catch up time

I sure am behind on my blogging. Not sure why - guess I haven't been quite as fired up on my running - and i know why - and i know it is a dumb reason. I'm doing the age old no no of comparing myself to others. Things are still going well - but i'm starting to wonder if my goals are truly attainable or if i'm chasing something that's still out of my reach. I'm doing exactly what the trusty training program says i need to do - but rather being pumped up about the fact that I'm running better than ever - and better than i thought i could - i'm looking at other people - and saying wow - this is so much easier for them - than me - who am I kidding? I know that you need to have a positive attitude - believe that you can do something and you can - believe that you can't - and you won't. At the same time I don't want to be the fool that's walking around saying they are going to do something - and everyone else is looking at her - thinking - what is this crazy girl thinking??? she'll never be able to do that - she's not that good. So I start to tell myself - well if I don't make boston at the towpath that's ok - and it is ok - running a 3:40 at towpath will not be make or break my life - and i don't want to be too disappointed if it doesn't happen - but at the same time - telling myself it's ok if i don't make it - is not the motivation one needs to do well. So enough - enough negative - enough of other people - i'm going to focus on the positive.

Since my last blog - i've done lots of stuff. Ran the twilight trail run. It was a lot of fun - ran into a girl i use to run in high school with - i think we pushed each other a little too hard in the first mile - but it was fun. I started off that race not sure how i would do - my stomach was angry all day - i even threw up at work that day - so i wasn't sure how the run was going to go. I didn't want to use that as an excuse to not push myself though - so I ran the first mile with my old high school buddy and then gained a little on her - my goal was to just stay with her or a little ahead of her since i figured she would be running at a pretty good pace. Well with the staggered start of the race - the further i got into the race - the more people started to come up behind you - well in a normal race you don't get passed by people moving this fast - so you just pick it up - - i think this was the first time i've ever run negative splits in a race - maybe all races should be like this! However as i mentioned - stomach was not happy - but i kept pushing it - got to about a half a mile out though and I had to slow down the pace just so i could finish with out throwing up - and with the way my stomach was that day - i figured the chances of me throwing up were pretty high. So i finished in 41 minutes - not to shabby - next time i run this race i want to break 38 - i think it can happen. You could tell i gave it my all though - b/c when they tried to hand me a beer at the finish - i said no -- yes folks - bridget turned down a beer - so you know she was not feeling great. I got some water and waited for steve to come in - wasn't sure how he would do since he was still sore from the half ironman just four days earlier... turns out he did awesome!! beat his last five mile trail run by ten minutes!!! way to go steve!

ok that's enough for now - i' ll pick up with the pedal to the point recap here shortly...

GCT - reaching goals

So this weekend was the greater cleveland tri. I had thought about doing it a few months back - but quickly realized that trying to qualify for boston and trying to train for your first triathlon in the same time period and still have a normal functioning life - is a bit much for me right now. Steve however - was determined to complete the half ironman. Let's flash back for a minute - and remind all of you that steve is just barely getting back into running - he was sidelined for over two years with stress fractures - and is just recently returning to running - with limited miles - no way he is risking being totally out again by ramping up the mileage too quickly. That being said - completing a half marathon was going to be quite an accomplishment in itself - let alone doing it after swimming 1.2 miles and then biking 56.
Going into this weekend - I felt like i was racing - I was nervous for Steve. Steve - as usual was calm - so unlike me - wish i could learn how to be like that. Well long story short - as everyone knows - they canceled the swim on sunday. I was so sad as I took steve's wetsuit back to the car. Steve is an awesome swimmer - probably would have been one of the first out of the water. However they made them run 1.2 miles instead. I know that the water was rough but it just stinks - you train for a year for something and then they say oh well you can't actually do the event you trained for. Well steve looked good on the first run and great on the bike. After he went on the bike - i ran a slow 2 something miles out on the bike course where I joined e speed for another 5 -- ended up being a jacked up version of my tempo workout. But it was fun to be running while cheering on the bikers - i'm sure we looked goofy. Steve looked awesome when we saw him - so we headed back towards the park. (so did amie and janet -- nice job ladies!) I waitied for steve to make the turn into the park and I made a mad dash to the car to drop my sweatshirt so I could run with him for a bit and get some pictures of him. Well I ended up running the whole thing with him - how's the for an unexpected extra 20 miler this week? ha! Steve did great -especially since he was having horrible leg cramps - i mean like charlie horse type leg cramps. He drank plenty of water and gatorade, took his gu and ecaps. I don't know what caused the cramping. If anyone has any insight - let me know. Well we got to the last mile and I remembered that I had ditched the camera around mile six. So steve said "go get it" I took off running across the parking lot of mentor headlands like i was on crack. Ran to the car - got the camera and ran to the path so I could document steve finishing. He beat his goal time by 47 minutes. I couldn't be more proud of him. He finished what he started - even though he knew it was going to be tough. Anyway - just wanted to say how proud I am of steve - for this huge accomplishment!!!

and a sigh of relief.

As i stated in my earlier post - i was really nervous about my 13 miles at pmp plus 15 seconds. I tried to keep my overreacting in check and just go out there and run. I mapped out 6.5 miles on the towpath since I can't totally rely on ghetto garmin these days. To be honest i wasn't really sure what an 8:35 pace should feel like. I knew it should be harder than my comfortable 9:10 default pace - so I figured well if i push it a little - that should be about right. Well I started running - legs were still heavy from my track workout on tuesday but otherwise i felt pretty good. Mile 1 7:40 -- hmmm ok - guess I'm pushing it too fast - so slow down. Well it seemed that when i slowed down my garmin said i was doing a 9:50 pace - and as much as i know that my garmin isn't accurate it still scared me. Now i knew from what i had mapped out that the redlock trail head was 2.6 miles - so if i was going to be at an 8:30 pace I should hit it at 22:19 - I hit it at 20:19 - or something like that. Clearly i needed to slow it way down. Well I started thinking - i wonder if i can hold 8 minute miles through the first half and then do the second half at 8:30's -- if i can do that then I should be in really good shape for my 10k. So I ran on to boston store - mile 4.5 - stopped to refill my water - was still at an overall pace of under 8 minutes. so i only had to go two more miles out - from what i had mapped out online i had a pretty good idea of where the 6.5 mile mark was - just in case i couldn't trust the garmin. Garmin crapped out right around 6.1 miles - and then popped back online around 6.5 - right where 6.5 should have been. My 6.2 time was about 49 something - and my 6.5 was 51:47 - so I'm thinking a 6.2 time of 46:27 - is totally doable - especially if i'm not running 7 more miles afterwards!!
So I had a gu - and made my way back. Refilled at boston store again (mile 8.5) - still under 8 minute pace - I could feel myself slowing down a bit - my legs were still heavy - but through mile 11 i was still just under an overall pace of 8 minute miles. Well ghetto garmin decided to stop at mile 11.09 for quite some time - so I kind of lost track of my pace a bit. Just tried to keep it pretty even. Ghetto garmin had me running a total of 13.22 - in 1:45:05 - (we'll call it 13) for an overall pace of 8:05.
So yes I pushed too hard - i'm tired today - and legs are a little heavy - but really that was a really encouraging run - I needed to know that i could do that - and that I still had some left in me. I can run a half maraton at an 8:05 pace and still keep going. Good to know ... maybe this boston thing can happen....
thanks for listening to my over analysis of a 13 mile run...

nervous

I'm getting nervous about whether or not I am truly at the right fitness level to be aiming for boston - or if I'm overtraining. I'm able to do the workouts at the paces the mcmillian calculator and first program say i should... so far anyway. The thing is - i've found over the last few weeks that i am capable of way more than i thought i was. Track workouts for example. If you would have told me i could do 6 800's at a consistant 3:15 - I would have told you were crazy. I was happy with doing 3:30's... so now i start to think - woah - maybe i am capable of way more than i think - and that the only thing that is holding me back is me. the part of me that is afraid to push to hard - don't push a race too hard - or a pace too hard - b/c you might blow up. Well if i don't try it - how will i know?
So tonight - i'm doing 13 miles at planned marathon pace plus 15 seconds - or an 8:35 - I've never done 13 miles at that pace. but if i can't do that - than i sure as s$#t can't do 26.2 at 8:20... so i'm getting nervous - which iknow will not help. Also on my plate is a 10k this weekend. I'm replacing the dreaded tempo run this week with the 10k race. According to mr mcmillian - my 10k equivalent performance should be a 46:27 - 7:28 pace. I haven't run a 10k since my goal was to break 10 minute miles... so I have no idea what i'm capable of. Last 5 mile i ran was a few months ago and it was 38 minutes -- so if that is any indicator - i should be able to pull a 46 pretty easily... But here's my problem - i am going to over think this from now until the 2 days after the race. And that will probably cause me to work myself up into a tizzy and therefore not do well. I really want these runs to go well to give myself and indicator that i am in the right shape to be training for a bq. And i know that a bad race or a bad run doesn't mean that i'm not there - but i know it sure will set me back mentally. So - wish me good luck and positive thoughts.

it's been awhile

wow - can tell i've been busy - haven't blogged and haven't logged all of my workouts. what's been going on?...
Well - last weekend did a 14 miler with amie on the towpath - i think the most noteworthy part of that run would be the point where i stopped running and started yelling and grabbing my nose. (I think amie thought I had lost my mind at this point) Well some bug had decided to kamakazee up my nose so far and with such velocity that my nose started bleeding which led to a huge sneezing fit on the middle of the path. I think the bug is still lodged up in my sinus cavity - somewhere i swear!
Got a good track workout in - and then failed at a lunchtime attempt at my tempo workout. I HATE tempo workouts. I get myself all psyched out before them - thinking i'll never be able to do the pace - then i decide to do them at the hottest time of day - and i just become a head case. Was suppose to do a 5 mile tempo run - was so hot and dehyrdrated that barely got through 3 miles of it - before i called it quits. I was maintaing pace - but i stopped every mile - which defeats the purpose i think. So - I was a little nervous about my 20 miler the next day. Steve was nice enough to offer to ride on the towpath with me. So we set out saturday morning - and i decided to just run at a nice pace - and to ignore the garmin (thank goodness i did - it ended up being 2.75 miles short by the end of the run -- i want a new one so bad!!) I ended up running most of the towpath marathon course - and I am starting to get to know where the mile markers are and where the water stops are. It was great having steve out there - i didn't have to worry about carrying enough water or gu and fortunately the odometer on his bike is a lot more accurate than my old school garmin. So - i ended up keeping a steady 9:10 pace - just what the old chart says i should... i'm getting worried about how this is going to translate to a 8:24 overall pace for the marathon... well that's all for now... gotta run.