Archive for June, 2009

Because as Jim noted, the previous post wasn’t really a report, more like a glossing over, I’ll expand here.

The race itself was small, 300 people.  Weather was cloudy and 68 degrees with a dewpoint of 59.

Unlike my other races this season, I put no pressure on myself at all.  I kind of knew I’d get a PR because the weather was better than my last 5K, plus I know the course completely and I had my magic shoes.

My goal was to see something between 6:30-6:35s in the Garmin and that’s how it went down.  I was the third woman at the beginning, then I passed Christine (who I know from the park and this blog) which left some tiny 20-something wisp of a gal in front of me.

She was an odd duck because she came out of nowhere about 3/4′s of a mile in, passing me and zooming ahead.  I talked to her after the race and she said she likes to do the slow start.  She also likes humidity, told me it means there’s more oxygen in the air.  Doesn’t work for me, but good for her.

Anyway, during the race I was thinking how good it was that she was there (as with all the women I’m ever behind) because without them, I wouldn’t push so hard.  I kept her in my sights the whole time, knew I couldn’t pass her but just tried to keep the space between us as tight as I could for as long as I could.

I noticed as I ran that for the most part my breath was 2:2, so I knew I was doing alright.  I tend to pay attention to these things now as it’s a barometer of how hard I’m working.  Not sure when my breath went 1:1, somewhere around the last half mile.

My Garmin autolap splits were right on with the first two mile markers which doesn’t happen too often.  You go under some overpasses so the Garmin tends to get wonky at those places (which I’ve just realized today after overlaying two races on the same course), but my Garmin splits were:
6:34,6:34,6:29, and though the last bit doesn’t come out right, Garmin shows me kicking in at 6:01 to finish.

As far as socializing, as mentioned, Audra’s girlfriend Loren was there with Bea the dog, Audra’s mom came with her nephews, also their friend and friend’s kid, plus my friend Yvonne showed up, so with Judy there too, it was quite a little party.

So looking to Friday evening, I really want to race it now because I’m feeling great off yesterday’s effort, but the weather looks like crap at this point, 77 degrees with dewpoint of 62 (exactly what I had for my last 5K) so unless that changes, I’m not going to drive out there for a tempo run.

And that’s it from race central for the moment.  Must get the website finished up today…

Later, loves.

Now we’re talking! 20:25 pour moi today. I came in 2nd OA (alas, no 2nd OA award, so 1st AG). Shout out to Christine (hi girl!) who came in right behind me.

The race was a blast because Judy of the Women’s BQ thread was in town and ran it, as did Audra who came down from NYC with her girlfriend Loren the night before and stayed over at my house.  Judy, Audra and I each placed in different age categories, so between us we had the 30-59 year range covered. Audra and I got 1st AG and Judy got 2nd.  Good times, good times.

My racing flats were the bomb, really comfortable with no hot-spots, leaving me happily satisfied with that anxiety-tinged purchase.  I’ve put them back on their sacred spot atop my digital scanner, the better to adore their aqua prettiness without having to turn my head.

So this race gives me an Age-Grade score of 79.91%, eeking even closer to “National Class” than my previous highest score from the last 10K (78.37%).  I know, I know…it means absolutely nothing, but it’s fun.

Coming up…I’ve got a 5-mile race this Friday at 7pm in a town about 30-minutes away, but I might bag it.  I’m only doing it to get my 5-mile PR in line with the latest, so if the weather looks eh or I’m feeling eh, I’ll have no qualms skipping it.  Then there’s another 5K the week after that, a weird one where you run around a stadium a couple times.  Sounds stupid but that’s also why it sounds fun.

Also, I’m just about to announce The Gifted Runner’s Grand Re-opening which has consumed me completely these last few weeks.  Despite the endlessly irritating aspect of having to remake everything (much bigger pain in the ass than you’d imagine) it’s been fun being creative again and thinking up new stuff.

I always end up having a great time coming up with new stuff, but when I think about thinking up stuff, I get worried I’ll think of stupid stuff so I end up not thinking about anything except the fact that I’m avoiding thinking about coming up with new stuff.  It’s a drag.

This has been my M.O. for the past year.

The only way around this is to do more, think less – design without the need for it to always be great, allow some schlock, but just keep producing and get out of my head more; not an easy task for a self-critical, anti-social hermit such as myself.  Let’s see how long this lasts…

After publicly eschewing the idea of buying proper racing shoes so soon after the IT crap, I made an impulsive decision yesterday.  I was all “I said if I broke 21 I’d get to have racing flats, doggone it, I’m gonna go buy me some!”  So I went to Philadelphia Runner and tried on a few pairs.

I always feel like the Princess and the Pea when trying new running shoes on, there’s undoubtedly something that leaves me reticent (the arch on this one, tight toe on this one, too much room in another…) and because these were racers, I was even more anxious to choose the perfect pair.  I finally settled on the Puma Complete Roadracer IIIs, my first neutral shoe.

Once home, I put one on my postal scale, comparing it to my Mizuno Elixirs (the performance trainers I wear for quality runs and racing).  With my big feet (these are Men’s size 8 – I usually wear ladies 9.5 in running shoes), the Puma weighs 6.4 oz. – that’s 2.7 ounces less than the Elixirs – which may sound inconsequential, but my Elixirs are only 1 ounce lighter than my everyday Inspires and I honestly feel that difference, so 2.7 oz qualifies these as magic slippers.

Speaking of shoe weight, I’ve read from several sources that for each ounce you lose off your shoes, it’ll save you one second per mile.  So 5.2 oz total could potentially chop 16 seconds off my 5K.  That’s no small bonus.

The only thing I’m left wondering about is that I asked the sales girl (a super-fast local runner) if it’d be ok to wear them for, say, a speed session couched within 9 miles total.  She advised against it, but when I got home I read Puma’s sales blurb saying they’re “categorized somewhere between a 100% racer and a lightweight trainer” and “The Roadracer should be worn for weekly fast runs or races, but does not have the support or heel stability to be used for everyday”.  Sounds to me like wearing them for tempo and speedwork should be just fine.

She also said I could consider up to a Half in them, though that’d be pushing it, but the sales copy says “from 5k to marathon”.  Not that I was wanting them for marathons, but still, if I can safely run a Half in them, that’d be great.  I’ll just have to test them and see.

For now, I’ve placed them within the sightline of my computer chair, the better to admire them until raceday.   They remind me of a swimming pool, so pretty.  Yay shoes.

The body parts seem to be working fine, Sunday was a 9-miler that required no stretching stops at all, then yesterday, an uneventful 7.

Today, because I’ve got a 5K this Sunday, I chanced a casual speed session.  The last time I did anything fast was that 5K on the 24th, so it was important for me to get some speed in just to remind my legs what race effort feels like (they forget quickly).

I got out after a thunder storm which meant it was warm and disgustingly humid.  I played it by ear, really didn’t want to do a regimented session.  What I ended up with was 9 miles total with 3 x .5 mi and 3 x .25 mi, with .25 mi recoveries between each.  My only rule was I couldn’t look at my watch.

The first one was super crappy, slower than my 10k pace, 6:59.  They improved after that, but I was still all over the place with 6:43, 6:38 for the other 1/2 miles, then 6:25, 6:25, 6:40 for the 1/4 miles.  Seems alright, but considering the long recoveries it was sub-par, though I’m not  disappointed – I’ve been out of the loop for a couple weeks and the conditions didn’t help.

So I’m not expecting anything this weekend, might even dip back into 21:xx territory, but that’d be ok.  I’m at peace with the fact that running is not always a linear rise you can depend upon, but more like a series of ocean waves.  Considering the crest I’ve been riding these last few months I’ve been incredibly lucky, so maybe it’s time to recede back into the ocean for a bit now.

Wet metaphors aside, I’m going to have a great time this weekend regardless of how I do, because Doggie girl and Judy from the Women’s BQ thread will be racing, too.  Sounds like a fun morning, guaranteed.

This has definitely been a learning experience, the ole IT Band adventure.  Thankfully, things continue to improve (knock on wood) with regular rolling, stretching, icing and ibuprofen consumption.

My runs have gone like this: 7 miles Wed and Thurs, then 8 miles yesterday and today – the hope being that each run would be a little better than the previous, and if not, stay on that distance till it is.  I’ve also been leaving my Shuffle at home, the better to hear a whisper of hurt before it becomes a yell.

That 2nd 7-miler on Thursday was a nail biter, I was just about holding my breath the whole time, so afraid it’d be unchanged or even worse.  What a relief to find it only required 2 stops to stretch, instead of Wednesday’s 3.

Yesterday, I got to 4.5 miles before I needed a stretch and today it wasn’t till 6.5 miles and only required the one stop, so I’m in high spirits, like I dodged a bullet (though I get the feeling that I’ll be wearing a permanent target from here on in).

I can see how this injury would knock you out horribly if you didn’t have a foam roller.  Took me a couple days to realize I should roll both legs, too, not just the injured one. I also ordered a Pro-tec IT band strap, which I’ll hopefully not need by the time it gets here, but I’d like to have it around just in case.  Also, it wasn’t till a couple days ago that I realized how long a stretch should actually take – 30 seconds is a lot longer than I thought.  Lol, I’m such a newbie with this crap.

So with this precious improvement, I decided not to do any speed or tempo till I’m back to 100%, which is a shame because I have a 5k next weekend.  But if this thing is lingering midweek, I’m going to skip the race entirely, I’ve got nothing to prove by doing it.  And about those racing flats, they’re not even on the shopping radar right now, last thing I want to do is introduce a new pair of shoes to the mix.

Away from injury talk, I temporarily put aside the drudgery of remaking products for The Gifted Runner to creating a handful of brand new designs.  I forgot how much I enjoy the creative part of it.  And you know that test shirt that got printed on the front instead of the back?  I wore it couple times already and it’s so satisfying seeing people try to read the thing while running the opposite way.  It’s the PRs and Sunshine one, so I guess the 13666 stands out pretty well.  Cool.

And that ends this weekend’s one-sided jabber fest.  Hope you guys and gals are whooping it up with beautiful weather and fine running adventures.  Till next week, run on!

I had said I’d go running yesterday but I could tell by the way my leg felt when rolling that I could use one more day of rest.  It worked out great because the t-shirt saga continues and I got a shitload of work done, which is kind of silly considering running doesn’t take up that much time, but mentally, being able to plow through without stopping was just what I needed.

So I’ve been rolling and stretching, to the point that I thought I’d overdone it last night (must watch out for rehab overzealousness).  Today I was so excited to run again, you’d think it’d been 2 weeks, not 2 days.  Got out the door and ahhhhhh.  Rubber legs from all that rolling.

I ran 7 and taking a tip from a couple of the IT Band info sites, I did not make it recovery pace.   Don’t know if you know this, but IT Band crap is not affected by speed, or rather, the slower you go, the more likely it’ll hurt, so add that to my list of things I did wrong in the last post.

I went 7 miles @8:06 and it was lovely.  I stopped at the water fountain at mile 4.5 and stretched, then stretched a couple more times before finishing.  At the very end, I was feeling it a bit, but just a shadow.  No pathetic walk home for me today!  Woohoo.

So I’m sitting here, having rolled a few times and with an ice pack strapped to my thigh.  Bliss.

I think I’ll go for 7 again tomorrow and if all goes well, might even sneak in a light interval session  Friday or Saturday, especially since speed isn’t a detriment.  Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping up with the rehabby stuff like clockwork from now on.

On other news, I’m thoroughly excited about this switch to my new shirt company.  I ordered a wicking shirt to check on the quality and got it yesterday – love it!  The cut is really cute, the fabric is high quality and there’s no hand at all (“hand” means you can’t feel the print, it’s sublimated into the fabric).  I was worried that the print area would be stiff and unbreathable, but it’s like nothing.

Additionally, an unexpected bad/good thing happened, the graphic was supposed to be on the back but they put it on the front, so I was able to test the return policy.  It’s excellent!  They had me email a photo of the shirt showing the print and the size tag for verification and they’re sending me a new one.  So I get to keep the first one, which doesn’t have anything wrong with it, it’s just printed on the front.

In other world-affecting news, I cut bangs back into my hair last night.  My whole life, I’ve worn bangs but recently let them grow out completely with the idea of making my  hair easier to pull back while running.   That’s a dumb reason to have ugly hair, especially when your forehead simply begs for a bang.  So last night, after flicking, shoving and blowing hair out of my face for the umpteenth time, I grabbed some scissors and reinstated the fringe.  Normalcy restored.

What else?  I got a surprise in the mail yesterday…a cute little swiveling trophy.  It was from my last 10k where I got 2nd OA female.  There was a letter of apology included saying they didn’t have them ready at the race.  Neato Frito.

Lastly, the saga of my other medical malady; a corn/callus on the bottom edge of my foot.  Not a big deal or even painful except very occasionally but I figure I’d go after it while it was still small.  So I bought a Dr. Scholl’s product a couple weeks ago; these tiny, flat stickers you change every 48 hours till it goes away.

I’ve been wearing them for 10 days and they haven’t done shit.  Nothing at all.  So this morning I picked up the package to get the exact name of it in order to see if anyone complained about their ineffectiveness on Drugstore.com or Amazon.

As I picked it up, something fell out of the package.  Hmmm…what’s this?  Medicated discs.  What the…?  Oh, supposed to put that on the corn, then the sticker keeps the disc from falling off.   I’ve been walking around with useless flesh-colored stickers on my foot for over a week.  What an idiot.