Huntsville Half Pre-Race Thoughts

Okay...so I'm nervous.  I've been training with a different philosophy than I'm used to so I just don't know what to think.  Basically, I've been doing speed work once a week with long "slow" and easier runs the other days.  I know for a fact it's working because I'm getting faster on my "easy" runs, and have been able to hold a better "fast" pace most speed work days.  But today will be the real test.  But it's a 13.1 mile test.  Well...I did run the Monte Sano 15K (9:06 pace on a hilly course, with a cold, over a month ago--meaning I have even more training under my soles!).

Anyway...I took a look at the workout calculator thing our coaches have been using from McMillan Running.  It was extremely encouraging.  I did some reverse calculations using 1:50 as my time for the half to see what kind of times I would need to be using to train...and WOW, it's right were I'm at actually!!  I'm just having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea I could train that "slow" and race that "fast". 

I was talking to a guy the other day who said the key to running faster is to slow down on long run, make speed work FAST and easy runs EASY.  He said he used to train at all one pace; all his races-at any distance from 5K-marathon-were all at the same pace.  Once he started doing as he said he began to have much faster shorter distance races.  My husband has been saying the same thing to me (although in a different way) for a few months now.  (Yes, my husband is always right, but I didn't like how he was telling me...he was basically saying I needed to keep my heart rate below 138--based on a book he's been reading...)  Anyway...this who philosophy is just hard for me to grasp because I don't have enough actual experience with it.  I almost wish this was a 5K so I could test it out on a smaller scale!!

I know many people are saying, "Why are you so nervous?  It's not like someone will shoot you if you don't finish in a certain time."  But, I want to do my best, remember??  The problem is I have no idea what that is.  I don't want to rein myself in out of fear.

I think Chickpea is laughing a bit at my nerves.  She hasn't run many races and asked me the other day, "so what will happen if you go 'too fast'?"  I basically said you end up slowing down more than you could have if you just ran a steady slower pace from the start.  I think, based on what I've learned doing speedwork, the mind--MY mind--gives up a long time before my body does.

Time to run a race!!!

Thanks for stopping in...should have a recap for you soon!

Dream BIG??

Dream big, but allow yourself the opportunity to start small, and have your share of struggles in the beginning. The world's great composers weren't writing symphonies the day they first sat at a piano.
--Kevin O'Rourke, Marathoner

WARNING:  I'm writing this in the middle of the night (well, early morning) so I'm probably actually really dreaming...that will be my excuse anyway if what I'm about to say is completely crazy...

 

I ran 20.22 miles on Saturday.  (Well...walk/ran some of it, but that was out of the need to stay with a running partner more than a need to take a walk break.)  (...and, yes, the .22 is completely necessary to add on!)  I was hurting, no doubt about that...but my last mile and almost a quarter was just slightly under a 9:30 pace, and I felt like I could "easily" finish a marathon right then.  Sunday I was a TINY BIT sore.  Monday's 4 mile recovery run was interrupted three times so I could stretch out my tibialis (see photo).  After the run was over, I felt GREAT!  (So that's why they call it a "recovery" run, huh?!)  Tuesday was a rest or cross train day so I rested.  

Yesterday was my group torture training day (maybe I've struckout the wrong word there??).  We did Yasso 800s.  Basically Bart (Chief Running Officer of Runner's World) says if you want to run a 4 hour marathon, shoot for 4 minute 800s.  He says to start out doing 3 or 4 of them several months out (with either 200-400 of recovery, or the same time it took to run the 800)...and work up to doing 10 of them about 2 weeks before your race.  The workout we did was a mile warm up then 8 X 800 with 2 minutes recovery between each one.

My A goal is 4 hours; B is 4:15 and C is 4:30.  However, initially I was hoping to push myself to a 3:40-3:45 because that would be a 2013 BQ for me.  (For my mom and any other non-runners reading this blog...that means "Boston Qualifier"...meaning I need to run a marathon (one that is labeled as a BQ race) in 3:45:00 or LESS between September 24, 2011 and September ?, 2012 in order to have even the chance to get into Boston.  (It's really more complicated than that because they do this rolling entry thing where the faster people have a chance to enter first.)  ((For the record-I COMPLETELY AGREE with this set up.  That's the way I think it should be.))  So the truth is, more than likely in order to have a shot at getting in I would need to run 20 minutes faster (so a 3:25) to get in the first day...but that's not really the point.  3:45 is still a BQ TIME even if it won't guarantee me a spot in the actual race.

In those early workouts of the training plan I would repeat, over and over, "I'm going to Boston."  Yes...I'm slightly embarrassed to admit this, but hey, who doesn't want to go to Boston if they are completely honest????  ((Well...I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't, and even plenty of runners who don't have their sights set that high...but I'm the kind of person who DREAMS BIG even if I lose the drive to make my dreams HAPPEN.))

So...getting back to last night's workout.  Since my A goal was 4 hours, my goal 800 time was 4 minutes.  That's an 8 minute pace.  Sure,  I've done that before, but could I do it EIGHT TIMES??  I was thankful there was a group of five of us doing it together...one other female, who is in my age group, who has been getting faster since we started...who I can't seem to keep up with anymore...who I desperately WANT to BEAT in the race...who will be now and forever called "Chickpea" in this blog.  (Yes, it's a silly name, but there's a reason...and that's all I have to say about that.)  ((Anyone who runs with us will know who it is, but I don't name people here, just nicknames.))  (((***WHY I want to beat her:  she's in my age group, she started out a bit slower but has really taken off, she's faster than me, but I feel like if I push hard enough I might be able to catch her.  Heck, I should really call her CARROT because that's the way it felt last night with me chasing her around the track!!)))

So...wow...8 minute pace for 8 X 800.  I knew from past experience I would have the tendency to start off fast and fade through the work out.  But, at the same time, doing them with the group meant I didn't have to pay as much attention to pace-after all there were 4 other people doing the same thing.  

When I do track workouts I divide up the track into sections and try to hit that spot in X amount of time.  800 is twice around the track, so we should have been around once in 2 minutes, and half-way around in 1 minute.  We hit that point in about :51.  My brain started firing 9 X 4 is :36...holy stink, that's a 3:24 800.  We slowed a bit and I stopped looking at my watch.  Lap 1: 3:50

With each lap they got harder.  But, they should have, we were running faster.  Lap 2: 3:48, lap 3: 3:38, lap 4: 3:37.

By lap 5 (3:50) it was taking me the full 2 minutes to catch my breath fully, just in time to start again.  I worried I wasn't going to be able to keep up, to be able to finish.  I wanted to quit, or at the very least slow down to my A goal pace time of 4:00.  My legs were so tired.  Breathing became harder.  But, dang it...Chickpea looked like she was out for a run in the park.  The leader of our pack was leaving all of us in the dust the last few laps...the other two guys were falling back and charging ahead...but Chickpea seemed steady and strong the whole time, and was JUST ahead of me each time (by split seconds).  Lap 6 (I think it was, maybe 7), I decided I would kick in a sprint for my sprint at the finish and made myself cross with her (in 3:45 for 6 and 3:43 for 7).

I thought I was going to puke...but only for a few seconds.  I asked one of the head coaches if it was supposed to feel really bad.  To my elation she said by all means YES.  She said it was supposed to feel like I couldn't take one more step.  Long runs are supposed to make me feel tired and ready to be done and maybe sore and achy...but this workout should make me feel COMPLETELY SPENT.  CHECK!!!  That made me feel surprisingly better because I knew at that point I was not failing.

Lap 8...last one...I wanted to give it my ALL.  Make it count.  Leave it all on the track for the night.  Maybe even puke my guts up for once.  As soon as we started the leader made time on all of us.  Chickpea was about 20 feet or so ahead of me by the end first lap.  All I kept thinking was that I wanted to finish with her...but my thoughts kept coming back to, "seriously...you can't catch her...give up...no shame...4 is good...let her be faster..."  But as the finish got closer I knew I would kick myself if I stayed in that place of passive resignation.  I ran as hard as my legs would go and closed in just a bit on her, but didn't quite get her before the "finish" (...if only I had that same resolve from the start).  3:43.

I came home, ate, got cleaned up and went to bed.  I always have trouble sleeping on hard workout nights, but last night I fell asleep pretty quickly...only to wake up 4 hours later (2:30am).  I couldn't stop thinking about my lap times and how good it felt to have some confidence in my 4 hour goal.  Again...Bart says the 800s are a predictor of the time it will take to run a marathon.

So...the average of my Yasso 800s??  3:44.25!!  And...remember what my initial A goal was when we started this program??  3:45.  And...remember why that was my A goal?  Boston Qualifier baby.

Dream big or go home.  I think that quote sums me up better than the one I started the blog with.  But, do I dare?  Can I even think in those terms?  It's 26.2 miles not 8 X 800 with recovery in between.  Can I be happy with a 4 hour this year and then work on BQ for the NEXT marathon?  Am I really going to go for another marathon before September?  My main focus is triathlon...but having a BQ under my belt is very appealing. 

I have no idea what I'll end up actually doing.  I have a half this weekend that should be a great litmus test...but the 4 hour marathon goal put me at a 1:53 half goal time according to one of my marathon coaches.  I don't know what a marathon goal of 3:45 would mean for my half.  I was just looking for sub 2.

Dream big or go home....or dream big but start small.  Didn't I already start small???

Up for the Challenge

Somehow I pulled my right soleus last week and ended up going to a CHIROPRACTOR.  The fact I spent over ten years in the insurance adjusting field should tell you why this is "said" in such an incredulous "tone"...  However, to my pleasant surprise, Dr. Olsen took such great care of me I was back up and running (literally) the very next day!!  He didn't do the pop and prod type of chiropractic adjustments...he did Active Release Therapy (think focused massage while moving the muscle). 

Although he told me to stay away from hills...I sort of didn't really listen to that part; this past Sunday I CONQUERED Cecil Ashburn on foot.

Well...maybe "conquered" is a little too strong of a word...but (for the locals) I ran from the Rave theater to my house (just over 9 miles), so it was the "easy" way.  For non-locals, here's the elevation profile from my Garmin (you can see why the direction I ran was "easy", right?  (I did go VERY slow and I walked a couple of times-but only about 30-45 seconds total.)  Wow...this is the first time I've looked at this...makes me realize just how much I didn't listen to the good doctor!

But, as Coach Eric always says, "WE LOVE HILLS!!  HILLS MAKE US STRONG"...today I got some (more) proof of how right he is.  My day started at the pool but that's not the "proof" I want to talk about.  Afterwards I went for a run on the trail I usually take with Daisy (who, sadly, was not with me today).  I am pretty sure our best time together on that trail to date has been 35:XX minutes.  I think my very best time alone has been about 34:XX minutes.  Today.........THIRTY TWO MINUTES AND THIRTY SEVEN SECONDS!!! 

The whole time I was running I felt like I was moving through mud.  It seemed as though I couldn't make my legs GO.  When I would look at my pace it was almost always under, or right around, 9...but I didn't believe it.  I thought my Garmin was not being honest with me, just trying to keep me from quitting.  (The pace usually seems off on the trails.)  When I STOPPED TO TIE MY SHOE and when I STOPPED TO TIE MY SKIRT (because it kept trying to fall off)...I considered walking since I "knew" my time would be so slow.  I decided I had to keep going if only for the experience of slogging out a tough run when I didn't feel up to the challenge. 

I've talked about the part of the route where the trail meets the road before...it's where Daisy used to tell me, "it's only SIX minutes to the car from here".  When I got there I thought I might just slow down to a jog, but THANKFULLY I checked the time instead of just looking at my pace...27:??.  My thoughts at that point: 

"REALLY???  TWENTY SEVEN???....plus 6 is only 33...that's a PR on this route....REALLY???  AS SLOW AS I HAVE FELT ON THIS RUN???  NO WAY I'M SLOWING DOWN NOW!!!"

I didn't PUSH it as hard as I could because it was supposed to be an "easy" run today...and I know speed work is tomorrow.  I kept telling myself I didn't have anything to prove, it wasn't a race, and more than that, it was a TRAINING RUN that was supposed to be EASY.  I was not running as if racing, but I certainly wasn't holding back either!  I wanted that PR...and you should have heard me WHOOP when I stopped my watch and saw I had made it even faster than I expected. 

Yup, again...Eric was right.  I guess it's only five minutes to the car now, huh??

Thanks for stopping in!  Come again soon!
:D