Summer training and speedwork

It has been a while since my last post. So far the training has been going pretty well. There were a few rough training patches for a few weeks in June, on account of the weather. (One thing I don't particularly enjoy is running in the heat and humidity.) Overall, I am feeling on track and ready to conquer Columbus in August.

So with this post, I thought I would talk about the benefits of speedwork, especially if you are looking to get faster, even over the longer distances. Four (!) years ago now, I started running with the CBus Pacers and in particular doing speedwork on Wednesday nights. Besides getting to meet great people, In that time, I have also seen my times slowly but surely get faster in all distances. The workouts are generally pretty tough. (For example, this past Wednesday we ran 8-300m sprints with only a 100m walking rest period.) But on the flip side, the workouts are short so you are tortured only for so long J.  The big advantage to training this way is that your body learns to push through the "feeling like crap" stage that often comes during a half or full marathon. Your body subconsciously learns to push through to that point and eventually you start to feel better.  The best example of this happened to me during the Columbus Marathon this past October. I was aiming to finish below 4 hrs 10 minutes. When I looked at my Garmin after the race,my fastest miles were at mile 23 and 25. Just proof that you can push through and have fun along the way!

So I you are looking to get faster, no matter how fast/slow you currently are try getting on the track! I always say that it's the quality of the run and not the quantity. Better yet, if you live in Columbus, come and join me on Wednesday. I will preface and say that your first workout will not be pretty (it's okay to feel like you will vomit), but if you keep at it, you will see results. I am just proof positive of that! 

Fundraising Update: I had a TRX fundraiser in July and raised $100. The turnout was not exactly what I had hoped, so I still have $100 to raise! I hope you can help. If you can, here is how you can do it. 

1. Make an online donation. Please note if you do this 5% of your donation will cover the credit card fees. 95% will go to Ronald McDonald House

http://www.razoo.com/story/L2r-Ronald-Mcdonald-House?referral_code=share 

2. 100% of your donation will go to Ronald McDonald House if you write a check! Make the check out to Ronald McDonald Charities of Central Ohio and mail the check directly to me at:

846 Riverbend Avenue
Powell, OH 43065

3. Give me cash next time I see you!

Off and Running!

Yes, as the title of this blog explains, I am off and running again! It's been a good year running for me so far. In April, I ran the Big Sur International Marathon and had an absolutely amazing experience. In recent weeks, I have also broken PR's in the 5K and 10K.

As many of you know, I ran my first marathon in 2007 as my "I'm turning 30" goal. At that time, I also decided that I wanted to run for a cause. I thought if I am going to bust my chops for a summer I might as well make sure someone else benefits as well. I had the most amazing experience with Team in Training and have since run 2 more times with them and even volunteered as a trainer.

This fall, I plan to run the Columbus Half Marathon. Besides hoping to break another PR, I am also raising money for Ronald McDonald House. I am doing this through L2R or Love to Reach, formed from the Columbus Running Company Charity Fund. Throughout the years, I have enjoyed the love and support from all of you. Your words of encouragement have meant as much to me as any form of charity. Either way, I have a blog where I try to keep people updated as to my trials and tribulations. You can find it here http://chroniclesofmarathontraining.blogspot.com/

If you would like to contribute to my cause this year, you have several options.

1. Make an online donation. Please note if you do this 5% of your donation will cover the credit card fees. 95% will go to Ronald McDonald House

http://www.razoo.com/story/L2r-Ronald-Mcdonald-House?referral_code=share 

2. 100% of your donation will go to Ronald McDonald House if you write a check! Make the check out to Ronald McDonald Charities of Central Ohio and mail the check directly to me at:

846 Riverbend Avenue
Powell, OH 43065

3. Give me cash next time I see you!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks in advance!

Much love, Mitsu

Big Sur International Marathon 2013

So when I ran my first marathon in October of 2007, I never believed that I would now be writing this blog and saying that I just ran my 7th marathon. But as life has it, I have now been fortunate to say that I have run the Columbus Marathon twice (2007, 2012), NYC in 2009, Chicago in 2011, Nike Women's Marathon San Fran in 2008, and Air Force in 2012. So, for lucky number 7, I chose to do another destination marathon, this time the Big Sur International Marathon in Big Sur, California. Now, for those not familiar with marathons, Runners World has named it one of the top marathons to run, mostly because of the beautiful course and well run race. I had two running friends from the Columbus Running Company and C-bus pacers who had wanted to run it and was asked if I wanted to join them. Unfortunately, one ended up being injured and unable to run, but my friend Tasya and I spent the entire winter training for this. Now it might be crazy to say that I have now run 7 marathons but Tasya decided to make this her first one. (This is no small feet given the hilliness of the course, including Hurricane Point, which from mile 10 to 12 was a nearly 600 foot incline. Lee and I arrived on Friday into San Francisco and drove the two hours to Monterey. One thing that you notice about the area is that is extremely beautiful and sunny. The next day, we went on a wine tour (and yes, I kept the wine tasting in check) and learned that the area gets 310 sunny days a year. Tasya came with her fiancé and the four of us went on a wine tour with Ag Venture Tours. Our tour guide Evan was great and I would highly recommend his company. We learned a lot about wine and went to some great tasting rooms and wineries. We even went to a chocolate shop. The race starts in Big Sur national park and heads north to end in Carmel. There is literally only one road in/out of the park (highway 1 for those familiar with the area). They have to close it down for the race. We also have to get there from Monterey. This meant that our bus to get to the race left at 4am! Luckily being East Coasters, this just meant that I we had to keep our internal clocks on EST for the first few days. Nonetheless, 4am is an EARLY wake up call for the race. Tasya and I get onto the nice, gigantic tour bus. Now, I admit that I can get kind of car sick easily so I ask to sit towards the front of the bus which was easy enough to do. We head off and believe it or not, our bus driver gets lost trying to leave Monterey. Monterey is a small town with small roads, so this involved about 30 minutes of windy starts and stops. NOT good for someone who get car sick. We FINALLY get started and it's nearly an hour to get to the start. Highway 1 is a series of windy roads up and down some major inclines. All in all, this meant I was about to lose my breakfast before even getting to the start. Needless to say I made Tasya a little nervous since I have been her coach through all of training and we had vowed to stay together for the race. Luckily we got there early enough that I had sufficient time to recover. The race started at 6:45am. We started in cold and fog; the temp was about 45 degrees. The first 5 miles or so are through the redwoods. Very green and shaded and relatively flat. I actually started to get very warm at that point so I shedded the arm warmers and gloves. This was a course rookie mistake. Sure enough after about mile 5, we were greeted to a blast of about a 20 mph headwind. This continued on and off for pretty much the rest of the course. Combined with the cool temps and later some more fog, meant that I really wished I had my arm warmers. Now after mile 5, you really start to see the great views. You are right near the coast so you have ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The pictures that you see really cannot do the beauty justice. It's.just.awesome. Needless to say you don't run Big Sur for time. Tasya and I would stop and take picture and people would offer to take your picture as well if they saw you were with someone. They also have life size mile markers and the race would have volunteers at each mile marker to also take pictures if you wanted. The other thing that happens after mile 5 is the hills. Now living in Ohio will NOT prepare you for the length and angle of these hills. I kept telling Tasya that I would NEVER complain about the hill at Sharon Woods again. These started happening before Hurricane Point. I kept thinking, "Oh Brother WTF will Hurricane Point be like?" As you approach mile 10, you can hear the distance drumming of Koko drummers. It's like they are welcoming you to what you are about to endure. Now, I don't think Tasya and I ever actually said to each other that we would do this, but we both had it in our brains that we would actually run up the entire two miles, which sure enough we did. The view at the top was needless to say nothing but spectacular. Now the saying is that "what goes up, must come down" well the downhill was at a 10 percent grade and nearly a mile long. I actually had a harder time with this because of the trauma that your quads take through the whole thing. After relishing in finishing Hurricane Point, you quickly hit Bixby's Bridge, which is the halfway point. What they are known for here is the grand piano player at 13.1 miles (the exactly halfway point). You can hear him even before you get to mile 13. The view across the bridge is spectacular, and you can stop to get your picture at the piano. After mile 13, the views continue but my body was starting to feel the effects. At around mile 16, I believe Tasya hit the wall. Her body was in pain and she definitely having none of my attempts to try and cheer her up. At that point, I decided I needed a strategy if Tasya was to have any hope of finishing in a decent time. I decide to employ a 1:4 walk to run strategy and it ended up working for a while and we even keep an 11 to 12 min pace doing this. After a bit, the hills were starting to be ill timed with the walk breaks. And then Tasya makes a comment about needing to stretch. At this point, I ask "Why did you ask to stretch before?" To which she responded "I didn't know I was allowed!" Now this made me laugh (and after we finished made Tasya laugh) because I for the record, NEVER said that we couldn't take time to stretch during the race. So after that funny interchange, my strategy changed to running (or shuffling) for 8-9 minutes followed by stretch brakes. We continued this for quite a while. One of my other concerns heading into the race was the cut off times. Because there is only one road in/out of the area, you basically have to reach mile 22 by noon (5 hrs after the start) or else they herd you into buses over to the finish. We hit the 20 mile mark at slightly under 4 hrs. I breathed a sigh of relief as at this point I knew we would get to 22 miles well under the limit and could basically walk our way back if needed. At this point, we also started to see signs of civilization as you start to enter into Carmel. (And yes it is the Carmel where Clint Eastwood used to be mayor). At mile 23 you also find the strawberry lady. Now in 2008 for the Nike Women's Marathon, this was also the point where you got Giardelli's chocolates. In 2008, I wouldn't have even thought about taking the chocolates, but let me tell you those strawberries were a welcome sight! And I do believe that the strawberries taste much better in California. They were definitely more plump and juicy. In researching and studying the course prior to the race, I had read that miles 21 to 23 were actually the hardest on the course. They weren't kidding. The problem at that point is that you hit several significant hills. and after all of the previous work to get up and down, your body is just done. We saw one particular hill at around 22 that to me looked freakishly long and steep. O turned to Tasya, who was still what I affectionately call the "bite me" phase, and said "I declare that Big Sur has won, there is no way in h*ll we are running up this thing." Tasya let our a "FINALLY!" but also reminded me that we ran up Hurricane Point so Big Sur did not win. From there on in, we walked up the hills. The final hill is at mile 25 and as we approached that one, I did let out several expletives. Fast-forwarding to the finish. I always get a feeling of giddiness around miles 25 and 26, knowing that I will finish yet another marathon. It was really cool to run the entire way with Tasya who got to experience those emotions for the first time. Strangely enough, I had followed my race strategy to a T and had gelled up and taken food when I needed it. As those who have run a marathon before know though, strange things can happen and right at mile 25, I had the familiar symptoms of hitting the wall myself. I quickly told Tasya to let me walk and took my emergency gel pack I take with me on all long runs. Within a minute or so I felt better and was able to continue without a problem. She and I dashed to the finish line hand in hand. While I felt like I might have been shuffling, Tasya's fiancé Jeff took a video of us and we looked pretty bad ass as we crossed. I also do a semi "dance walk" and hopped across the line. Tasya broke out in tears, and we happily collected our medals. Final time was just under 5 hrs and 10 minutes. Considering the number of starts and stops and the seriously mega hills, I will totally take it. Of the 7 marathons I have not completed, this one was definitely the most physically challenging but definitely the most beautiful. If you have taken the time to read all of this post, then you are a) either a runner who is considering this race, or b) someone who loves hearing about my adventures in running. Either way, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Seriously, these pics do not do the entire experience justice. At this point, I don't know when my next full marathon will be. I do plan to run a half marathon this fall with more serious running goals in mind. And if you are a marathoner, you MUST add this race to your bucket list. It is well worth the months of winter training and an experience you will never forget. For all of the race day photos, follow this link.

Marathon Recap 2: What goes up does NOT always come back down!

Okay, here are the race day highlights

Getting to the start: Basically, I was herded like a cattle for about an hour. I was assigned an 8am ferry to Staten Island. To avoid a mad rush, the race tries to stagger you to the start line. The problem is that a lot of people don't really follow their assignment. (And the race people don't really check.) So, while I was there on time, there were people with 5 and 6am ferry times taking the 8am. This meant that it was very crowded while waiting for the ferry. As I was leaving the hotel, a gentleman named Tom got in the elevator. I was planning on walking the 10 minutes to the ferry terminal, but he was running the race and taking a cab. He let me hop in the cab without splitting the fare. I ended up talking with him the entire time to the start. He was from Denver and had just had a 12 week old daughter. He had her picture pinned on the inside of the bib.

From the ferry, you are immediately herded onto a bus for the 10 minute ride to Fort Wadsworth. Again, met several nice people along the way. (Including many first time marathoners. I can't imagine this race being your first). After getting off the bus you are then herded up to the holding corrals.

Several people said to make sure to eat something before starting. (The time it takes to get there means extra time goes by than normal). I somehow lost the granola bar I had put in my pocket but they were giving out bagels. Grabbed one and some water. By the time I ate and hit the port-a-john. It was already time to get lined up for the start.

The Start: Now, this is apparently only the 2nd year that they have used the staggered starts. I was assigned to wave #2, meaning I was scheduled to start at 10am, instead of 9:40 or 10:20. Now, the one thing the NYRR didn't do well was communicate to us where we had to be and by when. I saw a sign signaling I should have already been in my start corral. I happen to be standing next to someone who had volunteered the previous year while we were waiting who told me not to be concerned, we would get to the start. In the meantime, I saw others freaking out and trying to jump the fence.

The Race: The race starts on the Verazaano-Narrows Bridge. Basically it goes from Staten Island over to Brooklyn. It is also pretty much uphill for the first two miles. I was lucky and got into a group that starts on the top of the bridge. The views are fantastic and there is no change that I would get peed on (which I did see people doing). While it is the largest marathon in the world, even on the bridge, I didn’t think it was overly crowded, probably because for the first 8 miles you run a route based on your color. This kept the crowds to a minimum. (Which is good b/c I have a funky running motion and my arms tend to swing wide. I had no issues during the race)

I have to say that New Yorkers are a great crowd. They are also very nationalistic in their cheering. Nearly ½ of the runners in the race are not from the US. Many also wear singlets representing their country. As a result, a lot of the crowd would cheer for the country, e.g., “viva Mexico!” I was wearing my TNT jersey, which meant I had people cheering my name. I loved that New Yorkers pronounced my name correctly, instead of in Columbus, where I often got “Misty.”

Brooklyn definitely won the award for best borough. The residents were out in mass. The course also narrows slightly so you definitely feel the energy of the crowd. They were predominantly through miles 8-10, about when I needed to get into my rhythm. They definitely helped.

I also have to give NYRR props for the set up. Besides all pre-race activities being very well organized, they had water stops and toilets at every mile after mile 3. The toilets came in handy for me at mile 5 (which surprised me), but it was comforting to know that I knew exactly when to expect the next stop.

The thing that really surprised me about the course was how uphill it felt. I don’t think there was a flat part of the course that lasted longer than a mile. On top of that, with each uphill, I felt that a corresponding downhill did not exist. A few of the hills that are worth noting. One was the Queensboro Bridge. This comes between miles 15-16. It doesn’t look that taxing initially but it runs uphill for over a mile. Plus, it’s at that point in the course where the wall might soon be approaching. The other uphill of note is the one leading into Central Park. This comes at around mile 23, when you REALLY want to be done. Yoshie stationed herself at two points in the course, one around mile 16 after the Queensboro and the other at this point in Central Park. I was looking for her when I arrived at the park and totally missed seeing her. Her comment to me afterwards was that I looked like I was concentrating very hard to get up the hill.


Getting to finish in Central Park was a really neat experience. The crowds are great and can really help through those last miles. After finishing, I was almost immediately handed a mylar blanket, my medal, and a goody bag with Gatorade, water, a bagel, apple, and energy bar. I initially had to resist the urge to vomit when I had finished. Also because of my funky running motion, my pecs were very tight. My left arm had actually gone numb b/c my pecs had tightened to the point that they had cut off circulation.

It took nearly 30 minutes to get from the finish to the finishers area, where I had to meet Yoshie after which I promptly went the wrong direction. So, I called her and told her to meet me. She eventually came with dry clothes and my subway ticket. On a side note, if you showed your bib or medal at the subway after the race, they just let you on.

After the race and overall impressions: I would highly recommend doing the race. It is truly a unique experience. Be prepared to wait around a lot, particularly to get to the start. Now that I have done it though, I am happy to say that it's over.

I returned to Columbus the next day, still tired and sore. The day after that, I went to get a fully body massage. I tried the LMT from the Columbus Running Company and I have to say that she was fantastic. She totally understands a runner's body. She is also very reasonable ($75 for 75 minutes). I recovered just enough to have to leave again. I am writing from Vancouver as I am now here presenting at a conference and will be here until Sunday. As my mom said, I'm becoming a flight attendant.

Hope you all find this helpful. Feel free to ask any other questions you may have about the race.

Marathon Recap 1: Non-Race Stuff

So, I have finished the NYC Marathon!

With that being said, I have to say that the course was definitely tough. I felt that the majority of the course was uphill (without a corresponding downhill to boot.) For all of my running friends, I found that talking to others who have run the race was the most helpful, so hopefully this recap is helpful. If you are considering running this race in the future, I highly recommend doing it. It is definitely worth the experience.

Training: My training was going swimmingly well until I started getting a cold Sunday/Monday. Therefore, I spent most of the week sleeping, drinking fluids and taking lots of vitamins. With limited running that week, I was pretty nervous going into the race. In retrospect, I would have trained with a lot more hills, particularly going up.

Travel and the general NYC experience: I arrived on Friday afternoon into LaGuardia. Turns out the public transportation options are much more complicated when arriving to LaGuardia versus the other NYC airports. I was traveling out to Long Island to stay with my friend Kristin. To do this, I had to take a bus, two subways, and the train. I also arrived during the height of rush hour, which just made for a very stressful 2.5 hours out to Long Island.

Kristin was a great host for the night. I got a shower and a chance to destress. She even let me use her bed (with her on the couch) knowing that I would be running a marathon in 48 hours. The next day, she and I headed off to the city. Yoshie arrived from California the next day. She had taken a red eye and unfortunately missed her connection in Atlanta so she ended up arriving two hours later than originally planned. I checked into our hotel. (Thank goodness for Priceline. We stayed at the Millenium Hilton for $225/night. It was a 10 min walk to the Ferry and right next to several subways lines.) On a side note, some of those lines were closed this weekend, which made travel more difficult than it should have been. In the future though, I highly recommend Google Transit if you need to navigate public transportation in any major city.

Besides the Expo, we did manage to go to MoMA. Definitely worth checking out but it did mean that I did WAY more walking than I should have on the day prior to the race. I also ate at several delicious resturaunts. Beyond that, I didn't do much sightseeing. Our hotel literally overlooked the World Trade Center. (The construction work lasts into the wee hours of the night). So, I guess I can count that. I also saw the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry.

Overall: If you run this race, use Priceline to get your hotel. The city is so accessible by public transport you really don't need to be anywhere particular in the city. Make sure to arrive a day or two before the race and leave extra time for siteseeing. Also, I heard a lady when I finished say that she had a 6pm flight that night. Give yourself at least 24 hours before traveling again. Your quads will thank you!

NYC or Bust!

So, it has been a while since my last post. Since then, I have been busy working, collecting data and trying to keep up with training. I recently completed the Columbus 1/2 marathon. I was also able to coach Lynn through her first full marathon by running the last two miles with her. It was tons of fun and it was nice not to have the stress of trying to run hard but enjoy a great race (as evidence by the pic).

(Sorry, I never got to finish this post, but I figured the pic was worth sharing anyway!)

The importance of maintaining your diet...

Okay, so this past holiday weekend I attended two picnics in one day. So during the course of the day, I ate more than I normally do and foods that I do not normally eat, e.g., homemade ice cream, cake, hamburgers, various breads, etc. Overall, my diet yesterday was pretty starchy. The food was all delicious but I had attempted to go back out and run today, and boy my GI tract did NOT like me at all. I was tired from having to work during the day so I went out intending to maybe run 8-10 miles but instead barely got 5 in.

So, the lesson for the day when marathon training, maintain your regular diet! Carb loading does not mean that you need to eat lots of carbs within a 24 hour period. More realistically, it needs to be done over several days. For now, I consider myself having learned the lesson the hard way...