the half marathon is this weekend! -gerlinda

the half marathon in Virginia Beach is this sunday! i can hardly believe it...

have i trained hard enough? am i prepared? who knows. yes, i have followed through with all the "running" days on my schedule. sometimes i've moved them up or back a day or two, but i think i've knocked out every single one. the stretching and crosstraining days, however... well, best to not talk about that! abby says i'm okay, that i've worked hard enough.

the 11.6 miles i did last weekend helped a little with my confidence, even though - as runs go, with the walk breaks, the uneven pacing, the occasional certainty that i might die at any moment, it was a sucky one.

my schedule had me running 4 miles on tuesday...but i left my running shoes out in the rain sunday night, and they still weren't dry. so, i ran my 4.5 mile Grant Park loop yesterday. it was my first "evening" run. i set off at about 5:45. i felt like i was running slow, but after about 2.5 miles, i had to walk. could i have pushed through it? probably. the rest of the "run" was more of a run/walk. i'd run fast for a bit. walk for a bit. in the end, i stopped at the foot of the gruesome hill and did lunge walks up it. definitely one of the suckier runs i've ever been on. was it the heat? the humidity? were my legs still tired from last weekend? who knows? i'm not dwelling on it, and i didn't even wear my watch. i feel good that i got out there and tried to run, at least.

per the schedule, i'm supposed to run 2 miles tonight and then rest for the next 2 days. thanks to the large blister on my left heel (thank you 10-mile run two weeks ago,) i think i'm going to skip the 2 miles and just do yoga instead. i feel as ready as i'm going to get for the 1/2 marathon. barring breaking an ankle or something, i expect to at least be able to finish the thing.

my PanCAN shirt is probably not going to arrive in time, but that's OK! i will find a way to post Dad's name on the back of my shirt, and i will be thinking of him while i run. i know he would be proud of the fact that i've made it to the starting line.

ow...eerff....by abby

hey, gerlinda -- very excellent of you to get up and out and do the run. you will kick major half-marathon butt and i will be thinking of you next weekend. three cheers for you! and rama! and lauren! hoorah! also, wheeeee --- it's almost september!!!! which means we get to see you soonish. :)

my mother is part bunny, part mountain goat. i am 22 years her junior, and i can't keep up. you have to understand that she is this wee tiny little person, only about 110lbs, with the personality of the smart high school cheerleader you were actually friends with (mom, in the unlikely event that you happen to be reading this, that is actually a compliment) and this massive metabolism that neither me nor my sister happened to inherit. it's sick, really.

i got my schedule all whacked out. but. friday i got in 10 miles on the highline canal train which is this super-cool crushed gravel trail that goes for like 80 miles all through denver. i envy denver its trail system. make it come to bozeman! my mom rode her bike and we chatted (read: i talked nonstop) and since i normally run alone, that was nice. i went a bit slower than normal because of the talking, but i'm fine with that. she got me a heart rate monitor for my bday, so now i know things like 10-minute pace is about 160-164 bpm for me. i have no idea what my max heart rate is or should be. that 226 - age thing is crap. but there are ways to figure it out and i have a book now, so i will learn. anyway, i wasn't too sore or tired or anything, so that's swell.

saturday was the cancer 10k and that was fun. it was pouring down rain in the morning, so we went to the registration and got our stuff and mae's stuff and then went to breakfast to wait for the rain to break (this was a non-competitive race; you could start whenever you want). only .... we had to take this little bus thing from the parking to the start, so when we got there, really early, at like 6:30am, there was no one there because of the rain. so we loaded up back on the bus (plus mae) and went back to the parking place. when the bus door opened, i got up to get out and put one foot on the top step of the bus. it was wet and so was my boot and so out went my foot and up in the air went me and then down hard on the top step on basically my left kidney and then slide slide slide down all the steps ouch bruise pain ouch.

so i popped right up because i hate stuff like that and walked it off and whatever don't touch me. but i have a majorly large massive hematoma on my back, plus what looks like mountain lion claw marks since the bus steps had this corrugated pattern (which doesn't work to keep people from slipping, obvs). still. i went and ate breakfast and then came back and did the 10k hike which was fun and the weather cleared and later i ached and thought i would barf but oh well. at least nothing broke. my family is quick to laugh at my constant gracelessness ... but this was really just wet shoes and wet bus floor and it could have been anyone, not just the capital-K Klutz of the clan. so there. :P i'll see the chiropractor and he'll put everything back where it goes.

and, my mom is getting into running, which is cool. i told her congrats on her first 10k, even though it was a hike. she is hoping to do a 5k run in september and maybe work up to a 10k for next summer. good for her! she's always told me i'm crazy for running, so i'm glad to see her getting into it. more running converts!

sunday we did a few miles on the mtn bikes on the canal trail again and that was easy and nice. and today i drove and i swear if i have to spend one more second in the car i will scream. i am sore from that and sore from falling and sore from hauling around my neice (optober! (october) rapumzel! (rapunzel) deer tractors! (deer tracks) and all the other groovy things 3.5-year-olds say). my mom says i need more weight training. thanks, mom.

tomorrow, 5.

last week - gerlinda

sounds like you & your mom have a bunch of fun stuff planned, abby! how'd it go?

last week was kind of blechy for me... i dunno if i'm a little burned out or what, but i couldn't seem to motivate. i didn't do anything at all wed. or thurs. friday, i did 5 miles at the gym out of guilt. saturday, i took the dog on a 4-5 mile hike, but it wasn't all that vigorous or anything - we took lots of breaks for him to swim or sniff stuff, etc.

i went to a friend's birthday party saturday night and stayed out late and woke up late. i really had no intention of going on a "long run." but then i thought of my dad and of everyone who's donated to PanCAN to support these runs, and i got my bootie out to the freedom parkway trail. lucky for me, rama & lauren had a hard time motivating yesterday too, so i met up with them around 10am and we ran the trail twice. it's about 5.8 miles from ponce de leon to the street just past boulevard & the rusty MLK statue and back to ponce. so we did that twice, for 11.6 miles. i ran it in i think 2:10, with many a walk break and stops to fill the water bottle. i didn't feel the sun as much as i thought i would. the run kind of sucked, overall - the heat, the humidity, the unshaded sections of trail. but it felt great to follow through, you know? i was really proud of myself for not flaking out.

next weekend is the half marathon! now, having run 11.6, i feel confident about getting through the 13.1. it would be awesome to knock it out in 2:29, so that i'm on track to do the full marathon in under 5 hours. we shall see... it's getting exciting!

this week by abby

i ran saturday and took sunday off. saw my homeopathic dr on sunday and we talked long and hard about my hip. so i'm trying some new things and we'll see how that goes. one thing i'm not trying, ever, i think, no matter how bad my hip hurts, is liver enzymes. okay. 'nuf said. i've got some collagen junk to start on, and ruta grave and calc flour and a very huge dose of arnica. my hip's been holding out, so this stuff is to try to keep it that way, and also to address the weakness and try to correct it.

this week's wonky cuz i'm going out of town.
MON i ran my usual 5 on cameron bridge. i felt just swell.
TUE is today and i meant to do backyard bootcamp but that didn't happen. so i thought i would swim at lunch but the pool's closed (!) and so now i might (but probably won't) get a bike ride in after work. bah.
WED i will run the usual 5 and hopefully feel swell again.
THU will be off cuz i'm driving to denver to hang w/ my mom,dad,sis,bro-n-law + neice for a few days.
FRI my mom and i are driving to summit county to ride bikes from frisco to vail and back, or something like that.
SAT i am running my 10-ish miles on the highline canal trail. my mom figures i could run about a zillion laps around their neighborhood, but the canal trail sounds way better. mom also figures that she will skate with me while i run. thaaat should be interesting.
SUN mom, my dog mae and i are doing the denver climb to conquer cancer at lookout mountain. mae gets a bandana and everything!

next weekend i am planning to run from my house to somewhere in manhattan (mt), which will be about 12 miles, i think.

5ish - gerlinda

i did my "gruesome" 4.5m run around grant park this morning, and then i ran around for about 5-6 more minutes, trying to get in my 5 miles. i finished the 4.5 in 44 minutes, and i finished the total run in 50 minutes. i could feel, right from the start, that i was pushing the pace. i could tell, because when you push, there is less zoning out: your running mellow keeps getting harshed by thoughts of "this sucks" and "damn, i sound like a sleestack huffing up this hill" and "ok, at that telephone pole, i'll let myself walk for 10 seconds."

based on my time, i seriously have my doubts that i ran 5 full miles. but it was close to 5. and fast for me. and, it was out in the real world, with 1,000% humidity drenching my clothes in sweat even though the temperature was only in the 70's. still, i feel good about it. go, me!

hike - gerlinda

due to a slight comedy of errors, we didn't get to hike saturday (although, it was end of day before we conceeded the hike wasn't going to happen.) so, we hiked sunday instead - 8+ miles up slaughter gap trail and then up blood mountain (georgia's 2nd highest peak @ 4,777 feet! gasp! hahahaha. georgia is no bozeman.) it was nice and restful, good exercise.

of course, the mix up meant that i didn't get to run my 5 miles sunday, so i missed a run last week, which i hate. but, i'm letting it go! today, i'll do some yoga, and tomorrow i'll do the usual 5 miles.

zen and mellow by abby

i try not to stress about the long runs. i do get a little worked up and nervous, of course, but i really try to be all zen and mellow with it .... if it turns out to be a horrible run, it's not the end of the world. you can always walk. you can always park your butt on the side of the road and call your friends to come get you. i usually get more worked up about the weather or worry more about catching the nasty cold that's going around than the actual run itself. i just try to give it my best shot week after week. the way i see it is: if i respect the run, then it will respect me. that's supercheesy, i know, but hey, it seems to work.


excellent work on your 10-miler, grimes!!!! you really do only need to run 10 before your half .... the momentum and excitement of the race will carry you the rest of the way. it's the same reason you only run 20 (in fact, it's recommended that you do not run more than 20) before the marathon ....

i let myself go backwards today ..... after a hard 5 on the treadmill (in just over 45 minutes) on thursday, and a full day of blobdom on friday, i felt okay letting myself step down to 8 in preparation for stepping up to 10 next week. i am still 5 weeks out from my half marathon, so i'm being careful and trying to not be overprepared for that, if there is such a thing. anyway, today i set out to just run 8 miles at a truly comfortable pace. no pushing myself. just 60% of my max heart rate, the way they say you're supposed to do long distances. 'course i don't have a heart rate monitor, so i have no idea if i was at 60 % or not, but i felt excellent. normally i set a 10-minute/mile goal for myself ... but today i just ran whatever pace i felt comfortable at, with no expectations. turns out that pace, at the 8-mile distance, anyway, is just over 10-minute miles. hmmm. i finished in 1:21:15. why does 10-minute pace feel like such a challenge sometimes, and feel so easy other times??? 'tis a mystery.

double digits! - gerlinda

i was at band practice last night, in a totally foul mood, a) because i haven't been practicing and so i sucked at practice and i don't feel ready for tonight's show b) because i knew i was planning to run 10 miles in the morning!

abby - do you stress out about the long runs? i totally do. especially after tuesday's crappy run, i was getting tense whenever thoughts of "the big run" crossed my mind. that + being tense about the show made for a very grouchy gerlinda at band practice last night. i guess i build things up in my mind (dreading them) and the only thing that helps is to just force myself to get them over with.

so, that said, i forced myself out of bed at 5am to do my run today - and it was fine. the 1st & last 2 miles were through the ghetto (it's probably not smart of me at all, to run alone through these neighborhoods. then again, i felt like i had no choice.) The 3rd & 8th miles were through the upperclass ghetto (ie: $300,000 "shacks" in a trendy part of town.) the middle miles 4-7 were on the freedom parkway trail, where i've run many times before. i felt good. i took it easy. i walked the worst of the hills and took brief little walks whenever i drank my gatorade. i finished in 1:53:28, so my pace was 11:35. i feel pretty confident i ran 10 full miles. it may have actually been a couple 10ths more.

i switched my long run to today b/c i'm going to the mountains this weekend with friends and couldn't stand the thought of "the big run" hanging over my head the whole time. (yet another thing i was tense about - squashing so much stuff into a small stretch of time.)

anyway, i feel really, really good that i forced myself up and out this morning. my body also feels pretty good post-run. i'm slightly sore, in a way that feels really good; i have a blister on the back of my left foot (i think a piece of muck from the trail got inside my sock,) and the ball of my right foot kind of hurts (this has been an ongoing, but not yet debilitating, thing that also stresses me out - kind of like your hip, abby.)

so - onward & upward. in the spirit of resting up, i didn't do jack on wed. or thurs (unless you count walking the dog.) tomorrow, we're planning a hike. it'll probably be several miles of fairly moderate east-coast, forrested, terrain. sunday, i guess i'll try to do the 5 miles i skipped on thursday. Next week is my last full training week before the 1/2 marathon! i plan to try 11-12 miles next weekend...but i haven't made myself any promises. my training schedule recommends a 10 mile run as the longest one before the half... i dunno. i guess i'll wing it, like i've been doing all along!

mtw by abby

monday -- 16 mile bike ride. i meant to do 20. but it was super windy and i wussed out. (and happy bday to gerlinda!)

tuesday -- the usual 5 mile run. nice and cool. 50 minutes.

wednesday -- i started out doing backyard bootcamp, but then i was like, hey, it's my birthday, i'm over this, so i quit after 30 minutes. but i did get a 4.5-mile hike up beehive basin to make up for it. that might be my all-time favorite hike -- it's got every kind of terrain and the views are amazing, and it's a good workout but not too killer.

today -- hmm, i seem to have a hard time w/ thursdays. i swear i tried to get up. so i've got a gym bag packed and i'll either knock out 5 on the treadmill or the road, depending on the weather.

so .... i was reading through some old running stuff, and it basically says that you should go down in distance everything third week in order to kick up the next week. i think gerlinda and i have basically been progressing steadily up and ignoring the down weeks, despite the fact that they show up on our schedule. so maybe this week i'll go back down to 8 and then jump up to 10 the following week and 13 after that. or something like that ....

4.8 blechy miles - gerlinda

EDIT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY!!!!!

i think i had my first truely horrible run yesterday. i went to the gym as usual. i set the treadmill on the usual pace. the first mile was fine, the second mile felt great. and then i got ambitious. i decided to "fartlek" the rest of the run, so as mile 2 rolled over into mile 3, i cranked the speed up to about an 8 minute pace and i forced myself to run that fast for a quarter mile. you know...it wasn't so bad...it went by kind of fast, and i didn't die, and i was still somewhat in control of my breath.

but then, when i slowed back down to my "usual" 10 minute pace (which is still fast for me, but i punish myself, see, for cheating by using the treadmill,) i got a side stitch AND the dreaded "lung cramps" - which are difficult to describe, but basically feel like there is a bubble of air trapped between the ribs near my right lung, and it's a piercing kind of pain, like a stitch, but in your lung. i tried to push through it but it kept getting worse, and finally i had to walk for a bit. it was all downhill from there.

i honestly wanted to quit because it was such a bad run...but i was mad at myself (apparently cabernet and carrot cake don't make the best nutrition for a runner, despite the carb load. and even though i was celebrating my birthday - c'mon! i'm pursuing a goal here! i owe it to myself to push through the rough patches.) anyway, i ended the run 2 10ths short because there is a time limit on the treadmills at the gym and a cue was forming, vultures circling as the counter on my machine clicked ever closer to the limit...

onward and upward. i was actually supposed to "ramp down" last week, but instead i pushed ahead and did 9 miles. and then celebrated my birthday in huge style. and my body is paying for it now. i still feel ache-y and tired, despite eating right and getting plenty of sleep yesterday. maybe i should go easy on myself this week? today's a crosstraining day, so maybe i'll just walk a couple miles with my dog, rather than doing bootcamp or cycling.

9 and a kingfisher by abby

yesterday was a lovely, amazing day. i woke up to a grey sky and cool temps. i hit the road around 7am feeling great. i got rained on for about half a mile between miles 2 and 3, but i'm not sweet enough to melt, so that's good. the rain actually felt good. it wasn't enough to make me cold, but it was refreshing and cooling and lovely. then, as i came off the bridge on cameron bridge, there was a mama and baby deer in the road. the baby was still in spots and so curious as i ran by. naturally i wanted to bring it home.

i have been basically running the same route from my house, and just adding distance. because we don't have sidewalks, running on the road can be a major undertaking, and because we're in the country, well, it's sort of a double risk since people ignore speed limits, etc. so this route is the safest, and has the least amount of traffic and the most amount of animals. so i ran all the way to highline, which seems really long when you drive it and not as long when you run it. there are a fair amount of hills, though the killer hills will start coming with 10+ miles.

anyway, i turned around at the 4.5 at 45:34, still feeling great. crossing the bridge on the way hope, i spotted a kingfisher sitting on a wire. i don't see kingfishers regularly, so i looked them up in my animal speak book when i got home. the keynote (a synthesis of the bird's energies based on the author's observations and study) for a kingfisher is "new warmth, sunshine, prosperity and love." interesting, since i saw it in the rain. the cycle of power is "winter solstice and season." interesting, since it's still summer (though "wintery" enough that we ended up building a fire :) ). anyway, the kingfisher is "a long-time symbol of peace and prosperity." good. because i need some of both of those. there is an old legend that tells how all kingfishers used to be grey. when noah released it from the ark, it flew toward the sun and the blue sky. as it rose up toward the sun, it was burnt and changed in a brighter new color. kingfishers are different among birds because the females are more colorful than the males. kingfishers prefer northern climates. they will go as far north as possible as long as there is open water for hunting. (north: teaching, abundance, balance, sacred wisdom and knowledge, gentleness, thankfulness, drawing forth inner treasures, empathic intuition, trust, alchemy.the element associated with north is earth: wisdom, patience and prosperity, and being true to yourself, freeing yourself from limitations.) "if a kingfisher has come to you, prepare yourself to dive into something new ... if a kingfisher is around, you won't drown. in fact, you will find that, as a result, you will have a new sunshine and prosperity unfolding within your life." (this is from "animal speak" by ted andrews -- a great book about animal totems and myths and legends and the role of animals in our lives, etc.)

so now i know about kingfishers. i finished the run up feeling as fine as i had when i started, in 1:32:23, which means the second split was 46:48, just over a minute off the first split. 10:12s, about. good. and today i am not at all sore. i wish every run could be as peaceful as yesterday's run ... as relaxing and invigorating all at the same time. i thank and honor the kingfisher, my totem for the day. and i am actually sort of looking forward to the 10.

hey, it's fun to read about running! that part of why this blog is alright, even if it's nerdy/obsessive ... because it's interesting to get another opinion. for me, anyway. i don't know what my next big goal will be after this marathon. i'd love to be done with running, but it seems to keep creeping back into my life. even if i started focusing on triathlons again, there's still running (though admittedly, not as much). a half-ironman would be fun. i was to do one once but had to injury out with a badly sprained ankle. totally different sport, that. i dunno. maybe i'll just keep doing half marathons, all over the country or world. though, climbing mountains is fun too .... what about a multi-day backpacking trip at high elevation? like hiking across rocky mountain national park, or the crazy mountains or something ....

11:17 & another math check - gerlinda

woah! i can't believe my math was that far off!!
and, speaking of incorrect math, my 1st 5K wasn't in 2005 - it was in january, this year - 2006! it's just that so much has happened since then that it feels like a lifetime ago. So, i think it's pretty cool i've gone from a 43ish 5K to a 29ish 5K in 8 months.

Rama, Lauren & I did our 9 mile out & back this morning. I chose this route b/c there weren't a lot of twists and turns and most of it was scenic. we ran from the corner of McClendon & Clifton (at the Flying Biscuit Cafe) to the corner of Briarcliff & Clifton - so, basically, we ran through Candler Park, then crossed Ponce and into whatever neighborhood that is - North Druid Hills?, then past N. Decatur Road and through the Emory University Campus. If you cut right on E. Clifton and loop back to Clifton, the course is exactly 4.5 miles one way, 9 miles out & back.

Rama was cursing me because of the hills... and honestly, it's impossible to find a flat route in Atlanta, but this particular course had 2 long, slow hills that put you on at least a 20% incline for quarter to half-miles at a time - Each Way. Somehow, these hills were more gruesome and brutal than the steeper (but shorter) ones on my Grant Park route. Alas! At least it's good training, right?

I ran the course in 1:40:54, which is an 11:17 pace, and as i've said - this was a slow, hilly course. So, I guess I'm on track for my 11:20 MRP (marathon race pace.) I've been totally geeking out, reading whatever I can find about running. I just finished Pam Reed's book - she's freaking insane. She ran 300 miles without stopping; she's won the badwater ultramarthon twice. I respect her accomplishments, but, seriously lady - you're a nutcase. after i'm done with my marathon, i have no idea what i'll try to accomplish next. but...i'm thinking something a little less monotonous than running...like climbing a mountain, or doing one of those outback experiences. even a half ironman or something. but please, god, no more running! :)

as you can tell, i'm still riding my endorphin high. blabbity blahbity bloobity boo! hoo-rah. hope your hip holds out abby! i feel pretty good after the 9 miles...the real test comes once we get up in the 15, 18, 20 mile range - or so i'm told.

bike ride, math check by abby

i'm not super at math or anything, but hey g, i think it's like 11-minute miles to run in under 5 hours. you are there! and you can do it! my math goes like this (and could easily be obviously wrong to anyone but me): 11-minute miles x 26.2 miles = 288.2 minutes / 60 (minutes per hour) = 4.8 hours!!!! which is def under 5 hours!!!! and 5 hours is a fantastic goal!!!!!

and now i have exceeded my allowable exclamation point use for the next 5 years.

anyhow ... i ran the phoenix marathon in something like 4:20, and i know i was running pretty much 10-minute miles. although it was more like 9:30 for the first 10k because it's terribly exciting at first, and then 9:45s for a while as the excitment wore off, and then some 10s and 10:30s (plus walking through water stops) until about mile 24 and 25, which were probably closer to 11 or 11:30 (my feet hurt, and those were the hardest miles) and then a 10 for the last mile because i got inspired by seeing the finish line .....

the thing is to not get disappointed if you set a goal and don't quite make it. i set a personal best at the half-marathon marker in the phoenix race (and was also the happiest i have ever been to see a person holding a giant bowl of orange slices out for the runners), and at that point i realized that it was possible that i could finish in under 4 hours, and i got all excited about that. but then i had to tell myself that i probably wasn't going to make that, and that i should focus on my first goal of 4:30 and, no matter what, to just be pleased to cross the finish line in whatever time i could manage.

so. i think 5 hours is totally doable for you. and, it's totally great that you've shaved off so much time off your 5k! you're a rockstar ... and you're a runner, even if you think you aren't. ;)

anyway. i hurried home to squeeze in a bike ride before it got too windy, but it was already windy so it was good strength workout. now, of course, it is dead calm. oh well. i think i'll do my 9 tomorrow morning. here's hoping the ball of my hip stays put.

the treadmill is my friend - gerlinda

abby, i totally understand how you feel about the treadmill ... i wish i shared the sentiment, because i can't quite shake the notion that it's "cheating" to run on the treadmill. then again, i seriously doubt i would run at all if i had to do it in the heat and humidity. i'd like to think i'd suck it up - but i know myself well enough to know that i'd start feeling like a hypocondriac, and then i'd let myself quit - you know, so that i wouldn't actually die. but then i see all these superstars running out in the middle of the day, glistening and looking oh so tough. and then i feel like a wuss.

but hey - whatever works, right? if it has to be the treadmill or nothing...then at least i'm not doing nothing.

ANYWAY. so. yesterday was one of those days that was just packed end to end with stuff. and the only time i had to run was at the crack of dawn. but of course, i couldn't pry myself out of bed. so then i had to take time off work to run; i asked if it would be ok to take some sick time so that that i could pack in everything i needed to pack in (i still worked about 3 hours,) and my boss said, "well if it's for something important then fine - but if it's just to go workout then..." and that's when i realized that, actually, running IS something important, to me. apparently, more important than work, actually! but - i need to get my priorities in order. its not fair of me to take time away from work, or my band, etc, just to run. instead, i should take time away from, oh, staying up late reading or going out to have fun, or any of the countless things i do that make it hard for me to get up in the morning and run... balance, gerlinda! balance...

i'm working on it.
that said, i didn't have time to do 5 miles yesterday. so i told myself i'd just do a 5K, and i'd do it in under 30 minutes. and so i did. 29:14 - i've shaved almost 15 minutes off my 43:45 5K time from January 2005. and i really think i couldn've gone even faster. almost every time i run, now, i set a personal record. i know this won't continue, so i'm trying to savor these moments as they come.

26.2 miles still feels like such a long way to run. secretly, i'd like to do it in under 5 hours - but that's at least a 9:45 pace, and i'm just not there yet. i've got this weekend's 9 miler looming ahead of me, and even THAT still feels reeeaaaaalllllly long. the thought of 26.2 miles is pretty intimidating. i try to focus on the next goal and not think about what's coming up in january 2007! honestly, the most important thing about that race will be showing up at the starting line in the first place. sometimes i still can't believe i'm doing this. and that's a good thing. i keep surprising myself.

remind me not to do that again by abby

i could not peel myself from bed this morning. so, i thought i would just go the gym and do my 5 miles on the treadmill at lunch. but as i was pulling into the gym parking lot, i was overcome with a sudden loathing for the treadmill. so i said to myself, well, 5 on the treadmill in the a/c, or 5 on the road right now, in the heat and sun and wind. you choose.

i am dumb, so i chose #2. yeesh, it was hot. and gross. i managed to knock the thing out in 50:40, and then, because i am prone to hyperbole, i was pretty convinced i was going to die. i staggered in the house and downed an entire 1000ml nalgene full of water. i whined to the dogs and i whined to the cats and finally i got in the shower where i whined some more about the heat the heat the heat.

like i didn't choose it? dumb.

treadmill, you are my new best friend on the days i can't wake up.

m-t-w no cop involved by abby

holy smokes, a real live chase! nothing like that ever happens here. they print the police report in the paper every monday, and it's always like baby ducks in the road or a woman who called in because her dustpan had been moved and there was a black hair in her sink ....

monday i had an easy, 50-minute road bike ride. tuesday i ran 5, down to the bridge on cameron bridge road, and back. it was a good run, and i finished about 3 minutes faster than normal, which i attribute to cooler weather. this morning i did my own little backyard bootcamp thing. my cat thinks it's fun to wind all around me while i do planks. i hope for a bike ride this afternoon, but it will depend on the wind.

5 miles & boot camp - gerlinda

a funny thing happened on the way to the gym yesterday...

i had just stepped over the curb & into the courtyard of Ansley Mall when I noticed a handsome, well-built dude wearing a white T-Shirt jogging toward me. I figured he had just worked out, and was now jogging to his car. "Way to go," I thought.

But then I noticed a cop also running toward me with much more difficulty, huffing and sort of wobbling. and then, in the way that things get all slow-motion sometimes, i noticed that the cop was in the process of gender reassignment. "She" had a purple streak in her long, pulled-back hair, and she was talking (gasping) into the little radio clipped to her shoulder. i heard certain words: "black male," "white t-shirt," "on foot." And that's when I realized, hey neato! there was a bona-fide chase in progress! As the cop ran past me, I turned to watch. Gee! I thought, This is just like TV!

White T-shirt man jumped into the driver's seat of a black truck that was parked, running, at the curb. Transgender cop planted herself in front of the truck and pulled a full-on, gun-out, Charlie's Angels pose. Her voice dropped a couple octaves and when she shouted "TURN OFF THE CAR! TURN THE CAR OFF NOW!" she no longer sounded even remotely like a "she."

it was then that i realized perphaps this wasn't just like TV! after all.
so i walked, rather quickly, away and into the gym.
and then i ran 5 miles in 48:45.

this morning, i got up @ 5am and went to boot camp, where we did a bunch of leg work - lunges and hamstring exercises and leap frogs and hills and sprinting.

PS - it turns out White T-Shirt Dude had tried to rob a bank!!

last half of the week runs - gerlinda

abby,
i gotta say...that workout you inflicted upon yourself sounds harder than most of my full-on boot camp days! i didn't mean you have to do EVERY exercise!! we usually on do three or four per day + jogging and usually some sprinting & hills, etc. i bet you were sore for your 8 miler!!

as for me: i ran my gruesome-schrmroosome 4.5er around grant park on friday (maybe i already told that part?)

the 8 miler...actually, that went well. i left from my house at about quarter till 7 yesterday morning and ran through cabbagetown, through old 4th ward, across ponce into whatever section of virgina highland-esque neighborhoodage that is - up charles allen - around the 10th st. / piedmont perimeter of piedmont park...and according to my internet sleuthing...that was supposed to be about 5+ miles or so, and then i ran around in the park, getting lost, until 1 1/2 hours had passed...which is just over an 11-min. mile pace, which is more or less what i've been running. i may have run more, or less than 8 miles - i really have no way of knowing. but i felt really good; maybe it was the fresh route; maybe it was the new music i put on my iPod. ??? i dunno. it was easier, mentally, than the 4.5er.

next week...9 miles...that feels REALLY far. hey Abby - i'm with you about bootcamp, though. it's a fantastic workout. i'm planning to do that on my crosstraining days as well. (either that or the bike.)

splits by abby

i didn't get back from camping in time to do much of anything besides take a nap and shower before i had to go to a dinner, so i had yesterday as an off day.

in terms of bootcamp, my sides and lower abs are a little bit sore, but the rest of me has been fine. so it's possible my core is in decent shape after all, or else my muscles just remember how to recover from that kind of workout, which is probably the truer option. so next time, i'll push myself more.

so, okay. 8 miles. definitely longer than 7. i was on the road by about 6:45am.

somehow, i remembered to dig my watch out of my gym bag so i could clock my splits today. i have to admit that i don't know *exactly* where each mile ends/begins, but i would say i know within .05 miles, which is pretty close. so some of these could be .95, while others might be 1.05. anyway, my total time was 1:20:10, and it breaks out like this:

1 -- 9:37
2 -- 9:54
3 -- 9:43
4 -- 10:06
5 --10:32
6 -- 9:51
7 -- 10:51
8 -- 9:37

since i ran a 4-mile out-and-back, miles 1 and 8 are the same mile, as are 2 and 7, 3 and 6 and 4 and 5. obviously the terrain's slightly different since i go down hills i came up, and vice versa. it's interesting to me to compare them. for 1 and 8 -- wow, dead-on the same. for 2 an 7, nearly a whole minute's difference. i know that in mile 7 i was having a hard time with my hip, and i know i was freaking about that. for 3 and 6, only a few seconds' difference. for 4 and 5 (which include the longest hills of this run), about 30 seconds' difference and my shorts were falling off in mile 5, so i had to stop and untie and then retie a stupidly-complicated knot, so that's probably where that 30 seconds went.

it's good that i started and finished in the same time, although i know i upped my pace over that last 1/2, and that was easy to do, which, according to all of my coaches over time, means i didn't "leave it all on the course." according to them, if you are able to kick up your pace noticeably in your last mile, then you didn't run your best race. whatevs. i've always liked having a little bit left; it makes the finish more enjoyable.

i ended with some good stretching. i got my hip to pop and hopefully that's taken care of whatever the issue was today. the good news is that just the joint bothered me. soft tissue and muscles felt fine. i know i'll continue to have this discomfort occasionally, but i sure wish it would just stay in the socket where it belongs. it's probably worth another trip to the chiropractor, just to be safe. which i've sort of been avoiding, because i think there is a bigger stability issue at stake and i'm sort of afraid of finding out what that means ....

DANG, g! by abby

grimes, i am 100% scared of you if you can do all that bootcamp junk you wrote up.

*whimper*

today i did homemade bootcamp, lite, sort of. basically i didn't want to kick my butt too hard before an 8-mile run sunday, but i did want to kick my butt some. so here is what i did:

.5 mile warm-up run including the stairs in my house x 3 (including tripping over dogs x 3)
toe walk, heel walk, butt kick, running butt kick for 20 yards each (ah, memories of track and x-country workouts)
rowboat x 15
firehydrant x 15/leg
burpee x 10 (could not manage 15)
leap frog x 10 (5 forward, 5 back)
plank x 30seconds (one minute laughed at me so hard)
side plank x 30seconds (those seems kinder to me)
superman x 1 minute
pushups x 10
then i did a ~3-minute run and repeated everything starting with the toe walks.

i did this 4 times, and ended with the 3-minute run and 100 crunches and stretching. so, in total: 1.7 miles, 60 rowboats, 60 fire hydrants/leg, 40 burpees, 40 leapfrogs, 4 30-sec planks, 4 30-sec side plank/side, 4 60-sec supermen, 40 pushups, 100 crunches. it took 40 minutes and my heart rate stayed up for the whole time. i found burpees, leapfrogs and planks the hardest, planks the x-tra hardest. i like the burpees and leapfrogs. it took awhile to get my balance and i tumped over a few times in the first set, laughing at myself the whole time. and then once i got up to 8, the last 2 were h-a-r-d.

let's just say that i thought my core was in pretty good shape. clearly, though, my core is just a fleshy pole to which my arms and legs and head attach. so, this was a great workout, and i plan to incorporate it into the rest of my training, so that i do it once or twice a week, maybe on bike days, when i can still get the bike in in the afternoon. i am also going to resume a medicine ball workout that i used to do a few years back. right now i'm not that sore, though i suspect i will be in a few hours. i think i won't be too sore though, just a little, just enough to remind me that i have muscles i haven't been using. which is always a good thing, i s'pose.

4.5 by abby

4.5 schmore-point-five. i mean, it really is pretty easy. only, it's not. there's still the breathing and the heartrate and the general discomfort of running. but still. it ain't no thang.

i am totally crafting my own boot camp at home. it is exactly .5 miles around the inner loop of my neighborhood and probably .75 around the outer loop. my neighbors will think i've gone nuts. a fence would come in real handy about now. i'd run down the road instead and stop for the anaerobic stuff, but that would involve hurling myself into a ditch or river, and that sounds a little bit too much like *real* boot camp. so.


tomorrow i will attempt my first homemade boot camp. it should be a rest day but i'm going camping and who knows when i'll get back on saturday, so saturday might end up being an unplanned rest day. probably homemade boot camp is going to kill me. my hip adductors or abductors or whatever they are are already tensing up at the thought of those fire hydrants .....

recovery day -gerlinda

i was supposed to run 4.5 today...but i am SO FREAKING SORE from boot camp that i can barely move. so, i'm taking my rest day today.

anyway, abby, yes totally, you can do bootcamp in your back yard. it mainly consists of high-intensitiy aerobic exercise studded with anerobic exercises that you can do using the resistance of your own body. the instructors tell me that there is nothing better for "strengthening the core."

anyway, if you wanted to do boot camp on your own, start out with a brisk jog around the block up your street and then back inside your house & run up and down your stairs 3 times. then do a few minutes of "dynamic stretching" - walk tiny steps on your toes, then on your heels, then do butt kicks, then running butt kicks, and finish it up with something like "inchworm" (from pike position, walk you hands out into pushup position and then walk your feet back in until you're in pike position again.)

then comes an endless variety of exercises like:
-rowboats (you balance on your tailbone and then put your legs out in front of you and "row" them back as if your arms were holding oars...)
-fire hydrants (on your hands & knees, lift one bent leg until your thigh as high as you can like you're a dog peeing on a fire hydrant)
-burpees (leap into the air and then squat as low as you can in a single motion, do this over and over)
-leap frog (feet wide, butt low, jump forward or back or alternate)
-plank (balance on your toes & elbows, keeping your body stiff and level off the ground for 1 minute)
-side plank (same as plank, but on your side...lift your arm & leg into the air to make it harder - 30 seconds each side)
-superman (lie on your stomach & lift your arms and legs 6 inches off the ground for 1 minute)
-bicycles...pushups...dips...jumping jacks.

Jog or sprint between each set of exercises (usually 15-20 of each)
sometimes we do plyometrics (look those up online! those KILL.)
sometimes we do just sprinting, sucide drills, etc. (sprint for 20 seconds, jog for 30, sprint, jog - try it for half an hour!)
oh, and they love to make us run hills...up and down, snaking up and down...until we all wish we could die.

You keep your heart racing for 45-50 minutes, and then you do 5-10 minutes of stretching.

as for the flat stomach thing...i've never had one, so i can't personally help you out. BUT, the bootcamp instructor always says if you have very little body fat but still can't seem to get a flat stomach, you should try more stuff with your hip flexors. like this stretch: http://www.exrx.net/Stretches/HipFlexors/KneelingHipFlexor.html

run-bike by abby

i think i need to know more about boot camp. like, what is the routine? can i do it in my backyard? i know what pushups are (loathe) and dips (tolerable), but what're rowboats and firehydrants? and so do you just mix it all up and repeat ten times or something? is it like the x-country exercises i used to have to do ... where you leap for 20 yards, and then run backwards, and then sideways, and then doing high kick/leap combo things? is there a magic exercise for abs? because i swear i could do 1000 situps a day and eat nothing but grapefruit and i would still not be able to get a flat stomach.

ANYWAY. yesterday's 4.5 went fine. i did the same old gravel run. nothing to report by barking dogs. today i was going to go for a bike ride when i got home from work at noon. but i got caught up in a few things and sort of lost motivation. it's a little breezy, and i kept glancing out the window to see if some cantankerous clouds might've puffed up a storm or something. alas, nothing but blue. so i got over myself and did 18 miles on my road bike. it was windy, really ... windier than i usually like for a bike ride. but i told myself that it's just a long slow slide into winter at this point, and in a few months my bike will be hanging sadly on its hook in the garage, and i will be pining for a windy but nice day like today ... so. there.

boot camp - gerlinda

ow.
that is all i have to say.

crosstraining via bootcamp is gonna kick my arse. today we did 110 each of pushups, dips, rowboats and firehydrants. plus running in between. it was even harder than i remember!

4.5 - gerlinda

ah, ye olde 4.5...seems like forever ago that this was a 'difficult distance' to run. i went to the gym & knocked it out during my lunch break. i ran at a 10 MPH pace, and it felt almost - easy. (!!!)

this weekend, i'm supposed to do 8 miles - which is officially longer than i've ever run before. to keep things interesting, i go to mapmyrun.com and plot out a course through some area of town where i've never run before. this weekend, i think R&L and I are going to do a loop from their back door to Piedmont Park, around the park and back. it feels *really* far away and it's hard to believe we can get up there, loop the park, and get back in only 8 miles...we shall see!