Marathon pace, long, and recovery

On Wednesday I had my first MP run, 8 miles with 6 at MP. It went OK. I expected it to be much easier than it was. I blame my 7am research meeting and "Entourage" (watched up to the wee hours the night before) for the sluggish feeling I experienced through it. (1 mile@ 8:30, 6 miles @ 7:54, 1 mile@ 9:00).

I was supposed to do my long run on Friday, but an uneasy stomach and the back pain from the tough bike ride I took on Thursday convinced me that I better take the day off. And I did. We went to the Cape to visit some friends for the weekend, and I managed a 30 min ocean swim. Wow, I was floating. I forgot how much easier ocean swims are.

Saturday I was up early for my 15 miler. I decided to go from Truro to Provincetown, which ended up being 7.5 miles, and turn around. The run was very hilly and I was surprised at to how easy it felt. My legs were a bit tired at the end, but nothing too bad. I struggled to keep the pace slow at the begining, and pushed the pace a bit toward the end of the run, because it felt good. Average pace was 8:35, with last 2 miles @ 8:00. The plan was to average 8:45, but at mile 8 I decided to pick it up a bit. I was very happy with this run. Plus, I managed to listen to 2 awesome podcasts, and switch to music only toward the end of the run, which definitely helped keep the pace slower, and then faster.

Sunday I woke up with fresh legs. No soreness. I decided to do a recovery run, in order to get my weekly mileage up to 35. The goal was to stay between 9:45 and 10:00 average pace, and I did (4 miles @ 9:45). Legs felt OK, music was blasting, the ocean looked beautiful. However, I did not feel the typical bliss I experience after running harder. I much rather bike or swim hard than run slow, but I know that more mileage is going to help my legs feel stronger during the marathon.

Week 2 is done! Looks like, again, tempos/MP runs are my weakness! Or it may be a mental glitch that I need to figure out (e.g., expectation that these runs are supposed to be easier). Will see.

(Heat + asphalt fumes) + (4*800m @ 6:23 ) = (vomit) + (glow)

Patient care is slow during July and August, which means I can do more work from home. I was done with work at noon today and off running at 1pm. My schedule called for 4*800 @ 6:23 pace, which I turned into an 8 miler, consistent with my plan of increasing my overall weekly mileage.

I ran 4 easy miles to warm up (8:23) and was happy to see that there were a couple of runners at the highschool track were I do my repeats. Hurray for company. There were also a few HS kids playing ball in the football field. I stretched a bit, picked a fast song, and started my first repeat. Nice, fast, and consistent for a 6:23 pace. I walked 200m, and started my second one, which went well, too, for a 6:20 pace. It was very hot, though, and I started to smell the asphalt fumes of the track. Yuck! I also realized that the fountain at the track was not working, and I was already out of my Nuun and one of the 8oz bottles of water. Yikes! But, 2 more repeats and I can run the 2 easy miles back home. I started the 3rd repeat. Legs felt heavy but pace was consistent. My stomach was turning and I started to feel nauseous. By the end of the 3rd repeat I tasted it - the vomit. Thank God for the last water bottle. Pace for the 3rd repeat, a bit too fast, 6:18. Last repeat was a breeze - for some reason the last repeat always is, probably because it is the last, pace 6:20 in spite of jumping over the football that one of the kids threw a bit too far, into the track lanes. And, no vomit! I had planned to do some plyometrics at the track (ala Kara), but I was out of water and so I dragged my thirsty self home chugging along for 2 miles @ 9:06 average pace.

So, aside from the vomit part and the heat, I really love track workouts. They are short and they make me feel so good. 800meters are my favorites, long enough to feel the burn, but not too long to feel like death is imminent. Interestingly, my heartrate does not go up (as far as I can tell, without a HR monitor) and I am not out of breath during these repeats. However, my stomach is always complaining and I sometimes feel nauseous until I eat some solid food later on. I am going to keep doing some of the runs in the heat, even though they are more difficult, because 1) if I come home earlier, I'd rather be done with the run than wait until the afternoon for it and 2) I think it will serve me well to be adjusted to heat - you never know how the weather will be in October. Plus, can you tell I like a challenge? And vomit? (just kidding!!!!!!)

On a different note, my long run last week was surprisingly tough, probably because 1) the tough 20 mile bikeride I had taken the day before left my legs tired, and 2) it was v hot (my shorts were soaked after the run). I thought 13 miles @ 8:30 would be a breeze, but it was not. I did the ran alone, listening to some interesting podcasts (NPR's "On Point" had a great episode on "food addiction") and had some hilly terrain on the way, but nothing terrible. I ended up running at average 8:24, with last 6.5 miles progressively faster. This is good overall, however, because training is supposed to be challenging!

Nine, eight, and four

NINE
Chris and I are celebrating 9 years of marriage today. The past nine years have taken us from Boston (where we met) to Ohio (where I went to grad school and Chris taught 4th grade) to Romania to sort out my visa, (where I did research, applied for my psychology residency in US and Canada, Chris taught math an an international school, and we got pregnant), to New Castle, NH (where we lived with Chris's mom for a couple of months) and then back to Boston (where we had Petru, I completed my residency and am currently working) and Arlington (where we bought a house 2 years ago). What a ride! Through it all, Chris has never stopped making me laugh every single day....can't beat that!


EIGHT
I had a tempo run today, 3 miles easy + 2 miles @ 7:14 + 3 miles easy = 8. The run went well, though I procrastinated it as long as I could...and the gray skies and rain (yes, rain again) did not help me get out of the house quickly. It was an OK run , not super (like Monday's speedwork). For some reason, I have a much harder time with tempo runs than with long runs or speed work. I think my legs were tired today, and that made the run more challenging. I can run 3 miles @ 7:06 after swimming and biking, yet I struggle with 2 little miles at a slower pace. ..

Here are the stats:
3 miles @ 8:20; 2 miles tempo @ 7:10; 2.5 miles @ 8:24; .5 mile @ 9:00.

FOUR
-leaf clover, that is! I found it on my run today! I use to spend hours as a child looking for them, and now my eye is trained and I keep finding these little guys everywhere I go. I make cards and little frames with them - I have over 100 at this point!

Celebration, run and four leaf clover - a good day indeed!

So much easier...

Today I started my Baystate marathon training. I had a speed workout which I had planned to turn into an 8 miler (3 speed, 5 warm up/cool down), since I am planning on going for higher mileage this marathon cycle. I have the week off as my son has one week of vacation. I woke up to gray skies and rain - New England's 25th day in a row of rain (but who is counting). It was pouring when I finished my breakfast and I was contemplating crosstraining instead. But we are going camping over the weekend, and I knew I had do get some running in today in order to keep up with the schedule. I got dressed thinking I am going to do my tempo. By the time I was ready to go, the rain had stopped, and I headed over to the track. I listened to NPR's "This American Life" to help me keep the pace easy for the 3 warm up miles (8:45 pace). When I got to the track, the rain was back on. It was warm out, so the rain felt nice actually. I switched my I-pod to shuffle, and off I went. Three mile repeats at 6:40, 6:40 and 6:38 went by so quickly and painlessly. Since I am training for a faster marathon, my track workouts are about 15 seconds per mile faster. I am happy to report that I did not feel this workout. My legs felt fresh, my stomach was happy, my lungs and heart were working, but not overworking. I also managed to keep the pace fairly constant. What a big difference compared to last marathon cycle, where I would go "all out" during these intervals, and feel exhausted thereafter. The cool down miles were probably the hardest part of the workout, since I had to run on a slight uphill with 2 large and steep hills. I got a bit stubborn and did not want to let my pace drop too much (8:45), something I have to change for future runs.


I am so excited to be training again, and to be loggin more mileage than during my previous marathon cycle!

Lake Quannapowitt Triathlon - my first tri :)

STATS: 1:22:18; 4th woman 30-39 category; 13th overall women; 57th overall
( 400m swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 run)

OK, so I did not mention I am going to do this race, as I normally do. You see, I really wanted "an out", just in case my fear of swimming in open water would take over... And it did, a little, last night when I swam the 400m (more like 500 from what I later heard) course. Chris went with me since I did not want to be there alone. I had a couple of moments when my heartrate went really high and I checked around to make sure Chris was not too far away. .. I have to thank him for encouraging me to go ahead and do the race.

I could not sleep the entire night. I swam the course in my head several times, and planned how I would get the lifeguards' attention if something went wrong. Even though I swim between 1 mile and 1.5 miles 2-3 times a week, and have been doing this for over a year now, I have this fear of swimming in open water. It's irrational, and I knew that the only way to get over it would be to do the race.

I got up at 5:45 so that I could have breakfast and coffee. We hit the road at 6:30, and got there at 7am. I set up my bike, and started chatting with everyone. There were lots of first timers, but everyone seemed comfortable with the swim and worried about the run. We started in waves. I was wave 2 (39 an under). There were about 50 of us, and every one was v nice and polite during the swim. None of the kicking that I've heard. So the swim was uneventful. I was very calm and collected*. I have no idea how fast I swam, but I would say I was in the top 10 for the wave, which made me super happy.
The transition to the bike was smooth. I did not rush at all. I even chatted with a guy from a previous wave who got "lost" on the course and swam it twice while negotiating a panic attack. Poor guy! I had a banana, put socks and shoes on, hopped on the bike and off I went. The course was a 3.1 m loop, which we did 4 times (for a 13.4, rather than 13....see the pattern here?). I felt strong on the bike, and enjoyed myself. I passed some people, got passed by others, and I know now that I should have pushed much harder. There were lots of sharp turns on the course, and I am still working on not slowing down when I take the turns. My Garmin refused to work so I have no idea what my time on the bike was. Given that there were 4 waves, and we were all wearing helmets, that it was so hard to figure out which waves people belonged to.

The run was interesting. I transitioned in about 3 minutes, again, taking my time, and discovered that my Garmin was all of a sudden working. Such relief. The 1st mile went by quickly. My calves were in pain, which never happens to me on a run, but makes sense since those muscles are used much more (for me) on the bike. First mile was 6:40, way, way fast for me. I did not realize I was going that fast until I saw the mile split and slowed myself down as I climbed a little hill. Around the half way my stomach started giving me problems. I saw a few women in front of me (had no idea which wave, though), and I did not even think about passing them. I just hoped to keep a constant pace, though I was going slower and slower. I did pass about 5 women, all that I could see in front of me. The last 100 m or so I felt a strong urge to vomit, and I managed to restrain myself until I passed the finish line. Then off I went, as a volunteer gave me a bottle of water. My Garmin said 21:59 (7:06 mile/min), which is slower than my 5K PR, but probably pretty good given that I had swam and biked before.

Only overall time was posted, and so I have no idea how I did on the swim, bike or transitions, which is a bummer, because I would have liked to have a baseline for comparison for my future races (but hey, the entire race was $30, and we got awesome tech Tshirts, too). I estimate 10 min swim, 45 min bike, 22 run, and about 6 min or so transitions. I know I did not push at all on the swim or the bike (I should have been on a "harder" gear) and I only raced the run, and so I think I can greatly improve. Also, my husband is hooked, and while he keeps telling me that it is crazy to run 1/2 and full marathons, he would love to try a triathlon. Would be super fun to race together, though I know I won't stand a chance to finish before him...

It was a great day, I met lots of wonderful people, and managed to take on my fear of swimming in open water. My son enjoyed the playground and company of the other kids along with a chocolate donut that I shared with him after the race (OK, he had 3/4 of it). And my husband was the best cheerleader, per usual!

* I have a tendency to get nervous before races, but during races I am calm and collected.

Training plan for Baystate Marathon

I am going to start my training for Baystate Marathon on Monday 6/29. I am very excited to be training again. Unfortunately, this time around I am going to train alone, as my friends Sue M and Sue C are doing the 1/2 marathon race, rather than the full marathon. I will miss their company a great deal. When training for Boston, I somehow felt accountable to them as well as to myself in sticking with the workouts and pushing through. We would email about weekly runs and talk about them during the long run. It was great. This time around I am going to start my long runs with my running group The Runaway Moms, and hope that some of them will stick with me for as long as possible, at least for the beginning slower paced runs... I really like having company on runs longer than 10 miles.

The Baystate Marathon is on 10/18, in Lowell, Mass, about 30 min from my house. Can you say convenient? It is a flat and fast course, with 30% runners qualifying for Boston. It's a 2 loop course, which I actually like (in theory). I think it would mentally help to know what to expect for the last 13.1 miles. Also, I'll get to see my family twice:) . The race is at 8am, which is good, I think, since I am doing my long runs at that time, so I suppose my body is used to running in the morning. This time would also mean nice cool temperatures.

I am going to use the FIRST program again, albeit a modified version.

1) More mileage
Since Boston, I have been building a base of about 30 miles, with a long weekly run between 10-12miles, and 4 (rather than 3 runs). I typically do 8 fast miles on Monday, 8 easy/fast on Wednesday, 2-3 slow on Thursday (after a 15 mile bikeride) and 10-12 on Saturday. I feel my mileage was perhaps a bit too low for Boston (average 30 miles/week), as I was fine cardiovascularly (due to lots of crosstraining) but my legs were dead for the last 6 miles. I am hoping that 35-40 average miles/week would help me feel stronger during the last few miles. The mileage increase is going to come from 3-4 miles recovery run on Thursday (after bikeride) and from adding 1-2 miles of cool down/warmup to my tempo and speed runs. I will see how this will go, and will back off at the slightest sign of injury.

2) More intervals during crosstraining
For Boston, I crosstrained 3 days a week, and did 2 swims and 1 bikeride. Through lots of reading, I am learning that biking is probably the best crosstraining for runners. As such, I am going to try to do 2 bikerides/week, including some intervals on my trainer or outdoors, and 1 long swim (1.25-1.5 miles) with kicking intervals (those really get my heartrate up). Since during the summer we go to the townbeach almost every late afternoon as a family, I am sure I'll be able to sneak in a few 400 meters intervals in addition, as well. I am hoping that all this interval work is going to make me faster. Will see.

3) Fewer overall speed intervals.
A few seasoned runners recommend doing speedwork only toward the end of marathon training, to avoid injury and mental fatigue, and also because as one fellow blogger noted, they are not that important for the marathon (I will not run 400 meters @ a 6:10 pace during the marathon - I'd like to, but it's not going to happen). As such, I decided to see about running some races during July and maybe part of August in lieu of interval work. It so happens that Lynn Woods hosts trail races Wednesday evenings up to September or so, and a few trail running fellows whom I have not seen in ages are attending. Since the races are on trails, the forgiving footing will hopefully keep me injury free. Again, nothing is set in stone, so I will see how things are going. During September and October I will replace all races with speed work at the track.

4) Better recovery
For Baystate, since my training is going to be more intense than for Boston, I need an even better recovery plan. I am lucky that I enjoy healthy foods and really don't crave and actually can't eat overly processed, sugary foods. For the past month or so I started drinking a "recovery shake" after any workout longer than 1 hour, and learned that it helped me have less muscle soreness and less fatigue post run. I blend together milk (or greek yogurt) with 1/2 banana, a handful of blueberries and a few strawberries and ice. I sip this delicious drink while reading in my icebaths (which are much more enjoyable in the summer). In addition, I am going to use the roller after every run, and be disciplined about ab work and pilates. I also need to get better about eating protein, and perhaps eat more lentils and beans since I am not a big fan of meat. Oh, and I really need to sleep more - four, five hours a sleep on Friday night is not conducive to good running on Saturday, and I am not Dean Karnaze*.

5) Stick to the specified pace for the long runs (first 2/3 of the run), run the last 1/3 faster, run the last 4 miles or so at MP.
I managed to do some of these during my training for Boston, but I was not consistent. I was uncomfortable running slow, and, although I did run negative splits a lot, I felt exhausted and that I have gone "all out" after most of my long runs.

OK, I think that's all I had to say. I have a "secrete little race" on Saturday, so "little" that tapering is not really required, and then Baystate training starts. I feel ready and excited.
* Dean Karnaze reportedly sleeps only 4 hours a night.

How I loved running in the rain

The (yet again) heavy rain on Thursday afternoon threatened my 8 mile post work run. Oh, no, I needed to run. Lots of pent up nervous energy waiting to be released. As I walked home from the bus station, with my bag on my head as to shield me from rain, I did not feel excited about the run. I knew I had to get out there, since I had skipped Wednesday's run in order to attend my son's picnic party. And then I had the brilliant idea - wear my new swimming gear on the run. And so I did. Two weeks ago, in preparation for a "secrete race" I purchased a pair of swimming jammers (aka short tights) and swimming long sleeved shirt, on line at http://www.swimoutlet.com/ *. As I headed out for the run, I looked ready to swim, minus the goggles and swim cap (I wore a baseball cap instead). I ended up having an amazing, run. Although my hat was not up to par and got socked, my tights and shirt kept me dry and happy. I had a glorious 8 miler, with the last 2 miles at an effortless 7:00min/mile. I had the bikepath all to myself and felt a real connection with nature, no headphones, just me, the run and the rain. Beautiful!





* you should check this out, they've got running clothes, too - check "clearance". Oh, and they should totally sponsor me!