Eat Drink Run Woman

Yesterday my darling and I ran the farthest we’ve ever run: 22.72 miles. In two weeks we’ll run even longer — a full marathon — before we start our taper for Medoc. As I sit here recovering, I think of the lessons learned from our run:

1. 22.72 miles is FREAKIN’ long
2. It’s best to wear sunscreen, even on cloudy days
3. If you DON’T wear sunscreen, expect to get the goofiest suntan on the arm where you’ve strapped your iPod
4. You’ll listen to 58 songs (and 6 seconds of song #59) during your 4 1/4 hour run — everything from “Enter Sandman” to “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” to “Grandma’s Feather Bed”
5. Your route will take you past breath-taking scenery — the houseboats on Lake Union, the historic buildings of Pioneer Square, Alki Point, the Seattle waterfront, Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle Center — yet you’ll want to hold your breath on several occasions — while passing by the urine-soaked alleys of Pioneer Square, the exhaust-filled Airport Way, the makeshift potties in the underbrush on Harbor Island, the rotting seagull on Alki Beach
6. While tourists help make Seattle a vibrant city, it sure sucks having to wind through throngs of ’em
7. There are better fountains to drink from than the one in “needle park”
8. 22.72 miles is FREAKIN’ long
9. When choosing a restaurant for your victory lunch, it’s best NOT to choose one with an entry-way staircase with 25 steps at a 80-degree angle
10. Once you arrive at your designated restaurant, you will NOT want to run around the block(s) an additional .28 miles for an even 23 miles (or even .03 miles for an even 22.75 miles); you’ll want to stop now, dammit, NOW!
11. Although your water intake was about a gallon, your output will be less than a shot glass
12. Just when you’re thinking you’re all that and a bag of chips, you realize you have two CD-sized sweat stains on your boobs
13. Your cat will confuse you for a salt lick
14. Beer has incredible curative properties
15. Did I happen to mention, 22.72 miles is FREAKIN’ long?

In many ways my darling and I are a study in opposites. Planning is the bane of his existence; he relishes spontaneity. While I have my impulsive moments, I take comfort in knowing what’s ahead. For example, with our trip to France, I booked the Medoc portion through a tour company (I wanted guaranteed entry into the race, plus comfortable accommodations for our weary bodies). It’s costing us a pretty penny (actually several), but brings peace of mind knowing we’re covered. My darling is responsible for the Paris leg, and he assures me we’ll have no trouble finding a place to stay once we arrive (I have, however, asked him to at least book a room for our first night).

The same holds true for our training styles. He’s naturally athletic, so he’s not interested nor concerned about a regimented plan. He figures he can show up and set his mind to running 26.2 miles. “You train for the day after” is his mantra. (What he means by that is training helps you recover quicker). I’m significantly less athletically inclined, so I gravitate toward a more rigid schedule to keep me on track and injury-free. Fortunately my darling is also very easy-going; he not only puts up with my anal retentiveness, he often joins me on my training runs.

But now that the lazy days of summer are upon us, I’ve become more flexible in my schedule. We’ve suffered through a bit of a heat wave of late (nothing compared to the Southwest, but still pretty darn hot for this area), so afternoon runs have held little appeal (we’d rather sit on our deck with a frosty beverage). I’ve also cut out the cardio classes at the gym in order to save my legs and instead have been focusing on an upper body weight routine.

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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST MAY BE CONSIDERED TMI.*

My darling and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Fairbanks for my sister’s wedding (left late Thursday evening, arrived back home Sunday evening). Despite our hectic schedule, we were determined to fit in a run. Although our training called for an 8-10 miler, we figured that may be optimistic. But given the debauchery we were sure to engage in, we knew even a short run would be beneficial to both our bodies and minds.

We had a window of time on Friday afternoon between shopping and cooking for both the rehearsal dinner and wedding, but I was keen on doing a midnight sun run. Besides, it was hot during the day — almost 80 degrees! (For those of you unfamiliar with the interior of Alaska, the sun barely sets during the summer. When we arrived Friday morning at 1:30 it was as light as 8:30 p.m. in Seattle).

As I was prepping the Greek garbanzo and orzo pasta salads, I refrained from partaking when my sister — the bride-to-be — offered to make me a Bloody Mary. However, my resolve soon waned as my darling decided to pop the cork on the Little Penguin shiraz about an hour later.

sigh

Knowing a run was on the horizon I not only kept my wine quaffing to a minimum, I also drank several glasses of water in between. But when we arrived at the rehearsal dinner at my brother’s house, the wine flowed a bit more freely. I also make a pig of myself of the home-smoked and roasted salmon, as well as the numerous side dishes.

Our original idea was to join my sis at the Howling Dog, a bar about 5 miles from her house, enjoy a quick drink (or two), and then run home. However, after consulting with several people who knew the route, we decided that running FROM my sister’s house TO the bar would make more sense, as it would be mostly downhill. We stopped at her place to change into our running togs and visit the restroom. Although I was a bit buzzed, I knew I could still run 5 miles. Besides, I figured it would be great practice for Medoc.

The run started out rough: the first 1/4 mile is up a steep, slick gravel road that would be challenging even when sober. About half-way up we decided we should walk to the top. Fortunately the road then turned into rolling hills for the first mile or so, but given all the jostling the salmon burps started coming on strong.

Although it was about 9:30 p.m. when we started the run, the sun was still shining brightly — so much so I wished I had slathered on some sunscreen. But what a gorgeous route (sorry, no photos); it felt great to run where there were few cars and little noise.

At about mile two the road started a gradual downhill. I was feeling rather good, but then — what’s this? It can’t be! I went potty before we left!

It was just a niggling feeling — nothing major — but I definitely started feeling some discomfort. However, within a span of less than five minutes I went from “I can run it out” to “Hmmm, perhaps I should start looking for bushes with leaves that can double as toilet paper” to “OH MY GOD I HAVE TO GO NOW!!! I DON’T CARE IF I HAVE TO WIPE WITH DEVIL’S CLUB!”

I dashed down a shallow ditch and tried my best to hide behind a small bush. While the light made it more challenging to keep my modesty, I welcomed it (I tend to get creeped out when venturing into the woods. Don’t laugh — even an ad in Runner’s World acknowledged the issue by saying “Ever notice it’s runners who find dead bodies?” But I digress).

My darling, meanwhile, ran interference — literally — back and forth on the road to distract the few cars that drove by (if that’s not love, I don’t know what is). All that was available to me were a few tiny leaves, but I made the best of the situation. But believe me, I made a beeline to the restroom when we finally arrived at the Howling Dog.

Running is SOOOO glamorous!

* Too. Much. Information.

I know, I know — I never call, I never write. But goshdarnitall, I’ve been busy! And yes, that includes marathon training.

After taking a week off after the Fremont 5k (much to the delight of my beleaguered hamstring) I joined a new blogger friend a week ago Sunday for a 15+ mile run along the Centennial Trail, which runs from Snohomish to Arlington (north of Seattle). I’ve been meaning to check it out, but since it’s a bit of drive to get to the trailhead (about 45 minutes), my darling and I typically wuss out and go for the closer runs. This time I decided to quit making excuses.

I awoke to a cloudy, drizzly day; not my favorite running weather, but at least I’d stay cool. However, I threw on a light rain jacket just in case. Jodie, meanwhile, was a bad-ass and ran in just a jog bra.

Although she has never done the run/walk program, she was eager to try it out. Our pace was much too fast in the beginning; I could barely talk without huffing and puffing. Fortunately it was too brisk for Jodie as well, so we slowed to about a 10 1/2 minute/mile pace. Although our goal was to take a walk break after every mile, we often would be chatting so much I forgot! (We were using my Garmin as a guide).

About halfway into the run the rain really started coming down. Okay, so this isn’t as fun. But we slogged through and eventually it cleared up again. My only regret about the cloud cover is the lack of a view; apparently you can get several glimpses of Mt. Rainier when the sun is out.

As we hit the 12-mile mark my conversation got progressively more sporadic. I’m normally not much of a talker anyway, but when I’m tired, it’s all I can do to grunt out single syllable responses. Jodie seemed like she could run and talk forever (then again, she’s run considerably more marathons than I have. Oh yeah, I haven’t even run one) 🙂

The end of the trail finally came into view and we both mustered up the strength to sprint to the finish. While my hamstring held up just fine, I knew I was going to be a bit creaky for the rest of the day.

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While a (slightly) pulled hamstring is no fun, it forced me to do something I haven’t done in a while: cross train (or as the cool kids say, X-train). I had become so focused in my marathon training that I had forgotten how much fun (and beneficial) cross training can be. But one look at the pictures of me from last September convinced me to throw on my bathing suit and biking shoes (not at the same time, however).

As I mentioned before, I had become bored with my pool routine. I typically go in the morning when it’s incredibly busy (there’s at least 3-4 people in each lane). I try to mix things up a bit by incorporating some pool running and kickboarding, but it still gets rather monotonous. Although Greenlake is just down the street from us, the weather isn’t conducive to open water swimming until at least the end of June/early July (although I did see a couple of crazy people swimming yesterday; must be training for a tri!).

However, my cook date last Monday was a quick one and I was able to get in a little over 30 minutes of lap swimming in the afternoon. I had the lane to myself for the first half, but another gentleman joined me for the latter half. I’m thinking of entering the Seafair tri in mid-July (which features a 1/2 mile swim), so rather than stopping in between each lap, I kept going — 1 lap (back & forth), stop; 2 laps; stop; 3 laps, stop; and so on, working my way up to 10 laps without stopping. It was quite a refreshing workout!

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When you live in Seattle you must resign yourself to some wacky weather. For example, the first week in April began with snow just north of the city and ended with a record-breaking 80-degree heat wave (which only lasted a day). “Partly sunny, chance of showers” is the most common weather report. But when the sun does shine, I don’t think there’s a more breath-taking place than my fair city.

Anyhoo, we had some glorious weather last week but as usual, things started to turn come the weekend. I had a 14-mile run on the docket, and a quick check of Wunderground confirmed Saturday would be a better choice than today. Although they predicted a chance of showers for yesterday, it wouldn’t be until late afternoon. Today? We woke up to showers and it’s now a full-on downpour.

As is typical for me, I lollygagged on the couch for several hours before putting on my running shoes. My darling is once again injured (his middle toe on his right foot is either broken or severely bruised), so he had to sit this one out. (He SWEARS his recent injuries aren’t simply tactics to get out of running the marathon). Because he wouldn’t be joining me I decided to just start off from our house rather than drive to a trail. Besides, it’s a lot of fun to run through the neighborhood.

By the time I was ready to roll I noticed gusts of wind blowing the tree branches around. *sigh* Fortunately it was rather warm, and since this would be a long, SLOW run, I figured the wind wouldn’t pose much of a problem (I hate having a head wind when I’m trying to run fast). I strapped on my iPod and Garmin and headed out the door.

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I have this crazy idea that I’d like to qualify for Boston some day (even though I haven’t even run a full marathon yet), but it ain’t gonna happen at my current pace. For runs of 6 miles or shorter I can run an 8:25-8:40 minute/mile pace; my best half marathon pace was 9:22. Should I decide to target the 2009 Boston Marathon, my qualifying time would be 4 hours (plus 59 seconds, of course!). I’m sure with the proper amount of training (which would include lots of speed work), it’s doable. But given how my body has been behaving to a faster pace, it could be a stretch (actually I think stretching is what my body needs right now).

In his book “New Marathon” Jeff Galloway includes a race prediction chart based upon one’s 5K and half marathon finishes. Basically, a 2-hour half marathon finish does NOT mean you can run a full in 4 hours. According to the chart, I should shoot for an approximate 1 hour, 52 minute half marathon time or a 23:50 5K if I’m to do a 4-hour marathon. Yikes!

Given I’m training for my very first marathon, I’m not incorporating any speed work into my routines (I just want to be able to finish). However, I have been trying to beat my personal bests for my regular runs around Greenlake and Discovery Park. In April I beat my 5.6 mile Greenlake run by 1 1/2 minutes, and this past week I beat both my 3.2 and 6-mile Greenlake runs (by 14 seconds for the former, 27 seconds for the latter). Of course, it probably wasn’t a wise decision to run the 6-mile run the day after the 3.2 mile one; I basically collapsed on the couch for the rest of the evening (and woke up the next day with a small muscle pull in my left buttock).

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Although my sinuses are still filled with a bunch of yuck (I swear I’ve gone through an entire Kleenex box this past week), thank goodness I felt well enough to get back to running. I truly missed it but knew my body needed rest. However, come Monday I was lacing up my running shoes.

Since I hadn’t done any form of exercise for a week — running or otherwise — I took it very slow, averaging a little under 10-minute miles for the 3 1/2 mile run. To ensure an easy pace I loaded up the iPod with mellow music, letting Marvin serenade me as I wound around Greenlake. Spring is in full bloom and I savored the fragrant bouquet of apple blossoms and the flowers of the ash tree (the smell of which reminds me of cherry Jolly Ranchers). By the time I got home I had a treat waiting for me at my neighbor’s house (he was there to sign for the UPS package — Yippee!).

On Wednesday I took the Garmin out for its inaugural run, along with the heart rate monitor. I still need to figure out my maximum heart rate; if I go by age then it’s 184 (I read somewhere women should subtract their age from 227 rather than 220), but I realize that’s not the most accurate. I sprinted a couple of times to see how high I could get it; both times it was about 172, which seems low. I can’t afford to pay for an accurate test right now, so I’m just going to wear the HRM on every run for a while and see what it does.

For Thursday’s run I left the heart monitor at home since my darling and I were just doing a quick inside loop jaunt. However, since I came within 7 seconds of a PB I wish I had strapped it on. Next time! But at least the Garmin confirmed the distance of the two Greenlake paths were what we thought: 2.8 miles for the inside loop and 3.2 for the outside. When we downloaded our route afterwards it even showed a blip where my darling ran off-course to go play on the rings.

For Saturday’s 12-mile run I had programmed an 8 minute running/1 minute Gallowalking workout into the Garmin Training Center on my computer (my goal was to run those 8 minutes at a 10 1/2 to 10 3/4 minute pace with a 16 minute walk pace), but somehow the transfer to the device got screwed up. As I began running it kept telling me to slow down; once it got to the walk pace I realized it was telling me to keep a 25 minute pace! At that point I stopped the workout and just kept track of my run to walk ratio manually. I was pretty much on target, averaging 10 3/4 minute miles (my goal is 11 minute miles for my long runs).

The best part about using the Garmin is knowing I can deviate from my route and I’ll still know how far I’ve gone. In the past I just used a Thomas Guide and a pair of dividers. My darling always loves to go off the trail, yet I would refuse to follow him since it would mess up my mileage calculations (yes, I’m anal in that respect). Can’t beat technology, can you?

This coming week will most likely be a low mileage one as I’m heading to L.A. this weekend for a food styling workshop. But my hotel is about 2 miles from the studio, so I’m hoping I can at least get some walking in. I think I’ll bring Garmin along just in case I get lost 🙂

You know, I really am a geek at heart. I get tired of trying to figure out how far I’ve run by using dividers and a Thomas Guide, so when I heard this was on sale at Amazon.com, I knew I had to have it. And just so my darling wouldn’t feel left out (he’s probably more of a geek than I am), I bought him one too!

Will the madness ever stop?

IT band: Hey! HEY YOU! Blondie!

Me: Hmmm? What?

ITB: It’s me, your left IT band.

Me: Oh hi. How are you?

ITB: How am I? HOW AM I? You’re making me run 8 1/2 minute miles. How the HELL do you think I am?

Me: Pottymouth.

ITB: Oh please. I’ve heard you say things that would make a sailor blush. So how do you explain yourself?

Me: What do you mean? We’re running, like we always do.

ITB: No, we’re NOT running like we always do. We’ve been going slow lately. It’s been nice. I was feeling good.

Me: Well, I guess I felt we needed to mix things up a bit. You can’t improve unless you challenge yourself. Besides, we’re just doing short runs for a while; 6 miles at the most.

ITB: But what’s up with trying to beat our personal bests? You’re not getting any younger, you know. You should take it easy, old girl.

Me: Hey! Be nice. I’ve treated you well. Haven’t I been using the foam roller on you like our physical therapist wants?

ITB: WHAT? You mean that medieval torture device? That thing FRIGGIN’ HURTS.

Me: Inside voice, please.

ITB: All I’m sayin’ is, if you don’t slow things down a bit I’m going to rebel. You’ll be lucky to be able to run 15 minute miles.

Me: Okay, grumpypuss. I’ll slow it down this weekend. But I’d still like us to go fast on occasion. Will that be okay?

ITB: Harrumph. What’s in it for me?

Me: Well, you’ll ultimately get stronger. And you may start looking all sexy and lean.

ITB: I suppose. But do we always have to go for a PB?

Me: Of course not. I just wanted to see if we can do it. I’ll shoot for 8 3/4 to 9-minute miles; how’s that sound?

ITB: Hmmmm… Can we get a massage too?

Me: You betcha! Now go to sleep and let the ibuprofen do its job.

ITB: Nighty night.