You will rarely see me give advice on forum posts or here because I don’t feel qualified to tell someone else what to do and also, everyone’s so different.  So keep in mind that the conclusions I come to or new experiments I try are results of investigating my running logs as well as the peripherals surrounding my running (mileage, what I can handle recovery-wise, etc).  Plus, I’ll try anything to get outta this rut.

Second Run With New Paces
Yesterday’s Long Run was way fun.  Again, like Saturday, I went a little overboard with the initial miles, only because it’s amazing to me that I can feel good going fast out the door, when my usual run profile for the longest time has been 9:00-8:45′s to start, then whittling down with each mile.  Such a creature of habit, I thought I needed that slow start!  Kooky.

Anyway, this was a 14-miler that started 8:00, 7:50, 7:50 (hilarious splits) but then I slowed up as the heartrate increased – was 70 degrees so warmish – then used HR to keep it real which averaged 162 (76%HRR or 81% Max for those keeping score at home).  No pretty progression shape on the SportTrack graph, but it was hella fun!  I was tired and satisfied at the end, knowing today would be a rest day.  Average pace 8:11.

Now, keep in mind that I will not be running all Sunday runs like this!  14 miles isn’t a big deal to me as far as distance, but next weekend I’ve got 17, which I’ll take into the trails and be closer to MP+20% – MP+10%.  I’m experimenting but doing it responsibly.

For instance, this week is a cutback week with 2 days off so I can afford to play a bit, but next Sunday’s 17-miler kicks off 2 weeks without a day off and includes a 10k race in the middle, so I’ll be more circumspect about pacing.  I also won’t be hitting quality work warmups as crazily as I did for Saturday’s tempo (I was having fun testing the waters).

Weight
I admit that after the debacle that was the Philly Half last month, I had a couple weeks of bad attitude with the weightloss.  Not really bad, I still didn’t buy any junk or eat a whole lot more, but I had some “what am I doing this for?” mental poop going on.  Still, I continued to jot down my daily calories (while eating a little extra here and there) but eventually got back to my routine.

Then I was sticking around 115 and was beginning to think that’d be my last stop on the weight-loss train, only because I’m not willing to eat less than I have been (around 1900 calories). But the fun thing about tracking and making a cute chart in Excel is that patterns emerge.   What I’m seeing is I’ll land on a new weight, then for the next 3 weeks, there’ll be ups and downs fluttering around that number, then it’ll go down to a new number with more fluttering.

Today I fluttered into 113 land!  113.8 to be exact.  That makes 10 lbs lost since July 23rd.

Sleep
All my sleep problems from the summer disappeared when the weather improved.  Now that I can go to bed at my normal time again (12:00-12:30) and wake up when my body says to, I’m getting a full 8 hours and even 8.5 sometimes.  Huge relief.

Newsletter
I have been So. Bad. on that front.  Someone asked me a couple weeks ago if I had her correct email address since she hadn’t received one in ages.  I embarrassingly told her no, it wasn’t her email, I just haven’t gotten around to sending one out in forever.  I almost removed the link entirely thinking my newsletter career was over, but for some reason I haven’t given up all hope.  I just have to start looking around for things that interest me enough to share.   Sorry for being such a slug about it.

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!

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.

So…yesterday I did 8 w/hill sprints (been a long time since I did those) and today was 10mi with six 2-min fartleks.  It took me a couple to get to speed and I avoided looking at the Garmin till after each one was over, so paces are goofy: 6:58, 6:55, then 6:35, 6:32, 6:40, 6:37.  Recoveries went from 1:28 to 1:47 (one longer when I stopped to get a drink).  All in all, a fair 12 minutes of speed, not fabulous but good for getting back into it.

More Sleepy Thoughts
Since that last post about sleep, I’ve been reading more on the subject; its recovery properties, athletic articles, regular people articles and I am kicking myself in the head for not paying attention sooner.  This small thing is no small thing.  Though I can’t imagine why I ever thought it was.

Going from 6 to 8 hours is huge!  When you do the math, two hours comes out to 8% of a day, that’s a substantial chunk of life.  Now, I can see that time being more valuable spent awake than asleep if I had kids or a big fancy job, but I don’t.  I’ve been spending that 8% putzing around! What. A. Waste.

Of course, it’s very much a work in progress – adding 2 hours is a lot so I’m currently in the lie-there-forever-before-falling-asleep stage.  Last night, this was exacerbated by an hour of helicopters buzzing around and then some sporadic waking, so I still only got 6-6½ hours.  But I’m ok with this, life changes take time and that is something I’ve got plenty of.

Oh, and here’s an unexpected bonus about going to bed early: I’m eating less.   Getting my ass on the bed by 9pm for 10pm shut-eye means 3 less hours to snack.  And since I’m on this scarily healthful kick of fruit salad for dessert and evening snack, I have a feeling optimum race weight is going to find itself with little or no input from me.  Add to this: improved recovery, alertness, motivation and mood elevation…what’s not to love?

Well, ok, what I don’t love is it makes me feel old going to bed so early, but this will change when it gets cooler in the Fall.  For now, they say to stick to a rigid schedule, which makes sense, so I’ve picked 10pm to sleep and 5:30am to rise, eventually 6am if weather permits.

Who is this stranger inhabiting my body, anyway?  Honestly, I’ve no idea.  I’ve heard she’s a close relation to this bad girl…not sure I believe it, though.
.

My plan has already been switched around thanks to the weather (the last couple days were Heat Index 90 and 88 at 6am – killer humidity).  I got through Sunday’s 11-miler a full minute/mi slower than my usual easy pace.  This morning’s 7-miler was 45 seconds slower/mi. and I dumped the scheduled fartleks – it would have been a waste of a workout.

Tomorrow’s supposed to be the last stinkin’ hot day till Saturday, but I’ll do the hill sprints since they’re short.  Then Wed-Fri return to normal temps, so fartleks on Wed, Progression on Fri.

Sleep
I’ve been thinking a lot about sleep, which is touted to be as important to running well as training, yet I never get enough.  While it’s known that we sleep less with age, I also know that it’s not the main reason I sleep 6 or less hours/night.

On one end, I’m like a kid when it comes to lights out, I resist it because I can.  It doesn’t seem normal to me to get to bed before midnight or later.  In my 20s and part of my 30s, my usual bedtime was 2-3am and I could slip right back into that now, if I chose.  But back then I could sleep till 10am, not something I can or want to do anymore.

On the other end, the waking up part: Ever since I started making money with t-shirts, then other web endeavors, I couldn’t wait to face a new day to see what sales occurred overnight and to check a ton of different web stats.  That, and a fresh cup of hazelnut coffee gets me up-and-atom every single day.

So while age likely plays a role, I think my sleeping habits are largely my own doing and that I have the power to retrain myself to get 7½ hours every night, even 8 or more.

The deal is, it’s something I have to be proactive about, the same way I resisted flossing for years.  I always had crappy dental checkups, then about 5 years ago I finally stopped fighting and began flossing about 5 days out of 7 (I’ll always be a rebel) and voila!  Perfect checkups from that time forward.  I can be taught new tricks.

I started a couple nights ago.  Instead of sitting at this computer till the Nth moment, I shut it down and got in bed early and, because I’m still a computer freak, messed around with my wheezing old laptop till laying my head down at 11:30 (baby steps), probably got to sleep at 12.

The next night, I went for 10:30pm shuteye as my goal.  Ended up laying there for an hour and waking up some, but it was still an improvement.

Naps
I usually avoid them because they leave me grouchy.  Plus, I’ve always contended they eat into my evening sleep.  But I’m revising that.  As long as it’s not late in the afternoon, it shouldn’t mess up my night and hell, there’s no one here to receive my wrath, so I can suffer through feeling bitchy if it means being better rested.

So far, so good.  I took a long nap yesterday after that miserably hot 11.  Then today, I took a 45-minute nap at 9:30am.  Not exactly what I’m going for, but if I could reach 8hrs/day cumulatively, that’d be a huge improvement.

Getting better all the time.  Trying to, anyway.

Edit: I forgot to ask but want to know: How much sleep do you guys get?