Girl In Motion

Today was 11 easy with a trip up Smile Hill, my mile-long piece of runnin’ fun.  Was gorgeous out, 64 w/no humidity to speak of.

On the way to the hill, I passed that walking woman I’ve become park pals with. She runs quite a bit now, which leads me to do fun stuff like clap or give a big thumbs-up when she goes by, but I’d been feeling guilty about that recently, like maybe that’s somewhat patronizing, though she always responds as jovially as me when we pass.

So today, she was on a sidewalk area right before a thin stretch of dirt path begins.  She was doing her walking thing as I approached her, and as soon as the dirt path opened up, she hopped on it and started to run, pointing to the ground and saying apologetically to me, “I have to run on soft surfaces”, to which I replied some inanity like, “You go, girl!”

It was totally adorable that she felt she had to explain herself to me, but on the other hand, the next time I see her, I’m going to make a point to tell her that whether she walks, runs or skips (there’s this strange obese woman I’ve seen out there who actually does that, skips the whole way), it’s just cool that she’s out there.

But anyway, back to the run, started comfortably and sped up a bit as I got going.  Got to Smile Hill and went up it comfortably, yet faster than I have before, then came down with an 8:01.  While I don’t plan on going down Steamtown hills that fast (though on the famously steep mile 4, I might…I’ll talk strategy in a future entry), it’s been a really wonderful piece of land to traipse on in rehearsal for the big day.

Now I’m home and popping Zicam, which I bought yesterday, because I’ve had a scratchy throat ever since the temps went down from gross hot to lovely.  I never used it before but it seems like it’s working, I have the hint of a cold, but nothing more.  Luckily, I only have a couple 4s before the big race on Sunday, so it’ll be nice to veg without any big workouts ahead.

And that’s it from glorious Philly.

In the past week or so, for some inexplicable reason, I’ve begun to drool out the right corner of my mouth while running.  It’s not a huge stream of spit or anything, and passers-by wouldn’t be able to tell, but I am having to wipe the corner of my mouth every so often.

Now, I know I’m not running with my head sideways and my dental work hasn’t changed, so it’s a mystery as to the cause.  Meanwhile, I can only hope this is a passing phase and doesn’t develop into a full-fledged rabid dog foaming at the mouth type of situation.  My race pictures suck as it is.

Today’s run was 13 with 2 trips up Smile Hill.  Good run in general, even with the hill, averaged 8:53.

Don’t know if any of you are familiar with the underground comic strip, Zippy The Pinhead, but I realized today, while looking at the elevation chart, that Smile Hill looks a lot like Zippy…don’t you think?

In non-running news, I’m waiting for the UPS guy to bring me the case fan so I can repair the power supply in my computer.  My workaround, while extremely effective, is somewhat unsightly and takes up a lot of space. It’s also causing me to sit a little crooked from my monitor.  Hey…maybe that’s why I’m drooling!!

That’s it from me today, later kids!

Why High Five?  Because for the second time ever on a run, a runner I didn’t know at all gave me a high five!  But let’s go to the beginning…

I mentioned in yesterday’s entry that today’s 12 would partly be spent around Lemon Hill for a couple easy hill loops.   However, after several comments to that post referring to the Philly marathon and the accompanying hill at Lansdowne, it seemed apropos to revisit that area today.  After all, I had only been on it once since the Philly Half and that was at the beginning of marathon training, way back in June, so I was anxious to see if it was still as big as it appeared in my mind.

Today’s accessories included one handheld, gel flask with 2 gels and water to the top (first time filled to the brim) and sunglasses.  I wanted to test the flask filled completely since that’s how it’ll be marathon day and since the waistbands in my shorts are small-width elastic, I knew there’d be some bouncing.   Didn’t take long to figure out that by safety pinning both top corners of the flask holder to my waistband, it would immobilize it perfectly.  And with that, the flask situation is now officially 100% worked out.

Out the door and on to Landsdowne.  So yeah, there’s the hill I remembered, but it’s only 1/4 of a mile so nothing as daunting as my self-proclaimed Smile Hill.   Went up the thing, messed around in the concourse area (part of the marathon course), took a couple more smaller hills, then as I was backtracking to take another swipe at the hill, this huge burly running man passes me with a big ole smile and says “How you doing today?” and held out his hand for a high-five.  What could I do but give him a matching grin, say “Great! How’re you?” and slap that palm!

He got the raw end of the deal as my palm was gross and sweaty and his was quite nice, but I’ll tell you, that grin didn’t leave me for miles.   Funny how some nice people are so brave with their happiness, it’s a beautiful thing.

After that I messed around with the hill and the surrounding area some more, than got back on West River Drive to continue the loop and finished out my 12.  Because I spent extra time around the concourse area, I ended up getting to 12 while still 1.25 miles from home.  Ordinarily I would have kept running anyway but Sunday is going to be 22, so I was like, “screw it!, it’ll be nice to walk home” and I did.

Speaking of Sunday, of course as soon as I publicize what I’m going to do, I change my mind and the route for Sunday’s run is no exception.  I was going to do it on the trail, but that’s a hard run, lots of ups downs and gravel, but the real deciding factor is that it’d be a two-handhelds + gel flask run.  I’m ok with taking the 2 handhelds, but not if I’m also taking a gel flask - that’s just a little too much extra weight and plastic accoutrements to sit well with me.

So the new decision is to do my regular loop forward and back again and then, as I’m nearing home, do a couple trips up and down Smile Hill.  After all, that’ll mimic the race better because there are a couple hills towards the end and also, I’ll just need one handheld and the gel flask.  Besides, a 22 is enough of a workout on it’s own, I don’t need to add the difficulty of a trail in there, too.

And that is it for Friday.  We’re going with our friends Lara and Jeff to some kooky bike race today near Allentown at the Velodrome.  It’s a Madison which I’ve never seen before and sounds crazy cool.  Basically, they fling each other forward while bicycling madly.  Should be a blast, not to mention lots of good looking cycle boys because that goes with the territory.

So have a fine Friday, some strong runs and I’ll be chatting with you all later.

My workout today was a beautiful thing, didn’t go the Pfitzinger med-long run route, because I was doing my mile long hill which makes the 20% - 10% not really a viable parameter. As for the hill itself, which I’ve been prefacing recently with “stupid” as in Stupid Mile Hill because things that make me suffer scare me and calling them names makes me feel better, today the hill and I came to an agreement; I wouldn’t bitch and moan and it would be nicer to me than it’s ever been.

Long story short, I did 2.5 trips with the uphills paced at 9:25, 9:29 and 9:47 and the downhills at 8:07, 8:17 and 8:17. How wonderful to be able to fully rehearse my Steamtown pacing (which I imagine will be 8:17-8:20 on the downs) and have it feel good. Of course, after a zillion of those strung together I know it’ll be less than happy-making, but I can start to imagine the real deal now.

After I was done with the hill, like magic (or as running god Arthur Lydiard might have predicted) the final miles home were strangely faster than they felt. I seriously felt I was going along at 9:15 or so but thanks to that fast downhill running, I was actually averaging 8:39. Final tally today: 14.5 miles, average pace: 8:59.

The other big news of the run was I have finally found a gel I LIKE! Not “can stand” “can stomach” or “is palatable” but one where I thought the taste was juuuust right: Gu Just Plain. Wow, not at all cloyingly sweet while at the same time without any of the tartness I find in Hammer or Carbboom. Simply a truly light taste that, mixed in a flask, will improve the Vanilla and Apple Carbbooms I just got, or taste great straight. Seriously, it was so strange to finish a gel off without a single grimace.

On to real running news, I cried last night when 38 year-old Constantina Tomescu won the marathon. What an edge of the seat race that was! Of course, so heartbreaking for Deena and Paula but so thrilling to see a 38 year-old conquer that race! And with such a daring break, just shocking. So here’s to Constantina Tomescu and Dara Torres, another amazing athlete at 41 years old. Cheers to these mature athletic powerhouses, you make the world a more hopeful place.

Moving sideways away from running, I had quite a laugh yesterday while grocery shopping with Nick. We were standing in the produce section of ShopRite, a huge grocery store chain, when I realize the Muzak coming over the loudspeakers was “Love To Love You, Baby”, complete with lyrics. I turned to Nick and said, “check out the music”, we had a chuckle and squeezed some peaches. Then a few minutes later, I recognize the next song is “Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi”. Granted, both were fab disco hits in their day, but I find it hilarous that the background music for grocery shopping is now Fuck Me songs. How lovely for the little children, lol.

But enough gabbing from me today, go find some fruit to play with and hum a nasty tune to yourself. It’ll either have you wanting to go grocery shopping or make wild crazy love next to some Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Ever hopeful me, this morning was dark and rainy with clouds forcasted for most of the day and I was so involved in this project I’m finishing up that I waited until noon to go out. Of course, a few steps into my run the sun came out so I was wishing for my sunglasses from there on in. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today’s run called for 11 miles, what Pfitzinger calls a mid-long run, which means treat it like a long run as far as starting 20% slower than MP, getting to 10% by the end.

Now, in case you’ve just tuned in, I’m doing Steamtown in October which has a net downhill of 955′, so next week was the week I was going to start working on long downhills. My local forum pal, Joe, suggested this one-mile hill about 4.25 miles from my house, Midvale Ave.

Since today I was given a “speed allowance” of sorts thanks to the mid-long parameters (an ok to be on the slow end) I figured today’s 11-miler would be a great backdrop for experimenting with Midvale for the first time. It turned out to be absolutely perfect.

Seriously, the only thing missing was one of those motorized stair chairs to take you to the top (Nancy Marchand in Sopranos…that vision still makes me laugh). It goes up (or down) 200′ in that mile which is steeper than Steamtown, plus it’s mostly residential, so pretty quiet, though there are a few restaurants with huge windows so I can watch the reflection of me dying on the way up - what a bonus.

My splits were pretty good today, even in the noonday sun the slowest I went was one mile at 9:45 and that was the long uphill, as for that downhill…well! What a wonderful taste of MP, because that’s what I did. The great Arthur Lydiard suggested downhills for working on legspeed and boy, does it work! I was to be able to feel Marathon Pace without the agony of hoisting myself anywhere, just letting the downhill take me. I can totally see how pacing myself will be a challenge, the urge to speed will definitely be there, so how fantastic to have this hill for rehearsal.

Also interesting was I was really hot and draggy getting to the hill and doubted my ability to pull out 9:13s on the way home (10% above MP) but once I finished the fast downhill, it was as if I’d found a new gear, so the last 4 miles averaged 9:05. Not bad for 82 degrees against 13mph gusts.

So a big thanks to Joe for finding me a hill I don’t have to drive to and one that fits all the requirements for Steamtown prep. All systems are looking good at this point.

Now back to my project which I’ll soon be blogging about, maybe tomorrow even. It’s no biggie but I’m excited about it. And with that bit of mystery, I bid you adieu for the day. Happy runs, folks!

All this talk about that mile-long hill and new running routes got me inspired to try something new on my 10-miler today.

I’m not yet ready to submit to the mile-long hill (I’ll start tackling that about 10 weeks before the race when my legs are tougher) but what I did do is revisit the scene of much discomfort during the Philly Half Marathon, the evil hill at Lansdowne Ave.

I remember dying during that hill and surprise! it was as annoying as I remembered it to be. It’s .3 of a mile with a 5% grade - not killer but long enough to be a useful addition to my running arsenal. So a new route with a good hill…I’m a happy camper.

Other than that, I did another Pilates DVD yesterday, got a posture book from the library and am becoming obsessive about improving upon it. Lara turned me on to a couple posture tools that I ordered immediately; one is an IMAK backrest and the other is the Disc O’Sit, (a.k.a. a wobble cushion). The wobble cushion is cool because the only way to sit on it is with proper posture, it uses your core muscles just to stay on it, so I’ve a feeling it’s going to be my favorite item. Meanwhile, that ShouldersBack thing should arrive today so it remains to be seen how much torture it’ll inflict.

Forgive me if you already know about this, but I’m all wide-eyed wonderment…

As you know, I’m running Steamtown in October. The thing that defines this course as unusual is a huge elevation loss for the bulk of the race. Granted, there are three hills peppered so inconveniently at the end, but in a nutshell, it’s a downhill race.

To the uninitiated, you’d think this would be a “yippee and fabu!” type of situation, but 26.2 downhill has the potential to hurt and hurt bad - quads screaming for mercy long before the finish line is even in view. Or so I’ve been told.

Today, on the RW Steamtown Marathon thread, someone posted a smart tip about how she had trained for it last year, finding a mile-long hill to work on. I have several 1/2 mile hills to work with, but I love the idea of a long, miserable mile. So I posted the question to a local running club forum and was given an excellent road that fits the bill perfectly. Here’s where the awe and amazement comes in.

I was looking at it on Google Maps and something I hadn’t noticed before, “Street View”, makes itself apparent. Clicking on it, I was suddenly on that street! (virtually anyway) Pressing the little arrows took me on a tour up the whole road where I was able to see that, “ok, sidewalk is on the left, bike lanes on both sides, so the sidewalk ends here…no prob I’ll hop on the path right there”, not to mention seeing how steep it is and even where I can park. Street View rocks!

Unfortunately, it’s not available everywhere, just a few metropolitan areas at this point, and even here in Philly, not all the streets are covered, but WOW for the coverage it does have. If you’re in one of the covered areas, you’ll find this a wonderful tool, opening up a whole new way of “testing” new running routes beforehand.

Check it out in action. Click on the photograph that comes up in the white box. You might have to pan to get the Street View fully visible, but once you’re “in the street”, you can advance by pressing the little white arrow on the route (or you can move the little guy on the map itself).

I must go now to search out more swell running routes because this is So cool. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m really going to the store with Nick to get some candy. Later, my lovelies.

Yesterday I threatened to sit at home today while consuming copious amounts of sugar instead of venturing out in the windy rain, but I’m happy to report that I enjoyed a fun 7 today on my hill-loop route. Yes, it was dreary and wet, but it was warm (40 degrees) and wind wasn’t even an issue.

Not much to report, the usual suspicious parked cars along the loop, and from the occasional condom wrappers I’ve seen strewn on the ground, I imagine it’s a hotbed of horny lunch-time lovin’, but I avoid looking in car windows when I can.

In return, I like to imagine that seeing my sweaty red face with that look of hill-induced agony across it helps those in the cars finish quicker, the sooner to return to their filing cabinets and cup ‘o soups.

Helping out the work-force where I can - no need to thank me ma’am, just doing my job.