The Flu of 2013 BLOWS

So it turns out that all of that feeling like I was getting sick might have been right after all. After my and Steph's BAMF run a couple of weeks ago, I headed to DC for the weekend, didn't get tons of sleep, and came back to NY definitely feeling a little worse for wear. All week I felt like I was coming down with something, so I decided to skip workouts and sleep in more, in hopes of staving off any potential sickness. By Saturday I felt pretty crappy and I woke up Sunday morning with a fever, chills, sweats, and awful achiness everywhere. Hello, flu, it's been awhile since we've met!

I thought I had the flu last fall-I was wrong. I'd forgotten how awful it is! I could barely walk to the bathroom I was hurting so badly. It was during the first few days of the terrible cold, and I had to go out to buy Gatorade, ginger ale, soup, and tissues (4 boxes used!). I was in bed for three days, watched all of Downton Abbey (sympathized with those who suffered from the Spanish flu, much more delicately than I), and was just generally miserable.

Of course, even after I left my bed and went to work I was exhausted and recovering for a few more days so still no working out. As per my usual idiocy, I decided my first run in two weeks, after being weak from the flu, would be the 16 mile run that is on my schedule for DC. If you put money on my utterly failing at that one, you'd win! Steph and I made a (not so) valiant attempt to grind out those miles but I managed to complain how hot I was (yes, in 23 degrees), how I had to pee, how I wanted hot chocolate instead of running, how my legs felt like lead weights, my general unhappiness, until I finally just came to a halt on the east side of Central Park and announced I was in no mood to keep going. Steph, being smarter than I, convinced me to at least run back to the gym (b/c walking in that temperature is even more awful) and we probably finished our workout with 5 miles under our belts.

I'm never the one who needs to be convinced to keep going through uncomfortable weather or tight/unhappy muscles. It's so unlike me to just completely fail at even trying to run. Part of me wants to beat myself up over it, but at the same time I felt like yeah, sometimes I need to push through the discomfort and pain of running (remember it's not supposed to be easy) but at the same time....I run because I like to run. It makes me happy and it feels good. This run did not feel good, I was beyond miserable and I just didn't see the point in pushing through that. I don't want to hate it.

I felt uplifted by today's run though! I met Steph again after work, we ran about 5 miles through the park, not fast because it was really slippery from the snow/rain/hail/sleet wintry mix we're getting, but we only cared about the distance. Then we met the other runners from the Lululemon run club and did a speed workout with them (pretty nerve wracking on that wintry mix!). All in all, I probably got 7 miles in today and enjoyed it so I feel confident about getting it together over the next couple of weeks for the DC marathon.

How about you, my dear (very few readers)? When have you just failed on a run attempt? What did you do to boost your confidence back up?

BAMF

Definition of BAMF :)

Runs like these are what badass is made of. It was dark after work. And cold. 41 degrees. Also rainy. But I have an early bus to DC tomorrow and a party tomorrow night that will very likely result in my being useless on Sunday, so I was decided to run tonight. Thankfully, Steph decided last night to run with me (before we knew the weather...mwahahaha!). It was (is) so miserable out, I'm not sure I would have done it without a partner.

First stop, Sports Authority to buy fuel, then we dropped our things at the NYSC on 51st and Lex.  Thank goodness I bought a water resistant shell (in white) at The Gap today, because even with that on I was a soaked, freezing mess by the end. Literally when I bent over to stretch afterward, water poured out of the hood of my jacket! We did two loops of Central Park, front loading the Harlem hills by doing that loop twice on our first time around, then scooting across the 102nd St transverse the second time. This was freaking hard. It's been awhile since I was so uncomfortable during a run, but of course those result in being extra proud of your accomplishments, and realizing how hardcore we can be. So thank you Steph!!!

My DC marathon plan had me doing 12 miles this weekend, and we ended up running 14 with the trip from the gym and back. And that's 30 miles for the week.

It was one of those nights where you feel kinship with every other runner you see because you know everyone is thinking "yeah, we're all kind of crazy. And we love it"

I have a new training mantra:

Also, note to Laura, I signed up for the Vermont marathon today! I think Steph and Fiona are doing it as well so that should be a fun weekend!

Two-a-day and an Ocean Run!

I started using Sarah's  Type-A training log, because I need an easy way to track my miles if I'm going to do the 1,000 mile challenge this year! It's pretty awesome and easy to use, and I'm glad I didn't have to do anything but click on Fiona's link to get it!

Monday was a pretty hardcore day. I woke up early to drop my things off at the gym and meet Fiona in Central Park for a bright & early run (6 total, to and from the gym). We only ran 5 miles in the park (no Harlem hills!) and I was surprised our pace was only 8:50. I guess I was still pretty tired and sore, because it felt like I was working much harder! Later that day I started feeling like I was coming down with this damn flu that everyone has.
And then Steph convinced us both to join her for the Lululemon NYC run club workout in Central Park. Toward the end of the day, I started feeling like it might be stupid to go because I really felt like I was coming down with something, but it had been quite awhile since I'd done two workouts in a day and I figured it would give me an excuse to take Nyquil before bed and sleep in the next morning so I'd be more rested and well. It was a lot of fun! We ran from the store to the Great Lawn, divided into teams and did relay races around the lawn. Each leg was only 400 meters but I was still sore from the morning and Saturday's run (and feeling sick!), so my legs felt like jelly after about 200 meters and it was totally mental from there. My team ended up winning the overall race, which was fun of course! I don't think I've sprinted since my last track workout back in July, so it felt really great even though my lungs hated me and the cold air!

Wednesday morning I skipped my run because I had a 7am flight to Miami for work. I hoped to run on the beach before dinner (construction sites shut down early!) but got caught up in work emails in a Starbucks. So I checked into the Dream Hotel, and had a friend pick me up for dinner. Two glasses of sparkling rose, salad with spicy shrimp, and I returned to sleep in this cool glow-y blue bed:

In the morning, I was excited to run near the ocean before heading to my construction site. I didn't bother bringing my running gear when I was here last week because I knew the kind of trip it would be (read: full of alcohol and lacking in sleep), and I knew I wouldn't end up running. But there were a few times I looked longingly at people who were running along the sea wall on Ocean Drive, so I was pretty happy for the opportunity to do it today! My hotel was a block from the beach, so I ran out and back in one direction for 3 miles, then the same in the other direction (or close to, it only ended up being 5.5 miles total somehow). I didn't have water and it was (obviously) hotter than I'm used to lately so it did feel pretty hard but it was really fun to run somewhere so different from NYC right now and I was mostly just glad I'd gotten myself out of bed for it. 

Average pace was 8:40/mile. 

Gratuitous beach photos:

Getting back on the horse...or into my sneakers

I'm not one of those people who goes to the gym on January 1st. a) I hate the gym in January, everyone makes a resolution to work out more, they pack the gym, and they're gone by Valentine's Day. b) I'm probably hungover.
I let myself have a few days off after returning from being in Indiana for the holidays. First, I went to Miami for New Year's, was drunk for 72 hours, slept about 4 hours a night, went to an insane NYE party, and had endless amounts of coconut shrimp and pina coladas. Then I got home and needed two full days to recover from this mess:

Absolutely no clue who the guy kissing my cheek is. Hey, I never said this was a healthy living blog! In fact, the first iteration was a baking blog.
Anyway, I finally got my ass to the gym after work yesterday. I had a long run planned for today so I did some strength training. Lots of glute bridges on a swiss ball, squats with a kettleball, core work, push-ups, and some weights. I used to be great about strength training before I started running three years ago. Over the past two years, I've really slacked on it and I miss being really toned! I've also gotten injured a few times and I think some of that could have been avoided with strength training. I didn't push too hard yesterday because I didn't want my legs to be really tired today, but I did enough to still feel it in my arms today. I love that pain :)

I did NOT want to get up this morning. I accidentally stayed out after 1 last night (I didn't notice the time!) so I was really tired. I've figured out at this point how much I can drink and still be able to run--verdict is 3 drinks, cocktails are best, no more than one beer-- so that wasn't a problem but the lack of sleep was. I came so close to canceling but knew I needed to get out there and meet my friends. So I ran over to the Intrepid on the Hudson River to meet up with Fiona, Steph, and Jocelyn (new running buddy!). I had left my distance sort of open ended and was thinking I'd do 12-13 (I've run twice, not more than 4 miles, since my marathon on 12/8). From 44th Street, we ran downtown past Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry, then up the East River under all of the bridges. When we got to 23rd Street, I decided to stop running because that was 10 miles and my knee (IT band) was really bothering me. Jocelyn wanted to walk too, so I stayed with her until I got to my gym, and went in to stretch. I was really happy to meet Jocelyn because she lives near me and I need a close running buddy to get me back into the habit of getting up at 5:45 to run before work-I've been lazy lately!

I'm hoping to do an easy 4 and more strength training tomorrow, but at least the past two days have made me feel like I'm getting back on track. Which is good because last night I signed up for a 10K in Prospect Park at the end of January (there's hot chocolate at the end and you keep the mug!) and the DC marathon (yup, decided on the full). Also in the next few months I have the DC Cherry Blossom 10 miler, 21 miles in Big Sur, Cape Cod Ragnar (ultra team!), and the Brooklyn Half (plan to register). Man, racing gets expensive!
How was everyone else's first week of working out in 2013? What kind of goals did you set for the year?

Racing through 2013

I didn't do a end-of-the-year post because let's face it, I barely blogged at all so there's not too much to look back on. Big events for me were the Turkey Trot (super proud of my 7:36 pace for 5 miles) and of course the Rehoboth Beach marathon (pretty much super proud of everything about that one!).

So one goal for 2013 will be to blog more, but it does take a back seat to school so we'll see how that goes. I intend to train more consistently (marathon training for me was honestly running two days per week-what?), focus on races a bit more, run (at least) two marathons, and I'm going to hop on the "run 1,000 miles" bandwagon. I also need to get back into strength training so that I don't get hurt (and because I miss my awesomely toned arms!). 

After an email thread sent around by some running friends this evening, here are some races I plan to do or am thinking about doing this year:

• DC Rock and Roll....half or full. I was intending to do the full but if a couple of friends do the half I'd prefer to do that so that we can hang out later. Still not sure what to do!
• Chicago marathon
• Rehoboth Beach marathon (because now it holds a special place in my heart, and hopefully the same crew will want to go!)
• Brooklyn Half
• Cherry Blossom 10-miler
• Big Sur marathon-ish...weird 21 mile run
• CAPE COD RAGNAR...WOOOO! Clearly, so excited for that one!

There are some other out of town races that I'd love to do, I'm just a bit worried about finances. Fiona suggested the Utah and Vermont marathons, which I'd definitely consider.