I have never been a morning person. Before Emerson, I would have told you that I ran because that's what my training plan said I was supposed to do, or because I knew it would help me reach my goals.
Today I woke up at 5:30 to go out for a run, simply because I felt like it (and I wanted to try out the brand new purple headlamp Jamie bought me!). Pregnancy has turned running into something I want to do, rather than feeling like I have to. It's taken all the pressure off of PRs and mileage goals. I run simply because I enjoy it, and to (hopefully!) give my daughter a happy, healthy life. Emerson Lilly, you are the most beautiful little blessing. You've brought more happiness to my life in twenty-nine short weeks than I ever could have imagined, and I cannot wait to kiss your chubby little cheeks. Momma loves you so, so much!
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The second trimester has been fairly uneventful as far as pregnancies go. I've been blessed with an easy pregnancy and I had never expected to feel so normal! I've continued running four days a week throughout the second trimester, but have cut my mileage to about 15-20 miles a week. I've also slowed my pace a lot. Since the weather has been cooler, I haven't needed to do run/walk, but instead have been listening to my body and taking a break after every mile or so. Some runs are easier than others, but I am overall feeling pretty good. There were about three weeks where running was such a struggle, and I ended up taking an entire six days off, but my body truly needed the rest. An easy beach run while in Myrtle Beach with my sisters quickly reminded me why I love running so much. I've been back at it ever since, even though that sometimes means sneaking in a little 2-3 mile run! My long runs have been pretty limited since Seawheeze Half. I've done 8 miles a couple times, and ran a 9 mile race around week 25. The race was hot and hilly, so I had to walk a lot, but I'm doing my best to keep the distance up! I figure that will make coming back to running easier after Emmy is born! A couple weeks ago, my running friends wanted to run the last ten miles of the Columbus Marathon course, so I tagged a long for a few miles and was surprised by how great of a run I had! The weather was absolutely perfect, I barely needed to walk, and I loved getting to run somewhere different from the usual! One of the goals I had set when we found out we're expecting was to run a half marathon in every trimester. I kept hearing different things about the official start of each trimester, so I decided to count mine based on the most logical way: math. 40 weeks / 3 = 13 weeks, 2.33 days per trimesterThis means the third trimester started on 26 weeks, 5 days, which coincidentally was the same exact day as Columbus Half Marathon! On race morning, I was unsure of how to pace myself so I decided to start easy and take plenty of walk breaks so I could finish strong. It's a little frustrating not being able to actually race, but Columbus is one of my favorite races and I enjoyed every minute of it. The crowd support is unlike any other race I've experienced, I love the course, and reading the stories of the Children Champions reminded me of how grateful I am to be carrying a healthy little baby. Emerson was moving around quite a bit during the race, which is a strange feeling that I'm still not used to! I love how miles 2-3 on Broad Street I got to watch the speedy runners coming back (mile 6.5-7.5 for them). I saw Jamie here and cheered on a lot of our friends too! Since it was an unusually hot day, I made sure to drink lots of water and go extra slow. Once we made the last turn on High Street around mile 11, I knew I had a lot left in me and had probably been a little too cautious in the beginning. I ran the last mile and a half pretty close to my normal half marathon pace, and it felt so good to move like that even though it was only for a short distance! Once I crossed the finish line and found Jamie, we watched a few of our friends that were running the full, then headed to CRC's after party. I'm so excited that I was able to run a half in every trimester! The first two were before we even found out I was pregnant, and the other two were significantly slower due to lots of walk breaks. However, they were all faster than my first half marathon - Princess almost 3 years ago. I will definitely continue running as long as I can, but for now I'm taking things one day at at time and don't have any more big races planned before Emmy is here.
Half time 13.1/26.2 20 weeks/40 weeks Last week we hit the halfway point in this pregnancy! We had our 20 week ultrasound and know that our little lady is perfectly healthy and is measuring almost exactly in the 50th percentile. I don't have any crazy cravings, but I could eat fresh fruit all day, especially watermelon, grapes, and apples. I'm running four days a week, and have continued 4/1 run/walk for the majority of my miles. Although running while pregnant isn't easy, I'm so thankful I'm able to and plan to continue as long as Emmy and I are both healthy and comfortable! This momma has gained less than six pounds so far, and I finallllyyy have a cute little bump! I am SO excited for fall, and can't wait for caramel apples, boots, pumpkin carving, and cooler weather! Running is so much easier now that it's not super hot out. This week, I ran Wednesday and Thursday with Jamie and Andy (4 and 4.5 miles). Yesterday morning my long run was eight miles but felt slow. When Andy and Wes caught up to me on our way back, we ran together for a couple minutes until my next walk break, and ended up on the topic of how my running pace has changed during pregnancy.
"My pace is around ten, but walk breaks make my average so slow!" Andy looked at his watch. "You know we're doing 8:30, right?" Oh. It turns out my running pace hasn't slowed down at all, and I'm so much faster than I was even a few months ago! It feels insane that I'm able to hold pre-pregnancy paces for four minutes, even if it means I have to take walk breaks. Next week, I'm going to try to stick with someone who runs a ten minute pace to see if I can walk less if I start slower. Today I took Charlie out for 3.5 miles. He was such a happy boy, but is so tired out now. I'm glad I had another wonderful week, and I'm looking forward to an extra day off work tomorrow for Labor Day! I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! <3 The absolute best part about going on vacation is exploring new places to run! This past week, we were lucky enough to do that in two different cities, since we were in Vancouver for Seawheeze Half Marathon, then spent a couple days in Seattle after. I ran with my phone out the whole time because there was so much to look at and I didn't want to miss anything! So... these are our favorite places that we found to run in those cities: Vancouver - the Seawall in Stanley ParkThe fact that I ran here three times while we were in Vancouver should tell you a little bit about how much I loved it :) I mean, just look at these views! We ran the entire length of the Seawall at some point while we were here. I ran three miles on Friday, the half marathon on Saturday, and two miles on Sunday. The lake in the middle of Stanley Park reminded us of Antrim Park in Columbus - one of my favorite spots at home. I loved watching the waves crash into the rocks and seeing the mountains in the distance. I also got to see many famous landmarks in the park, including Inukshuk, the totem poles, Girl in a Wetsuit, and the lighthouse. It was especially a great place to run at because of the flat, paved trail and I felt safe with so many other runners and walkers around! I'd run here all the time if I lived in Vancouver!! Seattle - Green Lake ParkOn Tuesday, we discovered this flat, paved trail around Green Lake just north of Downtown Seattle. One loop is almost 3 miles, and this place was gorgeous early in the morning! The weather was in the low 60s (about 15-20 degrees cooler than what I've been running in), and the sunshine peeking through the trees made this a perfect place to run! Bonus -- Mighty O Donuts is nearby and very delicious ;) Seattle - Discovery ParkWe noticed this park had lots of segments on Strava and decided to go for our run here Wednesday morning. If you stay on Loop Trail (the main loop around that park that is just under 3 miles), you'll have yourself a challenging trail run with plenty of hills, rocks, and tree roots. However, if you venture off to the South Beach and North Beach trails, you'll also be running millions of stairs (two days later, my quads are still burning). Once you get to the beach, the views are so incredibly worth the struggle to get there. We ended up doing 4.5 miles and were completely exhausted for our plane ride home later that day! Despite how difficult this trail was, I would recommend it to anyone looking for a challenge or to switch things up. It was such a great workout and we had pretty things to look at while we struggled through it! :D I'm so glad we had the opportunity to run in both of these beautiful cities! I'm also very happy to be home, especially now that the weather seems to be cooling off. I can't wait to see where our next running adventure takes us!!
Last week, I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for Lululemon's 2016 Seawheeze Half Marathon! I've had this race on my bucket list for a while, and I registered back in September - registration sold out within ten minutes and I felt so lucky to be able to do this race. During training, we received a pair of lulu shorts with an exclusive pattern, and everything we were sent before the race was Secret Agent themed - super cute! The expo was on Friday at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Lululemon sells patterns that are exclusive to this event and it's apparently such a big deal that people were lining up the afternoon before. I realize my opinion on this is unpopular, but I don't understand the hype or why anyone would want to wait in line to waste tons of money on clothes that they most likely don't need. J and I waited until later in the afternoon (when the crowds weren't as bad) to check out the expo and pick up packets. We were in line for about 10-15 minutes to get in, and the entire thing was very chaotic. There were people hoarding piles of clothes in the corners and buying things just to resell on eBay for triple the price. Yikes! The expo experience was very lackluster. I picked out two tanks directly off of the restock rack as things were being put out and also grabbed a cute headband and my race things before getting out of there as quickly as I could! The race started at 7 am, which was really 10 am for us because of the time change! We lined up with the 2:15 pacer (poor Jamie agreed to stay with me!) and started a few minutes late. I had no clue how to plan this race - I decided to take it easy and listen to my body. I ran the entire first 5k, which included one of the four big hills of the race. The first couple miles went through town, and the rest was along the water and on the seawall (my favorite!). After this point, I started walking quite a bit. The views while running along the water were so perfect! There was another gigantic uphill before the course took us out and back over a big bridge. There were a lot of people out cheering us on here, and the best part was getting to go back down that hill toward the seawall! Lululemon also had lots of fun things along the course to keep us entertained. My favorites were the group of police (their signs were hilarious!) and the mermaids. The run along the seawall was very curvy and crowded, but the views more than made up for it!! I was so distracted by everything I saw - mountains in the distance, pretty bridges, and the waves hitting the rocks next to us - that I didn't even feel like I ran an entire half marathon! We sped up a lot during the last mile and a half and crossed the finish line in 2:19:53! The finishers were herded on an uphill ramp to get our water, medals, finisher gifts (essential oils from Saje and a navy blue hat), and brunch. It took us over an hour after finishing to get all the way through this! But brunch was so delicious and so worth it!
I really enjoyed this course and I have to say it's definitely my favorite course I've ever run! However, it wasn't my favorite race because of how crowded it was and how much weaving I had to do. This is definitely not a PR race. It's a challenging course with a couple of big hills, but I think we've established by now that I don't mind a challenge :) Seawheeze was completely worth the trip from Ohio and I'm so glad I got to experience this one! Despite feeling wonderful during the race, recovering from this one was difficult for me and I felt more like I had run a marathon. Luckily, our lovely friends Lululemon treated us to a post race couples massage at Vida Spa! Combined with some foam rolling and a recovery run on Sunday, my legs were feeling back to normal in no time!
Running has been difficult for me for the past couple months for several reasons:
1. Recovering from running back to back half marathons was tough!! 2. It all of a sudden got super hot and humid in Ohio. 3. I'm fourteen weeks pregnant! Jamie and I made the exciting announcement last weekend after Columbus Running Company's Mile Dash.
We found out about the newest addition to our family back in May, and things are going very well so far! I was lucky enough to not have morning sickness at all, and my doctor says I couldn't possibly be more low risk. We decided to have the Harmony test done at 10 weeks, and found out we're having a girl (and she doesn't have any chromosome abnormalities)!! I'd add in a bump picture here, but unfortunately I have absolutely nothing to show. I have gained a whopping eight-tenths of a pound so far. J is probably starting to get sick of me asking every morning if he sees my bump yet haha!
The only struggle has been my energy level - I swear I get 8 hours of sleep every night plus 2-3 hour naps on the weekends and I'm still exhausted all the time! I'm starting to feel a bit better now that I'm in the second trimester. I have only been running 3-4 days a week, and I'm honestly a little frustrated by not being able to do more. On non-running days, I've been either swimming, walking, or doing yoga to get a little bit of exercise in. Some days are harder than others, but I have still accomplished a lot of great things so far this pregnancy. I ran my two fastest half marathons ever on back to back weekends -- this was before we found out. I ran my fastest mile ever (7:42!!) at track a few weeks ago, and I also placed second in my age group at a super hilly Fourth of July 5k!
A few things I learned to make running a bit easier during the first trimester: 1. Slow down! I have been mainly doing run/walk again (4 minutes/1 minute), but the last few weeks I've been able to skip some of the walk breaks. I'm hoping to go back to normal pace and all running this trimester, but so far my average pace has slowed about 30-45 seconds per mile - that's including the walking. 2. I've been bringing water on almost every run. I hate bringing extra things on my runs, but this is one thing I haven't skipped. I like to fill it up mostly with ice so it's still cold during my run, and I take a drink during every walk break. 3. Listen to your body and don't be afraid to take a rest day. I'm honestly not the best at this one, but I'm trying! 4. The dreadmill is sometimes necessary when it's super hot out. I've been planning my runs around the weather by starting my long runs extra early, waiting until it cools down if I'm running after work, and picking the worst weather day of the week to stick to the treadmill. I'm honestly surprised by how wonderful I feel! I wish I could be running more, but I'm doing well with listening to my body. I'm so excited for Vancouver, SeaWheeze, and Seattle in a couple weeks, and I just registered for Columbus Half! I'm planning on doing a few shorter races too, and trying to maintain my distance and pace throughout the second trimester. I need recommendations on a belly band -- I'm hoping I'll have a little bump soon!!! Less than 25 weeks until my little Princess is here <3
Last weekend I ran Capital City Half Marathon here in Columbus! I was super anxious the few days before the race and so ready to PR that I didn't end up tapering really at all. I'm honestly the worst at tapering! I was hoping to break two hours at this race, but I don't think my long runs have been long enough, and I haven't been doing a whole lot of speed work either, so I knew going into the race that a sub 2:00 was a long shot.
On race morning, J and I left super early and got a parking spot near the corrals. We met up with a friend, then started our warm up. I did just over a mile at a 10:23 pace which I took as a good sign because my birthday is 10/23 (I'm such a numbers person!). J walked me to corral E, then his crazy fast self went to corral A. I don't remember much of the start other than the CBJ cannon going off because I was just SO ANXIOUS and ready to start!
Mile 1 - 8:55
Oops, too fast. I planned on running the first few miles around a 9:15-9:30 pace and see how I felt then try to push myself at the end. I was surprised by how many people were out cheering us on! The weather wasn't great, but everyone just seemed so happy to be there. This mile went by so fast! Miles 2 & 3 - 9:10, 9:19 I started settling into my pace a little bit better here, mainly because this was a long, slow uphill. My legs felt tired and I was already wondering if I was going to PR. I was freezing cold in my Raw Threads tank and Sparkle skirt. Miles 4 - 6 - 9:06, 9:22, 9:30 This part of the course went around campus and then started heading back toward downtown. I took my first gu at 4.5 then finally tossed the water bottle that I started the race with. I saw my friends Chris and Amanda who were out cheering on runners before running Flying Pig the next day. I was so happy to see them! Miles 7 & 8 - 9:02, 8:54 Struggle. Bus. I was running back down High St at this point and was seriously ready to give up on my PR. There were lots of spectators, but I was extremely annoyed by a large group of them standing in the middle of the course handing out green bracelets - I didn't take one and don't know what they were for, but I definitely didn't enjoy having to use extra energy to go around them. I was not feeling great here, then I passed Eric toward the end of mile 7 and told him I was struggling. He ran with me for a bit and gave me the best pep talk ever and also let me know that J was "hauling ass" (direct quote because obviously those words would never come out of my mouth haha!). Mile 9 - 9:23 Now that my mental game was back where it need to be, I took my final gu (only used two total!). I was tired, but enjoying the race. We caught up to the quarter marathon and 5k, and I actually passed the balloon ladies for the 5k before we split off again! Miles 10 & 11 - 9:38, 10:05 I love running around German Village and Schiller Park! There were so many people out cheering us on!! I kept focusing on putting one foot in front of the other and knew that I wasn't going to break two hours, but I was still going to have a decent PR. I remember thinking how slow mile 11 was, then I realized only a few months ago I thought a ten minute pace was super fast! Thinking about how much progress I've made helped me to keep going! Mile 12 - 10:05 This mile sucked. There were some little hills and I was so ready to be done. One foot in front of the other.... Mile 13 and the final .1 - 9:44, 9:48 The last mile went out over a bridge (hill) turned around and came back over a different bridge (HILL), then we went straight uphill for a half a mile before turning left and finishing. I didn't kick. I was completely out of energy and it took everything I had left to not walk to the finish like it seemed everyone else was doing. FINISH! - 2:03:54, a 9:27 pace Gosh I was so happy to see that finish line!! I had a PR by a little over eight minutes! After getting my medal, I made my way through Columbus Commons to find Jamie, who also PR'd (1:27:53!!). Apparently I was all blue/purple after I finished because I was so cold, so we said hi to a couple friends then went home to warm up! Overall, I think I had a great race! I wish we had nicer weather, but I'm proud of my new PR and love how much my hard work is finally paying off!!
Last weekend, I ran Choo Choo Nine Miler in Westerville, Ohio! When I registered back in January, I was expecting decent weather but Ohio apparently had other plans. I ended up going to buy a new outfit the afternoon before the race because I wasn't prepared to race in 19 degrees and snow. I was planning on running this nine mile race at half marathon pace (9:07) just to see if I have a good shot at breaking two hours at Cap City in a few weeks.
The morning of the race, J and I met up with a few of his speedy friends and I started my one mile warm up. I went to turn around at the halfway point and wiped out on an icy bridge (common theme on this blog: Alyssa falling down while running), so I was not expecting this race to go very well!
The first mile and a half of the race was on the road, then the rest of it was on a paved trail. I ran on these trails countless times when I lived in Westerville, so I knew the course pretty well. I started out very strong, running my first mile in 8:43! There were a couple bridges that were a bit icy, so I took those slow but pushed myself on the rest. I ran the entire race with music, and I took two Gus (one at each 5k split) - this was definitely more than I needed but it turned out just fine. We turned back toward the finish line just past 4.5, and I was still feeling so fast at this point. I started struggling around mile 7, slowing down the next two miles to 9:04 and 9:19 respectively. Luckily, Jamie started his cool down backwards along the course after his impressive 59:55 finish and then ran my last two-thirds of a mile with me. I was exhausted at this point and was so happy to have him there for that last part of the race! My official finish time was 1:19:41, a 8:51 pace! I ended up going even faster than I meant to, and I feel pretty confident about being about to break two hours at Cap City Half.
Training is going even better than I ever expected! This week, I finished my entire track workout for the first time (it was only my fourth week!). We ran 5x600s with 300 rests, and I was able to keep up with my friend Amanda for the whole workout. My weekly miles still aren't terribly consistent - I'll run low 30s one week then low 20s the next then be back up in the high 20s for a couple weeks. I'm still working on consistency, but I am making so much progress and I've seen huge improvements in my pace :D I'm averaging around 9:45 now! I'm also so proud of how much I stuck with running while I was moving - finally starting to get settled in now though!
Yesterday, I went a little bit outside of my comfort zone and met up with the Living Fit Columbus running group. I'm so glad I made it out to one of their runs - everyone was so sweet and encouraging! I truly love an empowering group of ladies!
That is just about all going on right now! I have one more long run tomorrow before I start tapering. I want to run sub 2:00 at Cap City then have fun the following weekend in Indy. :)
So far 2016 has been a year of new beginnings, and I am so thankful for having many new opportunities and friends who support me 100%. Without turning this into a typical Sappy Alyssa blog post... some really spectacular things are happening in my life right now. And not even just in running! I have something HUGE happening next Tuesday that I'd rather wait until it's official to post about but I literally cannot contain my excitement!!! :D I've been running much more consistently since a close friend became my running coach back in November (and eventually started dating said coach-friend, but that's a story for another day). Once I started increasing my miles, I also increased my pace a little without much effort. I'm slowly adding a tiny bit of speed work and I have some seriously ambitious goals for my upcoming races!
I honestly think that I used to be too scared to push myself too much - as soon as I'd get uncomfortable, I'd back off. But things have changed so much now that I'm realizing that nothing bad is going to happen... and instead, good things are happening. I love my little legs :)
I had the best time ever in Disney World! I think runDisney races are my favorite :) Ashley, Amanda, and I arrived on Wednesday and went straight to the expo, then spent the rest of the evening wandering around Disney Springs. Thursday, we went to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom! We did LOTS that day, including Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger, and saw the fireworks! We were lucky enough to get brunch reservations at Chef Mickey's on Friday and filled our little tummies with Mickey waffles. After that, we did a little resort hopping then to bed early since we had an early wakeup for the race! Getting up at 2:30 am to run a half marathon is never easy but Donald, Woody, and Buzz were so excited and ready to have fun! I had a little tiny cold while I was in Disney so combined with a few early mornings and 96(!!!!!)% humidity, I had decided ahead of time to take this one easy and just enjoy myself. I swear this race went by so fast! It didn't seem like we were in the corrals long before our fireworks went off and it was time to start. The first 3 or 4 miles were fairly uneventful, up until we got to the Magic Kingdom parking entrance. There were so many people out cheering us on for the next few miles. I got all emotional running up Main Street, USA (typical Alyssa!). Running through Magic Kingdom was the best - I loved all of the positive energy!! Before I knew it, I was back on the highway and headed to the finish line! The sun didn't come up until maybe around mile 8, but it was so humid and foggy that I couldn't see very far the entire race. I was so ready to kick butt on those couple on ramps toward the end - I ran Princess half two years ago so I knew what was coming. All of the characters and entertainment along the course, as well as the other runners and everyone out cheering us on, made me so happy that it didn't even feel like I was running. I was just taking it all in and quickly made my way to Epcot for the last mile! I had one more tiny sad moment in here when I realized Peggy Sue wasn't there, but I was all smiles at the finish line! I even took my first ever both feet off the ground running picture! I was seriously excited when I saw that and finally feel like a "real" runner. I finished in 2:17:14 - my second fastest half marathon ever!! I was eighteen minutes faster than last time I ran this course two years ago. After the race, we all showered and headed to Epcot to celebrate! It was such a fun day and I was exhausted at the end of it! We spent our last day at Disney Springs before coming back to cold, snowy Ohio. I had such a fun trip and race! I haven't been running very much since Disney because a.) it's cold and b.) my knee has been bothering me a little, so I'm trying to let that heal before I start training for my next half. The day I got back, I chopped my hair to a super cute lob and it is SO much easier and quicker. Still haven't figured out exactly what to do with it while I'm running... but I'm sure I'll find something that works soon.
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Hello, my name is Alyssa!I'm a momma to Emerson Lilly and two fur babies, a distance runner, and just a girl full of sparkle and quirks. I love traveling to races and exploring new places to run! I started this blog in 2014 as more of a journal to keep track of training for my first marathon, and I've continued to post about training, races, and other things happening in my life. Also, I'd like to be your best friend. :) Categories
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