When you wake up wondering what you did the day before, once you get out of bed you know exactly what you did, in college this was too much partying so movement of the head sent the world swinging but now a stretch of my hand above my head told me I lifted heavy ouch.

Yesterday's workout was Cathe Ripped with Hiit Lift it Chest, Shoulders and Triceps, use 25 pound weights for the Chest workout but dropped to 20s, those finisher pushups were killing me, absolutely love this workout. For some cardio effect I did a 10mins Cardio workout from Moms in Fitness on you tube
this was a very quick efficient workout, great for add on. To finish things off I pulled out Travis Sweet and Short Yoga, this was a big mistake, my shoulder was fried from Cathe's workout and all those sun salutations were pure torture but oh so beautiful, I just so enjoy p[practicing with Travis, hope one of this days I get a chance to take a live class with him, lots of sample workout also on you tube.

So today the schedule called for 1 mile warmup+ 10k trail run + 1 mile cool down, well my goal was to finish this run feeling as good as I felt on Thursday, I ran by feel and didn't look at my pace, I probably could have or Should have but I just wanted to feel good before/during/after a run for a change and it felt so good, this was a struggle but I held the pace as best as I can backing off instead of walking, felt good and it was such a beautiful feeling one which I haven't felt in a long time. No didn't hit the pace, was suppose to run 9:01 but did 9:20 instead, am happy.

Note to Self: No heavy weight workout before a hard run, my shoulders were killing me and when I lower my hands to give them a break my triceps kick in, oh boy some serious DOMS.


 Afterwards, Shelby and I sat under a tree in the parking lot enjoying the ice cold chocolate milk she brought me and talking strategy for the half marathon, she is so strong and if we get the pacing right she should have a very nice PR at the half marathon.

Got back home did some cleaning, color my hair and caught up on some reading and computer work.

This is a great start to August, Life is good, Love me

Cincinnati Flying Pig 4-Way Runcation

Going down to run Flying Pig was a big girl decision for me, the race was paid for and my hubby had to travel out of the country, even thou I go to all my local races by myself including the 100k/24hours ones this was a bit different I was driving 4 hours to Cincinnati and back after a crazy racing weekend. I did contemplate not doing it but then I figure out if I was single does that mean I won't drive to races, I know I was fine with the plane since I came to MCM alone.

Took a half day from work, went to my Athena women's luncheon and left from there in hopes of getting through Columbus before rush hour, I wanted to make it down to the expo also which ends at 7pm since I didn't want to deal with it in the morning, got to expo with 15 mins to spare. I didn't really do much at the expo just got my stuff and left since I wanted to see my son who was about 45mins away at college, after all the driving around, made it to the hotel around 10pm and was tired, really going to race in the morning, oh boy.

Well, woke up Saturday morning fresh as a daisy, I always sleep so good in Marriott beds, and the wonderful breakfast ladies had breakfast out and I decided on white rice and eggs with extra salt. They weren't kidding when they said all roads will be close at 7am for the 8am 10k start. It was chilly in the morning but it warmed up fast, lots of walkers, there must be a Galloway training school or something in the area, 5-6 people cluster around someone wearing a coach t-shirt telling them when to run/walk, also the start for the walkers (section G) was at the top of a hill, well they were having none of that they were mostly in B or C, after a lot of weaving around in the first 2 miles was able to find a good grove, finish the 10k in 1:01:28 for a 9:55 avg pace. Faster than I was expecting. It got hot fast.

The 3 & 4 way runners had gear check so I was able to change out of my wet tops and put on something dry, I was soaking wet when done. I thought the 10k had lots of people, the 5k had lots of kids, it looks like a lot of the schools had running groups for this very young kids 5-8 grade no cool teenagers. The kids were actually quite good but the problem was the over weight never exercise parents who decided to join them because of cause if little Johnny can do it they can do it too, except for little Johnny did train. The kids will run, look around no mum or dad then stop dead in the track, shouting for them. There were people walking in jeans, cowboy boots, holding hands. As usual the kids and most of the walkers were in the front, so quite a bit of weaving around and I did give up by mile 2 and just coast to the finish. 30:04 - 9:42 avg pace Great crowd support, I mean with little Johnny doing his first race there was grandma, grandpa, aunts and uncle. Start time 10am

I enjoyed myself on Saturday and was slightly concern about how fast I ran both races but too late to worry about that, went to the hotel, shower and set out to explore the city. Found a gem in Covington KY Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, I think I spent close to 4 hours there, studying the stain glasses and mosaic stone work,  if you are ever in the area, this place is a must see, pictures does not do it justice.

Met up with the BGR Cincinnati group for early dinner and was back to the hotel and in bed by 9pm.

4:30am rise and shine, I felt good nothing hurts, race start is 6:30am, most roads close by 5:30 no breakfast ladies this morning just too early, grab some coffee and headed out. It was chilly but you can tell it was going to be a hot day. I couldn't really get into my corral way too many people and I mean spectators not runners so got in where I finally found an opening, right in the middle of all the grooving walkers, had fun with them most were running the half for the 1st time. Just ran as best as I could limiting the weaving by mile 4 things open up a bit and when we separated from the HMarathoners things really open up.

I felt fine through out but was concern I wasn't drinking enough, I had my water bottle with me and drank all my accelerade and then switch to water taking a cup of gatorade here and there but for some reason my body wasn't handling the electrolyte properly, by the half way mark, my fingers were swelling and my side was hurting I know I needed salt and lord and behold at mile 15 there was crispy salty bacon, it was just what I needed. This is a very hilly course, lots of rollers even at mile 25+ there was a hill, I was fine with it, but a combination of the heat and hill was putting a lot of stress on my body, I was wondering how hard to push knowing I still had a 4 hours drive back home, by mile 19 decided to ease off and just get to the finish, mile 20+ there was a hog wash station with ice cold wet towels and water spray it felt so good. At mile 24+ I looked at my watch and did the mental calculation again, shoot I will have to increase speed if I am to come in under 5 hours, according to my garmin course was 26.58 ran the last .58 at 9:38 pace, 4:59:40 - 11:49 avg pace talk about cutting it close. I ran all 3 races with music, the music was 150-170bpm and I was using it to stay steady.

The crowd was great this is a true community affair, I mean everyone was out in front of there house, handing out something, playing music, cheering or just asking why you choose to do this. Highly recommend this race.

I didn't have that much time left after I finished, had to drive back to the the hotel, shower and check out. After finishing I realized my car was about a mile walk away, on the other side of the other stadium. On my way out of town felt the need to stop at Skyline Chili and try a 4 way, there was a $5 gift card in my swag bag. Ordered a small (spaghetti, chili, onion and cheese) , did not modify but not sure why all the cheese but it was pretty good.

I actually felt pretty good after the finish, nothing really hurt. The drive back home wasn't bad, I stopped after 1 hour at an outlet mall, never too sore to shop, saw some fellow runners there too, then another hour at a travel plaza to use restroom, I was drinking lots of water finished a 1 gallon jug by the time I got home. Drove the last 2 hours straight through.

Am so glad I didn't chicken out about going to the race, I know I could have only done the marathon but I will constantly wonder if I could have done the 4 way. I also gave myself permission in my head to quit if anything hurts, getting back home safely was top priority. #runflyingpig

Nothing says Spring Day in Ohio, like 21 degrees and snow, oh well.

Beautiful start to my day, despite Mother Nature little weather tantrum, I started off with Cathe Ripped with Hiit Chest Shoulder and Triceps, this is a great heavy weight workout with very minimal rest, I love the flow of it.

Afterwards was 10k easy miles, probably need to spend more time on the pavement but I am just not into the cold, hard to believe that the Paris Marathon is now 15 days away, still some final plans to make but the excitement id building and quite a bit of Facebook friends going.

Doing the Egbert route again tomorrow but starting early, since I plan to have Easter dinner tomorrow because my son will not be coming home and we will be on a plane to London but then somehow I have to work 7pm -7am to cover one of my operators shift since I am down 3 out of 4, doing to be a very long 48 hours.

1st Love

Still dragging but I think it may be because I ate late due to the testing and not enough since I was tired. Even thou I am enjoying the cycling, I need to make running the main focus again, need to start getting enough miles in, that said I still do not plan on running more than 4 days a week, goal is still 3 quality workout speed, tempo and long with the 4th being an easy 2-4miler if I feel up to it.

Today was a 10k run using itread15, took a while for the legs to click in, actually not until the first sprint, I guess they realized I wasn't going to quit so decided to come along for the ride, felt great when done. After the kid got on the bus, got in Cyclo-core strong a great 15mins workout, first time doing it and like it. Love the fact that there is minimal downtime, just move from one exercise to the other.

Lent starts tomorrow, love the season of calm and peace, I least I can hope.

SLIM 10k to tackle HIV /AIDS in Kenya & Malawi

Was able to get the family out of the house and to South Park in Pittsburgh to run the SLIM 10K, I knew this was going to be a hilly race due to all the up and down driving we had to do to get to the park.

We got to the park on time and I let my family fast asleep in the car to pick up my race packet and use the restroom. Well, there was no bib or race number, we just picked up the timing chip since it was decided to give the race bag after the race and not before, I guess I do understand since quite a bit of people were bused in from University of Pittsburgh.

I changed into my running stuff, did the Dynamic Flexibility and then set off around 9:30am for my warm mile and stretches, my mp3 dies about .4mile and I ran back to the car hoping I had a back up, luckily I found one in my bag so went back out to finish my warm up. I had my warm up timed perfectly to the start time but the start was then delayed for another 15 mins, oh what to do bounce in place, more stretched, check music, fast dashes then finally we were off. Even thou the temperature was about 35F which would have been perfect for running the wind was brutal and made it much colder.

Oh, I set the virtual partner on the Garmin (I have the 301) to run at a 9:10 pace with the hope of finishing in under 1 hour, this is way off my 10k goal pace of 8:36, but the intention is to stay with or ahead of my partner.

Mile 1; had a slight incline but it wasn't too bad, since this were a bunch of college kids, they were quite fast. 9:13 pace was concern did I go out too fast, don't want to crash but felt fine, no pain so kept running by feel
9:13 HR 162bpm

Mile 2 started out nice and flat but ended up with an uphill, was breathless but no pain, was extremely shock at my pace. Funny enough when I was huffing up the hill, Catch me am falling by Pretty Poison was playing om my mp3, luckily I stayed upright.
8:49 HR 166bpm never ran below 9 before was still feeling fine so continue on

Between miles 2 and 3, the 5k runners meet up with us and things got kind of crowdy for a while, then we can to a fork in the road and all the 10k runners were hoping/praying we were going right and not left, because on the left you can see the hill, it just went straight up, but the wonderfull volunteer yelled 10K to the left and we also groaned.
8:43 HR 163bpm maybe I should have conserve some energy but still feeling fine.

Mile 4 was painful even my Garmin complained none stop, initially I though my HR was too high or pace too slow but my Garmin was loosing signal and by the time I got to the top I had no signal, so running by feel and blindly. The best part was that even though the uphill was hard once I was done my legs recovered immediately and I was able to keep running the flat fast.

About mile 5 was the downhill, there was no mile marker and Garmin was off, controlling the down hill to prevent free falling and the wonderful wind was nicely pushing back. This was the last of the rolling hills and it was all flat from now on since this was the section I did my warmup mile on.

Came into the home stretch and saw 50:44 on the timer, do not have the official result, if that is correct that will mean I ran faster (8:09) than my 10K pace and the first time I ever ran below a 9 min pace and a PR since my last 10K was over 61:06. Garmin also gave a time of 50:44 for 5.41 miles which is a 9:23 pace average HR of 165bpm..

I felt fine after the race nothing really hurt but I got extremely cold right after the race and there was no liquid right at the finish, you had to go back up to the pavilion to get it but this involve waiting in line for about 10 mins, and then no cups, they had bread plus fruit just skipped the whole thing and just picked up my goody bag which had tee shirt and 1 power bar.

The race itself was fine but the start and finish needs some work, will really have to do some serious hill training before another race in Pittsburgh just about every where have rolling hills, I was considering the Spirit of Pittsburgh HM in October.

Official Result:

Overall  Age group(35-44)
49/102    5/9        Elizabeth S 50:44    8:11