300.48 - January 2009 Total Mileage

I did it. Today's run was especially strong.

My 8 mile warmup with Tara was at 9:30 pace...nice and easy because it was really dark and I kept having to visit the potty. At 7:00am, we started behind everyone else doing the 14 miler from Rogue because we were stuck in the potty line. Starting late turned out to be a good thing because we got to pass a bunch of people on the way out. I knew I was going to have a good run today, so I told Tara that I was going to run her into the ground :). I didn't mean it in a bad way, and she certainly didn't protest. Mostly, I said it to announce to both of us that I planned to run strong and close fast. We have this unspoken rule that we don't leave each other on a route, so I knew if I pushed the pace, she would keep up, and if it was too fast, I'd be able to tell and relax for a while. I found myself falling behind her on the uphills and pushing the pace on the downhills. The deal was that I could pull away at Guadalupe if I was feeling good.

After the 7 mile turnaround point, we got into a groove and I felt really good approaching Dean Keeton. My plan was to run easy/steady up the hill and once we were at Guadalupe I was going to start my close. The plan worked. I started picking up the pace at Guadalupe and felt like I was definitely going sub-8:00 miles for the last 2-3 miles. It was likely even 7:30 miles, but I need to start taking splits at landmarks if I want to be more sure.

Here are the stats -
22.2 miles -
8.1 miles at 9:30 pace
7.06 miles at 8:49 pace (mostly uphill)
7.06 miles at 8:11 average pace (mostly downhill)

If I estimate that when we turned around I started running 8:30 pace, that would indicate that I closed at around 7:45 pace (including the little hill at San Jacinto). If we turned around and continued the 8:49 pace, that would indicate that I closed at around 7:19 pace. I'll take either of those!

It has been a good month. What is scary is that my number could have been 350 miles if I had done all of my miles when I was in Mexico. Crazy!

I just want to let it be in there for a while...

(Chad, giggling)...That's what she said.

(loc: booth at Wahoo's. I've finished my dinner and am talking about wanting to let my food settle before we get up and walk to the car. We both bust out laughing...again.)

It's not going to fit in there...

(me, giggling)...That's what she said.

(loc: in line at Wahoo's, Chad trying to find a slot in his wallet for his newly minted Costco card as he hands his credit card to Stephen. I say it innocently and then catch myself. We all bust out laughing.)

Addressing Another Item

I haven't really posted much about my goals for this spring because I don't want people trying to peg me to any kind of time or other status based on my running. I don't really have a goal for Nashville. My goal is the day to day.

I'm just trying to get into the best running shape I've ever been in. I'm testing my body. I want to see how far it will take me before I start breaking down. I'm testing my thyroid meds. I'm testing my MGP. I'm testing my overall endurance. I'm testing my metabolism.

There is no goal tied to Nashville other than it is a semi-flat marathon that I'm going to use to run the best race I can. I will likely run it with a watch, but I may not. I don't care what my MGP is this season...3:30 pace, 3:20 pace, whatever. I want to run without limits on what I'm capable of.

22 to go

Thanks for all the suggestions about reaching 300 miles by tomorrow night. My log now sits at 278.xx and I'm all set for my 22 miler tomorrow.

Chasing a Number

Dilemma time. I have given myself the potential to hit 300 miles for the month. Earlier in the week I thought I would never hit it. There were just too many miles to run by midnight Saturday. I have instead been inspired to get it done due to some bonus miles that have snuck their way into the week. Here are a few options that I think are doable...Unfortunately, all of them still require that I run on Sunday.

Option 1 - Run 3.5 miles today (before lunch - losing my rest day), Run 24 miles tomorrow (which requires getting up extra early and is not what Tara is going to do)

Option 2 - Run 5.5 miles today (ugh - even more miles - losing my rest day), Run 22 miles tomorrow (which is what I was planning to do)

Option 3 - Take my rest day (love this idea, but...), Run 24 miles tomorrow in the morning (which requires getting up extra early and is not what Tara is going to do), see how I feel and run the 3.5 miles sometime before midnight.

Option 4 - Ignore the 300 mile mark for January and end up at 295 (ugh - so close!)

My status at this point in the morning is - chilly in the house, sniffly due to some strange allergen in the air, and a little achy from yesterday (I ran 10.5 with 4 miles steady state in the morning, then 5.6 in the afternoon), however have lots of clean running clothes available and the iPod fully charged.

What do you think I should do?

Music Change

Lady GaGa - Just Dance

It's the second song on my newest running playlist. I don't know...it just makes me run faster, so I thought it deserved some air time on my blog.

What this feels like...

What does it feel like to run higher mileage? These weeks that I'm on track for 80+ miles are somewhat surreal. My legs feel tired, but not painful. I have that 'brick' feeling in my legs at the start of every run, but once I get going I can usually finish at a good pace.

Am I losing weight? Yes, thankfully. I started the season a bit heavy. At some point this spring, I'd like to be under 137, with my ultimate goal for race day at 130 or below. Now that the cedar pollen has been down in the Austin area, my body is no longer swollen and heavy at 150 pounds. I am back down below 145 like I should be and have been at 142-143 for a few days. If it takes running 80 miles a week to lose weight, life is definitely unfair, but I'll take it with minimal complaints.

Am I eating enough? You bet, but it is a challenge to keep a balance eating enough and the right kinds of food! It is nice to watch my nutrition, but also not to fret about every single morsel that goes into my mouth. I can definitely tell when I am on the edge of being too hungry.

I've been doing two-a-days running to help manage my fatigue. My body bounces back from a workout relatively quickly, so I'm able to sneak in some extra mileage at the end of the day. What this means is that I go through lots of workout clothes each week. I've already done two loads of workout clothes laundry this week with our family workout clothes.

Am I tired? Usually by Friday, I feel like I need extra sleep. I also sleep a lot on the weekends. But in general, no, I'm not so tired. I think my thyroid medication is helping with my general fatigue. I've been used to a much higher level of exhaustion before I began my thyroid treatment, so these days seem like a breeze. Woohoo!

Another PR

So far this month I've run more miles than ever before in a single month. My PR was previously 234.4 miles in March of 2006. I've run 251.8 miles so far this month.

Also, everyone is talking about the weather. Here is what I have to say - At 5:30 am it was 68 degrees. I ran in a tank top and shorts and was drenched with sweat. At 3:00 pm it was 35 degrees. I ran in tights, long sleeves, gloves and an ear wrap. That is crazy! BRRR!!!

Back at the miles

It feels good to be back in Austin and to be settling back into my routine. Yesterday, I still had some of my business trip mindset and had trouble getting in my miles. I only did 5.2 instead of 10. No matter, I'll build the missing miles into the other days of the week.

This morning's run went really well. I started with Tara and Dionn, and we navigated the early uphill part of the run at a pretty conservative talking pace. I think the uphill and talking made it feel a little harder than it should have been. Tara turned off at Red River so that she could make it to work, so Dionn and I continued through to Duval and 53rd. I had another bathroom emergency today that landed me in my new favorite coffee house on North Loop. They were so nice...this time they offered us water. At Grover, I turned right to follow the 14 mile route and Dionn went on her way to finish 12. As I was approaching the turn back onto Woodrow, I witnessed a large part of the black short gang barreling down Woodrow. It was a sight. They were flying.

I managed to catch up with the gang at the water stop and got swept up by them for a mile or so. It was awesome to feel as fast as them, even if I was going my own pace...I would drop off of the back of the group and then at a light or roads with traffic, I would gain some ground. Of course, I was jammin' to my iPod music, so I had a little help in keeping up.

The rest of the run felt really fast. I missed about 5 minutes of time on my watch this morning, so I had to estimate my total time at 2:01. 14 miles at that pace is well under 9:00, and most of the trip going north was not at that fast pace. I would imagine there were periods of the downhill way back to where I was going 7:45 pace. I actually felt that fast today. Woohoo. I guess that's what a little forced recovery week will produce.

This week will be 80-85 miles, then 90 next week, then who knows. I'll likely stick to 90, but I have an alternate plan for 100 if I feel good.

PV recap - the short version

Tuesday - get up really early, arrive Puerto Vallarta midday, enjoy speaking spanish with driver on the way to the resort, run 7.5 miles on treadmill in hot stuffy gym, meet our meeting planner from corporate office, relax

Wednesday - run 9 miles doing 1/2 mile loops in the parking lot, set up welcome desk, greet the sales team and directors as they arrive throughout the day, FedEx packages stuck in customs

Thursday - take motion sickness medicine, board boat, start feeling sick despite medicine, go to Las Caletas and sit on a beach chair in the shade, read my book, pose for pics, listen to crazy stories from coworkers, still feel sick, hour massage at spa, no lunch, puke twice on island, boat ride back, motor coach ride back to hotel (eeek!), puke four times in the bushes at the hotel before making it to my room, cold sweat all evening, very weak, no running

Friday - first big meeting day, very weak from puking yesterday, no running, little breakfast, little lunch, meetings going well, no more puking, others begin getting sick with vomiting and diarrhea, one in the hospital, group dinner, wear cute dress and feel good, mariachi group plays songs I know

Saturday - 10 miles in the parking lot with SVP, another sales rep, and meeting planner, lots more folks feeling very sick, phone disaster, then resolved, crazy difficulties through the day, FedEx packages arrive - half of contents are useless because they are late, awards dinner, fire dancers - one with short shorts and great abs, lots of folks sick in their rooms, entire glass of wine spilled on boss's computer (yikes - glad it wasn't me who spilled it or got it spilled on!), computer dies, mellow awards ceremony, still got to be Vanna, back in hotel room now

It has been a very long week. I desperately miss Chad. Can't wait to be back home.

Cedar Hell

I'm officially allergic to cedar. It has been a suspicion of mine for the last few years that my runny nose and itchy throat this time of year has been attributed to the cedar pollen that graces us with its presence. This year in particular has been the worst of it.

They ought to not even bother with those allergy forecasts. They should just call me and ask how I feel...I feel like cedar pollen is in the 'VH - Very High' category, thank you very much. My eyes are burning and puffy. My throat itches. My nose is constantly running and dripping in the back of my throat. I'm exhausted.

One lesson that I learned on Sunday - Don't try to take Zyrtec-D and try to run 9 miles. You'll end up getting dizzy and want to die. For next year I'm thinking about getting a mask to wear on all of my runs. This year I'll just settle for leaving the country. I'm going to be in Puerto Vallarta for work in about 6 hours.

Farewell cedar! You better be gone when I get back home.

Bam! 91.2

I thought this was going to be an 80 mile week. Well, it is going to be an 80 mile week as of tomorrow when you consider that my schedule is set up from Monday-Sunday. I have been thinking about the number 80 so much this week that I forgot to do my normal obsessive compulsive habit of adding up 7 day sequences and seeing if I'm doing more miles on other 7 day 'weeks' that may start on Sunday or Wednesday or Friday.

I was so freaking slow this morning when we started the run. It seemed like everyone was 'frisky' with the weather feeling perfect and everyone started running at a speed as if they were running on fresh legs. That was not me. I swear to you I was running 9:30-9:45 miles at the beginning of the run today. I felt like crap for over 7 miles. The turning point of the morning was when I pulled off to the creek along Shoal Creek Blvd and peed in the trees. With an empty bladder and a much needed break, I started doing some math in my head...

Sunday - 20.2
Monday - 10
Tuesday - 14
Wednesday 10.1
Thursday - 10.1 + 4.5
Friday - off
Saturday - 22.3

'Well no wonder I feel like a slug' is what I thought in my head after I added it all together. I had 70 miles in the last 6 days under my legs at the start of the morning. I figured out I had already hit 80 for the week by that point in the run and would be right at 90 (or just over) at the end of the day. That is my goal peak mileage for the entire training.

Best of all, I closed well today. I don't know what my splits were for the last few miles, but my overall pace was 8:56 today. Starting at 9:30s or higher at the front of the run means that I definitely negative split. My effort at the end sure felt like it was between 8:00 and 8:30s. If that is what it feels like to run 90 miles, I know I can handle this program. Bam! 91.2 is my new 7 day week mileage PR.

I might readjust some of my goals in the next month if I continue to feel like this with the high mileage.

Time for a music change...

If you are reading from Google Reader, know that the music has changed here. I highly recommend you click on the site at least once to listen to the song and veg out.

Muse - Bliss

Everything about you is how I'de wanna be. Your freedom comes naturally.
Everything about you resonates happiness. Now I won't settle for less.
Give me all the peace and joy in your mind.
Everything about you pains my envying. Your soul can't hate anything.
Everything about you is so easy to love. They're watching you from above.
Give me all the peace and joy in your mind.

Freaking Animal!

I'm so pumped! Today has been one of the best days of running in a long time.

In the last 7 days (counting last Friday-today) I have run 77.75 miles. Hell yeah! And I finished it with a run this afternoon at 8:33 pace. Holy cow. I wasn't trying to go fast, I just ran strong when my body felt like running strong. I took it easy when my body felt like running easy.

77.75 - New PR weekly mileage I am track to finish Sunday with 80. Best of all, I get a rest day tomorrow and get to sleep until 7am. Holla!

I'm bound for a downturn at some point (like next week when I have to run 50 miles on a treadmill), but for now I'll take the good as it comes.

Swelling

Something is going on with my body. I'm going to blame it on the cedar, but there's no telling what it is. I'm completely swollen. Not just in my legs, either. At first I thought it was from running. Then I thought I had just eaten too much over the last few weeks, but gaining 6-7 pounds while running 60-70 miles per week doesn't make much sense. Building that much muscle doesn't even make sense, so don't even try to go there.

It is also not salt-related. I have not had any extra salt over and above what I normally have. Lisa (my massage therapist) suggested that I look into my calcium intake to make sure that I'm getting enough. I haven't been taking my vitamin lately, so hopefully that is the singular solution.

How do I know that my body has swelled? My legs are massive. I can't fit in my jeans. The swelling is painful, too. It feels like what I think compartment syndrome feels like, except it is not just in my calves. I cannot even dream of taking my wedding ring off. It is stuck below the knuckle until my body goes back to its normal size.

So sad. The only consolation to any of this is that my legs have swollen proportionate to their normal size, so I don't have 'cankles'. That would be really hot if I could get me some cankles :).

Any recommendations or previous experience with total body swelling? I'm not taking a 'water pill' either. It's too dangerous to start experimenting with potassium with the amount of running that I'm doing.

Tough Chicks - and 70.3 for the week!

Tara and I were two tough chicks this morning. I had to run 20 miles for my long run this week, so since Chad was pacing the 20 miler race in Georgetown, I signed up too. Tara has been running all of my long run distances, so she signed up.

We were definitely taking it easy. We walked every single flippin' water stop. Walked them. We talked most of the way until we got to the hard uphill-into-the-wind section between 14 and 16. We did not look at the watch the entire time, only pressing the button and hearing it beep so that we would not be tempted to race.

Can I tell you that I thought we were going slow? For sure the last five miles felt like 9:30-10:00 miles. Dude...we were so much faster than expected. Here are the splits...

Miles 1 & 2 - 18:50 (9:25 each) We started slow on purpose.
mile 3 - 9:07
mile 4 - 9:08
miles 5 & 6 - 17:36 (8:48 each)
mile 7 - 8:26
mile 8 - 8:40
miles 9 & 10 - 19:22 (9:41 each) also suspected that mile 10 had an extra .2 miles because of a mistake in the course. Otherwise, that would be 8:48 pace for the 2.2 miles.
mile 11 - 8:47 (hilly)
mile 12 - 8:51 (unpaved road)
mile 13 - 8:42
mile 14 - 8:29
mile 15 - 9:07 (uphill into the wind)
mile 16 - 8:57
mile 17 - 8:36
mile 18 - 9:02 (uphill portions)
mile 19 - 9:01 (water and just plain tired, that's all)
mile 20 - 8:47

Total Time - 2:59:36
For 20 miles, that's an 8:59 overall pace
For 20.2 miles (which is what we think it was because of the wrong path during mile 10), that's an 8:53 overall pace.

It feels completely badass to run solid sub-9:00 miles most of the way.

Walking water stops. Starting slow. Not looking at watch.

Awesome! Thank you to Tara for pulling me through the last five miles. I was hurting. We kept counting our weekly mileage total at each mile marker....51/65, 52/66, 53/67, 54/68, 55/69, 56/70!!!

Crap...I gotta blog!

This has been one of the longest, fastest weeks ever. I don't mean running-wise. I can't even keep track of what day it is or what I did this morning or yesterday or New Years or how many days ago New Years actually was.

I'm in a traning warp zone. Life is also becoming fuller and richer.

This week is the first 10 mile jump in mileage and my body is now starting to get the hang of this running thing again. I'm supposed to do 70 miles this week -

Monday - Freaked out about the weather forecast (cold and rainy) and decided to run as soon as the rain stopped. Ran 9 miles in the neighborhood (two 4.5 mile loops) and found out that my latest iPod running playlist equals exactly 1 lap around the hood. So, two laps, two times the playlist, two times the fun. It went better than expected. Also, I went to Steve's office hours at Progress, mostly just to listen to what everyone else was talking about. I got a vegetarian wrap there (the Brahman one with the curry hummus) and OH MY GOSH was it D-Lish!! It was seriously the tastiest thing I have had in a while. I was in a funk after office hours...I got some suggestions as to why I am not faster than I am at the 5k and 10k distance and it caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting to be evaluated and critiqued about my form, but I definitely appreciated what Steve had to say. It's just part of the journey of getting into good running shape.

Tuesday - First Team Rogue workout. Cold and Rainy, Yikes! I hate cold rain. I ran with Dionn for the first part and we trailed Julia, Katie, and Brenda until we got past the 2nd waterstop. At Exposition, I went on to run the 12 mile option with Julia and Brenda because I needed as many miles as I could get before getting back to the store. Brenda and I ran it in together and I felt good about keeping up with a pack. I had to go back out into the rain and get in 4 more miles to finish 16 for the day.

Wednesday - Ran with Tara in my hood for an easy 7.2. I mapped a new route that I named 'The Weave' because it weaves its way street by street through the flatter part of the neighborhood. Chad and I invited Erin and her husband Mike (long time friends) over for dinner and Top Chef. I made my citrus salad with pomegranate, the soba noodle recipe with salmon, and finished it with homemade ginger ice cream. The ice cream is my new favorite and it let me use the ice cream maker that I had gotten for Christmas :).

Thursday - Team Rogue workout - I was supposed to do 10. Tara and I started with Francie and one other lady (don't think I was introduced or can't remember her name). They bolted ahead to run with Julia, Katie, Brenda, and a guy who I can't remember his name. We ran at our pace, tried to keep them in sight before the first water stop, and were joined by Roger (who has the most delicious southern accent). Roger's voice makes me feel so nostalgic about my extended family in South Carolina. I joined up with Brenda at the first water stop and we ran the rest of the way together just behind a bunch of other folks. As it turns out, we missed a turn (I knew we were supposed to turn right at Duval, but the trip ticket was wrong and had us turn left), so we ended up a bit short. Julia's Garmin had 9 miles, gmaps said 9.37. I'm going to count it as something in between. The best thing about Thursday (aside from the company) was the fact that I didn't have to tack on extra miles at the beginning or end.

Friday-Sunday - I am scheduled for off, 20, 8, sequentially, but I'm going to run the 20 mile race this Sunday in Georgetown because Chad has pacing duties. I am not going to do 8 miles before 20, so I intended to run an extra 3 on Thursday and do 5 on Saturday morning. Since Thursday's morning run was short, however, it left another .7 to try to fit in somewhere. Also, my body was tired last night and I didn't run extra at all.

I sucked it up and ran 4.5 this morning. That leaves 4.2 miles with Tara on Saturday in her hood, then the 20 mile race on Sunday. I don't get an off day this week, but that's okay.

Answers to recent questions...

I've gotten some questions lately in blog comments and in my everyday life about what I'm doing now in my training. Here are some answers...

• I'm ramping up my miles as part of the Team Rogue training group. The program incorporates a phase where you run high mileage weeks to build a big aerobic base. It is based on Arthur Lydiard's training methods (see slide show if unfamiliar...I am in the Marathon Conditioning Phase). Basically, you run as many miles as your body can run in a certain time period with stipulations about when your longer runs should be spaced throughout the week.
  
• As part of the team, I get to decide how many miles I want to try to build to during my base phase. I picked 90 miles per week based on my previous marathon training experience. I have handled 70 mile peak weeks in two of my previous marathon training programs with the added component of 'quality' workouts. I think my body will be able to handle 90-120 miles of running a week without the quality, so that is why I have set my initial goal at 90. If my body doesn't let me get there, I'm okay with that, too.
  
• Part of my goals with this group is to be in the best shape of my life. It is not really about running a race at a particular time this spring. This season is about seeing what my body can do without any restrictions...how many miles can I handle, how fast can I get, what will my body look like, how will my body handle this level of training now with Thyroid medication entered into the mix? I don't care about my time this spring, necessarily. I'm hoping to get as fast as possible and be in the best shape I can be.
  
• My next marathon will be on a random Saturday during training :). While that is true, the next marathon I have signed up for is Nashville (Country Music Marathon) on April 25th. I will run as fast as my body will allow with a smart negative-split race plan. We'll just have to see how fit I am before I pick a goal time.
  
• Beyond Nashville, my goals are for the fall. I train well over the summer, so I'm excited to see what two seasons from now will look like. I have goals that seem far-fetched right now, but we'll see how strong and fast I get. If Chad does Pikes Peak again, I will likely try to do the Ascent and kill it climbing that mountain. I will break 4:00 for sure and will also try to be one of the fastest flat-land women to climb.

60.1

It is the third longest weekly mileage for me in the past year or so (16 months?). I felt pretty good the whole week, only experiencing the normal aches and pains of ramping up. My fitness is getting better, judging by the overall pace on my runs this week and the fact that I finished the 18 miler yesterday as strong as ever.

Here's the breakdown of mileage by day - (I ran part of the RunTex to RunTex route on Thursday, so I decided to alter the remaining miles during the week.)

Mon - 8 miles (7 on schedule)
Tues - 14 miles (14 on schedule)
Wed - 5 miles (7 on schedule)
Thurs - 11 miles (8 on schedule)
Fri - off
Sat - 18 miles (18 on schedule)
Sun - 4.2 miles (6 on schedule)

Next week 70! Plus Team Rogue officially starts...WooHoo!