Updates

I’m working on transferring my blog over to http://www.jessyontherun.com so it’s going to take some time and may be unorganized for a while but will be up and going soon! Stay tuned for updates, a new look, and new posts coming soon!!

California International Marathon Race Report!

Finally the race started and I was off. Once I got running I felt better about life and worked on getting in the groove of running. I couldn’t feel my feet for the first 3 miles. They were so frozen …

Pre-Marathon Race Report

Welcome to part 1 of my Marathon race report.

Ok first let me start with Taper is no joke. I finished my final long run and was busy, busy with work and traveling until the actual race. I experienced so many things during taper weeks. First of all I got a cold thankfully it was resolved by marathon day (thank you vitamin C, Echinacea, and lots of water). Next I experienced really weird dreams.

In one dream I forgot to put my sports bra on and was at the starting line and started freaking out. Another that I was covered in Chafe from head to toe but really needed a shower. These are just a couple examples of the many weird dreams I had.

Also during taper I experienced a million emotions. I was excited and nervous and terrified. I would start crying for seemingly no reason. I would visualize crossing the finish line and start crying. I listened to Moana and started crying. Ok but seriously How far I’ll go is a great song!

Beginning of November I wore my vans because it was raining and ended up with a very sore foot. I think it is my peroneal tendon in my foot. So leading up to the marathon I was worried and in pain. I took few runs off and did everything I could to heal my foot. A few days before the race it was still hurting but felt a lot better. I knew the race was going to be painful, but I would be able to get through it.

Friday afternoon it got real! As I went to pick up my parents and check in to the hotel, I was nervous and excited. Of course I was trying to be very picky with everything I put in my mouth and hydrating like crazy. The next day we went drove the course to the expo to pick up my runners packet. Driving the course was a weird experience. Realizing just how far it really was and that I would be running that the next day was surreal. It definitely made me feel better knowing the course a little and did help when I actually did run it. We got to the expo and picked up my packet. There were so many people there. I am not one for crowds so I didn’t really want to stay longer than I needed to.

While we were there they were interviewing the panel of elite athletes. It was reassuring to hear them talk about their routines and specifics of what they do. It made me feel a little less crazy for being so particular about sticking to my routine. After that we went out for lunch and a short shake out run. Really short since my foot was hurting.

 

Dinner was Costco Pizza since I had done my long runs on that and knew it would sit well in my stomach. I stretched laid all of my stuff out and went to bed. I slept surprisingly well for the night before a marathon. All of my sleep training and focus definitely paid off.

4:30am my alarm went off and I started getting ready. Clothes, Vaseline, eating, hydrating, checking and rechecking my stuff. I had decided to wear a XXL pull over jacket over everything to keep me warm. By 5:00 we head to the car so my parents could drop me off at the bus pickup. When my mom dropped me off at the bus she said it felt like dropping me off for the first day of kindergarten! See you at the finish. Getting on the bus was scary. I kept running through my head all of the things I needed to do, my focuses for the race, and what the day would look like. I felt like I was on the verge of crying, screaming, and peeing my pants all at the same time.

When the bus arrived I went to meet up with our first timers groups and get ready.

We still had over an hour before the race start. After a picture with the first timers I found a line for a porta-potty and waited. I didn’t have to go yet but knew I would soon. After that it was time to line up and get ready to start.

I’m working on my race report from CIM! Until then I wanted to post that I finished it! It was a great experience and I’m so glad it’s done! First marathon ever which makes it an automatic PR 5:41:39 and of course I ran in my Luna sandals.look for my recap soon.

Mental Marathon Plan Cont

As promised here is part 2 of my mental marathon plan.

In reading about how to prepare mentally for a full marathon, a lot of people mention their why. Why do you want to run a marathon? Or why are you doing this?

I have been asked this many times through training and I ask myself this question all the time. When it gets tough that is the first thing that comes into my mind. Why am I doing this??? So here is my why.

First I want to prove to myself that I can complete a marathon. If you don’t know a few years ago I thought I would never be able to run again. I have a fracture in my back that doesn’t heal and I thought well there goes my fun… Fast forward and obviously I am able to run again. So I want to be able to part of that 1% that says I finished a freaking marathon.

Second and probably my bigger reason is to show others that you can do hard things and things that seem impossible. You can achieve what you put your mind to, work hard for, and try. I work with students that give up all the time. I want to show them that if you put your mind to something and put in the effort, then you can achieve it. My students are constantly saying they can’t do it or they aren’t good enough. The quit before they even start. I want to do this for all the people who believe they can’t and hopefully give them reasons to believe that they can!

The last part of my mental plan is using my mantras or positive affirmations. I have a few different ones and honestly I just plan to use all of them when I need them.

Just keep going…. (like Dory just keep swimming)

You can do this, you are already doing it!

You are strong

And of course my life phrase NO REGRETS

I am viewing this like I coach a woman through labor. So all the things that I would say to them, I am saying to myself.

What are your mantras? What is your why?

The Mental Marathon Plan

Alright as I get closer to running this marathon, I am starting to prepare even more. First let me say, I am terrified. I have had some really disappointing long runs and I feel like I am not ready for this. Second, I am so over this training… I’m so ready to not have to plan my schedule and life around long runs and hoping that it doesn’t snow just yet! I can’t wait for this to be over.

This Tuesday will be my last really long run before race day and I am looking forward to getting it out of the way and desperately hoping that I feel awesome and finish feeling confident that I will be able to do this 26.2 miles in a few weeks. As I prepare for this long run, I have been preparing myself for race day. This is my last chance to prepare and practice my strategy before the big day. I have been researching a lot of mental strategies and motivations for finishing a marathon. I have also been researching getting through the wall and overcoming common race day obstacles (especially bathroom issues).

I want to me as prepared mentally as possible so that it is one things less I have to think about come race day. So here is what I have planned and am going to try on Tuesday. As a Birth Doula I am planning this out like a woman in labor. After all labor is a marathon (I need to write a whole post on that)

First I plan to break the race up into 5 mile segments. For me 5 miles is an easy segment and I know I can run 5 miles pretty smoothly. Each segment I plan to focus on something different to help me get through it and prepare myself for the next one to come. I am planning to write these focuses on my arm in case my mind goes blank and I can’t remember while I am running. So here they are:

Miles 1-5 (Pre-labor) Focus on breathing, relaxing, and warming up. Many people push themselves at the start of races and I do not want to burn out so I plan to focus on my own pace and not get wrapped into other people’s paces.

Miles 5-10 (Realizing you are in labor) I will be focusing on pace and form. Form is really important for me and I know during these few miles if my form is not good I will be hurting the rest of the race.

Miles 10-15 (Start of Active Labor) I will be focusing on my body and checking each piece from my toes to the top of my head. Thinking through what hurts, if anything needs a stretch, and how things feel. I will also focus on maintaining nutrition and hydration.

I know I can get through these miles pretty smoothly so up to mile 15 is all focused on preparing for the challenging miles ahead and giving myself the best possible circumstances.

Miles 15-20 (Water breaking/Epidural thoughts)  will be focused on enjoying the race. I plan to look around, read every sign, give as many high fives as possible and simple take it all in. I know after this point I won’t be able to focus on taking it all in and I don’t want to miss it. So this will be a good distraction as I lead to that place.

Miles 20-25 (Transition) will be all about distracting myself mentally. I plan to use each mile to pray for something different (writing them on my arm ahead of time) and really think about that person or situation. I plan to dig deep and use my why and mantras to push through these last few miles (more on that in a post in a few days).

Mile 25- finish (Pushing and Baby!) Will be all about taking it all in and enjoying the accomplishment that I am achieving. I don’t want to miss a second of the last mile. Even if I have to walk this whole mile I am taking in every second of it!

I am hoping with these goals and focuses I will be successful in completing this marathon and feeling accomplished at the end. I plan to try them out on Tuesday in my last long run and really get a feel for what needs to change and what is working.

Have you run a full marathon? What was your mental plan?

Avenue of the Giants

May 7 was the Avenue of the Giants half marathon. Originally a few friends and I signed up for a half marathon in Sacrament for the end of April. We were excited to have a race close and that a …

Whole30

I have been having some health problems for the last 6 months. Well mid-March is when I first started to notice something was off. It started as extreme fatigue and feeling unrested even after 8-10 hours of sleep. Since then it has progressed my many more symptoms including pain in my joints.

I think its adrenal fatigue or thyroid issues, my mom keeps saying its mono or lupus. While I try to get in with another doctor (headache and a half), I decided that I needed to give Whole30 a real try. Most adrenal and thyroid problems start with your diet, so I need to start there to fix it.

I try to eat pretty healthy anyway, but over the last few years I have reverted more and more back to a high starch diet. This was a problem a few years ago and I know Whole30 will start me off right. So what is Whole30?

Essentially it is a change of eating habits for 30 days. During this month long change here is what is not allowed

• No dairy* – this includes cow, goat, sheep and all of the products made from them – cream, cheese, kefir, yogurt, sour cream.
• No grains – wheat, rye, oats, corn, rice, quinoa, buckwheat, etc. This includes the bran, germ, and starch.
• No legumes – no beans of any kind! Black, pinto, white, Lima, fava, chickpeas, lentils, or peanuts. This includes all forms of soy, so no miso, soy sauce, tofu, edamame, and tempeh. Check your labels for soybean oil and soy lecithin, they are no-nos.
• No sugar – none, nada, not even the artificial kind! No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, stevia, etc.
• No alcohol – none, nada, not even in cooking!

*Exceptions to the rules:

• Clarified butter and Ghee are allowed. The milk proteins need to be removed or they could affect your results.
• Fruit juices are allowed as a sweetener, just don’t overdo it.
• Green beans, snow peas, and sugar snap peas are allowed. They are technically legumes, but are more of a pod than a bean.
• Vinegar – white, balsamic, apple cider, red wine, champagne, and rice vinegar are allowed. Always check your labels, flavored and varieties that contain sugar or malt are not allowed.

Not too bad right?! Wow this is going to be hard. Honestly the hardest parts for me are going to be Alcohol, and Dairy. 30 days without a beer, at least I don’t have the added stress of finishing school.

So I planned to start this journey on August 1, but I went on vacation August 8^th so decided to wait until I go back. So I started August 23. The first week I didn’t notice any changes. I didn’t even really crave things unless it was right in front of me like banana bread or sugar snacks. The second week I actually started to notice a little less fatigue in my normal day. I still have 4 more days left but so far so good. The hardest thing is finding things that are whole30 compliant to have on a long run like electrolytes and foods.

I am now starting to think about what my eating will look like when I finish and what I want first! I think probably a beer. Of course with any cutting out type diet you have to go through a reintroduction phase. So that should be “fun.”

Have you tried Whole30 before? How did you feel about it?

Turning 30

As you may know, I turned 30 this year! I wanted a memorable way to mark the occasion. My sister being the amazing photographer that she is helped me put together this amazing smash cake birthday shoot! Who says smash …

5 things I learned from my first triathlon.

As I just finished my first triathlon, I thought I would share some things that I learned from my first triathlon. I know some of you are thinking about doing one in the future so learn from my mistakes.

1. Training

OK as I stated in my race recap, I did not train for this race. Obviously that was a mistake. I would have done so much better and been more confident had I trained. Training is important to any race. While I was able to complete the race, I was not confident and did worry I would struggle. Race on the base actually has a training group/ plan that people can join. Of course since I don’t live in the area this was not possible for me.  Take it from me, find a good training plan, stick to it, and train!

2. Reapply sunscreen

Sunscreen is important. I did apply sunscreen early when I put my clothes on, but did not reapply the sunscreen. That was a huge mistake. I ended up lobstered. It was around 5 hours from the time I put sunscreen on to race start. Plus I took layers off and such. So put sunscreen on again before the race. Do not be like my dad though. He had a clogged sunscreen can and ended up spraying it straight into his eye looking for the clog. That was not a great thing to do right before a race. While I am on this if you are like me and always have chapped lips make sure to bring ChapStick.I suffered without it. 

3. Eat before the race

Nutrition as always is important for race day. Eating before the race is important to fuel your body for the race. Make sure it is something you have ran on before and that your body will handle it. My mom was so sweet and made me a bagel to eat in the car. Unfortunately the bagel had cream cheese on. I don’t like cream cheese so I didn’t eat the bagel and was hungry before the race. I ended up eating an entire bag of honey stingers before the start of the race. So plan out what you are going to eat and eat it. 

4. Hydrate

Hydration is important to any race. I can not stress enough for any race to make sure you have water and can drink it during the race. I made sure to drink prior to the race. I am not the best at drinking water while I am on the bike. This was a challenge so make sure you practice grabbing your bottle, drinking, and putting it back. Stay hydrated. 

5. Have a great cheering squad 

Finally have a good cheering squad. Not only did I have friends racing the same race with me, but I had others cheering me on during the race and helping me through. My mom raced in the earlier wave and was there in transitions and by the pool cheering for me. That was awesome. My dad did the bike and swim with me. I can safely say if he was not there for the bike, I would have been miserable. I get so bored riding by myself and it probably would have ruined my experience. I am so thankful for him! This race would not have been nearly as enjoyable without his presence. My friend Julie was volunteering for the race and seeing her on the race course was awesome. Every person there to cheer for me was awesome and so encouraging. Get a cheering squad together for your race, I promise it will make all the difference!