20 in White Plains!

Saturday we had another fieldtrip run, this one was in White Plains which is way north of the city. It was an absolutely beautiful day, even a little chilly. It was even MORE chilly in White Plains, even though it isn't that far away from New York City.

Coach Christine was there to describe the workouts to us. I was pretty much dreading doing 20 miles, and she said that we didn't REALLY have to do our 20 on Saturday if we were running the Marine Corps, because we still had time to get another 20 in. But she also said that it was a good idea to get the 20 out of the way. I just figured that I really wasn't going to get any better weather than this for a 20 miler. AND it's not like I would really want to do it any other time either.

My goal was to run easy so that I felt like I could make it through the entire 20. So I wasn't going to get upset if I didn't get a great time. I was trying more to run on feeling. That being said, I wanted to maintain around a 10 minute mile throughout the entire run.

I always love our fieldtrip runs because they give us a change of scenery. Although Central Park is beautiful it sometimes is monotonous when you run it day after day. And White Plains was really pretty. We were running in the forest the whole time and the weather stayed nice and cool. The only bad thing about these runs is that the turnout isn't always great...so a lot of us were running alone. This was actually fine for me this time though, because I could really concentrate on staying steady with my pace.

It was easy to keep track of pace because our run consisted of 5 miles out to the dam, turn around and run back to the start and repeat the whole thing again. My first five miles was 41:32, my second 59:09, my third 49:50 and my last 50:40, for a total of 3:21.14. This tells me that I need to SLOW DOWN at the beginning of my run. I think this is the hardest part for me. But I bet if I would have slowed down I would have ended up with a much better time.

However, I was really happy with my run because I actually felt at the end of my run that I could have done 6 more miles. I've never felt that way before on a 20 mile run. Don't get me wrong, I was SORE, and if I would have stopped it would have been over, but my legs just kept going (I have no idea how). My 20 mile run is usually a pretty good indicator of how my marathon will go. If I feel as good as I did during that run when I run my marathon, I will be in good shape.

I DO think that I will try to SLOW DOWN in the beginning though.

Recovery

I was so glad to see in Ramon's workout email yesterday that we were going to have an easy night. I was still a little sore from racing the 1/2 marathon on Sunday and was looking forward to a non-hill night, even though it's still technically hill month.

He also gave his two cents about the half:
"Congratulations to all those brave ones that got up sooooo freaking early on Sunday to participate in the Queen Half marathon, congratulations on a great show and performance, you made us proud !! I know it was a very tough day out there, hot and humid, totally sucked !! One positive thing about it?

Welllll……let me see…hmmm…. Nothing really !! Just be proud that you were able to deal with such miserable conditions !!"

which pretty much summed up how I felt about it too. But it made me feel better about not reaching my time goal. If Ramon thought it sucked out there it must have really sucked because he usually tells us to not be such big babies about it :)

So last night was a very easy 4.5 mile loop. As usual, we didn't really get started until about 7, so we were basically running in the dark the whole time. (I can't believe it gets so dark so early). I tried not to take it out too hard because I knew it was a recovery run. I averaged about 9:35 per mile, but I guess that's okay because I didn't really feel tired, just like it was a nice run. And believe it or not, I think that little run actually helped my legs to recover.

This weekend I am doing my 20 and I am NOT looking forward to it. In the past I have only done one 20 miler before the marathon. It looks like this season I will be doing 2! I know most marathoners do this, so it's not a big deal, but it's just weird for me. As usual, before my 20s I am a little nervous about the whole thing. BUT it is a "field trip" run, so that might be fun. I just hope that someone else in my group is also doing a 20, because the girls I usually run with are doing the Philadelphia Half this weekend.

Tonight is a cross-training night, so I guess it's back to yoga.

66 Turns

This morning I got up as early as I've ever gotten up for running...315 am!!! Today was the Queens Half Marathon, which is part of a Half Marathon Grand Prix. Each borough has it's own half and they are all spread throughout the year. I can't complain too much about the early start because it is supposed to get up to 90 today which is unseasonably warm. The weather was bad enough as it was for our 7am race....hazy and warm, 71 degrees but with the dewpoint felt like 81 with 75% humidity! And luckily, Bill got up early to come and cheer me on (he is such a good husband!)

We took a cab across the island (it is so weird to me that Manhattan is an island) so that we could catch the NYRR shuttle. Coach Ramon had highly suggested buying tickets for this instead of taking public transport because the marathon was way way out of the way. The only thing that stunk is that the buses left at 4:30am. This got us to the half site at around 4:50, so we still got to wait around until 7.

For awhile there it looked like we were going to have a coachless race. The TNT team was all at our meeting spot but with no coaches. Then, at 6:40, Coach Steve (the coach who spends most of his time coaching the advanced group) showed up. He had JUST gotten there, even though he left to take the 7 train and the free shuttle buses at 4:30am (the same time Bill and left). Yuck. I would have totally been panicking if I was in that situation because I get super antsy before a race.

Just like clockwork the race started immediately at 7.

The start was CRAZY. I don't know if people just lied to get into the wrong corrals or what but it seemed like there was a lot more pushing and shoving than normal and people whizzing past and shouldering people. Plus, of course there was a bottleneck at the first turn. The Queens half is known for it's millions of turns. One guy said on his blog that he counted them last year and came up with 66. I was pretty sure he was just exaggerating, so I decided to count them myself. The course is also pretty darn hilly. I was planning for some hills but there were a LOT.

My strategy for the race was to follow Ramon's strategy. I figured he has helped me get my best times and I haven't had a horrible race yet so it was probably a good idea. In summary, we were supposed to:

• Take the first 6 miles out a little slower than usual. This meant that we should feel like we were holding back. According to Ramon's calculations, this would put me at a 9:10 min mile for miles 1-6.
• Take stock of how you feel after mile 6...if you feel good, take 10 seconds off per mile (a 9 min mile for me) for the next 4 miles.
• Take stock of how you feel , if you feel great, race it in for the last 3.

So I was looking forward to my 1:57.

I panicked a LITTLE at the first mile when I looked at my watch. It said 9:55.22. I figured that this was because of the slow start though, and told myself not to panic, I could pick it up a smidge for the next mile.

Next mile? 8:55.62. Whoops, not that much.

I reigned it back in for the next mile, which was a 9:12.66. Perfect! Now just keep that pace.

When I got to the 4th mile I figured I should stop and get some water. It was also a perfect time to try out running through the water stops. (I usually walk these, because every time I try to drink on the run I choke and cough.) I figured this was my longest practice race before the marathon and I should be trying all of this stuff out now. No go. I choked it down and decided maybe it was better to just walk through the stops. 9:19.64.

I was trying to follow this guy who has this t-shirt on that had written on the back of it, huge, in a Sharpie "WHAT?!!!....I AM THE QUEENS BLVD." I have no idea what this meant, but he seemed to be running exactly my pace....between 9:10s and 9:20s. Lots of turns, lots of hills and lots of confused bystanders. In fact, I think in some places it was only Bill and maybe two other people cheering. And those were the big cheering spots. Mile 5: 9:32.36. Luckily, with all of these turns the miles were FLYING by. Every time I got to a mile marker I was like "Oh wow. Really?" and checked my watch, like "Yeah, I guess that's right."
Last mile to go slow...9:27.69.

At this point, I was wondering if I should pick it up. I was mostly like, "YES." because I could tell that I was holding back a little on all of those miles. But I also thought no, because it just didn't feel like I was holding back that much. I figured that mile 7 would be a transition mile into my new pace, so I was shooting for around a 9:10. I just kept visualizing my legs turning over faster, not necessarily picking up the pace. I got a 9:27.07. Not EXACTLY what I was hoping for, but then again, I didn't really feel like I was going any faster either.

My breathing was still good and not audible, so I decided to pick it up for real this time. I willed my legs to turn over faster, and you know what? It worked!!! I felt like I was going a smidge faster, but not that much. However, I logged an 8:55.04. Hurrah!

The miles were still coming fast at this point even though the hills seemed to be multiplying. I was stupid at the next mile and forgot to push the lap button, so I don't remember what that split was, but the next two combined were 18:53.59. After these two miles I was just like "Forget it. I'm done. I'm not running anymore." I was so tired. Plus, my GU from mile 6 kept coming up which is an awful, gross feeling. My tank and short were SOAKED which was incredibly uncomfortable. I was just done. No more. So, according to Ramon's plan I was dropping out. I meaured how I felt after 10 miles and decided from that point just to finish the race.

It was a pain to run the next miles. More hills and MORE turns. Luckily, there was some funny/friendly banter from the runners ahead of me about Sarah Palin (for and against, despite the fact that in NY everyone is a democrat). It was cracking me up, which was good because it took my mind off of everything.

It was here that this woman came up to me and said "You're doing great. I've been following you from mile 1 and you still look like you're doing good. Keep it up." She of course passed me. But I thanked her tremendously because I totally needed that at this point (even if it wasn't true). I knew I was running awful and tired and I didn't care. Mile 11: 10:04.10. I wasn't even surprised and I didn't care.

Now the miles were DRAGGING. I kept thinking, "Aren't we almost there?" Some guy asked a course volunteer what mileage we were at and he said "11.5" and I groaned audibly.

It was here that I ran into Coach Steve. He ran up to me and started running with me. He asked me how I felt, and instead of smiling through the pain and saying "Oh, just fine." like I used to do in Cincinnati during my practices, I said "I feel like crap." He said "Of course you do." (I was like WHAT?! Really?) "It's really really hot and humid out there. You look good and you're almost finished. Make sure you get water at the next stop which is right around the corner and then just finish strong and we'll be there to cheer you on." The whole time he was telling me this he was running next to me and it didn't escape me that he was increasing my turnaround by just a smidge. Yay. For some reason, all of this made me feel better. Mile 12: 9:22.13. Hurrah!

Here I saw Bill, and even though I was feeling a little better I gave him the thumbs down to let him know that I was completely off my plan, and overall not feeling so hot. He gave me some words of encouragement to push through. And guess what else was there for me? A HUGE hill. Maybe the second largest on the course? Now that was just MEAN.

I was SOOOOO tired. Mile 13: 10:10.93, but I didn't even look at the watch on that one because I was totally focused on the finish.

I finished with a 2:04.17.

I guess it's a PR since I've never done a half before ;)

I definitely wasn't ecstatic, but I felt like considering the circumstances I did ok.

But the thing that stunk? No medals! Pttt. Well, at least the shirts were cool.

Oh, and I lost count of the turns when my race started to fall apart, but at that time it was around 50, so it is quite possible that there really are 66 turns in the Queens Half Marathon.

Hills, or "Inclines"

Since it is Hill Month 2 for our advanced team I guess it was no surprise that last night we had a hill workoutBut instead of doing tons of repeats on steep hills, we did 2 repeats on a bunch of rolling hills.

In fact, Ramon didn't even consider them hills, but "inclines".

What is the difference?

Well, on hills you have to shorten your stride in order to make up for the steepness of the hill. Otherwise you would die. On inclines your stride really shouldn't change at all. And because of this, we were supposed to be running at 90% effort level, which is about a 5K pace. Whew! This was a tall order, especially since our workout last night consisted of 8 miles of these rolling hills. (Of course we did have some recovery time in between, so it was sort of more of an interval workout with lots of hills thrown in).The tricky thing about effort levels is that you have to maintain the same effort for the entire workout. So, you may actually be going slower up the hill, medium on the flat part and faster on the down part, but the effort is all the same. An easy way to measure this is your breathing. When you're doing a workout at 90% you should basically be huffing and puffing. This is EXACTLY what I was doing the entire workout (well, the non recovery parts).

During these workouts I try not to use my watch, because Ramon told us the point of the workout was not to save energy for the end, but to go all out on each one. Therefore, your second round would be slower. Besides, effort levels are not about time. This kind of workout reminds me of the Karate Kid, because you are really really in tune with your body. I'm hoping that this means that I will become a better runner. I KNOW I never paid attention to my body this much before while I was running.

The workout was insanely hard and I really pushed myself. I was even keeping up with some of the insane NYRR classes that were being held in the park at the same time. I was so tired and my legs were extremely tired at the end, but I felt great!

The rest of the week for me is a taper because I am running in the Queens Half Marathon for time. The coaches all say it is a good idea to run a half around this time in the training to give yourself a good idea of what time to expect on your marathon, and just to see how you're going to race in a long distance.

I am excited but also nervous.

Unrealized PR

So on Saturday I ran another 4-mile race in Central Park. It was for Fitness magazine and was the same 4-mile loop it always is. At the beginning of the week I was all set on having a PR. Unfortunately when I woke up on Saturday morning it was super humid. So humid in fact that the race coordinators could not stop talking about it. They told everyone not to go for a PR today.

It always makes me nervous when they keep talking about the weather like that during a race. It makes me keep saying in my head "it's humid out, it's humid out." Which makes me more aware of it. This might be a good thing for some people but for me it's like I can't stop concentrating on it.

So I decided NOT to go for a PR. I DID want to beat my last 4-mile race though, where I was hung over.

I told myself to hold back on the first mile because I've figured out that this is the key to a good race for me. I was feeling a little winded but figured this was just the humidity. My first mile was a 8:27 and I was like "uh oh. Slow down, sister." Plus, I was just way too aware of the girl on my team who was running next to me. I was allowing her to get into my head again.

The next mile was supposed to be my fast mile, which it was. I lost my teammate on this one. 8:00

The third mile was a bear. I hate it because of all of the hills. Plus, at this point I was very very tired from the heat/humidity (did I mention that later that afternoon we had the big "tropical storm?"). I stopped for water for the second time and dumped a bunch on my head which I try NOT to do. 9:30.

The last mile I was just trying to hang on. This is where I usually get my second wind, but I honestly was just trying not to collapse over the finish line. I looked at my watch and figured I would try to make it in at 34:00. I figured that while this was not my PR, it would still do for the race. So I was a little disappointed when I clocked a 34:22.

I called Bill to tell him how I did, which in my words was "I guess not tooo bad, considering the humidity. But I was really really hoping for a PR."

Yeah, well, I just checked my times from my spreadsheet of all of my races at work. I DID have a PR. By three seconds, but still a PR. And the former PR race? That was the one where I was feeling invincible! So that tells me that I HAVE improved.

Yay hill work I guess ;)

Ramon is Trying to Kill Us

So Sunday I got an email summarizing our upcoming September in running. My favorite line was
"Well....the advance group has been thinking all along that they were not doing any hill work, wellll....september is your hilly month...get ready !!" And all of this started out with our first September group workout.

Last night we had 7-10 hill repeats on Cat Hill. YUCK.

I have never done THAT many repeats in one workout. Ramon emphasized that we should not be guaging this workout on what anyone else was doing, that it was a personal workout. We were also not supposed to worry about time (good thing, because I forgot my watch) because obviously you will get more and more tired as the workout progresses. Instead, we were supposed to run at effort levels again. The up hill was an effort level 4 (out of 5...that means at about 85%). I guage these workouts through my breathing, which is what I think you are supposed to do.

It was also a sliding scale of 7-10 because you were supposed to go with how you were feeling. For instance, if you were dying after 4, you should only do 7.

All of these caveats were because (as our coach for the night explained to us) all of the Advanced runners have Type A personalities and think they have to do the full workout even if they are dying and that they have to beat everyone that they usually run with because they are so highly competitive. (Guilty as charged).

The first 3 were not bad at all (I mean, for hill workouts). I was definitely tired and definitely behind the people I usually run with (you can't help but notice), but I was feeling pretty good. I hydrated after these 3 which I think was a mistake, because it sort of took my momentum and motivation to do more away.

So instead of my plan to hydrate after every 3 I decided to play it by ear and try not to hydrate until the end of the workout. This worked out a lot better. Our coach was at the top of the hill making sure that we ran at full effort all the way to the end with great form, so I was really concentrating on keeping my arm swing low and not running on my toes, which I tend to do when the hills get tougher for me.

After 7 I was done. I was slowing down and my recoveries included walking.

So I decided to do two more.

It WAS a good workout. I think all of this heavy hill work will help me out in the marathon for sure.