First annual Allison family Christmas Eve Run

David and I started a family tradition with our first annual Christmas Eve run. Because of our marathon training schedule, we had a 6 mile run, which is a pretty good length for offsetting all our "Eve" celebration calories. We were able to eat my family's traditional steak teriyaki, shrimp fried rice, chocolate delight and fruit cake cookies relatively guilt-free.

The run was good, with a slight chill in the air but not too cold, pretty typical of a Mobile, AL Christmas. The Santa hats were a nice touch, and had the added effect of keeping our heads nice and warm.

It went so well, we're thinking of instituting a New Year's Day run, complete with "Happy New Year" hats.

We made it...again!

David, Ashley and I, Team Intrepid Ambuscade, crossed the finish line of the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon yesterday in a respectable 2:06:55, shaving just over 3 minutes off the time David and I ran in the Big D Texas Half Marathon in April. So what if the Kenyans finished an hour before us. We were still in the top 50% (at least), which is good enough for me.

Next challenge: Big D Texas Marathon, David and Ashley's first 26.2, April 6, 2008.

Training will taper off for the next two weeks for Christmas and recovery, then shoot right back up to 10 miles the week after Christmas.

I am so excited!

L-3 Corporate Challenge 5K

Nice and sweaty after a fairly fast 5K. Go team!

Love Lost: Fried Food

David and I agree: Fried foods just don't have the appeal they once did.

After our 8 mile run with Ashley at White Rock Lake Sunday morning, we spent the afternoon at the State Fair of Texas, the Fried Food Capital of the World. Since I update their Web site year-round, I get free parking and admission to the Fair. We thought that sampling the fried goodies at the Fair would be a fun outing after a nice, long run.

Okay, so it was fun. But the fried foods were just disappointing. Everything seemed so...bland. The corny dogs. The fried cookie dough. I enjoyed the fried guacamole (although my stomach didn't), but no more than I enjoy a good bowl of veggie stirfry and steamed rice. I decided that rather than a fried snickers, I would be happier with a melted snickers and a spoon.

I think maybe all the running and biking and climbing and swimming and rollerblading and weight lifting and other activities we do, plus the healthy diet we follow, has made us not like the foods of the deep-fried variety quite as much as we once did...

I still haven't lost my love for pizza and chocolate ice cream, though, so don't you worry.

New schedule, plus food incentives

We have a slightly different schedule now for training. We're doing the Austin Oyster Urban Adventure Race, which is October 28. We had to switch to the White Rock Half Marathon December 9, which means training will be ramped up pretty quickly following Austin. The marathon goal is still the same: Big D Texas Marathon, April 6, 2008.

So far, the Adventure training with teammate Ashley has been going well. We have a name, for one. Intrepid Ambuscade. Meaning: "fearless or bold ambush." I figure that should strike fear in the hearts of our competitors (and maybe give us a head start?)

Running has been great; the miles haven't gotten too hard yet. Ashley joined us for a lovely 7 miles at White Rock Lake on Sunday. We felt good, despite our biking adventure the day before...

We bought vintage racing bikes from this retired guy who rebuilds them. The bikes are awsesome. The just-under-20-miles, 2 hour bike ride over the rolling hills in Rockwall/Fate was a little much for a starting point, though. Especially when my front tire started to go flat. However, it was still a kick-butt ride, and we burned a ton of calories, which we promptly replenished with On the Border. We expected to be sore the next day, but the run was really unaffected. I guess it's true that they really do use different muscle groups.

Speaking of being sore, we went rollerblading in our future new neighborhood last night (that's right, we close on our house November 9!) All was going well until I hit something in the road on the way back to the car that sent me flying. Good thing I invested in the wrist guards. It's too bad I wasn't wearing my bike shorts for the extra butt padding...I'm sure feeling it today.

In other news, we've decided to choose food incentives for long run days. This weekend: The State Fair of Texas.

AllisonKrewe is BACK!

That's right, we're back in the saddle and training again for races! David and I have been training for a 5K that's coming up in less than two weeks, and Chris and Cass told David this weekend that they have their eye on the Houston Half Marathon. So, David set out last night to figure out the perfect running schedule for us that would lead us through races: 5K, 10K, 15K, and Half Marathon, with the big finale being a FULL MARATHON. I was so excited when David told me he wanted to run one. We're going to run the Big D Marathon, the race in which we did our first Half together last year. I am so pumped.

Here's a link to our training schedule: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=piJNEXryWALMRNQ_FRWrRWQ

If you need any more reasons to race, check out this Runner's World article I came across today.

Here are the races on our schedule for this year:

09/16/2007 - Corporate Challenge 5-K (UTD, Richardson) - We're racing for L-3.

10/06/2007 - Vineyard Run 5-K (Grapevine) - An easy-going 5K that we're going to slow down and enjoy, with wine tasting afterward.

10/28/2007 - Halloween Hustle 10-K (McKinney)

12/15/2007 - Jog'r Egg Nog'r 15-K (White Rock Lake Area)

01/13/2007 - Chevron Half Marathon (Houston) - with Chris and Cassidy. I vote that Cassidy sets the pace. :-)

04/06/2008 - Big D Texas Marathon (White Rock Lake Area)

5K Training

This last Monday, Lauren and I started training for the Richardson 5k on September 16th (my B-Day... I'd better win). It's the first time since the weeks immediately following the half that will have run any significant distance. The training schedule we're basing our runs on is from Hal Higdon whom I highly recommend checking out.

We've had to modify the schedule a bit because we're now EXTREME people. We've really taken to in-door rock climbing at Canyons of Frisco and go twice a month on Saturday nights to climb our brains out. This also means we're strength training to build forearm muscles and upper body strength, and even though I didn't mention leg strengthening in there, it still makes the runs a whole lot harder.

To add to that, somewhere in our crazy heads, we've decided that we need to become expert swimmers, so on non-climbing Saturdays we swim for almost an hour in the afternoons at the Y. On climbing weekends, we do a more liesurly swim for about 20-30 minutes at mid-day and go climbing in the evening. Our first long run after a climb will be tomorrow. I'm curious to see if we survive.

Oh, and did I mention we own a kayak now? Yes, we do.

Left, Right, Repeat...

Well it is nice to say that I am running again!! I have a whole 5 miles on my new tenny-rubbers!! I have to say those things are the bomb.com! I highly recommend everyone get fitted for shoes BEFORE beginning a running regimen. I think Chris is going to get a new pair of shoes pretty soon now too. Getting back into the swing of things is going okay...man it is tough starting over from scratch! I am doing better than I did when I originally started running in October, but I have a long way to go to get back to where I was 'pre-injury'. Tonight Chris and I ran 3 miles (nice, slow 5 & 1's; time:36:20) I am much more conscious of my body now; I am much more serious about stretching and slowing down if I need to. We had a hard time just 'running for the sake of running' last week; so, we are going to start the 1/2 marathon training over again. Tomorrow we will start with 'week 3'. This will give us a tangible schedule to work with. If we want to repeat weeks or adjust the long run mileage we can!
We are currently working on a race schedule for the year: 5K's, 10K's, and a 1/2 or two in the fall! Any ideas or interesting races anyone has in mind let us know!
2007 is looking to be a grrrreeeaat race year for the Allisonkrewe team!!!!!!

See us finish...

...in photos!

Click here for David (1106)
Click here for Lauren (1107)
Click here for Chris (1105)
Click here for...Cassidy?! (1104) (Seems as though we have a case of mistaken identity...)

We did it!

That's right, we did it.

We finished the race, and we finished it in a lot less time than we originally anticipated.

Christian Allison: Chip time 1:53:07.00
David and Lauren Allison: Chip time 2:09:58.25

See the full race results here.

Faster, faster!

My goals for this race were, as follows:

1. Successfully complete the first half-marathon with my new family and, in result, begin a tradition of running races as a family event.
2. Use the training as a tool for weight loss, and along with Weight Watchers and the development of healthy eating habits, create a healthier future for my new husband and me.
3. Beat my half marathon personal record.

The last goal is on its way to fruition. My PRs for the only 3 races I've ever done are as follows:

• Marathon: 5:38:30
• Half-marathon: 2:38:33 during marathon; 2:46:06 during BR half
• 5K: 30:07.5

On Monday, David and I ran a quick 3 mile run up and down the hills around our apartment complex. The great thing is that, despite the hills, we finished in a little over 27 minutes, averaging a few seconds over a 9 minute mile. A 9 minute mile! And we weren't even racing!

Our 12 miler on Saturday was pretty quick, too: we finished in just over 2 hours, around 2:05. And that's including walks.

This half may just go by pretty fast after all.

Bad Ankle! Bad!

Subluxation of the Peroneal Tendon:
A snapping feeling of the tendon around the ankle bone.
Sporadic pain behind the outside ankle bone.
Angle instability or weekness.

Hey look, they're describing me right now.

Yeup, chalk another one up on the injury list. I went to the doctor this morning, and this is the conclusion. X-rays showed nothing wrong, and I have all of the symptoms. Good news is that I can keep running on it AND get to be a cyborg (my dream come true!) and wear something cool like this when I do it. Yeup.

Keep on treckin.

It was the best of times...

Really bad news this time...I went back to my doctor yesterday because the pain in my leg is not subsiding. He determined that I have a stress fracture in my tibia. I have an appointment to meet with the physical therapist, but basically I cannot perform any type of impact exercise for 4-6 weeks. I was talking to my physiology professor, who happens to be an M.D. specializing in exercise physiology and he said that the injury was just an unfortunate result of everything going wrong all at the same time. It took me 3 months into the training to discover how horribly my feet overpronate; I had no base mileage built up before beginning training, and I basically didn't listen to anything that my body was telling me!
Despite the fact that I will be unable to run in this race, I am in no way discouraged! I learned more about myself and what I am capable of in the last few months that I have my entire life. I am also really excited about trying out new forms of exercise during my recovery!
That great thing is that I don't plan to die any time soon, and there are only about 78 gajillion races every year. So, I will have ample opportunity to catch another race in the future.
Chris is continuing the training; he fell a little behind but is quickly catching up. I will also continue to train with him just in a different way. I will be riding my bike during the runs, a la Dave during Lauren's marathon training! That's right; I have resorted to being the water-bottle biatch for the next month!!
Anyway, I just wanted to send out the update!
Talk to you all soon!

A Valentine's love affair

Valentine's Day, as you know, is tomorrow.

Has the romance gone out of your relationship? Ever feel as though you're just going through the motions? Need a way to rekindle the flame?

Well, look no further. Runner's World has a great article about falling in love with running all over again. Maybe it'll bring back some of the magic to your love affair.

Bump in the Road

Well I have a little bad news. It turns out that my leg was more than 'just sore' from the 8-mile run. I actually have a severe strain in the anterior muscles of my leg, and I have been pretty much unable to bear weight on my right leg for over the past week. I rested last week hoping that would be enough, but it still hasn’t improved. This week I have come up with an exercise plan to keep me moving and keep my cardiovascular fitness up while I let this heal. I will be swimming everyday and hope to add some elliptical work in by the end of the week. This is extremely frustrating, but I am refusing to give up! The worst part of the whole situation is that I had no warning! I never had any problems before: no soreness, no pain and then all of the sudden this happened. I am really hoping to be back on the track next week. I will keep you updated on the progress.
Sincerely,
Frustrated and Gimpy in College Station

6 under 60

We did it! David and I managed to run 6 miles in under 60 minutes, something that neither of us has ever done before. We averaged less than a 10 minute mile throughout, including two short walks. Overall, it was a great run for both speed and endurance. It also made both of us feel very good about ourselves.

Of course, we'll be slowing it down A LOT this weekend. This should be a much more challenging week, with a 5 mile run on Thursday and two 3 mile runs before the 9 miles on Sunday, but I feel ready for it.

David and I have finally gotten past a big hurdle in our weight loss: David is now below 200, putting him only about 9 pounds from his goal; I am down to 147, putting me about 7 pounds (maybe more) from my goal.

Imagine running with a 35-or-so pound sack of potatoes on your back.

Now imagine how much easier it would be to run without that sack of potatoes.

That's one reason why David and I are so excited about our weight loss.

The other, of course, is the fact that we look FREAKIN HOT.

Not to be conceited or anything...

Halfway There...

We are officially half-way through the training program. The 8-mile run on Sunday concluded week nine! Chris and I had a really great run on Sunday; because we are still unsure of pacing and whatnot, I have broken the run down into each mile so that Lauren can see if we are on track and if we are tackling the long runs properly. Plus, I just learned how to use a bunch of cool new features on the GPS watch!
Mile 1: 9:53
Mile 2: 10:10
Mile 3: 11:07 (the extra minute came from a 1-minute walk/water break)
Mile 4: 10:01
Mile 5: 10:01
Mile 6: 11:11 (includes a minute walk break/water/sports gel pack)
Mile 7: 10:09
Mile 8: 9:49
Total time: 1:22:24 Average pace: 10:18/mile
The run was the best long run that I have had throughout the training. My right shin is incredibly sore today however; I am not sure if it is a muscle strain or shin splints. (It wasn’t hurting at all during the run) Any treatment suggestions are incredibly welcome. I could barely walk on it today. This is the first time I have really felt any pain or soreness after running. I am not sure if I should try running tomorrow or if it is better to take the day off?
I can’t wait until we can get together again for another long run; Chris and I will definitely check our schedules, and we will set up another play date in Dallas one weekend.

Breakthrough!

Tonight I had the best run of my life...that’s right, of every single run that I had ever made, tonight’s was the best. I jogged four miles without any stopping, or walking, etc... I just ran straight through the whole thing! I literally had a smile on my face the entire time!! We finished in 39:35; it was also the first time that I have ever run without looking at my watch one time. This run tonight made all of the misery from last week melt away. I am now more excited about running than I was on day 1. I pretty much played the cheesiest mind-game with myself the entire time, but hey it definitely worked. I imagined every bad thing in my life and everyone who has ever tried to hold me back, and I ran away from them. I looked forward to ever great thing that is in my life, and I ran toward them!! I just wanted to share that with everyone!!! Hope you have a great week and an even greater 8 mile run on Sunday (eek...that is just a tad scary!)

It's Official Folks...We're Runners!!

Well, Sunday we completed our longest run to date. It was quite amazing! I now consider myslef a runner for two reasons: 1) I ate a disgusting pack of goo for the sake of running and 2) I ran in public in a sports bra! After mile 3 I decided it was a little too hot for a long-sleeved shirt, so I tied it around my waist and finished the run in my sports bra! Our run went well; it took us 79 minutes start to finish. I felt really great the whole time until the last mile when I started to really break down, but hey...I finished! This week will be even more challenging, and I am really looking forward to taking it on.
I hope everyone has a fantastic week, and I look forward to hearing from you!!

We Run So We Can Drink and Eat Wings

Yep, this is a picture of us about 40 minutes after completing 7 miles in 75 minutes. Suck on it Weight Watchers. We're at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the 'aints (formerly known as the Saints) lose. Good try though guys, really.

Anyway... Lauren and I think the run went really well. White Rock was wonderful and the temperature tipped the scales at a massive 53° at 3:00. Excellent running weather. This week is a series of 3-4-3 followed by an 8 mile run on Sunday. It's going to be tough because my parents and two youngest brothers are coming in. Somehow, I don't think they'll want to come.

On the technical side... the Garmin reported me as having burned over 1500 calories during the run. I found a good forum post somewhere on the net alluding to an update. We'll see how it fairs. In the mean time I have a very informative Runner's World article to share.
HOW MANY CALORIES ARE YOU REALLY BURNING?

Running Blues

Well Team, we have nearly completed week 8 of training!! This week has by far been the most difficult week that I have experienced thus far. I’m am not quite sure what it is...my schedule is all jumbled because school just started, I haven’t had the time to monitor my diet as carefully, and I am just feeling crappy about my progress. Two out of the three runs this week had me in tears and wanting to just quit. My three mile run times have been great the last couple of weeks, but this week I was barely able to finish them! Hopefully this is just a small bump in the road, and soon I will snap out of it. For the Sunday run, Chris and I have worked out a plan to keep it enjoyable: we are going to run 10-minute miles with a 1-minute break in between each mile. I think this will help me to tackle the long run with more confidence!! Oh yah, we each got a Clif shot thing so that we can try them out on Sunday. I’m pretty stoked about that!!!
Happy trails my friends!!!!

Inspiration from a DVD rental

If you're looking for something to give you that extra push of motivation that will get you through the long hours of running that training for a half marathon or marathon requires, then you should rent Running on the Sun. This film documents the trials and tribulations of forty runners as they attempt to complete one of the most difficult and dangerous races in the world: The Badwater. The race is a grueling 135 miles through Death Valley in the July heat, through sand storms and up miles of mountains. The race has to be completed in less than 60 hours; to get the "belt buckle," the coveted finisher's medal, you must finish in less than 48 hours.
I never realized the things that can happen to the human body under such pressure; then again, I also never realized how much a person could push himself to achieve a feat like this. The runners are what everyone would call "runners," but not necessarily what you would call "athletes." They're regular people, just like you and me, who set out to do something extraordinary. They were men and women, and they ranged in age from mid to late 20s to a man who was 68. They came from several different countries. Most of them were blue collar workers. One was a New York Times journalist. One was a United States Marine. Two men were amputees.
It was incredible to see who made it the entire distance, and who was taken down by the elements. While the young Marine succumbed to the heat and became so dehydrated that he had to be given an IV, therefore disqualifying him, a man whose right arm and leg were lost in a land mine crossed the finish line before the 60 hour time limit.
If that doesn't motivate you, then I don't know what will.

Another big one @ White Rock

6.64mi in 1:25 for a pace of 12:49. Max pace: 8:19 waiting outside of a porta-potty according to the Forerunner (ran in circles for a while). It was a good run with a nice easy pace in which ran 5 and 1s for the most part because we're still building Jaspreet up. He's showing a ton of improvement and just needs a little more motivation to go all the way.

White Rock is nice and flat, and it's pretty hard to get bored. We'll definitely be out there again.

One word of advice. Take the maps you get off of the USATF website, like this one, with a grain of salt. We ended up taking a different route back because it turns out Mockingbird doesn't seem to have a side walk at the turn around point in the link above and you do not want to run down Mockingbird without one. Aside from this little snafu, I love the website and from now on I'm going to post our courses under the Team Allison Krewe name. Look for links to those in a later post.

Team AllisonKrewe: 12/31/06

Left to right: Cassidy, Chris, Sadie, David, Lauren

First run as a team, 5 miles

Yep, no I in Team...

Sunday was the AllisonKrewe team's first run together! That's right, all four team members plus junior puppy member Sadie were running all over Rockwall...or at least, all over the area surrounding the apartment complex so that it added up to 5 miles. Making our own path was easy thanks to our new GPS watch which tracked our every move. In my opinion, the run was a good one. Good pace, nice and easy, several challenging hills, only two stops, felt good afterward, and everyone stayed together. Of course, it was a lot more interesting since we were just running without a set path. It was like Choose Your Own Adventure running: do we run down this sidewalk or cross the street? Do we choose the hilly neighborhood or the track? Do we turn around or go down the random dirt path? Do we keep running through the sticky mud that weighs down our shoes or head for the back parking lot of the Hobby Lobby?

Nothing makes running more entertaining than having 3 people and a dog running with you, and having no idea where you're going. Yeah, we know, we're EXTREME.