TIART: If I knew then what I know now

During the toughest middle part of tonight's run, I realized what nobody ever told me about running.
I mean, I know it's hard. Most people say it's hard. And many accurately quote that great line from A League of Their Own - "It's the hard that makes it great. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it."
What I know now, is that it never gets any less hard.
It just gets less impossible.
And hard does not equal impossible. Not at all.

Small blessings this evening, like the sun shining for the first time in so long I think I'd forgotten what it looked like. Six miles around the 'hood and Castle Island as the sun set over the city skyline. Happiness, wheezing, drenched in sweat, and with a raging side stitch.
Ahhhhhhhh.
Life doesn't get much better.
:)

Just for my record

It will literally not stop raining in Beantown. It's miserable. MISERABLE.

That being said, I went to the track tonight and did 6x400. Same goal of 2:05 per lap.
Here's what happened.

Lap 1 : 2:11
Lap 2 : 2:07
Lap 3 : 2:03 (!)
Lap 4 : 2:06
Lap 5 : 1:56 (!!)
Lap 6 : 1:59 (!!)

Pretty good showing, if I do say so myself.
I was pleased to see other folks at the track. It's tough weather to begin with, but by the shore like we are, the wind comes at you full force on the return straightaway. Brutal. I felt like I was running through water.

Plateful of pain

Just for my records - my starting weights for the following lifts.

Squat = 75lbs
Bench press = 60lbs
Deadlift = 100lbs
Press = 50lbs
Power clean = 45lbs (just trying to get the form right on this one, it's a toughie!)

Incidentally, power cleans are just about the most fun I have ever had in the gym.

After leaving the gym today, I went straight home and tried to cram in my run. My legs felt like lead. I made it just over 2 miles (instead of 5) and limped home. This is just a case of putting too much on my proverbial plate, I think. I won't run right after squats again.

Speaking of too much on my plate, I had an amazing dinner of steak tips and grilled corn and potato salad and Guinness, courtesy of my roommate. He's flying off to San Diego today for a big interview, and I just know he'll get the job, and I'll be so happy for him/so sad for me. This would make the fourth person I know in the past couple weeks who has gotten a really exciting new job in a very different locale.
The times they are a'changin.

Negative Nelly

I hate speedwork. I know it's good for me, and I know it'll pay off eventually, but it's JUST. SO. BRUTAL.

Intervals/speed training is the cornerstone of the FIRST program's "Key Workout #1", which I admit, I haven't gotten to since this week (week 3). I opted to do the designated speed sessions from Week 1 so I could ease in and not be too taxed - part of my plan to not go in gung-ho and get myself hurt.
So I trotted down to the track after work this evening, with my shiny new 5K PR gauging what pace I should run the 400s at (2:05)
On the books? 8x400
What actually happened? 4x400
Sucking wind every step of the way.
2:01
2:05
2:06
2:07
The problem with this pace, I found, is that it's pretty much an all-out sprint for me because my stride is so short.

So, new plan. Next week I'll add on two more 400s, then two more until I can actually do the full 8. Then we will see.

So much for a lazy Sunday

Climbed the Bunker Hill Monument on Sunday. All 294 narrow, winding stairs.

It was there, we were there, it just made sense

My quads are all "WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN TO US?!?!?!"

Better now

My sunburn is peeling off and it hurrrrts. I tried putting aloe on it last night and it stung so bad I screamed and had to jump back in the shower and wash it off. If the sun ever comes out again, I am buying the highest SPF spray sunscreen I can find, because 15 just isn't going to cut it this summer.
(Merry, I think you're right about the sun poisoning. Yuck!)

Anyway, last night I did a 5-miler with 3 tempo miles in the middle. And it wasn't hard at all. Either I've been selling myself short (or slow) or I need to recalibrate the ol' Nike+. Or get a Garmin.

In other news, I'm feeling the pull of the marathon bug again. When I set the arbitrary goal of "run a marathon before my 30th birthday", I didn't realize that the reality of the situation is that I'd either have to run a fall marathon this fall or a spring/summer marathon next year. More musings on that later.

Strength training progress : 5x5 bench press @ 60lbs. Definitely switching to a straight-up 5x5 program next week.

Race report and important lessons

Running as fast as I can - check. Ran the Smutty 5k yesterday with an "official" time of 28:06, six minutes faster than last year, two minutes faster than my personal best, and 50 seconds faster than my "pipe dream" goal. I feel like I put in about as hard of an effort as I could have without burning out or injuring myself. Patty also had a great showing with a time of 23:47, five minutes faster than his time last year as well.
The trouble started after the race. It was a beautiful, hot day by the lake in Newmarket. The free Smuttynose, chili, pizza, and wings were plentiful but as per usual, I wasn't hungry. I have a hard time eating after a hard run, even if I was starving before it, and that's not good. I had a small bowl of chili and a couple beers, and sat in the sun enjoying the day for a few hours. This was also a mistake. I got a horrible sunburn all over my back, chest, shoulders, and even legs. Normally I don't get any color on my legs at all and I certainly don't burn that intensely, but I'm on this stupid medication that makes me even more photosensitive than my Irishy usual.
We were supposed to go to a dinner for our aunt who had just graduated from nursing school, but about halfway there I started getting really disszy, blacking out, and throwing up. I spent the rest of the ride curled up in a ball half-concious. I got home, stumbled up the stairs, and checked my temperature and it was 102, so I took some ibuprofen and passed out at 8:30. It was kind of scary. I don't know what happened, but I do know I have to start eating better. Even if I'm not hungry, I have to eat something after I run.
So now my parents are mad at me, and I still feel like crap. Great.

All in all, I'm very happy with my performance in the race, but not at all happy with my performance in life.

Repeats

One of the things I thought was so neat when I started running last year, and consequently reading running blogs, was how so many running bloggers would write about their "favorite" races - the local ones they run every year. Time flies, and I am now a couple months past my one-year runniversary, and since I entered about every local race less than 5 miles last summer, I'm bound to start repeating soon.
This Sunday marks my first "repeat" race, and it is a doozy. The Smuttynose/Loco Running "Will Run For Beer" 5k was one of my most miserable and most fun racing experiences. It was scorchingly hot, hilly, poorly marked, humid, and in the middle of the morning. I ran an abysmal 35:12, most of which was walking. My friend Jenna, a first-time 5ker, came in right behind me, swearing liberally. Both my brother and my friend Claire managed decent times, but we all were about to pass out at the end. Good thing there was all that refreshing, frosty beer for us to rehydrate ourselves with. And karaoke. And chili and wings.
Needless to say, I'm excited to go back. This year, things will be different.
Just for funsies, I've set some goals. Goals other than "just finish without passing out".
Baseline goal : Beat last year's time of 35:12
Realistic but difficult goal : Beat my best 5k time of 30:00 flat
Pipe dream goal : 28:50 or less (what the FIRST plan tables say I should be running based on my longer race times, not including this recent half-marathon fail).

Speaking of repeats, I did NOT get up at 6am and head to the track. Probably should have not stayed out so late and gone to Roadhouse Craft Beer & BBQ, arguably the greatest beer bar in Boston. It was worth it for the Racer X.
I have a party to go to tonight, but I'm going to leave early and try to get to the track. I don't know what it says about me that I'd rather be running around in Dorchester in the dark than at a party on a Friday night...

I wish race photos of me did not exist

Being photogenic is not one of my strong suits. Never has been. And when you add in sweat, pain, ill-fitting tshirts, and a hot sunny day? Very unpleasant.
I'm always so excited to get look at my race photos, because I continue to keep up hope that one day I will be one of those delightful looking people who can look lovely and spry midrace, maybe with a dapper little wave or thumbs up at the photographer. Maybe when I'm older, and closer to the demographic of people who can be called "spry", this will happen. Until then, I must resign myself to being caught mid-breath in an ill-fitting t-shirt and sweat-soaked pigtails under my Trot Nixonated Sox cap.
One upside to race photos is that it gives me a chance to critique my stride and running form, which is always a good time. My stride is always terrible. Either the camera always catches me in the moment where I look like a duck, or I just have a terrible stride and run only from the knees down.


Exhibit A

Anyway, in this one I actually look like a runner, though I still have T-Rex hands.


Make. It. Stop.


And of course, the best part of race photos is looking at the crowd around you. See below. I'm just about to run out of the frame, but get a load of the chick in the back of the pack in this one. She's on her phone. During a half-marathon.

You have got to be kidding me

I fear for the future of the world.

Plans

I promised my aching hip that I would rest for an entire week after the half-marathon, and that, with much difficulty, is what I did. And you know what? It didn't kill me. I still kept up with my thrice-weekly cardiostrength workouts, but that's about it.

Since today is a new day and a new month and all that, I'm going to take this space to outline some of my summer training goals and plans!

I'm using the FIRST plan to train for theFalmouth Road Race in August. After reading about it and thinking it sounded like a really good plan for me (I get injured a lot, like to exercise mid-day but hate the treadmill, get bored easily, and like really specific workout planning) I decided to get the book. It's actually pretty good. I'm not one of those people who is ever going to qualify for Boston, but the other programs in there are good, and the stories are fun and inspiring. It even makes science interesting!
So, I am going to actually do the 5K plan for Falmouth, even though it's a 7 mile race. My justification is as follows :
a) I want to start off conservatively, instead of jumping into a new plan headfirst and getting hurt like I always do
b) Conservatively or not, the plan has me doing 7-mile midweek tempo runs several times during the program, and some speed sessions should take me close to an hour. Yikes.
c) Last year I had a pretty decent showing (for me) and I hadn't done any speedwork or run more than 5 miles at a time. If I just want to beat last year's time, this should be more than sufficient.
d) I tend to run faster and be more fit in general if I cross-train, especially weight lifting.

In addition to the running plan, I'm also following a beginner barbell strength-training plan, found here on the very informative and awesome GymJunkies.com website. I recently completed his 31 day "shred" challenge (minus most of the diet part because I don't really want to lose weight, am lazy, and love beer too much) and lost 5 or so pounds anyway. The best part though was finally getting over my fear of the weight room...at least for the most part. The second best part was having my hip-based IT band pain almost completely subside after two weeks of strength training.

So there you have it. Structured, simple, and not easy in the slightest (but not grueling enough to keep me limping all through the summer). Just the way I like it.

Tonight's run : 1 mile warmup, 2 miles tempo (@9:34/mile, or something like that), 1 mile cooldown.