i'm too lazy to describe the past 3 or so weeks in detail, but basically, i think mother nature hates wisconsin track and field. the oshkosh meet involved 25 mph winds, the 100k was about 35 and rain/snowing (and let's not even get into the fact that i was still slightly intoxicated while running that 10k...hey, it felt good!), lacrosse was 40 degrees and pouring, and then we get to the lovely marquette invite. now, its almost the end of april, its been gorgeous all week, you'd think we could catch a break, right? WRONG. 45 degrees, with winds blowing pretty consistently over 20 miles an hour, with gusts up to 40 MPH. yeah, i'm not kidding. and it was in this lovely weather that i decided to make my first endeavor into the 3000 m steeplechase.
now, i have never run ANYTHING longer than a 1500 on a track. so the idea of 7 and a half laps was moderately terrifying anyway, and then add to that the 5 barriers and water pit? uhh, i was having some serious second thoughts. the barriers i wasn't too worried about, after all, i've been a hurdler for 7 years, so those were a piece of cake. but the water pit...oh. my. god. approaching that thing the first time was absolutely terrifying. it took pretty much everything in me not to run AROUND it. but i didn't die...though i did practically go under a couple of times, yikes. i have to say, that was THE MOST PAINFUL RACE i have ever done in my life. the wind may have had something to do with it...actually, scratch that, it had a LOT to do with it, especially since it decided to pick up the second half of the race. combine that with my increasing exhaustion and i was pretty much wishing someone would shoot me on the backstretch. amazingly, my first time experience with no practice into the water pit and having not been training for this distance and running into this ridiculous wind ended a lot better than i expected - 13:22, and i beat claire and the girl from GMTC, which was pretty exciting. right now though, to be honest, i wish i didn't have quads. they are screaming at me anytime i do anything...walking...riding my bike...sitting down...you name it, its painful. i'm guessing that has something to do with the enormous leap i had to take off the barrier while at the last stages of exhaustion. yep, that'll do it.
so will i run it again?
...probably. i actually am considering running it at the twilight.
damnit, distance running makes you such a masochist.
but the pictures of me flying off a steeple barrier are effing sweet! and impressive. you can't not think i'm a badass now. :P
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 11, 2008
everytime it rains...
4/9 - workout: 3 x [2 x 200 @ 36-39 w/200 jog + 5 min tempo (1200 m) w/ 400 jog]
total mileage: 8.25
weird workout...the 200s felt great, but i was getting killed by jade on the first 2 tempo sections...then suddenly on the third one, something clicked and i ran under pace the entire time. i mean, lets ignore the fact that under 6:40 mile pace isn't tempo pace...but since it was only 5 minutes, i let it go. but the last one felt great. for the first time in like 2 weeks, my legs felt like they actually WANTED to keep going...amazing i know. also my highest mileage day in quite awhile. i think *fingers crossed* that i'm over the worst of this cold that has been driving me insane the past couple of weeks, so hopefully that will be what gets me over the hump into some better running.
4/10 - most disgusting day of weather ever...40, incredibly windy, and just pelting down rain...i thought about taking the day off but ended up running 4.25 on the treadmill instead. running on treadmills kind of makes me want to shoot myself, but you do what you have to do.
not sure how i feel about running a 10K at 6:30 am tomorrow morning when its supposed to be 35 and SNOWING....but hopefully i'll just run slow, feel accomplished that i dragged my ass out of bed on a saturday to go running, get my CHEESE (which apparently is the "prize"...only in wisconsin) and sweet shirt, and go right back to bed :P
total mileage: 8.25
weird workout...the 200s felt great, but i was getting killed by jade on the first 2 tempo sections...then suddenly on the third one, something clicked and i ran under pace the entire time. i mean, lets ignore the fact that under 6:40 mile pace isn't tempo pace...but since it was only 5 minutes, i let it go. but the last one felt great. for the first time in like 2 weeks, my legs felt like they actually WANTED to keep going...amazing i know. also my highest mileage day in quite awhile. i think *fingers crossed* that i'm over the worst of this cold that has been driving me insane the past couple of weeks, so hopefully that will be what gets me over the hump into some better running.
4/10 - most disgusting day of weather ever...40, incredibly windy, and just pelting down rain...i thought about taking the day off but ended up running 4.25 on the treadmill instead. running on treadmills kind of makes me want to shoot myself, but you do what you have to do.
not sure how i feel about running a 10K at 6:30 am tomorrow morning when its supposed to be 35 and SNOWING....but hopefully i'll just run slow, feel accomplished that i dragged my ass out of bed on a saturday to go running, get my CHEESE (which apparently is the "prize"...only in wisconsin) and sweet shirt, and go right back to bed :P
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
tomorrow is another day, and there will be another battle
4/3 - 5 miles on lakeshore path, stopped at the track which appeared to be locked but conveniently was not to do some 400 hurdle starts. pretty much had to drag myself out the door...no desire to go running whatsoever.
4/4 - 2.5 miles easy before the meet...legs felt pretty crappy still
4/5 - oshkosh invite
1500 - 5:32.13 (31st/54)
400 hurdles - 75.83 (11th/17)
what can i say about a personal worst? that's one of those things you never really want to have to deal with. you want to go uphill, not downhill...and ESPECIALLY not 2 seconds slower than i've ever raced 400 hurdles in my life. but from the start, oshkosh was not going to be my day. first of all, i'm pretty confident that track is cursed. its gorgeous. its new. its olympic caliber. and i WANT to run well there...but i swear, i have never had a good race on that track...indoor or outdoor...and this is my 4th year in a row racing there. secondly, WIND. oshkosh is always windy...having the track situated 200 meters from a river doesn't help that...but saturday was worse than ever before. the flag was literally sticking straight out from the pole the entire day, and my face was windburned by noon. it was ridiculous. its bad enough sitting out in that kind of crap...now, try running a race in it! but it wasn't just the wind...my legs just felt like dead weight, and mentally i just wasn't there, which really didn't make me happy.
the 1500 was one of those terrible, terrible races where from about 100 meters in you know that its going to be absolutely awful, you know you don't stand a chance of running even a decent time, and there's nothing you can do but try to hang on and survive. i got passed by SO MANY people in the second and third lap...and i'm not good at getting passed. when i'm already suffering and struggling mentally, getting passed pretty much makes me about ready to give up, especially when i can't even make a challenge at the people passing me. i tried my best to stick it out and managed to pass a few people back in the last lap, but the fact that i got blown away by jade by 20 seconds just bothers me, especially since i beat her in the mile a month and a half ago. but maybe i could have dealt better with that defeat had 400 hurdles not also been so horrible. granted, the wind played a MAJOR role in that race...literally, i got blown sideways while over a hurdle...and i did manage to outkick a girl to the line which is always cool, but still, 2 seconds worse than i've ever run that race??!! i suppose i should realize that a) i haven't been doing sprint workouts, b) i haven't hurdled at ALL in 10 months, c) the wind was absurd and everyone ran like 3 seconds slower than their seed, and d) i had a cold anyway and my legs felt like crap, but geez. it wasn't the way i like to see my first race of the season go, that's for sure.
3/6 - took the day off. my voice was gone, my legs felt like crap, and after saturday, i just mentally felt like i needed a break.
3/7 - 7.5 miles total
workout: 3 x [2 x 200 @ 33-35 w/ 400 m jog, 400 @ 75-77 w/ 800 m jog]
for some reason, this workout almost broke me. i still have this cold going on so i was pretty much hacking up a lung the entire time and couldn't breathe, plus my legs still felt like absolute crap. the second 400 almost brought me to tears...it was like the culmination of all of my frustration of the last couple of weeks with my legs just not begin there. the last set was better, and by the end of the workout i could practically feel the endorphins shooting through me.
3/8 - 5.75 miles w/ nicole - bike path/cemetary/regent loop + to smith hall and back to check a class with nicole
it was about 45 and raining...and i loved every minute. this was the first day in quite awhile that i've been like wow, i can't WAIT to go running today. so hopefully that means i'm starting to come out of whatever funk i've been in.
i think my problem lately has been that we've been doing pretty intense workouts for awhile, and i've gotten a little bit burnt out. i just need to remember why i LOVE to run...regardless of whether i'm doing "well" in workouts and races or not, because i think that's what will get me back to where i want to be. its like in "once a runner" where they talk about training going in spirals...sometimes, you have to go backwards a little bit to catapault yourself into new and amazing territory. and i think i'm ready for a breakthrough.
4/4 - 2.5 miles easy before the meet...legs felt pretty crappy still
4/5 - oshkosh invite
1500 - 5:32.13 (31st/54)
400 hurdles - 75.83 (11th/17)
what can i say about a personal worst? that's one of those things you never really want to have to deal with. you want to go uphill, not downhill...and ESPECIALLY not 2 seconds slower than i've ever raced 400 hurdles in my life. but from the start, oshkosh was not going to be my day. first of all, i'm pretty confident that track is cursed. its gorgeous. its new. its olympic caliber. and i WANT to run well there...but i swear, i have never had a good race on that track...indoor or outdoor...and this is my 4th year in a row racing there. secondly, WIND. oshkosh is always windy...having the track situated 200 meters from a river doesn't help that...but saturday was worse than ever before. the flag was literally sticking straight out from the pole the entire day, and my face was windburned by noon. it was ridiculous. its bad enough sitting out in that kind of crap...now, try running a race in it! but it wasn't just the wind...my legs just felt like dead weight, and mentally i just wasn't there, which really didn't make me happy.
the 1500 was one of those terrible, terrible races where from about 100 meters in you know that its going to be absolutely awful, you know you don't stand a chance of running even a decent time, and there's nothing you can do but try to hang on and survive. i got passed by SO MANY people in the second and third lap...and i'm not good at getting passed. when i'm already suffering and struggling mentally, getting passed pretty much makes me about ready to give up, especially when i can't even make a challenge at the people passing me. i tried my best to stick it out and managed to pass a few people back in the last lap, but the fact that i got blown away by jade by 20 seconds just bothers me, especially since i beat her in the mile a month and a half ago. but maybe i could have dealt better with that defeat had 400 hurdles not also been so horrible. granted, the wind played a MAJOR role in that race...literally, i got blown sideways while over a hurdle...and i did manage to outkick a girl to the line which is always cool, but still, 2 seconds worse than i've ever run that race??!! i suppose i should realize that a) i haven't been doing sprint workouts, b) i haven't hurdled at ALL in 10 months, c) the wind was absurd and everyone ran like 3 seconds slower than their seed, and d) i had a cold anyway and my legs felt like crap, but geez. it wasn't the way i like to see my first race of the season go, that's for sure.
3/6 - took the day off. my voice was gone, my legs felt like crap, and after saturday, i just mentally felt like i needed a break.
3/7 - 7.5 miles total
workout: 3 x [2 x 200 @ 33-35 w/ 400 m jog, 400 @ 75-77 w/ 800 m jog]
for some reason, this workout almost broke me. i still have this cold going on so i was pretty much hacking up a lung the entire time and couldn't breathe, plus my legs still felt like absolute crap. the second 400 almost brought me to tears...it was like the culmination of all of my frustration of the last couple of weeks with my legs just not begin there. the last set was better, and by the end of the workout i could practically feel the endorphins shooting through me.
3/8 - 5.75 miles w/ nicole - bike path/cemetary/regent loop + to smith hall and back to check a class with nicole
it was about 45 and raining...and i loved every minute. this was the first day in quite awhile that i've been like wow, i can't WAIT to go running today. so hopefully that means i'm starting to come out of whatever funk i've been in.
i think my problem lately has been that we've been doing pretty intense workouts for awhile, and i've gotten a little bit burnt out. i just need to remember why i LOVE to run...regardless of whether i'm doing "well" in workouts and races or not, because i think that's what will get me back to where i want to be. its like in "once a runner" where they talk about training going in spirals...sometimes, you have to go backwards a little bit to catapault yourself into new and amazing territory. and i think i'm ready for a breakthrough.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
"running is made for neurotics" - chariots of fire
yeah, my biochem professor used a chariots of fire quote today...and talked about carbo-loading...sweet life. based on that, you'd think that class would be interesting....unfortunately, i tuned in for the 5 minute discussion of running and that's about it. anyway, on to my running...
tuesday - 5.4 miles with nicole (willy st/jenifer st out and back) - 42:03 (7:47 pace)
it was sooo nice out...finally starting to feel springish. and we went to panera afterwards...fannntastic.
wednesday - 8 x 400 @ 79-82 with 1 minute rest...killlllller! but it was the first workout on the outdoor track of the season, and great weather for a workout. apparently this is our last hard week of the season...i feel like that's a bit premature, but then again the workouts that we're apparently doing the rest of the season don't appear to be particularly "easy". and the meet schedule this year is kind of strange...i feel like the fact that we're sponsoring this 100k is kind of messing things up. were we involved in this last year? apparently we're only doing 3 college meets...and i'm kind of sad about that.
anyway...the schedule for the rest of the season (for now):
4/6 - oshkosh invite
4/12 - mad city 100k (in which i will be running a 10k leg of a relay...slowly haha)
4/18 - lacrosse invite
4/26 - club home meet? i have no idea what this is all about....personally i'd rather go to a college meet, but whatever...
5/4 - mifflin! (this has nothing to do with running, i'm just pumped we don't have a race on mifflin this year...)
5/10 - twilight!
i'm a little scared to race saturday, having not hurdled since...umm...last may? and of course, the 1500 will hurt, so that's always terrifying. the indoor/outdoor break is always hard since you forget how much racing sucks and at the same time think its going to suck so much more than it actually is. i guess we'll see what happens!
tuesday - 5.4 miles with nicole (willy st/jenifer st out and back) - 42:03 (7:47 pace)
it was sooo nice out...finally starting to feel springish. and we went to panera afterwards...fannntastic.
wednesday - 8 x 400 @ 79-82 with 1 minute rest...killlllller! but it was the first workout on the outdoor track of the season, and great weather for a workout. apparently this is our last hard week of the season...i feel like that's a bit premature, but then again the workouts that we're apparently doing the rest of the season don't appear to be particularly "easy". and the meet schedule this year is kind of strange...i feel like the fact that we're sponsoring this 100k is kind of messing things up. were we involved in this last year? apparently we're only doing 3 college meets...and i'm kind of sad about that.
anyway...the schedule for the rest of the season (for now):
4/6 - oshkosh invite
4/12 - mad city 100k (in which i will be running a 10k leg of a relay...slowly haha)
4/18 - lacrosse invite
4/26 - club home meet? i have no idea what this is all about....personally i'd rather go to a college meet, but whatever...
5/4 - mifflin! (this has nothing to do with running, i'm just pumped we don't have a race on mifflin this year...)
5/10 - twilight!
i'm a little scared to race saturday, having not hurdled since...umm...last may? and of course, the 1500 will hurt, so that's always terrifying. the indoor/outdoor break is always hard since you forget how much racing sucks and at the same time think its going to suck so much more than it actually is. i guess we'll see what happens!
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