All I can say is thank goodness this was a drop down week...
Sunday - 6 miles. Went to see my father-in-law at the hospital in the morning and squeezed in my run in the afternoon.
Monday - No run. Got up at 4:30 am to go to work. It was crazy busy. I got home to find my husband crashed out on the couch; he'd been at the hospital all day for his dad's surgery. I crashed out on the other couch and it was lights out.
Tuesday - No run. Up at 4:30 am to go to work again. Got home and went to see my father-in-law (who happens to be at a totally different hospital).
Wednesday - Rest day. Up at 4:30 am to go to work. It's Christmas Eve. We usually spend Christmas Eve at my in-laws and Christmas Day with my parents so I don't cook either day, therefore, we have hardly any food in the house this week and I have been too busy to go grocery shopping. I got home from work and we decided the whole family would go to the hospital to see my father-in-law.
We thought we'd eat at the hospital. By the time we got there though, the cafeteria was closed. We got done visiting and now it was after 8 pm. I last ate around noon so I was ready to chew my arm off. My husband said that there would be lots of places open in Castleton to eat... so we drove around... to Fazoli's, Applebee's, Olive Garden, McDonald's... all closed. The only place open was Rally's. I've never eaten at a Rally's before. We perused the drive-thru menu and decided pretty much everything on the menu would kill you. Chili cheese fries or fried grilled cheese bites were sounding pretty damn good though! I ended up with the greasiest double decker fried fish sandwich I'd ever eaten. The kids got chicken bites that they swore tasted like shrimp. It was the only place open and their double drive-thru was packed with cars. Our drive-thru girl started taking our order then said to wait... and we waited... and waited... and waited. Finally my husband said, "Hello?" and about got his head bit off. I think the drive-thru girl was about to snap. Merry Christmas!
We got home in time to attend the 11:30 pm candlelight service. I got to bed at 2 am.
Thursday - Rest day. Christmas. I was so happy I didn't have to get up early to go to work. We laid around the house all day then went to my parents for supper.
Friday - 6 miles. OMG it finally stopped raining! It's rained all week. It's pace run day. No high/low pace alarm on my watch today (or ever again!) I decided to try to run by feel. It didn't work out exactly that well. Goal again is 8:45 pace...
Mile 1 - 8:17. OK, I know it's too fast but I was nervous about being too slow since I hadn't run all week so I was secretly pleased. I am trying to check my watch only about every quarter mile.
Mile 2 - 8:13. OK, now I'm running too fast but my brain is also saying "Hey, you have almost a minute in the bank."
Mile 3 - 8:19. Umm, I know this is too fast but it feels pretty good. Heck, I've had days when this was my 5K race pace but I don't feel like I'm working hard like in a race today. I shouldn't be doing this... but I'm kinda seeing how long it will last.
Mile 4 - 8:24. Now I'm running back home and running into the wind. The last 2 miles will be the toughest because I'll be going uphill into the wind. It's starting to feel hard.
Mile 5 - 8:49. It's hard now... and I'm starting to get that feeling where it feels like all my insides are going to fall out.
Mile 6 - 8:54. I had to work to keep it under 9:00. Not how I wanted to finish the run.
So goal was 8:45 pace. Ended up averaging 8:29 for 6 miles but I was all over the place. I still have lots of work to do. Happy I averaged under pace though since I hadn't even made pace on my last couple pace days.
Saturday - 12 miles. Nice easy run. It's freakin' raining again so I hamster tracked it.
Week 9 Total Miles: 24
3 good days, 2 missed runs, 2 rest days
I made out my January run schedule tonight. I'm staring down some HUGE miles the next couple weeks. I can do this!
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Napa Training Weeks 7 and 8... Going Long and Seizing the Moment
Week 7
Sunday - 9 miles. Last day of "Nutcracker" for G. I got up painfully early to get my run in before heading off to the theater. Once I got outside and moving it wasn't too bad and it was nice to see the sunrise over the farm fields but, ughh, I'm NOT a morning person!
Monday - 4 miles. Got up at 4:30 am to go to work. Got my run in at the fitness center in the evening.
Tuesday - Rest.
Wednesday - Rest. I was suppose to do my pace run but was still too tired so I moved my schedule back a day. This meant I'd have to do my long run after a night shift but I just couldn't get myself out the door to do my pace run on Wednesday.
Thursday - 9 miles. This was suppose to be my pace run. I decided to play with the settings on my Garmin and had it alarm at 8:35 pace and at 8:55 pace so that I could keep tighter reins on my pace. NEVER AGAIN!!! The watch beeped at me every 30 seconds and made me crazy. It ended up just being a HUGE distraction. First 3 miles went 8:45, 8:45, and 8:51.
I don't know whether it was the distracting watch or what but after 3 miles I just didn't feel like I could keep pace AGAIN! This is stupid. I KNOW I can run 8:45 pace for longer than 3 miles but on pace days I just seem to fall apart. Rather than throw in the towel though, I decided to try and salvage the workout by alternating jogging a mile, then picking up the pace the next mile. So, jog mile 4, mile 5 - 8:36, jog mile 6, mile 7 - 8:59, jog mile 8, run next 800m in 4:10, jog next 800m to warm down. I got all 9 miles in, just not all at pace.
Friday - 19 miles. I worked Thursday night from 7 pm to Friday morning 7 am then came home and slept for 4 hours. I got up at 11:30 am so I could eat and wake myself up a bit before heading out on my long run. I figured I'd be tired but this was suppose to be a nice slow run so all I had to do was complete the distance. I didn't even bother to wear my heart rate monitor as I figured I'd be running slow and gave myself a 4 hour block to finish the run. I just ran at what I felt was a comfortable pace. The only reason I wore my Garmin was that I was trying out a new route that took me on some less traveled county roads... but the splits my Garmin started spitting out were unexpected...
I figured out right away that I was probably running too fast to keep my heart rate under 150 but I felt so good I decided to just go with it...
I wore a fuel belt and practiced fueling at 5 miles, 10 miles, and 14 miles. I wanted to practice eating on the run. First thing I tried were Clif Shot Bloks. Nope, not going to work. I had a hard time chewing and running at the same time. Went back to gels for the rest of the run. I also had a hard time drinking out of a squeeze bottle and running at the same time but I figured I wouldn't have this problem in a race.
Mile 7 I got chased by a dog.
By Mile 10 I was telling myself I really should slow down. At 13.1 miles I peeked at my watch and saw 2:04:45. After that, the run got hard and I told myself that I didn't need to push myself today. The last 2 miles were pretty tough. All things considered, I was thrilled with how this run went down. I would have never dreamed of running this fast on a long run after a night shift but the moment felt right and I seized it!
Saturday - 4 miles. I ran the Joy of Giving 5K with G to finish out the Crossroads of Indiana Race Series. G was done with "Nutcracker" and had a free Saturday. She told me that if she could dance for 4 hours she could run 3.1 miles. Ummm...yah... I've done both too and it's not the same. However, I thought it would be fun to run with my daughter so I agreed to run with her. For the record, G's never run 3 miles before...
Mile 1 - 9:25, hmmm... actually not a bad pace
Mile 2 - 11:28, G started having to walk shortly after the mile mark
Mile 3 - 11:28, she struggled through that last mile but finished
Her official time was 33:36.3. I finished right behind her in 33:37. She was pretty much a whiny train wreck after the race so I had to take her back over to her grandparents' house before going back and running a warm down before the end of year awards ceremony (which will be a different post).
Week 7 Total Miles: 45 miles
4 good days, 1 "ehh" day, 2 rest days
Week 8
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - 10 miles.
Tuesday - 5 miles.
Wednesday - 10 miles.
Thursday - 20 miles and a story...
How often do we let distractions alter our runs? The distraction that almost bagged my long run this week was a UPS delivery... and it wasn't even MY delivery.
Tuesday, my husband was expecting a UPS delivery. It never came. He left town on business on Wednesday. I came back from running on Wednesday and found a delivery notice on our door. The package needed a signature so they were going to try and redeliver on Thursday between 10:30 am and 2:30 pm. Well, I had to leave the house by 6:30 pm to go to work. The ONLY thing I had planned as a "must do" on Thursday before going to work was to get my 20 mile run in and I was giving myself a 4 hour block to do it. If I wanted to get done before 10:30 am I'd have to start at 6:30 am. Not going to happen, especially on a day where I'm staying up all night to work the night shift. If I started my run after 2:30 pm I didn't feel like I could get done in time to get to work.
I was mad. This wasn't even really my problem but somehow I felt responsible and it just really messed with my mind. Finally I decided to just leave a note for UPS on the door saying I'd be back at noon and that they could leave the package at the door if they wanted. That was the best I could do.
It poured rain all week so I did all my runs indoors at the fitness center. I get there and realized that it's actually almost 9 am. Crap. No way am I going to be back at the house at noon either. I spent the rest of my run ruminating on what I should do.
10:30 am passed. Would UPS really even come back to my house if they tried to deliver when I wasn't home and saw the note? They could just leave another delivery notice and try again on Friday. I have the day off on Friday. I'll be sleeping all morning after my night shift but I'll be home.
11:30 am. Should I just run 10 miles and go home and see if UPS came by, and if not, wait for the delivery. No no no! This is not my problem. If it comes down to it they will try to redeliver tomorrow. I will regret it if I cut this run short. Hal Higdon says the long runs are the most important runs in the training program. Bag anything else but not the long run.
Noon. OK, still running here on the track. This is MY run. It's suppose to be my long slow relaxing run. Physically I feel really good. Mentally I'm just mad about having to worry about this whole delivery issue. Nothing I can do about it now. It's after twelve o'clock. UPS has either come or not. This is MY run. MY RUN.
I got all 20 miles done. I ran slower than I did the week before but I didn't feel tired at all at the end of my run like I did the week before. Most of all though, I was proud of myself for finishing the run and not letting the UPS distraction alter my plans.
1:00 pm. I got home and my note was still on the door. Nothing else. No package. No redelivery notice. I was so worried about this delivery that I actually put off getting in the shower. I was going to wait until 2:30 pm. If they weren't here by then, I'd get in the shower.
2:00 pm. UPS finally shows up... then they piddle around in my driveway for 10 minutes because THEY CAN'T FIND THE PACKAGE!! Somehow they misplaced it between Wednesday and Thursday. They want to know if they can bring it to me later...
So, moral to the story - don't let distractions alter your running plans! I would have been really mad at myself had I cut my run short because UPS didn't even get here until after I finished my run. And really, had they come while I was running, they would have tried to deliver it again the next day and I would have been home so it really was not a problem. I just need to stop blowing little distractions into big distractions and STAY FOCUSED!
Friday - Rest. I kept thinking all this week that if I got my long run in and my night shift over with, I'd have the whole weekend to relax and get all my Christmas stuff done. I woke up after sleeping all morning with a cough, fever, and body aches. Ughh! Now I'm really glad I decided to do my long run before my night shift rather than after it like I did last week otherwise it wouldn't have happened.
And then more serious stuff... my father-in-law went to have a diagnostic heart catheterization Friday morning. He had had what he thought was a chest cold he couldn't shake and no known history of any heart problems. His procedure was at 9 am. I woke up at 11 am to see how it had gone and found out he was being transferred to another hospital for open heart surgery. Totally not what anyone in our family had expected. Surgery is scheduled for Monday. Needless to say this has disrupted all of our holiday plans as most everyone has been at the hospital. Another reminder to seize the moment while you can cause you never know what will happen tomorrow.
Saturday - Unplanned rest day. There was 5 miles on the schedule but I still felt bad and decided to listen to my body rather than the numbers on the training schedule. Went to see my father-in-law and tried to finish up everything for Christmas.
Week 8 Total Miles: 45
4 good days, 3 rest days
Drop down week coming up this week... just in time for Christmas. I'm going to need it.
Please say a little prayer that everything goes well for our family on Monday!
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Thoughts on the Run
Then it occurred to me how crazy my new norm seems to be...
Several years ago when I decided I was actually going to do some running before running my spring half-marathon instead of rolling out of bed and just doing it as had been my history some years, I ran a long run of 10 miles every week for about 6 weeks. It was a HUGE deal getting that long run in every week. That was before I decided to actually follow a training plan and write a blog. Goodness how things have changed! Here I am "squeezing in" my second 10 miler of the week. Tomorrow I have a 20 miler to do before I go to work. I can remember the days when running 13.1 miles left me sore for days and now I'm going to run 20 miles and go to work. Crazy isn't it?!
I had a bajillion other thoughts to write about too... so more later.
Gotta run...
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Napa Training Week 6... Another Nutrition Lesson
Another week down and another lesson learned... or re-learned in my case. I'm either a slow learner or just hard headed. The splits on my long run tell all.
So here's the recap...
Sunday - Rest. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family and spent the whole day cooking, then eating. Family left and then we had to call in reinforcements to help finish off our wine.
Nothing went to waste...
Monday - 9 miles. I was still really sore from racing Saturday. In fact, this is the sorest I've been since running the Derby Marathon in April. Seems kind of strange since the race distances themselves weren't all that long and I only really raced the 5K. In any case, I was really sore but it was a good kind of sore rather than a hurt kind of sore. I felt better after running a couple miles.
Tuesday - 4 miles. Got up at 4:30 am and spent the whole day at work so I didn't get out for my run until 8 pm. I was dead tired, and STILL sore.
Wednesday - Rest.
Thursday - 13 miles. I got up and realized I was finally over being sore from the weekend.
Hal Higdon's original training plan calls for running a half-marathon at Week 9. Since I adapted his plan and jumped in at Week 4 (so his Week 4 was my Week 1), my Week 6 long run was suppose to be an all out half-marathon. This is also "Nutcracker" week. G performed "Nutcracker" this weekend so I had most of the week off to take her to her dress rehearsal and performances. No way was I going to be able to run a real half-marathon this week so I decided to just run 13.1 on my own and try it as a long pace run; it would equal the longest pace run of this training cycle later on.
This is where my nutrition bit me in the butt. Always before a "real" half-marathon I'm really anal about what I eat the week of, two nights before, the night before, and the morning of... plus I always drink Gatorade along the run and eat at least one gel. When I'm not really truly going for time though, I tend to get cavalier about what I do and don't eat. I guess my brain just thinks, "13.1. You can roll out of bed and run that," and I just don't think about pre-run nutrition.
Wednesday night I had a salad for dinner. I couldn't even tell you if I ate Tuesday night. Thursday morning I had a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie (yes, I can feel everyone cringing at my diet now). Then I set out to run 13.1 miles... and it was too much trouble for me to wear a fuel belt so I winged it with no water or gels.
Goal was 8:45 pace so I spent miles 1-4 trying to slow myself down.
Mile 5 was my flattest mile and I couldn't understand why my time suddenly slowed even though I felt like I was putting forth the same effort. At one point I thought my Garmin was just doing something funky as one second it was showing an 11:30 pace and then 5 seconds later it was showing an 8:00 pace and I knew I was running about the same pace. In reality though I was really slowing down. It was roughly just under 45 minutes into my run and I should have been fueling but didn't have anything to fuel with.
I tried putting forth more effort in Mile 6 and got my time down a bit but then realized I wasn't going to be able to hold my pace. I had more hills coming up and 7 more miles to go. I could either see how long I could hang on to an all out effort and risk blowing up before the run was over or just slow my pace and finish the run. I decided to slow my pace and just finish. I did reserve enough gas in the tank to pick up my last mile.
My finish time showed me how much progress I had made and how much potential there was if I WOULD JUST EAT RIGHT! Back in 2010 when I was training for my first marathon ever, I ran an all out effort supported half-marathon in 2:03:59 (500 Festival Mini-Marathon). So here I am, 4 years later, rolling out of bed, having pie for breakfast, and running ever so slightly faster (on a much hillier course I should add.) If I would have treated this run like the real half-marathon it was suppose to be perhaps I could have held my pace.
Live and learn. One of the points from the sports psychology lecture was to get rid of the "could have's" and "should have's" in my life. This run is done. I need to eat better. End of story.
Friday - Rest. It's opening night for "Nutcracker"!
Saturday - 4 miles. Got up early on a Saturday that I didn't have to go to work or race just to get my miles in before "Nutcracker" shows all day.
Week 6 Total Miles: 30
3 good days. 1 "ehh" day. 3 rest days.
There was an extra rest day on the schedule this week due to the real half-marathon I was suppose to be running. I thought about running another day this week since my half wasn't "real" but since it took me half the week to get over being sore from last weekend I just took advantage of my extra rest day.
Goal this coming week is to eat better!
So here's the recap...
Sunday - Rest. I celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family and spent the whole day cooking, then eating. Family left and then we had to call in reinforcements to help finish off our wine.
Nothing went to waste...
Monday - 9 miles. I was still really sore from racing Saturday. In fact, this is the sorest I've been since running the Derby Marathon in April. Seems kind of strange since the race distances themselves weren't all that long and I only really raced the 5K. In any case, I was really sore but it was a good kind of sore rather than a hurt kind of sore. I felt better after running a couple miles.
Tuesday - 4 miles. Got up at 4:30 am and spent the whole day at work so I didn't get out for my run until 8 pm. I was dead tired, and STILL sore.
Wednesday - Rest.
Thursday - 13 miles. I got up and realized I was finally over being sore from the weekend.
Hal Higdon's original training plan calls for running a half-marathon at Week 9. Since I adapted his plan and jumped in at Week 4 (so his Week 4 was my Week 1), my Week 6 long run was suppose to be an all out half-marathon. This is also "Nutcracker" week. G performed "Nutcracker" this weekend so I had most of the week off to take her to her dress rehearsal and performances. No way was I going to be able to run a real half-marathon this week so I decided to just run 13.1 on my own and try it as a long pace run; it would equal the longest pace run of this training cycle later on.
This is where my nutrition bit me in the butt. Always before a "real" half-marathon I'm really anal about what I eat the week of, two nights before, the night before, and the morning of... plus I always drink Gatorade along the run and eat at least one gel. When I'm not really truly going for time though, I tend to get cavalier about what I do and don't eat. I guess my brain just thinks, "13.1. You can roll out of bed and run that," and I just don't think about pre-run nutrition.
Wednesday night I had a salad for dinner. I couldn't even tell you if I ate Tuesday night. Thursday morning I had a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie (yes, I can feel everyone cringing at my diet now). Then I set out to run 13.1 miles... and it was too much trouble for me to wear a fuel belt so I winged it with no water or gels.
Goal was 8:45 pace so I spent miles 1-4 trying to slow myself down.
Mile 5 was my flattest mile and I couldn't understand why my time suddenly slowed even though I felt like I was putting forth the same effort. At one point I thought my Garmin was just doing something funky as one second it was showing an 11:30 pace and then 5 seconds later it was showing an 8:00 pace and I knew I was running about the same pace. In reality though I was really slowing down. It was roughly just under 45 minutes into my run and I should have been fueling but didn't have anything to fuel with.
I tried putting forth more effort in Mile 6 and got my time down a bit but then realized I wasn't going to be able to hold my pace. I had more hills coming up and 7 more miles to go. I could either see how long I could hang on to an all out effort and risk blowing up before the run was over or just slow my pace and finish the run. I decided to slow my pace and just finish. I did reserve enough gas in the tank to pick up my last mile.
My finish time showed me how much progress I had made and how much potential there was if I WOULD JUST EAT RIGHT! Back in 2010 when I was training for my first marathon ever, I ran an all out effort supported half-marathon in 2:03:59 (500 Festival Mini-Marathon). So here I am, 4 years later, rolling out of bed, having pie for breakfast, and running ever so slightly faster (on a much hillier course I should add.) If I would have treated this run like the real half-marathon it was suppose to be perhaps I could have held my pace.
Live and learn. One of the points from the sports psychology lecture was to get rid of the "could have's" and "should have's" in my life. This run is done. I need to eat better. End of story.
Friday - Rest. It's opening night for "Nutcracker"!
Saturday - 4 miles. Got up early on a Saturday that I didn't have to go to work or race just to get my miles in before "Nutcracker" shows all day.
Week 6 Total Miles: 30
3 good days. 1 "ehh" day. 3 rest days.
There was an extra rest day on the schedule this week due to the real half-marathon I was suppose to be running. I thought about running another day this week since my half wasn't "real" but since it took me half the week to get over being sore from last weekend I just took advantage of my extra rest day.
Goal this coming week is to eat better!
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Random Facts About Me
Confession... I got the kids off to school then meant to be productive but fell asleep on the couch... until 11am!! ... but I feel wonderful now. I'm such a night owl it's pathetic.
No running or work today (Wednesday). Total rest day. Spent the day catching up on other things and other people's blogs and got tagged to share these facts about myself from Beth's Shut Up + Run blog. So here are my random facts...
Four names that people call me other than my real name:
1. Park (at work)
2. Mommers (a kid thing)
3. HP (friends from med school and residency)
4. Mommasita (another kid thing)
Four jobs I've held:
1. dance teacher/choreographer
2. waitress
3. telemarketer
4. sold sporting goods at Sears
Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. The Replacements
2. The Hunt for Red October
4. St. Elmo's Fire
4. Star Wars
Four books I'd recommend:
1. Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)
2. A Life Without Limits (Chrissie Wellington)
3. Elite Minds (Stan Beecham)
4. Wild (Cheryl Strayed)
Four places I've lived:
1. Indianapolis, IN
2. Bloomington, IN
3. Columbus, IN
4. Kalamazoo, MI
Four places I've visited:
1. Kenya (most of the country)
2. Costa Rica (most of the country)
3. Kenai, Alaska (where hubs booked a hotel that didn't exist)
4. Cozumel, Mexico (favorite place to dive)
Four things I prefer not to eat:
1. anchovies
2. rhubarb
3. worms
4. bugs
Four of my favorite foods:
1. raw oysters
2. ahi tuna
3. good chocolate
4. goat cheese
Four TV shows I watch:
1. Food Network Challenge
2. college basketball
3. ...ok, I really don't watch TV!
Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
1. My older daughter learning to drive
2. Going someplace warm for Spring Break
3. Seeing friends at the Napa Valley Marathon
4. Watching my younger daughter dance
Four things I'm always saying:
1. I'm cold
2. We're leaving in 5 minutes
3. Scoot over! (to the dog)
4. Love you, see you tonight (to the kids)
OK, your turn. If you got through this you have to share at least 4 random facts about yourself. If you have a blog tell all!
No running or work today (Wednesday). Total rest day. Spent the day catching up on other things and other people's blogs and got tagged to share these facts about myself from Beth's Shut Up + Run blog. So here are my random facts...
Four names that people call me other than my real name:
1. Park (at work)
2. Mommers (a kid thing)
3. HP (friends from med school and residency)
4. Mommasita (another kid thing)
Four jobs I've held:
1. dance teacher/choreographer
2. waitress
3. telemarketer
4. sold sporting goods at Sears
Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. The Replacements
2. The Hunt for Red October
4. St. Elmo's Fire
4. Star Wars
Four books I'd recommend:
1. Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)
2. A Life Without Limits (Chrissie Wellington)
3. Elite Minds (Stan Beecham)
4. Wild (Cheryl Strayed)
Four places I've lived:
1. Indianapolis, IN
2. Bloomington, IN
3. Columbus, IN
4. Kalamazoo, MI
Four places I've visited:
1. Kenya (most of the country)
2. Costa Rica (most of the country)
3. Kenai, Alaska (where hubs booked a hotel that didn't exist)
4. Cozumel, Mexico (favorite place to dive)
Four things I prefer not to eat:
1. anchovies
2. rhubarb
3. worms
4. bugs
Four of my favorite foods:
1. raw oysters
2. ahi tuna
3. good chocolate
4. goat cheese
Four TV shows I watch:
1. Food Network Challenge
2. college basketball
3. ...ok, I really don't watch TV!
Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
1. My older daughter learning to drive
2. Going someplace warm for Spring Break
3. Seeing friends at the Napa Valley Marathon
4. Watching my younger daughter dance
Four things I'm always saying:
1. I'm cold
2. We're leaving in 5 minutes
3. Scoot over! (to the dog)
4. Love you, see you tonight (to the kids)
OK, your turn. If you got through this you have to share at least 4 random facts about yourself. If you have a blog tell all!
Monday, December 1, 2014
Napa Training Week 5... Do Race Miles Count Double?
I fell really short on mileage last week but I'm just glad to have survived. It was a busy week with four shifts at work, three road races, the Thanksgiving holiday, and two family gatherings. So here's how it went...
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - Unplanned rest day. I had 4 miles on the schedule. Plan was to run them while G danced. I spent the whole day at work then was way too tired to run in the evening.
Tuesday - 8 miles.
Wednesday - Another unplanned rest day. I had 17 on the schedule. I got dressed to run but then bagged it. My right shin was still feeling funny - not painful but just an uneasy pressure feeling when I walk. Anyway I got nervous. Plus, I had a bajillion things to do to get ready for Thanksgiving and I knew 17 miles was going to eat up 3 hours of my day and I had a race the next day.
Thursday - 5 miles.
Got up at 5 am to drive down to Seymour and run the Girls Inc. Turkey Trot 8K at 7:30 am. My plan was to try and keep an 8:00 pace. I wanted to run sub-40:00. I thought I could do it as long as my leg held up...
Mile 1 - 7:54
Mile 2 - 8:00
Mile 3 - 8:08 My 5K split was 24:50. At this point I realized I was having a really good race as long as I didn't crash in the next mile and that I could make sub-40:00 if I just pushed a little harder.
Mile 4 - 7:58
last 0.97 - 7:40
Official time - 39:40.5 (7:58 pace)
Finished 1st in the Female 40-49 age group and 8th overall in the women's race
I met the rest of my family at my sister-in-law's house after the race to celebrate Thanksgiving with my husband's side of the family then left to go to work.
Friday - Rest. I worked Thursday night from 7 pm to 7 am Friday morning. Slept til about 11 am then had to do house stuff to get ready for the second Thanksgiving gathering at my house on Sunday. Went back to work at 7 pm and worked til 7 am on Saturday morning.
Saturday - 9.5 miles.
Got home from work at 7:30 am, changed into running clothes and was running out the door to drive to Columbus when I realized I still had to brine my turkey! I had made the brine on Friday. I just had to throw the turkey in except the bag of gizzards was still frozen to the inside of the turkey. Aackk!! 5 minutes and lots of hot water later I had the turkey in the stockpot and ran out the door.
I had the No Shave 5K and 10K double to run on Saturday. If you ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday and the No Shave Double on Saturday, you earned 8 bonus points for the Crossroads Race Series. I had to finish all three races to stay in first place for my age group so I showed up to run a double on no sleep. First race was at 10 am. Second race was at 11:15 am.
The course was the same course as the Pink Strong 5K that I didn't get to run. I guess it worked out to my advantage that I didn't know the course (for the first race at least!) Everyone was complaining about how hilly and awful it was... Almost everyone was running both races so I there was some strategizing involved. I was tired. I was lucky to have clothes on. I forgot my gloves and headband. It was cold and windy. All I had to do was finish to have enough points to win the year. I decided to go out at an 8:00 pace again and see how I felt.
5K...
Mile 1 - 8:05 It's hilly, it's windy... and I'm leading my age group
Mile 2 - 8:13 The hills won't end! Every time I crest a hill there's another freakin' hill. I didn't even look at the course map before the race. I guess we ended up running several loops of the same hills. It just all looked like hills to me. My watch beeps for mile 2 and, oh hell, I'm still leading my age group. I felt awful but my competitive drive kicked in and I wanted to win.
Mile 3 - 8:07 I kept hearing footsteps behind me but they were all men. I ran most of this mile with some guy that caught up with me on every hill and I passed on every downhill, mainly because I was running all the angles I could see while he hugged the side of the road. To the man that was running with me - learn to run your angles and you'll cut at least 10 seconds off your time!
last 0.1 - 0:36.6 I felt like I was going to pass out the last quarter mile. I got outkicked by all the guys I was running with but held my place in the women's race.
Official time - 25:01.6 (8:03 pace)
Finished 1st in the Female 40-49 age group and 3rd overall in the women's race.
I felt like death after the race. This was the toughest 5K course I've run all year. I knew I was done for the day. All I had to do was finish the 10K now... and I was starving! If I had had half a brain, I would have packed a gel or some food to eat between the two races but, like I said, I was lucky to have clothes on. I finally found a vending machine at 11 am... and all I had was a $20 bill. I went back to my car to scrounge around for change. I came up with $1.15. I needed $1.25 for a PowerAde. Oh screw it! I'll just go run my race now.
10K...
Mile 1 - 9:14 I let everyone go at the start.
Mile 2 - 9:39 It was actually interesting to watch the race develop from behind. The women's leader took off. The next three women ran in a group.
Mile 3 - 9:34 The first 1.5 miles were the hills I had just ran for the 5K. The course then went out onto some country roads. They were just as hilly plus the wind was just brutal out on the road.
Mile 4 - 10:28 Mile 4 ended on the top of a hill and I walked up the hill. My shin was hurting and I was just dead tired. Then I told myself that I had done 20 miles after being up for 44 hours at Western States so I just needed to finish this!
Mile 5 - 9:00
Mile 6- 8:23 The course went back over the hilly loop again but I picked it up because I was just ready to be done.
last 0.2 - 1:46
Official time - 58:04 (9:20 pace)
Finished 3rd in the Female 40-49 age group. That was a gift.
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - Unplanned rest day. I had 4 miles on the schedule. Plan was to run them while G danced. I spent the whole day at work then was way too tired to run in the evening.
Tuesday - 8 miles.
Wednesday - Another unplanned rest day. I had 17 on the schedule. I got dressed to run but then bagged it. My right shin was still feeling funny - not painful but just an uneasy pressure feeling when I walk. Anyway I got nervous. Plus, I had a bajillion things to do to get ready for Thanksgiving and I knew 17 miles was going to eat up 3 hours of my day and I had a race the next day.
Thursday - 5 miles.
Got up at 5 am to drive down to Seymour and run the Girls Inc. Turkey Trot 8K at 7:30 am. My plan was to try and keep an 8:00 pace. I wanted to run sub-40:00. I thought I could do it as long as my leg held up...
Mile 1 - 7:54
Mile 2 - 8:00
Mile 3 - 8:08 My 5K split was 24:50. At this point I realized I was having a really good race as long as I didn't crash in the next mile and that I could make sub-40:00 if I just pushed a little harder.
Mile 4 - 7:58
last 0.97 - 7:40
Official time - 39:40.5 (7:58 pace)
Finished 1st in the Female 40-49 age group and 8th overall in the women's race
I met the rest of my family at my sister-in-law's house after the race to celebrate Thanksgiving with my husband's side of the family then left to go to work.
Friday - Rest. I worked Thursday night from 7 pm to 7 am Friday morning. Slept til about 11 am then had to do house stuff to get ready for the second Thanksgiving gathering at my house on Sunday. Went back to work at 7 pm and worked til 7 am on Saturday morning.
Saturday - 9.5 miles.
Got home from work at 7:30 am, changed into running clothes and was running out the door to drive to Columbus when I realized I still had to brine my turkey! I had made the brine on Friday. I just had to throw the turkey in except the bag of gizzards was still frozen to the inside of the turkey. Aackk!! 5 minutes and lots of hot water later I had the turkey in the stockpot and ran out the door.
I had the No Shave 5K and 10K double to run on Saturday. If you ran the Turkey Trot on Thursday and the No Shave Double on Saturday, you earned 8 bonus points for the Crossroads Race Series. I had to finish all three races to stay in first place for my age group so I showed up to run a double on no sleep. First race was at 10 am. Second race was at 11:15 am.
The course was the same course as the Pink Strong 5K that I didn't get to run. I guess it worked out to my advantage that I didn't know the course (for the first race at least!) Everyone was complaining about how hilly and awful it was... Almost everyone was running both races so I there was some strategizing involved. I was tired. I was lucky to have clothes on. I forgot my gloves and headband. It was cold and windy. All I had to do was finish to have enough points to win the year. I decided to go out at an 8:00 pace again and see how I felt.
5K...
Mile 1 - 8:05 It's hilly, it's windy... and I'm leading my age group
Mile 2 - 8:13 The hills won't end! Every time I crest a hill there's another freakin' hill. I didn't even look at the course map before the race. I guess we ended up running several loops of the same hills. It just all looked like hills to me. My watch beeps for mile 2 and, oh hell, I'm still leading my age group. I felt awful but my competitive drive kicked in and I wanted to win.
Mile 3 - 8:07 I kept hearing footsteps behind me but they were all men. I ran most of this mile with some guy that caught up with me on every hill and I passed on every downhill, mainly because I was running all the angles I could see while he hugged the side of the road. To the man that was running with me - learn to run your angles and you'll cut at least 10 seconds off your time!
last 0.1 - 0:36.6 I felt like I was going to pass out the last quarter mile. I got outkicked by all the guys I was running with but held my place in the women's race.
Official time - 25:01.6 (8:03 pace)
Finished 1st in the Female 40-49 age group and 3rd overall in the women's race.
I felt like death after the race. This was the toughest 5K course I've run all year. I knew I was done for the day. All I had to do was finish the 10K now... and I was starving! If I had had half a brain, I would have packed a gel or some food to eat between the two races but, like I said, I was lucky to have clothes on. I finally found a vending machine at 11 am... and all I had was a $20 bill. I went back to my car to scrounge around for change. I came up with $1.15. I needed $1.25 for a PowerAde. Oh screw it! I'll just go run my race now.
10K...
Mile 1 - 9:14 I let everyone go at the start.
Mile 2 - 9:39 It was actually interesting to watch the race develop from behind. The women's leader took off. The next three women ran in a group.
Mile 3 - 9:34 The first 1.5 miles were the hills I had just ran for the 5K. The course then went out onto some country roads. They were just as hilly plus the wind was just brutal out on the road.
Mile 4 - 10:28 Mile 4 ended on the top of a hill and I walked up the hill. My shin was hurting and I was just dead tired. Then I told myself that I had done 20 miles after being up for 44 hours at Western States so I just needed to finish this!
Mile 5 - 9:00
Mile 6- 8:23 The course went back over the hilly loop again but I picked it up because I was just ready to be done.
last 0.2 - 1:46
Official time - 58:04 (9:20 pace)
Finished 3rd in the Female 40-49 age group. That was a gift.
Awards from this week
Jane, me, and Nora Jo after our Double
Week 5 Total Miles: 22.5
3 good days, 2 rest days, 2 bagged runs
So WAY short on miles this week unless my race miles count double!
Monday, November 24, 2014
Napa Training Week 4... Salvaged
Perhaps it was the snow...
We had our first real snowfall of the year last Sunday night. I had worked all day then driven to my brother's house to pick up G after he had picked her up from Nutcracker rehearsal. The snow was coming down. It was cold. All I wanted to do was sit in front of a roaring fire - which he had in his fireplace. Unfortunately, we had to leave...
All I've wanted to do all week is curl up in front of a fire with a glass of wine and a crochet project. Ahh... like that's ever going to happen!
Here is the reality of my week...
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - 4 miles. After a weekend at work all I wanted to do was sleep. However, I had to drive back down in the morning for a 3 hour computer training session. Plan was to run after that. It was still cold and slushy out so I ended up at the indoor track. I almost quit after two laps. My head was throbbing and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest. My legs were tired and my feet were just slapping the ground. It was suppose to be a nice easy run but there was no easy feeling at all. I finally made it a mile and then decided I only had three more to go so I finished the run but all I wanted to do was lay down on the track. Plus, I started getting a dull throbbing pain in my right shin. Shin splints. I rarely get them but usually it's when I'm tired and my feet just slap around on the ground. I don't know if it's a cause or an effect... normally I don't make any noise when I run but when I'm tired I can hear them slap the ground.
Tuesday - 8 miles. A really cold evening run on the Monon. My car said it was 21 degrees. My phone said it was 17 degrees. I think the wind chill was in the single digits. I was wearing capri tights and worried my ankles were going to get frostbite after a mile but continued on. The run itself was fine - which was a relief after Monday's run. When I got done I realized all the skin on my legs, exposed or not, was numb. I still had two hours to kill waiting on my daughter to finish her dance class. Usually I hang out at the library. I bundled up in fleece pants, pullover, and a down jacket after my run but I couldn't warm up. All the cold blood from my extremities came back to my core and I started shivering and couldn't stop. It was ridiculous! I ended up having to go back to my car to sit with the heat and the seat heater on for half an hour so I could warm up enough to stop shaking.
Wednesday - 4 miles. Not quite as cold but really windy. I ran my county road with the heart rate monitor on. Goal was to keep the heart rate under 150. The first two miles I had the wind at my back and ran 9:39 and 9:40. Next two were into the wind and I ran 10:18 and 10:44 and still exceeded my heart rate. Plus, I had that dull nagging pain in my right shin again.
Thursday - 4.5 miles. Plan was to do my 8 mile pace run with speedy Trena. We met at her house and I let her lead the way. Mile 1 - 8:15... OK, let's slow this down! Mile 2 - 8:33... somewhere during mile 2 my right shin started hurting again. The hurt became a real pain, and then a dagger. Finally, after about 2.5 miles I told Trena we were going to have to stop. I wanted to make it to Mile 3 though. Mile 3 - 8:48. I came to a stop and then couldn't put weight on my right leg anymore. It hurt too bad to push off my leg. I had to sit down. I had a moment when I had that stab of fear that something was really wrong. Breathe... breathe... it's just a shin splint. Why the hell do I have a shin splint? I never get shin splints! Why, why, why?!!
After Trena got to watch me roll around on the ground for awhile I finally composed myself enough to stand up and try to walk/run it out. I hobbled the mile and a half back to her house then retreated home to ice my leg. Ughhh.... so much for a good pace run this week!
Friday - Unplanned rest day. I was suppose to do my long run. It was the perfect day for a long run. Cold and sunny. I went less than 200 yards and felt the pain in my right shin again so I stopped and walked back home.
Saturday - 16 miles. This was suppose to be my weekend day off from both work and running. I spent all day doing stuff with my family. By 5 pm though, hubs was gone hunting and both kids were at their own activities so I was a free woman. What to do? Try my long run again.
I was scared. Scared my leg was going to start hurting again. I ended up running a half mile paved loop at the old Westgrove school so that I could stop if anything got bad. I ran slow and gingerly on my leg. After about 5 miles of no pain I relaxed a little. After 10 miles I felt a lot better about things and ran less gingerly. I made 16 and everything still felt fine. Whew! What a relief. I guess I really did have just a bad shin splint on Thursday. I don't think there's any way I could have run 16 miles without pain if I had anything more serious like a stress fracture in my leg... knock on wood.
So that was my week. A couple miles short but salvaged on Saturday night.
Week 4 Total Miles: 36.5
3 good days, 2 bad days, 2 rest days
Friday, November 21, 2014
Retail Therapy
I had to bag my run today for the second day in a row... ugly deets to follow in my weekly update. Suffice it to say for now that my right leg is not cooperating with me this week!
After throwing in the towel again I decided to just go grocery shopping. I haven't shared a good couponing post in awhile so I thought I'd just share my deals today. Most of them didn't even need coupons. As a lot of you know, I've been a couponer most of my life. It's something I do every time I shop. Most weeks I don't even think about posting, or, more often then not, the deal is over before I get a chance to post and I'd hate to say - look what I got this week, too bad you can't get it anymore...
Keys to my shopping stategy...
- scan the weekly ad
- note the sales and pull the coupons that match the sale items
- goal is to get at least a 50% discount on most items
- make a list
- get in and get out
- above all, don't bring the kids or hubs!!
First stop - MARSH
After throwing in the towel again I decided to just go grocery shopping. I haven't shared a good couponing post in awhile so I thought I'd just share my deals today. Most of them didn't even need coupons. As a lot of you know, I've been a couponer most of my life. It's something I do every time I shop. Most weeks I don't even think about posting, or, more often then not, the deal is over before I get a chance to post and I'd hate to say - look what I got this week, too bad you can't get it anymore...
Keys to my shopping stategy...
- scan the weekly ad
- note the sales and pull the coupons that match the sale items
- goal is to get at least a 50% discount on most items
- make a list
- get in and get out
- above all, don't bring the kids or hubs!!
First stop - MARSH
Regular price per 12-pack $4.99. Sale price $2.50.
Diet Coke 12-packs are on sale this week 4 for $10. I never pay more than $2.50 a 12-pack. I was down to my last two 12-packs so I was getting nervous (yes, I'm an addict). I figured someone would run it on sale this week for Thanksgiving. Meijer was 3 for $10, Kroger was 4 for $11 so Marsh it was. I had to do 3 separate transactions to get all these. I am hoping they will last until the next sale. Usually someone will run them 4 for $10 for the following - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Super Bowl, Easter, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day. The longest stretch seems to be from Labor Day to Thanksgiving unless one of the drug stores runs a deal in between. You have to pretty much adhere to the expiration dates for diet sodas because they will go flat. All of these cases have Jan/Feb 2015 expirations so I should be good.
Regular price per half gallon $7.49. Sale price $4.50.
Half gallons of Blue Bell ice cream were on sale for $4.50. You can get two prints of a $1.00 coupon from www.bluebell.com once a month. This is one of our favorite brands so I always look to see who has it on sale and then print the coupon. Coupons expire one month from the date you print them. My final price for these were $3.50 each.
KROGER
Regular price per pound $3.99. Sale price $1.99.
I always stock up on butter, especially around the holidays and at fair time. This year I will be making over 40 gallons of caramel corn as gifts (I do it every year). I used to be able to find butter for $1.50 a pound but I think $1.99 is as low as it's going to go this year. I got 16 pounds to start. I will be going back for more.
I was thrilled to see that Kroger had it on sale this week. Butter will also be $1.99 a pound at Meijer the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I am working the night shift on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. That means I get off work at 7 am on Saturday morning. I am signed up for a 5K and 10K double in Columbus that starts at 10 am. I was trying to figure out how to manage getting off work, buying butter, and getting to Columbus in time for the race (yes, I will be trashed on race day!) but now I don't have to worry about the butter!
Turkey Hill 48 oz ice cream regular price $4.99. Sale price $3.00.
If you haven't figured it out by now, ice cream is sorta like milk and toilet paper at our house - a staple you don't want to run out of. There were $1.00 printables for the Turkey Hill ice cream at coupons.com so my final price for these were $2.00 each.
MEIJER
Regular price per box $2.49. On price drop for $2.00.
This was a deal I saw while shopping last week and remembered there were insert coupons out so I pulled them (10/5/14 Smart Source) for my next grocery run. Celestial Seasonings has a coupon out for $1.00 off per box, making the final price of these boxes $1.00 each. My family likes the tea, plus they make nice gift basket items or stocking stuffers this time of year.
All of these deals are good until at least Thanksgiving. On the advertised deals you can also get rain checks if the store is sold out. Happy shopping!
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Napa Training Week 3... Lunch with Big Brother
So there it was... the Facebook ad that would not go away. Every time I opened the page, this ad would show up until finally, I clicked on it to find out more...
Sometimes it's eerie what is marketed towards you, like Big Brother is watching over you. Anyway, Big Brother invited me to lunch and I went with it. I had the day off. It was a local event. It sounded fun and relevant... so I went.
The speaker was Kacey Oiness, Ph.D. She is a sports and performance psychologist with St. Vincent Sports Performance. The purpose of the lecture was to focus on some mental skills to help you perform better as it was pointed out that a large part of your performance is mental yet most athletes spend most of their time working on their physical skills and hardly any time on their mental skills.
Here were some of my favorite quotes from the lecture and key takeaways...
"If you focus on results, you will never change; if you focus on change, you will get results."
"Confidence is not the absence of negative thoughts or feelings; it is the belief that one is able to perform well despite these feelings."
Goal setting should focus on the process rather than the outcome. Goals should be specific, challenging, realistic, adjustable, and measurable.
Other mental skills that were discussed were self-talk strategies - staying in the present and getting rid of all the "should have's" in your life; composure skills - ways to get yourself either calmed down or energized for an upcoming activity; working on concentration, focus, and visualization skills. You can work on these skills daily by writing down your daily goals, journaling, and/or working on focus/imagery/or relaxation skills for 10-15 minutes a day.
Performing well under pressure is accepting that some pressures will exist - be aware, prepare a plan and practice the plan. In the end, have goals, be immersed in the activity, pay attention to what is relevant, and enjoy the activity.
So Week 3 was a "drop down" week. Every third week in my program is an "easy" week to rest and recover. Here's how it went...
Sunday - 3 miles. This is where it's nice to have a schedule. I didn't feel like running but the schedule said I only had to go 3 miles so I was OK with that.
Monday - 7 miles. Got up at 4:30 am for another 10 hour work day. I absolutely did not feel like running in the evening but so wanted a total rest day on my day off on Tuesday so I laced up and hit the Monon while by daughter danced... and ended up having a really nice run.
Tuesday - Rest. Went to my luncheon.
Wednesday - 3 miles.
Thursday - 7 miles. Marathon pace run.
Friday - 10 miles. I got a new Garmin Forerunner 220 with heart rate moniter and took it for a test drive. My goal was to keep my heart rate under 150. Easier said than done! I found that I could keep it in the 130-140 range if I ran about a 10 minute pace on the flats however, the minute I started going up any uphill grade, my heart rate immediately started climbing. It got to be a game of "can I make it to the top of this rise before my heart rate hits 150." I ended up averaging 10:24 pace with an average heart rate of 143 and max heart rate of 156. It did keep me entertained the whole run though.
Saturday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Week 3 Total Miles: 30
5 good days, 0 bad days, 2 rest days
My miles will be ramping up the next two weeks so fingers crossed that things continue to go well!
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Run the Mile You're In
Run the mile you're in. Run the mile you're in. That was my mantra today...
One of my takeaways from the sports psychology luncheon I went to this week was to stay in the present. Don't dwell on the past or think about the future. Focus on what you are doing at the moment.
Goal marathon pace run day and I had 7 miles on the schedule. I should be able to do this. Why is it that I always freak out about pace days? It's like a test... did I train well enough the preceding days to do this? Of course I can do this yet, more often than not, I feel like I end up bailing. I should have been able to do 5 miles at 8:45 pace 2 weeks ago yet I couldn't. Now I had 7 on my plate... and it was snowing.
Well, not snowing snowing but temps in the 20's with snow flurries... like snowflakes you can see. I almost retreated to the hamster track but I knew I had to do this on the road.
Suck it up buttercup...
Tights, long sleeve shirt, jacket, headband, gloves... I think I'm ready. Just go do it.
Miles 1-5 were fine. I knew I was too fast. I tried to reign myself in and just think about the pace for this mile. Miles 4 and 5 are always the hardest ones. Mile 4 starts and ends on a hill so I always end up speeding up at the end of Mile 3 in anticipation. Mile 5 ends on a short steep hill next to my house so I usually end every run sprinting up this hill. Today though, rather than turn around and go back down the hill to do another 2 miles I decided to run past my house on a road that had more of a gradual up and down grade than the previous 5 so I wouldn't have to climb so many hills and end my run on a hill.
I sprinted up the hill to finish Mile 5. As soon as I got to the top I went from feeling perfectly fine to "OMG, I think all my insides are going to fall out and I'm going to crap myself!" Boom. Just like that - in less than 3 seconds - I went from fine to total disaster. I did exert myself pretty hard going up that hill but I wasn't expecting to feel so horrible at the top.
For at least a quarter mile I considered calling the run, but each step was taking me further and further from my house. No! Suck it up and finish! Another couple hundred yards and I tried to fix my posture and my stride. My insides were calming down. I don't think I really crapped myself. I peeked at my watch. 9:41 pace. OK, see what I can salvage. I suck at runner math, especially when I feel bad... I'm not sure if I have 20 seconds or 40 seconds in the bank... maybe I can still average 8:45.
I made it to the 6 mile mark and saw 9:20. I was feeling better and there was more downhill than uphill to the finish. I tagged SR 144 and sprinted home.
Hallelujah!
What I learned today...
- I am capable of running 7 miles at 8:45 pace
- I need to slow down my early miles. 8-10 seconds a mile is too fast. It will catch up to me later. Better to run slower in the beginning. This is a horrible habit I have. I have never run a negative split ever in a race. My subconscious always wants to bank a couple seconds here and there in the beginning for later but I know that it really just hurts me later. I have to trust myself more.
- I have enough strength/mentality/gas to overcome a craptastic mile and comeback with a 8:10 7th mile. I have the ability to do this.
So happy I gutted out Mile 6 today!
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Napa Training Week 2... VO2 Max Assessment
This was a good week...
I jumped into the week with plans to schedule a VO2 max assessment so I could find out what my ideal heart rate training zones were for the 80/20 training I am doing. After looking at different options around Indianapolis, I decided that the National Institute for Fitness and Sport (NIFS) located in downtown Indy offered the most reasonably priced assessment at a non-member price of $115. I called on Tuesday and was a bit shocked to get an appointment for Wednesday.
The following information is taken from "Running for Fitness" by Owen Barder and seems to sum up VO2 max the best...
VO2 max is a measure of the maximum volume of oxygen that an athlete can use. It is measured in millilitres per kilogramme of body weight per minute (ml/kg/min).
As you increase your effort when you exercise, the amount of oxygen you consume to produce energy (and hence the rate at which you exhale carbon dioxide) increases. However, there is a maximum level of oxygen consumption, beyond which increases in exercise intensity don’t lead to further increases in oxygen consumption. This level of oxygen consumption is called the VO2 max. (The initials simply stand for volume of oxygen. )
Some experts believe that VO2 max is a key physiological determinant of an athlete’s running performance, and that it is an important objective of a training programme to improve it. Other sports scientists argue that the limits to an athlete’s running performance are determined by a range of factors – such as adaptation of muscles, running efficiency, metabolism – and that VO2 max is simply a measure of the oxygen that the athlete consumes at the maximum level of energy output. On this view, which I find persuasive, VO2 max is not the critical factor which determines maximum performance, but is rather a consequence of a combination of other limiting factors. Whichever way you look at it there is a measurable level of exercise intensity at which the athlete’s consumption of oxygen reaches a plateau and does not increase
further.
In a nutshell, VO2 max is a good measure of your cardiac fitness. There are other factors in training and racing such as muscle fitness and fueling/nutrition that also contribute to a person's overall athletic ability.
So here's how my test went...
First I had my "resting" heart rate and blood pressure measured. My resting heart rate wasn't exactly resting though because I missed the right parking garage downtown and had to drive around the block a couple times and then run to the facility... first time they took it it was over 100. I did some paperwork, tried to settle down, and they took it again and it was 77. (I actually took it yesterday at work and it was in the 60's). Next, they told me to warm up like I was going out for a run while they set up the machine... I did some squats, stretches, and a lap around their indoor track.
Now for the test. I am generally not a claustrophobic person... however (!!) the next thing that happened was I had a very tight fitting silicone-type mask put over my nose and mouth. It had headgear with four straps that went over and under your ears and around your head. There was a hose that came out the front...
photo from the NIFS website
When I put this on, all I could see was the silicone between my eyes. Oh, and I was standing on a treadmill - and everyone knows by now how I feel about treadmills! I had a heart rate monitor strap on and my heart rate went up to 114 even before the test started.
OK. Breathe... they started the treadmill. I was told the test would go in stages with the treadmill going faster for awhile and then the treadmill would incline up. I was suppose to give them a thumbs up if I wanted to do the next stage when they asked, or motion to cut if at any time I had to stop.
Lets just say I was a bit freaked out because I couldn't see the treadmill. All I could see was silicone. If I peeked way out to the left I could see the mileage on the treadmill but that was it. I had no idea how fast I was going or what the incline was. I could feel the incline going up somewhat but I was just lifting my knees like crazy because I didn't want to trip and fall. Falling was unlikely cause I had a hose attached to my face that someone was actually holding out of my way but still...
At just over 8 minutes I called it. Then I got my results. My VO2 max was 36.9. That put me at the very tip top of the "Excellent" rating for my age and gender. A tenth of a point more and I would have been "Superior." The competitive part of me wanted a do over!
To put things in perspective, here are the VO2 maxes of some well known athletes...
Most of the literature says that a lot of your VO2 max is genetic. Training can increase it anywhere from 5-20% depending on what you read. What's interesting is that there are a lot of VO2 max rate calculators out where you can put in your race times and it will calculate your VO2 max, or vice versa where you put in your VO2 max and it will predict your race time.
If I put in my last 5K time of 25:33 run on 10/25/14 in the VO2 max calculator HERE, I get a VO2 max of 37.3. Conversely, if I put in my actual measured VO2 max of 36.9 in the race pace predictor from the same site, I get a 5K time of 25:48.
What I got out of this is that, cardio-wise, I'm pretty fit. It's the other things like muscle strength and fueling I need to work on. The other thing I learned were my aerobic and anaerobic thresholds. The assessor actually wrote in my numbers because she disagreed with the machine printout. Interestingly, my heart rate actually dropped in the middle of my test, then went back up so the printout had my aerobic threshold at 160 bpm and my anaerobic threshold at 159 bpm. What I got was that I should keep my heart rate under 150 to run aerobically. My lactate threshold (anaerobic threshhold) is 160. If my heart rate goes faster than that, I am producing more waste (lactate) than my body can clear and this is not sustainable for a long period of time.
My maximum heart rate was 184. For the 80/20 training I am doing, 80% of my runs should be at less than 80% of my maximum heart rate. For me, 80% of 184 comes to 147... pretty close to my aerobic threshold of 150 that the assessor wrote in.
My take away - I need to keep my heart rate under 150 for all my runs except for my hard runs for the week. Ideally though, my hard runs, which right now are my marathon pace runs, should start to come in under 150 after awhile. If and when that happens, I'll need to start throwing in some faster intervals during the week. Next step for me will be to get a heart rate monitor for my runs.
So here were my Week 2 runs ...
Sunday - 3 miles. Nice shake out run after the Monumental.
Monday - 7 miles. Got up at 4:30 am and put in a 10 hour day at work. After last week, I figured I'd be trashed the next day so I just put up and did 7 miles in the dark while my daughter was at dance in the evening. It ended up being a very nice peaceful run having the Monon all to myself. Got home and passed out on the couch. Didn't even make it to bed til I woke up again at 2 am.
Tuesday - Rest. Yup. I was pretty much trashed.
Wednesday - 7 miles. Did the VO2 max test in the afternoon then another moonlit run on the Monon. I think the VO2 max test did me in cause I passed out on the couch again as soon as I got home!
Thursday - 14 miles. Temps in the 40's, wind gusts between 20-40 mph, and when I stepped outside, I realized it was pouring down rain. I retreated to the hamster track and worked on fueling.
I have gone back and forth on what to fuel with during my marathon. I thought about trying some of the super starch drinks such as UCAN but then decided I just don't want to carry any fluids with me during a race. There is always an abundance of fluids out on the course and carrying around fluids sloshing around in a waist belt just drives me crazy! I've decided on trying more chews or gels. I found out I can actually chew (Gatorade chews) and run at the same time if I'm running easy. I think I need to eat more often. Usually I just take a gel an hour. Now I'm practicing to eat every 30-40 minutes. If anything, it does provide me with a little more entertainment on my long runs. Running long at an easy pace gets boring. I was really tempted at the end of this one to pick it up the last couple miles just so I could be done!
Friday - 3 miles. Got up at o'dark thirty to run before work as I knew I wouldn't feel like it afterwards. I'm glad I did because my husband called me as I was driving home to let me know the family wanted to go out for dinner as soon as I got home. We went out for dinner and I passed out as soon as I got home. Actually made it into a bed though.
Saturday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Week 2 Total Miles: 34
5 good days, 0 bad days, 2 rest days
I think I need more sleep too!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Napa Training Week 1 and Monumental Weekend
Week 1 of training is in the books!
I had some good days and some bad days. This is how it went.
Sunday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work.
Monday - 3 miles. Probably the worst 3 miles I've run in quite some time. I didn't get out til noon. It was about 80 degrees outside and windy. I ran on the roads by my house. I'd forgotten how open and hilly they were compared to the Monon. I was still really tight from the race on Saturday and dead tired from working all weekend. I really wanted to stop after half a mile but kept telling myself it was only 3 miles!
Tuesday - 6 miles. Easy run indoors on the hamster track.
Wednesday - 3 miles. Same route as Monday but felt better.
Thursday - Rest. Spent the whole day at work and was ready to drop when I got home
.
Friday - 6 miles. This was my pace run day. I was suppose to run 6 miles at 8:45 pace. It should have been a piece of cake. NOT! It was 40 degrees, raining, and windy. I thought for 2 seconds about hamster tracking it but decided I couldn't deal with the mental math involved since I can't use my Garmin to pace myself indoors. I just sucked it up and went outside.
Mile 1 - 8:43. Didn't feel too bad.
Mile 2 - 8:51. I started tightening up and felt horrible. Lately I've been feeling totally trashed the day after a long shift at work... this day being no exception.
Mile 3 - 9:55. I needed a breather. Better to run slow than quit all together but I was ready to quit!
Mile 4 - 9:39
Mile 5 - 9:19
Mile 6 - 8:54
Average pace was 9:13. No where close to 8:45. I was just a very hard run in the rain and wind.
As soon as the run was over though, Monumental weekend began!
Some of my Sole Sisters from my online running group came into town for the race - there was Tammy from New Hampshire (crazy woman drove here with her friend Michelle), Amanda from Missouri, and Araminta from Virginia. We met up at the Race Expo, looked around, and picked up our race packets. I had to leave them to do kid stuff for awhile but met back up with them at Trena's house for dinner.
Araminta, Tammy, me, Trena, Amanda, and Michelle
The next morning we met up at Tammy and Michelle's hotel to run the race. Trena and Tammy ran the full. Amanda, Araminta, and I ran the half. Michelle was there to cheer us on.
Tammy and Amanda pre-race
Me and Araminta post-race
Araminta and I ran the whole race together. It was cool to see the text alerts at the end where we had the exact same time.
I did exactly what the training plan said for the day - low intensity 13 mile run. Didn't do anything stupid and enjoyed my run, which, by the way, was very COLD! Depending on where you looked, this was the forecast for the race...
(from Joe)
OR
(from Araminta)
OR !!!!
(from Melissa)
Week 1 Total Miles: 31
3 good days, 2 bad days, 2 rest days
ONWARD!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Eyes on Napa
I. Am. Capable. I. CAN. Do. This!
Napa Valley Marathon training started this week. This is my goal marathon for 2015. 26.2 miles straight down the Silverado Trail. Some rolling hills but 271 feet of total elevation drop. The only marathon I am signed up for. This is where I plan to run my Boston qualifying time in 18 weeks. My qualifying time is 3:55. I don't want to chance being a squeaker. I want to run 3:50.
The plan that I went with this time is a beefed up Hal Higdon Intermediate II plan. Last time I tried this, I made it mile heavy to begin with and it just didn't go well. This time, for the first time, I feel like I'm going into a training program with some decent base miles. The other times I did training programs I pretty much went from nothing to - Hello Week 1! I got 31 solid miles in last week and had double digit weeks for the 3 weeks before that...so, here's how I modified the plan...
Instead of starting with Week 1 of the plan, I'm starting in Week 4. I then put three more weeks of high mileage runs into the middle of the program so instead of three 20 mile runs, I will have long runs of 20, 22, 24, 26, and 20 miles. I am sticking with the tenet of a pace run coupled with a long run the next day so in Week 13 I'll be running my own Goofy. I will probably switch around some of my other days depending on my work schedule but the weekly miles will stay the same.
I am trying to schedule some type of fitness assessment where I can get my VO2 max tested as I'm playing around with the idea of trying to do 80/20 training, meaning doing 80% of my runs easy and 20% at a higher intensity. I think if I do the 80/20 thing with this plan, it means that every run is an easy run except for the one that I will be doing at goal marathon pace - which for me will be 8:45 miles.
8:45 pace. It sounds so easy... until you have to string 26.2 of them together.
I am also going to work on my fueling. Looking back, I think that that was probably why I blew up in Louisville. In both of my last two marathons I never had an issue with my cardio. I felt like I was running a conversational pace the whole time. At Monumental last year, it was my leg issue that made me stop and try to drop out. It still makes me sick to think that I walked 3 miles and finished in 4:20. At Derby this year I simply ran out of gas at mile 20. My plan had been to eat a gel every hour - which I did - but my legs just wouldn't go anymore after mile 20. I normally don't eat or drink when I run for anything under 10 miles. I will be practicing with more eats this time around.
Next is my mental game. Once my legs started failing I went into total nuclear meltdown mode in Louisville. I am really working on my brain this time, reading up on sports psychology and even signed up for a lecture.
Having said all this, I think my body is bipolar. After having some great runs the last two weeks, yesterday I had the most horrific 3 mile run I've ever had. I wanted to stop after half a mile. It was hot. It was windy. I was running my rolling county roads. My legs were tight and felt like they were a 100 pounds a piece. I seriously wanted to stop and walk but plodded through. I have no idea how fast or slow I was going but if I'm doing this 80/20 thing, my perceived exertion was a 10. Today I retreated to the hamster track and did 6 miles. Still felt tight but easy overall. I'm hoping things feel good for the rest of the week.
Next is my mental game. Once my legs started failing I went into total nuclear meltdown mode in Louisville. I am really working on my brain this time, reading up on sports psychology and even signed up for a lecture.
Having said all this, I think my body is bipolar. After having some great runs the last two weeks, yesterday I had the most horrific 3 mile run I've ever had. I wanted to stop after half a mile. It was hot. It was windy. I was running my rolling county roads. My legs were tight and felt like they were a 100 pounds a piece. I seriously wanted to stop and walk but plodded through. I have no idea how fast or slow I was going but if I'm doing this 80/20 thing, my perceived exertion was a 10. Today I retreated to the hamster track and did 6 miles. Still felt tight but easy overall. I'm hoping things feel good for the rest of the week.
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Running for the STARS 5K
Here's my race recap... mainly for me so I will remember.
I made it to the race and got to run this week. It was at 6:30 pm on Saturday night. I generally like evening races because, as it is well known, I am NOT a morning person. This Saturday though I had to work at 6:30 am, meaning I had to get up at 4:30 am to go to work. Ughhh...
Work was relatively OK. I didn't get killed but it wasn't a cakewalk either. Left Bloomington by 3:15 pm... then took 2 freakin' hours to get to Columbus! I have never seen traffic that bad on 46. By race time I just wanted a nap.
I went into the race thinking that I might be able to pull off a 7:30 pace (what the hell was I thinking?!) or at least run under 25:00. My body did not want to cooperate. My left hamstring pulled a little on the warm up. Made me a bit concerned but then I ignored it.
Mile 1 - 7:36
... not too bad but my right hamstring started pulling... like alot
Mile 2 - 8:19
... at about 1.5 miles some guy yelled "you're in 7th!" All I remember thinking was "I don't care, I just want this race to be over!" I was pretty miserable by then.
Mile 3 - 8:43
... I totally tanked. My legs felt like heavy blocks of wood and I felt like I had no energy. I just wanted to be done.
Last 0.1 - 0:55
Official time - 25:33 (8:13 pace)
Ended up 8th in the women's race and won my age group but was disappointed overall. I actually felt nauseous after I got done. I don't know if I was just tired from working all day or if it was a fueling issue - however, it was only 3.1 miles! I don't think it could really have been a fueling issue however I did feel 100% better after I drinking a carton of chocolate milk and downing a banana after the race. Who knows... this was just not my night. I keep telling myself I ran 22:50 just over 6 months ago. My time will come down again (sigh)!
Best part of the night was hanging out with my Crossroads runner friends. Wish I could run with them more often. Jane passed me at the 2 mile mark and won the 40-44 age group. Magda passed me around 2.5 miles and finished 2nd in the 50-54 age group (yeah, I got my beat by a 13 year old that won the race and three women in their 50's that finished ahead of me.) Nora Jo finished right behind me and won the 55-59 age group. I'm reading a great sports psychology book (more to come on this later) that talks about running with the competition rather than against the competition. I really enjoy running with these gals!
I made it to the race and got to run this week. It was at 6:30 pm on Saturday night. I generally like evening races because, as it is well known, I am NOT a morning person. This Saturday though I had to work at 6:30 am, meaning I had to get up at 4:30 am to go to work. Ughhh...
Work was relatively OK. I didn't get killed but it wasn't a cakewalk either. Left Bloomington by 3:15 pm... then took 2 freakin' hours to get to Columbus! I have never seen traffic that bad on 46. By race time I just wanted a nap.
I went into the race thinking that I might be able to pull off a 7:30 pace (what the hell was I thinking?!) or at least run under 25:00. My body did not want to cooperate. My left hamstring pulled a little on the warm up. Made me a bit concerned but then I ignored it.
Mile 1 - 7:36
... not too bad but my right hamstring started pulling... like alot
Mile 2 - 8:19
... at about 1.5 miles some guy yelled "you're in 7th!" All I remember thinking was "I don't care, I just want this race to be over!" I was pretty miserable by then.
Mile 3 - 8:43
... I totally tanked. My legs felt like heavy blocks of wood and I felt like I had no energy. I just wanted to be done.
Last 0.1 - 0:55
Official time - 25:33 (8:13 pace)
Ended up 8th in the women's race and won my age group but was disappointed overall. I actually felt nauseous after I got done. I don't know if I was just tired from working all day or if it was a fueling issue - however, it was only 3.1 miles! I don't think it could really have been a fueling issue however I did feel 100% better after I drinking a carton of chocolate milk and downing a banana after the race. Who knows... this was just not my night. I keep telling myself I ran 22:50 just over 6 months ago. My time will come down again (sigh)!
Best part of the night was hanging out with my Crossroads runner friends. Wish I could run with them more often. Jane passed me at the 2 mile mark and won the 40-44 age group. Magda passed me around 2.5 miles and finished 2nd in the 50-54 age group (yeah, I got my beat by a 13 year old that won the race and three women in their 50's that finished ahead of me.) Nora Jo finished right behind me and won the 55-59 age group. I'm reading a great sports psychology book (more to come on this later) that talks about running with the competition rather than against the competition. I really enjoy running with these gals!
Jane, me, and Nora Jo
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