Philadelphia Marathon recap

I am going to preface this post by saying that the Philadelphia Marathon was great.  Yes, that needed italics and bold.  That's how great it was.  So much nicer than my previous marathon, where it was cold rain for the first quarter of the course (ew).  The weather started in the upper 30s and was no more than the mid-50s by the end.  Could not have been better.  The course was great--there were two hills that I walked, but the more gradual inclines posed no problems (I am still a hill wimp).  And most importantly, I PRed!  And I PRed by 15 minutes!!!  Whoo!

Not my actual time, I was in the final corral of runners, so I had a delayed start (like, by more than 1/2 hour).  Also, you know that you ran hard when your finish line photo is this wimpy.

There was some other walking, particularly near the end when I was getting tired.  Compared to the last marathon, though, the last 6 miles wasn't nearly as bad.  I had some crazy and grandiose plans for counting down, like trying to count out 6500 steps (no), which then became 4 x 1000 steps (walk break after 1000), which then became some other counting down, eventually culminating in 4 x 250.  I think I needed to walk in there somewhere too.  But I did push myself pretty hard during the actual running segments.  For a while during the race, I was with the 5:30 pace group, but I told myself that that would be unrealistic.  I didn't wind up all that much slower than them, though, so yay!

The course was very cool in that you got to see a lot of different parts of Philly.  There is an out-and-back for much of the last half of it, but it is along the Schuylkill River, which I like.  This time, I didn't find myself doing a lot of sightseeing or staring at rowers, like I did last summer.  Mostly I was focused on the course.  But being focused on the course evidently paid off since I did PR.  Whoo! <-- This doesn't get old.

Streets of Philadelphia

Perhaps the best part of the weekend was when Rocky aired on the local PBS the night before.  I could have totally done the stairs at the museum faster than him the first time that he tried them.  Maybe not so much the second time.  But definitely the first time.

I think that I can attribute the PRing to Crossfit, or at least the fact that I am much stronger than last time.  While I did slack off for some of the more recent workouts, in general the strength training really paid off.  I am glad that I got started with it and that I recognized its potential for helping my running; the original plan was to do Crossfit for a month then focus on running but I think that I made the better decision.  Also, I can kind of/sort of do pushups now.  Kind of.  Let's not get too hasty here.

What's next?  I have no idea.  Honestly.  I have been wrestling with this for a few weeks now.  I was thinking of doing a triathlon, but after lots of contemplation, I realized that right now is not the right time to attempt this challenge (I did one, years ago, which was not fun, but that is another story).  I may do the 10-mile run in Canada when I am home for the holidays, which takes place on Boxing Day (December 26).  Other than that, not sure.  I will definitely continue with Crossfit and am definitely taking this week off.  We will see where things go from there.

Holy cow

I knew that I hadn't written in a while, but I don't think that I realized how long!  Anyway, the marathon is two days away.  I think I will be okay.  I definitely did not do several taper runs, although at times I was feeling super tired and decided that sleep was a better idea.  We shall see, of course.

I'm nervous, but I think that this is a pretty normal reaction.  It's a long race.  I am looking forward to it, though, and I think that the weekend in Philly should be good.

On a totally different note, I started a Tumblr for my dog: marlonthedog.tumblr.com

Lots happened. I just didn't blog about it.

So much has happened over the past month.  SO VERY MUCH.  Time for an update!

1) Colorama 2012: I ran my 10k in Milwaukee.  Well, outside of Milwaukee at Lapham Peak Park.  It was very beautiful:

Foliage!

The weather was great.  There was no Mr. Wisconsin Sun to mess things up.  Everything was perfect....except that you may have noticed one crucial word in the park's name: peak.  Yes, that means that there were hills.  In fact, Lapham Peak ascends to 1233 feet.  As you may recall, I am not very good at running hills or, as I learned, peaks.

What I do know is that I did just about as much as I could.  And I was stiff for the next 4 days.  And my legs were tired.  But hey, I worked hard.  The sad part is that I was still faster than the Beach to Beacon because while I may suck at hills, I totally suck in heat/humidity.

2) The Fall: no, not a pretty foliage kind of fall.  A hitting my head on concrete kind of fall.  This happened during my 16-mile long run (I have been keeping up with the long runs, even though I haven't blogged about them.  Twenty is coming up this weekend).  I tripped on slightly raised pavement and went chin first into the ground.  I also lost about 1/4 of my front tooth because I chipped it--I need to add here that it didn't hurt at all, although it was a pretty significant chip.  It was not nice.

I did get up and run another two miles, which made me feel like I was some kind of NFL tough guy or something.  Then I realized that this was probably an incredibly stupid idea since I had hit my head and there was no one there to see me if I ran into trouble.  So I went home and finished on the treadmill.

The result of the fall was a crown for my front tooth.  Not my favorite day.

3) After the Fall: as you do, I was worried for the next few runs that I would fall again and do something equally annoying as chipping my tooth.  I think that I may be dragging my left foot every once in a while and I definitely need new shoes.  But I have managed to get out since, including for the 18-mile long run, without incident.  So now I am mostly on track and ready to go.

Coming up: 20-mile run on Sunday (whoo!  Last of the long runs!!!!), then a 5k the next weekend.  This may not be my best idea, but I am out of town for a conference and I am supposed to run 4M according to the schedule.  I'm going to try and hold back, although I know that I'm not good at that.  We'll see.

I'm toying with the idea of trying to run a race in all 50 states.  So far I have Florida, Massachusetts, Maine, New York, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.  So that's over 10%!  Plus I will get Louisiana after the 5k next weekend.  It's always good to have goals.

Oh sure

There is a 'cold front' (=lower humidity, not lower temperatures) moving through right now, approximately 3 hours after I finished my long run.

Dew point has dropped almost 10 degrees since then.

Dude.

Chasing squirrels

Today I did the second 12-mile run in the training plan.  It went off without a hitch.  Part of me wanted to be frustrated with myself for having to walk so much and for not being faster.  But another part of me thought about my foster dog.  Remember that he is 3-legged, although I'm not sure that he got the memo on that.  When we go for walks, he is a very excited guy.  Most people don't even realize that he has three legs until they see him up close.

Like many dogs, he likes to chase squirrels.  Naturally, he doesn't catch the squirrels.  This has almost nothing to do with his 3-legged status and much more to do with the fact that he is held back by me on his leash.  He would be perfectly happy to run after them and catch them--although I'm not sure if he would know what to do with one if he did catch one!  So overall, it is a wholly futile situation.  But it still brings the foster dog great joy.  And trust me, he can run.  It's pretty amazing to see.

This is a bit like how I run.  I am chasing squirrels.  I will never be great, I will never be fast.  I will never catch my squirrel.  But that's okay.  Maybe it isn't about catching the squirrel so much as it is about enjoying the chase.

I also made a new rule: if the temperature is over 80Fwhen I start my run, then walking breaks are mandatory.  Seems reasonable.

Thwarted again by the first 12-mile run

The last time that I was training for a marathon in 2010, I was nearly thwarted during my first 12-mile run.  Basically, everything that could go wrong did go wrong.  Bad navigation, changed ferry schedule, Fleet Week, route change, crowds, and no sourdough chowder (for more, read here).  It was annoying, although I was pleased that despite all of these annoyances, I finished the run.  And I got a fishwich.

Today, I didn't quite have that, although it is the first 12-mile run and things did not go as planned.  As you may recall, I have an awesome foster dog that I am hosting for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.  However, the foster dog and I disagree on the relative merits of me running on the treadmill.  He is not in favor of it.  For the past couple of runs, I have come up with an ingenious plan of blocking the treadmill with furniture, thereby blocking his route so that he cannot leap onto it in dramatic fashion (and fly off of it in even more dramatic fashion.  I should probably add here that the foster dog is 3-legged and recovering from his amputation surgery).  I tried crating him while I did this, but he was genuinely not in favor of being crated when I was in the house (he is crated when I go out.  I have no idea what his views on this are, but if he feels like barking for hours on end, more power to him.  I don't think that he does, though, because he is never barking when I get home).  For the past two times I have been on the treadmill, he has sat on the couch, at first with annoyance (and some whining), but then reconciling with his fate and taking a nap.  The plan worked well for everyone.

Tonight, I got through 70% of my run before the dog had had enough of this nonsense.  He started whining and I got concerned that he needed to go out--smart dog!  So we went out for a bit which I was hoping would wear him out for the nap.  Yes, that is how slow I am during long runs: so slow that you need to take the dog out for a walk during them.  Anyway, my brilliant plan in no way worked because then he decided not only that he had had enough of this nonsense, but that he would leap off the couch and start becoming very curious about the treadmill.  Blerg.

I figured that I had two choices: risk him leaping on the treadmill or crate him (I tried tempting him with rawhide and a plastic Nylabone: no dice).  I could also have run outside, but it is 75F with 87% humidity and intermittent showers.  Plan 1 was to go run outside in the first place, but there was a serious storm earlier tonight which put the kibosh on that idea.  I opted to crate him.  Bad plan.  He barked.  And barked.  And barked.  And while I know that I am not supposed to give in to him barking on the grounds that he will continue to do so next time since he knows it works, I was concerned that my neighbors in the next unit of my detached building would come and kill me since it was getting late.

I caved.  I gave up at 10.4 of the 12-mile run.  This is super annoying, although I do feel from a physical standpoint that I was capable of running it--it is even more super annoying because I had to end Tuesday's run early due to fatigue (at least I finished Thursday's run without incident!).  However, things are not totally grim.  Next week is another 12-mile run, so I don't feel like this distance is totally out of reach or that I am necessarily missing a key component of training.  I have no idea why me and the 12-mile run have such issues.  Perhaps this will be the motivation I need to get up early and get the long run over with in the great outdoors, thereby ensuring that nary a dog can jump on the treadmill deck.

[I would just get a dog gate--and yes, there are dog gates--except that I think I'll wait to see how long the dog is going to be here before making that investment.  Or scope Craigslist for one.]

Fatigue

I had lunch last week with a friend who is pregnant and we were talking about how annoying it is when you know that what you are feeling is out of your control, but you feel it anyway.  Like when you get irritable after heat exhaustion (where this conversation started), and you know that irritability is a symptom of heat exhaustion, but you just feel irritable anyway.  You can imagine that my pregnant friend had much to add on this topic.

Anyway, today I had to get a Tdap vaccination for immigration purposes (just go with it, the background isn't really relevant for this story).  From what I have read online, one in four people develops fatigue from a Tdap vaccination.  I felt completely lethargic today, which is why I looked this up.

Do you know what doesn't go well together?  Fatigue and exercise. 

I tried to do 5 miles today.  I couldn't.  I felt achy and tired all over (and I don't think that I can blame CrossFit this time, although yesterday's workout was pretty challenging).  Then when I got to about 3 miles, I just felt....off.  And I decided that in the wake of the heat exhaustion awfulness that feeling off was the cue to stop running.  Also, another side effect, nausea, was starting to chime in too.

The really annoying part is that the weather was nice.  Quite nice.  Lower humidity than normal (okay, not perfect) and not dreadfully hot.  But I couldn't take advantage of it liked I wanted to.

My new plan is to do another 3 miles on Saturday instead.  It's not the same, but I really was not feeling okay tonight.  And now I am irritated, but I can't blame heat exhaustion.

Huh

It would appear that things are getting better all around.  Today was 10 miles.  I had these grandiose plans to get up bright and early to run outside, but that didn't happen.

As an aside, I am currently taking care of a wonderful foster dog from the Humane Society of Tampa Bay.  So I need to be up bright and early regardless.  The problem is turning that into actually getting out and running after taking care of the dog, which didn't happen today.

After putting off the treadmill pretty much all day, I finally got around to it.  And you know what?  It wasn't so bad.  In fact, it was remarkably not bad at all--this is not to say that it was easy, I still walked duirng parts of it and had the speed super low (and was super sweaty).  I can think of a few reasons why today was better though:

1) I have been running consistently and competently lately.  Nope.  That's not it.
2) I have finally, finally, finally adapted to the heat (probably).
3) I'm finally over the heat exhaustion from a few weeks ago (also probably a bit).
4) The CrossFit is really paying off (maybe).

I do have to say that I'm really glad the treadmill was not hell.  It will make it much easier the next time I need to use it.

I tried to run on the treadmill on Thursday, but I was worried that the foster dog was going to leap on it.  He is currently recovering from surgery, so I don't want him near the moving parts of machinery.  Today, I put together a nifty fort of furniture around the treadmill so that he couldn't get to it.  Instead, he barked at it during my first interval, then settled down and slept.  Good solution. 

Do you know what else is fun?  This was the long run for this week, meaning that I get two whole guilt-free days off.  Yay!

So much for that

I have to say that at the start of my run today, I was feeling kind of excited that the relatively good conditions from Sunday were still around.  It didn't feel horribly hot.  It didn't feel horribly humid.  And indeed, it was not as horrible as it could have been.  But that does not mean that it was great.

The humidity was bumped up a bit, as was the temperature, and the dew point was over 70 (okay, not by much, but not as nice as the 68 on Sunday...although now that I am looking at the conditions, they got steadily ickier as I went on, which would match my experience of that run).  According to Weather Underground, when I started today the heat index was still in the 91F range.  Yikes.  I was hoping that it had dropped (and Accuweather seemed to think that it had dropped).

[As an aside, I just checked what the conditions were on Saturday during the 5k.  100% humidity.  The whole time.  Yeesh.]

Oh well.  All things considered, it could have been worse.  Sure, the run necessitated much more walking that I would have liked, but that's okay.  Probably if I could just convince myself to start much slower, I wouldn't have to walk so much.  That argument with self isn't going so well, though.  If the weather would convince itself to be more temperate, I might be doing better too.

Today was 5 miles with some hills (it was supposed to be around 4 minutes' worth of hills, but I think I did more).  I will say that I did well on the hilly parts.  Now if I can just get the 'continuous running' parts down, I will be in business.

A surprisingly encouraging weekend

I think that part of what I like about running is that it can still surprise you.  And not necessarily in bad ways, like when running surprised me a few weeks ago and I got heat exhaustion from it.  No, running can also surprise you in good ways.  This weekend has had a few of those moments and trust me, no one is more surprised than I am about it.

1) I did a 5k on Saturday.  Not only did I not die, I didn't run my absolute worst 5k ever, which was kind of what I thought going into it.  It was getting somewhat sunny during the run (it started a bit after 8am), so I had to walk because the sun got to me.  But for the most part, I did okay. 

2) I finished third in my age group.  From this statement, you can probably deduce how many people were in my age group (answer: 3).  And had it not been my birthday a couple of weeks ago, I would not have placed third in my age group.  Nevertheless, you will have to pry that third-place finish white ribbon from my cold, dead hands as usual.

3) I met an interesting guy who is 75 years old and his goal is to run 1000 races.  He is already in the 700s.  Talk about impressive.  This is one of those happy running surprises that I was telling you about.  It's really cool to think that this guy has dedicated himself to running and still finds such enjoyment of it.  He did join me in complaining about the weather, though.

4) I realized that I love CrossFit, which I started doing a few weeks ago, only I didn't tell you because it was a secret (I have no idea why I haven't talked about this).  Even when CrossFit is really evil and they make you do 100 squats.  That for real happened on Friday.  I think I will keep it up.  I feel stronger and less sluggish when running, so these are positive developments.

5) Tonight, the weather WAS NOT EVIL.  No one, I repeat no one, was more surprised about this than I was.  It was in the mid-80s, but the humidity was only in the 50% range when I started.  And the dew point was under 70...in fact, it was 69.  This type of weather is miraculous considering the time of year.  I managed to almost run all of my 8 miles tonight.  Not quite, because I got too excited and ran too fast at one point, and also it was getting more humid by the end of the run.  But it was possibly the most pleasant surprise of all.

Okay, here is hoping that this good running momentum continues.  I doubt that it will, particularly because I doubt that this more reasonable weather is sticking around for long.  But I will enjoy it while it lasts and be glad that running can still provide happy surprises.

Encouraging Thoughts

Middle of August in Florida? No really, this is as bad as it's going to get.

Getting Back Up on That Treadmill

I did the required 4 miles today.

It was not fast.  It was not pretty.  I walked a lot.  Considering that I am probably still not 100% after the heat exhaustion on Monday, I decided that my best bet was to do it on the treadmill where I could stop easily if necessary.

Even though this was not the hardest workout I have ever done, I got through it.  And that is a good first sign.

What can I do next time?  Up the speed by one notch.  Then another.  Then another.  Until I am back at where I want to be for training runs...which just happens to be three notches away, actually.

Next I can reduce the amount of walking I do.  I suspect that I will have to walk a bit anyway or crank up my A/C possibly beyond its capabilities.  I think I would rather just walk a bit.  When I lived at my old place, there was a fitness center and I always had to walk--plus their gym was kept slightly cooler than my house.  This was the same treadmill I used to train for my PR 5k time, so evidently the walking didn't do that much harm.

What felt really great about tonight was that it was the first time in a long time where I felt like I completed what I set out to do.  Now, what I set out to do was not particularly challenging or particularly tough.  But I did it.  And now I can get better.

Something else I noticed tonight: that 'energy drink' that I had during my Monday run when I got heat exhaustion?  It actually contributed basically nothing and had 0% sodium.  This explains a lot.  Time to find a new actual energy drink.

I'm a runner. Therefore, sometimes I do stupid things.

Some might argue that running in and of itself is a stupid thing.  Perhaps.  But apart from that, runners tend to do stupid things.  We try to hard.  We push too hard.  We injure ourselves.  We try to go too hard in the heat.

Guess which one I did this week?

Part of me wasn't wanting to share this with you because I like to think that as a slow and steady runner with 6 years of running under my shoes (5 of which have been in Florida), I have some handle on what one should or should not do in heat.  And I think that in my mind, I know what one should and should not do in heat.  So when I tried to run my long run on Monday, 7 miles, I wanted to anticipate what I thought the problems would be.  Instead, I wound up with the worst case of heat exhaustion that I have had since getting here.

Here's what I did right:

I took a sports drink and even planned to go by a drinking fountain.

I incorporated a walk interval into my run.

I reminded myself that the only way of adapting to heat is to go run in heat.

Here's what I did wrong:

I didn't go early enough.

I haven't been having enough sodium in my food.

And I believe that the final point here was the real problem (my symptoms are closer to 'salt depletion' than 'dehydration'...you can go look those up if you want.  They're kind of nasty).  Because I've been hydrated and my body temperature has been normal.  But I have not felt right since the run.  Normally, I am pretty sensitive to sodium, so I try not to have too much of it.  This time around, though, this precaution may have been the problem.

Today I had half of a bag of cheese curds for lunch.  That should help the sodium levels.

I still feel off and I'm not sure what to do.  I want to get back on the horse and run--I was already having mental blocks about completing runs in heat (hence why what should have been the Sunday run got moved to Monday).  But obviously I don't want this to get worse.  I suspect that this week will have some pool running at some point.  And I'm going to ensure that I only go early morning or in the evening to avoid the sheer evil that is Mr. Florida Sun in August.

I'm kind of annoyed, so I read stories about other runners who have suffered from heat exhaustion today.  One was a person who wanted to adapt to the heat, so she decided to run in the middle of the day on blacktop.  In summer.  In heat.  Not the best plan.  I'm not gloating over this, but it has been useful to remember that I am by no means the only one to do dumb things like this.  In fact, part of being a runner is that probably you sometimes do dumb things.  Besides going out running, of course.

Sudden and acute realization during yesterday's run

It doesn't matter if you wear wicking fabrics in Florida. There is still nowhere for the sweat to go.

Trips down Memory Lane

To make any sense of this post, you need to know that I'm currently in Boston.  Somerville, more precisely.  Right near the Cambridge/Somerville line.

Before I went out this morning, I found myself humming this:

Why?  Because I am staying approximately one block away from where I lived when I first started running back in 2006.  So maybe not 'memory lane' so much as 'memory routes.'

This morning I ran down to the Charles River (YAY!!!!).  I saw the hotel where I stayed the last time I spent time in Boston.  I ran by the boathouse where we used to row from.  I got to enjoy this view.  It's funny: I was really excited to go running and revisit these old places.  Also, I got through my run with no problems, which is always a treat.

It was slightly more hot and humid than I would have liked, but really nothing on Florida.  'Warm' and 'damp' might be a better way to express that.  There was a guy ahead of me near the end who kept having to stop and walk.  This made me feel infinitely better about life, even though that's kind of mean.

Today was Day 1 of the official marathon training plan.  Day 1 complete!  Whoo!  Only 3.5 months to go.  Less whoo.

Beach to Beacon 10k: recap

I had hoped to PR this race.  I came nowhere close to PRing this race.  If there is an anti-PR, I almost did that (it was almost as slow as my very first 10k ever!  Maybe slower.  For real).  However, I had also not anticipated that it would be in the 70s with 80% humidity and 2 miles in the bright Maine sun to start.

I began too fast.  Probably I should have slowed down.  However, running at what I was hoping would be my race pace was so easy at first.  It felt kind of like when I PRed on the half-marathon.  So I suspect that I had it in me to make my goal, except that the situation made it impossible.

Here is where you end:

Even better, you don't need to run up the hill at the end!


The course was great (a little hilly, but not horrible).  The support was great.  There were tons of water stops and even ample portapotties at various points.  The t-shirt is great (real wicking fabric!).  Even the running expo was great (2 shirts and 2 bottoms for $33 total).  The people along the route were great, particularly whoever was playing 'I like to move it' around mile 3.  The only complain was the weather, and obviously no one could do anything about that!

I was asked by two EMTs if I was okay.  That is always my acid test for whether I did my best on hot and humid days.

My one piece of advice: if you are doing this run, park at the South Portland locations if that is viable.  They had by far the shortest line for the shuttle bus and it was really easy to get back on 77.  Definitely the best choice I made all day!

The weather report from Maine

HUMID!

Ah well. I'm still having fun and the race should be beautiful.

Everything is coming together

In 6 days, I am running the Beach to Beacon run in Maine.  Yay!  Maine!

Florida and I are not getting along so well right now.  It's too hot and humid (not surprising).  I got back Tuesday and did get out once for a 6-mile run.  Of course, it was more like a run/walk.  I survived it, but I certainly didn't enjoy it.

I also sat down tonight and did my marathon training plan.  It looks easy.  Maybe too easy.  Much easier than trying to do 6 half-marathons over 9 months, I can promise you that much.  Part of this is because it is a beginner's plan, whereas I had been doing intermediate plans for the half-marathons and the impending 10k.  Sure, there are long runs in the marathon plan, but only 4 that are over 12.  Yay!  And the other runs are relatively short, considering.  Yay!

The best part is that the training plan fits perfectly with when I need to be out of town for work, so I don't have to do crazy rearranging to get everything to fit.  This includes a weekend when I will be in Milwaukee for a conference.  It just happens to be a taper week (only 5M for the long run!  YAY!!!) and I am supposed to run a 10k that weekend.  By even more awesome coincidence, I found one.  It is the Colorama 10k that takes place at Lapham Peak.  Why is it called Colorama?  Because the leaves will have changed!

CHANGING LEAVES!!!!  YAY, YAY, YAY!!!!  Because we don't usually get so much of that here in Florida.

Yep, I'm excited.  As you can probably tell.  Even though I would still prefer being in the Melbourne winter.

This time I have a valid excuse

I have had limited internet on my computer.  So that's why I haven't been posting.  So there.

Australia running is going pretty well, for the most part.  No one informed me that Melbourne is very hilly, but I am learning to compensate.  I'm okay on gradual ups, just not extreme ones.  I know that it's all good for building strength, it's just hard to get excited about hills when you are finding one impossible to run because the angle is too extreme.

The cool weather is divine.  The locals seem to think that it is 'cold,' but after Canadian winters, I find it pretty temperate.  It hasn't been below freezing and during the day, it is more in the 10C range.  Yesterday, I thought that I was going to get stuck in cold rain (ew) but fortunately it held off.  While I would still rank cold rain above hot and humid, it is not my favorite.

There were a few snags last week as I got back into a routine, but nothing too bad.  No horrible aches and pains.  No sore calves like last summer.  Just a few runs where I felt slow.  I keep reminding myself that the only way of feeling faster is to go out there and run.

Also, I realized that I have been lying to myself for years.  I always thought that I had never taken breaks during runs.  Turns out, I did for the first year and a half of my running career.  During that time, I was running in cities (Boston, MA and Worcester, MA), meaning that I ran into traffic lights and other such necessary stops.  So I was having some breaks, I just didn't need to do walk/runs like I have for the past summer in Florida.  They've come in handy here as I am seeking to get back into shape.  A few stops never hurt anyone or anyone's mile pace, in the end.

It has been forever, I know

Some stuff that happened over the past month:

1) A lot of bad runs as the temperature went up/humidity increased.
2) One very bad half-marathon, during which I felt sick around mile 4 and never got better.
3) One really good 6-mile run on a night where the humidity was low.  That was fun!  So it isn't all hopeless, apparently.
4) An 11-mile run on the treadmill, which seemed endless.
5) I BOUGHT A TREADMILL!!!!!!!  Not the same one as the 11-mile run.  But my very own.  So I can run on it and watch the Red Sox.

Stuff that is happening in the future:

1) I am going to Australia.  It's winter there.  I hope that this bodes well for running.
2) I'm doing a 5k in Australia.  Because hey, why not?
3)  Then I get to do the Beach to Beacon 10k.  I am hoping to set a new PR here.  My goal is under 11:00 mile splits.  Doesn't have to be much under them.  Could be 10:59.  But that would still be a PR.  My current PR is 11:15 and I have spent years trying to break that one.
4) All that's left after that is a marathon.  No biggie.

I am trying to stay positive in the face of much negative with running.  Still working off the stomach bug that hit me during the half-marathon and running has not been going so well since then.  Still trying to remember that it is only one glitch and sometimes glitches happen.  Not doing great with all of these sentiments.

I'm sad that the half-marathon didn't go better for a number of reasons.  The conditions were really good for running (in the 50s!).  The course was really good for running: only one real uphill and very scenic besides.  My stepmother would have done very well if we could have just run the course.  So I was very annoyed at the outcome.  At the same time, it's really hard to run when you're sick and there is a bug going around.  I am not the only one to suffer through it.

What doesn't kill you...might almost kill you.

Today was speedwork.  The running plan is going okay.  Not great.  I've had to do lots of reshuffling.  However, reshuffling is better than throwing my hands in the air and giving up, so I'm seeing this as a positive thing.

Anyway, today was speedwork.  And it was not easy.  I went to the gym to use the treadmill.  The workout itself should not have been that hard: it was mostly at a fast speed, but not very far.

I did not feel well.  At all.  Also I was very sweaty.

I was ready to throw in the towel (towels are mandatory at my gym) and concede that I let myself get too out of shape.  Maybe the time had come to hold back on this training plan.  Then I looked at the thermostat.

It was 26C.  I think that they showed it in Celsius so that you wouldn't break down crying right then and there.  That's almost 79F.

That's warmer than I keep my house.

Sure, it didn't kill me, but it felt very close.  The good news: rumor has it that this experience should have made me stronger.  We will see.

I'm running a freaking marathon....again!

Lots of exciting running developments over the past week.  Let me start by announcing that I am running another freaking marathon!  No, not New York.  I didn't get in to New York and I am far too lazy to get a bib via fundraising (anyway, I am saving all of my fundraising mojo from this point forward for another event).  So after much contemplation--by which I mean a whole evening of thinking and sleeping on it before registering--I decided to do the Philadelphia Marathon.  Why?  Here are a few reasons:

• It's in November, so the weather should be pleasant
• It is mostly flat
• I've heard good things about it from others
• The course is awesome, as I know from running some of it last summer.  Yay scenic courses!
• When I was driving into work the morning that I did not qualify for the NY Marathon, I heard Elton John's 'Philadelphia Freedom.'  Obviously, it is very easy to substitute the lyrics, 'Philadelphia Marathon.'  So I mostly have Elton John to thank for this.
• Most importantly, there were still spots open

And that is that!  It is November 18, so the weekend before Thanksgiving.  To celebrate, I have officially ordered my first carton of caffeinated sport beans.

I'm not quite on schedule for the half-marathon, although some of it is by choice.  Last week, for instance, I decided to pool run one of the 5-milers because it's hot out and I haven't been totally keeping up with the plan, so I didn't want to injury myself.  Yesterday, I was supposed to do the 10-mile run, but I just completely was not feeling it.  Lousy reason, maybe.  But I am doing it later today, so it's not a total loss.  After talking to someone yesterday about the myriad of advantages to running later instead of earlier at this time of year, I had even convinced myself that this was the better way to go.

Owning last, only to learn that I am not actually last

I did the River'n'Rapids 10k last weekend.  That's the race where it was at 9am, in April, in Florida.  So in other words, the race that I really wasn't all that excited about.  Considering the numerous reasons that this race could have caused me to hate life, surprisingly I did not hate life at the end of it.  In fact, it was relatively pleasant...bearing in mind that it was April and 9am.

The race took place in Hillsborough State Park, which was insanely scenic and lovely.  I felt silly that I had never been, despite the fact that it is just up the road from me.  It is definitely worth a visit if you get the chance.  Trail running was interesting because I had to spend a lot of time thinking about tree roots.  This was my first official trail race and it was very easy to see how things could go wrong if you weren't careful with footing.  Fortunately, for me, nothing went wrong.

Going into the race, I knew that it was possible I would be last.  How?  Because:

1) It was the inaugural race for this event.  This means that mostly hardcore runners would be signed up for it.  Us slower people would maybe not be signed up as much.

2) There were around 100 people.  The likelihood of my being last in this situation seemed pretty good.

And for much of the race, as I was on my own in the woods, I assumed I was last.  And I said, 'Yes.  That's right.  I'm last.  Because dammit, someone has to be last.  And today, that person is me.  I've survived it before and I will survive it again...provided, of course, that I survive the heat.'  Honestly, I was pretty okay with the whole thing.  You can imagine my dismay to learn that I wasn't actually last, after all of these great pep talks I gave myself en route.  There may even have been a few chants of, 'If you're not first, you're last.'  Thanks, Ricky Bobby.

I did have to walk/run after a while, but that doesn't surprise me (incidentally, the group I started with had camelbaks.  Camelbaks.  These are serious people).  The weather is starting to get tricky and I also suspect that in the forest itself, the humidity is higher (the weather report said in the 70% range, but I don't believe that).

I just looked at the race results, confirming that, indeed, I was not last.  And you know what else?  There were 13 people who didn't show up.  So hey, at least I got out of bed and to the race.  Victory!

It has begun

Wow, I didn't even realize how negligent I've been with this blog recently.  It isn't because I haven't been running.  I've been running.  Kind of.  Not as much as I might like, but still keeping a semi-regular schedule.

So what has begun?  Summer.  *shudder*  Yes, in April.  How can I tell?  The temperature today was 90F.  Here in Tampa, in the summer, the temperature gets to 90F pretty much every day in the summer.  If it gets over 90, we consider it to be super hot (this is just the actual temperature.  The Real Feel temperatures are more in the 100-120 range).  Now the humidity today was not summer-level.  The heating was not as evil as in the summer.  But it was still pretty warm.

I really wish that my brain had conveniently forgotten that temperatures are taken in the shade and therefore it was closer to 100F in the sun.  Boo brain.  I remembered this a few steps into my run.

More and more, I am regretting my decision to sign up for a run in April (much less another run in April, then one in May).  But the upcoming one is the one that I am currently regretting the most.  It's the River N Rapids 10k, a trail run, which makes it my first trail run.  I have no idea what trail runs are like.  It's in a state park in an area that should really be swamp.  Whoo!  Lastly, it starts at 9am.  Why I thought that I would want to run something starting at 9am in April is beyond me.  Possibly this occurred back when I was sick and running a fever.

As I was feeling very hot today on my run, I had a brief moment where I realized that I did not need to do this run simply because I signed up for it.  Bold.  Crazy thoughts here.  But I don't want to quit on it.  So I will do it but will plan for walk/running.  If it isn't so bad, I can just run.  If it is, then I have a strategy.  This makes me feel better about the event.  Now I can worry about being eaten by an alligator.

The Final Half-Marathon...in this series at least...

All things considered, I got through my training plan pretty well.  No, I didn't complete all of the runs, but I've started to accept that this is okay.  I did what I needed to be in shape for the race.  Unfortunately, I didn't quite make my goal, but the weather was a problem, which is simply one of the hazards of running at this point in the year around these parts.

What was cool is that I pretty much maintained exactly my goal pace for the first 10 miles.  Then it got hot.  With no shade.  Boo.  Many of us complained about the conditions at the end of the race, so I don't feel like it was only me--including some Half-Fanatic people (I didn't wear my shirt, but probably should have).  These things happen.  I was happy that I stayed on track for most of the race.  Plus I got through the whole series!

There is one more on the agenda: a half-marathon in Niagara Falls in June.  I really hope that the weather holds for it!  I'll be revisiting the same training plan as the last time, although I am taking a bit of time off in between.

The most exciting development in my running life is the fact that I got in to the Beach to Beacon 10k, which takes place in Maine on August 4.  The race filled up within 5 minutes of registration opening, so that feels like an accomplishment just getting in.  I truly hope that this will be the 10k race where I finally do well!  This is my most frustrating distance.  I'm sure you'll hear all about it in the coming weeks.

Being all hard-core runner

After falling during your run, walk past a young girl.  She looks at your knee and says, 'You're bleeding!'  You answer, 'Oh yeah, I know' and walk off nonchalantly.

Bonus points: be wearing your Half Fanatics singlet at the time.

PS - If you're curious, running has mostly been going well, apart from a slight cold that I had last weekend.  More updates to come soon.

The mental game

It might seem like running is primarily a physical activity, and I guess if all you wanted to do was go out and run, it would be.  But when you add in racing or improving or anything like that, the mental component becomes much more important.  It can be hard to keep going when you're in the middle of a race, or you're not feeling great, or you don't feel like running any more.  But part of succeeding in this sport is finding a way to get beyond that.

I think that one of the problems that I have been experiencing over the past little while (apart from the physical ailments) is the idea that I keep repeating the same training plan over and over with no end in sight.  This is probably because that is essentially what I have been doing since around last June (!).  I did change the actual plans but the principles remained the same for each.

A few days ago, I realized that actually, I was embarking on the last six weeks of my half-marathon plans (I'm lying to myself, of course, because I am doing another one in June, but sometimes mental toughness develops from lying to yourself).  Acknowledging that there is an end point has been very encouraging.  Today, for instance, I also realized that I am 25% of my way through this plan.  A quarter!  While this means that there is still 75% to go (less encouraging), it is a good way of getting myself to go out and run.  I'm doing fine with this plan so far.  I can keep it up for another 4.5 weeks.

I tried skipping again yesterday.  It's still hard.

I can haz speedwork

Something important that I discovered between Sunday and today: the distance that I ran for my speedwork on Sunday was about twice as long as I was supposed to go.  Hence why it was hard to run at 90% of my energy level.  Today, I ran the right distance.  And it was awesome.  And I owned every interval.  And I love speedwork.  These are not words that you hear too often from a slow and steady runner.

Apart from the Speedwork of Awesome, I also ran three miles.  It was just fine.  Maybe a bit humid out, because I'm somewhat sweaty, but on a scale of 1-10, I think it gets around a 7.  Also, I got out and ran, which was an achievement.  I meant to go this morning, but for reasons unknown to me, I woke up last night at 3am and didn't get back to sleep for a long time.  Today I even went in the dark and everything.  Yay!

Could it be that I am gradually shaking off my running funk?  Because that would be almost as awesome as speedwork.

Getting back with the program and shaking off the grizzly

Probably if you are a devotee of any sport, you have had good times and bad times.  Maybe your training plans got derailed at some point.  Maybe life intervened.  Maybe you were injured.

I have to say that other than my running fallow period last spring, I really have been lucky for the most part.  Usually, I don't get sick very often.  I have yet to be injured in any significant way (I did once have the blackened toenail thing).  Generally, I am pretty consistent with my training plans.

Except for the past month.

The past month was sick and tired and not good.  If I had to sum it up, I think the one word that I would use is frustrating.  And now that I am trying to get back in the swing of things, I feel like I am starting from scratch.  Nothing feels right.  My abs have seemingly disappeared.  My legs appear to get all of 2 centimeters off the ground when I run.  I feel like I have gained 800 pounds in the last month.  That's right.  I went from being somewhat zaftig to adding the weight of a grizzly bear, all between Thanksgiving and now.  This is not an exaggeration.  Okay, perhaps it's more like 5-10 pounds.

Grizzly or no, getting back into the swing of things is proving difficult.  However, I am gradually getting back into the swing of things.  Which is the point.  Because no matter how much I whine about my running, it's weird how the whining seems to have little to no effect.  Somehow, though, the training works.

Today was speedwork.  I'm not going to lie: I was worried.  It was similar to what I did last time around, mostly because I am basically using the same plan as last time around.  However, there was a little less and more at the slower of the two speeds (10:30 mile split versus 10:00 mile split).  It's still somewhat early in this training plan.  I decided to go to the treadmill, since it's easier to ensure that you stay at pace, I find, when a treadmill is involved.

Also, I wore my Half Fanatics singlet, which arrived last week.  On the one hand, I was a bit embarrassed since I feel like I am the size of a grizzly bear plus a zaftig person and I don't think I look like someone who ran an impressive, singlet-deserving number of half-marathons.  On the other hand, I was all like, 'I'VE RUN AN IMPRESSIVE NUMBER OF HALF-MARATHONS AND HAVE THE SINGLET TO PROVE IT!'  This mindset did help a bit.  Although I have to say that getting through tonight's workout was less difficult than I thought it would be.

And that is the point: workouts are probably not as bad as I am anticipating.  Even if they are, they will be over soon.  And the only way ever to get better at them is to keep on training.

I would give myself encouragement by saying something like there is only one half to go, except that I got talked in to signing up for another half at the end of June.  So maybe I am worthy of this singlet after all.

Oh, the other thing that I am doing is cross-training.  I found a not-too-hard plan thanks to Runner's World that I can do in the comfort of my home.  Except that skipping and ab-work is involved, neither of which are particularly comfortable.  Skipping is really hard!  How did I not notice this when I was a kid?

Half-marathon #3: done

I successfully completed the third of four half-marathons in the Halfathon today.  Whoo!  So what if it was my slowest half on record?  I had to tackle two bridges....twice each!  So make that four bridges.  One of which was sheer evil (Sand Key).

Another reason that my time was slow: at around the 11-mile mark, I noticed that there was a dead-looking fish on the ground.  A lot of people fish near the Clearwater Causeway, so I think that it fell out of someone's fishing bucket.  I felt bad for this poor, dead fish who was living out his last moments on earth in the bright, harsh sun.  So I picked it up and dropped it into the water.  Burial at sea for a fish during a half-marathon?  That, for me, was a first.  And likely a last.

I ran the race with a friend (the same friend who kicked my butt a few months ago at the 5k).  We decided to take things at a leisurely pace.  Since it was her first half-marathon, she was guaranteed a personal record provided that she finished.  And we did, so yay for her!

I do admit that at one point it looked like we might be last.  But we were not.  We overtook at least 3-4 people during the second half of the course.  Yes!

Weather: not ideal.  The humidity was not lower than around 75% for the whole race.  Ew.  The temperature, in and of itself, was okay in the high 50s/low 60s.  But the humidity made this not so pleasant.  Particularly since it was in the 97-98% range for the first hour.  It's winter, Florida!  You can abate with the humidity!  In case you are keeping track, that is nearing the threshold of ick (humidity + temperature > 160), as in the threshold of ick that we measure for summer conditions.  Also, Mr. Florida Sun came out to visit for much of the course.  Some of it was not very shady.  Actually, much of it was not very shady.  This means that the temperature was probably closer to 70, putting it even closer to that ick threshold.

Only one to go!  Also, I am now officially a Half Fanatic.  This makes it worth suffering through the last half-marathon and going over the evil bridges and everything.  Almost.  Hey, I get another t-shirt (well, a singlet) to celebrate.

Here we go again

Okay, half-marathon #3 is tomorrow and guess what?  I still feel ill-prepared!  Just like two of the last three half-marathons!  Except for the one where I got sick during.  I felt pretty damn good going into that one, actually.  Oh the irony.

However, I am taking this with a grain (carton?) of salt.  I was sick.  There is not much you can do about sick other than ride it out.  So that is okay.  Also, I got through my 12-mile two weeks ago, so things could be worse.

For some reason, this past week I was ridiculously tired.  No idea why.  No obvious culprit, apart from the usual requirements of my job.  So I did not get running.  I sat in the parking lot of my gym for a good 15 minutes and tried to make myself go run, but it did not work out.  I'm just going with it.

I did get out today to do my '2 miles to remind you what running is the day before the half-marathon' run (yes, this is really a thing).  Seeing as it has been almost a week, this was probably a good idea.

You know what?  The next--and last--half is going to be awesome.  Because I will stick to my training plan.  And not get sick.  Or else!

(PS - Admittedly, that is an empty threat.  But I will get nowhere with pessimism.)

Somewhat back on track

I would say that I am, at long last, somewhat back on track.  Why somewhat?  Because my nose is still giving me attitude while running.  But overall, I am as close to healthy as I have been in a month.  Hurray!

On Sunday, I decided that I might as well attempt to do my long run because if I didn't, I would feel concerned and worried for the next half-marathon.  This was after not having done a lot of running due to colds and finally a sinus infection.  Because I was somewhat out of practice and still somewhat suffering from the sinus infection, I opted to take a walk/run approach right from the start (0.54 miles running, followed by 0.06 walking).  It worked relatively well.  I also decided to finally face my fears and tackle the Clearwater Causeway.  That went less well.  Meh.  I am not trained for hills!

The only annoying thing was that my nose was very, very runny throughout the entire 12-mile run.  This I could have done without.  But I did not feel even remotely as awful as I did during the last half-marathon, which I believe means that I have made progress.  Also, I was extremely happy that I even made it through the run, since I had some serious concerns if I was still capable of doing a long distance.

Now we are onto tapering and for the first time in a long time (at least for the past three taper times), I can actually run during taper period.  So far, I am not sick....fingers crossed and knocking on wood!  Today I decided to do a four-mile jaunt around the neighborhood.  It's kind of funny to make up my own plan for runs, since I am so accustomed to following schedules.  But I feel pretty good about my ability to put together a reasonable workout that isn't too straining.  My plan is to also try some hills this week (maybe Thursday....maybe Saturday.....we will see how things go), do a 3-mile, and do 6 on Sunday.  Seems reasonable.

The one annoying thing is that my nose continues to run.  Admittedly, today was not as bad as Sunday, at least for the first half of the run, but then it started up again.  Also, I caved and walked twice during the run.  It remains warmer than I would prefer and there was some humidity in the air.  At least, I noticed that at around 0.5 miles, there was sweat running down my elbow.  I usually consider sweat at 0.4 miles to indicate icky levels of humidity, so it isn't as bad as the summer...but this is not much consolation when it is January!

Benchmarks for non-running illness

You probably won't believe it when I tell you that I got sick yet again after the last race.  Seriously.  I caught a nasty cold which then morphed into a sinus infection.  I still have the sinus infection.  It's the first one that I can recall experiencing (although thinking back, I may have had one in 2005).  Enough!  Enough!  Enough!

I consulted the internet to see if a sinus infection is something that was a no-no for running.  It's not, although Runner's World recommended waiting for 72 hours after first experiencing symptoms to allow the sinuses a bit of recovery time.  I took that advice.  Also, it was suggested to not run if temperature was over 99F.  So I now have three guidelines:

1) Only run if you are sick from the neck up (as in, not with a chest cold because as my last half-marathon demonstrated, that completely sucks);
2) Do not run if you have a temperature of 99F or over;
3) Give yourself 72 hours after the onset of sinusitis.

In case you're curious, my run still sucked today with plenty of walking involved.  Believe it or not, it's really hard to run well when you aren't able to fully use your nose for breathing.  Who knew?  I took my temperature when I got back and it was at a runnable 97.7F.

As I was writing this, I had a sneezing fit.  Here's hoping that is all!