Last week ended up being a step back week for mileage. I meant for it to be THIS week, but events conspired to put it a week earlier and I guess that's fine. It's good to be flexible, right? Plus - I've been having some weird shin/below the knee issues that come from improper sitting at work! It's strange having to pay attention to such things, now! I'm already a lot better, though, after paying strict attention to having two feet flat on the floor at all times if I'm sitting at my desk for the last couple of days, so I'm sure I'll be fine.
So my original plan this last weekend was a nice long run Saturday and a short-medium run Sunday. The problem came in that I was waiting until Saturday NIGHT and trying to plan a moonlight run with friends that just sort of fell apart (which certainly had nothing to do with the last minute way in which I tried to organize. Oh, no, definitely not!). This left me without a long run Saturday.
Come Sunday morning, my body wussed out first, as I turned the alarm off and promptly fell back asleep barely waking up in time to call my scheduled running partner to warn her. So we pushed things off another hour only to watch the wind pick up and the snow fly around until we BOTH wanted to wuss out on the run. Happily, we were able to muster the desire to at least get out for a medium run (time constraints prevented a long run). It actually turned out to be quite beautiful out in the woods. The wind was really strong but it was still warm out, so it didn't make it miserable and the woods kept you fairly sheltered. The trees were loud in the wind and the snowmobile trails were deserted since they were all ice - but ice that crushed under your feet instead of glare ice, so very runable. It was one of those runs that started . . . off. I don't know what was wrong but I had 20 different aches and pains though nothing was super sore or really tired at all. I wanted to be out there and yet something just wasn't connecting right so that I didn't want to be out there. So we ran the first half of the run mostly in silence - my running partner seemed to feel similar and I know opening my mouth would have just let out lots of whining from me! By the way back, though, things felt better and I was ready to go further but for that time constraint (a birthday party with friends I hadn't seen in a while so I wanted to go). I was downright babbling on the way back. I should come with a warning label sometimes during runs: "WARNING: Will talk you ear off about nothing in particular if you let her" though I do also have to say that I'm perfectly capable (usually) of being quiet if that is preferred by those I'm running with :) I guess it's a sign that I'm running my long runs at the correct pace if I'm able to talk, right?
Speaking of long runs - my dad has agreed to crew for me at Voyageur! Yay! More on that as the time gets nearer. It's probably not appropriate to talk about Voyageur while there's still snow on the ground, huh?
It really felt like spring was coming today, though. The road I ran on had that dirty look of Spring - no snow, no ice but puddles and all the dirt/grime left behind before the street cleaners come through. Some grass was showing through along the side of the road and you could smell that just-uncovered-grass smell. There was a wind but it wasn't cold and the sun was nice and warm. It's always so cruel to have a taste of spring when you know it's a ways off yet. Last week I ran in half tights! And was comfortable. It felt so nice to have my legs getting wet by puddles spraying up. I've never been so ready for spring before - I'm dying to have nice clear single track back again! Though, I have to say, I would have preferred the snow the Cities got since that would make the trails better (I've heard most are just glare ice) and I'd love to get more skiing in before the end of winter. As long as the trails aren't going to be clear, they might as well REALLY not be clear, is my thinking!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
From NR: Securian Half Marathon Race Report
First post from my new computer and boy, this turned into a bitch-fest post! Time to edit. I'm overall not so happy with this race but it was still okay, so here goes:
My first race of the year was a couple weekends ago - probably the earliest during the year that I've ever raced (with the possible exception of indoor track in high school/college). I decided on Friday that as long as I was in the Cities anyway, I might as well run the Securian Winter Half Marathon. Happily, my sister was able to bring my registration in so I didn't need to pay the race-day registration. $30 wasn't too bad for a half marathon, I figured, even if I wasn't exactly in racing form, I did still need a long run and might as well make it a higher effort since I wouldn't be getting as high of mileage as I wanted.
There was $2 parking in the ramp right at the starting line so I figured that made more sense than trying to find street parking somewhere. Luckily, I allowed myself a decent amount of time - silly me didn't think about all the one way streets and about how much time I'd spent sitting in lines of runners in cars trying to get into the single access to the parking garage . . . Then I made it into the garage and followed a few cars in front of me as we commenced circling. I started getting worried the higher we went and then as we were looping back down I noticed that cars were starting to pull into not-spots - places their car more or less fit into but weren't official parking spots. I suddenly wished I had done the same when I followed the car in front of right back to the exit. Happily, a volunteer directed us into the monthly parking where there was plenty of room. This also meant free parking since we didn't go by the gate on our way out - yay!
I still had enough time to pin my number on, tie my chip into my shoe and head up into the bathroom lines. A quick dash back into the building to warm up and there's Rick, Wayne, Karen, Guy and Jenny (who I just met then)! We chatted for a couple minutes and I glance at my watch - 3 minutes to race start, maybe I should head outside? Sure, great idea!
So I wander out and meld my way into the starting pack, which was surprisingly easy. Hmmm. A balloon for the 3:30 pace group? I think I'm a little closer to the front than I want to be. But Shane should be around here somewhere. So I look around and Lo and Behold! There's Shane! I work my way back to him just in time for the gun to go off. Though, I don't actually remember exactly how the race started - nothing nearly as awesome as a duck call, to be sure :) Shane said his plan was to start conservative and pick it up the last three miles - which sounded like a good plan. It quickly developed that our ideas of starting conservative were different though, so I let him go on ahead.
The race started with a little two mile loop around Rice Park, which is where all the ice sculptures for the winter carnival are at. It's hard to get a good look as you're running by, but was I saw looked pretty neat. It's also always fun to run a race through a public place when most of the people around have no idea what's going on. Around there, I ran into Randy around there, which was great. After that, the course is an out and back on Shepard Road and was actually kind of boring. Randy passed me by sometime out there but I could always keep him and Shane in sight.
One thing I'm rather confused about - the 5K and 10K started a few minutes behind the Half and once we got onto Shepard Road, 3 10K men went by . . . and that was it. One in the lead and two more a bit back. I did see a 4th 10K guy after they turned around (pretty obvious when they're going the other direction) but I didn't see a single other 10Ker so I was really surprised to see in the results how many people did that race. Very strange because it means the first three guys were ridiculously far ahead of anyone else. Maybe I've just never seen a 10K race from that vantage point before.
I was very surprised to see at the first water stop that they were handing out bottles of water. It made me glad to have brought my small hand held - I would have felt bad grabbing a bottle just to take a few sips and then toss it. What a waste!
It was fabulous to be able to have a longer run on nice, clear roads! I rather putzed about for the first bit, just enjoying a nice run and trying to keep the pace down. Randy and Shane were in sight the whole time, so it was nice to have some idea of how I was running in relation to people I know. I was amused because there didn't seem to be a lot of runners taking the tangent on corners and I kept watching as Shane in front of me would cut over more than anyone else. We were two of very few runners who ran tangents as opposed to staying in the right hand lane when the whole road was shut down for us.
I was rather surprised at how rolling the course was. Nothing huge but some nice long ups and downs when I was expecting a completely flat course was actually kind of nice. A couple in particular stuck out - one of the uphills made me excited for the way back and one looooong downhill made me a bit worried about the way back up it. Turns out, the way back up was so gradual that I didn't even notice I was heading back up it until I was less than two blocks from the top. Yay!
So back to the turnaround . . . I didn't think about it much as when went around it. Since it wasn't a strict out and back course, I didn't know where we'd be turning around for sure. I remember thinking that I'd be 1 1/2 or 2 miles from the turnaround and I shortly started seeing people coming back at me and was surprised. When I came to the turnaround, I was right on Shane so I was thinking about that as I rounded the barricades like everyone else and continued on my way. All of a sudden we hit the 8 mile marker (well, first off, all of a sudden Shane was off like a rocket and I was no longer just about to pass him but back to the mile marker). 8? That's strange, since we hadn't gone by mile 7 yet. Maybe someone put the wrong mile marker here? Well, that can't be right either since we should be just over halfway through mile 6 according to my mile split on my watch . . . Strange. Someone must have messed up the marker placements.
And I continue on my merry way, continuing with picking up the speed bit by bit since I'd been gaining on Shane again and I wanted to catch up with him. Then we ran by mile marker 9. Hm. Something is definitely wrong but the big question is: did we turn around wrong or are the markers just wrong? Finally we hit mile "10" where the volunteer was letting everyone know that the turnaround was wrong and we had 3.1 miles left. Huh. Lovely. It was good to know, though and it was clearly time to kick it down a gear. I caught up with Randy right before here and didn't think I'd be able to get Shane since he seemed to be running exactly the same pace as me, but suddenly, there he was. He tried to chat some but I was working pretty hard so I didn't have much to say - sorry Shane! I got him on one of the last (short and steeper) uphills, though. Which I enjoyed more than I should - it's been a while since I've beat Shane in a race!
Usually, I like to run the end of the course before the start of a race or at least take a good look at the map so I know distances left at approximate places. I hadn't done that this time at all, so I did some guessing about distances left as we rounded corners into downtown, which turned out to be pretty accurate. I did manage to remember that we finished on 6th so as we ran down 5th and I saw up a turn up head, I decided that meant only a block left after the turn and tried to pick up the pace according. Luckily, I was right!
So I finished in a half marathon PR - 1:32!! Of course, the race was over a mile short but hey . . .
I did a short cool down afterward and then wandered into the building since that was the most likely place to pick up my shiny finishers mug (and warm!). I didn't see an obvious place for it so I wandered around a bit - the place wasn't all that big but was rather crowded. I did find the table for the race shirts - a cool design but it cost an extra $20 if I wanted it! Plus it was white and I find it hard to believe that any female race director would ever pick white for a race shirts (serious male race directors - I don't want my bra to show through. Though, maybe I've just found the reason there's so many white shirts out there . . .) so I wasn't ready to turn a poorly done race into a $50 race. So I found the mug pickup - and was under-impressed again. It was white, which made sense being a winter marathon, but had a very small and blah race logo on one side with a blah advertisement on the other. The promised coupon book and winter carnival pin were not in the bag. I ended up deciding against cheering everyone else in and headed back to my sister's since I knew they were waiting for me and I didn't want to stand around outside and get cold - all my extra layers were in the car.
So overall? Not at all impressed. This was put on by a major race organizer and it's just plain not okay to have the turn around messed up - you need to have communication done better than that and this isn't this company's first race or even in the first handful of their races. On top of that, I have yet to see an official apology. No email sent out to race participates and nothing on their website (in fact, when they first posted results, they had the pace column calculated as though the race were the true distance). The only thing out there is a half-assed apology (that mostly reads as though they don't think it was a very big deal) on their facebook page. This is also the only place to find out (if you dig through posts) that the promised coupon books and pins were available to be mailed which is not a big deal for me but is for the people who had to ask if it could be mailed. Not classy. Had I been actually racing this, I would be mad but I'm more annoyed about it than anything.
Bottom line? I'm not planning on going back and will think twice about races put on by Anderson. But, it was a fun time anyway and, like I said, it was great to run on cleared roads and felt good to pick the pace up a bit.
My first race of the year was a couple weekends ago - probably the earliest during the year that I've ever raced (with the possible exception of indoor track in high school/college). I decided on Friday that as long as I was in the Cities anyway, I might as well run the Securian Winter Half Marathon. Happily, my sister was able to bring my registration in so I didn't need to pay the race-day registration. $30 wasn't too bad for a half marathon, I figured, even if I wasn't exactly in racing form, I did still need a long run and might as well make it a higher effort since I wouldn't be getting as high of mileage as I wanted.
There was $2 parking in the ramp right at the starting line so I figured that made more sense than trying to find street parking somewhere. Luckily, I allowed myself a decent amount of time - silly me didn't think about all the one way streets and about how much time I'd spent sitting in lines of runners in cars trying to get into the single access to the parking garage . . . Then I made it into the garage and followed a few cars in front of me as we commenced circling. I started getting worried the higher we went and then as we were looping back down I noticed that cars were starting to pull into not-spots - places their car more or less fit into but weren't official parking spots. I suddenly wished I had done the same when I followed the car in front of right back to the exit. Happily, a volunteer directed us into the monthly parking where there was plenty of room. This also meant free parking since we didn't go by the gate on our way out - yay!
I still had enough time to pin my number on, tie my chip into my shoe and head up into the bathroom lines. A quick dash back into the building to warm up and there's Rick, Wayne, Karen, Guy and Jenny (who I just met then)! We chatted for a couple minutes and I glance at my watch - 3 minutes to race start, maybe I should head outside? Sure, great idea!
So I wander out and meld my way into the starting pack, which was surprisingly easy. Hmmm. A balloon for the 3:30 pace group? I think I'm a little closer to the front than I want to be. But Shane should be around here somewhere. So I look around and Lo and Behold! There's Shane! I work my way back to him just in time for the gun to go off. Though, I don't actually remember exactly how the race started - nothing nearly as awesome as a duck call, to be sure :) Shane said his plan was to start conservative and pick it up the last three miles - which sounded like a good plan. It quickly developed that our ideas of starting conservative were different though, so I let him go on ahead.
The race started with a little two mile loop around Rice Park, which is where all the ice sculptures for the winter carnival are at. It's hard to get a good look as you're running by, but was I saw looked pretty neat. It's also always fun to run a race through a public place when most of the people around have no idea what's going on. Around there, I ran into Randy around there, which was great. After that, the course is an out and back on Shepard Road and was actually kind of boring. Randy passed me by sometime out there but I could always keep him and Shane in sight.
One thing I'm rather confused about - the 5K and 10K started a few minutes behind the Half and once we got onto Shepard Road, 3 10K men went by . . . and that was it. One in the lead and two more a bit back. I did see a 4th 10K guy after they turned around (pretty obvious when they're going the other direction) but I didn't see a single other 10Ker so I was really surprised to see in the results how many people did that race. Very strange because it means the first three guys were ridiculously far ahead of anyone else. Maybe I've just never seen a 10K race from that vantage point before.
I was very surprised to see at the first water stop that they were handing out bottles of water. It made me glad to have brought my small hand held - I would have felt bad grabbing a bottle just to take a few sips and then toss it. What a waste!
It was fabulous to be able to have a longer run on nice, clear roads! I rather putzed about for the first bit, just enjoying a nice run and trying to keep the pace down. Randy and Shane were in sight the whole time, so it was nice to have some idea of how I was running in relation to people I know. I was amused because there didn't seem to be a lot of runners taking the tangent on corners and I kept watching as Shane in front of me would cut over more than anyone else. We were two of very few runners who ran tangents as opposed to staying in the right hand lane when the whole road was shut down for us.
I was rather surprised at how rolling the course was. Nothing huge but some nice long ups and downs when I was expecting a completely flat course was actually kind of nice. A couple in particular stuck out - one of the uphills made me excited for the way back and one looooong downhill made me a bit worried about the way back up it. Turns out, the way back up was so gradual that I didn't even notice I was heading back up it until I was less than two blocks from the top. Yay!
So back to the turnaround . . . I didn't think about it much as when went around it. Since it wasn't a strict out and back course, I didn't know where we'd be turning around for sure. I remember thinking that I'd be 1 1/2 or 2 miles from the turnaround and I shortly started seeing people coming back at me and was surprised. When I came to the turnaround, I was right on Shane so I was thinking about that as I rounded the barricades like everyone else and continued on my way. All of a sudden we hit the 8 mile marker (well, first off, all of a sudden Shane was off like a rocket and I was no longer just about to pass him but back to the mile marker). 8? That's strange, since we hadn't gone by mile 7 yet. Maybe someone put the wrong mile marker here? Well, that can't be right either since we should be just over halfway through mile 6 according to my mile split on my watch . . . Strange. Someone must have messed up the marker placements.
And I continue on my merry way, continuing with picking up the speed bit by bit since I'd been gaining on Shane again and I wanted to catch up with him. Then we ran by mile marker 9. Hm. Something is definitely wrong but the big question is: did we turn around wrong or are the markers just wrong? Finally we hit mile "10" where the volunteer was letting everyone know that the turnaround was wrong and we had 3.1 miles left. Huh. Lovely. It was good to know, though and it was clearly time to kick it down a gear. I caught up with Randy right before here and didn't think I'd be able to get Shane since he seemed to be running exactly the same pace as me, but suddenly, there he was. He tried to chat some but I was working pretty hard so I didn't have much to say - sorry Shane! I got him on one of the last (short and steeper) uphills, though. Which I enjoyed more than I should - it's been a while since I've beat Shane in a race!
Usually, I like to run the end of the course before the start of a race or at least take a good look at the map so I know distances left at approximate places. I hadn't done that this time at all, so I did some guessing about distances left as we rounded corners into downtown, which turned out to be pretty accurate. I did manage to remember that we finished on 6th so as we ran down 5th and I saw up a turn up head, I decided that meant only a block left after the turn and tried to pick up the pace according. Luckily, I was right!
So I finished in a half marathon PR - 1:32!! Of course, the race was over a mile short but hey . . .
I did a short cool down afterward and then wandered into the building since that was the most likely place to pick up my shiny finishers mug (and warm!). I didn't see an obvious place for it so I wandered around a bit - the place wasn't all that big but was rather crowded. I did find the table for the race shirts - a cool design but it cost an extra $20 if I wanted it! Plus it was white and I find it hard to believe that any female race director would ever pick white for a race shirts (serious male race directors - I don't want my bra to show through. Though, maybe I've just found the reason there's so many white shirts out there . . .) so I wasn't ready to turn a poorly done race into a $50 race. So I found the mug pickup - and was under-impressed again. It was white, which made sense being a winter marathon, but had a very small and blah race logo on one side with a blah advertisement on the other. The promised coupon book and winter carnival pin were not in the bag. I ended up deciding against cheering everyone else in and headed back to my sister's since I knew they were waiting for me and I didn't want to stand around outside and get cold - all my extra layers were in the car.
So overall? Not at all impressed. This was put on by a major race organizer and it's just plain not okay to have the turn around messed up - you need to have communication done better than that and this isn't this company's first race or even in the first handful of their races. On top of that, I have yet to see an official apology. No email sent out to race participates and nothing on their website (in fact, when they first posted results, they had the pace column calculated as though the race were the true distance). The only thing out there is a half-assed apology (that mostly reads as though they don't think it was a very big deal) on their facebook page. This is also the only place to find out (if you dig through posts) that the promised coupon books and pins were available to be mailed which is not a big deal for me but is for the people who had to ask if it could be mailed. Not classy. Had I been actually racing this, I would be mad but I'm more annoyed about it than anything.
Bottom line? I'm not planning on going back and will think twice about races put on by Anderson. But, it was a fun time anyway and, like I said, it was great to run on cleared roads and felt good to pick the pace up a bit.
Monday, January 17, 2011
From NR: Short stories
Lots of random things to say so let's make one post of them all!
I've had some fabulous long runs on trails so far this winter! Who says snow needs to be the end of trail running for the year? You just have to be prepared to not care about pace and not be in a hurry if the footing is bad. I have to say, though, I have a muscle right below my knee in the front of my leg that is rather angry about all of the crappy footing. I also had an 8 hour shift at my part time job that involved lots of heavy lifting and bending so that could be part of it too, though. I am pretty happy with how my knee seems to be fine with all the slip-sliding around, so that's a good sign. That said, sometimes the snowmobile trails can be beautiful running with good footing if you hit them at the right time. And the views in the winter are so different without the leaves around.
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I've recently discovered this wonderful thing called the 3 mile lunch break run! I can eat half my lunch at my desk if I'm late to lunch and it's a suitable thing to eat (because if I'm late to lunch I'm soooooo hungry that running first is a bad idea), run for 3 miles and have plenty of time to, stretch, cool off, change, sponge off my face and eat the rest of my lunch! How wonderful! It's feels incredibly awesome to be able to run in the middle of your work day even if it's just a little bit and I'm super lucky to have the opportunity! I'm downtown so I can hit the lakewalk or run down Superior Street. The only problem? This will only be doable in the winter - I'm much too sweaty to do this once the weather warms up and still be presentable. I'm going to be so sad when that happens, though! Especially since I could hit the hiking trail - it's the section heading up from the M&H so I wouldn't feel all that safe coming down it in a hurry in the winter. But maybe once the weather gets better, I could run home after work and just bike to work the next day, leaving my car in the parking garage. Hmm . . .
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For some reason, I've started eying up running skirts lately. I've never really been on board with them for myself but my mind seems to be changing. I might have to try some on and see how they feel.
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I feel like I haven't raced in ages! I suppose, not counting the NMTC series, I haven't raced since Wild Duluth and that was almost 15 weeks ago. And really, I don't have anything planned for ages, either! Next Saturday is a half marathon in the Cities but if I have next weekend off, I'm probably headed in the opposite direction :) I'll really be raring to race when the time comes.
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So how about some 2011 running goals?
- Stay injury free! Which means being careful about upping mileage and also:
- Keep that regular weight lifting
- Get a better handle on what my stomach wants/can take during longer races. Actually, lunch time runs might help me with this. If I'm eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then I can eat one before heading out and one after to get my stomach used to running with PB&J in it. Of course, that's only 3 miles but it's something, right?
- Be comfortable with signing up for my first 50 mile and finish said 50
- I'll be setting a marathon time goal but not right now
- Race a road 5K so I can chip away at the PR some more - I didn't run a single road 5K last year!
- Yet again, log every run! I want a yearly total!
I've had some fabulous long runs on trails so far this winter! Who says snow needs to be the end of trail running for the year? You just have to be prepared to not care about pace and not be in a hurry if the footing is bad. I have to say, though, I have a muscle right below my knee in the front of my leg that is rather angry about all of the crappy footing. I also had an 8 hour shift at my part time job that involved lots of heavy lifting and bending so that could be part of it too, though. I am pretty happy with how my knee seems to be fine with all the slip-sliding around, so that's a good sign. That said, sometimes the snowmobile trails can be beautiful running with good footing if you hit them at the right time. And the views in the winter are so different without the leaves around.
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I've recently discovered this wonderful thing called the 3 mile lunch break run! I can eat half my lunch at my desk if I'm late to lunch and it's a suitable thing to eat (because if I'm late to lunch I'm soooooo hungry that running first is a bad idea), run for 3 miles and have plenty of time to, stretch, cool off, change, sponge off my face and eat the rest of my lunch! How wonderful! It's feels incredibly awesome to be able to run in the middle of your work day even if it's just a little bit and I'm super lucky to have the opportunity! I'm downtown so I can hit the lakewalk or run down Superior Street. The only problem? This will only be doable in the winter - I'm much too sweaty to do this once the weather warms up and still be presentable. I'm going to be so sad when that happens, though! Especially since I could hit the hiking trail - it's the section heading up from the M&H so I wouldn't feel all that safe coming down it in a hurry in the winter. But maybe once the weather gets better, I could run home after work and just bike to work the next day, leaving my car in the parking garage. Hmm . . .
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For some reason, I've started eying up running skirts lately. I've never really been on board with them for myself but my mind seems to be changing. I might have to try some on and see how they feel.
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I feel like I haven't raced in ages! I suppose, not counting the NMTC series, I haven't raced since Wild Duluth and that was almost 15 weeks ago. And really, I don't have anything planned for ages, either! Next Saturday is a half marathon in the Cities but if I have next weekend off, I'm probably headed in the opposite direction :) I'll really be raring to race when the time comes.
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So how about some 2011 running goals?
- Stay injury free! Which means being careful about upping mileage and also:
- Keep that regular weight lifting
- Get a better handle on what my stomach wants/can take during longer races. Actually, lunch time runs might help me with this. If I'm eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, then I can eat one before heading out and one after to get my stomach used to running with PB&J in it. Of course, that's only 3 miles but it's something, right?
- Be comfortable with signing up for my first 50 mile and finish said 50
- I'll be setting a marathon time goal but not right now
- Race a road 5K so I can chip away at the PR some more - I didn't run a single road 5K last year!
- Yet again, log every run! I want a yearly total!
Friday, December 31, 2010
From NR: Happy 2011!
Okay. Take three. Two times I've had this post half written and both times, the internet ate it. I've finally learned and am typing it where it won't get lost! Ha!
So, step one is to go over the goals I shared for 2010:
1) Make it strong through the February blahs. - Well, I wasn't actually able to run at that point so that goal is sort of an undetermined result, huh?
2) Consistently log my runs ALL YEAR even if it's just jotting down the mileage and nothing else. - Oh, man. Fail with a capital 'F'! I just don't understand why this is so difficult for me. It doesn't take that long just to jot down mileage. I did make it all the way to July this year, though, which is better than I have done recently.
3) Break 3:30 in a marathon, hopefully Eau Claire. Eau Claire didn't happen because of my knee and the Grandma's curse continued. For Whistlestop, I didn't even try for 3:30 and I didn't make my revised 3:35 goal. In my defense, though, that was due to my knee.
4) Keep my mileage up all year. - I feel as though I succeeded with this. At least, when I was ABLE to run . . . I'm doing long runs on the weekend as opposed to my usual winter routine of not doing much at all.
5) Run my first ultra (probably the Wild Duluth 50K). - Success!!
6) Stay injury free. - Boy, I didn't even last a week on this goal! And then the stupid injury came back in the fall. I've decided that my job was a lot to blame with this, though since I can really notice it when I go back even for my short night shitfts.
7) Keep running fun for myself and those running with me . I definitely succeed on this. At least, for me. I hope I was fun for those around me, too :)
Okay, so overall, not a good percentage looking at that list . . . A 3 in 7 success rate. Well, something to improve upon, right? I still feel as though I had a pretty great running year:
~ Getting injured got me back into lifting regularly. I've fallen out a bit since Wild Duluth and trying to work out my new job schedule but I'm working that back out.
~ It also forced me to learn to swim much better and makes me want to do it more.
~ While the Grandma's curse continued, it got better. So Grandma's 2011 will be even better!
~ I ran my faster times ever on many of the NMTC series races.
~ I ran my first ultra and finished strong and happy.
~ I three-peated at Boulderdash!
~ I still ran 3 marathons and one ultra when the most I've ever done is 2 marathons. And technically, a 'year' is still going so I might have another ultra under my belt before that year comes back around with Grandma's.
~ I've discovered trail running even more, come to love it even more and also ran my first trail marathon.
~ I had lots of fun times out on runs with my friends!
~ I did 11 total races with 4 at marathon distance or longer! Plus the spring and fall NMTC races, so I guess that adds 16 (well, 15 since Rough Rider didn't really count) for a total of 26! I'll add up race mileage soon and let you know.
So! It is now 2011! A whole new year is spread before us, etc, etc . . . I've been thinking a lot about what I want my running year this year to look like and while I don't have a full plan yet, I have a good start on it. First off is the biggie that I seem ready to announce: I'm planning on breaking my tradition of thinking about racing something but then waiting a year before actually doing it - I want to run my first 50 mile! And I think I've decided on Voyageur. The potential for nasty weather is still pretty scary, though. (Hell, the whole idea is pretty scary if I think about it too much.) Nasty weather, as in hot. And humid. And other similar conditions that my body is not a big fan of. But. It's super close, it's trail I know and love, there'll be tons of friends on the course or volunteering and it'll be easier to get someone to crew for me then for the fall 50 Mile. It's the end of July so I'll have time to acclimate to heat/humidity/grossness. And it's the 30th anniversary! So right now, that's my big goal for the year. But! It's something I need to make sure I'm training for from here on out. If my training derails in a major way for any reason, then it's something that I shouldn't be doing. So it's a goal but a "make sure I'm fully prepared first' goal.
This means I really feel as though I should be doing another ultra before I do a 50 mile. Or at least a spring marathon. So I could look into Eau Claire again in early May. Or Green Bay in mid-May. But right now I'm taking a look at the Chippewa Moraine 50K. It's April 23 and only a couple hours away. I really need to get more used to eating and would feel more comfortable doing Voyageur if I did another 50K doing better with the stomach. So - if you've run Chippewa Moraine, tell me about it! What did you like? What did you not like? What kind of trails are they? The other option is the Superior Trail 50K which I think I'd rather do instead of Chippewa simply because I love the SHT and the Spring races have been on my list for a while. The weekend has been moved off of fishing opener which would be fabulous for me any other year but this year, of course, it causes another conflict! This shouldn't surprised me as it's how my life tends to work. I'm heading out to Wyoming to see my cousin graduate high school. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to afford the time off from my job as I'm unsure of what my vacation is going to look like. It's not something I'm okay with skipping unless I absolutely can't get the vacation time but if it comes to that, then I'd like to do the Superior 50K.
And then there's Grandma's . . . I have yet to register and really should. I'd like to do one more go at it and then maybe leave it alone for a little while. It's so hard to not want to do it, though. It's my first one, I still want revenge on it, it's right in town, it's pretty and it's the 35th year. Plus, I feel as though I should do a normal road marathon this year and with Wild Duluth and Whistlestop on the same day, that's not looking promising otherwise. But a friend of mine has scheduled her wedding that day! Again, am I really surprised by a conflict? The problem here is definitely not that I'm racing too much :) Provided it's the right time of day, though, I'm thinking I should be able to make both so I'm making that my plan right now :)
The big thing it looks like I won't be able to do is the Brewhouse Triathlon. I've been the running part of a team the last two years and we all decided to do it on our own for the first time this year. But it's the weekend after Voyageur and this just doesn't strike me as a very good idea. Happily, it turns out that one of the other two has an awesome climbing trip scheduled for then and the other teammie is in grad school so I was thinking she might have to bail anyway. So perhaps another triathlon. But that's not super high on my list right now.
So that's my plan for the year as it stands now. I think I'll write out some specific goals, too, like I did last year, just so I have something to go back over since that's kind of fun. Also - I can't believe I didn't do a single road 5K all year, so I'll have to remedy that this year, too.
May everyone's 2011 be filled with many happy miles and no injuries!
So, step one is to go over the goals I shared for 2010:
1) Make it strong through the February blahs. - Well, I wasn't actually able to run at that point so that goal is sort of an undetermined result, huh?
2) Consistently log my runs ALL YEAR even if it's just jotting down the mileage and nothing else. - Oh, man. Fail with a capital 'F'! I just don't understand why this is so difficult for me. It doesn't take that long just to jot down mileage. I did make it all the way to July this year, though, which is better than I have done recently.
3) Break 3:30 in a marathon, hopefully Eau Claire. Eau Claire didn't happen because of my knee and the Grandma's curse continued. For Whistlestop, I didn't even try for 3:30 and I didn't make my revised 3:35 goal. In my defense, though, that was due to my knee.
4) Keep my mileage up all year. - I feel as though I succeeded with this. At least, when I was ABLE to run . . . I'm doing long runs on the weekend as opposed to my usual winter routine of not doing much at all.
5) Run my first ultra (probably the Wild Duluth 50K). - Success!!
6) Stay injury free. - Boy, I didn't even last a week on this goal! And then the stupid injury came back in the fall. I've decided that my job was a lot to blame with this, though since I can really notice it when I go back even for my short night shitfts.
7) Keep running fun for myself and those running with me . I definitely succeed on this. At least, for me. I hope I was fun for those around me, too :)
Okay, so overall, not a good percentage looking at that list . . . A 3 in 7 success rate. Well, something to improve upon, right? I still feel as though I had a pretty great running year:
~ Getting injured got me back into lifting regularly. I've fallen out a bit since Wild Duluth and trying to work out my new job schedule but I'm working that back out.
~ It also forced me to learn to swim much better and makes me want to do it more.
~ While the Grandma's curse continued, it got better. So Grandma's 2011 will be even better!
~ I ran my faster times ever on many of the NMTC series races.
~ I ran my first ultra and finished strong and happy.
~ I three-peated at Boulderdash!
~ I still ran 3 marathons and one ultra when the most I've ever done is 2 marathons. And technically, a 'year' is still going so I might have another ultra under my belt before that year comes back around with Grandma's.
~ I've discovered trail running even more, come to love it even more and also ran my first trail marathon.
~ I had lots of fun times out on runs with my friends!
~ I did 11 total races with 4 at marathon distance or longer! Plus the spring and fall NMTC races, so I guess that adds 16 (well, 15 since Rough Rider didn't really count) for a total of 26! I'll add up race mileage soon and let you know.
So! It is now 2011! A whole new year is spread before us, etc, etc . . . I've been thinking a lot about what I want my running year this year to look like and while I don't have a full plan yet, I have a good start on it. First off is the biggie that I seem ready to announce: I'm planning on breaking my tradition of thinking about racing something but then waiting a year before actually doing it - I want to run my first 50 mile! And I think I've decided on Voyageur. The potential for nasty weather is still pretty scary, though. (Hell, the whole idea is pretty scary if I think about it too much.) Nasty weather, as in hot. And humid. And other similar conditions that my body is not a big fan of. But. It's super close, it's trail I know and love, there'll be tons of friends on the course or volunteering and it'll be easier to get someone to crew for me then for the fall 50 Mile. It's the end of July so I'll have time to acclimate to heat/humidity/grossness. And it's the 30th anniversary! So right now, that's my big goal for the year. But! It's something I need to make sure I'm training for from here on out. If my training derails in a major way for any reason, then it's something that I shouldn't be doing. So it's a goal but a "make sure I'm fully prepared first' goal.
This means I really feel as though I should be doing another ultra before I do a 50 mile. Or at least a spring marathon. So I could look into Eau Claire again in early May. Or Green Bay in mid-May. But right now I'm taking a look at the Chippewa Moraine 50K. It's April 23 and only a couple hours away. I really need to get more used to eating and would feel more comfortable doing Voyageur if I did another 50K doing better with the stomach. So - if you've run Chippewa Moraine, tell me about it! What did you like? What did you not like? What kind of trails are they? The other option is the Superior Trail 50K which I think I'd rather do instead of Chippewa simply because I love the SHT and the Spring races have been on my list for a while. The weekend has been moved off of fishing opener which would be fabulous for me any other year but this year, of course, it causes another conflict! This shouldn't surprised me as it's how my life tends to work. I'm heading out to Wyoming to see my cousin graduate high school. However, I'm not sure I'll be able to afford the time off from my job as I'm unsure of what my vacation is going to look like. It's not something I'm okay with skipping unless I absolutely can't get the vacation time but if it comes to that, then I'd like to do the Superior 50K.
And then there's Grandma's . . . I have yet to register and really should. I'd like to do one more go at it and then maybe leave it alone for a little while. It's so hard to not want to do it, though. It's my first one, I still want revenge on it, it's right in town, it's pretty and it's the 35th year. Plus, I feel as though I should do a normal road marathon this year and with Wild Duluth and Whistlestop on the same day, that's not looking promising otherwise. But a friend of mine has scheduled her wedding that day! Again, am I really surprised by a conflict? The problem here is definitely not that I'm racing too much :) Provided it's the right time of day, though, I'm thinking I should be able to make both so I'm making that my plan right now :)
The big thing it looks like I won't be able to do is the Brewhouse Triathlon. I've been the running part of a team the last two years and we all decided to do it on our own for the first time this year. But it's the weekend after Voyageur and this just doesn't strike me as a very good idea. Happily, it turns out that one of the other two has an awesome climbing trip scheduled for then and the other teammie is in grad school so I was thinking she might have to bail anyway. So perhaps another triathlon. But that's not super high on my list right now.
So that's my plan for the year as it stands now. I think I'll write out some specific goals, too, like I did last year, just so I have something to go back over since that's kind of fun. Also - I can't believe I didn't do a single road 5K all year, so I'll have to remedy that this year, too.
May everyone's 2011 be filled with many happy miles and no injuries!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
From NR: A normal schedule? What?
Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've had a lot going on but none of that has been racing and much of this time has been take it easy in running time so there's not too much to report on. I found a new job (huzzah!!) and am now working two jobs plus my computer is on the fritz so I'm generally only online using Kyle's computer. All of which adds up to very little time for blog writing.
So the big thing I'm working on right now is figuring out how to fit running and lifting and swimming into a 'normal' schedule. I've been so spoiled in some ways with a retail schedule - it's nice to be able to get things done during the day if I don't start until later or to get off early if I start early and be able to run well before dinnertime. Now I'm going to have to be waking up early to do my things before work or run after work and before dinner. So I've also been working on making healthy snacks to bring with me to work so I CAN run after work without being starving before I even head out the door. My current favorite Wasa Crip 'n Light crackers with cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
So after Wild Duluth, I took it easy for a while. Instead of taking a couple of weeks completely off, though, I took a few weeks easy. I only ran on Wednesday with friends and raced Sundays for the rest of the NMTC series. My body recovered from the 50K pretty quickly, I think, so that was great. Although, having to race a 5K for the last NMTC race was sure a shock to the system! The most exciting news since Wild Duluth, though - I won the NMTC fall trail series! It's super exciting, even if it feels like I only won because faster people didn't consistently show up. But hey, like my coach told me back in high school when I won the mile in track and said it was only because a couple of my teammates ran different events - you can only race who shows up. So I won a free pair of shoes from Austin-Jarrow, which is pretty awesome. I decided on a neutral Saucony on the idea of stepping down the amount of stability that I "need" my shoe to provide but not jumping into training in racing flats. So we'll see how those go when it's time to change my shoes.
So now I'm done with the easy time and it's time to start looking ahead to next year. Whatever it is that next year holds :) My problem right now is deciding on what it is I want to focus on (what? My problem rests on decisions? What a shock!) and what I want my race schedule for next year to look like. Regardless, it's time to start working on bringing my mileage back up and getting a good winter base down. It's also time to get back to lifting regularity since part of my down time was also a break from lifting. Luckily, I love winter running! Most of the time.
Racing is done for the year. I was going to be on a team doing the Key West Ragnar, but then I got an extremely expensive vet bill so that plan got nixed. I'm bummed to miss it because I LOVE Ragnars but I also had this weird sense of doom about the race (in terms of my knee exploding) so I'm also a tiny bit relieved. It'll be nice to be able to take the winter to base build rather than worry about a 30-36 mile (divided into three legs, but still) race in January. Hopefully I'll be able to do a Ragnar later in 2011, then.
I was also going to do the Bridge to Peace 5K but it got moved from it's December time to the beginning of November on the same day as the High School State Cross Country meet and that takes precedence! I've been working the meet the last few years and love it - especially when I get to help out at the finish line. This year marked 10 years since my team won (I can't believe it's been that long!! My ten year high school reunion is this coming summer!) and I STILL get nervous once I make the turn from the highway towards St. Olaf on my way there. State was such a big part of my life for so many years, that it's nice to be able to go back and help out. Though, I'm always interested in the vast gap in numbers of boys who collapse at the finish vs girls who collapse. It's always more girls by a large number. Even now that it's chip timed and you aren't forced to stand in a chute in finishing order until someone ripped the tag from your race number. I don't think I ever collapsed at the end of a cross country race (someone can correct me if I'm wrong) though I did almost black out after my last cross country race ever (in college). Anyway, there was one girl who looked so devastated when she crossed the finish line that I had to go and give her a hug and help her through the finish area. I was happy to see an Esko girl when her race and a Grand Rapids girl raced and finished well, though not as well as she wanted. Luckily, she's not a senior so she has more State in her future.
I might head to the Cities for a winter race this year, but I'm not sure which one. Any thoughts? The Yukon Days races get an awesome hooded sweatshirt! And then there's the St Paul Winter Carnival Half Marathon. Or I should head to the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run since I've always wanted to do that. It's super excited to have weekends free now, let me tell you!
So the big thing I'm working on right now is figuring out how to fit running and lifting and swimming into a 'normal' schedule. I've been so spoiled in some ways with a retail schedule - it's nice to be able to get things done during the day if I don't start until later or to get off early if I start early and be able to run well before dinnertime. Now I'm going to have to be waking up early to do my things before work or run after work and before dinner. So I've also been working on making healthy snacks to bring with me to work so I CAN run after work without being starving before I even head out the door. My current favorite Wasa Crip 'n Light crackers with cheese. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.
So after Wild Duluth, I took it easy for a while. Instead of taking a couple of weeks completely off, though, I took a few weeks easy. I only ran on Wednesday with friends and raced Sundays for the rest of the NMTC series. My body recovered from the 50K pretty quickly, I think, so that was great. Although, having to race a 5K for the last NMTC race was sure a shock to the system! The most exciting news since Wild Duluth, though - I won the NMTC fall trail series! It's super exciting, even if it feels like I only won because faster people didn't consistently show up. But hey, like my coach told me back in high school when I won the mile in track and said it was only because a couple of my teammates ran different events - you can only race who shows up. So I won a free pair of shoes from Austin-Jarrow, which is pretty awesome. I decided on a neutral Saucony on the idea of stepping down the amount of stability that I "need" my shoe to provide but not jumping into training in racing flats. So we'll see how those go when it's time to change my shoes.
So now I'm done with the easy time and it's time to start looking ahead to next year. Whatever it is that next year holds :) My problem right now is deciding on what it is I want to focus on (what? My problem rests on decisions? What a shock!) and what I want my race schedule for next year to look like. Regardless, it's time to start working on bringing my mileage back up and getting a good winter base down. It's also time to get back to lifting regularity since part of my down time was also a break from lifting. Luckily, I love winter running! Most of the time.
Racing is done for the year. I was going to be on a team doing the Key West Ragnar, but then I got an extremely expensive vet bill so that plan got nixed. I'm bummed to miss it because I LOVE Ragnars but I also had this weird sense of doom about the race (in terms of my knee exploding) so I'm also a tiny bit relieved. It'll be nice to be able to take the winter to base build rather than worry about a 30-36 mile (divided into three legs, but still) race in January. Hopefully I'll be able to do a Ragnar later in 2011, then.
I was also going to do the Bridge to Peace 5K but it got moved from it's December time to the beginning of November on the same day as the High School State Cross Country meet and that takes precedence! I've been working the meet the last few years and love it - especially when I get to help out at the finish line. This year marked 10 years since my team won (I can't believe it's been that long!! My ten year high school reunion is this coming summer!) and I STILL get nervous once I make the turn from the highway towards St. Olaf on my way there. State was such a big part of my life for so many years, that it's nice to be able to go back and help out. Though, I'm always interested in the vast gap in numbers of boys who collapse at the finish vs girls who collapse. It's always more girls by a large number. Even now that it's chip timed and you aren't forced to stand in a chute in finishing order until someone ripped the tag from your race number. I don't think I ever collapsed at the end of a cross country race (someone can correct me if I'm wrong) though I did almost black out after my last cross country race ever (in college). Anyway, there was one girl who looked so devastated when she crossed the finish line that I had to go and give her a hug and help her through the finish area. I was happy to see an Esko girl when her race and a Grand Rapids girl raced and finished well, though not as well as she wanted. Luckily, she's not a senior so she has more State in her future.
I might head to the Cities for a winter race this year, but I'm not sure which one. Any thoughts? The Yukon Days races get an awesome hooded sweatshirt! And then there's the St Paul Winter Carnival Half Marathon. Or I should head to the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run since I've always wanted to do that. It's super excited to have weekends free now, let me tell you!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Pool ramblings
It feels like it's been forever since I've been in the pool. Between taper/race/recover/race/recover and new job switch over, I don't know if I've been there the whole month of October. So I finally got my ass back in the pool yesterday, expecting it to be super crowded as I've never been there after a 'normal' work day is getting over with. Apparently Friday at 5ish is the best time to go - there was practically no one there! I decided ahead of time to do a mile to get back into it and not let myself cut it short.
I tried to let my brain wander more the way it can running. The only problem is that it's super hard to both let your brain wander and keep accurate track of the number of laps you're swimming. I'm pretty sure I did more than a mile (maybe a lot more) because every time I wasn't sure if I was doing 14 or 16, I would say I was on 14 - if I can't keep track that I have to swim more! So I'll have to work on that, too. Maybe it'll be easier if I do lap counts instead of length counts. It's like thinking about the distance you're running by keeping track of how many blocks you've gone. Ugh. Which is why I'm trying to let my mind wander or focus on form rather than think always about lap count. It also seems that when I don't super focus on lap count then my body can get into a 'stride' better, too. Which would also be easier if my pool weren't so damn short . . .
I tried to let my brain wander more the way it can running. The only problem is that it's super hard to both let your brain wander and keep accurate track of the number of laps you're swimming. I'm pretty sure I did more than a mile (maybe a lot more) because every time I wasn't sure if I was doing 14 or 16, I would say I was on 14 - if I can't keep track that I have to swim more! So I'll have to work on that, too. Maybe it'll be easier if I do lap counts instead of length counts. It's like thinking about the distance you're running by keeping track of how many blocks you've gone. Ugh. Which is why I'm trying to let my mind wander or focus on form rather than think always about lap count. It also seems that when I don't super focus on lap count then my body can get into a 'stride' better, too. Which would also be easier if my pool weren't so damn short . . .
Thursday, October 21, 2010
From NR: My First Ultra!
My first ultra! Everything they said it would be all in one little race!
My first response when people ask about it? BRUTAL. In ALL CAPS! But! I quickly follow with how I finished strong and happy and I never said 'never again' at any point.
The day started off innocently enough. I'd been stressing about what to wear (like always, I'm getting better but I swear I can never dress myself for running) and settled on half-tights even though I'd thought I'd get too warm (and I did a couple times but I'm super glad I wore them). I figured I could always just sport bra it if I got too got and then I also packed a pair of shorts just in a drop bag just in case I got REALLY hot and felt like changing quick, but the most I did was take off the tank top I had under my Icebreaker shirt.
Headed down to Canal Park and onto the bus. Of course, with the sudden influx of runners (something like 20 runners registered the night before and morning of!), there wasn't exactly room for everyone. Time to pack us in three to a seat but luckily ultra runners aren't exactly obese so it worked just fine. Now, Highway 35 is still under construction so the bus wasn't allowed on it which meant side roads only for us. I generally hate driving a course before running it and it seemed to take forever to get there but it wasn't as though we were driving the same course we'd be running, so it wasn't really so bad, it just felt like we were sitting on the bus for ages. We got there late but Andy (the race director) gave us extra time so we'd all have time to hit the bathrooms and get our drop bags in the right boxes before starting.
Gather at the start line, listen to last minute course descriptions that no one will remember and we're off! Having never done a 50K before, it was hard to know how to pace. My thought at the Half Voyageur was to run strong while I felt strong so that's what I went for, trying to run strong but trying to hold back. It didn't feel too fast and I knew this section was nice and runnable so I took my time figuring a pace out, which seemed to be hopscotching with Tracy and Catherine for a while and running just behind Marcus.
Picture by Zach Pierce! Grand Portage aid station - I don't know why I look so tired already. I certainly didn't feel that way.
Then I fell in with Tracy and Catherine for a bit and that was quite lovely. One of the times they passed me, I just hung out at their pace. Turns out Catherine was gunning for a 6 hour finish and that's what I figured would be reasonable for me so I ran along with them for a while until it felt too fast. There seemed to be something I managed to forget for those first 10 miles: Whistlestop. Last weekend. I'm plugging along quite nicely when just after Ely's Peak my legs said "Wait. We're doing what? But we just ran a marathon last weekend! What were you doing running 6 hour pace??" See, the 6 hour rough goal was rather arbitrarily reached by looking at how two of my friends ran last year and figuring I'd be somewhere in-between their times. It also was a mark that did not take running a marathon the weekend before into consideration. Oops.
So, Ely's Peak. The only part of the course that I'd never done before the race. Surprise! Actually, as I headed up it, I thought several times of Lisa who was doing her first 100K so she'd have to go down Ely's Peak, run 20 more miles and then go back up. Now, Lisa is significantly shorter than I am and there were several rocks on the way up Ely's Peak that are past or at Lisa's waist so that she would need to heft herself up and down. So I was thankful that I was tall :)
I slowed down after Ely's Peak, stopped to pee, and later almost fell off a boardwalk. Hm. Not much longer after that I took a digger and I'm not too sure what it was that tripped me up. There was a small tree in front of me that I planned to use to stop myself but I didn't make it that far and ended up looking at it from the ground. Of course, I landed on my left side and ripped up some stuff that had finally been healing from my fall at Hawk Ridge. It wasn't so bad, though and I got right back up and continued on my way with barely an 'ouch.' Turns out I manged to sort of burn my left shoulder, though - a very strange mark that left the next few days.
The Magney/Snively aid station was next and after eyeing up their table while the awesome volunteers filled my water, I decided that they only thing that looked good was an orange slice. After grabbing the extra gels from my drop bag, I continued my way up Skyline. Dropping down to the Spirit Mt aid station was the first time I ignored my watch timer - I had decided that the best way to make sure I was eating on time was to set my timer to go off every 45 minutes since I manged to muss up my adding during the Half Voyageur. Well, this time my timer went off and I just didn't want to eat. Which I said out loud. I did a lot of talking out loud to myself during this race. So I let myself go 10 more minutes and then forced one down.
Next up - the Spirit Mountain aid station. I decided ahead of time that juice sounded good but nothing solid looked all that appetizing - my stomach was starting to get just unsettled enough to not want anything. This aid station was manned by Connie's husband and kids, which was nice. They have made some fabulous hot apple cider and I downed almost a full cup of it before thinking maybe that wasn't such a hot idea for my stomach. Ah well, it was super tasty and just what I wanted. I was offered mashed potatoes a couple times but that really didn't sound good so off I went.
Here's where my stomach really started being unhappy. I made it up the stairs okay (all 131 of them!) and after that comes one of my favorite spots on the trail so I tried to let my legs stretch out. And then my stomach wanted to stretch out so to the side of the trail I went and didn't quite throw up. A nice guy went by me here and checked and double checked ("are you sure?") if I was okay. I started slowly putzing along the trail. Coming down to the zoo, where I really love to stretch it out but not this time, Randy caught up to me and asked if I need anything, insisting he had things to spare. I said I was fine, it was just my stomach feeling nauseous. Well in that case, he said, you need an e-cap. Now, I'd heard about these things but never actually tried one. I figured I might as well. Hmmm. It's a fricking horse pill! Shockingly, I had no trouble swallowing it. It seemed to work instantly - fabulous! I hung out with Randy for a bit - turns out it took him 15 years to run another 50K after his first one. He also mentioned that every time he runs something big right after a marathon, it seems that his legs give up suddenly rather than gradually. Hm. Well, I seem to be okay. Not great but okay so maybe my legs are going the gradual route, I'm sure I won't get much worse than I am here. Ah, silly Sam.
Sadly, the e-cap doesn't seem to last very long and I let Randy go. I start feeling really tired/sleepy here, too and think about how this would be a big problem with running a 100 miler (not that I'm actually considering one right now) in that I'd have to stay up all night and I'm not so good with little sleep.
Right around there is where I go downhill real quick like. My legs are shot. I cross Cody St and slowly walk my way up the road wondering why no-one was passing me. All I wanted to do was lie down. I pictured Liz running along (I don't know why it was Liz, but I thought this a few times and it was always Liz that I pictured finding me) and finding me laying down on the side of the trail. Or heck, right in the middle of the trail looked fine and dandy too. I stopped and dipped my hands into a couple of creeks as I crossed over them and that felt nice. I wanted to sit down but managed to convince myself that at least walking slowly was moving forward and sitting was most distinctly NOT moving forward.
Coming up to Highland/Getchell I was in really bad shape. I didn't think there was any way I could keep going for 10 more miles AFTER Highland. My legs just couldn't do it. I was 98% sure I wasn't going to finish. Just one problem - I didn't want to not finish. I actually said (okay, definitely whined - think Luke Skywalker and Toshi Station) out loud once "I don't want to drop" I just didn't think my legs could do it.
Somewhere around there, Marcus came up on me. I'd been wondering where he'd been at - I hadn't seen him since the first aid station and was worried that his leg was bothering him and he dropped. Turns out he'd been power-walking since then. Since mile 6. I'm not sure if my thinking started changing before or after he came up on me but when he did catch me, I thought "If Marcus can do it, then I can do it, even if I have to walk the rest of the way." My thought pattern changed from "I don't think I can do this" to "I don't know if I can do this." Two very different things! I figured the section after Highland was another of my favorites and that it would be easy enough to walk through since it's very runnable. I could make another decision at Haines Road (someone I talked myself into thinking there might be an aid station there). And so I slogged my way into Highland.
Step one, take off the jersey under my t-shirt and shove it in my drop back. Step two, get water bottle filled since I went dry. Step three, plop down on the ground in front of the table and eye up the food. Wait, what? I looked around to make sure I wasn't too much in the way. The other two guys there didn't seem like they needed around me so I stayed where I was for another few seconds. Nothing really looked good here, either, but I had already ignored my watch timer once and was behind on food intake. I nabbed part of a salted nut roll and started chewing (to spit out the second bite after crossing Skyline), grabbed my water bottle and a couple pieces of watermelon, nodded my thanks to Shane since I wasn't up for talking and went on my not-so-merry way. Apparently I was described as 'death warmed over' - probably accurate. Shane also told me later that I was maybe a bit rude which makes me sad. I never want to be rude to the awesome volunteers.
I then promptly dropped a piece of watermelon. I considered not going back since it was a long 8 or 10 steps back but smartness won out and I went back to grab a piece to replace it. I of course didn't think to salt them until I was on the trail and I was definitely not turning back then. I also started taking another gel since my timer had gone off again - a tinsy bit at a time, following every sip with water and hoping that would keep my stomach from rebelling. Ran into Marcus' mom who is great and crossed Skyline, to find Kris! We chatted for a bit as I crossed the road and then I went on my way.
My new mantra started here and took me to the finish - "just a little, just slowly." I took all pressure off and said I didn't need to run a lot or fast. Even if I only ran 3 or 4 steps, it's faster than walking. Bit by bit, I could run further and a little faster. My stomach didn't get better as quickly, though, and kept me from running very fast. I could already tell that I'd be in trouble water wise again, though. My plan of little sips of gel following by water was running me dry fast. I needed to ration - no more than half my bottle before Haines so I'd have half a bottle to take me to the next aid station. I managed to mostly keep to this, though I was really thirsty, so I drank more than I 'should' have. Luckily, a guy went by me after Haines and shared a sip of his water. What I wanted to do was guzzle the rest of his bottle but I kept it to a sip. We both were sure that the next aid was at 27th instead of 24th for some reason and we both went bone dry before then.
I was getting stronger and stronger feeling, though. I was even running for a bit up slight inclines! Very exciting. I no longer felt like death and as soon as I crossed Haines, I knew for sure I'd be able to finish. Though, I couldn't figure out where all the women were! I'd been passed by a handful of guys, but no women at all since Tracy and Catherine. Somewhere after Haines, though, I was sure I was hearing Liz's voice behind me somewhere (again, I don't know why I decided it was Liz). And I kept seeing Eric a ton out there, who said when I asked that he was out cheering for Deb so women were out there somewhere nearby. Not that I was really concerned with my standing but I was wondering where everyone was.
Coming onto the water reservoir, I felt great and passed back the guy who gave me water. Into the 27th Ave aid station - last one! They had apple juice which was all that looked good and the volunteer there poured me a lovely glass of it. I drank a bit of coke since I've heard that can help with stomachs, drank my apple juice, was cheering by Johnny Cash on the volunteers iPod speakers and headed out.
The last three miles were awesome. I was giddy! This is a section that always feels nasty to me for some reason but it felt just fine at the pace I was going. I made sure to hold back some, though, since even though I felt free and clear, I thought I better make sure I finished strong and didn't crash again. I caught up to a guy who passed me up Highland as I crossed Skyline. I was running uphill! Strongly! It's the last uphill before the finish! I paused to ring the peace bell and started my gimp down the last mile. The stairs out of Enger were EVIL! And then the downhill. Ow. It hurt so much but in a 'but I'm so close! Why must it hurt now?' sort of way so that I actually started laughing a couple of times!
Off onto Michigan Street, try not to get hit by a truck, cross the road, over the bridge, under the highway and THERE'S MARCUS! I was super excited to see I had caught back up to him. He was walking his way in and talking to Leslie. The big dilemma, though! What if he doesn't start running when I catch up? Do I walk in with him and try to convince him to run in or run my way by him? Happily, he started running as I approached so we got to run in together. Of course, the two of us seem incapable of running next to each other without picking the pace up bit by bit. I blame Marcus. The punk also decided to sprint in and I not interest in sprinting at the end of my first 50K so he beat me to the finish! Like how I say that as though me deciding to sprint would have made a difference? It was fabulous to feel so great and finish laughing, though!
Picture by Eve Stein.
So a time of 7:20. Not so bad with all my walking (probably a good straight hour of it during my rough spot) and I finished strong and happy to boot! I was excited to be handed a finisher's mug, too. Awesome. A few minutes later, in came Liz - I knew she was right there behind me.
Overall, a beautiful day! I had a good time for most of it (what's an hour or two during a 7 hour race?) and even though I started too fast, I did managed to back off before my body forced me to. I pulled myself through a bad spot and was able to break the rest of the race into manageable pieces. Now I just need to figure out what is up with my stomach and what it wants to eat.
My first response when people ask about it? BRUTAL. In ALL CAPS! But! I quickly follow with how I finished strong and happy and I never said 'never again' at any point.
The day started off innocently enough. I'd been stressing about what to wear (like always, I'm getting better but I swear I can never dress myself for running) and settled on half-tights even though I'd thought I'd get too warm (and I did a couple times but I'm super glad I wore them). I figured I could always just sport bra it if I got too got and then I also packed a pair of shorts just in a drop bag just in case I got REALLY hot and felt like changing quick, but the most I did was take off the tank top I had under my Icebreaker shirt.
Headed down to Canal Park and onto the bus. Of course, with the sudden influx of runners (something like 20 runners registered the night before and morning of!), there wasn't exactly room for everyone. Time to pack us in three to a seat but luckily ultra runners aren't exactly obese so it worked just fine. Now, Highway 35 is still under construction so the bus wasn't allowed on it which meant side roads only for us. I generally hate driving a course before running it and it seemed to take forever to get there but it wasn't as though we were driving the same course we'd be running, so it wasn't really so bad, it just felt like we were sitting on the bus for ages. We got there late but Andy (the race director) gave us extra time so we'd all have time to hit the bathrooms and get our drop bags in the right boxes before starting.
Gather at the start line, listen to last minute course descriptions that no one will remember and we're off! Having never done a 50K before, it was hard to know how to pace. My thought at the Half Voyageur was to run strong while I felt strong so that's what I went for, trying to run strong but trying to hold back. It didn't feel too fast and I knew this section was nice and runnable so I took my time figuring a pace out, which seemed to be hopscotching with Tracy and Catherine for a while and running just behind Marcus.
Picture by Zach Pierce! Grand Portage aid station - I don't know why I look so tired already. I certainly didn't feel that way.
Then I fell in with Tracy and Catherine for a bit and that was quite lovely. One of the times they passed me, I just hung out at their pace. Turns out Catherine was gunning for a 6 hour finish and that's what I figured would be reasonable for me so I ran along with them for a while until it felt too fast. There seemed to be something I managed to forget for those first 10 miles: Whistlestop. Last weekend. I'm plugging along quite nicely when just after Ely's Peak my legs said "Wait. We're doing what? But we just ran a marathon last weekend! What were you doing running 6 hour pace??" See, the 6 hour rough goal was rather arbitrarily reached by looking at how two of my friends ran last year and figuring I'd be somewhere in-between their times. It also was a mark that did not take running a marathon the weekend before into consideration. Oops.
So, Ely's Peak. The only part of the course that I'd never done before the race. Surprise! Actually, as I headed up it, I thought several times of Lisa who was doing her first 100K so she'd have to go down Ely's Peak, run 20 more miles and then go back up. Now, Lisa is significantly shorter than I am and there were several rocks on the way up Ely's Peak that are past or at Lisa's waist so that she would need to heft herself up and down. So I was thankful that I was tall :)
I slowed down after Ely's Peak, stopped to pee, and later almost fell off a boardwalk. Hm. Not much longer after that I took a digger and I'm not too sure what it was that tripped me up. There was a small tree in front of me that I planned to use to stop myself but I didn't make it that far and ended up looking at it from the ground. Of course, I landed on my left side and ripped up some stuff that had finally been healing from my fall at Hawk Ridge. It wasn't so bad, though and I got right back up and continued on my way with barely an 'ouch.' Turns out I manged to sort of burn my left shoulder, though - a very strange mark that left the next few days.
The Magney/Snively aid station was next and after eyeing up their table while the awesome volunteers filled my water, I decided that they only thing that looked good was an orange slice. After grabbing the extra gels from my drop bag, I continued my way up Skyline. Dropping down to the Spirit Mt aid station was the first time I ignored my watch timer - I had decided that the best way to make sure I was eating on time was to set my timer to go off every 45 minutes since I manged to muss up my adding during the Half Voyageur. Well, this time my timer went off and I just didn't want to eat. Which I said out loud. I did a lot of talking out loud to myself during this race. So I let myself go 10 more minutes and then forced one down.
Next up - the Spirit Mountain aid station. I decided ahead of time that juice sounded good but nothing solid looked all that appetizing - my stomach was starting to get just unsettled enough to not want anything. This aid station was manned by Connie's husband and kids, which was nice. They have made some fabulous hot apple cider and I downed almost a full cup of it before thinking maybe that wasn't such a hot idea for my stomach. Ah well, it was super tasty and just what I wanted. I was offered mashed potatoes a couple times but that really didn't sound good so off I went.
Here's where my stomach really started being unhappy. I made it up the stairs okay (all 131 of them!) and after that comes one of my favorite spots on the trail so I tried to let my legs stretch out. And then my stomach wanted to stretch out so to the side of the trail I went and didn't quite throw up. A nice guy went by me here and checked and double checked ("are you sure?") if I was okay. I started slowly putzing along the trail. Coming down to the zoo, where I really love to stretch it out but not this time, Randy caught up to me and asked if I need anything, insisting he had things to spare. I said I was fine, it was just my stomach feeling nauseous. Well in that case, he said, you need an e-cap. Now, I'd heard about these things but never actually tried one. I figured I might as well. Hmmm. It's a fricking horse pill! Shockingly, I had no trouble swallowing it. It seemed to work instantly - fabulous! I hung out with Randy for a bit - turns out it took him 15 years to run another 50K after his first one. He also mentioned that every time he runs something big right after a marathon, it seems that his legs give up suddenly rather than gradually. Hm. Well, I seem to be okay. Not great but okay so maybe my legs are going the gradual route, I'm sure I won't get much worse than I am here. Ah, silly Sam.
Sadly, the e-cap doesn't seem to last very long and I let Randy go. I start feeling really tired/sleepy here, too and think about how this would be a big problem with running a 100 miler (not that I'm actually considering one right now) in that I'd have to stay up all night and I'm not so good with little sleep.
Right around there is where I go downhill real quick like. My legs are shot. I cross Cody St and slowly walk my way up the road wondering why no-one was passing me. All I wanted to do was lie down. I pictured Liz running along (I don't know why it was Liz, but I thought this a few times and it was always Liz that I pictured finding me) and finding me laying down on the side of the trail. Or heck, right in the middle of the trail looked fine and dandy too. I stopped and dipped my hands into a couple of creeks as I crossed over them and that felt nice. I wanted to sit down but managed to convince myself that at least walking slowly was moving forward and sitting was most distinctly NOT moving forward.
Coming up to Highland/Getchell I was in really bad shape. I didn't think there was any way I could keep going for 10 more miles AFTER Highland. My legs just couldn't do it. I was 98% sure I wasn't going to finish. Just one problem - I didn't want to not finish. I actually said (okay, definitely whined - think Luke Skywalker and Toshi Station) out loud once "I don't want to drop" I just didn't think my legs could do it.
Somewhere around there, Marcus came up on me. I'd been wondering where he'd been at - I hadn't seen him since the first aid station and was worried that his leg was bothering him and he dropped. Turns out he'd been power-walking since then. Since mile 6. I'm not sure if my thinking started changing before or after he came up on me but when he did catch me, I thought "If Marcus can do it, then I can do it, even if I have to walk the rest of the way." My thought pattern changed from "I don't think I can do this" to "I don't know if I can do this." Two very different things! I figured the section after Highland was another of my favorites and that it would be easy enough to walk through since it's very runnable. I could make another decision at Haines Road (someone I talked myself into thinking there might be an aid station there). And so I slogged my way into Highland.
Step one, take off the jersey under my t-shirt and shove it in my drop back. Step two, get water bottle filled since I went dry. Step three, plop down on the ground in front of the table and eye up the food. Wait, what? I looked around to make sure I wasn't too much in the way. The other two guys there didn't seem like they needed around me so I stayed where I was for another few seconds. Nothing really looked good here, either, but I had already ignored my watch timer once and was behind on food intake. I nabbed part of a salted nut roll and started chewing (to spit out the second bite after crossing Skyline), grabbed my water bottle and a couple pieces of watermelon, nodded my thanks to Shane since I wasn't up for talking and went on my not-so-merry way. Apparently I was described as 'death warmed over' - probably accurate. Shane also told me later that I was maybe a bit rude which makes me sad. I never want to be rude to the awesome volunteers.
I then promptly dropped a piece of watermelon. I considered not going back since it was a long 8 or 10 steps back but smartness won out and I went back to grab a piece to replace it. I of course didn't think to salt them until I was on the trail and I was definitely not turning back then. I also started taking another gel since my timer had gone off again - a tinsy bit at a time, following every sip with water and hoping that would keep my stomach from rebelling. Ran into Marcus' mom who is great and crossed Skyline, to find Kris! We chatted for a bit as I crossed the road and then I went on my way.
My new mantra started here and took me to the finish - "just a little, just slowly." I took all pressure off and said I didn't need to run a lot or fast. Even if I only ran 3 or 4 steps, it's faster than walking. Bit by bit, I could run further and a little faster. My stomach didn't get better as quickly, though, and kept me from running very fast. I could already tell that I'd be in trouble water wise again, though. My plan of little sips of gel following by water was running me dry fast. I needed to ration - no more than half my bottle before Haines so I'd have half a bottle to take me to the next aid station. I managed to mostly keep to this, though I was really thirsty, so I drank more than I 'should' have. Luckily, a guy went by me after Haines and shared a sip of his water. What I wanted to do was guzzle the rest of his bottle but I kept it to a sip. We both were sure that the next aid was at 27th instead of 24th for some reason and we both went bone dry before then.
I was getting stronger and stronger feeling, though. I was even running for a bit up slight inclines! Very exciting. I no longer felt like death and as soon as I crossed Haines, I knew for sure I'd be able to finish. Though, I couldn't figure out where all the women were! I'd been passed by a handful of guys, but no women at all since Tracy and Catherine. Somewhere after Haines, though, I was sure I was hearing Liz's voice behind me somewhere (again, I don't know why I decided it was Liz). And I kept seeing Eric a ton out there, who said when I asked that he was out cheering for Deb so women were out there somewhere nearby. Not that I was really concerned with my standing but I was wondering where everyone was.
Coming onto the water reservoir, I felt great and passed back the guy who gave me water. Into the 27th Ave aid station - last one! They had apple juice which was all that looked good and the volunteer there poured me a lovely glass of it. I drank a bit of coke since I've heard that can help with stomachs, drank my apple juice, was cheering by Johnny Cash on the volunteers iPod speakers and headed out.
The last three miles were awesome. I was giddy! This is a section that always feels nasty to me for some reason but it felt just fine at the pace I was going. I made sure to hold back some, though, since even though I felt free and clear, I thought I better make sure I finished strong and didn't crash again. I caught up to a guy who passed me up Highland as I crossed Skyline. I was running uphill! Strongly! It's the last uphill before the finish! I paused to ring the peace bell and started my gimp down the last mile. The stairs out of Enger were EVIL! And then the downhill. Ow. It hurt so much but in a 'but I'm so close! Why must it hurt now?' sort of way so that I actually started laughing a couple of times!
Off onto Michigan Street, try not to get hit by a truck, cross the road, over the bridge, under the highway and THERE'S MARCUS! I was super excited to see I had caught back up to him. He was walking his way in and talking to Leslie. The big dilemma, though! What if he doesn't start running when I catch up? Do I walk in with him and try to convince him to run in or run my way by him? Happily, he started running as I approached so we got to run in together. Of course, the two of us seem incapable of running next to each other without picking the pace up bit by bit. I blame Marcus. The punk also decided to sprint in and I not interest in sprinting at the end of my first 50K so he beat me to the finish! Like how I say that as though me deciding to sprint would have made a difference? It was fabulous to feel so great and finish laughing, though!
Picture by Eve Stein.
So a time of 7:20. Not so bad with all my walking (probably a good straight hour of it during my rough spot) and I finished strong and happy to boot! I was excited to be handed a finisher's mug, too. Awesome. A few minutes later, in came Liz - I knew she was right there behind me.
Overall, a beautiful day! I had a good time for most of it (what's an hour or two during a 7 hour race?) and even though I started too fast, I did managed to back off before my body forced me to. I pulled myself through a bad spot and was able to break the rest of the race into manageable pieces. Now I just need to figure out what is up with my stomach and what it wants to eat.
Monday, October 11, 2010
From NR: Whistlestop 2.0!
Okay, do me a favor. Next time I set a race as specifically being a test race and something goes wrong remind me to listen to that, huh? I decided during the City of Lakes 25K that I probably shouldn't do Whistlestop and then changed my mind. Sigh. Of course, I know I would have regretted not giving Whistlestop a go, so there's that, too.
So. Right now it feels kind of like a waste and I'm pretty frustrated but I did do a lot of things right and that's good. I've heard from a couple different people that it takes 10 marathons to finally figure them out and this was number 8. The short story is that I had a great first 18/19 miles and then my knee decided to start with the shooting pain, forcing me to walk a ton. Let's start from the beginning, though! What's a marathon race report from Sam if it's not a million pages long?
It took until Friday afternoon for me to start getting nervous and I was freaking out a little on the drive over. The spaghetti feed calmed me down quite a bit though, so that was good. I got to see Shelly and Rick and meet Mark again and the spaghetti was loads better than I remember it being from last year. I ate a ton. And then we went to Dairy Queen :)
We timed the morning out pretty perfectly - Kyle dropped me off at the bus pick up in Iron River, I joined the port-a-potty line and then the bus line and was at the starting line with about 20 minutes to the start. Back to the bathroom line (there's a line in Marathoning for Mortals that goes something like 'When you get to the starting area, get in line for the porta-potties. When you get through the line, come out and go back to the end of the line. Repeat') and then just enough time to duct tape my shoelaces down (sometimes, I do learn!) and re-tighten my pony tail before taking off warm clothes and heading to the road. I found Tonya and went to stand next to her for the start, though neither of us were very talkative.
It was so much warmer this year! It was nice to not be freezing while waiting for the start. It was a little too warm by the middle, though. There was one point where I had skipped water at one of the stations because it was so close to the previous one but then it was a while to the next one and I got super, super thirsty. That's one thing I wish was different - that the aid stations could be more evenly spaced. Though, I know they can't really control that - it depends where there's trail access.
Back to the start, though! It was one of the stranger starts I've been at - first the usual count down "Two minutes to race start. One minute to race start. 30 seconds." and then a count UP "1, 2, 3 go." Okay, that doesn't read nearly as strange as I (and others around me! Not just me!)found it that morning . . . ah well.
Off we go. Down the road for just over a mile and then onto the trail. I had Bobby Darin's version of Mack the Knife in my head for about Ten. Straight. Miles. Don't get me wrong, I love this song, I listened to it on the drive to the bus specifically because I don't mind it being stuck in my head but by mile 10 I was desperately trying to get something else stuck in my head. I ended up with Lake Pontchartrain by Ludo in my head for pretty much the rest of the race.
I focused right away on making sure I wasn't starting out too fast. I needed 8:12s to run a 3:35. I would find a good pace, speed up a little, see the time and slow down a little, see the time and try to even everything out. I did a great job of not panicking if a number was too fast or too slow and just adjusted my pace accordingly. I had some great splits at times: 7:54, 7:58 (great start, not too fast, slow it down just a tich), 8:15, 8:11 (perfect!), 7:57 (oops, a little excited), 8:07, 8:29 (oops, too relaxed!), 8:13, (the next miles are where I found a great rhythm. I had a fabulous group hanging right behind me and sometimes beside me and it was fun to be the person that everyone else was hanging onto for a good pace) 7:55, 7:53, 7:47 (oops, too excited. I said 'calm down, Sam' out loud here), 7:55, 8:19, 8:01, 7:59.
Here's most of my group of fun! I guess we weren't together for all that many miles but it felt like a while.
So that's the first 15 miles. Kyle said I was 13th woman coming through mile 16 and I was on pace for a 3:33. Giving myself the usual slowing down it seems a 3:35 would have been very doable (of course, who knows in a marathon, right?). I knew that sub-8:00s were faster than the plan but they mostly felt effortless and I figured as long as I kept myself right by 8:00s, I'd be okay. Too fast? Maybe but I don't actually regret it like I regretted last year's pacing. Last year I ran the first half with lots of upper-7:40s feeling like I had to because there was a guy I was running with and I was afraid to lose him. This year the pace was slightly slower and felt right and smart and not out of control at all. This year I was the one that others were using to hang onto a pace with.
Coming into mile 16, I suddenly started bonking a bit the last half mile before the aid station. Suddenly, I couldn't keep with the girl I've been running with for miles and she was running in front of me rather than the other way around and pulling away. That's when I realized that this was my 6 mile stretch between gels. So I focused on staying calm, trying not to let her get too far away and knowing I'd get some more fuel in soon. Now I know that 6 miles is probably too far in between food for me since I was good to go pretty much as soon as I had more.
Miles 18 and 19 I'm very proud of. I started slowing down there partially to my knee hurting some and partially to legs getting tired. I focused on just running a mile strong at a time. Going through my head were thoughts like "Just run this one mile strong then you can re-think. It's okay to fall apart later just do this one mile and then you can remember mile 18 and be proud that you ran it strong." I had been making similar deals already - just whenever my mind caught up and I suddenly realized 'Wait! I'm going fast!' I was able to cut of any negative thinking of 'there's no way I can keep this pace' and just decide to keep the pace (if it was reasonable) for 3 more miles and see if it was still comfortable after that.
Somewhere around mile 19 my knee started very painful stabbing pain. Of the surprising variety that brought Boston to a sudden, panicked, painful halt. Something else I'm proud of, though - I didn't panic. Not even a little. There were no tears at all. There was lots of frustration, some quiet swearing when it first starting, plenty of bitching (see below), and some thought about dropping to save my knee for Wild Duluth but no tears. I quickly abandoned any thoughts of stopping since I figured I could easily walk 5 miles (that's about where I briefly entertained the thought) and there was no way I wanted to voluntarily get my first DNF for such a 'silly' reason.
Here I am somewhere around mile 22. I saw Kyle way ahead of time and then saw him pull up the camera and I laughed at him and waved him off. He took a picture anyway, of course. My knees seem to be angling in pretty bad in this one. Maybe because I'm going so slow? I walked some when I got to him to let him know my knee was ridiculous. Oh! And you can see my buddy just behind me in the picture there. He caught me soon after but I ended up going by him in the last mile.
I was almost enjoying myself with about two miles left - asking a couple seated spectators if they wanted to trade knees (shockingly, they didn't), finding a fellow injured and bummed runner (the guy in the picture) to run/walk and bitch with. He was also having an unexpectedly bad day and having some bad cramping. Though, he was more bitter/annoyed and I was more going with it at that point. I was looking around and had a mix of finally enjoying the pretty day (I was rather focused earlier on) and thinking how long it took to walk so I would try running for a bit and then a stab would make me walk some again. My slowest mile by a lot was mile 23 with a 12:13, I think that might have been the mile I saw Kyle in. When I was walking, otherwise, I was trying to channel Lisa. Okay, that sounds a little mean, but that's not how I mean it! She's been working on the ultrarunner power walk when she has to walk up hills on trails so I tried to think about walking strong as long as I had to be walking. It didn't always work but it helped divert my thinking from negative things, anyway.
I decided I wasn't going to walk any of the last mile. I figured I couldn't do any more damage to my knee (faulty thinking to be sure!) so I might as well finish strongish. The last mile was 9:00 exactly which was much faster than I had been going but slower than I figured it would be. I don't know if it was all those turns (if you haven't run Whistlestop, about 3 or 4 blocks from the end for are a bunch of right angle turns that you make) or just the sudden running for a straight mile on sudden pavement but I super gimped my way down that last block into the finish line. Lisa, Leslie, Shelly and Rick (and Wayne? For some reason, Wayne was really hard for me to pick out, though I know he was cheering for me at several spots!) were at the beginning of all the turns and I gave them a smile, shrug and thumbs-down. It was weird to feel so good at the end.
I got to experience yet again someone trying to convince me to head to the medical tent. This time was much more light hearted, though. The guy at the finish grabbed me and lead me through the chute/blanket/medal area and kept asking "are you sure you don't want to go sit in the medical tent?" and seemed amused with my "Nah, it's just my knee" answer.
I limped on Kyle for a while but after about 30-40 minutes (I think) I was fine. We got my warm clothes back on, got my medal engraved, talked with fellow runners and sat down for a while. I wanted to go find people to talk with but I also wanted to eat so we headed for home after not too long. First stop, med tent for ice to go on my knee for the drive home.
Final time was 3:49.03. So, still not terrible despite it all. I figured since it was under 4 hours and since I was proud of the things I did right, I wanted to engrave the time. I love that they offer that service - it's $8 and you get your name and time official engraved on the back of your medal. I love it!
The trail was in a lot worse condition this year. It was a lot harder to find a good running surface for much of it and that got frustrating. I think one of my official pictures caught me in mid-grimace/glare from the bad footing, even!
The shirts were great this year. A nice color, good fit and pretty design. I like the side zipper pocket but the shoulder pocket is a bit strange.
So this left me wondering: what do I do about the Wild Duluth 50K? I decided on super rest, some nice walks and giving running a test go on trails on Wednesday. That went a-ok, no knee pain, so It's on! I think having to walk a ton at the end of Whistlestop probably helped me but I think it would take me not being able to run a step to keep me away since I've been super excited about this all year! Two days to my first ultra!
So. Right now it feels kind of like a waste and I'm pretty frustrated but I did do a lot of things right and that's good. I've heard from a couple different people that it takes 10 marathons to finally figure them out and this was number 8. The short story is that I had a great first 18/19 miles and then my knee decided to start with the shooting pain, forcing me to walk a ton. Let's start from the beginning, though! What's a marathon race report from Sam if it's not a million pages long?
It took until Friday afternoon for me to start getting nervous and I was freaking out a little on the drive over. The spaghetti feed calmed me down quite a bit though, so that was good. I got to see Shelly and Rick and meet Mark again and the spaghetti was loads better than I remember it being from last year. I ate a ton. And then we went to Dairy Queen :)
We timed the morning out pretty perfectly - Kyle dropped me off at the bus pick up in Iron River, I joined the port-a-potty line and then the bus line and was at the starting line with about 20 minutes to the start. Back to the bathroom line (there's a line in Marathoning for Mortals that goes something like 'When you get to the starting area, get in line for the porta-potties. When you get through the line, come out and go back to the end of the line. Repeat') and then just enough time to duct tape my shoelaces down (sometimes, I do learn!) and re-tighten my pony tail before taking off warm clothes and heading to the road. I found Tonya and went to stand next to her for the start, though neither of us were very talkative.
It was so much warmer this year! It was nice to not be freezing while waiting for the start. It was a little too warm by the middle, though. There was one point where I had skipped water at one of the stations because it was so close to the previous one but then it was a while to the next one and I got super, super thirsty. That's one thing I wish was different - that the aid stations could be more evenly spaced. Though, I know they can't really control that - it depends where there's trail access.
Back to the start, though! It was one of the stranger starts I've been at - first the usual count down "Two minutes to race start. One minute to race start. 30 seconds." and then a count UP "1, 2, 3 go." Okay, that doesn't read nearly as strange as I (and others around me! Not just me!)found it that morning . . . ah well.
Off we go. Down the road for just over a mile and then onto the trail. I had Bobby Darin's version of Mack the Knife in my head for about Ten. Straight. Miles. Don't get me wrong, I love this song, I listened to it on the drive to the bus specifically because I don't mind it being stuck in my head but by mile 10 I was desperately trying to get something else stuck in my head. I ended up with Lake Pontchartrain by Ludo in my head for pretty much the rest of the race.
I focused right away on making sure I wasn't starting out too fast. I needed 8:12s to run a 3:35. I would find a good pace, speed up a little, see the time and slow down a little, see the time and try to even everything out. I did a great job of not panicking if a number was too fast or too slow and just adjusted my pace accordingly. I had some great splits at times: 7:54, 7:58 (great start, not too fast, slow it down just a tich), 8:15, 8:11 (perfect!), 7:57 (oops, a little excited), 8:07, 8:29 (oops, too relaxed!), 8:13, (the next miles are where I found a great rhythm. I had a fabulous group hanging right behind me and sometimes beside me and it was fun to be the person that everyone else was hanging onto for a good pace) 7:55, 7:53, 7:47 (oops, too excited. I said 'calm down, Sam' out loud here), 7:55, 8:19, 8:01, 7:59.
Here's most of my group of fun! I guess we weren't together for all that many miles but it felt like a while.
So that's the first 15 miles. Kyle said I was 13th woman coming through mile 16 and I was on pace for a 3:33. Giving myself the usual slowing down it seems a 3:35 would have been very doable (of course, who knows in a marathon, right?). I knew that sub-8:00s were faster than the plan but they mostly felt effortless and I figured as long as I kept myself right by 8:00s, I'd be okay. Too fast? Maybe but I don't actually regret it like I regretted last year's pacing. Last year I ran the first half with lots of upper-7:40s feeling like I had to because there was a guy I was running with and I was afraid to lose him. This year the pace was slightly slower and felt right and smart and not out of control at all. This year I was the one that others were using to hang onto a pace with.
Coming into mile 16, I suddenly started bonking a bit the last half mile before the aid station. Suddenly, I couldn't keep with the girl I've been running with for miles and she was running in front of me rather than the other way around and pulling away. That's when I realized that this was my 6 mile stretch between gels. So I focused on staying calm, trying not to let her get too far away and knowing I'd get some more fuel in soon. Now I know that 6 miles is probably too far in between food for me since I was good to go pretty much as soon as I had more.
Miles 18 and 19 I'm very proud of. I started slowing down there partially to my knee hurting some and partially to legs getting tired. I focused on just running a mile strong at a time. Going through my head were thoughts like "Just run this one mile strong then you can re-think. It's okay to fall apart later just do this one mile and then you can remember mile 18 and be proud that you ran it strong." I had been making similar deals already - just whenever my mind caught up and I suddenly realized 'Wait! I'm going fast!' I was able to cut of any negative thinking of 'there's no way I can keep this pace' and just decide to keep the pace (if it was reasonable) for 3 more miles and see if it was still comfortable after that.
Somewhere around mile 19 my knee started very painful stabbing pain. Of the surprising variety that brought Boston to a sudden, panicked, painful halt. Something else I'm proud of, though - I didn't panic. Not even a little. There were no tears at all. There was lots of frustration, some quiet swearing when it first starting, plenty of bitching (see below), and some thought about dropping to save my knee for Wild Duluth but no tears. I quickly abandoned any thoughts of stopping since I figured I could easily walk 5 miles (that's about where I briefly entertained the thought) and there was no way I wanted to voluntarily get my first DNF for such a 'silly' reason.
Here I am somewhere around mile 22. I saw Kyle way ahead of time and then saw him pull up the camera and I laughed at him and waved him off. He took a picture anyway, of course. My knees seem to be angling in pretty bad in this one. Maybe because I'm going so slow? I walked some when I got to him to let him know my knee was ridiculous. Oh! And you can see my buddy just behind me in the picture there. He caught me soon after but I ended up going by him in the last mile.
I was almost enjoying myself with about two miles left - asking a couple seated spectators if they wanted to trade knees (shockingly, they didn't), finding a fellow injured and bummed runner (the guy in the picture) to run/walk and bitch with. He was also having an unexpectedly bad day and having some bad cramping. Though, he was more bitter/annoyed and I was more going with it at that point. I was looking around and had a mix of finally enjoying the pretty day (I was rather focused earlier on) and thinking how long it took to walk so I would try running for a bit and then a stab would make me walk some again. My slowest mile by a lot was mile 23 with a 12:13, I think that might have been the mile I saw Kyle in. When I was walking, otherwise, I was trying to channel Lisa. Okay, that sounds a little mean, but that's not how I mean it! She's been working on the ultrarunner power walk when she has to walk up hills on trails so I tried to think about walking strong as long as I had to be walking. It didn't always work but it helped divert my thinking from negative things, anyway.
I decided I wasn't going to walk any of the last mile. I figured I couldn't do any more damage to my knee (faulty thinking to be sure!) so I might as well finish strongish. The last mile was 9:00 exactly which was much faster than I had been going but slower than I figured it would be. I don't know if it was all those turns (if you haven't run Whistlestop, about 3 or 4 blocks from the end for are a bunch of right angle turns that you make) or just the sudden running for a straight mile on sudden pavement but I super gimped my way down that last block into the finish line. Lisa, Leslie, Shelly and Rick (and Wayne? For some reason, Wayne was really hard for me to pick out, though I know he was cheering for me at several spots!) were at the beginning of all the turns and I gave them a smile, shrug and thumbs-down. It was weird to feel so good at the end.
I got to experience yet again someone trying to convince me to head to the medical tent. This time was much more light hearted, though. The guy at the finish grabbed me and lead me through the chute/blanket/medal area and kept asking "are you sure you don't want to go sit in the medical tent?" and seemed amused with my "Nah, it's just my knee" answer.
I limped on Kyle for a while but after about 30-40 minutes (I think) I was fine. We got my warm clothes back on, got my medal engraved, talked with fellow runners and sat down for a while. I wanted to go find people to talk with but I also wanted to eat so we headed for home after not too long. First stop, med tent for ice to go on my knee for the drive home.
Final time was 3:49.03. So, still not terrible despite it all. I figured since it was under 4 hours and since I was proud of the things I did right, I wanted to engrave the time. I love that they offer that service - it's $8 and you get your name and time official engraved on the back of your medal. I love it!
The trail was in a lot worse condition this year. It was a lot harder to find a good running surface for much of it and that got frustrating. I think one of my official pictures caught me in mid-grimace/glare from the bad footing, even!
The shirts were great this year. A nice color, good fit and pretty design. I like the side zipper pocket but the shoulder pocket is a bit strange.
So this left me wondering: what do I do about the Wild Duluth 50K? I decided on super rest, some nice walks and giving running a test go on trails on Wednesday. That went a-ok, no knee pain, so It's on! I think having to walk a ton at the end of Whistlestop probably helped me but I think it would take me not being able to run a step to keep me away since I've been super excited about this all year! Two days to my first ultra!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Relativity
So I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything which is fantastic. Anyway, I just finished a short section talking about the Theory of Relativity - things moving super fast appear to be shorter and slower when seen by someone NOT moving super fast. As Bryson says: "The effect actually happens every time you move. Fly across the United States, and you will step from the plane a quinzillionth of a second, or something, younger than those you left behind. Even in walking across the room you will very slightly alter your own experience of time and space."
So. I made the next logical thought - running moves you faster than walking so by running you actually ARE making your life longer compared to those who don't run. Huzzah for that extra tenth of a second by the end of life!
Unless you look at it the way Denis Leary does when he talks about smoking taking ten years off your life - "Well it's the ten worst years, isn't it folks? It's the ones at the end! It's the wheelchair kidney dialysis fucking years. You can have those years! We don't want 'em, alright!?"
But I prefer to think that running will keep me healthier than that to the end.
So. I made the next logical thought - running moves you faster than walking so by running you actually ARE making your life longer compared to those who don't run. Huzzah for that extra tenth of a second by the end of life!
Unless you look at it the way Denis Leary does when he talks about smoking taking ten years off your life - "Well it's the ten worst years, isn't it folks? It's the ones at the end! It's the wheelchair kidney dialysis fucking years. You can have those years! We don't want 'em, alright!?"
But I prefer to think that running will keep me healthier than that to the end.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
From NR: I have a marathon in 4 days!
Okay! Updated news is that I managed to get Friday and Saturday off with some help. Huzzah! So I'll be heading down to Ashland for packet pickup and spaghetti feed sometime Friday afternoon and racing on Saturday.
I'm feeling sort of detached from this one. Maybe because the decision was so late, maybe because I've got a lot going on outside of running? I don't know but I haven't even bought my gels yet and haven't thought about the course all that much. I'm tapering but it feels weird to not have to go out and run and I'm thinking I'm maybe tapering too much.
Anyway, this wasn't meant to be such a dejected sounding post! I'm ridiculous excited about Wild Duluth (soon I can start haunting the 10 day forecast!), which might be why I'm still sort of realizing that "oh yeah! I have another big race this weekend!" I'm feeling a little unprepared but I think that's because my long miles have mostly been done differently then I'm used to. My two 20 miles runs were vastly different - one had a 10K race in the beginning with added mileage around it and another turned into a 27 mile weekend with two longer back to back trail runs instead of one long run. I know there are a lot of people who do long runs that way instead and it works just fine, it just feels super strange.
So! Weather looks amazing for this weekend! Right now it's a high of 56 or so with lows from the night before in the high 40s. Beautiful! No need for me to worry about hypothermia this year . . . Though, rest assured that I'll be taking one of everything that I might want to race in just in case. I'm ready for a beautiful day of running, though.
I had a gorgeous run the other weekend, too! Kyle and I went camping at McCarthy Beach State Park. Now, I definitely wouldn't go there during the summer - there are too many campsites and too close together. But, in late September? Wonderful! We were one of six taken campsites in the whole park. So it's right on a couple of lakes and it was exactly 6 miles from our campsite, around the main lake. Half on tar, half on these beautiful rough gravel roads. So I did a couple laps of the lake and we hiked a ton of the trails.
Now, while I'm running my eighth marathon on Saturday (third for the year!), I have an online acquaintance (well, someone who's blog I follow and comment on) who will be racing the Ironman Championships in Hawaii. We have similar marathon goal times only her marathon comes after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike! So I shall try to channel some of her amazingness on Saturday! If you want to follow her blog of awesome, she can be found at Go Sonja.
That's all for now! We're halfway through the NMTC trail series - the last Wednesday night is tomorrow and then we switch to Sunday afternoons. I haven't decided how I'm racing tomorrow, yet. I'm in the women's lead so far (super exciting!), so I have to race some to keep my lead but I don't want to go super hard . . . We'll see how it turns out and how I'm feeling, I guess. Luckily, the week between Whistlestop and Wild Duluth is sort of a rest week. Of course, the hardest course of the series is the day after Wild Duluth. Luckily, we get to drop our lowest score of the series!
I'm feeling sort of detached from this one. Maybe because the decision was so late, maybe because I've got a lot going on outside of running? I don't know but I haven't even bought my gels yet and haven't thought about the course all that much. I'm tapering but it feels weird to not have to go out and run and I'm thinking I'm maybe tapering too much.
Anyway, this wasn't meant to be such a dejected sounding post! I'm ridiculous excited about Wild Duluth (soon I can start haunting the 10 day forecast!), which might be why I'm still sort of realizing that "oh yeah! I have another big race this weekend!" I'm feeling a little unprepared but I think that's because my long miles have mostly been done differently then I'm used to. My two 20 miles runs were vastly different - one had a 10K race in the beginning with added mileage around it and another turned into a 27 mile weekend with two longer back to back trail runs instead of one long run. I know there are a lot of people who do long runs that way instead and it works just fine, it just feels super strange.
So! Weather looks amazing for this weekend! Right now it's a high of 56 or so with lows from the night before in the high 40s. Beautiful! No need for me to worry about hypothermia this year . . . Though, rest assured that I'll be taking one of everything that I might want to race in just in case. I'm ready for a beautiful day of running, though.
I had a gorgeous run the other weekend, too! Kyle and I went camping at McCarthy Beach State Park. Now, I definitely wouldn't go there during the summer - there are too many campsites and too close together. But, in late September? Wonderful! We were one of six taken campsites in the whole park. So it's right on a couple of lakes and it was exactly 6 miles from our campsite, around the main lake. Half on tar, half on these beautiful rough gravel roads. So I did a couple laps of the lake and we hiked a ton of the trails.
Now, while I'm running my eighth marathon on Saturday (third for the year!), I have an online acquaintance (well, someone who's blog I follow and comment on) who will be racing the Ironman Championships in Hawaii. We have similar marathon goal times only her marathon comes after a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike! So I shall try to channel some of her amazingness on Saturday! If you want to follow her blog of awesome, she can be found at Go Sonja.
That's all for now! We're halfway through the NMTC trail series - the last Wednesday night is tomorrow and then we switch to Sunday afternoons. I haven't decided how I'm racing tomorrow, yet. I'm in the women's lead so far (super exciting!), so I have to race some to keep my lead but I don't want to go super hard . . . We'll see how it turns out and how I'm feeling, I guess. Luckily, the week between Whistlestop and Wild Duluth is sort of a rest week. Of course, the hardest course of the series is the day after Wild Duluth. Luckily, we get to drop our lowest score of the series!
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