Marathon Hangover.....

So I ran an experiment. I learned a lot. What now?

First of all, at the end of my last post I was wondering how I would feel the next day. The only results I hadn't yet posted were of my marathon recovery. Once again, I learned even more. Of course I was slightly sore, but the marathon was on Sunday and Monday night I was doing demos of body weight squats at the gym. The first one felt a little creaky, but after that, they felt great. I was in the pool on Tuesday and cycling on Wednesday. Legs felt a little tired in the pool but other than that, the soreness went away much faster than it has in the past.

What now you ask?

Well, it seems that some peeps over at Crossfit liked my experiment. I have been invited to be their guest at a Running/Endurance Cert in LA the first weekend in December! Yeah! What does this mean? Well, I am not sure, but I know I wanted to attend one of these and didn't think it would happen for a long time. This will be a great opportunity to meet more people in the community and just be the crossfit dork that I am with good company!

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the off-season. I really enjoyed my "marathon training" this year because: a) it gave me the exact variety I need to not get bored; and b) it is time efficient. I would actually like to run more this winter (maybe 20 miles/week); just haven't figured out when I will fit it in.

I've had many follow-up questions regarding my experiment. The most common asks something along these lines: Do you think you could PR training like this? Hmmmm. Great questions. I think the answer might be yes. I think it will take a few more tries and tweaks to my method. This gives me new enthusiasm for the marathon. I was getting bored with the classic training methods. Fortunately, I have a few months to enjoy other things before I put any structured training into practice.

Would love to hear from any of you who have tried or are trying something similar. You know what they say in science: The more data you have, the more valid. This is coming from a former middle school science teacher you know! Please share!!!

THE Experiment.

Hugging my kiddos at mile 21 or so. No actions shots!

Purpose: Could I run a sub 4-hour marathon with no long run training and added strength training (crossfit)?

Hypothesis: My first goal was really just to finish. I was doubtful that I could do it in under 4 hours, considering every other marathon I have run was accomplished with a full training plan of running at least 3 days per week, including one long run each week up to 23 miles.

Method:

1. My longest run would be at the track and would be kept to single digits. These runs consisted of extended warm-up, 3-5 miles of hard running and then a cool down to finish out mileage. My mileage these days ranged from 6-9 miles.

2. No other required running. Once in a while I would meet Julie & Courtney for hills on Fridays, but other than that, any running that was done was within a crossfit workout, which is minimal.

3. No running on weekends!!! I had a life on the weekend!

4. Crossfitting 4-5 times/week.

5. Swimming 1-2 times/week.

6. Cycling once/week.....and that is only if I was teaching my cycle class that week.

7. No taper.

Result: 3:31:01 (my PR is a 3:06:xx)

I started out ultra conservative. First mile was 8:40, 2nd 8:20, 3rd 8:40 and kept it in the mid 8's for quite some time. I passed the 9 mile mark expecting at any moment to explode since that is the longest distance I had run. Didn't happen. I kept up a decently conservative pace, enjoyed the crowd AND the absolutely perfect running conditions.

I passed the 1/2 marathon mark at about 1:49 feeling awesome. I sped up just slightly until the 20 mile mark. I didn't hit the wall. I sped up more. My last 5.2 were all done at sub 7 minute pace. I felt like a million bucks.

Conclusion:

I am completely shocked with this result. I was very doubtful I could break 4 hours, let alone feel good doing it. I was convinced at some mile in the teens I would hit the wall and the rest of it would be extremely painful. I was packing ibuprofen just in case! I thought I would be out of commission for the rest of the day. Not only is that not the case, I have been going non-stop since I got home! I can walk down the stairs like I normally do AND sit down and get up from the toilet without pain!

What did I learn from this experience? Much more than I ever thought I would....I learned that I am NEVER going to do long runs for a marathon again. If I ever go for a PR, my runs may go up to 15, but that 's it. I truly believe it's NOT necessary! How you start your marathon is SO important! I have always known this but had to learn the hard way. Being conservative at the beginning and not freaking out about going too slow is key. Increased strength training kept me strong throughout and less sore at the end. Crossfit helped me mentally because even though those workouts are shorter than a marathon, they are the hardest ones you will ever do!

One other conclusion I made was that my body was fresh from not doing long runs and/or high mileage. I wasn't borderline injured like many are that do a lot of miles. My body was fresh and my mind was ready to go!

I don't want to minimize the importance of training here. I trained very hard, it just wasn't specific to marathon. I wouldn't recommend doing your first marathon this way. This worked for me because I have several marathons under my belt and know how to start. I don't know anyone that hasn't had to learn this the hard way. In that case, those long runs will definitely come in handy!

Now, we will see how I feel tomorrow morning!!

Zoning Out.....Or In.

I am finally admitting that I am one of the lucky ones. Call me a bitch, whore, whatever. I can eat whatever I want. I can and have done just that up until July 6, 2009. I said it. Whatever I want, when I want and as much as I want. So there. Granted, I have always had a love for moving, and doing so at high intensity at times. So it is quite possibly you might hate me for that too. Yes, I love to be active.

What happened on July 6th you might ask? Well, with my short triathlon season over, I started to wonder what was next. Damian, the head trainer over at CrossfitMN happened to mention the idea of getting me to the crossfit games next year. I totally laughed at him when he said this. Hilarious. Then I started to think, "Why the hell not? I know what my weaknesses are and if I worked on them, why would I not have a chance at going?" Once these thoughts went through my brain, I started to think about what I needed to fine tune in order to get me there. Well, when it comes down to it, my diet is something I have never given much thought to. So maybe it was time to do that.

The Zone Diet is endorsed by Crossfit. To sum it up, the goal of the zone is to keep the insulin/glycogen levels happy so you don't have your highs/lows throughout the day. It involves weighing/measuring food, getting 40% of my calories from carbs/30%prot/30%fat and getting it throughout the day and not just in three meals. My life was consumed by this process for about 3 weeks. I wanted to commit to this process for 30 days and re-evaluate after this time period.

In three weeks I lost 4 pounds which was not the goal. The goal was to feel better throughout the whole day (which I was experiencing for the most part) and not have those late afternoon sugar cravings (which I have not had since day 1). But, I wanted to maintain my weight. So, I had to re-evaluate prior to my 30 day period was over.

It is August 2nd and for a couple of days I have not been following The Zone exactly as prescribed. HOWEVER, I have learned so much from this process and will NEVER, EVER eat like I did before. It was a great learning experience for me, especially for when that time comes that I will NOT be able to eat whatever I want.

The Zone is a great model and I will follow a modified version for a very long time (likely the rest of my life). My performances at Crossfit have been stellar and I attribute this in part to the change in my diet. Now, for my most immediate goal.......Twin Cities Marathon with NO LONG TRAINING RUNS. Do you think this new diet will make up for my lack of training? Probably not, but this marathon is an experiment of sorts. More on that to come.

Women's Adventure Night (WAN) - CROSSFIT!!!

Happy New Year!

For the past 3 years, my track group has ventured out during the cold winter months on something we refer to as Women's Adventure Night (WAN). We have done lots of cool things such as cross country skiing (total adventure for me!), speed skating at the Roseville oval, bra-fitting, and cardio tennis just to name a few. Anybody can plan it and everybody has great ideas. For this month, Jen and I scheduled Crossfit. Now this isn't really an adventure for Jen and I at this point, but we wanted to share our new hobby with anyone that wanted to participate!

The willing crew....hanging: Jen, me, Cathy, Merilee. Seated/standing: Shawn, Julie H., Valerie, Andrea, Sara, Julie K. and Courtney.

The first thing we went through was the warm-up. Crossfit is very strict about form and range of motion, so if this is of interest to you, going to the gym with a trainer is very beneficial. The big hit for some was learning the kipping pull-up. I may or may have not shared this with you but my resolution for 2008 was to be able to do 1 pull-up. I succeeded in doing 3 in a row on New Year's Eve of 2008!  Yippee! 

The workout itself was a team effort. We were paired up (we had an odd number so we had one team of 3) and had to do as many reps as a team as we could for 4 different exercises. We had 6 minutes at each station with 1 minute rest in between. 

The sets:

Wallballs (14 lb Med ball)

Medball sit-ups (14 lb Med ball)

Med ball cleans (12 lb Med ball)

Med ball toss (10 lb Med ball)

During the wallballs and med ball cleans, only one partner could be doing the work at a time while the other partner was given a certain number of burpees to complete. See pics below!

The 4 women seated are two pairs doing med ball sit-ups. I am in the purple shirt doing the med ball cleans while Jen is recovering from her burpees. Way in back Julie with the green tee is doing wallballs while her partner Cathy is doing burpees.

Our threesome is doing med ball sit-ups while Cathy & Julie in the back are launching the med ball back and forth as many times as they can in 6 minutes!

Courtney & Jen doing wall balls. The med ball under their bottom is there so they know how far to go down! 

Michael, our trainer was fabulous and took all of these pictures! When we finished Michael added up each teams reps for all 4 exercises to determine a winner. Let's just say that while we have quite the competitive bunch, I am not sure anyone really looked at that. We were happy to be done, everyone did their best and that was all that mattered. Checkout the Crossfit Minnesota's website at http://revdefenseandfitness.com/wordpress. Crossfit is a super fun way to get your strength training in and I think all participants would agree that it was a fun, challenging way to get it done!

Just thought you might want to see my sweaty pits one more time.....actually, what a bunch of fit bitches!!!

Uh-oh, Be Careful of What you Wish For!

So last week was hell. Hell in the fact that if my head wasn't attached, I probably would've left it somewhere.  It was good in that I might possibly have some new career opportunities on the horizon. For quite some time now I have been eager to be more productive in my professional life. I am extremely grateful to have been able to stay at home with the boys, but I tell you what, going to work is MUCH, MUCH easier. 

When you go to work you can call it your own. You get a lunch break(all by yourself if you choose), private bathroom breaks, weekends, holidays and vacations. Why don't stay at home moms get that? This all sounds so glorious but on my two days last week that I spent 8-5 at 'the office', I missed my boys. Not only that, when I got home I didn't go for a run. How could I leave when I haven't seen my babies ALL day? I would miss them even more and the guilt would be too much.

So now I have to reevaluate. What do I really want to do with my life professionally? Well, everything! I want to teach cycle classes, continue my Fitneighbor business, increase my knowledge in triathlon coaching and become a certified Crossfit Coach. Is that too much? What triathlon has taught me is that the variety in cross training is what keeps it interesting for me. I want to carry that over into my career. In one day of work, I want to take people through gut wrenching workouts and meet with clients to discuss their triathlon goals. I want to teach a cycle class and then design workouts to challenge my boot campers. I also want to have time to educate myself in all of these areas. Finally, I want the time to challenge my own body, whether it is to become stronger or to be able to run farther, I need to walk the walk.

So last week I had an Endurance Coach training through Lifetime Fitness. I was the triathlon coach last year at Eagan and enjoyed every minute of it. My clients had great seasons and that was very rewarding. While I definitely helped all my participants, I feel that I could definitely benefit from some additional training. Lifetime has given me this great opportunity to work with Troy Jacobson (the Spinervals dude) to do just that. Here is where my professional life my take on a more productive turn. 

Part of me is ready to put the boys in full day childcare a couple of days per week so that I can pursue my endeavors. Then the guilt begins to build. Everyone is always telling me that they are only small just once and I shouldn't miss a beat. And here lies the other issue....I don't have to work. Believe me, some days I wish I had to, that would make this decision a no brainer!  SO, not sure how to close this post.....your thoughts? Parents of older children.....do you wish you would've had more time? Happy you worked? Readers without children feel free to respond! 

Crossfit-o-liscous

For over a year, I have been in tune with Crossfit, the workouts that bring out the blood, sweat and tears. Their website has a workout of the day (WOD), and for religious followers, their athleticism and strength is amazing. I am far from religious. I watch more of the WOD's than I actually perform, watching with my jaw dropped in disbelief that these folks are doing what they are doing. I have done some of the workouts here and there, but only a few times per month. 

My New Year's Resolutions this year were to: A) Try new things and to B) Perform one unassisted pull-up from a dead hang.  The latter all motivated by the Crossfit workouts. Last night I went the only Crossfit gym in the state which fulfills both resolutions. I tried something new and I did pull-ups (assisted as we did like 50 of them).

I went with the amazing Jen L., a woman I highly respect and a fabulous athlete. She was a good sport trying Crossfit for the very first time. She was a champ and her kipping pull-ups looked beautiful by the end of the night. Having a buddy there made it ten times more fun and 20 times less intimidating.

The workout was named "hamberguesa", which made me think of what my muscles might look like after the session. Workout: 10 pull-ups, 15 push-ups, 20 squats, 200 meter sprint, 15 pull-ups, 21 kettle bell swings, 400 m sprint, 50 wall ball squats, 400 meter sprint, 21 Kettle bell swings, 15 pull-ups, 200 m sprint, 20 squat, 15 push-ups AND 10 pull-ups. Did I say we did this AS FAST AS WE COULD?????  I finished in 17 minutes flat. You then post your times on a board to compare.....I was happy with that. AND, better yet, I feel great today.

I might be addicted. Might be my new thing. Jen liked it too. There are opening a new facility in a couple of weeks. Super exciting. The link to the Eden Prairie facility is here! They offer a free one hour introductory session which is what Jen and I did. There were people of all shapes and sizes working their butts off.  If you are looking to try something new, this is definitely worth checking out. Good Luck! Oh yeah, tell em' I sent ya!