Seattle Half to the Seattle Full Part 2 Recap!

Seattle Marathon 2012

I love the start of a race - when all the runners are facing the same direction in anticipation of a collective mission. But compared to the half marathons I've been to, these marathon runners mean serious business. I slid in somewhere between the 4:10 pacer and the 4:40 pacer and pretended to be serious too.
They played the star spangled banner and I felt un-derserving and inspired and ready to go.  I got my armband and iphone set and pressed play so Tina Fey could talk me through the next 5 hours of my life. The first 6 miles felt great - they flew by! My toes went numb but I tied my shoes a little tighter at the I-90 turnaround and it actually helped.  Good choice on the half size bigger for the new shoes I said to myself!
I remember looking at the water in the fog and zoning out except for the excitement of seeing mile markers.  And because we double back I remember these amazing "true" marathoners flying past us pretty early on and just staring in awe.  They are made from a different mould for sure.  It was pretty cold being right off the water.  I made it down Lake Washington blvd and heard that dang Ganghim style song blaring from Seward Park.  Dare I say I was invigorated!?  The 4:10 pacer passed me around the 12th mile and I stayed with a girl with striped socks that was running her FOURTH marathon in FOUR days.  Every time I felt tired, I would read the back of her leg which said FOUR marathons in FOUR days.  And I would think, well this is nothing.
I hit 13.1 miles at 2:15. I drank my Eric's Sport Ade and felt fantastic.  I remember the beautiful trees and fog and repeating, I love you.  I guess I was talking to myself.  I kept running.  I loved seeing the water stations, it was such a symbol of progression.  I kept trying to calculate my times since I didn't load the pacing app because I didn't want my phone to die.  But mostly I enjoyed the run until.... about mile 20.
And then the hills started, and the saying "what the hell are you doing!?" started and it was suddenly a different beast.  So instead of zoning out, I had to zone in to physically, consciously, mentally make myself run.   And if I didn't my body would just start walking and sometimes just stop.  Like really just stop!  I downed my last Eric's Sport Shot for some extra encouragement and was so thankful a friend met me at 21 miles to run with me.  It was still hard and at times my body was begging me to just walk but I pushed through.  I love running over the bridge and seeing downtown Seattle, but the last and longest 2 miles are still left.  Thankfully two friends that ran the half marathon caught me right over the bridge and cheered me through as I ran down the hills toward the last quarter mile.  Knowing my boys were waiting at the top of Mercer kept me running and I was so excited to see them all.  It was sunny and beautiful and I felt bright and shiny as I crossed that finish line running hard.  I had done it, and done it well.
I'm not sure what to say about the accomplishment.  I'm proud of how I did, but its not pride I feel.  I'm happy I did it, but its not joy I feel either.  I think it must be love.
I didn't cry after the race.  I wanted to, but just didn't.  I might have been in too much pain to get tears out.  But later, while laid up on the couch I saw a quote on a commercial:
be yourself
everyone else is already taken
and thats when the tears came.  Dear self - look what we did, I love you!

Seattle Half to the Seattle Full!! Part 1

Can I say it now, I am a marathoner!?
Feels like its stretching the truth a bit.  But I did do it, I completed a marathon.
26.2 miles, yeahhhhhhhhhhh!!

1 year ago I ran the Seattle half marathon - my very first half marathon.  Afterwards I said it was the hardest thing I had ever done (besides childbirth of course!)  It was rainy, wet and cold but I really felt good about it, how I pushed my body and pushed my soul.  And so when I signed up for the full marathon just 10 short days ago, I must have thought:
I'm ready to do that again, but to the next level.  And there is no 3/4 marathon to sign up for so 26.2 miles it was.
Or I had one beer too many and got a little overconfident in my abilities.
Or I was like, its only 30 more dollars for another 13.1 miles, thats the better deal, if I'm going to fork over some money, I should get my money's worth!!
Actually, it was a nice mix of all three of those things.  But I did sign up, and then promptly stayed up all night thinking, what have I done!

I was very nervous - probably from having an only 10 day training program that consisted of
1. drinking a lot of water, including hunniwater!
2. researching how not to chaff
3. finding/testing new shoes
4. develop a way to not lose my mind, or rather lose my mind so I could finish!

But my program went well, in those ten days I:
1. drank lots of hunniwater
2. bought a $1 stick of body glide at the Expo and some underarmor running pants
3. went to fred meyer to buy a new version and a half size bigger of the exact shoe I had been wearing for the last year (the night before the race, I don't recommend - although not many blisters!)
4. downloaded Tina Fey's BossyPants and the End of the Affair read by Colin Firth onto my iphone

And for all my extensive preparations I still had some serious nervousness!  Which could be from:
1. only preparing for 10 days
2. not following the crossfitendurance.com site very closely since I ran the Edmonds Half in September
3. Never having run over 13.1 miles in my life.
4. Really, new shoes right before a race!?

But I reminded myself
1. It's just like running two half marathons, and I've ran 3 already!
2. I will think of it as training for an ultra marathon
3. I am a badass and can do this!!!!
4. God help me!!  no really God help me.

Okay, check the next post for my marathon recap!
http://ericsfitmama.blogspot.com/2012/12/seattle-half-to-seattle-full-part-2.html

my runner moms and the Edmonds Half Marathon!

I ran the Edmonds Half Marathon!

Last march I ran the Mercer Island half marathon in 2 hours and 45 minutes.  

And at the Edmonds Half?  Well, I killed it!!  

Racing 13.1 miles in under 2 hours, what!?!?

The race felt great, I attacked the hills and sprinted through the finish line.  Those Eric's sports shots gave me the encouragement I needed at just right times.  My 4 year old said I looked like I had a Mario star (you know the ones that make you all rainbow-y and flashy and nothing kills you and you can go super fast!?)  And you know what - thats how I felt!

In fact, as we embark on this new product adventure (it's called hunniwater and you can click here to support us!!) I'm inspired to give it everything I've got too! If I can cut 45 MINUTES off of my half marathon time, I can do anything!  And I'm going to implement the same strategies that got me here.  Finding what works for me and my family.  For me and my priorities.  

And I'll work on it every day, IN THE ZONE!!  Since starting my DIY crossfit and myfitnesspal I would say I've been (mostly) in the ZONE.   And it feels good.  I'd like to think the ZONE is where my actions line up with the goodness of my soul.  Which leads to... all the support that got me here, because that is a huge part of being in the goodness of my soul.  

And it will be a huge part as we embark on our next product!

It was probably just a year ago that I went on my first jog with some fantastic mom friends that have been with me through this whole journey.  I was huffing and puffing and shuffling my way through 2 miles, complaining with every step!  But I leaned on them, they didn't leave my side and they inspired and encouraged me (along with an Eric's Sport Shot!)  We raced the Seattle Half Marathon together last november and I had never pushed myself so hard.  We had a 9 mile run during training where I wanted to quit, to stop, to at least just run down the hill instead of up and have them come get me later!  But they kept pushing me cause they knew I could do it.  They knew I could do it when I didn't think I could.  They believed in me! And all that support and love that I felt helped set me on the path of knowing me, having faith in myself and getting to that goodness of my soul.

Those runs became a sort of therapy, where I get to revel in these beautiful women as we all struggle through kids, partners, friendships and self.  And in that struggle is the support we all need.  Because we are all trying to do the same things, right?  Do good by our kids, our families and our communities - all with love and happiness.

So mom running friends of mine - know you will always hold a special part of my heart for believing in me before I even did.  For always being there for a workout, for wine or for a cry! For helping me get to this place of strength and confidence and enthusiasm - with no complaints!

 For being such a blessing to my life, to the goodness of my soul.  

And for supporting and inspiring me still.

Playground DIY Crossfit

So I ran 11 miles last Saturday.  And burned over 1000 calories.  And felt like doing absolutely nothing for the next 5 days!!

The actual run occurred in the early morning hours and felt fantastic.  We averaged about a 10 minute mile - which is faster than my best half marathon time from before - much better.  Took the Eric's Sport Shot before and then the Eric's Sport Ade half through.  Some of the run was following the path of the Edmonds half marathon which I am planning to run 1 week from Sunday gah!

But for the next couple days I was pretty sore, and worn out and just did not feel like working out at all.  I remained somewhat mindful of what I was eating but couldn't even get a push up in.  In my defense, the older two boys started school this week and it was mighty hectic around here.  But I have always found a way to make time in the past.  Oh another excuse is the YMCA was closed.  And we have a giant project that we are working on (details coming soon!) Oh and I just remembered we did a crazy arse workout the day before the 11 mile run.  The Chelsea (go ahead google it!!)
But still, the more you don't work out, the more you don't want to work out!  Which is why I had to call my best workout buddy for a workout today.  Plus I knew she would be up for combining it with a park play date too!

Our workout (courtesy of a quick Google search for "toes to bar WOD") was:
wait, first Eric's SPORT SHOT to get me going!!
then
4 rounds
20 burpees
15 toes to bar
10 handstand push ups

Now my dear friend has had crossfit memberships in the past so she has showed me toes to bar but I have yet to try.  Here is what it is supposed to look like when you are amazingly strong:

And I tried to do one... or two... but then headed to modification time, knees to chest!  It still worked me crazy but I'd like to get them toes to the bar sometime!  We did these on the monkey bars at the park.  Eric gave me some pointers after - to gather strength from all the muscles in your back and your arms.   And to believe you can do it!

Photo cred to my 4 year old - pretty good yah!?

So we did 20 burpees on the grass near the playground, 15 toes to bar (really knees to chest for me) and then 10 pushups with our feet on a bench and we did this 4 times.  The kids were running around the playground or us or both and sometimes joined in on the fun.  I did bribe my 4 year old with candy and money for staying right close to my little guy so that helped.  But we got the workout in and it felt good to be back at it.  It really helps to have support, which is why I am so thankful for the great friends I have around me - but I will save that for another post!

my DIY WOD - I heart Tabata

The Tabata workout is one of my go to favorites.  And let me preface again - I am in no way certified in crossfit, or personal training, or tabata-ness.  I just google a lot.  But here is a link to explain the Tabata workouts: http://tabatatraining.org
Basically it is 20 seconds of hard working out with 10 seconds of rest for 8 rounds.  You can Tabata anything (although there is some debate on this) so I shall say I Tabata anything.  On the treadmill, or the row machine, or the bike, or this apparently:
Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.
from crossfit.com
And of course I can't do pull ups so I did those inverted rows again -

And not really looking like this picture, I did them with the kitchen table and after the first three intervals I was just sitting on my butt "pulling up" what I could.  And those push ups were killer!!  After the fourth interval my shoulders were on fire and maxing out after 3 good push ups.  And then I did them on my knees.  But the next time should be better!!  I would like to start recording my reps and times - so hey I will start doing that on this here blog, starting next time.

And I want you to know I was sitting here typing away, getting work done when I googled crossfit WOD, found this Tabata and got busy while watching some Olympic gymnastics.  Just like that - 16 minutes and I was done!!  And helped burn off some of them fries I had earlier.  Til tomorrow!

To the beach and back

The thing about running to the beach is that beach=sea level. Meaning we're going down and then we're going up!! So on crossfitendurance.com they have a twelve week program which coincided with the exact timing of me running the very first Edmonds half marathon in September. I've been following the workout suggestions about half of the time. This week's Sunday workout was:
Run (SUN): 3 x 2M, rest 5:00 b/w reps, hold splits within 5-10 seconds

So I was using a route maker and didn't like the runs I was coming up with when I thought... I wonder how far it is to Picnic Point and back?! Which is one of my favorite beaches around here. Ahhh a perfect 6 miles (which is what 3x2 is right?). We've driven there plenty so I knew it would be a good hill down AND a good hill up so first up? An Eric's Sport Shot!

Ok, now I'm ready. I wanted to stop at the beach so I didn't exactly follow the endurance workout. I ran the 3 miles there at about a 9 min mile pace and then enjoyed the view for a good ten minutes.

So freaking beautiful, I love the northwest! Ok now back up the hill!! Whoa, it was a beast. I stopped at 1.5 miles and walked a bit since I figured I was due a break following the endurance workout and then I kept it pushing. Like I mentioned, I'm a do it yourselfer kind of crossfitter! Made it home and felt great and a little shaky. Topped it off with an Eric's Sport Ade and it gave me just what I needed to feel rehydrated, rejuvenated and ready for the day!!

A 25lbs lighter kind of update!

And I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight, WHAT!?!

May 1st I loaded the my fitness pal app on my iPhone, entered some goals and got busy in the gym.  So we're at the end of July now and I've lost just under 25 lbs.  I'm actually down to my weight that I was before baby #1!!  Meaning I haven't weighed this in over 8 years.  Wow.
Have been asked quite a bit about how I did it, or am doing it since I'm still in process ;)
First of all, could not have done this without Eric's Sport Shots and Eric's Sport Ade.  Of course I am biased, I helped design the thing.  But with my athlete husband at the helm I think we did an amazing job of putting together essential electrolytes, natural caffeine and vitamins in a great tasting coconut water base.  These shots allowed me to run 2 half marathons and made possible the major transformation I continue to undergo!

Eric's Sport Ade Power Punch, 2-Ounce (Pack of 12)

Eric's Sport Shot Energy Drink, Lime, 2-Ounce (Pack of 6)

Second, I totally changed my workout strategies.  I started looking up crossfit WODs (Workout Of the Day) and trying them out.  My workouts never lasted more than an hour and actually the more I have done the less time they are taking.  I started slow and hesitate to even call what I do crossfit.  More like DIY crossfit.  Like I have never formally taken a crossfit class in my life.  But I have googled them profusely.  And I'm a fast learner.  And I have an athlete of a husband who knows lots of these exercises.  I'll post my workouts and the sites I use.  But I am getting stronger in all kinds of areas and feel great!

My favorite goto WOD generator

Third, I've been holding true to that fitness pal.  I log my calories.  I log my workouts.  And if at the end of the day I have 40 calories to my budget - I don't get my beer or glass of wine!  It made me search for choices that were filling and less calories.  And guess what, those foods are much healthier for you!!  I had some goto ~100 calorie treats.  Like a SB mocha light frappacino.  And maybe a couple diet cokes made their way into my consumption but only a couple.  I try to stay away from artificial sweeteners and colorings and all that nasty business.  But I must stress it wasn't hard to say no.  Not as hard as it had been before.  Like when I tried Weight Watchers and I was literally pissed off at the world for not being able to eat what I wanted.  Which brings me to my fourth...
Fourth, and maybe this should have gone first, is that I wasn't in a defensive or I hate myself kind of mood when I started this.  It was like having that conversation that you need to have but not in the middle of the argument.  It was just a random day and I thought yeah, okay lets do this!  And so thats when the Eric's shots and the crossfit workouts came in.  Because they are so encouraging!!  And so was that scale as I started checking once a week and was 2 lbs lighter each time.  A great moment was when I got under that 150lb cluncker weight thing on the scale - cause they have an old school scale at the Y that I use.  So there we go!!
My example day, i.e. today!
workout - I took DS4 up the hill in the jogging stroller and did a Tabata which is 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for 8 rounds.  So my interpretation of that is running 20 seconds hard and walking 10sec.  On the treadmill I usually put it at an incline and at 9.5 and run the 20 seconds and then hop to the sides.  Like I said - more of a DIY crossfitter.  And then tonight I did 10 verticle jumps and 10 pushups for 10 rounds.  I was breathing hecka hard by round 8!!  And I earned myself a beer :) which brings me to...
nutrition - had a cup of coffee for breakfast with a banana and special K cereal with lowfat milk.  Lunch was 2 scrambled eggs with pico de gallo and light sour cream on a 100 calorie tortilla.  Around 3pm I had an Eric's Sport Shot and then tackled that Tabata.  Dinner was baked teriyaki chicken and some rice and green beans.  Well lots of green beans, sauteed in a little sesame oil.  was yum!
A day in the life, hope you'll be back for more.