Week 11 - Toledo and Daveshit

Ok - so this week started with a whimper and went out with a B-A-N-G, daveshit-style. Yes, don't worry (especially if you are here from FB) - I shall get to 'daveshit'. Give me a minute.

First of all, my training for now 2 weeks in a row have been less than stellar, as this week AGAIN I only ran 2x (instead of the 4x I am supposed to be doing, so says my training book - but WHO CARES - this is week 11 and I haven't followed my training schedule ONCE. EFF IT). But I haven't skipped one long run so that is the most important thing. This week - a 9-er in Toh-leeeeeeeeeeeeee-d'OH! Thank god I don't have to run it alone!!! Because Poplaski and I drove 3 hr so I could run it with K8 - who is training for the FULL DAMN THING here in GR. Now, one thing you have to understand about K8 - she's FUCKING CRAZY. Hard core to the max. This is the chick that got me hooked on mountain biking - she is killer at it (no exaggeration). And to fill her time she's decided, eh, what the hell, train for a marathon...no biggie. Yeah. crazy. crazy good though. She might kill me, but for more insight into the craziness of K8, go here:

http://schminke-kate.blogspot.com

Feeling me now? I bet you are.

Onward.

Monday - OFF. again. love starting the week off. but I had a haircut (desperately needed) after work, and there was just no time to run. Meh. I'm over it.

Tuesday - interval training day. no fartlek, but I decided to run a 5k (re: 3.1 mi) as hard as I could to see how fast I could do it. The result: 27:45. About a minute faster than the last 5k I ran (back in March). Not bad you say? Well, sure. Except if felt like SHIT the entire time. good stuff (sarcasm people!).

Wed - cross train - yep, mountain biking with Leanne. All 8 mi at the game area. And the bestest part? I conquered the things I didn't/couldn't do last week (see Week 10 entry for a reminder). The rooty hill on 3? Crushed it. The big drop into a hard right into a bridge with no side rails over a creek? DID IT (except I screamed like a little girl the whole way down and over - Leanne thought I went into the creek - too funny!). Yee-fucking-haw.

Thurs - off

Fri - off, only cuz I know what's in store for me Sat

Sat - pick up a still-drunk Poplaski (who had her 20yr hs reunion the night before - ouch!) at 10am and head out to To-leeeee-d'OH! Run 9 miles at sub-10min/mi pace, which is awesome and bad all at the same time: awesome in that we ran so much at such a great clip; bad in that we are SUPPOSED to run it around 2-3 min/mi SLOWER than our normal clip, meaning we should run it around 11-12min/mi pace. Well, I for one canNOT run that slow, sorry, and besides, all I can think about is FINISHING - makes me run faster than I ought to. so be it. the run itself felt great and the trail we ran on ROCKED!! Barely any pavement - mostly thru meadows, on trails, in the woods (the deer made for nice distractions). yep, I could get used to that. too bad it is 3 hr away from GR.

and props to Poplaski who rebounded and was our water wench on a bike. except for constantly yelling at us about our pace (she had a mi/hr monitor on the bike and we told her we wanted to be around 6 [re: 10 min/mi]). girlfriend, you can be my trainer anyday.

so, daveshit. yeah, life is full of daveshit. if you perused K8's blog you now know all about daveshit. so I don't necessarily want to re-explain it (meaning: skip to the end if you already know about daveshit; if not, continue reading). K8 has a cousin, you guessed it, named DAVE. apparently he's crazy (gee, must run in the family). apparently he took off without telling anyone to live beneath aztec ruins for 6 months, and while everyone thought he was dead - he, ask K8 put it, "was doing peyote, just hanging out...you know...doing dave shit."

and there you have it. "daveshit" was born. why poplaski and I thought it was so funny I'll never know. but after that moment, EVERYTHING was daveshit. and I swore to her that when we woke up in the morning it wouldn't be funny anymore.

WRONG. it is still funny. I don't know why. DEAL WITH IT. it's all daveshit anyway

(HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Sun - drive home. RE: OFF

final tally: 3 + 9 mi running + 8 mi biking = YES - 20 MILES TOTAL. pretty damn good. luckily, next week or 2 are drop off weeks for the long runs, while making the shorter runs a tad longer. Then it's the 10 miler bridge run. then 4 weeks to go. HOLY CRAP - where is the time going???? and me with all this daveshit to do.

Week 10 - The week of AMAZING feats!

We are precicely at the halfway point for my training. And this week was a RECORD-SETTING week to the extreme!! Three records set this week - very exciting indeed. And, amazingly enough, I didn't even do that much running-wise (only ran 2x this week as opposed to the 4x last week). And yet, I am quite pleased with what I did do, so I'm ok with not running as many days as I should have.

Behold: THE WEEK OF AMAZING FEATS!!!

Monday - off. HAH. not so amazing. But hey, after a great weekend beforehand (running 6 mi Sat followed by 2.5 mi on Sun) I deserve a day off. I like really liking starting the week with a day off. Sets the tone. NICE.

Tuesday - AMAZING FEAT #1: mountain biked at the Game Area with Leanne. YES FOLKS - we did the full freaking thing - all 8 mi. In about AN HOUR!! Considering last time we did the whole thing it took about 2 hr, I'd have to say this is an AMAZING FEAT!! And, I only stopped and got off the bike TWICE (in the 3rd part)! That's only because I couldn't remember the trail (it was a few months ago since I did parts 3 and 4) so I couldn't anticipate ANYTHING. First of all, the third part was really sandy and muddy (lots of rain on Monday - in hindsight, probably shouldn't have ridden the trail at all). Then, there was this steep, gravely (re: slippery) hill to climb, which we did thank you very much. However, at the top of the hill, there was a rutted out drop that went down the other side with a right turn. Not too scary (although I didn't know it was there until I got to the top of the hill); but at the bottom was another sharp right turn...which led to a bridge, without side rails, that went over a small creek. Doesn't sound too bad you say? Well, it probably isn't. BUT. It looked freaking scary at the time. And honestly, all I could think about was that I probably wouldn't make the right turn coming out of the drop and would go straight over the side of the bridge right into the fucking creek about 3 ft below it. Really NOT interested in doing that.

So we walked that part. BITE ME.

Then, there was another really rooty uphill (again, no anticipation - I gotta learn this part better!!). Made it up halfway when I saw a huge root just jutting out in the middle. I meant to go around it to the right. Really I did. Except I couldn't do it in time. Hit the jutted out part square on. And stopped dead in my tracks as the front tire popped straight up, and dumped me on my side. I have a beautiful bruise on the side of my left knee as a lovely reminder. Damn root.

Otherwise we rolled through the trail quite nicely. Oh, and one more moment I MUST share. My "chest-thumping moment" - ok sue me, I have NEVER had one before while mountain biking so let me just have this ok?? I climbed Ginormo-Hill in the second part and cruised around to the straightaway at the top to take a moment to catch my breath, drink some water, and wait for Leanne. As I did, I watched as two young guys, all decked out in serious biking gear (you know who I mean - in their fancy racing shirts with logos on them, etc) PUSHING their bikes up Ginormo-Hill.

THUMP FUCKING THUMP.

And yes, they peered at me quite sheepishly as they pushed their bikes on by. I just smiled and said, "how's it going (smirk smirk)?"

Have I mentioned how much I now LOVE mountain biking??? Yep. love it. And to think it only took 3 years. Perseverence. Or insanity. Not sure.


Wednesday - AMAZING FEAT #2: So I get an email from my dad, from the NYT Health section. All about the importance of interval workouts particularly for marathon training, particularly for beginning runners. I have been praising the almighty Fartlek for ages, a classic interval training run. This article is SPOT ON. Here's the link:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/how-slow-runners-can-increase-their-pace/?emc=eta1

So, because my dad emailed me this link, and I hadn't run a fartlek in some time, I decided, LET'S DO IT.

So I did. I jogged at about 10min/mi pace 1.25 mi. Then I ran a mile Fartlek like this: 30 sec at not quite top speed, 30 sec back to jog pace (like I jogged my warmup). I did this for a mile. Then I jogged at probably 11 min/mi pace another 0.8 mi.

The AMAZING FEAT? My fartlek mile was a 6-FUCKING-30 mile. NO JOKE. HOLY CRAP. Kate had told me that it would be possible (I didn't believe her) since she's done the same thing on the treadmill running on/off at 1min intervals. YOU WERE RIGHT HOLY CRAP.

AWESOME.


Thursday - off

Friday - off, only because I was planning on running 8 mi on Sat and thought my legs could use the extra rest, and because my dad told me I am training too much and needed to give my legs/body a break between runs. Oh, and I was tired as hell (still) from the fartlek on Wed.

Saturday - AMAZING FEAT #3: I RAN 8 FREAKING MILES. WITHOUT STOPPING. AT 10MIN/MI PACE. Seriously, up until this point I had never run more than a 10K before. EVER!!! This is amazing in numerous ways: I never thought I could run this much at once without collapsing to the pavement crying and begging for someone to drive up and carry me home; I actually felt pretty good the entire time (except for my knees which were a bit sore for the last 2 mi and horribly sore the rest of the day); I now believe I can run a half marathon.

HOLY SHIT.

Sunday - off. thank goodness. however, my legs feel TOTALLY FINE. My back on the other hand? NFG. What are you gonna do?? Advil. Lots of it.


Final tally: 3 + 8 mi running + 8 mi biking = 19 mi total.

9 weeks to go. Next week: training trip to Toe-leeeeeeee-d'Oh! And I think it's about time I shared with all the wonderous inner workings of my partner-in-crime: K8. Yep, it's long overdue.

Week 9 - I have my work cut out for me.

Two months of training down, roughly 2 and a half months to go. I am happy to report that for the first time in this whole training debacle, I ran 4x this week (which, according to the training schedule I am following, I am supposed to do...EVERY WEEK). Meh. Better late than never!

Meanwhile, one of the training books I read talked about needing an ironclad motivation for running the marathon (or half in my case, although I imagine it is not such a serious thing as running the full thing - KATE, ahem!). My initial motivation was to be able to say I did it, I ran a half marathon. Well, that's not entirely ironclad - I can easily talk myself out of that one (I am still young(ish) - plenty of time to do it! I can just do it next year!). However, my real motivation turned into running it with my dad, considering he said he'd do it with me, and since then has bought the plane tix and everything to fly out here (from AZ). Well, no talking myself out of it now! Except...here's the email I got from him on Sunday:

Registered today! Ran half marathon in Flagstaff yesterday. Beautiful clear warm day. Started at 6900 feet and first 8 miles went to 7600 feet , then back to finish. Time was 2:20. Only have sore toes today. Start training tomorrow for GR.
Love, Dad

OK - does anyone have any suggestions for how I can possibly get out of this thing now??? That is SUPER impressive - a killer time considering the elevation and the climbing almost 1000 ft over 2/3 of the race. HOLY CRAP. I was estimating I'd run the half somewhere in between 2:15 and 2:30, hopefully. At sea level. On flat asphalt.

Way to go Dad! See you at the finish line...

In other news, ever since I'd started ramping up my mileage, I feel absolutely shitty. Worn down, legs having a hard time recovering from runs, even wussed out of doing the full trail at mtn biking because I was just plain tired. I was trying to figure out what the problem was, and I think I understand it now. Here's a snipit from the active.com newsletter I received this week:

Daily workouts accompanied by a low-carb diet cause a day-to-day decrease in muscle glycogen. Chronically low muscle glycogen stores can trip up even the fittest runner, especially those training every day. Heavy or sore legs, nagging injuries, feeling rundown or running out of gas during long runs can all indicate insufficient recovery after a run.

Understand that I am not low-carbing it by any means. However, I think I might not be eating properly in general. In other words, not eating enough of the right types of foods at the right times (this is freaking complicated!!!). Furthermore,

Activities such as socializing, stretching or showering often delay when runners eat after a workout. And runners trying to lose weight while ramping up their mileage or intensity often skip post-run or race meals. But eating after a workout should be one of your top priorities.During the so-called "carbohydrate window," the first 60 minutes following exercise, muscles convert carbohydrate-rich foods and beverages into glycogen up to three times faster than at other times. (The most effective period is 15 to 30 minutes after exercise.) Make immediate post-workout meals a part of your routine to avoid fatigue throughout the day and injuries during runs.

Now that I think about it, I usually stretch, shower, and eat after a run: in that order. Meaning I don’t eat until an hour or so after running. Maybe I should stretch and THEN eat before showering!

And finally, one surprising, but quite lovely little tidbit:

Chocolate milk (with its 1:4 protein/carb ratio) continues to earn top status as the perfect post-exercise recovery drink, according to a study in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism.

yep, I am so ALL OVER IT!

And now, on with the recap:

Monday: ran a nice and gentle 5k with Leanne in Hville. It was good for both of us - even with her whining and worrying beforehand that she'd be "too slow" and "hold me back". Frankly, I needed an easy run. My legs were still sore and stiff from the long run on Sat from Week 8 (here is where I started feeling lousy, and it lasted much of the week), and I was feeling run down, not sleeping well (my legs felt achy and I just couldn't get them to relax). It was good having her pace me at 10-11min/mi pace. And I appreciated the company since I was feeling quite unmotivated to run in the first place (re: feeling like crap). So THANKS LEANNE!!!

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: mountain biking with Leanne. Did the first two parts in 26 min, including stopping at the top of Ginormo hill for a much needed break. This is the second time in a row that I got a huge cramp in my side after climbing that hill. I think the problem is I am so focused to get up the fucker, I forget to BREATHE. So once I get to the top I am all gasping for air - hence the cramp. Need to work on that. And again, feeling lousy. We should have gone on to do parts 3 and 4, but I wussed out, citing exhaustion. But WTF? As Bill put it, "you drive all the way out there, ride for less than half an hour, put your bike away and drive home??? that's dumb."

he's right. DUMB. Pissed off at myself for not doing all 4 parts. Not gonna let that happen again.

Promise.

Thursday: ran 4 mi. nothing of note today except I was still feeling worn down. Gotta push thru.

Friday: off

Saturday: long run day. was supposed to be 7 mi. only did 6. But before you criticize me (re: K8) - listen - storms were a plenty on Sat; it had rained all night. But according to my training books, you can't use the weather as an excuse not to run, especially on long run days. Those are "no skip" days. no matter what (except for bleeding profusely or some other such emergency I would hope, althought not sure about that). 7 am there appeared to be a break in the storm front, so I hightailed it out on the road. a mile in, it DOWNPOURED. then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped (after about 10 min). I kept going (and no, I didn't stop while it was raining). 5 min later Bill and the kids pull up to rescue me - I waved them on; after all, it had stopped raining and I was only 20 min into the run.

The middle 3 mi were fine, although my legs were tight from being cold and wet. So I just stayed slow and steady. The last 2 mi though - it started lightning and thunderstorming, and I thought to myself, "self (MEG!), NOW would be a good time for Bill to pick you up!! Better move your ass!!!"

So I did. Practically sprinted the last mile back to the house. By then it was really lightning out. And just as I turned into my development, the sky opened up and it POURED. It could have been worse. I could have been on mile 2 when that happened. I didn't mind the rain so much, it was the getting killed by a massive electical current that I was mostly worried about. Alls well that ends well. Except I had to shorten the run and didn't get in the 7th mi. I still say, SUCCESS!

And to finish things off, once I got in the house, Bill handed me a tall glass of? You got it: CHOCOLATE MILK! YAY!!! And I changed out of my wet clothes and ate breakfast within 15 min of finishing the run. Let's see if these changes help with my energy level and recovery...

Sunday: ran a short recovery run in Niles in the heat and humidity. Why you might ask? Well I had good motivation. My inlaw's pool, which I jumped into with all my clothes on (sans the sneaks and IPod luckily) after the run. NICE!


All in all a good training week. And my legs didn't feel so tired over the weekend, and I feel somewhat better energy-wise. Hopefully paying more attention to what I eat, and when I eat it will solve these problems.

Final tally: 3 + 4 + 6 + 2.5 mi running + 4 mi biking = 19.5 mi total (just a half mi shy of my goal - NOT BAD!!!).

Week 8 - A new run, a new adventure!

So this week I was determined to do a GOOD JOB with regards to the training schedule, and amazingly enough, it wasn't too shabby. Granted, real life got in the way again, but in a GOOD way for once (see Wednesday's blurb) so I am not complaining (I know - are pigs flying? has hell frozen over??).

Meanwhile, this week starts the "long run-ramp up" as I like to refer to it. Starting this week's Saturday - and for the next 5-6 weeks or so - every long run goes up by a mile. So last week I ran a 5-er. This Sat was time for a 6-er, which I hadn't done since the last 10K I ran. No biggie I guess, as I know I can run 6 miles, but there are two inherent problems with this ramp-up:

1. I have never run MORE than 6 miles at any given time, and I really am not on board with the run 10 min (or 1 mi) and walk one min type of training that so many runners abide by. Too many years of having "DON'T WALK!!!" shoved down my throat by track coaches I guess.

2. The time committment that comes with longer and longer runs. If I thought it was hard to get away just to run for 30 min - how the hell am I going to have the time to run a hour, all the way up to 90 min, 100min or however long it takes for me to do 9/10 milers???? I suppose I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, but I can't help but already start stressing over it.

Now, back to thta 6-er I was to do on Sat. Considering I'd never done one around town (re: Hville) before I decided to map out a new route and see what happens. Check out Saturdays' blurb to find out...


Oh, and BTW, as a side note: I finally committed to run the half. HAHAHAHA!! No, really. I hadn't registered yet. Until this week. HAH! There it is - I've committed. Or, is it, I should BE committed for committing to run a half-freaking-marathon. Not sure.


here's the week's recap:

Monday: ran 3 miles. hip felt ok. I have the beginnings of turf toe (really just inflammation/tendinitis of the big toe) in my left foot. Advil, ice, and ignorance. whatever works.

Tuesday: OFF.

Wednesday: was planning to mountain bike with Leanne. Instead, well, we all decided to hit Founders. Why you might ask? Turns out my paper got accepted...the one I'd been working on for what felt like an ETERNITY but was more like 6 months or so. YAY! So, yeah, scratch training - on to drinking and celebrating!!! Me likey.

Thursday: Ran 4 miles, because my training book told me too (good girl!). Actually felt pretty good, and I am realizing that no matter what distance I run, I pretty much run at the same pace - hovering around the 9:30min/mi mark. That's ok with me. I'll take it.

Friday: NOW we mountain bike. It was ok - both Leanne and I were tired. And WTF - where did all the sand come from??? Especially the large load that seems to have gotten dumped IN THE MIDDLE OF GINORMO-HILL!!! NO FAIR!!! Didn't make it up - at least not in one fell swoop. Got to the sand in the middle and spun out and skidded into a tree. PISSED ME OFF. So I got back on the bike, pushed past the sand, and, from a standstill, biked the rest of the way up that EFFER. YEAH!!!

Saturday: 6-er day. I map my route, wait for the rain to stop and head out around 6pm. So this run, I've never run this route before, but I figure, what the heck. Yeah, well, it takes me into a trailer park, where I promptly get LOST. Nice. (BTW- the name of this "park"??? Presidential Estates; no joke, with street names like Nixon, Eisenhower, Truman, and Cleveland. Yep - classy. Trailer park owners, if nothing else, sure have a sense of humor). OK, so I am 30 min into the run and lost in this trailer park. I know eventually it leads to a main road that I'm supposed to meet up with on my route so I keep going. Except...as I am running (with my headphones cranked so I can't hear a damn thing) I see a little girl, I'm guessing maybe 6 years old, walking towards me with about 4 other little girls following her. This girl is dragging the smallest kiddie bike I've ever seen and she's clearly talking to me. So I take an ear bud out and she asks me if I can help fix the chain on her bike.

Yeah, I admit it, 30 min into a run that was feeling pretty damn good, my first instinct was to say "NO" and keep running. Don't worry - I didn't. And yes I did fix the chain on her bike. Unfortunately it was the RUSTIEST chain EVAH and took me a full 10 min of kneeling on gravel in the middle of the road with a host of random trailer park residents eyeing me up (and no one offering to help mind you) to fix the damn thing. By the time I fixed it and stood up, I almost fell over my muscles had tighened up so bad. Great. Well, onward I go!

But lemme tell you - it DID NOT feel good. not good at all. I managed to make it back home in another 30 min or so and ran 6.3mi total, but geez. Between the tighened up legs, and the FREAKING WIND it was a crap second half of a run. The wind, holy hell, the wind. Heading straight north, which meant that for the last 2 mi of my run (which was due south) I was running straight into it. And I tell you, this running nonsense has made me a little wacky, as I actually said to myself, OUT LOUD, to the wind: "BRING IT! I AM NOT STOPPING! SO BRING IT!" I am clearly losing my mind.

But I didn't stop. SO THERE! And the hip didn't bother me at all! Not during and not after. HALLELUYAH.

however, not sure I'm going to run this particular route again. judge me. go ahead. I DON'T CARE.


Sunday: took it off as my legs were really freaking worn out from the Sat run - stop - run.


so the final score: 3 mi + 4 mi +6 mi running + 4 mi biking = 17 mi total. Next week I am shooting for 20 mi total...