It's OFFICIAL!

I've finally registered Jon and myself for the Cincinnati Half Marathon NEXT weekend in my lovely hometown!

I've been procrastinating our registration for two reasons:
1. I couldn't find my checkbook in the move and I'm too cheap to want to pay the $11 processing fee online... Turns out, it's at my mom's... She tried to send them to us but it didn't work, so I finally got us in (with the processing fee) right under the deadline for the tee-shirt ordering!
2. I was afraid to sign up because even though I did "run" a half last weekend (I say "run" because I walked a TON starting at mile 8 when my sciatica/whatever that weird pain in my back right butt area was popped up again for the 2nd week in a row), I'm still really intimidated and nervous.

That said, here we are, no refunds from Active.com, so I gotta do it now!  I'm nervous AND excited, so we'll see.  I think it might be really cool that the half is the longest distance for the day--won't have to compare myself to the ultra awesome marathoners!

Any tips for my first BIG, LONG, SCARY race?

GREAT run (and photos for Christina)

I know I have been limiting myself to my weekly re-cap to try and stay on track, but I just wanted to stop by and say that this morning's run was AWESOME and here's why:

1. Got PLENTY of sleep so I was pretty awake and ready to go at 5:30am when my alarm went off
2. Sahara also got a lot (i.e. the same amount) of sleep and looked so eager to go that I decided to make this a puppy run at the last minute
3. My knees felt great the whole time
4. It was MUCH cooler than Sunday (since it was dark at 6am vs. sunny at noon)
5. I didn't walk AT ALL (and only stopped once to cross at a light)
6. I kept a 13:05 pace, which is at the fast side of my suggested LSD pace
7. I felt so good that I even decided to go a bit longer (extra .5)—could have done more, but, alas, had to get ready for work
8. I've just felt GOOD after and it's helping me stay on track for the day
9. The extra calories burned help make up for my several bites of queso dip last night
10. This is the first run I've had so far in training that I've actually really ENJOYED.  I've missed this feeling.
11. (Was hoping to make this a top 10 list, but alas) Tried out the Pandora app for the first time and got to change it up and listen to some new music.  Katy Perry station?  Yes, please.

So, awesome!  I feel like I deserved this run after how hard and mentally painful Sunday's run was.  Maybe this run was made possible by how hard I pushed Sunday?  As Jon said, "Now the pain means something to you and next time you might 'enjoy' the pain."  Not sure if I'd go QUITE that far, but who knows!  We have some hill repeats scheduled for Saturday night (hot date), so we'll see.

Oh, and Christina wanted photos in running gear, so here's me before/after this morning.  Sorry they aren't great!  I'll try and snap some of me and Jon in our gear this weekend!

Sorry for the doofy faces... It was hard trying to get photos of myself where I didn't look like a total idiot.  These are the best ones.  Interpret that as you like.

Now I'm really looking forward to Thursday's run: 5 miles w/2 at tempo!  I think I'll try the same strategy and get lots of sleep and get up early and run.  :)

Half Marathon Training: Week 2 Re-Cap

Tuesday:  Got myself up and out of bed for the first time EVER this summer and went for a nice morning run for my slotted 3 miles EZ.  I opted for 8/2 intervals and got some decent speeds for each interval in the 10-11min range.  My right knee started really hurting at 2.5 miles and I felt like I ran/limped my last half mile.  Other than that, the run was great, mostly just proud of myself for getting out of bed.  Trick: slept in my running clothes.  No lie.  12:06 pace.

Thursday: Set off for an early evening run and planned to do 8/2 intervals around and adjoining neighborhood.  I think I definitely found a good hill for some hill repeats.  (Guess that’s why there’s the word “Hill” in the neighborhood’s name?)  This run didn’t start off well with arch pain and when my knee pain from Tuesday hit me with a vengeance at mile 1.5, I called it a day with 2 miles and cut the slotted 4 mile EZ run in half.  I went home and did some knee stretches and exercises and called it a night… My knee REALLY hurt when I went to straighten my knee anytime that night, so I’m glad I didn’t push it… even if I’m sad to have gone off plan.  12:10 pace.

Saturday:  Jon and I actually skipped this run unintentionally.  What was meant to be a quick rearrangement of stuff in my mom’s garage so that I could put some of my packed boxes there vs. my bedroom ended up turning into a full scale clean up of the garage… that filled ALL our garbage cans plus a few boxes… and that was only half the garage.  Jon plans to attack the rest when he’s in town at the end of the week so that we can have an epic garage sale this weekend.  We also went and saw Harry Potter 7 Part II for a hot date since Jon has been diligently watching the other 6 movies in preparation for the past few weeks.  I cried a lot during the movie… just like when I saw it the first time. 

Sunday:  Jon and I overslept (unsurprisingly) and we set out for our run at noon.  There were a few moments of cloud cover, but mostly this was a run in the sun.  I am REALLY not good with running in the heat (will need to work on this before moving to Alabama, that’s for sure) and I really struggled with this run.  Jon was patient as ever as we stuck to my suggested LSD pace of 13:00-14:00. 

Even that pace was REALLY difficult for me in the sun and, while the first 2.5 miles were pretty easy for me, the last 2.5 were the hardest I’ve had since I tried to run on Auburn’s campus too late in the morning last summer.  Not going to lie, it was a REAL struggle (read almost wanted to cry) to finish this run and I did walk a few times (though no official intervals).  Jon and I had originally planned to shoot for an extra mile (making it a 6 mile EZ over a 5-mile EZ to make up for Saturday), but I couldn’t do it and he graciously walked with me the rest of the way home.  I’ve never had a run be this hard—I came home after and we tried to get lunch together and all I could get down was a cup of milk and a few bites of yogurt.  I actually felt sick… I’ve never had that happen before.  I did feel a bit more justified about being effected by the heat when I went to put on PJs last night and noticed that I had a sunburn in the shape of my running tank.  So there.  Best parts about this run: running and spending time with Jon, keeping a consistent pace, and most of all: no knee pain.  I think the extra day of rest really helped. 

Overall:  This week was just OK for running.  It’s a lot harder getting back into it than I thought it would be, but I have faith that if I can just push through this, I can actually get to a point where I enjoy it again.  Right now, definitely not enjoying it.  Here’s to Week 3:

     •  3 miles EZ

     •  5 miles w/ 2 miles @ tempo (between 11:23-11:53… see above)

     •  3 miles EZ (Jon and I are thinking about doing this hilly interval workout Sat night)

     •  6 miles LSD (13:02-14:02)

Total mileage: 17 miles!  Woo!

A New Running Plan and Feeling Good

I know it's only Tuesday, but I'm feeling REALLY good about this week!

At the end of last week/this weekend, I wasn't feeling very positive about my body or how I was doing. I was stressed with apartment hunting and food and in a really negative mind-space. Then, after talking to a few friends who read the blog, getting some good comments, and reading a good motivational blog post (Thanks, Jenny!), I'm feeling worlds better. Everyone is right: We're SO much harder on ourselves than we'd EVER be on anyone else and, also, my feeling inferior due to everyone's positive blog posts is probably skewed for the same reason I tend to disappear when I'm doing poorly on my journey. Need to keep that in mind before judging myself based on everyone's apparent progress on Twitter, etc. :)

That said, I've been doing SO well this week! Last Friday I had an hour to kill waiting for the bus after giving my CM2 (5th graders) their English oral exam for the Education nationale and so I sat down and plotted out my mileage goals for now until July. Since I have TONS of time until the half in October, my current goals are: 1) to safely work myself up to a weekly 10-mile LSD and 2) to try and keep myself from walking at all during my runs.

In order to accomplish Goal 1, I plotted out the recommended 10% weekly mileage starting with a base mileage of 12. This week my goal is 13 miles and so on and so forth until I'm scheduled to hit my 10-mile LDR at the week of July 4th. I'm planning on focusing on my running until then and trying to mold my calorie intake into building some more muscle and fueling properly for my runs.

For Goal 2, I'm just trying to keep a steady pace and instead of walking trying to replace that "rest time" with a slower jog before picking up my pace. So far, I have had two consecutive runs (4mi and 3mi) where I've done that and it's been great! (NB: I do stop running to avoid getting hit by cars. FYI.) Not stopping to walk really makes me feel empowered and much more proud after the run is over. All good things.

A few photos from last week's 4-miler

Pretty sunset over the Rhône

In order to keep myself running, I'm also having to brush up on my positive self talk. I'm not one of those runners who "enjoy the pain" or any of that. For me, probably 50-75% of the time I'm running I'm thinking about how hard it is and how much my body would rather be walking. I don't do discomfort well. That said, I'm trying to positively "coach" myself like Monica @ Run, Eat, Repeat mentioned in a recent bl0g post. So far, so good. I just keep reminding myself that I'm stronger than I think I am and to remember how far I've come to get here.

Speaking of running, I gotta run now to go pick my very good friend Taylor at the train station! We've been friends since high school and she's getting here today to visit for a week! I'm so excited to see her AND get some runs in with a friend! Tay was a ballerina and a cross-country runner in high school and if you'd have asked be back then if I'd ever go on a run with her, let alone be EXCITED about it, I would have thought you were crazy! Oh, how times change! :)

See? Here's us (Tay's in pink) Junior year of HS at the cast dinner for Oklahoma! :

Yep, I was the old lady.

Woo! Race pace! I think?

I don't know where this freakishly warm weather has come from the past few weeks, but I'll take it. Honestly, today felt a tad cold, though my widget says it was 57º, but that gives you an idea of how much sun and 60º weather we've had lately. I'm loving it.

Saturday was supposed to be our long run day, but a mile in, Helen's ankle was really hurting, so we ended up walking back and detouring through town instead. It was still bothering her on Sunday, so she insisted that I go ahead and do the run myself. This gave me the golden opportunity to finally listen to the new Girl Talk album I'd downloaded. I first heard about it from Bitch Cakes and went ahead and downloaded it, but it wasn't until my friend Dennis mentioned it recently that I finally started listening. Like Sheryl said on her blog, it's PERFECT for running. If you listen to music when you run, download it for free here.

I'm not sure if it was the weather or the music, but yesterday's run was great. I've just recently started playing with Mr. Garmin's pace partner feature, so I went ahead and picked an easy 12:15/mi pace for my long run and off I went. I quickly saw that the 12:15 was going to be too slow, so I just switched to a different view that didn't tell me how far ahead I was and kept on going. Somehow, mile 1 happened in 11:04 and felt really good so I just kept at it... I know that long runs are supposed to be slow, but 4 miles isn't particularly long, so I decided to just go with the good feeling and ended up with an average 11:21/mi pace! I haven't done that since October! I'll admit that Mile 4 was difficult and that I did stop for about 5 seconds a few times, but I can already tell a huge different in my heart rate in comparison with last week!

The best part of this run? If I keep up like this, I'll definitely be able to finish the half in under 2:45:00! I need to go in and tweak the training plan a bit after talking to Christina, but I'm feeling really good overall. Now if only I could motivate myself to do some strength workouts at my apartment! I bought those bands and haven't used them at all! Tsk tsk, Nicky!

Anyway, I'll upload the stats from the run when Garmin Connect is loading properly. :)

Training Plan and our first training run

To be honest, I never quite know what to look for in a training plan when it comes to running. Really, the only one I've successfully followed was C25K back when I first got into this whole business around a year ago. (Has it been almost a year already? Wow). That said, I think probably the most important thing is just choosing one, knowing you can modify it to suit your needs, and then sticking to it.

Helen's dad sent her a bunch of potential plans based on level from Running.About.com and in the end, we just decided to go with this one. We're going to tweak it a bit for days we're not together and in order to add in a week or two to make it the right length, but it looks good to us so far. :)


Today was our first day of training and of the three runs we've done since getting back from vacation, it was definitely the best one we've done. As I've mentioned before, the course will shut down at 2:45:00 with them coming to pick us up in busses, so we're really just aiming to be able to finish. The slowest pace we could have would be 12:35/mi, so we're going to try and hit a pace somewhere in the 11:30 range so that we can account for water and potty breaks. What do you guys think?

Anyway, here are today's run stats. Our original goal was to maintain a 12:15/mi pace and to stop for water after 2 miles (as opposed to after each mile as we'd been doing), but at Mile 2, we were feeling so good we decided to keep going and ended up with our fastest mile of the day: 11:35 and guess what?! It felt good !




This was the first time I used the "Virtual Partner" setting on my Garmin and I really liked it. You don't see your time, just your remaining mileage and your pace... AND (bonus) when you finish, it says "You Win!" What can be better than that? I'm also a fan of Garmin Connect/Bing's "Bird's Eye View" map view. Kind of fun, right? I'd still like to see my HR come down a bit during our runs, but I think that'll come with time.


On that note, I'm off to hang out with Chris, one of my best friends from the States, who got here yesterday to visit! :) She's a big sleeper, so she doesn't mind staying in bed while Helen and I are off prancing about.

Run 2 and a Roast Dinner: Successful Sunday!

It's true when they say that the hardest thing about getting back into something is doing it again for the first time. Helen and I met up "early" (for a Sunday) for our "long" run for the week. Since we're just getting into it and our official training isn't going to start until Tuesday, we figured 4 was fine. Today was also in the 50s and I started out with a jacket but ended up tying it around my waist.

We tried to go a lot slower to keep a more even pace since this was our long (and thus slow) run and stopped for water every mile. Next time, we're going to aim for every 2. It's really hard to build back up, knowing that 2 months ago I ran 10 miles with maybe 2-3 water breaks. Just goes to show how fast it goes. If you don't use it, you lose it, is definitely true!

Here are the stats for our run:




As you can see, the HR was up really high (for me)--I'm looking forward to my body getting used to running again so it'll go back down. So uncomfortable. We also ended up going for an extra half mile since mile 4 felt so good.

After such a successful run, Amy and I hit up Les Halles (the market) to do the shopping for our Sunday Roast Dinner. We stopped by our favorite produce stall and then went back and visited the butcher from whom we'd bought our Thanksgiving Turkeys in order to get the chicken. He was very pleased when I informed him that his turkeys had been such a hit. Our dinner was lovely and full of fresh roasted vegetables. Aside from the oil (and actual duck fat Amy used for the potatoes) it was REALLY healthy too. Well, aside from the king cake.

Amy and I even learned how to truss a chicken!
Massaging poultry is apparently a specialty of mine after Turkey day
Success!
My lovely British girlfriends (I'm going to go stay at their houses in the UK in February! We booked the trains today! Woo!
A finished photo of Wayne the chicken
Look at all those veggies: braised leeks and zucchini, roast potatoes, steamed carrots, honey parsnips
Galette des rois (King Cake) we got a "frangipan" one
Rosie got the "feve" or the little figure. I didn't know that they did this for the New Year in France. I wonder if they do it for Mardi Gras too like we do at home?
Lovely day with lovely people AND with a good run in the morning. What more could you want? Oh wait, to not have to walk home in this downpour:


Oh well! Great day nonetheless and BONUS one of my very best friends (Chris) gets here tomorrow to visit! Yay! She's never been to France (or Europe) so I can't wait to show her around!

First Real Run of the New Year

Now that it's the New Year, Helen and I have decided that we have to get down to business. She apparently got a lot of mocking back in the UK from her dad and boyfriend (who are both runners) and who don't believe she'll actually do it, so she's returned to Avignon full of determination and pep. I haven't heard anyone tell me they don't think I can do it, but I do want to prove this to myself and make this half marathon part of the proof that I'm spending the rest of these 6 months focusing on me and making me happy. Who knows what these next 6 months will bring based on recent conversations, but, if nothing else, I can at least make sure that I've lived this remaining time in France to the fullest, enjoyed my friends, and kept myself healthy and positive.

Since I've been back in my apartment (which feels really great, by the way), I've been tracking and eating really healthy. I actually had my first run-in with cooking bulgur wheat and, I must say, I'm a big fan. Kyle and I also attempted to make a dessert by warming up bananas with cinnamon and I must have done something different from what my friend Amber does because they were not good.

My friend Kyle playing cheap sommelier in the Casino supermarket under my apartment


I also invested in a coffee pot to brew the yummy American coffee I brought back with me and have been able to enjoy some yummy American-ized breakfast this week, since I also brought back packets of Quaker Oat's Raisin, Walnut, and Date oatmeal. YUM and with added walnuts and cranberries only ends up at 6pts! WOO!




So, as you can see, it's been a good food week. I made extra of that bulgur wheat dish and grilled all of the 8 chicken breasts, so I've been able to reheat meals all week making for a healthy time! :)

Now, onto the aforementioned run. Since I've been back, it's been "balmy" (i.e. around 50ºF with no real wind to speak of) and I've been loving it. It was kind of chilly walking to meet Helen in my sleeveless running top, but it made for a really nice temperature for the run. The first mile was at a great pace: 11:45, but it proved to be unsustainable as you can see for our remaining miles (that are a bit skewed, I suppose since we took a walk break at 1.5 miles for .1 miles and stopped for water 3 or so times). I forgot to wear my HRM, but, from the way I was feeling, I know that my HR was at least consistently into the 180s (which is where I get really really uncomfortable) if not higher.



It was a really tough run (which is embarrassing to say) and, though my legs aren't sore at all today, my back and abs really are... Have any of you ever had that happen? Anyway, I'm glad we got out there--we're still working on our plan and are going on a 4-miler tomorrow before starting "real" training next week. Here goes!

Oh and to end on an adorable note, here's a cute photo of one of the girls I babysit (Thymiane or "Tim") and me sharing some jasmine tea on Wednesday. She's the oldest and is starting to enjoy doing grown-up girly things. I love them!

The French Play to Win: Lessons from Today's 10k

Success! I've finally finished my first race in France with a PR of 1:15:04 (according to Mr. Garmin) with a distance of 6.5 miles exactly. Apparently it was a 10.5km race, not 10. Oops!

That said, it was a really weird experience. I had no problems getting registered (apparently the scan of my medical form emailed to me by my doctor stateside is 100% a-ok) and getting my tee-shirt etc. But, starting with the kids race and looking around, I noticed that absolutely everyone looked like a racer. Not a runner. A racer. As in wearing their specific club "uniforms" and such and just overall looking like very serious runners. I know I'm not a race veteran or anything, but at all of my US races these people obviously exist, but there's also a healthy mix of walkers, casual runners/joggers, and generally less "olympic" looking participants. So, starting early I began to get a little nervous... I mean, I didn't look like a complete outfit neophyte—I had my hydration belt, my garmin, and my underarmour—but looking around I was already getting a little uneasy. Thankfully, Sylvain and his wife were very positive (and even took this lovely photo of me pre-race... The set up was intended for the kids, but whatever):


And eventually the time came to get started. Their son, Pierre, placed 1st or 2nd in his age group's race before the adult race, so he left, but Sylvain and his wife (who's name I am SO embarrassed to think I never really learned....?) whole-heartedly adopted the role of official Nicky photographers and moved around the course and watched me pass by. That was new and fun because I always race with Jon or my friends so are either too busy recovering themselves after the race to watch me finish or are running themselves, so this was the first time I've ever had "race photos" taken.




It didn't take long to realize that I was right about the whole "racing" thing. Apparently the only French people that participate in races in France are those who race to win (or not far off). I quickly found myself nearing last place... where I would stay for the rest of the race. This was really difficult for me, actually, because I wasn't at all prepared for that to happen... Especially since I was doing so well (in my own opinion), since this was such a hilly and difficult course. I'd looked at the elevation map on the site before running the race, but wow, in person it was really hard... I'm not going to lie, I definitely stopped and walked a few steps/drank some water on these hills!


See? Check out that those two intense hills! Despite being last, the people along side (though not numerous) were really supportive, so that's nice.



Climbing up another hill
The second half of the race was better because it was mostly downhill, but from there on out, I was 100% alone... I couldn't see people ahead or the last last people behind me. Here are a few post race shots. One thing to be said about the olympians is that they did cheer me on as I came in at the end (you know, as they were all leaving).


Showing off my celebratory flower and bottle of wine
All in all, it was really weird (and difficult mentally) knowing I was 4th to last in the race. They even started opening up the roads as we were still running by, so occasionally on the big hills, we got passed by cars. I actually had to move once to let one go by on a narrow street. (Very discouraging, actually). As such, I fought with myself the whole way and even though I'm really pleased with how I did (you know, setting a PR and all on a difficult course), it's a bit bittersweet. It's also making me reconsider sending in my registration for the half on Nov. 13th... I can't stop thinking that if I finished 4th kicking my butt on a 10k and they were already closing the course, what's going to happen during a half marathon where my A-goal is 2:30:00? I already looked and the half seems pretty flat, but there were also (based on the 2009 results only 10 runners (out of the 961 listed) who finished the race with a 2:30:00 time or above... Yeah. It's not looking good folks. What do you guys suggest?

PS- To make matters worse, I saw that Sylvain and his wife had an electric scale, so I decided to get a more exact reading to confirm my 73kg weigh-in (and my 160 -30lbs goal conversion as a result)... and I weighed in at 75.5. Just to add insult to injury. Ulgh. Not a good day, despite PRing. At least Auburn beat LSU last night! #1 in the SEC!

10!!!

WOO! Big news! I was going to post about how I was displeased about my eating this week and how I resolve to do better this week, but then yesterday happened! What happened, you ask? Well, yesterday was my FIRST double digit run!!!! I set out to hit 9 miles in training, but I felt so good that I pushed all the way to 10! I'm really surprised because I spent all day being lazy in pajamas and REALLY had to work to pull myself off the couch to do this run, which is why it ended up happening at sunset.

Autumn is finally "bien installé" (very present) here in Avignon, as can be seen by the enormous amount of Mistral wind we've been having the past few days. The Mistral is a particularly southern/Provençal wind that can blow consistently for a day or for weeks... Very fun. As such, I have already bought gloves and and ear-covering headband that I feel like I'll have to start using soon! Yesterday's run was the first one with my winter tights and I'm very pleased that they cut the wind really well. I'll definitely need to get another pair because wearing the same pair 3x a week is going to be a bit difficult. Although sometimes it felt like I was running against a wall of wind, I think the cooler temperature did help me a bit on this run. Anyway, here are the photos from the run! One great part of having Claire with me is that she gets to be the official photographer on our excursions and I just get to keep on running!

Running around the Ile as the sun sets = gorgeous

Apple orchards... We borrowed a few apples... I doubt they'll be missed


I'm running so fast I'm a blur! (Har har)
On the way home... Sunset over the Rhône and the palais des papes

Mile 10 was a lot slower because I paused to play with this vicious beast. I miss Sahara.
WOO! 10 miles!
See? Mr. Garmin has the proof (plus some extra walking!)



I felt great after the run, and I'm really pleased with the splits, since I made myself slow down in the beginning so I could have a more consistent pace. The only downside today is that my left knee REALLY hurts a little bit underneath it on the outside, so I'm definitely going to have to start doing the exercising again! As long as I can run pain free, I'm feeling REALLY good about next month's half marathon! I can't believe how far I've come!

Oh, and aside from running, here's me a bit more cleaned up at a really classy bar in town for Rosie's 21st birthday! What a great get together! It felt like all of the assistants who live in Avignon were there!

Jess, Me, and Rosie all dressed up!
More later! Tomorrow's lesson with the kiddies is on Halloween, so I hope it goes well!