'Arium Run

Kim took this and the photo below on her run a few weeks ago. I'm stealing them because it pretty much looked just like this today when we ran the same path.

Normally I do my three mile runs on Mondays. But I wanted to get one more run in with Kim before my race on Sunday. Since she does her three mile runs on Tuesdays, I just shoved mine over one day. Worked out well since I had my book club last night after work (by the way, we read Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. Anyone else read it?) and I always feel rushed when I run before book club.

Anyway, today we planned to go SLOW. We also decided to head south on the lake front path instead of north. I'd never been south so I was excited about that. Turns out that south takes you past both Shedd Aquarium and Adler Planetarium. And right on the lake. The sun was super hot so the wind blowing off the water felt really nice.

So nice, in fact, that our slow pace was still speedy. We're bad at slow. Although, I always feel bad because Kim is chatting away, asking me questions, and I'm over there huffing and puffing trying to answer and then never asking her anything back. But at least it keeps my mind occupied and I rarely think about how fast we're going. Today, though, I glanced at my Garmin (which was sort of behaving itself for once) and realized that we were hitting an 8:35 pace. Yeah, I asked to slow down. All the way to 9:00 minutes per mile on the way back! Whew.



I really, really enjoy running with friends. I never realized it until just recently. Which is why I'm so excited that I'm running this next half-marathon with a friend! Holly just made an awesome post about how excited she is for me to get there. Sure, I'm excited and nervous about my race but I'm mostly excited to do it WITH someone. Someone who I've known online for years but never met in person. Someone who gave me a reason to not only take a vacation but run in a place I never dreamed I would run. Someone who inspired me to run in the first place. I know she's hoping for a PR (personal record) in this race. While it would be fabulous if I got one myself I'm more excited to be doing something I love with someone I care about. And, yes, I truly believe you can care about someone even if you've never met them in person.

And with that, I'll leave you with today's stats while I go off to squeeze in the last little bit of core strength training for the week.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 581 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 07/14/09 Up/Downhill: [+88/-91] Time: 11:42 AM Difficulty: 2.0 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   77 F temp; 29% humidity   76 F heat index; winds S 12 Performance Distance: 3.01 miles Time: 0:27:49 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 14 /mi Calories: 352 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 32 +0' 18 6.3 -0.2 -13 ft 2 9' 10 -0' 04 6.5 +0.0 -7 ft 3 9' 00 -0' 14 6.7 +0.2 +17 ft end 6' 40 -2' 34 9.0 +2.5 0 ft Versus average of 9' 14 min/mile

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Eight is Great

Image from http://www.kosmic-kabbalah.com/index.htm

On Saturday I did my last long run of this training cycle. I meant to blog about it yesterday while it was still semi-fresh in my mind but got caught up in being a totally lazy bum. Hey, sometimes you need those days, right?

Anyway, I dragged myself out of bed Saturday morning, used Facebook to grumble about how much I miss sleeping in on Saturday mornings, ate breakfast, and got on the bike patch at 8:00 AM.

It had thunderstormed like the world was going to end around 5 AM and although that had helped the temperatures cool down a bit, it left the air full of moisture. It was so humid that I felt like I was swimming for the first mile.

I started out super slow. Of course, not having any clue what speed I was actually going I just let myself shuffle along as slow as possible. When I hit the first mile marker at just over 11 minutes, I realized that I could try and aim for negative splits for the rest of the run. Meaning, I wanted each subsequent mile to be faster than the mile before it. Also, I wanted to do it without hitting the Pause button each time I stopped for an intersection.

I lucked out and only had to stop for more than a second once or twice. The big major intersection with a traffic light was in my favor both times. I passed one of the Chicago Area Runners Association training groups (they're training for the Chicago Marathon) which always gives me motivation. Heck, if they're out there running, I can too!

It took me awhile to get into the groove, but the slightly cooler temperatures and the slow start really helped me feel good on the second half of my run. I thought about going all the way to 10 miles instead of 8, but I figured that since I'd already done an extra 3-4 miles on Thursday that I should take it easy.

I don't know what it is about 8 miles. I think it might be my favorite distance. Or, at least, it's my favorite distance on this particular bike path. I didn't have to stop to walk at all. I felt good while I was out there. And check out my times. Remember, the goal was to have negative splits.



While they weren't totally negative, miles 4 through 7 are awfully close! And much better than the past few long runs.

Anyway, I hope this bodes well for the race on Sunday. Less than a week! I'm going to start packing tonight. The place we're staying has wireless internet access so I'll hopefully be able to update before and after the race. Until then, though, I've got two more training runs to do before I hop a plane on Thursday. Eeeee!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 620 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: -4 ft Date: 07/11/09 Up/Downhill: [+196/-200] Time: 08:01 AM Difficulty: 2.3 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   73 F temp; 76% humidity   73 F heat index; winds N 3 Performance Distance: 8.00 miles Time: 1:23:22 Speed: 5.8 mph Pace: 10' 25 /mi Calories: 601 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 58 +0' 33 5.5 -0.3 -7 ft 2 10' 53 +0' 28 5.5 -0.2 +10 ft 3 10' 22 -0' 03 5.8 +0.0 +10 ft 4 10' 02 -0' 23 6.0 +0.2 -6 ft 5 10' 07 -0' 18 5.9 +0.2 +4 ft 6 10' 04 -0' 21 6.0 +0.2 -7 ft 7 10' 10 -0' 15 5.9 +0.1 -6 ft 8 9' 45 -0' 40 6.2 +0.4 +4 ft end 9' 50 -0' 35 6.1 +0.3 -3 ft Versus average of 10' 25 min/mile

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Garmin-less

Tuesday I responded to the usual "You in for running today?" email from work colleagues by saying that I would be in for running Thursday at noon.

Wednesday night I packed my bag. Shoes, socks, shorts, sports bra, shirt, visor.

Thursday morning I threw in my toiletries. Hair band, face wash, towel, deodorant.

Thursday mid-morning I realized I forgot to pack my Garmin.

Cue freaking out.

I'll be honest. I almost skipped this run. It wasn't one on my training schedule anyway. I really didn't want to run without knowing my pace or my distance. Ever since I got my Garmin in December and ever since I started this blog in January I've felt the need to track those things.

But, I ran anyway. We did somewhere between 3 and 4 miles. I don't know exactly how far we ran because I can't quite map it accurately on any of the online mapping sites. And I don't know how fast. I know I kept up with the guys for the first 2 miles but then started lagging behind on the return portion. But that was okay because the other girl who was running with us was also lagging behind. We ran together. I know that I probably could have kept up with the guys on the return trip, but I would have been totally wiped out for the rest of the afternoon. Plus, I would have felt bad for leaving my sole female companion in the dust.

Was it freeing to run without knowing my pace and distance? Many runners assured me it would be. Honestly, though, it wasn't. Yes, there was a time not that long ago when I ran just to run. I didn't really time myself but I did know my distance. But I also wasn't trying to get faster then. I knew that speed would come as I increased distance. Now I've hit that spot where speed and distance are separate entities. I LIKE seeing myself get faster.

On the other hand, perhaps if I've know how fast I was or wasn't going on my run yesterday I might have gotten psyched out. I guess I'll never know. All I know is that I hope I don't ever forget my Garmin again!

T- minus

Well, I'm down to 9 and a half days until my next half-marathon. Conventional running wisdom tells me that 10 days is the cut off for any more training to change your performance on race day. Meaning that from here on out my goals are to keep up my endurance and not get injured. So even if I managed to find some hills, at this point it wouldn't make a difference.

So, instead of worrying about my lack of hill training, I did my six mile tempo run last night. I'd felt grumpy and irritable all day and seriously considered skipping my run. But, as my husband pointed out, the weather was relatively cool, it was cloudy, and it was lightly raining. All things that could make for a nice run.

Does anyone else feel silly wearing a visor or hat when it's cloudy and raining? I almost wore a bandanna instead but realized that the visor would keep the rain off my face. And it did. I honestly couldn't even tell it was raining while I was running.

I started off SLOOOOOOOW. I tend to start my tempo runs too fast, but in this case I did my warm-up mile in about 10:30. My Garmin is STILL acting up. It can't figure out my pace to save it's life. It's always under-estimating how fast I'm going. Which is why, although I was aiming to hit 9:45 minutes per mile after the warm-up, I ended up going much faster than that for three out of the four tempo miles.



And even on the cool-down mile! I swear to you, every time I looked at my Garmin it told me my pace was around 10:00 minutes per mile for that cool-down one. Yet, somehow I did even it faster than tempo.

I'm beginning to think my tempo pace needs to be adjusted. Next training cycle, for sure! This run felt challenging, but I still felt like I could have kept going if I had to at the end. I did have to pause for traffic a few times, though. I wish I could find a nice, long stretch that wasn't interrupted by intersections.

My blister didn't give me any issues. I carried my hand-held water bottle but didn't really drink out of it all that much. I didn't even wear my iPod. And when I got home, my husband was making tacos for dinner. Tacos rule.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 627 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/08/09 Up/Downhill: [+127/-127] Time: 06:22 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0   Weather: Light Rain   64 F temp; 69% humidity   64 F heat index; winds E 3 Performance Distance: 6.07 miles Time: 0:58:21 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 37 /mi Calories: 628 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 47 +1' 10 5.6 -0.7 +4 ft 2 9' 19 -0' 18 6.4 +0.2 +10 ft 3 9' 43 +0' 06 6.2 -0.1 -6 ft 4 9' 35 -0' 02 6.3 +0.0 +7 ft 5 9' 13 -0' 24 6.5 +0.3 -10 ft 6 9' 33 -0' 04 6.3 +0.0 -3 ft end 11' 40 +2' 03 5.1 -1.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 37 min/mile

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Three Feet

I took that photo on Friday after my 14.27 mile run. I got home, took my shoes off, and realized I'd run through the socks on both feet. Oops! Guess I've got to suck it up and quit buying the cheap-o socks at Target, huh?

Anyway, after two days off from running (but not from exercising. I did level 1 and level 2 of the 30 Day Shred on Sunday) I had a nice, easy three mile run on the books for last night. I left the house a little before 6:30 and planned to meet Jason and Trinka Deu at the dog park when I was finished with my run.

I thought I was going slow. My Garmin showed me I was averaging a 9:59 minute per mile pace. Yet, when I hit the end of mile one it informed me that I was running at my tempo speed! Argh. At that point I had to make a choice: slow down or try and stay steady. Well, I admit that I was feeling kind of run down last night so I did try and slow down. My brain wasn't really in the mood to run and I kept thinking that these three miles were super hard and that how in the world was I going to run 10 more in less than 12 days. However, my legs had other thoughts. Check out my splits:



Hot damn! Those may be the best splits I've ever done. They're all so close to one another AND my middle mile was the fastest instead of the slowest (like usual). And when you see the splits chart from Bones in Motion you'll be even more impressed.

Anyway, by the time I made it back to the dog park I was happy to be done. I was hot! Jason, the sweetheart that he is, offered me some nice, cool Gatorade while I stretched. Also, I was happy to be off my feet. The blister I got on Friday night was bothering me. I'd put a bandaid on it but I could feel it niggling at me. It's a lovely blister, isn't it?


Click to see larger....if you dare

Anyway, I've currently got some antibiotic ointment and a bandaid on it and I'm thinking positive thoughts that it will be healed by the 19th. I'm really kicking myself for walking so much in those sandals on Friday. Stupid!

After Trinka Deu wore herself out at the dog park, we headed home where I started dinner and rewarded myself for a good run by putting my poor, abused feet up and enjoying a glass of wine on the back porch.



It was a lovely ending to what turned out to be a lovely evening run.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 625 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 07/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+45/-45] Time: 06:27 PM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   80 F temp; 39% humidity   79 F heat index; winds NE 6 Performance Distance: 3.00 miles Time: 0:29:25 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 48 /mi Calories: 307 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 43 -0' 05 6.2 +0.0 +3 ft 2 9' 43 -0' 05 6.2 +0.0 +3 ft 3 9' 45 -0' 03 6.2 +0.0 -6 ft end 7' 30 -2' 18 8.0 +1.9 0 ft Versus average of 9' 48 min/mile

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The Longest Run

Technically this week was supposed to be the start of my "taper" week. That's where you start backing off on your mileage so that you can have nice, fresh legs for your race. However, I recently read that two weeks is too long of a taper for a half-marathon. So, instead of cutting back to a 10 mile run for this week's long run I decided to go all out and achieve my goal of seeing the end of the bike path. Therefore, in contrast to Wednesday's short and sweet workout, this one was going to be long and, well, probably not as sweet.

The bike path is 7.1 miles long. I do out-and-back runs meaning that the total, if I ran to one end and then back, would be 14.2 miles.

As you can see from the above picture, I certainly saw mile 7! And, of course, a little bit further since my Garmin likes to be a few hundredths of a mile off from the path's mile markers. And, yes, I made it all the way back under my own power as well. What's at the end of the bike path? A newly built prairie restoration park and some giant mansions.

My goal for this run was to aim for a 10:45 minute per mile pace. I started off nice and slow and did my first mile in 10:50. Once again, the Garmin was having issues giving me a correct pace during each mile. I'm beginning to think it doesn't like all the trees and foliage that now tower over the trail. I was feeling good. Sure, there were some pauses to cross streets, but overall I was keeping a nice steady pace. I had two bottles of water/Gatorade mix. I didn't have any beans or gels or goos so I'd stuffed some pretzel bits into my waistpack for fuel. I was trying to only drink at every mile marker, but as the run went on and the day warmed up I had to stop myself from chugging fluids at what felt like 2 minute intervals.

I told myself I would not hit the wall at mile 7. And, although I did walk for about .2 miles when I got to mile 7, I didn't! Actually, I managed to make it all the way to 11 before I felt tired. My legs felt fatigued. My mental state was telling me to just quit and walk. My cardiovascular system, on the other hand, was doing just fine.

You know, I admire people who can slow down enough to run a 12, 13 or 14 minute per mile pace. My legs seem to be stuck at not much slower than 11:00 minutes per mile. I've read that when you hit the wall you should just shuffle instead of actually walking. But the slower I go the more likely I am to walk. My brain doesn't understand the shuffle. JUST WALK, it screams. And I do. Which is why I think I do much better on runs when I have someone running with me. Someone who won't just stop to walk. Someone to whom I feel accountable. I give in to my own brain way too easily. Which is why between the start of mile 11 and the end of mile 13 I walked. A lot. But you know what the amazing thing is? My pace on this longer run was still a few seconds faster than my pace on my long run last week. And, in running, a few seconds can make a big difference.

So, even though my pace turned out to be 11:04 minutes per mile instead of the 10:45 I was aiming for, I'm happier about it than I was last week. I can't promise I'll hit any time goals for my half in two weeks, but that's not really my aim this time anyway. I just want to finish strong. And now, with two race distance-plus long runs under my belt this time I know I can. I also know I need to bring two bottles of liquid with me. I drained both my waistpack bottle and my handheld one!

Sad part of the run? I lost one of my favorite bandannas. I had it tucked into the strap of my waistpack and it fell out at some point. By the time I realized it was gone I didn't have the energy to walk back along the trail (for who knows how many miles) looking for it. Good bye, pink and black paw print bandanna! I'll miss you!

Amazing part of my run? This is officially the furthest I've ever run in my entire life! And I did it without my usual day of no activity before hand. I did level one of the 30 Day Shred on Thursday night and ran on Friday morning. Also, I didn't take a nap afterward and actually ended up walking over 3 miles around downtown Chicago last night. In heeled sandals. Good thing I got my long run out of the way on Friday morning because this lovely blister I now have from my sandals is a doozy.

***************

Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 627 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 07/03/09 Up/Downhill: [+374/-370] Time: 07:43 AM Difficulty: 3.2 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   72 F temp; 59% humidity   72 F heat index; winds NW 8 Performance Distance: 14.27 miles Time: 2:38:10 Speed: 5.4 mph Pace: 11' 05 /mi Calories: 1157 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 11' 06 +0' 01 5.4 -0.0 -6 ft 2 11' 20 +0' 15 5.3 -0.1 +7 ft 3 10' 39 -0' 26 5.6 +0.2 +13 ft 4 11' 15 +0' 10 5.3 -0.1 -7 ft 5 10' 27 -0' 38 5.7 +0.3 +3 ft 6 10' 45 -0' 20 5.6 +0.2 +10 ft 7 10' 22 -0' 43 5.8 +0.4 +3 ft 8 11' 45 +0' 40 5.1 -0.3 +7 ft 9 10' 21 -0' 44 5.8 +0.4 -13 ft 10 10' 48 -0' 17 5.5 +0.1 0 ft 11 10' 41 -0' 24 5.6 +0.2 -13 ft 12 11' 52 +0' 47 5.0 -0.4 -4 ft 13 13' 21 +2' 16 4.5 -0.9 -3 ft 14 10' 56 -0' 09 5.5 +0.1 -7 ft end 11' 58 +0' 53 5.0 -0.4 +6 ft Versus average of 11' 05 min/mile

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Short and Sweet

Not much to say about my latest track workout. It was short and sweet. Ten sets of 200 meters each at a 8:00 minute per mile pace. The original plan called for 100 meter jogs between each 200 meters but I decided to walk/jog 200 meters instead. I think if I had stuck to the original plan and actually jogged only the 100 meters my times would not be quite so good.

See, I went to the Taste of Chicago on my lunch break today and ate lots of junk food. My coworker joked that instead of calling it "The Taste" they should call it "The Fried". I had French fries with mango-cumin sauce, plantains, a fried banana dumpling with ground pork filling, spicy rice with goat meat, and a large slice of Eli's turtle cheesecake. Totally not good run-fueling foods! I admit to spending the afternoon feeling rather dazed and kind of bloated. It was worth it though. Even though we got rained on and it was cold outside. At least now I can say I'm no longer a Taste of Chicago virgin.

Anyway, I know speedwork is supposed to be hard and you're supposed to push yourself. But I admit to taking it easy during the recovery meters. But, I pushed it hard during the speed ones and did every single one of them faster than an 8:00 minute per mile pace.

My times? If you can interpret the chart, go for it. Otherwise, all you need to know is that I made my goal and then some.




I started out with a half mile jog where I went a little faster than I meant to. Oops. I paused to stretch my calves and then it was right into the speed work. I took a break at the half way point to stretch my shins (the left one was acting up), my IT Band (running on the track makes them feel tight) and drink some water. On the last speed lap, though, the ball of my right foot was killing me! So, even though I had planned to jog a cool-down half mile, I ended up walking it instead. Gotta take care of those tootsies! S, not counting the half-mile I walked, I did a total of 3.14 miles. See, I told you it was short!

Now I'm wondering if my foot pain was due to needing new shoes or because I was focusing on running on the balls of my feet. I'm really bad about keeping track of how many miles I have on a pair of shoes. Either way, I'd hate to get a new pair of shoes this late in the game. I guess I'll see how I feel on my long run this weekend.

Also, I found out who the group is that I see doing speedwork every time I'm at the track. They're a sub-group of a local running club. I've been thinking about joining the club. I think I'll do it after the half-marathon is over so that I will still be accountable and not slack off. Although, if I sign up to run a race with Kim I certainly can't slack off or she'll kick my butt!

June Wrap-Up

Wow, is June over already? Amazing! Where did it go? I guess because it took almost half of June before it really felt like summer weather-wise I'm finding it hard to believe it's already July.

So, how was June in terms of running? Well, I always like to think about it in terms of firsts. I think the biggest first was that I started running at lunch! I ran once with people from work and, since then, I've started running with Kim! Speaking of which, we did another 3 miler yesterday. It was nice and overcast and relatively cool. In fact, I was downright chilly before we started running. I was lagging a little behind so I don't think I quite held up my end of the conversation, but otherwise it was a nice run at almost 5K race pace (for me anyway). I'm beginning to think I need to recruit speedy people to run all my races with me. I'd blow my times out of the water with someone faster by my side! Anyway, I'll put the stats at the end of this post.

Other firsts for June? Well, June brought me the first 10+ mile training runs I've ever done. I've done a twelve miler and a half marathon distance (13.1) as training runs. Whew! That's a lot of miles. Actually, you know what my distance was for June? 87.15! That's .15 miles more than March which was my previous highest mileage month. Amazing.

With that mileage came my first run skipped due to injury. I feared I was getting plantar fasciitis but a day of rest and lots of icing and massaging have kept it at bay. Thank goodness!

June also gave me a new PR for a 5K race. 26:57.7. I wanted to break 27 minutes and I did. I'm so proud of that time.

June saw me getting up earlier and earlier to get in my long runs and practice running around the time that long races actually start. While I wasn't perfect, I did better at getting out there before mid-afternoon.

However, I will admit that many of my runs in June have been hard and I worry that I may be at the verge of over-training. In fact, after July 19th I'm looking forward to cutting back my mileage and working on running the best 5K I can run and getting a new 10K PR. And, you know, sleeping in past 7AM on Saturdays. Maybe.

18 days until my next race!

Until then, here are the stats from my latest lunchtime run:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 585 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: -6 ft Date: 06/30/09 Up/Downhill: [+144/-150] Time: 11:37 AM Difficulty: 1.7 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.01 miles Time: 0:26:42 Speed: 6.8 mph Pace: 8' 52 /mi Calories: 326 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 35 -0' 17 7.0 +0.2 -23 ft 2 9' 40 +0' 48 6.2 -0.6 +10 ft 3 8' 34 -0' 18 7.0 +0.2 +20 ft end 9' 17 +0' 25 6.5 -0.3 -13 ft Versus average of 8' 52 min/mile

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