Ouch!

I am in pain... In lots of pain actually! But I am also proud and happy.

Yesterday, I did my longest run in my life so far with 15.09 miles in 2h 38mins.

The run was split up in a six mile warm up, three times two miles at race pace with a five minute recovery in between and then finish up with one to two miles cool down.

My game plan was to shoot for around 10:30 minute/mile for the WU, 9:30 minute/mile for the repeats and cool down with whatever is left in the tank.

It was just as cold as every other day this week around here, but sunny with blue skies and only little wind. I bundled up in UA tights and long sleeve, t-shirt, head band, gloves and shades and drove over to the Furman track to leave the car there, basically as my supply vehicle.

From there, I started my warm up over the campus heading for the Swamp Rabbit Trail and once I was on the trail always north towards Travelers Rest until the Garmin beeped for three miles. Starting out, the toes in my left foot were frozen, but during mile two they dewed and burned and once that was done, the feet felt toasty for the remainders of the run. I also had my first three Shot Blok pieces around the three mile mark as well as a perfect stranger saying "That's beautiful" to me while I passed him... I took it as compliment to my gait and kept on going. On the way back to the car, I had to slow myself down every now and then. You see, the way back is slightly downhill the whole time and that makes it easier to go faster than supposed to. On the second half of my warm up, I also felt a lot of discomfort on my right toes and ankle. I wore my new Mizunos again and I don't think those shoes are a good fit for me, especially not on long runs. Once I got back to the car after my first six miles, I called Terry and asked him to bring me another pair of shoes. In the meantime, I did some stretching and had another three pieces of Shot Blok.

After I changed into my Adidas (my toes and ankle felt better right away!), I started my first two mile repeat on the track. I pretty much nailed the pace with a lap time of a little under 19 minutes for the two miles. During the recovery jog, I had a little more to eat and did a pit stop. The second repeat was right at 19 minutes followed with five minutes of recovery. In the last repeat, I had a hard time holding a constant pace. I was either way too slow or way too fast and had to keep on looking at the Garmin and correct my pace. I also kinda ran out of steam by then just barely hanging on. On my second to last lap, I heard somebody approaching from the back fast. I ran my repeats in lane number seven to stay out of the way of the fast people, but for the last 15 or so minutes, I was alone on the track, so hearing somebody running behind me surprised me a lot since I just didn't know where the person was coming from. I thought to myself, I am exhausted, but I am ready to smack you in the face, so bring it on. (Note to myself: Watch out for paranoia around mile 13!) It turned out to be Terry. He did a trainer ride and then ran from the house to the track to finish up with me. So we ran my last lap together and when I hit stop to put my stuff back in the car before my cool down the Garmin was at 13.16 miles. I ran a half-marathon distance for the first time in my life and I felt it everywhere.

The cool down was horrible. I didn't feel that much pain on the last repeat, but once I did the cool down I was about to cry. The last two miles were long and slow with an over 11 minute/mile pace average, but I got it done... Before driving back to the house, we did some stretching and once we were back, I had the hardest time to get out of the car. I can't remember that I ever had such an instant soreness after a workout.

I was hoping that this was the only 15-miler, I will have to do for the MB half preparation only to find out this morning, that the next one is already lined up for this Sunday. Actually, this whole week looks pretty darn tough on paper... Oh well... I'll survive... Somehow.

From I SHOULD To I DID

I just renewed my Runner's World subscription a couple of days ago. 12 issues for 12 dollars. That's quite a bargain, especially if you compare it to the price on newsstands. Anyways, what I meant to say... I read running magazines and books for around a year now. There is tons of helpful information in there: training suggestions, gear reviews, inspirational stories and and and. But as it is in life sometimes, only because you know, doesn't necessarily mean that the knowledge steers your action.

In this context, I am referring to TRACK WORKOUTS.

The goals in my running are still very basic... I want to increase my endurance and I want to get faster. It doesn't matter what you read or hear about running, the opinions are pretty much the same. If you want to increase your endurance, you have to increase your long runs and to get faster you have to do track workouts. So really when you open up a running magazine they just give suggestions on how to make long runs or track workouts more fun and interesting, but really never question the need for both. I think I am fairly okay when it comes to the long runs, but I never made it on a track. Terry and I have been talking about it and he actually started doing them for his marathon preparation, but I got stuck on the "talking about it" part.

Well, now that I am on the coach's plan, things are a little different. I had my first track workout scheduled for last night.

So yesterday I was monitoring the weather forecast. It looked horrible out there during the day... A lot of rain and windy. Fortunately by the time I got out to Furman the rain had stopped and the wind died down a couple of minutes here and there.

The workout started with a two mile warm-up. Instead of doing the warm-up on the track, I decided to run around the Furman campus, because there were no lights on the track and I didn't wanted to spend more time there than I had to. Of course I had my head lamp on, but running around in circles for two miles just seemed to be a little boring. I ended up completing the warm-up with one lap on the track, just to get my eyes used to the dark and to have a look around in general. The plan said to run 4x400 fast effort with a recovery lap in between which comes to a total of two miles for the track workout.

I never thought I would say that, but I actually enjoyed the time on the track. I am not saying that it was easy and I am not saying that in the final 400 I wasn't ready to call it a day, but it felt good to push my limits some... and for a little bit it didn't feel so good at all... that was when my stomach let me know that it won't let me do much more of these. I ended up pretty consistent with around a 7:09 minute/ mile pace for those fast efforts.

After the track I did another small loop around the campus for my one mile cool down.

And there is was... The first track workout in the books! ;-)

Who Switched Off The Light?

There is no denying anymore. Fall has arrived. I love the color everywhere and the cooler temperatures, but the getting-dark-early part of it, I wouldn't miss. And when day light saving time ends this Sunday, it's going to be even worse.

So tonight was kind of my last chance run after work while it's still light outside and then someone switched off the light.... FAST! ;-)

I got out of work on time, but by the time I finally started running at Furman, it was once again 6.30PM. I was wearing my safety vest, but left the headlamp in the car, since I thought I should be able to get 4 to 5 miles in before it's really dark. Besides, I planned to head out to the Swamp Rabbit Trail first as long as I still have daylight and finish up the run on the campus, where there is light everywhere.

From the parking lot at the McAllister Auditorium, I headed out to the dirt trail next to the soccer fields and dorms and from there on the Rabbit Trail towards Travelers Rest. My turnaround point was the BP gas station at mile 2.2. I headed back towards Furman and once again got into trouble with my stomach. At mile 2.7 I started walking and I thought I will have to walk back to the car. After maybe ten minutes I felt better and started running again.... Two motivations here: 1) this stomach stuff just starts to annoy me and I want to beat it, 2) all of a sudden, it got dark fast, especially on the trail, where there are no lights and a lot of trees around that take away the moonlight on top of it. Funny enough, once I started to run again, I felt fine. I turned back on the Furman Campus close to bell tower, took the little dirt bridge over the lake and then made a straight shot back to the car. Once the Garmin beeped for 4 miles, I hit the stop button and walked for another five minutes.

Well, I guess this is it with evening daylight runs for the rest of the year. But fortunately, the campus is well lit and as long as it doesn't rain, this is going to be my training stomping ground over the dark season! :-)

Final Preparation before Take-Off

I can hardly remember a week, when I did less exercise than the days since my test run. I decided at the time to take it very easy and that's what I did and my volumes show that too. Of course, it's the right thing to do, but when you are used to working out all the time, it just feels wrong. On top of that, I am always very nervous about races, the working out and preparing myself for a race, helps me to feel more confident... This time, I will have to make it work without the feeling that I have done everything I should... I "just" did everything I could. But it is, what it is and when push comes to shove, I will have a whole team to back me up... Fortunately, I have one of the shortest legs that you can have in the Blue Ridge Relay.

Most of the packing for the relay was done yesterday. It's crazy how much stuff we got together, just for a 2.5 day trip. But really, a running trip just needs a little more preparation and stuff. Also, with conditions in the mountains constantly changing, we basically have packed everything from the short shorts to the running tights, from the singlet to the gloves and the armwarmers. As they say, there are no bad conditions, just poor clothing choices. Please remind me that I said that, when I have to run my "middle-of-the-night" leg, sleep deprived and in the rain! :-) The agenda for the rest of the day is a chiropractor appointment, last minute purchases for flashing lights and be at the meet up point on time. Then we will head out to Boone (NC) to stay there for the night. Tomorrow morning, we'll travel another 1.5 hours to the start line, pick up our packages, most likely we'll have to sign a mile-long waiver, get our group picture and send our first runner on the course. Then kick back and relax until it's our turn to run! Exciting! :-)

This morning, I took the puppy out for a nice long walk around the Furman Campus. Here is a visual for you:



Even as cloudy as it was this morning, you can still see the beauty of the place. In the front, you see Furman Lake with the tower and in the back the base of Paris Mountain, the top is covered in clouds. I know, I keep mentioning it, but it's just awesome, to have those two scenic landmarks in our backyard!

When we get back in town and caught up on the sleep some, I will post a race report and pictures.

GO TEAM "DO NOT RESUSCITATE" GO!!!