Auntie Em Goes Running

This run just flew by; I don't know where the time went.   That has never happened to me before on a solo long run.  I felt tired when I left the house, had no running plan, and noone to run with.  It took me a good 3 miles to warm up my legs, then I just settled into what felt like an easy pace.  I kept this pace fairly steadily throughout the run, averaging 9:49.  I just went wherever I felt like and ended up at one point down by Civic Field, where I did a few laps on the track before heading back into trail running.  Before I knew it, it was 11:00 and I had to figure out a way home that would take 45 minutes.  Fun run, and I sort of feel like I could run more, but don't think it would be a good idea.  Maybe I'm finally getting over  my distance weakness!

30 minute mobility session, mostly dynamic stretches.  70 minutes on the bike, high cadence, no intervals.  30 minutes strength session, focusing on leg strength (squats, hip strengtheners, glut strengtheners), finishing with some foot/ankle flexibility/strength work.   

I am starting to feel that all the little injuries of the Fall/Winter are past.  I am very very grateful.  

In this moment - a chance

for what can only be done

now, never again. 

This was a really long track workout!  I cannot believe the miles this week.  I also cannot believe how great I feel.  

2.27 miles WU - AP 9:52

2 200m strides with 200m RI (.5 miles)

5X1 mile @ Tempo pace (7:38, 7:38, 7:38, 7:36, 7:35) with 1 1/2 laps RI between

4X200m @ R pace (.46, .44, .44, .44).  

1.75 CD - AP 10:11

I don't know why I can't get those 200m R pace things right; I always do them a few seconds too fast!  But everything else was perfect today, so I'm happy.  Every workout this week, I go just a little beyond what I am comfortable with, since I believe this is what I will need for 50K running!

I have two haikus today:

1. All quiet and soft,

eating all the pretty flowers -

deer are such big pests!

2. So silently strong

pushing up from a grave of soil -

surprise!  Here are peas. 

Have a great day everyone! 

So much activity today there has been no time to blog!  I spent the night at the mountain last night, and did the morning run of 7.42 easy miles around the trails up there.  The woods are beautiful right now; so springlike already!  Not too muddy either, as we've had so little rain compared to usual.  AP on this run was 9:42.

Skied for four hours with my friend from Seattle.  It was sunny, with glorious views of Mt. Shuksan.  I really want to climb Shuksan someday, and I'd better get on it soon.  It was so wonderful to ski with every single body part feeling strong and in working order!!!!

Drove down the mountain, jumped into running gear, and drove a short ways from my house to Stimpson Woods, a trail run that I love.  The assignment this afternoon was 30-45 minutes of hilly running at marathon pace!  This is a slightly technical trail with lots of long uphills and downhills and many switchbacks.  I did not make marathon pace.  AP was 8:47.  I felt very strong.  I usually run this loop twice, but that would have taken too long, and it would have been dark when I finished.

A skiing sandwich

with running bread on each side

makes a perfect day! 

One hour fifteen minutes on the stationary bike, easy spinning.  Followed it up with 30 minutes of static, gentle stretching.  No strengthening.  Probably this is all I will do today.  I'm saving myself for tomorrow's 3.5 hour mountain jog.  Very excited!  Also will try to get some work done this afternoon to make up for yesterday's little "vacation".

Final training run!  I was tired going in to this one; as I just had an incredibly high mileage week (for me).  Yesterday's restful bike ride did not exactly leave me completely fresh.  Still, I think my training partner and I did really well on this run.  We challenged ourselves with not just one huge climb, but circled around and did two huge climbs.  I think this will more closely approximate the actual race, where we will climb up to the top several times, then drop back down again.  In between, many smaller climbs and long downhills.  These mountain climbs really took it out of me today; my butt muscles are just so tired!  But I pushed it, kept going, and was more mentally strong than I've ever been.  When we got back to the flat trail, with 4 miles to go, I said no way can I do the marathon pace miles, but my legs thought different, and just kicked them out anyway!  I couldn't believe it.

17.5 miles, 3 hours, 15 minutes, AP 11:02.

Ready to taper.

Have a great weekend! 

Yesterday was a nothing day; today was a little bike ride, just to warm up the legs.  It has alternated between sunning and lightly SNOWING here all morning, so the ride was interesting.  

I feel pretty well recovered from Saturday's brutal run; kinda surprised, actually.  My schedule for the next few weeks looks like a taper, but not one that will drive me nuts.  I've still got some track workouts in there, and a few two a day run days.  

A very unusual morning here:  sunny, cold, and LOW HUMIDITY!  We almost never get low humidity here.  I find that the cold feels so much better when its dry cold, instead of the moldy, wet, damp inside cold that we usually get.  Its glorious!

I got to run this morning, too.  3.26 miles at an AP of 9:41 (splits 9:01, 9:39, 10:23, and 9:36).  Not as slow as I would have liked, but it just felt great to run again - I have missed it. And, I wrote a couple of haikus while I ran (I don't write haikus when I don't run):

A great color scheme;

redwinged blackbirds without doubt

win the prize on this.

Marsh grass is disturbed,

horrible honking ensues;

a pair of loud geese.

Another run this afternoon, probably in Seattle, since I'll be down there with my mother looking at some galleries.   Its a marathon pace run, so I'll probably go to the Burke Gilman Trail, nice and flattish.

Evening in the pitch dark:  4.89 miles at AP 8.48.  This was supposed to be a run with some marathon paced parts in it, totalling about 30 minutes of MP running.  It was really hard to tell if I achieved this because it was sooo dark out by the time I made it outdoors (we have few streetlights and NO lights once I'm on the trails), so I just did my best.

The croaking of frogs!

most certainly to anyone

this means spring is here. 

Yup, that's it!

Cold.

Rainy.

Windy.

Unpleasant.

wu

strides

2X1600 (one at marathon and one at tempo)

2X1200 (one at marathon and one at tempo) 

cd

There was no rest interval between these intervals; the marathon pace work was the rest interval between the tempo bits, I guess.  How clever. 

Early morning yoga class, then 90 minutes recovery bike ride.  Too rainy and windy to ride outdoors, so I did it indoors, while watching Forrest Gump, my favorite running movie.  

Beautiful, sunny morning, but cold.  The car said it was 41, but it felt about 35.  I waited around for Brad for about five minutes, then started out on my own.  Ran out from Fairhaven to Larrabee Park, along the Interurban Trail.  This will be the out and back sections at the beginning and end of next week's 50K.  I did no extra hills; I will save that for next week.  Of course I got way to warm after a mile or so, and wished for shorts.  This happens every time I wear longer pants.  I have these knicker length tights that are supposed to squeeze your muscles or something and provide support, but all they do is make my legs feel hot and constricted.  Unless it is in the low 30s, I should always wear shorts.  

I reached Larrabee and turned around and met Brad coming up the trail!  He had thought that we were meeting at the Farmer's Market in Bellingham.  Anyway, nice place for some company, so we finished the run back to Fairhaven together.  I tried really hard not to speed up as we approached the actual finishing place for next week's race; I'll save that for next week too.  There is a four switchback hill that will be at about mile 29.5; I wonder if I'll be running that hill next week!

13.27 miles, AP 9:07.  The rest of the day will be spent cooking a nice dinner for my daughter and 15 of her friends.  Its prom night, and I offered to make them a "fancy" dinner.  Off to make the pasta!

I hope you all have a great weekend! 

The schedule called for 45-60 minutes of biking at "recovery" pace, fast cadence.  Usually there is no flexibility at all, so I was SO excited to get a 15 minute "choice".  What to do?  I rode 60 minutes, exactly, 15.2 miles, with fast cadence, on moderate terrain.  So I guess my recovery biking pace is about 15 miles per hour.  

3.3 easy running miles, around the pond 2X, then back home.  Ducks are out, in pairs, getting ready to nest I guess.  So cute how they each have their partner, and they stick close together.  Tomorrow I'll have to walk over with some bread and feed them.

BTW, since you all thought I'm such a great mom for fixing dinner for the prom juniors, here's what we had:  homemade fettucine with parmesan, chicken breasts stuffed with sun dried tomatos, parmesan cheese, sage and prosciutto, sugar snap peas.  For dessert, I made tiramisu cheesecake with dark chocolate crumb crust.  The kids were all beautiful in their prom clothes - and so well behaved.  I think the girls are more into the prom experience with each other and view the guys as handsome and necessary accessories!  The guys don't seem to mind being accessories and are very obliging with good manners and flowers, etc.  There is some cheesecake left and I'm going to go have some right now! 

I hate the darkness.  I hate tapering.

Mini tapering track workout.   It was insanely windy on the track tonight!  Probably a difference of several seconds between one straight away and the other side.  All my intervals were too fast; I just have so much pent up energy its ridiculous.

WU 1.98 miles @8:56 

1200@7:04 (should be 7:38)

1000@7:40 (should be 8:10)

800@7:17 (should be 7:38)

400@7:51 (should be 8:10) 

CD 1.98 miles @9:21

1 lap jogging between intervals.

Also did some drills on the track before doing the cool down jog; dynamic stretches and running drills.   

Easy miles, AP 8:46.  Wish it were 10:46.  I'm worried that I can't slow down this week, and I need to run much slower than 8:46 in the beginning of the 50K.  There is a six mile flattish trail at the beginning before we head up into the Chuckanuts.  This should be SLOW, I think, saving up for the mountain climbs.  First climb takes us up to 1600 feet in almost 2 miles, then we drop back to 400, and immediately up again to 1600.  Then a long stretch of up and down for about 7 miles, and another climb up to 2000  feet.  Then a really long down, back to the six mile flattish finish.  This flattish section has one switchback section into a small canyon and back out, so that will happen twice.  I have run up and down this canyon so many times that I can do it in my sleep.  On the way back, after the little canyon, its about 1.5 miles to the finish, slightly downhill or flat the whole way.  I hope I can let it rip then.  

Sunny and absolutely beautiful here today; the forecast calls for similar through the weekend!   

I did nothing today.  Used the extra time to plant some (more) flowers and throw rocks at the deer in the front yard.  I have all but given up on the deer really, but they still expect me to throw rocks and yell, so I do it.  Trying to train the cats to chase them, but they want to make friends with them instead.  They eat everything except for penstamon and daffodils.  

An easy jog 'round the pond, with 6X100m strides.  

Not a good race.  Let's just call it a great day for a jog in the forrest, never mind the 300 other people on the trail!  The first 6 miles felt great; I was successful at keeping the pace slow (around 9 minute miles).  This is a first for me in a distance event.  I am very pleased with this.  We started the first mountain climb, Fragrance Lake, at mile 6.4, and as soon as the trail began climbing, my breath started asthmatic wheezing.  This has happened to me on one other occasion, after which I briefly experimented with inhalers.  Inhalers never seemed to help.  Anyway, on this day, for whatever reason, the wheezing got quite bad, and I was actually walking from about the middle of the climb on, ON THE FIRST CLIMB OF THE RACE.  Not looking good.  At the top of the climb, the trail begins gently rolling for a mile or so around Fragrance Lake, then descends steeply for another mile to Cleator Road, where the second climb begins.  Aid station 2 is here, and its a short walk from here back down and out to the road.   I knew that I had to make a decision about the asthma thing at this point, since committing to the second climb would put me into 9 or so miles with no exit.  I decided that if my breathing was not normal after the flatter and downhill section approaching aid station 2, I would have to pull.  I was not getting nearly enough oxygen and was pretty lightheaded, but I ran this section slowly, just trying to take deep breaths.  I just could not get full breaths; I felt pain in my lungs and a raw feeling in my throat.  Even after the steep descent, I could barely breathe.  My husband and coach were waiting at the bottom, where they had planned to be, and I rested for about 20 minutes, until I was able to walk down the hill to the car.  

During the rest of the afternoon, I coughed quite a bit, and had some pain in my lungs, but gradually was able to breathe better.  In spite of the way the "race" turned out, it is really just a small part of the training leading up to it, and the training has been so spectacular!  I will not ever give up running in these mountains, and will make it part of my regular running routine.  Having to drop out of the race is a disappointment, but I actually don't really feel it as a HUGE disappointment.  Maybe that is yet to come!  I am sad, and I think I had better do something really soon to boost my mental confidence a bit.  In the meantime, my legs feel like they've still got 20 miles left to run!  As soon as the lungs are up to it,  I will.

Some easy and marathon paced miles in the misty rain.  Splits:  9:44, 9:13, 8:20, 8:10, 8:16, 8:12, 9:13, 8:46, 9:25.  

Was going to ride the bike immediately after, but the rain got harder, so I got on the stationary bike immediately after instead.  90 minutes.  Easy with a little ladder workout in the middle 30 minutes.   

I just wanted to thank everyone for your very kind words about Saturday's race.  Made me a little teary to read your comments.  I'm really not that upset about not finishing the race, its just a disappointment and that's all.  I'll do it again next year!  The great time that I had training for it was time well spent, and I am definitely stronger for it.  And, of course, its wonderful to not have to recover right now!  

I am kind of upset about the asthma thing, and I guess that I have to deal with it now.   I'm seeing a specialist later this week; I might as well understand the problem as well as I can and decide what to do about it.  I used an inhaler for yesterday's run, just one puff, and again for this morning's run.  I didn't notice anything negative or positive from it, but that's not real surprising since this is not a problem I usually have!  Hate to think I have to use something all the time when its not even necessary but once a year.  I will probably do some kind of track workout later today, and we'll see what happens then.  

Thanks again! 

PM Update:  Easy miles with 6X strides.  AP was 8:46.  I had a very hard time keeping slow miles today.  I think I have done enough running now. 

Beautiful sunny morning!  45 minutes on the road bike, then track.  

wu - 2 miles

4X200 hill repeats (.52, .51, .49, .50)  90 second RI

2X200 flat repeats (.48, .48) 90 second RI

3X800 (3:27, 3:19, 3:30) 1 lap RI

cd - 2 miles 

I've been researching exercise induced asthma and I don't think that is what I have!  Sounds more like a vocal cord dysfunction, which does not respond to asthma medicine.  I don't respond to asthma medication. VCD has many of the same symptoms as exercise induced asthma, but the airway difficulty is only in the vocal apparatus, which is why my throat feels so raw and my voice is still hoarse.  Seeing the real dr. on Thursday, but playing internet dr. is fun too!

No running today; hamstring felt dangerously tight after last night's hills and track workout. Nice bike ride with a nice group of ladies.  Country roads, no traffic, lots of cows.  Fun times.

Slicing through water

paddles perfectly balanced 

kayakers are cool. 

Had to get the run in early this morning, then head up to the mountain for the day.  It was not a fun trip; I had to clean our cabin so that someone could use it for the weekend.  This morning was supposed to be a tempo run, but the tempo intervals were 4X4 with 1 minute easy pace in between.  This is very hard to keep track of.  

wu 1.82 AP 10:04

tempo intervals AP 7:37, 7:18, 7:46, and 7:35

cd 2.61 AP 9:46

I still think maybe I'll ride the bike this evening, but it will have to be stationary, since its already a bit dark out and its been raining all day.   

Just a few easy miles on the bay trail.  I went to work at a fund raising event at 5:30am and it was freezng cold and raining.  It got sunny and warm later, and that is when I ran!

Day off.

Off. Day off.  Off day.  

OK, so it was supposed to be a day off, but it turned into a bike ride day.  SOoo windy!  And, in the end, quite rainy as well.  It was fun coming back against the headwind, up the hills.  Back barely in time to greet the dinner guests as they pulled into the driveway.  Luckily I was in my nice bike clothes!

Dark clouds are looming

from every side it seems:

how wet will we get? 

Yoga class.

one hour and 50 minutes on the bike today, high cadence with standing climb on the hills.

Yoga class this morning.  This was a lovely class; 1 1/2 hours, as usual, but the whole class was "restorative poses".  What this means is that we get ourselves situated in a pose that involved many blocks, blankets, bolsters, chairs and belts, and just hang out there for awhile.  The poses are not "active", but are very restful while still releasing key tension spots.  It was perfect for me for today.