Set goals & see results!

11/26/12

Tonight's workout was pretty intense, especially since I was still a little sore from cycling indoor last night at Nick's house. I met Marvin at One North for a 3 mile run before our swim. Each mile the first .50 I increased the incline and then the second .50 I decreased the incline and increased the speed, ex: mile 0.0 - 0.5: 6.8 mph 1.0 incline then 0.6 - 1.0 7 mph and 0 incline. I increased each mile by 0.2 mph.

After the run, it was time for swimming, yippie! (Sarcasm). I forgot my goggles tonight, which Marvin was gracious enough to let me borrow his, sorry your eyes are all red now Marvy! We began the swim with a 250m warm up, followed by a 200m kick and 200 m pull. The plan was to break down my breast stroke, but since I forgot my goggles we swam a 250m straight without stopping. I was pretty exhausted by this point, but we finished with two 50 sprints and a 100 cool down.

I honestly feel like my swimming ability and technique has GREATLY improved! I could not do it without the people who have spent hours patiently coaching and helping me perfect my swim. I know I still have a lot of improvement to work on over the next 6 months. Because I have no races or events this month I am going to try really hard to swim at least 4 times a week the month of December. My goal is to be able to swim 1000m without stopping by New Years!

PINK <3 HARD WORK PAYS OFF!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

11/22/12

I hope everyone has a very blessed Thanksgiving with friends, family, and lots of food! =)

Last night we stayed at Ryan's parent's house where we ate a HUGE Thanksgiving meal. It was so delicious, thank you Robin & David! I woke up Thanksgiving morning to meet Bob in Mattoon for a 10 mile run to burn off all those carbs from last night. This was my first run since the half marathon, which was probably not a smart idea. My legs were so tight, we had to stop every few miles so I could stop and stretch out my muscles. I should have got a short 2 or 3 mile in a few days before, instead I was lazy!

My evening consisted of lots of food, laughs, and great company with my family at my mom's. We all stuffed our faces with my mom's home farm raised turkey and we even taught my Mema a few new 21st century dirty humor jokes. I don't think she approved, but the faces she made were priceless! Thank you Mom & John for dinner!

PINK <3 FAMILY

Santa Chase 1/2 Marathon

11/17/2012

 

 SUPRISE!!!!! I know I only told a handful of people about today, but I am running in my first half marathon today, the Santa Chase in Mattoon! A million emotions are running through my head, I am nervous, anxious, scared, and excited! I decided to wear all Pink today! My signature color! =)

With only two long runs under my belt, an 8 and 10 mile run, over the last two weeks and my foot finally recovering I was not sure how well this was going to go. My plan was to just be able to finish, even if I had to walk some of the race, to gain some experience with long running. 

Before the race, I met up with Christy, Lane, Carl, and Bob for some pre-race photos and words of encouragement. I felt mentally prepared to keep a steady pace and to be proud of myself no matter how the race finished.

The Santa Chase began with the half marathon runners starting at 12:55 at the train station in Mattoon. We ran down Broadway Avenue as all of the anxious people waiting for candy from the parade cheered us on! The run was pretty boring with running out on the bike trail out 7 miles and back. I was feeling pretty strong for the first 4 miles, my friend Katarina passed me before the first mile, I knew then I was never going to be able to pass her! ;-) I kept a pace of 8:20-8:30 for the first 7 miles, after the turn around I was feeling pretty tight and sore and slowed down considerably to about a 9 min pace. I took an energy goo at mile 6 and 10 right before water stations, which I SWEAR saved my life! At about mile 9 I ended up passing Katarina, because she was having knee/ankle issues, which I know how frustrating that is. =( 

By this time I was counting down, 4.1 miles, 3.1 miles, 2.1 miles, and FINALLY 1 more mile! I made it back inside Mattoon and on the black top of the bike trail. I could see in the far distance everyone waiting for me to cross the finish line! I pushed it, pushed it, and pushed it until I finally crossed the finish after 1 hour and 55 minutes!!!!!!! I surpassed ALL of my goals!!!!!!!! I was able to finish under 2 hours, I ran the ENTIRE 13.1 miles without stopping, and I even placed 3rd in the 20-29 female division, sorry Katy! =( I was so proud and in so much pain, I was chugging water and crying at the same time! Ryan and all of my friends came up to great me with smiles and BIG hugs! It was one of the best feelings in the world in my 23 years!  At this point, I can't imagine running that race twice, running for 4 hours, but I look forward to all the training this winter. After completing this, I now know, if I have the drive, I can push myself to do ANYTHING!

We finished the evening off with dinner and I had a margarita at Stadium Grill! Some much earned and deserved calorie intake for me!!! On the way home to Champaign, we stopped by Lindsay and Josh's house to celebrate Gavin's 4th birthday! What an amazing day! Thank you Lord for being with me today and giving us beautiful weather!!!

PINK <3 ACHIEVING GOALS

Frankencyclist!

11/14/12

"When nothing goes right, go left!" -- Pretty much sums up my day!

Tonight I came to Mattoon to what I thought was going to be a swimming class at the YMCA. I was so excited to show off my new swimming skills, HAHA! Bob ended up having to substitute for a spinning class, so I thought, okay, no workout for me tonight, maybe I'll go to the martini bar! I didn't have any clothes for spinning, so I wore Bob's spinning shorts, his wife, Pennie, her shoes, my sports bra and swim suit. I looked like a Frankencyclist!!!!! Hahaha! I finished 24 miles in 55 minutes, so it ended up being a great workout!!! It was awesome to meet Pennie! She seems like a kick ass girl and I am excited to get to know her. I hope she can teach me a thing or two in the pool! I've got to crash early tonight, 10 miles at 6:30 am!

PINK </3 Early mornings!

Swim Like A Whale!!

11/13/12

This evening I met up with Marvin to swim at his apartment complex. Considering my last swim experience was not the greatest, I was a little nervous. I warmed up with a 100 and then Marvin watched me swim and broke down every part of my freestyle stroke to help me swim efficiently. Basically, I was biking with my legs, my hands were not always cupped, my right arm is more exaggerated than my left stroke, I need to keep my chin down, and slice the water with my pinkie fingers facing up!

While trying to keep all of these different things straight in my head, I swam a 400 while Marvin watched me and gave me pointers on what to fix and focus on. I am so thankful he spent time to help me break down the stroke piece by piece so I could understand what I was doing wrong. After that we swam a 500, very slow, then a 250 sprint ( 25 sprint, 25 freestyle), 100 kick, 100 arm stroke, and cooled down with a 200. Today was one of my longest and hardest swims. I was really pushing myself and trying to focus on all of the different techniques Marvin pointed out. I am going to purchase a kick board soon to also help me out with drills! I feel like after what I learned today I am going to start kicking ass in the pool!

THANKS MARVIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

PINK <3 MARVIN

Girls on the Run 5k - Mattoon

11/10/12

Saturday morning I woke up at 6 am on my only day off to drive from Arcola to Mattoon for a run! YIPPE! Bob and I met up at the YMCA in Mattoon and we ran a total of 8 miles, down Western, through Lane Acres, back down through Peterson Park back and around to the YMCA. The total run was 8.20 miles finished in 1:10 with an 8:36 average per mile. The run felt pretty good, my foot wasn't feeling too bad. Its funny what stories you can hear about another person's events. Not naming any names, peeing themselves during races. LOL!!!!!!

After the run, it was time for the Girls on the Run 5k! This run was so much fun!! =) There were so many young girls running with their coach, friends, and family.There were several people running their first 5k EVER! I saw my cousins running and many other people I knew. There were volunteers EVERYWHERE along the course encouraging everyone to finish strong. I ran pretty slow around a 27 minute finish time because I was already tired from the 8 miles. I stood towards the finish and cheered on all of the young girls and encouraged them to finish strong. What a great day for running! =)

PINK <3 ENCOURAGEMENT

Reality hits ya hard bro!

11/8/12

“One person's craziness is another person's reality.”
― Tim Burton

Tonight Valeria and I went to Nick's house to cycle to a training video. This was my first experience doing an indoor cycle with my bicycle. I really enjoyed the workout!!! I was a hot sweaty mess during the entire ride!!! The video consisted of a 5 minute warm up, followed by 30 seconds of sprint and 30 seconds at a steady pace for 5 minutes all the way down to 1 minute. After that, the video had us sprint for 2 minutes, rest for two minutes 5 times. This was pretty rough by the 5th time, my legs were getting really tired! The sweat continued to pour and I continued to push through the rest of the workout with a 5 minute cool down.

This is a great workout, especially during the winter while it is cold and snowy outside. YUCK! I really look forward to the next time we meet for another workout. Reality hit me hard while we were talking about Nick's experiences during his Ironman events. Its going to take so much strength, energy, and endurance on all levels mentally and physically! I hope I know what I'm getting myself into, lol. There are a lot of emotions running through my mind, but I am loving every minute of it! 

PINK <3 CRAZINESS

Out of steam...

11/6/12

Tuesday evening was a rough one. After I finished work, I headed to Mattoon to meet bob for a run. Since it was raining and cold outside, we decided to run on the treadmills at the YMCA. We finished a 3.5 mile run, which did not make my foot happy, stupid dreadmill. While sweat was dripping from my hair, I raced over to Pam and Chris's house to meet Lindsay and Brooke for Mitch's visitation. It was a LONG 2 1/2 hour line, but it was well worth it to say our goodbyes. I spent the evening over at Christy and Greg's house, I was definitely feeling a glass of wine and starved from our run!

11/7/12

I woke up after only 4 1/2 hours of sleep at 5 am to attend Bob's spinning class at the YMCA. I was definitely not prepared, because my Vibram shoes were the worst idea for spinning! It KILLED my foot so I only put about 75% of my total effort into the workout. I am excited for the next time I can come to the class, because I love spinning, I miss when I used to do it at Gold's Gym before they closed. After spinning, we saw Lane running on the dreadmill so we chit chat with him for a few minutes until I decided to kick Bob's butt with an ab workout! It was kind of commical because he doesn't do any other working out besides run, bike swim. We spent about 30 minutes ripping our abs! =)

This evening I went to Marvin's indoor pool with Kodi. We began the workout with a 250 warm up, which I was already exhausted from lack of sleep and my other work outs. I spent the next 30 minutes half assing a few drills. Poor Marvin and Kodi were trying to teach me out to improve my breast stroke and a few other drills. I ended up just being very frustrated and tired and decided to bail. Marvin promised to help me one on one with my strokes next swim, so hopefully I will be in a better mood!

I feel like I have been running nonstop, so tonight I am sitting on the couch and relaxing! I truly appreciate everyone helping me train and achieve my goals on my journey to becoming an ironman!

PINK </3 TIRED

Rattlesnake 5k - Urbana

11/4/12

I woke up (on time with the time change) feeling strong and confident today, so I decided to complete the Rattlesnake Mater 5k in Urbana, IL this morning. I'm not gonna lie though, I was feeling a little nervous on the drive over, because if you read up, my last experience at the fun run was not a good one. I could not even complete the second loop of the 3 mile. So I went into the race telling myself, Alicia, don't over do it, don't push it to the MAX, you don't need to PR (which is what I usually think), just finish the 5k safe and without hurting your foot! After my mental talk, I did my "warm up" by jogging to the signup under the pavilion. I thought about not wearing my wrap on my foot, but I figured better safe than sorry, so I put it on as I was registering.

The 5k began with us running the route backwards of what we normally run during the fun run. I was super excited because this was my first run with my new GPS watch, which was VERY accurate! This was my first time running this route, which was very nice, I even enjoyed running on the grass for the last half mile. I sprinted to the finish as I saw the clock and finished at 23.34. I ended up winning 1st place in the female 20-29 division, so I was very happy!! I remember my first 5k at the Illinois Marathon in 2009 when I finished with 23:36. I thought I would NEVER beat that time, because it wasn't until this June in Tolono where I FINALLY beat it. I was in complete shock with this finishing time, because I thought if I finished around 25 minutes I would be happy, considering I didn't feel like I was running that fast.

The after race party was a blast! Amber and I had hot chocolate and chocolate doughnuts to keep warm and refuel! =) It was so nice to see all of my running friends and being able to watch them finish, since I am usually the last one, LOL! Congrats to everyone who placed, finished, and PR'ed at the race today! It was great to see Stephen, Mike, Ryan, Corey, Amber, Nikki, Valeria, Sarah, Michelle, Andrea, and everyone else who I may have forgot, sorry! I have to give a special thanks to Ryan for holding my key too! =)

For breakfast we made a reservation for Bob Evans and it was DELICIOUS! I had french toast, bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Everyone seemed to enjoy their breakfast and the conversations were even better! Like Amber said, NEVER compare your pets to other people's children, haha, whoops! I am looking forward to the winter Marathon training with all of my new friends! I will be  praying for a mild winter for all of us, because I hate the cold!!!! 

PINK <3 RACING

Slowly Recovering

11/1/12

Today I broke in my November calendar with a 4.12 mile run with an 8.32 pace and an overall time of 35:08! (I'm not sure if my "bathroom pit stop" was in those numbers or not, LOL! Bob and I ran in Mattoon from his shop down the bike trail and back. During the run I was feeling pretty strong with our first mile timing around 8.06. The rest of the run Bob and I had good conversations about previous events with running and triathlons. It is so awesome I have someone to help me train for such a major event! Bob gave me a book I plan on reading this weekend about a man's journey to the Louisville, Ironman. I am definitely interested in reading another person's perspective of this event! He has also given me a little insight on his "eating habits" and I am embarassed to even say all the crap I eat, haha! I don't eat terrible, but about 75% of the time I eat like a 10 year old adult! Anyways, ike I have said, I am either going to die trying or crawling across the finish line. Either way, I am going to become an Ironman!!!!!!!!! =D

PINK <3 TRAINING PARTNERS