Boston Training week THREE! DONE!!

Week three.
Done and dusted.

What was exciting this week?

I had a few workouts that I expected to feel challenged by.

The first was another brutal Sufferfest bike ride, followed by a short 3 mile run.
GOOD LORD. The struggle is real. I find biking to be a horrific challenge, but I am sticking with it, determined to suck less, eventually.

This is how I feel.

I hit the road for 12x400 repeats.
Compared to stupid sufferfest, this was basically an evening stroll.
Well, perhaps not quite that easy. However, I am well accustomed to the challenge that running presents and I find it much more manageable than that of biking.

400's are so much easier than biking.

I then enjoyed my official beer of the week. A recent favorite of mine, this beer is an amazing collaboration and EVERYTHING that a barley wine should be. Coming in at $15 a 4 pack it isn't cheap, but it is completely worth it. (readily available at the Rooper's in Oxford, FYI.)

The very best of good beers

My Friday long run came in at 12 miles.
I felt good about this workout, and was pleased with how my legs cooperated. I made a really foolish rookie move and neglected to bring any snacks. Despite that noob mistake, everything went well.
I hit some big hills. My photo shows my vantage point from the very top of one such hill, with a point in my run just visable across the little white blob that is the lake. The bottom pic shows the flip side, I'm on the other side of the lake looking at the hill where I just was. You can see a little (white, snowy) field in the middle/right of the shot, which shows where I came from.



Top of the hill, bottom of the lake (which doesn't look lake a like....)

We then went out for burgers and a Bissell, another quality choice. 

Beers and burgers at the Gastropub, a post long run staple.

A couple more runs occurred over the week. Eric and I enjoyed a base pace run together, and were very pleased with our 8:40 AP results. Considering that both of us were running on tired legs, this was a particularly solid effort.
I also had a gentle recovery run, coming in at a 9:45 AP, as a recovery run should.

Three weeks in and I am feeling good. My mileage, and the challenge of my workouts is steadily growing. I am begining to notice the positive results of consisent work.
This week was particularly pleasant because several key workouts were done outside! Bonus!

My jaw/chin continue to heal nicely, but I am not cured.... I continue to have some unpleasant pain in my ears, which of course comes from my jaw injury. My chin looks good but is still a gross combination of quite sore, and completely numb (this combo resonates quite poorly with me. I try not to think about how it feels, as I find it disgusting.)
All this being said, I know it could be so much worse.
THAT being said, I am OVER it and wish that my face felt like it used to.

Weekly stats:
Miles run: 30, per the plan.
Longest run: 12. A very sensible step up.
Other: 1 bike, 2 strength work outs.
Wildlife sightings: ZERO. Which is very, very strange. WTF?? Come out DUCKS!!!
Low/High temps: 8/42. A mostly mild week.
How am I feeling? Good, a little tired after a couple of my bigger workouts. After a recovery day, all better with good energy. Lots of weird dreams, everything from having a pet snake, to running from a terrifying killer, to dealing with the fallout of an atomic bomb (which was kind enough only to blow up half the house. ok.)
Beer of the week: Double or nothing. A terrific maple barleywine by Lawson's (geniuses) and Otter Creek. Go get some. 

Week two of Boston training: Quite uneventful!

As the title of this post should lead you to believe, compared to last week, this week was downright quiet. Thank heavens.

I took ZERO workout selfies. I am sure everyone is very sad about this.
I will entertain you with pictures of random things.
I will be SURE to bring back the sweaty selfie next week. 

On Monday, I had a little run in new shoes. Another pair of Clifton 3's, they have been serving me well. The old pair had well over 400 miles on them, so it was time.

New shoes!

I also cashed in a lovely Holiday gift and got my hair done. I look better now. 

The one and only time that my hair will ever look decent. After professional help.

Tuesday was a rest day.
I got my stitches out! (no pics of that either, you're welcome)
To recover from that ordeal, Eric and I went out for a quick drink with my Dad and sister. We met up with a friend of ours, and her Mom and Daughter.
We are geeks, and like to show up at every opening of every pub in our area. This was such an occasion, and X Vault opened with a bang, as essentially the whole town showed up. It shows promise as another local venue worth visiting. (in short, good drinks, interesting menu, nice ambiance, typical chaos of opening day!)

X Vault, opening day

Wednesday was weirdly warm, temps hitting almost 50.
The snow melted, and with that the reemergence of the strangest piece of yard art in town.
The penis frog.

Well. Hello, Mr. Frog.....

WHY? But really, WHY? Where would you buy a dong frog, and more importantly, WHY would you??

Thursday and Friday were uneventful. A couple treadmill runs, and a round of 8x400's which reminded me that I am, in fact, not in great shape (no kidding.) I did my long run (10) plus hills on the treadmill on Friday. Again, uneventful (sweaty though.)


On Saturday I had an easy recovery run (right about at a 9:40 pace which was actually a tad quick.)
Andy (Eric's twin, if you don't remember) and his kids came over, and we headed out to see Rogue one. It was excellent. We also made the kids play Pokemon with us, and it was great fun.
Then we headed to Vivo (in Bridgton) for some great dinner. Vivo never lets me down in the food department.

Dinner at Vivo with the Fam!

The kids brought me the best gift!
A bottle of wine the size of my leg. I am #soblessed (but really, I was super pumped.)

My new baby!!! I love you, big wine!!!

Sunday was a reasonably exciting workout day.
I did a 40 minute sufferfest bike video.
I then ran 2 miles.
And *swam* in the pool for 10 hours, and managed .25 miles.
If anyone was curious, I am a dreadful, dreadful swimmer and my whole *swim* consists of me attempting not to die. Not cute.

So! Week two done, and it wasn't very exciting in the exercise department. Week two rarely is, if you really think about it. Week three is going to be very similar but I'll try to come up with some better stories about it...

Weekly stats:
Miles run: 27, just as prescribed.
Longest run: 10. Which feels long now. It won't soon....
Other: 1 bike, 1 strength work out (bad) 1 swim (ugly)
Wildlife sightings: 18 wild turkeys and one Penis Frog
Low/High temps: Negative 9/Plus 47. Go home winter, you are drunk.
How am I feeling? Good, I can eat solid food again.
Beer of the week: CRAP! I drank a few beers, obvs, but nothing new... I did have a delicious mojito at X Vault though, so we shall consider that to be the winner.

The "Hey, Winter is here" week of *training*

I miss last winter and the mild temps and lack of snow. WHY is it SO COLD????

This winter has rolled in with some major attitude and I, for one, am not supportive of this polar shit vortex. It's garbage. GARBAGE.

It's cold. So cold.

We had a pretty decent little storm last Monday. Because one must get out for a snowy run of *magic* once a season, Eric and I headed out for a few careful miles.

It's darker than it looks. And Colder. But I'm in like, a parka so it's clearly cold.

As far as outdoor activities go, that was it for the week. I work late mid week, and without a treadmill to run on I was stuck on my bike. I did some Sufferfest, known to bikers the world over as "torture", and to me, a non biker, as "death."

By Friday the temps had become absurdly cold and, despite having daylight hours in which to run, I CERTAINLY DID NOT. I'm crazy but I am not stupid, and running when it is -6 degrees out is just ridiculous.

Nope.

I paid up my $10 on Friday and had a nice indoor run at my sister's gym. As a general rule I don't have time to drive to the gym to run (40 minute round trip) but, due to the frigid temps I was finished working early. Plenty of time for a sweaty indoor run.
It was actually a really pleasant workout, and I did a few 800's at mid 7 pace. I have done no speedwork lately, so this was fun! Also, I didn't die or suffer too horribly so that made me feel better about my recent 10 mile weeks (weeks.... lord.)

The weekend was a craptastic blend of freezing weather, a snow storm, and to top it all off some rain, ice and a hurricane.

Snowing like crazy

THIS WINTER BLOWS.

I'm heading into Boston Training in two weeks. I am really looking forward to getting back onto a good, regular schedule. This fall/winter has been a lengthy recovery and rebuilding cycle. As important as this is for me, and my frail and rapidly aging body, I am ready to get back to work.

I must admit to some concerns though (which all Maine running residents may also be having.) Thus far, winter has been aggressive. I'm internally cringing at the thought of long runs in arctic temps, or (worse) every workout in the basement. Last year was pretty pleasant for winter training and I am now a spoiled princess.
I need to form a small town winter warriors training group so that we can all suffer together. I think there is strength in numbers, and it is true that misery loves company!
(and this is where I have a moment of the sads, because I am the only distance runner in my town...) 

Sigh. I'll figure it out. Maybe winter is over. Maybe I won't be stuck in the basement for good. Maybe there will be a miracle and with zero training I will be able to run a 3:19. (NO)  (HAHA even with training, no!)

How I rock the Off Season

Ahhh, the off season.
While some might view these words as profanity, I have grown to appreciate this quality time.

Of course, the weather has turned messy and we are still a treadmill free family, so perhaps this makes limiting my pavement pounding more pleasant.

UGH. Winter.

So yes, it did snow today. And yes... Our treadmill has gone back to Jesus. This is a sad story but as upsetting as it is, it happened at a relatively good time. I would be quite upset to have this kind of calamity befall us in the midst of marathon training. At this juncture, we have had time to mourn the loss and make plans... RIP.

RIP Treadmill... 4 Boston Marathons later....

I had a pretty solid month long "break" in June, which I never expounded upon. Since I am essentially in the same place now, I decided that the internet deserved details.

My rest season got off to an odd start. Hartford left me pretty tired. Getting "rest" post marathon is tough because of my active job so I felt a bit slow to recover fully. A non-running related ankle issue sidelined me just enough to allow myself the time to properly heal.

A side note, since I don't always share every detail! After any marathon I spend the next day or two making sure my muscles get some VERY light work, an easy spin, a nice walk to get blood flowing. And THEN: I take a full 10-14 days OFF. Then, I *might* throw in a few little runs. I rarely get back to much of any structured work until 3-4 weeks post marathon. 

After a couple Disney races in early November, that were slightly outside of my fitness comfort zone (but were meant to be for fun, and were!) I got back to the business of rebuilding.

Step one. Invest a little cash money in myself. I get a few Chiro/ART treatments to deal with any imbalances or muscle issues that may have developed. Done and done.

Step two: evaluate how I am feeling, and get ready to do some general strength work! (and no, this is not a four letter word in my life!) 

I know I'm not the only distance runner who feels like this. You finish a marathon training cycle, and once the taper, race and recovery are done, you certain that you the most out of shape human on the face of the earth.
Maybe the legs are still good for something. Maybe not. But, if you are anything like me you feel that you have zero core strength, weak puny little arms, hips that are one bad step away from needing a replacement and the flexibility of a block of concrete.
GOOD LORD.

So, I embark upon The Great Rebuild.
Which I quite enjoy.

Since November 14th I have been plugging away, in an attempt to turn the abs of jelly into the abs of steel. (and the hips of near replacement into the hips of thunder. or something...?)

I imagine that if you follow me on Strava you are like "wow, Sara has totally quit running!" This isn't entirely true as I have been enjoying several pleasant runs per week. Just enough!

On my other days I have been riding away on my OWN bike trainer! I have had a bike for years but am a wimp about riding it on the road. There are many logging trucks around here and I have a major fear of getting flattened! Basement riding is a whole different story though. Safe. Cozy. And all kinds of fancy on Eric's trainer, until it became winter and he needed it again. Thank heavens for facebook bike groups where we can find inexpensive used trainers! I am so pleased at how this small addition to my collection of gear has improved my off season life.

My own bike on my own trainer

The moral of the story is, I am up on that thing a few days a week merrily sweating along.

I also do a lot (for me) of strength work. I make use of what I have here and try to do a balanced blend of core and legs. I don't do a ton of upper body work, I basically spend half my day shoveling and such. Anymore seems like overkill. (Well. I do lift plenty of 16 oz beers and 1/2 pound steaks to my face... but that's the only other lifting that I do.)

My kind of lifting ;-)

I think simple is key. I don't want to have to buy tons of equipment, or a gym membership. I tend to rely on tried and trusted exercises (squats, lunges, and the like) as well as the Oiselle Dozen. Basically, a combo of well known strength exercises put in order to kick your butt and buff up your running muscles. (or, any muscles..)
I also like this combo of exercises AKA the "standard core routine".

I have never been strong in the stretching and rolling department. During this time, even THAT gets to make an appearance! Again, just basic and functional crap. A little yoga, a few dynamic exercises, certainly nothing groundbreaking. Eric helped me with my hamstrings with some partner stretching which was glorious. ("oh "partner stretching"  is that what they call it these days...?... knock it off....)

When I am marathon training, I enjoy it. It is structured, and I thrive on that structure.
In the off season, I have FUN. If I wish to try something, I do. I toss all expectations, I never look at my watch, I am completely flexible (although, not flexible like a gymnast. at all.)
If working out starts to suck, what is the point? I like to enjoy the majority of my workouts, and after a long training cycle it's extra important to spend time having adventures.

I'm currently starting week 4 of rebuild, Winter Edition. And it is going well.
Boston training begins on January 1st (yay!!!) Hopefully by then I will be a bulletproof, terminator like mega athlete.
Or. More likely. A person who has a little more core strength and, possibly, flexibility.

In which I talk about cross training in a nice way!

This winter I have only a couple races on the horizon. For a brief moment after Wednesday's 10K I got a feeling of nostalgia for the good old days when I had a race almost every weekend! That dissipated quickly when I remembered how much of that time I spent on the DL... Nothing says "No thanks, not again" like reminiscing about days spent with ice packs, a bag of icy cold peas shoved down my pants, the need to take out stock in my chiropractor's business....

The theme for this winter is to become stronger. I do indeed emphasize that over "faster" which I imagine my running buddies everywhere are cringing about. Faster should, in fact, be a logical by product of stronger and if so, awesome. I always want to get speedier, duh.

But right now? Stronger it is.

Skiing in zero degree temps is indeed crosstraining!

We all know I struggled with my left leg mildly from the time around GCI to after NYCM when I called it quits and took a couple of weeks off. While I still hesitate to call it an injury, as it did not sideline me, it certainly was a nuisance and a worry. The general consensus is that it was a combination of piriformis syndrome, a mild case of sciatica (nice, general term there...) and basic, boring overuse. In a nutshell it was infrequent stabbing pain in my ass. Fun!

I have had ZERO pain since late November. I most certainly feel that that particular leg is still weak and I am working hard with cross training and serious core/strength work to get it to buck up! I do feel that this is something I have 100% control over and that if I can achieve greater fitness I will not have a recurrence.

My non runner acquaintances are baffled that I could have trained all Summer/Fall the way I did and still come out of the season feeling as though I developed a major weakness.
But here is what happened.
Between GCI and Smuttynose I had a great Marathon training cycle- I built up some good running stamina but really neglected any form of cross training. I tended to favor the left leg slightly as it was having occasional painful flare ups. From the time that I began to taper for Smutty (mid September) to the time I finally took a break (Early November) I did little more than race, recover, try to maintain, race, recover and so on!
It was a good way to get thru a busy time but not a recipe for gaining any strength.

So while I might not have high running miles for the next 6 weeks or so I will be putting in very normal total hours of working out. Apparently, I have come to a place in my life where I deem this acceptable. Pre Boston I will ramp up the mileage per the norm, and look forward to that as long runs are definitely part of my lifestyle. This is the first time that I have really accepted forms of exercise other than running as legitimate workouts. Believe me, when you complete one of Kelsey's core routines if you aren't tired and a little (or a lot) sore, you aren't doing it right!!

Look closely. Those are bike rollers! Yikes!

I really hope to be a runner forever. I picture myself as a tiny 75 year old woman running Boston like a boss and finally winning my damn age group! Having life long running goals is a big motivator for staying as healthy and strong as I can. Some people can run 100 plus miles a week, every week and their bodies can handle it. I find that is not the ideal for me, at least not at this time in my life! I like to put in plenty of miles, and I certainly would enjoy a nice, relaxing 8 miles of pure junk over 40 minutes of core and TRX... But I can see that this is for the greater good so I embrace it, dammit!

So here's to you, by left butt/hip/piriformis! A better 2014 for all of us and lunges and squats for the win!

June Recap

Before I wax poetic about June 2013 I want to reflect for a moment about where I was a year ago.  

So yeah, I had a 202 mile month in June of 2012. I also ran every single one of those 202 miles on such a badly injured leg that I could not walk normally, go down stairs, or (honestly) remember what pain free running felt like. I was about to start the count down to my first marathon and was scared to death that one missed workout would spell certain doom. I still am not sure how the hell I got it done, but I did (and then had to essentially the the entire month of August off. Yeah that was awesome!)

Two major changes in the last year.

-I have a fantastic coach who has kept me fantastically healthy. Clearly I could not do that myself. I don't want to say it out loud but I have not had ANY problems since I began to follow her plan and that is not my norm (my norm is awesome, but chronically injured awesome which basically equals terrible...) 

-A year ago I was very new to long runs. I was under the assumption that they should feel good (and thus, was quite shattered when many were rather awful.) Bottom line: long runs should NOT hurt because you are suffering from a grievous injury. But shit- they DO hurt. Physically, mentally you name it. They can suck hairy ball sacks. Getting a good long run in is awesome but often concerns me because I fear that I have blown my load too early. I'd rather suffer in training and save the good stuff for race day! 

Moving on... 

Race # 1 in June: Quassy! REALLY HOT REALLY BADASS AND FUN.

Number of races run: 2

Number of PR's- HAH. haha. HAH! ZERO homies, ZERO. I did set a 2013 Half PR in (for me) a rather abysmal 1:49 and change. It was a training run, that's my excuse and I'm gonna stick to it!

(and yes, this has me itching to actually "run" a half as I consider this to be one of my better distances. However, it isn't in the cards for this year...)

Number of times I puked on my shoes: Z-E-R-O

Running miles- 155

Cycling miles: 177 plus an hour on the god-damn-useless-torture-trainer

Core: FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL

Times running gave me an adult tantrum: 1 (more on this later...)

Longest run: 20 miles

Number of failed track workouts due to Reginald Doodie: ONE. He is such a shit. Haha get it? 

Number of times I quit running/being an athlete/all the things: 1 (and once again, it didn't take,. I quit then promptly ran 17 like an effing boss.)

Number of times I wore a sundress and compression socks to family dinner: 1
But if I could get away with it this would be my go to outfit.
I'm so hot. It's ok to be jealous.

Take away message for June of 2013: While I might not have the running mileage of 2012 I have more actual hours of working out in the bank. I feel good. The plan we are following for this ultra might be a little left of center but have you met me? So am I. I have complete confidence that the work I'm doing is going to get me to the finish of my longest race to date. 

Other fun facts? I'm focusing my efforts this year on distance vs speed. Last year I did both (train for a marathon! PR in a 5K every week! F**K my legs royally! Cry for my Mom!) I have the 4 on the 4th in the schedule next week and I am slowly coming to terms with the fact that I am not going to be able to run as fast as last year. One side of my brain is like "dude, that sucks!" But the logical side of my brain says "you have been training for a freaking 50K. Don't be a hero. Run 8:30's and be cool with it... drink a beer!"So with a pretty huge training week in store we will see what my sprint to non-victory brings. But dudes really? I'm just excited to have a day off in the middle of the week. 

A Kickass Cycling Adventure!

I'm pleased to say that the past several days have been more acceptable in the workout department (and in normal everyday life. well, as normal as they can be around here!)

I had a couple of everyday- kinda- base- runs (my fav kind btw, 7-8 miles at 8:30 pace FTW!!) 

I also had a track workout which happened to be the first since November. I felt good and was happy with the numbers although looking back they were downright slow compared to what I was running this time last year. Like, way off pace! but now that I'm thinking back...

LET'S REFLECT shall we?: this time last year I was downright injured (from overdoing it) was still running 8x800's FAST (dumb) was still banging out 50+ mile weeks like it was NBD (dumb dumb) was racing almost weekly (dumby dumb) and was training for a marathon and to be crazy fast simultaneously. (oh gahd the humanity, wtf woman?!)

Ahem.

Suffice it to say, I may be slower but I am in zero pain. And have clearly grown as an athlete as well as a logical woman (I am eager for Eric to read that sentence as he may or may not agree...!)

Because I am on the brink of being a truly amazing multi sport athlete and therefore must declare my prowess on the mountains of the coast (yes they exist) I took my hot exclusive dating partner future hubs fiancee to Bah Hahbah for a 24 hour vacation.

When we vacation we cycle ALL the miles cos that's how we roll, bitches.

We started off the weekend right with TONS of pasta and champagne!

Looking out over Frenchman's Bay.
On a hella beautiful day, daaaaayum!
ACADIA I LERRRVE YEWWWWW!

Oh yes. We are a hot athletic couple!
By Thunder Hole. Many agreed that Thunder Hole is a TWSS.

I did get a little too excited when I walked by the MDI start!
I'm NOT wishing the summer away but I AM excited for October!

Anyway. We had a great time. It was a totally decent workout, obviously, as we cycled 28 something miles which is a lot for a lame-o like me. I mean a terrifying Bradley Wiggins type person, duh. If he married me and then changed his last name he'd be Bradley Bradley hahahaha. I kinda love him.

ANYWAY. This is about my vacation with my EDPFHF and not about my secret boy-biker-crushes (yeah, the abbreviation? try typing exclusive-dating-etc a few times and taking a shortcut seems fun!) It was a lovely day for a romantic bike ride up enormous hills and such. We stopped a couple times to take in the view, which was amazing as always but we kept up a pretty steady pace. No lounging, no slacking! We met up with a biker gang that I plan to join at a later date. Eric almost suffered an untimely death when a tour bus came very very close to running him down (crisis averted!) Many moments of excitement as you can plainly see.

Cycling doesn't kick me in the teeth quite like running but it sure makes me ravenous. Seriously,we got off the bikes and I was all "GIVE ME THE FOODS MUST EAT ALL THE THINGS!!!" which was terrifying to everyone within my general vicinity.

A really fun day though. Excited to go on more cycling adventures as the summer continues!