Archive for December, 2010

I winterized The Blue Hovel yesterday, which consisted of standing precariously on the arm of my couch to slap packing tape on a top window pane that constantly slides down 1/8″, mocking me with the cold air it draws.  Being a make-do kind of gal, I can usually find a solution to most essential problems with the help of packing tape, foil, cardboard or some other type of refuse.

An Anniversary
Exactly a year ago, I wrote a post about increasing my income, the Financial Marathon, where I was going to apply the same tenacity and planning skills I use for running to make more money; doubling my income was the goal.  This was going to be enough to get me out of the Hovel into a high-rise by the museum, plus a new car and a couple small objects of desire.

While I actually did end up doing an immense amount of work for a few months, creating new websites and moving my t-shirt sites from Cafepress to Zazzle (a horrifically tedious process), it took longer for the new sites to start making a profit than I’d originally hoped.  I also O.D.d on all that work so I basically sat on my ass after that.  And as always, I didn’t lift a finger to get voiceover jobs, just took what came in, because I despise marketing and self-promotion.

So the timeframe for this “marathon” came and went.   In August I signed another year lease on the Hovel, got rid of the dead car (though I’m love with Zipcars so that worked out for the better) and was feeling pretty shitty about my financial situation, thinking it was my destiny to have “just enough”.

But things were cooking behind the scenes and in September, my income made a leap.  A couple of the websites started doing well, I started the headband business, and best of all without any help from me, the voiceover biz started popping.  I’m now the darling of a handful of producers (so I’ve been told) and am getting wonderful recommendations and more work than ever – this month is a record for VO bookings and it’s not over yet.  Then yesterday I got word that I’m narrator for a new 8-course drug module (mucho sessions) which means 2011 is already off to a beautiful start.

So I’m hereby reopening the dream factory, the one I closed when I thought the Financial Marathon was a DNF.  I will now dare to imagine windows that do not require packing tape to keep cold air out, floors that aren’t covered in grungy blue office carpet with mysterious gross holes, ceilings that don’t announce exactly where the girl upstairs is standing or make me wake up when she does, and no mice, or if there is a mouse, it doesn’t just eat the peanut butter off the trap and scamper away. In my dreams, mouse traps work.

I really don’t need much but that would make me happy, and gosh darn it, I’m beginning to think I can have it.

I really wanted to call this post “My Whore Moans” but out of deference to all the sweet people who link my blog to theirs and maybe don’t have the same nasty sense of humor, I reconsidered.

Saturday was a solid tempo workout that showed a lot of progress from the last time I did it in October.  It was: 1.5mi@HP, 1.5mi@15k pace, 1.5mi@10K pace w/ 2min recoveries.  With warmup and cooldown, 9.5 miles.

Paces ended up 7:04 for Half Pace, 6:53 for 15k pace and 6:48 for 10k pace.  The 15k was a tad fast, the 10K a touch slow, but I was super happy nonetheless.  These are not my current race paces, btw, they’re where I hope to be by the end of January, so it’s looking good.

But then yesterday was one of the most uncomfortable runs ever.  It was supposed to be 14, I should have cut it around 7, though ended up trudging away for 11.  I wasn’t hurting or sore, just a general exhausted not-wanting-to-continue feeling, which is extremely unusual for me.   I didn’t think it was from the previous day’s tempo since I’ve done many tempo/long runs back-to-back and never felt like that.

Then came today’s run, slated to be 8 easy, but due to the next two days being awful (13 windchill tomorrow, gusts mid 30s and not much better on Wednesday), I had no choice but to switch tomorrow’s fast workout of 200s and 800s to today, Thursday would be too close to Saturday’s 5k.  I was not happy making the switch because it meant only one day between a tempo and speed workout, and at my age, I think 2 days between hard efforts is important, but I really didn’t want to lose that workout.

It was 24 windchill, gusting like crazy and again, I felt like shit.  After the first four 200m’s, I knew the 800s weren’t going to happen, even 400m seemed like too long a distance to run hard so I turned it into a fartlek 8-miler.

Once I got home, the answer to my suckage was revealed: I got my period.  Thank god!  I often feel like crap at the onset, why don’t I remember this?  Then again, I’m not one of those clockwork chicks who know down to the hour when theirs is due so I’m never exactly sure when I’ll get that fine surprise.

Anyway, I’m relieved that it wasn’t some overnight tsetse fly disease though yeah, I’m bummed that I didn’t get to do the workout properly.  But you know, there’s only so much we can plan, life has its own agenda. I’m lucky to be able to stick to the schedule as well as I do, though with the advent of winter, there are sure to be a few more wrenches in the works.   And lots more whore moans.

So much has happened since my last entry!  Kidding.  I’m a bore but wanted to mention the headband thing below, so I’ve included a short running catch-up to make it look like this isn’t a deplorably scheming, commercialistic post intended to bilk you of your hard-earned dollars.

Oh, look!  Here are some runs…
Wednesday’s 12-miler was another Garmin Ignoring run where I didn’t look at my wrist for the duration.  The first 5 miles averaged 8:17s but then the next 7 miles averaged 7:47s.  Average for the whole deal: 8:00/mi and a great time was had by all.

Yesterday was 8 easy avg. 8:26, today’s scheduled tempo-combo will be moved to tomorrow (I’d much rather bust a gut in 43 degrees than 30) so later today I’ll be going out for a veritable thrill-ride of 7 easy.

Headband Sale
I seriously suck at marketing.  A couple days ago, I announced a sale on the Facebook Page for GIM Headbands but neglected to post it here: 15% off headbands till Dec. 15th; just put Holiday15 in the coupon code box when you check out. On second thought, since I’m late letting you guys know, I’ll extend it to December 18th.

And that’s it for today.  Don’t feel bad if you have to lie down for a while to ingest it all, I know I’ve given you much to consider.  Beyond that, have a great weekend everyone: run safe, run well and have a good ole time!

I did my first bout of 200s yesterday, 12 x 200m.   The instruction was “you are to go HARD” – 5:40 for goal pace (42 sec’s each), full recoveries.  I had 9 miles planned but Adam reminded me this is not part of a workout, it is the workout, so just do a couple warmup miles, the 200s, then come home.   Ended up with 7 mi.

Sucky weather (26 windchill, 20+mph gusts) so I did them with the wind at my back.  The splits were 43s and 44s though it’s not like I had a choice in the matter, it was as fast as I could go.

Once home, I had a touch of regret when I realized I hadn’t needed to put my hands on my knees to catch my breath or walk the recoveries, but this morning I reread that great article from Running Times about miler workouts and Rubio specifically says it should not be “hands on the knees hard” so it was all good.

It’s interesting to note how unfamiliar it was to run that fast; I felt a bit clompy actually and wondered where these awkward limbs came from, but this is valuable stuff – it means I clearly need to work on it.  For now though, I only have one more fast workout scheduled for the cycle and it’s next week.  Come February, however, I’ll make these more regular, the rewards are sure to be substantial.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, finding holes in training are like gifts from the Running Gods, they offer a previously untapped way to get faster and stronger. In this case, it’ll be like adding a whole ‘nuther cylinder to the engine.  That’s exciting!

Thanks to Coach A muse/Adam, I now have the final installment of Flo’s Half Marathon Trilogy.  This one is a spin-off of the last cycle but with a couple interesting (and fun) changes.

Since I’m only doing one race before Carlsbad, three more workouts could be added.  Two of them are top-end speed workouts I was talking about a few posts ago.  I mentioned in a subsequent post that I’d put the fast stuff off till February when shorter races are the focus, but Adam said “why wait?”  and it’s true, it can only be helpful and I had room for them, so they’re on for this week and next.

Then on the 21st, there’s a killer workout to replace the 2x(5x1k) from the previous plan.  That’s what I get for complaining, lol.  His goal was to keep it around 10k worth of 10k pace, so that’s what it is, but in a more “entertaining” package.

I’ve also been instructed to add more hills to my GA runs from this point forward and to my tempos starting Dec. 31st.

Other than that, I’ve got the same cutback week I’ve had in the last 2 cyclettes and many of the same workouts from the previous one, but since there’s no repetition within the cycle, it remains fun and fresh.  I’m really happy with it.   Thanks again, Adam!

Last Week’s Running
Like a large part of the country, winter landed on Wednesday, so it’s been jacket, tights, hat and gloves time in Philly.  I don’t mind, though a little less wind would be nice.

The quality work was all good.  Besides Tuesday’s speed session, I had a strong tempo on Friday: 8 miles w/5@7:08.  Another first: my fastest pace for 5 continuous tempo miles.  I’ll stop doing that “first” crap now,  it’s my excitement over finally seeing progress again.  Hopefully, there’ll be many firsts from this point on.

My 12-miler on Thursday was interesting because after the first mile, I decided not to peek at my Garmin again till I got home.   I’m going to make G.I. (Garmin Ignoring) a once-a-week deal, the mid-long runs seem well-suited to that.

Lastly, yesterday’s LR, a 13-miler, came perilously close to being a terrible run.  The tendon on the top of my foot leading to the big toe has been tender for a couple days.  I think it’s because I need to toss my ancient and beloved black suede Vans in the garbage.  Anyway, for Saturday’s run, I fashioned some moleskin around the painful area but it still hurt and once home, I had to ice it a few times.

Tried again with moleskin yesterday.  Seemed ok for the first 3 miles but by mile 5 it was really hurting so I stopped to completely re-lace my shoe, skipping the holes over the tender area.  That didn’t help.  Then I stopped again to make another adjustment, but no relief.  So I turned around early, unhappy that it’d only be an 11-miler but mostly worried about the state of my foot.

Then, about 1/2 mile into the return portion, the moleskin shifted and the pain went away completely (and now I know where to place it).  Whew!  So when I got back to the museum, I felt good enough to add nearly 2 miles of hilliness by going up and down the little rampy paths there.  Short hills but steep.  Crisis averted and a better run in the end.

Total for the week: 57.5 miles

Hope For The Masters
This is a great article, not only because it features fellow blogger/recent Olympic Trials Qualifier, Jaymee Martee, but because it widens the axiom that “runners generally have 7-10 years to improve after taking up running”.  Several of the women featured have been running much longer than that and are still getting PRs!   Exciting and hopeful, for sure.