Yesterday I ran the Nashua Medical Center 6K, part of the NE-Grand Prix series this year, and I have no reservations about saying that it was one of my worst racing performances of my life. However, it was also the first race of my life where I legitimately injured myself and had every reason to DNF...but didn't. So...there's that.
I drove up to the race with Joy and Jen (both of whom just ran Boston, and Jen had just finished the Cape Relay like, the night before) and none of us were super jacked about the race. I clearly had gotten myself into a bad mental pattern because I know I'm not in racing shape, ESPECIALLY not short racing shape, but I knew I just needed to get out there and suck it up and get the first awful one over with so I could have some sort of motivation to go back to short distance training so the next one wasn't so bad.
We got to the race and Tom's reaction to seeing me was like...laughter. Seriously, lol. I don't think he could believe I had actually come, because he knows I'm out of shape, and he knows I know I'm out of shape, so he was surprised that I signed myself up for basically, pain. We met up with my old running buddy Kelly, who lives in Nashua, she wasn't racing but she came on the warmup with us on part of the course, and told us she didn't think the rest of the course was that hilly.
Next thing I knew, we were on the start line. And I did not want to be there. Going into a race unprepared is just...not a good feeling. In the back of your mind you hope somehow you'll just gut it out and kill it, but for the most part you know it's going to suck. A lot. And it's your own fault, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Then we were off, and I was quickly feeling the "ahh what is this running fast BS?!" feeling...but I locked on the backs of Joy and Jen and was feeling pretty strong running behind them....and then I stepped in a pothole, rolled my ankle (pain! mayday! red alert!) and found myself flying through the air and thudding to the ground. Honestly given how early it was in the race and how tight the pack was, I'm astounded no one tripped on my. I couldn't even process what was going on and my ankle was screaming, my first thought was "shit. you really should drop out." But I just. couldn't. So I got up and started hobbling along, in the meantime getting passed by about 50 people. After a few minutes I was finally able to regain some semblance of a normal stride but it still hurt like hell and obviously any momentum I had was gone.
I came through the mile at 6:58ish (which is shocking considering the amount of time I spend on the ground and limping), and the rest of the race was just a waste. The second mile was entirely uphill, and I was hyperventilating from the pain and from the shock and frustration of what had just happened; any fight I'd had in me to try to run a decent race was completely gone. I would occasionally try to pick it up and then my ankle would tell me to eff off, and so I would slow down. I got passed by a 9 year old girl wearing all pink. I got passed by old women and chunky middle aged men. It was demoralizing, it was frustrating, it was awful. I knew that there was no point in exacerbating my already effed-up ankle by attempting to run faster, but still, seeing 7:40 as a split in a 6K? I wanted to curl up and die.
Finally got to the last uphill stretch towards the finish, I finally got past a girl I had been leapfrogging with all race (small consolation prize), crossed the stupid finish line, and then my ankle was like "YOU STUPID WOMAN WHY DID YOU FINISH?!" I explained to my teammates what happened which made me feel a little better (like, hey guys, I'm NOT actually this slow!) and they went off looking for some ice for me, which apparently they did not have. Um...okay. This race is at a medical center, and you don't have ANY ice?? Not even at the "first aid" tent? What do you have there, bandaids?
The only good things about the day were that I didn't run a personal worst (shockingly), the race gave out running hats which I actually kind of like, and the GBTC women won for the team competition, which gives us a big lead in the grand prix! Oh, and we went out to brunch afterwards. Nothing can soothe the hurt of a bad race like a huge, cheesy omlette and home fries.
Today my ankle is swollen and painful, but I think it's probably just a grade I sprain and will be fine in a couple of days. I think more frustrating than the fact that I got hurt in the first place was that I felt like it gave me an excuse of sorts to bail out on myself in a race that I knew was going to suck. And I know looking back that it would have been stupid to push and try to run harder through it, but still in the end to me it kind of feels like a cop out. But then again, it would have felt like way more of a cop out if I didn't even finish the race...so I guess there's that.
Monday, May 09, 2011
Monday, May 02, 2011
Week of 4/25-5/1 + April Recap
4/25/11-5/1/11
Total miles: 50.1
Total runs: 7
Total strength/XT workouts: 2
Total workouts: 1.5
Longest run: 13.3 miles
I realized at the end of this week that this was my first 50 mile week since mid-March. I know April was a shitty month thanks to my hip issues, but damn did I fall off the boat hard. It's actually funny because hitting 50 this week just kind of....happened...I think the plan was more like 44...but hey, when things are working, why not?
I went to yoga at Karma Yoga once, which left me sore for 4 days. I had a really crappy/aborted GBTC workout, but then totally made up for it with the world's most amazing tempo/fartlek on Saturday. I FINALLY got in a semi-legit long run of 13.3 miles and felt fantastic. I only made 2/3 of my strength training mission, but 2 is definitely better than none - going to make that 3 x happen this week. :) All in all, a pretty solid week of running, with VERY nice weather and some very enjoyable runs.
April Recap
Total miles: 139.6
Days off: 9
Workouts: 3
Longest run: 15.5 miles
April sucked balls. By far my lowest mileage month of the year so far, and given the fact that I spent a week and a half not running and another week running super tentatively, that's no surprise (in fact, I'm astounded that the numbers were this high). I don't think I really went too far backwards in terms of fitness, but I sure as hell didn't go forward. However, with the discovery of what's actually wrong with my hip and strategies to make it better, combined with the fact that school is winding down for the semester, I think May is going to be a hell of a lot better.
Total miles: 50.1
Total runs: 7
Total strength/XT workouts: 2
Total workouts: 1.5
Longest run: 13.3 miles
I realized at the end of this week that this was my first 50 mile week since mid-March. I know April was a shitty month thanks to my hip issues, but damn did I fall off the boat hard. It's actually funny because hitting 50 this week just kind of....happened...I think the plan was more like 44...but hey, when things are working, why not?
I went to yoga at Karma Yoga once, which left me sore for 4 days. I had a really crappy/aborted GBTC workout, but then totally made up for it with the world's most amazing tempo/fartlek on Saturday. I FINALLY got in a semi-legit long run of 13.3 miles and felt fantastic. I only made 2/3 of my strength training mission, but 2 is definitely better than none - going to make that 3 x happen this week. :) All in all, a pretty solid week of running, with VERY nice weather and some very enjoyable runs.
April Recap
Total miles: 139.6
Days off: 9
Workouts: 3
Longest run: 15.5 miles
April sucked balls. By far my lowest mileage month of the year so far, and given the fact that I spent a week and a half not running and another week running super tentatively, that's no surprise (in fact, I'm astounded that the numbers were this high). I don't think I really went too far backwards in terms of fitness, but I sure as hell didn't go forward. However, with the discovery of what's actually wrong with my hip and strategies to make it better, combined with the fact that school is winding down for the semester, I think May is going to be a hell of a lot better.
Friday, April 29, 2011
The mysteries of life...explained!
Well, the mysteries of MY life anyway. So I haven't really talked about it much on the blog, but I've been having some rather frustrating hip issues for pretty much the entire winter. The problem was in my right hip early on, after I was starting to get back into maintenance (fact of the day: I can NEVER spell that word right) mode after Baystate, and then sort of sneakily moved into the left hip after a month or so of painfree running. For the most part it was more of an annoyance than a major issue, and obviously my stubborn self kept running like nothing was the matter even when I was limping during the recovery periods during hard workouts. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I did a (way too) hard 9 miler, and the next day when I walked out my door to run I couldn't. I was limping too badly to go with the illusion any longer..so I didn't run. And I didn't run for a week and a half. After that, I ran really slow for a few days, and have since been training pretty much normally, but the problem still exists, it's just much more under control.
Now right around the time when it flared up, my lab instructor had put out a call for people who actually had lower extremity issues to be 'patients' in our final lab so we could kind of put all the skills we've learned over the semester together into an actual exam. Yes...being a PT student has its perks. So I gladly signed up because while I was starting to get a decent idea of what was going on, I figured what essentially would be a free PT eval with the help of 10 of my friends couldn't possibly be a bad thing. In the process I found out a LOT of interesting things about my effed up body, which explain pretty much every injury I've ever had in my life. (Also...if you don't want to be super bored by a bunch of PT talk that I nerdily find really interesting...feel free to skip this part)
1) I have a forefoot varus. I'm not sure how to explain this but I will try because hey, that's kind of like studying, right? So basically, the bones of my forefoot (metatarsals & toes) sit at an angle compared to my heel. So when my ankle is in neutral, my big toe and 1st met actually sit up off the ground. So what does this mean for my life? Pretty much it means when I walk/run, I land really far in supination, on the way outside of my foot...but then, gravity wants to pull my foot down, so I fall into overpronation...no bueno. And because I'm even more awesome, I also take off from the inside of my foot (mostly my big toe) instead of rolling back outside before I take off....this was MIND BLOWING to me. I always assumed you were supposed to take off from your big toe! Nope. Apparently not. Those awesome calluses I have on the inside of my big toe? Normal people don't have those. So anyway, this super awesome foot type puts stress on all kinds of structures, and can lead to things like....IT band issues (yup, had those), shin splints (check plus), and a lot of other common injuries.
The good news is I'm wearing the right type of shoes for this. Mostly because I win at picking out running shoes...duhhh.
2) I have a really weak ass. Pretty self explanatory really, but both my glute max and glute med are extremely weak, and this moreso that my weird feet are pretty much the cause of my current hip issue. Interestingly, I NEVER had a running related injury until I stopped dancing....lo and behold, you use both sets of glutes a LOT in dance, and apparently they've gotten lazy in the past couple of years. I almost guarantee this is why I had such bad hamstring issues at Boston last year, because I was only using my hamstrings to extend my hip instead of my hamstrings and glutes, which is pretty much a recipe for hamstring cramps and tendinopathies.
Now right around the time when it flared up, my lab instructor had put out a call for people who actually had lower extremity issues to be 'patients' in our final lab so we could kind of put all the skills we've learned over the semester together into an actual exam. Yes...being a PT student has its perks. So I gladly signed up because while I was starting to get a decent idea of what was going on, I figured what essentially would be a free PT eval with the help of 10 of my friends couldn't possibly be a bad thing. In the process I found out a LOT of interesting things about my effed up body, which explain pretty much every injury I've ever had in my life. (Also...if you don't want to be super bored by a bunch of PT talk that I nerdily find really interesting...feel free to skip this part)
1) I have a forefoot varus. I'm not sure how to explain this but I will try because hey, that's kind of like studying, right? So basically, the bones of my forefoot (metatarsals & toes) sit at an angle compared to my heel. So when my ankle is in neutral, my big toe and 1st met actually sit up off the ground. So what does this mean for my life? Pretty much it means when I walk/run, I land really far in supination, on the way outside of my foot...but then, gravity wants to pull my foot down, so I fall into overpronation...no bueno. And because I'm even more awesome, I also take off from the inside of my foot (mostly my big toe) instead of rolling back outside before I take off....this was MIND BLOWING to me. I always assumed you were supposed to take off from your big toe! Nope. Apparently not. Those awesome calluses I have on the inside of my big toe? Normal people don't have those. So anyway, this super awesome foot type puts stress on all kinds of structures, and can lead to things like....IT band issues (yup, had those), shin splints (check plus), and a lot of other common injuries.
The good news is I'm wearing the right type of shoes for this. Mostly because I win at picking out running shoes...duhhh.
2) I have a really weak ass. Pretty self explanatory really, but both my glute max and glute med are extremely weak, and this moreso that my weird feet are pretty much the cause of my current hip issue. Interestingly, I NEVER had a running related injury until I stopped dancing....lo and behold, you use both sets of glutes a LOT in dance, and apparently they've gotten lazy in the past couple of years. I almost guarantee this is why I had such bad hamstring issues at Boston last year, because I was only using my hamstrings to extend my hip instead of my hamstrings and glutes, which is pretty much a recipe for hamstring cramps and tendinopathies.
 |
| Thanks a bunch, glute med. |
So it turns out that my "strength 3 times a week, no excuses" plan couldn't have come at a better time - because not only is it going to make me awesome, it's going to FIX me! What more could you want?
Also my IT band is tight. HUUUUUGE surprise there *sarcasm*
So in the end, my 'diagnosis' was iliopsoas tendinopathy with some kind of irritation in my hip joint too, probably caused by impingement of some sort. It was REALLY (in the most nerdy way possible) cool to think through the different tests that you would do and see how it actually played out. Clearly I managed to pick the right profession! Although, we'll see if I'm still saying that next week when I'm in the middle of finals studying hell...
I also ran 7.3 delightful miles today in the glorious 72 degree weather with no watch and no ipod. Bliss, pretty sure I found you.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Boston 2011: Thoughts as a spectator
So I had an absolute blast and a half spectating. I loved screaming my guts out at everyone who passed - if you had your name on your shirt or some sort of interesting apparel, you were getting some ridiculous motivation from me - and watching the elite race (and explaining it to my non-runner friends) was really cool.
However....
I think spectating brought it home for me that drinking and screaming and watching are fun...but out there on the course? That's where I want to be. I wasn't sad that I wasn't running this year since with my injury issues over the winter it would have been a train wreck anyway, it was just more of a yearning for the marathon and an epic explosion of excitement for Boston 2012. Like, as soon as I got home from spectating, I wrote 4/16/2012 on a post it note and stuck it up on my desk. Because THAT is the motivation for my next year of training. To be one of those people running through Brookline past a group of drunken screaming grad students at this time next year...and to be killing it. :) (Although after this year's 'once in a lifetime' weather, how much do you want to bet that next year its going to be 35 and pouring? Hmm?)
So we started out the morning at my apartment with a power hour to ensure that we were all sufficiently ready to cheer when it came time to go down to the course....5.5 beers in an hour will generally ensure that that happens. Hah! We were watching the race coverage on TV while we did this and everyone was commenting on Kim Smith taking it out like a crazy woman. "Why would you do that? I think I would want to stay in the pack" commented one of my friends, which honestly at the time I kind of agreed with, but she was looking so strong that I was interested to see what would happen by the time they were passing us (~mile 23)
We headed down to the course around 11 and staked out our spots - the crowd was pretty sparse at this point, but soon the elite women were coming through! We were all confused looking around for Smith, at first I assumed that she had just dropped back but more and more runners kept coming at we never saw her...only later did we find out that she had a torn soleus and had to drop out. Poor girl :( I was actually really rooting for her because I know she trains in Providence, so even though she isn't American she's kind of "local".
I took a lot of pictures of the elites...
All in all, a really fun day. We all got quite sunburnt and were pretty much dead to the world by 7 pm...kind of like we would have been had we actually run the race...haha.
Yesterday I went for a delightful 7.75 miles, my longest in almost 2 weeks since trying to figure out this hip issue, and actually felt great. I tried to keep the pace easy, ended up with 8 flat, which I suppose is acceptable, and I promise based on effort it truly did feel easy. I'm hoping to get in a decent mileage week of easy running this week, and then see if I can head back to GBTC practice next week to at least complete part of the speed workout. God knows if I'm going to be racing a 6K in a few weeks, I need to remember how to run fast...
However....
I think spectating brought it home for me that drinking and screaming and watching are fun...but out there on the course? That's where I want to be. I wasn't sad that I wasn't running this year since with my injury issues over the winter it would have been a train wreck anyway, it was just more of a yearning for the marathon and an epic explosion of excitement for Boston 2012. Like, as soon as I got home from spectating, I wrote 4/16/2012 on a post it note and stuck it up on my desk. Because THAT is the motivation for my next year of training. To be one of those people running through Brookline past a group of drunken screaming grad students at this time next year...and to be killing it. :) (Although after this year's 'once in a lifetime' weather, how much do you want to bet that next year its going to be 35 and pouring? Hmm?)
So we started out the morning at my apartment with a power hour to ensure that we were all sufficiently ready to cheer when it came time to go down to the course....5.5 beers in an hour will generally ensure that that happens. Hah! We were watching the race coverage on TV while we did this and everyone was commenting on Kim Smith taking it out like a crazy woman. "Why would you do that? I think I would want to stay in the pack" commented one of my friends, which honestly at the time I kind of agreed with, but she was looking so strong that I was interested to see what would happen by the time they were passing us (~mile 23)
We headed down to the course around 11 and staked out our spots - the crowd was pretty sparse at this point, but soon the elite women were coming through! We were all confused looking around for Smith, at first I assumed that she had just dropped back but more and more runners kept coming at we never saw her...only later did we find out that she had a torn soleus and had to drop out. Poor girl :( I was actually really rooting for her because I know she trains in Providence, so even though she isn't American she's kind of "local".
I took a lot of pictures of the elites...
Desiree Davila in the LEAD! I don't think I even processed while I was watching that this was an American woman. I wish this picture was less blurry, because it is cool.
Kara Goucher...none of my friends could believe that she had a baby 6 months ago. I was so excited to watch her run!
Top 2 men - Mutai & Mosop - on their way to a course record/world best/whatever you want to call it with wind and asterisks and question marks...still a pretty epic time
Ryan Hall! Happy to see him having a solid day out there today.
The perils of marathon running. Hey, I would be completely willing to poop myself if it meant I could run a 2:37 marathon (which this woman did)
My running buddy's husband Ryan, rocking the GBTC red!
After the elites my picture taking trailed off, because I was mostly focused on waving my sign and screaming at the top of my lungs. I also realized yesterday that what Andrew said last year was completely correct, that it is almost impossible to pick out individual people out of the endless stream of runners unless a) they're wearing something really distinctive or b) they recognize YOU. Out of all of the bloggers/DMers/teammates of mine running, I saw maybe 6 GBTCers and one DMer who runs for the BAA (although in retrospect, I think I noticed a couple others, I just didn't realize it at the time).
All in all, a really fun day. We all got quite sunburnt and were pretty much dead to the world by 7 pm...kind of like we would have been had we actually run the race...haha.
Yesterday I went for a delightful 7.75 miles, my longest in almost 2 weeks since trying to figure out this hip issue, and actually felt great. I tried to keep the pace easy, ended up with 8 flat, which I suppose is acceptable, and I promise based on effort it truly did feel easy. I'm hoping to get in a decent mileage week of easy running this week, and then see if I can head back to GBTC practice next week to at least complete part of the speed workout. God knows if I'm going to be racing a 6K in a few weeks, I need to remember how to run fast...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Running slow to run fast
I had a mindblowing experience today.
So I was reading the May issue of Running Times (if you are not aware, a FAR superior publication to Runners World, catering much more to competitive runners/racers with lots of interesting articles on elites and training/racing type articles that go way beyond couch to 5K...I highly recommend.). I had initially bought the mag at Whole Foods because my alma mater track club, the WTC, had a big old 2 page feature in it, which is pretty sweet. But the main training article was on being "racing fit" all year round while still adding in periods of 'peaking' intensity for an A race. The concept is nothing new to me and it's always something I've generally tried to subscribe to (not so much this winter, but let's not talk about that) so that wasn't the crazy part - the mindblower was when I looked at the paces that were suggested for the various types of workouts (easy/maintainance/long, tempo, aerobic threshold, and intervals)
Using 6:30 as my approximate 5K pace, here's what I got:
anaerobic threshold (ie, short tempo): 85-95% of 5K pace, for me, 6:50-7:38
aerobic threshold (steady state runs, long tempos, the later minutes of progression runs): 75-85% 5K, for me 7:38-8:40
intervals: 1500-5K pace, 5:45ish-6:30
easy/recovery/long: 65-75% of 5K pace, for me, 8:40-10:00
Now we all know I'm pretty much incapable of running easy. Ever. But when I looked at these paces and realized that I'm running at the low end of aerobic threshold or faster every. single. day. it was like....whoa. Might I be actually hurting myself rather than helping myself by running like an idiot day after day? The answer, I'm pretty sure, is yes...but actually seeing concrete paces kind of helped put things in perspective a bit. Granted, my 5K probably should be faster than it is (although interestingly, according to McMillan, my 5K PR is actually quite a bit faster than my marathon would suggest, it's the 10K/half times that I 'should' be running that I haven't hit yet) and I think 10 minute miles are a little excessively slow, but even so, there are a fairly significant number of days in my week when I SHOULD be running 8+ minute pace. Why is this so difficult for me to comprehend? I ran the best race of my life after training hard, but logging plenty of slower miles, you would think that would be enough to get it through my head.
This is especially interesting to me in light of the fact that a) I've felt stale as stale can be for...well...pretty much since Baystate. And I suppose, after 3 consecutive hard marathon training cycles, "overtrained" is a word that could possibly have been used to describe me, especially taking into account the 'I can't run easy' business. And b) I've been riding the vague & nagging injury bus since November, with the latest exacerbation being a weird hip thingy that left me unable to run for the past week and a half. Things finally seem to be resolving themselves after some time spend with the elliptical and the pool, and thank god because a fem neck stress fracture was on my differential diagnosis list for awhile, but it has gotten me thinking about whether I just go at it too damn hard day after day, and it's bringing me down both mentally and physically. When running is hard every single day a lot of the fun goes out of it, and when you're injured a lot of the fun goes out of it.
SO...my new plan. I've pretty much realized that my A race for the next year is Boston 2012. The marathon is what I care about, training for it is what I love, and quite frankly, while I think maybe I have a 19:30 5K in me, I think the longer distances are where I belong. Yes I'm planning on racing cross, and summer races (assuming I can get back into shape after this damn injury), but THE goal is a PR at Boston next year. And to really be ready to go where I've never gone before in my peak training for that race, I need to be consistent in my miles and my workouts, but not get burnt out. And...ta da...that's where running easy comes in. It's going to be hard, but I feel like it's become clear to me that I need to change something in my training if I want to improve, and I think in my case it means running easy enough on the easy days to really be able to run the hard days hard..and to WANT to run the hard days hard. I see people on DM who are FAST - sub-19 5K fast - who run like 8:45-9:00 on their easy runs...and I'm like, they're faster than me, why on earth am I running my easy runs so much harder than them? This makes no sense. It's going to be a challenge for my mind to tell my legs to slow the eff down, but damn, I'm going to try.
On that note, today I ran my longest run in a week and a half, 6.75 out on the Boston course. My first mile I ran in 8:40...success! Except then I ended up with an 8:00 average...which is still progress...come on people, I'm learning here.
Also...I would be lying if I said I was not just a *little* bit jealous of everyone running Boston on Monday. You know how it goes. HOWEVER...Marathon Monday marks my first every opportunity to spectate a road race. Ever. I'm always the one racing them, duh. And, it also just so happens that Marathon Monday involves starting to drink somewhere in the vicinity of 7 am, a la 11am Badger games in undergrad. And you know what's better than a runner who knows what people want to hear at mile 23? A drunken runner who knows what people want to hear at mile 23 ;) I'm sure I'll have an epic spectating report up sooon.
And to anyone reading this is racing on Monday - you are ready to kill it, DON'T STOP BELIEVIN! I'll be the crazy girl screaming at mile 23 :)
So I was reading the May issue of Running Times (if you are not aware, a FAR superior publication to Runners World, catering much more to competitive runners/racers with lots of interesting articles on elites and training/racing type articles that go way beyond couch to 5K...I highly recommend.). I had initially bought the mag at Whole Foods because my alma mater track club, the WTC, had a big old 2 page feature in it, which is pretty sweet. But the main training article was on being "racing fit" all year round while still adding in periods of 'peaking' intensity for an A race. The concept is nothing new to me and it's always something I've generally tried to subscribe to (not so much this winter, but let's not talk about that) so that wasn't the crazy part - the mindblower was when I looked at the paces that were suggested for the various types of workouts (easy/maintainance/long, tempo, aerobic threshold, and intervals)
Using 6:30 as my approximate 5K pace, here's what I got:
anaerobic threshold (ie, short tempo): 85-95% of 5K pace, for me, 6:50-7:38
aerobic threshold (steady state runs, long tempos, the later minutes of progression runs): 75-85% 5K, for me 7:38-8:40
intervals: 1500-5K pace, 5:45ish-6:30
easy/recovery/long: 65-75% of 5K pace, for me, 8:40-10:00
Now we all know I'm pretty much incapable of running easy. Ever. But when I looked at these paces and realized that I'm running at the low end of aerobic threshold or faster every. single. day. it was like....whoa. Might I be actually hurting myself rather than helping myself by running like an idiot day after day? The answer, I'm pretty sure, is yes...but actually seeing concrete paces kind of helped put things in perspective a bit. Granted, my 5K probably should be faster than it is (although interestingly, according to McMillan, my 5K PR is actually quite a bit faster than my marathon would suggest, it's the 10K/half times that I 'should' be running that I haven't hit yet) and I think 10 minute miles are a little excessively slow, but even so, there are a fairly significant number of days in my week when I SHOULD be running 8+ minute pace. Why is this so difficult for me to comprehend? I ran the best race of my life after training hard, but logging plenty of slower miles, you would think that would be enough to get it through my head.
This is especially interesting to me in light of the fact that a) I've felt stale as stale can be for...well...pretty much since Baystate. And I suppose, after 3 consecutive hard marathon training cycles, "overtrained" is a word that could possibly have been used to describe me, especially taking into account the 'I can't run easy' business. And b) I've been riding the vague & nagging injury bus since November, with the latest exacerbation being a weird hip thingy that left me unable to run for the past week and a half. Things finally seem to be resolving themselves after some time spend with the elliptical and the pool, and thank god because a fem neck stress fracture was on my differential diagnosis list for awhile, but it has gotten me thinking about whether I just go at it too damn hard day after day, and it's bringing me down both mentally and physically. When running is hard every single day a lot of the fun goes out of it, and when you're injured a lot of the fun goes out of it.
SO...my new plan. I've pretty much realized that my A race for the next year is Boston 2012. The marathon is what I care about, training for it is what I love, and quite frankly, while I think maybe I have a 19:30 5K in me, I think the longer distances are where I belong. Yes I'm planning on racing cross, and summer races (assuming I can get back into shape after this damn injury), but THE goal is a PR at Boston next year. And to really be ready to go where I've never gone before in my peak training for that race, I need to be consistent in my miles and my workouts, but not get burnt out. And...ta da...that's where running easy comes in. It's going to be hard, but I feel like it's become clear to me that I need to change something in my training if I want to improve, and I think in my case it means running easy enough on the easy days to really be able to run the hard days hard..and to WANT to run the hard days hard. I see people on DM who are FAST - sub-19 5K fast - who run like 8:45-9:00 on their easy runs...and I'm like, they're faster than me, why on earth am I running my easy runs so much harder than them? This makes no sense. It's going to be a challenge for my mind to tell my legs to slow the eff down, but damn, I'm going to try.
On that note, today I ran my longest run in a week and a half, 6.75 out on the Boston course. My first mile I ran in 8:40...success! Except then I ended up with an 8:00 average...which is still progress...come on people, I'm learning here.
Also...I would be lying if I said I was not just a *little* bit jealous of everyone running Boston on Monday. You know how it goes. HOWEVER...Marathon Monday marks my first every opportunity to spectate a road race. Ever. I'm always the one racing them, duh. And, it also just so happens that Marathon Monday involves starting to drink somewhere in the vicinity of 7 am, a la 11am Badger games in undergrad. And you know what's better than a runner who knows what people want to hear at mile 23? A drunken runner who knows what people want to hear at mile 23 ;) I'm sure I'll have an epic spectating report up sooon.
And to anyone reading this is racing on Monday - you are ready to kill it, DON'T STOP BELIEVIN! I'll be the crazy girl screaming at mile 23 :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
To those about to run, I salute you
Because you ran miles in the cold, in the sun, in the wind, in the snow, on sheets of ice and on treadmills, on days when the wind was at your back and days when you cursed the very fact that you were running at all.
Because you've been there, in all of your multicolored glory, through the months where there's nothing but white to be seen, as motorists honk and pedestrians gaze in confusion at these crazy fools out in the negative windchill. Or you've run like an animal, half naked in the summer sun, hoping to finish before the temps climbed above 90. The weather didn't matter. You ran.
Because you've broken down muscles and sat with teeth clenched in a ice bath, because you've performed amateur foot surgery on yet another black toenail, because you've diligently done your PT exercises in the hope that maybe, just maybe, that nagging injury won't hurt on race day. Because you've persevered.
Because you've done tempos, hills, fartleks, intervals, and myriad other workouts that you can explain to a non-runner but that they'll never understand. Because you gutted it out on that last 1000. Because you didn't give up in the middle of that horrible tempo. Because you carried on.
Because some days you had an exam to study for, a kid to take care of, dishes piling up in the sink, a boss with too many projects to comprehend, hardly time to think...and still you ran. You ran when the alarm went off at 4 am, you ran in the dark of night at 8 pm, you ran at lunch. Because you ignored the co-workers and friends who thought you were crazy. Because maybe, a little bit, you are.
Because there were days when you doubted. Dark days when you thought "why?". Days when you wondered "is this worth it?" Days when you felt like you were going to collapse under the weight of your own expectations, days when the wind was in your face no matter which way you turned. Because you never let your doubts overcome your passion.
Because there were good days too. Days when your feet seemed to sprout wings and carry you effortlessly along, runs with friends where the conversation made the miles fly by. Tough workouts that you finished with aching legs but a full heart. Long runs - maybe even your longest runs ever - to remember. Because you know what it's like to fly.
Because on Saturdays and Sundays, you were gone for 3 and 4 hours, leaving families, studying, work sleeping in their beds. Because you know what flavor of Gu will get you through when your legs are aching at mile 15 of a 22 miler. Because you know where the best public restrooms lie.
Because maybe you were told you couldn't. Maybe it was you yourself who thought "I can't". But somewhere deep inside, there was some tiny spark that said "you can". And because you will.
Because on race day, you will cross two lines - a start and a finish. Between those lines lies 26.2 miles of a race that you are ready to run. Because you're shooting for a PR, a BQ, a marathon finish. Because you WILL finish. Because no matter what awaits you out on the course on raceday, whatever Mother Nature can throw down from the skies, whatever your body dreams up, whatever the roads throw at you, you can trust in this: you belong here. And you are ready.
Good luck to all of my Boston Marathon running friends...I salute you all and can't wait to cheer you on out there on the course!!
Because you've been there, in all of your multicolored glory, through the months where there's nothing but white to be seen, as motorists honk and pedestrians gaze in confusion at these crazy fools out in the negative windchill. Or you've run like an animal, half naked in the summer sun, hoping to finish before the temps climbed above 90. The weather didn't matter. You ran.
Because you've broken down muscles and sat with teeth clenched in a ice bath, because you've performed amateur foot surgery on yet another black toenail, because you've diligently done your PT exercises in the hope that maybe, just maybe, that nagging injury won't hurt on race day. Because you've persevered.
Because you've done tempos, hills, fartleks, intervals, and myriad other workouts that you can explain to a non-runner but that they'll never understand. Because you gutted it out on that last 1000. Because you didn't give up in the middle of that horrible tempo. Because you carried on.
Because some days you had an exam to study for, a kid to take care of, dishes piling up in the sink, a boss with too many projects to comprehend, hardly time to think...and still you ran. You ran when the alarm went off at 4 am, you ran in the dark of night at 8 pm, you ran at lunch. Because you ignored the co-workers and friends who thought you were crazy. Because maybe, a little bit, you are.
Because there were days when you doubted. Dark days when you thought "why?". Days when you wondered "is this worth it?" Days when you felt like you were going to collapse under the weight of your own expectations, days when the wind was in your face no matter which way you turned. Because you never let your doubts overcome your passion.
Because there were good days too. Days when your feet seemed to sprout wings and carry you effortlessly along, runs with friends where the conversation made the miles fly by. Tough workouts that you finished with aching legs but a full heart. Long runs - maybe even your longest runs ever - to remember. Because you know what it's like to fly.
Because on Saturdays and Sundays, you were gone for 3 and 4 hours, leaving families, studying, work sleeping in their beds. Because you know what flavor of Gu will get you through when your legs are aching at mile 15 of a 22 miler. Because you know where the best public restrooms lie.
Because maybe you were told you couldn't. Maybe it was you yourself who thought "I can't". But somewhere deep inside, there was some tiny spark that said "you can". And because you will.
Because on race day, you will cross two lines - a start and a finish. Between those lines lies 26.2 miles of a race that you are ready to run. Because you're shooting for a PR, a BQ, a marathon finish. Because you WILL finish. Because no matter what awaits you out on the course on raceday, whatever Mother Nature can throw down from the skies, whatever your body dreams up, whatever the roads throw at you, you can trust in this: you belong here. And you are ready.
Good luck to all of my Boston Marathon running friends...I salute you all and can't wait to cheer you on out there on the course!!
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Worst blogger ever? Probably me.
Hmm...over a month since my last post...again...I'm pretty amazing at this whole blogging thing aren't I? I think it's because my training has been less than thrilling lately (especially given that I'm not actually..."training" for anything in particular per se) and who would have thought, being a PT student is actually sort of time consuming? Anyway, I hope you all don't hate me for abandoning you (for anyone who actually does/still reads this?) and I am really going to try to return to a more normal blogging schedule, even if it's just reposting elaborations on my dailymile workouts. I guess in a way that has become like a blog, since each workout presents the opportunity to ramble about it...and we know how much I love rambling!
Well, in the spirit of actually writing SOMETHING on this thing...today I ran 15.5 miles. Actually, when I mapped it out I got 16, but since I ran ~4.5 on a trail that I'm sure is slightly shorter than my estimate (and I don't think I ran 7:30 pace for 16 miles) I rounded down. It was a gorgeous day and I actually had FUN on a long run thanks mainly to a new route + a newly discovered park with TRAILS which are pretty much my happy place. There were also puppies, including a golden retriever who came bounding up to me with a stick and basically started begging me to pet him. Ummm yes...I will stop my watch and freaking snuggle with you, adorable dog.
15.5 miles - 2:00:23 - 7:46 pace
My next supposed race is the James Joyce 10K on May 1. I have no idea what my level of preparedness for this race is but it's becoming quite clear to me that if I don't run a damn race soon I'm going to go nuts and lose all motivation to run. Probably at the same time. There's also the possibility of a 5K at BC in a couple of weeks, but that will probably be a more spur of the moment thing. Speaking of a couple of weeks...my main running related thought process lately has been to SPECTATING Boston!! And yes, I am wicked excited. I know a lot of people running between dailymile friends, bloggers, and my club/other Boston people, so I plan on making like 18 different signs, yelling a lot, and generally being the most super spectator ever. (So for those of you running Boston...if you feel like letting me know what you'll be wearing so I can look for you and cheer for you I'd love it! :))
And now, because I really need to get back to studying neuro, I'm going to do this random bloggy thing that I found @Runner's Rambles. And I do enjoy random surveys!
Outside my window … it's dark, but there are lots of cars going by.
I am hearing … Chopin radio on Pandora (classical music is my study aid of choice)
I am thinking … about neuro. Sort of. Or about how much fun I had last night!
I am thankful … for my spectacular boyfriend and for my PT crew, I would not be surviving this program without them!
I am reading … Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases, I know you are deeply jealous.
I am hoping and praying … that I did well on the 2 exams I took last week, and that I do well on the one coming up this week!
I am wearing … Adrenaline dance sweatpants and my WTC sweatshirt...scrubbin' it hard lol.
I am creating … the most beautiful set of neuro notes ever. Seriously, I love highlighters.
From the kitchen … I made some amazing chili on Friday!
Around the house … messiness everywhereee...and lots of laundry that needs to be done.
Plans for the rest of the week … peds form tomorrow night, neuro studying the next few days, hopefully making it to a yoga class since I bought a Groupon for them!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
I'm going running after this. Promise.
I found/stole this delightful survey [I feel the need to note that I just typed 'surgery' which apparently represents where my brain is right now....7 am lecture on knee replacements = waaaaaah] from lindsey @ chasing the kenyans, and since I have 15 minutes until my self imposed time when I must be out the door and running, I'm doing it. More substantial content to come at some point in the future.
A) Age: 23
(B) Bed Size: queen, and I don't know how I ever slept on a twin.
(C) Chore You Hate: laundry
(D) Dogs? LOVE. 3 years working with all shapes and sizes, and can't wait to have one of my own.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: coffee
(F) Favorite Color: orange
(G) Gold or Silver? well...gold if it's a medal. Silver in general life.
(H) Height: 5'6''
(I) Instruments You Play: secret time! I've dabbled in piano, tenor sax, and drum set, and I played oboe/English horn from 5th grade through high school. Alas, the one thing I've ever been naturally good at, I really never was super interested in...haven't played since senior year of HS.
(J) Job Title: PT student. Please, let me pay YOU so I can work!
(K) Kids: eventually, 1 or 2.
(L) Live: Boston
(M) Mom's Name: Barbara
(N) Nicknames: Audge, Audgers
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? an ER visit or 2, that's it
(P) Pet Peeve: People (or things...ie buses/trains) that are late
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "We're doing this thing called jogging...or maybe it's yogging, it might be a soft j. Anyway it's this thing where you just RUN for an extended period of time, it's supposed to be wild!"
(R) Right or Left Handed? right
(S) Siblings: 1 sister
(T) Time You Wake Up? an hour and 15 before class starts
(U) Underwear: currently - pink with strawberries
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: raw green pepper
(W) What Makes You Run Late: Not being able to find anything, ever. Keys, wallet, phone, at least one of these things is missing on any given morning
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: Couple of wrist x-rays for my fractures at age 4 and 11
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: one time I made stuffed shells, and they were really good. Not much of a cook and definitely not a baker, I hate to say.
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: aside from dogs, goats, llamas, otters...I like animals that are cute in a bizarre way...like, goats are really weird. But I find them adorable.
8 minutes to spare! It's run time. Woo hoo!
A) Age: 23
(B) Bed Size: queen, and I don't know how I ever slept on a twin.
(C) Chore You Hate: laundry
(D) Dogs? LOVE. 3 years working with all shapes and sizes, and can't wait to have one of my own.
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: coffee
(F) Favorite Color: orange
(G) Gold or Silver? well...gold if it's a medal. Silver in general life.
(H) Height: 5'6''
(I) Instruments You Play: secret time! I've dabbled in piano, tenor sax, and drum set, and I played oboe/English horn from 5th grade through high school. Alas, the one thing I've ever been naturally good at, I really never was super interested in...haven't played since senior year of HS.
(J) Job Title: PT student. Please, let me pay YOU so I can work!
(K) Kids: eventually, 1 or 2.
(L) Live: Boston
(M) Mom's Name: Barbara
(N) Nicknames: Audge, Audgers
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? an ER visit or 2, that's it
(P) Pet Peeve: People (or things...ie buses/trains) that are late
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "We're doing this thing called jogging...or maybe it's yogging, it might be a soft j. Anyway it's this thing where you just RUN for an extended period of time, it's supposed to be wild!"
(R) Right or Left Handed? right
(S) Siblings: 1 sister
(T) Time You Wake Up? an hour and 15 before class starts
(U) Underwear: currently - pink with strawberries
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: raw green pepper
(W) What Makes You Run Late: Not being able to find anything, ever. Keys, wallet, phone, at least one of these things is missing on any given morning
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: Couple of wrist x-rays for my fractures at age 4 and 11
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: one time I made stuffed shells, and they were really good. Not much of a cook and definitely not a baker, I hate to say.
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: aside from dogs, goats, llamas, otters...I like animals that are cute in a bizarre way...like, goats are really weird. But I find them adorable.
8 minutes to spare! It's run time. Woo hoo!
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Adventures at the indoor track
I'm on track to run 40+ miles AGAIN this week! 2 weeks in a row! That hasn't happened in...er...awhile. Like since Baystate awhile. No wonder I'm so out of shape...I have been sucking. it. up. when it comes to actually running acceptable mileage [for me.] Granted my rash of injuries over the past couple months hasn't been any help with that. But I THINK [fingers so majorly crossed] that I may have finally snapped out of the funk and am on my way back to...something.
My body is perplexed right now. It wants to be marathon training. I did a great 30 min/slightly more than 4 miles tempo on Wednesday where I just locked in and cruised for half an hour...best part was I was going into the workout thinking of doing 3 x 10 minute tempos with breaks in between, and I sucked it up and did the whole half hour - this is the mental toughness I need to start finding again. But my legs are like "tempo? psh I can handle tempo!" Actual legit speedwork? Not quite so much. Anything below about 6:30 pace isn't sitting so well, and while tempos have their place in track training they're not going to get me to a fast 5K on the track in the spring. I know, the time will come. I'm proud of myself for FINALLY getting back to GBTC workouts (well, not this week, since Reggie was closed due to snowpocolypse part #593) even though I'm getting my ass kicked by everyone at the moment. But besides being a major slice of humble pie, working out with the club is motivation to get back, because I know who I should be running with and the fact that they're killing me in a 600s workout is about all the motivation I need to snap out of my wintry blahs and get my ass out there and run.
So musings aside, I've seen a bunch of glimpses of my crazy competitive self over the past couple of weeks. Due to the ridiculous weather and the fact that I'd prefer not to roll my ankle again and/or die in slushy wetness, I've been spending a decent amount of time running circles on the upstairs track at BU. It's 7 laps to a mile, so basically like running on any other indoor track out there, but what makes it really entertaining is the people. Oh, the people. OK - so at risk of sounding like a mean/terrible person, I do a lot of people watching/judging when I'm running on the track. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally supportive of everyone who is getting out there and running and trying...but sometimes when I'm running in circles for an hour I amuse myself by judging the people around me. [I know, I knowww...who am I to be miss high and mighty, blah blah blah. I in no way think that I am the best or the coolest or the fastest or even anywhere close to any of those things. But musing over other people's behavior distracts me from the fact that I am running in circles. So shoot me.]
My personal favorite occurrence has happened twice in the past week, and that's people [ESPECIALLY boys] who take it really personally that I'm faster than them, and thus, passed them on the track. It's the same situation every time, I'm running easily, cruising along, and I happen to pass someone. Whatever, there are like 30 people on the track, some running faster than others. People get passed. Duh. But these people take it as some sort of personal affront/challenge/there is no way a girl is running faster than me sort of deal, and decide that I need to be taught a lesson. But here's a hint, boy in the gray shirt. When a girl runs past you, and she's not really breathing hard, or looking like she's putting a whole ton of effort in, there's a chance she's got several more gears. And so, when you try to pick up the pace and shoot past, her, she will pick up right with you and calmly cruise at your side while you give her dirty looks (no joke) and attempt to surge over and over again to no avail. And for 2 whole miles, you'll try to get rid of her and pass her, and every time you try she will be right there at your side...because she senses how irritated you're getting and wants to mess with you (what can I say?). And then, finally, when she's done with her run, she'll decide YOU are the one who needs to be taught a lesson...and so, she'll drop down to 5K pace the last lap and leave you in her dust. Newsflash, gray shirt guy: girls are occasionally faster than boys. It happens. Deal with it. (True story. And I enjoyed every minute of it...plus, it turned my easy run into a great progression and kept me entertained too!)
We also have your usual cast of characters who enjoy such things as walking in a huge pack in lane 1, even though there are signs all over the place that say "runners to lane 1, walkers to lane 4", and people who enjoy sprinting for ~15 seconds and then stopping short right in front of you, also (obviously) in lane 1. On Thursday I saw a girl who was walk/jogging while holding a water bottle (despite the fact that there's a water fountain right next to the track) and then stopping to stand (right next to the water fountain) and drinking it. We have the usual lane drifters, people who just can't make up their mind, girls who look like they spent about an hour getting prettified to come run a mile on the track, etc. All provide excellent amusement to me while I'm counting down the laps to 7 or 8 miles (except of course when they're in my way, which happens often, though I guess that's sort of a stimulus in it's own way). Anyway, a salute to you, BU track users, for making my workouts infinitely more amusing and occasionally more challenging when I have to pick it up to teach one of you a lesson. :)
That's about all I can think of at the moment. In an absolutely crazy move for me, I responsibly did my long run yesterday because I knew it was going to snow today and/or tomorrow. Thumbs up, self! Have a great weekend, enjoy the Superbowl...GO PACK GO!
My body is perplexed right now. It wants to be marathon training. I did a great 30 min/slightly more than 4 miles tempo on Wednesday where I just locked in and cruised for half an hour...best part was I was going into the workout thinking of doing 3 x 10 minute tempos with breaks in between, and I sucked it up and did the whole half hour - this is the mental toughness I need to start finding again. But my legs are like "tempo? psh I can handle tempo!" Actual legit speedwork? Not quite so much. Anything below about 6:30 pace isn't sitting so well, and while tempos have their place in track training they're not going to get me to a fast 5K on the track in the spring. I know, the time will come. I'm proud of myself for FINALLY getting back to GBTC workouts (well, not this week, since Reggie was closed due to snowpocolypse part #593) even though I'm getting my ass kicked by everyone at the moment. But besides being a major slice of humble pie, working out with the club is motivation to get back, because I know who I should be running with and the fact that they're killing me in a 600s workout is about all the motivation I need to snap out of my wintry blahs and get my ass out there and run.
So musings aside, I've seen a bunch of glimpses of my crazy competitive self over the past couple of weeks. Due to the ridiculous weather and the fact that I'd prefer not to roll my ankle again and/or die in slushy wetness, I've been spending a decent amount of time running circles on the upstairs track at BU. It's 7 laps to a mile, so basically like running on any other indoor track out there, but what makes it really entertaining is the people. Oh, the people. OK - so at risk of sounding like a mean/terrible person, I do a lot of people watching/judging when I'm running on the track. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally supportive of everyone who is getting out there and running and trying...but sometimes when I'm running in circles for an hour I amuse myself by judging the people around me. [I know, I knowww...who am I to be miss high and mighty, blah blah blah. I in no way think that I am the best or the coolest or the fastest or even anywhere close to any of those things. But musing over other people's behavior distracts me from the fact that I am running in circles. So shoot me.]
My personal favorite occurrence has happened twice in the past week, and that's people [ESPECIALLY boys] who take it really personally that I'm faster than them, and thus, passed them on the track. It's the same situation every time, I'm running easily, cruising along, and I happen to pass someone. Whatever, there are like 30 people on the track, some running faster than others. People get passed. Duh. But these people take it as some sort of personal affront/challenge/there is no way a girl is running faster than me sort of deal, and decide that I need to be taught a lesson. But here's a hint, boy in the gray shirt. When a girl runs past you, and she's not really breathing hard, or looking like she's putting a whole ton of effort in, there's a chance she's got several more gears. And so, when you try to pick up the pace and shoot past, her, she will pick up right with you and calmly cruise at your side while you give her dirty looks (no joke) and attempt to surge over and over again to no avail. And for 2 whole miles, you'll try to get rid of her and pass her, and every time you try she will be right there at your side...because she senses how irritated you're getting and wants to mess with you (what can I say?). And then, finally, when she's done with her run, she'll decide YOU are the one who needs to be taught a lesson...and so, she'll drop down to 5K pace the last lap and leave you in her dust. Newsflash, gray shirt guy: girls are occasionally faster than boys. It happens. Deal with it. (True story. And I enjoyed every minute of it...plus, it turned my easy run into a great progression and kept me entertained too!)
We also have your usual cast of characters who enjoy such things as walking in a huge pack in lane 1, even though there are signs all over the place that say "runners to lane 1, walkers to lane 4", and people who enjoy sprinting for ~15 seconds and then stopping short right in front of you, also (obviously) in lane 1. On Thursday I saw a girl who was walk/jogging while holding a water bottle (despite the fact that there's a water fountain right next to the track) and then stopping to stand (right next to the water fountain) and drinking it. We have the usual lane drifters, people who just can't make up their mind, girls who look like they spent about an hour getting prettified to come run a mile on the track, etc. All provide excellent amusement to me while I'm counting down the laps to 7 or 8 miles (except of course when they're in my way, which happens often, though I guess that's sort of a stimulus in it's own way). Anyway, a salute to you, BU track users, for making my workouts infinitely more amusing and occasionally more challenging when I have to pick it up to teach one of you a lesson. :)
That's about all I can think of at the moment. In an absolutely crazy move for me, I responsibly did my long run yesterday because I knew it was going to snow today and/or tomorrow. Thumbs up, self! Have a great weekend, enjoy the Superbowl...GO PACK GO!
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
No, nature. Just no.
Oh, hi, massive snowstorm covering half the US. Because I mean, we don't already have like 2 feet of snow on the ground in Boston, most of which seems to have been left on the sidewalks and roads for me to potentially fall in while attempting to "run" outdoors. 6-18 inches more? For sure. Just what I needed. Thanks a bunch, NATURE.
In other news, I ran 43 miles last week and actually did a workout that nearly destroyed all of my self esteem and/or soul on Tuesday. Word on the street: I'm out of shape. The snow explosion isn't helping my motivation. Dear lord, am I glad I'm not training for Boston right now.
I'll think of more entertaining things to write later...enjoy your snow days if you have them. Something tells me BU will suck at life and make us go to class, but I'm drinking a Rogue Mocha Porter to spite them and keeping my fingers crossed. Because quite frankly, I wouldn't mind missing out on wound care lab tomorrow...although after tonight's extremely messy run through the slop, if the gym is closed tomorrow I may be in trouble...
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Some whining and some motivation
Once upon a time, back when I ran for the WTC, there was a small core of girls who raced consistently every. single. weekend. There were a ton of girls who would come to practice on and off, and do workouts, and long runs, and train, but when it came time to RACE, they were nowhere to be found. I remember the excuse was often "I'm not in shape to race" and the 5 of us who had been racing were like "well, you don't have to be in great racing shape to race, especially in track, where you race so many times that there's no way to be at peak for each and every one". And we thought it was kind of a dumb excuse. Well, I have officially found myself on the other side of that coin. Right now, at this moment, I feel like if I got on a track and raced a mile it would be a hideous embarrassment, complete with pity clap and calls of "there's still a runner on the track" and failure.
Granted, I have reasons for why my training has been sub-par. I've spent the last month struggling with a mysterious, transient, untraceable hip problem that has come and gone, some days making running painful, some days making it impossible, some days not bothering me at all. You would think that one semester of PT school would prepare me to self diagnose but alas, we just started on the hip this semester (though I fully plan on figuring out what exactly was/is wrong with me by semester's end!) At this point (knock on wood) it seems to have resolved to the point where it only flares if I aggravate it by doing something stupid (ie, a cutdown run on the treadmill, which it does not like.) But during this month, I've also managed to roll/sprain my ankle not once, but TWICE. The first was right before Christmas, and I spent the next 4 days hobbling around like a failure, and then yesterday my dumbass goes running in the most recent Boston blizzard and does it again. Granted, it seems to be relatively "okay" today, and I'll probably be back running tomorrow, but it's been an interesting month of trying to obtain any decent workouts.
I really don't know what the point of this post is. I think the point is that I haven't raced in over 2 months. That's a long time...too long. I am longing to feel the nervous energy and the pure bliss of the finish line and the pain and the camradrie and everything. And right at this second, I am just too scared. Things are looking up - I'm finally going to be making my long awaited return to GBTC track workouts, possibly as early as this week, and I have my sights set on the BU Valentine's Day Invite as my triumphant return to indoor track. I can't believe it's been 2 YEARS since I last set foot on a legit indoor track. Obviously I've achieved a lot over that period in the road racing realm of my life, but while I've still got some speed left in me, I might as well find it, right?
Anyway, we'll try to wrap this up with something positive, since so far this has mainly been one big random tangent. I never did a new year's resolution post, but I guess if I had to sum up my "resolutions" in 6 words, it would be this:
BE SMART, BE FEARLESS, BE STRONG
BE SMART - this includes, but isn't limited to, listening to my body as far as when I'm pushing too hard and when I can push harder, taking time off or cross training when I'm injured, paying more attention to the type of food I'm putting in my body as far as what's actually fuel and what's just crap, and (NRR) staying ahead of the game and performing well in school and in my first real-life clinical situation.
BE FEARLESS - basically, what this entire post has been about - not being afraid of a bad workout or race, leaving it all on the course, doing workouts that push me to my limits, and generally living without fear and without regrets in 2011.
BE STRONG - strength training is a HUGE part of what I want to accomplish this year - making it a part of my routine and something that I just do, rather than having to think about/force myself to do. Abs, yoga, circuits, and lifting all fall under this category...right now I'm aiming for yoga at least once a week, abs at least 3 times, and something else under the category of strength (lifting, circuits, pilates) at least once a week. I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't achieve these number goals but they're just something to think about to get me motivated to get stronger...which I know WILL make me a better, less injured runner.
That's about all I've got for today. I'm off to work on some school stuff and get some lifting and XTing in....I will be working at the GBTC Invitational meet alllllll day tomorrow (there are 100+ entries per gender in the mile and 200, oh my goodness) and hopefully making it to watch at least part of the Packer game, where the Packers will OBVIOUSLY be victorious! ;)
Friday, December 31, 2010
2010 Goals Revisited
With 2010 drawing to a close I thought I would revisit my 2010 goals post that's been hanging out in the sidebar all year...as far as accomplishing the things I set out to do running-wise this year, I surpassed pretty much all of my wildest expectations. The only PR that didn't fall was my 5K track PR and no worries...I'm coming for you in 2011! I learned what a cruel mistress the marathon can be, even with what seems like impeccable training, at Boston, and I learned the utter joy of having things come together perfectly at Baystate.
Time Goals:
5K
A- PR [sub-19:54] FAIL (but just you wait...)
B - sub-21 DONE! 20:12
*Providence Women's Classic, I had a great time at this race with my GBTC teammates even though it was 2 weeks before Baystate and I thought I was in no shape to run a 5K. Turns out...I was!
C - road PR [sub-21:48] DONE! 21:17
*Mystic River Herring Run, which I ran when I was antsy after Boston...I think I was 4th overall female and I won a $50 gift card to an Italian restaurant.
10K
A - PR [sub-46:30] DONE! 44:20
*Super Sunday 10K, only 10K I ran this year, and a big PR. Very fun race on probably the coldest day of the year!
Half Marathon
A - sub-1:40 DONE! 1:38:34
B - PR [sub 1:42:25] DONE!
*Both accomplished at the same race, New Bedford HM, during which I really enjoyed myself, ran perhaps my most evenly paced to date, and heard 'Don't Stop Believin'' being played out of a body shop at mile 8.
Marathon
A - sub-3:30 DONE! 3:22:10!!!!
B - sub-3:35 DONE
C - PR [sub 3:39:15] DONE
*All accomplished at the same race - Baystate Marathon 2010, a day which I will never, ever, ever forget.
Other Goals:
Race at least 2 new distances DONE - 12K, 25K, bonus 30K!
*I actually had a really fun time racing a bunch of new distances, especially the longer 25K and 30K that fall somewhere between the HM and marathon. Especially when they're 2 exceptionally hilly races, and run in the same week. Heh. :)
Race at least once in XC DONE - USATF-NEs [3 weeks post marathon, haaah]
*Pretty confident the only reason I ran this race was to cross this goal off the list. It was absolutely awful but that's why I set the goal as "just race" for this one, right?
Do abs/strength/yoga at least 3x per week FAIL
*This was a pretty epic fail. I was doing pretty well with yoga ~ once a week through the winter, and got back into it a little this fall, but strength training? abs? mostly nowhere to be found. This is something I really want to do better on in 2011!
Fuel better DONE-ish
*I'm giving myself this one because I feel that in general I've eaten quite a bit healthier this year than last - more "real" food as opposed to the college staple of Pastaroni, some fun cooking endeavors with the BF, and many less late night drunk food runs. Still a work in progress but I'm getting better. I also nailed down my marathon fueling strategy, which is certainly a plus!
All in all, 2010 was pretty incredible, running wise. I ran the Boston Marathon, PRed by 17 minutes at Baystate, set PRs or road PRs in every road race I ran except Boston, and ran 2 5K's, a 6K, a 10K, a 12K, a half marathon, a 25K, a 30K, and 2 marathons. Pretty fun assortment of distances and I'm pretty proud of them all.
So what's up for 2011? Well...that will have to wait for a future post :) I only have so much to write, ya know. Happy NYE!
Time Goals:
5K
A- PR [sub-19:54] FAIL (but just you wait...)
B - sub-21 DONE! 20:12
*Providence Women's Classic, I had a great time at this race with my GBTC teammates even though it was 2 weeks before Baystate and I thought I was in no shape to run a 5K. Turns out...I was!
C - road PR [sub-21:48] DONE! 21:17
*Mystic River Herring Run, which I ran when I was antsy after Boston...I think I was 4th overall female and I won a $50 gift card to an Italian restaurant.
10K
A - PR [sub-46:30] DONE! 44:20
*Super Sunday 10K, only 10K I ran this year, and a big PR. Very fun race on probably the coldest day of the year!
Half Marathon
A - sub-1:40 DONE! 1:38:34
B - PR [sub 1:42:25] DONE!
*Both accomplished at the same race, New Bedford HM, during which I really enjoyed myself, ran perhaps my most evenly paced to date, and heard 'Don't Stop Believin'' being played out of a body shop at mile 8.
Marathon
A - sub-3:30 DONE! 3:22:10!!!!
B - sub-3:35 DONE
C - PR [sub 3:39:15] DONE
*All accomplished at the same race - Baystate Marathon 2010, a day which I will never, ever, ever forget.
Other Goals:
Race at least 2 new distances DONE - 12K, 25K, bonus 30K!
*I actually had a really fun time racing a bunch of new distances, especially the longer 25K and 30K that fall somewhere between the HM and marathon. Especially when they're 2 exceptionally hilly races, and run in the same week. Heh. :)
Race at least once in XC DONE - USATF-NEs [3 weeks post marathon, haaah]
*Pretty confident the only reason I ran this race was to cross this goal off the list. It was absolutely awful but that's why I set the goal as "just race" for this one, right?
Do abs/strength/yoga at least 3x per week FAIL
*This was a pretty epic fail. I was doing pretty well with yoga ~ once a week through the winter, and got back into it a little this fall, but strength training? abs? mostly nowhere to be found. This is something I really want to do better on in 2011!
Fuel better DONE-ish
*I'm giving myself this one because I feel that in general I've eaten quite a bit healthier this year than last - more "real" food as opposed to the college staple of Pastaroni, some fun cooking endeavors with the BF, and many less late night drunk food runs. Still a work in progress but I'm getting better. I also nailed down my marathon fueling strategy, which is certainly a plus!
All in all, 2010 was pretty incredible, running wise. I ran the Boston Marathon, PRed by 17 minutes at Baystate, set PRs or road PRs in every road race I ran except Boston, and ran 2 5K's, a 6K, a 10K, a 12K, a half marathon, a 25K, a 30K, and 2 marathons. Pretty fun assortment of distances and I'm pretty proud of them all.
So what's up for 2011? Well...that will have to wait for a future post :) I only have so much to write, ya know. Happy NYE!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Some new gear, and a shoe rant
First off, I'm sort of in the process of crafting a "2010 in review" standard post...but it's most likely going to take a while so I figured I would tide you over with some brief and useless ramblings....
I had a delightful Christmas break in Wisconsin, which involved a mildly sprained ankle, 3 runs during the entire week I was home, an absurd amount of beer and food, and some running-related Christmas goodies! Behold, my new most favorite piece of running apparel:
You see, I have greatly benefited from the new visibility trend because my very favorite color is orange. When I opened this jacket, my sister told me that it looked like it was meant to go hunting...in all seriousness though, it is a GREAT jacket...nicely fitted, lots of pockets, wind/water resistant, fun little LED light that can be recharged by sticking it in a USB port, and perfect for my night running habit.
I also received my 5th pair of Nike Tempo shorts (best. shorts. EVER.) as well as some running gloves, some sports bras, and a running log. Yay for Christmas...thanks parents!
However, something that I'm less thrilled about? This:
[warning...rant ahead]
One of these things is not like the other...
I've been running in the Mizuno Wave Inspires for the past 6 years and have LOVED them. The updates from 4 to 5 to 6 were pretty minimal aesthetically and fit-wise, and I've been especially happy with the 6's which fit me really well and have got me through the two hardest/highest mileage training cycles of my life thus far with zero injuries. So it was with great unhappiness that I saw the 6's go on closeout on runningwarehouse, which could only mean one thing...a dreaded 'update'. I anxiously awaited the release of the new shoe, hoping that I would see on the page something that looked just like my beloved shoes. And then I see these yellow monstrosities, and my heart sinks. To be fair, the basic outline of the shoe doesn't look THAT different. But first off, they're ugly! Second, and perhaps most important to me, they are half an ounce heavier than their predecessors. One of the things that actually drew me to the Inspires in the first place was how light they were, even though they were somewhat of a stability shoe, so the fact that after all these years they decided to add some (obviously unnecessary) weight is frustrating to me.
And then I hunted down a couple of reviews of the new shoe, which all pretty much have the same theme among people who happily ran in the 5's and 6's...a) they feel cheap, b) they fit poorly and come up too high on the ankle, c) they feel nothing like either of the previous shoes. People, I am FURIOUS! If there's one thing I hate it's trying to find a shoe that really fits me well and I've been so happy with these shoes for so many things that I figured Mizuno would know they had a good thing going. So now I'm going to have to go back out on a quest for a shoe I like...and I already know that I don't like the Asics model that is supposed to be similar to these because it feels clunky and heavy...and I don't think after running in a really lightweight model for 6 years that I'm going to be able to switch to anything heavier. Grr...Mizuno...you're on my shit list. For now, I'm going to keep buying the 6's while they still exist and wait for you to realize that you effed up and change them back when you come out with the 8's.
[end rant]
Sigh. That's all for now. I have 102 posts in my Google Reader, which I suppose is what I get for dropping off the internet for a little over a week. 2010 in review will be appearing sometime before January 6 I would imagine...my projected mileage total for 2010 is ~2233 MILES [currently sitting at 2220, and planning on ~8 today and 5 tomorrow]...that's 378 miles more than last year which I would say is pretty significant. Happy new year to all, and you had all better be cheering for the BADGERS in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. :)
I had a delightful Christmas break in Wisconsin, which involved a mildly sprained ankle, 3 runs during the entire week I was home, an absurd amount of beer and food, and some running-related Christmas goodies! Behold, my new most favorite piece of running apparel:
You see, I have greatly benefited from the new visibility trend because my very favorite color is orange. When I opened this jacket, my sister told me that it looked like it was meant to go hunting...in all seriousness though, it is a GREAT jacket...nicely fitted, lots of pockets, wind/water resistant, fun little LED light that can be recharged by sticking it in a USB port, and perfect for my night running habit.
I also received my 5th pair of Nike Tempo shorts (best. shorts. EVER.) as well as some running gloves, some sports bras, and a running log. Yay for Christmas...thanks parents!
However, something that I'm less thrilled about? This:
[warning...rant ahead]
One of these things is not like the other...
I've been running in the Mizuno Wave Inspires for the past 6 years and have LOVED them. The updates from 4 to 5 to 6 were pretty minimal aesthetically and fit-wise, and I've been especially happy with the 6's which fit me really well and have got me through the two hardest/highest mileage training cycles of my life thus far with zero injuries. So it was with great unhappiness that I saw the 6's go on closeout on runningwarehouse, which could only mean one thing...a dreaded 'update'. I anxiously awaited the release of the new shoe, hoping that I would see on the page something that looked just like my beloved shoes. And then I see these yellow monstrosities, and my heart sinks. To be fair, the basic outline of the shoe doesn't look THAT different. But first off, they're ugly! Second, and perhaps most important to me, they are half an ounce heavier than their predecessors. One of the things that actually drew me to the Inspires in the first place was how light they were, even though they were somewhat of a stability shoe, so the fact that after all these years they decided to add some (obviously unnecessary) weight is frustrating to me.
And then I hunted down a couple of reviews of the new shoe, which all pretty much have the same theme among people who happily ran in the 5's and 6's...a) they feel cheap, b) they fit poorly and come up too high on the ankle, c) they feel nothing like either of the previous shoes. People, I am FURIOUS! If there's one thing I hate it's trying to find a shoe that really fits me well and I've been so happy with these shoes for so many things that I figured Mizuno would know they had a good thing going. So now I'm going to have to go back out on a quest for a shoe I like...and I already know that I don't like the Asics model that is supposed to be similar to these because it feels clunky and heavy...and I don't think after running in a really lightweight model for 6 years that I'm going to be able to switch to anything heavier. Grr...Mizuno...you're on my shit list. For now, I'm going to keep buying the 6's while they still exist and wait for you to realize that you effed up and change them back when you come out with the 8's.
[end rant]
Sigh. That's all for now. I have 102 posts in my Google Reader, which I suppose is what I get for dropping off the internet for a little over a week. 2010 in review will be appearing sometime before January 6 I would imagine...my projected mileage total for 2010 is ~2233 MILES [currently sitting at 2220, and planning on ~8 today and 5 tomorrow]...that's 378 miles more than last year which I would say is pretty significant. Happy new year to all, and you had all better be cheering for the BADGERS in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. :)
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Fa la la la la
Hi. It's me. I haven't posted in a month. I'm still alive.
As it turns out, finals when you're in graduate school are, well...intense. Like on Wednesday, I went to a class, took a practical, and then went to the library for 10 hours to study for another practical the next day. It's been rough and has not left a whole lot of time for blogging, and especially since my running has been somewhat uninspired lately as well, there hasn't been much to say on that front either. I've been hitting 40s in terms of mileage until this week, when I was completely derailed by a wicked bad cold + the whole 3 practicals of death thing. Needless to say, despite the fact that I have been getting in 10-12 milers every weekend and running fairly regularly, I am not even close to track shape. I did run a random night 5 miler at 6:45 pace one night, so there's that. But I also was fueled by massive amounts of caffeine and pseudoephedrine...so take that for what it's worth haha.
SO...because I really have nothing exciting to say but I wanted to post because I realized it had been a month, here's a fun little quiz thing I stole from Lacey...enjoy learning some exciting and random facts about my life. I'll (hopefully) be back to your regularly scheduled blogging program...or at least more than once a month...after finals are over...
If I could say one thing to myself 20 years ago…
Hah, well at the tender age of 3 I doubt I would have understood many of my own words of wisdom. But it's never too early to be told to never apologize for being who you are.
As it turns out, finals when you're in graduate school are, well...intense. Like on Wednesday, I went to a class, took a practical, and then went to the library for 10 hours to study for another practical the next day. It's been rough and has not left a whole lot of time for blogging, and especially since my running has been somewhat uninspired lately as well, there hasn't been much to say on that front either. I've been hitting 40s in terms of mileage until this week, when I was completely derailed by a wicked bad cold + the whole 3 practicals of death thing. Needless to say, despite the fact that I have been getting in 10-12 milers every weekend and running fairly regularly, I am not even close to track shape. I did run a random night 5 miler at 6:45 pace one night, so there's that. But I also was fueled by massive amounts of caffeine and pseudoephedrine...so take that for what it's worth haha.
SO...because I really have nothing exciting to say but I wanted to post because I realized it had been a month, here's a fun little quiz thing I stole from Lacey...enjoy learning some exciting and random facts about my life. I'll (hopefully) be back to your regularly scheduled blogging program...or at least more than once a month...after finals are over...
If I could say one thing to myself 20 years ago…
Hah, well at the tender age of 3 I doubt I would have understood many of my own words of wisdom. But it's never too early to be told to never apologize for being who you are.
My favorite place in the world...
probably the Memorial Union terrace at sunset on a gorgeous summer night
The lesson I keep learning over and over...
No matter how much water you drink or food you eat, if you go out drinking you're not getting anything done the next day
The movie I watch when I want to laugh...
Anchorman never fails to crack me up
The most scared I've ever been...
Hmm...this is actually hard. Probably when I was about 10, there was a tornado that touched down about 10 miles from where my girl scout troop was camping in A-frame tents...especially at that age it was pretty terrifying.
No one knows I...
Belt out Broadway songs when I'm alone
Unhealthiest thing I've passed off as dinner...
A Mountain Dew and a bag of gummy worms, followed later by half a huge bag of chips (this was like, last week. thanks finals.)
Personal philosophy...
Find your passion.
Book that changed my life...
Once A Runner
I unwind by...
Having a good beer and watching a movie
Proudest moment in my career...
Since I do not yet have a "career" (only 2.5 more years though! Haha) I'll say the proudest moment in my running career (thus far)...which is without a doubt, the entirety of the Baystate Marathon this year.
What keeps me up at night...
Thinking too hard about all of the stuff I have to know for school, figuring out how to fit everything in
I define "downtime" as...
Time when I'm NOT in class or studying!
Coffee or tea?
Coffee. No contest.
Guiltiest pleasure...
Dark chocolate...and imperial coffee stout. Ideally together. :)
My mom was right about...
Hard work will get you far, and sometimes you need a little constructive criticism to really be your best
My mom was wrong about...
Thinking I would always live in Wisconsin
The last time I lost my temper was...
Hmm...probably with my mom over something stupid, we fight plenty but it's usually out of love
My favorite moment of the day...
In the winter, probably snuggling into bed and getting all warm. But obviously this is very dependent on the day. Like today, my favorite moment thus far was running down Heartbreak in the pouring rain...which is pretty much the polar opposite of being warm in bed haha.
I wish I had more time for...
Dance & acting...I miss ballet dearly and would love to do a musical again but there's just no time
I always make time for..
Running! (well, MOST of the time I make time for it...) My one hobby that's stood the test of time :)
I'm currently reading...
Orthopaedic Examination, Evaluation, & Intervention....oh yeah, don't act like you're not jealous
Home means...
Love
Well that was fun. Now back to bone and connective tissue disorders of the wrist & hand, yay!?
probably the Memorial Union terrace at sunset on a gorgeous summer night
The lesson I keep learning over and over...
No matter how much water you drink or food you eat, if you go out drinking you're not getting anything done the next day
The movie I watch when I want to laugh...
Anchorman never fails to crack me up
The most scared I've ever been...
Hmm...this is actually hard. Probably when I was about 10, there was a tornado that touched down about 10 miles from where my girl scout troop was camping in A-frame tents...especially at that age it was pretty terrifying.
No one knows I...
Belt out Broadway songs when I'm alone
Unhealthiest thing I've passed off as dinner...
A Mountain Dew and a bag of gummy worms, followed later by half a huge bag of chips (this was like, last week. thanks finals.)
Personal philosophy...
Find your passion.
Book that changed my life...
Once A Runner
I unwind by...
Having a good beer and watching a movie
Proudest moment in my career...
Since I do not yet have a "career" (only 2.5 more years though! Haha) I'll say the proudest moment in my running career (thus far)...which is without a doubt, the entirety of the Baystate Marathon this year.
What keeps me up at night...
Thinking too hard about all of the stuff I have to know for school, figuring out how to fit everything in
I define "downtime" as...
Time when I'm NOT in class or studying!
Coffee or tea?
Coffee. No contest.
Guiltiest pleasure...
Dark chocolate...and imperial coffee stout. Ideally together. :)
My mom was right about...
Hard work will get you far, and sometimes you need a little constructive criticism to really be your best
My mom was wrong about...
Thinking I would always live in Wisconsin
The last time I lost my temper was...
Hmm...probably with my mom over something stupid, we fight plenty but it's usually out of love
My favorite moment of the day...
In the winter, probably snuggling into bed and getting all warm. But obviously this is very dependent on the day. Like today, my favorite moment thus far was running down Heartbreak in the pouring rain...which is pretty much the polar opposite of being warm in bed haha.
I wish I had more time for...
Dance & acting...I miss ballet dearly and would love to do a musical again but there's just no time
I always make time for..
Running! (well, MOST of the time I make time for it...) My one hobby that's stood the test of time :)
I'm currently reading...
Orthopaedic Examination, Evaluation, & Intervention....oh yeah, don't act like you're not jealous
Home means...
Love
Well that was fun. Now back to bone and connective tissue disorders of the wrist & hand, yay!?
Friday, November 12, 2010
No regrets, just love
First of all....
Obsessed actually doesn't even begin to describe my love for this song. I've probably listened to it like 30 times since I downloaded it on Wednesday. And sometimes I watch the video, purely because the lead singer is pretty darn attractive [no offense to my dear boyfriend of 3 years :)]
So I've been sort of acting like a real runner again this week. I'll probably hit like 45 miles for the week, so back on the upswing, and usually in the off season I like hanging out around 50, so this is a good trend. I also am going to hit 2000 miles for the year at some point during my run today! I ran 1856 miles total in 2009, and definitely less in the years prior to that, so hitting 2000 in mid-November is pretty sweet. Of course, training for 2 marathons over the course of 2010 will help with that, but I think I'm figuring out that higher-mileage (50s-60s...which I realize isn't very high for some of you, but I pretty much max out in the high 60s) training seems to help me with races all over the spectrum, so that's what I'm going to stick with.
Also, apparently my MO in the indoor season is going to be the 800/mile. This is both terrifying and amusing to me at the same time. I haven't raced a mile since junior year of college (my still standing PR of 5:44) and for the 800 it's been even longer - my PR was in outdoor sophomore year (in a meet where I also raced the 400 hurdles, 100 hurdles, and 4 x 400. Clearly my priorities have shifted since) But really, I haven't run FAST in over 3 years. After marathon training for the past year, I'm not sure I remember how. I'm sure it will come back to some extent, but my PRs aren't all that great and I'm a little worried about getting smoked by everyone at these track meets since my PRs aren't exactly anything to write home about...but there's also the chance that 3 years of running and training have made me *gasp* faster! At least I hope so.
Alright, well, my clinical is over so I actually have today off, and thus far I have done nothing of value (unless you consider eating a popsicle and watching "A Knight's Tale" valuable....) so it is time to be productive. Hooray! Happy Friday!
Obsessed actually doesn't even begin to describe my love for this song. I've probably listened to it like 30 times since I downloaded it on Wednesday. And sometimes I watch the video, purely because the lead singer is pretty darn attractive [no offense to my dear boyfriend of 3 years :)]
So I've been sort of acting like a real runner again this week. I'll probably hit like 45 miles for the week, so back on the upswing, and usually in the off season I like hanging out around 50, so this is a good trend. I also am going to hit 2000 miles for the year at some point during my run today! I ran 1856 miles total in 2009, and definitely less in the years prior to that, so hitting 2000 in mid-November is pretty sweet. Of course, training for 2 marathons over the course of 2010 will help with that, but I think I'm figuring out that higher-mileage (50s-60s...which I realize isn't very high for some of you, but I pretty much max out in the high 60s) training seems to help me with races all over the spectrum, so that's what I'm going to stick with.
Also, apparently my MO in the indoor season is going to be the 800/mile. This is both terrifying and amusing to me at the same time. I haven't raced a mile since junior year of college (my still standing PR of 5:44) and for the 800 it's been even longer - my PR was in outdoor sophomore year (in a meet where I also raced the 400 hurdles, 100 hurdles, and 4 x 400. Clearly my priorities have shifted since) But really, I haven't run FAST in over 3 years. After marathon training for the past year, I'm not sure I remember how. I'm sure it will come back to some extent, but my PRs aren't all that great and I'm a little worried about getting smoked by everyone at these track meets since my PRs aren't exactly anything to write home about...but there's also the chance that 3 years of running and training have made me *gasp* faster! At least I hope so.
Alright, well, my clinical is over so I actually have today off, and thus far I have done nothing of value (unless you consider eating a popsicle and watching "A Knight's Tale" valuable....) so it is time to be productive. Hooray! Happy Friday!
Sunday, November 07, 2010
"Just 400 more, and then you can kill Tom!"
Note to self: when you run a marathon, and then you basically don't run for 3 weeks, you are not in shape to run a 6K XC race. In fact, you will probably run one of the worst times you have ever run at the distance, while cursing your coach and your existence and the existence of a certain "Bear Cage Hill" along the way.
So this was not pleasant at all. It was like 40 degrees and windy, and Tom's "plan" for me involved me trying to go out with our top 5 women (bahahahaha...yeah....) and then accepting the fact that I would die at the first hill and pretty much just run comfortably the rest of the way in. His words were something along the lines of "oh yeah, you're going to suck today, it's OK". Very comforting. And it amuses me that despite the fact that he obviously knew that I was going to fail hardcore at this race he came up with a ridiculous plan for me to run anyway, lol.
It was freezing at the start and basically as soon as we took off my legs seized up for the cold. I had a brief shining moment of about 200 meters where I thought things were going to be OK, and then my legs balled up and were like "eff you! we want to be warm!" and I could not run any faster. My first mile was 6:45, whatever, but it's obviously only going downhill from there. Then we ran up the bear cage hill, and I thought I was going to die. [Aside from said hill, I actually really like the course, and I think in the future I would actually be able to throw down a solid time on it. But definitely not today.] As we ran by the GBTC camp Tom was sort of laughing at me because I was making a face, and I just yelled "I hate you" which made everyone else start laughing...lol..if I'm going to race poorly, might as well provide some comic relief, right?
I was just mentally done after about a mile and a half, I knew my time was going to be down the crapper and I had no interest in injuring myself trying to kill myself the last mile and a half, so I won't say I didn't try, but I certainly stopped racing....surviving was more like it. I miraculously passed a couple girls during the 3rd mile but I was so far back in the field that it was pretty inconsequential to me at that point. Up the bear cage hill again, I think I would have preferred to be mauled by one of the bears than be running up that beast at that point, back down, past the GBTC camp again where Christy yelled "almost done! 400 more and you can kill Tom!" which made me laugh...summoning some sort of failure kick, and done in 27:33. Disgusting, just about my worst time at the distance, and 30 seconds slower than even my disastrous race at NIRCA 2 years ago. [Edit: I just remembered that I did run like a 27:20 at Griak, and I was in pretty good shape at that time. This makes me feel a little bit better.] I just really can't bring myself to be too angry about it. I obviously lost fitness the past 3 weeks and that's my own problem, and I think it's fine at this point to still be in a little bit of recovery mode from the marathon. If nothing else, the race was a great workout and a kick in the pants to get back to real training.
And also, because I only had the goal of run one XC race this year [with no mention of running it well...]...I achieved another 2010 goal! Hoorah. And I got a $5 gift card to Dunkin Donuts because they are a GBTC sponsor now. I got to hang out with/meet more girls from the team, cheer for the guys, and run a 100% stress free "race" which sometimes is a really good thing. And it seems like Tom cares to some extent about my training, which for me seems crazy because there are so many faster women in the club, so it's nice to feel like I have some potential to run fast at some point. In the end, can't really complain.
But for serious, it's time to train for real again. Indoor track approaches...
So this was not pleasant at all. It was like 40 degrees and windy, and Tom's "plan" for me involved me trying to go out with our top 5 women (bahahahaha...yeah....) and then accepting the fact that I would die at the first hill and pretty much just run comfortably the rest of the way in. His words were something along the lines of "oh yeah, you're going to suck today, it's OK". Very comforting. And it amuses me that despite the fact that he obviously knew that I was going to fail hardcore at this race he came up with a ridiculous plan for me to run anyway, lol.
It was freezing at the start and basically as soon as we took off my legs seized up for the cold. I had a brief shining moment of about 200 meters where I thought things were going to be OK, and then my legs balled up and were like "eff you! we want to be warm!" and I could not run any faster. My first mile was 6:45, whatever, but it's obviously only going downhill from there. Then we ran up the bear cage hill, and I thought I was going to die. [Aside from said hill, I actually really like the course, and I think in the future I would actually be able to throw down a solid time on it. But definitely not today.] As we ran by the GBTC camp Tom was sort of laughing at me because I was making a face, and I just yelled "I hate you" which made everyone else start laughing...lol..if I'm going to race poorly, might as well provide some comic relief, right?
I was just mentally done after about a mile and a half, I knew my time was going to be down the crapper and I had no interest in injuring myself trying to kill myself the last mile and a half, so I won't say I didn't try, but I certainly stopped racing....surviving was more like it. I miraculously passed a couple girls during the 3rd mile but I was so far back in the field that it was pretty inconsequential to me at that point. Up the bear cage hill again, I think I would have preferred to be mauled by one of the bears than be running up that beast at that point, back down, past the GBTC camp again where Christy yelled "almost done! 400 more and you can kill Tom!" which made me laugh...summoning some sort of failure kick, and done in 27:33. Disgusting, just about my worst time at the distance, and 30 seconds slower than even my disastrous race at NIRCA 2 years ago. [Edit: I just remembered that I did run like a 27:20 at Griak, and I was in pretty good shape at that time. This makes me feel a little bit better.] I just really can't bring myself to be too angry about it. I obviously lost fitness the past 3 weeks and that's my own problem, and I think it's fine at this point to still be in a little bit of recovery mode from the marathon. If nothing else, the race was a great workout and a kick in the pants to get back to real training.
And also, because I only had the goal of run one XC race this year [with no mention of running it well...]...I achieved another 2010 goal! Hoorah. And I got a $5 gift card to Dunkin Donuts because they are a GBTC sponsor now. I got to hang out with/meet more girls from the team, cheer for the guys, and run a 100% stress free "race" which sometimes is a really good thing. And it seems like Tom cares to some extent about my training, which for me seems crazy because there are so many faster women in the club, so it's nice to feel like I have some potential to run fast at some point. In the end, can't really complain.
But for serious, it's time to train for real again. Indoor track approaches...
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Momentary insanity
All post-marathon & midterm blues aside, I've been enjoying my life the past couple of weeks. I've been content to frolic along, running as far and as fast as I wanted, whenever I wanted, and generally had no running related worries or cares. I was happy to rest on my laurels and just enjoy life without the idea of any impending race on the radar...after all, I had just PRed in the marathon, why on earth would I go back to racing without a nice break from spending any time on the red line?
And then I received an email addressed to the Baystate ladies, telling us that it would really be ever so wonderful if we raced at USATF-NE's this coming Sunday. Blame it on midterm studying madness, the extreme quantities of caffeine coursing through my veins, or the fact that I still get a kick out of the fact that I'm running for a pretty awesome club...but I got this email and was like "a 6K! a cross country race! oh boy! sign me up!"
It was approximately 4 hours later when the reality of this situation hit. Last time I did anything resembling speed work? October 3, a month ago, at the Providence 5K. Total miles run in the past 2 weeks? Er...32. Oh. crap. This isn't going to be very enjoyable at all.
I couldn't make it to Tuesday practice because I had a midterm the next day, but I decided yesterday that if I didn't want to feel like I wanted to stab myself for 3.72 miles, I should probably go do the workout to remind my legs what the whole "running fast" business was all about. It was just 4 x 800 with 200 jog recoveries, which on paper doesn't sound bad, but when you're running them FAST (and really I was only hitting 5K pace, something tells me it should have been a bit faster)....yeeow.
It didn't go too badly, I had wanted to get the workout in on the outdoor track but unfortunately some mystery BU team was doing a workout so I was stuck on the indoor track. 800s were at 3:10, 3:14, 3:14, 3:17 and none of them were easy. Which I guess is fine - I highly doubt my ability to throw down 6:30 pace for a 6K XC race right now, but since my PR is only a 25:39...well...it wouldn't be a horrible thing to shoot for a PR. We'll see. It's been almost 2 years to the day since I set foot on an XC course and since I have always adored XC [joining XC my senior year of high school was 100% my gateway drug to distance running] I can't deny that I'm a little excited to feel grass under my spikes again. I will probably be the slowest GBTC woman there but whatevs...I'm sure it will be a fun time nonetheless. And by fun I mean painful...yeah.
Either way, I suppose it will be a nice "welcome back" to my legs...hah.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
P.M.S
No, it doesn't mean what you think. Try "post-marathon-syndrome", combined with a little "pleaseletmepassmy-midterms-syndrome", lol. Put these two together and it's been a pretty lame couple of weeks on the running front. I took my standard 4 days off after the race and tried to start running again on Friday, but it's been pretty craptastic due to a combination of my hamstrings still being really tight, and the fact that I've had 3 major midterms since the marathon that required more than a little bit of studying and caused me more than a little bit of stress.
I think I was a little bummed out the week after the marathon too, obviously not because I was disappointed in my race [on the contrary...I was flying high on cloud 9 about my performance] but it was just a bit of a letdown...which I supposed is fairly normal to experience after something big has just happened. As nice as it's been taking a bit of a break after the race, it's been weird knowing that I'm not going to be doing that again for awhile. I had already decided that I wasn't going to run Boston until 2012, which turned out to be probably a good thing after the race closed in 8 hours...I can tell you that there's no way I would have signed up the day after Baystate even if I WAS planning on running. I feel like I'm making a smart choice in taking the opportunity to try to run some fast times and bring my PRs down on the track this spring, since as long as I'm young and still speedy there's really no time like the present, but I have to say I think that I might be more built for the longer distance races. And I really like the marathon. Sure I bitch and moan about the Sunday long runs and there are days when it feels like I'm skimping out on all sorts of real-life responsibilities because I need to go do a workout, but there is something about the marathon and the training for it that's different for me than for all other races. So I may feel like there's a little something missing this winter/spring when I'm not pushing myself through long runs in hurricane-like Nor'easters and such, but then again, I'm probably still going to be doing plenty of LR's in the higher teens as part of my "higher mileage = faster at all distances" discovery, and if I start seeing things in the 19:30 range on the track, well then, I'm sure I won't be whining about missing the marathon anymore haha.
So I will definitely be doing track in the spring, and my original plan was to focus on XC in the fall, but I made the interesting discovery that my time at Baystate gave me an auto-qualifier for NYC. To be completely honest the NYC marathon isn't something I'd ever really considered because a) I had no delusions of hitting the qualifying time, and I don't like leaving my fate up to a lottery and b) I don't really think I like big-city marathons [which reminds me of a post idea I have entitled "why I like running Baystate better than Boston"]....but since the qualifying standard is so much faster than Boston, it is slightly enticing. I mean, or I could just run Baystate again....I think now and forever, in the rest of my marathon career, I will always consider Baystate my "home" course. Anyway, next fall is a long way off and I have plenty of time to figure it out.
That was a fairly pointless rambling. Apologies. It happens here frequently. On a more exciting note, since my own training is pretty lame at the moment, I think I've finally convinced Andrew to start running a little bit with me!! I told him I want to get him up to half an hour of running, and I'll never make him run more than that if he doesn't want to...seems fair, right? So far we've only gone a little over a mile but he's doing pretty well with running straight and not stopping. I tried to get him running a couple summers ago but I think he had the tendency to run too fast for his level of fitness and he hated it because of that...it's much more pleasant taking it slow, building up time, and then working on speed. I also have a friend in my PT program who doesn't run much these days, but wants to train for a half and she wants me to help her train...I think it would be fun coaching her, I don't have much experience training a beginner besides myself, but I think it would be a fun challenge.
Well, it's been a decent 2 weeks of rest - honestly, couldn't have come at a better time, because I had so much studying to do, and it was sort of nice not having to feel guilty about skipping a run because I needed to study. But I've probably lost some fitness and definitely feel kind of lame...it's high time I got back on a solid weekly mileage schedule to start the buildup for indoor track!
And here's a fabulous picture from Baystate to finish off this post
I think I was a little bummed out the week after the marathon too, obviously not because I was disappointed in my race [on the contrary...I was flying high on cloud 9 about my performance] but it was just a bit of a letdown...which I supposed is fairly normal to experience after something big has just happened. As nice as it's been taking a bit of a break after the race, it's been weird knowing that I'm not going to be doing that again for awhile. I had already decided that I wasn't going to run Boston until 2012, which turned out to be probably a good thing after the race closed in 8 hours...I can tell you that there's no way I would have signed up the day after Baystate even if I WAS planning on running. I feel like I'm making a smart choice in taking the opportunity to try to run some fast times and bring my PRs down on the track this spring, since as long as I'm young and still speedy there's really no time like the present, but I have to say I think that I might be more built for the longer distance races. And I really like the marathon. Sure I bitch and moan about the Sunday long runs and there are days when it feels like I'm skimping out on all sorts of real-life responsibilities because I need to go do a workout, but there is something about the marathon and the training for it that's different for me than for all other races. So I may feel like there's a little something missing this winter/spring when I'm not pushing myself through long runs in hurricane-like Nor'easters and such, but then again, I'm probably still going to be doing plenty of LR's in the higher teens as part of my "higher mileage = faster at all distances" discovery, and if I start seeing things in the 19:30 range on the track, well then, I'm sure I won't be whining about missing the marathon anymore haha.
So I will definitely be doing track in the spring, and my original plan was to focus on XC in the fall, but I made the interesting discovery that my time at Baystate gave me an auto-qualifier for NYC. To be completely honest the NYC marathon isn't something I'd ever really considered because a) I had no delusions of hitting the qualifying time, and I don't like leaving my fate up to a lottery and b) I don't really think I like big-city marathons [which reminds me of a post idea I have entitled "why I like running Baystate better than Boston"]....but since the qualifying standard is so much faster than Boston, it is slightly enticing. I mean, or I could just run Baystate again....I think now and forever, in the rest of my marathon career, I will always consider Baystate my "home" course. Anyway, next fall is a long way off and I have plenty of time to figure it out.
That was a fairly pointless rambling. Apologies. It happens here frequently. On a more exciting note, since my own training is pretty lame at the moment, I think I've finally convinced Andrew to start running a little bit with me!! I told him I want to get him up to half an hour of running, and I'll never make him run more than that if he doesn't want to...seems fair, right? So far we've only gone a little over a mile but he's doing pretty well with running straight and not stopping. I tried to get him running a couple summers ago but I think he had the tendency to run too fast for his level of fitness and he hated it because of that...it's much more pleasant taking it slow, building up time, and then working on speed. I also have a friend in my PT program who doesn't run much these days, but wants to train for a half and she wants me to help her train...I think it would be fun coaching her, I don't have much experience training a beginner besides myself, but I think it would be a fun challenge.
Well, it's been a decent 2 weeks of rest - honestly, couldn't have come at a better time, because I had so much studying to do, and it was sort of nice not having to feel guilty about skipping a run because I needed to study. But I've probably lost some fitness and definitely feel kind of lame...it's high time I got back on a solid weekly mileage schedule to start the buildup for indoor track!
And here's a fabulous picture from Baystate to finish off this post
There is nothing in the world to compare to this feeling.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Looking good, feeling great: Baystate Marathon 2010
aka Don't Stop Believin', taken to the extreme
aka Tom isn't completely insane
aka loving my life
aka becoming legit.
This is probably going to be like 20 pages long. And it will probably take as long to write as it took for me to run the damn race. And it's sappy, and a little ridiculous, and more than a little rambly. So if you read the whole thing I salute you...and would recommend finding a blanket and a beverage [I am enjoying a victory Fin du Monde as we speak]...otherwise feel free to skim, there are several pictures!
So you may have noticed that I didn't blog for pretty much the entire 2 weeks before the marathon - no crazy pre race jabberings, non of the usual. To be honest, my life has been CRAZY the past couple of weeks - last weekend I went back to my beloved Madison for the homecoming football game and insanity ensued, and this past week I was slammed with an exam on Monday and my first ever PT clinical on an inpatient rehab floor on Friday...not a whole lot of time to think about or dwell on the race. Which was a GOOD thing - it's hard to psych yourself out when you are spending the day helping with rehab on spinal cord patients [so. freaking. cool. I've been thinking that I might really want to go the neuro route in my PT career, and day 1 of my clinical has only confirmed this theory] So pretty much this entire week I haven't even had 5 seconds to think about the race. I did my usual taper runs, an easy 6 on Tuesday which pretty much felt like poo, then a couple of 4s and just some really short shakeouts at the end of the week. Everything was feeling pretty good and in place, but then again, it was before Boston too, so I wasn't exactly shouting from the mountaintops about what a fantastical race I was going to have. Just trying to stay focused and relaxed.
The day before the race I took the commuter rail up to Lowell to pick up my packet, which was an interesting experience in itself...I planned to take the noon train, but got into a crazy snafu at Government Center, waited forever for a green line train to North Station that apparently was never going to come, ended up power walking to Haymarket [great thing to do the day before a marathon, no?] and miraculously getting on an orange line train to North, and literally getting on the train to Lowell with 2 minutes to spare. On the train to Lowell I created my marathon day playlist and was actually planning on writing a quick pre-race blog...buuuut my computer has literally 40 minutes of battery life so that didn't quite pan out haha. I took a leisurely walk to the high school, and picked up my packet without much ado...compared to Boston, the Baystate 'expo' is about the most low key thing you could imagine...pretty much little tents for all the major shoe companies and a couple of cafeteria tables set up for packet pickup...and you know what, I am completely fine with that. No fuss whatsoever, I was in and out in 15 minutes with my number [171] and race packet in hand. The tech shirts this year are AWESOME, I absolutely love the new Baystate logo, and it was really nice that they decided to go to tech shirts this year, as well as different shirts for the marathon and half. Then I walked back to the train station and played Bejeweled on my phone for like 45 minutes while waiting for the next train home haha....really really addicting by the way. On the train on the way home, I wrote myself a little mental checklist sort of thing...just random reminders to myself for race day. Things like:
-STAY RELAXED
-listen to your legs/breathing...above all RELAX through 15
-if you're feeling good at 20, go for it the last 6.2
-gels at 7, 14, 21 (if you want)
-water every other stop, only take Gatorade if you think you need the sugar/salt
-the first few miles might feel weird, no panicking, RELAX
-pick off as many club women as possible
-HAVE FUN
- DON'T STOP BELIEVIN
You'll notice how many times the word "relax" appears in that checklist...and really, I think staying relaxed came to be a huge, huge factor in my success in this race. Anyway, I finally made it back to Boston and pretty much grabbed my stuff and headed to Charlestown, where we were staying with my friend Kelly who was driving us to the race. This was also the night of the HUGE Wisconsin vs #1 Ohio State game [BADGERS!!!!] and as it turns out Kelly's boyfriend used to play football for OSU...I don't think he liked me very much haha. At halftime they headed out to a bar to watch the rest of the game, and Andrew and I just relaxed and watched the rest of the AMAZING Badger victory. It was incredible seeing the student section storm the field and honestly watching the end of that game was the first time I really, truly got nervous about the race. For the Badgers to win was such a huge long shot [we haven't beaten a #1 ranked team since 1981, and we definitely haven't beaten Ohio State since I've been in school] and somewhere deep in my mind I had thought to myself "if the Badgers win, I'm going to have an amazing race". So stupid, but I felt like it was a good omen for the day to come. As soon as the game was over it was lights out...I still don't think it had quite hit me yet that once again I was here...on the bring of running a marathon...26.2 miles to glory.
I woke up only once during the night, at 4:15 am, and I fell back asleep pretty quickly and had a RIDICULOUS dream about putting my spandex shorts in the laundry, them somehow morphing into super baggy capris, and running around a mysterious marathon expo in a hotel ballroom trying to find some running shorts to buy before the race started, and NO ONE was selling running shorts. Er...talk about nerves manifesting themselves in an interesting way? Anyway, I was instantly awake with my alarm at 5, up and about, putting on my racing attire, grumpy that I couldn't effectively crumple my number because of the timing chip attached to the back, eating my banana and deconstructed peanut butter sandwich, making sure I had all my Gus and random crap I wanted for pre race...the half hour before we left went by in a flash and soon enough we were out the door and on the road to Lowell.
After a little bit of confusion with the GPS, we made it to the Tsongas Arena without incident. Everything was just as I remembered it...plentiful bathrooms, plenty of space, a comfortable lovely building to find a corner and prepare to race. Perfect. I quickly found myself a space after making a lap of the building to see if I could find any GBTC teammates. And here I was again, exactly a year later...in my corner, ipod on, stretching and waiting and hoping and wondering what the day was going to bring. Which is the thing about the marathon, or any race for that matter - you just don't know. You could be about to have the race of your life, an absolute breakthrough, or you might be about to have a total breakdown on the course. But unless some external factor- sickness or injury or whatever - is changing your outlook...you have no idea what the day is going to bring. All you can do is let it unfold and hope that your legs and heart and mind are ready.
We were there EARLY which is just my style...plenty of time to hit up the bathroom like 4 times [there was a HUGE line for the men's bathroom and none for the women's...I have to say, this was the first time in my life I've ever experienced that. And perhaps it accounted for the multitude of men I saw peeing off in corners out on the course...or the one man I saw randomly peeing into a bottle on the concourse of the arena...awkward.] ANYWAY...enough bathroom tales. I bounced around and assaulted Andrew [I decided that after 3 years he deserves to actually be called his name instead of the BF...haha] with my ipod music and he told me I was nervous and I was like, no just excited! Which was amazingly, true! I can't say I was ever nervous-nervous. Maybe I've finally reached the turning point in my career where I'm able to not have a panic attack over races? Because I really had no specific goals set for the race, but I knew I was fit, I was pretty much just excited to get out there and see what I could do. Soon enough it was time to head to the start line...no sooner were we out the door of the arena when we ran into Kelly, who has been my training buddy all summer and pretty much the one who got me through the darkest days of marathon training. We walked together to the start, I really wanted to hit up the porta potty one last time but the lines were INSANE and I wasn't messing with my start for the sake of what was probably just nerves anyway...so I headed back to the start with Kelly. I also saw a gaggle of 3 PUGS right before the start...which had to be a good sign, right? Because I love pugs, and pugs x 3 are even better. :) Just like last year, we were right at the front of the pack which was fine by me...better the front than the back! And then we waited...making small talk with a girl nearby, bouncing up and down, waiting.
Finally the loudspeaker came on as someone welcomed us to Lowell and to the marathon...they were going to play the national anthem but apparently there was some glitch in the player or mike and so they couldn't play it. Suddenly, someone out of the crowd of runners started singing, and people started joining in. It was such a quiet morning and the only sound was of this crowd of runners, each of us standing on the line, about to begin this marathon journey, all singing the national anthem. It was, no lie, one of the coolest moments I have ever experienced, and I was holding back tears as I sang...it was just so powerful and really, really cool. I had to keep the emotions in check though because as soon as the song was over...it was go time!
I can't even remember if there was a gun, or a horn, or just someone saying go, I don't even know...but we were moving towards the line, and about 10 seconds after whatever mysterious GO signal occured, I was over the timing mat, starting my watch, and off on the journey that would be my 3rd marathon.
Miles 1-8: Calm mind
7:04, 7:24, 7:41, 7:41, 7:38, 7:41, 7:43, 7:36
The first mile was the usual flurry of adrenaline and half marathoners shooting by and just general blazing insanity. My mind was on a continuous loop of relax relax RELAX but it's really hard to relax when everyone is busting out of the gate and it's always hard to get a handle on pace the first mile of any race, let alone a marathon. My effort seemed a little high but I wasn't sure if that meant I was about to have a very bad day or if I was just running like a moron...my fears were alleviated when I came through the 1 mile mark in 7:04...err...AHH! Way, WAY too fast, obviously. But, ya know, keep calm and carry on. I have to say I was sort of in shock because yeah, I knew I was running harder than marathon effort, but to be honest...it didn't feel THAT much harder. Alright, dial it back Audrey, don't be an idiot. Mile 2 was a 7:24, still too fast, and I must have made some sort of noise when I saw the 2 mile go by at under 15 minutes, because a dude in a grey shirt next to me was like "yikes, too fast" and I was like "uh yeah"...which of course he took as his signal to begin a conversation with me, which was OK I suppose...for a couple minutes. He asked me what I was hoping to run and for the first time I actually blurted out "3:20...if I have a really good day. But probably 3:30" And he was like, "oh, I HAVE to run under 3:30"...I assume that would be his BQ time. We actually hung together for awhile, and I can't remember whether I passed him or he passed me, but one way or another I didn't see him any more after awhile. I also got the first sight of my cheering section of Kelly and Andrew at the 2 mile - which was so much fun because I wasn't expecting to see them until later in the race!
aka Tom isn't completely insane
aka loving my life
aka becoming legit.
This is probably going to be like 20 pages long. And it will probably take as long to write as it took for me to run the damn race. And it's sappy, and a little ridiculous, and more than a little rambly. So if you read the whole thing I salute you...and would recommend finding a blanket and a beverage [I am enjoying a victory Fin du Monde as we speak]...otherwise feel free to skim, there are several pictures!
So you may have noticed that I didn't blog for pretty much the entire 2 weeks before the marathon - no crazy pre race jabberings, non of the usual. To be honest, my life has been CRAZY the past couple of weeks - last weekend I went back to my beloved Madison for the homecoming football game and insanity ensued, and this past week I was slammed with an exam on Monday and my first ever PT clinical on an inpatient rehab floor on Friday...not a whole lot of time to think about or dwell on the race. Which was a GOOD thing - it's hard to psych yourself out when you are spending the day helping with rehab on spinal cord patients [so. freaking. cool. I've been thinking that I might really want to go the neuro route in my PT career, and day 1 of my clinical has only confirmed this theory] So pretty much this entire week I haven't even had 5 seconds to think about the race. I did my usual taper runs, an easy 6 on Tuesday which pretty much felt like poo, then a couple of 4s and just some really short shakeouts at the end of the week. Everything was feeling pretty good and in place, but then again, it was before Boston too, so I wasn't exactly shouting from the mountaintops about what a fantastical race I was going to have. Just trying to stay focused and relaxed.
The day before the race I took the commuter rail up to Lowell to pick up my packet, which was an interesting experience in itself...I planned to take the noon train, but got into a crazy snafu at Government Center, waited forever for a green line train to North Station that apparently was never going to come, ended up power walking to Haymarket [great thing to do the day before a marathon, no?] and miraculously getting on an orange line train to North, and literally getting on the train to Lowell with 2 minutes to spare. On the train to Lowell I created my marathon day playlist and was actually planning on writing a quick pre-race blog...buuuut my computer has literally 40 minutes of battery life so that didn't quite pan out haha. I took a leisurely walk to the high school, and picked up my packet without much ado...compared to Boston, the Baystate 'expo' is about the most low key thing you could imagine...pretty much little tents for all the major shoe companies and a couple of cafeteria tables set up for packet pickup...and you know what, I am completely fine with that. No fuss whatsoever, I was in and out in 15 minutes with my number [171] and race packet in hand. The tech shirts this year are AWESOME, I absolutely love the new Baystate logo, and it was really nice that they decided to go to tech shirts this year, as well as different shirts for the marathon and half. Then I walked back to the train station and played Bejeweled on my phone for like 45 minutes while waiting for the next train home haha....really really addicting by the way. On the train on the way home, I wrote myself a little mental checklist sort of thing...just random reminders to myself for race day. Things like:
-STAY RELAXED
-listen to your legs/breathing...above all RELAX through 15
-if you're feeling good at 20, go for it the last 6.2
-gels at 7, 14, 21 (if you want)
-water every other stop, only take Gatorade if you think you need the sugar/salt
-the first few miles might feel weird, no panicking, RELAX
-pick off as many club women as possible
-HAVE FUN
- DON'T STOP BELIEVIN
You'll notice how many times the word "relax" appears in that checklist...and really, I think staying relaxed came to be a huge, huge factor in my success in this race. Anyway, I finally made it back to Boston and pretty much grabbed my stuff and headed to Charlestown, where we were staying with my friend Kelly who was driving us to the race. This was also the night of the HUGE Wisconsin vs #1 Ohio State game [BADGERS!!!!] and as it turns out Kelly's boyfriend used to play football for OSU...I don't think he liked me very much haha. At halftime they headed out to a bar to watch the rest of the game, and Andrew and I just relaxed and watched the rest of the AMAZING Badger victory. It was incredible seeing the student section storm the field and honestly watching the end of that game was the first time I really, truly got nervous about the race. For the Badgers to win was such a huge long shot [we haven't beaten a #1 ranked team since 1981, and we definitely haven't beaten Ohio State since I've been in school] and somewhere deep in my mind I had thought to myself "if the Badgers win, I'm going to have an amazing race". So stupid, but I felt like it was a good omen for the day to come. As soon as the game was over it was lights out...I still don't think it had quite hit me yet that once again I was here...on the bring of running a marathon...26.2 miles to glory.
I woke up only once during the night, at 4:15 am, and I fell back asleep pretty quickly and had a RIDICULOUS dream about putting my spandex shorts in the laundry, them somehow morphing into super baggy capris, and running around a mysterious marathon expo in a hotel ballroom trying to find some running shorts to buy before the race started, and NO ONE was selling running shorts. Er...talk about nerves manifesting themselves in an interesting way? Anyway, I was instantly awake with my alarm at 5, up and about, putting on my racing attire, grumpy that I couldn't effectively crumple my number because of the timing chip attached to the back, eating my banana and deconstructed peanut butter sandwich, making sure I had all my Gus and random crap I wanted for pre race...the half hour before we left went by in a flash and soon enough we were out the door and on the road to Lowell.
After a little bit of confusion with the GPS, we made it to the Tsongas Arena without incident. Everything was just as I remembered it...plentiful bathrooms, plenty of space, a comfortable lovely building to find a corner and prepare to race. Perfect. I quickly found myself a space after making a lap of the building to see if I could find any GBTC teammates. And here I was again, exactly a year later...in my corner, ipod on, stretching and waiting and hoping and wondering what the day was going to bring. Which is the thing about the marathon, or any race for that matter - you just don't know. You could be about to have the race of your life, an absolute breakthrough, or you might be about to have a total breakdown on the course. But unless some external factor- sickness or injury or whatever - is changing your outlook...you have no idea what the day is going to bring. All you can do is let it unfold and hope that your legs and heart and mind are ready.
We were there EARLY which is just my style...plenty of time to hit up the bathroom like 4 times [there was a HUGE line for the men's bathroom and none for the women's...I have to say, this was the first time in my life I've ever experienced that. And perhaps it accounted for the multitude of men I saw peeing off in corners out on the course...or the one man I saw randomly peeing into a bottle on the concourse of the arena...awkward.] ANYWAY...enough bathroom tales. I bounced around and assaulted Andrew [I decided that after 3 years he deserves to actually be called his name instead of the BF...haha] with my ipod music and he told me I was nervous and I was like, no just excited! Which was amazingly, true! I can't say I was ever nervous-nervous. Maybe I've finally reached the turning point in my career where I'm able to not have a panic attack over races? Because I really had no specific goals set for the race, but I knew I was fit, I was pretty much just excited to get out there and see what I could do. Soon enough it was time to head to the start line...no sooner were we out the door of the arena when we ran into Kelly, who has been my training buddy all summer and pretty much the one who got me through the darkest days of marathon training. We walked together to the start, I really wanted to hit up the porta potty one last time but the lines were INSANE and I wasn't messing with my start for the sake of what was probably just nerves anyway...so I headed back to the start with Kelly. I also saw a gaggle of 3 PUGS right before the start...which had to be a good sign, right? Because I love pugs, and pugs x 3 are even better. :) Just like last year, we were right at the front of the pack which was fine by me...better the front than the back! And then we waited...making small talk with a girl nearby, bouncing up and down, waiting.
Finally the loudspeaker came on as someone welcomed us to Lowell and to the marathon...they were going to play the national anthem but apparently there was some glitch in the player or mike and so they couldn't play it. Suddenly, someone out of the crowd of runners started singing, and people started joining in. It was such a quiet morning and the only sound was of this crowd of runners, each of us standing on the line, about to begin this marathon journey, all singing the national anthem. It was, no lie, one of the coolest moments I have ever experienced, and I was holding back tears as I sang...it was just so powerful and really, really cool. I had to keep the emotions in check though because as soon as the song was over...it was go time!
I can't even remember if there was a gun, or a horn, or just someone saying go, I don't even know...but we were moving towards the line, and about 10 seconds after whatever mysterious GO signal occured, I was over the timing mat, starting my watch, and off on the journey that would be my 3rd marathon.
Miles 1-8: Calm mind
7:04, 7:24, 7:41, 7:41, 7:38, 7:41, 7:43, 7:36
The first mile was the usual flurry of adrenaline and half marathoners shooting by and just general blazing insanity. My mind was on a continuous loop of relax relax RELAX but it's really hard to relax when everyone is busting out of the gate and it's always hard to get a handle on pace the first mile of any race, let alone a marathon. My effort seemed a little high but I wasn't sure if that meant I was about to have a very bad day or if I was just running like a moron...my fears were alleviated when I came through the 1 mile mark in 7:04...err...AHH! Way, WAY too fast, obviously. But, ya know, keep calm and carry on. I have to say I was sort of in shock because yeah, I knew I was running harder than marathon effort, but to be honest...it didn't feel THAT much harder. Alright, dial it back Audrey, don't be an idiot. Mile 2 was a 7:24, still too fast, and I must have made some sort of noise when I saw the 2 mile go by at under 15 minutes, because a dude in a grey shirt next to me was like "yikes, too fast" and I was like "uh yeah"...which of course he took as his signal to begin a conversation with me, which was OK I suppose...for a couple minutes. He asked me what I was hoping to run and for the first time I actually blurted out "3:20...if I have a really good day. But probably 3:30" And he was like, "oh, I HAVE to run under 3:30"...I assume that would be his BQ time. We actually hung together for awhile, and I can't remember whether I passed him or he passed me, but one way or another I didn't see him any more after awhile. I also got the first sight of my cheering section of Kelly and Andrew at the 2 mile - which was so much fun because I wasn't expecting to see them until later in the race!
Mile 2...me in the red singlet off the shoulder of the girl in the red long sleeve
Finally, with mile 3, I fell into the steady steady pace that I would keep until mile 20. Mile 3: 7:41. Mile 4: 7:41. Nice little downhill through the back neighborhood, I seriously felt like I knew this course like the back of my hand. Every mile marker, every little hill, I remembered it all so vividly from last year and it was really mentally nice to be like "oh yeah, I remember feeling like this mile took forever, but the mile marker is just after this store..." or whatever. Mile 5 - 7:38. Mile 6 -7:41. I took my first Gu [Tri-Berry...which I had made a special trip to Marathon Sports to buy because although I've shaken most of my ridiculous racing superstitions, I needed the damn Tri-Berry Gu...not mandarin orange, not vanilla..tri-berry. OK?] and it was delicious, and the "hills" in the backside of the course were pretty much nonexistent compared to the crap that I ran on at Cape Ann and Nahant, and I was feeling like a rockstar. At the same time I was mildly perplexed that I was running as fast as I was and feeling as good as I was, because in all of my raceday prep/calculations, the fastest I even dreamed of running on like...the best day ever...was 7:50s. And thus far I had seen exactly zero miles at or over 7:50s. So obviously that kind of factored into the back of my mind...like hmm...is this all going to end in disaster? But I really tried to keep the negative thoughts at bay and just focus on the moment, and at this moment, I was feeling strong and amazing. Might as well ride it out and see what develops!
At mile 7.5 there was a great water stop, I actually forgot but I probably should have voted for them in the high school challenge. They were super enthusiastic, they were playing music, and there was a girl with a giant DON'T STOP BELIEVIN sign which for some reason almost brought me to tears. I was only at mile 7 but down in my gut...somewhere...I just know. You know when you are in a race and you just KNOW? That today is your day and everything you could possibly dream of is out on that course for the taking? I think that was the moment I realized it. Everything just felt so, so RIGHT. I was feeling fantastic and strong at this pace, reeling people in and passing them like it was my job, occasionally a girl would fly past me but something told me she would come back...everything just seemed to be falling into place. At mile 8 I got to see my cheering section again and I was grinning and waving my arms in the air, giving the thumbs up for the camera, etc. Never in a race could I ever remember feeling this wonderful and happy. In the back of my mind there were still a few doubts as to whether I could keep it, after all there were 18 miles to go. But I think in my heart I knew that I would.
Mile 8, feeling great! Onward to the bouncy bridge...
Miles 9-13.1: Hips don't lie
7:42, 7:36, 7:37, 7:34, 7:37, 1:39:30 at the half
Over the bouncy bridge I ran, it was just as unsettling as last year although less slippery which I appreciated. Honestly it almost felt like I didn't have to do any work to run over it which was nice...I guess...but still weird, and felt very weird when I got back on solid ground. I still was looking at my splits with this feeling of disbelief and vague anxiety...I just kept expecting to see the slowdown before I felt it and so far I was just clicking off steady splits like it was my job. I spent what seemed like eternity with my eyes trained on a girl in blue shorts [you can see her ahead of me in the picture] and for the life of me I can't remember if I ever ended up passing her or not...but regardless, thank you blue shorts girl for giving me a target to pace off for some of the middle miles! I kept thinking to myself "I don't even know what I'm doing right now!"...which somehow made me think of the song Hips Don't Lie and the lyric "I don't, don't really know what I'm doing...but you seem to have a plan"...and then I thought to myself hah! It's like my legs have a plan, right? and I don't even know what's going on! And the song is about hips, and my hips are working really hard! So fitting right? Uh...okay...thank you marathon induced insanity lol. Anyway, 10 miles came and went and here I was still running under 7:40 pace, what in the world. Once again the little sneaky negative thoughts started sneaking in..."it's only the 10 mile, you can't keep this up, bah"...but I crushed them with my two mantras for the race: "Looking good, feeling great" and "LOVING MY LIFE!"...positive thoughts only. :)
I knew the half was coming up and was getting excited because that meant bridge + crowds + cheering section + halfway, etc. Miles 11 and 12 seemed to take a very long time, and I though that I was slowing down, but like clockwork I kept looking at my watch and there those beautiful splits were. Lots of cheers for GBTC along this stretch, and I saw Tom who yelled something to the effect of "you're running for the winning team right now!" Unsure of how to respond to that, I think I threw my hands up and yelled woo! or something equally stupid haha. If I remember right, mile 12 or so was the only time during the race where I took Gatorade [vs water, which I took at about every other stop, but I've realized I really dislike the taste and stickiness of Gatorade during a race]...and part of my motivation was this high school kid who was singing and dancing and yelling about his glorious Gatorade...it made me laugh. Soon enough we were at the bridge...and did I miss the memo about the whole bridge being a gradual uphill? Because...yeah...it seemed to last pretty much forever, and I was psyched to see the other side. As soon as I hit the other side, I saw Andrew and Kelly again, yelling and just going crazy. I was grinning from ear to ear, and I yelled at them "who AM I????" I was just in complete and utter disbelief at the pace I was running, what I was doing, and how this race was unfolding.
Probably the best race photo ever taken of me...complete and utter joy :)
I hit the half in 1:39:30...yeah...like a minute off my half PR and my second best half ever...WHAT?? A guy nearby said something like "I have this strange sense of deja vu...like I've been here before" as we headed out on the second lap...I was like "yeah, but I didn't expect to be back so soon!" At the half I was already 10 minutes ahead of last year and showing no signs of blowing up anytime soon...
Miles 14-20: I'm not afraid
7:37, 7:41, 7:37, 7:45, 7:43, 7:45, 7:55
I remembered the second time around the backside of the course being tough mentally, and this year was no different. It's like after the adrenaline rush of passing the half in such great time, you go back into the somewhat ugly, sort of "hilly" as far as this course goes, section, and you're too far out from the finish to be close to home but far enough away from the start that fatigue is definitely starting to set in. I took my Lemon Sublime Gu at 14 or so, and saw Ryan, Katie, and Kelly's parents around the same time...who told me I was looking strong! And I felt strong! It was around this point of the course that I picked up Chatty Cathy and her pal Chatty McChats a lot. Remember my tale of the talkers at Nahant? This was just as bad, if not worse. Ahh! These two girls, running along and just talking! I'm not knocking people who talk during races, it's just...we're clearly running a fairly competitive pace, and I couldn't deal with being near these two just talking away about their social lives and plans for the week and just random crap while I was trying to focus on my race. It took me a couple of miles to pass them, and even then they were on my heels for a solid 3 miles more before I finally lost them for good. To distract myself from the talking I tried to find a song to throw into my mental mp3 player...here's what I came up with
I'm not afraid to take a stand
Everybody come take my hand
We'll walk this road together
Through the storm
Whatever weather, cold or warm
Just lettin' you know you're not alone
holler if you feel like you've been down the same road
And it was true. I wasn't afraid anymore. All of the demons that had plagued me since Boston, that I wasn't good enough or fast enough or strong enough to ever run a better marathon than I did last year, that I couldn't really compete, that I didn't have that mental toughness or something....I just KNEW. I finally knew that I did. And after coming this far in this race I knew - even if I hit the wall from here on out - I'm coming in under 3:30. And holy crap, is this happening? Is this for real? It is, it is, it IS!! People were slowing down and I was passing them, as I chug chugged along. Soon enough we came up on the 7.5/17.5 aid station, where the girl with the Don't Stop Believin sign was...I couldn't help but to throw out my hand [which had DON'T STOP BELIEVIN written on it] and be like "I love your sign!!" Once again, the entire backstretch I really felt like I was slowing down, but really I guess it was that my effort was going up [obviously] but I was still holding pace. Freaking holding pace! I knew the breakdown was coming and when it did it wasn't going to be fun, but at this point I knew that barring walking the last 6 miles, a PR was in the bag, now all that was left to do was see just how big of a PR it could be.
At 18 I got to see my incredible cheering section again, which obviously gave me a boost, and Kelly jumped it with me briefly and told me that if I needed her at mile 23, she'd be there to run me in. I was still feeling great at that point but had the feeling that 5 miles down the road it was entirely possible that I would be in need of support. Having her and Andrew out there at so many spots along the course all day was just incredible for me...knowing that they were going to be there in just a few more miles was such a huge energy boost, and being able to smile and look strong when I came past made things all the better. :)
Mile 18, and over the bouncy bridge once again! There was a lot of cheering going on for myself and the pack of girls I was with, which I guess should have been my first indication that we weren't too far back in the general scheme of overall women [I ended up as 32nd woman overall]. I wasn't feeling bad yet, but I was definitely starting to feel...well...less good. Relaxation and fun times and rainbows were over now...with 8 miles to go of one of the best races I've run in my life, it's time to get down to the nitty gritty. But I still kept repeating that mantra "looking good, feeling great. looking good, feeling great" You could see people starting to break down and the number of people I passed increased by a lot over the last 8 miles as people began walking, stopping to stretch things out, or just dramatically slowing down. I had grabbed a Gu at the 17.5 aid station and was planning on waiting until 21 to take it, but I could feel my legs starting to grumble and I was thinking glycogen depletion was probably a reason, so I decided to mow down on it at like mile 19...with no aid station in sight. GENIUS I tell you...let's just say I hope there were no photographers in the vicinity, because I probably look like I crawled out of a swamp with chocolate Gu absolutely coating my teeth, lovely!
At the mile 20 mark someone had painted "THE WALL" on the sidewalk...I yelled out to no on in particular "THERE IS NO WALL!!!" I was slowing down a bit but nothing super significant, and I figured even though I had dropped a bit of time I could hold it for the last 6 miles. I can't remember what the clock at 20 read, but it was something like 2:30. I came to the realization that I had an entire HOUR to run the last 6.2 miles to come in under 3:30 [still, STILL not even considering the sub 3:25. I still couldn't even believe it.] and it was like...this is happening. I may crash and burn and burst into flames in the next 6 miles, but unless I am reduced to a walk for a significant portion of the rest of this race, I'm hitting sub-3:30.
Miles 21-26.2: Don't stop believin'
7:56, 7:59, 7:56, 7:57, 7:59, 7:55, 1:38
And just like last year, this is where it gets really, really hard. And you have to dig deep and find, somewhere, those last ounces of strength and will that are going to carry you home. I really don't think anything could have adequately prepare me for the incredible pain in my left leg that started emerging at mile 21 and continued on through the finish. It was probably the most painful thing I've felt in a race - and that includes the hamstring cramps at Boston. It was like every single muscle fiber in my left leg [right leg? totally fine. Kind of makes no sense, but okay] was screaming NO NO NO like an angry child throwing a temper tantrum. It. HURT. Would I have loved my life if that hadn't been the case? Yeah. But I was accepting of the fact that it was happening, because DUH, it's the last 5 miles of a marathon. It's SUPPOSED to hurt. And if it doesn't, you're not running hard enough.
I think it's a scientific fact that the further you get in a distance race, the further apart the mile markers are. Seriously, it's science. Because I swear I thought the 22 mile mark was never going to show up. All I wanted was to get to 23 and see Kelly and Andrew and have Kelly come talk to me through the last 3 miles...and it just felt like I was never going to get there. Once again I was trying so hard to keep the negative thoughts and doubts out - every time I would think to myself "well, if you go over 8 minute pace at this point it's totally OK..." I would snap out of it and be like NO! You do not need to go over 8 minute pace! Come ON! "Looking good, feeling great" didn't seem super applicable anymore, but any sort of random motivating phrases I could throw into my head were doing the trick at keeping me moving.
After what seemed like an eternity, I FINALLY hit the 23 mile mark, and even though the pain was..well...painful! I still managed to smile and fist pump at Andrew...and hit myself on the chest...meaning "it's all here now...from here you run with your heart". Kelly jumped it with me and I told her I just needed her to talk to me. I could not have asked for a better person to get me through the 3 toughest miles of my life...she was so incredibly motivating, telling me how strong I was and getting me to stay on pace, to pass people, to just keep moving...without her I doubt I would have kept my pace through the last 3 miles, and I am so grateful to her for that. We came to the last water station just past mile 24 [2 miles to go!] and I veered over to grab one last drink. As I started running out of the station, I suddenly heard the most glorious opening bars of any song in existence that I know of...
DON'T STOP BELIEVING!!!!!!
Oh. My. God. Words absolutely cannot describe the level of happiness that I felt in that moment. It sounds ridiculous but I'm not kidding when I say that every single time I hear the opening bars of that song, whether it be in a bar, on my ipod, randomly playing out of a car, in a store, whatever...a jolt of happiness runs through me. I literally threw my arms in the air, thought I was going to burst into tears, and let out some sound that was somewhere between a scream and a yelp, and Kelly was like...what? what? I was like no no no...this is MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE SONG EVER!! 2 miles to go, in the best race I've run in my entire life, and this song...this perfect perfect perfect song...it was like at that moment I was simply exactly where I was meant to be. All the miles, cramming in workouts between exams and studying and everyone I knew thinking I was completely insane, the times and times when I just didn't think I could do it, when I couldn't see the point, when I just couldn't understand why I was doing this...and feeling like I would never be able to truly RACE a marathon. This...this moment....this was why I was doing it. To be more than I ever dreamed I could be.
2 miles to go. I can't imagine 2 miles hurting more than those 2 miles hurt. Dear sweet lord I thought my left leg was going to come ripping off of my body. And yet I STILL was holding pace. After I slowed down by 10 seconds at 20, I kept that pace for the rest of the race, which I have to say given how I felt, I'm really proud of. Kelly continued to be the best motivator imaginable, urging me to pass people, and just getting me through to the next mile marker. Mile 25 and here we go...1.2 miles to go. This is really happening and I am about to run a sub 3:25 marathon....I couldn't even believe it was real. Finally we ran down that beautiful hill, past that beautiful track, and past that beautiful sign of ONE MILE TO GO...where someone had leaned a poster board with a drawing of the Citgo sign. And yet again...cue the near waterworks...because it was just one more reminder that every bit of negativity, how much I was beaten down, and every single thought in my mind after Boston that was "I'm not good at this, and I'm never going to run a great marathon", every demon I had harbored since that race...all of it was finally gone. And here I was, knowing I could doing it, and believing in my heart that I was for real.
The last mile seemed to take a second and an hour at the same time. Knowing exactly where the finish was and having to sort of loop around it before you got to go there was just agonizing, I think last year it was raining so hard that I couldn't SEE the finish so I had no clue how close it really was. My form was totally falling apart and I was struggling like crazy, but I refused to slow down. Finally - FINALLY - we hit that glorious "speed tunnel" bridge [straight into the wind, of course, not exactly lovely haha] and Kelly was like "I KNEW you could do it, GO GET IT!" and off I went, around the turn and the 26 mile mark, and into the glorious stadium. The warning track seemed a LOT longer than last year but I "kicked" with every single ounce that my body had left to give. Looking up and seeing 3:22 on the clock, all I could do was throw my fist in the air, close my eyes, and just revel in the absolute magic of this moment.
I think they have space blankets on Cloud 9 :)
After the race, I went through my usual semi-hyperventilation/almost crying from happiness/laughing from joy all at the same time. And also, in a lot of pain. You know the kind of pain where you almost laugh because it hurts so much? That's what my legs felt like. All I wanted was to find Andrew and Kelly, but without my phone I had no idea how I was going to go about doing that, so I basically just aimlessly wandered the stadium and occasionally plopped down in a random chair when I couldn't deal with walking anymore. Finally I found them, and was starting to pull myself back together...although food was still of absolutely no interest whatsoever. But by about 20 minutes after my finish, I was coming back to life pretty well, and was able to stand around without feeling like my legs were going to collapse like Jello underneath me or possible just straight up fall off.
So we went to the awards ceremony to watch Marybeth get her 2nd place OA award and Zandra get her 2nd place AG award, and just generally reconvene as a team. I had a beer which tasted delish, but food still wasn't so enticing at this point. We drove home and of course had to go to American Craft for the necessary post race fries with blue cheese beer sauce, burgers, and some tasty pumpkin beer...yes yes. :) Annnnnd then I fell asleep at 9:30 while watching Arrested Development...because I'm awesome like that. Clearly after a day like that sleep is 100% necessary. My legs started to get kind of achy later in the night, so I took an aspirin which I think helped with the inflammation a little bit, because I feel much better today that I did after my previous 2 marathons...actually semi-capable of walking around like a normal human being, although I definitely am having some trouble with stairs, especially after sitting in a lecture hall for 2 hours.
So. Yeah. 17:05 shaved off my PR in one shot. Never, never, never in my absolute wildest fantasies and dreams did I EVER expect to run this fast. In the back of my mind I knew I would most likely go 3:35, it would be sweet if I went under 3:30, and if I was anywhere near 2:25, well, that would be freaking incredible. But 3:22? No way. Not on the radar. But everything came together, the training, the mentality, the lack of psych-outage, the staying relaxed, the just letting my damn legs RUN...and I could not have asked for a more magical, amazing race.
Somewhere, in the deep recesses of my mind, I must have known I could do it. If I didn't think I could, I would have backed off the pace, or never gone out that fast in the first place, or panicked, and would have never known what I could truly do. But somewhere there was that tiny spark of a thought that was whispering "You are better than you know. You are better than your times make you seem. And today is the day to show the world, and show yourself, what you really are."
It's funny, because when I signed up for this marathon I had no specific aspirations or goals other than to requalify for Boston. And my training was so much less regimented, and so much more about getting the miles in, doing the long runs, getting workouts in when it made sense and when it felt good, running easy on the easy days and hard when it seemed like a good idea. I really thought that even if my fitness was right, I would never have the guts after Boston to go for a goal time ever again. But somehow, I knew, that yesterday was the day. And now I feel like I've blown my marathon possibilities wide open...that this is a huge breakthrough race for me. I mean, I basically just ran a time that in my wildest imagination I didn't think I would achieve in my lifetime. All because I finally figured out how to relax, let my legs do their thing, and not be afraid to take my shot.
Boston 2012, you better get ready. I've got a score to settle. :)
As a PS though it's likely none of them will ever read this, I also have to give the biggest thanks possible to Kelly my training partner, for being the catalyst for pretty much everything I've done this training cycle, talking me out of tears when I just couldn't bear the thought of going on another 7 am long run in the middle of the summer, and generally being an incredible role model and inspiration. And a thanks to Kelly my new running buddy, for the pasta, couch to sleep on, ride to the race, and for getting me through the last 3 miles, I could not be more grateful. And finally of course, thanks to Andrew, for not being mad when I occasionally ditch him for running and for learning that spectating a marathon can actually be very fun...which is a good thing, since he's got many more coming. :)
And if you made it this far in my race report, congratulations to you as well! Because given my wordiness that's quite an epic feat haha. I'm sure I'll be back with some sort of wrap-up recap and what's next post sometime in the near future...but I think I've given you enough to read for now. :)
Never, never, never stop believin'.
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