Eat Drink Run Woman

First of all, sorry about the cryptic previous posts.  For some reason my darling’s iPhone wouldn’t let me enter any text in the post field (but I knew you were all waiting around all day just to see how I did) 🙂

So the good news is I PR’d; although official results haven’t been posted online (someone either made off with the sheet they posted at the end or it blew away), but Garmin says my final time was 4:15:18.  My emotions have ranged from being ecstatic for finishing (believe me, there were a couple of miles where that was in question), to being bummed for not BQ’ing, to being frustrated for having a poor last 10K.  And yes, that’s where things went downhill — literally, although not enough, plus figuratively.

Although I ran the first few miles a bit faster than I should have, I don’t think that contributed to my downfall.  My strategy was to average 9:20 over the first six miles; it was closer to 9:12.  I was then going to pick it up to 9:15 for the next three, but was closer to 9:05.  Mile 10 was 9:18, but I followed that with three sub 9 minute miles.

So, what got to me?  The hills!  I knew what to expect at the creek beds at miles 16 and 20 since we had the chance to check them out beforehand, but I wasn’t expecting the rolling hills from miles 13-20.  Thing is, they really were no different from the hills at the Kirkland or Mercer Island half marathons; I think where they were in the race contributed to my slowdown, but the real culprit was the dizziness.  I drank at every fuel stop (which were placed practically every two miles), plus ate three ClifShots and one package of ShotBlocks.  But I think the cold that’s been threatening me decided to rear its evil head during the race.

Although my body was still really strong, I couldn’t shake the dizziness and had to start walking several times.  My average pace for the first 20 miles was 9:14 min/mile; I actually thought I might still have a chance to BQ but knew I would have to push it really hard during the last 10K.  Alas, I couldn’t do it.  My ears became blocked and I decided I’d walk it out to clear my head, then hopefully finish strong (which I did — I managed to sprint the final 1/3 mile!).

Again, I’ll post more tomorrow, but now I’m lounging with a glass of wine.  Cheers!

Will be home soon w/gory details. Good news: I PR’d!

The marathon dreams, that is.

I expected them to come several days ago, but last nights’ was the first.  Fortunately it was a very good dream, although a bit weird as dreams tend to be.  I dreamt I crossed the halfway mark at roughly 1:58 (which would be great considering the second half has the hills).  My darling was running with me and when we got to the creekbeds at mile 16 — the ones I’ve been obsessing over — I looked at him and said, “That’s it?”  They appeared no more steep than the hills I’ve been training on.

However, I’ve heard the really steep one is at mile 20, so in my dream I asked one of the other runners about it while we were waiting for our relay team members to come in (yes, for some reason the race turned into a relay).   He said while it was indeed steep, I should have no problem with it.  I then ended up at a home; it wasn’t ours, but maybe it was (again, you know how crazy dreams can be) to go pee.  At the time I was thinking “Thank goodness we’re doing a relay ‘cuz I don’t have to worry about giving up valuable time to potty.”  I was concerned, however, about how they were going to add up our individual running times.  I wanted to make sure my total time was 4 hours or less.

Once I relieved myself I then had to wait for the shuttle to pick me up.  I began to get a bit nervous — perhaps my darling forgot to call them — but just as I was picking up my cell phone to call him I woke up.

I sure hope I get a good nights’ sleep tonight!

Well folks, this is it. It’s almost show time. Hard to believe I began this journey back in early February. Where HAS the time gone? Oh yeah — in training.

Angie asked me what my most prevalent emotion is right now; excitement? Anxiety? Nausea? My answer: YES. I’ve experienced all three (and then some) many times over the past few days. But in the end I have to remind myself it’s just a race. I know I’ve done my best to prepare, yet you never know what race day will bring.

Despite my anxiety, this has been a very easy week. I’ve taken my last few runs slow, save for yesterday’s 7-mile “dress rehearsal” where I practiced my pacing strategy. My diet this week has been the healthiest it’s ever been, although I did allow myself a couple of glasses of wine with dinner the other night (not only did it taste fabulous with the grilled flat iron steak, it calmed my nerves). Stretching and a couple of massages have worked out the kinks in my right calf, and daily snorts of Zicam have held an impending cold at bay.

While the final test will be on Sunday, I feel Pfitz’s program is a good one for me. I made a few tweaks, primarily to work in a couple of races, but I’ve run more than 97% of the called-for mileage. I’ll definitely follow this program again when I’m looking to run in a specific time. In fact, depending on what happens on Sunday, I may turn to Pfitz again for the Royal Victoria marathon in October. But assuming I BQ at North Olympic, I may take things easy and just follow a plan to get me to the finish in Victoria.

I’d like to thank everyone for coming here and offering your words of encouragement and support. They really have meant a lot to me. Because North Olympic is such a small race, live tracking isn’t available. But my darling will have his iPhone and hopefully I’ll be able to post my results soon after the race (and of course I’ll write an excruciatingly detailed race report).

Here’s the final recap!

Sunday: since I signed up for the Runnersworld Online June mileage challenge I postponed my 13-mile run to today. I was shooting for a 9:30 overall pace, but wanted to practice my pacing strategy of starting out slow. However, my hips were a tad creaky so I ended up running a rather slow pace throughout (9:40 overall). I’m sure it was good for me.

Monday: I ditched my regular arm weight routine this week and concentrated instead on ab work and stretching. For the afternoon recovery run I used my heart rate as my guide with a goal of keeping it less than 70% of maximum. Overall pace: 9:33.

Tuesday: one of the best classes ever. We did a lot of warrior poses, which helped to stretch out my hip flexors. My dress rehearsal was scheduled for today but I opted to postpone it to Thursday and take a rest day from running.

Wednesday: more stretching and ab work; afternoon 5-mile recovery run (9:29 overall pace).

Thursday: 7-mile dress rehearsal. My target marathon race pace is 9:10, however, I plan on running the first 8-9 miles at 9:20, then the next 8-9 miles at 9:05-9:10. Assuming I feel good after that I’ll finish strong. For my dress rehearsal I practiced running two miles at 9:20, two at 9:10, and the remaining three at 8:55, 8:50 and 8:45 respectively. I ran the first four miles just a couple of seconds faster than goal, but a hill at mile 5 slowed me down to a 9-minute pace. However, I picked it up during the last two miles, running them at 8:36 and 8:34.

Friday: more abs and stretching. I’ll probably hit the pool for a few laps this afternoon, and may do so again tomorrow morning. My darling accidently scheduled a photo shoot tomorrow, so I’ll need to work off some pent-up energy while waiting for him to finish. We hope to be on the road by 2 p.m., which will put us at the expo about 5. We’ll then head over to the pasta feed, then hopefully get a full night’s sleep.

Wish me luck!

Although technically my taper officially started a week ago, I feel my true taper started after my BUAL™ workout on Tuesday. It was one of the toughest runs of the training — only eight miles, but three were at 5K pace. I’m SOOOO glad to have the speed work over and done with. Other than a marathon pace “dress rehearsal” this coming week, all my runs are basically at recovery pace. Hallelujah!

Sunday: my darling and I took advantage of the glorious weather and walked to a local farmer’s market for pizza and ice cream. (And to appease you health freaks, we also picked up some Brussels sprouts and mizuna for our salad. Oh, and rhubarb, for, um, a pie).

Monday: my gym was closed for Memorial Day so I got to sleep in. Ran a 7-mile general aerobic run in the afternoon with eight 100m strides (8:50 overall pace).

Tuesday: I know I’ve said this before, but I today’s yoga class HAD to be the worst day in terms of flexibility (as in, I had none!). It still felt good afterwards, but I sure was groaning a lot. My darling joined me for my BUAL™ workout; I started with an easy 2-mile jog, then ran my first 1-mile sprint at 7:52. Took another easy mile, then ran a 7:32. Followed that with an easy mile, then ran a 7:41. Finished with an easy mile. Overall pace: 8:58.

Wednesday: rest day for running, but spent a little over an hour at the gym doing my arm weights and ab exercises.

Thursday: decided to sleep in again, and although I intended do my 5-mile recovery run with strides that afternoon, I decided to rest some more. I’ve been feeling on the verge of getting a cold, so I figured it would do me some good.

Friday: made up for the previous days’ sloth by running 6.75 miles. It was supposed to be a recovery run (9:30 min/mile or more), but I felt too darn good. Overall pace: 8:51.

Saturday: normally this would be my long run day, but on a whim I signed up for the Runnersworld L&O June mileage challenge (north vs. south). Since I’ll be tapering and recovering this month, I figured I could use the extra miles and postponed my long run to Sunday. However, I took a VERY easy 5.36-mile recovery run (overall pace: 9:44). With that run, I racked up another 200-mile month! But the best part? The 1 1/2 hour massage in the afternoon. She primarily worked on my legs this time, but when I go back on Thursday she’ll work more on my upper body. Pure heaven!

We’re getting close folks. I’m already obsessing over the weather (it looks like we’ll have some rain, which I actually prefer over heat). I’ll continue to take things slow this week and will make sure I’m eating properly. Although I really wanted either a martini or glass of wine last night (okay — so I wanted both), I refrained. But you can bet I’ll be imbibing after the marathon — BQ or not!

Many runners get anxious during their taper period as they’re concerned all gains in fitness will be lost. Who knows, perhaps I’ll feel that way over the next two weeks when my mileage really starts to decrease, but this week was all about taking care of myself, which meant cutting a couple of runs short.

The biggest thing on my mind was my Thursday appointment with the boob smasher. It was a call-back, so I was just a tad nervous. Interestingly, my anxiety was much greater the day of the call (as I was leaving from my previous boob smashing, the nurse said I’d receive a letter if everything was fine, a call if they found something). I was pretty calm while driving to my appointment, but my anxiety returned as I lay on the table getting an ultrasound. Wouldn’t that be ironic: just when I was feeling the most fit of my life, the big C hits.

My anxiety was short-lived, thankfully, despite hearing the doctor say there is a spot that is “most likely” benign. Having a biopsy is certainly an option if I’m feeling nervous about it, but his recommendation is to come back in six months (as well as do self breast exams). Since breast cancer doesn’t run in our family, I’m going with the doctor’s recommendation (and yes, I already have my appointment).

Of course, when I told my darling the news his inclination was to tell me to have it biopsied. I understand where he’s coming from; every time he has a seizure I want him to get an MRI. He has epilepsy, but there’s always that thought in the back of my mind that perhaps it’s a tumor after all (Ted Kennedy’s diagnosis certainly hasn’t eased my worry). Fortunately his meds keep things under control and it’s been a couple of years since he’s seized (every time he has the slightest twitch I blurt out, “Did you take your Dilantin?”)

Enough of this downer cancer/tumor talk. Sheesh!

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It’s once again that time of year when I foist upon you pictures of a more portly Eat Drink Run Woman (or more appropriately, Eat Drink Eat Some More Drink Even More Eat Eat Eat Eat Eat Drink Drink Drink Fall Asleep on the Couch Woman).

For those of you who are new readers to EDRW and haven’t taken the time to read through each and every post (SHAME ON YOU), this is what I looked like on May 17, 2005:

I cringe every time I see these photos; not only for my girth, but for the look on my face. I had let myself go and was extremely unhappy. I could say seeing the number 200 on my scale was a rude wake-up call, but let’s face it — I was verging on that weight for many months prior. But when the numbers went from the high 190s to 200 I finally was motivated enough to do something about it.

I was blessed with having the most supportive and understanding husband. He NEVER made my weight an issue (although I never did understand his insistence upon keeping a sack of flour on our nightstand). It was only after I had started my weight loss that he admitted a slight lack of desire for me (revealed only after I questioned him directly). To this day he’s my biggest fan and supporter, and I’m thrilled to once again be the size I was when we first started dating (in fact, I’m probably even MORE fit). He still claims it wasn’t my weight that bothered him most; it was the fact my smile had disappeared.

So, how did I do it?

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“T” is for “Thank God! My last long run is done.”
“A” is for “Amen! My last long run is done.”
“P” is for “PHEW! My last long run is done.”
“E” is for “Egads! That was one helluva run!”
“R” if for “Rejoice! My last long run is done.”

Put ’em all together and what do they spell?

“TAPER TAPER TAPER — Save me from this hell!”

Alright, so I’m jumping the gun. After all, this post is about LAST week, and my taper doesn’t start until this week. But I’m just so thrilled to finally be there. Besides, I said I’d try to make this post more entertaining than the last one.

Even though this was a killer week, I feel remarkably refreshed. I started off with a bang with my stellar performance in the Kirkland Half Marathon, and just finished with a satisfying, albeit tough, 22-miler. My elation over seeing my half marathon time translating into a sub 4-hour full was short-lived, however, after boasting about it on the Runner’s World forum. A few of the more experienced marathoners were quick to say McMillan typically isn’t accurate unless you’re putting in at least 70 miles per week. Although my mileage has been high, it’s not at that level.

But after reading their comments, did I pout? Did I stress? Did I start second-guessing myself? DUH! Of COURSE I did. 40+ years of low self esteem doesn’t just disappear overnight, ya know. But fortunately I took it as “constructive” criticism and came up with a game plan that hopefully will allow me to go back in three weeks and proudly (and maturely) claim, “NEENER, NEENER, NEENER. I TOLD you I could do it, you dummy-dorks.”

Since it’s close to show time I wanted to use this week to test my race strategy: how to fuel during the race, what to wear, how to pace myself. Although I know it will be difficult to do, the key will be to start off conservatively, saving my energy for the second half. The average pace for a 4-hour marathon is 9:10 min/mile. My goal is to run the first 9 miles slower than that (9:20), then pick it up to a 9:05-9:10 pace through mile 20. Assuming I’m feeling good then I’ll really pick things up for the last 10K. As long as I can average an 8:55 min/mile over 6.2 miles, I’ll have a sub 4-hour marathon (my BQ time is 4:00:59, but I wanted to provide a bit of a cushion).

For my fueling strategy, I’ll stick with my tried & true ClifShots (and perhaps a packet of ShotBlocks). I’ll carry those on my fuel belt, but will rely on the water and electrolyte drink (Heed) provided at the fueling stops. I’ve even tested out the Heed to make sure I can stomach it. (It works great, although neither I nor my darling can say the name without invoking the Scottish dad, played by Mike Meyers, talking about his youngest son in “So I Married an Axe Murderer:”

“Look at the size of that boy’s heed. I’m not kidding, it’s like an orange on a toothpick. That’s a huge noggin. That’s a virtual planetoid. Has it’s own weather system. HEED! MOVE!”

Anyhoo.

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Oh dear; it’s already Thursday and I haven’t posted last week’s workout! How on earth you’ve been surviving, I’ll never know.

But really, there’s not much to tell that hasn’t already been said. You already know about my dismal 10K on the 10th (although the race director would NOT accept my DNF. I told her she needs to apply for the position of RD for Boston as I could really use her leniency there), as well as the less-than-stellar run leading up to that race.

Here’s, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story”:

Sunday: a whole lotta nuttin’

Monday: typical morning weight routine; 9.25 mile BUAL™ workout w/five 600m sprints. I must say, they’ve been feeling less like a “barf up a lung” workout and more like a “my quads are on fire.” But MQAOF is just too darn hard to say.

Tuesday: I don’t know how my yoga instructor does it, but she often has an uncanny sense for what I need. Today it was hip openers (get your minds out of the gutter). While the class was challenging, I felt incredible afterwards.

Wednesday: morning routine; 6-mile recovery run in the afternoon (9:19 average pace)

Thursday: stretching/PT in the morning. Afternoon was supposed to be an 11-mile run, but I could only muster up 7 1/2 due to a tight calf. Average pace: 10:07

Friday: Played hooky from the gym, but ran my 10K race that afternoon.

Saturday: Rest day in preparation for the Kirkland Half Marathon.

Once again you’ll see my weekly mileage does NOT follow the 10% rule, but again, it’s due to moving my long runs to Sundays when appropriate. I do, however, follow the hard/easy rule (making sure I follow a hard run with a rest or recovery day).

So that’s it for this week. I promise next week will be much more entertaining. (Boy, nothing like putting the pressure on, huh?)