Running Shorts

Some casual 9 min/miles

It is a good thing I ran early b/c for most of the day it has been truly pouring outside.  This morning I busted out 6 miles at a 9:16 min/mile pace.  Oh mon dieu.  74 degrees with 91% humidity at 7 AM and a side of tired legs.  Love it.  I have to say, having my Garmin did not make me try and run any faster today-b/c I couldn't!  I finished with a lower body ocean ice bath.  Felt so good!  Then we got pancakes (parents) and an omelette (me) down in Kitty Hawk before shopping for some deck furniture (parents).  I had to work for a few hours today but this turned out to be the best day for it b/c of the horrendous weather.

Training in OBX

This week I'm down in OBX on vacation with my parents (my two brothers and sister-in-law were here this weekend but they have all since gone back to work) and it's, as usual, pretty awesome here.  May is a really good time to come to the NC beach b/c the weather is pretty great.  It really only feels hot when I'm running.  This morning during my run at 7 AM it was 74 degrees with 87% humidity!  Besides the heat and humidity when I run I also have to deal with the cambered roads.  When I'm not on a sidewalk I try and run in the middle of the road on the line to avoid the slope on either side and then I move when cars come.

Here are my workouts in OBX so far:

Saturday:  11 mile run at 8:42 min/mile pace to the end of the road and back.  I discovered there is a brand new water fountain installed at mile 4.5 (and 6.5 on the return) that saved my life.  I was running without fluids (or money) which I was seriously concerned about so the fountain was a very welcome surprise.  In addition to not sleeping too much the prior week I didn't eat enough the day before (or anything that morning) or hydrate enough and I was a mess.  I was happy to get the 11 in with no ill effects.

Sunday: 11 mile easy bike ride with mom to the end of the road and back.

Monday: 7 mile run.  Ended in the ocean.  My need to cool off overrode my need for a stop at the baegl store for a french toast bagel.  I then lost a bunch of games of tennis to my dad and brother.

Tuesday: 48 minute run that included 80 seconds hard, 40 seconds easy  X 10.  I started out doing only 20 seconds easy b/c I read about this workout somewhere and it only had 20 seconds of recovery.  Once I started, however, I realized that was insane.  I ended in the ocean again but then recovered my strength to go get my french toast bagel.

In addition to that, I've also been SLEEPING A LOT!!!  I am like a new person.

Year three at the race

I know I know...pics or it didn't happen!  But my triathlon pics are on my personal computer and I'm in the Outer Banks with my work computer for a bit so I'll regale you with my race report for now.

This race, just outside of Richmond, has a very special place in my heart b/c it was my the scene of my first triathlon in 2005.  I was 24 years old!!!  I was recovering from various running injuries and, inspired by a few blogs, decided to give this triathlon thing a try just once.  I spent a lot of time swimming and biking in preparation and I was running again and I enjoyed the tri a lot.  I used a hybrid bike.  My race time was okay; I wrote in my blog I was in the top 1/3 for women.

I competed in the race again last year in 2011.  I was 30 (racing as a 31 y/o b/c of the December 31 rule).  I knew I had a shot to win my AG and on race day I gave it my all on moderate swim training, no bike training, and as much running as I could fit in post Boston marathon the month before.  I had a road bike that year (an upgrade from the hybrid) and I won my AG.

And there I was, back for the 2012 edition of the race.  Pre-race I was concerned about defending the AG title as a lot of 29 year olds from the previous year had aged up.  Plus, my swim and bike training were at 0.  But after coming off of my tri team's training weekend the previous week I was geeked to be there and it was nice to be back at a triathlon.  I felt a smidge lame for doing a tri with a pool swim, but this race fit J4 and my busy schedules.  Plus, the bike course isn't hilly at this race and I enjoy it rather than cry while competing so the race is a good fit for me.  Finally, I feel warm and fuzzy about this race b/c I've done it before.

The day started with J4 taking a picture of the 32 on my leg.  Oy vay.  I try and take a picture every year of my new age.  After the calf photo shoot J4 went to take a nap in the car while I got on my bike to make sure the gears, brakes, and tires were all in working order.

The swim was okay.  I was slower than my seed time, and slower than last year (6:42 in 2012 vs 6:17 in 2011), but I did not catch anyone and no one caught me (we started 15 seconds apart) so I take comfort that I was at least not disruptive to anyone else's race.

T1 was okay.  It was demoralizing to run into transition and see no bikes on my rack.  In the flurry of racing I forgot that I had the last time trial start of the people at my rack and that was why all of the other bikes were gone.  I had a successful (I did not fall) start to the bike but I stopped and clipped in and there was none of the fanciness and jumping onto the bike without shoes that many of you employ.  (T1: 1:48 seconds in 2012; 1:52 seconds in 2011).

Biking was good.  I put forth a lot of effort.  I felt positive about it and I felt awesome out on the bike.  (36:10 in 2012; 36:04 in 2011).

T2: I did not have to rerack my bike twice this year.  (51 seconds in 2012; 57 seconds in 2011).

The run was really strong.  I passed people.  My pace was good.  I ran faster than last year.  (21:42 in 2012; 22:41 in 2011).

I won my AG.  When I got home I got a solid look at the results.  The second place woman in my AG destroyed me on the swim and beat me by 30 seconds in the bike.  Between T1, T2, and the run, however, I eecked out a 16 second AG win.  EVERY SECOND COUNTS!!  I know that all too well and it was nice to be on the winning side of that mantra for once! :)

Total time: 1:07:13 (2012); 1:07:50 (2011)

Running in Maryland

Saturday afternoon I headed out to a running festival in Maryland to run a 5K.  I am not the hugest fan of Maryland to be honest (Virginia people tend to be that way) but it was actually pretty great out there.  An hour from northern VA, it was more rural than I had anticipated and pretty.  Plus, we were running on a fairground so there was a wholesome 4H feel to the event.

I was running in the festival's Saturday night 5K with M from Nobody Cares About Your Run, a good friend from Boston.  He's been feeling pretty trashed since the Boston marathon but he was motivated to come south by the Nut Job option of the festival.  If you run the Saturday night 5K and the next day's 1/2 marathon you are a participant in the Nut Job competition.  M had another friend running in the 1/2, me the in 5K, and he was doing both!

The event was pretty festive and you start on a horsetrack with adoring fans in the stands.  At the actual starting line, however, M and I looked at each other and rolled out eyes.  There were kids everywhere with all of the adults behind them.  OMG.  Annoying.  So we and a couple other adults inched our way up on the sides of the tiny people.  Then off we went!

It was 79 degrees and humid out.  It was hot.  Off the bat I was approximately the eighth place female.  I was running well under 6 min/miles.  I knew that would not end well and I backed off.  I told myself these kids would burn out and that I was a long distance runner and I would be stronger than them in the second half of the race.  By the 3/4 mile mark I was the third female.

Just before the turnaround things started to get hard.  I felt tired.  I was heavy breathing.  I told myself that the wind would be at my back shortly.  Near the turnaround I got a read on how far ahead the 1st and 2nd place females were (discouragingly far) and how far behind the 4th place girl was (not super far but not alarmingly close).  At this point people kindly started cheering for me and yelling things like, "You go girl!" and, "You're the third woman!"  They also yelled, "You're the second woman!!"  I knew why this error was being made.  The first place female was 11.  Yes, 20 years younger than me.  She was adorable and tiny and I guess she didn't stick out as womanly compared to the 2nd place woman (age 32) and myself.  At this point in the race I felt hulking in size.

I also legitimately asked myself, what would happen if I just stopped?  That sounded better than continuing on.  So that means I was in a bit of hurt.  That's good.  But I know I never went into the really bad place.  How do I know?  As soon as I saw the finish line clock and saw my time was good-the clock said 20:14-I dropped to sub-6 pace in an attempt to get a PR.  I HAD MORE.  I ended up w/ a 20:27 gun time (no chip time as I was in the Open category), which is 5 seconds off of my PR.  I hurt, but I guess I could have gone deeper.  B/c I was 3rd they immediately put a lanyard around my neck (see picture) that has a reminder about the awards ceremony on it which is kind of a rock star feeling.  It was kind of like a press badge or a VIP pass :)  The awards are fun b/c they do the awards shortly after the race so people stick around to watch (probably a lot of the 11 year old's teammates and their families) so it's festive and there was lots of cheering, though, again, I think the cheering was primarily for the 11 y/o who ran 19:17!  I am super in awe of her and her teammates, who, unbeknownst to M and I at the time, are members of a local premier youth running club.  The kids in that race were no joke!

Then I headed to dinner w/ M and his friend J.  Here is a pic of M and I in our shirts from the relay team M founded.  I've run on various iterations of the team during my time in Boston and thought it appropriate to break out the shirt for M's visit to Maryland.

Just hitting up the pool. NBD.

I just got out of the pool!!  I am going to sign up for a triathlon that is in 20 days (i've got to defend my age group title!) and I know I need to get back in the water.  My efforts at splashing around today were not pretty.  There are some top competitors from last year's race who are aging up into my AG (they were 29 last year) and I've got to bring some sort of game.  My swimming was so horrible in 2011 and I think (pray) I can gain a minute there this year (two minutes would be ideal but unfortunately impossible as I haven't swam since August) and perhaps a minute from my run.  I don't know that 19 days of swim training will do me that much good but I figure it can't hurt to shake off the cobwebs.  I am also attending my Boston triathlon club's training weekend in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping that gives me some triathlon mojo.  I'm excited to get back to it!

Space shuttle and running

I kind of suck at blogging, huh?  Here is what has been going on:

1) One of my work meetings got canceled so instead of going to Kentucky I stayed home an extra day and watched this with J4 from our apartment (photo cred J4):

 

DISCOVERY!!!  The space shuttle is being taken out of service and was being flown on top of a modified 747 to the Smithsonian annex at Dulles airport.  The plane with the attached shuttle (and its escort plane-not pictured) did a few loops of DC, including four flybys of our apartment, before landing at Dulles.

2) I ran in the 10 mile GW Parkway Classic today.  I aimed, once again, to go sub-1:10 for 10 miles but I did not achieve that goal.  I aimed to finish in the top 25 for women but I did not accomplish that either.  I hit 5 miles at 35:42 (28th woman) and the finish at 1:12:35 (42nd woman).  It was drizzly out but otherwise it was a pretty great temperature for running (unlike the previous HOT time I ran this race).  I was slightly bummed with my time.  In the positive, it was 10 minutes faster than when I ran this race in 2009.  Also, I saw quite a few people I knew along the course which was nice.  In the negative, I don't really feel like I went into the hurt locker.  My bad.  In the general explanatory category, the course was hillier than I remembered and there was a headwind.  But I guess I am just not as fit as I would like to be.

Mile 8.5 (photo cred J4-I'm in green):

At the finish (photo cred my clubmate):

Then I came home and had double chocolate bread pudding that we made in the crock pot last night.  I am mollified.  Also of note, I spent 20 minutes pre-race under my car b/c I dropped my key behind/in the wheel and could not locate it.  Ooops.

Busy bee

Things in RunningShorts world have been nuts.  I now have a new license for work, my taxes are filed in a whole bunch of states, and I have been running quite a bit.  I've also been working a lot.  I have been really, really busy, and I've been trying to spend time w/ J4 when I haven't been doing all of that.  We've actually seen a lot of DC recently, partly b/c I've been home for two weeks straight.

In the running realm I've been running a lot and aggressively despite a few niggles.  I had a strained something in the back side of my knee last week.  It's better.  I have an inflamed bottom of my foot.  It's not so bad, just not normal, and getting better.  But my foot definitely told me this morning: thank you for not running on me today.  I'm pretty sure the latter injury is from altering my stride to compensate for the earlier strained something in the back of my knee.

I just started a taper for my 10 mile race next weekend-the GW Parkway Classic.  I'm kind of sick of running and these are my two theories.  Option one: since I've been home I run w/ other people a lot, they are faster than me, and I never run slowly.  Every run is hard.  I am exhausted.  It's not fun.  Option two: I've been running 4-6 days a week for 11 years.  That is enough time to desire some sort of break.

I've also been following what has been going on in Boston in re: to the heat and the special deferment policy.  Because of the forecasted heat, I feel like the race had to let people defer (though I realize some people will be deferring who are injured and never planned to run).  I also feel grateful that I had the opportunity to run last year in ideal conditions.  So much of this "running thing" is out of our control.

Ukrop 10K

Friday night J4 and I headed to Richmond to run in one of the largest 10Ks in the world (40,000+ people).  We rolled in to the expo at 8:50 PM and were two of the last people to pick up our numbers.  Then we were off to buy a lottery ticket (we did not win), grab sandwiches, and crash in the hotel.

Race day we opted to park 1.5 miles from the start and avoid road closures and the race shuttles and simply run to the starting line as our warmup.  It worked out super well and we didn't have to deal with 40,000 people worth of traffic.

We arrived at the start at 8:15 AM and hopped into corral A shortly thereafter.  Our corral was for people expected to go sub-43 min based on previous race times-and you had to submit results for verification. There were 43 corrals at this race, and I have to say, I loved the seeding.  It was so awesome to start without tripping over anyone or getting stuck behind people.

At 8:30 AM OFF WE WENT!  My legs had been feeling very tired the previous week after last weekend's race and long run plus I hadn't been sleeping b/c of work so I did a bit of a taper and tried to get some rest towards the end of the week.  I was feeling okay by race morning but even during the race I would close my eyes and feel like I could fall asleep right there!

I went out around 6:40 min/mile pace.  It was about 15 seconds too fast/mile.  For me, that's excellent restraint!  After the first mile I ran around 6:55 min/miles.  I felt...okay.  The pace was hard but I didn't feel the worst I've ever felt racing but I kind of wanted to stop running throughout the race (the latter being my usual desire when I'm racing hard).  And then, of course, I would close my eyes and want to go to sleep!  I kept up my pace though.  I also had my typical sensation of constantly running downhill.  I don't even want to know what is wrong with me that I feel that way when I race-I just want to keep feeling like that!

The course was amazing.  Pretty flat, almost no turns, cool houses, and lots of music.  One interesting thing happened around mile two.  On Friday I was all, J4, are you excited for VACATION!!!!  We were just going a couple of hours away for one night but we weren't bringing computers and I was excited to get out of town b/c I needed a mini-break from work.  However, around mile two there was a sign from my company with people's names on it!!  I was in too much shock to read the names, but I am sure it had the names of people racing from my company's Richmond office.  When I race I don't think about anything really which is one of the benefits.  And here was my work!!  In the middle of the race!!!  It's kind of funny and it was definitely a surprise.  I should have yelled something like I'M FROM THE THE DC OFFICE!!  GO [COMPANY]!!  but I was caught off guard.

I was hurting by the end but I rallied and flew into the finish with the last two tenths of a mile at 6:03 min/mile pace.  What can I say-Richmond loves to end it's races on huge (real) downhills!  I finished in 42:54, seven seconds slower than my recent 10K PR.  I was mildly bummed not to PR and why oh why didn't I start my kick sooner!!!!  I clearly had something left in the tank.  That said, I feel like I had a really strong, well-paced race (and my PR may have been set on a course a touch short), and I was glad to finish under 43:00.  I always like to validate my seed time!  J4 and I enjoyed the race and plan to be back next year.

ALSO, I am signed up for a marathon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  J4 and I will be racing the Philadelphia marathon this fall!  We're staying at my favorite Philadelphia hotel a mile from the start (we already booked!) and we are stoked!!!

50% Success Rate

All week I was telling J4 how I was going to go sub-20 at the 3.1415926 mile race this morning and win the woman's race-so watch out world!!

The race was of pi miles distance and benefits the local magnet science high school and J4 reminded me I should wear my Maxwell's equations shirt.  Yes, I have a t-shirt with the equations for the speed of light on it.  Yes, it was a gift from my engineer boyfriend.  Today was the perfect occasion to wear it.

At the start of the race I couldn't get quite on the starting line because the local HS cross-country team (girls and boys) was up there but J4 and I were pretty close to the front.  The race started, I took off around 6-6:10 min/mile pace, and I found myself in fourth (women's) place.  What what?  I guess different people showed up this year.  Surprise to me!  I stayed focused on myself and tried to keep my brisk pace as I didn't feel too badly.  The course was hilly but I felt like there was more downhill which was impossible on the loop course.  That actually happens to me a lot.  I think I'm going downhill but I'm really going uphill-like on the way out on a route-so when I'm going downhill on the return I'm pleasantly surprised.  I don't know why this occurs but I love it.

Around a 1/2 mile in I passed one girl.  Yay!  I started to gain on the 2nd place woman who was gaining on the 1st place girl.  I also started passing, and would continue to pass, boys who had gone out too fast.  At mile 1.5 there was a brief tie for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd as all of the leading women, myself included, ran together in a line.  I pulled ahead.

I caught up to J4 who was just ahead of me and I was super heavy  breathing.  He talked to me but I could not talk back.  He and I ran next to each other with him trying not to let me ahead and me pushing the pace b/c I was worried about the women behind me.

At mile 2.5 I was dying and we turned a corner, giving me a chance to discreetly (kind of) look back.  I didn't see any women.  Yay!  I did slow down on the last .6 but I was really hurting.  J4 pulled a bit ahead.  I looked back one more time when I hit the 3 mile mark and there was a girl coming up on me even though I hadn't seen her all race.  She had passed a lot of women in the last mile.  I hit the 5K mark and then the finish line at pi.  I was 1st overall, 12 seconds ahead of 2nd.

The third place woman asked if I attend school there-at the high school-and now I love her even though I know I do not look like a high schooler.  The 2nd place girl told me that she and her x-country teammates noticed my equations shirt at the start and they liked it!

I won a pie, a gift certificate to the movies, a t-shirt, and a metal medal that the students made at school.  J4 and I agree it was a pretty cool race and we both liked it a lot.

As for my time-20:54.  FAIL!!  J4 and I think the course was a touch long, but still, blech.  I have been stuck at 20+ min/miles for 5K (or today, for pi) for years.  It's frustrating.  J4 pointed out in my training I never ever run as fast as I race.  It's true.  I miss track workouts with my club every single week and the hotels I stay in in the middle of cities don't have tracks nearby.  I need to do speed work on regular running trails b/c I super want to go sub-20 and it is not happening no matter how many miles I seem to run.  PLUS, J4 and I are running a mile race in June near Boston and I don't want to embarrass myself back up north!  :)

Pictures of J4 and I and of me and pie:

We're going to file this under "Things I never ever thought would happen to me"

At my running club's annual banquet Sunday night I was awarded the 2011 Female Runner of the Year award.

I've been in the club three times, spanning almost 10 years, and I've know about this award for a while.  I also knew it was something that wasn't ever intended for me!  Knowing the previous recipients I still feel that way, but I guess I've come a long way with my running and this is a really cool memento of my 2011 running year.  It was a strong year for me and it is nice to have people besides my boyfriend and parents notice :)  Getting an award from your peers is definitely special.  It's also cool because, despite the never ending desire to do more and be better, the award is a nice reminder that things went well!  I can sit back and appreciate it for it a minute.