Archive for May, 2009

Yesterday I was supposed to go 7, went 9 instead.  Felt a twinge of the knee thing around mile 7.5 but not enough to stop.  Again, felt perfect once I stopped running.

Today went for my 11, it acted up near the halfway mark.  I ended up walking home 2.5 miles.  I’m pissed and unhappy.  Will be taking 2 days off for sure, possibly 3.  Sigh.

That’s it for now.

Edited to add: I think it’s the IT Band after all.  This is actually not bad news, because at least I know how to attack it:  Ice, rolling and Ibuprofen for the next 3 days, then stretches.  I can handle this.

Another edit: And I’ve just learned that poking and prodding the affected area was not the smartest idea.

The I can’t shut up today edit: Neglected to mention I fell flat on my face again, too, on the same little mud trail.  I didn’t get hurt or even very dirty and the best part was no one saw me, but still…sucks, right?  Kind of funny though.

In my last post, I mentioned having to walk home on Tuesday due to some mystery pain in my leg.  The next day, I got 2 miles in and noticed that same lateral kneeish/calfish area was giving me the weird business again so I stopped and kneaded it a bit, which made it feel runnable for a short stretch, but then it went back to wonky.  I ended up walking back home again because with all the progress I’m making, I simply can’t afford to mess around with injury.

I iced it and tried to roll it but couldn’t find the spot (lower then IT insert).  I wasn’t too too freaked out because I couldn’t feel it except during running, but still…it scared me.

So yesterday I took a day off (first in 3 weeks) and popped 3 Ibuprofen in the AM and 3 in the PM just to whack any inflammation that might be in there.  I also stayed outta my dark imagination, despite Doggie Girl informing me her running partner had just got a bad stress fracture and would be booting it for 12 weeks (I always think “that could be me”).

So instead of worrying, I spent the day productively for the first time in awhile, finally starting to make sense of the t-shirt fiasco, which helped my mental status considerably.   I looked out the window once, wishing I could run, then enjoyed sitting on my butt the rest of the day.

Today, I woke up with “should I, shouldn’t I?” in mind.  I could take another day off (haven’t had 2 consecutive days off since January) or I could go on a short run today and see what happened.  Since I couldn’t feel anything at all, I chanced it – went out for 5 miles and yay, oh yay, nary a peep.  So I’m uber relieved, though will remain careful the rest of the week, cutting down my mileage to an easy 7 tomorrow and 10 or 11 on Sunday.  Better safe than sorry.

Hurty talk aside, I want to give a shoutout to a few gal-pals marathoning this week.  Best of luck, Kat, Jackie, Barb and Julie.  I’ll be thinking of you gals tearing it up.  One for you too, Dog, have a great Half.

Everybody else, have a fabulous weekend and stay healthy, all of you!

Kicking it in, eyes on the finish line.

Some race observations:

I’m at the start, standing by these two women, when I overhear them talking about the weather so I butt in and ask how it will change their race.  One of them (who won #1 in my AG with a 19:43) tells me to expect 30sec. to 1-min slowdown.   Then I asked do you start with that in mind or does your body tell you what to do, they said, “oh, your body will set the pace.”  I already expected a slowdown but hearing it could be 1 whole minute freaked me out some.   At that point, I had no idea what to expect but knew I was going to start about 10 seconds slower than originally planned.

At about 1.5 miles in, I end up by some guy who says, “Mind if I hang off you?”  I said “sure”, but then in 3 more steps I was already ahead of him and gone.  That’s when I realized I was passing people en masse.

Looking at my splits, I see my 2nd mile was 10 seconds slower but for no real reason, there weren’t any hills to speak of.  I think that was a mixture of me being afraid of pushing in case I died a premature hot death and what’s turning into my usual 2nd mile silliness where I tend to lose attention and get whiney.

But the kicker was my HR (I wore the strap but had the info hidden so I had no idea what it was through the race).  It was low. Lower than the 3mile tempo I’d done the week before at 10k pace.  I averaged 86%HRR, maxed at 92.  This is mildly disturbing to me, because if anything, it should have averaged in the 90s, either because of the heat or the 5K effort, not to mention both.  A RW forumite, Amuse, whose opinions I respect completely, thinks it’s because heat and humidity don’t allow you to get up to optimal racing intensity, which sounds sensible, though the previous week’s tempo does leave a question mark.

I’m finally understanding that HR info is almost ethereal in that there’s no tried and trueness to it.  I still find it incredibly useful, but realize there is no magic key that will tell me when A happens, B will result.  I can live with that.

Nick gets laid:

Nick said something later that afternoon that was so hot, I had to do him.  He said, “Your gait, or whatever you call it, has changed a lot since the last time I saw you race.  You’re not hunched over like you used to be.”  YES, YES, YEEEESSSS!!  As someone who’s had crappy posture forever, running or otherwise, all the pushups and chinups these past months have made quick work of straightening me up.  The last time he saw me race was December, so this was music to my ears.

My form in general has changed a lot without me realizing it (though the heelstrike looks here to stay).  I used to wonder why some runners barely move their arms, it looks weird to me, but apparently I am one of them now.  In looking at the photos he took, I see my arms don’t have much of a swing, which is fine and dandy – as long as I’m getting faster, I don’t care what they do.  One thing I did notice on today’s run though, is that they are definitely driving from the elbows which is what the books and coaches say to do, but that I could never manage to integrate purposely.  It’s cool to find this happens naturally now.

Beyond the race:

Yesterday was a lovely 9-miler, then today was a not-so-lovely 11.3.  I started out planning to run 9 but it was cool and beautiful (light rain) so I made my turnaround at 6 to make it 12.  With 4 miles to go I got this weird pain in my leg which I ran through, but eventually had to stretch.  Finally, I ended up walking the last .75.  I’ve walked home maybe 4 times ever.  It feels fine now though, so hopefully it was just a ghost.  My shoes are at 340 miles, so maybe that didn’t help, either.

My business dilemma/hell:

And now, the real pain in my ass, which I haven’t mentioned on here though it’s been a dark cloud for over a month.  Cafepress, the company I use to make and send my t-shirts, is changing something in their business model which screws all us shopkeepers out of $ starting June 1st.  I’ve been paralyzed to do anything about it because it takes forever to create products, which I’ll have to do all over again with another fulfillment company.

So I’ve been freaking out how to handle it, where to start, whether the running shirts or music shirts or scuba, etc.  After going back and forth about the best way to proceed, I finally started recreating some products last week, but I hate it, I can’t stand redoing old projects and this is sheer drudgery that’ll take weeks to complete.

On the other hand, I’ve been terrible with business this whole year, spending my every thought on running and letting all my websites languish – so in a way, this has blessing properties, as it’s making a return to creativity very inviting, at least as an alternative to this shit work.  I might just leave a lot of designs on Cafepress and concentrate on new stuff, but it’s just a mess since pricing structures will be different for each company.  Aargh!  There’s really no good answer to it at all.

If there is a silver lining, it’s that the new company offers wicking shirts, so I can finally sell running shirts that runners can actually run in.  Woohoo, what a concept.

And that concludes this epic post.  I need peanut butter.

Just a shorty because we’re going for a Sunday drive to get outta here for the day.  I barely cut 21, got 20:56.   Behold my sweaty self…

I knew I wasn’t going to get my original goal (20:30 or better) because it was 76 degrees and the dewpoint was 63 – I was shvitzing before we began.  Even so, I feel good about my performance, I was strong throughout and passed quite a few people though I can’t recall anyone passing me.

My splits were 6:42, 6:52, 6:40 and the last .1 was 6:09 pace (you can bet when I saw the clock ticking down I kicked like a madwoman).  I was 7th female and the 21st finisher out of 309 and got #2 in my AG (40-49).

I’m left with mixed feelings – it’s cool to have broken a major number, but I also know I have more speed in me than what I managed today.   One nice capper on the race though…I promised myself long ago that if I ever went sub21, I would buy a pair of racing flats.   Looks like I have some shoe shopping to do.

I wanted to share this great bit of info I found on a RW training forum, it was written by a runner who is also a meteorologist.  By adding the temperature and dewpoint, you get an idea of whether your run/race will suck or not:

Temp+dewpoint of 90-100 is probably ideal, but anything below 130 is pretty much OK to go for the fast time…maybe 120 for longer distances…say 1/2 marathon or above. Between 130-150 will see a gradual slowdown in pace, and if it’s above 150, forget pace altogether and just focus on finishing.

Here’s another poster’s way of looking at it (that the meteorologist agreed with):

Dewpoint <55*F: Go for it!
Dewpoint in the 60s…it’ll be tough for racing, training runs OK
Dewpoint in the low 70s…hard training will be tough
Dewpoint in the upper 70s….anything other than a recovery run will be a struggle
Dewpoint in the 80s…even a recovery run is tough

Looks like my race tomorrow will be near 70 degrees at the start with a dewpoint of 62.  Potential pooh, I wanted weather perfection.

Also, I picked up my bib yesterday and it’s silly as hell.  They’re using DAG timing and the way it works is that a bib (laminated with the timing device attached) is placed in a plastic bag stapled to the back of a normal bib – you have to wear both.  Convoluted and bulky.

I’m grouchy today, can you tell?

No, I’m not talking about Memorial Day or any of those Hallmark constructed celebratory excuses.  I’m talking Happy Menarch Day!

What?  You never heard of it?   Can’t remember what Menarch even is?  Let me jog your memory…Menarch is the day a girl begins her period.  For someone like me, who didn’t even get a Sweet Sixteen party, I now feel doubly gypped.  Luckily, I can relive that special day by visiting Menarch Parties R Us. They offer all the accouterments you need for such a wondrous event, including everybody’s favorite party game, Pin The Ovaries On The Uterus.  Sounds painful but I guess that’s part of the fun.

Back to the cake, it’s quite lovely as far as cakes go, but I do think the white blobs in the corners would be more complete with a string coming out of each blob.  And poor Levonna, forever memorialized as the girl who got her period and had a mom who thought it was worth celebrating over.  But enough holiday talk.

As far as this party-deprived runner goes, I’ve been enjoying easy runs these last couple days.  Yesterday was the closest I’ve come to a recovery run in weeks, a 12-miler at 8:53.  It was 82 degrees at the end, but my goal was to keep the HR low throughout – mission accomplished with a 65% average.  Today was a 9-miler at 8:16/mi, 71% HRR.

Tomorrow I’ll be doing 7, then 4w/strides on Sat, then race.  I like these little mini-tapers on race weeks, it’s a nice change and creates a cutback week, which I wouldn’t pay attention to otherwise.

I went a little race-crazy yesterday and committed to 3 races in June.  I’d had them on the calendar anyway, but thought I’d wait closer to the actual race days to evaluate weather conditions before signing up.   Changed my mind and paid for all three when I realized that even if the weather’s hot as hell, at least everyone will suck evenly, plus it’s good practice racing in adverse conditions.  But the best part is that it’ll be a vacation from speedwork, while giving me the benefit of Super-Speedwork, since you never run as fast as when you’re racing.  It’s win-win.

And with that, I’ll wish you all a wonderful holiday weekend, whether it be Memorial or Menstrual.  Either way, have a beer on me.