Everything On Hold

Been sick since Sunday. No end in sight. This sucks major. Missed all my runs this week, haven't swam in 3 weeks and haven't lifted in 2 weeks. I'm on a ton of meds and pretty much in a fog. Every. Freakin'. Spring.

DST Has Arrived

I was so looking forward to Daylight Savings Time! Running in the daylight and the beginning of the great warm-up when we can run comfortable in shorts again!

But this whole week I've been so tired and out of it. I thought DST would be my reset button, but I think I'm going to need a full re-boot! I've skipped out on lifting and swimming all week. I've continued my running, but it's been somewhat lacking in energy.

I have had a lot going on. Work remains busy and I had to go into the office (or an office) twice this week, which somewhat disrupts my schedule. Then there was the beer mile.

I didn't run in the beer mile. I don't think I have the stomach for it! You drink 4 beers while running a mile. One full 12-oz beer every quarter mile. Why waste beer by guzzling it? I should mention here that I drink dark beers like Guinness and other stouts and not piss water such as bud or miller. So I'm really not the target demographic for a beer mile. I do love organizing theme runs and so I organized this one. Luckily, 30+ people don't share my view on guzzling beer and the event was successful and entertaining. Surprisingly there was very little carnage (puking, passing out, etc.). The weather was awesome as opposed to last year when it monsooned on us at the start, so people stuck around for a long time and actually continued to drink! There's a general feeling these days that we've all emerged from hibernation after a brutal winter and we're out and ready to celebrate Spring. It feels great!

I purchased my flight for San Francisco for the Avenue of the Giants Marathon and the plan is being set into motion. The next 4 weeks of training will be tough as I complete the 2-20 mile runs and the recovery runs in between. I'm looking forward to it with a healthy amount of fear. I also have the Boston 5K coming up and a weekend at the beach in between.

With work, training and trips, no additional progress has been made on the condo. It is upsetting that we're 3 months into the year and no 'For Sale' sign is posted outside. But there's a lot on my plate at the moment and not a lot that I, alone, can do about what's left to get the condo on the market. But there's still 9 months left in the year!

Training, Work, Life

I've been working so much lately that I haven't wanted to log back in after work to blog or even to check my email. It's not bad, the work is interesting, there's just a lot. Some of my team members want me to start helping with releases. I don't mind helping but some of these releases don't start til 9 or 11pm. I'm in bed by 11pm and my brain is definitely off by 9pm. I've never been a night owl. I've stayed up late, but I was drinking. My brain was not working then. And no, I didn't pull all nighters in college, either. My body just doesn't do evenings. So I'm not sure I can pull this off. I wonder how long I can put it off?

I finally had a good long run on Saturday. Unfortunately I didn't start my watch to see how good of a day it was but I felt pretty strong. This week I'm doing my first 18 miler. yikes!

I've started doing some of the Thursday night runs again. Some of my friends that I know from other things besides running, have started coming to them. I've decided to make these runs my 5 Finger runs. I haven't run much in them since I got them and this seems like the perfect opportunity as Thursdays is a cross-training day and not part of my marathon program. This week we're doing a pre-Irish Beer Mile run practice run. Combining a little beer with my 5 finger run should be interesting. Plus I've never hashed so it will be good to see how that feels. I'm organizing the beer mile so I can't participate. I'm not really all that disappointed.

The weather is warming up and I'm so excited to be able to put away my running tights! It's much better to run in shorts. It's totally mental but most of running is mental.

Speaking of mental, I'm considering running my first ultra. It's a little one as ultras go, it's a 50K. It's in Salem Lake where I ran the 30K in October. The only thing about the 50K is that it's an out and back twice. The course is flat and on trail that is more like a greenway and not technical. I'm dreading the out and back and repeat part. Is it better to stay in your head during that or get out of your head? I wonder if my mp3 player would make the whole race? I mentioned it to Adam and he said, 'you'd be running for a long time. That's well over 4 hours.' He's a really fast runner, so the idea of running FOR 4 hours is foreign to him. I think his longest marathon was 3:40 something. Maybe faster. The race isn't until January. I have plenty of time to decide and then to train. But the idea is out there.

The Bloom Is Off the Rose

I was sitting with some friends talking about our long runs and complaining about feeling bored during them when one of them said 'I think it's because it's not new anymore.' She hit on it right there. I'm in my 7th year of running, I'm training for my 7th marathon, I have at least a hundred bib numbers from races of all distances and turfs hanging on my refrigerator, dozens of medals and even a few awards. There aren't many, if any, firsts anymore.

When you first start running you seem to hit a PR every time you race. You watch your time for a particular distance break goal after goal and it's exciting! I PR'd by 1 minute, 2 minutes, or by the most minutes by which I've ever PRd! I just ran my first 5K!, my first half! my first full! All of these exciting milestones happen early in your running career. After a while your friends and family stop being excited. You run out of milestones, you have a few bad races, then you stop PRing except maybe once a year if you're lucky.

Then what?

There is a certain amount of pleasure in watching other people hit milestones or PR. That is why I do love this sport. It's such an individual effort that you can be happy for someone else because it doesn't mean that you or someone else lost, like it does in a team sport. But that doesn't exactly motivate me to get through a 12 or 20 miler without being bored.

Inconsistent

"Why must it always be stop and go?
Where in this life can I find constant flow?
Inconsistency on a larger scale
Impersistence forcing me to bail out
.... What I really need is consistency" - Consistency by Ari Hest

That sums up how I feel about my training. I've determined that if I have a really good speed workout and tempo run then my long run will suck. The reverse is also true. Maybe there's some consistency here after all.

I'm 9 weeks out and have officially decided to run the Avenue of the Giants marathon. I have also possibly talked 2 friends into joining me. We plan to make a nice mini vacation out of it.

Work has been keeping me really, really busy. I'm falling behind on many of my New Year's Resolutions. The biggest being selling the condo. Nope not on the market yet. Why? Mostly it's the weather. For example, it's snowing right now for the 80th time this year! So can't really get all those little projects I have left to do done. I did finish reading a book, bringing my total to 2 towards my goal of 10. I started 2 more so that one is looking good. I have a plan to see the play Wicked which will count towards my 2 plays for the year. Haven't actually bought tickets yet, but I will. Haven't been to the Evening Muse yet this year sadly. I have signed up for my two marathons though so that one is almost locked down.

So with work being incredibly busy and training, there hasn't been a lot of down time. There also hasn't been much play time. The most interesting thing that's happened in the past month is that I won my first beer chugging contest. Yep. At a baby shower. Had to drink beer out of a baby bottle. Fun stuff. I'm not posting pictures.

I do have some great trips planned and I really can't wait to get out of here and enjoy some time in other cities. I'm also still planning to run the B.A.A. 5K and will be signing up for that as soon as it opens tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to running a 5K! It's been too long!

MT Weeks 4 & 5

So work has been really hectic. I'm in an area now that has a great deal of work. It's great! But I haven't had as much time to blog. It's also been tough getting in my long runs due to snow every weekend!

I'll start with speed workouts. I found some fools willing to run track with me. The company has been great! They're motivated and motivating. We did a workout that consisted of 5 x 1K with a 400m recovery in between. It was awesome! It seemed weird at first. What is 1k? It's a 1,000 meters or two and a half times around the track. We decided to swap directions for each interval. It really helped the hips. I felt great after workout. The next speed workout didn't go so great. The plan called for 2 mins fast/2 mins easy. What? Minutes? That's just license to go slowly. I had a pinched nerve in my back that was affecting my neck and arm. So the workout was horrible. I was barely finishing 400m in 2 minutes. Lousy workout.

Speaking of lousy, the tempo runs have been going badly as well. The first one called for 1 mile easy, 4 tempo, 1 mile easy. I could not push myself during the 4 miles. I ended up walking some and finishing at a 10 minute pace. The next week didn't go well either! The plan called for 1 mile easy and 7 miles tempo. Again, I finished at a 10 mile pace. Part of the issue could be that it was really cold. In the 20s. Another issue is that I can't tell what pace I'm running. I'll think I'm running really hard and will find out it was a 10 minute pace. At some points I think I was running faster than a 9 minute mile but then dieing in the next mile. I'm not sure how to work on pacing. I was hoping this training would help. I thought that this was something that came with time, but I'm starting to think you either know it or you don't.

My long runs have been affected by adverse weather conditions and a race...in adverse weather conditions. I'll start with my favorite, The Uwharrie 8 mile trail race. I love this race! I've only run it 3 times in the past 6 years though I've signed up 5 of those years. This year I ran it with my friend Jody. My friend Chloe ventured to the race as well, but took off and we didn't see her again until the end. The weather was cold, but not as cold as I've experienced there. It was at or around the freezing mark. They'd had a great deal of rain leading up to the race and were considering cancelling the race, but decided to do it. Chloe, Jody and I went back and forth the night before considering whether or not to do the race. The race is an hour and a half from Charlotte so we couldn't just go and check the trail conditions ourselves. Finally Chloe said 'Let's do it. It'll be ugly but it'll be a great story.' Later Jody would say that 'the great story' part hooked her. We met at 6am and headed East.

The trails were wet but not completely soupy which is what I had expected. There was no ice. Jody and I stayed together and got into a good groove in places while walking the more treacherous areas. We talked, laughed and caught up in general on what we'd been up to. The race directors had put up ropes to get over the worst of the creeks and we were able to get through the race course without any spills or broken bones. I had worn my wool socks and trail shoes and I was amazed at how warm my feet stayed. Along the course we met up with a lady who runs trail races all the time. She's been a runner for 30 years and left the roads 15 years ago. She gave us great advice on how to land so you don't slip or fall and gave advice on how to dress. I never knew there was such a thing as wool underwear and bras. Now I may have to buy them!

My next long run was a 12 miler that I had to run after a 3.5 inch snow fell the night before. I started my run at close to 11am. I decided to wear my trail running shoes and wool socks. I thought the trail running shoes would help grip in the snow. I chose a route close to home and wore a fuel belt to carry my water. The roads and sidewalks weren't bad. The shady areas did have a great deal of ice and I had to walk through those areas. In the end, the trail shoes were a bad call. They didn't offer the cushioning I needed for the roads and there weren't enough snowy areas to make them worth while. Live and learn, I guess. I was glad to get in the 12 as it had been close to a month since I'd been able to hit double digits. I lost one long run to snow and the Uwharrie race was only 8 miles.

This week's plan calls for a long run of 13 miles. I've decided to bump it to 14 miles. I feel like I need to get these long runs ramped up a tad faster than in the plan. Wish me luck!

MT Week 3

Last weekend's long run was foiled by snow and ice. I got in about 45 minutes on an indoor track but one lap was 1/12 of a mile. So making it 45 minutes is pretty good (sane).

I was able to find a track that was snow-free to do my speed workout. This week's workout called for 3 1-mile repeats. Fortunately the kiddies were out of school and I was able to go during the daylight hours. My goal for one mile during speed workouts is to be within 8:05 and 8:20. I felt somewhat strong in the legs during the workout, but I noticed my breathing was really off. I was really struggling. It could have been the cold. It hasn't been getting out of the 40s much these days. Still I was able to stay within range with:

4:13
4:09
4:14

The last one I was doing pretty good the first 3 laps but lost it in the last lap.

I really hate track workouts.

The second workout was my tempo run. The plan was 2m easy, 3 tempo, 2 easy. The 3 tempo miles I did in 26:06 or 8:42 per mile pace. Not bad. This is a bit faster than I need to run for tempo. I'm also on a pretty hilly part of the course when I do these tempo runs. My legs after about 2 miles of tempo started feeling like spaghetti. I think I hyper extended my knees a couple of times because after I finished running they really hurt. I ran 3 more miles after my tempo run, but I walked a couple of times during the first mile after tempo. I think I'm running the tempo runs too fast and then giving out on the cool down.

Another interesting thing I discovered is that if I completely stop, like when trying to cross a busy street, I start back feeling stronger. This may be something I can do at water stops and I definitely want to experiment with in my next half marathon race.

My next race is supposed to be this weekend. The Uwharrie Mountain Run. Unfortunately the are calling for ice in that area this weekend. It's a trail run that is already difficult without adding ice to the mix. I'm keeping an eye on the weather, but I'm not hopeful I'll be running it this weekend. If not the race, then I'll probably get in the 12-miler that I missed last weekend.