eBay Bra Wars

Before Lance Armstrong was blood doping and injecting himself with EPO, Tour de France cyclists were drinking beer, liquor, and any other kind of booze they could get their sweaty hands on to help push themselves through the pain of the strenuous journey. At some point, it was realized that it was best to save that beer for after the race, but the stories of the cyclists raiding a bar on the route and chugging wine passed out by spectators tell me that athletes have always been in search for that “extra something” or “secret formula” in order to excel past their current limitations.

Counting down the final weeks of Boston Marathon training when I have only just begun, has lead me to look at ways in which to boost my performance without adding additional stress to my body.  The second most obvious way (the first being to cut back on the beer drinking) is to take energy gels during the marathon instead of relying solely on Gatorade.  I previously raced using only the Florida Gator’s signature sports drink because I read that a cup of Gatorade gave you the same amount of energy as a gel.  However, I also read that I should walk through the water stations, but for various reasons that’s not going to happen.  And since I splashed almost every bit of the small cups of Gatorade I was able to grab during the Marine Corps Marathon (I got completely blocked out of the first station), I knew coming in to training that I needed a new source of fuel.

However, my biggest problem has not been learning to swallow the warm GU without gagging (I’m just going to save us all and not go there.), but instead it was the same darn dilemma that every girl faces on almost a daily basis – What am I going to wear??

Aside from the one or two freebies on the course (or if you are lucky enough to be an elite and get to tape them to your bottle service), in order to consume gels during a marathon, you have to carry them with you on the run.  And sure, you can find plenty of fuel belts, longer shorts with gel lops, and tips on safety pining your nutrition to your shorts, but I just can’t believe those ideas would be comfortable – or as cute as my Nike boyshorts that I wore in the Marine Corps Marathon.

Luckily though, the clothing crisis was averted when I caught two big breaks.  The first was discovering that Nike had a new pair of boyshorts that not only have the back zipper pocket like my old pair (a rarity!) but they also have two inside pockets for gels.  Yes – to the average person, it probably appears as if I bought the exact, same pair of boyshorts again, but trust me – these new ones are so much better!

My second big break came in the form of a tip from another female runner about an amazing bra.  While this bra can hold more boosting power than any other I have ever tried on, it is not the Miracle bra, Wonder bra, or any other kind of push-up bra that you would find in a Victoria Secret magazine.  Instead, it is the Lululemon “Stuff Your Bra” bra.  With pockets built in to the bra, you can easily and safely tuck in two gels (one over each boob) and perhaps fool a guy or two at the starting line in to believing that female distance runners are more well-endowed than we really are.  The only hiccup with my new marathon support was that Lululemon was no longer carrying the bra!

And thus began the eBay Bra Wars.

After perusing the eBay website, I quickly learned that my new gel bra was about as hot a commodity as a Princess Diana beanie bear in the late 90s.  (Oh yes, I made my mother wait in hour-long lines and buy hundreds of those things, but getting my hands on the Princess Diana bear was one of my first tastes of sweet success.)  Scalpers had evidently stocked piled the bras and were selling them on eBay for as much as $125!

Having difficulty not only swallowing a gel but also the cost of an exorbitantly-priced bra, I decided to try my luck at bidding.  However, after doing some quick research on how to win an eBay auction, I learned that winning an auction may take more skill that scoring big at a Las Vegas’ blackjack table.

After having my first bid on a black Lululemon “Stuff Your Bra” bra quickly overturned, I decided to follow the suggestions in my research and put in my highest and final bid with only a minute to go.  Sure – I felt a little bad about “sniping” the bra as they call it, but I justified my ruthless tactics with the fact that I needed this bra.

Unfortunately, nowhere in my research did it say that you should confirm that you are signed-in to eBay before placing your bid, and how am I honestly supposed to remember my username and password?  I have like a million usernames and passwords!  Needless to say, I stayed up late to win my bra and failed to even get in a bid.

After being left feeling utterly deflated by my eBay bra failure, I decided that I would never again bid on anything on eBay – That is, until another “Stuff Your Bra” came on that auctioning block, and this one was pink! – which should have at least added a few dollars to its worth.  Thus, I resolved to learn from my mistakes and try again!

I have to admit that it was pretty heated and perhaps a little dirty.  Signed in to eBay with five minutes to go on the auction, I placed my bid but this time I allowed eBay to begin bidding for me.  With ten minutes to go, I had already seen some movement in the price and sure enough, after I placed my bid, some size-four chick or perverted man upped his bid as well.  The war was on.

I increased my max bid once or twice in the last two minutes of the auction (can’t remember exactly since my adrenaline was pumping and I kind of blacked out), and I made sure to make my max bid end in .03 instead of an even dollar amount in case my competition and I landed on the same amount. 

I may have screamed as much at my computer as I did at my television during the Carolina-Duke basketball game, but the result was the same – victory!  I am now the proud owner of a hot pink Lululemon “Stuff Your Bra” bra.  And it was only $58.  Yeah, I know, I’ll pack it away with the beanie babies one day.

Boston Experiment Week 8 of 16:  31.5 miles with two days of easy aqua jogging 

Expected mileage to be low since I took the first part of the week off.  I had two training runs – 1) nine-mile workout with 2 x 10 minutes at 5K/Half-Marathon Pace and 2) 20-mile long run with first 16 miles ran at 7:30-8:00 pace and last four at 6:30-7:00

This Week’s Beer Choice:  Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA (Bought a six pack of this favorite in hopes that it would get me in the racing spirit!)

LSD and Ice Baths – The Experimentation Continues

I didn’t want to go back there.  The thought of it made me feel a little queasy.  And the smell.  God – the smell!  I’ve read that smell is perhaps the strongest sense in recalling not only memories but the associated emotions as well.  The scent of chlorine used to evoke warm childhood memories of summers when I never changed out of a bathing suit (or babeing suit as I called it) and my skin would tan to a golden brown and my blonde hair turn a light shade of seaweed green. Now, however, when I smell the chemical, I think of a less fond and more recent time when I spent endless hours at the local aquatic center aqua jogging in order to rehab my sprained ankle.

And now – I’m back there again.   As much as I tried to incorporate rest and easy days in to my training schedule, my body is just not adapting as quickly to the load as I would like.  It’s as if my legs are like that of Scoobie Doo’s, standing in front of a haunted house, digging in his heels, shaking his head and saying “Uh uh.  I’m not going there.”

With Charlotte covered in snow late last week, running outdoors was almost impossible.  I ran – or rather moved my body – seven miles one day over uneven mounds of snow where I feared I would twist an ankle and through large puddles of water that drenched my feet.  Main roads were cleared more quickly than neighborhoods and sidewalks, but then I was scared for my own life as I attempted to share the roads with cars, trucks and buses.  And for the record, our city buses do not budge.  It’s as if those things move on train tracks.

Since Charlotte and my legs were both in shut-down mode, it seemed the appropriate time to take a few days off, allow myself to rest, and regroup. 

During my down time, I attempted once again to get my entire lower body in to an ice bath.  I’ve spent more time with ice packs glued to my legs than I can count, but in the past, every time I’ve ever tried to lower my body into a tub of chilly water and ice cubes, I’ve just physically not been able to do it.  But this past week I finally figured out what should have been obvious in the first place – add the ice once you get in the tub.  It may take a few seconds for the water to get colder and perhaps the tub doesn’t get as cold because of your body heat, but believe me – it’s cold enough.

On the flip side, I heated up my body when I dropped in to my first LSD (Long, Slow, Deep) class last Sunday night.  Not only am I sticking to one of my new year’s resolutions to stretch more, but I know that running on tight muscles adds so much more stress on my legs.  The yoga class helped to lengthen my muscles and bring some clarity to my mind to begin another week. 

Even with my recent LSD experience though, it is still difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that I am supposed to be racing in less than four weeks.  I am planning on running the Tobacco Road Half Marathon in Cary, NC on Sunday, March 16^th.  As of right now, I really have no idea how I will perform.  I think it will be “interesting” in the same way that my vet suggests I spend hundreds of dollars on tests for my dog because while they may not be necessary, the results would be “interesting.”

I don’t think I ever really liked the Science Fair growing up.  Probably because I, typically an overachieving student, frankly just wasn’t very good at conducting science experiments (Full disclosure – I’m pretty sure my mother used salt water on one of my plants in a 2^nd grade experiment to help me get the desired test results.)  But before I ever did my first training run, I realized that this training period was going to be more of an experiment rather than a time for undergoing hard training in hopes of a strong marathon.  I still believe that I can have a solid run at the Boston Marathon in April, but my two biggest goals are to get to the starting line healthy and – taking a long-term approach – come out of Boston in a position where I should be able to be start a hard training period not long after in hopes of qualifying for the Olympic Marathon Trials in the fall at the Marine Corps Marathon.

So, the immediate plan?  Return to training after my quick hiatus but limit myself to just three, quality runs a week to begin with and fill in with two days of easy deep water running as well as a couple of yoga classes.  It’s not great, but I am choosing to be conservative as well as optimistic about the possibilities. 

In the spirit of my great heroine Bridget Jones who declares “will persevere with resolution to find a nice, sensible man.  Will put a stop to flirting first thing tomorrow….”

Good Plan.

Boston Experiment Week 7 of 16:  23  (I missed my long run, another training run, and some junk miles)

This Week’s Beer Choice:  NoDa Brewing Company’s Hop Drop and Roll at The Dog Bar

My Dog at her Version of Disney Land - The Dog Bar

Random Dog on Bar at The Dog Bar

Chicken-Quinoa Soup for the Body

“Lap Three!  Keep Running!!” shouted out one of my neighbors (who I don’t know) from the front porch of his home this past Friday night as I passed by, charging slightly uphill at an uncomfortable pace.  Even though I chuckled at the guy’s remarks, truth be told, I needed a little encouragement because I felt like I was dying.

There’s a large part of me that would be happy running slow, easy miles all the time and not trying to kill myself on a Friday night when I should be home sitting on my front porch drinking a beer like my neighbor probably was.  But I know if I want to race fast, I’ve got to have some fast (uncomfortable) running in training.

Thus far, I probably would sum up my training for the Boston Marathon as “mostly crap.”  I started preparing for the race way later than I had intended because of my sprained ankle, and then when I was finally able to return to running, I felt like I was forced to focus more on recovery rather than progressing into a faster runner.

However, this past week of training was probably the first week that I feel like I had some real substance.  Wednesday night I was doing 3-minute repeats of running uphill at around a 5:40 pace, Friday night I was running 15 minutes at marathon pace with a two minute active recovery followed by 15 minutes at half marathon pace, and then Sunday during my long run, I threw in 10 x 90 seconds at what was supposed to be 6:25 minutes-per-mile pace but instead I ran them too quickly (so, I probably got in some half marathon-specific training rather than marathon-specific).

Even my Saturday night yoga class was brought to a new level of intensity this past week.  When I arrived at class after running five easy, slow miles, I expected to join the normal, smallish group of yogis to get in some stretching to complete my “rest day.”  Instead, there were people everywhere and not a free cubbie in sight to store my belongings during the hot vinyasa class.  I felt like I was in the twilight zone.  What was going on?  And then I saw her – the five-foot, little devil of a machine, our substitute (and evidently popular) yoga instructor.  I think this chick inhaled too many incents because she was off her ass – literally.  Legs spread out front in a V-shaped position, the Machine floated with one hand in front of her body and one behind. 

“This is not a spectator sport, people.  Try it.”  Was she serious??  I can’t do that.  “Yes, I’m serious.”  Oh my god.  The Machine can read my mind.

Needless to say, I went in to my Sunday morning long run already sore (and came out even more so).

After pushing myself a little harder this past week, my body is feeling a bit banged up.  Nothing serious (thank goodness!) but my muscles are certainly aching.  While my mother thinks my diet could use some more Thin Mints (“Paula – You’re too skinny.  You need to eat more Girl Scout Cookies”), I chose to ignore that little nugget of motherly advice and instead cooked up a pot of chicken-quinoa soup (recipe from The Runner’s World Cookbook) Sunday night to help aid with recovery and build my muscles back stronger.

Taking the easy route is almost always more appealing.  I believe we as human beings instinctually chose to avoid any unnecessary exertion.  Why else would we drive around a parking lot for 10 minutes so that we can save ourselves 10 additional seconds of walking?  And I know that when I am out running, pushing the pace, my instinct is to back off and take it easy.  I have to tell myself all the time – “No, you are not dying.  Stay calm and move on through this.”  And I usually am right – I am fine, and I can hold the pace if I don’t start freaking out about the effort.

Easy is just that…it’s easy.  And it’s safe.  But to get stronger and better at something, you have to push outside your comfort zone.  To race fast, you have to train fast.  And if you are feeling a little beat up (like me), just make yourself some chicken-quinoa soup for the body.

Boston Experiment Week 6 of 16:  57

This Week’s Beer Choice:  Loose Cannon IPA with my sushi at Miyagi’s in Charlotte’s NoDa Neighborhood  (BOGO Happy Hour is The Best Deal in Sushi in Town and also The Best Sushi!)

Snow Day Speed Play

It’s been a chilly winter here in Charlotte, but every time the temperatures have dropped, the skies have cleared and the sun has shined down brightly (Conversely, every time it has warmed, it has inevitability rained as well.)  That’s been the case for the season thus far, but it all changed this past week when we finally got some snow!

While I was delighted as a young kid to see my little bungalow and its surroundings turn in to a winter wonderland (I like to take LOTS of pictures!), I had to still figure out how to run in the stuff!  There are no marathon training make-up days in my schedule for when it’s too icy to hit the streets.  And let’s not even think about how far behind I am on Boston training.  If Boston were a college class, I’d throw in the towel and elect to treat it as a pass/fail.

My little bungalow in the snow.

When I initially left the comfort of my warm home on our snow day, I could barely walk on the pavement.  I had to take baby steps in order not to fall!  I immediately knew two things:  One – my dog was not getting a walk that day, and two – there was no way I’d be running on the slick streets.

So, what did I do? 

Well, do you remember my old, grass track around the corner from my house where I started running barefoot last summer when I had a stressed-out right foot and blood blisters on my left from running barefoot on pavement (I’ve really done some dumb things!)

http://brewsandrunningshoes.blogspot.com/2013/07/when-going-gets-tough-tough-get-running.html

If not, that’s ok because I had about forgotten about the place too.  But last Wednesday I realized that the little, grassy park around the corner may be the only place in my snow-covered neighborhood that was not too slippery to run on. 

And as I have learned from analyzing my past training logs, history will repeat itself.  Three weeks in to Boston training almost immediately after being out for an injury is very similar (if not more stressful) than my first few weeks of Marine Corps Marathon training were last summer when my body struggled with the added intensity.  That’s why this past week and a half or so I have been focusing on listening to my body and not doing anything stupid so to decrease the potential to re-injure myself.  And since things did feel a little stressed last week, I realized getting off the hard sidewalks and streets was the perfect solution for not only the snow but also my legs.

So, I set out on my chilly journey creating a small path as I ran around the snowy field and weaved through the trees where I pretended I was in a scene from the Chronicles of Narnia.  May seem silly but I felt like I had as much fun playing around in the snow as the neighborhood kids.

To throw in a little quality, I randomly did some strides on the straightaway – nothing serious, just a little speed play to spice up ten miles that were made up of laps that were slightly less than .25 miles in length. 

You may think that running close to 50 laps (believe me – I didn’t count!) around a tiny park may have seemed dull, but the beauty in spending years doing tax returns and months aqua jogging in a pool is that after those things you have the mental strength to endure all sorts of monotony.  But I honestly didn’t have to tap in to that strength…Running in the snow was a novelty of sorts.  I’m sure it would get old after a while, but just for a day, I enjoyed my snow day speed play.

Some times we spend too much time focusing on all the things that go wrong, but the truth of the matter is that things rarely go perfectly – When things go perfectly that’s the exception to the rule.  We won’t always have 60 degree running weather with clear skies and our bodies won’t always be 100% healthy, but you have to work with what you are given and learn from your past mistakes.  So, when life throws you a snowball, you just have to find a new way to play the game.

Boston Experiment Week 5 of 16:  52

My mileage was same as last week…let’s call that SALWee since in tax we love to blame our mistakes on the fact that they were SALY (Same As Last Year).  Great news is that I am feeling really solid and looking forward to conservatively increasing my mileage next week.  My long run of the week (18 miles at an average pace of close to 7 minutes/mile) gave me some confidence that even with less-than-ideal training, there’s potential for Boston to be a good race.

This Week’s Beer Choice:  Boulevard Brewing Company’s Single-Wide I.P.A. (My beer was more exciting than the Game)