Confessions and Obsessions

Obsession #1: Running with people who are faster than me.

I’ve been doing the majority of my runs with a buddy recently, and it’s amazing how much better it feels to run with someone else! The miles just tick by so much faster — especially when your running buddy actually IS a lot faster than you. I tried to go for a recovery five miler on Saturday morning after a pretty ugly long run on Friday (more on that in a second), but my friend K- doesn’t really process the words “take it easy on me” and we wound up maintaining a 8:45 min/mile pace the whole way. I know that doesn’t sound particularly fast, but the D.C. humidity has been KILLING my paces. Luckily, having a friend along meant that I didn’t get enough opportunities to look down at my Garmin and freak out about my pace, so I was pleasantly surprised when I stopped my watch at the end of the run and saw how fast we’d been going.

Confession #1 (slightly related to Obsession #1): I don’t think that I can stick to the training paces I laid out for myself at the beginning of this summer. I came to this realization on Friday, when I tried to do a 9 miler with four miles at half marathon pace (8:30 min/mile). Even though I woke up at 5:30 (that’s crazy early for a college kid!) to try and get my miles in before D.C.’s monstrously hot and humid weather took over, I felt like I was swimming rather than running along the Canal Path.

I came up with my training paces based on the way I’d been running during the winter, not thinking about how the weather was going to affect my speed. Turns out — it does affect it. A lot. Last week’s tempo run had me feeling so nauseous I needed to take a 10 minute break to sit by the end of the run. And I imagine it’s only going to get worse as my runs get longer.

So here’s the game plan: I’m going to dial all my paces back by 15 second per mile, which seems to be the equivalent difficulty of a 15 second faster pace in less gross weather. So now my tempo runs will be at 8:30 pace and my HMP will be closer to 8:45. If I’m feeling good, I can try to bring the paces back down to my original goal towards the end of the workout. But I don’t want to make myself sick by trying to hit paces that are challenging even in ideal conditions.

Obesession #2: Almond milk. I’ve never been a milk drinker (I used to cry when I went over to friends’ houses and their parents served milk with dinner. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to have milk alongside their brussels sprouts. Those are two flavors that just don’t mix!) but I have recently come around to almond milk. It’s great with cereal (which has become my standard breakfast since it became too hot to eat oatmeal) and it doesn’t have that slightly sour taste that has always grossed me out about regular milk.

Confession #2: I may or may not have drunk an entire container of almond milk in 2 days. It’s only four servings, but still. That stuff isn’t cheap!

Just a happy thought: My roommate is doing a couch to 5K program and after my 5 miler on Saturday I joined her for another 2 miles of run/walking. It was so much fun running with someone who is just getting started and I am SO excited that she’s becoming a member of the running tribe! Now we just have to find a 5k for her to race when she’s done with her program!

That’s basically all for today. Sorry I don’t have more interesting thoughts!

Here’s last week’s running/exercise data:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4.5 miles, 2 at HMP
Wednesday: 3.5 mile hill run
Thursday: 60 minute swim with 20 lengths of intervals (one length as fast as I can go, the next one easy)
Friday: 8.5 mile HMP run – FAIL
Saturday: 5 miles at 8:45 pace, 2 more run/walking
Sunday: 5 miles easy

TOTAL: 26.5 miles

Outside

Today I went hiking.

Loudoun Heights Trail: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

I’ve been talking about hiking quite a bit lately, I know. As a through-and-through city girl, who would have thought I’d become so enchanted by nature?

Yet I have been. I feel more like myself out there. It’s something in the steady moving, the heavy breathing. The feeling of being immersed in greens and blues and yellows and browns. The pausing to take note of a turtle trundling along the side of the trail. The taste of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, slightly squished and salted by the sweat on your hands, when lunch is eaten with a view. It makes you glad to be alive, to be yourself, where you are. And though I am without a doubt a girl of subways and crosswalks and concrete and steel, I am suddenly overwhelmed by a sneaking, at-first-sight kind of love with the out-of-doors. I’m nursing it like a crush, my mind rampaging wildly ahead of my cautious steps along the trail. I find myself daydreaming about far-fetched adventures, envisioning trips in the Rockies and thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, much the way a lovelorn girl would picture sharing romantic evenings and passionate kisses with a boy she’s only just realizing she likes. It’s a little crazy, I know.

But lately, when I close my eyes, I see the dense green of forests and the outlines of mountains printed on the insides of my lids.

I feel like this video, which is from a baking blog I love, encapsulates how I feel about hiking perfectly. Someday I’d like to be on a meadow in the Rockies, spooning strawberry cobbler from a dutch oven while the sun sinks below the tree line.

All the same, running isn’t going anywhere. This week hasn’t been particularly interesting — just dogged progress through my training plan. I did a bit of a hill workout on Thursday — it wasn’t in my training plan, but I felt like it. And by hill workout, I mean that I ran in one of the hilliest neighborhoods in D.C. And tried not to let the inclines slow me down.

Tomorrow is my long run, so we’ll see how that goes. Enjoy your weekends, everyone. And go find yourselves outside!

Data-less

Something is wrong with my Garmin.

It’s been acting kinda wacky all week — beeping at odd times, refusing to power on or getting stuck on certain screens. This morning, it started randomly beeping again, waking me up 30 minutes before my alarm. After some careful consultation of various running forums on the internet, I decided to do a complete “hard” reset of my watch, returning it to factory settings. Hopefully that will clear up whatever funkiness has been going on with it recently.

Anyway, that meant that this morning I did my long run without a watch for the first time in a very long time. No times, no beeping at every, no data to analyze (and agonize over!) when I get home. And you know what? It was pretty nice! I’m home in Brooklyn for the weekend, so I decided to just do three loops of Prospect Park, since I knew that would add up to my scheduled 11 miles.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning for running — clear, blue skies, 65 degrees with a light breeze — and since I wasn’t keeping track of or thinking about my pace, I decided to focus on form instead. I reminded myself to keep my back straight and my head up, and I tried to imagine myself as light and springy instead of sore and galumphing, which is how I normally feel at the end of a long run. I didn’t do the 2-3 miles at Half Marathon Pace fast finish I had planned, since I was trying to embrace the “no numbers” mentality of the run. But I do feel like I was able to pick up the pace towards the end, and I definitely felt lighter and springy-er than I’ve felt for most of this training cycle.

—

Going back a few days, I WAS able to use my garmin for a tempo run with my good friend K-, who is turning out to be my favorite new workout buddy for speedwork. He’s very encouraging (also much faster than me) and I want to impress him, so running with him is a good motivator not to slack off or give in to negative thoughts.

On Thursday we did 6.5 miles, three of which were at tempo (8:15 min/mile) pace.

The tempo beast is vanquished once again! I felt kind of woozy/light headed after this run (it’s been super hot and humid in DC lately, so I’m thinking I was dehydrated), but it was also SO satisfying to have done it. The best thing about running in the early mornings before work is that you go about the rest of your day with a feeling of accomplishment. I LOVE getting home from my run and seeing that my roommates are just waking up, still bleary eyed and wearing pajamas, while I’m decked out in sweat and jazzed on endorphins.

THE WEEK
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles easy in the morning, 30 min lap swim in the evening
Wednesday: 30 min arms/abs (I did three sets of this core routine, plus some chair dips)
Thursday: 6.5 mile tempo run
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 11 mile long run, focus on form
Sunday: (planned) 3.5 miles easy

TOTAL: 25 miles

On Running and Living

I’ve been thinking a lot about the future lately.

It’s the summer before senior year, and already the questions are starting to tumble in: What next? Everyone from my grandparents to my professors to my internship supervisors want to know what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be going. And it’s exciting, thinking about all the jobs I want to apply for — reporting fellowships in London! teaching English in Jordan! — but it’s also scary. I have a giant google doc that includes all the jobs, internships, fellowships and programs I’m interested in, and much like training for a marathon, I’m trying to steadily make my way through the seemingly endless list of tasks involved in launching my life after college.

What’s striking is how similar running is to life. Day after day I set tiny goals — an extra mile in my tempo run, a more polished version of my cover letter, a more optimistic attitude in the mornings and more grateful attitude as I slip into bed — and as I accomplish each of them, I know that I am inching myself just a bit closer to the final one, whether that’s a marathon, a job, or a more healthy mind and body.

This weekend I pasted some decorations on the wall above my bed — postcards, a picture of my cat. I also included two pieces of memorabilia from my training process for my second half marathon — the first race I ever did speedwork for, and where I set my current PR. The first is a post-it with the words, “You love this. You wouldn’t be trying so hard if you didn’t. Think about how much this means to you!” The other one is a quote from an email my mom sent me: “Most important: Do not be disappointed. Run your best race. Push yourself harder when you want to fall off (but you know how to do this from tempos) – you will be happy at the end when you tell yourself ‘I did my best.’ The crowd of other runners will make you go faster and so will the spectators. […] Also, the strategy sounds good for keeping your mind in check and not filled with negative thoughts. Also have a positive mantra. You did the work, you can do it. I know you can.”

My wall of inspiration!

As I think more and more about the future — both in running and in life — these quotes seem surprisingly dual-purposed. The first can apply to almost anything difficult but meaningful. I originally wrote it to get myself to stop scaring myself out of doing tempo runs, but it could easily apply to scary job interview or a challenging essay.

My mom’s words also ring true to life right now. This summer I’m working two jobs and taking an Arabic class. I’ll have to push myself harder at a time that most people are relaxing. But this is something I know how to do, and that I know will take me towards my goal in the long run. Having other people competing helps me to challenge myself, and so does the knowledge that I’m surrounded by “spectators” who are cheering for me. I need to keep repeating positive mantras to myself — reminding myself that I AM prepared, that I AM capable, even though I’m often inclined to sell myself short.

And most importantly, I can’t be disappointed. So long as I “run my best race,” that’s all I can ask of myself. The best life is not necessarily going to be the one I planned on, but it will be the one I’m living. As long as I’m not constantly looking back, second guessing, I know that I’ll be happy.

—

This morning’s run was a rehearsal in pushing hard and positive thoughts: a 10 mile long run with two miles at half marathon pace at the end. I was dreading the HMP miles as I laced up my sneakers — I was running with a much faster friend, and even though he told me to set the pace, I was afraid I would embarrass myself trying to hold 8:30 min/miles at the end of a long run.

For some reason my computer won’t upload the data from my Garmin, but the run was actually a success! Most of the easy miles were at about a 10:15 min/mile pace, which is my goal long run pace (according to the Runners World calculator) and then miles 8 and 9 clocked in at 8:30 and 8:32. Whoot!

Annnd, the week in running/general exercise:

Monday: 20 mins arms/abs workout, 15 mile bike ride
Tuesday: “Body Sculpt” at the Y
Wednesday: 6 mile tempo run
Thursday: 15 mile bike ride
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 4 mile easy run, 30 mins of lap swimming at the pool (oh yeah, I started my lifeguarding job this week!)
Sunday: 10 mile long run w/ miles 8-9 at HMP

Battling the Beast

A long, long time ago, back when I was training for my second half marathon, I first made acquaintance with an awful, terrifying beast called the Tempo Run. Each week the beast would loom before me, focusing its steely, dreadful eyes upon me and making me quake with fear. It had power over my thoughts and convinced me to do terrible things, like doubt my ability to hit a certain pace or run a sub 2:00 hour half marathon.

Every week I would duel with that beast, and after a few early losses, I started to come out ahead of the Tempo Run. Paces that had initially seemed terrifying and unsustainable to me became a matter of habit. I was able to maintain a 8:30 minute pace for two miles, then three, then five. And when race day came, I blew my old half marathon PR out of the water, all thanks to my practice dealing with the Tempo Run Monster.

Sadly, in the months year since I last did a real tempo workout, that monster has grown back as huge and terrible as it ever was. So on Wednesday morning I headed out for my first tempo of the MCM 2013 training cycle feeling anxious, doubtful, and already halfway ready to throw in the towel. “My runs have all been at 9:30-10:00 minute pace recently,” I thought. “I’ll never be able to churn out 8:15-minute miles.” Luckily, I am a great lover of plans, and if something is typed out in a fancy google doc, I have to follow through.

It would appear that all my fears were unfounded. Not only was I able to hit my tempo pace (8:15 minutes per mile) but I actually felt pretty good doing it! It was super satisfying to get back to my house that morning, my roommates just barely waking up, and know that I had already battled the Tempo Run Beast while they were still lying in bed.

Lets just hope I’ll remember this triumph when I face off with him again next week!

 

DC Running

Welp, I’m back in DC for the summer, which means that my runs will start to feature fewer bridges and loops of Prospect Park and more monuments of dead presidents!

Unfortunately, it also means I’ll be running with a weather forecast that looks like this for the next three months:

Yesterday — the day I moved into my new house in DC — the sun was blazing hot! Not the thing you need when you’re spending the day lifting heavy furniture and unpacking box after box of books. My roommate and I had woken super early to move our stuff before the heat of the day, but unfortunately that meant my run had to wait til the afternoon. I headed out around 6pm, hoping for cooler evening weather, but no such luck. It was still about 90 degrees, and my face was bright red and my whole body covered in sweat by the time I returned from a 4.5 mile loop around the Lincoln Memorial.

This morning I woke up at 6:30am, determined to avoid the sauna-like conditions of  Saturday’s run. It was well, well worth the early alarm! The temperatures were still slightly higher than comfortable (around 75 degrees) but the sky was a brilliant blue and every leaf seemed particularly green. The morning seemed made for running.

The sun rises over campus!

The Potomac looking peaceful

Back to my old stomping grounds! A totally empty canal path at 7am on a Sunday.

Despite the beautiful scenery, it wasn’t an easy run. My legs have been feeling extremely sluggish and heavy of late. I don’t know if it’s because I’m out of shape, or adjusting to the heat, or what. But the 10.5 miles I ran this morning seemed uncharacteristically difficult. It worries me a bit that I finished a simple 10.5 mile run feeling like I couldn’t have kept going much longer. How am I going to do 18 and 20 milers in a few short months? Let alone 26.2?

Even though I’m still doing pretty low mileage (25 this week), I’ve scheduled in cutback weeks in my training plan every third week in order to prevent injury. I’m determined to make it through training for this marathon feeling healthy and maintaining my motivation, and I feel like keeping my mileage on the lower side is the way to do that. So here’s hoping the coming 2o mile week (and next two days off) will put some pep back in my legs. I’ve got my first speed workout of the training cycle planned for Wednesday (6 miles with three at tempo pace — around 8:15 min/mile) and I’m already feeling nervous about that pace goal.

Aaaannd here’s the week in running (and other exercise…): 25 miles total

Monday: 6 mile hike in New Jersey
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: 6 miles in Prospect Park
Thursday: 4 miles in Prospect Park
Friday: 12 mile bike ride
Saturday: 4.5 miles around the Lincoln Memorial
Sunday: 10.5 miles on the C&O canal path

Sorry it’s not a very interesting post today. I’m still in the base mileage period of training, so there’s really not much to report. Hopefully Wednesday’s tempo run will go well and inject a little excitement into these reports.

 

This Training Cycle I Will…

1. Go to yoga at least once a week. Preferably twice if time allows.

2. Swim or otherwise cross train [hiking, group fitness classes, etc.] once a week.

3. Do arms/abs/core exercises on days I don’t run [so about two to three times a week]

4. Practice positive thinking while I run. Recite mantras, tell myself that I CAN.

5. Cherish every mile. Enjoy the journey. To train for and run a marathon is a privilege, not a punishment.

Click to zoom in

So last night I finally put all of the runs from my sketched-out, hand-written training plan into a google doc. I even added the google docs app to my phone so I can look at my training plan when I’m not at my computer. Seeing all those workouts planned out, scrolling through the weeks til I see 26.2 miles on October 27, gives me a jolt of excitement about running that I feel like I’ve been missing. I’ve been having some trouble with motivation lately — well, really all year. Its not that I don’t like running anymore, or don’t want to run. And occasionally I will have one of those magical runs when the miles fly by and I don’t want to stop. But in the day to day, there are so many excuses NOT to run. So lately my runs have been feeling slow, forced. I’m out there because I’m making myself, not because I want to be.

I guess this is natural. Running and I had a bit of a honeymoon period my sophomore year of college, when I ran my half PR and my first marathon. It felt like every day I was running a new distance PR, or hitting faster speeds in my tempo runs and track workouts. Now is the plateau. I’ve been all these places before and I won’t instantly get better just by heading out the door. The motivation to run is no longer the thrill of doing something new.

As I typed my plan into the google doc last night, I thought about what I DO want to get out of my training now.The most immediate thing that came to mind was speed — I’m hoping to run this marathon a full 35 minutes faster than my first. But I thought a little bit harder, and I realized that even more than getting faster, I want to develop a better relationship with running. Rather than the high-intensity romance that I had my sophomore year (fall 2011 to spring 2012) or the resentful drudgery of last year (fall 2012 to spring 2013) I want running to be like a old, good friend — comfortable, stable and always there for me.

A lot of my goals for this training cycle actually have to do with things that I’m doing when I’m not running — ways that I can keep myself saner and healthier so that running doesn’t burn me out. I was super diligent about stretching and yoga when I trained for the Baltimore Half, and that entire training cycle was remarkably pain-free. I want to train for this marathon without getting injured, so yoga is goal number one. I also want to make sure that I’m working other parts of my body besides my legs and feet, in order to both build a better running form and also to find other outlets for exercise besides running. I have a terrible slouch and in photos from the end of races — especially the Rock ‘n’ Roll D.C. marathon last spring — I’m always all hunched over. Doing arms and core exercises will help that. I also am going to be working as a lifeguard this summer, so I’m hoping to do lots of swimming — which is good for the arms and also non-impact!

My mom always says that running is totally mind over matter. The body can do almost anything you ask it to — you just have to have the willpower to ask. I want to embody that mentality with my running this summer and fall. My body CAN run another a marathon and it CAN run it in 4:10. I just have to train my mind to WANT to. That means I have to start wanting to run again. I may not wake up burning with desire to lace up my Brooks and hit the road, but once I’m out the door, I need to work on banishing negative thoughts. If I spend 10, 15 and 20 miles thinking about how much I don’t want to be running, of course it’s going to suck! Of course I’m going to feel slow, and sluggish, and resentful and bored. But if I try to live in the moment, to breath deeply, to appreciate my legs moving under me and the sound of my sneakers slapping the pavement, to take each mile as a gift and not a punishment — then I think I’ll remind myself how to love running. After all, I signed up for this marathon. I chose my goal time, I designed my training plan. If I don’t want to be doing this, then I don’t have to. But I DO want to be doing this — which means that I need to keep on keeping on even when it’s hard.

I’ll be glad I did when I cross the finish line this October and see 4:10 on the clock. And knowing me, and knowing running, I’ll be glad I did long before that moment as well.

—

This Week

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3.5 miles with mom
Wednesday: 8.33 mile hike  on Mount Taurus.
Thursday: 20 minutes of abs/core workout
Friday: 4 miles
Saturday: Super rainy/windy 5 miles
Sunday: 10.5 mile long run

TOTAL: 23 miles

Training Plan

Not much has happened since my last post, which is why I haven’t posted since then. I had a really good 6.5 mile run on Tuesday, during which I alternated 9min miles with 8:30 min miles. It wasn’t revolutionary or particularly fast (even by my slow standards) but it felt good. Today’s run was … less good. The park was full of a bunch of people going to Googa Mooga, this new music/food festival. I silently resented all of the skinny hipsters walking by in their maxi dresses and gladiator sandals as I chugged along in my sweaty t-shirt. Plus there were all these bikers going the wrong way around the park and I only nearly avoided being hit by one of them. Grrr. Clearly I have the temperament and inner soul of a judgmental 80 year old man. Or at least, I do when I’m running slowly and there’s sweat in my eyes.

In other news, I also said I’d post my marathon training plan online. I still need to actually PUT it somewhere online (I’m a pen and paper kind of gal, so right now my schedule exists solely on a set of blank calendar pages I printed from the internet) but here’s the gist:

1. I’m doing a 19 week plan based on Hal Higdon’s intermediate 1 training plan. I added the extra week (it was originally 18) because I’m running a half 6 weeks out from my marathon rather than 9. I’m hoping to PR in this half marathon (is that too ambitious? maybe?) so I added the extra week in as a buffer and a mini-taper.

2. My goal time for this race is 4:10. That would allow me to run a little bit slower than a 9:30 minute pace, which is pretty much my easy run pace now. Yes, it’s a full 35 minutes off my current (and only) marathon time of 4:45, but that race was (A) my first (B) 80 degrees and (C) more disorganized and not very well spectated (as opposed to the Marine Corps, which is known as one of the best-run marathons in the country). I also didn’t incorporate any attempts at speedwork into my training for that race — all I wanted to do is finish. This time, I’m confident that if I train well and don’t get hurt, I can run a 4:10 marathon.

3. To that end, I’m going to incorporate more tempo runs and race pace workouts into my training. My mileage will be about the same as it was last year — about 45 miles per week at the peak of training — because I’m a busy college student and I think that heavy mileage is part of what led me to burn out towards the end of my training last time. I’d rather focus on quality rather than quantity. So every week I’m going to do a tempo run (8:15 min/mile pace) and incorporate some half marathon pace (8:30 min/mile) and marathon pace (9:30 min/mile) running into my long runs.

4. CROSS TRAINING! I did NOT do this last time and I definitely regret it. Things like yoga, weight lifting and swimming are so important to training different parts of your mind and your body when you’re running so much. Luckily, I am working as a lifeguard at an outdoor pool this summer, so I’m hoping to get in the habit of swimming there whenever I can. I also want to try and commit to a weekly yoga class and a weekly strength training session. The swimming and yoga should be easy, but I’m gonna have to come up with some ways to hold myself accountable for the strength training. I hate lifting weights. Got any tips?

So, what do you all thinking? Clearly I’m no expert, but I’m pretty happy with the plan I’ve sketched out for myself.

Hope you’re all looking forward to a great weekend, especially if you’re running the Brooklyn Half tomorrow. I’ll be out there cheering!

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Long’s It Been?

Hey there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

A whole lot has happened in the 11 months since I last posted on this blog. There have been some serious ups and downs — in running and in life. So much was happening that running kind of went to the back burner, as did this blog.

But this morning I spontaneously decided to return to this blog for the first time in months. Waves of nostalgia and pride washed over me as I re-read my posts about the Rock ‘n’ Roll USA Marathon. It was my first 26.2, and now I’m about to start training for my second  — the Marine Corps Marathon on October 27! It occurred to me that I would want some sort of log of my training, both to hold me accountable and to give me something to read over and reflect on after the race is over. After all, the joy of a marathon is as much in the countless hours of effort put in BEFORE race day as it is about the finish line and the medal.

So anyway, now I’m back, ready to start recording my second journey to 26.2 miles. Even though the race isn’t til October, I’m following a 19 week training plan, which actually starts pretty soon (in about a month!). I’ll talk about that  in my next post, but for now, here’s a quick recap of the past 11 months:

June through August: I spent last summer studying Arabic at the University of Alexandria in Egypt! It was a totally overwhelming, exhilarating, unimaginably challenging experience involving lots of fun, lots of hard work and LOTS of sweating, but unfortunately not of the work-out variety. In many ways Egypt is a pretty modern country, but social freedom for women is not really one of those ways. Shorts and a tank top were absolute no-nos, and there wasn’t any way I was going to try running in long sleeves and yoga pants in a city with 100+ degree weather and terrible air quality. Luckily, I was able to get in a decent amount of swimming at the local athletic club (where bathing suits, thankfully, were allowed!) so my muscles didn’t turn entirely to mush. And in the end, the experience was well-worth the hiatus from running.

September: A slow return to running was topped off by the chance to pace one of my good running buddies to a half marathon PR at the Abebe Bikila half marathon. It’s a gorgeous (FLAT!) race along the C&O Canal Path in D.C. I’m actually hoping to achieve my own PR there this fall — but that’s a story for another post.

October: No races on the agenda, but I did run/spectate the Marine Corps Marathon to cheer for two of my great friends (Ka- and Ke-, who ran with me during my own marathon). I wound up being able to see them at 4 different spots along the race course and ran alongside them for a total of about 16 miles, including running the last 8 miles of the course with Ka-. It’s the second time I’ve run that section of the Marine Corps course, because I helped pace a different friend to her first marathon finish the year before. It’s such a great race, and running with Ka- made me absolutely certain that I wanted to be racing myself next year. So I am!

November and December: The Marine Corps Marathon was pretty much the high point of my fall running — after that all kinds of athleticism basically took a nose dive. I got super busy with school and the newspaper and also had to deal with some life drama that left me dreading nothing more than a long run alone with my thoughts. It was probably the first time since I’ve started running that I’ve ever had such a serious case of the “I don’t want to run”s. I just didn’t have the motivation, and since I was so busy, it was easy to let working out fall by the wayside.

January through April: Luckily, things changed in a BIG way in January. I’d gotten my dream internship at a radio show and wound up deciding to take a semester off from school to work there full time. Suddenly my schedule had changed from late nights, afternoon runs and weekends in the library to having a 9 to 6 job and my weekends totally free! The change in schedule, plus a planned half marathon with my mom in May, put some mojo back into my running, though the fact that I hadn’t been running consistently since last May meant that I was a lot slower than I used to be. In March, I ran the Marine Corps 17.75K, which meant I got guaranteed entry to the Marine Corps Marathon this fall. A lucky thing, since the race wound up selling out in under 3 hours! The 17.75K (about 11 miles, for those who don’t want to do the math) was fun but INSANELY hilly. The downhills were so intense I even got shin splints, a problem I haven’t had since I first started running!

Mile 6 of the Pittsburgh Half. Why do I look so happy?

May: My mom and I ran the Pittsburgh Half together last weekend, and I feel like that race finally put the spark back in my running. I didn’t really train at all for this race and I wasn’t too pleased by my time (1:59:48) — though I guess I got what I deserved for not training. But the race was fun and the crowds were amazing, and that feeling of finishing was the best in the world. The race ended on a big downhill and you could see the finish line from about half a mile away. I knew that I’d have to book it the last mile in order to squeak in under 2 hours, so I summoned all my willpower to sprint towards the finish. I’d been losing energy pretty quickly  for the last four miles or so of the race, and I remember being shocked by that unexpected kick I’d had in reserve. The last half mile of that race reminded me what I’ve always loved about running: how it show that you can do so much more than you’d expected, that you’re always stronger than you think, and that your body is exactly as strong as your mind allows it to be. That finish left me loving running again, but also hungry for another shot at a half marathon — hopefully one that I could PR in.

In case future me is interested (or needs some motivation to actually train for her races), here are the splits from the race:

“Half marathon splits,” or, “How to positive split like a pro”

I was hoping for a sub 9min/mile pace and just missed it — but look at the split for the last .23 miles! (Side note: I stink at running the tangents! I don’t think I’ve ever run less than .10 mile more than the actual race distance) 6:59 min/mile is faster than my 5K pace — I probably shouldn’t have been running that at the end of a half marathon. Either its a sign that I could have been going faster earlier in the race (maybe during some of those 9:30 miles!) or just a result of the crazy downhill that the race ended on.

Nothing like a 100-foot elevation loss over the course of a mile to speed things up a bit!

 Alright, I think that’s enough of a recap for now. Happy Thursday!

 

And On the 18th Day, She Ran

After more than two weeks of swimming, loafing and general moping, I finally got my sneakers on and my butt out the door and hit the pavement for a very slow 3.5 mile loop of Prospect Park, my first real run (at least, a run that wasn’t aborted after half a mile because it felt like someone was stabbing me in the kneecap with every step) in 18 days.

I won’t say it felt good, because it didn’t. I was slow (I don’t know how slow, because I left my Garmin at home for precisely that reason). EVERYTHING was tight. I’d been doing a lot more strength training and swimming in the past three weeks since my preferred forms of exercise — running and biking — were off limits. This meant that I was exercising muscles I don’t normally use — and NOT using muscles I normally uses — and they let me know it. But I made it around the park in one piece, and my sucky, good-for-nothing right knee only twinged during the last half mile or so, which was up a big hill. So I’ll consider that a success. I’m going to swim again tomorrow instead of running and then try again on Friday. Maybe this time I’ll even have the courage to bring the Garmin.

After my run, my mom and I headed over to the Y for our favorite strength training class and a session with my new buddy, the foam roller.

We don’t have these guys at my college’s gym, so I’ve been taking opportunity of my time at home to roll out my super tight quads and calves. It hurts a lot, in a kind of awesome, make-it-stop-but-actually-don’t kind of way. Fun times at the Prospect Park YMCA.

Other things… Mostly I’ve been getting ready for my impending trip to Egypt, which amazingly, miraculously, terrifyingly begins in exactly 3 and a half days. This time on Sunday, I’ll be about to land in Cairo. Holy guacamole.

“Getting ready” mostly means cramming all the Arabic I said I would study all summer (and then proceeded not to crack open my books til last week) and shopping for light-weight long sleeved shirts and ankle length skirts I can wear there that don’t make me look like a nun. (Oh, it’s also going to be 99 degrees in Cairo the entire time I’m there. How do Egyptian women do it?) Also downloading books onto my Grandpa’s kindle, which he leant me for the summer so I wouldn’t have to cart 8 weeks worth of reading material across the Atlantic. So far I’ve got The Marriage Plot, Death Comes to Pemberley, the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Born to Run, All the Pretty Horses, and a book about cooking called The Everlasting Meal. I know I’m going to be pretty busy with school work while I’m in Alexandria, but catching up on reading has always been one of my favorite parts of the summer and I’m hoping to get through these books and more in the next eight weeks.

And now, your turn: Do you have any good book recommendations? Foam rollers? Love ’em or hate ’em? Love to hate ’em?