Long run song of the day:
So today's long run was...epic. And awesome. And hands down the best long run of my life - I am not joking. What the hell is it about the combination of pouring rain, gusting wind, and general nastiness that turns me into some kind of run-dominating beast? I spent most of yesterday and this morning debating whether I even should set out for 22 miles in the craptastic weather - I seriously don't think I've ever been so unhappy about the prospect of going for a long run in my life. 22 miles just seemed so. long [okay well...it is...but yeah] and throwing the weather on top of that didn't help. But since this was really a KEY workout I had planned in my training schedule - 22 miles on the actual marathon course - I knew I had to just suck it up buttercup and get out there.
So I did - and I think once I realized that it wasn't as bad as I had made it out to be, I knew everything was going to be okay. I wasn't planning on really worrying about the pace, so I just fell into something that felt comfortable and easy and got into the groove. You know those days when things just fall into place and you find that sweet spot of pace where you feel like you could literally keep running forever? That was me today. Running on the course, as always, was a great plan because while there weren't a ton of runners out there, it seemed like everyone who was was a) wearing some kind of neon jacket or shirt that made them like a beacon of light in the endless gray of the rain and b) was equally happy to see a fellow runner partaking in this madness and would give a wave, hi, or at least a smile. Seriously, every runner I saw gave me an extra shot of energy - knowing I'm not alone, and that we're all out there for a reason, is such a boost.
It actually took me kind of awhile to notice that I was cold or wet. I think I had on enough layers that the gradual soaking-through process took about an hour haha. I stopped at the Marathon Sports on the course in Wellesley to grab a Gu and some water - perfect timing because I was getting really hungry and had the feeling I was on my way to being pretty dehydrated as well. Tried the new flavor of Gu - Jet Blackberry - it pretty much tasted the same as the Tri Berry, but I think it has more caffeine...anyway, after a few minutes in the store coming back into the deluge kind of sucked, and that was the first time I noticed the cold. And then I just kept trucking through Wellesley. There seemed to be a lot of hills [I really wouldn't notice that as much on the way back, maybe because anything that was uphill running the course backwards would be downhill going the right way]. I got nerdily excited when I saw the 14 mile/water mark with the BAA unicorn on the road, waved gleefully at a fellow runner on the opposite side of the street, and had to kind of laugh at the random empty Gu packets strewn around randomly on the sidewalk. [Definitely don't advocate littering...but it was just kind of funny...like, gee, do you think a lot of marathoners run out here or something?]. Generally I just continued to enjoy myself, finally reaching my turnaround point at Bacon Street [which...I seriously picked because I thought I would want some bacon at that point in the run. I really don't know what's going on in my head sometimes haha]
So I started the long trek back towards Boston, and honestly I kept waiting for my legs to do their usual seizing up/dying act that they always seem to do at the end of long runs, or for it to start feeling hard, or something...none of those feelings ever came. It just simply felt easy. Seriously, I don't know if there's magical fairy dust scattered all over the course or what, but every time I've run out there over this training cycle, it's been an incredible, effortless run...fingers crossed that the magic still works when I have to share it with 25,000 other runners. :) Also, my thought on this new part of the course that I hadn't seen before: really, not that many bad hills. It's funny because at first I thought "yes, well, you'll be running this at mile 12-20 of a marathon"...but then I realized that this section of the course was at mile 12-20 of my long run too...which was obviously the point haha. I guess the impression I get is that the course is never REALLY flat...but that you also spend more time running downhill than you do running up...and yes, that is the definition of a net downhill course, which Boston is, so sorry for stating the obvious haha. The one hill for me that was sort of a beeyotch, actually moreso than Heartbreak, was the one that comes right after the turn onto Comm Ave, at around the 18 mile mark. It's sort of a long hill that seems to drag, and I think since you've just had a big downhill it's kind of like...aww...a hill? Wah wah. But then there's like a mile of basically downhill before you have to deal with Heartbreak...I don't know, maybe it was just because my run went SO well on the course today, but I was left feeling a lot more confident about running a good race on this course than I was before.
You'll notice that I've only mentioned the crazy-ass weather once in this epic description of this run so far...really, I didn't pay much attention to it, and what thoughts I did give to it were basically along the lines of "this is so effing awesome. I am kicking so much ass right now. If the marathon was today, I would probably run a PR. I am so freaking glad I didn't skip this run. I love the rain". So the "song of the day" came on my ipod just as I had crested Heartbreak, and was headed onto the GIANT downhill through BC. Everytime I run that downhill, I want to put my arms up and yell like a little kid on a rollercoaster haha...it's like..I MADE IT! Combine that with The Who screaming about rain and the fact that there are less than 2 miles to go of a 23 mile run, and you have yourself a pretty amazing moment. I was also pretty impressed at how the run absolutely FLEW by...normally I get so sick of running by about 2:15 into a long run that the last 30-45 minutes are just a death march...but this time, probably since I was feeling good, it was totally no big deal.
Probably the funniest moment of the run actually happened after I finished. I finally made it back to my door, thrilled to be done, thrilled at how I was feeling, basically just on this massive runner's high...oh yeah, and also completely drenched and dripping a puddle into the foyer of my apartment building. My hands were COMPLETELY frozen, so I struggled for like 5 minutes to get my key out of my pocket...then struggled to actually get it in the door...and THEN once I got it in the door, I couldn't grip my hands enough to turn it...FAIL! I was just attempting to use the two-handed grip approach and looking like a giant idiot when a neighbor came in behind me and was like...uh...are you okay? [he probably thought I was trying to break into the place or something!] Just then I got the door open and let him in, and I was like oh, yeah, I'm fine, I just ran 22 miles though and so my hands are really cold, I couldn't get the key to turn. The guy was like oh...and then was like..wait...you ran 22 miles...TODAY? You have issues... Kind of reminds me of my boss who commented yesterday that "looks like you won't be getting any miles in this weekend". I'm pretty confident that 99% of the population [my mom, grandma, and boyfriend included!] think that what I did today was borderline insane...but seriously, having that great of a run in this disgusting of weather gave me such a HUGE mental boost - like whatever raceday throws at me, I'll be able to get through it. Maybe more importantly, it gave me the confidence that my training is actually working - that the higher miles and workouts and things I've been doing that I've bitched and moaned about really HAVE made me stronger, much stronger, than I was going into Baystate. Being able to hit 8:15 pace [haha, guess I didn't mention that I was actually running kind of fast for a LR...] for that long of a run without going downhill into my usual "run for a few minutes...legs tighten up...stop....stretch...start again" act that I usually wind up doing for the last 5 miles or so of any long run, was a total eye opener to me. And it was my longest run EVER...coming in at 22.9 miles [and yes, I kind of wish I had run around the block to get in that extra .1 mile, especially since I was feeling so good. Oh well!]
Sooo I will stop boring you all now with my epic account of my long run haha...I'm just really pumped about it and I feel like it's been so long since I had a run where I just wanted to run around shouting from the mountaintops about how awesome it was, that I had to let myself get a little excited about this. :) Running on the course was a great idea and one I'm going to continue to incorporate for the next few weeks...and probably for the rest of the time that I live near it too, since like I said, I think it might be magic. :)
Well, now I am comfy and warm [well, as warm as is possible in my apartment, where we don't pay for heat but the heat is also almost never on...], the rain is still blasting outside, and I enjoyed a delicious plate of pesto pasta, a Magic Hat #9, and some Ben & Jerry's as a post-epic-run treat. I actually have a lot of random things bouncing around in my head to post about, more musings than actual day-to-day running stuff....but I think this post is long enough, so maybe I'll just actually post more than once this week!
Oh...and it's a little late...but happy pi day! :P Thanks MarathonMaiden for reminding me :)
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long run. Show all posts
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
8 weeks to go...
8 weeks sounds way shorter than 2 months, FYI. Wow, I should really try to post more than once a week haha. Now I have all SORTS of stuff to ramble about and this entry is going to be looong...oh well, bear with me. :)
First up, the boring weekly numbers:
Runs: 5
Workouts: 2
Longest run: 20.5 miles
XT: 1 hour yoga....annnd that's about it :)
Total running miles: 56.3
You'll notice that I only ran 5 times this week...yes, I succumbed and took an unplanned day off on Thursday. I had 6 miles on the schedule, but I ended up working a 9 hour day instead of the usual ~6, then was exhausted and hungry by the time I got home, was super sore from Tuesday's workout, and the final straw was that the BF tempted me with fajitas. Sooo I felt really guilty for awhile - does that happen to anyone else? I feel like when I get to this level in my training I really beat myself up if I miss a run for a reason other than being really sick or injured. In this case though, I think it really ended up being a MUCH needed mental/physical health day...and also, I don't think I would have been able to run 40 miles in the back half of the week if I hadn't taken the day off.
This week was CHALLENGING! Of the days I ran, 4/5 were in the double digits, and 4/5 were either workouts or moderate days. I also backloaded my week like crazy and so ended up doing 40 miles from Friday-Sunday...something I don't really want to ever do again. I had some really fantastic workouts that boosted my confidence though. Tuesday we got some gross slushy snow/rain, so I wound up doing my fartlek workout on the treadmill.
Confession: I really like doing fartleks on the treadmill. I think it's the one and only kind of workout that I can be OK with running to nowhere, because I really enjoy knowing that I'm actually running the pace I'm supposed to be running, and having to change the pace every few minutes makes the time fly. I really can't believe I actually ran 11+ miles on a TM buuut I guess there's a first time for anything? Anyway, the workout was 10 miles with 2 minutes @ 10K pace every 5 minutes....orrr just 10 miles of 2 minutes @10K, 3 minutes easy. I originally got scared off by the speed/distance combo and figured I would warm up for 10 minutes, then do ~13 sets of the fartlek for a total of about 8 miles fartlek, and then do a 10 minute cooldown. It was kind of hilarious doing this at the gym, because I swear at least 3 sets of people came in, did their entire workout, and left in the time that I was on the treadmill. Luckily we don't have time limits so no one gave me a second glance...except one guy next to me who kept peeking at my treadmill to see how fast I was going, lol. I actually felt really, really good. I put the TM on 7:03 for most of the 10K sections, only dialing it down to 7:08 when I was reeeeally feeling it. Before I knew it I was at my 13th interval and of course, being me, I thought what the hell? I can totally actually make it to 10 miles of this. So I finished it out, including a sprint to the finish after the last 2 minute 10K interval. I got off the treadmill and thought I was pretty much going fall over haha. BUT - I had made it!! This was one of those workouts that had totally terrified me and I was SO proud to have completed it and completed it strong! Hopefully I can channel this in a few weeks when I have the same workout on the schedule...except the times are reversed...gulp!
I had a fun tempo run experience at the Fresh Pond race on Saturday...EVERY single Saturday, there's an informal race around the reservoir - either 1 lap [2.5 miles] or 2. There were about 25 or so people racing and something about it I just really enjoyed - you show up, someone says "ready set go", you run, and then when you're done they take down your time. It was the perfect stimulus for a solid tempo effort - not like an all out race where you're really shooting for a PR, but also a little something extra to push you more than just being out there by yourself. The first lap I felt really smooth and just cruised - I had no idea how fast I was running but the effort seemed about right. I came through the 2.5 mile at 18:29, which I knew was a little fast for the "HM-MPace" that I was supposed to be running, but whatever. The second lap definitely got harder, but still under control. I was sort of pacing off a couple of men who were also doing the 5 miler, so it was kind of nice to have someone to keep my eye on. I wound up finishing in 37:01, so I hardly slowed down at all the second lap - a very evenly paced tempo run, which is EXACTLY what I wanted to get out of this workout! It wound up being 7:24 pace, which is probably a little faster than was necessary but not too bad. The funniest thing was, I ended up winning the 5 mile race for the women [out of probably...3 or 4] and technically I suppose I set a new PR since I've never run a 5 mile race before! How often do you get to do all that on a random tempo workout? I really enjoyed the old-school, low key feel of the races, and since they have them EVERY Saturday I can definitely see myself using them for workouts in the future. Plus, the added challenge of dodging/hurdling off-leash dogs adds some extra entertainment to the workout. :)
So then yesterday was my lovely long run. I had 18 on the schedule but in true HurdlingHam fashion, I managed to accidentally-on-purpose miscalculate my route and ended up running 20.5. From the start, my legs just felt crappy, and when I feel crappy I generally need familiar territory to mentally get me through the run. So I scrapped my meticulously planned 18 mile route and wound up running laps around Chestnut Hill Reservoir for...a long time. Like almost 2 hours. Try as I might I just never found that groove through the first 15 miles of the run. I spent a lot of time doing math in my head, trying to figure out how many laps I needed to do to get to the distance that, with adding on the ~6 mile loop I was going to do after, would add up to 18. Obviously my math skills while in the midst of a long run are kind of sketchy because not only did I underestimate the distance I had to run after, buuuut I also added on an extra 1.5 mile loop around the reservoir. Whoops. By the time I got off the loop, I was feeling pretty awful. I bought a Gatorade and drank/ran for the next couple of miles - seriously, miraculous. All of a sudden it was like I could FEEL the sugar and hydration hitting my muscles, and my legs suddenly didn't feel so crappy. Then the song "Shots" came on my ipod, and I was just inspired haha. The last 5 miles or so I wound up picking it up to just under 8 minute pace, and my legs felt STRONG - I was thrilled! So, it was a good long run. I have to say I was pretty pumped to see that 20. I felt pretty bad for about an hour after the run, but with the help of recovery socks + red hook winter ale + Bluestone pizza [the BEST PIZZA EVER!!] I was feeling much better by the time I went to bed.
OK, boring workout recaps OVER! Annnnd now I can't even remember what else I was going to say haha. I can't believe there are only 8 WEEKS UNTIL BOSTON!!! That is crazy, terrifying, awesome, exciting...all of the above.
First up, the boring weekly numbers:
Runs: 5
Workouts: 2
Longest run: 20.5 miles
XT: 1 hour yoga....annnd that's about it :)
Total running miles: 56.3
You'll notice that I only ran 5 times this week...yes, I succumbed and took an unplanned day off on Thursday. I had 6 miles on the schedule, but I ended up working a 9 hour day instead of the usual ~6, then was exhausted and hungry by the time I got home, was super sore from Tuesday's workout, and the final straw was that the BF tempted me with fajitas. Sooo I felt really guilty for awhile - does that happen to anyone else? I feel like when I get to this level in my training I really beat myself up if I miss a run for a reason other than being really sick or injured. In this case though, I think it really ended up being a MUCH needed mental/physical health day...and also, I don't think I would have been able to run 40 miles in the back half of the week if I hadn't taken the day off.
This week was CHALLENGING! Of the days I ran, 4/5 were in the double digits, and 4/5 were either workouts or moderate days. I also backloaded my week like crazy and so ended up doing 40 miles from Friday-Sunday...something I don't really want to ever do again. I had some really fantastic workouts that boosted my confidence though. Tuesday we got some gross slushy snow/rain, so I wound up doing my fartlek workout on the treadmill.
Confession: I really like doing fartleks on the treadmill. I think it's the one and only kind of workout that I can be OK with running to nowhere, because I really enjoy knowing that I'm actually running the pace I'm supposed to be running, and having to change the pace every few minutes makes the time fly. I really can't believe I actually ran 11+ miles on a TM buuut I guess there's a first time for anything? Anyway, the workout was 10 miles with 2 minutes @ 10K pace every 5 minutes....orrr just 10 miles of 2 minutes @10K, 3 minutes easy. I originally got scared off by the speed/distance combo and figured I would warm up for 10 minutes, then do ~13 sets of the fartlek for a total of about 8 miles fartlek, and then do a 10 minute cooldown. It was kind of hilarious doing this at the gym, because I swear at least 3 sets of people came in, did their entire workout, and left in the time that I was on the treadmill. Luckily we don't have time limits so no one gave me a second glance...except one guy next to me who kept peeking at my treadmill to see how fast I was going, lol. I actually felt really, really good. I put the TM on 7:03 for most of the 10K sections, only dialing it down to 7:08 when I was reeeeally feeling it. Before I knew it I was at my 13th interval and of course, being me, I thought what the hell? I can totally actually make it to 10 miles of this. So I finished it out, including a sprint to the finish after the last 2 minute 10K interval. I got off the treadmill and thought I was pretty much going fall over haha. BUT - I had made it!! This was one of those workouts that had totally terrified me and I was SO proud to have completed it and completed it strong! Hopefully I can channel this in a few weeks when I have the same workout on the schedule...except the times are reversed...gulp!
I had a fun tempo run experience at the Fresh Pond race on Saturday...EVERY single Saturday, there's an informal race around the reservoir - either 1 lap [2.5 miles] or 2. There were about 25 or so people racing and something about it I just really enjoyed - you show up, someone says "ready set go", you run, and then when you're done they take down your time. It was the perfect stimulus for a solid tempo effort - not like an all out race where you're really shooting for a PR, but also a little something extra to push you more than just being out there by yourself. The first lap I felt really smooth and just cruised - I had no idea how fast I was running but the effort seemed about right. I came through the 2.5 mile at 18:29, which I knew was a little fast for the "HM-MPace" that I was supposed to be running, but whatever. The second lap definitely got harder, but still under control. I was sort of pacing off a couple of men who were also doing the 5 miler, so it was kind of nice to have someone to keep my eye on. I wound up finishing in 37:01, so I hardly slowed down at all the second lap - a very evenly paced tempo run, which is EXACTLY what I wanted to get out of this workout! It wound up being 7:24 pace, which is probably a little faster than was necessary but not too bad. The funniest thing was, I ended up winning the 5 mile race for the women [out of probably...3 or 4] and technically I suppose I set a new PR since I've never run a 5 mile race before! How often do you get to do all that on a random tempo workout? I really enjoyed the old-school, low key feel of the races, and since they have them EVERY Saturday I can definitely see myself using them for workouts in the future. Plus, the added challenge of dodging/hurdling off-leash dogs adds some extra entertainment to the workout. :)
So then yesterday was my lovely long run. I had 18 on the schedule but in true HurdlingHam fashion, I managed to accidentally-on-purpose miscalculate my route and ended up running 20.5. From the start, my legs just felt crappy, and when I feel crappy I generally need familiar territory to mentally get me through the run. So I scrapped my meticulously planned 18 mile route and wound up running laps around Chestnut Hill Reservoir for...a long time. Like almost 2 hours. Try as I might I just never found that groove through the first 15 miles of the run. I spent a lot of time doing math in my head, trying to figure out how many laps I needed to do to get to the distance that, with adding on the ~6 mile loop I was going to do after, would add up to 18. Obviously my math skills while in the midst of a long run are kind of sketchy because not only did I underestimate the distance I had to run after, buuuut I also added on an extra 1.5 mile loop around the reservoir. Whoops. By the time I got off the loop, I was feeling pretty awful. I bought a Gatorade and drank/ran for the next couple of miles - seriously, miraculous. All of a sudden it was like I could FEEL the sugar and hydration hitting my muscles, and my legs suddenly didn't feel so crappy. Then the song "Shots" came on my ipod, and I was just inspired haha. The last 5 miles or so I wound up picking it up to just under 8 minute pace, and my legs felt STRONG - I was thrilled! So, it was a good long run. I have to say I was pretty pumped to see that 20. I felt pretty bad for about an hour after the run, but with the help of recovery socks + red hook winter ale + Bluestone pizza [the BEST PIZZA EVER!!] I was feeling much better by the time I went to bed.
OK, boring workout recaps OVER! Annnnd now I can't even remember what else I was going to say haha. I can't believe there are only 8 WEEKS UNTIL BOSTON!!! That is crazy, terrifying, awesome, exciting...all of the above.
Monday, February 01, 2010
January recap
Where the eff did January go? I swear it was just yesterday I was creating my training calendar for January...and now all of the boxes have been crossed off and it's on to February's thrilling [and higher mileage, and more workout-heavy...] training schedule!
So January...I'm really happy with this month of training. Here are the boring stats:
Total miles: 192.9
Days off: 8 [probably 4 of those were completely off, others with some XT]
Workouts: 7 [2 hill reps, 1 mile repeats, 2 fartlek, 2 tempo]
Longest run: 17.3 miles
Weekly mileage range: 39.4-51.2
I am really amazed and pleased with how I've been able to bounce back into pretty heavy training after 2 months of pretty much failing at running thanks to my IT band problems. Having a training calendar to follow was the BEST thing I ever could have done for this training cycle - I'm totally loving knowing exactly what I need to do and just going out there and getting it done. And since I was only running 5 days a week for most of this month, I was actually pretty surprised to see I got that close to 200. Probably because if I put a given distance down on my calendar, I will without fail end up running slightly further...because I'm kind of a weirdo...yeah. :)
This past week was pretty fantastic in terms of running, my first week over 50 miles since like...early October haha...exciting! I had a few really great workouts...interspersed with some kind of crappy recovery runs, but I guess that's the point of those, right? I had a session of mile repeats on the schedule for Wednesday which I was totally DREADING...like ever since I put this workout on the schedule a month ago I have been looking at it with fear. The workout was 3 x mile at 5K-10K pace, which really isn't even so bad if you go on the 10K end of things, but mile repeats have been something I've detested since the first time I ran them [high school XC senior year...Mondays were long interval days, which we did around this 800 meter loop around a church. I HATED Mondays...]. I was totally thinking about putting it off but since it was like 40 degrees out I just had to throw myself out the door and do it. Didn't feel great on the warm up, so I was obviously still not excited to run fast. Buuut off I went on my first interval and it was like....magic! It felt SO GOOD to run fast...it was like flying. I finished the first mile in 6:10 and practically had a heart attack - I can't even REMEMBER the last time I ran a 6:10 mile!! Like...a year ago? So after that I was pretty jacked to finish the workout. I dialed it back to 6:23 and 6:29 for the last 2 since there was no way I was holding that 6:10 pace...but holy hell! I had no CLUE I could still run that fast! I mean I guess it's not like speed just disappears when you start doing longer distance training, but it was just really thrilling to see that marathon training doesn't mean I have to give up all of my fast-ness :)
That was really my only "speed" workout this week - I had a 10 miler on Friday that was kind of a challenge just because it was SO cold and windy! I'm really not one to whine about the cold - I am from Wisconsin after all and the east coast winter has been sooo mild compared to the crap we got in Madison - but Friday was pretty unpleasant, the wind was just AWFUL! I once again ran to work because its so time efficient, and all in all it wasn't a bad run at all, but I was so ready to be done by the time it ended...my face was frozen and I was sick of running what seemed like endlessly uphill and endlessly into the wind haha.
I ended up doing my recovery run between shifts at work on Saturday which was pretty awful, and between that and the whole "double shift" thing I was NOT looking forward to my long run on Sunday. As I think I said some other time, this time around with long runs its not so much that I'm worried about going the distance, its just a big time commitment when I could be being a bum and eating food on the couch hehe. But I got out the door. I was planning on doing an 8 mile loop at the reservoir, stopping at home, and then going out for another 8 miles. By the time I got to the reservoir though, I had fallen into a really easy pace that I felt like I could just maintain forever...soo I decided I would roll with it and just kept running laps around the reservoir until it got dark - ended up being like 10.5 miles from when I started. I'm actually really pleased about this because the thing about running at the reservoir is you don't have to stop for lights or anything, so it's just constant running, and that's really always something I need to work on pushing myself to do - not relying on those little breaks to get me through the run. I did finally get stuck at a light at Cleveland Circle, so I went to tie my shoe...when I looked up, there was a PUPPY sniffing my face! It was a little baby golden retriever, so completely precious. Definitely boosted my mood =) I stopped at home quickly for a gel and some water, then headed back out for my 4.6 mile loop - definitely glad I only had 4 miles to go at that point haha. My first mile was pretty fast, so I decided to just go with it and try to stay sub-8 for the whole last section...the result? 7:49 average pace, woot woot! It wasn't easy or anything, but I really felt surprisingly good for having run 16.6 miles, so that was awesome! Running 5.5 more miles for my 22 miles will be nothing, right?
After I got back, the BF and I headed out for burgers and beers at our favorite neighborhood spot. I LOVE the Wachusett blueberry beer that they always serve with real blueberries...it's way too entertaining to watch them float around on the bubbles hehe. They had the X-Games on, and the event was basically long jumping on a snowmobile...WTF?? Is that really considered a sport? All they did was propel the snowmobile off a jump and see how far it went...that just seems silly. But anyway, it was nice to just devour a bunch of tasty food after a long run!
Well I've been pretty busy with work lately, hence the lack of posting on here! Sometimes I feel like my training and life is just too boring for anyone to want to read haha. But anyway, I'm looking forward to racing the Super Sunday 10K this coming weekend - my first race since the marathon! And oh yeah...the LOST SEASON PREMIERE tomorrow!!! The BF and I are having a mini party with island themed food and of course some "Dharma beer"...hehe. :)
Month #1 of training for marathon #2 - DONE! Let's see what February has in store...
So January...I'm really happy with this month of training. Here are the boring stats:
Total miles: 192.9
Days off: 8 [probably 4 of those were completely off, others with some XT]
Workouts: 7 [2 hill reps, 1 mile repeats, 2 fartlek, 2 tempo]
Longest run: 17.3 miles
Weekly mileage range: 39.4-51.2
I am really amazed and pleased with how I've been able to bounce back into pretty heavy training after 2 months of pretty much failing at running thanks to my IT band problems. Having a training calendar to follow was the BEST thing I ever could have done for this training cycle - I'm totally loving knowing exactly what I need to do and just going out there and getting it done. And since I was only running 5 days a week for most of this month, I was actually pretty surprised to see I got that close to 200. Probably because if I put a given distance down on my calendar, I will without fail end up running slightly further...because I'm kind of a weirdo...yeah. :)
This past week was pretty fantastic in terms of running, my first week over 50 miles since like...early October haha...exciting! I had a few really great workouts...interspersed with some kind of crappy recovery runs, but I guess that's the point of those, right? I had a session of mile repeats on the schedule for Wednesday which I was totally DREADING...like ever since I put this workout on the schedule a month ago I have been looking at it with fear. The workout was 3 x mile at 5K-10K pace, which really isn't even so bad if you go on the 10K end of things, but mile repeats have been something I've detested since the first time I ran them [high school XC senior year...Mondays were long interval days, which we did around this 800 meter loop around a church. I HATED Mondays...]. I was totally thinking about putting it off but since it was like 40 degrees out I just had to throw myself out the door and do it. Didn't feel great on the warm up, so I was obviously still not excited to run fast. Buuut off I went on my first interval and it was like....magic! It felt SO GOOD to run fast...it was like flying. I finished the first mile in 6:10 and practically had a heart attack - I can't even REMEMBER the last time I ran a 6:10 mile!! Like...a year ago? So after that I was pretty jacked to finish the workout. I dialed it back to 6:23 and 6:29 for the last 2 since there was no way I was holding that 6:10 pace...but holy hell! I had no CLUE I could still run that fast! I mean I guess it's not like speed just disappears when you start doing longer distance training, but it was just really thrilling to see that marathon training doesn't mean I have to give up all of my fast-ness :)
That was really my only "speed" workout this week - I had a 10 miler on Friday that was kind of a challenge just because it was SO cold and windy! I'm really not one to whine about the cold - I am from Wisconsin after all and the east coast winter has been sooo mild compared to the crap we got in Madison - but Friday was pretty unpleasant, the wind was just AWFUL! I once again ran to work because its so time efficient, and all in all it wasn't a bad run at all, but I was so ready to be done by the time it ended...my face was frozen and I was sick of running what seemed like endlessly uphill and endlessly into the wind haha.
I ended up doing my recovery run between shifts at work on Saturday which was pretty awful, and between that and the whole "double shift" thing I was NOT looking forward to my long run on Sunday. As I think I said some other time, this time around with long runs its not so much that I'm worried about going the distance, its just a big time commitment when I could be being a bum and eating food on the couch hehe. But I got out the door. I was planning on doing an 8 mile loop at the reservoir, stopping at home, and then going out for another 8 miles. By the time I got to the reservoir though, I had fallen into a really easy pace that I felt like I could just maintain forever...soo I decided I would roll with it and just kept running laps around the reservoir until it got dark - ended up being like 10.5 miles from when I started. I'm actually really pleased about this because the thing about running at the reservoir is you don't have to stop for lights or anything, so it's just constant running, and that's really always something I need to work on pushing myself to do - not relying on those little breaks to get me through the run. I did finally get stuck at a light at Cleveland Circle, so I went to tie my shoe...when I looked up, there was a PUPPY sniffing my face! It was a little baby golden retriever, so completely precious. Definitely boosted my mood =) I stopped at home quickly for a gel and some water, then headed back out for my 4.6 mile loop - definitely glad I only had 4 miles to go at that point haha. My first mile was pretty fast, so I decided to just go with it and try to stay sub-8 for the whole last section...the result? 7:49 average pace, woot woot! It wasn't easy or anything, but I really felt surprisingly good for having run 16.6 miles, so that was awesome! Running 5.5 more miles for my 22 miles will be nothing, right?
After I got back, the BF and I headed out for burgers and beers at our favorite neighborhood spot. I LOVE the Wachusett blueberry beer that they always serve with real blueberries...it's way too entertaining to watch them float around on the bubbles hehe. They had the X-Games on, and the event was basically long jumping on a snowmobile...WTF?? Is that really considered a sport? All they did was propel the snowmobile off a jump and see how far it went...that just seems silly. But anyway, it was nice to just devour a bunch of tasty food after a long run!
Well I've been pretty busy with work lately, hence the lack of posting on here! Sometimes I feel like my training and life is just too boring for anyone to want to read haha. But anyway, I'm looking forward to racing the Super Sunday 10K this coming weekend - my first race since the marathon! And oh yeah...the LOST SEASON PREMIERE tomorrow!!! The BF and I are having a mini party with island themed food and of course some "Dharma beer"...hehe. :)
Month #1 of training for marathon #2 - DONE! Let's see what February has in store...
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Boston Training Week 1 Recap
Runs: 5
"Workouts": 1
Longest run: 12.6 miles
XT: 2000 yds swimming, 2 x 1 hour yoga
Total running miles: 39.4
A pretty solid week to start off my Boston training cycle, especially considering the fact that my highest mileage over the previous 3 weeks was 19.1 miles [only raise your miles by like 10% each week? Yeaahh...I don't really agree with that philosophy I guess]. The big news was, even with an almost 40 mile week I had almost ZERO knee issues...SUCCESS!! I felt a couple of twinges in the first 10 minutes of my long run, but I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it being really cold and my not stretching before heading out [naughty naughty, I know]. I'm loosely following Brad Hudson's level 2 marathon plan from "Run Faster" - basically I'm trying to incorporate the workouts that he suggests into my schedule, but adjusting the easy runs and some long runs so that I don't kill myself or my knee. I was kind of nervous going into my long run since...uh...I kind of haven't run double digits since the marathon? And that was in October? 12 miles sounded kiiinda scary, and then it was cold out, and then I was procrastinating because obviously, what would a long run be without me having to psych myself up for it for 4 hours? It was somewhat productive procrastination though, because I did start up a new long run playlist...and for me, there's no better motivation than good, new music! Some highlights from the new mix:
Time To Pretend - MGMT
This Year - The Mountain Goats
Props to my former RA Alex for both of these songs, which I discovered via his "Song Of The Week" feature on his blog, Chasing Something, which is pretty sweet. I'm pretty obsessed with them both and the chorus of "This Year" - "I'm gonna make it through this year if it kills me" rings pretty true right now because a) it's a new year, duh...and b) it's a new training cycle, and I'm gonna make it through it.
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
I tried soooo hard not to like this song [I think because the music video and Lady Gaga in general kind of terrify me?]...but ahhh it's so addictive!
Inch - Charlotte Martin
I couldn't find the video for this but anyway...I LOVE Charlotte Martin and this is one of my favorite songs of hers, kind of forgot about it until now. It's good for running up a hill..."am I an inch away from heaven? Just a little higher now..."
King of Pain - The Police
This is my current running song obsession! I found it by aimlessly hunting through people's running iMixes in the iTunes store and yeah...I'm kind of in love. Is it the beat and crazy xylophone thing going on in the background? Is it the lyrics? I have no idea but it's been in my head like...nonstop.
OK so enough musical business - I'll keep you all updated on my new running jams though. I'm planning on adding 2-3 new songs to the mix every week, ya know, keep things fresh and exciting! I know there are some people out there who aren't big advocates of listening to music while running, but whatever...I am not a purist, and if listening to music motivates me to get my butt out the door/to keep running hard when I don't want to? That sure works for me! Anyway, the new running mix must have helped because my long run was a success! Ohhh man I was relieved. I tried sort of a random new route which turned out to be the best idea EVER because I started having some stomach troubles around mile 5 and was sort of concerned about the lack of public bathrooms [no way was I running off into the snow - way too obvious to traffic! haha]..and then a long run MIRACLE! I ran past the Chestnut Hill mall...now there are pretty much no public bathrooms anywhere in this city, but at a mall it's pretty much a guarantee...so thanks for being there, mall, and saving my ass, literally. :) The rest of the run was pretty uneventful except I almost added an extra mile and a half on by running around the reservoir again...that would have been such a fail! I was thinking "wow, my legs are really tired, do I seriously have like 3 miles to go? That doesn't really make sense...I've been going for 1:20, I hope it's not going to take that long for me to run 12 miles? Oh wait, I'm actually just an idiot...it all makes sense now"
So I feel much better about my training life now that a) I made it through a ~40 mile week with no knee issues and b) I made it through my somewhat ambitious long run without dying. The rest of this training cycle should be no problem, riiiight? I'm probably going to eliminate one of my 2 XT days sooner rather than later, and maybe do some kind of 3-4 mile recovery run + yoga day instead.
Apparently my body decided that it was cranky at me for running outside for so long on such a cold day, because on Monday I felt like I was coming down with something and Tuesday was hit with a full-on cold - FAIL! I really wanted to do my planned 5 miler, but ended up napping for 4 hours after I got home from work, then definitely feeling like it was a bad idea when I woke up. So my second XT/off day for the week is now used up - luckily I seem to be on the road to recovery as I did a pretty sweet 8 mile workout with 4 miles of fartlek on the treadmill today that went way better than I expected! I have a confession to make: I'm warming up to the treadmill for some speed workouts..ahhh I never thought I'd see the day. But since I don't have a Garmin or any other fancy device that will actually tell me my pace, and I'm not a great judge of effort, for things that say "run HM pace" or "10K pace", it's really nice to know that I am indeed running that pace. Also the treadmill isn't covered with ice or packed snow...which is, you know, kind of nice when you're trying to do a speed workout and not die haha.
Hmm...well in non-running related news, nothing too exciting is going on in my life haha...does anyone who reads this watch LOST? I remember when I knew a bunch of people who watched it and I was like..meh...that totally doesn't seem like the kind of show I would ever watch or get into. Well, the BF started watching it online, starting from the beginning, a couple of months ago and once again I was like "OK cool, now you have a show to watch that I don't want to watch, so I can do other stuff while you watch it". But somehow...I don't know how...I got sucked into watching starting from season 1...and WOW I am hooked. It's like mind-blowing and ridiculous but completely awesome. I'm almost done with season 5, just in time for season 6 to start February 2! Since apparently all the other shows I watch decided to go on break until March, or maybe the end of time, it's going to be nice to have an actual show to watch on my fail-cable again. :)
Is it really Friday tomorrow? This week went by fast! Have a good one, hopefully I'll be back with more entertaining [and by entertaining I hopefully mean AWESOME] long run stories this weekend. :)
"Workouts": 1
Longest run: 12.6 miles
XT: 2000 yds swimming, 2 x 1 hour yoga
Total running miles: 39.4
A pretty solid week to start off my Boston training cycle, especially considering the fact that my highest mileage over the previous 3 weeks was 19.1 miles [only raise your miles by like 10% each week? Yeaahh...I don't really agree with that philosophy I guess]. The big news was, even with an almost 40 mile week I had almost ZERO knee issues...SUCCESS!! I felt a couple of twinges in the first 10 minutes of my long run, but I'm pretty sure that had something to do with it being really cold and my not stretching before heading out [naughty naughty, I know]. I'm loosely following Brad Hudson's level 2 marathon plan from "Run Faster" - basically I'm trying to incorporate the workouts that he suggests into my schedule, but adjusting the easy runs and some long runs so that I don't kill myself or my knee. I was kind of nervous going into my long run since...uh...I kind of haven't run double digits since the marathon? And that was in October? 12 miles sounded kiiinda scary, and then it was cold out, and then I was procrastinating because obviously, what would a long run be without me having to psych myself up for it for 4 hours? It was somewhat productive procrastination though, because I did start up a new long run playlist...and for me, there's no better motivation than good, new music! Some highlights from the new mix:
Time To Pretend - MGMT
This Year - The Mountain Goats
Props to my former RA Alex for both of these songs, which I discovered via his "Song Of The Week" feature on his blog, Chasing Something, which is pretty sweet. I'm pretty obsessed with them both and the chorus of "This Year" - "I'm gonna make it through this year if it kills me" rings pretty true right now because a) it's a new year, duh...and b) it's a new training cycle, and I'm gonna make it through it.
Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
I tried soooo hard not to like this song [I think because the music video and Lady Gaga in general kind of terrify me?]...but ahhh it's so addictive!
Inch - Charlotte Martin
I couldn't find the video for this but anyway...I LOVE Charlotte Martin and this is one of my favorite songs of hers, kind of forgot about it until now. It's good for running up a hill..."am I an inch away from heaven? Just a little higher now..."
King of Pain - The Police
This is my current running song obsession! I found it by aimlessly hunting through people's running iMixes in the iTunes store and yeah...I'm kind of in love. Is it the beat and crazy xylophone thing going on in the background? Is it the lyrics? I have no idea but it's been in my head like...nonstop.
OK so enough musical business - I'll keep you all updated on my new running jams though. I'm planning on adding 2-3 new songs to the mix every week, ya know, keep things fresh and exciting! I know there are some people out there who aren't big advocates of listening to music while running, but whatever...I am not a purist, and if listening to music motivates me to get my butt out the door/to keep running hard when I don't want to? That sure works for me! Anyway, the new running mix must have helped because my long run was a success! Ohhh man I was relieved. I tried sort of a random new route which turned out to be the best idea EVER because I started having some stomach troubles around mile 5 and was sort of concerned about the lack of public bathrooms [no way was I running off into the snow - way too obvious to traffic! haha]..and then a long run MIRACLE! I ran past the Chestnut Hill mall...now there are pretty much no public bathrooms anywhere in this city, but at a mall it's pretty much a guarantee...so thanks for being there, mall, and saving my ass, literally. :) The rest of the run was pretty uneventful except I almost added an extra mile and a half on by running around the reservoir again...that would have been such a fail! I was thinking "wow, my legs are really tired, do I seriously have like 3 miles to go? That doesn't really make sense...I've been going for 1:20, I hope it's not going to take that long for me to run 12 miles? Oh wait, I'm actually just an idiot...it all makes sense now"
So I feel much better about my training life now that a) I made it through a ~40 mile week with no knee issues and b) I made it through my somewhat ambitious long run without dying. The rest of this training cycle should be no problem, riiiight? I'm probably going to eliminate one of my 2 XT days sooner rather than later, and maybe do some kind of 3-4 mile recovery run + yoga day instead.
Apparently my body decided that it was cranky at me for running outside for so long on such a cold day, because on Monday I felt like I was coming down with something and Tuesday was hit with a full-on cold - FAIL! I really wanted to do my planned 5 miler, but ended up napping for 4 hours after I got home from work, then definitely feeling like it was a bad idea when I woke up. So my second XT/off day for the week is now used up - luckily I seem to be on the road to recovery as I did a pretty sweet 8 mile workout with 4 miles of fartlek on the treadmill today that went way better than I expected! I have a confession to make: I'm warming up to the treadmill for some speed workouts..ahhh I never thought I'd see the day. But since I don't have a Garmin or any other fancy device that will actually tell me my pace, and I'm not a great judge of effort, for things that say "run HM pace" or "10K pace", it's really nice to know that I am indeed running that pace. Also the treadmill isn't covered with ice or packed snow...which is, you know, kind of nice when you're trying to do a speed workout and not die haha.
Hmm...well in non-running related news, nothing too exciting is going on in my life haha...does anyone who reads this watch LOST? I remember when I knew a bunch of people who watched it and I was like..meh...that totally doesn't seem like the kind of show I would ever watch or get into. Well, the BF started watching it online, starting from the beginning, a couple of months ago and once again I was like "OK cool, now you have a show to watch that I don't want to watch, so I can do other stuff while you watch it". But somehow...I don't know how...I got sucked into watching starting from season 1...and WOW I am hooked. It's like mind-blowing and ridiculous but completely awesome. I'm almost done with season 5, just in time for season 6 to start February 2! Since apparently all the other shows I watch decided to go on break until March, or maybe the end of time, it's going to be nice to have an actual show to watch on my fail-cable again. :)
Is it really Friday tomorrow? This week went by fast! Have a good one, hopefully I'll be back with more entertaining [and by entertaining I hopefully mean AWESOME] long run stories this weekend. :)
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