Sneezy

Ever since I got back to Michigan, my sinuses have been all wonky and my breathing has felt slightly labored when I run. I've always had sinus problems, but I've rarely experienced definite allergies (and all the tests were negative). But apparently the ragweed is so bad here that it's affecting even me. It sucks, but at least I know why I'm so miserable.

Yesterday I ran 5.25 miles with minimal hills. I averaged about 12 min/hr, which is disturbingly slow to me at this point, but I'm willing to cut myself a little slack for the ragweed and the completely inconsistent schedule. I need to get out and do a long run tomorrow, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. Why did I decide this was a good idea while I'm in law school?

Better Late Than Never

So it's been awhile. And the roomie keeps bugging me to update. So here I am.

Things have been a bit hectic, so my running has been more erratic than I would like. I moved out of the NYC apartment on August 10, the day after my 14-mile run. 8 hours in an air-conditioned car after that run and after spending most of the summer in constant motion wreaked not a small amount of havoc on my muscles and joints.

A couple of days later I ventured out into my parents' rabbit-warren of twisting suburban streets to try to replicate the speed "test" we did earlier in the summer. The kids in NY would be doing it later that day, so I thought I should too. I mapped out a mile. I did a little warm-up. I started running fast. And it kinda sucked a lot. Also, I forgot the Claritin again. So I settled for a very short run and headed back to the house before I got too annoyed with myself.

At the end of the week I was again in the car and on my way to Ann Arbor. The day after I moved, I did a 9.5-mile run. It was a challenge to map out a coherent route of that length in this small town, and I ended up writing it out on a piece of paper that I carried wrapped in a baggie in my wrist wallet. I always knew there were some hills in Ann Arbor, but I didn't fully appreciate the extent of them until that run. I felt like I was on level ground maybe 20% of the time. Most places that I ran that seemed flat were at a slight incline, and a couple of the hills were pretty intense. Given the hills, the moving, and the irregularity of my schedule, I know I should be glad I did as much as I did, but it was a bit discouraging after the 14-mile run.

Last Wednesday I started a cross-training routine using a book I got last spring and a couple of 5-lb hand weights. Right now the whole thing takes me about 45+ mins, but once I get into the rhythm it should get faster. I'm planning to do this twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. That gives me 6 workouts a week and one day off. I might switch it up by using the machines at the gym sometimes, and also by replacing one or two of my running days with an elliptical machine to take some of the stress off my joints. But that will have to wait until I can start using the school gym (next week. sigh.).

I should have run 15 miles on Saturday, but I was in Atlanta at a conference, and there was no way I was going to be able to put aside 3 hours. So I settled for an hour on the treadmill in the cardio room at the hotel. While the fresh towels and the a/c were nice, the treadmill was so unbelievably boring, and I didn't like the unnatural feeling of maintaining an exact pace. It was way better than trying to run outside though.

I'm feeling a little stressed about losing my schedule, but I also know that it's a temporary thing and it hasn't really been that long. We just got a "catch-up" schedule from the coaches, and the email said we should follow it if we've run less than 11 miles. So I'm not quite "behind" yet. Also I need to start hydrating again.

One more thing: I will be having some fundraisers soon. I'll be posting details, and if you're around you should come by.

So...Tired...

Despite my near inability to move right now, today was pretty great.

We were supposed to meet at Riverside Park up at W 72nd St this morning. I was out a little late last night and by the time I got up and got myself together, I was running quite late. By the time I got there, everyone had already left and Ramon was teasing me. I was already frustrated b/c I assumed the run would involve the WS HWY route, which I live near and could have done on my own. I was really not sure why I bothered getting up that morning, aside from it being my last run with the NYC team until the marathon. But it's a good thing I did. This morning the city closed Park Ave to vehicle traffic and turned it over to the pedestrians and bikers, and I had no idea. So essentially the plan was to run along the river, then cut over to Park around 14th St or Houston, depending on how long we wanted to run. I had decided to try for about 12 miles, thinking I would walk if it got to be too much. I was loaded up with gu and water and Gatorade. It was a glorious day with a fresh breeze and dazzling sunshine, and not nearly as hot as it has been.

At 14th St I talked to one of the coaches who suggested going up Park and then doing a loop in Central Park to add some mileage, since 72nd to 14th is just under 3 miles. I was kinda cruising, though, and I ended up at 2nd Ave before I realized that I had way over-shot. I think I was looking for a Park Ave sign and forgot about the name change. So I jumped back over and ran up Park and holy crap. It was so beautiful, and there weren't that many people out yet (it was around 9-9:30), and there was something truly amazing about being able to run up the middle of that huge street. Then we got to take the ramp up to Grand Central and around the back. Not for the first time, I desperately wished for a tiny camera I could clip to my fuel belt.

At 72nd, I entered the Park and headed north. I took a loop around the reservoir (about 1.6 miles), then came back out at E 90th and kept on going north until I hit the 102nd St transverse. By this time I was beginning to hurt, and if I'd been sure one of the smaller paths was more direct I would have cut across earlier. I walked across the transverse, then steeled myself for the push back to W 72nd. It started to get a little scary at that point. I knew I was going to far exceed the 2.5 hours I planned to be out, and because I was late to begin with I was afraid people would be getting worried (we have a bag watch and my crap was there). I was also not sure whether I should just grab a cab and have them wait for me to get my wallet from the park or what, because I wasn't sure that I would even be able to walk all the way back. Somehow, though I kept going. Near the end I actually sped up. This happens to me a lot: I think I can't possibly go another step, and then I realize how close I am to the end and suddenly get faster. More proof that distance running is a great deal about psychological preparation.

When I got home I actually rushed back out with a camera to take advantage of the views of Grand Central just before they opened the avenue back up. Then I hightailed it back home, where I'm now sitting in a daze. I checked the distance. Before this, 10.5 miles was my longest run. Today, when I'd aimed for something like 12, I ended up with almost 14. I was running for just over 3 hours and my pace was about 13:11. 14 freakin miles. No wonder my arches are screaming, especially following 3 days of long walks.

Entertainment

Coach Ramon sends some of the most entertaining emails.

For example:

hola;
Questions of the week:

-did you behave on saturday's run?

-Did you pace yourself?

-did you hydrate properly?

-are you practicing nutrition?

-who do you want to win on so you think you can dance? I vote for Katee :) she is the bomb !! did you see on her last Paso doble? admirable !!!

Give all those questions some good thought, and try to work on what you think you can improve, that's what the workouts and saturday runs are for, to learn and to fix things.
Specially the last question. You don't want to have second thoughts during your marathon or half marathon about who you should have voted for, do you? can you imagine yourself at mile 18 of the marathon thinking, "I should have voted to Joshua, I should have vote for Joshua" instead of thinking about your pacing, breathing, hydrating....

He then goes on to tell us about tonight's workout: the Harlem Hill. It's gonna be fun...

The Weather is Better in SF, Right?

Tuesday night we ran up and down a long hill at the north end of Central Park, which is one of the less fun parts of the park to run when you're doing a full loop. It's beautiful, but a giant pain in the ass. The last time I ran it, I wasn't in such good shape though, so it was ok. Because of the knee issues, I took it easy and hung out with someone I met at practice recently. Her pace is a little slower than my normal pace, which is good because hills are really rough on your joints and then I also had someone to talk to, which took my mind off the endless circle of up and down.

I talked to one of the coaches about the knee thing and (to my immense relief) she said it was totally normal and I should do icing, as well as cross-training. I've been avoiding working on my legs because squats, etc., tend to make the pain worse. So as soon as I get back to AA, I'm going to take advantage of the free gym use and start using the machines to strengthen everything. I find it so much easier when I can control the amount of weight and stress I'm putting on my joints.

Today was the first time in a while that I got a little nervous about the marathon. My goal was to run as close to 12 miles as I could bear. I ran about 10.4 miles this morning, and although I started off feeling pretty good, I felt like I wanted to crawl by the time I was done. I ate a huge post-run breakfast, drank a ton, took a long nap in the early afternoon, ate more, and I'm still feeling tired and ravenous. It's the kind of hunger that feel like it could be partially thirst. This all sounds normal I guess, but I wasn't feeling nearly this beat after last weekend's run, which was close to the same distance and involved some really awful hills.

My immediate instinct is to get upset, but the following factors are probably the issue:
- I ran almost 5 miles on Thursday night, which is about a mile more than I've been doing on Thursdays (and I haven't been that consistent about running on Thursdays at all).
- I went to bed at 1:30am and got up at 7:00am.
- I had 4 alcoholic drinks last night, which were spread out but still a lot for me considering how little drinking I've been doing and also the dehydration factor.
- I stupidly ate a giant slice of pumpkin cheese pie at about 12:30am while waiting for the F train post-drinks. It seemed like an awesome idea at the time, but cheese is not great on the stomach, especially given the digestive issues that tend to accompany long runs and dehydration.
- There was no way I was getting up early enough this morning to eat and digest something, so my only pre-run caloric consumption was an energy gel and some gatorade.
- It was RIDICULOUSLY humid this morning, and also hot.
- I was wearing cropped pants that have probably a bit too much cotton in them since I hadn't made the time to do laundry in a while and all my more weather-appropriate bottoms were way too disgusting to put on.
- I'm PMSing, which aside from all the hormonal fun also dehydrates me like crazy.
- I was probably a bit too confident at the beginning and should have keep a slower pace to start with - not only would it probably not have affected my overall super slow pace (I was really dragging by the end), but I might have been able to keep it up for longer.

In short, I was a walking/running/crawling demonstration of all the things one should NOT do before trying to run long distance.
I guess I should be thankful that I could still put in some respectable mileage and still do laundry and go play at 5th Ave stores in the same day. I mean really. 2 months ago I couldn't fathom 10.4 miles. I still have 2.5 months until race day. In that time, who knows what I'll accomplish?