Good things!

This is how I felt after my 20 miler with Katie!
When I jumped for the camera, which was the day after, well, I felt like my body was going to break into smithereens!
I guess running 20 miles @ 7:45 with last mile @ 7:22 would do that to you, particularly when you are in the middle of several 70+ miles!

Feeling much better right now after 8 miles of 9+min/miles on trails.

My reward for the 20 miler? Baking and decorating this cake for Petru's party! He drew a picture and I had to copy it! There is a road, going over a bridge, and a railroad crossing and a train, and the gates are down so the train can go safely! It was a hit with the kids:)


And since I had my "Betty" on, I made this cupcakes for Petru's class. He is obsessed with clocks these days! And that's my baking for the year! Nothing else until next year on the baking front from me! There will be lots of running, though, including, hopefully more fast long runs with Katie!

Focusing on the positive

I've just tallied my miles for July: 282! Wow! A record for me.

So I have noticed a pattern with my runs: good speed, OK easy, good hills/progression, awesome progression/sub MP, rough long, rough easy and back again! Hm, maybe I should stick to short distances...

Maybe not.

I think I just need to be more patient and less greedy when it comes to my run. Patient in the long runs - understanding that I have not run long in about one year, that I need to start slow (darn ego!), that I am still at the beginning of my training cycle. Less greed during speed/tempo/hills - understanding, for ex., that I don't need to run 10+ secs under MP just because I can and because it feels good. So I'll keep trying.

Next week I will do my first 20 miler! I will be running it with Katie on the marathon course. We will be running 8:20s and I might pick it up to MP for the last 30 minutes if I feel good (or maybe Katie will!). My goal is to get a solid long run in, the first 20+ out of 6! I am also super excited to run with Katie. I like Katie. I admire Katie. She is so nice and tough and strong and she never complains. I like that.

My legs feel good right now. I though I completely trashed them after Saturday's long run, but they recovered! I am grateful that my body can handle as much hard work; I know it is still adjusting to the higher mileage, which will toughen me up for the marathon. I am so happy to be able to take off and run for 90min to 3hours almost every day. I am enjoying the process and I know that if I focus on it rather than only on a specific time goal, I will be OK.

Happy training, that's what's all about:)

Marathon week 5, some good, some to be learned from

This week will end with the most mileage I have ever run: 72 miles!

The week started with a 12 mile progression with last 6 at a little below MP. I felt awesome. Tuesday I did 10 easy without the Garmin, and felt good, but tired. I work from 7 to 3 on Tuesday, no breaks, so I do my runs in the hotness of the afternoon. As someone said to me recently, a hot run is my reward after a crazy busy non stop kind of day. Ha!

Wednesday I had a tough hill workout, 10 miles with some 5X3 min @ 5K effort on hills. Did I mention I hate hill workouts? I do about 3 miles of hills on all my easy runs, but sprinting up them for minutes is not my favorite thing. I did not carefully plan and ended up with a 400m hill, too steep, and had to add a bit of flat and slight incline after (each interval ended up being .4 miles). The pace was slow, but my legs felt the workout.

On Thursday I had 14 miles with 8 @ MP, but somehow my legs surprised me and I ended up going way below MP, and feeling great. The cool temps helped a lot, I ran @ 6am.

Friday I was exhausted, though, and ended up taking a 2 hour nap after work, and going to bed with no problem thereafter. No running, but I did some easy spinning on my bike for about 60 minutes.

All good things have to end, though.... Today's 18 miler sucked. I made the mistake of making a superfast playlist, and was unable to slow myself down during the fist miles of the run. I ran the first 11 miles @ 7:40 average, and then my legs rebelled. The suffer-fest started and I managed to complete 17 miles of the 18, allowing myself to walk the last mile sipping a can of diet pepsi. I am OK with this. The last 6 miles ended up slower, with 2 of them @ 8:10 and 8:07, but I recovered with a 7:31 as a last mile. I have been compressing my legs and will go for a swim later, in hopes of getting rid of the lactic acid. Eight easy miles tomorrow, and then another big week! I think I learned my lesson and will start the run with some slooow music, ha!

This week confirmed how much more I enjoy running mid distance fast paced, and how tough longer distance runs are for me. Hopefully this will change by the end of this training cycle, and long runs and I will become friends. For now, I am grateful for these legs.....they are doing great work for me!

Oh, and there was some biking (2 hours) and swimming (3 miles) going on. Swimming and sleeping are my 2 best recovery strategies! So far so good!

And if you want a story of inspiration, head to Mary Iron Matron and read her Lake Placid Report! Even if you are not a tri person, I guarantee you will NOT be disappointed!

Marathon training week 4 and stuff!

This was a great week of running. I rationally know that the first few weeks of marathon training are hard, and soon enough I am going to feel stronger, but nonetheless, it is hard to "feel" like that will happen. This week I turned a corner, I think.

I played around with my week some. I mostly had easy runs on the plan, as I increased mileage (65 this week) and there was some recovery in there post my race. But since it was hot, I could not run hard at the race, so I did not feel sore or tired after. Monday I did 10 miles with some hill sprints. Those are hard for me, but I stick with them because I believe they help. Tuesday I ran very slow without a Garmin, after work, in 90+ degree and who knows how much humidity. I had a bunch of podcasts downloaded and slogged along. Wednesday I had 10 miles easy with 12X30 secs fast, which I turned into a moderate paced run with some fast intervals. I felt great. Thursday I had 12 easy, and ran them a bit faster than I wanted bc of lack of time, but nothing sub 8. Today I had 13 miles with 12X 60 sec @ MP. The temps were cool at 6am, and it started raining when I was 3 miles in. Loved it. I ran sub MP for 10 miles feeling great, and then did the 60 sec intervals; I tried to stay @ MP with them, but it was so hard bc they were so short and my legs wanted to move faster. I will have another shot at this in a couple of weeks. I understand the importance of keeping the pace MP not 5K (oops!) for these intervals, but it did not happen for me today. Ten miles easy tomorrow with some hill sprints and week 4 is done. I feel giddy. Arch pain is completely gone, along with all other weird pains I had for a while there. Hurray! Oh, and this was the first long run in this marathon cycle when I came home and was actually able to talk:)

I swam again every single day this week. I love my H2O audio interval 4G which allows me to listen to music while swimming (and block out the noise of all the kids at the town beach) - review coming soon (Thank You H2O audio). Swimming with music is so much fun. Just like with running, I swim faster and better with a good playlist. Only 1 hour biking, boo, but it has been so hot and swimming was much more appealing this week.
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In other news, we, like most of the country (except the lucky Portland folks) have been dealing with crazy heat. 101 degrees yesterday, WTF? We do not have AC for environmental reasons, and I was very close to giving in and getting a unit installed this past week. Petru hates the fan and ends up in our bed, on top of me while I am about to jump out of my skin. Chris has been smart and sleeping downstairs, though last night I sent Petru there for some daddy bonding and managed to get some glorious sleep. Looking forward to cooler temps tomorrow. I am in the "give me snow and cool temps" club, but am thinking all this training in high temps is going to make me feel like an animal come the cool October days! Lets hope so!

Good luck to everyone racing Lake Placid! Kill it Mary and Emily! So excited for some vicarious IMLP racing!

Back to Fresh Pond and marathon training week #3

Hudson likes to get his marathoners used to racing, and I completely get his point. He called for a 10K today, but darn, 10Ks are rare in this part of the country during summer time. All I could find was some trail 10K 1 hour away, no thanks! And then, ding, ding, ding, Fresh Pond. I could run 5 miles there, race the 5 mile course (more like 4:65-4:75), and then get a ride back home (since this is a cut back week).

I love Fresh Pond. It's beautiful. I have gotten used to the off leash dog rule (and really good at dodging the little ones who, when they see you, get squirrely and have no idea which way to go), and the lovely people who have not seen each other in so long and thus start conversations in the middle of the path. What I did not get used to? The heat. The race is at 10am. We had 91 degrees, 95 feel, 57% humidity this morning at 10am. But, I checked my ego at the door (so to speak), and decided to go for it. Hudson would want me. Petru wanted me (he really wanted some good uninterrupted train time with daddy and then some donuts since I was to get picked up at a Dunkin Donuts). Chris wanted me (heck, as long as I am not HIM training, he just goes with the flow).

So, I put my trusty Lulu shorts and a sports bra on and left the house at 9:10, just as the entire street was outside, kids playing, parents chatting. I jogged progressively to the race and got there all sweaty and ready for some faster miles. And holy batman! The race was packed. There were some 25-30 people, which is double, triple what I was used to in the winter. And I knew no one! This race must have a winter crowd, and a summer crowd. The winter crowd has the "real runners" - no water, skinny as hell, tough, wearing racing flats, fairly intense. The summer crowd is more varied: shape, sizes, outfits, age. No one was stretching or sprinting, aside from a woman who spent over 20 minutes sprinting and stretching. I started talking to a few people, Tufts cross country graduates, and all of a sudden was very happy about leaving my ego home. ha!

And we are off. I feel good. I am running 5:45 at .25. Eventually I slow down to HM pace, which is what I want to run. I keep it there, and then go a bit faster. I pass people, and then I am alone. I am feeling good until I start lap 2, when I start feeling the nausea. But, what can I do? I keep going. This is the beauty of races. The nausea gets more and more intense and I slow down a little. This is where I wished there were other women around me, I needed some competition. Without it, my brain had good arguments to not push "that" hard. I mean, I was winning! So I ended up with a 31:13, which is not my worst (31:31, on my first FP) or my best (30:01on my last FP) on this course. I feel OK about the effort. I could have pushed harder, but alas, I pushed hard enough. I know I run much faster in cooler temps (in fact, I had some faster workouts in this training cycle, in early am cooler temps). And a win is a win. Feels good. Always. Though remember, my ego stayed home:)

And the rest of week #3?
Easy peasy! I had a 15 miler easy, which I ran early in the morning, at a comfortable pace and finished with a few faster miles, lots of easy runs with harder yet short efforts sprinkled in, and a 4X6min @ 10K run, all which went well. I have 8 easy miles tomorrow and will finish the week with 57 miles! I also biked 2 hours, and by Sunday I will total 4 miles of swimming.
I feel great!

I had so much fun at Fresh Pond that I am really working on how to incorporate the race into marathon training. I can't "race" it weekly like I did in the winter, mostly because that would be risky and actually not helpful for the marathon. But, perhaps I could run these races at the end of some of my long runs...Thinking out loud here...Will see!

Bits and pieces

Summer time and the living is easy...when you are only marathon training! Gosh, I love being only a runner! I feel so happy with my decision to enjoy summer with my family and only (mainly) run!

And since I am running long, I am back to listening to podcasts on my easy runs. I have recently discovered Radio Lab, a New York Based public radio podcast which I love. Two recent podcasts are relevant to racing/training. The first one is about "human limits" and features Julie Moss (a newbie who placed second in Kona, losing with 15 feet to go, and finishing while crawling; she did minimal training for this race, ate nothing during it, and had never done a triathlon before) and a bike racing experiment (which included a group of experienced cyclists and newbies biking around US on only 1 hour sleep; when cyclists got to the point of hallucinating, researchers actually agreed with their hallucinations and reinforced whatever the cyclists believed; some ended up going weeks after weeks with little food and only 1 h sleep/day). The second one is about a woman who turned to running after developing epilepsy, eventually had lobotomy and became one of the most accomplished ultrarunners (100 to 300 miles!); one of the side effects of the surgery was that she has lost the ability to keep track of time (or better, gained the ability to stay in the present!) such that in races, she has no idea how long she has been running for. How awesome is that? One of my biggest problems with long races is boredom. What if my brain had no idea how long I ran for, would I get less tired? I think so! Can I get some of "that"? Can I somehow achieve the "stay in the moment, don't check the mileage" type mindset? Not sure, but I will start trying!

Have you read any good running books lately? Would love to know. I read Kara G's book and Run like a mother, and I found both superficial and boring (sorry, just my opinion!). Darn, that Matt Fitzgerald better get off his A$$ and right another book!

Training is going well! I am supposed to do a 10K this weekend, but there are none around. I am thinking of doing the Fresh Pond 5 miler, and then continue on for another mile. I will most likely do that although the race is at 10am, and the temps will be super high. Plus, that stinking blister is still giving me issue, though when I run hard I sort of forget about it.

I have changed the email associated with this account. I have been having some problems sending emails out, so switched to gmail, and set myself up with receiving emails in my inbox; hence, I will be better able to respond to comments.

OK, happy summer!

Blister in the sun and other thorny running issues

Marathon week nr. 2 ended with 63 miles! The legs held up and my arch pain gradually diminished. I think my feet forgot how it feels to pound the pavement for long amounts of time. Now they are remembering. Anyway, don't do what I do, it may not work for you:)

I learned a few lessons in running this past week:
1. Running 4 quality days out of 6 means 2 of these are in a row, and that is tough. Next week I will have only 3 such days and only 57 miles to get a bit of rest.
2. Running early in the morning is not hard if I manage to go to bed at 9:30. Last week this worked out very well bc Chris is teaching for 3 weeks and he is super tired at night so we go to bed together. I always try to read a bit, but my eyes close after a few pages.
3. Going to bed at the wee hours on Friday night and sleeping in the next day means running long in hot temps. Not fun! I got lots of worried looks from people as I ran by splashing water all over the place (even though I ran in little shorts and a sports bra).
4. Wearing a new pair of running shoes for 18 miles without breaking them in can lead to blisters starting at mile 9, and getting as big as your heel by the end of the run.
5. Popping a huge blood blister in front of your 5.5 year old leads to lots of "Wow, that is cool mommy". Desinfecting that SOB leads to "F$%(&S^S" in your head and lots of lip biting since the said 5.5 y old is curiously watching.

So yes Saturday's run ended once again with me collapsing on the ground and not talking for a few minutes. Petru is actually used to this and does not even react anymore, ha! Still, few things are better than the feeling I get after a long run. And even though I push my body out of its comfort zone, I am not "done for the day". In fact, Saturday I spent the afternoon at the beach with Petru, even swimming about 400m with him on my back. Then we hosted game night and went to bed very late. Thank you body!