104 Days until the Prairie Fire Marathon

Weight: still 140

Miles ran this week: 17

Miles ran this year: 539

My #1 fan Brad on  the river

I had great workouts this past week.  The addition of the 20 minute "Firm" DVD's is really helping me.  I am not a fan of weight lifting but know that it is a necessary component of a balanced training program.  Weight training scares me because one time I really injured myself.  I was doing rear lunges with too much weight and something pulled and triggered painful Sciatica.  It was so painful that I actually had to quit running for 4 months.   This was about 5 years ago. I honestly thought that I would experience pain the rest of my life.  I now take a kinder gentler approach to lifting and figure at least I am doing something.  Two years ago I was on an early morning run and I tripped.  At the time I did not own a headlight for running, I now do.  That "trip" triggered Sciatica once again.

Joni, Kendra, myself and Brad on the river after our run

 Since I was connected to the Wichita running community I thought I would give Elite Sports Chiropratic a try.  Dr. John Messenger is amazing.  His approach is that of an athlete, because HE IS AN ATHLETE!  I would highly recommend him.  His office is next to SCP and you can see it when you are doing one of your favorite 4 mile runs.  Call first to see if your insurance is accepted.  Sadly mine is not, but I have gone ahead and paid full price because he was worth it.  Hopefully I can remain Sciatica free.  Track night was cancelled on Tuesday so I did my own speedwork on my treadmill in our basement.  I hate treadmills but they will keep you honest regarding your speed.  I have been attending the social runs on Thursdays but did not want to go to the track meet option at WSU.

Lisa, Kathy, Joni and myself after our 6 miles on Saturday

 For $5.00 you could enter all the races you wanted.  Not being much of a racer I decided to see if anyone would want to meet on the river for a run.  Joni, Kenndra and (Christy, I hope that is right as I am bad with names) met me and we had a great little 3 mile run.  My husband Brad Kayaked on the river while we ran.  Saturday our mileage dipped down and we ran 6 miles.  I am enjoying getting to know new runners.  I met Marie and ran close to 4 miles with her and Lisa was right behind us.  We stopped for a while at 4 miles and slowed our pace down for the last 2 miles.  Saturdays runs are not about speed but more about time on your feet.  

My sister Michelle and I at Joe Durt

Early morning runs will be challenging this upcoming 4th of July week.  The people in 'H" town go crazy with fireworks.  The evening of the 4th it will sound like a war zone.  This is why many of us are opting  to not do our long run on  Saturday the 5th of July but to wait until Sunday the 6th of July.  Joni has decided to host our 10 mile run at her house.  I am looking forward to running in the country.  I am also looking forward to hearing peoples stories of "why they run?" "how they started?"  Not at all running related but had a good time hearing my nephews cover  band  Joe Durt last night  If you love 80's metal you should go and see them the next time they play.  I am glad my sister invited me. 

On lead guitar my nephew Adam aka "Jax Deville"

Workouts for the week of 6/30-7/6

Monday AM: 4 EZ last 5 minutes progression

Tuesday AM: The Firm Super Sculpt. Tuesday PM: FU track night 3 miles 

Wednesday AM: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate: Cardio

Thursday AM: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate, Cardio + Sculpt. Thursday PM: Social run 3 miles

Friday AM: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate, Scuplt.

Saturday: REST

Sunday: 10 miles EZ from Joni's house.

Juno what? I LOVE MY BRA

111 Days until the Prairie Fire Marathon

Weight:  140 pounds

Miles ran this week: 17

Miles ran this year: 522

I thought I would start out with a little "bra history."

I loved these shoes!

 In the late 70's when I ran cross country, sports bras did not exist. If they did exist the cost would have been prohibitive.  Money was tight in my family and the  $35.00 that my parents had paid  for my sweet Nike's, was probably more than they could afford. As most female athletes of my age can tell you, we just wore our regular bra's, and that was that.  I believe sports bras became more readily available during the aerobics craze in the 1980's, and yes your girl NJ was a HIGH IMPACT aerobics crazed chick. I embraced these new bras and even had the figure to simply use them with a pair of shorts when I went for a run. Cheap bras worked for years until: Pregnancy, Breast Feeding, and Menopause.  I was 29 years old and for the first time in my life I actually needed better bra support.  Not easy to find when you are on the smaller side (34 B/C).  I sort of accepted the fact that in my size range that all I would ever get would be SOME support, not the compressed flat look that I like for my longer runs.

Juno what?  I LOVE this bra!

About a week ago Karlee Martinez had asked me if I would like to be a Moving Comfort ambassador.  All I would have to do is to write about my sports bra experience on Social Media.  I told her that I would be happy to write about it on my blog.  There are 10 of us that are ambassadors and we all have different "runners" stories.  Karlee did a great job selecting representatives. After listening to the presentation from the Moving Comfort representative I wondered if "Juno" would work for me?  If so it would offer me the "locked, loaded and compressed." look/feel that I like when I run. I ended up with the Juno model in black.  I LOVE IT!  

Kendra, Richard, Kirk, Nancy and I at the beer run

For me it will be a "running only" bra because it is pretty tight but it does what it is suppose to do.  I was running late to track night and had forgotten to put it on and I felt the difference.  I wore it Saturday and took it for an 8 mile run.  I am very happy with it.  You spend good $ every 500 miles on a new pair of shoes.  Why not treat your "other pair" with a quality sports bra?  If you are a part of the Start to Finish training program you got a coupon for a % off a Moving Comfort Bra.  More bra talk to come on Diva Night.

Melissa, Lisa, Angi, Kathy and I after our 8 mile run

 Did well with my workouts this past week.   Track night was hard.  I need to try and push myself more this next week.  Enjoyed the beer run and didn't even drink.  I really don't need the added expense or the additional calories that come with drinking.   I LOVE the bike path off of K96 because you get the added bonus of hills. Kathy and I ran with a great group of first time marathon runners: Melissa, Lisa and Angi and had a great 8 mile run on Saturday.

Workouts for the week of 6/23:

Monday: The Firm Super Sculpt

Tuesday AM: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate, Cardio. PM: FU track workout

Wednesday: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate, Cardio + Sculpt 3 miles EZ

Thursday: 4 miles tempo, PM Social Run?

Friday: The Firm Express: Cycle 2 Accelerate, Sculpt.

Saturday:  6 EZ but I would LIKE to try to run this at 10K pace (9:40-10:00 minute miles)

RUN HAPPY :)

118 days until the Prairie Fire Marathon

THE NEGATIVE VOICE INSIDE YOUR HEAD

Most runners will at one time or another experience that negative voice inside your head.  You know the one that tells you "You Suck!",  "You Are Slow!", "YOU are a Start To Finish Volunteer, REALLY?  Now you know some of the things that I was thinking during our first group run on Saturday.  The first 3 miles were OK and being excited about training again I probably started out too fast. By mile 5 I had to walk.  At 5.5 miles while walking I ran into Grace and told her "I don't think I can do 26.2, maybe I should cut back to 13.1?"  

I HATE YOU LAKE HEFNER!

I felt defeated and not worthy of my S2F (cut and fashioned to make it girly) volunteer shirt.  By the time I hit mile 7 Joni had come back to check on me and I told her I AM NOT DOING 26.2!!!   The negative self talk had gotten to me.  I had sort of expected to just be able to jump back in and be where I was 6 weeks ago at the Oklahoma City Marathon.  I know that after 6 weeks my body is completely rested/healed but I don't think I am emotionally healed.  If you ran OKC you will get what I mean, I know that my girl Kathy does too!  Rain, a two hour delay, hunger, wind, hills and heat. On Saturday I when I hit the last 2 miles of my 7 ( I had long lost the group) I was running into straight wind and was having lake Hefner flashbacks THAT WAS THE HARDEST PART OF THE RACE!  Twenty Four hours later I am happy to tell you, that your

Got these cheap at amazon.com 

girl NJ wants REDEMPTION!   I will run 26.2 again! Some runs are good and some are bad.  You just have to ignore that voice in your head. I am here to tell you that it is normal to doubt yourself at times.  You just have to get through it.

      My running and workouts were great this past week.  I really like the beginner training plan.  It allows me to run shorter distances more often.  When I do those shorter distances I am able to do them at my 5K - 10K pace which is a 9:30-10:00 mile.  I have missed that.  My long slow distance runs are generally at a 10:30-11:30 pace.  I am REALLY curious to see what my 10K will be like at the South Side Scorcher in a few weeks. I know that I needed to add weight training to the mix this time.  We dropped our YMCA membership so I am back to doing my cross training at home.  I purchased The

Joni, Me and Shawndra at track night

Firm Express dirt cheap on Amazon.  They are 20 minute workouts that have added nicely to my training. Each workout is only 20 minutes!  Think if this as a kinder gentler version of P90X.  My 19 year old has done P90X and I knew it would be took much for me.  I also went to track night this week and although it was hard it did not entirely kick my butt. I learned that I need to replace my Tuesday AM distance with the track night workout. Both workouts were not necessary and probably a bit too much for me.  It was great to take Shawndra to track night.  I hope that I get to run with her more often. Best part of the week?   was easily the ice cream run. 

WORKOUTS FOR THE WEEK OF JUNE 9-15-2014

Monday: The Firm Express Cycle 1 Ignite Sculpt

Tuesday: FU track night 3 miles

Wednesday:AM: 3 miles  and after my run The Firm Express Cycle 1 Ignite Cardio/Sculpt 

Thursday: 3 miles 

Friday: The Firm Express Cycle 1 Ignite Cardio

Saturday: 8 miles 

Running Happy with Kendra and Joni 

125 days until the Prairie Fire Marathon: LET THE TRAINING BEGIN

I just got back from the Start 2 Finish Kick Off.  I plan to once again blog about my training journey.  For those of you that don't know me, my name is Natalie Johnson and I am one of the volunteers for the S2F training program offered by GoRun.  I am 51 years old, have been running for 35 years and I am an average runner.  I will be working with the beginning marathon group and running the Prairie Fire Marathon in 125 days.  This training season I want to put more of the focus on those of you that I run with.  I LOVE hearing your stories.  Your stories will help me get through some of those long dreaded runs. Of course I will ask your permission before I write about you on my blog. My Oklahoma City Marathon a little over a month ago was hard and I have learned from my mistakes and I want to pass that knowledge on to you. Anyway I am sure we will all have great stories to tell one another.  I am really looking forward to our first group run.  

Before training 6/8/14

I had my husband Brad take some "before" pictures of me tonight.  I found my "Run Happy" shorts tonight on clearance at Dicks sports.  I already had the shirt and have another "Run Happy" tank top that my good friend Helaine got for me.  Anyway this is probably what I will wear on race day. In the past when I have trained for long distances I often lose weight.  This really has not been the case now that I am 51.5 and an aging woman.  Today on this eve of our training I weigh 140.  It was fun to see my running peeps tonight and I look forward to all the new people I am going to meet. About those mistakes I made.....................

I DID NOT CROSS TRAIN.  This time I will and it will involve weight training.  
I DID NOT DIET OR PAY ATTENTION TO NUTRITION.  This time I will, at 51.5 years you can not use "I ran 20 miles I can eat whatever I want" as your ticket to indulge.  My body is aging and I have to respect it with proper nutrition.  This is a hard one for me because as runner I WAS able to eat what I wanted and not put on weight, but now things are different.

Before training with Lucky 6/8/14

WEEKLY I WILL ELIMINATE ONE BAD HABIT FROM MY LIFE.  When I get into training mode it makes me really take a long hard look at my life and things I need to improve upon.

I DID NOT DO SPEED WORK.  This time I will so you will be seeing me at the Friends Track night.  I have been assured that I won't be the oldest chick at track night.  Do you have support at home?  I do, my husband Brad is my #1 fan.  He took these before pictures of me.  He is not a runner but shows his support of me with his "0.0" magnet that he has on the back of his car.  He has spent NUMEROUS hours on me waiting to cross the finish line. He is the first person I love to see when I cross a finish line. 

Workouts for the week that begins our journey

MONDAY: Firm Super Sculpt DVD

TUESDAY: 3 EZ and Friends U. track night I AM SCARED!

WEDNESDAY: 2 EZ  Firm DVD

THURSDAY: 3EZ ice-cream run, I plan on doing these Thursday social runs until school resumes.

FRIDAY: REST

SATURDAY: 7 EZ WITH MY NEW BEGINNING MARATHON CREW. 

130 Days until the Prairie Fire Marathon

Weight: 140

Waist: 32

Our first group run is on Saturday.  It is hard to believe that I ran a Marathon a month ago.  I feel like a slacker who is out of shape.  I have heard several people say that it often does take a month for you to decompress after a marathon.  It not only took its toll on my body physically it also did a number on me mentally.  It has been nice to not follow a training schedule and sort of just do what I want to do.  The furthest I have ran in the last month was 8 miles.  Kathy and I did 6 miles last Saturday.  .  Last winter we used one of Hal Higdon's training programs to train for the Oklahoma City Marathon.  This time things will be different as we have decided to us the training that Start To Finish gives us. By the way if you are interested in starting a running program I highly recommend this program.  Yes, I could train you but why listen to me when you can get trained by the best.

     I ordered The Firm Express video series to go along with my training.  Back in the day I was a VHS exercise Queen and had loved the Firm.  The Firm actually got to be too easy for me at one point so I had moved on to Cathe Friedrich DVD's.  I could sort of do  Cathe Friedrich  but they really were too hard for me.  I then moved on to a YMCA membership and running for my fitness fix.  And now I have gone full circle, dropped the YMCA membership and will be back to using The Firm DVD's in my basement.  I like the fact that I was able to order this series of DVD's used from Amazon and that each workout is only 30 minutes.  I think it will blend nicely with my running.
      The last 6 weeks have been stressful and I coped with it by eating.  I was 132 pounds on the day I ran the OKC Marathon and have gained 8 pounds since.  I say that I will be using My Fitness Pal but I just can't seem to get into the habit of it.  I had Brad take a picture of me this morning as sort of a "before" picture.  It seems that the older I get the harder it is for me to keep the weight off.
     I am looking forward to seeing the training plan.  Was thinking about participating in track night.  I really want to but fear that not only will I be the oldest female runner, I will be the slowest.  In my mind though I am still a 16 year old running Cross Country for Knob Noster High School.  If I do the track night I will need to make sure that I am not running on Wednesday morning.

WORKOUTS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK
Whatever I feel like UNTIL SATURDAY AND THE BEGINNING OF START TO FINISH.