Great start to a new year

Today I am 36. :D

We celebrated with the boys last night since we are going to a funeral tonight. Jakey made me a cool peace sign out of beads and James got me a pirate goblet. It was awesome and they were so excited! We had cake and a really fun evening together.

This morning John got up with me at 4:45 and ran the first 4 miles of my run with me. I then finished up the next 7 on my own. It was a perfect morning for a run, my HR was nice and low and my legs felt snappy. Nice.

A good start....

So last night I was admittedly starting to feel a bit down about my race yesterday. I had such a good winter/spring season, and besides some tight glutes/hammies, I was feeling really strong. My legs actually felt really good, I was down several pounds and had gotten good sleep the nights leading up to the race (even though the night before was a late one, I slept in). I had watched my diet all week and even passed up on beer at the beer tent on Saturday night (which, incidentally, is very funny to be one of the few entirely sober people in a huge beer tent listening to a band).

Anyway, aside from getting 2 nasty yellow jacket stings on Saturday, I was ready to go. I did an easy 3 mile warmup and my HR was very low (for the first mile, then I got a little HR creep as it was 81 degrees). But things just didn't come together once I was racing. Maybe I went out too fast. Maybe it was just a bad day. But I was starting to bemoan it all. Poor me. I trained for 7 weeks and really sacrified my marathon training for a very crappy race.

Then all of a sudden, my husband, after checking into e-mail, gasped. We just received notice that one of my colleagues lost his 21 year old son this weekend in a car accident.

Um, reality check? Check.
I have honestly just felt sick since. That is news no parent - or sibling - should ever have to receive. And I am so sad for my colleague. I know I would never be the same again. I'm sure he won't be either.

So for now, I just feel thankful. And rather than second guessing a bad day, I am happy that I had the 6 awesome Tuesday night track workouts with with my boys and got to do this super fun event with them (among all the other great things, of course).

As for today, well the stars have simply been a bit misaligned from the get go. Just above my right ankle is a 4 inch diameter of crazy red, swollen, itchy and painful yuckiness. Thank you Mr. Yellow Jacket. Also my R eyelid is all swollen and crazy. WTF?

Then on my way home from work I blew out a tire. Thank you, messy roads and construction. Believe it or not, I haven't had a flat since I was 16 years old. Needless to say, I just got a crash refresher in changing a tire.

Good thing I cancelled my bike ride with my neighbor tonight or there is little doubt I would have crashed. ;)

Now I am on to planning for the remainder of my marathon training. Plan is to rebuild mileage (which was hovering in the 40s for the last several weeks). I will gradually build up and hopefully get up to 60 or so mpw. A far cry from the initial 70 I planned, but, well, plans changed.

Lackluster

That would be my Capitol Mile. Not sure why. Had the normal pre-race jitters, but come race time, I was fine. Started out too fast, but really only 6 or so seconds ahead of pace at the 1/4, which doesn't seem too bad given we were on a downhill. By the half, I was right on target. But the hill must have sucked a lot out of me. My time really stunk - 6:12. Yikes! WAY off goal. So were several of us it seems. No real explanation for it though - it hurt like crazy and I was giving it what I could.

The boys did well. James ran an 8:0x and Jake ran a 9:1x. It was really cool. James went out with Jake for the first quarter and he had a ton of energy left at the end. I ran with Jakey and he did such a great job. His goal was to be "in the 9s" and he readily did it! James goal was a PR, which he also accomplished.

Despite me having a crap race, it was so much fun - I love the Capitol Mile and watching all the heats. And I actually won 3rd in my age group - no elite runners showed up - in fact there were only 10 women in the open women's race! Crazy. But I'll take it.

So now I am on to figure out how to salvage my marathon training and have a decent race in October.....

Well I am certainly rested!

Surprise, surprise, this week did not turn out as planned. At all. Oh well.

Monday: arms, legs, abs, but I ended up working later than planned and did not have the energy to bike so I decided I'd go Wednesday (little did I know . . . )

Tuesday: 6 easy am (9:06); track workout pm was cancelled for rain

Wednesday: Rest: viciously ill with another flu bug! I honestly thought I was going to die. I am so thankful I didn't - it was really touch and go for a while there....

Thursday: worked very early to very late - no time to run, but very thankful to be busy!

Friday: 6.5 mile fartlek; arms

Sa: 4 easy w/ some striders; 12.5 bike; abs, legs

Tomorrow is the Capitol Mile! I really hope I have a good race. My stomach is not 100% yet after the little flu bug that slammed me Wednesday, but hopefully I will be ok tomorrow. I am still working on rehydrating too..... My legs don't feel as light as I'd like them to, but I don't think I could have possibly rested any more! To get myself geared up, I have been watching the YouTube video of the 2007 finish when I broke a 6 minute mile. I am trying to get fired up for this race. If I can't get my head in it, I'm not going to get at or under 6 again - which is the goal.

Today I went into Trek to get James a new helmet and get his bike fixed. The sweet part was that my bike was now on sale! Trek will match any price within 30 days of purchase. So fixing James' bike (new rear wheel and all), a helmet, a complete flat kit, a tube, a cell phone holder and riding gloves only cost $18. Sweet!!


Have patience if you watch this, it takes me over a minute to come in after the first woman! Heh. I am a total cheese ball. :D

Last Track Workout Cancelled

Bummer. It was raining, so it was cancelled. On my way home from work, I thought the kids may not want to go, but they were jazzed to go run in the rain! :) Yep, they take after their mom!

But as we were leaving we got the message that training was cancelled. And both boys were super bummed. So rather than running, we hung out and were lazy tonight. But I was so glad to see they were disappointed. I guess they like this running thing after all.

Good thing - considering it is seemingly MUCH less dangerous than biking. :)

A Good Decision

First - thanks to everyone for the nice words about James. I really appreciate it.

Back to training (which is thankfully much less exciting) :D

As you may recall, I decided to cut back on training for the days leading up to Capitol Mile in an attempt to get some snap back into these log legs. Well, I think it is working.

M: travel/rest / core

T: track workout ~ approx. 5 miles. 3.5 w/u and c/d; 800x2; 200x5; arms; side weights; core

W: rest, core

R: 7 easy (9:23); arms, side weights, legs, core

F: rest; legs, core

Sa: 6 easy (9:06); arms, side weights, core

Su: 14 (9:03); legs, core

Total: 31.8 miles

So I dropped the mileage pretty significantly and really upped my stretching. I have already noticed big results. My hammie/butt do not hurt at all when just walking around. I feel them periodically when running, but far less than before. Today, my legs felt noticeably lighter. Yay. Hopefully with a nice cut-back week next week, I will be ready and raring to go on Sunday.

Plan:

M: bike, arms, legs, core

T: 6 recovery am / Miler training pm (this will be very minimal)

W: 5 recovery, arms, legs, core

R: 8 easy w/8 striders, legs, core

F: rest, arms, legs, core

Sa: 5 easy w/5 striders, legs, core

Su: CAPITOL MILE

First Epic Bike Race....DNF

Seriously. It was epic. We will NEVER forget it.

James and I registered to participate in the Boys and Girls Club 7th annual bike ride. We joined my friend's daughter's team and have been jazzed to participate in our first bike race for weeks! This ride has a 50 mile route, 30 mile route and 10 mile route. It is supposed to be a really fun ride and at the end, we get to celebrate with the UW band, Culvers ice cream, brats and beer. Fun!

We, of course, signed on for the 10 mile route. I had heard the course had one big uphill in the beginning, but the rest was mostly flat. Perfect.

So this morning, John, me and the boys headed out for a morning of fun. Only James and I were riding, but John and Jake thought it would be fun to watch and take it all in. On the way, traffic was all stopped because a car had completely flipped over in the middle of a side street. Crazy. Scary. Unfortunately, it was something of an omen of things to come for the day.

We got parked, registered, got our cool new team jerseys and met up with our fun team members. It was a lovely, cool morning and we were very excited. We lined up for the start and James smiled at me and said he was a little nervous. I smiled back and said, "aw, don't be, we are going to have a great time!" Little did I know....

We got started and the huge pack of riders freaked James out a little. At first he was flustered because we were going so slow. I tried to pick it up for him, but then he was worried. There were so many people and it made him very uncomfortable. We turned a corner and started heading up a big hill. James was going incredibly slow because he was worried about all the riders around him (it was still very congested). By the top of the hill, I had to completely stop to catch him. We started down and he was slamming on his brakes and barely moving. I told him it was okay to speed up a little - it would be okay. Boy do I deeply regret those words.

He let go of his brakes right at the steepest part of the downhill and started speeding up. I think then he just got flustered and did not know what to do as he just started FLYING down the hill. Keep in mind there were hundreds of riders around. I was watching him try to navigate between the curb and riders riding very close to the curb. He was focusing on not crashing, rather than on applying his brakes. (He later told me he was afraid of applying his brakes because he thought he would go over the handle bars). I think I yelled, "BRAKES!" about 100 times but maybe it was just in my mind. He was out of control and going at least 35 mph yelling "MMMMOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!"

And there was not a damn thing I could do.

Near the bottom of the hill, the course took a relatively sharp left. I was relieved to see he did not try to make the corner at that speed. He went straight into the zoo area entrance. Suddenly, I saw him hit the curb and go flying off his bike. Then I saw the bike flying right at him. And my heart stopped completely. It was honestly the most horrifying thing I have ever seen. I flew down there, jumped off my bike and instinctively picked him up and hugged him.

Within 30 seconds, a man was telling me to put him down and be careful of his neck - he could be severely hurt. Turns out that man was a pediatric critical care physician. His wife was there too - she was also a pediatrician. At first lots of people were crowding around, but soon it dispersed to just a handful. Should we call an ambulance? Does he need x-rays? After a few minutes, the doctor determined his neck appeared okay. James was shell shocked to say the least. But he was conscious. His right hip/abdomen hurt badly. He had bruises all over. He had thankfully landed in a small grassy area - about 20-25 feet from the curb he hit. I called John and he and Jake ran over. Thank goodness they came with us this morning. After 15-20 minutes, we walked our bikes back to the car. The doctor had told us he looked okay, but to observe him for the next couple hours and if anything got worse, go to the doctor. We opted to go anyway.

We went to our after hours clinic and they worked us right in. Up to this point, I had been very calm and collected. But after describing everything to the nurse, she looked at James and said, "thank goodness your guardian angel was there to catch your fall." I just started to cry.

The doctors then came in and checked him out. At first they were worried he may have a broken arm, but he was perfectly fine. Again, I went through what happened and they said he was so very, very lucky.

We decided to go to Red Robin for lunch since we missed our planned festivities. James and I laughed that our "Plan A-Fun" turned into "Plan B - Emergency Room." When we got there, I just kept thinking how I had just told him to speed up before this happened. Again, I started to cry. James hugged me and said, "Its not your fault Mommy. Its more my fault. And its not really my fault because it was just a big accident." Aw. It was a big accident. And we both made mistakes. But everything was okay.

With that said, the whole thing has gone through my head a million times since. It was so scary. And we were so lucky there were no cars coming, he did not hit a tree (or any other inanimate object) and he landed in grass. He could have been killed, paralyzed, etc. Fatalistic to think that? Maybe. But a mom can't see her child uncontrollably speeding down a hill then crashing without engaging in "what ifs." Thank God he is ok.

The good news is he wants to plan another bike ride (just not that one). His bike is pretty trashed. We will take it in tomorrow for repair. The take aways - riding with a big group is VERY different from riding with just a couple of people. I had no idea how much that would throw him off. Next time, we go to the very back. He has no problem running in big groups, but running is so very different. And the runner in me only considered the "uphill" in the big hill - not the downhill. James has never had problems with hills before, but probably hasn't navigated one quite that steep before either. Next time, review course better. Duh.

In the meantime, hugs for him (he is also still quite traumatized, but taking it in good stride) and many many thanks in my heart for the way the cards fell today.

Rethink Rework Regroup

I had a very good winter/spring training season. I came into the summer hungry. I had a tough marathon training program scheduled and I was ready to try to attempt a PR in the Capitol Mile. I was fired up and ready to go.

But it didn't work.

I am 8 days out from the Capitol Mile and I am tired, beaten down and sore. For the last 4 weeks I have haphazardly modified my schedule to accomodate more rest and travel. Unfortunately that has left me with nothing more than residual soreness and disappointment that I am not on track. My HR is high and my paces are slow. I have to force myself to get out there AND to finish my runs. I do not have the fire in my belly or speed in the legs that I require for a good mile race.

Time to switch things up.

The good news is that I feel very fit and strong. I am just tired and on the verge of injury. Or if not injury, a sub-par mile race. During my speed workouts I am just hoping to get through it - not feeling strong and fast. But I feel I still have time to salvage my race. My workouts have been decent. Now I need to get some snap back into these old legs.

Here's the plan:

1. For the next 10 days I am going to completely forget I am training for a fall marathon. Completely. Erased.
2. I am going to ease up big time on the mileage. Call it a taper if you will.
3. I am going to do my legs pilates at least 5-6 times between now and next Sunday to stretch these tight hammies out.
4. I am going to catch up on some sleep.
5. Next week, I am going to go very light, but hit some speed to get sharp and ready.
6. I am going to kick ass at the Capitol Mile on Sunday.

I don't think any of this will hurt my marathon training either. As mentioned above, I feel fit and strong. Now I just need to shake this and regroup. What am I going to do with my marathon schedule? See #1 above. I will think about that in 10 days. But it will obviously have to be modified.

I'll keep you posted on how it works out.

I'm Back!

So I have been a bad blogger. But I have a good excuse - I was on vacation! We had a great vacation, yet I am completely exhausted recovering from it all! :)

I logged just a hair over 40 miles on the road; 12.5 on the bike last week. I had hoped to have more, but ended up with 3 rest days, mostly thanks to traveling. Lots of lobster, beer, sandwiches and wine. Oh - and Maine is crazy hilly with very little shoulder to run on. I am spoiled in Wisconsin.

I did track workout #5 last night. We are starting to ease up some as the race is now just around the corner (in a week and a half).

Did a bit over 2 miles w/up, with the standard 200m fast; 200m easy x 4.

Then did 800m x 2 (3:10; 3:12). The "goal" was 5K pace, but this is much faster than my 5k pace.

Then did 200m x 5 at "just faster than 800 pace" - again, these were faster than goal, but what the coach wanted (:43, :42, :41, :41, :40). Interestingly, these paces fall within McMillan's suggested interval times for around a 6 minute mile.

Cooled down with another mile.

Not sure what my goal is for the race. Originally I thought I could get under 6 again, but now I'm not so sure. My hammies/etc. have just been so tight during the whole season and I don't have much "zip" in my legs. I have also completely deviated from my marathon training schedule due to the tightness and, well, life.

So - I need to figure out what I am going to do this weekend for a long run and how I am going to set my week up next week. I definitely need some rest if I am going to have speedy legs, but I'm not sure how I can take it down much more than I already have. Any suggestions?

Track workout #5

Still hitting the track workouts as normal on Tuesdays. As you know, my glutes/piriformis/hammies have been tight. I biked Monday night and on Tuesday I felt pretty darn good, although still a bit tight.

Weather was very nice - 78 and partly cloudy. We did a one mile easy warmup, then the 1 mile with 200 faster; 200 slow x 4. We then did 4 striders. I could feel I just did not have real speed and when I tried to pick it up I really felt the tightness in my hamstrings. The good news was by the third one I could feel everything loosening up a bit (or maybe numbness :).

Workout was 100m; 60-90 sec rest; 200 meter; 90 sec rest; 300 meters; 2 min rest; 400 meter; 700 meter slow jog/rest; then go back down 400/300/200/100. Key was to ease into it and hit the last section, particularly the 400 and 200 hard.

Shook out as follows:

100: 0:19
200: 0:41
300: 1:03
400: 1:28
400: 1:24
300: 1:02
200: 0:37
100: 0:19

Then logged a one-mile slow c/d. All in all I felt ok, but not fast. And as I got faster, I had that wobbly, weird gate. Good. Time to get used to that uncomfortable feeling before the race. This season has been much harder on me - not sure whether it is getting older or if the workouts are harder. Unfortunately, in 2007 (when I was in good shape), I did not log my interval times or workouts well. I do know we started with much longer invervals. This was the first week of truly faster stuff.

The kids are also doing great with their workouts. I can't wait to see how the race goes for them.

Legs feel pretty good this morning. The key is how will they feel tomorrow. :)

Happy running.

I officially LOVE my bike

I am not good at biking. Nor do I prefer it to running. But it sure is fun and I am getting the hang of things. WAY better than the damn dinosaur eliptical in my basement. Went for another (very) easy 12.5 miler tonight with my friend, Amy. Lo and behold, the old heinie was feeling much better post-bike PLUS I got to hang with my friend for a while. I'll take it! I did have to get a dorky mirror to affix to my helmet though as I am deaf as a doornail and cars coming up quickly on me on back country roads is way too conducive to a heart attack.

Decided to name the bike Jay. Cuz its blue and for some unknown (and highly annoying) reason, after 7 or so miles it starts chirping like a nest of birds. Need to call Trek to figure it out. It definitely has to do with the pedals as it coincides. It lasts a couple miles then stops. Both times it happened after big uphills/downhills and lots of shifting. Tonight specifically it happened after a big hill - I shifted and it felt like it went 2 gears instead of one.

Heh. Running is so much more lo-tech. Thank God I don't chirp mid run. Wouldn't be as amusing or, well, tolerable. :D

I could definitely get used to 3 day weekends

Happy 4th of July a day late! Man, it is nice having 3 days off and not having to travel anywhere. I had really hoped to log a longish run on Friday since I did not work, but my darn butt hurt again. But it was a nice, chill day and I did log 2 short runs and a nice easy bike ride with my friend Amy. Friday night we played cards, drank some beers and had a fun evening.

I slept in on Saturday and it was oh so sweet to enjoy over NINE hours of rest! :) Unfortunately it was already 80 degrees when I headed out for my run. Once again my butt/hammies were tight/sore and once I got started my legs felt like logs again. I could hear my feet plodding heavily on the ground, but there was not a damn thing I could do to improve it. I decided just to take it mile by mile, but was determined to hit at least 10. Fortunately, just after the 4 mile mark my legs started to loosen up a bit. Nothing spectacular, but I didn't feel like I was plodding so hard anymore. Turned into a decent run and I logged a hair over 18 miles. HR was reasonable given the heat and humidity and my last few miles were actually the fastest. Cool. Topped if off with a nice ice bath and some bio-freeze. The bad news was that I missed a few spots with the body glide. Ouch is an understatement.

Last night John's band played out at a neighborhood party they do every year. It was pretty fun, but my six year old has just had this negative, sassy attitude for the last couple of weeks and he did a pretty good job driving me nuts with his scowling and pissy mood. Hopefully this is just yet another yucky stage that will pass soon. Johnny let him get on stage with his guitar and a friend. It was really cute and all the other kids thought they were rock stars.

This morning I slept in late again and got over 9 hours of sleep. Sweet. Hammies/glutes/piriformis still tight this am, but nothing worse, which is good after an 18 miler. It was 82 degrees when I headed out so I hit the trail thinking partial shade and a flat surface would be just right. My HR was nice and easy at first, but heart rate creep caught up with me pretty quickly. Logged 8 slow miles to shoot my numbers up over the 40 mile mark for the week.

Total Running Miles: 41.2

Biking Miles: 25 (although I may go out again this evening and push this to 37.5).

Lots of abs/arms/stretching too.

All and all I am down a couple pounds and am really getting stronger. If I can get this pain in the butt under control (ha, and I don't mean my 6 year old...), I should have a very strong mile race at the end of the month.

More Adjustments

This week's track workout had lasting residual effects so again I have cut back a fair bit.

Monday: bike 12.5 miles

Tues: track work

Wed: 5 recovery

Thurs: unplanned rest due to sore legs and a late night

Fri: hoping to do 14, but my legs were LOGS. Sore logs. So I cut it off at 2 and came home. Rode 12.5 on the bike, then did 3 and change running easy with my husband. Ha. 2 runs and 1 ride isn't too bad for an unsuccessful morning.

I am really digging the bike thing. Particularly since the run thing isn't going too well today.

Now off to grill out and have a couple cold ones. :)

Reverse Ladders

We had perfect weather for last night's track workout. It was in the upper 50s, cloudy and breezy.

Did a 1 mile warm-up, followed by one mile with 200 meters fast; 200 meters recovery x4. Added 4 stride outs and then hit the workout, which was 600 meters; 60 secs rest; 400 meters; 40 secs rest; 200 meters x 3. 4 minute recoveries between sets.

600: 2:25 190/193
400: 1:33 182/196
200: :43 176/192

600: 2:23 181/194
400: 1:33 183/197
200: :42 182/196


600: 2:25 183/194
400: 1:30 186/199
200: :41 180/197

.78 c/d