Picking up the Pace

For awhile now I have been working on including slower runs in my week, and doing a warm-up mile before running faster miles.  I've also been working hard to hold myself back in the first mile of half marathons in order not to go out to fast.  This strategy has not been working super well for me.  It was not my strategy when I was running my best races, and I do not want it to be my strategy anymore.  My best runs have always been about consistency, not about starting slow and speeding up.  So consistency is what I'm working on getting back to.

I can see how starting slow and speeding up is a good strategy for other people, especially to help warm-up the legs, but here is why I think it is not useful to me.  My legs are not my limiting factor when I run.  My lungs are.  And once I establish a pace, it is really hard for my lungs to adjust to a faster pace.  When my lungs struggle, my legs don't get enough oxygen, and then my legs struggle.  If I establish a quicker pace in the beginning, that is the pace that my lungs settle to, and so I'm able to hold it for awhile.  This doesn't mean I want to start off a half-marathon at 6:00 pace, but it does mean that I don't need to be trying to hold myself to 7:30 in my first mile.

My current training goal is to increase my average pace on weekly runs less than 8 or 9 miles.  Less 8:00-8:30, more 7:00-7:45.  My lungs don't get stronger on slow runs, they get stronger when I make them work.  I ran a strong race at the Bluegrass 1/2, but my goal half marathon time is several minutes faster.  I want to get my lungs and legs used to running faster consistently.  I know that I have to be careful not to over-tire my legs in this process, but I am trusting myself to listen to my body.

This week I ended up with 2 hilly tempo runs, a long hill run, and then another run that was supposed to be 5 and ended up being 7... I felt really good on the first 3 runs. I was getting tired towards the end of today's run, but it made sense after how hard I ran all week!

This week : 

M : circuit training 33:15

T : group run 7.5 / 7:14 / 413 ft

W : TRX 45 minutes

R : run w/Corey 8 / 7:34 / 554 ft

F : horseback ride 45 minutes

Sa : run 10.1 / 8:17 / 1440 ft

Su :  run w/Ben 7 / 7:40 / 367 ft

total miles : 32.6

At various times over the years when running long hill climbs, I have contemplated turning around at the top to run the hill again.  I never actually did it, until this Saturday.  I was in West Virginia to ride my horse and go for a hill run, and the run was going really, really well.  The sunshine and temperature were perfect, the turning leaves were gorgeous, and I felt good.  I was running a 3.5 mile stretch of Rt 60 that had mile-ish long ups and downs.  On the way out from the house, the road was down, up, down.  When I turned around and climbed the 1.1 mile climb, I just plain loved it.  It had steeper sections and less steep sections, but it went steadily upwards for the whole 1.1 miles.  3/4 of the way up, I knew I wanted to do it again.  I reached the top, and actually turned around to go back down.  It was just as gorgeous the second time, and I never for a second regretted my decision.  

I have been frustrated lately, realizing that I have lost some of my hill strength since leaving WV.  Being able to do those long hill climbs this weekend and feel strong doing them made me feel a lot better!  

The view at the start of Saturday's run.

Heading down the first hill on Saturday.

Enjoyed getting to see this cute Pony on Friday!

South Peak Hill Challenge

I normally would not travel for a sub 2 mile race, but this race had "hill challenge" in the title...so there was no way I was going to pass.  And thanfully, I was able to stay with a Sweet Briar friend so I didn't have to spend a lot of money for the trip.

Saturday morning was warm and foggy with 100% humidity.  In other words, gills would have been really, really, useful.  I parked up at the Hilton Garden Inn (finish line) and jogged down the hill to Lowe's/Fleet Feet (start line).  I also jogged around the big Lowe's parking lot, and back up the hill a bit to prepare my legs for the onslaught to come.

The starting line was partway up a hill.  No flat beginning to build up speed.  Not sure why it didn't just start at the bottom to at least get the full hill, but that's ok.  There was plenty of hill in the race!  My lungs were struggling big time by the top of the hill, but thankfully there was some downhill to recover on before powering up the next one.  I moved into the top 3 runners pretty quickly.  The whole race was up and down, and the hills were steep.  A great challenge.  Breathing was rough and of course my legs hurt from the crazy hill strain, but I just kept reminding myself that it was only 2 miles.  (and it actually turned out to be only 1.8)

heres a great picture of me dying on the very first hill

my heart may or may not have been beating out of my chest...

 hills!

twisty turny course

The finish was a full loop around the hotel.  I was in third at the beginning of the loop, but then I heard someone's footsteps speed up to an even faster sprint behind me, and a guy flew by me.  I let him go.  And then another one flew by me.  And another!  Three guys who had way too much energy for dead sprints at the end of the race.  Perhaps it was pure ego-filled speed.  Can't get beat by a girl!  I finished strong and was really pleased with the race overall.

They clocked me 2 seconds faster than my watch...also the pace is way off.  

I'm guessing the pace was based off of a full 2 miles.

flying down a hill and forcing out air to make room for the next attempt at oxygen

after my 2 mile cooldown

The Hilton treated all the runners to a nice breakfast buffet, so race recovery was bacon, eggs, and home fries!  Deliciousness. It was freezing in the room we ate in after sweating outside, but I didn't quite get hypothermic.  

Of course in my frenzy to leave home on Friday I forgot to pack a long sleeve shirt...

 Awards Ceremony

I finally have a medal hanger that will fit all my medals!

"Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world"

Apparently I'm the female course record holder...because they changed the course from whatever it was last year.  Hopefully I will be able to come back next year to defend my title and set a new course record!

Running for the Hills

Oh how I adore running hills.  Each time I ran this week, I told myself I would run 4, maybe 5 miles.  But that is easily accomplished in less than 45 minutes, and I am so used to biking for an hour or two, that 45 minutes just doesn't feel remotely like an adequate amount of exercise.  I have no desire to stop after only 45 minutes.  So I just keep on going.  Wednesday was my first exercise post-crash, and my first run in about 10 days. I hadn't intended to take 10 days of, but I somehow never got around to running while I was traveling over Thanksgiving week, and then I had to take a few days off from exercising after crashing so that the hole in my knee could dry out a bit.

Runs this week:

Wednesday

Saturday

Sunday

week totals

2100 feet of climbing this week, that's no joke.  A normal 20-25 mile week for me tends to be between 1100 and 1200 feet.  For the most part, this week's runs felt really good.  Wednesday's run felt great for the first 8 miles, but shortly into the last mile my left hip decided it was done, and it hurt quite a bit for the remainder of the run.  I was definitely limping when I stopped running.  It is the hip I landed on when I fell last Saturday, so I'm guessing it still had some healing to do.  Thankfully, the pain didn't last long and I haven't had any trouble with it since.  Of course, I also haven't tried to run 9 miles again.  My upper legs have been pretty sore all week.  Running a bunch of hills after a bunch of time off is apparently hard on my muscles...go figure.  My last downhill today was killer, my legs were not happy with me.  I felt really strong on the uphills though! Plus, I just ran 2 days in a row for the first time, and so far so good!  Tomorrow's Pub Run will make it 3 days in a row, but at least it will be shorter (maybe) and flatter (definitely).

Post-crash update : 

This photo was taken on 11/30, 2 days after the crash.  Still some marks on my face. 

This photo was taken 12/5, one week after the crash.  The marks on my face are now very faint, because I picked off the scabs.  My teeth are not as loose as they were, and they still look and feel pretty good.  No sensitivity to cold, which I hear is a good sign.  I tend to think that if my teeth were dying, I would be able to tell by now.  But I'm guessing I'm not quite out of the woods yet. I certainly am not anywhere near ready to start biting into apples again.  Or even my lunch sandwiches, for that matter. I am getting pretty used to cutting my sandwiches into bite-sized pieces and eating them with a fork though...

The hole in my knee is taking forever to heal.  I can't help but think that if it were summer it would be so much further healed by now.  Given that it's cold out and I have to wear long pants every day, I've had to keep it covered with band-aids so my clothes don't irritate it.  The result is that it doesn't get enough exposure to air to allow it to heal quickly.  Thankfully I've been able to wear shorts around my apartment this weekend and leave it exposed to air.  It is now looking so much better.  Oh and I guess it's not really a "hole"... just a quarter-sized patch of skin missing.

Second 16 miler this month!

...and this time I did it on purpose!

This week's runs

M : 6.2

W : 6.2

R : 6.7

Sa : 16.1

total miles : 35.3

I was rather tired all week, and each time I got out there to run I would think to myself that I would probably cheat on my 6 mile minimum rule and run closer to 4.5.  But once I was out there and moving, I would realize that 4.5 is such a walk in the park at this point, I may as well not run at all if that is all I am going to do.  And the 6 miles never ended up as hard as it seemed like it would.  Actually, I'm starting to think I need to up my minimum to 7 or 8.  Or perhaps make it a time minimum instead of a distance minimum, and go for 1 hour.  We shall see.  For now, I'll keep it at 6. 

I knew I needed a long run on Saturday, and I needed 10-11 to hit my 30 mile/week goal.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel, and I didn't feel like carrying food/water.  So I set out on my 10-ish mile loop, and hoped I would feel good enough to add on towards the end.  I was hoping for at least 12 miles.  Thankfully, I felt good and strong and I was able to keep going til 16.  My knees and feet were starting to complain by 14 miles, but what's 2 more when you've already gone that far? All but 5 miles were under 8 min/mile, and most of the slower ones involved long hill climbs.  Marathon training isn't looking half as scary this year as it has in the past!

I couldn't just run 16 miles.  I had to also run as many hills as possible.

Feeling really strong and positive about the Blue Ridge 1/2 coming up soon!

2 days of work, 5 days of running

...because no school doesn't have to mean no run!

I took Monday off from work since I had a race on Sunday after a very busy week.  I needed some time to relax after 8 days straight of being busy!  Then it rained all night Wednesday, and started snowing early Thursday morning.  Roads were a ridiculous mess, so school was cancelled.  We tried to call a 2 hr delay on Friday, but by 9 the roads were still so icy it was obvious they wouldn't be safe by 10 either, so school was cancelled again.

Of course I went for runs on both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday's run may be the first run I have ever done where there was NO visible pavement.  I finally decided to try the ice cleats I bought about 5 years ago, and never used.  They were awesome for the first 2.5+ miles, but then one came off and refused to stay back on.  The other one came off a quarter mile later.  I think my shoes got too wet for the rubber to grip.  Next time, I will use an extra pair of shoelaces to strap them on.  Friday's run was a mess.  There was black ice, white ice, snow, slush, and wet pavement, depending on how much sun each section of road was getting.  The slush was the worst.  It got my feet wet, and then my toes got really cold.

I was tempted to take Saturday off, but it was in the 40s and I finally convinced myself to get out the door and exercise.  Then I took all the joy out of running by making myself run 400m (ish) repeats.  There is a neighborhood up the hill from me that I run through all the time.  It has 2 parallel streets, each somewhere between .25 and .35 miles long.  (Strava only rounds to tenths, so I'm not sure exactly where the 400m mark is, but I figured running further is better than shorter.  It puts both segments at 0.3 miles)  I run down one road, up a hill to the other, run down it, then slight downhill back to the start.  Obviously I'm a glutton for punishment, who wants to recover on an uphill?  Especially one that climbs 44 feet in 1/10 of a mile...?  The first time I bounced my way right up it.  By the 4th time, I was crawling.

I was on the fence about running again today.  I have been wary of overdoing it since my extra-high-mileage last week.  But I only had 20 miles so far this week. That was fine with me all week when I was telling myself I was taking a light week.  But then this morning I had to go and decide that I needed a weekly minimum of 30.  I told myself that was still a light week, since it's 17 less than last week... But that meant I needed a 10 miler today.  I guess it is past time to start doing long runs every weekend... Besides, it was in the high 40s by noon, and was going to reach the 50s while I was out there.  How could I not go enjoy that?!  Besides needing a long run, I also was overdue for a run up Muddy Creek Mountain.  I hadn't run it since February 7, because of snowstorms getting in the way every time I wanted to go do it.  So that's where I went today.  I was under-nourished and under-hydrated for that run, but I had a strong run to the top of the mountain: 20:06 for the 2.2 mile climb, compared to 22:06 last time.  The return trip wasn't so smooth.  I was in bad shape by the time I got home, from calorie depletion.  Sleeping in and sitting around the house all day for 4 days has messed up my meal routines.  

Gotta love this elevation profile...if that's not great training for the Blue Ridge 1/2, I don't know what is!  I included my heart rate in this photo...I think it's fun to see how it spikes towards the top of the mountain and then drops fast as I go down the hill...

runs this week

T : 6.1

R : 5.2

F : 4.4

Sa :  4.5

Su : 10.7

total : 30.9 miles