Iron Girl Photo Dump!!

My brother took some photos during Iron Girl. I finally got my hands on them after my recap of course. So here they are for your viewing pleasure!



My arrival at Iron Girl.

I feel like I am talking to the paparazzi here. LOL

My happy PR face!

My running club lovelies!

 

Finally, My Iron Girl Recap

The Athleta Iron Girl Clearwater was exactly 10 days ago and I spent a good 4 or 5 of those days sore as hell.

Why was I sore, you might ask? Well because I had a 17 minute PR. :)

But I get ahead of myself. The weeks leading up to Iron Girl were rough. I was working like crazy. Didn't get a lot of rest. And the week of the race, I managed to get a whole two runs in. I had a short run on Saturday. I remember freaking out because my legs felt weird.

Prior to those two weeks, my training was spot on. My training has never been so good.

Race morning, I didn't feel confident. But I felt hopeful that somehow things would still workout. Everything went wrong too. Andy didn't get a chance to make my rice for breakfast. My brother was running late - he is NEVER late. Once I got to the race I could not find my friend who would be pacing me.

Thankfully, once we got to Clearwater we found parking relatively fast. I had plenty of time to find my pacer. I found a bunch of friends, but didn't find my pacer. This made me nervous as heck.

My friend, Anne ended up coming to the rescue. She recently ran a race and couldn't finish because of an injury. She too was a tad nervous about making sure this race went well.

We lined up together. I still kept looking around for my other friend, but I never could find her until close to the end of the race. Anne and I stayed together, each with the condition that if either one was having a magnificent race they could book it. We started out with the 2:30 pace group, but they went out way too fast. I let them go on ahead.

Once we got going the miles ticked off slowly.

Throughout all my training runs the runs went by fast. During Iron Girl, one mile felt like forever. I wasn't really keeping track of pace either. I just made sure to keep moving. Anne and I found our rhythm.  We kept our pace easy.

We chatted. We walked all the water stops. And took the ups on the bridges easy. I am happy to say that the only bridge we somewhat had to walk up was the very last bridge. At around mile 6 - 7, I had to stop and untie my shoe and loosen it. I had to retie my shoe in the morning to get the chip on and I may have tightened it too much because my foot was getting tingly into the race. I saw Xiomara kicking some Iron Girl butt around this time.

Some where around mile 8ish, we passed the 2:30 pace group. The were walking. I believe they were trying to slow down. This was such a huge confidence booster and was also my first indication that I might be hitting a personal record.

I went through mile 1-10 without feeling much of anything. My longest run was 10 miles during training. Once I got passed 10 miles, I started to feel the race physically and mentally. I wanted to be finished. I was getting grumpy and hot. I had to dig deep to keep it moving.

The last bridge was rough. We had a headwind. I ran into Caitlyn during this bridge. We asked each other how we were doing. She reinforced my suspicion that I would PR. I told her I did't want to know. I can't tell you why I didn't want to know. I figured if I knew what my time was I would either be disappointed or put too much pressure on myself.

I was so ready to be done that a flew down that bridge. I flew down the spiral path. I flew over those sidewalks. I saw my friend Jessica with like 0.3 to go. She was SO excited to see me. We went through our coaching certification program together and she wrote my training plan.

Her first words were I didn't expect to see you so soon. In all her yelling and cheering, she was like Jess you are going to PR. Race it in. And that's what I did. I mustered every little bit of energy I had left and booked it to the end.

I immediately found my running coach Lynn with my family. I told my brother that the race was dedicated to him. He comes to all of my races, even the bad ones. I promised myself the next race that I had that was great would be for him. :) And Iron Girl was a great race!

How cool do my splits look? I alternated the speed between faster and slower.

What did I love about Iron Girl? I really liked the course. I know some don't like the bridges, but it was nice to have a change up. Once I was getting used to the flats, I had to run up a bridge. Alternatively, those bridges are also why I was SO sore. Concrete isn't forgiving at all.

The scenery was beautiful. Everyone that's everyone was at the race. The pancake breakfast after the race was probably my favorite touch.

My only two gripes were that the area where we could run on the course was pretty narrow. We could have had a few more water stops too. I believe there was a water stop every two miles or so. With it being as hot as it was more water or maybe colder water would have been perfect.

In the grand scheme of things those were two very minimal things. I enjoyed that course. I enjoyed seeing my friends. And when I finished, I felt like a real Iron Girl.

I'm an Iron Girl!

Disclosure - Iron Girl provided me with a free entry into this year's race in exchange for this post. All opinions are always my own. 

Waiting for the other shoe to drop...

Things have been crazy busy these past two weeks. I landed an amazing project that has had me running around like a chicken with its head cut off. I have been loving every minute.  In between all of this craziness there has been something that has been surprisingly un-crazy - running.

I don't call my self a Cuban Running Crisis for nothing. Every training cycle I can count on something happening. When it's not IT pain, it's poopy panties. If it's not crapping my pants, it's shin splints. I can keep going. Seriously!

Yet as I started training for Iron Girl with the exception of some minor shin splints, I have had zero issues. I have been running on pace. My nutrition has been on par. I have been running lots of hills. I have been incorporating surges into my long runs.

I am doing well.

And I find it hard to believe. In fact, I can't help but wonder when the other shoe will drop. I would be lying if I didn't tell you that I am afraid it will all come apart at the seams on Sunday. And even after typing that I still have a feeling that Sunday has the potential of being a great race day. I am usually such a train wreck throughout training that I know race day won't be surprising.

Needless to say, after having said good training cycle, I desperately desire to have a good race day. I know that it doesn't always work this way. Until Sunday, I will continue to wonder how it will all pan out.

Thankfully, I will be a busy bee the rest of the week. I have lots of work and I am the volunteer coordinator at the Tampa Corporate 5k this Thursday. I really won't have much time to think about it. But I can tell you, I will be a tad nervous and excited about how the day will unravel on Sunday. Races are always a coin toss on how you will feel.

I am hoping for nice weather. I will accept rain. I will start out slow and run smart. And maybe, just maybe I can break my 3 year old PR.

I need to maintain this amazing running streak for one more long run! Here is hoping I am a true Iron Girl on Sunday!

Have you ever felt your training cycle was too good to be true? How did your race turn out?

Operation Lean Out WK#16

What a week?! How I managed to squeeze everything in is still shocking to me.

Let me cut to the chase. This week's workouts -

March 18 - Coaching class did some light weights and ran about 2 miles of bridges/ also did Jillian Michael's video week 1 workout.
March 19 - Off (I coached track); 10 flights of stairs
March 20 - 2 miles with dog; 3 mile of intervals with club; strength workout in gym
March 21 - Off; 10 flights of stairs
March 22 - Jillian Michael's video
March 23 - 2 mile run with Miles for Moffitt group I am coaching.
March 24 - 10 miles (5 bridges in 20 mph winds)

Looks like a hefty workout week, huh? I am proud of myself for squeezing everything in. I had to manipulate things around, but I made it happen. The key was not to procrastinate. If I had an open time slot I squeezed in the workout. Otherwise, I knew that later things would get crazy and then I wouldn't be able to get the workout it. 

I was sore 90 percent of the week. Not horribly sore, but a good kinda sore. 

Getting my strength on at the gym.

Other than me getting my strength on 3 times this week, the most important thing to happen was my 10-miler. It was my first time back in the double digits since early last year.

It was a tough run. My club headed out to Clearwater, to give us members running Iron Girl the opportunity to run on the same bridges of the course. We thought it would be raining, instead we faced 20 mph winds.

Thankfully, the wind made it feel cooler, however it made us slower. During the run,  the miles ticked away quickly. I don't know if it was because of the bridges or what, but the run seemed to go by fast. I used my running coach as my rabbit. She ran ahead and I just focused on following her. The bridges were tough but doable. I even added another repeat of the bridge for good measure.

This run was exactly the confidence builder I needed! If I feel anything like I felt on Sunday during Iron Girl...I will be one happy woman.

This weekend we will be making our way out to San Antonio for one final long run before it's taper time.

How did your week go?

Running With Pups

It is no secret that I am a huge cat person. I have always had kitties in my life. I am sure you have seen some of my posts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram of my beautiful cats - Achillies and Hermoine.

I like dogs too, but cats are my favorite. I have had dogs at some points in my life but it was usually thanks to my parents or ex-husband. I would not have had a dog if it were up to me. They like licking your face and tend to be more needy than cats.

But I digress. Ever since I started running, I have always thought it would be awesome to run with a dog. For some time now, the future sister-in-law, Nats, has been trying to get me to run with her dog, Nala. Nala is a beautiful pitbull who over the last few years has packed on the pounds.

Last week, I told Nats that I would be stopping by to take Nala for a stroll. Poor Nala is the epitome of a couch potato. We headed out for a run and she made it a half mile before she plopped on the floor refusing to go any further.

Nala was eager to get going until she realized how far it would take her. LOL

After I took Nala out, my friend Ang asked if I wanted to take her pup out too. I have taken Ozzie out a few times now. He is a bit more of an overachiever and goes a bit farther than Nala but they both are in need of getting fit.

How cute is he?!

I can't pet photographer ever. ;-)

I am completely enjoying every run with these guys. They are easy jogs and I get to enjoy the fun of having a dog without having to take them home! I may be starting my own 'Couch Dogs to 5K' program.

Do you run with a dog? What's your favorite part?

How Adventuress Can You Be?

A few month's ago, I contacted Adventuress about their products. I had been perusing the web, when I stumbled on their site. Instantly, I read that the Adventuress products are "designed with the active lifestyle in mind." Automatically, I was interested.

Photo courtesy Adventuress

Here is a blurb about Adventuress from the site:

From day one my Adventuress Skin Care Collection was designed with an active lifestyle in mind. After four years interviewing labs all over the country to help me formulate this exciting product line I met Masoomeh, a world-traveling biochemist with more than 20 years experience developing technologies for brands like L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and Procter & Gamble to name a few.

With Masoomeh’s connections and knowledge of raw materials together we created this naturally derived collection with vital ingredients designed for varying degrees of skin sensitivities and allergies. With Adventuress you get an arsenal of products to protect and nourish,including moisturizer, sunscreen, skin purifier, face cleanser and EnviroBalm™.

And since your active lifestyle doesn’t allow for a lot of extra baggage, it was all specifically created with “on-the-go” in mind. So whether your adventures lead you to the slopes, beach, on the trail or out on the highways, I have two words for you…Go There!

 After snooping around the site, I found I was mostly attracted to the YouVee's Sunscreen Wipes. I live in Florida and well it's always sunny. Although I was blessed with good Hispanic genes and tan nicely, I tend to get extremely pasty white in the winter and end up burning on occasion.

Adventuress was great. The company sent me a small box with some of the sunscreen wipes and threw in some Fearlessly Refreshing Facial Wipes . I didn't get around to trying them until recently since I am back on a good workout rhythm.

I took them with me on a recent long run.

Notice the sunscreen wipes are SPF 30.

Once the sunscreen wipe is opened.

Right before my run, I opened the sunscreen wipe and found the cream on the wipe. I basically used the wipe to apply the sunscreen onto my face and voila I was done.

The wipe has a pocket where you can place your fingers for easy application. The pocket also allows  you to flip everything back in there to avoid any mess. I didn't get anything on my hands.

This is what it looks like once your done.

If you needed to reapply this could easily be used on your run or ride and be stored in your pocket until your done. Aside from the packaging the sunscreen worked great. The sunscreen didn't sweat into my eyes. I didn't break out. It worked great, which is not something I can say about every sunscreen.

This is designed for on the go. It probably wouldn't work for a full body application.

After my workout, I opened the Refreshing Wipe and used it to wipe my face free of sunscreen and sweat. The wipe felt AMAZING! It felt cool on my skin. It was exactly what I needed after the hard long run.

Have you ever tried an Adventuress product? What were your thoughts?

**I sought out Adventuress and requested samples. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Operation Lean Out WK#15

This post is a tad late, huh? Better late then never, I guess. I had a big deadline yesterday and work today, which left blogging on the back burner.

Either way, here I am and these are my workouts for this week:

March 11 - Some light running/strength with my class
March 12 - 10 flights of stairs + 2.5 miles @ track
March 13 - Off
March 14 - 10 flights of stairs + 3.1 mile run @Fitniche
March 15 - 2 miles easy with my friends dog
March 16 - 1 mile with coaching class + 2.5 miles
March 17 - Off

Notice anything missing? Yes, strength. I failed miserably at completing my two Jillian Michael workouts this week. I didn't even get to do my gym strength workout because my partner was tapering for a half marathon.

However, I am kicking butt with running. Looking at all these little runs here and there during the week make me smile. I chose not to have a full blown long run this weekend. My body was sore and exhausted. This weekend I have a big run. My club is heading to Clearwater to run some bridges. I plan to run 10 miles on those bridges to help prepare for Iron Girl. My fingers are crossed it will be a good one. I need the boost!

How has your week been?