Vacation, training and hello 2013

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to Florida, where we saw family and enjoyed some sunshine. I actually have a tan now, which is much welcomed - the older I get, the more having a tan helps:) Aside from a nightmare trip back, with a cancelled flight,  a 7 year old sleeping on the floor in the airport and a luggage that arrived more than 24 hours after our flight, we had a wonderful time. We managed to avoid Disney, and went to Legoland, Wet & Wild, the Science Center and a few mini golf places instead - my son's preferences! We spent a lot of time with family and my mom, which was truly the highlight of the trip.

The moment I stepped off the plane and felt the 80 degree weather I decided that I will completely abandon my training plan. I did not want to wake up before 8am (to avoid the heat) during vacation, and generally wanted to be relaxed and not concerned about fitting training in. The weeks before I had run 65 and 70 miles, so I felt comfortable looking at this week as  recovery. I still ended up with 61 miles and 3 solid progressions with last 3-5 miles sub 7, and last mile @ 5K pace. Good enough.

I ran on concrete the entire week. By the last day my L knee started hurting a bit. I guess going from doing 50% of my runs on trails to 100% on concrete pissed my knee off. So I took it to the elliptical on Thursday, and then ran 8 slow miles on trails yesterday. Today I wanted to do 13 (my longest run the past week was 10 miles), with 6 miles @ 6:30. Last night I used some KT tape on my knee, and by morning I felt awesome. The knee was fine during the run, and I ended up running 10 miles @ 6:55, with 5 @ 6:25 followed by 2x800m @ 6:05. I had to stop at 5 miles bc I got to an intersection/stoplight, and then .5 mile after I stopped to talk to a friend. Still happy with the run. Then ran 3 miles easy back home, for a total of 13 @ 7:05. Pretty happy with this. Now if only my knee would not give me grief!!!!. Running in the 30 degree morning felt so good compared to the 70-80 degrees of Florida. I think I am a cold weather girl at heart:)

I spent some time thinking about 2012. Not much racing for me due to 3 injuries, a bitter sweet 19:00 5K PR, but a lot of knowledge gained when it comes to running, and some great friendships through this blog. This year, particularly the last half was parenting heavy for me, as my son moved more into academics, and I've become the parent responsible for that. Running took a bit of a secondary place in my life - I do not need it as much to cope with things, and this has given me freedom and confidence. At the same time, I do want the PRs, and I do want the fast running. I just want it for different reasons now. The thrill of running fast, and the feeling I carry with me for the rest of the day is, for me, better than any PR.

Thanks for following along and have the 2013 that you want to have:)

Thoughts, training, life and news

With little time on my hands, here we go bullet point style.

* TRAINING  -is going really well. After a couple of weeks where my legs were terribly confused, heavy and sore, I am finally noticing that I am gaining fitness. And this is very motivating. My legs are adjusting to the increase in mileage (65 last week, 70 this week - I won't go higher than this) and feel great. I am not sure exactly what I will be going for at my first HM in February, and will let the workouts I do dictate that. So far comparing my training to 2011 (last time I trained for a HM), I am running more miles, faster average pace, faster intervals and faster tempos. This increases my confidence.

Some great workouts this past week:
 9 miles tempo, 3 @ MAF, 4 @ 10K-HM (6:20 pace), 2@ MAF.
13 miles progression, 6.5 @ MAF, 3 @ MAF+10, 2@ MAF+15, 1@ MAF+20, .5 cool down (7:12 pace)

Still taking it slow here, but working in HMP miles when I feel good.

* CORE CHALLENGE - I am in the middle of a 30 day core challenge. This means I committed to doing 10 min core exercises/day. I have 3 cycles I circle through, to keep things interesting. I feel so much stronger and able to keep my form when my legs get tired, that I think I will keep this in. I may have skipped a couple of days in there, but made up the time the next day, so it is all good.

* LIFE - going to Florida for a little vacation to see family, Legoland and Seaworld (happy that my son has no interest in Disney...I have no interest in spending my time waiting in line, ha!).

* PARENTING - I won't say much here, but do want to mention that all those people with babies who think that raising little kids is hard...just wait until school starts. Oh, my! Between homework, daily reading and activities I am finding that my free time is shrinking and shrinking. Parenting is more interesting, for sure, but much more demanding for older kids, at least for me.

* WHO's getting faster? Katie is! Holy Batman I am impressed on a daily bases by how fast she is getting and how quickly.

* NEWS - I am very excited to be part of the Brooks ID program again this year. I love Brooks and I love the opportunity they give to non elite runners through the ID program.

Observations

I've completed 2 weeks of training for my 2 upcoming half marathons. Things have not been going as smoothly as I would have liked them to go. My legs needed time to adjust to the increase in mileage. I had to slow down my pace on some runs due to higher HR. I was rather puzzled for a bit there, but kept track of the data (both HR, weather, sleep, diet, stress, etc). I now have clear proof that my HR is higher when under stress and/or when I don't sleep enough. Dah!!! But for me, having the data really made a difference. I have always been really good about sleep, but lately I have been staying up too late enjoying time with Chris at the end of some pretty stressful days. There isn't much to do about stress but to ride it out, problem solve and take care of yourself; I had been partly neglecting the take care of yourself part, the part that I have control over.

Anyway, I am out of the stressful patch. Went to bed at a reasonable time last night, got 9 hours of sleep, and today I had a really good run. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was a simple progression, but my HR was lower than I have seen it in a long time, and I felt really strong. I ran 14 miles @ 7:20, 7 miles building up from MAF-10 beats to MAF (aerobic HR) @ 7:45, 3.5 miles @ MAF+5 beats and then 3.5 @ MAF+10 beats, which ended up being 6:52 pace. Nothing hard in this run, just a progression from easy to moderate, on a cool and rainy day, on rolling terrain. Happy!

And now I have to contain my enthusiasm and make sure I won't push it too hard too soon. I have a tendency to run myself into the ground by working too hard too soon. I love running hard and pushing my runs to the limit. But I know that I am not a spring chicken and need to be smart about how hard I push and when I push. My February HM is a B race. My goal race is in March. Plenty of time to push much later on! For now, my main focus will be on making sure I get enough sleep and don't run myself into the ground. Because the big goal is to run myself into a PR:) in March.

The beauty of a fresh start

One of my favorite things about running is planning my season and creating a training plan. I love the possibilities, the creativity, the progression of workouts and the unknowns. Tomorrow I start my 12 week training plan for the Hampton Half marathon in New Hampshire. My A race will come 3 weeks after, at Quincy Half Marathon. I worked on my training plan yesterday and made same decisions with regard to mileage, long runs, and races along the way. My 19:00 5K predicts a 1:27:XX which seems like a lofty goal now. However, I might be aiming for a bit faster (ha!), because I think that I am in better shape than a 19:00 5K right now, and will get even faster in 12 weeks, assuming all will go well. Will see.

I have been thinking a lot about running goals. I confess that I am  a not in the "believe it and it will happen camp". I am more in the "work for it and it may happen camp". However, I do believe in setting lofty goals. I mean, why not? There is no prize to be paid for not meeting a running goal, as long as one is having fun. And I love running and training. So, I decided to work toward running goals without taking myself too seriously and without putting unnecessary expectations on myself. I do what I love to do, how I like to do it, try my best and not stress over the process or results. I am approaching this training cycle with curiosity and excitement to see what this 39 year old body can do. I am seriously considering racing track for a club once I turn 40, so this may be my last HM training cycle for a while.

Another 5K and a couple of things I love

So I ran another 5K last Sunday. It went well. I PRed on an accurate 5K course and ran it 19 flat. My watch had me @ 18:59.6 for elapsed time and 18:57 for moving time, but whatever. It is a 19 and I am going to be happy with it. I mean, a second more or less, same thing. I ran a good race and although I feel like I should be running a much faster 5K based on my training runs, I am not yet able to deliver. I think I don't know how to race 5Ks still. I plan on running many more of them in 2013. They are cheap and they boost my fitness. On Tuesday this week I ran my easy run at the pace (within my easy HR zone) I used to run my easy runs prior to my injury in April. This made me happy. I was also happy when I calculated my age graded 5K time (18:15 if I were 34 or younger). I am going to be using the age graded calculator more and more bc it feels so good:)

During the past week I spent a lot of time reviewing my training log from 2011. That was one of my best years of running. I PRed in the HM with a 1:28 and in the 5K with a 19:26 (from a 20:12, with no specific 5K training). I ran a 5K on January 1st 2011 in 20:26, and by March I was able to run a HM at a pace that was 10-15 seconds faster than that 5K. My 19 minutes 5K right now before starting any HM training is a really good baseline. I am confident that with more experience and tries, rather than more specific 5K training, I will learn how to race a sub 19 5K. I tend to achieve my short term goals easily, so not getting the sub 19 is actually good for me and makes me want it even more; in fact, I think I am easily capable to run an 18:30 and I will.

With Thanksgiving in mind, I want to share some of the things I am enjoying these days, in no particular order.
This book:

This book is AMAZING! I don't think it is for everyone, but if you are into nonfiction, learning the ways of the mind and into getting humbled, read it. I think it has great applications for athletes and I hope someday someone will apply the concepts presented in the book to athletics.

Shoes:

Brooks Pure Connects. Marketed as neutral shoes, they offer a tad of stability and arch support with no added weight. They fit like a glove and make you feel light on your feet.

Homework with my son:
I confess that I dreaded first grade and the American system (at least in the greater Boston area) where parents are required to do homework with kids. That was not what we did when I was growing up. In fact, I don't remember ever having my homework checked by my parents and it served me well. But, I confess that I love homework time. There is something magical about seeing your kid learn, and how quickly that happens. One days they struggle reading a couple of sentences and a week later they are fluent readers. One day they seem to know almost nothing, and the next day they tell you things you had no clue when they learned. I am not saying that homework time always goes smoothly, because it does not. There are times when we are both tired and just not into it. But generally we find a way to move pass that and create positive associations to learning that hopefully he will be able to take with him the rest of his life. Few things in life are more magical than learning.

Speaking of learning, off to learn more about racing a 5K from this speedy lady who ran with me on Sunday and finished some 25 seconds ahead of me:) Rockstar she is!

On training, running surface, being sick and politics

On track versus road
I wonder why the track is so much faster than the road. Is it the surface? Is it the consistency of running in circles? Is the GPS inaccurate on the track? Is it being used to it (since I have been consistently going to the track for weeks now)? For me, running on the track is like running on a slight downhill; it does not feel like a downhill on my body (e.g., my quads are not overworking), but the effort is less than on the road.

On treadmill versus road/track
The TM is much harder for me, mentally and physically. I believe this is a function of not being used to it. I remember running consistently on the TM in college, and then trying to run outside and OMG, so hard. Now it is the opposite. My easy pace (per effort and HR) on the TM is slower by 10-20secs than on the road. Also, my hip flexors get sore after a TM run, while when I run on the road my hamstrings seem to be doing more work. I wonder how much this is an issue of economy and efficiency. It is easier for me to run on the road even in the wind than on the TM bc my body is more economical/efficient on it, due to lots of practice.

On varying surfaces
Right now I am experimenting with running on a variety of surfaces, with a variety of shoes (thank you Brooks!). I run on track (once), on the TM (once), on the elliptical (once), on trails (3 times), and on the road (the rest of the time). I never run in the same pair of shoes twice in a week. Will see if this makes a difference in terms of injury.

On flu versus cold
I have been sick for 2 weeks now. Two weeks ago I got a flu shot, and then the next day I started to feel shitty. No, I did not get the flu from the flu shot, just had the bug in me before getting the shot. The shot probably helped me have a shorter, less symptomatic flu. I had fever for 3 days, and was so tired and weak that I would come back from work, sleep for 2 hours, get up for one hour and then sleep some more. I tried to run and my HR went up to 223. I abandoned a workout. I felt better toward the end of the week and had no issues while racing last Saturday. Then I caught a who knows what cold bug from Chris: sore throat, congestion, headache, chills. I did an easier fartlek run on Monday rather than a track workout. I was surprised that my HR was good and I felt fine running. On Wednesday I attempted a much harder workout (thanks PPC) and my HR was really good. I don't have the weakness and fatigue of the flu, and running actually helps with the congestion. Interesting to me:)

On election
It is very interesting to me that people stay away from talking politics on social media. Why? People talk about other "sensitive" topics like religion on social media and blogs all the time. Is it because of concerns about loss of followers, judgements? I grew up during communism and free speech was not a right that we had. Don't take the right to speak your mind lightly! It is a privilege.

On my next 5K
In 1.5 weeks. My last one. Whatever happens, happens. I might not be able to run a sub 19, even though my training clearly points into that direction. I want the sub 19 but in that last mile of a 5K maybe I don't  want it enough. Life is smooth sailing for me right now. A PR would only bring momentary thrills on a canvas of a pretty stable life. Or maybe the fact that it's been a while since my last PR is messing around with my confidence. It is much easier to believe in a PR when you come from having just gotten one. Maybe chasing Katie around will help with that. Regardless, I am ready to take a week of rest after the 5K and then plunge into HM training for the winter. I love winter running!

Wakefield Run for all ages 5K

OK, sorry to disappoint, but no sub 19 today.
The course was great. Fast and flat. Only 67 feet elevation gain. Accurate (3.15 on the Garmin).
The only issue today was the wind. 15-20MPH per accuweather.  When I checked last night, I wondered about my pacing and came across this little gem from Daniels.

Wind Speed (negative values denote tailwinds)	VO2 Demand	min/km	min/mile
-20 mph (-8.9408 m/s)	-9.6%	3:00.3	4:50.1
-15 mph (-6.7056 m/s)	-8.7%	3:01.9	4:52.7
-10 mph (-4.4704 m/s)	-6.8%	3:05.3	4:58.1
-5 mph (-2.2352 m/s)	-3.9%	3:10.4	5:06.4
0 mph (0 m/s)	0.0%	3:17.2	5:17.4
5 mph (2.2352 m/s)	+4.9%	3:25.8	5:31.2
10 mph (4.4704 m/s)	+10.8%	3:36.1	5:47.8
15 mph (6.7056 m/s)	+17.7%	3:48.0	6:07.0
20 mph (8.9408 m/s)	+25.6%	4:01.6	6:28.9

In this particular table I inputted my average pace from today (6:07) @ 15MPH wind, and was able to see equivalent paces in various conditions. This made me feel better about today:).

OK, so the race.

Here are the splits from my Garmin (not that good at cutting and pasting).

1	6:01.8	6:02	1.00	9	0	6:02	6:02	4:40	176	182	76
2	6:05.8	6:06	1.00	5	0	6:06	6:06	5:30	185	188	86
3	6:18.4	6:18	1.00	23	31	6:18	6:18	5:22	188	190	91
4	:48.9	:49	0.15	0	7	5:26	5:26	5:07	190

Ended up with 6:07 pace for 3.15 for 19:15, HR 183. 5th woman!

So how did it go down.
I had several goals for this race:
1. To run each mile at a higher HR than the one before. Not pace, but HR.; CHECK
2. To run mile 1 @ 5:55-6.; ~CHECK
3. To run mile 2 @ 6:00-6:05~CHECK
4. To focus on my breathing and stay focused on the race.~ CHECK and ~~ CHECK.
5. To run sub 19. NOT TODAY!

I warmed up for 20 min with no watch, just easy pace. I did 4x10 sec strides fast to get HR up. Paces for these were 6:30 to 6 for the last one. It was cold. But I like cold. I warmed up 10 min one way, and I was pleased that I did not feel the wind. When I turned around, however, I felt it and it was strong. I immediately realized that the last mile of the race will be hard.

Mile 1 went fine. I felt good, as good as you can feel running 6 min pace (not easy for me, ha!). I got passed here by 5 women and I never saw them before. They looked fast and I knew one of them, Kara Haas, who runs sub 18s easily in her 40s. I assume I had a tailwind for the first mile, and that was clear based on HR. The next mile was mostly with a side wind. I passed one woman, and then I was alone. I focused and maintained 6pace for most of it. But then we turned into the wind and I slowed down. Last mile was all into the wind. My watch showed 6:26 at some point and I felt so defeated. I could not go faster. Then I got passed by this guy who does Fresh Pond a lot, and I went with him for a bit which helped my pace (later on he told me he hoped I would go with him!). But he was just too fast (always faster than me at FP) and I could not keep up (I wonder if he were a woman, whether that would have helped...). I pushed as hard as I could when I saw the finish line, but was not enough. I knew it at the beginning of mile 3. Could I have fought harder? Based on HR, yes. Average HR was 183. I race half marathons @ 185 average. For 5Ks, I should be in the 190s. The thing is, 185 in my last half marathon did not feel as bad as that last mile felt today. This tells me that I need more steady state/tempo runs. Oh, and less headwind would be good too.

In spite of not breaking 19, I had a great time before and after the race. I loved to talk to other runners. Funny to me how I was a bit disappointed in my time, but so many others were impressed. Speaks to how relative "fast" is.

5Ks are hard in a different way than HMs or marathons. You never really feel good. The concentration required is intense. You need practice to run a good 5K, I think. Things happen quickly and so much depends on reaction time. No time to really think things through. For a very analytical person like me, this is good. For my development as an athlete, this is good.

So I go again in 2 weeks. If I don't get the sub 19, I try again later. I don't think one can continue benefiting from track workouts for more than 8-10 weeks, without a break. And I have other plans for my winter. But, breaking 19 will continue to be a goal. It will surely happen, I have no doubt, as long as I continue having fun running:)