Coach Hubby

My husband has been feeling a little under the weather the last few days but yesterday he decided it was time to get out and breathe some fresh air.

Even though the man smoked me in the final yards of last year's Turkey Chase, he hasn't run for any extended distance in a long while.  He has however been getting up almost every morning to work out on the elliptical, finding it increasingly harder to ramp up his heart rate.  He figured it was the right time to test out his legs on real ground so we went up to Monte Sano for a cruise around the South Trail.  His plan was to run a little, walk a little and just take it nice and easy.

I was a little nervous because he is quite a bit faster than I am.  I was certain I could take him in the long run, but I wanted to stay with him the whole time.  If he decided to have some sprint intervals I might actually be in trouble trying to hang on to him.  My fears were allayed when we started jogging at a nice, easy pace.  After about a mile he decided it was time for a little break so we walked for about half a mile then started jogging again.

I was following him at a nice easy pace when I started to realize he was pulling away just a bit.  My first thought was that he was just taking some longer strides to get over some obstacles...but I quickly saw that was not the case and had to push myself to stay with him.  I had to remind myself he wouldn't hold this faster speed for long and was relieved when he started walking again.

After another half mile break we reached the gravel road section of the trail.  He said he wanted to kick things up a notch or two and have a short, fast interval.  He told me to start running and then pick up as fast as I could go up to a certain spot (maybe 100 yards).  I knew what was about to happen...he was going to blow by me like I was standing still...and I was okay with that, but I wasn't going to go down without a fight.  I started running and picked up just as fast as my legs would go.  He said, "THAT'S GREAT DANA!!!  THAT'S REALLY GOOD...NOW FIND THAT NEXT GEAR!!!"  ...and then he blew by me like I was standing still!!

Uhm....for the record, that was my highest gear!  I felt very discouraged because it felt like I was going SLOW.  It felt like I was going at maybe an 8:15ish pace, but that was seriously as fast as my legs would turn over.  I told myself it was because I just ran a marathon a week and a half ago...but that didn't really help much.  We walked a little and then jogged a little until we got out to the road.

As I was telling my sweet husband how much I was enjoying our run together...the man started talking smack.  Knowing how competitive I am he was saying how he was going to beat me back to the car and how there was nothing I could do about it.  I told him there was NO WAY he would beat me if I was willing to leave him right then because there was NO WAY he could hang with me the whole distance.  And then he said it... "you THINK so, huh??"  Really??  You're going to challenge me on what I consider my home turf??  I run that route ALL THE TIME.  I even tried to tell him it was father to the car than what he thought it was.  You know what he did??  He LAUGHED at me!!

So I did what any loving, sweet, kind and humble wife would do in my situation...I took off running!!  I picked up to a pace I thought I could hold the whole way (about a quarter of a mile).  I started getting worried because he was right with me for longer than I expected.  I didn't want to speed up too much because I didn't want to peter out and let him pass me, but I wasn't willing to ease up either.  The man actually even started saying he was having a heart attack.  (For the record, I knew he was joking, but it really did almost work.)  He even tried telling me, "Okay, you win, I give up."  (For the record, I knew he was trying to get me to stop so he could blow by me and win.  That almost worked, too.)  I kept going until I got almost to the very end.  I couldn't hear him anymore so I turned around.  He was walking.  (For the record I did start to go back to him so we could walk it in together...that almost worked, too, but when I realized it was a TRAP I turned back around and pushed it in to the "finish" line.)

I felt like I had achieved a decent pace (maybe 8:00 with a finish around 7:00)...and it felt great.  When I got home and uploaded my Garmin data (I didn't look at the whole time we were running)...I found out I was wrong then and had been wrong about my earlier pace.

At the end of that second running interval, when I felt like Dwayne was speeding up and I had to push to catch him...I sped up to a pace of about 7:20 (for a very short distance).  In the little sprint we did (when he flew by me)...I was running at about a 5:00 pace (again, a very short distance).  In that last little stretch until I turned around (about a quarter of a mile) I was running at an average of about a 6:45 pace, and then kicked it even faster in the sprint to the "finish line".

As Coach E sometimes says, data or it didn't happen:

Now, I'm very aware Garmin pacing can be off...but I know what it usually looks like in those sections for me and this was the fastest I have EVER finished that course.  Sure, I wasn't running hard the whole time, but it's still very encouraging to me, and I'm THRILLED.  (Best pace of the run:  4:55!!  ...sure it was all of maybe 20 feet, but I'll take it!) 

If you have noticed, my fastest pace ever was 4:19, and that was when I was racing my husband.  I'll sure be glad when he's running for real because when that happens, you'll see me on the podium a lot more often!!  I say it all the time, but I'll say it again here...he makes me a better me in so many ways.

Thanks for stopping in...come again soon!
:D

Trail Running

My husband used to be a big-time cross country runner.  He was super fast until a couple of injuries (neither caused from running) took him out of running.  (The final straw was an ankle surgery that will keep him from ever running the way he did back in the day.)  Since I started running in January, I've been trying to convince him to train with me.  I feel like I'm slow enough that he should be able to do what I do with no problems, if he were to train with me.  I think it wasn't my begging, but just my complete and total obsession with running (that rekindled his own addiction), and a couple of hikes he's done recently, that finally convinced him to get some new trail shoes and join me for a run! Well, truthfully, he was going to hike/run with or without me, it was my begging and pleading that convinced him to let me set the pace and distance.


I have to say, I think (other than the fact I was completely disappointed in my performance), the trail run with DH (darling husband) has been my favorite run so far.  I loved every single minute.  If I hadn't been in a hurry to get to a race my buddies were going to run in, we could have stayed out there for hours longer.

We live within walking distance to some spectacular hiking trails, but the climb up to the ridge, where it's good running, is more than I care to do before a run, so we drove up to the top of the mountain planning to run a loop around the plateau.

The weather was PERFECT, a tad bit chilly in fact (perfect for a run).  We had a little bit of a warm up (about a third of a mile) and then took off at a quick-for-me pace of about 10:31.  We did a few run/walk intervals and then did some short sprint intervals (the fastest pace was 5:14--but that was only a few seconds!).  I can say that running with DH would certainly make me faster!!  Well, that is IF I can figure out what's going on with my left calf.  I did pretty good the whole time we were out there...but I had a hard time walking that night.  Today (Monday), it's feeling better than it usually does on a Monday--but I also barely ran five miles last week, so it certainly should feel better!!


Anyway...

The thing I loved the most was being able to run with my husband.  The fact that we were out in that beautiful setting made it that much better.  I stopped a few times to take some pictures....really it was an excuse to catch my breath, but taking pictures sounded better!!  They were taken with my phone, so they aren't the best quality...but there's not a camera out there than could capture what we were seeing.

And, the truth is, there just aren't words to capture just how I felt running with my husband.  I love that man with a love I never thought possible.  ...Okay, I'll stop gushing....

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!
:D

Week 9 & 10 Recaps

WHAT I DID

WEEK 9--Monday-Body Pump.  Tuesday I ran with my group.  It was horribly painful.  Thankfully I had a coach who ran with me or I know I wouldn't have made it.  I ran a little bit faster, but ended up at the end having to walk some.  I was in pain the rest of the week so I "worked on" recovery.  Then, Saturday I ran the SteepleChase 8k.  

WEEK 10--Monday I had to get blood work done so I just "ran" on the elliptical for 30 minutes.  Tuesday I knew I wasn't going to be able to meet up with my running group so I went out that morning to run on the mountain we did the hill repeats the other week.  I felt a little sore, and VERY tired, but I decided running would be a good way to get past that.  WRONG.  I was supposed to do 4.5 miles, I made it (not on the hill, just on the more flat part of the road) just over 2 miles, including my warm up and cool down.  I ended up limping the whole time, and I felt like I was moving through molasses.  I decided to "listen to my body" and just rest for the day and tried to regroup the next day.  Wednesday I went back to Body Pump.  It was horrible.  I tried to push past feeling so weak and tired, but after it was over, I barely made it home without falling asleep at the wheel!!  I came home and collapsed on the bed.  Friday I pretty much stayed in bed or on the couch all day long.  Saturday was the only redeeming day of the whole week.  (Yes, I did do something Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday...and what I did would have "counted" in January.  In fact I would have been tickled to death in January with those days---but I'm not happy with my performance now.)  I got up early and went with my darling husband to run on a beautiful hiking trail.  I'm going to write up a whole post about it later on.  I'm not happy with how little I ran, or how much I "had to" walk, but it was a fantastic run if I shut off my internal critic!!  After the mountain run, I went out and cheered my buddies on in their second 10K--they did GREAT.

WHAT I LEARNED

I think now that the week is over, I might have gotten a little too hot at the race...and I might have overdone it just a little bit.  It didn't seem like it at the time, but that's the only thing I can think of that would have made me feel so incredibly bad all week.  (It wasn't hormonal, that should have been the week before....but who knows.)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE running with my husband.  He was a running beast back in the day.  He had a couple of injuries that set him back, and he's been out of running for many years so I can almost keep up with him for a few minutes!!  I would just love it if he would slow his pace down to my speed and train with me.  I'm doing my best to talk him into it because Saturday's run was probably the best one ever.  Like I said earlier, I'll devote a whole post to it later on.

I LOVE running trails.  My husband has told me since before I started that he knew I would, and I do.  I loved everything about it.  It was unbelievably peaceful.  I was worried I would trip, or twist an ankle, but surprisingly, I didn't!

I love running with my husband!!

This running thing will not be something that will continually move forward every single week.  I feel like I had a major set back this week, but the truth is I'm still running and I want to keep on running, so it wasn't a bad week after all.  I'm going back to the doctor after the Cotton Row 10K (which might be a mistake to wait, but that's the plan I'm sticking with right now)...and then after that I'm going to have to re-evaluate my plan to train for the marathon in December.  It's frustrating, but I'm learning that I might just have to slow down the plan.  I am NOT happy about it.

Did I mention ... I LOVE running with my husband???

WHAT I'M GOING TO DO

I'm going back to the doctor after Memorial Day (after the 10K).  In the mean time I'm just going to take it easy and realize this 10K might just SUCK.

I'm going to keep trying to beg my husband to run with me.

I'm going to incorporate more trail running into my plan.

I'm going to keep using the TriggerPoint massage thingy.

I'm going to rest when I think I need to rest.

I'm going to keep strength training.

FOOD

I'm going back to a 30-40-30 plan (zone) because I really do think I had more energy with that ratio of food.  I'm going to stick to less processed food, more fresh fruits and veggies and more fish.  

I'm considering going to a DO to have allergy and hormone tests done.  I've read so much lately about gluten intolerance and what it does to hormone levels, I think it's worth checking into anyway.

Thanks for stopping in, come again soon!

:D