Berlin Half Marathon – CHECK!

Posted on 13 April, 2013 by Renée

What a whirlwind!

Life was busy before and leading up to the Half and didn’t stop. With a few days break I’ll soon be off again, this time traveling to Rwanda with my company!

But the HALF in Berlin! What a day! Let me tell you what happened leading up to the day…

Normally I wouldn’t drink or eat out a few days before but a friend of ours turned 50 on the Thursday and asked us to come out at least for a glass of champagne straight after work. Of course, we obliged. Hubs and I went and had pizza (my eating/ food habits are out of whack at the moment anyway) afterwards so that we could get home early-ish and get packed up.

Saturday morning up not too painfully early, got ready and headed out at 8:30 to pick up M. She doesn’t live far from us and is actually on the way to Düsseldorf, where we happened to be flying out of to get to Berlin. The weather wasn’t so great in the Netherlands or in Germany; I’d been checking for days and it was snow, snow, snow, but funnily enough on the forecast showed a giant sun with a few clouds hanging around and warmer temps. We were keeping our fingers crossed that it wasn’t too good to be true.

Things went pretty smooth – picked up M, were early enough at the airport, got ourselves some yummy coffees and a bit of food and eventually headed to our plane. We were off! The flight’s pretty short so it was uneventful and we arrived in Berlin with our bags being almost the first off the flight. We then figured a taxi split would be easiest – Berlin airport (Tegel) is right in the middle of the city so it’s not expensive really to get where you need to be. Found our hotel, checked in and then all decided a nap was in order!

My friend Alex. who used to be my colleague in Amsterdam, is from Berlin and moved back about a year and a half ago with her boyfriend. She happened to be volunteering at the Half and was kind enough to pick up my race packet! This took some stress off – otherwise I’d have had to immediately go to the Expo after checking into the hotel and we didn’t have a lot of time before the Expo was closed. Alex and I arranged that she would drop by the hotel and at least we could have a chat and a coffee and I’d have my race materials as a bonus. Alex was right on time and as lovely as usual to see and it was great getting a bit caught up! A while later she had to go and we all needed food as well and besides we had a big day ahead Sunday so we didn’t want to be too late!

We headed off towards the Alexanderplatz and about midway turned down a street that looked as if there were a few restaurants and we were right! We settled on Italian (I didn’t think Mexican or Korean would be a good idea…) and instead of pasta carb-loading I had risotto and a salad. Oh and a beer :) Seemed like a good idea anyway.

Back at the hotel I had a bath and got my stuff all ready for the next morning. I actually slept pretty well (the hotel bed was huge with fluffy pillows and blankets) and was up Sunday morning around 6:30 to get ready in a non-stressed way. We had decided the evening before to meet for breakfast at 7:30. There were a LOT of runners at the hotel (we were only 3KM from the Alexanderplatz, which was near the start/finish) and I didn’t want to be fighting for a table at breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised to see a HUGE breakfast room with an amazing array of different types of foods. No worries at all to get a table. I was feeling a bit nervous but made sure to eat properly (and vowed to eat all the things the next day as I didn’t have to run a race) and once we finished we went up to the room to finalize my bag and my stuff. Right before we went downstairs I just panicked and had a little cry to my husband – what if I was going to fail? I felt so nervous but I knew I did everything I could to prepare (did I?) and there was no reason to worry (was there?).

We decided that walking the 3KM to the start was the best idea. I wouldn’t take that long, right? Wrong. It actually took longer that I imagined, but we were still on time in the end. I thought walking would make my legs super “warm” so I wouldn’t have to panic about not having enough time or space to do some warming up exercises (thank dog we did this and it was so incredibly busy – there was no WAY to anything once we were at the starting corrals). It was amazingly sunny and blue skies – a bit cold but perfect weather for running!

Eventually I said goodbye to Hubs and M as it was impossible to get into the corral. Hubs really wanted to see the elite runners and I just needed to somehow get into place. Start time was 10:05 and I of course was in the last corral. We were like sardines, all packed in, waiting to go. Around 10:20 we started moving slowly up to the front. At 10:30 we were off!

I had decided a few days before that I didn’t want to continually look at my watch or my heart rate. I just wanted to run and enjoy. I wanted to RUN the whole way. I knew if I thought about people who inspire me, people I love, and Lotte, the little girl with Epilepsy who inspired me to run for charity, I would make it through. I wore my “Because I Can” bracelet to think of Janet and my “Go the Distance” bracelet to think of Robby. I had a strange calm the moment we started like I really could do this!

There were no KM markers until 4 kilometers. I was actually happy with this because it felt like less than that! The route was fabulous, passing by so many historic buildings and monuments. I chose Berlin because I love it so much from an aesthetic point of view and it did not disappoint on Sunday! I eventually looked at my watch at 5K, 9K and 20K. I wanted to know where I was and if I was just intuitively on track. It was going well. At 5 I was around 31 minutes. At 9 I was at 58 minutes. Somewhere around 13 or 14 I was really starting to get tired. My brain wanted me to stop. I again thought about the ones who would get me to the next KM marker. Tammy. Robby. Janet. Lotte. Repeat. At 17 I was so happy because I thought at 18.5 I would be at Checkpoint Charlie. That would mean I was, for all intents and purposes pretty much at the home stretch. I ran through Checkpoint Charlie with a HUGE smile on my face.

I checked at 20 because I wanted to know, again, if I was on track. I gave myself the time goal of 2 hours and 30 minutes. At 20 I was at 2:15. Again, smiling down the road, I thought “Girl if you can’t make another 1.1K in 15 minutes you may need another hobby!” I laughed to myself :) Of course I was going to make it.

I crossed the line and stopped my garmin at 2:23:24. My official time of the race was exactly the same. I DID IT!!!!!! Not only that, but I crushed my time from my first Half which was 2:41:49. Ladies and Gents that’s almost 19 minutes better than the first time!!!

Once I finally found my posse we headed to Alexanderplatz for sausages and beers (as you do when you are in Germany) and later walked back to the hotel (making it more than 6KM just in walking around + 21K for the race), I took a nice hot bath, had a nap and we later went out to Mexican to celebrate.

It was a great weekend, a great race and I am super grateful to everyone who supported me, especially my husband and M – it wouldn’t have been the same without them!

Since I’ve been home I’ve been under the weather and very busy at work. I haven’t done anything running or gym related. Monday I’m off to Rwanda. When I return I have a 10K in Hilversum. AFTER all of that I think my life may finally get back to normal again. Then again, I’m not sure what “normal” is…

I love Numbers – (week) 9, 12(K), 14 (days to Berlin)

Posted on 24 March, 2013 by Renée

As you know I started Week 9 with an 18.5KM run. 18.5 people. That’s 2.6 KM from the total Half Marathon.

It could have been better. It was fine. 2:11, right? That’s ok.

But I learned a few things:
1) Don’t drink 3 cups of coffee before running this distance. Even if you have gone to the loo 12 times before you go out on your run, you are still going to have challenges.

2) Tie your shoes properly. I think because my shoes are new, I haven’t found that perfect tie yet. If you are a runner, you know what I mean.

3) No, you don’t have to stop. Not for any reason. Well ok, if you are going to vomit or soil yourself perhaps. But you don’t need a little break.

Source: getnourished.blogspot.com via Hailey on Pinterest

4) you are stronger than you think. stop letting your mind take over the task. You CAN, you CAN, you CAN.

Source: waterwatereverywhere.net via Nikki on Pinterest

There was one other lesson and it may sound conflicting… – give yourself a break. if your body really needs rest then LISTEN.

The rest of Week 9 did not go according to plan. Oh I had my rest day. I did my cross-training on Tuesday. Wednesday was my next scheduled run, and I was working from home so that I could get it done during the day rather than go to the gym. The last two Wednesday morning runs weren’t that great so I thought I would be clever, I would wait until lunchtime.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, it started snowing at 12! Normally it wouldn’t bother me but I’ve had this nagging cough for (now, more than) 2 weeks and I honestly didn’t want to make it worse. So, the Hubs was already planning on going to the gym after work, I phoned him up and asked him to come get me first.

I managed 7KM on the treadmill. Training plan was 10. I.just.couldn’t.go.on. (more body than brain this time)

Thursday was running at work day. Didn’t happen. Decided that morning that my legs were just too wrecked and I didn’t want to risk it. I wanted to do my intervals on Friday.

Friday was probably the worst day. I actually started feeling ill before lunch. You know, that tickly throat, heavy feeling in your eyes and nose kind of ill? I had my stuff ready to go to the gym, in the car (hubs was heading to the gym as well, so I didn’t have to schlep it to Amsterdam), but there was absolutely NO WAY it was happening. I went home, drank cough syrup and Hot coldrex and passed out under blankets on the couch.

So. All in all. TWO runs. One at 18.5KM, one at 7. And a cross-training session. Stellar.

At least I can say I already felt MUCH better on Saturday, still took it easy; in fact went and got my hair did and although the price isn’t pleasant, the after affects are good.

Today starts Week 10

On the training schedule was 11.5KM – 70 min in D1 and 10 in D2. Hubs and I were discussing the right HR zones, etc., so I decided to keep an eye on my heartrate for the majority of the run (D1). I checked Garmin for my fast 10K race to see what my HR was. In general it was around 155-158. I ran all the way and felt pretty good so I decided to try for just a little bit lower HR. What I ended up doing in 70min D1 and 10min D2 was 12 Kilometers, so a half more than what my schedule calculated out for me. This is only good news my friends! It means I’m getting faster and more efficient! It was even very cold and extremely windy out and I still did a half kilometer more in the same time!

With one of the lessons above (and after discussing with T on Facetime yesterday – yay facetime!! – and with Hubs this morning) I decided there would be no stopping. No “little break”. Time to keep an eye on the prize. I’m not against walking during a run and I don’t judge anyone that does it, but last week honestly it was more painful to restart and complete the 18.5 than I think it would have been if I would have just kept going. So, today, was full on, 1 hour and 20 minutes of running. May not be a big deal to others but for me this is really overcoming my brain trying to get the best of me.

Next run in Wednesday – same distance but with 20 min in D2. Let’s see how it all pans out.

Did you know it’s only 14 days to Berlin????

I got my confirmation!!!!!!! *twirls*

I feel a bit like Perez Hilton with this screen shot…

Have you got any good races coming up?

Week 7 and 8, Good and Bad + a 10KM Race

Posted on 17 March, 2013 by Renée

Yes, again behind on posting. Well you should know by now how it goes with me. Sometimes I can get in a few times a week, sometimes once a month. It’s tough sometimes to make the time.

Anywhoo. TWO full training weeks have gone by! It’s been dynamic!

Week 7

Run one was a 15KM at 70 min D1 and 30 min D2. It seems like forever ago, but I did mention it on my last post so at least I covered that one!
Run two was 6.5KM at 45 minutes as a recovery run. I did this at the gym in 42 minutes. I honestly can’t believe how much I appreciate the treadmill these days.
Run three was 12.5KM at 75 minutes in D2. Ahem. Yeah. That didn’t work out. It was more like 1-4 at D2, 5-7 at D1, 8 – 10 at D2, 11 and 12 were practically walking and then I sped up a bit. It was a Wednesday morning; a good indication that I was already tired from early rising. This was definitely NOT a good run at all.

There should have been another run but there was a LOT going on at work. In fact it was insane. So much to do. So many meetings. Working overtime. I did not run again until…

Week 8
Originally in the plan was a long run, but I had signed up for the Dunea 10KM (a part of the CPC Loop – which is part of the series from Like2Run; same as the Rotterdam Ladies Run and the Bruggenloop that I’ve participated in in the past) so it was 10KM or nothing! Luckily my friend PP (who ran the Amsterdam Half when I volunteered) signed up as well, so I had the motivation to get out to Den Haag early on a Sunday morning to do it.

In the train station – I feel sentimental especially with the backdrop “I wouldn’t want to trade with anyone”

It was absolutely FREEZING cold. A huge change from the week before when we’d had really pleasant weather. Before I actually found PP I stopped off at the HipHardlopen Tent; I love these ladies so much! They sell the running skirts that I used to buy from the original company in the US, but not only that they are just like Cindy and Christy – they are runners and they know exactly what we women like and need to feel good when running! And I’ll admit it, I like that they remember who I am from 2 years ago when I met them in Utrecht before the Half Marathon. I think that’s a perfect way to make an impression and keep your customers coming back.

Anyway, we finally found PP and eventually it was time for us to start. We hardly did any true warming up, but at the same time we were moving and jumping around to stay warm so I suppose that did the trick.

take the picture Hubs, we are freezing!

We started off with PP just in front of me, but at a certain moment I decided to cut across and move around some “slower” groups just to get a good pace. I felt good and was happy with the surroundings – I lived for 7 years in Den Haag but never really ran there (only in the woods near my old apartment) so this was a special run for sure! My pace felt pretty fast and turns out it actually was. I made the 10KM in 1:00:50. My fastest 10KM to date. This beats last summer’s Westervoort Run which was 1:04:06. Honestly, I was pretty gobsmacked. After my last run the Wednesday before I thought I’d be in around 1:05 and that PP would come in before me. Gave me a very good feeling! Hubs could NOT stop talking about how impressive it was!

So that 10KM was Week 8 Run 1. Another friend met up with us and the beers afterwards were WONDERFUL…

Run two was 9.5KM, 40 min D1, 20 min D2. Thank dog for treadmills is all I can say. Pretty broken after that.

Run three was 12KM, 60 min D1, 20 min D2. Absolutely dreadful. Seriously. Not only again ruined by a dog, but two of them and one owner yelling at me that *I* was doing the wrong thing (this is not the moment for a lesson on how to handle dogs when 1) you don’t really like them, 2) you are slightly afraid and 3) they are jumping on you). There were tears folks. And a lot of walking. I never actually made it into D2 and only did 10KM.

Run four (yes! I made a run four!) was incredible! 6KM at lunch with colleagues. My fastest 5KM time and my fastest 6KM in total time. Even faster than Sunday’s race! 35:48. That’s faster than 10KM per hour.

So, it’s all over the place you guys. Good, crap, great. The whole spectrum.

Today starts Week 9. That means in three Sundays from now I will be running Berlin Half Marathon!

Today’s run was scheduled as 18.5KM 110 min in D1, 15 min in D2. Seems I got those switched up a bit because I only did 10 at D2. I also walked some, so I was about 7 minutes behind on target time. But I did it. I think that’s the important part. Total time 2:11:18.

Something I did for fun – on Saturday, which was a rest day, my stepdaughter asked me if I would go out in the park with her to run. She wants to see if she likes it, to better her condition, get a little bit more fit (I don’t think she’s unfit by the way, but apparently she’s having what I had when I was in school – getting low scores on fit tests and being picked last) and already even downloaded a few apps on the phone so she could try it on her own. I feel really good, that I actually had a positive influence on this kid – she’s seen me in my non-fit days and watched me progress, just like others in my family, so it’s very cool she wants to do this. We did some jogging/ walking and ended up doing 4KM in a half an hour! To me that says she’s already quite fit, she just needs to build up and learn some breathing techniques. I am definitely going to contribute to getting her a good pair of running shoes and have visions of us doing races together sometime!

It just made me think – my parents had zero influence on me as far as fitness was concerned. Not that they weren’t supportive, but I guess the encouragement wasn’t really there. I’m not blaming them, but I think now, at this age, it’s just so important to get kids to understand that their health really should be a priority. We didn’t have that sort of vision 30 – 40 years ago, the priorities were different. Both of my parents are different now – but when you find out you can actually control diabetes, for example, just with eating right and exercise, it changes your whole perspective.

Were you active when you were young? Did your parents encourage you?

Here’s a question for the runners – what’s your fastest 10KM ever?

Even the Blog has Jetlag

Posted on 3 March, 2013 by Renée

I did not mean to take so long to update!

As you (may or may not) know, last week I returned from visiting my family in Albuquerque. It was a good visit but also a little bit heartbreaking. That sounds dramatic, but let me tell you why.

My grandmother – she’s very old, she’s in a home and she’s suffering from Alzheimers. She knew who I was (but not at first – she didn’t recognize me without my glasses, but I haven’t worn glasses since I was 13!), but nothing really stays with her for a long time so the conversation was really a 10 time repeat of the same questions. The part that is heartbreaking is that she just doesn’t know where she is or how she got there (even though we tell her) and she just wants to go home. She was very independent up until a little over a year ago but it seems her mental health is going steadily downhill. It’s heartbreaking that of everyone, only my father is there for her, even though other family is near and could go to see her. I’m not saying they have to see her. The thing is, when we have problems or quarrels with family, at the point where a person doesn’t know what is going on, why not just let go? When are we ever going to learn that life is very short and if you get a chance to let go of a grudge that is not adding any value in your life, why not do that. The look on my grandmother’s face when we were there was absolutely priceless. It made her day (even though she wouldn’t remember later). She was smiling, truly happy, and remembering bits and pieces and that made her feel good. When we left she almost started to panic and I thought she would cry. It was awful. If I were there I would see her every day. She doesn’t have much more time on this earth. In fact I have no idea if I ever will see her again.

My long-time friend T – she’s my age, we’ve been friends since we were 10 or 11. She’s one of those friends that even if you don’t talk to each other for a while you always pick right back up. I think last year when I was there we were saying that for our 45th birthday (we are I think less than a week apart) we would do a marathon together. Well, she has cancer. While I was there she had surgery and we’ll find out soon what next steps will be. She’s doing her best to stay positive and I know I should as well, but I have a sick feeling in my stomach when I think about it. I’ve mentioned before about my good friend Michael who died 4 years ago; this had a huge impact on me and makes me really think hard about our mortality and how important relationships and friendships are to maintain. I didn’t get to see T, it was just not a good time what with surgery and family staying with her (and I didn’t want to impose – I’m sure it was NOT an easy week for her!), but if you could keep her in your thoughts or your prayers if you do that sort of thing, that would be awesome because I think she has many more years to enjoy in her life.

Then there was my Aunt – she hasn’t been well and on Wednesday she had the right mind to go to emergency where she basically was immediately hospitalized for almost being in a diabetic coma. I did not get to see her but again, this makes me think about how maybe I need to reassess how I handle and maintain my relationships with my family.

To summarize, I need to get my arse home again soon. I feel more and more homesick anyway, but this is getting ridiculous. I don’t know yet how or when I can make this more permanent (it will take at least a couple of years; it’s complicated!) but we really need to start thinking about how to make it work. In the meantime, I will focus on getting back possibly for Thanksgiving, maybe the health level will be up by then.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom! I got to hang out with both of my parental units, and I got to see some other good friends up in Santa Fe! Last summer I saw them with T and her husband and this time my friend S came down from Los Alamos. It was too short, again, so I’ll have to spend a wee bit more time next time!

On the Health and Fitness front:
Dad got me a week’s pass at his gym so I went a couple of times with him. In hindsight it was the BEST IDEA EVER to continue training because last week, after I returned, I had the WORST jetlag so far (you’d think I’d be more used to it by now). I did three runs (2 outside) and one strength training session at the gym.

At least there was a blue sky.

Run one was down at Tingley Beach (the name is hilarious – knowing that we are in New Mexico and there is no ocean), suggested by Debra from Miles To Run. It was cold and very wintry looking (ie dead trees. A LOT of dead trees). Hubs wasn’t feeling up to running so he decided to just hang out in the park and read while I was off for an hour. I have to admit it was very uninspiring. I had no music with me (I’m about 50/50 with music now and if I’m not familiar with the area, I’ll just pass on the tunes). And get this… about 3 or 4 KM into the run there were two dogs not on leashes just running around and one came at me and tried to bite me! Seriously what is it with dogs not on a lead!?? I’m pretty nervous about dogs since the crash in Cornwall but this was just a tiny dog who thought he was a big dog and he didn’t break the skin when he bit me. There was a cyclist on the side of the road and she was apparently trying to call animal control – they weren’t her dogs and no owner could be found!

Run one was 9KM, 55 min in D1, 5min in D2.

why would anyone want to sit here?

the sad road to nowhere

really, this was not inspiring.

Run two was on the treadmill at the gym. I think it was around 5.5K total running with 30 min in D2, 3 min in D3 and 7 min cooldown. (should have been 10, but I needed to be sure I was on time for when dad needed to leave.

Run three was a real challenge. I was suppose to do fartleks but wow is this hard anyway, let alone at a high elevation. I did what I could but it was not totally to the training schedule. Was supposed to 10 min D1 3 times with 2 min fartlek in between. There was quite some walking involved in this run.

So that was the Week 5 update!

Week 6 was not at all what I had planned. Jet lag was a killer and I managed exactly one run on Thursday of 6KM. It was a good run though, much faster than my normal D1 (it was supposed to be 40min at D1) and I managed it in 37 minutes. I was kind of surprised that it went so well when I felt so exhausted.

Today starts week 7 – I decided to just stick to the schedule which was 15KM; 70 min at D1 and 30 min at D2. I did the 15 just under the 1:40 mark. It was NOT easy and maybe tomorrow I’ll be cursing myself, we’ll see.

It’s March 3rd and that means it’s just over one month to Berlin. Kind of freaking out! Tomorrow we are announcing to everyone at work that I’ll be running for charity and that will pretty much seal the deal. Of course I’m going to do it anyway, but once I announce to all that I’m doing it for a specific reason there’s really no turning back. I guess I also better arrange my travel to Berlin as well. On top of all of this, I still have Rwanda to think about and I need to get my shots ASAP. I think I’ll be doing that Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t get too ill from the shots!

Do you work out when you are on holiday or do you take a break from your training?

Week 3 Update

Posted on 10 February, 2013 by Renée

This week has been Cray Cray.

I mean seriously. Between work, running and gym I have zero time left over. I’m trying to make it work, you know, but I’m burning the candle at both ends!

For week 3 I needed 4 runs, 1 cross training day and 2 rest days.

Monday – this was a treadmill run at the gym again. I’m feeling pretty ok about treadmill runs, they are much easier when it comes to continuing at a certain speed (i.e. faster) than outside running. Who knew I would be less of a hater? Although I kind of messed this one up; I should have done 10 min at 10KPH and 4 Fartleks for 1 min at 12.5KPH but I only ended up doing 3 fartleks. I don’t know what happened except maybe I didn’t set the right time on the TM.

Tuesday – GRIT class and 20 min on the bike. I have been leaving work early just to get to this class and while I really like it and think it’s great for cross training, it’s also very frustrating. I am just not up to speed on proper pushups and while my burpees are getting better (I can do the three sets in the beginning of the class), nearer the end of the class I just tend to collapse instead of jumping back up out of the burpee. Not going to give up, just need to keep pushing through.

Wednesday – I worked from home so that I could either go outside to do my intervals, or go to the gym early. Well neither of those things happened, we ended up going to the gym fairly late and I had to cut my run short. It should have been 7 x 800 at D2-D3 and 3 min walking in between each interval, but I ended up with 5 x 800.

Thursday – RECOVERY RUN. AHHHHHHH… it feels good just to run normally. OUTSIDE. Went with my colleague and he was like the speed of light while I trudged along miles behind him. Still. Great run. 4.65 tiny little kilometres.

Friday – REST day! I did this on purpose so I could go out with friends Thursday after work. I was exhausted Friday. Going out kills me.

Saturday – sort of a rest day. We went ice skating with friends. It was HILARIOUS. I think between Tammy and I we must have tried 57 different pairs of skates until we found a pair that fit. The rink was GREAT, we all liked it more than the one we went to in January, but the skates were AWFUL. Time to buy our own skates I guess, but is that another sport I want to be participating in??? You kind of have to in this country.

I also cooked quite a bit this week – Wednesday I made a paleo chicken casserole, which was ok, but I’m going to play with the recipe a bit to pimp it up. Then I made paleo pumpkin pancakes. I did quite a few Kale salads. I made my paleo pumpkin courgette hummus. Oh and the larabars, which are delish. I also prepped quite a bit yesterday for the week – I have at least 3 lunches ready to go and lots of cut up veggies.

I am really loving the fitbit – not only the sleep data but how it’s actually keeping me on track with my food! I am now almost 100% convinced that I was not eating enough. I have been actually not eating enough for a long time and this is why it’s so hard to lose weight. It sounds crazy but honestly, at least for me, it’s true; don’t eat enough, don’t lose weight!!

I started Week 4 today with an 11K run – 65 min at D1 and 10 min at D2. Today we went outside. It snowed yesterday but it was perfect running weather today. I roped Hubs into doing the Bridge loop I was doing before I did the Bruggenloop in Rotterdam in December:

The run went really well. Except of course the last 10 minutes that I have to do faster which I just can’t do all in one go when not on the treadmill! I’m not unhappy with it, it was a gorgeous day for running, even if it was a wee bit cold and windy. I love my Sunday runs – I look forward to them all week!

I have some other news…

Thursday I was surprised with the news that I have been selected to go on this year’s Origin Trip! Each year a group of colleagues goes to one of the countries that we have the privilege to source our coffee from and this year the destination is Rwanda!! I don’t normally brag a lot but I actually believe when people say to me “You deserve this!”. I may be in financial administration for my “normal” job, but all of the stuff that I get to do outside of that is what makes me get up in the morning and go to work each day. I love where I work but more than that I love the coffee, the story of coffee, what love and hard work goes into getting those beans to our roasting plant, the care that goes into roasting and the delivery of that gorgeous cup of coffee to the customer. I spend a lot of extra time teaching others what passionate partners have taught me and to actually go to one of the coffee growing countries and see for myself what it’s all about is just an absolute dream come true. I don’t know many details except it’s likely happening around 15th of April. So, stay tuned. When I know more, I’ll post more.

How was your week? Are you training for anything?

How about this – have you ever been to Africa???

Week 2 – Half Marathon Training

Posted on 3 February, 2013 by Renée

It was a pretty stressful week actually so training wasn’t as stellar as I would have liked… I was supposed to do 4 runs and at least 1 cross training session but I ended up with 3 runs and no cross training. In fact, I haven’t run since Wednesday!

Sunday – 11K 50 minutes D1/ 20 minutes D2. Both Hubs and I went out for this run and did it at our own pace. To be honest, it’s easy to run in D1 but that’s how I run all the time. I guess the purpose of training is to try and increase your speed and your capabilities to more than what you can do currently and this is where my brain says “Whoah!” when I try to increase. The 50 minutes were actually fine and I felt good, and don’t really need to stop and walk anymore, but the 20 minutes at a faster speed (but not that fast, if that makes sense? we are talking about 9KM per hour vs. 10KM per hour) consistently? That’s hard (in my head). Those 20 minutes didn’t really go that well, but I did try, I really did. I decided after that I need to train on a treadmill for these speed increases.

Look Hubs is sporty too!

Anyway, the 11K happened in 1 hour and 13 minutes with an average pace of 6:38 per Kilometer (around 9KM per hour). In general this IS my average pace.

Monday – 7K, 30 min D1, 15 min D2. After Sunday’s run I already knew I would be doing this at the gym on the treadmill. I did a warm up of 10 minutes and then started. It was ok. I’m not a huge fan of treadmills but I can really understand the benefit now. My average pace was 6:19 per kilometer for this run.

Tuesday – cross training. Wanted to go to GRIT even left early from work to get there and of course there were train issues so I ended up having an extra 50 minutes on my train journey. I was exhausted from work (end of the month, was up late working the night before and in the morning) and would not arrive on time for the class so decided to skip it all together. Good decision; I needed an early night in bed.

Wednesday – 4K/ 5 x 800 D2-D3, 3 min walking between each. After 2 attempts – I went out in the morning but it was raining and blowing everywhere, I was actually soaking wet within 3 minutes! Then I tried again in the afternoon and mentally was blocked – I finally went to the gym in the evening to do this on the treadmill as well. As I was working from home I would have preferred to get it over with before work but that didn’t happen. My brain was really against me. I did manage it on the treadmill, but I do find intervals very difficult. I need to do it a few times to get me over this brain block.

Thursday – 5.5K 30 min D2, 3 min D3. Didn’t do it.

Friday – rest

Saturday – rest (I did walk 5K into and around town to do “something”.

My biggest challenge here is my own head. Physically I can do this, no problem. It’s mentally. There are a lot of years’ worth of repetition in my head that I CAN’T do (fill in the blank) and I think that may be even harder to get rid of than actually running the Half itself.

If anyone knows where I can buy a big bottle of confidence, let me know.

In other news, January was a pretty active month:
Running – 82 KM
Cycling – 40.5 KM
Walking – 9KM
GRIT class – 3 times

But, of course, I lost essentially no weight (as per usual). Started the year at 79.8KG and ended it at 79.6KG. Hopefully now that I have a fitbit I can try to rectify where I may be going wrong!

Have you trained for a Half Marathon before? Did you follow a specific plan? Do you also have mental blocks? How do you get over them?

Week 1 – Complete

Posted on 27 January, 2013 by Renée

So, hey, did I mention I’m running the HALF MARATHON in Berlin in April?

Perhaps you remember me saying it before, but Berlin is one of my favourite cities in Europe. It’s a complex city with lots of history (certainly not always with shining moments), amazing architechture, dynamic people and whenever I’m there I feel the buzz and the vibrancy the city has to offer. So when I was considering doing a Half again, I thought about where could I go that would be really special, that would mean something to me? Admittedly, I was also envious of Joanna running the full Marathon last fall in Berlin so it just made sense to me sign up at least for the Half as well.

In 2008 I went to Berlin for the first time properly (the first time was actually a few years before that; I’d been at a music festival in Leipzig and had taken a friend back from there to Berlin where he was from – spent only about 4 hours there before I had to drive back to the Netherlands) and I was immediately in love. It was my birthday weekend and we found an apartment we could rent for the four days we would be spending there. On top of that the weather was amazing. We were good little tourists, seeing the sights, doing the Fat Tire Bike Tour, drinking local beer and eating sausages (as you do). Even though on that particular trip I fell down the stairs the last evening we were there (no I wasn’t drunk but I was on a pub crawl – it was the 3rd place we stopped off at, so my third drink) and twisted my ankle pretty badly, I already knew I wanted to go back. I should add at this point in my life, I was overweight but still had the “at least try to be active” mentality and was probably on attempt number 3,682 to get my crap together and lose weight.

The Famous Checkpoint Charlie

The next time I went to Berlin was in 2010 – as you know I finally made the commitment again in 2009, right before I got married. And I started running at the same time. Well, “running” – I started the C25K program, in the middle of the night (it seemed) so no one would see the fat girl “running” in the park. But by June 2010 I was running and wanting to run every time I would go away somewhere. This trip was no exception. We rented an apartment again and this time brought all of our running gear and gadgets to have a go at it in Tiergarten. It felt incredibly special to run in Berlin, being a girl from a Smallish City in New Mexico. You just never even dream of these things, you know? I also felt fitter, stronger, even though I wasn’t anywhere as fit as I feel I am right now. We even did the Fat Tire Bike Tour again, only the Third Reich Bike Tour rather than just the “basic” tour.

They actually call her “Chick on a Stick”

The Reichstag – Parliament building

Even the train station is impressive – this photo doesn’t even do it justice! It’s huge and all glass!

Although I’ve run now in other cities in Europe (and also looked for Half Marathons I could possibly participate in), my feeling was really for Berlin all along. After the disaster of the HM in Utrecht in 2011, I needed that something extra to give me the desire to really do it again. Just in case though, I’ve also decided to do it for charity and once I’ve got all of that set up then there is really no turning back, right?

So, this past week was Week 1 of the training:

Monday – 7.5KM or 40 minutes running at D1, 10 minutes D2 (this is the levels given by www.hardloopschema.nl) – basically D1 is kind of relaxed, D2 is pushing a little harder). I went from jogging around 7 minutes per KM to 6:30 in that 40 minutes, last 10 was at 6 min per kilometer. I had to do this on the treadmill as there was just way too much snow outside.

Tuesday – Cross Train – basically did my Les Mills GRIT class (high intensity) and 20 minutes on the Arc Trainer.

Wednesday – Intervals – 6 x 600m D2 – D3, two minutes walking between each. I have to say I thought I would die OR throw up. I never run intervals, I don’t like them, but hey now is the time to step out of the comfort zone!!

Thursday – was scheduled to run but forced to rest. Too busy at work to get the lunch run in and too busy to stop at 4:30 and do it after work.

Friday - did my Thursday run – 6K or 40 min D1. This was actually done in 38 minutes. Was SO nice out, cold but crisp and SO great to get out of the office and work off some stress.

Saturday – rest day! Spent the day actually with M at the Rotterdam film festival and according to my fitbit (that I received finally from Gail!) still walked buttloads (so I guess I worked off that popcorn, eh?), more than 14,000 steps to be specific!

Today starts week 2 so I guess I better get on it!

Half Marathon Thoughts

Posted on 1 May, 2011 by Renée

I wrote a post earlier this week but have decided to try again in another way, at least giving my impressions for anyone who may be interested to do this in the future.

But I’m going to be honest, it wasn’t the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I didn’t feel “amazing” at the end. I did it, yes, and I’m proud that I did, but I didn’t have an experience that will propel you into signing up immediately after reading this post.

Leading up to the Half, I knew I wasn’t fully prepared; I hadn’t done all of my runs as my training indicated I should do and my head has been playing games with me for weeks now, so mentally I also wasn’t ready. I figured I would just keep going – I’d done 16KM a few times and figured it’s “just 5 more”, surely I could do it if I could do 16? My last 16KM training, which included walking, I did in 1:50, I figured I could do the half in 2:30. I was so wrong.

The weather was against me actually. It had been very hot for at least a week leading up to the event. I had to go out and buy new running clothes because I pretty much only had winter gear, long pants, that sort of thing. I also bought a belt to put my phone and iPod in, and that held two 20oz bottles of water. I should mention I am not a fan of carrying anything on a run and, regardless of function I really hate those water belts in general. I had taken Tara’s advise a while back to carry water with me and it seemed to help with the headaches to keep hydrated (I mention Tara, but actually several people said it was dehydration that was giving me the headaches; Tara showed me a type of bottle she carries and I bought something similar). With the temperatures as they were, I knew I would need to have water with me, hence the belt.

I prepared for the race like I normally do. Lots of water a few days before. Carb-loading. On the morning of the race I had my big bowl of oatmeal and packed a raisin bun with peanut butter and banana for later. I also had a Luna Bar with me (I stocked up on these while I was in the States) and a PowerBar that I’d bought the day before the race when I went to pick up my race packet.

This race was in Utrecht, only 35 minutes by train (as opposed to the races I normally do in the North, more than 1 hour drive/train) but I wanted to be early just to try and relax and get into the spirit. Hubs and my friend Melissa were there with me to support. We actually arrived at around 12:15 but I wasn’t due to start until 2pm. We sat in the “party area” and watched the Marathoners running on the big screen. I drank more water, ate my PowerBar, did some warming up and tried to get my head in a good place.

After several trips to the toilet “to be sure”, it was time for me to say so-long to M and Hubs and line up for the race. There were no corrals which kind of confused me. I think I made it towards the start at about 3 minutes past 2 o’clock. And… we were off.

Just after starting I felt so incredibly thirsty. This happened to me at the last race too and I put it down to nerves. I was surprised at how quickly we’d reached 3 kilometers, right before the first bridge we had to cross.

I felt really good then, my legs felt great, my head was calm but I was thirsty. I didn’t want to start drinking too soon as I had no idea if there were toilets along the course (turns out there weren’t) and I didn’t want to have to go before I’d reached the half way point.

It was incredibly hot out. I don’t know where the first water station was, but it was a welcome treat to have a drink. At this point we were out of Utrecht and in De Meern (I think) where the locals were out cheering and spraying us down with water hoses. I was so happy to see these people. In fact all along the way people were supporting us to keep us cool.

I must have been around the 8KM mark when I walked a minute or two. Here’s where I took a drink of my own bottled water (which was enhanced with some powder that replenished electrolytes). I picked it up again and about 1KM later is where I saw the first casualty – a guy laying on the ground surrounded by First Responders.

Just over halfway I walked again a few minutes. My feet were hurting, my whole body was overheating, I had to just cool down a bit. I sent a message to M and Hubs that I made it more than half but they were actually tracking me on Endomondo so they already knew. We were about to approach another bridge, I walked up that and started running again going downhill.

Around the 16 mark I was starting to feel very lightheaded. I think I had basically used every ounce of fuel I had in my body at that point and was completely empty. From 16 to the end it was a series of walking and running. At one point around 19 a group of maybe 10 people saw me and started cheering for me (I was walking then) “Come on Renée! You can do it! It’s not far now! Pick it up!” I found this very motivating and gave me the boost I needed so I started running again and they all cheered! Was a very nice feeling!

Sadly I could not carry on running the last 2 kilometers. I just continued to walk/run. Around 150m from the finish I decided I had to run across the line and not walk. So I put everything I had back into my legs and went for it. At 50m I saw my husband and M and somehow had the strength to smile and wave.

Crossing the line was actually the weirdest moment of the race. The woman ahead of me decided to run over the line with her very small child and they were taking up a huge amount of space that I couldn’t seem to get through. I had to actually slow down to cross the line! Plus my “finish” photo is basically her and her kid and my trying to get around them. This really pissed me off to be honest.

So. That’s it. I did it. I crossed the line. I got my medal and I felt like complete and utter shit. I found Hubs and M, I got a beer, dug around for my sandwich, but it was too late. I was so empty and feeling so bad that I threw up all that stuff anyway on the train ride home. I honestly don’t feel great about it. I don’t know that I’ll do it again.

Things I learned:
1) You have to train. Don’t be stupid and not train. If you don’t have time to train then don’t do a half-marathon
2) You have to eat more. You need to eat enough fuel that will keep you going throughout the race. And, if you want to do gels and stuff during the race, test them out before a race so you are sure you won’t get sick (I wanted to try some gels but ended up not and was advised NOT to do this during a race. Not everyone reacts to gels well)
3) Look up the course beforehand. No toilets along the way is kind of unacceptable.
4) “Just 5 more Kilometers” is bullshit. It was like trying to cross the frickin Sahara. You can play tricks with your mind and try to motivate yourself into something but be realistic.

I wanted to finish at 2:30. I finished at 2:41. I know that I finished and that’s great, but I’m kind of embarrassed about the time. If I do another Half (ever) it’s not going to be in spring or summer. I would much rather run in cooler temperatures.

I didn’t want to make a negative post about it, this is just my honest feeling about the whole thing. Acceptance is also about admitting things maybe aren’t the best for you – I think my weight holds me back too. For now I will probably stick to 10 – 16KM races. I know I can do these, I feel good at the end, accomplished, proud. I felt nothing like that at the end of this race, just sick, disappointed and like I wanted to keel over.

Sunday, Running Sunday

Posted on 20 March, 2011 by Renée

It’s been quite a while since my regular Sunday afternoon runs and I have to say, I’ve missed it. I did run whilst in New Mexico, that was a totally different experience. Prior to my holiday I’d lost a bit of that “oomph” that I normally have to go running and I think it’s now safe to say that my “oomph” is back!

This week I actually did a bit of cycling, but haven’t made it back to the gym. I think the cycling has kept my legs and perhaps my whole body at a good enough condition to not have to start over too much with running. As I’m totally burnt out by the park, I decided to go to Westervoort again, a village that’s only about 2KM walk from my apartment. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for it and I wanted to experience the dikes in a different light (the last time was in serious winter conditions).

The Bridge from Arnhem to Westervoort (image courtesy of de groene rijnwaarder)

I started off by walking about 1.5KM to get properly warmed up. As I crossed the road over to the side where the bicycle path is on the bridge I started my run. I told myself that if it was too much that it was totally ok to walk a bit. Before I even reached the end of the bridge I’d hit 1 KM. My goal was to do 8KM.

Because it was so nice out there were tons of people out as well! lots of walkers and bicyclists along the dikes – I loved it! I cut through some farms at one point to head back as I had already reached halfway point by then. I couldn’t believe I was still running at 5KM and then 6KM! As I approached the bridge to go back I was feeling it in my derriere. I had to cross the busy road again so at that point I decided to walk. That was at 7.5KM so I cooled down for the rest of the 8K training and walked another 1KM home.

It feels good to run again. I was starting to panic a bit about the Zaandvoort Circuit Run 12K that I’m signed up for next week, but now I know it’s really going to be fine. This is a special race for me, it’s the very first one I did one year ago and now I’m really looking forward to it!

I haven’t done any real training for the Half-Marathon in April and to be honest I’m not so sure I’m going to be able to do a real proper program at this point. I’m just going to keep running, building up to long runs, dropping back, doing some cross training. It won’t be ideal, but the fact that I’m doing it is way better than not doing it at all.

Running in Westervoort has inspired me to sign up for the Westervoort Midzomerrun on the 3rd of July – I’ll participate in the 10K. Why not? It’s practically like running in my back yard!

*************

Another attempt at Attitude Adjustment

Posted on 22 January, 2011 by Renée

I think this one will stick.

It’s been another rough week emotionally. I don’t want to behave the way I have been. I’m frustrated and angry that my doctor, for one, can speak to me the way she does, so patronizing and basically saying “there’s nothing wrong with you so there’s nothing I can do for you”. I find this odd. Remember when we used to go to the doctor and they really wanted to help you?

Perhaps there are more tests that can be done. Or… perhaps, yes, as I have suggested myself AND as others have suggested, just stop worrying about weight loss. I can do other things. I am very healthy. I know I eat right.

Sure it’s not fair that I “think” I make more of an effort than others do who lose weight consistently, but this way of thinking, combined with comparing myself to others is going to be the death of me.

At the end of the day, it’s about what I’m doing to maintain the kind of life that I actually like living. I find it incredibly difficult to find a balance. This week however my boss said that I had to work one day from home per week and that he wanted me to leave 45 min early two days a week, because it was easy for me to make up the time the day I’m working from home. He’s concerned. So the way I’ve been behaving and feeling really shows up on my face. He can SEE that clearly I’m not well (mentally, emotionally) and he doesn’t want me to have a break down or in fact look for another job and leave the company (which would be ultimate solution, to work where I live).

I need a plan and I need to stick to the schedule. Running, for example, didn’t happen this week. So I may as well start my Half-Marathon training over again. I did however go to the gym – Monday, Thursday and today. I did ask about personal training and one of the PT’ers sat with me to help figure out what I needed from my training and how I could achieve my goals (of strength, not weight loss). Today I went to set up a new program. I really would like to do my running AND gym in the same week, but I need to figure out timing, working from home days and food. Yes, food. Because if I go to the gym right after work, I’ll need to eat in the train and go immediately from my home train station otherwise I run out of time. This adds more time to prepping in the evening and/or morning, so I need to consider prepping most food on Sundays. If it seems complicated, it feels it too.

This week at a very, very down and emotional moment I had a few people unfollow me on Twitter. I know the virtual world is different than the “real” world and normally it doesn’t bother me that much, but this week it did. I felt like I was being kicked while already down. I’m a grown woman and I know better than to take it personally, but I’m also human. Some people I feel more a connection than not. I feel like in real life I could be friends with those people. I think this is because I have met so many people in person through different media, that I assume we are really friends and I personally wouldn’t do that to someone who was feeling bad. This is a character flaw of mine. I shouldn’t assume these things. After all, when we assume… well you know ass / u / me right? I’m still annoyed but I’ll get over it and have already learned from it.

I am going running tomorrow and I am looking forward to it!!

How do you get yourself out of a bad attitude? What do you to do really adjust and move on?

{run} {laugh} {eat pie}

amazing what changes when you start to run

Tag Archives: Half-Marathon