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Ok, so I really sucked out there today. I'll cut to the chase- watch time: 1:44:48. Thing is, I started out halfway in between the 1:40 and 1:45 pace groups, and the first mile was 7:35. Next two were 7:45 and 7:48, but I never really got into a groove.
I could list all my excuses: my hip started hurting around mile 7, I didn't sleep well last night, blah, blah, blah, but the truth is- I didn't have it today. I have fallen into a BAD habit of starting out too fast in races, and I end up with a crappy time, but more importantly, have a crappy time during the race. I feel pretty sure if I would have stayed back with the 1:45 group the first 5M or so that I would have enjoyed myself MUCH more.
Now-- here is where the numbers thing comes into play. Last year I ran a fast, flat 1/2 marathon in 1:40:12, and the past two years before that, did the same race in 1:40:48 and 1:41xx. Now granted, I was not coming off an injury those past years, and the course was much faster. So-- would I be that much happier with 2 minutes faster? 120 seconds = happiness? YEP.
Am I THAT out of shape that my training (previous post) doesn't predict what I should run? Or, am I that lazy/lame/gutless to go out there and get it done? I had miles today that were slower than miles on LR, and felt MUCH harder. UGH.
So... where does this leave me? Besides pissed off and doubting myself? Well, I AM going to still run the Philly Half Marathon, and cheer on my friends from RWOL, but after that I am going to take a break from training. I ran for 19 years and had many successes and built up my confidence, but the past year I have had nothing but injuries and crappy races. Something needs to change b/c I work too hard through too much pain to feel this sh*tty during races.
Tomorrow is another day....
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Feeling the Same Way All Over Again...
... ok, so maybe not exactly the same way all over again, but it is a great Norah Jones tune, and sort of indicative of how I feel the week before a fall 1/2 marathon.
Running: had been going very well! After spending July, August, and September getting my hip stronger and so it doesn't hurt with each step (seriously), I FINALLY feel like my old (running) self again. I am not sure if it was the strength training, the stretching, sports massage or chiropractor adjustments, but whatever it was, it worked!
I actually have two fall 1/2 marathons: one on 11/1, and the Philly 1/2 on 11/22. My plan was to try and run a 1:42 or better this coming weekend, and shoot for 1:40 at Philly. I have been running my LR faster, and feeling good doing so, but have only been running 3x a week.
BUT, I have been doing 8-10M/week on the elliptical with another 4-8 miles a week walking hills at a decent pace. That combined with the upper body/core work I have been doing is leaving me cautiously optimistic that I can achieve both of these goals.
I went back to look at the training the 5 weeks prior to the half marathons I did last year and in 2007: both of which I ran in under 1:41.
# weeks out 2 3 4 5
2009
LR/pace 9/8:59 14/9:10 10.5/8:56 10/8:48
mpw 19 26 20 15
speedwork 2M@7:30 2M@7:30 2M@7:32 2M@7:48
elliptical elliptical
2008-result 1:40:12
LR/pace 14@9:25 7 @ 8:48 12@9:06 12@9:03
*tempo
mpw 26 10 31 30
speed 4M@7:28 800s at 6:58 4M@7:28
note: hurt quad in week 4-- did a lot of XT the weeks before the race
2007- result 1:40:45
LR/pace 10@8:30 14@9:15 12@9:30 12@9:30
*7M@hmp
mpw 22 17 28 26
speed 7M@7:49 10K@ 7:31 3 x 1M @ 7:19
so-- I'm not really sure what this tells me. In 2008 I was dealing with a sore quad muscle the 2-3 weeks before the race, and did a lot of XT the two weeks prior to the race. Race day everything went great, and due to a tactical error (thinking I needed 7:40 pace instead of 7:38) I did not go sub 1:40.
2007: just trained for this fall 1/2 marathon. Obviously did more speedwork, but LR were at slower paces. More of a Pfitz-style approach.
THIS YEAR???
Digging up these #s actually has me feeling better about my two goals. If I run well this upcoming week, and have a good recovery, I can still get in two more solid LR before Philly. As always, race-day weather will also affect how hard I push it this coming week. As they always say, it IS only a number, right?
TTFN!
Running: had been going very well! After spending July, August, and September getting my hip stronger and so it doesn't hurt with each step (seriously), I FINALLY feel like my old (running) self again. I am not sure if it was the strength training, the stretching, sports massage or chiropractor adjustments, but whatever it was, it worked!
I actually have two fall 1/2 marathons: one on 11/1, and the Philly 1/2 on 11/22. My plan was to try and run a 1:42 or better this coming weekend, and shoot for 1:40 at Philly. I have been running my LR faster, and feeling good doing so, but have only been running 3x a week.
BUT, I have been doing 8-10M/week on the elliptical with another 4-8 miles a week walking hills at a decent pace. That combined with the upper body/core work I have been doing is leaving me cautiously optimistic that I can achieve both of these goals.
I went back to look at the training the 5 weeks prior to the half marathons I did last year and in 2007: both of which I ran in under 1:41.
# weeks out 2 3 4 5
2009
LR/pace 9/8:59 14/9:10 10.5/8:56 10/8:48
mpw 19 26 20 15
speedwork 2M@7:30 2M@7:30 2M@7:32 2M@7:48
elliptical elliptical
2008-result 1:40:12
LR/pace 14@9:25 7 @ 8:48 12@9:06 12@9:03
*tempo
mpw 26 10 31 30
speed 4M@7:28 800s at 6:58 4M@7:28
note: hurt quad in week 4-- did a lot of XT the weeks before the race
2007- result 1:40:45
LR/pace 10@8:30 14@9:15 12@9:30 12@9:30
*7M@hmp
mpw 22 17 28 26
speed 7M@7:49 10K@ 7:31 3 x 1M @ 7:19
so-- I'm not really sure what this tells me. In 2008 I was dealing with a sore quad muscle the 2-3 weeks before the race, and did a lot of XT the two weeks prior to the race. Race day everything went great, and due to a tactical error (thinking I needed 7:40 pace instead of 7:38) I did not go sub 1:40.
2007: just trained for this fall 1/2 marathon. Obviously did more speedwork, but LR were at slower paces. More of a Pfitz-style approach.
THIS YEAR???
Digging up these #s actually has me feeling better about my two goals. If I run well this upcoming week, and have a good recovery, I can still get in two more solid LR before Philly. As always, race-day weather will also affect how hard I push it this coming week. As they always say, it IS only a number, right?
TTFN!
Monday, August 10, 2009
On the Road Again....
So I have been slowly building up to running 3x a week, with the August goal of getting 3-4 runs a week in and getting mileage up to 20-25 mpw. Last week I ran 5,5 and 6 and find that the hip does not like paces faster than 8:30 min/mile, which I only know from wearing my Garmin. It was super humid for yesterday's run, so keeping an easy pace was... well easy.
I have two more Training sessions, and the past two weeks added a third day of 30 minutes lifting on my own. I do think this will help my physique as well as my metabolism. My last Training session is next Monday the 17th, then I will take two weeks off while boys are in Penguins Hockey Camp and the week that school starts. Have been going to Training at 6 a.m. which, like many things in life, is a Blessing and a Curse.
I emailed the Philly Marathon folks and am in the process of officially downgrading my registration to the Half Marathon. There's always Pittsburgh....
Other than that, life is pretty good. It has been nice having these couple of weeks with no set schedule, but I am looking forward to getting back to a routine.
I will start scouting Half Marathon Training Plans next week...
I have two more Training sessions, and the past two weeks added a third day of 30 minutes lifting on my own. I do think this will help my physique as well as my metabolism. My last Training session is next Monday the 17th, then I will take two weeks off while boys are in Penguins Hockey Camp and the week that school starts. Have been going to Training at 6 a.m. which, like many things in life, is a Blessing and a Curse.
I emailed the Philly Marathon folks and am in the process of officially downgrading my registration to the Half Marathon. There's always Pittsburgh....
Other than that, life is pretty good. It has been nice having these couple of weeks with no set schedule, but I am looking forward to getting back to a routine.
I will start scouting Half Marathon Training Plans next week...
Friday, July 17, 2009
I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!
So, I had my first training session today-- they ask you to do 30 minutes of cardio before you start, so I walked 3M (sub 14 min) on our hilly roads, then went in. They had me doing some circuit training: 10 minutes on the elliptical (they have several different types, including the cross training kind so you can go forwards and backwards) followed by 2 upper body strength moves (i.e. chest presses with bar 3 x 15 reps followed by lat pulldowns 3 x 15) and then repeat- so a total of 40 minutes of cardio (they did have me on the TM once-- more on that later) and 6 different focused sets of upper body.
They also had me work my quads, and did 12 minutes of ab workout on the Bosu ball. Then, she stretched me out afterward and asked how I liked everything. I told her (the owner) that I did not want to do any TM while I was there, so I could keep my running separate from the stretches and strength training, which she said was fine.
The cardio portions she told me were all designed to help with the quads as well, as they were all hill workouts of different intensities. I was there for 90 minutes, so coupled with my 41 minute walk it was a good morning! I am anticipating feeling VERY sore tomorrow, but liked what they had me do. Of course I could do most of it on my own in a gym, but having someone set the weights, program the elliptical/cross trainer and of course, lead the ab exercises was key, as was the stretching she did on me at the end.
I found out that when you are currently in a training program at this place, you can use all of there cardio equipment when you want, and they have a 20 minute ab session every other hour that anyone can drop in on, as well as spinning, yoga, and cardio-push (interval cardio class) classes. So, I just have to keep at it at home.
We'll see how I feel tomorrow.....
They also had me work my quads, and did 12 minutes of ab workout on the Bosu ball. Then, she stretched me out afterward and asked how I liked everything. I told her (the owner) that I did not want to do any TM while I was there, so I could keep my running separate from the stretches and strength training, which she said was fine.
The cardio portions she told me were all designed to help with the quads as well, as they were all hill workouts of different intensities. I was there for 90 minutes, so coupled with my 41 minute walk it was a good morning! I am anticipating feeling VERY sore tomorrow, but liked what they had me do. Of course I could do most of it on my own in a gym, but having someone set the weights, program the elliptical/cross trainer and of course, lead the ab exercises was key, as was the stretching she did on me at the end.
I found out that when you are currently in a training program at this place, you can use all of there cardio equipment when you want, and they have a 20 minute ab session every other hour that anyone can drop in on, as well as spinning, yoga, and cardio-push (interval cardio class) classes. So, I just have to keep at it at home.
We'll see how I feel tomorrow.....
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Hip, Hip, Horray! (at least for today!)
I have been mainly walking the past week and doing the hip stretches/strengthening exercises as proscribed by my sports doc last week. Last Thursday and Friday I tried to run a bit- 10 minutes walking/5 minutes running, and it HURT. LIKE HELL. This weekend was my dad's family reunion in Indiana, so 6 hours of driving each day, but no exercise at all.
Monday- walked 5M
Tuesday- 7M total- 2M running. 10 min walk, 5 min run pattern. 1 M swim
Wednesday- 7.5 M walk on trail (concrete section)
So, yesterday went to see about getting some Personal Training/Therapy at this place run by a woman who has run 12 marathons, and has also come back from injury. She did a full evaluation, including HR/resting HR analysis, strength, flexibility etc. and they design a plan to work with you. I am intrigued by this for two reasons 1) I KNOW I need to get back to some sort of scheduled weight training in order to get stronger, and to tone up, which will make me much happier overall and 2) I also KNOW I need to work on flexibility.
So, I went ahead and committed to a 10-session package, and we'll see how things look at the end of that- I figure it will be about 5 weeks total. First session is Friday. Since I have never had any kind of personalized program drawn up for me, it should be interesting. She said she wanted to strengthen my quads and calves to give better support when I run, and then to work on flexibility in the hip area, and to tone up my core and upper body. No surprises there!
I have also REALLY come around to the idea that I should NOT train for a fall marathon this year. I had signed up for the Philly full, and was planning to maybe train quietly for that, but am really going to focus on getting stronger and doing the two halves that are on my calendar: Spirit of Pittsburgh on 10/25 and the Philly 1/2 on 11/22. Then, maybe, maybe train for Pittsburgh full next spring. We'll see.
Other than that, summer is crusing along nicely.
TTFN
Monday- walked 5M
Tuesday- 7M total- 2M running. 10 min walk, 5 min run pattern. 1 M swim
Wednesday- 7.5 M walk on trail (concrete section)
So, yesterday went to see about getting some Personal Training/Therapy at this place run by a woman who has run 12 marathons, and has also come back from injury. She did a full evaluation, including HR/resting HR analysis, strength, flexibility etc. and they design a plan to work with you. I am intrigued by this for two reasons 1) I KNOW I need to get back to some sort of scheduled weight training in order to get stronger, and to tone up, which will make me much happier overall and 2) I also KNOW I need to work on flexibility.
So, I went ahead and committed to a 10-session package, and we'll see how things look at the end of that- I figure it will be about 5 weeks total. First session is Friday. Since I have never had any kind of personalized program drawn up for me, it should be interesting. She said she wanted to strengthen my quads and calves to give better support when I run, and then to work on flexibility in the hip area, and to tone up my core and upper body. No surprises there!
I have also REALLY come around to the idea that I should NOT train for a fall marathon this year. I had signed up for the Philly full, and was planning to maybe train quietly for that, but am really going to focus on getting stronger and doing the two halves that are on my calendar: Spirit of Pittsburgh on 10/25 and the Philly 1/2 on 11/22. Then, maybe, maybe train for Pittsburgh full next spring. We'll see.
Other than that, summer is crusing along nicely.
TTFN
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Now I'm REALLY pissed....
So... hmph, as part of my effort to scale back my mileage to a measly 20-25 mpw in order to let the knee rest a bit I decided if I couldn't run LONG, I might try some repeats and run FAST.
Last week ran 3 x 800 as part of a monster 3.5 M run , and ran them at my recent (not PR) 5K pace. 7:13, 7:13, 7:08
This week ran 4 x 800 (all of these on TM) as part of 4M run and ran 7:08, 7:08, 7:03, 6:58 (ok, so a teeny bit faster, but heck it felt good!). Well, my LEFT hip decided to balk at the notion. It was a bit sore after the run, but I stretched it out pretty well afterward.
Tuesday I ran 7M pretty easy (9:15 pace) around North Park and felt a twinge or two, but not for a more than a minute at at time.
Wednesday I woke up and it hurt to WALK. Seriously, WTF? I have been running for 20 years, and during the past year have had more problems than the previous 19 combined. Am I getting that old? If I can't run far and I can't run fast what the hell sort of goals can I set for myself.
Hmpf. I'm sure my AARP form is arriving any moment now.
Thing that really sucks about the situation is that the Firecracker 5K is in two days, and I have run it every year since 1996 that I have been in town, except the year when Tommy was 3 weeks old. Even ran it the year I just found out I was pregnant with Danny. It is a tradition for me, and I tend to place in my age group. UGH. DH says its just another 5K, but to me it is more.
So-- as for now I am not running, but haven't 100% commited to it.
It doesn't help my self image that I weigh more than I ever have in 16 years, except when I was pregnant. Sigh.
Hopefully next post will be more cheery.
TTFN~
Last week ran 3 x 800 as part of a monster 3.5 M run , and ran them at my recent (not PR) 5K pace. 7:13, 7:13, 7:08
This week ran 4 x 800 (all of these on TM) as part of 4M run and ran 7:08, 7:08, 7:03, 6:58 (ok, so a teeny bit faster, but heck it felt good!). Well, my LEFT hip decided to balk at the notion. It was a bit sore after the run, but I stretched it out pretty well afterward.
Tuesday I ran 7M pretty easy (9:15 pace) around North Park and felt a twinge or two, but not for a more than a minute at at time.
Wednesday I woke up and it hurt to WALK. Seriously, WTF? I have been running for 20 years, and during the past year have had more problems than the previous 19 combined. Am I getting that old? If I can't run far and I can't run fast what the hell sort of goals can I set for myself.
Hmpf. I'm sure my AARP form is arriving any moment now.
Thing that really sucks about the situation is that the Firecracker 5K is in two days, and I have run it every year since 1996 that I have been in town, except the year when Tommy was 3 weeks old. Even ran it the year I just found out I was pregnant with Danny. It is a tradition for me, and I tend to place in my age group. UGH. DH says its just another 5K, but to me it is more.
So-- as for now I am not running, but haven't 100% commited to it.
It doesn't help my self image that I weigh more than I ever have in 16 years, except when I was pregnant. Sigh.
Hopefully next post will be more cheery.
TTFN~
Friday, June 26, 2009
Lessons from Boston
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Two months later, and I still don't feel that happy about my Boston experience. Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda is sort of where I am now. But here is what I have learned:
Top Ten Things I've Learned about Training/Running Boston:
#10 Be realistic about your expectations on race day
#9 Get to the buses earlier than 7 a.m.
#8 Cross Training does NOT equal running
#7 Treadmill Training will NOT prepare you for the hills
#6 Treadmill Training will NOT prepare you for the hills
#5 Stick with the training program that worked best
#4 Run Long Runs outside; see # 7 and # 6
#3 Don't expect much success on 30-40 mpw training
#2 Skiing for 7 days in a row two weeks before Boston is a B-A-D idea
#1 No matter what happened leading up to race day... just embrace and enjoy the race itself!
So, that in a nutshell is where I am right now with my Boston experience. I have come to realize that my sh*tband has dominated my running/training for a year now, and I am sick and tired of it. But, going back to #10 and #3, I have also realized that until I can train easily at 30 mpw, that I can NOT think about running another marathon.... and THAT IS OK.
My running social life centers mainly around the wonderful women in the BQ Thread at RWOL, and while the support is wonderful, training advice sound, and other snippets of everyone's life so interesting, I have to remember not to get caught up in other people's training. I can still have my friends and support even though I'm not training for a marathon... at least right now.
Being a 'marathon runner' has been a label I have enjoyed having the past 3 years... and in the early 90s, but fact is, I'm a RUNNER. I would run without races, and usually my run is one of the highlights of my day. So, if it means I race 10Ks and 1/2 marathons instead of 26.2 so be it.
at least for now.....
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