Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: 6 easy,  5MP effort level on hills, 1+ cool down (14:08, 11:23, 10:41, 10:36, 11:01, 11:04 // 10:17, 9:14, 9:46, 9:55, 9:34 // 9:50, 11:19)

8AM:  38F rising to 45F,  wind 10 mph, mostly cloudy w/ sun breaks

It was a bit of a weird run.  First I had a false start, when I got about 25 yards and realised the brand new running skirt I was testing would not work out.  I just hope I can get my money back; although I removed the tags, I did not sweat on it. lol  It is an awesome skirt for distance running, with cool pockets all across the back, but the under-shorts rode up on me.  I guess that 14 minute mile came from all the walking.  If  I cannot get my money back, anyone want to buy it? It will work well for someone who has less, um, "curve" in her thighs.  Size is medium (waist 27-29").

Weirdness continued as I seemed to have boundless energy during the easy 6 (had to constantly remind myself to hold back), and not nearly enough energy during the 5 MP.   The first "fast" mile unfortunately began with a half mile of up hill climb, and by the end of the mile I was going anaerobic to get the pace right.  That is not something I can do for 4+ hours.

After fretting over my pace for about 10 minutes I decided to stop Garmin Gazing and only go by feel.  Much happier. And considering the hills and the wind, the paces are not too bad.  They are also (mostly) not BQ pace, which is 9:20.

We'll see how the rest of the taper leaves me feeling, but at this point I am not setting my sights on a BQ in Eugene.  Not specifically anyway. In my mind there is a big difference between hoping and planning.   I am going to keep my effort at the aerobic level I was today, try not to look at my watch, keep good form, and enjoy the ride. I plan to run my first mile somewhat easily (~10:00), and when I get to around mile 23 I hope to push as hard as I can.  With 7 days to go, that's the plan. :D

ETA: Veggie challenge report... Friday 3 out of 4 (missed the snack), Saturday - successful. 

Objective: easy

5:45AM: 39F, calm & cloudy

I am supposed to be getting a bit more sleep this week, but at 4:25 my eyes just popped right open and I could not get back to sleep.  It is very unusual for me to have sleep trouble. More taper madness I guess.  This was a crappy little run. My anxiety levels are rising and I felt tired and cranky.  And I must just put this in black and white: large Mexican dinners are not good for running the next morning.  

Objective: 1 easy, 2 MP by feel - no Garmin-Gazing, remainder easy c.d.

5:40AM:  41F, cloudy, wet streets but no rain

15 min. strength & stretching

I wanted to see how it felt to run at MP effort after only 1 mile of warm up.  Can't say I liked it.  I rarely feel good until I've run 3 or 4 miles, but I won't give myself that luxury on Sunday.  But I think one mile ought to protect me from the "went out too fast" blues in miles 20 - 26.2. 

I also wanted to see what my pace would be if I did not look at my watch at all.  I only listened for the mile beeps to know when to start and stop.  MP mile splits were 9:27 and 9:11.  The first mile shows that I could not get into MP so early I think.  The second mile looks good, but I did keep the effort just a wee bit harder than MP to compensate for a few hills and the lack of race day excitement. 

Veggie challenge, Monday: successful (Good thing it's grocery day. I'm down to a carrot, some kale and a few celery sticks.)

Objective: easy (4 days to Eugene)

5:40: 41F, mostly cloudy. Pretty morning.

Nothing felt good until the 4th mile, as usual. I'm trying to not worry about it though.  I will blog a couple of distractions, how's that?

I watched "The Long Green Line" (from Netflix) last night. It is a documentary about York High School's cross country team as they pursue their 25th straight state championship.  It was worth watching, though not a must-see.  Two things struck me about the story.  First, I am always just baffled by cross country running. These guys are clocking 5 minute (or faster) miles on grass and dirt, and I can barely make it across a parking strip without rolling my ankle. How do they do it? Is it those cool spikey shoes? 

Second, I found myself feeling uncomfortable and quite sad that there was no mention about a girls' program. (Rant alert.)  One of the main themes of the movie was the portrait of this coach and how supportive and caring he is, and how he recruits and welcomes even the "fat little freshmen." Every team member is important, with many repetitions of the concept of being a good person in life and how that carries over into running.  I cannot reconcile those sentiments with a complete disregard for girls' running.  Not a peep.  I know, the movie wasn't supposed to be about anything but this winning team, but the more they talked about boys' potential, boys' this and boys' that, the more I longed to see a girl running.   I probably have a giant chip on my shoulder about this, having grown up mostly before Title 9.  Plus I'm cranky you know. Taper.

Another distraction: planning some new goals for my next training cycle.  I have made notes on some workouts I've read here on the blog and I would like to try some of those. I want to work a little harder at fitting in at least one 10 miler on weekdays, perhaps two. I also would like to work up to my full long runs with my ST3 shoes.  And lastly, I hope to experiment with some homemade fuel recipe ideas instead of giving so much of our income to the Accel Gel company.  Need to buy one of those little 6 oz. flasks at the expo.

Thanks for listening.  :)

ETA: Almost forgot again. Veggie challenge: 3 out of 4, missed the snack again. But the bin is full again so I'll be ok until Eugene. 

Objective: confidence building, last run of taper. 1 mi easy, 1 mi MP by feel, .5 mi hard, ~3/4 mi cool down.  Paces: 10:53 //  1 @ 8:59,  1/2 @ 8:18  //  3/4 @ 10:53

5:55 AM: 38F, wind 5-10 mph, mostly clear

Lookie there. I guess I'll crest 200 miles for the month of April, which I doubted would happen with my taper.  :)  

It's funny how my warm up mile and cool down mile were run at the exact same pace.  That is a fast warm up mile for me, and Sunday will have to be even faster. 

The workout I did on Tuesday started out the same as today's (1 mi easy, 2nd @ MP effort) but look how much faster today's pace was: 10:53 and 8:59 compared to 11:45 and 9:27.  I credit the improvement partly to tapering and partly to the shoes. These Nike Lunars are the lightest and fastest shoe I have.  (Too bad I can't run in these for 26.2!)  You can watch Kara Goucher doing a 20  mile workout in what looks like Lunars here.  I ran with my iPod today too (rare for me), just to give my brain that extra boost. 

So that's it for me for a couple of days. I don't know how soon I'll have internet access after my marathon, but I'll let you all know how it went as soon as I can. You blog-friends have been a very important part of my life and my training. Thank you for caring about me, putting up with my long-winded entries, and giving me the benefits of your advice and friendship.  Cheers.

Edited to add:  I just had to add this video, which I just found.  This is what our blog community is like, with Sasha's code being the earphones we all wear. Stick with the video, it takes a couple of minutes to get interesting!