All about flexability

Now that the Olympics are over I am no longer a slave to my TV, watching as much coverage as I could (don't get me started on how NBC snubbed many of my favorite track and field events to show every quarterfinal and semifinal round of the 100m). So I figured I would take some time to update you on my training.

If I had to sum up my training so far into one word it would be flexibility. You see, this winter I was pretty anal about my training schedule....ok so I was very anal. If my schedule said to do a certain run on a certain day then I did it....no excuses. This summer has been quite different. In fact I don't know if I've followed one single week of my training exactly as I had written. Don't get me wrong, I'm still hitting my key workouts and getting most of my planned miles in. It seems that my schedule this summer has been so busy (didn't think I was that popular did you??) that I've needed to relax a bit on my training. I think that's a good thing......sometimes we need a little flexibility in our lives.

Three weeks ago I ran my first 20 miler. I ran with Janette, John, and Paul around the river on a cooler than usual Saturday morning. It was a great run because, for the first time this training cycle, this long run felt fairly easy. Yes, I was pushing hard towards the end, but it was one of those runs that everything clicked and I was my normal, chatty self. Total weekly miles = 50

Two weeks ago I had my first marathon specific long run....15 miles total with 12 at planned marathon pace. I did this run at my in-laws house in upstate NY on a hilly bike path. I was pretty anxious about this run, being out of my usual setting, and having to hit paces faster than my typical long run pace. But the run went well.....I was a little slow at the start and you can see where I hit some major hills, but I finished with an average pace of 8:21 for the marathon pace miles. Perfect!! This week also included a 15 mile medium-long run on Wednesday.....ouch! Total weekly miles = 48

Last week was a recovery week and I think my body needed it. I did have a great track workout on Wednesday where I did 7 miles total with 5 x 600m repeats with 90 seconds recovery between each. My 600m splits were: 2:32, 2:32, 2:30, 2:33, 2:33....pretty consistent! Later in the week my left calf and right glut were a little tight. I got a massage and did a couple easy runs and it seemed to work itself out. I cut my long run for the week (14 miles) short because I just wasn't feeling it......rather than beating myself up about it, I just kept saying "tomorrow is another day." Total weekly miles = 24

As you can see I am getting lots of miles in (although never as many as I would like!) even though I'm not always doing them on the days my schedule says. I am learning to turn off my type A personality and inject a little flexibility. After all......its just running :)

28 on 08/18/08

If I was Chinese I would be the most popular kid right now. That's right.....today is my birthday and I am turning 28 on 08/18/08! To make it even more interesting, I was born on 08/18/80 and weighed 8lb 8oz......talk about some 8's! Maybe I should play the lottery tonight because 8 in Chinese means wealth.....with all these 8's I should be a millionaire :)

So another year older and wiser (ha ha!). Since my last birthday I have run 2 more marathons and bettered my time by 19 minutes. I have run over 1500 miles since my last birthday. I have had good races and bad, but I've learned something from each of these. I look forward to what 28 will bring in both running and life. Hopefully the good races will out number the bad as with all things in life. But having those bad races and bad days makes me appreciate the good ones that much more.

Now I just have to wait for all that wealth my lucky birthday numbers should bring me!

2 weddings, 4 different beds, and 42 miles

I apologize for not writing in a while....life sometimes gets in the way! Last week I was on vacation so I've been busy preparing for that and then was away from my computer while we were gone.

Vacation was nice.....busy, but nice. We were all over PA, DE, and NJ for various events.

Bed # 1: We got to my parents house at 1:30am on Saturday after driving down after work on Friday.

Bed # 2: That night we had a college friend's wedding in DE (wedding #1). We got to see many of our friends that we hadn't seen in a while which is always fun. It was like we were back at Bucknell but just 10 years older....can't party like we used to though :)

Back to bed # 1 for one night where we visited with my Grandma and then had dinner at my other grandparent's house. Note that I haven't mentioned any running up until this point!

Bed # 3: On Monday, Bryan and I headed down to Cape May in NJ for a relaxing couple days at a bed and breakfast. The weather was nice so we just relaxed on the beach and enjoyed having time off together. We ate at some good restaurants (ok.....so cheese fries at the Wildwood board walk aren't exactly health food, but we had to experience true "Jersey" while we were there!) Here is where I finally got some runs in:

• Monday: 5 recovery miles with Bryan after sitting at the beach all afternoon.
• Tuesday: I got up early to get this run in so I wouldn't have to worry about it later in the day. I did 10 miles with a 3 mile warm up, 5 mile at LT pace, and a 2 mile cool down. The great thing about the beach is that its very flat which is great for tempo runs. It was still pretty humid even at 7:30am but I was pleased with my LT paces (8:15, 8:17, 8:09, 8:06, 8:03). That afternoon we also went on an easy bike ride to check out the Cape May lighthouse and Sunset Beach.
• Wednesday: 10 mile medium-long run after a day at the beach. My legs were definitely feeling the tempo run from the day before!
• Thursday: We drove to Avalon, NJ where my family used to rent a house every summer and biked around there for a while. It was fun to see our old house and remember the fun times we had with all my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I even found a little army parachute guy on the beach......my family will understand the significance!

Back to bed #1: Thursday we drove back to my parent's house to get ready for wedding #2....my brother!!! I got up early Friday morning to get my long run over with. My parents live in a nice area, but there aren't really any local places to run and I didn't have time to drive to a park so I ran loops around my parent's house. They also live in a very hilly area so that added to the challenge. I'm surprised I didn't die of boredom running 17 miles within a 1 mile radius! I swung past my house a few times to refill water and Bryan joined me for 4 miles which was a nice break in the monotony of the run. Overall, I got it done and was so glad it was over!

No time to relax though.....I was off to the nail salon for a mani/pedi with my mom and then home to change before the rehearsal and dinner.

Bed #4: Saturday was the big day......I couldn't believe my little brother was getting married. Bryan dropped me off with the bride and other bridesmaids so we could get beautiful. After some minor issues with the limo, we all arrived and were ready to go. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony and I was proud of myself for only tearing up a little (my lower lip was quivering as I walked down the aisle seeing my brother standing there). We all had a great time at the reception and my brother and his new wife never looked so happy before. I hope they are having a fantastic time on their honeymoon right now!

So there you have it: 2 weddings, 4 beds, and 42 miles of running.....not bad for a vacation!

Bonus miles

Last week training went fairly well. The heat is definitely slowing me down but I'm trying not to worry too much. I keep telling myself that training in the heat is about perceived effort and not necessarily pace.....meaning that everything feels harder in the summer so I can slow my pace some and still have the same heart rate (effort) when its hot out compared to a faster run in the cold.

So here's how my week was broken down:

Monday: 4.07 mile recovery run on the treadmill. I've been doing more of my recovery runs on the TM to beat the heat....even slow running when its hot jacks my HR up so its not a true "recovery."

Tuesday: 8 mile tempo run with 4 miles at LT pace. Here's where the effort vs. pace came into play big time. It was 88 degrees when I headed out for this run at 7:30pm. It was the first time I ran in shorts and just a sports bra since it was so hot. My pace for the LT miles was about 20 seconds/mile slower than what I was running over the winter, but my HR was right where it should be. After I was finished, I put my hands on my hips as I was cooling down and my hands actually slipped off my body because I was so drenched with sweat....gross!!

Wednesday: Rest!

Thursday: 10 mile general aerobic run. I ran on the Newton Hills for the first time in about 2 months. Overall I felt pretty good for not having run on hills in a while. My water boy (aka Bryan) was out for a bike ride so he would swing past me every couple miles to give me a drink :)

Friday: 75 minute vinyasa style yoga class

Saturday: 4.1 mile recovery run

Sunday: 16 mile long run. It was great to meet up with Janette and John for this run as it was hot and I was dragging. Going to the beach the day before a long run probably isn't the best idea (not enough water or food). John was setting the pace and Janette and I were just holding on for the ride! It was about 80 degrees for this run and about mile 14 I started feeling pretty bad.....lightheaded and actually cold. I took a gu to get some sugar and slowed down a bit to finish. Given the temps, it turned out to be a pretty good run. I just need to be better about hydrating and eating properly the day before my long runs!

So the title of this blog is "Bonus Miles".....where did that come from you ask? Even though I am an engineer with a MS degree, apparently I can not add properly. I had written in my training schedule that the weekly mileage was 40. After inputting my runs into my online training log, I realized I had actually run 42.17 miles!! 2 bonus miles...nice :)

Taking the girl out of the city

This past weekend Bryan and I went up to NH to get out of the city and get into some fresh air. You may not think of me as a camper, but I actually really like it.....especially when there are toilets down the path! We camped out on Saturday night and then hiked Mt. Moosilauke (4800 feet). Here are some pictures to prove that I do camp and hike :)

Okay....so the little one didn't come on the hike, but he loves the backpacks :)

First Official Week of Training

Last week was my first official week of training for the Hartford Marathon. I plan to follow a modified Pfitzinger program that will be 15 weeks peaking around 60-65 MPW. During my time off from training, I looked back on my last training cycle and determined things that worked well and things that I thought I could improve upon. That's where I came up with my current schedule......more emphasis on my weaknesses (lactate threshold) and less emphasis on my strengths (VO2 max).

So this first week of training was still sort of a transition.....moderate miles with no real quality work. I had to shift things around a bit (its only week 1 and I'm already changing my plan!) due to the 4th of July holiday and weekend plans.

Monday: 3.5 mile recovery + 75 minutes of yoga
Tuesday: 7.85 mile general aerobic
Wednesday: 50 minute bike ride
Thursday: 5.1 mile recovery
Friday: 13 mile medium long run
Saturday: 4.4 mile recovery

I did my long run with John on Friday since we had the day off. It was cooler, but still extremely humid. It was on okay run....I covered the distance and my pace wasn't too bad given the conditions. It was sort of a role reversal though....usually I am the one chatting his ear off while he silently listens. This time I was the one huffing and puffing while John was yapping away :)

Total Weekly Miles = 34

Has anyone seen my endurance??

Hello....endurance....are you out there?? I think I need to take out a missing persons report because my endurance is gone....missing!! It's both amazing and frustrating that we spend months at a time building up our endurance and training to run 26.2 miles. Days, weeks, months are dedicated to making us stronger and faster.....then in a matter of 4 weeks, its gone...poof!

I haven't run any real distances since VT a month ago so this weekend I decided to get in a 10 miler before officially starting to train. I set out on Sunday morning by myself and was greeted by humid but overcast skies which cleared up halfway into my run to make for some hot and sunny conditions. I couldn't believe how hard this run felt.....I mean, I eat 10 mile runs for breakfast and I was slugging along during this one at a pace I am almost ashamed to write??? What happened to all those months of training I did this winter?

Granted I probably wasn't properly hydrated or fueled. My diet on Friday consisted of a margarita and chips after work followed by a "platter of fried goodies" and beer while watching the Sox game........on Saturday more strawberries than any one person should consume (we went strawberry picking) and then out to dinner with friends where I had a burger with a glass of wine and some baklava. Not exactly proper running nutrition!!

So if you see my endurance wondering around aimlessly, please be so kind as to return it ASAP. It's probably hiding somewhere along with my speed, which I could also use back :)