Girl In Motion

Yesterday was a feel-good 8-miler, 8:47 avg. pace in the late afternoon.  I’m so useless if I wait to run, I end up doing all sorts of things to put if off even later, not because I don’t want to run per se, but procrastinating is such bad girl behavior, it’s its own form of entertainment.  I finally got myself out the door under the threat that it’d be dark if I didn’t get a move on and I’m too chicken to run in the dark by myself.

Today was originally supposed to be intervals, but the weather was not looking good when I checked last night, supposed to rain all day with a touch of wind, so by the time I went to bed, I figured I’d get an easy wet 6 in today and do the intervals Friday, when it would be sunny and still.

Usually in the mornings I need at least an hour to get out the door. I sit there with my cup of hazelnut coffee, read email, check out Huffington Post and CNN.com and put reality off as long as possible.  Even in the heat of summer, when I had to get out there really early to beat the rising temps, I’d always have my quiet hour beforehand.

This morning, after about 2 minutes with the coffee, I look out the window and notice it’s dark and all, but no rain yet.  I can see the trees aren’t moving either, so forget wind, there’s barely a breeze and it’s a perfect 47 degrees.  Wunderground.com says the pressure’s falling, but I figure I’ll take my chances, let’s get this thing over with.  So I throw on some capris, a longsleeve shirt, shoes, Garmin, grab keys and out I go for that interval session.

Ended up being an excellent workout!  7.25 miles total, with 6 x 1/2 mile, 2:00 recoveries.  It was cool relying on clock time and the markers because I could check once at the halfway point and see how I was doing (which was surprisingly consistent) instead of constantly chasing Garmin pace averages that are kind of right, but not exactly.  My average for the intervals was 7:17.  I’m pleased.  And it didn’t start raining until my last block home, so all in all, a perfect morning.

On the consumer front, I bought a couple things online yesterday.  Remember when I asked the UPS guy if I was the worst on the block as far as ordering stuff and he said I was second worst?  Since then, I haven’t ordered anything, not out of shame, but I finally had everything I needed, running gear-wise.

Well, we’ve had a lot of rain in the forecast and yeah, running in the rain can be lovely, but not when it’s a deluge or you’re warm and toasty inside…sometimes you’d rather reschedule the run instead and I want to minimize such thoughts as much as possible.  I already have a great jacket for bad weather, the Asics Storm Shelter, but it’s really too hot for 30s and above.

So I just ordered this goofy looking jacket, the Sugoi Hydrolite.  It reminds me of those transparent folding rain caps your Grandma used to wear, but it’s fancy techno-schmancy, has these holes that close up when water touches it, so it’s actually (drumroll, please) truly breathable and is good for temps in the 40s.  Plus, it’s still $100 everywhere else, so…bargain!  Free shipping, too.

Then I went over to Amazon and ordered Brain Training For Runners which comes highly recommended from some fellow forumites I respect, as well as Run Faster From The 5K To The Marathon, another recommend.  But that’s where life got complicated because I was suddenly in that precarious position…$3.97 away from free shipping, so of course I had to figure what else to buy which took me about an hour because I can never think of anything I want if it’s not on my mind.  Finally, I got a bundle of 14 bars of Dove.  Can’t go wrong with soap.

Back on March 18th, I wrote in a blog post, “…we got our tickets then went next door to the huge Asian market that recently opened where, at Lara’s advice, I bought some White Rabbits, yummy Asian candy that I can only hope are not laced with battery acid or antifreeze or whatever the Chinese are exporting in food these days.”

So how lovely to read on CNN Health yesterday, in an article about melamine tainted milk from China, the very last paragraph, “The FDA also recommends that U.S. consumers not eat White Rabbit Creamy Candy, which in China has been found to contain unacceptable levels of melamine. The candy’s maker, Guanshengyuan, has recalled its exports of White Rabbit Cream Candy.”

You know, this would be simply hilarious if it wasn’t for a small niggle in my blood test results from last week.  Seems my kidney function is a tad off and I have to go back for another test in a couple weeks.  I’m sure it’s not connected, probably just something left from the dehydration incident, but I did eat two or 3 bags of those White Rabbits since March, and melamine affects the kidneys, so it’s freaky-deaky, if nothing else.

Back to running…

Today was a  scheduled 8miles w/3×1600 @ 5K race pace w 2min. rest intervals.  Since I wanted to use the park markings instead of my Garmin, I went for 3xmile, my favorite (cough, cough) interval distance.  Honestly, I’m pretty good with shorter intervals, I can find the fun in it, but miles?  No fun to be had there, just looking for the end from about 1/4 mile in.  I can’t help it, I hate ‘em.

As you remember, I’ve been basing my intervals off a 3:40 marathon goal’s corresponding McMillan calculated 5K, so 7:15s.  Even though I’ve downgraded to a 3:45 marathon goal since my hell race, I figure I should keep the same workout goals since I’ve been doing them all along and hitting my paces well.

So was it any surprise that I berated myself when the first interval came out to 7:23?  Thank god the next one was right on target, 7:15, but oh my…the last one?  Horrible, terrible, must quit running forever with a shameful embarrassment of an interval, 7:29.  Average for the interval set: 7:22.

I wasn’t surprised the intervals were all over the place, this was the first time I used the 1/4 mile park markers instead of relying on Garmin feedback, and I’m sure I’ll get better the more I do it, but this was not the collection of 7:15s I was seeking.

The whole way home my confidence was shot, I was thinking how I’ve been deluding myself this whole time, I suck, blah blah, loser, blah, I’ll be lucky to crack 4:00, etc.  Then I realized two things:

1. A mile is longer than 1600m, so my 7:23, 7:25, 7:29 miles actually come out to 7:20, 7:12, 7:26 1600s, which averages 7:19.  Better!  Still…not quite what Pete Pfitzinger told me to do. But wait, what does our friend McMillan say?

2.  McMillan says that 1600s for a 3:40 marathon should be between 7:13 and 7:29.  Hey! Mine were 7:20, 7:12 and 7:26.  I CAN LIVE!!  No shameful runner death for me today.  I’m right where I need to be.  McMillan’s the man!

So life is back to normal after my death trudge home (could I be any more dramatic over a few lousy seconds?).  Now it’s time to ponder the fact that I ate candy containing the same substance as the cheap table top I’m typing on.  Neat.

…were the first words my ex-husband said to me over the phone, after reading Sunday’s race report.  I laughed so hard, because he’s the sweetest, well-spoken Englishman and I don’t even think he called me that in the midst of our worst fights.  And I have to admit…I am.

Last week, because of the mini-taper for the race, it ended up only being a 38-mile week.  I was due for a cutback anyway, since the previous 4 weeks mileage were 57, 50, 49, 50, it came at a good time.  But since this week is technically my first week of taper, I didn’t want to lose whatever quality work was on the schedule, as well as keeping the scheduled mileage.

So yesterday I ran 8 easy, no pushing, averaged 9:07.  No complaints, felt good.  Today’s schedule (after some creative rearranging)  was 8 w/5×600 (the usual 5K pace, 90 sec rest intervals).

I won’t lie, I wondered how speedwork would feel after a major jolt to the body, especially because my fertile imagination still pondered sudden death, dropping among the army of fat, brown geese waddling along the path - though considering the unprecedented amount of goose shit today, I was more likely to slip and fall than collapse from a workout.

So forget my previous VO2max pacing, I figured today would be fine doing it for effort, but one thing was sure, I was doing ‘em, no question about that.  Started my first one, heard that tuneless beep on my Garmin that says the workout has fallen below my chosen pace.  No surprise, it could beep all it wanted, and it did, incessantly.  Final turtle pace tally: 7:25, 7:29, 7:29, 7:25, 7:34.  Eh, I really can’t complain after the weekend I had.  It did the job, got my legs moving and my heart beating, but that was all I had in me today.

Another observation from Sunday, as I look down as my lightly skinned knees and wonder how that happened (I really haven’t a clue).

Know that if something like major dehydration happens to you, you lose all reasoning, because I remember at one point, during that slow death march to avoid a DNF, I kept wondering if I was dehydrated or had hyponatremia (too much water!).  I knew it was one or the other, but was paralyzed in my thoughts as to what to do about it, so I did nothing.  Crazy stuff.

So tomorrow I have 5 recovery on tap and on Sunday, my last long run (really? already? sigh, can’t believe this is coming to a close) of 17 miles.  My main goal for the 17 is to take my time, my secondary goal is to not want to puke when I take my gels.

They’ll be in the flask, which will help, but some time after I puked from the sports drink on Sunday, I had an idea in the back of my mind that I should take another gel, but the thought was absolutely nauseating.  I’m hoping that was only temporary disgust, unlike when you get drunk in high school on pina coladas and can’t drink them for a decade…if so, this could be problematic.

Let me close by saying I cannot wait for the debates tonight.  I see McCreepy has finally agreed to attend now that he’s done saving the world.  I’m utterly excited to watch Obama be as erudite, logical, level-headed and brilliant as ever.  The Class Act vs. The Lizard…this should be fun.

I was looking forward to today’s workout, which is hilarious considering it was intervals, but after you do a couple workouts of 1000s and 1200s, 8 w/5×600s and 90sec. recoveries sounds just about fun.

Then I wake up this morning thinking it might not be such a great workout after all.  I didn’t sleep well and yesterday my quads had a little DOMs after  Sunday’s sauna run, which I still felt when I woke up.  Add to that, I checked my resting HR upon waking and it was a bit higher than usual, mid-50s.  Not that I pay a huge amount of attention to it, I don’t do low HR training, but it is a possible sign of overworking, though probably just lack of sleep.

All these nit-picks aside, the weather today was totally in my favor - 65 with 49% humidity and overcast.  Heaven.

So I start this shindig really slow, 4 warmup miles around 9:30 avg. and I wonder as I’m running, how I’m going to infuse myself with enough energy for intervals.  I’m perfectly happy plodding along and the thought of going fast sounds as fun as pushing boulders, at this point.  I wonder on the third mile if I should do a couple strides beforehand to get myself moving, but seriously, I’m too lazy.  I figure, whatever, I’ll just do this.

As usual, if you’ve been following, my interval goal pace is 7:15s (goal 5K pace converted off my goal marathon time of 3:40).  So the first one starts, I make a point not to check my Garmin till half-way, because, without fail, I always start too fast on the first one, then see the number, get shocked, pull back, then go too slow, then have to speed up to get normal again.  It’s silly.  Today, I’m just going to do them and whatever happens, happens.

So the first one ends, hmmm…7:10.  Good, a tad bit too fast, but reasonable.  The second one, 7:10 again.  Uh, ok.  Third…7:01.  This is weird.  Ordinarily, I’d be all, “oh no, way too fast, I’m going to die on the others, must…hold…back.”.  Today, I’m like, “cool, lets see what else”.  Fourth comes…7:03.  Wow, this is going well.  Then one more to finish off the set…7:07.

Avg pace - 7:06, the fastest set of intervals I’ve ever run!  And as for the make-sure-you-didn’t-do-them-too-fast test of “could you do another at that speed?”, I’d say, why yes, I sure could of!  And that leaves me feeling downright jubilant, because I’m not so far off from being in a new “minute”, as I refer to it.

See, I visualize my progress as a huge clock face.  My paces for the past few months leave me restful in the 10s, comfortably situated in the 9s, visiting the 8s quite a bit, and when I’m frisky, I’ll hang out with my racier pals, the 7s.  So to think I may be hanging with the devil-may-care 6s before too long is wild!

But enough future flight of fancies, back to the rest of this week.  I’ve got 11 easy tomorrow with a trip up and down smile hill.  Then 4 recovery, a day off, and 4 w/strides.  Then Sunday, it’s the Philadelphia Distance Run!! And now, because I’m shameless, reckless and somewhat stupid, I’ll announce my goals here for all to see: I’d be cool with 1:46:something, very happy with 1:45:something and thrilled with 1:44:something.

We shall see…

Jeez (or is that geez? anyway…) this marathon plan thing is finally nearing the end stages, today’s Sept. 10th and the big day is Oct. 12th.  Amazing how time has flown.  I just realized that all the LT workouts are over and done with, no more tempo runs for the duration of the plan and today, because I switched weeks 3 and 4 to accommodate PDR, was the next to last major interval session (”major” in my book means longer than 600s, which are pretty easy compared to 1000s and over).

Today’s workout was 10 miles w/ 4×1200s @ 5K pace w/2 min recovery between.  It was a really nice morning, 65 when I got out at 8:15, so already a big improvement over the sweaty 1000s from last week.  Warmup was 3:35 miles (puts me at the primo spot in the park for 1200s), then the intervals, then cooldown was a tired 3:13 home.

As usual per intervals during this plan, today’s goal was 7:15 pace and that’s about how it shaped up (a little better, actually).  Splits, by pace: 7:12, 7:12, 7:06 and 7:15, for an average of 7:11.  Felt good about it, but wished I had a limo to drive me the last 3:13 miles back.

Getting a little sentimental already about the plan ending and the marathon approaching.  It’s been so nice to be in training limbo all this time, the big race like a fuzzy future task on a very long to-do list.  Soon that task will be checked off and with that, I’ve started thinking about Plan B in case it goes south (because I’ve found, no matter what the subject matter is in life, it’s always good to have a Plan B).  Plan B marathon-wise is, if Steamtown is a bust, to do the Philly marathon, provided it doesn’t sell out like last year.

Then there’s Plan C for when the Fall marathon season is over.  I’ve really taken a liking to Pfitzinger’s training methods, since I haven’t had an inkling of injury during this whole training period.  I suspect that’s due to Pfitz’s doling out the hard workouts discriminantly and making those mid-long runs a weekly staple, seems like it all works together to make you strong without taxing you beyond your means.

Anyway, I’ve got his “Road Racing For Serious Runners” and plan to use the the plans for shorter races to get me through the Spring.  That should give me a boost of speed for next summer when I start this Marathon party all over again.  The question at that point will be, which marathon and where?  But before I get ahead of myself, let’s see what the next month brings.

And I’m not sure if I mentioned this (I know I repeat myself all over this blog, but I’m nearing AARP status, so forgive me) that though my plan is to BQ in Steamtown, if I succeed, I don’t actually want to run Boston next year.  Not only for my fear of massive group situations that require boatloads of moolah for hotels, etc., I want to get faster and more experienced before making that big Boston debut.

There is a part of me that says, “that’s stupid, you’re not getting any younger and what happens if you break your leg in 10 places and won’t be able to run again?”  Well then, I’ll be pissed off no matter what, and Boston will be just one more thing I’ll have missed out on.  But enough dark “what ifs?”, what if I have a long, long love affair with running that takes me into my 70s and 80s?  That’s the one I’m betting on.

75 degrees and 83% humidity when I left the house at 6:30.  What a bowl of soup.

Today’s adventure was 9 miles w/5×1000 at 5K race pace w 2 min rest between.  During the 3 mile warmup I saw my friend Joe out running, so that was a cheery start to the morning.  Along with my pal sighting, there was a huge pack of army kids dressed up in full camouflage regalia; longsleeve jackets, pants, boots, heavy gear on their backs, doing some running and walking on the bike path, so that quelled any complaining I might have done.

My goal for today’s intervals was the same one I’m using throughout this cycle, 7:15 5K pace, based off goal marathon pace.  Last week, my initial interval was sluggish, and though I caught up after that, today I aimed to be even-steven throughout.

Now, the problem with me is my big fat stupid ego.  A faster runner, or one with more experience, would have either done less intervals or done them slower to account for the weather.  I know this because I’m always reading speedy runner’s accounts on the Marathon Training Forum and it is the common advice.  But when you’re at my level (which I know a bunch of you are), you figure you gotta do the workout as-is or you’ll hate yourself, feel like a loser and be ashamed to write about it on your blog.

So I did the workout as planned (7:12,7:13,7:12,7:14,7:14…avg.7:13) though the test of V02max is “could you do another one when you’re done?”  If you’re doing them right, you’re supposed to have enough left in the tank for one more.  I suppose if someone threatened to stick bamboo shoots in my fingernails and a steel spike up my ass, I could have come up with one more, but otherwise, foggedaboutit, I was cooked.

But I feel good about it, it’s done and now I can revert to my slothful ways for the rest of the day.  What’s next?  Supposed to be off tomorrow then 5 recovery on Saturday, but it looks like there’ll be some tail-end hurricane action Saturday (rain and 27 mph winds), so I think I’ll do the recovery tomorrow to get it out of the way.

And on that exciting tidbit of future ponderings, I have a bowl of cereal here that needs attacking, must go in the for the kill now, so I’ll see you later, folks!

Sunday’s 22 was surprising in that my legs felt great afterwards and I had no soreness at all.  I expected DOMS yesterday but…nothing.  So I was feeling ready for today’s 8w/5×600s at 5K race pace.  What I didn’t take into account was that the 22-miler topped a peak week of 57 miles, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when once I got outside, all I wanted to do was travel at a snail’s pace.

My goal was to hit the same as last week, 7:15 avg, since that’s McMillans corresponding 5K pace for a 3:40 marathon. I begin the intervals and my first one is 7:26…hrmph!  That sucks.  OK, time to start paying attention!  Got it together and did the deed.  Intervals splits were 7:26, 7:14, 7:09, 7:12, 7:08…avg. 7:14. So it ended up ok, though I’d have preferred even pacing.

Funny though, afterwards I felt really energized and instead of my usual apres-interval-poopedness where it’s all I can do not to walk home, I continued on to run 4.5 more miles at 9:01 avg. pace, leaving me with a total of 10.5 for the morning.  This is good because I’m having to rearrange my schedule to accommodate Monday’s race and toploading the week will allow me to get a mini-taper in there.

Meanwhile, I’m having little shivers of anticipation for the race.  It’s an automatic PR because it’s my first 4-mile race, but I want to do well.  On the other hand, with marathon training it can go either way - you have tired legs so short races might not be up to par, then again, you’ve been improving fitness, so it could be a good time.  I don’t race a whole lot, so it’s hard not to want to set an aggressive goal.

I think the way I’ve figured is to take my 7:52avg. from last week’s 7 mile tempo, convert it to 12K, then input that as a race into my Daniels’ spreadsheet, which predicts a 30:19 (7:35 pace) for a 4-mile race.  Since I’m basing it off a tempo, it shouldn’t leave me redlining.  Then again, I don’t know the course at all, it’s in a different town - though I must say, Google Street View was very helpful in this regard.  I was able to “travel” a good chunk of the course that way, so it’s not a complete mystery.

My main thing is, I need to stop making races (especially little ones like this) so “oooh, big deal” in my head.  I think the way to do that is to do more of them so when they suck, it just gets absorbed into the mishmash of race outcomes.  Here’s to a future of mucho racing and carefree attitudes!  Yeah, right, haven’t I said this before?

Nice workout today - 8 miles w/5×600@5K race pace. Seeing as how I haven’t done a 5K in a few months, I used my goal marathon pace equivalent for the 5K (with some help from McMillan’s calculator) which is 7:15.

I split it up by doing 4 miles at the top of the workout, then the intervals, which magically averaged 7:15 (splits were 7:18, 7:15, 7:13, 7:13, 7:17), then the remainder for cooldown. I’m feeling very satisfied with it since the last time I did 600s was in April and they were slower, yet the temps were 17 degrees cooler.

Now to correct this week’s schedule in the previous post. Thanks to one of my gal friends on the Women’s BQ thread who took a cool poll yesterday of how many 20s people are doing for their marathons, I learned that my 5-6 was on the highest end (I think one other person is doing 6). The plan I’m following calls only for 3, but I know I’ll feel better to add more, so I’m going to make it five 20+ runs total - no need for 6.

Since this is a cutback week, I’ll stick with the plan as written and do 14 for my LR this Sunday (instead of the 20 I’d planned), but I’ll make it a hill workout on my favorite Mile Hill, so I’ll still get a little extra sumpin’ sumpin’ out of the deal. Next weekend it’s a scheduled 20 that I’ll stretch to 22.

Don’t you feel so much better now that I’ve clarified my schedule? I thought so. Later, my lovelies.

The Broad St. 10 miler is just about here. I’m looking forward to it - though thanks to about 16,999 other runners, I’m dreading the wall of people guaranteed to clog the start. It’ll be an automatic PR since it’s my first 10M race, but I’d still like a fighting chance to do my best.

So I’m thinking of doing things differently this race. Instead of my usual scurrying/weaving around slower people at the beginning, I would like to not waste that energy, instead keeping myself contained, then speeding up as an opening occurs. The problem with that is I don’t trust myself to be able to surge later and make up for lost time…will I have the energy? This method scares me but I’m sure it’s the best way to run the race.

Cluster-fuck in mind, I have two goals; one that I can live with and one I think I could get if everything went hunky-dory. Here’s hoping either of those occur.

Meanwhile, my ankle thing that made itself known exactly a month ago (and which I’ve finally accepted as my first real injury) has just now stopped being a source of worry. It’s a tendon strain that didn’t want to heal, which wasn’t helped since I wouldn’t take 2 consecutive days off in a row. I finally got more serious with icing and ibuprofen (600 twice a day for 4 days) and started wearing an ankle wrap at home so I wouldn’t inadvertently point my foot, which aggravated it.

My plan was to get through Broad St. and then if I needed to see a doctor, do it right afterwards since my racing season would pretty much be over anyway (save for one Garmin-less 5K I’d like to do mid-May). Looks like that won’t be necessary (whew!) but with every little niggle and twinge I’ve been dealing with, it’s made me insanely grateful for the fact that I can run at all. Every step is a beautiful thing.

So as far as running, last week after my nice tempo run, I took it pretty easy. I managed to get a 13-miler in last Sunday, which because of races and ankle crap, was the longest I’d gone in all of April! This was unusual for me, because I really enjoy going longer, but I had to be prudent.

In the end, I came out with 44 miles for the week, 10 less than I’d originally scheduled, but the most I’ve run this month. It’s a pain in the ass to be hobbled!!

Yesterday I did my last pre-race speed session (ala Tinman), whose advice I highly respect (though I’m only following the last week of his advice). So I did 4xmile at race pace, but added a minute to the recoveries since that advice was given to a faster runner. It was fun to do them at 10M pace, like doing tempo intervals, so it didn’t feel anything like a speed session.

Today and tomorrow I’m up for 6, then Friday has 5 with 3 200m strides and then a day off.

Lara and I will hit the expo on Friday where we’ll each get an exciting bonus gift since the race is sponsored by Blue Cross and Lara and I are both members. OMG…it’s a free pair of Blue Cross socks! Can’t wait.

Then Saturday it’s pasta dinner with a lovely group of forum friends (oh, how I love those forum get-togethers) and Sunday, the race. But I’ll pop in here before then. Who knows, those Blue Cross socks might deserve an entry of their own.

What an interesting speed session. Actually, both last week’s and this week’s were eye-opening, in that both sessions were at goal race pace, a pace that in the past I would inexplicably avoid acquainting myself with until the actual race. I’d do some stuff slower and some faster, but never right on. Stupid, huh?

I have seen the light though, and today’s 5×600 at goal pace w/90sec recoveries was useful in it’s attempt to keep me evenly paced and at a contained speed. I gotta say, I really suck at gauging pace and need to work on it. So my lastest plan is to run a “throwaway” 5K after Broad St’s over, and run it without my Garmin (Oh My God!), just to see how my inner clock handles it. Just like a real runner!!

Back to the present, things are looking pretty good for Saturday’s race (though I no longer take anything for granted). Today’s workout was the same one I did before my last 5K on March 11th and the difference in effort was night and day.

It cracks me up when I look back at my logs and read the derision I used to attach to interval sessions, even in this blog I bitched and moaned about it, but now that I’m used to them and understand you don’t have to spill your blood and guts to improve, it’s a different ballgame.

I think the main thing for me was realizing that if your interval times aren’t what they “should” be (thanks to some goal you’ve put in your head), lose the ego and do them slower till you find the sweet spot. Once you find that, it’s only a matter of time till the goal paces you were dreaming of start peeking out and making themselves known.

Of course, it remains to be seen how these sessions will translate race-wise, but if anything, I’ve done some meaningful preparation these past few weeks, which is infinitely better than my former prerace prep: a few tempo runs and then swinging by the seat of my pants.