running: the dawn

Yesterday was not enough time to recover from Thanksgiving!  Today I have been dragging…  We spent the holiday in a different time zone, which really messes with my internal clock.  I’m amazed how much my body rejects my normal routine even when I’ve been off it for just a few days.  I can’t sleep in and stay up late on the weekends because then I’m dragging all week long.  So I tried to get myself up at 8am yesterday (to try to ease back into reality) but it was not pretty.

Sunday, I had a super long to-do list: unpack, laundry, run 12, Christmas shopping, grocery shopping.  But the most important thing was watching football.  Everything else gets moved around based on when my beloved Kansas City Chiefs are playing.  With that in mind and my crazy long list of food I needed to buy I decided to tackle the shopping first.  Ugh.  Our fridge was completely empty so it took forever to get everything we need.  Then ran around to four different places trying to find the perfect Christmas gifts.  The trip took WAY longer than I thought it would and didn’t get back in time to finish my run before football.

Solution: treadmill!  Mr. Dawn had his Bears on the TV and I had my Chiefs on my computer.  Between the two games I always had something to entertain me.  I didn’t realize how distracting watching football can be.  The run just flew by!  Touchdowns and interceptions.  It was so fun!  I wasn’t very fast.  For some reason I always run slower on the treadmill than I do outside…sigh…oh well.

We now find ourselves in those strange weeks “in between” Thanksgiving and Christmas.  While Mr. Dawn and I were driving home on Saturday we were bemoaning all the nutrition-less food we’d eaten in just a few short days.  Our bodies were craving good nutrient dense food.  So we have stocked up on veggies (thanks to my epically long grocery trip) and have committed to eating at least one vegetable per every meal for the next two weeks.  48 hours in and I’m feeling great!  Kale and cucumbers for breakfast–delish!  Bell peppers and celery at lunch–yum!  Tonight we had some stir fry cauliflower and a lime-cilantro coleslaw w/tomatoes and jalapeno.  Now I just need to get my sleep system back on track.

Yay for surviving the holiday season with one’s health in tact!

I dub this week a success.  I got in the miles and didn’t skip any Insanity!  Hurray.  The 5k (that wasn’t really a 5k) went off without too much pain and a happy Thanksgiving was had by all.

This week’s workouts:
Sunday: Insanity
Monday: 10 miles & Insanity
Tuesday: 6 miles, Insanity & Jazzercise
Wednesday: 5 miles & Insanity
Thursday 5.5 miles & Insanity
Friday: 5 miles & Insanity

Total Mileage:  31.5

Ok, so about those hills that I mentioned yesterday.  I was going to put all of my thoughts about hills as of late into the race report, but that made it way WAY too long.  So I decided to devote today’s end-of-the-week thoughts to hills.

Ever since I qualified for Boston, I’ve been thinking about hills.  Hills, hills, hills.  I know that Boston is a challenging course for the brutal hills especially (but not limited to) miles 17-21.  Particularly Heartbreak Hill.  I want to know as much about these obstacles as I can so that when the day comes and I get to face them I will be up for the challenge and will not be defeated.  To that end, I checked out the book 26 Miles to Boston, a mile-by-mile account of the most famous marathon in the world.  It’s written from the perspective of a first time marathoner but includes a lot of historical information about important landmarks along the way and the course subtleties that we will face along the way.  There are quotes from former champions and stories throughout the generations that really bring the race to life,  both past and present.

It just so happens that on Wednesday while we were driving to my in-law’s house I was reading (well, at least when I was not napping) the chapters that cover the most brutal part of the race: the Newton Hills.  I devoured these chapters, re-reading the sections about the hills over and over to try to squeeze as much information from them as I could.  Here are some of the best quotes I found,

The first of the three Commonweath Avenue hills is like the first punch to the face of the runner: If you’re still standing, you may proceed to the next hill.

It is impossible to do justice to the stature of the three Commonwealth Avenue hills with verbose prose.  The truth of the hills is better described by the beholders: Four-time winner Bill Rogers: “This is the most significant stretch of course in the road-racing world…there is no other section that identifies the challenge and beauty of marathoning more than this section of the Boston Marathon.”  Jean Driscoll: “The marathon is won and lost on the hills.  Those who fear the hills will falter, while those who attack the hills can win”

For me, the second hill exceeds the others in difficulty.  The first hill is attacked with great zest after the turn at the fire station.  Running up heartbreak hill is a battle within the war.  The second one just hurts.

With the fans at the top pulling and the fans behind them pushing, the runners scale to the peak of Heartbreak Hill.  For four tenths of a mile, teeth are gritted and fists are clenched until somehow the runners arrive in the Promised Land.

And it was with all of these words ringing in my head that I faced the hills of my little trail race yesterday.  Granted, none of them where of the same caliber that I will experience at Boston, but something about the description of those famous hills and the tales of people overcoming them year after year inspired me to “attack” the hills of my little Turkey Trot rather than “fear” them.  Up the first (and longest) of the hills I just kept visualizing what it was going to be like facing that first incline after running 16+ miles.  I tried to mentally capture my attitude and “learn” the feeling of attack so that when I need to tap into that in the future I will know where to look.  The second and third hills where similar.  I kept thinking, “how am I going to feel at Heartbreak Hill?  How do I want to run it?  What mental strength do I want to have?  What will be the best way to attack it?”  And then I just gutted it out.  I was SO inspired…I can’t really describe it any other way.

Now if I could just find a way to bottle my new found attraction to hills so I’ll have it in 20 weeks or so…

First off: Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  Now, buckle up, because I’m pretty sure that this is wayyyy too long for a 5k* report.

My plan was to get to the race before 8:30 in order to register, however the race didn’t actually start until 9.  I figured that since I had 5 miles on tap for the day I’d be able to register and then get a mile warm up in before the race and then finish the last mile or so after as a cool down.  We left the in-laws house just before 8.  We pulled up to the park entrance and a sign welcomed us with the words: “Trail Race.”

Um, what?!?!?!

What the random trail race?!

Now, granted this race was a small local affair without an extensive website, so I’m not surprised that I didn’t know about the trail aspect.  In fact I’m pretty sure that the only information available for this race was the PDF of the registration form that you could download.  Nowhere, anywhere were the words “trail race” used on the registration.  The words 5k were thrown around, but turns out that was more in theory rather than reality.

As soon as I saw the signs I knew that my 22:45 “guessed” finish time was out the window.  Actually, if I’m being completely honest those signs almost convinced me to get back in the car and forget the whole thing.  It rained all day yesterday and all night last night.  I was sure the trail would be muddy and ridiculous.  The bottom line was that I needed to run sometime, so I might as well do it with a crowd.  To be more realistic, I changed my estimated finish time to 25:45 and decided to turn it in and see how things went.

I was told by a volunteer that the restrooms were “over there” around a small hill, so I strapped on my garmin and jogged over to use the facilities and start my warm up.  The course was marked with little orange flags and arrows and ran right by the bathhouse.  After finishing my business I decided to go explore on the trail since I still had about a half an hour before the race was scheduled to begin.  This is when the situation became hilarious to me.  The trail was a single track, slick, muddy mess.  There were some pretty intense hills, two fallen logs across the path, several places we would have to duck under fallen trees, and a creek to wade through.

Really?  I mean…really?

I have maybe run on trails twice in my entire life.  I just decided that this would be a great big joke and I wasn’t going to push anything.  I was laughing so hard at the entire situation I could barely believe that I was going to do something this ridiculous.

We kinda lined up in a big hoard of people and I couldn’t help but shake my head and laugh as I looked around.  I had chosen to wear my racing flats, most people were in trail shoes and some were even in cleats.  The race director shot the gun and we were off.  Across a field that had turned into a swamp then right up the first of many hills.  Back across the same field and then we headed into the woods.

We weren’t allowed to wear any timing device, so I have no idea about my splits or the distances or anything.  We just ran.  In the woods it was really challenging because I was feeling great and wanted to pick up the pace but the trail was so narrow it was next to impossible to pass people.  Then we got to the section that I had warmed up on and I turned on the juice.  Turns out that knowing the course was a HUGE help.  I would hang right behind people on the downhills and then as soon as we got to an uphill I would burn right past them.  Sometimes I had to jump into or through some brush in order to get around people, but it was totally worth it!

Turns out: I can get down right competitive.  Usually, on road races, I am not really aware of the people running around me.  I just zone out to my surroundings and tune in to my pace/time/stride.  I don’t ever notice when I pass people or when people pass me.  Today?  I felt like a sniper.  Someone would be in front of me and then they were in my crosshairs.  The whole thing turned into a game full of strategy and attack.  And I LOVED it.  The hills did not feel hard instead I looked forward to them because they were an opportunity to dominate.  I really do think that the muscle strength I’ve been gaining from Insanity helped on the hills.  As I was lifting my knees high and pumping my arms I was thanking good ol’ Sean T.

When I crossed the finish line there was no timing so I still had no idea what my finishing time was.  But the lady who took my tear off bib number told me I was 5^th woman!  Seriously?  Man, if I had known that I would have taken things a little more seriously, cause I know I finished two steps behind one of those girls.

We hung out for long enough to see the turkeys (prizes) given away and find out that I actually finished in 22:46!!!!  Should have left my original guess.  Blast!  Now, just to clarify, this was a short course.  I believe we heard that the first place guy finished in 14:xx.  They change the course every year and make sure to not tell people if its short or long so that it makes the guessing more of a “crap shoot” and/or to even the playing field.

So basically I have no idea how fast or far I actually ran…but it was really fun!

My favorite part?  The hills!  More on that tomorrow…

Now, Mr. Dawn is coloring with our niece:

This morning I had a rude awakening.  I didn’t realize how used to the warm fall weather that we’ve been having these past few weeks.  Apparently I’ve been spoiled.  I headed out for my five miles with just one layer on.  True, I had long pants and a long sleeve shirt, but this did little to protect me from the brutal wind.

When I turned the first corner into a vicious head wind I remembered what running in the winter is like.  Numbness of the skin.  Watery eyes.  Trying to catch my breath as the wind whisks it away.   Frozen eyelashes.  Talk about a good time!

Next time, I’ll be prepared!

So, yeah.  Tomorrow is my 5k.  The one that I am supposed to guess my finishing time.  I have NO IDEA what to expect.  Here’s the information I have to go on:

• Current 5k PR: 24:51.  This is from 2007.  I did not train for it at all, I just went and ran with a friend from work.  I have never done 5k specific training.
• According to McMillan I should be capable of finishing in 22:36, based on my recent marathon.  However, since then I have not done any speed work or any runs over 10 miles.
• I am well aware that I am not speedy.  Some people are fast and have to work on building endurance.  For me, endurance comes more naturally…its the speed that really taxes my abilities.  Pretty much nothing scares me more than 5k’s.

I asked my students what I should use for a prediction.  My student who is currently training for her first marathon (Have I mentioned her?  She said that I inspired her!  Makes me so proud.) said that I should try to finish in under 22 minutes.  Whew.  That seems unlikely.  Maybe I can hope for sub-23?

Suggestions are welcome!

Ok, so I know I’ve been MIA for several days.  Mr. Dawn and I went away for the weekend and I thought that I’d have internet.  Turns out: nope!  But it really was a blessing in disguise.  I was able to enjoy everything about the weekend and pour myself into spending time with dear friends that we don’t get to see often.  We played games, watched hockey, played more games, ate yummy Indian food, and learned how to press honey (our friend keeps bees and let us enjoy the rich flavors of raw honey).  All in all, it was a fabulous weekend and the perfect get-away!

Before I forget last week’s numbers:

Sunday: 8 miles & Insanity
Monday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Tuesday: 6 miles, Insanity, & Jazzercise
Wednesday: 4 miles & Insanity
Thursday: 6 miles & Jazzercise
Friday: nothing

Total miles: 24

If you look closely enough you’ll see that I missed two full days of Insanity.  Yes, it has been haunting me.  With so much going on getting ready to leave for the weekend and grading and running, I just wasn’t able to fit it in.  The chart on my fridge with the two missed workouts stares at me daily.  But, such is life and now I will just move on.

After we got back from our fabulous weekend yesterday I had so much laundry and cleaning to do that I didn’t get my long run in.  Which means I got to do it today!  And guess what?  It was raining all day!  I took this as a blessing because with all the reading I’ve been doing about Boston the one warning that I’ve heard over and over again is to be prepared for any and all weather circumstances.  I know that I’ll get in some winter snow/sleet runs, but wasn’t sure if I’d get any rain this late in the fall.  I did 10 miles and it felt really good once I started.  I did get dumped on near the end when a huge thunderstorm moved in.  Mr. Dawn graciously came to pick me up so I didn’t have to walk the 1.5 miles to my front door (I always have a cool-down walk before I get to my house).

The weekend did throw off my sleep schedule and I’m hoping to correct that tonight and get some good sleep in early, so that I can get back on track with waking up early.

One more day of work til Thanksgiving Break!!!!  Hurray!

Today has been weird.  Now that its nearing its end I am feeling weighed down by the stress of the day.  It’s not the good kind of stress either.  The kind where there are so many fun and fabulous things going on that you run from one activity to the next without so much as a breath.  No.  Its the kind of big-girl stress that makes me wish that I was not a grown up.

Sigh.  Such is life.

You know what though?  The moment I got home I threw on my running digs and cranked up my favorite “yelling” song to go out and punish the pavement.  I had two pesky miles to finish out this week’s mileage.  I decided to beat the stress out of my body during the run.  I pulled my shirt sleeve down over g.g. (garmin) and just found my zone.  Two miles in fifteen min (7:30 pace).  Not bad.  In fact, that’s downright fast for this girl!

That’s what I love about running.  Its a place I can go to when circumstances make me feel out of control.  I am allowed to be angry, strong, and aggressive if I want to be.  I can pass through the waters of fear and doubt and come out refreshed and renewed.  I can reclaim my power.  I can beat out all my anxiety and frustration.

In case you missed it on Friday, I shared a link to a video about how to objectively analyze your marathon.  The idea is to lay out the mile splits from 6 through 20 (I did all 26 for kicks and giggles), include any elevation change, course, and anecdotal information that you can remember.  Then you can see how all the elements affected your pace.  I wish that I would have done this analysis closer to my last race which was 4 weeks ago now (tomorrow’s my one-month BQ anniversary, but who’s counting?).  I feel like there might be pieces of data that I’ve already forgotten about.  So, even though it’s not ideal here is what I have come up with:

notes of clarification: I ran with a 10 oz. water bottle with a 50/50 mix of water and Gatorade that I exchanged with my friend Andi at different spots along the way.  So, I always had access to fluids.  The elevation is tricky for me to put into numbers, so I just looked at the highest and lowest points for each mile and did my best to estimate the feet gained or lost.

Honestly, I’m not sure what to do with this information now…

One way to look at it is the number of miles over/under my goal.  I wanted to run conservatively and hit even splits ranging between 8:20 and 8:25.  10 of my miles were over this goal and 4 were under.  Pink=over, Blue=under.

I’m seriously trying to figure out what this can tell me about what I should be doing differently.  I would love to figure out why I felt so HORRIBLE from mile 20 to 25.  The good news was that I was still able to churn out 3 goal pace miles during my emotional meltdown (don’t know what I’m talking about…check it out here).

So…what do we think?  If you were my coach what would you tell me to do differently?  How can I learn to run strong from the first step until the last?  I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!!

Anyone else planning on doing the analysis?  I’d love to link to anyone else that’s interested in sharing what you’ve been learning about your race.  Let me know if you do a post with a race analysis!

I am a woman that loves numbers almost as I love seeing the numbers improve.  That is probably the main reason why I’m putting myself through the Insanity program.  I’m not much into all the jumping and yelling in the dvd’s, but I have to admit that I am seeing and feeling improvements.  At least I’m seeing improvements in my ability to jump and slap my knees…I’m not sure when or if I’ll see a mark improvement in my running.  I feel like this program is an investment in my fitness, but I don’t feel like its going to better my long distance running.  It focuses on short bursts of power and intensity which is helpful in playing sports or running track.  Maybe I’ll see my speedwork improve after this…but I won’t be doing much of that for at least another month.

Anyway, on to the numbers.

As you can see…improvement in all areas!  I think the one that was the biggest shocker to me was the switch kicks.  Its the first move in the “Fit Test” and I didn’t look at my previous number until after I finished.  Seriously? More than double?  I’ll take it!  I’m starting to get numbers much closer to the individuals on the dvd.  And because of my selective-competitiveness, I am hope to be able to kick their butts by the end of the 2 months .

The moment Mr. Dawn handed me the envelope my heart stopped.  I’d seen the postcards all over blog land of people being accepted into the Boston Marathon, but this was an envelope.  Had something gone wrong?  Was there some obscure requirement that I hadn’t fulfill and they were sending me the runner’s equivalent of a “Dear John” letter?  For a moment I wondered how different I would feel if I wasn’t going to be running Boston 2011…Then, with fear and trepidation I opened the envelope.

HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!  It was the postcard that I had been expecting.  Enter happy dance.  Literally, jumping around the living room, kitchen, hallway.  Shaking.  Shrieking.  Singing, “I am going to Boston, I am going to Boston!” over and over again.

Mr. Dawn’s question was, “Didn’t you already know you were accepted?  Like, wasn’t there an email?”

“Well, yes, but now its for sure.”

“It wasn’t for sure before?”

“I guess it was….but this feels more real.”

“Why?”

“……..cause……cause I can hang it on the fridge ”

Apparently to me, refrigerator art=reality.  I’m not crazy, right?

I can tell that it is the end of the week because of the tension I feel between my shoulder blades.  All in all, I feel 100% better about this week then last.

This week’s workouts:
Sunday: Insanity & 6 miles
Monday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Tuesday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Wednesday: Insanity & 4 miles
Thursday: Insanity & Jazzercise
Friday: Insanity & 5 miles

Total Miles: 15

I am happy to report that I felt no pain or tightness behind my knee on my run today.  I’m pretty sure that it was just a result of a super tight hamstring.  I’ve been stretching that out at every opportunity.  Another suggestion was that maybe something I’m doing has slightly changed my stride (thanks ERG at Elkton Runner!) and that got me to thinking.  The only thing that I did differently on that run was consciously hold my pace in the prescribed “recovery” zone of 9:30-10:00 minutes per mile.  Since I’ve gotten used to running at a faster pace I started to wonder if that would have changed my stride enough to effect my knee.  I’m not completely sure, but I decided to not restrain myself as much when I went running today and it felt much better.  Hmmm…I’ll have to see what that means going forward with my recovery pace…

I watched an interesting video today from Marathon Nation: Marathon Nation: Post Race Analysis. Basically he lays out a way to try to be objective about your “marathon story” so that you can learn and improve your racing techniques.  He describes how we all tend to “fill in the gaps” in our race story.  As we tell our story over and over again it becomes similar to a work of fiction with the highs and lows dramatized for effect.  Then we end up with a useless tale that doesn’t really help us to move forward or make the improvements in our training and racing.

He suggests that you write out each mile starting with mile 6 (because 1-5 are where you warm up, go too fast/slow, still feel the adrenaline) along with the split and the elevation information for the course.  Then add anecdotal information like where you took gels/water/sports drink, where you felt a head wind, etc.  Then you can more objectively see how the elements effected your pace.  You can identify trouble spots and see what else was going on to try to overcome that same lull in your pace during the next race.

And so I did, I mean that’s why I have a Garmin and all the stats that go with it, right?  But first a couple things.  I’m actually mad that I didn’t turn off the auto lap.  Since Garmins are always a little off the course mile markers I don’t like that my splits aren’t lined up with the actual miles.  Note to self: self-lap during the next race.  Then I struggle to find enough range in my mile times.  My slowest mile was 8:30, and my fastest mile (not including the kick during the last mile) was 8:14.  That’s only a 16 second difference.  Still, it has been interesting to me to write out my marathon like a timeline.  To see it all together actually helps me feel more connected to the race and what happened that day.  It’s an awesome exercise for anyone who has finished their fall marathon and has lingering questions or frustrations with their race.

Happy Weekend!  And good luck to everyone racing!