Tag Archives: Suncoast Striders

Random Thoughts about Running and Peer Pressure

Posted on by Run DMT
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Last week, the running was a little light due to all the end of the year hullabaloo at my girls’ school.  When did the end of the year get more chaotic than Christmas?  Between all the parties, volunteering nearly every day, a field trip and a volunteer breakfast, I couldn’t keep my days straight!  Never mind trying to squeeze in a run!  I was too shattered from running around all week.

 

On Saturday, I finally went for a 6 mile run.  It was HOT, but it felt good to run again after a crazy week.  It wasn’t a particularly fast run, but I did it and after slacking off all week, that’s all that matters.

6.2 Miles

Time 1:10:20

Ave Pace 11:21

Max 7:58

 

I didn’t run on Sunday, but decided to eat, drink and merry with all our friends at Chrissy and Mike’s cook-out.  Coach Jackie was there too and pressured me into a Memorial Day run with the Suncoast Striders.  I hadn’t even thought about going because @cheekymonkey8 and her clan were supposed to crash at our house Saturday night.  I didn’t want to leave Allan alone to entertain everyone while I was off socializing and running with the Striders.  It didn’t seem right.  But then they had to cancel last minute and so my morning was free for the Striders.

 

I really only intended to run an easy 4 miles since I did 6 miles on Saturday, but I got roped into going farther and faster with the crowd.  With 58 Striders meeting up for a Memorial Day run, it felt like a race more than an easy run and I needed that push.  (Thanks to Coach Jackie for pressuring me into going and thanks to David of the Striders for snapping this very festive and patriotic photo of Jackie and me.)

 

 

Trying to keep up with the crowd, I decided to go for 6 miles.  The crowd demonstrated strength in numbers in more ways than one.  That’s definitely one of the benefits of belonging to a running group.  You push each other, challenge each other and support each other.  Nothing like your peers to kick your ass into gear to make you run faster and farther and in this case, I shaved almost 7 minutes off Saturday’s time.

6.2 miles

Time 1:03:54

Ave Pace 10:18

Max Pace 8:09

 

Does that mean I’ll be rejoining the Suncoast Striders for their Saturday morning runs and world-famous social hour?  Who knows?  We’ll see.  One small Strider step at a time.

 

To recover after a long weekend of too much food, beer and margaritas, a 3 mile run was necessary this morning.

3.1 miles

Time 32:15

Ave Pace 10:25

Max Pace 8:09

 

Tomorrow, June 1, is National Running Day.  To celebrate, I’m meeting some fellow runners at Suncoast Running tomorrow morning.  I haven’t decided how far I’ll go yet, but hopefully the crowd will drag me along again.

 

June also means the start of the Juneathon.  For the Juneathon, participants commit to running or some other physical activity every day and blog about it every day during the month of June.  I’ve already joined, because I need the peer pressure accountability, but I’m also a glutton for punishment.

 

I always have the best intentions when I join the Juneathon.  I typically do run or work-out every day.  That’s the easy part.  I just don’t always blog about it, so I never win any of the cool prizes.  Unfortunately, peer pressure doesn’t seem to have the same effect on my blogging as it does on my running.

 

But peer pressure did have an impact on my abs, thanks to the #aMAYzingabs challenge.  I am up to 200 crunches now.  Plus, I dropped another dress size and squeezed into a pair of size 3 shorts.  And each week, my bikini looks better and better on me.  Truly AMAYZING!

 

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Stacy

Oh Snap!

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Although, I haven’t racked up the miles as much as I would have liked to this week, it seems that the miles that I did manage to run recorded some of my best times.

 

There were some nasty winds brought on my Hurricane Ida Tuesday morning, however, my new running mantra (Run in all weather because you never know what weather race day will bring.  NO EXCUSES!”) requires forces me to run in all weather.  Now, if only I could get enough rest at night to get up out of bed in the morning.  It looks like I need a mantra to make me move, too.

5 Miles

47:10

Ave Pace 9:26

 

On Thursday, I ran again on very frigid (for Florida) morning.  A cold snap had rolled through and our temperatures dropped to the low 50s.  There was more wind again, but it didn’t seem to slow me down too much.

 

5.05 Miles

48:00

Ave Pace 9:30

 

As I ran my 5 miles, I spotted a squashed creature in the road.  I thought it was toad due to all the rain, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was a baby alligator about a foot in length.  Seems like the rains and winds of Ida in addition to a cold snap confused all walks of life and I had to wonder:  Do you cry crocodile tears when an alligator gets run over?

 

Today, I ran once again, but only 3 miles since I wanted to do some strength training.  It was another cold morning (relative to Florida) but I believe the shorter distance did me some good or maybe it’s the cold snap.

3.10 Miles

28:14

Ave Pace 9:06

 

Tomorrow, Tiffany and I will meet the Striders for another 12-13 miles along the trail.  Next Sunday is the Women’s Half Marathon and we are hoping to finish under 2 hours.  Then, on Thanksgiving morning, we’ll be joining several Striders and thousands of people for the Turkey Trot.  I would love to beat my time from last year with a finish time of 54:00 otherwise i maybe crying crocodile tears once more.

Our Looney Longleaf

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Having always wanted to compete in a long distance triathlon relay, my friends and I assembled our relay team months ago for Sunday’s Longleaf International Relay (0.9 mile swim, 23 mile bike, 6.2 mile run).  Allan, our swimmer, swam miles each day in the pool to finish close to 20 minutes. 

 

 

I tortured myself with speed drills.  I constantly tried to run between 8:30-9:00 minute miles to finish under 54:00.  My Race for the Cure performance indicated that I had my work cut out for me.

 

Our cyclist, Julie, battled a hip injury which prevented her from reaching any distance higher than 12 miles and she felt like she would be the weakest link in our team.

 

 

Since the three of us love the movie Old School, we selected the team name We’re Going Streaking with streak offering such a great play on words.  After all, we hoped to move at lightning speed.  Other great names thrown into the mix included Average Joes, Strategery, Pager-Friendly, Wolf Pack, I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, That’s What She Said, Shake-N-Bake, and Tri Us.

 

Days before the event, Julie decided not to compete.  Between her hip, issues with her bike and some personal matters, she didn’t feel prepared to cycle 23 miles.  In the last minute, our friend, Mike, filled her shoes. 

 

 

 

Going into the competition, we weren’t quite sure how the relay/transition thing would work.  Then, the morning of the event, we learned how to transition between legs.  We were to pass our electronic ankle chip like a baton, which seemed simple enough.

 

The temperature Sunday morning dropped to 49 degrees and the winds began blow.  Poor Allan froze for 45 minutes waiting to enter the water.  The swim was seeded with men leading, then women and then relay.  As a mixed relay team, we were pushed even further down the line, however, being a strong swimmer, Allan quickly found himself at the front of the pack. 

 

 

Unfortunately,  another swimmer grabbed his ankle and pulled off his chip.  Thankfully, his wife snapped numerous pictures and his performance was digitally recorded by Cathy.  Although we estimated that Allan finish in 14:50, our relay team would not make the official roster.

 

 

As Allan ran into transition, we learned about his lost chip, but the show must go on!  Chipless Mike bolted out of transition to begin his 24 mile ride.  He hoped to finish it in 1:15, but he faced some strong head winds which added a minute onto his time (1:16).  As I waited in transition, I chatted with Andrea (a fellow Strider competing in the Sprint Relay) and I worried about the winds affecting my performance. 

 

Once Mike arrived back in transition, I took off and passed my family who cheered for me as I began my journey.   From the very start of my 6.2 mile run, I struggled with the fierce winds and I couldn’t move any faster than 9:30.  Faced with only our second cold snap of the season, I don’t think my body was prepared enough to face the cooler weather.  My lungs hurt and I could feel an asthma attack building.

 

At mile 3, the route turned and finally the wind was behind me.  My pace picked up to 8:30, but I knew I couldn’t shave any minutes off my time.  Around mile 5, Larisa and several other Striders formed a cheering squad on David and Karen’s front porch and cheered for me as I ran past.  It always feels good to have friends and family rooting for you or even honk for you as they leave the race.

 

During the last half mile, I passed Andrea strolling back to David’s house for the post-race party.  She had finished her 5K in record speed (20:26) and made it back to cheer for her fellow Striders.  Hearing the kudos from such great runners like Andrea really helped put some pep in my step.

 

As I turned the final corner to the finish line, I found my family cheering for me once again.  With Cathy’s mad photography skills, she snapped a photo of me crossing the finish line with our “unofficial” finish time.  My Garmin clocked 57:02 for my 10K run. 

 

 

After crossing the finish line, I had an asthma attack and needed my rescue inhaler.  With the relatively cold winds and whatever grass/weed the wind blew triggered an attack.

 

Despite all our hurdles, we had a great time competing in the relay and we can’t wait to do it again.

Getting Down to Bizniz

Posted on by Run DMT
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“Half Marathon training officially begins tomorrow. Bring it on,” read my running mommy friend’s status update on Facebook.

  

Her status update startled me like a loud buzzing alarm clock waking me from a sound sleep.

  

What the?! What half marathon?!  Which half marathon is twelve weeks away?! 

 

Is the Women’s half only 12 weeks away?

  

I opened my Outlook calendar to count the number of weeks until the Women’s Half on November 22.  Counting this Sunday, the race is only 11 weeks away.

  

ELEVEN WEEKS!

 

 Holy pacing, Batman!  I need to get back into the game!

 

I thanked Laura for the reminder and the motivating update to help me focus and rev up my training again.  I downloaded Hal Higdon’s Intermediate Half Marathon Training Plan, posted it on my fridge and e-mailed a copy to Tiffany with the subject line “we are so screwed” to prepare her as well.  Considering that Tiffany and I ran 6 miles last Saturday albeit pathetic at best, we still attempted it and it starts us right where we should be according to my almighty Hal.

 

The upside to this sudden and urgent desire to get training again will also get me on track with the Longleaf Triathlon International Relay, which is only 6 weeks away.  As the runner on the relay team, I need to finish a 10K in less than 50 minutes to place at least third according to last year’s stats.  And for the simple fact that my team is relying on me, I need to pick up the pace for sure.  Then, there’s also the Race for the Cure 10K in 3 weeks, which will provide me with an opportunity to determine how I will perform at Longleaf.

 

So this morning, I jumped out of bed at 6:00 a.m. to run 3 miles.  No more lying in and complaining about time off from my injury, the dark, allergies, asthma, my DH’s new schedule or my kid’s school schedule!  It’s time to get serious and down to bizniz!  With that, I decided to run my “race pace” in the dark.

 

3.16 miles

Time 30:54

Ave Pace 9:47

 

Not exactly my race pace, but it’s an improvement from Monday’s run.  I’ll run another 3 miles tomorrow morning and then, Tiffany and I will go for 6 miles again this Saturday with the Striders.

Smokin’

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I really wish I was referring to my run.  Instead, I mean the trail was literally smoking due to a control burn at the park.  Tiffany and I set out to run 8 miles, but after about 2 miles into our run, we hit a thick wall of smoke. We tried to run through it but after a ¼ mile into it, it didn’t seem to be clearing.  I couldn’t take it any more and needed to turn around.  We headed back to the start of the trail with only four miles finished.  After a quick potty break and water stop, Tiffany and I couldn’t get our momentum back and we struggled with the next two miles.  At 6 miles, I need to call it a day.

 6 miles

Time 1:03:40

Pace 10:36

 

When the other Striders returned from their runs, we learned that the fog of smoke was about ½ mile thick.  Our noble leader, David, assured me that turning around was the best thing I could have done.  I was just thankful that I remembered to take a hit off my inhaler before my run that morning.  Otherwise, it could have been a lot worse for me. 

 

Tiffany and I were really disappointed with our performances this week, but here’s hoping that we can be at 8 miles next week.  However, if the park continues its controlled burns, Tiffany and I may need to get creative with our miles by running through the park instead of running along the trail with our new Strider friends.

 

On another note, the Faces of Courage Triathlon (the triathlon formerly known as Babes and Bums) is less than 3 weeks away.  Since it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve seen a pool, I decided to swim 16 laps this morning.  Coincidentally, my friend and neighbor, Allan E, happened to be training this morning in our neighborhood pool as well.  Allan will be part of my relay team for the Longleaf Triathlon this October, so of course I was happy to see him training, but I was even more thrilled when he gave me some pointers on my breathing techniques.  I’ve been trying to swim as far as I could on one breath and Allan suggested I breathe on every third stroke.  That simple tip really improved my swim today!  Now, I just need to work on my flip turns. 

 

So, in the past few days, I’ve improved my swimming and didn’t fall off my bike.  It’s been a good week.  Maybe I really have been smokin’?

Making Strides

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As promised, Tiffany and I met the Suncoast Striders, the local running group in our area.  The Suncoast Striders meet every Saturday morning at Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park and its members are at all different running levels. 

 

Like I’ve always said, runners are the most real, supportive people you will ever meet and the Suncoast Striders were no exception.  They welcomed us into their group and encouraged us to stay for their social hour, where strong Brazilian coffee and homemade treats are a sweet compliment to the company found there.  We chatted and shared race stories with several members while making plans for future races.

 

As for our run, Tiffany and I kept an easy pace for our six mile run.  I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard over the past couple of weeks, so it felt good to take Saturday’s run easy.

Distance: 6.0

Time: 1:05

Pace: 10:50

 

After meeting with the Suncoast Striders, Tiffany and I will definitely switch our long Sunday runs to Saturdays.  I am looking forward to pacing myself with some faster runners and getting back into the groove of long runs again.  Next Saturday, Tiffany and I are going for 8 miles.

 

However, on Sunday morning, it felt odd not jumping out of bed for an early morning run.  To fill the void, I spent the time doing yoga with my BFF, Sharon Mann.  Yoga before church on Sundays seems like a natural segue, don’t you think?  It’s my own version Yahweh Yoga.  Namaste and peace be with you.

 

 

And if you’re wondering, I did in fact run 3 miles and swam ¼ (16 laps) on Friday.  My swim time was pitiful (~15 minutes) and my run time could have been better.

Distance: 3:16

Time: 29:33

Pace: 9:20

 

As for my commitment to the Juneathon, I have been working out every day since I posted about it last week.  This morning, Sharon kicked my ass and I did some boot camp kickboxing.  For the rest of the week, I plan to run 3 miles on Tuesday and 6 miles on Wednesday.  I would love to run/bike on Thursday and run/swim on Friday, but I’ve enrolled my oldest daughter in swim classes this week and I don’t know if I will have  enough time in the morning for tri training.  I’m going to have wing it with my work-outs this week, I guess!