Some Good Short Things

Thought it might be time for some positive things, all short...

I've been running in the mornings again! Very short, and I have NO endurance, but even to want to get up early and run is a big deal. And oh, I love watching the sky at this time - when it's clear it's the most beautiful deep iris that slowly lightens - when it's cloudy might be even better, I love watching the clouds move across the sky, lighter streaks of blue across the dark that then catch the sun as it rises.

I've been reading some amazing short stories this winter - I'll do a list at some point with links and all - both speculative and romance. It's been hugely inspiring and has made my fingers itch - I have some ideas I want to explore that don't fit in any of the novels currently living in my head (plus right now I'm back in research mode but not writing is making me cranky).

One short grumble: After going several months of wondering why I wasn't falling asleep as well as I was used to I lined up dates and realized this had started at the same time as I started reading ebooks. Silly me, I've been careful with the kids about no screen time right before bed, and I don't get on the computer at night, but I didn't think about my tablet being a screen. So this week I've been trying out only reading print before bed and I've been sleeping better. Only problem - when the hell am I am supposed to get to those books that demand reading straight through?

Then a quick skim of the music in my head this morning:

Allen Toussaint - Brickyard Blues

Bomba Estéreo - Soy Yo

I missed Bomba Estéreo at Ruido Fest last year, but am planning to go this year - the lineup was just announced, with Panteón Rococó, Ana Tijoux, Kinky, Combo Chimbita just a few of the acts I want to see - so I am clearing my calendar for that weekend and putting together my pennies.

What's giving you life this week?

Annie

Feeling Better

It's such a pleasure to once again wake up and look forward to running. If anything, I need to hold myself back and not try to add on too much. I am older than I was, after all, and creakier, and without a lot of time of recovery measures, though I have been incorporating more of those back into my routine.

But oh, how lovely to get up and go again.

I think I may be a permanent convert to early morning running. To go out early into the world, see who else is out and about. The quiet of the streets. And then to come home refreshed in spirit and satisfied in body.

On a side note - restoring my Vit D levels seems to have had an effect in areas I wasn't expecting. My decades-long vertigo has receded back to "normal" levels (it had become troublesome last fall/winter, enough so that I finally went to an ENT - we're still investigating), and my shoulder is feeling a lot better as well (after some improvement with physical therapy it had regressed again). Nice to have that unexpected relief.

Pushing Things (Just a Little)

Monday morning was steamy and dark and I was tired, despite Sunday having been my "rest day". And not very excited by the prospect of six miles before breakfast. So I did what I do when I just have to get through some miles and it's a distance I can manage - I play. With speedwork. I figured it would make the time go faster along with the miles, and it would make me feel more confident about the start of proper speedwork next week. So I did five quarter-mile repeats, not trying for a certain pace but just to pick the things up a bit - get my legs and head used to the idea of working that way again (it's been about a month now since I did any).

It felt good - and it was fun - so much so that I decided to make my Thursday run a tempo run. Maintain marathon pace for 3 miles in the middle of a longer run into work. Not a lot compared to what I've done in the past or even what I'll have to do next week - but something to get myself used again to doing these more intense workouts. And again, it felt good, stretching and challenging myself and taking away some of the fear of what will come next. Because, you know, I start every speed or tempo run not knowing if I can do it, afraid that I can't.

I train to push my mind and my heart - my guts - as much as my body.

I've done a lot of comfortable running this past month - pushing myself with changes to my schedule and with increases in my total weekly mileage - but each of the individual runs have been easy. At a comfortable pace and with no real doubt that I would be able to do it, even if I was tired or if things got harder by the end. I am stubborn and determined and it's been a long time since I didn't finish a run. So just putting in miles doesn't scare me.

I am ready to be scared.

Manageably.

Bring it on.

~ Annie

A Yummy Snack

I've been trying to figure out what's in our garden as the plants take off (and in some cases, take over). We moved into a fully planted perennial garden so there's no shortage of growing things, but we weren't paying a lot of attention when we moved in and some things aren't recognizable yet. (A weed? Not a weed? I don't know sometimes.)

This last weekend it was finally dry enough to spend some serious time out there, and at the end of day, when I was too tired to do any more work, I started looking up some of my unidentifiables in a perennial book I have. And realized that we have a lot of different kinds of hostas. On further reading I saw that most people with hostas fret about slugs getting to them. I'd already seen that we have slugs in our garden - little ones, not the monster ones my Opa used to scare me with - but aside from some damage to our tulips (which survived just fine), I really hadn't seen any damage to the many (many) hostas planted here. Why wouldn't they be suffering from the slugs?

I had a guess...

This is not our possum, we haven't managed to take any photos of it.
This lovely photo comes to us courtesy of National Geographic.

And a little internet research confirmed it - opossums eat slugs.

Yes!

I can live with a little possum poop if it means fewer slugs.

Investigatingly,
Annie

It Was Beautiful

I ran 10 miles in to work today and it was marvelous. My legs were tired and sore and still it was marvelous - I felt like I could have run all day.

Well, it helped that it was a beautiful sunny cold day - so pretty and bright but I didn't get hot - and that I was running by the lake.

But what was really exciting to me was that my pace felt easy and my energy felt good despite my legs being tired and sore.

I'm trying a new training plan this year for the marathon, the Hansons Marathon Method. It calls for a lot of running. A lot. Six days a week, with all the main workouts being done on tired legs. I'll probably refer to some of the science behind it as the summer goes on, but here's the description that attracts most people to it:

Hansons Marathon Method does away with mega long runs and high mileage weekends—two outdated traditions that make most runners miserable. Instead, runners using the Hansons method will gradually build up to the moderate-high mileage required for marathon success, spreading those miles more sensibly throughout the week. Running easy days mixed with precisely paced speed, strength, and tempo workouts, runners will steel their bodies and minds to run the hardest miles of the marathon.

Of course, that description doesn't mention the six days a week of running involved. Or running long runs (or speed workouts or strength or tempo runs) when you're already tired.

Or that, and this I think is really key, all runs that are not speed or strength or tempo focused are to be run slowly. Much more slowly than I am used to. More slowly than a lot of us who are trying to get fast would feel comfortable doing.

I haven't started my proper marathon training yet - I have a race next weekend to do first - but since reading the theories behind this method I've started bringing them into my current training. Both because I believe they'll work and because I want to be able to ease right in to marathon training once this race is over, no nasty surprises that could lead to injury.

So I've been running five days a week (up from my usual 3-4) and planning it so that I'm running in the days before a speed workout or a tempo run or a long run. But what I'm running in those days are easy runs - nice and slow and even pulling myself back if I find myself wanting to get ahead or worried about time.

(By the way, I'm doing this because I'm tired of finding that my performance in longer races - half marathon and beyond - don't match what I "should" be capable of based on my performance in shorter races and in speed and tempo workouts. Nutrition has been part of this - not carbo-loading sufficiently in the days before a race and not taking enough in during a race - but I also think I just haven't been putting in the miles. And those weeks when I have I've felt really good, which is why I think I can even attempt this in the first place.)

And I think it's working, because today I got up, thought, "Wow, I'm really not feeling bouncy," made sure to eat more than I usually do and to have extra on hand for on the way, and then just got going. Slowly and steadily. And while my legs may have been tired my heart and mind were light and I felt good - all the way.

And now I get to taper until my race and I'm looking forward to that too.

Contentedly,
Annie

Exciting Developments

At about the same time I hurt my shoulder, I realized that G has consistently been sleeping later in the mornings (probably because he no longer naps). And that it is D who is the first one up, after me, of course. But D is in kindergarten now, and able to take care of himself in the mornings - get himself fruit from the counter if he's hungry and water from the sink, entertain himself and make halfway decent decisions about whether or not a parent needs to be woken up for something. Which means...

I can go running first thing in the morning!

I can literally say I have been waiting for this moment for six and a half years.

I've been heading out early for two weeks now and have been loving it. I'm still doing my longer runs and speed/tempo workouts later in the morning, after dropping off G, but it gives me so much more flexibility and opportunity to be able to head out first thing and be back before the rest of the household is up. And what a fantastic way to start the day for me.

This opens up a whole new world for me and my training... what might I do next?

Ecstatically,
Annie

Baby, It Was Cold Outside (2014 Hot Chocolate 15K Race Recap)

Oh, what a cold day it was.

I decided to arrive late to avoid a long and cold wait in the 1st start wave. (With over 40,000 total race participants they had 20 different start corrals divided into two waves.) I didn't know for sure if it would work out to do so - if I would be allowed to move into a different corral or  have to wait till the very end instead - but it also allowed me to leave the house later. I like leaving the house at 5:35 a.m. instead of 5:10.

I had an extra pair of pants with me to wear on the way there and for afterwards, and a hoodie to throw away at the start (all throwaway items get collected and donated to local charities).

I've been more carefully timing my nutrition and liquids before races since reading Matt Fitzgerald's book "The New Rules of Half-Marathon Nutrition", both to make sure I have enough fuel for the event and to avoid needing a porta-potty during it. I ate my usual oatmeal with raisins and walnuts at home before leaving, with a small cup of coffee (if I'd left earlier I would have brought these with me and eaten them in transit). Then I brought just enough water with me to wet my mouth occasionally and to take with a Vega gel fifteen minutes before starting, and gum to chew on right before the beginning if I felt thirsty. For this race I didn't need to worry about super-hydrating the day before, since it was cold and not so long.

I got to the race site and found a porta-potty. Once I was there and could see what the weather conditions by the lake were like, I swapped out my usual running hat for a beanie so I wouldn't have to worry about my hat being blown off if we encountered serious wind (which we did).

It was well organized this time (I've done it three times before and each time there was something poorly planned). No lines at gear check, barely a line at the first porta-potty visit and NONE at the second, amazing. With no one else to worry about I took my time at the second porta-potty stop, taking a little shelter from the wind.

I walked over to the race corrals and then continued walking around the park, I didn't want to get in a corral any earlier than I needed to and wanted to just keep moving so I could stay relatively loose and warm. Once I was sure the first wave of corrals was closed and the race had started (so I wouldn't be directed to enter my actual, assigned corral, the last one of that wave) I started walking over to the 2nd wave to see if I could get into the first corral there. No problem! I entered 5 minutes before the official closing time (for a wait of 25 minutes before starting vs. a hour) and was even able to move right to the front. Sweet.

The announcers did a good job of keeping us entertained while we waited and the race officials did a good job of keeping us moving forward, reminding people to move to the side if they slowed down or stopped for water, and not to run more than two abreast, and then we were off.

I started quickly and wondered if maybe I was going too fast, but figured I'd check myself at the mile splits and see if I needed to adjust. There were also a couple of downhills right at the start as we went under streets and so I just went with the flow. I had turned on my Garmin, not to keep strict account of my mile splits but more as a timer. I compared their time against mine when I hit the first mile so I would know approximately when I crossed the starting line and how fast I took that first mile. It was a good thing I wasn't relying on my Garmin since we spent a chunk of time underground during that first mile and it doesn't handle that well, though it seemed to have adjusted itself by the end of the second mile.

So first mile done, okay, finished that in just over 10 minutes. All right, if I can keep this up with no bathroom breaks, and then push it at the end, I should be able to to break 1:30 overall. But better still would be to make every 5k split under half an hour.

When I race, as I pass each mile marker I set myself a clock goal for the next one, based on how fast I took the first mile and what my overall goal is. So for instance, in this race, I crossed the first mile marker at 55:40. Knowing I started at 45:16, I set myself a goal to cross the next one at 1:05:40 or sooner. And so on and so forth. And then I don't think about the rest of the distance much, just that next mile. If I go over (or under) my goal in that next mile I still give myself the full amount for the one after that - I don't start making adjustments to each individual mile goal until I'm a ways in and can more accurately gauge how I might perform going on.

Anyway, first mile done, going fast but not uncomfortably so. (I can still clearly remember the first time I ran a mile in 10 minutes and what an amazing thing it was to me. And how much effort it took!) Can I keep this up? I'll have to - and then some - if I want to make my goals. So I kept on for another mile. And then another. And then I was fully warmed up and crossing the first 5k in just under 30 minutes and I thought, I really could do this.

The course started in Grant Park, went north and underground to head over to the Loop, then south on Clark St., then jagged over to Michigan and then again to Lake Shore Drive where it stayed until heading over to the lake and then turning back north. There were some odd in-and-outs to make up the total distance so some tight turns, and it eventually ended by going around Soldier Field and the Museum Campus (the west side of the campus - the hillier side) and then back into Grant Park.

I'm pretty familiar with much of this terrain so there was nothing noteworthy per se. There was a lovely sunrise over the lake when I arrived at the park in the morning. It was interesting to see some bits of the South Loop that I hadn't before, especially the Columbia campus. And I knew the last mile would be surprisingly hilly and hard. So while I enjoyed my surroundings, my focus was on keeping as steady a pace as I could.

At mile 5 I took a walk break and had my second Vega gel. I'm still trying these out - I love the taste, and they go down easily, but the texture is a little gritty and I think I would want to switch things up if needing more than one gel. Any recommendations for vegan gels? I don't like Clif Shots. GU works well for me but their amino acids are from animal sources. I did just see that their VP of research and development was featured in the latest Runner's World (former Olympian Magdalena Lewy Boulet) - I may write to suggest they find plant sources for their amino acids to make them vegan friendly.

I took walk breaks at miles 2, 5 (for the gel), and 7 miles. I think these breaks make a lot of difference in being able to maintain a consistent effort - they refresh my legs, changing up the muscles used. I don't ever walk for long, maybe a minute, tops - but it's enough. And all the while I kept an eye out for those mile markers. I kept coming in consistently under 10 minutes, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.

The second 5k split came and seemed pretty even to my first, maybe a little faster, so I knew unless the wheels fell off completely I would be able to make my 1:30 goal. And potentially then some! I was still feeling good but aware of the hills coming up which would slow me down, so I started speeding up a bit, both to bank some time against those hills and to see how much under 1:30 I could potentially go. I started passing people more deliberately and going down the hills more aggressively to get my legs used to the quicker turnover. It started getting a little crowded on the course, at times I had to push past people especially at the bottom of hills when I was going fast and couldn't easily slow down to avoid them. Watching the miles move by at closer to nine minutes pace than ten.

Then the last mile, with all those uphills. My goal here was just to keep moving, to keep a steady effort and not to worry about speed. Only a mile, now, only a mile. It was the longest-feeling mile on the course, though.

And then I was at the mile 9 marker, and there was the straightaway to the finish line just after (somehow it was still a very long feeling three-tenths of a mile). Could I pick it up again? Yes, I could! Once I got started I was just going too quickly to stop and had to push through two people running close together - a quick "Sorry!" and then through.

And then I was past the line and stopped immediately. Whew! I always feel for a moment that I might throw up. Then walking, walking. Yes to medal, thank you. Yes to water to save for later. I had a single goal at that point: gear check. There I would find warmer clothes to swap into or layer on, a change of shoes and socks, my home-made sports drink (water, lemon juice, agave nectar, cayenne, salt, and chia seeds) and food. I tried to find my group in the Runner Reunite section but couldn't, and it was just too cold to wait. Grabbed my free sample of blue corn chips and left. SO many people! I walked over to the restaurant where we would be meeting up but it wasn't open yet, so I stopped by a Starbucks for a decaf americano to warm me and to get some spicy seed mix and a banana, since the food I brought wasn't inspiring me, and then hopped on the train and headed home.

Final time: 1:27:44 (nearly 5 minutes off my previous best).

5k splits:

• 5k - 29:41 (9:34 pace)
• 10k - 59:08 (9:31 pace)
• 15k - 1:27:44 (9:25 pace)

213th of 1118 in my age group - top 20%.

I'll take it!

Proudly yours,
Annie

Mission Accomplished!

And I feel grand.

Looking forward to writing about it later this weekend.

But just a quickie...

After mile 20 I started worrying if I was going to hit the wall, as I have in my previous two marathons. I had to really step in with some serious self-talk about how I am so much better prepared for this, I am tougher than I've ever been, I am smarter about these things now, etc. At some point the thought popped into my head,

"Wall? What wall? I piss on the wall!"

And you know what?

I never did hit it.

In fact, my last three miles were my most enjoyable (not fast, I was both battling headwinds and going uphill, but fun), AND I felt like I could have done more.

I am now eating a sandwich from my favorite bagel shop called the "Xena, Warrior Princess" and about to take a hot shower.

Damn, it's a good day.

I Can Run for Miles and Miles and Miles

Despite my concern about the sidewalks, today had some of the best conditions for running in a while. The temperature dropped enough overnight to freeze a lot of the water (the crazy big puddles turned into slush but it was easier to see and avoid them), and then it was snowing lightly which provided traction! I was worried about the wind when I set out, but still determined to at least try the lakefront path, and it ended up being less windy along there than I thought. There was only a mile of really blustery conditions where I nearly tripped up twice just from the wind blowing me sideways - I felt like those ice skaters who trip on their own feet from not getting the timing right on their jumps. But that was close to the end so I just got off the lakefront at the next opportunity and ran the rest of the way on the inner drive. It was interesting to see just where the wind was worst: on the lakefront it was whenever the trail got close to Lake Shore Drive, and on the inner drive it was when crossing the street, I had to make sure I didn't get blown onto the drive itself.

One unexpected treat was that the path was clear enough that I didn't have to look directly in front of me the whole time, as I've been doing all winter to make sure of my footing. I could look up and around and enjoy the sky (rapidly moving clouds) and the parks (huge frozen ponds), the shoreline (crazy ice formations) and the trees near to me (fat squirrels and red berries!). What a joy.

This week I've run into work twice, once long and once mostly direct (it's about a mile and a half more to run into work along the lakefront vs. taking a street that runs diagonally across the city). I love it, I love it, I love it. I think I'm going to try running in to work every other day.

And in other good news, Goo slept through the night after going down pretty easily! He came out in the morning to tell me "bunny awake mama" (we got a new nightlight that can change pictures from a sleeping bunny to an awake bunny if you set it)... time to now slo-o-owly move that wake-up time a little later in the morning. And as I've been getting more sleep I have again been waking up before him anyway, and can reclaim at least a little of my quiet morning time.

Got a bunch of baking to do for our church's annual South Sudan bake sale/auction - carrot cake and chocolate chip cookies. I imagine some of the cookies will end up staying home with us...

Happily,
Annie

Feeling Loverly

I am feeling on top of the world.

No right to be, really, work is stressful this week and I'm behind on stuff with no expectation of getting fully caught up until next month sometime.

But who cares today!

It's a beautiful day. My oldest and his dad are playing hooky to go see a baseball game. In a few hours I will leave here, stop by Fleet Feet Sports to get my Elvis Is Alive packet, and pick up the GooGoo monster.

My extra weight is coming off steadily and slowly, I feel good about how I'm going about it and good about how I feel.

I just registered for the Ready To Run CARA supported 20-mile run September 22, exactly three weeks before the marathon, with a run/walk pace group. I had not planned to do any group runs but I was having a hard time figuring out when I was going to do my 20-miler. Our weekends coming up are packed and quite honestly it's hard to recover from a long/hard effort with the kids around, which is why I've been taking half days at work and doing most of my long runs on Mondays. But this run is fully supported - water stations, pace groups, food/beer and massage afterwards - so by the time I get home I should be in halfway decent shape to roll around with the rug rats.

I've finished one quilt I've been working on for over two years (photos soon) and have planned out another one.

And I've figured out my bucket list... that's been on my mind since Ali wrote about hers... there was one piece that I couldn't quite articulate and it fell into place last night, so I've been buzzing on that. I then had a dream that I told the family about it and everyone was like, yay, mom, that's great, we'll help! Didn't have that reaction when I told The Dude about it this morning, ha. Don't mean to be cryptic but I don't have the time right now to post on this (that work stuff I mentioned before).

Hope you're having a great day!

No, Really, I Love This Stuff

I realized last week that I may not have expressed how much fun I had with my last race, despite the copious room for improvement I actually wrote about. So I just want to make it clear...

I love racing.

Even when I don't think I've done as well as I could have. I love the people, the music, the crowds, the excitement. I love thinking about the course, figuring out a new course, feeling familiar with an old one. I love talking to the volunteers at packet pickups. I love being a volunteer at packet pickups. I love talking to other race participants (and seeing who will actually talk to me). I love getting up early and leaving the house before anyone is awake and moving through the city early. I love coming home and feeling that no matter what else I do that day I am a badass for getting up early and running a race. (And for having license to eat extra treats.) I love thinking about racing strategy and I love it even more when I not only plan things well but keep to that plan and get the results I hoped for. And then I love sharing about it afterwards. (I don't always love race photos but I've had some good ones lately.)

So, with that in mind, I've created a new page here which has all my race results and links to the ones I've written about. In going through these I have found some unfortunate trends (though typical)... going out too fast, not taking the heat/humidity seriously enough. But also a happy one... that my best experiences are when I run what I feel was a "smart" race, regardless of time: one where I start off conservatively, pick up the pace progressively, and then have enough left for a strong finish at the end. I also see that these are the ones I've done without music, so I am going back to racing without an iPod (I reserve the right to keep one on me for the marathon). Though I may need some new mantras then.

And as an extra treat, a link to a very funny comic strip (be forewarned about the swearing): God of Cake.

Wrigley Start Early 10k - A Race Report of Sorts

In light of Boston, I really can't bring myself to post a detailed race report of last Saturday's Wrigley Start Early 5/10K.

Which is kind of a shame, because it was amazing.

Not the event itself. That was not well organized, it was muddy and windy and cold and snowy (!), and they cut the festivities short (including food and volunteers) because of the weather.

But because...

Not only did I break an hour (59:52)...

Not only did I fight the entire way to make that happen, the first time I've really done that...

Not only did I learn all kinds of useful things for future races (tactical and equipment details, I don't need to go into them now)...

Not only did I put into practice a number of mental strategies I've practiced over the last year...

But because I came in first in my age group.

Booyah!

I must point out that it was an extremely small field, and I came in 111 out of 135 overall. (I started at the back and I think I remember passing every single one of those 24 people behind me.) But of the eight women ages 40-44 who finished, I was the first. By 6 seconds!

Ah, victory.

Needless to say, this was an incredible way to start my racing season.

Chicago Women's Half Marathon (Finally)

I've gotten hung up on writing a recap of my half and so haven't written at all. There's also been a lot in the rest of my life that's frustrated me and I don't like to write about my frustrations, mostly because I know most things will resolve themselves with time and so why give more permanence or energy to them than they deserve. But that's left me with not much to write about.

Ah, the Chicago Women's Half Marathon... It was a great experience. I really wanted to write a mile-by-mile recap since I was so pleased with how I did and how I went about doing it, but I've realized that I'm just not going to manage to do that. So, some highlights.

I unexpectedly saw one of my favorite running friends before the race started - a magical person who inspires me in so many ways. We don't run together (she's much faster than me) but it was a thrill to see her and spend some time with her.

I had meant to run without music but at the last minute before leaving the house I chickened out and stuffed my tunes into my bag. I just didn't quite believe that I wouldn't need the help in the last miles. But then during gear check I forgot to take them out... And realized about half an hour before the start that I was musicless after all. It felt right.

It was hot, especially the first three miles, and I could feel myself inching towards overheating which seemed just ridiculous given how much longer I was going to have to run. So my mantra became "Rein it in." I'm really proud that I could recognize this, take stock of where I was and what I needed to do still, and adjust properly. Because then I did really well the whole rest of the way - I felt comfortable and was able to maintain a pretty consistent pace over the next five miles.

At mile 8 I was feeling really good (we got some cloud cover) and I thought to myself, "I own this." So I picked things up a wee little bit and felt good about that.

Then we hit mile 10. I mentioned that the first three miles were really hot, no shade, surrounded by concrete on one side and blazing water on the other. Well, those three miles heading out were the same as the last three miles coming back. And mile 10 also marked the longest distance I'd run this year. So there was no way I could continue on as I was. I slowed down. I took an extra walk break. I had more water. And then I just resolved to not walk, even if I couldn't keep up the pace I'd been enjoying. And I didn't. But some of those moments of not walking were truly gutted out.

And then we got to the last mile and I asked my legs if I could ask a bit more of them, and I was able to try to run a bit stronger and then a bit stronger still as we continued to the end and finally ended up running as hard as I could to cross. that. finish. line. I even heard someone on the side shouting "She's actually going to sprint!" and let me tell you, I felt like the badass I aspire to be. Oh, glory.

I finished with my supreme, I-would-barely-admit-it-to-myself, goal of under 12:00 miles (11:59) at 2:37:03.

Afterwards, the usual post-race letdown. Had I really done my first half at a 12:00 minute pace? I ran my marathon two years ago faster than that! I had to work very hard to remember that I had decided to do this race only two months beforehand, when my longest distance was 4 miles. That I finished at all, let alone feeling consistent and strong (and enjoying myself), was due to smart training over those two months and smart running (and walking and eating and hydrating) on that day.

Because what I really want to remember about that day is that I had an incredible time. And I can't wait to do it again.

Still Hot, Still Long, Not So Slow

This was the best long run I've had in a long time. I've been thinking a lot about ultrarunning and what I heard at the Scott Jurek event (the book is on order, I can't wait!). Especially since The Dude is more than a little nervous about all of this. I can't help that this is what I want to do, I think I've just spent too many formative years out on trails on in view of mountains, despite my recent sojourn in the land of pavement and flatness.

So I've been taking each long run as if it were preparing me for even more. Not in the sense of "If I gut this out I'll be ready for my next race" (which begs the question of why prepare for an event I don't expect to enjoy), but rather with an idea of "What can I learn from this run that will allow me to do more (because I love it so much)?"

Some of what I focussed on this week:

Planning in walk breaks. In the past I've planned walk breaks in theory, but haven't necessarily followed through with them - only to be bitten in the butt by that at the end of my run. This week I set my watch alarm to go off every 20 minutes, basing my breaks on the time covered rather than the distance, and then spent 60-90 seconds at each break walking briskly before starting up again. I then also based my water and gel consumption around these, making sure to start hydrating/eating before I felt the need for it.

This reminded me of what I first started running and I had the thought, electrifying to me: if I just slow down, I can run forever. And then: I want to do that! Maybe, if I take walk breaks and eat/drink properly - if I replenish myself consistently - I really can run forever.

Running tall, staying light on my feet. And visualizing these things when I got tired and my form started to slump. Worked like magic!

When it got uncomfortably hot/humid/sunny, thinking to myself: The sun is nourishing me. It makes everything grow. I am pulling energy from everything around me. (This could only work because I've had a few weeks to acclimatize myself to the heat and I knew the rest of my planning was protecting me from overheating.)

In the last two miles, when I had the opportunity to run on the grass for brief periods, I used that as a way to energize myself. Instead of slowing down, seeking out the most even path with the thought of "I will protect my feet by running on a softer surface," I thought, "Here is an opportunity to play, to bound, to spring, to be as a child." Happy feet!

I have to say, it all worked. I planned out two loops of five miles each that I knew I would enjoy traversing, and stashed a bottle of water/electrolytes at home in our mail lobby so I could easily access it halfway through and refill my handheld bottle (and get a moment's coolth as well). I made sure to take water in every time I stopped, and timed my gels for every 40 minutes. Put a jazz album on my ipod, and set out slow.

The first 5 miles were so comfortable that I felt totally prepared to take on another 5, maybe even with some zest. When the jazz ended I let it roll on into Miranda Lambert's latest and adjusted my pace to the music, letting myself pick up speed. In hindsight this is the only thing I would have done differently, the tempo changed significantly with each song and I felt I was constantly needing to reset my pace. Perhaps next time for those last miles I'll just turn the music off.

With one mile to go I looked at my watch and saw I had just over ten and a half minutes before my alarm went off again. Can we do it? Yes we can!

I came home feeling grand. The baby, who had been perfectly content while I was gone, started howling as soon as he saw me and realized I wasn't planning on immediately picking him up, so my stretching got scrapped (I paid for that later). But otherwise, a perfect run.

RR 5K Recap

So, Sunday was a beautiful day. Sunny and brisk, perfect running weather. The baby had slept reasonably well for two nights in a row, so I woke up feeling halfway rested. I decided to act as if I could hit my goal, a sub-30 5k. I ate my oatmeal and drank my coffee, nursed the baby, read a story to the boy, woke The Dude, and walked out of the house in my race clothing and nothing else besides my keys and watch.

I warmed up by slowly jogging in the neighborhood, about 3/4 mile, picking up the pace for a last block. I walked the last couple of blocks to the race. I visited the porta-potties, not because I really needed to but because that's just part of race routine and I didn't want to make any changes to my race routine, not today. I lined up at the 10-mile mark (and found a friend from church there); I thought I might try to find someone at my speed and stick with them for a while.

But no go, once we crossed the start line I was out and moving fast. I didn't even want to go fast right then, I just hate being caught behind people, and this was, as it's billed, a neighborhood 5k. So: lots of kids, lots of walkers, lots of people who have never done a race, kids on scooters, running strollers, dogs, etc. All of which is great, we ran this with a running stroller ourselves last year (though we made sure to start at the very back). But even if I hadn't wanted to run it fast I would have still fought to get out from behind.

Once I felt in the clear I tried to rein in my head at least and evaluate my speed. Was I going to be able to maintain it? And of course I hadn't hit my timer when I crossed the start so I couldn't be sure of my time. I tried to just stay as present as I could: to my breath, to my form, to all the people on the sides cheering their folks on, to the trees above and the sunlight filtering through the leaves.

The first mile came and I checked my watch, mentally adding another 5-10 seconds since I'd been late to start it. 9:50ish. Cool, I thought, if I can keep this pace and maybe surge a little at the end I should hit my goal. I tried to keep steady, not trying to pass anyone but also not letting myself get caught behind anyone else. I was already feeling a little tired and knew that it would be a fight to stay on pace the whole way. I reminded myself of the recent studies that give insight into why our ability to persevere is due to our mind and not our bodies (yes, I'm a geek, I read those studies and then use them to motivate me while running). I was starting to weary and was thankful it was only 5k and not 10. I told myself that if I was on track to get below 30 at the two-mile mark than I would do my best to do so (and if not then I would stop trying and just enjoy the rest of the race).

Then suddenly we were at the halfway point and I was cruising through the middle of the street, staying well away from the water stations and the people stopping at them. And then just a little farther and we were at the two-mile mark and I saw that I'd done the 2nd mile in 9:20. Wow. Okay. Guess I gotta see this through then.

And so I fought myself the rest of the way in. My legs felt heavy. I wanted to stop. I had plenty of air but my legs just. felt. so. heavy. I thought I had to be slowing down but had no idea by how much. I like to be able to push things faster during the last mile of any race I do but I just didn't think that would be possible this time. And yet somehow we were passing by the last blocks faster than I thought. I couldn't sustain a push --- in fact I was barely certain that I could even keep going --- so I settled for mini-surges: running hard for three counts of four, and then letting up again. I just kept doing that as much as I could and then there was the three-mile mark with only 0.1 miles to go and the clock read 30:08 but I knew I'd crossed the start line at about 2:00 so if I could only keep going I was bound to finish in time. I was slowing, I was slowing, but all I had to do then was keep going and so I did, and crossed the line, and then I could stop. And I did.

And walked around to keep my legs warm and loose, and looked for the boys, and ran into another friend from church and waited with him for a while (as he waited for the friend I'd started with). Then that friend arrived and they left, and it started to get crowded so I wasn't even sure I'd be able to see the boys and I got too nervous (and cold) to stay put. I walked through the sponsor tents, got a banana and a granola bar for later, a Clif shot blok and bite of cinnamon roll for right then, and walked back up to the finish line where they found me, Buddy still in his pyjamas and Champ tucked in under multiple blankets, and we all walked home together. And then I made pancakes --- chocolate chip because I ran a race --- and eggs.

My final time: 29:09.

So my splits worked out to about this: 9:40 / 9:20 / 9:15 / 0:54, which means that I managed to keep going faster even though it felt I was going through mud. Good to know.

And I came in 61st out of 194 in my age group, so at the bottom of the first third. This also makes me very happy --- for someone who always thinks of myself as slow, it means a lot to know that while I may be slow compared to where I want to be, I am not, compared to the larger group, slow. (And as I get older and do start slowing down these kinds of comparative times will become more and more important to me.)

And best of all?

I'm ba-a-ack!

Keeping It Short So I Can Keep Going

For the last two weeks I've been sticking to shorter distances and taking them slower as well (and after taking a week's break, thanks to the baby and his nighttime demands). I'm liking the laid-back routine --- I feel I'm beginning to get back some enjoyment to my runs and with that more excitement about what I might do this season. Day by day I find my runs getting smoother and the recovery faster. I forget that in addition to needing to build my heart and lungs and muscles back up, which is relatively easy, I also need to get all that connective stuff back on track, the tendons and ligaments and fascia, and that takes longer.

I just entered my workouts into dailymile.com (you can see them on the right) and can now look over the whole year at once --- when I did that I could see that I had jumped back into multiple runs way too quickly, increasing distance AND speed AND frequency all at once. I was so happy to be able to get out on my own again (once I went back to work and Champ was at daycare) that I just plunged back in without giving my body time to accomodate to the new stresses. I think I also felt that these shouldn't be new stresses since I've been running for years... but of course not at these distances/speeds/frequencies since getting pregnant.

The other thing I'm excited about is returning to SWIMMING! I didn't swim much while pregnant, first because of the smell and then because the awkwardness of getting in and out of a swimsuit, and then I didn't have any good opportunity in the months at home with Champ. But the other day it suddenly occured to me that swimming would be the perfect antidote to all the baby-carrying and nursing I do. (Plus the hunching-over to minimize the current ridiculousness of my breasts, which I know is stupid but I can't help it.) I've been trying to do yoga at home to help with my back, but honestly the minute I step into the house it's all about chores (and baby-carrying and nursing...). But with the boys starting at the same daycare soon I'll have time to go to the pool again and I am positively giddy at the idea of slipping into cool water and str-e-etching out with each stroke. Lovely. Now I just have to go through my swimsuits and see which one actually fits.

Obsessed Again

So, back at work now for a couple of weeks, and Champ is at daycare. Which, because it's all about me, means that I am running enough again to think about training and races and the like. And think about it and think about it and think about it. Ahhhhh...

Make My Day!

Today I like:

Going to a doctor, having her listen to my heart and ask me if I'm a runner --- "You have a runner's heart."

La, La, La!

It's been eight weeks since I ran without ITB pain.
It's been 5 weeks since I worked out in any form (not counting the literal running around and schlepping I've been doing for work). It's also been 5 weeks since I did any yoga.

I am stiff, I am slow, and I am sick (so out of breath), but today I went out and ran 3 miles (with walk breaks) and had no pain.

Hoorah!

So what have I been up to in the last eight weeks? Lots of work, lots of family, some being sick. Lots of sewing and other gift-making. Lots of thinking about how I want to use my time. Lots of reading about goal-setting and personal finance on the one hand, and modern art and quilting on the other.

I've identified some goals for the next year and I'll be writing about them soon, but for now I'm so happy to be back --- on my feet and online.

Happy New Year!

Back With The Big Fish

This was my first day back in the fast lane after a break of two months. I had scaled back my swimming during the most intense marathon training, and kept it low-key during taper and recovery as well. And for that I didn't need the pressure of swimming in the fast lane, worrying about what other swimmers were thinking about me (I know, I know, they aren't), and feeling tempted to swim faster or longer than I should. And I didn't have any concrete plans for returning to the fast lane either, I was just planning to slowly increase my swim time back to an hour or so and not concern myself with how fast I was going.

And then.

And then I showed up at the pool today and saw there were 8 people already in the medium lane, two of whom make me grit my teeth every time I have to share space with them. It was just so going to be a clusterf***, excuse my french.

And in the fast lane? Five. All swimming steadily and easily, passing each other as needed with no drama that I could tell.

So in I went. And spent the first 10 minutes going too fast, worrying that I was getting in the way, looking back too often to make sure I wasn't going to cut someone off at the turn. And then I realized that I was okay, I wasn't getting passed like crazy, everyone seemed to be handling my being there without breaking stride, so to speak. I was pretty revved up by then, though, so I kept going at my faster clip and gradually realized I could keep it up, and hey, maybe I wanted to swim an extra three laps too. You know, just for kicks (ha, ha).

And I got out and feel fine, and have felt fine since then, better than fine, really, I was STOKED... and promptly went home and retooled my winter training plan to include MORE SWIMMING. I want to run my first ultra next year, after all, need to get my cardio up there without hurting myself with too much running. Whatever... it just feels so good to feel tough. Sexy, even.

(It doesn't hurt that there are some beautiful men in the fast lane. Oh, swimmers. Along with soccer and rugby players easily the most beautiful men in the world.)

Now if only my budget allowed for some swim coaching... and a new swimsuit...