Week 14 Training
It was a sketchy week of training. The failure after OUC left me a bit depressed. The thought of going for run had me somewhat scared. I ended up doing my strength run, one easy run, and my long run--the Mt. Dora Half recapped below.
I had planned to do my tempo run, which next to my speed/strength days, is my favorite run. The plan was to get to school early for my 9:00 a.m. exam, turn in my take-home exam afterwards, and head home to prepare for an evening run. That was the plan. The reality was the exam actually started at 2 p.m. so I spent the morning turning in my exam, dealing with other obligations, getting in arguments, and wandering around East End Market for a few hours. This is when having Doc Brown as a friend would be an awesome reality.
Surprisingly, my long run taking place at the Mt. Dora half marathon on Sunday did wonders to boost me out of the runner blues and make up for life's curve balls.
I had planned to do my tempo run, which next to my speed/strength days, is my favorite run. The plan was to get to school early for my 9:00 a.m. exam, turn in my take-home exam afterwards, and head home to prepare for an evening run. That was the plan. The reality was the exam actually started at 2 p.m. so I spent the morning turning in my exam, dealing with other obligations, getting in arguments, and wandering around East End Market for a few hours. This is when having Doc Brown as a friend would be an awesome reality.
Surprisingly, my long run taking place at the Mt. Dora half marathon on Sunday did wonders to boost me out of the runner blues and make up for life's curve balls.
Mt. Dora Half Marathon
Everything about this half was an experience and I would dare to say this is my favorite half thus far.
Morning Prep: I woke from the usual 4 hour sleep. Although I either sleep lightly or not at all before race day, this is the first time I actually fell asleep for a couple of hours and woke up from my typical deep, deep sleep. I know not to eat anything with last week's mistakes still fresh in my mind. I decide on my favorite half gear--black capris and black short-sleeve tech shirt. I slip on my shoes, put my contacts on, and start drinking water. I had picked up some Gatorade the night before for race hydration and fuel--no Nuun tabs this time. I prep my blender bottle for post race recovery. Everything is coming together smoothly and effortlessly until I reach for my watch.
This is the moment the memory of the dead battery warnings from the finish line at OUC creep in. Now all I think about is my worst race experience ever which involved not having my watch. I plug it in although I have to leave in 10 minutes, praying the watch will miraculously fully charge by then. I try to put my mind off the issue by prepping my GPS and reviewing the parking map. By the time I have to leave, the watch has charged enough to stay on and tell me it's dying. I resolve to take it anyway and use it for the first three miles until I settle into my pace. However, there was still the problem of not knowing how to gauge my run/walk intervals. As I am walking out of my room defeated, I remember my cheap "heart rate" watch that's never been good for measuring my heart rate but whose stop watch has always come in handy. The little yellow watch saved the day.
Getting there: I am going from one "country" county to another--Polk to Lake. These counties are next to each other so I can take the local roads to get there. It's 5:00 a.m. and dark. The roads that lead me to start line are lighted only by the travelers' headlights. I am already facing hardship driving until a monsoon gets thrown in the mix. All I could think was I am not making it and if I do, will there be a race with all of this rain?
Pre Start Line: I make it to the site and find parking easily. I hurry to pick up my packet and put my bib on. Thankfully, everything was very well planned and I get in and out in minutes. I walk back to my car to put my packet away and do a shake out run on the way back. I get in line for the potty and thankfully there were plenty. I peed for what seemed 5 minutes straight but feel a little pressure. I don't have to go #2 but know I have some trapped gas and was hoping to release it before I started so I don't have a repeat of last week.
I do this all with time to spare and relax. I am watching all of the runners and there is such great energy. Everyone is happy and excited. I was surprised to see plenty of kids, ages between 6 and 12, waiting to do the half marathon. I felt so inspired by those little ones. I think about all the training I do and all the races on my belt. It made me smile to think that such young kids could be so committed and excited about racing--particularly those that run with their parents. I saw a little picture in my mind's eye of my future running baby trotting along side me.
The race is delayed about 10 minutes due to the rain. I look up and the 7:00 a.m. sky and can see a little bit of sunlight trying to pierce the heavy dark clouds. Was I about to run in a storm?
Start Line and Race: There's no corrals but I find a good pocket. Someone yells that Bill Rodgers is out in front and everyone is in a frenzy over the news. We start at about 7:20. Everyone was able to find space to run fairly quickly. I knew from the elevation map sent out that the first three miles were going to be the worst. Curiously, the ascends were not terrible and there were more descends than expected. I take Galloway's advise and shorten my stride going up and down and slow myself down descending all to conserve energy. Unfortunately, that map did not prepare me for mile 4. I was running a roller coaster--the entire mile was hills. I make it but I am definitely feeling tired. I reach mile 5 and gauge that I am running 12 minute miles. I am trying to talk myself out of disappointment--I don't have my running watch and there is a lot of hills--the important thing is to finish and hey, it was prep for the hills at Disney.
I kept feeling the pressure in my lower region. Thankfully there were plenty of potties along the way. I ask God to give me a stomach cramp to let me know if I should stop but not one came. I didn't feel sick but didn't want to all of a sudden feel I have to release my dinner without a place to do it in. Instead I spent mile 5 to mile 6 playing the butt trumpet, feeling a bit better.
After a small hill in mile 5, the course plateaued and it was pretty smooth from there. I picked up the pace and was now running steady 11 minute miles. There were a lot of spectators from the neighborhood. They set up camp in their driveways, sipped coffee, clapped, whistled, and played Gonna Fly Now. It was great although sometimes as a lone runner you can get passed up for encouragement and even pictures. I noticed this at the half last week. This time, I decided to combat it by creating my own buzz. I cheerfully asked for encouragement and acted silly to get my picture taken. It worked but something must be done against single runner oppression.
Just before mile 12 I saw the time had reached 2:15. I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal even before making it to Mt. Dora but to know that I was so close to hitting my goal even with all the hills made me feel hopeful and crushed my runner blues right then and there. At that moment I also realized that I was going to run under 2:30 and that made that last mile sweet. The last .10 was downhill so I let myself fly through the finish line at 2:28. I choked up and almost started crying. I didn't reach my PR goal again but I did PR, I did and felt better than last week by over 4 minutes running in hills, and I know that my goal is reachable--it might even come to fruition at Disney.
Morning Prep: I woke from the usual 4 hour sleep. Although I either sleep lightly or not at all before race day, this is the first time I actually fell asleep for a couple of hours and woke up from my typical deep, deep sleep. I know not to eat anything with last week's mistakes still fresh in my mind. I decide on my favorite half gear--black capris and black short-sleeve tech shirt. I slip on my shoes, put my contacts on, and start drinking water. I had picked up some Gatorade the night before for race hydration and fuel--no Nuun tabs this time. I prep my blender bottle for post race recovery. Everything is coming together smoothly and effortlessly until I reach for my watch.
This is the moment the memory of the dead battery warnings from the finish line at OUC creep in. Now all I think about is my worst race experience ever which involved not having my watch. I plug it in although I have to leave in 10 minutes, praying the watch will miraculously fully charge by then. I try to put my mind off the issue by prepping my GPS and reviewing the parking map. By the time I have to leave, the watch has charged enough to stay on and tell me it's dying. I resolve to take it anyway and use it for the first three miles until I settle into my pace. However, there was still the problem of not knowing how to gauge my run/walk intervals. As I am walking out of my room defeated, I remember my cheap "heart rate" watch that's never been good for measuring my heart rate but whose stop watch has always come in handy. The little yellow watch saved the day.
Getting there: I am going from one "country" county to another--Polk to Lake. These counties are next to each other so I can take the local roads to get there. It's 5:00 a.m. and dark. The roads that lead me to start line are lighted only by the travelers' headlights. I am already facing hardship driving until a monsoon gets thrown in the mix. All I could think was I am not making it and if I do, will there be a race with all of this rain?
Pre Start Line: I make it to the site and find parking easily. I hurry to pick up my packet and put my bib on. Thankfully, everything was very well planned and I get in and out in minutes. I walk back to my car to put my packet away and do a shake out run on the way back. I get in line for the potty and thankfully there were plenty. I peed for what seemed 5 minutes straight but feel a little pressure. I don't have to go #2 but know I have some trapped gas and was hoping to release it before I started so I don't have a repeat of last week.
I do this all with time to spare and relax. I am watching all of the runners and there is such great energy. Everyone is happy and excited. I was surprised to see plenty of kids, ages between 6 and 12, waiting to do the half marathon. I felt so inspired by those little ones. I think about all the training I do and all the races on my belt. It made me smile to think that such young kids could be so committed and excited about racing--particularly those that run with their parents. I saw a little picture in my mind's eye of my future running baby trotting along side me.
The race is delayed about 10 minutes due to the rain. I look up and the 7:00 a.m. sky and can see a little bit of sunlight trying to pierce the heavy dark clouds. Was I about to run in a storm?
Start Line and Race: There's no corrals but I find a good pocket. Someone yells that Bill Rodgers is out in front and everyone is in a frenzy over the news. We start at about 7:20. Everyone was able to find space to run fairly quickly. I knew from the elevation map sent out that the first three miles were going to be the worst. Curiously, the ascends were not terrible and there were more descends than expected. I take Galloway's advise and shorten my stride going up and down and slow myself down descending all to conserve energy. Unfortunately, that map did not prepare me for mile 4. I was running a roller coaster--the entire mile was hills. I make it but I am definitely feeling tired. I reach mile 5 and gauge that I am running 12 minute miles. I am trying to talk myself out of disappointment--I don't have my running watch and there is a lot of hills--the important thing is to finish and hey, it was prep for the hills at Disney.
I kept feeling the pressure in my lower region. Thankfully there were plenty of potties along the way. I ask God to give me a stomach cramp to let me know if I should stop but not one came. I didn't feel sick but didn't want to all of a sudden feel I have to release my dinner without a place to do it in. Instead I spent mile 5 to mile 6 playing the butt trumpet, feeling a bit better.
After a small hill in mile 5, the course plateaued and it was pretty smooth from there. I picked up the pace and was now running steady 11 minute miles. There were a lot of spectators from the neighborhood. They set up camp in their driveways, sipped coffee, clapped, whistled, and played Gonna Fly Now. It was great although sometimes as a lone runner you can get passed up for encouragement and even pictures. I noticed this at the half last week. This time, I decided to combat it by creating my own buzz. I cheerfully asked for encouragement and acted silly to get my picture taken. It worked but something must be done against single runner oppression.
Just before mile 12 I saw the time had reached 2:15. I knew I wasn't going to reach my goal even before making it to Mt. Dora but to know that I was so close to hitting my goal even with all the hills made me feel hopeful and crushed my runner blues right then and there. At that moment I also realized that I was going to run under 2:30 and that made that last mile sweet. The last .10 was downhill so I let myself fly through the finish line at 2:28. I choked up and almost started crying. I didn't reach my PR goal again but I did PR, I did and felt better than last week by over 4 minutes running in hills, and I know that my goal is reachable--it might even come to fruition at Disney.
Post-Race and Reflection: I did have to use the potty afterwards. The first round was ok but the second round was a doozy. I think I need to eat just a little bit earlier to make sure I can hit #2 before the race and be completely comfortable. However, the late eating was probably an exception due to a family social function.
My feet are so temperamental! The nail issues have subsided but the blister issue made an appearance in the form of a huge blood blister. Thankfully, I didn't feel it while I was running but was a huge surprise when I took my socks off. I am still having trouble controlling both things but overall, this year has been much better with both issues. No dead or black nails thanks to my runner's nail kit for at-home "surgery" and there hasn't been to much friction to cause the blisters. My plan was to bring an extra pair of socks to the marathon as I know the dampness of the socks will cause issues but I may have to do this for half's as well.
Overall: This has been my favorite race. It was very well put together and it has been my best performance yet.
My feet are so temperamental! The nail issues have subsided but the blister issue made an appearance in the form of a huge blood blister. Thankfully, I didn't feel it while I was running but was a huge surprise when I took my socks off. I am still having trouble controlling both things but overall, this year has been much better with both issues. No dead or black nails thanks to my runner's nail kit for at-home "surgery" and there hasn't been to much friction to cause the blisters. My plan was to bring an extra pair of socks to the marathon as I know the dampness of the socks will cause issues but I may have to do this for half's as well.
Overall: This has been my favorite race. It was very well put together and it has been my best performance yet.