2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials

 

 

Wow, what an experience! Before I can begin to talk about my experience, I have to give a shout out to my support crew. I really feel like Matt has to be the best runner support ever! He coordinated our families, worried about my stuff so I wouldn't have to, and made sure that I had everything I could possibly need while in Houston. He is truly amazing.

 

My Mom and Dad, as well as Matt's Mom and Dad were so supportive and I am so flattered that they all flew to Houston to support me.

My best friend Shannon, and her husband Mike made the trip as well and I cannot tell you how much it meant to have them there. My Bandido team mates were the loudest fans on the course and my heart was so happy every time I passed them while running. I am going to try to not make this too wordy and use pictures instead.

Brooks running is so supportive of my goals and they HOOKED ME UP in Houston! It was like Christmas all over again!

The plan for this race was to lay it all on the line and go out fast. 18:07 5k's or below. There was no reason to hold back. I could have started slow and maybe ran a 2:35 but for what? I wanted to go for a big PR! I don't regret it at all.

I found  a great group of girls to work with the first 15 miles of the race. I even PR'd in the half marathon! ha!

I was on 5:50 pace and then it all came crumbling down. I don't know what happened, I just ran out of gas. I lost my pack and fought the wind on my own. I went from 19th place at mile 20 to 29th place at the finish. Ouch. I still ran a 2:37:37, so if that is my bad day, I am ok with that. I feel like my fitness was good and I was confident that I could just relax and get 'er done.

 

I think I have some figuring out to do with my nutrition still. My stomach was upset those last miles and I was frantically searching for a bush or a port-o, but I made it to the finish and then my stomach was fine, so maybe it was in my head. I feel like I really left it all out there, and that is all I could ask for. This was not a race I was running to run 'safe'. I will do that next. I wanted to lay it all on the line and just race! No regrets. Getting passed at the end is never fun, but that is the marathon...a humbling experience!

 

 

The next day, on Sunday, my sister Marisa completed her 3rd marathon with a new PR! (personal record)

My brother completed his first half marathon in under 2 hours!

My Dad completed his first ever marathon in 5:14! Nothing could have made me more proud then seeing them all run the day after my race. I am welling up right now just thinking about it!

I am feeling great this week, finishing the race at a 6:30 pace probably helped to speed up my recovery, ha! I am SO excited for my upcoming races. Time to work on some speed and I think I am going to run some track races, which I have NEVER done! I will have to go watch a few to see how they are run. That will be nerve-wracking for me I am sure, but, I know I need to do it! I am super excited to continue my training and to become even stronger and faster for 2016!

Runningly Yours,

The Big Dance

Ahhh! 5 days until race day. This is my last blog before the 2012 US Olympic Trials. I am bib number #31 in what 'they' are calling the fastest field EVER assembled for the US marathon trials.  I am honored to be a part of it and I am excited to go and compete with so many fast women. Knowing that there are so many fast women, this takes a lot of pressure off of me. I get to just go out, take risks, and run the race of my life. Yes, I am going to go out and have fun during the race, but I also have a time goal that I am trying to meet, one that is part scary, part exciting! I am hoping to find a good pack to work with.I am SO excited to see all of the friends I have made the past year while traveling for races! It is going to feel like a giant paarrrtayyy!!!!

I feel like I did everything I could have done this training cycle. I rested, did a lot of core work, ran many 100-120 mile weeks,  and hit about 99% of my workouts right on. I got my bad races out of the way so I am ready to rock and roll at the trials. I did my visualization work, made my affirmation cards, and made little post-its to tape up in my hotel room. This little girl reminds me of myself:

I am going to try not to get too sappy, but I am so thankful to my husband Matt who has supported me through this entire journey.

He  'talks me off the ledge' when I am feeling defeated and is just the most amazing, supportive, guy. *sigh* Thanks to my family for your constant encouragement, I just got my first "good luck" card in the mail from my Mom and Dad!

Thanks to my friends, Coach, and teammates for all of your kind words and for the constant support.  My training partners Derek, Christina, JT, Tere,  and to Coach John for pacing me through some rough workouts and for making those long runs go by so fast.....thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! I would not be successful without you! And of course to Brooks Running and Perfect Foods Bar for keeping me well dressed and well fed!

 

Thanks to Brandan at Runnersfeed.com for the great interview on your site! Go check out runnersfeed.com and follow all of OTQ's! So awesome!

So, with that, I am off. I am going to go do my best and give it my all. No regrets!

 

Runningly Yours,

Marathon Pace Run 12/24/11

Merry Christmas to me as on Christmas Eve I got to run my most favorite workout of the training cycle!  I feel that besides racing, this workout gives me a clear picture of where my fitness is as I head  into my goal race. The course is net downhill the first half and then flattens out the second half. Yes, its aided but I feel having no taper negates that, making it a great fitness indicator. I have done this run my last three training cycles for the marathon and all three times it has been awesome! The scenery is beautiful and we don't have to stop for any traffic lights. Perfect. Matt also comes out to leapfrog us in the car and hand us water bottles so we can practice taking fluids. This year, my brother and sister woke up early to come and cheer! It was so great having them there!

My friend Jeremy Zarins agreed to pace me for the 20 miles with 16 miles at goal marathon pace. He suggested that I not wear my garmin so that I wouldn't be concerned with my pace and I could just run. Coach John thought this was an excellent idea, so watch-less I went. Jeremy and I ran side by side and I felt great! He called out splits each mile. I finished strong my last mile and was SO HAPPY with how it went! I am SO lucky to have had such a great pacer, we were right on the entire way!

So thank you Matt, Jeremy, Marisa, and Lukas! You were an integral part of my success today! Onward to Houston!!

 

Oh yeah, While we were gone, my dad ran 20 MILES!!!! He is running the Houston marathon the day after the trials and it was his first 20 miler ever. I am so proud of him. What an amazing day!

Runningly Yours,

Candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup.

4 weeks from now I will have completed my first US Olympic Marathon Trials and will be celebrating with my family and best friends in Houston.

I have just wrapped up my highest mileage week EVER....120 miles. I had 4 hard workouts during this week as well. I have to admit, with Christmas preparations underway and events and parties to attend, I was pretty wiped yesterday. But, this morning I had a great run with marathon pace miles at the end and now I am cuddled on the couch watching the Packer game until I start baking more gluten free Christmas cookies. Life is good.

This upcoming week I have a cutback week of 90 miles before climbing back up to 100, and then the taper! I am feeling really fit and excited to see what will happen in Houston. On Christmas Eve, I will be heading out to Fountain Hills, AZ to run 20 miles with the last 16 miles at marathon pace. This is a tough workout, but my favorite workout of each training cycle. The scenery is beautiful and the course is fast. Exactly what I need to build confidence before the trials.

I am also proud to be a Brooks Elite sponsored athlete for 2012. Brooks has been so good to me. It is so nice to be sponsored by a company that you love.  I am a Brooks addict and could not live without my menagerie of Brooks training and racing shoes! I am also very excited to see what they have in store for us at the Trials. I have been getting little clues via email, I am so excited!

Runningly Yours,

Fiesta Bowl 23 miler

On Sunday I wrapped up a 110 mile week with a 23 mile long run with a half marathon-The Fiesta Bowl Half Marathon in the middle of the 23 miles. My goal was to just run the 13.1 mile race as a long tempo run at 5:55 pace and to finish feeling like I could have kept going. I warmed up 5 miles and the gun went off as I eased into my pace. I was feeling great!

There were 2 lovely fellas in front of me, but they were running about 5:50pace and John had said no faster than 5:55's, so I hung back by myself.  At around mile 7, I saw John and he told me to speed up and stay with the guys. I was feeling great running the 5:55's by myself, but with the pack running 5:50's, I felt even better! It is amazing how much better it feels when you are not working by yourself trying to hold pace. I am so happy he had me speed up and stick with the guys, it was a valuable lesson in racing that I will take with me to the Olympic Trials next month. (!!)

Despite feeling good, I was hit hard with a severe stomach cramp at mile 11. I could feel my stomach starting to rumble a bit at 6.5, but thought that as long as I didn't have my planned gel, I would be able to make it to the finish. At mile 11, I knew I was going to have to make a pit stop and I did. Ugh. So embarrassing! It was my own stupid fault for thinking I could have a liter of creamy tomato soup the day before a race/long run. I knew that in the past it had wreaked havoc on my stomach, but I had been doing so well lately, no tummy troubles at all. I thought I was in the clear. I should have known better. Needless to say, my stomach was torn up the rest of the day. It was awful. Oh well, lesson learned! The 5 miles I had to run after the race were not fun on the gut, but otherwise, I felt good.

I ran a 1:17:45 with my pitstop and won the women's race and came in 9th overall. I am super happy with the way the pace felt on weeks of high mileage. It was a big confidence booster for me.

Runningly Yours,