Racing Stripes

Attitude Adjustment

2012-02-12T06:27:00.001-05:00

It's very tempting to write a post that recaps my training over the past few weeks, complete with split times and mileage totals, but I'm going to tackle a different subject matter.

I've had many, many successful training cycles. Suffice it to say, I'm good at training! I'm very consistent and dedicated to running and I have been since day one. In the past four years, none of those training cycles resulted in a good marathon. None of them. So I'm not going to address my progress with this cycle (at least not in this post) because it's not the kind of progress that I really need at this point.

I need a healthier mindset. I've been working on this for about two years now, but change doesn't happen over night, so I'm still working on it. What do I mean by "healthier mindset"? When I met my husband back in 2009, my attitude about running was as such:

Followed a training plan to the letter and was disappointed with myself if I didn't make my weekly mileage goal.
Didn't listen to my body and would do all runs as scheduled, even if I was tired or I felt an injury coming on.
Very focused on time as the only indication of a good run or race, disregarding how the run felt
Very competitive with others and frustrated when I saw other people get faster at running while I wasn't progressing as much.
Everything in my life revolved around my running. It was my top priority.
Needed to "prove to others" that I was fast
Had to qualify for the Boston marathon because that was the ultimate determination of whether or not I was a fast marathoner.

Doesn't sound like much fun, does it??? A lot of this is deep within my personality, and I don't intend to change who I am at my core. I will always be competitive, dedicated and self-critical. I will always care about how others perceive me. But the extent to which I allow these elements of my personality overtake my mindset and ultimately wreak havoc on my marathons can certainly be lessened.

So what progress have I made in this journey? Although I've always known that my running had an unhealthy aspect to it, I didn't see it as problematic until May 2010. That's when I realized I needed to make some changes.

Stage 1: Drop the BQ Mentality
Ever since I ran a miserable race at the Bob Potts Marathon back in May 2010, I realized that my attitude needed some major work. I had been obsessed with qualifying for Boston and every time I didn't qualify, I'd feel cheated because I trained so well and knew I was shape for the time required. I had gone into every race over the past two years with high expectations and when something went wrong, like the weather, it would just be a huge blow to me. I later realized that the weather was only one factor contributing to my bad marathons-- the pressure I put on myself to qualify for Boston was also wearing me down.

I was able to just say "screw Boston" and focus on running the best marathon I could. The qualifying standards for Boston got faster and I didn't care. In fact, I was glad they did because the race was filling up too quickly. I didn't really look at it as pertaining to me. It was just something else going on in the running world-- it didn't relate to me because I was doing my own thing.

In the fall of 2010, I ran the NYC marathon alongside my husband as his first marathon. I obviously wasn't trying to BQ there. A month later, I ran the St. Jude Memphis marathon without a real time goal, but the race was ruined anyway by digestive issues. And then came the multiple stress fractures, so there was no marathon in the Spring of 2011.

Stage 2: Ditch the Training Plan
The stress fractures, ironically, were very good for my running career. Because of them, I was introduced to pool running and regular swimming and I learned that I could keep up my fitness even without running for 4+ weeks. If I could go for 4+ weeks with just pool running and elliptical, surely I could do that for a few days if something in my body felt "off".

I now felt like I was no longer dependent on a rigid training cycle to keep fit. The best approach would be to take things one day at a time and see how I felt. That's how I approached my comeback from the stress fractures, and it's how I've been training ever since.

Along with ditching the training plan and adding pool running + swimming came a lower weekly mileage average. In 2008, 2009, and 2010, I would typically average my training cycles in the low 50s and peak right around 60. And I was obsessive about getting that target mileage every single week.

No more! Starting last summer I began training with Capital Area Runners, and the coach prescribes weekly intervals and tempo runs, but the rest is up to me. This approach to training has taken the pressure off. I take things one day at a time. I often even start my runs not knowing how many miles I will run or how many intervals I will do. I just go by feel. It's been great not only for my body, but for my mindset because the pressure has diminished.

Lately I have been averaging in the high 30s/low 40s, but the runs have been more focused on quality than they had been previously. Most importantly, I don't care about what the specific mileage total is. I like to look at it in my training log and be aware, but I attach no value to the number.

Stage 3: Have No Time-Based Expectations
When I ran the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon last fall, I had come a long way in changing my attitude. I had no time goal, I didn't care if I qualified for Boston, I hadn't obsessed over my training. I went in feeling confident and just knowing I would nail it.

The problem was, everything was now "perfectly aligned" for me. Wait. . . that's a problem? Well yes. Today was the day. I had so many issues with illness and injury and weather and finally I had the perfect day where I was in great shape and the weather was cooperating. Despite not having a time goal, I just felt like I had to do well. My marathon time just had to line up with what my shorter distances had been predicting for years.

But the race was a complete disaster. I went out slowly and the only explanation I could find was that I had stressed myself out too much and didn't get the sleep I needed in the weeks prior.

It's hard to have no time-based expectations. I know where I am at fitness wise. I know exactly the time I "should" be able to get. How do I just ignore that?

By telling myself that nothing is guaranteed in the marathon. Nothing. I've learned it the hard way.

There is still more "attitude work" needed with this cycle. Truthfully, I know I will always be competitive and driven so I will never go into a race completely stress-free. It's just not in my nature. I've really enjoyed the low-stress attitude that I've been having toward my training lately, so I am going to try and bring that with me on race day. I'm actually trying not to even think about race day. I would love to just wake up one morning, prepare myself to drive to a long run with my team, and then have my husband tell me we're actually going to a marathon instead.

Race day is just another training run. The only difference is that when it's over, I get a week-long break from running!

I'll return to blogging about my workouts soon enough, I just felt like writing another one of those "OMG it's going so well posts" wouldn't be very significant. Training almost always goes well and it's not where I need to improve.

Staying Fit While On Vacation

2012-01-28T19:44:00.001-05:00

I've just returned from an incredible vacation to Cancun, Mexico. My husband and I stayed at Excellence Playa Mujeres, a five-star, all-inclusive resort. It was incredible. We chose it because it was the highest rated all-inclusive resort we could find on Trip Advisor, at a destination with a direct flight option. Having a direct flight was very important to us in our decision-making process because otherwise, you spend the entire day travelling and the risk of delays doubles.

Unfortunately, our direct flight on the way home was cancelled just a few weeks after we booked the trip last August and there was nothing we could do about it. More on that later.

The vacation was so relaxing and fun and much-needed in my case. I'm a very high-stress, type-A person who cannot relax at home. Even if I am doing something relaxing, like watching a movie, I am not truly relaxed because I know there are other things I could be doing, like housework or laundry. Or my mind wanders to what's coming up at work or what my running schedule will be. But when I am on vacation, it's impossible for me to do anything except for relax and have fun, so I am able to truly kick back.

Our patio was to the left of this pool.

For me, exercising is a stress relief and I truly enjoy it. I was able to do plenty of that on vacation, while still taking a "recovery" week with no speed work or long run.

Swimming
For anyone who swims, you know how frustrating it can be to have to share a lane, or to be in that ultra-humid indoor pool environment. I was in a swimmer's paradise at this resort. We had a "swim up suite" which meant that when we walked out onto our patio, the pool was right there. The resort had many different pools and this one was the most secluded, so I had the entire thing to myself. (Plus, the water was cold at this pool so people didn't want to get in for too long if at all.) It was probably about 5-10 yards longer than a typical indoor pool and the water felt so much fresher than what they use at Cub Run Rec Center, where I usually go.

On Sunday, I swam 26 laps while my husband ran on the treadmill. I can't emphasize enough how awesome this was. Beautiful weather (high 70's) the pool to myself, and fresh-feeling water.

Getting ready to swim. Wish I had thought to bring a cap!

I was also happy to have a pool that was a little longer than what I was used to. But then I realized-- hey-- there are other pools here that are even longer. In fact, there's one pool that you can swim non-stop in because it flows around 6 of the resort buildings, making a large circle. My husband and I walked around that pool one night and I wondered if I would be able to swim it without stopping. I had no idea how long I could swim without stopping because I am used to having to turn around at the wall. I only stop for a few seconds, but it's enough of a break to get a longer breath.

If you look back near the hammock, that little blurb in the water is me-- just to give you an idea of scale. (Click on the photo to maximize). And this is just a small part of the "course". I knew I wouldn't be able to swim freestyle the entire way, so I told myself I could alternate with breast stroke if I felt tired, but I wanted to minimize that and swim as much freestyle as possible. Check out the video!

The one thing this video taught me was that when I breathe to my left, I lift my head up before putting it back in the water. I don't do this on the right side. Ironically, before I learned to breathe on both sides, I used only my left. I had to force myself to learn to use the right side. I knew the proper way to do it, so I did. However, I didn't realize that the "natural" feeling side was incorrect. Something to work on.

I successfully swam the entire thing non-stop and it took me about 8 minutes. And then I did it again!

Running

This place had the best fitness center I have ever seen at a resort. The treadmills were new, with built-in fans, and you could run for longer than the typical 60-minutes. They had a fridge full of bottled water which was part of the all-inclusive, as well as cold wet washcloths. Given how much I overheat on a treadmill, this was much appreciated. Despite all of these things, I still had a difficult time on the treadmill, and didn't attempt any kind of speedwork. It wasn't possible to run outside because it wasn't safe to leave the resort. The advertised "jogging trail" was just a path through the resort that wasn't at all long and also slippery. (My husband broke his toe by slipping on the pavement. . . ) Here are my workouts.

Saturday: 8-mile run on the treadmill
Sunday: 26 laps of the pool (about 1500 yards)
Monday: 7.5-mile run on the treadmill + swimming in winding pool.
Tuesday: 6.5-mile run on the treadmill + swimming in the winding pool
Wednesday: Swimming

Core Work

I didn't forget about my planks!

Eating

At this resort, it was easy to eat healthy because they made the healthy food so delicious and had plenty of healthy options. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of the self-serve soft-serve ice cream and tropical drinks, but most of my meals were on the healthy side and very yummy. The breakfast buffet had a smoothie bar and you could get a smoothie made out of almost anything-- including cactus. Although I think a cactus smoothie is an oxymoron. They had an entire section of health foods, including this chilled oatmeal that you could top with fresh berries. Yummy! They also had 24-hour room service, but we only did that once because we liked having a larger selection.

Grouper at the French Restaurant "Chez Isabelle"

Smoothie Bar

There was also a large selection of sushi-grade fish to choose from at breakfast. I had salmon almost every day!

Relaxation, Romance, and a Little Chess

The weather was perfect every day. We spent most of our time relaxing on the beach or at the pool. I usually never have time to read, so I really enjoyed reading Atlas Shrugged. The book is 1,000+ pages and I'm now almost done with it! If you've read it, please don't comment on how it ends.

Here are a few more photos:

Greg and me at a Tapas Bar

They had beds on the beach!

Showing off my core work!

They also had some rather large chess sets in the lobby, which Greg and I took advantage of in the evenings:

What move should I make!?

One of the nicest things about this resort was the room we stayed in. As I said earlier, it was a "swim up suite" but it also featured its own hot tub and the most luxurious shower I have ever been in. The mini bar was stocked with a great selection of beverages, all part of the all-inclusive. Take a peak!

We left the resort on Wednesday at noon to catch a 3:00 flight to Houston, that would connect us to Dulles. Because of the Houston layover, we wouldn't be getting into Washington Dulles until just after 10:00, which annoyed us because the flight was supposed to be direct, but it wasn't the end of the world.

But then there was a ton of rain in Houston, so our flight there was delayed by over three hours. We got to spend 5+ hours in the Cancun airport, one of which was spent in the line of people checking in and figuring out what they would do about their connections.

We didn't arrive into Houston until about 9:00pm, and our connecting flight was long gone. And since there had been so many weather delays, most of the airport hotels were booked solid. I literally called about 10 different hotels, all of which were booked. We finally found a Howard Johnson that had two rooms left. Our room was non-smoking, but the place smelled like smoke anyway. Particularly the bathroom-- I couldn't stand it in there long enough to take a shower. What a contrast from our resort! I didn't sleep well at all because I was uncomfortable and the was a trucking station right outside of the hotel which was loud.

The next morning, we went to the airport and our 12:00 flight was delayed for about an hour-- no explanation given. The loudest, most obnoxious child ever sat right in front of us, and there was no way to sleep. I did fall asleep briefly, but then she was banking on the side of the plane where my head was resting, so that was the end of that. We finally arrived back into Dulles, had a baggage delay, and then got a cab home.

If the original direct flight hadn't been cancelled, we wouldn't have had to deal with Houston weather. But I guess we're lucky we made it out of town without a snow storm or anything.

Aside from it taking us over 24 hours to get home (and costing us an extra vacation day), the trip was wonderful! I can't say I really feel relaxed due to the stress of the journey home, but I enjoyed being at the resort while it lasted!

Brrrr. Cold Weather Running Tips (And Update!)

2012-01-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

I know we've been spoiled in the Washington DC metro area with seasonably warmer than usual temperatures for most days and very little snow. While some folks love the fluffy white stuff, I hate it. I run in the dark before work, so I am not able to spot icy patches and I am not able to see the ground I am running on. Yeah, I know, I could get a head lamp. But I don't.

Thankfully, the weather hasn't yet caused me to take it to the treadmill, but I fully intend on using a combination of pool running/treadmill/elliptical if I think it's too icy to run outside. I think that too much treadmill running was the culprit behind my stress fractures last winter, so I wouldn't attempt to replace all my mileage with treadmill mileage.

As for the cold, there has only been one morning that was brutal, with a temperature of around 13 degrees. Otherwise, the temperatures have been in the mid 20's at their worst, with the wind chill often knocking them down into the teens.

Brooks Wanganui Cabrio Mittens

The biggest challenge in cold runs is my hands. Last January, I posted about the Little Hotties hand warmers I put in my gloves. However, they don't work well in traditional gloves. And the lack of air when put in mittens actually makes my hands hot and sweaty. So how do you best use these little nuggets of warmth?

The hotties need to be on your fingers, so my friend Cristina turned me on to the hybrid glove/mitten, which allows you to put the hotties in the mitten part, while still having access to your fingers if need be. I bought a pair of Brooks Wanganui Cabrio Mittens which are made of a heavier/fleecier material than other hybrids. They have been working great, but the only drawback is they come in either small/medium or medium/large, unisex. The small/medium size is too big for me, but I make it work anyway buy stuffing my sleeves into the base of the glove.

Another benefit of these gloves is that unlike regular mittens, you have quick access to your fingers for taking gels.

When it's really cold out, I end up using two pairs of hotties (4 total) one for the fronts of my fingers and the other for the backs. The lone thumb ends up getting cold, so I have to periodically insert it into the mitten area so it can share in the warmth.

As you may be able to deduct from reading this post, I have, in fact, been running again. I'm finally over my cold and my calf has been behaving. Here's a recap of my workouts since I last posted.

Sunday, Jan. 8: 13-mile run on the C&O Canal Towpath with my husband and my CAR teammates. Slow start, fast finish, average 8:48.

Monday, January 9: 4 miles of pool running + 500m swim. A fairly short swim for me, but I was feeling really worn down due to the lingering cold. I was really dragging the rest of the day

Tuesday, January 10: 6 miles, easy

Wednesday, January 11: 8 miles total, including 2 x 2 miles at tempo pace, followed by 1 mile at tempo pace. 5:00 recoveries. The first set of 2 was (7:30, 7:10) and the next set was (7:17, 7:06) and the final mile was (6:56). That first mile was the hardest. I think it's just really hard to get going in the cold. Even though the second set was faster than the first, it felt easier because I was warmed up. I did do a warmup before I started, but 1.5 miles at an easy pace just doesn't cut it when it's sub-freezing.

Thursday, January 12: Rest! (except for core work)

Friday, January 13: 6.5 miles total, including 5 x 800m on the track, with 400m recoveries. I was pleased with my paces. If I were going to do any more than five of them, I would have slowed my pace a bit.

Saturday, January 14: Another rest day!

Sunday, January 15: 16-mile run with my husband (well, he actually did 18 and we parted ways at mile 12). Cold and windy with a "real feel" of 16 degrees. Slow start, fast finish. Average 8:49. This run felt great at the end and I felt as if I could have gone farther/faster, but I didn't want to push it.

These workouts were out of sync with what the rest of my team is doing. They are doing hills instead of intervals, but considering this is my first week being "back" and probably the last week they are doing hills, I didn't think doing just one hill workout over the course of a training cycle would help me, so I got a head start on the intervals. We typically do intervals on Tuesday and Tempo on a Friday, but I reversed them because I wanted to prioritize the tempo run over the intervals. I didn't want the intervals to wear me out to the extent that I couldn't execute a good tempo.

So the week wasn't in line with the schedule I'm trying to be on (that of my teammates) but it worked for me.

I'm definitely more optimistic today than I was when I last posted. However, I know that there will be more obstacles to come in my training. I have a vacation coming up, followed by two business trips in February. I'm planning to do just two 20-milers instead of my usual three, but I keep reminding myself that my best marathon ever was run with just one 20-miler under my belt.

Slow to Start

2012-01-07T07:47:00.000-05:00

My running life: slow.
My working life: fast.

I started a new job this week, which is why I haven't had time to read and comment on as many blog posts as I would have liked. I think this is going to be the norm for me (at least initially) because there aren't enough hours in the day to run, work, sleep, spend time with my husband, and also read the 30+ blogs I am subscribed to.

The new job is wonderfully busy. They've taken the phrase "throw you right in" to a new level and I spent my entire first week in back-to-back meetings. Of course I also have a ton of projects I'm working on, which require extra hours because the work day is spent in meetings. I love interacting with other people and sharing ideas, so I'm excited about this high level of collaboration-- it's just an adjustment from what I am accustomed to. The job will also require a fair amount of travel (maybe once per month) because of various events and visiting other office locations for meetings.

My running has not been going well, and I'm far behind where I would like to be in my training for the Shamrock Marathon in March.

First half of December: Recovering from Overtraining
I've identified the cause of my poor performance at the Memphis Half Marathon as over training. I took five days off after the race, but I still felt like I had zero energy for every run I attempted two weeks post race. I wasn't "sick" in the traditional sense, but my energy level was extremely low, my heart rate was elevated, and for the first time in years, I simply didn't care about what my training log said. I had originally dismissed the overtraining idea because my mileage had been relatively low in November. However, I did 3 races within the course of one month, plus some long runs and intense speed workouts. According to what I read, overtraining can occur if you don't give yourself enough rest in between hard efforts, and I think that was the culprit for me.

Apparently, overtraining takes about 2-3 weeks to recover from, and even longer in more severe cases. I remember trying to run in the second week of December and actually having to stop a few times because I just felt like it was so hard to move. I tried to run seven miles one day and I stopped when the Garmin said 6.9 (something I never do) because my house was in sight and I just wanted to not be running anymore.

Second half of December: Calf Strain
When I finally got some energy back, I did a short tempo run in a hilly area and messed up my calf (which had been feeling "off" but not injured). I spent the next two weeks in the pool and and the elliptical, running 1-2 miles here and there because my sports chiro told me I needed to put some stress on the muscle.

New Year's Eve: 5K Attempt
This race wasn't even worthy of a report in my blog, but I'll do a brief recap here. As you may be able to guess from the previous two paragraphs, I was out of shape for this race. Not for lack of trying, but these were the circumstances I was dealing with.

I primarily wanted to do this race because I've done New Years Eve races for the past three years and I think it's a good tradition. I convinced my husband to sign up for the accompanying 10K so I figured I would run the 5, and then cheer him in.

The calf issue was about 90% fixed (I could still "feel it" even though it didn't hurt), so I was fully prepared to DNF if something felt off during the run. I was perfectly fine with pulling off the course or walking if I felt any bit of pain. I just really wanted to give this race a shot. Half of me thought it was extremely stupid to be racing given the risk of re-injuring my calf, but the other half me thought the calf was okay and stubbornly wanted to race.

5K Finish

The good news is I finished the race with no calf pain. The bad news is, I was slow. I wasn't really trying to put out race effort due to my lack of training. I think I landed somewhere slightly harder that tempo effort but regardless, the dang thing felt hard. 23:18 for my slowest 5K in over two years. Nearly two minutes slower than what I ran just one month prior.

I didn't look at my Garmin at all during this race so I shot out too fast on the first mile, which was almost entirely uphill (7:09 pace). This pace would have been reasonable if I had been in better shape and racing it all-out, but I wasn't in good shape at all. If I had let myself look at the Garmin, I would have slowed down to a tempo effort of 7:30 on an uphill. After that first mile, the rest of the race was a struggle. I simply wanted to hang onto that effort level and get a good workout in, fully knowing that I was slowing down.

My husband felt similarly beat up by the race and opted to turn off at the 5K point instead of doing the full 10. Not a great performance from either of us, but we were happy to have participated and put out a good effort.

I did win 3rd in my Age Group, but someone else went home with my award because my D-Tag didn't register. My husband's didn't either, so I think it's because we registered on-site and our paperwork didn't get entered into the system. Regardless, my time was recorded in the "backup data" so I am listed as third place in the official online results, I just didn't get the recognition at the race. I don't care all that much because this was such a bad race for me, but the thought of an age group award did help pull me through during that last mile.

First week of January: Common Cold
On my first day of work, I noticed that quite a few people were coughing. Sure enough, I had a full-on cold by Wednesday night. Sore throat, stuffy nose, sinus pressure. It's not good to do speedwork when you're sick because it's a strain on the immune system, so I have been keeping the runs slow and easy.

I'm also out of shape, which is another reason for the slowness.

Being sick with the common cold confirms my self-diagnosis of over training. I ran 7 miles yesterday, which felt way more energized than the 7 I ran in mid-December. Overtraining: you feel like you can't run and you want to stop. You may actually find yourself stopping and walking. Common Cold: you have less energy, but the run feels decent with no urge to stop.

Looking Ahead
I feel mentally ready to get back into marathon training (It's only 10 weeks away and I haven't even done a long run yet!!!!!) But my body has had other ideas. I still think I have enough time to train and run a good race, but more obstacles are yet to come. I have a 6-day vacation at the end of January, some work travel in February, and there will probably be snow/ice which will force me onto a treadmill or into the pool.

I'm hoping to do my first official long run tomorrow with my team. Wish me luck!

Random Facts Friday: 2011 Facts

2011-12-30T15:38:00.000-05:00

To finish off 2011, here are some not-so-random Friday facts about the year.

1. I ran five 5Ks, two 8Ks, three 10Ks, three half marathons and one marathon.

Veteran's Day 10K

2. Per the above, I ran 14 races total.

3. Believe it or not, I swam exactly 26.2 miles this year, completely unintentionally. I just looked at my swim log, and boom! Right in front of me was the 26.2!

4. I spent 88 hours pool running this year.

5. The race performance I am most proud of this year is the Veteran's Day 10K with a time of 45:19. The 10K has historically been my hardest distance to run well and I finally did it.

6. I spent all of February and March recovering from 3 stress fractures in my tibiae.

7. My biggest lesson learned this year is that higher mileage doesn't necessarily equal faster running.

8. My top three running items purchased are my Saucony PE Revival shorts, my CW-X capris, and my CEP compression sleeves.

9. My worst race performance was ironically the race I trained the hardest for-- the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon.

10. I ran 70.7 tempo miles in 2011, which was 5.4% of my overall training mileage. I ran 43.8 tempo miles in 2010, which was 2.0% of my overall training mileage.

Alexandria Half Marathon

11. My average training pace this year was 8:49. Coincidentally my PR marathon pace from over three years ago is also 8:49.

12. The hottest race I ran was the Lawyers Have Heart 5K, which was supposed to be a 10K, but got downgraded on race morning due to the heat. A close second was the Alexandria Festival Half marathon.

13. In addition to my stress fractures, I also dealt with hip bursitis, early signs of peroneal tendonitis, and a calf strain.

14. I met a ton of cool people through running this year. And I started blogging more.

15. I won three age group awards: 1st AG at the Patriot's Cup 8K, 2nd AG at the Ringing In Hope 10K, 2nd AG at the Run Geek Run 8K.

16. I think I experienced my first-ever official "overtraining" after the Turkey Trot. I recently read a description of technical overtraining symptoms, and I had most of them. It took me nearly three weeks to get my energy back.

17. I do not have any running goals for 2012 other than to run smart and stay healthy.

All I Want for Christmas

2011-12-24T07:16:00.001-05:00

I've already received most everything on my Christmas list:

Wonderful husband
Nice home
New job

But if I could ask Santa for just one more thing, I'd ask for a healthy calf. No, not a baby cow, but that muscle in the bottom part of your leg known in medical circles as the Gastrocnemius.

I was really hoping I'd be 100% today and ready for a long run. But unfortunately, my calf still needs more time. I've now missed my first two long runs of the training cycle, and that's the one type of run that you just can't substitute on an elliptical or in the pool-- although I will certainly try.

I went back to my sports chiropractor (aka Santa?) in hopes of getting a healthy calf yesterday and even though his treatment helped, he told me that I wasn't ready to run anything longer than two miles at this point.

And since I'm making a wish list, I might as well add this:

And since I was born Jewish, I guess that means I can create a Hanukkah wish list too, which would include this item:

That's all for now. I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with family and relaxing.

Wordless Wednesday: 2011 Training

2011-12-21T09:29:00.000-05:00

With the year coming to a close, I took a look back on my training in 2011. Thanks to the RunningAHEAD training log, I was able to make some pretty cool charts.

December is looking pretty wimpy-- mainly because I felt worn out/run down for the first half of the month. But I still have 10 days left to crank out some good workouts! My calf might be ready for a long run on Saturday. Apparently it was a mild strain and the Graston that I had done on Monday has already helped. I won't attempt a long run unless I am 100%, but I am hopeful that I will be. If not, there is always the pool.

Looking only at land running and the specific workouts themselves, 2011 looks like this:

I worked really hard over the summer and was prepared to crank out a killer marathon on Oct. 2. But alas, it wasn't my day. Instead of getting a new marathon PR, I ended up with PRs in the shorter distances, which I am very happy about.

My land mileage for 2011 is the lowest its been since I started tracking miles back in 2008. However, with the introduction of pool running, I haven't lagged behind too much. I'm also training smarter now, so I am able to get better results with fewer miles.

I don't plan on beating my 2010 mileage in 2012 because I don't think I need to go that high to see results. I do hope, however, that I don't get injured in 2012 and I can keep up with the mileage I want.

WTF Calf?!

2011-12-18T09:51:00.001-05:00

I wrote this blog in my head while waiting on a street a corner for 25 minutes in 35 degree weather for my husband to come pick me up because I decided to stop mid-run. My calf was hurting and I knew that I was risking serious injury if I didn't stop right then and there.

Let's back up.

The first hint I had that anything was wrong with my calf was immediately after the Turkey Trot just over three weeks ago. My left shin was achy, and I remember telling my husband that I thought the cause of the shin was a tight calf. I didn't run for two days and then I ran 10 miles pain free. Afterwards, however, I did notice that my calf felt tight.

I started stretching and foam rolling the calf regularly but nothing seemed to make the tightness go away. It didn't hurt, I could just tell it was tighter than it should be. I ran the Memphis Half Marathon with no issues, and then I took five days off because I felt sick/run-down. And then I took things very easy-- only running 4-5 miles every other day because I just wasn't feeling well. It had nothing to do with my calf. You would think with such a light running schedule that it would be nearly impossible to get an injury.

And then on Friday (two days ago) I decided to do the speed work that my coach prescribed. But instead of going to the track, I did it in a somewhat hilly neighborhood with a 15-mph sustained wind. My calf felt tight during the run, but it didn't actually hurt until afterwards. I stretched, iced and then went about my day. Yesterday, however, while walking around I noticed that I could feel my calf. With every step I took, my calf "spoke" to me. Probably a 2 out of 10 on the pain scale, so I wasn't freaking out, but I was worried that I could feel it at all.

This morning, my husband asked me if I was sure my calf was okay for a long run, and I said I thought it was, and that I would stop if it hurt. But deep down I knew he was right and that I shouldn't have attempted it. Considering my calf did not feel 100% to even walk on, the idea of going for a long run was ridiculous. But I really wanted to do it, given that it was definitely time to start training for my the Shamrock marathon.

I started running and immediately "felt" my calf with each stride. I thought maybe it was just tight and needed some time to warm up. But it just got worse and worse until I forced myself to stop after just three miles. My husband offered to run home, get the car and drive me home. I told him that I could just walk, but didn't think I should walk. He's so sweet!!!! (And he knows that I can be miserable to be around when I have an injury.)

I felt horrible for ruining his run, but he told me it wasn't ruined-- his top priority was making sure I didn't get injured. Even though we had run three miles, we were only two miles from home (we had taken a round-about route). So I waited there for 25 minutes with nothing to think about other than how frustrating this was and how stupid I was for attempting a long run when my calf wasn't 100%. I don't even have time to go pool running today because of a family commitment!

I don't know what's wrong with my calf. I doesn't hurt in one particular spot, but rather all around the inside of the leg. I had scheduled an appointment with my sports chiro last week, thinking it was just tight and needed some ART. I see him tomorrow and maybe he will have an idea about what's going on. It's probably a muscle strain of some sort, but how on earth could I have strained a muscle on such little running!!!!

The good news is that the calf is completely pain-free while at rest and I only feel it when I walk on it. I know I did what I needed to do by stopping, but it's frustrating because I already feel like I am behind on my Shamrock training. I just spent two weeks of very little running because I felt sick and now I will probably be out for at least another week, unless my sports chiro can work some kind of magic.

WTF, calf?!

New Frontier

2011-12-13T19:14:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I turned in my resignation letter to a company that I have been working for since October of 2005. It was a huge step for me, but there is no doubt that I made the right decision. I accepted a position with a larger company where I will be doing the same type of work, but on a much broader scale and in a different industry.

In my previous post, I talked about believing in yourself and taking risks. I do not consider my new job to be a risk, but I'll definitely be stepping out of the comfort zone that I have been in for the past few years. This job will present me with new challenges and I am excited to tackle them.

Professional Me.

The interview process for this new position was extensive. I have been speaking with the company since September, and I was even asked to give a 30-minute presentation. I took a relatively relaxed approach to interviewing, so the bulk of the stress was around the idea of making such a major change in my life. As I said earlier, I have been with my current employer for over six years. What would life be like outside of that world?

What does this mean for my running? I'm giving up a job that allows me to work from home in exchange for one with an actual commute and longer hours. My coach said "why would you do that!?" Instead of being able to go for a run at pretty much any hour of the day, it's now back to waking up before 5:00 and running in the cold dark weather. Of course followed by the shower, putting on makeup, doing my hair and then commuting. Not as fun as what I have now, but it's worth it for a fantastic career opportunity. (The working-from-home thing just started a month ago and while it was great for flexibility, it wasn't helping me grow my career).

Ideally, the new job wouldn't impact my training for the Shamrock Marathon in March, but I'm accepting the possibility that it may. I'm also taking a vacation to Mexico in late January which will definitely disrupt the cycle, but in a good way! My goal will be to train to the best of my ability, while realizing that it won't be a "perfect" cycle and that Shamrock might not be the type of performance I would hope for. After so many bonks, there is only so much of emotional investment I can make in marathons, anyway.

Runner Me.

What I'm trying to say is-- I don't care as much about my marathon time as I used to. I'm burnt out on thinking about those numbers. I'll always be motivated to train to the best of my ability because I enjoy the challenge. But with the new job, the vacation, and the stress that comes with making such a huge transition, I can only expect so much. Maybe I'll care more when Richmond rolls around next fall. But maybe not.

I'm really, really happy with the PRs I set this fall in the 5K, 8K, and 10K and I've proven to myself that I can take my running to the next level. In fact, I'm so content with those times that I have satisfied my PR "bug" for awhile, and I am okay with taking a more relaxed approach.

So, what's been going on with my running lately? For the past two weeks I've felt run-down and lethargic, plus my coach told everyone on the team that we should be taking a bit of a break from running. That was a formula for very little running, but I think my body needed the rest.

Week of Nov. 28: 23.6 miles running (including a half marathon), 20 minutes pool running, 1/2 mile swim

Week of Dec. 5: 9 miles of running (all of them very slow and fatigued), 50 minutes pool running

So aside from that half marathon, I haven't been doing very much. I have been keeping up with my core strengthening, but even my planks were shorter and fatigued. Yesterday, I went for a six-mile run and I finally felt like I had some energy. I still plan on keeping the training very light this week and start my "official" Shamrock training next week.

I don't have any upcoming races planned aside from the marathon, although my husband wants to do the same race we did last New Year's Eve. I haven't decided if I'll race that one or if I will just be his cheerleader. He thinks I should just do it as a fun run, which I may.

It's an interesting time for me, to say the least. I've had a great year and a great "run" at my current company, and now it's time to explore a new frontier.

Running, Empowerment and Finding Yourself

2011-12-09T06:28:00.001-05:00

I often get asked why I run. I could honestly write a novel on this topic because there are so many reasons why I run as much as I do. I sometimes even find myself asking why I care so much about a race goal, but I usually can't articulate an answer.

I'll circle back to the topic of why I run, but to do so I'm going to first provide some context.

As I have mentioned in previous posts over the past 6-8 months, I have had a lot of stress in my life recently. Not the type of stress that I had in 2010 when I was planning a wedding, buying a new house and making all kinds of life changes. I'm talking about internal stress. I've been spending a lot of time inside my own head, asking myself some challenging questions and searching for the answers.

The word "stress" has a negative connotation, but stress can be good too! It's how we grow, change and learn about ourselves. My life hasn't changed very much over the past year, but my perceptions have changed drastically. I apologize for speaking in vague terms, but the specifics aren't appropriate or even relevant to this blog. The important point is that our perception of our world IS our world and when our perception changes, WE change. Or more likely-- as we change, so does our perception. I'm getting very philosophical now.

As humans we all need external validation and we all struggle with self-worth in some form of another. No one is exempt from this need. However, understanding this need for approval from others and how it plays into our self-worth requires a great deal of introspection.

For me, the transition from college to the "real world" was a difficult one. Looking back, I think it was the lack of structure that presented the biggest challenge. Until that point, I always knew what I was supposed to be doing, and it was very easy for me to get the external validation I needed. Study. Get good grades. Participate in extra-curricular activities. Have an active social life (ie. go out drinking with friends frequently). I was able to do all of these things relatively well, so my life was easy.

Once I graduated, things weren't as black and white. I needed a goal-- something tangible that was mine and that I could succeed at. Having a job wasn't enough because of stability issues that came with the burst of the DotCom bubble. I also wasn't used to living alone and having to "commute" through traffic to see my friends. This is when I turned to exercise and fitness. It was a very simple solution to filling that need.

About five years later, I discovered racing, which presented me with another opportunity to succeed at something tangible and measurable. I won't go as far as to say that running defined my self-worth, but it was by far the biggest element. It's not that I didn't think there were other valuable aspects about me-- it's just that those other qualities weren't objective. It didn't matter how great I thought I was, because I didn't see myself as a qualified judge. Was I truly intelligent? Was I truly a good person? I thought so-- but I had no way of really knowing that because such things aren't measurable.

When you have something measurable providing you with your sense of self worth, then you don't have to do the real "work" of truly believing in yourself. It's HARD to believe in yourself. It sounds easy, but to truly believe in yourself, you often need to defy what others think. You have to go out on a limb and know your worth even when you think other people might disagree. People who dream big and accomplish great things don't get there by setting "reasonable" goals. They go out on a limb, believe in themselves, and don't listen to people who tell them they can't do something.

I run because it's where I find my power. When I feel that other people are dragging me down and walking all over me, I go for a run and I feel strong again. With running, it's somewhat "safe" to dream big, because there will always be another marathon, another chance to achieve my goals if one race doesn't go my way. And when I do set a new PR or meet a specific race goal, then there's no doubt that I succeeded and nobody can take that feeling away from me by giving their opinion.

Many runners say that they have found themselves through running. I find this to be very true of myself. But it's not an endgame. In fact it's just an opening into many other possibilities for me to unlock my potential.

What's changing in my life is that I'm starting to find power within myself that isn't necessarily measurable. Don't get me wrong-- running is amazing and wonderful and I love it. But I'm finding my own power in terms of knowing what I am truly capable of, even when people around me think I am not. It's one thing when there is just one negative voice among the many other voices of encouragement and praise. But it's another story when it seems like you are the minority in thinking you can succeed at something.

I apologize for the vague nature of this blog post. I do plan to continue to run/train with the same passion and motivation as always. I'm not suggesting that I shift focus away from running, but rather toward how running fits into the bigger picture of my life, who I am, and what I stand for.

St. Jude Memphis Half Marathon: Race Report

2011-12-04T12:41:00.001-05:00

Yesterday morning, I ran the St. Jude Memphis half marathon. This is my third consecutive year participating in this race. In 2009 I ran the half marathon and in 2010 I ran the full marathon. The full marathon went very badly for me last year due to stomach distress, but the half marathon in 2009 was a very good race for me.

Background
The company that I work for is a gold sponsor of the St. Jude Memphis Marathon weekend. Several years ago, we chose St. Jude as our official charity partner and we made a commitment to donate $1 million to the research hospital over a period of time. St. Jude Children's Research hospital was created to find cures for childhood diseases and provide first-class treatment to sick children.

As an avid runner, I knew that St. Jude organized a marathon and half marathon, so I looked into how my company could be a part of that. It turns out that all sponsorship money goes directly to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and that if we sponsored the race, it would help us fulfill our $1 million commitment. As such, I was easily able to convince my CFO to sponsor the event in 2009, and we have been doing so ever since.

Expo Experience

St. Jude Marathon Expo

The company I work for provides software to manufacturing companies. It has nothing to do with running, however, our sponsorship came with an expo booth. My husband and I traveled to Memphis on Thursday to staff the booth. Special thanks goes out to Greg for taking vacation time to come to Memphis with me and keep me company at the expo.

As you may imagine, we got very little traffic, except for the fact that we were giving away pens and people were happy to take those. There was one runner who was a user of our software and I had a great conversation with him.Otherwise, we were there primarily for the brand recognition. It was really cool to see our logo on the race shirt and have our signage on the course. After all, I run the marketing department (and therefore manage the brand) so it was exciting to see people wearing a shirt with my company's logo.

The only other employee from my company who participated was my CFO, but the CEO sent his wife and two of his kids, along with his sister and her husband. I had also invited my friend from Atlanta and her husband to join our team.

Race Goals and Strategy
This was not a target race for me. I was actually much more interested in doing well at my recent 10K and 5K then I was for this half marathon. My mileage had been relatively low and I hadn't done many long runs since my marathon two months ago, so I didn't have any specific training dedicated toward this race. I was mainly looking forward to having a fun time and running a decent race.

Time-wise, I would have liked to go sub-1:40, which would have meant a PR by a bit less than two minutes. On the one hand, I know I am in much better shape now then when I ran my 1:41:40 last October. On the other hand, 1:41 is a very solid half marathon time, so I'd have to push myself to beat it.

My strategy was to take it easy during the first 5K and then just run the race by feel, without looking at my Garmin too much. I've run enough of these that I know what half marathon pace should feel like.

Race Morning
Greg and I met up with two of our friends and headed to the start line. Our hotel was just three blocks from the start line, and the self-corralling system was very clearly marked. I didn't see any obvious walkers in the faster corrals. Corrals are released one minute apart, leaving plenty of room on the course for the runners. At the same time back home, many of my friends were running the Hot Chocolate 15K and 5K, which was a logistical nightmare. Knowing what they were going through, I was very happy to have a short walk to the start and a course that was not overcrowded.

Greg and I started near the 3:25 marathon pacer, which would yield a half marathon time of 1:42:30. I thought that starting out near him would be perfect, and then I would gradually start to speed up and pass him-- hopefully catching the 3:20 guy toward the end of the race. Greg didn't have high expectations for this race because he hasn't been training much since our marathon two months ago. But we still started out together.

Miles 1-3
The race started and I was running about 20 feet behind the 3:25 pacer. It wasn't long before Greg sped up and got ahead of me, and I stayed steady. I glance down at my Garmin a few times and saw that I was running at about an 8:00 pace, which I was fine with.

Mile 2 came and I knew it would be faster because it had a long downhill. I decided to just keep the effort level steady. After the downhill, there was a bit of an uphill and that's when I realized that I didn't feel very well. I saw Greg wave to some people cheering on top of a hill, and I didn't want to expend the energy to do that. But this was mile 2! I didn't want to write the race off yet, but I could tell that my energy level was very low.

I just focused on staying relaxed and maintaining the pace (based on feel, not on the Garmin) and I didn't care that the 3:25 guy was no longer in my sight by mile 3.

Mile 1: 8:02
Mile 2: 7:43
Mile 3: 8:03

Miles 4-7
I took my first honey at mile marker 4, thinking that some calories might make me feel more peppy. But it didn't seem to make any difference at all. I started thinking about why I could be feeling so tired. I had gotten a decent amount of sleep that week-- but I had waken up quite a few times during the middle of the night on Thursday and Friday night due to the hotel bed being small.

I knew it was time to pick up the pace and start running at what felt like half marathon pace, but I didn't feel like I had the energy to do so. My pace of 8:00 didn't feel like half marathon effort, but I felt really tired doing that, and I didn't think I had the energy for faster. I glanced at my Garmin off and on, and was maintaining a pace of around 8:00, but I kept running by feel instead of letting the Garmin dictate my pace.

If this had happened a year ago, I think I would have been too focused on time to pay attention to my body. I would have sped up to my target 7:40 pace and probably crashed really hard.

I remembered when I ran this race in 2009 after coming off of a foot injury and being shocked that I held a pace of 8:00. I was very happy with that pace back then, so I was going to be content with it now. This wasn't a target race for me, so as long as I could just hang in there and not have a repeat of the full Memphis marathon in 2010, I'd be fine.

Mile 4: 7:38 (partially under a bridge, Garmin was off a bit)
Mile 5: 7:48
Mile 6: 7:58
Mile 7: 7:55

Miles 8-10
I was feeling so bad by mile marker 8, that I had to remind myself that I only had five miles left. During the recent Milwaukee Lakefront marathon, I started feeling bad at mile 13, and I still had 13 miles to go. But it was like being at mile 21 of a marathon, so that thought was encouraging.

At this point, I knew I was going to have to slow down, it would just be a matter of how soon and by how much. Mile 10 is probably the toughest mile of the race which has a lot of uphills, and that's when most of the people in my "group" started passing me-- including Greg. I felt like a snail going up the hills and I just wanted to collapse. I was so tired. Even though I ran an 8:22 pace for mile 10, my effort level was the same because of all the hills, but then I felt completely "done" after mile 10.

Mile 8: 7:56
Mile 9: 8:02
Mile 10: 8:22

Miles 11-13.1

Approaching the Finish

After mile 10, I wanted to walk. I was afraid I was going to have to run-walk to the finish and not even get a sub 1:50. Thankfully, mile 11 was mainly downhill. But there were a few uphills, and I did walk for a few seconds on those.

Mile 12 came and I walked a few times, about 5-10 seconds each time. But I told myself "you are only prolonging this experience by walking. It's not helping you at all. Just run and you'll be done with it faster." All I wanted to do was to lay down and just pass out. But I tried my hardest to tolerate it for two more miles.

The last mile was pretty much all downhill. It starts with an uphill, but then the last 3/4 of that mile is a nice downhill. I walked for a little bit on the uphill and then decided to really push hard on the downhill because the end would be there soon. I passed mile marker 13 and just cruised to the finish on the downhill and into the stadium at a surprising 7:03 pace. I guess I had some energy left in me.

Mile 11: 8:32
Mile 12: 8:43
Mile 13: 8:37
Last 0.2 (per garmin): 7:03 pace

The Finish
I crossed the finish line and saw Greg. I was so happy to be done! I starting coughing out air off and on, but that stopped after about 5-10 minutes. And then I felt okay. I probably could have pushed myself more during this race, but it really wasn't "my day" and it wasn't a target race so I just went with what I thought my body could tolerate without making myself feel completely sick and miserable.

Official time: 1:46:49

Thoughts
My time was far off from my goal, but it wasn't horrible given how tired I felt throughout the race, and I'm not beating myself up for my fitness level or making some big mistake. I seriously thought that I might not even get under 1:50. I know I'm in great shape, as evidenced by my recent 10K and 5K races-- yesterday was just an off day for me. I ran this race in 1:44:30 back in 2009, and I am in far better shape today.

What really does bother me, however, is that this type of thing just "happens". This same exact thing happened to me at the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon-- a lack of energy that left me run-walking starting at mile 14, despite going out at a pace that was "easy". It also happened to me at the 2009 Cherry Blossom 10-miler. I started feeling crappy at mile two, and then by mile five I pulled off the course and DNFed. No real explanation for why-- I just didn't have any energy in me.

My coach suggested that flying to races could be putting an extra strain on my body, or maybe I was coming down with a cold/flu. My allergies had really been acting up the day before the race, but overall I felt decent, so I thought they were just allergies-- like I was allergic to my "pet-friendly" hotel room.

Maybe I've been running too many races. I ran a 10K on Oct. 29, followed by another 10K on Nov. 13, and then a 5K on Nov. 24. I've also been doing speed work in between these races. Maybe I was burned out on racing. Who knows!?

I really don't have an explanation, and that's what bugs me. There isn't anything I can focus on to prevent this type of thing. There was no way for me to predict this was going to happen, and I can't pinpoint the cause. I wasn't anxious or stressed about this race, although I guess my restless sleep could have played a role.
I guess one good thing is that my legs feel 100% normal today. Absolutely no soreness. Because I ran the race at a relatively easy pace, there wasn't much strain on my legs. However, I do plan to take two days from running just to be on the safe side. And I plan to take the next two weeks very easy-- in case I was burned out from too many races and too much speedwork.

In any case, it was a fun weekend with my husband, my friends, and the rest of the runners on my company's team. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is an amazing organization, and it was wonderful to participate in an even that supported such a noble mission.

My corporate team (minus the 13-year old who was looking for his results)

My First Sub-7:00 Race

2011-11-24T09:46:00.001-05:00

The title of this blog says it all. Well, most of it (otherwise I wouldn't need to blog). I was fairly confident in my ability to run a sub-7:00 average pace this morning in my 5K, but I if I did, it would be by the skin of my teeth. Maybe one of those annoying things when your Garmin says you rain a 6:59 average pace, but the official pace is 7:01.

This morning, my husband Greg and I ran the Virginia Run Turkey Trot 5K. This was my 6th consecutive year running this race.

Goals
My main goal for this race was to run sub-22:00, but I thought that if I was having a really good day, I could run around 21:45, for a sub-7:00 pace. I had just ran my fastest 5K ever as the second half of a 10K race, so I was fairly certain I could PR at the very least. I actually couldn't really imagine a sub-7:00 average, but the McMillan Calculator indicated that it was possible based on my recent 8K and 10K races. However, those two races were flat and this course has a huge hill in the second mile and a lot of other rollers.

Other goals were to not look at my Garmin after the first mile and to push as hard as I could during the last mile.

Pre-Race
The weather was 40 degrees and sunny, which usually means short sleeves and shorts for me. However, I had just purchased new CWX capri tights that felt awesome to run in, so I figured I would give those a try. Yesterday was ridiculously windy, so I chose long sleeves, a decision I would later regret. If it were any other race distance I would have certainly gone with short sleeves, but I figured, "how hot can you really get in 22 minutes?"

Greg and I parked, warmed up for 2.4 miles and then lined up. This race is notorious for slower runners and kids starting at the very front. As I was walking towards the start line, I saw a 12-year-old girl wearing the race t-shirt at the very front. Not one row back-- but at the absolute front. I later saw her walking halfway through the first mile. Every year I lose time in the first mile because of weaving and being blocked by slower runners, so I lined up in the 3rd row back. Next to me were two teenage sisters who looked to be about 12 and 15, both wearing the race-shirt. I figured that if they were going to be that close, so could I.

I was actually warm standing at the start line after having warmed up. I really wished I had gone with short sleeves but it was too late now. I rolled up my sleeves and kept them like that the whole race.

Greg and I were next to each other, and he said he was going to try and keep me in his sight the entire time. He hasn't been training very much lately so he didn't have high expectations for this race.

Mile 1: 7:00
Because of the course profile, you really have to run this race strategically. The first mile is rolling hills, with what seems to be a net downhill. So you have to go out faster than your goal pace, but not too much faster. You also need to do this while weaving around slower runners, who I inevitably found myself behind. (I'm not just talking about people running in the 8:00's, but people who were doing a very slow jog.) I was also entertained by people bonking in the first mile (mainly teenagers) because they completely ran out of breath by going out too fast. Anyway, I was planning for this mile to be around 6:55, but wasn't too discouraged when I logged a 7:00.

Mile 2: 7:05
I didn't look at my Garmin at all this mile, but I did look at it to see my split. I was sooo tempted to look at it during the long hill, but I forced myself to focus on nailing that hill. I imagined I was at a hill workout with my coach telling me to lean forward and pump the arms. I pictured him in my mind watching me and my form, and I wanted to make sure I was doing it correctly. Instead of looking at the Garmin and thinking about how this hill was slowing my pace as I have in years past, I focused on my form and using my arms and I was at the top before I even knew it!

Mile 3: 6:42
I did sneak a quick glance at the Garmin once during this mile and that reminded me exactly why I wasn't supposed to be doing that. This pace was extremely fast. I told myself to ignore that pace and keep putting out a strong effort. Just run! With about 0.3 miles left to go my stomach started to hurt. It was a good hurt though, like I was about to vomit. I think you're supposed to feel this way at the end of a 5K, otherwise you aren't pushing hard enough.

Last 0.1: (6:08 pace)
I kept my eyes on the finish line, got energized by the people cheering me in and gunned it.

Official time: 21:29 with an average pace of 6:56.

This is a PR by 49 seconds, which is very significant for a 5K. I still cannot believe I ran it that fast. And with hills. This is a course PR by 1:04 from my race last year in 22:33.

I placed 15 out of 1983 women
I placed 4 out of 369 women ages 30-39

I am just thrilled with how I raced this. I guess being a little slower than expected in the first mile really paid off in the last mile.

Greg finished shortly after me in 21:44. Not a PR for him, but considering his very light training over the past two months, it's fantastic.

Here is a fun Turkey Trot history grid:

Date	Mile 1	Mile 2	Mile 3	Finish Time
2008	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	23:22
2009	7:25	7:44	7:37	23:40
2010	7:19	7:19	7:07	22:33
2011	7:00	7:05	6:42	21:29

The irony of all of this is that my fall training has been the lowest mileage of nearly all of my training cycles. My weekly mileage has been in the mid 30's for the most part, with some weeks in the 40's when I was training for Milwaukee Lakefront.

I can't pinpoint exactly what has caused this sudden speediness and massive PRs in the 8K, 10K, and 5K, but I'm guessing it's a combination of my core strengthening (which I do religiously), my swimming and my pool intervals. (I get my HR up higher in pool intervals than on a track). Of course, my coach has been encouraging these types of activities and the actual track workouts have contributed as well. But that is a topic for another blog post.

Right now, I am going to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family and be super excited about my massive PR!!!!

A Zebra Doesn't Change Its Stripes

2011-11-18T16:19:00.000-05:00

I was so excited to know my time that I ruined my finish line photos! I specifically tried NOT to do that this year, but I guess I wasn't as far away from the finish as I thought!

Veteran's Day 10K 2009
48:54 PR

Veteran's Day 10K 2011
45:19 PR

I've been taking it pretty easy this week in terms of running. I know I will need fresh legs for my Turkey Trot 5K next week!

I took a complete rest day on the Monday after the race, and on Tuesday I went for an easy pool run and 900 yd swim. On Wednesday I was back out on the road with an easy 7-miler. Thursday was another easy 7-miler, although the pace was a bit zippier. Today I subjected myself to 5 x 3:00 pool running intervals (harder than track intervals!) and tomorrow I plan to do a long run of 14-15 miles.

In other news, I jumped on the Richmond Marathon bandwagon and registered for the 2012 race at the low introductory price of $55. (Which means no Veteran's Day 10K). It will be the five-year anniversary of my first sub-4:00 marathon, and I'd like to beat my 2007 time by 30 minutes. It's a pipe dream at the moment, but I'm going to work hard all year to try and make it happen. It's not horribly unrealistic for someone to decrease his/her marathon time by 30 minutes over a 5-year period of consistent training.

I do regret that I am missing out on the opportunity to experience a new marathon, but Richmond is one of my all-time favorites. Let's just hope I can hold off a few seconds before hitting that "stop" button on the Garmin!

Birthday 10K PR

2011-11-13T14:56:00.001-05:00

I love my birthday-- 11/11. Naturally, I was very excited on Friday when it was 11/11/11. I turned 33 (11+11+11=33). I felt so special!

11/11/11 was such a stripey day!

I took the afternoon off from work to have lunch with my mother, pickup my race packet and buy myself some new running gear. I bought my first pair of running capri pants ever-- CWX compression ones. I also bought two pairs of smart wool socks for when the temperature starts getting down into the teen's.

My husband surprised me that evening with tickets to the Foo Fighters concert. I was so excited. I used to have a tradition of going to a rock concert during my marathon taper. It would get my mind off the race and then I would listen to those songs in my iPod and they'd be "fresh" again. I haven't done that in awhile, so it was nice to have a concert during my pseudo 10K taper. He even hired us a car service so that we wouldn't have to drive, and there were a dozen red roses waiting in the back seat for me after the concert.

I didn't get much sleep on Friday night because no matter what, I wake up at 5:00am. It doesn't matter when I fall asleep-- 8:00pm or 1:00am. I always wake up around 5:00am. To compensate for this lack of sleep I took about an hour long nap on Saturday.

I've said this many times in my blog before, but I think that the 10K is my most challenging distance. The 5K and the 8K are short enough that you don't have to endure the pain for long. The half marathon and marathon are comfortable for at least the first half. But the 10K-- that is a long distance to be running that hard. You have to push hard the entire time and it just always feel like such a long time to be pushing that hard. For years, the 10K was my "slowest" distance according to all the calculators. All of my other race times, including the marathon, were equivalents of each other. But my 10Ks were always notably slower.

Race Morning and Goals
My friend Kathy came over to my house at 6:15 and my husband drove us to the race in Washington DC. My husband decided not to run this one because he's been training very lightly since the marathon. He instead played the role of bag check/photographer/chauffeur/cheering squad.

Kathy and I met up with Dorothy for a 15-minute warmup. Kathy and I decided that we were going to start together at a 7:20 pace and then see what happened. I was fairly confident that I could run the race at a 7:20 pace and was hoping to be able to speed up during the last two miles. But if I couldn't then I would still be happy with 7:20.

My "A" goal for this race was to break 46:00 and my "B" goal was to PR by beating 46:34. To accomplish this, I was going to use the mental toughness strategies I employed at the Run Geek Run 8K. The Veteran's Day 10K course is almost identical to that 8K course (they just add an extra 1.2 miles) so I was trying to mimic my 8K as much as possible. I knew I'd probably end up with a different mantra, but I just needed to be very confident that I could stay on pace and not give up the effort level.

Also, I was going to try to minimize the number of times I looked at my Garmin. I wanted to pay attention to my pace so that I didn't fall off, but I wanted the focus to be on running by feel and being strong.

The weather was ideal. Sunny and upper 40's with a slight breeze. The course was about as flat as they come.

Miles 1-2: 7:23, 7:22
Kathy and I didn't stay together for more than the first few steps. I ended up going a bit slower than the predicted 7:20 and she went slightly faster. About 3/4 of a mile into it, I saw my coach and he told me to relax for the first half and really pick it up in the second half. There was a very slight headwind that wasn't affecting my pace but it was making my 7:20's feel tougher than I would have liked.

Mile 3: 7:20
During the third mile, I started to seriously doubt my ability to go sub-46:00. I was just going to hope to PR. I was at a 7:20 pace and it was tough and there was no way I could speed up. I hit the 5K mark in 23:05 which meant I'd have to speed up to meet my goal.

Mile 4: 7:16

But I was right about that headwind. I turned around and things got much easier. Also, getting over that mental hump of being over halfway there helped. My 7:16 for mile 4 felt easier than my 7:20 for mile 3. My confidence was coming back.

Mile 5: 7:09
Not looking at the Garmin paid off here because I think I would have been freaked out to see how fast I was going. This mile went by pretty quickly. I didn't use a mantra, but I was singing an Incubus song to myself and repeating the same lyrics over and over. It was a good distraction. I also found myself getting closer to Kathy. This was a good motivator for me because she always runs strong and finishing anywhere in her league would be awesome for me.

Mile 6: 7:12
I tried to rally my final kick from the 8K as it was the exact same last mile. I had started out that last mile relatively slow, gone over a bridge, and then really just turned it on through the finish. I didn't look at my Garmin at all during this mile. I was 100% focused on running hard and staying strong.

The last 0.2: 6:30 pace
As I got closer to the finish line, I very quickly glanced down at my Garmin to see the time. I was only able to catch the seconds. It said :37. Dammit! The finish line was way too far away for me to cross in just 23 seconds. I wanted that sub-46:00 so badly! Maybe if I pushed really, really hard I could get it. Although I knew it would be useless because the finish line was still too far. But as I crossed, I noticed that the clock was in the low 45's. OMG! My watch hadn't said 45:37. . . it had said 44:37. Holy smokes! I looked at my Garmin data later and it shows a dramatic acceleration during the last 0.2 from a pace of 6:45 to a pace of 5:26. I only held that for a few seconds, but I was in the very low 6's for that final bit. The Garmin can be very motivating! Had I not looked at my Garmin when I did, I would have run the race about 4-5 seconds slower.

First half: 23:05
Second half: 22:14
Final time: 45:19

This was quite the negative split. Part of it was my race strategy, but I think the wind did play a small role. The awesome thing is that the second half of the race is a new 5K PR for me by 4 seconds!!!

Overall, this was a PR by 1:15, which is fairly significant.

I finished 12 of 242 in my age group
I finished 61 out of 1139 women

I ran this race in 2009, while coming back from an injury. I beat that time by over three minutes!

Final Thoughts
This PR was a wonderful birthday present. And now I am super excited about my 5K Turkey trot, given that I just ran my fastest 5K ever--- during a 10K. I am once again reminded of how much of this is mental. I honestly felt like it wasn't my day during the first half of the race, but as soon as I turned it on, I had all this extra energy and I ran the perfect race.

Kathy and Me After the Race

15 Minutes of Fame

2011-11-02T06:32:00.001-04:00

Shortly after crossing the finish line of the Rock 'N Roll Half marathon in Virginia Beach, a reporter from Washington Running Report, DC's local running magazine, began to interview me.

I naturally thought I might be in the article, but when the online version came out, I realized that I wasn't mentioned. No big deal. (Except for this guy thought it necessary to comment on my race report with solely a link to the online article-- does he have nothing better to do with his time?)

On Monday, I received the print version of Washington Running Report in the mail. I started flipping through it, and much to my surprise, I found a picture of myself from that race!

I'm not crazy about the photo, or the time I ran that day, but nevertheless-- I was there, it was hot, and I carried my bottle of G2 with pride!

Wicked Windy 10K

2011-10-29T18:52:00.000-04:00

If you're ever considering running a 10K when the last 1.5 miles are directly into a 21 mph sustained headwind with 35 mph gusts, don't do it. Unless the race is the Blue Moon Wicked 10K in Virginia Beach. That race is wicked awesome.

Why Wicked?

The Expo was very festive!

There were many reasons for my decision to run this race. Unlike most races, I didn't announce that I was running this race on my Facebook page beforehand and I only told my husband, some co-workers and my friend who lives in Virginia Beach. I wanted this to be a no-pressure stress-free fun run. Here are some of the reasons I chose this race:

I've been getting emails about this race from J & A racing for the past few years and it's always looked fun to me. These are the same folks that organize the Shamrock marathon, so I knew it would be just as fun, only shorter.
This was a great way to gauge my fitness for my target 10K in two weeks
I wanted to do a race where the focus was on having a good time, not running a good time!
One of my best friends lives in VA Beach so this race was a great reason to visit her
I thought it would be fun to see all of the costumes.
Great swag! Just as much as if you ran the full marathon: a long-sleeve dry-wicking running shirt with an awesome design, a finisher's medal, a finisher's hat. I also bought the "J & A Brewing Company" pint glass and some black shorts that say "Wicked" on the back of them.
I wanted to wear all of my zebra running gear at the same time and be a zebra.

Weather & Outfit

This is actually post-race with my medal.

The hourly forecast predicted a 100% chance of rain-- and this was less than 24 hours to race start. I did not feel one drop during the race. Just goes to show you how forecasts can be completely wrong. The temperature was predicted to be about 50 and it ended up being in the low 60's.

Based on the forecast, I decided to wear a hat to keep the water out of my eyes along with a pair of zebra print gloves and zebra print arm warmers. I have this wonderful GIM Headband in zebra print, but I didn't even pack that because I was so certain I was going to wear the hat. I ended up not wearing the hat and really needing the headband because my wispy hairs were flying all over the place in the wind. I didn't end up wearing my gloves at all and I got hot so I had to remove the zebra arm warmers mid-race.

Pre-Race

My friend who I stayed with has a cat. I am very allergic to cats and typically cannot be in a house that has a cat for more than 10 minutes. However, with the help of some Allegra D, I was good to go.

I made sure that I got a non-drowsy allergy medication because Zyrtec knocks me out and I didn't want to go into the race like that. Allegra D had the opposite effect. I fell asleep at 9:30 and woke up at 12:30. And that was my sleep for the night. I could feel my heart beating fast and I felt like I had a lot of caffeine in me. I wasn't at all anxious about the race and I didn't even think about the race. I might have slept for a little between 2:30 and 3:30, but I'm not sure. Essentially I ran the race on 3-4 hours of sleep. Fortunately I slept wonderfully two nights before the race, which is far more important than the night immediately before the race.

I got to the race super early because they said it could be hard to park. The convention center was open so most people were hanging out in there. I got to use a toilet with running water which was nice.

I warmed up for 1.2 miles and did a few drills. Then I headed for my corral. The announcer noted "not many people in corral one are wearing costumes!" Which was true. Only about 25% of the people in my corral had a costume. Most of the costumes were further back.

Miles 1-2 (7:27, 7:27)

I thought I'd go out at a pace of 7:30 and see where that took me. Ideally I would speed up later in the race but if not, that was okay. I had to keep reining myself in on the first mile. It felt so easy and I didn't trust that I was actually running in the 7:20's. It felt more like an 8:00 pace. But of course, things do feel super easy at the beginning of a 10K. The first mile ran east directly into the head wind (coming from the Southeast). However, there were plenty of people to draft off of so I didn't feel it that much. Mile two was headed south, so I started to really feel the effects of the wind. People started to space out so it was harder to find a consistent runner to draft off of. And since the wind was coming at me from the side as well, I would have needed someone in front of me and on my side.

Miles 3-4 (7:22, 7:15)

Bib Numbers had Names!

During mile 3 I started to notice I was getting hot. I could feel that burning sensation in my face and I knew I was probably getting a very red face like I do when I overheat. Ironically, 8:00am was the warmest time of day and then it started to fall throughout the day. I rolled down my zebra arm warmers and by mile 4 I had gone as far as to take one of them completely off. The good news was that there was a turnaround in mile 3 giving a slight tailwind, but the bad news was that we were on the boardwalk and the wind was still coming at us pretty heavily from the ocean. Throughout the race I could hear the rattling of paper bibs. Whenever a gust would come, I held my bib in place for fear it would fall off. This race used the B-Tag so I really didn't want anything happening to my bib.

Mile 4 was awesome. We got off the boardwalk and there was a slight tailwind. I swear though, the headwind seemed far more powerful than the tailwind. There was this nice woman who suggested I tuck right into her "pack" so that they could shield me from the wind. I was able to keep up with them until we turned around and were back into the headwind in mile 5.

Miles 5-6 (7:51, 8:16)

The last 1.5 miles of this course was the worst of both worlds-- on the boardwalk with no buildings to block the wind from the ocean and a headwind. There were a few times when the gusts were so strong I was literally running in place. Even after I finished and was walking around there were times when I struggled to maintain balance and not be pushed around by the wind. It was just very, very painful and difficult to be running into that kind of wind. I've had headwinds in races before, but nothing like this. I told myself to just stay strong and keep pushing. I knew that this last mile would ruin my chance of a PR but I told myself it was good practice for the Shamrock marathon finish. That race can be very windy as well so I wanted to have confidence going into that race in March. Even though the splits look like a bonk, I did not bonk. I stayed strong and pushed very hard.

Last 0.2

I think this really tells the story. Average pace of 7:50. It was all I could muster. I did have a final kick, but with the wind having tired me out so much and it still going, all I had in me was a 7:50 pace.

When I finished, it took me my usual two minutes to feel "right" which meant the medical people were trying to help me. When I give a good final kick, which is pretty much always, I feel dizzy and out of sorts at the finish line and it's normal for me. I guess I'm unique because I'm always the prime target for the medical people. It's rare that I ever actually need their help-- I just always look like death from pulling out 100% effort at the end.

I got a medal and a finisher's hat which I was super excited about. In all honestly though, this race was much harder for me than the Shamrock half marathon in 2009. I pushed myself harder today than I did back then and fought a tough mental battle. "It's just a 10K" is BS. This 10K was harder than many of my half marathons and so the medal is very well deserved!

I AM the 1%.

If I haven't already mentioned how awesome this race is, they sent me my results in this virtual certificate-- just hours after the finish! Percentile wise, I finished in the top 1% of my age group and the top 1% of all females. Interestingly, this race had exactly 7000 total finishers.

It would have been nice to have been in the top 10 of my age group. But 11 is my favorite number, so I'm happy!

The race is exactly 1:00 slower than my PR. If it had been a bit cooler and less windy I think I could have shaved over a minute off of my time, so that leaves me optimistic about my fitness level and the potential for a PR at the Veteran's Day 10K.

I had such a fun time, despite the wind, and I'm already thinking about how I can plan my 2012 fall marathon around this race!

Nike Women's Marathon: The Non-Race Report

2011-10-17T08:13:00.001-04:00

Here I am in San Francisco for a conference that my company is hosting. It's 4:00am here and I have been up since 3:20. My body clock is extremely rigid and it's very hard to get it to adjust to another time zone. I'm able to stay up until about 9:00pm here, but regardless of when I fall asleep, I wake up super early.

Even though this conference is important for my work and I was looking forward to seeing the event come together, I was not looking forward to the trip as a whole. Before I left, I was feeling depressed about my running and the fact that I don't get to spend much time with my husband this month because we both have work travel (but at different times, of course!)

In my last post, I mentioned that I was struggling with the mental issues that contributed to my bonk at Milwaukee. I've decided that I need to address these issues not because I want a good marathon time, but because I want to be a more balanced person. I want to be more laid back, I want to take life one day at a time and I want to be less obsessive about my running. At the same time, I can't jump back into running because my hip has been bothering me-- I think it's bursitis. My dear friend Cristina suggested that I use this "break" from running as an opportunity to work on all of the above challenges.

View of the bay from a Duck Tour

I had a choice to make. I could either be miserable for this entire trip and let it affect my mood at the conference. Or I could really try and work on being positive and letting go of some of my anxiety about my hip and my fall racing schedule. I chose the latter.

I registered for the Nike Women's Marathon back in April because I knew I would be in San Francisco at the same time. The start line is actually just one block from my hotel. Even though Milwaukee Lakefront was my target race, I figured I would do Nike as a fun run or even a fun run-walk and really enjoy the scenery. After all, I was going to be here anyway so it was a perfect opportunity to participate.

With everything that went on with Milwaukee and my hip not feeling great, I decided I would just run the half instead of the full-- but still at a very easy pace. But last week, my coach strongly advised against me running at all. He told me not even to start the race because I would be rationalizing with myself about how it was okay to keep running. Once again I had a choice-- do I run the Nike Women's half marathon and then take off a few weeks from running and put my fall racing schedule in jeopardy. Or do I skip the marathon completely and focus on recovering my hip. Many people would have chosen to run Nike because it's such a cool race with amazing scenery and course entertainment. Not to mention the Tiffany necklace you get at the end and the finisher's shirt. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity because I don't see myself coming all the way out to San Francisco on my own just to run this race. I chose to focus on recovering my hip. Now and not later.

On Saturday, I searched the Craigslist postings and found someone who was willing to pay $150 for a bib (that was how much I actually paid for mine). I am generally against unauthorized bib selling, but I figured if I removed the timing device from the bib then it wouldn't be someone else running under my name. The buyer was fine with that and he just wanted to run for fun anyway. So with $150 cash in hand, it made it a little easier for me to not run the race. Plus, I knew I wouldn't be tempted to just get out there on Sunday morning and ignore my previous decision.

My friend Meredith ran the half marathon

What made it even more difficult was that my co-workers were all asking me if I was running in the race and I had to keep saying no and explaining my hip injury. Since none of them are runners, this responses resulted in a lot of "so the running is finally catching up with you" and "hips are the first thing to go". Not helpful.

So on Sunday morning, I got dressed in my bathing suit and headed out the door of the hotel to the pool next door. At this point, it was 6:45am and the race started at 7:00. There were 22,000 people running this race and the start line was so long that runners were even lined up in front of my hotel. I loved the "vibe". And it felt great to be enjoying the pre-race excitement without being nervous about the race. I heard the National Anthem and a few other announcements. And then I headed into the building next door with the pool. Even the guy at the front desk asked me why I was swimming and not doing the race!

As I swam (I think pool running might be aggravating the hip, so I am sticking to swimming) I had a bit of a revelation. I thought to myself that there are 22,000 people out there doing the race. But only one person swimming in this pool. Well, actually there was one other person-- but you get the point.

One of the reasons I love marathons is the challenge. But wasn't it actually MORE of a challenge to be swimming alone in a pool when there was a super exciting race going on outside? For me, yes. And if we want to speak just physically, swimming laps is not easy. No, I definitely was not slacking off. No, I shouldn't think I failed because I couldn't run Nike. Yes, I am doing the best I can given my circumstances. Yes, it is more of a challenge to NOT run the race than to run it. Kinda backwards thinking, but given what I know about my personality, I have to realize that I actually am challenging myself by not running. It's just a different kind of challenge. One that I actually think I need right now.

Yes, I will lose a lot of the fitness I built up over the summer. I simply need to accept that and be okay with that. It's not the end of the world! We can't always be at peak fitness all the time.

I don't know when I will attempt to run again or even pool run. My hip has actually never hurt that much, but it's one of those things you can just "feel". I've already taken a full week off of land running so hopefully it shouldn't be too much longer. But once again, the uncertainty and the lack of control is something I need to learn to just accept. Right now I am focusing on the bigger picture of my attitude, so my actual fitness level is taking the back burner.

Since I do acknowledge that I am losing some fitness, this provides me with another opportunity to race without any expectations. Once my hip is fully recovered and I think I am ready to race at full effort, I will honestly have no idea what to expect, so I'll get to just run by feel without being a slave to the Garmin.

Even though I never want to compete in a triathlon, it's nice that my swimming is getting stronger. I swam a full mile yesterday (all freestyle) and only stopped twice for water. I'm not trying to be fast with my swimming, I just want to be able to swim for a decent amount of time to keep my cardiovascular fitness up and maybe get some upper body strength.

I'm actually headed out for a swim now, and then I will be focusing on the conference all day. Hopefully the event goes smoothly and I continue to be positive about this challenge to re-frame my mindset.

Lessons

2011-10-12T11:20:00.000-04:00

I've spent the past week and a half trying to recover from the marathon, both mentally and physically. But more so mentally.

I'll start with the physical-- that's easier. My hip felt a bit sore going into the marathon. It started about a week prior to the race, and I'm not sure why because my mileage was super low from the taper. The marathon didn't seem to make it any worse. In fact, the hip wasn't even an issue at all during the marathon because my entire body just felt so horrible.

For the most part, my legs recovered pretty quickly. I kept all my workouts in the pool until Thursday, when I did an easy 4-miler. My next run was an 8-miler on Sunday and that's all the running I've done post-marathon. I could feel my hip during the 8-miler but it wasn't bad-- just nagging. I saw Dr. Maggs (an ART provider) on Monday and he told me that I should focus on resting my hip. Even though it wasn't a big problem now, it could become a lot worse.

My coach agreed. I had been planning on running the Nike Women's half marathon as a training run this weekend, but my coach thinks that's an "awful idea". I've been looking forward to running this race since March, just as a fun run, and now my coach is advising against it and my doctor isn't thrilled with the idea either. If my hip were really hurting me, it would be much easier for me to just abandon the race. But since it's just a small amount of soreness, it's very difficult for me to not still want to do it. I don't even have an official diagnosis, but it's probably something like bursitis. It' doesn't hurt in one particular area, though, it's like the entire hip area.

As for the mental recovery, I'm trying to rid myself of the idea that my marathon PR is the ultimate indicator of how good a runner I am. My marathon PR does not define me as a runner or a person. It's just a number. I really hate it when I meet someone new and I tell them I run marathons and then they ask me what my best time is. It's like they want to know how fast I am and my marathon PR is how they are going to judge me-- without knowing anything about my training or other races.

I know that I shouldn't care about what other people think. Especially strangers I just met. But I think my marathon PR from 2008 is a misrepresentation of who I am as a runner, so I hate that question. I've come so far since March of 2008 as a runner and yet I still answer the "what's your fastest time" question the exact same way.

It also annoys me when I hear about people who don't run much, and decide they want to run a marathon with the goal of qualifying for Boston. They run all their training runs at their qualifying pace. They go into the marathon, qualify for Boston and then move on to something else. And then there's someone like me, who should have been able to BQ over 2 years ago, who has read books about marathons, has a coach, wears a heart rate monitor, wins age group awards at all other distances, does everything "right" but then just can't pull it all together on marathon day. It doesn't seem fair, but as we all know, life is not fair.

I know this is happening to me because I'm supposed to be learning something that is a lot larger than running. I need to work on being less anxious. I need to not be as perfectionistic. I have to be ok with the fact that many things are not within my control. I need to stop using numbers to validate my success. I need to be less uptight. These are all areas that I have tried to address in the past and I've made significant progress on. But apparently, I still have a ways to go. These are the areas that I need to focus on-- not my training or my marathon times.

Not focusing on a particular marathon time is exactly what I tried to do with Milwaukee. I actually didn't have a goal time, but rather a large range where I expected I would fall. I had a strategy about how I would run the race and I was confident that my time would be good based on my fitness level.

But now I'm in a spot where I've been told to keep all of my workouts in the pool until my hip feels better and I just feel like all my hard work from over the summer is going down the drain. I won't even have access to a pool for an entire week when I am in San Francisco.

I think I just need to remove myself from being so immersed in running and so I apologize in advance for my lack of comments on the blogs I regularly comment on.

I don't feel burnt out. I love running and I have never dreaded going into a run. If I could go run 10 miles right now that would make me very happy! Even on days when my runs don't go well, I still enjoy them. Heck-- I even enjoyed Milwaukee. It was a miserable experience, yes, but I enjoyed that I was there and that I was taking part in the event. Running is "fun" for me, but I don't run for the sole purpose of fun. If "fun" was all I was after I would find something else to spend my time on. I enjoy the challenge. I love the personal fulfillment I get out of each run. I love setting goals for myself and attaining them. Whether the goal is to run an easy 5 miles or to pass as many people as possible in the last mile of a race.

While I'm far from burnt out, I'm definitely discouraged. I worked really hard all summer and now that the weather is finally nice, I am stuck in the pool with no marathon glory and no idea how the rest of the racing season will play out.

Milbonkee Lakefront Marathon

2011-10-03T14:12:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I completed my 13th marathon-- the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. It was a huge disappointment for me, but I think I took away some valuable lessons.

I think it makes the most sense for me to write this blog backwards, starting with the race itself, then moving on to the taper, and then taking a look at my previous marathons.

The Race
Even though I was miserable for the majority of this race, I have nothing but words of praise for the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon. It’s a great course, extremely well organized, a highly competitive field, not too large or too small, and with plenty of runner amenities. Before the race started we waited inside a high school with access to bathrooms that had running water. We weren’t called to the start line until about 15-minutes pre-race, so there was minimal waiting around in the cold.

The weather was near perfect. Low 40’s and sunny at the start, mid 50’s at the finish. A 5 mph tailwind. Everything was in my favor. Training had gone well, I avoided injuries and illness, I had some good tune-up races. I was ready!

Strategy
I didn’t have a particular time goal in mind for this race. My coach recommended that I go out at a pace of 8:20-8:30 for the first 10K, and then gradually speed up. I assume he based this starting pace on my training paces, successful training cycle, recent 8K race and half marathon PR. He’s a conservative coach with a “start slow finish fast mentality” and I agreed that a pace of around 8:25 was easy for me.

He told me not to over-think it or look at my Garmin too much. This sounded like a great plan. Before I got a Garmin, I ran all of my marathons on feel and I had a streak of 7 races that all went better than I hoped for. Somewhere along the way I got addicted to the Garmin’s feedback and stopped running marathons by feel.

My mentality going into the race was to “just do it” and let the race come to me. I wasn’t going to be constantly monitoring the Garmin. I was going to enjoy the marathon and I was confident in my fitness level. I know I tend to psych myself out over marathons, so this time was going to be different because I was just going to relax and run by feel—like how I used to do before my series of bonks.

Miles 1-13
During the first few miles I just focused on being relaxed and enjoying the scenery. I listened to other people's conversations and was trying to focus on my surroundings instead of the fact that this was my marathon. This was just like a long run.

It was a bit crowded and the 3:40 pace group was just ahead of me. I told myself that I shouldn’t try passing them until after the 10K mark, or even later if I didn’t feel comfortable speeding up soon.

It felt very easy. In fact, I could hear others around me breathing heavily. I knew I was in great shape because I felt like I wasn't exerting much effort at all.

After mile marker 6 I knew I had the coach’s ok to pick up the pace a bit, but I didn’t feel ready for that. My official pace at the 7-mile split was 8:27 and I didn’t feel like I should be speeding up. I was okay with this. I thought maybe by mile 8, 9 or even 10 I would be ready to start picking it up. But instead, I just started to feel worse and worse. 8 miles into the race and I knew something was wrong.

Yup, something is wrong.

Once again, trying to stay mentally positive, I told myself it was okay if I couldn’t speed up. A 3:40 would be a great time for me, so just continue at this pace. By mile 10 I knew my race was not going to end well. I just felt exhausted. A bit nauseous. Lacking energy. I didn’t feel out of shape, I just didn’t feel physically well. I know that positive self-talk can go a long way, so I kept reminding myself that I was very well trained and that this feeling would pass. I would be able to maintain this pace for awhile. I was doing great!
I crossed the halfway point at 1:50:xx. I had planned on being there at around 1:48, so I wasn’t too far off, but the fact that the race was no longer in my control at the halfway point was not a good sign.

Normally bonking is a sign of going out too fast. A rookie mistake. And if I had felt this bonk at mile 19 or 20, then I would have thought that I went out too fast. But after just 8 miles at a pace of 8:27, I was feeling “off” so I think that there was a lot more going on here. After all, I recently ran 5 miles at a pace of 7:13 and felt fantastic at the end. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles at a pace of 8:27 and was feeling drained.

Miles 14-Finish
The bonk didn’t “officially” start until mile 15 when I went into a porta potty and then just couldn’t get going again. I thought I might just finish the race at a slower pace until I realized that I didn’t think I could run much further. I still had 11 miles to go and I wanted to stop completely.

Then, the all-too-familiar bonking things happened. I started getting passed by pace groups that were slower than my PR, and as they passed I remember how great I felt when I ran that 3:51 at Shamrock nearly 4 years ago. I was reduced to a run-walk. My easy pace is now faster than my marathon PR pace. So when I was able to run, I was running at around an 8:50. But I could only run for about 5 minutes at a time before feeling just completely knocked out.

My husband had struggled with Plantar Fasciitis this entire training cycle, so he was in shape for somewhere around 4:00. I knew that eventually he would catch up with me, I just didn’t know when. We had joked before hand that he’d better not find me walking on the side of the course at mile 20, and that’s exactly what happened. He said his heart sunk when he realized it was me. He was running at about a 9:00 pace and I was able to run with him for almost a mile until I had to stop again. I told him to finish and that I didn’t want to ruin his race. He insisted on staying with me and I felt so guilty. At this point, I sat down on the grass, and then lied down on the grass. I just felt completely defeated. I could not go one step further. He told me that I shouldn’t lie down on the grass, got me to my feet again, and we began walking.

The last six miles were torture. I started getting side stitches, I felt like I needed to vomit. I was thirsty, but whenever I drank water, my stomach would revolt and I’d feel even more nauseated. I thought maybe I had overdone the hydration thing because my body didn’t like the water. I was crying, I was depressed and I was hurting. I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me again and why it always happened to me.

Maybe I drank too much water the day before and the morning of. I don't measure my water, I just try to drink lots of it along with electrolytes. Maybe I struck the wrong balance. Maybe I shouldn't have force fed myself so much food the day before because I had very little appetite. My best marathons were all run under cloudy skies, maybe I can't handle the sun at all. I couldn't figure it out. There seemed to be no logical explanation for why I felt so horrible, and why it started so early in the race. One thing that I am certain of-- I did NOT go out too fast for my fitness level. I have far too many races and tempo runs and other factors that indicate that 8:25 is a very conservative pace.

I was crying off and on. I felt like I had ruined my husband's race and I had let everyone down. Why was this happening to me?

Greg told me that I had the rest of my life to think about that but for now I had to focus on finishing the marathon. I just wanted to wallow and cry and not finish, but Greg helped me run/walk.

The last three miles were actually easier than miles 20-23. The course was mainly downhill for those last three miles so we were able to run without too much effort. The scenery started to get really good with a nice view of the lake and some gorgeous houses. That actually helped. We finished the race holding hands and I was so relieved to be done with it. 4:18:51. My third slowest marathon out of 13 and my 6th bonk.

I got my medal, but I just wanted to throw it on the ground. I didn't feel like I deserved a medal and I didn't feel at all proud of myself. I didn't even want to take off my shoes (which is normally the very first thing I do post marathon). I just wanted to be miserable.

When we got back to our hotel I called my coach. I wanted answers and I knew he’d have them. He did. He said he had a feeling earlier in the week that this could happen to me, simply based on my Facebook wall. He said that the race got built up so much and that I had so many people tracking me that I likely caved under the pressure. He told me how he once won a half marathon in a time of 1:05 and was the favorite to win a subsequent marathon. But the pressure got to be too much and he ended up dropping out at mile 20. He said he’s seen this happen before, when the athlete gets too hyped up about the race beforehand.

I was really trying to NOT do this during my taper, but I just couldn’t help it. He told me I should have stayed away from Facebook the week before my race and relaxed more. Most importantly, he assured me that I was a good marathoner in great shape, and I should just brush this one off and get there and try again as soon as possible.

The Taper
I took what my coach said and then I combined it with what I knew to be true about my taper. Suddenly all the pieces started to fit. In the two weeks leading up to my marathon, I was a ball of anxiety.

For those of us who love the adrenaline high of running a lot, the taper is not a fun time. We're forced to cut back our mileage and simply rest up for the marathon. It sounds easy to non-runners: all you need to do is eat well, sleep well and just relax. I know that these things are critical to marathon performance, but my anxiety often gets the better of me and this was my worst taper ever.

Aside from the usual taper anxiety, I was also dealing with other stresses. Squirrels were getting into my house and my husband was out of town on business and unavailable to assist or help calm my nerves. Additionally, my job has been really stressing me out as the environment there is changing rapidly and we have a huge event coming up. In fact, one of the reasons I chose Oct. 2 as a target marathon date was because I didn't want that large work event to interfere with my training.

I was trying so hard not to think about the race, but by doing that, I think I made my physical anxiety worse. On a daily basis I was dealing with:

Night sweats: waking up at around 2:00am covered in sweat
Insomnia: Not being able to fall back asleep after waking up at 2:00am
Loss of appetite
Weight Loss

You aren't supposed to lose weight during the taper. If anything, you gain it. I lost 4 lbs in the two weeks before my race, and that's a lot for a person of my height. I could just feel that my body was on overdrive and I'd wake up in the middle of the night with my heart pounding.

To combat all of this, I used Advil PM on some nights and was able to get a reasonable number of hours of sleep. The quality wasn't great, but I was sleeping so I thought I'd be fine for the race. Even though I wasn't at all hungry, I ate anyway. Bagels are one of my all-time favorite foods and on Friday morning, it was just so uncomfortable for me to be eating one.

Despite all of this, I never doubted that I would still have a great marathon. I thought I had done everything right in terms of training, nutrition, hydration, etc. I went into the race with a good attitude and I didn't feel stressed on race morning. I had a healthy mentality during the race, but by that time it was too late.

I had already worn out my body in the weeks before my race with physical anxiety. This was my mistake and this is where things went wrong. It's wonderful that I can identify what the problem was, but now I have no idea how to fix it. It's like when someone tells you not to think about an elephant, you can't help but think of an elephant.

The more I tell myself to relax about the marathon and not to have anxiety during the taper, the more I will probably stress about it. And even if I shove it out of my mind, which I did during the taper, the anxiety is there under the surface.

Previous Marathons & The Big Picture

I think I'm finally starting to see what's has been going on with my previous marathons. The first 7 marathons I ran went perfectly and I exceeded my goal each time. The next 6 marathons were all bonks. Yes, some were weather related. But I think weather was only part of the problem.

Here's my theory. During my first 7 marathons, I didn't use a formal training plan and I ran relatively low weekly mileage. I was just doing my own thing and enjoying PR after PR. I was doing so well with marathons, that I couldn't get my 5K and 10K times to be as fast as my marathons suggested. Physiologically, my V02 max test revealed that I work aerobically at a higher percentage of my max heart rate than most people, which means my body is more suited for distance than speed. I was a great marathoner. I always ran negative or even splits. It came naturally to me. 4:46, 4:24, 4:13, 4:05, 3:56, 3:51, and then a "fun run" in London of 4:11.

So I thought to myself, if I can run so well with no formal plan, just imagine what I could do if I followed a plan and increased the mileage! I could probably qualify for Boston!

That's when I started following training plans and got my mileage up a lot higher. Along with this came huge PRs in other distances. My 2:00 half marathon PR gradually turned into a 1:41. My 53:00 10K shot down to a 46:34. Instead of a middle of the pack runner, I was winning age group awards on a regular basis and almost always in the top 5th percentile. And yet, the marathons started to go in the other direction.

In January 2009, I had my first shot at a BQ after a fantastic training cycle. I wasn't sure if I could run a 3:40, but if I missed that, I figured that a 3:45 was certainly realistic. Unfortunately, Arizona had an unexpected heat wave and I wasn't at all acclimated to the warm weather, so I bonked at mile 16. It was awful. It was my first marathon that did not go according to plan.

This race was a legitimate heat bonk and many others were having a tough time in the heat as well. Since then, I've been terrified of running a marathon in hot weather. Also, by the time the next marathon finally rolled around, over a year after my 3:51 PR, I felt like I was long overdue. I had been training to BQ since June of 2008 and now it was April of 2009, so it was definitely time to show off my hard work. But once again, it was a bonk. True, I ended up in the medical tent with hypothermia, but there could have been something else going on. So it was just bonk after bonk after bonk and I chalked it all up to being bad luck. Yes, luck was a huge part of it, but the common factor in all of these marathons was ME. I was the problem.

I don't mean this in a negative way, but the problem is that with every bonk, the more and more determined I became not to bonk. The more and more anxiety would build up pre-race, and I couldn't perform. A good example of this is the Shamrock marathon 2010. That was a very hot race. However, I started feeling awful at mile 10 before it even got to be 65 degrees. I DNFed at mile 13.5 and I felt like I had run a full marathon I was so spent.

Another interesting example was the Potomac River Marathon. That was my back-up race after my Shamrock DNF in 2010. However, when the forecast a week out was for 70's and 90% humidity, I found another back-up two weeks later. I still went to the Potomac River Marathon with the intent of having it be a nice training run of 13 miles. There was zero pressure on me because I wasn't racing it. However, I just felt so great, despite that heat and humidity, that I just kept running and running. All the way to 19. Stupidly, I stopped because I wasn't on pace for a 3:40. (I also had run 10 miles just two days before and was worried that I would be paying for that). But I felt pretty good at mile 19 and I am sure I could have run a 3:45. I performed SO WELL at that race in horrible conditions because. . . .I wasn't racing. I was relaxed.

The pieces are finally coming together for me and I know what the problem is. I know why I keep bonking. I have too much pre-race anxiety and it wears my body out. Unfortunately, this isn't something you can just fix overnight like a hydration issue. I'm probably going to see a sports psychologist and really find a way to let go. I'll probably do another marathon later in the season, but I'm skeptical that I will be able to solve the anxiety issue before then. This has just been snowballing for years.

The good news is, I do know how to run a great marathon. I have seven of them that were well-executed and perfectly paced without the help of the Garmin. I just have to find some way to get back there.

Training Cycle in Review: This is the Journey

2011-09-25T13:53:00.000-04:00

The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon is just one week away! It's hard to believe it's here already. I think it's really important to reflect back on all my hard work because the journey is what it's all about. Regardless of what time I actually run, I know that I have put in a solid training cycle and that I am a stronger, faster runner because of it. With so much that is out of my control on race day, I have to focus on controlling the things I can, and that's the training.

As I've written in past blogs, there have been some major changes with this training cycles compared to others in the past:

Regular core strengthening (I used to do nothing)
Working with a coach/team
Lower weekly mileage (avg. low 40's as opposed to low 50's)
Pool running and swimming twice per week (I used to never go to the pool)

Weekly Mileage For the Past Three Months

I've run two 20-milers and one 22-miler. Each of these were on brutally hot and humid days. At the end of July, I was worried I was developing peroneal tendonitis so I stopped running for six days and substituted pool running. During the taper, I was dealing with DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) because I didn't allow enough recovery from the half marathon, so I ran less than I would have liked to.

Here are more cross training details from the past eight weeks.

10 minutes of pool running = 1 mile

10 minutes of elliptical = 1 mile

Swimming distances are actual distances

Week of Aug. 1: 22 miles running, 12.5 miles pool running, 12 miles elliptical, 1.4 miles swimming

Week of Aug. 8: 37 miles running, 7 miles pool running, 6.5 miles elliptical, 0.9 miles swimming

Week of Aug. 15: 45.3 miles running, 5 miles pool running, 1.2 miles swimming

Week of Aug. 22: 51 miles running, 0.8 miles swimming

Week of Aug. 30: 43.7 miles running (includes half marathon)

Week of Sept. 5: 44 miles running, 9 miles pool running, 0.6 miles swimming

Week of Sept. 12: 23.2 miles running (includes 8K race), 8 miles pool running, 1.4 miles swimming

Week of Sept. 19: 27.6 miles running, 8.5 miles pool running, 0.5 miles swimming

This week I have planned about 16-18 miles before the marathon on Sunday. I'm not sure if I will pool run or just rest.

My two tune up races went according to plan. The Rock 'N Roll Virginia Beach half marathon was on the slower side, due to the heat and humidity, but it was well executed with negative splits and an amazing final kick. The Run! Geek! Run! 8K last weekend proved that my mental game is "on" and the colder weather allowed me to run a very speedy race, predicting a marathon finish time of much faster than I actually expect.

I still don't have any details on live race tracking. The website mentioned that they might use a Facebook application, but I haven't heard any more about it.

I feel very prepared and cautiously optimistic for my race next weekend. Even if the unexpected occurs and I have yet another bad marathon, I think this training cycle has prepared me for an overall strong racing season.

This is a Test. No Problem. (Run Geek Run 8K Report)

2011-09-17T16:00:00.000-04:00

This morning I ran the Run! Geek! Run! 8K in Washington DC. With my marathon just two weeks away, I wanted to do a tune-up race in cooler weather to see where my fitness level was and "practice" the race mentality.

Goals
I had three levels of goals for this race.

My "A" goal was a 36:15.
My "B" goal was a PR (faster than 36:45).
I also had a "stretch" goal, which was sub-36:00. I wasn't sure if I could make that happen, but I thought it might be possible.

Race Week
My mileage this week was very low. Prior to the race I had run a grand total of 14.2 miles. This wasn't because of my taper but because my right quad was sore from last Saturday's 20 miler. It was a chain reaction of not enough recovery post-half marathon and then doing 20 miles on dead legs. As a result, this week suffered because I didn't want to pull or strain anything so close to the marathon. I was even worried about aggravating it through pool running. I did go pool running twice, though, and swam a total of 2200 yards.

Naturally, I was worried about my right quad being recovered enough. I rigorously foam rolled, stretched and massaged it, which I think aggravated the situation even more. When I woke up this morning my quad was a bit tender to the touch, but it felt okay walking on. I told myself I would pull off the course and walk to the finish if I felt any quad pain at all during the race.

Pre-race
On race morning, I continued in my new tradition of half a bagel with peanut butter about 2 hours before the race. I drank plenty of water and Pedialyte, and I had hydrated with Coconut water the day before.

Greg was not running the race because he didn't want to sacrifice his last opportunity for a long run. He's been struggling with Plantar Fasciitis throughout this training cycle, and speed work aggravates it more than anything. Therefore, I had my own cheering section.

I really wish that the race website had indicated that the parking was metered. I've run races in West Potomac park in the past, but it's always been on a Sunday when meter fees aren't required. There was a two hour time limit (and we got there at 7:00am for an 8:00am start) and we had no way of getting change. Thankfully, they have this system where you can pay by phone using your credit card and they put your license plate on file as having paid. Greg was nice enough to figure that out while I ran about 3/4 mile to the race site to get my bib.

I got my bib and warmed up a bit more pre-race. I even did drills! It wasn't long before they were calling runners to the start line.

Strategy
I always think it's important to have a race strategy. Mine was to go out at a pace of 7:15 and try to maintain it. If I felt like I could pick up the pace later in the race, then I would. I'll admit this was aggressive of me, given that my pace for my 5K PR is a 7:10. But based on my track workouts I thought it was definitely within my grasp. I had been training all summer in hot weather and this was my first actual run where it would be cool, so I had no idea how much faster I would be. It was about 56 degrees and overcast.

I also think having a mantra to repeat when times get tough is important. Earlier this week, I remembered two mantras that lead to some hefty PRs: "It's just temporary" (for a marathon) and "It does matter" (for a 10K). But coming up with the mantra in advance doesn't work. It has to be something that just comes to you during the race and that you stick with. This has always been the case with my mantras.

Mile 1: 7:13
I naturally shot out too fast (like a 6:45 pace) and had to find a good balance to yield my desired 7:15 split for mile 1. I eventually found my perfect pace and realized that it felt decent. It was a good effort, but it felt like something I could maintain for five miles. I told myself this race was a test of my mental strength. I knew I could maintain this pace for the entire race, I just had to stick with it and not allow myself to succumb to negativity. I told myself this pace was "no problem" for me.

Mile 2: 7:15

I tried to not look at my Garmin very much in this mile. I told myself to run with my core muscles (thank you planks!) stay relaxed and just maintain. I kept repeating to myself: "This is a test." And then immediately answering back "No problem", almost like military style.

Mile 3: 7:12
I didn't intend to speed up here, but I did-- ever so slightly. I felt strong. Once I reached the halfway point I told myself that all I had to do was to repeat what I just did. I could do that again. No problem!

Mile 4: 7:11
I was really starting to feel like I was in a race now. Miles 1-3 were tough, but not "race tough". Now it was race tough but I just focused on running with my core, looking straight ahead and picking off runners. I passed about 5-6 people this mile, most of them guys! "This is a test. No problem." I just repeated it over and over and over like a soundtrack and it soooo worked.

Mile 5: 7:01 (7:06 pace)

This guy wouldn't give me my personal space. :-(

I looked down at my Garmin about 1/4 mile in, and it said 7:22. I was not happy with this, but I knew I'd have a final kick to compensate for it. By the time the Garmin said 4.6, the pace was down to 7:17, and it just wasn't good enough for me. I told myself to start my final kick now. It was less than an 800 on a track, I do really well at those, it would be over soon, just go for it. So with 0.36 miles left to go, finish line in sight, I gunned it. As my coach said, acceleration should be gradual, so I gradually sped up until I was at my final sprint. I averaged a 7:06 pace for that last mile (or rather 0.96 of a mile). This means that I must have been running in the 6's for that last bit, and my Garmin data confirmed that. Looking at the "player" the paces read 6:56, 6:46, 6:40, 6:25, 6:11 for that last stretch.

As I approached the finish line, I noticed that the clock was reading 35:xx and that motivated me to give it all I had to cross before the clock struck 36.

My official time was a 35:53 at an average pace of 7:13. I placed 2nd in my Age Group (30-39).

This is a PR by 52 seconds, and I met my stretch goal!

Age Group Award

Afterwards, there wasn't too much time to hang around because of the parking meter situation. I started my cooldown and then ran my friend in who finished her fastest race ever! We needed to get back to the car, but I thought I might have won an age group award. I looked at the results sheet and I was second in my age group. Greg went back to the car while I stayed to get my award. It was this really cool bobble head thing!

Takeaways
My cute bobble head award! Oh, and I guess more importantly that it's really important to have confidence, stick with a strategy, and be mentally tough.

This is my "fastest" race ever when compared to my other PRs. If you were to translate all of my PRs to their equivalent 10K time, this race would yield the fastest result. It bodes well for my fitness level and it was a nice confidence-boost pre-marathon.

Someone Who Thinks You Can't

2011-09-07T19:53:00.000-04:00

Reason to exercise #101: Because there is someone out there who thinks you can't.

I can't take credit for this little gem of wisdom, I saw it on Twitter and re-tweeted. For each one of us athletes who trains hard to attain specific goals, there is likely someone, or several people, out there questioning us or doubting us. So instead of letting that person bring us down, let them fuel our fire to work harder and smarter in pursuit of our goals!

Any psychologist will tell you that people who doubt you or who project negativity onto you are actually just exhibiting their insecurities. The ones who tell you that you can't attain your goals, or you'll get injured, or you're aiming to high-- instead of buying into their negativity, you have to question why it matters so much to them. Some of them may even be fellow athletes who disagree with your approach, your philosophy or even the statements you make about yourself. They put you down because underneath it all, they believe it invalidates their approach or their achievements.

Most of us already struggle with self doubt and our own negativity at times that we certainly don't need others questioning our goals and aspirations as athletes. (As a side note, I believe anyone who trains for a race is an athlete and I don't like categorizing runners vs. joggers or competitive vs. amateur.) We all need to respect each other as athletes no matter how different our capabilities are. Even the folks who run/walk their way to a six-hour marathon deserve respect because they have a goal. What they are doing in no way undermines what I am doing.

Why do I bring this up now? I have personally encountered folks both online and face-to-face at races who have blatantly belittled me and scoffed at my goals. These aren't people I'm in direct competition with, but people who disagree with my philosophies on running. And it's often under the guise of them "just trying to be helpful," but sometimes it's less masked.

Personally, I consider myself to be someone who takes a realistic and conservative approach to training. Even more so within the past two years. But there will always be someone out there who "thinks I can't" no matter how reasonable my goals may be. Maybe I'll attain my goals, and maybe I won't. But nothing is going to stop me from trying and putting myself out there and using this blog to do so. I started this blog as a way to document my reflections on my training and racing and I'm not asking anyone to agree with my assessment of these things. If someone doesn't agree, then they don't have to read. It was my decision to make this blog open to the public so I realize I have opened myself up to criticism and negative comments. Along with all the wonderful support I get from 95% of my readers, there will inevitably be those who "think I can't".

Why blog about my races? A finish time at a race doesn't tell the story and I don't want that to be my only takeaway years later. For example, a 1:46 half marathon, which is 5 minutes slower than my PR, looks like a regression in my abilities, but it was actually on target with what I wanted to achieve in that race. By the same token, my marathon PR from 2009 was actually one of my worst races, as I ended up in the medical tent with hypothermia. As runners, we tend to get obsessed about numbers and times, but we must remember that the journey is far more important than the destination.

Before I even started running marathons, I had a boss who ran them. He told me that he really liked looking through the race results and seeing everyone's splits. He could tell who had a good race and who didn't based on the difference between their starting and finishing paces. I didn't know much about running back then, but his thinking made a lot of sense.

I apologize if this blog is vague, but I'll use this post to remind me of what's most important and not allow others to project negativity onto my running or diminish my achievements.

Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon Race Report

2011-09-04T20:04:00.000-04:00

This morning I ran the Rock 'N Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon as a tune up for the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon in four weeks. I also ran this race in 2005, 2006, and 2008. Each time, I bonked because of the heat. The 2005 race was my first half marathon, so I was happy just to have finished. To give some perspective on my degree of suffering through these hot races, I have never broken 2:00 at this race, and yet my PR is a 1:41.

Thus, I was scared of this race. The forecast seemed like it could be as bad as 2008 and I was worried. I knew that when I registered for the race that it wasn't going to be anywhere close to my PR, but my coach said that running a half four weeks before a full marathon is good for practicing race strategy, and gauging your fitness. I can't really gauge my fitness from today's race, but I did "rehearse" my race day routine and execution of negative splits.

Race Goals & Strategy
I didn't really have a time goal for this race, more like a prediction. My plan was to go out at a pace of around 8:10 and gradually speed up if I could. I think that if I was dead-set on a particular goal I would have been more motivated to push, so in the future, I will try to actually aim for something. It's just that hot races, especially long ones, are such unknowns to me. So much can go wrong that probably won't go wrong in cooler temperatures.

My mom was tracking me, so I gave her a "guide" on how to interpret my results:

1:43 or faster-- Awesome race
1:44-1:46-- Good race
1:47-1:48-- Okay race
1:49-1:51-- Bad race
1:52 or slower-- Horrible race

Realistically, I thought I'd be somewhere around 1:45-1:46.

Expo
Greg and I drove down on Saturday and got to the expo at around 10:30. The Brooks booth was amazing. As a marketer myself, I was truly in awe of the coolness factor of their booth. It must have cost them a small fortune, but it was obviously very much appreciated by the runners.

Part of the Brooks "Booth" at the Expo

Brooks had treadmills set up with video cameras for free gait analyses. I figured "what the heck" might as well get yet another opinion. I'd really like to be more of an efficient runner and run safely in a lighter shoe, so I wanted to see what they had to say. Well, they agreed with my previous video analysis completely. The right foot would be okay in a neutral shoe, but I definitely need the stability on the left. They recommended I stick with the Adrenaline, as I have been doing for over six years, and that I could also try the Ravenna.

I ended up buying both the Adrenaline and the Ravenna because they were 10% off and it would gain me access to the Brooks VIP Porta Potty with running water and supposedly shorter lines. The Rock 'N Roll races are notorious for not having enough porta potties and on numerous occasions I've not been able to use one pre-race because the wait is 30+ minutes.

Race Morning
Greg (who wasn't running the race in objection to the high cost of the entry fee) and I stayed at a hotel about 12 miles away from the start line. My college roommate has a condo just half a mile from the start line so we were able to borrow her parking permit and park in her spot. There was no way I was dealing with the shuttles like I did in 2006 when I was late to the start line. (Yes, this race holds a lot of bad memories for me!)

Waiting in Corral 3

I ate about 2/3 of a bagel with peanut butter and drank a lot of Pedialyte. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I usually don't eat anything except for a bagel on race morning, but I am trying to add peanut butter to get more calories in. We got to the race about 30 minutes before the start time and headed for the VIP Porta Potty area. Lo and behold. . . the line for that was just as long (if not longer) than the lines for the regular porta potties. I was so frustrated. I waited and waited until I realized it wasn't going to happen so I headed for my corral desperately needing to still use the bathroom.

I looked up at the sky and realized the sky was overcast. What a pleasant surprise! The forecast was for mostly sunny, which can be detrimental to me. The temperature was about 70 degrees and it was very humid.

Miles 1-3
I started out at what felt like a very easy pace. I was aiming for 8:10, and I achieved that for the most part. The first mile was downhill so it was faster. After the first mile, I started looking around for porta potties. Or even anywhere I could duck and hide. I really had to go to the bathroom and it was very uncomfortable for me. I couldn't focus on the race at all. My only goal was to find a place to go to the bathroom. Finally, during mile 3, I found a lone porta potty, which thankfully was unoccupied, and quickly did my business. I was back out on the course within a minute. I didn't want to speed up too much after that and get myself going too fast, but I did want to compensate somewhat. I think I struck a decent balance.

Mile 1: 8:04
Mile 2: 8:09
Mile 3: 8:25 (porta potty)

Miles 4 -7
I hit the 5K mark at 25:53, which I knew was on the slower side, but I couldn't help the fact that I needed to make that bathroom stop. These miles were relatively uneventful. My goal was to stay between 8:00 and 8:10. Everything was feeling pretty easy and I was staying relaxed. I had my first honey at mile 3.5 and it went down well. It was very humid and I was sweating a lot, but I was extremely grateful for the overcast sky and I even put my sunglasses on top of my head because I didn't need them.

Mile 4: 8:12
Mile 5: 8:05
Mile 6: 8:02
Mile 7: 8:03

Miles 8-10
I had been carrying a bottle of G2 the whole time, but at mile 8 I ditched it-- still 1/3 full. I felt plenty hydrated and was tired of carrying it. My next honey came at mile 8.5 and that went down easy. This is my least favorite part of the course. It's just running around a military camp and it's boring and seems to go on forever. At one point, you can see runners about half a mile ahead of you and they seem so far away and it's mentally tough.

During this portion of the race, I stayed strong by remembered how horrible I felt in 2008 and that I was much stronger now. I was thankful that I wasn't bonking and everything felt pretty good. Things were getting a little harder for me at this point, but I didn't really start to feel like it was race effort until mile 10.

Mile 8: 8:02
Mile 9: 8:06
Mile 10: 8:02

Miles 11- Finish

I am afraid of this race!

I was happy that I was consistently in the low 8's and things finally started to feel tough. In hindsight, I probably could have started to push harder earlier, but I was so afraid of bonking. I could have probably picked up the pace at mile 11, but the finish line still seemed so far, so I just stayed steady and played it conservatively.

During the 12th mile there was a bridge with a notable hill. I remembered all the CAR hill workouts and could hear George's voice telling me to use my arms and keep of my form. I only slowed slightly on the hill and then I flew down it. Unfortunately the race course was still crowded, so I wasn't able to "fly down" as fast as I would have liked. I saw Greg at mile marker 12 and he got everyone around him (including the cheerleaders) to cheer for me.

The last mile was when I decided to give it my all. I pushed hard and focused on getting to the finish. I ran through some misting stations on the boardwalk, which made my sunscreen get in my eyes. I had trouble seeing at this point, but I just pressed on. I knew where the finish line was so I looked straight ahead and pushed really hard. Now was the time to make up for that porta potty stop!

Mile 11: 8:02
Mile 12: 8:05
Mile 13: 7:44
0.23: 1:37 (a 7:00 pace)

The Finish

I can't believe I held a 7:00 pace for nearly a quarter of a mile at the end of a hot half marathon! I felt awesome. Although, of course it makes me think I left a lot on the course and could have run the race faster. But it's always better to finish fast and strong than to bonk. And bonking in the heat was my biggest fear. Yay for playing it safe in the heat!

Shortly after crossing the finish line, the editor of Washington Running Report started interviewing me. She saw my Capital Area Runners top and immediately knew I was on George's team. She asked me a bunch of questions, and I wasn't all that coherent, so I hope I answered them well. She also took my photo, so I think I should be in the print magazine or the online site. I'll post a link to this blog post if the article shows up online.

Greg and I reconnected and found a shaded area to relax in. The sun did make an appearance during the last mile, but thankfully no sooner.

Final Thoughts
I'm very pleased with how this race turned out. It wasn't my "A" race-- rather a tune up. I do think I could have run it a little bit faster and pushed harder earlier, but I'm glad I didn't kill myself because I still want to put in a solid week of training next week. My time is what it is. Nothing spectacular, but I put out a solid effort and executed my strategy as planned.

My official finish time was 1:46:44 with an 8:09 average pace. My Garmin clocked 13.23 miles at an average pace of 8:04.

I placed 51 out of 1097 in my division (top 4.6%)
I placed 230 out of 6385 women (top 3.6 %)

I have another tune up race in just two weeks-- and 8K. If the weather isn't too crazy I'll be going for a PR (sub 36:45) and ideally run a 7:15 pace.

Just four weeks until Milwaukee Lakefront!

One Of These Days Is Not Like The Others

2011-09-01T13:56:00.000-04:00

The moment I have been anxiously waiting for over the past few months has arrived: the hourly forecast for the Virginia Beach half marathon has been published to Accuweather.com.

Temperature of 72
Dewpoint of 69
"Real Feel" of 75
Mostly Sunny
Winds at 9-10 MPH

I find it highly ironic that Sunday, Sept. 4 is the WORST possible racing weather out of any of the surrounding days. Although, I guess it falls in line with my "luck" because whatever race I decide to do usually gets abnormally hot weather. And on years when I don't do my favorite races, that's when the weather is nice.

Why does Sunday have to be the hottest!?

I ran this race in 2005, 2006 and 2008-- all with very hot and humid weather. Ironically, 2007, 2009 and 2010 had below average temperatures. Now that I am racing again in 2011, the weather is forecast to be almost as hot and humid as it was in 2008, only sunnier.

I had promised myself that I would never again do this race because I've always suffered from heat exhaustion and ended up bonking. But my coach said that racing a half marathon 4 weeks out from the goal full marathon is really a good idea. I knew when I registered for this race that I wasn't going to try and PR. But I've been running pretty well in the heat lately so I thought maybe I'd be able to do okay. And now it's looking like I'll have to target about 5-10 minutes slower than my PR, and I actually think I'm in better shape than when I was when I set this PR.

So the next natural question is. . . is this race even worth it? Driving all the way down and back, spending the money on the hotel. Having to deal with all the race day logistics. Just so I can run a so-so race. Or worse, over-exert myself and not be able to resume training for awhile.

At this point, I am seriously debating running the race. I'm feeling the beginnings of a sore throat, the forecast is scaring me, and I know that I'm not even going to come close to my PR. The reasons TO run the race are that I am really excited about it, it's a fun race, I get to see my friends who live there, and I have the racing bug. The original purpose, however, was to see where I was fitness-wise and hopefully get a good confidence boost leading up to the race. Those things will obviously not happen.

If Sunday passes and there is no blog post, you'll know that I opted to stay home and swap in a 17-miler instead. If I do end up running the race, I'll start out very conservatively, and my goal will be a sub 8:20 pace (in other words, marathon pace for a half marathon). On Tuesday, my coach advised that I go out at a pace of 7:45, but that's definitely not sustainable in this kind of heat/humidity.

Peak Week! (Part IV)

2011-08-27T13:46:00.000-04:00

With only five weeks left until the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon I am feeling pretty good. I'll write a blog about my overall training cycle as the race gets closer, but for now I want to just focus on this week. As I've said in earlier blogs, I am running fewer overall miles with this training cycle in exchange for swimming and pool running. I've also added in core strengthening which consists of 3 planks each day.

Here have been my past "peak weeks" and their resulting marathons:

August 2008: 55 miles. I ended up getting really sick (maybe the swine flu) and wasn't able to run the Hartford marathon
December 2008: 56 miles. I bonked at the RnR Arizona marathon due to the heat/sun.
March 2009: 61 miles. I bonked at the NJ marathon and ended up in the medical tent with hypothermia.

I don't have blogs for my other peak weeks, but upper 50's-lower 60's has been the norm.This week I only ran 51 miles as my peak.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to add in as much pool running/swimming as I would have liked because my pool is closed for maintenance. Tomorrow I do plan to drive to another pool for pool running/swimming. Or I guess with all the rain we're supposed to get from the hurricane, I could just go outside. . .

I started the week by mailing my new Garmin heart rate monitor back to Running Warehouse for a refund. The "soft" strap monitor has continued to chafe me, despite massive amounts of body glide. And the readings were completely messed up too, showing heart rates as low as 60 and as high as 200 within the same minute. My readings were just all over the map. I'm now using my old HR monitor and getting accurate readings and no chafing.

Monday: 9 miles easy, avg. 9:05
I took this run very easy knowing that I had a hard week ahead of me. The weather was nice and cool and I resisted the temptation to go any faster.

Tuesday: 8 miles, including 4 x 1200m
I ran this track workout with my teammates in Arlington. I was fully expecting to do 5-6 repeats, so I started out easy. Using the pacing chart from my coach, my goal was to be at 5:12 for each repeat or slightly under. In my past track workouts, I have been doing 800's at around 5:08-5:10.

The woman who I usually run with during these workouts was on vacation, so I wasn't quite sure who to pace off of. During the first lap, I tucked behind this girl who is super fast (wayyyy faster than me) and told myself that she'd probably get ahead of me. Instead, I kept fighting the urge to pass her, knowing how fast she is. I soon realized that she was having leg issues and purposely going slower than she otherwise would. As a result, my first interval was much slower than target pace: 5:23. But I was perfectly fine with this because I knew I had 4-5 more to go. I ended up compensating for that first interval by going a bit too fast on the next: 5:03. But then the next two were more in line with what I expected: 5:07, 5:07. Instead of doing a 5th, the coach told me I was "done" because my form was falling apart. He wouldn't even let me finish it off with a 400.

I was upset, but I trusted that he knew what he was talking about. I felt like I definitely had the energy for at least one more interval. As a result, I left the track feeling like I didn't "give it my all" like I typically do after these group track workouts. Since the first one was too slow, I really only did 3 intervals that challenged me, and it just didn't seem like enough given that this is my peak week, and considering that it was a cool morning.

Wednesday: Rest
Typically I would have gone pool running and swimming, but with the pool closed (and the next closest pool closed as well) I just took a rest day. Except for the planks, of course.

Thursday: 8.5 miles, including 6 tempo
I placed a lot of importance on this run because I feel like I haven't had many good tempos this cycle. I did two of them on the elliptical (trying to prevent a foot injury), and the ones that I did on the road were in really hot/humid weather with less than impressive results.

It was about 72 degrees for Thursday's tempo and very humid. My goal was to run 6.2 miles at a pace of 7:40. If it had been cooler, I would have targeted 7:25. My plan was to start out on the slower side and then pick it up slightly in the last two miles. I ran the first mile by feel and logged a 7:46. This was about what I expected-- so far, so good. Then came 7:44, 7:40, and 7:43. With two miles left to go I was started to feel it. I got through those last two miles with these thoughts:

This tempo run IS important. You need a good tempo.
Look at your HR monitor. Stay in Zone 4. If you go above that, just slow down.
Your pace doesn't matter as much as getting in the full distance and staying in Zone 4
If you keep up the effort level, I will reward you by not making you do that last 0.2

I focused really hard and kept my HR at the top of Zone 4 and logged 7:46, 7:46. And I allowed myself to stop after 6 miles, without requiring the 0.2. I don't regret this decision-- it was definitely time to stop. The average pace ended up being 7:44, which I was okay with given how hot and humid it was. I would have really liked to see 7:40, but I'm not sweating it (pun intended).

Based on my coach's pace chart, this training pace correlates with a marathon time of about 3:33. (My track paces correlate with a marathon time of 3:25). Given that the weather for the marathon should be substantially cooler and less humid than this tempo run, I think I am realistic in expecting to run a 3:35.

Friday: 3.5 miles

Friday normally would have been a rest day, but since I took one of those on Wednesday instead of going to the pool, I figured that a really short, easy run couldn't hurt. Average pace was 8:58.

Saturday: 22 miles

I was nervous about this run. The temperature was 76 with a "real feel" of 82 and 22 miles is a long way to go in those conditions. I pre-hydrated all day Friday and even used Pedialyte on Friday evening for added electrolytes.

This run was a "test run" for race day nutrition. I ate a fairly large meal on Friday night at Maggiano's with my family. We were celebrating Greg and my one-year anniversary. I ate the same things I typically eat the night before a marathon-- lots of bread and pasta and some chicken. Usually I eat a bagel and a half the morning of a marathon, but my coach recommends more of a "meal". I know peanut butter is popular among runners, but I don't particularly like it (gasp) and I have a sensitive digestive system. I was up at 4:15 this morning and had about two tablespoons of peanut butter on my bagel. Which, by the way, I did not slice in half. :-) I took three Honey Stinger gels with me and a bottle of G2 and set off with my husband on our journey.

At mile 1.5, my husband tripped on his shoelace and fell to the ground pretty hard. Luckily, his water bottle broke his fall so he was okay, but he was scraped up on his other hand and his knee. His water bottle proceeded to escape his hand and fall down the nearby sewer, so we had to go home and get him another bottle and also clean and bandage his scrapes. So at mile 3, when we got back home, there was a 10-15 minute break in the run. But we got him all cleaned up with alcohol and band-aids and got him a fresh bottle of G2.

After that incident, the run was relatively drama-free. We ran around local neighborhoods, as usual, and made two stops at a McDonald's to refill our bottles with water. I took my honey gels at mile 7, 13 and 18.5. During the marathon, I will probably start taking them sooner, but I had the calories from the G2 in those early miles. My husband had 20 miles on schedule, so we split off at mile 16 and he ran home and I continued around the neighborhood we were in.

I typically like to speed up the long run during the last 1/3, but given that this was a 22-miler and it was really hot and humid, I decided to wait until I had just 4 miles left to speed up, and even then, I wouldn't turn on the gas too much.

The overall pace was 9:05, with an average heart rate of 157. For me (based on my VO2 max test) Zone 2 is 155-165, so I was towards the bottom.

Miles 1-8 avg. HR in Zone 1
Miles 9-19 avg. HR in Zone 2
Miles 20-22 avg. HR in Zone 3

I was very pleased with this run. I have been ending my long runs in Zone 4 and really exerting a lot of effort lately, but given the extra long distance and the weather, I opted to play it safe.

Sunday

I plan to make the long drive to a pool that's actually open tomorrow and swim at least 1200yd and pool-run for 20-30 minutes.

I'm pleased with my 51-mile week. Up until now, my highest mileage week this cycle has been just 45, so it was a bit of a jump. Next week, I'll cut back the mileage slightly as I have the VA Beach Rock 'N Roll half marathon on Sunday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I stay injury and illness-free for the next five weeks and that Milwaukee isn't having a heat wave on Oct. 2!

On Motivation

2011-08-22T19:47:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I was participating in an organized Twitter chat about running. If you've never participated in a Twitter chat, I highly recommend it as a great way to meet others who share your interests by discussing those topics. The moderator asks a discussion question, and participants tweet their answers with the hashtag of the organized chat. In this case, I think it was #runchat, but it may have been another one.

In any case, the moderator asked the question: "What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning and go for a run? Or head out after work?" Usually I am quick to tweet my answer and I know instantly what I am going to say. But for this one, I held off awhile and read what others had tweeted:

My marathon in two months!
Eating all that candy yesterday!
Wanting to get a PR at my next race!
Wanting to fit into my skinny jeans!
I have to stick to my training plan!

These weren't the exact answers, but they sum up the types of things that people were saying. And I wondered if any of them applied to me. The closest I could think of was wanting to PR, but that's not the thought that enters my head when I wake up in the morning and go for a run. I might think about that during a run, and it might be my ultimate goal, but it's not my immediate motivation.

My immediate motivation is simply that I like this lifestyle. I actually look forward to waking up in the morning, hopping out of bed (and yes, I am usually pretty energized from the moment I wake up) and going outside for my run. So I finally tweeted that I don't really need anything to motivate me-- I just enjoy running so much.

And then I thought about that answer some more. I don't enjoy the elliptical. I'm not all that crazy about pool running, and yet when I do those workouts I still have the same level of motivation and commitment. So what is it then? Addiction? Needing to get those endorphins flowing?

I guess it's just the high. I like the way I feel when I run or do other types of exercises. I love the physical and mental challenge. I love pushing myself to the limit, and then redefining what the limits are. I love the satisfaction I get from finishing a track workout and seeing the paces and distances in my training log.

Running Skirts

And believe it or not, I actually like doing the running laundry. I don't put any of my or my husband's technical clothes in the dryer so when they come out of the washing machine, I hand dry each garment piece by piece. I actually love that there is so much of it to do, because that means we ran a lot. When I was injured with my stress fractures, I was saddened by not having my running clothes to wash (although there was the elliptical-wear!) And once everything is dry, it's fun to fold everything and see it all organized neatly in my closet.

Somehow this blog when from Twitter chats to laundry. But as for motivation, I either don't need any, or I have an abundance of natural motivation. I've never felt "burnt out" on running, although I have felt burnt out from following training plans too rigorously and not listening to my body.

It's also not difficult for me to take a complete rest day. I take one complete rest day each week and I look at it as part of the overall plan. Without rest days, I won't be able to properly recover and my runs will start to go downhill. So on rest days, I don't feel lazy or "fat". I do feel un-energized, but I know it's for a good cause.

What motivates you? Are you an endorphin junkie or do you fight the "lazy bug" as my husband calls it?

Running on Par

2011-08-17T19:32:00.003-04:00

August 14 marked the one-year anniversary of my marriage to Greg. It's been the best year of my life and I never imagined that I would be so happy.

Top Tier of Wedding Cake

To celebrate, we decided to go to a resort on the Chesapeake Bay where we could relax for a few days. But before we left, we thawed out the top tier of our wedding cake which had been wrapped in foil and stored in a large plastic freezer bag. It was a chocolate chip cake with milk chocolate ganache, caramel and chocolate candy crunchies. Several of our guests told us it was the best wedding cake that they had ever tasted, and I would have to agree. How did it taste a year later? Still good, but not nearly as moist.

The bottom layer was the same flavor as the top, but the middle tier was a red velvet cake, which matched the colors of our wedding-- red, white and black.

August 14, 2010

Anyway, enough about the cake! We headed out to Maryland on Sunday at around noon. It was nice to spend most of the weekend in our own home and then have three days away.

The first thing we did when we got to the resort was to go exploring. The area was just breathtaking. We walked along the bay and familiarized ourselves with all of the great amenities of the resort-- several pools, miniature golf, a few shops, tennis courts, a game room, a "library" with a bar, restaurants, and a giant chess board. For our first night's dinner, we went to the Blue Point Provision, which is a seafood restaurant on the resort. The food was excellent, and they even brought us a free dessert with a candle in it for our anniversary!

The next morning, we set out for a run. Greg had mapped out a route that brought us into the town of Cambridge, but I was worried that the roads wouldn't be run-able. Luckily, on our way out of the resort, we realized that the golf course had a path that was perfectly suited for running.We started at hole 13 and wound up back at the hotel just two miles later at hole 18. Greg and I ran 9 miles, and then I realized I was still feeling pretty good so I ran another one for a solid 10-miler. (Greg has been having issues with his foot and his calf, so he's actually just easing back into running after some time off).

Who knew that golf courses were the perfect "course" for running?

Free of cars
Not hilly, but not pancake flat either
It's fun to look at the different holes
Built-in water stations that are easy to fill a bottle with
Porta potties (thankfully I didn't have to use them)
You're never more than 2 miles away from the main hotel should something happen

Surprisingly, we were the only runners out on the course. Maybe we weren't supposed to be there, but it was early and none of the grounds keepers seemed to mind. On Tuesday, Greg rested his calf and foot while I headed out for 9 miles. I was a bit worried for my safety in some of the more remote areas of the course, when there was not a single person around. But it wasn't long before more of the groundskeepers started to show up.

Going into the trip, I was a little worried that we wouldn't find a suitable area to run, but I had a fantastic 10-miler on Monday followed by a 9-miler on Tuesday with no problems.

Hanging out at the Pool.

On Monday, we spent most of the day lounging by the pool. I personally don't need too much in a vacation other than to just chill out by a pool or on a beach. I prefer these types of vacations to the more active vacations because I'm always so busy and active during my normal life. I need time to just sit and do absolutely nothing, with the sun shining down on me. We found a wonderful French restaurant a few miles away from the resort to have dinner on Monday night.

Tuesday was more of the same-- just lounging around by the pool. We treated ourselves to a couples massage at the spa and it was amazing. Usually spa massages don't do anything to really relax the muscles-- you have to go to a sports massage place to really get all the knots worked out. But I was pleasantly surprised. We asked specifically for a deep tissue massage and both of our massage therapists delivered.

One of the cool things about this resort is that they encourage you to toast marshmallows in their fireplace and make 'smores. This was a lot of fun, except for there were A LOT of bugs and I kept getting bitten, and there were kids everywhere, dangerously putting marshmallows on fire.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Greg and I have recently taken a strong interest in Chess. We play it all the time and we knew that there would be a giant garden chess set at this resort. Our first game lasted a really long time. Mainly because I couldn't checkmate Greg, but I could keep putting him in check. And I was afraid he's gain an advantage if I let him make a move where he wasn't trying to get out of check. So I chased his King around for nearly half an hour until I finally figured out a way to checkmate him. He won all subsequent games.

On Wednesday (this morning) we spent some time playing around in the pool, but then we had to check out and head home. It was a short trip but really nice to get away and celebrate our marriage.

Shortly after arriving home, we headed for a not-as-fun pool for some pool running and swimming. I was impressed with our motivation to go workout when we got home instead of looking at photos, blogging, etc.

It was a fantastic trip and I'm so glad we got to spend this time together!

Random Facts Friday

2011-08-12T06:44:00.000-04:00

Lately my blog has been reading like a medical journal and my posts about running have been quite technical. To break things up a bit, I've decided to participate in the "Random Facts Friday" trend, where you post little known facts about yourself that may or may not relate to running. I've learned some interesting facts about my friend Katie and others so I decided it would be fun to think about my own randomness.

11 Random Facts About Elizabeth

Salt Bagels Ready to Eat!

1. I think a bagel is ruined when it is sliced and/or toasted. The only way to eat a bagel is warm (either freshly baked or re-heated in the microwave) and then eaten in large chunks. The wholesome goodness of a bagel is lost when it's cut in half. I'm extremely picky about my bagels-- I detest Einsten Bros, and I absolutely adore Bagel Buddies in Fair Lakes.

2. My obsession with zebras originates from when I was 7 years old and saw some zebras at the Philadelphia Zoo. I was amazed at how fantastic these animals were and have loved them ever since. My zebra collection is quite impressive.

3. I am right-handed but left-everything else. I shoot pool with my left hand. I cut meat with my left hand. As a child, I could only do cartwheels on the left side.

4. As part of my job, I send out blast emails about manufacturing quality control to 50,000+ people. Inevitably, a few people unsubscribe each time.

Playing my piano.

5. I can play the piano by ear. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes to get a song where I want it to be, but I can almost always translate a song to the piano.My latest accomplishment is "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5.

6. I've never been "put under" with general anesthesia. I was awake when my 4 wisdom teeth were removed and during gum surgery. Thankfully, I haven't had any other surgeries.

7. My greatest fear is bugs. Specifically roaches. I would stop running for three full months in exchange for a guarantee that I would never see a bug in my house or at my office, or have a bug crawl on me. Would I stop running for six months? I don't know. I really do hate bugs.

8. My body has a very rigid clock. If I don't fall asleep between 8:00-10:00pm it will be very difficult for me to fall asleep, and I will likely have a restless night and wake up at 4:00am or earlier. I only stay up after 10:00 if I absolutely have to and my ideal bedtime is 9:00. Before I met my husband, my average bedtime was 8:00.

The playcount totally doesn't reflect my preferences.

9. I like to keep close watch on the stats of my iTunes music library. My computer got a virus about a year ago and all my data was lost and couldn't be retrieved. I'm working on re-building my library, although the current playcount doesn't reflect the songs I was obsessed with in 2006, 2007, etc. My iTunes library has 2,596 songs-- enough for 7.3 straight days of music.

10. To go along with number 9, I used to be obsessed with music countdowns on the radio and would write down all the songs as they were played and keep log books. I would love to predict the song rankings. This was when I was a teenager-- now there's the Internet.

11. I lack a natural maternal instinct. I do not feel at all natural holding babies and I'm actually scared I will drop them or hurt them. I'd like to think that if I had my own baby, I would get comfortable really quickly. But as for now, I'm very awkward with babies and small children.

Video Gait Analysis

2011-08-05T18:14:00.000-04:00

Several of my teammates had their running gait professionally analyzed by Dr. Maggs, a sports chiropractor, and provider of other rehab services, and I thought it would be beneficial for me to have my gait assessed as well. I mainly wanted to understand how I could run more efficiently and reduce injuries.

The process was a quick warmup around the parking lot for about 1/3 mile so that I could get into my natural stride, and then Dr. Maggs would take video of my running from different angles. Here's the video:

And here is another video from a different angle. I feel like the camera is adding 10 pounds here. I swear I don't look that heavy in person!!!

I know this isn't supposed to be a vanity video, but I can't help thinking that it highlights my extra energy stores.

Anyway, after the video was recorded we watched the play back in slow motion, frequently pausing the video. The main area for improvement was my hips. I'm lacking in hip flexor and glute strength so when I land, my opposite hip droops down out of alignment. He said that this is a moderate problem and that it's more noticeable in other runners, but it's definitely something that should be addressed. I do it more when I land on my left foot, resulting in my left foot pronating more than my right foot. He told me I looked completely neutral in my right foot and that the Brooks Adrenalines are probably too much stability for me.

His theory on my peroneal tendon issue is that I don't pronate on the right foot so my stability shoe is causing supination (the opposite of pronation). While I can see how this might be contributing, I ran far more miles in 2010 in the Adrenaline than I am currently running with no injuries. I think my foot slapping correction is the more direct cause, although eventually I might move away from the Adrenaline.

Dr. Maggs gave me a series of strengthening exercises for my glutes and hip flexors that specifically mimic running motion. He said that you cannot consciously change this gait issue-- you simply need more strength and targeted exercises. This is good because the last time I consciously changed my gait I ended up with Peroneal issues! Eventually he thinks I can move to a more minimalist shoe once I correct the hip weakness. I started the exercises last week and will continue to do them. I just worry about overdoing it and being sore for a run.

The good news is that overall I have good running form. He says that my cadence is close to perfect and my posture is excellent (thank you ballet!) He said if he had to nit-pick, I was over-striding very slightly, but it was barely noticeable. I was really expecting there to be all sorts of problems, but I was happy to learn that I only have one real area for improvement.

Here is a link to the gait analysis results for Katie, Amy, and Cristina.

Update on the foot. I took six full days off of running (I did pool running, swimming and the elliptical instead). On Thursday, I ran 4 easy miles near my gym so I could hop on the elliptical immediately after for a "tempo". I was 100% pain free during the run and for the rest of the day. Today, I did feel a hint of "something's there" when I woke up, but now it's silent. In fact, it's been the trend that I feel "something there" every morning, but it vanishes completely by noon. So as I write this, there isn't even a hint of anything in my leg or my foot. I am planning on running 18 miles tomorrow, but I am fully prepared to cut that run short at the first hint of anything.

Injury Sleuthing

2011-07-31T20:12:00.006-04:00

One of the worst things about being an injured runner is the guilt that comes with knowing that you ignored the early warning signs and are now sidelined because of it. I refuse to let that happen to me.

Warning Signs
About a week ago, as I was laying in bed before going to sleep, I noticed something very faint in a small area of my foot. When I went to go feel for the area, I immediately recognized it as the same area that I used to massage when I had Peroneal Tendonitis back in August of 2009. That was a horrible injury. I ended up having to take five weeks off of running and I missed my fall marathon because of it. I didn't know about pool running back then so when I returned to running, my fitness had gone out the window.

I wouldn't describe what I felt last week as a pain-- more of just a sensation. Throughout the week I continued to run, but I iced the area just to be on the safe side. I didn't feel a thing while running or walking. But when I was completely at rest and trying to fall asleep, there was that nagging little feeling in my foot.

My Peroneus Longus is Irritated

After Thursday's tempo run, the area was more tender during the day, so I iced it off and on a few times while at work. On Friday morning, I actually did start to feel something while walking. Still not a pain, but it was in the exact same area of my previous peroneal tendonitis injury so I was particularly attentive. Friday was a scheduled pool running and swimming day, with no planned land running to irritate it. I also coincidentally had an appointment to get my gait professionally analyzed by a sports doctor (more on that in another blog). I told the doctor that I had a sensation in my foot that felt like the beginnings of peroneal tendonitis. He confirmed that the tender spot was the attachment of the peroneal tendon, thankfully not a 5th metatarsal stress fracture.

Emotional Roller Coaster & Denial
Friday can best be described as an emotional roller coaster. For 15 minutes, the area would be 100% silent, but then 15 minutes later, I'd feel something again. I'd walk around without any sensation in the area at all, but then a short while later I would feel something while walking. I kept going back and forth on whether or not I should do my 18-miler the next day. Eventually, I shook myself out of denial: If you are wavering this much, the answer is no long run. How much would it suck to truly injure myself on a long run when my body was giving me warning signs of a previous injury? An injury that sidelined me for five weeks!!!!

I made the sensible decision to spend 2 hours and 40 minutes pool running. Thankfully, I had the company of some of my CAR teammates. Ironically, Tara and I had planned to meet at 6:00 that day to run 18 miles, and when Saturday rolled around, we were both pool-bound. Even though my foot didn't actually hurt-- I definitely felt something in that peroneal tendon attachment area and I was taking it seriously. No denial!

Detective Work
My most important question was why I was getting this injury. My mileage increase has been extremely gradual and I even had a "cutback" week two weeks ago. I'm only running four days a week, as opposed to the six I used to run during typical marathon training cycles. So it's not overtraining. My first question in my sleuthing: what has changed in my training recently?

I can think of three things: core work, hills, no foot slapping. At first, I thought that the side bridges (core work) were the culprit. Putting weight right there on the side of my foot might have been irritating the area. Good theory, but I ultimately didn't think it was the true culprit. I didn't think it was the hills because I only do them once a week, and the hill isn't that steep. So. . . foot slapping?

When I went on my first long run with CAR, my coach told me that I was a "foot slapper" and that I needed to be lighter on my feet to prevent injury and be more efficient. Foot slapping is when the ball of the foot hits the ground and makes a slapping noise, rather than being quiet. When I asked him how to not do it, he told me to just focus on not doing it. And so I did. I found it easy to correct and since that day in late June, there was no more foot slapping.

So, foot slapping was one piece of the puzzle. Question number two: what causes peroneal tendonitis in runners? I consulted Dr. Google and found that a strained peroneus longus muscle is often the culprit. As soon I read that, I remembered back to earlier in the week when I noticed my outer lower leg was sore. This just felt like the standard muscle ache so I didn't pay any special attention to it at all. But suddenly the pieces were coming together. I massaged around the peroneous longus muscle and voila: a tight and tender area.

Question #3: Why is my peroneus longus muscle strained? To answer this one, I had to figure out which motion stresses that muscle. The answer was easy-- plantar flexation of the foot. This would explain why my foot doesn't hurt at all when I walk, but I definitely feel something while driving. My drive to and from the pool hurt my foot more than anything else because my foot was in a flexed position the entire time.

So far, I knew that plantar flexation while running caused me to strain my peroneus longus muscle, which resulted in mild tendon inflammation near the foot-- felt primarily when driving. And I knew that I changed my gait to avoid foot slapping. Well, what muscle do you use to restrain that forefoot from coming down hard? The peroneous longus!!!! I realized that I was flexing my foot ever so slightly to keep it from slapping down, and in doing so, strained the peroneous longus muscle.

I can't be 100% sure that my foot issue was caused by this, but it makes a lot of sense. Changes in gait often lead to injuries, even if they are for the better.

The Solution
I plan to do strengthening exercises for the peroneous longus muscle as well as stretching and massage. I am also wearing my CEP compression sleeve to help speed recovery. I'm icing my foot A LOT. I also scheduled two ART (Active Release Technique) sessions with the sports doctor who did my gait analysis.

My coach told me to wait until my tendon felt 100% to return to running, and I plan to take that advice. My foot already feels much better today than it did yesterday. I have no pain with walking and I only feel it while driving or when pointing and flexing my foot. And even then, I would give it a 1.5 out of 10 on the pain scale. It's very minor and had I not experienced this injury in the past, I wouldn't be reacting this way. The earliest I see myself running again is Thursday (which would be six full days off) and that's only if I am pain free. My hope is to be able to run 18 miles on Saturday, but I won't do it unless I'm completely free and clear of any foot sensations.

Some of the best running advice I ever received was "sacrifice a day of training to save a week, sacrifice a week to save a month, sacrifice a month to save a year." So I am sacrificing a week to save a month. I'll continue to do workouts in the pool (today I did 40 minutes of pool running plus 1000yd swim) and hopefully get to the starting line of my marathon both healthy and well trained.

Running Controversies (Part III of III)

2011-07-27T12:46:00.007-04:00

And you thought I forgot! This post is a continuation of Part I and Part II of the controversial blog series, addressing topics that are often debated among runners. In the previous posts, I addressed headphones, barefoot running, junk miles, unauthorized bib transfers, BQ qualifying times, and weather-related race shutdowns. Here are a few more.

The Treadmill

The Debate: Does running on a treadmill train you as well as running outdoors? Can you train for a marathon solely on a treadmill? If not, what percentage can be on a treadmill?

My Personal Preference: I "grew up" running on a treadmill. I was a gym rat and that's how I got into running. Back in 2001, there were no iPods, so in order to listen to my music I needed to be able to rest my portable CD player on something. There were also no Garmins back then and I wanted to know my pace and distance. It wasn't until 2005 that I started running outside regularly, and even then it was only on the weekends. The more I ran outside, the more I loved it, so I gradually made the transition. Until April of 2010, I still did most of my Monday-Friday runs on a treadmill because they were doing so much construction in my area. There was no safe place to run. Sometimes I would drive to the trail, but that wasn't lit so I could only do it for three months out of the year. Fortunately my husband (fiance at the time) would go with me on the weekdays sometimes which would make it safer to run in the dark. When I moved into a residential neighborhood in April 2010, 100% of my runs were outdoors and I loved it! However, when all the snow and ice fell in December and January, I didn't think it would be safe to run on dark icy roads, so back to the treadmill I went. There was a two-week period when I did all of my runs on the treadmill and BOOM! Three stress fractures. Thankfully now I'm back to 100% outdoor running.

My Stance: I improved my race times quite a bit from 2005-2009 so the treadmill is definitely effective. But would I have seen even more gains had I not used the treadmill as much? I think that the treadmill is a great tool for parents who can't leave the house or for people who don't have access to a safe running area. It's great for business trips and when the roads get icy. However, I think that treadmill use should be minimized and that the workout will be stronger outdoors. It more closely simulates race conditions and unless you are on a track, the surface probably won't be completely flat. After my stress fractures, I am more anti-treadmill than I used to be and I think that during the winter I will limit the treadmill to just 1-2 times per week and go pool running if conditions are not run-able. I don't mind running in cold weather, but I won't run outdoors if there is snow and ice on the ground and it's dark (which it always is because I'm a morning runner). Also, I don't think the treadmill is boring. Yes, it's more boring than outdoors, but with a good music playlist I can totally combat the boredom factor.

Marathon Pacing
The Debate: Should you pace your marathon evenly, or try to aim for a negative split (start slow, finish fast)? According to Pfitzinger and Douglas, in the book Advanced Marathoning, "relatively even pacing is the optimal pace strategy." They continue, "If you ran negative splits for the marathon, chances are that you ran more slowly than optimally during the first half of the race and could have had a faster finishing time." They indicate that you should plan for a 2-3% slowdown in the second half due to physiological factors that I won't get into here. On the other side of the fence, negative splits ensures a strong finish and that you aren't bonking. If you start slowly, you can really give it everything you have in the last 10K and you aren't leaving anything on the course.

My Personal Preference: I plan on starting about 20 seconds per mile slower than goal pace in my next marathon. I've bonked far too many times (not solely because I've gone out too fast, but a slower start would have been helpful in all of those cases). I negative split 3 of my first 4 marathons before I had the confidence that I could really run faster and they were all wonderful experiences. I probably could have done them slightly faster, but I was happy that each race was a PR. My best marathon ever (Shamrock 2008) was run in the way that Pfitzinger and Douglas recommend: 1:54:40 first half and 1:56:59 second half for a 3:51:49. I had a two-minute negative split and I surpassed my goal by about three minutes. I ran a similar race at Richmond in 2007 with 1:56:55 for the first half and 1:59:46 for the second, yielding my first sub-4:00 marathon. Given that my two best marathons (not my two fastest, but my two best) had relatively even pacing strategies, it's going to be tough for me to abandon that. But my fear of bonking overrides it, so I plan to go out slowly at the next one.

My Stance: It really depends on how experienced you are. For first, second and even third timers, I really think the start slow, finish fast approach is best. If you're an elite or a very experienced marathoner, the even pacing does make more sense physiologically. You shouldn't feel "good" at the end of a marathon, but if you are able to significantly reduce your speed in the last 10K then you might have left something on the course. Both my husband and I agree that he could have run Shamrock faster, but he was happy with his time and he was happy that he had enough gas in the tank to really hammer those last six miles home.

"Take What the Day Gives You"

The Debate: If you're registered for a race, do you DNS (Did Not Start) or DNF (Did Not Finish) because of race day conditions-- usually the weather? I've heard many runners say that once they've registered for something they are committed to it no matter what. Nothing will stop them from getting to the start line, and of course the finish line. Other runners assess how they are feeling that week (or even on race morning), take the weather into consideration and may decide to not race something they or registered for. Or if they are feeling like it's not "their day" mid-race, drop out and DNF. The first group would be mortified by these two acts.

My Personal Preference: I'll take what the day gives me weather-wise if it's not an "A" race. And I have no shame in DNFing when it just doesn't feel right. I've done that twice and haven't regretted my decisions. There have been races that I wished I DNFed because the recovery from them was so brutal and my time was awful anyway. I wrote a blog post on this back in 2010 after I dropped out of Shamrock at mile 13.

My Stance: Think big picture. You've already spent the money on the race so that's not going to change. Why risk injuring yourself when you have a nagging pain or wasting your fantastic training cycle on a 75-degree day? There will always be other races. Don't get married to any particular race because it's what you registered for. It's more important to keep your "A" goals in mind and stay healthy. Sometimes it's just not your day. If your marathon is supposed to be abnormally hot (like Chicago 2007) then save it for a better day. Don't get me wrong-- it sucks because you've tapered, you may have already purchased airfare, and now you'll have to train for another marathon several weeks later. It's not ideal, but it's better than wasting all that hard work.

This concludes my controversial blog series. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sure I'll be tackling other controversial matters on this blog as I experience them. Please weigh in on these topics by posting a comment!

11 Weeks to Milwaukee Lakefront

2011-07-17T09:51:00.004-04:00

There are exactly 11 weeks until I run the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon. I typically don't do weekly reports of my training, but because this was an eventful week and 11 is my favorite/lucky number, I'll recap it.

Monday: 8 Miles
My husband has plantar fasciitis, so he's been cross training at the gym and I've become reacquainted with my iPod. Monday was a plain ol' 8 miler. Nothing fancy to speak of. Plus 41 seconds of the plank (x3).

Iwo Jima Hill Workout

Tuesday: 7 Miles, including hills
Call me crazy, but I spent 90 minutes in the car before work on Tuesday to drive down to the Iwo Jima memorial to run hills with Capital Area Runners (CAR). 30 minutes to get there, an hour to get back, but it was definitely, definitely worth it. We ran up a hill that was about 1/4 mile long at about 5K pace then took it easy, did a stride back down part of the hill, and then easy down the rest of it. We did this six times. It was record-breaking heat on Tuesday. At the time of the workout (6:15am)it was about 78 degrees, sunny and humid.

Here is a link to the elevation profile. It actually looks a lot worse than it was. It looks like my group was around a 7:15 pace for most of the laps. When I got home I did the plank for 42 seconds (x3) plus one on each side. Yes, it made me even later to work but I am committed to the core work.

Wednesday: 3 "miles" pool running + 1100yd swim
On Wednesday, I went pool running for 30 minutes (which I equate to 3 miles) and then swam for 1100 yards. I got new goggles over the weekend, and I spent the first 4 laps adjusting them so that no water would leak in. Apparently, my face shape/size is difficult for goggles to fit. My previous pair hurt so much that it would be a limiting factor in the workout sometimes. My new ones are more comfortable, but I have to pull them very, very tight so they don't leak. Every time I swim I feel invigorated and refreshed. I really enjoy it and I think that it's a fantastic workout. 43 seconds with the planks!

Thursday: 9 miles, including tempo
I did a tempo workout as prescribed by my coach. 1 x 3 miles at tempo pace, 1 x 2 miles at tempo pace, 1 x 1 mile at tempo pace. I did recovery jogs for 0.3 mile (about 3:00) and had a warmup and cooldown to get me to 9 total miles. We finally had some cooler temperatures (65) with lower humidity, so the results were fantastic:
3 miles: 7:33, 7:28, 7:22
2 miles: 7:23, 7:20
1 mile: 7:00
This equates to a 7:21 average for the six tempo miles, and a 7:47 average if you include the recovery jogs. Compare this to my 10K bonk of a few weeks ago at a pace of 7:58 and it speaks volumes about how the heat/sun can affect me.

I also had some new gear for this run. The first were my Saucony P.E. shorts. Yes, I am a huge fan of the skirt and rarely buy shorts anymore. But I wanted something really lightweight for my summer speed sessions and these had come recommended by Dorothy at MilePosts. I bought two pairs of them during an online sale and wore them for the first time on Thursday. They were so comfortable and lightweight. And I also thought they were flattering, too.

Garmin Soft Strap HR Monitor

The other item was the Garmin Soft Strap heart rate monitor. My HR monitor has been acting weird for quite awhile. I probably just needed to change the battery, but I thought the soft strap would be more comfortable. While that may be true, I had horrible chafing during this run, despite the gobs of body glide I used under the monitor. The chafing was so bad that I kept having to tuck my sports bra under the monitor so it wouldn't rub. And then when that wasn't working, I just kept putting my hand there, which is no way to run a tempo. I had it on the tightest setting and it wasn't falling down, but I realized that I needed to make it even tighter. With my previous HR monitor, I used a hair tie to bunch up the extra material and make it really fit me. So with this one I bunched up a lot of extra fabric, tied it with a hair tie, and was fine for the next run. Overall, this heart rate monitor is more comfortable, I just needed to fix the chafing. It was one of the worst chafing incidents I've ever had and wearing a bra to work that day was painful.

Thursday was also my husband and my 11-month wedding anniversary! I was pleasantly surprised that he celebrated this occasion by sending me roses to my office. Such a sweetie!

Friday: Rest day! (except core)
Friday was a well-deserved rest day and I even took the day off from work. I actually didn't "rest" too much because I cleaned the house and also did some planks. I took a core rest day on Thursday, so Friday I was back at it with 44 seconds for the plank x 3. Plus side planks and other exercises on the Bosu.

Saturday: 16 Miles
I kept going back and forth on if I wanted to join CAR for the long run or just do it on my own with my new iPod playlist. I eventually opted for going alone because we were having guests later that day and I had food to make and even more cleaning to do. Doing it on my own allowed me to start an hour earlier and when I was done, I didn't have to drive 30 minutes back home. It was also one of those days that was relatively cool in the morning, but the sun rose fast so a 7:00 start would have been a lot harder than my 6:15 start.

This was a progression run with the first 6 miles being very easy (9:05-9:10 pace), the middle third being easy (8:45-8:50 pace) and the last third at marathon pace (8:15). Mile 15 was uphill and not at all shaded, so I worked really hard on that one, and then backed off slightly for the last mile. The overall average was 8:46 with an average heart rate in the middle of zone 2, so I was pleased. The heart rate monitor didn't chafe me because I tightened it using the hair tie. However, I did need to place it two inches lower on my chest so that it wouldn't rub against Thursday's red mark.

Oreo Cake

I spent the rest of the day on my feet cleaning and baking. And of course, planks for 45 seconds. My legs were just aching by 4:00 and I was glad when our friends came over and I could finally relax. I am not much of a baker, but there is one cake that I love to make which tastes as good as it looks. I crushed up actual Oreo cookies and baked them right into the cake. To accompany this cake, I made soft serve ice cream with a soft serve machine we got as a wedding present. It was delicious. I also made an artichoke dip, and helped Greg out with his Sangria recipe.

Sunday: Pool running and Swimming
I plan to go pool running and swimming in a few hours once all the swim lessons are done and there are more lanes available. I really prefer it when the pool isn't overly crowded. I'll probably do about 30 minutes of pool running and 1000-1400 yards of swimming, depending on how I feel. Greg is going to come with me and it will be nice to have him workout with me again. I've already done the planks-- 46 seconds x 3, plus side planks and other Bosu ball core work.

Totals:
Running: 40 miles
Pool Running: 6 miles
Swimming: 2300 yards (1.3 miles)
Core: Six days. Advanced plank from 41 to 46 seconds by Sunday.

Next week is a cutback week with 36 miles planned and no speedwork (except for the hills). I'll take two full rest days. It comes at a perfect time because next week's forecast looks miserable, with lows around 75 every day.

Let The Training Begin!

2011-07-09T19:23:00.005-04:00

My training for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon on Oct. 2 has officially started. I've been asked many times, why Milwaukee? I don't have any friends or family there, but it worked out for me schedule-wise and hopefully being so far north the weather will be cool. Read all the details here: Why Milwaukee?

There are quite a few changes I am making for this training cycle as opposed to my previous ones. Here are the highlights:

Capital Area Runners

Earlier this year, I met a group of women who train with Capital Area Runners (CAR). My friend Cristina joined them after getting injured last fall and spoke very highly of the coach, George Buckheit, and the group. A bunch of the CAR runners were part of a pool running meetup group that I belonged to, so I met quite a few of them that way.

I had known of the group since 2009, when I was looking for a coach. I didn't join back then because they meet in Arlington for their runs and with a job in Chantilly, I couldn't make it fit into my schedule. Also, their red racing attire is hard to miss at races-- a group of really fast runners often leading the pack. George had been sending me the newsletter since 2009, and in early June, the newsletter indicated that you could get a "basic" membership which covered the production of the newsletter and the weekend long runs. I decided to go ahead an join officially, since I was friends with so many of the runners already and had heard such great things about George.

Hill workout at Iwo Jima with fellow CAR members

A few weeks ago, I took a random Tuesday off work and decided to drive down to Iwo Jima for the hill workout at 6:15am, just to try it out. And I loved it! I loved the team atmosphere and how we all worked together to power up that hill over and over again. Afterwards, I realized that it was worth it to me to go for the "marathon plan" membership, which would allow me regular access to the weekday workouts. It will make me about an hour late for work (as long as traffic isn't horrible), but my job is pretty flexible. I don't plan to go to all of them, just once every two weeks or so. And on the other days, I can do the same workouts that the group is doing on my local track. I think being part of a team and running with a group of strong runners will motivate me to push myself. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to tackle these hills on my own.

Of course I'm definitely still committed to my role as a Pacers Ambassador and will wear my Pacers gear for most races. Being a Pacers Ambassador is my way of giving back to the running community, while CAR is helping me become faster and stronger.

Fewer Weeks, Fewer Miles, More Cross Training
My best marathon ever, back in March of 2008 was run on just 7 weeks of training. I think that the longer cycles, especially in the summer wear me out too much so I cut back to a 13-week program for Milwaukee. As for weekly mileage, it used to be standard for me to peak at around 60, and average in the upper 40's or lower 50's. But this time, I'm going to peak at around 55 and average in the mid 40's. Instead of running 6 days a week I will run 5.

I plan to supplement this with a pool running-swimming combo twice a week. I typically do pool running for 20-40 minutes, and then follow it up with a swim of 20-40 minutes. The total time in the pool is typically 60-80 minutes. I'd like to give myself one full rest day, so one of my pool days will be on the same day as one of my run days. So that's 4 days of running, 1 day of running + pool, 1 day of pool only, and 1 rest day.

I finished this week with 37 miles, and in previous training cycles I'd be up to 45 by this point. But I feel much stronger and I think I'm getting more of a benefit.

Core Strengthening
Coach George emphasized the importance of core work. Of course I've always known this, but since I'm really trying to improve my whole approach, I decided it was time to take core work seriously. My mother, who is 60, can hold the plank for well over a minute. For me, it was a challenge to make it to just 30 seconds. So I have been doing planks and other core exercises 6 days a week for the past two weeks, and I plan to continue to do so. I'm already up to 3 sets of 40 seconds on the plank! I have a BOSU ball which has literally been collecting dust, which I do a few things with as well.

Long Runs as Progression Runs
I used to do all my long runs in heart rate zone 2 (easy), with the exception of two of them, when I would throw some marathon pace miles in. Sort of like the Pfitzinger approach. But George really advocates breaking all the long runs up into thirds. The first third very easy, the second third, moderately easy, and the last third marathon pace to tempo pace. This isn't as challenging as it sounds if you start out slow enough. I'm actually logging sub-8:00 miles in my long runs which has never happened before. Today's long run ended with 5 miles that were: 8:29, 8:19, 8:11, 7:55, 7:57. And this was in 77 degrees and very humid weather. I did a 14-miler last week when it was much less humid and the last 5 miles were 8:30, 7:57, 7:55, 7:54, 7:42. These runs have been extremely confidence-boosting, which is part of the purpose for running them that way. I'm feeling a little bit nervous that my marathon is on Oct. 2 and my longest run has only been 14 miles, but I've done two of them and both were hard efforts.

No more racing for me until Labor Day weekend, when I may tackle the RnR VA Beach half marathon, depending on the weather. George asked me today what my goal for the marathon was, and I don't think I'll really be able to determine that until closer to the race. Right now I think that a 3:35 is realistic, and so does George, but I might adjust that faster or slower based on how training goes. And I didn't pick 3:35 because of Boston-- that's just the time that my training paces, heart rates and races suggest. I'm picking a goal based on what I think I can do, not based on the golden BQ standard that shaped my mindset for way too long and broke me down more times than I care to admit.

Anyway, I've been feeling strong and healthy lately and I hope it continues!

Firecracker 5K: An Over-Analyzed Race Report

2011-07-04T12:07:00.003-04:00

This morning, my husband and I ran the Firecracker 5K in Reston, VA. It was about 76 degrees and very humid, but thankfully there was plenty of cloud cover. I was extremely grateful for the cloud cover, and this race further confirms that the sun is my real enemy. Last weekend I bonked during a sunny race, even though both the humidity and temperature were lower. Yes, that was a 10K, but I felt about 10 times worse at that race, not twice as worse.

Preparations
I realize this was only a 5K, but I decided to take hydration very seriously. I've been reading a lot about NuuN and other electrolyte tablets, but it turns out that they all have Sorbitol in them, a sugar alcohol which I am allergic to. So instead, I pre-hydrated with Pedialyte. No fake sugars. If it's safe for babies, then it should be safe for me. Another hydration issue that I have is drinking too much on race morning. In the past, I have always drunk plenty of water the day before the race and maybe just a few cups on race morning. This is because I have a tendency to "leak" while putting out a hard effort, even if I use the porta potty right before the race. (Sorry if this is TMI!)

There were two obstacles that I thought might prevent me from running this race, or force me to DNF: my stomach and my calf. I'll start with the stomach. Without getting too graphic, let's just say that starting yesterday evening, I had frequent trips to the bathroom. And those continued into this morning. It was probably something I ate that didn't agree with me, but my stomach was not feeling good at all. On the way to the race, we drove though a neighborhood where all the street names were "Dairy" this and "Dairy" that, and it just made me feel nauseous. I used the porta-potty twice pre-race and hoped for the best. And thankfully, my stomach was fine during the race.

Now onto my calf. On Saturday, I noticed that whenever I stood up and started walking, my calf was really tight. I stretched it and massaged it, but it simply wouldn't loosen. Yesterday it was even worse. Those first few steps would be painful, but the more I walked around the better it felt. I stretched it and used a warm towel to try and get it to loosen. I think what helped the most, though, was the CEP compression sleeves I bought last winter. I wore the right one around the house all day yesterday and I slept in it. When I woke up, the calf didn't hurt as much, but it was still noticeably tight.

I warmed up wearing the CEP compression sleeves and my calf felt decent. And luckily during the race I couldn't feel it being an issue at all. Dodged bullet number 2.

Greg and I warmed up for one mile, stretched a lot and then lined up at the start line. It looked like there were a lot of really fast runners there. The entire =PR= racing team and then just a bunch of people who looked super speedy. Last year I placed third in my age group but it looked like that would not be happening again. Greg and I situated ourselves about 15 feet back from the start line, but of course there was still plenty of weaving in the first mile to pass these folks.

Strategy
I read my blog post from last year's race and remembered that the second mile was mainly downhill, and that the last half mile of the race was all uphill and felt torturous. My plan was to run the first mile at my goal pace, speed up for the second mile because of the downhill and then see what I could do in the final mile. On Friday, I spoke with my friend Dash about my strategy, and she suggested that I "enjoy" mile 2 instead of going all out so that I had more left for mile 3. I took her advice.

The Race
The race started, and there were a ton of people to weave through. I really hate weaving during the first mile of a 5K because it makes your distance longer and wastes energy, but I had no choice. As I said, I really think I lined myself up close enough to the front so that this shouldn't have been an issue. But of course, it was. I settled into what felt like 5K effort and logged a 7:12 for the first mile.

Now for the fun part. I wanted to "enjoy" this mile while staying strong and still pushing. I was still passing a bunch of runners during this mile and no one was passing me. I ended up averaging a 7:03 pace. I originally thought I should aim for a 6:50 during that mile, but I thought the effort level was appropriate so I didn't worry.

Now for the tough part. Mile 3. As I went into this mile, I remembered how hard it was last year and I was prepared for the worst. And of course, my "leaking" problem began. I drank too much pre-race and apparently my porta potty trips didn't matter. This was embarrassing, but there was nothing I could do about it so I just kept running the race. As I approached the final hill, I remember my husband saying last year that he actually sped up for the hill, and I thought I had enough in me to do the same. I didn't speed up, but I pushed a lot harder and ended up with a 7:20 average pace, which I was very happy with, especially compared to last year. Another thing that made me happy was that I passed quite a few people on that final hill, including the one girl who I had my eye on from the beginning as wanting to beat.

I glanced down at my Garmin and thought I could come in under 22:40 and so I really gunned it at the end, passing three more women in the final stretch. I Averaged a 6:23 pace as I sprinted toward the finish. I was super excited when I looked at my Garmin and realized I ran a 22:39. But then bummed when I looked at the official results, and it was 22:41. Just a two-second difference, but I worked so hard for that sub 22:40!

I placed 5 out of 89 women in my Age Group

I placed 35 out of 447 women overall. (I said it was a highly competitive race!)

The top 10 women all finished in under 20 minutes. And even more amazing, the top 30 women all finished in under 22 minutes. What a field of strong runners!

Analysis
Going into the race, my goal was to beat my Lawyer's Have Heart time from 4 weeks ago (thus setting a new "hot weather" PR), but my B goal was to go sub 23:00. Both goals were accomplished.

Mile	Firecracker 2011	Firecracker 2010	Lawyers 2011
1	7:12	7:30	7:20
2	7:03	7:06	7:27
3	7:20	7:43	7:22
Last Bit	6:23 for 0.16 mile	7:23 for 0.14 mile	5:59 for 0.1 mile
Time	22:41	23:21	22:43

I'm excited because I'm in much better shape than I was last year at this time, and I am fairly certain that if today's race was cooler I would have set an overall distance PR. According to my Garmin, I ran 3.16 miles at an average 7:10 pace, which is my PR pace. I blame the weaving. :-) I'm happy that I beat my Lawyer's Have Heart time. Officially, it's faster by only 2 seconds, but this was a hillier course and my Garmin showed me as running more distance so I consider it a more significant difference. Yes, I over analyze my times quite a bit.

Aside from the incontinence in mile 3, this race went really well. No digestive issues or calf problems, and I didn't feel like I was going to pass out afterwards. Now it's time for some 4th of July fun!

Hot Day for a 10K

2011-06-25T12:36:00.008-04:00

I ran the Ringing In Hope 10K this morning in Ashburn, Va. This race was the "summer race" for Ringing In Hope, and I had done the winter version on New Year's Eve. It was a different course, but the same group organizing the event.

Even though the humidity was low, I knew it would be a tough race for me because of the sun. With an 8:00am race start on June 25 and no shade, the strong sun was beating down on me for the entire race. In 2009, I ran the Cherry Blossom 10-miler and it was 55 degrees but very sunny. I bonked at mile 5 and DNFed. Even though the temperature was low, the sun really seemed to affect me.

Yesterday, I was sure to drink plenty of water. I must have gone to the bathroom 7-8 times. I drank Smart Water because it has electrolytes in it. But apparently, I should have been getting even more electrolytes before and during the race.

Greg and I got to the race about 50 minutes before the start. We picked up our bibs and bumped into my friend Kathy. Kathy was running the 5K and I thought she'd probably win it. (She came in 2nd!-- great job Kathy!) Greg and I warmed up for 1.2 miles, and then found a shady area to stretch and drink some water. We both carried small waters during the race, too. I thought I was getting plenty of water.

At the start line, I saw Karen, the woman who I've talked about in previous blogs as being about my same pace. Although she runs several races each weekend--something I could never do. In the past three races that we've ran together, we have run near each other for awhile, but I ended up passing her and beating her by just a slight bit. Naturally, I use her to kind of gauge how I'm doing in a race.

Miles 1-2

I tried to go out at an easy pace. I was targeting a 7:40-7:45 race pace so I wanted to go out at about that. Unfortunately, I ended up running a 7:35 first mile. It just felt really, really easy. Karen was way ahead of me, and must have gone out at a pace closer to 7:15. I made sure to back off during the second mile, which I did for 7:50. The course was rolling hills. It was advertised as flat, but we were always going up a hill or going down. Nothing too steep, but the were some very long inclines. Heat + Hills is just not a good combination.

Miles 3-4

I pretty much knew I was headed for a bonk when I reached the halfway point. It just felt so hard. I was working harder and harder but going slower and slower. I closed in on Karen a bit, but she was still a good 20 seconds ahead of me. She was wearing a fluorescent yellow shirt, so she was easy to spot. My paces were somewhat encouraging, but I just felt awful. Mile 3: 7:45, Mile 4: 7:53.

Miles 5- Finish

Heading for the finish

At this point, I really wanted to DNF. Or stop and walk. It was just so hard to keep pushing. I allowed myself to ease up in mile 5 for an 8:20 pace or otherwise I wouldn't be able to complete mile 6. I told myself that even though this was going to be a slow time for me, I would still probably win an age group award, because there weren't too many women ahead of me. I expected that a bunch of people would be passing me in these miles, because I was bonking so hard, but only one person did, and it was a man. Mile 6 was 8:11. Still a bonk, but faster than mile 5. Granted, mile 6 had more downhill. I was getting closer and closer to Karen, but I never caught her.

As I ran toward the finish, Kathy yelled out to me "Go Elizabeth" and the way she yelled it made me think there was a woman close behind. I think this was just my own fears, though. I had worked so hard during mile 5 and 6 to simply keep running and not stop, for the sole purpose of winning an age group award. There was no way I was going to let another woman pass me in the last 0.2. So I somehow managed to complete that last 0.2 at a pace of 7:36.

Finish time: 49:30, average pace of 7:58.

I was really expecting to be in the 47's for this race, based on my recent hot 5K. Even though I bonked, I was glad that I pushed through and didn't stop. I put out a really hard effort, and I'm pleased with how I did given how awful I felt. Plus, it's a 20-second "hot" PR for me!

After finishing the race, it took me a very long time to recover. I wasn't coherent and able to talk for about 5 minutes.People were asking me if I was okay and I nodded. But I was also a bit confused. I didn't feel like I was in danger of passing out, but I felt so spacey and "out of it". Greg found me and told me to drink water and find some shade. 10 minutes after finishing, I still hurt as if I was running the race. I can't really describe it. I felt like I was working so hard just to "be". I lied down on the asphalt in the shade, which helped, but I was still really spacey for awhile afterwards.

Receiving my Age Group Award

We headed toward the area where they would be giving out awards so I could claim my 2nd place age group award. I saw Kathy again, and she told me that I really didn't look good, and offered to get me some electrolyte tablets. I took her up on it. Shortly after drinking a water bottle with a tablet, I felt much better. Just in time to receive my award which was a gift certificate to a running store. I decided I would use it to buy electrolyte tablets. Kathy told me that just drinking water wasn't enough-- you need to hydrate with electrolytes for hot races. She said that she doesn't race 10Ks in the heat because it really takes a toll on her and it's more than twice as hard as a 5K.

Anyway, I was the 9th overall female (out of 123) and I always like being in the top 10. I typically find myself in the top 4-5%, however, so this top 7th % fits with me not being able to run my potential.

It seemed like I was the only runner struggling to such an extent. Other people were conversational a minute or so after finishing. Greg finished over three minutes faster than me, which is a much larger difference than we usually run for a 10K and Karen beat me. So I know I did remarkably poorly time-wise given my two "benchmark" runners.

I was so out of it, that I didn't even notice that I was suffering from a major blister/chafing issue until I took my shoe off:

Bloody sock from my shoe chafing my middle toe

Even as I write this, I am a bit dizzy and I don't feel back to my normal self.

My main takeaways/thoughts from this race are:

- I am glad that I stuck it out and won 2nd place in my age group

- I'm disappointed in my time, but I know it was the best I could do given how I felt

- Fitness wise, I'm in better shape than I was last summer (new "hot weather" PR)

- In the future, I will pre-hydrate with electrolyte tablets and use them during the race

- I will think twice about racing hot 10Ks, unless it's Lawyers Have Heart which I always do.

- I need to "operate" on my shoes to get rid of whatever was rubbing on my toe.

Running Controversies (Part II of III)

2011-06-15T19:36:00.000-04:00

And you thought I forgot! This post is a continuation of Part I of the controversial blog series, addressing topics that are often debated among runners. In the previous post, I addressed headphones, barefoot running, and junk miles. Here are a few more.

BQ Times

The Debate: There are actually quite a few debates about the BQ times, and I will tackle two of them. The first is whether or not the women's qualifying times are "softer" then the men's times. Men are obviously built to go faster, but many runners think a 30-minute gap between the men's and women's times is too large. The other debate isn't really a debate, but rather how people are reacting to the new qualifying standards and process for the 2012 event. Many Boston hopefuls are frustrated that their task just got harder, but other runners welcome the new challenge.
My Stance: The movie "The Spirit of the Marathon" provided some history on the Boston Marathon. The qualifying times were set not to make this a prestigious event, but because the number of applications were increasing each year, and they couldn't accommodate anyone. This was before the days of computerized lotteries, so the easiest way to trim down the applicant pool was to set qualifying standards. Over time, those qualifying times have dropped lower and lower as the demand to run this race continues to increase. The prestige factor is simply a byproduct of what the race managers did to control the size of the race.

Given this, it doesn't really matter if there is a 20-minute difference between the top male and female finisher, but a 30-minute difference in qualifying times. Data shows that approximately the same number of men and women (roughly the top 5%) finish within the current qualifying times. This means the number of male and female runners should be about the same. There would be significantly more male runners if they lowered the women's times. As for the new qualifying standards, this falls inline with what they have done historically. The applicant pool of qualified runners is too large (with the race filling up within 8 hours) so they are tightening things up.

How this affects me:
Two years ago, I would have been upset about the faster qualifying times, and even more frustrated that I bonked at the RnR Arizona marathon because of the heat-- and then again in New Jersey. But now Boston isn't really a focus of mine. Trying to attain a goal that was based on someone else's standard wasn't healthy for me, so now I am just focused on running my best races possible. By my standards. Over the past three years, my fitness level has increased substantially and yet I keep bonking in marathons. If I had listened to my body instead of stubbornly trying to run an 8:23 pace no matter what, I probably would have set some nice PRs. So for my next marathon (Milwaukee Lakefront) I am just going to try my best, listen to my body, and if I qualify, great! If I get a 3:40, it will still be the exact same achievement that it was when it was a "BQ time".

Unauthorized Bib Transfers (running under someone else's name)

The Debate: You registered for a race six months ago and now you're injured and you can't run it. Or you got sick. Or you just don't feel prepared. Do you give your bib to someone else and have them run under your name? The debate is whether or not this is "okay". Some runners do this all the time, and other runners would never dream of it. Some large races have a process in place for officially transferring your bib to another runner, but most smaller races don't allow this. And then there is the question of selling your bib to someone versus just giving it to them.
My Personal Preference: This is a no-no. I would never run a race using someone else's bib and I wouldn't give my bib to another runner, even if I were injured. When "Elizabeth Clor" appears in the race results, I want that to actually be me and to reflect my hard work and training. And if I were to run a fantastic race but then someone else's name appeared in the results, I would be bummed. If it was a PR, I'd almost feel as if I couldn't really claim it as my own.
My Stance: As long as the rules don't forbid it, then I don't really care what other people do. Well, unless I got beat out for an age group award by someone who wasn't running under her own name. That might irk me. Also, in larger races like the Cherry Blossom 10-miler, where they explicitly say that they accept more people than the course can actually hold because they know people will not show up, then I think it is wrong to break those rules. I'm guessing that at smaller races, the race directors don't care as long as the entry has been paid for.

Weather-Related Shut Downs
The Debate: In 2007, the Chicago race course was shut down in the middle of the event because the temperatures were rising into the upper 80's. One person died. This got a great deal of media attention and since then, race directors have been more cautious about holding races in severe weather conditions. This year, the St. Louis marathon was shutdown early as soon as the temperatures got into the mid 70's. The debate is weather or not races should be shutdown when it gets really hot, and how hot is too hot?
My Personal Preference: I've only been affected by this once (last weekend) and the race wasn't even shut down, it was shortened. So I don't really know how I would feel if I was running a marathon and was told to stop at mile 18. My guess is that I'd be relieved. I DNFed at Shamrock because of the heat. I bonked at RnR Arizona because of the heat, and I sure would have loved for someone to tell me it was okay to walk to the finish! I also ended up in the medical tent after the New Jersey marathon in 2009 with hypothermia. I don't think that race should have been shutdown, but if it had, I probably would have welcomed it. As someone who is heat sensitive, my preference is to shut it down!
My Stance: I can certainly see both sides of the coin here. Even though I DNFed at Shamrock, I don't think that race was hot enough to be shutdown. It really has to do with how prepared they are with emergency medical crews to handle any incidents. Even though I would personally welcome a shutdown if the race was oppressively hot, I really think that shutting down the race should be a last resort. There are many other runners who are willing to tough it or who aren't as effected by the heat as me, and I can see how frustrating it would be for them if they were having a good race.

I also don't like the negative press running gets about it being dangerous and people dying during marathons. Most of the people who have died (and there haven't been many) had pre-existing heart conditions.

What are your thoughts on these hot topics? (No pun intended for topic #3).

Too Hot For Ten!

2011-06-11T13:05:00.004-04:00

This morning, I woke up at 4:45am excited to run my 7th consecutive Lawyers Have Heart 10K. In 2005, this was my first large race ever and it inspired me to do more. Prior to the 2005 race, I was a fitness runner, often running 6 miles on a treadmill, but rarely outdoors and never competitively. This 10K got me out on the road and led to a major positive change in my life (competitive running) so it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Every year, the race ends up being hot. Usually it's unseasonably hot and I'm not acclimated to the heat yet so my times are never fantastic. So my goal for the past few years has been to set a course PR. This year, I had to beat 49:50, which I thought was very manageable, given my recent PRs and speed workouts. I was going to target a 7:45-7:50 pace and hopefully end up at 48:xx.

My husband was unable to run the race due to a work obligation, so I carpooled with my friend Chad. I picked him up at 6:00, which should have given us plenty of time to park, pick up our bibs, warmup, and be ready for the 7:30am start. But despite my planning, we still ended up cutting it close on time. We had to take a detour because 66 East was closed due to construction. Luckily I knew a way around it, but the traffic leading up the closure added about 10 minutes onto our trip.

We arrived at the race, parked and went to get our bibs. As expected, I got a medium shirt. That makes 7 medium Lawyers Have Heart shirts, despite the fact that every year I register for a small. And it's not like I'm picking it up at the last minute either. I typically arrive 45-60 minutes before race start, which is a perfectly reasonable time to show up. I just don't understand why they don't order more smalls since they run out every single year. Furthermore, how hard is it to only give people the shirt size they registered for instead of just letting them pick whatever they want once they see that the shirts run big. Oh well, they make good sleep shirts.

After I got my packet, I went over to where Chad was registering on-site, and he told me that they changed the race to the 5K. Really!? The person who gave me my bib didn't tell me this, and it was pretty critical information. We didn't know why, but after the race, I ran into my favorite race director, Kathy Dalby, who said that the city officials told them that morning that they were only allowed to do a 5K because of the weather. It was a combination of heat, humidity and smog that made city officials fear that runners would have difficulty breathing.

I was thankful that Chad told me about the switch because otherwise I might not have known. After the race, we overheard some runners saying that they had no idea they were actually running a 5K. The announcer made his best effort to communicate this, but there were many people who weren't paying attention. Before the race, I also overheard some people getting angry that they paid $45 for a 5K. Relax-- it's for a good cause and the change was made for your safety!

Chad and I went back to my car, put our bibs on and warmed up. We only had time for a 0.6 mile warmup, but I was okay with that given that I wanted to stay "cool" and not warmed! I had mixed feelings about the change, but I didn't really have time to think about it too much. I had to focus on running a strong 5K and think about what my goals would be. I decided that I wanted a "hot weather" PR, which would be sub 23:21. I also had a stretch goal of sub-23, but given the weather, I didn't think that was likely.

The start line was extremely crowded, and there were quite a few people in the front that clearly didn't belong there (yes-- you wearing the race t-shirt and pinning your bib number to the back of that shirt). I lined up in the area marked 7:00-8:00 pace, but I don't think most people were paying attention to the signs.

Mile 1 - 7:20
When we took off, I started at what felt like 5K pace. I didn't really have a strategy. I was just going to do what felt like 5K pace and see how long I could hold onto it. I had been planning on wearing a heart rate monitor for the 10K, but once it got changed to the 5K, I decided to ditch it because the purpose of the monitor had been to make sure my HR didn't get too high too soon. But I knew it would during a 5K and didn't want the numbers to scare me.

Speaking of Garmin data, whenever I looked down at my Garmin, I saw this "approaching turn" message that I had never seen before. Somehow, without fail, my Garmin knows when I am racing and decides to act up in ways that it never does when I am training. I have been wearing this Garmin for two years and I have never seen the "approaching turn" message. It was annoying because I couldn't see any data under it, so I just stopped looking at the Garmin.

Mile 2 - 7:27
We got the ice cold sponges at the beginning of this mile and I loved it. That's my favorite part about the race! I put mine on the back of my neck, my forehead and my wrist and finally I tossed it aside. I had also carried a small bottle of water for the first mile which I ditched in order to get a cold sponge. It was so nice to be turning around so early in the race. During this mile, I was really thankful that it was a 5K. It was just so hot with no shade and the sun beating down on me.

Mile 3 - 7:22
The idea that I was only running half of what I expected really fueled me to keep pushing. I remembered how many times I had struggled through the last mile of this 10K and told myself that I only had two miles behind me, not five, so I should be able to be strong. I told myself I could still meet my goal if I kept the pace under 8:00. I was fairly certain that it would be a huge struggle, but my pace really surprised me. In nearly every past LHH, my last mile was always the slowest. This time, it was different! It started out on the slower side, but once I realized that I was less than half a mile to the finish line, I really picked up the pace and just flew down that final hill, passing quite a few people.

Last 0.1: - 5:59 pace
Okay, I don't really believe that this was my pace. That last 0.1 is under a bridge so I am pretty sure my Garmin was affected by that. I also recall the first 0.1 reading in the 9:00's, so this was compensating for that. And based on my finish time and average pace, my first mile had to have been closer to 7:15. Anyway, I did have a very strong sprint to the finish line and I was super excited to see that the clock was under 23 minutes!

Finish time: 22:43, with an average pace of 7:19.

I placed 18 out of 391 women ages 30-34 (top 4.6 percent)
I placed 111 out of 1633 total women (top 6.8 percent)

After recovering from that final kick, I met up with Chad who had run exactly two minutes faster-- a 20:43. Congrats, Chad!

I am very, very happy with my race performance. I set a new "hot weather" 5K PR by 38 seconds, I met my stretch goal of sub-23, and I didn't bonk. This might be the first LHH where my last mile was strong. I contribute my success to:

Drinking plenty of water on Thursday and Friday
Being more acclimated to the heat because summer came really early this year
Having the confidence from the half marathon that hot races don't have to be disastrous, if you have the appropriate expectations
Knowing what 5K pace "feels" like when uncertain what pace to target
Just getting faster overall :-)

The day ended on a down note when I got pulled over for using my cell phone while driving on M. Street. Greg had just called and of course I wanted to tell him about the race, and since they are legal in Virginia, I hadn't even thought about it. Apparently all I have to do to get the fee waived is go buy a hands-free device and send the receipt to the DMV. There are no instructions anywhere online as to how I need to do this, so if anyone has experience, please let me know. I'll probably just end up calling them and being put on hold for 3 hours.

But screw the ticket- I had a good race in spite of the weather!!!!!

Ladder Intervals

2011-06-03T12:42:00.001-04:00

Mizuno Elixir 3 Lightweight Trainer

This morning I ran my first interval workout on the track since my stress fracture injury this spring. The last time I had done "land" intervals was mile repeats back in early January. I wanted to wait until my shins were 100% pain free and "awareness" free. It was also my first time wearing my Mizuno lightweight trainers since the injury. I had been training and racing in my Brooks Adrenalines, which are heavier than what I usually race in, just to be on the safe side.

The weather was such a relief. 53 degrees and low humidity. We haven't had weather this nice in nearly a month!

Injury & Intervals
Throughout February, March and April, I did pool intervals once a week. They were hard. Even harder than land intervals on a track because I pushed myself to the absolute max, really wanting to make sure I maintained my fitness. I had even received comments from the lifeguards and other swimmers to the affect of "don't have a hard attack" because my breathing and grunting noises were so loud. My friend Dash calls this the "primal scream" and I pretty much screamed while pool running. As evidenced by my PRs and training paces post-injury, I maintained my fitness, if not actually improved it by doing pool intervals.

This morning, I harnessed the mental "game" I used to stay strong during the pool intervals to give it my all. I kept thinking to myself that I worked so hard in the water, I needed to work just as hard on the track to maintain what I had built.

My husband and I ran to the track for our warmup, did the intervals and then ran back.

The Workout
I chose an interval set that looks somewhat easy on paper, but yet always surprises me at how difficult it is when I actually do it: ladder intervals. I took this workout from Hudson's Run Faster book and I've done it a handful of times over the past two years. The workout is 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min, 2 min, 3 mins with equal duration recovery jogs. I forget how fast the book says to do them, but I do each one as fast as possible, keeping in mind that I don't want to burn out before the intervals are complete.

I usually use my HR monitor and aim for 187-189 starting at the second interval, but my HR monitor was acting all wacky this morning, telling me I was at 200 during the warmup. The HR data is all over the place, but based on effort, I know I was on target, if not above!

Interval	Duration	Distance (miles)	Pace
1	1:00	0.16	6:10
2	2:00	0.32	6:11
3	3:00	0.46	6:29
4	2:00	0.32	6:18
5	1:00	0.16	6:17
6	2:00	0.31	6:24
7	3:00	0.45	6:36

Total Distance (including warm up and cool down): 6.5 miles

I could tell I was accustomed to pool intervals because as soon as my watch beeped I just stopped and stood still for about 10 seconds before starting to walk/jog again. (In the pool I just go completely limp.) I don't care about what the recovery paces are. I go as slow as I need to go, and walk the first bit, just to make sure I recover and am prepared for the next one. My former coach said that I should do whatever it takes to recover in between intervals so I could make sure I hit the heart rate targets I needed in subsequent intervals.

As for my intervals. . . I was amazed at my paces! I've never done intervals this fast!

The most recent workout I could find in my log was from June 2010 (I could have sworn I have done this workout since then), so I used it for comparison. The weather for last year's workout was 65 degrees, so about 10 degrees warmer, but still with low humidity. The weather alone account for some of the difference, but certainly not all of it.

Here are my paces from June 2010 for the exact same workout:
7:03, 6:45, 6:50, 6:49, 6:47, 6:43, 6:52

Back then, I think I was pretty excited to be sub-7:00. So I think that a course PR in the 10K next weekend should be attainable. It will be my 7th consecutive Lawyers Have Heart 10K, and I hope to beat last year's time by at least a full minute.

My shins were 100% fine and the lightweight trainers didn't cause any problems. I couldn't be happier with how my return to interval running went!

Alexandria Running Festival Half Marathon

2011-05-29T20:42:00.001-04:00

I ran the Alexandria Running Festival half marathon this morning. It wasn't a fast race due to the weather conditions, but I am happy with my execution.

Background
I decided to run this race back in March. I was just coming off of three stress fractures and I wanted a goal race to train for. I knew when I signed up that the race would likely be hot, but I still wanted to be able to run a half marathon this season.

Training
My training mileage for this half marathon was lower than it has been for any half marathon over the past three years due to the injury. However, I supplemented it with swimming, pool running and the elliptical. Here is a graph of my land mileage leading up to the race:

Weekly Running Mileage (land)

My longest run was 12 miles, and I did two of those on the two weekends leading up to the race. I had done one 11-miler and everything else was in the single digits. One victory for today was actually completing the 13.1 miles, a distance I haven't run since early January.

My training included two 5K races and one 8K, two of which were PRs. But because these races had much cooler conditions, there was no way I could expect a half marathon PR. My goal was just to run my best without bonking.

Pre-Race
Earlier this week I think I suffered from dehydration. I attempted a 7-mile progression run at modest paces, and I bonked. Afterwards I felt weak and on the verge of passing out. The next day, I woke up and the room was spinning. I was planning to run again, but I was far too dizzy. I even waited a few hours before I felt safe to drive to work. Since then I have been drinking LOTS of water. It was a scary reminder that not drinking more water than you think you need can be dangerous when it's so hot and humid out! It also forced me to do more of a taper than originally planned. This week, I ran 7 miles on Tuesday and 5 miles on Friday, and that was it. I went swimming on Monday, but there was no other cross training involved. I think I was very well rested and hydrated by the time this morning rolled around.

Race time was 7:15, so that meant that my husband and I had to leave our house at 6:00. We woke up at 5:00, I ate 2/3 of a salt bagel, drank a cup of water and we were off. About 5 minutes into our drive, I realized that I had forgotten my Garmin at home. I told Greg that I would just have to deal, but he encouraged me to turn around and go back for it. I remembered Amy's race report where she ran a fantastic marathon without looking at her watch. I also remembered the Houston Half marathon from 2008 when my watch failed and PRed. I thought it might be good to experiment, but I decided to go back for the Garmin, because I wanted to monitor my heart rate. I was afraid that I would go out too fast and overdo it if I ran by feel.

Now I was worried about us being late to the race, but everything turned out okay. The race was even delayed by 10 minutes (grrrrr) so we were definitely fine. They had run out of shirts by the time we got there, but I think you can email the race director and he'll order more.

I carried my own bottle of G2 with me because I know that doesn't upset my stomach and I would know exactly how much I drank. I also planned to take one honey stinger energy gel at mile 7.

The Weather
It was forecast to be 71 degrees at race start, and that felt pretty accurate. It was very humid, but thankfully it was overcast. In fact, we really lucked out with the clouds. The forecast was for it to be sunny but the sun didn't come out until after I finished. If it had, I think I would have been a few minutes slower. I feel like I just bake when it's sunny.

The Course
This was a challenging course. There was an area that had a park as part of it that we had to circle three times. It was a loop of about 2 miles. There were quite a few twists and turns and ups and downs. At times, the course was very narrow and it was impossible to pass anyone. I felt bad for the really fast runners who had to spend their third lap weaving through people who were still on their first lap, or second lap for that matter. Because of how the course was, there was no space in many cases to pass people on the grass or on the side. This frustrated me at a few points, but I wasn't trying to race it competitively like the front runners.

Miles 1-4
I figured I would start out at a pace of about 8:40 and try to run the race as a progression- maybe landing somewhere around 8:00. During the first few miles there were quite a few people who passed me. It was hard not to let this affect me, but I stuck to my plan. I stayed in tune with how I felt and monitored my heart rate. I was in the "recovery" zone for the first mile and clocked an 8:22. This was faster than anticipated, but the heart rate was happy with it, so I decided I would do a very gradual progression from 8:22 down to 8:00.

Mile 1: 8:22
Mile 2: 8:20
Mile 3: 8:17
Mile 4: 8:16

Miles 5-9
Everything had been going smoothly when all of a sudden I noticed that my heart rate was well into the tempo/LT zone. This was to be expected. It is a half marathon after all, but it's like it just suddenly jumped up and I was now working hard. Soon after, I found myself slowing down. Miles 4-10 were the ones that went around the park area 3 times. I couldn't wait to get out of the park. I kept getting stuck behind runners/walkers who were still on an earlier lap and it was hard to maintain a "groove".

At around mile 5, I found myself running behind the woman I had met at the 8K last month who runs tons and tons of races. I said hi to her, and that I saw her photo in Washington Running Report. Her insane number of races is her claim to fame, and I was guessing she probably ran a race yesterday. She said she was taking it easy, and I thought I'd stick with her for awhile, but then shortly after I found myself running ahead. No doubt that if there is a local race tomorrow- she will be there!

I took my Honey Stinger energy gel at mile 7, as planned. I figured the calories from the G2 would fuel the first half of the race and then the honey would fuel the second half. This worked out well and I had no stomach issues.

Mile 5: 8:13 (fastest mile of the race)
Mile 6: 8:43
Mile 7: 8:37
Mile 8: 8:55 (slowest mile of the race)
Mile 9: 8:40

Miles 10-13
By mile marker 10, I was finally out of the park! Now it was just road running. Everything thinned out because I was no longer running with people who were on their second lap. There weren't many people around me. By this point, I wasn't really looking at my Garmin, but every time it beeped, I continued to be surprised. After I saw that 8:55 for mile 8, I was sure that all subsequent miles would be in the 9's. I was pleasantly surprised that they weren't!

According to my Garmin, my heart rate stayed in the tempo zone the entire time, but yet I wasn't really pushing. I was afraid to push too hard, and I saw no reason to kill myself during this race. It was that magical "comfortably hard" feeling that a tempo is supposed to be so I thought it must be great training.

I saw my husband at a turnaround point and he seemed to be about a minute ahead of me. Mile 12 was all downhill which made things easy. Mile 13 seemed to last forever and there was a huge hill. (Anyone familiar with the races run near the AMC Hoffman Theaters should be familiar with this hill). It's a monster to deal with at the end of any race, but a real treat once you get to the top and start running back down. Once I got to the bottom, I decided it was finally time to really push and finish strong. And I did-- a 7:20 pace!

Mile 10: 8:37
Mile 11: 8:39
Mile 12: 8:20
Mile 13: 8:29 (this included the hill!)
Last 0.1: 7:20 pace.

Post-Race
My official finish time was 1:50:50. Greg was waiting for me at the finish line-- he ran a 1:49:18.

I placed 222 out of 998 runners (male and female)
I placed 28 out of 178 women ages 30-39.

Post-race.

As I expected, my ranking is a lot lower than it typically is for races because I think I am more affected by the heat than the average runner.

I am happy with how this race turned out. Given the forecast, I was expecting something along the lines of a 1:55. I realize that I ran the race over 9 minutes slower than my PR, but given that I am typically nearly 1:00/mile slower in the heat, this was a win for me. A new "hot weather" PR in the half marathon. The last hot half marathon I ran was in 2:03. Most importantly, I kept a fairly even effort and did not bonk! I think I could have pushed harder and ran a little faster, but it just wasn't worth it for me.

My shins were perfect. Not even a hint of awareness. My feet felt achy and sore for most of the race, but that may have been because my shoes only had 12 miles on them prior to the race. And I think I should have broken them in more. No post-race soreness either, although that could change tomorrow morning.

Looking Ahead
This was a great training run for the Laywer's Have Heart 10K in two weeks. I run that race every summer, so I use it as a benchmark. Thus, it's super important for me to do well!

I will "officially" start training for Milwaukee at the end of June, and in the meantime, keep my weekly mileage in the 30's plus cross training. Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful

2011-05-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

As is typical in the Washington DC metro area, we have transitioned from winter to summer with about 2 weeks of spring in between. I try not to gripe about the weather too much because I can't control it, but it was just a few weeks ago when I was setting PRs for tempo runs and such in the cool mornings, and now my training pace has slowed by at least 30 seconds per mile.

I am registered for the Alexandria Running Festival half marathon on Sunday. When I signed up, I knew that it would likely be a hot race, but I wanted to run it anyway because I wasn't able to race anything longer than an 8K this spring due to injury. Humidity typically doesn't become an issue until mid-June, so I thought I might get a pass on that. But the forecast is calling for hot, sunny, humid weather.

This morning, Greg and I attempted a 7-mile progression run. It was about 69 degrees and extremely humid. We choose a relatively hilly route and I bonked during the 6th mile, while running up a hill at an 8:30 pace. I was running at paces that felt "easy" in San Francisco but now with the humidity I was in my tempo zone. My heart rate was skyrocketing and I knew I was overdoing it, so I decided to really back off the pace and just take it very easy for the last mile and a half. I completed the 7 miles, but felt weak and spacey afterwards. I don't think I could have run much further. So, if this is how I felt after 7 miles at an average 8:51 pace, how am I going to manage a half marathon in weather that's predicted to be even hotter? Granted, I will take more care to pre-hydrate and there shouldn't be as many hills, but it will still be hot and humid.

So now I'm wondering if I should take this half marathon really easy (as if it were just another long run) or if I should try and push for something maybe in the 8:20 range. (Note: my PR pace is about 7:43). Should I wear a heart rate monitor to make sure I'm not overdoing it? And let that guide my pace? What if I ran it as a really long progression run? I am completely torn on what approach I should take. I think I am much more sensitive to these types of conditions than most runners. While others can still be competitive in hot weather, I usually cannot be, and my placement falls well below what it usually is.

Really my only goal here is not to bonk. I've bonked in hot half marathons before and it's not pretty. I got a taste of bonking this morning and even for a mile and a half it was miserable. We'll see what happens. . .

As for my training leading up to the race, I ran 34 miles last week, but I backed off the cross training. This week will be a slight taper week with 7 miles today, 6 tomorrow and then 6 on Friday. I also swam 1100 yards yesterday. I'll focus on pre-hydrating and getting enough sleep so that none of those things are a contributing factor to a potential bonk.

New Scenery: San Francisco Running

2011-05-19T21:16:00.000-04:00

This morning I had the opportunity to run in San Francisco because I am here for a business conference. I've never been to this city before, but I'd heard nothing but wonderful things.

I knew that it was going to be hilly, but when I saw how extreme the hills were, I thought that there was no way I could realistically go for a run. My hotel is in Union Square, and there is a hill next to it that has like a 25% grade. I probably would have to walk up this thing and it's long. I thought that using the hotel treadmill might be easier and safer, but my Facebook friends convinced me otherwise.

Prior to coming to San Francisco, I had scoped out this route. Some of my friends assured me on Facebook that once I got down to the water it wouldn't be hilly, so I decided to go for it. I am SO glad I did! What a beautiful run. It was so exciting to be in a brand new city, running through areas I had never seen before but had read about.

The Bay Bridge (I didn't take this photo, but this was my view)

The weather was amazing. Mid 50's and not humid. If it's truly like this all the time, then the people who live here are spoiled. I left my hotel started running in the direction indicated by the map. The sun had just come up and there weren't many people around, so I was a bit scared. But it was a nice area, so I just made sure to keep my wits about me and look strong. The first mile was all downhill. Not as dramatically steep as most of the hills seem to be here, but it was still a hill. I logged a 7:23 pace, which felt easy, so I am not sure if my Garmin was off or if it was the downhill + awesome weather that accounted for this.

At about 1.2 miles, I was at the Embarcadero. I could see the water and a massive bridge. It was so beautiful and amazing. I thought it was the Golden Gate Bridge but I later realized it was the Bay Bridge. Still it was amazing. I soon realized I was in my element as plenty of other runners started to show up. This must be where everyone in San Fran runs because it's not so hilly. I followed a man in an Ironman shirt for awhile because I figured he'd keep me on the right route and prevent me from veering off accidentally. I felt like I was in a race. There was always at least one other runner in sight-- usually like 4 or 5 others, and we were all running the same route. Plus, the scenery was completely new to me.

I continued to be shocked by my pace given my easy effort level. I assumed that after the downhill it would go back to my "easy" pace of about 8:40-8:45 but it remained on the fast side. Maybe the Garmin was off, or maybe I was just so excited to be in a new area that I had extra adrenaline. My intention was to run 7 miles, but I missed the road I had to turn on to get back into the city (Market St.) so I ended up running 7.5:

Mile 1: 7:23
Mile 2: 8:30
Mile 3: 8:09
Mile 4: 8:20
Mile 5: 8:15
Mile 6: 8:25
Mile 7: 8:51 (back up the hill)
Last 0.5: 8:57

7.5 miles, 8:19 average pace. It felt easy and the scenery was amazing. Afterwards I just felt so invigorated and I was overcome by feelings of "I love running so much!" I sometimes don't get that feeling when running the same routes over and over near my house.

I'm registered for the Nike Women's marathon in October, so I will be running here again this fall. I'm planning on that race being a "fun run" without caring about my time. And now I am more excited than I was before!

Tomorrow I'm planning to run again, and then I fly back tomorrow evening. I'm so glad I didn't go for the treadmill option!

Running Controversies (Part I of III)

2011-05-15T15:47:00.002-04:00

Welcome to my three-part controversial blog series!

My husband suggested I write another poetic blog about running in the humidity, but the creative juices aren't really flowing that way. So in this three-part series (to be written over the course of the next several weeks) I'll share my thoughts on what I perceive to be the most highly debated running topics among runners.

Headphones
The debate: Some runners insist on always racing with headphones, while other runners get annoyed with the headphone wearers because they can't hear what's going on around them.

10K from 2007 after removing my headphones.

My personal preference: I used to always train and race with headphones and music was a large part of my running. I stopped racing with them just over two years ago when I wanted to be "free" of equipment. Also, sometimes the songs would get on my nerves when it was late in the race and I just wanted peace. Then I met my husband and we started doing most of our runs together, which meant no headphones so we could chat. So now the only time I would ever listen to music on the run would be if Greg wasn't with me and the run was on the longer side. I enjoy racing without them, but I do sometimes think that the extra "pick me up" might help motivate me.
My stance: I don't agree that safety is a valid reason for banning headphones in most races. The exception is if it's a smaller race and the road is not blocked off from cars. Then safety does become an issue. Otherwise, it might be annoying for others trying to pass you, but you aren't at a high risk for being trampled on. . . I don't think! I think there are things that people do in races that are much more "unsafe" than using headphones, such as jogging strollers in the front or middle of the pack, suddenly stopping to walk without pulling over to the side, throwing your cup on the ground where someone else can easily slip on it, etc. As for the rules, people are going to break the rules and wear headphones, which is why I don't agree with banning them. The fact of the matter is, A LOT of people like running with headphones, so banning them isn't really practical.

Minimalist Shoes/Barefoot Running
The debate: Minimalist shoes, designed to mimic barefoot running, are becoming increasingly popular because it's seen to be more natural. Many runners believe that barefoot running will make them faster and less injury prone.

Vibram Minimalist Running Shoe

My Personal Preference: I've never been tempted to do this. I like my running shoes. When I wear less supportive shoes or worn-out shoes I definitely feel it in my legs. I tried running in the Kinvaras (which aren't even minimalist-- just a lot lighter than most shoes) at an expo once. I only made it about 5 or 6 strides until my legs and feet started to feel unhappy. I do realize that minimalist running is something you have to work your way up to, but it's just not a goal of mine.
My Stance: My husband brought up a good point: although humans were meant to run barefoot, we were not meant to run marathons on asphalt or concrete. Maybe if all races and runs were in the grass or a dirt surface, I might be more open to the idea of it. I also think that the amount of research that has been put into making today's running shoes what they are far outweighs the theory that barefoot is best.

Junk Miles
The debate: One school of thought is that the best approach to getting faster is to run more miles. 50 miles a week is better than 40. 60 is better than 50. The other school of thought is that the quality of the workouts is more important than the quantity of the miles. Unless a workout has a specific purpose, then it's just "junk miles".
My Personal Preference: Before my recent injury, I took the "more is better" approach. I didn't consider any miles to be junk miles because if I wasn't doing speed work or a long run, I was simply building my aerobic capacity and training my legs to spend more time running. Usually I only did one speed session per week (alternating intervals and tempo runs) because I thought more than that would be too much, given my relatively high mileage. However, when I trained for my best marathon ever back in the spring of 2008, I was running fewer miles but with two speed sessions per week. Now I am not sure what's best. I still think you need high weekly mileage to succeed at the marathon, but I might be better off reducing my overall mileage in exchange for an extra speed workout each week. In thinking about how I will train for my next marathon, I know I'll be doing a lot more cross training than ever before, so it will be lower mileage, and some of the weeks will likely include two speed workouts.
My Stance: I don't really believe in "junk miles" unless you are running so many miles that you are over training and wearing yourself out. I think that running an 8-miler at an easy pace for the sake of "general aerobic" fitness is just fine. However, if this run comes the day after a 20-miler just to get some more miles in, then maybe it's moving toward "junk".

I'll cover more exciting and controversial topics in the next blog in this series. Meanwhile, I ran 33 miles this week, plus 80 minutes of pool running and 1500 yards of swimming. Half marathon in two weeks!

"Coming Back" Vs. "Being Back"

2011-05-09T18:45:00.003-04:00

At what point do you cross the threshold from "coming off of an injury" to being "recovered" from an injury and back at normal training? It's a gradual process, and I don't think there is really any particular day I can cite as being "recovered". But I think I have finally crossed over to the other side!

Coming Back
What does it look like to come off of three stress fractures? Not that horrible. For the first few weeks, I followed Pfitzinger's post-injury plan which was specifically written for stress fracture recovery. At first it was run/walking a few times per week and the walking gradually disappeared. I continued to cross train consistently because I wasn't running enough to maintain my fitness level. In April, my focus was on gradually increasing the mileage (by about 10% each week) and introducing short races and speed work. Here's the run down:

April 4: REST
April 5: 4 miles (plus pool running intervals)
April 6: 6 miles (plus elliptical for 45 mins)
April 7: (pool running + swimming for 70 mins)
April 8: 4.1 (5K race @ 7:19 plus warmup)
April 9: REST
April 10: 6 miles (plus 90 mins pool running)
Land Miles: 20.1, Pool Miles: 22, Elliptical: 45 mins, Swimming: 800yd

April 11: (Elliptical for 50 mins)
April 12: 5 miles (plus pool running intervals)
April 13: 5 miles (plus pool running & 1200 yd swim)
April 14: (Elliptical for 40 mins)
April 15: 5 miles (inc. 3.5 @ 7:27)
April 16: (90 mins pool running)
April 17: 8 miles
Land Miles: 23, Pool Miles: 19, Elliptical: 90 mins, Swimming: 1200yd

April 18: REST
April 19: 6 miles
April 20: 5.5 miles
April 21: REST
April 22: 4.4 miles (5K race @7:11 plus warmup)
April 23: (pool running for 80 minutes)
April 24: 9 miles
Land Miles: 24.9, Pool Miles: 8

April 25: (Elliptical for 49 mins)
April 26: 4.5 miles (plus pool running intervals)
April 27: 9 miles
April 28: (1500 yd swim + 20 mins pool running)
April 29: 7 miles
April 30: REST
May 1: 6.5 miles (8K race @ 7:24 plus warmup)
Land Miles: 27, Pool Miles: 8, Elliptical: 49 mins, Swimming: 1500yd

During this time, I was careful to increase my land mileage by 10% each week, but I didn't have a goal for the other cross training. I just did what I felt was enough to keep me fit without tiring myself out too much. There's probably a lot of variation from week to week (like the week of the 18th when I purposely did less to "taper" for the 5K). I didn't have a plan-- I just took things week by week.

Being Back
After all that, I think I am officially back. I don't have any shin pain when running, although I will occasionally have an awareness of where the fractures were when just sitting at rest. This freaks me out a little bit, but it always goes away and hasn't yet affected any of my runs.

Last week was 30 land miles, 14 pool miles and 1700yd swimming. This includes an 11-mile run-- a distance I have not run since early January. I'm still doing track intervals in the pool, because I'm afraid to introduce another day of speed work into my routine. The pool intervals are extremely challenging and I am confident that they are doing their job, so I am not in a hurry to get back on the track.

I'm now at a point where I can start thinking about summer races. I've decided to not do any more short races in May. This was a tough decision to make because I feel like I was "robbed" of the nice cool March races and now in May it seems like we still are having some cool mornings.

However, I am focusing my training on the Alexandria Running Festival half marathon on May 29, and I need to prioritize longer runs over races. The longest I will probably do leading up to the race will be a 12-miler, which is a lot lower than my previous half marathons over the past few years. Typically I am in marathon training mode and I have at least one recent 20-miler under my belt prior to the half. As such, I am not expecting a PR at this distance. With a May 29 race, I'll have to adjust my time goal based on the weather, but my real goal will simply to be to run my best possible race and not bonk.

I'm both cautious and optimistic about my comeback. I think the time off was probably a much-needed break after years of high mileage and that the cross training will be a nice long-term supplement.

Patriot's Cup Corporate Challenge 8K

2011-05-01T13:37:00.004-04:00

This morning I ran the Patriot's Cup Corporate Challenge 8K race in Fairfax. I had never heard of this race until my husband brought it to my attention. It's a race to benefit The Arc, which is an organization that helps individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Large corporations sponsor the event and form teams. Greg works at Lockheed Martin and they are very competitive about this race. Lockheed Martin had three teams with 5-8 people each. Two men's teams and a women's team.

My goal was a 36:45, which was predicted by the McMillan calculator from my 5K race last weekend. But I would have been happy with anything under 37 minutes.

Greg and I got to the race, took a team picture with his co-workers and then did a 1.5 mile warmup on the course. The course was fairly hilly. I would call it "rolling hills" for most of the race with a few larger ones tossed in there. There weren't any flat stretches. After the warmup, we lined up at the start line. The weather was surprisingly nice. It was overcast and 57 degrees. I think the overcast sky made all the difference because sunny and 55 can be tough on me.

Miles 1-2
These miles were smooth sailing. There were definitely hills, but I stuck to my tried-and-true strategy of even effort: flying on the downhills and running conservatively on the uphills. Mile 1 was 7:23, Mile 2 was 7:24. I was running very close to a woman who I thought I recognized from last week's 5K. In the 5K I remember running close to her for the first mile and then passing her. I wasn't positive it was the same woman, but it looked a lot like her.

Miles 3-4
This was the toughest part of the race. Both Greg and I had mile 3 as the slowest mile. 7:45 in my case. There was just this big long section of hill that didn't seem to end. I ended up passing the woman who I had been running behind, but I continued to hear her, so I know she must be close. I was able to redeem myself slightly in the 4th mile (7:35) but I couldn't take full advantage of the downhill because I was trying to recover from all the previous uphills.

Last 0.97
There was a nice downhill for the first half of this mile and I was cruising along at a 7:15. But then, there was this really long uphill stretch that just really got me. I felt like I was crawling up the hill. I knew I was so close to the finish line, but I just couldn't make myself go any faster. According to my Garmin, my pace for the last mile was 7:26, but the Garmin also had the course measured slightly shorter than an 8K. But because the large majority of courses are longer than my Garmin distance (making my official pace slower than Garmin) I'm perfectly fine accepting a slightly faster pace than Garmin for this race.

Winning first place in age group 30-39.

My finish time was 36:46, and I won my age group! I was the 7th overall female (not sure how many total there were). My Lockheed Martin Women's team won first place for the women's division. Greg ran a 34:31-- he's gotten so fast lately!

I also got to talk to the woman who I had been running near, and she won her age group (40-49). It turns out that she was the same woman from Crystal City and that she was running 4 races this weekend. Yes, 4 races in one weekend. WOW!!!!

My analysis of this race was that my "Garmin" pace was slower than I would have liked although my "official" pace was right on target. However, I was basing my goal off of a 5K that wasn't nearly as hilly as this course. So given all of that, I am very happy with my performance. I ran hard and got in a fantastic speed workout. This is a PR by about 3 minutes, but the last time I ran an 8K that wasn't in ridiculously hot weather was 2007.

In terms of coming back from my stress fractures, my longest run to date has been 9 miles (I've done two of those), and this race wraps up my highest mileage week post-injury at 27. I'm also still swimming, pool running, and using the elliptical.

Shiny New 5K PR

2011-04-23T06:57:00.000-04:00

I gave away the punchline in the title. I ran a 5K PR last night at the Crystal Run 5K Friday. Granted, it was only a 3-second PR, but when you're talking about a 5K, every second counts. And when you're only seven weeks into post-injury training (maxing out at 23 miles per week so far), I think it's pretty significant. I ran this exact same race two weeks ago, and I beat that time by 22 seconds.

Pre-Race
Crystal City is about 26 miles away from where I live. In rush hour traffic on Good Friday, that meant driving for 80 minutes. Yes, it took nearly an hour and a half to get to the race. There was an accident on the highway so we took other roads, and I am pretty sure that 95% of the 50+ lights that we hit were red. I was seriously questioning if we were going to make it to the race in time and Greg vowed that he would never run another Crystal City 5K Friday. It was very stressful, but Greg pointed out that it gave me something to focus on other than the race. However, when I got out of the car in the parking lot, I noticed I was shaking.

We had enough time to warmup for 1.3 miles and get to the start line.

It was raining steadily. Not a downpour, but more rain than there had been at the previous 5K two weeks ago. It was windy, as it always seems to be in Crystal City, but it didn't seem to be as bad as the April 8 race. There were only a few times when I noticed it being a limiting factor, whereas two weeks ago, the wind dominated my entire second mile.

This was also the "Red Dress Run" for the American Heart Association and participants were encouraged to wear red dresses. I complied. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to wear my Mizuno Elixirs (which have red in them) because those are lightweight trainers and I wanted to be extra careful about not re-injuring my shins. So the trusty Brooks Adrenaline it was.

Mile 1: 7:06
I got off to a slow start. Even though I started close to the front of the pack, there was still quite a bit of crowding in the first quarter mile, and I glanced down at my Garmin to see a 7:30. I didn't want to expend too much energy weaving through people, but I had to get my speed up. During this mile, I told myself that I would be my own mental coach. And I was going to pretend that I was two people: myself and my coach. And that the coach had to be positive but pushy, and that I had to listen! I had read a blog earlier in the day that said "speed comes from being relaxed" so my coaching self reinforced that to me throughout the race.

Mile 2: 7:10
I was determined not to let this mile kill my race like it did two weeks ago. There was still the same incline, but the wind wasn't as bad. I drafted a little, too, which helped. The person I was drafting off of was running faster than me so that motivated to keep up with him so I wouldn't loose my wind shield.

Mile 3: 7:08
By this point, I thought I could PR, even if it was extremely slight. I told myself to just hang in there for the first half of the mile, and then really just give it everything I had the second half of the mile, starting my finish line kick before mile marker 3. I remembered from last time how the last 0.05 were on a slippery, curved incline. Losing time would be inevitable so I tried to make up for that beforehand, and during that final 40 feet to the finish line. I kept telling myself to relax but push, and I did. I pushed really hard during the last half mile, and for the last quarter mile, my Garmin was showing that I was solidly in the 6's.

Finish time: 22:18, which was good for 15th female out of 392. My ranking wasn't as high as April 8, but there were five women who ran sub-20:00 last night. And when I raced two weeks ago, there were no women who broke 20.

I'm super excited about my PR and how I mentally coached myself throughout the race. I had a race strategy based on my experience from two weeks ago and I stuck to it.

Greg ran a 26-second PR with a 21:11. He just keeps setting these massive PRs!!!!

Overall it was a great night, and well worth the 80-minute rainy drive for those 3 seconds of the PR. :-)

Here is a link to the Video of me crossing the finish line.

Missed.

2011-04-09T09:37:00.003-04:00

I was supposed to run the GW Parkway Classic 5K as my first race post injury. The race is scheduled for Sunday morning. However, if the government were to have shut down, there would be no race. My backup plan was the Crystal City 5K last Friday night.

At 6:00pm, it looked as if the government would in fact shut down. No decision had been made and they were still arguing over what they were actually arguing over. Plus, one of the articles I read said that even if they DID agree to something, there wouldn't be enough time to write something up and make it official by midnight. So I went ahead and raced Crystal City, telling myself I would cry and throw stuff if the government didn't shut down and I could have raced the Parkway. I thought about finding another 5K on Sunday as a backup instead. But none of the ones I found were as appealing as the Crystal City race. And then I would be kicking myself for not running Crystal City.

There are quite a few reasons I would have preferred the Parkway over Crystal City. After all, I don't shell out $45 for just any 5K. The Parkway Classic is special to me. I registered for this race long after it closed, thanks to my affiliation with Pacers. And when I did, I was super excited about it. I love this race because the course is fast, it's well organized, it's point-to-point and I've participated most every year since 2006. The weather forecast for Sunday at 8:00am was overcast and 53 with nearly no wind. Ideal. Crystal City, on the other hand, was rainy, slippery, windy at points, and with quite a few hairpin turns.

When I woke up this morning, I did cry and throw stuff. The Parkway Classic is on and the Government didn't shutdown. I made the wrong choice.

I want to run the Parkway Classic!!!!! Badly. But I know it's not smart because I am just returning from multiple stress fractures. And I might be disappointed with my time, having just run a 5K less than 48 hours prior. Dammit!!!! I just feel so stupid. I should have known that those politicians wanted to look like heroes at the last minute. I should have just found another 5K backup and had more faith that the Parkway Classic would run. And why, why did the government have to wait to the very last minute to make this decision! Seriously!!??? You couldn't have come up with this on Friday morning?

Anyway, my race was so-so. I ran a strong first mile, had a difficult time in the second mile, but then came back strong during the last mile. And the point 0.1 might have been my slowest ever for a 5K. . . .

The course: relatively flat, but with inclines and declines, about three hair-pin turns and several "curve-arounds" with a curvy uphill finish.

Mile 1: 7:08

This was my goal pace for the race, and I was elated that I ran exactly on pace for the first mile.

Mile 2: 7:24

What I didn't realize about mile 1 was that the wind was at my back. It wasn't an overly windy night, but with all the tall buildings in Crystal City and the gusts that would come, it got to be very tiring. There was about a half-mile stretch during the second mile where I was running directly into the wind and the course was on an incline and I just felt like I was in a losing battle. At one point, my hat flew off my head, and I was barely able to catch it. I ran the rest of the race holding my hat. I was actually in the 7:30's for most of the mile, but as it ended, I was able to pick up the pace a bit and net a 7:24.

Mile 3: 7:12

I was highly discouraged by my second mile split and knew my goal of a 7:08 average was shot. But I still wanted to run strong so I forced myself to push. I passed several people in this mile, which was very encouraging.

Last 0.1: Slow.

Slippery Surface Finish

I didn't stop my Garmin as soon as I crossed the line, so I am not sure exactly what my pace was here, but my problem was that this finish was around a curve, that was going uphill, on a slippery wet brick surface. Because the surface was more slippery than the rest of the course due to it being brick and it was on a curve, I was afraid to take this fast and slip so I actually slowed. My Garmin data shows a spike at a 14:45 pace during that last 0.1.

Official time: 22:41, 20 seconds slower than my PR.

I wasn't thrilled, but I also think it's a decent time, given my highest mileage week was 18 miles and prior to that it was even lower. I was also happy that my shins didn't hurt. I never take that for granted. I think that the wind in the second mile, combined with the slippery pavement and hairpin turns really affected my momentum. This is why I think that I would have run maybe 15-20 seconds faster on the Parkway. No hairpin turns, the pavement wouldn't be wet, the forecast doesn't have the wind. The last stretch is on a long straightaway so you can see the finish line and have a strong final kick. That last 0.1 last night was my slowest portion of the race, simply because of the wet brick surface going on a curved uphill.

Have I mentioned yet that I REALLY want to run the GW Parkway Classic tomorrow????? It's going to take all the restraint I have to not go and run it. I just have to remind myself that even though the risk of re-injury is very small, if I were to get re-injured, I would seriously never forgive myself. And after having raced last night, I don't think my performance would be what it could have been if I hadn't done Crystal City. I'm so frustrated!!!!!!! And I know it sounds horrible, but now I am just insanely jealous of everyone who does get to run the Parkway.

I am still blaming myself and feeling like I am so stupid for deciding to race last night. I really wasn't in the mood for it. I felt sluggish all day. BLAH! :-(

The good news is that I was one of the top ten women: 9 out of 396. This is the top 97th percentile, so I guess I really can't complain about that.

My next race is the Crystal City 5K on Friday, April 22. Hopefully I'll do better, but I feel like everything these days is just out of my control. All I can do is try my hardest.

In a Heartbeat

2011-04-03T10:39:00.004-04:00

I've now been running for five weeks since my four-week layoff due to stress fractures. My focus has been on easing back into running, monitoring my symptoms and staying healthy. My weeks have been:

March 7: 10.5 miles
March 14: 9 miles
March 21: 11.8 miles
March 28: 18 miles

As for pace, I've been running what has felt like a natural, easy pace. But this natural, easy pace is slightly faster than what is was pre-injury. Before the stress fractures, my average training pace in January was 9:03-- and that includes over 10 miles of speedwork. In March, my average training pace was 8:53, and that includes only 3 miles of anything that could be considered "speed". Given that, my perceived "easy" pace seems to have dropped by about 15 seconds per mile. I attributed this to having fresh legs. You're obviously going to feel better when you are only running 10 miles a week as opposed to 50.

Even though I almost always wear a heart rate monitor, I decided not to wear one when coming back from injury. I also don't wear one in the few weeks following a marathon. The reason is that I don't want to get upset by how high my heart rate is for paces that used to be easy for me. I want to be in denial about my suspected loss of fitness! I thought that wearing a HR monitor would be highly discouraging so I avoided it for a month.

But on Friday evening, I decided to use it. I was really hoping that my heart rate wasn't going to be ridiculously high, causing me to be in a bad mood the rest of the evening and probably the entire weekend. But I was prepared for the worst. I was prepared for my "easy" pace to have a heart rate in zone 3 (marathon pace zone) and I would just have to deal.

My husband and I went out for an easy five miles. Much to my surprise, my heart rate was actually lower than it had been pre-injury. We ran 5 miles at an average pace of 8:45 and my average heart rate was in my "recovery" zone. As I was running, I kept looking down at my Garmin in disbelief. At first maybe I thought it wasn't getting a correct reading, but it was rising with the uphills and lowering with the downhills. And based on effort level, it did feel easy.

On January 7, I ran 5 miles at a pace of 9:22 and my average HR was 149. in Friday, I ran 5 miles at a pace of 8:45 and my average HR was 149. Whoa. The elevations for these runs were roughly equal. I'm skeptical. Very skeptical. Yes, I have been doing a good amount of cross training but if this data is to be believed then that's a significant increase in fitness!

Last weekend I decided I was ready for my first tempo run. I ran 2 miles at a 7:16 pace. 7:16 has never been my tempo pace, but it just felt tempo-ish. Of course, I didn't have my HR monitor to know for sure.

Today, I ran a 2.5-mile tempo, with the HR monitor. Once again, the average pace was 7:16. My avg. HR was right in the middle of my tempo zone. It got higher towards the end, but my max HR was still well within my tempo zone (zone 4). Don't get me wrong-- this was a very challenging workout. Especially because of the wind. It was a huge mental struggle as I wanted to stop after just one mile. But I kept reminding myself how important these workouts are.

So I'm thinking I should trust the HR data and be elated that I have actually gained fitness during my layoff. Of course, I haven't raced yet. But all signs point to a strong return!!!!

Three Things

2011-03-24T18:02:00.002-04:00

Bad things happen in threes. Like my three stress fractures. To combat this, I have decided to make good things happen in threes too. In fact, here are three sets of three:

1. Three Types of Cross Training

My cross training has consisted of using the elliptical, pool running and swimming.

I typically use the elliptical twice a week, with one of these times being at tempo effort. I monitor my heart rate closely and usually I am at the top of my tempo zone, if not above it (the gym is really hot, so I think that account for an elevated HR). During easy elliptical workouts, I amuse myself by listening to podcasts from How Stuff Works. I've chosen a variety of topics including the the origin of Christmas, the economic bailout, FDA regulation of supplements, contagious laughter, blood pressure, the sun, memory, population studies, the lottery and many others. I am interested in a lot of different things! During tempo workouts, I have to listen to very pumped up music to keep me going.

I'm also a huge fan of pool running, and I have mentioned this in the past. I usually do pool running 3 times a week, with one of those days being a "long run" of at least two hours and another day being an interval day. The third day is easy pool running combined with swimming. For those of you who don't know much about deep water running, here is a video of me:

The third type of cross training is swimming-- always freestyle. I don't do any other stroke or any type of drill. I just swim back and forth freestyle because it's what I'm comfortable with and I think it provides a challenging workout. I typically swim about 2-3 times a week. I almost always accompany my long run with a swim so that I am in the pool for well over two hours. On my easy pool running days, I am also sure to swim so that I can get my heart rate up.

Swimming is tough for me during the first 5-10 laps but gets remarkably easier as the workout goes on. I think it's because I find that "sweet spot" of speed and form that works for me. My longest swim with this injury has been 1500 yards (30 laps). Usually I do around 20-25. Swimming comes naturally because I grew up as a dancer, so the bilateral breathing thing that a lot of people struggle with is just like a dance movement to me. I was never on a swim team, but I was a lifeguard and taught swimming to small children. The only thing I dislike about swimming is that sharing a lane is tough for me. I have to watch out for that other person so I can't focus on my form, my breathing, or remembering what lap I'm on. I would hate to be taking a gasp of air right at the moment when that person is splashing and swallow a huge mouthful of water.

2. Three Fun Challenges/Distractions

I'm a very goal-oriented person, and since I don't have my weekly mileage goals to fulfill that need, I have other hobbies and associated goals. Playing chess, singing Glee Karoake, and tiling the kitchen floor.

Kitchen Tile

Tiling the kitchen floor isn't something that I am going to do myself, but picking out the tile, finding a good contractor and deciding on a pattern is quite a task. We are also re-doing our powder room which involves picking out a new toilet, sink, and lighting fixture. Shopping for a toilet with my new husband isn't the most romantic thing we have done together, but it's been fun. We finally made all of our decisions, now we just have to purchase the materials and wait for the work to start in early April. We ended up going with large 19" by 19" tiles in a slate color. Like a blackish grey, and with a lot of texture. We have light cabinets and light hardwoods in the neighboring rooms, so we though the black would be a good contrast.

The next challenge/hobby is Glee Karaoke for the iPad. This app is extremely addictive and can be very good or bad for the ego. I've downloaded about 10 songs that I can sing and be rated on. My two best songs are "No Air" originally by Jordan Sparks and "Hello" originally by Lionel Ritchie. My main goal was to be ranked in the top 100 of all time for No Air, out of over thousands of performances. I started out in the 900's and now I have worked my way up to 116. That top 100 is so close. There are also daily rankings, and my performance of No Air was ranked #1 for the day at the time I sang it. There had only been 81 other recordings at that point, but I think 1 out of 81 is pretty good! My "Hello" ranking once reached #4 for the day out of hundreds and I would like to see that one do as well as No Air. Songs I suck at are "Take A Bow" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart". But they're still fun to sing.

Perhaps the biggest focus for me has been playing chess. Greg got me a really nice set for Christmas, like I have always wanted, and we have been playing all the time. On the weekends it's not uncommon for us to play 5-6 games. Sometimes more. I've also joined some tournaments on chess.com and playing people from all over the world. Another major opponent is Greg's dad, who we both play online at chess.com.

Chess is another hobby that involves rankings (I am so competitive) and my ranking is slightly above average. I've been playing since I was six years old but I've never really studied it, and there have been long periods (years) when I have gone without playing it. Usually because I lacked an opponent. But now I am discovering new ways of thinking about the game and I'm a much stronger player than I was before this recent obsession.

3. Three Consolation Gifts
I'm very upset about this injury ruining my spring racing season, so I bought myself a few presents-- jewelry, clothing and a car stereo w/iPod.

New Earrings

I went to a jewelry party a few weeks ago where they have jewelry on display and in a catalog and you buy stuff. Like the tupperware parties, but with jewelry. I splurged and bought myself two new necklaces and two pairs of earrings. And then a few days later, I went to White House Black Market and bought myself three more necklaces and another pair of earrings. I usually wear the same three necklaces that I've had for about 10 years, so it was time for a change.

During my White House Black Market trip, I also bought myself two new outfits. New, stylish clothing always makes me feel so refreshed and puts me in a good mood. I wore one of my outfits this week and it just felt fun.

The major gift to myself was the new car stereo and a Nano to go with it. I've always wanted the ability to listen to my iPod from my car, so I bought a stereo that has both an auxiliary input and a USB input. Since my iPod Nano "lives" in its waterproof casing and isn't synced with my iTunes library because of a computer virus that wiped out a lot of the songs that are now exclusively on the Nano, I treated myself to the new Nano. The new Nano has a touch screen and can clip on to your clothing. Of course, none of these features matter when controlling it through the car stereo, but they are cool anyway. Considering I have three shuffles, an iPad and an older Nano, this purchase was a bit irrational, but I wanted it as a consolation gift.

So those are my coping strategies and they've worked decently well. I'm now to the point where I am running every other day, about four miles at a time. Not enough to keep my fitness where I want to be, so I am still cross training almost as much as when I couldn't run at all.

Irish I Was Running

2011-03-20T19:58:00.002-04:00

This morning was the Shamrock marathon. I was supposed to run it but was injured so my role was to support Greg.

Pity Party
I'm going to get my negative feelings out of the way first, so that I can focus on the wonderful time I had today.

I was depressed yesterday. As much as I was trying to be supportive and excited for my husband, Greg, it was so hard to just push my feelings aside. Yesterday was tough for me for two reasons: 1) It marked the 3-year anniversary of my last "good" marathon experience. 2) The forecast for the race was in the mid 40's and sunny.

Regarding #1, I was depressed because I realized that the last time I ran a marathon that I considered to be a non-failure was exactly three years ago at Shamrock 2008. Ever since then I have been living and breathing marathon training and yet things haven't come together for me. Injuries, illnesses, weather, whatever the case-- I have just haven't been able to make it happen.

Regarding #2, I was glad that Greg was getting ideal race weather, but I kept thinking, "Where was this weather last year? Last year I was in such great shape and I was at my peak and ready to run a sub 3:40, but it was so hot that I dropped out at mile 13 because I felt so horrible. It was 25 degrees hotter last year and unseasonably so. Now that am I injured, the weather is perfect. If I had just had this weather last year, I would have a solid marathon under my belt and this injury wouldn't be so difficult."

I Got Over It.

The starting corrals

I did allow myself to be upset on Saturday at the Expo, but I knew that this was an important weekend for Greg and I wanted to be happy for him. So I shoved my feelings aside and focused on being able to support him.

On race morning, I accompanied Greg to the start line. I stayed next to him in the corral for as long as I could before the corral started to move forward.

I wished him good luck, gave him one final hug and he was off. I walked briskly to the start line and when he crossed, I started my Timex watch. I wanted to know exactly when he started so I could know exactly when to expect to see him. And during the last few miles, I could tell him what time he was on track for.

The First Half
My plan was to meet Greg just after the halfway point, at mile 13.5. I told him exactly where I would be. This gave me enough time to go back to the hotel, use my bone stimulator (I'm still using it twice a day) and get changed into running clothes.

Waiting for Greg to come

I had been debating about wearing my bib. At the start line, the announcer said that your bib must be displayed, or you wouldn't be able to cross the finish line. So I figured I should wear my bib and that way no one would question me running or taking water if I needed it. But I also didn't want people to think I was cheating, so I took a black Shapie and drew a big X over the entire big and wrote DNS. Even still, when people saw me on the sidelines with my bib, they asked me if I was hurt or was cramping, etc. (You can't really see the X in this photo, but it was there!)

I wore a shirt that said "Irish I was running" which was extremely appropriate for the occasion. I got it from volunteering at the Pacer's Four Courts Four Miler last weekend. It was so perfect!

Mile 13.4-15
My first stop was at 44th street, just after the halfway point. I waited there for about 20 minutes and enjoyed cheering on the runners. Everyone's names were printed on their bibs so I was able to cheer for people by name, which most seemed to really like.

Greg's plan was to go out at a 9:00 pace and then speed up at the halfway point if he felt good. So I expected to see him just after 2:00, and that's exactly when I saw him. I handed him a bottle of Gatorade and two gels, like we had talked about. Both Greg and me like to carry water bottles when we run, at least for the first half, because we don't have to stop, and you get more water in you and less all over your face.

I ran with him for 1.6 miles and our pace was 8:53. He was following his plan perfectly-- speeding up just a little after the halfway point because he felt good. During this time my stress fracture didn't hurt at all but oddly enough, I felt something in the LEFT shin. My bone scan did show a stress fracture on the left side, but I had never felt anything there. And it was really surprising to me that all of a sudden it would start to hurt. I didn't mention anything to Greg because I just wanted to offer words of support to him.

Miles 23-Finish
I expected to see Greg at around 3:30 but much to my excitement, he arrived a few minutes early, at about 3:27. He looked strong and said "we're gonna kill this!" or something to that affect. I didn't even have a chance to start my Garmin right away (I logged these as two separate runs). He said "this is just a race now!" I looked down at my Garmin, which I did eventually start, and noticed that we were in the 7:40's! What a change from NYC when we were walking most of mile 23. I was so happy that he was feeling so strong.

I was also happy that I was running a 7:45 pace and still feeling conversational. I definitely felt like I could have maintained it for the rest of the race, although my leg might not be happy about it. He slowed us down a little for the next mile, but we were still running at a very good clip and passing lots of runners.

Mile 24: 7:44
Mile 25: 8:46
Mile 26: 8:01
The last 0.2: 6:47 pace!

I took this video during the last mile. We were just about to turn onto the Boardwalk and head for the finish.

Just strides away from the finish

We sprinted pass tons of people at a 6:47 pace and had a great finish. Greg's time was 3:52:26, which is faster than he expected. He said that he thinks this is because he didn't have a goal. He ran the first half very conservatively and then gave it all he had at the end. First half was 1:59 and second half was 1:53. He said that he hated bonking in NYC so much and that he vowed it wouldn't happen again. I really like his approach and I think that if I ever run a marathon again, I am not going to have a time goal. I will run by feel and keep my heart rate low in the early miles.

My shins were pain-free during those last 3.2 miles, and I haven't had any pain since. I was really nervous running that sprint at the end, but my shins handled it just fine.

I am so proud of my husband. I really enjoyed running with him and supporting him on his special day! I couldn't have done that if I ran my own race.

Why Milwaukee?

2011-03-09T18:26:00.003-05:00

A key part of racing strategy isn't the strategy that you bring to each race you run, but the strategy around which races you run-- how many, how often, which kind of courses, and when.

Some runners prefer to race very frequently without choosing a target race. Some marathoners like to simply run as many as possible without much regard for time. My race strategy is to space out my races evenly enough so that I have sufficient time to train/recover between them. When this hasn't been the case, then I have always prioritized one race over the other. For example, in 2008 I ran the Shamrock marathon, followed by the London marathon four weeks later. Shamrock was the target for speed, and London was a fun run.

My race strategy for 2011 was to focus on Shamrock (March 20) as the target marathon and then do the Nike Women's Marathon (October) for fun. I'm going to be in San Fransisco for a business event while the Nike Women's Marathon is taking place, and my hotel is just a block or two from the start line. So I can't not run it. I wasn't going to try and race it for time because I've heard that the course is difficult, it's not well-organized, and it's really geared for people who want to run something for fun and get a cool prize at the end (a Tiffany necklace). Quite a few runners have told me not to waste a training cycle on it. So, that left me thinking that I should do the Nike Women's half marathon as a fun run while I am in San Francisco, and pick another marathon to race seriously before then.

Why before and not after? I always run the St. Jude Memphis marathon or half marathon in December, so I wouldn't want to fit in a marathon prior to that. Plus, after my business event, I will be spending 4-5 days in Napa Valley on vacation, which would put a wrench in my training. Why not make St. Jude Memphis the target marathon? Because I am anxious to race one sooner and the Memphis course isn't advantageous to a fast time.

Another factor that I have to deal with is the weather. I am extremely heat sensitive and have DNF'ed two marathons due to the heat, and have bonked in another one because of the heat. If it's going to be above 55 then forget it. Therefore, later in the fall is preferable, but I've already said it needs to be before the weekend of October 15 so that I can take my vacation afterwards. So I decided I would target the weekend of October 1-2.

I started poking around on Marathonguide.com to see what races were going on that weekend. I was pretty flexible travel-wise, but I didn't want to go cross country. An obvious candidate was the Wineglass marathon. I had heard a lot of good things about Wineglass, and with a net downhill elevation, the course profile was certainly in my favor. Another possibility was the Mohawk Hudson River marathon, but that was actually the following weekend, which would prevent me from doing the Nike Woman's half marathon the weekend of the 15th. And, the Mohawk Hudson River marathon is very much of a downhill course, and I want to see what I can do on something that's either flat or has rolling hills. Something like Shamrock is ideal, but of course I am injured and can't run that one! Although Wineglass looked really attractive, it had two drawbacks. 1) There was no airport nearby, so it would mean a 5-6 hour drive. 2) The start time was 8:00am, and I was hoping for 7:00 to 7:30. That extra time without the sun beating down on you can really mean a lot at the end of a marathon.

So, that brought me (well, us-- Greg and I decided on this together) to the Milwaukee Lakefront marathon. It had everything that we were looking for.

Target weekend of Oct. 1-2
In the northern part of the country
Start time of 7:30am
Medium-sized race
Reputation for being well organized
Direct flight without having to rent a car when we get there
Gently rolling hills for the first 16 miles, and then some nice downhills

The only drawbacks are that I've heard it can get windy in the last 3 miles near the lake. And that "Lakefront" is a misnomer because you don't even see the lake until the last few miles. And of course, with my luck, it could be really hot and spoil the whole thing for me, putting me on a nearly 4-year streak with no marathon PR, despite massive improvements at all other distances over the past few years. (Yah, I'm bitter.)

To recap past marathons:

March 2008: Best marathon ever on very little training

October 2008: Got really sick for 4 weeks, couldn't run the Hartford marathon

January 2009: Overheated in the 65+ degree, sunny weather in Phoenix, AZ

April 2009: Got hypothermia and passed out at the end of the race due to 45 degrees & pouring rain

September 2009: Foot injury, couldn't run the Toronto Waterfront marathon

March 2010: DNF'ed at that Shamrock marathon due to 65+ degree, sunny weather

May 2010: DNF'ed the Potomac River marathon due to 75+ degree weather and 90% humidity

May 2010: Mediocre time at the Bob Potts marathon due to missing my peak, or being worn out from the 18.5 miles I ran at the Potomac River marathon

November 2010: Ran NYC as a fun run with husband for his first (was happy I did this)

December 2010: Stomach issues, extremely painful, walked the last 4 miles

March 2011: Stress fracture, can't run the Shamrock marathon

Maybe to some people these sound like excuses, but I know my training has been rock solid-- especially in comparison to how I trained for the Shamrock in 2008. And my PRs at other distances prove it. I am capable of running a marathon much faster than a 3:51, and one day I'll actually be able to demonstrate that.

So hopefully October 2011 in Milwaukee will be the one!

The Simple Joy of Running

2011-02-27T16:58:00.001-05:00

I have just returned from my first real run since my injury. It felt SO amazing to run! I forgot how much I simply enjoy running. Especially on a day like today when it's in the low 60's and I'm just going out for something very easy.

Wednesday, Feb. 23 marked the 4-week point of no running. The time actually went by pretty quickly. I had been mainly pain free walking around for two weeks, so I decided to give it a shot. I had been to two separate doctors and a physical therapist, and none of them gave me a concrete answer on when to start running again. But everyone agreed that my bone stimulator machine would reduce healing time. Both doctors told me I just needed to really monitor my symptoms and back off if I was feeling pain. But one doctor said it wouldn't be pain free, and some pains during/after were normal. But anything that was more than a minor twinge and I should back off.

I was feeling very frustrated with all the ambiguity. I was very anxious to get back into running, but I didn't want my four weeks off to have gone to waste by my foolishness. So on Wednesday I attempted my first run. I used a treadmill, which was dumb, because that's how I think I got the stress fracture to begin with. But I wanted to do the run-walk prior to my pool run and there are treadmills at the facility where my pool is, so it was the most convenient option. I set the treadmill to a conservative 5.4. I did feel a bit of something. I did two sets of 5 mins walking, 5 mins running and then stopped. Later that day I was having more pain in my shin than normal so I was discouraged.

But the more I thought about it, I remembered what the doctor saying about it not being pain-free, and my 5.4 miles per hour was unnaturally slow for me, which could have contributed to the awkwardness. So I decided to give it another go today (four days after the first attempt) and run outside. It was so beautiful out and I had my husband to accompany me, which was awesome. I was afraid that the run would hurt and that I would become discouraged, so having my husband for moral support was a huge help. I even wore my brand new Pacers Ambassadors shirt in honor of the occasion!

I did three sets of (5 mins walking, 5 mins running). We covered 2.52 miles total, and the run portion was just over 1.5 miles at an average pace of 9:41.

The first run section was a 10:04 pace and it felt rather easy. The next run portion was a 9:38 pace and that also felt really easy. The last run portion was a 9:22, and it still felt easy and pain-free. Yay! I was overcome with joy at the simple act of running outdoors without pain. I was also pretty excited about how easy those paces felt. When I was returning to running after my foot injury in October of 2009, a 10:00 pace felt like an 8:30 pace. But today, all of my paces felt exactly as they had felt prior to the injury. Now, I only ran for five minutes at a time, which is no indicator of where I am truly at fitness wise. But it was encouraging that it felt exactly as it did before the injury.

As for keeping my fitness up, I have been spending a lot of time water running, swimming and using the elliptical. I've actually spent more hours doing these activities then I would have normally spent running. For example, yesterday I did water running for 2.5 hours. This morning, I did water running again for 1.5 hours, and then finished it off with a 20-minute swim. And then later in the afternoon I did the run I just described. As for the elliptical, I have been using that about twice a week and doing it at a tempo effort. Usually I break the tempo effort into two sets, because it's just so unbearably hot in my gym and I need a break. But I think it's been effective. If I take my hands off the machine and use them as if I was running, it almost feels like running when going at the fast speed.

It's going to be a few more weeks until my running is intense enough to have any fitness benefits. And it will probably be another 2-3 months before my mileage can be where it was pre-injury. But I am going to my best to be patient. I want to be one of those success stories of an injured runner who came back stronger and faster! I'll be back in the pool tomorrow and Tuesday, and make another running attempt on Wednesday, so long as the shin behaves between now and then.

Special thanks to Cristina, Cheryl, Kathy and all of the others who have supported me and given me guidance throughout this injury! It's far from over, but I think I am heading in the right direction.

Love, Love, Love.

2011-02-13T14:45:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, Valentine's day, will be the six-month anniversary of the day I married the most wonderful man in the world. We will have been married for exactly half a year, and I have loved every minute of it, more than I could have ever expected.

People often ask us if Greg was a runner before we met, or if I got him into it. The short answer was that he was a runner before we met, but here is the long answer.

How We Met
Greg and I met online, on a free site called "Plenty of Fish" in March of 2009. I had tried online dating multiple times in the past and had no luck. I was highly discouraged and cynical, but yet I joined Plenty of Fish just to see what was out in the "sea" so to speak. Greg's profile was one of the first that came up in my search. What prompted me to e-mail him was that he had a photo of himself crossing the finish line of a race.

This photo prompted me to email Greg for the first time!

I wasn't looking to specifically date a runner, but I knew I needed someone who would be understanding and supportive of my ~~obsession~~ passion. I enjoyed running by myself so I wasn't looking for a running partner, but rather a partner who ran. I sent Greg a short introductory message in which I asked him more about his photo and told him that I ran races frequently. He replied back with a thoughtful response, and so the exchange began.

Greg and I emailed back and forth for about six weeks until we finally met in person. Mainly due to his hectic work schedule and a two-week business trip to Spain. Our first date was at Tallula in Arlington. A good portion of our conversation revolved around running. He had run three previous races: a sprint triathlon, a 5K and the Fairfax Four Miler in 2008. I had also run the four miler just 4 months prior to the date, but of course we didn't know each other then. He was registered for the Army Ten Miler, which would be the longest distance he had ever run.

So even though he was relatively new to running, I could tell he was interested in serious training, versus just simply showing up to races. At that point, he was running about 4-5 miles at a time at a sub-10:00 pace on a treadmill. I respected the fact that he was using a heart rate monitor to keep the effort easy and build endurance as opposed to killing himself on each run, which is what many runners do (including myself, before I knew much about the proper way to train). We had a very technical discussion about running and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say about heart rate training. My fear was that he was going to perceive me too much as a running "coach" and not enough as a woman he wanted to date.

Our first race, June 2009

The next morning, I completed a 21-mile training run. Greg called me that evening and asked me how the run went. I told him about it and we talked for about 15 minutes. But he didn't ask me out again! The furthered my fear that he might only be interested in my running guidance and not as a romantic partner. We did end up having a second date, of course. I continued to offer Greg training advice but the relationship progressed on a romantic level as well and before I knew it I had an official boyfriend!

Our Races
I wrote Greg a training plan for the Army 10-miler and included some races in it to prepare him. The first of these was the Lawyers Have Heart 10K, which would be the furthest distance he ever raced. This was our first race together and it was nice to have someone to go to the race with. As an out and back course, I got to see him after the turnaround, at which point he yelled out to me "You're Beautiful!" Greg finished in a respectable 54:xx, a time that he would slaughter the following year by 8 minutes.

Greg continued to impress me with how consistently he kept to the training plan I gave him. Over the summer, we started to run together. I often had about twice his mileage, so he would do the first half of my runs with me. For my long runs, it was nice to have companionship for the first half, but then also to have the solitude that I was used to for the second half. Prior to dating Greg, I wouldn't run on the W&OD trail until it got light enough out for me to see. But with Greg by my side, I felt much safer so we ran in the dark. This meant less time on the treadmill and more time outside.

Greg aced the Army Ten Miler with a time of 1:22:xx, surpassing the original goal of 1:25 that we decided upon when I created the training program. Since then, he's been setting PRs left and right! (Unfortunately, I couldn't be there with him at the Army Ten Miler, as I was in Texas on a business trip.) In 2010, he ran the Army Ten miler in 1:14:00. Wow!

Just Married!
A few days before Thanksgiving, Greg proposed to me. I was elated! I was so excited that I didn't sleep at all for the next few nights, which caused me to run a sub-par Turkey Trot. But I was so excited about being married to him that I didn't even care. We decided to get married the following August, and since running was such a major part of our relationship and what attracted us to each other, we incorporated it into the wedding. We used bib numbers from races as our table numbers.

Greg and I typically keep the same race schedule, but we always run our own races. The one exception was the NYC Marathon, which was his first. I wanted to be there with him when he finished, and the logistics of trying to find him afterwards would have been a nightmare. It was a tough race for Greg and I feel partially responsible for making us go out too fast and not respecting the challenging course. But it was a lot of fun running with him, and NYC was something I had always wanted to do for fun, not for a PR.

At the finish line of the NYC Marathon

People often ask us if we are competitive with each other, especially those who know that I am very competitive by nature. The answer is always no for several reasons. First of all, men are naturally faster, so me running a 22-minute 5K is not the same as him running a 22-minute 5K. Secondly, he's much newer to running than I am. Last year, almost every race he ran was a PR, and that just doesn't happen once you have a few years behind you. He's making gains at a much more rapid rate than I am, which is to be expected.

Sometimes he compares the percentile that he finishes in with the percentile that I finish in, and says that he has a long way to go to reach my level. If that motivates him, then it's fine with me! I just don't want the day to come when he's too fast to do long runs with me. But he says he will always do them with me.

This morning was the "Love The Run You're With" 5K. Greg and I signed up to run it as a team. We were secretly hoping to win a team award, but due to my stress fractures, we both sat the race out. My prediction for him was a 21:25, and a 21:55 for myself. Not sure if that would have gotten us anything, and frankly I don't want to know! I wish there were more races out there with two-person teams. Hopefully next year we'll be able to run it. Last year, it was rescheduled because of the snow and the new date didn't work for us.

And so, on our last day of the first half of the first year of our marriage, I wanted to reflect on how happy I am to be married to Greg. He's amazing in every way!