12 November 2005

First good week down.

This has been the first really good week I've had in awhile. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it was better than most have been recently.

Thursday night I went to WW and while I like that leader I hate that meeting. I can't wait till the marathon is over and I can go back to MY meeting on Saturday mornings.

Yesterday was an off day. I didn't feel like getting up so I didn't!!!

This morning was marathon training. We met at 6:30 a.m. at the Pali Lookout. This is a point that overlooks the windward side of Oahu. It's also the site of a famous battle for the island where Kamehameha the Great kicked the pants off the local warriors. Anyway, even in the hottest part of summer it is always windy and cold up there. So here we are, in November and it's windy and cold and rainy. We headed off down the moutain into Nuuanu along a windy 2-lane road. It was 3.5 miles downhill in the rain and I'm sure where you can see where this is going. Yup!! 3.5 miles back uphill. One hill was 2.5 miles long - Oh My God!!!!! It was brutal. Then we had to run along the Pali Highway with cars speeding by at 60 mph and there hardly any shoulder and it's raining. Okay, you get the idea. It really was a pretty good run as far as I was concerned though. No intestinal or stomach problems and I really felt great when I was done; just wet and cold!! So a good morning training.

That's all I have to say. Nothing much this afternoon just hanging around the house. Oh yeah, it's beautiful here!!! Has been all day!! Oh well..... Life in Hawaii.....

10 November 2005

It'a been a good week!!!

Monday night was marathon training. After Sunday's 1/2 I was still a little sore but decided to go and do my best. We did a slow 60 minutes and it really was killer but I did it. My quads were so sore!!

Tuesday night I skipped WW (mainly because I HATE the leader) and came home and did my Core workout. Again, still a little sore but there is so much stretching that I felt great when I was done.

Last night was marathon training again. What an awesome run!!!! We did 70 minutes of mostly hills. The total distance was 5 miles but there were some long, honking hills so it was good. I felt awesome! Everything felt right and I thought I could run all night long!!! I fell like I'm back!!!

It's been a great week and I feel really incredible. I'm not getting up as early as I'd like but I'm doing my core stuff at night so that works. Food has been spot on - even the pint of Ben & Jerry's hubby and I shared on Tuesday; that worked right in.

When I started keeping this blog I stopped keeping a written journal and I think that was a mistake. I've begun a journal again to keep note of aches, pains, nutrion, sleep, etc. Things like the fact that last night was the first night run without my ankle brace. Hardly earth shattering, but important to me.

Yesterday I was reading Nancy's blog when what may have went wrong Sunday hit me!! She explains about her sodium calibration and I realized that may be what was wrong. I know I had some intestinal distress but the real problem was after that passed and I was so incredible nauseous walking was hard at times. So this weekend I'm going to pick up some sodium tablets and start working with them. I've still got a month before the marathon so hopefully I can get that settled.

So, I'm stoked. Things are going well and I'm really feeling inspired. It's time to go walk the dogs - they are sitting here staring at me!!!!!

06 November 2005

A disappointing morning.

Well, this morning was my 1/2 marathon. After my 30k crash I've been working on things and I was kind of looking forward to this race. I thought I had everything worked out and this was going to be the proving ground. Okay, I was wrong!!!!

Following my new nutrition plan I ate a bowl of cereal before I left the house at 4:15a.m. On the ride over I drank my coffee and I was feeling really good. Got to the race start and met up with my group. We stretched and headed off to find our place in the pack.

As is typical, we started slow. Also, I needed a bathroom pretty bad (this was a harbinger of things to come). Before we got out of Kapiolani Park 4 of us headed off to use the restroom. Once we were back on the road things were going well. After you leave the park you head right up Diamond Head and that hill can be brutal right at the beginning of the run, but we took it slow. We were doing well and feeling awesome. Slowly we started picking up speed a little and thought everything was good, the miles were just clicking away. Long around mile 9 I realized that I had forgotten to take the ibuprofen this morning - ugh!!!! - that's why my ankle was starting to hurt. By mile 10 my whole leg was hurting - this was not going to be good.

Just after the aid station at mile 10 I rapidly developed a severe case of intestinal distress. It hit me out of nowhere. Unfortunately, there was no bathroom in sight, I was tempted to go in the bushes bordering the Waialae Country Club (wouldn't the golfers have loved that!!!).. Anyway, I stopped running and walked hoping this would pass without incident. It took almost a mile but it finally did pass.

I started running again and was running a little fast as my group had gotten a ways ahead of me. Around mile 12 I caught up to them and ran with them for a little while when I started to get nauseous, now what???? So I slowed down hoping it would pass but it proceeded to get worse. I could not run; walking was a huge challenge. I was sure I was going to throw up. I stopped putting anything in my mouth, I was too afraid I would lose it - literally!! This kept up all the way to the end. When I got to the finish line I grabbed a soda and collapsed on the grass.

We sat there trying to figure out what had happened - and I'm still not really sure. I followed the nutrition plan I've been working on the last few weeks but I think I may have overdone it. I had Gatorade in my bottle ( which is my typical drink) and my little Cliff Shot Blox. At 45 minutes I took my first Blox and tried to take them every 1/2 hour after (like I always do). I think what happened is I took too many Blox and drank too much water at the aid stations. I just emptied my bottle and it was still over 1/2 full of Gatorade. It's possible I didn't drink enough. I've been dehydrated before and it did not feel like this. I got home around noon and my stomach has been really queasy all day. I've been able to eat but it's been a battle. Of course, once I ate I felt better physically even though my stomach was upset.

So, I had been on track to finish the 1/2 in about 2:45 but because of this I ended up with a 3:30. I'm not beating myself up over this and I'm really glad it happened now instead of during the marathon, I just would like to know what went wrong. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please feel free, I'm open to any ideas.

IT'S A BOY!!!!


Here is the newest addition to the family. This is Kiko Alani which means spot of orange for the spots on his cheeks. He was found in a park here just roaming around on the ground. The lifeguard picked him up and through a friend of a friend of a friend...... I ended up with him. He is not tame but he is very, very young so I will be taming him. Right now he's just getting used to his new home....

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...