So Tired

June 30th, 2009

Feeling alright these days, no IT shadows since last week, though the farthest I’ve gone in the last few days is an 8-miler.  Tomorrow I’ll go for 11 and hope for the first double-digit in a month that doesn’t require a stop for stretching.  I’m seriously pooped though and the heat doesn’t help.

I haven’t been sleeping, mostly because of an evil red cardinal living in our courtyard that loves taunting Kitsia, our cat, who’s always laying out on the deck.  The cardinal will stand on the deck rail starting at 5am and chirp loudly and unceasingly to get a rise out her, but the cat doesn’t give a shit.  I’ve taken to scaring it away myself by storming onto the deck with a really mean face, yelling “Go away you stupid bird!!”  But the bird doesn’t give a shit.

In work news, I got that voiceover job for the Rita’s commercial (the funny one requiring a bit of Swedish pronunciation) so I’m doing that this afternoon.  Yay.

Other than that, been doing a lot of designing and redesigning for Adorableshirts.com so I hope to get those up in the next day, then do a couple more running shirts for Gifted Runner, then the big job after that will be getting my music section off Fishpie.com and make its own seperate shop/website.  So I’ve gone from not doing anything designwise for a year to giving myself enough work to be steadily occupied for the next few months and beyond.  I wish I had more of a money-lust, then I’d work hard all the time.  As it is, I wait until some dwindling has occurred, then hurry to catch up.

On a funny note (though entirely aggravating to me), I discovered that after redoing my x-rated shirt site using Zazzle products instead of Cafepress, someone else on Zazzle had immediately copied two of my designs!  With great joy I submitted a copyright violation report with Zazzle and they removed the offending copies without ado, but still.  People are so stupid sometimes.

As far as running goes, I’m hopefully going to get my mileage back to the 60s starting this week.  June saw weekly averages of low 50s thanks to the IT band adventure.   This actually worked out well in the end, since a cutback is a healthy thing anyway and I wouldn’t have done it voluntarily.   So now I’m crossing fingers and toes for a strong mileage return without incident (though keeping toes crossed sounds like another cause for injury, so maybe I’ll stick with fingers).

Oh, and I never did share a chuckle at the havoc my IT rehab ended up wreaking.  Overzealous stretching awoke my dormant ankle bursitis (I’ve since laid off the heavy stretching so my ankle’s back to normal, thank god) but I also burned the side of my knee by icing it so much and not using a cover over the gel ice pack, so I now have a large scabby circle there.

If it’s not one thing…

Running For Cover 5K Race Report

June 28th, 2009

This was my worst race all year, but I knew it would be as of last night at my friend Yvonne’s birthday party where I downed about 2/3 bottle of Pinot and ate till my tummy ached.  I managed to get to bed at 11:30 but had one of those drunken wake-up-at-3am scenarios where you never really get back to solid sleep.

Honestly, I would have bagged this race if I hadn’t already bagged the Media 5-miler a couple weeks ago because it was another hot one – sunny and 76 degrees.  But one of the benefits of having a blog is you have to do shit you’ve committed to, else you look like a big wuss to a ton of people.  That said, though it sucked time-wise, it was pretty entertaining in all other aspects.

The race goes around a sports arena, the Wachovia Center, home to the 76ers (the Philly basketball team, for those as sports-retarded as me).  It circles the arena and a large parking lot 2.5 times so it’s all on concrete sidewalks.  Half the course (around the perimeter of the parking lot) smells like piss, which makes you want to go faster, though I couldn’t, try as I might.

I knew it was going to be a difficult run during my warmup when my strides clocked a blistering 6:50.  Oh well, as I wrote in the Women’s BQ thread, I’m due a “fun run” so this was it.

For the bulk of the race, there was a young thing neck-and-neck with me and another woman right ahead of us.  There were also 2 girls ahead but not within my immediate area.  All I could manage was 6:55 mi, which on one hand was “omg, look how hard I suck”  but on the other hand, I just worried about these two others and fought for placing.

At 3/4 mile left to go, the one girl in front of me just plain gave up…stopped dead in her tracks.  That was fabu, though I totally understood the feeling and felt bad for her.  The neck-and-neck girl slowed down as well, so I beat her, too.

Cut to the chase, I won 3rd place OA with a 21:29. 1st and 2nd were a 19 and 20 year old (see how I make myself feel better for a cruddy race by blaming the youth of today?)

But the bounty!  Oh my, if I cared about basketball, I’d be in heaven.  As it is, Nick’s kids (one of whom is visiting from Oregon, the other lives in an apt. below) were like pigs in shit splitting up the booty.  Otherwise, I’d have put it all on Ebay.

The one thing I kept is a certificate for 2 Club Box tickets to a 76ers game this coming season – supposedly that’s pretty cool with waiter service and everything.  As for the rest, I got a ton of signed crap; 3 mini-basketballs, 2 framed photos, 3 hats, a t-shirt, a basketball jersey, a journal, playing cards, noisemaker, water bottle and a duffel bag to hold it all (cat not included).

cat

So I had a fine time despite my silly finishing time.  In fact, I’m kind of happy that I finally had a “fun run” of a race.  Onward and upward, now I can concentrate on enjoying the rest of the summer, rebuilding my mileage and getting ready for marathon training in August.

Ciao darlings.  Until the next installment, run well everyone!

Wednesday Blather

June 24th, 2009

Things are going pretty well, I did 11 on Sunday, 7 on Monday and 8 yesterday.   I still needed to stop and stretch on Sunday and Monday but yesterday was quiet and considering both Monday and yesterday were slower paced runs (which makes IT pain hurt more) it’s a good sign.  Today I’ll go for 9 or 10.

I’m in good spirits because I’ve been keeping busy.  After I got Gifted Runner redone, I redid another one of my t-shirt sites (x-rated shirts and no, I won’t provide a link (h) ).  After all this re-making of old crap, and to wipe the nasty off, I was inspired to do a brand new t-shirt site based on sweet, innocent kiddy designs.   I’m still working on adding stuff, but here it is, AdorableShirts.com.  Forgive the stupid name, that’s me whoring for Google’s attention.

I also sold my first ad space on Websitebeginner.com last week which was a giggle-worthy event.  Sometimes I get emails from people inquiring about advertising and because I really don’t know how to deal with pricing for it, I just toss the emails away.  This time, because I need the moolah, I replied and the guy was very easy to deal with, so it worked out great.

While we’re on the subject of cash, yesterday morning I had a voiceover for a funny commercial, one where I start speaking at a normal rate, then speed up till I’m talking super fast – was great fun.  But it’s been slow for VO work the past month.  I’m up for another funny one, though, where I play a Language Instructor teaching Swedish – I had to learn the pronunciation off an mp3 for the audition.  I got a call yesterday that it’s between me and one other person, so crossing fingers I’ve got it.

I’m still planning on racing that 5K this Sunday, though it’ll be a hot one and I’ve not done anything fast since the last race, so no PRs for sure.  I might even ensure a particularly sucky time by getting drunk the night before since my friend’s having a party.   But then I’ll have to leave my magic shoes at home because that would be embarrassing to suck in magic shoes.  Then again, the race is “Run For Cover” to fight melanoma and I don’t wear sunscreen half the time, so I’m a total poser anyway.

The Way Out

June 20th, 2009

I’ve finally seen the light on the injury front.  While looking at all those IT Band websites, I was spending all my attention on the rolling/stretching portion, and completely ignoring the part that would say “leg strengthening exercises”.   Because who wants to add more mundane exercise into their daily routine?

Then it hit me.  Stretching and rolling are a superficial fix, they help the injury calm down but they don’t give insurance against a reappearance.  When I looked at the anatomy pictures and saw what the exercises target (upper butt and muscle around the IT band) and how little time they take to do, I was like…why wouldn’t I do these?  Strengthen the surrounding area and get a better butt in the meantime?  Win win.

I only picked two because I know I’ll stick with them if I don’t inundate myself.  One is balancing on one leg while standing on an air cushion from this excellent blogbalanceIt’s especially good because it’ll also strengthen my weaker ankle (last year’s bursitis adventure).

You don’t need the cushion for that one, several sites mentioned simply balancing on one leg for 3-5 minutes, playing catch with a ball while balancing is another variation, but the cushion adds a good amount of difficulty.  Plus I already own one from when I bought those stupid posture-fixing items last year which, btw, is yet another testimony to exercise – I improved my lifelong sucky posture in a few months just by doing some pushups and chinups…what further proof do I need?

The other exercise is a variation on side leg-lifts.  I settled on this one over the oft-recommended “clamshell” because I could feel it working more.  Just nevermind that my resistance band says Jazzercise on the handles.
bands

As for running, after my day off, yesterday was a brisk 7-miler.  For the first time in 3 weeks, I had total peace about me because I knew that even if the IT band gave me trouble on this run, I’m on the road to fixing it for good.   The rest day mixed with 3 days of exercises brought a great run, the IT band was silent.

I’m about to go for 8 or 9 on this wet Saturday.  Hopefully it’ll be another uneventful journey, but if it isn’t, that’s cool – I’ve turned in my victim card for good.  This injury no longer rules me, I am going to rule it.   Proactive, that’s the word of the day.

So That’s The Way It Is

June 17th, 2009

I understand now.  My IT band is something I need to pay attention to forever and ever till I die.   Fuck.

Since last Thursday, it’s been quiet.  I’ve kept to 9-milers, not wanting to chance double-digits for a week.  Sunday I had the 5K, then Monday I did a recovery 7-miler like a good girl, then yesterday decided to test double-digit territory; went 11 for the first time since this thing appeared 3 weeks ago.  It was a great run, some parts of it ecstatic even, but at 8.75 miles I felt the shadow around my knee.  I stopped and stretched, then a mile later felt the need to stretch again.  Got home fine after that, but I was discouraged at needing to stop at all.

Today I went 8 and horror of horrors, had to stretch at mile 5!  I was able to get home without walking, but it took a couple more stretch stops to get there.  So I’m kicking myself for easing up a bit on the rolling and stretching.  Looks like I’m stuck with doing it three times a day for a while.  And I was just beginning to feel like life could return to its old simplicity: get dressed, run, shower, sit on my ass till the next time.

It appears that rehab maintenance is part of my life from here on in.  But I can deal.  I’m telling myself that the elites do all sorts of rehabby, pt, stretching stuff all the time so if I need to stand on one leg for 5 minutes (my new exercise), it’s not that much of a sacrifice.

Anyway, I haven’t had a day off since the 2nd and I’m coming off a 50-mile week with half of it devoted to IT band drama, plus a race.  I think it’s fair to say that taking a rest day tomorrow would be a wise move.  I’m going for it.

But enough about me, what do you guys and gals do for stretching/rolling/anything – do you have a routine?  Before your run, after your run or both?  And what exactly?  I’m interested.

The Gifted Runner Grand Re-Opening!

June 15th, 2009

Two blog posts in one day but this is the one I’ve been dying to post for the last couple weeks…

OK, The Gifted Runner 2.0 is finally live for public consumption.  Take a look and let me know if something is weird or wrong because at this point, I’m absolutely cross-eyed.

No pressure for anyone here to ever buy anything ever, but if you spread the word among your running friends, I’ll be ever so grateful.

A couple fab things with the new site:

1. The shirts are customizable!  You can add your name and/or a message or graphic to the opposite side of the shirt for only $3.40.  You can actually attempt to add it to the existing graphic side for free, though you’ll probably have to mess around with my graphic to get it to fit.

2. A lot of the gift items are also customizable, you can change the background color on many of them so have at it…make that refrigerator magnet match your kitchen!

2. Besides the wicking shirts (yay!!!) there are tons of different regular t-shirt styles and colors.  Just click one of the picks under Fashion Shirts on each design page, there’s a link that takes you to all the available colors and styles.

3. I’m open to requests.  If you see a design you’d like in a different color, I’ll do it for you.  Ditto a design on the front or back that you’d like on the opposite side of the shirt, just email me through the customer service thing and I’ll post it with the rest of the collection.

I hope you like it.  I’m on a mission to keep designing and adding new stuff on a regular basis, so if you don’t like anything yet, keep checking, there might just be something for you there eventually.

Whew, I think I need a drink.

More Race Report

June 15th, 2009

Because as Jim noted, the previous post wasn’t really a report, more like a glossing over, I’ll expand here.

The race itself was small, 300 people.  Weather was cloudy and 68 degrees with a dewpoint of 59.

Unlike my other races this season, I put no pressure on myself at all.  I kind of knew I’d get a PR because the weather was better than my last 5K, plus I know the course completely and I had my magic shoes.

My goal was to see something between 6:30-6:35s in the Garmin and that’s how it went down.  I was the third woman at the beginning, then I passed Christine (who I know from the park and this blog) which left some tiny 20-something wisp of a gal in front of me.

She was an odd duck because she came out of nowhere about 3/4’s of a mile in, passing me and zooming ahead.  I talked to her after the race and she said she likes to do the slow start.  She also likes humidity, told me it means there’s more oxygen in the air.  Doesn’t work for me, but good for her.

Anyway, during the race I was thinking how good it was that she was there (as with all the women I’m ever behind) because without them, I wouldn’t push so hard.  I kept her in my sights the whole time, knew I couldn’t pass her but just tried to keep the space between us as tight as I could for as long as I could.

I noticed as I ran that for the most part my breath was 2:2, so I knew I was doing alright.  I tend to pay attention to these things now as it’s a barometer of how hard I’m working.  Not sure when my breath went 1:1, somewhere around the last half mile.

My Garmin autolap splits were right on with the first two mile markers which doesn’t happen too often.  You go under some overpasses so the Garmin tends to get wonky at those places (which I’ve just realized today after overlaying two races on the same course), but my Garmin splits were:
6:34,6:34,6:29, and though the last bit doesn’t come out right, Garmin shows me kicking in at 6:01 to finish.

As far as socializing, as mentioned, Audra’s girlfriend Loren was there with Bea the dog, Audra’s mom came with her nephews, also their friend and friend’s kid, plus my friend Yvonne showed up, so with Judy there too, it was quite a little party.

So looking to Friday evening, I really want to race it now because I’m feeling great off yesterday’s effort, but the weather looks like crap at this point, 77 degrees with dewpoint of 62 (exactly what I had for my last 5K) so unless that changes, I’m not going to drive out there for a tempo run.

And that’s it from race central for the moment.  Must get the website finished up today…

Later, loves.

Strides For Stroke 5K Report

June 14th, 2009

Now we’re talking! 20:25 pour moi today. I came in 2nd OA (alas, no 2nd OA award, so 1st AG). Shout out to Christine (hi girl!) who came in right behind me.

The race was a blast because Judy of the Women’s BQ thread was in town and ran it, as did Audra who came down from NYC with her girlfriend Loren the night before and stayed over at my house.  Judy, Audra and I each placed in different age categories, so between us we had the 30-59 year range covered. Audra and I got 1st AG and Judy got 2nd.  Good times, good times.

My racing flats were the bomb, really comfortable with no hot-spots, leaving me happily satisfied with that anxiety-tinged purchase.  I’ve put them back on their sacred spot atop my digital scanner, the better to adore their aqua prettiness without having to turn my head.

So this race gives me an Age-Grade score of 79.91%, eeking even closer to “National Class” than my previous highest score from the last 10K (78.37%).  I know, I know…it means absolutely nothing, but it’s fun.

Coming up…I’ve got a 5-mile race this Friday at 7pm in a town about 30-minutes away, but I might bag it.  I’m only doing it to get my 5-mile PR in line with the latest, so if the weather looks eh or I’m feeling eh, I’ll have no qualms skipping it.  Then there’s another 5K the week after that, a weird one where you run around a stadium a couple times.  Sounds stupid but that’s also why it sounds fun.

Also, I’m just about to announce The Gifted Runner’s Grand Re-opening which has consumed me completely these last few weeks.  Despite the endlessly irritating aspect of having to remake everything (much bigger pain in the ass than you’d imagine) it’s been fun being creative again and thinking up new stuff.

I always end up having a great time coming up with new stuff, but when I think about thinking up stuff, I get worried I’ll think of stupid stuff so I end up not thinking about anything except the fact that I’m avoiding thinking about coming up with new stuff.  It’s a drag.

This has been my M.O. for the past year.

The only way around this is to do more, think less – design without the need for it to always be great, allow some schlock, but just keep producing and get out of my head more; not an easy task for a self-critical, anti-social hermit such as myself.  Let’s see how long this lasts…

Racing Shoes!

June 10th, 2009

After publicly eschewing the idea of buying proper racing shoes so soon after the IT crap, I made an impulsive decision yesterday.  I was all “I said if I broke 21 I’d get to have racing flats, doggone it, I’m gonna go buy me some!”  So I went to Philadelphia Runner and tried on a few pairs.

I always feel like the Princess and the Pea when trying new running shoes on, there’s undoubtedly something that leaves me reticent (the arch on this one, tight toe on this one, too much room in another…) and because these were racers, I was even more anxious to choose the perfect pair.  I finally settled on the Puma Complete Roadracer IIIs, my first neutral shoe.

Once home, I put one on my postal scale, comparing it to my Mizuno Elixirs (the performance trainers I wear for quality runs and racing).  With my big feet (these are Men’s size 8), the Puma weighs 6.5 oz. – that’s 2.6 ounces less than the Elixirs – which may sound inconsequential, but my Elixirs are only 1 ounce lighter than my everyday Inspires and I honestly feel that difference, so 2.6 oz qualifies these as magic slippers.

Speaking of shoe weight, I’ve read from several sources that for each ounce you lose off your shoes, it’ll save you one second per mile.  So 5.2 oz total could potentially chop 16 seconds off my 5K.  That’s no small bonus.

The only thing I’m left wondering about is that I asked the sales girl (a super-fast local runner) if it’d be ok to wear them for, say, a speed session couched within 9 miles total.  She advised against it, but when I got home I read Puma’s sales blurb saying they’re “categorized somewhere between a 100% racer and a lightweight trainer” and “The Roadracer should be worn for weekly fast runs or races, but does not have the support or heel stability to be used for everyday”.  Sounds to me like wearing them for tempo and speedwork should be just fine.

She also said I could consider up to a Half in them, though that’d be pushing it, but the sales copy says “from 5k to marathon”.  Not that I was wanting them for marathons, but still, if I can safely run a Half in them, that’d be great.  I’ll just have to test them and see.

For now, I’ve placed them within the sightline of my computer chair, the better to admire them until raceday.   They remind me of a swimming pool, so pretty.  Yay shoes. :)

Semblance Of Speed

June 9th, 2009

The body parts seem to be working fine, Sunday was a 9-miler that required no stretching stops at all, then yesterday, an uneventful 7.

Today, because I’ve got a 5K this Sunday, I chanced a casual speed session.  The last time I did anything fast was that 5K on the 24th, so it was important for me to get some speed in just to remind my legs what race effort feels like (they forget quickly).

I got out after a thunder storm which meant it was warm and disgustingly humid.  I played it by ear, really didn’t want to do a regimented session.  What I ended up with was 9 miles total with 3 x .5 mi and 3 x .25 mi, with .25 mi recoveries between each.  My only rule was I couldn’t look at my watch.

The first one was super crappy, slower than my 10k pace, 6:59.  They improved after that, but I was still all over the place with 6:43, 6:38 for the other 1/2 miles, then 6:25, 6:25, 6:40 for the 1/4 miles.  Seems alright, but considering the long recoveries it was sub-par, though I’m not  disappointed – I’ve been out of the loop for a couple weeks and the conditions didn’t help.

So I’m not expecting anything this weekend, might even dip back into 21:xx territory, but that’d be ok.  I’m at peace with the fact that running is not always a linear rise you can depend upon, but more like a series of ocean waves.  Considering the crest I’ve been riding these last few months I’ve been incredibly lucky, so maybe it’s time to recede back into the ocean for a bit now.

Wet metaphors aside, I’m going to have a great time this weekend regardless of how I do, because Doggie girl and Judy from the Women’s BQ thread will be racing, too.  Sounds like a fun morning, guaranteed.