Joanna: Whaaaa happened??? June 8, 2009

It’s been waaay too long since anyone has written on this blog.  I think it is time to update people on our lives post-half-marathon.  The week after the half I did ZERO exercise. Not even a long walk.  I sat at my desk all day and then went home at night and sat on the couch.  Even though I wasn’t sore, I was burnt out and decided my body deserved to rest.  After that week I was itching to exercise, but still not excited about running yet.  I went on about 3, hour long, power walks to ease back into things.  After that week I started running 2 miles about 3 times a week and have since raised it to 3, but stopped there.  My joints (knees and hips gave me trouble during training) feel great! They really, truly needed to take it easy! I am glad I’ve been listening to my body.  

I also bought rollerblades!!! They are AWESOME! I have been doing some great cross-training cardio with them and loving it. So that’s it – a few short runs 3 times a week or switch it up with some ‘blading.  I like this laid back exercise routine…however…I knew it wouldn’t be long before I was craving a race again…I am actually running in 2 this week. One is the JPM Corporate Challenge (3.5 miles in Central Park, with Allison again) on Thursday and the other is a 5k to support the Valerie Fund, on Saturday – in NJ. Aaaaaaaaaand I’m back in the game 🙂

A weird thing that occurred while training: I gained weight, yet Allison lost weight. Have you ever heard of anyone gaining weight while running ridiculously high mileage every week? Well, after some research it is apparently more common than you think.  It could be muscle, but it’s mostly water weight and glycogen storage in your muscles – to fuel you for your long runs.  I have lost most of it (without trying) which makes me think my body was just naturally preparing me for the race by storing lots of good stuff to keep me fueled – crazy right???

Anyway…I leave you with these fun pictures of late:

That’s me and Allison yukkin’ it up at the Beer Garden in Astoria.

That’s me and hub, Andrew, at a wedding. He looks…happy???

We.did.it! April 28, 2009

Pictures will come shortly.

We survived!!! This is Joanna now –  I am sure Allison will recap on the experience as well.

Personally, I felt the race was an awesome, fulfilling, rewarding accomplishment.  I slept great the night before – went to bed at 10:30 and woke up at 6, completely uninterrupted.  Well, Andrew said that at 1 am some motor cycle gang woke up the neighborhood, but I must have been too far into REM to notice. 

For dinner the night before I contemplated pasta, but settled on smoked turkey and hummus on whole wheat.  I had a few chips and salsa and a little ice cream too (wanted to eat a lot of carb calories!)  Upon waking I had 1 1/2 slices of bread topped with PB and a sliced banana. It was the perfect balance of carbs, fat, and protein to get me through 13.1 miles. 

Allison and I met outside of our subway stop and walked to the start. We had a lot of nervous energy and just couldn’t believe the day had finally come. We got so antsy waiting in line…we just wanted to start…once that gun went off we were so excited…it was surreal.

The first 3 miles went sooo slow. Being that it was 90 ish degrees, the full-marathon was cancelled.  Those marathoners joined us, making our race about 10,000 participants. That’s a lot of women! When we finally got in the groove the race went quickly! It ended up being 2 laps around central park plus an additional 1.1 miles.  There were hoses being sprayed throughout to cool us down, and plenty of water stops.  We walked through every station and I drank 2 cups each time – and I was still PURPLY RED from the heat.

Allison and I stuck together for most of it, and let me tell you it was awesome having her support.  We pushed each other and encouraged each other. I could not have done it without her. I even let her have half of my energy gel! I took two of those throughout the race, one at mile 5 and one at mile 10. They taste nasty, but boy did they help!  All of a sudden at mile 10 I was cruising….I started doing negative splits – it was so bizarre.  But, it was at mile 11 that the heat got to me. I felt queasy and wanted to stop.  But I didn’t! I kept up my pace and finished strong! I was so proud of myself.  Andrew was right behind the finish in the thick of it all (when you have an expensive camera it acts as a free backstage pass – no questions asked!)

My family was at the finish too – with an adorable sign made by my little sister. It made me feel so loved and supported.

I ate a bagel immediately upon finishing.  I thought it would settle my stomach. It actually didn’t and I felt pretty nauseous for a few hours – I couldn’t even enjoy lunch with the fam 😦 But, when I got home hunger struck hard and I pretty much ate my apartment.

Surprisingly, I was barely sore at all the next day! I am definitely tight, but I am walking fine and feel great. I am even thinking of doing another one in the future 🙂 We shall see!

Sunday can’t come soon enough… April 20, 2009

So you didn’t hear from us for a while after our juice experiment because it actually made both of us pretty sick. Well, not that sick, but we felt extremely out of it all day. Mainly because there is nothing in it but fruit, yes this is obvious, but it definitely lacks the protein and fullness that I need to not feel empty. We both snacked the entire rest of the day and confirmed that if we attempted to be RAW foodies for one day we would die and our company would need to find 2 new receptionists… considering we already do the jobs of about 6 people, this would be an impossible task.

You can tell I’m trying to distract myself from the fact the race is on SUNDAY. We are both anxious/terrified/excited/nervous and basically just looking forward for it to be over. We’ve been training for a really long time and just want to be crossing the finish line and rewarding ourselves with a huge lunch and our long awaited running hiatus.

I planned to do a long run around Nolan’s neighborhood on Saturday morning; we had mapped out a 7 mile route the night before. After completed the run (which was 99% uphill) in less than 50 minutes I realized either I had suddenly become superhuman or our mapping skills were not as accurate as expected. It turns out it was the latter, which makes me feel both good and bad. The rest of the week will be spent on shorter runs just to keep our endurance up. Joanna and I had planned to run together tonight, but with both weather and scheduling conflicts we’ve had to reschedule for what is probably the 10th time.

The weather for Sunday looks great (thanks to Nolan’s recent weather update). Let’s cross our fingers that his weather predicting skills are slightly better than his mapping skills 🙂

Sunday, Apr 26

High: 78 °F Real Feel: 76 °F
Mostly sunny and pleasantly warm

Countdown to the race!! April 13, 2009

We’re trying to stay motivated for the race now that it’s less than 2 WEEKS away! We decided to do this race before Christmas, so we’re pretty anxious to finally run! In the last few weeks I’ve felt kind of burnt out (I know Joanna has felt the same) so I’m doing my best to keep it together over the next few days.

Training has been going well! I’m not quite on track with my original schedule but am feeling confident about the race. We found out that the course is two-6.something mile loops around central park. I’ve run this course a few times and Joanna plans to do it in the next few days. I’ve surprisingly never raced before so it will be quite the experience to run my normal route with 5000 other people.

Also, we are both running in the JPM Corporate Challenge on June 11th. We’re going to take a little running hiatus after the half marathon, so this 3.5 mile race will be perfect. However, the most exciting part is that both of our significant others are running as well! Joanna and her husband, Andrew, have run together on multiple occasions… however my boyfriend Nolan (I hope he’s reading this) absolutely REFUSES to run with me, so this will be a momentous occasion for us to run together. Although, I have been told that just because we are running in the same race does not necessarily mean we are running together, but I’m still excited!

So we have lots to look forward to over the next couple of weeks and are doing our best to stay motivated!

I’m Back! April 12, 2009

Hi, it’s Joanna. My trip to San Diego was AWESOME! It was filled with friends, food, fitness, and RELAXATION. Seriously, the sun, beach, and 70 degree weather was like heaven to me. I keep asking myself why I live in NY – the land of endless winter?!

Here is a recap my training while I was there (7 days – 2 of which were on an airplane)…I biked for an hour on two days, ran 4 miles on one day, and ran 10 on another. It wasn’t the most strenuous of exercise, but it felt GREAT to run in the warm sun!

Here are some pics: that first pic is before we left, andrew eating 4 servings / half a box of oatmeal squares! wow. there is some fun food in SD, a green smoothie (spinach, vanilla SILK soy yogurt, water, half banana, small apple), and me strolling in Cali!

New Shoes! April 3, 2009

Allison again. Great news, I got new shoes! They’re Asics Kayano 15’s – let’s hope this solves the problem!

The woman at the store sounded a little surprised that I had plans to run a half-marathon after being so behind my training, but I’m not going to let that slow me down! I’m going to take it easy for the next few days and can hopefully do 2 long runs (10 miles) before the race. That will be the longest distance I’ve ever run!

Hopefully Joanna and I can train together when she gets back, although I guarantee she’s going to be way ahead of me. I’m sure she’s really staying on top of her training schedule while in California 😉

Have a great weekend!

ENERGIZE March 26, 2009

Joanna here. My mother-in-law (Hi AMY!) was kind enough to send me some new powerbars in the mail.  She saw this post and wanted to aid in my efforts of finding quick sugar for long runs. The bars she sent me are: POWER BAR Energize! They are more of a smoothie type flavor ….so far I have tried Berry…it tastes like an airhead! So good! I am not the biggest fan of Powerbars b/c the consistency hurts my teeth.  But I would DEFINITELY buy these for myself. It kept me energized on a run before dinner, aka STARVING, but it did the trick.