The workout was 1 hour easy, then 40min@Half Pace (which I translated into 6mi@HP).  My myriad of excuses consist of:
1) 75 degrees with 70 dewpoint
2) leftover fatigue from unpacking/assembling furniture/putting my new abode together
3) due to major river flooding this week, there were a couple mud bogs on the path which, until I finally got it together to run on the road, required slow, slippery tiptoeing through one and running up a set of stairs to detour the other one.

Whatever, it sucked and I wanted it to stop after the 3rd tempo mile.

The hour easy was uneventful.  After the initial mile, I was around 8:15ish and my heartrate was real comfy@145 (65%HRR).  Still, I wasn’t feeling confident about the upcoming tempo portion so I tried to pump myself up with a pep-talk but my innate cynicism makes pep-talks difficult since I’m always too aware of the I’m-faking-this underlayer required to do the job.  I probably should work on that.

Edit: in exquisite timing, after I wrote this I stumbled on an article about just that subject and while I won’t be talking to myself in front of the mirror anytime soon (that is just weird to me), there is some good stuff that you and I can use, so give it a read.

Anyway, first tempo miles were ok though behind goal @7:05s…and then the unraveling began.  Splits for the last 4 miles went 7:17, 7:15, 7:14, 7:14 – I just couldn’t go any faster.  My heartrate was low too, averaging 167 (79%HRR), so more like Marathon effort than Half.

On a brighter note, despite my abject misery, I ended up being quite the social butterfly during those tempo miles.  I usually say hi or smile to a ton of people anyway but yesterday was way more words and sentences than usual.

First off, I saw my friends Lindsay and Jo out there (separate sightings) so we exchanged “Hey Girl!”s.  Then Older Asian Lady rode by yelling out “I miss you!” and I yelled back I missed her too.  Then when I came upon the muddy/waterlogged area that sent me up the stairs, I think I said “shit”, “fuck” and “damn” in succession then realized there was some runner dude there, so I apologized for the cussing which luckily, made him laugh.

Then there was this one jogging lady who tried to ask me a question as I ran by and I’m thinking “ask someone who doesn’t look like they’re going through hell right now!” but actually said “I can’t talk to you now”, then felt bad and added, “I’m doing a workout”, then she said “What?” and I had to say it all over again.  Lastly, there is a regular gal that I like a lot and we passed each other 4 times yesterday, so there was a shared chuckle and a couple words over that.  All this just during the tempo!

But back to the crap part: I was spitting a lot and some of my exhalations actually whistled.  In fact, I thought I was in perfect sync with a bird’s singing till I realized the sound was coming from my throat.

All told, the tempo portion averaged 7:11 and the whole 13.7mi run averaged 7:53.  When I got home I was so wiped out, I slept for 1½ hours.

Today, I was kind of nervous about getting out there again even though it was just for an easy 9.  Because of course, you have one crap run and there’s a totally unfounded fear of “Uh oh, did I flip some switch that means I will now suck forever and ever, hereafter?”  As these things go, it turned out to be a really great run with a string of comfortable sub8s.  And please know that I don’t compensate for a crap run by pushing myself faster the next day to prove I “still have it”, I’m not that insecure. Today was me looking down at the Garmin thinking it was giving me bogus readings but which turned out to be correct.

The rest of the week’s runs
Thank goodness it was a cutback week, I don’t think I’d have been very happy dealing with a full mileage load, moving into a new pad and sidestepping a flood.

The flooding left behind a mess of ripped asphalt on the highly-traveled road parallel to the bikepath.  That, along with portions of it still submerged forced them to close off the road for two days.  I was shocked by what the water had done to a healthily-paved road, those large gashes and holes were a sad sight, but a surreal army of repair trucks on the morning of Day Two made it drivable by Day Three.

The silver lining was that it prompted me to cross the closed-off street at a spot I’d always wondered about.  Turned out to be a nice area that circles Laurel Hill Cemetery.  Aside from the initial stoplight, there are no cars to worry about for 2 uninterrupted miles, plus it has a nice long hill in it.  Good find.

Lastly, you’ll notice my run distances are wacky this week due to flood detours but my new location doesn’t help either.  I have to remember to add an extra ¼ mile then keep going another .13mi to even it out.  Today I almost did it correctly but ended up with an extra ½ mi because I wasn’t paying attention.  But dang, while it’s not neat and tidy being .62 from the first mile marker, I’m only ¼ mile from the park now!  Talk about spoiled – I love it.

Cutback & New Apartment Week In Review
Monday: 9@8:22 (drills and strides)
Tuesday: 8.94@7:36 (9x 3min on/1min off)
Wednesday: 10.35@8:20
Thursday: 8.97@8:32
Friday: 11.65@8:22
Saturday: 13.7@7:53 (7mi easy, 6@7:11 <–grrr)
Sunday: 9.5@8:08
Total: 72.11 mi

The Taper Ahead and Some Things I’ve Learned
Coach Adam/A muse asked me what I respond to as far as tapering and I had to admit, I have no clue.  I’ve never received enough of a real message when it comes to “taper vs. race result” to know what works best for me.  I know a lot of higher mileage people don’t do a huge taper so there’s that plus it’s a Half, so doesn’t require the same sort of time-out.  So Adam suggested a Hudson-type taper, running normally the next few days with 3-4 mile reps at 10k-Half pace on Tuesday, then a steep 4-day taper.  Sounds good to me.

While I’m not sure about the best taper for me, I did learn a lot about myself this cycle and one of them is the length of time to be in workout-mode; this one turned out just right.  If I had to extend it a couple more weeks, I think I’d have started to reach ThisIsNotFunAnymore stage. So 7-8 weeks of concentrated workouts are what I’ll plan on from here on in, 12-16 weeks can go suck it.

Another thing I learned from this cycle is that cutback weeks are beautiful things and I run better the week after one.  So I’m feeling good about this upcoming easy week on the heels of the past week’s cutback (which was only a cutback in mileage, not workouts).   I think my legs will be real happy come Sunday.

Life
My apartment is beautiful, glorious, wonderful, a dream.   We’ve had some rainy days this week so on Friday, when I walked by the bedroom, I was convinced I’d left the light on.  This happened twice.  Apparently there’s this thing called “sunlight” which I’ve not seen in full indoor splendor for quite some time.  Shocking.

And the fan above the stove is actually attached to a vent, unlike the fake-out one in the Blue Hovel.  My beautiful fridge has so much more room, I didn’t realize quite how stunted the Hovel one was.  And the neighborhood is so great, even my 20-minute walk downtown to the recording studio is so much prettier – amazing what a difference just a few blocks make.

Meanwhile, I’ve been on a huge shopping spree, now that I have places to put things and room to own stuff.  Not just for furniture-type items but for silly stuff a grown woman deserves to have.  Like, instead of storing my meager jewelry in two cheap-ass plastic containers from Dollar Store as I always have, I bought an honest-to-goodness swanky jewelry box.  I also got one of those sit-up-in-bed pillows that look like something your grandma would use but is so great for laptop perusing in bed.  Lots of little unnecessary but lovely comfort-oriented things that in my mind, signifies leaving transient “make do” mode and approaches “settling down” land.  Don’t know if I’ll ever feel truly settled anywhere, but this is the closest I’ve ever come to the idea of it.

Cute Video
I’ll leave you with this video posted on Runblogger from the owner of Natural Running Store.  It shows you the effect of shoes on balance.  Not sure I buy the theory completely but the video is entertaining and made me laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prStowbVylE

Now, this was a really interesting run.  First off, yesterday I had a tired 12-miler so wasn’t too sure of what today would bring but because of the moving crap, I needed to get it done today.  Once in the midst of the run, I was able to get up to tempo speed immediately, which was cool, but it wasn’t that comfortable, which was not cool.  It wasn’t awful but I had one of those “I’m gonna have to do this for 13.1?” moments.  After that first bout, I felt real heavy-legged and was sure that the second tempo part was doomed.

Then, around mile 10-11, something happened.  It might have to do with me thinking happier thoughts or else I finally woke up, but suddenly my easy pace, which had been a respectable enough 8:07 (though again, did not feel “light” if you know what I mean) dropped to 7:50s yet my HR stayed the same comfortable number (69%HRR) and my whole body felt different, like energy restored, light and fast.  Was so weird.  But I love this because it’s one of those memories you can use in a race when things feel like shit, you just remember that one run where things magically turned around.  I need more memories like that.

Anyway, at that point I knew the 2nd tempo portion would be much easier since I was already going 7:55 and 7:00 isn’t that much of a jump.  And it was. I added .25 mile to the second tempo portion just because I could. Average pace for the whole 17.25mi was 7:46.  Average heart rate on the tempo parts was 171bpm (82%HRR), and for the whole shebang 158 (73%HRR).

Monthly Mileage and Mileage Stuff
Very happy with my total miles this month: 380.1.  That included a day off for Irene and a full cutback week.  Next month will be much less because of the race.  But I’m good with that, I’m really not an exercise freak who doesn’t like cutbacks or tapers, I appreciate them fully and am ready for a little breakette.

Speaking of mileage, here’s something good I wanted to share with you if you haven’t seen it. It’s a series on volume and determining how much mileage is right for you by Kevin Beck.  Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 (there’ll be a few more installments).  I found a good deal of what he wrote relateable to my own situation.

Someone messaged me in Facebook the other day asking if I thought my mileage increase had helped as she was thinking of raising hers.  The question made me laugh.  It has not only helped, it has transformed my running completely.  Completely.  And I think there’s still a lot more to come, whether from aerobic or efficiency gains, I don’t think the improvements are stopping any time soon. (famous last words, but one hopes)

So if there’s one thing you can do to get improvements, especially after you feel tapped out from interval sessions galore and doing things the same way you’ve been doing them: up your mileage.  It’s magic.

Various Tidbits
I got my confirmation for the Half in September and for possibly the first time ever, the time I predicted when I signed up is within seconds of my goal for the race.  Yay for lack of embarrassment!

Two more days and I’m outta here. This place continues to send me signs of “get out get out” in the form of a mouse turd on my bed, washing machine in the basement broken for over a week, one of the new tenants leaving a thick scent of cigarette smoke throughout the building and refusing to lock the front door properly, even the mailman has given up: instead of putting mail in the mailbox he’s taken to dumping it in a pile on the vestibule floor.

Meanwhile, I’m so excited because I’m about to have windows!!  Technically, I have 3 right now: the bedroom one’s been broken (sealed shut) for about 6 weeks, another has an air conditioner in it, so basically, I have one window.  ONE.  The new place has 5 windows + central air, so no window shakers.  I’ll have died and gone to heaven.

And that’s it from Flo Central on this lovely Wednesday.  Hope you guys are enjoying your week.  Next time I post, I’ll be in the new digs.  WOOHOO!!!

I was disappointed because we had 2 days of better weather ahead and I had my heart set on doing my tempo one of those days.  But after the calf tweak, I figured I’d be lucky to get it in by the end of the week and have to skip my fartlek workout entirely.

This morning, however, it felt a lot better and because of the way the tempo was (1 hour easy, 30min@7:00) I figured I may as well play it by ear since that easy 1 hour would let me assess if the calf was up for it or not.  It wasn’t as cool as forecasted at 68 degrees w/dewpoint 59 but not too bad at all.

From the get-go, I felt really good.  It was still dark out because I had a job to get to at 9am, so that was a fun way to start.  My first mile was a usual slow warmup @ 8:49 but I ran the rest of the hour between 8:19 and 8:02s.  This was helped by a group of army or police guys who were all over the bike path making me want to pass quickly.  Once past, I was pleased see my heart rate for 8:02 was swell and figured “I only have to lower my pace by 1 minute”…so of course I would do the tempo.  As for my calf, I could feel it some but not enough that I felt it would be dangerous and plus, I could always stop if it got bad.  Towards the end of the easy section, I had slowed down to 8:15ish so I wouldn’t run out of gas prematurely.

My first mile was much slower than goal, as is my annoying habit, though it also included the bridge which doesn’t help, plus I didn’t do any strides, I just went into it.  Here’s how it went:
7:13, 6:56, 6:58, 6:57 and the last 3/4 mile @6:58 pace…so 4.75 mi (33min) @7:00 – right on target!  Then my last mile home was 7:58 for an average of 13miles@7:48.  My heart rate averaged a lovely 170 (81%HRR) for the tempo section.

My calf didn’t bother me at all on the tempo but came back after, though not in a worrisome way, it just needs more healing time, plus tomorrow will be easy, of course.  So there you have it, another minutia-filled tempo run.  Sorry about that, I know it’s a bore to read, though it’s wonderful to have as a detailed log entry for myself since my actual logs entries are as wordy as “Great run” or “Hot out, felt tired”.

To thank you for your patience, I’ll leave you with something I posted on the forums that cracked me up.  A ridiculous “Runner” preview of a TV show.  I found about 12 things worth laughing about so consider it a Where’s Waldo and see if you can come up with a bunch too.  And I’m not even talking about the fact that the ocean is on their right for most of it except for the few seconds when it’s on their left.  EDIT: here’s the forum thread that describes a few of the offending goodies.

Have a happy Hump Day, folks and I’ll see you back here later.

Even though I could think of at least 3 reasons why this tempo should not be a problem for me, I was nervous about it.  The longest tempos I ever do are 6-milers and they don’t speed up at the end so this was a new thing for me.  Plus, I’m really not used to seeing these paces as a general thing, which is a bit of a head trip unto itself.

The weather was fantastic compared to the last few months: 67 degrees, dewpoint 54.  On the bad note, I got on the scale and saw 123lbs…I’m a pudgster!    On the good note, I filled my Shuffle with some favorite songs and downloaded some new ones, which always gets me pumped.  Ready as I was ever going to be, I left the house.

2.75 miles warmup, a drink from the fountain, 2 strides and I begin.  My first couple miles were slower@7:10, the first one because the Garmin was off, telling me I was doing 7:06, the second one because I went up the bridge, though on the way back I had gained momentum so the bridge didn’t phase me.  Section One went 7:10, 7:10, 7:03, 7:06, 7:05…avg 7:06.

Section Two is where it got interesting.  Honestly, I wasn’t convinced I’d be able to speed up at all.  I have a lot of self-doubt, even after writing a blog post spouting a bunch of confidence crap, it’s not like I’m walking around all puffy-chested, I’m just starting to believe.  But I got real lucky.

First off, there was a handsome guy ahead, right when I started that section, so I followed on his heels but after about 1/2 mile, passed him.  Then I found my rabbit!

What a great rabbit it was.  He was this guy, looked like a hardcore trail runner due to his garb, but also, he had a huge backpack on that looked like it was full of bricks. It was obviously some kind of training torture device so it was truly impressive.  And his pace was perfect!  We ended up running side by side, wordlessly, for a mile and when I finally got to my endpoint, I thanked him for the rabbiting, he grinned and chugged on.  Section Two went 6:52 and 6:54 pace for the remaining ½ mi…average 6:53.

Then, for the cooldown, that cute guy I had passed comes back in the picture, so I followed him for a while, the last couple miles averaging 7:53 (what can I say? he had nice legs).

So the entire tempo portion averaged 7:03, just one second over goal even with those slow first miles.  And the cherry on the sundae is that it was also my fastest training run ever, 12 miles @ 7:35/mile, a factoid I won’t mention again now that faster runs are in the cards.

Sure, it didn’t start as peppily as I might have liked but that’s my M.O., I always take a bit of warming up to hit pace.  And don’t think for a moment that the last 1.5 miles were easy, they weren’t – if backpack guy wasn’t there, I doubt I’d have been able to do it, so I’m not going to burst out with some crazy race time in September.  But if I can do 7:00s and it doesn’t hurt too bad, I’ll be thrilled – with 8 quality sessions to go, it’s looking good.

Heart Rate
It was great!  Funny enough, it was exactly the same as my shorter and slower 5.5mi@7:11 tempo 2 weeks ago: avg. 173 (HRR 83%), max 180 (HRR 88%).  Today was 10 degrees cooler which surely helps but still, I was quite a bit faster today.  Tis a thing of beauty.

Weight
I’ve been saying I’m not going to make a point to lose weight before the race.  My reasons are:

#1) It’s nice having a wild card for when these speed improvements stop
#2) It’s a slight reaction to having been so strict with my weight for racing last year
#3) As long as I’m getting faster, I don’t need to

But if I could lose 4-5 lbs in the next 5½ weeks, that’d be one powerful extra weapon.  So I’m going for it.  If I don’t manage it, no biggie, I’m already happy as hell with the status quo, but I may as well start jotting down calories and being more conscious about it.

And that’s it from my end of the world.  Hope you all have a great weekend and some swell runs while you’re at it.  Ciao!

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

If you’ve seen my FB updates, you know I bought myself a Christmas treat the other day; a new laptop to replace the dinosaur I had.  Tip: if you don’t get points for using your debit card and your bank gives them, sign up!  You get points even when you pay bills online.  I used this latest lot for $120 of Best Buy gift certificates which I put towards the laptop, making it quite the bargain.

Anyway, in a timely twist, the very next day after buying the laptop, the power supply on my desktop computer died, rendering it useless until Tuesday when UPS delivers the replacement.  In the meantime, I don’t have access to my calendar or running program, but that’s cool, it’s like living in the woods for a bit.  With fancy technology.  OK, not at all.

Tempo Run
Did this today: 9mi w/6@Half Pace.  It was windless, cloudy and 32 degrees.   The tempo portion was a bust, averaging 7:14s.  Honestly though, I don’t care.  I’m tired.  Not sleepy tired or limb tired, just tired of caring so hard.

“Am I good this mile or bad this mile?”  “Will I suck today or be fabulous today?”  Enough, already.  I don’t want to dread getting out for hard workouts and lately, I have come close.  Of course, it’s exacerbated because I have a blog and choose to give you guys play-by-plays so when I do have bad runs I know I will have to say so.  But during today’s run, a peace came over me to where I was all “Que sera, sera”.  Because really…what else is there?

Let it unfold and work with what comes.  That’s my new motto.

The Poll
Thanks to those who voted.  The results were 84% for keep posting 3x/week, and the rest were “Don’t give a shit”, so I’ll keep on as normal, usually 3 times/week, but if I have nothing to say, I’ll hold off.  Actually, thanks to those who didn’t vote, too. Your readership is super appreciated, always.

Saturday was a solid tempo workout that showed a lot of progress from the last time I did it in October.  It was: 1.5mi@HP, 1.5mi@15k pace, 1.5mi@10K pace w/ 2min recoveries.  With warmup and cooldown, 9.5 miles.

Paces ended up 7:04 for Half Pace, 6:53 for 15k pace and 6:48 for 10k pace.  The 15k was a tad fast, the 10K a touch slow, but I was super happy nonetheless.  These are not my current race paces, btw, they’re where I hope to be by the end of January, so it’s looking good.

But then yesterday was one of the most uncomfortable runs ever.  It was supposed to be 14, I should have cut it around 7, though ended up trudging away for 11.  I wasn’t hurting or sore, just a general exhausted not-wanting-to-continue feeling, which is extremely unusual for me.   I didn’t think it was from the previous day’s tempo since I’ve done many tempo/long runs back-to-back and never felt like that.

Then came today’s run, slated to be 8 easy, but due to the next two days being awful (13 windchill tomorrow, gusts mid 30s and not much better on Wednesday), I had no choice but to switch tomorrow’s fast workout of 200s and 800s to today, Thursday would be too close to Saturday’s 5k.  I was not happy making the switch because it meant only one day between a tempo and speed workout, and at my age, I think 2 days between hard efforts is important, but I really didn’t want to lose that workout.

It was 24 windchill, gusting like crazy and again, I felt like shit.  After the first four 200m’s, I knew the 800s weren’t going to happen, even 400m seemed like too long a distance to run hard so I turned it into a fartlek 8-miler.

Once I got home, the answer to my suckage was revealed: I got my period.  Thank god!  I often feel like crap at the onset, why don’t I remember this?  Then again, I’m not one of those clockwork chicks who know down to the hour when theirs is due so I’m never exactly sure when I’ll get that fine surprise.

Anyway, I’m relieved that it wasn’t some overnight tsetse fly disease though yeah, I’m bummed that I didn’t get to do the workout properly.  But you know, there’s only so much we can plan, life has its own agenda. I’m lucky to be able to stick to the schedule as well as I do, though with the advent of winter, there are sure to be a few more wrenches in the works.   And lots more whore moans.