Thursday, March 29, 2012

Toe Socks to Blister; as Grass is to Dog Diarrhea

 I have been battling a big blister on my Morton's toe (the toe next to my big toe that is EXTRA long) since the Moab Half on March 17:
I finally decided that a portion of the toe was rubbing on my big toe, causing the blister.  So, I decided to try toe socks.  I spoke to a guy that runs ultras and he always wears toe socks.  I have Five Fingers and don't mind the stuff between my toes so I decided to try some.  Got some SmartWool Toe Socks.  Since my toes could move so independently I learned that I curl my Morton Toe under when I run so it's actually rubbing on the bottom of the shoe!  Crazy!  I never knew.  So I am working on trying to relax my toes while I run, but in addition to that the toe socks are definitely helping...the blister is wrinkling up and should be gone in the next day or two.  

I have also been battling dog diarrhea for 4 days.  Poor guy has been super mellow and lazy and pooping his little brains out.  He hasn't really eaten since Monday.  He kept trying to eat weeds in the backyard and I kept telling him no because he hadn't eaten his food.  He can't have grass if he hasn't had his food.  Then someone told me they can take Pepto and it will help.  I decided to read up on it on vetinfo online and it said you can give your dog Pepto if they won't eat grass.  Well, heck, he's a Doberman; he LOVES to eat grass!  So, I leashed that boy up and took him for a walk to find green grass.  He ate it up!!!!  Came home and within 45 minutes, he was gobbling down boiled chicken and happy as can be....full of energy playing soccer with my hubby.  Fingers crossed that he sleeps through the night!

Toe Socks and Grass....who knew?



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Dog Bite and week review

Since the Moab Half last weekend, I have had a pretty nice week of training.  I managed 39 miles without a long run (since the race was last Saturday, on Sunday we just went on a little hike in Moab...3 miles).  Throughout the week I got to run a lot of my mileage with DH who I think has now fully recovered from his calf injury and was on Spring Break.  

On one of the days, I got bit by a dog in the stomach while I was doing hill sprints:
The good news is that it was MY dog.....I love him to pieces but he gets SOOOOO excited when I do hill sprints...he decides it's time to jump like a crazy dog at me with his mouth open!  I'm sure it was an accident, but he got a serious time-out for it anyway.  I think he felt bad cause he "heeled" like a champ for the rest of the run.


I did 16 miles this morning:
6 miles easy
5 miles (90 seconds at 10k pace, 90 seconds easy)
2 miles easy
3 miles hard
It was a great run. Nice temperature. Cool breeze.  Partly cloudy.  I was a little dizzy at the beginning for no reason.  The last 3 at the end I was able to do: 8:04, 8:03 and 7:59 with a heart rate of only 171 (which is on the low end of the high rates for me).  It was a good way to start the week.




Thursday, March 22, 2012

Go Time - Marathon Race Entry Confirmed


 Spent the weekend at the Moab Half Marathon with DH, my little brother and little brother's girlfriend.  After much discussion about the next race (which was supposed to be Ojai2Ocean on June 3  near Ventura, CA), we changed our minds and decided to go a little closer to home....and two weeks earlier.  I registered today for www.coloradocolfaxmarathon.org/.  I'm a little bummed to not be running on the beach but the weather in Denver will hopefully be a little cooler than that of Cali and the drive will be MUCH shorter.  I'm on a 20 week training program to conclude June 3 so I will be modifying to cut 2 weeks out....Ah!  

8 1/2 weeks til race day!  Wahoo.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Moab Headwind Race Review with pics

Worst night of sleep.....ever.  Horrid bed at the vacation rental in Moab after arriving somewhat late. (We are spoiled with a Tempurpedic at home.)  Finally decided to get up 30 minutes earlier than planned after tossing and turning, and turning and tossing and having middle-of-the-night conversations with DH.  Sleepy.

Head to park.
Load shuttles.
Wind is whipping (can't wait to feel that whipping wind tearing up the canyon we are to run down).
Arrive at start line.
Port-a-potties are tipped over from the WIND. Not all of them...but at least 8.
It's cold and shady.
9:15am and we are told to stuff our Go Bags to send to the finish line.
Strip down to shorts and t-shirt.....45 minutes until race start.
Burr.  Wind is wild.
Dirt in my eyes.  Dirt in my teeth...yuck.

After the long wait, the race begins....exhausted from shivering and shielding from the wind.

My plan was to cruise to mile 8 and if I was on pace, then I'd build to the finish.....at mile 6, I wanted to quit.  The weather was ridiculous.  Cold and at least a 20+ mph headwind, OR hot, sunny and breeze-less.  Parched and exhausted.  Heart rate is spinning out of control. I am 33 years old and I was hovering in the range of 182-188....ugh....I don't like that. Did I mention I stayed on pace only for 3 miles and then the pace was just rising higher and higher.

Somehow, after much self-talk to not just climb under a rock and stay there forever, I made it to mile 9 and I saw a "friend": a girl I ran with in November at the Rimrock Marathon.  She ended up winning that marathon and I took 3rd.  I said "HEY!"  She said "I thought that was you."  We chatted a bit and I felt encouraged.  Then she said the last 2 miles of this race is along the highway and that I should put my head down and just grit my teeth through it....that it is alot like the end of the Rimrock Marathon.  I was glad to have the heads up....although it didn't really make it better.  I hit the highway stretch and each 1/10 of a mile took ages to click past.  It was truly miserable. I couldn't break a 9:00min/mile pace on the Garmin. Ugh.  No matter how hard I pushed....heart rate 187.  (My goal pace was 7:36....I have run my "easy/long runs" at 8:45 pace).  9:00min/mile during a race wasn't even a possibility in my mind.  I stare at a stoplight up ahead. I know that that light is the mile 12 marker and the turn into the neighborhood down the final stretch. I stare at it. I ignore the world and try not to quit.  I make it to the turn and head for home.  I see a road called Winesap and it resonates in my mind....what is winesap? Is it a real thing?  I'm not a drinker so I don't have a clue.  Maybe I should turn down Winesap and hide for a while.  I'm almost done.  I feel terrible.  My goal of running under a 1:40 clicks by on my Garmin.  It now says 1:42.  I can see the finish up ahead.  I finish in 1:45 something.  Really not too far off my goal in the end but my heartrate was crazy high the entire race and I really wanted to be well into the 1:38s or so.

Tired and discouraged.
Racing is more fun than training when you have a good race.
Training is more fun than racing when you have a bad race.

It's been about 10 hours and I'm over it.  I check the registration status on the marathon I plan to register for once DH is sure that his injury is under control and he can run it (we would build it into a vacation).  Onto the next big thing.

And now for a few pictures:

This is DH and I before the race start......what a place.
 This is me, DH, my little brother and his girlfriend.  (We all ran).



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Got Bacon?



On Sunday, the program said: 
Fartlek/Progression Run
4 miles easy
3 miles: 1 minute @ half-marathon pace / 1 minute easy
1 mile easy
2 miles hard
My DH was out with a calf injury for a while and has been slowly coming back over the last month as we are registered to run the Moab Half Marathon this Saturday (3/17).  His plan was to do the above 10 with me as his long run but he wouldn't do the alternating 3 miles of pace and easy...he'd just run easy and I'd run past him and then slow down during my easy and he'd pass me.  It worked well and pace-wise, we ended up having about 30 seconds every 2 minutes to run together.  It went well and I held the goal paces I had planned so I can't complain (although it's completely frutrating that he is so much faster than me after not running very much for the last 2 months).
When we got home, this is what happened:
Yes. It's bacon....thick-cut and so delicious from Natural Grocers.  Don't worry.  We shared with grandma (she is 90 and we had her over for breakfast).  We also had cheese omelets and homemade chocolate chip scones.  I love a good breakfast after a long run!

This weekend is the Moab Half and I feel like I am ready physically but this last few days has been so crazy that mentally I'm kind of a mess.  I am a thinker....lots of mental preparation for races, not for any particular reason....it's just what I have always done.  There is always so much build-up in my mind.  Part of my mind is trying to downplay the entire thing since this race is just a stepping stone towards the full marathon in a few more months but at the same time I definitely want a PR so my mind is in limbo.  Is this a go all-out-as-much-as-you-can-do, or is it a test of marathon pace and fun time?  Well, my husband says "No offense honey but I don't pay money for a race to run next to you."  My current take on that is "I shouldn't pay money to race if I'm not going to race."  I'm a competitor.  In board games, not so much, I just like to play.  But when someone says "ready, set, go" I am in it....to win it (not win but you get my drift).  I suppose I will get that adrenaline rush and go hard.  Next week will feel yucky as I have to stick to the marathon training plan but it is all in good fun and I always look forward to the next big race.

Cheers! and Happy Bacon!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Pooped

All the mileage and concerts have done me in.  I am officially pooped.  Luckily I have a little bit of a break in my concert/recital/performance schedule so I can focus on rest and some pace work before Moab in less than 2 weeks.  I pounded out 42 miles this week with some good speed intervals and some pace work.

Friday brought us a blizzard.....25 mph winds minimum with blowing snow.  Not running weather considering there was a good 3 inches of snow on the ground, plus the piles of it swirling everywhere.  I decided to postpone my scheduled run and do it on Saturday.  (Saturday is my rest day for my Sunday long run).  Ah well.    Good news was Wordquota had a scheduled massage with my therapist and couldn't take it, so I got to.  For those of you that remember my post about my IT band bumps.....turns out they're not fascia or muscle or anything like that....they are FAT!!!!!  Gross.  Apparently my body can't store it anywhere else so it's going there.

Saturday's run (that was supposed to be Friday) was 1 mile easy, 2 x 15 minutes at half-marathon pace with 2 minutes active recovery in between, then 1 mile easy.  I held my half-marathon goal pace but had to push really hard to hang on.  If I backed off just a little to settle into my comfortable stride, I was about 20 seconds too slow per mile so I had to keep checking the Garmin to make sure I was staying on. Got home and had to have a quick breakfast, shower and dress clothes.  Had a wedding to play at 11am.  Then I had the afternoon to rest and then a concert at 7pm.  I wore heels for the wedding and the concert....I think it was a bad idea as my calves were seriously sore from pushing through the 6 miles combined with the high heels.

Got up Sunday morning to my calves feeling VERY spent.  Had 16 miles with a progression at the end on the training program.  Off I went.  I managed 15 with the progression...I just didn't calculate the mileage very well before heading out.  Two great moments on the run....First, I stopped to pee on a hillside next to the river and as I squatted I look up and a bald eagle is directly overhead, not very high up.  My jaw dropped.  Totally cool!  Second, my favorite pathway that I have ALWAYS wanted to run...it's about 5 miles from my house and on Main St. so I don't run there because of all the traffic but have eyed the sidewalk MANY times.  (I guess I could just park at the mall and run the 200 feet of sidewalk any old day but that just wouldn't seem right). Today I ran it twice.
See how it curves...I don't know what the big deal is...it's just a curvy sidewalk...