Small Victories

Today, I ran fast (fast for me, anyway) for the first time since May.  And it felt great.

Training for 70.3 was awesome in a lot of ways -- I lost weight, got stronger, and didn't hurt myself.  But by the end, I felt worn down and my running speed had declined quite a bit from my spring workouts.  Today, after taking it pretty easy for a few weeks, I went out and just ran.  Nothing special.  I just felt good, started out faster than usual, and decided to keep going.  After a pretty blah long run on Sunday, this was exactly the run I needed to get my marathon training motivation back up.

P.S.  I'm working on the Racine recap, I promise.  It will be up soon.  With many photos.

A Setback

I've been putting off writing this for a long, long time, but I've finally come to terms with some bad news -- I'm injured, AGAIN, and I'm not running the Chicago Marathon this year.

Back at the end of August, after my awesome 18 mile training run, I developed a sharp, pinching pain in my right hip when I ran.  But of course being me, I tried to push through it.  I kept running until my stride was so screwed up that an easy five miler had my right hamstring and calf complaining pretty loudly.  By that point I was limping just trying to walk around, and after a pitiful attempt at Yasso 800s the next day I was finally ready to admit I was injured.  So I took a full week off, which meant sitting out my first planned 20 miler.  It was a tough call, but I was optimistic that a week of rest would do the trick and that I could still get in a 20 miler before Chicago (I originally had two in the schedule).

After a week off, I was walking much, much better.  But as soon as I tested things out with an easy three miler, the pain was back.  I still tried a semi-long run, which went ok, but a month out from a big marathon being able to complete 12 miles with only moderate pain isn't exactly reason to celebrate.  I decided to do what I could to get through the NH Reach the Beach Relay and then make the call on Chicago after that.

The Reach the Beach Relay was a blast, as always, but the running part wasn't really working for me.  My legs were just under 4, 7, and 4 miles, and each one was a struggle.  My hip (and now IT band) was only moderately painful (until I had to run a quarter mile to the finish on sand ... ) but my legs felt weak and after so much time off I just wasn't on my game.  And I could tell that even without too much pain, my gait was still way off.

Photo by one of my amazing teammates, Hannah

Which brings us to last week.  I finally made an appointment to see the doctor and asked a friend to watch me try to run on a treadmill.  The conversation in the gym went something like this:

Me: Will you watch me run?  Am I favoring one leg?
Him:  Ummm, yes
Me:  Are you sure?
Him: Yes.  You are.  You're not bending your right leg enough
[I make a concerted effort to bend my right leg]
Him: That's a little better ...
Me: !@#$

The trip to the doctor was even worse.  I explained what hurt and that ibuprofen helped, they poked around a little to rule out major tears and fractures and such, and then told me that I was not going to be running a marathon in two weeks.  And that I need to go to physical therapy and not do anything fun like run or go for a long bike ride.  When I pressed for an actual diagnosis, the doc told me there's a lot of inflammation in my hip, and possibly some bursitis, which is making things rub together that shouldn't rub together.  Which is causing pain and screwing up my gait.  Which after 26 miles will probably result in some damage to the parts of my legs that currently work ok.  I'd kind of figured most of that out on my own, but sometimes it helps to hear someone with a medical degree state the obvious.

So.  No Chicago Marathon for me this fall.  I'm really bummed, but I'm trying to think about the big picture look at it as a minor setback.  There will be other races, even other marathons, and they will go much better if I give my body a break instead of pushing through this marathon on an injury like I did with the last two.

But I do have a plan (which is good, because otherwise I would probably be face down in a melty pint of Ben and Jerry's right now).

Part 1 of the plan is to take a week or two to rest, focus on getting the rest of my life back on track after so much time training and agonizing over the marathon decision (I'm looking at you, dissertation), and hang out with this adorable little guy:

I'm sorry, human, did you want to sleep here?

Part 2 of the plan is to get my butt in gear again and prove to myself that I can still be an endurance athlete even if I take this fall and next spring off from marathoning.  The doctor said that swimming should be ok, and that I can start cycling when that doesn't cause discomfort in my hip.  So I signed up for my first adult swim class!  It's geared toward people thinking about their first triathlon, so you can probably guess where this is all going :)  I'm also going to really commit to physical therapy this time instead of just using it as a temporary patch to get through my next race.  And if all goes well this fall/winter, next spring/summer will be the time when I focus on getting faster in the half marathon, complete my first half Ironman, and start training for next year's Chicago Marathon.

Thanks so much for all of your support during training, and to everyone who donated to my Race to Stop MS campaign.  Chicago Marathon, I'll see you in 2013.

Monday Mileage Report

My first 40+ mile week of the training cycle and I lived to tell the tale (despite taking a tennis ball to the face on Sunday's long run).  Other than my near death experience, Sunday's long run was actually really encouraging -- it wasn't easy, but it didn't feel impossible, either.  Maybe this marathon thing is going to work out after all ...

Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5.07 mi @ 10:10 pace (GA)
Wed - 8 6.77 mi @ 10:53 pace incl. 8 x 800m (Yasso 800s)
Thu - 5.28 mi @ 11:46 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8.01 mi @ 11:16 pace (GA)
Sun - 18.01 mi @ 11:53 pace (LSD)

Post-run happiness: buffalo chicken strips, fries, and beer

The mileage is definitely catching up with me (I'm looking at you, pinchy feeling in my hip!), so I'm looking forward to a step back week.  I'm also going drop the intervals this week to really give my body a chance to recover before I plunge back in with another 40+ mile week, including the dreaded 20 miler, the following week.

Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 5 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8 mi MP
Sun - 13 mi LSD

(Several Weeks Worth Of) Monday Mileage Report

It's been a crazy few weeks!  As a result, my training has been kind of all over the place -- shifting workouts around and skipping them entirely -- which I hate.  Here's a quick recap of the past few weeks:

July 23 - 29:  I knew things were going to be crazy once I left for San Francisco, so I crammed in as much running as a I could before I left, including that weekend's long run.  It wasn't pleasant, and I was pretty sore on Saturday, but I got the miles done!  And it was great to be able to relax once I got to SF, just needing to get in a few easy miles that happened to coincide perfectly with running between points on the marathon course.
Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 4.11 mi @ 10:26 pace (GA) 
Wed - 7.02 mi @ 12:00 pace (Yasso crazy hot 800s)
Thu - 4.12 mi @ 11:27 pace (EZ)
Fri - 15.00 mi @ 12:49 pace (3/1 LSD)
Sat - Rest (fly to SF)
Sun - 4.04 mi @ 12:08 pace (SF Spectating Part 1) and 2.52 mi @12:40 pace (SF Spectating Part 2)

July 30 - August 5:  Started the week still in SF and decided not to worry about training for a few days.  I knew I would get plenty of exercise in walking, hiking, swimming, etc., and I did!  Of course, I was a little stressed when I got back to Wilmette, but I resisted the temptation to go crazy trying to make up miles (although I did run four days in a row, again).
Mon - Cross (walking tour of SF)
Tue - 4 mi GA Cross (hiking/beach walking/swimming at Point Reyes)
Wed - 5 mi Yasso 800s Rest (fly back to Chicago)
Thu - 4 mi EZ 5.06 mi @ 10:11 pace including 6 x 800m intervals (Yasso 800s)
Fri - Rest 4.04 mi @ 11:20 pace (EZ)
Sat - 7 mi 5.41 mi @ 11:04 pace (MP discontinued due to thunderstorm)
Sun - 12.00 mi @ 11:41 pace (LSD)

My favorite things to see after a long run

August 6 - 12:  I planned my drive back from Chicago to Boston for Monday mostly so that I wouldn't miss another day of training.  But then on Monday morning I got about an hour into the drive before I had to turn around because the steering wheel kept having shaking fits.  FAIL.  I knew running five days in a row would be tempting fate (plus I was exhausted from waking up early after a stressed out night of not very much sleep) so I decided to just take a nap on the couch and take Klaus for an extra walk.  Then on Tuesday I was up early again (with a fixed car -- thanks, Dad!) and off to Boston.  We made the drive in 16.5 hours, getting back to my apartment around midnight.  Which mean that I once again found myself one run behind and totally exhausted.  Early in the week I didn't quite get in the quality workouts I wanted, but I did end up coming in only 3 miles short of the planned total.
Mon - Cross Rest (Failed attempt to drive from Chicago to Boston)
Tue - 4 mi GA Rest (Actual drive from Chicago to Boston) 
Wed - 8.04 mi @ 11:17 pace (Yasso 800s Zombie Run)
Thu - 4 mi 5.06 mi @ 11:46 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8.01 mi @ 10:42 pace (MP)
Sun - 17.01 mi @ 12:36 pace (LSD)

Look, Mom!  I eat healthy sometimes!

This Week: I am definitely feeling the miles at this point.  I woke up this morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck, and couldn't make it through the afternoon without an hour long nap (and even after that I was still tired!)  I registered for the Rock 'n' Roll Providence half marathon this coming Sunday, but I've decided to skip it.  I'm not feeling great about my first ever DNS, but it seems like the right thing to do.  I only signed up for this race to give myself a chance to go for a PR, but I am definitely not in half marathon PR shape at the moment.  And I'm not sure I can take another disappointing half marathon.  I also don't feel like traveling to Providence alone or leaving Klaus for another weekend.  So I'm going to remember the big picture and focus on marathon training.  Here's the plan for this week:
Mon - Cross Rest
Tue - 5 mi GA
Wed - 8 mi Yasso 800s
Thu - 5 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 8 mi GA
Sun - 18 mi LSD

How can I leave that face?  Even if he is gnawing on a cow femur ...

Have you ever skipped a race you registered for?  How do you get your rhythm back after a few off weeks?

Monday Mileage Report

A quick recap of this week's workouts:
Mon - 4.04 mi @ 11:27 pace (EZ)
Tue -   7 mi Yasso 800s Rest (aka pack for Chicago and avoid crazy heat wave)
Wed - Rest (aka drive for a reaaaaally long time)
Thu -  4 mi GA 7.03 mi @ 11:15 pace including 6 x 800m intervals(Yasso 800s)  
Fri - Rest (aka double packet pickups)
Sat - Muddy Buddy Run
Sun - Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon in 2:36:10

Not quite the week I was hoping for, but I survived and had quite a bit of fun rolling around in the mud pit.

Muddy Buddies!

The plan for next week:

Mon - Cross Rest 
Tue -   4mi GA
Wed - 7 mi Yasso 800s
Thu -  4 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest 
Sat - 7 mi GA
Sun - 15 mi 3/1 LSD (close to MP for the last quarter)

I may have to switch some days around to accommodate my weekend trip to San Fran to watch S run his first marathon there -- I'm guessing I won't be fitting in 15 miles after a full morning of spectating!


Official Muddy Buddy photos are up, so I'll be back soon with my full Rock 'n' Mud weekend recap.

Frustration

Well, today's half marathon sucked.  Big time.  My stomach got all angry and I probably walked a total of two or three miles.  Closest I've ever come to a DNF.  I'll write the full recaps of this weekend's Rock'n'Mud adventures later this week, but I'm not really feeling up to it yet.

I've spent the better part of the past year training for two marathons, both of which I finished much, much more slowly than I would have liked.  But at least along the way I hit a bunch of exciting milestones -- a shocking half marathon PR (2:07), a 5K PR (sub-9 pace!), my first time hitting 15 miles, then 18, then 20.

Now I'm about a month into training for marathon #3 and it feels different and totally awful.  I don't feel any closer to my goal of a sub-5 marathon, and all of my shorter distances are going to $!%@ at the same time.  This is turning into the summer of truly embarrassing race results.  Not "oh darn I didn't quite hit my goal" times but "oh wow I didn't think it was possible for me to run anything I actually considered a race this slowly" and "I wish there was some way to erase this race result from the internet" times.  Two half marathons over 2:30. Ouch.

And the most frustrating part is that I can't figure out exactly what happened.  It's easy to blame the heat, but I don't think 85 degree weather adds 20-30 minutes to most people's half marathon times.  One bad race I could blame on one-off conditions -- I didn't train, I did too much the day before, I went out too fast, it just wasn't my day -- but two in less than two months is harder to shrug off.

I'm going to try the half again in Providence in a few weeks, but I'm increasingly worried that if that doesn't go well I might never want to race a half (formerly my favorite distance) again.  All I can say right now is that something really freaking magical better happen in Chicago in October to make this all worth it.

Has anyone else hit a serious running slump?  How did you recover?

And now, to make up for this total bummer of a post, here's a photo of what Klaus did after we finally arrived in Chicago on Wednesday night after 18 hours and two scary thunderstorms:

Monday Mileage Report

Definitely changed things up a bit this week!

Mon - Cross training
Tue - 3.26 mi @ 9:55 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.05 mi @ 10:34 pace including 4 x 800m intervals (Yasso 800s)
Thu - 3.16 mi @ 11:33 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.00 mi @ 11:14 (not-quite-MP) + 39.5 mi cycling
Sun - 9 mi LSD 5.6 mi hike


Wednesday's Yasso 800s were a planned addition to the schedule.  I was really happy with the workout so I'm planning to stick with it!


There were also some unplanned deviations from my training schedule when S and I decided to take Klaus up to NH for the weekend and tried to fit in a lot of outdoorsy type things on top of our regularly scheduled marathon training runs (S is running San Francisco in less than two weeks).  I don't know about you, but on a 90 degree day the thing I really want to do after a run is jump on my bike for a hilly 40 mile ride on my road bike!  The ride was 15 miles and almost 90 minutes longer than I'd done before, so I was completely exhausted (and in quite a bit of pain) by the end.  Ironman here I come!  I believe I collapsed on a bench when we got back and only moved when I was promised that if I cleaned myself up I could have a cheeseburger at the cookout S's family was planning for dinner.


On Sunday morning, we packed up the car to head back to Boston but weren't quite ready for the weekend to be over, so we stopped at Lincoln Woods Trail to take Klaus for a little hike.  He's is a great trail dog -- scampers around exploring and sniffing things but never gets too far away.  We even got him to play in the river a little bit!

After five and half miles on the trail I was completely wiped out.  Fortunately I'd already talked myself out of attempting my scheduled 9 mile long run.  I have a really hard time skipping scheduled runs, but I was so exhausted I felt like I was more likely to hurt myself than do anything positive for racing prospects.  I'd thought about cutting back on the weekend activities, but then reminded myself that I am not, in fact, a professional athlete and am doing this whole marathon training thing because it's supposed to be fun, not because it's supposed to take over every weekend of my summer.


So sticking with that theme, I'm going to rearrange this week's schedule a bit to accommodate a 17 hour drive back to Chicago and the Rock 'n' Mud Challenge.


The new plan:
Mon - 4 mi EZ
Tue - 7 mi Yasso 800s
Wed - Rest (aka drive for a reaaaaally long time)
Thu - 4 mi GA 
Fri - Rest
Sat - Muddy Buddy Run
Sun - Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon

(Late) Monday Mileage Report

Totally forgot to write this up yesterday (oops) but my scores of screaming fans quickly reminded me that I owed them a post.  So here we go!

Last week's runs (if you're really interested you can click the links for my workout comments on dailymile):
Mon - Cross training extra walk with Klaus
Tue - 3.21 mi @ 9:55 pace (GA)
Wed - 6.01 mi @ 11:52 pace (fartlek)
Thu - 3.24 mi @ 11:38 pace (EZ) 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.01 mi @ 10:40 pace (MP)
Sun - 12.02 mi @ 12:34 pace (LSD)

I also successfully fed myself for over a week, and only resorted to chipotle once!  A few highlights (clearly I need to work on the photography if I'm going to be a food blogger):

Peanut butter banana breakfast (it's possible there were originally two of them)

Big ole salad.  I didn't want to wash a bowl so I used the spinach container ...

One of my favorite meals -- broccoli and cheese baked potato!

4th of July apple pies (I didn't eat all of it, I swear)

Kraft mac n cheese is still delicious.  I also had peas so I could feel all healthy like .

Mom and Dad sent frozen Malnati's pizza for my birthday!

And I got a birthday cupcake.  Plus a "pupcake" for Klaus, of course

Trader Joe's Chicken Chow Mein -- apparently non-Italian pasta works for carb loading, too!

Klaus's favorite treat is an ice cube (he's got one between his paws).  Weirdo ...

This week is a stepback week, which I'm hoping to use as a chance to step up my game on the cross training, strength work, foam rolling, and stretching I've been skimping on up to this point.
Mon - Cross training
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi Yasso 800s
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6 mi MP
Sun - 9 mi LSD


That's right, this week things are getting really crazy and I'm contemplating trying out these Yasso 800s I keep hearing so much about.  My goal marathon pace of 10:45 translates to about a 4:40 total time, so this week I'm going to use Wednesday's run to try for five 800s at 9:20 pace (so in 4 min 40 seconds).  The idea is that by the end of the training cycle I'll have built up to ten 800s at that pace.  Sounds a little crazy right now, but hopefully I'll get there!

Monday Mileage Report

Monday Mileage Report is now back on Monday!  Shocking, I know.  But here goes:

Last week's workouts -- follow the links to get the full recaps:
Mon - Cross training moving moving moving
Tue - 3.21 mi @ 10:35 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.59 mi @ 10:44 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.21 mi @ 11:43 pace (EZ) 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6.04 mi @ 11:10 pace (not-quite-MP)
Sun - 11.02 mi @ 12:26 pace (LSD)


I definitely struggled with the heat this week, but it felt good to get a solid week of workouts in!  And I finally got to reintroduce my favorite marathon training tradition -- a lazy post-run afternoon of Domino's pizza (cheesy bread and a pepperoni and pineapple pizza) and lots of tv (started watching Parenthood, and I love it!)  I skipped the compression socks this time, but those will definitely have to make a comeback too.  Amazingly, I even got my long run in early enough to go to church and run an errand before I collapsed on the couch with my not-so-healthy lunch and did some cleanup work on my post-move disaster while I was watching tv.  Despite the fact that when I tried to jump in the shower with 15 minutes to get cleaned up there was ZERO water pressure and the water just dribbled straight down ...

Yes I love butter garlic sauce, no that was not the only piece I ate

And the plan for next week:
Mon - Cross training moving moving moving
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 6 mi Fartlek
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 6 mi MP
Sun - 12 mi LSD


Yes, that's right, I'm changing things up and throwing in a middle of the week "speed" session.  I definitely feel like training for two marathons last year has made me slower at short distances, and this time I don't want to totally forget what it feels like to run fast, even if it's not for very far.  I'll let you know how it goes ...

I Have To Feed Myself Now?

As many of you know, in addition to being a grad student, I live/work in an undergrad dorm, which means during the school year I get to eat 14 meals a week in our lovely dining hall.  But now it's summer, and I'm on my own for the whole feeding myself thing.  I've managed to get this far by a) going home for two weeks where my parents still feed me and b) cooking eating dinner with S most nights since I've been back.  But I'm not going home again until mid-July, and I just dropped S off at the airport for his 10-day cycling tour of Scotland, so now I'm really on my own.


One of my goals for this marathon training cycle is to put more thought and effort into my nutrition and hydration strategy instead of only focusing on logging miles.  For now, the goal isn't really to lose weight (although I certainly wouldn't mind that) but more to make sure my body has what it needs to get to October in the best shape I can be in.


First, it's confession time.  I'd love to say that I've been amazing about starting my day off right with a healthy breakfast, but lately breakfast has seen a lot more pop tarts than steel cut oats.  Normally I try to save the pop tarts for days when I have a race or a long run (since they give me a sugar boost and are easy on my stomach), but opening that little foil packet and firing up the toaster has definitely become a daily occurrence.    So one of my goals for next week is to fire up a big pot of steel cut oats and actually eat them.  Or at least finish off my box of Honey Nut Cheerios.

What I plan to have for breakfast

What I actually have for breakfast

Breakfast temptations aside, lunch is usually my biggest struggle.  I really don't like deli meat sandwiches and I got bored with salads, so I usually end up hitting Chipotle or snacking on cheese and crackers and fruit.  Today, I made some awesome deviled egg salad.

Hard boiled eggs, yellow mustard, light mayo, salt, pepper, and paprika

I put the egg salad on a toasted whole wheat English muffin to make an open-face sandwich and had some chips and salsa on the side.

For dinner, I pulled out one of Omaha steak burger patties that have been sitting in my freezer for a very long while and threw it on the George Foreman (currently competing with the crock pot for my favorite appliance).  I heated up some baked beans, sliced up what was left of a cantaloupe, and made a salad.  And of course finished off an open bottle of sangiovese.

Just ignore all the clothes on that other chair ...

The salad had baby spinach, broccoli, carrots, cranberries, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and homemade salad dressing (olive oil and apple cider vinegar with some seasoning).

I swear there was a lot of green stuff under the cheese crumbles

Klaus is very helpful when I cook.  He really likes to get involved.

"Getting involved" = keeping the couch warm

Ok, back to they Olympic trials!  And probably a few bites of Bunny Tracks ice cream.  And then hopefully early-ish to bed so I can get tomorrow's 6 mile pace run in before it gets too hot.

Any suggestions on quick, easy-to-make meals for runners?  I'd especially appreciate any breakfast or lunch suggestions!

Wednesday Mileage Report

A little late, since I spent all of Monday driving back to Boston (and all of Tuesday freaking out about how I'm going to move all my stuff into my tiny new apartment), but here it is!


Mon - Cross training = Pilates On Demand
Tue - 3.1 mi @ 10:20 pace (GA) + quick strength
Wed - 5.0 mi @ 10:09 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.0 mi @ 11:02 pace (EZ)  + quick strength 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 9 mi @ 11:48 pace (LSD)
Sun - Race Against Hate 10K in 1:02:34


Wednesday's 5 miler felt GREAT.  First run in a long time that didn't feel hard, despite keeping the pace fairly quick (for me, anyway).  My knee has been holding up ok, but of course that means something else has started to hurt -- this time it's my right hip.  Maybe jumping back into a full training load and adding on my hip-heavy PT exercises at the same time was too much ...


This week: 
Mon - Cross training 12 hours in the car
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 3 mi EZ 
Fri - Rest
Sat - 5 mi MSD
Sun - B.A.A. 10K


I didn't have to alter any of the distances this week, but since Sunday's 6 mile long run is actually going to be the B.A.A. 10K, where I know I won't want to hold back  the pace, I'm going to turn Saturday's 5 mile pace run into a medium distance slow run.  My hip is still hurting bad enough to wake me up in the middle of the night, and spending the day hauling things from one apartment to the other isn't helping, so I'm thinking about scrapping/shortening today's 5 miler.  But I'll probably feel guilty and end up running it this evening (high of 99 in Boston today?!) anyway.


I finally have the photos from the North Shore Half, so I'll post recaps of that race and the Race Against Hate 10K asap.

Monday Mileage Report

Here it is -- the first weekly mileage report for a brand new marathon training cycle!  I'm using Hal Higdon's Intermediate I plan again.  Hopefully this time I'll make it through without missing whole weeks due to injury.
The general plan is short runs on Tuesday and Thursday, a moderate distance run on Wednesday, a marathon pace run on Saturday, and a long run on Sunday.  I'll be making small modifications throughout to accommodate a bunch of other fun races I want to run this summer.  For this first week, I combined what should have been a 5 mile pace run and an 8 mile long run so I could run the North Shore Half Marathon without changing the weekly mileage.  Oddly enough, that's about how the pacing of Sunday's race went down (unintentionally) but more on that later ...

So, with the modification, here's how last week broke down:

Mon - "Cross training" aka walked the dog and called it a day
Tue - 3.0 mi @ 10:26 pace (GA)
Wed - 5.0 mi @ 10:59 pace (GA)
Thu - 3.2 mi @ 11:06 pace (EZ)
Fri - Rest
Sat - "Rest" but ended up taking the dogs for an extra long walk and going shopping, which meant even more walking
Sun - North Shore Half Marathon in 2:30:43 (Ouch)

And coming up this week:

Mon - Cross training = Pilates On Demand
Tue - 3 mi GA
Wed - 5 mi GA
Thu - 3 mi EZ
Fri - Rest
Sat - 9 mi
Sun - Race Against Hate 10K

Once again, I'm modifying the plan slightly so I can run the Race Against Hate with my mom, sister, and boyfriend.  And by "with" I mean they're all running the 5K and will be waiting around forever for me to finish.  So I'm swapping Saturday and Sunday and adding a mile and change to the pace run, which should have been 5 miles.

I'll post a full recap of Sunday's North Shore Half as soon as I have photos.

And now, since this has been a boring, photo-less post, here's another picture of my adorable puppy!

Klaus demonstrating "rest day"

Hello Again & A Brief Reach the Beach Recap

Hello again, lovely blog readers!  Apparently I'm really bad at updating this when I a) am not training for a major race, b) have something resembling a social life, and c) have a new puppy.  But fortunately for you all, I've just started training for the Chicago Marathon, most of my friends are out of town for the summer, and the puppy and I are getting used to each other pretty quickly.  In other words, I'm back to blogging!

My new puppy, Clausewitz (we call him Klaus)

Despite being a totally delinquent blogger the past few months, I think I've only missed writing about one race: the MA Reach the Beach Relay.  I won't subject you to a leg-by-leg recap (anyone who's talked to me since then has probably already heard it), but I will say that the race was a blast!  The girls were amazing, the race was really well organized, the course was beautiful, and oh, by the way, we were unexpectedly awesome!

My team, Pretty (Speedy) in Pink, got 2nd place in the Women's Open division with a time of 28:21:21 (average pace 8:29).  We went into the race thinking we had a shot at being competitive, but I didn't really know what to expect given that no one on the team had run a long-distance relay before and that we didn't have a roster finalized until about 10 days before the race (and even when we did, it was short two runners).  All I can say is, my girls crushed it!

Official team photo, at Wachusett Mountain before the start

Post-race team hug (thanks to Linda Chao for the photo!)

Thanks to an increasingly angry patellar tendon and the whole puppy thing derailing any training plans I might have had, I took the spot in the rotation that only involved three legs of 3.7, 3.3, and 2.7 miles.  I ran them about as well as could be expected given the shape I was in, and only brought up the team's average pace a little bit.  I don't know exactly how much, since I left my GPS watch at home for this one, but I think I ran the first (mostly uphill) leg at around 10 min pace and the second two at around 9 min pace.  I did have some extra fun with that second leg when my headlamp went out on a random back road around 11pm.

I also learned a lot about captaining a relay team, which I might write about in a later post.  Maybe when I'm putting together a team for next year's race?

For now, I'm looking forward to an awesome summer racing season, starting with the North Shore Half Marathon this Sunday. We just got an email from RAM Racing with a weather advisory, so I've got my fingers crossed the heat won't be too bad!  Back in a few days with the recap.

Monday Mileage Report

Sorry for going AWOL last week!  My sister tells me that "the people" are demanding new blog entries, and more specifically that an angry mob was approaching the house with pitchforks and old running shoes.  I have to make this one short, but here goes.

Last week's training:
Tue: 5 mi @ 11:01
Wed: 7.9 mi @ 11:19
Thu: 3.2 mi @ 11:31
Sat: 5 mi @ 9:56
Sun: 20.1 mi @ 12:21

The most exciting run of the week was Thursday's three miler.  I wanted to do a short run since my knee was acting up, so I brought along my new canine friend who I've been watching/borrowing during the day.  She was amazingly well behaved for a dog without much running experience.  Moose and Rowdy, you know I love you, but you really need to learn how to run without pulling my shoulder out of the socket!

A much too long video of Moose and Rowdy "playing nicely"

Sunday's 20 miler was extremely painful.  Diane and I had a girls night in on Saturday, and after a few glasses of red wine with not enough water, I was plenty dehydrated on Sunday.  Then my Camelbak ran out around mile 16, so I ended up with puffy hands, an all over the place heart rate, and a debilitating side stitch.

See where I completely died after mile 18?

Next up is Disney's Princess Half Marathon on Sunday, so I promise I'll be back next week with a full race report, complete with lots of photos.