Ok, I am lame. The last time I posted was before my vacation. I don't even have an excuse because I have had plenty of time to blog (and run) but I just have been spending that time doing other fun things (like playing around with the floorplan of my apartment, making fun cupcakes, knitting, etc etc etc).
I guess running was just one of the main things in my life prior to now, and now, while it is still a big part of my life, I tend to have a million other things going on too.
I spent a lot of time this marathon season being frustrated...not angry...not sad, just frustrated. It seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn't get my times to go back to what they were before I had Liam. I was still working really hard, but I wasn't getting the results. I wanted to basically start where I was at the beginning of 2009. I didn't actually think this was too unreasonable (I'm not even sure if it is now). But I also just kind of accepted that running was going to be harder, I was going to be slower. I didn't know if this was a copout, but I was okay with it if it was. I thought.
Then I ran with my friends Gina and Pam one Saturday and as we were chatting Pam said that her friend (who was also pregnant around the time I was) said that running is hard, things just don't work the same way they did before. This made me feel lots better. And I realized; here I was comparing myself to Kara Goucher again, who is an Olympian, has trainers and nutritionists, runs professionally, and isn't still breastfeeding.
So, a couple of weeks ago I had my 20-miler. My 20-miler always sort of psychs me out because however it goes is the same way the marathon goes for me. I printed out this marathon armband which would have me pacing my miles so that I would end up with 9:00 splits (even though I had been running with the 10:00 min/mile group all season). I had a glass of wine the night before to relax (this has been proven to work for me). I worried worried worried so much that I didn't sleep. When I got to Grand Central (we were doing this run out of the city) I got there so early that the train doors weren't even open. So I stopped at a shop and grabbed two donuts which I inhaled in about 2 seconds. I fell asleep on the train and almost missed my stop. And then, when we got there, Coach Christine informed us that the bridge was out due to Hurricane Irene and we couldn't run our normal route. We actually had to go the other way, which involved running through several house-lined streets and the downtown area of Scarsdale before we even got to the Hudson River Parkway Trail. Ugh. And I am AWFUL at directions.
We had to stick together as a group for the first 2 miles so no one would get lost.
Well, my pace was just going to go way out the window. Whatever. I didn't really feel like I could do it anyway. I was just going to run what I ran and get the mileage in. (I usually call this "Zen Running"). So I kind of stuck with a group of three people going about 10 min/miles. Unfortunately, at the turnaround (5 miles) they decided not to stop. I needed a GU so I decided to run with the group that was slightly ahead of us and still stopped for a GU break. They were obviously going faster, so I would have to see how long that would last.
Their pace actually felt pretty good. And when I looked down at my watch, I saw we did a 9:22 mile. Cool! I stuck with them until the next turnaround, but then I was on my own. They had decided to go the other way (even though the bridge was out, someone had put a plank over the stream so you could go over it if you wanted to...I was NOT in for that. I did not train all this season to fall off a plank and injure myself.)
I got a little lost, but did find my way. I felt great. At the end I felt like I could run another 10 miles!!! And I ended up with a 9:00 pace for the WHOLE RUN! AMAZING! I was so so pumped.
THEN, I ran the Staten Island Half this past weekend. Once again, I ran by feel. I was going to try and hit 8:50s, but I took the first mile out too fast (8:37). I made a concentrated effort to slow down and went 8:22 on the next mile. I really told myself to slow down for the next mile and did an 8:08. Ok. At this point I took stock of how I felt (great) and decided to just go for it. In the end, my slowest mile ended up being an 8:56 and my fastest a 7:55.
I PRed!!!!!!!!
BY FOUR MINUTES!!!! (I got a 1:50!)
Did I just underestimate myself before? Did I just kick it in for some reason? What happened? I have no idea but I am NOT going to change ANYTHING and hope for the best on NYC marathon day.
Showing posts with label staten island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staten island. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Monday, October 13, 2008
Psych Out
I have come to the conclusion that I psych myself out during my races. This should come as no surprise, because when I used to swim I would do the same thing...I would have a great practice and then choke at the swim meet.
I say this because this weekend I ran the Staten Island Half Marathon. Basically, my group had to do a 12-13 mile run this weekend and Coach Ramon gave us the option of running it in the park or running the Staten Island Half as a training run...meaning that we would actually race it but run it just like any other weekend long mileage run. I chose the SIH because I am SOOOOOOO tired of running in Central Park. I welcomed the change of scenery and (here is the stupid reason) I think all of the shirts from the Grand Prix Half Marathons have been kind of cool. I have the Queens one, and I wanted the SI one.
I think not racing a race is pretty hard to do. I mean, there you are, surrounded by people who ARE racing it and there's all kinds of excitement in the air. It's easy to get caught up in it. It's also difficult because they corral you by pace and my pace is listed as 8:15 (even though that was for a MUCH shorter race). Anyway, I decided to just take it out as a fun run and not worry about it and pay more attention to my breathing than my time (hard to do with a huge clock glaring at you every mile. I discussed my inability to go slow in races before the race with Eric, one of the mentors. I told him I was shooting for 10 minute miles and he said I should just go my regular Saturday pace: 9:30. I thought that was probably a good idea.
My first mile I logged a 9:15.
Mile 2 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 9:02
Mile 4 - 9:17
I have to admit, I wasn't "holding back" like I usually do during races. I felt a little blah and tired. But then, now that I think about it, that was probably okay, because that's how I usually feel for the first few miles of a long run. And I don't focus on "holding back" on those, but on keeping a nice consistent pace.
Mile 5 - 10:04 (this was because I walked through the water stop and ate a Gu. I decided not to try the running/drinking thing this time, because I waste more time recovering from my choking.)
Mile 6 - 9:08
Mile 7 - 9:09 (the Gu must have kicked in by now because I was feeling AWESOME)
Mile 8 - 10:01 (slowed down by another water stop)
Mile 9 - 9:14 (and that was stopping for water AND a Gu)
Mile 10 - 8:53
Mile 11 - 9:16
This mile had a big hill, which kind of sucked since we were so close to the end. To make it worse, this lady next to me was like, mooing or something...really loudly. She was obviously having issues getting up the hill. But even after the hill she kept mooing. I find it really frustrating to be running by people like this because they also psych me out. Because there I am, trying to do my own thing mentally to get me up the hill and even if I am making it through the hill sucessfully it is like their loud breathing etc reminds me that I am on a really tough hill and that I should be struggling too. I tried to get away from her as fast as I could.
Mile 12 - 9:36
It was somewhere in the middle of mile 12 that I decided to look at my total time. I realized that I was super close to a sub 2:00 time. I would basically have to finish my last mile in 7 minutes (ha!). I knew this wasn't possible , but wanted to speed up anyway.
Mile 13 - 8:28
Whoo hoo!
I finished strong, with a 2:01:13 overall (grrrr. If only I had been .13 seconds faster!).
But you know, if I would have been racing that, I probably would have gone slower. I've got to get in the mental game for this marathon.
Oh and one funny little story...
To get to Staten Island, you have to go all the way to the bottom of Manhattan and take the ferry. On the 1 train you actually have to be in the front 5 cars to get off at the last stop. Well, usually the only people that go down that far in Manhattan are tourists (it is by the Statue of Liberty) and residents of Staten Island. Add in a 7:30 am time on a Sunday (most NYers sleep until noon) and all you have is tourists. So when the 1 train was packed with runners like it was rush hour (standing room only, shoulder to shoulder) I think we really really really confused the tourists. They looked VERY overwhelmed. Especially when the huge hall to take the ferry was overcrowded with thousands of runners. I felt sorry for them. But I felt especially sorry for the ones who took the ferry back after the race with all of us runners. I'm sure it was a rather stinky ride.
I say this because this weekend I ran the Staten Island Half Marathon. Basically, my group had to do a 12-13 mile run this weekend and Coach Ramon gave us the option of running it in the park or running the Staten Island Half as a training run...meaning that we would actually race it but run it just like any other weekend long mileage run. I chose the SIH because I am SOOOOOOO tired of running in Central Park. I welcomed the change of scenery and (here is the stupid reason) I think all of the shirts from the Grand Prix Half Marathons have been kind of cool. I have the Queens one, and I wanted the SI one.
I think not racing a race is pretty hard to do. I mean, there you are, surrounded by people who ARE racing it and there's all kinds of excitement in the air. It's easy to get caught up in it. It's also difficult because they corral you by pace and my pace is listed as 8:15 (even though that was for a MUCH shorter race). Anyway, I decided to just take it out as a fun run and not worry about it and pay more attention to my breathing than my time (hard to do with a huge clock glaring at you every mile. I discussed my inability to go slow in races before the race with Eric, one of the mentors. I told him I was shooting for 10 minute miles and he said I should just go my regular Saturday pace: 9:30. I thought that was probably a good idea.
My first mile I logged a 9:15.
Mile 2 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 9:02
Mile 4 - 9:17
I have to admit, I wasn't "holding back" like I usually do during races. I felt a little blah and tired. But then, now that I think about it, that was probably okay, because that's how I usually feel for the first few miles of a long run. And I don't focus on "holding back" on those, but on keeping a nice consistent pace.
Mile 5 - 10:04 (this was because I walked through the water stop and ate a Gu. I decided not to try the running/drinking thing this time, because I waste more time recovering from my choking.)
Mile 6 - 9:08
Mile 7 - 9:09 (the Gu must have kicked in by now because I was feeling AWESOME)
Mile 8 - 10:01 (slowed down by another water stop)
Mile 9 - 9:14 (and that was stopping for water AND a Gu)
Mile 10 - 8:53
Mile 11 - 9:16
This mile had a big hill, which kind of sucked since we were so close to the end. To make it worse, this lady next to me was like, mooing or something...really loudly. She was obviously having issues getting up the hill. But even after the hill she kept mooing. I find it really frustrating to be running by people like this because they also psych me out. Because there I am, trying to do my own thing mentally to get me up the hill and even if I am making it through the hill sucessfully it is like their loud breathing etc reminds me that I am on a really tough hill and that I should be struggling too. I tried to get away from her as fast as I could.
Mile 12 - 9:36
It was somewhere in the middle of mile 12 that I decided to look at my total time. I realized that I was super close to a sub 2:00 time. I would basically have to finish my last mile in 7 minutes (ha!). I knew this wasn't possible , but wanted to speed up anyway.
Mile 13 - 8:28
Whoo hoo!
I finished strong, with a 2:01:13 overall (grrrr. If only I had been .13 seconds faster!).
But you know, if I would have been racing that, I probably would have gone slower. I've got to get in the mental game for this marathon.
Oh and one funny little story...
To get to Staten Island, you have to go all the way to the bottom of Manhattan and take the ferry. On the 1 train you actually have to be in the front 5 cars to get off at the last stop. Well, usually the only people that go down that far in Manhattan are tourists (it is by the Statue of Liberty) and residents of Staten Island. Add in a 7:30 am time on a Sunday (most NYers sleep until noon) and all you have is tourists. So when the 1 train was packed with runners like it was rush hour (standing room only, shoulder to shoulder) I think we really really really confused the tourists. They looked VERY overwhelmed. Especially when the huge hall to take the ferry was overcrowded with thousands of runners. I felt sorry for them. But I felt especially sorry for the ones who took the ferry back after the race with all of us runners. I'm sure it was a rather stinky ride.
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