I think I just ran 10 miles.

And I think I did it in 2:08 - a 12:48 pace. I'm not 100% sure - I lost track of the mileposts on the rail trail, but it's my best guess - even though it's way faster than I'd have expected (though it is very flat and it was a cool day.) I had a lot of reasons I thought I wouldn't make it - sore achilles, tummy troubles, blah blah blah. My iPod was acting weird (skipping over the downloaded songs from iTunes - all legal btw -- and only playing once I"d copied from CD's - any idea why this would happen? It seems OK now.) Also it started raining and whipping wind for a while. But once I was out there I knew I had to go the whole way - I am running out of prep time. Glad I did too - 10 miles is HARD and I want to do one more at least this long before the half-marathon - maybe 11 miles, on the weekend after election day. (There's also a 5k race that weekend so it's not a good combo. Maybe I can take some time on a weekday a few days after the 5k - that would be about 10 days before the big race.

I need to really focus on the core work - my back is the sorest part of me right now. But - gotta go - kids' birthday parties and all that for the rest of the weekend.

Come visit my new blog!

Swingstatejournal.blogspot.com. I hope you enjoy it!

How far I've come

Whenever I'm feeling lazy and tired, I should remember today.

I didn't want to run, didn't want to run, didn't want to run. I spent the morning Skpe-ing faraway friends, eating things I shouldn't eat, lazily working away at cleaning the kids' playroom. Finally about 4:00 I started to putter around and get ready to run. (I couldn't decide where to run, how far to run, what to bring...)

Finally I decided to do the 5-mile Sharon Classic route, and add on to it if I felt strong after the first 2 miles. I did, so I did. Amenia Union Road is VERY hilly but I felt solid the whole way, and stuck with my run 3 walk 1 even on the worst hills. I ended up doing 7.3 miles in 1 hour, 44 minutes. Slow, obviously, but I just looked back at my first 7 mile run, in mid-July. I did just over 7 miles, in 1:44 - the exact same time -- on the perfectly flat rail trail. I know that I SHOULD have gotten better and stronger in that time, because I've been training pretty steadily, but I don't always believe it. So today, I believe it.

Steady now

This is how I'm going to get to Philadelphia: (or I should say, get through Philadelphia) - keep going out for my daily runs and workouts even when I don't feel like it. This week so far: ran 8 miles on Monday, rested Tuesday, did 2 fast (for me) miles Wednesday, spinning Thursday, rest Friday. Tomorrow will be a 9 mile run so today I did 3 very easy miles - some jogging, some fast walking with friends. I need to add at least one swim into this mix, and some core work. And those short runs should probably be a little longer. But I think this will be good enough.

This week the plan is:
Sunday (as previously mentioned): 9 miles
Monday: short run with the group.
Tuesday: rest or cycle, 10 mins core
Wednesday: Swim
Thursday: Spin am, short run with group pm
Friday: Rest, 10 mins core
Saturday: 10 miles.
Sunday. Rest!

The next weekend I go to Ohio so any run will probably be short (or some hotel cardio machine). Although: there are some lovely metropark trails in Cleveland, from what I can tell online. Anyone familiar?

The weekend after that there is a 5K race.

The weekend after that is the weekend before the half-marathon.

So when will I get in my last long run???

Is it supposed to hurt this much?

I did 8 miles yesterday - the first time I've done that kind of distance since August. I'd had a nice week: after my brutal 10k last weekend, I'd done two 30 minute runs, one on hills, one on the rail trail, and felt strong. For this run I did the trail, and downloaded a bunch of Nike running mixes on my new (hand-me-down, thanks Sis) iPod. (Did you know that people like Kara Goucher, Joan Benoit Samuelson and Serena Williams have created their own mixes and coach you throughout with tips on form and increasing speed? It's fun!)

I felt fine doing my run3/walk1 pattern for the first hour or so, tired-ish after that, and absolutely beat by the end. What's worse, I felt awful tbe rest of the day - I could barely stay awake (but no opportunity to nap - too much going on) and my muscles were just shot. Today I still feel pretty bad, physically.

I guess I need to take more care to warm down slowly (I walked about 5 minutes after my last running burst, and stretched for another 5 before getting into the car, and maybe look into some of the recovery nutrition products? But with the half-marathon something like 5 weeks away, I still have a LONG way to go! I"m going to shoot for 2 40 minute runs this week and 9 on the weekend, 10 the following, and then after that it's election day (and I'll be away in Ohio! See my other blog for details! I probably won't have the chance to run long while I"m in Cleveland so will take it as a cut-back week.)

So maybe I can do one last LONG (11 mile?) run on the weekend of November 8, and then take 2 weeks to taper. This seems like a good solid plan if I can beat this exhaustion thing!

I know based on my speed that this run is going to take at least 3 hours (wow am I ever slow!) probably a little more - if I go the exact pace I did yesterday, it will take 3:08. That's a long time to be on my feet.

So - the other thing I'm thinking about is what to wear. The running shorts I"ve had all summer are OK - they're an inner compression short and an outer baggy short. They also have a lot of pockets, which I like. But they ride up a bit (perhaps since I've lost a little weight) and they are a bit short, overall - I think for a race in mid-November I might want knee-length shorts - perhaps the LD pocket shorts Misty recommends. I have a cheap long-sleeved top from Target I usually wear over a singlet, and then take off and tie around my waist when I get hot, but am thinking about some other kind of underlayer. Misty suggests wearing sleeves (not attached to any garment) but I don't know what I'd do with them if my arms got warm! (hook them through my fuelt belt, maybe.)

What happend to "feeling good?"

Today was the Harvest Heart 10K - my first 10k of the season (and second one ever.) It's also my last race before Philadelphia - I tried to look at it as my long run of the week, rather than a race. (Not that it makes any difference to how fast I go, just to how I view myself and my purpose.) It's a nice little local race - the town of Salisbury is just 10 minutes from my house. It was started by a woman I know after her husband had a heart attack - they wanted to give something back to the hospital that saved his life and helped his rehabilitation, so this race raises money for the health care auxiliary to buy things like home health equipment for heart patients. There were maybe 50 runners today - perhaps a hair fewer than last year.

After my post 2 weeks ago, when I was feeling so strong and confident, my physical situation has gotten weird. I did a spin class, my first since spring, a week ago Tuesday and was appropriately thrashed. The next day I went for a short run which turned into mostly a walk, and I chalked that up to not being recovered from the spin. But I still haven't recovered - my chest feels tight and heavy, my legs weigh a ton when I run, and every run since then has been short and exhausting. I feel asleep at work a few days ago - that has NEVER happened before, even when I was pregnant or nursing and utterly worn out. I don't know if I"m sick or having allergies or just overtired, but I almost scratched from this race.

I'm glad I didn't, but I'm not happy about how it went - I never got that adrenaline rush that carries you along at the beginning - I was gasping for breath from the start, and fell to last within about a minute. (I followed, the whole way, the same elderly woman who always runs ahead of me in the Sharon Classic - she rocks!) It was a gorgeous day - chilly, sunny, with cathedrals of brilliant trees over my head, farm fields all around, wooly bears galore beneath my feet, and best of all, Jared, the kindly man-on-a-bike who was assigned to follow the last runner. We chatted most of the last few miles and he was super encouraging. (I tried not to feel condescended to by all the people saying "YOU'RE DOING GREAT" at every mile marker and water stop - because I didn't feel great at all.)

This course is extremely hilly, and last year it was quite hot so I brought my Fuel belt with 3 water bottles, 1 bottle of nuun and some clif blocks. I had more than enough water but it's become my security blanket. About halfway through it became warm enough that I removed my long-sleeved shirt (a light-weight polyester thing from Target - not bad!) and jsut ran in singlet and shorts. I noticed at some point that the skin of my legs was chilled (the air temp was only about 60) though I felt warm.

Everything hurt at one point or another - knees, achilles, big toe joint, lower back. There were some moments that I felt I was running freely with strength and power, but mostly it was just a slog.

When all was said and done I finished 2 minutes slower than last year. I am glad I did it, glad I finished, but disappointed in how I felt and very worried for Philadelphia - it's 40 days away and I can't imagine doing double this distance so soon.