Happy Boston Marathon Day!
I just love this day, the race, being a runner from Massachusetts. I tried to do work this morning, but couldn't really do anything except track runners and refresh my blogs obsessively. It was an insane day for a marathon with once in a lifetime weather: sunny, mid 40s at the start, tail wind. World record set for men (2:03:02), two American women got personal records and finished well. The first American got second place by a heartbreaking two seconds. I was impressed and inspired.
Had a so-so run myself today, but at least I'm feeling the running bug bite. Going to the trail tomorrow morning, bright and early. I plan to be there just before sunrise. Coming?
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marathon. Show all posts
Monday, April 18, 2011
Monday, November 30, 2009
At long last
Quick update:
Philly was fabulous. I love it there. I went to campus and the button, walked by Clark Park farmer's market, ate Ethiopian food, saw my bestest of friends, played with little O., walked around campus, got a new comfy Penn sweatshirt.
Marathon - PR!! WOOOoooo! I finished in 3:10. More on that in another post. I was just so happy, felt stronger (mentally and physically) than I had in other marathons and had an awesome time. I was extremely sore for 2 1/2 days and then life got better.
D.C. was pretty good. Saw the lovely E. for tea at a beautiful little shop with nice wood floors and tables upstairs. Then, got to A. & S.'s place, which was awesome. Such a nice neighborhood, I thought I was walking in the wrong direction because I didn't believe they could live in such a grown-up, nice neighborhood. A. made a delicious dinner, which we enjoyed while visiting with our friends S. and G. (Soooo many couples!). Broken escalator at Dupont circle was my worst nightmare, give post-marathon soreness. Next day I spent with A., visiting her apartment, walking around the mall, work at a cafe and then dinner at good Thai. We baked a little to bring with her for Thanksgiving to M.'s family in Jersey. Finished the day watching an episode of The Office and collapsed into bed.
Wednesday - at long last - saw the family!! Walked a mile down to the Nat'l Geo Museum and waited in a cafe until family trickled in. We went to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit (didn't compare to Incans!) and saw a photo exhibit, too. Walked by the White House, had lunch in the old post office building and then Nat'l Gallery of Art. People peeled off in their own directions and baby brother L. and I walked down to the capital building. Sat there and watched the sun set, then got a snack and took the Metro out to 'burbs. Made Cheesecake & watched a movie.
Thanksgiving - hung around, had the meal at cousin's house. Pretty good food, but skimpy on the vegetables and no stuffing! Watched Brother's Bloom with L. that night.
Friday - unveiling. Spent the morning with grandma, went to the cemetery for the unveiling. It was nice, a little sad, but mostly just a nice family gathering. Bummed around at Aunt's house eating without being hungry and talking to sibs.
Saturday ended up being flying back, getting a new phone because the old one died and going to the grocery store. Welcome back to Denver. :/ Miss the fam. already. :(
Back to studying for me...4 finals, 1 paper and 1 presentation before it's over and I go home to play with D.
Philly was fabulous. I love it there. I went to campus and the button, walked by Clark Park farmer's market, ate Ethiopian food, saw my bestest of friends, played with little O., walked around campus, got a new comfy Penn sweatshirt.
Marathon - PR!! WOOOoooo! I finished in 3:10. More on that in another post. I was just so happy, felt stronger (mentally and physically) than I had in other marathons and had an awesome time. I was extremely sore for 2 1/2 days and then life got better.
D.C. was pretty good. Saw the lovely E. for tea at a beautiful little shop with nice wood floors and tables upstairs. Then, got to A. & S.'s place, which was awesome. Such a nice neighborhood, I thought I was walking in the wrong direction because I didn't believe they could live in such a grown-up, nice neighborhood. A. made a delicious dinner, which we enjoyed while visiting with our friends S. and G. (Soooo many couples!). Broken escalator at Dupont circle was my worst nightmare, give post-marathon soreness. Next day I spent with A., visiting her apartment, walking around the mall, work at a cafe and then dinner at good Thai. We baked a little to bring with her for Thanksgiving to M.'s family in Jersey. Finished the day watching an episode of The Office and collapsed into bed.
Wednesday - at long last - saw the family!! Walked a mile down to the Nat'l Geo Museum and waited in a cafe until family trickled in. We went to the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit (didn't compare to Incans!) and saw a photo exhibit, too. Walked by the White House, had lunch in the old post office building and then Nat'l Gallery of Art. People peeled off in their own directions and baby brother L. and I walked down to the capital building. Sat there and watched the sun set, then got a snack and took the Metro out to 'burbs. Made Cheesecake & watched a movie.
Thanksgiving - hung around, had the meal at cousin's house. Pretty good food, but skimpy on the vegetables and no stuffing! Watched Brother's Bloom with L. that night.
Friday - unveiling. Spent the morning with grandma, went to the cemetery for the unveiling. It was nice, a little sad, but mostly just a nice family gathering. Bummed around at Aunt's house eating without being hungry and talking to sibs.
Saturday ended up being flying back, getting a new phone because the old one died and going to the grocery store. Welcome back to Denver. :/ Miss the fam. already. :(
Back to studying for me...4 finals, 1 paper and 1 presentation before it's over and I go home to play with D.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Trust in the Taper
Ah! This is the point where I start to freak out.
I know, know, this happens to others, but why is it that when you taper, everything seems to fall apart? For you non-freakish runners, tapering is the last phase of training before a race. The idea is that you cut back on running to let your body rest up and be its freshest for the race. While you decrease how much you run, you're supposed to keep up how hard you run. For a marathon, it's typical to have a 3 week taper. After your hardest week, you have 3 increasingly easier weeks leading to the race. This really plays with your psychological confidence. You feel slow and sluggish, like you're getting out of shape. You feel like you're just an eating machine, but without the exercise to burn it off. The last week, especially, you feel like, "Gosh, this whole week I haven't even run as much as I will have to run at one time."
More than that, I really think once you start cutting back on the intense training, your body says Oh, okay, I can finally let myself fall apart. Little aches come up: my knee gets a pop when getting out of the car. My hips start cracking when I step out of bed in the morning. My heel tightens up and a little plantar fasciitis sneaks in. A little sniffle and morning cough starts showing up. What!? I've trained hard for 4 months for a cold or an ache to make me have a bad race? Am I going to make it to race day? Will I make it through the race?
I just have to keep reminding myself that this is all normal. My body is let itself "let loose" and break down a little before pulling it together for a strong, healthy race day. I'm giving myself rest after all those runs: the hot summer runs on unshaded Highline canal. The crappy races at altitude, after which I decided it was finally time to do track workouts. Those painfully slow first track workouts on the dirt track at South High. Those runs on Monday night at 6 p.m. after my 12 hour school day, in the dark, by myself. That 12 miler during that 2 foot snow storm in October. The 18, 20, 22 milers alone, because my friends were already tapering for their marathon. Staying faithful to the "No Halloween candy" rule. So, here I am. Following my plan. Running less. Sleeping a ton (um, Hi, 9 1/2 hours a night!?). Eating more than I need. I have a new mantra for this phase of the training:
Trust in the taper.
I know, know, this happens to others, but why is it that when you taper, everything seems to fall apart? For you non-freakish runners, tapering is the last phase of training before a race. The idea is that you cut back on running to let your body rest up and be its freshest for the race. While you decrease how much you run, you're supposed to keep up how hard you run. For a marathon, it's typical to have a 3 week taper. After your hardest week, you have 3 increasingly easier weeks leading to the race. This really plays with your psychological confidence. You feel slow and sluggish, like you're getting out of shape. You feel like you're just an eating machine, but without the exercise to burn it off. The last week, especially, you feel like, "Gosh, this whole week I haven't even run as much as I will have to run at one time."
More than that, I really think once you start cutting back on the intense training, your body says Oh, okay, I can finally let myself fall apart. Little aches come up: my knee gets a pop when getting out of the car. My hips start cracking when I step out of bed in the morning. My heel tightens up and a little plantar fasciitis sneaks in. A little sniffle and morning cough starts showing up. What!? I've trained hard for 4 months for a cold or an ache to make me have a bad race? Am I going to make it to race day? Will I make it through the race?
I just have to keep reminding myself that this is all normal. My body is let itself "let loose" and break down a little before pulling it together for a strong, healthy race day. I'm giving myself rest after all those runs: the hot summer runs on unshaded Highline canal. The crappy races at altitude, after which I decided it was finally time to do track workouts. Those painfully slow first track workouts on the dirt track at South High. Those runs on Monday night at 6 p.m. after my 12 hour school day, in the dark, by myself. That 12 miler during that 2 foot snow storm in October. The 18, 20, 22 milers alone, because my friends were already tapering for their marathon. Staying faithful to the "No Halloween candy" rule. So, here I am. Following my plan. Running less. Sleeping a ton (um, Hi, 9 1/2 hours a night!?). Eating more than I need. I have a new mantra for this phase of the training:
Trust in the taper.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Week Runs
Hurrah!!! I made it through the last, hardest week of training, even through a 2 foot snow storm (You can't thwart me, weather gods!). Here's how it went down:
Sunday - 3 easy
Monday - 8x800, after class, almost in the dark. Felt harder than last week, but I was going a little faster. Definitely at that threshold where altitude starts to make running fast really hard. 9 total.
Tuesday - 8, it was 60 degrees when I finished at 5:40 p.m. Long Ruby Hill loop from school. I left school at 9:30 p.m. and it was 35 and snowing. CRAZY!
Wednesday - uh, hello, 8 inches of snow when I wake up. I buckled down and got in my "tempo" run anyway. Straight out on the Cherry Creek path, because that was being plowed continuously. So THERE, Mr. Snow Storm! 12.
Thursday - uh, HELLOOO, 2 feet of snow, and still snowing. Snow day! I went mid-day, it was miserable. Loops around the plowed/paved part of Wash Park in the wind/snow, blech. 8.
Friday - 5 shake out in preparation ...
Saturday - 22.5!!! I felt good, people, GOOD! I just chilled out for a looong time, then my watch said 1:50, had a goo then. Kept going. Then my watch said 2:15. Passed some bikers and some sketchy group of guys. Then I didn't look again until I was almost home and my watch said 2:57. Sweet. MapMyRun.com said it was 23, but I think it was a little less. Seriously, no wall, a little ab cramping around mile 21, but I was picking up the pace and cruising past people. No water, just 1 goo. Got in Ruby Hill for some ups and downs. Stayed on the boring old Cherry Creek up to REI, then down Platte, Ruby Hill, then back up Platte and down CC. Nothing fancy just got out there it did what needed to be done.
I am officially tapering. And, as of now, I've gotten further in my marathon training then my last 2 attempts, when I got injured. My number 1 goal was to get to the marathon healthy. Number 2, have fun. Number 3, PR. Exact numbers? We shall see... I may post on that, but I don't want to put the pressure on. I especially have no idea because of the whole altitude thing. Anyway, I'm PSYCHED and - ahem, this is MY bloggie, so I can say this - I'm proud of myself!
What did I do after this epic run? I called M&D to tell them I did it, while having a Luna Recovery Smoothie and wobbling around my apartment. I'm not really hungry, but yes thirsty. I'm pretty sure my metabolism jumped up a gear and I'll be starving every couple hours for the next day or so.
Total: 68.
Sunday - 3 easy
Monday - 8x800, after class, almost in the dark. Felt harder than last week, but I was going a little faster. Definitely at that threshold where altitude starts to make running fast really hard. 9 total.
Tuesday - 8, it was 60 degrees when I finished at 5:40 p.m. Long Ruby Hill loop from school. I left school at 9:30 p.m. and it was 35 and snowing. CRAZY!
Wednesday - uh, hello, 8 inches of snow when I wake up. I buckled down and got in my "tempo" run anyway. Straight out on the Cherry Creek path, because that was being plowed continuously. So THERE, Mr. Snow Storm! 12.
Thursday - uh, HELLOOO, 2 feet of snow, and still snowing. Snow day! I went mid-day, it was miserable. Loops around the plowed/paved part of Wash Park in the wind/snow, blech. 8.
Friday - 5 shake out in preparation ...
Saturday - 22.5!!! I felt good, people, GOOD! I just chilled out for a looong time, then my watch said 1:50, had a goo then. Kept going. Then my watch said 2:15. Passed some bikers and some sketchy group of guys. Then I didn't look again until I was almost home and my watch said 2:57. Sweet. MapMyRun.com said it was 23, but I think it was a little less. Seriously, no wall, a little ab cramping around mile 21, but I was picking up the pace and cruising past people. No water, just 1 goo. Got in Ruby Hill for some ups and downs. Stayed on the boring old Cherry Creek up to REI, then down Platte, Ruby Hill, then back up Platte and down CC. Nothing fancy just got out there it did what needed to be done.
I am officially tapering. And, as of now, I've gotten further in my marathon training then my last 2 attempts, when I got injured. My number 1 goal was to get to the marathon healthy. Number 2, have fun. Number 3, PR. Exact numbers? We shall see... I may post on that, but I don't want to put the pressure on. I especially have no idea because of the whole altitude thing. Anyway, I'm PSYCHED and - ahem, this is MY bloggie, so I can say this - I'm proud of myself!
What did I do after this epic run? I called M&D to tell them I did it, while having a Luna Recovery Smoothie and wobbling around my apartment. I'm not really hungry, but yes thirsty. I'm pretty sure my metabolism jumped up a gear and I'll be starving every couple hours for the next day or so.
Total: 68.
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