la, la la, you guys. i ran 4.5 miles on tuesday evening, i ran 8 miles thursday morning. ain't no thing. ... wait, yes it is! it's helpful to have my other half's perspective on this. 8 miles is nothing to scoff at!
anyway, yesterday i wasn't scoffing, i was too busy choking and spluttering. i am practicing the art of drinking while in motion because i want to be able to sip my beverage without walking (leg cramp avoidance technique 1: don't ever stop running.) here's how it goes: every time i take my handheld with me, my first attempt begins with a slapstick-style electrolyte facespray, because the sloshing beverage has excited itself to high degrees of effervescence and i have the memory of a running goldfish. i feel this has been really effective, though, since never once have my eyebrows gotten thirsty while long-running. and then after that i remember to open it facing away from myself, and i've mostly got the order of breathes and swigs in order, so that's going well.
meanwhile in another part of the forest: tuesday's run was a Blair Witch event, since my beliefs about when the sun sets are currently stuck in August mode despite it almost being October (insert panicky noise here.) i got to the trail for my two speedwork (er, sort of) loops, and thought -- wait, the sun is going down, like: *now*. thus i booked it through the woods for 3 miles. and of course the woods are more dark than the open fields, which means you feel like you need to hurry faster, but you do NOT want to trip on a root 3.5 weeks before your bloody marathon, and you are trying to do intervals so you need to see your garmin, so your progress swings abruptly from semi-sprint up pineneedle hills to gingerly hopping about to squinting at your watch to bolting again. and when i'm on a trail i have acquired the habit of checking behind me every so often to check for bikers/runners faster than me -- so, i also looked like i was running *scared*. nice. i had to do some road running afterwards to get close to the correct mileage, and of course got confusingly lost in a neighbourhood i've never seen before, yet got back to the car half a mile short. by then it was of course pitch black and my sweat was freezing so i packed it in.
another observation: my 20 mile run (!! remember?) on sunday didn't trash my legs at all, and i worked out normally on monday, which felt both impressive and insane ... but it sure did slow me down. well, that's my interpretation anyway: tuesday, my perceived effort should have had me at 8:45 miles, and i was going like 10:30. i know we've talked about these trails before, but even so -- even the road part, i was speeding up for half-mile intervals, and seeing like 9:45 on my watch. that's not speeding up! but thursday morning, my first warm-up mile was 9:35, and everything else hovered around 9:10-9:15. i aimed for the last two miles to be 9:20, and they clocked in at 9:03 and 8:49, a little bit of effort but certainly less than tuesday. distinctly weird, how different two speeds can feel.
this weekend i am traveling so my schedule is a little wonky; won't run long again til monday, but there's some kind of running-hills-in-the-arboretum plan for tomorrow.
feeling good about this, people. keep fingers crossed.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
DID IT.
today i got up with A Plan. ... i was actually fairly chill (i mean, i got up at 10:45am), but definitely Plan on the horizon. (in my defense about the hour, i got back from collecting my other half from the airport at 2am).
i ate my new long-run non-oatmeal breakfast. i timed my coffee drinking for, uh, best results. i drank a big glass of water within 15 minutes of waking. i put on clothes. i checked the weather, i put on different clothes. i reminded myself of the route i'd planned last night. i put new songs on my ipod. (sidenote: this alone should tell you i was capital-f focused because i have a mental block against moving music on and off my ipod, leftover from when i was in a full-on war with iTunes not believing i was ever really totally in the US *or* Canada and so refusing to let me copy/buy/acquire/operate any music, the worst mess, so annoying, but today i had bigger (selfmade) problems so i reminded myself sternly this technohistory is no reason to listen to the same podcasts five times on repeat, when those are free in any event! ... right, ok, regroup. i downloaded several pretty great running songs, actually, and two pretty memorable Radiolab podcasts, and listened to them all later on. relatedly: never get rabies. but back to the story.)
then, i got suited up. the plan was to have with me everything i would need on actual race day. i told you i got this thing that acts like a belt/fanny pack without looking douchey/hitting you in the back every three steps? it's basically a bandeau of somewhat spandexy material you wear around your hips containing three pockets. except for a shockingly embarrassing sparkly logo on one side, which i make sure to always cover with my shirt, it's pretty rad. so in that thing, i had my phone, one GU (see below), and a small amount of mini pretzels in a ziplock bag. i have this other little pouch with velcro that attaches to your shoelaces, and in that i had my driver's license (see below), a credit card in case of god knows, and my house keys. i also had this handheld water bottle with a pretty remarkable strap that makes it nearly effortless to run with, which i am seriously starting to consider running with on marathon day (see below), filled with 16oz of doublestrength Nuun (electrolyte-y drink with less sugary than Gatorade), and it has a pocket that contained about 8 swedish fish. and i was wearing my ipod, and my garmin watch.
i put on my running shoes, and all of these things, and while i didn't feel burdened in any way, i also suspected it looked like i thought i was going on a NASA mission. even the dog -- who usually shows little understanding of human outfits, since when i leave the apartment wearing my pjs to put in a load of laundry she will come to the door and beg me not to go, apparently thinking that's an outfit i might wear on a long trip -- even the DOG gave me a confused look. the other half previously mentioned just looked a little incredulous. 'HOW long are you going to be gone?' i took a deep breath and said ... 'between three and a half and four hours'.
i left the house, took four steps, came back to pee. ever was it thus.
aaaand: then i went out and i ran twenty miles.
sorry, i should have put that different.
PEOPLE I RAN TWENTY MILES. 20!!! MILLLLESS!
THE NUMBER OF MILES I RAN HAS A TWO IN FRONT OF IT!
... even as i was running, i thought: 'there's no way i'm getting through this blog post without a little all-caps action.' but i think it's out of my system now.
the verdict on the whole thing is that i done good. i finished the first ten miles in 1:40 near-exactly, so that's 10 minute miles, and the whole thing in 3:23:30, so around 10:12 min/miles. meaning, i ran faster in the first half (not the goal) but not insanely faster. and my last miles were not the slowest.
the weather was just about perfect for running -- i mean, cloudy, 12-14C, no rain, some wind. actually i got too cold in the wind a few times. i spent a lot of brainpower on (again i hate this word but that's where i'm at apparently) 'fuel': drinking some liquid quite frequently, but in the small amounts that the squeezy bottle-top permits, so i never got the stomach-sloshing feeling. i ate all my swedish fish, and about half the pretzels (pro tip -- you want REALLY SMALL pretzels pieces when you've got no saliva left.) i also had my first GU-consumption experience. those things ... man, maybe i *was* preparing for a space voyage; i felt like a Jetson slithering that thing into my mouth. anyway it was a fascinating tactile experience, and next time the role of GU will be played by jelly beans.
as for route: i ran to all the places. seriously, 20 miles is a long way. i thought it might be helpful to not be on a typical routes, to make it feel more like a race where you're not doing your normal thing, and also include lots of different locations: campus, trail, city, suburb, forest, field. i got all of that. i found aNOTHER nature preserve i didn't know about! which was great because i got lost in it for two miles, allowing me to skip two miles which would have involved needless detour near the campus poulty research facility (not a particularly pretty or pleasant smelling area. did i mention it's right beside the pig research facility. i'm not kidding.) i hadn't really thought about the location of hills, because there are so few here relatively speaking... but i hit a couple, one familiar one at mile 4, some kind of notable ones at miles 9-11, and then there's this fairly rolling bit on the way home that i managed to schedule for miles 17-18 (smart move, yeah. but back to that in a minute.)
at mile 10 i thought: halfway! and out of nowhere these three college guys appeared, dressed in serious spandex, not runners by trade but clearly varsity something, running to crosstrain. they passed me, talking casually like they were lounging on a patio, moving at probably 7:45min/mile pace. whatever! i let 'em fly on, and i noticed that they slowed down on the hill ahead of us (a little) while i did not (mostly -- the point is i gained on them). as soon as the hill was over, they disappeared like rabbits but i felt pretty cool, to be honest.
at mile 13, i thought: ok, pretend like it was last weekend, and you're running a half. at this point, you were six miles in (counting the seven from the night before), and you had seven left. how do you feel? ... i felt about the same as last weekend. but i'd done them all contiguously. and then i knew, KNEW i would finish it today.
there were some hard miles, but nothing worse (or even maybe as bad?) as the puke-y miles from thursday. mind you, i was running more than a minute per mile slower; that sure matters. but it was really all mental. i stopped at a water fountain at mile 16, and i could tell that if i stopped moving my legs were gonna start stiffening, so i didn't stop long. and it was ok. i started getting runner's brain at mile 18 (like, i forget how to operate my ipod, or can't figure out what 26-18 is, meaning how many miles i will need to run after 18 during the marathon to get to the end), but again, i knew i would get over it.
the first half of mile 18 is pretty much uphill. yes, see again: small idiocy in planning. however, here's what was happening on the sidewalk for like half of that mile: rushing. by which i mean, standing completely still. ... um, i guess it's Rush Week? all i know for sure is that i was running past a lot of sorority houses, and the lawns and driveways outside each of them were filled with piles of women (maybe 30 per house) waiting for i have no idea what. they were loosely organized into lines, coming out of each house's door, and they all looked like they were at a slightly tense mixer. meanwhile, i was 18 miles into a run wearing pretty smelly apparel and a salt lick for a complexion. we were, in fact, in completely different worlds.
but i was by now on a mission to finish. so: ok, full disclosure, i flipped my ipod back to the part of the playlist with the highly questionable choices, and Katy Perry ('Roar', I know, I gotta get me a sorority pin) got me to the top of the hill, and Eminem got me to the last big long block before home (did you know that the song '8 mile' is exactly the right speed for a tired-legs running cadence? true story.)
and when my watch beeped distance 20:00... i *kept going*. well, i was about 3 mins run from home, and as i mentioned i was worried my legs would seize up if i stopped. i stopped my watch, and i walk/jogged back home. but the point is: i was uncomfortable, but i really could have kept going.
BOOM.
this will be my only without-stopping 20 mile run. i am going to juggle around a couple of the distances to split the difference between the original plan and the 'novice' plan, but my longest run left will i think be 15 miles, maybe 14. that sounds too short right now, but we'll see. there's a lot of 'don't fuck it up by thinking you need to make up for lost time in the weeks before the race', and i hear that.
so, now. thoughts for next time (meaning the REAL DEAL next time.)
1. the only thing i forgot to bring with me: kleenex. oh my god, why am i systematically unable to remember the existence of snot when getting ready for a run? may need to put a post-it note on my garmin that says YOU HAVE A NOSE.
2. why did i run with my driver's license? ... i think i've decided i'm not going to run with my passport. i know, they COULD ask me for it. it COULD be a nightmare. but really? ... they're not going to. and it is so unwieldy and i don't want a damp passport. i might rethink this, but i know it will be fine.
3. i am going to remove today's best running songs off my ipod, and not put them back until the day before the race. they will stay crisp and inspiring! actually at one point i got so inspired i almost ran into a railway crossing turnstile, so clearly i gotta save those big guns till it's really go time. (the relevant song is pretty fantastic even if you're not running -- 'Get Some' by Lykke Li, just don't really think about the words -- so if you like slightly dark swedish pop music with some kick-ass drums, check it out).
4. my only real worry now: what happens when i finish running? today when i stopped, i walked about 30 seconds, got inside, climbed the stairs, had a glass of water/gatorade mix, and i semi-immediately lay down to stretch. for about 10 minutes, my hamstrings, hip flexors and inner thigh muscles were NOT happy -- definitely better than two weeks ago after the 16 mile melodrama, but still crampy and achy in a way that really required i be lying on my back with my legs in the air, or contorted in some way or another. (interestingly, my calves and quads have never cramped or freaked out in that way. knock on compression socks?) ... once that got better, i stood up, wobbled to the kitchen, had some protein cuz i knew i needed it, and then got in a hot shower for about 15 minutes. (don't talk to me about ice baths, ok? i know, but just don't.) and then finally, i was fine again.
but my understanding is that when you finish a marathon -- you don't get to lie down semi-immediately. you have to keep walking. there's like a chute situation, they give you your medal and stuff... but then, there's 6000 people running this thing. you can't just stop right there, on the pavement, surrounded by thousands of people, and put your legs in the air. maybe the adrenaline will help? hopefully there will be screaming people? my legs might say 'ok, we get away from the all the screaming, THEN we cramp'. ... but i kind of doubt it; they seem pretty focused, the bastards. so: i don't think there's anything to be done about this, i just need to be ready for some distinct unpleasantness when i stop. and there's no way i'm getting a shower after this nonsense, because i doubt i'll be finished running much before noon, and hotel check out is 11am -- even if i could get us late check-out, it's not gonna be till like 2pm, is it? no matter what, we'll have to walk some, and there will be a 90 minute drive ahead of us. yeah, there's gonna be some kinks in that bit of the plan.
anyway. my dad will be there. i will provision him well. maybe he can bring me a portable shower. (note: not really.) mom, he WILL definitely have your magical 70s crosscountry skiing socks with him. i'm wearing them right now, as a matter of fact. they are like Chicken Soup for the Calves. (note: nobody write that.)
my final thoughts (finally) tonight are about time. from today's effort, i think that finishing in 4:20 is looking not too impossible. so i'm going to aim for sub-4:20 as my A-goal. more realistic is probably under 4:30. i did a pretty good job of not-garmin stalking today, and i definitely did not ever switch it over to pace mode -- sometimes i caught the mile marker paces and sometimes not. this felt wise. and i'm going to keep telling myself, every time i run, that the primary goal is to finish and not actually wreck myself in the process. i must get myself into the mind space where finishing five minutes faster is less important than not wanting to self-lobotomize at mile 23.
so, that one's in the books. even if the city of detroit is actually *cancelled tomorrow* (not entirely impossible, given current municipal politics), i will still have run twenty miles in one go.
that's a thing i did.
and i can still walk.
go team.
i ate my new long-run non-oatmeal breakfast. i timed my coffee drinking for, uh, best results. i drank a big glass of water within 15 minutes of waking. i put on clothes. i checked the weather, i put on different clothes. i reminded myself of the route i'd planned last night. i put new songs on my ipod. (sidenote: this alone should tell you i was capital-f focused because i have a mental block against moving music on and off my ipod, leftover from when i was in a full-on war with iTunes not believing i was ever really totally in the US *or* Canada and so refusing to let me copy/buy/acquire/operate any music, the worst mess, so annoying, but today i had bigger (selfmade) problems so i reminded myself sternly this technohistory is no reason to listen to the same podcasts five times on repeat, when those are free in any event! ... right, ok, regroup. i downloaded several pretty great running songs, actually, and two pretty memorable Radiolab podcasts, and listened to them all later on. relatedly: never get rabies. but back to the story.)
then, i got suited up. the plan was to have with me everything i would need on actual race day. i told you i got this thing that acts like a belt/fanny pack without looking douchey/hitting you in the back every three steps? it's basically a bandeau of somewhat spandexy material you wear around your hips containing three pockets. except for a shockingly embarrassing sparkly logo on one side, which i make sure to always cover with my shirt, it's pretty rad. so in that thing, i had my phone, one GU (see below), and a small amount of mini pretzels in a ziplock bag. i have this other little pouch with velcro that attaches to your shoelaces, and in that i had my driver's license (see below), a credit card in case of god knows, and my house keys. i also had this handheld water bottle with a pretty remarkable strap that makes it nearly effortless to run with, which i am seriously starting to consider running with on marathon day (see below), filled with 16oz of doublestrength Nuun (electrolyte-y drink with less sugary than Gatorade), and it has a pocket that contained about 8 swedish fish. and i was wearing my ipod, and my garmin watch.
i put on my running shoes, and all of these things, and while i didn't feel burdened in any way, i also suspected it looked like i thought i was going on a NASA mission. even the dog -- who usually shows little understanding of human outfits, since when i leave the apartment wearing my pjs to put in a load of laundry she will come to the door and beg me not to go, apparently thinking that's an outfit i might wear on a long trip -- even the DOG gave me a confused look. the other half previously mentioned just looked a little incredulous. 'HOW long are you going to be gone?' i took a deep breath and said ... 'between three and a half and four hours'.
i left the house, took four steps, came back to pee. ever was it thus.
aaaand: then i went out and i ran twenty miles.
sorry, i should have put that different.
PEOPLE I RAN TWENTY MILES. 20!!! MILLLLESS!
THE NUMBER OF MILES I RAN HAS A TWO IN FRONT OF IT!
... even as i was running, i thought: 'there's no way i'm getting through this blog post without a little all-caps action.' but i think it's out of my system now.
the verdict on the whole thing is that i done good. i finished the first ten miles in 1:40 near-exactly, so that's 10 minute miles, and the whole thing in 3:23:30, so around 10:12 min/miles. meaning, i ran faster in the first half (not the goal) but not insanely faster. and my last miles were not the slowest.
the weather was just about perfect for running -- i mean, cloudy, 12-14C, no rain, some wind. actually i got too cold in the wind a few times. i spent a lot of brainpower on (again i hate this word but that's where i'm at apparently) 'fuel': drinking some liquid quite frequently, but in the small amounts that the squeezy bottle-top permits, so i never got the stomach-sloshing feeling. i ate all my swedish fish, and about half the pretzels (pro tip -- you want REALLY SMALL pretzels pieces when you've got no saliva left.) i also had my first GU-consumption experience. those things ... man, maybe i *was* preparing for a space voyage; i felt like a Jetson slithering that thing into my mouth. anyway it was a fascinating tactile experience, and next time the role of GU will be played by jelly beans.
as for route: i ran to all the places. seriously, 20 miles is a long way. i thought it might be helpful to not be on a typical routes, to make it feel more like a race where you're not doing your normal thing, and also include lots of different locations: campus, trail, city, suburb, forest, field. i got all of that. i found aNOTHER nature preserve i didn't know about! which was great because i got lost in it for two miles, allowing me to skip two miles which would have involved needless detour near the campus poulty research facility (not a particularly pretty or pleasant smelling area. did i mention it's right beside the pig research facility. i'm not kidding.) i hadn't really thought about the location of hills, because there are so few here relatively speaking... but i hit a couple, one familiar one at mile 4, some kind of notable ones at miles 9-11, and then there's this fairly rolling bit on the way home that i managed to schedule for miles 17-18 (smart move, yeah. but back to that in a minute.)
at mile 10 i thought: halfway! and out of nowhere these three college guys appeared, dressed in serious spandex, not runners by trade but clearly varsity something, running to crosstrain. they passed me, talking casually like they were lounging on a patio, moving at probably 7:45min/mile pace. whatever! i let 'em fly on, and i noticed that they slowed down on the hill ahead of us (a little) while i did not (mostly -- the point is i gained on them). as soon as the hill was over, they disappeared like rabbits but i felt pretty cool, to be honest.
at mile 13, i thought: ok, pretend like it was last weekend, and you're running a half. at this point, you were six miles in (counting the seven from the night before), and you had seven left. how do you feel? ... i felt about the same as last weekend. but i'd done them all contiguously. and then i knew, KNEW i would finish it today.
there were some hard miles, but nothing worse (or even maybe as bad?) as the puke-y miles from thursday. mind you, i was running more than a minute per mile slower; that sure matters. but it was really all mental. i stopped at a water fountain at mile 16, and i could tell that if i stopped moving my legs were gonna start stiffening, so i didn't stop long. and it was ok. i started getting runner's brain at mile 18 (like, i forget how to operate my ipod, or can't figure out what 26-18 is, meaning how many miles i will need to run after 18 during the marathon to get to the end), but again, i knew i would get over it.
the first half of mile 18 is pretty much uphill. yes, see again: small idiocy in planning. however, here's what was happening on the sidewalk for like half of that mile: rushing. by which i mean, standing completely still. ... um, i guess it's Rush Week? all i know for sure is that i was running past a lot of sorority houses, and the lawns and driveways outside each of them were filled with piles of women (maybe 30 per house) waiting for i have no idea what. they were loosely organized into lines, coming out of each house's door, and they all looked like they were at a slightly tense mixer. meanwhile, i was 18 miles into a run wearing pretty smelly apparel and a salt lick for a complexion. we were, in fact, in completely different worlds.
but i was by now on a mission to finish. so: ok, full disclosure, i flipped my ipod back to the part of the playlist with the highly questionable choices, and Katy Perry ('Roar', I know, I gotta get me a sorority pin) got me to the top of the hill, and Eminem got me to the last big long block before home (did you know that the song '8 mile' is exactly the right speed for a tired-legs running cadence? true story.)
and when my watch beeped distance 20:00... i *kept going*. well, i was about 3 mins run from home, and as i mentioned i was worried my legs would seize up if i stopped. i stopped my watch, and i walk/jogged back home. but the point is: i was uncomfortable, but i really could have kept going.
BOOM.
this will be my only without-stopping 20 mile run. i am going to juggle around a couple of the distances to split the difference between the original plan and the 'novice' plan, but my longest run left will i think be 15 miles, maybe 14. that sounds too short right now, but we'll see. there's a lot of 'don't fuck it up by thinking you need to make up for lost time in the weeks before the race', and i hear that.
so, now. thoughts for next time (meaning the REAL DEAL next time.)
1. the only thing i forgot to bring with me: kleenex. oh my god, why am i systematically unable to remember the existence of snot when getting ready for a run? may need to put a post-it note on my garmin that says YOU HAVE A NOSE.
2. why did i run with my driver's license? ... i think i've decided i'm not going to run with my passport. i know, they COULD ask me for it. it COULD be a nightmare. but really? ... they're not going to. and it is so unwieldy and i don't want a damp passport. i might rethink this, but i know it will be fine.
3. i am going to remove today's best running songs off my ipod, and not put them back until the day before the race. they will stay crisp and inspiring! actually at one point i got so inspired i almost ran into a railway crossing turnstile, so clearly i gotta save those big guns till it's really go time. (the relevant song is pretty fantastic even if you're not running -- 'Get Some' by Lykke Li, just don't really think about the words -- so if you like slightly dark swedish pop music with some kick-ass drums, check it out).
4. my only real worry now: what happens when i finish running? today when i stopped, i walked about 30 seconds, got inside, climbed the stairs, had a glass of water/gatorade mix, and i semi-immediately lay down to stretch. for about 10 minutes, my hamstrings, hip flexors and inner thigh muscles were NOT happy -- definitely better than two weeks ago after the 16 mile melodrama, but still crampy and achy in a way that really required i be lying on my back with my legs in the air, or contorted in some way or another. (interestingly, my calves and quads have never cramped or freaked out in that way. knock on compression socks?) ... once that got better, i stood up, wobbled to the kitchen, had some protein cuz i knew i needed it, and then got in a hot shower for about 15 minutes. (don't talk to me about ice baths, ok? i know, but just don't.) and then finally, i was fine again.
but my understanding is that when you finish a marathon -- you don't get to lie down semi-immediately. you have to keep walking. there's like a chute situation, they give you your medal and stuff... but then, there's 6000 people running this thing. you can't just stop right there, on the pavement, surrounded by thousands of people, and put your legs in the air. maybe the adrenaline will help? hopefully there will be screaming people? my legs might say 'ok, we get away from the all the screaming, THEN we cramp'. ... but i kind of doubt it; they seem pretty focused, the bastards. so: i don't think there's anything to be done about this, i just need to be ready for some distinct unpleasantness when i stop. and there's no way i'm getting a shower after this nonsense, because i doubt i'll be finished running much before noon, and hotel check out is 11am -- even if i could get us late check-out, it's not gonna be till like 2pm, is it? no matter what, we'll have to walk some, and there will be a 90 minute drive ahead of us. yeah, there's gonna be some kinks in that bit of the plan.
anyway. my dad will be there. i will provision him well. maybe he can bring me a portable shower. (note: not really.) mom, he WILL definitely have your magical 70s crosscountry skiing socks with him. i'm wearing them right now, as a matter of fact. they are like Chicken Soup for the Calves. (note: nobody write that.)
my final thoughts (finally) tonight are about time. from today's effort, i think that finishing in 4:20 is looking not too impossible. so i'm going to aim for sub-4:20 as my A-goal. more realistic is probably under 4:30. i did a pretty good job of not-garmin stalking today, and i definitely did not ever switch it over to pace mode -- sometimes i caught the mile marker paces and sometimes not. this felt wise. and i'm going to keep telling myself, every time i run, that the primary goal is to finish and not actually wreck myself in the process. i must get myself into the mind space where finishing five minutes faster is less important than not wanting to self-lobotomize at mile 23.
so, that one's in the books. even if the city of detroit is actually *cancelled tomorrow* (not entirely impossible, given current municipal politics), i will still have run twenty miles in one go.
that's a thing i did.
and i can still walk.
go team.
Guest Post! Running Home from Versailles with Meg
hey hey! ok, tonight you get a doubleheader. first up is a guest post!
also, let me explain.
you will recall, since you're obviously reading from the beginning like you should, that this blog's purpose is to prevent me from going crazy while i attempt to run the detroit marathon, and more specifically prevent me from having to talk about running the detroit marathon every waking moment with everybody else. another thing, in addition to bloggery blathering, that helps with not-crazy-going, is the occasional check in and catch up with some of my many far flung friends who are also training for things at present. and the one i told you about last time, who said she was foolishly hoping i would post something inspirational? ... well SHE did something kind of inspirational today, and so i told her she had to guest blog about it.
it is helpful that most of my running friends have flung themselves to pretty places. like: Meg's living in Paris right now. so her guest post comes complete with the kind of beautiful in-run imagery that ... well, that makes you pretty happy i don't run with a camera. because University of Cornfield Credit Union is not e.g. by the Seine.
without further ado! read below. more from me later tonight.
***
[editor's note: because it's my blog and apparently i'm a control freak today, i decided that guest bloggery here is in Q&A format. so, AMT asked the questions and MG responded.]
AMT:'Running Home From Versailles' sounds like the name of a documentary about antiquarian ultrarunners. It becomes only marginally more reasonable when one knows you in fact live in Paris. So tell me: how far did you run, and what was the terrain like?
MG: I stopped running when the French lady in my iPhone said "Temps: deux heures quinze minutes, Distance: Treize virgule quarante cinq miles." [ no translations provided around here, folks. you gotta French up or get out -- ed.]That didn't get me quite all the way home - I walked from just before Bastille to my place in the 11th arrondissement (a mile and a half, I think).
In Versailles the terrain was a beautiful tree-lined street with a flower market - it's a pretty posh suburb. Then there was bike path over a big hill that went through the "Forêt Domaniale des Fausses Reposes" (the forest of false rests!). Once I got through the forest, it was mainly relatively flat terrain on sidewalks until I got into the center of Paris and the quais along the Seine.
There I had to spend about a mile running on cobblestones, which is my least favourite footing in the universe. BUT on Sundays there is a stretch of road along the Seine that's closed to cars, so I got to run on the road for the last mile or two.
AMT: My sources tell me your trip to Versailles involved a commuter train. I have used subways to organize long runs, but never trains. Again, living in Paris. Tell us what the Sunday train riders thought of you?
MG: I took the metro to get to St. Michel station, and I think people might have looked at me oddly but I was practicing my metro nose drishti [link provided for the clueless like me. yeah, ok meaning i require you to know French but not Sanskrit. double standard, i realize -- ed.] so I didn't really notice. From there I took the RER-C commuter line to Versailles and it was completely full of tourists going to the Château. So it was definitely not the usual Parisien(ne)s with their perfectly haphazard outfits and artfully messy hair. I didn't feel weird because the tourists were all focused on their magical Paris experience and also wearing some pretty questionable outfits themselves. At least my stretchpants and sneakers had a purpose!
AMT: What was the hardest part?
MG: Well until earlier this summer, I was basically just running for fun, when I felt like it, and until I felt like stopping. Normally I would run somewhere between 3 and 7 miles. But obviously when you're trying to run longer distances, sometimes you have to keep going past that point. Over the past few weekend runs it's been at about mile 8 or so that my legs (and especially my right hip) start to tell me that they would just rather not. But then if I just keep going, by the next mile it's much better. Today at mile 8 I was already back in the center of Paris so I was feeling pretty good about that, but there was also a stretch of slanty sidewalk that was really no fun and some crowds to get through at the traffic lights. I think that was the hardest part.
AMT: (we want truth here) What do you mutter/think/envision to yourself when running to keep going when it sucks?
MG: For me, I think this is where planning a fun route is very helpful. During my tough mile 8 I was thinking about that stretch of closed road along the river, and how I would be there soon and there would be other runners there and it would be great. Before coming to Paris I lived in the country in Massachusetts, and I would run to places where I thought there might be deer or eagles or other cool animals hanging out, and looking for them kept me happy and motivated (and nerdy). [omg she ran with EAGLES! -- ed.]
AMT: Finally, please detail any insights on running in your current habitat, and/or what you think is the most or least Parisienne way to celebrate a long run. Whatever it is, I hope you are doing it.
MG: I think running here is like running in any big city with little green space - there's a lot of pavement, construction, traffic, garbage and bad smells (don't get me STARTED on how covered in pee this city is, my friends are probably really tired of my pee-related rants). But it's also a city that is covered in history, famous landmarks, and neat things to see, and there are some parks that are actually really nice. And once I started running more than a 6-mile loop starting and ending at my apartment (which is on a rare kind of street that does have some trees, only people are always peeing on them!) I found that I could do a fair amount of sightseeing while getting my miles in. It also helps that I have a metro pass (employer subsidized, it's France!) so I don't necessarily have to run the whole way to and from the place I want to run.
As for celebration... On my route today I saw numerous bus shelter ads advertising... bread! I didn't know baguettes needed a marketing board, but they have one. Their current slogan is: 'Coucou, tu as pris le pain?' (Hey, did you get/take the bread?) The ads must have worked, because my celebration at the end of my run definitely involved a stop at a bakery. Oui, j'ai pris le pain!
***
So, Meg braved the disapproval of French fashionistas, ran home from Versailles and ate Parisien baguette. This seemed blogworthy, and it comforts me to feel part of a bigger world of nutcases. Actually to be honest, I know Meg to be a pretty rational woman who gets shit done in the world without falling to pieces, and appears to challenge herself without beating herself up, and given that much of the point of this blog was to not let myself get self-judgy for no goddamn reason while trying to achieve a task i invented for myself, for chrissake -- i thought Meg was a good posterchild to feature.
plus, there's the baguette envy.
a plus tard, mes ami(e)s.
also, let me explain.
you will recall, since you're obviously reading from the beginning like you should, that this blog's purpose is to prevent me from going crazy while i attempt to run the detroit marathon, and more specifically prevent me from having to talk about running the detroit marathon every waking moment with everybody else. another thing, in addition to bloggery blathering, that helps with not-crazy-going, is the occasional check in and catch up with some of my many far flung friends who are also training for things at present. and the one i told you about last time, who said she was foolishly hoping i would post something inspirational? ... well SHE did something kind of inspirational today, and so i told her she had to guest blog about it.
it is helpful that most of my running friends have flung themselves to pretty places. like: Meg's living in Paris right now. so her guest post comes complete with the kind of beautiful in-run imagery that ... well, that makes you pretty happy i don't run with a camera. because University of Cornfield Credit Union is not e.g. by the Seine.
without further ado! read below. more from me later tonight.
***
[editor's note: because it's my blog and apparently i'm a control freak today, i decided that guest bloggery here is in Q&A format. so, AMT asked the questions and MG responded.]
AMT:'Running Home From Versailles' sounds like the name of a documentary about antiquarian ultrarunners. It becomes only marginally more reasonable when one knows you in fact live in Paris. So tell me: how far did you run, and what was the terrain like?
MG: I stopped running when the French lady in my iPhone said "Temps: deux heures quinze minutes, Distance: Treize virgule quarante cinq miles." [ no translations provided around here, folks. you gotta French up or get out -- ed.]That didn't get me quite all the way home - I walked from just before Bastille to my place in the 11th arrondissement (a mile and a half, I think).
In Versailles the terrain was a beautiful tree-lined street with a flower market - it's a pretty posh suburb. Then there was bike path over a big hill that went through the "Forêt Domaniale des Fausses Reposes" (the forest of false rests!). Once I got through the forest, it was mainly relatively flat terrain on sidewalks until I got into the center of Paris and the quais along the Seine.
There I had to spend about a mile running on cobblestones, which is my least favourite footing in the universe. BUT on Sundays there is a stretch of road along the Seine that's closed to cars, so I got to run on the road for the last mile or two.
AMT: My sources tell me your trip to Versailles involved a commuter train. I have used subways to organize long runs, but never trains. Again, living in Paris. Tell us what the Sunday train riders thought of you?
MG: I took the metro to get to St. Michel station, and I think people might have looked at me oddly but I was practicing my metro nose drishti [link provided for the clueless like me. yeah, ok meaning i require you to know French but not Sanskrit. double standard, i realize -- ed.] so I didn't really notice. From there I took the RER-C commuter line to Versailles and it was completely full of tourists going to the Château. So it was definitely not the usual Parisien(ne)s with their perfectly haphazard outfits and artfully messy hair. I didn't feel weird because the tourists were all focused on their magical Paris experience and also wearing some pretty questionable outfits themselves. At least my stretchpants and sneakers had a purpose!
AMT: What was the hardest part?
MG: Well until earlier this summer, I was basically just running for fun, when I felt like it, and until I felt like stopping. Normally I would run somewhere between 3 and 7 miles. But obviously when you're trying to run longer distances, sometimes you have to keep going past that point. Over the past few weekend runs it's been at about mile 8 or so that my legs (and especially my right hip) start to tell me that they would just rather not. But then if I just keep going, by the next mile it's much better. Today at mile 8 I was already back in the center of Paris so I was feeling pretty good about that, but there was also a stretch of slanty sidewalk that was really no fun and some crowds to get through at the traffic lights. I think that was the hardest part.
AMT: (we want truth here) What do you mutter/think/envision to yourself when running to keep going when it sucks?
MG: For me, I think this is where planning a fun route is very helpful. During my tough mile 8 I was thinking about that stretch of closed road along the river, and how I would be there soon and there would be other runners there and it would be great. Before coming to Paris I lived in the country in Massachusetts, and I would run to places where I thought there might be deer or eagles or other cool animals hanging out, and looking for them kept me happy and motivated (and nerdy). [omg she ran with EAGLES! -- ed.]
AMT: Finally, please detail any insights on running in your current habitat, and/or what you think is the most or least Parisienne way to celebrate a long run. Whatever it is, I hope you are doing it.
MG: I think running here is like running in any big city with little green space - there's a lot of pavement, construction, traffic, garbage and bad smells (don't get me STARTED on how covered in pee this city is, my friends are probably really tired of my pee-related rants). But it's also a city that is covered in history, famous landmarks, and neat things to see, and there are some parks that are actually really nice. And once I started running more than a 6-mile loop starting and ending at my apartment (which is on a rare kind of street that does have some trees, only people are always peeing on them!) I found that I could do a fair amount of sightseeing while getting my miles in. It also helps that I have a metro pass (employer subsidized, it's France!) so I don't necessarily have to run the whole way to and from the place I want to run.
As for celebration... On my route today I saw numerous bus shelter ads advertising... bread! I didn't know baguettes needed a marketing board, but they have one. Their current slogan is: 'Coucou, tu as pris le pain?' (Hey, did you get/take the bread?) The ads must have worked, because my celebration at the end of my run definitely involved a stop at a bakery. Oui, j'ai pris le pain!
So, Meg braved the disapproval of French fashionistas, ran home from Versailles and ate Parisien baguette. This seemed blogworthy, and it comforts me to feel part of a bigger world of nutcases. Actually to be honest, I know Meg to be a pretty rational woman who gets shit done in the world without falling to pieces, and appears to challenge herself without beating herself up, and given that much of the point of this blog was to not let myself get self-judgy for no goddamn reason while trying to achieve a task i invented for myself, for chrissake -- i thought Meg was a good posterchild to feature.
plus, there's the baguette envy.
a plus tard, mes ami(e)s.
Friday, September 20, 2013
cornfields, surreality, measuring up, not vomiting, other stuff... are you inspired yet?
i don't usually remember all the mile splits for my runs as i am doing the run. but yesterday early evening i ran 5 miles, and i was very aware of each one. it was a bumpy road in some parts, but i definitely came out on top. somehow it's a really long story for only 5 miles, but apparently i have a lot to say.
it mostly starts with pretzels.
my stomach was a little iffy yesterday, but i knew i could go for my run as planned. but then at some point in the afternoon, i fell a bit comatose into a short nap, and when my alarm got me up again, groggy, i wanted a little snack, and i remembered that i am going to try snacking on a few pretzels on my long run sunday, to see whether a little more salt staves off the hamstring doom cramping. but that meant i had a bag of pretzels at hand, so i had a handful of little pretzels. and my stomach thought that was a BAD idea. ... unfortunately, it didn't mention that until a mile into the run.
so: i ran out into the sunshine. it was pretty lovely out; the sun was not yet setting, but slanting through the trees in a crisp fall way. ok, sun can't slant crisply. this isn't a haiku. the point was, it was sunny and it *looked* like fall. however it was also humid and 25C. this is relevant.
on yesterday's agenda, according to the plan (aka the slavedriver), was a 5 mile tempo, which meant i should have been running at a consistent pace of ... oh god, who knows at this point. i think the most realistic pace calculator calculation would say 9-minute miles. ok, so i ran one mile out in the slanty sun, and it beeped in at 8:54. which was just great. except then i noticed i was not feeling up to running that pace for 4 more miles. and also i wanted to puke a little. oh dear.
i turned right on this road which runs parallel to a US highway, where the landscape here changes abruptly from suburban strip malls, older 50s style house and newer student apartments and condos, to ... cornfields. i mean, actual cornfields. and in between and around these cornfields are small office parks with 4 or 5 brick office buildings that are made to look like residential bungalows (why??), as well as a fair number of remaining trees, and the occasional house whose provenance is completely unclear -- who on earth lives there? -- and then more corn. or at least fields. yesterday, they all seemed to be full of 5 foot corn.
it's kind of surreal, that this area of cornfields, trees and suburban orthodontist offices is 1.2 miles from our apartment. it's also kind of surreal that this place has a sidewalk? i really don't think anybody else is using it. perhaps pre-2008 crash, those corn fields were all going to become business parks? it's a little eerie. they're still building more student apartments and condos and so on up there, though.
but yesterday: i was running along this sidewalk, and the sun was pretty and so was the corn and the sky was blue and sidewalk was wide and all mine, but unfortunately i wanted to vomit. so i kept running. i told myself that i only had one more mile and then there was just a 5k left. how this was supposed to be comfort, i don't know. i mean, i still wanted to puke. but i knew i wouldn't, really, and my ipod was playing stupid songs but it's misbehaving and i can't fastforward it right now... and then! lo and behold. up beyond the cornfields, in the sunlight, there emerged a green shining glass fortress!
it's true. half a mile ahead, up around a comfortable bend in the road, which was surely invented by a road planner who envisioned the majesty of a bend in the road, surrounded by a sea of corn, because there is no natural landmark requiring anything but straw-straight roads... there was (is) this emerald city, dazzling in the sun. how on earth is there an epic glass castle out here? why? how? who goes there? am i really only 1.34 miles from my apartment? (oh GOD is that really how little distance has elapsed since i last checked? i still definitely want to vomit)... and of course it turns out that gleaming glass building is the headquarters of the local university's Credit Union.
so i ran to the corn-wreathed credit union. and my Garmin beeped: mile 2 at 8:58. well, nice that i'm holding this pace, despite the vomit thing. it's definitely too hot out to be pumpkin spice latte season. ugh.
to make things even more surreal, the credit union building has a large immaculate parking lot on all four sides, and around that is a paved 1 mile trail. 1 mile total, yes. and why is it there? did someone at the credit union get a grant to support employee health and so install this paved trail -- complete with wildflower beds, tasteful trash cans and park benches every 100 metres? seriously. and the building had maybe 15 cars in the huge lot, and no humans could be seen. and the sun shone on, and the corn waved in the wind, and i ran around about a third of the mile-long paved trail. even in that little section, there were THREE maps indicating exactly where i was on the trail. um, but where? how could you get lost?! there is only one path, and wherever you are, you can always look around across the wildflowers and shrubs and see the huge credit union building, being the ONLY building anywhere in sight, looming like the freakin Eiffel Tower, and know exactly where you are! this thing is the weirdest. ... so i did a little bewildered loop all on my own on this freakishly well-maintained useless trail, and then i went back the way i came. i got back to slightly more familiar roads surrounded by the condos and apartments, and i STILL wanted to vomit. uuuugh. i started bargaining with myself about only running a 5k and then walking the rest. i knew i would hate that. marathon training confidence, is not what that would build. i reminded myself i wasn't *really* going to puke. it would pass... and then mile 3 beeped. 9:00 min/mile exactly.
half of mile 4 took me back close to the trails right by our house, and i started to think that i was doing ok. my legs were already a little sore before this run from the plyo class i went to the day before (uh, it's sort of intervals-bootcampy exercise? lots of 'ballistic' motion, done in intervals) and the class had been hard and full of 20 year olds, but i had definitely held my own, and only moderate soreness both made me feel strong, and also that my self-crosstraining lately hasn't been too wimpy like i worried, because this class in which i was measuring myself against others didn't kill me. i know it shouldn't work that way, but it does. i especially know i shouldn't do that because when i have taught group exercise classes at the Y i yell at people (it's a kickboxing class, i'm supposed to yell) that nobody cares what they look like as they flail along, because unless you're doing it wrong, you should be too busy with your own flailing to look at anybody else. but when honest: i know it's not true, i'm watching the other people in class, not wanting to fall behind even when we're doing exercises on our own. in fact i try to make myself get up close to the mirror, not to be a vain douche, but so i'm distracted enough by my own form to ignore everybody else. it's not an impressive fact, but i kind of doubt it's that uncommon. i'm not sure if this means i should stop lying to my kickboxing classes (when i get back to them next year), or lie differently or something.
so remember, i was running (oh right, this is about running) along during mile 4, still wanting to puke, but recognizing that my tired legs were tired, but no more tired than when i started, and not hurting in any worrying way. here i was running along a bigger road, and in light of the humid hot-ish weather, i had worn a spandex-y lime green tank top, and i'm not being hard on myself when i say it's not the most flattering piece of clothing i own. that's ok. when i wear it, i feel like i'm saying 'yeah, i'm lumpy and jiggly, whatever, i'm still really strong.' and related to the unimpressive gym stuff above, i notice that when i'm wearing such a top, and i'm running on a busier road, i run faster than when on an empty one, wearing something flowing. apparently i feel the need to impress the people driving by? who might be couch potatos and might be college varsity rockstars and might be too crippled to even walk and might be all sorts of things and are probably too busy with their own lives to care about the woman in the lime green tank top with some fat around her waist? right. anyway i was trying to tell myself that the goal was excellent form for its sake alone, and not for the drivers, and i remembered i'm trying to stay careful with my gait and keep my hamstrings happy, and they *were* happy, it was going fine, i was keeping it together although maybe not running any faster, and i turned off onto a little road that leads behind a huge grocery store, to a path to my familiar trails, now about a mile from home though only 3.4 miles in. this road turned out to have a human gazelle on it: college girl, wearing racing kit, doing drills, warming up for no doubt 6 minute miles. ... but you know, i felt ok to just keep going at my 9 min/mile pace, and we exchanged nods and smiles as i passed by and headed back to the little trailhead.
and then i realized, finally, that i didn't want to puke anymore! i was too hot and thirsty and tired and would have preferred to stop running probably, but the lack of nausea was pretty exciting. so! i told myself i was going to finish the 5 miles, and so turned off the pavement to a trail detour through the woods a bit, to make the route long enough... and mile 4 beeped in on my Garmin at 9:01.
of course at this point my ipod with its capricious and unalterable song order started playing this lovely french ballad, yeah no, that's not going to help me here, and i turned the damn thing off.
i told myself that i had just run 3 uncomfortable miles. but that was ok: in a month (from today as a matter of fact) i will run 26 miles, and probably a lot more than 3 of them will be uncomfortable. i told myself to remember how those three felt, to remind myself when i'm feeling really shitty in the marathon that i can run 3 bad miles, and then the next one can still be better. to make that last point more convincing, though, this last mile in the woods, with no music but no vomit, was going to be my fastest mile today. i told myself i could be a little more uncomfortable. i tried to speed up just a bit; i didn't let myself look at my pace on my watch once, because i was pretty sure i could feel how fast i was running, and it felt about right. hard but not deadly. in that last half mile i was on a more populated trail, and i used each person i saw as an excuse to run better, with better form, making it look easier than it felt, again why? but it helped, and though i was breathing hard it was still rhythmic, i was hardly sprinting, and people and their dogs nodded and smiled as i passed them. and finally i got close to the end of that bit of trail, right beside our apartment complex and my watch beeped. mile 5: 8:52. bullseye.
so, i jogged back to our front door and came inside to get joyously greeted by the dog. it was a good run. and i felt like i banked a nugget of confidence, to use when i need it. (um, who banks nuggets? please insert reasonable metaphor as you like.)
in conclusion: yesterday before the nap and the run, a friend of mine in paris who is gearing up for a trail half marathon adventure told me she had come earlier to this blog looking for inspiration before going on a run, but i hadn't updated since sunday night. well! ... i sure hope she has a LOT of inspiration now, because i used a lot of damn words here to describe what was only 5 miles to and from a credit union of Oz in a cornfield.
this weekend is long run time. i am still on the fence about whether to make my final (all-at-once) 20 miler this weekend or next -- turns out there are two versions of the plan online, and they arguably differ as to whether you're a marathon novice or not (obviously yes), and the novice one has its 20 miler four weeks out not three. ... so tomorrow i will decide if i am mentally ready for 20 miles this sunday. i might be!
lots more confidence nuggets to mined there, i bet. ugh. (very quietly: remind me why i signed up for this?)
more sunday night. stay tuned.
it mostly starts with pretzels.
my stomach was a little iffy yesterday, but i knew i could go for my run as planned. but then at some point in the afternoon, i fell a bit comatose into a short nap, and when my alarm got me up again, groggy, i wanted a little snack, and i remembered that i am going to try snacking on a few pretzels on my long run sunday, to see whether a little more salt staves off the hamstring doom cramping. but that meant i had a bag of pretzels at hand, so i had a handful of little pretzels. and my stomach thought that was a BAD idea. ... unfortunately, it didn't mention that until a mile into the run.
so: i ran out into the sunshine. it was pretty lovely out; the sun was not yet setting, but slanting through the trees in a crisp fall way. ok, sun can't slant crisply. this isn't a haiku. the point was, it was sunny and it *looked* like fall. however it was also humid and 25C. this is relevant.
on yesterday's agenda, according to the plan (aka the slavedriver), was a 5 mile tempo, which meant i should have been running at a consistent pace of ... oh god, who knows at this point. i think the most realistic pace calculator calculation would say 9-minute miles. ok, so i ran one mile out in the slanty sun, and it beeped in at 8:54. which was just great. except then i noticed i was not feeling up to running that pace for 4 more miles. and also i wanted to puke a little. oh dear.
i turned right on this road which runs parallel to a US highway, where the landscape here changes abruptly from suburban strip malls, older 50s style house and newer student apartments and condos, to ... cornfields. i mean, actual cornfields. and in between and around these cornfields are small office parks with 4 or 5 brick office buildings that are made to look like residential bungalows (why??), as well as a fair number of remaining trees, and the occasional house whose provenance is completely unclear -- who on earth lives there? -- and then more corn. or at least fields. yesterday, they all seemed to be full of 5 foot corn.
it's kind of surreal, that this area of cornfields, trees and suburban orthodontist offices is 1.2 miles from our apartment. it's also kind of surreal that this place has a sidewalk? i really don't think anybody else is using it. perhaps pre-2008 crash, those corn fields were all going to become business parks? it's a little eerie. they're still building more student apartments and condos and so on up there, though.
but yesterday: i was running along this sidewalk, and the sun was pretty and so was the corn and the sky was blue and sidewalk was wide and all mine, but unfortunately i wanted to vomit. so i kept running. i told myself that i only had one more mile and then there was just a 5k left. how this was supposed to be comfort, i don't know. i mean, i still wanted to puke. but i knew i wouldn't, really, and my ipod was playing stupid songs but it's misbehaving and i can't fastforward it right now... and then! lo and behold. up beyond the cornfields, in the sunlight, there emerged a green shining glass fortress!
it's true. half a mile ahead, up around a comfortable bend in the road, which was surely invented by a road planner who envisioned the majesty of a bend in the road, surrounded by a sea of corn, because there is no natural landmark requiring anything but straw-straight roads... there was (is) this emerald city, dazzling in the sun. how on earth is there an epic glass castle out here? why? how? who goes there? am i really only 1.34 miles from my apartment? (oh GOD is that really how little distance has elapsed since i last checked? i still definitely want to vomit)... and of course it turns out that gleaming glass building is the headquarters of the local university's Credit Union.
so i ran to the corn-wreathed credit union. and my Garmin beeped: mile 2 at 8:58. well, nice that i'm holding this pace, despite the vomit thing. it's definitely too hot out to be pumpkin spice latte season. ugh.
to make things even more surreal, the credit union building has a large immaculate parking lot on all four sides, and around that is a paved 1 mile trail. 1 mile total, yes. and why is it there? did someone at the credit union get a grant to support employee health and so install this paved trail -- complete with wildflower beds, tasteful trash cans and park benches every 100 metres? seriously. and the building had maybe 15 cars in the huge lot, and no humans could be seen. and the sun shone on, and the corn waved in the wind, and i ran around about a third of the mile-long paved trail. even in that little section, there were THREE maps indicating exactly where i was on the trail. um, but where? how could you get lost?! there is only one path, and wherever you are, you can always look around across the wildflowers and shrubs and see the huge credit union building, being the ONLY building anywhere in sight, looming like the freakin Eiffel Tower, and know exactly where you are! this thing is the weirdest. ... so i did a little bewildered loop all on my own on this freakishly well-maintained useless trail, and then i went back the way i came. i got back to slightly more familiar roads surrounded by the condos and apartments, and i STILL wanted to vomit. uuuugh. i started bargaining with myself about only running a 5k and then walking the rest. i knew i would hate that. marathon training confidence, is not what that would build. i reminded myself i wasn't *really* going to puke. it would pass... and then mile 3 beeped. 9:00 min/mile exactly.
half of mile 4 took me back close to the trails right by our house, and i started to think that i was doing ok. my legs were already a little sore before this run from the plyo class i went to the day before (uh, it's sort of intervals-bootcampy exercise? lots of 'ballistic' motion, done in intervals) and the class had been hard and full of 20 year olds, but i had definitely held my own, and only moderate soreness both made me feel strong, and also that my self-crosstraining lately hasn't been too wimpy like i worried, because this class in which i was measuring myself against others didn't kill me. i know it shouldn't work that way, but it does. i especially know i shouldn't do that because when i have taught group exercise classes at the Y i yell at people (it's a kickboxing class, i'm supposed to yell) that nobody cares what they look like as they flail along, because unless you're doing it wrong, you should be too busy with your own flailing to look at anybody else. but when honest: i know it's not true, i'm watching the other people in class, not wanting to fall behind even when we're doing exercises on our own. in fact i try to make myself get up close to the mirror, not to be a vain douche, but so i'm distracted enough by my own form to ignore everybody else. it's not an impressive fact, but i kind of doubt it's that uncommon. i'm not sure if this means i should stop lying to my kickboxing classes (when i get back to them next year), or lie differently or something.
so remember, i was running (oh right, this is about running) along during mile 4, still wanting to puke, but recognizing that my tired legs were tired, but no more tired than when i started, and not hurting in any worrying way. here i was running along a bigger road, and in light of the humid hot-ish weather, i had worn a spandex-y lime green tank top, and i'm not being hard on myself when i say it's not the most flattering piece of clothing i own. that's ok. when i wear it, i feel like i'm saying 'yeah, i'm lumpy and jiggly, whatever, i'm still really strong.' and related to the unimpressive gym stuff above, i notice that when i'm wearing such a top, and i'm running on a busier road, i run faster than when on an empty one, wearing something flowing. apparently i feel the need to impress the people driving by? who might be couch potatos and might be college varsity rockstars and might be too crippled to even walk and might be all sorts of things and are probably too busy with their own lives to care about the woman in the lime green tank top with some fat around her waist? right. anyway i was trying to tell myself that the goal was excellent form for its sake alone, and not for the drivers, and i remembered i'm trying to stay careful with my gait and keep my hamstrings happy, and they *were* happy, it was going fine, i was keeping it together although maybe not running any faster, and i turned off onto a little road that leads behind a huge grocery store, to a path to my familiar trails, now about a mile from home though only 3.4 miles in. this road turned out to have a human gazelle on it: college girl, wearing racing kit, doing drills, warming up for no doubt 6 minute miles. ... but you know, i felt ok to just keep going at my 9 min/mile pace, and we exchanged nods and smiles as i passed by and headed back to the little trailhead.
and then i realized, finally, that i didn't want to puke anymore! i was too hot and thirsty and tired and would have preferred to stop running probably, but the lack of nausea was pretty exciting. so! i told myself i was going to finish the 5 miles, and so turned off the pavement to a trail detour through the woods a bit, to make the route long enough... and mile 4 beeped in on my Garmin at 9:01.
of course at this point my ipod with its capricious and unalterable song order started playing this lovely french ballad, yeah no, that's not going to help me here, and i turned the damn thing off.
i told myself that i had just run 3 uncomfortable miles. but that was ok: in a month (from today as a matter of fact) i will run 26 miles, and probably a lot more than 3 of them will be uncomfortable. i told myself to remember how those three felt, to remind myself when i'm feeling really shitty in the marathon that i can run 3 bad miles, and then the next one can still be better. to make that last point more convincing, though, this last mile in the woods, with no music but no vomit, was going to be my fastest mile today. i told myself i could be a little more uncomfortable. i tried to speed up just a bit; i didn't let myself look at my pace on my watch once, because i was pretty sure i could feel how fast i was running, and it felt about right. hard but not deadly. in that last half mile i was on a more populated trail, and i used each person i saw as an excuse to run better, with better form, making it look easier than it felt, again why? but it helped, and though i was breathing hard it was still rhythmic, i was hardly sprinting, and people and their dogs nodded and smiled as i passed them. and finally i got close to the end of that bit of trail, right beside our apartment complex and my watch beeped. mile 5: 8:52. bullseye.
so, i jogged back to our front door and came inside to get joyously greeted by the dog. it was a good run. and i felt like i banked a nugget of confidence, to use when i need it. (um, who banks nuggets? please insert reasonable metaphor as you like.)
in conclusion: yesterday before the nap and the run, a friend of mine in paris who is gearing up for a trail half marathon adventure told me she had come earlier to this blog looking for inspiration before going on a run, but i hadn't updated since sunday night. well! ... i sure hope she has a LOT of inspiration now, because i used a lot of damn words here to describe what was only 5 miles to and from a credit union of Oz in a cornfield.
this weekend is long run time. i am still on the fence about whether to make my final (all-at-once) 20 miler this weekend or next -- turns out there are two versions of the plan online, and they arguably differ as to whether you're a marathon novice or not (obviously yes), and the novice one has its 20 miler four weeks out not three. ... so tomorrow i will decide if i am mentally ready for 20 miles this sunday. i might be!
lots more confidence nuggets to mined there, i bet. ugh. (very quietly: remind me why i signed up for this?)
more sunday night. stay tuned.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
20 miles in 26 hours, part two: For The Win!
short version: last night i ran 7 miles in an hour. this morning i ran 13 more miles in 2 hours. guys, i think i can run a marathon.
(you can just do a little dance for me now and move on, or you can read all the blather.)
long version:
after last night's success (see last post), i tried to go to bed early (ha! look, i got into bed at midnight, that's what i managed) i got up at 6:30am (dog thought i had lost it), had coffee and new breakfast, and got ready. the weather was pretty cool, actually, there was some sort of sunlight even (once the sun bothered to get UP, ugh), and it didn't rain (spit, more like) till the last couple miles.
i think i succeeded at eating quite a lot but not too much and not too fatty last night, because this morning i only had to eat a piece of bread and a half a banana with peanut butter. this was in part practice for the marathon, because i don't want to have to mess around in a hotel room with kettles and oatmeal on the morning (middle of night) of the main event. and this worked fantastic! i brought a couple figs to eat half an hour before we started, and i ate a package of stinger chews throughout. ok, so energy success. (i have this idea that i'm going to bring salted mini pretzels on my next two long runs to see if they help with cramps -- some people online say it worked for them. may just be an excuse to eat pretzels, but i can sure see not wanting to just eat sugar for four hours.)
overall, it all went ticketyboo. the course was pretty chill -- mostly paved trails, pretty damn flat, some pretty low-key but sweet cheering, and quite a few aid stations with volunteers who weren't exactly organized but still gave us the desired liquids. my running partner and i were together for the first 10 miles, after which i turned on my music and we picked up the pace slightly, and she finished about 5 seconds ahead of me. we both had reasons to take it easy (uh, did i mention she needs gallbladder surgery? but, you know, first a little half-marathon. STERN STUFF.) so we started just in front of the 10:00/mile pacer, but mostly we ran behind the 9:30 pacers, and after 10 miles we moved ahead. our final time was probably 2:05, which is 9 minutes slower than two years ago but quite a success in the present state!
i was definitely putting on the brakes for the first three miles, and i was definitely working for the last three. my legs were certainly more tired at 7 miles than normal, but starting with the 16 mile cramp-tacular last sunday, i'd run 35 miles in the last 7 days before this race, so i'm gonna feel good about that. i'm also SO COMFORTED by the fact that my left hamstring felt nearly no different than my right, and that finally i felt like my stride was back to a place where my quads can do the work i want them to -- somehow since i hurt myself it's always been the back of my legs feeling it, and the front of my legs never felt like got their turn. today, they got sore too. this is what it's come to: i'm so pleased to have feel sore differently.
oh, yes! and the beer tent. i had half a beer, preceded by a full pint of alcoholic cider (don't worry, i had food too) and hung out stretching and blathering with my running partner for an hour, wearing some comical attire (hot magenta argyle compression socks. were on my body. and yet, she talked to me.) ... and you know, with a little bit of foam rolling tonight, i don't even think i'll have any problem cross training tomorrow.
the take home message here: it's been pretty much two solid weeks of physically encouraging signs. and now when i sat down to write this post i realized something in earnest that i had semi-realized in the shower earlier: i now think i can actually run this marathon. this may be the first time i've really believed it to be possible.
to which my head immediately yells: HUSH UP, CAPTAIN JACKASS! DON'T JINX IT!
so, ok. no getting greedy with the training or stupid with the form or sloppy with the sleep schedule or whatever. and probably, what i need to do mostly is not let my worried mind crap all over what my stubborn body can in fact do (this is the kind of eloquent training mantra you come here to read, i am sure. new side career as inspirational poster motto writer, here i come.) it still might go to hell, but no use stressing over hellish possibilities. just gonna eat some coconut curry and keep saying nice stuff to myself.
next week's long run is 15 miles, and the week after is the second 20-miler, which this time i will do all in one go. by which time i may not even be able to shut up the belief that is happening.
... five weeks to go.
(you can just do a little dance for me now and move on, or you can read all the blather.)
long version:
after last night's success (see last post), i tried to go to bed early (ha! look, i got into bed at midnight, that's what i managed) i got up at 6:30am (dog thought i had lost it), had coffee and new breakfast, and got ready. the weather was pretty cool, actually, there was some sort of sunlight even (once the sun bothered to get UP, ugh), and it didn't rain (spit, more like) till the last couple miles.
i think i succeeded at eating quite a lot but not too much and not too fatty last night, because this morning i only had to eat a piece of bread and a half a banana with peanut butter. this was in part practice for the marathon, because i don't want to have to mess around in a hotel room with kettles and oatmeal on the morning (middle of night) of the main event. and this worked fantastic! i brought a couple figs to eat half an hour before we started, and i ate a package of stinger chews throughout. ok, so energy success. (i have this idea that i'm going to bring salted mini pretzels on my next two long runs to see if they help with cramps -- some people online say it worked for them. may just be an excuse to eat pretzels, but i can sure see not wanting to just eat sugar for four hours.)
overall, it all went ticketyboo. the course was pretty chill -- mostly paved trails, pretty damn flat, some pretty low-key but sweet cheering, and quite a few aid stations with volunteers who weren't exactly organized but still gave us the desired liquids. my running partner and i were together for the first 10 miles, after which i turned on my music and we picked up the pace slightly, and she finished about 5 seconds ahead of me. we both had reasons to take it easy (uh, did i mention she needs gallbladder surgery? but, you know, first a little half-marathon. STERN STUFF.) so we started just in front of the 10:00/mile pacer, but mostly we ran behind the 9:30 pacers, and after 10 miles we moved ahead. our final time was probably 2:05, which is 9 minutes slower than two years ago but quite a success in the present state!
i was definitely putting on the brakes for the first three miles, and i was definitely working for the last three. my legs were certainly more tired at 7 miles than normal, but starting with the 16 mile cramp-tacular last sunday, i'd run 35 miles in the last 7 days before this race, so i'm gonna feel good about that. i'm also SO COMFORTED by the fact that my left hamstring felt nearly no different than my right, and that finally i felt like my stride was back to a place where my quads can do the work i want them to -- somehow since i hurt myself it's always been the back of my legs feeling it, and the front of my legs never felt like got their turn. today, they got sore too. this is what it's come to: i'm so pleased to have feel sore differently.
oh, yes! and the beer tent. i had half a beer, preceded by a full pint of alcoholic cider (don't worry, i had food too) and hung out stretching and blathering with my running partner for an hour, wearing some comical attire (hot magenta argyle compression socks. were on my body. and yet, she talked to me.) ... and you know, with a little bit of foam rolling tonight, i don't even think i'll have any problem cross training tomorrow.
the take home message here: it's been pretty much two solid weeks of physically encouraging signs. and now when i sat down to write this post i realized something in earnest that i had semi-realized in the shower earlier: i now think i can actually run this marathon. this may be the first time i've really believed it to be possible.
to which my head immediately yells: HUSH UP, CAPTAIN JACKASS! DON'T JINX IT!
so, ok. no getting greedy with the training or stupid with the form or sloppy with the sleep schedule or whatever. and probably, what i need to do mostly is not let my worried mind crap all over what my stubborn body can in fact do (this is the kind of eloquent training mantra you come here to read, i am sure. new side career as inspirational poster motto writer, here i come.) it still might go to hell, but no use stressing over hellish possibilities. just gonna eat some coconut curry and keep saying nice stuff to myself.
next week's long run is 15 miles, and the week after is the second 20-miler, which this time i will do all in one go. by which time i may not even be able to shut up the belief that is happening.
... five weeks to go.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
marathon training: excessive wildlife edition
so i need to go to bed. i need to go to bed so i can get up at 6:30am (to which my gentleman replied 'no, c'mon, pick a real time, that's not even a real time to get up'; we are not morning people) so i can leave at 7:20am to pick up my running partner so we can be ready to half-marathon starting at 8:30am.
i ran 7 miles tonight, btw, so as to be ready to run another 13 in the morning. this is my first attempt at a 20 miler, and i decided to put 12 hours and a long nap in the middle. perhaps you say they will not let me do that on marathon day? but i will not listen to you at present. ... and tonight's run went really well -- it was probably the most effortless run i've had in ages. probably because it was also like 15 degrees cooler than the last four months. i focused very hard on keeping this form thing in check and not bollocksing up my left hamstring, and guys it's still working! i let myself run on feel for the first two miles, and after a slow warmup mile, my second was 8:45, and i thought whoa, nelly! let's not throw the next 18 miles under the bus... so i reeled it in, and ran most of it around 9:20-9:30 pace. felt really quite easy, and am slightly optimistic about tomorrow.
so now i'm just going to foam roll, lay out all my clothes and gear (i already ground the coffee so the gentleman doesn't get the wake-up-call shock of his life in the morning), and collapse.
first, though, i need to tell you about how nature has been getting all up in my running grill this week, and it's a little ridiculous. there are three items on this list, and one of them is kind of PG-13. just warning you. dad, it'll only be about two sentences. k, without further ado
1. on thursday morning i ran quite a hot and slightly hard 8 miles. the first few were in an arboretum that i didn't know lansing had. where'd it go getting a pretty and quite large arboretum and not telling anybody? anyway, i went and ran around its spring dirt paths, and at one point i emerged from the woods to cross a field... and it was full of wild turkeys! there were maybe 15 or 20 wild turkeys just chillin' in the morning sun, and we were equally surprised to find each other there. i think of them honked at me? do turkeys honk? i don't know, it made a big noise and i kept running. big birds just make me think of dinosaurs now that i know the fossil record situation, and that's a little creepy. and then thanksgiving, that's awkward. so yes: wild turkeys.
the other two incidents happened tonight.
2. it rained a few days ago? and now there are a ton of mosquitos in the area. AUGHGHG. hate. hatred. much hate. so i sprayed myself with a lot of bug spray tonight, because i was running in the half hour of sunlight and into dusk... but you know, i have my limits. i don't spray bug spray in my ears and stuff -- i smear a lot on, and it's gross, but i shower (mostly) when i get home, so that's ok -- but i don't coat every inch of my body. sometimes you believe in the power of preventive clothing, no? ... no. so: not to get too graphic, but tonight while i was running, a mosquito bit my vagina. you know what happens when you suddenly feel a mosquito bite you? instinctively? ... you slap where it bit you.
probably nobody saw me. let's just assume so. if you ever see a video on the internet, we're just going to pretend it wasn't me, ok?
3. ... a couple miles after the mosquito incident, i was getting into a groove, headed home over familiar terrain -- and i kind of ran into a moth. really, that's weird? a moth flew by and hit my knee? and wow that was a substantia... nope. it was a bat. i kneed a bat while running. what the fuck? that is not how nature is supposed to work, for a whole slew of reasons. meanwhile, the bat shook it off, and headed back out into night.
maybe you need to turn up that sonar a bit, bat.
i wasn't going that fast.
right! so, to bed. it's probably going to rain on us tomorrow morning, just to make everything interesting (by which i mean damp and unpleasant) but nevermind! the 20 mile weekend will not conquer me! i may even drink some beer!
more tomorrow night.
i ran 7 miles tonight, btw, so as to be ready to run another 13 in the morning. this is my first attempt at a 20 miler, and i decided to put 12 hours and a long nap in the middle. perhaps you say they will not let me do that on marathon day? but i will not listen to you at present. ... and tonight's run went really well -- it was probably the most effortless run i've had in ages. probably because it was also like 15 degrees cooler than the last four months. i focused very hard on keeping this form thing in check and not bollocksing up my left hamstring, and guys it's still working! i let myself run on feel for the first two miles, and after a slow warmup mile, my second was 8:45, and i thought whoa, nelly! let's not throw the next 18 miles under the bus... so i reeled it in, and ran most of it around 9:20-9:30 pace. felt really quite easy, and am slightly optimistic about tomorrow.
so now i'm just going to foam roll, lay out all my clothes and gear (i already ground the coffee so the gentleman doesn't get the wake-up-call shock of his life in the morning), and collapse.
first, though, i need to tell you about how nature has been getting all up in my running grill this week, and it's a little ridiculous. there are three items on this list, and one of them is kind of PG-13. just warning you. dad, it'll only be about two sentences. k, without further ado
1. on thursday morning i ran quite a hot and slightly hard 8 miles. the first few were in an arboretum that i didn't know lansing had. where'd it go getting a pretty and quite large arboretum and not telling anybody? anyway, i went and ran around its spring dirt paths, and at one point i emerged from the woods to cross a field... and it was full of wild turkeys! there were maybe 15 or 20 wild turkeys just chillin' in the morning sun, and we were equally surprised to find each other there. i think of them honked at me? do turkeys honk? i don't know, it made a big noise and i kept running. big birds just make me think of dinosaurs now that i know the fossil record situation, and that's a little creepy. and then thanksgiving, that's awkward. so yes: wild turkeys.
the other two incidents happened tonight.
2. it rained a few days ago? and now there are a ton of mosquitos in the area. AUGHGHG. hate. hatred. much hate. so i sprayed myself with a lot of bug spray tonight, because i was running in the half hour of sunlight and into dusk... but you know, i have my limits. i don't spray bug spray in my ears and stuff -- i smear a lot on, and it's gross, but i shower (mostly) when i get home, so that's ok -- but i don't coat every inch of my body. sometimes you believe in the power of preventive clothing, no? ... no. so: not to get too graphic, but tonight while i was running, a mosquito bit my vagina. you know what happens when you suddenly feel a mosquito bite you? instinctively? ... you slap where it bit you.
probably nobody saw me. let's just assume so. if you ever see a video on the internet, we're just going to pretend it wasn't me, ok?
3. ... a couple miles after the mosquito incident, i was getting into a groove, headed home over familiar terrain -- and i kind of ran into a moth. really, that's weird? a moth flew by and hit my knee? and wow that was a substantia... nope. it was a bat. i kneed a bat while running. what the fuck? that is not how nature is supposed to work, for a whole slew of reasons. meanwhile, the bat shook it off, and headed back out into night.
maybe you need to turn up that sonar a bit, bat.
i wasn't going that fast.
right! so, to bed. it's probably going to rain on us tomorrow morning, just to make everything interesting (by which i mean damp and unpleasant) but nevermind! the 20 mile weekend will not conquer me! i may even drink some beer!
more tomorrow night.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
in which nothing bad happens
so about that 8am wake-up call? hollow laugh. it's hard, when your other half is on a 3-10am sleep schedule.
so i finally dragged myself up at 9:30. so i ran at 11am. it was like 30C and humid. wise! easy! obviously! and yet: it was just fine.
i drove to a park which i almost never go to, and which has a lot of shade, and which conveniently is the only part of the half i'm running on sunday that i'm not familiar with. in fact, the only time i ran there previously was on this race two years ago, and it was some overzealousness on this terrain that caused the last two miles to feel like helldamn punishment.
anyway, what i did was run 4 miles. it was supposed to be 'speedwork' but you remember operation not try running so fast and not get hurt? yes. and also the 16 miles from sunday was not entirely forgotten. so in the first mile i was caaaaautious. given the fatigue of my hamstrings, i felt pretty slow, stiff and shanky -- like maybe i was running on rusty stilts? and that seemed dumb, but i figured just be slow and warm up. i did NOT stalk my pace, and i waited for the little garmin BEEP... and it said i ran the first mile in 9:35. well, if that feels super slow, it'll be an ok day.
so i did my best to pick it up a bit, A BIT, and the other three miles were around 8:35-8:45. it was only 4 miles and it felt somewhat hard, but it was dumbass hot (whereas apparently the race will be like 18C and maybe raining?) and i got a little runner's high at the end even, which it's hard to get running slow. i'm getting increasingly more sure that i'm fixing my form in a way that prevents left leg injury, and i'm foamrolling my ass off (literally, that's where i'm sore/tight at present) and chug chug chug, building blocks, etc.
three other things about this run:
1. a random dude walked out of the forest onto the trail and politely asked me which way to the pavilion. there's like 3 pavilions within a mile of that spot. i described them to him, and he picked the one he wanted and i gave him directions and he headed off. he was carrying a huge box of tools. uh, weird?
2. i got winked at by what i can only describe as a dashing hipster construction worker. he held traffic while i crossed the road two times. i mean, he was holding traffic for this huge dumptruck, actually, but he graciously gestured for me to take advantage of the hold-up for my own purposes. i felt like running royalty! sweaty, disgusting run-royalty. now that i think about it, i was also wearing a pink top with (god help me, it was on sale) **ruffles** on it... yeah, overall i was probably looking pretty elegant.
3. labor day comes and goes, and they close the beach at this park, and turn off the water fountains. people? global warming? it's 34C with the humidity? let's rethink this policy. (i had lots of liquid with me, don't worry -- it's just not nice, though.)
anyway, the point of all this blathering is that it's working! i'm running as intended! ... eh, pace can fuck off. i'm not saying i'm not slightly terrified still, but no point in focusing on future horrors just yet. in other words: back to (real life) work.
maybe more after tomorrow's tempo, otherwise full deets on the weekend back-to-back on sunday. ... i know, the suspense might kill you.
so i finally dragged myself up at 9:30. so i ran at 11am. it was like 30C and humid. wise! easy! obviously! and yet: it was just fine.
i drove to a park which i almost never go to, and which has a lot of shade, and which conveniently is the only part of the half i'm running on sunday that i'm not familiar with. in fact, the only time i ran there previously was on this race two years ago, and it was some overzealousness on this terrain that caused the last two miles to feel like helldamn punishment.
anyway, what i did was run 4 miles. it was supposed to be 'speedwork' but you remember operation not try running so fast and not get hurt? yes. and also the 16 miles from sunday was not entirely forgotten. so in the first mile i was caaaaautious. given the fatigue of my hamstrings, i felt pretty slow, stiff and shanky -- like maybe i was running on rusty stilts? and that seemed dumb, but i figured just be slow and warm up. i did NOT stalk my pace, and i waited for the little garmin BEEP... and it said i ran the first mile in 9:35. well, if that feels super slow, it'll be an ok day.
so i did my best to pick it up a bit, A BIT, and the other three miles were around 8:35-8:45. it was only 4 miles and it felt somewhat hard, but it was dumbass hot (whereas apparently the race will be like 18C and maybe raining?) and i got a little runner's high at the end even, which it's hard to get running slow. i'm getting increasingly more sure that i'm fixing my form in a way that prevents left leg injury, and i'm foamrolling my ass off (literally, that's where i'm sore/tight at present) and chug chug chug, building blocks, etc.
three other things about this run:
1. a random dude walked out of the forest onto the trail and politely asked me which way to the pavilion. there's like 3 pavilions within a mile of that spot. i described them to him, and he picked the one he wanted and i gave him directions and he headed off. he was carrying a huge box of tools. uh, weird?
2. i got winked at by what i can only describe as a dashing hipster construction worker. he held traffic while i crossed the road two times. i mean, he was holding traffic for this huge dumptruck, actually, but he graciously gestured for me to take advantage of the hold-up for my own purposes. i felt like running royalty! sweaty, disgusting run-royalty. now that i think about it, i was also wearing a pink top with (god help me, it was on sale) **ruffles** on it... yeah, overall i was probably looking pretty elegant.
3. labor day comes and goes, and they close the beach at this park, and turn off the water fountains. people? global warming? it's 34C with the humidity? let's rethink this policy. (i had lots of liquid with me, don't worry -- it's just not nice, though.)
anyway, the point of all this blathering is that it's working! i'm running as intended! ... eh, pace can fuck off. i'm not saying i'm not slightly terrified still, but no point in focusing on future horrors just yet. in other words: back to (real life) work.
maybe more after tomorrow's tempo, otherwise full deets on the weekend back-to-back on sunday. ... i know, the suspense might kill you.
Monday, September 9, 2013
day-after optimism and several pitfalls regarding early morning running
hey, so! this is a good sign: i woke up this morning after yesterday's long typically dramatic effort, and felt pretty fine. hamstrings a little sore, both of them near equally i thought; hip flexors could use some stretching (which gave 'em, and more to come tonight before bed.) but nothing out of the ordinary. no difficulty sitting on a toilet seat for instance (if your quads have ever been really angry, you know what i mean, yes? right.) so i was able to do all the normal crosstraining and whatevering today, and that gives me hope.
it's going to be 800C tomorrow with 2000% humidity, which is completely dumb and inexcusable because it got chilly and cold a few days ago but what's to be done, so i'm going to get up EARLY and do my quick run before it gets mega-gross. ... of course by EARLY i mean awake at 8am. this is why i could never have an actual running blog, because those people are at *lunch* by 8am.
the half marathon on sunday starts at 8:30am, though, so i guess i have to remember how to run first thing before the week is out. my partner in trail crime from yesterday (we'll just call her PITC ok?) pointed out that while this isn't insanely early like some races (uh, detroit marathon i'm glaring at you), it also means that, assuming we run it in something around two hours, we're going to be at the finish line at 10:30am, and there's a beer tent... and you don't want to turn down free beer! but sunday at 10:30am is a tad early! what is it, st patrick's day?
sidenote: when i ran this race two years ago, i didn't know that PITC was literally 5 seconds behind me at the finish -- we knew of each other professionally because we're in the same field and had a bazillion mutual friends on facebook but had never met -- and so that day i finished alone, and felt a little queasy (got a bit too excited around miles 7-9 and paid for it in the last two), and then walked over to the beer tent. as mentioned above, i was on the fence regarding the beverage, viz "on the one hand, free beer; on the other hand, just ran 13 miles, often not awake at this hour on a sunday, might vomit..." so, i took one and sipped, and thought immediately it was a bad plan. as i walked across the field with this bad plan in my hand and a bit of its taste in my mouth, a random guy yelled at me GO GREEN! and i thought -- man, if i look that close to nausea, there's no need to rub it in, buster ... and i gave him a bit of a rude look... and then i remembered that i was wearing a t-shirt supporting the local rabidly-supported college sports team, whose main colour is green, so actually he was yelling SCHOOL SPIRIT! and not YOU MIGHT BARF! sorry, School Spirit Guy, for misunderstanding.
anyway, when PITC ran it, she and her friend went and chilled in the beer tent for a while, consuming multiple beers she tells me. of course they did. she's from maine; they are made of stern stuff up there.
so this weekend's goals are: 1. run 7 saturday night 2. run 13 sunday morning 3. learn to drink a sunday morning recovery beer.
go team!
(don't) go green!
... 5 weeks to go.
it's going to be 800C tomorrow with 2000% humidity, which is completely dumb and inexcusable because it got chilly and cold a few days ago but what's to be done, so i'm going to get up EARLY and do my quick run before it gets mega-gross. ... of course by EARLY i mean awake at 8am. this is why i could never have an actual running blog, because those people are at *lunch* by 8am.
the half marathon on sunday starts at 8:30am, though, so i guess i have to remember how to run first thing before the week is out. my partner in trail crime from yesterday (we'll just call her PITC ok?) pointed out that while this isn't insanely early like some races (uh, detroit marathon i'm glaring at you), it also means that, assuming we run it in something around two hours, we're going to be at the finish line at 10:30am, and there's a beer tent... and you don't want to turn down free beer! but sunday at 10:30am is a tad early! what is it, st patrick's day?
sidenote: when i ran this race two years ago, i didn't know that PITC was literally 5 seconds behind me at the finish -- we knew of each other professionally because we're in the same field and had a bazillion mutual friends on facebook but had never met -- and so that day i finished alone, and felt a little queasy (got a bit too excited around miles 7-9 and paid for it in the last two), and then walked over to the beer tent. as mentioned above, i was on the fence regarding the beverage, viz "on the one hand, free beer; on the other hand, just ran 13 miles, often not awake at this hour on a sunday, might vomit..." so, i took one and sipped, and thought immediately it was a bad plan. as i walked across the field with this bad plan in my hand and a bit of its taste in my mouth, a random guy yelled at me GO GREEN! and i thought -- man, if i look that close to nausea, there's no need to rub it in, buster ... and i gave him a bit of a rude look... and then i remembered that i was wearing a t-shirt supporting the local rabidly-supported college sports team, whose main colour is green, so actually he was yelling SCHOOL SPIRIT! and not YOU MIGHT BARF! sorry, School Spirit Guy, for misunderstanding.
anyway, when PITC ran it, she and her friend went and chilled in the beer tent for a while, consuming multiple beers she tells me. of course they did. she's from maine; they are made of stern stuff up there.
so this weekend's goals are: 1. run 7 saturday night 2. run 13 sunday morning 3. learn to drink a sunday morning recovery beer.
go team!
(don't) go green!
... 5 weeks to go.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
nearly 16 miles: the usual melodrama
well. i ran about 16 miles today. something like 15.5 on my garmin, plus a bunch of faffing about i didn't hit resume for. so, let's just say it was 16.
it would be foolish to say i nailed it. also it would be false. but i think it's also safe to say i didn't actually get nailed.
the overall approach was, i think, a good one. a partner in trail crime and i drove to a set of looping trails by a nearby lake. the full loop takes about 3.5 miles. so we ran the loop twice. then we did a little dirt road running out of the woods and near the lake. then it had been nearly 10 miles. and it's 5.5 miles home from there, so i turned on my ipod and ran home.
the good news, let's start with the big things, is that my left hamstring/calf/back of knee wonkiness was never a problem, and also i didn't die. it was sunny but really gorgeous weather, so i definitely didn't overheat. and i don't think i'll have difficulty walking tomorrow or anything (er WE WILL SEE. there will be yoga.) actually, with respect to the previous injury business, i actually came up with a guess on thursday's run that i feel was vindicated today, so i'm going to write a separate post to remind myself about that later.
and i also think that the fact that 7 miles and change were on those trails matters -- they aren't steep or technical, but there's a lot of sand (harder to run) and gentle up and downs, and you keep having to pick up your feet for roots, so overall it slows you down a lot, and it also takes more effort. the fact that my pace over the miles was something like 10:20 should give you an indication of this, particularly when the last 6 were all but one between 9:30-9:50.
the less good news: the last 3 miles were not good. at some point around mile 11.5, i was worried i might start hurting my left leg (hint: i don't think i was), so i thought i'd walk a bit and then run again. i did that twice, but it apparently ANGERED the running gods, because i stopped to walk just because i had to, waiting for a light, at mile 13.5, and the back of my legs, hams and calves alike, announced that they were throwing a CRAMP PARTY and YOU ARE INVITED! it was tremendously unpleasant, and the thing is stretching didn't really seem to be what they wanted. what they wanted was that i not stop running. just run slowly. but you can't just run slowly! that hurts too! ... so, the last two miles were kind of death shuffly (although miraculously my pace wasn't too much slower, odd) and then a little bit of walking OW OW OW and then more shuffling. at 15.5 miles, i was two blocks from home, so i tried to briskly walk those and it was not comfortable. i started jogging again just to get home quicker, but again found that they actually cramped less that way. wtf? (oh and in the last .5 miles i tried to hold a strong pace, and i didn't hurt myself but i did come really close to pukking.)
anyway i got home. when i came in the door the dog was like YAY YOU'RE HOME and the gentleman was like are you too hot, do you need to stand in front of this fan, and i was like no, thanks, needgatoradeyogamatstretchinglegscrampsofdoom. and the cramps lasted like... 20 minutes. it was a baaaaad 20 minutes. but then i got it together and had a shower and some protein and stuff, and i'm wearing compression calf things and really, what was all that complaining about?
i'm a little confused about this cramping business, independent of being troubled by what it bodes. i THOUGHT i was hydrating and fueling (these are pompous verbs, i'm sorry) well, with my new handheld water bottle thingy (which is annoying but still better than every alternative) filled with nuun, and my little chewy things and my dried apricots for the last 5 miles. but i feel like maybe i'm a (TMI) saltier sweat-er than i might be, and so more electrolytes might be necessary? it also occurs to me that due to the hamstring injury business i've been quite careful with my lower leg strength training and especially taking it easy on the backs of the legs, so they could well be getting exhausted earlier than usual... (the sports med literature seems to be divided as to whether long run cramping comes from lack of sodium/stuff, straight dehydration or muscle fatigue, or some combo thereof.)
of course the bigger problem (to address the elephant i hear clearing his throat over by the couch, yeah i see that you are here in the room, Mr. Tusks) is that i have 6 weeks before i am purportedly running 10 more miles. let's just say when i came home today i could not have run 10 more miles. like: lassie says little billy is stuck in the well? great, send someone else. i'm late to catch a flight? eh, there'll be another one tomorrow. the house is on fire? let's think of it like a sauna. ... i wasn't very excited about a bunch more moving around, is my point.
and so of course i will admit to considerable nay-saying on the run home. 'what are you thinking?! you can't run a damn marathon?! you're a half marathon runner being a big idiot. why kill yourself to run two in a row? who does that? you don't come from a family of kenyan whippets, and there is no need for this behaviour. just lie down in that grass and call the gentleman to come pick you up in the car bearing chocolate croissants'. it was all very Blergh ... which is odd, because i don't usually get that kind of mental crazy in the moment, when i run. i get 'this is too hard, i can't do this right now ', but i don't usually get 'you are a big phony about this whole thing', and that's not a shift in perspective i was aiming for.
anyway, let's end this on a reasonably reasonable note. today i ran the third longest distance i've ever run, and i did the full amount i said i would do (more, actually, since 15 miles was the proscribed amount) and i don't think i made any injuries worse, and it only took me half an hour to feel human again afterwards. and those combined are an achievement, and i will not dwell on what this means for october 20th. i will trust in the plan-like thing i have, and i will get to wherever i get to, one melodramatic stumblecramp at a time.
p.s. i met two different colleagues for the first time on the trails today. and yes, i looked and felt my most professional; i believe in the second instance i was blowing my nose on my shirt at the precise instant she appeared.
it would be foolish to say i nailed it. also it would be false. but i think it's also safe to say i didn't actually get nailed.
the overall approach was, i think, a good one. a partner in trail crime and i drove to a set of looping trails by a nearby lake. the full loop takes about 3.5 miles. so we ran the loop twice. then we did a little dirt road running out of the woods and near the lake. then it had been nearly 10 miles. and it's 5.5 miles home from there, so i turned on my ipod and ran home.
the good news, let's start with the big things, is that my left hamstring/calf/back of knee wonkiness was never a problem, and also i didn't die. it was sunny but really gorgeous weather, so i definitely didn't overheat. and i don't think i'll have difficulty walking tomorrow or anything (er WE WILL SEE. there will be yoga.) actually, with respect to the previous injury business, i actually came up with a guess on thursday's run that i feel was vindicated today, so i'm going to write a separate post to remind myself about that later.
and i also think that the fact that 7 miles and change were on those trails matters -- they aren't steep or technical, but there's a lot of sand (harder to run) and gentle up and downs, and you keep having to pick up your feet for roots, so overall it slows you down a lot, and it also takes more effort. the fact that my pace over the miles was something like 10:20 should give you an indication of this, particularly when the last 6 were all but one between 9:30-9:50.
the less good news: the last 3 miles were not good. at some point around mile 11.5, i was worried i might start hurting my left leg (hint: i don't think i was), so i thought i'd walk a bit and then run again. i did that twice, but it apparently ANGERED the running gods, because i stopped to walk just because i had to, waiting for a light, at mile 13.5, and the back of my legs, hams and calves alike, announced that they were throwing a CRAMP PARTY and YOU ARE INVITED! it was tremendously unpleasant, and the thing is stretching didn't really seem to be what they wanted. what they wanted was that i not stop running. just run slowly. but you can't just run slowly! that hurts too! ... so, the last two miles were kind of death shuffly (although miraculously my pace wasn't too much slower, odd) and then a little bit of walking OW OW OW and then more shuffling. at 15.5 miles, i was two blocks from home, so i tried to briskly walk those and it was not comfortable. i started jogging again just to get home quicker, but again found that they actually cramped less that way. wtf? (oh and in the last .5 miles i tried to hold a strong pace, and i didn't hurt myself but i did come really close to pukking.)
anyway i got home. when i came in the door the dog was like YAY YOU'RE HOME and the gentleman was like are you too hot, do you need to stand in front of this fan, and i was like no, thanks, needgatoradeyogamatstretchinglegscrampsofdoom. and the cramps lasted like... 20 minutes. it was a baaaaad 20 minutes. but then i got it together and had a shower and some protein and stuff, and i'm wearing compression calf things and really, what was all that complaining about?
i'm a little confused about this cramping business, independent of being troubled by what it bodes. i THOUGHT i was hydrating and fueling (these are pompous verbs, i'm sorry) well, with my new handheld water bottle thingy (which is annoying but still better than every alternative) filled with nuun, and my little chewy things and my dried apricots for the last 5 miles. but i feel like maybe i'm a (TMI) saltier sweat-er than i might be, and so more electrolytes might be necessary? it also occurs to me that due to the hamstring injury business i've been quite careful with my lower leg strength training and especially taking it easy on the backs of the legs, so they could well be getting exhausted earlier than usual... (the sports med literature seems to be divided as to whether long run cramping comes from lack of sodium/stuff, straight dehydration or muscle fatigue, or some combo thereof.)
of course the bigger problem (to address the elephant i hear clearing his throat over by the couch, yeah i see that you are here in the room, Mr. Tusks) is that i have 6 weeks before i am purportedly running 10 more miles. let's just say when i came home today i could not have run 10 more miles. like: lassie says little billy is stuck in the well? great, send someone else. i'm late to catch a flight? eh, there'll be another one tomorrow. the house is on fire? let's think of it like a sauna. ... i wasn't very excited about a bunch more moving around, is my point.
and so of course i will admit to considerable nay-saying on the run home. 'what are you thinking?! you can't run a damn marathon?! you're a half marathon runner being a big idiot. why kill yourself to run two in a row? who does that? you don't come from a family of kenyan whippets, and there is no need for this behaviour. just lie down in that grass and call the gentleman to come pick you up in the car bearing chocolate croissants'. it was all very Blergh ... which is odd, because i don't usually get that kind of mental crazy in the moment, when i run. i get 'this is too hard, i can't do this right now ', but i don't usually get 'you are a big phony about this whole thing', and that's not a shift in perspective i was aiming for.
anyway, let's end this on a reasonably reasonable note. today i ran the third longest distance i've ever run, and i did the full amount i said i would do (more, actually, since 15 miles was the proscribed amount) and i don't think i made any injuries worse, and it only took me half an hour to feel human again afterwards. and those combined are an achievement, and i will not dwell on what this means for october 20th. i will trust in the plan-like thing i have, and i will get to wherever i get to, one melodramatic stumblecramp at a time.
p.s. i met two different colleagues for the first time on the trails today. and yes, i looked and felt my most professional; i believe in the second instance i was blowing my nose on my shirt at the precise instant she appeared.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
more evidence of crazy making
i'm feeling fine, crosstrained good today, 5 miles tomorrow morning, no panicking.
but tonight, i'm getting a little work done, and it's going really slowly, so i start letting myself read running websites beyond the Proscribed Times (i had to get a grip, so there are now proscribed times: only allowed to read anything online about running either (1) last thing before bed, after laptop is closed, while brushing teeth etc., or (2) during breakfast, and not once first cup of coffee is finished.) (except when i'm on holiday.) (but i'm NOT on holiday now!)
so, right. 20 minutes of distraction later, i'm seriously contemplating buying a super wicking SILK top that people say is SO GOOD and comfortable bla bla bla, and is a mere 60 dollars. for a silk running tank.
mad-fucking-ness.
am closing tabs at lightning speed before i get sucked any further in. really, really, i promise. ugh.
but tonight, i'm getting a little work done, and it's going really slowly, so i start letting myself read running websites beyond the Proscribed Times (i had to get a grip, so there are now proscribed times: only allowed to read anything online about running either (1) last thing before bed, after laptop is closed, while brushing teeth etc., or (2) during breakfast, and not once first cup of coffee is finished.) (except when i'm on holiday.) (but i'm NOT on holiday now!)
so, right. 20 minutes of distraction later, i'm seriously contemplating buying a super wicking SILK top that people say is SO GOOD and comfortable bla bla bla, and is a mere 60 dollars. for a silk running tank.
mad-fucking-ness.
am closing tabs at lightning speed before i get sucked any further in. really, really, i promise. ugh.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
further progress!
this morning was the first time in almost two weeks i think that i kind of did what my training plan said to do! this should not be impressive, but it is.
also 'morning' was at noon. shut up, i'm a very important person.
anyway the plan said speedwork: 8 x 800 meters. meaning, 8 half mile repeats. so 4 miles total. well, i did definitely run 4 miles total, with a warm and cooldown in addition.
the ways in which it was awesome and means i can totally run a marathon is that it didn't hurt in any of the ways it did before and i did it all happy easy peasy lemon squeasy and so on.
the ways in which it was suspect is that what i did was run 4 miles straight, and hardly at a speedwork pace. you will recall that upon returning to running post the dread hamstring racing incident, i found that 9:30 was my top speed without pain? well, todays miles were 9:30, 9:15, 9:10 and 8:45. for the first two, i ran evenly the whole time; for the last two, those numbers reflect averages because i ran faster in the middle half of each mile -- but i didn't watch my watch, just tried to move a little faster and a little faster, easing into it and being so insanely attuned to whether there was going to be pain. i am STILL WORRIED about the potential for pain.
the funny thing is that actually i *was* hurting, but in a completely different and ridiculous way. i did something to some tendony thing at the back of both of my legs yesterday, but it was from my *desk chair* being at the wrong height and me not noticing until 5 hours of being engrossed in a writing project. yes, i'm a moron. anyway, that's stupid and problem fixed now; the pain is going away and nothing came of it during the run, it was just there reminding me i don't know how to SIT, and if sitting is an advanced activity for you, who says you can run a marathon?!?
yeah, morale is still a bit of an issue.
but! but, but. i'm getting there. i will keep on trucking as planned until the weekend, and then on saturday or sunday there is the test of tests: 15 miles! i'm going to get a buddy for about the first 10 miles, and then finish it off myself. if i have any crises or epiphanies before then, i'll come whimper at you. if not, i'll let you know how Project Long Run Redemption goes.
also 'morning' was at noon. shut up, i'm a very important person.
anyway the plan said speedwork: 8 x 800 meters. meaning, 8 half mile repeats. so 4 miles total. well, i did definitely run 4 miles total, with a warm and cooldown in addition.
the ways in which it was awesome and means i can totally run a marathon is that it didn't hurt in any of the ways it did before and i did it all happy easy peasy lemon squeasy and so on.
the ways in which it was suspect is that what i did was run 4 miles straight, and hardly at a speedwork pace. you will recall that upon returning to running post the dread hamstring racing incident, i found that 9:30 was my top speed without pain? well, todays miles were 9:30, 9:15, 9:10 and 8:45. for the first two, i ran evenly the whole time; for the last two, those numbers reflect averages because i ran faster in the middle half of each mile -- but i didn't watch my watch, just tried to move a little faster and a little faster, easing into it and being so insanely attuned to whether there was going to be pain. i am STILL WORRIED about the potential for pain.
the funny thing is that actually i *was* hurting, but in a completely different and ridiculous way. i did something to some tendony thing at the back of both of my legs yesterday, but it was from my *desk chair* being at the wrong height and me not noticing until 5 hours of being engrossed in a writing project. yes, i'm a moron. anyway, that's stupid and problem fixed now; the pain is going away and nothing came of it during the run, it was just there reminding me i don't know how to SIT, and if sitting is an advanced activity for you, who says you can run a marathon?!?
yeah, morale is still a bit of an issue.
but! but, but. i'm getting there. i will keep on trucking as planned until the weekend, and then on saturday or sunday there is the test of tests: 15 miles! i'm going to get a buddy for about the first 10 miles, and then finish it off myself. if i have any crises or epiphanies before then, i'll come whimper at you. if not, i'll let you know how Project Long Run Redemption goes.
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