Online Yoga

16 Apr

Since I had to recently alter my Flying Pig Marathon training plan and take a week off from running in order to do some healing on my IT band, I decided to fill my run time with yoga. Particularly yoga that focuses on stretching my hips and IT band.

After a quick “best online yoga videos” search, I came across this article on Livestrong.com. The ‘yoga for athletes’ series on YogaVibes.com caught my eye and I went to check it out. After seeing that they have a free 15-day trial, I realized how perfect this would be for me. With only 20 days left before my 2nd marathon, this would be perfect to tie me over.

And if I don’t cancel my membership at the end of 15 days, I will start being charged $20 per month. That’s not too shabby considering I’m currently paying $15 per class. This would allow me to do more than one yoga class each week!

This afternoon I opted for a 72-minute outer hip and IT band focused vinyasa flow class in the Yoga for Athletes series. It was just what I needed!

I took my computer out to our Florida room and set it on a small table a couple of feet ahead of my yoga mat.

Here’s a screenshot of what the video looked like full screen:

Outer Hip and IT Band class from Sage Rountree's Yoga for Athletes Series on YogaVibes.com

The teacher, Sage Rountree, was great! I liked that she was a runner that started yoga for it’s benefits to long distance runners. She did a great job of explaining and showing poses and a couple of times she corrected posture for someone in the class and I realized I needed to correct my posture too. It almost felt like I was in the room with them!

My hips and IT band feel amazing and I’m currently ridin’ that yoga high.

As the days progress, I’ll let you know how I enjoy additional classes in the Yoga for Athletes series.

Have you ever taken an online yoga class? Which one? How did you like it (or not)?

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Spectator Recap: 2012 IOA Corporate 5k

14 Apr

I did not run the Corporate 5k this year (I’ve run it 2 or 3 times in the past), but I did have a race of my own on Thursday: trying to get to my spot of the course in time to see my friends pass by.

I failed. Well sort of. I did catch one of my running group mates, Beth. And the only reason I think I caught her is because she ran earlier that day, so she was walking. But I missed everyone else. I was much later than expected getting out of work and running an errand.

The race started at 7:15. I met Donnie around 7:40 on a grassy knoll on Livingston, where he had been sitting watching the runners with the unruly pugs.

My boys

Rex wishing he could run that fast.

Tank wishing we would let him loose to run.

I quickly made myself comfortable next to them and started scanning the runners for familiar faces.

Well, after a photo op of course.

The route of this local race takes runners just a couple of blocks away from my house, so it’s super easy access for me.

I couldn’t run last year (2011) either, and loved walking out to this spot to catch my friends run by:

Roxy, running so fast she's a blur.

T and Jesse #winning

Back to this year… I was like a pig in mud when I captured this moment:

Sometimes you just gotta stretch... while running a 5k in your jeans.

And this one:

Warning: Jogging in jorts may cause chafing.

I am a huge fan of JoggingJeans.com (if you haven’t visited for a good chuckle, check it out ASAP), but it seems ever since I started reading the blog, I been unable to actually capture a runner in jeans with my camera… until Thursday, that is! Best. Day. Ever.

We left shortly after and headed off in search for dinner.

So while I didn’t run this year, I can share my pros and cons of the race from my previous runs:

PROS

  • Local Orlando 5k
  • This is a Track Shack Event. They always put on great races!
  • Great race to get non-runners involved: co-workers, family, friends, etc.
  • You can ask your company to sponsor you and your co-workers… FREE for you. 🙂
  • Great downtown Orlando course that starts and ends at Lake Eola
  • Seeing some of your co-workers in spandex

CONS

  • Seeing some of your co-workers in spandex
  • Super crowded (don’t expect a personal best)
  • I don’t remember there being medals
  • The line for your free beer is long

Hopefully I will be able to rejoin the fun next year. This is always a fun race that ends with a free beer at the end. Who needs a medal when you have beer?

Have you run the IOA Corporate 5k? What are your thoughts?

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Making Decisions

14 Apr

When training for a marathon (or half) you come across a lot of decisions you have to make. Sometimes there’s the small decisions like “What should I eat for dinner the night before a long training run?” or “Which flavor energy gel should I buy?” Then there’s the bigger decisions … the ones that can make or break your race day run.

Currently I’m dealing with the latter.

After last week’s failed 20-mile run, I knew I might be in trouble. Usually when my IT band starts hurting towards the end of a long run, I’m okay after some ice and a few hours. But this was “I just ran a marathon” pain, yet I had only run 12 miles. It hurt to walk on the beach the next day. It hurt to roll and stretch my right leg. It just hurt.

Tuesday morning I woke up for a 4-mile run in the morning. The first thing I did was stretch and immediately knew I wasn’t ready. I texted my group and went back to bed.

Wednesday night I went to yoga for a Hatha class. It felt like my instructor knew what I needed, and every muscle in my legs and hips were stretched. I felt amazing!

Thursday I woke up for a morning run and again stretched. I thought I was ready, and met my group for a 5-mile run. Three miles in, I felt that old familiar twinge and as we were nearing our ending point (a conveniently chosen Starbucks), I started to feel sharp pain. If you’re wondering why I didn’t walk it in as soon as I felt any pain, it’s because I was on a schedule. Not only did I have to go into work early that day, but I also had to pick up bagels for a friend’s birthday. If I walked it in, I would be late.

As that run was ending, I knew a second attempt at running 20 miles wasn’t going to happen today. I made the hard decision of skipping this morning’s training run.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the advice “It’s better to run undertrained and injury-free on race day than trained and injured,” and how many more times I’ve actually told fellow runners that.   Oh, how that’s easier said than done.

Not unfamiliar to IT band issues (I’ve blogged about my pains here and here and here and here and here), I know two things:

  1. The irritation might not go away before my marathon. It’s only three weeks away.
  2. But if I’m diligent with my icing, Advil-taking, stretching, rolling and strength training, I may delay the IT band irritation and limit how many miles I run in pain.

So I’ve made two decisions:

  1. No running for one week. That means I didn’t run this morning, and Tuesday and Thursday are out as well. I will do yoga, stretch, roll and strength train in it’s place.  On Saturday I may join my group for a short run.
  2. I am still running the Flying Pig Marathon!

Mind over matter. Who cares if I can’t run today? Who cares that my longest run this training season was just over 18 miles and it will have been over a month before race day?

I can let myself (easily) go down a road of self doubt or I can focus on the positive. I choose the latter. Before my right IT band acted up I had two great runs!

And I hope it makes all the difference on race day. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Have you gone into a race undertrained and healthy and/or trained and injured? Tell me about your experience in the comments.

I could stand to be reassured that I’m not alone. 😉

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Easter Sunrise

9 Apr

Saturday night  Donnie and I decided that we wanted to watch the sunrise Easter Sunday at the beach. Only problem there was that we would have only a few hours of sleep. Not like I’m not used to waking up at ridiculous hours…

We woke up around 5:40 AM and surprisingly we were out the door in less than 20 minutes. This is a record for us. Anyone that has ever gone to the beach with us knows this is nothing short of a miracle.

As we pulled up to New Smyrna Beach, we realized there was a beach-side service going on. We watched the sunrise with worship music in the background. Then we walked down the beach a little. We didn’t go far because of our injuries: Donnie coming back from an almost-stress fracture and me and my little IT band.

It was a gorgeous sunrise. It was cloudy, so the sun was shining down through the clouds. It looked like heaven shining down in the distance. It made for the perfect backdrop for some prayer and reflection.

As we walked further from the music, we heard nothing but waves crashing and the birds calling out to the world. The sounds of the beach are my happy place.

Here are some pics I took:

Afterwards we listened to Pastor Rick’s message back at the beach-side service before heading off for some breakfast. We returned to the beach stuffed and ready to catch some zzz’s on the beach.

When Donnie’s foot is better, we plan to have a sunrise run along the beach. I’ll be counting down the days…

Where’s your happy place?

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Pick-Hey-Up-From-Failed-Run Day

7 Apr

This AM was scheduled to be my 20-miler. I woke up feeling good. I twisted my hair up, brushed my teeth, dressed and was out the door, eating overnight oats as I drove to meet up with my group.

The run started off good. I was optimistic and looking forward to freeing up my weekend from this wicked run. I was laughing and practicing my “weeeeeeeeeeeeeee…. weweweeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” for Flying Pig Marathon.

Then a couple of miles in I became distracted. I had to use the restroom and it now became the focus of all of my attention. This is what I get for recently bragging about my lack of bathroom issues during runs.

Finally around mile four we ran by a 7-Eleven that could fulfill my needs. Sure beats a port-o-potty.

Back on the road I was happy that I could finally relax and enjoy the run. This feeling was short-lasted. Around mile seven I started to feel a familiar twinge to the side of my right knee. I was running with my IT strap on my left leg, because that’s where I’ve been having the problems, and contemplated whether I should switch legs with the strap. The problem is, I know that once the pain starts, it’s not going to go away. The point of the strap is to keep that agitation from starting in the first place. I left in on my left leg. The last thing I wanted was for both of my knees to hurt.

Around mile 10 I moved it over in vain.

A little less than 12 miles into the run, we were minutes away from a water stop when I felt a sharp pain run up my right leg. Expletives flew out of my mouth and I started to run with a visible limp. The dull pain had become sharp and unbearable.

My group was awesome. Immediately they started to tell me that I should stop running and spend the week rolling my leg and icing it and try again next weekend… It wasn’t worth making the injury worse today, especially with plenty of time before the marathon. They are wise women, and I decided to heed their advice. I called it a run at 12.23 miles. I called Donnie and asked him to come pick me up.

Here were my stats (I didn’t stop my watch for any breaks, including 7-Eleven):

  • Distance: 12.23 miles
  • Time: 02:58:19
  • Avg Pace: 14:34/mile

He came to get me with the dogs in tow. It was genius on his part. C’mon… It’s hard to stay disappointed in yourself with a pug trying to lick your face.

We decided to grab breakfast with the dogs at the Briarpatch on Park Ave. The pugs were pretty excited to be dining al fresco on such a beautiful morning:

Rex trying to make new friends on Park Ave.

The conversation went something like this:

Donnie: (to the dogs) You don’t get to come to Park Ave. every day. This is a special occasion.

Me: What’s the special occasion?

Donnie: Oh, it’s Pick-Hey-Up-From-Failed-Run Day.

Sometimes you have to know when to say when. And it doesn’t hurt to reward your smart, yet disheartening, decision with a delicious breakfast afterwards. I had the truffle fried eggs, over medium. The eggs were served over vegetables: peppers, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and fresh basil. It was delicious! Briarpatch really never disappoints.

Truffle fried eggs at the Briarpatch.

Next week is a scheduled mock half marathon with Marathonfest. I’m going to have to wake up early and run seven miles prior to it. To be honest, I’m not particularly excited about spending another week thinking about running 20 miles.

Have you had a run recently not go according to plan? How did you improvise?

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Sweat Is …

6 Apr

Source

You thought I was going to say “sweat is pretty” didn’t ya? Well, that too. 🙂

I saw this poster the other day and laughed out loud. If true, my fat is going to cry terribly tomorrow morning, as I conquer my 20 mile-run.

Any sweat plans for your Easter weekend?

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Rock My Face Off Yoga, New Shoes and a Lovely AM Run

5 Apr

As you may have already read, I’ve only recently started yoga. I’ve loved my few practices, but as a noob I underestimated the sort of experience I could have. Walking into the Full Circle Yoga studio last night, I had no idea what was coming.

In short, our Hatha instructor, Suzie, worked us last night. I twisted and turned and balanced and held and breathed like no other. And then at the end I was so relaxed during savasana that I think I dosed off! When I left that studio, I felt like I needed a cigarette. WHEW!

I came home last night, ate some fried chicken (I know, I know… poor life decision), showered and went right to bed. A few hours later I awoke in a startle and grabbed my phone to see what time it was… it was 4:30 AM and for some reason my alarm was turned off. Props to my internal alarm clock for getting the job done!

Tuesday night I came home to find that these babies had been delivered:

My new shoes: New Balance 20 Minimus Trail

I had tried the Minimus trail running shoes when I bought my New Balance 10 Minimus Road running shoes and thought they were the most comfy shoes in the world. However, I was transitioning from Nike Free Run+ shoes to these and was training for my first marathon, so I figured I should play it safe with the road version of the shoe. I ended up loving these shoes, and have had two pairs already:

My first and second pair of New Balance 10 Minimus Road running Shoes

I had forgotten about the trail versions of the shoe until recently when I came across the New Balance 20 Minimus Trail shoe at a store and stopped to admire them once again. And then suddenly I get an email from Amazon offering these shoes for 40% off. I jumped at the offer!

I only ran 4 miles this morning and the shoes felt great! I even think I might be able to go sans socks in them (for shorter runs). I’ll post more thoughts when I’ve had the chance to get a few short runs and a long run in. I’ll also work on a post about my slow transition from ‘more supportive’ running shoes to these more minimal shoes too. They’re not for everyone, but definitely worth some research and testing if you suffer from shin splints like I did!

Back to the run this morning. It was hot and muggy, and my body was a little tired from the yoga. But considering all that, I felt pretty good this morning. I don’t have official stats because I failed to charge my borrowed Garmin yet again. That reminds me, I need to charge my Garmin. 😉

Here’s the guestimate version:

  • Distance: 4 miles
  • Time: fifty or so minutes?
While I don’t have official stats, I do have a photo of the Rice Krispy Treats that my group mate Rachelle brought in:

I promise we don’t usually have this many snacks. 😉

What kind of shoes do you run in?

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Will Run For Cupcakes

4 Apr

Yesterday’s 6.6 mile morning run featured a yummy treat at the end:  yummy cupcakes from one of my group mates!

Yummy lemon cupcake

The day before our running group received the following email from Lauren:

 I made 24 lemon cupcakes last night (lemon cupcake w/lemon cream frosting). 20 of which have not yet been eaten by me as of this moment but will be if I leave them in my house. A hypothesis I am trying not to test. Would anyone be interested in such a thing first thing in the morning? Perhaps a post-6 miler treat? They will be in my car tomorrow morning 😉

Immediately the replies started coming:

“We have been known to eat such delicious treats following a run.” – Sue

“That’s the whole reason we run!!!” – Rachelle

“Is this a trick question? I believe I am available to assist with this… ” – Beth

“I have never been known to turn down a cupcake…” – Me

“I see shirts…’We never met a cupcake we didn’t like.'” – Sue

The replies continued and I couldn’t help but smile and be thankful.

Surely you can see why I absolutely love these ladies. Three times a week we get together and run. We are women (and our token one man) of all different ages, sizes and income brackets. We fare from all over our country (and some from abroad) and can’t seem to agree on our favorite breakfast joint. But for all the differences, we share our love for laughter… and most certainly our love for cupcakes.

As for loving running, that’s only on the good days. I’m pretty sure it’s the laughter and cupcakes that gets us out of bed in the morning.

Here’s to the ladies of Sue and Emily’s 5:00 pace group… the fairest ladies of them all!

Now off to yoga!

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I Heart Doritos (Part Deux)

2 Apr

A little over a month ago, Jill from JoggingJeans.com notified me of some great news: Taco Bell was introducing a taco served within a giant Doritos shell! I was happier than a pig in mud. I even blogged about how excited I was here.

This news was enough to make me end my forever long Taco Bell hiatus. I counted down the days until I would get to try such amazingness. However, when March 8th came and the Dorito Taco was introduced, I encountered a major problem: getting someone to go to Taco Bell with me.

No one would go. Not Donnie. Not my friends. Not my co-workers. Not even my Mom! I know what you’re thinking: Why didn’t she just go by herself? The answer to that is easy… I consider eating Taco Bell by yourself to be much like drinking by yourself. If you find yourself doing it alone, then you have a problem.

So for the last month, I’ve been talking about this taco and begging those around me to go try it with me. And for a month, those around me have shut me done, crushing my little heart to broken pieces… much like the crumbs you’d find at the bottom of a Doritos bag.

But finally today a miracle… my co-workers agreed to go to Taco Bell! They realized that this would be the only way to shut me up. When they agreed, I proudly proclaimed, “This is going to be the best day ever!”

At Taco Bell I ordered two Doritos Taco Supremes. I could hardly contain my excitement as we drove to the park, where we would be dining al fresco. Finally I sat down and unwrapped my first taco:

At first it just tasted like a regular Taco Supreme from Taco Bell. But with each new bite, the Nacho cheesy flavor got stronger and my mouth got happier and happier. Hooray!

Afterwards I licked the nacho cheesiness from my fingers, enjoying the moment as I knew I would not be returning to Taco Bell anytime soon. It was good once, but their meat still makes me nervous… even if they did stop using ‘pink slime‘ in their beef.

Have you tried the Taco Bell Doritos Taco? What did you think? 

I’ll leave you with the video my co-worker shared with me after I started linking my fingers.

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A Strong Fourteen Miles

1 Apr

Earlier today I posted my April Fool’s blog for the day, announcing that I was going to quit running. If you read down to the bottom, you caught that I would denounce this decision by Tuesday morning, when my next run is scheduled. Hee hee.

And while the reasons were quite honest (I really do hate waking up early and I miss sleeping in on Saturday mornings), I do believe that the benefits of running far outweigh these cons. Besides, running keeps me from going cray cray. 🙂

Since yesterday’s long training run was to be 10 to 14 miles, I set out for our run at 6 AM with the intent to run 10 miles. This is what happens when you give me a range… I mentally commit to the lowest mileage.

However, the stars were aligned yesterday and I felt so good that I ran just over 14 miles. Aside from the bug that stalked me for two blocks, I thoroughly enjoyed the run. Maybe it was my new favorite yummy running snack, the Vanilla Organic Stinger Waffle, that put a pep in my step. Or maybe it was the Mexican food I had for dinner the night before. Whatever it was, it worked!

Around mile 13 I convinced my wonderful Marathonfest group leaders to pose for this pic with me. I’m pretty sure they were welcoming the sit down break. 🙂

My group leaders, Emily and Sue, and I cheesin' at 13 miles

It really was the perfect day for a run! And with the Flying Pig Marathon only five weeks away, it was good to have a positive run!

Afterwards, one of my group mates and I doubled back to Panera. We wanted coffee badly.

Here were my run stats:

  • Distance: 14.29 miles
  • Time: 03:18:01
  • Avg Pace: 13:51/mile
Afterwards I headed home to begin a weekend of much needed rest.
Did you get your sweat on outside this weekend? 


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