Archive for March, 2010
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Baby needs a new pair of shoes
Hey y’all! Not much to report on the running front today.
The week was typical — and the running fatigue has set in so I am happy about this taper! Even though I am “tapering” I had to do 13 miles today and my legs and feet and head were not in the game at all! After 20 minutes, I wanted to throw in the towel, but I trudged on, and much slower than usual. I think partly this was just mental, but part of it may also have been that on Saturday I ran a hilly 5 mile run. I decided I had not done enough hill training and it was not smart to do a challenging run the day before my long run. When runs get difficult like this, I re-learn that running is 90% mental.
I decided today that I am overdue for running shoes so I bought new Saucony Progrid Guide 2′s.
I was fitted for them back in September. I went to Fleet Feet, and an employee there did a gait analysis – watched me jog a bit. My gait was normal (I don’t under/overpronate), but because of my history of IT band trouble, she suggested I get stability shoes. I had been wearing Asics GT2010s (actually I had been buying the same model and all of its updates, I was that loyal) but she indicated that my feet were much smaller than I thought. I usually get a 6-6.5 in running shoes and had never noticed a problem but that was about a size to a size & a half too big! The Saucony Progrids go down to size 5.5, so that’s what I got. And this is why it’s important to get fitted! Go to a specialty running store to do this — the people at Foot Locker know jack, and will just try to sell you their most expensive shoe.Am I worried about running the marathon in them? Not really. That’s because I’ve worn the model before and they did not give me problems, and if I get them soon enough, I can put a solid 20-25 miles on them before race day. I still have 2 weeks of training left. However, if I needed a new pair badly (my old pair was shot) and I bought a new model/brand that I had not worn before, I would not recommend doing this. That is my $0.02.
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Twenty Big Ones
I think the last time I checked the weather for the weekend as much as I did this week was when I got married last fall! The forecast originally said thunderstorms were in store for Saturday morning… then just showers beginning at 9 … then this morning, I got good news that the large green mass of precipitation on the radar map wasn’t going to hit St. Louis until 11, just barely enough time so that I wouldn’t get rained on during my long run today.
All forecasts were wrong. It has not rained a drop all day. It’s just overcast.
Which means my 20 mile run was dry and a success!
That means I have a new personal distance record under my belt. The run was fairly uneventful. I did a better job of pacing myself. Each time my garmin showed me doing sub-9:45 minute miles, I slowed it down a bit and I think that helped. I did not stop my watch during all breaks – water, bathroom, and stoplights — that way I had an idea how long it will take me to do the real thing. 20 miles took me three hours and 33 minutes. The average pace works out to be 10:41/mile which is slower than I would like, but since it includes all my breaks I’m ok with that. And really, the idea is to finish. When I started training, I had it in my head that I would like to finish the marathon around 4 hours, I can see from this run that’s probably not going to happen, and that is ok.
I am happy about the taper in the next couple of weeks. I confessed to my friend Kim this week that I was kind of tired of running. I think I am ready to move onto something else for a little while. But I have to deal with a little more running and a marathon race before I can do that! For any running novices out there, a taper means that the running mileage goes down from now until the marathon. Next weekend’s long run is 13 miles, and the weekend before the marathon is 8-10 miles. This allows your legs to feel fresh on marathon day. It is also a scientifically tested training method that results in faster times and fewer injuries on race day. I normally get tired of running when I train for races. I think a lot of it, for me, has to do with getting up early on Saturday or Sunday morning — it gets old after a few months!
So what’s next? Triathlon? More halfs? Other short running races? Biathlon? A marathon in a few weeks? Yes, that last one sounds familiar.
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Laws of physics
I almost forgot to blog about my running last week!
I did everything my plan asked me to:
Monday: 10 w/u, 10 X 400 (400m RI), 10 c/d
Wednesday: 1 mile EZ, 5 miles @ 9:15
Sunday: 10 miles
I did not want to run on Sunday at all. It was misting rain outside. Daylight savings was kicking me in the butt. I just wanted to chill out — Mark and I have been so busy that I just want to vegetate. I kept trying to talk myself out of and into running. A body at rest tends to stay at rest, right? I had no real good excuse though, so I put on my shoes and faced the music.
The plan told me to do my long run at 9:45 pace, but I ran at 9:25. I really tried to stay on pace. I convinced myself that the run wasn’t going to be that bad – my goal was just to stay on pace. The first couple of miles, I did ok – I averaged 9:39. From there on, I really did not do a good job focusing on pace. I blame Ludacris. How can you run 9:45 pace while listening to “Get Back”? I do not know the answer to that question. I really felt like I stayed way below what I could have the whole run – the last mile I banged out a 8:19 pace for the mile. I had energy to spare, and I probably would do much better if I could stay on pace for more than 2 miles. As my physics professor once said, humans are poor velocimeters. Hopefully this is something I can work on though right?
This weekend is the longest run of my marathon training, and the weather is calling for rain. It’s not like weather has cooperated with me one bit during this training season — so why would it now, right? &%$#@#%!!
The rest of the week says I do this:
10-20 w/u, 5X(2 min fast/2 min EZ), 10 min c/d
8 mi @ 9:40
20 mi @ 10:15
And then, it is downhill from there. Until April 11!!
Today I signed up for the APA Fast & Furriest 5k in Tower Grove Park. Ada & I did it last year and we had a great time. It’s April 25th. It’s just for fun and for a good cause.
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Back in the saddle
After a few days off of running and a trip to Colorado, I’m back home in St. Louis and running again. I didn’t notice the skiing to bother my legs at all and I wasn’t sore except a little in my calves.
I worked everything out with my marathon training before going so that I didn’t have to run on vacation. Not only is that problematic because our hotel didn’t have a gym (and I’d rather spend time with my family that I don’t get to see very much), but we were staying in the mountains and the altitude would have been a significant barrier. A friend from Colorado (who does not run) told me I would be fine after I acclimated for a couple of days, but my research was a little less sure so I decided not to risk it and get as much training in before the trip as possible.
This week, I just have to worry about a 10 miler on Saturday/Sunday. And the weather here is glorious. I am hopeful that the will stay that way.
On the way back from Colorado, I looked through two books I own on running and re-read them. The first is Marathon: Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon. The second is Run Less Run Faster, written by the guys who devised the marathon training plan that I’m following. I have so much to talk about with these books — there was just a lot of fodder.
First of all, I haven’t really talked about why I chose the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) training plan. One of the reasons I was drawn to it was that I had previously injured myself. Running on non-consecutive days and following a lower-mileage plan sounded like it could help me avoid injury; these are two of the many things the FIRST plan promises to do. The basics of the FIRST plan is that it combines 3 “key” runs with two cross training workouts a week (“3plus2″). The three key runs are: one speed run, one tempo, and one long run. The FIRST plan is one of the lowest mileage marathon plans out there, and it gets an eyebrow raise from experienced marathon runners that believe the key to marathon training is high weekly mileage. So while some of my friends and family may think I’m crazy for running a marathon at all, experienced marathoners think the FIRST plan is crazy too.
It makes me feel a bit like Rodney Dangerfield. I can’t get any respect. But that’s ok — a lot of training programs are created by tried and tested experience — and the FIRST program combines that with science. It’s a little counter-intuitive, but so far, it works. You can also read more about the FIRST plan here: http://www.furman.edu/first/fmtp.htm.
Also, since my brother thought I was crazy for taking an ice bath, I thought I should discuss why I did take one. I have heard about them for a long time – especially in relation to long runs. I once read that a man that ran every day for years into his 60s hosed his legs down with cold water outside his house immediately following his runs and stayed injury free.
Although, as I was explaining the purpose of an ice bath to my brother (doubting Thomas that he is), I mentioned that ice baths help reduce inflammation — and as I was saying this I thought to myself, “Inflammation is a natural response, that your body creates for a reason.” However, according to this article, I was wrong — the purpose of ice baths is not to reduce inflammation, but to “help flush metabolic debris out of your muscles.” Sounds like watered-down medical mumbo jumbo. I’m not sure this other article is any more technical. This one doubts the efficacy of ice baths entirely, but if the commenters are any indication, runners don’t care what the British Journal of Sports Medicine thinks. And for the record: I have felt more sore after a 13 miler during this marathon training than I did after my 18 miler that was followed by the ice bath. My legs felt fresh on Tuesday, following my Sunday long run. And if I didn’t feel better or reduce my recovery time, there would be no need to sit in freezing cold water, would there?
I really, really am not that crazy.
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18 miles and self-doubt
This morning I had planned to run 18 miles, and when my alarm went off, I began trying to talk myself out of it. I did not feel like I had properly trained or was ready to run 18 miles. (I’ve actually been pretty good with keeping up all my runs with the exception of when I was sick a couple of weeks ago.) It wasn’t logical, it was me psyching myself out. I have a pattern of doing this when I have a run that seems very challenging in the near future. I think it is a combination of anxiety and self-doubt/perfectionism/fear of failure.
The fear of failure and perfectionism goes hand in hand, and I convince myself that I will not be able to succeed or even meet the bare minimum. This leads to anxiety and waffling about whether or not to even try. I had just about convinced myself to not try, when I realized I would regret not even trying. The quote, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” is so, so true in my life.
So I went out, and the first 5 miles were glorious. They felt easy and comfortable. The sun was shining and the weather was between 30-40° F. After that, I struggled to keep hydrated. I stopped at around mile 7 at my car to pick up my water bottle, and drank, but not enough. I wish I had stopped longer and drank more from my back-up bottle — my water bottle that I took on the run with me was empty after a mile. I got to mile 11 where I knew there was a fountain, and it was off! :( I turned back around and knew I had a long ways to get back to my car. Eventually I got there and drank all of my water, what little was left. I took off and went down a windy and very hilly path off my regular path. It really ate at my time. Here are the results:
As I’ve been doing longer and longer runs, my speed has definitely been hurt! And I’ve developed a problem of positive splits. It’s not intentional at all. I go out and run comfortably. Even when I look down at my watch and feel like I’m going slowly, it tells me I’m running 9:20. I really need to get better at pacing myself.
I also have to say that this was probably the hardest run I have ever completed. My legs were throbbing during the run and for hours afterwards. Heaven help me, I am not sure how I am going to complete a marathon. :S I did an ice bath afterwards so I hope that helps! I definitely made it too cold at first. I couldn’t even sit in it. I warmed it up a bit and that made a huge difference. An ice bath should be a minimum of 54°. This is what it was after I had warmed the bathtub up! God only knows how cold it was before I decided it would be a good idea to figure out the temp. Here I am:
p.s. yes, those are bikini bottoms.
Next week I will be skiing in Colorado, and NOT running! A couple of weeks after that, I have the big (and only) 20 miler coming up – gulp.
Can I say I am kinda glad the Olympics is over? I liked watching the events but having the tv on constantly is getting to me! Well, it’s going to be a busy week getting ready for Colorado. I have already over-packed, I’m sure.
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My name is Michelle and I like to write about running, food, and fitness in general. Check out my About Michelle section for more!
