Wow, a new entry! :)
Training has been going well!
Five weeks ago, I started an eight week program of track workouts with our local running shop, Fleet Feet which is designed to make your body more efficient when it comes to running....and ultimately make you faster (I won't lie, this is my main goal- to get faster [without injury]).
We meet at a track, do a 1 mile easy jog, half a mile of drills (jumps, bounding, butt kickers- literally), and another half mile of sprinting the straightaways and jogging the curves).....whew! And that's just the WARM UP! Then we get into our timed practices. 6-8 of 200 m runs, with a specific time goal (based off of our mile time trial the first week- I did it in 7:55! I didn't think I could run that fast). The objective of the timed goal is to get our bodies into this very specific "zone" of using the oxygen as efficiently as possible and pushing our limits so that we can gain endurance.
Well....a few weeks go by and while track practice was going great, my Saturday runs were.....well, they were sucking. I was fighting my pace and all over the place mentally. On a hill run I forgot to take nutrition for an hour and 45 mins....(normally I take it every 45 mins...) and didn't realize it until I felt so horrible and was basically delerious that Coach Rick found me and literally had to talk me in "See that tree? Once we get there we're going to run for a little bit, ok?". I was so grateful for him and his help, and he is such an awesome coach and selfless man......but I hope I never have to have him coach me like that again. Other runs were just slow and dumpy....I felt really out of my groove, and I became unsettled, impatient, discouraged, and sort of mad....
So two weeks ago I couldn't make it to track practice and felt super guilty and lame (the sessions are on Thursdays, by the way).....but come Saturday morning's run, I felt transformed. We did 14 miles and I felt like I was flying.....my last few miles were averaging 9:20-9:30 (I walk a minute in between miles, so my overall pace is a bit slower)....I couldn't believe it, I was simply floored. Holy crap. Track practice WORKS.
Yesterday's run, enter stage left, calf pain. What the heck? Where did THIS come from? It's not cramping, it just flat out hurts. So I'm working with a foam roller and a stick to work out some of this pain. It made for an uncomfortable 11.4 miles yesterday....well, the humidity didn't help either....I averaged 10:45/mile which includes my water bottle refill times, etc, so I'm pretty happy....
I bought some compression calf sleeves on Friday in hopes of decreasing my recovery time from the longer runs, and boy am I glad I did.....they really made a difference and I'm seriously considering running in them next weekend for our (dun dun dunnnnnnn) 16 miler.
I'm about $300 short on the fundraising front, and I'm really excited to be so close!!!
Let's hope I can chill out and just train injury free these next few weeks.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
More hills and even less sleep
So this morning was a 10-miler in Sabino Canyon. Warning: whining ahead.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I only got about 2 and a half hours of sleep last night. My alarm went off and I hit snooze, then shot out of bed, realizing that I was late already. I had considered sleeping in and making up the run later, but I figured it would be good practice for race day eve. One never really gets the amount of sleep they should the night before they run a marathon, so I thought that this would be good practice. Wrong.
I started off strong, but just ended up totally petering out and finishing the miles for the sake of just being done. I switched to a timed interval, running 7 minutes and walking 1, which helped me fight off complete and utter exhaustion. A few more wrenches in the works were a different hydration belt out for a test drive and a dropped metronome.
Since the heat has increased and my need for liquid intake has increased exponentially, I've realized that two 10 ounce bottles are not enough, even with refill stations along the way. Jennifer lent me her belt with 4 bottles (8 oz each) so I could take it into the canyon and experiment with it. Did.not.like. I'm so glad I tried it before I dropped $50 on it....so now it's back to the drawing board....
You know how I've been running with a metronome to stay on pace? Well, it clipped to my old belt perfectly and stayed put. Not so much with this new belt. About 10 steps into my run, it came flying off, turned off, and reset itself. :( ::Whine::
When I finished my run, my coaches said they'd noticed that I was struggling a bit today. I agreed. It happens. Coach Rick told me last season: "Bad days are flukes; good days never are". I'm subscribing to that today. I'm glad I went out and practiced with the team and that I got some good hill training in, but I'm even more glad I came home to take a nap right after.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I only got about 2 and a half hours of sleep last night. My alarm went off and I hit snooze, then shot out of bed, realizing that I was late already. I had considered sleeping in and making up the run later, but I figured it would be good practice for race day eve. One never really gets the amount of sleep they should the night before they run a marathon, so I thought that this would be good practice. Wrong.
I started off strong, but just ended up totally petering out and finishing the miles for the sake of just being done. I switched to a timed interval, running 7 minutes and walking 1, which helped me fight off complete and utter exhaustion. A few more wrenches in the works were a different hydration belt out for a test drive and a dropped metronome.
Since the heat has increased and my need for liquid intake has increased exponentially, I've realized that two 10 ounce bottles are not enough, even with refill stations along the way. Jennifer lent me her belt with 4 bottles (8 oz each) so I could take it into the canyon and experiment with it. Did.not.like. I'm so glad I tried it before I dropped $50 on it....so now it's back to the drawing board....
You know how I've been running with a metronome to stay on pace? Well, it clipped to my old belt perfectly and stayed put. Not so much with this new belt. About 10 steps into my run, it came flying off, turned off, and reset itself. :( ::Whine::
When I finished my run, my coaches said they'd noticed that I was struggling a bit today. I agreed. It happens. Coach Rick told me last season: "Bad days are flukes; good days never are". I'm subscribing to that today. I'm glad I went out and practiced with the team and that I got some good hill training in, but I'm even more glad I came home to take a nap right after.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Double digits and double vision
No news means good news, right??
RIGHT??
So you'll forgive my lack of updates? Pretty please?
I think today I'll go for an entry that is vignette style, as my friend Stuart used to say.
RIGHT??
So you'll forgive my lack of updates? Pretty please?
I think today I'll go for an entry that is vignette style, as my friend Stuart used to say.
- I can't believe how fast we broke into the double digits. Holy crap. I remember when ten miles was MONUMENTAL (notice the word mental in there) and it still is, but it came through our schedule like a steam locomotive, and there's no sign of stopping!
- July 4th's run was, in a word, sweaty. The night before, we were treated to a spectacular show of thunder and lightning, accompanied by some torrential downpours. So not only was there actual WATER in the Rillito River, there was some nasty humidity to go with it.
- What goes well with murky water and humidity? BUGS, of course! About 3 miles into our 10 mile run, I looked down and noticed that my arms and legs were covered in tiny bugs that had tempted fate and landed on my sweaty limbs. Fatal mistake (for them). They got in my teeth and eyes, too. Fun times. After I was done, I looked down into my shirt and bra and there were plenty of bugs there too. Everyone looked the same coming in- drenched in sweat, and covered in bugs. None of us really seemed to mind, though- we wore the bugs proudly. :)
- I couldn't be happier with how my training is going at the moment. While I'm still not on pace to qualify for Boston (that's fine with me), I am really proud of how consistent I'm pacing, no matter how I feel or hurt, whether it's mile 2 or 12, I'm still within 20 seconds of my previous mile! And I feel GREAT! ::knocks on wood:: Let's hope this sticks around, okay?
- I'm just under $500 shy of my fundraising goal, which is amazing. I cannot thank you all enough for your support. I am truly honored to be running for such an important cause, and that you hold this cause as close to your hearts as I do. Thank you.
- Last week's run was a 12-miler. Coach Daz ran with me miles 5-12, and I was thankful for that. Normally I don't mind running alone- I actually almost prefer it. I get into my zone and just go. It's pretty cool. However, this day, the heat and sun really got to me. I was wearing my purple training jersey and it was just plain too hot. I actually ran out of water (that was my fault, folks) and was pretty uncomfortable. I got a huge cheer from the rest of the team when I finished, though, and boy was I glad to be done.....I get home and download my run, expecting my mile paces to have tanked in the last quarter of the run. Nope. 10:30's. The whole time (except when I refilled my hydration belt). Woah. Talk about muscle memory!
- Tonight is the first night of an 8-week track workout program put on by Fleet Feet. It's not so much speed work as it is working on endurance and stamina. It's a laps and drills- running straightaways and jogging curves, etc. I'll talk about it more once I know what's going on!
- I got hooked up with a Pearl Izumi T-shirt that says "Legs, the alternate energy source" :) Dig it!
That's all I've got for now, I've got to get to practice.
Happy running!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Highs and Lows
My apologies for the lack of updates again. I don't really have any excuses except laziness.
We've hit the longer miles sooner than we did last season, which is simply a factor of time. Last season, we had an extra six weeks to train, so the coaches had us spend a few weeks at the 6-8 range before hitting the double digits. Not this season! Six weeks INTO the season we're already at 8-10. Craziness.
Last weeks' run was an 8-miler along the Rillito River and what an awesome run it was. It was, do date, the best training run I've ever had. I found my groove, I settled in, and I hauled. Ok, well I hauled for ME. But even more? I was consistent- I'm pacing right around 10:30, which I am totally okay with. I'm aiming for a 4:30:and change time this race, which I'll need to maintain a 10:18/mile to achieve. I still have a ways to go, but it's a point of reference...
For my birthday, Todd gave me this awesome GPS watch that pretty much does everything except the laundry (damn!). I have it set so that I can run intervals based on distance- I run for a mile, it beeps and tells me to walk (it doesn't need to tell me twice, believe me), and then after 1 minute, it beeps again and tells me to run for another mile. Rinse and repeat 26 times. FUN!!
Since I've been training, I've been right around a 10:30/mile pace. Good runs, bad runs, runs where my foot cramps, I'm always at a 10:30! So now I need to take these numbers and figure it all out- I want to be smart about this. Last marathon, I lost a LOT of time walking. I was running a 7 minute run/1 minute walk interval, but also walked through the water stations, so I was walking a LOT. In hindsight, I should have blown off the interval walks if I'd just went through a water station, but I didn't know any better. I've heard that you always knock an easy 15 minutes off your first marathon time since you know the ropes....so I'm hoping to do that and then just plain go faster!
So I changed my interval t0 1 mile run/1 minute walk to be somewhat consistent with water station placement, so that I can train to run all the way in between water stations, walk through them, and not lose any time walking in between (unless placement is more than 1 mile).......I don't know, it doesn't make much sense to me either.
I'm going to meet with Coach Rick to discuss "strategery" as I put it. He just ran a PR in Seattle yesterday, a 4:38! He turns 55 on Tuesday, the same day he's going to shave off HALF of his beard and wear until his half-Ironman in Vegas. He made a deal that if he reaches his fundraising goal by June 30, he'd shave half of his beard. Well, people waited until he was running the Rock N' Roll Marathon to donate, so when he came back to his hotel room to shower and rest, he'd discover that he had only two days left with his whole beard (which he's had since 1984). Its' last supper will be held atop the Space Needle.
So, armed with this new pace and knowledge that I might be able to achieve a 4:30 (it's a lofty goal for me, I won't lie), I set off to conquer some hills.....because, well, San Francisco might have a few hills....so I've heard....
Mentally? I came to a grinding, screeching halt.
I know, I know, I'm such a drama queen.
What happened? Sabino Canyon happened. Now, Sabino and I have a history. Last year, this was the place where I really did a number on my IT band, but didn't know it until a week later at my 18-miler, where I ended up having to stop at mile 16 in tears and a lot of pain. I made the mistake of running it in "dead" shoes. Shoes that LOOKED fine, but had logged way too many miles and weren't supportive enough. That among with other small physical things stopped me dead in my tracks about 6 weeks before race day.
Yesterday was my chance at revenge. I was in new(ish) shoes, my core was stronger than ever (thanks, Rohan!), and I had some intense chi running lessons under my belt......bring it on.
Well, I wake up to an overcast day, and it's muggy. At 6 am, it's already 82 degrees, and 40% humidity......not ideal. We start out, and I can feel the humidity just sucking the life out of me. First mile, not bad, 10 mins! Ok, slow down a bit, you still have 6.4 miles.....
Let me explain about Sabino Canyon- it's an out and back course, 3.7 miles each way, and going in, it's pretty much all uphill- with the last mile gaining about 340 feet. It doesn't SOUND like a lot, but holy crap, you really feel it.
So I just struggled with these hills, the humidity, the heat.....it was certainly a wakeup call. I was all over the place mentally and just not really feeling great. I was so disheartened at how slow I felt like I was going, and how hard these hills were, and how would I ever be able to run hills in San Francisco if I couldn't run these, etc etc. I'd worked myself up into a pretty decent funk, and then I reached the top. Three older me who'd passed me on the last torturous stretch (and encouraged me along the way) were resting at the top. I asked them if this is where I was supposed to play the theme to "Rocky" and they started to sing it as I came around the little roundabout and raised my arms above my head.....
And then it was time to run down. Wheee!!!! I tried really hard to control the downhill part as to not overexert my IT band. I'd put on my knee brace as an afterthought and I'm kind of glad I did- it provided a little extra stability both mentally and physically.
Was I glad it was over? Yes.
It's going to take some mental "beefing up" for these hills. More than I thought. All day yesterday and today I've been mentally checking in with my knee, not knowing if it's injured or if I'm just being hypersensitive to it.....
My average pace for Sabino was an 11:30/mile. Less than stellar but not bad considering the circumstances, I admit. So now it's working on speed ON hills and not injuring myself in the process.
I think I can do that....
We've hit the longer miles sooner than we did last season, which is simply a factor of time. Last season, we had an extra six weeks to train, so the coaches had us spend a few weeks at the 6-8 range before hitting the double digits. Not this season! Six weeks INTO the season we're already at 8-10. Craziness.
Last weeks' run was an 8-miler along the Rillito River and what an awesome run it was. It was, do date, the best training run I've ever had. I found my groove, I settled in, and I hauled. Ok, well I hauled for ME. But even more? I was consistent- I'm pacing right around 10:30, which I am totally okay with. I'm aiming for a 4:30:and change time this race, which I'll need to maintain a 10:18/mile to achieve. I still have a ways to go, but it's a point of reference...
For my birthday, Todd gave me this awesome GPS watch that pretty much does everything except the laundry (damn!). I have it set so that I can run intervals based on distance- I run for a mile, it beeps and tells me to walk (it doesn't need to tell me twice, believe me), and then after 1 minute, it beeps again and tells me to run for another mile. Rinse and repeat 26 times. FUN!!
Since I've been training, I've been right around a 10:30/mile pace. Good runs, bad runs, runs where my foot cramps, I'm always at a 10:30! So now I need to take these numbers and figure it all out- I want to be smart about this. Last marathon, I lost a LOT of time walking. I was running a 7 minute run/1 minute walk interval, but also walked through the water stations, so I was walking a LOT. In hindsight, I should have blown off the interval walks if I'd just went through a water station, but I didn't know any better. I've heard that you always knock an easy 15 minutes off your first marathon time since you know the ropes....so I'm hoping to do that and then just plain go faster!
So I changed my interval t0 1 mile run/1 minute walk to be somewhat consistent with water station placement, so that I can train to run all the way in between water stations, walk through them, and not lose any time walking in between (unless placement is more than 1 mile).......I don't know, it doesn't make much sense to me either.
I'm going to meet with Coach Rick to discuss "strategery" as I put it. He just ran a PR in Seattle yesterday, a 4:38! He turns 55 on Tuesday, the same day he's going to shave off HALF of his beard and wear until his half-Ironman in Vegas. He made a deal that if he reaches his fundraising goal by June 30, he'd shave half of his beard. Well, people waited until he was running the Rock N' Roll Marathon to donate, so when he came back to his hotel room to shower and rest, he'd discover that he had only two days left with his whole beard (which he's had since 1984). Its' last supper will be held atop the Space Needle.
So, armed with this new pace and knowledge that I might be able to achieve a 4:30 (it's a lofty goal for me, I won't lie), I set off to conquer some hills.....because, well, San Francisco might have a few hills....so I've heard....
Mentally? I came to a grinding, screeching halt.
I know, I know, I'm such a drama queen.
What happened? Sabino Canyon happened. Now, Sabino and I have a history. Last year, this was the place where I really did a number on my IT band, but didn't know it until a week later at my 18-miler, where I ended up having to stop at mile 16 in tears and a lot of pain. I made the mistake of running it in "dead" shoes. Shoes that LOOKED fine, but had logged way too many miles and weren't supportive enough. That among with other small physical things stopped me dead in my tracks about 6 weeks before race day.
Yesterday was my chance at revenge. I was in new(ish) shoes, my core was stronger than ever (thanks, Rohan!), and I had some intense chi running lessons under my belt......bring it on.
Well, I wake up to an overcast day, and it's muggy. At 6 am, it's already 82 degrees, and 40% humidity......not ideal. We start out, and I can feel the humidity just sucking the life out of me. First mile, not bad, 10 mins! Ok, slow down a bit, you still have 6.4 miles.....
Let me explain about Sabino Canyon- it's an out and back course, 3.7 miles each way, and going in, it's pretty much all uphill- with the last mile gaining about 340 feet. It doesn't SOUND like a lot, but holy crap, you really feel it.
So I just struggled with these hills, the humidity, the heat.....it was certainly a wakeup call. I was all over the place mentally and just not really feeling great. I was so disheartened at how slow I felt like I was going, and how hard these hills were, and how would I ever be able to run hills in San Francisco if I couldn't run these, etc etc. I'd worked myself up into a pretty decent funk, and then I reached the top. Three older me who'd passed me on the last torturous stretch (and encouraged me along the way) were resting at the top. I asked them if this is where I was supposed to play the theme to "Rocky" and they started to sing it as I came around the little roundabout and raised my arms above my head.....
And then it was time to run down. Wheee!!!! I tried really hard to control the downhill part as to not overexert my IT band. I'd put on my knee brace as an afterthought and I'm kind of glad I did- it provided a little extra stability both mentally and physically.
Was I glad it was over? Yes.
It's going to take some mental "beefing up" for these hills. More than I thought. All day yesterday and today I've been mentally checking in with my knee, not knowing if it's injured or if I'm just being hypersensitive to it.....
My average pace for Sabino was an 11:30/mile. Less than stellar but not bad considering the circumstances, I admit. So now it's working on speed ON hills and not injuring myself in the process.
I think I can do that....
Sunday, June 14, 2009
6 Miles
Yesterday's run was interesting. I ran the entire six miles and only walked once about one mile into it so I could stretch out a little bit. The rest of the run I just felt like I was fighting it and really struggling to keep my pace and not just totally crap out.
It went quicker than I thought it would, and was greeted with a cold washcloth (whoever started doing that for the team, you have my eternal gratitude). I hit Trader Joe's on the way home and it was all I could do to not fall asleep on the way home- I was SO TIRED! I came home to surf our new cable channels (yes, we waited until the last minute to ditch our rabbit ears) and fell asleep for a few hours!
The interesting thing? When I downloaded my run and looked at my pace, I was only 14 seconds/mile behind last weeks' run (the run where I felt like a total badass). So I guess I wasn't going quite as slow as I felt....
I woke up early this morning and wrote my weekly mentor email and caught up on some other business (like watching the NASCAR race- pretty exciting!!). And wouldn't you know it, I fell asleep on the couch AGAIN (while watching Mythbusters of all things).
I have no idea why I'm so tired, but this napping thing is unusual for me.
Maybe next week will be a bit better. Call me sick, but I look forward to the longer miles. Next week is 8 and I'm eager to see what I can do.
It went quicker than I thought it would, and was greeted with a cold washcloth (whoever started doing that for the team, you have my eternal gratitude). I hit Trader Joe's on the way home and it was all I could do to not fall asleep on the way home- I was SO TIRED! I came home to surf our new cable channels (yes, we waited until the last minute to ditch our rabbit ears) and fell asleep for a few hours!
The interesting thing? When I downloaded my run and looked at my pace, I was only 14 seconds/mile behind last weeks' run (the run where I felt like a total badass). So I guess I wasn't going quite as slow as I felt....
I woke up early this morning and wrote my weekly mentor email and caught up on some other business (like watching the NASCAR race- pretty exciting!!). And wouldn't you know it, I fell asleep on the couch AGAIN (while watching Mythbusters of all things).
I have no idea why I'm so tired, but this napping thing is unusual for me.
Maybe next week will be a bit better. Call me sick, but I look forward to the longer miles. Next week is 8 and I'm eager to see what I can do.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Rock N' Roll!!
Look what I just registered for!
http://las-vegas.competitor.com/
Complete with run-through weddings and running Elvi.
I took a gamble and went all in. I signed up for the race but don't have a hotel or plane reservation yet! GAME ON!
http://las-vegas.competitor.com/
Complete with run-through weddings and running Elvi.
I took a gamble and went all in. I signed up for the race but don't have a hotel or plane reservation yet! GAME ON!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Meet Me Downtown Pictures
See? I told you I'd post pics!
Here's me and Teresa (Lil' T)- she was a mentor for my PF Chang's season. We're wearing matching Fleet Feet shirts, too! So....she ran 10 miles that morning (the race was at night) and she still managed to kick my butt. She makes running seem so effortless.
Notice that my arm is sparkly? That's compliments of......(see below)
My beloved Mashed Potato Queens (not to be confused with the Sweet Potato Queens)- they showed up in full regalia to support the race's cause (to bring business into downtown and support the Fox Theater). Plenty of glitter was shared.....and they wear shirts that say "Distill my beating heart". I've known them for years, and work out with several of them at my gym.
Todd took this photo (he's getting really good at this!) I love it because my form has improved so much (it's not perfect) and I really look like a runner!
The finish line went underneath a footbridge and Todd was waiting for me- I was seriously sprinting against the clock......
Here's me and Teresa (Lil' T)- she was a mentor for my PF Chang's season. We're wearing matching Fleet Feet shirts, too! So....she ran 10 miles that morning (the race was at night) and she still managed to kick my butt. She makes running seem so effortless.
Notice that my arm is sparkly? That's compliments of......(see below)
My beloved Mashed Potato Queens (not to be confused with the Sweet Potato Queens)- they showed up in full regalia to support the race's cause (to bring business into downtown and support the Fox Theater). Plenty of glitter was shared.....and they wear shirts that say "Distill my beating heart". I've known them for years, and work out with several of them at my gym.
Todd took this photo (he's getting really good at this!) I love it because my form has improved so much (it's not perfect) and I really look like a runner!
The finish line went underneath a footbridge and Todd was waiting for me- I was seriously sprinting against the clock......
There I am trying to beat the clock! ARGH, I wanted to beat 29 so badly! Oh well, maybe next year. :) (I'm right below the N in "FINISH")
Overall, it was a great time. I can't wait to do it next year!
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