Race Report: Kemp Mill (C)hills 10K

DATE: February 11; 8:30 am

DISTANCE: 10K

PLACE: Kemp Mill, MD

WEATHER: 48F; rainy

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: 21:10:01 / 11:30 min/mi

SWAG: light pre- and post-race snacks

Boy oh boy, it has been a long time since my last race report, but I was somewhat happy to run my 1st race as a resident of Maryland.

Thoughts:

Although this was a race, I really could not run as hard as I wanted to because I incorporated this race in to my 10 mile run. I ran 2 miles from our house, the 10K race, and 2 miles back to the house. The race was organized by the Montgomery County Road Runners Club (MCRRC) and was very low-key. Actually, this race was a part of MCRRC low-key race series, and I think it was the smallest race that I've completed. I think there were about 70 folks running. I wonder if more runners would have showed up had it not been for the rain or the Super Bowl. While it was a smaller race, I was actually a bit intimidated because everyone (well ~90% of the runners) had great running bodies. Geez, some of those male runners' quads and calves were on fire.

Course:

Although the name of the race has hills in it, I did not think that there was gonna be THAT many hills.

After hitting the first major hill within the first 0.5 miles of the race, I really considered running the 5K instead of the 10K. I forgot to mention that we had to option to run either 5K or 10K around mile four. However, when I saw the fork in the road (left for 10K and right for 5K), I decided to power through, especially because I really wanted to run 10 miles for my long run.

When they said low-key, they were not kidding because we started at a local elementary school and ran through the a quiet Kemp Mill neighborhood. I guess it was nice to have this low-key race because it gave me a little opportunity to explore the neighborhood a bit, even though I do not really remember where the hell we were running. Since the race took us through a Kemp Mill neighborhood, unfortunately, the roads were not completely closed with a few cars driving along the course.

Speaking of low-key, I had to LOL (in a good way) because MCRRC uses old school timer chips that one has tie on their shoes. I haven't seen one of these since my early New York Road Runner (NYRR) days back in early 2011.

Hey, it was all good in the hood. As long as the racing chip tracks the time, I don't really care where it goes. Random, I wonder if these chips are sensitive enough to be attached to running clothes or bib.

Since I was in long-run mode, I stuck to my walk 0.1 - 0.15mi at the beginning of each mile. With all of those inclines and declines, I definitely need those bits of recovery. Actually 24 hrs post race, my quads and calves are still quite sore, so I guess this race gave me a great workout. Also, it showed me that I REALLY need to do more hill work and that I have a long to go on my fitness journey. Also, this race made realized how much I missed participating in races, so with that I'm 99.9% certain that I'll register for an MCRRC membership.

Playlist:

I was feeling an 80s vibe, and this Spotify playlist has some pretty nice uptempo beats. Although I am an early 80s baby, I wish that I was an adult during that bc the music was so fun. Ummm....maybe not, bc from what I know HIV was a bit of a b*tch back then. Well, the virus is still a b*tch in today's times, but it's a bit more manageable now.

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 6

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

This week has been pretty ho hum in my running world. I'll admit that I skipped my long run this weekend. Fortunately for me, my long run was supposed to be a 5K race. ;) Instead of running a 5K race or doing a long run, I decided to hit the stationary bike for about 60 minutes while singing along to the original Hairspray.

Strength Training:

Strength training (supplemented with HIIT and yoga) has been going ok. Now, I've started supplementing my supplemental training with some exercises from Quick Strength for Running.

While the first week of exercises from the book look pretty easy, boy some of my smaller muscles definitely need work. The few exercises that gave me a run for my money were the adductor leg raises, side leg raises, and windshield wipers.

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Dieting/Proper Eating:

While I have been watching what I eat . . . kinda sorta, I was disappointed by my monthly weigh in. Unfortunately, I did not lose any weight during the month of January. In fact, I gained three pounds, which may or may not be significant. I completely understand that losing weight is 20% exercising and 80% managing your diet (or whatever the real ratio is). Well, I have been drinking these nasty veggie smoothies for lunch. I think the one below was a mixture of an orange, broccoli, spinach, carrots, blueberries, celery, and a scoop of yogurt.

Although I didn't lose any weight, I expected to at leave maintained my current (well, previous) weight since I have been working out. I guess that I need to do a bit more in terms of my diet/eating habits. One thing that I really need to change is my sleep habits. Like my eating, my sleeping is a hot mess for which I blame decades of being a night owl. Most nights (well mornings), I do not get to sleep until 1-3 am and will wake up around 6 am. I'm sure that my ghrelin/leptin hormones are out of whack. In case you are unfamiliar with these hormones:

• Ghrelin tells your brain that you are "hungry"and typically increases during sleep deprivation.

• Leptin tells your brain that you are full.

Goals for the week:

-Try to get to bed by 11 pm at least 3 nights this week.

-Begin meal prepping and planning my menu for the week. I think if I actually have a menu for the week, I'll be less likely to eat random crap.

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 5

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

Overall, this week was so-so because I did not do many of my runs; however, I managed to do my long run . . . so that's something. Over the weekend, well only on Saturday, we had a touch of "spring in winter" with temps in the upper 50s F. It was great because it gave me the opportunity to do my long run (8 mi) outdoors. Actually, it was so warm out that I had to take off my long-sleeved shirt around mile 6.

I kept this long run simple by running 4 miles along Sligo Creek Trail and running back.

The run was pretty nice, and it was great to smell some fresh air (instead of gym air) while running. I'm still doing the walk (0.1-0.25 mi) run (0.75-0.90 mi) method for each mile. Overall, I'm still falling in the long-run range (11:46-13:12 min/mi) for my training plan.

In fact, I ran the first half at a 12:44 min/mi pace and the second half at 12:37 min/mi. I know this pace is nothing to write home about, but it still counts as a negative split. ;) Using the walk/run method, I walked 0.25 mi for each mile during the first four miles and 0.1 mi during the second four miles. The weird thing: I'm not walking because I'm tired (for the most part); I'm walking because that's the only way I can stay in the 11:46-13:12 min/mi range. Also, it's kind of weird that I had a negative (albeit by a few seconds) for the second half because I walked for about 1/2 of mile while eating my Cliff bar during mile five.

Strength Training:

not do as many strength training workout as I would have liked. However, I managed to squeeze in a few Insanity Max: 30 HIIT workouts during the week.

I wonder if I'll actually finish the 60-day workout program. ;) Well, I know that I will not finish the program in 60 days because I'm doing this program to supplement my other fitness crap. However, it would be nice to finish this program. Normally, I get about 20 -30 days into the program and move on to another program or to another injury. ;) I think this happens because some of the 30+ day BODi programs becomes a bit repetitive.

Dieting/Proper Eating:

Ugh, I kind of had a setback. Because of my erratic sleeping scheduled (mostly caused by me), I haven't really been doing my 16-hr fasts or portion control. :( Actually, I find it's easier to fast when I work onsite (Tuesdays/Thursdays) because I do not chow down as much when I'm in the office, compared to when I'm home. Also, I'm a bit better with portion control during my office days since I do not have a pantry of food at my disposal - only a variety of teas and coffee. Dropping the ball with my eating this week reminded me of this meme from I Love Being Black’s IG.

So yeah, January will be my trial month for dieting/proper eating. Actually, I am proud of upping my daily intake of fruits and veggies by drinking homemade smoothies that typically consist of spinach, carrots, celery, apples, blueberries, broccoli, tomatoes, and a scoop of yogurt. At the beginning of the week, I shread a brunch of fruits and veggies so I'll save time not having to chop crap everyday.

Goals for the week:

Same goals as last week.

-Make health appointments. I need to find an internist because I have not had a physical with full blood work in two years. Also, I need to find an optometrist and a podiatrist. One of the crappy things about moving to a new city is having to find new medical specialists.

-Update my running playlist. It seems as if Eurovision has taken over a lot of my running (and general) playlists.

-Start meal prepping.

RnR Washington DC Half: Training Wk 4

Preface

Ok! Enough of this pity party with these “road to recovery” posts. 😉 The die has been cast, and I have officially registered for Run Rock n Roll Washington D.C. Half Marathon (RnR D.C. Half).

General Updates:

Now that I've finished my brief hiatus from blogging, it's time to get back on that horse with my weekly training updates. I'm training for Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon, which is in mid March. Since I'm easing back into to writing these updates, this will be somewhat unorganized.

Training has been going just ok - not great, but not bad. Because I had to deal with my back injury from August to October, I think that I have some hesitations in pushing myself out of fear of re-injuring myself. While slow is good sometimes, I think that I might be taking things a little to slowly I'm primarily following Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Training : Novice 1 Program (link: ***), which calls for about 3-4 runs each week. Also, most of the runs are in the easy range.

To figure out my pacing for this training runs, I used Runner's World Race pace calculator for a 2:30 half marathon (link: ***). Hopefully, I'll have a time that's faster than 2:30 for this half marathon on March.

With the exception of the tempo and VO2-max runs, I have been meeting my target times. The long runs have been a bit interesting. I know these runs are supposed to be slow; however, I do not know if my current pace range (11:46-13:13 min/mi) is TOO slow for me. Even with walking about 0.15 - 0.25 miles at the beginning of each mile, I'm still running 11:45 min/mi. You know what? I'm not gonna say that this is too slow because I'm still at the 7 mile mark for my long runs. Perhaps, I'll started landing in the middle point of the long run range once I hit 9+ miles for the long runs.

Oh last weekend, the hubby and I visited my hometown (Va. Beach), and we had a chance to actually vacation. What do I mean by "vacation"? Since it's the off-season, the hotels on the Oceanfront were "dirt" cheap. Prices were around $100/night instead of the typical $300+/night rates. So instead of staying at relative's place (since I've FINALLY started renting out my mother's house), we decided to stay on the beach. BTW, if you are ever in Va Beach, I highly recommend Hyatt Place Va Beach/Oceanfront (link: ***) for a few reasons:

• It's right on the boardwalk, so you will wake up to the sunrise overlooking the Atlantic (depending if you get a room with an oceanview).

• Also, it's in a decent section of the boardwalk, so you'll be near all of the nicer restaurants and bars.

• It's pretty new (I think it opened in 2022), and the rooms are pretty modern.

• Although this was not a consideration for us, the hotel is VERY pet-friendly.

• The breakfast buffet is pretty delicious.

• Also, the boardwalk is a great place to run, and you'll have King Neptune cheering you on. ;)

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Now, we are back to reality and dealing with snow that has hit the northern part of the mid-Atlantic region. Since I hate running in the snow, most of my runs this week have been treadmill-based. While I hate running in the snow, it sure does look pretty.

Strength Training:

While I have been consistent with strength training, I'm not really sure what I should be doing in the gym. Similar to my concerns about my back in regards to running, I have similar concerns with weight lifting. That said, because of my back situation, I have been focusing on lower body exercises that I normally ignored in the past, e.g., single-leg deadlifts, cable leg extensions, abductor/adductor machines, back raises, and weighted back extensions, etc. The book below might be right up my alley.

In a previous post, I low key complained about the "riff raffness" of my local Planet Fitness. However, I received an amazing Christmas gift because another local Planet Fitness opened up a couple of weeks ago, and it's more or less the same distance from my apt as the crappy one.

So this is great because I have a nice Planet Fitness near work and a nicer one near home. In other words, I have no excuse for not hitting the gym.

Racing:

Except for the Rock n Roll DC Half Marathon, I don't have anything on my race calendar for the upcoming months. BUT, that will change soon (hopefully). Recently, I learned about Run Washington (link: ***), which has a collection of local races in the DMV area.

Although the races do not look as robust as the one from New York Road Runners (NYRR), something is better than nothing. In fact, I'm eyeing a couple of races in February.

• Kemp Mill (C)hills 5K/10K (Silver Spring, MD)

• 2024 Falling for You 5k, 10k, & Half (Potomac, MD)

• (maaaaybe) Cupid’s Undie Run (Washington DC)

Since I used to be a member of Front Runners NYC, I might be interested in doing a run or two with Front Runners DC (oh, I'm sorry . . . DC Front Runners).

2024 km in 2024:

Ok so I'm going to try to run 2024 km in 2023. Last year's goal (2023 km in 2023) was a big fail due to my back injury. Well, let me keep it real. I probably wasn't going to make 2023 km even without the injury.

At least, I'll have 366 days instead of the normal 365 days to complete this task in 2024. ;)

Dieting/Proper Eating:

I'm back on my intermittent fasting plan. Starting this week, I will begin my full 16-hr fasts. While intermittent fasting has been going well, I need to start focusing on proper eating and portion control because I would like to lose at least 20 pounds by the end of April.

Goals for the week:

-Make health appointments. I need to find an internist because I have not had a physical with full blood work in two years. Also, I need to find an optometrist and a podiatrist. One of the crappy things about moving to a new city is having to find new medical specialists.

-Update my running playlist. It seems as if Eurovision has taken over a lot of my running (and general) playlists.

-Start meal prepping.