Tag Archives: Garmin

My GutBuster Ascent experience – Loved IT!

2 Replies

This was THE best race I have ever done! It was challenging, it was technical and it was fun :)

I was nervous prior to leaving for the race and a very small part of me wanted to bail on it but the competitive side of me won out and off I went.

off I go!

I met up with my ride at the base of Mount Washington and on the way up the hill we were met with drizzling rain and fog so thick in parts that we could barely see the road. Things didn’t look so promising for a scenic run!  We arrived at the event site, got our race bibs and were informed that the race format had changed. What was supposed to have been a 6K climb to the top of the ski hill turned into a 2.5K climb and a 3K descent. SWEET! Too much snow on the original route necessitated the change.

the start of the race

As the announcer gave last-minute instructions I struggled to get my Garmin to start lol! With 5 seconds to go it finally kicked in. The climb was pretty intense and quickly narrowed into single track trail…if you can call them trails. More like rock populated crevices and gullies marked with yellow tape all the way up! Unfortunately, because of my own lack of confidence in myself, I placed myself at the back at the start line.This resulted in my being stuck behind 12 people in a tight line on the narrow trail mid-way up and was unable to pass. Well, I could have but I was too shy to speak up! Silly me! I did eventually pass as gaps began to open up. By this time 2/3′s or more of the participants were way ahead.

really needed to use the ‘hands on knee’ to push my way up the hill ;)

The climb was hard but so worthwhile. It’s good to challenge yourself and push outside your comfort zone once in a while. There were some parts where you almost had to crawl and there were a few places where rocks were worked loose and would slip out from underfoot, making for a sometimes precarious climb!

There wasn’t a lot of talking going on during the climb. Everyone was concentrating on the ascent and their footing. It was kinda neat to hear all the loud breathing as we were exerting ourselves on the climb! It was almost like a symphony :)

what a climb!

We did run into some snow but nothing that affected the race.

SNOW!

Once I could see the turn to begin the descent at the 2.5 K mark I grew very excited thinking it was now going to be a cake walk downhill. HAHA boy was I wrong lol. The downhill was intensely technical and downright scary in parts! lol

almost at the turn around

There was a few near falls for me along the descent and I hurt my finger, of all things, grappling onto a rock to stay upright. Bent it backwards but it doesn’t feel sprained, just tender!

I put my camera away for the descent as it would have been too dangerous to take pics and I really wanted to make up some time. It was exhilarating to fly down the hill, at times it felt like I was barely touching the ground, just kinda bouncing and boy did I appreciate those Thursday night trail runs as they taught me how to negotiate roots and mud and to really use my arms for balance and take short, quick steps to maintain speed and agility. I sorta looked like a chicken trying to fly…elbows up and out, feet quick and light. I wish I had a picture of the downhill route. There was wet, rocky and grassy parts all the way down and sharp, short switch backs that really had you putting on the brakes in order to make the turns. You really had to focus on the trail, look up occasionally to make sure you were on the trail, locating the red descent markers and then quickly re-focus downward. Let me tell you, if you happened to fall on the downhill, you were going to tumble for a little ways! Thankfully no one did! :)

The home stretch was on a gravel road and I was intent on gaining speed for the final 1/2K. I flew through the finishers chute with such excitement and energy and exclaimed “that was so fun!” A few high fives and then off to the food table for a well-earned snack! :)

Happy at the finish line!

As with any of my races, I know not to expect to place in my age category but I like to stay around for the draw prizes; you have to be there to win. The last GutBuster I did in June I had won a North Face tech running shirt so I was not expecting to be twice lucky…but I was! This time I won a North Face Hoodie!

I won again!

I finished 10/14 in my age group (40-49) and 108/122. I am happy with this. :D Oh and remember I had trouble with my Garmin? lol, as with all of my races, I forgot to stop the timer! Too excited I guess…

in running and health

Denise ♥
 

OUCH my quads are aching! :/

2 Replies

OMG…

That’s about all I have to say…

LOL ok I’ll explain. As I posted on Monday, I bought  a new bike and have been biking back and forth to work twice daily as I go home for lunch. My quads are KILLING ME! Haha, not really as I sit here but as soon as I start pedaling! There are hills every which way around here so I cannot take an easier route and I am beginning to wonder why I took on this challenge…oh yah, to cut down on fuel expenses and to reduce my carbon footprint. Well, fine but I suspect I am going to complain about it a lot! Sorry in advance :)

Yup! Those quads are burnin’ (and yes, those are 2 Smart cars parked in our garage end to end :)

Then of course last night I had not planned on going for a run but then around 8:45 I was thinking about the GutBuster Ascent race I have coming up July 28th and before I knew it I was out the door. I have several different routes from my house that I love to run and the one I took last night has a lot of hills. Sigh…why I chose this one I’ll never know. Did I forget my quads were sore???

Anyway, off I went and I could feel the fatigue in my legs and yes my butt, almost immediately which gave me plenty of time to choose a shorter route, but no, being stubborn I had to do what I started out to do. Wondering who I am being stubborn against? So am I!!!

I did eventually get into my groove but when I looked at my Garmin to check out my distance/time and I was at 4K I realized this was the 7K route…not the 5K route. My brain was fatigued too. OMG…see, that’s how this blog started out. I could have walked I suppose but my competitive nature would not let me stop. Again I ask who am I competing with??? We humans are so funny! The last 2.5K on this route are on a looooooonnngggg incline. I did actually feel great by this point and decided to tack on another 1K at the end to make it a nice, sweaty 8K run. I am glad I did it but boy could I feel it today. My legs are fatigued! No run tonight that’s for certain.

8K…BAM! :D

The funny thing about running though? You really want to stop or even not go out there at all but once you get into the groove and are lost in your head, you quickly remember why you put yourself through it time and time again. It feels great!

have any of you decided to ride your bike to work?

do you run when you are tired?

in fitness and health

Denise ♥

Re-cap of my 1st Virtual Fun Run

Leave a reply

I signed up for a virtual Fun Run last week and decided today was going to be the day to run it.

ready to rock it!

I even printed out a bib and wore it for the run…I had some interesting looks, especially from the cyclists that passed me who could actually read it. :)

I haven’t run since Sunday when I did the GutBuster and that was probably a very wise choice given how my quads felt after that race ;)

I started out with a great line up of tunes on my IPod and a happy attitude. My husband made fun of me light-hearted of course…(right? It was light-hearted right?) for wearing the bib but I really wanted to get in the spirit of things and feel like I was in a ‘real’ race. I coerced said husband into driving down to the ocean to take a couple of action shots and to drive me home when I finished. I even set a timer to go off 25 minutes after I left the house so he would get there as I was finishing…;).

almost finished :)

The run turned out to be my best 5K thus far…I PR’d :) I ran a time of 30:41 my fastest so far and closer to my goal of sub 30 minutes.

this is my WOOHOOOOOO photo after seeing my time!!!

I felt awesome during the entire 5K and my pace obviously increased a bit. I am very happy with my results. Now I am thinking I will do the 10K run on Sunday…hmmmm, maybe I could PR that too! :)

my bib, my asics runners and my Garmin timer ♥

This virtual 5K and/or 10K run is ongoing until June 25/12 so you still have time to participate. Go to :
http://networkedblogs.com/yToHI to sign up! If you sign up from my blog post, please tell Toni you heard about the run from www.FitPsychology.com. ;) There are great  prizes to be won too! I have my fingers crossed.

I will definitely participate in other virtual runs in the future. Maybe I can convince my fellow runners in town to run with me. :)

have you ever run a virtual run?

will you sign up for this virtual run?

in running and health

Denise ♥

 

It’s been a great week :)

Leave a reply

My 10K is fast approaching. One week from today.  What was I thinking. Haha, oh boy! I have been using the Garmin to track my runs this past week and I see that my pace is decent and my time is good for me. I find this is a good tool and I think it’s going to make me a better runner. I notice that when I am running the watch motivates me to keep going. To not stop and walk when I really want to and then to realize that I don’t real need to stop. Then this happened today!!!

first time below 32 mins for 5K :)

 

Another pleasant discovery? That you don’t need to serve calorie laden foods when you invite company over for dinner. :) On Saturday I spent all afternoon preparing 4 yummy, healthy food items that were packed with flavor not calories. I also discovered that I quite enjoy cooking and preparing food…ha, if you told me that last year I would have laughed! For recipes visit my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/fitpsychology?ref=tn_tnmn

Apple Crisp

 

Eggplant Parmesan and salad

 

potato skins and mushroom caps

I went through a strength slump a week ago meaning I felt like the more I worked out the weaker I was becoming. Not low energy but loss of strength. This did not make sense to me at all until I posted a question on my FB page asking trainers to give me their opinion as to why this might be happening. The repeated answer was either not enough calories or over-training or both. I then reviewed my fitness journal and came to the conclusion that over training was the most likely culprit. It’s somewhat addicting to w/o and I was definitely falling into the addicted category. I decided to take 5 days off of any strength routines and stick to only running. When I returned to do a strength w/o I was back to form. I have always thrown in a rest day or two but I was doing too many HIIT routines back to back and not allowing my muscles to repair. I have adjusted my w/o’s now to include 3 runs and 2-3 HIIT with rests. I am also documenting my food intake via a food journal album on my FB page. This is proving to be both motivating and eye opening. I realize that I am not eating enough on workout days. There are always adjustments to make in life and this is just another area to figure out. :)

got my strength back! FIERCE! ;)

Lastly I prepared and planted the vegetable garden. I have a lot of veggies to try and since it is our first attempt at gardening I am hoping to at least have carrots and potatoes later in the year! Well I hope we have a lot more than that but I am settin the bar low to avoid disappointment  ;)

just planted :)

 

Looking forward to the week ahead. Will run twice and not workout past thurs. Gotta keep the legs fresh for the big day May 27th.

have you ever lost your ‘strength’? were you over training?

if you have any gardening tips please comment her :)

in health

Denise ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

10 K coming up quick! :D

2 Replies

My first official 10K race is on May 27th! Am I excited? Hell ya! Am I nervous? Hell ya! lol Why on earth do we sign up for races then fret the whole time we are training for it? Every blog and FB page owner says the same thing. What if I come in last, what if I can’t finish, what if everyone’s gone home before I cross the finish line! Check it out, we all say it!

Here’s the thing…someone has to come in last, unless you hurt yourself or get sick you will most likely finish and I highly doubt that the organizers would leave you out there blowing in the wind. (would they???) Most races will post a maximum time for shorter races anyway and also have an earlier start time for those that think they need extra time. I am going to be brave and start at the official time. I ran 12K on Saturday at 1 hour and 35 minutes and this included hill work throughout the whole run! Apparently the course I will be running is relatively flat so I am hoping for…dare I say it out loud??? I am hoping to run it in 1 hour 15 mins.

6K point, half way- love the views!

Since it is my birthday today I went out and bought myself a Garmin Forerunner 110 BUT once I got it home I realized it was a men’s and I have extremely small wrists. It does fit and the price was right so I may just keep it if I can’t find the ladies version soon. Now I just need to figure the darn thing out!

Now, back to the runner’s fear. I just need to focus on the next 13 days of training in order to prepare myself. I have 6 runs planned including 2 trail runs and a long run next weekend. I am confident that I will be fine on race day and I have to keep it in my head that I am competing only with myself…oh and 400-500 strangers! As long as I don’t start out too fast which tends to be my problem, and as long as I eat a proper diet leading up to race day I’m sure I will be fine. Gosh, I can’t imagine what I’d be like if I was training for a half marathon…I’d need a straight jacket. Do they make those to match my runners?

how do you control your pre-race jitters?

do you use a GPS running watch to track your runs?

in running and health

Denise ♥