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March 27, 2006

Twinginess and the MBM

The challenge this weekend was to juggle a long run of 15 miles with a trip to Cleveland. I didn't want to do the long run on Sunday - I knew I wouldn't have time before my flight home, and I didn't want to count on having enough time after I got back to Chicago, as that would guarantee something tragic would happen and I'd end up spending a quality afternoon hanging around Hopkins. My initial thought was to do it on Saturday, since I'd have plenty of time. Then I took another look at my plans for the weekend, and realized that there was a 98% chance I'd be hungover on Saturday. In the interest of Getting Up To No Good, I decided to try the run on Friday.

Sure, it wasn't the best plan. Sure, it was the day after a hard hill/speed workout. Sure, the Mystery Butt Muscle (MBM) may not go for it, but I figured I'd at least try. You only get to be young and stupid once, right? So on Friday, despite having the day off work, I got up nice and early, got all set to go out and run for a few hours, and then grabbed my transit card on the way out, just in case.

Yeah. I was glad I had it. Everything started out OK, but after about 3 miles, the MBM started twinging. It wasn't that bad, so I thought about doing the whole 15 anyway. Then I came to my senses. I would have enough time to run on Sunday, as long as my flight back was on time. Besides, it was probably better to stop, let everything rest, and have a better 10-12 mile long run on Sunday than to drag my twinging ass through 15 miles on Friday and be paying for it all next week. Rather than turn around immediately, I decided to keep going until I hit 5 miles, and then just take the train home. Sure, I felt a little ridiculous sitting on the el in all my running gear, but whatever. I was heading away from downtown, so there weren't too many witnesses.

Saturday I was, indeed, hungover. I think I'm just getting too old for this whole "drinking" thing, as the hangovers are rapidly becoming far more severe than one would expect, given the total drinkage of the night before. I'm not saying I didn't have too much to drink - I'm just saying I didn't have anywhere near enough to justify how freaking awful I felt all day. At least I didn't have any plans until Saturday evening (Rock climbing! Bowling! Two great tastes that really don't taste all that great together), and, hey, I had a good time on Friday night, so we'll call it even. I guess. Stupid hangovers.

When I got back to Chicago on Sunday afternoon, I felt tired, dehydrated, and completely lazy. I'd e-mailed the coach on Friday to let her know what was going on with my twingey butt, and floated the idea of only doing 10-12 miles on Sunday, depending on how much time I had. This was an idea she fully approved of, and so I took advantage of it. Instead of running out the door as soon as I got home, I took a nap. Then I went running. Since I was feeling lazy, I opted for very easy 10 miles. This was, quite honestly, the most mellow 2 hours I've ever spent running. When I got done, I felt more like I'd taken a nap than I'd run 10 miles, and it was fantastic. I was actually pretty surprised to see that I'd averaged a 12:15 pace for the run, since it felt more like a 15:12 pace.

Sure, the MBM got a little twingey here and there, but nothing too serious. I spent some quality time stretching it last night, and tonight there will be a stop on the way home from work to pick up some tennis balls. The coach agrees that it's probably my piriformis talking, so the tennis ball treatment is going to be the way to go.

Posted by Dawn at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)

March 20, 2006

The Down Side...

...to running over 13 miles of hills is that you will be sore the next day. It's not so much the intensity of the soreness as it is the location. There are muscles deep within my butt that I never even knew I had that are protesting today.

Posted by Dawn at 09:22 PM

March Madness Half Marathon

Here's the thing about this whole "train slow, race fast" strategy: it works, but between being a new to distance running and new to this approach (as opposed to the "just run the miles and hope you make it to the end of the workout" approach I used last year) is that I feel like I have no idea where my fitness level actually is. Last year, when I did my 10-mile training run, I did it at a 10:30 pace, and was done at the end of 10 miles. When I ran a half-marathon a week later, I knew that 10:30 would be the upper limit of how fast I'd be able to run it (I wound up averaging a 10:46 pace). All through my marathon training, I was doing workouts at or above what wound up being my target "marathon pace", so I always knew what I was capable of.

This year... I have no idea. I know that I can go out and run 11.5 miles at a 12:00 pace and still have plenty of gas left in the tank, and not be too sore or fatigued afterwards. But does that mean I can still go out and race 13 miles at a 10:30 pace? Or faster? Or will I kill myself doing something like that? No clue. Couple that with the fact that the longest I've run since the Detroit marathon is 11.5 miles, and, well, I was a little unsure of myself going in to Sunday's half-marathon. That was even before I'd considered the hills.

Yes, the hills. I know there are some that would claim that there are no hills in Illinois (and, I'm sure, compared to some other parts of the country, our "hills" are mere speed bumps), but when you train in the city of Chicago, the biggest, flattest stretch of land I've ever seen, and you're a relatively inexperienced runner who is still getting the hang of this whole "distance racing" thing and isn't sure about their fitness level? Well, the suggestion of a hill is enough to make you wonder if it's going to all be OK.

Luckily, I had some help. I had my coach telling me that, really, I was in good condition and I'd be able to run a great race. I had friends telling me that I'd have no problem on the hills. Plus, those same friends had run this course before, so they were able to tell me where the big ones were (save something for the big uphill at mile 10!) and what to watch out for (that big uphill at mile 10? Isn't the last uphill). I was a little nervous when I lined up for the start, but I took a deep breath, and put it all out of my mind. When the race started, I focused on taking it easy, and staying nice and relaxed. I wasn't going to worry about my time, or setting a new PR. I was just going to go out and run a nice, solid half.

You know what? It worked. Yeah, the course was hilly and downright challenging in spots. Yeah, that hill at mile 10 sort of sucked, and the other hills after that really sucked. But you know what? I've seen worse hills. I've gone up worse hills in races (I'm looking at you, DWD). I knew that, really, as long as I kept moving forward, I'd get up them eventually, and, really, I've seen worse. I got tired, and my legs were jello by the time I was done, but I never once had the experience of turning a corner or looking up ahead and seeing a hill that made me say, "You've got to be fucking kidding me." (Again, looking at you, DWD.)

I hit the halfway point feeling good. I thought about pushing the pace a little, but I didn't want to overdo it and hit the hills at the end with nothing left. Then I hit mile 7, did some quick math, and realized that as long as I maintained an 11:00 pace (I was averaging 10:30 - 11:00), I'd tie my PR of 2:20. Tie my PR! I couldn't believe it. I was just hoping to finish in 2:30 or so. The thought of matching or breaking my PR had crossed my mind, but not in any serious capacity. I tried to keep it nice and easy, and told myself I could push the pace after mile 10. The worst of the hills would be behind me, and I would just hammer out the last 5k.

The hill before mile 10 was a bear, but I got up it, and without stopping to walk. The smaller hills after it felt worse than they looked, because my legs were dead. However, I kept going. Kept pushing. My goal was to run each mile faster than the last. When I turned the last corner and had a (relatively flat) half-mile to go, I went for it. When I hit the 13-mile mark, I gave that last tenth of a mile everything I had left. I crossed the finish line feeling like I couldn't take another step, completely out of breath, and thinking perhaps I might need to find a quiet spot away from the crowds in which to throw up. I couldn't stop moving - I had to walk it off. I almost walked right past the volunteer collecting the bib strips in the finish chutes because I was seriously afraid that if I stopped to talk to the volunteers, I was going to barf on them.

I made it over to the refreshment table, took a bottle of water and a cup of gatorade. As I sipped the gatorade and kept on walking, looking for the people I'd come to the race with, I looked down at my watch. It was still running, but it said 2:19. 2:19. 2:19. It took me a second, but I slowly realized that 2:19 was less than 2:20. I'd broken my PR. My PR that I set on a flat, fast course. The PR that I didn't think I'd come anywhere near. The PR that was, well, no longer a PR. I couldn't believe it. As soon as I found everyone else, that was the first thing I said, "New PR!" I called my parents. I told everyone I talked to the rest of the afternoon that I'd run a half-marathon that morning, and set a new record for myself. (Being non-runners, most of them couldn't get past the fact that I'd run 13.1 miles and was still standing, but that was beside the point.) I couldn't freaking believe it. To be honest, I still can't. I mean, a new PR? On that course? That very un-flat, hilly, beast of a course? Because, seriously, I can't even tell you the last time I ran up anything that even resembled a hill. How on earth did I get through 13.1 miles of them without walking? And in record time?

I don't even know. What I do know is this: I ran an outstanding race yesterday, and now I'm really excited to see what I'll be able to do in Madison when that race rolls around in a couple of months. I'm not sure yet what's going to happen, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be something great.

Posted by Dawn at 05:17 PM | Comments (4)

March 15, 2006

Spring Preview

This past weekend, we got a nice little preview of the spring weather. For one glorious day (Saturday), it was 60 and sunny and absolutely beautiful. Sunday wasn't too bad, either - it was closer to 50 and cloudy, but it was still warmer than it has been. Of course, it's far too early in the year for that sort of weather to be sticking around for long, but for those two days? It was nice. This was the weekend that gives you hope that spring will indeed come and it won't always be cold forever.

The nice weather meant that this weekend was also an awesome weekend to run. When I heard the forecast mid-week, I began to look forward to Saturday's run like it was an oasis in a desert. I'd be able to run outside! In shorts! Without having to worry about layering up or being cold or anything like that! In shorts! I was so freaking excited, it wasn't even funny. Whenever work felt like it was dragging and the weekend was never going to arrive, I thought about running in the warm sunny weather on the lake.

While I was determined to wear shorts for my run on Saturday, I figured I'd have to go with long sleeves on top, since it probably wouldn't be much warmer than 50 first thing in the morning. Imagine my surprise when I checked the weather before heading out Saturday morning and saw that the temperature was already 60. 60! At 9:30 in the morning! Forget the long sleeves - shorts and short short sleeves all the way! I practically bounced out the door and proceeded to fly through my 5 mile run. I didn't just feel like I flew through it - I actually did. Normally, an "easy" 5 mile run will take me something around 55 - 60 minutes. Saturdays run? Was over in 51. Now, I knew I was going a bit too fast, since my HRM wasn't displaying the sort of numbers I usually see during 'easy' runs. I tried telling myself to slow down. I tried thinking really hard about relaxing and slowing down. I swear I did, but it just didn't take. I kept flying. When I finished, I definitely didn't feel like I'd just run an "easy" 5 miles. However, on the flip side, I didn't feel like I'd run a particularly hard 5 miles, either.

While it was lovely and warm Saturday morning there was, however, a cool breeze blowing. Since it was 60 (60!) degrees outside, I didn't bother covering my ears before I headed out. I didn't realize how big of a mistake this was until I got back into my apartment. Once my ears were no longer being bombarded with a cold wind, they were throbbing. Not a good time, but greatly preferable to the massive sunburn I used to get every year in college on the First Warm Day Of Pre-Spring.

Sunday's long run was just as good. It was a little cooler (45-50), so long sleeves were a necessity, but I was still fine in shorts. Most of my long runs until now have been at a 12:30 pace or so, but this one I flew through at a 12:00 pace, and didn't really notice much of a difference. All that ass-busting speedwork I'm doing must be paying off! I was supposed to run 12-13 miles, but due to a scheduling error, I only had time for 11.5. Still, it was an awesome 11.5, and if I'd had time, I could have easily finished the 13 miles out at the same pace. I love this feeling of finishing long runs with gas left in the tank. When I was doing all this last year, I finished most of my long runs tired and spent. I may be doing the long runs at a slightly slower pace now, but they feel so much better. This weekend's run, while not quite as long as it was supposed to be, made me feel confident about the half-marathon I'm running next weekend. (Which, since the weather was so nice last weekend, we will probably have snow for.) I don't think I'm in quite enough shape to set a PR or anything (especially since my PR is on a flat course and next weekend's race will be hilly), but I do think I'll be able to go out, have fun, and run a good solid race.

And, who knows? Maybe I'll surprise myself. We shall see.

Posted by Dawn at 04:48 PM

March 08, 2006

Best Week Ever

This week has just been simply awesome, as far as running has been concerned. After last week, when all my workouts just felt hard and long and, generally speaking, not good, I really needed a breakthrough. I was starting to worry that I just wasn't where I should be fitness-wise for where I was in my training schedule, and that, coupled with some work and personal stress was just bringing me down. However, the work stress ended on Friday when we finally figured out the problem we'd been fighting all week, and the personal stress ended Friday evening when I tied up some loose ends from an old relationship. All that had to happen was for the running to fall back into place.

And it did. Saturday's run was OK (especially when you consider that I was kind of hung-over), but Sunday's run... Sunday's run was the turning point. I set the alarm for 6, and got up and ate breakfast. Then? I reset the alarm for 8 and went back to bed, so I could give my breakfast time to digest. (A quick shout-out here to the other Dawn, who left a comment letting me know that she waited an hour and a half after eating to go run. I've been making myself wait at least 2 hours after breakfast to go running the past couple of weeks, and you know what? The digestive rebellion appears to have come to an end!) By the time I actually got out of bed and hit the road, it was almost 9. It wasn't too cold, it wasn't raining or snowing, and it wasn't too windy. I set out with no plans other than to keep a nice, even relaxed pace for the next 11 miles. Last week, my long run was only 9 miles, but I was toast at the end. Why? Because I got all worried about pace - my coach revised the pace guidelines for my long runs upwards a bit, and I got all worried about trying to hit the upper end of it. However, I don't yet really know what 11:30 miles feel like, so I started out too fast and wound up exhausted by the end. Not fun. This time, I said, "hey, my pace range is a) just a guideline and b) goes down to 12:30. I know what 12:00 - 12:30 miles feel like, so I'll just try for that."

And, what do you know? By keeping it relaxed? I hit pretty consistent splits right around 12:30 for the first 9 miles. It's amazing how smart your body can be when you actually listen to it, instead of trying to stay in control of it. Silly girl. Even better than that, I had enough gas in the tank to kick up the pace a bit for the last 2 miles - mile 10 was done in 11:53, and I kicked out mile 11 in a blazing 10:11.

Yes, I had enough gas in the tank to kick out a 10-minute mile after running for over 2 hours. Sure, I was pretty much sprinting by the last quarter mile, but it felt good, not like I was about to die. When I finished, I felt like I could go back out for a few more miles, and was sort of sad to be done. Which, now that I think about it, is how a long run should be.

Tuesday's workout was equally fantastic. I had a 2 mile warm-up and cool-down on the schedule, and in between those were 10-12 strides of 30 seconds at 5K pace or less, with 1 minute recovery. Last week, I did 10 of these at a 9:13 pace, and it damn near killed me. This week? I did the first 3 at 9:13, and they felt too easy. So I kicked it up to 9:05 for the next 3. Still too easy. Up to 8:57 for the next 3. Starting to feel not-so-easy, but not really hard yet. The last three were at 8:49, 8:42, and 8:34 - by the end, it was starting to get challenging, but the 30 second intervals still felt really short, and the recovery time in between still felt really long. I felt like I could have done more of them, and faster, too.

Normally, with these workouts, I sort of hate the cool-down. I run them on the treadmill, which is great for hitting the right paces on my intervals, but it really sucks when cool-down time comes. I've finished the "workout" itself, so I'm not quite as focuses, and the 2 miles just drags on for. ev. er. For some reason though, I got into a groove yesterday. The sound on the TVs wasn't working, but the closed captioning was, so I could read the news. Plus, I was listening to these two guys talk on the next treadmills over - it was a younger guy, who clearly just started working for the older guy. Listening to the kid (well, "kid" compared to the guy he was with - he was probably right around my age) trying to make conversation with and impress the other guy was pretty amusing, and, I don't know. I just got into some sort of zone. The pace was easy, I was trucking along, and when the treadmill decided to automatically go into "cool-down" mode before I was done, I was shocked and annoyed. I restarted it for the last mile I had to do, and, to be honest? I was again sort of sad when the workout was all done. I felt like I could have kept going all day long, if it weren't for that whole "work" thing.

I can't explain it - maybe the planets have aligned just so for me this week, or maybe all the hard work I'm putting in is starting to produce noticeable results. Either way, it's been a great week for running around here so far, and I'm getting excited about my training all over again.

Posted by Dawn at 12:08 PM | Comments (3)

March 02, 2006

Notes From the Coach

In regards to this morning's workout (5 mile progression run - 4 miles 'easy', last mile at half-marathon pace. I admittedly, totally did the first 4 miles a little too fast and the last mile way too fast):

Wow, you have some heart!! 204 max. I am glad you are pushing your workouts and finding them challenging

Really, I'm just glad she didn't say something along the lines of, "Good God, woman! Are you trying to kill yourself?" Because that's totally what I was thinking.

Posted by Dawn at 04:57 PM | Comments (1)