Sometimes I surprise myself

Marathon Training
Lately I've had a more relaxed attitude towards training. I'm still running workouts and putting in the miles, but I'm not stressing about running mega crazy or mega long workouts. I've also given myself permission to skip some of the interval stuff (which seems to stress me out for some reason), and simply focus on tempo runs (which keeps me more relaxed).

Why the relaxed attitude? Well, my mindset last year was a bit intense, and honestly I needed a change of pace. I can only be intense so long. Also, a lot is changing all at once: Kaylee just started first grade, I'm going back to work full-time in October, and Emily will be starting preschool in a few weeks. Really there's just more important stuff going on. So, when I embarked on my solo 20 miler early Sunday morning, I didn't have a firm goal in mind. I thought it would be nice to run around 7:35ish pace, but that was about it.

As you can see from the picture, I ran faster, and it was a huge shock to me. I can only guess that cooler temps played an integral role in my legs wanting to move faster. The run didn't feel harder than any of my other long runs, but those runs were done on warmer more humid days. But still, I was completely taken aback. Then I was wondering if I'd be sore on Monday. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit stiff, but nothing was really sore, and I managed a 12 miler on Monday.

Now I'm left wondering what this means for BayState, which is in 5 weeks. My planned marathon pace was 7:03, and having just run a 20 plus miler at a faster pace, well, it seems as though my planned pace should change. Then I also have to wonder if I just peaked, and will be left at the marathon start line with no wind in my sails (and just this picture of my Garmin). But you know what, now that I'm thinking about, I don't even care. I'm sure my attitude will change as race day approaches, but for now I'm still shocked and excited that I was able to maintain a sub 7:00 minute pace for a 20 miler. That's good enough...for now.

Unrelated to running
Can I tell you a funny story? It's completely unrelated to running, but it's fun anyway. A few weeks ago Nick asked: "Can I borrow your crock pot?" I must have taken too long to respond because he followed up his question with: "Aren't you going to ask me why I want to use the crock pot?" To which I responded with raised eyebrows and, "well, I'm about 99% sure you don't plan to cook something..." As I'm scrunching up my face in what I imagine to be a look of suspicion, I add: "This doesn't have something to do with your RC truck does it? Because if you're planning to put chemicals in the crock pot, then the answer is definitely no." Nick suddenly looked shocked and amused and blurted out, "how did you know!" Then he laughed and started telling me how he had read that some people use crock pots to clean their RC truck engines, and while he didn't really plan to try it, he wanted to see what I'd say if he asked (as a joke). The moral of the story? First, wives are psychic. Second, crock pots are only for cooking.

I like to take pictures of my Garmin

I'm sort of marathon training. I write "sort of" because I don't feel the same fierce panic to run a mega PR like I did last year. I am training though, and when I go through my training log I can plainly see that I am running much faster than when I was training for BayState last year. I'm just going to assume that's probably good and leave it at that.

I don't have a "training plan" per se, but I have run 70+ miles six out of the last seven weeks. In that time I've also run a 17 miler, two 18 milers, and four 20+ miles. From the picture, you can see that I enjoy taking pictures of my Garmin after the fact. What you don't know is that I've done all my long runs on the track to make it look like I'm faster than I am. I'm joking! Maybe...

Hmmm, last post I mentioned a fast mile and two mile race on the track. That turned out to be a bust. It was fun though. I had the opportunity to see my old high school coach, which is always nice, but leading up the meet I had been ill and my asthma had kicked it up a notch. I wound up deciding to go and use it as workout. I wound up running 12:04 for the two mile, which was fine for a workout. The mile took place approximately five minutes after the two mile, and so the 5:52 I ran was okay. Not really race report worthy, but okay.

My alumni meet didn't exactly leave me oozing with confidence, but that took place about eight weeks ago, and it seems at least some of my running mojo has been resurrected since. Two weeks ago I ran a 5K on the track. My high school was having a 5K track meet that was open to anyone. A 5K on the track is hard to pass up. It's so fast on the track. I get excited just thinking about it...Anyway, there were only perhaps three downsides: first it took place at 9:00 pm (when I'm generally in my PJ's thinking about sleeping...hey no judging), second my high school is about an hour away (meaning it messed up bedtime, yes that's a big deal in my house), and third I've been marathon training (you know, building a base, running long, not doing short intervals). The upside: it was on the TRACK! Obviously, I had to go. Also, it's nice to see my coach.

To make a long story longer, I wound up running 18:41. I would be lying if I wrote that I wasn't a tiny bit disappointed for like 10 seconds. For some reason, I had thought that it was (of course) reasonable to assume that I could PR with no 5K training late in the evening simply because I was running on the track. I mean, running on a track does make you super human. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. Once I really thought about it though, I realized my time was good for where I am right now. There was also the fact that I didn't come in last, which had been a real possibility. The meet had several heats and my heat was suppose to be for those who could run 18:30 or faster (no pressure). I'm proud to say that I was only lapped by two people, and finished somewhere in the middle.

Besides not coming in last, I'm also happy because I ran strong and didn't feel completely wiped when I finished. I did make a couple mistakes that may have slowed me down a little. The first mile was 5:45, and I felt awesome. I had tucked myself right behind a girl and guy. Like practically on their heels. I thought that was a good place to be, but after the first mile they started slowing down. I still felt great, but was hesitant to pass them too early into the race because it takes energy to pass people on the track and (I'm ashamed to admit) that I was nervous that I would pass them and die out before the finish. That's probably the one downside to running on the track. There were a lot of people watching and there was some self imposed pressure not to embarrass myself. By the time I did pass them, I had lost a lot of time. My second mile was somewhere around 6:10. By this point I still felt good, but I knew a PR wasn't going to happen, and think I probably mentally checked out of the race. My last mile was around 6:05.

In the end, it was nice confidence booster. Also, I wound up winning $100. The high school girl who ran about minute (or more) faster than me can't accept race winnings. Not great for her, but sort of cool for me. Besides the money, everyone who registered received a t-shirt, a $20 gift card to Marathon Sports, and a 20% off coupon to Marathon Sports. For a little race, that has to be the best swag I've ever received. The gift card doesn't have any fine print or minimum that you have to spend. It's just a gift card. Cool beans. The cost of registration was $20, so basically the gift card is the cost of the race.

In case you're wondering, yes my high school coach invented the terrific FRoller which can be found: http://www.thefroller.com/. Yes, I bought a FRoller for myself about a year ago (though my coach is so nice he probably would have given me one), and yes I use it everyday. I love it. It's awesome. Enough said.

Saving the best for last...who will be registering for Boston next week?

Running update: training for a 1 mile and a marathon

This might be a new record of silence for me. Nearly two months. Yikes. And here I am now wondering what I'll blog about...

Generally things have been good. Kaylee just finished Kindergarten. Emily is sort of thinking about using the potty. That might actually be wishful thinking on my part. This morning she looked at me and said "Mommy, I just peed. I need to sit on the potty." Then she sat on the potty for a micrsecond, and declared emphatically with hand motions "Nothing came out!" I tried to explain (in an upbeat manner) that it's easier to go on the potty if you haven't already peed in your pull-up. To which she simply smiled, gave me a hug, and ran off. All in good time, right?

That's not really why you stopped by though, is it? Hmmmm, what have I been doing on the running front? Not much really. I'm running. The last few weeks I've been building up my mileage. Last week I ran 73 miles. The week before it was 67, I think. You know, just building a base. I've decided that I do want to run the BayState marathon in October, and so I'm building up right now.

A couple weeks after my last post I ran a 5K, and it was a huge fail. I think I ran 20:20. The course was a bit challenging with the whole last mile uphill, but I don't know, I just didn't have it that day. It was a downer. My first mile was 5:57, but it went south fast, and I can't help but think that mentally I wasn't in the game. It went right past my street though, and I couldn't pass it up (due the convenience factor). Though now, I wish I'd skipped it. After that huge fail, I decided it was time to back off and run easy for a while. So that's what I've been doing. Running easy.

Last week I started to add some short fast stuff to the running mix. This is true Experimental Running fashion: add short fast intervals to build weeks. I'm sure no coach would ever suggest it, but I'm on my own program. It might not be smart, but it's my way. Why am I adding intervals to my base building? Well, I have a high school track alumni meet on July 15th. I'd like to run a reasonably fast mile. Though to be perfectly honest, I don't know what that means exactly. I mean July 15th is less than three weeks away, so it's not like I can actually do much training (and have it be beneficial). If I could crack 5:30, I think I'd be happy. It wouldn't be a PR, but under the circumstances it would be a reasonably good time. I have no idea if I can do that, however.

That's all that's been going on the running front. Besides running, I've been focusing on trying to strengthen my core a bit. I hate pushups and crunches though, so I've been rowing instead. I've also been reading about how everyone is working on pullups and planks. Just for kicks I tried to do some pullups when I took the kids to the playground a week ago. (I must have looked absolutely crazy. I was in a sundress, because it's cool and comfortable, and you know, doing pullups. I'm completely normal like that.) I was able to do two full pullups, which is good for me. I think I'll keep working on that when I go to the playground (in my sundress).

And lastly I've been working on eating better. When training for BayState last year I lost some weight. Not on purpose. I just felt sick all the time (that's normal too, right)? I was probably training too hard. At some point after BayState (when training for Boston), my body must have become accustom to the training because I stopped feeling sick, and was so excited by that fact that I started eating everything. The result, of course, was gaining some weight. I had lost about 8-10 pounds, and gained back about 8-10 pounds. Well, I've since dropped most of that weight again, but not because I feel sick all the time, because I'm eating better. Hopefully that will help my training a bit.

That's what I've been up to. How about you? Any good potty training stories? ;)

Boston Marathon

The Truth:

Sorry for going silent. Every time I sat down to write a post about Boston, I just couldn't do it. I'm not an overly emotional person, but writing about the my race seemed impossible when other people's lives were irrevocably changed forever. I think part of it is that I work in the same building as Captain Davis. Both Captain Davis and his wife were injured in the blast. His wife lost her foot. The week before Boston another co-worker had a heart attack. He had a bad reaction to a medication he was given and lost both his legs below the knees. Needless to say being at the office has been tough, and I just haven't felt like writing.

The Race:

Here goes...the race was a bit tough. From the start, I had a stabbing pain in my right calf. It was strange given that I had no calf issues going into the race, but you know, it happens. I can only hypothesize that standing outside for an hour or so prior to the start made my legs tight, but that's just a guess. I actually ran the first half at what felt like a very easy pace. My heart rate was low, but my calf continued to get worse. By the time I got to the hills, my whole right leg was having issues. And then I sort of just gave up, or at least that's what I thought at the time. I knew I wasn't going to make my goal. I knew I was having some major leg issues.  And so I gave myself permission to just relax and get to the finish. 

Once I had finished, I was grateful that I had taken a cautious approach because I didn't feel well. I was limping, cold, and nauseous. Sometimes when I'm running I don't really know how bad things are until I stop. The next day I took off my compression socks to find my lower calf and ankle all black and blue. It actually looked worse than it does in the picture, and even after 15 days my right ankle is still black and blue. After 10 days, I went to the doctor to make sure it wasn't a blood clot. She told me I tore some muscle fibers that caused the bleeding, and the bleeding seeped into my ankle. She doesn't think it's anything serious. I am definitely not fully recovered though. Besides my ankle still being discolored, I have trouble running much more than 6 miles. Partly I don't feel like running right now, and that's okay.

My 5K splits are listed below. I know some will think that I went out too fast, but I don't think I did. My recent 18:34 5K and 1:25:59 half marathon both predicted a marathon time of 3:01. I purposely ran slower than that pace for the first half, but it didn't matter because my leg was simply having issues. And I'm okay with that. I'm glad I ran as well as I did under the circumstances.       

                                                                                            

5K:	0:21:52
10K:	0:43:38
15K:	1:05:29
20K:	1:27:37
Half:	1:32:26
25K:	1:49:59
30K:	2:13:08
35K:	2:39:10
40K:	3:06:56
FINISH:	3:18:27

The Good Parts:

While there was heart wrenching tragedy at the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon, there were some nice memories before that tragedy struck...Some of the things I'd like to remember include:

I saw little kids so excited to hand out orange slices and give high fives that it was impossible for me not to smile. I did high five several little kids. They were so cute in their excitement. I saw one runner do a cartwheel because he was so pumped up by the crowd, and the crowd responded with screams of enthusiasm. I saw runners stealing kisses from the ladies in Wellesley, and it was adorable. My co-worker, Liz, swapped out my water bottles at mile 16, and her husband Steve jumped in the race and ran with me through the Newton hills. Steve has never met me, but was amazing. He'd urge the crowd to cheer for me by throwing up his arms and screaming "Let's hear it for Katie!" I remember running by Newton-Wellesley hospital, where I was born. My friend Ana-Maria jumped into the race for a bit around mile 19 to cheer and say hi. When I finished, fellow runners were giving congratulations, a volunteer wrapped a blanket around my shoulders, and another volunteer placed a medal around my neck. My parents found me in the crowd in the family meeting area and gave me a hug. When I got home I got a huge hug from Nick, and some big squeezes from my little girls. Those are some of things I'd like to remember about April 15, 2013...

The Reality:

It wasn't until Tuesday that I realized we were still within 300 meters of the blast when it happened. I was watching the video and race clock read 4:09. My parents and I were heading towards Fenway, where their car was parked. We had to pass by the finish and then by the 26 miler marker. I remember the 26 mile marker clock reading 4:30 and thinking it had taken so long to pick up my bag and find my parents...but we were on the opposite side of the road and crowd was so crazy thick there that we couldn't really see or hear anything. When we got to the car around 3:15ish, people were already calling and texting. We were lucky, but I still get choked up when I think about the people that weren't so lucky...