Set Adrift on Memory Bliss

Definitely feel a little adrift in my running and have almost since the marathon.

Shane Falco said:
Pain heals. Chicks dig scars.
Glory...lasts forever.

Well, I'll buy the last two, but the pain is getting really, really old. Every time I try to get back into a training regiment, I get sidelined on the long runs by nasty tightness in both lower legs. Yes, "just" tightness. That should be bearable, right? Man! Tighter, tighter, until gradually, nothing is really flexing. Then the gait starts to change and it all goes downhill. I know it will work itself out, but it's so frustrating to see my conditioning disintegrate. Now it will be a full ramp back up if I do another marathon this fall. Oh well, it is what it is.

I did manage to train pretty well for the Vander Dash 5k. I thought that was going to be a rinky dink little race, maybe 50 or 100 people.... Huh! There were over 700 people entered! I signed up just because it was my daughter's school and I thought it would be neat to do well with her watching. I was hoping to go sub 8s for the first time with a target of 'under 24:48'. I was ecstatic at the end - I crushed it! 23:37!! What a fantastic feeling. I don't know how I did overall since two weeks later, they still haven't posted results, but it was a win for me, that's for sure.

So now, I work on resolving my frigging leg issues....and get ready for the Peachtree!


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Back in the Saddle Again

I'm finally starting to feel 'whole' again! Yes, three months after the marathon, I'm still feeling the effects of it. How screwed up is that? Or more to the point, how screwed up is it that I still want to do another one this fall?

It's been my achilles tendon that has been nagging me the worst. I just hadn't been able to shake it up until now. I highly recommend a sports massage - that's what finally seemed to do the trick. Robin at Georgia Sports Massage (http://www.georgiasportsmassage.com) not only got things to loosen up, he also gave me some great stretches that have really helped - much more so than the standard ones I had been doing.

It's such a relief to run and not be concentrating on when/whether the pain is coming back! Well, I'll probably be thinking about whether it is coming back for a while yet, but hopefully HOPEFULLY I will be pleasantly surprised each time.

I had various plans about how this year would start off in terms of race prep, and none have panned out. First thought was a spring marathon which died on the vine shortly after my fall one finished. There's something about intense pain that makes you rethink things... I was also considering the ING half, but I don't want to run it unless I can significantly better my time from last year. With the huge decrease in training I've had because of the injuries, that's just not going to happen.

Continuing to drop down the spectrum, I wanted to run a Peachtree qualifier 10k at a good enough pace to move me up in the pack a little bit in July. That's certainly still in the cards but I need to keep an eye on the deadline for those. Running the Peachtree is still definitely something I want to do this year, particularly since it was originally my ultimate goal when I started running...This one's for you dad!

But for now, I'm going with the least common denominator and training for a 5k in March. It's a minor little race but it's through my daughter's school so that's a really big incentive to run it well. There's nothing like knowing my family is at the finish line to give me some extra energy! We'll see how it goes, but hopefully I can start putting full effort into my training again.

Here's to injury-free running!


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Marine Corps Marathon

I DID IT!! 26.2 miles...actually 26.84 miles according to my Garmin. Does that mean the course was long? Nope, it means that over the course of 26.2 miles, if you weave around people and don't take the shortest distance between two points at every turn, you can add a full 6/10 of a mile on to your race. I would dearly have loved to run 6/10 of a mile less...


**How pathetic is it that I am finally geting back to this post a full two months later......**

It changes the feelings and thoughts when you've had a couple of months to dwell on/think about about them...and for the pain to go away! It's hard to write about it now actually. It was wonderful and painful and emotional and I was desperately glad to be done at the end. It did take a couple of days before I said I wanted to do it again...



 

13.1 Atlanta Half Marathon

Well, that went well!!

As I think I mentioned in my last post, I was using this race to get ready for my marathon. No expectations, no pressure - I just wanted a race experience at distance - distance being 20 miles since I was adding a seven mile run to the front of it.

First, the start/finish line was at Oglethorpe University. Since I was running to the start, I wanted to leave my car there overnight - because I was NOT running back home afterward. I know at my illustrious university in the north part of Florida, say - around the Gainesville area, that would have taken an act of Congress - and it still would have gotten towed. I figured I'd give it a shot, and called security there. Wow. The woman who answered was unbelievably helpful and told me where she was pretty sure I should park. She wasn't positive, so she told me to call her again when I was on my way over and she would make sure I was in the right area. Worked out perfectly - major kudos to the host site - specifically one woman whose name I unfortunately didn't get.

Anyway, I planned on doing a 10/mile pace for the 7 miles in, keeping it nice and easy. That part of the run went really well and I timed it perfectly. I hit the starting area so that I had 3-5 minutes before it started. Just enough time to make sure I was in the right area for my pace and go. Can't say much about the facilities at the start since I wasn't there that long, but the directional signs were nice and easy to follow for bag check (which I didn't use), parking etc.

The start was a rolling start by your estimated pace, which was nice. Easy to hear the directions and what was going on. But this was definitely my one complaint about the race. It was a tight start, which is not a big deal. I started shuffling forward, then it opened up right before the starting line, which is perfect since the race was chip-timed. So I crossed the starting line and began to run...and stopped. Dead stop. And then we shuffled forward through a nice little bottleneck and stayed tight for a little bit before it finally began to ease. So I ran the first mile a full minute slower than the rest of the race (and even slower than I ran the 7 in). Oh well.

After that, I loved the race. It was a a nice scenic course, and really well managed. Crowd support was a little sparse, but everyone who did come out was loud, and encouraging. The volunteers were just fantastic. Full of energy, cheering, encouraging, giving direction in nice loud voices...great.

I felt great through the race - - kept about a 9:15 pace though 11 miles (or actually 18 miles, but who's counting?) and then increased to an 8:30 for mile 12 and a 7:40 'til the end!! Please let this be a precursor to the marathon.......

Great Expectations

Unlike Dickens, I apparently do not have enough of a drive to write....

With this blog being primarily about my running, I would have wished that I would have had a lot to say as I swung into the meat of my schedule, hitting an 18, a 20!, and then another 20 mile long run since the last time I wrote. Perhaps . . . I was too busy running . . .?? Sure, that works.

So, with a combination of run log and memory, I'' retrace the route a little bit. I did my 18 miler with CRR and had a pretty tough one around the Emory campus. I was completely wrung out as I staggered in the final mile. That was a little discouraging after feeling so good at the end of the 17 mile last weekend. The flip side is that I DID a 17 mile run last weekend I guess. That said, by the afternoon I felt good enough to climb Stone Mountain with my family. That got the ego pumping again.

The step back week was much needed and I worked my way back to a 20 miler. Yes, 20, TWENTY miler! That was an amazing feeling of accomplishment, especially since I did it on my own. And did I mention it was raining for the entire 20 miles? I didn't? Oh, well, it was raining for the entire 20 miles. There's something about being out running at the crack of dawn in the rain that either builds character or proves you're somewhat nuts. I'm a nut with character. The rain actually helped to some extent. I stayed cool and somehow didn't feel as worn as I would have with sweat dripping down my face. That said, I'd prefer a dry race day....

I do think that watching the puddles, the mud (really wanted to avoid blisters from soaked shoes), and the traffic extra carefully slowed me down. I put up a slower time than I was expecting, especially since this was another run that felt pretty good. I can't say I was ready to dance a jig at the end of it, but I wasn't dragging like I was after the 18 either. As before, I didn't really watch my pace through the run - I just seem to do better feeling it out as I go. It didn't work for me this time - I was about 15-25 sec/mile slower than I would have guessed. Lesson - if something is radically different about the run, watch my pace more.... Still though, hitting 20 (.05!) was a huge monkey off of the back. It's just a 10K after that....

The down week was a downer. I don't know what it was, but all of sudden, I was getting tired of it. I wanted a break, I wanted the training to end, I wanted to back off the 'have to run' feeling all the time. 18 weeks is a long time....

I'm experimenting with gels and hydration with my long runs and I think I have it down. Going to stick with the gel every 45 min, NOT carry water, but hit every H2O stop, and add in Gatorade on the back half.

And I'll test it out this coming week - I've decided I'm running the 13.1 Atlanta as a training run. Not tapering - I'm sticking with my schedule - and I'm going to run the 7 miles to the start and go right into the race if I time it right. My plan is to go nice and slow - 10/ml for the 7 miles and then try to keep a 9:45 pace through the race. Ah, the title of this little excerpt. I have whole-heartedly scrapped my plans for a sub 4 marathon as I realize just how optimistic that would be. Beating my half marathon time - on both sides of the marathon - realistically isn't going to happen. My current plan is a 9:30 pace for the whole thing, which is still pushing it a good bit. I want this to be a training run, not a race, hence the 15 sec/mile slower than my planned pace. We'll see how it goes.

If you Don't Mind, It Don't Matter

Followed up the 17 with an 8-mile pace run today. On the plus side, I averaged 9-minute miles at the end. (I'm shooting for just under 9:10s, so that's good!) On the negative side, I think I was getting close to a 5K PR at the 2 mile mark....which doesn't say much for my consistency. The initial speed was a little bit purposeful actually, although that was faster than I wanted. I chose a course that has a nasty 5th mile, BIG rolling hills, so I knew I was going to lose some time there.

Again, the end was the best part of the run, but for a different reason this time. I was dragging hard at the 7 mile mark and bonked at 7.4. I thought I was done and I was....aggravated. Yes, I had to go retrieve my water bottle after I threw it in disgust. Then I just..reached deep is the only way to say it. I told myself, 'you either want this or you don't' and just kept repeating that over and over as I churned out the final half mile at an 8:37 pace. That was a HUGE mental victory. Yesterday was a great final mile because I was tired and still managed to kick into a higher gear to finish. Today was getting my body to go when my mind had already decided we were done. That's training!

Step by Step, Inch by Inch

Yesterday I did my first 17 mile run. That's s.e.v.e.n.t.e.e.n. miles. Yes, I'm a little proud of this one!

It was another solitary run ...we had somewhere to go that day, so I started my run at 5:30 in the morning - a couple hours before any of the group runs got going. I got in the car at 5:15 and dropped off water along the route, then kicked it off from the Starbucks up the steet. (No, no coffee before, it was just convenient.) In my head, this really became three runs - a five miler and then two six milers. Mainly because of where the water stops were, partially because those were just manageable distances, but that mental trick made a huge difference. I really felt strong and consistent through most of the run and having those intermediary 'endings' helped keep it real.

The best part was the end. I was definitely dragging in the 16th mile, talking out loud to myself to keep my motivation up, looking forward to the end. Then I saw a runner (well) up ahead of me and thought, 'Can I reel him in?' I knocked out an 8:22 mile that final mile (averaging 9:44 the rest of the run) and yes, I passed him. What a rush!!

And the best part was, I really felt great almost immediately after finishing. That was a big mental boost as I continue training. I can do this......

P.S. Ice baths suck.....but they sure help the recovery!!!