My legs are feeling really heavy this week! Although the 20 miler went well last Saturday, I think the effects on my muscles are still being felt. After taking it easy on Sunday and Monday (took 2 yoga classes, did a little cross training, and ran 3 easy recovery miles), I still managed to run 34 miles this week including a 6 mile pace run and 8 miles of hills on Comm Ave. I also treated myself to a sports massage that turned out to be more painful than relaxing.....she really worked on my legs!
With all this put together, I was not looking forward to my 12 mile run with the team this morning. All week I kept thinking that it would be easy after running 20.5 miles last weekend. I didn't sleep well on Friday night so when my alarm went off at 6:30am I struggled to get out of bed. Fortunately, I was not the only one that was sluggish from last week as many of my teammates were equally unenthusiastic about this run. But it was a beautiful day so we headed out.
It wasn't the best run, but given the circumstances I was happy with it. My hip and calf felt really sore as soon as I stopped running so I have been icing them on and off today. Being this close to Marathon Monday, I get nervous with every new ache or twinge I feel in my body......luckily I have these next two taper weeks to get strong again. Tomorrow Bryan and I are heading up to Killington for a couple days to get some spring skiing in. I am looking forward to getting away for a bit, but I'm a little nervous to ski this close to the big day. In 15 years of skiing I have yet to hurt myself (knocking on wood)!!
16 more days.......getting close!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Last long run.....the BIG one!
This week I hit the peak of my training....my last long run of 20.5 miles! The e-mails between 6 of my teammates started early this week when we received our bib numbers (I'm number 19,937). The topic then changed to carbo loading and what to wear on Saturday.....the entire time there was a feeling of nervous excitement that came with each e-mail.
I got up at 5:30 am on Saturday morning, got dressed, and had my ritual pre-long run breakfast (english muffin with peanut butter and a banana). We met at FitCorp where there was much discussion in the locker room about appropriate clothing for the day....shorts or pants, thin shirt or thick shirt?? After deciding on shorts, we headed out and were loaded onto 4 school buses. We started the ride out to Framingham, where we were being dropped off at the 7 mile mark of the course.
Janette, Steph, and I started out together on our long run back into Boston. As always, our energy pushed us to start off too fast and we had to consciously slow our pace down (something I never thought I would have to do!!) After a few miles we settled into a comfortable pace and started chatting. Surprisingly, the conversation never stopped for the entire 20.5 miles! Each of the charities sponsored a water/Gatorade/snack stop along the course. We stopped, refueled, chatted with the other people, and even got our pictures taken a few times.
We turned the corner onto Comm Ave and the hills started. All three of us seem to have a similar mentality about how to handle the hills.....run up them as fast as you can so that they are over quickly!! After summiting Heartbreak Hill and coming past Boston College, I saw Bryan waiting to cheer us on....he put a big smile on my face when I saw him! He ran with us for a couple blocks and brought us gummy worms (my favorite run snack!) and told us we looked strong. He said goodbye at Clevland Circle and the three of us continued on through Brookline.
We got into the Back Bay and had about 2 miles left. Steph started singing the Rocky theme song to help push us those last few miles. This turned into a game of name that tune with each of us singing lines from songs that motivate us.....the Jersey girl in me rocked out with Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer!" With Beacon Hill in our sights, we knew we were almost finished....this hill was at the 20 mile mark in our run which is exactly were Heartbreak is on the marathon course. I knew that if I could make it up this hill strong, then I would be able to get up Heartbreak on marathon day. With 3 of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on our faces, we pushed up that hill with so much energy. Steph yelled out to the people on the sidewalk "We just ran all the way from FRAMINGHAM!!!!" and they gave us a cheer!
All I can say is WOW.....the feeling I got after finishing this run was something I had never felt before. It was a true runner's high! My legs were definitely happy to be done running, but I felt like I had a few more miles in me if I had to. Let's hope that feeling is there on Marathon Monday. Back inside the gym, there were bodies laying everywhere.....all were exhausted and elated at the same time. We shared stories about how each of our runs went......most people couldn't believe that we talked and sang the entire time -- all 3 hours and 15 minutes!!
I went home, talked Bryan's ear off about the run, sat in a painful ice bath, indulged in a burger, french fries, beer and ice cream, and crashed on the couch early......the whole time I don't think the smile left my face once! Throughout the day I would randomly say "I can't believe I just ran 20 miles!!" I don't think I really believed it....if this run felt that amazing to have completed, I can't even begin to imagine what it will feel like on marathon day!
22 more days until I find out.......... :)
I got up at 5:30 am on Saturday morning, got dressed, and had my ritual pre-long run breakfast (english muffin with peanut butter and a banana). We met at FitCorp where there was much discussion in the locker room about appropriate clothing for the day....shorts or pants, thin shirt or thick shirt?? After deciding on shorts, we headed out and were loaded onto 4 school buses. We started the ride out to Framingham, where we were being dropped off at the 7 mile mark of the course.
Janette, Steph, and I started out together on our long run back into Boston. As always, our energy pushed us to start off too fast and we had to consciously slow our pace down (something I never thought I would have to do!!) After a few miles we settled into a comfortable pace and started chatting. Surprisingly, the conversation never stopped for the entire 20.5 miles! Each of the charities sponsored a water/Gatorade/snack stop along the course. We stopped, refueled, chatted with the other people, and even got our pictures taken a few times.
We turned the corner onto Comm Ave and the hills started. All three of us seem to have a similar mentality about how to handle the hills.....run up them as fast as you can so that they are over quickly!! After summiting Heartbreak Hill and coming past Boston College, I saw Bryan waiting to cheer us on....he put a big smile on my face when I saw him! He ran with us for a couple blocks and brought us gummy worms (my favorite run snack!) and told us we looked strong. He said goodbye at Clevland Circle and the three of us continued on through Brookline.
We got into the Back Bay and had about 2 miles left. Steph started singing the Rocky theme song to help push us those last few miles. This turned into a game of name that tune with each of us singing lines from songs that motivate us.....the Jersey girl in me rocked out with Bon Jovi's "Livin on a Prayer!" With Beacon Hill in our sights, we knew we were almost finished....this hill was at the 20 mile mark in our run which is exactly were Heartbreak is on the marathon course. I knew that if I could make it up this hill strong, then I would be able to get up Heartbreak on marathon day. With 3 of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on our faces, we pushed up that hill with so much energy. Steph yelled out to the people on the sidewalk "We just ran all the way from FRAMINGHAM!!!!" and they gave us a cheer!
All I can say is WOW.....the feeling I got after finishing this run was something I had never felt before. It was a true runner's high! My legs were definitely happy to be done running, but I felt like I had a few more miles in me if I had to. Let's hope that feeling is there on Marathon Monday. Back inside the gym, there were bodies laying everywhere.....all were exhausted and elated at the same time. We shared stories about how each of our runs went......most people couldn't believe that we talked and sang the entire time -- all 3 hours and 15 minutes!!
I went home, talked Bryan's ear off about the run, sat in a painful ice bath, indulged in a burger, french fries, beer and ice cream, and crashed on the couch early......the whole time I don't think the smile left my face once! Throughout the day I would randomly say "I can't believe I just ran 20 miles!!" I don't think I really believed it....if this run felt that amazing to have completed, I can't even begin to imagine what it will feel like on marathon day!
22 more days until I find out.......... :)
Monday, March 19, 2007
Half Marathon PR!!
On Sunday I ran the New Bedford Half Marathon with a few of my BMC teammates. I met up with Janette on my way to pick up my bib number and was happy to have found her. We lined up at the start together with about 2000 other runners and prepared to set out on what we kept referring to as a "training race." We knew that we couldn't go out too hard this week because we have our final long run just 6 days later......21 miles! Janette had her Garmin GPS watch so she monitored our pace. My only goal was to break 2 hours, which would mean running about 9:05 min/miles.
The course was fairly nice with rolling hills that took us out along Buzzard's Bay. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the surroundings too much because I was too busy fighting the insanely strong wind that seemed to follow us everywhere we went!! There were lots of families out cheering for us and the police men directing the course always had a word of encouragement for us as we passed. We met up with Kevin, another TEAM BMC member, at about the 6 mile mark and ran with him for a while. According to Janette's watch, we were moving at a really good pace, faster than we had planned, but we felt good so we continued on. At about the 11 mile mark we ran into Steph pushing hard too. We pushed up the last hill at mile 12 and headed toward the finish line. Surprisingly, Janette and I both had enough energy to sprint out that last 250 yards!
We crossed the finish line in 1:49:35!!! I couldn't believe it.....that's a whole 19 minutes faster than my last half marathon that I ran in September!!! We averaged 8:22 min/miles which is a lot faster than I thought I could run! It was great to see Steph come in soon after us and Kevin right after her both looking strong......all 4 of us finished within 60 seconds of each other!
It felt so good to race and to run it at such a fast pace for me. I know I can't keep up that pace for another 13.1 miles, but it makes me wonder just how fast I could become if I was actually consistent about speed training......I guess that's what the next race is for :)
The course was fairly nice with rolling hills that took us out along Buzzard's Bay. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy the surroundings too much because I was too busy fighting the insanely strong wind that seemed to follow us everywhere we went!! There were lots of families out cheering for us and the police men directing the course always had a word of encouragement for us as we passed. We met up with Kevin, another TEAM BMC member, at about the 6 mile mark and ran with him for a while. According to Janette's watch, we were moving at a really good pace, faster than we had planned, but we felt good so we continued on. At about the 11 mile mark we ran into Steph pushing hard too. We pushed up the last hill at mile 12 and headed toward the finish line. Surprisingly, Janette and I both had enough energy to sprint out that last 250 yards!
We crossed the finish line in 1:49:35!!! I couldn't believe it.....that's a whole 19 minutes faster than my last half marathon that I ran in September!!! We averaged 8:22 min/miles which is a lot faster than I thought I could run! It was great to see Steph come in soon after us and Kevin right after her both looking strong......all 4 of us finished within 60 seconds of each other!
It felt so good to race and to run it at such a fast pace for me. I know I can't keep up that pace for another 13.1 miles, but it makes me wonder just how fast I could become if I was actually consistent about speed training......I guess that's what the next race is for :)
Sunday, March 11, 2007
A long and lonely run
This was a hard week for me. First, Bryan was in British Columbia all week for a guy's ski vacation so I was home all alone. Second, the weather was bitterly cold which forced a couple of my mid-week runs inside on the treadmill which I hate. You are probably thinking...."this is nothing -- stop complaining and just run!!" I agree......until the worst happened. I woke up around midnight on Thursday night to a nasty stomach bug. I will spare you the details, but it really knocked me on my butt for a couple days. On Friday I had no appetite and probably only ate about 500 calories -- no where near enough necessary to get me through a long run with my team on Saturday. I may be a stubborn runner, but I am smart enough to know that I should not be running 16 miles....I couldn't even walk from my couch to the kitchen without getting tired!!
So I skipped the Saturday morning run and took it easy for another day. My appetite started coming back, but not my usual eat everything in sight self. I managed to eat a few more calories on Saturday, though still not enough. Sunday morning rolled around and I felt good so I decided to head out for a run......by myself. I decided to do two 9 mile loops so that I could swing by my car to re-fill my water bottles and Gu.
The first loop felt okay....I took it easy knowing that I wasn't fully recovered. I stopped at my car after finishing 9.25 miles and seriously contemplated quitting at that point. Who would blame me or think less of me?? 48 hours ago I couldn't keep anything in my stomach, my feet were wet from all the puddles I was running in -- stopping after 9 miles would have been totally acceptable to everyone....except to me. So I started back out on my second loop quickly before I could talk myself out of it.
Let's just say this run was absolute hell! But awesome at the same time!?!?! I hated having to run that far by myself.....3 hours is a lot of time to be in your head with nothing but your thoughts. I played mind games to pass the time -- for about 5 miles there was a man running 15 feet in front of me with a 2005 Boston Marathon jacket. For those 5 miles, I focused solely on that jacket knowing that I was doing this crazy run to earn the right to wear the sacred Boston jacket. Thank you running man for helping me motivate and get through this run!
As miserable as it was, I needed this run. It made me stronger -- both physically and mentally. I needed to know that I could force my legs to continue putting one foot in front of the other even when every ounce of my body was screaming at me to stop! I finished this run in a great deal of pain, but so proud of myself for pushing on and running 18.5 miles all by myself! I'm just happy that I don't have to do all my long runs by myself and that I have awesome teammates to run with most of the time!!
This is what this crazy marathon journy is all about -- finding how hard I can push both my body and my mind!
So I skipped the Saturday morning run and took it easy for another day. My appetite started coming back, but not my usual eat everything in sight self. I managed to eat a few more calories on Saturday, though still not enough. Sunday morning rolled around and I felt good so I decided to head out for a run......by myself. I decided to do two 9 mile loops so that I could swing by my car to re-fill my water bottles and Gu.
The first loop felt okay....I took it easy knowing that I wasn't fully recovered. I stopped at my car after finishing 9.25 miles and seriously contemplated quitting at that point. Who would blame me or think less of me?? 48 hours ago I couldn't keep anything in my stomach, my feet were wet from all the puddles I was running in -- stopping after 9 miles would have been totally acceptable to everyone....except to me. So I started back out on my second loop quickly before I could talk myself out of it.
Let's just say this run was absolute hell! But awesome at the same time!?!?! I hated having to run that far by myself.....3 hours is a lot of time to be in your head with nothing but your thoughts. I played mind games to pass the time -- for about 5 miles there was a man running 15 feet in front of me with a 2005 Boston Marathon jacket. For those 5 miles, I focused solely on that jacket knowing that I was doing this crazy run to earn the right to wear the sacred Boston jacket. Thank you running man for helping me motivate and get through this run!
As miserable as it was, I needed this run. It made me stronger -- both physically and mentally. I needed to know that I could force my legs to continue putting one foot in front of the other even when every ounce of my body was screaming at me to stop! I finished this run in a great deal of pain, but so proud of myself for pushing on and running 18.5 miles all by myself! I'm just happy that I don't have to do all my long runs by myself and that I have awesome teammates to run with most of the time!!
This is what this crazy marathon journy is all about -- finding how hard I can push both my body and my mind!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Lessons Learned in Hopkinton
Sorry this is a little late, but last Saturday two of my teammates and I drove out to the starting line in Hopkinton and ran 12 miles back into Wellesley to see what the first half of the course looked like. It was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day so it was nice to be outside enjoying the weather. I am really glad that we decided to do this run together because it taught me two very important lessons.....
First, the infamous downhills everyone always talks about are not so much down but rather rolling hills! Yes, the first mile of the course does have a pretty steep drop, but the rest of it definitely didn't feel all downhill. None of the uphills were very significant....nothing like Comm Ave in Newton, but I think it was really important to get out there and see for myself so I won't be shocked on marathon day when I have to run uphill early on!!
Second (and probably the more important) lesson I learned was the need to pace myself well early on. After that 18 mile run, I felt so good and I started wondering if I should have pushed harder and faster. For these 12 miles, we decided to all push our pace a bit since it was a shorter run......well we definitely pushed hard!! To give you an idea of our speed, I typically run my long runs around 9:00-9:30 min/mile -- this run we averaged 8:40 min/mile and we all agreed that we went faster at the beginning and slowed a little as we came through Framingham and Natick. It felt awesome to run that fast for 12 miles, but I definitely learned my lesson.......I can not keep that pace up for 26.2 miles!! I learned how important it is to hold back some at the beginning to conserve energy to get through the rest of the marathon. I don't want to be one of those people doing the "runner's shuffle" during the last few miles of the course. I want to enjoy the last 10k through Brookline and Kenmore Square. And I want to still be smiling as I cross the finish line! If that means holding back a little at the beginning then I am fine with that.
First, the infamous downhills everyone always talks about are not so much down but rather rolling hills! Yes, the first mile of the course does have a pretty steep drop, but the rest of it definitely didn't feel all downhill. None of the uphills were very significant....nothing like Comm Ave in Newton, but I think it was really important to get out there and see for myself so I won't be shocked on marathon day when I have to run uphill early on!!
Second (and probably the more important) lesson I learned was the need to pace myself well early on. After that 18 mile run, I felt so good and I started wondering if I should have pushed harder and faster. For these 12 miles, we decided to all push our pace a bit since it was a shorter run......well we definitely pushed hard!! To give you an idea of our speed, I typically run my long runs around 9:00-9:30 min/mile -- this run we averaged 8:40 min/mile and we all agreed that we went faster at the beginning and slowed a little as we came through Framingham and Natick. It felt awesome to run that fast for 12 miles, but I definitely learned my lesson.......I can not keep that pace up for 26.2 miles!! I learned how important it is to hold back some at the beginning to conserve energy to get through the rest of the marathon. I don't want to be one of those people doing the "runner's shuffle" during the last few miles of the course. I want to enjoy the last 10k through Brookline and Kenmore Square. And I want to still be smiling as I cross the finish line! If that means holding back a little at the beginning then I am fine with that.
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