left.right.repeat group -closed - Full of a bunch of winners...YEAH! (Page 237)

I will say this, and it is very difficult for me to make serious comments without adding my smart @$$ comments, this group is making me and all of the veterans very proud!  Y'all work extremely hard and all seem to be very committed to your quest.  Very Proud, very very very proud.

Now a little advice, and reinforcement.  If you accelerate going up a hill in your car, you are burning unnecessary fuel.  Same thing in your running and or biking.  You are doing yourself a huge favor by planning your walks and recovery strides based on the hills.  If you can do this in your races, you will be repaid in spades at the end of the race as you pass others that didn't learn this lesson.  I am one of those that didn't learn the lesson early and had to pay a huge price to learn it.

Correct me if I am wrong Bryan.

Hey all!

Its been awhile and Billy made me feel guilty for not visiting you.  Despite his gruff exterior he is a great guy who I am lucky to call a friend (don't let that get to your head Billy!).

As for me, my training was going well but Saturday came down with a cold and no workouts (except one .5 mile run) since then.  Which is a pain as I got my new 910xt yesterday (hence the .5 mile run ).  Was hoping to swim with it today but giving myself another day to recover.   A year from now a few days missed will mean nothing.  First race is next month and am still helping out the RD for the LA Skeeter Run 5k in Baton Rouge.

Happy Valentines day to all!

I just finished my race report and I think this is the link.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=425696&posts=1&start=1

Had a massage yesterday and boy do I feel better after that!  I told my coach I wanted to take 2 weeks off from training, however that doesn't mean I won't be doing something, I just need that mental break.  

The big thing I need to do is decide what is next, what do I want to train for?  I have an idea and I am sure I will be asking for y'll's opinion here soon till then I am pigging out and not thinking about having to complete a workout.

Can't believe I am saying this but Billy is right about the hills.....  I remember a race with a big hill and those walking it were faster then those that were trying to run up it.  It was then that I knew it was okay to walk during a race.

My husband was surprised to see so many pros that were walking during the HIM I did last year.  

You think you know but you have no idea!!!  HA HA HA..... you would be surprised the things I can remember!!!  

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!!

Billy, I suggest a restraining order!

I apologize if I missed anyone.

Love the pic, Bryan, Patrick and Briana

Pam- Congratulations on your run also this weekend.

Fit - great job on your 10 miler, being relaxed and quick turnovers.

Suzie - You are doing awesome! And yes, you can have bragging rights for next week.

A few months ago Runners World on FaceBook asked their friends to post their mantra's and I copied most of what everyone wrote and put it in a word doc so that I can review it before a big event and pick the ones that I think I will need.  I will try to post it to the group so that you have something to work off of if you don't have a mantra already.  And if you don't know what I mean, a mantra is a word or phrase that you say to yourself that will motivate you to keep on moving.   However, I think Left, Right, Repeat works wonderfully and I have used it many times.

Here is the list of mantra's I had mention earlier.

‎"There will come a day when you can no longer do this -- today is NOT that day"

"shoot for the moon".

‎"this too shall pass"

Every race I write a mantra on my wrist, when I hit a rough patch I look down at the word/phrase and start repeating it over and over until I get back on track.

I actually yell at myself in boot camp style talk. It motivates me to start back up and finish what I started.

The Lords prayer

You've come this far - why bother dropping out now? What a waste of training, time and effort that would be!

This is tough, but I'm tougher.

Relentless forward progress - also the title of a book, which I didn't know at the time. Also, I like to do the math on how much of the race I've accomplished or is left - whichever sounds more impressive. Two-thirds done, only one-third left, etc.

I am super woman!

Conquer it! Don't let it conquer you!

I take inventory-My legs feel strong, my breathing is good, nothing is hurting, there is no reason to stop. Keep going. If I'm really struggling, then I tell myself that I'll just slow down, but I'm not stopping.

‎"fast & easy" which sounds questionable but when the going gets tough.. it makes sense to me I play cheerleader to myself w "good girl"!!

‎"How embarrassed will you be if everyone you rode with today finishes & you don't! No finisher's medal.. no 'earned right' to wear the t-shirt... you MUST push thru this!" Seems to work.. for me, anyway.

Embarrassment is positive peer pressure in disguise. :-)

"suck it up, you are strong, you feel no pain"

‎"three more minutes til my next walk. three more minutes til my next walk"

My mantra, is "Thank you, Lord, that I can put one foot in front of the other. So many cannot."

‎"It's not about the speed, it's all about the time."

‎"run through the suck" I will never forget seeing this sign during my first half marathon

I have three phases. Phase I: If a pink hippo can rollerskate, you can keep running to the finish. Phase II: All your ancestors and friends who have passed are smiling down on you; make them proud. Phase III: People with NO TRAINING escaped the Nazis, on foot, so you have no excuse!

I shut my brain off, and tell my body, "Relax and find your rhythm, you can do this!!"

‎"All it takes is all you got!" or Finish Strong...!

I had a lot of motivational quotes prepared to use during my Chicago marathon. But when the body was tired and the mind was wandering, I could focus just enough to use single words!
Relax, Breathe, Smile, Form, Glide, Power.

The faster you go, the faster it will be over.

I think of those who cannot run, walk, talk, etc. I take one of those ppl and do each mile for them. Just when I think I cannot do the next mile, I imagine them walking, talking right next me!

‎"if running were easy, everyone would do it" and "I'm running for those who can't"

You. Got. This.

‎"Just make it to that (tree, road, or other landmark)."

Dig Deep!

‎"You can do it"

I got this!!

Stop? Now? After what you went through to get here? That's what I say to myself.

PITSIF-pain is temporary, shame is forever

I am strong!

I think one mile at a time; it takes me about 10min to run a mile and i can do anything for 10min.

Counting to 100 usually gets me back on track. Its all about giving your mind something else to do besides complain.

I like to remind myself of the saying "champions aren't born at the finish line, they are built during the workouts, in the wind, in the rain & thru the pain"

I am strong. And Imagine I am a professional runner And how hard they work to be good I strive to be like them. I bet they never quit.

‎"Pain feels better than regret."

‎"Just keep moving forward"

I keep telling myself "dig deep"...."dig deep" .....

‎"Just a little further, I will be completing my goal!"

I can, I will, I am doing!! And I think of those that can't have the opportunity to do it and am thankful

Believe it is possible.

‎"It doesn't matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop!"

Feet fast, legs strong! I can do this all day long.

‎"You've trained hard for this race, keep going", and then pray to the Lord and "thank him for the ability to run"...

You can do this, or I'm strong, I've done this before.

You've run 10 miles, 8 miles, or whatever distance a million times. You can do this so just stick with it.

I like the quote: Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.

Smile, Stay Strong...

During those last lonely miles of a long run my mantra is: I am confident, I will push, I can finish (with a smile!)

When I am running hills and my legs are on fire, I repeat "sexy legs and you are strong" to myself...it propels me to the top of the hill and beyond.

Nice race report Kathy!  And way to crush your PR.

Nice mantras, too.  When I read Macca's book, his saying is "Embrace the suck."  I like that.  And sometimes in races I'll be thinking about what I want to post on facebook when I'm done.  Can't post it if it didn't happen, so somehow I have to find a way to make it happen.  Whatever works, right?

I may be in Amy's camp on this but I cannot really remember much from my race...  I am not sure why.

• Got up at 4:00, ate my oatmeal fortified with protein powder, did not want to try anything new... and coffee, lots of it as usual.  We drove to St Pete which is about an hour from Sarasota.  When we got to the Tropicana Field exit (the parking lot of the Trop was the start of the race) the exit was at a stand still.  A parking lot full of cars at 6 AM in the morning.  I had asked the lady when I picked up my race packet how many people were running and she said, well either 5000 or 17,000.  A bit perplexing to me as its not as if those 2 numbers were even close.  It turned out 8000 people were and most of them were in the car by themselves that morning trying to get onto the parking lot.  Anyway, my boyfriend being from St Pete knew a way around it so we got there quite soon and parked on the streets around the venue.  They asked for a 15$ parking fee plus a 10$ shuttle fee to get you back to the starting point as the finish was a while away.  That seemed crazy.
• I was very impressed at the amount of portapotties...  There were solidly over 100 of them if not more.  And they were being used!!
• It was COLD, as KrazyTallchick mentioned, the temps in FL hit a low this weekend (and go figure, it will be 80s again today) it was in the low 40s with a nasty chilly wind.  Everybody huddled behind a tent, I actually though they were handing out warm chocolate milk when I first saw all the people there but they were just standing down wind behind some tent.
• I did not warm up in the common sense of the word, I was just desperately trying to retain any body heat I had, jumping up and down, and just moving.  Plus I did have some extra sweater I handed to my BF right before we headed to the corrals.  Not sure if I felt like a cow heading for slaughter or a horse ready to hit a nice pasture. 
• I met some nice people while we were waiting, including 2 girls from Charlotte, NC who were also doing their first 1/2M.  Their pace seemed a little slower than mine when we compared but heading Brian’s advice to start slow, I told them I would run with them for the first 5-7 miles.  Then the national anthem played, being from Belgium it still takes me by surprise this is played at every event.  But it is moving.  I could not even sing ours, and to show you I am not the only one in our country I will share a side bar.  One of our politicians who was holding a significant post within the government at the time was asked a few years back to sing our anthem and he proceeded to hum the song that is played at the song of the Olympics…   You can still youtube it.
• Then it started, I was in corral 4 so basically 4 minutes after the runners went things got moving.  It was funny, some people took off like they were doing a 100 m sprint, others sorta started.  I stayed with Katy and Karen.  And since we agreed on a 10:30 pace we were initially comparing paces from our watches.  Hers had us at a minute faster pace than mine running side by side.  But we stayed with it.  Running the R&R is fun as there is a band every mile, now mind you for some you wished you were wearing ear plugs but they all seemed excited to be there.  Did I mention it was cold?  I wore a short sleeved running t-shirt, a lululemon longsleeved sweatshirt -with the thumb hole and the built in gloves (did those ever come in handy)- , another long sleeved shirt I picked up from my brother in law and a land’s end fleece hoodie.  I thought I would just tie each layer around my waist as I went cause I do not have that many long sleeved things so not ready to throw them to the right….  Long story short, I only took off my fleece after mile 9 or so and put it back on…  the course was beautiful and showcased a lot of what St Pete has to offer which Sunday was unfortunate as the stretches along the water were just nasty, nasty cold with the wind whipping off the water.
• My plan was to eat the powerbar energy blast chews between mile 3 and 7, plus I had my caffeine chewing gum dosed at mile 5 and 10.  That all went perfectly according to plan and I sipped some water at the aid stations.  Only took Gatorade once and never a GU.  I just cannot swallow those things.
• After mile 4 I felt I was going to slow, waved at my new friends and sped up a bit.  I am not one to leave it all on the course, I prefer to cruise and feel good while I am doing it.  So I kept going and to my surprise the time kinda flew by.  Looking at all the people, what they were wearing, who they were running for, how they were running was very entertaining and then sometimes I found myself thinking some of the mantras krazytallchick posted : LRR, don't go too fast at the start, really forced myself to slow down a few times, If they can do this I can, I am not going to stop now and all that stuff...
• To my excitement, I was at the finish line with time to spare to watch Flo Rida.  Found my BF, who brought coffee, which was about the only thing I felt like having.  I nibbled on a marathon snickers bar but that tasted so bad I could only have 1/3 or so and I did not eat until 2 pm.
• Afterwards we walked 12 blocks to my car which felt sooo good and did another long walk later.  I ran and swam Monday to move the blood around, rested Tuesday and have officially started HIM training with another swim this AM.
• I am glad I did it, probably will do it again next year, and might look for one more HM before July as part of HIM training.  We’ll see

Great job, Pam!

As slow as I run, I have the time to go through just about every one of those mantra thoughts... as well as the usual one when it is a run - "Why the heck am I here, exactly? I don't even LIKE running" - fortunately, that gets overriden quickly.

Pam - Thats a really nice race and very positive race report.  You're going do great things.  thanks for sharing.

So here is my rambling thought for the day.  Have you ever had a cramp that you didn't expect and just could not find the right stretch to put out the fire.  Help me out here.  Just what is the name of that muscle on the front of the shin opposite the calf?  This morning's trainer ride triggered a cramp there. Don't you just hate it when you get cramp in a muscle you never knew you had.  Hammies, calves, quads and glutes, these have cramped so many times, i can shift the load and relax without slowing down.  The little muscles are much more of a challange to relax. 

It's my own fault, I've been experimenting with different hydration solutions.  Today's workout fuel was de-fizzed coke.  Tasted good, nice energy boost, but did nothing to protect against cramps.

What is the worst or strangest location for a cramp?  Ever had a cramped rib? Everyone has had a foot cramp, ouch.  I actually had a facial muscle cramp that felt like my eyeball was cramping.  That was really wierd.  Now that I think about it, I was drinking coke with lots of ice from the aid stations when my eye and face cramped.

It's much more fun to just run along nice and relaxed. 

Don't be discouraged.  If you're sick, you're sicK!!  You must rest and get better and you will do it another day.  I hope you are feeling better.

@Suzie -  Get well soon.

If you're sick, take a short time-out now to get better.  The alternative is to be 50% sick for twice as long.  Now it is great time for you to practice the nutrition and recovery skills.

Get some rest and you'll be feeling ready to riot by the end of the week.

Enjoyed reading all the race report, mantra's ect...  Great Job Kathy and Pam...

Maria.. if you aren't feeling good or 100% its darn hard to do anything.. let alone run a mile... get better.. and I am sure we will all run another one with you when the time is right...

M.

Enjoyed reading all the race report, mantra's ect...  Great Job Kathy and Pam...

Maria.. if you aren't feeling good or 100% its darn hard to do anything.. let alone run a mile... get better.. and I am sure we will all run another one with you when the time is right...

M.

Wow life is really getting in the way this week. [Whining removed on review and substituted succinctly with emoticon: ]

I'm resolving to lose all my unfulfilling obligations.  I'm remembering that I decided when I turned 40 that I deserve a decade for myself.  I made a list of all the things I need and value, and a lot of the time I have committed here and there doesn't have anything to do with my needs and values.  Time to circle the wagons...

It's amazing at all the things that fill our time.  I did my first Ironman the year I turned 40.  Kind of a present to myself.  And I decided that year to not have ANY commitments other than the kids' activities.  No committees, no being on any boards, no anything.  40 was MY year.  And I'm glad I did.  Since then, I've added a few things back in, but the kids are still my primary focus other than my training.  Every now and then you have to clean out the clutter!