Saturday, December 27, 2014

Napa Training Week 9... Holiday Mayhem

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!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Napa Training Weeks 7 and 8... Going Long and Seizing the Moment

The past two weeks for me have been all about focus... trying to focus and get all my runs in during the holidays... it's hard. What I've learned is that I just need to seize the time that is mine and put on the mental blinders when distractions come my way.

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

I was squeezing in a 10 mile run this morning in between baking and getting groceries before coming home to clean, cook some more, then prepare for the kids coming home from school and I was thinking that I hadn't blogged in awhile. There's been no time!

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!

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!

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.


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!