Training Week 6: Growing stronger!

Week 6's schedule looked like this:

Monday: 4 easy miles
Tuesday: 5 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: Cross train 60 minutes
Saturday: 13 miles long
Sunday: Rest or 60 minutes cross train

Hard to believe that this week marks 1/3 of the way done with training! It's gone by so fast. I never thought I would be running 30+ miles a week, 9 miles on a regular week day. After this is all over, a half-marathon is going to seem like a breeze. Maybe I should find one to sign up for just to prove it to myself :)

This week also went pretty much as planned except for Thursday. I came home after work on Thursday knowing I should have just hauled my ass to the gym and done my workout, but I made the mistake of sitting down on the couch.  Once I did that I realized how completely exhausted I was. I could have fallen asleep right there at 4:30 in the afternoon. Between work and all this training I was just plain tired. So my body made the decision for me (I guess my brain chose to accept it even though it didn't have to) that I would not be doing a tempo run that day. Thankfully, I went to bed nice and early and woke up on Friday morning feeling completely refreshed and ready to tackle the day. So I did. I even decided I would make up that workout I didn't do on Thursday. After work I went straight to the gym and ran 7.5 out of the possible 8.5 miles. I felt really good.

Saturday our team met in Wellesley again for a big run - 13 miles, the halfway marker of this journey.  Unfortunately Saturday was also in the single digits (we're talking it was 6° when I arrived in Wellesley at 8:00 am). I knew this was going to be a long, cold run, but I was ready to tackle it. We didn't have a clinic this week so after we all warmed up together we headed out into the frigid New England morning. I started off listening to The Kite Runner, which I had purchased on Audible to try something new rather than listen to music for 2+ hours straight. I figured if I could listen to podcasts with no issue, an audiobook should be the same. And I had always wanted to read The Kite Runner, but never picked it up in the bookstore. I didn't listen for long though, as I was quickly approached by one of my team mates, Tim, who soon fell into stride with me. Tim was my savior for this run. I realized I made a big mistake by running as intensely as I had the day before and my legs were tired and heavy not long after we started. But Tim helped me to take my mind of things as we chatted for the entirety of the 13 miles.  This year will be Tim's 8th time running the Boston Marathon for Children's. I was in complete awe as Tim told me he'd never been a runner and had actually bandit run his first Boston Marathon. (Bandit running is when you don't officially register for the race and you just jump in on the course. All races don't allow bandits, but some are more strict than others. Boston has become particularly strict in the wake of the Marathon bombings in 2013). It was great getting to chat with Tim on everything from running, to his daughter, to cars, and the Pats. He really helped me get through the run and I was supremely grateful for that.

One of the greatest things about training where we do is the sheer amount of runners out on a Saturday morning, even on a single digit Saturday morning. We often run into other charity teams as we're out, especially when we're on Comm Ave. We've even run into some high school cross country teams out for a morning run.  Everyone is super friendly and will offer you a friendly wave or even some water from the water station they're running. We were lucky this week to have Ali who works for Children's Hospital Trust (which handles the marathon runners) manning our water station. It was so nice of her to support us like that, especially on such a cold day. The other cool thing is Ali now works with one of my former coworkers, Shannon, who was my cube buddy. We chatted a minute about how much I love and miss Shannon and her fantastic sense of humor. In the end, the run didn't end up being that bad and I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself when I finally walked through the door of the church hall we practice out of.

Today, my legs are surprisingly not as sore as I thought they'd be. It's definitely from all the miles I've racked up over the past 6 weeks. My legs are really growing stronger!  I completed 33.5 out of a possible 34.5 miles this week!

Training Week 5: Back on Track

Week 5's training schedule:

Monday - 4 easy miles

Tuesday - 5 lassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Wednesday - Rest

Thursday - 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Friday - 60 min cross train

Saturday - 11 miles long

Sunday - Rest or 60 min cross train 

This week was infinitely better than the two previous weeks. After suffering through nearly 2 weeks of being sick, I was finally able to get back on track and complete all my workouts this week on their scheduled days. 

I even tried to get crafty this week and tried to do some yoga on Friday. I was feeling pretty sore after having already run 21.5 miles between Monday and Thursday and since I'm still a really bad stretcher I thought maybe some yoga might help to loosen my tight hamstrings. So I perused OnDemand until I found a video called Yoga for Runners. I thought, perfect, this is exactly what I need. 

I started the video (which was only 17 minutes long) and began with some deep breathing followed by a flow that had me going up and down and up and down. Problem was, my legs were so tight and tired that I just wanted to hold the stretching positions forever and not move. But I forced myself to keep going, trying to keep up with the annoying man in the video. When the 17 minutes were over, I was more frustrated than calm and just as tight as I was before. So I decided to try a different video that was geared more toward yoga beginners.  I turned it on and... it was the same guy. Annoyed, I ditched the yoga and decided to just focus on stretching for while. I really need to start stretching more after I finish my workouts. 

Saturday's long run was the best I've felt in weeks. We had a short clinic beforehand where our coaches introduced us to gels, goos, gummies, beans - a whole plethora of "food" items meant to give your body necessary electrolytes and carbs it needs for running long distances.  I've used the Gu brand gels before and find that, while they don't taste bad, the texture can be hard to swallow while you're running. I had some gummies with me to try during the run that day. Our coaches explained to us that for someone who has been training for a marathon, the body can go about 18 miles or so without fuel. If you're running a marathon though, there's still 8.2 miles you need to cover and if you're trying to do that on an empty tank it probably won't go well. Gatorade and these energy supplements can help cover the gaps and get you through to the end. I'll definitely need to start trying more of these products to see which one I like the best and will want to use for race day.

It was fairly cold for our team run, and it had snowed just about an inch on Thursday so many people decided that wasn't worth shoveling. This was a pain in the butt though since running over the snow allows it to accumulate on the bottom of your sneakers and throws off your gait.  To top it off, my iPhone decided it was too cold to function and stopped working about half an hour into my run.  Thankfully, my coach Sarah caught up with me and we chatted about the Serial podcasts for a while (we both finished them, we both needed something new to listen to). 

I had extra motivation to finish this run a bit quicker than normal as Jack and I had tickets to the Patriots vs Ravens playoff game that afternoon. I spontaneously decided to bid on a pair of tickets on eBay earlier in the week and surprisingly had won. I was pretty excited and I thought Jack was going to pee his pants he was so happy.  I pushed through the run and finished at 11:00, exactly when I thought I would. I stretched briefly (I know, I should stretch more) and hightailed it out of Wellesley to Ashland to meet up with Jack. My phone unfroze about halfway to his house thankfully and I was able to let him know I was coming. I got to his place and immediately jumped in the shower (which was great, because my clothes were so sweaty I was freeeeezing). The forecast called for temperatures in the twenties dropping down to the teens so I had come prepared with as many layers as I thought I could fit on my body. I started with a pair of long underwear bottoms and a turtle neck base-layer running shirt. Added a pair of fuzzy running spandex and a long sleeve shirt. I took the rest of my layers with me and decided to bundle up in the car so I would't sweat on the way there. We made it to Foxboro in great time since we took all backroads. We spent a ridiculous amount of money on parking (which ended up being okay in the end since we got out faster than if we were in one of the Pats big lots) and loaded up with the rest of our layers.  I added a pair of fuzzy sweatpants and a pair of windbreaker pants, a fleece sweatshirt and my winter jacket. 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of gloves, 2 scarves, a hat, and a whole lot of hand warmers later we trekked off to Lot 10 to meet up with Jack's friends from high school for a tailgate party.  After devouring the sandwich Jack got for me, we enjoyed hanging out with his friends for a while before eventually making our way to the stadium for the game. Our seats were not that bad - top level, but row 12 (rather than the last row where we sat in 2012), and on the 35 yard line visitors side. It was such a great game to be at one that people keep saying will go down in Pats history.  I managed to make it through without freezing and we only had to wait about 45 minutes from the time we got to the car to the time we left the lot.  

All in all a great week with 32.5 out of a possible 32.5 miles completed. 

Training Week 4: Happy New Years: The battle between me and my lungs.

Week 4's training schedule looked like this:

Monday: 3 easy miles with hills
Tuesday: 4 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 4.5 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: 60 minutes cross training
Saturday: 10 mi long
Sunday: Rest or 45 min cross training

Well, this week was not good. Not good at all. I was hit with the cold from hell and was sicker than I've been in years. My body was angry and just said no. I was tired, achy, coughy, sneezy, stuffy... you name it, I was feeling it.

It didn't start out so bad on Monday when I decided I was feeling good enough to do my 8 mi long from the Saturday before. So I went out after work and did my 8 mi. It wasn't stellar, but it wasn't awful either. I went to bed that night, got up the next morning and felt like I had been run over by a truck.  Since I had taken Wed-Fri off from work (actually, I took Wed off and we were given Thurs and Fri, New Years Day and the day after New Years day), and I had an important meeting with one of my volunteers that afternoon I rallied and went into the office. I spent all day sipping tea and clutching my tissues thankful my meeting was at 3 o'clock so I could just go home after that. Once I got home I completely crashed and spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch with more tea and tissues.

Wednesday was New Year's Eve and Carolyn, Jack, and I had tickets to go to the Celtics game.  My body was really telling me not to go, but hopping that the large dose of Mucinex I had taken would help, we hopped into the car and drove into Boston. The game was good and the Celtics actually ended up winning (big shock!). We were up in the nosebleed seats, but we had a good time anyway.  After the game we got some hot chocolate and coffee from Dunkin Donuts since it was quite chilly outside and we walked to Scollay Square, the restaurant we made a reservation at. We were waiting on my friend Chantha to join us. He lives in Chelsea but works as a flight attendant for Jet Blue, so he was coming home from a trip that day. After waiting for a while outside the restaurant, which was right next door to the State House, we decided to go in and get some appetizers while waiting for him. Finally Chantha arrived and we all enjoyed a delicious lunch.  We all thought the food was pretty good, though portions were a bit small. Maybe dinner had bigger plates. After we finished eating we walked down to Boston Common to see the ice sculptures. It was very cold and a bit windy, but there were a ton of people out celebrating First Night. After watching an interesting skating show on the duck pond, we decided it was time we head home since we were all pretty cold. Once we got home, I unfortunately crashed again. My body just wasn't having it.  Jack and I were supposed to make an appearance at a friends party, but I was so sick I just couldn't move. It was not a very exciting New Year's eve for us, nor for Carolyn, whose friends had backed out on their plans. We unenthusiastically rang in the New Year and all went off to bed. Needless to say, there was no exercising on Wednesday.

Thursday was New Year's day and Dad and I had been signed up to run the First Run in Lowell for a few weeks. Before getting sick I had been really looking forward to it as I have heard good things about the race. Once I got sick though I was a little hesitant to run, but decided to give it a try, especially since I dropped down from the 10K to the 5K.  The run was cold, but I managed to make it through the 5K without feeling too bad and got a decent time too. The best part was that my knee didn't hurt at all and I plowed past a lot of people going up the one hill (small hill) on the course. After I finished I went in to get a drink at the Elks where the race was being held, and then waited for Dad, Cassie, Uncle Brian, and Auntie Joyce to finish their 10Ks.  Everyone did well though we all complained about the cold.  After the race we all headed over to Uncle Jim's and Aunt Kathy's for New Year's Day brunch.  I changed my clothes and enjoyed some food and after about half an hour I...crashed again. My poor body just wasn't ready to run again quite yet. Mom took me to get some more medicine from Walgreens and after we stocked up I rested for the rest of the day. As you may guess, I took the hint this time and decided there would be no running on Friday and unfortunately Saturday too. I was sad to miss my second team run in a row, but after emailing my coaches, they said it was better to rest up now than hold on to the cold for weeks to come. I knew they were right, but I was still bummed to miss it.

Today, Sunday, I was able to get an easy slow and painful 3.2 miles in, but I thankfully did not crash hard afterwards. Hopefully I'm REALLY on the mend this time and next week will be better. Unfortunately I only completed a meager 14.3 out of 29.5 possible miles this week.

Training Week 3: Christmas and Illness

Week 3's training schedule looked like this:

Monday: 3 mi easy with hills

Tuesday: 4 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 3 mi tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Friday: 45 min cross train

Saturday: 8 miles long

Sunday: Rest or 45 min cross train

This week did not go as I had hoped. It started off fine with my 3 easy miles on Monday. Tuesday was a busy day at work and I didn't eat as often or as much as I should of, and by the time I got to the gym my stomach was growling and I was out of food. I said to myself, okay, I'll drink a lot of water and give this run a try. If I'm tired, I'll just cut the cool down to 1 mile. I made it through my 2 mile warm up, but my stomach was relentless with it's growling and grumbling. Determined to make it through, I started on my first yasso only to get half way through and have to stop because I felt like I was going to pass out. I knew right then that the day would be a loss. So I quickly packed up my things and went home to eat. Wednesday was Christmas eve and my trainer was off. Thankfully the gym was open for a short period of time and Dad and I were able to go and I got the remainder of my workout in. It was a struggle to get through though, as I was feeling tired and sluggish.  Thankfully I was able to take a relaxing shower and rest up a bit that day so that I was able to enjoy a great Chistmas Eve with my extended family at my Uncle Brian and Auntie Joyce's in Litchfield, NH.  I always look forward to Christmas eve and getting to spend time with my cousins and family.  It was a great evening. 

Thursday was Christmas day and unfortunately I didn't make it out to do my 3 mile tempo run. But we did have a fantastic Christmas here in the Nowoswiat house. We opened our presents together in the morning and everyone was very happy with their gifts. Needless to say, I got some great new running gear including an awesome running jacket from my mom and a purple GPS watch from Jack.  I was excited to get to test them both out!

Friday I was feeling a bit off, but still managed to make it through Thursdays tempo run complete with a 2 mi WU AND a 2 mi CD. Friday night I got together with two of my best friends from college, Julia and Ann, at Ann's apartment in Worcester. It was so great to be able to catch up with them especially as Julia is down in Atlanta at Emory getting her MPH.  Although I wasn't feeling too good, I rallied enough to go out to the bar with the girls and enjoy a drink. I had planned to miss the Saturday team run since I was sleeping over at Ann's. In the morning we all went out for breakfast before Julia had to return home and I went down the Sturbridge with my mom and Carolyn to meet up with my cousins Madelyn and Rachel and my Aunt Maria from my dad's side. They live in Pennsylvania, but were up in Connecticut visiting my Aunt Maria's sister. It was so nice getting to see them, which is something we rarely get to do since they live so far away. 

Today, Sunday, the real extent of my sickness began to set in and I felt too lousy to exercise. I've started to develop bad sinus congestion and a cough and am a little concerned about how long this will last. 

Unfortunately, this was a less than stellar week for running and I only completed 19 out of 26 possible miles. Hopefully next week will be better. 

Training: Week 2!

Our second week of training looked like this:

Monday: 3 easy miles with hills

Tuesday: 3 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD

Wednesday: Rest

Thursday: 3 mile tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD 

Friday: 45 min cross training 

Saturday: 6 miles long

Sunday: Rest or 45 minutes cross train

(for definitions of the runs, see last week's post!)

This week was another good week of training. I forgot to mention last week that on Wednesdays I meet with a Personal Trainer at the gym I belong to and we have a half hour session. So I decided from the beginning that unless my schedule gets screwed up Sunday would be my rest day, since I will be working out for 6 straight days during the week. 

This week my schedule got a little switched up because of late night meetings and some icy road conditions, so I ended up doing 45 minutes of cross training on Thursday and completing my tempo run on Friday. 

Saturday we had our second team run. We met again in Waltham at the Children's Hospital satellite location. We didn't have a clinic this week, but we still went through the whole warm up routine together. This week when our coaches asked if anyone wanted to give a dedication or share why they were running for Children's I decided to share my story. I jokingly told everyone that I was sharing my story, predominately because I was a hazard on the road, not being able to see what was on my left hand side. It was nice to share with everyone my personal connection to Children's and to tell them that despite my not being a child anymore, that I was still being treated at Children's to this day. 

When we headed out for our run, I could tell everyone had listened to what I had to say, because when they passed me they told me they were on my left so I knew they were coming (it's nice not to have someone all of a sudden pop out from next to you).  

Our run today was blessed with good weather again. Pretty much the same conditions as last week. I have been listening to the Serial podcasts during my long runs and I'm pretty addicted. I know I'm late jumping on the Serial bandwagon, but if you haven't listened to them yet, you definitely should. It's nice to listen to something other than music sometimes, especially when you're not pushing yourself for speed. I told Sarah, my coach, about the podcasts and she said she was going to start listening too!

One of the cool things about running with the team is that they put water stops out along the course. Basically it's just a milk crate with water, gatorade, and cups in it, but it's nice to know you don't have to carry water with you on the long runs. Plus everyone generally stops at them for 2 minutes or so and chats with each other before they move on. 

Over all the run went well. My knee has been bothering me for some time and today I tried the kinesiology tape as opposed to the brace I had been wearing. It doesn't provide as much support I my knee needs at the moment, but it'll definitely be good to wear during the week for extra support. I've been using the KT Tape brand. You can check them out here: http://www.kttape.com. It's a little expensive, but if you put it on correctly you can wear it for up to 3 days. Hopefully my knee will heal up quickly though!

This week I completed 22.3 out of a possible 23 miles.

Training Week 1 and First Team Run

Week 1 of training looked like this:

Monday: 3 easy miles
Tuesday: 2 yassos + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 2 mi Tempo run + 1-2 mi WU/CD
Friday: 45 min cross training
Saturday: 5 miles long
Sunday: Rest or 45 min cross training

Some quick definitions.

Easy - run between 30 -90 seconds slower than your goal race pace
Yassos - run 800 meters (1/2 mile) at your goal time, followed by recovery jogging for the same amount of time and then repeat for the number of intervals on the schedule
Tempo run- This is a run where the goal is to run at your goal race pace
Long - Your pace on these runs should be 1-2 minutes slower than your goal race pace.

WU/CD - Warm up and cool down 

On Saturday (Dec 13) morning we had our first team run. 

We met at the Waltham location for Children's Hospital in their (relatively) new Sports Injury Prevention center. 

We had a clinic with one of the women who works at the center who gave us some great stretches she recommended we do before our run.  As a runner, and athlete in general, I am notoriously bad at warming up before I start my workouts. I know I should be getting those muscles ready to work, but it tacks on to the length of the workout and sometimes you just want to get going. Thankfully, we were forced to stretch before going out on our first run. If you want to learn more about stretching warm ups for runners, there's a good article from Runner's World you can read here: http://www.runnersworld.com/stretching/a-runners-guide-to-warming-up.

After our warm up our coaches asked if anyone would like to make a dedication or tell why they were running for Children's. Normally I'm not shy and am willing to share, but decided to not share this first day. One of my team mates told us that she is running for her younger cousin who is currently being treated at Children's. We then bundled up and set out for our run. 

Thankfully the weather was great. No snow or ice on the ground, sunny skies, and temps in the mid-thirites. Just what you would hope for with December training. 

The run went very well. I ran along at a comfortable pace for a while by myself, then one of my coaches, Sarah, caught up with me and we started chatting. I shared my story with Sarah and she encouraged me to share it with the group the next week. It was great to get to know her a little more and have someone to run with. 

Overall it was a successful first week of training with 18 out of a possible 20 miles completed. 

2015 Team Kickoff at Kings Bowl

Today the Miles for Miracles team kicked off our 2014-2015 training season with brunch and bowling at Kings Bowl in Dedham.  It was an exciting morning! The hospital was collecting gift cards to local pharmacies and supermarkets to give out to families in need at the hospital.  I picked up two gift cards to Stop and Shop on my way to the event, happy to make a small but meaning contribution.

Kings had set up a nice breakfast buffet with all sorts of goodies including fruit, eggs, french toast, and even bacon. Each group could bowl a game for free. They also had a fun photo booth set up where you could take pictures with fun signs. They printed them out on magnets and gave each person their own to take home!

Those of us who attended had the ability to meet our patient partners. Patient partners are children who are currently being treated for a variety of reasons at Children's Hospital. Runners can elect whether they want to be a part of the patient partner program or not. I was very excited by this opportunity, as I am still considered a Children's Hospital patient myself. What better motivation to finish the race than knowing you will have a great kid to run for!? After looking around the room for a while for a child with the matching medal number I couldn't seem to find my patient partner, Amayah. So I went up to the check in desk and asked if Amayah and her family were coming to the Kickoff. I was informed that unfortunately, Amayah was sick and wouldn't be able to make it to the event. I was bummed to not have the opportunity to meet Amayah, but understood why she couldn't be there.

We were allowed to bring two guests so I brought along Jack and Carolyn. The two of them enjoyed the buffet and we all were able to enjoy a game of bowling. They had team jackets and hats available for purchase and after much debate I settled on a Headsweat running hat figuring I would get a lot of use out of it this winter (plus it was considerably cheaper than the jacket and we had the opportunity to purchase other gear online).

I was able to meet one of my coaches, Sarah. We talked for a few minutes - I told her it was my first marathon and I was very excited to be a part of the team. The Boston Trust staff who organize the marathon team made a brief presentation and showed a great video that was put together after the 2013 marathon. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2dRo9Bp25g. Of course it made me tear up because I was so excited to be part of what seems like a great team. They told us there were 142 runners currently on the Miles for Miracles team with a few more TQs (time qualifiers) expected to join on in the next few weeks. There are currently 77 patient partners as well.

After finishing our bowling game we decided to head out since the crowd seemed to be dying down (the event was only from 9:00 am - 11:00 am anyway). It was a great way to kick off the 2015 marathon season. I'm so excited to get started with training tomorrow!