Back at it

Well, not really, but I did get out there yesterday for my first recovery run since Columbus. I took 5 days completely off. No running, no pilates, nada. Yesterday I ran 4.5 really easy. Everything was ok, but afterwards my calves were very sore. It is amazing how long a marathon can linger. I may run another short recovery run today if I have time. I slept in late and have a LOT to do today. It may even snow tonight - CrAzY!

I have been enjoying sleeping in until 6:00 am every morning - I didn't even need my alarm this week! I am relishing the down time and trying to decide what is next. What spring marathon are you running?

My goal for the next week is to pick a new target race and write a schedule. I am also hoping to drop a few pounds in November. I know once I start training again it is not going to happen - so now is the time.

2008 Columbus Marathon

Fair warning: This report stays true to Mindi style and is very, very long! Proceed with caution and only if you have a few minutes to spare.

The Columbus Marathon was my second marathon of 2008. In May, I ran the Madison Marathon on something of a whim, with very little organized training and one 20 mile run. I ran a 3:46 and realized, HEY! I CAN do this while working long hours and still be a good mom and wife. And in fact, on some level, I felt that I really needed to fit it in for my own happiness/sanity. So I picked the Columbus marathon and wrote a schedule based on Pfitzinger’s 18 week/ up to 55 miles per week program. I was most concerned about the mid week medium long runs, but before I knew it, I was used to rising at 5:00 am or just before to log the miles. My training was slow and my heart rate was high, but for the most part I kept to my schedule and logged the miles.

Typically I find Pfitz’s tapers to be aggressive – i.e. not enough rest. This time around, I felt pretty much fine throughout all of the training. I had a few minor injuries, but never felt overtrained or near my breaking point. I usually get sick during those last couple of taper weeks, so it was nothing short of miraculous that I didn’t this time. My entire family was sick and I had been consistently getting 1.5-2 hours less sleep every night for the last nine months. But, no need to question it, I’ll take it!!

Leading up to Columbus, the weather looked perfect. Awesome. There is nothing worse than being 100% on race day to have mother nature throw a wrench in things. Now, it was all me.
John and I left on Saturday morning at 8:00 am and dropped our boys off at my sister’s. We then hit the highway for Columbus. My first mistake was not printing out detailed directions. We let my Garmin Nuvi lead us. We were on 290 in Chicago and all of a sudden I saw 294 pass – oh no! We were headed straight into downtown Chicago. NEVER do that. But we did. And then we drove into downtown Gary, Indiana. Our exit (of course) was completely closed down and we drove all over the place to finally get to where we needed to. Then we hit some major construction and were at a complete stand still. Oh no…. what if we do not make it to the expo before 7? Fortunately we made it through and arrived in Columbus at 5:30 pm.

We went to the expo picked up my bib # and chip. John wanted to get me a shirt that said “Marathon Ho” (well honey, this is marathon #7 for you….). We settled on “Some girls chase boys, I pass them.” I also picked up an awesome Brooks nightlife wind breaker. With all my early morning runs in the dark, it seemed like a good investment.

I wanted to stop somewhere to find a banana. My traditional pre-race meal is a banana, a bagel and Gatorade. No such luck in downtown Columbus. We then looked for a place to grab dinner. Salty recommended Martines, but it looked fancier than we were dressed and wasn’t really close to our hotel. Everywhere else we went either had ridiculous lines, or over-priced foods with lots of heavy sauces. Finally we stopped at the Elevator Brewery. They had a couple pasta dishes with heavy sauces. I asked for a chicken pasta dish without sauce. Um, well, no “sauce” per se, but it was SPICY! Yikes. Hopefully that will not cause any problems. John had a couple beers while I downed water. I’m not the most exciting date the night before a marathon!

I hit the sack around 9:00 pm and actually slept pretty well. My alarm went off at 4:30 am. Yep, I was still on Central time and it felt like 3:30. I went over to grab my breakfast and DAMMIT! I left my bagels in the car, which was in some valet parking lot. Of course the hotel did not serve breakfast until 6. So I rifled through my running bag and found an old Clif bar.... Best if consumed prior to 1/07/2007. Not cool. BUT, it was the only option before me so I ate the nasty thing while I wished I had a banana. The rest of the morning had one little thing after another go wrong and I started to get rattled about it. My stomach was not cooperating, so once again I rifled through my bag and was pleased to find an immodium. Yep, it had expired over a year ago as well. At that point, I couldn’t help but laugh. What a ridiculous morning. Having a crap attitude was not going to help. Time to regroup. I told John – “You know, I am an old dog and you can kick me, but I’m not going down today!!” And so it was.

I went outside to line up at 7:15. The beauty of the Columbus Marathon is that is starts right outside of the hotel so no long waiting. Perfect. It was dark and cold and I was PUMPED up. I absolutely love the pre-race vibe. The girl next to me was running the half. Her sister was running the full and going for sub-3 - she was hoping to be in for money. I wished her luck. The gun went off and I quickly tried to move over to the far right side of the crowd to see John. A few blocks up I did and high fived him. Before I knew it, I checked the Garmin and saw that I was at a 7:40 pace. Yikes, slow down.

The first couple of miles were great. I was listening to a couple of guys talking smack. One of the guys made fun of his friend (and everyone else) that grabbed water at the first water stop. Rookie. Needless to say by mile 5 he was slowing and calling his friend a Kenyan.

The first 10K of the race is either pancake flat or slightly downhill. Very fast. Very nice. Mile 7 had a few hills and I found myself stuck behind the 3:40 group. As usual, the Clif Pace Group went out WAY fast. A first time marathoner asked me if I knew what group was ahead of us. I told her it was 3:40 and asked her if she was hoping to qualify. She said she didn’t know. I told her to ignore them and to run her own race – they were way too fast and were banking a few minutes. I suggested she take it easy and pick it up at 15 if she felt good. She seemed relieved and backed off. I hope she had a great race.

We started running into big crowds and I hoped I would not miss John since I was behind this huge group. All of a sudden I saw him, so I backtracked, grabbed him and passed off my jacket and gloves to him. It was awesome to see him and his new spectator friends. They yelled “Way to go Mindi” and I smiled. I kept going and wondered if I was running too fast. My Garmin was showing an 8:05 pace, so I figured I was probably around 8:10. I felt good, but knew that could change. I kept getting a short, sharp pain in my L ribs. PLEASE DO NOT TURN INTO A STITCH. I thought of Salty last year at Columbus…. Miraculously, it never did.

The course was beautiful and continued to be fast. I saw John just before the half again and tried to give him a smooch on the run. It didn’t work, but we both laughed and I was thankful to see him. The half marathoners turned a corner to finish and I was happy that the races finally split. Now I could see who my competition was! I hit the half at 1:47:4x. Cool. I can hit 3:35 if I do not bomb.

The next miles were pretty uneventful. The course was nice and I had to focus on not dropping pace during these miles (although I did a little anyway). Around 15 I started to pick it up and felt good. We ran past the Ohio State stadium and it was very quiet. I passed a few people and was glad I felt good. Mile 17 was tough – a few bigger hills and it forced me to concentrate. Negative splits.

We went through the OSU campus and I kept thinking how unattractive the campus was for such a big school and a beautiful city. I had read that the course would go past frat row, but did not see any enthusiastic students. I guess the marathon was not advertised well. No one even offered me a beer. Not that I would take one today, but come on!

I hit mile 20 and saw I was at 2:50 or something (according to the course clock). It seemed impossible I could hit 3:35 now. But then I remembered I am completely incapable of math after 15 miles and to just go. So I did. At around 22 miles I started getting tired. Then I thought, I only have about 30 minutes left. This is 30 minutes of my life I will never get back, how will I spend it? So I dug deep and decided I would make myself proud. It was a solid decision. Miles 23-24 were hilly and a bit tougher. Nothing insane by any stretch, but also a far cry from the super fast first half. I hung in there and kept looking for John. At mile 25 I picked it up a bit, or at least I felt like I did. I saw John (after hearing him him screaming his head off at me) just before the turn to the finish. I smiled at him big and turned on the afterburners. The finish is down a big hill – so I screamed on down and hit the last .2 at a 6:15 pace. Nice. 3:34:20. Expectations exceeded.

We rushed back to the hotel and I quickly showered before our noon checkout. We stopped at a Ruby Tuesday outside of town and I indulged in a big fat amber beer. MMMM. Delicious.

Splits (according to my trusty Garmin):
1: 8:24

2: 7:52

3: 8:07

4: 8:14

5: 7:58

6: 8:08

7: 8:26

8: 8:23

9: 8:04

10: 8:18

11: 8:16

12 - 15: 24:40 (see, I told you I was spacing out)

16: 8:14

17: 7:54

18: 7:59

19: 8:20

20: 8:26

21: 8:10

22 – 23: 16:10

24: 7:55

25: 8:16

26: 8:00

.2: 6:15 pace

Total: 3:34:20 (Garmin clocked 26.48)

So naturally, the question is, what’s next? I have some girl friends trying to talk me into Boston 09. We will see. For now I am taking the week off and enjoying crappy food and lots of fermented beverages.

Kairos.

I laugh as I write this because I feel long-winded. But it is oh so abbreviated compared to the experience. A good thing.

3:34:20

It was a crazy weekend and a rough (ridiculously early) morning, but a GREAT race. I am pumped. Full race report to follow. The low-down is I ran a terrific race on an awesome course and hit negative splits. Marathon #7 is in the books as well as state #6.

The last 35 hours have consisted of almost 17 of driving, 3:34:20 (let's be precise here please) running; 6:30 sleeping, and the rest expo-ing, eating and walking around. A whirlwind. No wonder I have Spock fingers going on in my pict this am pre-race! :)

Thanks for all of the support!! I loved coming home to your comments!!

1258

I am busy getting ready to head to Columbus early tomorrow morning. The weather looks perfect! Yay! I am starting to get pretty excited. Wish me luck! My bib# is 1258....

Continued.....

So I am getting ready for my last short, easy run this morning before we head off to Columbus. I checked the weather (from 3 different souces of course) and I am astonished to say the weather truly looks PERFECT! That is a first to me. Well, it was perfect for my first, but I don't think I even really checked it before hand because I didn't understand what a big impact it could make. Regardless, the goods news from the weather gods this morning is very, very welcome.

I have also realized during the last couple of days that, to me, marathon weekend really rivals Christmas or other big holidays, if not more. You work your tail off for 5 months, go through good workouts, bad, stiffness, injury, strength, exhastion and sometimes the elation of a great run. And then there you are getting ready for the big day! How awesome is that?!?

Time Goal? I have no concrete time goal. I'd love it to be 3:35 or less, but I am fully aware it may be higher. I am completely going to go by feel and try to negative split and finish strong. Obviously I would like to BQ (3:45:59) and finish (even if I bomb, it is state #6!!). Above all, I am going to have fun!! My husband is going to be spectating and I am thrilled about that - he hasn't been able to do that for a long time. It is always a huge lift to see him on the course.

I have run over 700 miles in preparation of this race and I am ready.

Whew, that was a relief!

Today I had my first work performance review in, well, 8 years. Sheesh. Ordinarily I wouldn't be too worried about it because I have received very positive feedback from both clients and other attorneys I have worked with. However, my mentor confided to me that we were making some cuts due to the economy (and undoubtedly as a good time to unload some dead weight).

Plus, for the last several years, I was the boss. I reported to no one. Things have changed. The good news was that I got a great review and a raise. Whew (cue wiping brow).

Running has been good, but of course light. I am in the single-digit count down to my fall marathon. I even get the 5 day forecast tomorrow!!

I ran 12 on Sunday with a 5K. I ran the 5K hard, but I did not kill myself over it. I believe my time was 23:14. One of my worst 5K times, but I was happy as it was a nice hard effort, but nothing that would jeopardize my race on Sunday. I have to say it was HOT though and I was suddenly very glad I did not sign up for Chicago.

Monday I rested and made sure to do all of my core work and leg stretches.

This morning I had my last "workout." 7 miles with 2 at MP. I logged the 2 at 8:03 and 8:00 respectively, which I was happy with given the terrain. However, I sincerely doubt that is anywhere near my current marathon pace. For now, the plan is to try to run 8:10s to 8:15s and hope I can pick it up around 15. I am afraid if I go out at 8:00s I may bomb and I am just not in the mood for that type of race. :)

The weather looks good this weekend so far (knock on wood). I am still looking at Grand Rapids as well as Columbus. I am signed up for Columbus, but if the temps are much cooler (i.e. highs in 50s rather than 60s), I may go there. It will save me 3+ hours driving time each way and I know I like the course. But if the weather is substantially the same, I will stick to the original plan. And I hate to sound like I am shopping for my race (although I admit I am and frankly my plan from the beginning was given my crap weather year last year, I would pck a race that had options), BUT Columbus is over 8 hours away and thanks to all of my non-billable time lately, I need to drive back right after the race so I can work on Monday morning. Booooo.

On the upside: My current running skirt (skirt sports) is pretty beat-up and the compression shorts underneath have a couple holes in them. So I wanted a new one for my race. I ordered one from skirtsports.com a couple weeks ago only to find that they have resized and I needed to order a size down. Wouldn't you know they don't have any smalls left? Only L, XL, XXXL etc. I have been checking on a daily basis to see if they get anything in. No luck. BUT, I found this place called Sole Sports Running on Saturday. Not only did they have my cool new skirt, but also in my size and for a slightly lower price! They gave me free shipping and I already received it today!! Awesome. I highly recommend them if you need any gear. [I got both the black and red skirts with white stripes on the side and they are awesome].

On a final note, I was all excited in my last post about RSS in Outlook, but it seems like it is no longer regularly checking for updates. Anyone know how to fix this?

9 miles to go.....

Welcome to the 21st century Mindi

So I got my new computer just before I went to San Fran. It is pretty cool. One of the perks is an updated version of Outlook where I can track my favorite blogs. How awesome is that? I am often terrible about checking blogs because I just don't have the time. But now, I get your entries in my inbox, pictures and all (as long as it is not a subscription only blog). I love it.

This week has been good for me so far. This is week 2 of the taper, but due to my lite week last week, the miles should be quite similar, just dispersed differently.

Monday I rested and was a little bit sore from my uptempo 16 miler on Sunday.

Tuesday I ran 7 miles at an 8:32 pace. No rhyme or reason - it just felt right so I let it go.

Wednesday I had the "big" workout - the king of the Pfitz VO2Max workouts in my opinion - 8 miles with 3x1600 at 5K pace; 2 min recoveries. I did a slow 3.1 mile warmup (9:41), then hit the intervals as follows: 7:08, 6:55, 7:05. I was pretty happy with it too as it was hilly and pretty windy. My 5K workouts and races have been around 7:10ish lately (or higher), so I felt like I was working hard.

Thursday and Friday were rest days. I would have preferred to run on Friday and rest Saturday, but I had a TON of work to get done. I spent the entire day Thursday at the University of Wisconsin E-Commerce Consortium, which was very interesting and I got to spend the day with a very interesting and innovative client. BUT, alas, another non-billable day. Ouch.

Friday I knew I had to leave early to go to Oconomowoc to the Tomorrow's Hope charitable event to hear Dick Hoyt of Team Hoyt speak. So I got up at 5:00 am and hit work very early to catch up.

The charitable event was a lot of fun. Dick's speech closely tracked the book, which isn't beautiful prose, but the heart and story are ever-gripping. It was fun and I met some really great people there.

Today I had 5 recovery with 6 striders on tap. I slogged it out at 9:40s, but with the striders (which were relatively slow too) I ended up averaging 9:27. My HR was all over the place. I really need to change the battery or something in my HRM. Lately it is logging my HR in the 180s-190s in the first .75 - mile and then it jumps all over. Not very helpful. Today it logged a 192 HR at a 9:20ish pace when I started. Now that is just crazy.

Tomorrow I have 12. I am planning to run 6-7 w/u, 5K, then 2-3 c/d. I will probably run the race around tempo pace - we will see. It is going to be a warm one again. I hope Chicago is bearable tomorrow.

Wish me luck and run (or recover) well!


Sorry, I would feel remiss if I did not somehow also mention this crazy week. Historical.

And so it begins...

Yes. I admit it. I have already started checking accuweather.com for the extended forecast. I am even checking Grand Rapids weather in case it is better there and I decide last minute to cut 3 hours off my travel time. And so my taper madness begins....

This morning, as I was running in the dark I am so getting used to, I started thinking about race day. I began envisioning a great race performance. Even a PR despite relatively lax training. And then I was reminded of last weekend (cue: oh yeah, reality) wherein several of my friends (virtual and real) ran 26.2. Disappointingly enough, many of them, if not most of them, had tough races despite pretty decent weather. It is a reminder that this distance can kick your @ss for a variety of reasons no matter how prepared you show up on race day. It even seems that the harder you work (and the more marathons/racing you have logged), the more likely for failure may occur due to illness, injury or sheer disappointment because you have invested so much of yourself in this one day and have set very specific goals down to the minutes if not seconds.

But of course I am not one to dwell on the negatives. I know anything can happen. I may get hit by a bus tomorrow, but that is not going to stop me from crossing the street. So on to the analysis: how prepared am I? I have absolutely no idea. I have not raced much at all this summer, so I have not gotten the nice "tune-ups" I have grown accustomed to. I think I could easily hit 3:40 if everything goes right. But 3:30 seems as though it may be a a stretch. Is it? I'm just not sure. I'd hate to start out way too slow. But even more I would hate to bomb. I have run 6 marathons. In 4 I was able to negative split. Those were awesome. The 2 I did not were red-headed stepchildren of hell. Seriously.

So what does this mean? I don't know. But I did have a good run this morning. I ran 7 at an 8:31 pace. Most of it was around 8:40s, but I threw some striders in at the end to shake the dust off.

Tomorrow I have a decent workout - 3x1600 at 5K pace. Always a tough one, but one I have typically finished feeling good about.

Friday night I am going to a charity function and am lucky enough to have the opportunity to listen to Dick Hoyt as the keynote speaker. I have always been inspired by Dick and Rick Hoyt. I met Dick briefly at Boston 07. Rick was not there because he was undergoing a surgical procedure. But Friday they will both be in Oconomoc, Wisconsin and I am greatly looking forward to the event. It should be just the right inspiration one week out from race day.

I am also running a 5K for literacy on Sunday. I'm not sure if I will race or coast. It will be one of those "play it by ear" type of deals.

And there it is.... Only 11 more days of obsessing about 26.2 miles of unknown that lie ahead.

What a week!

First of all, congrats to everyone who raced today!! It was a seemingly perfect day for marathoning - hopefully both Minneapolis and Milwaukee stayed dry!

I had a good week, although I was short about 10 miles. I knew I would be, however, with my trip to San Francisco. I did not run at all there because my time was so limited. My conference was very interesting, and when not at that, we tried to pack in as much action as possible. With that said, I will not call my rest days in SF "rest" days because we walked several crazy hilly miles every day.

The trip was so much fun! We went to Pier 39 and saw all of the crazy (and loud!) sea lions. It was pretty hilarious. We went through China town and many neighborhoods. Of course we made it a point to ride the trolley every night - always entertaining. We hit Muir Woods and that was really awesome. The ride down there (and out) was crazy curvy, insane. I was laughing so hard b/c I really did not expect that. We drove through Pacific Heights which was equally nuts. At the crest of one hill I was afraid to stop at the stop sign in fear we would roll back and I could not see into the intersection with the angle we were at.

We went to Coit Tower which was like the Twillight Zone. It was really cool, but clearly had not been updated in 40-50 years. We got into this rickety elevator to get up, hung out for a while, then went back to get on the elevator. The emergency stairs were literally bolted shut, so that was a bit unsettling. Needless to say, we were happy when the guy in the rickety elevator came back to get us!

We met loads of different people and saw all kinds of great things. It was truly a priceless trip. I do not think I have laughed that much in years either.

But enough on that. Here is my running breakdown for this week:

M: rest

T: 9.77 miles with 5x600 meters; 9 second rest (paces: 6:57, 6:32, 6:43, 6:59, 7:13)

W: 6.6 easy (8:58) ; walk several miles around SF

R: Walk several miles around SF

F: Walk several miles around SF; hike Muir Woods

Sa: rest - long travel day!

Su: 16.08 (8:35) in the rain. Last mile 7:49 pace.

Total: 32.5

All in all a good week. Miles going down, paces following suit. Two weeks until C-bus.

I picked up Runner's World for the plane, which was enjoyable. It had a running mantra for motivation on those days it is just tough to get out there. It went along these lines:

There will come a day when I cannot do this. Today is not that day.

Simple and to the point. Good stuff.