Scenes From A Run

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Dina

The little town where I live in Central Florida is the host of Ironman Florida 70.3.

The park where I do a lot of my runs, hosts the race. It is so fun to see all the people riding and running in tri-suits around the park. I like to think they are discovering what I have known for years, that Lake Eva is a really beautiful place to run.

I ran a little over five miles thinking about how much fun it would be to do a triathlon. This year I plan to spectate again, the race is about five minutes from my house, but would love to do a triathlon someday.

Have you ever done a triathlon?

Weekly Playlist

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Dina

Sorry to anyone who is still dealing with cold weather but it is starting to get hot in Central Florida. Having the inability to get up early enough to miss the heat, I just end up pushing through it (or giving up an running in the air-conditioned gym.) One thing that helps pull my slow ass through sheets of Florida humidity is a great playlist.

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Are you listening to anything new this week?

The Post Where I Find Some Motivation

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Dina

There may have been more of this lately.

Than this.

March was not a great month for me. I had a sinus infection that would not quit. I wasn’t sick enough to stay home from work but felt just crappy enough that working out just wasn’t happening.

Nothing like seeing it in graph form.

I am feeling like myself again and slowly getting back on track.

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I need to come up with a new plan for the next few months. The only thing I am certain of right now is that I am running the 18TH Annual Summer Sunrise Watermelon 5K Series.

If you are in Central Florida, you have to run this series. The dates are June 1, June 22, July 20, and August 17. The races take place around Lake Hollingsworth and are put on by the Lakeland Runner’s Club. You can register online here for the series ($30) or the first race on June 1 ($10).

This series really helped me get through the I can’t believe how hot it is Florida summer while still getting my butt out there to run. Races really help me stay motivated. You can read my recaps of this series from 2012 here, here, here, and here.

The Race Where I May Have Peed Myself

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Dina

This is my second time running the Gasparilla Distance Classic Half Marathon (Gasparilla Distance Classic 2012). I love this race so much.I plan on clearing an annual spot on my calendar to run it every year. The weather this year was hot (even for Florida) and humid (even for Florida). I knew going into this race that it would be very difficult under those conditions for me to reach my A goal (2.14) but I paid my money and was going to enjoy it if it killed me.

Race day started off smoothly. I woke up on time, avoiding consuming any contaminated tap water, and was out the door only slightly later than I planned. I made it to the starting line with little fuss (anytime I don’t end up driving around in circles is a small victory). The police did an excellent job directing the traffic and making it easy to get into the closest parking garage.

The Gasparilla Half Marathon started in two waves, red which was for those with estimated finish times less than two hours (not me) and yellow with those estimated time above two hours (definitely me). The start was staggered by ten minutes. My not getting lost and having zero issues finding parking, I was able to get into the corral 30 minutes before the race started. I used the bathroom first and then stood around waiting. In hindsight, this was a huge mistake. I have the worlds smallest bladder. Under cooler, less humid conditions, I can drink a minimal amount of water while running a half marathon and feel fine. Sadly, the weather and my bladder were not on the same page and using the bathroom 30 minutes before the start was not a good idea.

I should have pushed my way closer to the front of the yellow corral because I was caught on the first bridge where there were so many people, it forced everyone to walk. It is a crazy sea of people where the walking pace was much slower than my normal, everyday walking pace. Not much you can do though.

The more I ran, the hotter I got, the more water I drank, the more I needed to pee. It really started to become tragic around mile seven. I started to forlornly stare at each passing porta potty (there was one at every water stop, which was every mile) and imagine myself stopping. I should have stopped but didn’t because the last time I stopped to pee in a race I lost seven minutes. At this point, I still believed I could make my goal and knew that the delay would be detrimental.

Around mile ten, the full bladder was starting to slow me down. I still did not stop and I think it may be because the pee was moving to my brain. I finally crossed the finish line, grimacing, hot, and with super wet shorts. I am a pretty heavy sweater but I was dripping. Then it hit me, did I pee myself? I still had to go when I crossed the finish line but I felt like people were staring at me. So the jury is out on whether it was actually pee but just the fact that it might have been is making me blush just typing this.

Bladder trouble aside, the Gasparilla Distance Classic Half Marathon is a great race. The volunteers were excellent (I loved the kids at the end of the race who cheered their hearts out). The spectators have the best signs and the views of the bay are amazing. Plus, there is the medal.

I sadly did not make my goal.

It is a half marathon PR by 34 seconds.

I am pretty sure that if the weather had proved less hot and humid, my time would have been closer to my goal. There is always next year.

Do you stop and use the bathroom while racing or try to hold it?

Gasparilla Distance Classic 2013 Expo

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Dina

This year I had company at the 8 On Your Side Health And Fitness Expo. I drove to Tampa early to pick-up my bib and planned on spending the day with my Mom. Packet pick-up was completely painless with no lines.

It’s hard to see in the picture but the race bibs were very fancy this year. With a QR Code that you could scan after the race to view your time.

I did a little shopping at the expo, picking-up a few Bondi Band’s. Sweating as much as I do and living in Florida, I need to have one of these every time I run or workout in the gym.

The shirts did not disappoint. Even though I rarely need long sleeves in Florida, the Gasparilla shirts are race shirts you can actually run in.

I will never have enough reusable shopping bags. (Especially not ones with a pirate on it.)

After parting with my money, we needed food. This ended up taking much longer than normal because anyone on Tampa city water was under a boil water notice because of a power outage at a treatment facility. Of course, where my Mom lives was included plus all of the restaurants near by. Luckily, we stumbled on Burger 21 which has water supplied by the county. I was finally able to put some food in my face. Burger 21 was awesome and I cannot wait to eat at the newly opened Millenia Mall location in Orlando with J.

So food and packet pick-up taken care of, we had time to kill until my self-imposed 8 PM curfew. We saw Beautiful Creatures.

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This was my second time seeing it and it might have been better the second time around. I am a major fan of these books and if you like your Young Adult books dark and Southern, you should read them.

After the movie it was time to turn in for my 3:30 AM wake-up call. Then the fun really begins.

2012 OUC Orlando Half Marathon

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Dina

Going into OUC Orlando Half Marathon, I was very unsure of my training. (I vented about it here if you are interested.) I was all over the place with changing my training plan, getting sick, and feeling like I was never going to get faster.

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Like most things, it was much worse in my head.

I started the race day off by waking up at the ungodly hour of 4 AM (in which I ask myself, why do I have to live in no-mans-land Polk County which is far from everywhere?) Had my typical pre-race breakfast of peanut butter and toast. I went back and forth on what to wear because the morning was in the low 50’s, which is chilly in the land of sunshine, but went with a t-shirt and shorts. I would much rather be chilly to start and comfortable during the race than sweating buckets because I am overdressed.

I got into Orlando with few issues and was lucky to be able to use J’s parking pass to park in a lot for free. (He goes to Florida A&M Law School which is in downtown Orlando.) The lot is a half a mile from Lake Eola so I counted that as my warm-up. The bathroom situation at the start was ideal, a fairly short wait for real bathrooms (no wait on the men’s side.) I love not having to use a porta-pottie.

I fought my way into the starting corral, lined up in between the 9-10 minute mile signs. There were so many people that I couldn’t even see the start, only the back of the heads of those in front of me. I was pretty cold in my shorts but luckily the wait was only a few minutes and then we were off.

I tried to start slow, my goal was to stay at a 10:30 pace, but did get caught up the the starting frenzy. It can be so difficult at the start to not get caught up in the frenzy of moving forward but I get better at every race.

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The race route was lovely and took you through some beautiful neighborhoods in Orlando. I loved everything about it minus the very painful brick roads. The last few miles had plenty of hills with bricks which may have caused me to swear. I get so paranoid running on uneven surfaces because I am a tad bit clumsy and likely to trip over my own feet, let alone uneven brick.

A few signs of what I consider a successful half marathon:

1. Not needing medical attention (this is one that I have for everyday life too.)

2. Not needing to pee (or at least being able to hold it until the end.)

3. Not bonking

So how did I do?

I was a little slower than my goal to average a 10:30 m/m but I was able to avert a diaphragm cramp. I only am able to do this with some walking, so I walked a little.

My official time:

My official time of 2:23:29 is a half marathon PR of eight minutes! I hoped I could PR but really was unsure if it would happen. This gives me so much hope that I can drop my time even further for Gasparilla in February.

The medal:

The race shirt:

Cool towels being handed out at the finish line:

So horrible, painful brick aside, I had so much fun running half marathon number three, the OUC Orlando Half Marathon.

Losing My Run

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Dina

Training for my third half has been frustrating. Writing about this frustration may have helped but I tend to internalize self-annoyance and could not find the right words.

I have maintained a somewhat decent weekly mileage while loosely interpreting three different training plans.

Weeks 43 and 46 were both weeks that I was sick.

I had a difficult time sticking to one training plan having changed three times in fourteen weeks. The issue is that my body is capable of running five or six days a week but months of that is draining mentally. (Plus it sometimes causes my husband to claim he never sees me and that I spend more time out of the house than in it.) That coupled with all the stress of the election (as the President of the Polk County Young Democrats and being in charge of the DEC weekly newsletter) was biting off more than I could chew. So what is the solution?

I want to get faster and to do that I know I need much higher weekly mileage. For slow pokes such as myself, fitting 40 miles per week in is a serious time commitment. I need to find a better way to increase my mileage and not feeling like the only I do is run. I also want to see some results and know that will require pushing myself outside of the comfort zone of 11 minute miles when I know I can run faster. (Sometimes I feel like I’m afraid of the discomfort of running faster. If that makes any sense.)

The plan so far is run the Orlando Half Marathon this coming Saturday. I will run it with few expectations but secretly hoping to PR (2.31.38 from March of 2012). Then find a new and better fit training plan for Gasparilla Half Marathon in February.

So there it is, all the reasons why I haven’t been posting and have felt bad about my running.

Shoe Changes

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Dina

I am not a big fan of change. When I first got more serious about running and went to a running store to get fit for shoes, they recommended Asics 2150.

These shoes got me through all my early racing and training without incident. When they started to wear out I purchased the next in the series, the 2160.

No injuries or problems, so I never saw a reason to change. Until now.

I received an email from my local running store (Fitniche) that the only real running shoes I have ever worn in my two years of running were being discontinued. The good news was that they were having a sale to clear out the last model year (GT-2170). I got my butt right over to Lakeland looking to stock up on a few pairs of shoes and to put off the inevitable search for new shoes.

Sadly, they only had one pair of 2170’s in my size.

At least they were purple, so that kind of helped ease my pain.

So now I have one pair of the only running shoes I ever worn left and know I will need to replace them eventually. I did a little bit of research to find out what the replacement line is for the 2100 series and it looks like Asics has two options for a replacement. One is the GT-2000 and the other is the GT-1000. Both lines are being launched in October.

I decided to try to adapt and purchased a pair of Asics GT-1000’s.

They are literally the cutest running shoes I have ever worn and received many compliments on them. Asics teamed up with Christina Applegate’s Right Action For Women fund which provides assistance to women who are at an increased risk for breast cancer. During October, they will donate $2 for every pair sold.

After running in the GT-1000’s for two weeks, I am not entirely sure how I feel. I don’t hate them but I do notice that they have less cushioning than the GT-2170’s. This is not necessarily a bad thing but I do notice it.

Have your favorite running shoes been discontinued?

All images from trisports.ie, runpals.com, and REI

Second Annual Margarita Run 5K

Posted on September 15, 2012 by Dina

For the second year in a row, I ran the Margarita Run in Haines City, Florida. This race is down the street from my house and benefits Haines City Main Street. Haines City Main Street Inc.. is a group whose’ purpose is to revitalize downtown Haines City. I happen to live in Haines City, so I have a vested interest in the downtown being revitalized. (For example, can there be a place in which to buy coffee that is not a fast food restaurant?)

I was also lucky to meet-up with a great group of activists and dedicated campaign workers. Karen Welzel is running for the Florida House of Representatives in District 41 against John Wood. Karen came out to this event to show her local spirit and meet with future constituents. It was great to have people to hang out with before the race and I also got this nifty t-shirt.

This race was insanely hot. It started at 5PM when it was 90 degrees with very high humidity. The course is pretty hilly (for Florida) and has zero shade so I knew this would not be one for the record books.

The race started with a lack of bang because the starting pistol would not fire. I felt really bad for the guy who was meant to fire it because it just would not work. After four failed attempts, he went with “ready, set, go.” I don’t know if it was the lack of pistol excitement or the temperature and humidity, but I definitely took the first mile too fast. I felt good running it and thought I might be able to sustain the 9:14 pace. Turns out I am not able to maintain that pace. Sadly the too fast start made me feel like a wilted flower later in the race.

It started to get ugly on each successively more gnarly hill and I started to take regular walk breaks. Like last year, many of the runners missed a turn and ended up coming it at 2.82 miles instead of 3.10. I really did not mind because it is such a new race that benefits charity. I will give the organizers the benefit of the doubt that they can sort it out for next year.

My splits were all over the place. I think it was too hot to really race.

The race director did announce that everyone would get free entries into an upcoming race in November to make up for the miss-hap. That race actually takes place in a park where I run weekly. It has a paved one mile loop which would make it impossible to make a wrong turn.

Even with the wrong turn snafu and the complicated race layout, I really enjoyed the Margarita 5K. The race is local and the money benefits a great cause. I loved that the race allowed me to mix my politics with running. Plus there was free pizza and a vendor selling cupcakes.

Cupcakes and smoothies from Cakes 4 the Memories. J picked up two for us to share (red velvet and margarita) and both were delicious. I recommend stopping by this bakery if you are in Haines City.

All sweaty and smiley after the race.

There were campaign signs around the vendor area.

Have you ever run a race that had course issues? Do you give them another chance or never run it again?

Half Marathon Training Week Two

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Dina

If you would like to follow my other weeks of training, they can be found on my Workouts page. I break my half marathon training down by week to make it easier to follow.

This week really ramped it up! I did most of my runs on the treadmill at the gym because it has rained nearly everyday after work and the heat is still pretty killer. I am finally watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer on Netflix. Not sure why I missed this show when it originally aired because I am in the target demographic for it (female and was in High School when it originally aired.)

As I mentioned in my first post, I am following this plan by Nike Coach Magness. It is a plan designed to get you a PR. After running two Half Marathons last year and spending the summer experimenting with speeding up, I am ready to concentrate more on time rather than just finishing.

So how did I do versus the plan?

Total Plan Miles: 36

Total Actual Miles: 29.82

Strength Training: 1

Cross Training: 0

I did pretty well based on the plan minus the missed long run. I planned on running six miles after my 5K on Saturday but decided against it. This early in my training, missing one long run is not much of an issue.

Things I learned:

It can take some time to get back into higher mileage
I need to spend more time stretching
Running on a treadmill can be kind of a drag but watching TV on your phone makes it much better

Next week I would like to concentrate on getting my long run done and doing more strength training.

Dina Runs

Category Archives: Running

Scenes From A Run

Weekly Playlist

The Post Where I Find Some Motivation

The Race Where I May Have Peed Myself

Gasparilla Distance Classic 2013 Expo

2012 OUC Orlando Half Marathon

Losing My Run

Shoe Changes

Second Annual Margarita Run 5K

Half Marathon Training Week Two