The Great
The great was Sunday’s long run.  It ranks up there as one of my two favorite runs ever.  The other one was an 18-miler @ MP+10% (it averaged 8:06s) back in September 2009 while training for Philly – a run so surprisingly effortless, it sticks out brightly in the memory banks.

Sunday was a 17-miler I took into the trails.  I had to purposely keep the brakes on for the first half,  my legs itching to hit low 8s but I was afraid I’d be pooped on the way back if I did.  The first half averaged 8:30s, 2nd half I let loose with all sub8s, averaging 8:14 for the run.  And this was my longest of the cycle.  Once I got home, I felt as if I’d just gone 13 or so and I’m usually tired the last 3 miles of a 17.  It was weird and wonderful.

Yesterday was a 5mi recovery run @8:43.

The Suck
The suck of the suck is that today didn’t actually suck!  But I started it sucking a day early.  I knew I had a pretty dense speed session (4.5mi of fast) so yesterday I was getting anxious about it as well as the race this weekend.  I even opened up that mental happy running book “Running Within” before I left the house today, looking for some straws to grasp to make me feel better about the bad performance I was sure I was going to have.

The irony of ironies is that if I’d used the watch part of my Garmin instead of average lap pace (you all know I use the park markers to keep myself honest), I might not have been so bummed.  Usually, the Garmin shows too much distance which makes you think you’re doing better, but today, it did the opposite, though my first mile did genuinely suck.

Target paces are in brackets.

Workout was 2 warmup, then 3xmi@10k pace (6:48) w/ 2 min rec’s, 2x.5mi@5k pace (6:27) 2/ 2min rec’s, 4x200m@ mi pace (whatever the fuck I could manage) w/ full recoveries. 10 miles total.

Splits for the miles started badly but got better 6:58, 6:49, 6:46.  I thought I was doing much worse for the 5k part (thought I was doing 6:40 pace) so I decided to cut those to .25mi instead.  Funny enough, when I got home and saw the actual times, I was right on it, both coming out to 6:28 pace.  The 200s are whatever since I don’t have a way to measure 1/8 of a mile out there, and the Garmin went wonky in the middle of those but by that point, I was totally beaten down mentally.

And I was debating whether I should share this because I really do hate that I’m such a whiner, but I figure it’s best to be honest, especially when the feelings are as strong as this.  And for the record, none of these are made up, it’s a portion of what was going through my head.

A list of what I thought out there

1. Maybe I should stop racing for a year
2. Maybe I should race a lot more
3. Maybe I should stop being honest on my blog about the way I feel
4. I need to ask Adam again if I should dumb down my training paces
5. I’m going to dumb down my training paces
6. If I weigh the same as when I was racing so well, why am I not racing well?
7. Where has my fitness gone?????
8. I don’t want to do the race this weekend
9. How can I get out of the race this weekend?
10. I know why I don’t race well, I suck under pressure
11. Why do I put myself through this when the thing I love is training, not racing?
12. If I hear “run without a watch” I’ll scream, the fun for me is the time element.
13. Maybe these faster paces are biting me in the ass
14. I should just be happy to be ok for my age
15. I hate that everyone around me is getting better and I’m trying but it’s not happening
16. I’m a weird person and need to get out in the world more
17. Good thing I’m single because if there was anyone at home, they’d want to leave me
18. I don’t want to do this for 1 mile, how am I going to do this for 6?
19. I hate the way this feels, it feels too hard
20. My heart rate isn’t even that high, WTF?
21. How can I learn to love racing again and not be afraid of myself?
22. What do I say I’m shooting for for this stupid race?
23. I hate that whatever goal pace I say will not happen.
24. I should ask people on the blog what they would do if they were me but I’m not sure I want to know

I’m sure if I spent a little more time, I could remember even more, but these were just on the top of my head.  Sucks, don’t it?

Yesterday finished off a 68 mile week and with it, a tasty weekend of running.  Saturday was an easy 9 miler, avg. 8:29 (it’s still shocking to me to see any average under 8:45 after this stupidly hot summer).  Sunday’s Long Run wasn’t actually long since it’s the end of the training cycle, but it was a goody: 12.1 progression.

My usual progression style is to go comfortably until 4.5 mi from home, do the progression for 3.5 and then the last mile is cooldown, only because there are stoplights and intersections in that last mile, so I kind of have to do it that way.  So for a 12, I’d start the faster bit at mile 7.5.

First mile of the run, I was immediately back in slowland, 9:02, a fact I’m now totally ok with – if my body wants to start that way from here on in, so be it, it’s clear to me now that this is meaningless in the scheme of things.  Anyway, as I trundle along, I contemplate what paces to shoot for in the progression.  Still unsure of my current fitness (and that 9:02 isn’t helping) I decide low 8s to start, then whittling down to 7:40ish.

This is how it played out:

9:02, 8:42, 8:25, 8:19,

8:12 – “hmmm, a little early but it feels good”

8:00 – I come upon a young couple I had seen up ahead during my first mile but who had long disappeared, so of course I’m an asshole and have to pass the shit out of them.  I look down at the Garmin and see 7:36. “Oops, back off the pace, girl!” I shake out my arms, cool the jets.

8:00 – loony-tune park regular on bicycle approaches me talking to himself so I pretend I’m laboring to make sure he doesn’t even attempt to mess with me…then I giggle to myself immediately after he passes thinking, “Wow, I just faked that I was laboring.”

7:50 – a cute runner dude steps out of the woods, smiles at me and says “Pit stop.”  I laugh and reply, “Suspected as much”

7:35, 7:25, 7:13 – “neato, Half Pace!”

8:35 for the last 1.1mi – I stopped the watch for a few minutes to chat with my pals Lara and Jeff who had a booth at the museum for a cycling event.

Average overall pace 8:10, even with the laggardly start.  The bitch is back.

The Week Ahead
is so light!  Day off today, then Tues is 8 mi w/3 x .75mi@10k, Wed is 6, 4 w/strides Thurs, Fri off, 4 w/strides Sat. and race!  Girlfriends will be arriving from Fri-Sat, so that’ll add another layer of fun.

I find it fascinating that I’m in the final days of a training cycle that had harder workouts than my last marathon cycle and in the suckiest of weather, but somehow I’m left thinking, “Really?  That’s it?”  This is nothing like how I feel at the end of marathon cycles: tired legs, hurting feet, the constant nervousness in the pit of my stomach…just wanting it to be O.V.E.R.  But this time, I feel like I’m just getting started.

Owe it to the weather, the new weight, the fun way this cycle was constructed, proper recovery weeks and rest days, plus knowing that if I screw this one up, I get to try again in 9 weeks…I really couldn’t be happier right now.

Reflective Headbands In Stock – Safe and Cute!
I now have reflective headbands, perfect for running in the dark.  You can get them in white or black. The reflective part is a silvery grey stripe down the center, so they look cool on their own, even if you don’t need the reflective bit.  I also got a cool camo design, a zebra-esque print and a couple other additions, so check out the latest and greatest!

As mentioned, I switched Tempo days from Friday to Saturday in favor of better temps.  Though I’ve made that Fri/Sat switch 3 times this cycle, I’m never truly pleased about it because it means Sunday’s run will be on tired legs.  Add to that my LRs are in the trail system for hillier terrain, it’s a double-challenge, but I’ll take that over a tempo in humid soup any day, so the switch was made.

Originally scheduled as an 11, I changed it to 9 since those extra 2 warmup/cooldown miles wouldn’t win me anything, so: 2 miles warmup, 6@half pace, 1 mile home. It went swell, I wore my heart rate monitor and the numbers were as they should be.  Pace-wise, I averaged one second over my projected goal pace which bodes well since race morning is likely to be 10-15 degrees cooler.

Later that afternoon, I went to a BBQ where I ate and drank like a happy pig, knowing I had 17 miles the next morning.  It’s good to have an occasional piggy day when you’re dieting anyway, though I may have mowed down a group of small children when the cakes were served, I can’t exactly recall, it’s all one big sugary blur.

Yesterday before the run, I wondered how it would go since it was a 50-50 set of circumstances.  It could go great because I’d carb-loaded at the BBQ with a wide assortment of bean dishes (strangely, no farting…stranger still that I feel the need to report that fact) but on the other hand, I’d had enough wine that it could be one of those leaden-legged deals.

The weather was wonderful – low 60s to start – so I wore a singlet for the first time since May. My initial miles were slow, as they have been all summer (worth a discussion on another post, it’s been a dramatic change) but each mile clicked by a little faster and when I got in the trail, I started feeling more energized.  On the return, I was doing low 8:00s and my last mile was 7:50, an unexpected surprise considering the previous day’s tempo and booze-a-rama.

Coming Up
This next week brings only one major workout (wow, winding down for real!): 3 x 2.5mi @ HP w/3 min. recoveries. Very happy to be doing one more race pace workout…good for the mind as well as the body.

On Wednesday I’ll fill you in on my continued travels down to race weight, the latest numbers and observations.  In the meantime, UPS will be delivering my second pair of Kinvaras tomorrow, blue ones with white soles.  Woohoo!  Not that I don’t love my current pair despite their screaming hot pink soles, but if I wear anything with pink in it, I’m convinced it looks as though I spent serious closet time putting together the perfect ensemble.

Since I’m way too cool for that shit, I’ve been occasionally wearing older crappier shoes to keep from looking like I’m trying to be the Queen of Pink…deliberate insouciance at the risk of tendonitis or some other shoe-related running injury.  Because birthdays may come and go, but immaturity is forever.

Due to some schedule switching, Saturday was an 11-miler with about 5.5 miles of tempo thrown in: 2x(15min@HP w/3min rec’s.), 10min@10K.   Yesterday, I had a 15-miler which I’m embarrassed to say around you marathon freaks, is my longest run since Boston!  I was looking forward to it for the distance and to take it to the trails so I could have that extra elevation/footing bonus.

The only hitch was that between the previous day’s tempo and 5½ hours of sleep, I was genuinely exhausted and certifiably dead-legged.   I really needed a recovery run instead of a long run, but I was stubborn about gettin ‘er done, so I took it reeeeeeaaaal slow.  Not that I had a choice.

The great thing was that even though I was too pooped to party, all my parts were working without complaint – not a twinge or niggle.  After 4 long months, the ankle problem is gone! And  I continue to do the hip exercises before every run – I can tell they’ll not only help with economy but ward off injuries as well, not to mention warming me up before I hit the road…so I’m loving them.

Speaking of Sleep
It’s getting better but still not great – July only had 3 nights of 8-hour sleep.  Also, I suspect that the one weekend where my HR dipped beautifully low was due to sleeping until my body woke on its own instead of my “beat the heat” alarm clock.  I’ll be thrilled when summer’s over and can sleep in regularly.

More Weight Stuff
The Racing Weight book has a lot of good stuff in it. One big change I’m making starting today, is how I time my caloric intake.

I’ve always been terrible about splitting my calories for the day.  I eat about half of them after 6pm (dinner and 2 snacks).  Dinner’s always been my “destination meal” and even though the snacks are healthy, I don’t need to be eating that much that late.  This is common wisdom we’ve all read enough times, but seeing his schedules of how to split it up percentage-wise made it clearer and looks sensible.

For those of you lapping up the weight talk, Jaymee (aka The fastest female runner I know) posted a great entry on the subject.  Also, on today’s entry she posts a sample day of what she eats which is cool to see.  I was actually shocked at the pro athletes’ sample menus in the Racing Weight book,  it looks like they eat hardly anything, whereas Jaymee’s intake looks more like what I’d expect a healthy athlete to eat.

Lastly, I’m anxiously awaiting UPS today – my fancy Tanita scale is scheduled for delivery, woohoo!!  Will let you know how I like it and what my reported weight and body fat are in the next post.

Runners Round Table This Wednesday
I’ll be on it again.   Joe’s hosting the episode about running in the heat.  I imagine we’re all pretty good at it by now, but I’m sure the conversation will be stellar and sparkling.  If you want to ask questions, listen to it live, otherwise, I’ll post it here afterwards.

Hair Bands That Stay On Your Head!
I ordered a headband from an online shop after a recommendation from a fellow forumite.   I’d stopped wearing hair bands because the Goody Stay-Puts were the only ones that would stay and even they required a clip behind each ear for stay-put peace of mind.

So I got it and, man…it works!!  It genuinely stays on your head.  It’s quite ingenious actually, what keeps it in place is (drumroll)….velvet.  The top part is regular woven ribbon from the notions counter, the lining is velvet ribbon and there’s just a small piece of 1/4″ elastic that goes under your head.

With shipping, the hair band was $20, but because I’m a frugal runner and handy with the sewing machine, I’m going to make a few for about $2.50 each.  I won’t give measurements since I feel kind of bad about giving away the company secret, but if you’re a crafty gal, buy one from the company and then make the next ones, like I’m doing (or not) .  Just remember if you get rayon velvet to wash it first so it doesn’t shrink when you wash it later.  Or if you’re lazy like me, get nylon velvet.

And that’s it for a chatty Monday.  Have a great coupla days, folks.  Later!

Mon: 7 recovery (8:56)
Tues: 9 pouring rain, windy and hurting calf (8:58)
Wed:  13 slow again because of the calf (9:01)
Thurs: Off (enough of the calf, heal already)
Fri: 8 w/4tempo (calf was good, tempo was a bit slower than HP though @ 7:21s)
Sat: 6 recovery (8:51)
Sun: 17 (9:05s, slowest LR this cycle)

Today’s 17 was quite a tough one, it’s warm now so I ended up taking my shirt off on the way back, but the bottom line was I felt tired in legs, body and mind.  I had planned to do 4MP but I knew that was not going to happen. I did 1, lol, but it was 70 degrees by that time and my big toes were really unhappy (they’re both bruised now and I had to stick a needle under the nails to drain them before the run…nice, huh?) so I wasn’t sad about cutting the MP miles, more like I’m happy to know I’ve reached the topping point and that I will most assuredly benefit from two weeks of tapering.

As for my big toes, it’s insanely irritating to have this nail bruising/blistering happening now, but I guess in one way it’s good, hopefully the blisters will harden the toes up within the next couple weeks.  I attribute it to all my LRs being done in the trails, more footwork and ups and downs than any other cycle, so again, it was for the good, I just wish it didn’t hurt.

Hey to Steph (or was it Linds? they’re identical twins), it was cool to see you out there today, you looked good!  Funny about the orange Philly Distance Run shirt, I must have seen 50 people wearing one this morning.

Interactions this week
Ignore this if you read my Facebook updates, but I had a couple entertaining bouts of human contact this week.  On Monday’s recovery, there were 4 college rowers in the river who burst into an acapella rendition of Sheena Easton’s “Morning Train” then waved at me and wished me a good run.

Not two minutes later, I heard a double boom from what I call “Dead Man’s Curve”, a curve in the road near the bike path, but hidden by a fence, and every time it rains, I seem to see the tail end of a wreck.  So this was a double wreck caused by a line of cars sitting behind a wreck that had already happened. Triple wreck!  Hoping everyone was ok.

Then the next day, it was pouring rain and windy and I was feeling pretty crappy but as I neared home, a man under an umbrella yelled out “Dedication!” to me.  What an unexpected present that was.  Suddenly, everything was made right.

I want to spread that word to you all, too, because every single one of you who read this blog sweat, work hard and go the extra mile in some form or another and it’s too easy to take ourselves for granted.  It makes no difference how fast you are, if you win awards or not, be proud of yourselves for having dedication to do something that most people never dare to do…get up off their asses.

And with that, I’m going to sit on mine for the next two weeks.  In my mind, anyway.

It was a bit of an ego bruise this cycle; everything was a little tougher, a little slower, my head and heart weren’t as committed, but with the outcome of Sunday’s Half, I was given solid numbers to target, which was like letting out a big, comfortable sigh.  It was the not knowing exactly what I’d lost that was making me tense.  Having this race result gave me “permission” to target something slower.  Weird but it’s how I look at it.

So with the revised goal pace, I had a really solid MP run on Saturday, 12 w/10mi at 7:45s.   My HR was a steady line which told me I would be good to go at that pace and effort-wise, I felt phenomenal, as if it was simply a peppy long run.  In fact my cooldown mile only slowed by about 5 seconds, I felt that good.

Today was my last 20 and I cannot tell you how glad I am to be done with them.  The idea that I may never do one again tickles me pink.  I honestly don’t remember in the last two marathon cycles being as uncomfortable on my 20s as I was this time.

Maybe it’s because all but one were prefaced with a quality run on Saturday and I made a point to do them all in the trails so I’d get more elevation and fancy footing and it doesn’t help that half of my big toenail is now purple from the 20 two weeks ago and still hurting, so…how about a little whine with that cheese?  Hee

The wrap-up
This week was my peak week with 72.2 miles, just shy of what my average mileage was last cycle.  As for long runs, I ended up with two 18s and four 20s, but nothing longer.  Last cycle I did  two 18s, a 20,  two 22s and a 24, so I’m slightly concerned about “time on my feet” but obviously not enough to have run farther.  Lol, I know I slacked some, no secret there, but truth be told, I think I’ll be fine.  I’m feeling as if I’m just beginning to hit my stride again!  This is a very good thing.

So I bought the domains, did the graphics in one fell swoop, then started figuring out ways to automate a lot of the work as much as I can. Thanks to iMacros and Excel, my system’s just about down, so then it’ll be a matter of rinse and repeat and then I buy another handful of domains.  That’s where I’m going to focus my Spring work concentration.

I know I said a few weeks ago that I’d like to ultimately monetize this blog through writing ebooks and eventually attract paid advertisers but I’ve since changed my mind. What’s the phrase? “Don’t shit where you eat.”

Not that I eat here, but this blog is my baby and I write it because I enjoy it, so to mix money stuff into it just feels wrong. Plus, I really love being an anonymous web builder, just doing my thing out on the interwebs with no one knowing my business. It’s the lurker in me, I guess.

Runs!

I’ve had a solid week of good running and enjoying myself out on the roads.  The weather suddenly broke, as I’m sure most of you are experiencing.  Woohoo!!  Shorts and shortsleeves…heaven.  Picking up where I left off last:

Wednesday was a 9-miler at 8:25/mi.

Thursday I had a 14-miler in which I wanted to do some tempo miles but I got out there and something was going on with my back.  It was very windy which didn’t help, I think I was hunching over or something, so I bagged the quality and had to stop and stretch a few times, which I never do.  So that was 14mi@8:44.

Friday was a lovely day off.

Yesterday was an 11-miler with 5 tempo.  It was pretty windy again but I did ok, with 5@7:19, 7:53/mi for the whole run.   The tempo portion started out not so great, I looked down and saw 7:25 which was just about my targeted MP last cycle, but I wasn’t surprised since my paces haven’t been so hot in general.  Over the bridge I slowed down even more, but when I got to mile 4, I said fuck this, and sped up.  My HR was higher than it should have been for tempo pace, but I didn’t care.  I just wanted to know I could run faster.  So the last couple miles were 7:05s.  I needed that.

Today was a strangely good run, a 17-miler @8:31 that started out tired, likely thanks to yesterday’s tempo, but it was beautiful out so I took it to the trails.   The trail starts 5.5mi from my house and for that whole portion I was pretty draggy, but when I got into the trail, it was like a switch turned on.

There was snow, mud and puddles but the air was cool and crisp which felt amazing against my bare legs and arms.  Just doing all the fancy footwork energized me.  It became a game of wending my way around the few walkers to find the least puddly bits and not slip on the snowy patches.

I took a gel at 1:25 into the run (trying to be more consistent with that) and as I came back out onto the street, I held the energy up enough to play speed games against some unsuspecting runners, running the last 5 miles in 7:58s.

Weekly Wrap-up

All in all, it was a great week.  The decision I mentioned last post about speeding up a bit in general made my weekly average 8:28/mi, when it’s been around 8:40ish previously.  I had some ankle tightness the last couple days but right now it feels fine.  Mileage total was 68 miles, so nothing huge but hopefully, juuuust right.  I’m thinking with the warmer temps this week, I might find it easier to get close to my old paces again.

I won’t push, but I’ll certainly take note since this is basically my second year as a “serious” runner.  I consider Winter and Spring 2009 to be my running puberty as the new paces emerged, so now that I have something to compare to, I guess I can call this my running adolescence.

Now if I can find an old hygiene class textbook, I’ll be set.