that awesome training schedule I made myself hasn't really panned out like I thought it would.  

After our group run on Thursday night we all must have been on our runner's high because we decided that we would all meet today at 1pm for a 10 miler.  Great idea at the time, not so much when today rolled around.  Especially when the weather looks like this:

rain rain rain! why!

The catch 22 of having a group of people you commit to running with is that you can't back out or you feel like a weenie.  I SO wanted to bail and not run, but I committed to going so I did.  And at the end I was glad I went as usual, especially since I knew I would never have made it out there on my own!

We started in a little bit of rain and then it got hot and muggy... the weather was seriously all over the place!  My knee was bothering me so I walked more than I typically would have on a long run and debated not going the full 10.  And then remembered that I don't want to DNF at my next half in 3 weeks so sucked it up.

We did a 6 mile out and back on the canal and stopped to refuel and refill our water.  Then we did another 4 mile out and back in the opposite direction.  Miles 6-8 were so. long.  Seriously felt like the longest two miles I've ever ran.  The last two back weren't bad and we were all psyched when all of our Garmin's finally beeped 10 miles.  

first double digit run in 5 weeks - check!

It was definitely a slow run and I feel like my legs almost forgot what it felt like to run more than 7 miles.  It wasn't as tough as I had anticipated though for my first double digit run in a while.  Well it was tough, just not as disastrous as some runs tend to be.

I laid down when I got home and forgot the awesome feeling of napping after a long run.  Best part of the day!  For some reason I was antsy to get on my bike all day (might have something to do with the new bike shorts I bought today), so I decided to go out for a quick ride to test out the new shorts (they're actually tri shorts, which means they don't feel like a diaper like bike shorts, but still have a little bit of padding so you can bike AND run in them. Without looking like a waddling toddler in a diaper).

I had about 24 minutes of daylight left before weather.com told me the sun was going to set so I jetted out and was back in less than 20 minutes.  Not a bad test ride for the new shorts.

a little nightcap ride!

And now I am pretty exhausted from my weekend of active birthday activities.  Hopefully this weekend kicks off a productive week of training since my ride and half are coming up way faster than I expected!  Sitting on the couch in compression gear eating popcorn will no doubt help to kick the week of right....right?!