Nearly a year?

So, it's been nearly a year since I wrote anything here, and quite a lot has happened. I'll start at the beginning...

SoxFan and I are married! Don't believe me? Here's some proof for you:



Though I wanted to train for a race in the spring, I knew it wouldn't be wise with all the wedding planning and whatnot we had going on. We signed up for a gym membership instead and I spent the winter/spring working out indoors on the dreaded elliptical machine, in group exercise classes, swimming in the pool, and now and again, even hitting the dreadmill. It was probably a good break for me, honestly, because my knees were pretty spent after the half marathon last fall.

I missed running, though, and when our friend asked us to participate in a half marathon relay with him, we jumped at the chance. The relay was set up as follows: Jeff=leg 1 (5 miles), SoxFan = leg 2 (5 miles) and me = leg 3 (5k). Jeff had been running consistently, and he's really fast, so he got us off to a great start. Then SoxFan ran way faster than I thought he could and finished his 5 miles just slightly slower than Jeff did. Then I somehow managed to run the fastest 5K of my life, finishing in 36:31 (an 11:41 pace)! Again, I have to re-iterate that I had done all my training indoors on the dreadmill, and it was freezing cold that day so I wore more clothes than I normally do while running. I thought for sure I'd be sick at the end, but it was worth it to surprise Jeff and SoxFan early at the finish.

I think I just started off way too fast... Because it's a relay, and because my teammates were both pretty fast, when they handed the baton off to me, I was still surrounded by loads of really fast people. So, I took off really fast, then glanced at my Garmin and immediately thought "whoa whoa whoa, there's no way I can keep this up." So, I reigned it back in a bit, and started to get used to the idea of being passed every few seconds. But eventually I settled into a pace that felt really good. It felt right. When I hit the first mile, the Garmin said 11:29. I couldn't believe it, but I felt like if I'd made it for a mile at that pace, there was a good chance I could keep it going. Curiousity really took over at that point. I just wanted to see how long I could maintain that type of pace. So, I kept pushing it and ended up with the following results:

Mile 1: 11:29
Mile 2: 11:45
Mile 3: 12:11
Last 0.12: 1:03 (---> This is an 8:34 pace... I could see the finish, and I just wondered if I had anything left at all, and I wondered how fast I could run if I just pushed it insanely for a little while... This probably was why I felt like chucking at the finish line.)

Anyway...

All that was back in April, and I still had the wedding in front of me, so I didn't run again until after we returned from the honeymoon in late June. And even then, my running was rather sporadic. It wasn't until last weekend that I decided that I wanted to get serious again. And by that, I mean that I decided that I was ready for a re-match with the Denver Half Marathon.

This time around, I'm going to do a few things differently in the hopes of making the re-match a little easier than round 1.

1. I'm going to do more cross-training. I did exactly ZERO of this last year.\
2. I'm also trying to do better nutrition-wise. More than just eating healthy stuff (which I do pretty typically anyway), I plan to scour the pages of Runner's World and eat all the stuff "runners" should eat.
3. I'm going to do more stretching/foam roller/Stick. I've been pretty consistent with it so far this time around, and last year I hardly did this at all. This is probably why, at the end of the half last year, I thought my IT Bands might just spring free of my skin and keep on running without me.

Other than these small changes, I'm using the exact same training plan as last year, for the exact number of weeks.

I had serious thoughts of just shutting down the blog entirely, but a few people (especially recently) have sent me notes via facebook saying that they read my post-race report from last year's half and found it inspiring. (How flattering!) So, I figure I'll just pick up where I left off last year.

As for the training so far, I'll give you a quick re-cap:

• Long run #1 (last Sunday): I shift the training schedule so that my long runs fall on Saturday rather than Sunday, but still... it was Sunday when I made the decision (in earnest) that I wanted to try the half again, so it was Sunday when I did my first long run. It was, in a word, disastrous. I talked SoxFan into going down to the Highline Canal Trail with me, and by the time we got there it was nearly 11AM (and probably 90+ degrees out). I had a really hard time, I walked a lot, but I tried not to beat myself up too much for it. Oh, this was only a 4 miler.
• On Monday, the schedule calls for cross training, so I swam 750meters at the pool. It was great.
• Weekly run (Tuesday): This was a 3 miler, which I ran before work. I've been trying to get into the habit of working out before going to work, and so far it's worked really great. I have to go to bed with the senior citizens at 8PM, but I love the feeling I get at the end of the day, when I know I can just go straight home without feeling guilty.
• Weekly run (Wednesday): This was a 2 miler, also from work. I ran this one straight through, with a couple of pauses here and there to stretch/catch my breath. I didn't do any walking, though. This was a small victory by itself.
• Weekly run (Thursday): This was another 3 miler, and I did much more running than I did walking. Another small victory.
• On Friday, I did about 60 minutes of cross-training by going mountain biking with SoxFan at Mt. Falcon Park. It was great fun, though we should have started a little earlier in the day, I think. We were melting by the time it was over.
• Long run #2 (Saturday): This was another 4 miler, which I ran yesterday at the Highline Canal. I learned two very important things on this run: 1.) Running at sunrise is MUCH easier than at 11AM, when the heat of mid-day is crushing your spirit, and 2.) I really do run much easier with an audiobook to enjoy. I knew this before, but I'd forgotten just how much easier it makes things.

So, there you have it. My first week of training for my re-match with the half. Thanks to everyone who's been in touch lately with words of thanks/encouragement regarding last year's post. I hope you keep reading!

Good times bad times...

Question: If you're set to do a 6 mile run, but instead of running straight 6, you run 2m, then take a 30 minute break, then run 4.5m, does that count as a 6 mile run?

My vote is YES.

During the course of Sunday's long run (6 miles, you guessed it), SoxFan and I had a little conversation after the first 2 miles. The first 2 miles had gone pretty well, and I feel confident that I could have run 6 miles pretty well. But, our conversation ended up taking about 30 minutes, making me feel needlessly (?) guilty and slacker-like. We ended up doing the last 4.5 miles after the sun was WAY too high in the sky, so rather than being a delightful early morning jaunt down the Silence of the Lambs trail, the run turned into the oven-temperature death slog through the holy-hills batman and did you see the size of that bee?

I was tempted to go through another tedious self-loathing session afterward, but I was exhausted, dude, so I just threw in the towel. I mean, I got the run done, right? I even did an extra half mile as penance for my resting ways. And I did extra stretching when I got home. I'm hoping it all evens out in the end.

Monday called for "Stretch and Strengthen", and that's just what I did. We bought an exercise ball and a few free weights and even some resistance bands over the weekend, so I made great use of those last night. I did ball crunches (oh, that sounds funny).... and pelvic thrusts (hahaha)... and I did some seated row with the resistance bands and a few push-ups and even some curls. Oh yeah.... I'm going to have some huge ripped guns after about 8 billion reps with my 8lb weights. To cover the "Stretch" part of Monday's routine, I rolled a few times on the foam roller, basically until my IT bands started audibly threatening my life, at which point I retreated to the sofa.

And then there was today.

As I started today's run, I was thinking about the Facebook. (I was also thinking about how frigid it was outside, but mostly I was thinking about the Facebook.) It's truly the best and the worst of everything, isn't it? It's how you keep in touch with old friends, and it's how you stay in "the know" about your friends' (and your frienemies') love lives, and it's how you win at Scrabble (hey, I won't tell anyone you use that website to cheat, dude!). But sometimes, you end up running into ghosts there. And that's just what's happened to me recently. Innocently enough, I sign on... I need to check who's dating who... and who's changed their profile picture, etc.... And then, there's a blast from the past staring me in the face. This time, it was an especially friendly ghost (or so I hope, at least), and I took a chance and started a conversation.

This was all on my mind as I began tonight's run. So maybe that is why tonight's run came off without a hitch. I was really thinking hard about my old friend, and how and why we'd grown apart. I was trying to figure out how I felt about initiating a conversation and perhaps even a renewed friendship.

So when my Garmin beeped and beckoned me out of my introspection, and I noticed the little pace notice flashing at me, you can imagine my surprise to find that I was running the fastest splits I'd ever run on the Silence of the Lambs trail. Even on the uphill stretch, even on the last mile of the 4 mile run, I was getting faster! Don't believe me? Here are the official splits.

I know that seems glacial to most of you... but for me, it's pretty flipping fantastic. It was a great run. And it came at just the right time, too. After Sunday's debacle, I desperately needed a running pick-me-up.

It puts the lotion in the basket...

So much for well-laid plans, I guess. A mere 6 days into my shiny Hal Higdon's Half Marathon (for Novice runners) Training Schedule, I missed a run. Soxfan and I had the best of intentions, but we just ran out of time. I tried to make it up the next day by tagging it onto the already scheduled run, but I didn't quite make it.

Oh well. I can't beat myself up over it too much, I suppose.

For last week's long run (5m) on Sunday, I decided to try running along the South Platte River. I figured I could run while SoxFan caught us a delicious trout dinner. The road is hard packed gravel and doesn't climb terribly, and is at a mere 6100ft. And you definitely can't top the scenery. It's beautiful. One of these days I'm going to take my camera along and get some pictures of the places I get to run on a regular basis. All non-Coloradans will be green with envy.

Anyway, because the previous weekend's 5 miler on the High Line Canal turned into such a death march, I thought it'd be prudent to carry along a little gatorade at least. I was feeling really good before the run. I felt confident... I had my gatorade. I had a freshly downloaded Podrunner episode. I had my sunglasses. I had a fully charged Garmin with a strong signal. I felt like it was going to be a "great run." What I didn't have? A properly hydrated body.

Now, I know you've all heard (many times) about the importance of drinking plenty of water, etc. And I know you're all tempted to roll your eyes and say "yeah yeah, we get it. Drink the water." But seriously. Drink the water. Oh, and don't run with no shade in an arid environment at mid-day. You'll thank me for this.

Around 4 miles into my 5 miler, I realized that I was no longer sweating. Hmmmm, that's odd. I decided to take a "walk break." ***As an aside, it's been a long time since I had to take a walk break... I may not be able to decide how FAST I'm going to run a particular distance before I head out, but generally I can decide how FAR I'm going to run before I head out. Thus, this "walk break" is synonymous with "heart break."***

I realized: I'm freaking thirsty! My gatorade was long gone, and I was seriously considering plunging my face into the South Platte River and starting to chug. Then, I noticed that I had chill bumps. It was a whole 85-90 degrees outside. Hmm...that's odd.

After about a tenth of a mile, I thought I'd try running again. But my legs felt like jello, and it was clear that I shouldn't try to run, slowly or otherwise, anymore for the day. I dragged my defeated butt back to SoxFan's truck. He gave me a huge smile and asked "How was it?" (as if my tear stained face and slumping shoulders weren't evidence enough).... I just said "Water." Then I chugged so much of it I nearly puked.

Afterwards, I had an excellent self-loathing session during which I tried to determine the source of my running suckiness. Was it possible that I was in worse shape than I was the week before? Did I not get enough sleep? Was it too hot? Did I not get the proper nutrition? Was I simply too much of a wuss? Eventually I narrowed in on the whole water thing. And it helped ease the pain that I wasn't the only complete and utter failure that day: SoxFan didn't bring us even one trout home to share.

Since then, I've been chugging water like Escalades suck gas. And it's made a marked improvement in my running!

Last night I went for a run in a park pretty close to my house with Ini the dogbeast. He was a complete psycho for the first mile, but after that we settled into a nice rhythm and had a perfectly happy little 4 miler together. However, you know that scene from Silence of the Lambs, where Clarice is sort of trail running through the woods? Well, when you're a lone girl running (with a dog, fine, but seriously, Ini would just want to play with any attacker, wouldn't he?) at sunset (and slightly after), the last words you want running through your head are "wow, this is just like that scene from Silence of the Lambs."

Today I'm babysitting for a couple of friends of mine, so I woke up before dawn (no exaggeration, folks) and hauled my sleepy, stinky butt into work early so I could run on the dreadmill. I got 2 miles in this morning, and they went pretty well for dreadmill miles. The only drawback is now, it's only 12:19PM, but it feels like it should be 3:19PM.

See? I've been doing loads of running! Don't go all pessimistic on me and assume that my silence = my laziness!

Oh, and I mentioned this earlier, but do check out PodRunner. It's free, and it's organized by Beats Per Minute (BPM), so you can find an hour or so of music (well, technically it is music) with a perfect beat for you to run to. Before this, I'd only found one song with a perfect tempo for my running speed, and quite frankly, I was getting sick of listening to it over and over again. One of these days that song will shuffle up on my iPod while I'm at work and due to my conditioned response, I'll instantly break out in sweat and start breathing hard.

Oh, in other good news, I've lost 50lbs! I should post some pictures soon.