Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[TheHamm]

I am more impressed with your ability to change in a port o potty than any other part of the race. You are amazing!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Loved the recap. Way to go!

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

Anyway … back to the story. So I’m chilling in the corral, and there’s a guy in front of me wearing what looks like a Disney shirt and a woman a few rows behind me using a runDisney mylar blanket as a poncho, but I don’t talk to people, so I just take comfort in knowing that there are more of “my people” around.
And then the woman in the runDisney mylar blanket poncho comes over to me.
“Is your name Sarah?” Yes…
“Are you on the DISBoards?” Yes…
It was @MommaoffherRocker! It was great to meet her and chat for a bit before the race. Having someone to talk to always makes the wait for the start a little easier. I'm so glad she came over to say hi!

I’m so glad I came over to say hi too, it’s funny that out of 40,000 people we were standing right next to each other

Congrats on your PR! It was a great course but that finish line/ area was crazy.

I went to the after party too but didn’t even make it to the beer, as soon as it started pouring I decided to cut my losses and head back to my hotel. I bet we were there at the same time.

 

[SarahDisney]

I am more impressed with your ability to change in a port o potty than any other part of the race. You are amazing!

I feel like that's a skill I should put on my resume...

Loved the recap. Way to go!

Thank you! And thank you for all of your help throughout the plan (and for the plan) - I couldn't have done it without you!

I’m so glad I came over to say hi too, it’s funny that out of 40,000 people we were standing right next to each other

That is pretty crazy. I never see people at the start of races ... I'm glad we just happened to both find similar start areas in the corral!

Congrats on your PR! It was a great course but that finish line/ area was crazy.

Thank you! That finish area was definitely chaos.

I went to the after party too but didn’t even make it to the beer, as soon as it started pouring I decided to cut my losses and head back to my hotel. I bet we were there at the same time.

That was probably the smarter move. I got so wet. I was not a fan at all.

 

[SarahDisney]

Review: Fhitting Room​

So ... this thing.
A few months ago, a friend of mine started going to a HIIT class at a place called Fitting Room. She loves the class and has been encouraging me to join her, but it just hasn't fit into my run schedule. Since I'm in recovery week and not jumping to get back to running, I figured this would be a good week to go. So I signed up for this class.

Fhitting Room is about 5 inches (okay, 2 blocks) from my apartment, so I left at around 6:15pm for a 6:30pm class. My friend texted me that she was already there. When I got there, I checked in and they said welcome and gave me a brief overview of where everything was. I went back to the locker area (I didn't need to change since I came straight from my apartment and had changed there) and found my friend (and her coworker who had also come for the class). We all changed and got ready, took a picture, and then went to class. As the sole new person, the instructors welcomed me to the class. It was nice.

The class started off with a warm up - which started with the fast movement right away, but mostly easy to understand stuff. After that, we divided up into two groups - each person had a "partner" (mine was my friend who I came with), and the two partners did things on opposite sides of the room - the two things were something with straps and deadlifts with the kettlebells. I struggled a lot with the form for the straps thing, but one of the instructors (the class had two instructors) was correcting me and helping me adjust to the right form.

After we did the two exercises 4 times each, we divided up into groups of 6 (my group was me, my friend, her coworker, his friend Sarah, and two other random people, including another Sarah). This part of the class was a circuit - each group started in a different area, each area had two movements, and we repeated the circuit twice.
My group started with some sort of box step thing - we had one foot on a "box" and had to step up and down with the other foot while holding kettlebells (the two movements were the two sides). I did okayish on this one, but did struggle a little.
Next up was a bike (fine), and a ski machine (I think that's what it's called - I was only half sure what I was doing).
The third thing I did was some kettlebell stuff, different movements and switching it from hand to hand. Once I got the hang of what I was supposed to be doing, this was okay.
Last thing on my circuit was biceps and triceps stuff on the straps. I just could not get the movements right. I really struggled throughout with the straps. Sigh.

The last part was the 7-minute FHIX, a series of movements that we had to try to get through. There were like 6-7 different types of movements, and we had to do each one a certain number of times. And at the beginning of every minute we had to stop and do 3 burpees. I don't do well with burpees or counting movements, and by this part I knew I was dealing with an electrolyte imbalance issue, so I barely made it through the third exercise before just stopping and standing by the wall drinking some water.

The class ended with some stretches - I rocked that part. I can child's pose with the best of them.

Some Thoughts:

• I don't do burpees. Nope. Not my jam at all. (I hate to compare this to barre3, but I will ... in barre3 we do a modified burpee that breaks it down into pieces and that works much better for me, so when I was really struggling, I just did bits and pieces of that.)
• I struggled a lot with anything having to do with the straps. I just couldn't wrap my head around any of those movements.
• I didn't like that we got all the instruction at the beginning of each section. I don't remember instructions when they're given to me at all once. In barre3 we get the instructions one piece at a time (and the instructor is also usually doing the movement with us at least part of the time). That's a lot easier. Half the time in this class when we switched to a new movement I didn't remember what I was supposed to be doing
• I like that there were two instructors - with so much going on at once, it was good to have two people. And the instructors were fantastic - very helpful and super encouraging.
• This was much more intense than any other workout I do. I didn't dislike it, but I think it's too much for me.

tl;dr - I wouldn't say I'll never do it again, but it really wasn't my jam. This place was great, though, and I could see why someone who is into more intense workouts would really enjoy it.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Great race report- I enjoyed reading it! Congrats again!
Hot chocolate and soup after a rainy race sounds perfect

 

[Sleepless Knight]

I enjoyed reading your recap. Always interesting to me how much food that you really want to eat right after a long run/race makes everything right with the world again.

Regarding your class experience, I've come to believe that the path to fitness varies for each person. While getting in better shape will always require exercise, we can choose the type of exercise that works best for us and/or we enjoy the most. Good for you in trying something new out and making your own decision about it.

 

[SarahDisney]

Great race report- I enjoyed reading it! Congrats again!

Thank you!

Hot chocolate and soup after a rainy race sounds perfect

It was perfect. Exactly what I needed to warm up a bit.

I enjoyed reading your recap. Always interesting to me how much food that you really want to eat right after a long run/race makes everything right with the world again.

Thanks!

Regarding your class experience, I've come to believe that the path to fitness varies for each person. While getting in better shape will always require exercise, we can choose the type of exercise that works best for us and/or we enjoy the most. Good for you in trying something new out and making your own decision about it.

Agreed. I'm always willing to try new things, but I know that not everything I try will be right for me.
(And that's also why I don't push other people to run - I know it's not for everyone)

 

[Sleepless Knight]

(And that's also why I don't push other people to run - I know it's not for everyone)

I'm pretty similar. I only really encourage other people to run if I am very confident that they'll enjoy the experience. For instance, my little brother says that he hates running, but he enjoys Ragnar events. I have encouraged him to run the Giant Race 5K because I know he will love the experience of being on the field especially as a Giants fan. I have some friends that I may try to run a Star Wars 5K with if races ever return to Disneyland, but only because I think they might enjoy that overall experience. And even then, I'll only "push" the 5K because that distance is much friendlier to new runners. Distance running is a very different ballgame.

 

[mrsg00fy]

Congrats Sarah! I really enjoyed reading your recap. I love your attention to all the details.

I ran this too. After reading your recap I checked my watch and we started within a minute of each other. We also finished within a minute of each other. We were probably running next to each other at some point and I had no idea.

There were so many people. It was crazy. It was disorganized. It was messy. It was awesome! The crowd support was great. The bands were really good.

The finish line area was a total mess. At least now I know what to expect next time. Philly has some really fun races!

 

[SarahDisney]

Congrats Sarah! I really enjoyed reading your recap. I love your attention to all the details.

Thank you!

I ran this too. After reading your recap I checked my watch and we started within a minute of each other. We also finished within a minute of each other. We were probably running next to each other at some point and I had no idea.

Wow! Crazy that we were so close to each other. Next time I'll have to be on the lookout for you!

There were so many people. It was crazy. It was disorganized. It was messy. It was awesome! The crowd support was great. The bands were really good.

Yeah, this was my biggest race ever and it was definitely a bit messy. But also great. The crowd support was next level.

The finish line area was a total mess. At least now I know what to expect next time. Philly has some really fun races!

Oh yeah, that finish line was chaos. If I ever do this race again, at least I know that's what's gonna happen. Although I don't know if I will do this again ... I might want to try out a different Philly race next time. Preferably one when my sister is not in the middle of finals and can actually come to the expo with me .

 

[SarahDisney]

A few quick thoughts:
1 - Still undecided on how I'm going to handle running this summer. I've only run once since the race (Thursday) and done two barre3 classes and my first (and last? or not?) HIIT class. Didn't want to leave the house today because of the rain, and I think I'm doing an early barre3 class tomorrow and a run on Tuesday, and I'll figure out what's next from there.

2 - I'm working on moving to a 2-week meal plan cycle - prepping one week at a time, but knowing what's coming up the next week so that I can do my shopping whenever I have time and not have to do it at the beginning of the week. It's hard. I want to do more than just PB&J and salads, so I've been looking at meal plans for ideas, but with a small kitchen, we'll see how much room I have for storing ingredients and prep. And how much patience.

3 - I have a very big life decision I have to make right now, and it's made the past week extra stressful. Which is why I'm okay putting running on the back burner right now - I need to focus entirely on taking care of myself and dealing with this situation properly. (If you're really good at making important life decisions for other people and want to help out with this, feel free to message me for more details)

4 - I'm currently at 2 baseball games for the summer. Today was supposed to be #3, but we decided not to go because of weather, and then the game got cancelled. We will be exchanging our tickets for a different game. Only 13 games to go until I hit my goal of 15 for the summer!

 

[Jules76126]

I have found that once you get into the swing of meal prepping it becomes easier. I also love that it cuts down on time during the week. We also have a very small kitchen with little storage and you eventually find what works for you. Needless to say, I have very little counter space.

 

[SarahDisney]

I have found that once you get into the swing of meal prepping it becomes easier. I also love that it cuts down on time during the week. We also have a very small kitchen with little storage and you eventually find what works for you. Needless to say, I have very little counter space.

I'm definitely still adjusting, but I'm sure it'll become a lot easier once I'm used to it. Definitely looking forward to cutting down on daily prep time by doing more in advance.
My concern with the small kitchen is balancing advance prep vs. fridge space (I have more storage space outside the fridge, but a lot of things go in the fridge once they're prepped ... I'm sure I'll figure it out).

 

[Sleepless Knight]

It's hard. I want to do more than just PB&J and salads, so I've been looking at meal plans for ideas, but with a small kitchen, we'll see how much room I have for storing ingredients and prep. And how much patience.

I have a very small kitchen so I know how you feel. I need to figure out something better for meals.

I have a very big life decision I have to make right now, and it's made the past week extra stressful. Which is why I'm okay putting running on the back burner right now - I need to focus entirely on taking care of myself and dealing with this situation properly.

Best of luck with the decision. Running will still be there when you're ready to resume again. I've certainly found that there are definitely times when running has to take a backseat in order for your mind to be in the right place.

 

[SarahDisney]

I have a very small kitchen so I know how you feel. I need to figure out something better for meals.

Yeah, it's definitely harder with a small kitchen. I'm trying to see if I can find the balance. I hope you can find a way to make meal planning and a small kitchen work for you!

Best of luck with the decision. Running will still be there when you're ready to resume again. I've certainly found that there are definitely times when running has to take a backseat in order for your mind to be in the right place.

Thank you. I'm definitely still running a little, but I'm trying to focus more on reducing stress and relaxing a little more, and if that means less running (because I'm not someone who can shut off stress while I'm running sometimes), I know that a few weeks off won't have much of an effect. My next big race is likely the NYC marathon in November, so I have time to get back to it.

 

[SarahDisney]

Went to barre3 this morning (ps - I haven't run since Wednesday). My instructor set an almost 5 minute half PR on Saturday. And taught two barre classes today. Damn. I really need to step up my game.

 

[SarahDisney]

Mega Update!
Note: Coffee may be required to read this update​

Running
So … I haven’t been doing so much running lately. The race was on May 5th, so … 16 days ago? Something like that? I’ve run maybe 3-4 times. Longest run was today at 7.3 miles, which was kind of out of nowhere (I went out planning on 10K and maybe 7 tomorrow … ended up at 7+ today, so I’ll likely do 6ish tomorrow).



Nothing at tempo. I think that because I don’t have a major race coming up, I’ve been okay playing it by ear, which tends to mean not running much. But I don’t want to sign up for anything major over the summer because baseball comes first. So … sigh.

Right now what I’m kinda thinking is 3 miles, 4.5 miles, and 6 miles during the week (once it really starts to get hot, I may cut that back to 3, 4, 5), with an optional 3-5 miles on Sunday if I don’t have plans. Not sure what days of the week yet.

Next race on the schedule is the 1 for You 1 for Youth 5K on June 5th. Will probably pick up my bib/shoes either Friday or early next week. I’m stupid excited to try the Zante Pursuits (which reminds me … I need to write a separate post about shoes at some point in time).
I haven’t signed up for the 5th Avenue Mile yet (September 9th), but I want to start training as if I am running it, so I’m going to start incorporating that into my plans. I’m thinking of making my 1 mile pace 8:30 (I haven’t done any math on it, so I’m not sure how reasonable that pace is, but if I find it too fast or too slow, I can adjust). Current thought is to do it on my 3 mile runs - 1.5 mi WU + tempo + remaining mileage CD. Tempo will start at 60 seconds at pace, and then I’ll add 30-60 seconds every week. It will start with more CD than WU, but by the end they should be pretty even. I’m hoping I can get up to 7-8 minutes on this plan. Will do my first tempo run either Friday or next week.
May occasionally sub in a class at Mile High Run Club if the weather is too hot to outside run.

Will probably regroup with Coach in late July/early August to start talking about marathon training. I’m thinking 4 weeks of ramping up to higher mileage, followed by an 8-9 week training plan. By then I’ll probably have a better idea about whether or not I’m going to run the 5th Ave Mile, so I’ll know if we need to incorporate that into training.

Oh, and the virtual race addiction continues. I’m currently signed up for the NYRR Virtual Global Running Day 1M in early June and the NYRR Virtual Pride Run 5K in late June.

barre3
As much running as I haven’t been doing, that’s how much barre I have been doing. I’ve been going 2-3 times per week. Mostly 8:30am classes, which I find is a good time for me. I like having the opportunity to take an hour first thing in the morning to focus on myself. I’ve been able to find a good balance between constantly working to improve and respecting my desire to not push myself too hard. I’ve also gotten to the point where I know most of the modifications and can easily figure out when and how to modify (I do a lot of runner’s lunge in crescent lunge if I just don’t think it’s the day for me to get that close to the floor). I’ve been getting much better with the planks too - I’m definitely seeing a lot of improvement. I’m really glad I decided to take a chance on this class, because I think it has had a wonderful physical and mental effect on me.

If/when I do go back to work (see below), I think I may still try to get in a morning class before work at least once a week if I can, and then go back to after work for my other class(es) of the week.

Life
Remember many many pages ago when we were talking about sunglasses? Well, I finally bought another pair of sunglasses! I went with the goodr Breakfast Run To Tiffany’s. I assume that once they come (assuming they fit okay and are comfortable for running) I will have to run to Tiffany’s to take a picture.
As a reminder, this is what the sunglasses look like:

There’s some other life stuff happening too, but I’m not very good at articulating it without sounding ridiculous, so … yeah. Basically, I’m struggling to find the balance between being myself and doing what I need to successfully adapt to my new living situation, and it’s really hard. Sigh.

But I baked snickerdoodles on Friday, so that was good.

Job Search
I’m scaling back on job search stuff for the next week or two to refresh and re-evaluate what I’m looking for. This job search has gone on longer than I expected it to, and I need to make sure that I’m doing everything I can to not be back in this situation again in a year. But I also don't want to be unemployed for another 3 months because I'm being too picky about jobs. So that’s what’s going on.

Baseball
Current baseball game count is 3 - Mets, Yankees, Long Island Ducks. In that order.


Randomly discovered this at Yankee Stadium on our last trip...

The Ducks game was interesting because MLB is using the league they’re in to test some potential rule changes. One of the rules is that there two infielders on both sides of second base at all times (aka no shift), and there were a bunch of singles between first and second, but we’re not sure how much they really use the shift in this league, so we didn’t know if those two things were connected. They also shortened the time between innings, which meant that the between innings shtick started right after the inning ended. Oh, and no mound visits other than for injury or to take out a pitcher. That was interesting. And each pitcher has to pitch to at least 3 batters or the end of an inning. I’m interested to see how many (if any) of these rules come to the majors.

We have a few other interesting games on the schedule for the summer. Current plan is Pawtucket Red Sox in July (for my dad’s birthday) and Phillies in August (for my birthday). My parents are headed up to Syracuse and Binghamton to see the mini-Mets next week, and they’re hoping to see either Seattle or Tacoma (Mariners Triple-A) later this summer. So a lot of new teams (although Binghamton is not new for my parents, and my dad has been to Philly).


And ... that's what I got going on these days.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Randomly discovered this at Yankee Stadium on our last trip...

I think that was part of the 2010 All Star Game promotional stuff since that game was in Anaheim. I think they did one for every MLB team.

I’m interested to see how many (if any) of these rules come to the majors.

I'm not a fan of most of the proposed changes. I understand they want to shorten the game, but they allowed advertisements between innings to get longer and made this mess. I'm very much opposed to any proposed change that destroys baseball strategy such as 3 batters per relief pitcher minimum, et all.

 

[SarahDisney]

I think that was part of the 2010 All Star Game promotional stuff since that game was in Anaheim. I think they did one for every MLB team.

That makes sense. Yankees and Mets both did something similar when they hosted (Yankees did statues of liberty, Mets did apples).

I'm not a fan of most of the proposed changes. I understand they want to shorten the game, but they allowed advertisements between innings to get longer and made this mess. I'm very much opposed to any proposed change that destroys baseball strategy such as 3 batters per relief pitcher minimum, et all.

I'm not a fan of any of the pace of game stuff. I don't mind a 4 hour game. But definitely the stuff that affects strategy is not something I'm excited about. I get that having a reliever pitch to one player slows down the game, but it's also a big part of strategy, especially for a numbers-based team. And I definitely don't like getting rid of the shift - I like the idea that players have to learn to hit the other way if the shift is on - that makes them better players and more interesting to watch.
I'm hoping none of this makes it to the majors. Although one of the other rule changes is that they increased the size of the bases - that one I'm okay with.

Next year they're testing moving the mound back 2 feet - that'll be interesting (they were supposed to test it in the second half of this season, but they delayed it).