Monthly Archives: September 2011

Evening out…

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It had to happen. I couldn’t keep running like I was for ever.

Still, the comedown wasn’t horrid. I was a little slower than last week’s runs, but what I’m most proud of is that while I was a little wheezy at the beginning, I managed to rhythmically breathe my way through it and finished stronger than I started. So that’s definitely a good sign!! And I’m not letting it get me down. They can’t all be magical runs or magical weeks.

It was another early morning as I had a call-in with my part-time job. Of course, since I had done my run early, the answer was “no, enjoy your evening”, but oh well. I kind of like getting it done early…though after work I could have used the stress release and endorphins. One of those days for sure.

Tomorrow will be another early one (I think) partly because of weather and partly because a friend and I are seeing a show at 7, so…yeah. Another early morning for me. Whee!

Rest day!!

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* Rest days are good things! Not too many, but my body does better with one day a week of rest. At least rest from my regular training. I don’t sit completely motionless. But I don’t do a lot of extra activity. I did walk home after going by the gym (more on that in a sec), but I kept it at a slow (to me and my normal walking glacial) pace. It was too pretty outside not to take advantage of it.

* Training plans are great, but it really comes down to finding your own recipe. Coach Jenny tweeted me today and said that’s what it sounds like is happening with me – I’m finding my own recipe of what works. Hooray!

* Did I mention my probably peanut butter allergy in here? When I was at the beach, I noticed that my chin was a little burny/itchy and had a breakout or rash on it. I attributed it to the sun/sunscreen/saltwater combination…and more fried foods than I normally eat. And I was a little wheezier than usual, but I attributed that to being in central air as well as just different air when I was outside. Then I came back and things cleared up. The next time I had peanut butter was in the banana breakfast shake I love after a run one morning. Within a few minutes, I noticed my chin doing the itchy/burny and breakout in rash thing and that I was getting wheezy when I’d breathed fine during my run and before drinking the shake. I’d had bananas since the beach and nothing. I’d had milk since the beach and nothing. But I hadn’t had peanut butter since the beach. Googled allergy symptoms and bingo, what I was experiencing fit. So I’ve got an appointment with an allergist next Monday (not tomorrow, next week) to hopefully get some answers. I’ve gotten some Nutella and have been having that on toast occasionally for breakfast. It’s ok. If/when I do turn out to be allergic, I’ll explore almond butter (assuming no allergy to almonds) or sunflower seed butter. But man… I’m realizing how many of my favorite treats have peanut butter in them: Reese’s Cups, Nutter Butters, the Little Debbie chocolate peanut butter wafers, peanut or peanut butter M&Ms, etc. Not to mention just plain old PB&J or my banana breakfast shake. :( SADNESS!!!!

Tonight will be an early to bed night so I can get up WAY early and do my run in case I get a “Yes” when I call into the store tomorrow afternoon. If they say no, then I’ve got the afternoon to stretch and roll. No biggie. But if I don’t get up and run and they say yes, then my schedule for the week is messed up. So…better to get it done and find that I didn’t need to do it that early than not get it done and be scrambling.

Some random thoughts…

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* I think my chiropractor is also practicing voodoo. I swear whenever I get a card/message/email from his office about “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you…” within 24 hours my back starts hurting. Right now it’s my lower back – started twinging on my long run today. Blech. Bonding with the heating pad tonight – and doing some stretching to try and loosen it up since it’ll be at least Friday before I can get in to see him.

* In spite of the lower back twinging from about mile 4/5 on, I had a good 6.98 mile run in Central Park this morning. I hadn’t remembered there was a race today, so that was interesting. I thought about going to the race festival when I finished my run, but didn’t. And I’m very, very sadface because I found out after the fact that Bob Harper was there as were Hannah and Olivia from last season. :( :( :( I would have loved to have met them!!!!

* I randomly looked at the soles of my Ravennas today (I know it’s time to start rotating another pair in just from the little niggles here and there) to see the wear pattern. I was curious to see where I’m striking and pushing off from. Apparently I’m pretty much a midfoot runner – there’s clear wear on the midfoot portion and little to no wear on the heels. As in I could still do an easy rubbing of the Brooks logo on there.

* The gym. My Planet Fitness dues came out of my account today. I haven’t darkened the door of that place in over a month. Even with the heat and humidity this summer I only used it…maybe once? The thought of another snowy, icy winter like last one almost makes me want to keep the membership simply for the treadmills. But honestly I’m not sure if it’s worth it – even if it is only $10/month. I don’t have a spring race planned right now. And the odds of it being so bad it ruins my WDW Full training are probably slim. I’m 99% sure I’m going to go in and cancel it this week. It’s just that tiny worry about what if…? that’s giving me pause.

Well, I tried them…

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Sketchers running shoes that is.

I know Meb has signed on with them to endorse them as they sponsor him.

I know Joe of The Marathon Show got some and wore them in the Disneyland Half and fell in love with them.

Though I was extremely skeptical, I was willing to give them a try and maybe come on here and admit that I was wrong and they’re fantastic…

But I can’t do that.

Tonight when I’d gone to wander around in Times Square because I was bored, I decided to go into Sketchers and try them on. I explained to Julie, the salesperson who was helping me, that I’d heard a lot about them and was curious. I told her up front I wasn’t going to be buying anything tonight – most particularly because I’ve got a half marathon in 2 weeks and don’t want to make a radical change this close in. To her credit, she completely understood. She does…I think she said fitness competitions and said she won’t compete in new shoes either. She sticks with what she’s been training in. I don’t feel that I got any less attention because of that information (the not buying thing) than I would have otherwise.

I wasn’t able to run on the sidewalk (well, who could run on 42nd Street anyway…unless it’s the NYC Half Marathon??), but they did have a treadmill, which was more than I was expecting.

I tried on both the SSR ProSpeed and the GoRun flats. The flats I almost liked…but the “go impulse sensors” felt weird under my feet, and I’m not ready for minimalist shoes yet. Not sure I ever will be. The ProSpeeds…I never really felt stable in them. The bottom isn’t quite as rounded as the bottom of their Shape-Ups, but it’s still rounded. But I was willing to consider that maybe, just maybe, the instability was something that would go away as I ran in them.

However, there was one other little issue.

Remember the drama I had over the Asics GT 2160s rubbing that tendon or whatever – that I discovered in the week before the WDW Half? The rubbing that sent me looking for new shoes and landed me in Brooks? The ProSpeed did that. Possibly even worse than the Asics.

So no, I will NOT be running in Sketchers any time soon. I’m sticking with my Brooks which fit me like Cinderella’s glass slippers. (Though I’m still going to look into transitioning to a neutral shoe – possibly the Brooks Glycerins.)

And in training news, I did Yoga for the Warrior again tonight. Yay!

Who even AM I???

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Today was another run of 8 reps of 3/2 intervals. I was also supposed to do “strides” today.

Because of impending rain, I decided to just go over to Von King Park and run around that. I did some loops (it’s small) of the park and the surrounding sidewalk. Put on a podcast from Marathon Talk (still no new ones of The Marathon Show) and had that. Additionally I employed the song technique I learned in the one on Tuesday’s run for the run segments – song of choice was “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” from the musical Mary Poppins (it’s a bit different from the movie). And apparently it works for me.

I felt great the whole time. And my pace? Average of 11:39. WHAT EVEN????? That is serious crazycakes!!! I don’t know when I’ve done that in a training run in forever!! WOOHOO!!!!!!

Strides are in the Marathoning for Mortals plan. It’s like, starting off normal pace and building to as fast as you can run and stay in control for what’s supposed to be 30 seconds. I ended up doing them for around 20-25 seconds, and then had a minute walk break in between them. Still felt great…though admittedly I was really ready for them to be over. But this was my first time doing them in a while, so I’ll take it.

Seriously loving how running feels right now!!!

While I’m getting back to my roots so to speak…

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…I sucked it up and broke out Bob Harper’s Yoga for the Warrior tonight for my XT.

MAN that is a good workout!! Even though I had to modify some of the poses (even a couple I didn’t used to have to modify), I always finish it feeling strong and accomplished. Shaky and tired, but strong and accomplished.

And really? That’s what I’m going for overall in my training. I know I’ll need to mix things up a bit with my XT – throw in some solid core strength work (yoga has a lot in there, but Bob’s Butt and Balance combined with his Yoga Abs is amazing for core strengthening), but this is going to be a solid part of my WDW Marathon training.

Woohoo!!!

Yep! Still good!!

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Did my short run of the week today (didn’t have to go into the store) – 7 reps of 3/2 plus warm-up and cool-down.

I went to Prospect Park, not really knowing a) how my legs were going to react to back to back run days and b) moreso how they were going to react to hills. Yes, I had a great average pace yesterday, but that was on pretty much flat ground. Maybe a teeny incline here or there, but overall nothing of import.

The short of it? Yesterday’s average pace was 12:07. Today’s was 12:09.

I’d say my legs held up just fine. :D I felt good and strong throughout the run, and I did all my run segments.

I’m currently out of new podcasts of The Marathon Show, so I’m playing catch-up with Marathon Talk. In the ep I chose to listen to today, the guys were talking with Midgie Thompson, and she was discussing mental tricks to help you keep going when it’s tough. One was to sing a song in your head…a song that will just sort of keep you going and take your mind off of what you’re doing. Since I love music, I decided to give it a try, and I’ve gotta say, it worked! At one point on The Beast, I was really struggling with it, so I changed songs and (while not the exact song I chose), SNAP! the run’s a game! :D Definitely using that one again!! The visualizing a bungie cord tying me to something and pulling me towards it wasn’t working as well…but maybe you can’t do both at once…or I can’t. LOL.

Still, I’m feeling more and more confident. And that rocks!!!

Now that’s more like it!

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Woo!! Got a great run in this morning.

Yes, already!

Coach Jenny’s plan has me doing three mid-week runs and a long run on the weekend. School has me working 8:10-3 Monday-Friday. Disney has me working (usually) a night or two (or three) a week, and usually a shift on the weekend. Today it’s school, then over to Disney from 5-11. Not really time to get a run in between school and Disney, so…

Up at 4:15 with a goal of being out the door by 4:30. Granted, this means running close to home. So back to the little park close by. Did more of the run on the sidewalk surrounding it, though I did do the “upper loop” per se in the park itself a few times as it’s pretty well lit. I’m within sight of the police precinct, so I’m aware of my surroundings but feel pretty safe.

The result? An average pace overall (including warm-up and cool-down) of 12:34. An average pace of the 40 minutes of 3/2 reps of 12:07! I felt great and pushed it…best average pace on a midweek run in a while with a best pace of 9.34…best average for a run segment – 10:09; slowest average for a run segment – 11:17.

I’ll take it!! Definitely made the right decision in switching back to Coach Jenny! :D

Some of us are just meant to be penguins.

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Did my LSR after working at the Disney Store last night. It’s close to Central Park, there are lockers…it’s perfect. And from what Star Command and the elevator guy said, I’m not the only one who does it. So woo!

It’s kind of funny to call 4 miles “long” but it’s what was on the training schedule, so.

I kept it at 3/2, and I felt good and strong the whole time. And you know what? My average pace was a bit faster than my 2/1 LSRs. Granted, I wasn’t looking at the pace while I was running…I was running by feel, and I think I need to do more of that, especially on the LSRs. I ran all of the intervals on Cat Hill as well as the rollers on the other side. THAT is something I haven’t done in…honestly I can’t really say I’ve EVER done all my intervals on those. So bonus!! (And more proof to me that Coach Jenny’s plans are the right ones for me.)

A friend pointed out on DailyMile that of course I felt better because it was slower and the body hates to go fast. But I am going to respectfully disagree. I have gone fast when in mid-week training runs. This was a LSR, not a speed trial. Also? Not all of us are obsessed with getting faster.

I’m not into running to see how fast I can go. I’m into running for how it makes me feel, for the joy and freedom of moving my body forward under my own power. Just like a true penguin.

:D

Changing it up…

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…or returning to my roots.

So after pondering things for a while, weighing the pros and cons of the Galloway plan I used for the Disneyland Half – where I had my worst time in a half yet – and Coach Jenny Hadfield’s plan which I used for the WDW Half and the NYC Half (took 7 minutes off my first half time with the second) as well as my personal interaction with the authors of both plans, I’m going back to Jenny’s plan in Marathoning for Mortals. Well, ok, not going back to it so much as moving to the run/walk a marathon plan she has in Marathoning for Mortals.

I know Galloway has his peeps who adore him. Frankly, I’ve just found him rather condescending – from the /run at the end of run/walk which makes me feel like he thinks we’re idiots who wouldn’t know to start running again to his response of “Run slower at the beginning” when I asked him for advice on how to run a negative split. It’s just off-putting to me. If you love him and his methods, that’s great! More power to you!

I’m just more drawn to Coach Jenny’s personality and how she expresses things. Remember the yellow/orange/red (or maybe green/yellow/red…but either image works) tips for negative splitting? So much easier for me to visualize and do! Were it not for cramping and side stitches, I feel sure I could have gotten a negative split following that image.

But it’s more than just that. I feel like I can be much more consistent with the longer run segments. If I’m honest, I really felt like I was doing SOOOOO much stopping and starting with the 2:1 I was doing with Galloway’s plan. (And honestly at my pace he would recommend I have an even smaller ratio. No thank you!) With MFM, I’ll be working up to possibly a 5:1 for the marathon. We’ll see how I do in training and how I’m feeling the day of the race, and I may cut it back to 4:1 or even 3.5:1.5.

Training is really all about finding what works for you and what doesn’t. For me, I’ve learned that Coach Jenny’s plans work for me. I feel confident and prepared with them. I should never have left her plans…and I’m definitely going back now.