running

Treadmill Triage

I have to replace my treadmill.

Well, I don’t have to replace it. It no longer functions properly so I’m faced with many choices.

  1. Buy a new one.
    This seems wasteful, but I have had my current one for many years. I hope to get a slight amount of money in trade, and I also have gift cards saved up that I can use to defray the cost.
  2. Repair the current one.
    I thought this was going to be my option until I discovered that it would be 2/3 of the cost of a new one.
  3. Get rid of it and get a gym membership instead.
    I looked at this option briefly, but it really doesn’t work for me. I like the privacy of working out at home, as well as the convenience. It’s one fewer barrier to getting up and going. My spouse also works out at odd times, so it’s less likely he’d use it if he had to go to a gym. Also, one year’s YMCA membership for the two of us = the cost of one treadmill.
  4. Get rid of it.
    It’s not money I’d like to spend, so maybe I could just dump it? It takes up a lot of space and is really difficult to move. However, I can’t accomplish my running goals without it. Not with the winter weather we get up here.
  5. Leave it to collect dust in my basement.
    This is what I’d like to do, because I don’t like spending money, scheduling delivery times, or basically doing things that require effort. Any of the previous 4 options will require me to spend money and time I don’t want to, as well as deal with donating my broken-down Grand Am that’s been sitting in my garage since April. (The tuck-under garage is the easiest way to get a treadmill in/out of the house.) Actually I’d like to keep using it indefinitely in my basement in its broken state (it still works if I give it a manual push start), but that will eventually burn the house down, based on the smell of the motor if I run it too long. (I am aware this is wildly unsafe.)

So I’m buying a new one. I’m fortunate that I can, even though I probably should not. I wish I did not need a treadmill, but at the same time, I am very proud that I have gotten a lot of use out of it. I didn’t buy it on an impulse and then never use it again. It may have gone through several periods of disuse, but those periods of disuse didn’t cost me money, like a gym membership would have. I got in a couple hundred workouts I never would have if I didn’t have the treadmill. My spouse started working out and ran his first 5K, which he wouldn’t have done without the privacy and flexibility of an in-home treadmill. I’ve concluded it was worth it, and worth replacing.

(More justification on owning a treadmill here!)

At A Standstill

It turns out while I thought I got away with running while sick, I did not get away with racing while sick. The Saturday afternoon after the race I started to feel fatigued, Sunday I was pretty lethargic, and Monday I was really unwell. So now I’ve rested for 8 days as a precaution (I was going to get back out there this weekend, but I started sneezing quite a bit on Saturday and backed off).

I’m feeling a mix of things, none of which are “good.” I know all feelings are supposed to be valid, but I’m growing tired of their effects. I would like to run Zumbro 50 next year, but my 16-week training cycle starts next week. This has caused me to feel anxious about my fitness, as well as about my health as the winter progresses. It’s colder now than it was even last week. I also feel guilty, as if I should be out running, or I should have done something differently to avoid getting sick. I also feel pretty down about my weight, which has crept up a bit over the last several months. My clothes still fit so it’s not the end of the world, but I was hoping for some more downward progress. My treadmill is still broken (for some reason dealing with it seems to be an insurmountable task, although the wheels are in motion now), so my only option is going outside, in single-digit temps. I’m going to have to invest in some serious cold weather gear this year.

There’s just not that much to be positive about when it comes to running. I’m determined to get out there tonight, in as many layers as it takes to stay warm. Then I have to make a couple pans of brownies for tomorrow’s holiday pot luck. That will certainly get my nutrition and fitness back on track!

Race Report: Jingle Bell 5K

Official Results:
Time: 29:21
Pace: 9:27
Placing:
Overall: 57/167
Gender: 35/124
Division (F 30-39): 16/46

Watch Results:
Time: 29:25
Pace: 9:31/mi
Distance: 3.09
Heart Rate: N/A

Goals:
A: 29:29
B: 29:59

Food:
What I ate the night before: carne asada skirt steak and instant mashed potatoes
What I ate on race morning: granola bar
What I carried with me: nothing

Gear:
What I wore: hoodie, tank top, tights, buff as headband, gloves
Gadgets: GPS watch, fitness tracker

jinglebell5k

Rita and me after the race. Last time we saw each other, we covered 10x this distance. At more than 2x the pace…

Discussion: Well, I did it! Finally under 30 minutes!

It’s fairly amazing that I did, since I have been sick and I have been light on training for November. This confirms my theory that I was held back mentally, rather than physically, from reaching this rather dubious milestone. But hey, I don’t care if it’s dubious, it was a big deal for me! Now I guess my goal is to never go under 30 minutes for a 5K again unless I’m wearing a bizarre costume, running on a technical trail, or running with a friend for fun/to pace them. Which, I can’t keep a consistent pace, so I should not pace other people.

I didn’t sleep that well the night before the race, and I didn’t feel super fantastic when I woke up. I had a bit of a stuffy head and a runny nose. I had planned to get up a bit earlier but hit the snooze so I could rest a little more. I didn’t need much time to get ready so I don’t know why I planned to get up early. I guess because I like to hit snooze. I love running local 5Ks because they’re so easy to get to. I was there in 5 minutes, parked right across from the Sports Garden, where I checked in and then warmed up. Yup, I warmed up! And then had a good race! Hooray! I ran at a very easy pace for about 10 mins and then returned to the Sports Garden (indoor staging area, so nice!) to meet up with my friend Rita, who ran the Wild Duluth 50K with me. We haven’t seen each other since the race, so it was good to meet up. She has done like 5 races since then, because she is a bada$$.

I don’t have much to say about the race itself, because I sorta no longer see the point in a mile-by-mile discussion of a 3.1 mile race. I started out kinda quickly, at a pace that felt good, but it was hard to hold it. And there were certainly times when I looked down at my watch and realized I was not holding it, and I thought the race was out of reach. I had planned to try to run a race based on actually completing 3.2 miles in under 30 minutes, because I ran this same course back in October and my watch measured 3.18 miles so I was thinking I was on pace and I was not. I noted, however, that the turnaround was slightly closer this time than it was last time. Not .09 mi closer, no, but it was strange not to have the exact same spot. The finish line might have been slightly farther back, or the course marker could have taken a slightly different route (there are a few spots where the most direct route isn’t exactly clear, as there’s an open space to cut through and then there’s no set spot to jump off the boardwalk portion of the Lakewalk onto the paved portion). Not a big deal. I’m sure GPS error accounts for most of the difference.

Next time I’m really trying to PR in a 5K, I need to get up early enough to eat something that’s going to actually have time to kick in. I ate a granola bar, yes, but while that prevented me from a growling stomach, I don’t think it had time to break down and get converted into energy.

I’m pretty sure I’ve prolonged my illness by running this race, since I’m feeling tired and listless, but we’ll see. Not good if I have, since I have a work trip and long training all week, and there’s nothing worse than sitting in a training listening to some boring lecture with a foggy head.

That’s it for racing for 2016. I’m happy to have ended it on a high note!

Motivational Speaking

Some things:

  1. I didn’t run the Turkey Day 5K. I woke up at 6:15 after a very poor night’s sleep. I had a choice between running a crummy race and being exhausted all day, or going back to sleep and feeling like an idiot for not running. I chose to feel like an idiot for not running, but I also had a much more enjoyable Thanksgiving.
  2. I’m most likely going to run a 5K this weekend since I’m still chasing the dream. The course will be exactly the same as the one I just ran a month ago, so that’s a positive.
  3. I barely ran at all last week, so that’s a negative.

To be truthful, I’m having trouble getting up the motivation to run. I never regret running, but for some reason that’s not enough to get me outside when it is dark, cold, and the streets are covered in snow and ice. The warmer weather and rain washed away the snow and ice, so that obstacle has been eliminated, but I’ve got to figure out how to get motivated, day after day.

Maybe I’d be more motivated if I had a race I was training for. I’m not signed up for anything at the moment. I’m planning on running Zumbro but am not sure which distance, so I haven’t signed up. I’m also planning to run the Superior 25K (and MMM) but the lottery isn’t until January. But maybe that would be worse, feeling more paralyzed and panicked because I am not getting out to train for a race I’ve already paid for. I’m not sure.

I’ve been reading Racing Weight and plan to do a review of the book on here, but the book is kind of depressing me. I’ve gained some weight over the past 6 months or so (I’m not exactly sure), not a significant amount, but when I’m still in the process of trying to slowly lose that weight, it’s not heartening. Racing Weight is not written for people like me, and I knew that going in, but it’s hard to keep reading about the fatty non-athletes who have sad, pathetic motivations for losing weight, unlike the lofty motivations for the elevated, evolved endurance athlete. I don’t have a very good attitude about the book but I’m willing to see it through and see what I can do to improve my performance (and my flab!).

Time to turn the page and get back on track this week, although I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot. It doesn’t matter, though. Turning the page is always, always, always better than closing the book.

Turkey Day 5K Goals

Let’s just get this out of the way:

A Standard: 29:29
B Standard: 29:59

I’ve got to get this stupid benchmark behind me. I sense that I have had the physical capability to break the 30 minute mark for awhile (um, duh, since I ran 30:02 5 months ago), but I’m still lacking the mental capability. So the Turkey Day 5K in Minneapolis is where I prove myself wrong.

I have done some speed work over the last few weeks, including 0.25 mi repeats, tempo runs, and of course another 5K. But then I’ve also neglected my strength training and took 9 days off running in the middle of this short training cycle. But then I also still ran 30:18 a few weeks ago, just a few weeks after my 50K and with NO speed work at all. So, can I find 19 seconds. Yeah. I’ll go with that. I ran a tempo run this evening that wasn’t exactly heartening, but it was sleeting, so maybe that wasn’t so bad. After a warm-up, I did 1 mi @ 11:24 pace, 1.1 mi @ 10:19 pace, and 1.1 mi @ 9:50 pace. The first 2 parts went as planned, but the second part was supposed to be 5K pace. Oh well, I’m not too worried. Unless it’s also sleeting on race day.

I’ll be driving down to the Twin Cities the night before the race, and sleeping on a fold-out mattress, so that’s not the best way to start things off. I also have to be up fairly early in order to get downtown, parked, and checked in. This is why I like doing races where I can get my packet early! It doesn’t work that way when I don’t live in town. I’m also going to be running the race by myself, since my husband is on call and my brother and sister-in-law decided not to run. It’ll be lonely!

The upside to arriving early and alone is that I will have no excuse not to warm up. I don’t even usually have excuses not to warm up properly, I just don’t do it. I will have nothing better to do so I will have to warm up. If I’d warmed up properly for the Superhero 5K, I’d probably have run under 30 minutes. Maybe. But it’s no surprise that the 5Ks where I’ve done the best (like my current PR, at Midnight Sun Midnight Run), I’ve had a decent warm up.

I also need to make sure I eat a decent meal the night before (so that I don’t have an upset stomach) and race day (for energy), and get decently hydrated, but not so much that I have to pee the whole time. I’m not sure what I’m going to wear, probably tights and a long-sleeved shirt. I have to do laundry tomorrow, regardless.

I don’t know the course, but I do know there’s a wave start. Wave 1 is sub 9 minute miles, and wave 2 is sub-11 minute miles. I like this, because I’m just slightly slower than wave 1. I can comfortably line up near the start of wave 2, and then maybe I’ll avoid dodging and weaving. We’ll see. They don’t allow walkers/strollers in the running waves, but I’m sure that won’t stop some of the more aggressive stroller runners from slipping in.

I’m a bit concerned about my GPS since part of the race will be downtown. That might be a blessing in disguise: I’ll just have to run hard. Pretty simple. Run hard. Push harder. No retreat, no surrender. Oh, there we go, got my motto and my pump-up song!

As always, hoping not to barf, become incontinent, injure myself, slip and fall, become hypothermic, or otherwise harm or humiliate myself and ruin Thanksgiving. It should be a great day, and I hope to have a triumphant race report forthcoming.

To the select and marvelous few who read this site, have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Finding Speed

I’m trying to remember how to run fast. (Do I have to keep saying “fast for me” every time? It’s implied.) My muscles seem to have forgotten, considering how the backs of my legs feel three days after my 5K. So I came up with a mini-plan for the next 3.5 weeks leading up to the Turkey Day Minneapolis 5K, based on one of Hal Higdon’s 8 week 5K plans. I started it Monday night with a 1.9 mile treadmill run. My treadmill crapped out at 1.9 miles so that was an inauspicious start.

Last night, I had 6 x 400 on my schedule. I did 6 x 0.25 miles, which is basically the same thing, but my watch is in imperial units, so that’s what I go by. I walked/jogged 0.1 miles between reps, which worked out to about 1:30-1:40 of active recovery between reps.

Here’s how things went: 8:43 (included a hill), 8:43 (included a hill), 8:17, 8:32, 8:20, 8:55.

So, that was probably not very smart running. I need to try a couple other things next week.

  1. Run a flatter route (I ran the Lakewalk and hit both hills at Leif Erikson Park).
  2. Slow down. I think aiming for a nice, even 8:45 pace would be smarter than just kind of going balls-out and seeing what happens. The reps are supposed to be run at a mile pace, and I think 8:45 is a reasonable mile pace for me.
  3. Reduce recovery time. With an overall slower and more sustainable pace, I can reduce the recovery distance to 0.05 miles.

Next Tuesday I’ll be doing another set of repeats, unfortunately mostly in the dark just like yesterday (I started late due to a work function), thanks to the end of daylight saving time. Ugh.

Race Report: Superhero 5K

Official Results:
Time: 30:18
Pace: 9:46
Placing:
Overall: 39/171
Gender: 14/102
Division (F 18+): 10/82

Watch Results:
Time: 30:23
Pace: 9:32/mi
Distance: 3.18
Heart Rate: N/A

Goals:
A: 29:30
B: 29:59

Food:
What I ate the night before: gyros and fries
What I ate on race morning: Clif bar
What I carried with me: nothing

Gear:
What I wore: Doctor Who t-shirt, shorts, buff
Gadgets: GPS watch, fitness tracker

Discussion: This was an overall disappointing result for me, mostly because my expectations were too high. I assumed that I would just waltz out there and PR easily. I entered the race with a friend, so I didn’t do a big warm-up, which probably did not help.

The funny thing is, this is my best placing ever. I was on the first page of results! However, many of the people I “beat” were 2 year olds, or people carrying 2 year olds. The race assigned bibs to all participants, even little kids in strollers. It was sort of like the Simpsons episode Homer’s Enemy, where Homer is tricked into entering a children’s nuclear power plant design contest.

I was only 16 seconds off my time from this summer, so I am not overly concerned about giving <30 another shot. With a few weeks of work, I can get back some of that lost speed and energy. And mental determination. I probably could have run under 30 minutes if I’d had better head game.

The race itself was fun, it was inexpensive and a fundraiser for the Duluth Police Foundation, so I was happy to participate and I expect to run this race again. The course gets a little crowded and there were some pedestrians on the Lakewalk that added a few obstacles, but since the race was small and the average pace was slower, I got out of the crowding fairly quickly. The race starts behind Grandma’s Sports Garden, so the course doesn’t go as far down the Lakewalk as the Midnight Sun Midnight Run does, avoiding the Leif Erikson park hills. (10K runners do not avoid the hill, though.) I’d have thought on an easier course I’d run faster, but I guess not. It was windy but I didn’t feel the wind was a factor. I was just glad it wasn’t 30 degrees. The Sports Garden does open early, so there’s a nice, warm place with actual bathrooms at the start/finish of the race.

In conclusion, it turns out that when I don’t train specifically for a race or put much thought into pre-race nutrition and warm-ups, I don’t magically PR. What a surprising development.