Training for Marine Corps Marathon: Weeks 12 and 13

Week 12, on paper, went almost as planned. However, it did not end as planned!!!

The week started off fine, I had an easy recovery run on Monday and things were feeling good.
I headed out on Wednesday with a plan to do a few mile repeats- I was shooting for 4, as my speedwork mileage has not been high. It was the warmest day we had had in a while, and HUMID AF. I felt genuinely dreadful. My calves returned feeling awful like earlier in the season (like, tired/crampy) but my stomach was the real trouble maker. I felt progressively more nauseated as the workout progressed, and after the 3rd repeat I called it a day. GROSS.

I actually had a really good long run on Thursday. The calves were a touch rough at first, but it was an overall good run, on a nice day. The 8:44 pace felt pleasant, and I was really optimistic.

On Saturday I went for a short, easy run. Nothing of note occurred, it was actually an extremely boring little outing.
And as soon as I got home, my troublesome shin/calf turned into CRAP. I was pretty surprised by this event. While it had not been feeling "perfect" it was far from what I would call an "injury."

WELL. When I awoke on Sunday still LAME AF, I declared myself injured and put myself on the DL.

So, Week 13 consisted on some bike trainer miles, and a looooooong horse show with a shit ton of walking. The crap leg was CRAP until Saturday the 21st when it suddenly snapped out of it and stopped hurting completely.
The other weird thing that's happening, was that my foot was super sore as well. Basically, my leg hurt from the arch of my foot, through my calf and shin. I am old, it is a shame.

I don't really trust it at this point. I have no plans to take to the pavement to test out it's integrity for several more days. Or maybe a week. Who knows!

So here's the good news:
-Crap leg does not hurt at all anymore. At any point. Not when I get up. Not when I walk. Not at all.
-Crap leg is really just being a bitch. I never could "pinpoint" a spot of pain, there was never swelling or bruising, I never actually did anything stupid to myself other than living my best life.
-I can do other activities
-I'm smart enough to FULL stop when something stops being a little annoying, and becomes stupid

The bad news:
-Despite this clearly not being a sprain/stress fracture, it still sucked.
-I do have a marathon in a month.
-I did take 2 weeks off in august, to try to mitigate this issue, and it clearly did not work. Hence the trust issue!

Well, the other good news:
-I'm not at all stressed about this
-I'll go to the marathon anyway
-I'm not sitting on my butt
-Luckily, while I do enjoy running, I do not require it. I can exist happily on no running.

This has put my notion of an MCM BQ on hold, but I am still feeling confident that I can show up healthy at the start, and talk myself into finishing. Shit happens, and this is really not a very big deal in the big picture.

After all, there is a HUGE macaroni and cheese festival (who knew this was a real thing!!) in DC the day before the race, and that alone is worth the trip!

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.

A post about everything. EVERYTHING.

I seem to be on a monthly blogging schedule!
I feel like I have accumulated enough interesting things to say to justify a post at this point!
And since it is doubtful that I will blog again until October here is a little of everything. 

Let's see...
Well, Eric and I got married this past weekend!
And clearly, we ran a little race first.
I guess "racing" is not exactly what happened- Eric's Mom threw us and the family a big fun party that evening. So basically the way it played out was that we got there, drank a beer, ate some snacks and ran as best we could after such shenanigans. It was quite a good time!
I totally wore a veil. When else can you do that?!

The guy with the stroller beat us. Whatever ;-)

Then the next day we got married.
It was a helluva party. Seriously, so much fun!
I know this is not a wedding blog but honestly- things were so easy and so great that at some point I might write about details. I feel like bragging, ok? :-)

Laughing. As usual.... All the love!

The wedding party was a great time but (not to be sappy) the day was really about marrying my best friend and how happy we are to be together. We also really like our families and loved having a party where we focused on mingling, taking silly pictures, eating delicious food and high fiving many times.
I noticed later that night that the internet had legit blown up with #bradlowski
You. Are. Welcome.

Yeah, we wore Chucks for the afterparty. Well, Eric wore them all day which is awesome. That is my sister on the right :-)

 

On the running front...
I just won an entry to the Maine Mile! I have never run a mile race so I think this will be super fun and also a PR just for showing up, which always makes things better.
I honestly do not know how I am going to do so I plan to run really fast and be happy with whatever I can do. Marathoners don't tend to train for sprinting but why not right? Maybe I'm destined to be a track superstar. Yeah!! (because.... speed. and mine is amazing)

Running in general is pretty great right now.
I have become aware that enjoying the journey is instrumental.
If every race "training cycle" is fraught with dreading the long run, hating the speedwork, struggling thru the intervals then what is the point.
I love running and enjoy racing- nobody is holding a gun to my head (or any of us casual runners heads) forcing us to do this- so running as a hobby needs to be fun at least most of the time.
This summer I have enjoyed running more than ever. Or, if nothing else, I have taken a step back towards becoming the runner I was several years ago- enjoying the road, accepting that I am only as good as I can be on any given day and meeting myself at that point. (which doesn't mean it is all magic and rainbows. but it is the majority of the time.)

On a running, but different note....
I decided to defer my Chicago entry to next year.
I worried for a moment (literally, a moment) that people might think I was sick, injured, chronically lazy, that maybe I had totally lost my nerve- and judge me but I really can't worry about that and it seems unlikely. I am none of those things and look forward to Chicago '15 when I will feel more financially comfortable with the (large number) of expenses involved. I can not enjoy running when I feel that my decisions are compromising my financial stability!

The good news- and in my mind it is REALLY good news- is that my October marathon is going to be MDI.
I love, love, LOVE running on MDI and I think the marathon there is second to none. As soon as I decided to dedicate my miles to training for that race I got really excited.
I had my first really good marathon on the island and after my yucky Boston this year I need a little MDI magic to put the mojo back into my marathon step.

I have a feeling that will happen! (and I really can not wait!!)

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!

I return! And my thoughts on getting back into the swing of things.

Well hello internet, I am back.

I just took a couple weeks off from most things online. I completely avoided blogs! (I am a jerk but I really just couldn't take another sponsored "holiday gifts!!!" post) So instead of sticking around and getting grouchy about things that have nothing to do with me, I took a break from the whole thing. With only about 2 weeks to go until Christmas, and with the holiday frenzy in full swing this might seem like an odd time to reemerge.... However,  my break should enable me to be able to stomach 2,000 more reviews of various protein powders, and Mizuno Wave 17's (which everyone seems to have given a pretty cookie cutter review to. y'all wait, when I get a pair I'll let you know if they are REALLY that good!)
I also declined to look at Dailymile. (or even logging miles into it!) I just DID.NOT.CARE. Sometimes I find it quite inspiring to see what others are up to but for the past few weeks I have decided that it's more important to focus on what I need to do, with no regard to the training schedules of other people who have completely different goals than I! (novel, I know)
I enjoyed my break because I kinda hated the internet and that's not nice.

 

HAH!!!! That was ME!!!! But I'm better now...

Not wanting to cast the interwebs completely to the curb, I productively spent internet time on Instagram, winning all the Holiday prizes. Duh. With Grinchy gems like this how can you lose?

I was unimpressed by this lame Christmas parade.

I found my mojo early last week which was nice. Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments relating to my malaise. I sometimes need to remind myself that it ok to take a rest and that I should not get so damn emotional about it. The amount that I work out in no way, shape or form establishes my worth as a human being. And I really enjoy my routine so when I do not, it is ok to step back and take a breather. I did, and now I feel quite refreshed!

Mulling over things that contributed to my mini burnout.
I am not the kind of athlete who can race every weekend. **gasp call the blogger cops!!**
During the past year I did fewer races than in 2012 but I put 100% of myself into each one that was important to me. In the end, on top of being physically exhausted I was quite emotionally drained. I am very good at getting into a competitive mental mindset- but it takes a lot out of me! (especially in October- when I had 2 races that were very important to me and took a HUGE amount of mental fortitude, and a horse show where I threw down maximum effort in a challenging situation. tough stuff.)
I actually enjoy challenges like that where I can prove my mental (and physical) toughness to myself but need to cut myself a little slack about wanting to sit on the couch and watch terrible TV for 6 weeks straight after it is all over!
Physically I was pretty much done after NYCM and only in the past week have I felt remotely good and normal. I have no idea how people can do 6 marathons in 6 weeks... Good for them- but it certainly is not for me! I would have a broken leg constantly... Perhaps those runners simply use the races more as social outings and training runs? Or perhaps they have a bigger ability to stay at the top of their game for longer than I do? Either way, I know it is not for me!

Right now I am having a really good time with my training and working hard, without killing myself with a ton of mileage. I'm getting in some great cross training and focusing on getting much stronger to avoid any more weeks of butt discomfort. (which was a drag) I know that my improved training in 2013 thanks to Kelsey played a huge part in keeping me uninjured but I was close enough during the months of September and October. A good reminder to continue to get stronger!

I do not have a marathon planned until Boston and I feel quite fantastic about that. I clearly am trying to get arrested by the blogger cops today because I don't think that any marathoning blog author ever admits to that- or rarely, very rarely. I am quite excited for Boston and plan to train well this winter and to have a PR there, all things being equal. But am I bummed not to have to gear up for a February 26.2? NO!

I have a 10K on January 1st to ring in the New Year. I haven't "really" run a 10K in a very long time. My best guess is that I will not PR since my current (2012) PR is a 43:43 and I just can't see myself running 6, 7:02 miles- yuck!! My course PR for this particular race is 47:42 and I absolutely believe I can do better than that. Mo goal is 45:00 barring 30 MPH headwinds which are the bane of my existence. I'm excited by the prospect of only racing for 45 minutes but also a bit horrified thinking of basically redlining the whole damn thing! Hahaha oh well, it is bound to be an adventure!

So that's about it from the snowy and cold arctic tundra of Maine. Now that I am gracing the internet with my presence again I'll have a belated November recap up soon.

Rev3 Quassy, Heat, Hills and Humidity part 1

It has been a quiet few weeks (months?) in the racing department around here so even when we suddenly had a LEGIT 40 degree temp spike late last week it did little to deter my enthusiasm for the big 70.3 relay at Quassy.

Anyone who has read my blog for any length of time knows that I'm not a big fan of the heat, especially when it is a huge shock (going from 52 on Wednesday to 95 on Friday. Hello?)

Just gotta roll with it sometimes kids, and stay hydrated!

 

 

Team Shut Up Legs
Me for the run, Kate for the bike, Eric for the swim.
Don't be fooled by out cuteness, we are terrifying athletic beasts!

Kate and I drove down on Saturday in 98 degree heat, we consumed an absurd amount of Scratch and water in an effort to get a jump on the hydration. We were already sweaty which led to conversations about chaffing, which led to discussion of rashes and how they make us uneasy, which rather bizzarly transitioned to chat of horrific communicable diseases and their symptoms. WHAT? Yeah, just a normal conversation for us.

When we arrived the first thing we said to Eric and Andy had something to do with HIV which was a good conversation starter. Sweet Jesus....

Luckily things got somewhat more socially acceptable after that..

 

REV 3 FTW.
They put on a damn good triathlon.
Please lower the heat next time though...

The lake was the best place to hang out as it was legit boiling out.

We got to know the lay of the land, took in the athletes meeting (which was actually worth staying for and for the first time in my life I listened... What is happening to me!?)

Part of my compulsion to listen was this was my first time doing a Tri relay and I didn't want to f**k it up. I also had my ears open on Kate's behalf as it was her first race EVER and I figured (as most older sisters do) that maybe she'd be too nervous to listen or would have inherited my inability to pay attention in athletes meetings. As it turned out, she was fine.

We chatted as a team about what we thought we could bring to the table in such warm weather. Eric was not concerned about his leg for obvious reasons (if he started dehydrating he could just gulp some lake water after all) but since it has been 30 degrees out here in Maine open water swims have been almost non existent. Eric is a very good swimmer though and could do 1.2 miles with one arm tied behind his back so his estimation of a 35 minute finish seemed very reasonable.

Kate is a strong biker but hasn't had many competitive opportunities thus far. She openly admitted to having a whole list of cop outs should she need them "I just gave blood! I have a really bad back! I am undertrained! (and after the discussion in the car we had diagnosed any number of vile illnesses... hahaha) She really, really wanted to make it around the course in 3:30 and since Eric and I are dinks we kinda said "ummmmmm. about those hills?" She was adamant that she would not go one minute over 4 hours, not ONE DAMN MINUTE. Unless her lack of blood/a good back/training got the best of her. :-)

I straight up suck at running in sudden onset heat (that's MY cop out!) So I decided to run the half in 2:10.

That is a lie.

I said if it was flat (it WAS NOT) I could run it in 1:45-1:50. If there were hills (THERE WERE) 1:50-1:55.

It was, after all supposed to be well into the 80's.

 

We saved this turtle who was trying to cross the road.
This might not seem to apply to my race report but I love turtles!
When I saw him almost die there was much screaming...
I picked him up so that he did not have to climb this mountain and he RAN back to the woods.
Then, forgetting my fingers were all turtle-y I ate some pretzels and got nervous that I had turtle germs, haha!

A Perfect name for our team!
And it was justified, as well.

We wrapped up night one with normal activities. Eating tons of carbs at the OG, having a car dance party to old school rap, not allowing Andy to go to sleep early as he had hoped for because we needed to chit chat, read, take online tests for school, drink a glass of wine, put on our race number tats, ya know the usual.

However, with a 4AM alarm set we all crashed eventually. Crashed is relative as we were all a little nervous that our number tattoos would end up stuck to the sheets. They were a bit tacky, and did stick a bit which was alarming if you wanted to roll over but they made it thru the night!

And how would we fare in the intense heat and humidity the next day? Would we all make it over the legendary hills? Would Eric be able to make his swim goal with only a tiny handful of open water swims in 2013? Would Kate's lack of blood allow her to motor on the bike? Would I puke on the run? Stay tuned for the answers to these pressing questions!

 

 

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!   

In which I attempt Yoga, and like it!

Since December cross training has started to become more of a way of life for me. 

That being said, until I ran Hyannis and discovered that my form really started to slip badly when I got tired I was more or less half assing it. And as we all know, I was much more sore both during and after the race then I expected to be. In part because of the horrid weather but also a good reminder that i can get much stronger!

When the weather permits I have been going to Kelsey's spin class in Falmouth on Wednesdays- it is a hell of a drive to get there and any kind of bad weather makes it virtually impossible. Sure, in Falmouth the roads might be glorious but it's 40 plus miles to get to those roads... Blah!

My basement is a short flight of stairs away (and, upsettingly, can be found on Facebook as "Sufferfest Torture Chamber") and that is where I have been doing my coach approved core workouts 2-3 times oer week. 

The most shocking turn of events is that my sister talked both Eric and me into taking Yoga classes at her favorite place,  Maine Yoga House. You should have heard her sales pitch "I LOVE IT" she would shout, while prancing around in tiny yoga pants "There is NOTHING BETTER and they are AMAAAHHHHHHZING THERE!" She was quite convincing. Then she would bust out some Yoga poses and stand on her head, which was really quite impressive.

Kate is good at Yoga.

And she is very well balanced!

To say that I have been resistant to partake in Yoga is the understatement of the century.

Here is what I thought:

-It will be boring and a waste of time-

-It will be lots of lying down and a waste of time

-My ADD will be off the chain, and it will be a waste of time

-It's not running so it's a waste of time

-If I pay coin for a workout I want an ass beating. Not a waste of time!

This is how I felt about Yoga.
Before I tried it, that is!

I was quite sure that this was the deal.
This still might be my favorite part though.. Kidding, kidding...

After listening for months to Kate's amazingly enthusiastic sales pitch I agreed to give it a serious open minded try after Hyannis. The good news is that post Hyannis I was an easy sell. I knew I wanted to get stronger and more flexible (since I'm basically as flexible as a 2x4) and wished to do so without having to run 20 extra miles per week. (not that that would help the flexibility...)

Eric and I went for our first class a couple of weeks ago and everything that I had been concerned about was blasted out of my head in the first 30 seconds....

IT. WAS. BRUTAL.

I mean this in the nicest possible way because everything was very positive and yoga-like but holy crapola. I was a sweating shaking mess by the end of the class. And had totally drank the kool-aid, haha! Bring it on, yoga!

I felt even more positive about my big Yoga life choice this past Saturday AM when I attended a class (or practice, I believe they are called- duh...) on a particularly stiff and creaky morning due to my previous days long run. I felt like shitttttttt when we started and by the end I felt great- total transformation- like I had been subjected to an ass kicking but in a good way! I went out shortly after for a recovery run and was thunderstruck, my legs felt like they hadn't had a long run in weeks. My whole damn body cooperated and was coordinated and downright organized. This is not a normal way for me to feel! 

The moral of the story is that I've added Yoga to the list of weekly activities that I am happy to do to make myself stronger and less likely to suffer a grievous injury. It's still quite a bit out of my comfort zone as I simply can not balance on one foot, nor am I able to twist my body parts around one another in the graceful way that the rest of the class does. Slowly but surely I'm figuring little parts of it out, despite my slight shock that muscling my way thru things doesn't seem to help (egads!)

And dudes, it is a serious, serious workout. Totally legit. No bullshit in that Yoga studio for sure!

Everybody kinda moves at their own pace though and I like that. The really good people do complex stuff, the less coordinated like myself just do our best and it's all good. No shame!

It will be interesting in a few more weeks to see where I'm at, hopefully one step more coordinated and one stop stronger. And pleased to have taken on a new challenge and to be enjoying it!

January and February Recap! LATE....

I am indeed a bit late on this recap but late is better than never.

Hmmmm let's see...

Number of miles run as of March 1- 310

Number of races run- 3 (and only 2 of those actually "raced")

Number of times I stayed up past 9PM- 2. And paid for it both times...

Number of times I blew off workouts due to said shenanigans- 2

(and we all know that I never blow off workouts... oh well it was only 5 days post marathon...)

Number of shoes worn out in 2013- 1

Number of times I puked on those shoes.
One. Not Bad.
There's that overly happy guy again. *sigh*

Number of times, bizarrely, that I ran in shorts OUTSIDE. In MAINE- 1

Longest Training run- 21 miles. And doing it at a 10 mile race was a damn good call.

Number of times this could have happened if my shower was upstairs.
Countless.



Longest run- 26.2 shittttttt yo....

Number of PR's- 1 (at Derry, despite the fact I swore NEVER to run faster than I did in '12)

Number of BQ's for 2013- Z-E-R-O. F-A-I-L!!! Oops...

Number of times that I was invited to Yoga and went- ONE
(more on this later)

Number of times I have had to bail on Spin Class because the weather sucks hairy balls- 3, at least. Maybe 4. Bullshit.

Number of iPods destroyed/lost/or other, requiring replacement... 1 UGH.

Number of times I have quit running- 2 (SOLID!!! I usually quit daily in the winter!)

Number of times I have had to change my long-run-day due to incredibly shit-tastic weather- 4 
(so 50% of the time is what this tells us... holy craopla winter...)

Anyway. A pretty good start to the 2013 season. I have been less than stellar at blogging lately but promise more tales of epic Boston training soon! (really, my last 10 days have mostly been recovering from Hyannis so not particularly fun to read about.)

A study in my coordination.....

On December 1st I started working with my excellent kick ass coach.

On December 1st I also managed to take one stupid lousy step and pretty much turn my ankle over in the worst possible way. Yeah, I totally did. My coordination is the subject of much talk...

It took me a couple of days to realize that I needed to be more attentive to the little Achilles problem and up to that time (Friday) I continued to work out. Friday was a moderate shit show. I was legit gimpy and pretty damn unhappy....

 

 

FREEZING COLD LONG RUN. Go away winter, go away.

Thinking back, I know I had a recovery run last Saturday (the 1st) a run with fast intervals on Sunday, an 8 miler (I think?) on Monday that included a 1 mile speed trial.

Sad to say that I couldn't do better than a 6:44. Oh well..

Tuesday was a rest day and Wednesday I went to (WAIT for it) SPIN CLASS.

And the world tips on its axis.

If there is one thing I dislike and try to avoid it is group exercise classes.  90% of the time they seem to consist of "whoo girls." You know: "ARE WE HAVING FUN??" to which the response is "WHOOO!!!" This makes me vomitous as I wish to have fun after working out, after getting my ass royally kicked. If I have fun while working out I'm often dissatisfied. Bottom line, I am a righteous asshole. Who also wants to have sweaty, stinky, miserable, tormential workouts- NOT fun dancing silly get-ya-club-music-on kinda crapola.

The moral of the story is that this was NO Whoo Girl class and I got my hat handed to me. I was the worst in the class by a very considerable margin and since this is unacceptable to me I plan to work hard (in order to be THE BEST. DUH.) The good news is that I did not fall off my bike, which seemed like a very real possibility.....

My legs felt strange for the rest of the week. Not sore. But very, very strange like they belonged to someone else. I was bewildered.

I had a 6 miler the following day which was when I realized that I was more wounded than I had originally thought. Coach Kelsey wisely forbade my long run. And she is secretly glad that I'm having a wisdom tooth out this week which will prevent me from running ALL the miles. (and this is no secret, she kinda came out and said it.) Poor Coach Kelsey. I'm a pain in the ass...

Oh, and somewhere in there was a very difficult strength/core day in which I managed to find out that ALL my muscles are weak. VERY WEAK!!!!

Sexy date night! YAY!!!

You all know that my exclusive dating partner and I know how to have fun. We run miles and/or get hurt and rock out in the most impressive socks ever. With my dog Lester who is the MOST adorable!

ERMAHGRD! We CAN be normal!!! With 5 inch heels on I am still that short. WTF??

 

We spent the weekend celebrating my Aunt's birthday down in Mass. We got dressed in non running attire (but let it be known that Eric DOES have compression socks on in that picture...) We drank wine, danced VERYVERY well and sang Bon Jovi. We are the coolest.

With our buddy Evan.
Yes, we all went on a run the following day.
Yes, we DID make his Dad pick us up so we could run point to point.
YES, that is ALL his poos Dad seems to do when we visit!!

What was it I said about being normal?
This happened.
This ALWAYS happens.
We are dead sexy. Eric needs to work on his creepy face a lot to be as awesome as us...

Anyway, we did indeed have a very decent 1 hour run on Sunday. My ankle felt a lot better and we kept up a totally decent pace. I'm really hoping to keep my idiot clumsiness to a minimum. I would love to be able to get all my workouts in with zero drama... We shall see what this week brings.