One week down, 17 to go (damn that sounds like a lot). The training this week wasn’t much different than what I’ve already been doing, but I have to admit there were a couple of times I almost postponed due to crappy weather. But then I reminded myself that attitude won’t get me to Boston, so I laced up and headed out.
I know the hardest runs will be the mid-week ones. I actually relish the weekend long runs, but I typically keep my mid-week runs to eight miles or less. That distance is just the starting point with Pfitz; by week nine I’ll have a 14-mile mid-week run, and several 10-12 milers on other weeks (just what I want to do after standing on my feet all day). But fortunately I’m typically home from my cook dates by 3:30 and it won’t start getting dark until at least 5:30-6 p.m.
I’m also finding it tough to keep my pace slow for my general aerobic and recovery runs. For the former, I should be keeping it to a 9:30-9:45 pace; the latter should be 9:45-10:00. I’m also finding my heart rate seems to get pretty high, even though I don’t feel I’m putting in a lot of effort. However, it’s not too far off, so I’m not going to worry about it too much.
As for my weight? sigh. I’ve been a very, very bad girl. My darling and I decided to hit happy hour on Thursday, splurging on margaritas, chicken wings, Southwestern spring rolls and calamari (oh, and cupcakes from Cupcake Royale). On Friday we met up with friends at Shorty’s for pinball, hotdogs and nachos (oh, and a burger and fries at Dick’s on the way home). We were much more sensible on Saturday, preparing a huge salad with garbanzo beans and loads of veggies. (Oh, I guess I forgot to mention the aprés run mac & cheese and the evening martini. But hey — we were watching Casino Royale; how could we NOT have a shaken martini?). Today my darling joined some friends for the “Love ’em or Leave ’em” 5K at Greenlake; I however, decided to prepare brunch treats for everyone in the form of ooey-gooey caramel-pecan rolls and Southwestern strata. Looks like it’ll be lettuce leaves for the rest of the week!
Nancy, that crack-the-whip race director, is at it again. Not happy with just making us run eight miles on December 8, she somehow convinced us to run nine miles on February 9th. (And even though she refused to take ME up on my offer to run 22 miles on December 22nd, I decided to buck up and join in on the fun).
Because my darling and I are training for yet another marathon, we had a slightly longer run on the docket (12 miles). We were both feeling somewhat creaky, so we opted to run the very flat Burke-Gilman trail, starting at the Fred Meyer in Ballard and going until we hit the halfway point (just past University Village).
We got off to a rocky start. My darling’s feet have been bothering him, so he’s trying out new insoles and is taping the last two toes on his left foot. He had to stop several times in the first few minutes to adjust his shoes. He then started getting nervous he wouldn’t have time to get back to prepare for his client meeting at 2 p.m. (he’s a photographer and he was meeting with a bride). We had hit the trail before 9:30 a.m., but due to my pokey-Joe pace he wasn’t sure we’d make it in time. So at the 5K mark he bid me adieu and headed back to our truck to drop a few things off. He then headed through the neighborhood back to our house in order to get his 12 miles in.
While I would have loved to have him along for the entire run, it worked out better this way. I’m really trying to slow my pace down for my long runs, and I tend to speed up when running with him. My goal was to keep my pace between 10 1/2-11 minutes per mile and my heart rate between 130 and 150.
Despite some wind gusts, the weather was quite pleasant (although I was glad to be wearing my hat and gloves). Because I’ve run this route so many times, I just became lost in my music. I turned around just past the 6-mile mark and slowed to a walk to down a ClifShot and a bottle of water. As I neared the 10-mile mark my quads started letting me know they were ready to stop, but I kept on (I reminded them there was a can of chocolate milk waiting for them in the cooler back at the truck). I finally crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 19 seconds (for 12.5 miles). My overall average pace was 10:25 (10:21 for the 5K, 10:27 for the remainder) and my average heart rate was 137. Perfect!
Okay Pfitz, it’s show time. You come highly recommended — many have said they’ve qualified for Boston with you — so for the next 18 weeks I’m all yours. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m ready for the rigors ahead. I’ve been working on strengthening my core and increasing my flexibility, plus I’ve increased my mileage considerably.
Because I ran my first two marathons for fun, my baseline marathon time is hypothetical (based on some recent runs, I’m guessing it’s in the 4:10:00-4:15:00 range). To qualify for Boston, I need to get that time down to 4:00:59. I know the mileage you recommend will certainly help (I’ll be following your “up to 55 miles/week” schedule), as well as the speed work. But to be safe, I’ll also be adding some hills — repeats, as well as incorporating hilly courses into my regular runs.
As for cross training, I’ve finally found a yoga class I enjoy, so I’ll be taking that every Tuesday and will hit the pool or do some biking on Sundays (I’ve tweaked the schedule to begin on Sunday so that my long runs fall on Saturday). I also have an elliptical available at my gym, and will be doing an arm/shoulder weight routine three days/week. (And no, I won’t forget my core work — I’ll be doing that at least five times/week. I hope to be able to hold a plank for two minutes by the end of the year!)
Ironically, I think my major challenge will be to keep my pace SLOW enough during my general aerobic, recovery and medium/long runs. In fact, I may actually incorporate walk breaks during the long runs to ensure I stay within my projected pace (I’ll also have my heart rate monitor guide me).
Oh wait — there is one more challenge: my weight. Mind you, I’m happy where I am, but I know my running would benefit if I were to lose 10 more pounds. I love my wine (and salt), so my weight has stubbornly stayed in the 162-167 range. I’m hoping to get down to 150 by my goal race (the North Olympic Discovery Marathon on June 8), but I’d be happy with 155.
Anyhoo, check back weekly for a progress report. And please, don’t be offended if I use your name in vain.
I’ve been playing a numbers game. I’m about to embark on some hard-core training in my quest to qualify for Boston (goal time of 4 hours, 59 seconds), but I have not established a good baseline. Although I have two marathons under my, er, feet, neither demonstrated what I’m truly capable of (after all, I don’t intend to drink wine or take pictures with Disney characters at North Olympic). Therefore, I have to use my best guesstimate. But what do I base it on? My best 5K time? 10K? Half marathon? Best 15K-30K training run? They all predict different outcomes when plugging in the numbers on the MacMillan Running Calculator.
I originally estimated my time at 4:30-4:40, but recent runs have had me question this. So I plugged in my best times for seven different distances, coming up with projected marathon times ranging from 4:20-4:40. Just when I settled on a middle-of-the-pack time (4:32), I decided I should run a 15K “race” to see if I could improve on that time. (In other words, I chose to run around Greenlake for 9.3 miles as fast as I could. Not the same as true race conditions, but it was close and the price was right!). My goal was to average 9-9 1/4 minute miles.
I’ve managed to convince my darling to join me on my BQ quest (he too will attempt a BQ), so rather than run together we ran in opposite directions, high fiving each other as we crossed paths. Although I wore my Garmin, I was determined not to look at it. Rather, I wanted my body to indicate when I should speed up and slow down.
If you didn’t get a chance to see Spirit of the Marathon this past Thursday, I highly recommend you catch the encore February 21. It played on two screens at our theater — each with at least 450 seats, I would guess — and both were sold out. It was the fittest crowd of movie goers I have ever seen! My darling and I were totally dorky and wore out Goofy shirts (we saw another Goofy runner showing her friends her three medals).
As many reviewers have stated, I would have loved to see more of the elites — Deena Kastor and Daniel Njenga (particularly Daniel in his home country of Kenya) — but of course I could relate more to the “amateurs.” This clearly is a movie for runners, as I’m sure many of the running in-jokes would be lost on non-runners. (I love when Jerry states he runs marathons for the t-shirts and that the only time he gets a “runner’s high” is when he stops running). Of course the entire theater cracked up at the “You’re all crazy” sign one of the spectators was holding up.
(And just to ensure my spot in the Hall of Running Geekiness, I’m currently downloading the soundtrack). 🙂
You know how I said we’d be back for Goofy, but not until 2010? Well, there’s been a slight change of plans. Let’s just say my credit card is now $500 further in debt.
I probably don’t even need to post — the picture says it all (it’s a pretty funny contrast to the finish photo from the half!). But despite my pain, I truly had a fabulous time.
The alarm once again jolted us awake far too early (although we set it for 15 minutes later from the previous day). Our routine was basically the same: quick shower, eat some breakfast, lube up the feet and anything else that might chafe, grab some coffee and get on the bus. It was obvious it would be another muggy day, so I once again left my long-sleeved throwaway shirt in the room (although I did grab the space blanket that was handed out at the end of the half).
A live band was again there to greet us, but the crowd seemed much heavier than the day before. We met up with some folks from the Taper Madness forum (Michele, Mark, Toby and his wife Laura) and did some preliminary stretching. Because we were both feeling a bit creaky, we decided we’d do a 5:1 run/walk throughout the race (I think I was inspired after listening to Jeff Galloway’s talk at the expo). Michele wasn’t looking forward to running solo, so she decided to slum it back in the C corral with us (she too was doing a 5:1 run/walk).
Despite the humidity, I felt great the first few miles. Our pace was perfect, and the time flew by as we chatted with Michele. However, my darling was feeling pretty bloated, and unfortunately the potty breaks provided no relief (it didn’t help knowing Michele and I were standing outside waiting for him). As we got to mile 7 my legs really started to tire; I knew our running pace was too fast for me, but I was determined to keep up. However, I found myself falling farther and farther behind (although I’d catch up during our walk breaks). I felt bad for Michele as she and I waited for my hubby during our second port-o-potty stop. I got pretty anxious seeing all the runners pass us, but she was very gracious, saying she preferred the company.
Okay, so that’s not entirely true. The half marathon portion of the Goofy Challenge was actually rather easy. The weather pretty much cooperated (although it was quite humid in the early hours) and I felt strong throughout. But therein lies the rub. BECAUSE I felt so strong I ended up running faster than I should have. Sure, I “met” my goal of a personal worst (I wanted to run between 2:15 and 2:30; my actual time was 2:15:21). But knowing what I know now, next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) I will keep my pace to at least 2 minutes per mile slower than what I’m capable of.
While some may say I’m Goofy for running the race, what truly makes me Goofy is the fact I signed up for the challenge before I had even run my first marathon. I read about the race in the same Runner’s World article as the Marathon du Medoc. When I saw Marathon Tours was still offering entries at the end of July, I jumped at the chance (the race sold out to individual entries in February). Somehow I managed to corral my darling as well.
Once our entries were confirmed I signed on to the Disney Running Forum for training advice and other tips. As race day approached, the level of excitement intensified on the board. I found it incredibly amusing to read how into Disney many of the forumites are (they’ve obviously been drinking the Kool-aid), but with just a couple of weeks to go I found myself acting like the little kid in one of the Disney commercials who exclaims, “I’m too excited to sleep!”
We JUST got back to our house; thank you everyone for your kind comments! And I’m SUCH a dork — indeed I had entered under Betsy (so I apologize if you tried to track me under the name Elizabeth). Stay tuned for a full report — with pictures! But my half finish was 2:15:21 and the full was 5:07:26. This was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it also was a fabulous experience. I’m definitely going to do this again (probably not next year, but who wants to join me for 2010?)
I probably don’t even need to post — the picture says it all (it’s a pretty funny contrast to the finish photo from the half!). But despite my pain, I truly had a fabulous time.
Okay, so that’s not entirely true. The half marathon portion of the Goofy Challenge was actually rather easy. The weather pretty much cooperated (although it was quite humid in the early hours) and I felt strong throughout. But therein lies the rub. BECAUSE I felt so strong I ended up running faster than I should have. Sure, I “met” my goal of a personal worst (I wanted to run between 2:15 and 2:30; my actual time was 2:15:21). But knowing what I know now, next time (and yes, there WILL be a next time!) I will keep my pace to at least 2 minutes per mile slower than what I’m capable of.
