My Post Race Workouts

You know that feeling when you run a really great race, you feel invincible, and have convinced yourself you are THE BEST RUNNER IN THE WORLD? You're ready to keep training and want to bust out a bunch of awesome workouts?...

...Then you wake up the next morning and realize... ugh, I'm an old lady, I need a day... two days... maybe even a week to recover!

Yah, that was me this week! Busting my ass at the 10k apparently means I need to take it easy for a few days, whether I want to or not.

I did manage to get in some training, but most of it was at a very easy intensity level. The thing is, it's great to push yourself and break your body down, but then you have to give your body time to build itself back up!

-Sunday-

RACE! (10k)

-Monday-

REST

I was exhausted and on the brink of sickness.
Plus, duh, rest after a race, Megan!

-Tuesday-

Easy-ish 5 miler @ 7:51 pace

The pace felt easy, but I did push it a little at the end.

-Wednesday-

Lift- chest/shoulders/legs

I hadn't done lower body in almost a week and a half 

so my glutes were SO SORE by lunch time!

-Thursday-

Very easy 5 miler @ 8:40 pace

Glutes were still really sore. I did not feel like running fast at all.'
Heck, I barely even felt like running!

-Friday-

Lift- back

Again, my glutes were still screaming from Wednesday. 

It was the damn kettlebell swings- only 15lbs! 

That's all it took to wreck me for 3 days, apparently!

-Saturday-

The plan for today is to run 10 gorgeous miles 

at an easy pace and feel PERFECT throughout. 

Haha. we'll see how that goes!

I hope my run feels great today and my body starts to feel strong again. If not, I will just have to be patient- slow and steady!

How long does it take you to recover from a race?

Do kettlebell swings annihilate you the way they annihilate me?

First World Running Problems

I got PROBLEMS, yo! 

RUNNING PROBLEMS. 

Not legit ones, though. My running problems aren't actually problems. More like complaints from an entitled brat.

Nevertheless... here are my running woes...

I hate my new $70 running shoes. 

(That I can afford.)

I still do not like my Wave Rider 17s. I bought two pair but returned one of them. I am determined to power on and get my money's worth out of the pair I have now. But after that, I need to switch to a different shoe.

It's dark in the morning when I run. 

(I live in a very safe neighborhood.)

Guuuuuuys, I don't wanna run outside in the dark! It makes me sleepy. And I'm scared of Twisty the Clown, thanks to American Horror Story.

My Garmin died. 

(But all I have to do is charge it again.)

It's just not holding it's charge like it used to. Does anyone else have this problem?

It's getting cold out. 

(Oh no, get out the cold weather gear.)

It actually isn't even that cold, but I'll complain anyway. Even though it slowed me down this summer, I miss the heat, sunshine and sweat. It's almost time to switch the booty shorts out for the Under Armour tights and fleece vests. (Fleece vests are the best!)

Please share one of your first would running problems... or hey, how about an actual problem!?

The one thing that calms me down.

No matter how crazy my life is, now matter how busy or overwhelmed I get, there is one thing that calms me down.

Not running.

Not scotch.

Not ice cream.

When I am feeling crazed, making a list allows me to feel sane again. I love making lists. I have work lists, home lists, blog lists, errands lists, grocery lists... the list goes on! (Pun totally intended.)

These lists cannot be electronic. They have to be straight up pen to paper.

Last Monday, I made the ultimate list of lists. It was 4 pages, front and back. It took an hour and a half. I felt like I was channeling Amy Elliot Dunne (character from Gone Girl- if you have read the book/seen the movie you know what I'm talking about) except my lists weren't about how to TOOK OUT THE SPOILER I ORIGINALLY HAD HERE OOPS SORRY!!! GO SEE THE MOVIE!

Making that huge list didn't make me feel totally in control of my life, but it sure helped.

Do you like to make lists?

How do you calm yourself down when life gets crazy?

A Gal Who Knows What She's Talking About (Not me.)

I wrote this post quite awhile ago, but have been saving it for the perfect time. The time is now! On Saturday, I was struggling with my taper. A day of complete rest. Apparently, my stomach didn't get the memo though, because I was still ravenous all day! How do I balance food and rest?

 Intellectually, I know they go hand in hand. But sometimes, the "control-y" part of my brain comes through stronger.

In the end, I told the control-y part of my brain to STFU, get over yourself, and EAT IF YOU ARE HUNGRY. It was a little uncomfortable, but I did it, because I know fueling properly on rest days is important. Read on...

Sometimes I don't know what to eat on rest days. As I groggily make my breakfast, I struggle with the question, "What is this food for!?"

On training days, I know exactly what to put into my mouth to fuel my body and give me energy...

... I know how many carbs to eat after a run
... I know to eat my bowl of cheerios and slab of chicken breast after a lifting session
... I know the right time of day to eat carbs so they get put to good use
... I know when to eat my protein
... I know how much fat to eat and what to eat it with and when to eat it

These things are no brainers to me!

And of course I know I need food on a rest day, too. I'm hungry on a rest day. But what should I eat? For someone who has struggled with disordered eating (me), this whole thing of knowing what to eat on a rest day is kind of a pain.

First world problems, right? "I have all the food I could ever want but I don't know what to eat, WAAAAAHHHHHH!" (I seriously love creating problems for myself.)

Tara @ Sweat Like A Pig wrote a piece addressing this very topic- Rest Day Nutrition. Boy did this come at a good time because lately, I have been really bothered with this. I even talked to a  couple friends this weekend who have the same discomforts I do about eating on a rest day.


The part in Tara's piece that really hit home for me is this:

"Your body grows when it is at rest, hence why it is so important to consume enough calories on rest days. There is no point in eating a lot on training days if you then restrict on rest days, as your body will not be able to build muscle or lose fat (as you will be slowing your metabolism if you eat too little)."

-Tara @ Sweat Like A Pig

My takeaway: If I want to continue to gain muscle (and I do!), eating heartily on a rest day is part of the process. Just as I would never dream of not consuming protein after a lifting session, restricting food and calories on rest days is also not an option.

Make sure you check out Sweat Like A Pig. If you lift, you really want to be reading this blog!

Do you eat differently on a rest day?

Weekend Wrap Up!

I know it is Tuesday, but my Weekend Wrap Up got bumped back a day due to me posting a re-cap of my 10k 5.92 miler yesterday!

Holy freakin' weekend Batman! I don't know why I said that. Actually I do. It's because I'm drinking a margarita right now and I'm feeling a bit... silly! Tequila will do that to you. I hope you had an awesome weekend and CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who raced! Ali ran a 10 miler and a 10k this weekend, so make sure you visit her blog and find out how her races went. (Spoiler Alert: She rocked it!)

Anyhoo, here's my weekend! And thank for stopping by my blog. I really enjoy writing it, and it makes me happy that you enjoy reading it! (I assume you enjoy reading it... Unless you just stop by to read because you hate it... Don't worry, there are a few blogs I do that to as well...)

Friday was a magical morning at the gym! I PR'ed in dumbbell chest press! On my third set, I did 30lbs for 10 reps! The most I ever did was 25lbs! I am happy to say, that I felt very comfortable laying back and coming up holding 60lbs in my hands. This is a good sign. Unfortunately, the next dumbbells up are 35lbs, but I feel like if someone handed them to me, I'd be able to do it. Anyone want to come to the gym with me and hand my 35lb dumbbells? I didn't think so. Wait, that is what personal trainers are for! Did I mention I am a personal trainer? Check out my website- Megan Michael Training and book your FREE consultation. What do you have to lose?

Friday night was spent at home, of course. I carbed up for Sunday...

Penne, ground turkey, broccoli, and lots of garlic and parm!

... and then I fell asleep while rereading and old Christopher Pike book. It is one of my favorites.

Taper day! I wanted to sleep in but my body woke me up at 8am. Actually, Christmas woke me up at 8am.

The day was spent lounging around the house watching Dateline, cleaning... that kind of stuff. The lawn needed mowed, but that was against the rules on taper day!

I did rip out my now dead butternut squash vine. As you can see,

it was huge and was very fruitful!

That night was fire pit time with Geoff and Bree for the THIRD weekend in a row! May as well add this event to our weekly calendar!

Bree and Geoffrey!

Yummy apples stuffed with brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon!

Paul

Me, and the best scotch I ever drank in my life- Lagavulin!

Sunday was my 10k 5.92 miler! You can read more than you ever wanted to know about it here.

Or... you could watch my finish right here! Please excuse Paul's hand in the beginning!

After the race, I had to hightail it to dance practice for Dancing with the East Pennsboro Stars. Luckily, my partner had mercy on me and only made me do our dance 3 times. I had quite the tired body. The good thing is, we didn't really have to do it more because we know it so well! WE ARE READY TO ROCK IT OUT ON NOVEMBER 8TH!

When I got home, I crashed, and it was wonderful!

Tell me something fun you did this weekend!

Kids' Chance 10k Recap!

Source

Sorry if this recap is a little disjointed/rushed/whatever. I have not been able to get my heart rate down all day! I am feeling quite jittery but I wanted to get this posted! My normal Weekend Wrap Up will have to wait until Tuesday.

I also realize this re-cap is VERY LONG, so you can just scroll through the pics if you like and I included the cliff notes version in bold at the end!

Intro

On Sunday, I ran my first race since Boston and my first 10k EVER! It was the Kids' Chance 10k in Harrisburg. I picked this race because it coincided with the training plan I created and it didn't start until 2:00. Also, since it started on City Island, I figured the course would be relatively flat.

That Morning

I had all sorts of plans to sleep in, but it turns out, when I am really excited and nervous for something, I simply can't sleep! I woke up at 7:23. But instead of getting up, I laid in bed with the kitty cats and finished reading a Christopher Pike (young adult horror author!) novel I had started a few days before. It was nice to just zone out for awhile.

When I finally got up at 10:30, the butterflies really started. My brain knew I trained as well as I could for the race, but I still get nervous whenever I set any type of running goal for myself. That is probably why I don't race very often. It is too stressful. To pass the hours before we had to leave for the race, I did the following...

1. Drank a lot of coffee.

2. Picked out my race outfit.

3. Went to the bathroom 232 times.

4. Made spaghetti.

5. Blogged.

6. Set out my clothes and packed my lunch for work the next day.

7. Fueled up with some shredded wheat. Wished I had the frosted kind!

You see, I am very good at distracting myself!

Pre-Race

Paul and I arrived at City Island, Harrisburg, around 1:00. I know that is a little early, but I still needed to register. Plus, I planned on using the bathroom at least ten more times before the race started...

Harrisburg can actually be pretty!

It was cool, sunny, and quite windy. Near perfect fall conditions for a race... minus the wind! I bundled up so I wouldn't be cold before the race started. My parents and brother arrived to cheer me on. I knew my parents were coming but I didn't know my brother was coming. It meant a lot to me that he came out!

Some pre-race photos...

The Breast Cancer Walk was the day before so there were pink feathers

everywhere... even in the port-o-john!

Oh, I also ran into The Best Zumba Instructor In The World before the race! She was running the 10k @ 2pm and then planned to be at her Zumba class to teach at 3:30pm. PS. She PR'ed!

ZumbaWithCat

At the starting line, people were jumping, stretching, and doing the normal pre race chitter-chatter. My pre race starting line MO is just to stand there with my arms crossed.

The Race

I will be completely honest with you: The only time I felt "good" during the race was the first mile loop around City Island when we were relatively protected from the wind. Once we got onto the walking bridge and headed north along the river, it sucked. You see, the wind was blowing right in our faces. There was so much resistance. I was running a 7:10-7:16 mile but it felt like a 6:30. It was very hard to catch my breath.

Here are some early in the race shots where I feel happy and like the world is my oyster!

Annnnnnnnnnnd my splits... you can tell we were running into the wind the first part of the race!

7:03

7:10

7:16

6:56

6:48

6:49

This race was a 10k/5k, and you could make your decision in the middle of the event. If you opted for the 5k, you turned around about a mile and a half before the 10k runners. When the race started, there were several people ahead of me. Some of them were those really fast skinny guys with 2% body fat that run like a 17 minute 5k. There was one woman ahead of me too. All of these people turned around at the 5k. "Okay, I guess all the speedy people are running the 5k today!" I thought to myself.

A guy passed me just after the 5k turn around, but I ended up passing him less than a minute later. I was in the lead from about Mile 2.25 until the end. But it didn't occur to me I was in the LEAD, lead. I was pretty sure I was the first woman since the other one turned around and did the 5k, but I figured there were more guys ahead of me. But then again, I could. not. breathe. so I could barely think clearly.

I almost missed the 10k turn around, as there was no sign that said "TURN AROUND!" and the distance on my Garmin indicated that I should probably run a little father until it was turn around time. But some lady with water yelled "This is the turnaround!" so I quickly went back the way I came. Yeah, the race was a little low budget but it was for a good cause!

The way back to the island was much more pleasant. I still couldn't breathe, but at least I was running faster than I did on the way out, thanks to having the wind at my back. I saw my little brother when there was about a mile to go. He told me I was in the lead and the next person was like 100 yards behind. I still thought I was just the first woman. And I did NOT want to know who was behind me. I wanted to run my own race and not worry about others.

Clearly on my own!

This is when my little brother jumped out of the bushes and informed me I was in the lead!

Almost at the finish... no one in sight!

I really pushed it the last half mile. I literally ran as fast as I could without my lungs bursting. I wanted to give it my all and leave everything on the course. It was not pleasant, but I knew it would pay off when I got to the finish line. I was overjoyed to round the corner and see the time on the clock was well under 45 minutes!

Official Finish Time: 41:18

But here is the bad part... my Garmin said 5.92. And everyone else's Garmin had the race cut short as well.

I was not only ecstatic to be done running, but I was so happy I was the first female and the FIRST OVERALL!!! However, I was really bummed that it was NOT a 10k.

Guys, I still haven't run a 10k!!!!!!

Nevertheless, I was pretty happy...

I freaking love this picture of us!

I'm a lip licker when I run.

Me and my family!

Bree came out to cheer me on! What a nice surprise!

I got a medal!

YEAH!

In Conclusion

I am really proud of the effort I put into the race. Due to the wind, it was very tough. But that's just part of racing- dealing with the elements. And even though I am proud of my time, I realize I am proud of my 5.92 miler time, not my 10k time, because it wasn't a 10k. That is a bummer! Maybe my NEW race goal should be to run an actual 10k in the time it took me to run the 5.92 miler today!

I also learned something important- you can train your ass off but you can't plan for everything! I definitely was not planning on that wind and it made the race a lot tougher than I anticipated.

While I never set out to win anything (I had personal goals I set for myself), I am not going to pretend it wasn't cool to WIN A FREAKING RACE!!!!! That will probably never happen again and was just a FLUKE that it happened on this day. But it was cool. Also, I should note, that the Hershey Half Marathon was on the same day, which means A LOT of runners in the area were running that instead of this race. I know I'm not "The Fastest Person", I was just "The Fastest Person That Showed Up That Day".

Also, I wanted to thank Paul, my Mom and Dad, my little brother Tyler, and my friend Bree who came out to cheer for me! It's nice to have people who are your biggest fans and they made me feel really special for just doing something I love to do. But that is what friends and family are for, right?

CLIFF'S NOTES VERSION:

1. It was very windy so I couldn't breathe. 

Ouch.

2. I ran a 41:18 but the course was only 5.92 miles long. 

Bummer.

3. I won first overall! 

WTF!?

4. I love my friends and family! 

MUAH!

Did you ever run a race in which the distance was significantly inaccurate?

5 Foods (sort of!)

Kristen @ Sweat Courage started a new blog series- 10 Day You Challenge.

Today is 5 Foods!

I don't have anything too terribly interesting to say about food right now. What do you want to know? I eat a lot of chicken breast, a lot of shredded wheat, lots of broccoli and sweet potatoes, tortilla chips, cheese, scotch, coffee... Not much ice cream lately as my sweet tooth has vanished and has been replaced by a severe desire for the new Pringles Tortillas. Have you tried them? SO GOOD!

So I thought I would do something different. Here are 5 of my favorite posts that I wrote about food. I hope you enjoy them!

1. The Best Pumpkin Cookies You Will Ever Eat

I use to post recipes because I thought you had to do that to be a blogger! However, these really are the best pumpkin cookies ever, and it is the season to start making them! I have the recipe updated with gluten free info from my friend who tried it.

2. What I Wish I Ate Wednesday

I can't even read the WIAW posts. "Oh, I had 3 carrot sticks and some celery juice." BARF!

3. Bob Harper's "The Skinny Rules": I break over half of them!

The fact that he wrote this makes me so sad because I love Bob, but I don't love THIS!

4. Bad Excuses for Overeating

I used to overeat alllll the time. I'm like, an expert.

5. Don't Starve Yourself!

I've been there too!

Share a link in the comments of one of your favorite "food related" blog posts you wrote or one of your favorite ones you have read!