I must come clean and admit that in the past few weeks I have been having some doubts about whether I can do it. What is "it," you ask? That's a good question. While I know I am feeling insecure about my running abilities, I am not completely sure what it is I think I am courting failure at.
Is it running a four-hour marathon? Or a sub-4:15, which is sort of my cut-off point between "decent, just not my best day" and "wheels completely off the bus." Totally arbitrary, of course.
Is it running a half-marathon PR? Or even just maintaining a reasonable sub-two? Because a PR is not my highest priority these days, but certainly maintaining my sub-twos is.
Is it obtaining PR's or reasonably decent performances in some unknown future fall 10K or 5K? Because again, I would like to get a PR or two but would happy to just stay in the range of my better showings.
I'll admit, all of these things seem a little scary and elusive. I feel like I am falling back into my inexplicable early 2009 slump, where I kept getting slower and slower, until I hit "bottom" at the Bath Half, then started to speed up again. This culminated in major PRs in every distance by fall of 2009. And now, a year later...what?
I think a few things have been going on this summer which have led to my self-doubt. I've already mentioned a few times that my easy runs, and easy long runs, seem slower than they were a year ago. As far as I know, I have been exerting the same level of effort but the times just feel slower. Or longer, whatever.
I've had a couple of 10K's (the last two I did) that were notably slower than my 10K's earlier this year (let alone my PR from November 2009). I also had a slow 5K, but I excuse that because it followed immediately (like five minutes) after a 10K.
Then there was the half marathon from hell in August. Granted, I was intentionally doing this as a long run rather than speed work, and it was super hot out, and I ran five miles before I started. But I was still stunned to end up with a 10:30-ish pace, which is completely out of the realm of my typical half marathon.
When I go out to run speed work, for example 800's (which are on the schedule tomorrow morning), I am never sure that I will be able to hit my desired pace. Even though I have largely succeeded at every effort, it has been success with an asterisk; for example, starting out too slowly but finishing on pace.
My fear is that what should seem easy (at least I think it should seem easy) instead feels too hard. And I don't know why. Probably it was hard last year too, and I am just remembering with too rosy a glow.
One thing that adds to my nerves, I know, is my ever-tender right ankle. It has never gotten to the point of true pain, the kind you can't run through, but the level of discomfort, though varying, is almost ever-present. That can't help my state of mind.
This morning I registered for the Super Jock & Jill Half Marathon on Labor Day. I've had it on my training schedule since the beginning, but hesitated to sign up until I was pretty sure it was doable (I'm talking personal schedule-wise, not ability-wise). For the first time ever, I think, I was somewhat reluctant and nervous to sign up for a half marathon. It's not that I want to try for a PR or anything. What I want to do is run comfortably and stay under two hours. I want those two things to be mutually inclusive, not exclusive.
And then there's the Fairhaven Waterfront 15K on September 11. I would like a PR in this one. But my PR from last year was so fantastic, I don't know that I could beat it even on a good day (surely on a great day, though!). My average pace last year was 8:18...I'd accept 8:30 without whining too much. My fear is...well, you can imagine.
So I don't know that putting all my concerns out there has helped me much. Perhaps it just added to the ephemeral worries that have been drifting through my mind. That can't be good.
But on the positive side (I have to be somewhat positive, I am the glass-half-full girl after all!), I am still running. The ankle hasn't laid me up or anything. As negative and reluctant as I might be starting a run, I always finish pretty strong and happy to have run. I tell myself that race-day adrenaline is powerfully strong.
I'll run Super Jock & Jill and see how it goes. If it doesn't go especially well, I'll try to let that go and concentrate my energy on Fairhaven. If I am in a slump, eventually I will climb back out of it. I know this to be true.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Candy canes
Early Saturday morning we headed east to Waterville to go to the North Central Washington Fair. It's a pretty small fair, but Rod and I agreed that it had more "fair stuff" than the Stanwood Fair, another smalltown fair we went to this summer. Stanwood has way more stuff for sale, but Waterville has more exhibits and animals.
We wandered through the exhibit halls and some of the animal barns (poultry and rabbits) and stopped at the Douglas County Democrats booth and gave them a $5 donation. We also looked at the new cars and tractors that were for sale. :) We weren't tempted by the fair food because we already had plans for lunch.
After a couple hours we were ready to go. There's only so much fair you can take. (And for me, apparently the amount is pretty low.) Someday I might write a whole post with some of my thoughts about fairs....
We had lunch at a gallery and Southern barbecue place in town. She really wasn't open for lunch, but offered to fix us lunch anyway. Unfortunately this unique, delicious place is probably going to close because she's just not getting enough business. Sad. She gave us a splendid lunch, some cheese and crackers while we waited, salad greens with coleslaw, magnificent plates with jambalaya, smoked chicken, and ribs, and finally an airy peach cobbler for dessert. It's unfortunate that we live too far away to help business much!
We were so stuffed that I thought we might not ever eat again. That's not a risk I'm willing to take, though, so we brought a couple cans of chili, corn tortillas, and plums to eat for our dinner at the cabin.
We spent a lazy afternoon lying around and I read most of Mennonite in a Little Black Dress. I had just started it, and I couldn't put it down! (I finished the last pages this morning.) Love. It. (Another future post, my favorite memoirs!) You MUST read it!
I had originally planned to run around Rimrock on Sunday morning, but we decided to leave pretty early, so we might miss the traffic around the OTHER fair, the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe.
We headed out around 7:30, and took a slightly longer but SO scenic route through an area called the Palisades. The road descends steeply into a rock-walled canyon...I've tried to take pictures in the past, but haven't managed to capture the epic scenery. This picture is from nwpics.com, and even it doesn't really convey the magnitude. 
Around 9:00 we arrived in Cashmere, another storybook cute town, and stopped at the Anjou Bakery for a non-traditional breakfast. Rod had two pieces of their scrumptious cherry pie (because one was not enough) and I had a piece of cinnamony bread pudding (perfectly nutritious, just bread, eggs and milk!). Although I felt like I could have eaten a whole pan of bread pudding (it was so good), this made a very satisfying meal.
My compromise plan was to run in town when I got home. This would be a bit of a struggle, as the pleasant sunshine of Eastern Washington turned to deep clouds on the Western side. Plus my body was aching from the long car ride. My legs and glutes don't take well to sitting in a car for too long!
But I got home before 12:30, and hoped to get out around 1 or so. I arranged to meet my mother at the Farmer's Market around 3—I would call her when I was about half an hour away.
I was only planning 6-8 miles when the run was at Rimrock, but I upgraded to at least 8 at home (easier terrain). I also wanted to run around a 9:30 pace, if possible. I stacked my deck a little by planning a route that was largely downhill after the first few miles (after all, I was going down to the waterfront).
My first mile was about 10:15, not too bad, and I managed to stay under 10 after that. I used the downhill stretches to bring down my average, of course.
I put on a final burst of speed in the last mile or two and got to my destination at 9.53 miles, with an average pace of 9:31. YESSS! (I know, that's more of a Yes! pace than a YESSS!)
We strolled quickly through the market. All I really wanted was baby beets (see picture above), but I also left with a cocoa nib cookie.
I felt a little unfinished at 9.5 miles, so I ran a rather difficult loop around the marina (bringing my total to 10.65 miles at 9:33 pace). Total mile for this week about 41.5.
For dinner I roasted the beets and sauteed the greens. (And ate them with some other stuff.). Delicious!
Friday, August 27, 2010
iPod FAIL
After all my iPod difficulties of a few days ago, I did manage to get enough stuff back on my playlists to restore my favorite running playlists, plus a few podcasts that I have enjoyed listening to enough that I have gone for one-hour walks several days after work this week, just to listen. (That may be the longest sentence I have ever written. Yes, I was an English major!)
But this morning I encountered the most basic of iPod problems: dead battery. How this happened I don't know. I suppose during my use this week for running and walking I could have run it down (even though I just had it plugged into the computer the other day, I thought). I also suspect that I may have forgotten to lock the screen while carrying it around in my purse, so the play button may have been pushed and run it down. Who knows.
Anyhow, it was a problem. By the time I discovered the discharged battery it was already after 8 a.m. and I didn't have time to wait around for the battery to charge. If I had checked on this at 6 a.m., when I first woke up, or 6:30 when I fixed breakfast, this wouldn't have been a problem. Of course, I could also have checked last night when I made sure the Garmin was charged!
I woke up in the middle of the night, around 2 or 3 a.m., to the sound of pouring rain. By 6 a.m. the sound had changed to dripping. I didn't know if it was still raining lightly or just dripping off the eaves; I didn't bother to check, but opted to stay in bed and wait for it to really stop raining. Which it did, by the way.
Today was a hint of things to come in the fall, though, as I realized that there would soon come a day when I had no choice but to run in the cold, cold rain. (Happily, today was not that day.) But even without rain, I felt (from inside my 60-ish degree house) that it was a chillier day, and opted, for the first time this summer, to put on my capris and a long-sleeved shirt. (As it turns out, it wasn't really that cold; I would have been fine with a short-sleeved shirts and even shorts. There was even a few minutes when the sun came out that I was kicking myself for over-dressing...luckily the sun went back behind the clouds and I was fine.)
But back to the iPod problem. What to do, what to do. I wasted some more time fooling around with my BlackBerry in hopes that I could listen to a talk radio show by way of its website (couldn't) or that I could listen to a Phedippidations podcast through that website (nope, at least not on my BlackBerry).
I was resigned to braving the run without any audio entertainment, but decided to give Pandora radio a try. I had downloaded it to my phone a few weeks ago, but that time the program crashed after just a few minutes. This time I had a little more luck.
First I had to pick an artist to build a playlist with. This was hard, because I couldn't think of one single artist on my running playlists that would epitomize what I wanted to hear...I have such an eclectic mix. I was also trying to make a quick decision, and my brain was just empty. I finally typed in Natalie Cole, not because that was a good choice at all, but basically because she's recorded a lot of music over the years, a few of which I do have on my playlists.
Now, these Pandora radio programs, if you've never tried it, play music not just from your selected artists, but various artists who have a similar style. So my "Natalie Cole radio" gave me a very pleasant, if not hard-driving, selection of pop-jazz music...including Natalie and Nat King Cole, Michael Buble, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, and others of the like. Not exactly the music you want to push you through a run, but frankly, I was just happy to have music at all.
So I jogged lightly through the first few miles without managing a very impressive pace. I had decided to do my long run for the weekend today (12-14 miles, a cut-back week), to make things easier over the weekend. I wasn't trying to run very fast, luckily.
About 40-45 minutes along, the music stopped just before the end of a Michael Buble song. I got the phone out and fiddled around with it, trying to restart it, create a new playlist, or do anything to bring back the music, but it was no go.
So I ran the next few miles accompanied only by the sound of my breathing and my feet hitting the sidewalk. I decided that after almost an hour and a half the iPod had to have achieved some charge, so I diverted the route to return to my house at the 8 mile point. Sure enough, it was about half charged, so I plugged myself in and (after a bathroom stop), headed back out to finish the run.
Twelve to 14 miles, and I had done eight. That meant four, five, or six to go. At first I thought it would be cool to do another 10K (for a total of 14.2), but I wasn't sure I wanted to run that far. Also, I was so late from my delays earlier that this would probably be unwise.
As I retraced my steps through downtown, it became apparent (or at least, likely) that about 13.1 miles would be a good distance to shoot for. I could manage that by only tweaking my route a little bit, not enough to seem too difficult. I ended up running downhill on Everett Avenue in the last bit of mile 13, which was ideal, because I like ending on a downhill! I stopped the Garmin at 13.26 miles on the doorstep of Starbucks. I used one of my free drink cards to get a mocha and walked the rest of the way home.
My right ankle and achilles tendon had been bugging me a little throughout the run, which is a bit disturbing because I count on the soreness going away after a few miles. When I got home, even though I was really late and needed to get to work, I spent about 15 minutes with that leg in a chest of water and ice. (The one kind of ice bath I can do successfully!) I may do another course tonight. Or at the very least put an ice pack on it.
My pace for the run overall was about 10:08 (I believe that is correct; I haven't downloaded data yet). I accept that as an okay easy run pace. But I have been a little concerned that my long runs and easy runs seem slower this year than they were last summer and fall. I am sure (without actually taking the time to check) that I was managing a 9:30 to 9:45 pace, even in the very long runs. And I have always done those runs at a "comfortable" pace, without pushing myself until, perhaps, the last few miles. This may turn out to mean that my marathon pace is going to be slower as well. I guess I'll have to wait and see...it's too late in the game to make any big training changes now.
But this morning I encountered the most basic of iPod problems: dead battery. How this happened I don't know. I suppose during my use this week for running and walking I could have run it down (even though I just had it plugged into the computer the other day, I thought). I also suspect that I may have forgotten to lock the screen while carrying it around in my purse, so the play button may have been pushed and run it down. Who knows.
Anyhow, it was a problem. By the time I discovered the discharged battery it was already after 8 a.m. and I didn't have time to wait around for the battery to charge. If I had checked on this at 6 a.m., when I first woke up, or 6:30 when I fixed breakfast, this wouldn't have been a problem. Of course, I could also have checked last night when I made sure the Garmin was charged!
I woke up in the middle of the night, around 2 or 3 a.m., to the sound of pouring rain. By 6 a.m. the sound had changed to dripping. I didn't know if it was still raining lightly or just dripping off the eaves; I didn't bother to check, but opted to stay in bed and wait for it to really stop raining. Which it did, by the way.
Today was a hint of things to come in the fall, though, as I realized that there would soon come a day when I had no choice but to run in the cold, cold rain. (Happily, today was not that day.) But even without rain, I felt (from inside my 60-ish degree house) that it was a chillier day, and opted, for the first time this summer, to put on my capris and a long-sleeved shirt. (As it turns out, it wasn't really that cold; I would have been fine with a short-sleeved shirts and even shorts. There was even a few minutes when the sun came out that I was kicking myself for over-dressing...luckily the sun went back behind the clouds and I was fine.)
But back to the iPod problem. What to do, what to do. I wasted some more time fooling around with my BlackBerry in hopes that I could listen to a talk radio show by way of its website (couldn't) or that I could listen to a Phedippidations podcast through that website (nope, at least not on my BlackBerry).
I was resigned to braving the run without any audio entertainment, but decided to give Pandora radio a try. I had downloaded it to my phone a few weeks ago, but that time the program crashed after just a few minutes. This time I had a little more luck.
First I had to pick an artist to build a playlist with. This was hard, because I couldn't think of one single artist on my running playlists that would epitomize what I wanted to hear...I have such an eclectic mix. I was also trying to make a quick decision, and my brain was just empty. I finally typed in Natalie Cole, not because that was a good choice at all, but basically because she's recorded a lot of music over the years, a few of which I do have on my playlists.
Now, these Pandora radio programs, if you've never tried it, play music not just from your selected artists, but various artists who have a similar style. So my "Natalie Cole radio" gave me a very pleasant, if not hard-driving, selection of pop-jazz music...including Natalie and Nat King Cole, Michael Buble, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, and others of the like. Not exactly the music you want to push you through a run, but frankly, I was just happy to have music at all.
So I jogged lightly through the first few miles without managing a very impressive pace. I had decided to do my long run for the weekend today (12-14 miles, a cut-back week), to make things easier over the weekend. I wasn't trying to run very fast, luckily.
About 40-45 minutes along, the music stopped just before the end of a Michael Buble song. I got the phone out and fiddled around with it, trying to restart it, create a new playlist, or do anything to bring back the music, but it was no go.
So I ran the next few miles accompanied only by the sound of my breathing and my feet hitting the sidewalk. I decided that after almost an hour and a half the iPod had to have achieved some charge, so I diverted the route to return to my house at the 8 mile point. Sure enough, it was about half charged, so I plugged myself in and (after a bathroom stop), headed back out to finish the run.
Twelve to 14 miles, and I had done eight. That meant four, five, or six to go. At first I thought it would be cool to do another 10K (for a total of 14.2), but I wasn't sure I wanted to run that far. Also, I was so late from my delays earlier that this would probably be unwise.
As I retraced my steps through downtown, it became apparent (or at least, likely) that about 13.1 miles would be a good distance to shoot for. I could manage that by only tweaking my route a little bit, not enough to seem too difficult. I ended up running downhill on Everett Avenue in the last bit of mile 13, which was ideal, because I like ending on a downhill! I stopped the Garmin at 13.26 miles on the doorstep of Starbucks. I used one of my free drink cards to get a mocha and walked the rest of the way home.
My right ankle and achilles tendon had been bugging me a little throughout the run, which is a bit disturbing because I count on the soreness going away after a few miles. When I got home, even though I was really late and needed to get to work, I spent about 15 minutes with that leg in a chest of water and ice. (The one kind of ice bath I can do successfully!) I may do another course tonight. Or at the very least put an ice pack on it.
My pace for the run overall was about 10:08 (I believe that is correct; I haven't downloaded data yet). I accept that as an okay easy run pace. But I have been a little concerned that my long runs and easy runs seem slower this year than they were last summer and fall. I am sure (without actually taking the time to check) that I was managing a 9:30 to 9:45 pace, even in the very long runs. And I have always done those runs at a "comfortable" pace, without pushing myself until, perhaps, the last few miles. This may turn out to mean that my marathon pace is going to be slower as well. I guess I'll have to wait and see...it's too late in the game to make any big training changes now.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Mama Goes Masters - 8.25 Virtual Race Report
From one 40-something to the newest member of the club, happy birthday MCM Mama!
As befits my procrastinator personality, I waited until the last minute (actual day) to run 8.25 miles in honor of the birthday girl. Actually, to give myself credit, I could have plucked 8.25 miles out of any of several runs in the last week, but I really did want to run the 8.25 on 8/25. Because I am geeky that way.
I even carb-loaded last night with dinner at Lombardi's. A great way to justify eating pasta! (And, um, bread....) It was also the last day for my free birthday dinner coupon, so I enjoyed my $18.95 plate of Spaghettini with Dungeness Crab on the house. (And my accompanying salad on my folks' tab!) I have a little bit of leftover pasta for today, too.
I had all sorts of good intentions of getting up extra early to make sure I got the mileage in without making myself late for work. (Even though 8.25 miles is a typical weekday distance for me, I figured I'd want a warm-up before and cool-down after, making the total running time longer than usual.) I even woke up before 5 a.m., thinking I'd hit the road at 5:30 or 5:45. But I started reading my book, and cuddling with one of my cats (who, for once, wasn't using me as a pincushion but was instead just snuggling up with me, creating a barrier between me and the floor), and before I knew it, it was almost 6 a.m.
So I finally jumped out of bed and threw on some running clothes (wisely set out the night before). I pre-fueled with half of a peanut butter & chocolate PR bar (setting the stage for a morning of chocolatey-ness) and a few chocolate-covered espresso beans. I strapped on all my gear, set the Garmin, and stepped out the door to our pleasant late-summer upper-50's coolness. (It's supposed to get to the mid-70's today and then be cooler over the next few days. Our humidity is about 50%, which I guess is about the perfect level, because it doesn't feel humid at all but doesn't desiccate you like the desert does either.)
I knew I had to do some kind of warm-up before I started "counting" my distance, so I decided to use the first half mile or so (which covers the first hill) to get the early morning lead out of my legs. If that wasn't enough I could extend the warm-up to a mile, although I really wanted to get going on the real race!
I modified my usual running route to start out going south for a couple miles before doubling back, therefore adding extra distance at the beginning instead of the end. The downside of this is that those first couple miles are gradually uphill...the upside is that I then get to go back down!
My intention with this race was to use it as a tempo run, a "comfortably hard" effort that I could sustain throughout the run (although I could not manage a pace that I would consider an acceptable 10K or 15K race pace).
One of the differences between a "real" race and virtual race is (at least for me) that in a virtual race you don't have the adrenaline fueled starting kick of a race with actual competitors. You know, that kick that makes you go out way too fast and (sometimes) record a first mile split that is faster than any of the following ones?
Well, in this race I was apparently still warming up for the first mile, even though I thought I was giving it a strong effort. Mile 1 - 9:27.
In order to help give a boost to my overall pace, I decided to employ a strategy that has worked to speed me up a little in the past. For each mile I ran .75 at the aforementioned "comfortably hard" effort, then for the last quarter mile I would step it up a gear and try to run as close to 10K effort as possible. This worked best on miles where the last quarter did not happen to be uphill!
The first mile and a half was gently climbing, and then my route switched to slightly downhill until the end of mile 6! (That is, with a short uphill stretch, about a quarter of a mile, at the beginning of miles 4 and 5.) Miles 2-6 - 8:55, 9:03, 8:50, 9:07, 8:54. I thought that my effort seemed a little bit hard for what was essentially "easy" half marathon pace (or goal marathon pace), but on the other hand, at least I was averaging sub-9.
In miles 7 and 8 I was repeating part of the climb from the beginning of my route, but I was staying strong and, in fact, sped up a little in mile 8, my final full mile of the race! Mile 7 - 8:53, Mile 8 - 8:43.
My final quarter mile was all downhill and I threw it all out there—.25 mile at 8:02 pace. Okay, maybe it wasn't all out there. If it had been, my pace would have been solidly under 8:00.
As befits my procrastinator personality, I waited until the last minute (actual day) to run 8.25 miles in honor of the birthday girl. Actually, to give myself credit, I could have plucked 8.25 miles out of any of several runs in the last week, but I really did want to run the 8.25 on 8/25. Because I am geeky that way.
I even carb-loaded last night with dinner at Lombardi's. A great way to justify eating pasta! (And, um, bread....) It was also the last day for my free birthday dinner coupon, so I enjoyed my $18.95 plate of Spaghettini with Dungeness Crab on the house. (And my accompanying salad on my folks' tab!) I have a little bit of leftover pasta for today, too.
I had all sorts of good intentions of getting up extra early to make sure I got the mileage in without making myself late for work. (Even though 8.25 miles is a typical weekday distance for me, I figured I'd want a warm-up before and cool-down after, making the total running time longer than usual.) I even woke up before 5 a.m., thinking I'd hit the road at 5:30 or 5:45. But I started reading my book, and cuddling with one of my cats (who, for once, wasn't using me as a pincushion but was instead just snuggling up with me, creating a barrier between me and the floor), and before I knew it, it was almost 6 a.m.
So I finally jumped out of bed and threw on some running clothes (wisely set out the night before). I pre-fueled with half of a peanut butter & chocolate PR bar (setting the stage for a morning of chocolatey-ness) and a few chocolate-covered espresso beans. I strapped on all my gear, set the Garmin, and stepped out the door to our pleasant late-summer upper-50's coolness. (It's supposed to get to the mid-70's today and then be cooler over the next few days. Our humidity is about 50%, which I guess is about the perfect level, because it doesn't feel humid at all but doesn't desiccate you like the desert does either.)
I knew I had to do some kind of warm-up before I started "counting" my distance, so I decided to use the first half mile or so (which covers the first hill) to get the early morning lead out of my legs. If that wasn't enough I could extend the warm-up to a mile, although I really wanted to get going on the real race!
I modified my usual running route to start out going south for a couple miles before doubling back, therefore adding extra distance at the beginning instead of the end. The downside of this is that those first couple miles are gradually uphill...the upside is that I then get to go back down!
My intention with this race was to use it as a tempo run, a "comfortably hard" effort that I could sustain throughout the run (although I could not manage a pace that I would consider an acceptable 10K or 15K race pace).
One of the differences between a "real" race and virtual race is (at least for me) that in a virtual race you don't have the adrenaline fueled starting kick of a race with actual competitors. You know, that kick that makes you go out way too fast and (sometimes) record a first mile split that is faster than any of the following ones?
Well, in this race I was apparently still warming up for the first mile, even though I thought I was giving it a strong effort. Mile 1 - 9:27.
In order to help give a boost to my overall pace, I decided to employ a strategy that has worked to speed me up a little in the past. For each mile I ran .75 at the aforementioned "comfortably hard" effort, then for the last quarter mile I would step it up a gear and try to run as close to 10K effort as possible. This worked best on miles where the last quarter did not happen to be uphill!
The first mile and a half was gently climbing, and then my route switched to slightly downhill until the end of mile 6! (That is, with a short uphill stretch, about a quarter of a mile, at the beginning of miles 4 and 5.) Miles 2-6 - 8:55, 9:03, 8:50, 9:07, 8:54. I thought that my effort seemed a little bit hard for what was essentially "easy" half marathon pace (or goal marathon pace), but on the other hand, at least I was averaging sub-9.
In miles 7 and 8 I was repeating part of the climb from the beginning of my route, but I was staying strong and, in fact, sped up a little in mile 8, my final full mile of the race! Mile 7 - 8:53, Mile 8 - 8:43.
My final quarter mile was all downhill and I threw it all out there—.25 mile at 8:02 pace. Okay, maybe it wasn't all out there. If it had been, my pace would have been solidly under 8:00.
Total time 1:13:56, average pace 8:57.
I jogged the remaining quarter mile to Starbucks, giving me total mileage for the morning just over nine miles.
At Starbucks I got myself a mini-mocha to celebrate the end of the race and toast MCM Mama! (Sorry the print is so small. Time to get yourself a pair of readers....!)
Monday, August 23, 2010
Everyone's doin' it (the 20-miler)
It seems like my Google reader was full of 20-mile weekend run reports this weekend. All of them successful, go runners! Most of them also quite a bit faster than mine. How anyone can do a 20-mile training run at a sub-nine pace (in some cases, sub-eight), boggles my mind. In my case, I didn't even manage sub-ten this time around.
I'm trying not to dwell too much on my pace, though. I'm telling myself that long runs are supposed to be slowwww and eassssy. I'm telling myself that it doesn't matter that all of my long runs last fall were sub-ten (9:30-9:45 pace, mostly). I'm telling myself that my 10.5 mile run from Friday (with some marathon pace miles in there) tired my legs enough to slow me down on Saturday morning.
All of those things are true. And if this also is a harbinger that my marathon time (assuming I manage to get a marathon done) will be slower than I would like, well, too bad. It is what it is. (I sort of hate that phrase!)
Anyhow, I headed out on Saturday morning at 7:15 to put in the 20. (That was 15 minutes later than I had planned, of course.) The weather on Saturday was perfect, upper 50's to low 60's in the morning, and lightly sunny. Not hot at all (so I don't have that excuse to fall back on).
My route consisted of a nine-mile loop through Marysville, about three miles over the highway to Everett, and the remaining eight miles looping through Everett.
While not fast, I was at least pretty consistent. Most of my miles were in the 10:25 to 10:35 range, with the few that were even slower mostly understandably so. Miles 1-8 - 10:24, 10:25, 10:31, 10:28, 10:26, 10:36, 10:30, 10:29. Mile 9 was right down State Street in Marysville and it was inexplicably 10:54 (although now that I think about it, there was a little problem with a starting and stopping of the timer at one point, perhaps I mistakenly let it run at a stoplight).
The almost-three miles across the highway (along the shoulder and over some bridges) is my very least favorite part of the route. I hate the traffic, I hate the wooden walkways along the bridges. I would have thought those miles would be slower, but maybe (despite slowing on the bridges) I tried to hurry to get it over with. The final mile includes quite a bit of uphill. Miles 10-12 - 10:33, 10:29, 10:59.
After the unpleasantness of the highway, the almost deserted roadway (and good sidewalks) on East Marine View Drive in Everett was almost lovely. My legs were getting a little tired, though. Miles 13-15 - 10:27, 10:45, 10:37. As I'm running this part of the route, I started reconsidering my plan for finishing. Originally I had mapped it out to go down along the waterfront then loop back up. Even though that worked on Map My Run (and probably would work), I started to worry that this would take me long and I would end up too far from home. (It's not just that I didn't want to run extra, I was also on a time schedule.)
I decided that if I got to fifteen miles by Broadway (QFC), I would just do the remaining five miles on Colby and Grand Avenues without going all the way down to the waterfront. Colby and Grand are familiar stomping grounds for me and I thought that would make it feel easier.
I did hit fifteen right at Broadway, so I headed up the hill on Everett Avenue to Colby and headed north. After two miles I was at 10th Street. I probably should have gone a little further but I cut over to Grand and started backtracking. Of course, when I got back to Everett Avenue I was still only a little over nineteen miles, so I continued on for a couple more blocks before turning back and heading back down the hill to QFC.
Let me tell you a little about my legs during this little jaunt. They weren't happy. They weren't speedy. They were, pretty much, turning to concrete. In the last mile I pushed hard for a final kick and you know what my time was for that mile? 10:13. Yes, it was faster than the other miles but it was hardly a big kick. Miles 16-20 - 10:46, 11:01 (yes, things were getting hard), 10:35, 10:28, 10:13.
I had to go around the block at QFC to get over 20, so my final distance was 20.02 miles. I looked at the Garmin when I stopped at Starbucks and I think my average overall pace was about 10:35. I am not exactly certain because a funny thing happened at Starbucks while I was waiting for my drinks (a post-run mocha, with an Americano chaser to caffeinate me for the rest of the afternoon). I inadvertantly pushed the start button on the Garmin and let it run for a few minutes. So my final split was .03 miles in 2:26, which was a 30 minute per mile pace. Ha. Ha. Ha.
The good of this run was, of course, the consistency. The bad was not so much the slowness, but the lack of confidence in my ability to run fast(er) when the time comes!
Sunday was a deserved rest day, although I did break down and go to the Y in the afternoon for a stint on the elliptical.
This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6 a.m. (at least 15 minutes later than it should have been) for a Monday morning recovery (or whatever) run. As I wrote last week, even though this was a recovery run, I've been trying to put a little fun (and quality) into the Monday runs. Today I worked at pushing a 10 minute pace for a couple of miles, then did some more fartlek or interval work to add some bursts of speed to the other miles (which does wonders for the average pace). Mile 1 - 10:36 (the first half slower than 10, the second half faster). Mile 2 - 9:42. Miles 3-8.6 - 9:05, 9:17, 9:19, 9:03, 9:04, 8:51, and .6 at 9:52 pace. The kind of neat thing about those faster miles was that I achieved those paces by alternating a pushing pace with a jogging pace. Now, I'll admit that the fastest ones had more pushing than jogging (and the final .6 was almost all jogging!).
Average pace for 8.60 miles, 9:23 per mile.
Late this afternoon I had some iPod traumas (I won't take the time to describe it all), but by the time I got the iPod to sync and I managed put back some of my playlists and podcasts that had been deleted in my fumbling around, it got late. In fact, it is late. (Well, 7 p.m.) Which sort of puts a pall on my plans to go for a walk (listening to a podcast) in order to help work off some of the chocolate cake and tortilla chips I downed during my computer drama. Darn it. Maybe I still have time for 5K if I hustle...at least that'll put a dent in it!
So I'll be on my way then.
I'm trying not to dwell too much on my pace, though. I'm telling myself that long runs are supposed to be slowwww and eassssy. I'm telling myself that it doesn't matter that all of my long runs last fall were sub-ten (9:30-9:45 pace, mostly). I'm telling myself that my 10.5 mile run from Friday (with some marathon pace miles in there) tired my legs enough to slow me down on Saturday morning.
All of those things are true. And if this also is a harbinger that my marathon time (assuming I manage to get a marathon done) will be slower than I would like, well, too bad. It is what it is. (I sort of hate that phrase!)
Anyhow, I headed out on Saturday morning at 7:15 to put in the 20. (That was 15 minutes later than I had planned, of course.) The weather on Saturday was perfect, upper 50's to low 60's in the morning, and lightly sunny. Not hot at all (so I don't have that excuse to fall back on).
My route consisted of a nine-mile loop through Marysville, about three miles over the highway to Everett, and the remaining eight miles looping through Everett.
While not fast, I was at least pretty consistent. Most of my miles were in the 10:25 to 10:35 range, with the few that were even slower mostly understandably so. Miles 1-8 - 10:24, 10:25, 10:31, 10:28, 10:26, 10:36, 10:30, 10:29. Mile 9 was right down State Street in Marysville and it was inexplicably 10:54 (although now that I think about it, there was a little problem with a starting and stopping of the timer at one point, perhaps I mistakenly let it run at a stoplight).
The almost-three miles across the highway (along the shoulder and over some bridges) is my very least favorite part of the route. I hate the traffic, I hate the wooden walkways along the bridges. I would have thought those miles would be slower, but maybe (despite slowing on the bridges) I tried to hurry to get it over with. The final mile includes quite a bit of uphill. Miles 10-12 - 10:33, 10:29, 10:59.
After the unpleasantness of the highway, the almost deserted roadway (and good sidewalks) on East Marine View Drive in Everett was almost lovely. My legs were getting a little tired, though. Miles 13-15 - 10:27, 10:45, 10:37. As I'm running this part of the route, I started reconsidering my plan for finishing. Originally I had mapped it out to go down along the waterfront then loop back up. Even though that worked on Map My Run (and probably would work), I started to worry that this would take me long and I would end up too far from home. (It's not just that I didn't want to run extra, I was also on a time schedule.)
I decided that if I got to fifteen miles by Broadway (QFC), I would just do the remaining five miles on Colby and Grand Avenues without going all the way down to the waterfront. Colby and Grand are familiar stomping grounds for me and I thought that would make it feel easier.
I did hit fifteen right at Broadway, so I headed up the hill on Everett Avenue to Colby and headed north. After two miles I was at 10th Street. I probably should have gone a little further but I cut over to Grand and started backtracking. Of course, when I got back to Everett Avenue I was still only a little over nineteen miles, so I continued on for a couple more blocks before turning back and heading back down the hill to QFC.
Let me tell you a little about my legs during this little jaunt. They weren't happy. They weren't speedy. They were, pretty much, turning to concrete. In the last mile I pushed hard for a final kick and you know what my time was for that mile? 10:13. Yes, it was faster than the other miles but it was hardly a big kick. Miles 16-20 - 10:46, 11:01 (yes, things were getting hard), 10:35, 10:28, 10:13.
I had to go around the block at QFC to get over 20, so my final distance was 20.02 miles. I looked at the Garmin when I stopped at Starbucks and I think my average overall pace was about 10:35. I am not exactly certain because a funny thing happened at Starbucks while I was waiting for my drinks (a post-run mocha, with an Americano chaser to caffeinate me for the rest of the afternoon). I inadvertantly pushed the start button on the Garmin and let it run for a few minutes. So my final split was .03 miles in 2:26, which was a 30 minute per mile pace. Ha. Ha. Ha.
The good of this run was, of course, the consistency. The bad was not so much the slowness, but the lack of confidence in my ability to run fast(er) when the time comes!
Sunday was a deserved rest day, although I did break down and go to the Y in the afternoon for a stint on the elliptical.
This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6 a.m. (at least 15 minutes later than it should have been) for a Monday morning recovery (or whatever) run. As I wrote last week, even though this was a recovery run, I've been trying to put a little fun (and quality) into the Monday runs. Today I worked at pushing a 10 minute pace for a couple of miles, then did some more fartlek or interval work to add some bursts of speed to the other miles (which does wonders for the average pace). Mile 1 - 10:36 (the first half slower than 10, the second half faster). Mile 2 - 9:42. Miles 3-8.6 - 9:05, 9:17, 9:19, 9:03, 9:04, 8:51, and .6 at 9:52 pace. The kind of neat thing about those faster miles was that I achieved those paces by alternating a pushing pace with a jogging pace. Now, I'll admit that the fastest ones had more pushing than jogging (and the final .6 was almost all jogging!).
Average pace for 8.60 miles, 9:23 per mile.
Late this afternoon I had some iPod traumas (I won't take the time to describe it all), but by the time I got the iPod to sync and I managed put back some of my playlists and podcasts that had been deleted in my fumbling around, it got late. In fact, it is late. (Well, 7 p.m.) Which sort of puts a pall on my plans to go for a walk (listening to a podcast) in order to help work off some of the chocolate cake and tortilla chips I downed during my computer drama. Darn it. Maybe I still have time for 5K if I hustle...at least that'll put a dent in it!
So I'll be on my way then.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Five things Friday
I have no time here, so I'm trying the fast version, ten minutes or less, okay?
Have a great weekend, people!
- This morning I ran 10.5 miles, with 8.5 at marathon pace effort. What that means is I tried to do goal marathon pace but didn't quite manage, due to a couple of extra-slow miles (9:31 and 9:45, right in the middle). My average pace for the entire 8.5 was 9:11 (so I almost made it up on the averaging). I would say that 6.5 of the miles were acceptable marathon goal pace (ranges from 8:47 to 9:19).
- While I was running, particularly during my two miles of warm-up, I considered changing my goal pace to 10:00 miles.
- I am concerned about the feasibility of running the Bellingham Marathon on September 26; not because of my training, but because of other things going on around then which may take priority. (They do take priority, the question is whether they will prevent me from running.) For a short time this morning I thought I had a solution, which was to drop to the half in Bellingham and find another October marathon to run. But I can't seem to find one. All the good ones are on October 10, when I am doing the Portland Half...and I can't trade up to the full, I emailed to ask and they won't allow it as they are all sold out. So I'm back to the original problem. My temporary solution: not to worry about it right now.
- I had a lovely birthday dinner last night featuring lobster rolls plus other stuff (may be a picture in a future post). I love lobster rolls, and all things lobster.
- There are several marathons in New England in October, at least one of which would fit the bill of what I need. But I can't go to New England in October. It's all the way across the country, and I'm going to Maine in the spring, after Boston. So I've got to stop thinking about this and this.
Have a great weekend, people!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
My own little virtual race
I'll admit, I had to "cheat" a little to make this happen. At about 44 minutes I was perilously close to finished, so I jogged very slowly for about 30 seconds and then stood still for another 30 while the time ticked away. 4.5 in 45, done! (Plus half a mile warm-up beforehand and half a mile the rest of the way home after.)
Even though I got up way earlier than usual, I still twiddled away a bunch of time (including time spent taking pictures of my watch and myself), so I didn't have as much time to go to the Y as I expected to. So I had to settle for 45 minutes on the elliptical and call it good.
A new setting on the elliptical machine....
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