Inspiration is everywhere

Running my personal worst time for a pikermi (also known as a half marathon) should have me feeling down. But the fact of the matter is, it felt great to get out there and race hard, no matter what the end result.

The experience has inspired me to train harder for my next pikermi, which is on May 9. I'm adding more speedwork, plus hills every other week. Predictably, this has been kicking my butt... though in a good way! Then on Sunday, I ran with my running club and totally rocked out a ten miler.

I'm being realistic - I know that a PR might not be in the cards for me this spring... but it could happen in the fall. I am just happy to be training hard.

In the meantime, I have a 5K to run on Saturday, one I haven't done before. There is a kids' race as well. I signed Jack up, since not only does my boy love to race, but it's free for kids. Can't say no to that. Jack's race is a half mile, which will be the longest he's raced before.

When I registered Jack, I had every confidence that he could run 1/2 a mile... but that it might not be pretty. Like any kid, Jack isn't exactly the best at pacing himself. He likes to go out running like a maniac, arms waving wildly, which is not your best long distance strategy.

So, last night, Jack and I went to the track together so that he could see what half a mile feels like. Sure enough, he raced out as fast as he could, then slowed down a lot after the first 100 meters. He'd slow down, then surge over and over again. At the end, I think he understood that for a distance that long, a bit of strategy is important.

We took a water break, then Jack begged me to let him run another half mile. I said okay, but only if he'd run my pace, then kick it in when I told him to, no sooner. Jack ran with me at a more comfortable speed, with a few reminders to run relaxed and strong. With 100 meters to go, Jack kicked it around the final curve, happily crossing the finish line.

Living with someone who takes such joy in running, how can I not feel excited about hitting the track myself? That's my plan for tonight, and I am going to love every minute of it.

Badass 800s

Bart Yasso, step aside: I have invented a new speed workout.

Bart invented the Yasso 800, in which a runner does a series of 800 meter track repeats which miraculously predict their marathon finishing time. Nice.

But the workout I've invented is much tougher: Badass 800s.

Yesterday (the day which running history will note as the dawn of this new test of mettle), I drove to a nearby park and did a short warmup. Then, I went to the top of a long hill, set Paula Garmin, and had at it.

A Badass 800 consists of running down that steep hill, around a pond (the icy patches are optional to the workout), then finishing by running up that same steep hill, a total of 800 meters.

Badass 800s help a runner build fast twitch muscles, practice running downhill without killing your quads or falling flat on your face, navigate an undulating path that's far from track-flat, then handle a steep uphill when you're fatigued.

In short, they make you totally badass.

Yesterday, I did 4 Badass 800 repeats and went home feeling pretty much invincible. As I look ahead to the 2010 racing season, I am going to conquer every hill that I see.

Race Report: Surprise Track Meet

Last night, I went to the track at Augustana College for my running club's weekly track workout. To my surprise, there was a track meet going on. People were setting up hurdles, pole vaulters were warming up, and the place was teeming with people of all ages in brightly colored running clothes. Just as I was starting to think that my plans to run on the track with the club had changed, an announcement came over the loudspeaker: Cornbelt Runners, go find Russ. He'll give you your bib number.

Well, allrighty, then.

I tracked down Russ, who is our coach, and several other runners trickled in with me. "Russ, what do you have cooked up for us?" I asked. Russ grinned and said that we were going to run in the 1500 meter race.

I have to admit, one of the first things I thought was, "If I'd known I was running a race, I'd have worn something different." My black running skirt and neon yellow marathon training group just isn't the fastest looking outfit I have. But so be it, because my second thought was, "Hey, all I have to run is a 1500? Nice!"

I warmed up and chatted with my fellow runners. Several of them had never run a race so short and had never run a track meet at all, so the excitement and nerves were high. Before I knew it, it was time for the 1500. All of the Cornbelt Running Club runners walked over to the starting line - and there were a lot of us! They had the women go first, followed by the men. And we women were joined by several kids.

Now, I have learned my lesson about kids at track meets. I ran against several of them at
an indoor meet in January, and they are freaking fast. I immediately decided to just discount the kids and focus on running against the grown-ups. We women rationalize that it was okay if the kids beat us because, um, they didn't have to work all day.

The gun was off, and so was I - probably way too fast. I glanced down at Paula The Garmin in the first 200 meters or so and saw that my pace was at a 5:something mile. I resolved to relax. Before long, there were a couple kids in front of me (ignored the little scamps), along with Kathy, who I know is one of the best runners in the area. I figured I'd have no chance of catching up to her, and sure enough, I think she ended up finishing about 150 meters ahead of me.

At around the second lap, a younger woman passed me as well. I focused on running strong, keeping my arms relaxed, and making a game of pretending to be the main character from Once A Runner, out running the mile of my life.

In the final straightaway, I picked up my pace and shaved quite a lot off of my time by chasing after one of those young whippersnappers. No, I didn't actually catch him, but again, kids are fast.

My final (unofficial, Paula Garmin) time was a speedy 6:11, putting me as the third grown-up to finish the race, and probably first in my age group if I'm right about the ages of the other two women.

I spent the rest of the night on an absolute runner's high. I hung out and watched the guys run, then headed home. As I was pulling up to Stately Wasser Manor, I saw Steve out for a run, so I parked the car and joined him for a Gentleman's Three, a great opportunity to cool down and tell him all about the race.

Lonely Too Long

For a long time, I've really preferred to run alone. That's still true - the solitude and silence can be absolutely great. But at the same time, I really want to get more involved in my local running community. I want to know my fellow runners and be able to chat with people I see at races - that was one of my 2009 goals. So, when the opportunity to join a training group for the Quad Cities Distance Classic half marathon trisko, I decided to go for it.

Turns out, running with a group is fun... and doesn't cramp my style at all. There are cool people to hang out and talk with before we hit the trails. I usually end up running by myself, but I can join someone else if I want to.

So, when the opportunity presented itself through my running club to train for fall races, I jumped on it. For fifty bucks, I get supported group runs every week, coaching, access to weekly track workouts, a discount for the Quad Cities Marathon or trisko, a pasta party, and a t-shirt. Sold!

The group has been wildly popular. There are 120 people signed up right now to train for fall marathons and triskos. Last Tuesday, I went to my first group track workout and saw that about a hundred people showed up. One hundred people, willing to do speedwork on a sweltering hot Tuesday night! I am so proud of my running club.

Race Report - Indoor Track Meet

On Friday night, I got to do something that not many people get to do after high school or college: I ran in a track meet!

The meet was the Augustana Indoor USATF track meet. For a mere $13, I was able to enter as many events as I wished... not to mention relive those old days of running track meets.

"Run your own race" is a bit of advice that we runners often offer up to one another, and it could not have been more valuable to me than at this race. I was guaranteed age group wins in every event that I entered because there were no other women between the ages of 30 and 34 there. That was cool in that I like to take home blue ribbons, but less cool in that there was no one there who was appropriate competition.

I lined up to run in the slow heat of the mile. My fellow runners included college students, kids, and two older women who are elite local athletes (I recognized their names from course records at races I've run). And in that race, each and every one of them passed me. I came in dead last.

That might have been disheartening, but it wasn't, because my finishing time was 7:09:05. That is an outstanding pace for me! I may have been last, but in running my own race, I could not be happier with my finish.

I was also reminded very quickly of why I always hated running indoor track meets. The dry air is just miserable. You know how it feels when you have a cold, can't breathe through your nose, and wake up completely parched? That is how I felt just one 200 meter lap into that race. My fellow runners and I stood around between events just hacking.

I ran the 800 next, and I'm happy to say that this time, I didn't come in last (I came in second to last, if you must know). Better was my finishing time of 3:08:08.

I had good intentions of running more events. The 600 meter, maybe the 200 for the heck of it, along with the longer distances of the 2000 and the 3000. But that dry air was hard on me, and my paces had my legs burning. So I opted to just run the 2000.

Throughout the race, I hung behind three college-aged women. I was happy just to be able to keep up, but in the final lap, I pulled past one, then another. Better still, when the race was over, one of the girls I passed puked.

Any event that allows me to pass a girl in her 20's... and make her vomit from the effort... is a victory in my books.

I'm In

I just got the world's coolest email: my local running club is sponsoring an all-ages indoor track meet on Friday.

Obviously, I'm in.

I mean, how cool is that? I haven't run a track meet since the early '90s, and that fact has me so excited that I am willing to overlook how much I always hated indoor season. It is not very often that, as an adult, you get to do something that is so simply fun. Plus, for a mere $13, I can enter as many events as I want.

I think I'll skip the really short 55 meter race, and I don't do hurdles because I think we all know I'd face plant and break my nose. So, we're looking at the mile, the 800, the 200, the 2,000, and the 3,000.

So, who wants to come on out and join me in the 4 x 400 relay?

Report Card

It's time for Take It and Run Thursday, and Runner's Lounge has challenged us to "look back, look ahead" at our running in 2008. Sounds like time for a report card.

My goal for running in 2008 was to take my running to the next level. My non-running friends didn't get it. "You ran a marathon," they said. "What else is there?" To me, the main differences were in training - and in attitude.

For the first time since high school, I incorporated speedwork into my training. I love my track workouts and look forward to them. I have to admit, I am not such a fan of my tempo runs. They're really hard for me, but I understand their benefit, so I'm going to keep at it. For my last tempo run, I broke from form and listened to a podcast instead of music, and it really helped. I was so engaged in the story that I was able to distract myself effectively from the fact that it was blazing hot, horrifically humid, and I was running pretty fast. That might be my plan moving forward.

I am also proud to say that I've kept up my running during the winter better than I ever have before. I've never been a fair weather only runner, I do tend to slack off when the weather gets cold. But this year, I kept at it - in rain, in snow, and most recently, in hail. Honestly, it's not about suffering for me. I suffer more, mentally, at least, when I don't go running.

I added a new distance to my resume - the trisko (half marathon, if you're still calling it that). I can find something to love about any distance, but I am a big fan of the trisko. It's long enough to be challenging, but short enough such that the training doesn't take up quite as much of my life. I will definitely be running the trisko at the Quad Cities Distance Classic every Mother's Day from now on. I am also hoping to find an earlier trisko to run, maybe in April, next year.

I'm paying closer attention to my diet - or, to be more accurate, I am not seeing my running as an all-access pass to eat whatever I want whenever I want. I didn't gain any weight during my training last year, but I made frequent trips to the coffee place down the street from my office that, according to my extensive research offers the finest chocolate chip cookies in all of downtown Davenport. I haven't had one of those cookies in ages, snacking instead on almonds, fresh fruit, and other annoyingly virtuous items. I don't think I've lost any pounds, but I can see a difference in how my stomach looks, which is always a good thing for those of us who've given birth.

I've added weight training to my regimen, but I have to admit that I've been slacking off lately. Work has been ridiculous and... well... this entry is about looking ahead as well as looking back, so Internet, I promise - I am going to go lift at lunch today.

Then there's the mental aspect of things, which I suppose goes hand in hand with the rest. When I saw a doctor over the winter for a nagging knee problem, he repeatedly described me as an athlete. I was immensely flattered, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt like the description fit. I may not be ready to win any age group awards yet, and I'm not fast enough to qualify for Boston, but my running is a huge part of who I am and is very important to me. That makes it easier for me to go to bed early, eat good foods, and generally take care of myself. It gives me the ability to tell the very nice race director who I met at the track on Tuesday that his 5K sounds like fun, but that it doesn't fit in with my training program right now.

Looking ahead, I have tremendous confidence about my upcoming marathon. Last year, I was thinking, "I'm pretty sure I can do it," but this year, I know I can. I already feel like I am mentally and physically able to turn in a solid performance and get a PR. Remind me of that when I start in on the taper madness, okay?

After the marathon is over, I am declaring the rest of the fall to be cross country season. After the Bix, Tom and I reminisced about how much fun cross country season was. It brought back great memories of the cool weather, the feeling of running on dirt, the beautiful scenery in the woods, the challenges of the hills. I am going to seek out as many cross country style races as possible, culminating, of course, in the most fun race of all time, Living History Farms.

Sure, it'll be tough, but I can handle it. I'm an athlete.

Especially if I lift today.

What the hail?

As soon as I set foot outside yesterday, headed home for a track workout, I knew I'd be in for some challenging weather. It was hot and so ridiculously humid that my hair immediately switched itself to afro.

"Okay," I thought to myself, "I can do this. I'll just drink extra water, wear lightweight clothes, and extend my rest periods if I need to."

Little did I know that while I would have trouble with the weather, that trouble would be of a totally different nature.

I ran to the track (and can I say again how fabulously convenient it is that the track is exactly a mile and a half warm-up away from my house), and as soon as I got there, the sky ripped open and it started pouring down rain.

I was immediately soaked when the high winds kicked in. And then, I swear, even though it had been hot, it started hailing. I can't prove it, but I suspect that Ming the Merciless was responsible.



What's a girl to do? That's right, Internet: I kept running. Two sets of six 400 meter repeats at a 2:00 pace.

I was totally drenched, with that squishing noise in my shoes as I headed home. It had been so hot outside that when a car drove by and re-drenched me with water (nice), it actually felt like bath water.

At last, toughness points achieved, I reached Stately Wasser Manor. I expected to be greeted with, "I can't believe you actually went running in this weather. Woman, you are crazy," from Steve.

Instead, there were two fluffy, clean towels waiting for me.

Goin' on a Bear Hunt

When I was in Girl Scouts, there was a song we used to sing called "Goin' on a Bear Hunt." In the song, you go looking for a bear and encounter a bunch of obstacles along the way - lake, cave, stuff like that. One verse went like this:

Ooh, looky!
What is that?
It's a swamp-a!
Can't go over it.
Can't go under it.
Can't go around it.
We gotta go through it!

When I headed out for last night's track workout, it was so horrendously humid, I immediately thought, "It's a swamp-a!" And that workout wasn't going away, so... "We gotta go through it!"

After running to the track, I did 3 x 1600, with a goal pace between 8:20 and 8:30 a mile. I was supposed to do 1 minute rest intervals, but I did bump that up a bit because I needed a bit of extra time to recover and drink from my water bottle.

I was completely drenched in sweat, and my hair curled up like Will Ferrel's in Semi-Pro. It was so nasty out that I did something I do not usually do - I took my shirt off. Luckily the black sports bra and black skirt looked like an actual outfit.

Here are my swamp splits:
8:27
8:15
8:20

That second mile was a bit of an experiment. I picked up my pace a bit on the straightaways, then slowed a bit on the curves. My main goal in doing this was to break things up a bit and help me resist the urge to just sit in the shade. Obviously, it worked better than just that!

These Kids Today

Last night was a track workout for me, and let me tell you, the Moline High School Track is a totally hopping place on a Tuesday night. No, really. There was a group of runners training together who seem to hit the track every Tuesday at around the same time as I do. And as an added bonus, there was a group of high school kids - members of the high school cross country team, judging by their t-shirts - who were also working out on the track.

In my years of high school cross country and track, I spent many, many hours on that track. It was the home of the 16 x 400 workout that was, for quite a while, the most physically difficult thing I'd ever done. The place where we'd have home track meets. The place where I learned to appreciate the smell of wet pavement. And, thanks to its incredibly poor surface, the place that gave me a stress fracture in each leg.

Ah, memories.

The track has since been resurfaced. Not only is it as spongy as running on a beautiful fluffy cloud of cotton candy, it's even a school-spirit inducing maroon. Every time I run on it, I appreciate how nice it is and think about my teenaged self hobbling over to the pool to do some water running because of the injured legs.

So, imagine my surprise when I saw two of the girls toting yoga mats "so it doesn't hurt my hands when I stretch." I immediately wanted to go into an Old Lady Rant.

You kids today! You have no idea how good you have it. When I was your age, our track was made out of the same concrete as the highway and was covered in broken glass. I still have pebbles embedded in my palms from stretching on it. And that's the way it was, and we liked it!

In other news, the workout was 5 x 1K repeats with 400 meter rest intervals. My goal was a 5:08 pace. Here's how it shook out:
5:03
4:58
5:04
5:10
5:01

Even without the benefit of a yoga mat.

Turned Around

Last night's run had all the potential to be a bad one.

For one thing, I was late getting home. I picked up Jack at my mom's house, and things were chaotic. Jack's stuff was scattered all over the place, and I had to find Roary under the computer desk. Why? Because the little man had just fallen and scraped the Charles Dickens out of his knee and elbow. Dr. Mommy and Nurse Grandma had to patch him all up, and by the time I got home, it was 5:45.

In my rush to get out of the house, I forgot my iPod. Fine, I thought. No music. I don't want to turn back to get it because it's starting to rain.

I ran to the track for my Stairs workout - 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400, 200. And then discovered that I couldn't run there because there was some kind of track meet going on.

What to do? I couldn't go on the track, and I didn't want to leave and go somewhere else to run. There was a long, straight stretch of road in front of the track, where I've started and finished many a road run for cross country practice in high school, so I decided to just do my workout there. Better than nothing.

It ended up being much better than nothing.

Warm-up: 1.82 miles, 18:54, 10:22 pace
1200: 5:56, 7:55 pace
1000: 5:13, 8:17 pace
800: 4:03, 8:08 pace
600: 3:01, 7:59 pace
400: 1:55, 7:43 pace
200: 54:48, 7:00 pace
Cool-down: 1.37 miles, 17:18, 12:38 pace (there was some walking in there)

Just goes to show, you never know when a good run will find you.