All knotted up but getting loose

Oh boy, it's been a while since my last post!

I hit a few bumps in the road, and am not one to write about those. Not that there is anything wrong with writing about bumps in the road, it's just that acknowledging the bumps makes them real, and typically I am not ready to do that until I got a hold on the bumps. Probably none of this makes sense. So let me explain.

After my last 5K and crazy fast speed I developed a lot of knots in my hamstrings, than quads which made running difficult. I managed to keep running but with a shorter stride, and a much slower pace. Although I hit 73 miles last week, they were all slow. I ran a 20 miler last Saturday in over 3 hours, with stretch breaks. I ended up seeing a PT who confirmed that I am all knotted up (better than knocked up, I suppose:). Apparently I have weak glutes and a weak core, so my quads and hamstrings are doing more work than they should. He has me on a strengthening program which is great, but obviously makes my running more difficult. My legs/butt/core are sore which is unusual for me. I am also getting massages, which help a ton. The PT told me to keep running, which is great (gotta love a PT who tells you to keep running!). Things are getting loosened up and I even managed to do some speed this week, at a rather pathetic speed, and most of it on the treadmill, but I take it for now. This is not a major bump in the road, but it is one that left me thinking a bit about what running means for me, about my goals, and about how I am going to do things differently after Boston (meaning, I will take a full week off of running and also do a 6 week strength program before my next training cycle).

As far as some introspections, realizations during this semi-injury phase? Running even slow is better than no running. I can adjust to running on the TM, doing 20 loops on a 1 mile trail, running tempos on the track, you name it. The elliptical machine is an amazing exercise for running. Some smart coaches agree on that, too:)

Running benefits my marriage, my mothering, and my friendships. Enough said:) There are other things in my life that can take the place of the competitive element of running. This makes me happy and content that putting so much time into running over the years has not left me unbalanced as a person (just left my body muscles unbalanced, LOL). I am not good at receiving empathy when it comes to my "bumps". Please don't tell me you are sorry, or that I need to take it easy; I know you mean well but really that does not help. You can tell me I am going to get my speed back soon, that will make me feel better:)

On other news, we had a lovely Christmas, filled with lots of plastic and wooden toys for Petru, that are currently taking over my living room.

I am having a few days off before the new year, and it is lovely. Oh, and I got to do speed again this week, did I mention that?

Hope everyone has a happy, happy, merry, merry 2012! No injuries, lots of PRs, and lots of growth:)

A load of happy!

Feeling pretty happy right now.

My left hamstring was very unhappy after my last 5K, to the point where I limped out of the bed several days this week. Thankfully I diagnosed myself well with a hamstring tear, and was not terribly worried. I took the entire week easy, running a lot but only easy miles, stretching, icing, rolling, and by Thursday morning I was walking normally again. The runs were fine the entire week, just a little limp the first couple of miles. Now, I can say I am 90% better. The last 10% will take a few more days, but I can deal.

I am running pretty good right now. I tested the hammy yesterday and ran for 10 min effortlessly at what used to be my 5K pace last year around this time. My form has changed quite a bit. I think I am much more efficient, finally being able to do that ankle lean that I kept reading about. I've been looking over my training logs, and realizing that I dropped 30minutes from my marathon in the past 2 years. This makes me pumped for my next training cycle.

And what else makes me happy? I made the Brooks ID team along with these 3 fasties. Super excited to represent a company with great product, support for the environment and for the overall running community! Thank you Brooks, very grateful I am!

Impromptu 5K

So I ran a 5K this morning. The initial plan was to run one next weekend, but it looks like next Saturday we will have to be away; so, last night I frantically searched for 5Ks and found the South Boston 5K, $20, 10am. Perfect.

Woke up @ 7, had my oatmeal and coffee, watched "Busy Town" with Petru and headed out to South Boston. We got lost but made it there on time so I could register, get some awesome swag including a cool race shirt, and warm up for 2 miles. My L hamstring has been bugging me for a week, but I knew that the pain would be gone once I warmed up. It did.

I wanted to run sub 19. I did 5x1000ms with 1 min rest @ 5:20-5:45 on Monday and felt pretty strong. Based on this run, I could have broken 19. The gun went off and I was taken by surprise so ended up running the first 200ms a bit too fast, but settled into a comfortably hard pace. First mile was 6:09. Second mile felt fine and I was passing people (6:09). One woman was in front of me but I was getting closer to her. Third mile was hard. I honestly think I lost it mentally here. It is hard to plan for moments like this, sometimes I can push through, other times I can't. Today I did not. Maybe I did not believe enough, but I know for sure that I did not want to feel more pain. So I ran a 6:16. In spite of slowing down I got closer to the woman who was in front of me. That was the plan, get really close and surprise here. Except that someone yelled at her that I was coming, and with 200ms to go she got her kick in on the uphill toward the finish line and she smoked me. I ended up second, but got a nice $50 gift certificate which made it worth my time.

Oh, and no official PR.

Official results: 3.1 19:32, 6:16 pace.

Garmin results: 3.15 19:32, 6:12 pace.

Oh, and the winner was 16. Happy for her but darn pissed bc I know I could have done better today. Even though I ran 77 miles since last Saturday and I was not tapered, mentally I did not push enough during mile 3. It is OK though. Less than one year ago I was happy to celebrate a sub 20 5K. Now a sub 20 is not enough and I want to celebrate a sub 19, particularly since I truly believe this is a realistic goal for me.

Now, off to run my long run. It's marathon pre training, after all.

Return to Fresh Pond RR and running confidence

After 2 days of complete sloth (aka too much food), I was so ready to run hardish today at the Fresh Pond series race. This is a nice little race I did all through last winter. It is free, small and low pressure. I always win it, so yes, it is not competitive:) I had no idea what to expect today mostly because I only did one real speed and tempo work, all this week, so I probably did not benefit from those at this race. After having gotten only 4 hours of sleep on Thursday night (by choice!), I collapsed @ 9:55 pm last night and slept until 8am when Petru walked me up in typical fashion, by screaming in my ear: "It's 8am mommy, you have to wake up" (I love that he wakes up and entertains himself while his parents sleep in...raised him well, LOL). After my typical oatmeal and coffee (which I ate 1.5 hours before the start of the race, which I would never do for a 'real' race), I ran 4.5 miles to the race. Got there @ 9:55 for the 10:00am start. The weather was gorgeous, high 50s, sunny, with a nice breeze. I checked out the field and did not see any of my winter peeps. One woman looked really fast -from the back I thought she was a guy, bc she was boy skinny and had very short hair, and she indeed passed me @ 2.0 mile, but she did the 2.5 mile race not the 5 miler.

We started on the "go" and I fell into a nice rhythm. I really did not know what I could do and frankly did not want to push myself all out. I though HM pace would be nice but I ended up going slightly faster. The first loop was controlled. The second hurt. My legs lost power, which makes sense because aside from this week, I have not run this pace since Baystate training. I ended up with a 30:26, which is my Fresh Pond PR. The course registered as 4:65, for a 6:32 pace, which makes me super happy at this point in time. Nice effort considering that I ran the second loop all by myself (I was first overall men and women - guess the fast guys stayed at home today!).

This is how the course looks like...and also what one has to zig zag around....today I had to jump over an off leash little guy (this would piss me off in a real race, but here, well, dogs are just part of the course)

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On my run back home I did 3x15 secs and 3x30 secs hill sprints, and thought a lot about running and racing. I can say I am a confident person in the main aspects of my life: family and work. My confidence in these areas is mostly stable. However, when I don't race for a while, I get really intimidated by paces that I used to be able to hit, or that I would like to hit. Sure, I can reframe those thoughts but there is nothing like a little behavioral experiment (aka race) to get that confidence back up. I think part of the reason why I had such a great 2011, is that I had these confidence boosts often. Sure, there was a physiological effect there too, but the mental boost was what helped the most, I think.

So here I am, 20 weeks from Boston, getting a little confidence boost from the good old Fresh Pond! So happy I raced today and so excited to get back out there this training cycle!

Running, racing, a great podcast and running music ideas

Running:

Really good running week for me. I feel pretty good about my short distance speed and about my endurance. I've surprised myself with some pretty awesome running which felt easy for the pace I was at. Sweet. I am constantly worrying about not slowing myself down enough, but if I go by effort, I am where I need to be. I ran 65 miles this week, including a 20 miler broken down into a 16 miler in the morning fastish, and a 4 miler in the afternoon slowish. My feet felt the mileage increase as I hopped out of bed this morning. I think my body is pretty resilient, but my feet have been my weak link for the past year. I've managed to keep things at bay, and will just have to continue doing so, hoping that they will toughen up. I have really skinny boney, no padding type feet, probably not the best for running, but what can you do? I also managed to get my first arch blister - no idea how it happened as I did not wear new shoes or socks - and it hurt like a mother!

Next week I will drop my mileage to 55 to give my body a break, as I have been building mileage for the past 3 weeks. I plan to get a swim in, and maybe even some biking. The weather is gorgeous in MA, and I am hoping to be able to continue running in shorts for a while.

Racing:

With so many friends racing, I got a bit of a case of FOMO this past week, ha! I managed to restrain myself from registering for a race, but am considering a Fresh Pond baseline race this Saturday, if we are around (plans still in the air). I managed to walk slowly away from the computer and distract myself when I was getting really close to signing up for a 5K. I can't just go race one and training for one now does not fit my long term plan. Still, no guarantees that I will not just go do one before January.

A great podcast

I am getting into the ultrarruner podcast with Tim Waggoner (Lucho at jog hard). Great info for runners, very laid back and cool guy, super knowledgeable and NOT boring! Check him out:)

Music

I am bored with my running music. What's good on your playlist?

Pictures, running and bribery works!

I rarely post pictures on this blog, mostly because it is a PITA to download them and upload them on the blog. I don't use any of those fancy blogger programs, so I do everything manually and it takes time. But I like blogs with pictures, and so I decided to see about putting more pictures on mine. I am also flirting with the idea of a photo blog to document my training/life during Boston training. Anyone knows how to email pictures from an iPhone directly to the blog?

These are pictures taken on the Reservoir Trail which is about half a mile form my house. It goes around the Arlington Reservoir, and is about 1 mile long. I have been doing most of my runs here lately, as I recover from Baystate, and absolutely love it.

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Running is going well. I will finish this week with 60 miles, mostly easy. I did have some fun at the track with some super fast (for me) 30 and 45 secs repeats. And today I ran 14 hard and hilly (and fast, for me) miles in the morning, and 4 slug miles on trails in the afternoon. I am loving doubles, by the way. I know that running 14 +4 is not the same as running 18, but for me right now this is a safer way to build mileage back up, and also much easier mentally.

On a different but related note, I found out that I was not the only parent who got a call that her kid was misbehaving at chess. On Thursday evening ALL the parents who normally take off, were sitting nicely on chairs observing their kids. I ended up going for a run because I had talked to the teacher about my bribery plan with Petru, and we both agreed to give it a shot. It worked! Petru was an angel. As soon as we got there he placed himself 2 sits away from this little girl who apparently got him in trouble last week by kissing and hugging him to much. "I had to tickle her mom, she would not stop". Oh, how things will change in a few years.

Good luck to all the 5K racers this weekend. Run HARD, the pain is short lived:)

A little bit of this...

I finished last week with 55 miles on good legs! I had my first taste of speed after 2 week of very easy running, and realized once again that running easy all the time does not fulfill me nearly as much as running fast. Right now I am focusing on building mileage a bit and running mostly general aerobic (7:43-8:05 on 3 runs when I have my Garmin with me) or just super easy, with a lot of hills and fartleks here and there. I am keeping my schedule open and am doing pretty much what I feel like doing, changing my mind and not putting any pressure on myself. I will be mostly resting and building with no actual races for a while.

I watched the New York City Marathon on Sunday and was very touched by the story of Mutai and the kennian runners. Pretty sure the kennian supremacy has a lot to do with the lifestyle, communal type training, and poverty. When you race for your entire village and not only for yourself, you can train and race at a different level. Obviously, things are not as simple as this, but I do believe that all this emphasis on the best supplements, coaches, recovery this and that does not appear to be the way to success. Yet, of course, I am, too, buying into all of these, ha!

Training plan is almost done, on paper. In reality, things will most likely be very different, bc, hey, I know myself enough to be realistic about my tendency to run what my schedule says based on how I feel.

In other news the chess teacher called me saying that Petru was all over the place last Thursday during class (I have a little clown on my hands) while I was running, and it might be better if I stayed and observed. Grr! Since I need to get that second run in, I now have a deal with Petru that if he has 5 chess classes in a row with good behavior (per teacher), he gets a little treat or 10 kindness cubes toward our Coco Key Water Resort family reward (which he picked) this winter (we need 100 kindness cubes for that). Oh, the things that I do to get that second run in. Wish me luck!

Super excited for 3 speedy friends racing this weekend. Go, go, go!

My first double, finding my legs and Lucy's 12th birthday!

Since my marathon almost 3 weeks ago, my body has felt wonky. The soreness was gone after a few days, but my R leg (hip) and my back (R side) have felt tight and off. I managed to lift my R leg about half the distance I could lift my L leg. Grr! After sitting, my entire leg would have shooting pains. Double grrr! Even sitting on the toilet, darn it, was uncomfortable! I had no discomfort running, though, and I slugged along on short runs, knowing that my body needed more time to recover.

Since I am planning on running doubles during Boston training, I decided to try and see how a double would fit into my Thursday schedule. I ran 8 easy miles in the morning with 8x30 secs sprints, and then ran again in the evening, 4 miles, while Petru had chess class at the Library. It felt wonderful to run a few fast intervals in the morning, and my legs loved that. In the afternoon, my legs did not want to slow, which was the plan. All the discomfort is now miraculously gone, and my R side of my body and I are friends again. Welcome back, legs!

So what do I have to say about running doubles? Thumbs up! The only con? Having to take 2 showers (though if I did not have to work, I would only take 1).

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I don't do much advertising on this blog, but I could not resists telling you that "Lucy" is having a birthday sale (25% off) on Saturday all day. If you don't know about Lucy, you should. I first learned about them last year, when I read about the birthday sale on a running blog. I checked out the sale and purchased one pair of running tights (propel tights) which are my favorite by far. They are very similar to Lulu (e.g., flattering waist band, thicker material with a bit of compression) but less expensive (about half with the birthday sale discount). I now own 2 pairs of the Propel tights, and can attest that have been holding off wonderfully for about a year now. Check them out! You'll thank me later:)

Running, training plans, doubles, oh, my!

I spent this past week reading, researching and playing with excel, trying to create my training plan for Boston, starting next week. No, I will not start training per se on Monday. Rather, I will be getting my body completely recovered and ready to train when the time comes. This requires planning, too.

So what I am doing differently this time?

1. More miles. Since 2009 when I ran my first marathon peaking at 30 miles (don't laugh, I ran a 3:44 Boston then!), I increased my running frequency and mileage with each training cycle. This worked well for me, and I believe a slow progression over the years is the way to go in terms of improving year to year and staying healthy. With A LOT of luck, I managed to stay injury free and PR most of my races. During my last training cycle I had one peak week @ 80 miles. This time I will see if I can go to 90 miles during 3 of my training weeks. In order to do this, and because I want to have one non running day/week, I will need to do doubles. I am a bit excited about doubles. Aside from a 20 miler gone bad, where I stopped at 15 and ran 5 later, I have never run twice a day before. I don't know how my body will handle that, and I am wiling to give the second run up if I need to. The second run will always be recovery (aka slug pace) and will follow a key workout. I will try doing a recovery run after my long run, if I can pull this off with my family's schedule (actually, training for a marathon even when running 90 miles/week will be overall less time consuming than HIM training; Chris is doing the happy dance in the background, LOL).

2. More races. Last winter I had a ball racing Fresh Pond almost every weekend. I am excited to go back. Also, I am considering 2 HMs, Hampton and Quincy, Derry 16 miler which I will not race all out (since it is in January and a tough course), Eastern States 20 miler (though I might skip it since it is flat), and maybe the Ras Ha Nhereim 5K in March (even though I will not be in 5K shape). Boston will be my A race, so I don't expect the PRs I had last year, but they might actually happen. I am also prepared to "not race" a lot of these races, if I feel too tired or burned out:)

3. Hills and plyos and pilates. Obviously I need to do hills for Boston. I do not dislike hills, and I have plenty around (I live in Arlington HEIGHTS, people). I think my problem with incorporating hills in my training has a lot to do with the fact that I slow down on hills (of course) and my average pace ends up slower. Of course. This time around, though, I will not allow myself to avoid hills due to such a silly reason. I don't plan on doing any strength training rather than pilates and ploys and hills, which are not strength per se, but I believe they will make me stronger and more efficient. Maybe I'll lift a dumbbell or to, to get my arms stronger, but maybe not.

So all this schedule making and planning made me appreciate how nice it may be to have a coach. And how hard coaches work. I do think that it is easier to create a plan for someone else than for yourself - at least it would be for me. Anyhow, all coaches out there, hats off to you all!

In other news the back pain I acquired last week is almost gone. I am still not 100% recovered after Baystate. My R leg/hamstring is still stiff and has decreased range of motion compared to the L. Hopefully a few more weeks of easy, mostly trail running, hot baths and streching/rolling will make them feel better. If not, I plan on being patient.

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Just a little disclaimer here. This is the training that I think will work for ME. It may not work for YOU. It may injure YOU. Hire a coach, be patient, read and think about what is going to work for YOU based on where you are now, your running background and injury history.

Back to life, bullet point style

#Ah, life after the marathon! First week post marathon I was all excited about sleeping in, running less, being unscheduled and free to bounce around. By Thursday all the soreness was gone and I found myself lethargic and unmotivated to get things done. Some people are very good at resting, I am not one of those people. I am the prototype of the "if you want something done give it to a busy person" saying!

# Chris and I went to New Hampshire for an overnight to celebrate his birthday. We did an 8 mile run/hike up to Mt Chicoura and had a blast. I've done this hike before, and it is not easy; you go up and up and the last mile you climb on rocks. Yet, I have never felt stronger. Being the type A that I am, I insisted on carrying the backpack the entire way, and managed to get a back strain, which really only means that I have a weak core. No wonder, I have not done any abs since I don't even remember. Hence..

# I started doing Pilates. I have a 20 min Winsor pilates tape that Chris does daily. I did it this morning and I can already feel muscles that I did not think I had.

# I am somewhat back to running more mileage, all easy, all on trails. The weather is gorgeous and it feels so good to be outside and run.

# I am also working my training plan in my head and have a bit of a vision of what I want to do for Boston. More quantity, more quality, the usual! I have a bitter taste in my mouth from my 2010 race there, and would love to smash it with a sub 3:10. I think I can do that but it will not be easy on that course. I have some fast ladies to virtually train with, which makes me even more excited about working hard! Anyone in the Boston area who wants to run long with me?

Moving on, but first race photos

OK, so not the best pictures but good reminders of how hard I had to work for this PR.

This one is very close to the finish. I know that because I ditched my fuel belt once I got to 26 miles.



















These is taken probably around mile 24.5, when we go over the last bridge.



















And this, a bit after, I think.





















#Recovery is going well. Physically I am almost there. All the soreness is gone now. I ran about 16 miles total this week, only trails, some with Chris, and it has been nice. Chris and I are going away this weekend to celebrate his birthday and do a little hiking/walking in New Hampshire. I am so excited about this.

#I am enjoying not having a schedule, but truth be told, I am much less productive in other aspects of my life, as a result. This is fine for now but come November 1st I am going back to probably 50 miles/week running until January when I start training for Boston.

#And what am I mostly looking forward to now? Reading everything running, analyzing my training log, looking up races and creating my training plan for Boston. This will be vicarious serious running for me for the next couple of months, ha!

#In other news I learned that I can't trust Chris with Petru's school projects - one of the pics he sent in for the "me and my family project" was taken right after my bike accident in 1999, and I was sporting a huge bloody bump on my forehead; I was grateful when the teacher sent that picture back. Kinda made me laugh bc this is so typical of Chris, ha!

#This is old news for now and don't hate me, but I am really excited about the new qualifications for New York. I am not really interested in running this race - I heard it is a nightmare in terms of logistics, and also very crowded - but I am very interested in qualifying. What seems weird to me is that a 1:27 is equated to a 3:00 marathon. I know plenty of people who ran a 1:27 but could not run a 3:00 marathon. Even McMillan says that a 1:27 half equates to a 3:03 marathon. So what's the logic, New York?

Baystate Marathon 2011 RR aka You do not need to feel good to run well

Driving back from the race Petru asked me if I liked the marathon. I answered that I did not. Not this time. In fact, I am honestly not sure that I ever liked marathons. What I like about the marathon is being able to say that I did it, PR-ing (when that happens), and maybe the last 100 yards.

Today it was one of those days where I felt bad from the first mile. This was new to me. Typically in the marathon I feel good up to mile 20. Then I have to do work. Today I had to do work for 26.2+ miles. That can make one not like the marathon:)

Lets back up for a bit though.

My plan for going into the race was to run even splits. I wanted to run the first few miles slower than pace, and settle into pace (7:20) by mile 5 or so. This is a good time to mention that I do not believe in running negative splits in the marathon. I think this is a good strategy for beginner, but I think for more competitive runners (I am no elite, but I consider myself fast:) if you can run a negative split, you could have gone faster. If you look at the splits of the first few people in any marathon, you will see that they slowed down toward the end. I did not plan on slowing down, but I also knew that I did not want to have anything left in my tank at the finish. I was prepared to suffer and to fight. Two dear friends, two solid, strong, no nonsense women that I was lucky enough to have met through this blog sent me some pretty inspiring notes which I used a lot during the race. Which brings me to another issue that has been on my mind lately (this is getting long, just scroll down to see my results if that is what you are here for). Running IS NOT 90% mental and 10% physical. I am not sure what the percentage truly is, but if running was 90% mental, then anyone could run a sub 3 marathon, ha! Sure, the mental part of the game is important, but you need to do the work and you need to gain the fitness in order to run well. ANd it gets harder and harder the faster you get. Going into the race, I knew I had that. I always toe the line having done the hard work. That is who I am.

Now back to the race...

There is something about starting a marathon race and feeling pain in your legs. Maybe some of you can relate, but until today, I could have not. I did not panic, as I knew that often in training I need a few miles to get my legs, so I plugged along.

Mile 1: 7:27

Mile 2: 7:22

Mile 3: 7:22

The pain did not go away, even after eating a Gu at mile 2.

So my mantra for the day became: "You do not have to feel good to run well".

And off I went

Mile 4: 7:15

Mile 5: 7:20

Mile 6: 7:22

Mile 7: 7:17

The splits are uneven because this marathon has rollers and more rollers.

Something else this marathon had this year? Wind. Strong headwind. I did not feel it much at the beginning, but it became an issue toward the end.

So I was plugging along, unsuccessful at making friends on the course (I typically try to listen to conversations, or find a couple of buddies to help pass the time). By mile 7 I passed the 3:15 pacer, a very sweet and young lad, who later on I heard that dropped out around mile 10 or so.

Also around this time I started to run shoulder to shoulder with this young woman. I worked hard at running tangents and several times I apologized for moving from one end of the street toward the center, but she did not say anything. I think she really wanted to be in front of me.

Mile 8: 7:20

Mile 9: 7:18

Mile 10: 7:20

So that girl and I kept running in front of each other for a while. I did not like this a bit, because I would have preferred to feel a kinship here (I was not racing for a place here and neither was she!) but she did not give me the friendly vibe. OK then. She eventually went in front of me.

Mile 11: 7:18

Mile 12: 7:13

Mile 13: 7:20

Half time: 1: 36:XX

Chris met me at the half point and gave me some GU and some water bottles for my fuel belt. It was great to see him and I made sure to have a smile on my face for him.

The wind really picked up after the half, as we turned to do the miles 3-13 again. I started slowing down a bit, my legs really heavy now, and I knew I needed to focus on the pace, or I'd lose it.

Mile 14: 7:23

Mile 15: 7:14

At this point, I started thinking about mile 20. Get to mile 20 @ 7:20 average, and then you can slow down and you will still PR.

Mile 16: 7:22

Mile 17: 7:17

Mile 18: 7:22

Mile 19: 7:18

Mile 20: 7:20

Once I got to mile 20 I had a 7:18, and I felt happy. The wind was really picking up, and I literally started to feel like it was pushing me back. But whatever, everyone races in the same conditions, so suck it up (I am usually nicer to myself, but sometimes I need a little tough love). Then I started thinking about this great friend who ran a recent race and ran well up to mile 19, but then she got sick and had to slow down. I was not puking and did not feel sick. So I decided to run the last miles for both of us. Which meant I could not slow down.

Mile 21: 7:26

Except that I did.

So I set a range of paces goal with 7:30 as the high margin.

Mile 22: 7:34

Oops, I guess that did not work.

Lets try again

Mile 23: 7:33

A little better, but man, my legs are like jello. I don't have a "push". Every god damn part of my body hurts. But I am a container, and I can contain all the pain. The more pain, the bigger the container.

Mile 24: 7:24

Better. This container metaphor works well. Will use that again. Nice when work and marathoning can merge successfully. Ha!

Mile 25: 7:24

Here I passed the young chick. I asked her to come with me, because really I though we could push each other, but she did not.

With the new course, after mile 25 you go uphill and around all these little streets. At this point I noticed that my upper lip was completely numb. OK, just don't think about it and just run. (I never like to say you are almost there, because really, you are not; here is the point where I break the mile into quarters or shorter, just can't think of running a mile - too long).

Mile 26: 7:34 BOO

As I rounded toward the end I switched my watch to time and saw that I could come in below 3:14. Hell yes, I ran hard with a grimace on my face (early on in a race I fake-smile, bc it really makes me feel better, but when I actually push at the end, I look like I am about to either kills someone or...something)

.39 7:21 pace - this is the brain letting go in action, but also clearly shows that I had no legs..usually this is a 6:XX end of marathon for me:)

Garmin stats: 26.39, 7:20 pace, 3:13:59

Official results: 26.2, 7:25 pace, 3:14:29

(Me thinks I pressed start too late, or my Garmin was acting up, or something.Whatever, I always go with official results).

Stats: 7th woman out of...I have no idea. There were 1000 people in the marathon, so who knows.

Interestingly, the times for this year were slower than last year (female winner last year went 2:46, this year winner was 2:55), which makes me think that the wind made everyone slower.

2nd AG (30-39).

I am super happy with this race. It is in fact the race I am most happy and proud about. It is nice to know that I can push and work hard even when I feel like crap from the beginning of a LONG race. I have no doubt that I can get a 3:10 next time (probably today in better conditions, but no regrets and I was not even trying for that. I did not train for a 3:10, I trained for a 3:15, and I am the nerd who believes in doing the work). This will be hard to accomplish at Boston, but I know what I need to work on. It is clear to me that aerobically I am very strong (I was never out of breath in this race, OK, maybe toward the end). But, my neuromuscular system needs more work, and this will be my focus moving forward. Also, I think I need a longer taper. Or not running the biggest mileage week 2 weeks before the marathon. I don't like to over think things as I always believe that the decisions we make are the best decisions we can make given the information we have available at the time, but I have lots to think about moving forward. What is important is that I feel confident that I can design a plan that will make me feel stronger before Boston. And I can taste the sub 3:00 marathon sometime in 2013:)

As far as liking marathons? I will probably always like saying I have done them more than actually doing them, but I hope that my next marathon will give me at least 13.1 miles of feeling good. If not, well, I know I don't need to feel good to run well:)

****

Thank you thank you thank you thank you infinite + 1 as Petru says to Jenn and Raina (you've made this training cycle really special and exciting), Chris (for shedding a tear when I crossed the finish line AND confessing that you did that!...and other stuff, too), Katie (for running those long runs with me and pulling me along every single time), and to my little imp of a Petru (for making me feel that I can do anything when I think about you)! And thank YOU for reading:)

****

A day in the life -just for fun!

Saw this somewhere and decided to play along. Tapering is in full here...

6:00 UP

6:45-3:00 Work-clinic all day; some grant drama which thankfully got solved quickly.

4:00 run 7 easy miles on trails w/ 4x10sec hill sprints.

5ish say a long "hi" to the lovely neighborhood twins on my way back.

5:30 get Petru from after school

Play game he made up yesterday, over and over.

6:30 Chris comes home, warm up dinner.

7:00 run upstairs for a couple of short work calls.

7:15 Chris leaves for drumming.

Watch Wheel of Fortune with Petru.

Draw with Petru.

8:00 Stories with Petru (Alvin Ho, if you care!)

8:30 Finish notes from morning.

Respond to a good friend's email.

Make lunch for tomorrow.

Pick up around the house.

Watch TV while foam rolling/stretching.

Marathon prep

Write note to Chris to be quiet and not wake me up!

10:00 Bedtime

Good night!

P.S. This is really my hardest day of the week, so don't think I am super woman over here, k? I know how to sit and do nothing, in fact I am very good at that, OK, not really but I am trying:)

Tapering

Oh, taper! I am really enjoying it! This week I am cutting down my mileage to 58-60. Every run is shorter than its counterpart from last week. This cut will represent a 30% decrease from my highest mileage week. Next week I am cutting down 60%. So far, my legs are pissed. I think they are not really getting what is going on, they are not used to not running double digits every single day. Ha!

And along with taper came hunger! I am starving. My stomach wakes me up in the morning with the noises it makes. Weird and interesting and scary (not really!).

We are finally getting some cold weather which means that I can wear compression socks under my pants at work, which is awesome! Unfortunately, we are also getting a ton of wind and rain. I feel prepared for any kind of weather on marathon day. My last 4 runs have been in pouring rain, last one in rain and wind, and the entire summer I ran in humidity and heat. So, bring it! Whatever that might be!

So what have I/will I be doing with the extra time? Lets see...I purchased a mac (birthday present from my mom and my MIL - yes, I am loved!) on Saturday and have transferred and organized all my files. I caught up on work somewhat (I have learned a long time ago that I will never be caught up on work). I slept in. I am planning on going through all my clothes and finally bringing at least 50% of them, which I have not worn in over 3 years, to Salvation Army. I've made a behavioral chart for Petru with his schedule written down in bullet points with a time attached to it for every school day (so that he can keep track of what he needs to do before school and before bed; he can read clocks so this works well for him). If he does everything including a few things that are a bit hard for him (e.g., sitting at the dinner table for at least 15 minutes) he gets to go to bed 30 min later, gets to watch Wheel of Fortune (he got into it when my mom visited), etc. Works like a charm. Those behaviorists know what they are talking about:)

So, about that marathon...legs say they are going 7:20s. The rest of us are still working on buying into that idea, but let me tell you, those legs are very persuasive...See ya on the other side!

Taper

...is here after my biggest training week ever: 80 miles with about 37 at or sub MP, including a 20 miler with 14@MP. I feel good!

This morning my thoughts are "elsewhere", so you'll have to deal with bullet point

#My legs feel fairly good, too. I had a massage on Thursday and it was encouraging to know that there are not trouble areas; she was able to release all the knots (small!). This was my first sports/deep tissue massage and loved it. It was amazing to see how she would find a knot, press on it hard, and then I would go from excruciating pain to relaxation as the knot got released. I am a believer!

#I decided to trust my plan and follow it without last minute modification. A 2 week taper worked for me in the past, and this is what I am doing. I tend to lose fitness quickly (and gain it quickly) so a longer taper would most likely not be good for me. There has also been some talk on competitor.com about shorter tapers being the "new trend" which reinforced my decision (coz I like to be part of the trend, ha!). On the other hand Paula Radcliff takes 3 days off before her marathons, so really this is all individual.

# I figured out my nutrition for the race: Pineapple Roctane and Vanilla, my stomach approved choices. Now I need to figure out my outfit!

# My big grant is in! Now, the waiting! Grr!

# I am feeling a bit sad to start the taper. Sure, it will be great to be able to go do a run that is shorter than 10 miles, but there is a discipline that training hard gives me, and a sense of accomplishment, which I am going to miss.

# Time to work on my mental game, catch up on old work and home projects, and plan my post marathon get away with Chris!

Almost there!

...to the TAPER, that is!

Another 74 mile week and I can feel my legs starting to rebel a bit. It's like they are screaming at me to rest them a bit. I will, I will, just one more week!

I recovered pretty well after my 24 miler, and Monday ran a 10 miler with 6 miles progression from MP to HM to 10K (7 average). Felt great! But then on Thursday when I had my next quality run, my legs were toast. It was very hot and humid (while Monday it was cool) and I had a hard time doing 4X10 @ HM pace (OK, I did them all at sub HM pace, mostly bc I like to push the pace at the end of each interval). My Garmin would not locate satellites, so I got tired of waiting and ran the first interval by feel. I had no idea what pace I was going. I am clueless without the Garmin (something to work on, I suppose). I am pretty sure the first 10 min where more like 10K pace, bc in the second interval (with Garmin), my legs turned over a little slower for a HM pace.

Saturday I ran again with Katie. Running with her has been so good for me. It is fun to chat and the miles go by quickly. Also, Katie is an awesome runner who has been pulling me along in the last 3 long runs. We were blessed with another hot and humid day (100% humidity at 7am, don't you love it?). The first 13 miles were great (7:40 average), but then my legs were done; I had no power, I could not push and my toes where just dropping onto the ground. I knew I would slow down, so I told Katie to run, that I will have to stop and stretch. She did not. Finally, at mile 17 she did for a bit (but then she came back!), and I put my headphones on. I realized that one problem with running with someone is that when things get hard, talking messes up with my breathing. Katie had no problem with this however, which again speaks to how great of a shape she is in (are you reading this Katie????). Also, I realized how much music helps me and also how when things get hard, I need to concentrate and go into my "special place" to deal with it. I ended up putting my headphones on, and dialing in toward the end, and managed to make it to the finish (taking advantage of all the red lights for short rests..what, they don't have those at the marathon?). I gave it my all, which was not much, for the last mile (7:20), for a 7:43 average. Happy with it. Thanks Katie!

So I am tired. I realized that I can be fairly inconsistent with my long runs. I've had some excellent ones and I had some hard ones (put pushed through and got them done, that's what matters, right, right???? My legs will get some rest (and pampering) soon. Now I have to decide if I am going to run 80 miles this last week before the 2 week taper, or cut back some of the mileage for a 3 week taper. Will let you know what I decide. Need to look over my old training logs and figure this out, as well as the type of taper that works for me!

Happy running!

Feeling confident!

Another marathon week in the books and I feel great. These past 2 weeks have done wonders for my confidence. Between my race last week and this Saturday's 24 miler....I am READY to kill it on October 16th!

Lets back off...

I was in rough shape after Sunday's race and honestly a bit worried. So I ran easy around and around this 1 mile loop close to my house, 8 miles on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday I planned on running 12 with last 6 moderate progression. My Garmin died, legs did not feel good, so I decided to just run moderate by feel and finish strong, with no pressure for pace. On Thursday I had 13.5 miles with 10X1K @ 10k/HM pace. It was hot and these were hard. I ran them on the road because doing so many repeats on the track is annoying to me right now; I allowed myself to quit several times, and, of course, I did not. I managed to run sub HM pace, but I was toast after. I swam on Friday and it felt so good. Our town beach closed late August and my body misses my daily swims.

Saturday I had 24 miles easy on the schedule. I decided to set my Garmin to show only distance, and run the first 20 by feel, pushing the pace toward the end. Then, I planned to do 16X400m repeats at sub MP, with 30 sec recovery (Ryan Hall/Matt Dixon inspiration here). I started a little before 7am in 36 degree weather. I loved it. I started slow and comfortable and my legs felt good. I listen to music and really enjoyed myself. I looked at the pace (changed screens) @ 10 mile and saw 7:58, great (with an 8:38 first mile!). I kept running and ended up with 7:48 average for the 20 miles, last 4 miles sub MP, last mile 6:49. And feeling great! I started my 400ms and immediately my pace went down to low 6s. I immediately decided mile repeats sounded better, and ended up running 4X1mile with 1 min RI, at 6:55, 6:50, 6:50, 6:45 (last one on slight uphill and I won't lie, it was all out). Wow! Total average for the 24 7:37. Very happy! The rest of the day was spent driving to Storyland and running around with Petru (Chris went for a hike) for a few hours (surely ran at least 2.2 miles, to bring my total to 26.2 for the day). Nothing like going on rides for 2 days (we stayed overnight)...Petru is not 49 inches yet and he had to have an adult with him. Still, we had a ball! Sunday I ran 6 easy before the family got up, for a total of 71.5 miles for the week! Two more hard weeks before my 2 week taper. One more week before I turn my big work project in to Research Management. I don't know what am I going to do with myself when all is said and done:)

Nahant 30K race report

Since I only ran 76.5 miles last week (insert sarcasm here), I thought I would go and test myself in a little race close by. My plan actually called for a HM, but running a non PR HM right now would be bad for me mentally, so I figured a 30K at MP would be a better challenge. Plus, Nahant is supposed to be flat, right?

Nothing unusual about the race prep. My tennis obsessed mom and husband stayed up late to watch prerecorded games, while I went to bed around 10pm. I had a race plan: start slow, see if Pineapple and Vanilla GU make you nauseous, and eat a bigger breakfast than usual. Yes, about starting slow, I never really follow race plans...

The race was small but well organized. We started at 8:30 sharp and immediately I felt my legs very heavy. My calved were hurting. Red lights went on in my brain, but managed to take some deep breaths and tell myself that maybe my legs will warm up and start working for me. They did, at mile 4 or so..right where the hills started and never stopped until mile 17.5. There was no flat between these miles. They had long hills, steep hills, short hills, inclines, but no flat. Once my legs warmed up I actually liked the hills. Why, because for every uphill there is a downhill. And I would fly on the downhills, watching my pace drop into the high 6s. I liked seeing that pace. I even ran a 6:30 mile somewhere in there. I felt really good between mile 4 and 12, so I allowed myself to run several high 6 miles. At mile 12 I started to enter the hurt zone. At that point, I kept telling myself that I needed to make it to mile 16, and that was all that matters (26.2K). I also reminded myself that I had zero nausea, which made me happy!. I was just beginning to lose power in my legs. When this happens, it is easy for me to slow down unless I concentrate hard on the pace. I was also running way below MP average by this point, so I was happy with that. Once at mile 16, a .5 mile uphill almost killed me. My legs were jello. I kept thinking about mile 17.5 when the flat would return, and once there I managed to get back to my previous average pace. Final push but no sprint left in me and hurray, finish line and a "good job girl" from the RD.

So here is the thing. My Garmin had me running 18.35 @ 7:05 pace. But I am listed in the results as 2:09:35, 6:58 pace. I did not run 6:58 pace. I have also ran less miles than the 18.6, and the course if certified. I do not really care, since this is a funny distance, but it is a weird discrepancy. Who cares, I am happy! Oh, and 15 out of about 200 racers (with men) and 5th woman out of who knows how many. Happy!

Now I need to recover. I can barely walk! Happy training!

Doing work!

Work has been my main activity this past week in both my job and training. I have a big work deadline looming over my head and have been putting in lots of hours toward this project. Fingers crossed that it will work our for me, k?

Training has been work, too. I was completely trashed after my Monday 5X1000m (5:40 6:03 pace) and Wednesday's 9 miler with 5 @ 6:38. Every single bone, muscle and tendon hurt in my lower legs; you could have diagnosed me with R ITB, R plantar fasciitis, L foot tendon issue and nonspecific groin/pubic pain on the R side. Thursday's 10 miler with 8 moderate by feel and 2 @ MP-15secs was hard but after 5 miles my legs loosened up. Friday I was brand new and happy about it.

Today I met Katie for 22 miles on the course. Since mom is visiting and she stayed with Petru, Chris conveniently scheduled himself to play tennis with a friend close to the marathon course. He dropped me off, met his friend, and then picked me up.

The run was hard. My Garmin showed 7:44 at mile 4.4, and then proceeded to die. When I noticed I turned in on and the pace for the rest of the run (without the 4.4) was 7:47 on my Garmin. Katie's said 7:48 for the entire run, last mile 7:07. I had serious nausea after I took a Blueberry Roctane GU at mile 10, and it stayed with me for the rest of the run. I had some mental demons here, but Katie talked the entire time and that helped. Legs felt horrible around mile 13, but then I got a second wind after a short stop for water. Still, Katie totally pulled me through and did not go ahead even though she could have ran faster. The only miles over 8 that we ran were those immediately after I took that Roctane GU; everything else was high or mid 7s.

Super happy with the run. I will finish this week with 65 miles, which is pretty good. I think I will do my long runs on vanilla and pineapple GUs, like I have done so far for marathons, and hope I will be OK. A huge thank you to Katie for being such a rockstar! She always gets sick before her marathons - she BQed sick; I think she could easily run sub 3:20 if healthy! So excited for her!!!

Off for some mini golfing with the family!

Cautiously optimistic

If you read this blog you know I have been struggling with my long runs. No, they have not been bad, yes, one of them has been great, but overall they did not feel as smooth as my speed and tempo runs. I know I am built for shorter distances, both mentally and physically. I can put up with a lot of hurt for a short amount of time. I get intimidated by long distances. I have strong muscles which are now popping out from my legs when I walk or run. I do not have the zero body fat like fast marathoners (I am not complaining here, I like what I have!).

Yet I am one who perseveres. I do believe that hard work makes runs easier, even the long runs. And today I've got a bit of a reward.

The run went like this: 9 miles steady @ MP, 1 mile easy, 4 miles with 5X3 min @ MP-10/25secs, 3 min easy; 3 miles @ MP +5secs. It was very humid this morning, and the initial plan was not to run this fast. But I felt good, and, even though I had a challenging week of training (some 800ms on Monday, a 12 miler with 6 miles @ MP-10 on Wednesday, 1 tempo with 3X10min @ HM/10K pace on Thursday, and an easy runs with hill sprints on Tuesday), the overall mileage has been lower, so I trusted that my body could handle the run. Was it easy? No. Was is hard at the end? Yes. Did it help that I had a small window of time to get the run done? Yes. But the point is, I ran hard long. My body does not feel trashed right now. I convinced myself that I could handle the run, when, at mile 2 of the first 9 miles, I remembered how I hit the wall several weeks ago when I started the run too fast, at a pace that was much slower than today's.

So I am feeling cautiously optimistic about my marathon. There is still work to be done, but I see things coming together even for this unnatural wanna be marathoner!

Grinding it!

I finished another 70+miles, and am excited for a few weeks of fewer miles. I am hoping that with the decrease in mileage I am going to be able to bring the quality up. My 2 key quality runs, the 20X400m and 2X10 min @ HM/10K went great. However, the rest of the miles were easy and my legs did not allow me to add some MP miles to the 15 moderately long mid week run.

I ran my first 22 miler this Saturday. We camped on the Cape and I ended up running on the Cape Canal on super flat terrain. It was a hot and humid morning even @ 6am when I got started (cooked my oatmeal and bought a Starbucks from a store over 20 miles away the night before - the only store around was a Dunkin Donuts and I can't drink their coffee). I ran strong for 15 miles (7:49) and then I melted. My Garmin kept losing its Satellite which gave me an excuse to turn it off around mile 15.5, which lowered the pressure for me a bit and allowed me to finish the run (I did slow down and took a few breaks for water but the pace was not terrible, maybe mid 8s?). Aerobically I felt fine but my legs and mostly calves hurt a ton. I think it is harder for me to run on 100% flat. Back at the camp the boys were waiting to go mini golfing - a little boy is now obsessed with it - and I spent another 2 hours on my feet walking the course. By the time that was done I was starving (a banana with peanut butter after 22 miles is not enough) and ready to jump into the freezing ocean. I was the only person swimming and by the time I got out my arms were numb. But, my legs felt super fresh this morning, nothing like after last weekend, and the easy 8 miles felt great. Post swim I amazed my husband with the amount of food I consumed: almost an entire cantaloupe, a salad with chicken, a yogurt and a fruit popsicle.

I am SO ready for next week! Less mileage, more pace miles, more intensity but not pushing below 5K pace anymore as there is too little gain for the amount of leg damage as far as the marathon is concerned. Less than 8 weeks 'till Baystate! Bring it!

I get knocked down....

...but I get up again, you never gonna keep me down!

That was the theme of my 20X400meters today!

I normally run easy on Tuesday because it is the hardest workday for me. However, since I killed my legs on Saturday, I needed 2 easy days to recover. Hence, track today!

I have not gone to the track in a long time. I have been running all my speed intervals on the road, using my Garmin, as our track gets very hot in the summer, and there is no shade. However, I knew that I needed the track for the 400ms.

I got there around 4:30pm, super happy for cooler temps. Some dudes were playing lacrosse in the infield, a couple of girls were running on the grass, a couple of mom were walking on the slow lanes. I felt ready to tackle the workout.

The plan was to run the first 10 @ 10K pace, then rest, and then run the last 10 @ 5K pace. Except if you know me, you know I am greedy and I never manage to run the pace I am supposed to. This was no exception.

First 10, 1 min RI in between
1:34 (6:10) - slowed myself down
1:34 - do not run faster
1:30 (6:00) - this is easy! Had to slow down to avoid getting hit by a lacrosse ball!
1:28 (5:55) - sub 6, I like this.
1:27 (5:54) - this is getting a little hard
1:29 (6:04) -you can't slow down now! Had to slow down to avoid getting hit my a lacrosse ball!
1:30 - this is getting harder
1:26 - almost done
1:27 - almost done
1:28 - DONE

I decided to jog 400 easy for recovery between sets. As I strolled around, I suddenly felt a sharp pain and got knocked down to the ground. Mind you, I am not a little person. I have muscles, I am strong, I am fairly tall. The darn lacrosse ball got me in my pelvis. I honestly thought I broke my pelvis, this is how sharp the pain was. Luckily, I am fine, and only have a massive bruise over there (and no, you will no see it!). I seriously think those guys did this on purpose. Either that, or getting almost hit 2 times and hit once makes for some weird coincidences!

Pumped with extra adrenaline, I commenced my second set:
1:30
1:27
1:26
1:24
1:25
1:18 (5:25)
1:25
1:25
1:25
1:16 (5:20)

V happy with this run. V pleased with my legs. They are back!

Back home Chris was pissed about the lacrosse guys, and was about to go over there, which made me smile bc he is the nicest, least aggressive person I know. But he was pissed. I am amazed that I was so civil with them (even after they called me ma'am!). I guess I was too concerned with whether I would be able to complete my workout.

So the morale of the story! The track is a dangerous place for me (brings out my addiction to speed) and for my pelvis!