#oisellevolee

[runinredsox]

Hot today, not my best run but with the Temps, lack of sleep and vacation eating I'm not surprised. Sad vacation is over but glad to get back to regular eating and regular training, I've got 2 marathons to run this fall, gotta get ready #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching (at Waltham, Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bzk-F0ZHEZV/?igshid=k2bjfh349k4y

[vaultermagazine]

@mpcvaults ・ Charging into the offseason like... #offseason #polevault #trackandfield #ontothenextone #oiselleteam #oisellevolee #nyac #fibersportpoles 📸 @corcoransphotos https://www.instagram.com/p/CE7f3sKHpxk/?igshid=1o0jpifh5y5v2

[gobigorgohome2016]

Fitness Check: Tobacco Road Half Marathon

Race weekends are so weird. I will never understand how time can move so quickly, yet so slowly, in the span of 48 hours.  

Today I raced the Tobacco Road Half Marathon in Cary, North Carolina.  Everything about this weekend seemed to embody the dichotomy of fast and slow.  

I arrived in NC early Friday afternoon, around 11 AM.  I think this race was first on my radar because my teammate, Andie Cozzarelli, lives in Raleigh and mentioned it to me the last time she raced the Indy Monumental Marathon.  My main motivation for choosing races this year was to choose ones where I could win money.

In the past chasing cash has scared me, because I have been afraid of the gnawing anger / frustration / embarrassment / resentment when the race doesn’t go the way I had hoped, and I don’t win the money I had anticipated.  There is also a factor where trying to win money, and then losing it, makes it feel more real, and scary in a way.  Which is something I need to confront.  

Friday was a lot of fun. Andie and I went for a run, watched approximately 30,000 episodes of Friends, then went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in downtown Raleigh.  I had possibly the best seafood risotto I have ever tasted, paired with a delicious red wine.  Afterwards we watched more Friends.  What I love about my Haute Volee teammates is that they have pretty seamlessly filled the gap that was left after college during racing weekends.  Whenever Andie and I are together we run, do a little bit of work, watch some tv, eat, and talk to the point of exhaustion – just like my college days with my roommates.

Saturday I joined Andie for the end of her long run, then we headed over to the cutest coffee shop I have ever seen for a volee meet up.  A friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since high school lives in Raleigh, and we got together for lunch at a Japanese restaurant.  I ordered pho, solely for the reason that this time last year I went out to dinner with the ZAP Fitness team in Jacksonville and ate pho before running a PR.  

After parting ways with my friend, I took an uber to my hotel.  One of very few perks of Dave traveling all the time is that he can hook me up with Mariott hotels when I am out of town.  I was able to have a suite with a kitchen.  By the time I checked in at 2 PM, I only had 3 hours before the expo closed and I had to pick up my packet (no race day packet pick up).  I still needed another short run, and the expo was 2.5 miles away, so I naturally ran there.  Except, there was no sidewalk.  So I ran on the shoulder of a super busy and scary road.  #fail

By the time I got back to my hotel, I was pretty exhausted.  Even though I had really done nothing in the past 24 hours, I also felt like I had done everything.   I still needed to find some groceries, because I had already eaten the pre-race breakfast I had packed.  #secondfail

Grocery stores were really far away, but, Instacart exists in Cary!  Many struggles and 45 minutes of indecision later, I finally place my order for 18 larabars (literally), yogurt, two blood oranges, a box of instant oatmeal, 3 bananas, a beer, a dark chocolate bar, two kombuchas, and a small carton of orange juice.  Why did I order 18 larabars?  Well, I either could choose to pay $10 for delivery, or reach a certain threshold for free delivery.  18 larabars it was.  

I watched Loyola upset Tennessee, then excitedly got ready for bed because I was SO TIRED.  I had no idea the race was at 7 AM, which meant a 4 AM wake up call.  I turned off the lights at 9, but then COULDN’T FALL ASLEEP.  Normally, sleeping the night before a race is not a problem for me.  I wasn’t even thinking about the race, I just couldn’t fall asleep once I turned out the lights.  First the room was too hot.  Then I had to switch around my pillows.  Then I had to go to the bathroom.  Then the room was too cold.  Then every single person who walked down the hallway sounded like an elephant.  Then I started my period and was having cramps (seriously, my last 10 of 14 races I have started my period within 24 hours of the race.  It’s bizarre).  I remember looking at the clock at 2 AM and thinking to myself, just get 90 minutes of sleep.  

Even though I didn’t get a good night’s rest, I woke up feeling pretty good.  I had my breakfast and watched MTV.  I’ve had to give up coffee before races because I don’t think it does anything for me.  Instead, I drink green tea.  I packed a hand-made tea bag of roasted green tea that I bought in San Francisco for my morning cuppa.  

My friend, Tim, picked me up at 5 AM to head over to the start.  You know what’s cool about racing competitively?  You accumulate friends all across the country who are willing to do things like drive out of their way to pick you up.  

The next part is pretty standard:  talk with your runner friends while waiting for the start, use the porta potty 30 times, run warm up, do drills, take off clothes, pee in the woods because the porta potty line is too long, do some strides, get nervous, gun goes off, fall into rhythm.

Funny story:  the Tobacco Road is a crushed gravel trail. Basically, this race weekend was the most type B weekend of my life.  I had no idea it was a trail race because I didn’t read the website.  Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have done the race had I realized, but fortunately “trail” meant a nice crushed limestone / hard-packed dirt, tree-lined path.  

The course elevation map looked hilly.  I thought the race was going to be hilly.  Then people told me, no!  the course if very fast and flat!  I have determined that when you have a race in your hometown, you decide it is either the hardest, hilliest race in the country, or the flattest and fastest. Well, this race was neither.  The first 2.5 miles (and subsequently the final 2.5 miles) were moderate rollers, while the middle miles on the tobacco trail were long, gradual inclines / declines.  There were a few areas that were more treacherous than others, but nothing worse than that random gravel path we had to run down at the Trials.  

My plan had been to start at 5:45 effort and make adjustments as necessary.  Fortunately we warmed up on the first mile of the course so I realized that 5:45 effort was going to be significantly slower, because of both the wind and the hill.  My first mile was ~5:52 (I think).  I had overheard eventual race winner talking on the line with someone and make plans to go for 73ish min.  My plan was to let her go, then reassess the situation at 4 miles and figure out what I needed to do to catch her.  Meanwhile, within the first mile it became apparent there was going to be a struggle for second.  A woman was right with me, and surging hard to try and drop me.  

photo cred:  Andie.  Taken ~2.5 mi into the race before the wheels fell off

A big goal of mine this year has been to compete more.  To be honest, I don’t love this situation.  I am very comfortable running alone.  I don’t love to do battle at the time (of course if I come out on top I’ll tell you otherwise).  So, every time she made a surge, I went with her and then put in a surge of my own.  I did this 4 or 5 times before dropping her for good, around the 6 mile mark. Splits that I remember:  3 miles, 17:30, 4 miles:  23:04; 5 miles:  28:50, 6.6 miles:  38:00. The way back was a death march of sorts. I’m not sure what happened. Certainly the way back had more long, gradual climbs, which are not as easy for me as steep hills (they never have been; I think it’s just the way my body is built and the fact that I grew up training in the dunes).  Also, I definitely thought the wind was in my face on the way out, but it turns out it was most certainly in my face after the turnaround (there was talk of a shifting wind conspiracy.  I would have to agree).  

Something I noticed during the race was that I was far less concerned about where I was on the course because my only goal in the short term was to stay in 2nd place. I knew that I was gaining on first, but I was also on the struggle bus myself.  There was a very real feeling at mile 8 of just get through 1k at a time.  

Final finishing time: 1:17:43.  

Am I happy with that? No.  To be honest, I am pretty disappointed.  But, I also realize I am incredibly fortunate to be able to say that a sub-78 minute half marathon is a “disappointment,” especially when I earned enough money to cover a student loan payment, a car payment, and a couple weeks of groceries.  It’s also a matter of perspective.  When I was training for my PR marathon, I ran a 5 mile road race 7 weeks before Twin Cities. I ran 28:45 and was beyond ecstatic with a new PR.  Today, I went through 5 miles in 28:50 and still had 8.1 miles to go.  7 weeks out from the trials I ran 1:17:19 on a course that was flat and didn’t have gravel.  To quote Brene Brown, the middle is messy, but that’s where the magic happens.  

I have had quite a few setbacks recently.  It’s hard to acknowledge setbacks, but also not allow them to let you feel like you’re spiraling out of control.   

My coach reminded me today that I strive way too hard for perfection, when all I have to be is good.

Regardless, I asked Coach Dean if I could set up an appointment with him this week, because I think a mental game tune-up never hurts.  

Even though I consider myself a highly Type A person, I did a whole lot of Type B things this weekend:

-have no idea I was running a trail race

-have no idea what time the trail race started (there was a point in time where I banned myself from running 7 AM races because it requires waking up at 4 AM…)

-wait to get my bib number until the last possible minute, then get stuck running down a highway

-forget to grab my gels when I went to the starting line

The great thing, though, is that none of this bothered me.  I think there was a point in time where I would have freaked the f*ck out if any one of these things happened, let alone all of them.  

So, what would I have done differently?  Absolutely nothing.  77:43 is where I’m at right now.  It’s not the worst place in the world to be, that’s for sure.  I wish I was faster, but all I can do about that is keep working and making the right investments into my training.  

[extremerunning]

#runningmoms #runningmomsrock #runningmomsofig #momswhorun #runningmom #running #runnersofinstagram #runningmotivation #marathontraining #thesemotherscanrun #runlikeamother #fitmomsofig #vibramfivefingers #vff #sweatlikeamother #strollerstrongmom #slam #runhappy #oisellevolee #oiselle #nuunlove #nuunlife #nuunambassador #marathonmama #inspiringwomenrunners #bamr #anothermotherrunner #alaskarunner #akrunners #akrunner https://www.instagram.com/p/BntdyLHiSs8/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1dbv49cba7ixe

[rollga]

@isamarathoner ・・・ It’s Wednesday so you know for me that usually means two things: #restday and #cleanseday! Yep, enjoyed some extra sleep this morning but I still got some stretching and rolling done. Y’all, I can’t say enough how much I ❤️❤️❤️ this funky roller from @rollgahealth! And it’s SUPER light! Not an ad, just sharing a product I love! Yesterday I mentioned getting your stretching and rolling done and several people commented that they struggle with fitting it in. So what I do is make time on my rest day, and fit it in every other day when I can, like when I watch TV, helping the kids read, cooking dinner (yes, I’m weird like that). A busy schedule means you do it when you can - no excuses! Here’s to a happy and healthy Wednesday! —————————————> . . . #MarathonFest #marathontraining #irunthisbody #headupwingsout #flystyle #ihavearunnersbody #oisellevolee #oiselleFL #zensah #teamzensah #teamenertor #isarunner #mindovermatter #mmathlete #mmalpha #leavenodoubt #monumentalmarathon #bemonumental #accountabilitycoach #hansonsmarathonmethod #rollga #foamroller #rollitout #cleansedaywednesday #intermittentfasting #cellularcleansing #teamisagenix #shredday https://www.instagram.com/p/BnOi0ajATrW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ej28llmm8exd

[allimmmiles]

Everything is better with friends (and dogs!), especially long, slow runs. The taper has officially begun for my final race of 2016 and not a day too soon. My body felt tired this weekend and some minor aches and pains have been flaring up in my right foot, shin and knee. I'm ready to pull back on the mileage and let myself recover so that I'm as healthy as can be on race day. It's also time to wax my skis, put some more wear on my climbing shoes and more miles on my bike. 🙌 #trailrunning #rundirt #runningwithfriends #oiselle #oisellevolee #trailandultra #justkeeprunning #optoutside #runbeernap #giddyup #staywild

[runinredsox]

Baltimore 10 miler done and state 23 done, tomorrow I finish off the east coast #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/p/ByK9JMunDP5/?igshid=1sxl6t5lgxtd

[gobigorgohome2016]

Dress Rehearsal

I love post-race chai lattes and recaps (used to be post-race coffee, but you know, damn coffee-intolerance :( ) 

Today I did a “dress rehearsal” half marathon:  the Boy Scout Half Marathon in Bowling Green, OH.  The plan was to wear the same clothes (specifically, my new-ish racing flats), take the same gels, have the same pre-race routine, practice taking water stops, and practice my goal pace during the race.  I wanted to run 6:10′s (goal pace) through 10 miles, then pick up the pace the last 5k. 

NAILED IT.

The day got off to a rough start.  The theme of my weekend has been wrong directions.  For some reason, everything I have written down to get me ANYWHERE in Ohio has been wrong!  ugh!  This morning was no different, and I arrived to the race later than I would have liked.  I warmed up, did my drills, did my strides, and then the race got delayed for 45 minutes due to lightning.  10 minutes before the race was supposed to start, I got out of the car and jogged a little and did more strides.  I chose this race because in previous years, 10+ men have gone under 1:20:00.  I thought this would give me a great chance to practice reining myself in while other people are going faster than me.  Unfortunately, this must have been an off year (except for one African woman, who put .5+ miles on me in the first 3 miles).  I let her go (and am proud of myself for doing so) because going out hard was NOT the plan for today.  I was 5th overall, and 4th place was 2+ min ahead of me.  Again, it would have been nice to have someone to run with, but going solo and sticking to my plan was the best thing for me to do today.  Like I mentioned, there was some rainy weather.  I actually wished it had STAYED rainy, because once it stopped raining, the humidity stayed.  The forecast called for 95% humidity at race time, and I can only assume that’s where it stayed.  I told myself this was GREAT toughness training, and would only make Twin Cities feel even better a month from now. 

I went out at what I felt was 6:10.  It actually felt very easy...almost too easy.  I wore my GPS today because I decided I will wear it in the marathon.  I am finding feedback, when used as data and not as an emotional indicator of my race, is very helpful.  This week, Coach Dean and I talked about the usefulness as splits as DATA and nothing else.  I like that approach.  We also talked about going into races saying “I WILL” instead of “I WANT/I THINK/I CAN”.  so helpful, as well as some mid-race strategies I’ll get to later.  Here are my splits:

6:03 6:07 6:05 6:04 6:04 5:56 5:53 5:54 5:54 6:01 5:52 5:52 5:44 1:59 (.35 miles....here’s the bummer...the races appears to have been long!  My GPS clocked 1.2 between miles 12 and 13.  Of course my GPS may be off, or I really took terrible tangents..but we were on main roads with few turns so I’m going to go with a last minute detour that added some mileage.  Bummer, because I was on PR pace!!!) Total: 1:19:30

The good I have never negative split a race like this.  I knew when I needed to drop the hammer, and I did.  I stayed focused in the middle of the race by pretending I was an announcer, announcing my race.  What perfect weather for Anna!  She always performs well when the conditions aren’t perfect!  She is just running phenomenally.  Look at her nail those water stops!  She flawlessly opened her GU!  She knows what she’s doing.  This went on from miles 5 - 11.  I took every water stop possible, and think I did a very good job.  I worry about water stops slowing me down, and I don’t think they did (there were 8 total).  I took two gels (excessive for a half, but I really need practice doing this at race pace).  I took gels at miles 4 (vanilla) and 9 (salted watermelon).  No problems!  In general, I’m just happy to have negative split this.  I felt strong the whole time.  I felt very within myself.  It’s nice for the last mile to be the fastest, on a mostly solo effort.

The bad I really let a guy in the middle of the race annoy me, and I think I wasted energy talking to him.  At mile 4 or 5 he came up on me, clearly red-lining, and tried to run back and forth with me.  I did my best to maintain a steady pace and stay calm and even.  I dropped him around mile 9 on an uphill portion and felt I was able to settle back into a better rhythm. 

The ugly Not much in that department today!  I was irrationally upset about not getting a PR today, but after calling my coach I felt much better about it.  He reminded me that I hit every single goal I had today, and then some.  A PR was never in the conversation.  Had I run 6:10 pace through 10, I would have likely been able to run the last 5k a little faster, but in the end, the times would have probably evened out.  My PR is from Brooklyn 2012, where we had perfect 60 degree/no humidity weather, no wind (today was annoyingly windy...not gusty, but enough to annoy you), and the last 3 miles were down hill.  My legs were shot for a week after I ran that (1:18:09).  My fitness then vs. now isn’t even comparable.  I think this will be a big conversation I have with Coach Dean on Wednesday...not dwelling on inconsequential things!!!

Now for a 3.5 hour drive home!  I never race without having Dave with me (wasn’t going to work out for him to come with me this time) and I definitely take for granted how much of a help he is on race day!  Looking forward to getting home to him and the dogs :)

[runinredsox]

Drove to the upper Charles trail to do track Tuesday and it went pretty well, 2x2 today 3 miles up 4 strides 2 miles at 9:30 pace 2 minute recovery Repeat once more Then 1 mile all out 2 miles down #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching #tracktuesday https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw5Z0OeBONQ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ebwdobl4b147

[runinredsox]

Strength training today #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/p/BvjFhmBB4Z7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=186ij7gtuvf42

[runinredsox]

1 hour and 20 minutes of running with the last 10 minutes at a faster speed. The run started rough and I thought this might be a very long long run, but by mile 2 everything started to click and it turned out to be a great run #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/runinredsox/p/BtGelO2h0lr/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=f4gzu05aux84

[runinredsox]

First miles of 2019 and I'm in a tshirt, cause it's 55 degrees out, great way to kick off the year, i've got good feelings about 2019 #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/runinredsox/p/BsGZ-0OBuix/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=shn8zdh1opt5

[runinredsox]

26 minutes of running this morning, took me 15 minutes to get ready, can it be summer again, it only takes me 5 minutes to get ready then #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/runinredsox/p/BrPqvsSBDo9/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l5d9lgtptyd7

[runinredsox]

Finally, I can run outside again, also this @oiselle shirt is everything and all long sleeve running shirts need to have a watch hole #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching https://www.instagram.com/runinredsox/p/Bq2PUkqBnfA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=m75bsrq7rp4g

[runinredsox]

4 miles + strides and humid, again, fun times #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #mudlove #findyourstridecoaching #runrichmond #marathontraining #richmondmarathon https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn0vJHlngsw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1hkochcf66had

[runinredsox]

Biking and another beautiful sunrise #running #lovetorun #irunthisbody #ihavearunnersbody #shecanandshedid  #womensrunningcommunity #cvgsquatsquad #garmin #earlymorningrunningteam  #sparklysoul #oisellevolee #oisellemari #bibchat #runchat #instarunners #runyourworld #runlikeagirl #strava #athletesunfiltered #knucklelights #momentumjewlery #findyourspark #nightrunner270 #bike #mudlove