Fine--I'll start a blog!

It's not like anyone is beating down the door asking me. In fact, not one person has ever uttered the words, "Carrie, you must start a blog! I have to read about your daily trials and tribulations." Truth be told, I'm selfish and I've been wanting to blog for a while, but I've always found it way too enjoyable reading the musings and mishaps of others. I do, however, love to write so here we go! The main goal of this blog is to journal my running and triathlon training. I'm running the Boston marathon in April and will concurrently be training for the Eagleman Half-Ironman in June.

You and I will also probably find that this will also become a nutritional diary and a general overview of how I see the world from my little space in Austin, Texas. Believe me, at the moment, it's all good. (Except for the seemingly endless list of obligations)

I train with a running group in Austin called "Gilbert's Gazelles." www.gilbertsgazelles.com Three years ago, I would've never joined this group. It was always for the elite and superfast people in Austin. You know, the ones you actually read about in Running and Triathlete magazines--Desiree Ficker, Patrick Evoe, Sabine Bildstein and many others. If you're not familiar with these folks, just google their Ironman or Marathon times. Of course, here I am at the other end of the spectrum running 9 minute miles on a good day. It's certainly respectable, but not nearly fast enough to achieve my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. After a couple of failed attempts and one near-death experience on a Marathon course, I knew I had to hire a professional. I finally took the plunge and became one of the slowest runners in Gilbert's group.

Long story short, (I'll post back stories as needed) I ran a 3:37 in Chicago last October and a 1:34 Half-Marathon two weeks ago in Austin. My times have drastically improved! I owe it to Gilbert and his Gazelle group.

Monday, February 6th
We did a 10 mile pace run this morning. The first five slow and the 2nd half at least two minutes faster. Running slow was not a problem this morning. My running partner Amy and I started at 5:50am in the pitch black on a cool windy morning. There are a couple other folks training for Boston right now as well. They immediately started faster than we did. The rest of the Gazelles are in serious taper-mode since the Freescale Austin Marathon is a mere two weeks away. Many kudos to Clint for continuously holding back to make sure that Amy and I hadn't been dragged in any bushes. My hams have been tight since the Half-Marathon and I'm acutely aware that I need a massage. In addition, about a week ago, a woman was assaulted on the trail in the exact area we were running. Needless to say, Amy and I were a lot more cautious than usual as we meandered through the dark.

The first 5 miles took a little over 43 minutes. Again, not bad for a "slow" warmup. The wind was also a factor with gusts between 10-15 miles an hour. We picked it up as prescribed and finished the last five in about 40 minutes, thereby achieving the goal of a minimum 2 minute negative split. Both of us were pretty spent after that run. We both audibly wondered how we could put together a 7:11 pace for a Half-Marathon and barely an 8:30 pace for a training run. Ah well...we made all of the usual excuses...we're tired, it's windy, legs sore, etc...did our strides and called it a day.

Of course, after work, I also have my hour-long core class from 6p-7p. I've been attending this class twice per week for about 6 weeks now and am noticing a little tightening in the abs and arms department. I keep hoping I'm going to wake up and look hard core. No such luck. This group of women was put together by my friend Jill and I'm fortunate to have been one of the invited few to join. There's nothing like working your abs and glutes while catching up on girl-talk.

Goodness for the Day: Going to work immediately after my run and making a fresh latte on our Starbucks latte machine. While it was brewing, I was laying on the floor stretching and doing some yoga poses in the dark...all before my co-workers had even gotten in their cars to head downtown. Fortunately, I work right across the street from the Trail and I have a shower in our building. Sometimes those quiet moments before work are the best.

Nutrition:

5:15am Slice of whole grain bread with tablespoon of Reduced Sugar Peanut Butter (I still can't go completely organic on this one) and a sliced up banana "Elvis-Style"...without the frying, of course...bite of Clif Bar that I found on the front seat of my car.

10:15am 1 cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch (nectar of the gods) and 1/2 cup organic fat free vanilla yogurt. 1 bottle of water.

12:45PM apple and a couple of pita chips, can of Sparkling Citrus fresca. 1 bottle of water

2:30pm Salad with turkey, fat free cheese, broccoli and carrots, 1 sugar free jello pudding. A girl needs her chocolate.

5:30p Chocolate Protein Shake

8:00pm Spinach Salad and stir fry chicken and veggies, ginger white wine, 1 cup brown rice