TrainingTruths: No excuses.

First, let me announce the winner of the NYC Blogiversary Awesome giveaway:

Congratulations to Jill F!

Check your inbox for an email with details on how to claim your prize!

It was another slow week of training last week. 

I use that word loosely because I actually only ran once before leaving on Friday to run the New York City Half Marathon.

I was supposed to run on Tuesday, but it was raining. Instead of coming right home after a day of "professional development" and running on the treadmill, I took a break. That break ended up lasting all evening. Training fail.

On Thursday morning I received my daily dose of Runner's World motivation via the Quote of the Day.

How fitting. So after school I came home and went for an easy run with my husband. We did our regular out and back route. Once we got going, I found myself feeling better. The lack of motivation I had been experiencing began to be replaced with happy endorphins. 

We arrived in NYC on Friday evening, spent most of Saturday at the expo and site-seeing before the half marathon on Sunday. I went into this totally planning to just have fun and take some pictures along the way. I did that, but then I PR'd too! (Race recap coming soon)

Crazy blurry start corral picture!

How do you get past the excuses and do the work?

#TrainingTruths is not just about me. We all like to see what everyone else is doing and use that information to assess ourselves. It's not judgement. It's a way to share and learn and make changes when necessary.

To participate all you have to do is share your #TrainingTruths:

1. Tag a Twitter post with the hashtag #TrainingTruths
2. Comment on the Running Escapades Facebook page 
3. Leave a link to your own blog post in the comments

I look forward to reading your #TrainingTruths!

Fitness Friday: NYC or Blogiversary?

NYC or Blogiversary? It's hard to chose which makes me happier!

Today my bags are packed and after school I'm off to NYC with my running partner for our NYC Half Marathon weekend. 

It's been fun getting ready.

It is also my Blogiversary Weekend! I've had some amazing experiences in the last year:

I ran another half marathon with my husband

I served as a ZOOMA ambassador

I met and ran with with Joan Benoit Samuelson

I participated in my first relay RTB:NH

I hosted my first Chilly Challenge

I added Maine to the list of places I have run

As a way to say Thank You to all of you for reading, following, commenting, and supporting this little blog of mine for the past two years, I thought I'd pick up a NYC souvenir and have a fun little giveaway. I don't know what it will be yet, but you can count on it being running related.

To enter for a chance to win my Blogiversary Gift: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Entries will be accepted until 11:59 on March 17, 2013. US residents only. Winners will be announced Monday.

TrainingTruths: Running Gives You Freedom

Congrats to Sassy Bands winners Erin S., Kasy, and Mindy! Check your emails!

Last week was unusually busy, and I was tired. My normal running days schedule went out the window completely, but not the miles. I love that with running you can decide when to run, determine your pace, choose your course, and think about whatever you want. 

TrainingTruth: Running gives you freedom

THURS: This was my first workout of the week. I laced up my shoes with trepidation about how it was going to go after "resting" for five days. I decided to run on the treadmill (just in case) and choose a 6x800 workout. Other than initially flip-flopping the order of run/recover, I felt pretty good. I'm still doubting the pace of my treadmill, but going by effort I feel like I did a good interval run.

FRI: I don't usually run two days in a row (I fear injury), but with an unexpected snow day, I couldn't resist. This gave me a chance to catch up on the miles I lost at the beginning of the week. Since there was a snow storm going on, I choose the treadmill again and just ran. I didn't go with a planned distance or pace or workout. I just ran. When I felt like stopping, I did.

SUN: We pushed our Saturday long run to Sunday. This was our final long run before the NYC Half Marathon. Since Central Park has hills, lots of rolling hills, we chose a long route that also had some hills. It felt really good to get back outside. I was worried about how my legs would feel, but my conservative approach to hills seems to be working. I still get winded, but my legs are holding up better.

  
Since we're talking hills, I saw this on Pinterest. 

                                                         Source: Uploaded by user via Kelly on Pinterest

Which reminded me of this tweet.

Don't think of them as hills, think of them as "mounds of opportunity." #TrainingTruths

— Amy C. (@RunningEscapade) November 18, 2012

What does running give you?

#TrainingTruths is not just about me. We all like to see what everyone else is doing and use that information to assess ourselves. It's not judgement. It's a way to share and learn and make changes when necessary.

To participate all you have to do is share your #TrainingTruths:

1. Tag a Twitter post with the hashtag #TrainingTruths
2. Comment on the Running Escapades Facebook page 
3. Leave a link to your own blog post in the comments

I look forward to reading your #TrainingTruths!

Fitness Friday: Keep it Sassy Giveaway

Running gear isn't cheap. Like most runners, I'm always on the lookout for quality products at reasonable prices. Headbands are required running gear for me. They need to stay put, hold my hair away from my face, and look nice. 

I first saw Sassy Bands in pictures being worn by my friend Erin who is also a runner. After seeing several more pictures of the super cute headbands, I finally checked them out. There were tons of colors and designs, but I couldn't believe the prices.

I reached out to Sassy Bands because I wanted to see for myself if these headbands were as good as they looked, even though they are much more affordable than other bands out there. I found out that Sassy Bands was started by a soccer mom who found the other headbands too pricey, so she started making her own for her daughter. Soon her daughter's teammates were making requests for bands too. 

Paula sent me three bands to try. Not only are they adorable, but they are non-slip velvet backed and comfortable (I tried them on several runs). They come in over 300 different styles (with new ones every week) and the choice of 4 different widths. Sassy Bands also offers custom sizes and have been made for as young as 18 months.

I'm really looking forward to wearing the Flying Pig Sassy Band during the half marathon in Cincinnati in May. You can order your own Sassy Bands by sending an email through the Facebook Page or by emailing directly at sassybandsarethebest@yahoo.com.

Now I want to share some sass with you! Three of you will win your choice of three Sassy Bands! To enter:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will run until Sunday, March 10 at 11:59 PM EST.  Winner will be announced on Monday.  Good luck!

(I was given headbands by Sassy Bands in exchange for a review.  Sassy Bands is providing the giveaway.  I was not compensated for this post.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Black Cat 10 Miler 2013

Saturday I was back in Salem, Massachusetts for a Black Cat 10 Miler repeat. This race was started in 2010 with the intention of being a Boston Marathon 20 mile training race, but then evolved to offer a 10 miler and relay option too.  Last year I ran it a couple of weeks after completing an awesome sub 2-hour half marathon. This year, I used it as one of my final long training runs for my next half marathon.

Getting to the race meant an early wake up and departure because it was about 70 minutes away and it started at 8AM. At the race site we quickly picked up our race bibs and shirts, hit the restrooms, and then stayed warm inside while listening to the DJ'd music.

We spent a little more time at the start line than I would have liked since it was only 30 degrees and the sun wasn't strong enough to provide much warmth. I was wearing a new pair of Nike thermal running pants, but I still got the shivers. I knew once we got going I would be fine though.

As usual I went out faster than I would have liked. Since the first mile or so was mostly flat, I didn't worry too much about my pace. I knew we would hit the most challenging hill on the course heading into Marblehead around mile 2.5, so I slowed down even though I wanted to keep up with Daisy. When I hit the turn around, I saw her heading to the port-a-potties, so I stopped to blow my nose. She was having issues with her running top, so I went on ahead of her.

Turn around at Devereux Beach

My first half splits:

Mile 1    833
Mile 2    839
Mile 3    901
Mile 4    837
Mile 5    851

After the turn around, my early morning departure started to catch up to me. I did not have my normal pre-run breakfast and my gas tank was running on low. My Simple Hydration Water Bottle with Cytomax helped boost my energy, but also left my stomach feeling queasy for most of my final miles. In the last mile there were a couple of short climbs that tested me mentally, but I was so ready to be done that I forced myself to push on. 

Official time 1:32:21

Second half splits:

Mile 6    913
Mile 7    909
Mile 8    908
Mile 9    935
Mile 10  858 

This was my third ten-miler and my slowest time, but I chalk that up to my fuel fail. I'm happy with my race pace (officially 914) and my ability to pull it together when I started feeling crappy. I guess you could say that I'm finally learning to listen to my body.

I like this race. It has a horrible start time for runners coming from out of town, but it's a great distance, semi-challenging, has great runner support before, during and after, and gives out a finisher's medal along with an awesome long sleeve shirt. 

Want to know more about my awesome silver sparkly headband? Check out my Sassy Bands review and giveaway coming soon!