April ‘08 Running Report May 1, 2008

In a word… Fail.

I ran a grand total of 12.75 miles in April. My total for 2008 is currently 161.85 as of this moment. If I’m going to make my goal of 500 miles in 2008, I have to kick it back into gear.

So what happened?

Two things happened… I got sick for one thing. That head cold floored me for what felt like half the month. My current personal running rules include a clause about breathing - if I can’t breathe, I’m not gonna run. For another thing, some pretty heavy personal stuff came up this month which caused a lot of stress and some insomnia. The personal stuff will be ongoing for a while, but that’s the subject of another post. What’s relevant here is that I SHOULD have dragged my exhausted carcass out of bed to run even if I didn’t get the sleep I needed. The exercise can only help.

So what’s the plan?

It’s past time to get back to it. The morning is already blown (for the gym anyway), and lunchtime is booked up with some goings-on across the street, so I’ll go run after work. A nice run through the neighborhood or, if it’s raining, a treadmill trot will be very good for me.

One bad running month isn’t going to end the 500 mile goal, but those remaining miles aren’t going to run themselves. The only thing for it is to lace up, head out, and get it done.

Back in the Saddle April 18, 2008

I came down with a mind-numbing, brain-deadening headcold/chest cold/virus thing last week. At first, I thought I had strep, but the doc insisted that it was a virus. The result was that my running has been side-lined since last Thursday. I’d wake up in the morning when Matt, the dedicated soul he is, got up to go to the gym. I’d fully intend to get up as well, but simply failed. I’d be too tired after a night of fitful sleep and my throat would hurt and I’d just roll over like a lump and stay in bed.

I’ll say this for coming off a running habit - it sucks. When I stop running for a while, I start feeling chubby, which isn’t terribly pleasant. Between that and still being sick, I just haven’t felt all that great this past week.

Well, this morning, I was finally able to peel myself out of bed and hit the gym. I decided to do a nice easy two miler on the treadmill to ease back in (and not aggravate my cold) and it went remarkably well. Covered the readout with my towel and trotted on off, listening to some OK Go. I was surprised a while later when I checked my progress that I’d already gone a mile and I was scooting along at close to a 10 minute mile pace. Super cool.

I finished that two miler in 20:49. I was pretty darn happy with that for my first run after being sidelined by virus and general wussiness.

So, after running, I ambled on over to one of the multi-purpose rooms to get my yoga on. I finally made it all the way through the class and it was wonderful.

As mentioned in previous posts, I am trying to jump start my yoga practice. I spent some time going through the available yoga podcasts in iTunes and found one that’s got a LOT of promise. I’ve gotta hand it to the people over at YogaDownload.com, they can put together one heck of a yoga class. I’ve listened to a bunch of yoga-classes-via-podcast, and so far, this is hands-down the best one. Each podcast comes with a PDF demonstrating the series of poses, so you’ve got a visual. (I’ve checked out several yoga video podcasts, but as I’ll be practicing in the gym for now, it’s just not practical to have to watch a video.)

I’ve only listened to one class so far, but I was so impressed that I’m comfortable recommending the podcast with two reservations. The first one is the same reservation I have about yoga books and videos - they’re great resources, but I never recommend STARTING yoga without a good teacher. You really need a teacher to help you get the most out of your practice…and how to practice safely. Yoga is by-and-large low-impact, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you CAN hurt yourself.

The second reservation is that if you aren’t familiar enough with yoga poses, you’re not likely to know what to do fast enough to keep up. The class isn’t too fast-paced, but if you have to reference the PDF, you’re going to get left behind very quickly.

So! Basically, YogaDownload’s podcast is perfect for someone who’s had some moderate to significant yoga experience and is looking for a classroom guide in podcast form. If that’s you, check out YogaDownload - it’s pretty darn neat! The pace was great, challenging, but do-able - I was sweating just as hard as I was during the run toward the end. My only suggestion would be to stack some good cool-down/meditation music after the podcast. There’s about a minute of ambient type music at the end of the class, but I felt the need for some more quiet time at the end.

March Running Report April 2, 2008

March was a big month for me. The half marathon training was in the middle of the month and I was putting in some pretty serious miles (for me) up to the half marathon.

I did take two weeks off after the half marathon to recover, but even so, I chalked up a grand total of 55.7 miles in March. Not to freakin’ shabby, says I.

My current total mileage for 2008 is 149.1 miles.

All in all, the first three months of the year have gone well. I’m very happy with the mileage I’ve put in so far and while I didn’t make my sub 2 hour 20 min half marathon goal in March’s race, I’ve got nine more months keep trying.

I made the decision in late March to hold off training for another half marathon until after my upcoming move in June. In the meantime, my intention is to do more frequent shorter runs to work on speed and generally burn off stress. I also want to incorporate yoga into my fitness routine.

This past week was supposed to be the start of this new focus, but so far it’s been a stunning failure due to a tenacious bout of insomnia. My usual sleep patterns are all out of whack and it’s prevented me from getting up in the morning to get rolling. Tomorrow, however, is another day… I’ll keep trying!

Recuperation Period March 25, 2008

After a long race, you’re supposed to go through a period of rest. The guideline I was able to find recommended that you rest about one day per mile you raced on the big day. That means that I’m supposed to take it easy at least until March 29th. It’s giving me a chance to rest up and heal. My right knee is healing nicely. It was sore after the reace but it doesn’t bother me much now. My left hip flexor is still bugging me, though. I can’t feel justified in complaining about it, because I haven’t put in the minor effort of stretching properly or regularly.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to plan my next steps. I’m moving in June, which is a huge stressor for me (there’s something about boxing up my stuff and moving that makes me very anxious). Preparing for the move is going to take up a good bit of my time soon - culling my belongings, cleaning, planning, job hunting, etc - so I’m hesitant to commit myself to another time-consuming round of training. Still, it’s going to be important that I keep up with my running. The exercise really helps me manage stress for one thing - for another, if I slow up too much I’ll never make either of my running goals for 2008.

There is another half marathon being held on April 20th that would be very accessible. It’s being held about 30-40 minutes from my current home. So… I could go do that race and take another crack at that 2:20 half marathon time. The pros - I’d have another shot at making my half marathon time goal; I’d have to keep up with my long distance training; the race is easy to get to. The cons - the long-distance training IS time-consuming, and I’d rather not put too big a strain on my time before a big move; the time-drain could also wind up causing more stress than the runs mitigate; I’d have to do another two week recuperation period during which I will likely be sore and cranky (cranky because I’m not getting my usual dose of endorphins from running).

Or I could sign up for a local 5K or 8K instead (for motivation and for the t-shirt!)… or volunteer to help out for the half marathon so that I can be motivated to run like the people I’m watching (yes, that sounds kinda lame, but I *do* finding it inspiring to watch people run these races)… or both.

I’ve also paid some lip service to the idea of starting back up with yoga again. I was pretty into it for a while - I even started up with some coursework to certify as an instructor. I had a falling out with the gym that was encouraging me to get certified and then an old injury to my wrist worsened to the point that I couldn’t do most of my favorite poses, so my practice dried up. Both are poor excuses, especially considering how incredible I’d feel after a good session of yoga practice.

It’ll take some concerted effort to get back into practice. My current residence doesn’t have a good place to practice inside. I can practice on the porch if I make the effort to clear away the porch furniture and if I can stop worrying that people can see me…and if it isn’t freakin’ freezing outside. Until it warms up, I’ll have to count on finding space at the rec center to practice.

I guess, ideally, in the next couple months I should probably try focus on getting back into yoga. I’ll still run, but I’ll do more frequent runs under five miles instead of a bunch of shorter runs and an obscenely long run every week. The yoga I like to practice *does* have some strength training elements in it, but I never got the same sort of results (ie, got noticeably stronger) so I should keep doing the strength training Matt suggested for me, too.

So, I start working out again officially next week. I’ll tinker with possible schedules this week and try some out starting next week.

At this point, I doubt I’ll do another half marathon before the move. BUT - I’m not giving up on my running goals! I’ll keep updating my mileage on the New Year’s Resolution page on this website, and as soon as I pick out the next half marathon, I’ll start updating on how training for that is going. Until I start half marathon training again, I think that I’ll shift my reporting on distance running training to reporting on how I’m doing starting back up my yoga practice. Hopefully, that’ll be at least a little interesting…

Half Marathon Weekend March 17, 2008

Saturday was the day of the big half marathon!

Matt and I drove up to my parent’s place Friday after work. We got up there in time for a nice dinner with my parents and then a couple hours of Rock Band. They’ve been practicing! Dad’s kicking butt on the drums AND guitar now, and Mom’s doing awesome on vocals. I’ll typically either play the guitar (bass or regular guitar, I’m not picky) or vocals. Anyway, we played until the foot pedal on the drum set broke during a particular tough song (Reptilia by the Strokes… boy is that tough on the wrists for the bass guitarist!). He immediately ordered another one.

Some friends of mine and Matt’s (Beth and Shep) met us at Mom and Dad’s around 11:30 and we collectively hit the hay about then. It was pretty late and we did have to get up for the race the next day, after all. Beth was the only other one running, but Mom, Dad, Matt, and Shep were all going to go to cheer us on.

Race day morning was about what I expected. We sat around too long enjoying breakfast and each other’s company…we’re talkers once you get us going…so we had to scramble a bit to get to the race start in time.
The weather had had us a little concerned, but when race day dawned, it decided to shine. It was perfect. It was in the upper 40s or lower 50s. Blue sky, puffy clouds, a bit of a breeze. Just beautiful. I opted to wear running tights for comfort and to keep a bit of compression on my knees. (My right knee was still bothering me a bit after having hyper-extended it a bit on the treadmill earlier in the week.) I wore a green t-shirt for visibility and for St. Patrick’s Day, and a great big felt hat shaped like a mug of beer (also for visibility and St. Patrick’s Day…and for fun). I also took my race-day pack with me to carry my iPhone and my Gu. (My race-day pack is basically a tiny, somewhat glorified fanny pack. Looks a bit goofy, but it’s functional, light, and doesn’t hurt my back…plus, I had a giant beer on my head…nobody was going to be judging my choice of running accessories.)

We got to the school where the race started just in time to pick up our packets, use the facilities, strap on a knee brace I borrowed from Matt, and pin our numbers on. We got out to the road where everyone was lining up, stretched for about 45 seconds and then it was time to go!

It was a little odd. All the training and pasta and preparation and concern about my knee, and when it came right down to it, that day, I wasn’t nervous at all. I wasn’t worried about finishing the run in the time I wanted to make. I wasn’t at all concerned about being able to finish it. I wasn’t even all that worried about whether or not my knee would hold out or how sore I’d be later. I was just looking forward to a nice long run. I said so to Dad just before we got started when he came over for one last fist bump before the starting gun. It was a nice feeling.

Beth and I started nearly last in the pack, which was just fine with me. Pretty hard to get run over when you’re in the back. Plus, I like seeing the really fast runners stretch out in front once we get around a bend or two. It’s incredible to see how fast some people can run. I noticed something rather odd in the first mile. That’s where people are setting their paces and the pack is thinning out…when you can start getting a look at the other runners. Nobody was running in costume! I was really surprised since it was the Saturday before St. Patrick’s day.

This was actually Beth’s first race of any sort. Imagine starting with a half marathon! Gutsy, huh? She’s been running a lot longer than I have, though, and is built like a runner. Tall, long legs, willowy, etc. I’ve seen her run before once, when we got together at the beach to do a long training run. She’s a lot better at it than I am. Still, she was concerned about finishing. I knew darn well that she’d do great, and that she’d finish before me (and I told her so). Still, we started out running together for the first half to three quarters of a mile before she started pulling ahead. I was really tickled for her - she did great while I could see her (and after she was out of my line of sight, too).

I lost sight of her right about mile 2.5. That was when the first really bad hill loomed up. I say first because most of the damn course turned out to be hills. The course description had been very light on details. “Some rolling country roads” was about all the information that we got. Sounded pretty gentle to me, and I’ve run on the roads close to my parents’ place. The course wasn’t that far from their house, so I figured that Mom and Dad’s rolling country roads would be a good approximation. Boy, I was wrong.

Like I said, the first bad hill was right around mile 2.5. It was a steep incline with a bend to the left. When I finally shuffled to the top, I could see down the short decline to where the next hill started. It was even bigger than the first one. In short, the course was all hill. There were a few bits that were relatively gentle inclines or declines, but the vast majority of the thing was hill. So for future reference, “rolling country roads” translates roughly into “bring climbing gear.”

Up until that first bad hill, I’d been going along at a nice 10:30 pace and was really pretty tickled about it. I knew that if I kept it up, I’d make my New Year’s Resolution of running a 2 hr 20 minute half marathon! And even if I didn’t, I still stood a chance of shaving some decent minutes off of my time from the last half marathon. I think I hoped until around mile 6 or so when it was good and apparent that the hills were not going to stop. I kept thinking that maybe the downhill bits would help make up for the slower uphill parts, but the running hills is HARD. At that point, I thought it was a good thing that I wasn’t there with my heart set on breaking any personal records that day. (Also around mile 6, I inexplicably started craving a beer. I suspect it was the hat…)

It’s a good thing Matt gave me a knee brace for race day. I had never run in one before, and I was a little concerned about it chafing despite the fact that it was on over my running tights, but we figured that if it bothered me after a mile or two, I could pull it off and chuck it on the side of the road to be retrieved later. It wound up not chafing me at all, which was great since I think I really needed it. By the time mile 10 rolled around, whenever I slowed to a walk to get up a particularly unpleasant stretch of hill, I was favoring that knee a good bit. (That was also about the same time that I looked up and saw the turkey buzzards circling. Seriously. Yikes.) I hate to think what it would have been like without it. Once again, Matt was right.

Besides the hills, the run was really very uneventful for me. It was a very small event in PA, so there weren’t as many volunteers or spectators as I’ve seen at other races in the past. Maybe the small size of the event was the reason for the conspicuous lack of costumed runners. I was really hoping (and expecting) there to be some neat St. Patrick’s day costumes. As it turned out, my big funny hat was about all the costume there was to be seen. It did make people smile, and I was glad of that at least. But being the one runner with funny attire, I drew more attention that I expected (and am strictly comfortable with). The race photographers loved me, lol. Every time I ran by one, a great big camera lens swung my way. Even the volunteers at corners occasionally whipped out cameras and snapped photos. Not exactly what I had in mind, but hardly unforeseeable. So, now there are photos of me out there somewhere in which I am sweaty and gross and wearing a great big hat that looks like a giant beer. Peachy. LOL.

I finished the run in 2 hours 40 minutes and 6 seconds (I think…I was kinda tired when I came in, but I think that’s what the great big digital timer said). When I crossed the finish line, I was oddly unable to stop. My legs were still set on go. Even stranger was that they didn’t seem to particularly care what direction they were going in as long as they were still moving. Matt came right up and I tried to give him a hug, but my legs gave out a little and he had to catch me. We got me upright again and I started unintentionally walking backwards. Now THAT was a weird feeling.

Beth came in about 10-15 minutes before I did, which was exactly how I thought she’d do. I figured she’d get a mile or so ahead of me by the end.

We all headed into the school where the race was anchored for the awards ceremony (it was already started when I finally rolled in). I really wasn’t all that interested in the ceremony. I was tired and filthy and wanted to go home, but it was good to get inside to use the facilities. The ceremony was probably centered around the girl who had broken the course record that day. A 19 year old had beaten out an Olympic level runner to do it. Good for her - pretty damn impressive! Plus, I’m hoping that the newspapers were more impressed with her considerable accomplishment than they were amused with my big funny hat. As long as they are, my beer-laden head will avoid being plastered over the local section of the papers. That would be nice.

After the race, we loaded back into our vehicles and headed back to Mom and Dad’s place. On the way back, I drank a protein shake that Mom had made for me - it was surprisingly tasty. And shockingly filling. Usually when I finish a long run, I wind up eating all the food I can get my little hands on. I’ll literally come out of the kitchen with a double-armload of whatever I can carry, then sit down and go Hungry-Hungry-Hippo on it. No so this time. After drinking that protein shake, I was pretty much OK. I was still thirsty, but I wasn’t hungry. I have got to get me some of that stuff!

When we got back, Beth and I got cleaned up and we got started with the rest of the weekend. We intended to have something of a party, but we failed to realize just how tired we’d all be when the race was done. The “party” wound up being just us hanging around, drinking, eating, watching TV, and occasionally dozing. Not exactly loads of excitement, but it was nice.

In retrospect, I’m not unhappy with my race time. I would have really liked to have done better, but given the difficulty of the course, I think it’s great that I was able to maintain my time. I think that shows improvement. The half marathon I did first was beautifully flat. There were some very gentle inclines and declines, but it was nearly all flat - basically, the polar opposite of the one I did this past weekend. If I’m going to make my New Year’s Resolution goal of 2 hrs 20 min for a half marathon, I’m going to have to keep training and pay more attention to the course type!

There is some very solidly good news - I am in pretty darn good shape post-race. It’s two days after the race, and my feet don’t hurt! I have some mild to moderate muscle soreness in my legs and my right knee is a bit stiff, but nothing that a little ibprofen can’t handle. Looks like I get to keep all my toenails this time, too! Super awesome My only race injuries were a bloody toe (ran right through the skin…didn’t even feel it and it never did bother to hurt), and about a six square inches of skin lost over my rib cage due to chafing in the chest area (this has been a pretty consistent issue with my sports bras and it’s past time to find a solution…that’ll be a priority over the next round of training).

I’m already hunting for the next half marathon to do. I might have time to do one before June, but it’ll be pretty tough for me to get one in for a couple months after June for a variety of reasons. I’m using the next two weeks to recover - so no running for two weeks - but I will be doing some planning and deciding which one to try next.

Overall - good run! Looking forward to the next one!