Archive for September, 2011

I’m not racing tomorrow – my leg is not right, it hurts.  I shut today’s run down at 1.3 and walked home.  It’s a real bummer because I was feeling so non-anxious about the race, genuinely looking forward to it but there’s too much I want to accomplish right now so I’m not going to be stupid and risk making it worse.

The plan is to take the weekend off completely then do a short run on Monday.  If it’s not appreciably better by then, I’ll make my first ever appointment with an ART or PT person.

Later, folks, have a great weekend.

Yesterday morning’s run was a total stinker.  I planned for 12 but was PMSy and the previous day I’d fallen flat on my face near the end of a 12-miler so both my knees and palms were scraped and tender, but what was getting me down the most was that pinchy leg niggle that was still there.  Not that it’s so painful (it isn’t, and works itself out during the run) but not being 100% when I’ve got all these races planned is a serious downer.

I ended up cutting it short at 7mi – unheard of for me – and once home, I first whined to my forum pals then did what I should have done 2 weeks ago…took ibuprofen.  I had held off on it initially because I didn’t want to bloat up before my Half but also because this niggle has been so elusive, it seemed worth monitoring “as is” to make sure it wasn’t a scary thing.  Since it’s way better and eases off as I run, I think I can now assume it is not a scary thing. So Vitamin I down the hatch.

A couple hours later, I kicked myself for not doing it sooner.   When I tried the bend-my-leg-and-stand-on-it-just-so-to-replicate-the-pinchy-pain test it felt great…not a peep.  Needless to say, this cheered me up substantially and as the day progressed, I thought “wouldn’t this be the perfect opportunity for my first double?”

So at 5pm I put on some fresh running gear and went out for an easy 6mi.  It was warm, 80 degrees, but it sprinkled and the park was super pretty in that dark rainy afternoon way.  It turned out to be a swell run and my leg was just fine.  The only annoyance were the gnats: swarms of them.  When I got home, I had to disrobe in the shower so as not to fling their little black carcasses all over the bathroom via slingshot (wet sports bra).

Gnats aside, there really is something to be said for short runs, they’re so easy!  My legs will surely appreciate it as well.  I have no regrets about holding off doing it till now, btw, summer’s sweltering temps would have made afternoon runs torture, but the next couple months should be wonderful conditions and now I’m so close to the park…it’s like a Siren call.

In fact, I’m doing another double today – I did 10 already and will go for 6 later.  I’m looking forward to doing some strides in the second run since it’s such a tiny li’l thing.

The Training/Racing Conundrum
Kevin Beck finished his series on volume and it’s a good capper.  I was actually thinking of the “slave to the mileage” thing before I read the article.  I’ve been thinking about what my focus is right now and how I need to prioritize what matters but the question is…what is my priority?  My plan in doing all these races as to use them as training tools enabling me to replace speedwork and also to learn to race better, so basically, I considered it to be something on the way to something better.  But then I got to thinking “why do I train?” and the answer is…to race!

I’m in love with running anyway so the whole “training to train” phrase (generally said with a sneer) is not such a negative thing to me, after all, I just spent the best few months of my running life “just” running.  But now things are getting more interesting in potential improvement so…do I set my sights on the future or concentrate on getting the most from these next couple months?

If the former, I would keep mileage the priority with an eye for next year since I can imagine another improvement bump next Spring (providing nothing weird happens in the interim), or if the latter, I’d make these upcoming races the priority and lower my mileage to get the best outcome in those.  While I’d like to improve my Half PR in Vegas, I’m not sure how much I can milk from this period.

And looking ahead, since I can’t see myself freezing my ass off for 90mpw in the dead of Winter, I’m expecting a mileage drop to the 70s, which in turn, got me wondering if it’d be a waste to keep the volume up now, knowing I’ll just be cutting it come Winter.

All these thoughts were giving me an “oh crap, what’s the most important thing here?” anxiety attack until I unloaded on Coach Adam/A muse who instantly put me at ease.  He assured me that capillaries don’t suddenly disappear and that the miles I bank now will help me in the Spring.  He also reminded me that maintaining aerobic fitness is easier than building it in the first place.  Then he shared his ideas with how to proceed and suddenly,  peace was restored to my swamp of a brain.

The main thing, the framework, will include maintaining high mileage for several weeks but dropping radically before Vegas: “a true taper and we can try to force a peak, too”.  There’ll be some switching of tempos and faster stuff plus some hybrid workouts. He also recommended I reread Joe Rubio’s “Endless Season” approach for frequent racing – an article that, when I read it a few months ago, gave me the heebee jeebies (What? Race a lot? Terrifying!) since it’s a great stepping-off point.

So it looks like there’s a through-line already shaping up, a plan in the making.  And Jim…I didn’t get a single finger-wag.

Race On Saturday
The next time I check in will be after my 5k.  Yikes!  I’m expecting a not-that-great time but I’m expecting to have a great time.   This is a sweet little race, as mentioned before, with nice prizes.  It’s not certified though and last year it was short, but it’s been adjusted and the director said he remeasured it twice so supposedly it’s correct, but if not, I don’t care, it’s merely a rust-buster for short and fast, and goodness knows I have a lot of rust to remove.

I did it…signed up for 6 races in the span of 8 weeks: 4 in October and 2 in November.  My race schedule for the next 10 weeks looks like this: 5k, 5k, 5k, 4mi, off, 10k, off, 8k, off, Vegas Half.  I only really care about getting a good time at the 10k and the Half, thus the non-racing weekends preceding those.

As far as the 5ks go, the last time I did a 5k pace workout was November of last year and as you know, I’ve been running long and logging lots of miles, so Real Fast is not in my current repertoire, thus I’m putting absolutely no pressure on myself for those.  I’ve mentioned that a major goal of mine is to eventually go sub-20 but it ain’t happening next month – even if I was primed for that pace my Half barely predicts it as a possibility (19:56 according to McMillan).  So if I can get a fresh PR and a low 20 by the third one, I’ll be satisfied.

The 10k is the one I always moan about because it starts on a huge bridge, but it’s a very popular and fun race despite the uphill start, not to mention there are so few 10ks that I couldn’t not do it.

The 8k is part of the Philadelphia Marathon weekend, though this year they’re doing it on Saturday which I’m happy about, as I’m sure the Full and Half folks are, too.  My friend Nick, a 3:20 forum pal, and his wife will be doing the 8k as well (he’s also doing the Full the next day, that wild child), so that’s a fun bonus.

Aside from the obvious great race practice I’ll get from all this, it also affords experimentation.  For instance, the second 5k is almost 3 miles from my house; in the past I’ve always driven to that location but this time I’m going to run there since I’ve never done a long warmup before a race and it’d be a simple way to try it out.  I’m also betting that with that many consecutive weekends, there’s bound to be at least one in a downpour, so that’ll be another challenge – not one I look forward to, but it’s all in the name of hardening up.

As far as training during this time, speedwork will be non-existent since racing replaces that.  I haven’t talked to Coach Adam /A muse about any of this yet because I think it largely depends on how well I recover, but for alternative workouts I do have a few options: a tempo every week, every other week or a couple weekly progression runs.  I want to improve during this period but I also need to stay in one piece.  Then again, it might not take that much out of me, we’ll just have to see as it goes.  Experimentation is the name of the game.

Mileage-wise, I’d like to keep it high but will probably require cutting back some since I’m not into running more miles after a race and I’d prefer my day preceding the race to be short-ish.  Perhaps I’ll use this time to add a double or two or maybe I won’t adjust anything.  So much in the air, it’s kind of fun – I do enjoy a journey into the unknown.

Post Race Week In Review
The weather was back to sweat soup all week, temps 70s w/dewpoints also around 70.  The mini spin dryer I bought has been great, I don’t have to wring my clothes out after a run anymore, just toss them in, set it for a minute, and a thick stream of salty grey water (sweat) emerges.

As far as interesting runs this week, there were only two of note:  Saturday, some cute guy in his 30s passed me and then stayed in front of me for a while.  He had a phone in his back waist pocket that with each step pulled his waistband down to reveal his lily-white crack.  It was both hypnotic and adorable in a rhythmic trancey sort of way.

Today was an effortless and zippy 16 which started as a 14-miler but felt so good, I extended it.  Around mile 6 I hit a groove in the 7:5xs and the last 4 miles went from 7:37 to 7:31.  Surprisingly easy considering it was 78° by the end.

I finally got my turnarounds correct this week, so all nice round distances.

Monday: Off (pinchy calf thing)
Tuesday: Off (pinchy calf thing)
Wednesday: 8@8:39
Thursday: 10@8:24
Friday: 12@8:21
Saturday: 14@8:05
Sunday: 16@7:57
Total: 60 mi

Destiny (aka Brightroom, Inc.) took care of me this race, providing one really nice race shot.  That’s as common as a unicorn and slightly more useful, so yay.

A bonus was that they surreptitiously parked a video camera at the 5k mat, so for the first time I have a candid glimpse of what I look like racing.  It was definitely jarring, like when you hear your voice on tape for the first time.  I’m not the fluid gazelle I imagine myself to be but I’m also not horrified or embarrassed.  That’s progress!

The last cool thing is just a fun, completely useless ego massage. Within the race I got an unofficial 10-mile PR (no biggie since I’ve only raced one back in 2008) but it turns out the time I hit, 1:10:19 according to the race results, comes out to an age-grade score of 80.04%.  It’s raining National Class!   Of course, that one doesn’t count but it’s great motivation to do shorter races.

Last Couple Days
I won’t go into detail but I’ve had a mystery leg thing that started a couple weeks before the race.  At first it was in my quad then shifted to my lower leg. No pain running or sitting but I can feel it walking or when I roll over in bed, kinda like a pinched nerve right at the top of the tibialis anterior.  Because I couldn’t pinpoint or poke it, I was Googling stress fractures and thinking the worst. At the start line, I hopped up and down on it a few times just to reassure myself that it wasn’t one and thankfully, I didn’t feel a thing during the race.  It was quite a downer in those preceding days though (and still is a weird worry).

With this in mind, I took the last 2 days off from running.  This morning, I still had some pinchyness but went on an easy run anyway to test it…no problems!  8 miles and it felt fine.  So I don’t know what’s up with it but I can only assume that since running is fine (I won’t be doing anything fast this week), it’ll eventually work itself out.

Race Week In Review
Since I didn’t post this on Sunday…

Monday: 10@8:31
Tuesday: 8.25@7:47 (3xmi @6:55) w/2min rests)
Wednesday: 6@8:30
Thursday: 5@8:19 (4 strides)
Friday: Off
Saturday: 4@7:58 (4 strides)
Sunday: 14.15@(race and 1mi warmup)
Total: 47.4 mi

What’s Ahead
Here’s one thing I’m thinking: “Oh no, now what am I going to do to get faster?  I’m doomed!” because I’m a fatalistic idiot from time to time.  But this is just momentary.  Sane Flo thinks it’s time to get her race hat on and go wild.  As in, do a race almost every week for the next 4 or 6 weeks, whatever I can find locally.  I think it’d be a fun alternative to quality work and I know it’d improve my racing chops.  I did this in my Spring Of Improvement back in 2009 and that might have had something to do with said improvement (cart or horse…who knows?).

This would start in 2 weeks when there’s a sweet 5K I really like, though it was short last year and I’ve emailed the director to see if they’re remeasuring.  At first I was thinking I don’t want to race anything that requires an asterisk after it, but then I started thinking more sensibly: last year at that race I won a $70 certificate for Zipcars and a gift certificate for Whole Foods, both of whom are sponsoring again, so it’d be worth it.  And also, if I do multiple races, an asterisk race doesn’t really matter, I just won’t call it a PR.  Because any race is more than the result, it’s an unparalleled workout that I could never replicate on my own and that’s the mindset I want to have.  This will get me over Athlinks self-consciousness and the preciousness that racing rarely creates.

So that’s it for now.  Later, my loves.

Race facts:
1:32:10
4th in 50-54 AG (3rd was 1:32:08…ouch)
149 out of 9507 femmes
793 out of 16,517 OA
Age-Grade 80.91%

Training beforehand
Might as well post a graph of my mileage since that’s been my focal point for the year.  The graph begins on Feb. 7th after taking a voluntary 2-week running break due to burnout.

Weight
I had mentioned how I was going to lose weight for this race and start counting calories again.  I did for a couple weeks but when the move started, I gave up on the counting and just ate healthy as ever, there was enough stressing without being nitpicky with food.

Turns out that while I only lost a couple pounds, holding at 119-120, thanks to the physical labor of moving to the new apartment, my bodyfat percentage dropped by 1.5%!  It’s been steady like that for about 2 weeks, so while I know my fancy-ass scale can’t be accurate as far as the base percentage (I’m surely not 14.5%) I do believe it’s trustable as a comparison unto itself.  So anyway, while I wasn’t at my best racing weight, the bodyfat thing made it A-OK.

Yesterday
My sweet pal and race buddy Kat arrived in the afternoon. I’d picked up both our packets already, so all we had to do was chat and eat dinner.  I made her accompany me to an old-fashioned diner in my neighborhood that I wanted to try because they served spaghetti and meatballs and I thought that’d be a funny place to go.  We were not disappointed.  It was Early Bird Prime Time so we were the only ones there who still had pigment in our hair.  Was good, made me feel fast.

This Morning
My new apartment is amazing for Philly races -  located 2 blocks from the start, it allowed us to take our time and pee to our heart’s content…luxurious.  We ventured out at 7:30, ran into my friend Peggy who was on the way to her long run.  She wished us great races (so cool to see her), then split up while Kat looked for our friend Lynn to run with.  I did a mile warmup with strides and got into my corral.  While standing there, I see my young friend Steph, one half of the twins I’ve befriended in my racing/running travels.  She didn’t have a firm goal but we decided to run together with the understanding that neither of us were “talkers”, which worked out great.

The Race
No big details here.  First mile seemed right on, then the Garmin went insane as it always does downtown, so for a couple miles I only had the mile markers to rely on, though I hadn’t noted when we’d left in relation to them and I missed the first one entirely, so my Garmin was saying anywhere from 8:46 – 5:xx, and for the first few miles, I thought we were off goal.  Around mile 4 I realized we were dead on, so that was a relief.

I wasn’t very stuck to the Garmin for this race because it was off for a great part of it and required quite a few “catch-up” lap presses (was on Autolap), it told me that for the most part I was running 6:4x-6:5x so after adding the leftover lap press, I figured I was right under 7:00 territory.  I did think I was in line for a sub 1:32, btw, right up until I saw the finish line.

I felt solid throughout this race.  There were points where I recognized my breathing was getting louder or that funny exhale whistle was happening but I would make a point to try and relax at those times, which helped.  Because of my previous collapsing/medical adventures, I was very mindful about how much effort I was putting out and told myself in the days before this that should anything feel strange, to not try and power through but to back off and slow down, race times be damned.

At this point we were at the park, my day-to-day running ground, and as we approached it I turned to Steph and said “home”.  Once there, I had a gel at mile 5 with a half-spilled cup of water to chase it. Never wanted for more, the temps were great (57, though breezy at times with 14mph wind) so it was extremely comfortable out there.

Once we hit Falls Bridge, with about 4 miles left, I felt like it was all downhill from there.  Steph dropped back at mile 9 so I was on my own from that point. Coach Adam/A muse had told me to keep steady till mile 10, then go into L’ Assassina mode, and I had to smile at the thought – while I was able to pick off people, I didn’t have an extra gear so I just kinda kept chugging was all.

About the park: since I started running in 2007, it’s been my gym, my confidant, my shoulder to cry on and an unparalleled source of joy.  I talked to the park this morning and thanked it for taking care of me.  I told it how much I loved it and reminded it where my favorite spot is and that even though it’s been the location of some scary health moments, I know it loves me too.  I communed with that park today.  But back to L’ Assassina…

There was this one girl that I don’t like from the park, she always gives me a bitchy look, and in the last few miles, she jumped into the race to run a few friends in.  When I finally passed them I heard her tell her friends they had to speed up, which I know was totally prompted by my presence so I took pleasure in moving farther ahead and out of their vicinity.

As I closed in on the finish, my friend Kev yelled out “just 1/2 mile more, you’ve got it!” which was great.  But even with all my park adoration, that last 1/2 mile is a scary spot for me, it’s the finish of many a Philly race and where 2 of those silly race collapses have occurred, so while other people were kicking it to the finish, I repeated to myself “feet under you, feet under you, keep your feet…”  and slowed down a tad until the finish line was right there.

After
I mentioned before that I thought I had my “A” goal right until the end so it was a disappointment to find I didn’t.  But really, it’s nothing but a few seconds and since this was my first race since January and I’ve had no real idea of where I was at, I’ve got nothing to be poopy about.  I know this and anything else is just plain Ego.  The main thing is after 2 long years, I finally got a PR when I’d pretty much convinced myself I’d not see another, ever.  I’m also pleased as punch with the Age-Grade and the Age Group placing.  This is such a competitive destination Half, I thought I’d be lucky to be in the top 6, so 4th is a nice bonus.

This race also unveiled the new race me: one that is confident but at the same time, reticent about pushing it to the Nth degree, probably won’t ever again as a matter of fact, but will do what I can within a comfort level that feels safe.  Because of this, I’ll never be a great racer – I believe you do need that balls-to-the-wall ability to do it properly, but I’m ok with that.  I think I have many great races ahead, just within those parameters is all.

After After
Kat and I went out for food and bloody marys before she embarked upon her journey home (Love you Kat, thanks for being such a fun and calming influence).  I sat here for a bit, thinking about the blog post I had to write and looking forward to seeing my ex-hubby tomorrow for the first time in eight years when he stops for a visit on his way home from that 12-week sailing adventure.  But after a few minutes, I said fuck this and went to the drugstore and bought a shitload of shit to stuff in my piehole.  Doritos, Reeses Pieces and Twizzlers.  All huge size.  After being good for so long, tonight I will be bad (or have a really bad stomach ache, whatever comes first).  All that’s missing is a cigarette.

Before I close, I want to thank all my dear friends from the 3:20 thread, even the hopeful crazies who predicted a sub90 (Matt), which I knew was not ever on the table.  Your confidence in me was beautiful, albeit overly hopeful.  And that huge collection of messages from my Facebook friends filled my heart like you wouldn’t believe.  I just love all you internet and real-life pals of mine – you make it all so much fun. Thank you for being so great.

I hope to have at least one ok race picture but until then, here's me and my dinner.

Today was my final workout, the standard mini one you do for raceweek. It went quite well, though because it’s a shorty I don’t draw any conclusions from it but it was a nice capper, to be sure.

The run was 8.24mi w/ 3x mile @Half pace w/ ¼ mile recoveries (which ended up being 2min each). The mile reps were a tad faster than Half pace: 6:58, 6:54, 6:53 and the whole run averaged 7:47.  What bodes well about this is that it was 74 degrees with 64 dewpoint but a cold-front is moving in and Sunday morning looks to be around 57 with no humidity.  Huge difference from any of my tempos this summer.

So now all there is to do is taper.  The next few days go 6, 5 w/strides, rest day, 4 w/strides, race.  Gulp.

Race Goals
I’m not going to go into it too much but I’m nervous as hell.  I’ve had some strong running this season but please don’t think for a second that I’m sure of myself or think this weekend is a lock for anything, I’ve had too much weirdness in my racing to ever know what to expect.  Loopy mental state aside, here’s what I’m looking at for goals…

A Goal: sub 1:32
B Goal: sub 1:33
C Goal: PR (under 1:33:51)

I’ve been training with 7:00 as my goal pace, so that’d be 1:31:42 – I would love that.  While you might think “Dang girl, you ran all those miles and all you think you can do is sub 1:32?  Hardly seems worth it.” But to me it’s much more than that.  Remember, my PR is from 2009 and last year the best I could do was 1:34:40, so this is now a 2-year catch-up game.

I want to say this about whatever happens: whether I fuck it up or run a great race, those miles were important.  Not only did they make me a much better runner (I’m not commenting on how good a racer I am, the jury’s out on that) but beyond aerobic conditioning, increased efficiency and breaking an interminable plateau, I’ve enjoyed the experience thoroughly.  Even the few runs that sucked, and there were so few, were necessary to the experience.  I’ll hark back to my 99% post because that is what this season was for me (and the percentage has even gone up due to the increased mileage, lol).

Age-Grading Update
While playing around with the Age Grade calculator, I’ve noticed that the numbers are different from what they used to be.  The percentages I mentioned a couple posts ago that apply to my goals are correct but my old AGs scattered around this blog in various old posts are now obsolete. Not a big deal since they’re only good for the year in which you run the race anyway and I’m about to get me some fresh results, but anyway…

I noticed the Half percentages in particular seemed quite a bit tougher and after some investigation, discovered that in 2010 there was an update for women’s Age-grading factors (this takes you to part of a much larger page so if you scroll, you can see info for men as well).

As a general note, be aware that when you do use an AG calculator some still use older factors so they’ll seem more generous percentage-wise.  I like the one from Runnersworld but this one is also good (it’s the source one actually, but has an uglier interface).

My Latest Goofy Purchases
What I’m about to discuss will seem ridiculous to people with houses or washers/dryers in their apartment, but I’ve a feeling my fellow city apartment dwellers will understand…

All summer I’ve come home (as most as you have) with sopping wet running clothes.  In the Blue Hovel, I’d wring them out in the sink, then hang them till dry enough to throw in the hamper the next morning.  In my new apartment however, they take longer to dry especially when it’s rainy and damp stuff can turn into smelly stuff.  Summer maybe be over but my running clothes are sweaty year-round so it’s not just a seasonal situation.

So I started checking out portable spin dryers and found a dandy little countertop spin-dryer.  My original idea was just to dry my sweaty clothes so I could put them in the hamper immediately.  According to the reviews, this mini dryer gets nylon-based clothes completely dry whereas cotton ends up mostly dry (dryer than a regular washer’s spin cycle but still slightly damp).  Btw, while you never want to put your running clothes in a dryer because heat will mess with wicking fabric and make your stretchy stuff crispy, this thing works with centrifugal force, like a big salad spinner, thus no harm to the fabric.

After I decided to purchase the thing, I started thinking about washing clothes as well because trekking down to the basement to throw a bunch of quarters in somebody else’s washer/dryer has never been my idea of fun, so if I can lessen that need, all the better.

Thus, I began to investigate mini washing machines, of which there are two popular types.  One is electric, the Wonder Washer, while the other has a hand-crank and, hilariously enough, is called Wonderwash.  I didn’t know that washing clothes could be so filled with Wonder, but apparently it is.  I can only imagine the lawsuits that went down between those two.

Anyway, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on both, even a newscast review of the hand-cranking one, plus read a ton of reviews and comments.  Ultimately, I decided against either of them for a few little reasons but also because they don’t rinse your clothes, you have to fill the receptacles again and repeat the process to rinse. Seemed too much of a production if I’m to retain my lazy-ass status.

However, in those reviews I read about an alternative low-tech item, the Breathing Mobile Washer.  It’s incorrectly named Rapid Washer at Amazon.com(the Rapid Washer is metal and rusts but I’m linking to it so you can read the reviews if you’re a review reader like me).  It’s basically a souped-up plunger that seems easier to deal with than the two mini washing machines and supposedly gets clothes cleaner, too.  Also, you can use it in the bathtub, sink or bucket…whatever size vessel you want for the job.

Together, it should totally lessen my need for the basement washer/dryer downstairs, appealing to my lazy self while saving money and keeping damp duds from laying about as well.  I’ll post a review on them next week after I’ve used them a couple times.  Supposed to get them tomorrow…I’m so excited!