School’s Out For Summer!

Nicely put by my fellow Arizonan Alice Cooper! So summer is here, and I have some changes I am making as I train for shorter distances. (The banes of my existence!)

I plan on going to the gym almost daily to get my strength back up and to do some swimming for cross-training.  I don't start marathon training until July, and although I am still eating gluten-free and  very healthy, I am not going to stress out about having a glass of wine with friends, or enjoying a happy hour with Matt.  I only have one month before high mileage hits again and I am going to enjoy it! I also have a new nutrition find that I will share next post! So excited about it!

I am still running daily, my mileage for June is about 57-65 miles per week.  I am now a zombie runner again as the heat is coming strong. We are supposed to hit 105 degrees by Friday, and that is nothing compared to what lies ahead! So,  4:30am runs for me it is. Once that sun comes out, the furnace is on full force!

Here is a video I shot today of where I run. I am such a goof, being in front of the camera makes me nervous lol!

Sooo.... about that race I had yesterday. Didn't go quite as planned.  I could sit here and make excuses about it, but bottom line is I went out too fast and blew up. My goal was to break 18 minutes for the 5k and I was super confident about it. I had a great workout with coach last Saturday that really built up my confidence. I was SO excited I could barely sleep on Friday night.  Saturday morning I had a piece of rice toast with honey, gatorade, and a banana. I took Tank for 2 miles and I felt great! We headed to the race and started to warm up. My warm-up stunk! My legs were feeling heavy and I just wasn't into it. I think I was just getting nervous and working myself up.There were SO many people there!

This first ARR summer series race is a handicap start by age/sex.  I started running at 7:53. Blazing hot! A little birdie told me that he thought I could pass all the females that started ahead of me and finish first and also finish first with my chip-time. ((hugs))  So I had that in my head and I really wanted to accomplish that.

I ran out like a bat out of hell. Ugh, I am such a rookie when it comes to that!! I get so caught up in getting out there! I am embarrassed about my splits but I'll share. My goal was 5:50's or right under. My first mile was 5:37. I was still feeling good. Got to the turn-around, tried to grab some water but it fell. I slowed a bit on the curve, which is something you should NEVER do.  (hmm... maybe I shouldn't be sharing my secrets ) I hit mile 2 at 5:59. That middle mile is awful. I seriously thought about stopping 3 times. I was feeling bad in a major way. I had a lot of cheerleaders going past the other way, so that was helpful, I think I would have actually stopped if I didn't have that encouragement. Thanks guys! Negative thoughts kept creeping into my head though. I tried to remember to lengthen my stride like Don told me to do when I get tired. I tried swinging my arms more, it was brutal.  (luckily I am not dramatic at all!) Mile 3 was 6:03.

I hit mile 3 and tried to muster up all I had left to get to the finish line. My official time was 18:30. My Garmin said I was a touch faster, but I could have started it late as well. My average pace was 5:58 according to ARR results.  I was the first female to cross the line, and first overall female, so although I am happy about that, I am really mad at myself for the way I raced. Lesson learned, I know what I have to do to fix it and I am going to try my darndest to get that sub-18 this summer.  Luckily all of the other races in the series start earlier to avoid that heat. I poured 2 bottles of water on me after I finished!

Results here

So, about 10 minutes after the race, the sneezing began. I always thought people that had allergies were maybe exaggerating it a bit. (sorry, I was so ignorant!)I had never had them until about a year ago when I started getting them very mildly. Post-race I could feel that my sinus infection was majorly flaring up and I had 3 new prescriptions for it that I needed to take ASAP. But I seriously thought my sinuses were going to slide right out of my nose. It was INSANE! My nose was running uncontrollably and I would not stop sneezing! We went to breakfast and I was miserable as it wasn't stopping. So I had all these grandiose plans made post-race such as sipping wine at Postinos', heading to one of my sweet student's music performances, and I ended up inside in bed all day and evening. It was seriously awful. I am about to turn 30 and I am falling apart!! Today I woke up still sneezing, but decided to try to get in my 15 miles. I took it nice and easy and it was the first time in 24 hours that I did not sneeze. Ugh. My poor little nose is so red!

Wow, that was long and rambling! Sorry, no pics from the race, my paparazzi (re:Matt) also ran the race easy as he is running the San Diego Marathon next weekend. GO MATT!!!!!

Happy running!