100 miles

After last week's disastrous attempt at trying to PR on a 1/2 marathon, I took a few days off from running. Mainly to rest my very tired, hurting legs. It wasn't until I was tagged in this picture (on the right) that I realized how much I was suffering during the race. When I run, I normally focus on trying to strike my sole a mid-foot, which is better for you. This picture shows me heel striking rather than mid-foot striking--which is bad, bad, bad and my body was feeling it. So, I've ordered myself a few more days of rest from running with plenty of stretching, icing and foam rolling.


Back to 70.3 training. This week's training included a 50 miler bike ride. According to the weather forecast, Saturday looked to be the best day to do my long bike ride with high temps in the low 70's and light winds. So, it was time to rally my training buddies to join me on my ride--Jackie, Rob (Jane's husband and an avid cyclist), Missy and Anne.

Missy and I have been indoor cycling every Monday night during this past winter at our local bike shop. We have also been logging swimming mileage together twice a week. In the water, Missy is super fast so I should say it's more like me trying hard not to have her lap me a million times. Missy and I will be participating in two triathlons together over the next few weeks.

Anne is a triathlete and just recently completely IM 70.3 Galveston in what I would say was a phenomenal time.  Anne is about 3 weeks out from racing in IM Texas 140.6.

Two things checked off list,
two to go

Earlier in the week, Anne mentioned that she had a 100 mile ride scheduled on Saturday as part of her training. When she said 100 miles, all I could think of was that that is a century ride and I was planning to ride 100 miles sometime during 2014, most likely a few months after IM KS 70.3 (photo on the left). After taking a day or two to process the opportunity, I decided that I would attempt to ride 100 miles on Saturday with Anne.

The Plan: We would ride 2x50 miles. The course would be 25miles out to Atchison, Kansas (the birthplace of Amelia Earhart) and 25 miles back. Rob, Anne, Missy and I would ride the 1st 50 miles together with  Rob and Missy finishing at the 50 mile mark. Then, Anne, Jackie (her 1st 50 miles) and I would ride the 2nd 50 miles.

Jackie getting ready to start her 1st 50 miler 

Since I never ridden this course before, I was a little hesitant of riding on a major highway. But, I must say I really, really liked the route--It was fairly flat and I was riding fairly fast. The road condition was some of the best that I have ridden on in Kansas. It took me 1:25:00 to get to the 25 mile turn around point and Rob and Anne were probably two miles ahead of me with Missy about 1 mile behind me.

Anne @mile 87
She is so fast that she
finished way before we did

There was a head wind on the way back which made for the next 25 miles a little bit more challenging. I managed to finish my first 50 miles in 3:15:00. At the 50 mile pit stop, I met Jackie, ate some food, refilled my water bottles and bento food box. And then we were off for my last 50, her first 50.

I remember telling Jackie that there would be a small section of road that had major cracks and potholes and that we needed to be careful. Sure enough, at my mile 59 (Jackie's mile 9), Jackie yelled out "Potholes!" Unfortunately, I was riding too close behind her (yes, I was drafting her :D) and I hit a pothole. Then my back tire went flat--ugh!

Poor Celo looks so sad spread out on the side of the highway

30 minutes later with 2 "phone a friend" calls for help, 2 ice cream scoop tools and using 2 C02 cartridges,  we (or mostly Jackie) managed to put a new tire tube on Celo and away we went. Again, we made great time to Atchison--it felt like we were flying! Once we made it to the 25 mile turnaround point, the winds shifted and we were riding into the wind (24mph winds). There were times that the wind gusts were so strong (35mph winds) that I had hard time keeping my bike upright. By mile 80, I was feeling defeated and didn't know if I could make it any further. I just keeping repeating to myself--"just get to mile 90 and it's all downhill". Sure enough, those 10 miles were probably the hardest 10 miles I've ever ridden. Finally, we saw the sign "Welcome to Leavenworth Co." and I knew that I was about to complete my 1st 100 miles. I can't thank Jackie enough because if she wasn't there this would have been an attempt at 100 miles rather than completing 100 miles.

Finally FINISHED and enjoying
a recovery chocolate milk

100 miles in the books--even though
it took a LONG, LONG time to complete

It's been a few days now since I've completed my ride. Surprisingly, my legs were mostly recovered by the next day (Easter Sunday). I'm so thankful for my crazy friends that rode with me that day!! I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I rode 100 miles!

Next up: CGSC Sprint Triathlon on May 3

Rock the Parkway 1/2

About 6 months ago, a few members of the group suggested running in the Heartland 39.3 Series. Essentially, it is three 1/2 marathons (Rock the Parkway, Garmin, Running with the Cows) within a 5 week period. Yikes, that's a lot of running mileage for this gal! Since IM KS 70.3 has been my main focus for this season, taking on the 39.3 series is not something I could do this year. What's really exciting is that five members of the group decided to take on the 39.3 series! I'm so proud of them! I know that all their hard work and dedication will allow them to successfully complete the 39.3 series.

Back to Rock the Parkway Race (RtP), the 1st in the Heartland 39.3 Series, Weekend events:

Friday -  Packet pickup and lunch with Jackie, Jane, Mary and me. The participant guide for Rock the

Overland Park Convention Center
(last year's packet pickup location)

Parkway stated that the pick up location and expo for this year was in a new, bigger location--The Overland Park International Trade Center. Whenever I see the word "expo" I get all giddy. I love going to race expos and seeing all the new, cool running gear available. Plus, I love freebies.I picked up the ladies and we drove to Overland Park Convention which is about 45 minutes from where we live. Did you notice that I just wrote the name of two different places? Ooops--we were in the wrong place (1st bad sign)! The nice usher inside the OP Convention Center said that this was the location for packet pickup last year, not this year. Back in the car we went and after a quick drive, we were in the correct location.

Overland Park International Trade Center
(This year's packet pickup location)

Wow--What a great expo--lots of info on upcoming races and great shopping! First stop was the Heartland 39.3 Series booth so that Mary could get her 39.3 stuff. Then we made our way over to RtP booth to pick up our t-shirts, bibs and timing chips and then we visited each of the booths at the expo.

Meeting Karli Ritter, local meteorologist
and 1/2 marathoner.
http://karliritter.blog.com/2014/02/10/heroes-for-hospice-5k/

Meeting Stephanie, the official pacer for
the 2:20 group. 

Saturday - Race morning
The plan was to meet at 5:45am and carpool to the race site. When I walked outside to meet everyone I remember noticing how warm it was outside so early in the morning. It was 56 degrees before sunrise and the high was going to be in the 70's and humid (2nd bad sign). The temperatures for all of my outside runs before the race were between 30's to 50's. So, I should have realized that this run was probably going to be difficult in terms of temperature and humidity. In the car, we discussed pacing again. The group was going to run with the official 2:20 pace group which meant that they would all PR for this race (my PR is a 1:59 from a previous race).

Start line selfies

We arrived at the race in plenty of time to take a potty break, find the rest of our group that was meeting us at the race and, most importantly, take pictures. Mary also discovered that she did not get her timing chip in her packet--that's bad! So, she had to go back to the Solutions table to get new chip and bib. Once she got everything she needed, we walked over to the start line with the 2:20 pace group. Because I was feeling pretty good, I decided that I was going to start with everyone and then I would run ahead and try to break the 2:00hr mark (3rd bad sign/decision). Ultimately, this was a very, very bad decision on my part--I should have stayed back since this should have been a training run for IM KS not a race that I needed to try for a PR.

Miles 1-3 went well. By mile 4, I was dying from leg & calf cramps and the heat--it was almost to the point that I wanted to take off my shirt and run in just a sports bra (lucky for everyone I didn't). By mile 9, Tacha had caught up to me and she was looking very strong. I told her to keep going and finish strong. By mile 10, the 2:20 pace group came up behind me and ran out in front of me. It took every ounce of strength in me to just keep up with the 2nd pacer of the 2:20 group. Eventually, they left me before mile 11. By mile 12, one of the spectators yelled out that we were coming up on the last hill (this course had more hills than I had anticipated) and that "it's all downhill from here". Yeah, right, dude..I've heard that one before. Eventually, I could see the finish line ahead of me and I ran as fast as my legs could take me and just like that, it was finally over.

My finish time was 2:23 not, the sub 2:00 I was hoping. I definitely made a lot of mistakes on this race but in a way making these mistakes has taught some valuable lessons--so it's really a good thing for me! The most important lesson I learned from this race is to not make last minute changes and to stick to my original plan. Before this race, I considered running Running with the Cows 1/2 (the 3rd in the Heartland 39.3 series) but after this race, I think I'll stick to my IM KS 70.3 training plan and just go cheer my friends on at Running with the Cows and watch them complete their 39.3 series!

Next up: CSGC Sprint Triathlon on May 3.

Huge finishers' medals

We did it!

Rock the Parkway Finishers

Cherry Blossom Ten Miler

This weekend myself and a group of Bouncing Buns girls ran the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler! It was a great race. What made this weekend even more special is my bestie since middle school flew in from KC for this race weekend and I am so glad we did. We got to catch up and do something we both love doing.

Here is a quick recap of the race weekend!

Friday night Ginger, Jen, Alexa, and I  headed downtown DC to the National Building Museum for packet pick-up and the expo, we debated on taking the metro or driving and thanks to an awesome neighbor who suggested driving we landing a parking spot right in front of the museum! On a side note, because it was the weekend...we only had to pay for 15 minutes of parking! Sweet!!

Packet-pick up was quick and easy so we headed over the expo and picked up or race shirts...the teal is pretty but kinda wishing I would have upgraded to the tech-tee it was nicer. O'well, I will just add it to my pile of cotton race t-shirts that I plan on doing something with..someday. One pleasant surprise was the free beer! Yes, everyone got a free beer with a bib! Awesome! We picked up our beer and walked around the expo and shopped. I am a sucker too...I almost alway buy something. I can't help itt, I get wrapped up in the moment. I picked up a SpiBelt for my son and then I headed over to the Sweaty Bands booth. My friend Jen swears by them! She convinced me to try one since I have no luck at keep other brands on my head. There were so many to choose from! I picked this cute chevron one! After the expo we got dinner downtown at Gordon Biersch. Yummy!

The night before the race I started to question my choice of outfit! Eekkkk. It was going to be cold in the morning, 30 degrees cold  and by finish only 42 degrees! So I decided last minute to put a long sleeve over my tech-tee, then added my throw away jacket over that(all clothing on the thrown on the course is donated). Threw my jacket away at the 2 mile mark and my gloves at the 3 mile mark. The long sleeves was the right choice. It was freezing waiting for about an hour before we actually started to run. Once we started it was perfect running weather. One of the best photos I found on the race photo website was this one...

A picture of Ginger and I taking a selfie and the selfie that we took! 

Awesome! Notice that Sweaty Band is still on my head at mile 7! They do work! All in all it was a beautiful race even though the Cherry Blossoms were not in full bloom. 

I only have 2 complaints about the race...1) You had to pay for the medal...I am cheap so I didn't even though it was cute. 2) By the time our purple wave got done with the race the 5k people were done and there was no food except bananas...and after running 10 miles we were starving and bananas were not going to cut it!!! Lucky for us my husband met us at the finish and he stuck a bunch of breakfast bars in his bag before he left home! Thank you, awesome husband!! 

A big shout out to Jen for her first big race and to Lisa for encouraging Jen the whole way. What a great group of inspiring ladies! With all these fantastic ladies they made the training better and it helped Ginger and I  PR from our Army Ten Miler time!! Yippee! We are getting faster even when we do stop for a selfie! 

DC BB's 

Alexa, myself, Jen, Lisa, and Ginger!

I think I can, I think I can...

One of my favorite books that I read to my kids when they were little was The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper. It is very easy to relate to the Little Blue Engine because it was not afraid to try and was able to accomplish his goal. With a little over 60 days left until Kansas 70.3, self doubt has started creeping into my mind during several of training workouts. I'm trying very hard not to let the what if's, I can'ts and I don't wanna do this anymore voices running through my head discourage me.

Typical Mondays include strength training in the morning followed by a bike ride late afternoon. This past Monday, I really struggled with my strength workout. I don't think I will ever be able to pinpoint why I had such a rough time. Maybe it was the wicked wind? Maybe it was fatigue? Maybe it is burn out? But as Jackie say's "if it was easy, everyone would be doing it".

The peaks are my runs in the sand. The lows are pulling the sled,
 flipping poles and attempting to push flip the tires

This is me running with a weighted sled

This brings me to the XL tires (pictured above). Part of my workout consisted of 8 x (2 pushing to flip the XL tires). Though, I think I can, I think I can was running through my head, my arms and legs sliding in the sand were saying, You can't, You can't. Of my 16 attempts I was able to push and flip the tire once. My trainer, Spence of Warhorse Training, had to assist me the other 15 times.

Here's video of clip of one of 15 failed attempts:

So why did I share this? First, I was using incorrect form. Second, over the last 3+months, I've learned to accept that there will be training sessions that do not turn out the way I want it to. However, I just have to continue to train knowing that everything that I am doing now is taking me one step closer to the finish line. I need to erase the self doubt in my head.  Because, on June 8th, "I think I can, I think I can" will be I DID complete Kansas 70.3!

Sunny's Favorite WoRkOuT Gear!

So we thought it would be fun to tell you all about our favorite workout gear. So, I will go first!

 This was very hard for me because I have a lot of favorite things and I mean a lot, my husband would say I have too much. :) So I did my best to narrow down to 2 different categories. I have my favorite gear and my favorite clothes. Here is goes...

First up, the clothes. This is where my husband says I have too much of. 

1. Old Navy grey capri pants. These are awesome and affordable! I think on sale I paid $12! I have them in a few colors. 

2. Purple Athleta skirt. This is my favorite skirt. It has built in shorts that have the rubber around the legs to they don't ride up! I got mine on sale so they were also affordable! I also have a couple other Athleta skirts that rock...but I had to choose one and since I love purple...

3. Under Armour Fly By Turtle neck. This one has the built-in wind breaker and the turtle neck has the breathable fabric so you can pull it up over your mouth. This was a Christmas present from my husband and kids! It is awesome! 

4. Dance Skin Pink dri-fit t-shirt! I love the Dance Skin products at Wal-Mart. I have these shirts in every color, shirtsleeve, and long sleeve! They range anywhere from $6-$10. Awesome! 

6. My Dance Skin Bra! Can you say goodbye to uni-boob? 

7. Thorlos Padded socks! Heaven on your feet! 

Next up is the gear.

1. My Polar Heart Rate Monitor watch. I can't believe I went so many years with out one. I love it and wear it mostly at the gym.

2. Garmin Forrunner GPS. I just got this last fall and I love it, but I will tell you that I don't like the strap for the heart rate monitor, it rubs so bad. I am working on doing different things to stop it but now with my long runs I don't even put it on because I don't want to mess with it. 

3. SpiBelt It is the waterproof one and it rocks! I love SpiBelt they come in all kinds of fun colors too!

4. My handheld water bottle for my long runs. I got this one at Wal-Mart a while back ago. I think I paid under $10. 

5. These hair ties are awesome for running. They are rubber and they don't fall out or loosen. They are made by Scunci. 

So there you have it, my favorite things! Trust me when I say I have more favorite things but these items were at the top of the list! What are some of your favorite things? 

Lessons Learned While Doing An Indoor Ironman

Each year, our local community center hosts an Indoor Ironman in February.  It's perfect timing, really.  It's cold, winter is getting long, our new year's resolutions to get in shape may be fading from our memories, and the month breaks down into 4 perfect weekly segments.  I've known about this event for a couple of years, but never committed to actually getting it done.  This year, four of us decided to give it a "tri."

A full distance 140.6 Ironman is made up of 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and 26.2 miles of running.  Some people, who may or may not be human, complete these distances in a single day.  Being completely human, Connie, Shelley, Jenny, and I  agreed to split that into a 28 day event.  We paid our $20 fee, got our pass to use the community center for the month, our log book to track our progress, and created our plans.  First, we broke the distances into 4 weekly segments.  Each week, we needed to swim about 1,055 yards, bike 28 miles, and run about 6.5 miles.  In order to have a day off each week, we could then split each of those in half & have about an hour of exercise 6 days a week. Totally doable.

I am happy to report that each one of us completed that Ironman.  At the end, I did the math:  140.6 miles over 28 days (if you get rid of that pesky .6) turns out to be 5 miles of exercise each and every day. Wow! We learned a few things along the way, too:  Exercise is more fun with a friend (especially if it is exercise you don't love, like swimming for me), big goals are easier when you break them in to small goals, writing down your exercise is great for personal accountability & is also very motivating.  We also learned that it isn't always easy to fit the sessions in when you're confined to specific times (like lap-swim times). Life gets busy & it takes commitment to get the miles in, but it's worth it. Once you've decided to exercise 6 days a week for a month to meet your goal, it becomes easier to get regular exercise in when the Ironman is done (and it helps that the weather starts to warm up, too).  We also discovered aches & pains and allergies.  We learned that sometimes the t-shirt you get at the end isn't as great as the sense of accomplishment.  We learned that we are (Indoor) Ironmans...Ironmen...Ironwomen.... We did it!

DC 8 Miler

So the other day we decided we need to get out of our neighborhood again and run. All winter long we were stuck to the neighborhood streets...same house over and over again. It's like that scene in the move National Lampoon's European Vacation...when Clark gets stuck in the traffic circle and he says over and over again, "Look kids Big Ben!" that has been our running. Boring! We thought how fun would it be to run downtown DC?!! We live here but it is still truly awesome to run in DC on the National Mall.

We set a date and then had to change it because the weather has been awful here...freezing rain for our run day...boooo! So we changed it to the next day and it was absolutely beautiful out! We loaded up and headed in town. We had more than 3 people in our car so we took the HOV, thank goodness because the regular traffic lanes were backed up and stopped! We parked in our not so secret parking lot, also known as Roosevelt Island. Usually people skip this little gem because it is off the normal path. It is a beautiful place and if you ever come here, try to see it.

The run started off really great...then I took a wrong turn and went over the wrong bridge. We were trying to go over the Memorial Bridge onto the National Mall...oops.  I went onto Custis Memorial Pkway Bridge which was about to take us into working DC! Well we figured out really fast we were on the wrong one and turned around quickly and chalked it up to extra miles!

We finally found the right bridge and headed downtown DC to the National Mall. We decided to take our first picture on the bridge looking at the Lincoln Memorial. So I take out my pocket camera that I never use but made sure to charge it and bring an extra SPI belt to carry it in and we attempted to take the first picture...I forgot to put the card in the camera..So no picture! Oops again! But on we run..we arrive at the Lincoln Memorial and one of the ladies needed to use the restroom so Lisa and I ran around the memorial for extra and met back up with them for our first photo!

On we ran...the next stop was The Washington Monument (under construction) and The White House.

Then we ran on and ran past all the museums and then we decided to run into The National Sculpture Garden. I have never been in there and thought it would be cool! 

The girls found it ironic and funny that we "the locals" were having tourist take pictures of us! So once we hit the sculpture garden that put us right at 4 miles and the perfect spot to turn around and head back. We had a great time running back people watching and at one point Lisa and I pulled away just a bit from Ginger and Jen and they got stopped at a light so we ran on. Then Lisa and I had a few minutes at the Lincoln Memorial to run the stairs and go take a picture! 

We were all reunited again once we finished picture taking and headed back over the bridge and the WIND WAS AWFUL...I was running my hardest across that bridge and I felt like I was getting nowhere. I even have wind burn on the side of the my right arm!!! Crazy! Once we were off the bridge we turned and were down below by the water and the wind was gone! Thank goodness! Once we got back to the car we stretched and headed to lunch and toasted our fabulous fun run!!

Here is an outtake photo that cracks me up every time I look at it..it is Jen trying to stand up after her knee popped and I am sure people were wondering what was going on...the wall is only 2 feet tall if that! What makes it even more funny..the way I am just looking at her instead of trying to help her...but I promise I did offer!