It’s definitely not necessary to already be doing a 20 mile run for a marathon that is on April 21st. But I’ve had it in my head that I wanted to get one in before my surgery that’s quickly approaching. (two weeks from yesterday) I’ll be taking four weeks off and wanted this for my confidence and sense of accomplishment more than anything. Come on, everyone loves the sense of satisfaction a 20 miler gives you.

I haven’t been following a real plan these past few weeks, but I have an idea in my head with what I want to accomplish each week give or take some miles and just get it done.

The run today felt good. I felt strong, confident and owned it. I did not want to run too hard, but settled into a comfortable pace early on that was a little speedier than I had anticipated. For the first 10 miles, I reminded myself over and over again to not pick it up and remain consistent, so that I didn’t crash in the final stretch.

I ran with my watch underneath my arm warmers and only peaked at it 4-5 times total during the whole run. I wanted to run based on feel, not what my watch said. I had a good idea what paces I was putting out though. Speaking of my arm warmers- I felt perfect in long tights, a tank top and arm warmers… I saw so many people in coats out running. I feel like I looked underdressed but I’d have been burning up in long sleeves, seems like almost every person I saw was overdressed!

I also ran with music today, which is something I rarely do during outdoor runs. 

Three reasons I usually don’t run with music outside-

• Safety- which I let slide today since it was Saturday morning and I knew the monon would be hoppin with people anxious to get outside after the week we’ve had weather wise.  I did have my mace on me though!

• I use my phone for music and have yet to find a holder that works so I just carry it, which is kind of annoying. (any armbands I’ve found to hold the iPhone are huge! I don’t even have particularly small arms, but they are way too big.)

• I race without music, so I like to simulate that in outdoor runs. Especially a long run. I don’t think it’s totally neccesary to always do that though.  

Splits:

Mile 1- 8:17 

Mile 2- 7:57 

Mile 3- 7:53 

Mile 4- 7:53 

Mile 5- 7:49 

Mile 6- 7:51 

Mile 7- 7:52 

Mile 8- 7:47 

Mile 9- 7:43 

Mile 10- 7:45 – Turnaround in Carmel yay!

Mile 11- 7:36 – Tell myself to keep it in check so I can speed up last 5 or at least hold pace!

Mile 12- 7:52 – Gel (peanut butter Hammer)

Mile 13- 7:50
 
Mile 14- 7:29 

Mile 15- 7:35 

Mile 16- 7:28 

Mile 17- 7:24 

Mile 18- 7:24 

Mile 19- 7:27 

Mile 20- 7:15 – get home girl. shower. food. water. kid. couch. It all awaits you, so move it.

Average Pace: 7:42

Total Time: 2:34

The legs felt a bit heavy but just what you would expect. Nothing crazy. I thought about how the last time I set out to run 20 miles, it was a big fail. I thought about what I put my body through just 3 months ago and how thankful I am that I CAN be running 20 miles, I thought about the alone time I was having and appreciated it, I thought about how far an Ironman is and in comparison how short 20 miles is, (I’m just about finished with Chrissie Wellington’s book, “A Life without Limits“- read it people! So inspiring), I thought about how good finishing this run and finishing my next marathon will feel. And I thought about keeping form. That’s really about it. Nothing too deep.

There are a lot of mind games that can happen in a 20 mile run. Just like in the marathon, it WILL BE overwhelming if you think of the total distance all at once. But, if you chose to stay in the mile, right where you are, and evaluate your body one step at a time, you’ll be doing yourself a service. What you chose to do now will effect how you will feel at the end. Well isn’t that true for most things in life?

I’m feeling content going into surgery with this & the past few weeks under my belt. I do not feel up to par with my speed compared to last year in my shamrock training but distance wise, I’m there.

And I think my body will thank me for a little rest. (even if it won’t really want an entire 3-4 weeks!)

Alright, I basically just gave you an entire race recap over a 20 mile run. Oh, you just wait until I actually race again. haha.

The post 20 Miles Yo. appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

Pre Race- 3.5 minutes to go.

I’m going to be totally honest here. I ran a stupid race. That happens, but I have enough experience as a runner to know better than to race like that.

First of all, I knew it was hot. I should have adjusted my goal a little because of that. I am by no means using the heat as my excuse for my goal bonk. YES, it was a big factor and did slow me down, but I slowed down way more than the heat should have affected me. I know how I run in the heat and this wasn’t the sole reason it was a bad race for me. Another small factor; not an excuse, just a factor is I was just about to my period and my body and life felt extra heavy. You know how we females get extra emotional and crazy once a month, plus feel like we weigh 1,000 lbs? Yeah, that decided to happen around this day.

I started out way too fast. It was stupid. I knew it was, but I was all big headed about it. My watch was being funny and I couldn’t tell what pace I was running based on what it was telling me. When we rolled over mile 1 and my split read 6:32, I knew I was doing exactly what I told myself not to do. I said “too fast” and then proceeded to do it again for mile 2.

I ran mile 2 right at 6:32 again.  Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

Here I am early on, making bad decisions…. Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

Even if my watch was being wacky… I know my body well enough to feel the difference between a 6:30 mile and a 6:50 mile. I was paranoid I would accidentally run too slow though. Clearly, it  would have served me well to have started off a little slow.

I settled into a 6:45ish pace for miles 3-5 and things started crashing a bit at mile 5. I didn’t feel terrible, but I knew I had gone out too hard and could already foresee my very near future.

Going into this race and any race for that matter, my goal is never what place I get, it’s always a time goal for myself. But once you’re out there racing, the place ends up mattering. Somewhere around mile 11.5, the guys on the bikes were saying it was going to be an interesting race for 10th place. GAH. Sounded like the girl behind me was gaining on me. Not surprising considering how much I was letting my pace go. Then they were talking about a pack of three clumped together behind her. Well wouldn’t that be terrible if they all went zooming past me and I went from 8th place to 12th?

Part of me said F this, I don’t give a crap about any of this, I just want to stop, pass me all you want. The other part of me, of course, said you’ve worked this hard the whole race and you’ve already let your goal go, don’t let your place go right now.

This is the last 400 meters. Get me to the finish. Ick.  Photo Credit: Terry Fletcher

I was practically in tears when I finished. I gave Ashley a big hug, pretty much fell on top of her. I was exhausted. I knew somewhere around mile 8 that my goal was slipping away from me fast. But I didn’t think it would slip away that hard. I honestly thought on a not so good day, I’d roll in around 1:31ish and on a great day, I’d roll in around 1:28. I guess it was worse than a not so good day. My official finish time was 1:33:14.

Leslie, Ashley and I – 8th, 9th and 10th place. These are the badass ladies who kicked my ass in the last 3 miles…

With my momma post race.

Ashley taking care of me post race. I returned the favor. I can’t even talk about how much I’m obsessed with this girl.

We did win $100 for placing in the top 10 and will be “invited” to return next year, so I’m not complaining about that!

This is all ok though. You learn from races like this. And not matter how many half marathons or marathons I do, there is always a lesson. Did I know I shouldn’t go out that hard prior to the race? Yes. But I did it anyway. This is the exact reason back in December, I ran a marathon for the sole purpose of running a negative split and proving to myself this is a much better way to race. I preach it all the time, I have to do it myself.

While I really want to break 1:30, my next goal is to force myself to negative split the half… or at least come damn near close to it. Go out at a 7 minute mile and slowly speed up. Rather than just the opposite like I so miserably did on Saturday. Hopefully that will lead me to a new PR at the very least and if I break 1:30 in the process… perfect. But one thing at a time. (I’ve been literally obsessing over Laura’s splits from the the VA Beach half this weekend. She tweeted her splits on Sunday after the race and I thought… why couldn’t you have been that smart yesterday Lindsey? That was a very smart way to run on such a hot day… props to you Laura!)

It’s good to have big goals so long as they are realistic. I’m not saying you can’t dream big… and I’m not backing out on the fact that I know I am capable of running the 1:28 I so badly wanted. But for me, right now I need to take a smaller step. And that is totally fine. Everyone is different. Glenn and I are so very different. I don’t want to say he works harder than me, although I think he generally does haha, but he is the kind of person who can make really big jumps a lot and it doesn’t scare him. Right now though, mentally I need to take a smaller step and that’s just what’s going to happen. Nothing wrong with that.

I know if I want to become a smarter runner, I have to teach myself lessons like this. It’s like anything in life, in the process of growing, you have slip ups. You unfortunately make not so stellar decisions sometimes. But they ultimately become significant steps in the learning process that are necessary.

Am I bummed? Yes. Am I over it? I’d like to say yes, but I’m not. I really wanted bang out this race and kill it. I had my heart set on it.

Since I have my surgery in 4 weeks. Ahhh, 4 weeks. (Deep breath. Clear my head. It’s OK.) And I won’t be racing for a few months, I wanted this to be my big celebration race.

Beyond my surgery, I’m not sure what will be going down. I plan on running as soon as I can once I’m cleared but am not certain how this next year will look. There are much more important things than the time on the clock when I cross a finish line that I’m going to be focused on in this near future. I so badly wanted this last pre-surgery race to be all that I dreamed it would be and it just wasn’t. Guess what though. It’s not that big of a deal and I need to chill out. Life goes on.

I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago in a training post that I had thought about throwing in a marathon September 15th. I have been getting a little lot jealous about all the fall marathons everyone is running. But the race this weekend quickly reminded me that there is no faking marathon training. Sure, I could run one, but trying to PR would be a joke. So I snooped around and found a half marathon in Terre Haute, IN on September 15th. I’m 50-50 on doing it right now. I know there is a bigger PR in me still but I’m not sure I’m want to go there again so soon. I’m going to make a last minute decision on this.

I should mention- Ken Long does a great job putting on this race– the post race party is fun and it’s all organized very well. Also- a big thank you to all the volunteers… we saw a lot of Back on My Feet guys out there volunteering both at packet pick up and at the race. Very nice! 

The post Indy Women’s Half Race Report – 2013 appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

Reasons for this race-

1. My sister, Ericka, who lives in DC signed up and begged me to come for a visit and run it too.
2. To prove to myself that I CAN negative split.
3. To enjoy the race.

Ericka and I ran the first half mile together. When we parted, I reminded myself with every step that I was to control my pace and hang tight for the first 13 miles.

Around mile 4 I started running with a woman who came up behind me and asked me what my goal for the day was. I told her I wanted to negative split, she told me she was looking to break 3:35. (she is pictured with me below) In my mind, she was the perfect person to run with. We talked and had a good time for the first 14 miles. Her husband jumped in and ran with us miles 6-12, at mile 12 her husband was swapped out for a friend, who planned to finish the race with her.

Feeling fresh around mile 10.

We crossed the half marathon mark somewhere around 1:46. A far cry from the 1:38 half marathon time at the Monumental Marathon five weeks ago.

I felt much better than I did at that point in the Monumental, but my legs surprisingly felt a little heavy. While I wasn’t thrilled about that, I did still feel good otherwise and was determined to stick to the plan. Around mile 14 we entered a park with a few tiny, but noticeable hills. (for someone who runs on the monon in Indianapolis for most of her runs… any hill is noticeable!) At that time, I slowly started parting with my new friend. She was maintaining pace and I needed to start speeding up if I was going to accomplish my goal.

I was tempted to pick it up more than I should at first. The leg heaviness had me worried that if they felt heavy now, so early how bad would they be at mile 20?  I looked down every mile to catch my splits, which were a little under 8 minute miles. I REALLY really, wanted to be able to “race” that last 10K. Through miles 14-20 I was just kind of waiting for it. I was ready for mile 20 to get to me so I could see if I could do it. At mile 14, my journey to start passing people began.

If you read my Monumental Marathon race report, you’ll remember that the name of the game was “pass Lindsey the entire second half”– I was on a mission to reverse that this time. I wasn’t focused on only passing people, I was focused on running strong and it felt really good to run by people at such a steady pace.

I got to mile 20 and hesitated a bit, worried that if I took off too quick, I’d find myself in a world of hurt at 24. I knew 24 was going to hurt regardless, but I wanted it to be a POWERFUL kind of hurt. Like how you feel on your last mile repeat… it hurts, but you  finish strong.

Around miles 21-24 we ran through a trail that was kind of sandy/rocky. It was really nice ground to run on. I was hurting, but I was picking it up. I started focusing on females in front of me. It felt good to pass the males too, but seeing as this was a smaller race, I figured I might as well try to work on picking off the females so I could place better. I knew I wasn’t going to be anywhere close to placing in the top, but one person closer is always a good thing.

I would spot the girls from pretty far away, and it felt daunting at times, because there was so much ground between us. At times I would tell myself to just hang behind them, but it was clear I was running faster than they were and I reminded myself that I’m passing so I probably feel better than them and I do not need to slow down.

My last female pass was with about a half mile to the finish line. I had been approaching for quite a while and was so close to throwing in the towel, thinking I’d just hang on to the finish. But, I knew I had more in me than her though (I’m going to go ahead and thank her for helping me out with that quick split for mile 26). I just put my head down and kicked. Somewhere around mile 20 I had decided I’d try to break 3:30. At that point I figured it was going to happen, but I needed to make sure I didn’t slow down to an 8:30 mile.

During that last 10K, I played the mind games, but I kept telling myself I had a goal and I am strong. If I wanted my last 10K to be my fastest I could do it. I was literally running over a minute (close to two) per mile faster in this last 10K than the last 10K at Monumental. It felt good.

I crossed the finish line in 3:29:21.

This was my second fastest marathon. 5 minutes slower than my PR.

I think I am more proud and excited about this race than I am my PR. I had never ran a negative split. I did that by 3 minutes on Saturday. I needed this confidence to prove it is possible to run faster in the second half.

Now- if I had been racing this marathon for a PR, ideally my splits would have been more even. Clearly I had more leftover at the end of this race and I could have ran a faster total time if I had been more even. That being said, on that particular day, it would have only taken a minute or so off my time. This was all about building confidence. I never had that feeling you get in marathons sometimes where you ask yourself why the heck are you doing this?

Below are my splits…. it’s so fun to look at them and not see that scary mile 22 or 23 where your splits just get ugly. 

Slowest split – Mile 1 – 8:16
Fastest split – Mile 21 – 7:21

As I look back and analyze- it’s like at miles 14 and 20 I was telling myself, wait for it, just one more mile and then go.

Mile 1 – 8:16
Mile 2 – 7:54
Mile 3 – 7:50
Mile 4 – 7:59
Mile 5 – 8:00
Mile 6 – 8:05
Mile 7 – 8:02
Mile 8 – 8:03
Mile 9 – 8:04
Mile 10 – 8:05
Mile 11 – 8:02
Mile 12 – 8:07
Mile 13 – 8:06
Mile 14 – 8:09
Mile 15 – 7:48
Mile 16 – 7:54
Mile 17 – 7:54
Mile 18 – 7:56
Mile 19 – 7:50
Mile 20 – 7:55
Mile 21 – 7:21
Mile 22 – 7:37
Mile 23 – 7:34
Mile 24 – 7:40
Mile 25 – 7:43
Mile 26 – 7:29

Here is the video, my sister Shelby took of the finish. 

We are happy to be done and ready to sit down and chow. This is right after I had to pump in the parking lot at Crabby Dicks. What can I say, I’m a classy mama.

The post Rehoboth Beach Marathon appeared first on Lindsey Hein.

After I finished my workout, I walked down the stairs at the gym, having a wave of anxiety and guilt. My sister and I were heading out to DC to visit our other sister the next day.

My first trip away from Marshall.  No, I’m obviously not worried about his well-being, I’m leaving him with Glenn and Glenn’s parents are also coming down to babysit on Friday while he’s at work. I’ve just never been away from the little guy.

Don’t do anything new while I’m gone buddy.  (You’d think I was leaving for a 4 month trip.)

I’m enjoying the trip, it’s weird to be away from someone you have spent every day and most hours of your life with for the last 5 months.

I told Glenn he’ll need to text me a minimum of 50 pictures and give him 100 kisses from me everyday.

Last night we all went to dinner at Red Rocks for some yummy fire brick pizza and margaritas. I started off with a skinny girl or three before we headed out, we were all giggly and having fun.

Tomorrow, sister Ericka and I will be running the Rehoboth Beach Marathon. We are heading over that way in a few hours. Sister, Shelby will be the professional spectator/picture taker.

My Marathon Pledge:

I will not be an idiot and go out fast. I will run comfortable, 8:00-8:20 miles for the first 13 miles and slowly speed up from there. I will not get overly excited at mile 7 when I feel great (if I do in fact feel great) and speed up. I will hang tight and enjoy the view. (which I’m thinking might be pretty since it’s a beach marathon?) I will enjoy this race and be grateful that I came and that I have the ability to not only run, but make a trip like this. I will come up with something I am thankful for at every mile and think about that. I will finish this race feeling like I could run 5 more miles if I wanted to. I will go find my sister and cheer her in once I”m finished. I will eat amazing food when we are done and enjoy the rest of my trip.

See you at the finish line.

Here are some pics from our weekend so far:

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