I did not run this morning.
Because I didn’t want to. I wasn’t in the mood. I was tired, and my legs were feeling heavy just laying (lying?) in bed.
It’s the first Tuesday in a while that I have not done a morning run; I’ve been substantially complying with my current training plan for several weeks now.
So I didn’t run this morning. I might run later, I might not.
In other news, I have 10 toenails for the first time in almost a year!
OH…. I may be mature enough to know when I should drop from a full to a half marathon, but I am not mature enough to not be whiny about it. At least I’m not in denial about it, though.
CARLSBAD [HALF] MARATHON WEEKEND!!!
Boy oh boy was I bitter about this, until about 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, when we all found ourselves in possession of seasonal flights at Karl Strauss Brewery.
As we know, I sold my Carlsbad Marathon bib.
Update, I also elected to not run any portion of the San Diego Trail Marathon due to the likelihood of uneven surfaces and their adverse effects on knee-hab.
But two of my friends were also planning a little weekend getaway around the Maniac Double, so the three of us met up at the Carlsbad Marriott Saturday – Sunday. And one of them was my friend who was registered for the half, but couldn’t run because he was recovering from a respiratory infection and had not trained past about 6 miles.
So I got his bib, and did the half @ about marathon pace, a little over marathon pace honestly, because knee-hab.
Two Big Take-Aways:
1. The knee did really well, and we are a go for LA Marathon on March 9. I am so freaking excited!!! I had to remind myself to back off and slow down A LOT since I was supposed to be only testing out the knee. There were crowds, and rolling hills, and many “sudden directional changes”… a guy even totally cut off/plowed into me at about a quarter mile in. But the knee withstood. Twice on the down hill, and whenever I would inadvertently pick up the pace – because the rest of my body was just itching to go faster – I would start to feel some warning signs in my knee. But otherwise things went really well.
2. I thought maybe that I wasn’t excited about the course for the full because I was inherently bitter about the situation. But #1 Spectator Liz and I drove the full course, and before I even said anything, she said, “This is terrible!!!” So I guess it wasn’t just me. And to be fair, about 8 miles of it was an out and back up through industrial, an airport, office parks and ongoing construction sites, so really… I mean, it’s no San Francisco.
Ok, it was just meh. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t spectacular. It did smell like the grass in the fields had just been fertilized. If it was my first marathon and I didn’t know any better, I’m sure it would be great – quiet, gentle hills, nothing too steep, and capped at 2000 for the full so not too crowded. Or if I was, as I had planned to be, there for the mileage and not the scenery, then it would be great for that, too, because support on the course and the overall organization of the event were fantastic. The part that both the full and the half did was great too, all along the water and through a cute little seaside village/downtown area. But I realized then and then re-realized the next day, that not running the full was the right choice.
And I got over it, got some beer and fried food, and started mapping out my plans for LA.
because OMG LA MARATHON IN 43 DAYS!!!!!!!!
It’s 6:30 a.m. I’m up and dressed for running, but…….
I’m not going to group run 😦
I’m bummed because this means my next group run will not be until november 24.
I’m also having difficulty enforcing the principle that recovery time is important.
Group run is supposed to be 14 miles this week. I’m only at about 11 miles for the week so far, which seems low, but then I have to have a little chat with myself about having just done a full followed by a half and still technically being in a recovery phase. My left knee has been clicking a little, a situation that comes up when the weather changes to the cold-humid we have for “fall” and “winter” down here by the beach in SoCal.
And frankly, I’m just not mentally in the mood for a run that long right now. I’m pretty squarely in the 3-8 mile mindset right now. Beyond that, I don’t have to run a long run this week. I think should really do an 8-10, but I don’t have to. It’s not required by any aspect of my training or racing calendar. To ramp back up to seattle marathon, I have a half Nov. 9 and a Ragnar Nov. 15. And as was established with Portland and Long Beach I’ve developed a pretty solid running base. I also don’t need to prove to myself that I can run 14 miles. I’m totally confident that I can run 14 miles comfortably at my pace group’s pace, i’ve done it lots of times. In fact, I just did the first 15 miles of portland just under pace group pace, and Long Beach at pace group pace.
I just REALLY don’t want to right now.
There are many 14+ mile days in my immediate future, it’s totally ok if today is not one of those days.
So now I’m sitting on the couch waiting for the sun to start coming out– weather.com says that’ll be 7:09 — so I can go do 5-7 miles on the trail in Manhattan Beach. Maybe follow up with some netflix/treadmilling after to tack on some of the extra group run mileage.
But this morning I’ve decided that it is more important to get back outside running than to have the higher mileage. Treadmills and ellipticals are great, but they are not the same. I do best when I have the full rotation. It’s time to start bringing back more road/trail miles.
HA! I say that like it’s been ages… the reality is Portland was only 3 weeks ago, and long beach two weeks ago. I’ve really only been in recovery for two weeks. It is actually totally appropriate to just now be getting back to the 5-7 mile long run range.
See? The conversations I have in my head? ok, sun’s coming out… i think. time to go!
UPDATE!!! (12:57 p.m.)
after all of that, I got overwhelmed deciding between which trail to run on, so I went to coffee bean to decide, and coffee bean is next to my gym, so I decided to just go to the gym to do 6-7 miles. That turned into 20 miles….you know how sometimes you turn on netflix and wind up on the couch longer than you planned? replace couch with treadmill, and that was my morning. funny how all that worked out.
Morning runs are exhausting!!!
I am not a morning run person, which usually works out well. I often have to be in Court or to the office early because that’s just how law is. And in early usually does not also mean out early, because that’s just how it is. But since I prefer evening runs and evening yoga, this has always worked pretty well for me as long as I can find a well lit street or a gym with late-night hours.
But recently we’ve been having more “stay late” than “get in early” situations, so I’ve been going to the gym in the morning to make sure I don’t skip out because I got off work when I would normally be wrapping up at the gym.
Which has been nice, because I don’t spend the whole day waiting for it to be run or yoga time, and I get to start my day with some weekend-esque treadmill/coffee/netflix sessions. These make Mondays and Tuesdays… ok all of the days, really… better. Like everyday is a Sunday morning.
But also not nice because by the time i get home, I’m totally spent. I don’t have the second wind from running or yoga happy hour. Also, I don’t run outside as much this way, because it’s just too hard to get out of bed when it means being out on the street. I just don’t like running out on the roads on weekday mornings at all.
So we’ll see how the month progresses… maybe I’ll need to incorporate more doubles? maybe reduce a little how long i go in the mornings and make a point to follow up with an outdoor 5k in the evenings.
Or maybe my schedule will naturally shift itself back…
I just programmed my race plan for the AFC half into my Garmin, and f if I did not just also completely lose my appetite!!!
I haven’t run a race with a time goal since the full in SD about 10 weeks ago. And this one is a bit of a doozy.
It’s aggressive. Ok, very aggressive. But totally doable. Totally.
100% doable. Looking at my training logs, this is entirely within the realm of possibility. Add in the fact that I’ve been on my very best behavior since Santa Barbara, and it becomes a probable outcome. It will require a significant effort. But it is very much possible. Very much possible.
And when it happens, I know I will feel genuine disbelief.
But it will happen. Like LA and OC before it, I will make my target at AFC.
see you on the other side……(of the weekend, not the afterlife!!!)
Hello there! What’s happening?
Not a lot. I’ve been on my very best behavior so there’s not much to write about!
Montecito-Summerland Half Marathon was fun, surprising finish time given the net elevation gain, and that it was my first long run off the treadmill since San Francisco. Spot-on Portland Marathon pace, actually. In fact, miles 8, 9, & 13 were my fastest miles, so it would seem I effectively distributed my effort across the up- and down-hills.
It’s summer, it’s So-Cal. Very sunny. Hot & Sunny. Humid, like 80-95% with cloudless direct-sun-light skies. And I’ll be candid – I spend too, too much money on skin care products to risk the kind of sun damage that cloudless direct sunlight can cause. Even when taking every precaution, things happen. Sun screen sweats off, or gets wiped off inadvertently, or the visor shifts, and BOOM massive sun damage that takes months or years to undo.
So I’ve been indoors. A lot of treadmill with some elliptical for variety. Netflix. Strength training. Yoga. Fortunately (sort of) it’s often extremely warm and humid in the gym, so I’m still getting practice acclimating for the high-heat, high-humidity August and September races.
I keep setting my alarm to run in the mornings, before the marine layer burns off, but then I hit snooze and wind up running at 9 or 10pm (yes, nighttime) instead.
I got a crockpot, FUN! And I’ve learned to make stew, ALSO FUN!
The Jaybird Bluetooth Headphones stopped working again, so I will be exchanging them again, for a 4th pair — not so fun.
I may or may not register for the Bulldog Ultra on August 25, a very hilly, moderately technical 50k. WE SHALL SEE……
So that’s what’s happening! YAY SUMMER!!!!!!
Yep, apparently I’m a headphone serial killer.
Meh, here’s the secret… I wasn’t the hugest fan of these headphones anyway. At least, not as a marathoner. The battery doesn’t last long enough for my pre-during-and-post-race preferences, and the bluetooth connection drains my phone battery, too.
But recently I had come around to using them at the gym for shorter workouts. I got really used to not having to worry about where the chords were. And then, the left earbud went out.
I bought these in January, but only used them, maybe, 15 or so times for a total of 15-18 hours of actual usage — to make a generous estimate. Not a great shelf life for a product meant to withstand heavy sweat and athletic activity, and priced at over $100. To compare, my Bose SEi earbuds made it about 350 miles, plus some significant bike and travel time, all within 88 days, so some pretty heavy usage, before spontaneously crapping out just within Target’s 90 day return window. But hey, Bose is Bose for a reason.
But also hey! Best Buy is Best Buy for a reason, too, eh? In January they price matched Amazon, so I paid less than sticker price and spent the $15 I saved on the extended warranty. So six months later, and without a receipt, I was able to return the dead earbuds for an even exchange or store credit. And it gets better!
I had the freedom sprint 3s, which are discontinued to make way for the recently released freedom sprint 4s! And again, Amazon had them new, in stock, for 20% less than Best Buy! So again, Best Buy price matched, and for an out of pocket cost of $5.62 I got the dead headphones replaced with an upgrade and another extended warranty. Oh, America!
So here’s hoping version 4 lasts longer than version 3, or atleast until version 5 comes out so I can trade up without incurring actual out of pocket costs 😛
and lunges?
Vacation happened, now easing out of post-marathon recovery followed by vacation and back into training, technically for Portland Marathon.
But before I get deep into the Portland cycle, I’m going to use the first six weeks to try out a Half Marathon training plan, see if I can get another 5 or 10 minutes off my half PR by August, which would ultimately lead to a faster marathon time, too, in the end.
So the half plan is from my same go-to book, and I am supplementing with strength training, yoga, and spin. Since the half plan has, well, half the distance, and at faster paces, there’s more time in the schedule for these kinds of things.
Sunday, I did a strength sequence which, despite being labeled as for arms, involved quite a bit of lunging and squatting. My legs are still recovering, and Monday’s run got moved to this evening.
But! exciting to be sore in places that have not been sore for a while. And exciting to see that what used to be tempo pace is now easy pace.
So, as always, we’ll see how it goes!!
Eh, not that kind of marathon. And does it count as a rest day if you’re in a recovery cycle?
“We” are on day 8 of the proposed 14 day run-break. Ima gettin restless up in here.
But you know what makes mondays better, always, whether it’s a rest day or an 8-10?
Criminal Minds Marathon Mondays!! on ion, channel 30.1 antennae tv LA Local. It’s no secret I’m a shameless sucker for a crime procedural. I just get sucked in, even if I’ve seen the episode a hundred times in syndication. And, oh boy, if I happen to catch a new Dateline or 48 hours mystery? well, that’s more of a friday/sunday show, but, I admit, I got a little excited when a couple of this season’s freshman shows got bumped from friday and replaced by extra Dateline. I know. Nerd. Whatever.
Yes, “recovery cycle.” Also known as “responsibility” and “moderation,” “behaving like an adult.” Right. Right now, I am on my couch eating a pop-tart (ok, nature valley or some-such, graham cracker cherry pomegranate toaster pastry) and watching criminal minds reruns. I have also been hanging out on the recumbent bike while watching dr.who on the ipad, and I may have been cheating a little by jumping on the elliptical off and on… but stopped short of the treadmill. I think tomorrow might be my breaking point though. 5k easy pace, road or treadmill, couldn’t hurt, right? Right?!?!?
Certifiable, indeed.
wOOt wOOt!!! iT’S oFFiCiaL
So in all the hustle and nerves of work and training and calves and recovery and destination races and what not, I totally missed the fact that my 2013 race schedule thus far has qualified me for both Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics!
SO, emails sent and statistics confirmed, I am now officially………
MARATHON MANIAC #7340
HALF FANATIC #4508
hee hee hee.
see you out there!
Joga Gernal 