A Good Start

It has been 2 months since the Charleston Marathon and I’m still on a running high from breaking the 4 hour barrier.  I thought I would spend the rest of the year focusing on ultra distances and had my eye on a 50K and a 50 miler or two.  However, after Charleston, I found myself wondering just how much faster I could run the marathon and I got very excited at the idea of finding out. 

I found a mid-summer marathon that I’d like to focus on, Mad Marathon; its small (my preferred size race), its in Vermont (pretty and convenient to my parents) and it is a first-time event (for some reason, I like doing first-time events).  After a week long vacation, I am back to running regularly and find myself focused on running a faster marathon in 16 weeks.

This morning was my first of several “pace” runs.  I ran the first mile as a warm up and then started pushing the pace to get close to a 9 minute mile, which is what I would like to run at the Mad Marathon this summer.  I’ve always found it difficult to run at race paces during training.  Put me at the start line of a 5K and I’ll rip off an 8:30 first mile, no problem, but in training I find it difficult to even run a regular 10 minute pace.  I convinced myself that that is just the way it is so why fight it? 

However, running faster in Charleston has given me the confidence to push the pace every once in a while and tell myself that I can and will run faster.  This morning, running to work, was my first test of my newfound confidence.  To my surprise and delight, it worked.  After mile 1, my pace picked up and even though I was feeling the effort, it got easier and I found myself in a nice running rhythm, not trying any harder but running faster and faster paces.  Mile 2 showed a 9:20 pace.  Mile 3 was a 9:13.  Mile 4, when I thought I was not pushing as hard was a 9:09 and Mile 5 was a 9:03. 

It felt good to be out on this cold morning, my backpack thumping on my back, speeding along the trails to work.  What better way to start this round of marathon training?  Mad River Valley, here I come!

Daily Dozen:

6.3 miles run to work, 4 miles at pace 

Picking a Training Plan

I’ve run 5 marathons.  I’ve used 5 different training plans:  Hal Higdon’s Novice for the Shamrock Marathon, Hal Higdon’s Intermediate I for Marine Corp, my own plans for Vermont City (focusing on longer, long runs w/ 5 days of running per week) and Nashville (focusing on hills with 6 days of running each week).  Bob Potts was just a retreat, recovery and hope for the best sort of plan. 

After a few years of trying my hand at creating a plan, with some limited success, I decided to find something a bit more structured since I have the specific goal of running a sub-4 marathon in Charleston n January. 

I found a plan on Runner’s World that is only 12-weeks and focuses on speed.  I know I can go the distance.  Now, it is a question of can I go the distance faster?  We will find out.

Marathon training started today with a 9 mile run.  I ran to work, taking a longer way past Arlington National Cemetery over to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and then up the National Mall to the Capitol before swinging over in to Chinatown. 

I am excited about this plan and I felt strong on this morning’s run.  I’m looking forward to seeing where the speedwork takes me this go ‘round.

Daily Dozen:

8.86 miles run to work

Push-ups and walk @ lunch time

Why this one feels different

I remember the week before my first marathon, I was nervous but exhilarated. The reasons for being nervous are obvious - 26.2 miles is a long freakin' way to run and I had never, ever done anything like it before. My first marathon was also my first race. I wasn't sure what to do or what to expect at the start, whiling I was running or through the finish line.

I also remember being exhilarated by the anticipation of finally achieving something I had set out to do 6 months prior. Training for my first marathon was a watershed moment for me because I proved to myself that I could accomplish something that had once seemed so unlikely. I was tired from the training, getting up early in the morning, putting in 5 to 10 miles before going to work. Yet, I remember feeling very strong during the taper like all those lower mileage days during the taper were easy strolls in the park compared to the higher mileage I had been putting in.

The week prior to my first marathon, over two years ago, was a good week.

This week, the week before marathon number 3, feels different. I don't feel particularly strong. I don't feel particularly ready. I don't feel any different today than I would if I had a 10 mile run planned for this coming week instead of a marathon. To be honest, I'm disappointed that I can't seem to recapture the nerves and anticipation.

One difference is that I think this marathon training cycle was too low mileage to truly challenge me. Granted, I was coming off a month-long layoff due to injury; however, this cycle has shown me that I can handle more and it is my intention to build up my base after the marathon by adding a fifth day of running each week. One day of cross-training will be replaced by another day of running.

Additionally, I've been distracted for the past few weeks with house buying. Going through the negotiation process for buying a house has been stressful and frustrating for me. I haven't been able to sleep well with my mind racing between "will we or won't we get this house," "what will we do if it falls through," "what will we need if it does go through." The lack of sleep has meant that my taper weeks, weeks that are meant to be restorative and confirmative of all my hard work, have been less than both of these things. (The only positive out of marathon training and house buying at the same time is that I can truthfully state, "I ran 20 miles and bought a house within 2 hours of one another!")

I've been so distracted that I haven't had time to get nervous or excited about the marathon. Rather than being the thought at the front of my brain, running this marathon has nearly become lost in life's madness. I hate seeming so cavalier about running a marathon but the past few weeks my attitude has been one of "oh yeah, I'm doing that too."

I want to run this marathon well. I want to finish strong. I want to feel good about my time, whatever it is, because I gave it all I got. I need to figure out how to bring the marathon back in to focus in the next couple days (if it is even possible).

Today’s Daily Dozen:
35 minutes - elliptical

Running is a Roller Coaster

Often during my morning runs, I compose blog posts as I run along the bike paths and roads. More often than not only small snippets of these mental compositions actual making in what I eventually type up but it keeps my mind occupied on something while still allowing me to focus on running.

Yesterday’s mental post was about how strong I felt, about how I had finished my final high mileage week and I was feeling very strong – mentally and physically. Yesterday morning, I was ready to declare to the world, “I am runner, hear me ROAR.”

This morning I was hoping to carry that confidence over to strong 8-miler that, if I was feeling good, would include a few middle miles at marathon pace. That was not the case. My legs were tired and I had to constantly refocus on ensuring I was picking up my feet enough and avoid shuffling along, scuffing my shoes. I was more than a little demoralized.

Training for a marathon can be an emotional roller coaster for me. The highs are tremendous. I feel so confident and strong during and after a good run that it makes me forget all previous days of heavy legs or aches and pains. I forget that there have been days that I simply had to give up on runs. I forget that barely six months ago I was building back up from scratch, looking forward to running for 30 minutes straight. Yesterday’s run made me remember all of other runs as if they were as smooth and refreshing as this one.

But there will always be lows. This morning was a low. After less than a half mile, I didn’t feel like continuing and I wasn’t able to shake the feeling. My legs were tired and heavy. They felt like they were on the verge of rebelling. Even the slight inclines were enough to start me huffing and puffing. I decided to vary my route and run by some houses my husband and I have had our eye on in the hopes that the new streets and neighborhoods would be enough to stimulate the run.

While I finished the 8 miles, I couldn’t help but feel disappointment in how fleeting yesterday’s strength and confidence happened to be. Where did they go? Will I get them back? Is tomorrow morning’s run gonna suck as well?

Before I sink to for in to my feelings of “woe is me and my running,” I’ve got to remind myself, tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity for strength. I lost somewhere out on the roads this morning but maybe I’ll find it again on tomorrow’s run. I’ll keep an eye out.

Today’s Daily Dozen:
8 mile morning run

Waffle

waf-fle [wof-uh l]
–to speak or write equivocally about: to waffle a campaign promise.

I waffle. I admit it. I’m a waffler!

I’ve been focused on my upcoming marathon, the KeyBank Vermont City Marathon, run in Burlington, VT on May 24, 2009. However, I’ve also kept one eye open for what to do next in order to plan out my running schedule for the rest of the year. (I know, I should focus solely on the upcoming race but it isn’t in my nature…I’m a long-range dreamer and planner).

So far, I have changed my post-June (the marathon in May will be followed by one month of recovery running) running schedule three times with very different ideas in mind. When I first set up my 2009 running schedule some time in December 2008, my summer and fall schedule was generic, I was thinking of doing a marathon but I didn’t have anything specific in mind so I had a general build up culminating in late October/early November.

However, I soon became enamored with the idea of doing an ultra. I found a 12-hour trail race taking place in September at a state park Mike and I had recently hiked. I started to think, “Yeah, I could do that! I can run for almost 5 hours for a marathon, if I slow down, I definitely could fun for more hours. Plus, how many times have I done an hours long run in the morning only to go on an hours long hike in the afternoon. I could totally do it and I bet I do 50 miles in that time! Yeah!” So, I researched an ultra plan that I thought was reasonable, made some changes for my own running style and preferences and changed my summer and fall running schedule.

For a few months, I was happy with this goal. I started ramping up my running mileage, bounced back from injury and began my training for the May marathon. Then, I started to get nostalgic for the marathon. I had to skip my fall marathon, Richmond, last year due to a scheduling conflict and then a backup fall marathon because of injury. I’ve heard such wonderful things about the Richmond marathon, I wanted to do it! This round of marathon training was going well so I thought I could bump up the next round of training by going from 4 days of running to 5 days a week and hopefully get closer to breaking the 4 hour barrier.

Back to my running schedule I went, shooting for the Richmond Marathon in mid-November. My projected cumulative mileage total for the year was lower but it would be faster running not the slower running of the ultra. “Richmond here I come…finally,” I proclaimed with the change.

This plan held for about a month but, recently, I began to have second thoughts. I realized that ever since I started running I’ve always been training. Would I actually enjoy running if I wasn’t running according to a training schedule? What if I took off the fall from any sort of training and just made it a goal to get up in to the 40s for weekly mileage and stay there for a few months, just to build a base. I’ve never built a base, I realized! I always train for a marathon, run the marathon, recover from the marathon for a month and then jump in to training for another marathon beginning the cycle all over again.

I made a running schedule to see what a base building plan would look like on paper (so to speak, I actually typed it up in an Excel workbook). It looked good. It looked solid. No more valleys and peaks in training for me; instead, a gradual buildup followed by steady mileage. I’m actually looking forward to the challenge of freeing my running from a formal training schedule in order to see if I still feel the same way about running.

So, for now, I’m saying no to the waffle. Cheers to a new challenge.

Today’s Daily Dozen:
Rest

Stories

I found out a few weeks ago that two former co-workers/current friends have decided to run a marathon for charity.

They’ve chosen to run the Mayor’s Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska so I cannot be there to support them but I am excited to support them through the journey of training for a marathon. Neither one is a runner; although both have been athletic in the past, so I think that they will be able to do it physically. Their success will be riding on their mental ability to maintain consistency during their training and slog through the long, slow miles of their long runs.

It has been fun to share running tips and advice with them and I hope to get a chance to run a training run or two with them. Their enthusiasm and nervous excitement about running the marathon has served to amp up enthusiasm for my own running.

During my long run on Saturday, thinking about what was in store for them, I started to reminisce about my own beginnings. I remembered those early mornings on the treadmill before work, running up to 10 miles at a time, before I found the courage to run all my runs outside (well after my first marathon…and even second). I thought about the excitement that quickly turned to anxiety after I signed up for the marathon and realized that there was no turning back.

Also, I thought about my own marathon experience. I distinctly remember that stomach wrenching feeling within the first mile when I run through a turn on the course, looked behind me and didn’t see a single runner. For the briefest second I thought I was absolute dead last. My stomach nearly dropped out of feet before I realized how preposterous a thought it was and finally a swarm of runners came around the corner.

As I was coming up on the halfway mark in the marathon, I saw my in-laws and my FIL ran along side me with his video camera, asking me how I was doing. On tape, a bit breathlessly I say, “I’m feeling good” but in my mind I was thinking “Good…really? Did I just say ‘good.’ Wow, I guess I really am feeling good. Am I supposed to still feel good? Oh god, am I doing this right?” A minute later, a mini-roar goes up and I see Mike and two friends cheering from the sideline. The image of Mike trying to both cheer AND take pictures was comical. I did; however, feel like a rock star!

During Saturday’s long run, my body started to get tired sooner than it usually doesn’t, probably because I am still recovering from a lingering cold bug and I decided to take a short walk break to eat the Fig Newtons I had brought along with me. As I munched my fruit and cake, I smiled at the memory of the magical banana my Mom had waiting for me at Mile 22 of the marathon; a banana so magical, the mere thought of it pulled me through miles 20 and 21 and gave me the renewed energy (physically and mentally) to get through the final four miles.

I wonder if my friends will have similar experiences. What running stories will they have to tell?

One thing is for sure, just like me, crossing the finish line at the end of their first marathon will be an experience they will not soon forget. It is hard to describe and it just sounds trite when I try to explain the joy, the near-tears, the amazement, the astonishment, the fear, the exhaustion that shot through my body all at once. I thought about this on my long run and I know I had a goofy grin on my face.

As I slowly tromped along the bike path thinking about these things, I realized there seemed to be more runners out and about than usual for a cold, February morning. There were lone runners, tall and lean, gliding along almost gazelle-like, and groups of runners with their waist belt hydration systems that I assume are training for a big race together. I saw small groups of runners, in twos and threes, out for a morning running, chatting away the miles as I imagine they’ve done on nice Saturday mornings for years and years.

I wonder, how many of those runners have their own first marathon stories to share and how many of them are in the process of making them right there on the bike path as we pass?

Today’s Daily Dozen
Skipped XT today because my quads are still sore from Saturday’s long run