Catching up the last few days, I got out late on Friday for my 12.  Not genuinely late, but with daylight savings time it was, I ran the last hour or so in the dark, which was really fun!  I’d always wanted to do that but was too scared of rapists and murderers in the park at night, but since I finished around 6pm, it wasn’t really freaky, still lots of people around.

Yesterday, I did 10 easy but was not feeling it.  First run in a long while that I just wanted to pack it in early, but I’m stubborn, so I completed it.  This is when I realized that I am officially tired now.  So I was wondering how I’d do today.

Today’s run was 17 “Steady” as per Hudson.  I swiped my aforementioned mentor’s (A Muse) recipe for his last LR before taper: MP+5%-10%, though again, I was feeling on the tired side and gave myself a pass to go slower if needed.  I ended up with 8:05 avg for the run, though the funny thing was I had done a hard reset on my Garmin 205 but forgot to turn autolap on, so as the run progressed, I was all “damn, but I am steady!” because the lap pace hardly veered.  Turned out it was one long lap for the whole run, and when I put it in Sporttracks, saw that I’d done some 7:50s and 7:45s in there.

The bad part of the run was I brought my small water bottle which I emptied at around mile 11, and by mile 13 I was ready for a fountain, but the stupid Parks commission removed them all, as they do each year, so I was dying of thirst for a major portion.  Luckily, about 1 mile before home, there’s one fountain they leave on longer which saved me for the final trudge.

And with that, finishing off an 81.57 mile week, I’m finally entering taperland for real.  Bring it on, baby!

On to my most favorite new ingenious item that I recently bought: Now that I live in a tiny apartment, when I wash my running clothes there aren’t places for me to hang them in their wet state, so I was putting them in the dryer for a while there but that’s the quickest way to ruin sportsbras and other stretchy stuff (you know when elastic gets crispy? no gooda).  I was looking at drying racks on Amazon, but those accordion floor ones suck, they don’t hold that much.   And then I found it…Drying Rack Mecca!

This cheap thing ($8.96 before shipping) is sturdy, holds 20 items and doesn’t take up a bit of space.   Me love.

Today was my final continuous GMP run – 14 miles with 10MP.  Weather report for the day was 56 degrees, cloudy with 10mph wind.  Carried my small handheld and took a gel at mile 7, just to check that I wouldn’t choke at pace.  Avg for the total run 7:51.

I wisely removed the HR data window from my Garmin so I had no idea what was going on till I got home. The run itself was fine, the MP miles weren’t an easy glide, but then they’re not expected to be at this point.  In fact, that was another thing I enjoyed reading in Jaymee Marty’s blog -  down the page you’ll see her observation on GMP runs and how she once had a coach who told her they should feel very easy yet they never were, giving her unnecessary mental baggage she carried with her for a while.

Anyway, it wasn’t easy but it wasn’t super hard either.  The cool part turns out to be the HR data, of all things (this is why I don’t ditch it completely, there’s still useful info to be found).  Yes, I’m still elevated on whole by about 5bpm, but here’s the deal.  I did another MP run back in September, which I’d somehow forgotten about.  It was 14 miles with 8 at GMP.  Both today and September’s run averaged 7:27 for the MP miles. (not by design, btw, I’m still targeting 7:30s)

The run in September averaged 76% HRR for the first mile and finished at 83.4%, so it rose 7.4% during the run.  Today’s run however, averaged 82% in the first mile but finished at 83% – a 1% rise.  And it actually was highest on the 2nd and 3rd mile, so it went down from there.   This is progress.  In full disclosure, I should mention that September’s run was 10 degrees warmer at 66, but I don’t think that speaks for today’s lovely flat profile.

Anyway, glad it’s done.  Aside from some progression runs, the rest of my workouts aren’t too challenging from here on in (can’t say I’m sorry about that, either).  Feels great to be over the workload hump and now into calmer waters, because I really am a lazy ass at heart.

My HR continues to stymie me, the water seemed to make a difference, but I’m still elusively avoiding my usual resting rate by a few points and it differs for my runs though the weather’s been pretty steady.  Anyway, thanks to Julie (aka Races Like A Girl), who recently posted a link to a kick-ass masters runner’s blog, Jaymee Marty: a 42 year old woman who’s training for the Olympic Trials, I found something that made me feel better about the whole HR situation.

She posted a cool list of “marathon lessons learned” from Twin Cities (where she ran a 2:46…only been running seriously for the last 5 years, too).  Number 7 in particular could have been written just for me – it’s also the only one all in bold.

7. “Don’t trust heart rate. Maybe this one should read: don’t spaz out like a monkey in the weeks leading up to the race because you all of a sudden start measuring your heart rate and it isn’t in the range the books say it should be leading you to think that you are not trained to go out and run at your goal marathon pace. Enough said.”

I have definitely been spazzing out like a monkey and to see this written before my eyes was a lovely sight. I know I’m faster than I was before the start of this cycle, I know I’m not overtrained, I know I’m hitting the workouts so…screw my heart, trust the work.

A few other juicy tidbits in Jaymee’s blog have to do with weight – at 5′5″ and 124, she’s not at all the usual waif which is very helpful for some of my fellow running gals to see, like LARunner, who has been in weight-questioning mode recently.  The takeaway from this is, you really have to test and see what works for you.  There’s no one number for everybody.

Speaking of weight, with 3 weeks to go, it’s time to get serious with my eating again.  I’ve had cookies and candy daily for the last couple months which is actually pretty cool, because it shouldn’t be too hard to lose a couple lbs before the race simply by eliminating that stuff from my diet.  I also bought cottage cheese again after a long hiatus and fruit is also back in my fridge, though I’m not a big fruit lover (who needs fruit when there are so many yummy candies and cookies in the world?) but I will be enjoying Nature’s bounty for the next few weeks.

I’m not looking to lose anything big, just a couple lbs, btw. I’m usually 117.5, though now that I’m drinking more water, I’m closer to 119.  Got no problems with either, though it’ll be fun to have that little boost if I can be 115 on raceday.

And that’s it for now. Later, sweet peeps.

Now on to today… a “Hard 20″: 1 easy, 18@GMP+20sec., 1 easy.  I’ve been working with 7:30s as my GMP, even though I’ve been waffling about what my goal actually will be.  It’s just an easy number to deal with.  So today’s goal was 7:50s for the 18 portion.

The weather was perfect, 55 and overcast, touch of rain at the beginning and some light wind.  It went swimmingly, ending up with 7:46 avg for the 18, 7:51 avg for the entire run.  With this result, I’m thinking 7:30 is back to being a reasonable GMP, so forget 3:18, sub 3:17 is what I’ll be shooting for.  Yay.

In another reconsideration move, I mentioned I was going to do 90miles this next week.  After some back and forth with one of my favorite posters on MRT, A Muse (whom I consider the Running Buddha at the RW forums with his generous and sage advice) I realized that this was not the wisest placement for a 90.

When I saw A Muse’s peak volume week landed 6 weeks out, I went and looked at Pfitzinger and Daniels and saw that they, too, peak at 6 weeks, so it wasn’t making sense to me to have my highest volume come 3 weeks out, especially when it’s also my hardest quality week.  That’s what I get for following Hudson’s plan as written, I was supposed to think about it and adjust, but was lazy.

So I’m going to keep it around 81 for the third week in a row.  Like I wrote in the Hudson thread, the only reason I’d be going 90 is to assuage my ego and my ego’s not running Philly.  I’ll save 90 for the Boston cycle.  That means I also get to skip the one double in the plan, since I don’t need to split that day up now.

Lastly, I’m subtracting some mileage from my taper weeks because Hudson would have me at 70 the week preceding race week and that doesn’t seem very taperish to me.  So today was my last 20 of the cycle!  Next weekend’s LR will be 17 (thank you,  A Muse).

The week ahead looks like this:
Mon: 8 w/10 hill sprints
Tues: 12 w/8×2min @ HP
Wed:14 last 7 moderate
Thurs: 8 or 9 easy (supposed to be another progression but I’ll see how I feel)
Fri: 14 w/10MP
Sat: 8
Sun: 17

Crossing fingers there’ll be no life drama interweaving said schedule,  just some steady running.   Later, fellow running fiends.

Some asshole took metal shears and cut the first letter of my plate off, along with what he really wanted, the registration sticker. SO annoying.  I don’t drive it much and it was parked on the street for a few days, then I went shopping just now and discovered it.  On the upside, I got to call 911 which was exciting.  (I called my precinct first and they told me to do it, it really wasn’t my idea).   Now I have to go through the rigmarole of getting it all squared away.

Workout wise, I had a good one today, 13 miles with 4×10min@HP w 4min recoveries.  The fast bit averaged out to 7:03 pace and my HR was back to where it should be.  Unbelievable how a bit of water (ok, lots of water) can make such a difference.

I’m going to stop here because I’m simply stewing over this license plate thing.  I need to grumble and pout heavily and if I write more, I might get distracted and end up in a great mood which would ruin everything.  So big love, signing off…rasmfrasm!@#$!@#$.

I did a hard reset on my Garmin today which seemed to solve the recent satellite problem.  I also did  a body reset when I realized that the likely culprit for my high HR lately is I haven’t been drinking enough water.  I’d surreptitiously gone  back to diet soda in the past few weeks and had stopped drinking water like I used to.  I could see my pee hadn’t been clear in awhile (TMI? not for a runner) but I was just ignoring it.  So stupid.

It was this article on Active.com that got me thinking about it, because I don’t fit any of the overtraining symptoms (except for high HR) so it has to be something else.   If you look at the table near the bottom, only one lb. of fluid loss, which is equal to a 16oz glass of water (yes, 16 liquid oz of water actually does weigh a pound…cool factoid for you) can give a 6-7 beat difference.  Bingo.

So today I drank water like it was my job and on my 14 miler today (9:03 pace) my AHR was just a couple beats faster than my recent recovery runs at 9:57.   I’ll be curious to see how/if my resting HR changes in the next day or so.

On the mice front, as I mentioned in a comment to the last post, the second I turned the light out and went into the bedroom that night, I heard SNAP! and the life of a little mouse ended behind my refrigerator.  Happy to say, nothing has touched the remaining traps and no more turdettes have been found, though I always heard where there’s one mouse, there’s 100, here’s hoping this was one wayward soul.

Before I left, I did some calculations for how long it might take because I knew my Garmin might lose satellite reception on the trail.  I figured 3:30 should do me fine.  I left my music at home along with my HR monitor, taking only my sunglasses and my larger, 20 oz handheld, which I’ve avoided using the entire summer but needed for this route, and a couple gels.

The run was great exercise.  The trail section is 12 miles of constant undulating rollers and gravel footing with some rocky patches.  I went farther in than I ever had and was surprised to find a covered bridge I didn’t know existed.   The trail ends at a major road so I turned around there – the only problem was I’d only covered 1:41, which would mean my run was short, so on the way back I wrestled with myself about what to do.

I knew it wasn’t a speedy run, thanks to the uphill of the trail, so there was no doubt it wouldn’t be 24 miles, which I could totally live with (24 is very much “extra credit” as far as LRs go)  but I had a mileage goal for the week I had my heart set on…my first 80 and I thought I needed at least 23 for that.

So a mile from home, I did what I call a Garmin Penance Mile, backtracking some to make a needed mileage goal.  I can’t tell you how much I hate doing it since there’s nothing worse than being so close to home after running for hours and voluntarily delaying the finish when you’re already half-zonked, but for that 80, I did it.

Got home tired but satisfied.  Immediately went to Google Earth and found I did 23.75, so that’s fabuloso.  Slowish, at 8:47 pace, but considering the trail portion, I’m really happy with it.  Then double happiness to find this brings my total mileage to 82 for the week, so a mileage PR with room.

Speaking of home sweet home, I wasn’t going to mention this because I’m a bit embarrassed by my constant complaints with this place, but last week I thought someone had left a bathtub overflowing.  There was a constant sound of water glugging above from one end of my apt to the other.  It sounded like the whole ceiling had turned into a pool.  I actually called Nick because I was afraid the evil upstairs neighbors had done something stupid and the ceiling was going to collapse.  Nah, turns out that’s the sound the heating system makes and what I have to look forward to all winter.  Glug glug glug.  Great.  I’ll probably pee myself in my sleep.

Then yesterday, I’m sitting here at the computer and think I see a fleeting shadow.  I look over and see nothing, so I figure it’s my imagination.  Today, I go to eat my regular pre-run bread and peanut butter and find the bread looks weird, like a chunk is gone from the corner.  I inspect the bag and find something has gnawed its way through.  I have mice.

So after my arduous run today, I shower and immediately leave to get mice traps before Rite-Aid closes.  Because I really am living in the lap of luxury.

The final story was 12.3 miles with the interval paces like this (some wind and small elevation difference explains the “every other”):
7:07,6:51,7:01,6:53,6:59,6:53,7:00,6:57,7:03,6:53…avg 6:57

I also inaugurated my marathon shoes that just came in the mail yesterday.  Fresh Elixirs! Purdy.

Backtracking the last few running days, Tuesday I had a nice MLR, 13.2@8:43.  Took two trips up my mile-long hill so felt very pleased with myself for that.  Then yesterday, I did my slowest recovery run of the cycle 8@9:57.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The slower pace was two-fold, the hills the day before and also, my HR has been a bit elevated for a few weeks.

I’m not really worried about overtraining because I’m sleeping better than ever (new jackhammer quality earplugs) and I don’t feel irritable or dreading the runs, plus my HR went up near my May Half, so it doesn’t concern me hugely, but obviously it bothers me some.  So anyway, I want to make those slow runs really slow, especially as the mileage and workouts peak.

In other news, I signed up for Boston yesterday!   I was going to wait till after Philly but you can change your qualifying race after the fact and all the cool kids on the 3:20 thread were doing it, so…I did it!   I’ve had the room booked for awhile now (thanks to my Women’s BQ thread pals getting that over with months ago) so now all I’m lacking is an airplane ticket, which I’ll wait a bit longer to deal with.

Hope you’re all having some lovely runs out there.  Later, babies.

Friday was off (first day off in a month, so I loved it), then Saturday was another damp run, 16@8:13 (last 6 miles were a little under 8:00) and then Sunday, 10@8:35.  So even with the day off, I still racked up 70.18 miles for the week.

Yesterday was 8@8:22 w/10 hill sprints.  Then today, there wasn’t anything interesting on the menu because I was supposed to have done a race or time trial on Sunday as per Hudson, so he figured I was still recovering today.  So I took next Tuesday’s workout which looked kind of fun, and did that today.  The workout was 10 miles w/6miles from MP accelerating to HMP.  Gorgeous day for it, too.  Everything went as planned, started the fast bit with 7:30 finishing with a 7:05, avg. 7:17.  Pace for the entire run – 7:50.

This is going to be my first 80 mile week!  Got a couple of these, then one 90 mile week and then taper time.  Can’t believe it’s already closing in already.  The rest of the week has a couple easys (one of which I’m taking to Smile hill because I want to get some hills in each week for the next few weeks).  Then Friday has a dense little speed/LT session, 10 with 10×1k@HP/10k pace w/1min recoveries, short easy on Saturday and then 24 on Sunday.

I remember at Steamtown when I passed the 22 mile point thinking, “ok, this is as far as I’ve ever gone, let’s see what happens now.”  Of course, my feet were pulp by this time, so I also interjected Ow and Fuck into those thoughts, but the gist of it was finally realizing the unknown.  So I’m happy to be doing 24 this time round.  Not that I see it being any different from the 22s, but still, it’s good.

On other news, they found Nick’s car!  The bad news is, it was at a chop shop so it’s ruined.  The good news is, they caught the asshole who did it!  The bad news is, Nick had to sit in court for 3 hours today so he could stand up and swear to the fact that it was his car and he had locked it.  I’m thrilled that they caught the creep since so often this type of crime ends up with no one to take the blame so at least there’s that.  Hopefully the insurance company will give Nick something good to work with as far as compensation.

And that’s it for today, my lovelies.  I’m off to Trader Joe’s for some of my new favorites frozen foods.  I’m loving their little individual quiches (I’m always up for a crust fix) and their frozen Chicken Tikka Masala is very close to restaurant quality (add a piece of their garlic naan and I’m in heaven).

I feel awful.  The upstairs people snapped when they were told their lease wouldn’t be renewed because of some issues the owner has had with them.  It may be small comfort right now but they are moving the end of November.  I will ask the owner to carpet the unit to help soundproof.  It is the upstair lady who goads the downstairs lady — I think she will be meeker when they are gone.  And then the downstairs people leave in April.  I know that is far off but I think having the upstairs people gone will solve most of the problem.  Please let me know if there is anything I can do and thank you for sending the message.

So this gives me a huge shot of peace, knowing they will definitely be out and that their place will be carpeted once they go.  I will soon return to loving my little apartment again. Ahhhh.

Then I had a really good speed session, despite it being my most heinous of distances…the mile.  It was 6xmile@10k pace + 5seconds (w/3min. recoveries).  That 5 seconds was a big help as far as not dreading it quite so much, because 6 miles is a lot for any interval session, if you ask me.  I was aiming for 6:50s and what I got was: 6:45,6:36,6:43,6:47,6:51,6:48.  Averages out to 6:45s, so I’m really happy with it.

One of the miles I ran for M, Nick’s ex.  I thought about how MS had messed with her body for so long and though she was still able to walk around, she’d been in constant pain for years and things like holding a fork could be impossible at times.  So while I bitch about how hard it is to run fast, I’ll never forget how lucky I am to be able to move around in this world the way I choose.   Visitation is tonight.  RIP M.