12 mile training run ... and a race.

today was the 1st leg of a series of races here -- today was the 5K, in 2 weeks, its a 10K, then two weeks later, a 10 miler. 3 weeks after the 10 miler is the mini. (a.k.a half marathon) -- around here, its' referred to as the mini. nothing mini about it. still a HALF marathon - but mini makes it sound so much nicer. cute. easy. mini.

anyhow - i've signed up for all three races (this is the 4th go around at all of them) & today was the start.

i'm late for the race - need to leave at about 7:30 so i can run nice & slow; leave room for a loo stop of i need one ... i leave at 7:40, run one block, decide i'm over dressed & turn back home to do a last minute change into knickers - dump the hat, dump the gloves ... my husband yells after me - "why don't you just drive?" -- what? why would i drive?

never in my wildest dreams did i ever think i'd be one of those people who run to a race & then run home.

but now i am that person - and i like her. she's cool.

a few blocks into run - (now its' 7:45 & race starts in 45 minutes - and i've got 4.2 miles to go) -- i realize i've left one of my GU's in tights that are sitting in a heap on basement floor. no biggie - there's one more GU stashed in my sports bra - lord knows there's plenty of room in there for extras.

i run to the race ... too fast (despite listening to my sunday morning chill mix on nano to try & relax pre-race jitters & stay slow) - was convinced i'd be late. but i have 15 minutes to spare ... i do the whole pre-race pee thing, some sprints, and head up to front of pack -- (this is new for me - times are just falling away since i've done this series of races last year & now i can actually line up with the 7 minute milers). and the fact that i actually do some sprints up to "race pace" before lining up cracks me up too. who am i?

i feel way cool. am hanging with the 7 minuters.

then i realize that my "5K" list did not load onto nano for some reason -
the 5K list i specifically picked out & arranged just so for this race -
the perfect - iamrunnerwomanhearmeroariamgoingtokickass list. not loaded.

its ok. its ok. just shift gears & put on "run really fast" list. seriously - that's the name of the list. the songs are a little tired - but am just going to go with the flow.

i go out way too fast - look at my watch at 30 seconds & tell myself i got about 23 more minutes and need to take it way down. i lost a lot of love after mile 2 ... just felt like the juice was gone. i was suddenly STARVING & i needed to pee. i just gave up here & stopped caring about my time, pace, placement, etc ... & tried to tell myself its really just a training run - this is my 10 minutes X 2 steady states in the middle of the whole 12. had to pee so badly that i knew if i tried to haul ass in the last half mile, an unfortunate accident would be highly likely & i just didn't want to go there ...

so, i lost the love, had no juice, had to pee ... passed a woman on the homestretch, felt slightly smug & invigorated - then she passed me (absolutley FLYING, i might add) ... then i looked at my watch & realized i could actually beat my last 5K time & get a new PR!
holy shit. how did that happen? i gave up a half mile ago.

so - there it is ... a PR 5K (by exactly 6 seconds).

23:36
7:35 pace
the 18th woman in my age group.
the 94th woman to finish.
606 overall.

out of a field of about 7000. at least i think that's what the announcer said - jesus jones was blaring in my ears ...

not bad. not bad at all.

then, a little GU, a bagel, my "chill" list & a nice, slow, satisfying 4.5 mile run home.

12 miles. done ... monday begins an easy week.

how zanne got her groove back

very simply: mind over matter.

a little positive self talk & just deciding that the bad streak was over. as of this morning.
what do you know? it worked.

amazing what a little positive thinking & a good run will do.

am happy.

i'm still whining

the following rant was this mornings' email to coach: (excessive exclamation points & question marks have been removed so as not to make me look like the high maintenance whiner this email makes me look like)

I am still a slug & its’ pissing me off.

Yesterdays run felt ok – not great. Today’s run was all over the place …

but, when I was done & looked at my watch, I thought “oh, I’m delusional – that’s not bad at all” (I thought I had done 6 miles in 47:19) … (and for a brief, shining moment, i thought i was back in the game)

so I double checked gmap … no – I did 5.2 miles in that. 9:37 something pace. Ahhhh! WTF?

I felt like I was making so much progress … now I wonder what the hell happened to it all. Shouldn’t I be in a happier place one week before all the triple crown stuff starts? Why have I slowed down so much?

See – I was running through some time suck of a black hole … planets WERE colliding – it was little running miracles never to be repeated. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a bad streak. A day or two, yes .. .but a WHOLE GD WEEK?

Ok. Am finished whining.

(and then here is where i begged for him to give me a much needed pep talk to get me off the ledge). let me preface by saying that i whined & complained about my run (and all previous runs this week) to my husband - who is a very good talker-off-the-ledger; he explained its' all normal, i'm not backsliding, everyone has some bad days .... blahblahblahblah ... he knows he can say this till he's blue in the face - if it has to do with running, i'm not going to believe it till i hear it from my coach .. so he just says, did you email your coach?

the diagnosis from the coach: - who seemed not at all concerned by the fact that i have slowed to the speed of something crazy slow (i'm just not feeling witty or clever enough to think of the slowest-something-ever metaphor right now):

i had an easy rest/recovery week the week before cruise .. then i went on a cruise (i think his exact words were a rum-soaked vacation) & even though i ran everyday, rum-soaked vacation runs don't really count ... so essentially, i've had a little over 2 weeks of easy/"recovery" runs ... and while i haven't lost my fitness level (you could have fooled me), its' going to take a little while to get back into the swing of things.

yep. exactly what my husband said. (although he didn't say the rum-soaked bit & i really liked that part).

its' not hard to talk me off the ledge - all i need is for someone to say what i am going through is normal & a few slow, bad, slug-like runs doesn't mean its all over & i should just retire to couch now.

but man, its' tough on the ego.

my legs are lead weights

i have officially come crashing down from my pre-vacation fast runs, and sunny shipboard running high.

i feel like an absolute sloth with bricks tied around my ankles. i'm just moving in slow motion - praying for the run to end soon. and its' pissing me off.

think i just need to be patient while i get back into normal rythym. (ha! those are so not my words, but my coaches') ... patience not a virtue of mine - but it sounds good, so i'll try my best to be patient.

easier said than done, i'm sure.

getting slower doesn't really jive with the whole, i-am-runner-woman-hear-me-roar thing i had going.

vacation withdrawal

man, this whole re-entry into real life after a vacation sucks.

i had 7 miles on schedule for today ... 7 cold, wet, rainy, forgot-about-how-ice-forms-on-bridge- before-road, legs = lead weights miles.

i did 6.

i guess i shouldn't really complain - at least during my run i could reminisce about my warm, sunny, watch the sun rise over the ocean runs ... not a bad daydream to have in head while slogging through the cold rain.