Category Archives: Training

What’s Next

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I had a very similar thought after I finished both the Seattle half-marathon and the Yukon Do It half. Sure, there was the usual relief to be done and satisfaction in a fun, hard race…but the most prominent thing in my mind was this:

What will this do for my marathon time?

Don’t get me wrong. I was really proud of my times for both races, and I developed a new fondness for the 13.1 distance. But deep down, I was looking further out. I hadn’t realized it before…but while increasing speed across as distances and enjoying races in all forms is important to me, there’s one distance that beckons louder for me than all others.

26.2

So although I do love running no matter the conditions—hot, cold, short, long, fast, slow, I’m realizing the my competitive focus has narrowed on the marathon.

In some ways I wish this weren’t true, given the nature of the beast. The training, the miles, the race itself…it’s all rather torturous, really. I’m pretty sure I’m not into masochism (although some would argue all runners are to a certain degree), but there’s just something about the distance that calls to me. It’s the difficulty, it’s the magnitude, it’s the glory—all in one. No matter how many times I get beat down by the brutality of it all—and there have been many—I just keep crawling back into the lion cage, begging for more.

Which leads me to the point of this post:

Spring Marathon Training. It’s here…well, almost.

Over the past few months, since recovering from Chicago, I’ve tried to centralize my running focus on two things: speed and recovery. Speed, in the sense of building up my lactate threshold in shorter distances in hopes of lowering my marathon goal pace. And recovery in the sense of establishing a ying and yang between hard workouts and rest. I’ve sucked at resting before, and it’s lead to one-too-many overuse injuries. I’ve begun to make rest a habit, and it’s working.

Nothing changes if nothing changes.

Along with these two focuses, I’ve tried to establish a solid running “base.” I’ve logged approximately 40 mile weeks for the past two months of so, including over 200 miles over the month of December (Thanks Nicole for enabling us to keep track of that!).

All these things for the sake of being in top notch condition for a very focused, very disciplined Spring Marathon plan. A plan that is all geared toward a very specific goal time:

3:34:xx.

BQ, baby. It is on.

I’ve had this goal before, but I never really admitted it, and I never really internalized it for myself. It always seemed a step away from me and only possible if a miracle happened. For the first time though, not only am I announcing it publicly— but I truly believe it’s possible.

There are many specifics as to the plan I’ll be following—which I’ll include in another post—but the primary change is that for the first time, I’m not making up my own schedule. 12 weeks, prescribed workouts, all hitting specific targets.

And I’m psyched. Actual training will begin Monday, February 4th, ending on Sunday April 28.

The goal marathon, you ask?

screen-shot-2012-10-13-at-8-51-21-pm

Some of you may remember that I was registered for Eugene last year. I was all set to run, but due to some knee bursitis and schedule rearranging, I switched my plan and ran the Tacoma Marathon instead. I still believe it was the best decision at the time…but consequentially I believe there’s some unfinished business to be done in Track Town.

Obviously, there’s a long way to go until then, but I really cannot wait to get started. Something feels right about this go-around…my brain, my legs, and my enthusiasm all feel very in sync, and I’m excited to see how this kind of exposed-goal, regimented training session goes.

Until then, I’m running when I want to, sleeping in when I want to, and mentally preparing for what feels like the biggest 26.2 undertaking yet.

And since I know for certain I’m not the only blogger/runner making the April trip down south…tell me, are you in for Huge Eug??

Purposeful Running

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Hey-o.

Remember me? The Robyn formally known as a blogger?

Yea…this week’s been one of those, and that’s an understatement. It’s safe to say that yesterday was in the top 5 of most stressful of my professional career. It’s not a bad thing, in fact I prefer it, it just amounts to a lot of need for sleep and tv, and not a lot of time for blogging.

Also, truth be told, I don’t have much of interest to report. Do I ever? Don’t answer that.

But frankly, I’m a little boring and I’m a big believer in writing about the things I want to write about as opposed to just filling the internet with purposeless jargon.

Which is, ironically, a nice little segway into something that’s been on my mind a lot recently in regards to running. Now that I’m anecdote-d the crap out of this post, let’s get to some real deal things…sound good? Great.

Purpose. A word that reminds me of childhood tattle-tale (“You totally did that on purpose!”) and yet it’s been finding itself in my present life somewhat frequently. I love the idea of doing things with purpose, with intention. It makes for so much more productivity and satisfaction in our actions—and it leaves out all the useless things that tend to fill up our time. Of course, the useless things can be so much easier and that’s why we need them to help unwind (Hello, OnDemand tv shows). But for the most part, I prefer to live my day to day life with some semblance of purpose.

This has also been my new approach in running. I’ve decided that while I’m in the “off-season” yet working harder on getting faster and stronger, I want all of my workouts to have a particular purpose. It’s a quality over quantity approach of sorts, and it’s been working wonderfully.

Translation: no junk miles, no running just to feel like I worked out, and added rest, strength, and stretching.

When I head out on a run nowadays, I’m trying to make sure that I’m getting something productive out of it, besides simply a good sweat. For instance, my typical “10-mile Tuesday,” which is normally done on a flat, out-and-back route, has now turned into a 7-8 mile hill-climbing Tuesday. Doesn’t quite have the same ring, does it?

But the point is that instead of heading out on a normal, easy run where I can zone out until it’s over, I’m trying to put some purpose in the miles. Hills have historically been a weaker point for me, and I’m really intent on getting over my fear of them. Also, in my quest for speed, hills are the best kind of speedwork in disguise, so while the grunt work might be tough—I know that integrating hills is doing a double-whammy of benefits for my running.

Another thing I’ve been focused on is getting to the pain point, and embracing it. I’ve come to a place where I can handle a good amount of distance at a comfortable pace, and the challenge has gone away a bit. I’m certainly happy about this and I think it’s a good place to be in, but for me…I want more. There isn’t much room for growth inside of our comfort zones, which is why another purposeful action I’ve been taking it getting outside of it, and welcoming the pain.

So I’d say that there are three core workouts that have been defining my running lately: speed work (mostly on a treadmill…baby steps), hills, and a long run. Any other running is done super slow and super short, and I’m kind of digging this method for now. It’s been interesting trying to balance getting some good rest in between marathons with also trying to get faster, but I think that the approach of making each run count toward something has been helpful.

And perhaps one of the biggest things: when I don’t want to run, I don’t run. I don’t feel guilty about it, and I don’t dwell on it all day. And low and behold…by the next morning, I can’t wait to get out again.

So simple, so logical, yet it’s taken so long to get there.

Initially, I was worried that if I took the winter to focus on speed, I’d surely burn out before it was time for the Big Goal for a spring 2012 marathon. But I feel the opposite. I feel a fire building, and I can feel motivation slowly garnering itself. By the time early February comes around, I’m hoping that fire has reached max-capacity and will be ready to hit a very regimented and goal-oriented training schedule hard.

I credit this building enthusiasm to both purposeful running and purposeful rest. Essentially, all the activity—or lack of activity—that I have been doing, I try to do with mindfulness and care. It takes a little more planning ahead of time and a little less auto-pilot mode, but for right now…it works for me.

I’m hoping I’ll be able to carry on some of this purposeful training into my real training next Spring, and in the meantime…it’s all about balancing the pain points and the rest days. They compliment each other quite well, turns out.

 

Happy Friday! Have a nice weekend!

 

Decision Time

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Well folks, after much deliberation…I’ve made a final decision:

This Sunday, I will be running the Chicago Marathon.

I’ve thought a lot about this decision, I’ve asked a lot of people their advice, and I’ve done a lot of internet perusing to find “the right answer” as to what I should do.

And I realized a couple of things, but namely…there really isn’t a right answer in this scenario. Some people are willing to run on anything that isn’t a stress fracture, and some people stay away for just the sniffles. There were a number of different pros and cons for me to consider, both big and small. And in the end—despite all the opinions, the research, and the back-and-forth, I knew it had to be my decision—not anyone else’s.

And guess what? With a little help from rest, meds, and wishful thinking, I’m healthy enough to run the race—and I’m gonna try.

But let’s rewind a bit, and I’ll catch you up to speed as to where I currently stands in regard to this race:

1 month ago, I had to stop short on a 20 mile run from horrible ankle pain. I was limping for days, icing like crazy, and popping more pain killers than I ever have before. The doctor was nonchalant about it and told me it was just bad tendonitis, but I was still not thinking the worst. In the back of my head, my hopes of a stellar Chicago Marathon were getting shrouded away, seemingly all at once.

1 week after the initial injury struck, I tried running for the first time—to no avail. I couldn’t make it 1/4 mile without my ankle blowing up like a balloon. I limped very slowly the whole way home, holding back tears, and continued to lower my self-proclaimed likelihood of running the race.

A little over a week ago, I went back to the doctor. This time, I was prescribed some actual, real deal pain killers. He told me that if I felt up for it—he would give the green light to run the race. Once again, I tried to run…this time, I made it 6 miles. They weren’t pain free, but I got them out, and it seemed that my ankle was getting better.

Last week, I was able to do the aforementioned 6 mile run, an 8.5 mile run, and a 7.5 mile run. Each felt better than the one before, and my ankle pain was getting to be less and less each time I headed out. After two weeks of discouragement, Chicago was back on the table.

This past weekend was the weekend I proclaimed to be “decision time.” I knew I didn’t want to even make the trip if I wasn’t going to run the race, therefore I needed to make the call one way or the other ahead of time. I set out on my previously planned 12 mile run, deciding that if I made it relatively pain free—I was gonna race.

12 miles later, and…well shit, I’m running a marathon next weekend.

I ran the 12 miles with very little ankle irritation. In fact, there wasn’t even a glimmer of the injury for probably 75% of the run. This was indeed very encouraging…and although I know 26 miles is many more than 12, the rate at which my injury seems to be recovering makes me think that I will be able to spend most of the race relatively pain-free.

However, while my ankle may be mostly cooperative…taking two weeks off completely from running took it’s toll, and admittedly I am mostly worried now about the condition of my legs more than anything else.

I’m not gonna lie…those 12 miles were tough. My lungs felt good, my ankle even felt good, but my legs felt tired. This could have been just an average “bad run,” but I know I’m also feeling the rusty effects of not having run long in a while. I was concerned with just how tired I felt after 12 miles, and it made a marathon seem even more daunting than, well, a marathon already is.

But, the fact of the matter is that if I wasn’t going to run this race…it wasn’t going to be because of some tired legs. It was because of an injury…an injury which seems to be on its way out the door. I feel like I have to try, and while this might be the most difficult marathon I’ve ever attempted, I don’t want to go down without a fight.

Frankly, I’m really nervous for the race. I’m scared of not finishing. I’m scared for the pain. And perhaps more than anything, I don’t like the uncertainty. While of course I was anxious for my first two marathons, I was always very confident in my ability to finish. This setback has left me in a much less confident state in my running—and while I know I haven’t lost all of the training I built up, I’m definitely not in ideal marathon shape.

However, these fears and apprehension aren’t enough to keep me from the start line. I’m truthfully very excited and grateful that I will still get the chance to be in and at the race. This is one of the biggest races in the world, I’ve trained hard to get to it, I’ve raised a lot of money for a great cause, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get out there and try.

So get ready kids, this will be interesting.

 

Chicago Marathon Training Week #11 + Weekend

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So, there wasn’t much running involved in my workouts last week…you already knew that. I didn’t post my training last week though out of bitter resentment, so here’s a look at how all the non-running training went:

M: 30 min stair stepper, 60 min swim

T: 2 hour spin class

W: 60 min stair stepper + BodyPump

T: 90 min swim

F: 60 min stair stepper + BodyPump

S: 2 hour swim! 5,000 meters

S: 20 min stair stepper + 6 m run!

Total: 6 miles running

Yea, so that number ^^ is very minuscule compared to where I should have been. But, considering my two week injury hiatus from running, I will gladly take any miles over none. And in spite of not being able to run, I was happy with how I managed to keep activity levels high. I am still in love with my BodyPump class, particularly the instructor, and I think it’s been doing really good things for both my strength and coordination.

In other news, after a beautiful rest day yesterday, I was able to run 8.4 miles today! It wasn’t very pretty, and it wasn’t very easy, but hot damn it happened. And guess what? My ankle felt better than it did during Sunday’s first run back! It was still a little cranky, but it seems that this persnickety tendonitis beast may be on its way out the door. It’s really encouraging that my ankle seems to be getting better while still running on it…and it’s making me feel inches closer to making the decision to race. Don’t worry, I’m still going to take it easy and play the super-taper game…but in the mean time it feels great to pound some pavement again.

On my run this morning, I thought a lot about what would happen if I do decide to race. Because when I don’t wear headphones, my entire life—all past, present, and future aspects of it—seems to engulf my brain.

I felt a whole number of things this morning, but mainly encouraged and anxious. I can feel the possibility of doing the Chicago Marathon getting higher, but simultaneously I’m getting scared for just what finishing, (read:surviving), the race will entail.

I need to come to terms with that fact that not only will I be slower than normal and will potentially walk some of the race—there is a good chance I will be in pain during a good amount of it. Pain on top of normal, typical marathon pains. It’s certainly not an ideal scenario—and it’s one that will require perhaps more mental preparation than any other race, should the opportunity come.

Time will tell people. However, I did hear last night that a friend in Chicago is willing to host BF and I for race eve…..and he lives ONE MILE from the start line. We were originally planning on staying out at the airport…a good half hour away. Universe coming together? We’ll see.

In other news, here’s a look at what was a fan-effing-tastic weekend. The weather in Seattle was perfection, and somehow BF and I managed to be way more social this weekend than we have been the entire year.

Spoiler: There was a lot of beer.

Mariner’s Game!

Double dating and baseball night—the Ms even decided to win!

Ferry ride post-game. DON’T WORRY I REPAINTED MY TOES FINALLY. I told you it was a productive weekend.

Seattle skyline via water transportation. Love.

The following morning…

What’s the best thing to come home to after a 2 hour swim? Your boyfriend making pancakes for you. You can’t really tell…but the one underneath is pink. That’s love.

One invite from another couple later…and we were at the Fremont Oktoberfest party ready to cash in our ten tasting tokens. (I only made it to 7…)

Oktoberfest! BF…that mug is just the perfect size for you…you dainty man you.

This was my last beer, I think…and one of 4 attempts at this photo. Low tolerance + high percentage alcohol beer= drunk Robyn.

Right now…I love fall. We are in the perfect phase where it’s not raining, it’s not too cold, and it’s not too hot. The leaves are crunchy and the air promises Halloween and cooler temps shortly. And by Halloween, I mean “I’m probably going to buy candy this weekend.” Loving it. In fact, I might break my pumpkin spice latte rule and not wait until October. CRAZY TALK…I rage.

I hope your weeks have started off splendidly!

 

Chicago Marathon Training Week #9

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Hello.

Here’s last week for you…let’s see if you can spot where the big scary hiccup occurred:

M: 9 m run slow

T: 10.2 m run ~8:15 avg. pace

W: 7 m run, no watch + lifting

T: 10.4 m run, 8:20 avg. pace

F: REST

S: 17 m run

S: Yoga

Total: 53.6 miles

Don’t see the hiccup? Well, allow me to backtrack to Thursday, where I said I had a “20 mile long run” on tap for the weekend.

That 17 miler up there? That right there was the first time I have ever cut a run short—and no, not because of fatigue, boredom, or a time crunch.

My would-be 20 mile run turned into 17 because I was in too much pain to finish it. That not-so-significant shin split I mentioned last week turned into a very-significant-holy-shit-hurts pain in my entire left ankle/foot pretty much all at once during my run on Saturday morning. I tried to tough it out, but after a few miles of stopping to alleviate the pain every mile—I knew it was best to cut it off. Thankfully a nice lady with a puppy let me use her phone when I asked (I choose the strangers I approach based on their pets, btw). She was probably a bit frightened by the sweaty, salty, and nearly-in-tears girl hobbling down the side walk—but she complied. Bless her.

As soon as BF picked me up, I lost it. I don’t really need to explain to you all the frustrations I was/am feeling about this. I was in Urgent Care yesterday morning after spending Saturday unable to walk, and I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor tomorrow morning.

Nothing like prompt medical attention.

I’m trying to not jump to worst case conclusions right now (although I spent a lot of time already doing that). Many thanks to my best friend Anna, BF, and Nicole for calming me down a bit. BF has been a superstar through this also (I think he more than anyone knows how Robyn with Injury goes), and following Saturday’s breakdown he immediately helped remedy my sobbing by making me pancakes, attending to my every ice, Aleve, and compression needs, and accepted his tear-and-sweat stained girlfriend for who she was.

Now that the storm has passed, I’m going to let the pros decide how I should handle this situation.

Luckily, since whatever-this-is happened, my ankle has consistently felt better fairly, and it seems that the more I walk—the better it feels (indicative that it’s probably not a bone thing). But like I said.. I’ll be leaving my fate up to science and X-Rays and stuff.

So how am I feeling right now? Admittedly, hopeful—since it is feeling better and seems to continue to feel better. But, the speed in which this thing came on really scares me, and I’m really going to have a tough time swallowing a diagnosis that not only eliminates Chicago—but eliminates my Fall 2012 running career.

I’m feeling a lot of things right now— frustrated (3 injuries in 6 months—AWESOME), sad, pissed, pessimistic, optimistic, relieved, etc.

I’ll explain it all in another post—because I’m doing my best to not jump to conclusions (no thanks to Dr. Google) and allow no news to be good news. At least until tomorrow morning.

Will fill you all in soon.

Cross your fingers, wish upon a star, and break some wishbones (yikes, no pun intended) for me that this isn’t the worst. I’ve really been very careful in terms of training, resting, and mileage—and I’m more than a little bothered right now with where my bff running has landed me.

Chicago Marathon Training Week #8

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Good morning!

I hope everyone had stellar weekends and you’re enjoying the finale of summer. I personally refuse to accept that autumn has arrived until nearly Halloween, so you’ll be seeing me in my summer dresses until the very last minute!

This is an exciting week, primarily for two reasons. The first being that it’s a cutback week, which has such super perfect timing. Last week was my highest mileage to-date, and although it all went well, I am definitely feeling it, particularly in a very sore quad/hip, and I just generally feel drained. And the other perfect reason for this being cutback week leads me into the SECOND reason to be excited…

The Disneyland half marathon is this weekend!!

I wrote about registering for this race way back when, and now it’s finally here. I giddy excited for it—and so is BF. He tweaked his ankle a few weeks ago, and although for a while his ability to race was questionable, he thinks he’s gonna be up for it. We both have NO intention of racing, and it is highly possible this will be my slowest half to date, but I don’t really care. I’m really just excited to frolic around the park with BF and all the characters lining the course. And no, a costume decision has not been made yet.

Needless to say, running 13.1 miles through Disneyland is a perfect long run option for a cutback week.

Anyway, let’s talk about some training.

Here is what last week looked like:

M: 60 min spin class + ~20 min stair-stepper

T: 10.4 m run, 8:10 avg. pace

W: 7 m tempo run, 5 @ 7:30 + BodyPump

T: 10.2 m run, slow—no watch

F: REST

S: 20.5 m run in 2:44

S:9 m run, slowww recovery

Total: 57.1 miles

My weeks are really starting to look a bit identical, but I suppose that’s what happens when you spend over 10 weeks training for something. This was a new record of miles in one week for me, and like I said…I was feeling it. Saturday’s 20 felt superb (I’m a little convinced that time isn’t right…8:03 averages seems fishy) but yesterday’s recovery run turned into a very hot, slow, “ow my hip hurts wtf” trudge. I think my hip hurts a bit from canoeing for two hours immediately after Saturday’s long run and trying to balance on a wet swimsuit bottom—but it could also be some general wear and tear from so much mileage. I’m trying not to be too concerned, and like I said—perfect week for a cutback in running. I’m trying to get a sports massage in this week too and I’ll likely abuse the privilege of decreased miles.

After this cutback, I’ve got two more heavy weeks—peaking at 63 or so, and then it’s taper time. I’m hoping my body cooperates, because it’s been a trooper so far. Lots of rolling, stretching, and sleeping to come.

Other than nearly 30 miles in the books, I had such a wonderful weekend—canoeing, swimming, and brunching with some of my best friends, getting late night McFlurrys with BF (did you know they have a snack size now??), and buying some new running shoes yesterday. I’ve already put nearly 400 miles on my little baby Pure Connects, not too shabby after almost 2 months of running silence 🙂

Also, stalking following all the Nuun HTC lady bloggers this weekend via Twitter was insanely entertaining. Congrats to all you gals who participated, I hope you had a blast!!! Now I really REALLY want to get a team together for next year….

How was YOUR weekend?

Happy Monday!

Chicago Marathon Training Week #7

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Cheerio chaps.

What? Weird. I’ve been in the sun all day…it’s messing with me. But do I care enough to create another greeting in my head? Not at all.

Let’s talk about some of last week’s training, shall we?

M: Spin class + ~20 minutes stairmill

T: 10.4 m run @ 8:00 avg. pace

W: 7 m tempo— 1 m warm up, 5 @ 7:30, 1 m cool down + BodyPump

T: 10.2 m run—easy, no watch or music

F: Rest

S: 20 m run @ 8:18 avg. pace

S: 8.5 m recovery run—no watch, really relaxed + lifting

Total: 56.1 miles

A new personal weekly mileage high! I was happy with all these runs individually, although I was definitely feeling the high mileage during yesterday’s run. I love the recovery runs, but they also remind you of just how much wear and tear the long runs can do to your legs.

And speaking of, I am pretty pumped with how well my first 20 miler of this training cycle went. I felt really relaxed and efficient, and although I was pretty set on maintaining an 8:30 pace, I let my legs do the decision making and between 8:00-8:10 is what felt best. In fact, had it not been for the 10:40 mile 18 that was entirely up a massive hill, my average would probably have been closer to 8:10. Super encouraging run…and I think the amount of energy and strength I felt at the end was the best part. With the exception of a water bottle refill and an opening of my Honey Stingers, I didn’t have to stop at all, which was especially encouraging after last week’s beast.

Long runs can go so many different ways, and I feel like personally..I can predict how well they’re gonna go beforehand. I really felt it going into this one…I had fueled really well, I had slept well, and my running mojo was ticking. Other times, I go simply on principal…even if  I feel wretched, and that’s often times when I feel like it’s a lot of work. Running is so mental, I’m reminded of it every time I go out.

So what’s next? Well, my plan thus far is to have another 20-21 this week, a pretty sizable cutback week after that, then two more 20-something bad boys before taper. I’m considering finishing with a 23 miler, instead of my usual 22, but we’ll see. I’d also like to peak at over 60 miles, but playing it by ear seems to be the best way to approach this high of mileage. I’m not going to be afraid to skip a run if I think it’s necessary, and at this point I know my risk of both injury and over-training it up, so I want to proceed with caution.

For the time being though, I’m really happy with these numbers, and I’m especially happy with how much I’m enjoying my runs. I’m thankful for my legs being receptive to this mileage, and I’m especially grateful that I’ve moved out of injury land. Yep, Saturday’s 20 miler was done sans IT band strap—meaning that every mile I ran last week was done au natural, and it seems that my nagging knee pain has decided to throw up the white flag.

Very, very grateful.

‘Tis all for today, but just to leave you with a quick statement involving the golf tournament I played in today…

I. HATE. GOLF.

I am really, really not kidding when I say that I’m the worst golfer there ever was…and I could barely take the 9 holes of humiliation…thank God we only did a half round. And thank God we were playing as a shuffle, meaning no one was subjected to the number of swings I would have had to take per holes. Screw golf.

I MISSED the ball not once, not twice, but THREE times during one of the tee offs…oh, and the CEO was right there to watch. I told him that I voted for flag football next time, and I beelined for the bar once we broke for lunch.

Truthfully, I really just hate being bad at things. So instead I’ll stick to chocolate cookie making, “Friends” watching, and finding samples at grocery stores.

Now those things…I’m pro.

How was your weekend?! Do you do 2, 3 or 4 20+ milersfor marathon training? What’s the highest weekly mileage you’ve ever had? Will you join my Golf Haterz team? I will provide t-shirts. 

Chicago Marathon Training Week #6

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Hello friends, how’s everyone doing?

To start off, in terms of my decline in blogging, quite frankly I’ve been too busy all day, every day, to keep up on my normal frequency. I’m pretty positive no one is too distraught over this, I’d just thought I’d offer some explanation as to why I’ve been off the interwebs more so recently.

On the same note, I’ve been the best kind of busy. My days are flying by, I’m learning a lot, and although there’s a definite stress factor to my new job I’m really enjoying it.

But now, let’s talk about some running.

Here is how week #6 of Chicago Marathon training looked.

M: Rest

T: 10 m run @ 8:10ish

W: 7 m tempo run. 1 m warm up, then 5 starting at 7:45 and progressively going down, ending at 7:25, 1 m cool down. + BodyPump

T: 8 m easy run

F: 80 m swim

S: 15 m run for time—finished in 2:00

S: 2 hour spin, lifting

Total: 40 miles

I wanted this week to be a mini cutback week. I have one more cutback week scheduled before peak weeks/taper, and so I figured it would be good to get in an easier week before I start increasing to 50+.

I was debating my long run distance up until the night before. Technically, I should be ready for 20. I’ve done 16 and 18 twice, and 20 would be logical for this week. However, I’m realizing I started training a bit early, and since I want to peak at 22-23 and not do more than 4 20+ runs, I needed to do some rearranging. I also knew that I wanted to do some spinning on Sunday, which would not have been too awesome the day after a 20 miler.

So, instead, I decided to test out my new “Let’s run faster” theory with a shorter long run distance. The plan was to accomplish 2 things:

1) majority of miles @ marathon goal pace

2) practice running in some heat

The second goal wasn’t too hard to come by. I started the run around 9, later than normal, with the intention of running in the hotter weather. I know there is a decent likelihood of Chicago being hot on race day, as history has shown, and so I’m trying to help my mild Pacific Northwest climatized (go with that word) self get used to some more serious sweating. It wasn’t too bad (about 70 degrees) but relatively speaking I was feeling the heat. Good job, one goal achieved.

Now, the other goal was definitely achieved if you just look at the numbers involved. There were several miles in the sub 8 min zone, and I finished in 2 hours flat—averaging 8 minute miles. In fact, I ran a half marathon PR on this run.

However, those numbers are a little bit of a lie.

I stopped 4 or so times for a quick sip of water, and once to stretch. And quite honestly, I really didn’t feel awesome for the majority of the time. My legs were heavy, and they never really loosened up like they normally do. When I got home, there wasn’t much more I could do aside from lay horizontal on the floor and Tweet about my blister bff.

Seriously, that thing will not go away.

However, despite the stops, I’m happy with how it was run. While running, I was below where I wanted to be, and it felt good to push it during a long run as opposed to gingerly ticking the miles by. Sure, I love that style of long run running too, but sometimes it’s nice to not spend a ton of time on my feet.

Otherwise, training this week was good. Wednesdays are still my favorite workouts, and I’m really liking the relaxed runs on Thursdays. The swim on Friday was heavenly as well, especially since I hadn’t spent time in the pool for almost a month.

This week, I’m hoping to get to 55 miles—the highest mileage week I’ve ever had. It will cap with a 20 miler on Saturday, and with some luck, ice, and rolling—my legs won’t be too dead at the end of it all. I’m getting to a point where I’m really looking forward to my rest days—which is a good indication that I’m doing what I should be in my individual workouts.

In other news…

Did anyone watch the men’s marathon? If not…and you don’t want a spoiler…scroll down a bit, and ignore the next paragraph.

It was pretty shocking to see not one but TWO of the Americans drop out so early. I suppose it’s the nature of the sport, and the nature of the marathon…but man, really? I’m sure there was perfectly legitimate reasoning on both their parts, but I can’t even imagine how bad a DNF would feel at the Olympic marathon. It was an impressive finish though, and I was really happy for Meb with his 4th place victory. And I know watching the marathon is supposed to be inspiring and make everyone want to go out and run forever…but I really just felt tired watching them. I turned to BF and was like, “Tell me why I do this again?” because those guys looked so beat. Then again…I’m not averaging under 5 minute miles and running against the fastest dudes in the world.

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend in Seattle, and aside from the aforementioned sweaty activities, BF and I hung out downtown, relaxed, and went on a little water adventure yesterday. We went stand-up paddleboarding, which was super fun! I was pretty nervous about a number of things, namely cold water, falling, and sharks…but once we got comfortable all was good and we had a great time. One of us fell off more than the other…I’ll let you guess who it was.

An unrelated photo. But beautiful flowers from my man 🙂

I hope you all had lovely weekends! Happy Monday.

Get Comfortable

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I can’t even begin to describe how nice it feels to write a bit about running right now. For the past few days I’ve been grinding on documents nonstop at work, and I’ve barely had time to use the bathroom let alone do any blogging updates.

Alas, a break in the day has presented itself.

Hello!

On Tuesday, I completely contradicted my current training M.O. and decided to spice up my normal “Ten-Mile Tuesday” run.

{I love Ten-Mile Tuesday, and it’s been one of my favorite workouts for almost a year—even when I’m not marathon training. It’s always in the morning, it’s always moderately paced, just lovely}

When I set off for this jaunt, I had it in my head that I would go slow-ish. I had 8:30s or so in mind, and I knew I wanted to be comfortable. It took about 3 miles or so to really get a steady pace (doesn’t it always?) but once I was cooking I realized that I was hovering below the 8 minute/mile mark, and it wasn’t too awful. However, I knew that I’d be feeling it toward the end of the run—and since this wasn’t about speed I knew it was smarter to stay at a comfortable pace.

But then I kinda starting talking back to myself. I was realizing that recently, this pacing is my comfortable pace. I’ve been feeling lighter and more efficient during my quicker runs, and the only thing that makes me shy away from committing to increasing my  average speed overall is my fear of getting uncomfortable. The only discomfort, however, comes when I see watch, and I freak out and slow down—only to feel a little less natural and wary.

So yesterday, instead of constantly telling myself to reel it in, I started a new mantra—which I repeated over and over again.

“Get comfortable.”

You see, I definitely have a running comfort zone, as I’m sure many of us do. For a long time, it was 9 minute miles. It was a pace I knew that I could hold for a long time, and it was the pace that I used constantly throughout my first marathon training cycle. Once I got to race day, I was so confident in my 9 min/mile abilities, I knew that I’d be fine at 8:50s.

Since that time, I’ve gotten a bit faster and my comfort zone is now around an 8:30/mile pace. There was a point in time it was lower (before my horrid bursitis kicked in earlier this year), and I’m starting to feel like it might be time to hold myself to a higher standard. If my watch is the only thing that’s scaring me away from a faster average pace, what’s the harm in trying one on for size?

Which is why on Tuesday, I decided to forego my current relaxed training plan and focus on maintaining a certain, faster speed over those miles. I settled on 8:05, and instead of trying to go faster and slower, I was preaching to myself to simply “get comfortable” right there. I know my comfort zone well enough to know when I’m either behind or ahead of it, but in this case—I was simply trying to trick myself to get into that comfort zone.

And how did I bode? I felt great, and I felt that aside from the placebo exhaustion effect of seeing speedier times on my Garmin, I was—in fact—comfortable with that speed.

Which makes me wonder— where is the line between our physical capabilities and our perceived capabilities? When I talked about that 9:00/mile comfort zone that I’d settled in for so long, was that really my running happy place, or was I simply settling for what I knew I could do?

Although there’s a definite mental prowess to runners that many lack, I’m realizing that it’s just as easy to fall into a running rut as it is anything else. We get in a safe zone. Which is fine, truly, because goodness knows it’s better to be running safely than not running at all.

But, there’s also something to be said for removing our self-created limits. Of course, we don’t want to be reckless and haphazard about it (hello, injuries and burnout), but sometimes it’s good to question if there’s a little bit more we’re not allowing ourselves to take on.

For me, this was decreasing the average length of my weekly runs, and increasing speed over shorter distances. I knew that I could knock out a long run at a moderate pace, which is why I settled in a routine of a 10 mile, 12 mile, and one long(er) run on the weekends. This was my routine for as long as I can remember—all the runs were at the same speed, and I’m realizing now they were all a bit mediocre. But after my knee blew up, I flailed in Tacoma, and I was sidelined with IT band woes, I knew that something needed to change.

I still wanted to run, and I still wanted to race, but I needed to reclaim control over my running and get back to the magic of the sport.

By introducing myself to the things I had so often shied away from—speed work, shorter mileage but faster times, and additional hills—I have a newfound confidence in not only my running but in the sport itself. It’s wonderful to see that something so simple as running can be approached so many different ways. And the best part? There isn’t only one right way.

I think what I’m most pleased with is that I feel that I’m slowly but surely finding a way to run that works for me. Through this Chicago training “program” I’ve been following, I’ve been getting faster, I’m recovering quicker, and my IT band injury has evaporated. I credit this to a few things, but primarily to the big alterations I’ve made to my running. The shoes, the speed, the rest—they’ve all been things I’ve changed in order to better my running, and at least for now…they seem to be working.

So I’m going to continue my less-strict approach to training. But I’m also going to continue to allow myself to “get comfortable” with the times, distances, and workouts that I almost always deem uncomfortable. This doesn’t mean it won’t hurt, or even suck, sometimes—but it means that I’m not going to be afraid of pushing away from “security blanket” workouts and try getting a little creative.

What’s your running comfortable space? A certain distance? A certain speed? A certain workout? How do you think you can try and test yourself?

 

Chicago Marathon Training Week #5

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I realize that numbers and miles and workouts can get a little boring, so sorry about that, but in case you’re interested—and since I committed to weekly reports—here’s last week’s training. It was a good one. The weekend runs were spent back in Florence, OR with my family at our Summerhouse.

M: Rest

T: 10.5 m run, 8:20 ish pace, I think?

W: 7 m run, 1 m warm up, 5 @ <7:45, 1 m cool down + BodyPump

T: 10 m run, 8:30 average pace

F: spin + lifting

S: 18.3 m run, 8:10 average pace

S: 6 m trail run

Total: 51.8 miles

Over 50 last week! I am really happy with this—particularly with how good I felt on each run. Sunday’s trail run was a bit stiff and I could definitely feel the long run fatigue from the day before, but otherwise it was pretty smooth sailing. I wanted to do a little surge up in mileage last week and cutback this upcoming week, so afterward I can make a solid push into my peak weeks.

Training program? No, failed at that one again. But, in following the 10% rule and integrating a LR and tempo run every week, plus strength work, I’m feeling confident in my preparation so far.

And speaking of failing…let’s talk about that long run pace up there shall we?

I don’t really have any excuse other than I wanted to finish it and I wanted to minimize my time spent in the increasing temperature of an 80 degree day. Yes, I am a Pacific Northwest climate baby.

And admittedly…although I was planning on a slow-and-steady long run, I was enjoying seeing some of the times I was seeing on my Garmin. To tell you the truth, I started to feel better when I was doing faster miles—more natural, more relaxed, and generally more efficient. I have said it before that I desperately need to slow down on my long runs…but honestly I don’t feel like I was trying to run as fast as I ended up.

Let me do a little long run recap, because we all know that’s the most interesting part of any running blog ever.

I ran the same course as last weekend, adding 2 miles at one point to bump it up to 18. The course is hilly, it’s interstate-y, and there are a lot of long, continual stretches where there’s not much to see but the road ahead and big tall trees. There is a lot more elevation changing than I’m used to…and although this is great training, it ultimately adds a whole new challenge to a run that is already very long.

Needless to say, it wasn’t until about mile 5 that I started getting in a groove. And right when I was all, “Okay Broker, let’s gut this thing out,” the little voice on my nano came on and maliciously whispered that my battery was low.

I nearly replied out loud, “Yea, I hate you too.”

Please note. I can run without music. I do not, however, enjoy not even having the option to listen to music, particularly on long runs. Particularly on long runs with long ascents that require a loud anthem to climb.

So I was all grumpy pants and cursing my iPod charging negligence. Whine, whine, whine. Then all of a sudden, amidst my huffing and puffing, I thought to myself, “Homie…you’re in your favorite place in the world, with your favorite people in the world, doing your favorite thing in the world. And you’re complaining….why?”

Thanks, self. And just like that, I subconsciously talked myself into enjoying my quiet early morning run along the 101. In an instant, my form straightened up, my pace felt more comfortable, and my spirits were lifted. This was also, as I would soon realize, the point where my pace was getting faster. After about a mile and a half of my mood turnaround, I looked at my watch and saw a 7:40 looking back…which I didn’t believe at first, because I felt the best I had all day.

For the rest of the run, I meandered around 8 minute miles, slower on the uphills, faster on the downhills, and somehow finished perhaps my fastest long run ever.

A change of attitude was all it took to take this run from mundane to great—which is, of course, a lesson about running that is true so much of the time.

More blueberry pancakes afterward, followed by a beach trip, river kayaking, a visit to the candy store, a booze cruise, a wonderful dinner, and so much laughing my stomach hurt multiple times. I absolutely love the time I get to spend with my family, and I feel so fortunate every time we get time together.

 Have a great Monday!