Holy 21.5 miles batman

Thank goodness the long runs are finally over. I don't think I've ever been as excited to start my taper as I am this time around. This morning I had 20 miles scheduled, but I ran with Laura, Tiffany, and Sam...who had 22 miles scheduled. I figured what the heck, it was only two miles, so I went ahead and shot for the 22. We actually ended up a little short at 21.5, but that's close enough in my world. I'll just run an extra 1/2 mile tomorrow.
We came to the consensus today that we're all just tired of running, and Laura is already injured (hopefully, she'll be getting a cortisone injection this week to manage her pain for the next three weeks), so we made the decision to lay off a little on this run. We slowed our pace down a full sixty to ninety seconds for each mile. Of course, by the time we finished we were all feeling a little tired, but overall pretty good. We did have quite a discussion as to exactly who's brilliant idea it was to do 22 miles instead of 20. When we hit the 20 mile mark all of us thought about just calling it a day, but we figured that we'd still have to get back to Tiffany's house, and the quickest way to get there was to keep running.
Today's weather for the run was pretty much perfect. It was cold and rainy when we started out, then it poured about six miles into it for about ten minutes, then it was cloudy and cool the rest of the run. The course we ran was a modification of the one that we ran several weeks ago. None of us really like running courses that are out and back, so we managed to map out a large circle-ish route that took us on the scenic tour of Clayton, Forest Park, and the Delmar Loop areas. There were a lot of people out.
Despite the fact that we almost got run over during the last two miles by a woman making a right turn against the light and not bothering to check the crosswalk first. Sam, being as vocal as she is, started yelling at the woman about paying attention and pedestrians having the right of way...too funny.
All in all, today was a good run, but I'm glad to have it over and finally be working on the taper. I'm starting to get pretty pumped about Chicago. I just need to head out and buy some new running shoes for the big day.

Wind sprints blow

I hate wind sprints, with a passion. They truly are my least favorite type of speedwork. I just get so damn tired when I do them. Of course, that only tells me that I really need to do them all of the time instead of only once every four or six weeks.
I had a devil of a time getting my speedwork in today. We got a lot of rain here last week. So much so, that I guess alot of junior varsity football games got rained out last weekend. So the local high schools all seemed to be making them up today. I went to...count 'em, three local high schools before I finally found an empty track that I could run on. Color me clueless, as I had no idea that high school JV squads would do "make up" games if one of the regularly scheduled games got cancelled.
I was starting to take the difficulty with finding a track to run on as a sign that I shouldn't do speedwork tonight, when I finally found one without a football game in the middle of it. Now granted, they were playing football at that particular high school, but apparently they don't let the underclassmen play on the "big" field, so I was set.
I got about halfway through my workout and some local yokel in a golf cart (I'm assuming he was the Athletic Director) came around and told me that I couldn't be there using the track right then. Apparently they have a rule about public use of the track during school hours. My response was that it was 5:00pm, which is technically after school hours, no one was using the track, and I was almost done. After much sweet talking on my part, he finally told me to "hurry it up" and not to ruin anything.
Damnit...that was next on my list. I was going to go do donuts in my SUV in the middle of the football field just as soon as I finished my windsprints. Jackass...
Needless to say, after the difficulty I had finding a track, I was peeved, so I wasn't running well. Plus, did I mention that I hate windsprints...cause I do, so I didn't meet any of my time goals tonight. I ran 13 x 200m and jogged the second half of each lap to catch my breath. I wanted to run each 200m in under 49 seconds, but had to settle for anywhere from 52 to 60 seconds. Better luck next time.

Yucky old rain

Yesterday was the Hills and Hollows 1/2 marathon in Valmeyer, Illinois. Valmeyer is about an hour from my home, and the race wasn't supposed to start until 8:00am, so I had plenty of rest before running yesterday. I managed to convince my friend Laura to run with me. She is also training for Chicago, but has skipped quite a few of her long runs due to having a long distance love interest who lives close enough to visit on the weekends. Due to this, she wasn't feeling too confident about Chicago, so I tried to convince her that it would be good to race a shorter race before the big one next month.
We met up about six o'clock to head over to the race. It's a good thing that we left a little extra time in our schedule, as once we got off the highway we made about three wrong turns. We arrived in Valmeyer about seven thirty, and of course at about seventy forty it started raining. It was just a light drizzle, so we weren't too concerned. We decided that we would head out and run two miles as a warmup, then run the race, and end with the last 2.9 miles after racing.
We were all lined up on the starting line when someone spotted a air to ground lightening strike...thus necessitating that we delay the start by twenty minutes, then twenty more minutes, then twenty more minutes. So we went ahead and ran the remainder of our mileage before the race started. I know, how smart are we if they're delaying the race, but we're still out there running in the nastiness? Scold me later.
Finally at quarter after nine they gave us the okay to run the race. There were only about fifty people running the half marathon, but there were probably another sixty or so running the 5k that started from the same point. My cousin's husband was running the 5k, and from what I saw, he did pretty well. The race benefits the volunteer fire department in this small town, and there is a traveling trophy that the first firefighter in each race gets to claim for his department. I haven't seen the actual results yet, but Joe may have actually won the 5k traveling trophy.
I ran a little slower than I ran last week, but the course was a lot tougher. The first four or so miles were gently rolling farmland, the middle fourish were flat Mississippi River bottom land, and the last third was straight uphill, including a two mile nonstop climb of almost five hundred feet at the very end. I managed to finish it in 2:09, which isn't too terrible, but is definitely not my best effort.
I'm still waiting on the official times, but if last year's finishing times are any indication of how this year's went, I still may have placed fairly high (or even won) my age bracket. I can't wait for everyone else's results to be posted...do it already dagnabit!

Happy Anniversary to us....

Today is my husband's and my third wedding anniversary. He sent me some bee-you-tea-full flowers today to celebrate. Unfortunately, I was out of the office when he came to deliver them, but they were a nice surprise waiting on the kitchen table for me when I got home.
He had class tonight, so we'll wait until this weekend to go out to celebrate. We've tentatively decided on Charlie Gittos, which is a fantastic Italian restaurant, but who knows, we may change our minds ten more times between now and Saturday night.
I decided that I'd rather go out on Saturday night so that I can partake of some adult beverages without worrying about how it will affect my running the next morning. I'm definitely looking forward to some booze-ohol.
It'll be fun to go on a fancy date with my hubby! We're thinking we need to make a weekend of fun, including a trip to the boat to play the slots and checking out the new Kevin Costner movie. (I've been waiting for that damn movie for about three months now)
Usually we go away somewhere for the weekend of our anniversary but this year we've decided to save our anniversary trip for the weekend in Chicago for the marathon. What a good husband I have! Not every man would plan their trip around their wive's running plans.

No, no, no...they've got it all wrong

The first day of fall is Thursday...not today. It is seriously cold here today. I know, I'm never happy with the weather here, first it's too hot, now it's too cold. There was about a two or three week window here where the weather was perfect, but this is St. Louis, perfect weather is always shortlived here. So anyway, back to my original train of though, this morning's temperature at 5:30 (when I woke up) courtesy of the cool little indoor/outdoor project the temperature and time onto the ceiling next to the bed gadget, was only 48 degrees. It was still under 60 degrees when I started work at 7:00 this morning, and when I headed out to the track for my run at 5:00pm it was only 62 degrees.
Now, lest you get the wrong idea, I do like cooler weather, but I really am not ready to break out my cool weather running gear. I love my running skirt and singlets. I'm not ready to tuck them away yet. I wanted to wear my running skirt in Chicago )-: but it looks like I'll be wearing tights instead.
It was actually cold enough during my run today, that I thought about leaving the long sleeved shirt that I wore to the track on for the whole workout, but as the shirt in question was cotton, logic and a desire to not have chaffing in my pits won out.
Tonight I did the same speed workout that I did two weeks ago (400m x 600m x 800m x 1200m x 800m x 600m x 400m). Since I did what I felt was a sucky job on this workout two weeks ago, I thought it would behoove me (that's from the Word-A-Day Calendar) to repeat the workout and see if I could do a better job. I was much more pleased with my times today. I met my goal times for six of the seven repetitions and I only missed the seventh goal by ten seconds. If I had actually looked at my goal times before getting started I probably would have achieved that last repetition goal time, but oh well.
My total time for the five miles tonight (the workout plus two warm up miles) was just under 40 minutes, which is a full two minutes faster than the five mile race that I ran two weeks ago. It's very encouraging to still see progress.

My new toy...

There it is, in all it's beauty, my brand new True treadmill. It's such a smooth ride. And so quiet. I now realize that running on my old NordicTrack was kind of like running with a speeding freight train on one side and a jumbo jet on the other. I don't even have to crank the stereo up to an obnoxiously loud level to hear it anymore!
I'm still trying to recover from yesterday's 1/2 marathon. I'm pretty sure that racing makes you more tired than just doing a long run. I had to do six miles this morning and I had a really tough time getting it done. I kept trying to think of excuses to cut the run short, but in the end I just hung in there. I'm glad I got it done. Today was my longest run for the week (at least until Saturday).
Final statistics from yesterday's run show that I was 53rd in my age group and that there were 325 women runners in my age group. Not too shabby. I was the 208th woman overall and the 724th runner to cross the finish line. The total number of runners for the half marathon yesterday was 2,925. I'm in the upper third, so I'm satisfied with that.
Karnazes ran his marathon in 3:50, but posted to his blog that he's planning on slowing down for the rest of the recreated runs. He's apparently only going all out on live events. So he'll be flying again when we see him at Chicago. Maybe next time I'll be able to keep up with him?

It's a great day for a marathon

Or a half marathon. This morning was the Lewis and Clark 1/2 Marathon in St. Charles. It was a good race. The weather was fairly nice, although it was a little humid when we started out. The course is a circular loop which the 1/2 marathoners do one lap of and the full marathoners due two laps of. I don't like these "loop" courses, so I've never run the full marathon at this race, but it's a good half marathon course.
Most of the race covers flat terrain, although there's a big 230+ foot hill in the middle of mile twelve. Part of the course covers a route that I usually run on my long runs anyway though, so some of the course is really familiar to me.
This year's race was the first time that the race has reached capacity. I think this is due in large part to the Endurance 50 Challenge and Dean Karnazes. Just a little FYI for those of you who may be planning to run with the Ultramarathon Man in the near future: that 10:00/mile pace he's supposedly running? Yeah, it's actually closer to an 8:30/mile pace. He finished the first half of the race today in just under 1:50.
As far as my personal finishing time today went, I didn't quite meet my time goal of 1:50. I came damn close though. I snuck under the wire at 1:58 and that includes at least two minutes in a port-a-potty about 1/4 of a mile into the race. I know, poor planning on my part.
Anyway, my time rounds out to just under a 9:00/mile pace, which will be enough to put me under the four hour mark at Chicago in (gasp) five short weeks. Which was my original goal before I got cocky and decided to go for a qualifying time. Since I've only been competing for two and a half years, and this is the first year I've really been seriously hardcore about my running, I'm okay with just getting faster with each progressive marathon. Besides, I've got the rest of my life to qualify for Boston.
I've still got two more half marathons in the next three weeks to fine tune my race strategies. I did learn several things about my race habits today. The most important thing I learned was that the GU2 fluid replacement is not something that my body agrees with. So, in the future if this is the sport drink of choice at a race, I'll be carrying my own Powerade or Gatorade.
I've also learned to make sure I get a full night's rest the night before the race. Last night we were out a little later than we normally are, as we were at our cousin's house, celebrating the upcoming birth of one of my college girlfriend's baby. Next time I'll plan a smidge better.
Overall though, the race was good and I'm happy with my finishing time. Next up is the Hills and Hollows 1/2 on Saturday, to which I'll add another 4.9 miles for a total of 18.

Uh, yeah...I wore out my treadmill

I normally don't run on the treadmill that much. I'd say that since I started training for this marathon, I only run on the treadmill two days per week. I used to do all of my running pretty much exclusively on the treadmill, with the exception of my long runs. Since I did an actual sponsored speedwork course this summer though, I've kind of gotten into the habit of running outside a little more often, and now that it's getting cooler I'm really enjoying the running outside.
Anyway, long story short...I ran on the treadmill Monday before work (5 miles) and I noticed then that the belt was slid over a little farther to the left than it normally is. I didn't have any trouble with it though, so I didn't think anything of it. I ran outside Tuesday, so I didn't use the treadmill again until Wednesday's pre-work run. On Wednesday the belt slipped a whole lot farther to the left, so much so that the friction from the belt rubbing against the motor cover actually cut a gash into the motor cover on that side. I noticed at about the 3 mile mark on Wednesday that it was making a lot of noise and I started worrying about things coming loose and my poor defenseless body flying off the back of the treadmill. So I rested my hands of the rail for the last mile(which I don't recommend) just in case, and made a mental note to tell Dear Husband to look at it.
Dear Husband looked at it, made the appropriate repair and then tested it out. Within thirty seconds of the treadmill running at a 1.5mph pace, the belt was once again slid to the left and cutting into the motor cover. So, we decided that it was hopeless and that we were going to have to invest in a new treadmill. I was bummed. We've logged some good miles together, me and that treadmill have. But there comes a point at which you just have to know to stop beating a dead horse/throwing good money after bad/etc...and since we've pretty much replaced every moving part (and some that don't move) on this treadmill, it was time to through in the towel. By my calculations, I've logged pretty close to 4,000 miles on this treadmill in the four years that we've owned it.
So we bit the bullet and bought a new True treadmill. My husband knows someone who knows someone who works at True, and this friend of a friend got us a fantastic deal. We're getting a top of the line machine for less than 1/2 the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Supposedly it's a discontinued model that the company is trying to clear inventory on. It's supposed to be ready for pickup tomorrow around noon, so now I just have to figure out who to get to haul away the old treadmill and how to break the news to the old girl that she's being replaced with a younger, hipper model.

Fall running seems so much easier than summer running

Today was another speed workout for me. I wasn't so sure that I wanted to keep up with the speedwork after the formal sessions were done, but I'm glad that I have so far. I can really tell a difference...finally. Tonight I went back to the snake ridden track in town. I figured that since it was a lot cooler out this week than it had been last week, all of the snakes would be safely hidden away in a warmer location.
I did 1200 meter repeats. The schedule called for four sets of 1200 meters each, which works out to three miles, but my training schedule called for five miles total. Like last week, I decided to run two miles as a warm-up. Unlike last week, I did not almost step on anything creepy crawly that threw me off for the rest of the run. I kept the pace fairly slow, as I also think I did my warm-up laps way too fast last week. I ran the first mile in 8:30 and the second in 8:34...both of which seemed comfortable for me (see what I mean about finally seeing progress?)
The four 1200's I was shooting for a finishing time of 6:03 per repetition. I managed to whip them out in 5:30, 5:40, 5:35, and 5:45. That's almost two whole minutes faster per repetition than I ran them back in June!
I think what's really making a difference for me now is the fact that I'm watching my diet more closely. I've finally realized, after four years of running and three of racing that you only are able to put out the same quality of energy that you put in. You'd have thought that I would have realized that crap in=crappy effort years ago, but you know me...always late to everything. I've also realized that fueling my body with a big dinner before a speedwork session is a recipe to make myself hurl. Since the formal speed sessions are over for the year, I'm able to get out and run around four in the afternoon instead of waiting until seven for the group...so I get to eat after I run, instead of before. What a difference this seems to have made.

Firefighters Five Miler Recap

This morning's Firefighter's Five Miler was awesome. This is one of the best races I've run so far this year. I loved the course. The weather was beautiful, the crowd was small,the port-a-potties were plentiful, and the packet pick up was very well organized.
The course tends to follow the same path every year (per a fellow runner, as I'd never run the race before) and it tends to draw the same crowd year after year. It followed part of the Spirit of St. Louis Marathon course, so part of it did have a lovely little 1/2 mile gradual hill, and then there was a steep climb of about 700 feet in the fourth mile. Gotta love the Garmin for giving me these fun little details. I felt like I was running slow, but then I looked at my watch, and realized that I was really flying. That was a nice surprise.
I ran the five miles in 42:17 which works out to a 8:24 pace overall. I had two miles that were just barely over 8:00 minute miles though. Coincidently, these two miles were the miles with the big hill and the gradual hill.
All in all, it was a great morning. I was finished running, home, showered, and sitting down to breakfast by 9:15 this morning. I love that feeling of accomplishment and knowing that you've done more before 10:00am than some people do all day!

Twelve miles, no nausea

That's a good thing. Last week's long run kind of had me a little freaked out. That was the first time I'd ever been really sick after a long run in several years, and oh how sick I was. I was really interested in seeing how this week went after that. This week has been a rest week of sorts. Although my long run was only twelve miles today, I have had several medium length runs the rest of the week, including a five mile race tomorrow.
I started out at the same course I ran last week. I really was trying to mimic last weeks conditions to see if it was something I did last week or just the luck of the draw. (Of course, there wasn't a Shriner's parade today though...instead, it's Civil War reenactment weekend.) Instead of turning around at the five mile mark like I normally do though, I went ahead and ran through the neighborhood that I ran through a few weeks back so that I knew once I turned around I was on my way back. Totally a mental thing, but it seemed to really help.
I was pretty pleased with today's run, even though my legs felt heavy and tired at the start. I almost tripped over a in the sidewalk and went flying if that tells you anything.
I managed to maintain a fairly consistent pace throughout the entire run. My total run time was 1 hour 50 minutes. Since I actually went 12.07 miles, I'm pretty confident that I can run a good half marathon and 2 hours next weekend. I'm figure I made my time goal this week and that was with hills. The half marathon next weekend will only have one big hill and that's right at the beginning and really it's not so much a big hill as it is a long gradual incline. I figure it helps that I'm familiar with the course. It'll also help that they filled every entry slot for the race next weekend, as that will be the kickoff of Dean Karnazes' Endurance 50 Challenge. I'm pretty psyched to run a race with him. Apparently he runs a 10:00/mile pace, so we should be running somewhere around each other!
My splits for today were pretty decent, I felt. See for yourself:
Mile 1: 9:08
Mile 2: 9:23
Mile 3: 9:21
Mile 4: 9:23
Mile 5: 9:02
Mile 6: 9:46
Mile 7: 9:11
Mile 8: 9:39
Mile 9: 9:17
Mile 10: 8:28
Mile 11: 8:47
Mile 12: 9:11
That's a negative split folks! For, I think, the first time ever. 56:04 for the run out, and 54:33 for the run in!

Snakes...on a track

I went to the track today for a speed session by myself. I was cruising along doing just fine, warming up, when all of the sudden...out of nowhere...snakes (the no legged variety, not the two legged variety). Those of you who know me, know that I get along just fine with most of the creatures on this planet...but the one species I absolutely cannot stand is snakes. I firmly believe that the only good snake is a dead snake, and even then they creep me out. So close your eyes, no wait leave them open, you'll want to read this, and imagine if you will: Me in my running skirt. Cruising along at a speed 8:30/mile. About two laps into my eight warmup laps. Minding my own business. Enjoying the nice, breezy, sunny early fall day, when I happen to glance down and see a snake...that I'm about to put my left shoe squarely on top of.
Now imagine me ten seconds further down the track, still freaked out from snake run-in #1, notice another snake two lanes over. Now picture the entire varsity defensive line from the local high school doubled over convulsing with laughter as I freak out (read jump around and wave my arms in the air, with much high pitched screaming) about not one, but two snakes, just laying there sunning themselves, on my running track. One I would have been skeeved out by and had nightmares about, but two?!?! Now we're talking Snakes on a Plane type infestation.
So now that we've established that I'm terrified of snakes, lets talk about the size of these bad boys. Oh yeah, the big bad snakes that had me so terrified were tiny. Yep, they were all of twelve inches long at best, and no bigger around than my pinkie finger...but they were still SNAKES. And I really, really don't like snakes.
Other than that the run was good. I finished my three miles of speedwork and my two miles of warm up in a little over fifty minutes and that includes the rest breaks between each set of repeats. I met my time goals for the first four repeats (I think because of the snake induced adrenaline rush) and then almost met my goals for the last three repeats. I was within ten seconds of my goal time, so that's close enough in my world.

Belly woes

What is up with my stomach? Seriously, ever since my long run on Saturday I've been feeling just plain funky. At first I thought that maybe it was dehydration, but I drank an awful lot on my run Saturday and made sure the follow the rules of rehydration all day Saturday and Sunday...so I don't think that was it. Then I thought that maybe I was just hungry, but I actually felt worse after every meal except for last night's dinner...so that can't be it. So my final thought was that maybe I was just exhausted, and I went to bed early both Saturday and Sunday. That seemed to finally do the trick.
Yesterday's run was not much fun. I only had to do an easy three mile recovery run, so I elected to do it on the treadmill, just in case I needed to uhmmm (how to phrase this tactfully?) use the "facilities". Fortunately I actually made it through said run without vomiting all over myself or my treadmill, or the aforementioned "facilities". What a relief.
Today's run was much better and I even felt well enough to go outside for the run. I ran six miles at one of the local parks...it was predominantly flat, which was a nice change. I was even able to maintain my pace without much difficulty or gnashing of teeth. Splits are as follows: (Yes, I played with my Garmin)
Mile 1: 8:39
Mile 2: 8:56
Mile 3: 9:08
Mile 4: 9:28
Mile 5: 9:16
Mile 6: 8:54
On a slightly scary note...I got sucked into the new season of Laguna Beach on MTV last night. (Hangs head in shame). I have pretty much decided that I love the new (to me at least) Ashlee Simpson song: L-O-V-E. (Hangs head even further in shame). Seriously though, if you can overlook the whole fact that it's an Ashlee Simpson (who is by far the less talented of two supremely untalented Simpson girls) song...it's actually a pretty catchy little tune.

Here's the elevation graph from this morning's run:

Today's long run was the first time I'd run the St. Charles course in about three weeks. It was tough getting back into it. I did have a couple of new toys to play with today...I finally broke out the running skirt that I bought a month ago, and my hubby bought me a new GPS system for our anniversary (and gave it to me three weeks early).
Let's talk about the GPS first, as this is the coolest toy I've ever had. He bought me a Garmin 205 to replace my old Timex Speed/Distance system that's been less than dependable as of late. I was majorly impressed on my run as the Garmin did not drop the satellite signal even once (usually Timex dropped it at least four times...usually at the worst possible times). I was able to set it to record my pace at each lap, so I'll finally be able to post accurate split times. I loved that I could monitor my total time running, distance, pace, as well as the real world time all at the same time. The best thing about the new GPS though was that I could bring my data home and upload it into the computer so that I could analyze my times, calories burnt, and elevation changes!!! It was cool to be able to overlay the elevation map with my pace graph and see exactly why my pace was slower on some miles.
As to the running skirt, it was pretty cool too. I wasn't liking it too much for the first mile or so, as I like to wear my fuel belt slung low around my hips so that it doesn't interfere with my armswing. What I noticed after running a short distance with the fuel belt low on my hips was that the skirt was riding up in the back...thereby exposing my lovely white spandex clad upper thighs and ass to the entire world. I finally figured out the happy medium between fuel belt placement and appropriate skirt ass coverage and was able to run the rest of my run in relative peace. Despite the small snafu with the fuel belt, I really liked the running skirt.
So, overall the run was good. I had a tough time with the last three miles, as I was pretty much exhausted. I also had to detour off my normal route to a cobblestone street for the last mile since the annual Missouri Shriners convention was in town and they were having a parade down the street I usually run down. (Those little old men in the noisy, tiny cars doing donuts on the street used to freak me out as a child...and they still kind of do). I don't really care for running on cobblestone, especially when I'm tired, as I tend to have a hard time staying on my feet. I only almost fell once though, so that was pretty good.