Archive for March, 2009

Wednesday was a mid-long 11-miler, yesterday was 6 easy and today is 5 with strides, these last two runs composing my mini-taper for tomorrow’s Adrenaline 5K.

I’m all a-tingle wondering how it’ll go.  It’ll be my third race in 3 weeks and the first time I’ve raced consecutive weekends, so there’s some novelty included already.

The Adrenaline is a cool race because it attracts a super speedy crowd.  Last year there were nine 14:xx finishers, fifteen 15:xx finishers and twenty-seven 16:xx finishers.  That’s some crazy fast running.  No chips though, so hopefully I won’t be shoved at the start by some jerk, as I was last year.

What am I hoping for?  I’d really love a 21:15.  Plugging last week’s race into McMillan, he predicts 21:24, so with that in mind, anything under 21:30 will be a good day.  The other thing is, I would really like to place – they gave out jackets last year which I thought was pretty cool.  Looking at last year’s results, I could do it, but as I’ve come to realize, it’s all about who doesn’t show up.  At least this one is split into 5-year age groups, which helps.

Weather for tomorrow looks ok though I wish it would be warmer; sunny and 33-36 windchill (just 3-5mph winds, so that’s a relief).  Looks like I have to wait for my next race on April 19th to wear shorts.

Before I sign off, here’s a shout-out to Lara who ran this race with me last year but is in a boot at the moment – you’ll be missed, girl!

Have a good Friday and I’ll see you all here tomorrow with some hopefully happy race reporting.

Last night I finally put the Iron Gym together, Nick and I marveling at the simple engineering of it (it really is a clever design). We put it up in my little office doorway and Nick instantly impresses me with his manliness, doing a few chin-ups in a row with perfect form, bitching that it’s been years since he’s done any.

Iron Gym

I looked at the thing above my head, memories of nightmares on the playground with the evil monkey bars mocking me throughout my chubby childhood. Swinging from one bar to another was always an impossibility, the best I could ever manage was to hold on with both hands and hang there. Real fun activity.

So last night, I jumped up a little, hung on and tried to do a couple negative chin-ups. Totally lame, but I was ok about it, knowing full well that it’d be weeks before I’d be able to get up there properly.

This morning Nick does a few more while I’m sitting here at the computer and again I’m suitably impressed and jealous. He leaves for an errand and I figure I’ll try this sucker again, so I take my rings off (I’m serious now) grab the bar, and out of nowhere, nowhere I tell you, I pull off three chin-ups. Three!! OK, so I didn’t go all the way down before the third, but the fact that I could do any was so unexpected that I was like “what just happened?” A half-hour later, I did it again.

Dear readers, I want you to know that I’m uber aware of how this blog is coming off like one big annoying bragging session lately, good stuff has been happening and I can’t help but get a huge kick out of it all. And while I’m sure it becomes really annoying to read about someone constantly going “look what I can do, look what I can do!” here’s the deal, the message, the moral to my spouting: If I can do this shit, anyone can.

I know a great deal of you are already pushing boundaries, seeing improvements you never expected and enjoying the fruits of your labor. I’m sure too, that there are some who read this and feel overwhelmed sometimes with their own physicality, like it’s such work to make changes and probably not worth the effort. Maybe you’ve run out of fun things to do period, old hobbies become “been there, done that” and you think great, this is it until I die. I know because that was me.

There’s so much more to growing and getting older though. Whether through physical activity, art, cooking, whatever…there is passion to be found out there, you just have to stretch your boundaries, be curious, believe in yourself enough to embarrass yourself or fail a little. Attempt something new! You have no idea what you’re capable of until you try.

This heartfelt message brought to you by Iron Gym (as seen on TV!)

Small race update, the official results came out and it was 2 seconds slower than I’d thought (pooh), so I actually ran a 35:28 (not 35:26).

No matter, there is something I’m quite tickled about with that race…my age-grade standing. I hit 75.22%! That puts me squarely in the middle of Regional Class. My first running book was Glover’s Competitive Runner’s Handbook and he has those tables in the front, though he lists them differently from “regional class” etc, his “Local Champion” table is 75%, so that’s what I’ve been dreaming on for the last couple years. Now I’m there! At least for one distance anyway, hopefully the 5K this weekend will add another to the list.

Yesterday was an excellent 9, no leg tweaks, just a good solid run at 8:34 avg. Today was that speedwork session (1200 @ 5K pace, then 6 x 400 @ 5k pace w/1min. recoveries for all). My goal was to keep at 5K pace, not go any faster. Of course, I’m as guilty as anyone for loving to push my paces in speedwork, but for race pace runs, I think it’s more important to match the chosen pace and hope it feels sustainable for an entire race. That said, race pace never feels the same in training as it does in a race (thank god) but that was my aim for the day, anyway.

I did ok considering my Garmin was totally untrustable as a pace tool today, which I suppose is a blessing in disguise, making me go by feel. It ended up being one of the most comfortable speed sessions I’ve had in awhile, probably because it was only 2.25 miles of fast. Fastest pace was 6:46/mi, slowest was 6:53/mi, average for all, 6:50. Just right.

Yesterday was an interesting 15. The bulk of it was strangely light-footed and comfortable – unexpected, considering I’d raced the day before. But then around mile 12, I got a tweak in my upper quad and had to stop a couple times to try and stretch it out. Just when I was thinking I was indestructible, lol.

So the next couple days are penciled in but subject to change depending on if my leg feels anything but fabulous. Today I’ve got an easy 8 9, but I’m skipping the scheduled hill sprints to make sure the tweak settles down.

Tomorrow, I’m scheduled for a speed session aimed at my 5K on Saturday (1200 @ 5K pace, then 6 x 400 @ 5k pace w/1min. recoveries for all). If there’s a semblance of discomfort left, I’ll skip it, just run easy. I can afford to miss a hard workout considering how regular I’ve been the past couple months and also, this will be my third race this month! However, if all is well (as I expect it to be) I’ll do the session because some race pace practice would be useful.

Other than that, the rest of the week will look like the previous one; 11 easy on Wednesday, two more shorter easy runs on Thurs/Fri and the 5K on Saturday, then 16 on Sunday.

Pushups/Chinups: I’m repeating week 5 of the pushup challenge – I felt like my form got kind of half-assed last week. Wait, scratch that, on second thought, I’m going to do Week 5, day One for a full week, then day Two and Three for a week each before moving to the final week. As for the chinup bar, I haven’t put it together yet, so that’s on the agenda for today. Then I’ll probably stare at it for another two days.

Food: Drumroll please…a few days ago I stopped logging food into dailyplate.com. I’ve been at it since the last week of December and it has been a wonderful tool (it literally taught me to eat so much healthier) but now I’m ready to cut loose and hope I stay status quo.

I’m unashamed to say I haven’t made it to that final goal of 114 lbs,  hovering instead between 116-117.5, but I’ve lost several inches and 2% of my bodyfat, so I’m satisfied. That said, I might still make it down to 114 since I haven’t been eating maintenance level and it’s new muscle that’s been slowing the scale. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, there’s a 4oz box of Jelly Bellys on the counter that a friend brought over last night. Though I’ve had occasional sugary treats and almost nightly fat-free ice cream, I haven’t dared had Jelly Bellys in the house since December. It’ll be enlightening to see, after I maul open the box in what surely will be a desperate display of pathetic sugar jonesing, how much I’ll hate myself in the morning. Life’s challenges: they never end, do they?

As usual, I won’t keep you in suspense because what’s the point? My goal was to get in the lower half of 35 and I snuck in with 35:28, so yay! 2nd in 40-49 AG, 12th female and 97th out of 1119 runners.

I’ve never done this race though it’s in the usual major race location for Philly, a mere 3/4 mile from my doorstep, so at 8:15 I walked/jogged over to the museum, got my bib, did my 1 mile warmup with some strides (both of which always seem slower on race morning for some reason) and returned to the crowd.

Happiness Is: When the race director shouts into his bullhorn “7 minute milers line up” and I get to join this group so close to the front, composed overwhelmingly of men, without feeling like I’m too far up or in someone’s way…that I belong. That was worth the price of admission right there.

Race starts. My first mile isn’t so hot, 7:10, though it’s in that first mile that a girl in a light blue top comes up from behind and becomes my bungee cord for the race, keeping me on track throughout.

Mile 2 – 7:08. Still not optimal.

Mile 3 includes the turnaround point with another clock (they had them at each mile) and I see that my goal isn’t looking good, which is tough because I already feel like I’m pushing hard and am worried about my limits. 7:07

Mile 4 I end up behind two guys running together. As mentioned before, I hate my breathing when racing – I hear myself wheeze and know others can too. So I’m behind these guys for a while and at one point one turns to look at me and I say, “sorry about the breath”. Both the guys go, “oh, no don’t worry about it, it’s fine” which was very sweet, but still it’s so frustrating, because the only time I hear anyone breathe like me is in the first mile or so of a race where someone is about to die from having gone out too hard. Oh well, just something to hate about my racing self. Good news is, I picked it up, 7:02.

Mile 5, I pushed. That’s it. I was dying and my Garmin had been giving me weird average lap paces for the last couple miles (from 6:42-6:54) so I ignored the bogus numbers, and just hoped that last mile was somewhere close to 7:00. It was – 7:01. Diving into the finish, the clock turned over at 35:28 and blissfully, I was done.

I sat on the grass awhile, then got some fruit and water, walked around and looked at people, asked a kid about his Luna Racers and the kid was so sweet, he took one off to show me how light it was (I might follow Doggie and buy a pair because man, they are light!), I saw the girl in light blue and thanked her for helping me out and then just hung out on my own waiting for awards. I got a nice silver medal, stuck around for the rest of the awards, then walked home, satisfied and happy.

Not me, I’ve been insanely slow the last couple days. I was genuinely in need of recovery yesterday, my quads hurt so I was satisfied slogging along at 9:44s. Funny how going a proper recovery pace can make you feel better as you’re running, it’s like a massage, kind of sort of not really but whatever, it works. Today was a slow easy day with some strides at the end.

Oh, so back to what’s fast. Amazon and UPS. After I wrote my last post I ordered a chin-up bar, the Iron Gym (I just did a Tarzan yell, did you hear me?) and because it was free shipping, I expected it to take longer. I wish it would have. Now it’s here I need to put it together and use it. Yikes.

But that’s tomorrow’s task. After my 5-mile race. Double Yikes. The weather is going to be pretty good: 38F 35F w/2mph wind, so let’s see what I get. I’d like to get the lower half of 35. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes.