Phew, almost injured...

I wish I was more of a balanced runner. I tend to only feel as good as my last few runs. If I do 2 recovery runs in a row I feel like I have lost "it" and I'm destine to be jogger. Nothing wrong with joggers. Don't get all up in my comments sections with that. Just sayin, for me.

Good knee. Yay!

This Sunday I did a 15 miler at 7:08 pace. No big deal but it left my knee feeling jacked. I'm a worrier. It definitely hurt. I have no idea what I did. I went to my ortho on monday. X rays negative.

 They said don't worry. you'll be fine. Chill for few days and ice. GULP. That was horrible death sentance. And immediately prompted a text to my running friend:

Me: hey, something is wrong with my knee. I keep starring at it. I think one is bigger than the other. Don't say anything. I don't know what is up and don't want the fuss. I think I'm going to start posting old garmin data. People know when I don't run. lol

Friend: lol.pseudo blog. that's awesome!

Me: lololol!

Friend: "wow Laura these are the same splits you ran a few weeks ago"

Me: hahahaha or I can stand at the bridge at Shelly Lake and beg someone to do a few laps with my garmin. C'mon take it please! and run fast!

Friend: hahaha Do it! Find some crazy fast ghost runner.

Me: lolol. Joey will be the first to notice I didn't run today. Watch...

Friend: Unless I rat you out. lol

Me: No subtle jokes on my wall! Like, "hey laura, was that you leaving the north raleigh health plex? You didn't wave??"

Friend: Too funny. This better heal soon.

Me: I'm taking recovery tonight and hoping I wake up fresh and not soaked from a bag of ice.

It goes on and on and had me rolling in tears. Too funny.  I took 3 full days off from running. I feel much better. I'm not sure why that happened. I thought maybe I hit a rock or root a little off. Not sure. Oh well.

I did 6 miles this morning and felt better. I wasn't exactly fresh. I was killing it in the pool doing an hour of freestyle a day. Going from swim to run is tough. My legs must me thinking, "what are you doing to us now?! Poor things.

After my 6 miler I went back with my blackberry and got some pretty pics. It was 80, humid and dark out at 8am. Right before a storm:

I never see this as pretty when I run through here. I'm usually mf'ing the herky jerky bridge.

I think the moral of my knee story is to slow down once in a while. I have to stop running the same pace every run. And then hopping on the bike and into a pool, before lunch...well maybe do that just once a week..; )

later taters!
XOXO

Say hello to my little friend...

Ya, this bad ass little fucker!

Let me say I HATE hydrating and eating shit while I run. I'm not coordinated, I make a mess and it's something else I have to carry aside from the world's largest car key. Ugh.

But I had 15 miles on deck for today. Goal pace was 7:10-7:15. It was 70 degrees at 6am and 95% humidity. I knew it was going to be bad so I dusted off this thingy and filled the pocket with sport beans. I have to say it made my run. Towards the end of my run it was almost 80, full sun and very humid. But got 'er done at 7:08 pace. YAY!

Here's the garmin  It took me at least 5 miles to warm up. My upper quads were shit from the 200's earlier in the week. Then I had a few sub 7 and thought, hmmm should I bury the whole run sub 7? I thought that would be fun but then I had thoughts of Eric (dude repeatedly mentioned in this blog and reason I ran 15 miles) saying WTF did you do that for? I told you 7:10/:15. That and I had to stop to drink which killed me. I hate stopping but I couldn't drink right without standing still. I'll have to hone those skills in a bit!

So 15 done very early. And then I did what every mother of 3 does post run on Easter morning:

ice, read a running book and even out the awful running clothes tan lines!

Good run.  And only 5 swears needed to get the point across! Holla!

Later Tates...

Back on Track!

Good ol Launches for warm up and cool down

I'm one of those runners that never misses a track workout. I'll run in the rain, heat, freezing weather, anything. Even the ice. I'll walk the track to find the ice spots so I can avoid them. (thank you John!)  Even when I'm sick I will go out of my way to use a track that has bushes near by so I can puke if I need to. I have been doing this for a few years. HOWEVER, this winter I heard my friend who is a great runner say the magic words I have been wanting to hear, "I haven't done track in forever." You know who you are ; )

YES!! So that means I don't need track either, right?! So for the last month I started doing my track workouts on the road. I mean they were mile repeats...but then that turned into no track at all for a couple weeks. Not a great idea. I like track. So today I was going to go run long at whatever pace I wanted until my friend Eric (also a track and cc coach) said uh, NO. Do this tomorrow:

5 (4x200) Starting at 37 seconds and getting to 35. He had the recoveries staggered around 45 seconds.

I haven't done 200's in um, almost forever. Never that many. Usually some after my 400's. So I read this as:

do a (shitload of 200's)

So I went to freakin Buffaloe track by my house. A public asphalt track. HATE asphalt but I wanted to git 'er done. However, it was closed and raining. I checked the weather on my blackberry and figured out I could haul ass across town to Martin Middle School and beat the rain and get a rubberized track. So I did, yeah!

No one was there. It was 7:30am I think. Thank god because 200's look freaky to me. You have no choice but to be the bitch that runs people out of lane one. Unless there are other 200's out there. But usually not. It is 4:30 pace....

So I did a 2 mile warm up and then started. They all were coming in at 36-37 seconds. It was weird stopping so much. I'm used to LONG ass repeats. So I was fine until about #13. I hit 38 seconds. SHIT. Then the wind picked up and I was back to 37 and a few disgruntled 38's. Around repeat #15 I was trying to think of excuses to stop.

*I could say those little kids came out with their soccer balls
*I could just do 15. That sounds respectable?
* DOG, I could say I saw a dog and it chased me up the bleachers!

15 turned into 18 and then 20 and DONE! What a great feeling. I did a 3 mile cool down to make for 10 miles. My splits were:

36, 37, 36, 37, 37, 37, 37, 37, 37, 37, 37, 37, 38, 37, 38, 37, 38, 37, 37, 37 (I have garmin issues. They are all separate activities. I need zero on the clock)

So much for staggering the times. And my recovery was 15 steps out and back. I took a split on that and got 38 seconds. So more less around there. 2 times I hit lap instead of stop and it pissed the hell out of me. I like nice neat stuff.

Well, a good day. It's done. I don't think I'll mind my easy run tomorrow!

Later taters!
xoxo

Hammer Time!

Happy Wednesday!

Some days I feel the need to just HAMMER it out. Today was one of those days. It makes me feel better. Especially after seeing all the awesome performances in Boston. You guys rock. I love reading your race reports. I read your splits and get all warm and fuzzy. I have to give a shout out to my friend Benny from Texas.  I kinda really really urged him to do a race report about his kickass performance (2:28) in Boston and he hooked it up. Thanks Benny!

So early this morning I did a 6 miler.  Instead of looking for flat I tried to find hilly stuff. It's a necessary evil type of workout. As usual, I let my legs decide the pace. The first two miles came in low 7. In my mind that means "Laura, you have 4 miles to get the avg split sub 7."  There is something irritating about a 7:0X pace to me. It's like f'ing BRING IT already. Or slow the hell down. So, you guessed it: 6:59 avg pace. It was very hilly so I'm happy.

So I finished that run and had made plans to go for a bike ride. I felt okay so I changed into my cycle clothes and washed the salt off my face from sweating my ass off on the hills and headed out for my 3rd and longest bike ride ever: 22 miles! More hills and wind that tried to land me on my ass but being the beefy 100lbs I am I stayed strong. It was probably 80 degrees by then. It took 90 minutes to complete the ride.

Oh yeah baby, almost on the white line! That is actually hard for me.

it was a very scenic ride. Rolesville, NC

So after my first run/bike workout I am pretty sure I will never train for a TRI simply because of this:

too much shit!!!

But a great morning! Tomorrow I'm either taking off or swimming. Probably swimming...

Later taters!
XOXO

Week in Review!

Yes, Sunday night is here!! I finished one ass kicking week! Here are the totals:

Run: 45 miles. avg pace 7:05
Swim: 45 mins x 2. Probably 3 point something miles
Bike: 27 miles

My grocery bill is out of control. This type of activity keeps me constantly hungry. While I'm eating I am thinking of what to eat next. It's a vicious cycle. But I'm not complaining! Holla!

Cheers to all you guys running Boston!! My whole morning is scheduled around the Universal Sports broadcast. After my swim of course ; )

Later taters!

Back in the saddle!

Ok, in general I'm kinda OCD with sports. I love running and I do it a lot. Same with swimming. Even speed bag and ab ripper have my attention. I like to try my best and learn all I can to become quasi successful. So that attitude got me back on the bike for day 2.

The good:
*I went err faster (not saying and hoping you don't click)
*farther 15 miles
*experienced a strong head wind and didn't fall
* with a little help avoided a dog chase

The bad:

*I wobble like a mutha after two jack and cokes                       
*I can't grab my squirt bottle unless at a complete stop
*I HAVE TO unclick going over a speed bump
*U-turns, no way jose












Okay, I'm not Lance after 2 days. I can deal. I'm cool with that. It's a lot of fun and a break from the usual. Not to bash the sport but it's got nothin' on running. There's no coasting on the down hill or stretching your legs out on a run....easy peasy!! So far...

Here are some more pics from today:

 Tomorrow I a very early run, 6:30 start. Probably only 10 miles because I have stuff to do later in the morning.

Have a great weekend!
XOXO

My first bike ride

Today rocked! I was able to run 7 miles in a new location and saw some pretty sights AND I got to go on my first bike ride (in like 20 years!)

Initially the run pissed me off because I was lost, it had single track and very deep mud. I needed 7 miles so there was no turning back. I ran with my blackberry in the event I needed some trail assistance. To the credit of my friend Joey, he saw my mobile upload on FB and knew exactly where I was!

I'm a road runner. This scared me!

This trail isn't quite done yet but I ran through it anyways.

Ahhhhh beautiful flat asphalt!

The reason why my splits were so wacky!

So I got the run done. 7 miles at 7:08 pace. However, I did stop for pics. When I ran I ran well but had to tip toe a lot. Kinda frustrating. Here's the garmin.

So I went home and took a shower and did some errands. Then I met some cycle friends for a "bike ride." To me, a bike ride is kinda like this. Just sit on it and go:

However, I tend to have intense, hardcore, passionate, competitive friends. So it wasn't exactly hopping on a bike. In fact, there is a way to do that, and it's a lesson in itself. In preparation for my bike ride I had to:

*get fitted on the bike
*wear special clothes
*special bike shoes
*gloves
*helmet

That's all cool but hello, I haven't been on a bike in years! Now I have to get on this bike that weighs less than my garmin and balance on pancake thin tires AND lock my shoes into the said bike! SHIT! I have to say clicking in and out was stressing me out the most but I found it pretty easy. After a few miles at some embarrassingly slow speed I got the hang of it. But going "fast" seems so problematic. What is a car pulls out? Or if I forget to unclick and tip over at a stop sign? What if, what if?

Well, nothing crazy happened. YAY! I did about 13 miles. It was fun, kinda effortless but it was pointed out that I coasted too much and was going 10 mph. okay, okay! It was fun and I can't wait to do it again! BUT this does NOT mean:

I'm going to do a Tri!

I am a runner/swimmer that got on a bike and had fun. hehe Here are some pics. :

Intense concentration

Nothing funny here! This took work!

I was going to wear a T-shirt but was told that's tantamount to wearing a fuel belt during a 5k. hehe

Cheer for now. Tomorrow I have to pick my sports wisely. I can't do it all...yet ; )

XOXO

The Winner of the Zehsah compression Sock Give-away is...

Old school style

Geek 3000!!!!

Woohooo!! Congrats Girl!! You will love these Zensah compression socks! Fresh Legs are just around the corner. I don't have your email address so please email me at : laurafrey@aol.com. 

Thanks to everyone else who entered. My sponsor is offering free shipping on all Zensah purchases. Call Jim, the owner of Raleigh Running Outfitters and give him your size and color and he'll drop them in the mail. (919) 870-8998. I'm telling you do it!! I'd let you wear mine if I could!

Later Taters!!

Laura

The Tarheel 10 Miler Race Report

Happy Saturday Peeps!

I ran my 10 miler today. Here are the deets:

Temp: low 50's and misty rain at the start.
Goal: 1:07
Did: 1:09:0X
Elevation and reason for tank: 955 feet.

While my time wasn't stellar I am super proud for a few reasons:

1. I wanted to quit at several times during the race. I couldn't handle my bizarro SPLITS. It was emotionally wrecking to have so many hills. I was either running 6:30 pace on downhills or 7 pace on the uphills. I am a stickler for even splits so this killed me! But I kept going so victory there.

2. I was 10th female out of 3500 runners and 2nd Age Group.

3.There was a 1-mile uphill "challenge" from mile 8-9. I was able to recover and bring it back to 6:34 pace once it leveled off.

4. I didn't live out my fantasy of throwing myself in a gutter or faking a ham pull for a DNF. hehe

So all and all I'm okay with my performance. I had changed up my taper a bit and ran the 2 days prior. Normally, I never run right before. But I will say my legs felt good. I didn't have that stale feeling like I do after a longer taper.

As for the race itself I was a little annoyed that they ran a 4-miler on the 10 miler course which slammed me into walkers and 10 minute pace people from mile 6.5 through 9. There wasn't any direction to keep slower people to the right. So there was a lot of shoving and I jumped up on the curb once because there wasn't any other way around people.

I also changed my pre race ritual. Today I drank a red bull shot and another one of those Gatorade Prime slurpy things. I didn't drink or take any nutrition during the race. I was fine there. Normally, I take a "pre-race" vitamin pack and some espresso. I ran out of vits. No biggie.

I wore my Zensah compression leg sleeves. I know they helped. I should have had major calf burning on those hills. Instead just a fresh leg feeling. I love those things.

Here's the swag:

that's a beer glass and football...uhhh I'm guessing a GUY chose this stuff!

Now, it's time to search Active.com for the next one! Thanks for all the virtual high 5's over the last few days. When the going got tough I would think:

"Katie from Run for the Bikini would probably stop and do 20 pull ups now! Keep going, keep going, no push ups needed!"
"Benny from Texas would probably cut my time in half with 105 degree heat blazing in his face!"
"Coach Dion would probably turn this into a 30 miler and have it done by 6am!"

So thank you guys!! On to the next one!!

Cheers!
Laura

Duke Invitational

No, not me you silly ganstas! A friend of a friend, of course! That how my Friday started. I met a new way cool, wicked fast running friend in or "somewhere near" Duke forest (hehe). We did 6 miles at 7:14 pace. Which is cool however, I don't think I've ever seen hills like this before. They were more like the Pitons in St. Lucia:

oh look, me drafting Eric over on the left side!

I have a 10 mile race tomorrow so I was torn betw chasing down my new friend and listening to reason and keeping it near 7:30 pace. I think I did pretty well. Here's the Garmin.  So after the run we went over to Duke. Eric is a Div 2 cross county and track coach at West Liberty in Ohio. He had to register one of his athlete's for the 10,000m that night. Duke is gorgeous and their track rocks!

Duke Track

If I tank tomorrow's race this is why!

Craziness! More power to anyone who can do this!

Then we headed over to Chapel Hill to pick up my race packet. Coasting on the fumes of an empty gas tank and show casing all my great illegal U-turns. Always a great way to make new friends! Thankfully I gave him a G2 so hopefully he won't unfriend me!

Awesome day! And an even better tomorrow when Eric runs the Pinecone Pacer! I mean c'mon, you can't come to NC the day of the Pinecone Pacer 5k and not run it!! I kinda forced him to race in his trainers and jogging clothes....ha! You got it Eric! I ran the damn Pitons for you!

Cheers!!

Laura's abs on the down lo...

Happy Thursday Peeps!

Last week was crazy with high mileage and a few swims. So I kinda skipped out on abs because I was just too tired to do them. This week I started back up. I noticed I don't feel as strong when I run when I don't do abs. These little bitches are gonna make me work! Here's the same ol shit I always post but that being said it shows I need to change something. Hmmmm...

I can't format!!!!!!!






Well, that's about it on the ab front....Someone gave me a new ab workout called Ab Intensity. I'll try that one...
Later 
XOXO 

Laura's Ass Kicking Hill Workout!

Most of my facebook friends are sick of hearing about me and my run up the damn hill but for those of you who follow the blog I thought I'd do a blog post about it.

I'm not a good hill runner, AT ALL! I feel weak and look like crap running up a hill. I hate it but that's probably because I suck. So I am going to start hill workouts weekly if not every other week. I chose a hill in Umstead Park called cemetery hill. I always thought it was named that because you want to die while running up it. But apparently there is a cemetery adjacent to it.

This is cemetery hill. 

It's worse than it looks!

These pics are from My friend Jim who took them during a 100 endurance race.In Raleigh we like our hills and our mileage!

So I took the advice of my new friend Eric and ran 10 repeats. I "tried" to run fast up it and shake it out on the way down. The distance was .17 of a mile each way. And 73 feet of elevation.  Here is the garmin. I had timing issues initially but you can see I figured out the lap feature after that. I have to say with each trip up the hill it got easier. There may be something to this hill training after all.

Every time I got to the top of the hill I made a tally mark with a stone in the dirt. It was kinda like lap swimming you have good intentions of remembering but it never pans out.

To get to this hill there is a 3 mile very hilly section of bridal path. So it turned out to be about a 9 mile run. It was raining, muddy and 50 degrees. I wore a baseball hat to shield me from the downpour. However, running up a hill with a baseball hat blocks all your vision. I knew with my luck I'd run into a cyclist, maintenance vehicle, horse or another runner. So I turned it around. Got soaked.

OMG, this post SUCKS!! There isn't a funny, interesting way to write about hill running! So, let's look at my hair!! Here's a good hair day pic. Blog saved, phewwwww!! haha..actually, this picture doesn't look so good blown up..my hair looks snarly actually!

I am DONE, ENTER!
Thanks for listening!
XOXO

ZENSAH Compression Sock GIVE-AWAY!!!

YES! My friends over at Zensah have offered to giveaway 1 pair of compression socks to a lucky winner drawn at random!! That's a $49.99 Value!

There are several other deliciously comfortable colors to choose from in both male and female sizes...

You know by now I am in love with everything from Zensah! I can't say enough about the quality of their compression gear. I am not easily sold and I have to say this is the best running product out there, in my opinion. 

If you took me deep into the hills of Umstead State Park (my favorite running area) and said, "Laura you can have either your Garmin or your Zensah's to get out of here. Which do you want?" I can honestly say I would choose the compression gear. It's like having new legs with every step! 

So tell that Lactic Acid who's boss and do the following:

1. Become a follower on this blog.

2. "like" Zenzah on FaceBook try this link or look it up.

3. Comment on this blog entry and let me know you want a pair of these kick-ass compression socks! 

That's it. This Sunday I will pick a number from a hat old school style and see which comment wins. Please only comment once because I'll surely want to get my butt off the couch and get some miles in!

 And if that wasn't cool enough my local Sponsor Raleigh Running Outfitters has offered to ship you out a pair of sleeves or socks immediately with FREE SHIPPING with every purchase!  All you have to do is call over and talk to Jim or any of the staff and tell them Laura Frey sent you. 919-870-8998

Well good luck my friends!! XOXO
Laura

Honey Badger was a Busy Badger! Umstead 100 lap report

This week was a great running week. It was my highest mileage week ever: 65 miles. A few too many miles for my liking but I had things to do! You read about my badass 16 miler on thursday. Normally I'd take Friday off but my friend Charles West was running his first 100 Mile Endurance Race that Saturday. I was pacing him for 12.5 of the race. I had made signs to put along the course. So I went out and did a 10 mile very hilly run on the course Friday night with the signs and a spade. It was actually a lot of fun!

Chaz yelled this once when I was running. Now, it's almost a greeting.

This says "Last one Fast one!" Chaz posing after 65 miles!

This race kept him up for a few nights prior.Probably not tonight!

Then Saturday morning rolled around and I HAD to do my own run because it's Saturday morning and there is no other way to start the weekend! I did 8 miles at 7:38 pace. It didn't feel easy but I felt better after. Then I went home. Washed my clothes and tried to take a nap in preparation for pacing Charles at 4pm later on. But the quad shot latte at Panera post 8 miler left me twitching on the couch. Nap: FAIL.

So I got to the Umstead 100  start. I was pacing Charles starting at his mile 51. I figured he would be delirious and loopy. Instead he was delightful and very coherent. So we took off for our loop. After about a half mile he felt a hot spot on his foot that needed medical attention. So I ran back to the headquarters and alerted the doctor that he was on his was back. So they got stuff ready and fixed him up. We took off again. I think our lap went very well. He ate mostly GU, water, mountain dew and a piece of pizza.

half way through our lap

before our lap. changing clothes.

The most photographed runner but heck who does 100 milers??!

Pizza break.

So we plugged away at the mileage. I would always run ahead to aid stations to fill the drink bottles. Then around my mile 10 Chaz used the restroom and I waited at the self service aid station. A really sick female runner stopped. She was crying that she felt dizzy. I helped her sit down. I offered her an S-cap. She had some and took one. Then she got really sick. I had no idea how to help. I'm in the middle of the forest! I tried my best and asked if I should call for help. She had run almost 70 miles by then. She sucked it up and said she would be okay. I wish I got her bib number.

By then Chaz was done and was 1/4 mile down the bridal path. I chased him down and we were set to finish our lap. I ran ahead to the headquarters and let his team know his condition and what he needed. It was like a NASCAR pit stop. Medical people, crew, pacers and friends swarmed him:

Someone had said our lap took 2:40 plus pit stop time. That is amazing. I turned Charles over to the next pacer, Laura M. They were off with head lamps a blazin!! I was DEAD. I have never run for that long ever. It was a 21 mile day for me. Also my highest mileage day ever. I stumbled to my car and called Outback on speed dial for Chicken, a loaded baker and a salad. I could have stayed and had some really good food but I was dripping in gu, sweat and mountain dew and needed a shower and my bed.

That was an awesome experience. I highly recommend it. The race volunteers and staff were amazing. Rebecca rocked it out taking care of everyone like they were the only one. I got to see a lot of my long time running friends too.

At the pasta dinner the night before

Next time I'm running a half I probably won't be so quick to bitch at mile 10!I just got a text at 9:30am that Charles just completed the race under 28 hours! Amazing!!! Woohooo is an understatement!

I'm taking today OFF!! I hope he is too ; )

Later taters!
XOXO