Track Tuesday 19

The Run Streak hasn't really made my legs feel all that tired, surprisingly. However, I will say that after this morning, I was certainly feeling it.

This morning was warm, but not unbearable, but humid as you can only imagine. Even the fence was 'sweating' because the air was so thick. Nasty. Poor choice in wearing a short-sleeve tee (side note: need to order more tanks to run in this summer or I'll die). Al had us set up for a half-ladder workout: 1 mile, half mile, 400 m, and 200 m, book-ended by a warm up and cool down, of course.

The mile felt good - for once I actually felt consistent, and after it was done, Al confirmed that nearly every 400 lap was almost completely even. Success! The half mile was rough, but felt good and the pace was on target from the miler (even a little quicker). As we headed out into the 400 though, my quad totally seized and cramped and for once.. I stopped and got to the side. Walked it out for a bit, and let them finish and get their 200 m sprint too. Afterwards, I felt good enough to give a 400 a go - also a success, but certainly sore. Rolling is definitely in the future again today and for the next few - whew! Not a happy way to end the morning.

.75 warm up (8:00/10:40 pace)
1 mile (7:31/7:31 pace)
.5 mile (3:27/6:54 pace)
.25 mile (1:36/6:24 pace)
.25 cool down (2:30/10:00 pace )

I probably should have cooled down more but I knew I had a puppy waiting for me at home to get walking too, so that works out. I love Wednesday mornings!

Today is also set out to be an awesome day -- who all is going to see Spirit of the Marathon tonight? I absolutely loved Spirit of the Marathon - I watched it last year on the flight home from Hungary and felt totally and completely inspired. That was after only half marathon #1, a month before #2, and two months before what came to be the day I signed up for my first full. I tell you, inspirational!

Spirit II features "the personal journeys of a new cast of seven athletes as they run the iconic streets of Rome, Italy, the film also includes interviews with marathon greats such as Stefano Baldini, Paula Radcliffe, Frank Shorter and many others."

 

I'm heading down to Atlanta this evening after work to meet up with a few lovely ladies to take this all in. It's in theaters tonight only, so don't miss out if you want to find a little inspiration!

Joining us for Track Tuesday this week? Make sure you link up in comments below!

Track Tuesday 18

Given that I skipped last week (completely), I was amped up last night about getting to today's session. Let's see how that worked out for me...

First off, seeing a 70 degree wake up call at 5 am is well... not nice. Also note that humidity level. Ugggggh. Good morning to me!

It was unbelievable to see eleven of us roll out this morning for our track day - the highest number we've seen on a Wednesday morning ever, and nearly double the norm lately (there's been about five of us for the last month or so). Quite a few newbies, including my friend Bettina, so it was awesome! As one couple said, "We've been avoiding it for awhile, but what better day to finally start than National Running Day?" Perfection.

Bettina joined ARR a few weeks ago, but hasn't made it out to a run yet because she's in training for her new job  and doing other important vet-like things. She asked me earlier this week about coming out on Wednesday, and lucky for her.. I convinced her to. I'm such the encourager. 

Bettina survived her first track day!

First the first time, Al set us up for a 200 m series workout - I've heard these are tough, but man! Are they ever. There were so many of us, we split into two groups and did them in sets, 200 m sprint followed by a 200 m rest back, and continued the cycle for a total of 8 200s for (most of) us, and up to 10 for a few folks who are all kinds of crazy pants. 8 was enough for me today - those suckers are not easy.

Being that I'm still running naked, and there were too many of us to time us all, we didn't get times for all of them, but I'm certain mine all fell between 35 and 40 seconds. Fast. And they hurt. And my legs are tired today, already. But what a workout - glad to have made it out of bed today, unlike last week!


Joining us for Track Tuesday this week? Make sure you link up!

Tonight I'll have another post all about our National Running Day celebrations with the Athens Road Runners - group run and a potluck BBQ tonight at a park in town. Pretty excited! And that's more reading for you - double post Wednesday!

What are you doing for National Running Day?

Track Tuesday 17

The alarm went off this morning and while I felt wide awake, the last thing I wanted to do was get to the track. I've been sleeping terribly lately and while I wanted to go straight back to sleep, I figured that wasn't really realistic. Up I went. Of course, when I got to the track and told Al that this was the last place I wanted to be today, he lit up and says "That's what I like to hear!" I knew we were in for some fun.

Per usual, I don't regret going. It was a tough workout, and certainly pushed me, but as always, I end up so much happier when I leave the track at 6:30 am and head home for my walk with the pup. Today turned out to be no different. There was a new woman, Nina, who hadn't been before, and she turned out to to be a great chaser - she was right on my heels the whole time, which worked well for me.

Today's toughie was a ladder workout, a concept still new to me (I've only done one prior): 800, 600, 600, 400, 400, 400 meters. Whew!

800m: 3:33 (7:06)
600m: 2:27 (6:37 pace)
600m: 2:40 (7:12) <-- I wanted to die here
400m:  1:32 (6:08)
400m: 1:36 (6:24)
400m: 1:32 (6:08)

Tough workout, but a great one. I hope, more than anything, that as I continue to build speed and keep this in my regimen, it'll drastically increase my speed and stamina when I get back into a training plan... sometime in the future... eventually... for now, I'm enjoying seeing the progress and being able to run 90-something-second 400s fairly consistently. Victory!

Joining us for Track Tuesday this week? Make sure you link up!

Race Report: Marigold 10K

38th Annual Marigold 10K | May 18, 2013

Winterville, GA

I decided mid-last week that I was going to run this 10K on Saturday - 10Ks around here (certified, no less) are hard to come by, and given the distance fail of my last 10K, I knew I could set out with something to prove. The course is fast and almost flat, unlike most courses around here, so that was certainly an added plus!

The forecast was that it was supposed to storm this entire weekend, so I was prepared to face the weather when I woke up on Saturday at 6:30 (perks to 7:30 am race times that are 4.3 miles from your home!): drizzly, warm, humid. At first, I was wearing long sleeves with my Athens Road Runner shirt over, and capris and even once I got to Winterville, knew I'd regret that and made a quick costume change at my trunk.

There were a number of folks from ARR who came out to race - check it out! So fun having a group of people who you can hang out with prior and have a great race with - and in matching shirts, to boot.

Photo credit to Julie!

I ran naked for this race - no watch, no phone, no nothing. Still a really odd, but increasingly liberating feeling. I decided I'd just run, go solely based on how I felt, and just see what happens. For the good, I would PR and break my sub-60-minute goal, and for the bad, I'd come in at least close to my standing PR (1:00:19). I knew I bolted out that first mile, as always, but didn't realize how fast until the couple in front of me said so; the lady goes "Oh crap!" to which her boyfriend replies, "What?" and she says "That was like an 8:20!" Oh crap is right - I've picked up on speed, sure, but not that like for a 10K! I backed off and let them take wind.

Ridiculous. At its best.

Just after mile 2, you come by the finishing area (such a tease) and at, let's say, 2.2 miles, I was at a 19:xx, so I knew I was making great timing and feeling pretty strong doing so. It was warm, humid as all get out, and I knew it'd catch up with me. Around mile 4, I got a side stitch that got me down a little bit; Denise, who'd been running behind me, finally caught up, said "C'mon girl, let's go!" and I jogged with her as best as I could before I needed to walk again.

At mile 5, where we come back around to do the first 2 miles(ish) in reverse, I was only at a 47:xx! I had full potential to finally break that sub-60 goal I've been itching for (this is my third 10K of the year already after all!). I banked as much as I could early into that last mile, allowed myself to walk for about 15 seconds. It was about here that it started to sprinkle again - at this point, it was so freaking humid, I hoped it would just pour to cool off, but no luck, it stuck around to sprinkle for a bit and ended just as quickly as it had started.

As soon as I saw the mile 6 sign, I treated those last .2 miles like I was doing my last 400 m lap of a track day - and gave it all I got.

BOOM. Goal accomplished - finally! I finished like 7th out of 16+ in my age group, but was happy about that almost-one minute PR, finally making that goal, and having a successful race while running naked. Running off of feeling helps, people. That was fun!

Other ARR members dominated their age groups, with at least five other folks taking home age group awards and one of our own taking Overall Masters Female. Victory for ARR!

Did you race this weekend? How'd you do?

On Running Naked

Just about two weeks ago, I committed to running naked for the rest of May - a challenge that I knew would be tough, but I wasn't expecting in the way that it's turned out to be. I'd been training since August, from starting an easy half marathon plan to jumping into full training, to taking a solid month off (and feeling super guilty) to jumping into a six-week grueling dreamer's sub-2 training plan for a half on April 28.

I'll admit that part of this burn out stems from not attaining that sub-2 goal, the one I'd blasted all over the interwebz, had talked about for weeks and had been literally dreaming about since mid-March. I'll admit that the emotion, the disappointment and frustration that spawned from that is what really got me thinking hard about what I was doing, what I was working towards and what I had worked for already.

So with that came the harsh self-realization that I was probably a little more burned out on running than I thought I was - I was almost forcing  myself out the door to get in 3-4 miles, only looked forward to finishing my runs instead of starting them, and generally... didn't care. I knew something had to change and fast or really, I'd give up on it all together.

And thus: running naked. No Garmin. No iPhone. No anything that would tell me how far I was going, how fast I was going, my heartrate, my pace, any number that should have mattered previously. I wanted to run for the sake of running without worrying about the things I (sometimes pretended) to care about before.

And how's it going, you wonder?

The toughest part was the first few runs where I all I could think was I wonder how fast I'm going, how long have I been out? It's so much harder than I anticipated to break out of that training/racing mindset. I will, however, credit myself twice: both track days.

The first track day was rough at first: during my warm-up mile again, all I wanted to know what my pace was. Running 4 laps around the track was easy, but how fast? Was the second lap slower than the fourth? We did a second warm up mile, followed by some striders and a mile test - here it comes. I told Al not to tell me my 400 splits as I came through, as he was planning on for everyone else. And he didn't. And I ran as good as a I felt. I ran my fastest mile to date, at 7:29. 

The second great run came with this week's track workout, too. I ran my six fastest (all of them!) 400s ever, the fastest of the day being at 88 seconds and the slowest two being at 93 seconds. Never in a million years did I think it'd be possible. Truth be told, it's not like I look at my watch while I'm doing 400s anyway, but I certainly know it's there ticking away. Mental barrier breakthrough?

I still have some ways to go. There are still a number of mornings where I don't run and by the end of the day I'm like Man, I suck, I didn't go run and actually feel guilty. Why am I feeling guilty? Running is supposed to be freedom, stress relief, anxiety and tension eraser and the cure to any bad day. I'm looking forward to continuing to find that place again. Progress for sure, but it's only been two weeks. More to come - this will probably extend well past May!

Have you ever given yourself a digital break from running and let yourself just RUN? Did you face the same mental block? How did you work past it?

Track Tuesday 16

This week was my first track morning without Chandler or Evan - and truth be told, I was a little nervous for how that would affect me. Chandler's a speed-demon bunny for me and Evan's been hot on my heels lately, so they have helped me find a happy pace as I pace myself during those 400s and on. Alarm went off at the bright shining hour of 4:50 and off I went.

I was the only "regular" person there this morning! One woman has been a few times and two ladies were brand spanking new, so this was definitely going to be a test in my ability to pace myself and find where my zone is, being that I didn't know how any of them ran. Ooph.

I would like to lie and say that I totally bottomed out but instead I can say that I totally rocked this morning! Fastest 6 x400s ever : 92s, 93s, 88s, 92s, 93s, & 92s. Holy hot damn, I have no idea where those came from. Dani came in for the last 3, which gave me a bunny to chase finally and those hurt but man, felt oh so good!

I've definitely tapered back in my mileage and running overall since going naked last Monday, but after this morning I can also see how much of a difference it's made, in simply just letting my legs, body and mind recuperate. Aaaaah, bliss. More thoughts on running naked coming on Friday, but I'm really happy I see a physical difference; now it's just working on that mental block.


Joining us for Track Tuesday this week? Make sure you link up!

May (No) Garmin Challenge

Marathon training (or even half-marathon training, for that matter) is all about increasing your mileage, bit by bit, so your body doesn't freak out on you when you try and convince your legs that you can, in fact, run 26.2 miles. Marathon training with a goal race, goal pace, goal time in mind is all about nailing those runs - not only that mileage, but nailing every goal pace run, tempo run, speedwork session and even those 'easy' runs to ensure that you're on target to where you're supposed to be to nail that sub-2 goal.

I did that. I did all those things. I nailed runs, nailed speedwork most certainly, and watched as every Garmin lap got faster and faster. And sub-2 didn't happen. And since then, I have crashed and burned.

I'm burned out.

Admitting it is the first step, right? I'm burned out on training, on schedules, on a plan, on times, paces, charting, planning and mapping every run, and making sure I'm not letting myself slack (too much). I've been in a training plan since August, when it first set up into Wine and Dine (and what would become AthHalf) training which bled into marathon training. Save for taking nearly all of February off, I jumped back in in March with two halfs and then six solid weeks of goal-race insanity.

I'm burned out.

 I miss when I was giving myself the freedom to just run. Run to be free, run for stress relief, run because it was raining and it is fun to run in the rain, and run just for the hell of it. I took Molly on a jog this morning, a whole mile and a half of it, and all I could think was, "I wonder what our pace is with the pup in tow?" instead of enjoying a gorgeous morning with my fur-kid by my side.

And with that, friends, I bring you my May self challenge: digital-free running. Here until (at least) May 31. No Garmin. No iPhone. Me, my shoes, and occasionally, Molly. I need to revisit when I ran for the sake of it, and because I could, and because I didn't care about nailing 1:40 400s or 9:09" miles. I won't lie - this will be quite the challenge, as I've grown so accustomed to having my Garmin on my wrist and have almost become neurotic in checking my mile time every time it beeps. 

No, it's time to run just because I have the health and strength to do so. I'll check in every week with some random on-goings and let you know how it's going. 

Do/have you given yourself the freedom after a goal race (or even just accomplishing a race) to go digital free and just be? How hard is it for you to run without something telling you your pace, your time, your distance?