Jan 30, 2007

recovery miles

a fairly uneventful, albeit nippy 4.1 miles this morning. weather.com said it was 24 degrees out, but felt like 11. yep. that's about right. and windy as all hell ... i swear i had a headwind both ways.

after my recent crazy fast times, coach told me to "step it back" a bit - after all, it is an easy week ... ( although step it back & why-don't-you-join-the-big-dogs-for-a-5-am-run sounds like a complete oxymoron to me, but it is what it is).

so, i made a conscious effort to step it back - which actually, wasn't that hard -- i was pretty tired & those damn winds were brutal.

Jan 29, 2007

that'll teach me ...

i'm on a post-run-5-miles-in-40-minutes-high & write to my coach to brag* about my uber fast time ... in addition to the crazy fast time from saturday's 12 mile run - i think i'm invincible.

*brag could be a strong word - i'm still convinced i ran through some sort of a 6 minute time sucking black hole, or planets were colliding - i mean, its just not possible, right?

so anyhow - i got myself an invite to "run with the big dogs". shit. the big dogs are my coach & whomever other uber-fast hard-core runners he runs with. hard core because get this - he is coming to pick me up at FOUR AM on thursday. they run at 4 am. enough said.

i am so not worthy. i am so not ready. i so need a paper bag. because the minute i got the panic- attack-inducing email, my heart rate went way the hell up & i desperately needed a paper bag to breathe into.

note to self: be more humble.

3 things

1. today begins an easy week. actually, it begins an easy two weeks ... my schedule has been adjusted to accommodate the 8 day Caribbean cruise my husband & i are leaving for on friday! a cruise was always an "over-my-dead-body" sort of thing i vowed I would never do -- but the tickets were a gift & you just don't look a gift horse in the mouth. -- hoping i can keep up the schedule while sunning & drinking fruity little drinks with umbrellas in them ...

2. now, (and most importantly!) to today's mind boggling 5 miles. 40:41 / 8:08 pace. i feel like i must have run through a black hole or pigs were flying somewhere ... a month ago i was over the moon about a fairly regular 46 minute 5 mile run & i just knocked one out in 40 ... will wonders never cease?

hope its' just a sign of things to come & not the result of planets colliding or a full moon or something...i think its' a sign that my coach is a genius & my schedule is nothing short of a magic elixir.

and then this: i got this email from my husband today - (if i don't run first thing in the am, it usually takes me forever to finally get out door) ... clearly, i had already told him a kabillion times that i was on my way out ...

Clearly the phrase “I’m going running” translates loosely into “I’m going to walk around in my running clothes for an hour, check email, read a few running blogs to get motivated, check “Oprah”, yell at the dog, tell everyone who’ll listen I’m going for a run…then after a little while….I’ll actually run.

If you added your “run prep time” to your actual run time you’re somewhere around a 24:60 per mile pace.

Have a good one.

Jan 27, 2007

the minutes are just dropping off

12 miles today. 12 pre-dawn miles that took a mere 1:35 to run ... 5 months ago it took 2 hours. 25 minutes faster in 5 months. TWENTY FIVE minutes faster. it was a 7:55 pace. a strangely easy 7:55. am still a bit floored & perplexed - think surely i miscalculated somewhere. i messed with the watch a bit which is what has me worried that it wasn't that fast ... i stopped to have GU & stopped the watch at 45 minutes ... then, instead of hitting the HUGE RED BUTTON (what could be simpler, really - but somehow i keep messing it up) - i hit the stop button again which reset everything ... so i just started fresh & figured i would add my end time to 45 minutes. I came up to an intersection at about mile 10 that is usually a long one, so i stopped the watch to wait for light - but alas! no traffic, so i just booked across ... didn't reset watch until a few seconds later ... my end time was actually 1:32, but i threw on the extra 3 mintues just for good measure - wanted to make sure it was all kosher. So, there is a chance that it actually was 1:32 in which case i ran EVEN FASTER.

the bliss of my time aside - i hate running in the dark ... scares the bejeesus out of me. the first hour was long, dark & scary ... never saw another soul out until 7 am ... couldn't listen to any tunes until sun came up (i want to be sure to hear the creepy van pull up behind me before i get thrown in - what are those vans doing driving around at 6 am anyway? where do people have to go that early?) ... 7 miles is long without tunes. think it's why i ran fast -- i had the whole scared adrenaline thing going & i thought if i just ran faster it might make the sun come up sooner. clearly - no logic there, but i was busy being scared & doing all kinds of math/pace/time calculations in my head - wasn't much room for anything else.

scary darkness & blissfully fast times aside - i must say, my favorite part about getting up at 5:30 am & out door by 6, is being done - so when i am driving my daughter to ballet, through the park with all the other training groups starting their runs at 8:30, i can smugly think about how i am done. and i was fast.

Jan 25, 2007

virgin blogger

first - a confession ... i don't generally like blogs.
i think they are a huge time suck.
actually, maybe i should clarify a bit - its' the crafty blogs that my dearest friend sends me that make me feel inadequate. the parenting blogs are funny - but my time could be better spent actually trying to parent. the political blogs i just don't get - they go way over my head.

now, that all said, i have recently been wasting an inordinate amount of time reading running blogs. blogs that i have now come to love, that i find hugely inspiring, that are not over my head or make me feel in any way inadequate ... i also spend an enormous amount of time maintaining my own personal running journal, thinking about running, dreaming about running, talking about running & der - running. - so i just bit the bullet - call me a hypocrite if you will - & started my own blog. my husband - thinks its' about time. he probably thinks if i chat about it here, i won't bore him with the minutae of my training.

so here i am - 38 years old ... among other smaller races, i've run 3 half marathons (am currently training for my 4th) & have run one full marathon - it happened to be one of the best days of my life. (right up there with marriage, giving birth & soloing an airplane).

i loved every single mile and cannot wait to do it again.

am happy to be here -- hope y'all don't mind wasting a few minutes to read about my running adventures.