I’m running a bit slower this week, btw – purposely trying to widen the pace gamut because yeah, it’s fun to be running peppy all the time but then where do you go?  You end up wanting to top yourself each week and I can’t play that game, otherwise this is gonna turn into a grind.

Besides, while I’m not doing quality runs right now I have re-entered 60-65mpw so it’s not like I’m slacking.  Sure, it’s not nearly as effective as doing both workouts and mileage, but at least I’ve got one in the mix.

Appetite Suppressant Wrap-Up
I’m apparently a fickle creature; this experiment was far more interesting when I wanted to get back to 115lbs.  Once I realized my runs were trending for the better despite being 4 lbs up, I stopped giving a shit.  Even so, in the name of faux science, I did a few more tests this week since I said I would.

I tried Hoodia and Glucomannan after dinner (on different nights, of course) and while they do seem to help stave off hunger for an hour or so, neither is like “Wow, I couldn’t eat a thing!”   I’d say between the two, Glucomannan wins, not that it worked more effectively – they were pretty much the same – but at least you know what you’re ingesting with it. That said, I didn’t give Hoodia a fair shot since it should probably be taken a few days in a row to know if it works but I’m not into messing around with it that thoroughly.

The other thing is, I think both Hoodia and Glucomannan are probably more effective for those who don’t have a Stop button on them at meal time.  If I ate the way I did as a young chunky thing, to the point of always leaving the table stuffed, then I could see it having more of an impact.  They are, after all, meant to be taken before meals, but if you eat small meals already and just want to fend off occasional evening munchies, they’re kind of Meh.

Yerba mate remains the winner for my purposes.  I like the fact that it staves off hunger efficiently, doesn’t have any funny stuff added or processed into it and that it’s a common beverage for zillions of South Americans.  I won’t be drinking it all the time but I bought a french press specifically for brewing it.  It’s cool stuff.

A Death In The Family
It’s time to say goodbye to a trusted and longtime running companion, my Garmin 305. Even though it came back to life after the last rainy drowning, it lost another button and started acting strange this week – it starts beeping out of the blue and then the buttons stop working.  As much as I hated to admit defeat, I finally gave in and ordered another 305 at Amazon for $128.  They also had the 405 on sale for $169 but I prefer this version.  Now, please join me for a moment of silence in appreciation of my little mangled baby before I say goodbye for good.

Note the bottom strap is held on with fishing wire, the other strap's clasp is held on with electrical tape, it has 2 replacement buttons made out of wadded-up foil and attached with tape, numerous scratches from taking a few tumbles plus a weird oily drop beneath the screen that won't go away. It had a good life. Amen.

In that time, we’ve been through two extremely hard falls and it’s lost a couple bits, but I haven’t let that interfere with the sacred love we have for each other.  Instead, I’ve McGyvered it to keep on ticking as long as it’ll have me.

The first fix came after the 1st hard fall.  The pin that holds one of the straps on popped off upon impact, never to be seen again.  Instead of calling Garmin for a new strap (because I’m lazy like that) I took some fishing lure I had on hand for jewelry beading and strung it through.  It’s been holding fine every since.

The second fix happened a few weeks ago when my Power button fell off and refused to reattach.  I fashioned a new button from a Viactiv calcium chew wrapper, which worked sans tape for a week or so, but finally needed the full packing tape accoutrement to remain attached.  It works a charm.
The third fix was necessitated this week when, while taking the Garmin off, the silver buckle tore straight through the strap’s attachment point.   I thought about calling Garmin or even going to Target for a replacement strap, but a few selective layers of packing tape put it right as rain in no time.

While it lacks in glamour, it’s still a beautiful accessory to me.

Tapering Week #1
I’m loving it!  Feeling stronger with each passing day, my resting HR is down to a rarely seen 46, my running HR is lower than usual, and my legs and ankles are pleased with this temporary new arrangement.  The big toe drama lasted too long, I was shoving a needle under both nails for 4 days but they finally dried up and now all is well.

Tomorrow’s my last double-digit run, a 13, which’ll bring this week to 44 miles.  Next week, a meager 32, then it’s time to Do This Thang!  I’m excited,  happy and looking forward to the whole 3-day adventure.  Woohoo!! 

About an hour after I got home, though, I’m in the kitchen and I hear a sound like some tiny alarm coming from my office, and realize it’s my Garmin beeping non-stop.  The screen was also flashing frenetically, switching datascreens back and forth like it was having a seizure.  I took it off the cradle, turned it off and on again, then the buttons wouldn’t work.  I can only turn it off now with a soft reset (mode+Lap).  Hard reset doesn’t work either.  Oh, my sweet Garmin, what have I done to you?

I have to send it back and possibly receive a refurbished one in return.  That would be so very sad, as much as we’ve been through together.  In the meantime, I have a 205 (bought as backup when the 405 was released and 205s went cheap) so I’m fine pacewise, but my recent addiction to HR data must be shelved temporarily.  Probably a healthy thing in a way.

Tomorrow, I’d planned to do 17 but am now just sticking with 16, because that’ll give me 72 miles for the week, a new mileage PR, so I’m happy to cap it there.  It’s funny how I used to think 70mpw would be this huge, hard thing, something I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to do, but once you start adding a few here and a few there, it just grows on you.

The best part about it is, I was feeling a few twinges after March’s races, a couple of times I had to get out the foam roller, but then between last week’s 68 and this week’s 72 I feel great!  My legs are silent.    Last time I had a day off was March 2nd, so things couldn’t be better (knock on wood).

So I’m thinking about after the Lehigh Valley Half, how I should handle the months before marathon training begins in August.  I put a few potential races on the calendar for June and one for July, so that’ll keep me peppy.  I’m not sure how I’m going to portion out fast and easy runs at this point but I did want to cultivate 70mpw, and at this point, it looks like it’ll be no problem.

I use SportTracks with my Garmin. It’s a fantastic free program that does an incredible job of dissecting your runs every which way. The one thing that constantly bugged me on it, however, was elevation data. It was always really weird for me, so much so that I couldn’t use it. The ups and downs never correlated to my route, even the ever-present last hill before I get to my house always showed as going downhill, of all things, so I’d end up going to Mapmyrun.com to check elevation profiles.

Now there is an elevation plug-in that is supposed to correct all that, but I’ve continued to have these wacky elevation anomalies anyway. So, last night, in a fit of aggravation, I started reading more about the plug-in, which mentions for “custom elevation data” (whatever that meant), you need to also install the GDal plug-in and then get some other data from some huge-ass elevation databank.

I really wasn’t able to understand what I was supposed to do, but as usual, that didn’t stop me. Following their instructions, I go here and swipe Philly and some surrounding cities, saved the data and hoped that would automatically fix it. No change. Next, I changed the order of the elevation models in SportTracks under Settings. Again, no change.

Today, I finally got it in my thick head to un-apply Elevation Correction in SportTracks, then re-apply. VOILA! The elevation data is finally correct and usable! So for all my Garmin friends who have given up on having elev. data they can use, there is an answer and it works perfectly! Just download the plug-ins along with the correct elevation model for your area, change the order of the models in Settings so the downloaded ones are first, un-apply to all the runs (Ctl-A in My Activity Report, edit activity, undo elevation correction) and then re-apply to all. Beautiful!

Now, on a much more scary, sour note, Nick went out for a bike ride before dinner last night and got hit by a car. Some asshole tried to beat him at a light and succeeded, but the car behind him didn’t see him, so Nick went over the hood and landed in the street. Thankfully he is fine, save for some assorted protrusions and cuts.

Apparently, a crowd witnessed the whole incident and the woman who hit him was a runner of all things, going for her evening run. She was mortified. Nick got up though the crowd was yelling at him to stay down, the ambulance came but Nick refused the hospital, instead walking home with his broken bike. He’s more worried about possibly missing a 100-mile ride this weekend than the state of his health, crazy man.

This is why, as much as he and my friends try to get me on a bike, I prefer to run. He’s the third casualty in my circle of bike-riding friends to get hit by a car in less than year. Ugh. Be careful out there, people.

Because I’m so forgetful when I have to do anything repetitive (I even forget what lightpole I’m at when only 3.5 of them=100m), I plugged the strides into a Garmin workout which worked really great. Didn’t have to think about which stride I was on or how many lightpoles I’d passed and since strides don’t require a specific recovery time, just that you be fully recovered, all I had to do was press the lap button when ready for a new set.

So 6 miles @ 8:50, 10 speedy strides (working on keeping shoulders back and trunk centered) then a half mile home. Felt strong!

I didn’t take water with me today, opting for the fountain. My latest “decision” concerning the fountain btw, is: I don’t stop my Garmin to take a drink or refill my bottles, unless there’s a line, then I’m allowed to stop it. This mimics the marathon more honestly, I think.

On a related note, on the way back there was a line for the fountain and the woman in front of me is a vigorous walker I’ve seen for over a year but have never spoken with, though we always wave to each other upon passing. So it was nice that today, when she realized I was behind her, she made a cute comment about my hair color changing back to brown. It was sweet to finally exchange pleasantries with this non-strange stranger.

Back to the clock stopping, that brings up a great point about goal times. I said in my last post that my goal is 8:23, which would be a 3:40 marathon. Mind you, I’m not married to it – it’s open to change and likely will, but I like having something to shoot for and it’s as good a number as anything at this point.

BUT! Planning on a 3:40 marathon doesn’t really equate to a 8:23/mile, it means more like running 8:13-8:17 after you count in water stops, possible potty breaks, a stretch or two, not running perfect tangents, etc. I read this a few months ago on the Marathon Race Training forum, where they said subtract 1-2% to get the “real” pace, which makes a lot of sense. So, you could say I have 2 goals, one is a 3:40 marathon, the other, an 8:23 pace. As I get closer to D-day, I’ll know if either of these is reality. I’ve vowed to train as honestly as possible so if I’m not hacking it, Que Sera Sera, I’ll just readjust my goal time to suit. No shame in that, just the fun of trying.

No joke, 1 stinkin’ second for a new PR of 23:29. But before you think I’m all down about it (well sure, I’m a little unhappy) the course wasn’t as flat as my previous 5K, so it’s not a complete “what the fuck?!” – just a partial one.

I was 5th in my age group, 45-49, as was Lara in hers, 35-39, with a new GGPR (see comments) of 23:58…and she’s mainly a bicycle chick, so she rocked!

Meanwhile, I tried to do the belly breathing thing the whole way, but it’s something I need to work on. I still heard myself breathing noisily throughout, but less gaspiness, more exhaliness, so it was a less irritating improvement.

Speaking of improvements, my next 5K is 5 weeks away and I am bound and determined to work hard on speed in the meantime. Five weeks isn’t a huge block of time, but a concerted effort with intervals simply has to bring a meatier PR come April 19th. Famous last words.

Btw, I wore my HR monitor during this race, which I haven’t worn since my first race last April. I hit a max HR of 190, same as the high I’d recorded before, again reinforcing the fact that those silly calculations of 220-age are totally bogus. But then, you knew that, right?

Lastly, I would be so over-the-moon stinkin’ happy if once, just once, I’d remember to stop my Garmin after a race. It hasn’t happened yet, so I highly doubt it’s even possible, but I’ll be dreaming of that great day as something to achieve in the future.

And with that, I’m signing off to play with my new Time Master time calculator that just came in the mail. How I love a new toy!

Starting with yesterday, Nick and I finally got to the mall to try on my belated Valentines Day present – a fancy pair of running sunglasses. Since mid-February, I’ve been itching to order some online, but due to their high pricetag and my large nose, thought it best to try on before purchasing. Good thing I did! I had been counting on a pair of Oakleys, but they looked terrible on me and didn’t fit well at all. So we left the mall and ended up at EMS for a better selection.

My requirements were removable lenses, polarized and clear. The clear is for windy and rainy days since at my age, I don’t need to encourage more facial lines by squinting. So anyway, tried on a bunch and ended up with some Smith Factors. They look and fit fabulously, the lenses are a snap to change, and they’re a hands-down improvement over my Target Ironman pair, so that was Good Thing #1.

Then today, after my morning coffee (I know, dumb to do it after coffee, but that’s what I do), I checked my Heart Rate and it was 49 for the first time in weeks. Good Thing #2

Strange thing #1, I woke up with the weirdest cramp today, the same kind you get when you run too fast, right below my right ribs, but all I’d been doing before I awoke was dreaming. It wasn’t even a running dream, it was a dirty one…still, that shouldn’t cause a cramp. Anyway, I was worried that it would interfere with my workout since it was there until I left, but once I started running, I forgot all about it. Good Thing #3

On my warmup jog, I passed the museum where my resident construction worker cheerleader guy yelled out from yards away, “You GO, Girl!” Can’t help it, but that’s Good Thing #4 (hey, who doesn’t like a personal cheerleader?)

The interval session went very well. It was my first one in a month due to that sick shit, so I was really nervous about where I’d end up.

If you remember from my last interval report, I had decided to walk between intervals instead of jogging, with a reduced recovery period. But after posting a question about it on the Training forum at RW (because there are so many ways to recover…half the distance, 50-100% the time, HR returns to 120, etc.), I changed my tact, since one of the trustable wise men there, Go Long, made this comment:

“If you are training for maximum speed – then rest between Intervals. If you are training for both speed and increased tolerance for speed [endurance] then jog between Intervals.”

Makes sense to me, so I think it’ll do me more good to return to jogging as recovery, and that is what I did on my 6xhalf-miles today.

I programmed my Garmin for 3:30 recoveries, since I expected to do around 3:40 intervals. Aside from my 5th interval at 3:35, all the others were between 3:41 and 3:42, so I was right on target for the workout. So now I have some solid numbers to build upon. Good Thing #5

As for Good Thing #6, I have to thank Lara for that. She knew I was searching out a more Zen-like approach to my running, less goal-oriented (if that’s possible), so she came up with the perfect answer this Saturday. It’s a fun run called, “In The Pursuit of Hoppiness”, where we’ll meet with a group at the Museum and do a 5-mile easy run culminating at Dock Street Brewery for beer and food. There are already 30 people signed up so it should be a blast.

Best yet, we’ve got our men (who are both bicycle freaks) driving there with their bikes and dry clothes for us, so they’ll park at the brewery and ride around till we get there and when we do, we’ll have clean duds awaiting us! How perfect is that?? The other cool thing is I’ve never run through that part of the city, plus it’s on sidewalks, which I’d like to get over my fear of, leading to more exploration of the city in future.

And now I’m looking forward to Good Thing #7, Mexican food tonight with Lara and Jeff at a place I’ve never been to. I love Mexican food but eat it so rarely, this’ll be a treat.

In the meantime, I’ll keep looking for Good Things, I think there are probably a few more hiding out here – like, I read a fun novel yesterday (haven’t done that in forever) and I got another voiceover job for next week and….enough already. It’s all good.