Getting Prepared for Race Day

For some of us, The Pittsburgh Marathon is about 7 days away.  If you're a weirdo like me, then you've already planned and prepared what's going in your race bag, what you'll eat, and what you'll need afterwards.  I've made a list of some essentials on race day.

Outfit
•Shoes
•Socks
•Braces(if needed)
•Bra
•Underwear
•Shorts
•Top
•Long Sleeves(If needed)

•Fanny Pack

•Gels

•Inhaler

•Bib (Most important!!)

Food
•Breakfast
•Something for after the race
•Gels or whatever you use during the race

•Extra Water

In the gym bag

•Change of clothing (everything!)

•Change of shoes
•Instant Ice packs
•Ibprofin
•Extra safty pins
•Foam roller
•Hair Gumbies (hair tie)
•Bobby pins
•First Aid Kit

•Toe nail clippers

•Tweezers

•Deodorant
•Baby wipes (if you're going out after, you'll understand)

•Body Spray

•Bio Freeze, Tigerbalm, ice hot
•Purell
•Headphones
•Music

•Cell phone
•Cell phone and music chargers
•Sunscreen
•Camera

•Money

A lot of things seem like common sense but when you're packing a bag right before race day, you're bound to be nervous. I'm the type of person that will forget something like bobby pins and then have a total mental breakdown the night before when I know very well that there is a Wal*Mart down the street from where I'm staying. 

Usually by the time I'm done running whoever is waiting for me is starving and wants to go eat so I try to pack enough things to keep me from smelling after the race where ever I go. 

I still haven't decided what I'm eating before the race but I did go to Panera before my run the other day. I got my pre race favorite of Chicken Sorrentina Pasta and classic salad with a black iced coffee. This might be my night before food option. 

Are you running Pittsburgh half or full?

What are you favorites to take with you? 

Taper Time

So last week started our official taper for the Pittsburgh Marathon.  I'm terrible at tapering. The marathon is less than two weeks away and if you aren't familiar with tapering, then it's just basically going backwards in your training. You want to rest for the big run. For the half last year I didn't start my taper until about two weeks before. Some people hate it and some like it. I don't mind doing it. It's a break before the big race. So how am I tapering? Well, I'm still making it to CrossFit 3-4 times a week. My miles are becoming less. I'm starting to relax a little and I'm still figuring out how to fix pain. Right now, what hurts the most is the bottoms if my feet and the side of my right calf. I tried KT Tape for my feet yesterday and loved it! KT Tape is like athletic tape that you put on to ease pain. It gives you "how to" videos on YouTube. Scientifically, I don't know what it does but it really works! I'll most likely use it for race day. 

Since it was beautiful out I got 3 miles in at a nearby park. It packed with people walking and fishing. I had planned on doing much more but I had to dodge too many people. I went home and later met my sister at Panera. 

Adam is sick and I was pretty sure that I was getting his sickness so I got chicken soup and a med veggie Sandwhich with a black ice coffee. I have a planned long run this morning so I'm starting to try combos that I can eat before the race. I loved this combo. I was so full that I didn't eat my chips. That never happens! I also got a bagel to try before my run this morning. 

Before I was a training blogger for Panera, I went there frequently. I wouldn't have said yes to doing the training menu if I didn't actually believe in it. I can honestly say that it has been years since I've walked into a place and ordered fast food. One reason why I go to Panera is because their customer service is wonderful. My sister and I would go there in college to do our homework often and get our usual. I'm glad that I have a chance to try other things on their menu than a French onion soup with Greek Salad or a Sierra Turkey Sandwich. It is helping train and see what works with my body and what doesn't.  

How is the taper going?

Do you have any Panera favorites? 

My first 20 miles ever!

Thursday I was supposed to get 20 miles in. A mile down the road I realized it wasn't going to happen. I couldn't even run back, I had to walk. The pain in my lung was so sharp that it hurt to touch. After falling asleep and it still no going away, I went to the grocery store to get some medicine. I skipped CrossFit that night but went Friday for Open Gym. Open gym is just a day where you can work on things that you need. I took it easy since I knew I would be doing my long run and I didn't want to over exert myself.  

So Saturday, we woke up and Hudson had a hair cut so we walked him through town to his groomer. This was his first hair cut ever. 

That was his before and after. I gave her strict orders of "Do what you have too but don't cut him like a poodle." When he came out we didn't recognize him. We weren't happy with it but I guess there isn't anything we could do. We officially have a poodle. They left his bushy tail. I can't wait for it to grow back.  Adam and I and planed that we would try a new trail in Greensburg, he would golf 9 holes and I would run 20 miles. They were close to each other so it was convenient. As he was changing one of our friends sent us a text and said to go from Connellsville to Ohiopyle and her and out other friend will meet us on the other side and take us back to our car. Adam changed again and since he said that he would ride along side me I promised he could golf the next day and I'd play caddie. 

My 20 mile run

I try to be positive but it was kind of awful. I knew Adam didn't want to be there and that kind of made it worse for me. I did the number 1 rule of what not to do on a long run or race day. Wear something new. I was pretty pumped that I had recently bought a pair of 4" tight running shorts from TJMaxx and want to try them out. Big mistake. They kept riding up for the first mile and a half. That's when Adam asked if the logo was supposed to be in the back. Well, that solved the riding up problem. There was no where to take my pants off to change so I did it out in the open when no one was coming. Then I had the worst calf cramp. Super frustrated that I'm at my first 2 miles and already having problems, I stopped my garmin, stretched and went for a new beginning. Adam wasn't a fan of following me because he was testing his new road bike. It's hard to go slow with a runner on those kind of bikes. He would go ahead and make sure I was still in sight. There was ALOT of walking. Every time I walked he would tell me to keep running so we could get there faster. My legs hurt, my lungs hurt and I was being a baby. Truthfully, I have a bad feeling that I'm going to get picked up by the cart. From mile 10-17 he was my motivator though. These were his favorite lines:

-Just keep swimming, Just keep swimming

-You're making the turn at the Blvd of the Allies. It's all down hill and you can almost see the finish line. Just a little bit more! 

-You got this!

-How are you feeling about that full ironman now?! (That ended in a big ol' two words starting with 'F' and ending in 'it') 

I told him that I hated this and I'm never doing a marathon again. His answer was that I'm going to cross the finish line and say how great it was a sign up for another one. Doubt, but we'll see. 

At mile 17 our friends were waiting for us cheering. I told them to hold on because I still had 3 more miles. I kept going, once again stopping a lot. I almost just gave up at 17 and went home but I finished it off. With my last .25 miles my friend Katrina ran it with me and told me how proud she was of me. That's a best friend. When I finished I yelled, "20 miles, done! I did it and I want beer!" 

Her and our other friend Daneille also brought us snacks and water for on the way home. I was too exhausted to eat. We had a little family game night with  pizza afterwards. 

We love Clue but they changed everything since we were kids. 

During and after my run, everything hurt. The balls of my feet the most though. I went to sleep around 1:30am because I couldn't sleep. I was back up by 3am stayed up watching Three's company until 5:30am. Needless to say, I'm exhausted. I sent my mom a text and asked if I could go to her house for an ice bath. Of course she said yes. 

After we woke up I promised Adam that I appreciated him following me so much that I would be his personal caddie today. I've never played golf and I don't plan on it. So we got everything ready and headed to my moms. 

After my ice bath and hot bath, I started my caddie duties. We walked 9 holes to strech our legs from yesterday. 

My handsome golfer. 

He let me pick the lucky game ball. Her name was Callie and we kept her the whole time! 

He has a bag boy so it wasn't that bad. The hills were rough but we made it. I really enjoyed myself though. I could handle 9 holes,18 probably not. I also learned a lot about golf.  After he finished, we went home and relaxed until our bike ride. 

This was my first treck out on my trek. I was really nervous since I had never riden my bike near other cars. For the most part we stayed on the trail. When we got to the next town, we rode on the roads a little. I got a little more comfortable but not too much. It takes practice, but 11 miles seemed pretty awesome after my 20 mile run yesterday. Half Ironman here I come! 

So that was our weekend full of fitness. It was a quick weekend and I'm ready for a rest day tomorrow. 

Everyone knows that I'm blogging for the Panera Training Menu. I had my new favorite You Pick Two this week. 

The Chicken Sorrentina and Classic Salad with Greek dressing. It fuled me for my weekend workouts and kept me full. If you haven't tried it, I would recommend it. That's becoming my favorite combo. 

How was your weekend. 

We're down to 3 weeks. Hows training? 

My Perfect Weekend

It's Monday night and ending my 3 day weekend with my husband. Though, we only have a dog and a cat we both have jobs and never spend as much time together as we would like too. There was one bad part to my weekend...I didn't get to my long run. Whoops. It's killing me right now. BUT, here's how my weekend went:

Friday: I worked in Morgantown until 3:30pm. Then I went to CrossFit to do 14.5. Afterwards, I gave Adam the choice of going to the gym or dinner. He picked dinner. 

It's not the healthiest but it was wonderful. 

Saturday: 8am CrossFit and we went to Panera for breakfast.

It was delicious! I've never had the Green Smoothy before. It tasted like it had bananas in it. I also had the Power Breakfast with Egg Whites. It was very light but filling. I wasn't hungry until around dinner time. 

Afterwards, we went on a search for a road bike. We've been talking about me getting a road bike for some time so I thought we would at least get sized and try to find something. We went to three bike stores in our area and by 2:30pm I had a roadbike. Now Adam wants one so we can go riding together. He's been searching all weekend. 

I am pleased to introduce: "Tabata the Trek"! It will look great right next to "Dusty the Diamondback". (Whoever can figure who Dusty is named after will get a special hug.)  Later that night Adam and I had a date night in house. I made healthy homemade chicken and the popcorn that everyone is making from a paper bag. We watched Despicable Me 2 but Adam fell asleep half way through. I thought it was a cute movie! 

Sunday: We woke up early(thanks to Hudson our Goldendoodle) so I made us breakfast. 

Buttermilk Blueberry Bread, thanks Pinterest. We hung out at home for a while and then went on search for a Bucs Jersey for this afternoon. We spent most of our day gone but when we can home we took Hudson for a bath at the pet wash. It's really cool! It's like a car wash, except for the dog. Duh..sorry Two hours later he came clean. 

Monday:This morning I woke up at 5:30 to meet my friend, Sherry at CrossFit. I've been missing her so we made plans to meet this morning. I'm really glad she held me accountable because at 5:30am that was the only thing getting me out of bed. 

Adam and I, both took today off to go to the Pirates Home Opener. I've always loved baseball, even when they sucked. I'm too young to remember a winning season. I think I was 2 or 3 the last time they had a great season except for last season. It was a perfect day for the game! It started off cold but then warmed up tremendously. 

We packed a lunch to eat before we went into the game but about halfway through we decided to go get something. 

That wasn't worth the wait. It was good but not $9.25 good. I even missed the perogie race! That was the worst part. 

The best part was that we had great seats! 

So I missed my long run this weekend but I finally got to spend time with my little family. I know I probably could have squeezed it in there somewhere but it was a weekend that we needed together.  Sorry, my life isn't that exciting but I thought I would share it with you. 

Tomorrow's goal: 10 miles(after work)

Have you ever neglected running or a workout for family or a friend that came into town?

The fur kids just wanted some attention this weekend.  

Treadmill Thoughts.

If any of you know me then you know I hate the treadmill. Actually, it takes a lot to get me on there but when I do, then I get stuff done. It might be slow and I might stop a lot because I think it get shin splints but I get stuff done. 

Tonight's run got done. I told myself I was going to do it and I did. I was miserable the entire time. (No need to lie) I am an absolute complainer when I'm on the dreadmill. Soooo to make it fun, I want to let you know about what goes on in my head (or "Missieland" as one of my longest best friends would call it.)

Missieland 

1.) I go to the gym in hopes to watch The Big Bang Theory or Two and a half men reruns. 

2.) I never get gassy until someone shows up beside me. 

3.) Contemplating my triathlon training for August, I've concluded that the swimming comes first because of you drown then you don't have to waste your time on biking and running. You just cut your loses at the swimming. 

4.) Now I'm not sure if I want to go the Pgh Tri in August. That's my birthday/anniversary/ best month ever. I don't want to die then...

5.) I'm pretty sure the girl beside me doesn't appreciate me blowing my nose into my sleeve while running. At least I did it on the other side...

6.) I wonder how fast I can make this go before I trip on my face and go flying back... If it didn't hurt so bad it would probably be hilarious. Who trips on a treadmill?! Let's keep this thing slow to make sure that doesn't happen. 

7.) Wow five miles is further than I thought...

8.) I guess this is how hamsters feel sometimes..

9.) Am I done yet?! Only two miles left..I can do this....

After I finished that fun extravaganza I had to shower and run errends. By this time it was close to 8pm and I was starving. Luckily, Panera is right beside the gym that I go too. Since it was so late and I was going home to get to sleep, I didn't want to eat anything heavy. I decided to go with the Chicken Hummus Power Bowl. 

The first thing I noticed was their packaging. I had to drive about 20 minutes home and you know SW Pa is full of potholes. It with stood the test of my driving and the potholes! That doesn't happen often...

It was full of spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and chicken. They added lemon juice over top of it. The bowl was really light and filled me up before I went to sleep. I would defiantly eat this before working out too. It's light enough that you won't get sick before a gym session. 

*At a lot of Panera Stores this bowl is not located on the menu yet, but if you ask for it, they'll usually have it. 

This is my little blogging helper. He needs my kisses. 

It's Friday, friends! What are your weekend workouts?!