Tag Archives: training

Fuel Failing, Personal Nights, and Ranting about Target

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Hello!

How’s it going? How was your weekend? Personally, I felt like it went a wee bit too quickly, but otherwise it was highly enjoyable.

I completed my second 20 mile run in two weeks on Saturday, and although conditions weren’t necessarily ideal, overall it went well and I finished a bit faster than last week.

I felt a general lack of fueling surrounding this run, and it took it’s toll a bit. In a very literal sense, my car was SO low on gas getting to my starting point down by the water, so that troubled my brain throughout the run.

“What if I run out of gas on the way home and I have to walk and I can’t walk because I will have just run 20 miles and then my legs will break and OMG OMG OMG.”

It’s amazing how we can distract ourselves with irrational thoughts, isn’t it?

Anyways, I also knew right off the bat that I hadn’t food-fueled well enough the night before. I had a bad stomach ache all day Friday, and so I wasn’t feeling too keen on a big carb-load that night. It took it’s toll though, because I woke up hungry, and although I ate a bit before going out I was feeling pretty empty earlier than anyone wants to on a 20 mile run. This also added to why my Gatorade supply (which was meager to begin with) diminished quicker than normal. You see, I’m not very responsible when it comes to fueling during a run, and I only bring water or a sports drink if my run is above 15 or so mile. Bad. However, I do think this helps my resilience to needing a ton of water/electrolyte replacement—on a normal day. Right? That makes total sense. This run was proved otherwise, though, and my liquid energy was consumed in flash.

And to add insult to an already fuel-less run, my iPod died around mile 13. On a normal run, this would have been no problem, and I would have gotten all existential and credited the universe with wanting me to pay more attention to my surroundings. Remember that hippy-dippy post?

But on long runs, the iPod is a bit necessary—both for motivation and distraction. However, I focused on the lovely scenery (I saw TWO bald eagles!) and I tried to maintain a consistent pace. My energy waves came in spurts, and although my legs were barking by the end, my last mile was 8 minutes flat, which I was very happy with.

{Admittedly, I think I was just happy to be done}

Anyways, total time was 2:47 for 20.24 miles. Approximately 8:15 miles…and given the fuel deprivation I would say I’m very pleased with this, especially after 20 miles last Sunday and 13 miles last Thursday.

Dear legs, thank you. You guys are the best.

Also, I would like to pay homage to my decision to take a rest day on Friday. It paid off big time, and I felt so much better than I know I would have during this beast of a run. I wish I could say that I was a stellar smart and prepared athlete who intentionally took that day off in lieu of the big weekend ahead, but truthfully it was an impromptu decision and happened to be the right one.

What’s the lesson? Scheduled rest days are good. Our bodies like them.

Along those lines, I’m starting to rethink my normal routine in terms of pre and post long run day regimen. I used to always take my rest days (or do an easy swim) the day after a long run, however I’ve recently been introduced to this concept of a “shake out” or “recovery” run, which I’m becoming a HUGE fan of. The idea is that you do a shorter, slow run the day after a long run to, quite literally, shake out your legs and get some blood flowing to your sore muscles. I’ve done this twice now, and I’m a big fan. I really like the excuse for some slow, leisurely running, and I do think it’s helping me recover faster.

And speaking of recovery, my favorite kind of recovery—the kind that requires ample food consumption and couch sitting—was it optimal form on Saturday night. BF attended poker night with some of his co-workers, and while I could have planned a fabulous Seattle nightlife outing with my friends, I knew I wouldn’t make it until 10 pm—therefore a Robyn Personal Night was in order.

I am very much someone who enjoys their own company, almost as much as the company of others. Don’t get me wrong—I love being around people, but there are sometimes when I relish being by myself for a night. And yes, I was the child who sang to themselves played alone on the playground and didn’t give a second thought about it. I really like to think I’ve gained some sociability since then, but nights like Saturday night indicate otherwise.

Allow me to give you a glimpse into what my perfect home-alone setting looks like:

Pajamas on before dinner

A Beecher’s grilled cheese and tomato basil soup {This is the best grilled cheese you will ever eat. If you don’t believe me, come to Seattle and I will buy you one myself.}

Bridesmaids

Blue Moon Spring Ale

US Weekly

A big sugar cookie

These ingredients, topping off a day spent at Target and Trader Joe’s, just about sums up my perfect Saturday. Lame? Totally. But I’m not ashamed. And the word “spent” above is very much pun intended. I went into Target to exchange a shirt for a different size.

That’s. It.

So what did I walk out with? The better fitting shirt…oh and a new dress, a new necklace (the dress needed a friend), another new shirt, bobby pins, and sport headbands.

DAMNIT TARGET.

It’s okay, this is why the Bull’s Eye Boutique made Friday Favorites a few weeks ago, and will continue to so long as it’s within my driving range.

I would just like to say that my receipt was $48.57, meaning I successfully defeated the infamous $50 minimum rule when leaving Target. Therefore I essentially won, and Target pretty much gave me all my new wonderful things. Oh, you’ve never heard of that rule? It’s real, and if you don’t believe me…next time you go to Target for one item, check out YOUR receipt once you walk out of the store.

So there you have it peeps. My idea of a perfect Saturday and an unplanned rant about Target and how it owns my soul.

This is cutback week, meaning my long run won’t be quite as daunting, which honestly I’m a little relieved about. I’ll see you before then, though, and I hope you had a merry weekend of your own.

Tell me about your weekend! What would your version of a Personal Night look like? Did you watch the Oscars? Did you do a long run? Do you have a horrible addiction to a chain store?

Crunching the Numbers

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I’m feeling a bit consumed with needing to consolidate the things in my life that are accumulating faster than I can keep track. For instance, clothes I never even touch but are somehow still in my closet, various pieces of mail that need to be sorted through but just kind of sit there, and tallying my mileage progression for Eugene Marathon training.

Since I would rather talk about running more than most anything else, and since it’s a lot easier to record my training than to tackle the sweaters I bought in high school, let’s do a little recap, shall we?

Eugene Training

So, I’m currently in week 4ish of my training “plan.” I use the word plan loosely because, truth be told, I’m not following a schedule very strictly. I’m concentrating more on overall weekly mileage as opposed to achieving specific numbers on specific days. And honestly, I’m really enjoying it. It allows for more flexibility in my running and my normal life schedule, and I think that because there’s less strictness I’m mentally more excited and ready for each run. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely tracking progress/speed/splits/etc., but my focus is more on weekly totals.

That said, I logged appx. 43 miles last week, including a 16 miler on Saturday morning followed by a 4.5 mile recovery run Sunday. I normally keep the long runs for Sunday, and I hardly ever do recovery runs the day after, so this weekend was quite experimental! I enjoyed it though—and I’m feeling really well recovered today.

The week before I ran 49.2 miles, so this week will be a bit above that. I’m trying to build in a week on/ week off kind of pattern. Meaning, I’ll be adding, then subtracting, adding a bit more, etc. This seems to really work well with my body, and since I have the time I’ll be able to pull off this safer approach while still getting in several extra-long (20+) runs.

With that said, I have a 20 mile beast scheduled for this weekend. I really do love the long run, however it starts to get scary/serious when I reach that number. Not only does it require some interesting route-creation, it’s really just a long time to be running and takes a lot out of me. However, it also requires ample pasta consumption. So, I suppose it’ll all be okay.

Right now, I’ve been doing a decent job at averaging 8 minute miles on my long runs—and I’m hoping to keep it up. It’s definitely not feeling totally comfortable yet, and some days are better than others, but I’m encouraged with the consistency of my speed.

I’m coming for you Eugene.

2012 Miles for 2012

I’ve mentioned this goal before, but for those of you just tuning in—I’m hoping to run 2012 miles in the year 2012. It’s lofty, I’m not sure if it’s gonna happen, but it’s fun to keep track of the progression and—if my legs blow up—I can always change the goal to 2012 km. Right?

That said, this is what the progression looks like so far:

Miles Run in 2012: 253.3

Percentage of Year Over: 12.02%

Percentage of Goal Mileage Completed: 12.58%

Whammy! .56% ahead of schedule…practically done!

Okay, so essentially I’m right on schedule. But that’s still neat.

Alright, I feel a bit better about organizing my life already. Despite the fact that running analysis tends to make a fun hobby seem a bit more like work, once I do it I feel a better sense of understanding of myself as a runner and of my training.

The fact of the matter is that marathon training needs diligence and attention. I think we’d all like to think that we can just trot out, run as far as we want without care of worry, and whip out an effortless marathon fueled merely by a love of running.

Maybe for the Dean Karnazeses of the world, but for the rest of us—crunching the numbers is a necessity, and in the end it makes us smarter and helps keeps us healthy.

Questions: How close attention do you pay to your training numbers? Why do you think keeping track is important for becoming a better runner?

Olympic Trials and Eugene Registration

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Hello! Welcome to Tuesday, friends. Hopefully most of you had the day off yesterday and spent your time sleeping in and doing fun-day-off types of activities. For those of you in Seattle (or anywhere in the PNW for that matter), I hope you are staying safe and warm—snow has engulfed us!

It’s funny to see the snow juxtaposed with the ocean. Although I’ve lived in the area for over 5 years now, I still associate the coast with yearlong greenery and a general sense of Summer. The snow is reserved for winters in Colorado and the ski slopes.

Needless to say, when the two clash, I get somewhat thrown off.

West Seattle on Sunday at noon. Doesn't exactly look like a seaside neighborhood, eh?

(source)

Moving on. This weekend was full of running-related fun things. Saturday morning, BF and I tag-teamed a 10k race (each of us ran a 5k and our times were added together). The race was unbelievably cold, rainy, and windy—however we were both glad we did it and we’re planning on doing more in the future. For a full race recap, click here.

After the race, we visited Super Jock ‘n’ Jill, a running store near Greenlake in Seattle, where I officially registed for the Eugene Marathon!

I’m super excited, as this has been the race I’ve been hankering to do for my Spring Marathon. The course is supposed to be fantastic, the weather will be ideal, my grandparents will be able to come, Prefontaine’s legacy will be in the air…it will all around be an awesome experience.

After registering, BF bought a stellar new running top on sale, and we made our way back home where we watched the Olympic marathon trials. I watched both the men and the women from mile 16 or so to the end, and I was engrossed the whole time. I don’t know what’s so enthralling about watching people run, but I loved it.

Not a great picture, but this is BF in his hot new running top.

{Spoiler Alert}

I was really excited for all three of the females who qualified for the Olympics. I love Kara Goucher, and I was really happy for her to make the team after being injured and that whole having a baby thing. Also, Desi Davila is such a hard worker and after reading all about her in Runner’s World Mag this month, I was gunning for her to get a spot. The first place finisher, Shalane Flanagan, ran a 2:25:38 and—get this—it was her SECOND marathon. SECOND. As in, she qualified for the Olympic Trials in her first marathon, and then WON the Olympic trials in her second. Seriously ridiculous. Chick’s got some guts.

I have this Olympic athlete envy problem, big time. Honestly, if I could choose I would probably be a 7 ft. tall pro bball player, however I have always had a big admiration and affection for Olympic athletes. My dad worked for the Olympic Training Center for several years, and so I’m sure this is where it comes from. My biggest/loftiest/far featched dream is to be an Olympic runner, gymnast, or beach volleyball player. Or all three?

Seeing as I am neither a 5 foot, 19-year-old or a 6-foot-tall gazelle of a woman, I would say I have the best shot of the running dream. Okay, maybe I’ll just focus on going for a run later today instead. But I can dream people, ok?

Late in the day on Saturday, after finishing the trials and restlessly lazing around on the couch, I decided to go for a leisurely run. The sun had come out, the wind had marginally died down, and after watching some bad ass chicks knock out 5 minute miles like it was cake—a little neighborhood run seemed quite doable.

I covered 8.5 miles, rounding out my day for a total of 11.6. I loved the run—I felt energized, relaxed, and generally grateful to have a capable and working body. The sun set over Puget Sound as I passed by, and it was nothing short of glorious.

This was my first time doing two-a-day runs, and I was pretty pleased with how I felt overall. Because my first run (the 5k race) was done much quicker than my normal pace, I felt no pressure to do the second run especially fast or aggressive. I understand why more elite athletes and runners use the two-a-day runs as a way to cover a lot of mileage in one week. While I do enjoy showering and being done working out before 9am, I’m not opposed to using this strategy during this training season.

Which brings me to my most forefront thought of the day: marathon training.

I HAVE TO START NOW.

I am wavering between being excited for completing 18, 20, and 22 milers every weekend and being completely freaked out and overwhelmed at all the dedication I am going to have to put forth. I am blessed to be wired, psychologically, to handle the strict nature of marathon training, however that’s more on a day-to-day basis. When I look at the schedule I’m slowly creating in its entirety, I get panicked about all the time and sacrifices necessary to get through it all.

One day at a time though. And it starts, oh, say tomorrow. I actually haven’t determined an official start date because I have a week or so of wiggle room until I officially need to acknowledge that “I’m training for a marathon.”

These are the things I do know, going into training season…

My mileage is higher now than when I started training before.

I need to do speedwork.

I will probably train above 26 miles.

I will do everything I possibly can to not get hurt.

Based on those 4 truths, I will have a bonafied, set-in-stone training schedule hopefully by tomorrow or Thursday. It will probably be a conglomeration of the last program I followed, the programs of fellow marathoner bloggers, and my own crazy ambitions. Stay tuned peeps.

Question: Are you thinking about a Spring race? How are you deciding which type of training schedule to follow?