I'm having a bit of an obsession with numbers lately. Numbers like....
66.7 - number of miles run last week [weekly high by 5 or so]
256.2 - number of miles run in March [a monthly high by almost 30]
20 - days until Boston
8:00 - marathon pace to run sub-3:30
7:52 - pace of my 23 mile long run on the course on Sunday
Um...yeah...
I have a whole lot of thoughts flying around my mind about the race, my training, and my goals, especially after the above-mentioned ridiculous long run, but I'm not having much luck transforming my thoughts into words at the moment....sooo I will leave you with this exciting list of numbers and hopefully come up with a more coherent post tomorrow. Suffice it to say, I'm getting extremely excited and nervous at the same time - feeling like I'm standing on the brink of a really phenomenal race, and hoping that everything that I think I've done right will pay off in 20 days.
20 daaaaaaays!!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Break on through to the other side: New Bedford HM Race Report
Man, racing is really fun. Settle in, it's another epic Run Like A Llama race report! :)
So yesterday I ran the New Bedford Half Marathon as sort of a "tuneup" race/a way to have a cutback week in my long runs before the last big push to Boston. The half marathon and I have had some interesting times together - my first one was cool simply because it was my first, but looking back it was hot and I got really dehydrated, resulting in an absolutely miserable last 4 miles or so. My second I ran at the end of track season last year, and while I was in really good 5K shape and had done long runs up to 14 miles, the endurance just wasn't there. I died pretty early and slowed down a lot over the last 5 miles, crushing my dreams of a sub-1:40 finish, though I did come through in a PR of 1:42:25. The last half I ran in August, as a kind of fun excuse to go back to Madison for one last run before I moved out to Boston...aaand it was a total disaster. I was sick, felt god-awful throughout the entire race, watched my friend/rival pull away from me at the 3 mile mark, and wound up finishing only 10 seconds faster than my first race - a pretty poor showing after 2 more years of hard distance training. Maybe that race just left a bad taste in my mouth, but I was skeptical about doing this race. Pretty much my overwhelming thought was - if I have a bad day on the course, if I don't PR, it's really going to kill my confidence for Boston, which really isn't what I need a month out from the race. Buuut with some convincing from Kelly and a cheap entry fee [$35 for a half? With medals, t-shirts, and a ridiculous spread of food after? Pretty hard to beat] I decided that I had to face my half marathon demons and see what I could do.
The race was about an hour away, so Kelly, Joy and I left pretty early because we knew it was a big race and didn't want to be stranded looking for parking at the last minute. Turns out, that was a genius idea because the check-in area was INSANE. Apparently they had moved it from the high school to the YMCA...which was way smaller, and involved waiting in long lines for a one-stall bathroom...ughhh. The line for number pick up was crazy even when we were there at like 9:30 [for a race starting at 11] and by the time we went off to warm-up, it was out the door...since I'm totally weird about having enough time to warm up and wander around before a race, that would pretty much be my worst nightmare...so definitely glad we got there early!
We went back to the car to drop off our clothes, since it was getting pretty warm out, and were trying to figure out what to do about the god-awful bathroom situation when suddenly...we spotted a lonely construction site porta potty! Being the smart runners that we are, we had to investigate. We found that they were fenced in, but there was a decent gap under the fence...someone mentioned that you could probably squeeze under, and I was already down army crawling under the fence haha. Of course, I got to the other side and stood up....only to see Kelly pushing the fence aside like a gate - apparently the two pieces weren't attached soooo I crawled under a fence for no reason lol.
After taking care of the bathroom, joking about going on a whale watch tour after the race, and warming up some more, we finally made our way to the start corral and worked our way up to the 7-8 minute mile area...only to hear an announcement that the race wasn't going to start until 11:15...half an hour away. We obviously weren't going to leave since we had a pretty prime spot at the start and there was no way we'd ever get back to it...so unfortunately we were stuck stretching and bobbing up and down as the MC tried to entertain us by enlightening us to the wonders of New Bedford....once again, talking up the whale museum hehe. At some point there was an announcement that the race would start in 7 minutes...and then approximately 2 minutes later the gun went off...and off we went!
I really had no strategy for this race at all, other than to just kind of relax into whatever pace worked and see what happened from there. The start was kind of crazy and the first mile I spent a lot of time weaving around people on a pretty long downhill...so when I looked at my watch at the 1 mile and saw 7:08 it was like - WHOA, slow the eff down. I pretty much just regarded it as money in the PR bank and tried to relax and chill out since clearly I wasn't going to be holding my 10K pr pace for a half marathon. Mile 2 was much more reasonable - 7:35 - and while in the back of my mind I had a few flashes of "but this is only 2 miles in, remember how you always crash at the end of halfs..." based on how easy the pace felt I knew that wasn't going to happen. There were a couple of little rollers leading up to a long, turning hill at the mile 3 mark [7:34 for mile 3 -holding steady], which actually kind of reminded me of Heartbreak in steepness and distance. Hills have generally been my downfall in life, but running up that hill, passing people and feeling really strong, made me realize that since moving to Boston, and especially over this training cycle, my hill running has improved immensely. I no longer look at hills with fear, but as a challenge to get through and push on into the rest of the race...and that's exactly what I did. Mile 4 was 7:39, with only a slight slowdown for probably 600 meters of hill. I think that was the moment when I knew - today was a PR day. But the real question was - could I go under 1:40? That remained to be seen.
The crowd support for this race was absolutely mindblowing - really, the ENTIRE town came out to support the race. It was really cool to see the pride these people had for their town and how excited they were about having this race. The cheers absolutely thrilled me and I had to think for a moment about how cool this was - me, who has this tendency to be so intense and get SO involved in races that I tune out the crowd and the experience of the whole thing, was actually enjoying the support, having FUN with this race. I mean, I was veering to the side of the road to high five little kids and loving it! I was just so relaxed, enjoying every moment, feeling like a rockstar to these kids who thought that these runners were the most incredible people around. And really, I feel like that attitude - just RELAXING for once, not completely freaking out every second over my splits or my pace or how I'm feeling, was totally the key to a monster PR in this race. Mile 5 was a 7:22, thanks in part I'm sure to the massive tunnel of screaming, cowbell banging, music playing New Bedford-ites gathered in a park to support the race. Seriously - so. cool. And at the same time I'm thinking..."I'm seriously running a 7:22 at mile 5 of a half marathon? Can I seriously go under 1:40 today?" All of those thoughts of a monster PR were always kind of present in my mind but they were never really the overwhelming thing - it was just stay relaxed, run your race, just do it.
Mile 6 [7:27] I took a mint chocolate Gu - YUM - which went down smooth since it had been heated in the sun haha. It was only maybe 55 out, but the sun was HOT out there! I took advantage of my recently discovered drinking-while-running skills to grab water at most of the aid stations since I've been down the road of HM dehydration before and I reallly have no desire to go back haha. So here I was, somehow holding pace, and feeling solid. Obviously I knew that the real race was yet to come, but for the moment I was just savoring the feeling of being able to run this fast for this long. Mile 7 was another 7:27, as we made the turn out of the random neighborhoods to start a long stretch by the ocean - what a gorgeous day to be running by the water. I actually NOTICED the scenery - the lighthouses, boats, sun sparkling on the water...it was just that kind of day. Also just past mile 7, possibly the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in a race happened. There was a random motorcycle? store that had music playing out of a car, and as I approached it I got excited, because hey, music! But suddenly it dawned on me what song was playing....
DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'
OK, I know. No one should really love a song as much as I love Don't Stop Believin'. But it is my anthem, my motto, and to hear it in a race, let alone a race where I'm pretty much having the race of my life, was basically the most exciting thing ever. I actually threw my arms up in the air with joy. The happiness of that carried me the rest of the way through mile 8 in 7:26. Still running sub-7:30 miles at mile 8 of a half? All I have to do is hold this pace...
And then there was mile 9. Which was pretty awful. Really the only dark time of the race. It was like it kind of dawned on my legs suddenly that, hey, we've been running fast for kind of a long time, and it would be nice to stop now? My left hamstring/glute was kind of starting to cramp, and I eased back a little bit to try to get it to work itself out. I really didn't realize I slowed down THAT much, so when I looked down at my watch and saw 7:56, I was definitely alarmed. So I guess it's time to race, huh? I forced myself to pick it up again after that, and set my sights on several girls in front of me to pick off and pass. Up until this point, I hadn't really paid attention to any other runners - pass me? I passed you? Whatever, I'm running my own race. But at this point I needed some other stimulus besides my splits to give myself the extra push, and picking off girls one at a time seemed to be the perfect way to do it. First came yellow singlet girl. Next up was tye dye shirt, followed by short girl with the sweet red singlet. I passed mile 10 in 7:32 and now that I was back on track, I realized that I had to stay on this pace for the last 3 miles, and I would get under 1:40 - the wall, broken through. There was a great aid station playing loud Irish music right after the 10 mile [the race was sponsored by the Friendly Sons of St Patrick, after all!] which gave me a boost, along with somehow managing to get the song "Kiss My Irish Ass" stuck in my head for the remainder of the race haha. I continued on with my picking-off plan...girl with the blue shorts, you're history. I was gazing at a woman in a pink hat for the longest time, but she was always just out of reach. We turned back into the city with the mile 11 mark [7:31] and I figured out [after about 3 minutes of mental math failing haha] that I had to run 2.1 miles in 18 minutes or something to go under 1:40. Well hell yes, I can do that!
I was starting to get really tired, definitely the point in the race when you are just ready to be DONE. But I set my sights on a girl in light green shorts and told myself to just HOLD ON. Just past mile 12 [7:34] there is a soul crushing, curse inducing hill. I have never wanted to walk so badly in a race as I did running up that damn hill. It's really the placement of it that's cruel - just looking at the hill its nothing spectacular - your average 400-600 meter, somewhat steep but not mountain-like hill. But at mile 12 of a half marathon? Death in road form. And for the first time in the race, true pain and exhaustion set in...but since I had just pulled even with green shorts girl, obviously I had to put in a little surge to pass her. Now I was at the top of the hill, everything simply screaming to stop, and yet...less than a mile to go and it's all basically down hill...come ON!
Finally there was one last big downhill leading to the mile 13 mark, and I just let my legs go and flew down the hill. Mile 13 was 7:31, all that was left was to kick it in...and I sprinted with everything I had. I actually pulled even with a short girl in an orange tank top, and was hoping to get past her, but she turned on the jet engines and shot away - I tried to respond, but my calves were cramping into tiny balls of pain and I just had nothing left to give. No matter, the finish line was a few steps away, and then, slamming my watch - DONE.
1:38:34.
I really wasn't even sure what to do with myself. I chugged a bottle of water while waiting for Joy and Kelly to finish. Once we all met up we decided to forgo cooling down in favor of fish sandwiches, seafood chowder, and other goodness back at the YMCA, where the gym had now been opened up to form a more acceptable space for 2500 people haha. We drove back to Boston and I went out for a quick 2.5 mile granny shuffle cooldown/beer run, then spent the rest of the night relaxing, watching basketball, and passing out early - I was out like a light by 11 haha. Racing hard really takes it out of you!
The race was really competitive and full of club athletes, since its part of the USATF New England Grand Prix series, so I was pretty pleased with 622/2308 overall and 117th woman [assuming I counted right, unfortunately the results didn't give any breakdown of AG or gender placements and I'm too lazy to figure it out haha] out of who knows how many. But really in these races I couldn't care less about my place - especially this one. I honestly didn't believe I had it in me to run under 1:40 in a half marathon. Maybe somewhere around 1:40, maybe just barely squeaking under, but not this fast, especially feeling as strong as I did the whole way. I feel like this has given me great confidence going into this last month before Boston that I can really do some great things out on the course on April 19th. Creepily, my 10K time a month ago predicted this performance within 5 seconds. Does that mean that a 3:27 marathon [the McMillan prediction given both by this HM and my 10K time] is in my future? Guess we'll just have to wait and see. For now, I'm really happy with finally showing the 13.1 mile distance who's boss, and having an amazing time while doing it. :)
So yesterday I ran the New Bedford Half Marathon as sort of a "tuneup" race/a way to have a cutback week in my long runs before the last big push to Boston. The half marathon and I have had some interesting times together - my first one was cool simply because it was my first, but looking back it was hot and I got really dehydrated, resulting in an absolutely miserable last 4 miles or so. My second I ran at the end of track season last year, and while I was in really good 5K shape and had done long runs up to 14 miles, the endurance just wasn't there. I died pretty early and slowed down a lot over the last 5 miles, crushing my dreams of a sub-1:40 finish, though I did come through in a PR of 1:42:25. The last half I ran in August, as a kind of fun excuse to go back to Madison for one last run before I moved out to Boston...aaand it was a total disaster. I was sick, felt god-awful throughout the entire race, watched my friend/rival pull away from me at the 3 mile mark, and wound up finishing only 10 seconds faster than my first race - a pretty poor showing after 2 more years of hard distance training. Maybe that race just left a bad taste in my mouth, but I was skeptical about doing this race. Pretty much my overwhelming thought was - if I have a bad day on the course, if I don't PR, it's really going to kill my confidence for Boston, which really isn't what I need a month out from the race. Buuut with some convincing from Kelly and a cheap entry fee [$35 for a half? With medals, t-shirts, and a ridiculous spread of food after? Pretty hard to beat] I decided that I had to face my half marathon demons and see what I could do.
The race was about an hour away, so Kelly, Joy and I left pretty early because we knew it was a big race and didn't want to be stranded looking for parking at the last minute. Turns out, that was a genius idea because the check-in area was INSANE. Apparently they had moved it from the high school to the YMCA...which was way smaller, and involved waiting in long lines for a one-stall bathroom...ughhh. The line for number pick up was crazy even when we were there at like 9:30 [for a race starting at 11] and by the time we went off to warm-up, it was out the door...since I'm totally weird about having enough time to warm up and wander around before a race, that would pretty much be my worst nightmare...so definitely glad we got there early!
We went back to the car to drop off our clothes, since it was getting pretty warm out, and were trying to figure out what to do about the god-awful bathroom situation when suddenly...we spotted a lonely construction site porta potty! Being the smart runners that we are, we had to investigate. We found that they were fenced in, but there was a decent gap under the fence...someone mentioned that you could probably squeeze under, and I was already down army crawling under the fence haha. Of course, I got to the other side and stood up....only to see Kelly pushing the fence aside like a gate - apparently the two pieces weren't attached soooo I crawled under a fence for no reason lol.
After taking care of the bathroom, joking about going on a whale watch tour after the race, and warming up some more, we finally made our way to the start corral and worked our way up to the 7-8 minute mile area...only to hear an announcement that the race wasn't going to start until 11:15...half an hour away. We obviously weren't going to leave since we had a pretty prime spot at the start and there was no way we'd ever get back to it...so unfortunately we were stuck stretching and bobbing up and down as the MC tried to entertain us by enlightening us to the wonders of New Bedford....once again, talking up the whale museum hehe. At some point there was an announcement that the race would start in 7 minutes...and then approximately 2 minutes later the gun went off...and off we went!
I really had no strategy for this race at all, other than to just kind of relax into whatever pace worked and see what happened from there. The start was kind of crazy and the first mile I spent a lot of time weaving around people on a pretty long downhill...so when I looked at my watch at the 1 mile and saw 7:08 it was like - WHOA, slow the eff down. I pretty much just regarded it as money in the PR bank and tried to relax and chill out since clearly I wasn't going to be holding my 10K pr pace for a half marathon. Mile 2 was much more reasonable - 7:35 - and while in the back of my mind I had a few flashes of "but this is only 2 miles in, remember how you always crash at the end of halfs..." based on how easy the pace felt I knew that wasn't going to happen. There were a couple of little rollers leading up to a long, turning hill at the mile 3 mark [7:34 for mile 3 -holding steady], which actually kind of reminded me of Heartbreak in steepness and distance. Hills have generally been my downfall in life, but running up that hill, passing people and feeling really strong, made me realize that since moving to Boston, and especially over this training cycle, my hill running has improved immensely. I no longer look at hills with fear, but as a challenge to get through and push on into the rest of the race...and that's exactly what I did. Mile 4 was 7:39, with only a slight slowdown for probably 600 meters of hill. I think that was the moment when I knew - today was a PR day. But the real question was - could I go under 1:40? That remained to be seen.
The crowd support for this race was absolutely mindblowing - really, the ENTIRE town came out to support the race. It was really cool to see the pride these people had for their town and how excited they were about having this race. The cheers absolutely thrilled me and I had to think for a moment about how cool this was - me, who has this tendency to be so intense and get SO involved in races that I tune out the crowd and the experience of the whole thing, was actually enjoying the support, having FUN with this race. I mean, I was veering to the side of the road to high five little kids and loving it! I was just so relaxed, enjoying every moment, feeling like a rockstar to these kids who thought that these runners were the most incredible people around. And really, I feel like that attitude - just RELAXING for once, not completely freaking out every second over my splits or my pace or how I'm feeling, was totally the key to a monster PR in this race. Mile 5 was a 7:22, thanks in part I'm sure to the massive tunnel of screaming, cowbell banging, music playing New Bedford-ites gathered in a park to support the race. Seriously - so. cool. And at the same time I'm thinking..."I'm seriously running a 7:22 at mile 5 of a half marathon? Can I seriously go under 1:40 today?" All of those thoughts of a monster PR were always kind of present in my mind but they were never really the overwhelming thing - it was just stay relaxed, run your race, just do it.
Mile 6 [7:27] I took a mint chocolate Gu - YUM - which went down smooth since it had been heated in the sun haha. It was only maybe 55 out, but the sun was HOT out there! I took advantage of my recently discovered drinking-while-running skills to grab water at most of the aid stations since I've been down the road of HM dehydration before and I reallly have no desire to go back haha. So here I was, somehow holding pace, and feeling solid. Obviously I knew that the real race was yet to come, but for the moment I was just savoring the feeling of being able to run this fast for this long. Mile 7 was another 7:27, as we made the turn out of the random neighborhoods to start a long stretch by the ocean - what a gorgeous day to be running by the water. I actually NOTICED the scenery - the lighthouses, boats, sun sparkling on the water...it was just that kind of day. Also just past mile 7, possibly the greatest thing that's ever happened to me in a race happened. There was a random motorcycle? store that had music playing out of a car, and as I approached it I got excited, because hey, music! But suddenly it dawned on me what song was playing....
DON'T STOP BELIEVIN'
OK, I know. No one should really love a song as much as I love Don't Stop Believin'. But it is my anthem, my motto, and to hear it in a race, let alone a race where I'm pretty much having the race of my life, was basically the most exciting thing ever. I actually threw my arms up in the air with joy. The happiness of that carried me the rest of the way through mile 8 in 7:26. Still running sub-7:30 miles at mile 8 of a half? All I have to do is hold this pace...
And then there was mile 9. Which was pretty awful. Really the only dark time of the race. It was like it kind of dawned on my legs suddenly that, hey, we've been running fast for kind of a long time, and it would be nice to stop now? My left hamstring/glute was kind of starting to cramp, and I eased back a little bit to try to get it to work itself out. I really didn't realize I slowed down THAT much, so when I looked down at my watch and saw 7:56, I was definitely alarmed. So I guess it's time to race, huh? I forced myself to pick it up again after that, and set my sights on several girls in front of me to pick off and pass. Up until this point, I hadn't really paid attention to any other runners - pass me? I passed you? Whatever, I'm running my own race. But at this point I needed some other stimulus besides my splits to give myself the extra push, and picking off girls one at a time seemed to be the perfect way to do it. First came yellow singlet girl. Next up was tye dye shirt, followed by short girl with the sweet red singlet. I passed mile 10 in 7:32 and now that I was back on track, I realized that I had to stay on this pace for the last 3 miles, and I would get under 1:40 - the wall, broken through. There was a great aid station playing loud Irish music right after the 10 mile [the race was sponsored by the Friendly Sons of St Patrick, after all!] which gave me a boost, along with somehow managing to get the song "Kiss My Irish Ass" stuck in my head for the remainder of the race haha. I continued on with my picking-off plan...girl with the blue shorts, you're history. I was gazing at a woman in a pink hat for the longest time, but she was always just out of reach. We turned back into the city with the mile 11 mark [7:31] and I figured out [after about 3 minutes of mental math failing haha] that I had to run 2.1 miles in 18 minutes or something to go under 1:40. Well hell yes, I can do that!
I was starting to get really tired, definitely the point in the race when you are just ready to be DONE. But I set my sights on a girl in light green shorts and told myself to just HOLD ON. Just past mile 12 [7:34] there is a soul crushing, curse inducing hill. I have never wanted to walk so badly in a race as I did running up that damn hill. It's really the placement of it that's cruel - just looking at the hill its nothing spectacular - your average 400-600 meter, somewhat steep but not mountain-like hill. But at mile 12 of a half marathon? Death in road form. And for the first time in the race, true pain and exhaustion set in...but since I had just pulled even with green shorts girl, obviously I had to put in a little surge to pass her. Now I was at the top of the hill, everything simply screaming to stop, and yet...less than a mile to go and it's all basically down hill...come ON!
Finally there was one last big downhill leading to the mile 13 mark, and I just let my legs go and flew down the hill. Mile 13 was 7:31, all that was left was to kick it in...and I sprinted with everything I had. I actually pulled even with a short girl in an orange tank top, and was hoping to get past her, but she turned on the jet engines and shot away - I tried to respond, but my calves were cramping into tiny balls of pain and I just had nothing left to give. No matter, the finish line was a few steps away, and then, slamming my watch - DONE.
1:38:34.
I really wasn't even sure what to do with myself. I chugged a bottle of water while waiting for Joy and Kelly to finish. Once we all met up we decided to forgo cooling down in favor of fish sandwiches, seafood chowder, and other goodness back at the YMCA, where the gym had now been opened up to form a more acceptable space for 2500 people haha. We drove back to Boston and I went out for a quick 2.5 mile granny shuffle cooldown/beer run, then spent the rest of the night relaxing, watching basketball, and passing out early - I was out like a light by 11 haha. Racing hard really takes it out of you!
The race was really competitive and full of club athletes, since its part of the USATF New England Grand Prix series, so I was pretty pleased with 622/2308 overall and 117th woman [assuming I counted right, unfortunately the results didn't give any breakdown of AG or gender placements and I'm too lazy to figure it out haha] out of who knows how many. But really in these races I couldn't care less about my place - especially this one. I honestly didn't believe I had it in me to run under 1:40 in a half marathon. Maybe somewhere around 1:40, maybe just barely squeaking under, but not this fast, especially feeling as strong as I did the whole way. I feel like this has given me great confidence going into this last month before Boston that I can really do some great things out on the course on April 19th. Creepily, my 10K time a month ago predicted this performance within 5 seconds. Does that mean that a 3:27 marathon [the McMillan prediction given both by this HM and my 10K time] is in my future? Guess we'll just have to wait and see. For now, I'm really happy with finally showing the 13.1 mile distance who's boss, and having an amazing time while doing it. :)
Sunday, March 14, 2010
I need to get back home to cool, cool rain
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 :)
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 :)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tugging at my hamstrings
Woo, I've been kind of MIA the last week or so - my laptop charger cord decided to fray it to the point where it doesn't even charge the computer any more, and since my laptop battery lasts for like 45 minutes anyway...no laptop for me! I've been jumping on the BF's computer when I get the chance but I never seem to have enough time to throw together a coherent post haha. Not that my posts are really ever coherent...
So last week was kind of a "meh" week of training. Yes, I got all of my runs done at their prescribed [or faster] paces, and it was another over-60 mile week...but I just wasn't really feeling it. The week just seemed to CRAWL by...the workout I did last Tuesday seems like about an eternity ago. By the time I got to my 18 mile "cutback" long run on Sunday, I just wasn't a happy camper. Thank God for the fact that my running buddy, Kelly, was down for doing 13 miles of it with me....I honestly think I would have called it in at like 10 otherwise. The first thing I said to her when I walked out my door was "I am SO SICK of running!" Most non-runners would be like, OK, why are you doing this then? But Kelly is awesome and basically let me know that I'm going to get out of this slump and I'll come through stronger than I was before thanks to all of the training I've been doing. The rest of the run wasn't great, we were both suffering from "dead legs syndrome" a little bit, but the conversation and company definitely saved me from getting to the point of just wanting to throw myself into the Charles to end the run.
As it turned out, the rest of my day Sunday was the perfect way to break out of the slump. AKA....I needed to have some fun! Working Friday and Saturday nights kind of sucks, let me tell you, and sometimes makes me feel like I lose all of my potential "fun time" of the weekend to work. So Sunday nights have kind of become the BF and I's "fun" nights where we either go out to dinner, get pizza and watch a movie, go have drinks, or whatever...basically things you would do on a regular weekend night, except on Sunday...Sunday Funday! Haha. Well anyway, last Sunday worked out particularly well because the weather was gorgeous and the Badger hockey AND basketball teams were playing conference rivals at 2:00. So off we went to the Baseball Tavern to cheer on the Badgers with some Wisconsin [and...sadly....Minnesota...] alums. A few beers and a Badger basketball victory later, we decided to walk across the bridge to Cambridge, where we were planning on using our Tupelo Groupon. It was a beautiful day and we stopped for some pictures
So last week was kind of a "meh" week of training. Yes, I got all of my runs done at their prescribed [or faster] paces, and it was another over-60 mile week...but I just wasn't really feeling it. The week just seemed to CRAWL by...the workout I did last Tuesday seems like about an eternity ago. By the time I got to my 18 mile "cutback" long run on Sunday, I just wasn't a happy camper. Thank God for the fact that my running buddy, Kelly, was down for doing 13 miles of it with me....I honestly think I would have called it in at like 10 otherwise. The first thing I said to her when I walked out my door was "I am SO SICK of running!" Most non-runners would be like, OK, why are you doing this then? But Kelly is awesome and basically let me know that I'm going to get out of this slump and I'll come through stronger than I was before thanks to all of the training I've been doing. The rest of the run wasn't great, we were both suffering from "dead legs syndrome" a little bit, but the conversation and company definitely saved me from getting to the point of just wanting to throw myself into the Charles to end the run.
As it turned out, the rest of my day Sunday was the perfect way to break out of the slump. AKA....I needed to have some fun! Working Friday and Saturday nights kind of sucks, let me tell you, and sometimes makes me feel like I lose all of my potential "fun time" of the weekend to work. So Sunday nights have kind of become the BF and I's "fun" nights where we either go out to dinner, get pizza and watch a movie, go have drinks, or whatever...basically things you would do on a regular weekend night, except on Sunday...Sunday Funday! Haha. Well anyway, last Sunday worked out particularly well because the weather was gorgeous and the Badger hockey AND basketball teams were playing conference rivals at 2:00. So off we went to the Baseball Tavern to cheer on the Badgers with some Wisconsin [and...sadly....Minnesota...] alums. A few beers and a Badger basketball victory later, we decided to walk across the bridge to Cambridge, where we were planning on using our Tupelo Groupon. It was a beautiful day and we stopped for some pictures
On our way to Tupelo [kind of a lengthy walk, but we were up to it, as usual :)] we decided we needed a bathroom, and maybe another beer. Miracle of Science looked like the perfect stop!
Their menu was a periodic table, and their stools looked like they were stolen right out of a lab. My chemistry major BF was a fan. :) So we continued onward towards Tupelo only to find it was CLOSED! FAIL! No problem - we went back to the T and decided to hit up our old standby - the Sunset, home of 380 bottles and 112 taps...beer lover's heaven, and with some pretty tasty Tex-Mex food too! It worked out perfectly, and I got to try Dogfish Head Fort....an 18% raspberry beer. So basically like a beer-wine? Whatever it was, it was amazing.
It comes in a teeny 8 oz glass...because it's crazy strong. And crazy delicious.
It was a fantastic night...I had so much fun. And when I woke up the next day, albeit a little hungover, I felt so refreshed from actually going out and doing something OTHER than run, work, sleep, eat, or clean the apartment, that I was pretty much instantly happier. Pretty sure the feeling carried over to my running too, because I banged out a great 7.5 miler on the Newton hills on Tuesday. I realized that I really have NOT been taking advantage of the fact that I live on the course of the marathon I'm going to be running. What kind of idiot wouldn't want to know the course, especially theoretically the hardest part of the course, like the back of their hand if they had the chance? So I've decided that I'm going to make myself run on the course at least twice a week for the remainder of training - well, until taper anyway. I really want to get to know the feel of running those particular hills, both while running hard and running easy, so that when race day comes running the hills is just like coming home.
Wednesday was another beautiful day, and I did this crazy bridge fartlek along the Charles. Basically the workout I had to do was 10 miles with 10 x 30 seconds @ 5K pace...how those were supposed to be spaced out was something I had to guess. So to keep it entertaining, and to not have to look at my watch constantly, I picked a route where I was constantly going under, over, or past bridges...and every time that happened, I had to do a pickup. There was a set of 4 around 6 miles where I only had about a minute easy in between [if you know the area...past Cambridge St, over Western Ave, past Cambridge St on the other side...and then another random overpass before the BU bridge about 5 minutes later] and that got tough, but I made it through strong and felt great when I was done. Only problem: I seem to have tweaked my right hamstring a bit, either from pushing it too hard on the hills on Tuesday or from the pickups on Wednesday, or most likely some combination of the two. I had a 4 mile easy scheduled for yesterday, but decided to skip it in favor of resting and icing the hammy. I HATE skipping runs, but then again if I have to skip a planned workout, "4 miles easy" is about as good as it gets - either to make up or just forget about all together. Had I just been sore I totally would have done the run, but this felt a little beyond that realm into more of a strain, and that's definitely not something I want to have escalate! It's feeling better today, so I'm happy I chose to rest it - guess we'll see how my 3 mile WU/5 miles GMP/3 mile CD run goes later today!
Oh, did I also mention Kelly convinced me to run the New Bedford Half? I think that might be a whole separate post. I do have a score to settle with the HM...
Anyway, Happy Friday! Hopefully my new laptop cord will arrive ASAP and I'll be back to posting/commenting on a more regular basis again. :)
Friday, March 05, 2010
Give me back that filet o'fish, give me that fish
This has absolutely nothing to do with..well...anything...and the last time I had a Filet O'Fish was probably sometime in the 90s...but this commercial just cracks me up for some reason
Other things that start with F...February...as in, February Training Recap!
Total miles: 227.7
This was JUST OFF my all time mileage PR of 229.1, set in September '09. I'm pretty much giving it to myself as my highest mileage training month ever though, since February is a short month so in terms of miles/day, it was definitely a high!
Days off: 5
Workouts: 8 [3 fartlek, 2 tempo, 1 mile repeats, 1 progression, 1 race]
Longest run: 20.6
Weekly mileage range: 49.6-61.9
Wow, I usually despise February with all of my heart and soul, but this was probably the best month of training I've ever had. No offense to my home state, but leaving the Wisconsin winter behind was definitely a pretty fantastic thing as far as running was concerned. The winter out here has been super mild by my standards - there really haven't been any days when I've been like "oh, hell no am I running outside in that...", and really the only time I took my workouts to the TM was for the sake of knowing my pace. I really can't think of any god-awful runs in February either. I hit pace for every workout, set a big 10K PR, my long runs went reasonably well and I've been running them faster than last training cycle, and I've already got 2 20 milers under my belt. I guess my only concern at this point is that my training is going TOO well...as in, I really don't want to peak too early. That might have something to do with the fact that during my last training cycle, I was running a lot but I wasn't really "training" until like...7 weeks out from the race. So the plan at this point is to just stay tuned in to my physical/mental state as March, ie, training month from hell, progresses, keep an eye on an possible signs of overtraining, and other than that, just continue to rock it out!
Speaking of training, is it weird that lately I have been anxiously looking forward to my speed workouts, and absolutely dreading my longer easy runs? Seriously, why am I totally excited to run fartleks or tempo intervals on the treadmill, with a long warmup and cooldown, and yet an 8-12 mile easy run is something I just dread? I can't quite figure it out. I guess its GOOD that I get excited about speedwork though haha - never really thought I'd see the day when that would happen! I think it's because my quality workouts have been going really well in general, as far as hitting my paces and not feeling like I'm going to die at the same time. They've served as really great confidence boosters and kind of stand in my mind as a testament to the fact that I actually AM getting faster and stronger through all of this training. The easy runs just kind of "are" - some days I'm feeling it, some days I'm not. 12 miles is pretty long, but not long enough to be a "long run", but still takes a long time, you know what I mean? Well anyway, maybe if I start thinking of my easy runs as "3 mile warmup, 6 miles easy, 3 mile cooldown" I'll like them better. Haha.
Training aside, here are a couple of random things I've really been enjoying lately [aside from the Filet O'Fish commercial, haha]...mostly food. Because who doesn't love food?
Is it really Friday already? Guess I should stop whining about my 12 miles and just Get. It Done! Have a great weekend!
Other things that start with F...February...as in, February Training Recap!
Total miles: 227.7
This was JUST OFF my all time mileage PR of 229.1, set in September '09. I'm pretty much giving it to myself as my highest mileage training month ever though, since February is a short month so in terms of miles/day, it was definitely a high!
Days off: 5
Workouts: 8 [3 fartlek, 2 tempo, 1 mile repeats, 1 progression, 1 race]
Longest run: 20.6
Weekly mileage range: 49.6-61.9
Wow, I usually despise February with all of my heart and soul, but this was probably the best month of training I've ever had. No offense to my home state, but leaving the Wisconsin winter behind was definitely a pretty fantastic thing as far as running was concerned. The winter out here has been super mild by my standards - there really haven't been any days when I've been like "oh, hell no am I running outside in that...", and really the only time I took my workouts to the TM was for the sake of knowing my pace. I really can't think of any god-awful runs in February either. I hit pace for every workout, set a big 10K PR, my long runs went reasonably well and I've been running them faster than last training cycle, and I've already got 2 20 milers under my belt. I guess my only concern at this point is that my training is going TOO well...as in, I really don't want to peak too early. That might have something to do with the fact that during my last training cycle, I was running a lot but I wasn't really "training" until like...7 weeks out from the race. So the plan at this point is to just stay tuned in to my physical/mental state as March, ie, training month from hell, progresses, keep an eye on an possible signs of overtraining, and other than that, just continue to rock it out!
Speaking of training, is it weird that lately I have been anxiously looking forward to my speed workouts, and absolutely dreading my longer easy runs? Seriously, why am I totally excited to run fartleks or tempo intervals on the treadmill, with a long warmup and cooldown, and yet an 8-12 mile easy run is something I just dread? I can't quite figure it out. I guess its GOOD that I get excited about speedwork though haha - never really thought I'd see the day when that would happen! I think it's because my quality workouts have been going really well in general, as far as hitting my paces and not feeling like I'm going to die at the same time. They've served as really great confidence boosters and kind of stand in my mind as a testament to the fact that I actually AM getting faster and stronger through all of this training. The easy runs just kind of "are" - some days I'm feeling it, some days I'm not. 12 miles is pretty long, but not long enough to be a "long run", but still takes a long time, you know what I mean? Well anyway, maybe if I start thinking of my easy runs as "3 mile warmup, 6 miles easy, 3 mile cooldown" I'll like them better. Haha.
Training aside, here are a couple of random things I've really been enjoying lately [aside from the Filet O'Fish commercial, haha]...mostly food. Because who doesn't love food?
- Coconut Water! I had heard about this from some other blog or something, that it's supposedly this big deal in sports drinks because it naturally has a ton of electrolytes [especially potassium] and some sugar, without the obscene dose of fake sugar and dyes that you get in Gatorade or whatever. I really don't go one way or the other on the whole natural eating thing, but I saw this at Whole Foods and was intrigued. It was AMAZING! It comes in a bunch of flavors - I tried the VitaCoco tangerine and peach/mango flavors. I was kind of wary because I don't really like the taste of coconut that much, but the fruit purees that they added [the only other ingredient besides the coconut water itself] really added a nice, light fruity flavor. Totally not the super sugary, almost syrupy taste you sometimes get with sports drinks. The peach/mango was my favorite. As for it's properties as a good sports drink, I haven't tested that one yet - I had it for breakfast haha. I'm doing an 18 miler this weekend, 13 of which will be with a friend, so I'm planning on grabbing one for the last 5 miles and see how I feel!
- Australian Yogurt! I LOVE yogurt. For breakfast, for a snack, for dessert...don't care, I think it's delicious. During my last WF visit I wasn't too impressed with the flavor selection or price on their "generic" brand yogurt, so I figured I would spend the extra 20 cents per carton and try something new - enter Wallaby Australian Yogurt. What is Australian yogurt? I'm still kind of trying to figure out the difference haha. As far as ingredients, I think they use a slightly lower percentage milkfat milk than like, Yoplait [1.5% instead of 2%?] and use organic cane sugar. I'm not sure if there's some sort of difference in the culturing process, all I know is the yogurt is super smooth and very light. It comes in some pretty tasty and interesting flavors that you don't see in regular yogurt [I mean, I love blueberry and strawberry as much as the next person...but sometimes that gets a little boring]. And I absolutely LOVED their fruit on the bottom flavors. Like, half the carton is fruit! I had the grapefruit one, which sounded weird but ended up being totally delicious. I think for the fact that this stuff is natural, comes in fun flavors, and not as uber-sweet as other yogurt tends to be, it might be worth the extra couple bucks to buy it instead. Yum!
- Sweet Potato Fries! I think I got this idea from someone's blog too...and it has quickly become a go-to snack/side for me! So easy: cut up sweet potatoes, drizzle with olive oil, toss with pepper, seasoned salt, and whatever other seasonings you desire, and bake for 15-20 minutes...and there you have GOODNESS! It's a great way to eat something salty/tastes kind of unhealthy, but really it isn't! Yay for good-for-you food! :)
Is it really Friday already? Guess I should stop whining about my 12 miles and just Get. It Done! Have a great weekend!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
HurdlingHam: 1, Mother Nature: 0
First off, I'll give you one hurdle highlight from junior year. It was the first outdoor meet of the season, I ran my usual 100 hurdles/300 hurdles combo and PRed in 300s, then wound up getting suckered into running the 4 x 400 after wolfing down a hot dog, yikes! 100s didn't go particularly well though, and here's what I had to say about it...
an alright day in the 100s though i still need to break 18! would have won my heat/made finals but the girl in front of me fell and rolled across the finish line!What makes this story funny is the girl who rolled across the finish line and beat me out to make finals is now one of my closest friends. We met at a pre-med meet & greet picnic freshman year of college, somehow got on the topic of that we'd both run hurdles, and I told her about track club. Over the course of many entertaining hurdle workouts, somehow the topic of the meet where she somersaulted across the finish line came up [as a former gymnast she had that automatic forward roll mechanism haha] and sure enough...we looked up the results from the meet and there we were, 1-2 in the heat - hilarious! The next year she was sad when I decided to become a distance runner, but I sucked her into distance soon enough and she kicked my ass in a half marathon this past August. So that's gotta be one of my favorite "small world" stories. :) I can't wait until I convince her to run a marathon....muahaha. :)
Still competing against eachother...but now we're friends too...and she hasn't beat me by rolling across the finish line lately
We've been having some lovely weather in the Boston area this week...and by lovely I mean gray, rainy, windy, and generally disgusting. Because I'm kind of a weirdo I don't really have a problem with running in the rain, even when it's only 40 or so..it's the wind that really gets me. So after yesterday's super windy + rainy 6 miler, I was less than excited to pound out 12 miles in yet another rainstorm today. I figured that if I took the train home from work I might not be able to motivate myself to get back out the door, so I decided to make a 12 mile route leading from work and eventually home. As usual, my co-workers were amused when I left wearing my spandex and running clothes ["I know where you're going!" "Where? Is she going to the mall?" "How many miles are you running today?"] Really, I should do a whole separate post some time on my co-workers responses to my running craziness...it's the first time I've really had the experience of non-runners being really exposed to my training and I'm quite proud to have gotten allll the usual comments haha. [How far was that marathon? 6 miles, I couldn't even run 6 blocks! Who was chasing you?]
So it had been a long and somewhat frustrating day at work...cocker spaniels pooping on the drying table, poodles that just never seemed to be completely dry....the usual haha. When I headed out the door, my legs felt kind of heavy and basically "meh"...I had already tried to convince myself to really take it easy on this run, not really look at my watch, and just roll with it, so I guess I felt OK about the situation. As the run went on though, I just kind of started feeling better...and better...and loving the rain...and just generally loving life haha. The weather actually REALLY reminded me of the weather at Baystate which apparently is ideal weather for me to run in? Haha. There's just something about running in a rainstorm that just makes me feel so incredible...I don't know if it's the idea of being out training in weather that few others would brave, or if it's just the kind of giddy feeling of splashing through puddles and laughing at the sky. Or maybe it's just that focusing on the rain hitting my face makes me forget about the pain in my legs...who knows. I only saw 6 other runners over the whole 12 miles: a group of 3 of what looked like high school boys, 2 girls, and one lonely man. Random thought: so usually when I'm running, if I see another runner I'll give them a smile/wave/head nod depending on how my life is going at that point...but it seems extremely rare that anyone returns the gesture, in fact, it seems like a lot of people kind of avoid eye contact. I get that people can be very into their workouts, and I'm guilty of that at times myself, but when it's obvious that everyone is running easy, I don't know, isn't it nice to acknowledge the camaradrie between runners? Especially on a day like today, when you'd have to be mildly crazy, hardcore, or both to be out there? Maybe that's just me...thoughts?
I realized about halfway through that maybe running with my ipod wasn't the best decision ever...it got really wet and the buttons seemed to be kind of malfunctioning...of course, that also could have been the fact that I couldn't really move or feel my fingers because they were so cold...like completely frozen. I was only wearing a long sleeved underarmor type top under a short sleeve tech top and I wasn't really cold in general, but my hands just kind of gradually turned into popsicles. It took a loooong hot shower afterwards to warm up. Glad I got my run in early-ish today though, because now there are apparently wind gusts up to 55 mph outside? That's kind of frightening...and I can't even imagine how it would feel to run in that..talk about hitting a brick wall...yikes!
Well, I won't lie...I'm kind of excited about my 4 mile recovery run tomorrow. I'm probably going to do some yoga too...I'm expecting to be extra sore since it was chilly and wet today. And I just really LOVE yoga! It's so nice to switch things up from running once in awhile and feel like I'm doing a little something extra. For now, it's off to watch the Olympics [women's free skate, yay!!] and stay out of the wind. :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Hurdle Week Part 2: Sophomore Year
The second of 4 "blast from the past" entries about my high school hurdling career...back in the days when I thought 300 meters was a really, REALLY long way...
Sophomore year I kind of struggled and didn't have a great season. A lot of my "notes" sections seem to involve not doing as well as I wanted to/the weather sucking/messing up some part of my race or another. Not really many memorable meets that year. I was excited to run in all 3 conference meets and at regionals for the first time...even though I raced horribly there. The highlight of my season came early when I placed 2nd at conference in the 55 low hurdles...it was my first taste of being "good" and even though the rest of the season didn't go that great, the wheels were already turning for me to really get serious and get good the next year.
Watertown Coed Dual - April 8, 2003 - JV
-55 m highs
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 10.2 <--PR!!
1st in heat, 2nd overall
-200 m dash
Heat 4, Lane 4
Time: 35.1
3rd in heat
Notes: well, a weird meet. Running the 200 was bizarre...no hurdles?? Fisher wanted to do it for my endurance, but actually it was kind of fun! Hurdles went well, beat Olivia but got beat by Jennifer. THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN! Oh, well..beating Olivia is still nice! I just need to get quicker between hurdles and take.21 off by Saturday so I can break 10!
[Jennifer was a super speedy girl who had just joined track this year. She had really weird form, but was so fast it didn't really even matter. She ended up going to state the following year.]
Conference Indoor @ Carthage College
April 12, 200 - varsity
-55m high hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 4
Time: 10.38
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m low hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 3
Time: 11.22
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m high finals
Heat 2, Lane 1
Time: 10.12 <--PR!
4TH OVERALL!
-55m low finals
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 9.74 <--PR!
2ND OVERALL!!
Notes: wow...what a meet. low trials tried to 3-step - BAD DECISION, so i was in the slow heat for finals, then they set up the hurdles wrong, so i had to run that twice, but 2ND IN CONFERENCE! me and ashley went 1-2! stephanie [my newest person who I had decided to defeat, from our rival school Whitnall] beat me by .01 for 3rd in the highs - she'll get hers at outdoor!
[This was totally the highlight of my season - I'm really surprised there's not more rambling in the "notes" section of this. The track we ran on for indoor only had 6 lanes, but 8 people made finals for the sake of team points. So having effed up in prelims, I got to run with one other girl in the "slow" finals heat. One of the hurdles got set up on the men's marks the first time we ran, so we had to run a second time, and somehow I beat everyone out of the fast heat besides a girl from my school. When they announced the results I thought I heard my name announced as 7th...until my coach informed me that I actually was 2ND...a huge thrill.]
Conference Relays @ Greendale - May 6, 2003 - varsity
-100 m high hurdle shuttle
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Time: 54.7
Heat 2, Lanes 3&4
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
-3 x 300 low hurdle relay
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Splits: 60.0
Heat 1, Lane 3
4TH OVERALL
Notes: shuttle = GREATNESS! 300 = shit! cold, wind, had to pee, couldn't breathe, messed up blocks just to name a few...but still, shuttle champs! woo woo! we probably could have placed in the 300s cept for me, but i'm trying not to be too hard on myself. [even then, I beat myself up really badly over poor races. Though I had plenty of excuses to make for them haha. ]
Well, in actual real-life news, nothing too exciting has been going on. I started and finished a GREAT book over the weekend - "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I enjoy a lot of different types of books, but it's pretty rare that I put down a book and am like...wow, I wish that didn't have to end. This was TOTALLY one of those books. The writing style was different than anything I've ever read before and it was just...beautiful...I think that's probably the best word I've found to describe it. The story is incredibly sad at some points [set during World War 2...depressing moments are pretty much a given..] and the ending brought me nearly to tears, but I thought it was an absolutely wonderful, well-written story that just totally sucked me in. I would absolutely recommend it, 100%. Loved it.
So craziness - I only have ONE "workout" this week! I know, it was weird for me too going out for a run on a Tuesday and not having it be some kind of crazy interval workout. Definitely a much needed break after the weekend though! I did my 8 miler today on the end of the Boston course and used it as kind of a visualization exercise - just kind of noticing the feeling of the ups and downs, landmarks on the course, seeing the final stretch down Boylston...etc. I won't lie, I got the shivers a little bit when I looked up at the Citgo sign, and again when I passed the finish line on my way to do a loop around the Public Garden. It's still a little unbelievable to me that I'm going to be running THE Boston Marathon in 8 weeks. You would think it would be hard to forget that running 60 miles a week and doing crazy workouts has a greater purpose, but sometimes it seems to me like I'm just doing this stuff for kicks haha. It's a good thing I have that training calendar to keep me in line...kinda. :)
Tomorrow I've got a 12 miler on the schedule which I'm sure will be tons of fun in the rain/snow we are expecting all day...gross. Ohhh well...gotta be reminded of one of my favorite running quotes...
It's miles when you're tired. Miles when it's cold. Miles when no one's watching, and no one cares. That's what makes a champion.
Sophomore year I kind of struggled and didn't have a great season. A lot of my "notes" sections seem to involve not doing as well as I wanted to/the weather sucking/messing up some part of my race or another. Not really many memorable meets that year. I was excited to run in all 3 conference meets and at regionals for the first time...even though I raced horribly there. The highlight of my season came early when I placed 2nd at conference in the 55 low hurdles...it was my first taste of being "good" and even though the rest of the season didn't go that great, the wheels were already turning for me to really get serious and get good the next year.
Watertown Coed Dual - April 8, 2003 - JV
-55 m highs
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 10.2 <--PR!!
1st in heat, 2nd overall
-200 m dash
Heat 4, Lane 4
Time: 35.1
3rd in heat
Notes: well, a weird meet. Running the 200 was bizarre...no hurdles?? Fisher wanted to do it for my endurance, but actually it was kind of fun! Hurdles went well, beat Olivia but got beat by Jennifer. THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN! Oh, well..beating Olivia is still nice! I just need to get quicker between hurdles and take.21 off by Saturday so I can break 10!
[Jennifer was a super speedy girl who had just joined track this year. She had really weird form, but was so fast it didn't really even matter. She ended up going to state the following year.]
Conference Indoor @ Carthage College
April 12, 200 - varsity
-55m high hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 4
Time: 10.38
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m low hurdle prelims
Heat 2, Lane 3
Time: 11.22
2nd in heat - QUALIFIED FOR FINALS
-55 m high finals
Heat 2, Lane 1
Time: 10.12 <--PR!
4TH OVERALL!
-55m low finals
Heat 1, Lane 3
Time: 9.74 <--PR!
2ND OVERALL!!
Notes: wow...what a meet. low trials tried to 3-step - BAD DECISION, so i was in the slow heat for finals, then they set up the hurdles wrong, so i had to run that twice, but 2ND IN CONFERENCE! me and ashley went 1-2! stephanie [my newest person who I had decided to defeat, from our rival school Whitnall] beat me by .01 for 3rd in the highs - she'll get hers at outdoor!
[This was totally the highlight of my season - I'm really surprised there's not more rambling in the "notes" section of this. The track we ran on for indoor only had 6 lanes, but 8 people made finals for the sake of team points. So having effed up in prelims, I got to run with one other girl in the "slow" finals heat. One of the hurdles got set up on the men's marks the first time we ran, so we had to run a second time, and somehow I beat everyone out of the fast heat besides a girl from my school. When they announced the results I thought I heard my name announced as 7th...until my coach informed me that I actually was 2ND...a huge thrill.]
Conference Relays @ Greendale - May 6, 2003 - varsity
-100 m high hurdle shuttle
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Time: 54.7
Heat 2, Lanes 3&4
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
-3 x 300 low hurdle relay
Team: me, Ashley, Jenny
Splits: 60.0
Heat 1, Lane 3
4TH OVERALL
Notes: shuttle = GREATNESS! 300 = shit! cold, wind, had to pee, couldn't breathe, messed up blocks just to name a few...but still, shuttle champs! woo woo! we probably could have placed in the 300s cept for me, but i'm trying not to be too hard on myself. [even then, I beat myself up really badly over poor races. Though I had plenty of excuses to make for them haha. ]
Well, in actual real-life news, nothing too exciting has been going on. I started and finished a GREAT book over the weekend - "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I enjoy a lot of different types of books, but it's pretty rare that I put down a book and am like...wow, I wish that didn't have to end. This was TOTALLY one of those books. The writing style was different than anything I've ever read before and it was just...beautiful...I think that's probably the best word I've found to describe it. The story is incredibly sad at some points [set during World War 2...depressing moments are pretty much a given..] and the ending brought me nearly to tears, but I thought it was an absolutely wonderful, well-written story that just totally sucked me in. I would absolutely recommend it, 100%. Loved it.
So craziness - I only have ONE "workout" this week! I know, it was weird for me too going out for a run on a Tuesday and not having it be some kind of crazy interval workout. Definitely a much needed break after the weekend though! I did my 8 miler today on the end of the Boston course and used it as kind of a visualization exercise - just kind of noticing the feeling of the ups and downs, landmarks on the course, seeing the final stretch down Boylston...etc. I won't lie, I got the shivers a little bit when I looked up at the Citgo sign, and again when I passed the finish line on my way to do a loop around the Public Garden. It's still a little unbelievable to me that I'm going to be running THE Boston Marathon in 8 weeks. You would think it would be hard to forget that running 60 miles a week and doing crazy workouts has a greater purpose, but sometimes it seems to me like I'm just doing this stuff for kicks haha. It's a good thing I have that training calendar to keep me in line...kinda. :)
Tomorrow I've got a 12 miler on the schedule which I'm sure will be tons of fun in the rain/snow we are expecting all day...gross. Ohhh well...gotta be reminded of one of my favorite running quotes...
It's miles when you're tired. Miles when it's cold. Miles when no one's watching, and no one cares. That's what makes a champion.
Monday, February 22, 2010
A trip down memory lane...hurdle week!
OK, NOW I remember what else I was going to post. That last post was kind of long anyway, so I guess I'm cool with making a second one haha. I got a package from my mom today that included some exciting stuff like fruit snacks and a can opener and butter knives [lol don't judge, we only have 2 of them haha]. But it also included my track notebook from high school...it's a record of literally, every single race I ran in high school track, complete with what heat/lane I was in, times, and comments about the race. It's totally awesome and I'm so glad I have it since that was obviously before the times of this blog, and many of the results I have written down can't be found online or anything since they were from random JV duals or whatever. I love looking back on my early track/running memories especially now, in the midst of marathon training, and seeing just how far I've come. So it's a really fun thing to have and I thought this blog might be an entertaining place to share some memories of the days when I was a SPRINTER...haha. :) So I think I'm going to make this week "hurdles week" and post some choice selections from each year every day this week. It will give me something to actually post, so maybe next Monday you won't have to spend hours reading the details of every workout I did last week. These are all copied exactly as they're written by my high school self...not sure why I felt the need to remember what heat/lane I was in for each and every race, but it's kind of a fun memory I guess. :)
Freshman year, I really wasn't very good at hurdles. But I was kind of the "future", since the other 2 main hurdlers were a senior and a junior at the time. My coach believed in me and raced me a lot...I tried really hard and as you can see in these entries, was obviously quite serious about being a good hurdler...but my times kind of say otherwise. :) I spent a lot of time ogling the cute junior/senior boys, feeling cool about running varsity on occasion, and attempting to beat a girl named Olivia...I'm pretty sure she's mentioned in like 75% of my race write-ups haha.
Tosa East Coed Quad @ Hart Park - April 19, 2002 (JV) [my first outdoor race ever]
-100 m highs
Heat 1, Lane 2
1st in heat - time 19.7
3RD OVERALL
-300 m lows
Heat 2, Lane 6
2nd in heat - time 59 even
2ND OVERALL
Notes: I BEAT OLIVIA IN LOWS, WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SAY? [Olivia was a year older than me. We were also on poms together and she was never particularly nice to me...so she became my epic hurdles rival my freshman year.] It was very, very COLD! Ms. Braidigan there! [Ms Braidigan was my bitchy gym teacher. She coached track at our cross town rival HS, and constantly talked about what a better school it was...thus, we hated her]
JV Coed Triangular @ T-Dub - April 25, 2002
100 m highs
Lane 3
Time - 18.9 <---PR!
4th overall
-300 lows
Lane 2
Time - 60 even
3rd overall
T-Dub finished: 2nd to Milwaukee Lutheran
Teams we beat: Thomas More
Notes: I REALLY didn't like this meet, it was windy/COLD, Olivia only beat me by .1 in the highs again, tho I thought I ran a horrible race I made PR!
Conference Relays @ Greendale - April 30, 2002 (varsity)
-900 lows relay
Heat 1, Lane 2
Team: me, Ashley, Laura
My time: 57 flat <--PR baby!!!
3rd in heat (me)
2ND OVERALL
Notes: wow...I was so PUMPED @ this meet!! I was so excited to run in this BIG meet - I ran great and there were PINK cones on the track! and they first announced that we got 6th, but the corrected it because we got 2nd! Now that'll teach em to put T-DUB in the slow heat!
[T-DUB was our nickname for our school...Tosa West. The only reason I was running in this meet because the aforementioned Olivia flat out refused to run 300 hurdles any more after I beat her...I was by no means good, especially not at 300s, and if we'd had a 3rd decent runner besides me, the team probably would have won the relay...still, I was really proud of my PR and as you can tell was pretty excited to be running varsity]
Brookfield Central JV Invite - May 9, 2002
-100 high prelims
Heat 1, Lane 4
Time: 19.5, 1st in heat
QUALIFIED FOR FINALS [as a freshman, making finals, even in a JV meet, was a reaaaally big deal]
-100 high finals
Lane 6
Time: 19.8
8th in heat
8TH OVERALL
-300 lows
Heat 2, Lane 4
Time: 61
? in heat
? OVERALL
Notes: AHH! we got there 15 min before the 100s - NO time to warm up, still 4 stepped the whole race - finals could have been 4th but 10 STEPPED (???) the 1st hurdle tho I still 4 stepped all the rest. I was so in pain - 300s really sucked! [normally I took 8 steps to the first hurdle...I think haha]
JV Conference - May 16, 2002 @ Greenfield
-100 highs
Heat 2, Lane 3
3rd in heat
Time: 18.7 <--PR!
3RD OVERALL
-300 lows
Heat 2, Lane 7
6th in heat
Time: 58.9
6TH OVERALL
Notes: FREEZING FREEZING FREEZING!! great time in the 100s although I was soooo sore - 300s started off too fast, not to mention had to PEE! lol [having to pee before/during races seems to be an ongoing problem in my life haha]
Stay tuned for sophomore year! Hehe =)
Freshman year, I really wasn't very good at hurdles. But I was kind of the "future", since the other 2 main hurdlers were a senior and a junior at the time. My coach believed in me and raced me a lot...I tried really hard and as you can see in these entries, was obviously quite serious about being a good hurdler...but my times kind of say otherwise. :) I spent a lot of time ogling the cute junior/senior boys, feeling cool about running varsity on occasion, and attempting to beat a girl named Olivia...I'm pretty sure she's mentioned in like 75% of my race write-ups haha.
Tosa East Coed Quad @ Hart Park - April 19, 2002 (JV) [my first outdoor race ever]
-100 m highs
Heat 1, Lane 2
1st in heat - time 19.7
3RD OVERALL
-300 m lows
Heat 2, Lane 6
2nd in heat - time 59 even
2ND OVERALL
Notes: I BEAT OLIVIA IN LOWS, WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SAY? [Olivia was a year older than me. We were also on poms together and she was never particularly nice to me...so she became my epic hurdles rival my freshman year.] It was very, very COLD! Ms. Braidigan there! [Ms Braidigan was my bitchy gym teacher. She coached track at our cross town rival HS, and constantly talked about what a better school it was...thus, we hated her]
JV Coed Triangular @ T-Dub - April 25, 2002
100 m highs
Lane 3
Time - 18.9 <---PR!
4th overall
-300 lows
Lane 2
Time - 60 even
3rd overall
T-Dub finished: 2nd to Milwaukee Lutheran
Teams we beat: Thomas More
Notes: I REALLY didn't like this meet, it was windy/COLD, Olivia only beat me by .1 in the highs again, tho I thought I ran a horrible race I made PR!
Conference Relays @ Greendale - April 30, 2002 (varsity)
-900 lows relay
Heat 1, Lane 2
Team: me, Ashley, Laura
My time: 57 flat <--PR baby!!!
3rd in heat (me)
2ND OVERALL
Notes: wow...I was so PUMPED @ this meet!! I was so excited to run in this BIG meet - I ran great and there were PINK cones on the track! and they first announced that we got 6th, but the corrected it because we got 2nd! Now that'll teach em to put T-DUB in the slow heat!
[T-DUB was our nickname for our school...Tosa West. The only reason I was running in this meet because the aforementioned Olivia flat out refused to run 300 hurdles any more after I beat her...I was by no means good, especially not at 300s, and if we'd had a 3rd decent runner besides me, the team probably would have won the relay...still, I was really proud of my PR and as you can tell was pretty excited to be running varsity]
Brookfield Central JV Invite - May 9, 2002
-100 high prelims
Heat 1, Lane 4
Time: 19.5, 1st in heat
QUALIFIED FOR FINALS [as a freshman, making finals, even in a JV meet, was a reaaaally big deal]
-100 high finals
Lane 6
Time: 19.8
8th in heat
8TH OVERALL
-300 lows
Heat 2, Lane 4
Time: 61
? in heat
? OVERALL
Notes: AHH! we got there 15 min before the 100s - NO time to warm up, still 4 stepped the whole race - finals could have been 4th but 10 STEPPED (???) the 1st hurdle tho I still 4 stepped all the rest. I was so in pain - 300s really sucked! [normally I took 8 steps to the first hurdle...I think haha]
JV Conference - May 16, 2002 @ Greenfield
-100 highs
Heat 2, Lane 3
3rd in heat
Time: 18.7 <--PR!
3RD OVERALL
-300 lows
Heat 2, Lane 7
6th in heat
Time: 58.9
6TH OVERALL
Notes: FREEZING FREEZING FREEZING!! great time in the 100s although I was soooo sore - 300s started off too fast, not to mention had to PEE! lol [having to pee before/during races seems to be an ongoing problem in my life haha]
Stay tuned for sophomore year! Hehe =)
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 15, 2010
Week 6 training...almost halfway to taper!
Since in my eyes, taper starts 2 weeks before the race, that means there's 6 weeks down, 7 weeks to go of the "meaty" part of Boston training. Kind of hard to believe, actually. But week 6 was definitely a good week, and one that gives me a lot of confidence going forward into the second half of the cycle.
Runs: 6
"Workouts": 2
Longest run: 19.1 miles
XT: 2000 yds swimming, half hour yoga, 1 upper body lifting session
Total running miles: 59.9 [ahhhh so close to 60!! If I had known, I absolutely would have run around the block at the end of my long run. Seriously.]
Can I just start off by saying [again] how overjoyed I am to have speedwork in my life this training cycle? Yes, you read that right. I am giddy about mile repeats and fartleks and all of those things that I whined about when the whole point of my training was to go fast and not all that far. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, LOVE being able to go long now, and the fact that 6-8 miles is a "short" run, and that 10-12 is just a "medium". My endurance is way higher than it's ever been and that's amazing, but I missed the feeling of blazing around the track, feeling like I could fly. In general I've actually started looking forward to my workouts that involve running at 10K pace or under, because I know I can make it through them and I'll feel totally badass when I'm done. :)
I did have a really nice long run yesterday! It was a beautiful day [yes, I can appreciate 35 degrees as beautiful...don't judge]. The first half I ran with my running buddy Kelly, we ran along the Charles River path in Watertown which was really pretty and a nice change of scenery from my usual routes. We always have plenty to talk about, which makes the run fly by, and she always has some great insights to share about training - she's older and has been racing distance a lot longer than me, and actually was my club coach for a couple years back in Wisconsin, which is how we know each other. I was telling her that I was kind of amazed at how well my training had been going, and how I felt much stronger than I did training for Baystate, even though I had a couple of months where I basically did nothing in between. She said that some people say it takes a year to really run a good marathon, because your training cycles build on one another and you learn more about how to train and race. All of that past training has an impact on what you're doing now, and that can help to bring you to the next level. She had an experience that pretty much shows exactly that - her first marathon, she ran around 4 hours, then she ran another in 3:45 or so, and then ran a 3rd in 3:39, all within about a year. We were also talking about how marathon training/higher mileage training can really set you up for a solid 5K/10K, there's just a certain amount more of speedwork you need to do to put the icing on the cake.
I really like the idea that every training cycle you do feeds into the next one, that somewhere within you is every mile and every race you've ever run. I know I'm a LOT stronger of a runner right now than I was a year ago. Hell, last year at this time, I ran a 5K at the same pace I ran for 10K last week. Something about marathon training I think has really pushed me to the next level in every aspect of my running, and I feel like as strong as I felt going into and finishing Baystate, that only was a set-up for how strong I feel now. I don't think my time "off" with my IT band issues really ruined anything - in fact, it's possible that those couple of months of lighter/easier running gave my muscles time to absorb all the miles I'd put in the previous 3 months and come out on the other side stronger and more ready to conquer this training cycle.
This is all just random musing - I really don't know. Bottom line is I'm feeling really strong and happy with how my training is going, and excited to extend this feeling to other distances and races and such. That's about it. :)
That was a long tangent haha. 19.1 miles was the perfect way to start off Valentine's Day! The BF and I then went out for coffee, bought some beer for dinner, and went out to lunch at our favorite local restaurant - which is apparently changing management, so all of the beer was on sale - score! $4 for some beers that we were drinking for $7 last week? Sounds good to me! We then headed to Whole Foods to shop for the dinner we had planned - scallop & spinach stuffed pasta with sundried tomato cream sauce. This was our first foray into cooking without a recipe, and we must be pretty good because it. was. AMAZING. The BF even watched the pairs figure skating short program with me....what a guy. :) There was a US couple who skated to music from Love Actually and it made me SO HAPPY!! Apparently it was their first major international competition, and they scored a personal best for the short program. Even though they only ended up in 10th it was cool to see them so pumped about the performance. Much better than the Ukrainian couple who were both in shiny blue spandex bodysuits, and all I could think of when I looked at the man was Gob Bluth from Arrested Development....lol. He was kind of awkward...
Did I mention I love the Olympics? Especially figure skating? It's totally my dance background hehe. So don't be surprised if you see more commentary from me in the next couple of weeks haha. Well...it's Monday again. Off to enjoy my day off of running hehe. Have a good one!
Runs: 6
"Workouts": 2
Longest run: 19.1 miles
XT: 2000 yds swimming, half hour yoga, 1 upper body lifting session
Total running miles: 59.9 [ahhhh so close to 60!! If I had known, I absolutely would have run around the block at the end of my long run. Seriously.]
Can I just start off by saying [again] how overjoyed I am to have speedwork in my life this training cycle? Yes, you read that right. I am giddy about mile repeats and fartleks and all of those things that I whined about when the whole point of my training was to go fast and not all that far. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, LOVE being able to go long now, and the fact that 6-8 miles is a "short" run, and that 10-12 is just a "medium". My endurance is way higher than it's ever been and that's amazing, but I missed the feeling of blazing around the track, feeling like I could fly. In general I've actually started looking forward to my workouts that involve running at 10K pace or under, because I know I can make it through them and I'll feel totally badass when I'm done. :)
I did have a really nice long run yesterday! It was a beautiful day [yes, I can appreciate 35 degrees as beautiful...don't judge]. The first half I ran with my running buddy Kelly, we ran along the Charles River path in Watertown which was really pretty and a nice change of scenery from my usual routes. We always have plenty to talk about, which makes the run fly by, and she always has some great insights to share about training - she's older and has been racing distance a lot longer than me, and actually was my club coach for a couple years back in Wisconsin, which is how we know each other. I was telling her that I was kind of amazed at how well my training had been going, and how I felt much stronger than I did training for Baystate, even though I had a couple of months where I basically did nothing in between. She said that some people say it takes a year to really run a good marathon, because your training cycles build on one another and you learn more about how to train and race. All of that past training has an impact on what you're doing now, and that can help to bring you to the next level. She had an experience that pretty much shows exactly that - her first marathon, she ran around 4 hours, then she ran another in 3:45 or so, and then ran a 3rd in 3:39, all within about a year. We were also talking about how marathon training/higher mileage training can really set you up for a solid 5K/10K, there's just a certain amount more of speedwork you need to do to put the icing on the cake.
I really like the idea that every training cycle you do feeds into the next one, that somewhere within you is every mile and every race you've ever run. I know I'm a LOT stronger of a runner right now than I was a year ago. Hell, last year at this time, I ran a 5K at the same pace I ran for 10K last week. Something about marathon training I think has really pushed me to the next level in every aspect of my running, and I feel like as strong as I felt going into and finishing Baystate, that only was a set-up for how strong I feel now. I don't think my time "off" with my IT band issues really ruined anything - in fact, it's possible that those couple of months of lighter/easier running gave my muscles time to absorb all the miles I'd put in the previous 3 months and come out on the other side stronger and more ready to conquer this training cycle.
This is all just random musing - I really don't know. Bottom line is I'm feeling really strong and happy with how my training is going, and excited to extend this feeling to other distances and races and such. That's about it. :)
That was a long tangent haha. 19.1 miles was the perfect way to start off Valentine's Day! The BF and I then went out for coffee, bought some beer for dinner, and went out to lunch at our favorite local restaurant - which is apparently changing management, so all of the beer was on sale - score! $4 for some beers that we were drinking for $7 last week? Sounds good to me! We then headed to Whole Foods to shop for the dinner we had planned - scallop & spinach stuffed pasta with sundried tomato cream sauce. This was our first foray into cooking without a recipe, and we must be pretty good because it. was. AMAZING. The BF even watched the pairs figure skating short program with me....what a guy. :) There was a US couple who skated to music from Love Actually and it made me SO HAPPY!! Apparently it was their first major international competition, and they scored a personal best for the short program. Even though they only ended up in 10th it was cool to see them so pumped about the performance. Much better than the Ukrainian couple who were both in shiny blue spandex bodysuits, and all I could think of when I looked at the man was Gob Bluth from Arrested Development....lol. He was kind of awkward...
Did I mention I love the Olympics? Especially figure skating? It's totally my dance background hehe. So don't be surprised if you see more commentary from me in the next couple of weeks haha. Well...it's Monday again. Off to enjoy my day off of running hehe. Have a good one!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Bullet points
Bullet 1: Super Sunday race picture(s). This is the good one, taken from semi-afar and during my final kick. This is the one where I actually look like I'm running, and finishing very strongly at that. And outkicking some boys....which I always enjoy doing :)
Then we have photo number 2....which is probably the most hideous picture I've ever seen taken of myself while running [or potentially ever in my life haha]. The one and ONLY reason I'm putting it up here is because if you look closely at my face, you can literally see my cheeks being smooshed back by the wind. I don't actually have like...jowls lol. I also pretty much look like I'm going to vomit up a lung and/or pass out on the spot...I guess that's how you know I was working hard? Seriously, who puts a camera at the 5.5 mile marker of a 10K anyway? Not cool.
I'm starting to think that I might be selling myself short by just shooting for a 3:35 at Boston. Based on my performance at the 10K, the pacing I've been hitting in my hard workouts, and the fact that I seem to be practically incapable of running slower than an 8:05 pace even when I'm desperately trying to run recovery pace....I'm starting to think that hoping for 8:00/3:30 finish isn't completely ridiculous. I'm kind of scared to shoot my goals way over my head but having faith in my ability/training has always been kind of a problem for me. Maybe Boston is the perfect place to make the leap of faith, say to hell with it, and just shoot for the time I really want. If I crash and burn, well, so be it. But I'm starting to think that I'm a way better runner than I give myself credit for and maybe my goals should be more in line with what I want to do with what my underestimating self thinks I can do - or rather, what I think I'll probably be able to do so I don't have to worry about failing. What is that? Yes, it's important to keep my goals realistic, but sometimes you have to go out off the ledge juuuust a little bit to find out what you actually can do. And since this time around I'm actually doing, you know, those little things like speed workouts and actually having a plan and not doing almost all of my major long runs in the 5 weeks leading up to the marathon...I don't think it's completely crazy to want more from myself.
The thing is, I had SUCH a good race at Baystate. I finished feeling so strong, so awesome, no major crashing and burning in the final miles, negative splits, the works. I executed perfectly - and on that day, it was perfect. But now there's a little voice in the back of my head saying "yeah, you finished strong...but that means there was more in you. You could go faster". The other [rational] part of my mind is scared of the edge, scared of what will happen if I try to go faster. Redline city, do I really want to go there for any part of 26.2 miles? If I really want to see what I'm made of, I think the answer might be yes.
On marathon training note, I'm doing a 10 miler on the Newton Hills section of the course tomorrow...wheee!!
Bullet Point #3: I'm completely and totally obsessed with this song and felt the need to share, since I'm pretty sure this guy is relatively unknown [although the music video is SUPER cool and looks like something that's probably made it's way around the internet, so maybe you have]
Happy Friday everyone!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Super Sunday 10K Race Report
To start, so as not to leave anyone in suspense: I ran 44:20, a MASSIVE PR over my previous best 46:30. As I mentioned in another post, none of my previous 10Ks have been under what I'd like to call "ideal" racing conditions, but I really didn't expect to crush my PR by this much. I was 22nd/230 in the 19-29 AG [did I mention I really miss 5 year age groups? Had my age group been 20-24, I would have placed 5th. Looking at the results 25-26 seems to be a great age to run a really fast 10K, so I guess I have something to look forward to :)], 26th/473 women, and 125th/791 OA. I'm SUPER happy with my stats/placements, since the runners in Boston are quite a bit faster on average than the runners that show up to races in Wisco - whether it's just sheer numbers or just living in a city that really supports running, I don't know - and so I was pretty pleased with almost cracking the top 25 women. I knew I didn't have a prayer of any AG awards [see: I hate 10 year age groups haha] but I honestly came closer than I would have thought, so that was a nice confidence boost.
Anyway - on to the race report! The night before the race I had to work from 5-10 pm which pretty much sucked in terms of pre-race prep/fueling, but I tried to keep hydrated and I wore my recovery socks to work which was a pretty amazing idea. When I finally got home [only after being serenaded by an acapella group from BC on the train - the green line section of my commute home at 10:30 PM on weekends is usually like my own personal circle of hell what with the drunk people, girls wearing utterly hideous fashion choices, and once almost sitting in puke, but this was actually moderately amusing and did make me smile] the BF had made me dinner...a corned beef sandwich that was utterly delicious, but something told me not the most excellent pre-race meal...haha.
So I slept like utter CRAP the night before the race. Maybe because it's been a long time since I've experienced pre-race nerves, I don't know. Either way, I was waking up like, every couple of hours with my mind totally racing - awful. The only upside was that I ended up waking up like 5 minutes before my alarm went off, so that was good. I got all of my crap together and headed out to the train station - HOLY MOTHER OF GOD was it cold. I am from Wisconsin - I really don't bitch and moan about cold but the wind was just cutting like a knife. It was one of those winter days that's utterly gorgeous and sunny but then you step outside and just want to punch Mother Nature in the face. There were a few other people on the train who were decked out in spandex and clearly headed to the race so that was kind of fun...that effect was multiplied when I got off at Park and switched to the red line where it seemed like EVERYONE was headed to the race. I was planning on just starting my warmup to the start area, since I already had my bib and everything, but then there was a PARTY BUS shuttling runners from South Station to the start and I just couldn't resist. It was pretty hilarious to see this bus with flashing lights and a dance floor and "You Give Love A Bad Name" blasting over the speakers filled up with runners who were all gearing up for a race. So yeah, you know it's going to be a good race when you take a party bus to the start.
I warmed up, it was cold, and I was reluctant to take my warmup jacket off. But finally it was like 5 minutes to the start and there was a long line for bag check...so I bit the bullet and handed over my outer layer. I was rocking the layered look for my race outfit - heavy underarmor turtleneck, lightweight spandex top, armwarmers, and my new FAVORITE bright orange short sleeved spandex top on top, heavy underarmor tights, smartwool socks, running hat, and the ugliest running gloves of all time. I was super sleek from head to toe...until you got to my gloves, which are these white, oversized monstrosities lol. But it was all good, that way I didn't feel bad about snotting into them during the race...:)
I wasn't really sure where to hang out at the start since the 5K and 10K people were all running together and I didn't want to get squashed by a bunch of people blazing out 5 minute miles in the 5K...so I situated myself a bit further back than I normally would. We stood around for awhile and then...bam! Shuffle shuffle shuffle...then finally we hit the line and it was go time!
I spent most of the first mile bobbing and weaving all over the place, getting stuck behind slow people who seemed to want to form a blockade across the road, and just generally wanting to get out into a place where I could just run my own race. I felt really relaxed and not like I was running that fast at all...soooo I was pretty surprised when I came through the 1 mile and saw 7:10 on my watch! I can tell you the exact thought that went through my mind: "That was the easiest 7:10 mile I've ever run!" I passed a bunch of people in the next couple miles - splits were 7:11 and 7:05. I just couldn't believe that I was maintaining this face and was pretty much shocked that it really didn't feel that bad! I was expecting that if I was going to hit my A goal of 44:30 that I was pretty much going to have to kill myself to do it...but this was turning out to be much more fun than I had expected!
My 5K split was 22:15 [less than 30 seconds off the fastest 5K I've run in a road race...hmmm...I'm thinking that PR needs to be taken down sometime in the future?] and I turned back out for the second loop of the course. Normally I'm not a huge fan of double loop courses, but for some reason in this case it soothed me - like, I knew I had just run the same distance, and it hadn't felt too bad, so why not just do it again? Starting at about mile 3, I had been playing a leapfrog game with this girl in a yellow jersey [Somerville Road Runners I think?] and throughout the 4th mile we went back and forth twice. My 4th mile was actually my fastest, 7:03, but I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue. We went down into a turnaround, and yellow girl passed me. We came back up from the turnaround, and I passed her back. Then we turned back towards the 5 mile marker and got hit with an absolutely ridiculous blast of wind. What the eff? That wasn't here the first time around? I may or may not have spewed a few expletives out into the wind, not that any of them could be heard by anyone nearby over the roar. It was almost like everyone came to a standstill - you could physically see the slowdown in all of the runners. Yellow girl dropped back a bit as I continued to push on, but I paid for the exertion afterward because once the wind tunnel died down a little bit, she passed me again and started to gain some ground. Mile 5 was 7:16...thanks a bunch, wind tunnel of death.
Well now we were down to the last mile, girl in yellow was pulling away, my legs were starting to scream out for mercy, but I knew I had a big PR in the bag if I could just hang the eff on to this pace for one more mile. So hang on I did. Gone were the feelings of control and relaxation that had made the first 4 miles of the race so great - now it was just run til your legs explode or you puke up your Gu and then you'll be done. UGH, I wanted to catch the stupid yellow girl so badly. That was like my entire thought process the last mile: pass the tall guy in the blue shirt, and then you can go get yellow girl. Well, I didn't quite make it to yellow girl, but I did pick off tall blue shirt man right before the 6 mile mark [7:08 split, for those who care]. The last .2 was a circle of cones in the giant parking lot where the finish line was - finish like this are MEAN and make me want to cry! Where you are forced to essentially run past the finish line and then run around in a big circle to get back to it? So not cool. So I'd like to think I summoned a decent finishing kick. My last .2 miles was 1:24 which is exactly 7 minute pace. So uh...not really a very good kick after all haha. Well I tried hard, that's all that matters right? I crossed the finish line just short of vomming everywhere [see, I DID try hard!] and was SUPER thrilled to see 44:20 on my watch! Woot woot mega-PR!!
After the race I had one goal and one goal only in mind: BEER + CLAM CHOWDER! The post-race tent was INSANE but I eventually made it out alive with a Harpoon IPA and clam chowder...yumm. I was still pretty warm from the race and thirsty so the beer was just like the nectar of the gods. I wandered around a bit, then decided to try to brave the tent again for my second beer - by now pretty much everyone from the 10K was finished, and the line was INTENSE. I eventually obtained my UFO Hefeweizen and it was good, but I ended up drinking it pretty fast because I was getting cold, and it was REALLY cold, which was just making me more cold. Once I started shivering I figured it was time to leave...so I hopped back on the party bus. I started chatting with a guy who had also run a PR for the 10K...all of a sudden I heard a familiar opening come over the speaker system. Wait...is that...
"Yeah! Yeah! Turn it up!"
Everyone on the bus got really excited, and soon the driver had absolutely cranked "Don't Stop Believin'"
Really, does it get any better than that? Singing along to your favorite song with a bus full of like-minded people, after having run a fantastic PR? I felt ready to burst with happiness.
So yeah, it was a good day. Also, if I'm actually listening to McMillan...I'm apparently supposed to be shooting for a 3:28 marathon. Hmm...time to get crackin' :)
Anyway - on to the race report! The night before the race I had to work from 5-10 pm which pretty much sucked in terms of pre-race prep/fueling, but I tried to keep hydrated and I wore my recovery socks to work which was a pretty amazing idea. When I finally got home [only after being serenaded by an acapella group from BC on the train - the green line section of my commute home at 10:30 PM on weekends is usually like my own personal circle of hell what with the drunk people, girls wearing utterly hideous fashion choices, and once almost sitting in puke, but this was actually moderately amusing and did make me smile] the BF had made me dinner...a corned beef sandwich that was utterly delicious, but something told me not the most excellent pre-race meal...haha.
So I slept like utter CRAP the night before the race. Maybe because it's been a long time since I've experienced pre-race nerves, I don't know. Either way, I was waking up like, every couple of hours with my mind totally racing - awful. The only upside was that I ended up waking up like 5 minutes before my alarm went off, so that was good. I got all of my crap together and headed out to the train station - HOLY MOTHER OF GOD was it cold. I am from Wisconsin - I really don't bitch and moan about cold but the wind was just cutting like a knife. It was one of those winter days that's utterly gorgeous and sunny but then you step outside and just want to punch Mother Nature in the face. There were a few other people on the train who were decked out in spandex and clearly headed to the race so that was kind of fun...that effect was multiplied when I got off at Park and switched to the red line where it seemed like EVERYONE was headed to the race. I was planning on just starting my warmup to the start area, since I already had my bib and everything, but then there was a PARTY BUS shuttling runners from South Station to the start and I just couldn't resist. It was pretty hilarious to see this bus with flashing lights and a dance floor and "You Give Love A Bad Name" blasting over the speakers filled up with runners who were all gearing up for a race. So yeah, you know it's going to be a good race when you take a party bus to the start.
I warmed up, it was cold, and I was reluctant to take my warmup jacket off. But finally it was like 5 minutes to the start and there was a long line for bag check...so I bit the bullet and handed over my outer layer. I was rocking the layered look for my race outfit - heavy underarmor turtleneck, lightweight spandex top, armwarmers, and my new FAVORITE bright orange short sleeved spandex top on top, heavy underarmor tights, smartwool socks, running hat, and the ugliest running gloves of all time. I was super sleek from head to toe...until you got to my gloves, which are these white, oversized monstrosities lol. But it was all good, that way I didn't feel bad about snotting into them during the race...:)
I wasn't really sure where to hang out at the start since the 5K and 10K people were all running together and I didn't want to get squashed by a bunch of people blazing out 5 minute miles in the 5K...so I situated myself a bit further back than I normally would. We stood around for awhile and then...bam! Shuffle shuffle shuffle...then finally we hit the line and it was go time!
I spent most of the first mile bobbing and weaving all over the place, getting stuck behind slow people who seemed to want to form a blockade across the road, and just generally wanting to get out into a place where I could just run my own race. I felt really relaxed and not like I was running that fast at all...soooo I was pretty surprised when I came through the 1 mile and saw 7:10 on my watch! I can tell you the exact thought that went through my mind: "That was the easiest 7:10 mile I've ever run!" I passed a bunch of people in the next couple miles - splits were 7:11 and 7:05. I just couldn't believe that I was maintaining this face and was pretty much shocked that it really didn't feel that bad! I was expecting that if I was going to hit my A goal of 44:30 that I was pretty much going to have to kill myself to do it...but this was turning out to be much more fun than I had expected!
My 5K split was 22:15 [less than 30 seconds off the fastest 5K I've run in a road race...hmmm...I'm thinking that PR needs to be taken down sometime in the future?] and I turned back out for the second loop of the course. Normally I'm not a huge fan of double loop courses, but for some reason in this case it soothed me - like, I knew I had just run the same distance, and it hadn't felt too bad, so why not just do it again? Starting at about mile 3, I had been playing a leapfrog game with this girl in a yellow jersey [Somerville Road Runners I think?] and throughout the 4th mile we went back and forth twice. My 4th mile was actually my fastest, 7:03, but I was definitely starting to feel the fatigue. We went down into a turnaround, and yellow girl passed me. We came back up from the turnaround, and I passed her back. Then we turned back towards the 5 mile marker and got hit with an absolutely ridiculous blast of wind. What the eff? That wasn't here the first time around? I may or may not have spewed a few expletives out into the wind, not that any of them could be heard by anyone nearby over the roar. It was almost like everyone came to a standstill - you could physically see the slowdown in all of the runners. Yellow girl dropped back a bit as I continued to push on, but I paid for the exertion afterward because once the wind tunnel died down a little bit, she passed me again and started to gain some ground. Mile 5 was 7:16...thanks a bunch, wind tunnel of death.
Well now we were down to the last mile, girl in yellow was pulling away, my legs were starting to scream out for mercy, but I knew I had a big PR in the bag if I could just hang the eff on to this pace for one more mile. So hang on I did. Gone were the feelings of control and relaxation that had made the first 4 miles of the race so great - now it was just run til your legs explode or you puke up your Gu and then you'll be done. UGH, I wanted to catch the stupid yellow girl so badly. That was like my entire thought process the last mile: pass the tall guy in the blue shirt, and then you can go get yellow girl. Well, I didn't quite make it to yellow girl, but I did pick off tall blue shirt man right before the 6 mile mark [7:08 split, for those who care]. The last .2 was a circle of cones in the giant parking lot where the finish line was - finish like this are MEAN and make me want to cry! Where you are forced to essentially run past the finish line and then run around in a big circle to get back to it? So not cool. So I'd like to think I summoned a decent finishing kick. My last .2 miles was 1:24 which is exactly 7 minute pace. So uh...not really a very good kick after all haha. Well I tried hard, that's all that matters right? I crossed the finish line just short of vomming everywhere [see, I DID try hard!] and was SUPER thrilled to see 44:20 on my watch! Woot woot mega-PR!!
After the race I had one goal and one goal only in mind: BEER + CLAM CHOWDER! The post-race tent was INSANE but I eventually made it out alive with a Harpoon IPA and clam chowder...yumm. I was still pretty warm from the race and thirsty so the beer was just like the nectar of the gods. I wandered around a bit, then decided to try to brave the tent again for my second beer - by now pretty much everyone from the 10K was finished, and the line was INTENSE. I eventually obtained my UFO Hefeweizen and it was good, but I ended up drinking it pretty fast because I was getting cold, and it was REALLY cold, which was just making me more cold. Once I started shivering I figured it was time to leave...so I hopped back on the party bus. I started chatting with a guy who had also run a PR for the 10K...all of a sudden I heard a familiar opening come over the speaker system. Wait...is that...
"Yeah! Yeah! Turn it up!"
Everyone on the bus got really excited, and soon the driver had absolutely cranked "Don't Stop Believin'"
Really, does it get any better than that? Singing along to your favorite song with a bus full of like-minded people, after having run a fantastic PR? I felt ready to burst with happiness.
So yeah, it was a good day. Also, if I'm actually listening to McMillan...I'm apparently supposed to be shooting for a 3:28 marathon. Hmm...time to get crackin' :)
Saturday, February 06, 2010
That was a crazy fartlek workout....& pre-race jitters!
That was a crazy fartlek workout
My legs were fried
But someday I'll be back again
Even though I kind of wanted to die...
[To the tune of OAR's Crazy Game of Poker hehe]
Haha ok, I hope you enjoyed my awesome song. The crazy fartlek workout I'm talking about is 10 miles, with 30 seconds at around 5K pace every 3 minutes. I spent a lot of time going back and forth on the workout over whether it was going to be hard, or not so bad, or just long, or what. I was planning on doing it on my way to work [such a huge time saver] and leaving around 3:15. Then I get this phone call around 2:
Co-worker: "Hi, can you come in a little early? My knees are killing me, I think I'm going to go to the doctor"
Me: "Ummm...sure...how early?"
Co-worker: "Well, whenever you can get here would be good"
Me: "OK...um...well...I need to run 10 miles today, and I was planning on doing it on my way to work...so I can leave in a few minutes, instead of when I would usually leave, and I think I'll get there around 4?" [my normal shift started at 5]
Co-worker: "You are insane. Do you know how cold it is outside?"
Me: "Yeah...."
Co-worker: "Wow. OK yeah, just get here whenever you can"
Clearly, we know where my priorities lie...:) Because I didn't want to look at my watch every 3 minutes [talk about making a workout go by sloooooow], I made a playlist of ~3 minute songs, and then just did the 30 second interval at the start of each song. It was actually really nice, and I grabbed some music I hadn't listened to in awhile which made things extra fun. At the start I felt OK - the 5K pace stuff felt kind of hard, and the easy parts felt really easy. Strangely, the further I got into the run, the more I enjoyed the 30 second bursts and the more unpleasant the 2:30 in between them became - weird, right? So it was definitely by no means an easy workout, and it didn't help that I ran it on a pretty hilly route. But honestly, I really liked it! Having to speed up every 3 minutes really kept me focused and involved in the run, as opposed to just kind of cruising, and it really kept things interesting. Was it hard? YES - 10 miles is no joke, especially when you add speedwork into it for the entire distance, and by the end my quads were begging for mercy. But overall I felt really strong, and ended up with a 7:33 pace overall, which I'm pretty sure is the fastest pace I've ever logged over 10 miles...so that was pretty cool, and I guess means I didn't slow down to a snail's pace on the recovery/easy parts, which is good! So thanks Brad Hudson, for yet another interesting workout that I never would have come up with on my own, but ended up enjoying!
Some favorite tracks from yesterday's workout mix:
To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts - Matt Nathanson
I LOVE Matt Nathanson, and this was a song that somehow got lost in my mess of an iTunes library...I adore it and find it to be a perfect running anthem.
Stand Out - Powerline
Uh...it's from A Goofy Movie. Pretty much enough said. LOL.
Night - Bruce Springsteen
I was taught to love The Boss at a young age because my dad is a HUGE fan...there were a lot of bands that he tried to get me to like/appreciate as a kid, and Bruce was one of the couple that actually stuck. [The Who being another] But Bruce Springsteen...damn. I got to see him in concert a couple years ago and it was just straight up incredible..I can only imagine what the man was like in his younger days. Born To Run is probably one of my favorite albums of all time, and this was a song I didn't really appreciate until recently. But I love it now!
Well, other than that, the Super Sunday 10K is tomorrow and I'm actually getting quite nervous. I haven't race in what feels like FOREVER...usually by this point in the school year, I would have 10-15 races under my belt and a road race would be just a diversion between track meets. But now road races ARE my track meets, and I really would like to actually throw down a good time tomorrow. Based on my 5K track PR, the McMillan calculator predicts me at a 41:20 10K...annnd also a 3:14 marathon, HAH! Putting in my marathon time gives me a 46:43, which wouldn't even be a PR, so I would NOT be satisfied with that, especially given how I've been running lately. Putting in the 6:10 mile I ran in a workout gives me 44:23 - and also matches up with the 5K time I would imagine I could run right now [21:22]. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Obviously my #1 MO is to simply PR - that is, beat 46:30. I think I'll cry if I can't do that. But I think I will put my 'A' goal as being 44:30. Probably unrealistic, but hey, you never know until you try, right?
I'm also geeking out about what I'm going to wear!! I really don't want to race in one of my bulkier winter running tops, but I also don't want to freeze my ass off. I think I'm going to test out my lightest possible race outfit on my run today, and if it checks out I'll go with it for tomorrow. I am nervous though - I really want to run well, I feel like I have something to prove to myself that I haven't lost my racing edge, that I can still compete, and that I can push through the pain and run a good race. Guess we'll find out at 10 am tomorrow...at least the Harpoon beer and Legal clam chowder at the end will hopefully drive me to a faster finish time. :)
My legs were fried
But someday I'll be back again
Even though I kind of wanted to die...
[To the tune of OAR's Crazy Game of Poker hehe]
Haha ok, I hope you enjoyed my awesome song. The crazy fartlek workout I'm talking about is 10 miles, with 30 seconds at around 5K pace every 3 minutes. I spent a lot of time going back and forth on the workout over whether it was going to be hard, or not so bad, or just long, or what. I was planning on doing it on my way to work [such a huge time saver] and leaving around 3:15. Then I get this phone call around 2:
Co-worker: "Hi, can you come in a little early? My knees are killing me, I think I'm going to go to the doctor"
Me: "Ummm...sure...how early?"
Co-worker: "Well, whenever you can get here would be good"
Me: "OK...um...well...I need to run 10 miles today, and I was planning on doing it on my way to work...so I can leave in a few minutes, instead of when I would usually leave, and I think I'll get there around 4?" [my normal shift started at 5]
Co-worker: "You are insane. Do you know how cold it is outside?"
Me: "Yeah...."
Co-worker: "Wow. OK yeah, just get here whenever you can"
Clearly, we know where my priorities lie...:) Because I didn't want to look at my watch every 3 minutes [talk about making a workout go by sloooooow], I made a playlist of ~3 minute songs, and then just did the 30 second interval at the start of each song. It was actually really nice, and I grabbed some music I hadn't listened to in awhile which made things extra fun. At the start I felt OK - the 5K pace stuff felt kind of hard, and the easy parts felt really easy. Strangely, the further I got into the run, the more I enjoyed the 30 second bursts and the more unpleasant the 2:30 in between them became - weird, right? So it was definitely by no means an easy workout, and it didn't help that I ran it on a pretty hilly route. But honestly, I really liked it! Having to speed up every 3 minutes really kept me focused and involved in the run, as opposed to just kind of cruising, and it really kept things interesting. Was it hard? YES - 10 miles is no joke, especially when you add speedwork into it for the entire distance, and by the end my quads were begging for mercy. But overall I felt really strong, and ended up with a 7:33 pace overall, which I'm pretty sure is the fastest pace I've ever logged over 10 miles...so that was pretty cool, and I guess means I didn't slow down to a snail's pace on the recovery/easy parts, which is good! So thanks Brad Hudson, for yet another interesting workout that I never would have come up with on my own, but ended up enjoying!
Some favorite tracks from yesterday's workout mix:
To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts - Matt Nathanson
I LOVE Matt Nathanson, and this was a song that somehow got lost in my mess of an iTunes library...I adore it and find it to be a perfect running anthem.
Stand Out - Powerline
Uh...it's from A Goofy Movie. Pretty much enough said. LOL.
Night - Bruce Springsteen
I was taught to love The Boss at a young age because my dad is a HUGE fan...there were a lot of bands that he tried to get me to like/appreciate as a kid, and Bruce was one of the couple that actually stuck. [The Who being another] But Bruce Springsteen...damn. I got to see him in concert a couple years ago and it was just straight up incredible..I can only imagine what the man was like in his younger days. Born To Run is probably one of my favorite albums of all time, and this was a song I didn't really appreciate until recently. But I love it now!
Well, other than that, the Super Sunday 10K is tomorrow and I'm actually getting quite nervous. I haven't race in what feels like FOREVER...usually by this point in the school year, I would have 10-15 races under my belt and a road race would be just a diversion between track meets. But now road races ARE my track meets, and I really would like to actually throw down a good time tomorrow. Based on my 5K track PR, the McMillan calculator predicts me at a 41:20 10K...annnd also a 3:14 marathon, HAH! Putting in my marathon time gives me a 46:43, which wouldn't even be a PR, so I would NOT be satisfied with that, especially given how I've been running lately. Putting in the 6:10 mile I ran in a workout gives me 44:23 - and also matches up with the 5K time I would imagine I could run right now [21:22]. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Obviously my #1 MO is to simply PR - that is, beat 46:30. I think I'll cry if I can't do that. But I think I will put my 'A' goal as being 44:30. Probably unrealistic, but hey, you never know until you try, right?
I'm also geeking out about what I'm going to wear!! I really don't want to race in one of my bulkier winter running tops, but I also don't want to freeze my ass off. I think I'm going to test out my lightest possible race outfit on my run today, and if it checks out I'll go with it for tomorrow. I am nervous though - I really want to run well, I feel like I have something to prove to myself that I haven't lost my racing edge, that I can still compete, and that I can push through the pain and run a good race. Guess we'll find out at 10 am tomorrow...at least the Harpoon beer and Legal clam chowder at the end will hopefully drive me to a faster finish time. :)
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Random ramblings
Total writer's block when it comes to blogging lately...every time I sit down to write thing I just stare at the screen for awhile and then forget what I was going to write about in the first place...since in all honestly my life really isn't THAT entertaining, or blog-worthy...but I'm trying to think of some random thoughts to spew onto the page this evening...
Random things that I'm really enjoying this week
-vanilla soy milk...where have you been all my life??? I was randomly at Whole Foods buying coffee and I saw the 365 soy milk cartons on sale for like, $1.60 or something - of course I had to buy it. I don't like regular milk - something about the flavor? consistency? fact that it comes from an udder? just turns me off. I think mostly it's the flavor. Vanilla soy milk tastes like deliciousness and is really creamy and wonderful. For some reason I always thought it was like twice the price of regular milk though, so if this isn't just a passing sale [and maybe even if it is] I think soy milk might be making its way into my daily life.
-NEW RUNNING SHOES!! I've been totally in love with Mizuno Wave Inspires ever since I randomly picked up a pair off the shelf at a Dunham's 3 years ago. Thankfully, when they "upgraded" their lines, they didn't completely change the fit/add tons of weight/do weird things with the laces [ahem, I'm talking to YOU, Asics] and so I've happily stuck with them. My most recent pair had 544 miles on them and yeah...on a shoe that's a lightweight trainer to begin with, that pretty much equals death. So I hopped on my favorite site EVER - www.runningwarehouse.com - and got myself a pair of the 6's - and oh, have they delivered. The Inspire 6's are not only lighter [HOW?? seriously, the previous version was ridiculously light to begin with] but have a women's-specific fit and come in black/silver/hot pink...I'm not really a pink kind of girl, but badass, neon pink? Heck yes, I'll take it. So after slogging around in my squashed up, dead shoes, running in these babies feels like running on comfy cushions of heaven. Excellent.
-hammering out a workout on the treadmill while the other gym patrons look on in fear. So the majority of people who belong to my gym are more along the lines of working out to stay in shape/lose weight/not gain weight/socialize/plod on the treadmill while talking on a cell phone [my FAVORITE people, obvi :)]. Working out for the sake of working out, as opposed to training. I am still trying to figure out my relationship with the treadmill, but since I'm paying for this gym membership I feel obligated to go at least a couple times a week, and occasionally a speed workout comes a long that seems kind of conducive to doing on a treadmill, where I can see my pace, instead of outside, where I have no effing clue. Yesterday was one of those days - I had a minute run ladder of 1-2-3-2-1-2-3 minutes at 3K-5K pace with equal recovery. I picked somewhere between 8.7mph [6:53 pace] and 8.9 [6:44 pace] as my interval pace since I was honestly afraid that if I went down to my last known 5K pace of 6:24, I would go flying off the treadmill and go slamming into the elliptical behind me...yeah. When I started my first interval, the girl on the TM next to me looked at me nervously as if there was a chance that my flying off the treadmill was still a definite possibility. She left like 5 minutes later, and was replaced by a guy who kept looking at my pace and speeding up his treadmill, only to slow it down a couple minutes later. Seriously boys? It's okay to get beat by a girl. I was on the mill for a little over an hour and it was kind of fun to watch people cycling through the machines while I just kept going in my little corner.
So what's the point of this? In running, I feel like everybody needs to feel badass sometimes. Whether it's you running a PR, breaking your best time on a certain route, busting out an incredible workout...whatever. And in some small way, knowing that I'm Doing A Workout while the people around me are just Working Out makes me feel badass, and in turn makes me run the workout harder, because it reminds me that there IS a reason for all this madness - to be fast. And fierce, and strong, and powerful, and awesome, and come race day, run harder and faster and better than I ever have before. Without the constant stimulus of racing every single weekend like I have the past few years, it's sometimes too easy to forget why I'm doing all this craziness because I'm not getting those instant gratification results. But I really am loving that this training program has a decent amount of speedwork, because it's incredible to remember that I can be FAST - and that all of this hard work is going to pay off come race day.
Now really, what would a Run Like A Llama post be without a little running rambling, right? :)
And finally to wrap things up, and in the spirit of running hard and running fast, I give you my favorite speed workout/pump up song EVER. I first heard it on a quite addicting online game called Ski Runner, and once I finally figured out the name of the song and downloaded it....life changing, I tell you. Especially if you enjoy the occasional techno song as much as I do...enjoy :)
Random things that I'm really enjoying this week
-vanilla soy milk...where have you been all my life??? I was randomly at Whole Foods buying coffee and I saw the 365 soy milk cartons on sale for like, $1.60 or something - of course I had to buy it. I don't like regular milk - something about the flavor? consistency? fact that it comes from an udder? just turns me off. I think mostly it's the flavor. Vanilla soy milk tastes like deliciousness and is really creamy and wonderful. For some reason I always thought it was like twice the price of regular milk though, so if this isn't just a passing sale [and maybe even if it is] I think soy milk might be making its way into my daily life.
-NEW RUNNING SHOES!! I've been totally in love with Mizuno Wave Inspires ever since I randomly picked up a pair off the shelf at a Dunham's 3 years ago. Thankfully, when they "upgraded" their lines, they didn't completely change the fit/add tons of weight/do weird things with the laces [ahem, I'm talking to YOU, Asics] and so I've happily stuck with them. My most recent pair had 544 miles on them and yeah...on a shoe that's a lightweight trainer to begin with, that pretty much equals death. So I hopped on my favorite site EVER - www.runningwarehouse.com - and got myself a pair of the 6's - and oh, have they delivered. The Inspire 6's are not only lighter [HOW?? seriously, the previous version was ridiculously light to begin with] but have a women's-specific fit and come in black/silver/hot pink...I'm not really a pink kind of girl, but badass, neon pink? Heck yes, I'll take it. So after slogging around in my squashed up, dead shoes, running in these babies feels like running on comfy cushions of heaven. Excellent.
-hammering out a workout on the treadmill while the other gym patrons look on in fear. So the majority of people who belong to my gym are more along the lines of working out to stay in shape/lose weight/not gain weight/socialize/plod on the treadmill while talking on a cell phone [my FAVORITE people, obvi :)]. Working out for the sake of working out, as opposed to training. I am still trying to figure out my relationship with the treadmill, but since I'm paying for this gym membership I feel obligated to go at least a couple times a week, and occasionally a speed workout comes a long that seems kind of conducive to doing on a treadmill, where I can see my pace, instead of outside, where I have no effing clue. Yesterday was one of those days - I had a minute run ladder of 1-2-3-2-1-2-3 minutes at 3K-5K pace with equal recovery. I picked somewhere between 8.7mph [6:53 pace] and 8.9 [6:44 pace] as my interval pace since I was honestly afraid that if I went down to my last known 5K pace of 6:24, I would go flying off the treadmill and go slamming into the elliptical behind me...yeah. When I started my first interval, the girl on the TM next to me looked at me nervously as if there was a chance that my flying off the treadmill was still a definite possibility. She left like 5 minutes later, and was replaced by a guy who kept looking at my pace and speeding up his treadmill, only to slow it down a couple minutes later. Seriously boys? It's okay to get beat by a girl. I was on the mill for a little over an hour and it was kind of fun to watch people cycling through the machines while I just kept going in my little corner.
So what's the point of this? In running, I feel like everybody needs to feel badass sometimes. Whether it's you running a PR, breaking your best time on a certain route, busting out an incredible workout...whatever. And in some small way, knowing that I'm Doing A Workout while the people around me are just Working Out makes me feel badass, and in turn makes me run the workout harder, because it reminds me that there IS a reason for all this madness - to be fast. And fierce, and strong, and powerful, and awesome, and come race day, run harder and faster and better than I ever have before. Without the constant stimulus of racing every single weekend like I have the past few years, it's sometimes too easy to forget why I'm doing all this craziness because I'm not getting those instant gratification results. But I really am loving that this training program has a decent amount of speedwork, because it's incredible to remember that I can be FAST - and that all of this hard work is going to pay off come race day.
Now really, what would a Run Like A Llama post be without a little running rambling, right? :)
And finally to wrap things up, and in the spirit of running hard and running fast, I give you my favorite speed workout/pump up song EVER. I first heard it on a quite addicting online game called Ski Runner, and once I finally figured out the name of the song and downloaded it....life changing, I tell you. Especially if you enjoy the occasional techno song as much as I do...enjoy :)
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