Month's end tomorrow - A reflection

Tomorrow marks the end of a full month of 5k/10k training. Since I declared myself to be in training again, I have struggled with muscle soreness, sluggishness, a slower pace than I am used to, but all was not a battle.

I have reawakened my drive to run. I have smiled during workouts. I smile during midweek runs. I ran in the rain and didn't care. The treadmill was not the dreadmill...I found pleasure in kicking butt at the gym.

Total miles this month will be 145.7, as much as last year in January before Boston. As much as June before Pikes Peak. The bonus? I don't feel tired. I am not achy any more. I am motivated to train this summer.

I have mentally started preparing for the upcoming training season and I am almost giddy about what I want to do. I will have to post it later because it is a tall order. Mostly I am letting it brew in my body until the time comes to put in the miles.

Way to go me. Good March.

MiniTrack

We usually go to the Texas School for the Deaf track for track workouts, but now that it is spring, the TSD kids have been using the track some on Thursday nights. We ran up South First street to find that there was a track meet going on, so obviously we were gonna have to find someplace else to run.

We ended up at the Fulmore MS track at Congress and Mary street. It was a little bitty track. We thought it was a 200m track, but Mac brought out his handy wheel and measured out lane 1 to be 240 yards. We laughed as we tried to figure out how we were going to run our workout which was based on the 1000m distance.

Long story short, we ran in lane 2 (exactly 250 yards) 4 times plus about 22 foot measured yards, which was still a little short for what we wanted to do.

1022 yards = 934.52 meters so our times were only 93.452% of the full time they should have been.

We ran 1000m/600m rest/2000m/600m rest/3000m @10k pace
I ran 4:30 for each short 1000, which really is like 4:49 for a full 1000.

My Current Running Short Reviews

I don't know if it is the size of my thighs, or what, but I am really struggling with running shorts. Actually, I have always struggled with them. I chafe. I get ugly sweat circles. They cut into my waist to create an extra set of love handles. They ride up in the crotch. The front of each leg flips up. I have witnessed all of these issues on other women, and I have to tell you it is not a pretty sight! Why me?

Nike Tempo Track shorts
I originally bought them because there were 2 girls in my training group who always looked cute in them. However, they were like a size 2 or 4. My size 8 butt bought a pair of mediums and ran on.

3 years later, I actually kind of like them, but would like to improve some things:

• I like the original styling. About a year ago, Nike restyled the Tempo Track short, and I thought it made womens' thighs and butts look huge. I still own many pairs of the thunderthigh shorts, but only because I still have hope that I can look like those size 2 girls.
• I would like to reduce the chafing that occurs in these shorts. I get waistband, crotch, and hip chafing where the tag is. Ugh! Again, maybe it is just my size. Other women I know do not complain of this.
• Tempo track shorts should have more black varieties. I have the black-white pair and the black-white-red pair, but I would also like other solid black shorts with other color trim.

Hind PE Shorts

Now, I must say that these shorts look really cute on when they are dry. They are super light, cut well, and I thought these shorts were going to be my new favorites.

I was wrong. They ride up in the crotch like nobody's business. They also are so lightweight that once you are in a full sweat, they cling to every part of your butt and then continue to ride up.

So, my search for a good running short continues. I don't want to go to spandex, but I might have to with all of the riding up in the crotch issues that keep happening.

The Capitol 20,000

Yeah, I know the race is not a 20K, and it is called the Capitol 10,000. However, I was invited to participate in the 3rd annual Capitol 20,000 with Duane, Chad, and Toby, which consists of running the original 6.2 mile race course twice. It was a privilege to be asked, so how could I pass that up?

The first lap, the actual 'race' part of the morning went well. My intention was to run steady through the first 3 miles and try to progressively drop the pace down to as fast as I could go in the last mile. I ran the first mile in 8:27, which is pretty good considering it is entirely uphill. My second mile, also significantly uphill was 8:30. I hit the big Enfield hill in good stride and kind of chugged along until I got to its crest. From there it was all good. The next two miles were a 16:38 split. I missed the 3 mile marker, so seeing that overall I averaged miles 3 and 4 at 8:19s meant that my progressive pace plan was working. Mile 5 was fast and flat at 7:59. Mile 6 was 8:14. Even though I should have been faster at this point, there was a hill that I had to climb, and I am not totally sure that the mile 5 marker was in the right place. My last .2 miles was 1:31 (a 7:35 pace). I had a great kick at the end! I was led in by a large group of really fast runners, and the momentum that we all carried me to finish really strong.

So, in every other year I would have finished the race, gotten my bag of goodies to eat and watched the masses finishing the race. Not this year. We were halfway done.

This year the 2nd loop of the course was completed by Chad, Duane, Toby, Jennifer, and myself. We met up and walked over to the original start line area to begin the loop. The workers had already removed the timing mats and were taking down the fences. There were a few cars on the road as the roads were slowly starting to reopen.

Everyone ran slowly on the second lap. We managed to catch the last walker at the top of the Enfield hill just past West Lynn. It was about mile 2.75. From this point on we were back in the race and enjoyed stopping for water and weaving our way through the walkers. It was neat to see the ocean of cups on the street that almost 20,000 runners had dropped. As we rounded Austin High and got onto Cesar Chavez Street for the last mile, I started looking for my mom. She was walking with a group of ladies that she knew and had been training with during the last month. I missed her, but she saw us and yelled ahead to get my attention. It was neat to get to see her finish it as part of the official race instead of just being my support person. It looked like she and her friends had walked a good race.

The best part of the Capitol 20,000? Seeing it all twice. The first lap goes by in a blur. The second lap is just fun. Nah! Who am I kidding? The best part is getting to eat lunch at Shady Grove with friends!

Thoughts on Rain

Rain is puzzling. It can be gloomy and dreary one minute, persistent and commanding the next. Sometimes the rain is delicate and we remember its purpose. Waking up to gentle steady rain can mean extra time in the sheets. In the middle of the night, rain on the metal roof wakes an entire house up. When we get 'caught' in it, we get stuck. In a car, it is paralyzing.

I love how we say it is coming down 'in sheets' or like 'cats and dogs' as if somehow we can compare it to anything else in the world. We give it personality. We say 'it is trying to rain' or 'it is just spitting' outside. We call it patchy one day, and steady the next.

We modify our daily routines in the rain. We put on our defensive wardrobes to go to battle. We have buckets ready to catch the incoming drops of a leaky roof. We have towels to wipe the puppy's wet paws as it comes inside. We leave earlier, drive slower. We have 'ponytail' days and don't bother fussing.

On a run, rain takes on a different character. Sometimes we see it is there and we judge it. Is it light and easy? Is it cold and driving? Is it temperamental and won't last long? Rain seems to make us judge ourselves as much as we judge it. 'Can we take it?' is really what we are asking. It lets us make excuses. Getting 'caught' in the rain on a run can be exhilarating. We squeal with delight at each cool droplet that hits our skin. We pick up the pace. We watch others try to defend against it, adjusting coats and hats. We run past those who seek shelter from it.

In the end, we always say 'we need the rain'. We think about the life that it brings. We put aside the gloomy spirits and remember how it helps us. We need the rain for our spirit, not for the lawn that we now don't have to water. We need it to give us time to contemplate. To bring us back home. We need the challenges of rain to give us something to withstand. Indeed, we do need the rain.

Bonk!

I know you can't really 'bonk' on short distances, but that is exactly what happened to me at tonight's workout. We were doing a 5000m time trial, another of the delicious workouts that Mac serves us. Now, the group always goes over pacing and estimated times with Mac beforehand, and I start the time trial aiming for 55 seconds per 200m. I manage to pull it off the first 800, but then I start to feel heavy. Whoa...I'm breathing way harder than I think I should be.

To keep this entry short...I BONK! Hard! The best thing that I can say is that I did not quit. It was hot, humid, and breezy, and I could easily have started walking and pitching a fit about how slow I was. I am not a quitter!

Brrrrr....

...the dreaded ice bath!

So, Chad and I slept in today. We were both needing some extra sleep, Chad because he works really hard and has been waking up early, me because I have not been recovering as well as I would like from runs.

After a good breakfast and a couple hours of NCAA basketball tournament viewing I was ready to get in my 6 mile run for the day. Chad did not feel like running, so he tagged along on his mountain bike. It is nice to have company on a run. My legs felt like bricks again...UGH! I waddled through about 1.5 miles and had to stop. I was pooped! It was hot and my legs hurt.

I committed to going out a little further to the 2 mile mark and turning around for an out-and-back 4 miles. Luckily, the clouds covered the sun, a breeze began to blow, and I felt better almost immediately. I told Chad that I would need to do an ice bath because I had not treated my body properly after the 13 mile run yesterday.

We went to Subway(Chad actually got a sandwich!) and stopped off at the Valero for a bag of ice. Upon returning home, I ate and quickly filled the tub about halfway with cold water. I asked Chad to sit upstairs with me and watch basketball and talk to me while I was in the tub as a way to distract me.

I was such a baby! The water was so cold without the ice that I whined and pretty much acted like a child. It took several minutes for me to get my body in the water. Then it was time for the ice. Chad was nice enough to come in and torment me with the ice by tossing in one cube at a time...no really he just teased for a while and then dumped the whole bag in. I sucked it up after that. 15 minutes in the ice bath! Wahoo! Afterwards, I didn't even try to take the immediate hot shower that I normally do. I got out and tried to warm up on my own for about 15 minutes before I got back in to take my shower.

The result? My legs did feel somewhat better, and it was confirmed that Chad is the best guy around.

The Schrup 13 miler

St. Patty's Day-
My first attempt at anything over 10 miles since December went pretty well. I started off with some of the faster members of my group because they were running nice and easy. At the Mopac bridge, however, I needed to pee, so I broke off and went to the tennis court bathrooms. I was having spotty vision in my right eye, my hand felt like it was collecting fluid in my fingers, and when I sat down to go pee, my body felt very jittery and spasmed a little. I am sure that it was not a normal thing, probably having something to do with blood sugar, so I kept running.

The run was rolling hills, so I joined up with John in our training group at about mile 5. We kept a decent pace the rest of the way and enjoyed good conversation. I am glad he is in our training group.

Crazy 8s

Let me preface my post by saying that I dread this workout. I have a healthy respect/fear of how my body reacts to this workout. This workout made me visit the hospital last fall.

We warmup about 1.5-1.75 miles to the Barton Springs parking lot. We do 200 meter strides along the course we will be running. 200m flat, 200m steep uphill, turn around, 200m downhill, turn around, 200m back up steep uphill, recover 400 meters downhill back to start with 5 minutes rest to start the next set. Do 4 sets. Ugh!

Here is what I put in my Nike Training log:

Mac's Workout
Warmup to Barton Springs parking lot (16:30)
1 set of strides - 800m (3:56)
Crazy 8s workout 4x800m take split every 200m
#1 56.69 1:07.77 1:01.39 1:07.12 recovery 400/rest
#2 58.36 1:06.32 1:04.31 1:07.74 recovery 400/rest
#3 1:00.93 1:07.19 1:06.58 1:05.50 recovery 400/rest
#4 1:00.34 1:07.96 1:04.26 1:09.59 recovery 400
Cooldown to runtex (16:10)

I actually did it! At the end of it I was so proud of myself! WoooHooo!

There was also a new guy with us, Mario, who made the goofiest comment after the first set. He had gone out really fast and struggled going up the hill. When Mac was talking to him in front of the group, Mac suggested that he not go out as hard. Mario actually had the nerve to say that he would have slowed down, but that 'the girls would catch him'! Wow! I could not believe that he actually thought that if we caught him then it would somehow be a bad thing or somehow mean he was 'slow'. As it turned out, we beat Mario on the next 2 sets, and not just by a little. Mario, get used to it! We are much faster and stronger runners than you expect.

Hump Day Run

Boy was it a huge hump to get over! I had done some weights on Tuesday at the gym...no let me be very specific: I did too many chin-ups and dips! My pecs were SO SORE! It hurt to run. I had trouble holding my upper body posture correctly and swinging my arms was torture!

Anyhow, I obviously need to workout more if I am sore from doing pull-ups at the gym.
Wednesday - 6 miles (overall 9:34 pace, but we had to slow down for some huge puddles here and there)

Track Workout - 12 x 300

Last night at Mac's workout was the first run I have done in the afternoon since the time change. It was warm and humid yesterday in Austin, which means that I become a red-faced monster sweating machine. We warmed up from RunTex to the Texas School for the Deaf track. Once on the track, Mac helped us determine our paces for the day, which for me meant 28-29 sec per 100m. To my surprise there were several others who were my pace...a first since I started working out with Mac a year ago last November.

I ran pretty well for having sore legs. My splits stayed pretty even considering I was tired and our rest time kept shrinking. It is kind of hard to know that the fast guys and gals are getting 55 seconds rest, when we are getting 40-45 seconds. I tried not to whine about it. It is how I am going to get mentally stronger.

1:22 - 1:00
1:23 - :45
1:26 - :41
1:23 - :45
1:23 - :44
1:24 - :44
1:24 - :42
1:25 - :42
1:25 - :40
1:26 - :40
1:25 - :43
1:24

It was declared that last night Steve Mott won the red-faced award. I thought for sure it would be me. Now I have another goal, I guess.

Moe's

Chad ran Moe's Better Half Marathon yesterday. I spectated, which involved running out onto the course(a lollipop shape - out, loop, back). I ran out the country roads to mile 3, waited for the 150 or so runners to go by and then ran back around the other way to get to mile 10.5. Many of the runners were wearing headphones, so my cheering probably didn't mean much. I don't blame them, though. Most of them were alone on country roads for a couple of hours, so a little music motivation probably was a help to many. Chad ran well - 1:32:02. This 3 weeks after running the Austin Marathon. He placed 11th overall and 2nd in his age group. Our friend Duane was 2nd overall and 1st in their age group. Way to go guys!

My running was just those easy miles out on the course. I got in about 5 1/2 miles at about a 9:30 pace. After the Go for the Gold 10k on Saturday, my legs were a little more sore than I would have liked.

Tonight we have a speed workout with Mac. I hope my hamstrings and hip flexors cooperate.

Go for the Gold 10k

Well, the race was better than I thought. I pretty much set myself up for disaster, so in the end 51:03 is not too shabby.

I'll start with pre-race Friday night. Chad and I go to a happy hour at 5:00 and I have a glass of wine and a pizza at Zax. When do I ever drink before a race? When do I lose all control and eat an entire pizza? Granted, it was really thin crust, but you'd think I would not want to haul an entire Margherita pizza around the next morning. After dinner we walk around the new shopping area, 'The Domain', and are on our feet for a couple more hours...probably not the best pre-race activity. We need to kill time waiting on my niece to be born. I also make a dumb decision to drink a Frappuccino at about 9:00, so that is not going to be good for sleeping.

At about 9:00pm we get the call that my sister-in-law is 'ready to push', so we head over to the North Austin Medical Center to take our places in the waiting room. She is born at 9:30 and we get to go in and see her close to 10pm. Isn't she cute?

We stay the night at Chad's house. It is about 11:30 before the coffee lets me get some rest. I am dreaming about a nasty odor and I wake about 3am to find that a skunk sprayed right outside of the house. The smell is nauseating. We do what we can to make the bedroom smell fresh and get the air to circulate, but it does not help me sleeping the rest of the night.

6:15am - Wake up and find that I did not pack my sports bra. UGHHH! We hustle and drive 25 minutes to my house to get one. 7:10 am - We leave to go to the race. 7:25 am - I realize I do not have my personal chip. UGHHH! I manage to get a chip to use for the race with the nice folks at chip pickup. We try to warm-up and get about 1/2 of a mile in. I am just not feeling it this morning.

Once the race starts, I try to fall into a good pace. I run without a watch on purpose this morning to just go on how I feel. It turns out to be a good strategy for me. I think I was pretty even-paced throughout the whole race. I know that my first mile was about 8:00-8:10. Overall, my finish pace was 8:13/mile. Not bad.

Go for the Gold 10k is a tough one if you are in the training/weight situation I am in. There were rolling hills and an uphill finish. I am proud of how I did today. Thank goodness the next race will not involve babies, alcohol, coffee, skunk, missing clothes and a missing chip. I will be more prepared, but I still may not wear my watch.

Until my next run...

Up and at 'em again

Well, I got my blog started again. I have more time now that my job has changed and I am in front of a computer most of the day. I am going to try to start blogging again, but no promises.

I started training this week for the upcoming 5k and 10k season here in Austin. Am I looking forward to getting faster? Yes! Is it going to take a ton of work? Yes! I have been feeling good out there, so hopefully I will build some strength going into the summer. I need to lose some weight to get faster, too. At St.George last year and at Boston last year I weighed 137 pounds. Right now I am at 148-150. I do feel kind of sluggish, and I have been working hard at eating better.

Tomorrow, all Rogues in my training program are supposed to race the 'Go for the Gold' 10k. It is supposed to be a benchmark to see where we stand starting the training season. I am not looking forward to it. I have run the course before and it is kind of brutal. Hilly. Oh well, I'll suck it up.

Well, I am off for the evening to go see my new baby niece being born. I am so excited to be an aunt! Hopefully she will be born at a decent hour so that I can get some rest for the race.

Until our next run..