Archive for October, 2009

When you have a car like mine (’95 Saturn with 140,000 miles on it, the clear coat’s  peeled off and rust is starting to form, plus scratches, dented areas and all-round ugliness), you’d think it’d be immune to any criminal intent, right?  Nope.  Check out the license plate.

Some asshole took metal shears and cut the first letter of my plate off, along with what he really wanted, the registration sticker. SO annoying.  I don’t drive it much and it was parked on the street for a few days, then I went shopping just now and discovered it.  On the upside, I got to call 911 which was exciting.  (I called my precinct first and they told me to do it, it really wasn’t my idea).   Now I have to go through the rigmarole of getting it all squared away.

Workout wise, I had a good one today, 13 miles with 4x10min@HP w 4min recoveries.  The fast bit averaged out to 7:03 pace and my HR was back to where it should be.  Unbelievable how a bit of water (ok, lots of water) can make such a difference.

I’m going to stop here because I’m simply stewing over this license plate thing.  I need to grumble and pout heavily and if I write more, I might get distracted and end up in a great mood which would ruin everything.  So big love, signing off…rasmfrasm!@#$!@#$.

Yesterday was a good LT session, same as last week: 10 miles w/6 from MP to HP.  After the 2nd LT mile, my Garmin lost satellites so I didn’t know how fast I was going, though I pressed the Lap button at the mile markers so I could figure it out later.  Came out alright – 7:30, 7:26, 7:27, 7:07, 7:03, 7:02…avg 7:16.

I did a hard reset on my Garmin today which seemed to solve the recent satellite problem.  I also did  a body reset when I realized that the likely culprit for my high HR lately is I haven’t been drinking enough water.  I’d surreptitiously gone  back to diet soda in the past few weeks and had stopped drinking water like I used to.  I could see my pee hadn’t been clear in awhile (TMI? not for a runner) but I was just ignoring it.  So stupid.

It was this article on Active.com that got me thinking about it, because I don’t fit any of the overtraining symptoms (except for high HR) so it has to be something else.   If you look at the table near the bottom, only one lb. of fluid loss, which is equal to a 16oz glass of water (yes, 16 liquid oz of water actually does weigh a pound…cool factoid for you) can give a 6-7 beat difference.  Bingo.

So today I drank water like it was my job and on my 14 miler today (9:03 pace) my AHR was just a couple beats faster than my recent recovery runs at 9:57.   I’ll be curious to see how/if my resting HR changes in the next day or so.

On the mice front, as I mentioned in a comment to the last post, the second I turned the light out and went into the bedroom that night, I heard SNAP! and the life of a little mouse ended behind my refrigerator.  Happy to say, nothing has touched the remaining traps and no more turdettes have been found, though I always heard where there’s one mouse, there’s 100, here’s hoping this was one wayward soul.

As mentioned, today was a planned 24.  I decided to take it to the trails because there was a regatta at the river which meant the river loop would be a clogged pain in the ass to deal with and I’d have to fight my way through 3 times.

Before I left, I did some calculations for how long it might take because I knew my Garmin might lose satellite reception on the trail.  I figured 3:30 should do me fine.  I left my music at home along with my HR monitor, taking only my sunglasses and my larger, 20 oz handheld, which I’ve avoided using the entire summer but needed for this route, and a couple gels.

The run was great exercise.  The trail section is 12 miles of constant undulating rollers and gravel footing with some rocky patches.  I went farther in than I ever had and was surprised to find a covered bridge I didn’t know existed.   The trail ends at a major road so I turned around there – the only problem was I’d only covered 1:41, which would mean my run was short, so on the way back I wrestled with myself about what to do.

I knew it wasn’t a speedy run, thanks to the uphill of the trail, so there was no doubt it wouldn’t be 24 miles, which I could totally live with (24 is very much “extra credit” as far as LRs go)  but I had a mileage goal for the week I had my heart set on…my first 80 and I thought I needed at least 23 for that.

So a mile from home, I did what I call a Garmin Penance Mile, backtracking some to make a needed mileage goal.  I can’t tell you how much I hate doing it since there’s nothing worse than being so close to home after running for hours and voluntarily delaying the finish when you’re already half-zonked, but for that 80, I did it.

Got home tired but satisfied.  Immediately went to Google Earth and found I did 23.75, so that’s fabuloso.  Slowish, at 8:47 pace, but considering the trail portion, I’m really happy with it.  Then double happiness to find this brings my total mileage to 82 for the week, so a mileage PR with room.

Speaking of home sweet home, I wasn’t going to mention this because I’m a bit embarrassed by my constant complaints with this place, but last week I thought someone had left a bathtub overflowing.  There was a constant sound of water glugging above from one end of my apt to the other.  It sounded like the whole ceiling had turned into a pool.  I actually called Nick because I was afraid the evil upstairs neighbors had done something stupid and the ceiling was going to collapse.  Nah, turns out that’s the sound the heating system makes and what I have to look forward to all winter.  Glug glug glug.  Great.  I’ll probably pee myself in my sleep.

Then yesterday, I’m sitting here at the computer and think I see a fleeting shadow.  I look over and see nothing, so I figure it’s my imagination.  Today, I go to eat my regular pre-run bread and peanut butter and find the bread looks weird, like a chunk is gone from the corner.  I inspect the bag and find something has gnawed its way through.  I have mice.

So after my arduous run today, I shower and immediately leave to get mice traps before Rite-Aid closes.  Because I really am living in the lap of luxury.

Had a great interval session today.  Was a bit daunting on paper 10x1k@HM/10k, 1min rec’s, especially since most of you know I don’t take well to anything over, say…4 reps.  Kidding, but anything over 6 makes me nervous.  Surprise of surprises, I did this thing without a negative thought in my head (never happens).

The final story was 12.3 miles with the interval paces like this (some wind and small elevation difference explains the “every other”):
7:07,6:51,7:01,6:53,6:59,6:53,7:00,6:57,7:03,6:53…avg 6:57

I also inaugurated my marathon shoes that just came in the mail yesterday.  Fresh Elixirs! Purdy.

Backtracking the last few running days, Tuesday I had a nice MLR, 13.2@8:43.  Took two trips up my mile-long hill so felt very pleased with myself for that.  Then yesterday, I did my slowest recovery run of the cycle 8@9:57.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The slower pace was two-fold, the hills the day before and also, my HR has been a bit elevated for a few weeks.

I’m not really worried about overtraining because I’m sleeping better than ever (new jackhammer quality earplugs) and I don’t feel irritable or dreading the runs, plus my HR went up near my May Half, so it doesn’t concern me hugely, but obviously it bothers me some.  So anyway, I want to make those slow runs really slow, especially as the mileage and workouts peak.

In other news, I signed up for Boston yesterday!   I was going to wait till after Philly but you can change your qualifying race after the fact and all the cool kids on the 3:20 thread were doing it, so…I did it!   I’ve had the room booked for awhile now (thanks to my Women’s BQ thread pals getting that over with months ago) so now all I’m lacking is an airplane ticket, which I’ll wait a bit longer to deal with.

Hope you’re all having some lovely runs out there.  Later, babies.

I love rain but 4 days straight of it was a little excessive.  The first day, Thursday, I did 14 @ 8:47 in an unending onslaught of rain, with the promise that by doing 14, I’d get to take the next day off.   I was smiling like a loon for most of it,  just because I knew I looked like a kook out there, but I had my trusty rain jacket and cap, so aside from some chilly hands at the end, all went well.

Friday was off (first day off in a month, so I loved it), then Saturday was another damp run, 16@8:13 (last 6 miles were a little under 8:00) and then Sunday, 10@8:35.  So even with the day off, I still racked up 70.18 miles for the week.

Yesterday was 8@8:22 w/10 hill sprints.  Then today, there wasn’t anything interesting on the menu because I was supposed to have done a race or time trial on Sunday as per Hudson, so he figured I was still recovering today.  So I took next Tuesday’s workout which looked kind of fun, and did that today.  The workout was 10 miles w/6miles from MP accelerating to HMP.  Gorgeous day for it, too.  Everything went as planned, started the fast bit with 7:30 finishing with a 7:05, avg. 7:17.  Pace for the entire run – 7:50.

This is going to be my first 80 mile week!  Got a couple of these, then one 90 mile week and then taper time.  Can’t believe it’s already closing in already.  The rest of the week has a couple easys (one of which I’m taking to Smile hill because I want to get some hills in each week for the next few weeks).  Then Friday has a dense little speed/LT session, 10 with 10x1k@HP/10k pace w/1min recoveries, short easy on Saturday and then 24 on Sunday.

I remember at Steamtown when I passed the 22 mile point thinking, “ok, this is as far as I’ve ever gone, let’s see what happens now.”  Of course, my feet were pulp by this time, so I also interjected Ow and Fuck into those thoughts, but the gist of it was finally realizing the unknown.  So I’m happy to be doing 24 this time round.  Not that I see it being any different from the 22s, but still, it’s good.

On other news, they found Nick’s car!  The bad news is, it was at a chop shop so it’s ruined.  The good news is, they caught the asshole who did it!  The bad news is, Nick had to sit in court for 3 hours today so he could stand up and swear to the fact that it was his car and he had locked it.  I’m thrilled that they caught the creep since so often this type of crime ends up with no one to take the blame so at least there’s that.  Hopefully the insurance company will give Nick something good to work with as far as compensation.

And that’s it for today, my lovelies.  I’m off to Trader Joe’s for some of my new favorites frozen foods.  I’m loving their little individual quiches (I’m always up for a crust fix) and their frozen Chicken Tikka Masala is very close to restaurant quality (add a piece of their garlic naan and I’m in heaven).

I received a wonderful reply from the real estate lady today in regards to my email documenting what happened on Friday (so if crazy lady killed me, they’d know why).  I truly didn’t expect anything as nice as this, or any reply at all, for that matter.  Maybe it’s because when she was standing in my doorway with the thrown water dripping off her face, I asked her if there was anything I could do for her or if she’d like a cup of coffee before the cops got here.  Here’s her reply.

I feel awful.  The upstairs people snapped when they were told their lease wouldn’t be renewed because of some issues the owner has had with them.  It may be small comfort right now but they are moving the end of November.  I will ask the owner to carpet the unit to help soundproof.  It is the upstair lady who goads the downstairs lady — I think she will be meeker when they are gone.  And then the downstairs people leave in April.  I know that is far off but I think having the upstairs people gone will solve most of the problem.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do and thank you for sending the message.

So this gives me a huge shot of peace, knowing they will definitely be out and that their place will be carpeted once they go.  I will soon return to loving my little apartment again. Ahhhh.

Then I had a really good speed session, despite it being my most heinous of distances…the mile.  It was 6xmile@10k pace + 5seconds (w/3min. recoveries).  That 5 seconds was a big help as far as not dreading it quite so much, because 6 miles is a lot for any interval session, if you ask me.  I was aiming for 6:50s and what I got was: 6:45,6:36,6:43,6:47,6:51,6:48.  Averages out to 6:45s, so I’m really happy with it.

One of the miles I ran for M, Nick’s ex.  I thought about how MS had messed with her body for so long and though she was still able to walk around, she’d been in constant pain for years and things like holding a fork could be impossible at times.  So while I bitch about how hard it is to run fast, I’ll never forget how lucky I am to be able to move around in this world the way I choose.   Visitation is tonight.  RIP M.