... And Here Comes The Race Doubts

For someone who is a race addict and thinks she can accomplish damn near anything, I get the worst case of race doubts when racing in new distances. I just picked up my race packet for the Summerfest Rock n Sole Half Marathon, and it hit me that my first half marathon is in exactly 10 days. ::cue panic attack:: I think I will be more calm in the zombie apocalypse, than I am talking about this half marathon. Something that I have been dreaming about, and prepping for nearly a year is in a week and a half. I'm normally a realist, but I've noticed that I become quite the pessimistic leading up to races. I'm at this weird point where I don't even want to train, almost like I'm trying to fail.

Who would have thought a small piece of paper with a number on it could bring on a panic attack?

It probably doesn't help that I'm coming off of an injury, so I'm just really doubting my body. For the past week I've been having issues with cramping in my left leg. I have been holding off on the foam roller phenomenon this entire time, but finally caved. Who would have thought a cylinder of hard foam could cost thirty dollars be a gift from the heavens above? Sure, while using it I was in pain and wanted to kill inflict pain upon whoever invented the stupid thing, but I woke up the next morning actually able to walk. What a relief! Finally got back to running this week, and it's been rough. I feel really unstable. Not sure if I'm babying my 'injury', or if it's all in my head?

If you start doubting yourself before races, how do you reverse it and get your head back in the game?

I've Come To The Conclusion...

... that I'm addicted to races and I think my body can handle anything. So, what has lead to this conclusion, you ask? I was talking to a good running friend, Jon, earlier today, and he told me about his plans to do a 2012 Iron Man. Instantly the wheels in my head start turning, and I start contemplating competing in an Iron Man 70.3. WHAT‽ For those of you who are reading this that have no idea what the Iron Man 70.3 Triathlon is, it's a race that starts with a 1.2 mile swim, then off to a 56 mile bike ride and finishes with a 13.1 mile (half marathon) run. Oh, and this is only the half Iron Man, double the distances for the full Iron Man. Those who complete Iron Man races are pretty much bad-ass, and I'd love to compete in both the 70.3 and the full in my lifetime.

It's funny what a year can do to your confidence. A year ago I hadn't even gone out for my first run, and since then I've completed three 5k's, two 10k's and am registered for two half marathons this summer. What's funny is before I even ran my first 10k, I already had the goal of a half marathon. So this is totally how I roll. I haven't even ran my first half marathon, and I'm signed up for a second half marathon six weeks later. Now I have the bright idea of competing in an Iron Man 70.3. So, what do I find the most amusing about wanting to do this race? A) I don't own a bike, and haven't in well over 10 years. B) I don't know how to swim. C) I still haven't even completed a 13.1 mile run yet. So I'm either overly confident in my body, I have just enough confidence to think that anything that I sign up for I'll be able to complete, or maybe I'm just a little bit crazy.

I'll go with all of the above.

They're Personal Records For A Reason

As I'm creeping up on my one year anniversary of running, it's getting harder and harder to not compare myself to other runners. When I first started I allowed myself to use the excuse "Well, I just started running X months ago" when being compared to another runner. Now that I'm weeks away from my big one year anniversary, I feel like I'm even more embarrassed of my run times when talking to experienced runners, and need to remind myself that they're called personal records for a reason.

In the last week I was shocked to have actually beaten two of my previous personal records. The major of the two PR's was my 10k record, at last weekends Bellin Run 10k in Green Bay, WI. The previous 10k that I had ran was April 23rd, and finished with a time of 1 hour and 10 minutes. I had gone into the Bellin Run joking about going sub 1 hour, but I knew it was a long shot and it became more of a joke than anything. As I crossed the starting line I started off a little slow, just to take things easy. It was around the 3 mile marker that I realized that I did have a good chance of going sub 1 hour, and really started to pick up my pace. Unfortunately, I did not go sub 1 hour. But close. Really really close. My final time for the Bellin Run 10k was 1 hour and 57 seconds. Yep. That's close.

The second PR from this week is my from my 3 mile easy run. Before I left California for a couple month vacation in Wisconsin, I ran a 3 mile for time and ran it in 29 minutes and 21 seconds. It was the first time I had ever gone sub 30, and I was completely stoked! Before that run, I was never really big on timing myself for 3 mile runs with the running club. I would just put in my headphones, put on my favorite playlist and just run. Since then I have pretty much fallen in love with my RunKeeper App for my iPhone, and haven't ran without it since. Knowing where I'm at for time, distance and pace has been incredible for running outdoors. Over the last month, there have been a run or two when I was close to a new personal record, or only took off a few seconds. However, it was last nights run that I had destroyed my 3 mile time. I'm not going to lie, I was shocked to hear my RunKeeper tell me that I had ran my 3 mile in just over 27 minutes.

Even though it's pretty depressing at times to hear what other women my age run their 5k's and 10k's in, I have to constantly remind myself that I've still only been running for less than a year. Not that it's an excuse, but I have to look at it as a sense of accomplishment. I have to remind myself that with a year of training I can run a 10k in the same time that it took to run a 5k. It's truly amazing to see what your body can do when you work hard and set your mind to it.

Motivation Gets You Started...

"Motivation Gets You Started - Habit Keeps You Going"

Don't mind the crazy letters.. we've had insane wind the last few days!

This was the quote on the sign outside the gym today, and felt it was very fitting for my first real blog post. I'll be the first person to tell you that motivation isn't always the easiest thing to find within yourself. There have been plenty of times (yes... even recently) that I just haven't gone to the gym because I lacked the motivation. When my husband had just left for Afghanistan, my energy was down to zero and I didn't feel like doing much of anything. Finally around day three of him being gone, I got back into the gym. I realized that me moping around wasn't doing any good, and was just putting myself behind in my training. Sure those first few workouts were pretty heartless, and I was really only going to get out of the house (and I knew my husband would yell at me if he knew I was skipping my workouts), but at least I went. Just this week I have come to notice, I have never gone to bed after skipping the gym, glad that I missed a workout. Instead, I'm normally laying there well after the gym closed, wishing I would have just sucked it up and went. On the other hand, I've never gone to bed after a hard workout wishing that I skipped it. I think I'm finally getting to the point in my training that it's become habit. I get to the gym, get on with my workout, and get on with my day.

It really helps to have a goal in mind, whether it's a weight loss goal or a race. Since I started my running journey in July/August, I have always tried to keep a goal in mind to help keep me motivated. My first goal: run a 5k. Sure to most runners a 5k is just a normal Wednesday run, for all I cared this could have been a marathon. For a girl that couldn't even run for a minute straight, 3 miles felt like an eternity. By having a goal in mind, it's always something to keep you going, and help motivate you when the little devil on your shoulder is trying to talk you out of your workout. Once I completed my first 5k, I increased my goal to a half-marathon. Sure, maybe I should have increased it to a 10k, but I wanted and needed a longer term goal. You know your body best! If you feel like you need to take baby steps, do it; if you want to take giant steps, go for it! (I felt like we were playing "mother may I?" for a minute! HA!)

What has really helped me stay motivated is having something/someone hold me accountable for my missed workouts. I'm not huge on having 'workout partners', but I like to log my miles on dailymile. After each workout you log your miles/training, and at the end of the week dailymile sends an e-mail with your total for that week. If I skipped a workout, it really shows on my report. Do what works for you! Create a dailymile account, or grab a friend and get to the gym. Whatever you choose, help motivate each other and get working out to become a habit.

- Andie

From The Beginning... Until Now.

If anyone of you knew me while growing up you would know that the last word to ever describe me would be "athlete." I was the one child who never had an athletic bone in their body, and it didn't matter if I was 5, 13 or 18. I was the one who would always fall, get hit in the face, and just fail at anything sports related. For never working out, I was blessed with a good metabolism. I never had a weight issue, and I think my only saving grace was that I have always been a picker. I'm a very light eater, but eat constantly throughout the day. My mom told me that when I was a toddler, she would have to put little bowls of food around the house so I could snack all day long. I must have held onto that concept, because I'm still like that today. At any given time, I'll have 3+ different snacks in my purse, just in case I get hungry. To anyone who doesn't know me, my purse looks like I should have a few children, but to my friends, it's who I've always been.

So how did I start running?! It all started in July of 2010 when my husband had to accept orders to a new military base. While we were waiting for a home to open up, I stayed with a close friend and her family. Jessica had just gotten back from 6 weeks of training to become a Marine Corps Officer, and is in incredible shape. She made me go with her one morning on her run in the Oceanside Harbor, and down to the pier -- a 3 mile run. Dying would be an understatement. I ran through the Harbor, my lungs burned, my stomach felt like I wanted to throw up, yet I kept pushing on. I made it closer to the pier and finally told Jessica to go ahead without me. My legs just wouldn't let me keep moving, so I ran/walked as she continued to the pier without me. I only made it halfway to the pier and Jessica was already to the pier and back to me. We ran/walked back to the car, and I felt horrible for holding her up on her morning run. The entire drive back home she kept telling me how great I did and how I have the perfect body to be a great runner, even though inside I felt like a huge failure.

A week later my husband and I had accepted a house at our new base in the middle of nowhere. Wal-mart is usually a staple in all small towns, however, Wal-mart is 40 minutes away from our new home. There isn't much to do (well, anything to do) so I remembered what Jessica had told me, and got to the gym. I remember my first trip home from the gym, and telling my husband about my 'great work'. He came home from work for the day, and I was so proud to tell him that I ran/walked 3 miles in an hour. I remember how supportive he was, and how he told me to keep at it. My times slowly started coming down, and I slowly began to run further and further, and walk less and less with a huge thanks to the C25K iPhone app.

My original goal was to run 5k's by the Summer of 2011, and actually competed in my first one Halloween weekend of 2010 just to see if I could even do it. My final time for my first 5k was 37:38, and I was absolutely thrilled (and felt like I wanted to die at the finish line)! I continued to train, and a month later my husband and I ran our first 5k together on Thanksgiving. I ran it in 32:37, cutting an entire 5 minutes off my time in only one month. It's been incredible to see how with a little determination, you can accomplish a ton. After my second 5k, I decided I wanted to up my goal. Instead of being smart and deciding to run a 10k, I decided, "what the heck, I want to run a half-marathon."

Since December of 2010, I've been working with a trainer on our base. She has helped set up a running, and a weight training routine. Before then I just ran on my own, and did what I thought I should be doing. Never before did I realize how important weight training is, and how much it affects your running. I have noticed so many changes in my body and my endurance since I started working out with her. Plus, by having a trainer and logging my miles on dailymile, I'm held accountable if I decide not to run a day or skip a workout.

Just last weekend, I competed in my first ever 10k in Carlsbad, CA for Earth Day. Sure, I've ran 6 miles before, but running it in a race setting is completely different, because I have been used to running 6 miles on the treadmill. It's so difficult without knowing your speed or your mile marker, which caused me to pace myself slightly slower that I could have finished with. I think my biggest fear was running too hard in the beginning, and not being able to finish. My final time for my first 10k was 1 hour and 10 minutes on the dot, and 286th place out of 368 runners.

What a huge difference 8 months can make! Back in July I could barely run 3 miles in an hour, and now I'm running 6+ miles in an hour and 10 minutes. Of course my body isn't quite up to where I want it to be, but the changes that I've seen are absolutely incredible. I'm no longer the non-athletic woman who cheers on my husband for great work outs, now we work out together. He has been my biggest fan through all of this, which has helped me succeed more than words could describe! He's currently serving our country in Afghanistan, but knowing that I have support from across an ocean and thousands of miles away means the world to me.

I hope this blog will help other non-athletes believe in themselves. The hardest part about getting out there is probably not your first workout, but your second. The first one you're already motivated, and you believe in yourself, but your second workout is a completely different story. More than likely you worked yourself to death in your first workout, and you're contemplating even going for a second time. DO IT! Even though your body is probably hating you, and you have the little evil man (or woman) on your shoulder reminding you how much you hated your first time training.. just remember it gets easier. Sure, I still have days that I hate my workout and I can't wait to finish, but you'll always have good days and not so good days! <3

- Andie