Spring Break

I have not updated my blog in over a month! That is a long time for me to go without blogging. That's because my running life has been pretty uneventful. I haven't run any races and I am not training for anything at the moment. I'm fully recovered from Covid and I am not injured; but I have decided it would be a good idea to take an "off" season. 

Even though I only ran one marathon, I trained for two marathons, starting in August of last year. This meant way more long runs than I ever want to do again in a 5-month period! I was only doing 1-2 hard workouts a week and the mileage was low for me. But the long runs gave me a bit of mental burn out. Maybe if I had been running my normal 65-75 mile weeks, the long runs would have felt shorter because they would have been a smaller percentage of overall volume. Because I was averaging 55-65 miles a week, the 20s really started to take their toll. Toward the end of the cycle I was starting to dread them and I usually look forward to my long runs!

Strength training in my home gym

I had been registered for the One City Half Marathon the first weekend in March, but I didn't have enough time to train given marathon recovery followed by Covid. I am sure I could have finished the race, but I didn't want to do it without proper training. Of course the weather that day was perfect! 

After One City, I didn't have anything on the schedule so I kept it that way and decided to prioritize strength training. Instead of doing 1-2 sessions a week, I am now doing 3. One of those sessions is an hour-long workout with my strength coach Angela, and the other two are about 25 minutes each on my own. I think I have reached the limit of how much running I am able to do in a training cycle, so the gains I make in the fall will come from being stronger. 

I had planned on taking up swimming again to change things up, but it's difficult to motivate to drive to the pool, change, swim, shower, change, and drive back. If it weren't so logistically involved, I would do it every day. But now that I have a gym in my basement, it's so much easier to work out there. 

This spring break has been nice. I've been keeping most of my runs easy, throwing in a few strides here and there just so my legs remember how to turn over quickly. It's a good mental break and it's freed me up to focus on other areas of my life that I typically de-prioritize. 

The good thing about having had so many bouts of mono is that I know I can quickly ramp up training and get into race shape. I only need about 6-8 weeks to get myself to a good place and a few more to be in "race shape". 

Right now the plan is to focus on strength training, mobility and stability. And then I will begin training for my annual July 4th 5K. I might do a few tune-up 5Ks before then. I suspect that this break from racing will leave me super hungry to get out there and grind when the time comes. 

In the meantime, I will continue to blog. I have a few ideas of posts that I have been meaning to write!

Back on the Roads!

After 8 full weeks of zero running, I have started back up again. Very gradually!

I was not exactly sure when it would be safe to return. My physical therapist cleared me to run after 7 weeks, but I felt like I needed an extra week. I still felt the injury with certain movements and I wanted more confidence that I wouldn't hurt myself. Meanwhile, the Osteitis Pubis specialist I am working with in Australia doesn't advise running until stage 8 of his program- which I won't reach for another few weeks.

The physical therapist tested my strength and was confident that I was far enough along in my recovery

that running would be ok. My adductors, glutes, abs, hamstrings -- all have a healthy amount of strength to support running. He gave me a return to running program that seemed too aggressive so I decided to use a more conservative program from my strength coach, Angela. I'll use her program at least initially, and if I feel like I can progress faster then I will switch back to the PT's plan. 

Monday, June 7
For my first "run" back, I did 6 sets of 0:30 running, 4:30 walking. Essentially this was a walk, with six 30-second jogs thrown in. This was discouraging. I felt the injury more than I expected to. I tried focusing on my form and just being really purposeful about my movements but I still felt irritation in the pubic bone area. I did have some hope, however, in that a few of the reps felt decent. I would say about half them felt pretty good and the other half did not.

Did I do too much too soon? As soon as I stopped the running portions, walking felt 100% pain free. And I didn't have any hints of the injury for the rest of the day or the next day. What a relief. This means that my 3 total minutes of jogging didn't make things worse and I could proceed with the plan,

Wednesday, June 9
Building on Monday's session, this time the 5-minute blocks were split as 1-minute run, 4-minute walk. Twice as much running! I was a little nervous heading into this but I was pleasantly surprised that I had very little pain. I felt WAY better than I did on Monday! I was very encouraged by this. So what made the difference between Monday and Wednesday? I think it's a combination of:

• 
  I focused more on my posture and pulling the shoulder blades down. This was feedback I got from the Australian specialist when doing a Bird-Dog exercise during our Tuesday session.
• My body needed to get the message "Hey, we're running again, and it's okay" and shake off some of the cobwebs
• My body needed to recover from a run and realize "that didn't cause an injury"

I've learned that the mind-body connection is REALLY important in recovering from an injury. The brain becomes used to feeling pain with certain activities so you need to train it to not feel pain once you can do those activities properly.

Friday, June 11
No injury flare ups or pain all day Wednesday or Thursday, so I advanced on Friday to 1:30 run/3:30 walk. This was also encouraging although not perfect. I would say that maybe 5-10% of my steps triggered a mild pain sensation around the pubic bone, but the rest were fine. Some of the reps felt much better than others. Once again, I really focused on my form. Several key items:

• Fall forward as you run - let gravity help
• Keep a straight spine with the shoulder blades down
• When landing, ensure that the toes are spreading to form a stable platform
• When pushing off, observe the firing of the glutes
• Breathe through the core to help engage the core

I am encouraged by all of this and I continue to work with the PT, the Australian specialist, and my strength coach. I think my biggest issue is stability, which can be improved by glute activation. My lack of stability causes my pelvis to move too much, which is not good. My PT also discovered that I have extremely tight glutes and I fail his strength tests before massaging them out with a lacrosse ball. After the massage, my glutes start to work. So I should be using my massage ball on my glutes before each run.

I continue to swim 3-4 times a week, and I have gotten my swims up to one mile. Last week I swam 4 miles! I joined an outdoor pool so even once I am back to running full time, I plan to incorporate swimming. We also bought a rowing machine which is also great for cross training.

Long term plans
In an ideal world, the next six months will look like this:

• June: Run/Walk, be able to run continuously for 40 minutes by the end of the month
• July: Build a mileage base, introduce strides and some introductory faster workouts
• August: Begin training for the Richmond Marathon, include long runs and tempos, run a 5K
• September - October: Richmond Marathon Training, run a 5K and a longer distance
• November: Richmond Marathon

My physical therapist is confident I can progress at this rate and so am I. As for the Boston Marathon, I plan to use my Two Rivers Marathon time to qualify for the April 2022 race. I have a cushion of over 20 minutes, so I'm confident that I will be accepted!

Running and Osteitis Pubis

Osteitis Pubis. Sports Hernia. Athletic Pubalgia. These three terms refer to a set of conditions that result in groin pain in athletes. They all have slightly different nuances, but all of them mean you shouldn't be running.

I briefly touched on this in a previous blog post, but I will get into all the details here. 

How it started
In July 2019, I had a bike accident while on vacation in Norway. The bike tire got caught on a rail track, stopped the bike, and I fell onto the pike, bashing my pelvis into the bike bar with a ton of force. This resulted in massive bruising, a ton of pain, and 9 days off from running. I went to several doctors at the

time and they all agreed it was a hematoma and it was okay to run as tolerated.

The damage from this accident never healed completely. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night with my pubic bone aching. I could never do a sit-up without my lower abdominals feeling strained. Certain adductor exercises were painful or not even possible. 

But it didn't impact my running or my daily life; it was sort of lingering in the background Since the accident I have run 4 marathons (CIM, Boston Virtual, Harrisburg, and Two Rivers). I did irritate it during CIM, but it was silent after Boston Virtual and Harrisburg. But due to the slant of the road at Two Rivers, the adductor finally said "I've had enough!" I think that was the breaking point.

I did have some warning signs before the marathon, though. After my long runs throughout March I would feel a tenderness in the groin area. And once I felt some groin pain at the end of a 22-miler. 

Post Marathon
Immediately after the marathon, the left side of my pubic bone was in a lot of pain, but it subsided within 24 hours. And then I took a week off of running and I felt 100% normal walking around. I actually did quite a bit of walking at the chess tournament (one week after the marathon), logging over 8,000 steps, and felt completely normal.

When I returned to running, my pubic bone area started to hurt right away. It wasn't severe-- it was about a 2 out of 10 on the pain scale. The lower abdominal muscles were also a bit tender. Since I was just coming back from the marathon, I kept these runs slow and short. And I didn't run every day. I think it was a total of 5 short runs over a 9 day period before cutting it off completely. The last of these runs was my longest: a 5-miler. After that run, I began to feel the pain while walking. I have not run since April 13. 

I went to a doctor and my sports chiro and ultimately ended up getting an MRI (this was after the mandatory X-ray needed by insurance). I wish I had gotten an MRI immediately after the bike accident so I would have known I needed some rehab, but I didn't advocate for myself with the doctors. And they reassured me it would heal with no problems.

MRI Results + Diagnosis
This is taken from the report:

Pelvic joints: There is joint space narrowing and marginal osteophytosis with subtle erosive centered on the pubic symphysis. Marrow edema noted at the pubic bone centered on the pubic symphysis and there is

Image from Sports Injury Bulletin

synovitis within the pubic symphyseal recesses. The hip joints are preserved. Small bilateral joint effusions are seen in the right and left hips. No prominent anterior superior superior labral tears are identified.

Muscles/Tendons: There is focal high-grade partial-thickness tearing of the rectus abdominus adductor longus aponeurotic insertion on the left pubic bone (series 2, image 10). The visualized muscles and tendons are normal.

When I first read the report, I panicked. It sounded like there was a crap ton of stuff wrong! I was particularly worried about the bone marrow edema because that can become a stress fracture. The high-grade tearing of the muscle/tendon was also alarming. 

After I had my PT and doctor interpret this, it didn't sound so horrible. Key findings:

• Osteitis Pubis - inflammation in the area around the pubic synthesis
• Partial tear of the adductor muscle at the insertion point
• Bone marrow edema

In the diagram, the tear is located where the adductor longus meets the pubic tubercle, and I have pain in the area around the inguinal ligament + rectus abdominus. 

The most likely scenario is that when I had the bike accident, it never healed properly and it resulted in my muscles overcompensating and "learning" how to fire incorrectly to compensate for the weakness. There was a good amount of scar tissue on the MRI and the doctor said that doesn't happen within a few weeks- it takes a long time for that much to build up. Once I tore the tendon - which could have been during the marathon or during training - then additional strain was placed on the pubic bone, causing bone marrow edema and inflammation. So we think the partially torn adductor is the culprit. . . and that was caused by muscles not properly firing, resulting in an imbalance.

So this is an overuse injury, but it would not have happened if the bike accident didn't damage that area to begin with. It was like a ticking time bomb.

Moving Forward
I have been in physical therapy for three weeks now. I am working with a pelvic floor specialist and she's given me a ton of exercises. We have done blood flow restriction and dry needling. The dry needling was like torture. She has dry needled my adductor, my pelvic floor, my abdominals, and my hamstring. OUCH!  But that needling has honestly brought about the best results. 

When I stopped running on April 13, I started talking daily walks for the next two days, but then I stopped that because I felt like it was too much. It seemed to get worse and worse, with it being painful for me to walk around the grocery store on the weekend of April 24. That's when I felt like I would never get better!

But today, on May 7th, it feels a lot better to walk. I do feel it when I walk but it's only about a "1.5" on the pain scale - a minor annoyance. Maybe enough to make me limp a bit. And my doctor actually recommended that I take a 30-minute walk each day. Anything that involves the lower abdominal muscles or the left adductor doesn't feel right, so there is a constant reminder that I have this injury. 

Now I am focused on doing PT exercises each day, and getting the dry needling twice per week + blood flow constriction therapy. I'm also using my Theragun to massage the adductor and lower abdominals. 

PT exercises include:

• Single leg deadlift (no weight yet)
• Squats with a band wrapped around my upper back, anchored to a weight rack
• Kegel exercises
• Bear stance hold
• A 3-part clamshell type exercise 
• Calf "crunches" with a band to improve ankle range of motion
• Toe yoga to improve balance
• Squeezing a soccer ball between my feet

Recovery Timeline
The doctor couldn't give me a definite timeline and he couldn't even guarantee that the tear will heal itself. He said it would likely heal without surgery if I do my PT exercises regularly. At this point, the earliest I would start running again (and by running I mean a gradual run-walk introduction) would be the end of May. Early June is probably more likely. 

Worst case scenario would be surgery or simply taking 3+ months to heal. The longest I have ever taken off for an injury was 5 weeks back in 2009 when I had peroneal tendonitis. That's maybe tied with my stress fractures from 2011. I think that was 4-5 weeks, too. 

I've taken 3 months off due to mono on multiple occasions, but I've never had to take more than 5 weeks for an injury. I guess I should be glad this isn't mono and I know it's going to heal 100%. It just requires extreme patience. The silver lining is that I will be stronger when I come back because of the daily focus I have on stability, strength, and mobility exercises. 

Attitude and Perspective
Compared to previous injuries and bouts of mono, I am not that upset about this one. Even though it's the worst injury I've had - I am tolerating it much better.  Why?

• I felt like I needed a long break after the extended training cycle for Two Rivers. I ran 3 extra weeks at 75+ miles each, and I think those 3 extra weeks took a physical and mental toll.
• I don't have any races on the calendar
• Summer is coming up, so I wasn't planning on setting any PRs in the near future
• I have always set massive PRs after coming back from mono, so I think a long break will ultimately lead to a breakthrough in fitness
• I can enjoy the extra time by honing my chess skills and tackling other projects around the house

I hope the road to recovery isn't too long. I've mentally accepted that I likely won't be back on the roads until early June. I'm also prepared for it to be longer. I am still optimistic about a late fall marathon, although I haven't chosen one yet. 

Mother's Day 4-Mile Virtual Race

On Friday morning, I ran the Mother's Day Virtual 4-Miler, put on by Potomac River Running (=PR=). This was the first race I registered for as a virtual race, as opposed to registering for a real race and then having it turn into a virtual race.

=PR= sent out medals, bib number and race shirts about a week in advance of the race. We were told that we could run the race at any time on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. We could run it anywhere we chose, except for the official race course that had been used in previous years.

Initially, I thought I would run the race on Saturday. That would get it out of the way early and then I could still do a long run on Sunday. But as the forecast solidified it looked like it would be windy on Saturday, with Friday and Sunday being better options. Ultimately I went with Friday so that I could run my long run on Saturday, and not have to wait all weekend to do the race.

I have to admit, I am getting spoiled with virtual races and the option to choose the best weather day on a course I map out! I guess those advantages make up for the disadvantage of not having competition and a real finish line to run through.

In general, my thoughts on virtual racing are that they are the best option we have right now for racing, so we might as well do them. It's a great way to support local race organizers and increase the chances that they will still be in business once races are allowed again. The racing industry is getting hit HARD right now, so I will try to support race organizers as much as possible.

I would never choose a virtual race over a real race, but in the absence of real races, I would rather go virtual than not have any races at all. I enjoy pushing myself, having something to work towards, and the satisfaction of tackling a challenge. I'm honing my mental skills of pushing hard so that when real races come back, I will be in shape both mentally and physically.

Do virtual races count as PRs? Remember, the "P" in "PR" stands for Personal. So yes, if I run the distance faster than I ever have before, I am counting it as a PR. Plus, virtual racing is arguably more challenging than real racing because you don't have the race day adrenaline and the other runners to feed off of.

Before the Race
Greg and I woke up at 5:45 with the goal of leaving our house at 6:30. I wanted to start the race at 7:00 before it got too warm. I had half a serving of Generation UCAN Performance Energy, plus a Maurten gel with caffeine. The purpose of the UCAN was to ensure I had long-lasting energy, and the purpose of the gel was to get the caffeine.

We drove about two miles to the neighborhood where we would run the race. I had mapped out the course earlier in the week. The actual Mother's Day course starts up a big hill. So I designed a course
that started with a hill. From there, we would run down the hill and then it would be mostly flat to the end. The actual course continues to be very hilly until the end, so our course was definitely easier than the real thing.

In 2016, I ran a time of 27:51.
In 2017, I ran a time of 26:57.

Mother's Day 4-Miler 2017

My PR was 26:57, so that was the time to beat. I should also note that there used to be another popular 4-mile race that was held in the summer in the evenings. My PR for that course is 27:32. It's a flatter and much easier course than Mother's Day, but the 80+ degree weather makes it far more challenging overall. The race was discontinued last year and I don't think it will come back.

My goal was a sub-6:44 pace, which would be a PR. However, I really wanted to run an average pace of 6:36, which was the same pace as my 5K time trial a few weeks ago. I really feel like I could have pushed that race harder, so running a 4-mile race at the same pace as a recent 5K would be a nice win.

We warmed up for two miles. The weather was ideal. 48 degrees, mostly cloudy, and no wind. I give this a 10/10 on my weather scale, especially for May! Typically it needs to be in the low 40's to get a perfect weather score but for a short race like this, and with there being no wind, it was absolutely perfect.

Mile 1: 6:52
My plan was to run this mile conservatively because of the big hill and then go all out for the other three. When we started, Greg shot ahead as he tends to do in these races, and I had no expectation of catching him. He took the hill faster than me and was leading by about 15 seconds as we finished the first mile.

Mile 2: 6:36
Okay, now it was time to rally. I kept repeating to myself "It matters. It counts" as a way to push to my max and get the best out of myself. I don't think I gave it my all during the 5K time trial so this was my chance to prove to myself that I could push really hard in a virtual race setting.

Mile 3: 6:28
After hitting the halfway point and realizing that I had less than 15 minutes to go, I had the confidence to crank it up a notch. Often in races, I ease up in the second to last mile because it really hurts and I feel like I need to save some energy for the last mile. This time, I had the confidence to push really hard, knowing that I would still have energy left for the final mile.

I also noticed that Greg wasn't getting any father ahead of me. The gap was staying the same and it seemed like we were running the same pace. This was later confirmed by our splits. And I was thrilled to see that my 3rd mile was faster than his by a few seconds! One of my goals during this race was to push hard in the middle miles and my 6:28 split shows that I did just that.

Mile 4: 6:26
I flew during the last mile. I was hurting from the effort level but feeling so strong at the same time. I wish it always felt like this during the last mile of races. It wasn't that I had "saved" it all for the end either. If there had been a real finish line with a crowd, I probably could have run a little faster but since there was no finish line and I was waiting for my Garmin to beep, I didn't have a huge kick.

Final time: 26:27, a PR by 30 seconds from 2017.

And it counts! Greg ran 26:05, which was a PR for him too.

We cooled down for a little over a mile and then drove back home, where we began our work day. I didn't love having to go to work after a race; I would have rather basked in the satisfaction of my new PR. But it was worth it to race in non-windy weather.

As for the results, runners have until the end of the day today to submit their results, but as of 12:30pm on Sunday, I am in 3rd place out of 149 women. The results don't have age groups; just male and female divisions. I should mention that the 1st place female ran in the Olympic trials, so the competition here is pretty serious! Her time was 20:05 (average pace of 5:01).

Greg is currently the 4th male out of 39. I guess since this is a Mother's Day race, there are far more women participants!

Final Thoughts and Key Takeaways
I achieved all of my goals in this race:

• Push really hard in the middle miles, don't ease up on the effort
• PR by running faster than 26:57
• Run the same pace as my recent 5K time trial: 6:36

I think that of all my virtual races, this is the one I am most proud of. Except for my "virtual" Boston marathon, which was not race effort, but was still extremely challenging due to the hills and the humidity. 

Looking Ahead

The summer is usually my "off season" for running because I can get really sick if I push hard in the heat and humidity. I need to be extra mindful of that with the coronavirus going around. So far, though, it's been unseasonably cool which has extended my hard training.

My next big challenge will be the mile. I have never raced the mile and I often get asked "what's your fastest mile?" To date, my fastest mile is 6:11. That was a downhill mile at the end of a Turkey Trot 5K with a tailwind. If I tried to run a mile right now I think I would be somewhere around 6:00. I would probably struggle to get under that. I think with some mile-specific training I could push it to 5:50 or 5:45. 

I've also started a strength training program with a strength training coach. This happens virtually over Zoom. We did an assessment about a month ago in which she identified the areas where I could gain running efficiency if I had more strength and stability. Based on the assessment, she wrote a program for me and we have sessions every week. I've had two of these sessions so far and I love them. Having a coach provides accountability because historically I have never been able to keep up with a strength training regime for more than 6-8 weeks before quitting. Also, now that I know I'm doing exercises that will help me be a faster runner, I'm more motivated. 

When do I think races will come back? There is an increasing amount of research and evidence showing that the virus does not spread as easily outdoors as it does indoors. Also, we haven't seen major outbreaks from the LA Marathon and other large races that occurred that same weekend-- when the virus was clearly in the US but we hadn't yet started social distancing. 

We've also flattened the curve to the extent that the healthcare system is not overwhelmed with patients. Does that mean races will come back? No. From everything I am hearing, the overwhelming objective is no longer to flatten the curve but to "prevent the spread" of the virus. And if that's the case, we will need to wait for a cure or a vaccine.

Back when it was "flatten the curve" I was optimistic about races coming back in the summer. Now that it's "stop the spread" I don't see races happening until 2021. At least not races with more than 1000 people. But I love running and racing so I will continue to do whatever I can to keep it in my life. 

Greg's PR and my PR

Running in Copenhagen

Hello from Europe! This is my 400th blog post and I am writing it from the deck of the Viking Sky cruise ship, on the North Sea between Denmark and Sweden. We are sailing this morning, so I have some free time to write.

Sunday, July 21: Copenhagen arrival

Nyhavn, Copenhagen

We took an 8-hour overnight flight direct from Dulles to Copenhagen, arriving at 7:15am local time. Crammed in the back of economy class, neither Greg nor I were able to really sleep, and we estimate that we each got maybe a total of one hour.

We arrived at the cruise terminal at 8:00am, and we had to wait for two hours before we could board the ship. I took the opportunity to sleep more, since the cruise terminal chairs were more comfortable than the airplane seats.

We finally boarded the ship, took a quick tour, and then ate lunch before heading out to explore the city. We were both struggling pretty badly, given that we only had one hour of sleep, but walking around Copenhagen energized us. Neither of us had ever visited there, so everything was new to us. Our first stop was Nyhavn, the city's scenic and historic waterfront. Whenever you see a photo of Copenhagen, you likely see this waterfront. Of course, it was way more crowded and touristy in person than in the photos, but still really cool.

After Nyhaven, it was off to Stroget, a huge pedestrian shopping plaza. It was here that I broke my 5-week chocolate fast. My doctor recommended that I eliminate all caffeine from my diet, so I had not had an ounce of chocolate since early June. I didn't go crazy with the chocolate, but Greg and I shared an ice cream sundae that had chocolate candies in it. Afterwards, we returned to our cruise ship where we had an amazing gourmet meal. Once again, we found ourselves struggling due to lack of sleep, so we skipped dessert and proceeded to sleep for about ten hours.

Monday, July 22: Copenhagen
Our first order of business upon waking up was to go run! Sunday was obviously a day off from running, so I was excited to run in a new country and add Denmark to my list of countries I've run in.

The Viking Sky, Copenhagen

We didn't really know where we were going so we just winged it. We ran off the cruise ship, down a long stretch, passing by the famous statue of the Little Mermaid. We then ran through a park, which was a big loop, and returned to the boat. We had planned to run for an hour and 15 minutes, but in order to get back in time before breakfast closed, we cut it short a little. I ended up running 7.5 miles in 1 hour, 6 minutes, at an average pace of 8:55.

After breakfast, we left the ship to explore more of Copenhagen. Greg had our path all mapped out, so I just followed. To get into the city, we walked the same path that we had run on, but this time we were able to stop and take a photo of the Little Mermaid statue. There were also about 50+ Santa Clauses hanging around the statue, which I later learned was the annual Santa Claus World Congress, which occurs every July in Copenhagen. Some of the Santas formed a band to play Christmas music. It was quite a sight to see.

Then we walked through two parks, the second of which was King's Garden. King's Garden is perhaps one of the most beautiful parks I have ever been in. There are colorful flowers everywhere, and if you look up, you can see all the historic buildings surrounding the park. We then walked

King's Garden, Copenhagen

through the Stroget shopping district (further than we had been before) and that led to the Tivoli Gardens amusement park. Even though we had no interest in riding the rides, we bought tickets to enter the park to check it out.

We didn't spend long in Tivoli, but it was really fun and beautiful to walk around. Afterwards, we proceeded to Christiansborg Palace where Greg took photos. So many beautiful and historic sites all in one day!

We had explored all of this by foot, so by the time we got back to our cruise ship, I had logged 30,000 steps for the day, with only 13,000 of those being from running. It was exhausting but fun.

Tuesday, July 23: Warnemunde, Germany
On Tuesday, the plan had been to go to Berlin. The ship docks in the beach town of Warnemunde on the Baltic Sea, and then they transport you into Berlin, which is 145 miles away. This required waking up at 5:00am and meeting in the ship's atrium at 5:50.

It was hard waking up that early (which is like waking up at 11:00pm, east coast time) but we did it. Shortly after waking up, Greg started talking about staying in the town we were docked in and not making the journey to Berlin. With only 30 minutes to make a decision, we started Googling stuff, and we realized that the train ride into Berlin would be 3 hours each way, and it wasn't air conditioned. We wouldn't have a full day to explore the city (more like 4 hours) and the majority of our day would be spent on a warm train. So, we decided to skip it. Kind of crazy to miss a trip to Berlin, but we later learned that the train ride was actually 3.5 hours each way (best case) and we preferred to spend our vacation relaxing. Plus, we were docked in a really nice area!

It was now 6:00 and we realized we could get off the ship and go run. Originally we were planning for Tuesday to be another "off" day, but now we had the time and freedom to go run around the port. I decided we should do the tempo run that had been scheduled for Wednesday. On Wednesday, we would be sailing all morning, so we planned to run the tempo on the treadmill. Now, thankfully, we could run it outside in Germany.

We looked on Google Maps and the route we really wanted to take required getting on a ferry, so we

Warnemunde, Germany

settled for running on the boardwalk of the beach. We found a one-mile stretch that was pretty empty at 6:00am, so after warming up, we ran back and forth on that 4 times, until our Garmins reached 4 miles for the tempo.

It was 63 degrees, sunny and windy, so the run was somewhat challenging. But at least it was flat and not as humid as back home. I hadn't run a tempo run since the Sugarloaf Marathon in May, so I was definitely rusty. I guess the Firecracker 5K was a nice dose of speed, but still- I wasn't really in "tempo" shape.I set the pace and Greg kept up. Our splits were 7:05, 7:05, 6:57, 6:58. It was definitely hard, and I struggled mentally during the third mile, but I was determined to make it all the way through and not quit.

It was a huge sense of accomplishment when we finished. Best of all, this meant no treadmill tempo the following day! We did a cool down jog back to the ship where we showered and had a leisurely breakfast.

It was then time to explore Warnemunde. We had seen a good part of the town on our run, but now that we were back there, all the shops had opened and the place was bustling with visitors. We went down to the beach, which was gorgeous and full of people. However, the beach area between the boardwalk in the ocean was so wide that there was plenty of room for everyone. This beach was at least twice as wide as the beaches on the east coast that I've been to. Greg took some photos, we went

Chillin' in Warnemunde

into a few shops, and then returned to our ship to relax for the rest of the afternoon.

Even though Berlin would have been an adventure, we were content simply relaxing on the ship deck near the pool. We even took advantage of the afternoon tea service aboard the ship, which consisted of tea, scones, and all the little finger sandwiches.

After digesting our teatime snacks, we headed down to the gym for some strength work. I am doing the "Marathon Legs" strength training program which is available through McMillan Running and it requires doing the program twice per week. I've now been at it for a full month and I've really progressed. I am finally able to complete all the required sets and reps prescribed for week one, and ready to progress to week two.

We then had another gourmet dinner, and spent the rest of the evening hanging out on our state room balcony as the ship set sail. This morning, we are still sailing, headed toward Alborg, Denmark. I am not sure when I will check in again, but stay tuned to find out about our time in Alborg and Gothenburg, Sweden (Thursday).

Training Refresh!

July marks the official start of marathon training. Greg and I are running the Columbus Marathon on Oct. 19, and that's just 12 weeks away! We're also running the Rock 'N Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon four weeks prior.

I've been using roughly the same training plan for about three years now, and I decided I was ready for a change. The problem was-- I didn't know any other way to train. I knew that I needed to have a tempo and interval workout each week, and then a long run that got longer each weekend, ideally with three 20-milers total. But this started to get boring and I didn't think my fitness was improving that much. Even though I just shaved 4+ minutes off of my marathon PR in May, I think that was more due to improvements in the mental aspect of racing rather than physical gains. I think I've had the physical ability to run a 3:43 for the past four years, and I finally got my head into a spot that would allow it.

My training was beginning to feel stale and I wasn't really excited about jumping into a new cycle doing the same thing. So I got a new coach! While I am still a member of Capital Area Runners, and I have total respect for coach George, I wanted something more personalized, new and different. So I have been working with my new coach since mid-June and I've been having a blast with my training. Even if the new plan doesn't help me break through a physical plateau, just having something new and different to do every day makes training more exciting. His credentials are pretty impressive, including a 2:13 marathon PR.

Core Strengthening
The first component is core work. I used to be very consistent about this, but over the past year or two, I just got lazy and stopped. I decided that I needed to be doing core work consistently (at least 4 times a week) and other exercises to strength my hips. I really do not want to get injured and if it means waking up 10 minutes earlier every morning to fit this in, I will do it.

One of my struggles with core work and supplemental strengthening was always when to do it and how to progress. My coach gave me six different exercises to do and told me how to progress them over time as I got stronger. I've noticed a huge difference. At first, there was one exercise that I was simply unable to perform, but now I can do 10+ reps of it.

Side plank with leg lift

Side plank with leg lift, better lighting!

Seeing a little bit of definition

I've noticed that my runs have felt stronger and I feel less flabby. Also, I am hoping to stay injury free. My nagging hamstring tendonitis is almost 100% recovered, and I hope to continue to move in the right direction there.

New Workouts
Instead of just interval workouts and tempo runs, I am doing progression runs, fartleks, steady state runs, stride workouts and shorter intervals (200's and 400's). I've never run 200's before or done a stride workout, so it's fun to have a new challenge and figure out the pacing. Also, most of the workouts are time-based rather than miles based, so it's a new way of thinking about things. I never know what my weekly mileage will end up being until I am done with the week, so that's refreshing.

So far, I think my two favorite runs are the "steady state" run and the faster/slower tempo (not sure of the official name). The steady state run is slower than tempo pace but faster than marathon pace. I love running at this pace because I like I am working hard without it feeling uncomfortable. Last week, I ran a 45-minute steady state run at average pace of 7:51. That's 5.7 miles. It felt great!

The week before, I ran this six mile workout, with every other mile being 10K pace/marathon pace. I have to admit I was intimidated by doing six miles worth of speed work so early in the cycle with three miles at 10K pace, but the run actually ended up being fun and I executed it very well. I actually ran it faster than I thought I would, especially considering how hot and humid it was. The miles were 7:29, 8:16, 7:27, 8:23, 7:25, 8:16.

These workouts are fun, challenging, and I think they are making me a lot stronger.

Travel
I spent last week in San Francisco for work, and I was in Fort Worth, Texas for part of the week before that.

Greg and I were visiting his sister in Texas for the weekend, and then I stayed on Monday for a business event. We had a 12-mile long run on tap and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to survive the Texas heat in the middle of July. Prior to going there, I asked my Dallas/Ft. Worth running friends where a good place to go was, and someone recommended the Trinity Trail. The entrance was very close to where Greg and I were staying, so we did that. This was one of the more enjoyable long runs I had. I survived the heat just fine, and we got to see new scenery. People in Texas are more friendly than in the DC area, so lots of people were saying hi. There was even a promotional water station setup where we stopped and to fill up our bottles. I'll never be great at running in the heat, but I think I am pretty well acclimated.

In San Francisco, I did a 90-minute progression run and a Fartlek run, both on the Embarcadero. I had the

Not the Embarcadero, but close enough!

Fartlek intervals programmed into my Garmin. The only problem was that the Embarcadero gets really crowded, so dodging people when you are trying to surge can be difficult. The progression run was really invigorating. I started out feeling sluggish and tired due to the time zone change, but once I started to speed up, I felt awesome and by the end, I was running a sub-8:00 pace comfortably.  The funny thing is that when I was done with my 10.3 miles, I took a cab back to my hotel, which was less than a mile away! My hotel was located in the city, and you have to keep stopping for the lights. So, I didn't want to finish my progression run by stopping every minute and waiting. So I finished it on the Embarcadero and then got a cab back.

I don't have any work travel scheduled for August, but Greg and I will be going to NYC for a few days so I think a Central Park run is in my future.

Ramping Up
I actually don't know exactly what my weekly mileage will look like for the rest of this cycle. This week was my first week at 50 miles and I imagine it's just going to keep increasing. The great thing about having a coach customize a plan is that he will adjust it based on the feedback I provide, and he gives me about 4 weeks at a time. Most of the runs also have ranges (75-90 minutes, for example) so I can run more or less based on how I am feeling that day.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the training evolves over the next few months!

Let The Training Begin!

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!