Bloggers in real life

When I started this blog many years ago I was not interested in followers (I still am not, sorry!). I was not interested in making connections. I simply wanted to write anonymously, document my training, and have a record of my running(s) and living(s). It took me over 4 years of blogging to even consider responding to a comment; when I received a couple of emails after my first marathon in 2009, I thought it was kind of weird. I felt perfectly content in my personal life, with enough friends and family to consider letting anyone from the blog in. Ha! How things have changed. I am now emailing almost daily with 2 women I met via this blog, who have become very close friends.

I virtually trained with Jenn for Baystate 2011 and rapidly became able to share private details of my life that typically take me years to share. Perhaps because we are so similar. I am looking forward to the time when we will be able to both train for something without one of us getting injured. I am also looking forward to our sweat contest - you see, she think she actually sweats more than I do, ha, ha, ha!   Jenn is someone who puts a lot of thought into every aspect of her life. She is a no nonsense, no excuses super busy person who somehow always makes time for those who are important to her. Oh, and she is also very hot.

 Sometime early 2012, I think, I started to exchange emails with Amanda. It was Boston 2012, however, that really sealed my friendship with her. Amanda and I are very different in many ways. She carries emotions on her face while I  often choose not to show my emotions. She is a free spirit while I am more of an analytic thinker. But Amanda won me over with her big heart, genuineness, and incredible ability to connect. She is a ball of energy and sexy muscles. You think you know her from the first meeting, but girl's got layers and depth and wisdom beyond her years.

After many many emails we finally met in Boston 2 weeks ago. Amanda arrived earlier and she and I waited for Jenn (whom none of us had met before) pacing around the airport. And then we got home and talked nonstop in my living room from 12 noon to 2:30am. Boom! It was easy conversation, and we covered topics from G to NR17 and more. There were no hang ups. Everyone was comfortable getting food, sleeping late or waking up early, emailing or talking. It was truly perfect. We walked the streets of Boston, shopped for jeans, ate a few bags of chips and a pound of dark chocolate, ran some, ate some more.... Several bottles of wine and some beers disappeared in the process. Sometime Saturday night I fell asleep on the armchair while these 2 played dress up and took pictures for a dear friend who could not make the trip (sorry, none of those will be posted!). We went to bed at 4am.

In no particular order:

                                                                    Jenn and Amanda!

                                                            Jenn and I - the dark circles under my eyes clearly show that I    
                                                               need my 8hs of sleep!

                                                             Jenn and I

                                            Amanda - this little bundle of muscle - showed us some of her talents!
                                            She can also do 10 pull up in a row, thank you very much!

Monday morning came too soon and I feel that there were so many topics I wanted to cover and did not get to. Next time for sure. In the meantime, really thankful for this little blog and for the email to continue our friendship!

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