Week 12 Back on the Wagon!

My vacation was lovely but boy did I pay for it! My body was like "you want me to do what!?! Phaleeeze!" Now everyone has to remember what the original purpose of this blog is: to give you the good, the bad, and the ugly of a first time runner training for a marathon. I keep it real with you guys and this post is no exception....WARNING the follow story involves potential vomiting so if you can't handle it scroll down to August 22nd


August 17th: Hold On To Your Lunch

It had now been about two weeks since my last hard run, I don't even count the treadmill because is not comparable. When I left for my trip we were doing hills in our Tuesday night GTS and I had completed 10 miles on our long run like a champ! But oh how quickly the body forgets and spirals into mush.

Much to my surprise we were still doing hills in our Tuesday GTS. Except we had moved from a friendly hill to this beastly hill on the other side of the park. This hill had a serious attitude! I think it flipped me the bird when I got there. But hey I'm a New Yorker, I don't get phased by attitudes. I once had a bum curse me out in Penn Station because I wouldn't give him money. It was actually pretty funny, but I digress.

Anyway I pushed the hill's attitude to the side because I was pumped to get back on the wagon and was looking forward to good workout. As usual this plan immediately went downhill (no pun intended). We were doing repeats again, running a hard effort up the hill and recovering down the hill. After two times up the hill I started to feel sick to my stomach, the feeling you get right before you throw up. I've seen this happen to people before, where they are pushing themselves so hard that they throw up. I personally don't see anything wrong with this. Obviously if you feel like you need to throw up your body is telling you to get rid of something that's not right. I decided to tell my coach Jim how I was feeling.

"Not to sound gross, but I feel like I have to throw up. Should I just step to the side and do it? I think I'll feel better."

"No, don't do that just chill out for a little while and it will pass." Clearly Jim did not understand the seriousness of the situation, so I thought I'd reiterate how I was feeling.

"Um, I don't think it's going to pass, I REALLY think I should go throw up and I will feel better."

"Just sit down take a few sips of your Gatorade and you'll feel better." I hate getting into back and forths with authority figures so I just took his word for it, sat down and tried to hold it in. A few minutes passed and Jim asked how I was feeling.

"It still hasn't passed! I still feel horrible! What does this mean!?! Am I done? Can I not run hills anymore? Is my body refusing to work with me because I took a week off?" Jim looked at me like I was losing my mind. I knew I had taken the dramatics over the top so I just stopped talking and he asked me a series of questions.

"When was the last time you ran?"

"About two weeks ago."



"Ok, was it this hot out during your last run?"

"No." come to think of it when I did my last hard run it was nice and cool out. This particular day it was 90+ and humid.

"Ok, what did you drink today?"

Shamefully I answered, "coffee and iced tea."

"Alright, it sounds like you got a little out of shape while you were on vacation and your body needs to adjust. You're dehydrated and trying to push yourself in really hot weather. So just take it easy." I gave Jim a blank look and said "thank you." He had diagnosed me in less than a minute and sure enough a few moments later the nausea passed and I was on my way back up the hill! Everything he said made sense, why didn't I think of that? I'm so determined to progress in my training I didn't realize that knowing when to take it east is progression!

What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) Pushing yourself is not always the best thing to do when you're just getting back into a training routine

2) sometimes you have to take a step backward to move forward

3) Throwing up is not always the answer to your problems


August 22nd: Lack of Muscle Memory

On Sunday the team ran in a 10 mile race at Prospect Park instead of doing a long run in the streets. This meant that we would run the outer loop of Prospect Park three times, which meant I'd have to run up that beastly hill three times! I wasn't too nervous because like I said earlier I was running 10 miles like a champ pre vacation. When I got to Prospect Park it was raining, this was my first time running in the rain. After the first lap I realized that this was 100 times harder than I remembered. But on the bright side it had stopped raining.

I was doing ok on the second lap until I hit that hill, the one with the stank attitude (which is about the half way point for each lap). I had to dig deep to get to the top. Quietly, when I got to the top of the hill I wanted to just keep running out of the park to the Grand Army Plaza 2/3 stop, go home and get in my bed. But I found my "eye if the tiger" and kept going.

By the time I hit the third lap Murphy's Law was in effect. It was full on raining, I was tired and my body was breaking down. My body was talking to me. As a matter of fact I was having a full on conversation with my body, it went a little like this:

My legs started first with, "WTF are you serious with this nonsense right now!?!"

"Come on legs, cut me a break I need you the most. I promise I'll give you some Icy/Hot later."

Then my butt chimed in, "look here girl I'm not built for all this. My job is to sit up and look cute. I'm the muscle that doesn't like to do a lot of heavy lifting."

I immediately snapped back "listen you, you've been doing nothing but expanding since my 25th birthday! You need this more than any other part of my body." Before I could continue to scold my butt my abs interrupted.

"Excuse me, I really feel like I've been doing my part today can we please take a break?" My abs were so polite about the situation I started to feel bad. Then came the final straw...my hands. My hands were so swollen, this is because I was dehydrated and releasing too much salt through my sweat without replenishing. My hands didn't even have to say anything I could already see that they were suffering.

At this point I had about 1/4 mile left, every part of my body was screaming for me to stop....except my mind! My mind shut all that noise down. "Would you fools stop complaining, we have a goal to complete. Marlena don't listen to these idiots you're fine look the finish line is right there!" Sure enough the finish line was about 100 yards away and all of my teammates ( who were finished) were cheering me on. A few seconds later I had crossed the finish line!

I have never been in more pain in my life! This was such a humbling experience on how quickly you can get out of shape. I walked away (well really limped away) from the race half proud and half scared. If I was in this much pain after 10 miles, what will happen after 26.2?


What Did I Learn About Running That Day?

1) If you don't use it you really do lose it

2) ok a real lesson: you're body will swell if you lose too much salt and don't hydrate (which is what happened with my hands)

3) Listen to your mind not you body because sometime you're body is ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble

Week 10 & 11 Update: Off The Wagon


Be forewarned that this post has more to do with my adventures in the Mediterranean than it does with running. So if you tune in every week just for the training tips you will be disappointed.

August 6th: Almost missed the boat...true story

I would like to first Thank God for giving me this vacation. I have a new appreciation for Job 1:21 "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away" because that was almost my story last Friday. I would also like to say shout out to American Airlines, Delta was a hot mess in both directions of this trip. I'm generally a loyal American flyer (due to all the free trips I get through their miles program). Delta can learn a few things from their airline brethren over at American. Now on to the story.

After sitting in an insane amount of traffic on the BQE and Van Wyck I finally made it to JFK to board a plane to Venice for my vacation. I was due to go on a Mediterranean cruise traveling to Dubrovnik (Croatia), Athens, Ephesus (Turkey), and Nafplion (Greece). My flight was due to Leave at 7:15, I got to the airport at 5:30 super excited. I had my slippers, scarf, and sweater in my carry on to get cozy for the nearly 9 hour flight. I was ready to pop my Tylenol PM and wake up refreshed in Venice. Oh yeah I said it , I'm not ashamed, I pop OTC medicine to fall asleep on flights...and don't act like you don't do it too!

Well the plan was completely derailed when our flight was delayed until 11pm. I started to do the math, we needed to board the ship 2 hours prior to the 5pm departure. If we were originally due to get in to Venice at 10am that meant with the delay we would not get in until 3pm. crap we might not make the ship! Wait it gets worse....the Delta crew then announced that they are checking the planes engine and would let use know at midnight if the flight is cancelled!!...Wait it gets worse, I didn't put insurance on my trip so if I missed this flight and the ship I would not only miss out the vacation i would also lose all the money I paid!!!! Suffice to say I was sitting at the gate feeling sick! Listen I ususally frown upon excessive use of exclamation marks but I really want to convey the stress of this situation.....Anyway about 20 minutes later they made the boarding announcement and we were on our way! Granted i'm not sure the speed at which the pilot flew was entirely legal because we made it to Venice in 7 hours. But whatever, we were the last people to get on the ship but we made it!

Whew that was a close one. After volcanic ash ended my first attempt for a vacation in Amsterdam this year I just couldn't take another disappointment. Lesson learned Lord, don't brag about your fabulous vacation to every person you come into contact with. Got it, I am officially an understated traveler!


August 7-14th: Black and Fat

Once we were settled on the cruise the good times began! The ship was like heaven, but with a sun deck and piña coladas. I have to say I had every intention of training whole time I was there. I woke up bright and early on the first day and hit gym. I used the treadmill for the first time during my training, I'll tell you up front I'm not a fan. First of all there's a window right in front of the treadmill looking out at the Sea. Awww sounds pretty right? Wrong! I had to look away to avoid getting sea sick. I'm so spoiled from running outside. It much more challenging and obviously better scenery. Not to mention the fact that running on the treadmill is boring I wanted to shoot myself after mile 2. So once I got to 3 miles I declared it a 5K and called it a day.

I felt good after my workout and fully intended to go back the next day....but sadly friends that was the first and last time I worked out on the cruise. Wait, I mean that was the last time I worked out in the gym. Surely I burned some calories while I was laying out in the sun. I was sweating, doesn't that mean I was burning calories?

Well if laying out wasn't enough I definitely burned some calories walking the city wall around Dubrovnik. The stairs to get up the wall were crazy steep and once we got up there it wasn't like strolling down Broadway. It was blazin hot and the wall had all kinds of dips and turns.

Ok still not convinced I worked out? Try this one, climbing to the top of the Acropolis. Oh you didn't know? Yes, you have to climb to the top. Once again you're not walking up a flight of modern stairs, these are ancient stones that are super slippery. I have no idea how the ancient Greeks got up and down that hill in just their little gladiator sandals.

Ok still don't believe I exercised? How about touring the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey for and hour and a half? When we got to the port in Turkey, no lie it was 101 in the shade at 8am. I had sweat dripping from my brow as soon as I set foot on the dock. Once we actually got to the site of the ancient city there was no shade. I kept telling my friend "this desert is killing me!" She would reply everytime "Marlena, we're not in the desert it's just really hot."

The bottom line is I did get some exercise in. But truth be told anytime that we were on the boat I was either laying out, eating, or sleeping. I was living the cruise credo of getting black and fat. I would love to tell you all my fun stories about the ports but that would take too long, thought I'd give you a snap shot at some of the high class problems I had while I was away. Tune in next week for our regularly scheduled program. What happens after you've taken a week off from training!?! don't know let's find out together!


What Did I Learn About Running that week?

1) Running on a treadmill is no substitute for running outside, not even close!

2) When training for a marathon it's probably best to take a vacation after the race because it's hard to motivate yourself to get back into it.

3) the next time I have to fly somewhere to take a cruise I will a) get there the day before and b) insure my trip

Week 9: 10 Miles and a Hill

July 31st: 10 Miles and Counting



I can't believe I've come so far, but I managed to conquer 10 miles!. On Saturday we ran from Prospect Park over the Brooklyn Bridge and back. This was a milestone on a few levels, first this is the longest distance I've ever run. Second, this is the first time we've done a run where it wasn't 95+ degrees!!!!! It was a perfect day for running on Saturday and for the first time I didn't feel nervous about the run. I think this is mainly because I was familiar with the route. When we did our Coney Island run, I felt like I was running to the end of the earth. That was an all around hot mess! But because I've run the Brooklyn bridge before I felt optimistic about the run, plus I now know how 8 miles feels so I had an idea of what I was in for.



I went out with friends Friday night and didn't stay out to late like a good marathoner in training. I got home around 11:30 and for some reason decided to clean my apartment like a mad woman. I finally laid down at 1:30am. My alarm went off a 6am and I immediately contemplated skipping GTS. By the way this happens like 99.9% of the time on Saturday mornings ever since I started training. Everytime that alarm goes off I dread dragging myself out of bed to get excited about running. It's the absolute worst.! I laid there for five minutes and starred at the ceiling weighing my options, would it really be that deep if I missed this practice? I finally sat up and got moving. I seriously yawned every two minutes all the way to prospect park.



Once I got to the park after a few announcement coach Jim gave us some quick directions and told us to go. We started off down 9th street, this was great because it was all down hill, I couldn't think of a better way to start a run. I was working my five in one strategy and feeling great. I don't know if it's because there were more turns on this route or because it was the first time I ran when it wasn't blazin' outside but in seemed like we got to the bridge in no time! I wasn't exhausted or feeling like death. I felt like I had plenty of energy left but I was completely confused, why wasn't I tired or wanting someone to put me out of my misery? Did the drop in temperature make that much difference? Did I really build up that much stamina in a week? I didn't know what was making this run so bearable but I just went with it. We went over the bridge and back, which was slightly challenging because as I've explained before the Brooklyn bridge is one long hill going up. When we got back to the Brooklyn side of the bridge the run continue at a good pace until we got back to 9th street urgh!



Remember that hill that we started on, the one that made me feel so great going down hill, well it was the devil coming back! I tried to get my "eye of the tiger" on up the hill, but it wasn't working. I was officially tired. That familiar feeling was back, yes! I now wanted someone to put me out of my misery...ahhh marathon training, I'm back in business! If it's not hard it just doesn't feel right to me. I finally made it to the top of the hill running as much as I could. I could barely talk or breathe by the time I got up there, but this didn't matter because I was back in the park and the run was over! I did it, 10 miles approximately 38% of my race! I felt like Rocky when he reached the top of the Philadelphia Museum steps....or when he beat the Russian dude, or Apollo Creed - whatever works for you to get the point, and if you haven't seen Rocky (at least 1-3) you should be ashamed of yourself! The point is I felt a major sense of accomplishment.



After the run two of our coaches were having a fundraising BBQ. Granted it was like 10am but I felt like I earned a burger. I sat and chatted with my teammates and yes ate a burger and hot dog (don't judge). It was a great way to start the day! I went home and started to fell a little stiff, when I got out the shower I sat on my coach and literally fell asleep upright for about 20 minutes. I had plans to meet my friends in the afternoon, this was the first time I made concrete plans after a long run. Usually I'm non functional and pass out. But surprisingly I popped off the couch after my little power nap, blow dried my hair, got dressed and was out the door. I didn't even feel that tired. I spent the rest of the day at the Heineken Inspire event with my homies ....did I mention it was free? Ahhh the power of free (there's not a lot in the world that can beat it). Free flowing Heineken, free food, free give aways, free concert, games. We then left there and went to another Free Nike sponsored event, again free everything we had so much fun. I'm not sure if it was conquering 10 miles or all that Free in one day, but Saturday was one of the best summer days I've had in a long time!




What Did I Learn About Running That Day?



1) Knowing the route of your run makes it easy to break the run down and for whatever reason the run doesn’t seem as long



2) I’m praying that for the rest of the summer the temp does not rise above 85. Running in extreme heat is the worst! It wasn’t until I ran in decent weather that I realized how much energy you have to put up to run in the heat



3) It was more the heat than the runs that were making me crash after out long runs on Saturdays. I can actually be a functioning human being after running 10 miles





August 3rd: An Up Hill Battle



Just three days away from vacation, I once again made a game time decision on going to GTS Tuesday. I knew we were doing hills and considering that I’m running San Francisco this would be a good workout. When I got to the park we jogged around to "the hill". Between the 10 mile run and all my socializing over the weekend I hadn't run since Saturday and I felt it. The run over to the hill was probably about a half mile but it felt like an eternity. It became clear to me that it would not be an option, I would HAVE to hit the treadmill while I was on vacation, if you take more than a day off your body tightens up. As I was running by the people in the park must have thought I was crazy. I was making the "ouch" face and with every stride I let out an "ouch, oh, yowwsa".



We finally made it to the hill and let me just cut to the chase, remember those repeat effort drill that I've talked about? Yup we did those up hill. This reminded me that I have really gotten myself into a mess with signing up for a marathon in San Fransisco. This will definitely be an up hill battle urgh!



What Did I Learn About Running That Day?



Hills are still the devil...and I learned this in week one!