Top 3 running books of 2011

Nr. 1 Ironwar by Matt Fitzgerald

Yes, I know this is not a running book per se, but I think runners can get a lot out of it. Matt Fitzgerald is an amazing writer. He is able to combine the story of 2 of the greatest ironman triathletes Dave Scott and Mark Allen, with science on running form, running efficiency, mind-body connections as pertaining to running. I absolutely loved the conclusion of his book. Yes, the mind is important, but the ability to push through and suffer is somewhat determined by your genes. This is not to say that life experiences (e.g., childhood struggles) and training experiences (how much you practice suffering) are not important; they are, but not as much as what you are born with. It's a bit like the nature-nurture diathesis - we are born with a range of "suffering ability" and we can get to the top of that range by practicing, but we can't get further than that.

Nr.2 The Runner's Body, How the latest exercise science can help you run stronger, longer, and faster, but Tucker, PhD & Dugas, PhD, with Matt Fitzgerald.

This is a 2009 book, but I reread it during this past year. I love reading and understanding the science behind running. These guys present great info and clarify some of the misconceptions about running (e.g., cramps are caused by dehydration or lack of salt, we need a lot of fluids when running, etc). The book is much more than that, however, and I think it is an important one for all serious runners.

Nr. 3 Tapering and peaking for optimal performance, by Inigo Mujika, PhD

This is a great book about tapering, and provides research on the psychological and physiological effects of tapering.

Short recap and looking ahead at 2012

2011 was a breakthrough year for me. I PRed all but one of my running races, and I raced A LOT. My approach was simple. Run as much as you can, and run hard. I certainly surprised myself at the 5K and HM distances. I fought with the marathon, like I always do (hardest distance for me and one that I run slower than what the calculators say I could do) and won. I was injury free the entire year until my muscles said no more and forced me take it easy for a bit.

Most special races:

5K Ras Nah Hereim March 2011: 19:26

HM Quincy Half 2011: 1:28:46

Baystate Marathon 2011: 3:14:29

*****

Moving into 2012 my goals are a bit up in the air. My muscles are still not @ 100% so I am riding the Boston train(ing) and kinda playing the waiting game. I will take the next couple of weeks to see what happens before making any decisions here.

My main goal for 2012 is to focus on strength, diet and health. As I move closer and closer to the big 40, strength will be of utmost importance if I want to keep running. I eat a very healthy diet already, but I would like to eliminate some of the unnecessary eating that we are doing over here in the evenings. This is a common goal that Chris and I have, so we will close the kitchen doors @ 9pm every night. The "health" goal refers mostly to continuing to keep an eye on my sleep and doctor check-ups (really bad about scheduling those yearly visits).

All knotted up but getting loose

Oh boy, it's been a while since my last post!

I hit a few bumps in the road, and am not one to write about those. Not that there is anything wrong with writing about bumps in the road, it's just that acknowledging the bumps makes them real, and typically I am not ready to do that until I got a hold on the bumps. Probably none of this makes sense. So let me explain.

After my last 5K and crazy fast speed I developed a lot of knots in my hamstrings, than quads which made running difficult. I managed to keep running but with a shorter stride, and a much slower pace. Although I hit 73 miles last week, they were all slow. I ran a 20 miler last Saturday in over 3 hours, with stretch breaks. I ended up seeing a PT who confirmed that I am all knotted up (better than knocked up, I suppose:). Apparently I have weak glutes and a weak core, so my quads and hamstrings are doing more work than they should. He has me on a strengthening program which is great, but obviously makes my running more difficult. My legs/butt/core are sore which is unusual for me. I am also getting massages, which help a ton. The PT told me to keep running, which is great (gotta love a PT who tells you to keep running!). Things are getting loosened up and I even managed to do some speed this week, at a rather pathetic speed, and most of it on the treadmill, but I take it for now. This is not a major bump in the road, but it is one that left me thinking a bit about what running means for me, about my goals, and about how I am going to do things differently after Boston (meaning, I will take a full week off of running and also do a 6 week strength program before my next training cycle).

As far as some introspections, realizations during this semi-injury phase? Running even slow is better than no running. I can adjust to running on the TM, doing 20 loops on a 1 mile trail, running tempos on the track, you name it. The elliptical machine is an amazing exercise for running. Some smart coaches agree on that, too:)

Running benefits my marriage, my mothering, and my friendships. Enough said:) There are other things in my life that can take the place of the competitive element of running. This makes me happy and content that putting so much time into running over the years has not left me unbalanced as a person (just left my body muscles unbalanced, LOL). I am not good at receiving empathy when it comes to my "bumps". Please don't tell me you are sorry, or that I need to take it easy; I know you mean well but really that does not help. You can tell me I am going to get my speed back soon, that will make me feel better:)

On other news, we had a lovely Christmas, filled with lots of plastic and wooden toys for Petru, that are currently taking over my living room.

I am having a few days off before the new year, and it is lovely. Oh, and I got to do speed again this week, did I mention that?

Hope everyone has a happy, happy, merry, merry 2012! No injuries, lots of PRs, and lots of growth:)

A load of happy!

Feeling pretty happy right now.

My left hamstring was very unhappy after my last 5K, to the point where I limped out of the bed several days this week. Thankfully I diagnosed myself well with a hamstring tear, and was not terribly worried. I took the entire week easy, running a lot but only easy miles, stretching, icing, rolling, and by Thursday morning I was walking normally again. The runs were fine the entire week, just a little limp the first couple of miles. Now, I can say I am 90% better. The last 10% will take a few more days, but I can deal.

I am running pretty good right now. I tested the hammy yesterday and ran for 10 min effortlessly at what used to be my 5K pace last year around this time. My form has changed quite a bit. I think I am much more efficient, finally being able to do that ankle lean that I kept reading about. I've been looking over my training logs, and realizing that I dropped 30minutes from my marathon in the past 2 years. This makes me pumped for my next training cycle.

And what else makes me happy? I made the Brooks ID team along with these 3 fasties. Super excited to represent a company with great product, support for the environment and for the overall running community! Thank you Brooks, very grateful I am!

Impromptu 5K

So I ran a 5K this morning. The initial plan was to run one next weekend, but it looks like next Saturday we will have to be away; so, last night I frantically searched for 5Ks and found the South Boston 5K, $20, 10am. Perfect.

Woke up @ 7, had my oatmeal and coffee, watched "Busy Town" with Petru and headed out to South Boston. We got lost but made it there on time so I could register, get some awesome swag including a cool race shirt, and warm up for 2 miles. My L hamstring has been bugging me for a week, but I knew that the pain would be gone once I warmed up. It did.

I wanted to run sub 19. I did 5x1000ms with 1 min rest @ 5:20-5:45 on Monday and felt pretty strong. Based on this run, I could have broken 19. The gun went off and I was taken by surprise so ended up running the first 200ms a bit too fast, but settled into a comfortably hard pace. First mile was 6:09. Second mile felt fine and I was passing people (6:09). One woman was in front of me but I was getting closer to her. Third mile was hard. I honestly think I lost it mentally here. It is hard to plan for moments like this, sometimes I can push through, other times I can't. Today I did not. Maybe I did not believe enough, but I know for sure that I did not want to feel more pain. So I ran a 6:16. In spite of slowing down I got closer to the woman who was in front of me. That was the plan, get really close and surprise here. Except that someone yelled at her that I was coming, and with 200ms to go she got her kick in on the uphill toward the finish line and she smoked me. I ended up second, but got a nice $50 gift certificate which made it worth my time.

Oh, and no official PR.

Official results: 3.1 19:32, 6:16 pace.

Garmin results: 3.15 19:32, 6:12 pace.

Oh, and the winner was 16. Happy for her but darn pissed bc I know I could have done better today. Even though I ran 77 miles since last Saturday and I was not tapered, mentally I did not push enough during mile 3. It is OK though. Less than one year ago I was happy to celebrate a sub 20 5K. Now a sub 20 is not enough and I want to celebrate a sub 19, particularly since I truly believe this is a realistic goal for me.

Now, off to run my long run. It's marathon pre training, after all.

Return to Fresh Pond RR and running confidence

After 2 days of complete sloth (aka too much food), I was so ready to run hardish today at the Fresh Pond series race. This is a nice little race I did all through last winter. It is free, small and low pressure. I always win it, so yes, it is not competitive:) I had no idea what to expect today mostly because I only did one real speed and tempo work, all this week, so I probably did not benefit from those at this race. After having gotten only 4 hours of sleep on Thursday night (by choice!), I collapsed @ 9:55 pm last night and slept until 8am when Petru walked me up in typical fashion, by screaming in my ear: "It's 8am mommy, you have to wake up" (I love that he wakes up and entertains himself while his parents sleep in...raised him well, LOL). After my typical oatmeal and coffee (which I ate 1.5 hours before the start of the race, which I would never do for a 'real' race), I ran 4.5 miles to the race. Got there @ 9:55 for the 10:00am start. The weather was gorgeous, high 50s, sunny, with a nice breeze. I checked out the field and did not see any of my winter peeps. One woman looked really fast -from the back I thought she was a guy, bc she was boy skinny and had very short hair, and she indeed passed me @ 2.0 mile, but she did the 2.5 mile race not the 5 miler.

We started on the "go" and I fell into a nice rhythm. I really did not know what I could do and frankly did not want to push myself all out. I though HM pace would be nice but I ended up going slightly faster. The first loop was controlled. The second hurt. My legs lost power, which makes sense because aside from this week, I have not run this pace since Baystate training. I ended up with a 30:26, which is my Fresh Pond PR. The course registered as 4:65, for a 6:32 pace, which makes me super happy at this point in time. Nice effort considering that I ran the second loop all by myself (I was first overall men and women - guess the fast guys stayed at home today!).

This is how the course looks like...and also what one has to zig zag around....today I had to jump over an off leash little guy (this would piss me off in a real race, but here, well, dogs are just part of the course)

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On my run back home I did 3x15 secs and 3x30 secs hill sprints, and thought a lot about running and racing. I can say I am a confident person in the main aspects of my life: family and work. My confidence in these areas is mostly stable. However, when I don't race for a while, I get really intimidated by paces that I used to be able to hit, or that I would like to hit. Sure, I can reframe those thoughts but there is nothing like a little behavioral experiment (aka race) to get that confidence back up. I think part of the reason why I had such a great 2011, is that I had these confidence boosts often. Sure, there was a physiological effect there too, but the mental boost was what helped the most, I think.

So here I am, 20 weeks from Boston, getting a little confidence boost from the good old Fresh Pond! So happy I raced today and so excited to get back out there this training cycle!

Running, racing, a great podcast and running music ideas

Running:

Really good running week for me. I feel pretty good about my short distance speed and about my endurance. I've surprised myself with some pretty awesome running which felt easy for the pace I was at. Sweet. I am constantly worrying about not slowing myself down enough, but if I go by effort, I am where I need to be. I ran 65 miles this week, including a 20 miler broken down into a 16 miler in the morning fastish, and a 4 miler in the afternoon slowish. My feet felt the mileage increase as I hopped out of bed this morning. I think my body is pretty resilient, but my feet have been my weak link for the past year. I've managed to keep things at bay, and will just have to continue doing so, hoping that they will toughen up. I have really skinny boney, no padding type feet, probably not the best for running, but what can you do? I also managed to get my first arch blister - no idea how it happened as I did not wear new shoes or socks - and it hurt like a mother!

Next week I will drop my mileage to 55 to give my body a break, as I have been building mileage for the past 3 weeks. I plan to get a swim in, and maybe even some biking. The weather is gorgeous in MA, and I am hoping to be able to continue running in shorts for a while.

Racing:

With so many friends racing, I got a bit of a case of FOMO this past week, ha! I managed to restrain myself from registering for a race, but am considering a Fresh Pond baseline race this Saturday, if we are around (plans still in the air). I managed to walk slowly away from the computer and distract myself when I was getting really close to signing up for a 5K. I can't just go race one and training for one now does not fit my long term plan. Still, no guarantees that I will not just go do one before January.

A great podcast

I am getting into the ultrarruner podcast with Tim Waggoner (Lucho at jog hard). Great info for runners, very laid back and cool guy, super knowledgeable and NOT boring! Check him out:)

Music

I am bored with my running music. What's good on your playlist?