Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: Easy day

Weather: Mid 40s F, <20 drops rain, breezy (Bf.2)

20 min. core and weights

Well, I did everything right and still didn't win the apparel game.  I saw the rain falling and the branches moving, I felt the cold air on my face and checked the thermometer out on my porch, and I looked at the hourly forecast for my zipcode on wunderground.com (the same source that told me there was a 10% chance of light showers at my marathon - it poured). But when I stepped outside the rain stopped, the breeze calmed, and I was stuck with a jacket on.  At mile 3 I couldn't stand the heat anymore, and wrestled myself out of the jacket to tie it around my waist.   I was really looking forward to testing that jacket too; it's a new one, by Asics, that is supposed to be waterproof and breathable. It's got some great little vents on it.  I wonder whether I would have been too hot even in rain, but I suppose wet legs would have cooled me off somewhat. I'm sure I'll have another opportunity to test it soon. ;)

Other than daydreaming about untruthful weather reports and a knitting pattern for a sock I want to make, my random thoughts today were about hills. I've got some e-buddies on another forum who ran the Nike Women's Marathon this weekend. I asked them about the hills and so far two of them have reported the hills to be "worse than I expected."  Of course, almost any hill in a marathon is an unwelcome sight, but I suppose it really depends on how you've trained.  I'm a thousand percent stronger on hills than I was 4 years ago, before I moved to this hilly country, but I still have a ways to go.  I'm racking my brains trying to think of where I read a story about one of Arthur Lydiard's athletes.  She did so much hill running with Lydiard that, when asked about the hills in the Boston Marathon, she said, "I didn't notice any hills."  Does anyone recognize that story?  Well, anyway, I've got my first Brad Hudson hill sprint workouts coming up this week and am really looking forward to them.  For today, just easy running.

Objective: General aerobic, moderate, with 8 x 10 sec. hill sprints at end

Weather: 42 F, starry skies, breeze (Bf. 1)

ETA, 20 min. core and weights

This was my first attempt at hill sprints. At first I just didn't feel like I was doing anything. But by #6 I started to feel them. After #8  I even felt a little shaky, like one does after lifting a heavy weight.  I guess that's the idea.  This is going to sound ridiculous, but I had trouble with the counting.  Obviously I cannot sprint and look at a watch at the same time, so I was trying to get the seconds clicking in my head.  But I seemed to be easily pulled off the beat by the rhythm of my own feet.  Felt like an idiot. "It's not that difficult, girl. Just count to 10. Slowly. No, not that slow.  Oops, that's too fast. Wait. No. Time's up."

Have any of you local runners ever run the Nookachamps Winter Runs Half Marathon?  I was thinking this morning that I might return to it this year, if only to have some extra motivation for winter running.  I have not run it for years. The weather can be challenging (one year it was quite icy).  The race is held in Skagit Valley near Mt. Vernon during the swan migration.  So you get these flocks of huge white birds in the fields all through the valley.  It's really quite a sight.  I've never had a fast time there. It's a bit hilly. 

Objective: Easy to moderate.

Weather: Low 40s F,  wind (Bf. 4-5), clear (another gorgeous starry sky,  crescent moon)

This was one of those mornings I just didn't want to come in. I feel like I would gladly have run another 7 if time permitted.  Just before I came in, the sky behind the black silhouette of the Cascade Mountains was just beginning to glow indigo, but the stars around it were still twinkling.  What a beautiful world.

I began the run with a bit of leg stiffness. This actually made me happy, since I was hoping to feel some effects from yesterday's hill sprints.  After about 10 minutes my legs felt great and continued so throughout the run, with one exception: a little stretch beginning with the hill climb from Crestview, perhaps more evidence of yesterday's good work. 

Objective: Moderate

Weather: 40 F, light rain (another bad call from the weather service)

15 min. core and weights

I don't know why I put on my jacket this morning, since the prediction was for only a 10% chance of rain.  Those first couple of miles I felt like a real idiot: I did it again, I was too hot.  The jacket came off, and it immediately started to rain. >:(  Once I was cool, I was also wet.  But the jacket eventually came back on and I felt fairly comfortable.  By the way, have I ever mentioned Snoqualmie's Excellent Jacket Tie Method?  If you only partially unzip the jacket, take off the sleeves, then zip it up again as far as you can, you can tie the sleeves and roll the jacket down so that it is a more compact unit around your waist.  Still kind of a pain, but not so floppy.

I'm thinking over my "homework" that Sasha gave me a couple of days ago.  First, I must get to a track. This is not so easy.  I have ruled out weekdays, since 1) I do not wish to spend my running time driving and 2) I am too cautious to go to the school by myself in the pitch dark.  It is not safe.  I might think about inserting the time trial into my long run this weekend, in which case I would use the long trip to the school and back as my run. 

One of Sasha's questions to me has been on my mind: "what do you mean by "the speed just isn't there?'"  The short answer is "I'm pathetically slow despite all my hard work."  But since we were talking about mileage and aerobic base, I have been thinking about my mileage goals and wondering about what more miles can and cannot do for me.  I would like to increase from my 55-60 range to a 65-70 range, but I think I need to get faster to achieve that, since I'm out of time.  But here is the point.  To run that 55-60 I am spending 9-11 hours on the road per week.  If I were a faster runner, and my average pace for daily running was, say, 6:30 instead of 10:30,  9-11 hours at that pace would put me up near 100 miles per week.  If my reasoning is correct, I am putting in decent time but "the speed just isn't there."  It goes back to the bell curve concept that I discussed about a month ago. I'm on the high side for effort, but the low side for results.   

In spite my seemingly endless whining about all this, I do believe improvement is coming - albeit slowly.  I am so fortunate to not be injury prone and to absolutely adore running.  I know I need more intensity, but because of my age I have to take it in small doses to make sure I don't crash and burn.

Sorry this post is so long, but I don't want to forget to mention an incredible story I heard about.  Arien O'Connell ran the fastest time at the Nike Women's Marathon, but was denied "winner" status because she did not sign up in the "elite" category. (She was the only sub 3 runner.)  Nike has since made her "a winner," but not "the winner."  The two stories are here and here.

Objective: Easy

Weather: High 30s F, clear, slight breeze (Bf.1), frost on cars, starry sky w/ crescent moon

15 min. core and weights

Every day is a new beginning, and thank goodness for that.  Sorry to sound like a motivational poster, but I had an unusually and unexpectedly stressful day yesterday and ended up raiding the Halloween candy.   I don't eat a lot of sugar; it doesn't agree with me. So what was meant to be a comfort just ended up making me even crankier and I woke up today with a sort of "sugar hangover."  Today I reform!  Good food and clean up the messes of yesterday's disappointments.  I'd love to start the weekend with a clean slate.

My mileage seemed a little low until I remembered that I have a long run on Sunday, but did last week's long run on Saturday. I'm now nearly 3 weeks past my marathon day, so I guess I'm officially out of the "recovery" stage.  I'm still being a little careful though.

Thanks again to Dale for giving me the link yesterday to the info about strides.  I was planning to try it this morning, but it will have to wait until next week.  Today was all about getting the miles done.  And I actually did enjoy it after the very long warm up period.