As Kate so charmingly noted in her last post, today was the 20-mile run.
The day started off overcast and a little foggy, but it wasn't terribly cold when I left the house around 7:25, and the high for the day was supposed to be 73 - a perfect day.
I threw a bunch of gatorade and gus in my car and headed out to Hines Park. This is about 23 miles from my house. When I got there, it was chaos. I was a little later than I wanted to be, and there were runners milling around all over the place. As soon as I parked and started walking over to the other runners, I saw first one and then later the other of my UM compatriots. This turned out to be the first element that made the day pretty awesome.
We got signed in and started running. The course was along the park road, first out and back 5 miles one way, then 11 the other, then an extra 4 again to make the 20. We started with a slightly faster pace than I would have chosen, but I discovered two things:
1) Having people to talk to really does make the time fly. I knew this, but had forgotten how effective it is. Not only do you not notice how long you've been running, but the distraction makes you relax enough to warm up well and get through the initial part where you think you can't possibly run for more than 15 minutes.
2) I'm actually a lot stronger than I thought. It turns out that the hills here have really been taking it out of me. With a flatter course and the blessed regular hydration stations, I had much more stamina than I've felt in the last few weeks.
The result?
I finished in about 4:16, which includes all water stops and one full mile of walking. This puts my pace at 12:48, which is a lot faster than I've done any of my long runs for the last two months. I walked mile 18, and then picked it up again for miles 19 and 20, and my pace was still under 13 for the last two miles. I'm really tired now and I know tomorrow will be rough and achey, but I don't feel completely devastated.
And now I officially start scaling back my distances to prep for race day. Hooray!!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
I can't wait!
Anya is going to run her 20-miler on Saturday and no doubt will have an awesome blog posting recapping the event soon afterwards. I can't wait and I know you can't either.
It's been great running weather here in Ann Arbor. Anya has been running in the Arb a lot lately. She says she runs there because it has monster hills (if you've never been, just imagine hills that look like the stock market over the past week) and San Francisco will be hilly as well. I think she just likes to watch the college boys who run there without their shirts on.
It's been great running weather here in Ann Arbor. Anya has been running in the Arb a lot lately. She says she runs there because it has monster hills (if you've never been, just imagine hills that look like the stock market over the past week) and San Francisco will be hilly as well. I think she just likes to watch the college boys who run there without their shirts on.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Start Spreading the News...
Ok, so I have to admit: I kind of miss running in New York City.
Ann Arbor is pretty and there are country roads and river trails to run on. But it feels kinda lonely.
There's a point when you've been running for an hour and a half when it gets a little boring, and you're a little tired, and muscles are telling you that soon they will start actively protesting, and it seems completely sensible to stop at mile 10 of your 15-mile run. Anyplace I ran in NY, there were so many other people around me running and biking, and there was a sense of camaraderie that helped sustain me the longer I went. Also I think that the city is so large that you lose a sense of the distance you've run, which is psychologically useful for continuing on.
Anyway, a recap of the past week:
I was planning on a long run last Saturday, but I woke up to a torrential downpour that continued for a great deal of the day. After it let up a little, I went out for 8 miles, but it was very difficult to breathe as the humidity was still over 90%. Sunday it was still pouring, so I went to the gym with the goal of wearing myself out. It took half an hour on the bike, an hour on the elliptical, and half an hour on the treadmill.
Tuesday we were supposed to simulate a 4-mile race by warming up for a full mile and then trying to maintain an even pace at fairly high effort for 4 miles. This is straightforward in Central Park: the paths have been measured and so you know more or less where to go for what distance. Also, there are hills but most of them aren't particularly significant. Here, there are bigger hills and anywhere I went that would be safe in the evening involves crossing a lot of streets, which isn't conducive to a steady pace. So I went to the gym to use the treadmill. When I did the Run for Central Park in July, which was a 4-mile race, my pace was 10:47. So I figured ok, it's two months later and I'm stronger, so 10:40 should be completely reasonable. Right. After 2 miles I thought I was going to pass out. I'm sure a lot of it is the treadmill, which to me feels extremely unnatural in terms of constantly keeping up an exact pace, and again is psychologically difficult to stick with, but I was kind of frustrated. Again, this weekend, I went to do a 15-mile run and came home after 13. I think the fact that I'm not sleeping enough or drinking enough water is really catching up to me. I really need to make an effort to take care of myself.
One thing that was reassuring was all along I've been thinking I have to finish in five and a half hours in order to get the finishers' goodies (running shirt, Tiffany necklace). This is an average pace of 12:35. For shorter runs, this would be no problem at all. But once I get up over 10 miles, this was getting worrisome. Although I'd like first and foremost to just through the race, it would be painfully disappointing if I didn't get the bling, in part because of what it represents. I was looking at the website the other day though, and I think it's more like 6.5 hours. This is a 14:53 pace, which even if I end up walking a chunk of it, is still reasonable.
Ann Arbor is pretty and there are country roads and river trails to run on. But it feels kinda lonely.
There's a point when you've been running for an hour and a half when it gets a little boring, and you're a little tired, and muscles are telling you that soon they will start actively protesting, and it seems completely sensible to stop at mile 10 of your 15-mile run. Anyplace I ran in NY, there were so many other people around me running and biking, and there was a sense of camaraderie that helped sustain me the longer I went. Also I think that the city is so large that you lose a sense of the distance you've run, which is psychologically useful for continuing on.
Anyway, a recap of the past week:
I was planning on a long run last Saturday, but I woke up to a torrential downpour that continued for a great deal of the day. After it let up a little, I went out for 8 miles, but it was very difficult to breathe as the humidity was still over 90%. Sunday it was still pouring, so I went to the gym with the goal of wearing myself out. It took half an hour on the bike, an hour on the elliptical, and half an hour on the treadmill.
Tuesday we were supposed to simulate a 4-mile race by warming up for a full mile and then trying to maintain an even pace at fairly high effort for 4 miles. This is straightforward in Central Park: the paths have been measured and so you know more or less where to go for what distance. Also, there are hills but most of them aren't particularly significant. Here, there are bigger hills and anywhere I went that would be safe in the evening involves crossing a lot of streets, which isn't conducive to a steady pace. So I went to the gym to use the treadmill. When I did the Run for Central Park in July, which was a 4-mile race, my pace was 10:47. So I figured ok, it's two months later and I'm stronger, so 10:40 should be completely reasonable. Right. After 2 miles I thought I was going to pass out. I'm sure a lot of it is the treadmill, which to me feels extremely unnatural in terms of constantly keeping up an exact pace, and again is psychologically difficult to stick with, but I was kind of frustrated. Again, this weekend, I went to do a 15-mile run and came home after 13. I think the fact that I'm not sleeping enough or drinking enough water is really catching up to me. I really need to make an effort to take care of myself.
One thing that was reassuring was all along I've been thinking I have to finish in five and a half hours in order to get the finishers' goodies (running shirt, Tiffany necklace). This is an average pace of 12:35. For shorter runs, this would be no problem at all. But once I get up over 10 miles, this was getting worrisome. Although I'd like first and foremost to just through the race, it would be painfully disappointing if I didn't get the bling, in part because of what it represents. I was looking at the website the other day though, and I think it's more like 6.5 hours. This is a 14:53 pace, which even if I end up walking a chunk of it, is still reasonable.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Yay Timely Posts!
Hi all, guest blogger Kate here! As Anya noted in her post, I got sick of waiting and waiting and waiting to hear about Anya's running adventures on her blog. I'm sure you all feel the same way. However, one of the many benefits of being Anya's roomie is that I often get to see Anya's running adventures as they unfold in real life. For my first ever post, I will share a very recent example: this evening, Anya ran into my room while I was dutifully studying (ok, ok, watching buffy) because she just had to show me how her running jacket matched her running shoes (both were a weird teal color) and her running shirt matched her running watch (both maroonish or something - the light is not that great in my room) and how, generally, everything she was wearing jived extremely well together. I think this is all very funny because I have been running for going on eight years now and am fairly confident that I have never walked out of the door to go for a run wearing anything that even remotely matched.
Ok, over and out for now, but I promise to try my very best to uphold my sacred oath as guest blogger and keep you all informed of Anya's running adventures!
Ok, over and out for now, but I promise to try my very best to uphold my sacred oath as guest blogger and keep you all informed of Anya's running adventures!
Introducing My New Guest Blogger!
So my roomie gets really ornery about my failure to update. Therefore, she is now a guest blogger.
Also she's a better runner than I am AND she's running the Detroit half marathon the same day that I'm running a WHOLE marathon in SF.
Hooray!
Also she's a better runner than I am AND she's running the Detroit half marathon the same day that I'm running a WHOLE marathon in SF.
Hooray!
Monday, September 8, 2008
I know, I have been slow about posting. But I didn't really run last week due to the confluence of a paper that had to written and the first week of classes.
I tried to run Saturday morning, but again forgot the Claritin. However, yesterday I had a gorgeous 8.4 mile run. Aside from about 4 raindrops the weather was perfect and I felt pretty good when I was done. I also averaged just over 12 min/mile, which is really reassuring. The arch on my right foot was giving me some pretty serious pain afterward, but today I went out and got some Superfeet insoles. They come highly recommended, so we'll see if that helps.
Tomorrow is the Arb hill. Whee!
I tried to run Saturday morning, but again forgot the Claritin. However, yesterday I had a gorgeous 8.4 mile run. Aside from about 4 raindrops the weather was perfect and I felt pretty good when I was done. I also averaged just over 12 min/mile, which is really reassuring. The arch on my right foot was giving me some pretty serious pain afterward, but today I went out and got some Superfeet insoles. They come highly recommended, so we'll see if that helps.
Tomorrow is the Arb hill. Whee!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Achey Breakey...
Oh man.
On Saturday morning, I set out to follow this route. With some minor variations of course, as I live further south. And by "minor variations" I mean "tag on the extra distance without measuring it to see how far it actually is." Right. Essentially I ran 13.75 miles and walked another 2.25, for a grand total of about 16 miles on foot.
It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny with blue skies. The roads quickly turn into country. Joy Road was actually a dirt road. With crickets. And a tiny little garter snake.
There were cyclists out in droves. I think that I amused them, shuffling along.
So all in all, it should have been a fantastic run. But as it turns out, although I carry fluids, I apparently don't carry enough for a 14-mile run in the summer heat. I'm used to refilling and supplementing them, but there are no water fountains on dirt roads in Michigan. I was also already a bit dehydrated going into this. And I sweat like nobody's business.
Also I'm just not in as good shape as I'd like to be. Consistency has been tough. And now, a couple of days later, everything still hurts. At least I can start using the gym now, so I can give my joints a break. And a friend who is also training for SF just told me about good shoe inserts for arch and joint problems, so I'll have to get on that.
Great news of the week though: "Actually, word on the street is, if you can handle Central Park's Harlem Hill, San Fran will be no sweat! For serious." That's from our team coordinator. Harlem Hill, while a pain in the ass, is a manageable pain in the ass that can be trained for. It is much better than, say, some of the hills I've been running on here, which are just torturous to the joints. I think a good plan would be for me to spend one day a week doing circuits on the hill in the Arb, one day a week on a good long run, and two days on the elliptical, plus two days of cross-training.
On Saturday morning, I set out to follow this route. With some minor variations of course, as I live further south. And by "minor variations" I mean "tag on the extra distance without measuring it to see how far it actually is." Right. Essentially I ran 13.75 miles and walked another 2.25, for a grand total of about 16 miles on foot.
It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny with blue skies. The roads quickly turn into country. Joy Road was actually a dirt road. With crickets. And a tiny little garter snake.
There were cyclists out in droves. I think that I amused them, shuffling along.
So all in all, it should have been a fantastic run. But as it turns out, although I carry fluids, I apparently don't carry enough for a 14-mile run in the summer heat. I'm used to refilling and supplementing them, but there are no water fountains on dirt roads in Michigan. I was also already a bit dehydrated going into this. And I sweat like nobody's business.
Also I'm just not in as good shape as I'd like to be. Consistency has been tough. And now, a couple of days later, everything still hurts. At least I can start using the gym now, so I can give my joints a break. And a friend who is also training for SF just told me about good shoe inserts for arch and joint problems, so I'll have to get on that.
Great news of the week though: "Actually, word on the street is, if you can handle Central Park's Harlem Hill, San Fran will be no sweat! For serious." That's from our team coordinator. Harlem Hill, while a pain in the ass, is a manageable pain in the ass that can be trained for. It is much better than, say, some of the hills I've been running on here, which are just torturous to the joints. I think a good plan would be for me to spend one day a week doing circuits on the hill in the Arb, one day a week on a good long run, and two days on the elliptical, plus two days of cross-training.
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