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.