Dash's Bites

Three Things Thursday | Crackle - Crack - Old

2012-02-09T15:54:00.002-05:00

My knees been bothering me since my last post, I think it was the yoga class I attended, she seemed determined in this class, to conform my crooked legs into yoga-riffic poses. Poor genetics will almost always win. I also think just before that class, I slipped a little on some sleet, which may have tweeked it. Afterwards, I tried to switch to pool running a little more and that seemed to help. I thought it was fixed...
So I went to tempo two Fridays ago to test it out. It felt pretty good the first few laps and then started to not feel good. A few steps later I heard a large CRACK, screamed, but somehow managed not to fall or trip any of my teammates as I limped off the track. I somehow lucked out with no bruising or swelling and in some ways, my knee actually felt better than it had since last fall when it was bothering me, but I couldn't put weight on it without limping and climbing up stairs was a one at a time thing.

Knee with Osteoarthritis

I was sure I was headed for the scapel and saw the Ortho a week ago Wed. He said the CRACK appeared to be arthritis related, as the X-Rays show no structural damage. He diagnosed it as an acute arthritic flare-up (he also reinforced some 25+ years of bad news, gave me some new "down the road" ideas to keep staving off the eventual knee replacement (science does keep progressing) and the advice of maintaining the previous plan of action once this flare-up calms down). Finally after a week of non-activity, I've been able to introduce pool running back into my life and it does seem as though it's getting better. It's still not perfect, definitely not run-able and I've shelved any plans of PR's and races for this season. Yes, I have the knees of an 80 year old - I think I'm aging well, when I was 15 my knee surgeon said I had the knees of a 70 year old.

I do hope to be able to run in a few weeks, but it will take some courage, because that CRACK hurt. A lot. If that's just the osteoarthritis and that pain may occur at any old time, it does give me some pause.

We'll just have to see what happens. On the other end of the spectrum, I hate you all - you are all kicking ass and are going to rock your races. I'm seriously jealous of you all, but I'm going to feel better just by cheering you on and if I can, taking some kick-ass race pictures of you all.

Now, not just cross training, the only training. Thank goodness I got a nano for Xmas!

Friday Randoms - Living Like a Runner

2012-01-13T04:39:00.000-05:00

"As we start 2012, let's remember that the ability to run fast does not come exclusively from your running workouts. If you want to be the best runner you can be, you have to commit to paying attention to all aspects of your lifestyle and make sure that you're eating properly, getting sufficient rest, doing your stretching and strengthening work, and of course, staying well hydrated. If you neglect those important non-running elements of your training, you are very likely going to be very disappointed with your race results." - Coach George via the CAR newsletter

Last week began the New Year and the need to get back into the mindset of training. The week started off a little wicked, but I was determined to get back into it. By Friday my body seemed to click into the groove and presented me with the fastest tempo run since Sept. My long run on Sunday didn't skip a beat either, it was a perfect progression run. I somehow walked away from the week with peak training mileage. Whoops.
This week wasn't quite as easy going as last week. I went to our hill workout on Tuesday and my super duper, bright as the sun headlamp was dim. I spent half the workout running slow as to avoid the ruts in the road before deciding to screw it and go home to get my mileage there, without the worry of speed work. I was angry with myself as I wanted to re-charge it but was given misdirection that it was still bright and I would ruin the battery by charging it prior to it dying out. The good news is my headlamp is now fully charged. So Peeps - expect an interrogation the next time I see you.
Pool Running! I figured out yesterday that I can fit in a 2 hour pool run (instead of a 90 minute one) on Wed and still have time to lift weights. I also managed to throw in some mimic 400's to make up for my shoddy hill workout the previous day. It seemed awesome at the time, but then I wound up working what seemed to be the longest day ever (it really wasn't, it just seemed that way). We'll see if I adjust positively to 2 hour pool runs or need to switch it back to 90 minutes. For the most part I plan on following last summers routine (but really doing the yoga part) and hoping for similar results.
YOGA! I've done yoga the last 2 Fridays and it feels great. When I took my week off from running and did hot yoga, I discovered that one of my clubs trainers was an instructor. She told me she did a super-secret class at the club and that I could come. I finally made it out and now am trying to make it a weekly ritual. Last Friday was the first time I did yoga the same day as, not only a run, but a tempo run (and my fastest tempo since Sept - pay attention!). It was much harder...
As you may know, I like to get my protein in. Besides Muscle Milk, Chicken, Skim Milk and Boca Burgers, I like to eat canned Albacore Tuna. Last week I found a huge bone in my StarKist. Gross. So, while at Costco I decided to try their brand (Kirkland) of Albacore Tuna. No lie, it was the most delicious canned tuna I've ever, ever had. Apparently, I'm not the first to discover this. Here are the FDA guidelines on mercury in fish & shell fish for Women who might become pregnant, are pregnant, are nursing and young children.
I don't have any races coming up soon (that I plan to truly race), so I'm just focusing on going through all the motions as though I do and paying attention to all the things Coach G says. Staying Hydrated. Booze is for Holidays. Eating right. Not missing workouts. Keeping my headlamp charged. Progressive long runs. Stretching after all runs. Adequate sleep.
I made a last minute change on my NYE race and decided to run an earlier in the day 5k (Ringing in Hope) after finding out that Bull Run, once again, changed it's course map. This time they wanted to run the first 1.5 miles on a gravel road (which is stupid, by the way, but possibly less stupid than taking us by the outdoor shooting range as in years past). I wound up without a PR (holidays=high spirits=too many spirits), but I did wind up coming in 3rd overall. Not a bad end to the racing year!
2012 Reston New Years Day 5k. I was there supporting my peeps and taking pictures. I didn't snap the entire race, but a good portion. Maybe I caught you? Here is the link to them.

Post Race I was Congratulating Peeps like a MoFo.

Wordless Wednesday - Happy New Year - 2012

2012-01-04T11:42:00.001-05:00

The Mafia thinks they can pull off the Happy New Year tiara better than me. Sorry guys, you do look cute, just not THIS cute:

They did however, manage to have the best race report of 2011 over here.

Happy New Year!

I am F-I-E-R-C-E. 2011 Year End Recap.

2011-12-19T14:08:00.002-05:00

Well, this year isn't as an exciting recap year as last years, but it was still filled with some good stuff and learning lessons. I'm also going to add some of Miss Zippy's year end post questions to this recap, just to keep it interesting (those items will be in magenta).

Original 2011 Goals: I set some goals for myself this year, which were to PR the 10k and the 10 miler. I successfully PR'd the 10k with 42:14 at Pikes Peak 10k. I did not succeed with the 10 miler. I had been aiming for a PR @ ARMY 10 miler, but wound up injuring my knee the week before the race and it wasn't where I had hoped.

*Best Race Experience*

Three weeks prior to ARMY, I ran the Philly Half Marathon, where I PR'd by >1 minute. In that race, I hit the 10 mile mark in 1:10:03. So while I didn't officially PR the 10 miler, I kind of did. :)
Also in Philly Half Marathon, I got to run with a teammate for almost the whole race. I was really unsure how it would work out, as in the past, I have been unable to deliver. I think it's because I have to be the one to set the pace in the beginning. This time it worked out really well, and we took turns leading (me first). I also didn't feel like I held back my teammate, as he wound up finishing a whole minute ahead of me!
I didn't PR the 5k this year, (although I still have one left on NYE), but I did win 2 of the ones I ran! (this one and this one)

Good Vibes: Besides this great sports bra from 2010:

I found another one that's just as fun and motivating:

Thanks Again for the uniform, Nike

*Best Piece of Running Advice* I ran a tempo in the spring with Coach George, he thought a lot of my primal scream issues were more akin to panic attacks. He told me to slow down, breath right and relax. I started to, which led me to:

*BEST RUN* In September, 3 months after the above tempo run, I ran these amazing mile repeats, comfortably, without yelping like a collie:

it's the awesome workout that convinced me to run the Philly Half.
Fuel Up: I discovered Roctane (Thanks Amy!) and GU Brew Electrolyte Tablets. I was finally able to fuel my runs and not hurt my stomach in the process. My long runs were finally able to finish in a fury, like this one in the August humidity and heat:

splits 2 and 6 were in tunnels and lost time.
Long Run Change: I switched my long runs back to Sunday and started taking Saturday's off. My long runs started feeling much stronger (see above)

I got ripped. I started lifting weights 3 X a week instead of 2X. My weight remained the same, but I was clearly much leaner (thanks to you too, Muscle Milk):

2011, lifting 3X a week
*Best New Piece of Running Gear* My favorite item I found to use, was the Gas Cap Endurance Visor. I was able to carry my water bottle and wear my Gas Cap Visor to hold my Roctane in. (you can buy a Gas Cap by visiting their website and use the code "DCRun" to purchase one at 10% off!). I actually found it to use last year, but really didn't implement it's usage until this year. It was even better than I imagined!

*Most Inspirational Runner* There are so many, I think most of the members on my team inspire me everyday, it would be too difficult to narrow it down to one.

Race-Aholic Winner: I wound up lucky enough to win our Club's Female Masters Runner of the Year award. There was another masters runner in our group who is a complete animal in the marathon, but Coach concluded that I out-raced her for the year. Running a million races a year can lead to something good.

Goals for 2012:

PR THAT FRIGGIN' 10 MILER! I really want to see 69:xx. I got into Cherry Blossom 10 miler in April. Fingers crossed. (I know AJH is running!)
PR the 5k. This is so dicey. 5k's are very difficult for me, I just don't think I have the pain threshold for it, but I'd like to try!
PR the Mile. I'm going to try to attend a few of these indoor track miles this January.
Meet and run a race with Miss Zippy!

Visit Miss Zippy's post and give her your answers! Happy Holidays!

Jingle All the Way 8k - Race Report

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday was our local holiday race, Jingle All the Way 8k. In previous years it was a 10k at Hains Point, this year for capacity, they moved the location to the same location as the St. Patrick's Day 8k. I was slightly disappointed because I LOVE the JAW 10k course, but the later start time, meant I could sleep in longer, which wound up working well.

I arrived at the race early and got some text from my CAR peeps looking for a warm place to hang and store their gear, before heading down to do our warm up. We found a few of our other teammates and began to warmup.

We had some time to drop our warm up gear back into the car and headed to the start line in our racing gear, with a few minutes to spare. I popped my Roctane and proceeded to the corrals.

I ran into another teammate, and we discussed goals. My goal this race was to run it as a tempo and just have fun. I was hoping would be under 35 minutes.

The race director then announced that the police needed them to delay the race start 10-15 minutes (it is DC). It was in the low 30's, so it was a bit chilly waiting for the race to begin. My only regret with the delay was that I had just popped my Roctane and was now just standing around shivering and chatting. But it was fun, I got to chat with lots of people that I don't normally see.

They finally announced the run would begin and off we went. I didn't watch my watch at all. Not even the first mile to make certain I wasn't going too fast. I felt comfortable, and didn't see a mile marker until mile 3. The next two seemed as though I was running faster and when I crossed the line, 34:39. When I reviewed my watch, the 4th mile seemed rather slow, but I click with the mile markers, so maybe one of those were out of place.

So pretty boring race report, but it was a fun race as always and the weather was great!

Afterwards, we cheered one of our teammates who is amazing and won the women's race for the 2nd year in a row, (wearing reindeer antlers) and also our fast teammates, who scored us #2 in the team competition. We also celebrated a couple of HUGE PR's! Nice!

Post race, Santa congratulated us:

Santa Rocks the RED too.

Post, Post Race, our teammates recovered with some Muscle Milk, to which we discovered was Kosher as well as delicious.

Getting Ready to do a Rockettes move!

The end! :)

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays!

Wordless Wednesday - Hot Choc & Run w Santa Swag

2011-12-15T16:48:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know it's Thursday. Sorry!

First, the only good thing to be gotten from the Hot Chocolate race, this chocolate Hoody!

Who's Gangsta?

Then, the reason I ran the Run with Santa 5k the next day, this cute shirt! (Santa hat not included)

I'll have a very unexciting Jingle All the Way 8k Race Report soon! ;)

Hot Chocolate 15k & Run with Santa 5k Race Reports

2011-12-04T13:53:00.001-05:00

"Nice running break you're on." -Coach George, commenting on the break I told him I so desperately needed from running followed by two races in two days. I think what he was trying to say was, "You're an idiot."

So, I won't completely bore you with a ton of the drama surrounding the Hot Chocolate 15k Debacle of the Decade. If you are living in the DC area, are a runner or have any access at all to Facebook, you've pretty much surmised, it was a catastrophe and will probably go down in history as the worst race in DC history, followed by the notorious DC Marathon that never took place. Darkwave's Race Report is pretty epic and pretty much sums it all up.

I will further add that not once did I spy the subject of my affection, that drove me to decide to run the race, but all might be forgiven for a case of these delightful goodies:

Ghiradelli Pumpkin Spice Caramel Chocolates

So the (not so) short of it: In the weeks leading up to the race, we were lucky enough to have Darkwave keeping us alert to the logistics nightmare and making us aware that trying to actually race this beast, could possibly be a disaster. Our main goal in the race was to get there and be able to walk away undamaged.

I believe our CAR, car mate said it best when we pulled up to the parking lot, "I think the logistics of the race were set in such a way as to weed out the weak." We laughed at that as we parked 5 feet from the start line 2 hours to the official race start, enjoying our front row seats to the show.

My awesome and hilarious CAR car-mates, after 1st potty break at 6:15 am
We're all smiles before the show began!

We basically all kept warm in the car with the 1 hour delayed start by reading the comments left on the race's FB page! My favorite comment was the person who left the simple:

*Sigh*

Another favorite: "oh yeah, thanks of the crappy jacket, I wouldn't bury my girlfriends dog in it".

As I mentioned earlier, I've been feeling blah lately and decided to take almost a week off from running (but did get to do 3 days in a row of Hot Yoga #Icantouchmytoes) and run the race for fun.

With the exception of all the logistic issues we had with the race, I am pleased to announce that of the 3 times I went potty pre-race, there were no lines, which is definitely a win.

I was also pleasantly surprised after the race when I looked at my watch and saw my race time of 1:07:44 for the 15k (which was a short course, most likely closer to 9 miles).

Yet another instance of being pleasantly surprised was when I noted how beautiful the second half of the course was. I remember thinking, finally a race picture with a beautiful water background. No such luck as the marathonfoto guys were on the harbor side and seemed to be taking pictures with the business buildings in the background. The photos are posted and I got a little bit of water, but not what I was hoping for.

That's DC Rainmaker behind me, he posted his race report here, complete with a pictures; one of which is my butt!! Sorry Amy!

I was lucky to bring my camera/video camera and catch some pretty hilarious moments of our drive in and dealings with the officers directing traffic in a continuous circle, ala National Lampoons European Vacation ("look kids, Big Ben. Parliament. Look kids, Big Ben. Parliament."), which I will post once I've had time to edit out our driver's insane potty mouth. Or maybe it was mine...

Again, if you're asking, but what happened? It's best to just read Darkwave's report. I will note that one of our runners, was very pleased with the chocolate at the finish line, but I'm not naming names.

The next morning, I was set to meet up my pal Kathy, as she was running the Run with Santa 5k being held 2 miles from my house.

This was a race I really wanted to run, then signed up for Hot Chocolate only to realize it was the next day. Anyway, she alerted me she was doing it on Thursday and I thought it would be fun to at least meet her, run it for the super cute shirt (coming this wordless Wednesday) and cool down with her.

I was debating if I could pace her the first mile. The toughest part of pre-race was determining what to wear, after the time away from running, I chose my CW-X compression shorts, which left me feeling the need to apologize to everyone who running behind me. (The toughest part of the post-race was telling Coach George how I ended my running break, "ahem, I am an idiot.")

We went off and everything seemed good. We paced each other the first mile and the downhill portion came up and I picked it up. I still felt okay and when we hit the 2nd mile, it became a game of trying to finish strong, but not pick it up, since the last mile has some killer uphill sections and lands on an uphill, to which I was sure to die from. I wound up with a 21:40 and 2nd in my AG, which was a bit surprising given yesterday and the time off recently.

Kathy and I did a cool down and then posed with one of our admirers:

Yup, 2nd and 3rd in our AG puts us on Santa's NICE list. (Which is Very Nice!)

I also ran into a friend from the gym and we (too easily) coerced each other to do another cool down in the pool, which was just what my legs needed!

Next week is Jingle All the Way 8k, I plan to run it the way I did the races this weekend - just for fun and no goals in mind, except, maybe, looking festive and running with some teammates.

Friday Fun Facts

2011-11-25T19:14:00.001-05:00

I hooked up to pick up some Xmas presents with our Muscle Milk Rep! I tweeted about it and Oh the Worry from all that I would drink it all!!! No worrries friends, I am keeping my hands off the super great thing that is going to get you PUMPED!!! (and recovered!)
I showed up with my dad to run the Thanksgiving 10k and they ran out of bibs while we waited online. So we went back to his house and ran around the lake of Ashburn Village (my favorite lake) instead. He's had a rough run with losing Mr. Pumpkin and getting ready for his new Puppy Buddy, that he hasn't been running much. He's been playing tennis, but not running much. He's looking for a few 5k's to run soon to get him re-motivated to run! At 71, I'd say those are some good goals!
Me and my buddy, Dash, met my Dad's new buddie, Buddy:

Dash wanted to play with him, but she looked gigantic next to him and he was a tad frightened of my ~~beast~~ baby.
After running around the lake with Dad and then on my own, I was very sure that I'm burned out. I've decided to take some time away from running. Today, I met my pal Kathy for some Yoga and it was Hot, Sweaty and Invigorating. I plan on going tomorrow and hopefully Sunday and Monday too. (If I'm not dying by then!!)
Hot chocolate 15k is next Saturday!! Yikes, not the best time for feeling Burnout, but better to take care of it now than in the spring!!
I'm hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and the Turkey Trot results I've seen gives me verification that I can take some time off without a disaster occurring!

That's all folks! Happy Holidays!

What's going on??

2011-11-22T18:09:00.001-05:00

Seriously! WHAT IS GOING ON??

I've bee a busy bee and just haven't had time for blogging, or reading my google reader. I am so afraid of that thing after sitting un-managed for 3 months...

some quick news:

Autumn is here!

It's wonderful, yet tiring at the same time! As soon as I feel like I've clicked into feeling good and a routine, allergies blow me up or holidays. I really, really, really wanted to take a week off from working out after spectating at MCM (hey, taking pictures of people running marathons is HARD!), but I entered into an elicit relationship with too much Halloween candy and really couldn't take off. So aside from the short time off from my knee, which was spent pool running, I haven't taken any time off.

I was supposed to run Veteran's Day 10k, but wound up unable to as we had family in town.

Then we've had a slew of good news for our Super Awesome Running Club, Capital Area Runners!

THE OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

THE UNOFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

If you read this blog, you know this girl is a BIG, BIG fan of MUSCLE MILK. I definitely think it's one of the items that brought me back to Shangri-La! So you know I'm excited!!

Muscle Milk may also have gotten a rap as being a banned substance due to some changes reflected in my race results

Ah, it also sidelined some criminals who broke into my car when I ran National Half Marathon in 2010:

Our group also got a discount team deal with GU Energy. Through it I finally got to try the Island Nectars Flavored Roctane.

Remember those old York Peppermint Patty commercials, "When I bite into a York Peppermint Patty I feel the cool sensation of..."

Well Dash experienced something similar when she took an Island Nectars Roctane:

I'm running a few races through the end of the year, but I haven't been feeling good, so I have no goals or expectations. I blew up on my track workout this morning, so I'm still debating my Turkey Trot. After that, the Hot Chocolate 15k, which sounds like it might be a logistic nightmare, but I have a lot of peeps running, so the fun factor should make up for it!

I really hope to take a full week off from running and working out, and may tie it in with a week off from work over the big holiday!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays and I hope to catch up with you all soon!

GAS CAP Giveaway WINNER!

2011-11-03T12:13:00.004-04:00

Congratulations Miss Zippy!! You are the winner of the Gas Cap!

Now that you are out of jail, you will have a place to store your fuel! Email me your address information and confirm it's the blue endurance visor you want! (let me know if you need my email, but I think you have it.)

Pretty soon everyone will be a cool, well-fueled dog.

To everyone who entered, but didn't win, you can still buy a Gas Cap by Visit their website and use the code "DCRun" to purchase one at 10% off!

Marine Corps Marathon Pictures! 2011

2011-11-01T14:06:00.001-04:00

Yup, just like last year, I went to the race and took some pics! I may have caught you!

Click here for pics!

The morning was amazing (but super cold)!

Congratulations Runners & CAR Peeps!

Capital Area Runners - All Good Things in Pictures!

2011-10-29T10:15:00.000-04:00

MCM is here and the spectating preparation has begun!

We here at Capital Area Runners have been working on some partnerships and discounts for our club members (besides our already awesome sponsor Road Runner Sports of Falls Church). We'll be making some announcements soon. Dash can hardly contain herself:

I want the Muscle Milk now!

Don't forget to enter my Gas Cap Giveaway which ends this Tuesday!! Also, check out the giveaway post for a special CAR discount code!

Goodbye Mr. Pumpkin

2011-10-24T08:02:00.001-04:00

Last week my dad had to say goodbye to his best buddy Mr. Pumpkin. He had a cancerous tumor on his leg that was wrapped around an artery. He was in a lot of pain and could not use his hind leg. The vet said the only thing that could be done would be to amputate his leg, but that most likely his cancer was spread. My dad decided based on his age, and his previous issues with tumors, he wouldn’t put Mr. Pumpkin through that and said good bye.

When my dad got Mr. Pumpkin, I lived a mile away from him. He was so cute, I thought he should be a model.

But as he got older, he remained wiry and hyper, so my dad and I developed a system, I would call him before my runs and he would bring pumpkin out to the lake or the corner of his block and I would grab him for a run. He loved it. Maybe a little too much, as he quickly became my dog when I was around, much to my father’s dismay.

He trained with me through my first (and best) marathon, like an energizer bunny. He ran 18 miles with me and the only reason I didn’t take him further was because I was unsure, he was plenty willing to keep going.

Dash will miss her buddy.

and my dad will miss his.

Goodbye Mr. Pumpkin.

Gas Cap Discount & Giveaway III !

2011-10-21T10:33:00.001-04:00

What's up runners??

I'll tell you, Carla at Gas Cap's has given me a 10% discount code to share with my running club and I'm extending it to my blogger readers as well!

Visit their website and use the code "DCRun" to purchase one!

I'm going also going to give one lucky reader a chance to win one!

What's a Gas Cap you ask? It's the best invention EVER for holding your GU/Roctane while you are running. No more trying to pin it on your shorts, have it jiggling in a pocket.

Gas Cap is the new, heads-up way for long-distance runners to carry their fuel. It features a Patented design, with special inserts that snugly & comfortably hold gel packets.

Reduce the weight & bounce of a fuel belt
Keep your gels close & convenient
Stay fueled up & light on your feet

The Endurance Visor carries 2 fuels and an additional mesh pocket to carry your car/house key, while the Endurance CAP carries 6 fuels.

Because (a) I used my Gas Cap all summer long to store my Roctane's which let me to the best long runs I've had in years (b) I used my Gas Cap to kick butt in the Philly Half this year, (c) I wouldn't have dropped my Roctane out of my hand at ARMY if I had worn my Gas Cap and (d) I've been lucky enough to win a lot of prizes from some great fellow bloggers in the last 2 years, I figured, what the heck? Pay this thing forward - I'm going to give one away!

Want to win* one? Here's what you have to do:

Become a Chew Toy (okay, follower), if not already. Visit Gas Cap's site and leave a comment telling me you're a follower and which Gas Cap/Color you really want. Only a chew toy/follower can win.
Extra Entry: Follow me on Twitter and and Tweet this: "I just entered to win a #GasCap Visor/Cap from @RunDash http://tinyurl.com/3w5lzam"
Extra Entry: Link this giveaway to your blog and leave me a comment about it.
Extra Entry: Leave a comment telling me if you have a sensitive stomach and what fuel you will put in your CAP.

Good Luck, contest ends Tuesday Nov 1 @11:59pm!

*I'm sorry my Canadian followers, GASCAP does not currently ship to Canada... :(

It now comes in black too!
Gas Cap = Best place to put ROCTANE

2011 ARMY Ten Miler Race Report

2011-10-10T11:41:00.000-04:00

Coming into this race, I was debating running it, as I've had some knee issues the last few weeks that seem to have been getting worse. Beth commented on my last post that I should get some KT tape and after visiting the KT site, it seemed it might work. I'd been actually thinking about trying to find my old knee brace, but it seemed it would be more cumbersome than helpful and would have me admitting I had a problem.

I FB'd Beth and Darkwave caught on and said she had some extra KT tape and we scheduled a time to meet pre-race.

This is the 7th year I've run ARMY. After 7 years you can register for the race earlier than the general public (Suck It, general public). This year they changed the start/finish areas. I've had some bad ARMY starts in the past and have become pretty particular about figuring their logistics out and even though I'd looked at the start/finish map and mentally had it set up, it was different once I got there. The "INFO" people they had set up all had different stories and that was disappointing. The big thing was you had to check your bag before going through the security checkpoint and then to the bathroom and then about half a mile to the start area. If I'd known that, I wouldn't have brought a bag, seemed a waste.

Anyway, Darkwave and I didn't get to hook up at bag check and I assumed that she didn't realize the change and went into the starting corral. Her metro was delayed and that added to her pre-race stress. Low and behold while I was in the starting corral, I saw her and we were able to hook up and she had the KT tape with her! I put it on my knee and felt immediate relief. Darkwave and I chatted about goals; she was just going to run the race as a training run (that's what she said) and I was still hoping that maybe I could surprise myself, even though I felt seriously out of sync after a week of thinking I was going to have to bag the race.

Not the cutest dog?

Up until race morning, I was still in high debate about running the race. Coach G sent me a reminder text not to play hero, making it clear I needed to drop out if the knee gave me issue. My husband asked me a 100 times the day before, "Are you still going to run? You'll probably get pneumonia or injure your knee more." (I've been dealing with a nasty cough and chest congestion all week long). I was in debate a lot about this race. Two things kept me doing it; ARMY #7 early bird entry and Dash looking so cute in her ARMY gear, making a DNS/DNF a waste of some good pics...

I haven't run much in the last two weeks, and I felt pretty stale the first mile. I hit it at 7:26. I felt pretty good after that and thought maybe my race wouldn't totally suck and went with it. In the back of my mind I kept telling myself I needed to save something for the bridge, as I never seem to do well once I hit it.

Around mile 4 my KT tape started to come off my knee. In addition, the Roctane I had in my hand, fell on the ground when I switched it to another hand. I got a little concerned, I was counting on that Roctane to help with a strong finish. Shortly thereafter the tape came off my knee to the point it was annoying and I needed to rip it completely off.

Now I was pretty concerned, losing my two safety blankets, when I saw my CAR peeps cheering me on. I spent the next mile thinking I needed to call it a day and go back to my peeps. Then I talked myself out of it. I couldn't be doing too bad and my knee wasn't feeling any worse. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't normal, but it wasn't bad.

I had no idea what pace I was running, but it didn't feel comfortable anymore. One of the fast South Riding girls that I passed a little while ago was back ahead of me around mile 7. She was looking strong and I tried to stay with her, but lost her once we hit the bridge (she rocked the race). I'm not sure if it was the concrete or just the friggin forever bridge, but I was done in. My knee didn't feel so stellar, so I'm pretty sure it was the concrete. And could I have used my Roctane that I dropped? I'm sure, but I can't say that was the reason for the poor finish. I was trying to stay strong and focused, but by the time I saw the clock on mile 9, I knew my goal time and a PR was impossible. I almost just started walking by then, but just wanted to finish.

sucking wind!
Now, when you're dog looks better in your bondi band then you, is that a sign? I look like a pirate, ahoy!

Once we were off the bridge, even though I knew it was another 3/4 mile to the finish, I was still astounded how long it took to get there. I'm pretty sure the eff word was coming out of my mouth when two of my teammates cheered my classiness from the sidelines. (sorry!) Really ARMY, why add another bridge incline/hill to the finish, argh?!?

When we finished, I didn't know my time, I forgot to stop my watch, but I guessed it was in the 1:12 range. (1:11:58 was the official time) Plus the race staff wanted us to keep running down the chute after we finished. Forget about it.

Afterwards I found two of my teammates and we waited around to try to spot some of our other teammates. We had no luck finding them, so after I grabbed all the food I could, we decided to try to figure out how to get back to the baggage check. We knew they said they would have shuttles to and from the North and South parking lots, but we were all sweaty wet and getting on a shuttle seemed ridiculous. I mean how far could it be?

About an hour's walk later (seemed like it) we found the baggage drop. I joked on FB it was another 8 miles and another friend joked back we must have found a shortcut. We hooked up with PR's Reston Runners contingent and chatted with them about the logistics - none of us liked the new ARMY set up. They actually got delayed as Darkwave did on the metro and the gun went off when they were in the porto john line, which is about 1/2 mile from the start.

We hooked up with Heather post-race and she Rocked it out
(as did Darkwave who'd been sick as a dog all week)!

As usual, the race itself was well run, but overall, I do not like the changes ARMY made to the start and finish. I'm sure they had their reasons, but it seems like they (and us) finally had it all figured out and now everyone has to figure it out again.

Personally, this year, as it seems every year with this race, I had something going on leading into it that makes it an unsure thing. I had told Coach G, I was really glad he made me run Philly, as without it, this season would have been a bust. Darkwave and I remarked at how sometimes your goal race, winds up not being as planned and the unexpected race winds up being the better one.

Now my focus is on rehabbing this knee and getting it to a pain free zone (well, as pain free as my knees allow). Post-race Darkwave gave me some more tape for my knee and I put it on. When I was home, I took it off for the shower and it was pretty sore. I put the tape back on for the remainder of the day and today, it feels good. With just little races coming up, I plan on making sure my knee is better before resuming any hard workouts and may invest in some KT tape for some additional support this week.

Now I have my 7th ARMY under my belt and can register early for next year's race, although that last 3/4 mile had me cursing I would never run it again. It was also my 2nd fastest 10 mile time, so I shouldn't complain, but I will and say I would have liked to have hit it at least were I hit the 10 mile mark at Philly, just 3 weeks ago.

Army #7. Mission Accomplished. Maybe I'm a hero. Maybe not.

A Hero is How I Roll

2011-10-08T09:13:00.000-04:00

My Saturday Six:

Army is tomorrow, my knee is still bugging me. I promised Coach G I'd drop if it gave me trouble in the race and not risk further injury. "Don't be a hero," he said. I keep thinking there is a stretch that will knock the knee pain out, since it feels like it's being pulled by something, but so far, no luck. I managed to do some intervals on Wed and it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.
All the races lately are using this Btag system, where the chip is in your bib. It has to be affixed to your torso, not your shorts, so those who like to wear our favorite CAR sportsbra, has to cover the logo.
It's going to be 58* and sunny at the start and 61* at the finish. A little warm. Chicago Marathon is this weekend too and it's going to be in the 60's for them. BOO.
I found out I got my comp entry in Richmond Half Marathon only to then get an invitation to a family event that I'll need to attend that same day. I still haven't totally ditched the idea, but if family comes to town for the event, I won't be able to travel.
I'm at least looking forward to seeing my peeps out running, although I've already heard a bunch have had to drop out or change the race to a run, due to this flu bug that's going around. I've had some serious chest congestion all week, but this morning, it's hardly here. At least I have that going for me.
My initial Army goal was to get under 70 minutes, but that was my healthy ARMY goal. The way my knee feels, the goal is to finish and not have any pain. I'm so glad I was talked into Philly, if I hadn't done that this race and knee thing would be really depressing. Last year I PR'd with 1:11:33, I hit the 10 mile mark at Philly with 1:10:03, so I was sure I could get under 70 for this race.

A Hero is How I Roll
(just kidding coach!)

Good Luck ARMY and CHICAGO Runners!!

Eye on the Prize

2011-10-04T08:17:00.002-04:00

Since Philly, I've been trying to stay focused on ARMY 10 miler, which is this Sunday. I wound up having a good recovery week from Philly, even if I was tired from the race and allergies.

Last week, my knee, which was giving me some pain prior to Philly, was sore. I was traveling and I hoped that was the issue and paid special attention to stretching. On Friday's tempo workout, it wasn't bothering me during the run, or maybe it was but I was so distracted at the horrific times Coach G was throwing at me. I was sure he was wrong, but my watch was agreeing. I didn't feel bad, but I was running slow and I felt like I was running fast. I didn't want to cut it off, because it was my last tempo before ARMY and I didn't feel bad.

When I finished Coach and I both agreed it sucked and I had no reason as I was pretty rested that week. As a matter of fact, prior to the tempo, I remarked to Amy that, I finally feel recovered from Philly after having a great easy run the day before.

Anyway, as I walked over to change my shoes, my knee didn't feel right. Jessica waited for me to switch shoes to do the cool down, but as I put weight on it, I knew I couldn't do a cool down. As a matter of fact, I had a difficult time putting weight on it all day long.

Saturday, I did some weight lifting,which seemed to help, but when I went to the pool to pool run, the pain was back. I took it easy the rest of the day and it seemed to be better by the end of day.

Sunday I was able to run an easy 11 miles and while it didn't feel super great, it didn't get worse on the run and I was able to keep my range of motion to a minimum. It definitely hurt less running than pool running. I think the resistance was too much in the pool.

I finally got a massage yesterday and she noted that my calf muscles and hip were very tight. Coach told me to skip the workout today, so I may try to pool run later if I can and see how I feel tomorrow.

I'm hoping this little regroup will help my knee and won't effect ARMY, my taper will just be a bit switched around.

Plus, Dash is doing a great job keeping me focused!

Philly RNR Half Marathon Race Report

2011-09-23T15:01:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, myself and about 40 of my teammates headed to Philly to run the RNR Half Marathon. This race was not originally on my race schedule, since this year I was dedicating myself to the 10k and the 10 miler.

I also have never had a good race at Philly and really wanted to concentrate on ARMY 10 miler, which is 3 weeks later. But, as you know from my last post, things have changed.

Two teammates and myself drove down on Sat and made it to the hotel early enough to put our stuff away, head to the expo, pick up our packets and stroll around. I knew Kara Goucher was going to be signing autographs, so I brought my Boston jacket (already signed by Bill Rodgers) for her to sign. I waited on a very long line for about 15 minutes with it not moving at all and became overwhelmingly hot and sweaty. I then realized we hadn't eaten all day and maybe I needed to ditch Kara and get some food in me. After seeing what this girl posted, I really wished I hadn't.

But I was really hungry. I went to the other booth I knew I needed to hit, Muscle Milk, but was disappointed to find they were only giving out tiny samplings. Bummer, definitely not enough to sustain me. I caught up with some of my teammates and we went on an eating sample spree. Kind of like Costco, except with gels and granolas.

We went back to the hotel, rested a bit and then headed over to dinner with our awesome teammates. As usual, our host Joe did not disappoint, it was delicious!

All smiles the night before

Then back to the hotel to get to put our gear in order and get to bed. I can't say I slept great, but I slept. Angela and I woke, did our morning rituals, put our stuff together and headed downstairs to meet everyone pre-race, where we all jogged over to the start together, excited by the 50*ish weather.

We took care of business and then I parted ways to look for my teammate Dan, who Coach G paired me up with as perfect running buds. And we were. After about 100 emails during the week, Dan and I (with comments from Coach G) devised our wicked PR plan. I told him I can't look at my watch, he told me he was going to look at his watch. I told him I can't talk when I run, he told me he can't talk either. We started in the mid-back of Corral #2 (getting him in was part of the wicked plan) and off we went.

We had some fun as we made our way around some runners who were clearly in the wrong corral. One in particular was a larger lady with a wool sweater tied around her waist. As we ran by I heard Dan, "Corral 2? Really? Really??"

I missed the first mile mark, but as we were running my garmin was showing me a 7:20ish pace. When I saw the 2nd mile mark, I lapped my watch and saw 14:10 for 2 miles. I was a little worried it was too fast, but both Dan and I seemed to be feeling good, so I just went with it and didn't look at my watch the rest of the race.

I really felt like we were gliding along and at mile 5, I took my first Roctane. I feel like I slowed just slightly as Dan kept pace, but then I picked it up again and we kept the same pace, me staying just slightly behind him.

At this point I met a guy named Randy who had been hoping for 1:25, but it just wasn't his day. He was pretty chatty, which I couldn't respond much, just nod my head. He was a good distraction and running with him, I felt a bit fresher and picked up the pace a bit, we caught Dan and all three of us kept it up. Randy told me that he started taking CrossFit and had hoped that it was going to help him in the race, but shortly thereafter he was struggling and clearly just not having a good day. We then lost Randy, but Dan and I kept moving forward. It felt like we were just gliding along and was VERY glad I took the week off from weight lifting.

My teammate Dan was right next to me,
I had hoped the photographer had gotten us together.
No such luck.

I was hoping it wasn't too fast and that I wouldn't fall apart at the end.

I had been really trying to come up with a plan on when to take my 2nd Roctane on the course, with the water stops at miles 8.6 and 10.5. I just couldn't decide which would be better. As we came up on the 8.6, I decided, a little too late, to do it then. I barely had it swallowed when I grabbed a water cup and had it go down wrong. I had a bit of a choking fit, and as I finally gathered myself Dan was still going strong. I caught up with him and we approached a slight hill to mile 9. I slowed, he kept pace.

I never caught up with him again, I just watched him disappear and just kept to my own race at this point. My main goal was to stay strong and not give up. I hit the 10 mile mark at 1:10:03 on the clock and knew I PR'd my 10 miler by more than 90 seconds.

As many of you may know, my goal this year is to not only PR my 10 miler but get under 70 minutes for it. I lost focus a bit over-excited over what this meant for ARMY.

I also thought of Elizabeth tracking us and hoped that I would not be a huge disappointment between the 10 mile mark and the next 5k.

I could feel I had slowed, but I was determined that it would be as fast as I could do it. I felt like my form was breaking down a bit, so I was constantly reminding myself to keep my form. That's about all I remembered about that last 5k, that and when I saw the 12 mile mark's clock I was sure I could PR and just pushed as hard as I could. I had a bit of a debate with myself about quitting or keeping my form together. Luckily the form won out (although not from the looks of my finish line pictures-don't worry, I won't horrify you that hunched over mess!).

I crossed the finish line and my watch said 1:32:46 (70 second PR!) and a overall 7:05 pace. I took a few steps and saw Dan who rocked it out with 1:31:40. We hugged, high-fived and just reveled in our awesome-ness!

We are awesome!!

We then saw more of our teammates, who also had awesome races and PR'd - more hugs and high-fives!! We waited for a few more of our teammates, who did the same!

We got our stuff together. Posed for a few pics and headed back to the hotel.

All smiles post-race!

On the way back, we ran into a Muscle Milk rep who hooked us up with, among other things, full bottles of my favorite post-race fuel! Katie carried all of our MM back to the hotel.

After showering, I put on a shirt I bought at the expo. When I bought it, I thought to myself, "You'll need to earn it to wear it".

Earn it I did my friends!!

FIERCE ROCK STAR!!

Random Friday Fun Facts

2011-09-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

I’ve been writing this post for a few weeks now. as you can tell, I’ve almost disappeared from the blog world.

I am still behind on my reading and comments and haven't looked at my reader in about a month. Facebook and random twitter visits are not keeping me up to date.
Due to peer pressure, I signed up for the Philadelphia Half Marathon this Sunday. Coach G promised it won’t be a complete suck-fest for me and that I need to race while I’m running well. He also gave me a freaky-deak time to run. Is it weird I have more confidence in his opinion than how I feel? Last year when I ran a few of my races, he was right on the money with his predictions. So, I’m going into the race not thinking about it and just going to run and see what happens.
As soon as I signed up for #2, I started fighting a cold that seems like it won. My calves became a huge knot and my knee has been tender. The calves have worked themselves out, but the knee… I’m hoping this taper will calm it down.
I finished my workout this past Tuesday and when I took my Garmin off the rubber on the watchband tore. Too late to purchase a replacement, I’ll be rocking some duct tape.
The weather looks to be awesome for the race, 50 overnight…
I love Jimmy Stewart.
I was late for track ~~this~~ last Friday morning because #4 was on and I wanted to finish watching him in ROPE.
I'm watching the Towering Inferno and Robert Wagner just told his gal that he used to run the 100 in 10 flat. Usain Bolt's record is 9.69, so I think Robbie is telling tales. (last Friday)
I've been running pretty awesome the last few weeks, but last Friday, not so much. I think I'm dehydrated from all the Nyquil I've been taking. I've set interval mile and tempo PR's in my workouts in the last 2 weeks.
Besides my Fierce uniform, I found another new bra to motivate me. If you can’t do it, don’t wear it:
I went through my log book and realized that I didn’t pull back on my weight lifting for one single race since I started lifting 3X a week in the spring. I typically take 5 days off from lifting pre-race, and I am doing it for Philly. I have to say, my brain is fighting me on this a little bit. I told Coach G that I must be getting OCD. His response was, “Well, you are the only person on our team that suffers from that, nobody else has that problem.” Anyone on the team or who knows Coach G, knows that statement was ooozing sarcasm.
I still owe you a Leesburg 10k race report.
I love my new job, even if it is keeping me from being able to keep up with the social networking community.
I don’t always switch my summer clothes out for winter over labor day, but the way the weather has been, that needs to happen soon!
A huge group of my peeps are coming to Philly including this girl and this girl. It’s going to be a rocking good time.
I purchased a new gascap, black, to better match our uniforms and I began a discussion with the owner of gas cap and she is working on getting me a discount code for my crew! More to come on that!

Gas Cap = Best place to put ROCTANE

Anyway, times up, gotta go. Hope everyone is doing well and if anyone is racing this weekend – GOOD LUCK!!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-08-24T18:18:00.002-04:00

I’ve been so busy!

I owe you comments! and by comments I mean, reading your posts. So many, many posts! Ay Yi Yi!

I owe you a Leesburg 10k race report! If you ran the race, a teammate took pictures until I finished and then I took a lot more photos of the 20k finishers! You can find them by clicking here. Congrats on your race!

I felt really good running the 10k, but wound up surprised and disappointed about my time. More to come on a race report.

Dash didn’t get to run the Lost Dogs 5k last Friday. There was talk that traffic was going to be a disaster due to this, so we forewent heading out, which wound up a good thing, as the race was cancelled due to an unexpected freak storm.

The Leesburg 10k (Thanks for taking all the pics Liz H!):
as you can tell from the pic it was super muggy and humid

What Dash did in lieu of her 5k:

Good call Coach!
Maybe the Redskins won’t completely suck this year…

Random Friday Fun Facts

2011-08-12T09:22:00.005-04:00

I started my new job this past Monday and when in orientation received the most amazing offer letter from another company I had been talking to. I start with them on Tuesday. It’s been a crazy, wild, stressful week, but I am sure I’ve made the right decision. Thanks to all my friends who had to listen to my stressful blabber during our runs!
The last two weeks have been pretty stressful, and I’ve had some pretty bad nights sleep. Fortunately, they haven’t seemed to hurt my workouts. Tuesday morning I woke up from 3 hours of sleep for track and was pretty sure that it was going to be ugly. I decided to wear my FIERCE top so that everyone would give me shit if I started to crack. The workout was 1X1600/2X1200/2X800/2X400. I only remember when I was running the workout, I felt fast and it felt easy. Of course, my mind was on other things. The results: 6:27/4:43/4:39/3:00/2:59/1:24/1:24. I haven’t been able to crack under 4:40 for the 1200 since last summer, it was sweet to see that again!
This Sunday is the Leesburg 10k. As of today there is a lot of competition in my age group. I’m going to hope for the best, which for me, would be not completely crashing in the summer heat! Race time is 7:30 and it’s looking like rain for the race.
The race also is a big deal for my teammates, so there will be a big CAR showing there, running both the 10k or the 20k. I’m trying to find a spectator to take pictures with my camera until I finish the 10k and then I’ll take over, so far, no takers. I may have to bribe my dad to come out.
This will be my first race (outside of the mile) that I’m fueling with the Roctane/Gu Brew combo. It will be nice to see if the extra energy I’ve had at the end of my training runs translates to race day too!
Thanks for all the kind words on my track pictures. I decided to hire Maria full-time as my personal photographer, I mean she took those pics with an I-phone! I wonder if I can replace the picture of the 40-44 yr women posted over here, with the ones she took? (While my running hasn’t been so fierce, my expressions sure are)
Post race, my teammates and I are going to head out for brunch! We keep trying to set up brunch, but with all the craziness going on with me, I haven’t been able to make it to any brunches or HH’s.
The race is the day before my birthday. Maybe those ladies in my age group will give me a present? I still regret last year, when I ran that race on my birthday, not telling the girl who won that it was my birthday. I mean really would you not succumb to this: “Um, excuse me, today is my birthday and it would be really nice if I won, because I’m like, really old and you’re like, really young and you’ll have like, a million opportunities to win in your life and this will probably be the only time I could come even close to winning and it would totally cool if that happened on my birthday.” I’m sure she would have let me win and yes, I know using the word “like” 10X’s in a run on sentence shows I grew up during the Valley Girl era, like, totally.
Because it is my birthday, I have something running related on my B-day list:
Oh Goldi-Dash, you have your work cut out for you! Now if I can only somehow get to open them race day. Can you tell they are the exact color of our Capital Area Runners sports bras?
#runningclotheswhore.
My new company is headquartered in VA Beach, so I’ll be driving there on Tuesday morning and heading back Wed. evening. It’s a 3.5 hour drive, so it’ll be tough to get my workouts in, but I have high hopes of be running on a beach Wed morning before going in to work.
If all goes well with my new job this coming week, Dash and I will be running the Lost Dogs 5k next Friday! (click this link to access the change of start location notice if you are running this Friday) One of my super fast teammates is pregnant so she wants to have lots of fun runs, so she wants to join in. What’s more fun than running a 5k with your furry friend?
Last week my local pool that I use for pool running was closed. So I trekked out to the one most of my teammates pool run at. It was so nice to be able to chat and gossip while pool running instead of just watching the clock.
These girls ROCK: Congratulations, Liz, Amy, Beth, Tall Girl & Katie B, on your races and congrats on the rocking spectating & photography, Katie I
I think that’s it! Anyone who’s racing this weekend: BE FIERCE!

Mile #2

2011-08-07T13:44:00.001-04:00

Yesterday morning I ran the timed mile race at the local All-Comers meet. Many of my team were there, including Maria who hooked up with me two weeks ago when the meet was cancelled due to the crazy heat-wave and we ran the mile anyway.

I’ve had a pretty hectic week with the job change occurring and on Thursday, there were some serious hiccups and I was unsure I would be racing the mile. I decided to do an extra mile on my tempo just in case, as I knew I’d be very frustrated if I cut it short and then was unable to race the mile. During that tempo, I noticed some soreness in my hip, but I thought I had foam-rolled it out this morning.

The evening before the race, my husband woke me up when he came to bed to tell me he had eaten all my saltine crackers. Saltine Crackers are the only thing my stomach can handle in the morning. He elected to wake me up to tell me, so that a hungry psychotic runner didn’t wind up waking him up early in the morning. After 11 years together he know there is one thing he should never, ever do: DON’T EAT MY FOOD. I had no choice but to eat 1 slice of wheat bread and pray for no potty issues.

No issues, although my hip was feeling a little sore again on my warmup.

I caught up with Maria and some other teammates and we stretched together pre-race.

They called the first heat and it was clear that I wouldn’t be in that heat. When they arranged the 2nd heat, it was 6:10 and under. I really was hoping to be close to the 6:04 from last year, given how nice the workouts had been recently.

The gun went off and I was not quite dead last. I was trying to keep an eye on a girl that I was chatting with pre-race. She ran 6:10 a few weeks ago.

I hit exactly the 400 at 1:34 (the line were we started). The clock wasn’t working so a man was at the sidelines yelling times. He was at the start line the first 2 laps and moved to the finish line the last two. As the laps went on I was just maintaining the same difference between her and another gentleman, who was between us.

Lap #2:

It was nice hearing some of my teammates who were in different heats, cheering me on each lap.

As I hit the mark of the finish line at lap #3, the director yelled, 4:40. I know from experience that I can usually run a 1:30 on my last lap on the mile, and that’s kicking it, so I also knew, no way I was going to PR.

Lap #3:

I still tried to run as hard as I could and wound up passing the guy between me and the other girl, and came out with a 6:10 finish. I felt good, and it’s faster than last time, but I definitely would like to see that 6:04 again… :) There’s another one on the 27th, so I think I will try it again, and maybe completely lay off the tempo and also lay off the weights for 4 or 5 days.

This morning I met my pals for the 14 mile long run (they were doing 16), one of the girls was going to do 12, so I was going to turn around with her and then remembered I wasn’t going to be able to run tomorrow, so toyed with the idea of doing 16 with the marathoners. My 12 mile teammate said she would go 14 and when we got to the turnaround, I was glad to turn around. It was super humid and that stupid slice of wheat bread that gave me no trouble yesterday, was screwing with me big time on the long run. It was still a good run, especially given how humid it was. By mile 4, my teammates and I were drenched with sweat!

This week, I’m going to take it semi-easy to prepare for the Leesburg 10k! Have a great week!

Random Friday Fun Facts

2011-08-05T08:05:00.004-04:00

It’s been pretty hectic over here at Dash’s home. I am starting a new job on Monday, and for the first few weeks, the travel time is going to be tough, so the blog may become sparse (I know I already don’t post enough). Hopefully I can keep inquiring minds up to date with TTT or RFFF and some race reports. ;)
On last Friday’s tempo run, it was already in the mid-80’s by the time we started with about 100% humidity. It was ugly, but I was determined to get a full 4 miler in. I was about 90 seconds slower than I was in the winter for the same workout, but it felt good just to get through it, and my last mile was 1 second faster than the first one. Afterward, my teammate and I were talking about how we thought it was the hottest workout we ever had to run in our 4+ years with CAR.
Last Sunday I ran another 14 miler, and it was pretty great. Again. Then this past Tuesday, another really great workout. 2Slow4Boston asked for my times for that workout. I am sometimes leary of posting times, because I know some of my readers will go BITCH, some will go LOSER and some will say NICE! Here they are for inquiring minds: 3 sets of 1600/800 were 6:31/3:04/6:21/3:02/6:18/3:01. Previously for me the fastest non-race interval track mile was 6:19. It was a pretty nice morning and if you remember, I did a mile time trial two weeks ago in 6:14, so I think that was really good at the end of a tough workout. I thought I might actually dip into the 2’s on that last 800, but just couldn’t muster it.
I’m still loving my Roctane/Gu Brew combo on my runs and my long runs! I feel so strong and very hydrated. This summer hasn’t been as tough for me as normal, and I think I must never have been adequately hydrated due to the stomach distress I got from any fuel/electrolyte supplements I was taking.
I still plan on racing the mile tomorrow, and then logging it in as the magic mile challenge that Chris K has been talking about. I’ve actually been so stressed about the work move that I haven’t even checked the weather!
I’m concerned during the travel time to my new job I may not make it to the track, I mentioned to Coach G that I may wind up doing my workouts from home, but he quickly gave me driving directions to my new job from the track.
A week from this Sunday is the Leesburg 10k. I haven’t officially registered, but my intentions are to do it. I am hopeful that my recent good/strong runs will transfer over to race day and I may do better in the heat than in previous years. Many of my teammates will be out racing the 10k or the 20k as well. My birthday is the day after the race, so there may be a post-race brunch going on afterwards! All I want for my birthday is a 10k PR. Hahaha, I know that won’t happen, but I still want to perform well and finish strong!
Katie always puts personal stuff in her Random Friday Fun Facts, so here are some things you may not know about Dash:

She HATES Michael Vick.
I know you all think that Dash is such a super-model, but sometimes I get the feeling she feels shamed by some of the things her Blog Contract requires of her. Note to everyone, the DASH Bathing Suit Calendar may not happen.
Dash likes to eat her food in front of us. So she typically grabs a mouthful of food and walks into the middle of the family room and chomps on it while we’re watching a movie.
Dash is still hoping to race at least one of the Lost Dog 5k races, but since I’m racing the mile tomorrow and the 10k is the next weekend, that leaves the following two weekends. I don’t know how the new job will play out, so that’s still a work in progress with whether I can get her and get to the race on time.
Dash was allowed to spend the day in our old office, but the new place will be more Betty Business, so she will no longer have that option. :(

I’ll hopefully update you over the weekend with how the mile worked out!

Have a great weekend and good luck to everyone racing!!!

Today

2011-08-02T11:15:00.003-04:00

Today I ran my longest interval workout ever (4.5 miles of intervals - 3 sets of 1600/800). In it I ran my fastest non-race mile and just got faster as the workout progressed. I felt great. For the first time in a long time, I felt like a

FIERCE WARRIOR.

Thank you hills, mile race, Roctane/Gu and CW-X. Oh yeah, you too Coach. :)

Shangri-La, it's nice to be back, if even for just a day...

The One Mile Race that was Cancelled, (but we did it anyway)

2011-07-23T11:34:00.001-04:00

I woke up this morning to run the 1 miler race at our local All-Comer’s meet, only to find my teammates FBing like mad over it being cancelled due to the crazy heatwave we are having in the DC area, well it’s everywhere, but as Cris pointed out, we are the clear victors.

My teammate Maria and I were all set to run it and since we were up at 6am, we decided to go on ahead and time ourselves. We met up at 8am, when it was already 86* and deathly humid, with an expectation of 99*.

I had done a warmup at home with Dash so Maria did her warmup while I was screwing around with my shoes and then we did some strides. We had no idea what to make of the heat and Maria had never run the mile race before so she wasn’t sure what her start pace should be. I ran the mile last August when I was feeling pretty fit in 6:04. I briefly mentioned it in this post. (I mentioned it was hot in that post, but the overnight in the area the night before was 62* with a high of 88* and NO humidity for the day, so not exactly comparable, but I don’t feel I’m in that kind of shape right now, even in nice weather.)

I was hoping to be somewhere around 6:10. Maria and I set up 9 meters in front of the area where we would be stopping 4 laps later, to ensure the accurate mile distance and off we went. I set my garmin to show pace to get an idea. It’s not terribly accurate, but it’s enough. I as showing 6:37 pace as I hit the 200 (209?) meter mark. I started to pick up speed and thought, I guess the heat is effecting me even worse than I thought it would for the mile.

As we went through the 400 (at this point, I’m using our stopping line to count), I see 6:08 pace. Okay, maybe not so fast, but I decide to keep it going. I thought to myself, “Hey, I feel surprisingly good considering the heat.” As we hit the 800 line I saw 6:05 pace, I kept telling myself “just stay steady.” I still felt good although my legs felt a bit rubbery. I saw Maria on the sidelines as I turned the corner (her watch didn’t start and she said eff it"). I kept going and saw a 6:08 pace on my garmin (again, I’m going by the garmins pacing not the actual time, I couldn’t see that line). I kept trying to pick it up, but my legs just didn’t feel like moving. As I hit the 100 meter I tried to sprint, it didn’t quite catch until 50 meters left and I ran with all I could.

6:14. Which is 1 second slower than I had run it in May, 2010, in pretty good conditions, see here.

Maria and I were talking and she was going to reset her watch and give it a go. I was re-hydrating, telling her, the heat didn’t seem to bother me, I know I was slower due to it, but I thought I felt good. I was so pleased to not have been hit so hard by the heat.

Then I turned away to the grass and threw up. It’s so weird, but seriously, I felt okay. Obviously the heat effected me more than I thought, but I was fine after that, and once Maria was done (she opted to do just another 800) we did a cool down and we were done. I got in the car and my thermometer said 89*.

Maria and I are going to do it again in 2 weeks (and pray for good weather). We’re gonna do it as part of this magic mile challenge Chris K is talking about. I’m already signed up for it, you should too!

Labels: mile race


2011, lifting 3X a week