But seriously....can't I get any normal injuries? After pneumonia came and took away my fall marathon, I am now battling a scratch on the lens of my eye. Likely came from sleeping in my contacts, and then running in them on Saturday. I can't run in my glasses, so likely back to the one contact household for this week, assuming the eye gets better.
Week wrap-up
M - 0
T - 6.1 with MJK over lunch. Legs felt
W - 4 solo (pedestal/MYRTL). Legs felt awesome.
Th - 9.4 in am with Amos. Legs felt sore again. Molested by lawn sprinkler.
F-0
S - 14.95 with UCRR
Sun - 0 thanks to my stupid eye
33.95 total - all of it pretty relaxed once I got through post-Rocktoberfest deadness
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Rocktoberfest Half - 1:37:44
Let's start with the basics.
- I ran 1:37:44 which since I can't remember how fast the few 1/2's I ran in my teens (aka "where my PR's live"), it's my PR.
- It was on a hilly course, while my lungs were still on the comeback trail after recovering from pneumonia, so I think my marathon PR is toasted the next time I run.
- Rocktoberfest is a shitty name for a race. It sounds like something coined by a horrible modern rock station that reminds you that Nickleback is coming up next after these words from All-American Auto Sales. My main motivation to set a new half marathon PR is so I never have to say/write the word "Rocktoberfest" again.
As always, I was a bundle of nerves the night before. My legs felt rested, but with a recent 12 day window of no activity (unless you count coughing up blood as x-training...), they were likely over-rested. I was heavier than I would like to have been after the rest, and raceday felt like a big mystery. I decided this was the best time to come up with a plan, stick to the plan stubbornly, and hope for the best.
The plan: Run 7:30's until my legs gave up completely. Hopefully this would give me enough cushion to get under 1:40, knowing that the end of the race had a few hills.
The execution (what went right): Stuck to my guns. I was likely heading for sub 7:15 for the first mile, and thanks to an OCD level of Garmin checking, stayed closer to 7:30. Got pulled along a bit when Jamaar passed me, but went back to running pace....or at least pace-ish.
What went Wrong: Maybe not the smartest decision to run with my lungs not 100% back, but I felt that there was an expiration date on my training, so this was use it or lose it. I coughed for 5 minutes straight when it was over. Drank way too much and day-dreamed about peeing for most of the race.
So nothing more to say, other than this was the most fun I had running in ages. Good to see a bunch of running friends at the finish, and glad to have something to show for 15 weeks of training, other than just bitching about my pneumonia, and a Medoc t-shirt I'll likely never wear.
Splits:
7:26 / 7:28 / 7:27 / 7:35 / 7:18 / 7:22 / 7:10 / 7:26 / 7:15 / 7:36 / 7:34 / 7:22 / 7:37 / 1:08
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Hitting the rest button
You know how it is.....you have a difficult section coming up. Sure you can take out the first two creatures with your knife, thus saving bullets, but what about beyond that? There's a troll that you kill eventually, but not until you figure out how to attack it, and are almost out of life. You aren't dead, but can you make it to more life potion in time? Could you have saved more bullets? Did you realize you are 33 years old and have been playing video games for over 2 hours? All of these things lead one to hitting the reset button. Well, maybe the power button for the last one.
Admittedly, it is not an actual button. I mean there is a button on my Wii, but it is easier to just find someone with an axe and let them put you out of your misery, and then go back to the most recent save point. The next game after the reset button is a wiser trip. The jump you just missed, becomes one you make with ease. You don't heistate to waste a round of shotgun shells on the troll, because you know there are two boxes in the shed down the path. Yes you have lost time, but it is in the name of gathered information.
So, I'm trying to harness the lessons I've learned from playing Resident Evil 4, and am trying to apply them to moving forward after missing my marathon. I am not a "turn that frown upside down" kinda guy, in fact that phrase is a sure way to ensure that "that frown" stays right where gravity wants it to remain. However, staying put and driving head first off the "woe is me"cliff, does me no good. There is likely a quick shelf life on my training, so I'm going to keep free-basing Vitamin C, count calories, stretch, and do my best to be SMARTER in an attempt to be FASTER.
Not sure what this means racewise....Dowd? Thunder Road (perptually the consolation prize)? Kiawah?
Admittedly, it is not an actual button. I mean there is a button on my Wii, but it is easier to just find someone with an axe and let them put you out of your misery, and then go back to the most recent save point. The next game after the reset button is a wiser trip. The jump you just missed, becomes one you make with ease. You don't heistate to waste a round of shotgun shells on the troll, because you know there are two boxes in the shed down the path. Yes you have lost time, but it is in the name of gathered information.
So, I'm trying to harness the lessons I've learned from playing Resident Evil 4, and am trying to apply them to moving forward after missing my marathon. I am not a "turn that frown upside down" kinda guy, in fact that phrase is a sure way to ensure that "that frown" stays right where gravity wants it to remain. However, staying put and driving head first off the "woe is me"cliff, does me no good. There is likely a quick shelf life on my training, so I'm going to keep free-basing Vitamin C, count calories, stretch, and do my best to be SMARTER in an attempt to be FASTER.
Not sure what this means racewise....Dowd? Thunder Road (perptually the consolation prize)? Kiawah?
Monday, October 3, 2011
I used to be a heroin addict. Now I'm a methadone addict.
Tapering. I thought everyone hated it, the nervousness, the bizarre new injuries, being used to eat with relative freedom and then losing some of that freedom as the weekly mileage drops. I thought there was a united front against tapering until my friend Laura told me she loves tapering. So here is why I hate tapering, beyond what I've already expressed...
Running primarily fills an emotional need for me. I make a point to let people know I like to run; not exercise. I take the elevator to go 2 flights and almost every form of exercise I only engage in...Pilates, swimming, Yoga.... with the thought of "how will this help my running."
When that emotional outlet gone, there isn't anything really to fill that spot. After a stressful day, I'd go for a run, so when that gets pulled back, a beer or 4 would sound great, but oh wait, I'm tapering. I know that drinking and tapering are not mutually exclusive, but I've know I'll run better with yet another outlet gone. It seems perfectly set up for disaster, let's take away your #1 stress relieving activity more and more as you get closer and closer to the potentially stressful event of race day.
It is more than just trading one addiction for another (as suggested by the title quote from Annie Hall), it is abandoning trusted forms of support in exchange for anxiety.
This is where I wish I had more of a positive spin, more of a "well, kids, the lesson we all learned today was..." epilogue. But I got nothing. Just the honest confession that there is so much more work to be done in this phase of running for me. However....there is one thing I suppose I do love about tapering. It reminds me of my love, my need, for running. So, yeah, I guess that's something.
Running primarily fills an emotional need for me. I make a point to let people know I like to run; not exercise. I take the elevator to go 2 flights and almost every form of exercise I only engage in...Pilates, swimming, Yoga.... with the thought of "how will this help my running."
When that emotional outlet gone, there isn't anything really to fill that spot. After a stressful day, I'd go for a run, so when that gets pulled back, a beer or 4 would sound great, but oh wait, I'm tapering. I know that drinking and tapering are not mutually exclusive, but I've know I'll run better with yet another outlet gone. It seems perfectly set up for disaster, let's take away your #1 stress relieving activity more and more as you get closer and closer to the potentially stressful event of race day.
It is more than just trading one addiction for another (as suggested by the title quote from Annie Hall), it is abandoning trusted forms of support in exchange for anxiety.
This is where I wish I had more of a positive spin, more of a "well, kids, the lesson we all learned today was..." epilogue. But I got nothing. Just the honest confession that there is so much more work to be done in this phase of running for me. However....there is one thing I suppose I do love about tapering. It reminds me of my love, my need, for running. So, yeah, I guess that's something.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Don't Go that Way
As much as last week's Saturday run was about running by myself, today was about the power of running with others. I doubted my ability to knock out 12 miles at 8 min pace most of the week. Ran 7 Tuesday and struggled to run 8:30's on the LSC greenway, and really doubted Saturday's plan. 7.3 with Monica/Justin/Rachel Thursday AM and it was even more of a struggle....although I felt better as the run went on, and still saw Saturday as a struggle. A good easy run on the Latta Park trails made me feel better, but TacoMac for dinner and a few beers signaled I didn't think I was quite ready.
On Saturday morning, I was looking for someone who had emailed the group looking to run the exact workout I was planning on running. Never ran into that guy, but this put in me in a little more of a "seek out the new guy" mode than usual. Never ran into that guy, but this lead me to Brian from the Gaston County Running Squad (something like that..), who was certainly the guide I needed today. We hit the first mile in 7:25, and they (the group at this point was me and all new kids....Brian, Stephanie, and Angie) didn't seemed panicked, which made me in all honesty kinda panicked (more on this later...stay tuned). We turned off of D. Taylor onto the greenway, and when we made the swing back from the greenway we rolled past the water fountain, and I felt better about my commitment to holding this pace.
I realized how much I was counting on the group when Brian asked if we should turn down the Doby Creek greenway extension, and I was insistent that we could get the remaining miles going straight. That sounded a little less desperate than "please don't leave me". Even though I'm honestly trying not to force the "indie rock as expressed through running or vice versa" as a constant theme, I had been blaring "Under Cover of Darkness" by The Strokes as my get ready for running song....
....and I truly echoed Julian Casablancas' cry "don't go that way", when I realized how essential the group was to getting through the run. We settled into a steady pace and were trading stories of upcoming races and general running banter. Brian and I sustained a nice push up Fairlea and had a nice push on the last mile in 7:34 to give us a 7:46 average on the entire 12.
Afterwards in Caribou, I chatted with Angie who mentioned she was worried about hanging at the pace we were running. I told her I felt the same way, and was glad we didn't share our concerns. Somehow as long as we kept out concerns a secret; the pace could be kept as well.
All in all, great confidence building run, and 2 weeks till Medoc!
On Saturday morning, I was looking for someone who had emailed the group looking to run the exact workout I was planning on running. Never ran into that guy, but this put in me in a little more of a "seek out the new guy" mode than usual. Never ran into that guy, but this lead me to Brian from the Gaston County Running Squad (something like that..), who was certainly the guide I needed today. We hit the first mile in 7:25, and they (the group at this point was me and all new kids....Brian, Stephanie, and Angie) didn't seemed panicked, which made me in all honesty kinda panicked (more on this later...stay tuned). We turned off of D. Taylor onto the greenway, and when we made the swing back from the greenway we rolled past the water fountain, and I felt better about my commitment to holding this pace.
I realized how much I was counting on the group when Brian asked if we should turn down the Doby Creek greenway extension, and I was insistent that we could get the remaining miles going straight. That sounded a little less desperate than "please don't leave me". Even though I'm honestly trying not to force the "indie rock as expressed through running or vice versa" as a constant theme, I had been blaring "Under Cover of Darkness" by The Strokes as my get ready for running song....
....and I truly echoed Julian Casablancas' cry "don't go that way", when I realized how essential the group was to getting through the run. We settled into a steady pace and were trading stories of upcoming races and general running banter. Brian and I sustained a nice push up Fairlea and had a nice push on the last mile in 7:34 to give us a 7:46 average on the entire 12.
Afterwards in Caribou, I chatted with Angie who mentioned she was worried about hanging at the pace we were running. I told her I felt the same way, and was glad we didn't share our concerns. Somehow as long as we kept out concerns a secret; the pace could be kept as well.
All in all, great confidence building run, and 2 weeks till Medoc!
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