How it goes?

It's been so long since I blogged that I needed a minute to familiarize myself with the new blogger layout. Ha! Lots to say, here it goes, in no particular order.

* Just got back from a little get away (avoid the word "vacation" bc I actually had to work about half of the time) in Connecticut to visit friends and go to Lake Compounce, a waterpark/ amusement park. My little big 48 inches guy is obsessed with waterparks and we ran out of all Massachusetts had to offer. And 48 inches is a very important height - it symbolizes that he does not need mommy with him on the "lights out", "death tunnel", "twister" and other such "thrilling" rides...

* It's been one on my busiest summers in terms of work. Lots of grants to write. I love my job so much that I know I will do it to some extent for the rest of my life past retirement, but the stress of meeting deadlines and responsibilities that affect many peoples is not always, particularly in the summertime:).

* The stress is most likely linked to my recent encounter with shin splints (posterior) on my L leg. This is the type of pain I could run through as it gets better after I warm up, but this strategy combined with icing did not lead to a speedy recovery (ha, ha!) so I have been resorting to the bike, elliptical and pool/pond and I am *almost* ready to return to running.

* Dealing with this setback has been easier than I would have imagined, largely because work has been  very busy, but also because after running in the crazy temps we've had, I enjoy the AC at the gym and the ability to sleep in and work out at any hour I have available regardless of weather. In addition, I did some pretty hard workouts on the bike and elliptical, keeping my HR on the elliptical within MAF, tempo and VO2 max range (which is very hard because of the lack of wind and pounding!) so I feel I am pretty fit. I only miss running when I read about it, which I did little of during the past week.

* Super excited for a girls weekend coming up in 6 sleeps. Two dear friends that I met through this blog are going to come from far and even further away to spend the weekend with me. I hope to be able to run and take them to some beautiful trails in the area. If that won't be possible, there will  be many more things to do...my fridge is stacked, the wine is bought, my boys will leave the house Friday morning and my last grant of the summer will be in Thursday night! Happy!

A bit of fast running goes a long way

Today it has become clear to me how important fast running is for my confidence as a runner. For the past month I have been running mostly aerobic pace, as I built my miles up and up and up. I enjoyed that for a bit, as I was, I think, a bit tired mentally and physically after my intense 5K training. But with the high temps and high humidity, I ended up doing a lot of slow (for me) running. Last week I hit 81 miles but my average pace for the week was the slowest I had seen it the entire year. Rationally, I understood that running in 95-100 degrees means running slower, and that in order to run your first 81 miler in over one year you have to slow down, but I did not like that one bit. 

When I saw a progression into the mid 6s today on my schedule, I was excited but also a bit concerned (OK, I was nervous!). Would I remember to run fast? How in the world I am going to be able to hold 6s if my HR was getting close to my lactate threshold holding high 7s and low 8s during my 21 miler on Saturday? But then I shut my mind up, picked up my i-pod and ran a kick a$$ progression with a HR lower than most of my miles on Saturday, and a perceived effort much lower than anticipated. We had some cooler temps, mid 70s today which helped a ton. My legs felt fresh in spite of the higher (for me) mileage. I felt light on my feet and stayed present in every mile, working hard to slow myself down for the first half of the progression. I loved this run. I loved running the last 2 miles fastish. I loved that I finished the run with a lot left in the tank, and with a renewed confidence that my legs have not forgotten how to run fast (nothing like a behavioral experiment to show one that!)

Now it will be much easier to return to building up my miles and running slower. I know this is not my time for intense speed; my marathon cycle is very different now than it was last year or the year before, and I truly believe that this periodization is going to work well for me. I already feel my legs are getting stronger and have adapted to the miles. I still have my speed in spite of no speed work since early May. 

Things are progressing well. I love running!

Kids, marathon training and books

In the past weeks I have started several blog posts only to leave them unfinished as drafts. Lots of little ideas pop into my mind and then I lose them or find them incredible boring, or too private, and let them go.

We are having a busy beginning of the summer. The weather has been finicky with lots of rain, but we managed a few trips to the pool, which are always nice. I am getting used to having a 6 year old who can leave the house and play with his friends for a few hours at a time without an adult present. Sure, sometimes there are fights, but it is amazing to me how quickly kids forget and move on. There are also missing packs of mini kit kats, and chairs stalked to get to said kit kats which are shared among friends, and fire hydrants to be opened, and tupperware containers to be taken as little houses for insects (my "good tupperware") but all in good fun! I love our neighborhood and the 8 kids on the street are like my own.

Marathon training is going well. I am building up miles, running mostly easy, and actually enjoying the no pressure running. I ran 19 miles today and felt good but my feet hurt for the last 5. It is amazing to me how quickly I lose fitness. I always struggle with pain in my feet during the first big weeks of marathon training, and even getting out of bed is painful for a while. But somehow it all goes away as my body gets strong and adapts, and I know that pretty soon I will be running stronger and faster. My Garmin 210 is really keeping me honest. It measures the miles .2-.3 longer than the Garmin 305:)

I am reading a lot. I am a nonfiction reader and I binge on good books. I read Chrissy Wellington's book in 2 days (and I worked those 2 days). I ate, dressed, walked and even ran (on the TM) while reading. Loved it so much. Loved her first coached and completely got that type of coaching style and how it could make a champion. I also read Scott Jurek's book "Eat and Run". I am not a cook, and so the "eat" part got lost on me, but the "run" part was interesting. It was an easy read and had some good tips for runners, particularly beginner runners.

In other news, I am forbidding myself from buying any more Lulu shorts, whether or not they are on sale. There, I put it in writing! And no, I will not tell you how many Lulu shorts I own.

Randoms:)

* We turned the fireplace on tonight. 60 degrees in the house in June. WTF, Boston?
* I bought a yogurt at Whole Foods when I left work this afternoon, as I wanted some fuel before my run. Only when I got to the train station (about 10 min after WF) did I realize that I forgot to return the basket. Almost as impressive as when Chris found the toothpaste in the fridge several years back when I was writing my dissertation. Stress much?
* It has been raining non stop since Saturday.
* I ran through water up to my knees on the bike path this Sunday.
* Every year Chris transforms me into a Celtics fan; I end up biting my nails, staying up into the wee hours and watching every single game. Game 5 tonight. Go Celts!
* My almost 7 years old has finally mastered riding his 2 wheeler. After unsuccessfully chanting "don't leg go, I am scare, I am scared" he switched to a little song "Petru can do it, yay, yay, yay, Petru can do it" and proceeded to ride with no help. The smile on his face was precious. And good lesson for both of us:)
* Taking 10 days off of running slowed me down by 30 secs/mile, which came down to 20 secs/mile in just one week. In 2 more weeks I'll be just where I was before. Perfect. Truly enjoying running again:)

Ooops, it's been too long...

This is most likely the longest gap in posting for me! Lots of news, little time, and bullet point style it is.

# Planned to run a 10K early May, but ended up running a 5K as the 10K was sold out. Great course, with some hills, perfect weather. Went 19:04 for 3.2. Yes, I went from racing a short 2.99 5K in 17:30 to a long 3.21 5K in 19:04. No matter how you look at it, I ran slower the second time. In my defense, I slowed down a lot in the last mile bc of lack of space - the course was an out and back and we went on a narrow bridge where I got faced with the slower runners running straight into me. Still, not happy about seeing that 19 in front of my 5K time. My battle with the 5K is not over, and will surely go back at it sometime in the winter.

# I spent 10 days in Hawaii! I attended a work related conference in Oahu and before it I flew to Maui with the entire family: Chris, Petru and mom (who turned 70 early May). Chris and I had our honeymoon over there 12 years ago.This was no honeymoon (as we joked!) but in so many ways it was even better. Life is settled and we have grown into the persons we are, and into our marriage. Plus, we have our not so little imp of a boy! Maui was beautiful. My favorite island. Before I left I developed a bit of leg pain (which I would have ran through had I been home), and after my first swim in the ocean (along with a sea turtle!) I decided to take a break from running and just swim. I swam about 2 miles every day there and it was peaceful and beautiful. Some of it was alone, some with Petru who is becoming a little fish. I would go out into the ocean and let my mind go blank for a while. Precious!

# I am back to running right now, a bit slower than before (of course) but not concerned. I am no longer afraid of taking breaks from running bc I know in the end I come back stronger. My main goal moving forward is the Baystate Marathon in October (my 4th - I went 3:29, 3:19 and 3:14 there for the past 3 years). This year, my goal is loftier than ever. But, I feel confident it can be achieved on a good day. After having trained for the 5K for a few months, I am very excited for a change of pace and some longer running. I miss the marathon, which is unusual for a self professed marathon hater. Ha!

# That's it...I'll leave you with some pics for a change:)

 My little fish. He never got tired of the water!

 The Sea turtle who would rest on the beach every afternoon.

 Getting a little help from dad on a hike.

 With mom during one of the less busy (for me) Oahu nights.

Our family!

Observations and pictures

I've been struggling with some really tired legs since my race. I've done several pretty hard runs, and managed to hit my paces (OK, confession time, I did run my track workouts way, way faster than I was supposed to, stupid, I now). I am entertaining the idea that I peak quickly and go flat thereafter.

Case in point:

2010 - HM PR by 7 minutes, one month later feeling flat at Boston 2010 (blister as well, but I did feel flat).

2011 - 30K @ 6:57, one month later feeling flat at Baystate (still great result, but I was capable of more).

I am a fast twitch gal. I believe my best distances are 200m and 400m. The longer the distance, the more I slow down. I've got some really strong quads which help with the speed. I can take a lot of pain, but for short periods of time. This also means that I tire easily and I am starting to believe that my body can only handle 8 weeks max of speed before needing rest. Although I had a great 5K last weekend, I am confident that I could have had a better one 1 or 2 weeks before. This is something I am going to discuss with my coach and take into consideration when planning for my fall marathon. I think I need a long base, with lots of 20 milers, all at MAF HR, and then an 8 week push of speed and MP. My MAF pace has gone down a lot and I believe that when rested, my current MAF pace is lower or close to my MP PR pace. Crazy.  

So, I think I am going to need to rest a bit in May. I so happen to travel for a conference in Hawaii on May 10th, and then go to Maui for a vacation with the family, and what better time to rest than then? I can swim more and run less, and just move away from a strict season. The stress will be gone and I won't need the endorphins as much as I do during the typical work week. More time for my family, and now that Petru swims well, he and I can have a ton of fun in the water. Can't wait!

The folks at Run in Blue posted a couple of photos. Interesting to see myself run. I tend to run with my head down instead of looking ahead. My shoulders are not straight. But, I do have a good knee drive and I don't heel strike. 

Start line. Big race, ha?

At the start. Doing some jumps to stay warm. See Tim, sometimes I do listen!

Starting - hunched over, looking at my feet, arms all over the place...hmm

Crossing the finish line with my eye on the watch

Finish line

 

Run in Blue (almost) 5K race report

For those who like short reports:
3.1 (2.98 on my watch) 17:26; 5:52 pace (Garmin pace)
First woman, Second overall
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This was an A race for me. I started specific training for the 5K in March and truly enjoyed it. I did a lot of track, sometimes 2 track sessions in one week. I ran tempos as well. I felt great and my legs and lungs amazed me. Last week I ran 5x1000m with 1 min jog in 5:30-5:45 each and I felt strong, so strong. Then I started tapering and had the roughest time with it. I ran only 30 miles this week and I was going out of my mind. I was moody. All my runs felt horrible, and things got worse and worse as the time went by. I did have a great run on Wednesday morning; 2.61 miles @ 5:58 as part of a "float workout" where you keep the recovery intervals fast.
Here it is, as an excerpt from my training log:

.12; 0:42 5:43 - comfortable; 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.12; 0:42 5:43 - easy, slowed myself down 
.12; 0:48 6:30 -REST 
.50; 2:54 5:48 -comfortable 
.15; 1:01 6:46-REST 
.25; 1:26 5:46 - comfortable 
.16; 1:00 6:30 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:44 - getting hard here, nausea 
.15; 1:00 6:44 -REST 
.25; 1:26 5:48 - HARD, how the hell am I going to run a sub 19, this sucks -> breath, relax, you want to hurt here 
.15; 1:00 6:36-REST 
.25; 1:23 5:38 -push it, give all you've got - surprisingly there was a lot left. 


But my runs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, all 3-4 miles of each felt hard. My legs felt heavy, I was out of breath, and I worked hard not to get in to much trouble with the family. Few people knew about my race, but a good friend who knew sent me some nice emails and they helped a ton. I was going to give 100% on that day, no matter how I would feel. I went to bed thinking about that and tucked my "Today I will" bracelet in my shorts.


####
Race:
I got to Somerville @ 7:30 with the family. I was happy to have them there. I warmed up while they searched for traffic lights. I felt horrible. I was slow. I did 4x1 min strides starting @ 6:30 and finishing @ 5:15. My legs felt better after the strides. I was more worried about my mental state. I have never felt like this before a race. It was not good. 


I finished the warm up 2 minutes before the start of the race. Good. I went to the line and started chatting with a couple of guys. It was a small race and I wanted to have faster people in front of me to chase. 


We took off. I lead the pack for the first  .2 and saw my average pace going from 10 something to 5:10 (Garmin slow at picking up actual pace). I was to run this mile no faster than 6, but after the first bit @ 5:10 I was unable to slow this mile down more than a 5:50. It felt...not hard. I was surprised. Tim said the second mile will be the hardest, and it was. I slowed down to a 6 (but was at a 6:15 lap pace for at least .25 there). There were no mile markers on the course and I had no idea whether the course was going to be long, etc. I ran all the tangents as best I could. I passed 2 guys and there was only one other guy in front of me (he ran 16 something). In mile 3 I told myself that I am doing it , I am breaking 19.   I started looking at the time on my watch, and kept telling myself that I have X, Y, Z minutes left. Around 2.5 I noticed that the lace on my L shoe went undone. I started thinking whether I should stop and tie it, or kick my shoe off completely, or just go with it. This served as a nice distraction and it gave me some extra adrenaline, I think, as I was getting faster. I saw Chris at 2.6X and I started running all out. He said I looked strong. I felt like I was running so slow, but my watch said something else. Last mile had average pace 5:43. I crossed the line and collapsed on the dirt. I was dizzy. I asked what my time was and they said 17:23. My watched showed 17:26. Who knows. 


So the course seemed short on my watch. I talked to a few runners and they all had various distances, but no one as short as me. Who knows. I am putting this as a PR for a short 5K, because I want to give myself the option of being able to beat this PR. LOL. This would have been something like 18:05 for 3.1, so I am very pleased. 


Super happy with this race. I beat the mental demons. I ran well. The training paid off. Thanks Tim (but I do want less of a taper next time:). And as I was waiting for awards, my eye caught these beauties. Can you say 'lucky course"? And yes, there is dirt on my hands from collapsing at the finish. Ha!