Injuries & Cherry Blossom 10K

Run Stats:
 
Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
45 degrees (felt like 39)
10 miles
1:52:49
Pace: 11:06, 10:47, 10:41, 10:39, 11:04, 11:16*, 11:35, 12:05, 11:59, 11:38
With: Sheri & self

*Right about here is where my hamstring cramped up & never really let go for the rest of the run.  : ((

It was a magical day in that it was beautiful, there were entertaining people (a gorilla playing a cowbell on the sidelines, santa, etc), and that I was even able to run in the first place (see injury below).  I have to be honest, the fact that I fell in love with this year's shirt when I saw it yesterday, and got so excited to be able to wear it proudly after I finished the damn thing, is probably the only thing that kept me from walking the last mile or so (that and stubbornness: "I didn't spend three months training to NOT finish it!!").  The hamstring cramp stunk & then ended up pulling my knee weird, so now I have some things that need babying for a bit.  : )  I'm still on the fence about the half-marathon.  It depends on if I can get myself there without injury. 


Injury:
The reason I haven't posted a run since March 25 is that I went for an injury-free leisure hike & ended up attempting to punt the only rock on the entire trail.  I was out of comission for 3+ days, thought I broke it, it hurt so bad.  Monday of this week I went to get X-rays.  No break.  It was just the world's most insane toe jamming ever.  As a result, I took this last week off to see if I could heal enough to run.  Ironically, my toe gave me no problems today.  I think, though, that the weird hobbling I did most of this week probably contributed to the cramping today.  : (

Here's my day:

It was a gorgeous sunrise over the capital...

 

The Washington Monument, just because you always need a picture of it:

 It was great that J came down to watch me cross the finish line in freezing weather & a very early wake-up:

 Sheri & I were both successful finishers:

This was THE shirt...  the one that kept me going.  Now I can proudly wear it!

Week 10, Run 2

Run Stats:
 
Week 10, Run 2
37 degrees
3 miles
33:05
Pace: 10:31, 11:30, 10:59
With: self

Week 10, Run 1

Run Stats:
 
Week 10, Run 1
61 degrees
4.50 miles
50:10
Pace: 10:46, 11:16, 11:14, 11:14, 11:16(for the last 1/2 mile)
With: self


Today's earworm during the run was the new Mumford & sons song (not little lion man - the other one).  Also, you never really know your neighborhoods until you explore it slowly - I found a little enclave that looked like I had stepped back in time.  It was weird..

Week 9, run 3

Run Stats:
 
Week 9, Run 3
56 degrees
8.00 miles!!!
1hr, 29 minutes
Pace: 11:09, 11:35, 10:53, 11:01, 11;19, 11:08, 11:36*, 11:13
With: Sheri!  : )

*DAMN HILL!  It was at least a half a mile & about a 200 ft elevation increase over that span.  Yargh!

Week 9, Run 2

Run Stats:
 
Week 9, Run 2
61 degrees
3.00 miles
31:53 minutes
Pace: 10:13, 10:45, 10:55
With: myself

The warmth is a challenge.

Week 9, run 1

Run Stats:
 
Week 9, Run 1
54 degrees
5.00 miles
56:45 minutes
Pace: 10:37, 10:49, 11:09, 11:44, 12:26
With: myself

well, not as good as I would have hoped because I walked for bits of mile 4 and 5 (but must not have walked that much as the times weren't horrendous), but it happened and the rain held out.  5 miles is close to too much for me if there are no trees and no company.  Ugh, boring suburb streets.  Blech!  On the up side a 3 year old on a bike raced me down the street.  On the down side, he beat me...  but he had wheels, cheater.  

Failure, Fixes & Resumption

So...  yeah, I was supposed to do my 8 mile run two weeks ago, but I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras....  yeah...  you guessed it: that didn't happen.  Next I planned to do my 8 miles yesterday.  Due to a commedy of errors involving starting late, running into gastric distress AGAIN, and losing people, that didn't happen either.  (though I did get a cumulative 3 miles in). 

So I'm starting on 5-3-8 again this week.

I WILL be doing it.  Also, I may have discovered the cause/solution to my "distress" after doing an embarassing google search on "running diarrhea"!  I was worried that it was due to psyching myself out before my long runs & kicking the flight-or-fight response on, but I never feel that nervous or stressed. After the google search, it looks like it could be related to how close I eat to when I run.  Then I talked to my coworker and he said he would have the same problem when he was on the cross country team (yes, we talk about poop at work) and that if he ate anything closer than 4 hours before, he would have issues at about 1.5 miles.  That's EXACTLY when my issues tend to kick in.  Guess it has something to do with your body shunting blood away from GI tract to muscles for running and then your body says, "well, I can't do anything with this now...  no point, let's dump it!"  Good to know!  I can't wait to try again this weekend now.  Guess I'll try to get the run in before lunch if possible.  : )

Yeah, I bet you ALL wanted to know about this, but maybe someone else will find the info useful.  hrm.

As a CAVEAT:  I had been making sure to eat 2 hours or more before a run.  I thought that would be enough digestion time.

Week 9, Run 1

Run Stats:

Week 9, Run 1

Degrees

5.00 miles

54:56

Pace: 10:42, 11:06, 11:13, 11:07, 10:47

With: myself

Nice run.  5 miles seems like a pretty easy distance after 7.

I'm almost to the point that I'll be close to done with the 15K program.

Week 8, Run 3

Run Stats:
 
Week 8, Run 3
54 degrees
7.00 miles
1 hr 23:38 minutes
Pace: 10:54, 11:07, 11:53, 12:21, 12:39, 12:20, 12:25
With: Jade

Other than a necessary bathroom break, it was OK.

Week8, Run 2

Run Stats:
 
Week 8, Run 2
50 degrees
3.00 miles
31:22
Pace: 10:25, 10:26, 10:31
With: myself

Really boring run in my neighborhood.  I focused on form though - that's a good thing.  I'm also psyching myself up for the 7 mile run this weekend.  I am a bit wary though as I'll be skiing the day before.  We shall see.  I need to do it.  I just got transferred a bib number for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. I KNOW I can run for 10 miles straight through if I set my mind to it and that's my goal.    Here we go!

Week 8, Run 1

Run Stats:
 
Week 8, Run 1
35 degrees
4.67 miles (was supposed to be 5**)
50:19
Pace: 10:22, 10:39, 10:40, 10:47, 11:47
With: myself

I went to Burke Lake today.  It was a really nice trail.  I'll definitely go there again for some of my longer runs.  I got to see a large group of white herons come in for their night roost on the other side of the lake, had a great Blue Heron land almost right next to me, and came across a group of 3 does (a deer, a female deer...) on the path - two of them ran and one of them started to run, then stopped and watched me and I got to pass her within 8 feet.  We just looked at each other.  It was a great run except ** I didn't quite make the 5 miles because I a) got lost and had to backtrack for a minute right at the very end, and b) had to make sure to get in my car and leave the park because I only had 5 minutes left before they locked me in.  Eep!  I'm pretty proud of my paces today though.

Week 7, Run 3

Run Stats:
 
Week 7, Run 3
46 degrees
4.00 miles
44:24
Pace: 10:54, 10:35, 11:30, 11:25
With: myself

Yeah, that's right.  There was no Week 7, Run 2.  so be it.  : )

Week 7, Run 1

Run Stats:
 
Week 7, Run 1
57 degrees
3.00 miles
32:43
Pace: 10:44, 11:05, 10:55
With: myself

Nice weather, but I'm clearly not used to the warmth.  The 3 miles stunk mainly because i've not been eating well, so I felt sluggish.  The heat didn't bother me until I stopped & realized that I was dripping.  Makes me wonder how 10 to 13 miles in warmer weather will go.  Guess I'll have to train up to that too.  I think I may need to be more serious about rock climing also since my left calf was seizing (the climbing keeps me loose somehow).

Week 6, Run 3

Run stats:

Week 6, run 3
6.00 miles
68:32
Pace: 10:53, 11:51, 11:21, 11:56, 11:43, 10:49
With: Jade

Nice run.  Was awesome.  I'm proud that I can do 6 miles!

Random Ponderances

I'm just thinking that it's really nice to be able to bust out 3 miles EASILY now.  I know that's because I'm conditioned to go farther at this point.  So maybe in the future I should make a point to stick with doing 2-3 miles several times a week & occasionally throw in a long run still.

Week 6, run 3 & week 6, run 2 (again)

Run stats:

Week 6, run 3
4.25 miles
57:24 or so
Pace: 13:16, 11:35, 11:48, 12:46
With: Jade

Basically it sucked. We were supposed to do 6 miles but between the time of month, iced over trails, hilly streets that didn't go too far, etc... yeah, it just didn't happen. We decided to do a re-do this week.

----------------

Run Stats:

Week 6, run 2 (II)
33 degrees
3.00 miles
33:01
Pace: 10:58, 10:37, 10:46
With: geese & some white-tailed deer

Awesome run as you can see from the pic...  sunset, lake, deer...  I drove home to the Amelie soundtrack, it was that kind of run.  *happy*

Week 6, Run 2

Run Stats:

week 6, day 2
37 degrees
3.00 miles
34:31
Pace: 11:01, 11:30, 12:00
With: self

Not such a good run. Ate crap all day, so I felt like the 3 mi run was just as hard as a 5 mi one. Also, apparently all the ice & snow hasn't melted off the trails at Huntley Meadows yet! I did not know this until I go about a half mile in & then I thought it ws only going to be a little way, but I was wrong. I'm pretty sure the slow pace was due to having to hop-slip my way through half of it.

Week 6, Run 1

Run stats:

week 6, day 1
37(34) degrees
4.00 miles
45:47
Pace: 11:20, 11:10, 11:34, 11:41
With: self

Could tell I was tired & possibly having muscle response to wheat in my lunch soup (should have asked) or both... It was strong but felt a bit sluggish - like I was working too hard. Also, I got to meet an old, fat dog named Ollie who belonged to an old romanian gentleman & a small pitt-bull/lhaso mix named Mickey belonging to a guy named Larry. Oh! I also talked to the mailman as he was driving along! So eventhough it was a boring route at this point (I am BORED with the neighborhood, but the nature trails won't be plowed), it was an entertaining run none-the-less.

Week 5, Run 3

Run stats:

week 5, day 3
43 degrees
5.00 miles
57:22
Pace: 11:03, 11:03, 11:25, 12:11, 11:40
With: Jade

Decent run, but we spent part of it in the graveyard & each time it made me need to poo.  Weird.

Week 5, Run 2

Run stats:

week 5, day 1
35 degrees
3.00 miles
34:05
Pace: 10:52, 11:32, 11:39
With: me, myself & I (PAAAARTAAAYYY!!!)

Week 5, Run 1

Run stats:
week 5, day 1:
43 degrees
4.00 miles
44:25
Pace: 10:46, 11:01, 11:17, 11:22
With: me, myself & I (PAAAARTAAAYYY!!!)

Wonderful run, strong, happy, totally ON!  Whoop!

on another note: a good run works for loosening up the shoulder & back muscles, apparently....

Week 4, Runs 1-3

Run stats:
week 4, day 1:
20-something degrees
2.00 miles
23:52*
Pace: 11:46 average*
With: me


*used RunKeeper without knowing how it works, so I couldn't get pace for each mile & it counted the time it took me to walk home after I hit 2 miles.  I moseyed.



Run stats:
week 4, day 2:
20 -something degrees
2.00 miles
21:44
Pace: 10:25, 11:19
With: me

Fun run because I had a purpose - run from my house to Sportrock climbing center to meet the girls.  Air quality sucked though.  I felt like I couldn't breathe. Also, I really need a new backpack if I'm gonna be running with gear.


Run stats:
week 4, day 3:
28 degrees
2.00 miles
22:32
Pace: 10:32, 10:40
With: me


Run 3 was by far my happiest - went in my Huntley Meadows woods.  Yay!  It's my happy place.  Maybe I should try to go there for the 4 mi run this week.  hrm...  Then again, training in the woods will not help me train for the drudgery of 13 miles on city streets.  Grrr...

Week 3, run 3

Run stats:
week 3, day 3:
37 degrees (30 after windchill)
4.00 miles
43:19
Pace: 10:17,10:26, 11:03, 11:26*
With: me, myself & I (and they were fighting the whole way...  ugh.)

*this last time is starred because that mile was a run/walk combo.  mostly run.  ~max of 5 steps per walk, so it's still an OK pace. 

Week 3, run 2

sucked

I'm not going to bother with stats.

It was supposed to be a 2 mi. run.  I got out on the road and ran 0.3 mile before I realised I wouldn't have time to finish & make a 5:30 appointment.  Then I took Parkour (1hr) and Acro (1 hr.) at Urban Evolution and popped over to Sportrock at 9:00PM to use the treadmill.  I hate treadmills.  Treadmills suck.  Even if there are shirtless guys climbing to watch while you're on it.  I went 1.15 mi on treadmill & then hit stop.  Then I talked myself into starting again and went another 0.35 mi.  At this point, my thoughts were "bored, bored, bored, suck, bored, AUGH, suck, I can keep going, F$%# this, I can keep going.  I'm dripping sweat.  Nope.  No way in hell."  *hit stop*  Mind over matter did not work.  I'll call it a loss.  I got a total of 1.8 mi in in some way shape or form.  That's good enough for now.  Mental note, don't shecule 4 things into a night & still expect to fit the run in. 

soooo tired today.

Thought Stream (week 3, run 1)

One friend mentioned that it might be interesting to know (as a non-runner) what I think about while running, so here goes...  The first of my random thought streams.

"this is nice.  I feel better than Sunday.  the cold mist is not bad.  Actually not that cold out.  Maybe it is, my cheeks are chilly.  How can my eyebrows be cold? they are hair.  OOps...  landing heavy, change stride.  Nice run.  Breathing good?  1, 2, 3, huh, huh, 1, 2, 3, huh, huh...**  OK.  Good.  Fuck!  was that ice? pad, pad pad, ICE ICE, pad, pad, ICE.  Shit, oops!  Crap.  ICE, augh.  That road's like a skating rink, not gonna go there afterall...  Ah, grass.  good idea.  Pad, pad, pad, driveway, pad, pad, pad, ICE, ICE...  argh.  I feel like Wile E. Coyote.  Legs spinning, not going anywhere.  This must amuse the drivers passing by as I nearly slide off the curb at one of those damn wheel-chair friendly slopes from the sidewalk to the crosswalk. Pad, pad, pad, ICE, Pad, ICE.  Is Jade still alive?  She's gonna kill me.  Nice!  I think I go the distance right on this time! Just a little further.  Pad, pad, ice, grass...  Whew!  Done"

** this is my rhythmic breathing method that I found helps me avoid being short of breath & side stitches & all that...  3 steps to breathe out & 2 to breath in.  Breath in deep into the diaphragm (into the uterus as I once heard it said). Think I stole it from Chi Running, but it works & I'm happy & it keeps me a bit zen.

Week 3, run 1

Back on the top of the WORLD!!!

Run stats:

week 3, day 1:

30 degrees, freezing mist

3.00 miles*

36:21*

Pace: 11:25*, 12:51*, 12:00*

With: Jade

OK, I know I sweat a LOT, but this isn't my doing!  I swear!  I had my jacket half open.  No, I did not strip today.  (Also, its dumpy, but this is the best running shirt ever!)  The times today are starred * because I am really skeptical that they're accurate.  Granted, we were slipping a lot due to ice, but we kept up a good steady pace at LEAST as fast as Sunday, yet our times are longer?  Also, I know that heavy cloud cover messes with the GPS signal, so we may have gone farther than recorded.  (UPDATE:  just mapped it.  nope.  3 miles.  hmmm...  what happened? I didn't think the ice slowed us down that much.)  Doesn't matter because I felt like I could have gone for at least 5 miles today.  Yay!

Week 2, Run 3

Sucked.

Run stats:
week 2, day 3:
33 degrees (after windchill?  don't know, but Jade said to make sure to say 18 mph wind gusts?)
3.00 miles
35:09
Pace: 11:11, 11:26, 12:33
With: Jade

Running with Jade made it more enjoyable and probably kept me from turning around early & saying "F*&^ this!"  Clearly, it was way worse than previous times.  Can't beat myself up too much since I have a sinus cold, have not caught up on sleep fully (probably because of nose at night), have worn myself out & it's girl time, but I seriously felt like I was 200 lbs. today.  Sooo hard to move!  I resorted to walk/run after 1.75 mi.  I'm definitely wondering whether I'll mentally be able to make myself go 10 or 13 miles later, but at least I proved to myself that I'll be able to push through anything if I'm not in top shape the day of the Warrior Dash. 

Also, I think things were not helped by changing my set-up.  My feet were a bit cold the last run I did...  not bad, but it made me consider using socks this time.  As a result, I wore toed knee socks.  This was, methinks, a bad idea.  I overheat anyway (was once again down to a tee shirt after the first 1.15 mi), and something over the past 3 years has increased the circulation in my feet because I don't get as cold anymore.  It's weird.  Adaptation?  Anyway, the knee socks just threw me off.  my feet were so much happier when we got done & I took off my vibrams & socks and padded around on the 30 degree concrete barefoot.  weird.

Week 2, run 2

Watch died before we even started, so I had to use a not-so accurate tracker on my phone.

Run stats:
week 2 (again), day 2:
35 degrees (maybe 28 after windchill)
2.01 miles
23:46
Pace: dunno
With: Jade

Felt like I could go longer, but glad I didn't since I was run down & a bit hungover.  : /

"Week 2", run #1

Run stats:
week 2 (again), day 1:
42 degrees (maybe 38 after windchill)
3 miles
31:57
Pace: 11:01, 10:06, 10:47 (possibly should have been shorter as I had two instances of stopping my watch to meet Huey, the bearded collie.  He needed pets & his owner needed conversation)

Don't know if my fear & trepidation was warranted or not.  The first 1.5 mile stunk (usually does unless I'm in rare form), but once I got warmed up, I felt like I was moving a little better.  Though my form & run were a bit clunky regardless.  Don't know if it was the area or the mood I'm in.  Also, as usual, stopping didn't help any.  I don't do well after I stop moving.  Ah well. 

Also can't believe that at 42 degrees, in a T-shirt, I can still sweat like the dickens.  Someday I'd like to figure out why I run so "hot"...

Thursday, I get to run with Jade.  2 mi run.  The schedule also calls for cross training.  I'll be doing a bit of Parkour & some Acro stuff at Urban Evolution.  I'd say that counts!  ; )

Failure & New Beginnings

So I posted last time that my next run was going to be the following Thursday.  Yeah, my running partner didn't want to go that day because of the snow, I thought it would be better to go Friday afternoon instead, and then I promptly got sick.  Argh!  Guess it's a good thing I didn't go or a run, but that cold derailed my entire training for WEEKS since it was a chest cold.  Now I'm finally to the point where I can breathe, am barely coughing, and have some energy back. 

Today, in a few minutes actually, I'm off for my first 3 mi. run again.  My first run in 2+ weeks.  I'm facing it with much mental trepidation and I don't know why.  I'm scared.  For no reason.  I'm thinking about giving up this whole silly plan.  For no reason.  Hopefully when I get back I'll be in the mood and gunning for the adventure again.

*crosses fingers*