Thursday, August 16
Today I completed the speedwork on my training schedule. This is huge, 'cause I never finish it the way the schedule says I'm supposed to. I usually keep paring down the distances. Just run 1 lap and jog 1/2 cause I can't keep going for 2 laps. You know the drill.
But today, in the lovely air conditioning of the gym, on a treadmill set a low incline, I did it! 1 mile warmup at 10:54, then 4x800 at 4:20 with 400 jogs in between, then a mile to cool down back at 10:54.
Drove home smelling like the football locker rooms of my coach's daughter childhood. Only to discover that my house was 93 degrees and the a/c was not cooling. Suspect that even after my shower, I'll have a locker room odor.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Accidental Mileage
Saturday, August 11
Just before 7 a.m. I strapped bandaids over the 4 blisters on my heels and toes resulting from a work shoes meets running from the subway incident, pulled on my shiny new Gel Kayano 13's (Asics) and headed out for 6 easy miles. The plan was to meet a friend doing 18. She started with her first 8 at 6 a.m., and I was to meet her for the middle miles.
The sun was just up, already nearly 80 degrees already (Day 4 of triple digits, day 3 of record breaking temps). There were people like my friend already drenched from an hour's running.
My friend is a machine, so even though she was going to do an easy pace for her, I knew that would push me a little. I arrived in time to do a mile warm up before meeting her. The plan was to head down a flat neighborhood road with bike lanes that ends in a flat park trail by the river. From the parking lot to the far end of the park trail and back is 8 miles. (don't think I quite realized this).
So, Mile 1 an easy out and back warm up mile at 10 min. My friend shows up, and we take off. Our pace ranged between 9:15-9:35 for most of the time we ran together. Miles 2-4.5 were down the bike lanes, with me doing some chatting and occasionally attempting to help her back off to my easy pace closer to 10. But she'd drift back to a faster pace and I would follow along without thinking. Mile 4.5 we reach the riverside trail - much softer. By this time of the morning, there's not only a constant flow of runners and bikers but a literal line of cars loaded with bikes, running gear, kayaks, and dogs trying to get to the park. Mile 4.5- 6.5 were through the park (with thankfully a couple of water fountains). Remember I only prepared for 6 total miles, but have now committed to the 8 mile out and back with my warm up mile thrown in. No water with me, no sport beans.
Passed my super runner boss at mile 6 - he saw me and said a pleasant hello. Brilliant career move, I tell you. Back to the paved road and my friend decided to do 1 more mile looping back on the riverside trail, so we part ways. And my pace immediately dropped back to my own long run pace. In fact I was soooo hot that I wasn't sure I'd make it. I ran 1.5, then walked for 2 minutes so I could run the final stretch of the run. As I started back up, a man caught up to me and startd chatting. He asks how I'm doing and I say "great." He says "I'm dying". So I fess up that I'm dying too on mile 9 of my 6 mile run. It's mile 20 for him. So he says he'll just run with me for this last part. He's training for Toronto. It's his 2nd running career. He did Chicago last year. He qualified for Boston. Me, I was just trying to breathe because he was back at that faster pace. I politely offered that I didn't want to hold him back, but no he'd hang back and finish with me.
I'm sore and tired. But it was really good to be pushed on my pace. The extra miles won't hurt (I hope).
Just before 7 a.m. I strapped bandaids over the 4 blisters on my heels and toes resulting from a work shoes meets running from the subway incident, pulled on my shiny new Gel Kayano 13's (Asics) and headed out for 6 easy miles. The plan was to meet a friend doing 18. She started with her first 8 at 6 a.m., and I was to meet her for the middle miles.
The sun was just up, already nearly 80 degrees already (Day 4 of triple digits, day 3 of record breaking temps). There were people like my friend already drenched from an hour's running.
My friend is a machine, so even though she was going to do an easy pace for her, I knew that would push me a little. I arrived in time to do a mile warm up before meeting her. The plan was to head down a flat neighborhood road with bike lanes that ends in a flat park trail by the river. From the parking lot to the far end of the park trail and back is 8 miles. (don't think I quite realized this).
So, Mile 1 an easy out and back warm up mile at 10 min. My friend shows up, and we take off. Our pace ranged between 9:15-9:35 for most of the time we ran together. Miles 2-4.5 were down the bike lanes, with me doing some chatting and occasionally attempting to help her back off to my easy pace closer to 10. But she'd drift back to a faster pace and I would follow along without thinking. Mile 4.5 we reach the riverside trail - much softer. By this time of the morning, there's not only a constant flow of runners and bikers but a literal line of cars loaded with bikes, running gear, kayaks, and dogs trying to get to the park. Mile 4.5- 6.5 were through the park (with thankfully a couple of water fountains). Remember I only prepared for 6 total miles, but have now committed to the 8 mile out and back with my warm up mile thrown in. No water with me, no sport beans.
Passed my super runner boss at mile 6 - he saw me and said a pleasant hello. Brilliant career move, I tell you. Back to the paved road and my friend decided to do 1 more mile looping back on the riverside trail, so we part ways. And my pace immediately dropped back to my own long run pace. In fact I was soooo hot that I wasn't sure I'd make it. I ran 1.5, then walked for 2 minutes so I could run the final stretch of the run. As I started back up, a man caught up to me and startd chatting. He asks how I'm doing and I say "great." He says "I'm dying". So I fess up that I'm dying too on mile 9 of my 6 mile run. It's mile 20 for him. So he says he'll just run with me for this last part. He's training for Toronto. It's his 2nd running career. He did Chicago last year. He qualified for Boston. Me, I was just trying to breathe because he was back at that faster pace. I politely offered that I didn't want to hold him back, but no he'd hang back and finish with me.
I'm sore and tired. But it was really good to be pushed on my pace. The extra miles won't hurt (I hope).
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Weather Report
Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007
oppressive (adj) Definition: hot
Synonyms: airless, close, heavy, humid, muggy, overpowering, steam bath, steamy, sticky, stifling, stuffy, suffocating, sultry, sweat box, torrid
Yep that about sums it up. Call me a baby if you must, but this week of stifling (or suffocating or overpowering or torrid) heat combined with air quality that's worse than bad has been more than I could handle. Just walking home from the dog park this evening had me struggling to catch my breath.
Last night I asked a fellow dog park frequenter how he was doing. He replied, "I'm doing my best to think of anything else to talk about besides how bad the weather is." Several long seconds of silence, shuffling feet, racking our brains followed. Then he said, "So how are you running in this?"
Singing the praises of the treadmill, that's how. Sure my super-running boss is going out on a shady trail tonight, but I got my tempo run done inside, catching up on #756 on ESPN and the SC primary plans on CNN. I started out with the best of intentions: early start to work, early exit to get on the trail before the worst of the heat, then work from home the balance of the day. Instead, a record was set for the highest low temperature, I had a flat tire (nixing the early start, and the heat index was over 100 by 11 a.m. Now I'm looking forward to Sat. a.m. when, even if it's 85 at 6 a.m., I'll be out pounding some pavement.
oppressive (adj) Definition: hot
Synonyms: airless, close, heavy, humid, muggy, overpowering, steam bath, steamy, sticky, stifling, stuffy, suffocating, sultry, sweat box, torrid
Yep that about sums it up. Call me a baby if you must, but this week of stifling (or suffocating or overpowering or torrid) heat combined with air quality that's worse than bad has been more than I could handle. Just walking home from the dog park this evening had me struggling to catch my breath.
Last night I asked a fellow dog park frequenter how he was doing. He replied, "I'm doing my best to think of anything else to talk about besides how bad the weather is." Several long seconds of silence, shuffling feet, racking our brains followed. Then he said, "So how are you running in this?"
Singing the praises of the treadmill, that's how. Sure my super-running boss is going out on a shady trail tonight, but I got my tempo run done inside, catching up on #756 on ESPN and the SC primary plans on CNN. I started out with the best of intentions: early start to work, early exit to get on the trail before the worst of the heat, then work from home the balance of the day. Instead, a record was set for the highest low temperature, I had a flat tire (nixing the early start, and the heat index was over 100 by 11 a.m. Now I'm looking forward to Sat. a.m. when, even if it's 85 at 6 a.m., I'll be out pounding some pavement.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Trudging Along
Heat, extreme ozone levels, extreme smog levels, too many things going both weekend mornings to do a longish run - of course I stayed firmly planted inside. In spite of the lethargy, I did manage to do 3 miles outside on Sat. at a faster pace. Then I logged 3 more easy miles on the treadmill Sunday.
Looking forward to being back on the race training schedule.
Looking forward to being back on the race training schedule.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Shake Up
Wednesday, August 1
First, I'm being a lazy bum right now.
And I've turned my running plans all around. Decided to drop training for a half in Sept. that I can't really afford to travel to anyway. (Sorry Teresa!)
Instead, I'm going to do the Kiawah Island Half on Dec. 8 with some hometown friends.
And I'm going to try to do one qualifying 10K this fall to try to get subseeded (and chip timed) at the Peachtree next summer. (must run a 54 min race).
And I think I'm going to train for my first full in at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville in April 08.
Throw in the ING Georgia Half Marathon for hometown spirit and training, and some shorter races for fun and I feel much better about the running year ahead.
Why? I'll have people to train and run with for the Kiawah (and split travel expenses). If I don't get the time I want in the Sept. 10K, I've got plenty of time to try again. Lots of folks here train for the Nashville race, so I have a hope meeting some training partners. Trying not to be so solitary with the running, though I'll need to keep my share of solo runs for my own sanity.
So now, I need to re-orient my workouts/running schedule.
And that ends the most boring post ever!!
First, I'm being a lazy bum right now.
And I've turned my running plans all around. Decided to drop training for a half in Sept. that I can't really afford to travel to anyway. (Sorry Teresa!)
Instead, I'm going to do the Kiawah Island Half on Dec. 8 with some hometown friends.
And I'm going to try to do one qualifying 10K this fall to try to get subseeded (and chip timed) at the Peachtree next summer. (must run a 54 min race).
And I think I'm going to train for my first full in at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville in April 08.
Throw in the ING Georgia Half Marathon for hometown spirit and training, and some shorter races for fun and I feel much better about the running year ahead.
Why? I'll have people to train and run with for the Kiawah (and split travel expenses). If I don't get the time I want in the Sept. 10K, I've got plenty of time to try again. Lots of folks here train for the Nashville race, so I have a hope meeting some training partners. Trying not to be so solitary with the running, though I'll need to keep my share of solo runs for my own sanity.
So now, I need to re-orient my workouts/running schedule.
And that ends the most boring post ever!!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Honesty
Monday, July 30
A day of rest might be a dangerous thing. Time to think about something besides running or, worse yet, start making analogies between running and the rest of my life.
So what I'm thinking about is honesty. With yourself. With others. When I started running, I quickly realized that I was going to give up and quit again this time unless I was willing to be honest with myself, about myself. Honest about the fact that I couldn't run very fast. In fact I was probably barely jogging. Honest about how lazy I was. Honest about how much fear I felt about taking on a longer distance or trying for a faster time. That's dangerous ground for me; it was more so in those days. Days when I felt unwanted by someone I loved. Days when I was told I was a failure at work; when I knew I was being punished for standing up for what was right. Not a great time to take a good hard look inside!
Still I decided to be honest with myself about this one lousy race. I ran slow, but I ran; I kicked my own lazy ass out the door, but I went; I knew there was no way I could keep running X minutes, but I started anyway - and eventually I ran faster, built some discipline and (horrors!) really wanted to run, increased my distance. Did my very first, 11-min-mile 10K with 55,000 other people and got my t-shirt.
Why do we lie about anything? To get to the end we want without having to actually walk the path? To pretend we are something we really aren't?
Not sure what I'm rambling about - and if this is some analogy, it's a bad one. I live with a screwed-up, messy self, hopefully with a little honesty in there somewhere.
A day of rest might be a dangerous thing. Time to think about something besides running or, worse yet, start making analogies between running and the rest of my life.
So what I'm thinking about is honesty. With yourself. With others. When I started running, I quickly realized that I was going to give up and quit again this time unless I was willing to be honest with myself, about myself. Honest about the fact that I couldn't run very fast. In fact I was probably barely jogging. Honest about how lazy I was. Honest about how much fear I felt about taking on a longer distance or trying for a faster time. That's dangerous ground for me; it was more so in those days. Days when I felt unwanted by someone I loved. Days when I was told I was a failure at work; when I knew I was being punished for standing up for what was right. Not a great time to take a good hard look inside!
Still I decided to be honest with myself about this one lousy race. I ran slow, but I ran; I kicked my own lazy ass out the door, but I went; I knew there was no way I could keep running X minutes, but I started anyway - and eventually I ran faster, built some discipline and (horrors!) really wanted to run, increased my distance. Did my very first, 11-min-mile 10K with 55,000 other people and got my t-shirt.
Why do we lie about anything? To get to the end we want without having to actually walk the path? To pretend we are something we really aren't?
Not sure what I'm rambling about - and if this is some analogy, it's a bad one. I live with a screwed-up, messy self, hopefully with a little honesty in there somewhere.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Night Running
Sunday night
After half an hour glued to the online radar map, I finally ventured out for my 8 miles. I most definitely didn't want to do it.
Since I rarely run with music, I decided tunes where what I needed to get me going. The first 5 miles were an easy pace and felt good. My mileage has been way off and I've missed 2 long runs, so this was a nice surprise. Mile 6 was fully dark and I was struggling with my footing a bit, but it kept my mind off the first of 3 long hills on the route home.
Miles 7-8 were hard and wonderful. Hard because my glutes started feeling tight, my bothersome hip bothered, and it became more hard work. Wonderful because I turned off the mp3 and soaked in the sounds of tree frogs and cicadas (and cars and trains - it is the city). Strange that once I started listening, I could also smell the sweet blossoms. Nothing like a steamy Georgia night after a summer thunderstorm.
Running this late means I won't feel like eating anything much, until about 3 a.m., and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna ache like hell in the morning. Everything on me, including my hair, could have sweat wrung out of it. But I wouldn't trade it for anything but homemade peach ice cream or maybe a cold beer.
After half an hour glued to the online radar map, I finally ventured out for my 8 miles. I most definitely didn't want to do it.
Since I rarely run with music, I decided tunes where what I needed to get me going. The first 5 miles were an easy pace and felt good. My mileage has been way off and I've missed 2 long runs, so this was a nice surprise. Mile 6 was fully dark and I was struggling with my footing a bit, but it kept my mind off the first of 3 long hills on the route home.
Miles 7-8 were hard and wonderful. Hard because my glutes started feeling tight, my bothersome hip bothered, and it became more hard work. Wonderful because I turned off the mp3 and soaked in the sounds of tree frogs and cicadas (and cars and trains - it is the city). Strange that once I started listening, I could also smell the sweet blossoms. Nothing like a steamy Georgia night after a summer thunderstorm.
Running this late means I won't feel like eating anything much, until about 3 a.m., and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna ache like hell in the morning. Everything on me, including my hair, could have sweat wrung out of it. But I wouldn't trade it for anything but homemade peach ice cream or maybe a cold beer.
The next step of the journey
Sunday, July 29, 2007
There's a great group of women online that I post with about our running. And there are "real life" friends who literally plod alongside me. And now, from the inspiration I receive from both, I've decided to start my own blog - the next step in the role running has had in my life for the last 2 years. It's the time when I clear my head. Clear it of the junk that comes in endlessly, whether you want to hear it or not. And clear it of the junk I store and nurture so carefully there myself.
And just to keep me humble, I didn't drag myself out of bed this morning for an 8 mile run. That leaves me facing it this early evening, in what is sure to be high humidity and heat. Of course I don't feel like I have 8 miles in me - we shall see what I find.
There's a great group of women online that I post with about our running. And there are "real life" friends who literally plod alongside me. And now, from the inspiration I receive from both, I've decided to start my own blog - the next step in the role running has had in my life for the last 2 years. It's the time when I clear my head. Clear it of the junk that comes in endlessly, whether you want to hear it or not. And clear it of the junk I store and nurture so carefully there myself.
And just to keep me humble, I didn't drag myself out of bed this morning for an 8 mile run. That leaves me facing it this early evening, in what is sure to be high humidity and heat. Of course I don't feel like I have 8 miles in me - we shall see what I find.
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