Oh Everest, My Everest

Well, PT hasn't involved as much running as I had wanted (translation: needed), but my entire body certainly is sore today. I did notice a different attitude and threshold for discomfort in my short run after PT, though. I took off only mildly uncomfortable to put in as much as I could before I had to go to class. I planned on 3, but it was cut to 1.5 because apparently I was holding the LTC up. (Oops.) I didn't know they had to lock the track back up. I always forget that it has such inconvenient hours and doesn't officially open until 0800. Anyway, I held a 10-min pace without wanting to puke. We'll see if this actually translates to something that's good for my marathon training on Saturday with the big 2-0.

*shudders*

Labels: Army ROTC, cross-training, PT, short run, speed run

This morning was fun. It was my first mandatory early morning run and I won't see the last one until sometime in December. I think part of my brain is missing. I signed up for this, willing, knowing that it would continue for a month and a half after the marathon is over. Whatever! I didn't need that part of my brain anyway.

Of course, this morning also brought me to that point where I felt this incredible urge to cry and or hurl and I used most of my mental energy to keep myself from whining and ignore how embarrassingly out of breath I was. We only ran a mile and a half, but I was playing the game just to get to a mile and then when I got there, I had to wrap my head around possibly doing two. I knew three would be impossible at that speed, but the PT test that we were missing was only two, so I had that much going for me. Luckily, when I verbalized my misery as unwussily as possible, we decided together that one more lap would be decent, making it 1.5 in total. Oh the relief.

Then I did push-ups and sit-ups to sort of make it a diagnostic PT test. I got passing numbers, better on the push-ups than sit-ups. My hip flexors kill. I also stupidly forgot to stretch afterward, which is making them scream bloody murder.

I'm still kind of nervous about Wednesday, though, because that's when I join the group instead of just running around having fun with my nice new friend. Then of course there will be lots of boys who run a lot faster than me and I will inevitably be trying not to hurl all morning, while also trying to remember how to be in formation.

Now I realize I probably still have to do short runs outside of this, especially if we're only doing 1-2 miles at a time. Of course, at least now I know I'm out of the woods as far as not running at all during the week. Even 3 short 1- to 2-milers is a lot better than nothing. And that's something!

I also saw a small group of Marines running by on the road as cadet-friend and I were headed into the Bagel Place for me to have my first real bagel since NYC. (Yum!) (Wait, tangent: Somebody should tell Lenders and that other store brand that bagel-shaped bread does not equal bagel. Bagels have hard shells from being boiled in water before baking! You'd think more people would notice.) One of these days, I'm going to be out there with them, running like the wind. I wonder how many times my all-out, gutsy PT will make me puke before then.

This is a fun, twisted game.

Labels: Army ROTC, bagel, PT, pukie the clown, short run

This morning was pretty brutal. I itched all night from the score of bug bites covering my legs (again). I have no idea where these little fuckers even are! When are they getting a shot at biting me? I only ever go outdoors to run or go to my car and I always put on bug repellant when I run! >:(

I smelled like a walking Vicks factory when I finally got in to work. Then when the Vicks kicked in and made my legs stop itching, I realized that there was another reason I had a hell of a time waking up this morning: I had the beginnings of the SICK. The mildly irritated throat, the slightly warm temperature, the full body aches...

I used to get sick all the time. ALL. THE. TIME. Frequent and recent enough to know that I have to head it off at the pass with a bunch of zinc, vitamin C, food and sleep. If not, it usually takes me out for a whole week. I mean, I stay sick for almost two weeks as it fades away in that annoying sniffly-coughy way, but I am down for the count for a good long week at the beginning.

Looking ahead into my work week and the fact that school starts tomorrow (no small deal right now), I thought maybe I should do what I could to head it off at the pass. So I called in a solid you-owe-me from all the people at work who have been benefiting from my usual run-myself-into-the-ground-to-get-things-done approach for the past 1-10 months. I didn't feel quite right doing it, but once I laid down the facts (especially the part about having to be OUT-out for a couple of days if I let it get bad), well, let's just say that they all decided to just bite the bullet and help me out.

A little after 3pm, I grabbed the lunch I had had delivered 2.5 hours earlier and ran upstairs to eat, take preventative meds and sleep. I put in Little Miss Sunshine (great flick!) and slept through it. Then I woke up to the main menu screen and switched over to cartoon network where, to my delight, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends was on. More sleeping and sleepy watching. Then around 10pm I was awake.

Remembering Coach's words of warning as he rode his bike alongside me this last weekend - making sure I wasn't going to pass out in the humidity - I decided to go running and tire myself out for bed. Two birds, one stone. I need to make sure to do at least two short runs during the week. I am not even doing the minimum. How am I supposed to run this bitch in October if I can't even make time for little 3-milers and such during the week? I won't. That's how.

So out I went around 11pm (it took an hour of self-coaxing to get around to actually dressing and going out for a run at this hour). It was relatively cool and nice. I reek of Off!, but I don't have any new bites (thank goodness). It was a mediocre speed run. Miles in the bank. Forward motion. One foot in front of the other. I guess that's all a person can do when her body is screaming for her to quit. Anything it takes to not give in.

Much as it pained me to abandon a bunch of people at the office who needed me to be there, I'm glad I slept off the sick today. When my body calls in a you-owe-me, I'd be stupid not to deliver.

Labels: bites, cartoons, lemon-lime powerade, long run, movies, short run, sick, speed run

Yesterday was a rough one, but I did it! I ran 16 miles! 16.4 to be exact. I don't particularly feel like reliving it, but I will summarize it by saying that it was long and arduous and my knees hurt the whole damn time despite the Tylenol I took at the beginning. I developed a case of tourette's just as I hit mile 14 and I think I'm just now shaking it. (Maybe not. I still have a few choice words in me.) I also had a great desire to spear the people running in front of me. They just looked too damned chipper. Good thing I didn't actually have a spear or any functional substitutes handy.

Mister-man had some good advice for me after I vented to him yesterday. He said that I should try doing some jumprope warm-up and a stretch before I run. This is usually not necessary for long runs since we run the whole thing slowly and do the warming up by attempting to negative split and running especially slow the first 3-5 miles. But it did make me realize why my knees hurt so much: I should have done exactly that before my two short runs this last week, since I chose to do speed runs for both. That's precisely the kind of workout that requires a warm-up and stretch. My knees hurt since that first speed run and only got worse through the end of the week, culminating in a world of pain for over 3-1/2 hours yesterday morning. (Who am I kidding? I'm still in a lot of pain.)

Anyway, I was going to go back to my usual wimpy 1-mile recovery run at a whopping 14-ish minute pace, but the thought of being on my knees for that long and only accomplishing one mile wearied me. Plus, I need to add miles during the week as we stay in the double digit mileage from here on out. I decided that from now on, no matter how tired I am, I should be shooting for runs that are no shorter than 3 miles. I mean, am I just going to stop before I get to the end of that marathon because I'm tired? Hell no. So, I took off into the nice misty day for a jog around some different parts of campus.

The cool weather felt good, so I just sort of took off with nary a care. My recovery run morphed into a speed workout. There were no sprints involved, which I typically like to incorporate into speed runs, but then neither were there any during my last two. I guess it's a good sign that I didn't notice until I finished, all out of breath and feeling accomplished. If I had gone just another half mile, I would have logged 20 miles this weekend. (!!) Given how beat up I feel, I'm perfectly happy with 19.5. That's a big enough deal for this little chicken.

Labels: consecutive key workouts, knees, long run, nsaids, recovery run, short run, shot blocks, speed run, sport beans, violent urges

THE NEED FOR SPEED

Two key workouts in a row and two speed workouts in one week. That's supposed to be really stupid, but it can't be as stupid as not running at all. I just have to do what I can when I can, make sure I don't miss the long runs and hope for the best.

Still, my time was great, considering the shape I'm in! I maintained a 10:30 pace for the first two miles (give or take 4 seconds) and then dropped to 11:00 on the last mile because I tanked and forgot to bring water. The shot block I ate before the run was obviously spent as well. I was lucky to finish the mile at that point. And now my knees kill.

Am I anywhere near even the minimum PFT on my 3-mile run yet?

Labels: consecutive key workouts, knees, PFT, short run, shot blocks, speed run

I made up a new word today: jub. It's the new f-bomb. I was trying to type 'job' but I was all u's today.

Planned to do three miles at top speed tonight, but I only got one out before it was time to get back to my place to let my guest in. I'm housing a co-worker for the next two days because of the overtime and her hour and a half drive home. The one mile I did have time for was good and fast (for me) though, so at least I didn't waste a night. It's a slippery slope when you let one day get wasted... another 13 follow very easily, especially when there's plenty of work to do at the office.

At 9:45, it's the second fastest mile I've run in my life. The only time I've ever run a mile faster was when I was in 10th grade and I pulled a 9:00. Not bad for being eight years older, and a lot bigger and heavier. Maybe if I make my weekly speed run just one mile instead of three, or at least run the first mile at top speed and then do the other two as fast as I can stand after my extreme effort, then I'll be able to have a nice little 1-mile PR sometime before the big day. That would be a nice little accomplishment to keep me motivated as my life gets busier and everything gets more stressful. I'm gunnin' for 8, baby!

Labels: apple, short run, speed run, sport beans

I feel worthless today for postponing my run another day when I had planned to do Monday-Wednesday-Friday this week in preparation for Riley's. But Monday brought on the most painful four miles of my life. I felt like I had heartburn the whole time. I brought water with me, though no beans or gatorade since the workout was only about 45 minutes. I threw up some water right at the end when I could feel my body running out of something after about 3.5 miles (was it dehydration? did I use up my glycogen stores? who knows?) and I pushed my limit and made myself finish the four miles.

The second I stopped running, it felt like that was the worst decision I had made all week... only I couldn't tell if the mistake was making myself keep running to that point, or stopping when I needed to keep going. Either way, after that first step I walked, the damage was done. I swirled some water in my mouth and spit out some kind of nasty goo that had formed in my mouth and the tried to drink some only to wretch it back into my mouth. Gross.

I had eaten a buffalo burger for lunch that day and it was slightly undercooked, but you'd think if it was that it would have bothered me sooner than seven hours later! What's worse is that I didn't wake up feeling better yesterday. I've been feeling queasy and heartburn-y since then and my body just doesn't feel like it's recovered from Saturday, let alone the second beating I gave it on Monday. I scheduled my first massage for Monday night, so I know that will be well deserved after I have a go at the Rumble on Sunday.

All this and those 10+ miles on Saturday felt like such a breeze at the time! Eesh.

But the real point of this entry should be that I looked back at my last few entries and--lo and behold!--the last time I felt this kind of a bodily funk was exactly a month ago. Fancy that! I guess I haven't taken a cut-back week since then, and my body is hollering at me for it. It's too bad Riley's falls on this week, but I guess this will just make into that much more of a test for me. At this rate, MCM might be falling on my off week! (Please no, please no, please no...) I think it will actually be a week after the off week if it keeps going exactly every 4th week, but I know that sort of thing is never predictable.

I don't know what else to say. The more I sit here to type, the more opportunity I have to whine, and that ain't helping no-one.

Can it be Monday now?

Labels: got dat funk, heartburn, long run, massage, race, rest week, Riley's Rumble, short run

A fresh perspective on recovery runs

I ran an easy mile today (could have done three if I hadn't waited until noon to do it), and it hardly feels like I ran 12.75 yesterday. Hell if I had known I was making myself hurt worse by lying around like a lazy slug on weekends after the long runs, I'd have gotten my ass up off the couch a lot sooner! Usually I'm still hurting on Mondays and have to wait until Tuesday to start in on the shorter runs again, but I feel like I could do another few tonight as soon as the sun goes down. I may still wait until tomorrow for that though. :)

Labels: recovery run, short run

Running in the rain is great!

Heartburn is not. I need to lay off those cheap calzones.

I just wish it had rained yesterday when I wore my last clean pieces of technical gear. Cotton is no fun when you're all wet. Although, yesterday's run was quite the success. I combined the speed workout with the baby long run because I stupidly took three days off in a row again. When will I learn?

I think I only did so well because I was pacing myself against a dude and he wasn't much faster than me... I'm not faster than anybody, much less a dude. Here was my chance, and I took it. I did a 100-meter sprint for every lap around the mall (just shy of 1km) from my third through sixth lap (actually, I did two in the fourth lap). Then the dude I was beating finished his run and my distraction disappeared, leaving me with my twitchy muscles, throbbing knees and burning feet. I eeked out two more "easy" laps before I pretty much just wanted to pull out a knife and slice out the tendons in my knees. (They needed the extra space.)

Not having a knife handy, I decided on one more sprint to distract me. The rest of lap nine was spent catching my breath and wrangling my heart back into my chest. That just left excruciating lap ten for me to do, during which it was easier to convince myself to just keep going at my average long run pace because I was "warming down."

I've been on NSAIDS since Saturday - the maximum dose of ibuprofen plus one overlapping dose of aspirin during a really bad night. I iced my knees three times on Saturday and then again after my run yesterday, and I should do it again now. My knees are starting to complain. I'm having old ladies at work tell me that the reason they can't walk to the next building is because they didn't take care of their knees when they were young and running like me. (Gee, thanks.) I'm gonna quit it with the NSAIDS tomorrow, though. If I wake up in a lot of pain again, the morning will be my last dose. If not, this is it. No more drugs until after the Saturday long run. But I'm hopeful I won't really need them again until I add more mileage. I have this week and next to get my body accustomed to ten miles. Lord help my knees when the following week comes.

Labels: baby long run tuesday, calzones, heartburn, knees, nsaids, rain, short run, sprints, violent urges

I felt terrible today - even worse than yesterday - but I made myself run. Ended up feeling pretty good after the first mile so I ran for an hour. Almost hit 5 miles. Worked a couple of short sprints in there and then got into the grass for some crunches and stretching. Usually it takes about five seconds of running (or more!) to get me ridiculous happy and pumped. I think my threshold is getting higher (or maybe these last two days at work have just been as sucky as I think they were). The almost-two miles I did yesterday actually left me feeling worse than I started. I think my new MO will be to run until I feel good and then do whatever more I can or have time for after that. That seems to work well for me.

Also, since I'm getting into higher distances and trying to increase the days I run, I think I'll let this be the beginning of Baby Long Run Tuesdays. Long Run Saturdays were the only ones in the schedule before and I'd just sort of run twice sometime in the middle of the week, whatever distance I felt like. Monday can be the random cadence day since I still feel like my cadence shouldn't be limited to so narrow a range. I guess that leaves Thursday for either a hill workout with one of those groups in the city or just another 3-mile easy run to fill out the weekly miles I need to equal the distance of the coming long run. Let's see how long this lasts.

Labels: baby long run tuesday, short run

I was excited all day to go on my first rainy run after work since it was raining all of yesterday and most of today... of course it decided to dry up AND get sunny just in time for me to put in my short, short run. Just like a typical short run for me, I felt like losing my lunch for the entire duration, then I hopped in the shower for 10 and completely forgot what I had just been doing. So, I guess I feel okay. It's almost like the run part didn't happen and I just felt like taking a second shower today, but then my sweaty running clothes remind me otherwise.



Today's run was informally timed, but I know I was in the neighborhood of a 12:10-12:15 pace maximum. And it was just shy of 2 miles. I hate it when that happens because 1.89 seems like sooo much less than 2. Then I feel like a loser for not just running that extra eleven-tenths of a mile, but it's not like I knew how far it was when I was out there! This is what happens when you just run wherever the hell you feel like it and then use gmaps to see how far you ran afterward. You have no idea what you've accomplished while you're out there, and more importantly, you have no idea what irrationally significant mile marker you could be crossing if you were just slightly less of a wuss.



I should really stop dwelling on that now. The important thing is that I am a loser because running fast is hard and I am le tired.



Just to shake things up a bit, I decided I would experiment with cadence today. I noticed that I consistently run at the same tempo (or at least within a very narrow range) that is pretty slow in the grand scheme of things. I just sort of lengthen my stride or pick up my knees to go faster when I need to, but otherwise I'm comfortable at this tempo. So I thought, what better idea than to try to do three loops around this giganto lawn at a much faster tempo than I'm used to, even if I really feel like I'm about to toss that apple I just ate? And so I did.



I was taking some weenie-ass little steps at some points along the way, but for the most part I tried not to be too much of a wuss. I experienced very uncomfortable and largely irregular breathing patterns and turned very, very red. I broke that sweat barrier that usually takes so long for me to reach pretty much immediately after I started. I even felt some sweat trickle down my neck, which is an entirely new sensation for this former couch potato. I focused all of my energy on maintaining that pace... and whatever was left of my focus was used to try to steady my breath. I did keep the pace, though shortening my steps on the uphill sections, but was never too successful with that breathing thing.



Of course, today was the shittiest of all the shitty shit shit days at work. (Don't get me wrong, there will be worse.. but today was pretty bad.) So, the fact that my heart was fluttering uncomfortably the whole time reminded me of the preceding nine hours of my day. It does that when I am running too fast and wanting to punch people in the face. You could say that it's my heart's thing.



I don't know what else to add. I mean, my chest and stomach feel like crap. My blood pressure has sort of been elevated all day because of uncomfortable conversations with my mom and about 5,000 angry people. I ate an apple RIGHT before I ran. I might as well have chewed it up and spit it out all over the front of my shirt. (Okay, that was gross. I'll stop.) My legs are kind of burning. My calves and quads were sore from the moment I started running and are only moreso now. I don't think I stretched adequately, but I'm not really in a calm mood. So, that explains most of it. I'm sure I'm still in pretty okay shape as far as my preparation for the 8-miler this week. I shortened my run today because I want to run 3 times mid-week instead of twice.



Unfortunately, I think the work will stay tense for at least the next three days. Most likely, it will last all summer because the next two busy weeks will melt right into when my colleague has decided to leave us for his new job. Then it will all be the big suck again. I guess I'd better get a handle on this stress thing so I can start enjoying the running again!

Labels: apple, cadence, gmaps, rain, short run