Posts Tagged ‘long run’

Before we get to the ugly (not my tendons, btw, so no need for panic), I’ll touch on yesterday’s 17-mile LR, my longest this cycle.

It was a warm day for this unacclimated gal (67 degrees and sunny) so I carried my 20 oz handheld and for shits and giggles, wore my HR monitor because  I was curious to see how the longer run + warm temp would affect my HR.

I refilled the handheld once, so ended up drinking 40 oz of water.  I also took a gel half-way through because I hadn’t eaten a lot that morning.   End result: average pace 8:28 and a lovely avg HR of 70% HRR.  And this includes the last two miles at 7:53 avg.

Now on to tendon talk.  A couple months ago, right before her bike racing training season started, my great friend Lara (who you might remember has run a couple races with me when she’s not being cyclist extraordinaire) got a chest infection.  They figured it to be pneumonia, so they gave her the antibiotic Levaquin.

Within three days, her achilles had swollen up to where she couldn’t walk on it, couldn’t even stand on it.  Turns out she came this close to a ruptured achilles from that stupid fucking antibiotic.

She was put in a boot for 3 weeks, went back to the doc when her three weeks was up but, as she feared, was told to stay in the boot 3 more weeks.  It’s still not better, swelling up as the day progresses.  It’s been a horrible, horrible situation, ruining her training season completely, so please folks, be careful when a doc gives you Levaquin, know that tendon ruptures are a potential side effect.

The other story has to do with Nick and his half-brother, Leon.  They were in Cozumel this last week on a dive trip and on the third day, Leon fell on a slippery path near the hotel room.  He ended up tearing all the tendons on the front of his leg above his knee and had to be rushed to the hospital where they put a cast on him, not realizing he would be cutting the trip short and going home the next day.  When they discovered this, they said “you can’t fly with a cast” and had to remove it, leaving Leon in intense pain.

He went straight to the hospital in Spain (where he lives) where they operated and now it appears he’s going to have to remain on his back for a couple months.  Horrible news.

So Nick was left all alone for half his vacation, but at least he got a couple more days of diving in.  But the thing that I loved about this story was when Leon was at the doctors office he was telling Nick it felt like there were worms in his leg (the loose tendons).  I thought that was sublimely disgusting.

Now for my running schedule this week:  Last week was a new mileage high, 68 miles, and I’ll be doing the same this week.  Today is an easy 7 with 10 hill sprints, then tomorrow’s a speed session (4 x 1 mile@10k pace w/3 min. recoveries) but with 20mph winds forecasted, I’ll likely move it up a day (when there’s only 15mph winds forecasted, ugh).  Friday is a tempo combination (3x10min @ Half/10k  pace w/2min recoveries), and on Sunday another 17-miler with “last 15 minutes Hard”.

So that’s my story, Morning Glories, have a great week of running yourselves but I’ll see you back here in a couple days.

Today was a long run with Audra (aka Doggie poo or Dog lb, depending on where she’s posting).   Since running our marathon together, we’ve become fast friends and though she lives in NYC, she visits here a lot so we try to run together whenever she’s around.

We had different plans for our runs today, she with 12-miles starting from where she was staying, me with a 16-miler which included 15 x 90sec.@10k pace w/90 sec recoveries in the latter half.  In the end, we ran together for 8.5 miles.

I was pretty pooped from the get-go because I had driven Nick to the airport at 5:30 this morning but running with Audra was fun as usual, though we spent a lot of it zigzagging through masses of rowers because there was a huge rowing competition going on.

Then we met up with her fabulous girlfriend Loren and their cutest new member of the family, Bea, the border terrier.  We ran a couple miles all together and then shared goodbye smooches before I turned off to start the fast crap.

Much to my annoyance, during the first 1:30 I got an ache high in my thigh (maybe IT band?)   which stuck around the rest of the run.  My pace was fine, though I skipped one of the fast bits to stretch my leg, so I ended up with 14 of those bad boys instead of 15.  No matter, it still gave me 21 minutes of 10k pace in the midst of a long run, so useful stuff no matter how you slice it.

I’ll admit that I’m happy this was the last of Hudson’s “fartleks” (as he calls them) within a long run.  From here on in, the LRs will be progressions or normal paced runs.  Yay!  Fifteen times anything is about 10 more than I like and makes a progression run seem so inviting.

But enough whining, it’s time to repair to the bedroom for a long, lazy nap.  Later, y’all.

I’m tired. Even with my day off on Monday, I ended up with 60 miles for the week.

It was also pretty dense as far as workload. Every other day had something: Wed had the fast fartleks, Friday had the 6-mile tempo run and today was a 15-miler (my longest run in a while) that included those same fast fartleks, then 2 miles easy, 2 miles “hard”, cooldown.

I started out quite slow today, 9:15s, knowing I was going to have to produce some energy midway through. When the fartleks started (15x1min on, one min off) I gave up the idea of shooting for 5K pace and was satisfied with doing them at 10K pace. It was still tough, I felt the fatigue of the week in my legs, and as I was running the fartlek portion, I was already writing my blog in my head about how I bagged the “hard” section, because just finishing the run was hard enough.

Then wonder of wonders, I’d completed my fartleks, almost done with my 2 easy and ready to ignore my Garmin beep signaling the Hard portion, when Kev appears on a bike next to me (Kev’s the guy I mentioned in last Sunday’s race report). He asked what I was up to, I said I was supposed to do 2 hard in a couple minutes but planned on bagging it, he said “I’ll pace you”. And he did!

It was so much easier having him there to chat with, I was able to do that part of the workout without thinking about it and while it wasn’t officially fast, I got a couple 8:07s out of it (hard enough considering I was planning on skipping it entirely). Thanks, Kev, much appreciated!

The only aggravation was I’d brought my 20oz. handheld and a gel but halfway through the run I knew I’d be dying for water at the end if I had to wash a gel down too, so I skipped the GU. It wasn’t missed, though I definitely could have used more water, here’s hoping the water fountains get turned on soon.

See how I’m already bitching and moaning about water and it was only 65 degrees? I’m doomed, I tell you.

Looking ahead, tomorrow is easy with 8 hill sprints, Tuesday is Hill Repeats (8x1min. uphill @ 5K effort w/jog-back recovery), Wed-Fri is easys with some strides, 5-mile race on Saturday, then 15 or 16 on Sunday. I don’t know if I mentioned it but I’m also doing a 5K the weekend after that (might as well start getting all my PRs lined up).

So that’s it for now, time to wash the salt off. Have a great Sunday night, folks!

I realized my sailor mouth was getting pretty bad on this blog lately, so I’ll try to hold back on the cursing for a little while.

Today was my last LR, I had planned on 17 but changed it to 18 with a couple bells and whistles thrown in.  The bells and whistles were a couple trips up/down most of Smile Hill and somewhere in the second half I added a couple MP miles. Avg pace 9:07.

The run, I should mention, was done in the rain from the start to finish, so my longest rainy run ever.  I wasted quite a bit of time beforehand, hoping the rain would stop, but then finally put on my Wright socks (good for blister protection), a visor and gobs of BodyGlide and got out there.  Funny how the rain kept 95% of the usual running traffic at home, there were so many fewer runners that everyone said Hi and some even spoke in friendly full sentences – it was sweet.

Anyway, I’m glad the last long one’s over and that taper is finally, officially here.  I scared Nick yesterday, told him that after this run my taper would really begin.  He asked what taper was and I replied, “Like PMS for two solid weeks”.  He informed me he’ll be staying with friends for the next 14 days.

Aside from the running stuff, I had a weird moment the other day, watching Dateline.  There was a story about a kid who’s gotten beat up by bullies for most of his school life so his mom is suing the bullies and their parents.  The kid and his mom even went on the Today show and some other national program.

So it was quite freaky when the story began and the camera pans on my old high school, Fayetteville High in Arkansas.  Later, a shot of Woodland Jr. High, the same one I switched to because I was bullied myself so much at the other Jr. High (being fat and having a big nose was a real pain in the ass in Fayetteville, AR).

The weirdest thing was they interviewed one of the bullies and I’m not kidding, nothing has changed in the near 30 years since I went there.  The jerks are just as stupid with the same vacuous expressions, even the hairstyles are the same.  It was enough to give me the heebie jeebies and remind me why I left for NYC at 17 years old, a mere two weeks after graduation – I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Thank god for growing up, is all I can say.

That was downright painful.  I knew it would be, 20 miles on a day that, before it was even light out, had a Heat Index of 78.  And this week I learned about dewpoint, which is actually the number that can make a run particularly miserable, more so than humidity.  Anything with a dewpoint over 65 will suck big bananas, today’s was 70 when I left and 72 when I returned (aren’t those things supposed to go down as the day progresses??).

I also had a bit of a scare yesterday on my 4-mile recovery run.  I wore my Asics 2130s knowing they’re no longer good shoes for me for regular runs (not because they’re used up, but because they don’t agree with my ankles and feet), but anyway, I figured some slow recovery miles couldn’t hurt.  I was wrong.  I felt this terrible pain at my heel/ankle, where my dormant bursitis exists, that came and went throughout yesterday’s run.  So all day I did major ibuprofen and ice, scared shitless because an injury at this point would be the LAST thing I need.  Thankfully, it didn’t appear once on the run today and as for those shoes, if I had a gun I’d take them in the backyard and shoot them full of holes, instead they’ll be going to Goodwill this week.

Back to today’s run, I put on my lightest shorts, bra top, My Precious Marathon Shoes for the second time, gel flask rigged to hold some S-caps (because if I ever needed them, today was the day), handheld, and I was gone.  It was 6:23 when I left, just starting to get light out and it was cloudy for the first half of the run, so that helped.  I forgot to eat before I left and was thinking I should have had a little bagel with peanut butter, but was 2 miles in by then, so banished the thought.

Around mile 8, I passed a cute guy in green wearing a hydration belt who said with a smile, “Oh my god, it’s Flo.” then gave me a high-five.  I figured I knew him (because I have a horrible memory for faces, among other things) so trying to not let on, I replied, “How are ya?” as I slapped his palm, to which he answered back something about “Three blocks”, and while I wasted time trying to figure out what he meant (3 blocks left to go? there are no blocks here…) I realized he’d actually said “I read your blog”.  And that was an instant “oh wow how cool” moment, but by that time I’d figured it out, he was too far away to say so.  So Cute Green Guy, you better leave a comment here so I know who you are, it totally gave me an energy infusion and left me with a huge smile on my face!!  Thank you!!

That smile lasted until about mile 15 when I first noticed my feet were as soaked as if I’d been tromping through puddles, nevermind my clothes which had become completely soaked through miles earlier.  I hadn’t put any bodyglide on my feet, so luckily I didn’t feel blisters forming but was ultra aware of the massive pruning going on in my shoes.  Not comfortable.

By then the sun was out, too and while I had originally planned to take a jaunt up Smile Hill, I was so miserably wet and hot by the time I got near it, I said, “fuck it” and made a date with the hill for this Wednesday when I have an 11-miler.  There would be no jaunting today.

As far as pacing goes, I started reeeeeal slow today because I knew the humidity would be a killer, so the first mile was a blistering 10:21, which is funny considering I never would have run that slow before marathon training, but I didn’t give a crap today.  My plan had been to do the proper Pfitz paces, staying around 10s for the first half, moving to Pfitz’s 10% over MP for the second half, which would have been 9:13s.

What ended up was a bit faster (but not hugely), ending with 8:50s for the last miles, average pace for the run today: 9:22 (this includes 3 stops for water refills).  Not bad considering it was such a disgusting day.  In fact, it’s my 4th 20-22 this training cycle and my fastest, despite the conditions. But I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking too pretty at the end, felt like a panting dog and just wanted it to be over.  I almost considered taking a walk break around 18.5, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, I’d seen those 8:50s and wanted to keep it that way.

So that’s my adventure.  Once I got home, I stripped down and parked myself in front of the fan, standing on a towel to sop up the dripping water, then left watery footprints everywhere as I dragged myself to the kitchen for a glass of water.  You’d think I lived at the city pool.

Anyway, it’s over. Like I said before, I hope this isn’t my last 20, but I only have one more opportunity for one and that’ll be 2 weeks before the marathon which can go either way.  Depends on how the Philadelphia Distance Run goes next weekend, if I don’t require any extra recovery.

So yeah…big race next Sunday, a half-marathon!  While I won’t be fully tapered, this will be a looser week, so hopefully I can manage a great race.  But now, must take a long shower and wash the salt crust off, happy in the fact that I completed one of the toughest runs this training cycle.  Later, my lovelies!!  And I hope you also had a productive, if not soaking, long run this weekend.

A fun run today!  17.5 with 3.25 MP at the end (was going for 3 but happily, overshot it a bit).

I’d been reading about adding MP miles to the end of Long Runs which seems like a good idea, since  I only have one more dedicated MP run next weekend.  That said, I had a mild hamstring tweak the other day, so I waffled about doing the MP miles today, but yesterday I foam rollered, iced and Sticked, so felt good as new and went for it.

My goal was to start out where Pfitz says (10:00/mi), but it wasn’t happening, so I at least put the brakes on enough to stick around 9:30s-9:20s for the first 11.  It was a blissfully cloudy day and I was feeling cheeky in a running skirt and bra top.

I had a strange energy throughout and was in exceptionally good spirits from the get-go.  By holding back at the start, when I finally gave myself permission to run freely, it was just fun.  The MP miles felt good, though not exactly a leisurely stroll in the park, not difficult.  The run averaged 9:06 with the last 3.25 splits at 8:20, 8:20, 8:13 and 8:21 for the last 1/4.

As I was coming home, I saw something disturbing.  There were 3 people together, 2 of them helping a 20-something kid, who must have just got hit by a car or ran into something.  He was completely dazed and was held up by one of the other people, before being sat beneath a tree.  There were 2 bikes, so I couldn’t make out if he was a runner or a cyclist, but it was horrible to see and brought tears to my eyes, reminding me of Nick getting hit by a car a couple months ago.  Hope the kid is alright.  And please everybody, be safe as you can, it’s too easy to get messed up.

But enough doom and gloom.  Looking ahead, tomorrow is a rest day, then Sunday is 4 recovery w/strides, then the 4-mile race on Monday.  I probably won’t be writing again till Monday afternoon or evening, so have a great Labor Day holiday folks, and for anyone else racing (Doggiepoo, Greenlee and Bruce): kick ass!