Running is just whatevs

I can't say I'm LOVE LOVE LOVING running these days. I'm feeling indifferent because:

• It's not a terribly warm summer, but it's always hot and really sticky and I feel disgusting
• We've had a really rainy year, and I've been running in ankle-deep water often. I don't usually mind running in the rain, but this has been excessive. I need to dry out!
• I'm not seeing any speed progress?! 
• I am a tad injured. First my calf a few months ago, now my right knee keeps filling with fluid post-run. I hate this "it doesn't hurt but I'm not 100%" ambiguous nonsense.

Post long-run. 

To help with my knee, I have been doing these exercises. And boy, was I sore for the first few days!

You know what would make me feel better? I cooler day and a race or two. I need to find some race to run! 

Helping Houston

Twelve years ago, it was New Orleans that was flooding, and Houston opened her arms to evacuees. Now, Houston needs our help.

What better way to remember Katrina than to serve those facing the same challenges today?

Earned it!

They don't give them away to anyone: you have to earn one!

I am not freakishly tall...we just skew short as a club! 

And somehow I did, through my mediocre paddling along...but hey, here's inspiration to really show up at my next race. I've got a Powermilers singlet now!

Paige, Dave, and I all earned a singlet. Paige and I are training for Houston together...for now. Girl is FAST. She'll be blowing by me in no time. But for now we're good training partners: I am a better pacer, but she is faster. We balance well!
Tonight we did 4x1 mile at half marathon pace with 3 minute jogging rest, followed by 4x100m strides. We did them on the winding walking path since the track was really chewed up. We had some trouble with time because Paige and I were getting different readouts on our Garmins - hers always says we're running faster than mine does. It felt...oddly easy. Don't ask me how. It was ten million degrees. But we were just cruising. A harbinger of faster workouts to come? I hope so!
6:40, 6:38, 6:42, 6:48 (goal was 6:45... like I said, we have pacing issues!). We came off the last one feeling fresh and intended one more, but coach shut it down. So four it was.

Tomorrow, just five recovery miles. I kind of like this training plan thing!

Done!

That's a wrap! Last test done, and in a few weeks I'll officially have my MBA!

Getting ready to take my final final

Training commences

I guess when you train with a group - and a real training plan - marathon work starts a lot earlier. We're already getting started building our base for Houston in January!

Track Tuesday was the beginning of longer workouts, and it was amazing - because despite rain early in the workout, the weather turned out gorgeous. It was the first time I've run in weather under 80F in months!

(This weather prediction lied. It was 96 on Wednesday.)

We were doing 6x1000m at 6:45 with 2-3 minute jog, so the easy pace and ample rest felt good, too. The only problem occurred when my group switched pacers - I can pace pretty well on the track, but Paige is newer to track and struggled to get the pace right. After a rep at 6:50 and one at 7:00 (!), I was forced to take the leader spot over again. After the 1000ms, we finished with 4x150m strides with a walk-back rest after each one. Altogether, we ran 6 miles plus 3 in warm up and cool down. Then we enjoyed some of the beautiful sunset:

Hopefully the combination of longer, slower reps plus leg-turnover-encouraging strides will get me ready for a fast race in January!

On the schedule: Houston!

In response to overwhelming peer-pressure, I registered for the Chevron Houston Marathon in January.

My running group, the Powermilers, is competing as a team, and that means that a huge group of friends will be going (I think maybe 20 of us are running). I jumped on the bandwagon for a few reasons:

• Our team coach? president? all around good guy? (and also my acupuncturist) Jimi offered to write a group raining plan, and it makes sense for me to be doing the same race as everyone else (or at least a race on the same weekend). 
• After two marathons in which the final miles were basically solitary non-confinement, I miss the crowds (both spectators and runners) like I had at Twin Cities. Especially as a women, big races are helpful: at my pace, I'll have plenty of people around me at all times. This won't hold as true for faster guys, but it does for my finishing times. I might get some help pacing that way!
• Houston is pretty close, and flights are cheap.
• I already registered for RnR New Orleans, like I do almost every year, but that stupid race is in MARCH. It will be 80 degrees here in March. I'll take a shot at Houston in January and hope for the best.

This is pretty long-term planning for me! Got any winter races on your schedule already?

Weekend recap

My weekend was delightfully laid back! It looked like this:
School: Just some studying while I watched the track and field championships. I'm so excited to only have one test left!
So, these championships: Obviously I'm loving our steeplechasers, especially our women and their 1-2 finish. And I'm really excited to see Torie Bowie kicking butt and getting better. She gets credit for the 4x100 relay, too. Things I'm not so thrilled about include NBC's egregious ignoring of Paul Chelimo's 5000m bronze - they did not even mention his name until going into commercial break, and here is a man who has served his country twice, both in the U.S. Army and representing us as a runner - and our men's 4x100 relay finish. Silver was weak. And I'm in camp Gatlin-is-a-drug-using-cheat.

Long run splits

Partying: Saturday night was a surprise birthday party for Dave, a member of my running group. His wife did a great job planning his party: for one thing, the "surprise" was that she told him an hour before the party that they were having a huge birthday blowout. So it was nice and easy for the guests. Surprise parties stress me out! And she is also a great cook, so the food was delicious. The only problem was the timing: late nights with wine don't bode well for long runs early the next day.
Running: I really need to get a grip on my weekend running, or really my running schedule altogether. Right now I'm taking either Thursday or Friday off, but I'm doing my more intense strength/weights that day. That's leaving me sore for the weekend, and then I feel obligated to take advantage of the available time on the weekend and run long both Saturday and Sunday. But it's hurting the quality. Saturday I did ten miles, mostly easy, but I threw in two sets of 5xhills, with full recovery after each set. It was brutally hot and humid, and I came home with the kind of drenched exhaustion I'd normally feel after a hard workout. I think I overdid it. Sunday morning I was slightly hungover, dehydrated, tired from Saturday, and sore from Friday, so yes, that long run sucked.
Soon after we started running, our pace starting to drop to the 7-teens and 7:20's. At our first water stop, I told the rest of the group to expect me to be back of them: I just can't - and shouldn't - run my long runs at that pace. I dropped down to 7:40's instead. My overall pace for the 14 miles was 7:46, and I'm fine with that. I generally like my long runs to be a lot faster than many people run them, but no faster than 30 seconds over marathon pace. Seven-forty-five is exactly 30 seconds over my current race pace. Of course, when I got home, I realized that I had clocked a 9:20 first mile, which was in no way accurate: I'd forgotten to stop my watch when I reached our meet-up spot (in reality, I booked it to the park, because I was running late!). So my overall pace was actually off - too fast. Still, an improvement over some of the 7:30 long runs we've logged, although I did miss having company!
Chores: You don't really need to hear about me cleaning my house, do you? No, I didn't think so. But I did repaint some frames for my dining room. I bought these rather beautiful gray frames, which you can see here:

This is actually a watercolor I did for my brother,
but it's the same frame - they were buy one, get one
free, so I bought four. 

But in my dining room, gray didn't work. There were too many dark woods and no other gray. It was too light, and there were too many wood colors happening in one space. So I repainted the frames, and also moved them to the higher shelf on our mantle, and I like it much better.

Now the frames pick up the color of the Japanese screen and
the fireplace - both a brick red color.

And that's about the extent of my artistic endeavors this week. Some weeks I'm just not that creative!
How was your weekend? What are your highs and lows of the championships?