Seawheeze 2015 is just around the corner so I thought I'd share my training progress with you up until the big day in August. The Seawheeze training app was just released last week for both android and iphone so it is the official 12 week countdown to getting those miles in.
I started getting back into running and building my 3 mile base in February (my last half marathon was in 2012) but then in April I travelled a bit and got bronchitis so I had a bit of a hiatus and loss of motivation and freak out about not being able to get this done. Thankfully I have a personal coach that is helping me (I'll fill you in on that later) and so she's really kept me on track and helped motivate me and really decide what my goals are, and she's tailored a plan specific to my needs. My goal is to actually train for this, run the entire distance and feel good at the end of it and possible meet a time goal. My 2012 race was a bit of a gong show because I didn't train for it beyond 5 miles and relied on just my crossfiting and I was able to wing 8 miles of it in great time (which was great!) and then I bombed the remaining 5. I felt so terrible after! Crossfit did help me, but you still do need to train for those other things like adapting to extended exercise in warm temperature, hydration and getting your joints prepared for that assault.
Training for a half marathon this time around seems a lot more difficult to fit in despite the fact that my kids are older. I'm just overall more busy and balancing different priorities and in order to fit in run training for the next 12 weeks I also need to cut back on Crossfit a bit which I love. Oh well! It's 12 weeks and when I cross that finish line I will be so very happy that I joined and trained.
First run after hiatus in April/May and it was a terrible run. I had just started the ketogenic diet so was a bit dehydrated and my legs felt like lead immediately and I was having low back pain from my kidneys that were probably raisins. Because of my husbands work schedule my runs are not before 7pm so my route needs to be adjusted for that. I opted to run to the local track and run the remainder on the track which got very monotonous but I kept moving and got the 3 miles done. Yuck!
My next run I was smarter and not only prehydrated with a ton of water, I also drank a lot of lemon water with sodium in it for the electrolytes. Still on the Keto diet so not drinking or taking in any carby foods and my body is spilling fluid a lot quicker so I have to be very mindful of electrolyte intake. This run was way, way better and I ran it pretty effortlessly. I like randomizing my routes too and just heading out in whatever direction strikes my fancy and that really helps with keeping things interesting and helping me adapt to different terrain. I use the mapmyrun app instead of my garmin because it is just as good for stats and it streamlines how much stuff I have to take with me. One thing I need to mention is how awesome the Run Stuff Your Bra and Run For Days Bras are. They hold my iphone 6 plus snugly and there is no bounce or risk of it falling out on me. Love it!
Ugh! my long run! I hydrated well for this run but the route I chose was extremely hilly. I started with a long 1 mile incline, had 1 mile mostly level, a steep 600 meter hill, downhill and then a very steep 1 mile at the end. I live right next to a 176 Hectar park which I sometimes like to run the trails but we've had some bears spotted in my neighborhood and I noticed fresh bear warning signs up at the trail entrance so I ran the perimeter of the park instead which meant more hills.
I had two more workouts this week for Crossfit but I didn't get outfit pictures. My run outfits aren't very interesting since I pretty much wear my Run For Days Crops, Run Stuff Your Bra or Run For Days Bra and whatever tank. I'll try to keep it interesting but I don't have the same zest for running outfits that I do for Crossfit. lol! I guess because it is a solo sport and my main goal is to endure.
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I have to start by saying that Lululemon and every single volunteer, entertainer, traffic director, water bottle pickeruper etc did a phenomenal job yesterday making it an event to remember. It was so well orchestrated and organized that there were very few hiccups. The energy of the even yesterday simply cannot be replicated by any other race and it was so exciting to see all of the lululemon style surprises around every corner. They hired tons of entertainers for the race at almost every 200-400 meters. There were strange clown cyclists, choirs, a group of elderly tai chi practitioners, paddle boarders, dragon boaters, drag queens, mermaids, goofy lululemon staff doing their skits, Specialized Lululemon Clad Cyclists. It was really an interactive love letter to Vancouver and it was neat to see the variety of different entertainers. Lululemon thought of absolutely everything on this course from entertaining your cheer station with bouncy castles, food and activities for the little ones, to cut up fruit and water and gels at every single station, coconut water at the end of the race. The course was very well planned taking advantage of the view at every single point and providing a lot of lovely shade. The bridge and hills where a challenge but I'm really glad they were part of the course. The BMO race I did avoided the bridge and as a result there was a bit of dipsy doodling within the city streets so there wasn't a view the entire race like there was for the Sea Wheeze. It was an amazing event and I'm so glad that I got to be a part of it.
I ended up running this race a lot slower then I did my BMO half but I really expected that and was just wanting to make it across 'around 3 hours' and just have fun. I ended up not training very much for this one and pretty much stopped running in June so the result was a very painful last 4 miles. At 8 miles of this race I was ahead of the game and had I been able to keep up that pace I would have bettered my BMO time. Unfortunately my lack of training coupled with wearing minimal shoes with no cushioning meant my feet were in a lot of pain at that point and I could not run for more then a few minute spurts. I basically walked from mile 8 to mile 11 where I met up with Lululemon Addict (we had started the race together and then separated) and she was feeling so good and was so focused that she pushed me along those last few miles and cracked the whip on me a few times. once close to the finish line the lovely eductators were madly clanging the cow bells for me (so much appreciated) and cheering me on across the finish line and that really helped me to power thru the pain. I also really liked that fruits were offered at each of the stations (BMO didn't do that) because I felt the orange slices did more for me then my gels did. After the race I took one look at where I had to go for the catered breakfast and my feet just refused to walk over. I'm glad I didn't attempt it because as it turns out breakfast was finished at that point so it would have been a waisted painful walk over. I really wasn't actually hungry for food anyways, I desperately wanted a sugary iced Starbucks drink so I took about 40 minutes to hobble the 600 meters to the nearest starbucks, stopping and resting my feet and collapsing in a heap every 2 feet. I was sure at that point that there would be no way I'd be able to make it back downtown for the concert in three hours but when I got home (had an an hour and a half to rest) I soaked myself in an epsom salt bath (painfully discovering that I had a chafing situation and two severely damaged toe nails) and downed some advil, ate a yogurt and then decided I really didn't want to miss the concert so I put on my cushy Native Flip Flops and drove back.
The concert was so amazing. It was so hot out and the venue (Jack Pool Plaza where our olympic torch is) was absolutely beautiful. The stage was made so that you could see the view of Vancouver as the backdrop and as the band Fun played you could see the cruise ships slowly drifting past while huge dragonflies buzzed around above us. I don't know how lululemon managed to have Vancouver so 'on' just like all of the entertainers where but Vancouver showed it's very best this weekend and played along with lovely wether and nicely timed cruise ships and float planes.
It was so lovely to meet so many travelers this weekend from all over the US and I'm so glad you all came out and created the amazing energy of excitement.
Paddle boaters in costumes
I met this guy, Dave Mari who seems to be in every single race album I've ever seen online. I think he's part of a group called marathon maniacs and he wears his paul frank tee shirts to every race and photographs people. Really cool guy and it turned out we had a friend in common.
The GEC building had educators wearing Ray scaling the building in groups of three. That was pretty cool!!
The view entering into Stanley Park
Mermaid Cheer Station
The medal is removable and can be used as a key chain or zipper pull on a bag, the ribbon is shoes laces with the SeaWheeze colors and SeaWheeze written on it.
Video clip of the concert
A group yoga session
These are some of the pictures taken by Lululemon and on their website
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