Long run whining

I met up with the running club at a local park for my long run today. My running buddy Jo and I were planning on 18 miles, though I ended up at 17 because after two loops I was tired and done.

On the plus side, I didn't have any digestive issues today. Jo gave me a package of Shot Bloks and those seemed to agree with me very well. Goodbye Gu, hello Shot Bloks! I'll need to go buy some of those this week.

On the negative side, I had a crappy run today. The first loop was good. We went out a bit faster than we should have, but were feeling good. The second loop is where I fell apart. My legs felt fine (and the bunion isn't bothering me, woo hoo!) but my feet get so sore and my attitude just went to hell. I walked a lot of the second loop and I'm pretty disgusted with myself. I spent most of the time having a mental conversation with myself where I decided that I'm not going to run either one of these damn marathons. I'll thought, I'll do the 30K with Megan and Jo over Labor Day weekend and then I'm done. Half marathons only for the future.

Later Jo told me that crappy training runs mean good races and assured me I will be fine for the marathons. I'm going to see how the 30K goes. Right now I'm in a better mental place after soaking my feet in an ice bath, but who knows how I'll feel after the 30K. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a marathon runner. I don't know. My legs feel absolutely fine, my breathing was fine. It's just that my feet ache so much on long runs and I've tried several types of shoes and it's always the same. I am so grateful that the bunion isn't bothering me, but the aching makes it really less than fun to do these distances.

So for now, I haven't given up on doing Twin Cities and NYC but I'm sorta depressed about the whole thing. I decided I need a good hilly challenge to give me something worth whining about, so I just registered for the Crim 10 mile race that takes place next Saturday. I was planning a cut-back week with a 10-mile long run anyway, and the Crim will be a good way to do it because about 40 members of the running club will be there running so it will be fun. As fun as a hilly hilly hilly race can be, anyway. If nothing else, it will be good prep for the hilly hilly hilly 30K the following weekend. :)

Ugly long run

Today my running buddy Joanne and I headed out for 17 miles. We accomplished it. It was not pretty, but we did it. I'm going to keep the ugly details to myself. We'll just say "digestive issues" and leave it at that. Joanne and I have agreed that our remaining long runs will be in places that have more bathrooms and more places to refill our water. Woooeeee, it was hot and humid today.

But we did it, we did it, we did it! We will be ready for our fall marathons!

Not my best week

I've been a real slacker this week. After last week's excellent 16 miler, I didn't run on Sunday or Monday. I ran on Tuesday, but only 3.5 miles. Then I didn't run on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. What is happening to me!?!?

I had plans to meet some friends for a long run this morning, so I was committed and that was one run that wouldn't get skipped. I was out late last night with friends, and had a great time, but that isn't so smart when the alarm is going off at 5:30am. So I showed up for the run today with trepidation, a lot of yawning, a poor attitude, and legs that haven't run much lately. What a surprise, when I go into a run expecting it to be difficult, it turns out to be really difficult.

I'm very grateful for my running buddies Joanne and Anna, who helped me get through 12 miles today. I'll be sure not to skip so much running during the week and next weekend Joanne and I will kick butt on the 17-miler we have planned. Onward and upward!

The race report that wasn't

Today I was registered for the Legend 5 mile race. It's a trail race; I did it last year and it was pretty fun. But it's a couple of hours from home. So a few weeks ago I decided to skip the Legend and do the Heart of the Hills 10K instead. I did that one last year and it was hard and I got beaten by someone who was about 80 years old, so I wanted a do-over.

But I didn't run either one of those races today. Instead, I went out to good old Stony Creek Metro Park (site of many of my training runs last year) and ran 16 miles with my running buddy Jo. And I had a great time. I don't regret skipping those races at all. If I hadn't done this long run with Jo, then I wouldn't have run long this weekend. I'm going to a pub crawl tonight and I know there's no way I'm going to get up early tomorrow. And if I don't get up early, long runs don't happen.

Overall, the 16 mile run was much better for my training than either of the races would have been. I enjoy running with Jo and she wanted someone to do the long run with her, so I was happy to oblige. Looking forward to many more kick-ass long runs. I'm starting to feel more confident about my ability to finish those marathons in the fall.

Long run fun

Planned: 12 miles
Actual: 12.1 miles

The schedule called for 10-11 miles today, but I was feeling all ambitious and decided to aim for 12. My friend Black Bear contacted me earlier this week to see if I wanted to go for a run, so we agreed to meet at a local park at 7am this morning. I'm calling her Black Bear because I wanted to link to her blog (which she needs to update more often, hint hint) and I don't think she uses her real name on her blog. So she will be BB for the rest of this post!

BB was not up for 12 today, so we agreed that she'd do one loop of the path with me (about 8 1/4 miles) and then I'd be on my own for the rest of the 12. BB runs quite a bit faster than me (she is aiming for a BQ at her next marathon, so yeah, way faster than me), but she agreed to run pokey-pace style with me. Yay!

While I was driving to the park, it was pouring buckets of rain. Awesome, just what I dream of. But lo and behold, the rain stopped as I arrived at the park. Though as BB pointed out, it still felt like we were trying to breathe through a straw. Mighty humid today. This park is somewhat hilly and I am somewhat lazy, so my legs were protesting a bit. But we completed our loop without incident, only a couple of short walk breaks and one longer break for me to hit the potty, ahem.

We observed that there are a few groups of runners who frequent this particular park who are distinctly unfriendly and will not say hello or acknowledge us as they run past us in the other direction. Too bad, I like friendly runners and the idea that there is actually a running community.

After BB left, I kind of fell apart. Before she left I was whining a bit about perhaps cutting the rest of my run short but she told me I could do 12. And she was right, I could, but it's funny how much lazier I get when I'm not running with someone else. More walk breaks, slower pace, more mental games to get myself through it. I added the extra 0.1 just because I wanted to exceed my plan so I could feel better about myself. But I finished and I'm glad I stuck it out. My feet felt fairly sore and I'd better get used to it!

Long run day!

This morning I went for a 12 mile run. I was scheduled for 8-9 miles, but I was pretty easily talked into doing 12 by some of the members of the Your Pace or Mine running club. This was my first run with YPOM.

I'd seen the club mentioned somewhere ages ago and just kind of tucked it into the back of my mind. Then a few weeks ago, I was thinking how much I miss running with a group so I remembered YPOM and found their website. They have a forum on the site. I introduced myself and received many nice, welcoming responses from the members. So when some members planned a 12 miler for today I decided to join in.

One of the members, Jo, was planning to run at the same pace as I was, so we ran together. She was great, lots of fun to run and chat with. The other members I met also seemed really nice but I didn't talk to them much since they were ahead of me and Jo.

What was also nice was that the other members were waiting for me and Jo at the end of our run to sort of cheer us to the end. I really enjoyed the whole experience and look forward to running with them again. From what I gather from reading the forum, they like to do lots of races and travel to quite a few. Awesome, because I love to travel and do races, too.

It's always great to meet some new running buddies and I get the sense that there are some folks in YPOM from whom I can learn a lot. I bet I'll get some encouragement to push myself a bit and improve my running, too.

Good news and bad news

First, the bad news. My new shoes aren't the solution to my sore feet on long runs.

Second, the good news. My 15 mile run today was awesome. I felt great. I had sore feet for the last few miles but because I was expecting it, it seemed easier to take. I felt substantially better after 15 miles today than I did at the 15 mile mark last weekend. Also, I took an Aleve about 8 miles in and I think that helped, too. My legs didn't feel as sore so I believe that made the feet easier to handle.

I'm starting to feel like this marathon is going to be okay. Also, I know it helped to find out that my friend Wendy and her husband Ken plan to run the marathon alongside me and my running buddy Vicki. I knew Wendy and Ken were coming to run the marathon but didn't know they were going to stick with us. Wendy said that she wants to cross the finish line with me. They are so awesome! They're veteran marathoners and could finish much faster but they said they don't care about time. What a mental boost that will be to have them by my side! It's going to help me tremendously.

Life is good!

The speed continues

On Thursday, I went to the gym before work and ran three miles on the treadmill. Did it at a pretty slow pace. I went back to the gym after work with the intention of running more, but I got through a quarter mile and my legs felt dead so I just walked a couple miles and called it good. I strength-trained on Friday, no running.

Today, I met a couple of running buddies (Erica and Josh) at the park for a run. Josh is the person with whom I ran the first two miles of last Sunday's 4-mile race. He and Erica are much faster than I am. I was determined to see how long I could hang in there with them. Turns out that today the answer was seven miles. After that they started pulling away because I had to slow down a little bit.

The awesome thing about today's 10 miles was that my average pace was a mere 2 seconds per mile slower than Sunday's 4-mile race. I'm so amazed that I could sustain that pace over a longer distance. It was over a minute faster per mile than the half marathon I did in January. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will PR by a good chunk of time in one of my upcoming halfs.

Spring has arrived

Today I met Vicki at the park at 7:30am for a 10-mile run. And what a wonderful change in the weather compared to last Saturday's 15 degrees! It was nearly 40 when we started out and it felt delightful.

Plus there was almost no wind, which was also a big switch compared to last week. In fact, there tends to be a lot of crazy wind at this particular park so it's rare to have a nearly windless day like we had today. It started raining about seven miles in so that felt a little cold, but fortunately the sky didn't really open up until we were almost done.

I really enjoy running with Vicki because we go at a similar pace so I don't feel like I'm holding her back, nor do I feel like she's holding me back. It works out really well. I'm already bummed because she's now tapering for a half marathon in two weeks, so next Saturday she's only doing six while I'll be doing ten. And the weekend after that, she'll be in Virginia Beach running the Shamrock half. So I will be doing six with her next Saturday and finishing the last four on my own, then I will see who I can recruit to run with me the following weekend.

Tomorrow I'm doing four miles, but it will probably be on the treadmill because it's supposed to rain all day and I don't particularly enjoy running in the rain.

Icicle reporting in!

After running on the treadmill all week, today I made plans to meet my running buddy Vicki at the park at 7:30am to run nine miles. And wouldn't you know it, I woke up to a dusting of snow and 15 degree weather - the coldest we've had all week by far. But I was committed so off I went.

When I arrived at the park, Vicki was there and so were Debbie and Sue (former TNT mentors). Deb and Sue had planned to run starting at 7am so I was surprised they weren't already out on the trail, but it was nice because Vicki and I started out with them. Deb and Sue are faster than us, though, so after about a mile they started pulling ahead and Vicki and I stayed together.

Unfortunately there were some icy spots hidden under the dusting of snow. Vicki fell down twice and slipped once. I slipped a bit once but managed to stay on my feet. Vicki thinks she's going to have a pretty sore knee later so she planned to apply ice as soon as she got home. I hope she's all right, because she's running the Shamrock half marathon in Virginia Beach in three weeks so now would be an especially bad time to get an injury.

Despite the bone-chilling cold and major runny nose that comes along with it, it felt great to run outside for the first time since Valentine's Day. Vicki and I plan to meet again at the same time next Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will be a wee bit warmer then!

Outside again

Today I had plans to meet some old TNT teammates at the park for a run. And when I woke up, I looked outside and saw a couple of inches of snow had fallen overnight. Ugh, I don't enjoy running in the snow especially when the flakes are still falling.

But since I'd already promised people that I'd be there, off I went. Plus I was going to have to run eight miles today one way or another, and it's definitely a lot more fun to run with people outside instead of all alone on the treadmill.

We met up in the warming room. There were seven of us. Two were walkers so they went separately and the other five of us headed out together. I'm the slowest one so eventually the pack of five broke up a bit and two went on ahead while three of us stayed back. The two who stayed with me, Josh and Debbie, were definitely running slower than their normal pace just to accommodate me but I appreciated it (even though I do feel guilty when I hold people back like that).

When we hit the water station at the 3.25 mile mark, up from behind us came another old teammate Neil. We'd thought he wasn't coming but it turns out he was just a little late so he hauled butt to catch up with us. Neil runs at my pace normally, so we were able to run together while the others went on ahead. So everyone had someone to run with and it was nice.

It was in the upper 20s, so really the temperature was quite comfortable. I was wearing a light jacket plus a winter-weight Nike shirt and ultimately I had to unzip the jacket. That shirt is WARM! I could have skipped the jacket entirely and been fine. The shirt is kind of fleecy on the inside and definitely keeps me toasty.

All in all, quite an exhilarating run and I'm so glad I went. Running has turned out to be not only great for my fitness and my mental health, but also a great way to connect with people and make friends. I love it! :)

Long run

I did indeed do Thursday's run outside at the park where the TNT team usually runs. I will admit there was quite a bit of walking in there. The path had quite a few spots that were icy death traps.

On Saturday, the weather warmed up considerably. It was more than 50 degrees! However, I was feeling disgustingly lazy. So I slept in very late (no group run due to the holidays) and completely blew off my 10 mile run.

Fortunately, guilt got the better of me so I made up the 10 miles this morning at the gym. Go me! And I ran the whole thing, except for the 5-minute cool-down period that the treadmill at the gym does when your time is up. The treadmill only lets you program in an hour at a time so I had a 5-minute cooldown in the middle of my 10 mile run. Kinda weird, but it worked out well. I felt awesome after running. Then it was off to a family holiday gathering where I ate well, but didn't overdo it, and felt quite virtuous since I'd run off a good 1,200 calories this morning. :)

The taper is in full force - the longest run between now and the race in three weeks is just six miles. Three weeks! I can't believe it's almost here. I feel ready, but still nervous.

Final 12 mile run

We had a honking huge snowstorm on Friday so I was a little apprehensive about Saturday morning's group run. But kudos to the Metropark staff, because they did a great job plowing the parking lot and getting pretty much all the snow off the path where we run.

This was the final 12 mile run. Woo hoo! Now we're into the taper so the miles just decrease from here until the race on January 18th. I did most of Saturday's run on my own. Started out with a few people but they split off around 3 miles in because there were a couple of team members who had to run 20 miles for marathon training. So they were doing a different route than me.

I should have followed last week's successful run one mile / walk one minute plan. But I didn't. Why didn't I? Who the heck knows! Instead I tried to be all tough girl and run the whole thing. Which only led to me having really sore legs and walking more distance than I would have if I'd followed the run/walk strategy. Live and learn! I still feel like this was a successful training run. I'm fully confident that, barring some freak injury, I'll be able to complete the half marathon in January.

And when that's over, I'll probably sign up for a spring half marathon somewhere to inspire me to keep training. I really love the way I feel after I run.

Last week's long run

Last Saturday was my second 12-mile run and the first one that I did outside. It was very cold, but it wasn't snowing and the path at the park was pretty well cleared off. Quite an improvement from the snowy long run the week prior!

I had a really hard time with the 12-mile run I did on the treadmill over Thanksgiving weekend so I approached this run with a different plan. I wanted to take a one-minute walk break after every mile marker. I was running with the TNT coach, who intimidates the heck out of me, so I ran the first four miles without doing the walk breaks. I finally decided to grow up and let her know what I wanted to do, which she was totally fine with.

So I took the walk break after each subsequent mile and it helped me so much. Thinking "I have to run 12 miles" is daunting to me, but thinking "just one mile until a walk break" is much easier. I was very pleased with the run. And my legs were super sore for the rest of the day, but felt much better on Sunday.

Running in the snow

Today was another group run day with TNT. I was scheduled for 10 miles. When I woke up, the temperature was less than 20 degrees. Not unexpected for an early December morning in Michigan! As I headed out to the park where we run, I saw it was starting to snow. It was snowing fairly hard, actually, and starting to accumulate. A new adventure! I've never run in the snow before.

I went into the warming room where we meet and here's what I saw: two coaches, two mentors, one LLS employee, one LLS volunteer. NO other runners from the team! The coaches and mentors said "We were just talking about whether anyone was going to show up and we all said Cathy will be here." Ha! I told them I had strongly considered just going to the gym instead, but running 10 miles on the treadmill alone isn't my idea of a good time. I really enjoy the group runs because long miles are more fun with other people around and definitely better done outside.

So we headed out into the snow. It's kind of intimidating being the only team member there and having two mentors and two coaches focusing themselves on me. I tend to be a pretty slow runner and I feel more conspicuously slow with all those people paying attention to me. Everyone is really awesome and supportive, though I suspect the running coach is not too impressed by my pace. She's quite athletic and usually runs with another team member who is impressively fast and also athletic (in addition to being a very nice guy).

As it turns out, running in the snow is not totally fun but is WAY better than running in the rain. The snow accumulated quite a bit as we ran, so it wasn't easy going. My legs felt much more tired than normal so I took some walk breaks. We all had snow frozen to our eyebrows and lashes. My lips were blue, as usual!

It felt great to finish and I rewarded myself with a delicious oatmeal cranberry cookie. Yeah, yeah, rewarding yourself with food is bad, but the cookie was fabulous. Plus, I burned over 1,000 calories on the run so I can get away with eating one cookie. :-)

No, I haven't stopped running

I've been lazy about posting updates here this week, but I haven't been lazy about training! Here's what I've been up to since last time I posted.

Wednesday: Ran before work again. Still very cold out, but I wore two layers of pants this time and my hiking socks instead of my regular running socks. That worked out really well and I was definitely warm enough.

Saturday: Another 10-mile run with the Team in Training group. It was quite cold on Saturday, but beautifully sunny. A definite improvement over the week before with the miserable rain. Nevertheless, only four of us showed up for the run. I guess the cold was just too much for people to take. I bundled up again so the first mile was cold but after that I was fine. I'm so happy to report that the run went really well. I actually ran the whole 10 miles, unlike the week before when I walked approximately a billion times because I was feeling so gross. Not eating junk food the night before certainly helped out this time.

Sunday: I totally did not feel like running, but I did it. Sundays are just a three-mile run, but getting motivated to get out there is always hard for me for some reason. The run went just fine, though my legs were feeling pretty tired - not only because of Saturday's long run, but also because David and I power-shopped for a few hours on Saturday afternoon. Lots of activity on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, David and I attended a bowling fundraiser organized by a couple of TNT teammates. They were impressively well-organized and I think they raised a lot of money. They had a great turnout and it was lots of fun.

Today is a scheduled day off from running. The weather is supposed to get sloppy, snowy and slushy so I'll be sticking to that day off and not getting all ambitious. I'm on vacation from work this week, so today will be a clean out the closets day. I have lots of clothes that no longer fit (too big - YAY!) that need to be given away. The running will resume tomorrow with a seven mile run. I just hope the sloppy snowy stuff will magically disappear over night.

Another group run

Today was another TNT group run. I had to go 10 miles today. Unfortunately, it was raining and windy this morning, so it made for some unpleasant running. Plus, I ate a bunch of junk yesterday (highly unusual for me these days) so I felt totally gross and my stomach kept cramping up. But I got through it. It was a good lesson for me to learn - don't eat junk, especially the night before a long run. So it's all good.

We didn't have a big turnout for our team this week. A few of the team members are actually in San Antonio to do their race tomorrow. But of the remaining members, only four showed up this morning. I guess the weather scared everyone else off. Too bad, it was a good experience even though it was a bad experience, if you know what I mean.

Back on track

Today I did another nine mile run with the TNT team. It went well, though it was freaking windy out today and rained just a tiny bit. I did walk a couple of times when the wind was too much for me to fight.

This was the first time I've run since I did three miles this past Sunday. Work was crazy busy this week, I was tired all the time, and I just wasn't up to it. It felt good to give my foot a break to heal up, too. The foot definitely feels better. Not back to 100% but still feeling pretty good even after running today. We'll see how it goes. My sister-in-law, the awesome Milissa, gave me contact info for a great podiatrist she knows who also happens to be a marathon runner. So I'll get an appointment with him if the foot continues to be a problem.

In other TNT-related news, I hit my minimum fundraising goal of $3500 this week. It felt awesome to get there. Of course, now I'd like to see how much higher I can push it by the time the race rolls around in January. Would be quite lovely to get to $4000 or even higher!

Nine miles!

I ran nine miles on Saturday! NINE! I'm sorry to always gush like a dork, but I'm so amazed that I'm able to run that far. My progress so far has made me really happy. I would have thought nine miles would leave me feeling dead or at least super-sore the next day, but that is not the case.

Saturday's run was, as usual, a TNT group run. I enjoy our team very much. Everyone is so nice. Because I was pressed for time, I actually showed up early and got three miles in before the rest of the group showed up. Then I just had six more miles to do with the group. For the first time, I ran the whole six miles with someone else instead of dropping back and running by myself. This wasn't due to any improvement in my own speed, but because mentors Debbie and Sue took turns staying back with me and with team member Melanie, who has a dreadful cold and was having a hard time running. It kind of cracks me up that I'm the person everyone chooses to run with when they want to take it easy. It doesn't feel easy to me! :)

Now, about the shoes. I have these sweet new Adidas running shoes, with pink accents. So girly. Heh! I wore them for the aforementioned nine mile run and I think they're working out okay so far. It's hard to tell. My foot already hurt before I ran, so it still hurt after I ran. But I don't think it was any worse after running than it was before, which seems like progress. I guess time will tell.

I have a three mile run scheduled today so as soon as I can drag myself away from watching the Top Design marathon on Bravo, I'll head out and do that. I also need to go to the drugstore to pick up a prescription so maybe I'll actually combine this run with an errand. Crazy thought - running to do an errand instead of driving. How green of me - ha!

Resting is a good thing

Apparently resting for two days was a good thing for me. This morning was our weekly TNT group run and I had to do seven miles. My legs felt pretty fresh compared to how they felt earlier in the week.

Some people in the group were surprised that I did a better than usual job of keeping up with them today. I did fall back as usual but every time I looked at my Garmin I could see I was keeping a faster pace than I normally do. The end result after seven miles was that my pace was 7 seconds/mile better than last week's seven mile run. And last week was 11 seconds per mile faster than the seven mile run the week before that.

I guess deciding that I don't care how fast I run has helped me out in some strange way. I must say that a couple of my runs earlier this week were as slow as I have ever run, but I didn't care. I am happy to see today's faster time because it shows me that I'm progressing, but I'm not going to get obsessed with it. Just note it and move on. There will be slower runs in my future, I'm sure.

But I'm damn proud of myself for being able to run at all. Weight loss total is now 110 pounds. I certainly could not have run like this two years ago when I was at my heaviest.