Archive for November, 2010

Something I’ve been thinking about for the past couple weeks and what fellow blogger Ewen touched on in a recent post, is top end speed, or my current lack of any.  It came to light a couple weeks ago when I was doing strides.

It was a few days before the 10K and I was doing my usual race-week strides when it hit me that my stride pace is never that much faster than 5K pace, only rarely does it get into the 5s.  What’s silly about this is, as usual, the mental fodder that underlies this ignored area, because I know in the back of my head, I’m all, “what do I need with 5s?”  Um, well lots!  Running economy, turnover, just getting used to going faster which makes 5K pace seem easier… Duh.

Sure, I’m mainly focusing on Halfs, which don’t especially cry out for extra fast leg work, but just because I don’t need it in an obvious way, doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be hugely useful.  Besides, I want to run some kick-ass 5Ks this next year and the way to get moving is to run faster than race pace from time to time.

So back to the strides that day… I decide to go for it and really try to go fast.  It was interesting in that it required a true form change and getting those arms moving to bring down the pace.  And that only hit 5:45, when there’s a whole other part of the spectrum with 800m race pace and faster.  I swear, sprinting to me is a foreign activity.

Now, since it was a couple days before a race, I only did the one fast attempt with a promise to return since I didn’t want to chance injury.   And the Half is this week, so again, I’m just keeping normal with the strides I have on tap.  But after this race, when I’ve had a week of calm running, my plan is to incorporate some faster efforts of short sprints and/or strides as a weekly thing, or at the very least, on a 10-day cycle.

I mean honestly, I’ve only ever bothered with strides on race week, race day and sometimes a couple before a fast workout.  All this time, I could have been adding them to the end of any old regular aerobic run.  But the way I am, I need to plan it out and purposefully incorporate it into the schedule.  So that’s what I’m thinking about for the next couple months when I begin a new 8-week “cyclette” for Carlsbad in January.  Top Speed, baby!

…and a well-deserved one, for sure.  Not only did I have quite the brisk week of running but yesterday afternoon after my run, I managed to drop a frozen veggie burger on my toe.  How I got through an entire cycle with nary a niggle only to be attacked by a wayward Boca Burger is beyond me.  Anyway, the toe’s still tender this morning, but hopefully it’ll be done by tomorrow.

Now, about those brisk runs – I had a hell of a good time this week.  It’s been the fastest month of training I’ve ever done.  Fastest week, too.  The week went like this (with Heart Rate Reserve % so you can see I’m not being irresponsible):

Monday: off
Tuesday: 10 @ 8:16 (71%)
Wednesday: 7 @ 8:11 (69%)
Thursday:  15.5 @ 7:45 (79%…was the workout mentioned in the previous post)
Friday:  7 @ 8:53 (63%)
Saturday:9 @ 7:59 (75%)
Sunday: 12 progression @ 7:57 (75%)
60 miles total

The Good
What I liked about the week, besides the fact that my heart rates are better than they have been in a long time (along with the corresponding paces) was that my legs felt tired after Thursday and a little tired yesterday.  I know it sounds weird that I’d like that, but I don’t often feel tired legs, though I’ve run many recoveries because it was expected, rather than needed.  Friday was a recovery because I needed it.  That’s good.

There is something to be said about doing things because you feel them or have instincts about them, not just because you read about it.  I’m not defying standard training practices outright by making moderate pace the norm – I have 3.5 years of data in my logs that lead me to believe it’s truly worth testing – though it does require trusting myself which can be a scary thing.

The Could Be Better
As far as mistakes, Saturday should have been slower, 8:15 – 8:25s would have been fab.  Friday’s recovery was so effective, coupled with my continuing delight at how certain paces feel, that I got greedy.  If I’d parceled it out properly, I’d have held back for fresher legs yesterday.

No biggie, lesson learned.  All I have to do this week is taper for Sunday’s Half so aside from 3 x .75mi tomorrow, not much else is happening.

Patience Ahead

Yes, I’m training faster than ever but this is not going to be a miracle of running faster for 3 weeks and “Boom, I’m PR queen!”  I still have some relearning to do when it comes to pushing in a race.  I’ve done 3 races since September’s collapsing Half: the first one was slow to start on purpose then the next two were slow to start but not on purpose.

Obviously, I still have some anxiety about getting into race effort and what I can handle, so bear with me a little while longer – patience is required while I get the mind and the body all working on the same page.  So while I guarantee there will be no surprises this weekend (I’m thinking 1:34:xx is a reasonable goal that won’t have me working my last nerve), keep a lookout for the future.  Faster times are coming.

I want to start by talking about these last couple weeks after making that decision to pick up the pace on easy and long runs.  I am fascinated by the results so far, it is working better than expected.  Not only are those paces feeling comfortable (easys are averaging 8:15 – 8:10 with sub 8s on the way home) but my heart rate has shown a marked improvement to where those runs are averaging 152, 154.  It’s magic.

Now, I lost a nice amount of weight, so obviously this is making a dent, but here’s the part I find fascinating; I’ve been at this same weight (114-115) for 5 weeks, but it wasn’t till that one day when I decided to consciously start picking up my paces that things started happening.

What’s interesting about this is you’d think that you lose weight and suddenly you run faster since there’s less mass, but it wasn’t that way for me (though I’m sure it would have infiltrated the averages eventually).  I had 3 weeks running the same as always at that new weight, albeit somewhat faster thanks to the end of summer, but nothing like the dramatic turn from one day to the next.

This confirms the idea that, for me, my paces are truly led by habit.  By suddenly flipping the switch on Easys and Longs, I think the central nervous system got a kick in the pants and told the body “hey, it’s ok, you’re allowed to do this”.   And like night/day, everything felt easier.

Other external forces would be weather, though I’m using comparable days as comparison so that’s not in the equation.  One thing that does help the heart rate I think, is running later in the day as I have been, after I’ve been moving around a bit.

Now be aware, I am not telling you guys to go out and start racing all your easys and longs.  You’re your own experiment and the popular consensus is that conservative is the way to go, though I have been reading some articles that say moderate pace is something worth exploring.  That said, I have a few things going for me that made the transition easy:

1. A constant mileage base around 60mpw
2. I’m very lucky when it comes to recovery (knock on wood)
3. I lost 9lbs since July 23rd, so of course that helps

I feel silly for having to “warn” you, but I get enough feedback from blog readers to know that people do sometimes follow my lead.  Just do it carefully, please.

Weight Revisited
I got down to 113 for that one day and as I’ve mentioned, I tend to hit a new weight, then it bops around for about 3 weeks before settling.  But I might be at my set weight for the amount of food I’m consuming: around 1900 calories/day with an occasional night out where I stuff my face and don’t give a shit.

While I originally said 110 was my ultimate goal, I was never married to that particular number, the whole point was to get back to the speed I was seeing last year and then move beyond that.  Since things are starting to cook for me again, I’m satisfied to stick here a while, maybe indefinitely.  I just wanted to make this clear for anyone else who’s pursuing a new racing weight, to think in terms of sustainability, what you can be happy living with and to consider what your goal is.

My goal is to be faster, not the fastest possible I can ever hope to reach.  I’d be happy to be a work in progress forever…as long as there’s progress!  Having said this, my weight might bop down a bit more, which I wouldn’t have a problem with, but I’m not pursuing it, I’d just let it happen.

Today’s Workout
It’s amazing how much calmer one feels entering a tough workout when training is going well.  I actually looked forward to this one, though it was a toughie: warmup, 3@Half Pace, 1hour easy, 3@Half Pace, cooldown.

It was a windy day, 17mph gusts, 41 windchill to start, 50 by the time I finished.  I only did 1mi warmup since that’ll mirror race day.  Turned out to be exactly 2 hrs. and 15.5 miles, avg pace 7:45.

The key, as Coach A Muse/Adam reminded me, is not to run the easy portion too easy, so by the time you revisit Half Pace, you’re tired – just as you would be in a race.  Considering how my easy paces have been lately, I was confident that portion would remain somewhat zippy, and it was.

1mi warmup: 8:07
3 Half Pace: 7:13
1 hr (7.5 mi): 8:03 avg.
3 Half Pace: 7:12
1 mi home: 8:08

I’d like to say the HP miles were a nice low heart rate, but they weren’t, it was too windy, but coming back was lower.  I was targeting 7:10s for HP, so it wasn’t perfect but that’s ok – this workout says my endurance is fab and that things are definitely going well.  Been a long time coming.

Now I’m off to one of those voiceover jobs where I have absolutely no clue what I’m saying.  Today’s favorite word is Triiodothyronine.   What fun.  Later, my lovelies.

I moved to Philly from Ft. Lauderdale back in 2002 when me and my husband (now friend) split up.  I was raring to move anywhere after about 6 years of sweating my ass off in Florida sunshine but figuring out where to go took some research.  I had my sights on Seattle, Portland, a couple places in California, but in the end, driving by myself and setting up a fresh life seemed too daunting on an entirely new coast.   Finally, I ended up with Philadelphia.

I had never even visited Philly before but chose it because it was large enough to count on getting some kind of job quickly to tide me over.  I’d been doing some voiceovers in Florida already but knew it takes a while to get into it in a new location, so I was prepared for some unglamorous work, which I got, ultimately spending a year selling copiers and then Musak.

But the other reason I chose Philly was because it was close to my old friends in NYC.  I have this wonderful gang of people who’ve known me since I was a young thing and while we’ve spent years apart at times, and none of us are big phone users, the bond is always there.  So I moved here thinking NYC’s only a couple hours away, I’ll get to the city and see my pals often. This was a nice wish, but as it turned out, I rarely get up there and they rarely get down this way.

Now, as far as friends here in Philly, there is a crew of nice people I can hang out with if I choose, but really, I’ve only got two close friends here: Lara, and my ex Nick.  Aside from those two, I’d rather hang out on my own.  I know this is kind of fucked up since it means I rarely go out at all, but I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to spend time with people that I can’t really talk to.  And even for those I can talk to, like my old NYC friends, I don’t.  I’m just a hider-outer, is all.

So last week, when my friend Julie (who’s known me since High School in Arkansas and moved to NYC a couple years after I did) emailed and asked if I could show up on Sunday evening to surprise my dear friends Ridgely (the closest I’ll ever have to a sister) and Ted, along with Jim and Catharine, she didn’t expect me to say yes.  And I admit, my first instinct was to lie and say no.  Mostly out of habit: driving in the city, while less of a hassle than my imagination plays it up to be, is daunting to my brain, and also, I was doing the race that morning so I was thinking I’d rather veg out the rest of the day.  But after about 5 minutes thinking about it, I realized I needed to see these people in a bad way, so Yes, I’ll be there!

Anyway, that super long leadup just to say it was incredibly gratifying to walk in on the dinner party and have Ridgely and Ted spend that strange long moment figuring out who the hell I was and then open jaws on both when they realized it was me.  The evening was pure medicine to my soul; snort-worthy laughter, wonderful food and talk, bountiful hugs and kisses, and that mutual understanding I can pretend I don’t need until it’s right there in front of me and then I thank my lucky stars it exists.  I needed a love fix and got it.

Race Photos
Already put on Facebook, but here are some shots from Sunday.

This one is me looking kinda dweeby at about mile 2.75.

I’m looking around to see where the finish line is, thinking it’s on the other side of the field.

Oh, wait…the finish line is in front of my face!  Too late, goofy guy kicks ahead.

Not bad at all!

Chip time – 43:11
26/1859 females (chip time…gun time has me one later)
161/3268 OA (ditto chip time)
Useless factoid, Age-Grade: 79.32%

…and that was with a first mile of 7:21 (that bridge is the bane of my existence).  No placing, thanks to a couple 39s and a couple 40s in my AG (I was 6th).  It was a fast field in general, including a number of Ethiopians and/or Kenyans (sorry, I don’t know enough to separate).

3268 runners & about 1000 walkers.  Was colder than crap, I wore my fleece with a down coat over and did not want to give either of them to bagcheck.  That said, I wore tights when I left the house but brought capris, which I changed into in the car.

I’ve been feeling good about the race for the last couple days, knowing that it’s not a fast course and it’d be cold, so I didn’t have to worry too much about final outcome, just doing the best I could.  My only worries going into the race were that I didn’t go pooh before I left the house and when I got there, I thought there’d be something to eat, so I didn’t eat at home (you have to get there early since they close the bridge) but I found a couple donut holes on some vendor’s table, so that was enough.

Btw, last night I had my new magic meal: mushroom cheeseburger as big as my head and sweet potato fries.  It’s what I ate before last Sunday’s fabulous long run, so I figured I’d try it again – that’s why I wasn’t hungry enough to eat upon waking.  Anyway…

After the first mile or so, just one woman passed me at around mile 3.  Me and another girl played cat and mouse for the last mile and she outkicked me, but that was mainly because I was looking around the field for the finish line when it was right in front of my face (they changed the course a bit this year).  Didn’t even get a chance to kick.

Garmin loves Camden, NJ, so the splits were right on with the markers:
7:21 (wake up, Flo!)
6:49 (still on the bridge but the down side got my legs moving for the second pass uphill)
6:44 (one last mile of bridge)
6:46 (finally off the damn bridge)
7:06 (hill and wind here)
7:00 (nothing interesting to report)
1:25 (6:25 pace)

One thing I did after the first mile was sing to myself Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” because that’s one of the songs I used to practice with when I did cadence training a couple years ago.  It actually works as a helper.

Bottom line, I’m pleased with my performance, I was controlled and not breathing maniacally through any of it.  Could have done better out the gate, but I think the speed is returning, it’s just a matter of learning to give it more gas from the get-go.  I seem to start timidly as habit now, so that’s something I need to work on.

I’m not one of those bloggers who gets invited to review stuff all the time, so I got excited when Arctic Ease sent me a box of their product to try.  Sounds like an excellent invention: a reusable cold compression wrap that doesn’t require refrigeration…way cool!

The wrap comes in a generous 5′ long strip that you can cut to size.  The cold part of it comes from a special gel saturating the wrap.  You can reuse it by adding a tablespoon of water to the package and resealing it and also, to make it cooler, you can refrigerate it but you can’t put it in the freezer.  From the product info, it’s the right temperature to help keep inflammation down.

So seriously…how fab to have compression and cold in one object?

I wanted to love it, especially because my freezer is pretty small and sometimes I’m fighting for space, thanks to my addiction to Trader Joe’s frozen entrees and various vegetables.  But alas, I could only like it.

But I do genuinely like it, it’s super handy – it’d be excellent in a first-aid kit, a gym bag or anywhere that ice isn’t available.

The problem for me is that it isn’t really all that cold.  Maybe I’m used to the frigid temperature of ice so anything less doesn’t seem as effective, and this definitely isn’t as cold as ice.  However, it does keep its coolness for a very long time and the convenience factor is worth a lot.

Edit: I got a nice email from the Artic Ease  woman, explaining the benefits of the temperature which makes a lot of sense:

“You are right, Arctic Ease isn’t as cold as ice because ice is actually too cold to promote optimal healing. You can put Arctic Ease in the refrigerator with water to make it cooler, but it won’t go below 59 degrees. It’s designed to remain at an optimum temperature for healing and reduction of swelling.  You can leave it on for hours safely.  No 15 minutes on and off.”

So, if it sounds like something you’d like to try, check it out for yourself.  They’re also available in small pads, too.

The Weekend
Big weekend for racing, from the little to the huge (the NYC Marathon is finally here!), so I want to wish a huge good luck to everyone racing.

I’m racing too, a 10k on Sunday and you all know how excited I am about that. ::snicker::  I’m doing it only because it’s good for me, there are so few 10ks around.  I actually dislike the course, having done it twice before, because it begins at the foot of the Ben Franklin Bridge, so it’s an uphill start.  The bridge is about 1.5 miles in length and when you get to the end, you turn around and go right back across.  After that, it goes through a bunch of different footing (pavement, gravel, woodchips) ultimately finishing in a stadium.

So it’s not the fastest race but it’s a festive one, touted as the largest 10k in the tri-state, capped at 4000 this year.  So I plan on having fun with it anyway, people watching and all.

Newsletter Death, Links Section Birth
I mentioned the newsletter the other day and how I need to get back on it since it’s been forever since I sent one.  Well, I don’t like it when I say I’m going to do something and don’t, so it was kind of hanging over my head (self-imposed, of course, but still), so I’ve decided that instead of a newsletter, I’m simply going to have a link section here on the blog of cool stuff I come across, because the newsletter was basically that anyway: cool links with some short commentary.  This way I can post them in a more timely fashion and everybody gets the benefit. So here we go…

Friday’s Cool Links
I admit to being stupid about real runners since I haven’t been at it too long and I never was a sporty-caring person, but Coach A muse/Adam’s been sending me links to some wonderful videos, educating me on the subject.  This film, Born To Run on Seb Coe is A-MAZING!  Seriously wonderful.  If you only watch one part, watch part 3.  It details his training and the relationship with his father (who coached him)  – absolutely fascinating.

One of the exciting bits of the upcoming NYC Marathon is that it’ll be Shalane Flanagan’s marathon debut.  Check out Rookies Vs. The World, a series documenting Shalane, Tim Nelson and Simon Bairu as they become first-time marathoners on one of the world’s largest stages.

Also exciting will be to see how Dathan Ritzenhein does.  He’s been working with Alberto Salazar who’s been changing his form in a major way.  This piece from The New Yorker details the makeover and includes a cool video as well.

And to finish out, here’s some absolutely stupid shit…the world’s most expensive sports bra.  Because nothing says “Runner” like dangly crap hanging off your bra.