Running: May 16-22

[limewave]

I'm taking the initiative this week . . .

5 very early miles for me yesterday morning. I'm still feeling sluggish from the 25k last week, but not feeling pain anymore.

No races for me on the horizon. My goal for the summer is to keep my long runs between 6-9 miles and I want to work on my 10k pace. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to run an 8:30 min/mile 10k.

I see speed work and hill repeats in my near future.

[Grog]

I've been quiet the last couple of weeks, lots of work and lots of time spent playing outside or reading books instead of being online. Felt good, actually!

Yesterday was my first marathon, the Capital City Marathon in Olympia, WA. I wrote this in an email to a friend this morning and I thought it was a good race report overall, so for all of those who wonder how my race went, here it is:

The Capital City Marathon is - it has to be said - a *fantastic* event. I'd call it a boutique marathon. Less than 400 runners (on the full marathon), a beautiful rural course, well-staffed water stations every other mile, a de-luxe pasta dinner sponsored and hosted by some local Italian restaurant for $12 (!!), great soft-shell like jackets instead of one-more-tshirt, and beautiful weather on top of it, a little sunny a little cloudy not too warm. No medal but a "finisher's tile" (nice to use as a coaster) instead. What else can you ask for? It's also a really shallow field as there are few really fast times being posted and fewer really slow times, they don't allow walkers in the marathon. Really, if you're ever going to do a marathon in your life, you have to go and do that one. (Hopefully they find a new race director - theirs, a volunteer, is retiring this year after many years of service. Anyone interested?)

The only thing that's not included is a flat course. I don't know who said it's supposed to be a relatively flat course but it's really rolling hills, and the elevation graph does not do justice to it. Maybe 4 miles of flat total, other than that pretty significant rolling hills the whole time. It just gets steeper in the second half. I was aiming for 4:30 but my first half was fairly rapid, I was on pace for 4:15, but I slowed down a bit on uphills and a lot on downhills, which kill my feet and hips. The last three miles did me in, as can be seen here:
http://slowgeek.com/ru/Grogotte/1750601626?unit=km

My wonderful husband Chris followed me along with a rental bicycle (thanks to the Olympia Outfitters store) almost the whole way. The roads were really really quiet and he was able to ride on the other side without interfering with the race (or traffic - what traffic??). Chris went for a couple of miles at a time and then waited for me - why always at the top of the hill? - to take pictures or cheer. It was great.

I very much enjoyed the experience overall, including the training, but if I was to do it again I would train for about 6 months, with a significant amount of speedwork, to take it under 4 hours. It would be some work but within the realm of possibility. But I'm not sure I'll have enough time to train for this again before I retire (or get a maid, a driver, and a personal assistant). For now, I'm going to get a new bike. I also want to increase my foot strength by progressively introducing so-called barefoot running (i.e. Nike Free or Vibram 5-fingers).

We went down to Olympia from Vancouver on the Amtrak Cascades train. The train! It's wonderful. And there is a lot of road work on the I-5 around Tacoma this year so after all it probably would have been longer to drive according to locals. This being said, it's not fast, about 2/3 of the speed compared to driving. The worst bit is Vancouver BC to Everett, after that it speeds up. It took us even longer coming back last night because there was an incident on the track - we didn't hit anyone but the conductor had to do an emergency stop because of someone looking unstable walking by the track, and then we had to wait for the sheriff to pick him up. There is a beautiful view of the water to be had about 85% of the time, and it's a lot more comfortable than the bus. The food is good (relative to train food in general) and not that expensive, they even serve micro-brews (so I could get a Deschutes Black Butte to celebrate), and the rolling personnel is hilarious (as my experience has been on North American trains in general). I just wish I had more time on the Coast to justify the length of the train trip, but on the other hand I don't think driving would have been a good alternative.

Thanks everyone for the cheers and tips when I was in training!

[colby]

Way to go, Grog! Just under 4:30. Sounds like a beautiful course, too.

And, another WTG to OakLeaf - beating your goal by over 8 minutes is awesome. Not being sore is even more awesome. It doesn't mean you didn't work hard enough, it means you worked within appropriate limits and your magic 8-ball training plan worked well. (Or that your delayed onset soreness hasn't started yet) Maybe you could have gone harder, but it's hard to find that balance - I'd rather go easier, reach my goal confidently, and not feel dead the next day than cut 5 minutes off my time and not be able to walk.

[Bike Chick]

Way to go all of you! Quite impressive.

[Grog]

Great work Oakleaf, congrats!

I feel the same as Colby: I think I could have gone harder at times, but I know I would have had a sh**ty week, and I need all of my senses and my whole brain at work. I didn't want to feel tired and spent for more than a day. I'm a little sore, going down stairs is not very pleasant, but absolutely tolerable, especially once I get going.

[limewave]

Yay Grog and Oakleaf!!! What an accomplishment!

[colby]

I did about 18 miles yesterday, it was rough. I had a rough weekend all around. The weather was hard on me (too warm, too dry, too soon) and I just felt "off". I walked more than I have in a really long time and stopped often where I could to cool off with river water on my head/face (I was dreaming of those soaked sponges they give you at Ironman run aid stations). I ran out of water at about mile 13-14, which was 3 miles shorter than last week's run when I didn't run out of water at all. This will probably be my longest long run before Ironman and I have to let it not get me down.

[Crankin]

I ran 5k yesterday to test out my Zoot compression tights after the run (see the apparel thread).
It was a bit painful, but I brought no electronics, since i seem to do better without focusing on that right now. I know I am far below the 9:45 pace I had last summer. Last June I bought new shoes; my bunion was killing me in my shoes. The new ones are great for that, but not enough support for my shins and other places that have hurt in my last few runs. I had no trouble before. When I get back from my cycling trip, new shoes are first on the agenda, because I signed up for a 5k on June 5th! I am sure I will be DFL, but I didn't want to do the walk. It's for the cancer wing of the local hospital; my good friend is a development officer for the hospital (i.e. she's in charge of the event).
What have I done? I am not competitive at all. And the course ends on a hill...

[OakLeaf]

Way to go Grog!!

Yesterday was my first too, we took the long way home today and did a little sightseeing so I'll put together a full report later - but the weather was perfect, I had fun and beat my time goal by 8-1/2 minutes (4:21).

I feel better today than I have any right to, I think - like, better than I've felt the day after a lot of my longer training runs at a much slower pace. Makes me wonder if I just didn't work hard enough yesterday. I guess that's what I get for having a hypothetical Magic 8-Ball as my coach.

[colby]

Weather was questionable today and circumstances conspired against me repeatedly this week which led to me being super tired and getting a late start, so I switched my long ride for my long run.

That said, my long run scheduled for 17-19 which I surpassed, edging up to 20 (hard to say what the GPS margin of error was, it said 19.25). I took it nice and easy, I know my heart rate average was low and I could have pushed much harder to drop a good 20-30 minutes off, but after last week's miserable running weather I just wanted to cover the distance at an acceptable long run speed. Didn't look at how long it took, 3:30? That included stopping at stop lights, eating, and picking up dog poo (she made it an amazing 10 miles, it was perfect dog running weather). This was my longest long run, I will go down from here. Next weekend I'll probably run the local half marathon.

Tomorrow I get to follow it up with 3-5 hours on the bike and a short run afterward... yay?

[skhill]

Colby, I'm amazed that your dog can make it 10 miles with you. That pup must be in great shape! These days, my increasingly geriatic dog often needs to flop down and take a breather midway through our walks... but he still wants to go and still enjoys himself.

At church this morning 3 of us got into a discussion of which of the high school and college tracks in town have a. the easiest fence to climb and b. the nicest, most understanding security guards. But I'll continue to use the decaying track at the old colored high school; it's in my neighborhood and there's no fence at all. And the surface isn't too bad as long as you stick to the outside lanes...

Today I knocked out my old favorite 3.5 mile route in 31:24, my fastest yet. Makes up for yesterday's dreadful attempt at a long run-- just 8 miles and I was dead.

[colby]

Colby, I'm amazed that your dog can make it 10 miles with you. That pup must be in great shape! These days, my increasingly geriatic dog often needs to flop down and take a breather midway through our walks... but he still wants to go and still enjoys himself.

Thanks She's a boxer-rottweiler, and is at least 8-9 years old. A couple of years ago she was fit and happy enough to run up to 15 or so miles (we trained, albeit slowly, for my first marathon together, most of the way), but now that she's getting older and I've gotten faster, 10 miles is quite an accomplishment. It takes perfect weather, has to be cloudy, not hot or humid, no more than 55-60 degrees. At about 8 miles, she did stop and rest, but only for a minute. Now, if it's warm and sunny outside, all bets are off. Sometimes we can't even walk around the block without stopping for a rest in the shade.

I'm trying to enjoy it while it lasts and only push her when it's safe - I know our runs will get shorter as she gets older, and eventually she'll just be my walking and hiking buddy. I got a bike trailer for her so that she can ride to work with me. Nothing says love like towing your 70-lb dog just so she can be a part of your day. I think we know who owns who.

[kacie tri-ing]

Way to go colby! I am getting excited to hear about this year's installment at your race! Do you have a new and awesome swim cap again?

I had a full brick (really, it was another olympic distance tri, but on my own this weekend!) on saturday. Sunday, I had a 12 mile run and the last 5 were really hard miles. My legs are spent. I get to start tapering this sunday though! I am doing the HIM in Kansas weekend after next! (I guess an exclamation point?)

I had a friend say to me this weekend, "so half ironmans must be easy for you now, right?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I wish! Made me think of the quote my coach loves, "it never gets easy, you just get faster."

Happy running!

[colby]

Way to go colby! I am getting excited to hear about this year's installment at your race! Do you have a new and awesome swim cap again?

I had a full brick (really, it was another olympic distance tri, but on my own this weekend!) on saturday. Sunday, I had a 12 mile run and the last 5 were really hard miles. My legs are spent. I get to start tapering this sunday though! I am doing the HIM in Kansas weekend after next! (I guess an exclamation point?)

I had a friend say to me this weekend, "so half ironmans must be easy for you now, right?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I wish! Made me think of the quote my coach loves, "it never gets easy, you just get faster."

Happy running!

Heh - I saw TYR has a couple of new awesome swim caps, I might have to get one for open water swimming. It's hard to beat the nemo cap, though, it's bright and awesome at the same time.

So true. Easy is relative. :P I would add, they don't get easier, you just get more confident.