More drill talk

Tuesday’s 10-miler had a slow start but ended with a few 8:00s for 8:25/mi.  At the end I did a drill/stride session which I’m really getting into for several reasons:

First off, in order to do the butt kicks, high knees and skipping, you’re automatically forced to keep your hips under you; when I run, I often have to remind myself to tuck my hips in so this is valuable.  Also, the exaggerated arm movements relax the shoulders and even affect my hand shape in the following stride.  Then there’s the powering off for your legs (most important) plus forced forefoot landings – it’s like a mini strength workout.

I think I’ll do the drill/stride combo twice a week from here on in.  It takes so little time (2 reps of 3 drills with 6 strides takes about 6½ minutes) and if I’m going to do strides anyway, may as do both.

I also found a wonderful set of drill videos from NYRR.  They’re meant for coaching kids and have the most concisely detailed instructions I’ve seen on the subject.  Excellent production values as well. (Edit: just saw the buttkicks one and the demonstration kid is actually not doing them the best way – she’s kicking too far behind which other buttkick videos, Lauren Fleshman’s for example, warn against, feet should aim directly under the ass, knees go high. Oh well, the rest is good)

Fartleks

Wednesday’s 9-miler contained a satisfying fartlek/interval session.  In last Sunday’s post, I wrote I’d be doing 10x(3min-ons/1 min-offs) but when I did the math (10×3 = 30min with 9min’s recovery), it struck me that this was too much since it was a 10-minute increase of hard running over last week’s intervals with less recovery.  So I changed it to 9 reps (27 minutes total work with 8min. recovery), still a solid work increase but a little more manageable.

I didn’t do any strides or drills preceding since, in keeping with fartlek, I wanted to keep it relaxed and laid-back so the first two were on the slow end, but after that, I got in the groove.  Thanks to the short recoveries, my average heart rate – while still low for a 10k workout (175, 84%HRR) – was closer to where it should be.  7:46/mi for the whole thing.

Heat Heat Heat!
I’ve been saying weather isn’t affecting me so badly this year and I am faring way better, but now that I’m doing more quality work of course I’d love to run the paces as written, not with any heat-deducted approximation.  But as acclimated as you can be, it’s silly to expect to run at top shape when it’s humid and high 70s-80s at 6am.  I know this, but I still chide myself some, just can’t help it.  But here’s what I was thinking about this week:

Most people’s optimal running environment is between 45 and 55 degrees, my fave is 50.  78 degrees is 28 degrees over 50.  Consider the opposite: subtract 28 from 50 and what do you get? 22 degrees.  Remember what that’s like?  All the crap you had to wear?  Did you expect to run your best at 22 degrees?  Nevermind that you’re not losing body fluids all over your shoes.

Even a 20 degree difference (70 sounds so innocuous, doesn’t it?) taken the opposite way, is 30 degrees…still below friggin’ freezing.  So let’s consider this before we blame ourselves for taking a hit on humid 70+ degree mornings (Peggy, are you listening? ). It’s not personal wimpyness, it’s bona fide physiology.

Meat Meat Meat!
I’ve been on a huge meat kick to an embarrassing extent.  In the last couple weeks, I’ve consumed two 2.25 lb pork loins, 5.5 lbs of chicken and 2 or 3 hamburgers, not to mention a handful of eggs (egg salad sandwiches).  It cracks me up that I’ve lived in the Blue Hovel for 2 years and only recently began cooking like a regular person.  Until a few months ago, I hadn’t bought a single package of chicken and had purchased one lone package of beef patties.  Nowadays, my shopping trips look like I’m feeding a family of bears.

I’m big on the crockpot lately and I made this Thai Chicken recipe the week before, liked it so much that I made it again a few days later (first time with breasts, second time w/thighs…both were delicious).  In the meantime, I shared it on FB to rave reviews so if you’re a crockpot owner, give it a shot.

I also make a pork loin in the crockpot that uses a can of whole cranberries and since I’m into shredded meat lately, I shred the shit out of it, then make burritos or eat it with mashed ‘taters and brussels sprouts.  Last week’s version was a little weird though since Whole Foods finds it beneath them to stock cranberries in the summer, but they had canned blackberries so I tried that, which was actually tasty except for the millions of tiny seeds.  Live and learn.

Aside from meat (which I’m one day away from ODing on), my usual diet these days is a bowl of hot 5-grain cereal with PB and Sweet ‘n Low before my run, then when I get back, usually the same thing.  Then around noonish, an egg-salad or tuna sandwich (or as of late…meat!), a small snack around 3pm, dinner around 6 with a huge bowl of fruit for dessert, then before hitting the hay, maybe some crackers with a wedge of low-fat Laughing Cow or some carrots.

You’d think I get to eat like a pig with all the running I do but alas, no.  I haven’t had cookies, candy, cake or even low-fat ice cream for a few months.  But what’s changed is that if I make a quesadilla, for instance, I don’t measure out a little portion of shredded cheese, I pull a few handfuls out of the bag…just like a normal person would.  Instead of being miserly with the peanut butter in my hot cereal, I have a generous-sized dollop.  It’s those little things that are different.  But if I want to lose weight for better racing, I’ll have to pay more attention.

Somewhat related, I was thinking about meal times the other day and realized that the reason I get so much hungrier in the winter, besides the usual winter chill/food connection, is that I go to bed at 12:30am in the winter but eat dinner around 6:30.  That leaves 6 hours between dinner and sleep, whereas in the summer, I eat at 6pm but go to bed at 9:30, so that’s only 3.5 hours between.  That’d be like eating dinner at 9pm for a 12:30 bedtime – a little too Continental for my tastes, but I think a 7:30 or 8pm dinnertime sounds like a reasonable idea for the Fall/Winter so I’m going to try that out when the season changes.

No Sunscreen? A-OK!
My friend Todd shared a really cool page yesterday that gives you a UV Index forecast for your location – just change the zipcode in the URL to reflect your own.

Every summer, I have a constant, low-level buzz of guilt for never wearing sunscreen on my early morning runs; I hate dealing with it and feel it compromises my sweatability.  But even though I leave the house at dawn and return before 9am, I have a pretty good tan, so I still manage to get a fair amount of sun.

But according to the UV Index page, I’m not in danger without sunscreen since the UV risk remains low here until 10am (and I imagine that’ll get pushed farther out now that sunrise is getting later).  Low risk means “Unless you are especially sensitive to UV radiation generally no protection is needed.”  Yay! One less thing to feel guilty about.  That just leaves 1,352,034 more.

My, What Excellent Shoes You’re Wearing
Geoffrey Mutai, currently the best runner in the world, just set a course record in the Half at Bogota last weekend with a 1:02:20 beating out 2nd place by 2 minutes and 27 seconds…huge!  Recognize his shoes?  Adidas Adios, baby!  The kicks of champions.

Afternoon Edit…An Online Interview
The nice people at Digital Running did a little interview with me, which might not tell you anything you don’t already know, but what the hay (hey?), check it out.  Thanks Brian and Raffi, I’m flattered to be a part of your website.

Note: I feel it’s important to remain consistent in the videos I present to you, so I made sure you get the same low quality you’ve come to expect.  You even get an added bonus with this one because I didn’t realize auto-focus was changing the lighting, so crossing my fingers…no epileptic seizures for you!   Until I get paid for this shyte, I’m not sweatin’ the particulars – it’s just fun.

Btw, if you want better quality, change the settings on the video from 360p to 480p (at the bottom of the YouTube playback window…it’ll sound way better).

Got My Insurance Bill
…via email today from the heatstroke 5K.
Hospital charges for ER + one-night stay: $34,988 (plus $600 in incidentals)
What the insurance company turns it into: $4760 (gee, somebody must know someone)
What they’re charging me: $150 in copays and another $150 for the releasing doctor to say I could leave.  The second $150 is total bullshit (I’m appealing it), as is the whole inflated pricing system.  I really don’t get the health system and never will.

The Sleep Nazi’s New Gadget
I’m loving my new-found affair with sleep – I swear, I feel rejuvenated and motivated again (thus the new video).   This is serious stuff!

So wouldn’t you know, after 7 months of nobody living above me, I finally got a new neighbor: a sweet, petite young woman who volunteered she’s “never around”…music to my ears.  That said, although she steps way lighter then the asshole did, the floors are always going to creak and I can hear stuff through the walls (not just hers).

So…I ordered this very cool white noise machine.  It’s got 1000 reviews and people love the thing – many of them apartment dwellers with my exact scenario.  Granted, I’m not thrilled about replacing sound with sound, but if it makes sleeping easier and deeper, I’m all for it.  I’ll keep you posted when I get it.

The Hot Week Ahead
It’s going to be a challenge with another heatwave of 100s and 90s.  I also pulled something in my groin on Saturday’s run which is still hanging about despite yesterday’s rest day, so hopefully it’ll be fine by the time I need to run hard, though considering the temps, we’ll see how hard “hard” is.  I had to bag my hill sprints today which bummed me out, but I’ll do them later in the week.

Be careful everyone, get out there early as you can, drink up and don’t be macho with your paces.

1. First blackout
2. First memory hole
3. First hallucination
4. First overnight hospital stay

83 degrees, 69 dewpoint, mostly sunny.  From my dewpoint musings post, when adding temp and dewpoint: “if it’s above 150, forget pace altogether and just focus on finishing.”

I got some great advice from running mentor Adam on how to handle the race, as I’d been freaking about the temps for a few days.  He said bring ice and ice cold water so I did, stashing them in a bush for after the warmup.  Brilliant call on the ice, btw, I suggest everyone do that in summer races.

The Warmup
I go out for a little over a mile, do 4 strides and as usual, they’re slower than shit, about 30 seconds away from my usual stride speed which always happens pre-race but I never get used to it.  “At least I won’t have to worry about leaving the gate too fast”, I think to myself.

As I return to the clump of people standing around, a teenage girl wearing a walker t-shirt calls to me, “Miss…Miss, is that water on you?”  I’m not sure what she’s talking about, then I look at the thick suit of sweat on me and laugh, “Yep, it’s hot out here!”

I go to my ice stash and coat myself with a few cubes, stick a couple in my sports bra, drink some water, visit the porta-potty and line up.   It’s an out and back on the usual race course by the museum, so I know what to expect.  Small field today, more of a walker event.

Go!
I look down at my Garmin and think I see 6:59 and I get pissed with myself, but then look again, realizing it says 5:59.  I have never done such a stupid start in my life, didn’t think it was possible with that sluggish warmup so maybe it was Garmin acting wacky, still, I slow down and the first mile clocks in at 6:40.  Just right.

There’s only one girl in front of me, a young thing, and I pass her around the 1/2 mile mark, then realize, “Wow, if I can keep this up, I can win this thing!”  There’s a water stop at the turn-around point and I take a cup of water and dump it on my head (again, as per Adam’s stellar advice) …ahhh.

The folks going the other way are yelling out at me “first woman, wooohoo!”  “you go, girl!” and other fun stuff like that.  I have to admit, it’s a fantastic feeling.  Second split clocks in at 6:48.

I’m definitely hurting at this point, but I want to win, dammit!  And I wish I had eyes in the back of my head so I could know what kind of lead I have (didn’t think to watch for gals at the turnaround).  I’m slowing and I see guys in front of me stopping to walk but I barrel on, thinking, almost there, just a few minutes more, but at the same time, “man, would I love to stop.”  Nothing that I don’t think at least twice in every 5K.

Then, out of nowhere, my legs go jello, I stumble and fall on the ground – that same knee that’s opened up twice already, gets it again.  Another racer is at my side in a heartbeat wanting to help me up, but I wave him away saying, “You go ahead, I don’t want to ruin your race” but he tells me “This race doesn’t mean anything, c’mon, we’ll run in together”.  So I get up and slowly we go, then I remember stumbling again and my next memory is in the hospital being lifted from the stretcher to the ER bed.

What I’m told happened
Until this afternoon, I thought I had a DNF, but  when I got home, I called the StridesForStroke place and spoke to a girl who was there and who gave me the lowdown (what she missed, her parents saw). I crossed the line with the help of that guy and whoever was standing there.  Then I went over to the sidewalk and I collapsed again, they put me on a chair, then they put me, still sitting in the chair, into an ambulance.  Now that she explained this to me, I’m just this evening remembering little tiny snapshots.

Btw, someone from the race called me while I was in the hospital but I didn’t think to ask about what happened.  Nice of them to check on me, though.

The Hospital

Once in the hospital bed, I didn’t realize till an hour later that I had a big memory hole.  I was too freaked because the 3 friends I could call to get me were all out of town, I didn’t have a cent on me or a phone and I felt utterly alone.   On top of it, I was thinking, “This is humiliating, that’ll teach your stupid ego, you should stop racing for a few months, maybe even forever, you really have no clue of what you’re doing, blah blah…”

About an hour later, I was able to compartmentalize this where it belonged, as a medical/heat related problem and not the end of my racing “career” but it was breaking my heart up until then.

Meanwhile, I was in a bad way physically, they don’t give you water for a while and you’re dying of thirst, plus I had a fever so I felt like death, wanting to barf, too.  They gave me ice to suck on and I started to feel a bit better, eventually everyone dispersed.  A short while later, I start to see things.

Hallucinations
It’s no secret I’ve had my sampling of recreational drugs but never have I had “visions”.  This scared the shit out of me more than anything.   It was like smokey gray dancing ribbons everywhere I looked, ghostly because you could see through them.  I called for the nurse thinking I’d fried my brain or my eyesight, but she told me it’s normal when dealing with exhaustion.

They gave me tons of tests and took chest x-rays.  I’m told I have serious heat stroke, am profoundly dehydrated, my lactic (lactate?) acid is extraordinarily high and they’re concerned about my kidneys.  So I have to stay overnight.  Super duper suckage bummer of the universe.

On a cute note, everyone was taking a big interest in my plight, the doctors and nurses had running/racing stories and called me the “athlete”.  One of the doctors sent in another doc, a 3-time Ironman, to chat with me who told me my case was cool.

Note: The resident that eventually was assigned to me didn’t even think I should stay overnight.  She thought I would be fine to go home and that my levels would return within hours, which they did, but she didn’t have a say-so in it.

Overnight Stay In Cardiac
My nurse in cardiac had done a tri-relay with her sisters and was thrilled to have me.  She was a nutritionist and wouldn’t stop giving me advice, some of it quite loopy, like next time I race I need to fill a camelback with Gatorade.  She also told me a couple times that I’d approached acute renal failure but when I asked the doctor,  the doc said, “WHAT???  That’s not true, she had no business saying that”.  How’s that for weirdness?

My roommate was an obese woman with Lupus and Crohn’s disease, a funny lady, though we talked through the curtain most of the time.  The only bad thing was she slept a lot but left the TV on a channel that alternates Jerry Springer and Maury Povich for hours.  That was hell.

I was monitored all night and this morning got an echocardiagram.  I should have been able to leave early but had to wait for the main doc to start his shift.  So at 3pm I took the “walk of shame”, not in high heels and evening wear, but sports bra, shorts and racing flats.  Just as pathetic.  At least I’d removed my bib.

My thoughts
Yeah,  I pushed, but it drives me nuts that I couldn’t tell the difference between normal 5K suck and heat suck.  I was asked if I had chest palpitations or any other warning signs but I didn’t.

As for the dehydration, I had a couple glasses of wine the night before (not so good) but also a few non-caffeinated sodas and some water.  Drank a huge glass of water a couple hours before the race and water when I got there.  What I’m kicking myself for was not taking S-caps, I keep forgetting to use them this summer – most idiotic, I would have avoided the whole scenario if I’d taken them (or any other type of electrolyte/salt thing).

Other than that, I think my furnace burns hotter than most.  I’ve always thought that and here’s why:  I would like nothing better than to run in sportsbra/shorts at 65 degrees.  The women where I run won’t wear them until it’s near 80.  I would die.  It’s a little embarrassing to be nekkid compared to everyone else, but I “allow” myself to wear one as soon as it’s 70 degrees.  In fact, when it’s 65, I actually wait for it to get to 70 so I don’t have to wear a sopping wet singlet.

I asked a couple docs separately about this today, wondering if maybe it could be due to perimenopause (sorry folks, this is unsexy talk and I hate it because it shows my age, but it’s my reality).  Both doctors said it very well could be.

HTFU?
I wanted to do was making myself do these summer races because I felt like a whiner and excuser when I bitched about how I don’t handle heat well, especially when everyone goes “hey, it’s only a 5K!”  The whole point was to harden up, but I think I’m confusing guts with self-knowledge, something I seem to lack.  Maybe time will give me that.   Until then, I guess it’s my achilles heel.

On the good note, even with the silly start and soap opera finish, it was an improvement over the last 5K and in worse conditions.  But what to do now?  Do I really want to “race for fun” in 80 degrees?  That’s an oxymoron.  I’d hate racing at partial capacity and getting beat.  Stupid ego.  Guess I need to set a temperature limit at which I won’t race (which, if I had my druthers would be 65, but then I won’t be racing much).

Anyway, I’m fine, so no worries – a little weirded out but none the worse for wear.  Thanks for reading this ridiculously long report.  And to think…it was only a 5K.

As this Spring unfolded, the looming temps were often on my mind.  I had this fear that my new found paces would regress and I’d end up the same ugly, sweaty mess I was last year.  But I’m not one to wait and see what happens to me…

Today was set to get up in the 90′s so instead of leaving early, like a bright person, I purposely waited until it hit 85 degrees.  After all, it was my last long run before the big race – I didn’t need to be fast, could take it as easy as I wanted, plus it was only a 12-miler.  I filled up my handheld, strapped on the HR monitor and out I went.

My HR shot up from the start but I was surprised to keep a fast pace even so.  Midway, I had a 4-mile block averaging 7:51/mi., major surprise considering it was 86 and climbing at that point.  Admittedly, the final two miles weren’t my fave; little shade and I wanted to jump in the river, but still, when all was said and done, I averaged 8:12/mi.  Besides a 16-miler two weeks ago at 8:07 (on a mere 51 degree day), it was my fastest Long or Easy run, ever.

Hot sun, I scoff at you!!

So with great relief I now envision this summer as something other than a pace murderer, a fatigue creator, a disgusting collection of stinky hot sweltering days.  I think it’s going to be a great season for improvement.

We reserve the right to rescind this statement as the humidity rises.

It stems less from actual discomfort than the horrible memory of my dehydration drama last September, coupled with my marathon training logs when I felt I’d slipped backwards in the speed department. I dread the performance hits I’m likely to see as summer approaches.

On the brighter side of the argument, perhaps the lack of speed growth during last year’s marathon training was also due to going from 6 days a week to 5 (though mileage was comparable) along with following Pfitz’s pace recommendation for long runs, start at MP+20% getting to MP+10% by the end…a slower ratio than I’d be shooting for now.

So this will be a telling season – my second “real” summer of training. And while I have an enormous fear that heat is going to stop the improvements I’m currently experiencing, I’m crossing all fingers and toes that it’s mostly perception leaving a sour taste in my mouth, not the weather itself.

I know I know, 70 is child’s play as far as heat goes, but coming from months of 20-30 degree days, it’ll be warm. And 70 degrees is where my running uniform becomes a sports bra and shorts – sadly, there’s nothing I can do to make myself cooler than that, it’s as close to nekkid as it gets.

So c’mon Heat, bring it on, show me what’s in store. Maybe I won’t hate you so much this year. I can only hope.