Jan 31

FIT:
Since I ran yesterday, maybe not the best idea to run again today. Haven't done a back-to-back yet this year. I think I may be able to handle the occassional one now, though. I thought about doing it in the morning, but I was stiff - morning stiffness, I think. That makes racing in the morning hard. I'm always warmest at night and most in the mood for running at night.

Today, 9pm, 5 on the treadmill in 39:14, 7:51 pace. Progression run. Splits> 24:08 for 3, 7:37, 7:28. Wore soccer jersey, sox, 1224's w/ arches. Left ankle had been the one hurting for days (where the peroneus longus connects to the ankle, or maybe the one right under that), but it was the right ankle that kind of got cramped up, as if the shoe was way too tight, but that's not it. Dunno. Wasn't terrible, but it wouldn't bee good over a long distance. Got tired for the last few mi, but I attribute that to the pace and the running (and the Step workout CD) I did yesterday.

I might've had 2 multi-hour naps today. Felt washed out after the 2nd. Needed the sleep.

So that's it for my first month! I did 62.9 mi, an ave of 2.03/day. If I kept this up, I'd hit 740.6 in the year, a bit under my 'reachable' goal of 750, and far from the reach goal of 1000. I'm happy, though, and I think I can ramp it up as I get stronger.

Jan 30 - p

FIRST SNOW SINCE I'VE MOVED HERE!!!

FIT:
I was excited to have a chance to run out in the snow again, so I woke up early (8am) to hit the most snow (and to avoid any who may complain about someone running on their golf course). I overdressed - it's supposed to be "feels like 16," but the base layer, tech long sleeve shirt, and fleece on top was too much. The leggings and soccer warmups on the bottom were fine. Gloves were necessary, but after I got going by breathing through the buff, the buff got too hot. For shoes, I wore the 3's w/ stab, just because I didn't want to get newer shoes dirty. I debated between a beanie for warmth and a visor for snow blockage, and the visor won.

As for gear, I wore my Garmin, since I knew I'd be paving my own paths on the golfcourse, making even Mapmyrun.com not as helpful. I also drew out a map of the course I expected to take (which I pre-planned with mapmyrun) and put it in a UA play armband, something that I guess QB's usually wear to remember the plays during football. I bought it because I figured it may be good to have track workouts on there, so that I wouldn't have to stop all the time to pick up or pull out a sheet of paper - I could just look at my arm instead. It worked well, especially because the plastic cover blocked frozen rain/snow that would've otherwise soaked a bare sheet of paper.

It was slow going on the snowy roads. I've forgotten how slow it goes. Energy and time is wasted as the snow slowly absorbs your landing (which is good for the joints, on the bright side), and you slip back a bit when you try to push forward. With that said, it gives you a good workout. after 35:50, I had only gone 3.5 miles, a 10:14 pace - phew! Part of the slowness came from the many steep hills I encountered - it was a golf course, after all, and my city isn't that flat. My heart was working hard, and my body got tired - a good part of that may be a lack of good sleep lately, and some dehydration - woke up very thirsty and didn't drink much. Pre-run fuel was Total cereal and granola. I stopped often to take pictures. Afterwards, I thought about going on a walk, but my joints were groaning, so I gave it up and went home to eat and take a hot shower. I can feel that my body worked hard - it's tired. So much work, so little mileage, though. Oh well. I just have to believe that even though my numbers haven't been particularly good lately, I'm building up strength and endurance that'll show up later, maybe when I'm less tired.

CM Half Hype 1 - Plans

My heart is beating uncontrollably right now, and I've just been lounging in bed. I decided today to go for the Country Music Half Marathon. It's just a bit tempting to sign up for the Full, since it's only $10 more... they really jacked up the Half's price. But I'd just be happy to finish a half, considering the past 6 mo, and there's no way I'd be in full shape by less than three months... maybe only if I risked all kinds of injury by going at last year's rate of mileage increase. So the half... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smwqAqpBslM&feature=related

I'm excited to be traveling up there with a de facto team - 6 so far... make it 7, and we'd have an XC team ;) It'll be great. We'll leave Fri morning, go to the Expo for packet pickup once we get there (I love Expos and schwag - one of my favorite parts of races), hopefully get a decent night's rest somewhere, and then run at 7am the next morning, followed by maybe exploring Nashville a bit and then the big concert that night. It's always funner training for a team, and the comraderie should be fun during the trip.

Already, I'm getting so excited, starting to plan. I love to plan, if you remember all the posts I did leading up to even a small 5K last year, the only race I did in 2008. It's part of the race experience... as the Saucony "We know because we run" ad reads, "26.2 is the short part," or in this case, 13.1. So a million plans are already swimming in my mind, and as I watch highlight videos on Youtube from previous CMM's, my heart's racing.

PLANS...

Many of these questions, I won't answer until maybe a week before the race, when I know more about my fitness and race-day conditions. But here are things I'll be thinking about...

1. Goal time... I really want to break 2:00, because it would be sad to be slower than I was for my first half, which I ran after a 6-week time off from running due to injury, after walking about 4 miles in the previous 4 hours and getting zero hours of sleep the night before. Last year, I was in 1:45 shape, but it'd be tough to get back into that shape with the new kinds of injuries I've been having. So Maybe 1:50-1:55 is my doable goal. Sub-1:50 would be awesome. Something to consider, though, is that April 24 will be kind of hot. Last year, I think it was 80ish - YIKES!!! "Your marathon time is likely to slow by three percent for every 10 degree rise in temperature from 50 degrees F (http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2009/09/index.html)"

2. Wardrobe... depends on whether I think sports bra or singlet would be cooler. When it's sunny outside, I usually stay cooler with a shirt on, to block the sun. When it's overcast, though, sports bra feels awesome. If I do a singlet, I'll probably use my XC wear. With a sports bra, I'll wear my Pton one, with 5-pocket race shorts, which would be very convenient for stashing keys, money, Gu, etc. I probably won't wear a visor because it seems like it may produce wind resistance, even though I usually love visors. I'll probably wear shades, because I dislike sun in my eyes very much - it also offers wind protection for your eyes. If it rains, I'll probably wear a visor but no shades - I love visors in rain.

3. Shoes... I'll probably need support for the 13.1, so I think I'll go with my trusty 3's. Since my old ones are pretty compressed and spent and basically retired, I'll break out my new ones and break them in over the next 3 months. I won't always train with them, since I think variety is good for stabilizer muscles and injury prevention. Which insoles to use, though, is another question... probably either one would be fine (stability or arch support).

4. Gear... If I go with the bra, I'll have the 5-pocket shorts, in which case I may just use my Race Number Belt, since that's lighter. If I go with the singlet, I may wear the Nathan Shadow Pak so that I have somewhere to stash stuff. I may wear the Nathan in either case, though. We'll have to see, because Nathan has more of a chafing risk. I haven't decided yet about wearing a Garmin. Yes, it's useful to see my pace, but it is kinda heavy, and I may get too tired to look at it much anyway. I figure I'll be getting mile splits and seeing mile markers anyway. So probably won't bring it.

5. Fuel... One thing I applaud about this race is their choice in fuel. The sponsored drink is Cytomax, which doesn't have any of the nasty HFCS that Powerade and Gatorade have. Plus, it has extra goodies. For fuel, they offer Gu, which has worked well for me, and which is faster and easier to take in than Shot Bloks or similar gummy products. I therefore probably won't bring any fuel of my own - maybe just something small for pre-race, because I tend to get hungry ever 3 hours.

6. Pacing... No matter my goal time, I think I'll aim for a negative split. There are a few reasons for this. First, you usually run faster with a negative split, since you aren't fatiguing yourself in the first mile. Second, as an added bonus to the first point, the race will be more enjoyable, since there'll be less pain in the later half (even though I'll be going faster), and I'll be happily passing and just getting stronger, rather than fading, a psychological and physical whammy. Last, it would be difficult to run that fast in the first part of the race anyway, due to crowding, so rather than wasting energy weaving around people, I'll just mostly ride out the crowds (although it will be hard to resist the urge to weave around slower people) and then pick it up later on. If I want a 1:55, I'll need 8:47, 1:50 is 8:23... 8:47 looks very reasonable, at least in cold weather... hard to say how my body handles how weather, though. 10% extra is killer. Let's see... 6s per min... is 48s... oooh - so even if I'm back in 8:00 shape, I'd be running an 8:48 at 80 degrees. Now, I don't think it'd be 80 degrees at 7am, so I'd think things would be a little better, but considering that I probably can't get back into 8:00 shape safely in time for the half... eh... Okay, just checked another source (NOAA), and the average mean temp for April is 60... not terrible. 3 degrees per min... times 8... 24. So 8:24 if I'm in great shape... that's the 1:50 mark. And 1:55 is probably more likely. We'll see how it goes, though. Just negative split. Get through the first half, then pick it up if I'm feeling good, especially in the last 3 miles.

7. Extras... I'be been thinking about taking a camera with me, to make memories. Cons: adding weight (pounding on my joints) and time (2 seconds per mile per pound, I think I read somewhere). Pros: it'll be a slow race anyway due to weather, it's an out-and-back course on some parts so I can see my friends passing by, making memories. So this is TBD. Similarly, maybe I'd want to bring a cell phone, if I wanted to check up on my friends during the race, maybe coordinate a hello if we can estimate when we'll pass each other - so that'll largely depend on whether they bring cell phones.

8. Music... Research has proven that music makes you go faster (moreso than tv, even - so it's not mere distraction. another study showed that pace changed as music tempo change, with the relationship you'd expect), but iPods are usually banned. There'll be 50 bands along 26.2 miles, so probably 25 for us. I am somewhat considering earplugs, not because I don't like country - I like it okay, but because I'm really scared of loud music, ear-drum-busting loud music. I'll probably suck it up, especially since ear plugs may get uncomfy.

9. Training... This topic is worth its own blog post, but so much is up in the air, so I can't say that much anyway. A big key is not getting injured. I need to build up endurance. Earlier this year, I mentioned a plan of a faster run (5k), a base run (5mi), and a long run (8+) each week, but I don't know if my body can handle that, at least at this point. I've only had one week like that so far, and I've yet to get close to doing it again. I think my body's been tired for the past few weeks - I should sleep more. Anyway, I'll do what I can. As long as I don't get injured, I'm pretty sure I can finish - it may be awfully slow, but I'll finish, and that'll be its own victory. With tapering, it's hard to taper when you aren't really running much in the first place. For fulls, 3 weeks is recommended, but I'll probably do 2 weeks, with maybe 10 mi/wk and 6 mi/wk. So little, but if my mileage doesn't increase, that's what it's going to be.

10. God... This half will be special because I'll be going with fellow believers, and we can pray together race day and leading up to the race. I especially need to be reminded on where to keep my focus in running and in life, and they'll be good for me. There's some Christian country music, too. On a Youtube video I watched, one of the bands was playing a contemporary Christian song, which should be inspiring while we're out there sweating it out.

That's it for now. I'll probably add things, change my mind about things as I go on, referencing this post.

Jan 27

FIT:
Hit the XC course again. Got out from work 30 min earlier b/c went to work at sunrise. Wanted to gauge whether I could handle 13 by late April. Plus, my body was feeling delightfully sore, arms and legs, from the step CD (the kind of step that's a literal step, like you see on 80's fitness videos) and from Jillian Michaels's Burn Fat Boost Metabolism CD. The first has lots of arms, and both have lots of squats. Both are pretty enjoyable, so I'll probably alternate. Anyway, soreness is almost like an itch, which is relieved by flexing to stretch it (I guess because when the agonist muscle works/contracts, the antagonist relaxes/stretches a lot? I don't know. The soreness feels good and strong, and it makes me want to go out and work some more. So to the course, third time in 4 days.

5 mi in 43:15 - 8:39 ave. Splits> 8:44, 8:36, 8:41, 8:34, 8:37... a bit inconsistent, but since this is an ill-defined course, I do slightly different routes (I may stay more towards the edge of a curve one time vs another), so it's understandable. I started running at 5:20pm, feeling somewhat stiff (due to soreness), so I was surprised to see yet another best for the loop (at least since 4 days ago when I started tracking my times for this loop). The reduced mud and increased sunlight/visibility helped, I think. The first 3 loops went by like normal, but starting with the end of 3, I could tell that my heart or diaphragm or something was working overtime, and I thought "poor heart!" I don't know if it was just accumulated tiredness from this week, or if it was that blood was being diverted to my tummy to digest the fibery hummus on multigrain bread (and half a grapefruit) that I had eaten on my way to the course. But my cardio system needs training, so that's good that it was getting worked. Endurance is the first step to a 13. I probably could've handled a sixth lap, but since my muscles were fatigued, I didn't want to risk them giving out and not absorbing the pounding that would've come with an additional lap. Wise choice, I say - live to run the next day.

Oh yeah, since I was out there so early, I saw their softball, track, and M and W lax teams out practicing. I happened to be wearing a soccer uniform (soccer shorts, jersey, and sox, even!!!) of their school colors, so I even blended right in. They probably wondered who I was, but I look like a high-schooler, and I was wearing their colors, so maybe they thought I was a new foreign exchange student or something - haha. The coincidence of the colors (and full soccer ensemble - the only clean tech shirt I had left was a soccer jersey), crazy.

While running, I listened to a Phedippidations episode on Jacqueline Gareau, winner of the 1980 Boston, whose victory is often overshadowed by the fact that someone had originally stolen the win by jumping in the race in the last mile. Steve mentioned how his Running Legends are marked by incredible grace and humility, and JG's no exception. Hearing her talk about why she likes running... she's really likeable and unassuming and gracious. Check out the podcast (www.steverunner.com). What is it that makes champions/incredible athletes like her like that? They have every right to think they're awesome, but they're so outward focused. It puzzles me. It makes them all the more admirable.

Jan 25

FIT:
So last week's hunger, weight gain, emotions, haha... just natural fluctuations. No worries. Too bad that it's something you just have to deal with, but at least you can expect it and know just to wait it out and blame it on the hormones. Very strangely, when it seems like you'd least expect to want to run, I always seem to want to run the most, and I feel the strongest doing it. I tried to wiki the hormones involved to figure out why, but there's just way too much going on for me to understand. The body is crazy - that's all I have to say.

So the run... I was feeling sick and it was a long day at work, and I was tired... and did I mention sick feeling? So I rushed home, rushed to change, and drove to the HS XC course. Usually, I'm anti-driving places just to run, because the beauty of running is that you can do it anywhere, making it convenient and eco-friendly. However, I don't get the chance to run in daylight often, and if I rushed, I'd probably get in a few miles as the sun set. I got started at 6pm, just as the sun was setting, and I worked off of the fading light.

It was windy today - 22mph!!! (bringing the "feels like" to 41 degrees) I don't think it was that bad when I was running - I would've been blown over, but it was chilly during some of the gusts. I started in a tech tee with a long sleeve super light and porous jacket, and soccer sox, with 4's and arches on the bottom. I broke out the retired 4's because my 3's are still soaked from yesterday. Lucky for me, the puddles were far less deep, and only a little water seeped into my shoes. The first two loops were lit well enough to go through the forest trail, although the second loop was so dark that I had to walk down the slippery downhills. Treacherous. My last and third loop, I just went around the fields an extra time - based on the time, it seems to be a minute short cut. Oh well.

Felt great, though, like a real run, even though it was short. I was craving for a run, and I got a nice, satisfying shot of it. Saw the goats again, too! They're so funny. And I didn't even notice any of the symptoms that had made me miserable earlier today - all gone!

Splits> 9:03 (about as fast as my fastest split yesterday... wonder why... the course was drier? I was looser? warmer?), 8:57, 8:01. Based on an 8:50 pace and 55s of missed running time, I figure I was about 0.1 mi under. So that's 2.9 mi in 26:02, a 8:59 pace.

Jan 24

An incredible run, following an incredible service.

FAITH:
To get the church ready for 40 Weeks of Community, the worship service today was focused on the church's Celebrate Recovery program. In CR, people suffering from any kind of addictions or hurts come together to share with and support each other as they find healing in God's truth and love. I've never been, but it seems very similar to what I had at school with the Eating Concerns group.

Let me tell you, I left church today feeling like, "YES - that's what church should be." People from CR took turns sharing their testimonies, some of them with gut-wrenching stories about their very personal struggles, very real and honest accounts of how different problems led them to seek comfort or security in worldly, but natural things that we can all identify with. They talked about how that did not fill them and only left them going down a spiral until they realized that they needed help and found healing through CR. We all struggle with stuff, every one of us has something that burdens us and chains us down, and we want to keep it inside for fear of what people will think, of what that'll do to our image, but as long as we struggle with it on our own, with our own power, with worldly means, stuff usually gets worse. When we bring those things to the light, though, people can come and help us and support us, through prayer, counseling, and just comraderie - telling you that you don't have to go through it alone. It's like a fight - if you keep your issues under wraps, the Enemy has you all to himself, and he'll do all that he can to convince you to keep the problem hidden, so that he can wreak all kinds of havoc on your life and your faith. But get help, and not only do you get fellow believers to come and fight with you on your side, but you're allowing God to come fight with you, too, and the Enemy doesn't stand a chance. Those people who shared did something very counter what the world wants us to do - they boldly stood up and told people about how God was working to rescue them, and God was glorified BIG TIME.

FIT:
So the run... last week, I wimped out on the post-church run I had planned because after I left the building, it felt too cold and it was rainy - what a wimp, haha - never again. I was determined to today, injury-prone spots willing, since I haven't run outside in... 3 weeks! I miss being out in the daylight... can't say "sun," since it was raining. Any daylight is good, though. I think there may be something to Seasonal Affective Disorder (clever, whoever named it), so I try to take advantage of my only chance to see the sun on weekdays by eating/reading out in my car, rather than staying in my windowless building. So after church, I ate a Protein "and Greens" Bar (250 Cal, much of it from PB , 26g Whey Protein, and 18g sugar - more sugar than I normally like, but it's overall a good balance, and a surprisingly good taste, and I had a terrific run.)

Anyway, temps were "feels like" 34ish, so I started off with my Philly tech tee and a fleece on top, a visor to keep out the rain, soccer sox, and 3's w/ Stab. I chose the 3's because they are already stained... not "dirty" really because there's no dirt you could knock off of it, and I knew I'd be running through very deep puddles and mud (and so I wore them to church... nobody looks or cares - I like comfort and practicality).

So I went to the gate between the church p-lot and the high school, but the path was a 20-ft long clay/mud puddle maybe 8in deep, so I started to climb the fence. It took quite a bit of balance, and on the other side, it was a farther drop than on the church side, due to some erosion from the rain water. So on my jump down, my right hamstring got snagged by the chain link, and my mind just went back to the people who were sitting in their car watching. It stung, but when I rubbed my hand along it, there was no blood at the time.

So I started running, and everything felt pretty good. My inner calves had been sore during the service, but no biggie. There are quite a few deep puddles and rain drainage creeks to plod through, but that just made it epic. I listened to my iPod during the runs - new podcasts I'm trying out, since I've listened to probably 150 hours of Phedippidations and have caught up with all the shows that interested me. I like Dirt Dog's podcast - he's an ultrarunner, getting ready for a 100er - so cool. Anyway, it was pretty, just watching the rain come down all over the huge football/soccer fields, with the wooded area in the background. Just as I finished my second mile, total surprise... I LOOKED UP AND SAW A BILLY GOAT right next to me on the other side of a fence - no joke. He had a blue collar with a bell around his neck, and I just stared at him in shock for maybe 10s before I just started laughing at the randomness of it. I thought he was just a stray animal that left a farm or something, but it was actually a pent up area where the school must've been keeping 2 goats for some class. Never saw them before on my previous runs, and I definitely did not expect it. He probably thought I was coming to feed him, because on the rest of the loops, he stayed in his hut with his other friend, to stay out of the rain. Poor goats. They're my friends now.

So the run went on, with the rain shifting between periods of moderate rain, downpour, and total stops. Downpour is always the funnest, but all are nice. For miles 5 and 6, I finally started to develop some nagging spots, but since it was cold, I couldn't really feel them, and just the excitement of the run made me want to keep going. I love the part of the course that goes through the wooded trail. I don't like the steep downhills, though, since it adds pounding. The last couple loops around, things got pretty slippery, with the mud and the leaves, so I had to be very careful to not slip and fall flat on my back, but I made it. I stopped at 6 miles, when my legs felt banged up and tired enough to not feel safe doing another. It was a slow run due to the mud (even on flat ground, it's sometimes like you slip back a couple inches each time you toe off) and the puddles, but it was good practice for stabilizing muscles, and it was just FUN.

Afterwards, I had to walk back a ways onto the course to retrieve my fleece, which I ditched after 2 mi. It was wet, but I was all wet anyways. The fence scrape wasn't enough to draw blood, but it did kind of expose capillaries a bit, so that my shorts got stained, kind of, although it's hard to tell with the reddish mud splatters on it. Oh yeah - know what? There was another gate 25 ft to the right that I totally forgot about and didn't see, haha, so I took that way on the way back. Luckily, I had a big plastic sheet in my trunk, which I used to cover my seat for the drive home, to protect it from mud and water. I turned up the heat, since I was getting cold. Assessing the damage afterwards, things seem okay so far, hamstring included. I took a warm shower and refueled with milk, spaghetti with marinara and garlic, a carrot with hummus, and a banana.

Splits> 18:23 (mi 2), 9:17, 9:14, 9:07, 9:03... so I sped up as I went... that's good. The first loop was especially slow as I had to figure out where the trail turned (since sometimes multiple clearings look like trails) and how to manage large puddles (some hesitation at first, but eventually just plowed through, leaving my sox and shoes water-logged, adding the weight I had to carry, making the times even more understandable). Ave: 9:11/mi, including the points where I hesitated, and maybe even the goat staring.


I was somewhat surprised that things went okay today because yesterday, I bought a stepper to give me more flexibility with some of my exercises, and I did the workout CD that came with it. It was actually of a decent quality - from Gold's Gym. I did 2-legged squats, which I haven't done in forever - over a year, maybe 2 years, since my knees usually can't handle it. My left knee was crackling, but things seemed okay enough to go through with it. There was also a lot of upper body work, like planks and pushups - more hardcore stuff than I'm used to, so my arms are sore - it felt good running with sore arms today. I didn't run that day b/c my left achilles hurt to walk on in the morning, so yes, today was surprising.

The day before yesterday, a 60 min strength session> 275 crunches/side, 40/40 leg lifts, billy bands, PT elastic bands - 35/side, 35-25-20 quad dips, 25-20 pillow, 30 pushups w/ arm raises, 15 tridips, 30 superman, 2min 6in (record matched), 2:00 plank, 1 min side planks. I noticed that my quads and shin muscles were more defined than before, so maybe the tiredness and increased hunger from this week was a result of my body building up. I've gained about 4lb since the beginning of this year - only 3 weeks. Some of that is prob from regular bio fluctuations, but muscle mass is probably part of it. Yay quads, especially with those squats.

FAITH: How He Loves Us

(David Crowder Band)

He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…