A moment of silence, please

My shin splints are back...which means it's time to trade in my old faithful running shoes for a new pair. 

I got these shoes back in August, just before I got into the heavy duty training for Columbus. I've run in many different brands of shoes - Asics, New Balance, Brooks, Nike (not since Jr. High track), etc. and I had never found a pair that I've loved enough to purchase twice. Until these. I had really bad shin splints when I was shopping and the guy at the Running Spot recommended the Asics Gel Kayano 14's. After recovering from the initial sticker shock, I decided my legs were worth the investment and bit the bullet. Best decision ever. These are by far the best, most comfortable running shoes I've run in. They kept me injury free (well, major injury free) through the last two months of my marathon training AND they lasted for more than four months.

Some of the milestones (pun intended) that these shoes survived:

- My first 18, 20, and 22-miler training runs + every other run I've written about to date in this blog.

- The Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon. It rained the entire 13.1 miles, but I had a blast anyway and I beat my Pig time by 30 seconds. :-)

- A really big blister (I know. Gross.) - there used to be blood on the right shoe but it washed off during the Chicago Half...

- The Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon (awesome name). First marathon and probably one of the biggest highlights of 2008 in general for me.

I could go on but I won't. The point is that I love these shoes and never plan on throwing them away because they are big pieces of my running history. (I have one other pair of shoes saved, which are the shoes I wore when I first starting running/racing again three years ago). 

So today, for the first time ever, I walked into the Running Spot, handed them my old shoes and said "I'll take another pair of these, please."

Run, drink, and be merry

Last night was the infamous Running Spot “Holiday Hash Run.” The plan for the evening involved a 6-mile route with stops at 6 (or 7, for the daring) local bars. I’ve enjoyed plenty of alcohol AFTER my workouts but I had never actually drank DURING a workout – until last night.

Adding to the “challenge” of our pub run was the fact that it had snowed all day and it was still snowing/freezing raining when we set out for the first bar. The sidewalks were a mess so we were running in the street, which was kind of bad because the street was full of angry drivers and black ice.

However, despite the weather, the run was fantastic! The group that showed up was super fun and I got to run with some cool new people. The bar-by-bar recap goes something like this (I think)…

Bar 1 – Teller’s – optional (I didn’t stop here)

Bar 2 – RP McMurphy’s OR The Establishment aka the “E”
Since I skipped Teller’s, RP’s was technically my first bar. A relatively large group of runners crammed into what is a relatively small bar, all shoving to get their beer orders in first.

Having done a few pub crawls in the past, I knew I needed to drink shots vs. full beers if I wanted to keep up with everyone (I can’t drink bunches of beer fast). So, what shot goes best with running? Irish car bombs of course! They’re about the healthiest things you can get, in my opinion. Guinness is low carb, the Bailey’s has protein, and Irish whisky is just good for you in general.

Runners are kind of a competitive bunch (duh), so when the guy next to me also ordered a car bomb, it became clear that we should race. I lost, badly, but decided I needed a rematch at the next bar…which brings us to…

Bar 3 – The Oaks
I was one of the first runners to get here so I had already ordered and chugged my shot (I lost. Again.) by the time the place started filling up. Probably good because I managed to break my glass (I have a bad habit of slamming my glass down to signify the finish). I realized at this point that I might have a buzz…

Bar 4 – Habits
Habits is only about 200 yards away from The Oaks, so we sprinted there (great idea in the snow). I lost another car bomb race and noticed that none of us were bothering to turn off our flashing lights anymore. In addition to the regular flashing lights, some people were wearing flashing Christmas lights. I’m sure we were an epileptic’s worst nightmare. (Actually, we were probably a lot of people’s worst nightmare, given that we weren’t so fresh smelling and were getting progressively louder.)

Bar 5 – The Pub
I was a little slow getting to this bar but I have such good friends that by the time I arrived, a car bomb was already waiting for me. This was drink #4, and I feel obligated to mention that I’ve never had more than three car bombs in one night. Also, I didn’t have any dinner…maybe that’s why I kept losing the chug race…We tried to order water but to no avail.

Bar 6 – O’Bryon’s
O’Bryon’s is about a mile from The Pub, which is a long way to run after a few drinks and it was mostly uphill, so I decided to run/walk this part of the route. I don’t remember a lot about this last bar except that I lost the final car bomb race and moved on to Blue Moon. Everyone, myself included, was pretty merry by this point. Thank goodness no one had a camera.

Overall the run was by far the most fun I have had with this group. Alcohol played a factor of course, but it was just awesome to hang out and relax with everyone versus putting ourselves through a masochistic training run like normal. Plus, I got to see my half marathon coach from last Spring as well as the girl who ran with me from mile 14-18 at Columbus. It was great to finally thank her in person for her support!

Sleepyhead...

...aka me this morning (and also the name of a really good song). My Running Spot group still meets at 8:30 am on Saturday mornings (our winter meeting time) but I have been too lazy to get out of bed and join them. I usually run later in the day most Saturdays, but when I woke up at 9 am I decided that I would take today off. However, I then fell back asleep and woke up an hour later, inexplicably grouchy, with the urge to run the Lunken bike path. Normally you can’t pay me to do Lunken (boring!), but whatever. Off I went to run in a circle around an airport.

I’m so glad I did.

For the first few miles, the trail was all mine. The sun was shining and the long, straight stretches of pavement that usually annoy me actually looked…inviting. The grass and bushes that surround the trail were all dead and brown, but when I looked closely, all the bushes were full of bright red berries. And, there were bunches of red cardinals hopping around in the grass looking for breakfast. I’m used to running through high-traffic, yuppie-infested Hyde Park and I was really excited to see a bit of nature this morning. The Costa Rican rain forest it wasn’t, but I’ll take what I can get. :-)

Needless to say I felt much happier after my un-planned 5-miler. Running really IS cheaper than therapy. (Sadly I have a shirt that says that. And I actually wear it.)

Holiday in Lights Run

This past Tuesday was the annual Cincinnati Running Club “Holiday in Lights” Run. I’ve never run with this crew before, so I was looking forward to see how one of their runs went. I met up with some of my training buddies at the Running Spot and we ran through the rain over to Williams Y (route start) together. (These are the same training buddies I could barely keep up with this summer. Guess what? I can still barely keep up with them. My fitness plan of drink more, run less isn’t paying off so well.)

Anywho. We got to the Y and things were a bit…disorganized. About 50 runners were wandering aimlessly, some of them with jingle bells around their necks. Was kind of funny.


The crew, pre-run

The group finally meandered outside and we took off. Except no one really knew where we were going. :-) And the people that are actually in the running club must do a 6:30 minute mile or something because they disappeared pretty quickly. You could hear the sound of their jingle bells for a while, but then that disappeared too.

I hung with the Running Spot group and we managed to figure out the route…sort of. We knew what the “points of interest” were supposed to be so we just ran towards those. The first place was the manger scene in Eden Park, which featured live animals. I don’t often see sheep when I run, so this was actually pretty neat. (Although I did see a woman walking two ponies on one of my runs last weekend. Random.)


Baa

We then ran up to Mt. Adams where we picked up some other Running Spot people pondering which way to go. The next point on the route was Fountain Square, meaning we needed to find a way downtown. We picked the closest street (Monastery) and enjoyed a nice mile or so of downhill on our way to the city. More Christmas (yes I still call it Christmas) lights were on 4th street, but the best ones were at the Square. The skating rink was all lit up, Elvis Christmas carols were playing, and a gaggle of runners was waiting for us by the fountain for a group photo. If that doesn’t put you in the holiday spirit, then you’re a Grinch. :-)

After our photo, the route took us through…Tower Place mall. I’m sure the sight of us running through the revolving doors one by one and trotting through the first floor of the mall was somewhat of a spectacle to the people who were trying to shop. We all looked like drowned rats from running around in the rain (at least it was 55 degrees out).


Wet runners (I'm the geek in a grass-green track jacket, front row)

Our next point was the train display at the CG&E building. My friend and I were so inspired that we busted into a really bad rendition of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. A few of the other runners joined in and sang backup. And a few of them glared at us, ha, ha.

Rather than running back up Monastery Street (the climb is almost vertical – no thank you), we opted for Gilbert Avenue (which is one of the notorious hills in the Pig) thinking it would be an easier hill since it’s gradual. Ha! We ended up adding about a mile extra onto our route thanks to our laziness. And it’s still a heck of a climb, so by the time we hit Eden Park again, I was completely out of steam. Several miles later we finally made it back to the Running Spot. There was a happy hour afterwards but the idea of beer after running Gilbert made me want to yak. I barely had the energy to shower when I got home and then spent the rest of the evening huddled in a blanket on my friend’s floor sipping Gatorade while everyone else drank margaritas. I’m so hardcore.

Final distance? 9.8 miles! No wonder I felt like crap. I haven’t run more than 6 miles in almost a month…

Snow Day!

Yesterday I woke up to find two inches of snow on the ground. This was a bit of a surprise since the forecast predicted “flurries”. And the surprise attack meant we missed out on the usual warnings: OMG-the-white-death-is-coming-stock-up-on-canned-goods. (In Cincinnati, the threat of snow, any amount, really throws our local news teams into a delighted panic.)

However, I actually like the snow and was kind of looking forward to running in it. Winter running is interesting to me in general because it’s always a game as to what I should wear. These are the guidelines I try to follow:

45 degrees: Shorts and a long-sleeved shirt

30-44 degrees: Pants and a turtleneck.

25-29 degrees: Pants, t-shirt, jacket, gloves, headband.

10-24 degrees: Tights, pants, long-sleeved t-shirt, jacket (preferably with built in mittens), gloves, headband.

9 degrees or below: Not sure that I’ve ever run in anything below 9 degrees, but our coach last year for the Flying Pig recommended putting Body Glide on any exposed skin.

I think it’s funny when people ask if I keep running outside during the winter. First of all, Cincinnati does NOT get that cold nor do we get a ton of snow (for the most part). Second, people ski/snowboard in this stuff all the time and no one looks at them like they have three heads. Why is running any different??

I really enjoyed my jaunt through the “white death” yesterday. Was good to get outside and play…maybe next time I’ll make a snow angel in someone’s yard.

Punk in Pittsburgh

I spent Thanksgiving in Pittsburgh with my mom's family, which is always fun; however, there are 14 of us crammed into very tight quarters. It tends to make a person antsy, so obviously I had to go for a run the day after the big feast.

I had checked the weather before I packed and Wunderground said it would be 38 degrees and cloudy. What the forecast failed to mention was that it was also really, really windy and of course I forgot to bring a hat. Normally I wouldn’t need a hat (I usually dress as though it is 20 degrees warmer out than it actually is) but I was a big punk on Friday morning and only did three miles. For some reason my body still thinks three miles is just a warm up, so I was freezing the whole run.

And, the whole time I was running I was thinking that Pittsburgh hills are so much steeper than Cincinnati’s. (the streets all had names like Mt. Hood and Rainier which didn’t help) In reality, Pittsburgh hills are not that much worse. They’re just more straight up and down with small breaks between, while Cincinnati hills are a bit more gradual. I pulled some elevation charts from Map My Run, and the total ascent isn't that different between the two:

My three-mile route in Pittsburgh

My standard four-mile route in Cincy

I’m not even going to say how long it took me to do the three miles, it’s too embarrassing. In my defense, I’m a little tired from two weeks of traveling AND I have a cold.

Putting me to further shame were my cousins, ages 7 and 12. Even though the girls are super well behaved, they have a lot of energy so my aunt kept sending them outside to do hill repeats. I think we have some future track stars on our hands here! It seemed to work and the girls didn’t complain. Note to self if I ever have children…

portland run

Last week I decided to burn some vacation time and went to Portland Oregon with a couple of friends. Running in different cities is one of my favorite things to do, and even though I was completely stiff from a four-hour plane trip and a night on a semi-deflated air mattress, I was excited to go out for a quick jaunt on new turf. We were staying in the Pearl District, which is only a few minutes from a nice path that runs along the river.

Portland is surrounded by mountains but running downtown was comparable to running in Chicago or Columbus - very, very flat. We did a couple of bridges but even those weren't too steep. The path is practically IN the river and there were tons of people out running and walking, wearing just about everything Nike manufactures (Nike headquarters is in nearby Beaverton).

Lots of cyclists were on the path too and they were so NICE. I couldn't believe it. My girlfriends and I were running two deep (sometimes three), which made us hard to get around in some spots and no one yelled at us. No one even said "on your left", they just waited patiently for us to move. I guess having good scenery and readily available microbrews makes people happier? In Cincinnati, you'd get growled at for taking up so much space (it is kind of rude I guess).

In semi-unrelated news, I think I'm going to do the Pig. I was talking with one of my runner friends who lives in Portland (and is also a global design director for Nike) and he pointed out that even though I may not get as good of a finish time in the Pig, the hills will help me build up for a faster Fall race. Plus I have a bunch of friends doing the Pig, including my NYC friend. Yay! Official training starts in January...

Tour de Cincy + free entertainment

After spending all day on my couch yesterday, I was feeling pretty stir crazy this morning and decided I needed a long run. Also, I needed a break from running around Hyde Park. Enough is enough already.

I thought it would be fun to run from my apartment to downtown, through Northern Kentucky, back through downtown, then up Gilbert through Eden Park to O’Bryonville/home. I don’t know why I never did this route during marathon training except that it has a ton of hills and I’m lazy. A good portion of the route also happens to be the Flying Pig course.

What I didn’t realize was that downtown would be crawling with Bengals fans. I’ve been to a Bengals game once in my life and had no idea they were home today (I really, really hate football).

Most of tailgaters were super nice and got out of my way. A few of them yelled “good job” and of course I got the obligatory dumbass comments from a few of them as well:

“You’re going the wrong way”
“Slow down”
And some other stuff I won’t repeat…

The whole mess was amusing and distracting. I was cracking up by the time I got out of downtown.

The rest of the run was relatively uneventful (it's hard to top hundreds of drunk people in orange tiger stripes). Once I got to Eden Park I was pretty exhausted and realized that I’m out of shape these days. Even so, I managed to do 12.8 miles in 1:54, which is only about 4 seconds per mile slower than my half marathon race pace. I can deal with that.

The off season…

Not much to blog about right now. I’m working 10-hour days and am barely squeezing in 15-20 miles each week. Most of my runs are pretty uninteresting. I run 4-6 miles. I run around Hyde Park. I run hills. I wear a flashing light because it’s dark whether I run in the morning or after work. Exciting, right? But, I spent 9.5 months of this year in training and I think my body is benefiting from the relaxed schedule.

Plus it’s nice to have a social life again. I’m really starting to notice some similarities between running and drinking. For instance, both of these things can:

- Cause dehydration

- Induce vomiting

- Make you swear you’re never going to do it again (but then you do it again anyway)

- Make you say dumb things (I’m nonsense after a 20-miler. I’m nonsense after piles of beer. Go figure.)

- Make you forget that you’ve had a really bad day

I could keep going but I won’t. Anyway, I prefer running. ☺

Pics from Columbus

Pre-race dinner with my cheering squad and my running buddy :-)


Me, somewhere between miles 9-11


Post race with Dad

Running without a purpose

Now that the marathon is over, everyone keeps asking me what’s next. You know what? I have no idea. There are so many options - for instance:

- I could run the Otter Creek Trail Marathon in December. I’ve never done a trail race before and my dad has been talking about doing this one. Would be fun to do a race together. Plus it’s in Kentucky, and I like the idea of trying to do a marathon in all 50 states…but am I ready to jump back into training just yet? And do I really want to do a course that loops three times? (Big Ben. Parliament.)

- I could take two months off from marathon training and then join the Running Spot Flying Pig group in January. I live here so I probably should do the full Pig at some point? Ugh, the hills on that course…

- I’ve been eyeing the Paris Marathon on 4/5/09. This would be an expensive one (I think the race alone would be more than $100) but how cool would it be to run in Paris?? The downside is that I would have to start training in December AND I would have to find someone who wants to either do the race with me or come to Paris to watch. I will definitely need some type of moral support. There are only 10,000 spots left…

- I’ve also been thinking about Boston…a race I would never have thought I could ever qualify for…but now I wonder. I’m only 18:25 away from a BQ marathon time. Should I start scoping out other really flat marathon courses and focus on getting my time down? I know I won’t be qualifying on a course like the Pig but maybe if I can find other courses like Columbus?

Regardless of what I end up deciding, I have really enjoyed my week of running without a purpose. Last Tuesday was my first run since the marathon and I went out with my training group. We did an easy five miler (it was freezing! I forgot how much the cold air burns your lungs) then had happy hour, which was fun. Thursday night I did another five miles with my Landor running buddy, who I haven’t run with since July. Our route included several of the Cincy/KY bridges and I was exhausted afterwards. Ha.

Today I got brave and decided to tackle Eden Park/Mt. Adams. I was planning to run for an hour but was feeling so great I ended up adding on an extra 24 minutes.

Yes, my IT bands are still bothering me, however I tend not to notice this as much now that I'm not worrying about staying healthy for the race. Plus it's hard to be worried about anything when you're checking out the view from the top of Celestial Street and there's not a cloud in the sky. All in all it was a gorgeous run AND I managed to crank through nine miles of hills at a 9:15 pace. Dig.

Recovering from the recovery

One of the hardest things about training for the marathon was neglecting my non-running friends. Now that the race is over, everyone wants me to make up for lost time. This is awesome because my week of recovery has involved a lot of free drinks. But I’m finding that recovery is turning out to be more exhausting than the training. :-)

I decided to REALLY take the week off and do nothing physically active (unless bar hopping counts as exercise). I went out five nights in a row. I stayed up until midnight or later. I ate Cocoa Puffs and Skyline Chili. Bleh. Seven days later and my apartment is wrecked, I have no groceries, and I’m too tired to do anything except lay on the couch.

On an unrelated note, I got to experience first hand how BORING it is to spectate a race. A couple of friends did Run Like Hell on Friday night, which is a really fun 5K where everyone dresses up and runs through a cemetary. Since I’m not up to racing again yet, I just watched and held people’s gear bags. Exciting. I have a whole new appreciation for my friends and family who came out and watched the marathon last week.



The ninja, the runaway bride, and me, dressed as a spectator

The Race…

I barely heard the gun/buzzer/whatever go off and about three minutes later I shuffled across the starting line. Highlights/drivel from the race…what I remember, anyway…

Miles 1-2
Damn it’s freezing out here. My legs feel pretty good though and these first three miles went fast. Hey, I’m about 1/12th of the way finished!

Mile 3
Hmm. Both IT bands hurt. But I’m almost caught up to the 4:00 Clif pacer!

Miles 4-6
Well, crap. Both IT bands STILL hurt. Ok, finish this race and you never have to run again. Ever.

Miles 7-8
Ouch. Where is my support team? And the pacer? I have to go to the bathroom…

Mile 8.5
Finally, I’ve caught up to the Clif Bar pacer again.
Oooh look. Rent-a-Johns with no line! I’m so there.

Miles 9-11
My legs feel better! Was it the bathroom break or is the caffeine from my Gu helping? Hey, there’s my dad! And my friend Jule! I am not alone (cue Michael Jackson music)…

Miles 12-13
Who are these j-holes yelling “almost there”? I realize I am surrounded by half marathoners about to finish. I hate everyone.

Mile 14
I think, yes, I’m pretty sure I see the 4:00 Clif pacer in front of me. WAY in front of me.

Miles 14.5-18
I see a Running Spot coach on the sidelines. She’s coming to run with me! She’s talking to me, trying to keep me motivated, but I am barely listening because I am closing in on Catherine, the Clif pacer…

Mile 19
I catch Catherine and notice she is wearing pigtails. One of them has come unbraided. I’m right behind her and I can think of nothing but the lopsided ‘do. Does she know? Should I tell her???

Mile 20
Is this where I’m supposed to hit the Wall?

Mile 21
Catherine is encouraging us, saying that the race is all in our heads now because the pain is going to be awful. My legs are hurting again but they are also starting to go numb. The Wall must be coming any minute now.

I’m ready. Bring. It. On.

Mile 22
Catherine looks at her watch and announces that “a sub four is on the menu for us today”. This is a silly thing to say but I’m inspired. Am I really less than five miles from a sub four?

Mile 23
My stomach hates me. HATES me. My right knee is suddenly threatening to buckle and my sleeves, which I have pushed to my elbows, are annoying me to no end. But I don’t want to waste the energy to push them back down.

Mile 24
Ok, so am I not hitting the Wall? Hello??

Catherine advises the seasoned marathoners to run on ahead if they are feeling good but tells us newbies to hang with her until at least 25.

I realize I have yet to see four of my five friends who drove up from Cincinnati.

Hey, there’s the 4:00 pace coach from the Running Spot. And. I’m passing him.

Mile 25
Finally, I see some of my friends! I find out later that they were holding signs that say “Runners are Good in Bed” and “Show us Your Nip Guards”.

I pass Catherine and I hear her say “that’s what I want to see!”

I feel like a million bucks.

Mile 25.25
Good grief, where is the F’ing finish line?

Mile 25.5
Hey! There’s my dad again! I. Can. Do. This.

I start sprinting.

Miles 26-26.2
I see more friends on the sidelines. Then I see the finish line. It is right there.

I run all out for the last .2 miles and only then do I glance at my watch. It reads 3:58:25.

I see another Running Spot coach and he puts his arm around me to guide me out of the chute. Both legs have locked up and I am babbling nonstop. A photographer sees us and takes our picture. I make a ridiculous face at the camera, in honor of the Photo Awareness Power Point.

Packing, meltdown, and other pre-race delights

After four months of training, whining, and turning down way too many happy hours, I finally got to run the marathon last weekend! The race was in Columbus, which meant I had to pack three bags filled with every piece of running gear I own as well as all the stuff for my pre-race rituals:

- Three water bottles with Orange Gatorade powder. Orange Gatorade is NOT my favorite but I had it before the Flying Pig half and now I refuse to drink anything else before a race. Two bottles are for the day before and the other is for the morning of.

- My canister of oatmeal. I don’t really like this either but it’s what I always eat before a race or long training run. AND, our hotel had a coffee maker, which meant I got to enjoy actual oatmeal versus taking shots of raw oats floating in lukewarm water.

The weekend itself was a blur. Saturday night we had a pre-race meeting with all of our Running Spot coaches. By this point I was a nervous wreck, still debating the 4:00 vs. 4:15 finish time. I cornered the 4:00 coach and had a small (possibly medium sized) meltdown about pacing. He convinced me to start with the Running Spot 4:00 group, running the first 13 miles with people I knew, then doing a gut check at the half point. If I felt good, I could shoot for a 4:00. If not, I could back off. Sounded like a reasonable plan.

The group met again the next morning an hour before race time to take a photo and walk over to the start line together. The starting area was a ZOO, and of course by the time I found the 4:00 zone I had lost my group (amazing, because my coach was wearing a lumberjack flannel shirt and short shorts – how do you lose someone dressed like that??). Augh.

Express train to Weenieville

Tonight was officially my last group run before the marathon. I’ve been training with these people since July (a few since January, for the half Pig), and it’s hard to believe I won’t be seeing them twice a week anymore. Some of these runners have become close friends and some I don’t even know their names. Regardless, we have run together before dawn on Saturday mornings, cheered each other through training milestones, and bitched endlessly about nothing and everything over the hundreds of miles we trekked. So tonight was bittersweet – awesome that we’ve come so far and sad that I might never see some of these guys again.

This was actually my first run with the group in a few weeks, thanks to work, travel, and my own inability to get out of bed on Saturday mornings lately. I was pumped to see everyone and catch up with my running buddy. In fact, I was so caught up in chatting with her that I ran a little bit too fast for what was supposed to be an easy run. I ended up doing a 7:42/mile pace for our 4.3 miler. Oopsies. Oh, and we almost got hit by a delivery truck. But that’s another story. :-)

Everyone in the group was talking about pace for Sunday, but I’m still planning to take it slow. And ever since I decided to throw the 4 hour finish time out the window, I have been SO much more excited about the race, even though I feel somewhat like a punk. We’ll see what happens I guess.

Although, according to the “Photo Awareness” Power Point deck our coach** sent us this afternoon, 90% of people I talk to post-race won’t care about my finish time! Who knew that how you do in the race is not important compared to how you look in the finish PHOTOS. In fact, the SLOWER you run, the better chance you have of:

- Making 26.2 miles look effortless (think of the legacy you'll leave for your children/grandchildren)

- Not looking like a weenie

- Getting dates on Match.com (profiles with pictures get 15 times more attention – unless you’re ugly!)

These are actual tips, I am not making this up. If I were more Internet savvy I would embed a link to this presentation in my blog. The whole thing was lost on me, as I am just not hardcore enough to care, at all, how I look in my race photos. Seriously, if some poor photographer does happen to catch me on marathon course, I'll be the cross-eyed hunchback of Notre Dame with her hat pulled over her face. Save me a seat on the express train to Weenieville. Actually never mind, I might be the driver.


**Please note that my coach is a highly credible marathoner/triathlete/duathlete and has kicked my butt all summer with an amazing, grueling marathon training program. I really, really do respect him but this Power Point was just silly to me.

Consistency is overrated

At least I hope it is. Otherwise I’m up a creek. :-)

Yesterday was supposed to be another MP run (I’m seeing a pattern here…) of 10-14 miles. I set out to do 10, with a four-mile add-on plan in the back of my head in case I got out there and was feeling super magical. Guess what? I was feeling neither super nor magical.

When I got to the top of the first hill, I was wheezing plus both Achilles were killing me. Ha. It was like I had never run before in my life. I’ve heard that I am supposed to feel like crap during the taper, so maybe that’s what it is? Other factors that may have been adding to my discomfort:

- The 85-degree weather. I can’t remember the last time I ran in anything hotter than 75 degrees.

- Fatigue from driving to/from Columbus the night before plus dancing. One of my college pals got married and I stupidly decided to cut a rug (in high heels) at her wedding. Note to self: No more Electric Slide before the race.

- Hills, hills, hills. WHY did I decide to live at the bottom of half-mile incline??

Whatever my problem was yesterday, I only did about 8 miles and averaged a 9:31 pace. And the 9:31 pace was tough. Shouldn’t I be able to do an 8-mile MP run with my eyes closed at this point? How was I able to run an 8:41 the other night? WTF is wrong with me?

I’m thinking of starting with the 10-minute mile pace group at the race. If I feel ok, I’ll move up. If I don’t…I guess I’ll finish with a 4:22?

I got to say it was a good day…

…and I didn’t even have to use my AK. (only funny if you’re an Ice Cube fan)

Anywho. My taper schedule called for a 5-6 mile marathon pace run last night, and since I actually left work on time, I got to run to Eden Park! Hooray for a change of scenery. I have to run through Walnut Hills (sketchy) to get to the park, so this is a route I normally skip when it’s dark out. Too bad because there’s an awesome overlook of the city/Ohio River in mile 2.5.

I decided to live on the edge and not take my splits every mile. Really I just wanted to see how close I could get to marathon pace by instinct alone. Not that close as it turns out. Once I got to the top of the first hill and was feeling good, I decided to push it a little. There have been a bunch of shorter runs this summer where I decided to “push it”, only to come home and find that I averaged like a 9:30 or something. But last night I averaged 8:41/mile! I was so excited because I felt great through the whole run. I know 5.5 miles is a drop in the bucket for next weekend’s race, but it has been a LONG time since I felt so energized during and after a run.

To that end, I don’t know if it’s the taper, the deep tissue massage I had last weekend, or my crazy daily stretching routine, but my IT bands are finally starting to feel better. Hopefully I didn’t jinx myself by writing that. And hopefully it's ok that I ran 30 seconds per mile faster than marathon pace. I suppose there's probably a reason our coach wanted us to do a MP run versus a "go out and see what happens" run. Doh.

Grazing my way through the taper

You know those farm animals that have to be led away from the trough when mealtime is over? I think I’m officially one of them. Four days into the taper and all I can think about is food.

Despite the fact (or maybe because) I’m eating like a goat, I had a solid negative split workout last night. I ended up running the Lunken Bike Trail, which is super flat and was pretty much deserted. Plus it was just about dark by the time I hit my 30-minute turnaround point, so that was plenty of incentive for me to run faster. There are no lights on the bike trail and there are some interesting characters that appear out of the woods now and then, hence it only took me 26:44 minutes to run back to the car. Probably good that I had something to motivate me because my legs were a little sluggish.

Overall it was a good workout, but after a summer of Tuesday nights spent doing 8-mile hill runs in the heat, grueling road intervals, etc., I walked away from last night thinking “that was it?” Normally Tuesday night workouts leave me wanting to toss my cookies or at the very least, falling asleep in the shower. However, last night I had enough energy to make dinner (and actually eat it) when I got home.

It just seems messed up that I am supposed to be lazy (lazy meaning 20-25 mile weeks) right before the marathon. Feels like I should be cramming in as much running as possible, kind of like staying up all night to study before a big test. I know that's NOT what I'm supposed to do, so I'm now grappling with a drop in training intensity coupled with the urge to consume an entire carton of ice cream.

The best laid plans…

I’ve always had a bi-polar relationship with running, but I think it might be getting out of control. Literally every other run I’m back and forth between “I love running!” and “I hate this sport!” This Saturday’s workout was no exception.

The running group was doing 18-20 miles, which I’d been advised not to do thanks to my stupid IT bands, so I knew I probably should go it alone. I opted to run the 8-mile path at Miami Whitewater Forest and planned to do the loop twice. I’ve never done it before so at least it would be interesting the first time around.

The plan was to run one mile warm-up, seven miles at marathon pace (9:09), four miles at about an 8:20 pace, then marathon pace for the last four miles. Also, I took my iPod with me for only the second time this training season and I actually used it.

The run started out great and I was averaging a few seconds below marathon pace. However, around mile 6.5 my GI system decided it didn’t want to play nice with me. I’d like to blame this on the Leinenkugels I was drinking Friday night but honestly, I think my body is just revolting against all this training.

Adding insult to injury, my legs completely locked up when I pit stopped at mile 8. The IT bands had been bugging me (although not as bad as they had been) throughout the run, and when I went to get back on the trail I was limping.

I could have pushed through and gone out for the second loop, but mentally I just couldn’t do it to myself. I always like to think I’m tough but I feel like I’ve had SO many bad runs lately, the idea of pushing my barely-bendable legs through another eight miles made me want to cry.

So I quit. If I’m going to cry through any run, it’s going to be the marathon, not a training run. I just hope that I have a solid enough base behind me that I didn’t totally F myself by skipping the last long run…

Bad Day = Good Run?

I really, really didn’t want to run tonight. I was in a terrible mood thanks to a bad day at work, a lack of sleep, and the fact that most of my colleagues were headed to our favorite dive bar for some marathon drinking (and I couldn’t go with them). But instead of joining my pals for a beer, I opted for a progressive pace run. I’m just too far behind on mileage this week.

I planned to start my first mile out slow – easy to do since I live at the bottom of a long hill. I normally average a 10:30-11 minute pace on this particular stretch, so when I looked at my split, I was excited to see a 9:39.

The next mile had a small downhill plus some flat spots, which led to an 8:04 for the split. Doh. How can I still be this bad at pacing myself?

Mile three was a gradual climb and I was able to slow it down to an 8:58 pace. (I knew I shouldn't/couldn't keep running faster than an 8:04 for another four miles.) Miles four and five I was able to crank out an 8:31 and another 8:04 respectively. (I was chasing another runner for a while, probably helped me on the hills).

Mile six. This is where I get to run DOWN the long, steep hill back to my apartment and is usually the best part of the run. However, running downhill aggravates my temperamental IT bands so I had to focus on taking shorter strides, leaving me with an 8:05 for the last mile.

Not sure that what I did qualifies as a progressive pace workout? I was in a great mood by the time I finished and I was quicker than I had hoped for, so I don’t really care if I messed up any potential mathematical calculations I was probably supposed to follow. And…this is why I’m a mid-pack runner. Oh well, cheers to that. :-)

Bea Arthur and a negative split run

I spent the last 20 hours in sunny Georgia for business. This trip fell at the end of a three-day sabbatical from running, so I decided to try and get a few miles in this morning before my workday began. Due to a lengthy battle with the snooze button, I knew it would have to be a quick workout if I wanted to make the 9 am client meeting.

St. Simons Island is actually a great place to run - totally flat with bike/run paths everywhere. As an added bonus, I wound up with the Golden Girls theme song in my head since the houses down there are that same architecture style and there is more wicker per square mile than you could ever hope to imagine.

Anywho, I’ve been reading that speed work is really important in this part of the marathon training (less than three weeks to go!) and I thought that a negative split workout would be a good way to get the most out of my short run. There was just enough breeze to mask the humidity, everything smelled like wet pine trees, and I had the road to myself. It was one of those awesome mornings when I honestly couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing AND I accomplished my negative split goal.

Now, if I could just get my IT bands on board with this whole running thing.

I'm bound and determined to show these unruly bits of connective tissue who is boss, but what hurts the most is right around my left glute, which I can’t seem to get with the roller OR the Stick. I think I might have to go get a massage. There are worse things in life. :-)

Just in case

via videosift.com

Hmm. These might come in handy for the marathon.

Playing Hooky

I skipped the group run today and slept in until 10 am. :-) Now that the heat/humidity have settled down, there really is no reason for me to start a 14 mile run at 7 am (which requires me getting up at 5:45 am so I can eat breakfast, stretch, etc.) So I didn’t. Also, the group was running from Crossroads in Oakley and the route was an out and back going through Norwood and Hyde Park. I hate out and backs and I am tired of running in Norwood/Hyde Park, so I decided to plan my own route. Guess where I ended up running? Ha.

Let me just say that planning a 14-15 mile run that doesn’t involve a million crosswalks or excursions through the ghetto isn’t a small feat. Even though I ended up running a similar route to the group’s, I was glad that I was able to plan a loop vs. an out and back. (My route also involved an extra 104 feet of hill climbing. I was very proud of this for some reason).

According to the coach’s email, we were supposed to run 3 miles easy, 9-10 at marathon pace, and the last two miles easy. For the first three miles I did a solid 9:57 average. My nine “marathon pace miles” were all over the board, ranging from a 10 to an 8:39 (mile 10! boom.). And the last 2.6 miles…let’s don’t even talk about the last 2.6 miles. My legs were dead through most of the run and both IT bands were a nuisance, so by mile 12 I just wanted to FINISH. Not good. If someone would have offered me a ride at that point I would have taken it (Kidding. Mostly.)

I should add that my splits were slightly less than exact because some of them occurred in between streets/landmarks and I wasn’t always hitting the button at the right time.

My average pace for the total 14.6 miles was about a 9:38, which is about 30 seconds off of my goal pace for a four hour marathon (9:09) and 20 seconds off of my McMillan predicted finish time (4:03/9:19 pace). The McMillan finish time is based off a calculator that has been deadly accurate for me in other races this summer. Sigh. Really, will those three minutes make or break me? Probably not but I’ve had the 4 hour goal stuck in my head since May and I’m unreasonably stubborn.

And let's face it - right now my biggest battle is not pace but attitude. I need to get better at fighting through the “I want to lay down in someone’s front yard” feeling that keeps coming up in the last few miles of every run lately, whether it’s a 20 miler or a 5 miler.

Better...

After a one-day rest from Tuesday’s not-so-fun run, I was planning to do an easy 5 miler tonight around the Lunken airport bike path. This is normally my least favorite place to run (BORING!); however, it’s flat and my IT band has been borderline obnoxious all week, especially on hills, so I was looking forward to a nice recovery run. Unfortunately I got home too late to do the bike path, so I got stuck running around Hyde Park…for the third time this week. To preserve my sanity I tried a new route that ended up involving hills. There’s just no way around them.

But I had a great run! I didn’t really know where I was going for part of it (I had the general idea) and my IT band didn’t start bugging me until mile 3! Major improvement over Tuesday. I did wear my IT band strap although honestly, I’m not sure how much good it did because it only sits where it is supposed to for maybe 1/10 of a mile. Really those things should come with garter belts or something to hold them up. I also discovered that shortening my strides and doing a higher kick helps A LOT with keeping the pain manageable.

All in all I felt pretty good. I had forgotten how much fun it is to come home and jump onto Gmaps to see how far I went. Speedy Gonzalez I’m not but it’s good to see progress after dragging @ss earlier this week.

Doh

Wow. Tonight was bad.

Our coach originally had 8 miles of hill repeats on the training schedule, but let us off the hook since we ran 22 last Saturday. He changed the plan to do a 5, 6, or 8 mile run around Hyde Park, which isn’t exactly flat but it beats running up and down the same hill for an hour. Sounded like it would be an easy night.

I was running with my usual buddy and we took off way too fast of course (she’s faster than me anyway). But the first three miles of the route were through a new neighborhood and involved about 10 different turns (really), so I wanted to stay with the group. By mile 2 I felt like I was dying. I passed someone with a Garmin who said we were only doing an 8:46, which should be a manageable pace for such a short run. Nope. My legs were completely heavy and the tendons around my knee felt like old rubber bands. Awesome.

I gave up trying to keep pace with my friend (or anyone else) and tried to focus on just finishing. Around mile 3.5 I saw people making the turn for the 5-mile loop and I wanted so badly to follow them but decided to stick it out. By mile 4.5 I was done. My IT band was killing me to the point where I slowed down to a 10 or 11-minute mile pace. Ugh. I totally punked out and decided to just do 6 miles. I felt like a giant loser and felt even worse when the elite runners were passing me in mile 6 – after they had just done 8.

I think I’m going to take a week off from running with the group. Normally I like to push my competitive side, but with the marathon four weeks out, I need a rest from the head games that come from always trying to keep up with the pack.

I think I can, I think I can

Writing this a few days late but the dreaded 22 miler is worth noting. I saw it on the schedule all month and after the 20 miler we did two weeks ago, I would have been more enthused to spend three hours solving complex calculus equations. But I digress.

The route took us from Newport through Covington, over to Cincy, then out Eastern Avenue, a loop around Lunken Bike Path, BACK downtown via Eastern, then a loop around the stadiums and back over the bridge. This route has its plusses and minuses:

- It’s flat, mostly (yay! definitely a plus for a 22 miler)
- We run through some cool parks on Eastern (plus)
- It’s kind of boring and you can see downtown for the entire 5 miles you spend running back via Eastern and the buildings always looks like they are so far away (boo. minus.)
- The bridge at the end of the run is a long and steady incline (sadist coaches. minus!)

I wanted to take this run slow since I destroyed myself running too fast too early in the 20 miler. So I started out with the 10-minute mile group. Really, this is around the pace I’m supposed to be running for long runs according to McMillan. I ran the first few miles slow and was feeling great, so when my running buddy sped up I sped up with her. In fact, I kept up with her until mile 15 (I lost her in mile 5 of our last 20 miler)! We were totally pushing each other around the bike path and she helped me keep my pace back out to Eastern.

Even though I lost her at the 15 mile marker, I held a pretty steady pace by myself AND I wasn’t nearly as surly by the time I got back downtown. (last time I was hating life by mile 19). We did have the option to skip the stadium loop and just do 20, which I seriously considered. I looked at my watch and saw I was WAY ahead of my previous 20-miler time and still feeling ok, so I decided to keep going.

But then I was full-on grouchy by mile 20.5, yelling at myself (in my head) “I’m not having fun at all! why am I doing this??”. A minute later I remembered I was running 22 miles for the first time and that it probably isn’t supposed to be fun. People tell me all the time that I’m crazy for doing a marathon, and I probably SOUND crazy for openly admitting that I talk to myself, but really, don’t judge me unless you yourself have run for three plus hours.

Crazy or sane, I finished the 22 and had an average pace of 9:03. Awesome! I did a little victory dance around my living room before hopping into an ice bath. I’ve graduated to two bags now. A nice end to my first 49 mile week.