I started this blog at the beginning of 2011 to chronicle my journey through training for my first marathon and also completing my first 90 days of P90X. However, it turned into much more than a 90 day reflection and it now serves to document my experiences as I train for half marathons, marathons, and triathlons as well as complete Beachbody programs like P90X, P90X2, and Insanity.
I am a 29-year-old woman born and raised in Southern California. I grew up in Huntington Beach, an Orange County town nicknamed “Surf City,” yet I didn’t get on a surfboard til I was 26. Although I live one block from the beach in Encinitas, a suburb of San Diego, I prefer to run and bike next to the ocean rather than surf in it.
My Fitness Background
Fitness has always been a part of my life. As a kid, I couldn’t decide which sport I wanted to do. I tried dance, gymnastics, softball, and even ice skating in elementary school. However, I was never a runner. In 6th grade we had to run the mile for time and I couldn’t even run one loop without walking. I achieved excellence in every other category on the state physical exam ( I could even do a pull-up!) but I couldn’t run the mile fast enough to be considered excellent in all categories. I literally despised running and believed that I just wasn’t built to run.
However, in 7th grade I started to run a little more and built up my endurance. I joined the track and field team and competed in the 100 meter dash, long jump and high jump. I also played on the junior high basketball team and joined a league outside of school. I liked basketball more than any sport I had ever tried. However, in high school I joined the swim team after not even trying out for the basketball team because I heard a rumor that no one makes the high school basketball team without having played on an expensive club team. Swimming turned out to work pretty well for me and I won first place in the breast stroke at the league championship my freshman year. I continued swimming throughout high school and also played on the field hockey team my junior and senior years. I learned to lift weights while on the swim team and continued to implement the moves I learned into my own routine at the gym.
Staying in shape in college was a challenge for me at first since I no longer had a sport to keep me busy. My freshman year I found a Paula Abdul workout video and used it and a very strict diet to help me lose some of the weight I packed on from cafeteria food and too much partying. I was a regular at the gym throughout college and also discovered I could run more than a mile at a time my sophomore year. Although running wasn’t my primary focus (I found it boring), it came in and out of my routine for years. About a year after college I discovered workout classes at the gym – specifically Turbo Kickboxing and 24 SET, a mix of cardio and weight lifting.
College- More Partying Than Fitness
When I was 24 years old I decided to sign up for my first half marathon. I tried to find someone to train with but everyone thought I was crazy. I trained all on my own, mostly on the treadmill in my condo building’s gym, and finished the 2009 Carlsbad Half Marathon in 2 hours 13 minutes. I was incredibly proud of my accomplishment but didn’t think I would do another race since it wasn’t much fun to train all alone. However, a little over a year later my friend Asia and I decided to train for another half marathon, but this time we’d run together. I set a goal for myself to break the 2 hour mark and at the 2010 AFC half marathon in 2010 I came 1 minute 59 second shy of my goal. I was determined to achieve it and signed up for 2011 Carlsbad Half Marathon and finally achieved my goal (and started this blog!). Soon after, Jeremy, Asia, Mike and I made a pact to run the 2011 Rock n Roll Marathon together. It would the first marathon for all of us.
Running My First Marathon With Good Friends!
For some crazy reason, Mike and I decided to complete P90X as we trained for our first marathon. This blog was actually inspired by the fact that there was little information online about how to do this. P90X changed everything for me- I lost the 10 lbs I’d been struggling to lose for years, dropped 5 minutes off my half marathon PR, and gained a ton of muscle and even more confidence.
After completing the marathon in June 2011, my sights then turned to triathlon. I borrowed my Dad’s road bike, bought a wet suit, tri-suit, bathing suit, and all the other necessary gear, and completed a practice triathlon put on by my local Triathlon Club. After only 6 weeks of training, I completed my first sprint triathlon and loved it. It was a good thing that I liked it because Asia, Jeremy, Mike and I, dubbing ourselves Team WODS, signed up for Ironman Couer D’Alene and the Oceanside Half Ironman the night before. In August I raced the AFC Half Marathon and took nearly 10 minutes off my previous year’s time. In September I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon, coming in 3rd in my age group. I was happy to know that not only was triathlon something I was passionate about, I was actually pretty good at it too!
In June 2012, after a year of non-stop training, countless bike rides, swims & runs, early mornings, late afternoon post-training feasts, I crossed the finish line at Ironman Coeur D’Alene. It was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Finishing IM Coeur D’Alene 2012
Post Ironman, I focused on friends and family and then in the Fall began ramping up my training to achieve my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 2013. Also immediately following the Ironman I decided to change my diet to mostly plant based. I consider myself a “flexatarian,” eating primarily a vegan diet at home, often a vegetarian at restaurants and a meat-eater on rare occasion.
There’s More to Me Than Working Out!
Outside of my obsession with all things fitness, I do have a life! My two main passions outside of fitness are cooking and travel. I love to find new recipes and try them out and luckily Mike is more than happy to try them out. I especially love any food with avocado, onion, mushrooms and red peppers! Each month a group of my good girlfriends and I have a dinner party. We take turns hosting and making the main dish but we all bring a dish to share. It is one of my favorite days of the month.
Spain!
I’m also quite in love with travel. I went to Europe (London, Paris and Munich) for the first time in high school and then went back for 4 1/2 more months when I studied abroad in Madrid during my junior year of college. A good friend and I lived with a host family and were fortunate enough to travel to several other European countries and many other Spanish cities during our stay. I returned to Europe for a 3rd time in early 2007, this time focusing on Eastern Europe (including Poland where my last name originates). I quit my job at a large public accounting firm (ie never seeing the light of day) after 1.5 years and went on a 4 month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos). It was a life changing trip and really put a lot of things in perspective for me.
Canyoning in Dalat, Vietnam
When I returned from my trip, I met Mike, and we have been together since February of 2010. When he told me that he had done an Ironman I thought he was crazy, never thinking that we’d train for one together. I have truly met my match with Mike – we compliment each other perfectly and I’ve never had so much fun with someone before.
With Mike at Tikal Ruins in Guatemala
Giving Back
Girls on the Run 1st Season
In college I joined the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta and for two years I served as an advisor for another local chapter of Theta in San Diego. I started with the chapter as the scholarship advisor and I then held the position of marketing advisor before deciding instead to focus my time on Girls on the Run. I have coached for three seasons and serve on the Marketing Committee for this wonderful organization.
Thank You!
I hope that you enjoy reading about my journey and I thank you for visiting my blog. I love hearing feedback and I don’t mind answering questions so please don’t hesitate to ask them!
Love your insight! I’ve been through P90X two times (once on lean and once doing a combo) and now going through it on the classic but doing the cardio days on my own with running workouts as opposed to the DVD days. My boyfriend did it as well and made the infomercial! We love it! I have never stuck to the diet like you, though– and it is inspiring! Keep up your great work!
Love the blog! I’ll be checking back for sure
Keep up the hard work!
Great blog! I’ve been considering P90X for a while now and this is definitely going to provide me with some valuable insight.
i’m so happy i came across your blog! i ordered my p90x last week and am scheduled to start today, but i’ve been nervous about continuing my running regime (30-40 mpw) while doing p90x. from the experiences you’ve shared, i’m now more confident that i can keep up running while deriving the benefits of p90x’s program. thanks so much for sharing and good luck with the upcoming marathon!
I’m so glad I just found your blog! I’m going to add you to my Google Reader so I can follow along. Your P90x results are amazing! I’ve been thinking about starting P90x2
Keep up the great work, girl!
Small world…I was a Theta too! Well, for a couple years as I had to drop to save $$$.
IM SO GLAD I CAME ACROSS YOUR BLOG! LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE ON P90X AND MARATHONS AS THAT IS MY NEXT GOAL! ONE QUESTION I DID HAVE WAS HOW MANY HOURS OF SLEEP WERE YOU ABLE TO GET WHILE TRAINING?
I try to get 8 hours a night. Sometimes it was more like 7.5 but sleep is very important to recovery so I make sure to make it a priority!
This is great! I just had a baby 3 months ago and have lost 30 lbs, but I want to lose the last 20 that I gained and 10 more on top of it. I’ve been doing P90x and am in week 5 and this has motivated me to keep going and to really do the nutrition program. I’ve also always wanted to run a marathon, I’ve run 2 half marathons and it’s always been a goal. I’m also a Theta! I would love to be an advisor or part of an alumnae group but I’m also an Army wife and we currently live in a small town where there isn’t much going on. Hopefully at our next duty station! Thank you for the inspiration!
I am starting p90x tomorrow and I am trying to figure out how to incorporate my running into the program. Do you have any suggestions? I currently run between 20-25 mpw but potentially am running a marathon in the spring, so the miles will start to slowly increase. Also, another question, if you don’t mind, tips on not bonking with little carbohydrates in the program. Thank you so much for sharing your success and experiences. I live in Orange County so maybe I will “run” into you at a race in the future.
Hi Karen!
To modify P90X for half marathon training, I dropped Kenpo and replaced it with my long run on weekends and then I added two double days a week – one of the P90X upper body strength workouts in the morning and a run at night. I pretty much only ran 3x/week while doing P90X full force and on long run days, I always added in an extra carbo or two to get me through my workouts. Hope that helps!
Great story!
I have LOVED reading your blog! It’s inspirational, educational, and fun. It’s great to see how you have accomplished your goals. In one of your posts you mentioned tracking your runs in an excel spreadsheet. Would you mind sharing this or explaining how you have your spreadsheet laid out? I’ve always used apps or nike+ to track information but I’ve never tracked it over time and I’m thinking doing that might help me put a better focus on increasing speed. Thanks so much and thanks again for the great read!
Kelly
I was looking at your p90x before and after pics and it looks like you got amazing results. I am currently doing the classic program, I’m on phase 2. I can already see good results, but mostly related to burning fat rather than sculpting muscles. My question is, in which phase of the program did you see the most dramatic results? Also, once I am done with the 90 days, do you suggest I restart the program with the same intensity?
Also, I currently live in Italy but i’ll be moving to San Diego in the summer, so I will need somebody to workout with sometimes…. Do you have a good fitness-related network of friends in the city?
Thanks!
Thank you Riccardo! I saw the most weight loss in Phase 1 but the most muscle sculpting in Phase 3. Make sure you are tracking your reps and weights and constantly working to increase weight and reps each time you do the workout. That’s the best way to see great results! For a great fitness network in San Diego – you can join the San Diego Running Club, San Diego Tri Club or join a VAVI recreational league!
thank you for the suggestions Nicole! Several people told me that muscle growth becomes visible mostly during phase 3, so hopefully that’ll be true for me as well.
What do you think i should do once i am done with the program? I was thinking about restarting it but maybe spreading it over 180 days instead. Do you think that’s a good idea?
I’d definitely keep it up after it’s over – spreading over 180 days would be hard because you wouldn’t be getting all the muscle groups each week…you could try P90X2 or Insanity or just give yourself a week off and start all over depends on whether or not you achieved you goal at the end of the 90 days.
Hi Nicole,
I just came across your blog when I was trying to find the elevation profile for the La Jolla Half. Thank you! Good luck with the Eugene Marathon. As a multi-time marathoner and Boston Qualifier/finisher (I’m old so don’t have to run as fast), I’d encourage you to run or at least “tag” along with one of the Clif pacers. They will set a steady pace and if you feel strong, you can leave him/her with a couple of miles to go or earlier. (I’m biased since I’ve passed for them). Good luck and congratulations on the upcoming nuptials also. (PS – I was in Boston last Monday volunteering while my husband ran; thank you for your thoughts on that also). And, since you have my email, please feel free to contact me. I’ve run the Eugene course twice so am familiar with it.
Deb
I am racing CDA this year! Great blog. I see your times are improving each race. Nice work.
Thank you and good luck to you at CdA – it’s an awesome race!
Hey! I’m visiting San Diego next month and was wondering if you had any recommendations on must-do activities or restaurants!
Hi There!
Ah there are so many! What area of town are you staying? In general, here are some awesome sights:
1) Hike in Torrey Pines State Reserve http://www.torreypine.org/
2) Eat Mexican Food in Old Town http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/
3) Visit Mission Bay – ride the roller coaster, lay on the beach, rent a sailboat or jet ski, paddle board, rent a bike and ride around the bay, or go for a run! http://www.sandiego.org/what-to-do/beaches/mission-bay.aspx Favorite breakfast place here is The Mission. Great burgers at Bareback Grill (or veggie burgers).
4) Check out the Gaslamp District (downtown San Diego)- great dining and good shopping and sight seeing. My personal favorite restaurant down here for lunch is Zanzibar. I love Basic for pizza. Also great nightlife here as well as in Pacific Beach (near Mission Beach).
5) Take a ferry from the Marina district (near Gaslamp) to Coronado (or drive to Coronado and have brunch at the Del – pricey but delicious)
If you let me know where you’re staying I can give you more recommendations too! Hope this helps!