20 Miles Done!

This morning Tami and I set out to do our first 20 miler of this training cycle.  I was excited because we were doing the Dyken Pond Loop twice.  It's a difficult loop but it's very pretty.  We also had a really great 20 miler there last cycle so I was hoping we would feel the same after this one, even though Tami was coming off a week of being sick and I was nervous about having knee pain. 

Dyken Pond loop is tough because you go uphill for 5 miles but then you get a nice mostly downhill section for the last 5 miles.  I like doing our 20 milers here because mentally you are only focusing on the 5 mile section you are in- either the hard uphill or the easier downhill. 

Our first 5 miles were tough but we got through them at around a 10 min mile pace. Then we hit the easier section and we were cruising.  I fell into a really great comfortable pace- around 9:15.  I felt great.  When we hit 10 miles at our cars we quickly refilled our water and set out for the 2nd loop.

The 2nd loop is always tough, you have to face the hilly section again.  I'm not going to lie I was tired and cursing the hills a little in my head.  I just tried to focus on the fact that I only had to get through this section and we would be back at the downhill again. 

Somewhere between mile 14 and 15 a big pitbull mix ran into the road at us.  We both stopped and walked for a few seconds to see if he would just leave us alone.  Instead he kept following us.  He seemed friendly but we were nervous.  We couldn't really tell where he came from so we yelled loudly that someone should come get thier dog.  No one came.  We decided to start running again and he started running alongside us.  It seemed like he didn't live in any of the houses we were near, it was a pretty rural area so he may have came out of the woods.  Anyone that we ran into we asked if they knew him but no one did. For whatever reason he really liked me and decided to run as close to me as possible.  This made things difficult.  He kept trying to circle around me and was cutting me off and I almost fell several times.  He also would run into the road and when cars came by he was running towards the cars instead of away from them.  So every time cars passed we would try to get him to come on the side of the road.  There were a few close calls.  Of course every driver looked at us like we were irresponsible for letting our dog run freely like that.  

My calves really started aching from my funny strides.  I never got into a steady pace or groove because I was constantly sidestepping the dog and stopping and slowing down.  I felt so frustrated.  About a half mile from the end of our run I stopped to walk because I felt like I was about to cry.  It seems so silly now, but my calves hurt and I just wanted the run to be over with but I couldn't push it to get it done because every time I tried the dog would cut me off and I would almost fall.  I walked for a bit and the dog started running with Tami.  I felt bad but I needed him away from me for a few minutes.  I finished the run a few minutes later and was totally done! I felt wiped out.  My overall pace ended up being 10:08...a lot slower than I would have liked but I was just glad it was done. 

When we were done our new buddy looked at us like "what's next".  We checked his collar but he had no ID.  The dog even followed my car for a couple of minutes but stopped before I turned onto a busier street- thank goodness! I can't stop worrying about him now.  I hope he found his way home.  He seemed like a good dog despite scaring us at first.

New Legs

After my knee pain and my doctor appointment last weekend I did a lot of resting, stretching and icing. Monday and Tuesday I had no pain at all. Monday night I was supposed to get a massage but there was a scheduling mix up and they had to move me to Wednesday night. By Wednesday I was itching to run again.

So Wednesday at lunch I decided to give 3 miles a shot since I knew I had my massage appointment that evening anyway. The run was great. I had no knee pain and my pace was 8:57 which was faster than what I was aiming for. My legs felt good so I just went with what felt comfortable. I iced my knee after just to be on the safe side but I didn’t have any pain after the run.

Wednesday night after work I had the most amazing massage ever! It was actually pretty painful during the massage but when it was over my legs felt looser than they have in ages. It felt like I had new legs. I wish I could get one every week or even every month (I need to win the lottery!), but I do try to incorporate massage into my marathon training when I can and this was much needed.

I ran again on Thursday. This time 4 miles at a 9:01 pace. I think it was almost 90 degrees at lunch when I ran, at least that’s how hot it felt. Despite the heat, I felt great because I was running and I had no pain. My knee has remained pain-free!

Last night I got out of work early so I decided to take a Cross-Fit class. I love these classes but missed the last week because of the knee pain. I’m still trying to figure out how to work these classes into my running schedule but I really enjoy them and I see how they will make me stronger and a better runner. It’s just hard to figure out how to balance everything and fit it all in. We did a lot of squats and again my knee was pain-free.

Today my legs feel tired in general but not too tight. I’m going to rest today and try to do 6 miles tomorrow morning and Sunday Tami and I are doing 20 miles!

Knee Injury

Last week my legs felt pretty tired and tight.  I attributed it to Sunday's hilly 18 miler and my increasing mileage.  Trying to be smart and listen to my body, I stretched and rested and took it easier than my plan called for.  I only ran twice.

I ran a really tough 9 miler on Wednesday.  It was a flat route but I just felt tired and my legs were so heavy.  I decided to rest again Thursday.  Friday morning I ran a 10K route with Jenny and fet great.  I was happy and figured that I was smart for resting.

A few hours later I was walking down the hall at work and my knee locked up.  I couldn't straighten it.  When I did it hurt so bad.  The pain was on the inside of my knee and my knee was slightly swollen.  I went back to my desk and took some ibuprofen and iced it.  The ice felt good but when I was walking again later the pain came right back.   I have had knee pain in the past from time to time but never like this.  Usually I associate it with my super tight hamstrings and stretching helps.  Massage also seems to help too. This seemed different.

I started freaking out, sure that my running days were over so I called the doctor.  We have a really great orthopedic practice in our area so I called them thinking I wouldn't be able to get an appointment for weeks but they offered me an appointment for Saturday morning! I spent the rest of the day icing but the pain was pretty much constant.

The doctor did an xray and moved my knee all around.  The x-ray didn't show any injuries.  The doctor thinks it's just overuse and tight muscles.  He gave me a brace and told me to rest and ice for a few days.  He also gave me a script for PT.  He said they can do some exercises and stretches with me that should help.  I'm supposed to go back in a month for a follow up.  If it gets worse or doesn't improve I'm supposed to call him right away and they will do an MRI.

After icing a lot yesterday and wearing the brace it does feel better.  I notice the pain a lot on the stairs but for the most part it's getting better.  I plan to take the next few days off from any exercise and spend a lot of time icing.  Joe also gave me a gift certificate for a massage that I'm going to try to use tomorrow if I can. 

Please think good thoughts for me.  My training has been going so well up until this point.

What’s 2 More Miles?!

Sunday I had plans to run with my friends Tami and Felice for my long run.  We wanted to incorporate the Dyken Pond loop into our run because that was our route for our awesome 20 miler when we trained for New Jersey and it’s a really beautiful route.  Felice only needed 10 miles, Tami needed 18 and I needed 16.  Well Tami is the type of person that can talk you into anything running-wise. She is so positive and motivating you always want to go along with her plans.  They usually turn out to be crazy hard and hilly but so worth it in the end.  So that’s how I ended up planning to do 18 instead of 16.  I was going to meet at her house, run 4 with her to the Dyken loop to meet Felice, do the 10 mile loop, then run back to Tami’s house for 18.

Sunday we woke up to a lot of rain.  On the way to Tami’s house I realized I forgot my garmin- ran plus no garmin wasn’t a good start.  I then heard from Felice that she wasn’t going to be able to make it.  When I got to Tami’s she told me about a triathlon that was going on at Grafton State Park and how we could change our route to run up the bike route and cheer the bikers on. We figured we would save the Dyken loop for when Felice could run with us. We briefly discussed how this would mean we would be running up a huge hill and we really had no idea how far we would have to run up the hill to see them but again Tami makes everything sound fun so we went for it. 

We parked at the local school and took off up the hill. We must have run over 3 miles before we saw our first biker.  We were so excited and cheered loudly.  This guy was super fast because it was a while before saw anymore bikers and then we saw more and more.  After finishing mile 5, which was really tough, we looked up to see that the hill got even steeper and longer and decided that would be a good place to turn around.  We figured we would run back down then finish up our run on more level ground. The run down felt great.  We were flying after that tough uphill.  We kept seeing more bikers and cheering for them.  It was cool to see how fast some of the women were.  I was in awe of all the bikers because it had to be a terrifying ride down that hill in the pouring rain.

Once we got back down we made a quick pit stop to refill our water and headed out the same road we ran for the Make it a Great Day Half Marathon back in May.  We figured we could do a “flat” 4 out and back.  Compared to what we had just run up I guess you could call this road flat but it really wasn’t.  It was a lot of rolling hills.  I had a rough time on this road back in May so it was nice to run it again and although I felt tired because we already had 10 miles under us at that point, I felt so much stronger than I did in May.  Before we knew it we were back at the car and had 18 miles done at a 9:37 pace!

I am amazed at how far I have come since I began training for New Jersey earlier this year.  During that training cycle I was nervous leading up to distances like 18 and 20 and now I feel so much more confident.  I know I can handle them.  I’m stronger and faster than I was in the beginning of the year and even since May. 

Last night Tami sent me some info on our run since I forgot my garmin.  Here is the total ascent for each of those 5 crazy uphill miles:

Mile 1: 200 feet

Mile 2: 231 feet

Mile 3: 241 feet

Mile 4: 443 feet

Mile 5: 388 feet

This is the kind of run I would never choose to do on my own but every time Tami talks me into something like this I am so glad I did it! Although she is now trying to convince me to do an ultra in 2013 and I swear I AM NOT doing it...

CrossFit

Recently there was a Living Social Deal for one month of unlimited CrossFit at a local CrossFit gym, Crossfit Beyond. I’ve wanted to try Crossfit for a while but I’ve been hesitant to try it because joining most of our local crossfit gym’s are pricey and I was afraid that I wouldn’t use it or wouldn’t like it. This deal was the perfect opportunity to try it because it was half the normal price.
Monday night I took my first class. Luckily there were 6 other new people who also had joined as part of the deal so they split us off from the regular class and did more of an introductory class. We focused mostly on doing squats properly, since we were told squats are one of the major movements in Crossfit. We did a bunch of squat basics and then we got to do our own WOD. We partnered up and had to do as many rounds as possible of 5 squats and 5 crunches in 5 minutes. It didn’t sound that hard but after all the squats we had already done this was killer.

After our WOD was over we joined the rest of the class to do a Tabata with them. We did 8 rounds of planks. We had to hold them for 20 seconds and then we would get a 10 second rest. Two days later and I can still feel this in my abs.

I felt like even though we didn’t do a regular class workout I got an great workout. I am going back tonight and while I am excited to try the regular class I am also a little nervous. We were able to watch the regular class on Monday during our workout and it was intense! Hopefully I will survive!

A Good Run is a Bad Run?

Saturday morning I met up at the bike path with Felice, Jenny, and Lois for a long run.  We were joined by Jenny and Lois' friend Sue and my friend Caroline who brought along her friend Janet.  We were going to do 14 miles and had picked the bike path because it's flat.  I know that I personally needed flat run this week as most of my running has been on hills lately and Jenny and I had done 9 miles the day before below marathon pace.  Running-wise it had been a tough but good week for me, I had tackled my first track workout and had run 22 miles by the time Saturday rolled around.  I was tired.

Anyway we hit the path and started running.  The first 8 miles felt good.  We were running about a 9:30 pace and that's when the fatigue started to hit me, my quads felt tired and my legs in general felt tired.  I was able to hang on though and kept up with Felice and Sue.  At mile 10 I made a huge mistake I let myself walk.  It was all downhill from there. Once I started walking I couldn't get going again.  The last 4 miles were a lot of walking and a little running. While I don't normally have a problem stopping to walk if I need it, this particular day I know if I had just kept going I would have finished the run feeling better than I did.  I think I need to work on my mental toughness.  Overall my pace was 10:03 which really isn't bad considering all of the walking I did.  I would normally be happy with that pace if I didn't feel like I had given up at mile 10.  I know I could have pushed myself and that's what bothered me in the end. 

Even though I didn't feel great physically on my run, I did feel great when I finished.  I felt proud and happy to be out there with such amazing women.  Sue, who I just met that day, is 64 years old and a breast cancer survivor.  She didn't start running until she was in her 50's after battling breast cancer and she is super fast. I think she said she has run a 3:20 or 3:30 marathon and she qualifies for Boston every year! Anyway, it was hard to be down after running with someone like her. 

Plus, I feel like I learned a few lessons from that run. This week I will not be doing such a fast run the day before my long run and I'm going to work on pacing myself better on this week’s long run.  It's all part of the training!

My First Track Workout

I have been running 1 or 2 mornings a week with Jenny and Lois who I met through the Strong Running Mama’s group.  Both of them are training for the NYC Marathon and Jenny is also training for the Hudson Mohawk Marathon, which is what I am also training for.  I’ve been enjoying getting to know them both and also enjoying the new routes they have introduced me to. 

Anyway, last week when we were running they started telling me about a track workout they do with Team Utopia every Tuesday night.  They said the workouts change each week and that the team is a really great group and that I should join.  I was really interested but my potential problem was that Joe works on Tuesday nights so I would have to see if my parents could pick Mia up from school and watch her for me.  Luckily, we normally go there for dinner on Tuesday nights so I didn’t think it would be an issue and my parents were happy to do it.

I’ve wanted to do track workouts for a while.  I know they will help make me a faster runner and help me get closer to that sub 4 hour marathon goal, but I am always afraid to do them on my own.  I don’t know why, it’s probably ridiculous, but I’ve always felt like I needed someone there to tell me what to do so joining a team sounded like the perfect opportunity.

So I signed up late last week and started to get excited for Tuesday...until I saw the forecast.  They were predicting 96 degrees for the high! Great- my first track workout and I was going to die.  I checked with Jenny and she said we were still on so I sucked it up and went and I am so glad I did.

After a 1.5 mile warmup the coach told us we would be split up into 3 person teams and would be doing 200 m relays for an hour.  I think he said something about how this was the only workout he thought wouldn’t kill us in this heat.  Excellent...

Jenny and I were put on a team with Chuck who was super nice.  I got to go first and unsure of how to pace myself I tried to go as fast as I could.  Unfortunately I didn’t have my garmin set up properly for a track workout so my data isn’t very good.  But it appears I did most of my 200 m relays at a 6:30 pace. We ended up running 3 miles of relays so 4.5 miles for the night with the warmup.  Some people did a cool down run but the workout went a little later than I expected so I skipped that to go get Mia and get her ready for bed.  Overall my pace for the evening was 7:30.  Again, I need to figure out my garmin so next week I can have better data.

Having the teams of 3 really helped with the heat.  We each enough time in between our laps to drink some water.  By the end of the night we were all dripping with sweat and I felt beat but it was a good feeling. I can’t wait until next week.

I had made plans to meet Jenny and Lois the next morning for a 5 miler but I think I didn’t drink enough water after the workout.  I ended up not being able to sleep and had a horrible headache that lasted through part of the next day.  I just tried to rest and drink a lot of water and eventually felt back to normal although my legs are still tired. 

This morning I felt much better and was able to run 7 miles at a 9:26 pace.  The heat and humidity has also started to break so hopefully next weeks track workout won’t have the same effect on me.