In which we discover that the aftermath is always painful..

Hey everyone! Thanks SO MUCH for all the super nice comments on my last post, as well as Eric's. And thanks too for all the facebook and twitter love (we can be found on the Twitters Here For Sara and Here For Eric by the way) Seriously, you guys are the best!

So.... How have I been feeling in the 72 or so hours post marathon?

Well. I went from horrible pain and suffering (seriously- that cold weather did a number on me) to moderate pain and agony, to feeling (on day 3) like I had just completed a long run of 20 miles or so.

UGH. I must say that whatever that freezing cold rain did to my legs was less than ideal.

I've been kicking my own ass trying to recover though. Lots of moving around (it is unavoidable in my line of work) disgustingly painful foam rolling, and today I did 40 minutes on the oldest stationary bike known to man. It felt fine, but was interesting in only the way that old school exercise can be!

Recovery at it's finest.
You can't see it, but there is a legit bottle of bourbon helping as well...

So what did I do right during this last training cycle?

I followed my plan basically to a T. I did my runs as prescribed, did not slack off on my workouts and really made it thru in fine style (fine style should never be included in a sentence that involves ME...) I took my rest days when I was supposed to, I did not add miles where they did not belong, I took pretty good care of myself and I foam rolled like an effing BOSS. I also spent a lot of time practicing my running nutrition and feel that I might have finally found a solution (I'll write more on this another day!)

What did I do wrong? I didn't put as much enthusiasm into my core work as I could have. I think core is boring and stupid even though I know it is very beneficial and, sadly, not stupid in the least, *sigh* I prefer to lie on the floor of my workout room thinking about thinking about my core workout for about an hour before I do it with just enough effort to barely squeak by. I am lazy as shit. Also, my coach wished for me to spend quite a bit of time utilizing visualization techniques, positive thinking mantras and such. I must admit that I slacked off on this almost 100% (with the exception of the Derry race- when I made sure that I could, in fact get to the mental place I needed to be in.) There is a legit reason that I blew this off (Kelsey, stop yelling... I knew I'd have to confess to this eventually but wanted to make sure that I didn't freak out/bomb/loose my nerve first!) Bottom line, I'm already really good at that shit. Fearless pro equestrian right here- ice water runs thru my veins, I win my flipping classes in the warm up I'm so bad ass and I'm annoyingly cool under pressure (in the equestrian show ring, that is...). *listen to me talk smack!! haha* I figured if I could just dial into that shit while running I'd be golden. And I can. Done and done. I've had years and years of practice on this, not to mention that my overactive ADHD little brain can't handle much in the way of deep thinking/quiet meditation... More on this later though, as I DID (despite what I'm saying now) spend some time on this and I came to some interesting conclusions (a blog for another day!)

What do I plan to do to improve for next time? Hmmm.

I need to man up on the core work. Blah. Hate.

My sister is going to force me to do yoga. Stupid. Stupid.

I might need more speed work but the track is snowed in... Dumb!

Oh and hills. Gotta get back on that spectacular bandwagon of misery.

I am on the right.

So yeah, that's the plan for now. I'm really excited to get the Boston training underway although I haven't decided yet if I'm shooting for a PR or a good time at that race. Clearly, a PR would be a damn good time so that is clearly the answer to that question... One of these days I plan to run another Marathon MDI style just for the fun of it, but until I bust out that 3:33:33 I'm going to put that nonsense on hold...

Tales of a marathon n00b.

Winter Storm Q. My savior! It would totally get me out of running 26.2 grueling, terrible, painful miles. Since my last long run I have been dreading the Hyannis marathon. My runs invariably went like this, 16 -17 miles of cruising fun followed closely by 3-4 miles of pain suffering and double digit paces. Ugh!

Like this. But colder.

But now I was saved! An epic blizzaster, on race weekend! Only I could be so lucky! My mood took a turn for the better! No longer was I stressing out. I was laid back and carefree! All the while my Exclusive Dating Partner got rather ornery. She needed to BQ for 2014 so that she could run this years Boston foot loose and fancy free, and having her BQ race canceled by a blizzard was not in her plans. She became rather difficult to live with, especially given my state of euphoria.

Sara checking the weather, except more flames.

However, as soon as I had written off the pain and suffering, things took a turn for the worse! (dun dun dun) Things went from immanent cancellation, to probable cancellation, all the way to "Its going to be windy and raining, but fuck you guys, we're running anyway."  

Oh Shit.

I just really needed to work in this picture. In other news, I'm old. Carry on.

Next thing I know, we are on our way down to Scituate with *ALL* of the things packed. Because who the eff knows what to pack for 27-46 degrees and rain/snow/wind/death. I sure don't. So, I packed everything. I could have run in 95 degrees and sunny or 4 degrees and snow. 

On the trip down I tried to put on my game face. All these terrible long runs had put me in a terrible state of mind and I knew that if I wanted to do something other then suffer, I needed to get some kind of positive mind set going, because if I went in feeling as shitty as I had been, it was all over before it even started. So, I spent about 1/2 of the 3 hour drive down telling myself how awesome I was, and not believing it for even a second.

Yeah, pretty much. (Thanks Coach)

At some point I had decided that it was my lack of proper nutrition that was my limiting factor. So, starting Saturday morning, I ate the shit out of *EVERYTHING*! Huge breakfast of pancakes and veggie sausages. Big lunch of filled pasta of some sort, even though I was not even remotely hungry. Dinner at The OG (Olive Garden for those not so cool kids.) I ate until I literally had to unbutton my pants.

Eff you nutrition.

I slept a bit the night before the race. But not a ton. I had not decided what I was wearing or if I was going to bail at the 1/2 way point, and if I did what sort injury I could possibly fake that was impossible to completely validate. So making those plans kept me occupied during the night. Then before I knew it, it was time to wake up. Race Morning. 

I continued my nutrition plan. Eat all the food. Everything bagel, cream cheese and coffee. Times two. My entire training I had eaten gels of one type or another at 35-40 minutes, invariably skipping one or two for various reason. This time there was no fucking around. 8 gels. One every 30 minutes. Period. I decided to bring my fuel belt, equipped with slightly diluted Infinit. 4 little bottles. One every hour, just to be sure. I also promised myself that I would not miss a water stop. Drink and eat everything. If I was going to crash and burn, I was going to rule "not enough nutrition" right the fuck out.

We met up with some friends from the tubes. I only kinda remember what was going on because I was still trying to figure out what I was going to wear. What they had on was of no help to me, sparkly red skirts are not my thing. In the end I decided on shorts, a long sleeve mock turtleneck, and my vest, to go along with my fuel belt. At the last minute Sara convinced me that a pair of light throw away gloves was a good idea as well (Thank the Lord). 

Before I knew it we are out in the cold rain and I am trying to do my dynamic warm up as the tail end of the Star Spangled Banner wafts through the icy air. We headed to our various spots in the crowd, me to get some warmth, Sara and Evan to line up where they should be. And we are off.

Picture this. But more rain, less people and... Well, not like this at all.

First couple of miles were basically running with everyone, dodging puddles and dodging people dodging puddles. Just to complicate things, earlier in the week my Garmin had decided to shit itself, so I was running with a plain old stop watch. For the first time ever. I also had a pace chart in my pocket, that I never looked at. Anyway, the first mile marker I saw was 15 (this being a 2 lap course for the 7 of us doing the full). Not helpful. Then I saw the first water stop. And immediately ignored my nutrition plan. (Who gets water between miles 1 and 2 of a race?!?!?!)  Slightly after the water stop I managed to find mile marker 2, glancing at my watch I notice that I am already 16 seconds behind pace. But I'm cool. Hey, I can make up 16 seconds, even if I don't, over 26 miles that is like 0.5 seconds off pace. Just keep it easy and steady. (I know!! I am shock at how level headed I was as well!)

This would be like one of the small puddles.

Then, I started knocking off miles. I fell as far back as 18 seconds off pace and as close as 10 seconds off pace. Miles seemed to come surprisingly fast, yet awfully slowly. I hit mile six and told myself I was a quarter of the way there. Gels were going down without a problem. Infinit was being consumed. Don't get ahead of yourself I said. There is a *long* way to go. 

I went through the 1/2 way point, 8 seconds off of pace. I had managed to stay on pace, for 13 miles within 8 seconds with just a watch and my gut. Color me shocked.

Bailey, this is for you!

At that point the 2,300 1/2 marathoners peeled off and left the 380ish of us dumb-asses left to do another lap. It would have gotten a bit lonely, if I had not found a running buddy. I use "Running Buddy" very loosely, because I am pretty sure that this particular woman who I was running with thought I was an ass hat. 

Exhibit A:  In the first mile after all the 1/2 marathoners left
                 Eric - Wow, it's awfully empty streets now.

                 Woman - (After removing her head phones that I did not see) Yeah...

                  Woman's eyes- You're an idiot.

But, she was going my pace so she was stuck with me. And after awhile we were the best of friends. In my head at least. For the next 6 miles, we ran. Shoulder to shoulder. Picking people off slowly but steadily. In those 6 miles, I went from 8 seconds off of pace to a full minute ahead of pace. There is a 50% probability, that this was due to the fact that she was trying to get away from me and a 50% chance that we were just running well together. My ego says we were running well, so we will go with that.

Something like that.

At about mile 18, for some strange unexplained reason, I knew I had this race in the bag. I had never run over 21 miles and had died a miserable death at the end of those runs, but I *knew* I had this. It was getting colder by the minute and the rain was coming down harder and harder. It didn't matter. I had this. I believed it. 

At the rest stop just before mile 19 or 20 I lost my running buddy. She stopped to take in some nutrition or just needed a break, I am not sure. I looked back to see if she was coming and then motored on. A small piece of me hoped that she would catch up, her being my new bestie and all, but I was not waiting.

It got tougher from there on out. My hip started to yell, even though it has never done so before. My glute/hamstring/calf/Achilles chain of muscles (especially on my right side) decided to be rather grumpy. I out loud (luckily I was running mostly by myself again) told them to shut their pie holes and keep going.

At mile 23 a bit of doubt set in. Since I was ahead of pace I started calculating  the minimum pace I could run and still make my goal. Not a good sign. I tried to ignore my head, but knew I was slowing down. I was still reeling people in though, and this kept me going. 

I read a cheesy blurb on the internet at some point during training and it decided to pop into my mind at this point, it went something like this:

Two dudes have just finished racing and the slower guy asked the winner how he ran so fast. So the fast guy asked "What do you think about when you are running?" and the slow guy is like "I picture a wolf is chasing me so I run faster." then the fast guy replies "That is what I think about too, except I am the wolf."

And it is supposed to be all profound and stuff and printed on a picture of a sunset with the silhouette of a hot girl running.

Just like this. Except maybe with wolves. Also, her form is terrible.

Anyway, that popped into my head, and I used every ounce of cheesy profoundness to keep me going. Each person ahead of me was my prey and I was going to get them.

Me finishing. 3:56:31

Notice all the people around me? That's right, I ate them.

I know I slowed down. I know I missed my "A" goal ever so slightly. But, I feel like my inner wolf ate well.

Hyannis Marathon, where I almost drowned...

The race was on, we had made it to Scituate, we had eaten ALL the carbs, game faces were intact and we were ready to get the hell out and run a damn race! I have to give a big thank you to my Aunt Annie, Uncle Bill and obviously, Evan. They housed us and did not care that we pretty much ransacked the place... They fed us SO much food and I drank ALL Bill's beer (after the race...) Love you guys!

GAME FACES: ON!!!

                                                The world knows not to mess with US...

We awoke close to 5, planning to arrive in Hyannis around 8:30. Though the rain had let up for quite a while during the night it was back in full force. Absolutely down pouring in a most apocalyptic fashion. 
Even though I was significantly more nervous than I had expected to be I ate two breakfasts (after years of competition I don't worry about nerves- they do not affect my performance but are a nuisance!) Evan and Eric looked pretty calm and we managed to get our acts together and hit the road right on time. The rain continued to come down in buckets. It was cold- around 40 and we had heard that it was going to become progressively colder and windier. I can honestly say that despite the fact that the weather was pure shit none of us were letting it get to us. You can't change the weather but it doesn't help to cry about it! 
We arrived to a pretty quiet expo (which did not last long!) registration was easy and well run and it was nice and warm inside.We were able to meet up with some awesome new blogger/twitter friends. I love meeting people from the internets in real life so this was great!

Hello Carpe Diem Crystal,  Couch to Ironwoman and friends!
Way to rock it out in your FIRST marathon, and Sherpa/relay :-)
We loved meeting you guys!

The race started right on time, it was a big congested crowd at the start but that's to be expected in a fairly big race in a not-so-large town. I was pretty much stop and go for the first mile but was cool with getting off to a calm start. It still clocked in at 8:15 so all was well. At mile 2, despite the steady rain I pulled off a layer of disposable clothing. GOOD BYE "First Run" shirt from 2011...For the first half of the race I was right on target and running a super steady, totally maintainable pace which felt terrific. I followed my nutrition and hydration plans perfectly and really felt good. The weather did not feel good but I was trying my best to avoid thinking about it, and to avoid drowning in gigantic road covering ankle deep puddles or the equally bad mud pits (that we ran thru to avoid the puddles? good choice?) 
At mile 13 things became a bit interesting. I had noticed my legs getting cold at mile 10 and at mile 13  I was basically brought to a halt as my right hip cramped up to the point that I inadvertently exclaimed out loud. I eased up for a little bit and gave consideration to calling it a day at the Half. I hadn't come to run a half though and decided to run a couple more miles and see if it worked out. I had, at this point made it to the halfway point in 1:45. Right on target.I had no choice but to ease up for a couple miles to let the cramp work out. I felt like I had enough gas in the tank to be able to accelerate with little to no difficulty once I felt better. Around mile 15 I tried speeding back up to the 7:50ish pace that I had been consistent at and found that it was close to impossible. My cramp returned forcefully but when I eased back (to 8:30) it went away.Trying to do math in one's head isn't easy in real life much less at mile 16 or so. I knew I had a few minutes to play around with. I also knew that the weather had become much worse, the rain was coming down hard and cold and the wind had picked up miserably. And I was getting cold. VERY cold. At mile 20, with cramps now in my hamstring, hip and foot, so much water in my eyes that I couldn't see, mud in my shoes and so cold I couldn't feel my hands, feet or face I just had to LAUGH. Because what else can you do? I basically said, screw it. I don't have great legs to run on at this point but I'm gonna finish this damn marathon strong. This, for the first time in my short marathon career actually made me think that I've got the balls to do this shit. I ran my first marathon on pure adrenaline, my second on a day of good luck that my training did NOT account for and now this- less than ideal conditions but on a day where I really fell back on the fact that I trusted my training. I went to the bad ass place in my head, blocked out any bummed out feelings I wanted to have about seeing my pace fall off a cliff, I manned the fuck up and ran my damn best. And honestly, despite the fact that each step was basically brutal for the last 4 miles I kept it around 8:30's, thanked every suffering volunteer and knew that in each DAMN STEP I was giving 100%. 

                                         Finishing with encouragement from a stranger.
I've never hurt so badly in my life.. Did I BQ? Hells no. Did I totally crash and burn? HELLS NO. 3:38:08. Awfully damn close but not a heartbreaker. I ran my best. I could not have done anything better under the truly horrid conditions. I have NEVER run a race in worse weather (and I hope that I never do again...) To my friends who ran MDI last year- THIS race made that one look like a dry sunny day... 
Evan found me at the finish. He had rocked is first Half ever in 1:54 so had been getting warm for quite a while... He was able to get a pic of me finishing and then had to listen to me try to talk- between being very tired and having a terribly frozen face my words were poor. The poor kid had to help me out of my number, shoes, gloves as I was a worthless box of rocks. I paid up the $20 for a shower and in the time it took me to struggle out of my dripping wet clothing developed wracking chills. Gross. since the shower wasn't that warm the shakes continued, literally rattling my brain (not that it made any difference to my mental state, haha!) I ended up jumping into the 200 degree steam room and it saved my life. Unfortunately, this whole process took so long that I straight up missed Eric's finish....

Eric finished strong. REALLY strong. 3:56:31
SHOW OFF!

I was so bummed to miss his finish that I kinda cried the whole way as I showed him how to find the gym and showers.  Luckily, Evan had seen him finish, let him know that I was alive and snagged that picture too! Eric ran a kick ass race but he's going to write a whole guest-blog post about it this week!

Needless to say I was really proud. His training has been solid and I knew he could do it- but it was such a shit day that the variables kind of take over. 

Evan and I waited around for Eric to thaw and we had a big race recap. The poor kid had been sick for weeks, a horrible cold, bronchitis, tons of antibiotics and next to no running. He did a hell of a good job and I can't wait to see what he can run healthy and trained. He's gonna be solid...

We moseyed on out after a bit, demanded that Evan chauffeur us back to Scituate where we demanded that Bill buy us Pizza and make us snacks. Heehee!

We proceeded to fall onto the couch and watch a strange hodgepodge of Game Of Thrones, 60 minutes and the Oscars. Good times! 

Then we ate ALL the Advil and went to sleep. The End!

Our typical post race winners picture.
Great race you guys!

It's go time!

Today is race day!!
We arrived in Mass last night and my cousin Evan and I needed to have a photo op, obviously...

OMG LOOK AT HOW EXCITED WE ARE! YAY ERMAHGERD!

Then, reality set in and we remembered that we actually have to run a damn marathon (or a half, if you are smart like Evan) in some rather rainy conditions.. 

These are our scared faces. Yes, we are related. And AWESOME.

So. Off we go. Time to run a damn race, whoot!

24 hour countdown, with fingers crossed!

Even though the official word has not arrived as of yet, we are continuing to operate as though tomorrow is going to be a big race day. And honestly, looking at the weather (as NASTY as it is going to be) it would be surprising if they called it off.

So, 40 degrees, 30 MPH winds and driving rain HERE WE COME!!!

 

I will leave you with this, an amazing sequence of photos outlining the awesome that has been today... (and this is a post from Sara, even though the blog claims it is Eric haha!)

 

 

 I clearly know how to keep the ears warm!
Gahd, my fashion is amazing. 



My Mom bought me this adorable cheeta as a lucky race charm.
I LOVE HIM!!!

In other news, either this glove has legs or or SOMEONE (RUFUS) just wants to cuddle with it.
This is the "dog couch" and is nasty.

I bought a bad ass Ninja Star shirt.
I love it.
Can you tell I had just woken up? UGH, BLAH!

I packed ALL my shit last night. ALL of it.

 

And here's to hoping that I actually need it!!!