Brooksie Way Half Marathon

So more than a month later, I will tell you about my experience with the Brooksie Way.

As I may have mentioned in previous posts, my goal race was to run the Brooksie Way Half-Marathon. I felt as if I needed something to strive for since I am out of college. Plus, it didn't hurt that the race was on the day of birthday! Some people get drunk for their birthday, I run a half-marathon. Ha!

The week before the race, we did a training run on the Brooksie Way course. I was a little nervous especially because I didn't have a lot of time to do training runs on my own. Weekdays were filled by work and cheerleading practice. By the time I got home, I was beat. So, when I did train it was a quick 3 miles. 

The training run definitely put the race into perspective and I'm glad we did it. I knew where the hard parts were and when I needed to slow/increase my pace. For example, the course is flat for a good mile and then right after that flat mile, there's a huge incline. I think that was at mile 7. Not fun.

Needless to say, I'm glad we did the training run.

Race day!

To make it a non-stress morning, I listened to other marathoners advice and prepared all my stuff the night before. I filled up my water bottle, packed sweats for after the race and put all my racing gear together. I tried to go to sleep early but, I was so nervous/excited!

My Mom and I left the house at 5 a.m. to get to Oakland University by 6 a.m. We got there super early so my Mom and I just relaxed in the car for another hour. The race was supposed to start at 8 a.m. but there were a ton of delays because of construction. I think the race ended up starting at 8:30. Anyway, we got there at 6 a.m. to meet up with my Brooksie Way training group. I'm glad we got there as early as we did because we missed the atrocious parking lot traffic. 

Once I met up with my group, we headed over to the tent where the other BW training groups were meeting. This is where I started to get a little nervous. There were a ton of people and the energy was unreal! Everyone was so amped it made me that much more nervous/excited. 

As we lined up in our pace groups we discussed the plan of action for the race. We decided to run 4 and 1's at a 9-10 minute pace. Perfect. The first half was a lot of fun and my body warmed up after the first mile. It was freezing that morning and I was really nervous I was going to be cold the entire time. (I was wearing a short sleeve tech shirt and running capris). 

The second half was tough. Tienkein Hill took a lot out of me. It was definitely a struggle after that hill but, it was moderately easy compared to it. My knee started hurting around mile 9. I never had knee issues during my training run so I have no idea what I ended up doing to it but, it was super tight the rest of the race and the day after. 

I decided to ditch the intervals and run the last 3 miles. I figured, it's a 5k. I can do this. I saw a couple of the BWs on the side cheering on other BWs. It was awesome! I love the fire at the end of the race. 

When I turned the corner to the finish line, it was a little emotional for me. I had a million thoughts going on in my head and it was such a great achievement for me to have fully finished a goal. My Mom cheered me on by the finish line and I sprinted it all the way in. 

Overall, it was a great experience. I love my BW3 group and if it wasn't for them I probably would have never achieved this goal. So thank you for being amazing!! 

You know what they say, you'll always remember your first. 

Final Time: 2.24

Is fueling while racing important?

In my running groups, we always talk about fueling for our long runs, especially, a half marathon, or a full marathon. As Paul says, "Don't wait for a race to test."

The Science:

Bear with me for a minute while I try to explain to you why we need to fuel for long runs.To keep the body healthy for long runs, we have to maintain normal levels of glycogen in the blood. Glycogen is the way your body stores carbohydrates for future use. It's important because glucose is brain and nervous system food and the brain requires to act normally. For example, have you ever felt woozy or have a headache because you didn't eat anything? It's probably because your blood sugar is low. Which means the liver ran out of glycogen due to not eating carbs. This directly affects exercise because one system is functioning normally the others won't as well i.e. muscular system.


Carbohydrates:

Stop thinking terrible thoughts about carbs. Carbohydrates are not the enemy! The sole purpose of carbohydrates is to provide energy to the body. This is especially important for distance runners as it is the source of quick energy. It is recommended that runners' diets consist of 50-70% carbohydrates.

There are two type of carbohydrate, simple and complex. 

Simple carbohydrates consist of one or two molecules. Therefore, they are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream. But, that's not always a good thing. Although it's great for a quick spurt of energy, it also induces an insulin response. As a result, the blood sugar returns to the low level resulting in decreased energy and performance.

Complex carbohydrates, unlike simple sugars are made up of several glucose molecules linked together. The result, a slower process of absorption into the blood stream. Experts recommend that the majority of the calories obtained from carbohydrates be in the form of complex carbohydrates.

 Examples of high complex carbohydrates: ALL the good stuff. whole grain pasta, whole grain bread, brown rice, potatoes. 


Although carb baskets are a carb, they are usually a simple carbohydrate because they are made with white flour and have fewer nutrients, and tend to be less satisfying and more fattening.


But, it doesn't stop me from indulging in some of my favorites:

Olive Garden...mmmmm

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuits...mmmmm

Texas Roadhouse Dinner Rolls with Cinnamon Butter...double  mmmmmm

Feul/Energy on Long Runs

Rule of thumb:

Jog for 30 minutes, H2O will suffice. 

Longer than 30 minutes, you gotta get yourself some carbs!

HOW TO REFUEL:

• Sports drinks: But make sure they have a 6-8% carbohydrate concentration.
• Ex. 15 grams of carbohydrate per 8-ounce serving equals 6.25% of carbohydrates
• Recommendations: Gatorade Endurance or PowerBar Endurance
• Gels/Sports Beans: Sugars in the gels provide fuel! 
• Select a gel that has 25-30 grams of carbohydrates and 50 mg of Sodium
• Chase with water NOT a sports drink
• One gel/packet of sports beans after 60 minutes of running and then every 45 minutes
• Recommendations: GU Chocolate, GU Milk Chocolate, Jelly Belly Sports Beans 
• DO NOT TRY THE FRUIT FLAVORS...I almost puked when I had the tropical punch Gu.

• Energy Bars: jam-packed with carbs to satisfy hunger
• Select bars with 40 grams or more of carbohydrate
• WARNING! Too much fat can delay digestion.
• Ideal: 200-250 cals with about 5 grams of fiber and 10 grams of protein

INGREDIENTS TO AVOID: 

• Partially hydrogenated oils
• High fructose corn syrup
• Artificial dyes

LOVE YOUR HONEY! 

• Sure, love your significant other but, love the natural honey too! It's a great fast-acting carb! 

I hope you learned same fabulous information about fueling. 

Do you have a go-to fuel flavor?

Wishlist Races

I'm not sure if I have ever shared this but, I have an addiction to medals. I love the hardware I get after a race. 

That being said, here are a few of my "wishlist" races based strictly on their medals:

ALL the Run Disney races have the best medals (if you're a Disney fanatic like me.)

2012 Walt Disney World Half Marathon, Jan. 5, Orlando, FL.

Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend, Feb. 24, Orlando, FL.

Tinkerbell Half-Marathon, Jan. 27, Anaheim, CA

I was actually going to sign up for the Tinkerbell Half-Marathon but, it was sold out. Next year for sure! 

Surf City Medal, Feb. 5, 2011. Huntington Beach, CA

Love this Surf City medal. The race is known for its medals. Definitely on my wish list.

Although medals are fun and cool. I especially like them because of the memories that are associated with them. It's a symbol of accomplishment! 

If you have any other medal recommendations pass them along. Would love to hear which medals you think are the best!

BIG update: Races

Race updates! 

July 24, 2011: Run for the Remedy 5k. 

One of the reasons I like running is because most of the time, races benefit some sort of organization. Run for the Remedy benefited the Children's Leukemia Foundation. I always like to push myself harder in these races because I know that how much I'm "hurting" or "suffering" it's nothing compared to what they're going through.

Race time: 27.20, PR'd by 3 minutes! 

August 6, 2011: Advokate 10k

This race was also for a cause. "AdvoKate is a volunteer organization supporting pediatric brain tumor prevention and reseach, as well as other childhood-related causes. It was established to honor the memory of 6-year-old Kate Hrischuk of Rochester, MI, who lost her courageous battle with an intrinsic brain stem glioma in early 2007. advoKate was founded by Kate's parents whom have taken on the mission to raise awareness about the issue of limited available research on the disease that took their daugher's life. With the help of event participants and sponsors, advoKate has, so far, raised nearly $50k for the cause. For more information about Kate and her story, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/katehrischuk" Taken from www.advokaterun.org.

The race itself was hilly, I ran way too fast in the beginning almost an 8:30 pace and I was running 4 and 40's. It was probably the worst first half I've ever raced. 

Race Time: 1.02, PR'd by 5 minutes!!! 

Next up on the race agenda:

September 11, Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run - Detroit 5k

October 2, Brooksie Way 1/2 marathon

October 16, Detroit Free Press 1/2 marathon

October 30, Wicked Halloween Run 10k

November 24, Turkey Trot 10k

Will I be seeing you at any of these races?

I've been a slacker

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in awhile, I haven't found time to do so. Let me give you a quick update about what I've been up to...

Sunday, July 10: Muddy Buddy Ride and Run Series at Stoney Creek!

This was definitely a fun yet challenging race. There were obstacles, hills and of course the mud pit. I think the most challenging part of the race was biking up this huge hill. Mostly everyone, including myself, ended up walking our bikes up the hill. It was so big! Finished in 1.15. Not bad!

Catherine and I before the mud pit. We were "Team X" a.k.a. "Team Suck It"

After the mud pit! 

During the mud pit! 

Saturday, July 16: Shores-Pointe Triathlon in St. Clair Shores and Grosse Pointe 

This was the inaugural event of the Shores-Pointe Triathlon. They offered a couple of different races triathlon, which included kyaking, biking and running, duathlon, which was running, biking and running, and a 5k. i participated in the duathlon. 

I ran my first 5k in 31.24, biked 13 miles in an 1.01, ran my second 5k in 34.35 with a final time of 2.09. I took some Gu beans at about 1.15, I figured that I better take them or I would be exhausted. It was the first time I ran a race with a fuel belt. Not bad. I ended up winning my age group. Only by default, I was the youngest person to participate in the duathlon. 

The most challenging part of this race was the transitions and biking. I took one full minute transitioning from running to biking. I had to get my bike off the rack and put my helmet on. Plus, you had to walk out not ride out of the bike area. Transitioning from biking to running was weird. My legs felt like jello and I felt like I wasn't even running. I didn't like it. I ended up doing 2 and 1's to get my legs back to normal. 

Next time, I'm for sure going to train for the transitions and biking in general.

Running to the biking transition area. Thanks for the pictures, Mom!!

On my way to the bike drop. Thank God!

Me with the race coordinators! What a great experience!

I can't believe I did two out-of-the-box races in two weeks! I'm so proud of myself. The next race I'm doing is Run For a Remedy on Sunday, July 24 in Auburn Hills. Goal time: sub 30! I ran it in 27 before, I would like to do that again. I'm ready! 

I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for reading! 

Happy running!

Full Day of Fitness

Two-a-days? Pshh...who does that anymore? How about three-a-days. Okay, so it wasn't on purpose. Well, two of the three workouts were the other one was totally spontaneous. 

Yesterday, I started instructing Women & Weights. It's simply a weight lifting class for women. But, some men do join the class. I like to make it fun but also challenging for the participants. I had a couple women complain that the class was going to fast and that they're not as young as I am so I need to slow it down. 

Of course I have to adapt to my class, so we did "12 days of summer" similar to the song "12 days of Christmas". We started out with one lap (walking or running) around the gym then did two push-ups and then did the one lap, two push-ups and the third exercise. We did this all the way to twelve. I believe the class enjoyed it and had a great workout. 

After W&W, I met up with one of the Fraser Varsity cheerleaders. She's interested in becoming a college cheereleader so, I became her "mentor". It's moments like this that make me happy I'm a coach.

Then, I went to Yin yoga. Roxanne (one of my running partners) is an instructor at Practice Yoga in Grosse Pointe. Since I had nothing to do and we were going to run after her yoga class, I thought why not go to her class? It was awesome! Yin yoga is different from other practices of yoga because it's more stretching than it is changing positions continually. As a runner, this class was awesome! I have really tight hip flexor muscles so it was great to finally do something that actually stretched it out. Being an athlete all my muscles are really short, they don't need to be long. I felt so refreshed after this class. I recommend this class to all athletes!

Finally, after Yin, Roxanne and I ran 4 miles in 42.30. My Garmin was messing up throughout the run so that was really irritating. It was gross, hot and humid out. Not ideal running conditions but, I pushed through it. I may have told Roxanne to "suck it" a few times. But, hey, I got through it and I felt good afterwards. 

This morning I did hot yoga and tonight I have running club! It's going to be a great 6 mile run. I'm going to be lovin' the hills tonight...

Happy running! 

Danielle

Conflicting Schedules

Last week, my schedule was jam packed. It was seriously insane. I was able to get a couple runs in but not as many as I hoped. Needless to say, I fell behind on my homework. But as always, runners come together in the end. 

I ran about 2 miles with Catherine, 3 miles with Roxanne (in a PR of 30 minutes!) and then ran another 3 miles with the GP Runners (another PR of 27.57!). That's two PR's in one week! Insane.

Photo courtesy of John Martin

John Martin, friend and member of GP Runners, decided to invent "Fourth of July Fishfly 5k". We treated this run as a race and their goal for me was to be my PR of 31.15. I need to check what my average pace was but, I know I was running in the 9's and I never run in the 9's. It was definitely a struggle for me to stay at that pace but, I knew I had to push myself. It wasn't comfortable but, I wanted to push my boundaries. So, I did. 

I ended up finishing in about 27.57 which is phenomenal for me! Even though time doesn't matter, I still enjoy seeing the numbers go down.

There are some things I still need to sort out for my long runs. Such as, shorts vs. running capris, Gu, water belts, socks, etc. 

If you have any recommendations on what works best for you, please share! 

Also, I think I'm going to start a cross training program. Maybe do some Insanity or Turbo Fire DVD's. I want to be a strong runner and I know these programs work well for a lot of people.

Thanks for reading! 

Happy running! :)