Archive for September, 2009

Nothing exciting happened between yesterday and today but I thought I’d change the vibe to something more uplifting than yesterday’s visit to the dark side.

Had a nice 12 this afternoon, 8:30s, nothing special but it was really beautiful outside, some threatening clouds overhead and a bit of wind to carry me home. That finishes off a 298 mile month.  Not a whole lot of quality, but there was that Half on the 20th which required some schedule changing.  Here’s what went on, you can click it for a larger version:

Note that the mileage listed is what I actually went  but some of the workout notes are a tad off so “3 miles easy” at the end of a run might actually have been 2.65 or whatever depending on where I ended up in the park after the quality part…I was just too lazy to correct the calendar after I got home (my detailed logs are kept in SportTracks).

That’s about all I can come up with today, I’ll see you in a couple days, my sweet chickadees.

Yesterday morning, Nick leaves the house and notices something bad.  His car is gone.  His wonderful sweet Infinity G35, his home away from home, his safe haven with wheels, stolen overnight.  The cops said it was probably a tow truck that took it in about 2 minutes, that way no glass needs breaking, no alarms go off, just grab and go.  My heart breaks for him as he’s had a really rough few months (some of it my doing) and now he can only hope that the insurance works out since he still owed money on the car.

Then, just now I’m reading on CNN.com about that honor roll kid who was viciously beaten to death by a school gang, whacked with a railroad tie and his head stomped upon by some disgusting monsters in teenager’s clothing.  Why does this world house so much evil?  What happened to make someone do something that vile to another human being?  At the risk of offending many of my readers, I really can’t grasp how people who win a fucking Grammy praise God and thank him for watching down on them when that same God allows some poor sweet kid to die in terror and pain.  I just.don’t.get it.

I’m sorry. I woke up in a great mood, had a really nice speed session, albeit windy (6x800s@6:34), ate breakfast, read CNN and now I can’t stop crying.  That poor kid.

Just got back from a 7 mile recovery in the rain.  Perfect temps for a calm wet run.

Which tells you that I did my 22 yesterday on a beautiful, sunny morning (my first run over 18 miles since running Steamtown!)  It was uneventful but I did manage to make my way up one of the Philly marathon hills (I think there are only 2) where a bunch of people were walking for Sickle Cell Anemia and this one woman, just ambling down the road, cracked me up as she told her son to “stop bothering me, you’re breaking my rhythm.”

I took it slow because of the speed workout the day before.  Btw, a couple comments in the last post about 1/4 mile tracks require an explanation about my speed workouts.  I’ve only been on a track once (not counting race finishes) since starting to run.  I do all my speedwork on the measured path in the park. It’s not exactly flat, but close enough.

Anyway, my goal for yesterday’s 22 was to come home feeling good so I took it slow and easy.  Mission accomplished, my pace was a modest 8:48 and my legs never caught on that they’d run so long.  It was nice getting the LR out of the way on Saturday, too.  That means tomorrow I’m going to be a good girl and do my hill sprints, which I’ve been neglectful about recently.

So this week’s mileage was 75.6 thanks to that Long Run since, besides one 12, I ran short single-digits the rest of those days.

What else? I’m officially giving up my bad habit (non-medical herb) until after the marathon.  I did this last year and didn’t think it made much difference, but back then I was running a minute/mi slower, so I’m thinking perhaps the faster machine requires more care.  If anything it should help me eat less snack crap since I’ve been terrible on that score lately.

I’ll leave you with two satisfied gals at the Philly Distance Run.  That’s Kat on the left.  I’m the squinty one in the soaked shirt with no upper lip (I found it later that day).

Had an entertaining workout this morning, the one I mentioned in the last post.  Wasn’t sure how I’d feel since my week’s been pretty slow, though yesterday I was out of Recovery and into the low end of Easy again so I figured I’d be ok.  It went fine and right on pace.

Workout was 12.60 total miles with 2x(10×400@10k-5k pace, 1min recoveries) 2:20 between sets.  Averaged 1:39 for the first set of 400s, 1:40 for the 2nd (for the record, actually 1/4 miles, not 400s).

I feel all caught up now and am looking forward to the next few weeks of regular speedwork.  Seems like it’s just been dribs and drabs and Sample Speedwork these past weeks (which is by design) but it’s whet my appetite well, making me excited to get back into more formal speedwork again.

In other news, I came so close to buying a new phone this week because I thought mine had suddenly bit the dust.  It was taking a while to charge and though it always reached “battery full”, it would drain in a day’s time.

Thought it might be the battery so I swapped it with a spare.  Same deal, which led me to think it was the phone itself.  Then I remembered I’d had some problems charging my camera batteries the other day.  Turns out, some of my outlets don’t charge things properly, which I didn’t even know was a possibility.  When I put the charger back in one of the outlets by the outer wall, it charged perfectly!  So if anyone has some info on why this occurs, I’d be interested.  It’s weird.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy those long runs.  I’ll be doing my first really long one this cycle, a 22 miler.  It’s scheduled for Sunday but I might just do it tomorrow since the weather looks like a stunner.  Anyway, happy running and happy racing to all you speedsters.

So the race is over but my body is still in argumentative mode.  I’ve never had to run three recovery runs in a row, but I have this week.  Monday was a 5mi recovery run @ 9:45, Tues was a 9miler @ 9:25 and today was a 12miler at 9:13 (and I even had side stitches for 3 miles, lol).  Technically, 12 miles is too long to be called recovery but it was slow going, so that’s what I’m calling it.

I don’t feel bad about having to take it slow these past few days, though it is a new one on me to not feel repaired by now.  It could also be that I got my LadyTime yesterday, which might explain some of my discomfort during the race and why I’m feeling so drained and sleepy this week.  I hope so, because otherwise I have SARS.

Thanks to everyone again for all the positive comments about the race.  After all is said and done, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome.  I looked at the 133 females who came in ahead of me and realized that only one woman was older than me (a 51 year-old with an Age Grade of 94.4% who came in at 1:22:13).   So I’ve got absolutely nothing to pout about and it’s all onward and upward from here.

In other news, I had a new injury for a couple weeks that I didn’t mention because it was slight, but I think it’s worth typing out since you never know who might benefit from reading it.  I had my first case of metatarsalgia for a couple weeks there (ball of foot pain), likely due to rotating a couple pairs of shoes with over 400 miles on them.  It was pretty mild as far as injuries go in that I was able to run with it, though one day it really did feel like I had a pebble in my shoe (classic symptom).

I got rid of it without much ado by ordering a new pair of shoes, but more proactively, by simply massaging my foot whenever it started to “feel” (not on the run, but while sitting here at the computer).  Took me about 10 days to figure out that I could knead the painful area without harm, and once I realized I could, it only stuck around a few more days.  So no big story, but worth a mention.

As for the rest of the week, I’m going to attempt a speed session on Friday and then I have my first 20 (22 actually) this Sunday, so here’s hoping I’m back in fighting shape by Friday.  The workout looks like this: 3 easy, 2x(10x400m @ 10k – 5k pace w/1min rec), full recovery between sets, 3miles easy.  400s – not your usual marathon workout but should be fun to do and get some movement back in my legs.  Good stuff.

Now if I can keep my eyes open for the rest of the day, I’ll be a force to be reckoned with (against what I’ve no idea, but it’ll be real forceful, that’s for sure).

Hey folks, back from the race which was tougher than expected though so much better than last year (guess anything would be) that I’m happy to at least have quashed the DNF dragon.

Yesterday:
I met up with Doggie girl and her girlfriend Loren for lunch and Expo persuing.  Once at the Expo, we hooked up with Kat (my Lehigh Valley Half roomy) so much socializing and fun anticipatory excitement.

Today – Race Day:
I live a short walk to the start, so I timed it to get into my corral with 10-15 minutes of wait time.  Temps for the start were 59 degrees and I was already wishing I’d worn just a sports bra on top, but since I was wearing my Gifted Runner shirt I didn’t have the heart to throw it away or want it flapping from the waistband of my shorts, so I kept it on.  I didn’t wear my HR monitor today, though I carried my small Amphipod with a gel in its pocket, which I ate at mile 8.

Gun goes off and I’m feeling ok but not at all speedy.  It never felt easy today but I told myself as the miles ticked by that if I wanted it to feel easy, I wouldn’t be racing.

Near the beginning a woman passed me and said she loved my shirt (PRs and Sunshine), so whore that I am, I pant out “giftedrunner.com… it’s my company”.  I’m such a ho for a buck.

Seemed like it took no time at all for my breathing to sound ugly, which always messes with my head.  I had to take occasional body checks to confirm I wasn’t on death’s door (Legs ok? Check.  Lungs ok?  Seems so, breathing 2 in, 2 out, just noisy as hell…).

My Garmin was off as always, plus I’d forgotten my pace band, so I wasn’t real sure of where I should be when.  As I’ve come to do in races these days, I kept the autolap on so I don’t have to hit Lap every mile, but as the beeps get earlier from the mile markers, I hit the lap button at some of the mile markers to re-calibrate the starting point.  That way I can add up those mini “laps” to their previous laps when I get home to have a more accurate picture.  That said, at the last few miles, I’m unable to press any buttons at all.

Splits went like this: 7:04, 7:03, 6:59, 7:01, 7:00, 7:07, 7:13, 7:14, 7:13, 7:20, 7:18, 7:09, 7:08 and the last .16 (Garmin’s deal, not mine) was 1:01 (Garmin thinks I ran 13.33).  Anyway, I kept wanting to count down the miles I had left but had to resist, making a deal that I couldn’t do that till mile 8, otherwise, it would seem interminable.

The Finish Line:
My finish was extremely uncomfortable.  I gave it my usual finishing kick which, in retrospect, I shouldn’t have even attempted because as I turned the final corner to the finish, my legs went wobbly (memories of Steamtown), so with the damn clock ticking down in front of my face, race goal already disappeared, I had no choice but to slow down my final few yards.  What a bugger.  I’m hoping the fake smile I put on made it to the cameras in time.

Final time:
1:33:51
6th in my AG and incidentally, oldest among those 6.   Note: I would’ve been 7th, but Doreen McCoubrie, a local 47-year old phenom is Elite, which is its own division…she came in at 1:20:30!  I swear, she’s Dorian Grey
Age grade 79.7%
134th female out of 6374
899th finisher out of 12,247

Yes, I’m disappointed,  because though I said sub 1:33 was my goal, I decided yesterday that what I really wanted to run was 7:00s.  So OK I got a PR, but not by enough, especially since the May Half was hilly and I’ve been working hard these past few months.

Moaning aside, the way I’m justifying it in my brain is that the May Half was my Spring goal race so I was tapered and sharp with all workouts pointed towards that one race.  But then, DA (Devil’s Advocate) says, “you kind of did taper this week because you had a day off on Monday then only ran 54 miles the whole week, including the race”.   To which I might reply, “well, my peak for the May Half was 72 miles and that’s been my average mileage these last couple months, so maybe I’m tired.  To which DA might reply “Higher weekly mileage? You should have been even faster“.  Fuck you, DA.

As for Dog and Kat, Doggie was hurting from mile 8, though still managed a healthy PR, so her report will be a tale from the Ouch.  Loren, who hardly runs anymore and never distance (an All-American in college, so a natural fastie) surprised herself with a 1:32:xx, the bitch. I hate to think what she’d do if given a few months of specific training.

Kat had the race we all dream about, she was planning on 1:47 but felt so good, she couldn’t help but run faster, ending up with a 1:45  and a 3 minute PR which bodes beautifully for Steamtown, which she’s running in 3 weeks.  She came to my new pad after the race for a shower and chatskies and on the way here we ran into Nick on the street.  That congratulatory hug made my day (hi Nick!! ).

Final thoughts:
If Philly was in a month, I’d be genuinely concerned, but with 8 weeks left and sharpening still to come, I’m not quite at “uh oh” level, but I’ll keep a clear eye on my progress from here on in.  I can’t afford to finish Philly in an ugly manner – it’ll determine my corral for Boston, so honesty is the best and only policy.

Really Final Thoughts:
Starting in a fast corral with all those men and just a sprinkling of gals (predominately younger than me) was a total trip and despite my whining, I’m beyond appreciative that I’m even allowed to participate alongside them.  So take my bitching with a grain of salt – I know I’m lucky as hell.

Oh, and NJGirl, if you’re reading this, I am sooo sad we didn’t get to meet, Kat and I hunted for you for awhile, but no luck.  Also, to that sweet blog reader who asked if I was Girl In Motion, you’ve been ordered to post a comment on here, so I’m holding you to it.

So I Lied Final Thoughts:
Nothing to say here, just being funny.  Later, kids.