Los Angeles Marathon - Day 3 - MARATHON DAY!!!

Isn't amazing, when you sign up for a race,  6 months out you feel like "oh i have plenty of time"...well BOOM..it came. I signed up for this race in October, and I couldn't believe how FAST it got here.

With the whole loosing an hour of sleep ,getting up at 3:30 (2:30 normal time), and the fiasco of forgetting my headphones for the 5K the day before, I laid everything out. I didn't want to leave anything to "oh i 'll remember that tomorrow morning." I never want to leave race day items to chance. My adrenaline already makes me more gittery than I already am. I highly suggest doing this for every major race!

I was super anxious about Daylights savings time ( I still wonder if anyone was royally messed up because of this?) and so we set like 5 alarms.. lol we had a crazy wakeup call.  For those that DO NOT KNOW, marathon morning is CRAZY... 3 years ago we allowed 2 hours to get to Dodger stadium, living 20 minutes away. My husband had to jump out of the car on the free way and jog 2 miles to the starting line,he was not alone. Traffic is crazy, people are crazy, so, I didn't mind formulating a plan for race day. We met our coach, at 4:30, in Venice, carpooled and parked in a "secret spot", and then took the shuttle. Everything was extremely smooth and we were in place at Dodger stadium EARLY. Which was fine, time to warm up, check our bags, and last bathroom stop prerace.

We made it to the shuttle! Coach Iyob and Johnny! Iyob was celebrating his 23rd LA marathon and had just completed 50 marathons before the age of 50.

 My "running sister" :) A pretty awesome women. Her and her boyfriend ended up getting 3rd place in the relay, both running 1:30ish half marathons and are both heading to Boston next month!

Beautiful sunrise!

CRAZY PACKED

My Run MDR ladies :) 

and we're off!

I saw people jumping up and down, running around HOURS before the race. My advice, save your energy, it's going to be a long day. Simple stretching and some leg swings are fine. Take the first 2-3 miles to warm up your legs (trust me the hill at mile 4 will do just that!)

The first 1-2 miles is down hill heading out of Dodger Stadium. You want to just take off, but, I really tried to make sure I was listening to my body, knowing in about 3 miles there was going to be a hill climb. I didn't want to burn all my energy out at the beginning, and ran around a 55-59% effort

First stop, Chinatown!

It was right around this time I spotted the 4:45 pacers. I had picked up 2 cliff pacer bracelets at the expo ( I LOVE THESE THINGS). It's a paper bracelet, that I like to wear on my right wrist. at the bottom it has your goal time. I was shooting for 4:45 so I picked up that one . It has your elapsed time for every mile marker . I set the top portion of my nike+ watch on my elapsed running time and then checked it with my cliff bracelet about 2-3 times a mile to make sure I was doing what I wanted. 

...yeah..chilli cheese hotdogs..NO THANKS

Around the 10K I still felt like I could give a little more so, I picked up the pace and never saw the 4:45 pace group for the rest of the race.

The crowd was extremely thick exciting Echo Park and turning towards the city.

The first site of the Hollywood sign and the Griffith observatory!

There was a camera crew following a runner, I didn't recognize her, but I figured maybe she worked for a news channel or was an actress. 

was feeling the effects of my pace so, first GU shot of the day :) I've learned that if I wait for a water stop and eat the Gu/Drink the water simultaneously it goes down quicker and it doesn't stick in my throat. 

(don't know what happened to mile 9)

Around mile 10, I met up with he 4:15 pacer, I was EXTREMELY excited to see her. I didn't realize I was doing that well :) My times had been all negative  splits by about 3-5 minutes . I was able to keep up with her for about 2-3 miles but then I realize I needed to run my race and understand I still had almost half a race left. So, I kept her balloon in site but decided to pull back and listen to my body.

Having lived on Hollywood Blvd before, I was extremely excited to see this. I knew we were getting closer and closer to Hollywood

Hollywood and Highland intersection! One of my favorite plazas I used to go to.

Chinese theater!

Turned left, pass In N out and right on Sunset Blvd!

One more!

HALF MARATHON!

Gu #2

The sun had finally decided to come out (it had been overcast all morning), right after mile 13 I REALLY began to feel the heat and it didn't stop rising.

The beginning of Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive

Why hello Vera Wang :)

still around Rodeo

Up until now, I had been doing fairly decent. It was about 10-15 degrees warmer now than it had been at the start. Oddly enough I hadn't been paying much attention, the last mile, to where we were but once I climbed the first "rolling hill" I knew we were on this long, never ending highway that I used to drive to Santa Monica a lot. I was like oh heck no, this isn't going to be easy. 

Right around here, my brain was telling me, ok, almost a 10K...it's just a 10K...You run this every Wed. Even though I was trying to stay positive, I also realized my fastest 10K was at 55 mins. I still almost had an entire hour left, the hardest one of the race. 

As you can see I skipped mile 20. I'm pretty sure it was because my head was down and I was walking. I walked the first hill (which wasn't much of one at all, it felt like it tho) and the heat spiked another 5 degrees.

This part was the HARDEST part of my race, my coach told me it would be as well . "People drop like flies around the VA" he constantly told me :) By this time I knew Run MDR would be set up at Mile 23, PLUS San Vincente was right around the corner. Our Sunday long runs consisted of a start at Venice beach, up the Santa Monica Pier and the race route,backwards, up San Vincente and through Brentwood. If I could just get to mile 23, I could make it. Once I hit Brentwood (and went past the Farmers market I ALWAYS WANT TO STOP AT LOL) I knew there was 1 hill, one hill left, one constant incline for about 1 mile. I walked/ran the last 2-3 miles, high fived the Run MDR folk and kept going. I took about 2 Gu's and kept telling myself Santa Monica wasn't the stopping point, I still had to run to the store, hoping to pysch myself out. 

After 23, it was all down hill, literally. The hill was gone, it was a gradual and slow down hill. I've ran this route for 3 month's every Friday. I counted down the blocks as they went...23rd......11th.........7th (our 10 mile turn around from the store)......There's the fancy houses...

I really wanted to run this last bit but once again I got horrible side stiches. They seem to hit more frequent when my breathing becomes more labored so, I focused on breathing and elongating my stride. I ran through my check list from a ZAP coach, from Boone, NC. "Shoulders down, arms at the side, jaw relaxed." It also made me laugh thinking about him yelling it across a lake, and still being able to hear him :)

We turned left onto Ocean and BOOM....the longest stretch of life LOL....The crowd was thick, the sky was blue, the ocean on my right, the finish line off in the distance. Ironically "Have you got it in you" by Imogen Heap was playing, my theme song for my Half Ironman. I listened to the chorus once, took my headphones off and just took in the sites and sounds. The "you're almost there, you've got it!" I saw a friend from my running club on the side (she had paced another friend). I waved, she smiled and I pushed...no more walking, I was going to finish this

I crossed the finish line with a really bad cramp, but I did it!. I got my phone , called my husband (he finished almost an hour and 1/2 a head of me). He asked me how I felt and I remember saying "I just want to SIT DOWN". Of course you have to walk everywhere to get all your stuff. About half a mile later, I had my bag, my water (the bottle was already empty after the first gulp) and my medal. We reconnected at the massage line and I had one of the best post race (free) massages ever. I plan on doing this after EVERY major race .

This is a picture from the 5K ( i think we were just too tired to take pics from the actual day of the race) but, once I met up with my husband,he was like " so, I guess I have at least one more marathon to do". I was laughing because as I was getting my phone out (after I crossed the finish line). A friend on FB had been following our bibs and had already messaged me JOSH RAN A 3:03!!!! Josh is (hopefully) running Boston 2015.  He beat his age group qualifying time by 2 minutes. 

My swag, I love it!

Have I told you HOW MUCH i love this watch? It's my favorite running accessory! ( I even wear when I'm not running) I paused it once when I thought I was going to go to the bathroom but then decided not to. It was highly accurate before, but ended up getting about .30 off the race markers. The elapsed time was almost dead on tho which was the most significant. 

To be honest, at first I was a little disappointed in my time. I was doing so well up until around Mile 18-19 where I started walking a lot more. My original goal was to be 5:19 ( my last marathon time). So after some talk I realized I should be thankful for this time. This was my 3rd marathon but the first one I had trained well for and was actually "competitive" in . My next marathon is in 2 months and I can only hope to improve on that time :)

I drank at every aid station, sometimes both gatorade and water. I think what attributed to my early "wall hitting" around mile 20 was not enough Gu's. I was inhaling them around mile 22-23 but I didn't take my first shot until Mile 8, originally I was planning for mile 6, then mile 13 and 18. I waited until I felt like I needed them. I learned my lesson and I realize I need to replenish with them at a more consistent rate so I don't FEEL the need for them and have more constant energy. 

I def couldn't have done it without this group. As part of the Run Marina Del Ray running group we are "the Sundays (Minus 2 of our regulars)." a firefighter, a BA trainer, a teacher, 2 husband/wife teams, a student and a first time marathoner. We owe it to each other (and our coach) for being there on Sundays. For the smiles, the stories, just knowing there is someone waiting for you at the end, regardless how long we all take.  Thanks :)

Los Angeles Marathon Weekend Day 2- 5K - My Anniversary Run

Today was an extremely special day for me. 3 years ago (2011). My spouse entered the LA Marathon, after watching him train I decided maybe I could do this too? I signed up for the LA 5K,bought my Nike+ watch, and jumped on the treadmill, for probably the first time in my life (actual running story to come in a later post). Basically 3 years ago, I couldn't jog at a 4.0 through an entire song. That's where I started. There was no couch to 5K programs, I didn't own a smart phone (the original Iphone) and so I kind of just aimed to get up to a slow jog for 2 songs, 3 songs, 4 songs, 1 mile...etc etc....

Fast Forward 3 years later, we knew we would be in LA for the LA marathon and with the combo purchase it made the 5K $15, I thought it would be fun to celebrate my first race I've ever ran with the huge leaps and bounds I've made. ...one thing is...i forgot HOW HARD this 5K was!!!!! PHEW lol..With 8-10 5Ks under my belt I still claim this as one of THE HARDEST 5K's. With 4 hills, you are proud of yourself finishing this one!

Knowing I had a marathon the next day, I decided I wanted to break my 2011 31:00 finish time but not crush it. I wanted to save some of that energy for tomorrow.

We arrived at the Stadium around 7:15, plenty time to park, walk, and have a last minute bathroom stop. The crowd isn't near as big as the marathon so, getting to the stadium isn't crazy site as the marathon day is.

Welcome to dodger Stadium!

It was really cool, this year they had Dodger Stadium open so, I sneaked in and took a few pictures. I've never been inside before :)

                                           A picture of the finish line before the race began

It was amazing HOW hot, it had gotten before the start of the race. I could feel the sun on my shoulders and arms. I was really worried that if it was like this tomorrow, I'd be in trouble.

ANYWAY, I started farther in the back than I wanted. I ended up having to run around a TON of walkers, some even carrying banners. It was around the time I got out of the stadium I had finally found a group of runners that were around my pace. It was oddly familiar. Even though it was 3 years ago, I remembered the hills....every, one , of them! lol

I didn't want to push it too hard because I had remembered them. I don't how well this picture is going to come out, but here is the elevation map from my nike+

The Green line is my pace, the faded blue is the elevation. (i'll work on getting a better picture asap)

Anyway, I really enjoy the course. It's not extremely scenic, but the greenery and forestry is really relaxing. You don't feel like you're in downtown LA until you wind back down to the stadium.  The last hill is always a tough one and suffered some real bad side stitches .I think I pushed it a little too much going up the 3rd hill and by the 4th my diaphragm was trying to catch up .

I was really excited to see the finish line and raced towards it.  

The finisher bag was pretty awesome for a 5K. It had a towel , a hat, a bracelet, and few food/water items . 

I ended up having a decent finishing time considering I was at a 65% effort  and the temperature was quickly rising.

Anyway, it was great race, well organized, and a challenging course. I was really happy I was able to participate and celebrate my first race again. :)

Los Angeles Marathon Weekend 2014: Expo - Day 1

Well, after registering in October, training since December, It's HERE! The marathon weekend is here!

This will be my 3 marathon as well as celebrating the beginning of my running career. My first race was the LA 5K in 2011 the year of the Monsoon LOL

I was super excited to get going to the Expo. Luckily, living in LA, we were able to drive to a Metro Train and take it all the way into the convention center.

My coach suggested we take advantage of being in town and visit the expo on Friday. I'm so glad we did. Running Disney and Marine Corps, it was probably one of the least crowded expos I've been to.

Wearing my traditional expo skirt, we made it to the beginning of the entrance line to get in :)

After doing a loop around the building we were in. Picking up our bibs was kind of a weird situation. We had signed up for the LA 5K and Marathon, as a package, however we were only sent one bib number. We ended up having to go to a bib lookup booth line, find our bib for the 5K , and then go back to the line to get our big, then get in another line for our shirt. This process (minus the bib lookup) was repeated for the marathon as well. AGAIN, super thankful we cleared the whole afternoon AND we went on Friday, I can only imagine that process taking almost an hour (waiting in line to get in, going to 3 different booths before picking up a bib) . But, that's what you sign up for when you register with 20,000+ other people. 

I was running on 4 hours of sleep today (my body woke me up around 4:30 and I just couldn't go back to sleep=tired look

The double shirts and big goodie bag is always nice. I love the local coupons, water bottle, and all the tons of free handouts at the LA Marathon Expo. Of the 3 marathon expos I've been too, this one is always the biggest, when it comes to samples and free items. 

Last time we found the names on a car, this time, a wall. I was excited to finally find mine :)

I was mostly excited about the jewlery booths that seem to be more popular at expos. I'm starting a "running bracelet" and haven't been to impressed with the prices online :) but found some cute charms 

Anyway, we connected with my coach, and was able to sneak a picture with him before he had to run off and do his VIP work with the marathon. 

We walked around and made it to all the venues to our sanctification and made our way home. A pretty organized expo and glad that it's finally here!...

I know I was covered HEAD to TOE in pink...but.. Honestly so many of these marathons are male heavy I wanted to support the girls at the race. I'm like of course i'm going to wear my New awesome Pink Brooks (new minimalist shoe post marathon training). I actually quite some compliments on the shoes :)..AND proudly sporting my Marine Corps Marathon Jacket... I don't think i'll ever qualify for Boston so I call it my Boston Jacket..I'm sorry but at the MCM expo I saw that it was hot pink..I begged for it..It was calling my name!..:) 

I still haven't decided on what I'm going to wear for the Marathon day..but..You can bet I Will have pink...somewhere :) My Asics  Kayanos are busting out with the Lime Green and Neon Pink. Can't wait to introduce them to their first marathon after all the training runs they've gotten me through as well as my AH-Mazing Nike Plus Watch :) already got 100+ miles on that watch since I received it as a birthday gift in January :)

More on the 5K and Marathon later!

Thanks for reading!

Not Just Another New Year's Resolution

How many of us made 10-12 goals/resolutions in January, and one more later have realized that we've already began forgetting to practice what we decided or haven't even started working on set goals?

At the end of a workout class I noticed a friend of mine carry a huge water bottle with February goal marked on it. I asked her what the importance of that bottle was. She stated that she realized she needed to drink more water and decided that every day she wanted to drink 3 of those bottles. This sparked a conversation about resolutions and goals that I decided I wanted to pursue onto a posting.

The myth states that it takes 21 days to form a habit. I honestly don’t know how correct this is, I think it really depends on the person. I know, with my Type A personality, I get really excited about something for about a week, week and ½, hit it hard, and then eventually If I don’t constantly do it, or make it a priority, it quickly fades away and old habits creep up. We seem to really focus on New Year’s Day being the jumping off point for our “new selves, new year” but why does it have to be just that time of the year? I’ve personally realize if you break these down into bite size portions, they’re much easier to achieve, similar to the mental aspect of preparing for one of my races. If at the starting line of a marathon you think ok, only 26.2 miles to finish! I just want to turn around and walk away, heading for the closest doughnut shop. But If I do a little research and find out where all the water stations are (usually every 2-3 miles) it makes it much easier to focus on finishing the race. I try not to think about the finish until mile 20-21. If I do my mind is ready to jump ship. I break it down into little races,

“Alright first 5K, feeling good”…”Alright 10K, let’s do this!” “Half Marathon, good job, keep it up, you can do this!” …”alright 2 miles till I can get a drink”...”woo! Energy shot aid station!”  “Doughnut holes!”…”Alright…legs, I know you’re sore but only a 10K left”….”ugh this will never end…ok..ok..1 more mile till water”…”GATORADE!” …”I think I can I think I can”……” WATER!”…..”5K LEFT 5K LEFT!!!”…WAHH!!! FINISH!! “I AM AWESOME, can I sit down?”  

lol..ok ok I just thought I’d put that in for fun….SO, my point with all this is, perhaps instead of 1 month filled with 10-15 goals…why not 2-3 goals, every month, for a year……..Think how simple that sounds? You can even reward yourself for reaching your goals, if you so choose to. When I started a workout program, last year, I printed out the calendar that came with the kit, and at the end of every 2 weeks that I completed gave myself a reward. Some of those included a new workout top, a sample makeup kit I saw in an advertisement, etc etc. Something small that didn’t involve food lol. We usually set goals or resolutions for fitness, cessation of smoking or drinking, time for ourselves or family, and/or money. We do this for a reason to change a habit we are currently creating by either lack of motivation or lack of time.

Ok, so you’ve picked a goal. For example my resolution for January was to become more efficient with my grocery budget and shopping. I began by setting a budget, continuing my coupon clipping, and comparing my grocers ad to my list of actual groceries. By doing this I came out ahead 3 out of the 4 shopping trips I made and we still had healthy meals. . By doing this we ate out less often. January was also my birthday month, so we used the money we saved, and went out to eat at a very nice restaurant, we wouldn’t have normally gone to, to celebrate my birthday.

            Another thing to remember, always, is KISS- Keep It Simple (Stupid). Make the goals/resolution simple and small. “I want to run a 5K by March” could be seen as kind of overwhelming. You can write that in on your March calendar (Goal number 2-become more efficient with our days together, hence the calendar on the fridge and the planned days off suggestion page) but make steps for the goals themselves. By using the March 5K as an example, make one of January’s goals to find a running training program/schedule online and/or walking 10-15 minutes a day, etc etc. Then February’s goal could be to make a playlist for when you walk/jog with your phone adding on to the schedule you’re following for your 5K schedule, as well as finding some good active shoes. By March you’re ready to tackle that 5K!

Keeping the goals/resolutions as specific as they can be helps tremendously. By saying “My goal is to be able to last an entire Zumba class without feeling like I’m going to pass out.” Is much more achievable than “I want to get fit”. Another example “I want to save enough money to go to Hawaii”, Instead find out how much it cost to fly out there and spend a week, then how long it would take to save up for it week by week, then it could be “I want to save $50 a week so I can go to Hawaii in (Insert number) of months.”

As silly as all this all sounds a lot of people think (including myself)..Ok..”NEW YEAR NEW ME what do I want to change”,. Then after the first week of going back to work/school/ first of the year bills, Life does get in the way and things don’t progress. We feel like we might as well forget it and stop. Life does happen! Bills happen, painful joints happen, kids, family, etc etc, but don’t give up and don’t wait till “next Monday”. If you eat a pretty unhealthy meal for breakfast, and messed up your healthy eating goal, don’t figure you’ve messed up the whole day! You’ve still got 10-11 hours of day left! Redeem your goal/resolution at lunch! If you miss a workout, stretch before bed and try again tomorrow, get right back on that horse.

            I haven’t planned out my year yet, and I’m sure I’ll be adding on here and there when new things come up but here are some of my yearly resolutions/goals:

January- 1. Become more efficient with seeing sites and our days off- Created a calendar, combined all of the work days/days off and made up a things we want to do list.
               2. Attend my fitness center at least twice a week- focusing on at least 1 yoga class a week- Found their class schedule, circled every class I’m interested in going posted it on the fridge. So far So good J
                3. Continue attending Wed, Sat, Sun, Run meetups and Pick up the 10K runs on Wed
                4. Become a certified YBB instructor-Working on my yoga hours to obtain
                5. Finish AFAA Textbook ½-3/4ths way
                6. Set a cash budget for groceries and only us the allotted cash amount

February- 1. Drink/refill my camel back bottle- It goes everywhere with me
                 2. Add a strength training class to my fitness class schedule
                 3. Continue attending Wed, Sat, Sun runs- 10K runs wed and running full distances on Sundays
                 4. Continue yoga classes
                  5. Put myself on an allowance budget
                  6. Finish AFAA textbook, begin review
March
                1. Continue previous month’s goals, tapering weight training
                2. Review and Pass AFAA Group Trainer Certification test
                3. Complete LA Marathon 5K and Marathon!!!!

April       1. Continue previous months goals
               2. Add strength training back to work out regiment once a week
              
            
Those are just an example of some of my goals/resolutions. A lot of them are fairly simple but a lot of them all lead up to a ½ ironman I have coming up in September. When I signed up for it was I was extremely overwhelmed but with more than 6 months to train, if I set goals and followed a schedule I know I will be able to complete it J

I hope you find this post helpful and thought provoking. I know it’s pretty long, but maybe you can start getting ideas and plotting down some new February goals/resolutions. You still have time J
Anyway, as always thanks for reading J

2014-Update- Runs, races, and California,OH my!

Man oh Man, Can it really be 2014 already?!

It's been a while since I've posted! ( It looks like since October..eesh!) Well, I guess it's time for a new post!

It was a busy last half (and start to the new year) We were in the arctic zone of Wyoming (- 30 wind gusts and snow, NOT FUN for running/Biking) So... I spent a lot of hours on the treadmill in the gym . During that time I was "training " for the Marine Corps Marathon (there will be a post on that later). All I will say on here is that well, I finished. It wasn't pretty but it was my own fault. I lost motivation during training and didn't put in near enough miles as I should have.

ALSO...with the annual Kona Ironman World Championships on broadcast it fueled our racing addiction, thought about it, researched it, and decided to compete in our first Half Ironman in Augusta, GA in September of this year!!! Super excited! But, we had a lot to do. While spending time in Denver, we found some amazing Craiglist road bikes. Since then we've invested in some tri-gear, and only have wetsuits left to invest in (I plan on making a post about the 1/2 Ironman as well, so STAY TUNED! lol)

As mentioned before, we had enough of the cold weather and decided to revisit the land where the traveling began, and moved back to California! Since back we've been hitting the road with a running group, training for the Los Angeles Marathon. We really feel like this could be a great race! We've been training harder than usual and have put some long miles in already. I've also been really focusing on speed work this time around and set a personal record for my half marathon at a local race. I was pretty happy but was 3 minutes over a sub 2 hour race. I had placed myself too slowly at the beginning and had to really push the last 6 miles to make up for that time. Oh well, it was "the easiest" half I had ran and hope to catch that 2 hour record later this year .

With moving back to CA I've reconnected with some friends, but mostly my favorite fitness studio that fueled my passion for fitness and gave me the confidence to pursue a career in that industry. This weekend is very special! I will be learning from the creators of Yoga Booty Ballet and will be going through a teacher training certification program to eventually teach this class. I'm very excited but nervous as well. My confidence level in performing in front of people always waivers, I know what I need to do but that pressure of performing in front of my teachers/peers always gets me nervous.

So, that is all for now, I hopefully plan to keep this updated through out the month, now I don't have to fight for the laptop anymore LOL . Anyway as always, thanks for reading...Stay Posted, Stay healthy :)