Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: VO2...  ~30 min. warm up, 10 x (2 min. hard, 2 min. easy) plus an 11th rep of 3.5 min by accident (misunderstanding between me and the Garmin), cool down

5:15 AM: 36F, windy (15mph), cloudy, dry.

I have an announcement.  This was a difficult workout. Too difficult as a matter of fact. I've had it. I'm giving up running and will devote the rest of my life to the goal of eating at least one gallon of every flavor of ice cream produced on earth.    ... April fools! 

Garmins are amazing.  With all the hills and the wind, I wasn't looking at my pace during the reps but rather going by feel.  But with the Garmin, I later saw that they were all pretty much the same: about .22 to .25 miles for each 2 minute segment.  Given conditions and terrain, I think that's a pretty good pace for me, but it's the consistency that surprised me. 

So, bye-bye March. And what a fabulous month it was for me.  I am so pleased with myself it's disgusting.  I survived the time change with not too much suffering (albeit with quite a bit of whining), I raced two back to back weekends and did well on both races, and I ran about 225 miles in mostly crappy weather.  Woohoo!  Onward to April! I've got about 2.5 weeks of more hard fun work and then a 2 week taper for Eugene on May 3. 

Objective: easy

5:05 AM:  43F,  light rain, wind 3-7mph w/ gusts to 17

20 min. strength & stretches

I've got dead legs this morning.  Even after my warm up miles, when I felt a lot looser, I was still slug-slow.  I'm going chalk it up to my hard workout yesterday. 

It was nice to have the temps above 40. But I do wonder whether I'll have an opportunity to practice a little running in my skort before I do it on marathon day.  I'm still in tights; we old ladies get cold easily. Comon' spring!

Edited to add:  Couple of recommendations for all my blog buddies... 1) A great tune for your iPod: Michael Tomlinson, "Run Like the River Runs" - not the solo version!  2) Spring cleaning inspiration website: http://organizedhome.com/

Objective: just miles, and try to have some fun...

5:15 AM: 33F, snowing hard, 1-3 inches on ground during run, light breeze 3-7 mph.

15 min strength & stretches after

"What the? Oh surely not." Those were my words when I looked out the window this morning.  Even the Cat Who Must Be Obeyed was hesitant to go through the door.  I know it hadn't been snowing in the night, because I got up a couple of times and it was just foggy and wet looking.  Maybe the anticipation of our forecast for 50's this weekend made it so unbelievable.

Ah well, I do live in the mountains and it's been a pretty hard winter. To wit, my husband informed me last night that our March weather was the coldest in 33 years!  I found that rather comforting, actually.  It did seem overly harsh to me, but this is only our 4th winter in this house and I thought perhaps my benchmark for a "normal winter" had been erroneous.  I love believing that next March will be much warmer! :D

Objective: marathon pace practice -- 4 mi easy, 10 mi MP, remainder easy.

8:15 AM  50F and climbing, mostly sunny, very windy (14-21 mph w/ gusts 35).

I knew there would be sunshine and I knew there would be warmth. I did not expect that wind.  Our "hurricane season" is supposed to go from October to March, but I guess that's just a guideline... 

Maybe it was the wind, but this run was so difficult.  And thus the door to Doubt creaks open.  Why oh why haven't I run more MP miles this winter? How can I possibly maintain that pace for 26.2 miles if just 10 wiped me out?  ... All the usual shadowy ruminations I have experienced many times before. 

In a way, it's good to doubt.  I don't think I run well when I feel I have to reach a certain goal. That was the main thing I learned at Portland last October, when I was so nervous I destroyed my own race.  Doubt is good when it enables me to let go of the immediate outcome without giving up on the long term certainty.  I've got to say to my BQ, "Someday we'll meet.  It's just a matter of time.  Perhaps in May, perhaps in the fall..."

Objective: recovery

5:15 AM:  47F, mostly clear, breezy (5-15 mph).

The bad: My legs don't feel good. Running slowly isn't as much fun.  I didn't eat as well over the weekend as I should have and I feel it.  The good: A little more daylight every morning. Saw bats. (I love bats.) I'm healthy.  If I felt really great today, it might have meant I did not do my job yesterday.

Is anyone on the blog going to run Boston this year?  Two weeks from today!  For those of us who still have some running to do before we can get there, here is the virtual Boston.  (Should I be embarrassed that I have it in my favorites and have watched it numerous times? lol) Strap your laptop to the console of your treadmill and zip through the course at 35 mph. :D

Well, it seems insane with the sun finally shining and the air so warm, but we are making one last attempt at a ski day.  It will be spring skiing for sure (soft & wet).  My goal is to have just enough fun, but not so much that I interfere with my running for the rest of the week. lol   A little ding in my mileage this week, but if I look at the big picture it's ok: life is short and both of these sports are dear to me.  

PM update: hellooooo quadriceps! ouch.

Objective: general aerobic and form focus. 3 mi easy, remainder moderate except for last 5 min easier for cool down

5:00 AM: 45F, mostly cloudy (but I did see the near-full moon set), windy in open places (10-20 mph), dry.

20 min. abs & upper body, stretches & Stick

I thought my legs would be less cooperative today after yesterday's skiing, but perhaps there will be a delayed soreness.   It was a good run.  As of Monday night, the frogs are now singing - first of the season. 

I found two muscle groups that were almost completely unprepared for skiing yesterday. No surprise, since I'm not trained for it.  The first doesn't bother me too much: quads. But the second does bother me: obliques. (The side of the core, for twisting motion.)  I am so faithful about my crunches, upper and lower, but I have neglected the sides.  The only other time I notice their weakness occurs right after the marathon, when I always find myself surprised that they are sore.  So, a bit of work there in the next few weeks!

Apropos to nothing, what are people from Utah called? Utahsians? Utahers? Utes? I've wondered for a while.  So many Ut.... whatever here on the blog, and occasionally I'd like to know the proper way to say stuff like, "We have such slushy snow here in the spring, not like the velvety, dry stuff you U-------s enjoy."

Objective: tempo run by time and effort (4.5 miles is a guess).  Warm up, 2x20 min at effort which was harder than MP but not as hard as 5K with 5 min. recovery b/t, cool down.

5:15 AM: 42F, rain then occasional light shower, little wind.

I found my legs felt worse today than yesterday, the usual DOMS, and I really wanted to bag the plan for a tempo run. But I decided to go by effort level and time and just do the best I could on the theory that this would be better than nothing.  As with my VO2 workouts, the biggest problem was oxygen, though my legs were not happy either.

An observation: I can turn up the cadence (higher than 185) or I can get better stride length with push-off and heel raising, but I cannot seem to do both at the same time.  At a higher cadence, my feet slap the pavement uncomfortably when I add the "better" running form.  I do like the feel of the stride length effort better.  Up and down hills, the higher cadence with lower foot action seems to work well and on the flatter bits (teensy bits, in my neighborhood) the more powerful stride seems more efficient.

Objective: Fast Finish Friday
Warm up:  2 min walking, 2 mi @ 11:00-12:00
After warm up: moderate (~10:00, + or - for hills)
Penultimate 5 minutes @ 8:40
Cool down: last 5 min @ ~10:30

5AM: 45F, light rain, no wind.

A very pleasant run, though I felt like I was about 90 years old for the first mile. Stiff and tired; I did not get quite enough sleep last night. Saw a raccoon and heard an owl -- it's the time of year I usually start seeing more wildlife on my runs.  The rain was light enough to be refreshing.

Bonnie, I did the even-effort exercise on my hills today (except the fast finish bit), and also the fast running at the end. (Everyone, Bonnie has been helping me a bit offline with some training issues.)   And just for you Bonnie, I have decided to list my paces more often. I still think any number I put down is kind of misleading, because of the hills.  For example, today I was doing the "even effort" thing up a hill of about 5% grade, and I glanced at my Garmin: 13:40!  Mile 2 of my run today was almost entirely uphill, and mile 3 was almost entirely downhill.   But if I check myself on the occasional flat block or two, I can see what the "effort level" pace is, so I'll report that. How does that sound?  :)

To all my Christian friends, a very happy Easter! This heathen won't be blogging again until Sunday, though I'll try to "stop in" and see how everyone's Saturday runs went.  Sunday will be my last mega run (though not my last long run) before Eugene.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Objective: endurance
7 AM: 44F, raining and windy. Blech...

Well, I got the job done. It wasn't the first long run I've had to do in the wet, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Unfortunately, I seem to be coming down with a cold.  I have felt a signal coming from the back of my throat since Friday night, but since it is not severe I decided to get this run checked off my list.  I can skip tomorrow's short recovery run if an afternoon of rest doesn't bring me back. 

I'm not feeling too bad this morning, though I definitely have some junk in my throat.  I think this one will pass quickly; I compare it to the cold I had in February that knocked the life out of me for nearly a week. This doesn't feel anything like that.  (Thanks, Carolyn, for telling me about yours.)

I did promise myself yesterday, at around mile 16 (that was when my shoes started to "squish") that if I finished the miles, and if I didn't feel well by nighttime, I could skip today's run. That was the deal: long miles for additional miles.  Because goodness knows, I was tempted to go home so badly that even stopping by for some dry shoes may have ended it. 

I'm just rambling here... (A mental subsitute for running?) I have read many marathon training plans that suggest long runs up to 20 miles, or long runs up to 3 hours, and I am very conscious of my abnormal practice of going beyond that.  Confession time: I was running yesterday for nearly 4.5 hours.  That's some slow running, chugging along like the proverbial tortoise.  But what I really want to say is how impressed and inspired I am by Bonnie's run  of the same distance.  Someday, when I am fitter, and when it's not pouring, and when I'm not coming down with a cold... I want to be like her, and combine the distance of my race with a progression of pace.  I look forward to Eugene and I feel really positive about this training cycle, but I also feel like I have a lot more improvement to pursue.

One last bit of mental flotsam: do you all know about Ed Whitlock?  He was the first (only?) 70+ y.o. person to run the marathon in under 3 hours.  His training comprises 2-3 hours every day of running a ~400m circuit through a cemetery in his neighborhood, around and around... 

Objective: easy. Average pace on flat terrain: 11:10

5:10 AM: Snowing, 34F, traction poor.

15 min strength work

I believe that Spring will come. I believe, I believe...

Other than a lot of phlegm and some tiredness, my cold is very mild and not affecting my running much.  The legs felt good, though a little heavy.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being elephant-on-valium and 10 being Pegasus, they were at about 6. But no soreness or stiffness. 

Needless to say, I am disgusted with the weather. Silver linings: it didn't do this on Sunday, I was just having an "easy" run anyway, and it really cannot last much longer.  

Objective - Moderate run, pushing pace a little:  w.u. 1 mile easy & slow (11:00-12:00), 5 miles MP + 30 seconds (~9:30, +-w/ hills), c.d. 1 mile moderate (10:00-10:30) w/ walking last 1 minute.

5:15 AM...  35F, mostly clear, no wind :D, icy on short cut trails.

What a nice morning, though cold! It was getting light by 5:45 and I even turned off the headlamp during the last 30 minutes. (I often keep it on for safety, being visible to cars in dusky light.)  Once I got warm, it was a very pleasant run.

I had scheduled myself to do some intervals today, but I still have so much phlegm from my cold, perhaps even more than yesterday, and with the temperature so low I did not want this thing going down into my lungs.  So, what to do?  I decided to work on running faster without a really lengthy warmup, only 1 mile, and then to focus on my form and keep the effort very even, just a bit easier than marathon pace. Who knows whether this was the best plan, but I had a good time and was very pleased with my workout.  Still a bit of hacking cough when I finally stopped, but not too bad.

It is a pity that my feet and calves are not strong enough to wear racing shoes for a whole 26.2. These Lunars and my ST3's feel so wonderful and make it so much easier to go faster.   I might try to build up to longer distances with them in the coming year. I know that stronger runners do wear them in marathons; perhaps that can be me someday.  

I have an observation about pace, hills, and self-image.  Naturally, my pace slows down when going uphill, and the steepest hills took me down to 11:00 today, even with my harder effort.  But the downhills were not that much better.  I got 20-30 seconds faster on slight declines, but as soon as the downhill was steep enough for me to land on my heels (I am not normally a heel striker), I slowed to 10:00 and even slower on the really steep hills (>6%).  I've tried to lean forward more so that I am not braking, but it only helps a little. 

It makes me wonder, with all the hills I run every day, how differently I might view myself as a runner if I lived in a flatter area.  A few hills to build strength would always be welcome, but if I did 75% (instead of 20%) of my running on a flat surface, I might not have so  many "false readings" about my abilities, if it can be called that.  There is nothing I can do about it, but I just wonder sometimes.  More Ruminations from Snoqualmie's Brain.... thanks for listening.

Objective: general aerobic, fun.  Pace on flats after warm up: ~10:00

5 AM:  41F, breezy in open places, mostly cloudy, a "normal" spring day in the NW, finally! 

Beautiful morning and a fabulous run.  Lots of snot, but lots of energy too.  First mile very slow (12:30) and then picked it up a bit. By mile 3 I tried to keep the effort very even.  I experimented with some different gaits on the downhills; the only way I could improve the pace was to take short, fast little steps. Really fast. But I'm not sure that's a good way to run.

Speaking of running styles, Dale has a link to a really funny Youtube clip on his blog.  How not to run.  Then you can look at this other amazing video of Josh Cox and Ryan Hall on a run together.  BEEEautiful running form.  Look at how consistent Josh's form is as he continues the run alone, up to 31 miles.  Look how high his heels come up in back.  Her Majesty Deena runs like that too.  

Objective: easy, w/ fast finish (easy running until mile 5.2, one mile hard, and then cool down)

5:20 AM: 45F, raining

Today felt like a recovery run, very slow and stiff.  I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, since both Wednesday's & Thursday's runs were fairly vigorous. But they seemed too easy to have wiped me out this much.  I dreaded doing the fast mile. When the time came, my pace was always a little slower than MP (~9:20) and my effort level was much harder than MP (felt like 5K effort).  Looking forward to sleeping late tomorrow!

Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Objective: progression on mostly flat terrain

7:10 AM:  Low 40sF, rising to low 60s, mostly sunny, variable wind 0-15 mph

I made some big mistakes today.  The first was wearing my Camelbak fanny pack for hydration.  Venturing out of my nice, drinking-fountain-endowed neighborhood,  I knew it would get warm today and smugly filled up the little bladder, figuring I was all set!  The fanny pack was awful. Oh yeah, this is why I stopped wearing it. It chafed and bounced, unless I cinched it up so tightly that it interfered with my belly breathing, sometimes even producing side stitches.  So I did my best with that.  

(Before I describe the second mistake, lest you think I had a miserable time today, I should note that it was mostly a really fun run with some beautiful moments, and a good workout.)

Would it have taken that much time to look at a map with regard to distance and topography?  I did take the trouble to call the City of North Bend to inquire about the construction over the bridge on Boalch Ave, but even that did not completely keep me out of trouble.  It was morning service at the Church of the Unwarranted Assumption, as I went trotting off on what I thought would be a) flat, and b) 8-9 miles each direction.  Neither was true.  For your amusement, here is the blow by blow....

Mile 1 & 2 (11:34, 11:02) Warm up, starting from my parked car down in old Snoqualmie.  Took stupid wrong turn and went the long way around the high school, into 40 mph traffic.  Found my way back, and noticed a lot of people at Centennial Park. Maybe it's always this way?  (no) Some guy says to me in a cranky tone, "You better save it for later!"  huh?  whatever.  (Later, all is explained.)

(10:30, 10:31, 10:59) I head down Boalch, finding it to be so deserted that I might as well be on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, but everything feels good except that I'm running into a stiff headwind all of a sudden.  I get to the bridge, where the aforementioned construction work is blocking car traffic, and I find the "scaffolding that you can cross on."  I guess I was expecting something a little bit wider and more stable?  It was about 20 inches wide, 12 feet long,  crossing a deep chasm. Dead stop. Oh my goodness I was frightened. Turn back? No, I can do this.  Slowly, easy...  Funny, because I just watched the movie "Man on Wire" a couple of nights ago.  Further down Boalch I had to run on Hwy 202 (cars 50 mph), where the shoulder seemed a lot smaller than it always has from my car.  After going through part of North Bend, I decided to get on the SV trail after all.  Ug- gravel.  How I hate it.  It saps my energy and I feel every pebble underfoot.

(10:43, 10:47, 11:29) Some time during mile 5 I started up the Mt. Si road.  Last night this seemed like such a fun idea. And in many ways it was.  But it is not flat.  I found myself surprised by the incline, partly because it gets steeper as you go up and I underestimated how far I would have to go up to get the miles.  Maps, Snoqualmie, maps! They're incredibly useful, and easy to find on this very computer in front of you.   The cars were whizzing by, so I had to keep going into the gravel on the shoulder (more gravel - ug) and the headwind was worse than ever here.  As slow as that mile 8 pace looks, it was worse on the Garmin. I can laugh now, but the wooded road blocked the signal so much that at one point it said pace = 18:35!  And the % grade read minus 37%!  Crazy Garmin.

(9:44, 9:41, 10:16)  The turnaround was a welcome change as I now headed downhill, with the tailwind, and fewer cars in this direction.  I intentionally slowed a couple of times, once to look at the river through the woods - gorgeous! - and once to jog up the short driveway to the horse barn where my daughter rides. I thought I'd say hello but no one was around.  At the bottom of Mt. Si Road I learned the reason for the weird comment of that guy at mile 2.   A huge crowd of runners with bib #s was coming out of the SV trail as I was going in.  I asked a volunteer at the street crossing -- it  was the "Mt Si Relay and 50K."  It was fun to run "against" them and see their faces. Lots of Marathon Maniac singlets, lots of friendly greetings.  But I was back on the gravel, and it was time to kick into a higher gear. :(

(9:21, 9:13, 9:54 (oops), 9:03)  About 1.5 miles on the gravel before I could break free back onto the roads since I didn't want to "walk the plank" again.  But the new route shortened the run too.  :(   Maps, Snoqualmie!   When I got back onto the asphalt it was such a relief, but I was definitely tiring and the warm air was affecting me a lot.  I am so unaccustomed to running in anything above 45F; Eugene could be a real disaster if it's warm.  I don't know why that 14th mile (the oops) got slower; I wasn't looking at the Garmin very much here.  The last half mile of the 15th was positively anaerobic.  And I'm supposed to do that for 26.2?  I don't know, I don't know.  

(11:54) Cooldown for a few minutes by going around the block at my car.  Feet hurt. (gravel?)  I feel too hot.   

Well, I don't know why I had to make this so long, but I learned a lot and I hope it was a workout that will help me on race day, two weeks from today.  I now enter my taper.  Oh! My eyes teared up when I typed that.  I wonder what my brain can be up to.  Although I'm kicking myself for not consulting a map before going out, I might not have picked this route at all if I had. And I would have missed a good adventure. 

Objective: recovery/easy

5:40 AM: 43F, breeze 3-9 mph, mostly clear, light enough to go out w/out headlamp!

I reached a little milestone in that my paper blog (which is where I keep all the really juicy secrets; just kidding) filled up with yesterday's entry.  I now begin a new book, purchased way back in December.  This is my 4th book now. The 3rd book was started 12-3-06. It is so much fun to look through old entries and race reports. 

OMG! Time watch Boston marathon now!   Very exciting race, for both the women and the men!  Amazing athletes - just incredible.  Ryan Hall and Kara Goucher both taking 3rd place - wow. They probably hoped for better, but I am totally impressed by their getting on the podium with that strong field of runners, and both are so young in their marathon careers.  That was only Goucher's second marathon of her life.   They are both just getting started! 

Objective: easy, enjoy the morning, hill sprints on the shorter hills after mile 2 

5:10 AM: 47F, clear, breeze 3-9 mph

20 min. strength afterwards

We're in the midst of a little heat wave, with temperatures up to the 70's by day.  But I've still got a Smartwool layer on for my early morning runs.  Smartwool under my tech top and bare legs! lol  I am enjoying the No Swish running- no jacket, vest, etc.  - just quiet fabric.   Busy day today...

Objective: (Tapering) Practice marathon pace (or effort, as the case was). 3 mi easy, 3 mi MP (adjusted for hills) - ran out of time for the cool down. See below...

5:30 AM:  46F, light rain, breeze ~7 mph

15 min strength work

My 3 MP mile was a little short due to running out of time; last .1 was jogged/walked for a cool down.   Splits: 12:26, 11:14, 11:39 (2 big hills), 9:21, 9:26, 9:11.   I was trying very hard to keep the effort even, beginning the MP section on my little ~400 meters of flat sidewalk on Ridge St.  to dial in the effort level (shooting for 9:10).  But I must say, the pace was actually all over the place, probably because of hills.  A bit distressing was the fact that it really felt kind of hard.  I have run enough marathons to know how different it feels on race day, with that last week of taper (fresh legs!) and the excitement of the race.  But that is an intellectual fact, one that has to work hard to break through the emotional information: "I cannot possibly do this for 4 hours! I am doomed!"  lol :)

Here is a little food for thought about running shoes.   Oh yes, there is definitely a part of me that likes these subversive, fringe, and anti-establishment ideas. ;)  That is the libertarian in me. But I would go even farther off the beaten track than this article (which asserts that high priced running shoes weaken the feet and cause injuries), in that I believe we live in an Injury Culture that actually promotes pain. 

There are constant subliminal messages telling us that injury is inevitable (such as "running hurts your knees," and "high mileage leads not to stronger bodies but rather to injured ones"). The messages appear in magazines (most of which now feature a column on injuries in every issue), blogs and internet forums, and are used by the brain to create credible psychosomatic pains. The physical mechanism for the pain is the closure of capillaries by the brain. The purpose of the pain is to protect us, through distraction, from severe anxiety and anger. But it must seem like a credible injury or the distraction will not work, hence the advantage of "epidemic" type illness or injuries. 

I know I have mentioned this phenomenon on my blog before, but the very interesting article above makes me want to mention it again, because widespread publicity regarding an injury type is crucial to the psychosomatic process.  Years ago, there was a lot of publicity about tennis elbow -- and more people got it.  Carpal tunnel syndrome also had its heyday. 

I am not saying that no one really gets these disorders (or true running injuries), but that many instances of them are actually psychosomatic. I am also not saying that psychosomatic injuries are "all in a person's head."  The pain is totally physical (the closing of capillaries) and very real and horrible, but in these cases it is generated by the brain for psychological reasons and can only be cured through psychological means.  I am not making this up; it is well documented. (Probably the most extensive single bibliography of research reports can be found in this book.) 

Objective: general aerobic

5:15AM:  35F, mostly cloudy, wind 5-10 mph 

A nice run on this surprisingly chilly morning.  Though running a different route, I covered the same mileage as yesterday. The exact same. I find that weird.  The difference in total time for the two workouts was only 1 minute.  

I was going to do 7-8 easy miles, but got a late start.  Then, I was feeliing really good and not looking at my watch, and I seem to have run comparatively fast for an "easy" run.  This is why I find the "average pace" number to be so meaningless.  These were 2 completely different 6 mile workouts with the almost the same average pace.  Yesterday's MP workout: 12:26, 11:14, 11:39, 9:21, 9:26, 9:11.  Today's splits: 11:51, 11:03, 10:08, 10:09, 10:15, 10:39.

ETA: p.s. Today I'm beginning my 10 day Veggie Challenge. Wanna join me?  In the 10 remaining days before Eugene Marathon, I am going to have a serving of vegetables at every meal - even breakfast - and 1 for a snack. Minimum 4 per day.  I am trying to make sure at least 2 of the 4 are raw. 

Objective: easy & slow, break in new shoes. (Tapering)

5:35AM:  35F, wind 5-10, clear.

20 min strength & stretch after

Pleasant run. I need to relace my new pair of Triax 12s.  I am planning to run the marathon in them, though a small rebellious part of my brain still wants to race in my Magic Shoes, the ST3s.  Feel free to yell, "What are you thinking!?!?"  It's just an urge at this point. After wearing racing shoes Wednesday and Thursday, my feet feel clunky and heavy in these trainers, even though they are new. :(

Veggie challenge, so far successful.

Objective: easy

5:45AM: 39F, calm & cloudy

I am supposed to be getting a bit more sleep this week, but at 4:25 my eyes just popped right open and I could not get back to sleep. Not usually a problem for me; sleeping and eating being 2 of my specialties.  This was a crappy little run. My anxiety levels are rising and I felt tired and cranky.  And I must just put this in black and white: large Mexican dinners are not good running the next morning. 

Objective: 6 easy,  5MP effort level on hills, 1+ cool down (14:08, 11:23, 10:41, 10:36, 11:01, 11:04 // 10:17, 9:14, 9:46, 9:55, 9:34 // 9:50, 11:19)

8AM:  38F rising to 45F,  wind 10 mph, mostly cloudy w/ sun breaks

It was a bit of a weird run.  First I had a false start, when I got about 25 yards and realised the brand new running skirt I was testing would not work out.  I just hope I can get my money back; although I removed the tags, I did not sweat on it. lol  It is an awesome skirt for distance running, with cool pockets all across the back, but the under-shorts rode up on me.  I guess that 14 minute mile came from all the walking.  If  I cannot get my money back, anyone want to buy it? It will work well for someone who has less, um, "curve" in her thighs.  Size is medium (waist 27-29").

Weirdness continued as I seemed to have boundless energy during the easy 6 (had to constantly remind myself to hold back), and not nearly enough energy during the 5 MP.   The first "fast" mile unfortunately began with a half mile of up hill climb, and by the end of the mile I was going anaerobic to get the pace right.  That is not something I can do for 4+ hours.

After fretting over my pace for about 10 minutes I decided to stop Garmin Gazing and only go by feel.  Much happier. And considering the hills and the wind, the paces are not too bad.  They are also (mostly) not BQ pace, which is 9:20.

We'll see how the rest of the taper leaves me feeling, but at this point I am not setting my sights on a BQ in Eugene.  Not specifically anyway. In my mind there is a big difference between hoping and planning.   I am going to keep my effort at the aerobic level I was today, try not to look at my watch, keep good form, and enjoy the ride. I plan to run my first mile somewhat easily (~10:00), and when I get to around mile 23 I hope to push as hard as I can.  With 7 days to go, that's the plan. :D

ETA: Veggie challenge report... Friday 3 out of 4 (missed the snack), Saturday - successful. 

Objective: easy

5:45AM: 39F, calm & cloudy

I am supposed to be getting a bit more sleep this week, but at 4:25 my eyes just popped right open and I could not get back to sleep.  It is very unusual for me to have sleep trouble. More taper madness I guess.  This was a crappy little run. My anxiety levels are rising and I felt tired and cranky.  And I must just put this in black and white: large Mexican dinners are not good for running the next morning.  

Objective: 1 easy, 2 MP by feel - no Garmin-Gazing, remainder easy c.d.

5:40AM:  41F, cloudy, wet streets but no rain

15 min. strength & stretching

I wanted to see how it felt to run at MP effort after only 1 mile of warm up.  Can't say I liked it.  I rarely feel good until I've run 3 or 4 miles, but I won't give myself that luxury on Sunday.  But I think one mile ought to protect me from the "went out too fast" blues in miles 20 - 26.2. 

I also wanted to see what my pace would be if I did not look at my watch at all.  I only listened for the mile beeps to know when to start and stop.  MP mile splits were 9:27 and 9:11.  The first mile shows that I could not get into MP so early I think.  The second mile looks good, but I did keep the effort just a wee bit harder than MP to compensate for a few hills and the lack of race day excitement. 

Veggie challenge, Monday: successful (Good thing it's grocery day. I'm down to a carrot, some kale and a few celery sticks.)

Objective: easy (4 days to Eugene)

5:40: 41F, mostly cloudy. Pretty morning.

Nothing felt good until the 4th mile, as usual. I'm trying to not worry about it though.  I will blog a couple of distractions, how's that?

I watched "The Long Green Line" (from Netflix) last night. It is a documentary about York High School's cross country team as they pursue their 25th straight state championship.  It was worth watching, though not a must-see.  Two things struck me about the story.  First, I am always just baffled by cross country running. These guys are clocking 5 minute (or faster) miles on grass and dirt, and I can barely make it across a parking strip without rolling my ankle. How do they do it? Is it those cool spikey shoes? 

Second, I found myself feeling uncomfortable and quite sad that there was no mention about a girls' program. (Rant alert.)  One of the main themes of the movie was the portrait of this coach and how supportive and caring he is, and how he recruits and welcomes even the "fat little freshmen." Every team member is important, with many repetitions of the concept of being a good person in life and how that carries over into running.  I cannot reconcile those sentiments with a complete disregard for girls' running.  Not a peep.  I know, the movie wasn't supposed to be about anything but this winning team, but the more they talked about boys' potential, boys' this and boys' that, the more I longed to see a girl running.   I probably have a giant chip on my shoulder about this, having grown up mostly before Title 9.  Plus I'm cranky you know. Taper.

Another distraction: planning some new goals for my next training cycle.  I have made notes on some workouts I've read here on the blog and I would like to try some of those. I want to work a little harder at fitting in at least one 10 miler on weekdays, perhaps two. I also would like to work up to my full long runs with my ST3 shoes.  And lastly, I hope to experiment with some homemade fuel recipe ideas instead of giving so much of our income to the Accel Gel company.  Need to buy one of those little 6 oz. flasks at the expo.

Thanks for listening.  :)

ETA: Almost forgot again. Veggie challenge: 3 out of 4, missed the snack again. But the bin is full again so I'll be ok until Eugene. 

Objective: confidence building, last run of taper. 1 mi easy, 1 mi MP by feel, .5 mi hard, ~3/4 mi cool down.  Paces: 10:53 //  1 @ 8:59,  1/2 @ 8:18  //  3/4 @ 10:53

5:55 AM: 38F, wind 5-10 mph, mostly clear

Lookie there. I guess I'll crest 200 miles for the month of April, which I doubted would happen with my taper.  :)  

It's funny how my warm up mile and cool down mile were run at the exact same pace.  That is a fast warm up mile for me, and Sunday will have to be even faster. 

The workout I did on Tuesday started out the same as today's (1 mi easy, 2nd @ MP effort) but look how much faster today's pace was: 10:53 and 8:59 compared to 11:45 and 9:27.  I credit the improvement partly to tapering and partly to the shoes. These Nike Lunars are the lightest and fastest shoe I have.  (Too bad I can't run in these for 26.2!)  You can watch Kara Goucher doing a 20  mile workout in what looks like Lunars here.  I ran with my iPod today too (rare for me), just to give my brain that extra boost. 

So that's it for me for a couple of days. I don't know how soon I'll have internet access after my marathon, but I'll let you all know how it went as soon as I can. You blog-friends have been a very important part of my life and my training. Thank you for caring about me, putting up with my long-winded entries, and giving me the benefits of your advice and friendship.  Cheers.

Edited to add:  I just had to add this video, which I just found.  This is what our blog community is like, with Sasha's code being the earphones we all wear. Stick with the video, it takes a couple of minutes to get interesting!