Week 9 Update

Week 9 was a sad, sad training week.

A quick recap:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 5.25, 8x hills
Wednesday: 6, trail
Thursday: 5.3, road
Friday: 4.8, road, 2 miles @ medium pace
Saturday: 4.9, road, ugh
Sunday: 3.4, road, even more ugh
Total: 29.6 (planned: 38)

Well, ew. What started off as a great training week crashed and burned on the weekend.

Saturday started out fine and then my GI system revolted and I ended up walking quite a bit and making an emergency stop at a gas station. I still got the mileage I needed done, and was on track to have a great week. All I had left was the long run.

Sunday I was supposed to do 14 miles. I got up, did a little homework, ate a plain bagel with no cream cheese (wary of stomach issues, since Saturday I’d eaten a bagel & cream cheese and then had a latte a couple hours before running… apparently my coffee worked too well and for longer than I thought), and walked to the convenience store by my house to get some sports drinks and some candy for the long run. I planned on using my house as an aid station of sorts and run some shorter loops, since I was so concerned about my GI system. I figured I’d do a 4-mile or so loop, drink some water/Powerade, refill my candy supplies, and head out for a 6 mile loop, then another stop, and then a 4 mile loop.

After 1 mile I knew I couldn’t do it. My stomach was fine (I know this after the fact), although I was still nervous about it, but I had absolutely no drive to put one foot in front of the other. It was raining/misting and only in the high 30s. I was feeling horribly guilty about the homework (actually a take-home test) I still had to complete (due today!) I mentally did not have it, and after a mile I turned around, intending to go home. I decided to push myself a little bit more, because I couldn’t have a 2-mile run on the books for the day. It might as well have been a rest day at that point. I was right at the bridge over Chester Creek on 9th/8th street, so I went down to the trail and hiked up to the Skyline bridge, then jogged back down to 9th/8th on the road. I’d already mentally quit, so I headed back home at that point.

From my splits, it’s clear I was dragging and nothing was working: 15:51, 20:08 (uphill on the trail), 16:06, and a 16:52 pace for the last 0.4 miles, with an overall heart rate of 142 bpm. Even last Tuesday, when I quit after 2.6 miles because of cramps and terrible weather, I still managed a 14:41 pace and 147 bpm (yes I realize I was zipping up the hills, but I was practically walking at other points, and I was still only 5 bpm above Sunday’s heart rate.) I made the right choice to throw in the towel, come home, and work on my homework instead. (Or, write this blog post, do my core work, and then work on homework.)

Just because it was the right choice doesn’t mean I was happy about it. The long run to me is the highest priority workout. I rank them as follows:
1. Sat/Sun long run
2. Tuesday hills
3. Friday “speed” workout
4. Wednesday medium run
5. Thursday and Sun/Sat short runs

14 miles was a huge deal for me. I was really looking forward to seeing where I was at with this run, and I guess I’m… totally not ready to run a marathon. Depressing. I can think of a couple contributing factors to my poor performance. Running in my old shoes has worn my legs out; I’m more sore after workouts than I have been in awhile. Last week’s cutback from a cutback is also a problem. I ramped back up too quickly, although if I hadn’t cut back so much, it wouldn’t have been a problem.

I’m going to try to repeat Week 9’s training plan instead of doing Week 10’s plan. Both call for 38 miles, but week 10 has a couple miles added to the weekday runs and then a 5-10K on Sunday instead of a long run. Since I raced a 5K last weekend, I would rather put in the 14 miles than another speed workout. The weather forecast is crummy all week, but the highs are all still in the 40s so it should be manageable.

Everything Old is New Again

I wrote a few weeks ago about my problems with my current running shoes, and in the comments a reader suggested contacting the manufacturer. It hadn’t occurred to me, so I appreciated the suggestion and took her up on it.

After tracking down a proof of purchase for the shoes (I bought them in mid-November, and I hardly ran at all in December, so that means the shoes didn’t even stand up to 4 months of wear), I’m now boxing them up and sending them off to Mizuno for an exchange (assuming the exchange is approved).

That means I’m stuck running in my old shoes. My old shoes are by Saucony and I don’t even recall why I bought them. Probably because they looked ok and the price was ok. They seemed like they’re about half the weight of my current shoes, so I thought maybe I’d be flying along with them on my feet. They also smelled horribly, to the point where I could smell them while running. At least, I hope it was my shoes I was smelling, and not something else I was wearing. Ew.

I was wrong about feeling like I was flying, because my current shoes are a lot better shock absorbers than my old shoes (I guess that’s where the extra weight comes in). I also used to run with inserts in my old shoes, but I took those inserts out before running yesterday, in keeping with my semi-minimalist plan, so I was wearing lighter, uncushioned shoes and pounding the pavement with my heels like crazy at first. My stride was completely different and I felt like I was stomping. It took a couple miles to get a stride that felt good. I am a little bit more sore today than I usually am, but not as sore as I thought I would be after a stomp-run.

Unfortunately I am stuck running with these old shoes until they either send me my replacement shoes or send me my old shoes back with a note rejecting my warranty claim. It will probably take awhile to get the return processed and the new/old shoes shipped to me, so I expect these old shoes will carry me through today’s “medium effort” run, a 14-miler, hill repeats, a mid-week 7-miler, and a faux-10k race at a minimum. Shoes, don’t fail me now.

I suppose this would be the time for me to mention conventional wisdom recommends alternating between two pairs of shoes. Whoops.

Tired Legs

Well, 11 miles into the week and I’m already dragging. Of course, I don’t think I’ve done 11 miles to start a week this training cycle, other than maybe when I was on spring break. (Well, then I went and looked it up while that’s true, I’ve started the week with 10 miles twice, so my whining is kind of ridiculous.)

Tuesday I did 8 hill repeats. I suffered a bit. My legs were really tight, so when I got to my usual hill, I wanted to stretch, but I had to stretch cautiously. My muscles felt like overly tightened violin strings; one more turn of the peg and they’d snap. Then when I tried to stretch my quads by doing the flamingo-type stretch which I’m sure has a real name, I actually tweaked something in my arm and side. It didn’t last but I was worried for a minute. The repeats didn’t feel that great, but I reminded myself how thrilled I was I’d done all this hill running when I was charging like a rhino up Lake Avenue on the home stretch of the 5K last weekend. I reminded myself of that feeling probably 16 times during the exercise. I had half the run in by the time I was done with the hill workout. I was feeling ok for awhile as I started the rest of the run, but my legs started to feel heavy after awhile, and then I had some lower abdominal cramping that slowed me to a walk a couple times. I spent the whole night working on homework, got home at about quarter to midnight, did more homework, and then couldn’t get to sleep because my neighbors had their windows open and music playing til after 3. I finally shut my window at 3 because I couldn’t stand it anymore.

Wednesday I woke up before my alarm (ugh), was too hot, and opened the window. Then the garbage truck came by, so I couldn’t fall back asleep. I was late to class and just dragging. I finished the homework I hadn’t done Tuesday night, and tried to convince myself I didn’t need to run, or maybe I should swap days and just run the 4 miles slotted for today. I still had a bunch of homework to do that evening, and I had a meeting, and I had been late to my group meeting on Tuesday night because I’d run so slowly, so it wasn’t looking good for getting in my scheduled mileage.

Well, my meeting was canceled, and I managed to wake up enough that I got out and did 6 mucky miles at Hartley. 6 very tired miles. My legs didn’t want to go fast. They didn’t even want to go slow. I shuffled along, getting passed by other runners, and also getting zoomed past by a dog repeatedly. I swear the dog was just showing off. Also I find it odd how many people around here do not leash their dogs. Hartley is still in the city limits! It’s not like we’re on some remote trail. I like dogs, but they really need to be on a leash, for their own safety and for the safety of other people and animals.

I wasn’t in any pain while I was running, so I was just suffering dead legs from the run the day before and from my general fatigue. I got back to the parking lot with 5.5 miles down and thought about calling it quits because I was dragging so badly. Then I reminded myself that I’ll be running on tired legs during marathons (and ultras if I ever get there), so I had better learn to suck it up for one half of a mile. So, I did, and finished at 5.98 miles, somehow still at a similar pace to most of my trail runs and a 146 bpm average heart rate. I do not know how that happened, but I’ll take it. I guess it just seemed like I was running in slow motion.

The Race Calendar

Well, I guess I have a race calendar, because I signed up for another race: the Be The Match Walk+Run, May 16th, in Minneapolis. (The link is to my fundraising site, for anyone compelled and able to donate. I am extremely uncomfortable asking for money, even when it isn’t for myself.)

My mom asked me to do this race awhile ago and I said no, because it is the day after finals end. Now I have to be down in the Twin Cities anyway for a rocketry competition the following week (I am cool), so I decided why the heck not. My sister-in-law used to work for the Be The Match Foundation, two members of my family have had successful bone marrow transplants, and I have lost a family member and friend to blood cancer. One might say that the Be The Match Foundation is close to my heart.

I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on the Grandma’s Marathon entry. Right now most marathon predictors say I would run just under 6 hours, which is a good sign, but that’s based on one 5K, so I’m not going to trust it. I’m going to go off my next few long runs. I will probably sign up for the Park Point 5 Miler in July, too, but I don’t want to pay for it yet.

I got an ad in my race packet for a 5K at the end of May. It’s called the Insane Inflatable 5K, and is some kind of obstacle course, but without mud, and involves lots of slides and climbing and things. Look, I am an adult. I do not need to run a race through a glorified ball pit, or through mud, or through blasts of colored powder. I can just run a race. It’s fine. The race is also obscenely expensive. It was $49 for early registration and goes all the way up to $75 on race day. So it’s $50-$75 to climb a bunch of blow-up obstacles covered in the sweat, spit, and snot (or worse) of fellow overgrown children? No, thank you.

I know that’s mean, and there are plenty of people out there who enjoy the novelty races, but I don’t see the point. Are these races motivating a significant number of people to exercise? If so, bring ’em on! I would hope my impression that novelty runs encourage undertrained people to go out and hurt themselves or get in my way is an erroneous impression.

It’s pretty easy to see how signing up for races can be addicting, and expensive. I am able to keep my excitement at bay simply by looking at some of the previous race results to see I’m not fast enough to run smaller races yet, and also by reminding myself I’m a student who works part time.

Week 8 Update

Ah, the cutback week, from which I cut back even more miles.

To recap:
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 2.5 miles, road, hill repeats
Wednesday: 4.3 miles, trail
Thursday: rest
Friday: 5 miles, trail
Saturday: 3.2 miles, road, race
Sunday: 8.5 miles, road
Total: 23.4 miles (Plan said to do 30)

Sunday’s run really really really sucked. It was warm, like 70 degrees, which would not be that bad but I was not used to running in the “heat,” so to speak. I wore a hat to keep the sun out of my eyes, since I don’t have prescription sunglasses yet. I need to get on that. The warm weather would not have been a problem on its own, had it not been for the wind. It was relentless. I spent 2.5 mostly uphill miles running directly into the wind and then I turned about 135 degrees and I was still running directly into the wind. I ended up slowing to a walk a few times because it was so awful trying to run into it. I really could have used a hand-held water bottle, or some mints or something to suck on, because the wind was drying out my nose and mouth so badly. I did stop a little over 2 miles in, just to quick use the bathroom and get a drink of water at UMD, and I’m glad I had that little bit of extra water in me.

I also cheated and stopped my watch when I stopped, which I normally don’t do. Since I was going into the very center of the first floor of a building that’s built into the ground on one side, I figured I would lose my GPS signal and that could end up skewing my results.

I hit a 15:15 pace (15:48 when factoring in the break, to keep it honest!), which, I have to be honest, is pretty damned exciting. Yes, I took a short break, but I also ran in some pretty rough conditions, so I’m going to claim the 15:15. I pushed harder than normal, partially because I felt like I could since I had stepped down the mileage this week, and partially because I wanted to see what I could do. These 16-17 minute paced long runs are valuable, I know. Slow long runs are good. But I have no idea what my marathon pace is going to be. I need to test my capabilities a bit. So I did. I didn’t go all out or anything, but I did end up with an average heart rate of 160 bpm, which is high for a long run. I’m not too worried, since I felt great (as in, my legs/back/hips didn’t hurt, I felt totally gross right after the run because I was hot and dirty), but I don’t plan on making it a habit.

This upcoming week includes 38 total miles and a 14 miler on the weekend. The weather looks fabulous, 60s all week, so I can finally retire my neon yellow hoodie for awhile. Which is good, since the zipper pull broke off on Saturday when I was getting my post-race coffee.

Race Report: Fitger’s 5K 2015

I finished!

Official Results:
Time: 37:00
Pace: 11:55
Placing:
Overall: 1330/1680
Division (F 30-34): 145/190
Gender: 811/1076

Watch Results:
Time: 37:04
Pace: 11:39
Distance: 3.18 mi
Heart rate: 173 bpm

Goals:
A: 36:00
B: 40:00

Food:
What I ate the night before: Chipotle burrito bowl
What I ate on race morning: nothing
What I carried with me: nothing

Gear:
What I wore: Running tights, tank top, long-sleeved hoodie, gloves, headband.
Gadgets: GPS watch

Discussion:
Since this is my first official attempt at a race recap, this format is experimental.

I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning, then hit snooze and slept for another hour (not really since I had to get up and feed my cats to shut them up). I puttered around the house until about 8:10 and then headed out. I probably could have walked to the race, as it started only a mile or so away from my house, but that would have meant an annoying uphill walk home.

I left everything except my keys in my car. At first that included my bib. I didn’t get very far before I was like oh yeah, bib, that’s important. The race packet even said “no bib, no time.” A nice reminder for absent-minded morons like me. I probably should have stayed at my car a little longer, since I had like 30 minutes to kill until race time. It would have been a good idea to take a few more sips of water. I don’t say that ominously, nothing horrible happened, but I was really worried about that once I got there.

There were people all over the place and I was really intimidated. I was also sort of rolling my eyes because people were doing all kinds of super serious warm-up stuff. I’m not sure if running hill repeats as a warm-up is even a good idea, but maybe this guy was trying to psych everyone else out. For all I know, hill repeat guy was the winner.

I didn’t know when to put my bib on. I ended up going inside the Fitger’s complex to put it on, which was stupid because it was jammed full of people. I don’t know why, it wasn’t that cold out, and most of the people inside were dressed similarly to me. Obviously some people were just in line for the bathroom. There was also a huge porta-potty line outside. Since I didn’t need either, I just observed.

I ran into my co-worker, whose son was running, and we had a nice chat. Then I did a tiny warm-up jog. Then I stood around feeling like a loser. I didn’t have my phone with me and I didn’t have anyone to talk to, so I was kind of stuck standing there feeling nervous. I don’t know why I was so nervous for the stupid race but I was. People started filling the street to line up for the race, so I followed suit, and then I got my watch ready, making sure it would pick up my heart rate monitor and GPS and would be ready to start when I crossed the timing mats.

I lined up near the back, because I am not stupid. I may have almost forgotten my bib, but I am not such an idiot that I put myself in a position to get trampled or in everyone’s way. Starting at the back of the race is kind of great, because it meant I passed more people than I was passed by, according to the race results thingy.

I was so nervous my resting heart rate was in the high 110s. I was nervous about not having much water pre-race, I was nervous about getting lost, I was nervous about… I don’t know. I just wanted the race to start so I could run and enjoy myself. It was sunny and warm enough.

I’m not 100% certain when the race started. I heard an air horn, but then nobody moved, so I am not sure if there was an “elite” start or what the deal was. Eventually we started going. I had no idea when I crossed the timing mat relative to the gun time (+1:31 according to the race results), but that was nice because then I wasn’t doing mental math the whole time trying to figure out if I was on pace for my goal times.

The first quarter mile or so was spent jockeying for position. Since I was at the back, I was intermingled with walkers and groups of slower runners. Groups are tough. I understand that some people are doing this for fun and camaraderie with their friends, and they want to stick together. I do not understand why that means walking four abreast. There were lots of people who were cognizant of their surroundings and only went two-by-two, but I am sure at any race there will always be people who are in their own world. I can’t complain too much because those folks kept me from going out way way way too hard, but they also forced me to speed up a bit to get past them when I saw a window of opportunity.

When we crossed the freeway, I was so so so so so thankful for every hill run I had done. It slowed a lot of people down but I kept on keeping on. I finished the first mile in 11:38. When we were turning around onto Lake Avenue, there was a short line of cars. This woman in the first car got out and approached the police officer guarding the turnaround. Clearly annoyed, she asked if they ever stopped to let cars through, and the officer answered “not for a race, no.” She was not happy about it. Sorry, lady, you’ll have to wait another 10 minutes or so to get your meth.

I was trying not to be competitive with anyone other than myself. I imagine most people show up at races and slowly size up the competition, eyeing who they think they can beat. I assumed every person I saw was faster than me. Young, old, big, small, clad in expensive running gear, wearing beat up workout stuff from the ’80s (those are the real hardcore runners), they all had the potential to beat me. Once out on the course, I really wanted to beat these two women who were loudly talking the whole time and who kept passing me, slowing down to walk, and then passing me again. Unfortunately their run-walk strategy paid off and I lost them somewhere before the second mile marker. I wonder if a run-walk strategy would pay off for me. I don’t think it’s worth it in a 5K. I’d rather run the whole time.

The turnaround on Railroad St seemed to stretch farther and farther into the distance, and I kind of thought I would never get there. I mean, not really, I wasn’t that melodramatic, but I kept thinking I was close to it and I wasn’t. I didn’t mind because that just meant I had a shorter “home stretch.” I hit the second mile in 11:49. I am pretty sure the race photographer took a picture of me just as I was wiping my nose on my glove.

As we crossed the freeway I was once again pumped to have done all those hill repeats and hilly running routes, because I think it was a killer for some people. Either that or they strategically chose to walk. I kind of expected to pass more people on the hill but I really didn’t. Once over the freeway there were only like 6 blocks to go, and the inflatable yellow finish line sign was in sight. I got a little bitty bit excited and kicked it into high gear (sub 10 minute pace) a little too soon and had to back myself off. The race finishes on a slight uphill, which I had not considered when I was running the slight downhill at the beginning. It wasn’t horrible, but it just meant I needed to start my kick later in order to not die.

I started my real kick right at the 3 mile mark according to my GPS (I only know this after the fact, at that point I wasn’t looking at my watch). My third mile split was 11:44, and the final 0.18 I ran at a 10:10 pace. No one passed me once I kicked it in, and I passed a few people, so that was nice. I picked up my nice green race shirt and considered getting in line for food and water, but I felt really claustrophobic so I decided to just leave. I had water in my car, I didn’t need to wait for a tiny cup or for a banana or whatever. I went to Caribou and had a blueberry muffin and enormous latte instead!

This is a longer race recap than some people write for 100 mile races, but I guess I had a lot of thoughts about the race. I enjoyed running it, I didn’t get lost (that was a stupid fear. It was so obvious where the course was), and I hit my goal pace! I didn’t hit my A Standard time, but I don’t really mind. I ran sub-12 minutes, which was really what I intended my A Standard to be. I sort of blew off that extra 0.1 miles and rounded the race distance to 3 miles when setting my goal, without realizing that at a 12:00 pace, 0.1 miles takes about 1:12. It’s not insignificant! What’s silly is I did take it into account when setting my B Standard time. I thought hey, 13:00 pace is 39 minutes, but there’s an extra tenth, so tack on another minute, etc etc. It doesn’t matter, I slaughtered that B Standard and I will crush 36 minutes next time around!

I’m surprised my GPS only added 0.08 mi to the distance. I felt like I was going all over the place, and I made zero effort to run tangents. I guess mentally it seemed like a lot more sideways/diagonal running and dodging than it actually was. Or maybe I accidentally ran some tangents.

Overall I ran a nice, consistent race, had enough left at the end to finish strong, smiled the whole time, and didn’t embarrass myself, get hurt, crap myself, vomit, die, or get lost. I have a brand spanking new PR of 37:00 that I can’t wait to beat!

Guilt-Free Time Off

After patting myself on the back for getting out and running when I didn’t feel like it on Tuesday and Wednesday, I took yesterday off from running and I don’t regret it for a second.

On Wednesday I reported that my right calf felt funky, and it continued to feel funky Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, so I made the executive decision not to run. Then later in the day I waffled a bit and thought hey, maybe I should run, or maybe I can just walk on the treadmill, it’s probably just normal muscular pain. Then I thought about it longer and decided I didn’t waste $30 on a race I’m not even training for so that I could injure myself pushing it too hard on a boring slow training run. I meant to do my pushups and situps since my core really needs work, but then I didn’t. I stayed at work later than I planned, and then I went to see Soul Asylum at the Sports Garden, so I didn’t do my strength stuff. Unless rocking out counts as a workout. It probably does, although there was no moshing.

My calf feels fine today, so I feel justified in taking the day off. I guess whether it felt fine or whether I was unable to walk, I would have felt justified in taking the day off.

I am not one of those runners who spends hours analyzing their aches and pains to determine if they are larger issues. I am also not one of those runners who talks in acronyms and pseudo-medicalspeak. The minute someone wonders if their dx is an sfx or ITBS, I just tune out. I am not a doctor of sports medicine or a physical therapist, so I have nothing to contribute to the conversation, and I try not to turn to Dr. Google for a diagnosis. I gauge whether or not I should rest an injury or run based on a couple non-scientific criteria:

1. Is the pain symmetric?
If both legs/hips/arms/sides hurt, or if my entire lower back is stiff/sore, or both feet are achy, I’m not too concerned. Since only one leg felt weird the other day, I was more concerned.

2. Does the pain go away or lessen significantly overnight?
So far I’ve been recovering fairly well from my long or more intense runs, but I am a bit stiff and creaky in the evenings, or sometimes even the next morning until I really get moving for the day. Because my leg felt similar yesterday afternoon to the way it felt Tuesday evening, I didn’t push it.

Obviously there’s more to injury prevention than a two-question assessment, but I hope it will help prevent overuse injuries, at the very least. Today is gorgeous and I fully intend on doing 5 miles after I go pick up my race packet for this 5K tomorrow. Which, eep, why did I sign up for this again? I am not sure.