No More Muffin Top!

Why is it that every time I run a marathon I feel like I can slack off for about a month afterwards and load up on all of the bad food I've been avoiding without working out and without consequences? That is like, the OPPOSITE of what I should be doing.

I do this every year though. And then I get this gross muffin-top that makes me crazy.

Usually though, it is much longer than a month before I do something about it. This time I pretty much decided to stop after this Sunday, when I loaded up on fried food and alcohol. I felt bloated and gross for days afterwards. Yuck. I've already gone back up to my largest size. (I vacillate between 3 sizes during the year.) In a MONTH.

So Sunday night I decided: no more muffin top!

Here was the plan:

• Get back into running. It does not have to be every day, but at least 3 times a week.
• Add in some combo cardio-weight training and plyometrics
• Add in at LEAST a day of yoga for stretching
• Keep a food journal
• PLAN meals out of the Prevention cookbook which has healthy AND tasty options

So far, I have found out that yesterday (when I thought I was good and skipped the 3:00 treats at work) I overconsumed by 500 calories. BUT on the plus side, I had the perfect balance of fats/carbs/proteins, which is a HUGE step in the right direction for me.

I have also found out that I am not a fan of fat-free balsamic vinagrette (low fat is okay though).

I NEED gum to keep me from stress-eating.

Also, I am VERY SORE from doing a double workout yesterday. Yes, I actually got up in the morning to do the Jillian 30-Day Shred (the plan is to do all 30 days over a short period of time, like possibly 2 months, if I am not so SORE like I am now). Then at night I ran with Bill.

I didn't think I worked out that hard, and I was only using 5 pound weights during the workout, BUT I was concentrating on good form and THINKING about which muscles I was using. It must have made a difference. Either that or I am in totally awful shape.

Tonight is Yoga. And for the first time in my life, I am looking forward to it.



P.S. Believe it or not, I can touch my toes now. That's from NOT running. (Running = fit me, but Not Running = more flexible me)

Fast Girl

OK, so Bill and I always run this one stretch in Riverside Park. It is my easy run and I always feel like a loser when I do it because it is such a short distance that it is almost not worth putting my running clothes on. However, when I pretty much don't feel like running I feel like running this is better than not running at all.

We FINALLY mapped it out on mapmyrun (because I keep forgetting to charge my Garmin) and found out that it is more mileage than I thought. Hurrah! For some reason, I feel like 2.88 miles is much more worth the run than the 2 miles I thought it was.

It also helped because Bill kept figuring out our times based on 2 miles and it just seemed so SLOW. This made me sad, because I felt like we were going fast. Like, it was winding me.

Turns out, we were averaging a 7:59 pace. And that was with some walking when my shoulder cramped up. That makes me feel a LOT better.

This weekend I told Bill we should aim for a "long" 4 miles.

Haha. I love the off-season.

Running Again

Last night I went for my first run after the Nike Run as One run.

Yes, I have been extremely reluctant to run since the marathon. I think I need a break from it. The problem is that if I'm not running, I find it very hard to do cross-training or anything else productive in the fitnessy arena. Mostly I just sit around and watch TV while knitting socks.

Anyway, it was not a great run for me. First of all, it was only 2 miles. But instead of enjoying it like I should have been doing, I was trying to work out my stress demons in my head. I know a lot of people who love running for this particular reason. However, I am not one of them.

Actually, when I am very stressed I find that it makes the run longer and harder and not enjoyable at all.

At the turnaround, I was feeling crampy, right in my left shoulder/chest area. Yuck.

So I had to turn around and walk back until it went away (which was quickly), but still...

It's too bad, because it's been very warm out.

The NYC Marathon!

OK. I have a completely new respect for all of the cheerers out there!

This weekend, my friends ran the New York City Marathon. It was so exciting! I watched it last year, but it is so much more fun when you actually know people in the marathon. I had this schedule all figured out with public transit and everything. As I planned, we would be able to see my friends at three places in three boroughs.

Stop number one was Brooklyn, around mile 4. For NYC, it wasn't very crowded, so this was a great place to see the girls. They were wearing these feathery diddly-bopper things on their heads to make them easier to find and THANK GOODNESS because the NYC marathon is so crowded...I mean NON-STOP runners.

Mile 4 is also complicated because depending on which wave you were in, you could be on opposite sides of the street. Bill and I got there early with my favorite sign that I made (I made four of them). This one said "2476 calories burnt = 17 beers!" We got lots of laughs, thumbs up and just general attention for it. Some people even took pictures. And we saw GINA!!! I was so excited and screamed her name as she ran by! Bill and I ducked back into the subway and RAN under the street to see Pam on the other side! Yay! We saw her! Then we ducked back into the subway and RAN under the street again to see Donna. (The girls were all in different corrals). No luck. And we were getting super close to the time we needed to be on the train to our next stop in Queens. I was bummed, but we had to run to catch the train before we saw Donna. :(

Next stop? Mile 15 in Queens.

This stop was majorly crowded. Bill and I were pushy and got up to the front right before the bridge. The cops kept pushing everyone back, which made me think that I was not going to be able to run with the girls for a little while like I had planned. We had separate candy for each of them as requested, and I was trying to figure out the best way to hand it out. Gina would be first, so I grabbed a handful of candy oranges in one hand and my stick of BodyGlide in the other. Hmmmmm. No Gina. No Gina. My eyes were scanning everywhere for their headbands. I told Bill to get out Pam's Skittles just in case we missed her. We saw all these people that were running AFTER her, so I thought either we had missed her, or she was injured. I was really worried then. Bill said now I know how he feels when he is looking for me. My eyes were getting crazy from all of the scanning of the runners. I told Bill when I ran it next year I was going to wear florescent pink. In this crowd, even their headbands didn't help.

I put the oranges away and grabbed Donna's licorice while simultaneously texting my friend Elida, who was at 23, to see if she had seen Gina.

No Donna either. I was getting really bummed. I felt REALLY bad because they had specifically assigned us to Queens because no one was going to be there. Ptttt.

We hopped on the train and headed to stop 3, which was mile 25.

I got a text from Elida saying Gina just past mile 23. Perfect! That meant I had about 18 minutes before she ran by me. I started scanning the runners again.

Of course, Bill and I only saw ONE of our friends at 25 and it was Pam. We frantically shouted her name, but she was in the zone :)

D'oh. Epic fail.

Luckily, we all met at a bar afterwards to celebrate. I found out that:

1. Gina SMASHED her goal of beating 4 hours by getting a 3:56!!!
2. Pam took 27 minutes off of her January marathon time!!!
3. Donna, Miss 11:49-Minute-Miler ran a 4:33, which is why we didn't see her at all!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!! So exciting!

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 6

At the end of the loop is a hill. Isn't that mean?

I couldn't do it. I walked it, promising myself I would run after it. Some TNT coach from Pennsylvania looked concerned and asked me if I was okay. I was like "Yeah. I just think it's mean that they put this hill here." And the guy next to me was like "Are you kidding? She's been kicking ass these last miles. I think she only stopped to walk it to make me feel better." I was like "Heh heh. Not quite." The coach looked placated and told us to stick together.

I started running again and saw...Coach Sandy! She asked how I felt and I told her crappy. But I said it with a smile on my face and told her I expected to feel crappy because it was a crappy course. See, I knew at this point that it was flat, which made me happy and gave me a little more energy. Also, my Garmin had died which made me SO HAPPY because I just kept seeing that "average pace" number go up and up which was discouraging. Now I was just running to finish it. Sandy was funny and was telling me that if I PRed here (which I thought I may be able to do) it would be amazing and not like if I PRed somewhere easy like Chicago :)

Sandy dropped me off at Coach Felicia, who ran with me for the next half mile. She kept telling me I was doing great for this course and that I was one of the first people on the team to come through. She dropped me off at Coach Mike.

Coach Mike was mostly concerned about me being injured, which I assured him I wasn't. He told me that Ramon was in the last mile and would run in with me.

I was SO HAPPY to see Ramon. He started running in with me and Bill joined me on the other side. He thought that was funny and said Bill was going to throw up if he kept running with me. Ramon asked me how far off I was from my PR and I said "A lot." And he asked how much 'a lot' was. I said "I don't know...2 or 3 minutes?" He was incredulous. "2 or 3 minutes?! 2 or 3 minutes?! Are you a crazy person? On this course? 2 or 3 minutes?! That is like, amazing!" He ran in with me the ENTIRE MILE, coaching me the whole time.

He kept picking up the pace on me (which I know he did on purpose) and I was so glad. It hurt a lot to speed up, but I was doing it and I knew I would be grateful at the end when I saw my time. He also kept pointing to little dips and cracks in the pavement as he was talking to me, which, for some reason, I found hilarious.

At some point, he was like "Look straight ahead. That is the finish line." I was like "Oh, thank GOD!" THAT was the point that I knew I would finish. I was never so happy to see a finish line. He offered some words of encouragement and told me to push it towards the finish line, which I did.

The clock overhead read 4:23, which meant that I came in under 4:22, which meant that I PRed. Whoo-hoo! (My official time was 4:20, a 2 minute PR!)

I was soooooooo happy to see those tuxedoed firemen handing out Tiffany's necklaces. For once in my life I took my time to go through the finisher's chute because I felt like I'd earned it.

A well-deserved finisher's medal from Tiffany's

Me, in the finisher's tent with my Tiffany's necklace

The coveted finisher's necklace

That night, we went out for the "Misbehaving Party". I had a lot of fun, of course. But the funniest thing was when Ramon asked me how far I was off of my PR. I was like "Actually, I PRed...by two minutes."
His response? "You asshole!" Then he went on to explain to my friends, "I see her at the end and she tells me she is way off her PR, then I find out she is 2 or 3 minutes off her PR, then she PRs. What an asshole." (It is much funnier if you read it in Ramon's Spanish accent and with his dramatic emphasis.)

Very cool marathon. Toughest marathon ever. But I have never felt so satisfied after finishing a marathon.

Rebecca, Lauren and Me at the Misbehaving Party

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 5

It was no joke.

The pond was total hell.

First of all, it was this loop that lasted about 4 miles. Right at the end. And it was on a highway. AND it was only about the width of a running path in Central Park. My legs hurt so badly by this point and I was thinking of anything I could to keep my mind off of how many miles I still had left.

I promised myself that when I got to waterstops that I could walk through them. I needed to just WALK for a little bit, but couldn't justify it because I KNEW I would slow down. I was following a girl in pink, but she started to gradually get away from me, and I didn't care about time anymore anyway.

The first mile into the pond loop I stepped on someone's GU wrapper and it stuck to the bottom of my shoe. So with every step I kept hearing/feeling scrape, scrape, scrape. Then this girl behind me yelled out "Hey! New York!" I took all of my energy to turn around. "Let me get that off of your shoe! That must be driving you crazy."

I stopped, and tried to step on it while lifting my other foot up and blabbered "But...I just...it's not...I can't..." I felt tired and stupid. She was like "Don't worry. I've got it." and lifted my leg up so she could get it. "NOW you can run!" I thanked her profusely. It's the little things in those last miles. :)

The rest of the loop was pretty much an uneventful, horrible time. I was glad that there were a lot of TNT coaches from other chapters cheering. I walked a good deal of that loop. I so didn't care about my time anymore.

And when I got to the "Chocolate Mile" at 22, I actually considered eating the free Ghiradelli chocolate. I don't even really like chocolate all that much. But I wanted it badly. I also knew I was having a crap race and that I've never had chocolate during a race and that this probably wasn't a good idea. I wavered between getting it and passing it up for the entire mile. I was also craving homemade Rice Krispie Treats right at that moment. I wanted them more than anything. I skipped them though and opted for my last chocolate GU. Definitely not as yummy.

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 4

Whoo-hoo! I was finished with the major hills. Unfortunately, I was feeling pretty drained from them. Like very sleepy. My legs were fine though, which I guess is the important part. I was also ready to take it to my 9:10 pace.

I did this pretty easily and still felt like I was holding back somewhat. It was a weird feeling because usually I do not hold back this long. I looked for Bill at mile 11, but didn't see him because the buses probably didn't get him there in time :( I knew I would probably see him at 16 though, so I didn't worry too much. I was heading into Golden Gate State Park, which is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the course.

I kept my pace, but for some reason, could not shake the tired feeling. There weren't a lot of people in the park cheering either, so that didn't help. Also, Safeway (one of the sponsors) had these cheering stations all along the park. The Safeway cheerleaders were going crazy so it helped. They also had those signs that you read as you go by. But these signs were NOT helpful. The first one said "You own this road because..." and I was all excited because I was like "Good. Distractions. This should be good." The next one was "You skipped sleeping in late on the weekend." Haha. Ok. Then "You nursed all those blisters." NO! Don't remind me of blisters! My feet only are kind of hurting, so I don't need to think about them. Then "You worked until your muscles were sore." OMG! SHUT UP! Who made these signs and thought they were a good idea?! "You went through 3 pairs of shoes." OK. That one was a LITTLE better, but still reminded me that I could kind of feel the road on my feet at this point.

The cool thing though, was that there was a turnaround and you could see your teammates on the other side. I waved to a couple of people on my team. Good distractions.

Coming out around mile 16 I saw Ramon! He ran with me awhile and warned me about the Pond area too. He said I looked good. I should keep my pace. I needed to find someone to follow in the pond area so that I would keep my pace because it was going to suck, but that once I got out it would be almost over and he would catch me at the end.

Then I saw Bill! He ran alongside me awhile and I had a million things to tell him. Like:

1. Pete said I was in 2nd for the team, and although I didn't necessarily believe him, it was still cool.
2. I had hit my 5 mile and 10 mile targets and was 2 minutes off of my 15 mile target, but felt like I could totally make that time up.
3. The hills were WAY worse than the Flying Pig. Like 10x worse.
4. I was still pretty much on track to smash 4 hours (minus those 2 minutes)
5. I still felt good. A little tired, but hey! It was mile 16!

I was super hungry though, so I decided to eat another GU at 18, even though I wasn't due for one until 20. While I was running in a straight line this girl decides to diagonally cut across the course RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I couldn't slow down so I just reacted.

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Oh! Sorry!"

And then my ankle went into a hole while the rest of my body kept running. Nice.

Honestly though, I couldn't feel it (the twist). I WAS getting pretty sleepy though. It was here I ran into Pete again. I told him I was tired, but felt good. He ran with me for a LONG time and told me to find someone to run with in the pond area (again) otherwise I would fall off pace. It is boring. It is a highway. There is no one there to cheer for you.

I knew all this. But I was still not looking forward to it. And I WAS glad that everyone kept warning me because I HATE when people underprepare you for something.

I was getting more and more tired as I felt like I was running along the longest stretch of highway ever...and I wasn't even to the pond yet! I must have been slowing down too, because now my watch said my average pace was 9:28. Hmph.

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 3

Lining up at the Start Corrals

Yay! WOMEN'S marathon! There were a million port-o-lets so I only had to wait in a line 2 people deep pre-race. I then headed over to my corral. I was in a pretty intimidating corral. It was the third one and the pace on my wrist band said 7:59-8:59. That seemed like a HUGE window to me. So I stayed way in the back :) I found Bill (or I guess he found me) and he gave me my Garmin with 60% power. Good deal. It wouldn't last me the whole race, but by the time it pooped out I wouldn't need it for pace anymore.

I was MUCH happier after I saw Bill and got my Garmin

My big thing? I was going to run this race correctly, which involved me holding back at the start. I am notoriously bad at doing this. But I kept repeating Ramon's mantra "BEHAVE" in my head. For some reason? I already had to pee again. I JUST went! Geezle. I figured it was just nerves.

I was so good at behaving. So, so good!

My first mile was a 9:21. Second mile 9:20. (So awesome!!! I was shooting for 9:20 pace up to mile 6.) The scenery was great and the weather was perfect. And the coolest thing? At mile 2.3 there was a coat check. There were a bunch of volunteers standing there with bags for you with tags on them. As you ran by, you shoved your sweats or whatever in the bag and they stuck a sticker on you with the corresponding number. Genius!

Unfortunately I still had to go to the bathroom. Fortunately there was a long line of port-o-lets and enough of them that there was no line. I could not BELIEVE I was stopping to pee before 3 miles. But crazily enough, I felt so much better afterwards. Guess it wasn't just nerves.

I was on the lookout for mile 3, which Ramon said was a big hill. Not big on the elevation chart, but it would seem big because it was a quick rise over a small distance. When I got to it, I was glad he pointed it out to us the day before. It was kind of like a Queens Half Marathon hill...no big deal, but a huge deal if you weren't expecting hills until mile 6.

I really felt GREAT.

I kept maintaining my pace and the miles were flying by. Unfortunately it was a super foggy day, so when everyone was yelling for us to get our cameras out (who runs with a camera) to take a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, all I saw was gray.

Here it comes, here it comes...Ft. Mason. The dreaded hill. (I am not making this up. It is actually called Ft. Mason.) Now, Ramon said that it took him 9 minutes to climb this hill. This is not cool, because he is super speedy. The hill is over a mile long and super steep. And it is one of those hills that goes up, turns a corner, goes up some more, turns a corner and then goes up some more. It totally drained me.

I understand why, in Ramon's plan, there was such a gap. He had suggested paces for miles 1-6, and then 10-17 and 17-the end. This is because we were not supposed to keep track of pace on the hills between 6 and 10. If we did we would be all thrown off.

This hill took me 11:30 to climb. Yuck. And it was a little less than a mile (0.9).

What was cool though, is that they had these progressive signs along the hill that said things like:

Run like a girl
Laugh like a girl
Kiss like a girl
Achieve like a girl
Love like a girl

etc etc etc.

When I am running I am totally a basket case emotionally, so this got to me. I was almost teary and thinking stupid things like Yeah. They're right. It is so cool to be a girl. I do not understand myself when I am running. :)

The OTHER cool thing is that when you ran DOWN the hill there was this camera recording the whole thing and projecting it onto a huge screen, so you could see yourself. Fun!

I was very careful to run the downhills smart. I was so afraid I was going to hammer my quads and pay for it in the end.

These stupid guys by me would NOT shut up about the hills. I guess the one guy had run it before and he was saying that we got to do hill 6 all over again in a little bit. Now, I KNEW this, but in my head, it wasn't so bad the second time. So these guys were almost psyching me out and I was like "Lalalalalalalalala I can't hear you!" (No, I didn't actually say this out loud, just in my head).

I saw Ramon and heard about every three words of what he was yelling at me. "Way to...Em...just...Em...too...soon...Em...OK!" OK?

While I felt like I was going to die on these hills, afterwards I actually felt ok. In fact, I felt FAST. So I knew I was going to be okay.

I hit the second hill and it was really really tiring me out. Luckily, I saw Rob and Erin from the NYC LLS office and they were cheering like crazy!

When I was almost up the hill I also saw Coach Pete (he coaches the Advanced Group with Coach Steve all the time). I was SO HAPPY to see him. I asked him "This is the last of the BIG hills, right?" He kind of avoided my question. But he did tell me that I looked good, I was right on track, and that I was the 2nd runner from the NYC team. (Awesome!) He also told me that I should enjoy the run now because when I got to the pond (mile 18ish-24) it was going to suck and that I needed to mentally prepare for it, but that he would be there at the entrance. Ok. Good to know.

I was still flying high on the fact that I was doing so well.

I just kept thinking that when I saw Ramon again I was going to tell him how I was behaving.

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 2

Our Team, Pre-Race (See the girl allllllll the way to the left with only half of her face showing? My head is right behind hers.)

BeCAUSE I am anal retentive, I had been charging my Garmin since we arrived in San Francisco. It was sitting right on my nightstand. My running friend Lauren thought this was overkill. :) I thought she was probably right, so, the night before the marathon I took it out of the charger and put it on top of my running clothes, which had also been sitting out since we arrived.

I wrote down my pace windows on my right hand with a Sharpie.

Basically what I wrote was this:

9:20 1-6
9:10 10-17
9:00 17-END

Mile 5: 45:30-48:30
Mile 10: 1:32-1:34
Mile 15: 2:16-2:21
Mile 20: 3:02-3:05

It's a good thing that my handwriting is small.

I actually slept well (the perk to running a west coast marathon is the time difference). I woke up to start getting ready and as I was Bodygliding I decided to check the time on my Garmin.

It. Was. Blank.

Completely blank. As in...no charge.

Freak out!!!

Now, let me explain something. Despite what you may think, I am NOT a runner who is tethered to the Garmin and can't function without it. HOWEVER, I had not planned on not having a Garmin. ESPECIALLY since I was trying to break 4:00. My brain does NOT function correctly on marathon day, so calculating splits in my head to make sure I was on track wasn't going to work. As I checked the Garmin charging on the nightstand, I realized that it was only charging about 1% per minute. Uh oh.

So here was the plan:
I take Bill's $9 digital watch, which doesn't have a lap function. Bill feverishly figured out my cumulative paces for the first 9 miles on a sheet of paper which I would carry with me. I go down to meet the team in the lobby, head over, get into the corral and wait for Bill to come with my Garmin with as much charge as it could get by 6:20. If I missed him, I would catch him at mile 11 and he could give me the Garmin.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Not cool.

I gave Bill and hug and headed downstairs. Since I was already pushing my limits to beat the 4:00 mark, I decided to Plan B the time goal too. I just was not mentally there anymore :(

Nike Women's Marathon Race Report 1

Yay! I'm back from San Francisco!

Since I have soooooooooo much to say and a super busy week ahead, I am going to parcel out my race reports over the week. So this will be the first installment.

I do have to say:
• Although I was well prepared for the hills, they still sucked the life out of me
• This course was the HARDEST course I've ever run (10x worse than the Pig)
• I finally ran a marathon I was happy with, EVEN THOUGH I was no where near my goal of breaking 4 hours
• All the little touches that made this a "women's" marathon were very very cool
• I'm going to have to run with TNT again. I was sort of ready for "retirement" but running with them is just too much fun

Anyway, I will start with the expotique.

It was VERY VERY small. I mean, it took me like 15 minutes to go through, tops. Then I realized why: Nike was sponsoring it. Why would they allow other vendors there? Duh. So the expotique basically consisted of a tent (pictured above) where you pick up your number and chip (no t-shirt until you finish the race). You could also get a free pedicure (Ramon would have had a fit if any of his runners did this, though) and taste some flavored oxygen. If you walked around the corner there were free samples of Kashi. But that was truly it.

Across the street though, was the Nike store. I had already checked out all of the merchandise online, so I knew exactly what I wanted! The other good thing about a women's marathon? No bulky sweats or tees! Everything is tailored towards women (and over the top cute).

How cool is this? All of the participants names were on the outside of Niketown!

Lauren, me and Rebecca in our cute Nike Women's Marathon Hoodies

Across the street at Macy's they had a runner's lounge, which basically consisted of a couch in the juniors section and free Italian sodas.

Macy's on Union Square

The night before the race, we had the famous TNT Pasta Dinner!


All of the New York team had to be obnoxious again, and let everyone know who we were. Strangely enough, we ran into a couple of girls who decided to wear "I Heart SF" shirts from another team. They wanted to have their picture taken with us :)

The dinner was like a million times bigger than the one for Marine Corps. There were 5,000 runners there! It took about 5 minutes to walk through the throngs of coaches and staff members cheering for us. IT WAS SO COOL!

There's Ramon (in the blue) cheering like crazy for us!

Walking through the Cheer Tunnel

It was very inspirational. Joan Benoit Samuelson spoke (which was so cool!) as well as the Penguin. He, of course, made everyone laugh and feel inspired all at once.

About 30 seconds to the end of his speech he said something like "When you are running those 26.2 miles tomorrow..." which is pretty much the last thing I heard because all of the sudden my stomach dropped and I was like 'No. No. Not tomorrow. I do NOT want to run 26.2 miles tomorrow.'

I had never felt that way before. Weird.

Marathon Plan

It has been quite a busy week! I completed my last speed work session right to the letter, had a nice little 5 mile run on Saturday, with an average pace of 9:38, and got the course overview from Ramon.

Based on Ramon's course assessment, and running all of his numbers based on this course, he came up with three goal times for me.

If absolutely EVERYTHING goes right (including things I cannot control, like weather) I can hope for a time in the 4:03 - 4:05 range. He calls this my "aggressive" time goal.

My "achievable" time goal is 4:06-4:10.

My "conservative" time goal is 4:10-4:13.

Bummer. So close to breaking the 4:00 time wall. Now I am at a real Catch-22, here. Knowing my history of predicting my finishing times, I should be looking at a 4:13 PLUS according to this. HOWEVER, I have learned a TON about racing in this past season...which makes me think that the 4:03-4:05 is actually acheivable and what I should be shooting for. In my mind? I am still breaking the 4:00 mark. This either:

A) Sets me up for huge disappointment, when I don't get it, but actually run a really good race and PR
B) Makes me work harder for it and I smash the goal
C) Makes me work harder for it, which makes me run the race stupidly, which makes me not get it

This is why the mental game is so important...almost as important as the physical part of training.

I also know of some "trouble spots" on the course.

Mile 6 is supposedly the largest hill, lasting 0.9 miles. Ramon said that we are fine on the uphill since we trained so hard on hills this season. The worrisome part is the downhill. Many races are lost this way (by taking the downhill too fast). I am actually not worried about this at all. I run my downhills a little conservatively with my feet under me because so many people have scared me into thinking I am going to "hammer my quads" and not be able to finish in all of my races.

The other trouble spot I'm looking out for?

From mile 19-23.5. Here is where you make a nice little loop around a pond. Coach Steve called it the "attitude changer". He was right at the entrance last year so he could see all of his runners coming in and going out and he said the difference was incredible. Pretty much smiling and happy at the entrance to even the most "proper" runners dropping multiple f-bombs at the end of the loop. Plus, there are the tiniest of hills in here. Not a big deal if it was the beginning of the race, but a huge deal at the end.

Knowing my past races, I expect this to be a huge trouble spot for me.

The third spot is right out of the park. Here, you are running along the oceanside for the last miles. It is flat and the scenery doesn't change, and there's little crowd support. Ugh. Why do all marathons do this? It is like the worst mental test!

Ramon says the key to breaking the big 4, is to be nice, conservative and disciplined during the first 10 miles. (Yeah, this pretty much goes against how I race.) On the flat parts, I should be aiming for a 9:20 pace to mile 6. (On the hills I shouldn't care about pace, but maintain effort.) From mile 10-17 I can bring it up to a 9:10 pace. If I feel okay at this point, I can speed it up and get closer to a 9 min mile pace.

According to Ramon, it's all decided at mile 17.

If I was "good" I will break the 4 hours. If I "misbehaved" I will not break it.

WHEW!

Lots of pressure.

He also has check points for me.

Mile 5: 45:30-48:30
Mile 10: 1:32-1:34
Mile 15: 2:16-2:21
Mile 20: 3:02-3:05

Information overload. Yes, now I AM freaking out.

Are You Freaking Out Yet?

That is what Ramon keeps asking us.

I was totally not freaking out about the marathon yet. Or at least I didn't think so, until I pretty much talked Bill's ear off in the subway car on the way to work about it. I wasn't sure what my time should be. I feel tired. I feel achy. Am I getting sick? (Probably not.) It hurts to walk up the hill by our apartment. It tires me to run 6 miles, how am I going to do 26.2? I'm not getting enough sleep. I'm not eating right. Should I be doing cross-training next week like I usually do during the week?

Lauren also got an earful on the way home in the subway last night...with her I had more practical concerns; I don't know what flavor of Gu to bring. How many are you bringing? Are you bringing an extra pair of shoes like Ramon said? When are you going to start packing? What are you doing for dinner that Friday?

The funny thing is, I go through this EVERY MARATHON SEASON. And I know that my body gets tired and can't do things it normally does. And I know I feel fat and sluggish and can't sleep. I also get crabby. Extremely crabby. Like everything irritates me. I don't think it helps that I am looking for a new apartment and work is crazy and I have dental surgery next week in the midst of this.

I have also picked up this really bad habit in the last two weeks of drinking soda instead of water. Now, I had pretty much taken soda completely out of my diet except for maybe having half a Coke every 2 weeks with pizza. But lately, I am drinking soda with lunch AND dinner...every day. (I also learned that since I had no caffeine in my diet for so long [I also do not drink coffee or eat much chocolate] that these Cokes were contributing to my insomnia problem...now I've switched to ginger ale.)

On top of this, I am supposed to be resting all week.

I guess I am sort of kind of freaking out. :)

It's the Final Countdown!

Whoo-hoo!

Last Saturday was my LAST long run before the marathon. Now it's onto the taper!

This run was at one of my favorite places to run: Hartsdale. Since I had gotten my 20 in I decided to do 18 for this one. I think marathon training is more of an art than a science...too many things factor into training to just go by the book. I am in good shape this year but my body has been feeling pretty tired. I have a feeling that not doing 2x 20 this year will be a good thing for me.

Anyway, Hartsdale is beautiful, but it does have a couple of sudden hills. You would think that it would be a boring run because it is 5 miles up and back and then a repeat of the course again, but it is actually so scenic that it is not at all boring.

I don't know what it is about these end-of-the-season long runs, but I always end up doing them by myself...even if I start off with other people. I think this is probably a good thing though, because it allows me to get in the right mental frame of mind for my marathon. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE running with my friends, but when it comes down to marathon day there are just too many things going on in my head and I sort of prefer to run alone.

It was a good run for me.

I averaged a 9:25 pace for the whole time, but it felt really nice and easy (so this was a huge confidence booster). My big wish for the race is that this will be my pace for the first 4-6 or so miles and then I can pick it up from there. Overall, I was very happy.

And you know what I did all day after the run?

I watched TV. ALL DAY. (OK, all day except for the 2 hour nap I took.) This is the first training season that I have actually admitted to myself that it is okay to rest after a long run. Usually I decide to clean the whole house/apartment after long runs, or go shopping, or to a museum, or something else ridiculous. I think for some reason, I used to feel guilty about taking up a whole day of my weekend for running.

Not this year!

This year I am enjoying my rest after long runs, and it is very very awesome. :)

Sweet!

Remember when I was talking about the whole Human Race thing I went to? Well, I made the photo for the publicity page at Nike! You can see it here. I look like a giant :)

Mental

According to Ramon, the rest of this season we will be concentrating on the mental aspect of our running. (This is good for me, because this is the part I struggle with most). He said that there is no possible way to get faster at this point, and all of our long runs are just supposed to make us feel like we can do the 26.2 miles. I would have to say, I pretty much agree with him. I mean, first of all, I think he is a pretty great coach, but also, in my experience, I have found this to be true.

So our Tuesday workout was a mental test.

It was three lower loops of the park. Each loop is 1.7 miles.

The first loop was supposed to be our race pace. For me, I have decided that this is 9 minute miles. The next loop was supposed to be FAST. The main objective of this loop was to get us very very tired. In fact, we should be so tired that we wouldn't be able to do another loop. Then the last loop should be as fast as the first loop.

Why?

Well, Ramon says that our bodies are hardwired to react, well, the way they should. So, when you expend all of your energy, say, racing, then your body reacts by slowing down. We want to train our bodies to know what that feels like, but still be able to push after that. Because during a marathon, we will be tired and not want to run any more, and will probably still have a few miles to go.

So I took out the first loop at around a 9 minute pace. But something felt wrong. I was super tired and drained. My legs felt heavy. I felt like I wanted to stop before the loop was over. I felt like I was sprinting, but my average pace for the loop was a 9:15. I felt so exhausted that I didn't even want to do the second loop. I even thought of cutting the workout short and only doing two loops.

I decided to try as best as I could to pick up the pace on the next loop, but I felt like I was going slower. I couldn't tell, because it was so dark that I couldn't really see my watch. I did know that I had lost Lauren on that loop. But the good thing was, that as far as I could tell, Molly hadn't passed me (she started behind me).

OK. By this time I was super exhausted and my legs felt like lead (especially my calves). I decided to just do the last loop as best as I could. It was tough and I was glad when it was over.

Turns out, I did the workout well!

My first loop averaged a 9:15 pace, my second a 8:34 pace and my third was an 8:43 pace. That made me feel better "mentally".

I am chalking up the slower times (because usually my pace would be faster) and the tired feeling to the fact that I did my 20 this weekend and that when I am at peak mileage I tend to tire out.

I guess we'll see for sure on Saturday during my long run.

Confused

OK. Now I'm all confused.

Why?

Well, because I have no idea how to run my marathon.

I say this because I ran my 20 miler this weekend. I was going to do 2-4 miles at a 10 minute pace, then gradually wind myself down to a 9 minute mile pace and do maybe the last 2 miles at sub 9s. This sounded reasonable to me because I had done my half marathon last week at an 8:40 pace which felt really very doable.

Of course it was raining. I say "of course" because I think it has rained during all of my 20 milers except one. So let's just say, I am very used to running 20s in the rain. :) I actually don't mind either, because it beats the heat any day.

I got up at 6:15, ran to Central Park, down to 86th Street, turned around and went up to the 102nd Street Transverse. It was here that I dropped off my bag, and lined up with the other NYRR for the "Tune-Up" 18-miler training run. It was funny because they set it up like a race (we all had numbers, got t-shirts, had shoe tags, there was Gatorade and water and pace clocks) but it was really just a big training run. The big perk was that it counted as a qualifier for my 9+1 requirement for NYC 2010. Yes, that's right! I ran 2 qualifiers this weekend which means I have my 9 in the bag. All I need now is my volunteer day, which I have already signed up for.

My first 2 miles averaged 9:45. Perfect!

When I started the run, I saw my friend from TNT Molly right ahead of me. I was so glad, because I figured we would be able to keep a good pace together. This was especially good for me because I tend to do backwards negative splits, and I really needed to hold back on that first half of my run.

It was great though, because running with Molly took my mind off of the run, since we were talking the whole time. I wasn't obsessing over the mile markers, or really my splits for that matter. I guess it was a good thing, because with all of the rain it was pretty impossible to decipher what my splits were anyway.

I felt REALLY good, the whole time.

In fact, when I lost Molly at about mile 11 (she told me to go ahead, she had hit a wall and needed to slow down) I did my next mile at 9:04 (we had been averaging about 9:40s the whole time). But then I took it right back down. I guess I was just all about running comfortably. And it was comfortable.

I mean, of course, my legs were screaming at me towards the end, but that's just what happens in a 20 mile run. I actually felt pretty great.

I ended up with a 3:12.30 for those 20 miles, which averages to a 9:37 pace.

Not helpful.

Here's why...

Originally, at the beginning of the season I was killing practices. Coach Christine said she thought I could do a 3:40 marathon. I talked to the other coaches and they said if Coach Christine said it, then it was totally doable, because she tends to be conservative with her estimates. THEN I started racing, and realized a more attainable goal for me was probably to break the 4 hour mark. To do this, I would have to run a 9:09 pace. I considered this totally and completely doable.

Now, I'm not so sure.

If history (of my 20 milers before a marathon) is any indication, this run means that I will do about a 4:11-4:13 marathon.

On one hand, it's nice to know that this is a realistic goal going into the marathon. But on the other hand I am kind of bummed. I mean, I went from thinking I could do a 3:40 to coming to the realization that it will probably be more like a 4:11?

That was my "hopeful" goal for last year!!! And I am so much faster now!

But I am always one who is like "Yeah, it was a PR, but I was REALLY hoping for..." I mean, the only race I can think of that I was super happy with was the Bronx half marathon this February.

ARGH! All of this thinking is making me crazy! I know the game plan should be to calm down and not worry about it, because that is what always makes me run "off" but seriously? That is like telling a super stressed person not to stress out...all that does is make them stress out more! :)

The GOOD thing out of all of this was that I maintained a very consistent pace through the whole thing.
(9:45, 9:45, 10:03, 9:58, 9:24, 9:25, 9:31, 9:41, 9:38, 9:34, 9:22, 9:38, 9:49, 9:04, 9:35, 9:24, 9:29, 9:46, 9:39, 9:07). At least I am learning SOMEthing!

(BTW, today is the last day for donations to my run and I'm still short! If anyone wants to donate, they can, at runemily.com!)

Fastest Mile Ever

OK. I mean, it's not like I've ever raced a mile before this weekend, so there was no way this couldn't have been my fastest mile ever, BUT I have done miles for time at practice, and I did beat those times. :)

Saturday was the 5th Avenue Mile, which was a straight mile down 5th Avenue (duh). They ran us in heats according to our age (I was in the Women's 30-39 group) with 15 minutes between each race.

Now, I am NOT a sprinter. And I had no desire to run a fast mile in a race except for to see how fast I could go. But I signed up for the race because for some reason, it counts as a NYC marathon qualifier, and I still needed 2 races for this. (If you are a NYRR member who runs 9 qualifying races and volunteers once, you automatically qualify for the next years NYC marathon.) I was desperately trying to get my 9+1 requirement in before marathon season was over, so this was an easy way to do it.

I didn't even know how to approach this thing. I mean, I didn't want to sprint it because it was still a mile...but then I didn't want to hold back too much either, because I would be mad at myself.

This was the first race I've had in a long time where I felt totally keyed up (and was aware of it). In fact, it reminded me a little of my cross-country meets in high school where our coach told us to sprint from the starting line.

I decided to go ahead and sprint it.

Yeah. I am NOT used to running FAST.

My legs sort of buckled underneath me a little bit because the feel of running that fast was so foreign to me. I was flying though. Tears were in my eyes, my nose was a little runny, and I felt like I looked like those astronauts when they do those tests and the skin sort of flies back from their face. I also pretty much felt like I had to puke the whole time.

When I ran past the 1/4 mile marker I saw 1:something on the clock. Whoa. Fast.

Apparently too fast. Now I was like a car slowly running out of gas.

The women I was running with started to get further away from me, and the women behind me started to catch up.

Ugh. I just wanted it to be over. I was counting the blocks as I ran by them (each block is .05 miles).

Dying. Dying. I saw the clock overhead. 6:48. Whoo-hoo! (When I checked the official results though, I saw I actually did a 6:54).

I was coughing and sputtering and breathing heavy all the way to the subway station. I felt AWFUL. It all came back to me...why I hated cross-country so much in high school (yeah, I have no idea why I kept joining the team every year when I hated it so much). I am so NOT a short distance runner.

That being said, I was pretty darn happy to see a "6" at the beginning of my time :)

What Happens When You Work Hard

I generally really hate those stupid photos they always take of you when you are running. I mean, WHO looks good when they are running? NOT ME!!! And I kind of purposefully don't ham it up when I see the photographers, like I know a lot of people do because usually I am too focused on my run and think it is silly to have photos taken of me at that time.

In the hundreds of "official" photos I've had taken of me during races, I've only ever liked one. (My one runner friend says if this ever happens to anyone, they should BUY that photo because good looking running photos are such a rare occurance.)

These are the things I hate about running photos:

• I usually look like I am about to get sick, or someone punched me in the gut
• I ALWAYS look like I am walking, not running (Bill said that this is because I do look like I'm walking when I'm running. Then I got all mad. But then I realized that this is probably because if you run 26.2 miles you have to do them efficiently. That doesn't really = big strides.)
• I usually look like I have some sort of double chin
• These photos usually make me reevaluate my hair style of the time
• I get to see how truly devoid of color my skin really is :)
• I think it's stupid that they always show the clock time in marathons because unless you are Kara Goucher or Paula Radcliffe, it is always always always about 5-10 minutes off.

But, I looked at the photos from this past weekend's half marathon and noticed some cool things (even though I still do not like the pictures).

1. I am getting some serious muscle tone in my arms! (Check out my forearm!)

2. I am getting KILLER muscles in my legs!

...even compared to my first marathon!

And guess what else?
3. Since I'm running faster, sometimes I even look like I'm RUNNING (not walking).

So yay for me!
(I have also learned that there is no way ever that bangs can look good while you are running.)

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, this:

is the photo I was happy with. (And no, I didn't buy it, although I keep thinking maybe I should.)

Where ARE We?

This weekend I ran the Queens Half Marathon. The Queens Half is a very unique event. First of all, it is very very hard to get to (since almost no one in NYC has cars). You have the option of spending a bazillion dollars on a cab, paying $15 to take the shuttle from the NYRR HQ, or trying your luck at public transportation. For the last option, you take the subway to about 2 miles from the start and wait for a free shuttle from NYRR. The problem with all of this is that 5,000 people run this event, so the free shuttles are very crowded. Oh yeah, and the roads close at 6 am so, you have to make sure you get on the shuttle before then. Both years I have run this, and a lot of the people who take that option end up showing up about a half hour after the start. That is just too much stress for me, so, for the second year in a row, Bill and I opted for the $15 bus tickets. The last bus leaves at 5am. Soooooooo...we both got up at 3:45am (bless Bill!) to grab a cab across the park and catch the bus.

When we got to the park in Queens, some girl said to her friend "Where ARE we? The end of the subway line was back there, and that was like 20 minutes ago!" Everyone in the bus laughed.

After that? You scramble to find a park bench to sleep on until the race starts at 7am. And it was COLD this year, so there was more shivering than sleeping!

Despite this, I kind of sort of like running this event. EVEN THOUGH it has 66 turns within 13.1 miles (those turns keep me from being bored) and the whole thing is hills. Up and down, up and down, there is no flat part that is more than about 20 feet. And that's only three times in the whole race.

Ramon said not to count on PRing, because you could not PR this event. I realize why now. I do not remember it being THAT hilly last year, but maybe that is because last year it was like, 90 degrees!

The start was crowded, and once again, I was in the corral behind my friends I usually run with. It was SO crowded that my first mile clocked a 9:16. I didn't freak though, because I knew Ramon said no PRs (even though I was secretly still hoping for one). My next mile was 8:25, so I knew I needed to slow down desperately. Luckily, I found Molly (a girl I usually run with). She runs pretty consistent 8:40s in the beginning of races, so I decided to covertly follow her :) And guess what? My next lap was 8:44! Perfect!

In fact, I was pretty consistent the whole race, ranging between 8:16 and 8:51. The miles were flying by, and I didn't really feel tired until mile 11. Which, Ramon says, is an indication that I ran the race smart. Yay! A smart race! I don't usually get those.

In that last mile? There were two of the largest hills on the course. There was actually a collective groan as all the runners around me made one of those last turns to see that huge hill. One guy was like "Now that is just RUDE!" which made me laugh. I had to really dig on that hill. It pretty much sucked.

I was all pumped when I looked at my watch, which said I averaged an 8:33 pace. Whoo-hoo! Too bad my ACTUAL pace was 8:42. Why the discrepancy? Well, Coach Christine said all the turns added mileage on, and that UNLESS you ran on the course line exactly you probably ran an actual 13.33 miles (everyone who had a Garmin had that the course was 13.33 miles).

So my official time was 1:54.04. A PR by 34 seconds. Don't get me wrong...I am happy with a PR, but I am bummed because I felt like I was running a lot faster than my PR in the Bronx Half. :)

Adventure Girl!

So, despite the fact that I am in the middle of my long mileage days, I decided NOT to run over vacation. I mean, I needed a vacation from training too, right? Running 6 marathons (and 6 half marathons) in three years is a bit draining, no matter how much fun it is.

But that doesn't mean that I sat on my butt all of my vacation (just most of it).

Bill and I got a bit of a workout by doing an all day excursion through Alltournative Off-Track Adventures. And it was pretty cool!

We met in the lobby of our hotel early in the morning to meet our guide and the other people who would be in our group that day (there were 7 of us...they keep the groups small, so you aren't waiting around all day for people to do stuff). We hopped in the van and headed out into the Mayan Rainforest.

Here, we hiked through some VERY rocky (and hilly) terrain. At one point, we had to walk along a skinny rock wall, and I was pretty sure I was going to fall into the pit. In fact, the whole tour I kept thinking "Watch your footing. You can't get injured this late in the season." I sort of felt like the whole day was a pretty good balancing act (good for those core muscles)!

When we got to our first destination, we geared up in harnesses for our first activity...ziplining!

Me, All Geared-Up

We then hiked up this cliff to get ready for launch. No one volunteered to go first, so I did! (I had done ziplining before on an entire ziplining tour, so I was not afraid). However, I looked out over the cliff and it looked MUCH higher. I also realized that when I did this last time there were wooden platforms, and brakes (we had to brake this time by putting a stick on the top line and pulling down to create tension), and I'm pretty sure they launched you backwards so you couldn't see anything. They were also very safety conscious...like "Make sure you hold onto the connecting line!" This guy told us to let our arms go, and not be a wimp. The big expanse and height over the water was a little scary. He was like "OK...Jump!" And I said "Like, now?" And before I had a chance to think, he said "What, you need a push?" And pushed me out! I let go and it was AWESOME. I did have issues braking, and about knocked over two guys as I came in, but that made it more fun :)

Next, we hiked through the jungle again to a cenote (which is basically an underground sinkhole). As we were walking our guide thanked me for going first (from this point on, he only referred to me as "Lara Croft"). He then said "And you're going first for the rappelling, right?" Uh-uh, no way. I could handle ziplining, because I had done it before. Rappelling? Forget it! I needed to see someone else do it first.

Before we went into the cenote, we were blessed by a Mayan Priest in an incense ceremony which was kind of cool.

Then, I had to listen really hard about what to do for the rappelling, because our guide was making me go first. At least this time, Bill and I could go at the same time. It was actually really, very fun! I had a lot more control over the whole thing than I thought I would (like, I could control how fast/slow I descended). At the end of the 65 feet, we dropped into inner tubes where we could explore the cenote. The water was freezing, but very refreshing (did I mention how much I was sweating at this point?). The coolest thing was all of the bats that were flying around.

At the end of our time in the cenote we could either get pulled back up the 65 feet, or climb up a rope ladder. I chose the latter, of course. But here's the thing. You didn't actually use the rungs of the ladder that much because your weight was distributed all wrong. Instead, you went up sideways. It took a whole heck of a lot of arm and ab strength, so I was glad that I was in shape. I was slipping off the ladder at times, bats were flying around my head, and my arms were shaking like crazy. I think I scared Bill to death. And 65 feet is a LONG way. (As I was telling Lauren this story, she pointed to a building and said "That's like 7 stories! That's like THAT building right there." It is weird to put it in that perspective.) But I did it! I was proud of myself.

But oh no, our adventure was only half over. After that, we headed to a lake where we canoed for awhile. Then it was time for our traditional Mayan lunch and back into the van to visit Coba (the tallest Mayan Pyramid).

We went on a little tour with a Mayan guide, who told us about the pyramids and ballcourts on the grounds. It was cool. But to get to the pyramids, he suggested taking a bike or a "Mayan Limo" which was basically a rickshaw. Bill and I opted for the bikes (I haven't ridden a bike in 12 years...and the last time resulted in permanent scarring.) It was AWESOME. I loved riding a bike. (Uh oh, triathlons next?)

The pyramid was so HUGE. And we were allowed to climb all the way to the top, which we did, but then I looked out along the rainforest and kind of sort of freaked out. (Let me mention, there are NO railings or anything...just a rope, if you want. I don't think you would ever be allowed to do this sort of thing in the states because of the liability.) So, I came back down on my butt. Just when it started to pour down rain.

Coming down from the pyramid

Back to the bikes, then back to the van, then back for two well-deserved shots of tequilla. Pretty fun for a day's workout. Plus it sounds impressive, because we did:
• hiking
• ziplining
• rappelling
• climbing
• canoeing
• biking
• more climbing

Awesome. Oh yes, and my arm/back/ab muscles were totally sore the next day from that climb.

Back in the Swing of Things

Last night was my first run since vacation. Luckily, Ramon had mercy on us and we all did the same workout – a five mile loop of the park. We were supposed to "race" it, but I decided to run it comfortably since I had taken the previous week off.

I honestly felt great for the first 2 miles. Then, I was just tired.

It was a struggle to finish.

Everyone I usually run with was passing me, but I didn't really care because I just felt tired. I estimated that I was doing about a 9:45 mile, but I was okay with that too, because I feel like the first run back after time off you just have to get out of the way. I just kept thinking "too many margaritas!"

I actually ended up finishing with an 8:29 overall pace. So that made me happy.

This weekend I have the Queens half marathon which should be interesting. I am definitely not expecting a PR. BUT the weather is supposed to be perfect, with the high of the day being only 74 degrees! Whoo-hoo!

Yay! Fartleks!

I usually dread speedwork. But as my friend Lauren says, I usually do well when we have speed workouts. I think it's all a mental thing for me. I don't like competing against myself, especially when I feel (like I have lately) that my workouts are less than ideal.

Last night we did Fartleks around the 6-mile loop of the park. My stomach was giving me problems, so I was not looking forward to the speedy parts of the workout. BUT, it was one of the first genuinely nice nights to run too, so I guess it all evens out.

Our warmup was an "easy" mile. (I use quotations for easy because it included Cat Hill.) For this, I averaged a 9:07 pace. As Lauren and I were approaching 90th street for the first interval I was getting a feeling of dread in my stomach. I told her it was kind of like how you feel when you are going up the hill on a roller coaster. Dread, dread, dread.

But I actually ended up feeling pretty fast. I guess I was, because my average pace for that .75 mile was 7:15/mi. But that one was flat. The next one was going to include Harlem Hill though. I was NOT going to keep that pace for sure.

For the next .5 miles I slowed it down to a 9:36. It actually felt like a nice comfortable pace.

On Harlem Hill I said goodbye to Lauren (she is a super speedster up the hills, and I am probably on of the slowest Advanced runners when it comes to hills). I was glad to catch her by our next slow place at West 90th Street though, because I like to chat on easy runs. For the Harlem Hill section, which was 1.25 miles I averaged an 8:15. Wow! Impressive! I felt like I was doing about a 10 minute mile.

We slowed the next portion (.7 miles) down to a 9:27 pace. But both of us felt like it was still pretty fast. We both stopped at the drinking fountain on the Bridal Path. It might have been nice and cool out, but I was still sweating like crazy.

The last portion (1.32 miles) was supposed to be our hardest. It was definitely the longest of the intervals and included the dreaded lower loop. According to Coach Steve, if we ran the rest of the workout correctly, we would have to dig deep for this last interval and would have a significant amount of lactic acid buildup. I started out hard and strong, but not what I would consider "fast". I felt that this was the only way that I could make it through that last part. I ended up averaging a 7:55 mi, which made me very happy!

I slowed my pace waaaaay down and finished the last .45 miles at a nice comfortable 9:43 pace.

All in all, it felt like a great workout. Now I feel like I can go on my vacation in peace :)

Longest Run

This weekend I had my longest run of the season (so far). It was an 18-miler and besides the fact that it rained, it was pretty uneventful.

I was actually really glad for the rain. It was a nice break from the crazy heat/humidity I've been dealing with on my long runs, and it made the park a lot less crowded. I was really aiming to keep my pace around 10 minutes for the first few miles and then drop down to around a 9:30. Instead, I pretty much kept a 9:30 the entire time. I felt really good and like I could actually do a few more miles afterwards, so I think it's pretty key for me to feel like I'm "holding back" in those first few miles.

The one thing that was horrible is that when I got home and got in the shower I had to scream. I didn't even realized that I had chafed so badly. It HURT. I just assumed that I hadn't chafed because I had used Body Glide EVERYWHERE. So now I have matching scars on both clavicles, a really really horrible one under my chest on the left side, a circular one around my navel and one on my inner thigh on the right side. I am using Neosporin like crazy so that the scars don't become permanent fixtures (like some of my other chafing marks.

Oh yeah. And I am also hungry ALL THE TIME now. I just can't get enough to eat. It must be all those calories I'm burning :)

Mixed Bag of Complaints :(

I think this is the part of the season where I get all tired of running and start looking forward to getting back to my normal life, where I can go home after work and not work out. (If you haven't noticed...my blog entries have been kind of complainy lately.) I guess this is sort of ironic though, because my "normal life" pretty much is training for or running a marathon, since I have been doing that from January to the end of October for the past 3 years.

So I was actually pretty disappointed when I had to miss another gruelling workout on Tuesday because I was working late. This one was supposed to be a test, doing mile repeats. I would have loved to see how fast I could go on the miles, (improvement always makes me feel happy about running again) but it just wasn't in the cards.

So yesterday, I talked Bill into running with me. We didn't go out until 7:30, so it was nice and cool(er then it has been), and we ran right along the Hudson, which was nice.

But I have noticed lately, that my calves have been super tight. And not just when I'm running, but all the time. My shins are a little achey too, which is not good. My calves were so tight last night that when we turned around to head back (it was dark! I hate how it gets dark out so early now!) I had to stop and stretch them out.

I don't like feeling so sore all the time, especially since I haven't been feeling like I've been getting a lot out of running lately. To be fair, I don't feel like I've been putting a lot into it either.

I am also kind of freaking out because I have no idea when I am going to get all of my mileage in, since I am going on vacation and am going to be missing an entire week of practice (which includes 2 long runs.) I know, I know, run on the beach. But seriously, I think I need a vacation from working out too. It has been a long time since I've had a "real" vacation that doesn't include working or travelling to a marathon, so I kind of want to put running on hiatus while I am at the beach.

So, this weekend I will be trying to get in my 18 miler, while most of my group is doing an 8-10 miler. And then I think I am going to do another long run on the Friday before I leave for vacation, although that sounds pretty stressful.

I've worked too hard this season to not PR San Francisco, but with my training going as it's going I just don't know. :(

Saturday Sixteen

This weekend I had my big 16-miler, which has actually been my longest run all season. When I started walking to practice it was pouring and I was happy! It has been nothing but hot, humid and altogether unpleasant for the past week or so, and I was happy we were running in the rain instead of the unbearable heat and humidity that was predicted.

It was also the last weekend for Summer Streets :( so we were once again doing the Park Avenue run (and then across Manhattan to the West Side Highway (yuck) and finishing with a five mile loop in the park.

Since it was a lot cooler out because of the rain I took out my run a lot faster than I meant to. I can't believe I did this, because I was running exactly between the 9 minute pace group and the 10 minute pace group and was going for a 9:30 pace. But I felt great! (When will I learn? :)

(The pace for my first few miles were 8:41, 8:29, 8:07).

As we reached the bottom of Manhattan to cut across Chambers, the rain stopped. I didn't mind though because it wasn't exactly sunny out. But then the sun did come out and you know how people say "you could cut the air with a knife?" Now I know what they were talking about!

Luckily, I had succeeded in cutting my pace back to around a nine minute mile. (For a little while.) The girl I was running with kept saying we could slow down if I wanted, and I kept saying I was totally for that, but neither of us seemed able to do it. (Next few miles 9:09, 8:57, 9:00, 8:44, 8:48).

We stopped for water and I felt dizzy (uh oh). I was also very very tired. My arms were feeling very heavy. The humidity was definitely getting to me. I was glad I had lots of electrolytes with me. In fact, I went through my entire belt full of Gatorade before we got back to Central Park. I figured that was okay though, since there were so many water fountains there.

Rebecca and I DEFINITELY felt like we had done more than 11 miles at this point, and were both dreading the next 5 miles. We said it felt like the last five miles of a marathon, so we knew we had to just run with our guts at this point.

Unfortunately, my guts did NOT like Harlem Hill, which was at the end of my run (since I decided to end my run on my street, unlike everyone else who went back to the start). I ended up walking a fair amount until I felt better and ended up with a 2:29 (which averages out to a 9:20 pace).

I felt so tired and drained, but I was happy with my time. Now only if I can reverse the order and do a negative split next time, I'll be great!

Hot Stuff

So the past three days have been in the 90s here in NYC. Not very fun for running. So I was very very relieved when, Monday night Ramon sent out this email:

TOMORROW'S WORKOUT:

NOTE: DUE TO THE EXPECTED WEATHER, I AM MAKING A COUPLE OF CHANGES TO THIS WEEK'S WORKOUT

(you see, I do have a soft side and do have a heart )

WE will have 2 Workout options, you make you own decision which one you want to attend:

OPTION 1: 5-6 Miles EASY Hot/sweaty/sucky run !!

OPTION 2: Cross Training Killing Workout + Running !!

You decide which of the workouts/options you want to do, just go to the proper location.

NOTE: KEEP in mind that if the weather gets better, the coaches could/may change the workout at the last minute.

Hurrah! It has been too hot to MOVE so I had not been looking forward to the original workout, which on the calendar just said "Hills."

But when we got to our meeting place Ramon had a bit of a change-up. One group could still do option 1, but the second option was going to be hills.

I really felt like an easy run would be a waste of valuable coaching time/practice, so I opted for the hills. I never get to train with Ramon (we usually just have Steve and Pete) and I forgot that his practices were really really HARD.

Everyone was bitching and moaning about the change-up in the plans, but Ramon said "Didn't you read my email? I said that we could change the workout if we wanted to!" So Ramon's workout was basically the worst of both worlds...hills AND cross-training.

We ran easy up to Harlem Hill and stopped off in the grassy area by Lasker Pool. We were already all drenched. I am not exaggerating. (I actually turned to my one friend and said "Uh, I have sweat running down my back into my butt crack." It tickled.) There we formed two lines to do Ramon's favorites. Squats. Ramon makes you do 90 degree squats...and hold them for a minute. And then he goes around and yells at you if you aren't low enough. (I got called out by name for this. Whoops.) After about a bazillion squats he yelled "GO!" and we had to sprint up either the left or right side of the hill, recover back and do more squats.

Harlem Hill (counterclockwise) was shorter, but definitely steeper. Lasker Hill was longer but more gradual. Both suck. My legs were already getting tired before I even started up the hill! But I sprinted to the best of my capability (I picked Harlem Hill...glutton for punishment.)

For the next round we had to switch hills. I must say, Lasker did seem a ton easier. It also seemed about 20 degrees cooler on that side of the park. I thought I was crazy, but Coach Pete said the same thing to me on our recovery.

We ended up doing 4 rounds of hills and 4 rounds of squats. (I kept hearing from different people "I thought cross-training involved more than squats.")

It was a HARD practice, made even hard by the high 80s temps. At the end I was exhausted and my stomach was growling so much that it hurt.

But I wouldn't have had it any other way. I do love a hard practice.

Human Race Kickoff!

Last night I got to participate in the kickoff party for the Nike+ Human Race, which will be taking place on October 24th. Mostly I think this was done as a publicity thing, but it was still a lot of fun!

It took place right on the East River at the Water Taxi Beach, and when you checked in (you had to be invited...I got in through TNT because TNT is one of the charities that this run supports) you got a wrist band (for free drinks and food) a red Human Race technical shirt, a glow stick, and a ticket for a raffle. Cool.

The whole point was to get together for a little fun run, flooding the streets of downtown NYC and running over the Brooklyn Bridge en masse.

There were about 500 of us, including Lauren Fleshman the fastest woman in the 5K (15:23....WHOA!) and Alan Webb, who holds the record for the fastest mile (3:46...double WHOA!). They were super nice though, and hung back with all of us normal people for the run.

You could also try out the new Nike+ running shoes, which I did. (I don't think Nikes are for me though...they seem a little too narrow for my feet.)

It was so cool to see all of us in our red shirts and glow sticks running around in a group. It was especially cool to cross the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk all together. I always forget what a magnificent view of the skyline you get going across that bridge.

I think we confused all of the tourists walking across the bridge. I mean seriously, it looked like the line of red shirts did not stop. (All of this was done for publicity photos for the Human Race.) They all cheered us on though and a bunch of them took pictures or video. I felt like an elite runner in a marathon :)

It was a pretty enjoyable run, despite the 86 degree temps (I read on the clock as we were going over the bridge :). And we all got to come back afterwards for Sangria and burgers. Mmmmm.

Quelle Chaleur!

Sometimes it's pretty funny how my French calendar is right on with it's phrase of the day. Sunday's was "Quelle chaleur!" which loosely translates to "Man, it's hot!" And it was hot yesterday. (Of course, the first weekend we start to see 90 degree temps happens to be the same weekend as the NYC Half Marathon.)

It was actually HOTTER than the Chicago Marathon, but at least NYRR had the foresight to set up many water tables. (According to the National Weather Service, at 7am, which is when the race started, it was 76 degrees out with 80% humidity...by 9am it was 82 degrees!)

The heat and humidity, combined with my stupid corral assignment, combined with the fact that I only got 2 hours of sleep the night before made me think that I just might have to shelve my hopes for another 1:53. I was all agitated in my corral before the race too. People kept stepping on the back of my feet and their hair kept sticking to my shoulder (a huge pet peeve of mine).

Despite all of this, I did try to dodge and weave as much as possible. I was actually quite pleased with my first split: a 9:35. I was thinking for sure that I would be stuck doing 10 min miles from the way it was so crowded. But after I passed a bunch of people in the first mile I got very backlogged. It was kind of like when you turn the treadmill on too slow and you end up stepping all over the front of it. It was pretty frustrating. I decided that I might as well stop for water, because it WAS so hot, and it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to race this one.

Hmmm. Seems there weren't enough volunteers. The tables were littered with EMPTY cups. So it seemed that we had to stand on line while we waited for a volunteer to fill up a cup for each of us, one at a time. We were stopped for so long that my Garmin actually STOPPED because it detected no movement. Not ideal, but I guess at least they had water. That mile was a 10:05.

I tried the whole dodging and weaving thing again, and though it was frustrating, I got back up to a 9:35 on the third mile.

Harlem Hill seemed to weed some people out, and the crowd thinned momentarily. Maybe it was because as we were running up the back side of the hill some guy on the sidelines yelled "That's it! The last big hill!" I was horrified. The worst hill was coming up. Runners around me seemed happy with this so I said "That's not true at all, there's a HUGE hill coming up!" (Gina later was like "Good for you. I hate it when people lie like that." :) That mile? 8:53. Whoo-hoo! Getting my game back!

Same story at the next waterstop. Seriously?

My fifth mile I looked down and noticed something strange...my watch was calculating the miles before I would get to the mile markers. In fact, by the time I got to mile 5, my Garmin said 5.19. Now, I know, I know, there is a bit of an accuracy problem sometimes with these things, BUT every other race I've run in the park is dead on. I was wondering if maybe all of the weaving I was doing was adding on miles. Mile 5: 9:22.

I was getting thirsty and very tired of being in the park. Thank goodness some man shouted "Water just around the corner!" Where? Where? LIAR! (The next water stop was actually OUT of the park, around mile 7. I thought this was a nasty thing for that man to do. :)

Mile 6: 9:08. I was actually feeling a lot better. Besides the whole water thing.

By the time I hit the bottom of the park I felt very very tired. The heat was getting to me and I just couldn't bear to think about the rest of the race which I knew would not be shady at all (running through Times Square and on the West Side Highway. Yuck.) I saw Bill and said "It's HOT." (This was my way of saying to him "I am just going to finish this race now. I am not worrying about time anymore." Luckily, Bill has come to so many of my races that I think he totally understood.) Bill pointed to the exit from the park and told me water was just around the corner. He was NOT lying ;)

Mile 7? 9:04.

This was really when I sort of gave up on the whole thing. I was just too exhausted. It was the heat, not the run. So I sort of started to enjoy myself, smiling and waving at the TNT cheerers. I looked forward to WALKING the water stops. Mile 8: 9:11.

I must admit, it was totally surreal running through Times Square. If it hadn't been so hot I would have been having an awesome time. There were what seemed like millions of fans cheering as you ran through this whole canyon of neon, lights and moving pictures. And there were a ton of bands! It was very cool.
I felt like a sucker, because this is when I decided that I needed a walking break. I also decided I needed a GU (even though my stomach was like "No! Please! No GU!") and it was the worst tasting GU ever, even though it was my favorite, vanilla. Mile 9? 9:43.

When I headed onto the West Side Highway, I was walking and some lady on the course yelled at me. "NO WALKING! PLEASE START RUNNING!" (There were other people walking by me too.) Seriously? Some lady jogging next to me was like "Easy for her to say!"

I started running again, but had to stop when my stomach was starting to turn again. Oh yes, the line of garbage trucks on the WSH, baking in the sun. Gross. As I was walking I ran into a teammate, Charles.
He didn't look so good and he asked if we could stick together until the end. He said he REALLY needed to run with someone. I figured there was no way I was going to finish this fast anyways, and I KNOW I have felt that way before and it STINKS when you feel that way, so I said okay.

We basically walked about 80% of the rest of the way. He kept saying that I could go ahead, but I think he really wanted me to run with him, so I did. I was actually feeling pretty good after about a half mile of walking, and felt like I could pretty much run the rest of the way in, but I thought it would be pretty crappy to leave him to finish the race himself when I said I would stay with him.

So my last mile times were kind of a joke, when I compared them to my first few miles. 11:13, 11:50, 11:39, 12:10. But it was okay. I think Charles appreciated it (he gave me a big sweaty hug at the end) and I just kept thinking how I would have LOVED to have someone with me in the last few miles of my first marathon (or even Marine Corps).

So I finished with a 2:26. CORRECTION: I just checked that out again. 2:26 was my gun time, 2:16 was my official time. Whew! I thought so! Otherwise my Garmin was way off! Definitely my worst half marathon ever, but I gladly accepted my medal. This was a race that I felt was an accomplishment just to finish. :)