Fresh Pond 5 miler, take 3, RR

I think I have a new Saturday morning routine. Sleep in until Petru wakes up (today it was 7:45), snuggle with Petru and Chris, eat breakfast, drink coffee, and run 5 miles to do the Fresh Pond race, then run 5 miles back home. I'd like to say that taking an icebath followed by a hot bath while watching Grey's Anatomy and eating lunch is part of the routine, but unfortunately it only happened today as Chris took Petru to the Aquarium to meet an out of town friend of his and his kids!

The plan today was to run 7 miles @ HMP as part of a long run. I ran 5 over there @ MP/HR 160 and waited for about 5 min while watching firefighters simulating rescues of ice cracking victims. We had a large crowd today and I got to meet some people. Really nice folks, some of whom come from over 1 hour away just do to the race.

My plan for the race was to not go faster than 6:45. I wanted to have enough juice to do some extra mileage for a total of 7 miles around HMP. I felt incredibly good during the first loop. The pace was right at 6:45 as I crossed the finish after the first loop. I started to suffer a bit around mile 4, but nothing really bad. I got a little competitive toward the end as I wanted to beat my time from last week, and ended up running a 6:43 pace for the 4.6 course (not a 5 miler as it is advertised), in 30:39, which is 22 seconds better than last week. I told the RD my name, ate a bit of a gel, and started my 3rd loop. This was hard. My legs felt weaker and it was harder to push with my big toe. I had to stop a couple of times as to not bump into 2 large dogs with oblivious owners, but ran the loop @ a 6:53 pace, which is a more realistic HM pace for me anyway (I'd be thrilled to run this pace in 3 weeks!). Overall, good workout and I did not feel trashed thereafter. Initially I though Chris would pick me up from the race so that I would not have to run 5 more miles home (I don't really need these long run for a HM), but we had to change plans so I ended up running 5 slow miles home, for a total of 17 miles.

I'll be on mommy duty from 2 pm on, minus 40 min for a swim later on. We have game night tonight with yummy food, friends, and likely a late night, which is fine, since I slept in today. It's so funny that 7:45 mean "sleeping in" for me these days:)

Happy weekend!

Learning to suffer on the bike

For a long time I thought that running is way harder than biking. I know it is like comparing apples to oranges, but I tend to automatically rank and compare things in my mind.

A little way back I started training with heart rate. I have been working mainly in zone 2, but today I had some zone 3 and 4 intervals. Holy Batman! First, it took me about 5 minutes to get in zone 3, and once there, sweat started pouring off of me (despite the fact that I had turned the heat down and there were 54 degrees in the room). I had a couple of repeats in zone 4, which meant that I had to work the big gears at an over 90 RPM to get there. I can't imagine ever going into zone 5. Time moved so slowly and I could not concentrate on watching TV because my pace and HR would slow down.

I also have never experienced a trainer induced endorphin kick, but after 2 hours this morning, I felt invincible! I think this HR stuff is very good for me. It makes me work the bike, something that I don't think I really did before! And, amazingly, my 3x10 (1.5 miles) @ 10K pace this evening hurt, but did not kill me. And I managed to stay away from the treadmill. Thank you, Arlington, for plowing the bike path!

Bullet point randomness

# I've had a frustrating day at work. I think time is valuable and I have a hard time adjusting to other people's lax timeline. I like efficiency. I think most meetings are unnecessary.
# In turn, I had an awesome swim. My swims have been great lately. My L arm is catching up. I think I swam the entire last year with only my R arm.
# My mom drove with me to the Y this afternoon so she could watch me swim. How sweet is that?
# Since my mom arrived, I have been eating the most tasty Romanian dishes. Everything gets baked in the oven for hours. Yes, not something I would ever do!
# We are in the process of getting more snow. I need to do 12 miles with some HM pace work tomorrow. I think I might have to get this done on the treadmill. Not excited about it. I also have 2 hours on the bike. I am excited about that!
# Chris caught me crying while on the bike watching Grey's Anatomy. There is something really wrong about this.
# My hammy is at 100%:)
# My mom dyed my hair last night, a bit too dark for my liking, but a nice change. #I love to change my haircolor.
# Last night I gave haircuts to both Petru and Chris. I always do that. I love it and Chris pays me in massages. I charge a lot!
# I am addicted to muffins.
# I tried and tried to eat protein powder. I put it in smoothies, oatmeal, etc, etc, but I still hate the taste. I also entertained the idea of making those green smoothies that are so trendy in the blogland. But then I realized that I love spinach and eat a ton of it anyway!
# Gotta go. We got a bosu ball and I am cracking up watching Chris trying to balance on it!

Ironman vs Ultrarunner

Oh, the bike!

My bike and I are clearly bonding up. We spend at least 6 hours together every week. If I have a tough workout, I watch Hulu TV. If I have an easy one, I can read your blogs.


Looking at this picture I am reminded how I am flat chested when I first got the bike I was worried that I am going to be super uncomfortable on it. Well, I am not. The aero position feels great. I have zero back pain, or any kind of pain. And the more tucked in I am the more power I generate.

By the way, the front of the bike was placed on about 10-15 inches of books, to simulate a long hill for my muscular endurance 2 hour ride this evening.

Mom is visiting for 3 weeks. I already skipped a workout (swim). There will be more skipped workouts since otherwise I won't have any time with her. If I did not like my mom this would not be a problem, but my mom is amazing and I like spending time with her. Everything will be fine as long as I don't skip any runs since my first HM is in less than a month!
Have a great week!

Fresh Pond 5 miler, take 2, RR

Last night I made the decision to not race Derry 16 miler this year. The timing was just not right. Petru has his first African drumming lesson tomorrow at the same time the race starts and I want to go with him; Petru has a tendency to make up his mind about whether he likes or dislikes something in one minute, and Chris, albeit the best father ever, will do anything to avoid conflict. Plus my mom is arriving from Romania today!

So, in lieu of the Derry race, I decided to run 16 miles, 5 to the Fresh Pond race start, then the 5 miles (actually 4.75) race @ HMP, then 1 (actually 1.25mile) @ HMP for a total of 6 HMP miles and 5 miles home. My hammy has been feeling good as I took the entire week easy, so I was ready to roll. When I got to the race site, there were few runners. The director said that there will be no race, as the woman who typically does the timing thought it would be too dangerous to race (ice and cold), but then someone else decided to do the timing, so the race was on. At the start, the director asked whether anyone wants to do the 5 miler, and about 5 of us raised our hands (I think I was the only woman).

I felt pretty good from the beginning. I had run the 5 miles to the race start @ 7:45, HR 160, so was well warmed up. The path was very slippery and there were 2 occasions where little dogs jumped at my feet, but otherwise the run was great. I ran mostly by feel, with the goal of not going all out. My breathing got a bit heavy toward the end, but I managed 4.75 miles in 31.01, which is 30 seconds faster than last time (as the winner of the male race mentioned as they announced my time - cracks me up that he remembered). Average pace on Garmin was 6:45. After spelling my name to the RD, I headed out for 1.25 miles at HMP, and then did the 5 miles back home at a super easy pace.

Although I still think that my planned HM pace is a bit too ambitious, it was nice to be able to do 6 miles at this pace today, on snow and ice (and to not fall, LOL). Plus, my name will be in the Boston Globe again tomorrow, which I KNOW is going to be the best present for my mom:)

Legs felt fresh for the entire 16 miles, no lactic acid accumulation, which is probably because of the strength I developed from all those big ring bike intervals. It was also so nice to run pain free. I'd lie if I said I was not concerned about my hammy pull. In the back of my mind, I still feared a stress fracture, even though there was not a discrete painful spot, I was able to jump on that foot pain free, and the pain would be present only when standing up or during the first couple of minutes of a run or walk. I personally think that injuries are part of the sport, and if you race hard enough, no matter what precautions you take, there will be injuries. I mean, elite runners always get injured, even though they have the best coaches, and that is because they push hard enough. Having said that, I do believe that babying the little aches and pains is the way to go. This week I skipped my run on Tuesday, and ran super slow, at a 120-130 HR the rest of the time until today. Plus, I am becoming a true believer in compression socks and wear them all the time now.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Love heals

My pain was diagnosed as a butt pull. OK, hamstring pull, but butt pull makes me laugh, so that's what it is:). Apparently it has something to do with running on ice and skidding every so often. And it already feels better, the more I walk, the better it feels. I'll take the day off, though. Really, it is snowing out so being indoors is much more appealing anyway (OK, lie here, but let me create my own reality, will you?)

Thanks for all your nice comments. You guys know what to say to make one laugh or feel better. I do want to clarify that I am not a crazy woman and don't train like this every day (I would if I did not have to work this much!), though I do have to pack more training into the weekends bc of my work schedule. And you'd think I'd be tired all the time, but I really am not. I think my secret is lots of food and daily 10min power naps (including those on a yoga mat in my office when patients cancel).

Back to the love, though.

Thanks Amanda for my first package from my HBBC win. Is it bad that the first thing that came to mind when opening the package was to hide the candy from my son? I won't, no worries, my superego already repressed that thought!














And of course, thanks Chris (who never reads this blog, by the way, or any blog that is not basketball or tennis based) for my gloves (I have been complaining of cold hands during runs) and Ritter chocolate (one of the best), and for the chicken curry you made (still cooking)































And thank you little guy who told me this morning: "Don't worry mommy, I will make you feel better!". Love the peacefulness when he sleeps. I may or may not have recorded him on my i-phone while he was sleeping last night.


Can you tell I am happy? Really life is good!