Running Shorts

So it's a little bit mental. And physical. OMG.

As best I can tell, I was supposed to run today's 10 mile long run 60-75 seconds above my 10K pace.  That means I was supposed to run today at about 8 min/miles or 8:15 miles.  Huh?  I've only once eecked out a sub 8 min/mile 10 mile race.  And my legs are way trashed from the week of training!  Secondly, for the first time ever I felt like i needed one of those Garmin thingies.  I DON'T WANT ONE but I feel like it would be really helpful.  Since I don't have one I took a little detour to Charlestown HS during my run to do a few laps on the track and check out my pace.  I did three laps at 2 min/lap exactly.  It wasn't effortless.  But I did it.  And then things decompensated.

I was so hungry when I woke up that I ate a full breakfast so I had to wait a couple of hours to run so it was hot by the time I headed out at 10 AM.  My route got screwed up b/c of some 4th of July festivity detours but no big.  My legs were just so heavy and there is no way I maintained an 8 min/mile pace.  No way.  I would get to stoplights and be like SWEET!  REST TIME!  I was hoping the drawbridge was up so I would have to wait (it wasn't).  Physically I am pretty beat up.  I promised myself if I sucked it up I could enjoy a lovely taper next week for my tri.  I wasn't planning on tapering much, if at all, but I will clearly be useless at the race if I don't rest beforehand.  So while I was mentally encouraging my body to please try and run faster, I was also mentally shocked.  WOW, I don't think I can BQ.  If I can't maintain a sub-BQ pace for 10 miles-tired legs or not-that does not bode well.  And honestly, could I even finish a marathon?  I haven't felt this exhausted running since...well...the last time I was marathon training :)  The feeling is exactly the same!  So I calmed those demons down by reminding myself that I am on week 1/16 of training and that I can complete a marathon (still, I'm surprised at how unconfident I am even though I've done it before).  But the non-BQness quality of my run is kind of bumming.  And let's not even talk abourt running form.  It was all about getting back home :)

In WONDERFUL NEWS....I can eat solid food this 4th of July!  I don't need to track down last year's post to know what it says.  I was depressed I was in Boston.  I was supposed to be in NC with my family but I couldn't travel there b/c of my broken jaw.  I was a mess and I felt awful and I dragged my trainer out of storage to bike.  It was my first workout since the accident on June 11, 2008.  It's hard to believe how much has changed in a year.  Interestingly, I had no idea how screwed up my teeth were.  That was a surprise I would find out once I started eating again.  Thank goodness for modern medicine and dentistry.  I LOVE healthcare.

Happy 4th of July everyone.  There is no other country in the world I would rather call home.  It's special celebrating in Boston where there is so much history.  And in a teary moment, I thought of my grandpa today.  He was a math guy and he always used the word googolplex.  I thought he was teasing me.  I wanted to use the word to say I am doing a googolplex times better this year than last.  I had to google it to spell it.  Honestly, I thought he made it up and I was googling it to confirm that.  Apparently it's a real number!  :)  I miss him.  But it's all good.

AND, an ice bath.  I finally got the tub cold enough.  I used a lot of ice (the people at the store probably thought I was having a phat party!).  I considered studying for the bar but I didn't think I could take ice bath bar studying.  That's a level of crazy I don't want to achieve.

The sweet smell of chlorine

It feels comforting to smell like chlorine :)  I feel good about it!  I did a quick swim today (cutting 10 seconds off my 750 meters (yards?) time-i was hoping for a greater improvement...) before heading to bar review class at 6 PM.  Yeah.  I slept too late to go the morning class and after studying I fell asleep until the start of the afternoon class.  I am EXHAUSTED.  I think it's from running a lot.  And tomorrow is my FIRST TEMPO RUN EVER!!  I'm sore from the speedwork yesterday but a clubmate confirmed he is too so I am glad to hear I'm not injured.  I'm just sore and tired!

Going to the evening bar class today was actually wonderful.  It was a small group of people who work during the day and take bar prep at night.  They're older than most new law graduates and for the most part they have spouses and children and lives.  They're multi-faceted people with a healthy perspective.  They aren't crazy about the bar exam and they have other things to do besides study and freak out all of the time.  And you know what?  They're probably going to pass!

DAY ONE OF MARATHON TRAINING

I AM SO FREAKIN EXCITED.  I think I have the ability to run a much faster marathon than last time (PR of 4:25 at Marine Corps, 2002) and I am really enjoying running right now.  My club's volunteer coach is really nice (and great at making the workouts) and he keeps saying congratulations on my quick 1600.  He knows I'm new to track races and that I surprised myself with my time at the race.  His enthusiasm is contagious.  I feel confident.

I think the track workouts are really helping.  I am already doing my 200s 3-4 seconds faster than a month ago.  I feel so great on the 200s nowadays.  I think I may have more fast twitch muscles than I originally thought :)  I LIKE running fast.  Tonight's workout was two sets of 1x1000, 2x800, and 2x200.  I was supposed to be doing interval pace and repeat pace for various portions of the workout but i honestly could not concern myself with such things (nor do I know exactly what those paces are respectively though I could have looked them up on my coach's chart-he has them written down for all of us).  I was light headed (did I eat enough today?) and simultaneously nauseous.  I considered quitting the workout or doing an easier workout (there are a few variations based on how fast you are) multiple times.  But I finished and I'm proud of that.  I just gave a good hard effort when I was supposed to be running fast without any regard for a specific goal pace.  I can only keep track of so many variables!!  Plus, sometimes I was running in a group (or leading a group or getting dropped from a group) and it really was just about pushing myself.  I don't care about the exact splits.  I'm aiming to be faster and have fun (and being faster is fun :) not go to the Olympics.

If I can stay healthy I think I'll PR in the fall even if I don't BQ.  PLUS, I'm not going to forget how amazing it will be to run my first marathon in 7 years.  That might have to be enough and that will be a gift too.  I actually haven't told anyone in my family that I'm training for a marathon.  They'll think it's a bad idea b/c of my inuryness.  Also, I'm embarrassed about how many DNSs I've had.  I'm going to wait until very close to race day or even post-race to let them know.  They might figure it out when I head out for a 13 mile run the day of my brother's wedding, but that's not TOO long of a run...and I am staying at a different hotel than my parents (it's the less nice but more fun hotel with the younger crowd!).  But I probably will want to run some of those miles with my Dad.  We'll see.  That's in a few months.  I'm sure it will work itself out.

In FUN news, a whole bunch of people from my running club will be at the same marathon as me.  That's really nice just b/c people will be there that I know.  This race is a big deal for me and it will nice to share it with other people and not be there by myself :) and I hope to offer them the same support in return.

Great weekend

1)  After a series of bad dates the guy i have recently been wishing i was out with instead (yes, it's an extremely bad sign when you're out with someone and find yourself wishing you were with someone else) likes me back.  Yeah!  We are going out again and to reiterate, i am going out with someone that I like and likes me back and is nice to me.  AKA A MIRACLE.

2) I hit up the pond this morning with some running club peeps.  I am feeling swimming fit!  I freaked out when I saw some fish as I was swimming (I usually don't see anything of note) but the three of us all swam separately after meeting up and it was nice to have some time alone in the middle of the pond.  I used to swim alone a lot and I love it.  It's nice and safer to have company, but I feel like today was the best of both worlds-people around who will know if you don't make it out, but far enough away that you feel like you have the pond to yourself.

I HAD A GREAT WEEKEND.  The race, the beach, the guy, the swim.  It all rocked.

[OOOOH.  And while we were chilling after the swim we saw a newbie putting on his too big wetsuit backwards.  All the way zipped.  After hearing from another pond regular that he's done that before we consulted with each other and finally the guy in our group of three went over to explain about the wetsuit and give swimming tips.  I offered the tip of what to do with the string so it doesn't flap around-loop it up and put it under the velcro-and we sent him on his way into the pond.  And watched him swim.  Doggie paddle.  His first tri is in two weeks.  I'll see him there!  Honestly, we give him such props for getting out there.  He is about 25 y/o and it was so not awkward helping him-we feared we would embarrass him-b/c he was like, i have no idea what i am doing, any and all tips are appreciated.  He was totally cool about it and I am so glad that the guy in our group spoke up and helped him out so the newbie looks more legit at his tri.  It was interesting...b/c how could he not notice everyone else zipping in the back?  Well, whatevs...hopefully he's on the right track.  He said he can run and bike fine.]

6:06 for 1600 m

Woooohooo!  It was super fun.  I told my team captain I expected to run a 6:30 so everyone thought i did great :)  My little brother (captain of his HS cross-country and track teams) was coaching me last night and using a recent 5K he (and I) predicted and suggested slower splits than i actually had.

Actual:  1:24, 1:31, 1:34, 1:36

Obviously I would have liked to have not slowed so consistently and dramatically but, you know, I learned from it.  I felt like I had something left at the end too.  And by that I mean I didn't feel that badly when I finished.  That's probably a sign I could have gone harder.

My team had a total marathon time of 2:23:10 and we beat the 2nd place team by ~8 minutes while setting a new course record.  Results-wise it wasn't a fair battle b/c my team (20s, 30s, and young speedy 40s) was significantly younger than the other teams and we purposely brought our fastest runners.  (Though it should be noted the fastest overall female 1600 went to a woman in the 40-49 age group not from our team).  However, it was a great, unique event and I think every team had a fun time.  And then we went to the beach.  AND THE WATER WASN'T COLD.  It's a miracle for New England.

Totally tapered

It's actually good timing.  My ankle tendinitis (inside of my ankle) and achilles were feeling not so hot so I took Wed., Thurs., and Fri. off from running.  They feel better and this makes me TOTALLY TAPERED for my 1600 race tomorrow.  It's the marathon relay my club is participating in.  I'm mile 7.  AHHHHH.  So excited.  It's going to be so nerve-wracking running w/ everyone watching, teammates timing me, and the team title on the line.  AHHHHH.

I've been swimming lots though!  In the pool.  In the pond.  I went from lolly-gagging it once a week in the pond to three pool sessions and one pond session this week.  Today I went to the pond.  At first I was annoyed I had to drive out there (i promised to meet someone) b/c I was stressing about the amount of studying I had to do, but once I got there I was so glad I went.  It was fun.  It was beautiful.  And I need to not be studying all of the time.  I hate swimming in the pool and it really is such a treat to be outside.

I will note-I have seen a lot of triathletes in bathing suits.  With rare exception, the men usually wear longer tri shorts or those new longer speedo bathing suits.  Recently, I have seen guys my age in old school mini-speedos.  I was shocked!  I feel like no one should be that comfortable with his body!  EVEN THE OLYMPIANS WEAR LONGER BATHING SUITS.  The mini-speedo serves no purpose!  Life is just too funny sometimes :)

My friend works for a company sponsoring the NY City Marathon and she asked some of her runner friends (including ME!) what goody her company should put in the marathon goody bag.  One of the other runners and I had an annoying amount of suggestions.  The e-mail dialogue was hilarious and it will be super fun to see what the company goes with.

There are a couple of guys in my running club who have a non-sexual running crush on our coach.  They totally want to run as fast as him, talk to him all of the time, and want him to okay everything from their workouts to their food choices.  It's SO ridiculous.  I kind of understand b/c in DC I had a woman running crush (this woman 20 years older than me who beat me every month in the same race) and I was so excited when we got to cool down together once.  I was dorkily excited.  Just like these guys in my club are.

AND, I've told a few people I am trying to BQ this fall.  It's out.  PEOPLE KNOW.  Whatevs.  I guess I better run fast!  My college friend (she's running Chicago) and I are calling the project "Boston or Bonk."  I hope we qualify.  It will be SOOOOOOOOO fun to run Boston even though the real excitement will be in qualifying-something I've wanted for 7 years.  And I seriously would not even train hard for Boston.  It'll be winter.  My body will want a break from training.  It's a tough course.  And I won't want to run hard on race day.  I just want to run past my friends and probably stop for a drink along the way :)  B/c I'll have already qualified.  A girl can dream....

In the money

Okay.  There is no money on the line.  But I think I can compete in my AG at the upcoming tri.  Or at least I could have last year looking at those results.  Granted with my running club attending this year they'll bring the A-game.  Regardless, looking at last year's times and seeing that I am close motivates me.  I can even keep up on the bike if my early season sprint tri in Virginia is any indication.  So I'm really excited to swim hard and get better.  I learned today that swimming hard sucks the way running hard does.  Revelation!  I honestly have no idea if I'm swimming yards or meters in my pool, but I swam 14:48 for 750 (the distance of the swim in the race) either yards or meters.  I hope that number goes down over the next couple of weeks.  I also hope wearing a wetsuit makes me faster.  The T1 transition times were really fast and I'm assuming people were wearing wetsuits so that is curious to me.  I think it's going to be close in our age group.  I can run faster than two of last year's top three, but two of them can swim faster (the quick runner is a slower swimmer than me).  And all of the bike times are really close.  So we'll see.  (I like to do this if you'll remember...predict PRs and good times and then not get them :)  At the very least it's good motivation to train hard and to remember on race day that seconds do count.  I mean, if the same people show up we're all sooo evenly matched if you look at us overall in the three sports.  Ohhhh, the agony of finishing out of placing by mere seconds.  It HURTS!!

PS.  I love this tri even though I've never been there b/c they gave me a full refund after my accident last year with nothing but good wishes to get better soon.

Out of retirement

So I got bored.  Went swimming.  Decided I have SOOO much free time.  Running three times a week is not really enough to occupy me.  I don't want to miss out on triathlon season-so short in New England-and a huge chunk of my running club is doing a sprint tri in July.  I found out my bar work that day is flexible-I originally thought I had to be in class-and...suddenly...I found myself signed up for a sprint tri.  Life is short.  PLAY HARD!!!

Unfortunately, I had thought I wasn't racing another triathlon until late August so I totally took the last couple of weeks off from hard swimming and any biking.  Oooooooops.  I used the exerbike tonight :)  The weather sucks (I mean really sucks here...raining, cold, windy for the umpteenth day in a row), I still don't like biking around the city, and the gym is better than nothing.

In my bike store there is a sign on the wall that says, Lance is back on the bike.  Are you?   It's speaking to me!!!  Or trying to...

BBBOOOOORED

I'm bored.  I did a core workout and went to THE POOL b/c I'm so bored.  I honestly cannot remember EVER working out from boredom.  I haven't been to the pool in weeks (opting for the pond instead when I've hit the water) but in typical New England fashion the weather is rainy and cold here.   It was interesting, however, b/c I timed myself to see how fall I've fallen.  100s in ~1:54.  :( 

In good news, I called B to say WHAT'S UP HANG OUT WITH ME and she said I HAVE AN EXTRA TICKET COME SEE THE FRAY WITH ME.  So that's what's up for this evening.

In weird news, I spent the last 6 minutes or so of yesterday's 10.3 mile run (supposedly, I think it's short) sprinting home b/c I wanted to beat 1 hour 34 min, the time that was on my watch when I started the run.  In my mind 1:34 was the time it took me to do the same loop last weekend.  It occurred to me about 3 minutes into my sprint that that made no sense-since last week's long run I'd been to track practice.  There was no way I still had the time from last weekend on my watch.  The 1:34 was actually one minute and 34 seconds, the time from my last 400.  I kept sprinting figuring that I would push it in to be hard core and when I got home I'd check the blog to figure out my time from last week.  Last week's time: 1 hour 34 minutes.  WEIRD.  You're welcome for that captivating story.  For the record, I beat the elusive 1:34, bringing it home in 1:32.

Base sleeping

I'm exhausted.  I run, study, and sleep.  I was reading an article about sleep needs and there is something about running that increases the need for sleep more than other athletic activities.  I don't know what it is, but I am unconscious for large portions of the day.  When I hit peak marathon training I don't know how I am going to work!  I am going to be one of those people I make fun of who go to bed at 9:30 PM (now I go to bed at midnight and get up at 7 AM plus I nap).

Do I really have nothing else to report?  I guess not.  I went to the dentist a couple of times this week.  I have totally reeled in my spending since getting back from DC which is wonderful (and necessary).  The savings stem from a combination of a lot of things and I feel good about it...but I have this fear that by putting my spending off everything is going to go to hell at the same time.  Yup, that's pretty much going to happen :)

PS.  Always buy good gifts.  I gave my mom some fun shirts from my various schools over the years and she has decided to part with them and they made their way up to me in a care package this week.  They're awesome.  I have awful taste in most things, but I can pick out a good t-shirt!  They're so fun.  And they fit and aren't worn out!  It's perfect timing for me.  :)