Posts Tagged ‘pictures’

Sunday’s usually my foot-long hot dog of a post but there’s not much going on in my head today, so this’ll be a shorty.

The week was great – solid workouts and my body feels strong. I made one permanent scheduling change inspired by last week’s cutback.  Monday has typically been my recovery 9-miler, the only single-digit run of the week, but I’m now extending Monday (still at recovery pace if I need it) so my speed day can be the 9-miler.  This makes it way more pleasurable since I can do a normal-sized warmup/cooldown instead of a 5-mile trudge home.

I’ve also made a half-hearted attempt at resuming supplementary exercises.  Having been incredibly bad on that score with the excuse “I’m running a shitload, screw it”, this week I started pushups again, a few crunches, some little dumbbell crap and a few lame pull-ups.  It takes hardly any time so I really have no excuse not to aside from my innate laziness.

Week in Review
I had hill sprints planned for today as a change from drills/strides but it was pouring rain and in the end, I decided to bag ‘em.  I don’t even feel guilty, it would have been extra credit anyway.

Also, as you can see, my easy paces are perking up again, this thanks to the weather which started improving on Wednesday, mostly mid-to-low 70s around 6 and 7am.  Dewpoints have still sucked for the most part, but there’s hope as summer starts making a move towards the Exit sign.

Monday: 14@8:30
Tuesday: 9@7:42 (9x 3min on\1min off)
Wednesday: 15@8:16
Thursday: 11@8:27 (drills & strides)
Friday: 12@7:35 (6.5@7:03 progressive)
Saturday: 17@8:19
Sunday: 12@8:08
Total: 90 mi

Today’s Crockpot Adventure
I’m making this little gem today (halved, because it’s a huge recipe).  Pork Chalupas – a yummy meal for a dark, rainy day.

Ice, Ice, Baby
I’ll leave you with a crazy little photo.  Remember my ex-hubby Jonny and friend Andy on their sailing trip to Greenland?  Behold their current state of affairs:  (slow going, that’s for sure)

This week saw some slow, sweaty recovery jogs but also included the fastest training run I’ve ever had >9 miles.  It was a 12-mile tempo on Friday that was supposed to be 8@MP but I liked the way it was going so much, I extended the fast bit an extra mile (and I wasn’t drunk or on drugs, either).  MP portion was 9@7:22, average pace for the full 12mi was 7:38.

The promising thing about this run – besides a vastly improved Marathon Pace – is that it was 73° with dewpoint 65.  Knowing that cooler weather will bring an even better result is just so fun!

Fyi, In case anyone is wondering why I’m doing Marathon Pace miles at all, Coach Adam/A Muse gave me a variety of tempo runs for the next few weeks and two of them include 1-hour at MP which I translated to distance (8@MP).  They allow you to fit in more volume due to the slower pace, a la Daniels.  While it’s not the standard 20-40min Lactate Threshold run, it is as Adam says, “solid aerobic resistance training”.  It’s also, incidentally, what Tinman calls the “Tinman Tempo“: a 60-80 minute tempo @ 1 minute slower than 3k-5k pace.

Cut Back Week in Review
Less mileage but more quality. Not exactly a restful week but definitely a productive one.

Monday: 8@8:50
Tuesday: 10@8:25 (drills & strides)
Wednesday: 9@7:46 (9x3min on\1min off)
Thursday: 10@9:10
Friday: 12@7:38 (9@7:22)
Saturday: 12@8:32 (found a dollar on the ground, woohoo!)
Sunday: 11@8:32 (drills & strides.  Added a new one: carioca)
Total: 72 mi

Weekly average pace, which I’ve been including for a useless “fun fact”, is especially irrelevant now that the dips between quality days and recovery runs are increasing, so I’m not going to include it anymore.

Brunch With Those Kooky Kids
One of my favorite forum pals, Amy (aka Agile) and her hubby Bryan, were in town for the weekend so we met up for brunch today.  Chatter, laughs, life plans and a little bit of running talk were the specials of the day. Behold the requisite iPhone proof of our fabulously fine fête:

Me, Bryan and Amy. Good times, good times...

Period Talk
You already know I have no shame talking about female issues, just as poop or pee are general subjects to a runner, LadyTime should be as well, though there’s less written about it and most women don’t seem to keep that type of info in their logs.

The other day, there was an article in the NYT about periods and athletic performance which talked about a couple studies on rowers and um, hoppers (I kid you not…people were told to hop) and in the former, they found no performance loss due to women’s cycles.  Since that has not been my experience at all, I posted this on Facebook and had a fun discussion with a few of my runner gal-pals.  More ladies said they had a performance hit than not so I determined that the article was bullshit.  Because I’m sciency like that.

A couple days ago, my friend Rebecca led me to this great Running Times article on running and menstruation that matched my experiences and those of the women I know whose running is affected by their periods.  A very informative piece, I highly recommend all you gals give it a read.

I had never even heard of a sodium connection but in the article they advise pre-loading in the luteal phase (the day after ovulation until the day of your next period).  And this “Low blood sugar during the luteal phase may result in decreased lactate thresholds” is kinda major!

Also, the article reminded me of an important fact I’d forgotten: we lose iron through sweat.  I’ve not been strict about taking my iron supplement but considering how many sloshy shoe runs we’ve had, that’s something I need to amend.

Shoe Wear
There’s a Kinvara Wear thread over on the RWOL Shoe Forum where a few people had posted photos of their Kinvaras to illustrate how they’re holding up, so I took a photo of my retired green ones.  I stopped wearing them at 514 miles, for no real reason except it seemed like a lot.

From the comments I received, “I get more wear if I drive 500 miles in my shoes – remarkable!” , “Tinkerbell. Yes, incredible” and “The lack of wear is amazing!” I’ve started thinking twice about my shoe-dumping parameters.  So I resurrected this pair for Saturday’s 12 and will keep them in rotation till, I dunno…maybe 750?  I still have 3 more Kinvaras  in rotation w/45-393 miles on them, plus 2 new in the box.  Guess I’ll be rotating with the Adios just a wee bit longer.

Kinvaras @ 514 miles

Big mileage milestone for me this month: 402 (because 400 would be “eh”).  I celebrated with a big fat tempo run and on the cooldown, when I realized I had just passed the mile marker that meant 400 had officially clicked over, I had to smile.  It might not ever happen again, but I do enjoy a new most-est.

Major Training Plan Revision
It’s hilarious, aside from this season’s base-building plan, whenever I post a training plan here, a week later it’s totally changed.  Why?  Because that troublemaker Coach Adam/A Muse always sticks his 2¢ in and of course, his cents always make sense.

First off, I have to say I adore that guy.  Months ago, when I announced I’d be doing things my own way, running lots of mileage and eschewing workouts, I knew he wouldn’t be into it.  And I totally understood why – it was partially what the famous coach/scholars might suggest (off-season base-building is standard fare) but no workouts, not even strides till I felt good and ready, was unconventional and for a normal runner would not be a great idea at all.

But I wasn’t quite normal at that point, burnt-out and sad about a lack of progress, so I went ahead, knowing it wasn’t “right” but that it was right for me.  After Adam’s initial and understandable “I don’t know about this” reaction, he’s been incredibly supportive since.

So anyway, it was funny that when I posted my plan the other day, he questioned my approach, said that instead of changing so drastically, I should “double down with the experiment” and stay closer to what I was already doing!  Instead of conventional intervals, continue with the on/offs, and instead of focusing on the speed side of the week, really make it all about the tempo runs, which makes sense, since speed endurance is what I need.

Here’s his ever-sensible reasoning:
When you train for a Half, you have two ways you can go, either as an extension of 10k training or more like a marathoner.  If you’re an Elite and it only takes you around an hour to complete a Half, or if you’re a mere mortal planning on racing between 75-90min and already in 10k shape, then it makes sense to think in terms of 10k training.  However, if you’re not in 10k shape (as I’m clearly not), it makes more sense to focus closer to Half pace with visits to MP and 10k pace.  But 5K pace doesn’t really have a place in it since a 20min race is so far removed from a 90 minute one.  Specificity of training = better quality of preparation.

So for the next 6 weeks:

1. Fartleks 10x3min on/1 off at 10k pace (purposely low-key and easy)
2. Faster running will only be in the form of strides and/or hill sprints 3 times/week.  As he put it “If you do 6x100m strides 3x weekly you have, suddenly, 1800m at mile pace. But you’ve spread it out so it’s digestible, doesn’t break you down, and you’re just reinforcing good mechanics.”  So smart.
3. One of the stride days will be a drill/stride session.
4. Tempo runs in different flavors: 40minutes, a couple hour-long MP runs, one fast finish and 2 preceded by an hour of running.

So what is my Half pace?  Damned if I know, but for training purposes and potential goal, until further notice, I’ve picked 7:00 since it’s a nice round number in the correct vicinity.  But my assignment is not to get hung up on pace and to run relaxed which is helpful since weather is an unarguable factor.

Shoe Update
My Adios’ are doing well, it’s been 2 weeks and aside from 2 Kinvara days, I’ve worn them every run.  They already have 198 miles on them, their initial brightness well tempered by a thick layer of dirt.  I thought I’d post a photo since they are not without the usual Flo Quirks.

Notice the lacing; I swear my big toe knuckles are not deformed or gross looking but they were rubbing at the point where the first lace hole is, so I don’t use it.  And the left one was bugging the tendon a tad, so I took some stitches out and snipped through the lace surround (oddly enough, I’ve been doing this snipping thing at that same point on the right foot since my Mizuno Inspire days).  Lastly, I occasionally feel my right arch near the end of a longish run which I think is related to one of the stripes, but it’s not enough of a bother for me to deal with it yet.

I never did tell the whole tale of why I wanted to try other shoes.  It turns out my Kinvaras, which fit just fine if not full of sloshing sweat, do a number on my feet once the socks are soaked through.  Doesn’t matter how much BodyGlide I use either.  Remember that little injury in May when I snipped the callus from the bottom of my pinky toe?  It kept callusing over, which is good, but would then get a blister under the callus, which was as painful as the initial injury, then peel off and the whole cycle would repeat itself.  I even cut out the rubber area there to where there wasn’t any reason for it to keep happening but it did.  I also lost a few toenails that had no business being lost.

I didn’t have this problem last year, btw, but I was also only running 60mpw.  I suppose I could buy a larger size for the rest of the summer but I’m glad to have found something else entirely.  It’s fun to change it up and the Adios are lighter anyway with no toe trauma, whatsoever.

Speaking of happy toes, Ininji sent me some of their socks to review (toe socks), so I think that’ll be my next post.

Week in Review and a Chunky Tempo Run
Most of the runs were done in high 70s with dewpoints in the upper 60s or low 70s. Monday and Friday were recovery runs, Tuesday was just plain hot and difficult and I already wrote about Wednesday and Thursday in my last post.  Yesterday started with a laggardly 9:00mi but improved as it went, the last 5 miles @8:00.

But my major workout this week was today’s tempo run.  It was a big one for me, this season I’ve only done short tempos or tempo intervals and in the past, always worked up to longer ones.  But today was 5.5 miles right off the bat.  The warmup was sluggish @8:50s and when I got to my start point at 2.75 miles (due to water fountain placement) I did something new: stopped the watch and did a set of drills and strides (buttkick, stride, high knee, stride, skipping, stride), then began the tempo.

I didn’t get my goal pace, ended up with 7:11′s as opposed to Daniels’ 7:05s for a 40-min tempo, but I’m fine with it because it was 78 degrees out (Daniel’s conversion = 7:00 at 60 degrees), it took me up over the bridge twice (w/only one downhill), it was my first long tempo this year and hell’s bells, I just did 402 miles this month. Personally, I think I did a fabulous job (ok, yes, I’m annoyed that I didn’t get my goal, but I do believe I get a pass for that list of stuff).  Heart rate was good, and the 5 miles of cooldown felt surprisingly light.

Monday: 9@8:37
Tuesday: 15@8:34
Wednesday: 11.25@8:09 (4x½mi, 4x¼mi)
Thursday: 17@8:21 (drills and strides)
Friday: 13@8:42
Saturday: 12@8:15
Sunday: 13.25@7:55 (5.5mi @ 7:11)
Total: 90.5 mi (avg pace 8:22)

Very happy to have a cutback week ahead.  Only 72 miles!  Like a day at the beach.

I’ve been on the fence about what to do in prep for September’s Half but the clock is ticking down – with 7 weeks before raceweek, it’s time to get my ass moving.  I’m getting excited about it, too; the timeframe is just enough to do some damage without getting sick of it.

First off was a mileage question.  Should I plan to cut back while I get into the workouts or do I keep it status quo?  A lot of the high-mileage threads on Letsrun involved kids running high base mileage during summer but then cutting back for Fall but I wasn’t sure if that was due to school responsibilities or a purposeful decision for better training.  I posed the question to some higher-mileage runners on MRT and those who responded don’t cut back on volume.  In fact, they hardly even taper – it seems the more mileage you do, the less you need to cut back before a race…what an interesting factoid!  So anyway, I won’t be messing with my volume, there’s no need.

As for intervals, I’m in old-lady-nothing-fancy runner mode, I don’t want to do ladders or mixed pace sessions and I’m not thirsting for variety, I just want something super simple to fulfill 3-5 miles of speedwork.  So here’s my totally old skool idea:

Weeks 1 & 2: 6 x 800 – the first week 2min recoveries, the 2nd week 90 sec recoveries
Weeks 3 & 4: 5 x1000 – same recovery pattern
Weeks 5 & 6: 5 x 1200 – same recovery pattern
Week 7: 5 x mile – recovery tbd

Weather allowing, the 800s and 1000s will be 5K-ish pace, the 1200s and miles around 10k pace, though considering it’s July and August, I’m expecting some adjustments.

Tempo runs will be the standard single-paced straight-through variety on cooler days (if we have such a thing) or split into sections with short recoveries when it’s hot.  Lastly, there’ll be some extra credit in the form of strides and hill reps.

Nothing fancy but should do the job admirably.

Hot Weather Bitchfest: The Lows & A High
It’s extremely rare that I have a miserable run but this week, there was one.  Friday brought record-breaking weather to a number of cities and Philly had a double, one for the highest low (82) and highest high (103, heat index 114) so when I left the house at 5:50am it was already “feels like” 98 with the dewpoint at 76.  The park was eerily quiet with only a fraction of the usual runners (the whole weekend was like that, actually).  My first 3 miles were super slow, all I could muster were 9:20s.  My pace did its usual drop as the miles ticked by but even so, when all was said and done, I averaged a blistering 9:00/mi.

Saturday was way better, 88 degrees when I started but the heat index was only 91 thanks to a dewpoint of 64.  Still gross, but in comparison to Friday, quite lovely.  OK, that’s a stretch, but at least I didn’t want to die. 13@8:35.

Today was Saturday’s twin as far as conditions, but I had a surprisingly great run.  It wasn’t that it was fast or easy, it was that I found a new hill for doing reps that I’m in love with.  The deal was, I left the house determined to do something with hills but there was no way I was going to do hard reps up Lemon Hill – it’s really steep and turny and last week’s paltry 4 reps were super hard though it was 15 degrees cooler.  So I got it in my head to do 6 reps but just normal running, not pushing the pace at all, make it like a regular hilly run.

As I was nearing my turnaround on the quiet side of the park, a vision loomed before me…the perfect hill.  It’s not nearly as steep as Lemon Hill, but it’s a straight shot with nary a curve and practically screamed “run up me! run up me!”.  Seeing that hill, I wanted to run reps at effort!  So I did. The reps were 1:15 to the top and at first I thought, “I’ll do 4, that’s enough” but I didn’t want to stop (I swear, this was like Twilight Zone to my lazy ass).  So I did 6, or so I thought – when I got home, it turns out I did 7.

This was an important lesson for me.  When I decided that running a few times normally up Lemon Hill would be my answer to hillwork on a friggin’ hot day, I had a total guilt feeling, like I was wimping out.  Then I had another moment of guilt when I saw the other hill and weighed it against Lemon Hill, thinking I was somehow cheating because it wasn’t as steep.  But that is such bullshit! I hate Lemon Hill and don’t find it fun in any way, shape or form.  And here I find this other hill that I want to run up, so much so that I end up doing more reps with more effort than I would have done on Lemon Hill.

Goes to show, it’s not all about textbook numbers and the perfect hill grade and the best possible thing you can do to improve.  It’s about finding ways to love training and being drawn towards it instead of being repelled yet forcing yourself anyway.  Not that that’s never supposed to happen, pushing yourself and fighting through difficulty is of course necessary at times, especially in a race, but there shouldn’t be anything wrong or guilt-inducing about finding more pleasant ways to get the work in.  In fact, you might just end up accomplishing more in the end.

Lemon Hill (evil hill)

Strawberry Mansion Hill (good hill)

Heat Wave Week in Review
Monday: 9@8:24
Tuesday: 15@8:16 (8x2min on, 1min off)
Wednesday: 12@8:30
Thursday: 17@8:36
Friday: 12@9:00
Saturday: 13@8:35
Sunday: 12@8:33 (seven 75-sec hill reps)
Total: 91.5 mi (avg pace 8:33)

Between Thurs, Sat and Sun (which were all similar, weather-wise), I can say that Daniels’ temperature comparison calculations are off for me.  For 90 degrees, he says I’d slow by 19 seconds but I think it’s closer to 30 seconds in my case.  Not that any of it is exact science (and maybe it’s because humidity is not taken into account), but I thought it worth noting.

From left: Julie, Joe, Heather, Moi, Ewen

Today was a treat and a half.  I drove up to NYC and finally got to meet some running bloggers in the flesh whom I’ve known online for a couple years now (Julie, Joe and Ewen) and an old co-worker/friend/runner that I haven’t seen since 1995, Heather.  As expected, it was a hell of a lot of fun with much laughter, gabbing and stuffing of faces.  Not pictured, but should be mentioned because they’re extremely sweet people, are Julie’s man Jonathan and Ewen’s friends Joy and Mal.  Great meeting you all!

Da Week Dat Was
92 miles again, this time driven by an ulterior motive.  Due to the fact that I might have to decrease mileage in August to accommodate harder workouts, I thought it’d be fun to hit a significant monthly milestone of 400 miles for July.  I’m already at 220, so all I have to do is my usual 90s for the next couple weeks and it’s a done deal.

As for this week’s notable mentions, I already talked about the tempo in the last post, the only other thing was the inclusion of hill reps today (again, an Adam suggestion).  I hate hill reps but I can tell when I do them how valuable they are so I was really happy about getting them done.  Next week I’ll add a couple more, then make them a tad longer the week after.

Monday: 9@8:23 (4 strides, slow as molasses, so didn’t bother with more)
Tuesday: 15@8:30
Wednesday: 12@8:09 (7 strides)
Thursday: 15@7:55 (4.75mi tempo)
Friday: 13@8:11
Saturday: 16@8:08
Sunday: 12@8:14 (four 60-sec. hill charges)
Total: 92 mi (avg pace 8:12)

My Adidas Adios are my new BFFs, I’ve worn them every day since getting them and my toes are incredibly happy in their new home.  I did want to mention though, because I know I’ve acquired at least one newbie runner reader this week, that they are not appropriate for someone starting out or who needs more stability, they’re not enough shoe, so don’t follow my lead and do let your running store help you pick out the perfect kicks for you.

Had a solid workout yesterday, my first tempo in almost a month thanks to the injury interruption.  Coach Adam/ A muse, while not coaching me this time since I’m in laid-back mode indefinitely (though he’s still letting me tug on his shirt tails when I get the urge) suggested 3 x 10min starting at MP progressing to HP which sounded fun, though I did it by distance so I’d have absolute time & pace values.  And because I’m still clueless about my current marathon and half pace, I used my last tempos as guides.  Happily, it was the nicest morning in weeks: 71 degrees and 50 dewpoint.

It was a 15-miler starting with 3.25mi easy, then the tempo portion which looked like this: 1.5mi@7:21, 1.5mi@7:02 and 1.75mi@6:54 (this one was a bit longer, just because) w/ 2min recoveries between each.  I finished with a brisk pace for the remaining 6.5 miles home.  Avg pace for the 15 miles was 7:55 and the heart rate data looks really good.

Today’s run was funny, thanks to a tiny older Asian woman on a bike who rode by me and yelled the word “HOT!” looking kinda mad, which confused me, it wasn’t that hot and she was wearing long sleeves, I figured I misunderstood her or that she was a crazy person.  I caught up to her a few miles later while she was adjusting her bike and she said “You take a break, you need break, too hot”.  Which totally cracked me up, it wasn’t like my shorts were soaked but my skin was pretty sweaty, I guess, but she was so cute.  About 20 minutes later, she passes me again and says “How far you go?  10 miles?  You go 10 miles?”  I replied with a laugh “13″ to which she replied “10 miles?  You go 10 miles?” so I said again “13!” and I think she got it, as she shook her head like I was a lost cause and rode on.  I love my park.

Shoes!
Yesterday brought a shoe extravaganza from Runningwarehouse.  I’ve said before that I’m not a smart shoe reviewer and never will be, I can’t tell crap about nuances or what makes one shoe better than another.  My reviews have to do with my picky feet that hate most shoes.  In fact, when I go to one of those shoe superstores for regular shoes, like DSW, I always leave feeling like a failure as a woman for having tried on a bazillion shoes and not feeling right in any.

So when you read my non-scientific, non-runnerly reviewettes (not true reviews, two of the pairs didn’t even leave the Blue Hovel), definitely don’t take my word for it, everybody’s feet are different and you might love what I can’t deal with. I’ve listed the size and weight of the shoes and for comparison’s sake, I wear 7.5 in Men’s Kinvara and they weigh 7.2oz.

Brooks Green Silence

These had the lowest heel-drop of any of the shoes I ordered.  The weird thing with the heel-drop is that it’s 7mm as opposed to the 4mm of Kinvaras but I felt like I was wearing Earth Shoes, with a negative heel.  Really strange.  But what bothered me more was the firmness of the upper.  They call it a mesh upper but it’s solid fabric with perforations in it.  It also has a rubber overlay on the toe (or whatever “green” material it is), which is also used as trim for the lace attachments.  I was too aware of the stiffness it caused, though I think in the winter it wouldn’t bug me, but with Summer humidity that leaves my shoes sloshing and my feet spreading, I want a more “transparent” shoe. So no.  (Women’s size 9, 6.6oz)

Pearl Izumi Streak II

I thought this was the cutest of the bunch and wanted it to work but it didn’t.  Again, I was too aware of the hard plastic overlay at the toe though a bigger size would probably fix that.  Still, I could feel some strange bumpy action below my foot at the sole, they just didn’t feel right, so I said no to these, too. (Mens size 8, 7.3oz)

Adidas AdiZero Adios
These were juuuuust right!  They were actually the first ones I tried on but I couldn’t start the review with a success story, that’d be boring.  Anyway, they’re uglier than sin (though the green was the lesser evil than the salmony/orangey/pukey color)  and whenever I pass anyone in the park wearing a bright solid color, I can’t help but stare at their feet so now it’s my turn, but when I put these on it was like putting on slippers.

Touted as a great marathon racing shoe (Haile Gebrselassie got his 2:03 WR in them) I’ve read a few reviews saying people use them as daily trainers which is my aim, though it’s cool that I can race with them, as well.

What makes them so comfortable is that the only firm trim on the entire shoe are the supportive stripes on the side and the band supporting the heel (the heel cup is rigid, as well).  The upper is a forgiving mesh while the toe and lace trim are suede-like fabric, extremely soft.  But the best part for me, notorious shoe surgeon, is that the toe overlay doesn’t extend around the edges, leaving mesh on either side so your toes can fan out to their heart’s content.  This is a beautiful thing!

I wore them on my 13-miler this morning and loved the way they felt: light, fast and really comfy.  It was strange wearing a different shoe after wearing Kinvaras every day for over a year.  I was aware of being closer to the ground with none of that sponginess of the Kinvara but I didn’t really notice the heel being built up, it’s always my forefoot that gets my attention more than anything.  Didn’t have any hotspots, smooth run first time out.  Bonus: the shoe laces have sparkles in them (and these are Mens, lol) and thanks to the color, I’ll be able to find them under the bed really easily. (Mens size 8, 6.7oz.  Actually, the left one is 6.6oz and the right is 6.8oz…left foot wins the race!)

A Blogger Brunch
This Sunday, I’m driving up to NYC for a couple hours to break bread with some blogger friends I’ve been “talking to” for a couple years but have never met.  Ewen is here on a long holiday from Australia, which precipitated the powwow, then Julie and Joe will be there, along with a couple additional NY-based running bloggers.  I’ll also enjoy a fun blast from the past, because a gal I used to work with at TR Technologies in NYC (maybe 17 years ago?), also a runner, will be joining us.  Should be a great time.