Pittsburgh Marathon 5k, 2nd Female, 18:49!

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Jen

I am delighted to say I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon 5k on Saturday in 18:49 and was second female! I’ve never participated in a race so soon postpartum, but Pittsburgh Marathon weekend is one of my favorite weekends and I couldn’t let it pass without participating in something as long as I was feeling healthy and running. The goal was to run fast, but not all out. Afterall, my baby turned 5 weeks old the day before the race. I told my coach it would be like a true time trial to show where I’m starting and if anything felt bad or weird at any point I would just jog/walk it in. It wasn’t meant to be a true race effort, just my first harder effort post baby and I was pretty excited.

My good friend cheered her head off and captured this shot at the 3 mile mark!

*I should also note that I was lucky to have the least complicated labor this time around. It was vaginal, fairly quick (less than 3 hours of pain), and no ripping/tearing during delivery and very little swelling after. This helped my body feel normal much quicker. Coming back to running and especially harder efforts would not have been possible with another scenario so I got lucky.*

I didn’t run anything fast at all since having the baby until the race. My runs have all been easy pace ranging from 7:50/mile to 9:00/mile. I have been trying to just get in some miles and return cautiously. My coach told me I couldn’t even do strides on my training runs. I thought doing some strides might remind my legs they have speed before the race but he told me to just take it easy and I listened!

In the week leading up to the race, I chatted with 2 friends about time goals. I told them each I had this crazy thought that I would run sub 20 minutes, but that was only if everything was perfect. In reality, I thought I would run 21-22 minutes and that would be great! And I had these thoughts in my head, but I didn’t set a limit to what I could do. To be honest, in a dream world that I didn’t really believe, yet didn’t rule out either, I thought it would be cool to run 18:45, or 6:00/mile pace. This sort of came to me as I was running with my friend Kate and she was telling me she believed in me and reminded me to reflect on postpartum races and workouts of the past.

Race morning was just as hectic as every morning. I got up at 6am (8am race start time), quickly got partially dressed (everything but my sports bra/tank since I needed to feed the baby and pump). I ate breakfast, got my older son and daughter ready, fed the baby, pumped the rest of the milk out, finished getting ready and we left the house at 7am, 15 minutes behind schedule. We got downtown around 7:20 and waited in line for our bibs since I didn’t have time to get them at the expo the day before. Because the race day bib pickup lines were long, I didn’t start my warmup until 7:35. I probably jogged about 1/2 mile, did my first strides in FOREVER and felt super awkward on those.

Thankfully my in-laws came to town for the race so my husband and I could both do the 5k. I thought maybe I should feed the baby one more time before the race since I could already feel my chest getting heavier, but there was no time. I pulled on a second sports bra and knew baby and I would both be fine. We took off for the start line and left the in-laws to find a cheer spot with all 3 kids – sons in the double stroller and daughter on foot.

Crazy bouncing singlet! I’m 10lbs heavier than normal and can’t fit into any of my racing stuff right now, but luckily purchased this oversized singlet to represent my running club, the Pittsburgh Pharaoh Hounds, when I was pregnant and needed something to race in last fall. Now it’s too big (but better than something that’s too small) and it was rolling up and bouncing around like crazy the whole race!

There isn’t too much to report on the actual race. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to check my Garmin and know my splits during the race or not, but that was decided for me as there were clocks at the different mile markers. When I saw the 1 mile mark clock in the distance and it said 5:40 I was a little shocked. The first mile felt so comfortable, maybe like a tempo run, not a race, and by the time I hit one mile it read about 6:10. Mile 2 was less comfortable, but still felt pretty good! That mile was a bit faster, about 6:05 and I was just so pumped about how I was keeping this pace feeling so strong. The last mile was my fastest, sub 6:00 pace and I stayed strong through the finish line. I was so surprised that I pressed the “lap” button at first instead of “stop” but guessed my time was probably just over 18:50. (I later saw official results and found I was just UNDER 18:50, at 18:49 woohoo!)

My daughter took this photo in the finish area!

I talked to a few friends as my husband and I went through the finish shoot then we reunited with our family. My daughter took a picture of us then my husband went for his cooldown while I quickly nursed the baby as my daughter was set to start the Kids Marathon in less than 30 minutes and we had to walk to the start line over 1/2 mile away. Of course she wanted to run most of the way there!

My daughter giving a high five to Daddy during the race!

My daughter had an awesome time running the Kids Marathon. I ran with her as my cooldown. We spent a few hours hanging out in the finish line area. They have tons of kids activities during the day and the kids always have so much fun! A few hours later, my older son did the Toddler Trot. Of course my baby was screaming his head off because he was hungry right then so I was walking to the race area while trying to nurse the baby. #multitasking at it’s finest.

My son and husband before the Toddler Trot

I was surprised to feel really good the next morning (Sunday) but I wanted to take it really easy to be smart. For my run, I went to the 15 mile mark of the Pittsburgh Marathon course, just 1/2 mile from my house, and ran back and forth over a 3 city block area, cheering for everyone who passed! It was the best way to spend the morning until I had to be home to feed the baby again. I love running the Pittsburgh Marathon (half) partly because the fans and cheer sections are so awesome! Since I’m always running the event, I’ve never been able to cheer even though it passes so close to my house. It was so nice to be on the other side this year and be part of the amazing Pittsburgh cheer sections!

A lot of people (myself included) asked me after the race “how did you do it?!” I’ve done some thinking about it and here are my answers.

I was in killer marathon shape when I unexpectedly got pregnant. I was in the best shape of my life and was gearing up to run a whole marathon at the pace I ran the 5k this weekend. Since I ran through my whole pregnancy (though I only ran easy runs and did 20-30 miles a week with that being on the lower end as I got closer to my due date) I was able to maintain some fitness.
I went into the race physically well rested. Although I’m getting up in the middle of the night and not sleeping as much as I’d like, I’m taking my physical activity really easy. I had 3 weeks completely off running, And have come back slowly with short, easy runs the next 2 weeks, and a day off 2 days before the race just to let my body completely rest.
Big cheer section. I can’t thank all my friends enough for showing up on the course and cheering! I heard my name so many times and it made the run feel pretty effortless (as far as racing goes anyway!)
Belief in what I can do. This should probably be #1 on the list. While I was shocked at how fast my time was, I knew deep down it was possible. I didn’t expect too much from myself, but also didn’t put a limit on what I could do. I spent the first 16 years of my running life putting limits on myself and only started seeing my potential when I learned to start letting that go (I’m still working on this aspect of my racing and life, but I’m leaps and bounds from where I was just a few years ago.

I talked to my coach this morning and got the go ahead to do 30 miles this week if everything feels good. I ended last week with just under 22 miles with one day completely off.

Thank you everyone for the encouragement and cheers and for following along! I really appreciate it!

My Nutrition Plan

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Jen

We are coming up on a week until race day for the Pittsburgh Marathon! I wanted to share a bit about my nutrition plan (especially race week nutrition) now so it’s fresh in your mind for next week.

If you’ve known me for awhile now, you know I’ve had many longer races (beginning in 2011) spoiled by stomach problems. It’s very soul-crushing to put a lot of time and energy into a race and come up short on a goal because of porta-potty problems. I’ve been working on little solutions and while I don’t want to jinx myself, I think I have quite a bit figured out. I haven’t had any stomach issues in races in 2015 so I thought I’d share a bit about my normal diet and then tell you about how that changes during race week.

I found out I was lactose intolerant during my sophomore year in college, but I continued consuming most dairy (except milk) because cheese/yogurt/ice cream/etc are delicious and I could deal with some bloating most of the time. When I started running seriously about 10 years later, I began realizing my body couldn’t handle long or intense runs with dairy in my system. I also found out through elimination dieting while breastfeeding that both of my babies were miserable and fussy when I consumed dairy. This is the very short version of many years of struggling with my love of these foods and my body’s hatred for them. I have found a happy place where I don’t have dairy MOST of the time, and don’t usually miss it. I will sometimes have quesadillas or pizza with real cheese and of course ice cream. I just avoid these foods 2 days before workouts, and a week before a big race. But most of the time I just avoid them completely because I don’t usually want them. If you would have asked me even 2 years ago if my life could ever be this dairy-free, I would tell you no. After the initial mourning period (of many months), it was actually pretty easy.

A typical food day for me includes a lot of calories. I’m a 60-80 mile per week runner, a hands-on active parent of 2, a person who chooses to walk over driving on most occasions, and a breastfeeding mother (until I weaned my son about 2 weeks ago). You can imagine the thousands of calories I need to support my activity level. I try to eat the way many people do – mostly from the earth, minimally processed foods. However, a typical day finds me grabbing convenience foods or cooking frozen dinners.

A typical day might look like this:

Breakfast within minutes of waking. 99% of the time I eat toast with some type of nut butter, chia seeds, and banana. I drink about 30 oz of water and a mug of black coffee. This is the meal that never changes.

After my run I will have either a Vega recovery drink, a picky bar, or another banana with nut butter.

Recovery at it’s finest! Double fisting Picky Bars and Vega Sport!

I usually also snack on something junk-foody if it’s there. This would be candy from the latest holiday or a pastry from the bakery next door. If I don’t do this in the morning, I might do it in the afternoon.

For lunch I eat something like hummus and crackers and a few eggs on bread with avocado. Or I’ll have a veggie burger with avocado. I usually eat 1-2 avocados a day.

In the afternoon, I usually have a few more bananas. They are the easiest fruit in my opinion. No washing, very portable, delicious! I also eat whatever other fruit my kids are into at the time. I might also have dry cereal, crackers, nuts/trail mix.

My goal for dinner is always something with lots of veggies, a grain, some beans or tofu, occasionally some fish or meat. On good days, I accomplish this goal. Many days, dinner is something frozen from Trader Joes (insert anything in their frozen section here). Family favorites are probably their pizzas (they have a good dairy free roasted vegetable one), or fish sticks and sweet potato fries, mini frozen tacos, and spanakopita. Usually by the end of the day the kids are feeling a little wild and my husband gets home late and prepping my perfect little meal just doesn’t happen. We also go out to dinner fairly often.

When we go out for dinner, I TRY to pick something healthy. If I'm lacking in vegetables, I order a big salad. I love a big veggie burrito as well! I'd say about half of the time I end up getting a sandwich and fries or tots.

When we go out for dinner, I TRY to pick something healthy. If I’m lacking in vegetables, I order a big salad. I love a good veggie burrito as well! I’d say about half of the time I end up getting a sandwich and fries or tots. I’m obviously not a food photographer!

Before bed I have either some kind of dessert or another banana or two with nut butter. Yes, I eat 4-6 bananas every single day!

The most important part of this post in my opinion is what I do during race week! I’ve been feeling really good about my pre-race meals and hope I can help some of you who may be having tummy troubles. First of all, I completely avoid dairy the entire week before my race. Besides that, I don’t change much at the beginning of the week. I start eating fewer vegetables and fruits about 4 days out from the race and eat more pretzels and crackers.

I think the biggest change I’ve made is my diet the day before the race. As I looked over my diet, I realized I consume a lot of calories and my body has a lot to process. I thought maybe I could change the timing of my calories so my body would get everything it needs but still have time to work everything through before race time. This is the plan that has been working for me:

On race-day-eve in the morning I eat my normal breakfast and recovery foods immediately after my run. Then I eat a very large lunch. I like a huge omelet with just a few veggies (no cheese!), potatoes, and toast. I drink a good amount of water as usual. In the afternoon I snack on some pretzels or bread. Then at dinnertime, I eat a much smaller meal than normal. I make sure I’m content but not full/stuffed. I have found this combo – a side order of rice, 2 spoonfuls of black beans (this is totally random), and 2-3 flour tortillas – to work great. It’s the most boring and smallest meal I eat, but worth it to feel good the next day.

As far as what to do the day of the race, you should do whatever you practiced! Here’s what I do, and it’s still a work in progress!

On race morning I eat a plain or salt bagel or piece of cinnamon raisin bread, depending on what I can find, topped with a bit of nut butter 3 hours before the race. I drink no more than 6 ounces of coffee, and maybe 30-40 oz of water in the few hours leading up to the race. With 30 minutes to go, I drink a Vega pre-workout drink. Then with 10-20 minutes to go I take a vanilla Gu.

During a half and full marathon, I take water or the electrolyte drink provided on the course at every stop. During a half I will take a swallow of gel (most of the time) around mile 7, about 40 minutes into the race. During a full, I will do the same as the half with fluids every time provided and a bit of gel every 6-8 miles.

Hope this helps someone and feel free to ask me any questions!

Time to Race Again!

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Jen

I’m out of my funk and ready to get excited about racing again! And this is good news because the Pittsburgh Marathon is less than 3 weeks away! I took some down time after my marathon fail, running whatever, whenever. I was getting the itch to go fast again and completed my first real workout post marathon yesterday. (It was 6x 4:00 on, 2:00 off for anyone interested!)

I’m racing the next 3 weekends and all of my races are special to me for different reasons. This weekend I’m doing a very challenging (think intense hills!) trail half marathon. I’m running this race more like a workout. I’m so excited about this race because I am a bit obsessed with running on trails. I only remember running one trail race and it was at least 7 years ago so this feels like a good way to switch things up and have some fun! I plan on doing a few miles warmup, sort of running it like a tempo run based on feel since the hills, mud, etc will prevent any sort of normal pacing, then finishing with a few miles to make it my long run of the week. I hope to come away with the course record, a good workout for the 13.1 distance, and some cool swag.

The following weekend I will be running the Glass City Half in Toledo, Ohio. I’m excited about this race because it’s close to my hometown and I have quite a few friends running it! Also, the afterparty is a lot of fun! (Yes, runners, you know where to meet me post race!)

And the next weekend is Pittsburgh Marathon weekend! Just 7 months postpartum when I raced last year, I had such an incredible weekend that I told my husband “I will race the half or full here every year forever! How could I miss this?!” I’m excited about this race because it’s on my home turf and I love running in this city! I’m excited about racing faster than last year and tearing up the streets here in Pittsburgh.

I was able to attend a cool event for the Kids of Steel program on the last day in February. It was an indoor training day (free event!) with different fitness stations set up for the kids. As the kids performed different exercises like running races, burpees, core work, egg balancing on a spoon races, hula hooping, etc, they could mark the activities off on their list and go home with a ribbon and some prizes. It was a really special event for the kids and a fun event for me to attend!

Racing with some kids at the Kids of Steel indoor training event. I think I came in last place! :)

My next blog post will be covering the results of my trail half and I’ll talk about how my race week nutrition has changed recently. After some deep thinking and experimentation, I think I’ve finally found foods that sit well in my stomach during race week!

Thanks for following along!

Hey Pittsburgh Half Marathon – I’m Back! #GameOnPGH!

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Jen

I’m excited to say I’ve been accepted into the Elite Field of the UPMC Health Plan Pittsburgh Half Marathon this year AND I’m an Official Blogger for the Pittsburgh Marathon! This will be my second year running the half marathon here in Pittsburgh and I’m pumped to see how fast my legs can carry me through my wonderful city! Last year I was 7 months postpartum when I raced the half and came in 5th place. This year I hope to be a few minutes faster and compete for a top spot once again.

Pittsburgh is a stunning city and I love running over the bridges (5 bridges in the half, 3 rivers!), taking in the sights, and hearing the cheers/music/cowbells around the course. I’m fortunate to also have friends who will show up and add to the cheers in each neighborhood. And I’m very lucky to make this race a family affair! My daughter ran the Toyota of Pittsburgh Kids Marathon (1 mile) last year. She asks about the race multiple times every month and can’t wait to run again this year. You can read her post about it here. Easily the best post ever featured on this blog! My husband ran the half last year and will run it again this year. My older brother ran the full last year. I might even talk a sibling or two into racing this year!

As I mentioned in my last post, this will be my final big race of the spring – the icing on the cake! My full marathon is now just 3 weeks away so my training is well underway. I will take a week off running after my full, then start gearing up for what I hope to be another half marathon PR!

I will do follow up posts talking about things like my preparation/hydration/fueling/nutrition in general or anything else that pops into my head. And please feel free to ask me any questions you might have!

Thanks for following along!

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Category Archives: Game on PGH

Pittsburgh Marathon 5k, 2nd Female, 18:49!

My Nutrition Plan

Time to Race Again!

Hey Pittsburgh Half Marathon – I’m Back! #GameOnPGH!