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 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

My fatal flaw only got me partially this morning - I woke up 20 minutes before my scheduled alarm to use the head and didn't just stay up. I thought, I'll just enjoy my cozy bed for 20 minutes and then get going. I've got time.

So after I hit 'snooze' for the 9th time, it was almost 8am, which is pretty much time to get ready for work. I keep hearing that I need to gradually get up earlier and earlier to go from an 8am rise-and-shine to a much earlier one that leaves time for running. The only problem with that is that I can't add running gradually; I either run or I don't. So this morning, I decided to turn the tide even though it was so late. I know I can run a mile in under 15 minutes even on a bad day, so I made myself get dressed and walked over to my running spot.

Then I got really ambitious and thought, I can run three miles at a 10-min pace so then I'd be back to my room by 8:30... perfect! Problem is, I haven't run a 10-min mile since 10th grade (well maybe once a few years ago, too). So with my forerunner beeping at me to speed up pretty much the whole time (at least on the uphill half of the loop), I completed one mile and pretty much wanted to vomit. Only reason I didn't was that there was nothing to cough up. 8am is a lot hotter than 7am is a lot hotter than 6am. I need to make this gradual process go faster so I can enjoy more running at an almost decent temperature.

Work was frustrating and stressful as usual. I just got by those nine and a half hours. Thankfully the big scary thunderstorm rolled through and hid the sun and broke the humidity a bit. Around 8pm, I headed back out to try again on the speedy 3-miler. This time I kept a 10:43 average pace. That's pretty damn good considering the shape I'm in! I mean, I almost wanted to throw up the whole time, but this was foreseen so I'd only eaten an apple before the run and went mostly hungry.

I've been eating pizza and pasta and apples and yogurt for the last few days, so I think I had a good store of fuel that let me run under-hydrated and under-fed *twice* today. So, I can't complain too much. I'm happy just putting in the miles and hoping to find the will again tomorrow.

Labels: body fuel, food, morning run, speed run, two runs in one day