Week in Review 12/29 to 1/4/2015

As weeks in running go, this one was pretty exciting. I looked back over 2014, kicked off the new year with a race win and finally put another race on the calendar. In so doing, I’m feeling a lot more motivated to get out there which coincides perfectly with the arctic blast headed our way. No temps above 20 for the foreseeable future = potential for quite a bit of indoor running.

Monday: Super icy early morning. Cars all over the road but I avoided disaster. 7.7 miles with a mile of 200 ins and outs plus glutes, balance and a foam roll session.

Tuesday: Ski race at Mount Hor so skied the course, then ran to the top and back while coaching. 2 miles of running, god knows how many of skiing.

Wednesday: Hour of classic skiing plus 5.8 mile run with striders. Arms afterward.

Thursday: First Run! 2.5 mile warm up, 5K in 19:11, 1.5 mile cooldown for 7.2 miles. Happy to find out I can still run a 5:49 mile…Glutes and legs afterward.

Friday: 4.2 mile recovery run around campus then skied to the Cabin at Trapps. Hairy conditions, so happy not to fall.

Saturday: 11.3 mile long run. Absolutely frigid out. Definitely did not eat enough Friday night to fuel a long run!

Sunday: Rest day before kicking off the spring cycle.

Total Miles: 38.15

Two leg sessions and 1 arm session.

Happy with the way this week went and even happier to feel ready to train again. I’ll spend the next 6 weeks rebuilding a strong foundation (fartleks, hill runs, basic tempo) as I look forward to the 10 miler on February 22nd.

Race Report: RunVermont First Run 5K

It has been a LONG time since I’ve raced a 5K and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little anxious about what this morning would bring. I’m in good general shape but have done very little in the way of workouts since Vegas and have almost no memory of how to race a 5K. I’ve run the course before and my plan was to go out moderately for mile 1, survive the hill and headwind of mile 2 then kick it in for mile 3, which features a great downhill finish.

It was cold and windy this morning with a “feels like” of 11 at race start. I hate to be hot when I race so I gambled and wore capris and a long sleeve. Although I froze at the start, I was generally happy with this choice during the race. The start went out FAST and I was in about 10th place for women at half a mile but worked to just run my race. This turned out to be a good approach; I was in second by the mile. As we turned into the wind, I caught the woman who was in first and when she threw in a little surge, I decided to just tuck in on her as we battled the wind for mile 2. At about the 3K, however, she was starting to slow way down so I gave it my 10 quick steps and pushed past her to the next group of people.

WHERE is the top of this hill? And why does this have to be the headwind?

Once we crested the hill at 2, I ground down and worked on just keeping form solid through the final mile. The Beech Street downhill was FREEZING but once we turned again, it wasn’t too bad for the last stretch. Somewhere along here a woman told me I was first woman, so I just kept pressing to the line. I finished feeling strong and got to break the finishing tape! I reflexively threw my arms up, so stay tuned for that picture…

Coach was not on his photo game today…grinding towards the finish.

I’m most thrilled with my race splits as they reflect that I respected the course and pushed when it was appropriate. I have a bad tendency to fight the wind so I’m thrilled that I trusted myself enough to just settle in through the windy mile and get it back together when we turned.

Mile 1: 6:10

Mile 2: 6:30

Mile 3: 5:49

.1: 5:31 pace

19:11, First Overall Female, 17th overall.

All in all, an excellent day that bodes well for 2015!

USATF NE Grand Prix 2015

The USATF NE Grand Prix was announced on Monday, which may not seem like headline news to most. For me, it will help finalize my calendar for 2015. The biggest item is that the marathon was moved to be Vermont City. I didn’t plan to do a spring marathon this year (because I am focusing on a fall OTQ attempt) but VCM being the USATF marathon changes a lot for me.

Have you done the USATF Grand Prix races before? Anyone racing as soon as February 22nd?

Week in Review 5.19.14 to 5.25.14 and a VCM Half Report

This was a really solid training week and my first above 60 in a long time.

Monday: 7.7 mile recovery run with a still-broken Garmin.

Tuesday: 9.15 miles with 4 strides at the end. (4 by 60 meters at a pretty-darn-quick pace).

Wednesday: Best workout post-surgery!!! 8 mile structured fartlek on the Causeway. 2 mile warmup, 5 minutes at slower tempo effort, 5 minutes recovery, 4 at faster tempo effort, 4 minutes recovery, 3 at interval pace, 3 minutes recovery, 2 at interval pace, 2 minutes recovery, 1 all out, 1 minute recovery, 30 seconds all out, 30 seconds recovery, 2 mile cooldown. Felt awesome the whole time which was a miracle given that I did this at 1 pm in 75 degrees and sunny. So encouraging to have a good workout. Hipcore after.

Slow Tempo: 6:45

Faster Tempo: 6:35

Interval: 6:10

All Out: 5:40

Thursday: Scheduled Off Day, prorated 7.5

Friday: 8 mile run with Annie, extremely humid out.

Saturday: 4.5 mile run with Will and Annie with 4 strides after.

Sunday: 20 miles. 2 mile warmup, 13.1 at tempo effort in 2-person Vermont City Marathon relay, 5+ miles of jogging around the course afterward.

Total: 64.9 miles

Finally feel like I’m hitting my stride this week. I still need to be better about the extras, in particular lifting, drills and core, but things are starting to feel better and I don’t feel so clunky all the time. I see Dr. Kevin on Wednesday and am hopeful he can help me keep working on improving my form/getting back to pre-surgery form.

VCM Half Marathon Race Report

Giving Laurel her singlet pre-race.

I was really happy to only be running the half this year. It started off as a very humid morning and progressed to just plain hot by the time the second half of the race rolled around. It was reminiscent of 2011 when I led the pace group and people were just dropping like flies. I saw multiple pace leaders drop out yesterday and many experienced runners come in far off goal times. The weather really is getting too darn unpredictable at VCM recently.

I ran a full volume week so this race was intended to be a big workout for me and another opportunity to get back into racing. My only hope was to pop up a VDOT level with my performance and get through it without hurting myself or ruining this coming week of training. I’m glad for that, as I was drenched with sweat by mile 2 when I am not typically a heavy sweater. I didn’t wear a watch but remember a few splits from the course clocks. We went through mile 1 in about 6:45 pace and then Katie took off. I spent the rest of the run working through the pack (people went out SO fast) and just focusing on keeping good form. My pace was between 6:40 and 6:50 for the whole run and the only negative was that I felt like I could never get into a groove. My higher gear felt too fast and the 6:45 pace felt too slow. I was in the process of beating myself up for my second slowest half ever but corrected my attitude as we went through Church Street the second time when I reminded myself to be grateful that I was running a half 5 months after surgery. I finished the half in 1:29:05 (6:47 pace) which pops me up a VDOT level. Mission: successful!  Even after hours in the sun and lots more miles, my legs felt fresh. I’m happy to find that although my quads are a little tired today, everything else feels great and I’m ready for another week of training.

I have 2 weeks until the Causeway 15K and am looking forward to another opportunity to race the 15K on a flatter course with a few more weeks of fitness.

How was your weekend? Anyone race? How do you monitor your progress?

The Student Becomes the Teacher

Last Saturday, I went to the State Meet to cheer my chickies on. I figured they needed me there for another familiar voice as they ran around the track. It turns out that I needed them. As long as I’ve been coaching them, I’ve enforced the rule that one can’t be mad about a PR and that you can’t control bad weather or how anyone else runs. I’ve heard myself say these things a hundred times but wasn’t sure that they heard them. It turns out that they did, because all of them came up throughout the day to remind me that I don’t get to be disappointed with my run at VCM because it was a PR, because the weather wasn’t in my control, because my run had nothing to do with anyone else’s run. And they were/are right.

VCM was a 7 minute PR over a year ago and an almost 20 minute PR over my first marathon five years ago. That’s a lot of time. It’s okay to learn from mistakes that I made during the race, but it’s not okay to dwell on and be disappointed in my performance. As such, we move on.

So what went well at VCM?

1. Nutrition. We nailed it. I had plenty of energy, my stomach felt great and I never had foggy moments of glycogen depletion. For no other reason, this makes VCM a complete success because nutrition can be such a wild card. Taking this element off the “to-do” list is a huge accomplishment.

2. Patience. The women’s field went out fast. Really fast. And I didn’t go with them. I stuck to my race plan and felt great throughout the entire race. I didn’t have a lot of drive to do much at the end (the word that keeps coming up is bored), but I moved from 14th at the 10K to 9th at the finish, and that doesn’t count at least two invited women who dropped out. I worked hard throughout the early parts of the race to remind myself that the marathon is a long race and that anything can happen between the start and 26.2 miles.

3. Recovery. After my first marathon, I was so sore that I could barely walk for a week. Last year, it took me over an hour to walk half a mile in Waterfront Park. This year, I was walking and talking almost normally after a shower and a snack. Although my shins were inexplicably sore on Monday and Tuesday, I was able to walk without a hitch by Wednesday. I also took an entire week off of running, which I often don’t do. Even this week, I’m keeping runs short and still taking rest days to let my body and mind heal.

Race Report: Vermont City Marathon 2012

After a week of panic as the weather toggled between cloudy and cool and humid and hot (and eventually landed somewhere right in between), race day was upon us. The promise of clouds never came to fruition and even by 8 am, it was pretty warm on course. Race morning was not particularly exciting; besides a porto-potty line that never moved (I peed in the woods) and being in the preferred corral made all the difference in the world as I never had to struggle to get a good starting position.

We started out in a reasonable manner and I was lucky to have Katie along for the half to remind me to be patient. It felt like we were jogging for the first miles but the heat was already noticeable and I started dumping water over my head early. We caught up with Christine on the Beltline and chatted away through the first third of the race. My legs felt a little leadlike going out on the Beltline, but subsided once we made the turn and headed back to town. As I took my first shot block, it turned my stomach leaving me without a fuel plan for the rest of the race. Luckily the yellow Gatorade stayed down so I didn’t suffer any real ill effects.

We had an extremely fast Church Street mile (6:30) but peeled it back for Pine Street and South Cove neighborhoods. We were sad to see Katie go at the half, but happy to be half done. As we crossed through Oakledge, I felt the best I’d felt all day, while Christine felt the worst. We separated for the next few miles, which was sad for both of us.

I tried to stay calm up Battery and kept pulling back on the pace so as to not wreck my legs and felt good enough at the top to fist pump for being done with the harder part of the course (so I thought.) Rolling on into the North End, I felt great and strong through miles 16 and 17. And then everything fell apart.

The second half of VCM has very little shade and also coincides with the hottest part of the day, so the sun really started to bother me in the neighborhoods. I was trying everything to stay cool; running through sprinklers, dumping water, eating Flavo-Ice. Despite that, I felt like I was carrying legs made of concrete and had my first real encounter with the Wall. I rallied a bit going into Leddy but by mile 20 was hurt and tired. My lungs felt fresh, but my legs were crampy and heavy. At mile 21, Christine caught up and muttered, “I’m never fucking doing this again.” I think I grunted back, “Me neither.”

Miles 21 through the finish are sort of blurry. I felt horrible, but was lucky enough to run into a friend who was suffering from cramping. Despite feeling awful himself, he dragged me through the last few miles with a constant barrage of encouragement. Because I felt like I was one step from a cramp that would freeze me up entirely, there was no kick to speak of, but I finished and didn’t collapse, although I’d been promising myself that I was allowed to since about mile 22.

After the race, I was in a world of hurt, but because of the ridiculous “one-way” traffic rule near the finish area, couldn’t get to the nearest access to the lake to cool my legs. Instead, I had to limp all the way through the finish area to the other side to access the Coast Guard ramp. This limp consisted of me walking ten yards, bending over, then hobbling another ten yards. One of the guys with whom I coach finished near me and remarked that I was moving at “.2 miles per hour.” I think he might have been giving me too much credit. After icing down, I felt much better, although the Frankenstein walk had already set in.

Recovery was painful (and my first steps on Monday are on video if you really want them), but shortlived. I limped for a few days but am happily back to running, albeit slowly. I don’t seem to have suffered any permanent injury, but am looking forward to a few weeks of unstructured “run if you feel like it” training.

Splits are below. Error analysis to follow…

1	6:49
2	6:40
3	6:45
4	6:45
5	6:50
6	6:56
7	6:42
8	6:51
9	6:51
10	6:32
11	6:52
12	6:56
13	6:51
14	6:50
15	6:59
16	7:08
17	7:00
18	6:55
19	7:11
20	7:17
21	7:23
22	7:30
23	7:41
24	7:45
25	7:32
26	7:22
Total Gun	3:05:36 (7:05)
Total Chip	3:05:33

 

Short and Sweet Recap

The good? A 6 minute PR. The bad? A grim last 4 miles.

I haven’t even downloaded my splits from my garmin yet and a race report will come later in the week, but I’m happy, sore and ready to recover so I can get back on the roads.

10th Woman

97th Overall

3:05:36 Gun, 3:05:33 Chip. (Old PR was 3:11:18 in Boston 2011).

#twiddlesthumb

On one hand, having this week completely off save for the occasional coffee date has been wonderful. I can eat exactly on my schedule, lay on the couch and generally rest my legs. On the other hand, having nothing to fill my time leads to moments of complete and utter taper panic. Somehow it’s already Thursday and since the weather seems set on changing every few hours, I’ve even stopped checking my weather websites. It’ll be what it’ll be…

Today, my pre-race rituals begin. I’ll run an easy 4 with Christine and her sister this afternoon. Tonight, I’ll eat a pasta dinner (tortellini and red sauce with copious garlic bread) and watch Spirit of the Marathon. 

On Friday, I won’t run at all and even my usual hike with the dog will be on flat ground. I’ll pack my race bag which includes everything from a singlet to warm up in to my post-race skirt. In the afternoon, the Rookie (Justin) and I are going to be (local) TV stars on WCAX’s the :30. KC arrives late in the evening and suddenly, it’s marathon weekend.

On Saturday, I’ll watch Yam Scram and a few track races at the Essex Invitational, then head to the Expo to pick up my bib. I’m coercing KC into a 3 mile shakeout run in the afternoon, followed by a lazy evening of pasta with friends. Scott lands at 10:30, but KC and I are pretty sure we’re insisting he takes a cab…

Sunday morning starts early. I’ll wake up around 5, walk the dog and eat my first breakfast. My biggest goal for the morning is to have 20 ounces of fluid down by 7 am so that I can be hydrated AND done visiting the bathroom well before loading in the corral at 7:50. When I get down to the start, I’ll jog for a few minutes, stretch my always tight calf muscles, check in with my training partners and lay down on the grass. And then it all starts…

 

Ain’t Over Til It’s Over

I was walking through Centennial Field with Ava on Saturday after my long run, when I walked past one of the gates to the field where a Yogi Berra quote was painted on the wall: “It ain’t over til it’s over.” The phrase struck me as particularly apt after a long run that went well just a few short days after considering scratching from VCM.

As I mentioned earlier this week, things did not feel good after last weekend. I was in pain, my stride was a mess and running 8 miles seemed difficult, let alone race 26. But after an amazing massage that moved out a ton of swelling and a great test run on Thursday, I found myself back and feeling good by our Saturday run. I was landing normally, driving my knees and generally feeling like my old self, which was a welcome relief after being in tears last Monday.

Yogi’s wisdom can also be applied to the marathon itself. As I said to the Rookie the other day when he asked about what to expect from race day, there are good miles and bad miles in a marathon. There will be moments when you actually think you can’t go on and then twenty minutes later, you think you could run forever.* A competitor may blow past you at 13 but fall apart at 21. The hardest part of the marathon for me is accepting this uncertainty. I have an impressive track record of unraveling myself if I have a bad mile. One of my goals for VCM is to try to stay mentally tough even when a mile (or 3) feels awful. Perhaps recalling Yogi’s words will help…

Happy Taper, everyone.

*For a hysterical interpretation of the marathon, watch this improv video.

Spring 2012 Race Schedule

Despite the fact that we’re just emerging from our first true cold snap of the winter, I’m thinking ahead to my spring race calendar. While not all of these races will end up being full efforts, this is where you’ll find me running pretty darn hard in the coming months.

March 18th: New Bedford Half Marathon, New Bedford, Mass.

April 14th: Unplugged Half (very likely a simulation run)

May 19th: Bedford Rotary 12K (last hard workout pre-Vermont City!)

May 27th: Vermont City Marathon

Following VCM, I’ll transition to some shorter distances for the hotter summer months. I’m also planning on taking the month of June off from work, school, coaching, running etc, as my AMCAS application will be submitted and I’ll have the first real break I’ve had in almost two years. I don’t know where I’ll go, but I know there won’t be any scheduled running beyond extending my fitness to a few required races.