Bee Fit

Boston Marathon 2013 Race Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:15:00 +0000

First of all, I cannot believe it has been almost a month since that day, second of all, I do not know why I have not been able to write this up. Third of all, I am not going to write this based on what happened after I crossed the finish line. I did that already. I want to move on from the tragedy and pain that happened and I want to really talk about the joy of running my favorite marathon of the year, and I want to celebrate. Perhaps that is why it took me so long to write, I wanted to let some time pass, I wanted to let the chaos of everything pass a little while.

For me, the Boston Marathon is an event that has been in the making in my running mind for 2 years. The idea of trying to qualify began to burn a fire inside of me even when I was training for my first marathon during the summer of 2011. Living and working in the Boston area, it is impossible not to get sucked into the Boston Marathon excitement and enthusiasm. You tell people you are training to run a marathon, or have run one, and their immediate first question, have you run the Boston one? It is really like a right of passage around here.

As someone who is consistently driven by time goals, and measurements I was attracted to the allure of trying to go for a Boston qualifying time. It made me feel like a real athlete trying to go for a goal, other than just to finish a race. I trained hard, and I got to my BQ in Febraury 2012. That meant I would wait 14 long months to run my race, the prize for all that hard work, The Boston Marathon in 2013. Little did I know then what I would be doing is using the Boston Marathon to help me reach a new level of running and training.

By the end of the year in 2012 I had new goals in mind, I still cherished the marathon but I now began embarking on a new adventure, running ultra marathons. I completed my first 50 miler in November of 2012 and it only made me hungrier for the race I already knew I wanted, the 100 miler. So with that new goal in mind I began training in January 2013 for my very first
100 mile attempt on June 14, the Tarc 100 in Weston. I would work Boston into my training schedule. In true Colleen style, I wanted it to be epic :) So I decided I would run the Boston Marathon as a back to back long run, I completed the DRB (Don't Run Boston) 50K on the day before. Ironic, the 50k designed to be the complete opposite of the marathon, and I run both. I recapped that 50K race here.

Sunday night was interesting. I laid in bed, exhausted from a 50K in the Blue Hills, and doubting myself for the first time ever that weekend. I ran strong on Sunday and smiled every time someone told me how stupid I was to be going out to run the marathon in the morning. I said don't worry I am going to take it slow, just nice long back to back runs, nothing more. Inside I was getting annoyed, but by Sunday evening I guess I let it get to me. I turned to my partner and told him that I don't know what I was thinking and that I was not sure why I was doing this. I told him I was too tired. He agreed, he thinks I am crazy most days (although he hides it well), but he did not really listen to me much more, just encouraged me to sleep.

I woke up at 5am on Monday the 15th, with excitement in my heart and all of a sudden feeling great. I am sure that it was adrenaline and anticipation but I just felt good. I did not feel nearly as bad as I had the night before. I got suited up and got ready and began the 5 minute drive to the bus! Yep I took the bus in with my new running club here in my new home town of Nashua NH the Gate City Strders. I figured getting bussed in would be much easier, plus the bus left at 7AM leaving me extra time in the morning to rest. My Peanut went to school but she was excited to send me off in style :)

I got to Hopkinton and met up with one of the Tarc group members Liana and we hung out waiting for the race to begin! This is the beauty of Boston, you meet so many runners in the morning there before the race, it is fun. Everyone was getting ready to go and before I knew it, it was time to head to the corrals. We bumped into Robin and she and Liana headed for the speedy corral. I waited patiently in mine, knowing that today was not about anything more than one sole thing: having fun.

I look at the Boston Marathon differently than some. I look at it as a party for 26.2 miles, because in my heart that is what it is. I have raced for time and speed on multiple occasions, and I went into this race with a BQ already under my belt for 2014. So I needed to enjoy and celebrate my Boston work. And really in my mind, that is what I would recommend. It is so crowded, and so busy that to spend stress trying to go for a pr or bq just is not worth it to me. Plus, it takes some of the joy out of it. I like to be able to enjoy myself when I run a race with this much support. This is something that has come with time, I have learned I can enjoy a race and use it as a celebration.

The Boston Marathon has some of the best crowd support of any race I have ever run. There is literally people cheering along the entire 26.2 mile route. Children lined up, college students with fun signs, and just the over all support of spectators is amazing. I make it my mission to hand out as many high fives as possible, and I think I succeeded this year!

I had fun every step of the way. I will write about the back to back running mechanics of it next week, I want to just share here in this post the fun, the smiles the waves and the joy :)

I got a pat on my bum and turned around to see a smiling Sheryl Briggs :) She is a fellow Tarc member and was running happy as ever!

I then got to see the smiling Gail Martin!!! It was nice to have a familiar face along the course and I think it just kept me refreshed.

My aunt Lisa, and cousin Ryan were around mile 20 and I had a sign made just for me :) I felt special

I love love running into that finish area, for the last mile of the marathon I just kept me arms up high fiving everyone!!!!!!

I finished in 3:59 I was amazed. I went into this race not knowing what to expect from my legs. What really was nice was I was pleasantly surprised, my legs carried me through the entire race very well. I never hit a wall, I kept an even pace throughout the race and most important, I was able to finish with a huge smile. I had fun!!!!!

I came home and gave my Peanut the biggest hug ever. And of course she confiscated my medal :) I was more than happy to hand it over to her!

Don't Run Boston DRB 50K Race Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Where do I begin?

I looked forward to this weekend for so long, months and then it came, and ended in a fuzz. Now as I sit and gather my thoughts for my recaps I keep hitting this mental mid block. But I want to take time and celebrate, and this is one way I always am able to do that. To recap a great day I had running on the trails with some wonderful members of the Trail Animals Running Club.

I woke up at 4am on Sunday morning with a smile in my heart and swiftness in my step, it was race day!! The DRB 50K has been going on since 1997, it is the oldest Tarc event. It is a small, unmarked, little supported ultra race. It is really a good representation of why I have come to love ultra running. These small events, on these tougher terrains, they just bring you to the simple reason you run, for fun. There is no fuss, no crowds, in fact the DRB is designed to be the polar opposite of the famous marathon that takes place the next day, the Boston Marathon.

We were lucky to have beautiful weather for the day and it turned out great!

17^th Annual Trail Animals Don’t Run Boston 50K and 4^th annual TARC 50 mileSunday April 14, 2013 40° at 6 am, 45° at 8 am. 48-50° and mostly cloudy throughout the day. Mostly dry day and course (no significant rain)5000+' of climb in 50K Non-repeated winding trails.About 6000’ climb in 50 mile. Ultrarunning ratings:Surface: 50K = 5; 50 mile = 4Terrain (elevation): 50K = 4; 50 mile = 3

The DRB is basically a group training run with an official start time, distance, and some food we all bring for each other and snack on from the back of a car. I enjoyed it. Honestly, the Tarc running group has become like a second family for myself and my running buddy, they have embraced us with open loving arms, and I am so happy we found them. II have not met one trail animal who is not smiling during a run, offering advice, and living by the motto: no animal left behind. Yes when we train together, we stick together the whole time, no matter your pace, we wait. That is one thing I love about everyone.

I got to the Blue Hills in Milton at 5:30am ready and excited to head out. I was also surprised to see one of my friends and running buddies Cesar! He came out bright and early just to say hi and cheer us off. After running Traprock 50K the day before! This was my first race since my 50k in January, so for me, going 3 months without a race is rare, and I was in need of it!! I brought my usual favorite race aid station food salted boiled red potatoes, and some Gatorade and milky ways for the rest of the group. I had my camel bak packed with everything I needed for the whole day: watermelon Nuun, Dole dates, figs, dark chocolate df gf espresso beans, craisins, and a bonk breaker energy bar. This has become the way I eat during long trail runs and I was eager to test this on a race.

We all began in a line drawn in the sand by Howie the race director and at 6am we set off into the woods. I stuck with the pack, I am terrible at map reading and directions, so my plan for the way was to run with Dan and Chris, 2 Tarc members who knew the course already.

I started out feeling really strong and my legs felt good. The beginning of the course was a loop around the lake and for the most part the first 6-7 miles were fairly runnable. Then we got onto the blue trail, the tougher part of the course. This is where you begin climbing the rocks, and doing some more hiking rather than running :) This is also where I lost Dan and so I stuck with the rest of the group. I bumped into another runner I met last year at my first 50k and we ran together and caught up for a few miles. It was fun, he was excited to hear about my 100 miler in June and I found out he will be volunteering there. It is nice to know I will be surrounded by familiar faces that day.

There is something so peaceful and serene about running in the woods, and that morning we ran as the sun was rising. It was absolutely beautiful.

The beauty of running with Chris? He made everyone climb to the top of the tower, he insisted upon it. If he had not been there I probably would have kept on going. But I am so glad I did. It was again a beautiful picture of serenity and the very reason trail running is so appealing to me, I love nature. When you are running in the woods you cannot get much closer to it than that.

After the first half we looped back down and I was relieved to know the worst part, the rocky climbs were over. We stopped at the aide station trunk open :) and fueled up. I had some nuun and decided I wanted to head back out to the trails, BIG mistake. This is where I should have waited for the group. I assumed they would catch up to me so I headed out onto the yellow trail. It was marked so I figured I could not mess it up. For the first few miles I was ok, but then I took a wrong turn and got lost. Luckily someone else was lost too, so we kind of stuck together. I ran that way for maybe an hour or 2, I don't really have a good gauge on time. All I know is I was meandering around the trails and around mile 26 for me, 25 for the group we ran into each other.

I was super relieved! But also discouraged. This always seems to be a problem for me running trail races once I get off course I get out of it mentally and begin to get discouraged. I blame the road running ;) BUT I decided to stick with the pack and finish up with them. Chris led us around the rest of the race, he was great. I felt more comfortable for sure, but still felt defeated at getting off course and wasting time on my feet.

My legs felt ok throughout the race. On some of the steeper climbs I had to really push my walking. My calves tend to cramp up badly and I have not yet perfected the whole power hiking, this is definitely something I need to work on before my 100 milers. One thing that I have gotten much better about is my fueling. My Camel Bak is the perfect addition to my trail running. I have this model, the Octane LR and it has side pouches which allow me to get my food without removing the pack at all. I feel like I am wearing a fuel belt without the aggravation of having bottles and things around my waist. It also allows me to drink freely whenever I want.

We rounded out the 50k with a lap around the lake and I felt strong as I powered through that last mile. I ended crossing the same sand line and Chris wrote my name in the scratch sheet that was tucked in a corner at the gazebo at Blue Hills.

Once I was done I hung out in the parking lot for a little bit to cheer on those going back out for 19 more miles, those brave 50 milers :) And of course snapped a few fun pics! This no frills race was fun and it is something I would definitely want to do again, I just would like to learn the course better so I do not get as lost ;)

I was happy to end my day with 32 miles in 7:23 on some tough trails. Probably the toughest race I have tackled yet since starting to ultra run last year, and I felt good. If I was not planning to run the Boston Marathon the next morning, I honestly probably would have stayed out and finished up the 50 miler with Chris and the others. I felt like I could keep going. But, I had my heart on running Boston and I knew I would not be able to do that unless I stopped at the 50k.

Luckily my sister picked me up and I spent the next few hours trying to recover as best as I know how. I sat in an ice bath for 20 minutes then shivered for 2 hours :) But it did help. My legs were not sore, and cramped up like they normally do after a longer race.

I spent the evening trying to stay off my feet and trying to get my stuff ready for my big race in the morning. I was exhausted. Trail running takes a toll on my body physically, and it is not painful but I always experience this extreme sense of exhaustion. By 10pm I was ready for bed and although I was excited for Boston in the morning I was beginning to worry that I would not have the energy to power through a marathon.

Stay tuned to see how I did ;)

Boston Marathon After Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:24:00 +0000

I had one of the best weekends running, I have ever had. I want to blog my race recaps, I want to scream and shout and let it all out, but every time I sit down to recap and write I get this block. I start to get into my writing and my mind keeps drifting back to that sinking feeling I had once those bombs went off. Once the chaos ensued.

I will not let who ever did this ruin my joy, as one of my friends put it, if you do that than they win. I will not let them win.

I will write about it all now, all my emotions, all my feelings, and try to get them out the best way I can. Then I will hopefully be able to move on better, be able to recap how much fun the expo was, how amazing it felt to run a 50K at the Blue Hills, and then how amazing the Boston Marathon was for me. I may sit and write it all today, I am hoping because it feels like I am being weighed down right now with it all.

First of all, I feel lucky. Lucky I got to finish the race, lucky none of my many friends and family members who were running, and or out cheering are all ok. I feel grateful that Peanut went to school and was not anywhere near that finish line.

I was taking pictures, celebrating my victory, hanging out in the finish area, thanking volunteers, collecting my clothing bag, and then in a instant my whole world got thrown upside down. We heard blasts, we saw people running in all directions and we all wondered what happened. You see, there was no tv to turn on for a news update, there was no one telling us what was going on. It is the first time in my life that I have been in a situation so chaotic, and so scary all at once. I immediately pulled out my cell phone, but it would not even turn on.

People began crying and telling us, a bomb went off, others were yelling at us, telling us to stop spreading lies there was no bomb, that a man hole cover must have blown off. No one knew what was going on. And then the sirens began, one right after the other, loud sirens came in from all directions. I was in a stunned state. I had no idea what was going on, and I had no idea what to do. I kept trying to head to the family meeting area where I had planned to meet my boyfriend. Under the M. All I kept thinking was, I hope hes ok, I hope he made it to the M, I hope I can find him. By now people were running and rushing around me and I began to feel sick.

I knew something bad was happening, and I knew that there was nothing I could do about it, but I was all alone, and I was terrified. I finally made it to the M and I just waited, and waited. I did not know what to do, by now I knew it was a bomb, and I was really worried, the last text I got was from my boyfriend telling me he was getting on the T to come to the finish line. Frantic, I was just frantic. By now the sirens were all around, helicopters were flying low over us and the noise, commotion, it was all just scaring me.

Finally someone recognized me from social media I assume? I was so out of it, I did not recognize her, but she let me use her cell phone and I heard his voice, he told me he got kicked off the T, that everything shut down, but to wait and he would come find me. I was relieved, and thankful for that friend who let me use her phone! Then I just waited. I think I was just in shock that this all was happening.

It seemed like forever, and then I heard my name being called and I saw him. I think I was shaking, I was so scared at this point, now I had only one thought: get out of the city as quickly as I could, get home safely to peanut. That became my next mission. It was almost an impossible one too. Our way out was to take the T back out to Newton where our car was parked. At first, we planned to walk around, my bf had to go check out something, I was scared I really did not want to go but I knew he had to. Then as we were walking I heard a blast and that was it. I wanted out then and there and did not want to go anywhere but home. He agreed and we walked to a different part of the city so someone could give us a ride to our car. We were lucky to get out. I do not even know how far we walked, or what, I was on an adrenaline rush so I just kept moving as fast as I could, feeling no pain from just running or anything.

We finally got home and I snuggled my Peanut as tight as I could. She was excited to see me and my medal, she claimed it as hers and it brought me some comfort. But I was so depressed. Inside I was hurt and crying. I was sad for all those injured, those who lost their lives, and those who will be affected by this for a long time. I was still in a daze, and I was still shaken up about it.

I woke up Tuesday still in a haze. I did not know what to feel, or why I was feeling the way I did. I felt guilty for being depressed and upset, after all I was not injured and I got home safely. But I could not shake the feelings I had, I tried all day to snap out of it but I could not. I did not want to talk to anyone on the phone, or respond to the texts. It was heart warming to know everyone wanted to reach out, but I just was not ready to rehash it all. I did not realize how scared I still was until I went to the grocery store later in the day and when a helicopter flew by I got into a small panic. It brought me back to the streets of Boston the day before. To the chaos. It reminded me of it all over again. I stayed in a haze for most of the day, and just felt depressed about it.

Then I went for a run. I was not angry until I began running.

I love running. It has changed my entire life for the better. I felt that as I was running. I thought about all the people who also share this love, and those who come cheer for us, those who got hurt doing all of that, and it made me angry. How could someone do this? How could someone try to take this joy away for such a wonderful, simple sport. It made me angry. I was almost crying as I kept running, I ran fast. And I ran hard, all I had in me was 3 miles but it was a good run. It was therapeutic in a way.

I feel like I am still in a daze about it. It is hard to watch news coverage for it. It is hard to walk around and listen to people talk about it. It is hard to keep reliving those moments with people when they ask me what happened. It is so hard, you usually enjoy walking around after a big race in your shirt and jacket with pride. Last year after I ran Boston everyone was excited and would ask how it went. This year when they see that marathon gear they get a look of concern and ask did you finish? Did you see the bomb? I know they do not mean it in a bad way. But it takes away the joy and recognition that normally comes after a finish. I feel like I want to put it away and forget about it, but I know I cannot. I know it did happen and I know that facing it and moving on is best for the soul.

I am beginning to heal, I am beginning to move on, but there is a hole in my heart, there is a pain that I carry, when I think about how the day unfolded. I have an almost 4 year old daughter who knows mommy runs, who loves the unicorn logo and is well aware of the Boston Marathon. I have kept her away from all news and media on this, and I do not want to tell her what happened. I know if she found out she would worry about me every single time I go for a run, she would obsess about my safety, as that is her nature. It makes me upset that something so pure and simple like running a marathon can be changed in an instant. I would like to keep her joy about it, and shield her from this. I know I cannot as she gets older, but for now I can and will protect her from things like this in the world. It makes me sad to know she is growing up in a world where things like this happen though.

I love Boston. I have lived here my entire life. The Boston Marathon became my goal race, qualifying was an honor, and I looked forward to running it for months. Nothing will take the joy I felt away from that day. Nothing will take me away from running it next year, and the next and the next. As long as my legs will qualify me, I will run it every year. It is a party for 26.2 miles as I told one of my friends that day. The best crowd support, the most fun running I have. I will not let the actions of a negative individual or individuals take away my love and joy for the Boston Marathon. I will mourn the way things unfolded this year, but I will take comfort knowing that everyone will stand united, and we will run it that much stronger next year. After all, endurance runners are a tough breed of stubborn people, we never give up.

My Big Ultra Test Weekend!! Running A 50K and the Boston Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:47:00 +0000

The weekend has arrived!!!!

When I thought about this weekend a few months ago, it seemed far away, almost like the finish line at the beginning of a race... so far away but also so ominous in my thoughts.

When I qualified for the Boston Marathon 14 months ago, I never thought the day would come. I was elated and eager to run it and enjoy it. Now it is amazing that in that short time I have shifted my goals to include other races, and other distances. The marathon will always hold a special place in my heart, it is the distance that I fell in love with, and it is the distance that helped me discover my true love, ultra running. If I had never trained for a marathon, I would not be ultra running today. The first time I set out to train for a marathon one of my training runs before the race was 29 miles. I knew that day that distance running was where my heart and body belonged.

I can run fast, but I can run stronger and better when I run longer. I am a stubborn person by nature. This stubbornness while not always as helpful in my personal life, makes me a good endurance athlete. I can endure. And I refuse to quit. Even on the tough long solo runs where I have faced adversity I have always willed myself to finish. This trait comes in very handy to have when attempting ultra marathons.

I am going to channel that stubbornness this weekend for one of my biggest challenges I have faced while running yet, I am attempting to run a 50K, The Tarc DRB (Don't Run Boston) 50K and then getting up the next day and running the Boston Marathon.

I decided to do this a few months ago when I was mapping out my training plan for my big goal this year, a 100 mile race in June, the Tarc 100 in Weston. I have had my eye on the 100 mile distance for a long time, since before I even completed my first 50 miler in November, I knew I wanted to attempt it and keep working until I completed one. So when the Boston Marathon got weaved into my schedule, I knew I wanted to use it as a training run.

Then this idea of the Tarc DRB 50K came into my head and somehow I merged the 2 together and thought it would be a great test for me to attempt both and use it as 2 long back to back training runs. To many, it sounds crazy, even out right stupid. But to me, I have learned if nothing else, that you should always attempt what others may think is crazy because once it is complete, it does not sound so crazy any longer. I always think back to my old self, the 272 pound woman on 7 medications, if someone told her she would lose 120 pounds and become a marathoner, even a half marathoner she would have called them insane, and crazy. Now she just knows that idea was the right one.

So on Sunday morning at 5:40AM I will be at the Blue Hills in Milton, channeling that stubborn girl, channeling that will power and attempting to run around a course that is "not an easy one" according to the description ;) It will be a fun challenge for me and I am looking forward to it. I love running through the woods and I also love the Trail Animals running club that is putting this on. They have assisted my love affair with ultra running and are teaching me so much about it. Every single time I show up for a group run or race I meet new people who are so welcoming to a new runner like me and also so helpful, teaching and talking about all they have learned. So I am really looking forward to Sunday.

I will also be looking forward to getting up Monday morning and getting on a bus with my new running club in my new home town, Nashua. The Gate City Striders!!! I will be heading into Hopkington with them and getting to the start line of the race that drove me to run fast, the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon carries such a weight with local people here. It is the one race that no matter where you go someone has heard of, and people are awed when you tel them you are running it. I love the crowd support and the energy that is in the city for this race. As long as I am willing and able I would love to keep running it year after year just for the energy and enthusiasm it brings to running. It is an honor to be lining up on Monday morning and racing into the city where I have lived near my whole life. I have been looking forward to this day for 14 months since I earned my qualifying spot, and I will relish every single second of it.

So you can be sure of a few things: I will be smiling from now until Monday afternoon, I will be high fiving as many people as possible on Monday as I run on one of the oldest and most inspiring courses in the country, I will be on the trails for the entire morning on Sunday and be working my body harder than I ever have before, but I will be happy :) And no matter what the outcome of my big running weekend is, I am grateful to have all the support of my family and friends along the way. I say it all the time, or maybe I do not say it enough, but having a supportive partner in life and training keeps me going, it keeps me able to be me, and to do crazy things like run a 50K and a marathon the next day ;)

Training For an Ultramarathon Month 3

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:08:00 +0000

I cannot believe another MONTH has gone by!!!! It seems like just yesterday I started thinking about mapping out my training plan for the Tarc 100 on June 14.

The month of March was pretty intense mileage wise. It is the first time since September of 212 that I ran over 200 miles! That month I ran 207 miles, I was training for my first 50 miler then, and it was tough. For the month of March this year I ran a total of 261 miles!!! That is a lot of stinking miles. I logged a total of 298 miles between running and cross training. When I cross trained I cycled and did some elliptical on non running days.

I am happy that a lot of my miles towards the end of the month were on trails. The rotting snow is finally melting! YAY spring :) I really find running on the trails to be much better on my recovery, my legs do not feel nearly as strained as they do after running on the road. I am physically tired, but my body is not throbbing achy after a long trail run.

How am I coming up with my mileage? I am pretty much following to a T the training plan in the awesome book I read last year and used to train for my first 50, Relentless Forward Progress. The plan is for training for a 100 miler with 70 miles a week being peak weeks. I have not yet hit those 70 mile weeks, hard to believe, given I have been running so much. In February my weeks ramped up to the 50s and in March I started hitting in the 60s.

I like following a training plan like this one because it keeps me accountable to my running. It gives me a daily, weekly total of miles to focus on and this is what motivates me to get up everyday and run. I ran 5 days a week in March and did back to back long runs on the weekends. A training plan also follows the periodization principle. It gives 3 weeks of a slow ramp up of miles, and then dials it back for a week of recovery. This built in slow progression with recovery is EXACTLY what an over eager achiever like me needs. I need to recover, I do not want to get an over use injury, and for me that is how I use the training plan. When I do not have a concrete plan I tend to over do it and that is when problems come.

The toughest week in March for me was the 14 mile mid week run. 2 weeks in March I had to run 14,6 and 10 for my Tues, Wed, Thur runs and follow that with back to back 10, and 20 or 12 and 20 on weekends. It was a lot of miles to cover on a weekday for me, when my body is not used to it after covering such a distance over the weekend. The first 14 miler was a struggle, I ran on trails at Mines Falls here in Nashua and the trails were simple but it was a mental battle to finish. The first one early in the month I ran in 2:24, and I had to force myself to finish. The next time I had to do it 2 weeks later went much better and I ran on the same trails but I did it in 2:09 and I felt so much better after I was done.

Doing those 14 milers taught me some thing big about this training cycle, it showed me just how much progress I was making over a short period of time. It also showed me how much stronger I was getting as the weeks dwindled by. I am glad each and every time I go out for a run and I feel stronger.

During this month I really started to notice too how much trail running is a total body workout. I kicked up my strength training a notch and have really been doing a lot of functional training and it is paying off when I hit the woods. My core strength can be felt when I am climbing hills and my quads can carry my swiftly on the down hills as well. I have also noticed a big change in my body composition. I have been focused on my nutrition, that will need an entire post on its own ;) but using My Fitness Pal is helping me realize how much I need to eat to recover better and be stronger. I am taking in higher quality calories, and eating super clean and vegan gluten free. My body fat is dropping significantly and so is my weight. That goal of race weight is finally on the horizon!!

Combining my running with a good cross training, core strengthening and weight training program each week is a ton of work, I am often logging 16-20 hours of exercise and it is a part time job really. But the dividends are being seen each time I conquer a new distance, trail or step on that scale. I feel stronger mentally and physically and I also perform better.

April is bringing some exciting aspects to my ultra training! I have the Don't Run Boston 50k on Sunday April 14th and then the next day I have the Boston Marathon :) I am looking forward to both of those races and also the test for my body on super long back to back runs. It will be an attempt to cover almost 60 miles in 2 days and I know it will be a challenge but I am looking forward to it and testing myself. Then at the end of April I have the Spring Classic 50k. I am hoping to race this one since I will not be racing either race in the middle of April. I want to use that as a test to see if my 50K time has improved in the last few months.

Month 3 is in the books and I am really looking forward to month 4, it will be the most challenging yet, but also very fun!!!

Do you find a training plan helps keep you on track?

Countdown To The Boston Marathon!

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:02:00 +0000

So life has been super super busy!!! I am in the process of moving, training for a 100 miler, working, taking care of peanut, and just being a girl. LOL needless to say, blogging has to take a back seat and a big one. I miss writing and when I can I will sneak on and do it. Once we are moved and settled I know I will work it into my regular routine again.

But, I would not be me if I did not come on to talk about the biggest race of my spring :) The Boston Marathon!!!!!!!

I have been so excited and looking forward to this race for months. It was the race that got me motivated to run marathons faster. I trained my a$$ off to get that BQ last year and I feel so lucky to have gotten it and now be running the biggest marathon here in Massachusetts.

You cannot understand what it is like to tell people you run marathons and then the next question always is, oh so you run the Bostoon? When you live here in New England it is the one race everyone knows about. What they often do not realize is how hard it is to get into Boston, or how runners would love to be able to run it all the time.

All the buzz, all the hype, I just am getting super excited! I am looking forward to heading down the expo on Saturday and bringing Peanut with me for the first time. She is so into running lately its adorable. I know she will like seeing everything and heading into the city. I am looking forward to picking up my number and wearing it with the pride that I earned getting it. All the work, it will pay off for me that day.

It still boggles my mind that I got up off the couch, started to lose weight and then started doing an activity I always hated. Running. Now I run almost every single day. Now I live for it.

The Truth About Ultra Training

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:28:00 +0000

It is a ton of work. Honestly I feel like its a second job. And really, truthfully it is. I spend a lot of hours a week running and exercising. I was thinking about that a lot this past week. My training for this ultra has really kicked into high gear. I am running an average of 60-65 miles per week. I run 5 days a week. I run Tuesdays-Thursdays and Saturdays and Sundays. It seems like I am always planning my run or running lol

On Mondays and Fridays I am at the gym. I cross train. I row, use the elliptical, or upright bike and aim to get an hour of cardio both days. About 4 days a week I strength train. This is a combination of upper and lower body exercises. And 5 days a week I do at least 15-20 minutes of solid core work with planks, sit ups, lower ab work, and stability ball work. Why?

It makes me stronger. I truly do love to do it. And I love the way my body looks because of all of it.

But, like I said it is a commitment and really a part time to full time job. I looked at my polar heart rate monitor last week, which I wear for 90% of my workouts and it said I worked out for 16 hours and 17minutes.

I thought about that for awhile during my run on Tuesday. 16 hours is a lot for a week, and it is not even my peak training of 70 miles per week yet, those will be coming. That is more than an average of 2 hours per day. That is a lot of freaking running and exercise. This from someone who 3 years ago never set foot on a trail, treadmill or even a gym.

I do not mean this to be a complaining post, and I am not complaining, but I am thinking that, running ultra marathons, consume a lot of time. It takes a lot of dedication, and a lot of juggling. Often on the weekends I wake up at 4:30am so I can head out for a long run. I want to be able to still be a part of family activities so to do that I start early so by 10am I can be home and in the Mommy zone. But its tough. I wake up during the week pretty much at 5-5:30am daily for work and mommy duties, so there is not a day during the week I sleep in. Though my body is usually awake, I wonder if it would be nice once in awhile to sneak in a late sleeping day.

I was pondering this all on my run, and often people ask me where do you find the time to do it?

I asked myself that question this week, and the answers began coming to me. I do not watch television anymore. I never was a big tv watcher but I did watch usually about an hour or 2 a day of it. Now I watch an hour or 2 per week. I do not spend nearly as much time on social media as I used to. I used to blog a lot more, I do love to do it, but honestly, if the choice comes between a run and blogging or even chatting on Facebook, obviously I choose my run. I do not go out and do much outside of my healthy activities. I am lucky my partner likes to workout too, our date night is often a gym session, or a weekend away is to a race. It is just the way our lives have evolved. I live a lot more simply. I am not off and out every weekend, or even once a week doing things like going to the movies, or a bar, or the mall. On my down time, I am spending time with my loved ones, or working out.

I thought about it and just realized that for me the shift came naturally over time but it really did shift. And I also thought about if I missed out on anything like tv or computer time, and I hate to admit it but I do not. While I love blogging and sharing my life, it is not a priority. While tv is nice to relax too, it is not valuable enough to carve out time for. I love running, and I love exercising. I would really not trade it for anything else at this point.

Have you found your habits shifted over time as you picked up different hobbies, or healthy living?

Preparing for Boston Marathon 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:42:00 +0000

I must admit this, I know that I stopped thinking about this race awhile ago. I think it lost its clout for me when I ran the 50 miler back in November. Honestly, probably back in September when I found out all about ultra marathons, the Western States race, and how you had to qualify for it. I set my sights on a sub 11 hour 50 miler in November and stalked that goal. 9 and a half hours and finishing my first 50 miler, I began to dream about that illusive 100 miler.

So when my goals began to shift, so did my focus. All I visualize is those goals, I forget about celebrating the big one that I worked so hard to get to last year.

Because it still all happened in a year.... Does this show how impatient I really am? I began 2012 in training to BQ at the Hyannis marathon in February. I worked my ass off to get to Hyannis in the best possible shape I could be in. I fought hard that day. I was probably the happiest I have ever been that day. That cold February day, I ran along the ocean and I pranced my way into that finish line, a 3:31 marathon that felt incredible at the time.

Yesterday the B.A.A released our bib numbers, corral assignments and wave starts on their website. My social media streams were in a flutter with excitement. I remembered suddenly that, yes indeed I would be running Boston. But I started to remember how I felt the year before, as a runner and not running Boston. I started to remember that girl on the couch who never even knew what a big deal the Boston marathon was a few years ago.

I started thinking about the Boston Marathon and finally started remembering just how big of a deal it used to me to me. I started to really appreciate that bib number, and thought about training for that BQ. I will never forget sitting in the corner in my bedroom a few days before the race. I was freaking out with a friend on the phone. I was doubting my ability to BQ. I remember running all of my training run, over analyzing every single mile, every single session of speed work. I remember running my test 10K and looking up my estimated finish times. I remember all the doubt I carried, all the fear that I would not make it.

I also remember, that the Hyannis Marathon really marked my 2 year healthy anniversary. Just 2 years ago I had weighed over 250 pounds. I was the girl who in high school faked being sick during PT testing week so I could get out of running a mile. 2 years of hard work lead me there, but it was those 12 years of being obese that still had me always second guessing myself.

It all added up. I trained so hard, and everything was telling me that I would be fine that I would get it. I kept doubting myself though. I kept stressing out about that race. I kept yearning to qualify and run the best I could. I think that is why I looked so incredibly relieved and happy in those race photos towards the end of the race. I will never ever forget that feeling, bliss. Pure and utter happiness that one of my biggest running goals was being achieved and I had set out to do something I had deemed utterly impossible.

It seems so long ago, that I ran the Hyannis Marathon and qualified for Boston for the first time. But now, 13 months later I am reliving that moment and finally getting ready to run the race I trained so very hard to get to. I will relish every single second of April 15th, I will high five as many spectators as I can. And I will be smiling from ear to ear, as I tread down the streets of Hopkinton, through Newton and finally come to that finish line in Boston. For that, I have been waiting over a year.

Training For a 100 Mile Ultramarathon Month 2

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:37:00 +0000

My training volume really increased the middle of February and into March. The weather here in New England has been less than desirable as well, leaving training for such a long distance a bit of a challenge. Let's face it training for anything is a challenge but when you combine snow covered trails, snow storms, busy schedules and increased mileage... you get a little chaotic ;)

I ran during snow fall quite a few times this past month and I must admit it is one of the most peaceful serene experiences, but can be cold and damp too. It all depends on the temperature outside.

I did not mind my snowy runs as much as I minded actually gearing up and getting out there to do them. I think the toughest part for me has been having to run on pavement so much. Last year when I was at my highest volume of training 50 miles per week, I did some of my mid week long runs on a track, and mixed in that a lot. This kept impact to my joints to a minimum and the legs and knees felt ok. When I trained in December and before the snow fell in early January I kept to trails, and this had the same effect. Happy legs due to less impact of pounding pavement.

When I could get on trails I really did!! And loved it :)

Unfortunately with all the snow, trails were covered and I was forced to the pavement much much more than I would have liked. My knees have really taken the brunt of the impact and I can feel it when I wake up every day. My rheumatoid arthritis has been flared up, I think its a combination of the colder weather, being outside in it more, and also training volume picking up. It weakens the immune system naturally when you increase mileage. So when you are someone like me, who already has a weakened immune system from an auto immune disease, (in my case hypogammaglobulinemia) it only leads to more stress on the body. I believe that when my immune system is weak this gives the RA more readiness to attack and hence my flare ups. (I am no doctor or scientist, this is just me speaking from how I feel about it when it is going on)

All that being said, I refuse to quit now. I know that winter is waning to an end. I felt that in this past weekend of running outside. I know that I love to run and it makes me feel better. I have tools I use to help me get through it all and one of those is believe it or not that treadmill still.

I spent many hours running on a treadmill in the month of February. I have actually grown to enjoy these runs a little bit more. I know I lovingly refer to it as the dreadmill. But I have learned how to make the best of it. I use the treadmill time to catch up on some me time, I read. I used to read a lot as a child and even in my adult hood, I read a ton. I would finish a book over the course of a few days or a week if I really got into it. I stopped reading really when I started working out and running more, that time kind of stole away my reading time. So now with the lovely kindle app on my iPad I can once again enjoy one of my favorite past times, reading.

What more can a girl ask for? Reading and running all at the same time? While listening to some of my favorite music???? Love it. I find myself using the tread mill more willingly now and its good because there will be more times I need to use it to get my runs done and have peanut play at the YMCA.

This past month the running club hosting the race, the Trail Animals, posted a picture of the belt buckle. Yes, if I am able to complete the 100 miler in June in under 30 hours I will get one of these beauties:

I may or may not be guilty of screen shotting it and making it the back ground picture of all electronic devices ;) Hey it keeps me going so why not? My mileage is up to about 50-60 miles per week now and so things like this make even the tough days doable.

So ultra training has been ultimately difficult, time consuming but rewarding. I am learning a lot about myself during this process. I am also studying much more on nutrition and trying to fuel more naturally, I will post more about that later. I am also making some wonderful friends. I have begun really trying to make a bigger effort to get out and run with people from the trail animals running club and locally and it is fun. I head out for runs and always try to soak up their knowledge from past experiences and learn from them. I consider myself the rookie just taking it all in one run at a time.

Maintaining A Large Weight Loss Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 18:08:00 +0000

This is the 3rd part of the series on maintaining a weight loss for a life time. For week 1 and week 2 check them out!

Last week I discussed tracking in depth and how it keeps me on target with my maintenance. That was tool #1. I feel tool #2 goes hand in hand with tracking but it is the tool that also gets lost the quickest once we reach our goal weight.

Measuring and maintaining proper portion control. Yes portion control......

I get the most complaints when I discuss this with clients. I get the most eye rolls etc. But it is again, something so very simple that we always fail to realize until the pounds start creeping back on.

We are human, the fact of the matter is we can be stringent all the time I understand. I am in no way shape or form completely strict 100% of the time. BUT, 80% of the time yes, and that leads to long term success. So what does this mean for someone who has to maintain their weight loss?

Use your measuring cups. I know, it is hard sometimes, it is time consuming to find the thing, then scoop into it. Its a pain and I get it. But again, it helps. I do not know what 1 cup of brown rice looks like. My measuring cup though takes it out of the rice cooker just as easily as a spoon. So really I just use it to scoop it out and onto my plate. In my oats sits the 1/2 cup measuring cup, I never take it out, this way every morning when I go to take some oats out I have no choice but to measure them. It does not add time, and it takes the guess work out it.

See it has been my experience that portion control begins to vary over time. It is when you start guesstimating and rushing to eat and be faster that you begin to lose control over the portions. I leave my food scale sitting on my counter. I still turn it on and use it every day. I like to weigh my protein, now it is beans and tempeh, but it was important when I was eating meat and the less lighter ones as well. It just keeps me on track and keeps me accountable.

And the 80% rule applies because I believe once you are maintaining weighing everything is not needed 100% of the time. For example if you go out to dinner once or twice a week, then you are not measuring and that is what gives you some leeway. I really do feel if you are doing everything right most of the time then it is easier and if you are running around one day and too busy to pull out the measuring cup you are more likely to be more accurate. If I just looked at 4 ounces of turkey yesterday on my food scale then today at the salad bar I am more familiar with how it looks, rather than guessing about my turkey for the past few weeks, does this make sense?

Portion control can also begin with using a smaller dinner plate. If you are eating a little less, it looks a little better on a smaller plate. It will help you just be more mindful too of how much you are eating. If you do not have time to measure all the time a smaller plate can be quicker and easier too.

Another way I control my portions is by storing things in their portion size ready to go. For example, I like the blue diamond nut crackers on running days. So when I buy a box, I count out 17 each and zip lock baggy them and then put the baggies back in the box. This way when i am looking for a snack all I have to do is grab one of those. It also makes it easier to head out the door and have some snacks ready to go. I do this with my celery and carrots too. One of my favorite afternoon snacks is celery and or carrots and hummus and fresh salsa. I found I was eating it more often when the carrots and celery were already sliced and in the fridge waiting for me. Even on days I had no where to be, I still would not want to wash and cut the veggies all the time. But when I have them there and ready to go, I snack on them. It goes back to that human nature thing, keeping simple quick snack items are important because when you are hungry you need something easily accessible.

Maintaining a weight loss is much more manageable when you have plenty of tools in your arsenal, for me, tracking and portion control are 2 invaluable tools that I will use for the rest of my life.

At the Bend In The Road

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 14:59:00 +0000

One of my favorite phrases I use when training clients or trying to encourage people, is we have a choice. I always have said we make choices, and our lives are the results and consequences of those choices. Conflict usually comes when we see those consequences laid out in front of us once we make our choices.

For me, I made lots of choices as a young adult, most landed me in an unhealthy, morbidly obese state of existence by the time I was 25. I did not have some terrible life, just a few curve balls here and there. I think for me it was more of a personal thing, I did not understand myself, what I wanted, and what my heart needed.

I finally figured it out about 2 years ago. I realized I wanted things, normal things just like everyone else. I also figured out that I deserved these things just as much as the next person. I was worth it.

I wonder why, then now, still I continue to devalue my worth. Why I continue sometimes to question my decisions, my choices, and why I am scared of their consequences.

I made a choice to run. I made a choice to train. Now I have made a choice not only to run and train, but to do it for 100 miles, God willing, if my body makes it and I am able, I will attempt a 100 mile ultra marathon in June. This latest choice has seemed to bring a lot of extra training and burden to my life. It complicates my schedule, it makes me have to fight to carve out more time to run.

But at the end of the day, I still love it. I am still looking forward to attempting it in June. I am living for it.

That is what running has done for me, particularly signing up for races and setting goals for new distances. It gives me a distraction, it allows me to focus on something other than my personal life. When I am running I am free, no matter how hard it is to find time to run, I need it. I crave it.

So now, whenever I find myself at a bend in a road in my life, I try and relate it back to my running. This seems to be the eternal problem I face, running and training are not a parallel for life. Life is messy and complicated. I wish life was as simple as drawing out a training plan on a spread sheet and checking off the runs as you complete them :)

But it is not of course ;)

So now when I find myself at a bend in the road, be it life or on a trail I just try to look toward the sunshine and run.

Maintaining A Large Weight Loss Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:36:00 +0000

This is my second post of hopefully many on maintaining a large weight loss and what comes next after the weight is off. Week 1 can be read here.

My first big topic for discussion is the habits. To lose a large amount of weight, or really any amount of weight we must change habits. Typically when you start to settle into a plan you use different tools to help you reach your goals.

For me there are 4 major tools I used to lose my weight and my success was based around them. I know they worked and I know they helped me, therefor, I still use all 4 to this day.

What are the big 4? Stay tuned! But number 1 is so simple you will not believe it!

Yes. Tool number 1 is the most important, tracking.

If you bite it write it. We hear this all the time. We know it is so true. When most people are successful at a weight loss they used some sort of tracking tool. For some it is as simple as writing and keeping a food journal. Others use calorie counters like My Fitness Pal or lose it. I used the Weight Watchers points system and always tracked. I loved it, it really kept me accountable to myself.

The problem lies not in the tracking but in the habit of doing it daily. Let us be honest, tracking is work. It is a pain and sometimes you feel over whelmed and need a break from it. I did not love tracking until I got my smart phone and down loaded the app for it. Then it became quicker and easier.

Some of the excuses I hear from not wanting to track are time, patience, and boredom. I understand those are all road blocks in the way but if you analyze it one by one you might feel differently about tracking after.

I like to look at tracking as balancing my check book or bank account. You want to keep track of your money, you want to always know what is there available for income, for spending, bills, etc. That same theory would work with your nutrition. You want to keep a healthy balance every day of your calories. You want to know what is available for spending on foods, and when a splurge might fit into your week. Tracking in some way, shape or form will help facilitate this.

When I track I make better choices. I think this holds true for almost everyone. Tracking keeps us mindful of our choices. Sure tracking cannot fix everything but I do know that having to write down those pitfalls when I have them, makes me regret them a little more. It also helps me realize that even if I have a bad snack or meal it does not have to equal a bad week. In the past when I tried to lose weight I would have a binge, or even just eat bad at a party and then I would feel like, well my whole day is ruined eff it. I would continue to eat badly the rest of that week and sometimes even the month. It was a viscous cycle. I never saw beyond one bad choice or one bad meal. I let those be my down fall.

I love using My Fitness Pal!

The beauty of tracking for me has been physically seeing that one bad meal, or even a binge of sorts does not throw off my entire week. It does not have to mean I cannot have that salad for dinner and start recovering faster after a bad after lunch snack. It also helped me see exactly how much calories were in some of my favorite cheat meals.

I will never forget the moment I ran a marathon in another city, I think it was Pittsburgh last year. I really wanted a reward after running a marathon in 3 hours and 47 minutes, the reward I chose was to go to PF Changs, one of my favorite gluten free places. I had been tracking and using My Fitness Pal for a few months and tracking calories burned while running and exercising using my Polar FT 60. I knew that running that marathon gave me a good calorie burn of about 2,000.

Fast forward to dinner time, I inputted all of my gels used, pre race food, and post race protein, I realized I had consumed quite a few calories, about 1500. I like to eat 1500 a day. I thought I was still ok, but then I pulled up the Changs menu on my fitness pal and was shocked. Some of my favorite things like the rice, and chicken meals were 1000 calories! And I was planning to have dessert, they are one of the few places that offers a gluten free one, that was a bunch of calories too. It woke me up a bit, made me realize that food is a lot of calories and even when I run a marathon, recovery meals take up a good part of those calories. It helped me realize that I did not to eat extra for days after a race to make to for it, which happens to a lot of people.

Tracking has helped me to realize that even when I feel like I am not doing so good, even when I may be back sliding a little bit, I can get back control. I am in control of my daily intake and out take and while I exercise a lot, I am more efficient now that I am smaller. I do not need as many calories as I may have in the past. My body has become more efficient at burning calories so I need to maintain a comfortable weight and also learn a daily balance between it all.

Tracking also keeps me honest with myself, if I start sneaking in an extra snack here or there and then get frustrated with the scale, I know what it is from. By logging in my calories and keeping track of how many calories I burn with my Polar HRM it keeps me honest and accountable at all times. And this has been the best way I have learned to maintain my weight loss and avoid gaining the weight back.

So tool #1, the first of my big 4 is to track. I like to think of myself as a track star :)

Be a track star. Be successful long term.

Training For A 100 Mile Ultra Marathon First Month Check In!

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 20:59:00 +0000

I realize it has taken me awhile to get on and update!! Perhaps it is because I have been so busy running he he ;)

Training for the ultra marathon has been a good experience so far. The first month was pretty uneventful. That is the beauty of starting a training plan 24 weeks before an event, it allows your body to gently adapt and increase your mileage.

My long runs have been progressively getting longer, as to be expected. Last weekend was 10 and 18, and this weekend calls for 20 and 10. I did run a 35 miler back in January so my legs can handle that distance. I guess the hardest part has been the mid week longer runs.

My miles are adding up during the week. Usually I have to do 6,8, and 10 or a combo of those. My strategy has been to plan my runs around my schedule with Peanut and try to do the longest one outside, on trails if possible. It is not easy but I have been lucky so far and usually am able to do it.

Winter has hit hard here in New England and we have tons of snow. It messes with my trail running, and I hate it!!! I cannot wait for spring. I made it out last weekend and ran on semi plowed roads and parking lots in an industrial area. It was better than running inside for sure. During the week I was able to get some miles on the treadmill done and mid week I got a nice 10 miler with a running buddy Gail.

The treadmill and the ymca have saved me this training cycle. For multiple reasons. The first is child care. They have a beautiful day care right at the gym and Peanut absolutely loves going there. When it is snowy outside and she needs to expand energy its perfect! They have an indoor playground with slides and a ball pit even! She plays while mommy runs. The treadmill also allows me to safely complete runs when it is snowing and just too cold out. My RA is still acting up and there are days when my hands are so badly cramped that I cannot open a jar. Staying warm helps the symptoms stay at bay a little better.

So no the treadmill is not fun. Yes I feel like a hamster stuck in a wheel when I am on it. But, I am coming to appreciate any time I get to run, no matter how it happens. Plus, it forces me to do some speed work. You see, I despise slow runs on the treadmill hehe so every time I am on it, I am speeding to get done quickly :)

The other thing really helping me this training cycle? Making new running friends and meeting them for runs! I spent so so much time solo running last year, and although it is not ideal I really did not have much of a choice. But this year I am working on making more time to venture out and run with people. I have a great group that I am part of, the Trail Animals and I have made some amazing friends from there. We meet and run and I feel lucky to learn so much from them. I love to hear their stories of past races and accomplishments, it inspires me to strive for more. It also makes a long run so much more bearable when you are able to have a conversation with a fellow runner during it. I swear those miles tick away much faster!

So there you have it, my first 6 weeks training for my first attempt at a 100 mile ultra marathon :) I have had fun and learned a lot so far!

To My Runner Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 17:46:00 +0000

During a day created around flowers and candy filled hearts, I wanted to express my love for you but in a different kind of way. I chose this because well we have a different kind of love.

Our love developed over time, when I was not really paying attention. We liked to meet and run together and I thought you were really nice. Our idea of fun seemed to be to find a new race to go to, one with relly cool medals. I really did not think much of us beyond that, I was preoccupied with training and trying to juggle life.

Over time things changed a bit. We started to talk more about life, and less about running. I started to see you more as a friend and less as just a runnning buddy. It was strange to me at first, I almost tried to pass off those feelings. I did not understand what it all meant, all I knew was I liked being around you and the more time we spent togeether, the more I wanted to get to know you better.

Then one day it happened, I looked up and realized that I had fallen in love with you. I remember thinking to myself how terrified I was because I did not want to lose a friend, I did not think you shared the same feelings I did. I tried to send you some clues, tried to get you to realize how I felt. Slowly, you started to put all the pieces of my puzzle together.

On a day I will never forget, you took my hand and told me how you felt, at that very moment I felt a huge overwhelming feeling of relief and hapiness. I knew from that moment on that nothing would ever be the same, in a good way.

Since that day, my life has been filled with happiness and joy. You are my partner, my lover, and my best friend. I am the luckiest girl in the entire world. No matter what is going on in my life you are supportive in every way possible. You never fail to bring a smile to my lips even on my darkest days.

So today, I want to thank you for being my rock, and the best thing that has ever happened to me. We started running together, and now we share a beautiful life together, I could not ask for much more than that.

Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite running partner, and to my person.

Maintaining A Large Weight Loss Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 15:15:00 +0000

Maintenance. What is it? Well let us start with the definition from dictionary.com shall we? :
-to keep in existence or continuance, preserve, retain
-to keep in appropriate condition, operation, or force
-to keep in a specified state, position, etc.

The art of maintaining is so crucial to us once we have reached a goal, any goal. So why is it so hard to maintain the destination of that goal once we reach it? I believe it is just natural human nature to back slide, to return quickly to old habits. We are creatures of habit.

We naturally want to continue to do things the way we did them especially if those habits have been ingrained in us for a long time. It is 90% mental. The art of maintaining takes will power, knowledge, strength and above all else: perseverance. I know that by doing a multitude of things anyone can lose weight. You buckle down, settle on a nutrition and exercise plan and the pounds come off. It is fun, seeing numbers reduce weekly is exciting, we like rewards and when you are losing weight you are constantly rewarded for shedding each pound.

When you reach your goal, a HUGE reward comes and that instant gratification of holy cow I lost my weight and met my goal comes. You celebrate, share your story, and life is so good. The problem is, especially when you have a lot of weight to lose, more than about 60-70 pounds, is that you have settled into this regime of losing and following a plan and receiving that gratification of constant change that once you are no longer seeing a change, it gets boring.

Creatures of habit. We look forward to those scale and non scale victories each month and when they are gone, it is almost like you feel lost. What comes next? How can you prepare yourself to maintain this huge accomplishment? Unfortunately there is little help out there for this part of the journey. We see so much about weight loss, and so little about weight maintenance. Even going to my Weight Watcher meetings as a lifetime member I felt left out, the talks were solely about losing the weight, there was no meetings specifically set up for someone who was maintaining. I quickly lost interest and stopped going.

I believe a person who is maintaining needs a different kind of motivation, a different kind of meeting, no matter how they lost their weight. You need support, you need suggestions of how to live life after the weight loss journey. Getting there is the easy part, it is the staying there that is the difficult one. I am grateful that 3 years later I still have maintained a steady healthy weight. Yes I may play with 5 or 10 pounds from time to time, but it has remained within my control at all times.

Over the next few weeks I want to write once a week about this, about maintaining, about how I have maintained my weight loss for 2 years, and open up discussions for other people to share their story of maintenance success here. So if you are interested in helping out please feel free to chime in! Send me an email at tryn2bfit at gmail dot com or leave a comment and I will reach out to you. No weight loss is too big or too small to share either!

Vegan Protein Powder Review: All Pro Science

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Well I have been vegan for 2 months now and I must admit, I do not think I will ever go back!!! I feel so great, my energy levels have improved and my running just is better. Being vegan and gluten free poses several challenges though, and as an endurance athlete it requires me to get creative sometimes to ensure I get enough of certain foods.

One of those foods for me is protein. I was used to eating egg beaters, turkey and chicken breast every day, so there was never an issue. Now I have been struggling with it at times. The main reason is I do not want to add a ton of soy into my diet, and beans and nuts I can only eat so much without feeling bleck. So sometimes I do struggle with this.

Well, I was excited when All Pro Science contacted me about sampling some of their vegan protein powder and veggie superfood.

Their protein powder sounded like exactly what I have been looking for because it has only 170 calories, 5g fat and 23g of protein!! Best part of it for me? It is all natural and is free from allergens: dairy, gluten and soy! If it's free its for me that is my motto and so I was happy to learn that it is indeed gluten free and vegan. I also like the soy free part, mainly because I feel since going vegan I have relied on soy for some proteins, like tofu, and tempeh and I do not want to over load my daily serving of soy.

All Pro Science Complete Veggie Protein is a blend of pea, brown rice, and hemp proteins. It is also fortified with flax seed, vitamins and minerals to give you a healthy serving of quality protein.

I have been looking for a protein powder I can make my own bars with. When you are an ultra runner you need quick easy to digest options and this protein powder gives me that. I can mix it and sip on it during a race, or I can mix it with some dates and ground nuts and seeds to make protein bars. That is my plan :)

The first time I made it with plain unsweetened flax milk but I felt it was a bit, boring. I like spice in my life hehe, so the second time I mixed it with cinnamon and vanilla unsweetened almond milk and that was perfect! I love the vanilla flavor because it is not over powering and I can mix it with whatever I want. I made a smoothie with some frozen berries and a container of almond milk yogurt:

That was the perfect post long run treat for me!! I liked adding the super food packet too for an extra punch of vitamins to help me recover.

My conclusion?

All Pro Science is a great way to get some protein into my life without compromising my vegan and gluten free life style. It helps me recover faster after a grueling workout and helps me fuel during 20+ mile long runs through the woods!!

If you would like to order some head over to their website! They have extended a generous offer to all of my readers with a coupon code! You can save 30% right now by using the code FitBee30 when you checkout at All Pro Science.com. So head over and check them out today!!!

Running With Rheumatoid Arthritis

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:39:00 +0000

I rarely blog about my medical conditions. Perhaps because I rarely openly discuss them. I think about it a lot, and I asked myself recently why I avoid them. I think the real reason is when I talk about them, it reminds me they exist. I like to pretend I am invincible, and sometimes I even feel like I am. I know this does not make sense but it is how I feel.

The truth is, I have some medical conditions and I am grateful that they are not life threatening and can be managed. But that does not change the fact that they do exist and that sometimes I do have some issues dealing with them. One of those conditions is my rheumatoid arthritis.

Living with my RA became a lot easier when I lost my weight. It limited my ability before I lost the weight because I let it. I am lucky that it does not bother me every single day. I have a lot of good days. But there are some days that it really hurts.

On the days it is very bad it reminds me that I am not invincible. My RA reminds me that I am not a robot. This week I have been experiencing some harsher symptoms from it. Every single morning I wake up in pain. My hands hurt and my thumbs are so swollen I cannot do much of anything. My knees and ankles swell too and I dread that first step out of bed. The pain shoots up my legs as soon as I put pressure on my joints. I feel like I am 90 years old in the morning. My hips ache and my shoulders even hurt. It is so hard to force myself out of bed when I am in that much pain.

My body feels like it is inflammed. That is the best way I can describe it. I am achy all over, and I feel like I am too stiff to move. The morning is the hardest. Night time I am restless and have a hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep. My body gets stiff the longer I sleep so that is what pains me most in the morning. I force myself out of bed early in the morning to take my ibuprofen, then I wait for it to start working.

It usually takes a good hour and half for my body to "wake up". I stretch and start moving my joints and it helps but it still just takes some time for it all to calm down. I feel bad, its hard to open things. Peanut asks me for things and I cringe, or sometimes I just am cranky because I am in so much pain. I try not to think about it, I try to block it out and distract myself with other things. But I think the worst is my hands because I use them so much. In fact this post has taken days to write because typing cramps them up so bad and I have to stop and start again and again.

I realized Tuesday morning that running in the morning, or in the extreme cold, cannot happen right now. It was a realization I came to after attempting a run and having to come home after 2 miles. Every single step hurt my joints. I did not give my body enough time to wake up and I was almost in tears outside trying to run. I came home feeling defeated and depressed. I felt that pang of being no longer invincible and I felt like a wimp not being able to run in the cold.

Later on in the afternoon I went to the gym and had a good tempo run on the treadmill. It lifted me up. I got about half way through the run and I realized something, I was lucky. I was lucky to be able to run when 6 hours earlier I was barely able to walk. I know it is not my favorite, or ideal, but being able to run still is amazing. I need to breathe in deeply in those mornings and fight through the pain and remember that it will go away in a few hours enough to be able to exercise.

It is a double edge sword, I always feel amazing after a workout, the endorphins do wonders for pain relief. But I know that the pounding on my joints also might make things a little worse later in life. I am 29. I worry about what I will be like by 49. But I fear that without exercise my body will stiffen up and I will lose mobility.

So how do I run with rheumatoid arthritis?

I run when I can. I run when my body feels better later in the day. Mid day is best for me because my joints have loosened up and I have enough time to unwind and fall asleep. I find if I run at night I run ok too but that it is harder to fall asleep as I am all wound up. I have become a trail and ultra runner. This is so much better for my joints. The pounding of pavement during a marathon or a long run on pavement makes my joints ache for a week or 2. When you run on dirt or trails or even a softer surface like a track it is so much less impact and I find I am not sore as much.

I do not try to be a hero. If it is bitter cold out and I am in the middle of a bad flare up, I run inside. This does not make me less of a runner, it does not make me wimpy, it makes me a runner who runs with some conditions. It makes me smarter because I am getting quality runs done and not messing my body up even more. I got in 3 solid treadmill runs this week and actually ran better than I would have trying to run outside and in pain. Plus the after effects of subjecting my joints to that bitter cold are not there.

I listen to my body. When I am in pain I take it easy. And I remind myself that it could always be worse. I remember to appreciate the fact that I can run. I do not try to force things that I know will be bad for me, or that could keep from running in the future.

I stick to my nutrition plan. No gluten keeps my body much happier and I make sure to be strict with my nutrition I also have found that eating very clean keeps my body stronger.

When I was young I was diagnosed with this condition. Then it was just juvenile arthritis, and it was a symptom related to my immune disease. I used to be kept inside during recess on painful days, and I was told to take it easy. That way did not help. I let myself think that because of medical conditions I should not exercise and I should take it easy.

I have learned so much these past 3 years. I have learned most of all, that exercise only helps keep me mobile and healthier. Keeping my weight at a healthy level keeps the most pressure off my joints as well. Exercising every single day keeps me mobile and strong. Strong muscles take pressure off joints. So my plan is to work hard every day and keep fighting through the pain. At the end of the day the pain will be there regardless of my activity level, and it is much less with the activity than without it.

So I run with rheumatoid arthritis to keep it under control, and to stay as active and healthy as I can. I run to be strong. I run to be mobile longer.

Be The Example

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:02:00 +0000

My motivation and inspiration comes from her!

So our newest routine involves Peanut working out with me every day. It is amazing how she looks forward to it now. We head to the YMCA and she goes to the chid watch while I get my workout done. And then when I go to pick her up she says mommy I have to workout too!

We head back up to the gym and she runs around the indoor track with me and walks, for a few laps. Then she gets some weights and mimics what I do. It is adorable. What makes me proud is she encourages it! She says mommy we have to do push ups, or her favorite bear crawls.

When she was born 3.5 years ago, I weighed 274 pounds. I was never going to a gym, never working out, never eating healthy. I realized I had to change, I had to set the example.

So that is my best advice for any parent out there on the fence about getting healthy this year. For any parent who thinks that being healthy will not be achievable, look at your child. You may not realize it, but they watch every single thing we do. They become little versions of us.

If you smile and get excited to do some activity and healthy exercise no matter what it may be they see it. And when they are old enough, they will want to tag along and do it too. Your enthusiasm transfers onto them. I have watched it time and time again with clients and their children, and now with my own child.

The same goes for nutrition as well. If you are enthusiastic about eating healthy and just living it every day, they will follow suit. We spend so much time worrying about being good parents and what our children are consuming, etc. But really all that you have to do is be that example. Set the tone for their lives for them. I never force my daughter to eat anything I just cook dinner and let her eat. I make my own clean healthy foods too and more often than not she will eventually try them and eat them. My best example is my morning oatmeal. She looked at it for about a week strait, and would ask about it. I would smile and explain it and eat it. Next step, one day she asked to taste it, I let her and she said she liked it. So the next few days I kept letting her taste it. She started eating more and more of it. After about 2 weeks, now she wants her own bowl of it in the morning and she eats it.

Setting the example each and every day will make a world of a difference to your child. That is the one thing I have learned these last 3 years. Being positive, being a cheerleader of a healthy lifestyle, that is the BEST way to encourage a healthy child.

Exercise Is My Medicine

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 03:06:00 +0000

You are crazy.

I must hear this at least once or twice a week, sometimes more. It is no hidden fact that I love to exercise. I love to run, but even on my non running days I am at the gym working out in some way shape or form.

Why am I so hooked on sweating?

It is my medicine. Pure and simple. I feel like I am alive after a great workout, and there is nothing that can take me from feeling lousy and depressed to on top of the world in 30 minutes like a great workout can.

Exercise is my medicine. Exercise releases endorphins that make the body and mind feel good. It allows the brain to release those feel good chemicals. It is the healthiest most natural high you can give yourself.

I have never met a person who said they hated the fact that they worked out all the time. I have never met a person who would admit that they did not feel awesome after a great workout. I have pushed clients in the gym time and time again and it always ends with them hating me during the workout, but after it is over they are smiling and thanking me for pushing them. Why? Because exercise is good. Exercise makes us feel good.

Our bodies were made to exercise. We were hunters and gatherers, we were designed to be moving around all day. Unfortunately and fortunately we have become an advanced society that does not have to hunt and gather food just to survive. We can walk into a store and buy it, heck if you do not want to leave your couch you can order it and have it delivered!

This leaves one very big problem: a lack of exercise in our daily living.

We need it to survive, I promise you if you exercise for at least 30 minutes once a day every single day you will feel amazing! Many people do not realize how little they actually get out and exercise anymore. It can start with simply parking your car at the end of the parking lot to sneak in an extra walk, or always making a point to take the stairs. Make time in your schedule for 20-30 minutes at least 5 days a week and build from there. Baby steps, like I always say, small changes over time lead to that big major shift from a sedentary unhealthy life style to a positive active healthy and happy one!

Exercise is the best medicine. It helped me come off 7 medications, one for depression and 2 for RA. Exercise became the best way for me to deal with a lot of negativity in my life, it helped me feel better and more comfortable in my own body. It helps me relieve stress even on the toughest of days.

Exercise is such a positive way to help you feel better both mentally and physically, so I recommend it!

What are some ways you sneak in your exercise?

Vegan Breakfasts

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 14:54:00 +0000

I started tweeting and posting pics on facebook of my breakfasts and I got the immediate, send me the recipe please! I honestly never even think to jot them down soemtimes as I am in the kitchen creating, but I am trying to get better about it, so here are some of my favorite new break fast ideas that do not involve eggs. I must admit, they are the things I have missed the most since going vegan. I was ok giving up meat, I was only doing lean turkey and chicken breast anyways and not at all meals. I was already dairy free so that part was easy. But my eggs and egg beaters, those were tough.

But I have found that I can still enjoy breakfast without missing them too much. The thing I miss most, I found a replacement for that kind of works. So I thought I would share :)

First, I have embraced gluten free oats again. Being grain free for a long timme, a year perhaps? I missed it. So now I have been having old fashioned oats, oat bran, or this gluten free whole grain grit type of cereal I found. I alternate around so I do not get bored! I make them with a cup of unsweetened almond, coconut, or flax milk and put in some frozen berries. I find if I have time I like to cook them on the stove but if I am in a rush the microwave works well too.

But when I am racing, or long running on weekends I need something portable. So I came up with a bake, a take along item I can bake ahead of time and take with me.

Vegan Pumpkin Bake (this is the title I used in My Fitness Pal)

1 can 29oz of pure pumpkin
1 medium banana (or you can use a large jar of banana baby food I like doing that sometimes)
1/2 cup natural apple sauce
4 tbsp flax meal (a great egg replacement)
cinnamon
1 cup unsweetened flax milk (almond milk etc)
2 cups old fashioned oats
stevia to taste

All I do is mix all together and bake in the oven for about 45 min to an hour at 350. I cut it into 4 sections and each serving is 300 calories so It gives you a solid breakfast option especially when on the go. Sometimes I will eat it with some raw almonds or walnuts when I am in a hurry.

To get the feeling of my egg scrambke back I came up with this.

1 serving of Arrowhead Mills gluten free brown rice grits its called Orgnaic Rise and Shine and a serving is 1/4 cup. I make it in a small sauce pan on the stove with 1 cup of plain almond milk. While that is going on I saute some veggies in 1 teaspoon of olive oil. I used zuchinni, tomato, onion, peppers and spinach this time. Then when the veggies were done and cereal I combined the 2 in the pot and added 1/4 cup of Daiya cheddar vegan shreds. The Daiya cheese is my favorite vegan cheese it melts and tastes great!

The result was a yummy scramble of veggies, grits, and cheese and it curbed my egg scramble craving.

My Ever Evolving Nutrition Becoming a Vegan

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:54:00 +0000

So it seems as if since I started getting healthy 3 years ago my nutrition keeps changing. I thought about it a lot recently and felt like I was changing, but I like to think of it instead as an evolution. Many times people gawk at me when they see me pull out carrot sticks, or ask how I lost all of my weight. I explain over and over again: little changes over time. I did not go from 272 to 150 over night, and I also did not go from eating fast food everyday to being a gluten free vegan over night either. It has been a long process and one that took 3 years, but the important thing I have learned is that because I slowly converted and learned a long the way, the easier and more natural it has become for me to maintain. I would not change it. I would not try to go from zero to 100 in a week. Slow changes over time lead to a healthy lifestyle, and that lasts a life time. A drastic change is a lot harder to maintain, you miss things, you long for things to come back into your diet. This is why I am fan of evolving into a healthy lifestyle over time.

I have never been a supporter of doing a drastic cleanse, or going from one thing to the other extreme in a short period of time. I know those things don't work, I know because I did that battle for 10 years and lost every time. I would crash diet and crash at the end. Each time putting on more weight and becoming more unhealthy. This time was different. This time it took a long time to change and I have not only changed how I eat, but I have changed my views about food and what it does when it enters my body and gets broken down for fuel.

When I first started I was just happy to be losing weight. When you are 272 pounds anything is healthy as long as it does not come from a drive through or take out delivery driver. I was super unhealthy, not following a gluten free diet as I should have been since I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease when I was 22. Anyways, so for the last 3 years my habits have totally been ever evolving and ever changing.

Year 1 - I focused mostly on switching over to the gluten free side. I joined Weight Watchers and began losing weight. I loved that! I started measuring food I was consuming. I made little changes over time, things like drinking a large ice coffee with extra cream and extra sugar, down to a medium ice coffee with skim milk and splenda. But it took time. I stopped eating a bowl of ice cream at night, instead I would have a Weight Watchers Smart ones ice cream bar or something like a piece of fruit. I ate a lot of low fat snacks and foods. I switched from chicken thighs, and steak and pork, to lean ground turkey, chicken breast and lean pork chops. I ate greek yogurt, I ate egg beaters, I finally started eating more fruits and vegetables.

Year 2 - I started taking nutrition courses in college. I switched my major from business administration to health science, and finally Nutrition. I began to realize that losing 100 pounds was awesome, and now I started to look at what I was eating and what it did to my body. I started training for a marathon and started thinking I wanted to eat cleaner and healthier. I went on a paleo plan for a long time. I started doing more crossfit and running and eating paleo. I cut out tons of processed foods, I stopped needing those smart ones treats. I got to my goal weight of 150 pounds and ran a marathon. It all felt great! I also learned more about my health. I was able to come off all 7 medications I was taking and manage my diseases soley on good nutrition and exercise regimins. I discovered my dairy intolerance and really became strict paleo to help put my RA into a more managable state.

Year 3 - I started ultra running. I was now completely clean eating. I was off all dairy and anything derived from whey. I was eating mainly paleo, egg whites for breakfast, lots of chicken and turkey breast. Lots of vegetablles and some fruit. I ran a few ultras and even completed my first 50 miler. All without many grains, it helped my RA but did not help me maintain my weight loss. I read Racing Weight again and after studying for my personal trainer certification, I began to realize my body might need more healthy carbohydrates and less protein. The more knowledgable I became the more I started to analyze my own data. I joined my fitness pal, and stopped following Weight Watchers. I began changing my mind set from someone trying to lose weight, to an athlete trying to fuel their body. I decided to do a 100 mile ultra marathon and looked into nutrition and training for it.
I made the decision late in the year to become a full fledged vegan. I decided to do a trail run of it for 2 weeks and see if it would work with my already gluten free diet, and training load. I ran an ultra marathon a week ago after being vegan for 3 weeks. I felt amazing.

I have more energy than I ever did on paleo, or plain weight watchers life style. I needed it. I am running more miles in a week than I ever have, my lightest weeks are 30-40 miles, most weeks will be 50-70 so I really do need to make sure I eat enough.

I realized that the Racing Weight book is correct, the ratio of carbohydrates/protein/fat needed to change for me. Before I was 50% protein, and 30% carb and 20% fat. I realized I need more carbs and less protein. Today my target is and has been pretty consistently : 60% carbohydrate, 20% protein and 20-30% fat. My energy on runs is amazing, my daily energy is amazing.

After being on a vegan diet for 2 weeks I felt like a new person. I do not know if it is soley based upon just being plant based, just having more carbohydrates, or a combination of the 2, but I know one thing: I love it!!

So clearly as I enter in year 4 next month of being healthy I will now be adding vegan to my list :) I will start posting recipes and ideas too this week!! I know I have been lacking in that department on here and I am noticing the more I tweet and Facebook pictures of my meals the more I get asked for the recipes so I promise I will share! It is a little challenging sometimes being vegan and gluten free because a lot of meat alternatives for vegans have gluten in it, so I have been eating a lot of lentils, natural almonds, natural peanut butter, flax seeds, tempeh, tofu, and quinoa! Using my fitness pal helps me make sure I am eating enough and keeping that ratio.

Have you evolved your habits over time?

I really just am happy and thankful that it took time for me to make these changes because they have all stuck. I am now at a point where being healthy is not a chore for me, it is my choice and one that I make each day with a smile on my face.

First Ultra Marathon of 2013! The GAC Fatass

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 01:58:00 +0000

This race was the best way for me to kick of 2013!!

I honestly have been going through yet another transition in my personal life, and I needed some zone out me time. Thankfully I have an awesome partner who watched Peanut for me so I could sneak out early Saturday morning and meet up with some amazing trail runners for the GAC Fatass 50K in Toppsfield.

I love these Fatass races. The whole idea behind them is to be free, only cost is to bring some food for the fuel table, and FUN. Did I mention they are super laid back and held by warm friendly runner people? I mean what more can you ask for?!? (not much). SO I brought some boiled red potatoes and hard boiled eggs and headed up to run on some new to me trails. Everyone was very nice there and all we had to do was check in and each time we completed one of the 10k loops check in again. That is the nice thing, there is no pressure to run x amount of miles in x amount of time. Many people were out running a marathon, some a loop or 2, others the whole 50k. The beauty of it was: we were all out there having fun running on some beautiful trails.

I was geared up for the snow and cold because I anticipated being out for about 5.5-6 hours. I knew I just wanted to take my time and have fun, I knew this was my first long run of 2013, and I also know my goal is the 100 miler in June. So this means, slow and steady running easy on the legs, little risk of injury :) That is hard for the speed demon hidden in me, but this was on snow packed trails so it being icy and trails in general helped to slow me down.

I headed out with the group and was just jamming away to my DMB tunes. Those first few miles I immediatly regretted not taking a rest day on Friday. My legs felt heavy and tired. Eh live and learn, I knew if I pushed past that mental block after a few miles I would settle into a rhythm and feel better.

Luckily I was right and by mile 4 I felt better. I had more energy and I was buzzing along. The trails were very well marked and there were quite a few runners around me so I was not worried about getting lost. It was pavement for the last half mile as we circled back to the check in spot and aid table, this was actually helpful for me to mentalize each loop and work through it. I knew once I hit the pavement I was done another lap and could use the bathroom if needed.

The first 2 laps went by fairly easily and as I was going out for the 3rd lap I stopped to use the bathroom. I was carrying Cytomax in my CamelBak and gels, vegan protein bars, and salt shot blocks so I never stopped to eat at the aid table. With my food allergies and restrictions I have really come to adore that CamelBak, I need to post a review on it soon. It allowed me to keep drinking all day to stay hydrated and eat when I felt I needed it. I forced myself to take in something every 3 miles, I did not want to repeat my Stonecat error.

When I am running and feeling great I tend to forget to eat for 4-5 miles, then I hit a wall and struggle. This happened to me at Stonecat, so today I made it easy by making myself stop and eat. I actually liked the way the course was laid out, around mile 3 there was some steeper climbs so I used that as my time to take in a gel. In the beginning of the course instead of hanging out at the aid table I would just check in and head strait back into the woods and eat once I was moving along well.

I found this strategy to work better for me. I have a hard time stopping at the aid table and hanging out, mentally it is harder for me to keep going after that. So I carried all of my fuel and just plugged away at the loops all day. Then came lap 4....

I got lost! I am so not a good navigator, and once again I was lost. It really was my own fault, I was feeling great and we got to about a mile into the loop and I missed my turn at the field and kept going through the field. I was jamming away to my music so I did not even notice! Once I realized it I was back at the start of the loop and I had run an extra 2 miles. Right then in there I got really frustrated. 2 miles is not a lot I know, but when you are already planning to run 31, 33 sounds daunting especially around mile 20. I was mad at myself for not paying attention and I started to think I would just end the loop and not go back out.

I kept plugging away and once I finished the 4th loop I knew I had to go right back out to finish the 5th one. If there is one thing about me, it is that I am stubborn. I put it in my mind that I would be running a 50K that day and I knew I was not going to quit not when I was so close to being done! That last loop was probably my most cautious because I did not want to miss any turns again ;)

As I hit the pavement for one last time I felt good. I was glad to have been able to run that day, I needed it. Mentally I felt so much stronger than I did earlier in the week and I felt at peace with everything. They say you can go out for a long run and when you come back everything seems different, that the run changes you. For me this was never more true than it was Saturday afternoon. Yes my problems are still there, yes they did not disappear in 5 and a half hours while I was running, BUT I felt stronger and more able to tackle them head on.

So thanks to the GAC running club that put on a great race!!! And thanks to all the awesome runners and trail animals I got to meet with on Saturday, it was fun running with you all and I am looking forward to the next race on Feb 2 in Hyannis at the Cape Cod Frozen Fatass :)

Goals for 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:05:00 +0000

Have you made your goals for the new year?

I have never been one to make 'resolutions' to me those are never permenant. I am not sure but whenever I set out to lose weight, quit smoking, or do something monumental on Jan the 1st it never stuck. Why? Because to make a change, a permenant one you need to first change your mind set. You need to want to change, you need to be so hungry for it that not having it will destroy you. That is when a change can and will happen, but most importantly, that is when change is forever.

So what do I do every Jan 1? I make a plan, because a goal without a plan is just a dream. I make a plan to set out and accomplish some things and I work my ass off every single day to hit all those goals. I start making plans for goals as soon as one is finished.

For example goal #1 is to run a 100 mile race. I knew I wanted to run a 100 miler before I even completed my 50 miler on Nov. 3. I just fell in love with ultra running in 2012 and the more I am around wonderful other inspirational ultra runners, the more I am inspired to keep going. So this plan was going on for the last 2 months ;)

- My first 100 miler, God willing, will be on June 14 at the First ever 100 mile race in Massachusetts! The TARC 100 I cannot wait! The Trail Animals are a great group of local ultra runners and I am proud to be a member :)

- I have quite a few 50Ks and a few 50 Milers I want to run too. My end goal is the Western States 100 so I want to keep working every year to qualify for it and enter the lottery. I am determined to get there one day.

- Clean up my nutrition even more. Again I started this the last few weeks in December. I have gone vegan. Not for moral reasons but for my health. I want to eat less chemicals, less processed foods, and even though I was not eating much, it is easier to do this when you are vegan. I have been gluten free for a few years but now this will make my nutrition even cleaner. I am already feeling more energetic and healthier since starting.

-Keep getting fitness certifications. Getting my ISSA Personal Training Certification was awesome, and now I want to pursue some more certifications. End goal? Become a registered dietician. I have a few more college courses to complete and I really really want to finish school once and for all and get this done.

- Start my book. I want to write, I love to write, and I just need to get better at carving out some time to do this and start my book. I want to share my story, I want to share the positivity and motivation I carry with me every day. I want to help people and I hope by sharing my story I can do this.

- Train and coach others. 2012 opened a lot of doors for me, it helped me see what I want to do long term. I want to really ramp up my online training and coaching for people and gain more clients here locally. So if I can keep doing that I will be happy :)

- Have fun. I had a lot of fun in 2012, but I want to have fun in 2013, more importantly I want to do it without guilt.

So I have mapped out a training plan obviously for the 100 miler it funnily enough kicked off on Dec. 31 and I have my first race of the year on Jan 5 a 50K in Toppsfield :) So I think I am off to a pretty good start with my running. I also signed up for 3 other Ultras before my big 100 miler yesterday! The trail animals have a series up here so I will be at a total of a few: Fatass 50K Feb 2, Tarc Spring Thaw a 6 hour race March 24, Tarc Spring Classic 50K on Apr 27 and even put my name in for the lottery for the Tarc Don't Run Boston on Apr 14 a 50K. I will be running the Boston Marathon on Apr 15 as well! And signing up for the Wacpack 50 miler in May. That is a lot of trail racing ;)

I am working on spreading the word about my personal training and coaching and also working on getting a few more certifications. I would love to get kettle bell and crossfit certified soon.

I applied to a new college whichhas a stronger nutrition program and am waiting to hear back from them.

I am ready. I am hungry for it, 2013 is going to be a good one!

Recap of my Year in 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 14:06:00 +0000

Hello virtual world!

so so much has happened this year. To say it was EPIC would properly define it. Although I am not sure if it was a good epic, bad epic, more of a mixed bag of both. Either way, I must admit I am kind of glad to say goodbye to this roller coaster of a year.

First, what happened to those goals I set out in January 2012?

Well, I am happy to say that I accomplished most of them!!!!!
-I ran my first ultra on Jan 28th just like I wanted to. I even exceeded my epectations when I was the first female to finish :)
-I qualified for the Boston Marathon at the Hyannis Marathon in February. I even made a comeback after my torn calf and qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2014 at the Baystate Marathon in October.
-I earned a shiny new PR for my half marathon time making it now 1:39 at the ZOOMA Women's race in September.
-I ran my first 50 mile race!!! I completed the Stonecat 50 Miler in November and I loved becoming an ultra marathoner.
-I did hit my lifetime goal weight membership at Weight Watchers finally in April
-I did find a church I like and begin attending. I have not been going as much right now because a lot of other things, but I will be going more hopefully this year.
-I did not get a sub 20 5k goal, but I really switched away from speed running to focus on ultra endurance, and I am OK with that :)

Easily my Favorite running picture from 2012, the day I qualified for Boston.

And another BIG accomplishment, being featured in Woman's Day Magazine!

- I did RUN 1,660 miles for the year of 2012 despite having a torn calf I think that is pretty damn good! I ran,swam,rowed, and cycled a total of 2,048 miles for the year! I will take that and build upon it for 2013!!

Most important though, I learned to breathe again. I ended a stifling 9 year relationship and it was the hardest thing I have had to do in a long time, but it was the best thing I could have done for myself. And now a year later, I am in a much better place than I thought I could be, and I watch sadly as the other person is not. But I have learned that, I cannot control the actions of others, only my own reaction to them.

I said several times this year that you must live each day without regret. I still believe that, I still have no regrets. I love the life I have carved out for myself and my peanut. I know deep in my heart that I made the best choices for both of us and for our future. We have a chance at a happy life and I plan to make sure we get it. Because what I have learned most of all: I deserve it. I deserve to be happy and healthy and achieving those both together is possible.

Through the good times and the bad times I will always remember, Everything Happens for a Reason. Even though we may not know exactly what that reason is at the very moment we are experiencing our struggles, in the end we will. This is kind of my mantra for 2013, go with the flow, leave it all out there and live without regret.

2012 taught me how to live my life for me. It taught me the joys that come from tossing on my running sneakers and breaking away from the world for miles. It taught me that I can have that without guilt, and without losing the people I love. I learned that being me is a wonderful thing and that simply just being me is enough.

So today I will say goodbye to 2012 with a slight smile, the ending of a long chapter but the beginning of an even more exciting one to be ushered in. In 2012 I opened up my heart and found true happiness, and I cannot wait to see where our lives go in 2013.

Coaching Availabe

noreply@blogger.com (Colleen) — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:26:00 +0000

Life, it seems it takes twists and turns, and in every road there will always be some bumps. I am a firm believer though, that as long as you keep getting up and keep fighting, that everything will work out in the end.

I am taking a new journey and I am super excited about it!! I am as you may or may not know, a certified personal trainer through the ISSA. I am taking private clients here in my neighborhood and branching out. I would like to reach out and start virtually training clients and coaching as well!

I lost 120 pounds. I did it with hard work, dedication, good nutrition and great workouts. But I did a lot of it on my own. It was hard. I learned a lot. I also learned the past few months, how beneficial having a trainer, but more of a support person can be. It makes the weight loss easier, and also the chance of success is greater when you have more people standing in your corner fighting for you.

So that is what I want to do. I want to help you reach your goals, and be successful. I want to help you change your life and get healthy and fit. Not only get healthy and fit, but stay there. I believe that the key to weight loss and success long term is by changing over to healthy habits over time. I know I can help people get there. I know I can help others achieve what I have, successful weight loss and maintenance of that weight loss.

So I am opening up my services to clients online as well. I will help set up a meal plan for you, that you can follow as well as help you learn ways to cook the foods you love in a healthier way. I will also set up an exercise routine that you can follow each and every day that will help facilitate your weight loss. I will be available for coaching via email, skype, phone, face time, and text for support and motivation along the way. I truly believe that everyone has the ability to achieve success!!! I know that with the right coach even the hardest obstacles can be over come!

So send me an email to get started now, today. We can discuss some options and work on a plan that will work for you. Do not wait another minute, your success depends on it!! collerz83@gmail.com or tryn2bfit@gmail.com