A couple pretty good runs recently. Last Thursday I did a solid tempo run. 20 minutes of 45 at tempo pace, which is 9:46/mile. It turned out to average closer to 9:30/mile, which was awesome. Yesterday, I cruised home on the bus from NYC in the early morning, went to work and finished up some tasks, went to the gym and KILLED it with some amazing high intensity weight training, and then went home and got in my scheduled 8-miler. Very productive day! Needless to say, that wiped me out to the point that I fell asleep during the nail-biting Celtics game. I woke up at the very end, confused and disoriented, only because I could hear half of Southie freaking out and cheering. Have I mentioned how much I love my neighborhood?

My legs feel surprisingly good. They're sore, but in a satisfying way instead of a limpy, pained, broken way. I took this afternoon off from the gym (don't want two back-to-back days of to-failure squat jumps, even I'm not that masochistic) but will try to get in 4.5 miles tonight, plus perhaps some yoga. The IT band pain is starting to subside a bit, which is kind of odd but very welcome. Trying to be more aware of my body alignment has made me realize I pronate on my left side, bigtime. My knee kind of rolls in. I'm sending back my new Nike LunarTrainers (love them, but my left foot needs more support) and getting the Zoom Elites, I think.
Starting to get really excited about this upcoming racing/training season. Just signed up for Falmouth again!

Why it's nice having training buddies even if you never see them

NFN and I had set up a googledoc to track our training for the Run to Remember. It's pretty cool - I outlined the plan and made a column for each of us to track what we'd done for training. I just went to update my progress, and noticed that in my Sunday column, next to "12 miles run", she'd written "Nice job!"
That made me smile.
Thanks for the virtual fist-bump, Nat!

Made it through 12 miles today down by the Charles River. Actually, it was probably closer to 14; I was annoyed with myself for taking so many walk breaks that I got off the T at South Station and did a light tempo run the 2 miles to Murphy's Law. The sub-10 minute mile pace shredded my stomach, for some strange reason.
I am slow. I am still just as slow as I was when I started running, and it annoys me. I am still absolutely wasted from today, and from Saturday's weight workout (I finally gathered up the gumption to go into the Big Boy weight room, only to discover, that like many college gyms, it has no squat rack, just a leg press and a punch of bench pressing stuff. It's always arms day at college gyms) and just took a two hour nap. Lame.
Some strange foreign man stopped me near the end of my run to ask me if it was going to rain today. There were already drops intermittently falling from the sky, so I'd wager yes. But he was carrying a large umbrella and I was wearing a flimsy white t-shirt. Who do you think knows more about the weather forecast, strange foreign man, hmmm?

Oddly, my leg stops really hurting too much after a couple miles. For some reason, I have a feeling this might not be a good thing. Last week I bought The Stick, and have been using it with some success, but my left IT band is now sore to the touch from all the pressure.

Went to the doctor yesterday. She gave me a kind of cursory once-over and determined my hip issue was probably IT band related. I'm not sure that's all it is, but she's a doctor and while she might have been distracted by the swine flu epidemic, I will listen to her because she didn't tell me to stop running.

This morning, I got up early and went to the track for intervals. I thought the hardest part about this would be getting up at 6am, but I was so very wrong. I gazed out at the seemingly endless expanse of composite rubber and said incredulously to myself "I have to run around that things in 2:05? You have got to be flipping kidding me."
The schedule said 8x400 but I could only muster 4x400. It was both excruciating and exhilarating, and if my legs had been in better shape I think I might have enjoyed it. The left hip issue is causing me to favor my right leg, leading to intense shin and calf pain. Ugh. I am definitely booking a sports massage at Boston Bodyworker.
I limped home and did the 15 minute yoga for runners video. It helped.

My shoes feel like they're going to break, and my toes are going to scrape pavement, at any second. They're only six months old and I'm not a high mileage gal, at any time of the year, much less in the dead of winter. This isn't normal, but this is my body, and these are my feet, and my new shoes are on their way via UPS. With some fancy shmancy insoles. I'se gots to take care of me.

At the track, I noticed two different groups who appeared to be doing some sort of early-morning bootcamp thing. I think I need to get involved in some sort of group activity. I can only push myself so hard.

I hate resting.

Today I finally go to the doctor about my hip, after almost two months of pain/annoyance/still running on it even though I know it's a bad idea. My doctor will probably tell me to rest it, ice it, not run on it, and I will ignore her. Ignoring sage advice from a medical professional counts more than ignoring advice from WebMD and all your friends, right?
No, I won't really ignore her. But I'm going to keep my fingers crossed and hope "resting" isn't the only answer to this problem. I don't want to rest. The annoying thing about resting is that when I come back to running, it's like starting all over again. Since this quasi-injury, I haven't been able to consistently maintain a sub-10 minute mile pace for any distance. It's frustrating. My goal this summer is to start consistently running 9-minute miles, but it seems like such an unreachable goal at this point. My legs feel like lead.
On the upside, I shouldn't consider this "the summer" just because it's suddenly 90 degrees outside. That's a fluke. I'm getting ahead of myself.
The Run to Remember is in less than a month. Tomorrow, I am going to get up at 6am and run repeats at the track. Yes, I am. I have never done this before but I am going to give it the old college try.
Unless the doctor tells me to rest. In which case, I'll start resting on Thursday.

I am a terrible blogger...and runner

Monday was the 113th running of the Boston Marathon. Growing up, I always thought it was kinda neat, but now that I've started running and more importantly, started reading running blogs, I realize what I big deal it is. This was the first Marathon Monday I've been able to really enjoy, since I took the day off work to go to the Sox game and then spent the rest of the day out with friends watching runners go by, eating crappy appetizer platters, and then watching both the Bruins and the Celtics electrify the city with their respective wins.
We were situated in SRO on the Fenway roofdeck, which was terrible, vantage-wise, but actually quite good to watch the marathon. We got to see the elite race, though from far away, and I honestly can't even fathom how fast these people are going, even when I'm seeing it with my own eyes.
The Sox routed the O's to the tune of 12-1.
I followed the progress of my roommate, his friend, and several other pals via my friend's iPhone. He finished in under 5 hours, more than an hour more than his time last year, but considering he hardly trained, and that is a freaking MARATHON, good on him.
There was a trash can overflowing with empty cups and a spent pair of Asics. I wish I'd had my camera. That was a perfect representation of how a runner sometimes feels after a race.
Last night, there was a mother in a marathon jacket doing pullups on the T with her kids. I want to be her when I grow up.

I haven't been running. I've still been conditioning with some pretty hardcore cardiostrength, but my hip got so bad I could barely walk so I stopped being stupid and stopped running. After taking it easy, it's much better. I can actually walk with only the slightest of limps! I think it's bursitis, and I'm going to the doc next week. She's a triathlete, so hopefully she'll be able to give me some advice. It just occured to me that I might be feeling unbalanced because I've been carrying around the Chicago Manual of Style all semester. That'll all end soon. Hopefully, I'll heal up soon and be able to get back on the road soon.

Big high fives all around to everyone who ran, finished, and volunteered on Monday. I hope to be there someday.

And on the 8th day...

...God created foam rollers.

Hello, blogosphere. Long time, no write. I know I know. All two of you must have wondered where I was. Anyhoo, here's the deal. I got all hurt and depressed again and did the whole "boo, I'm just not mean to be a runner" thing. This time, it's my left hip. I was all cranky and whiny and about to give up, when my roommate introduced me to the wonder that is the foam roller. Now, whatever is wrong with now the entire left side of my body is probabaly a combination of muscle tightness, ligament wonkyness, and teensy stress fractures. Though I am not a doctor. However, when I was rolling it out, I could feel a ridiculous knot the size of Rhode Island. After rolling over it for awhile, I got up, and no more pain!
It still comes and goes, and is particularly bad after a run, but I think if I just keep rolling and stretching, eventually my body will learn to deal. I hope.
For instance, I missed by 9 miles this week, but did 3 yesterday, and was pretty fast if I do say so myself.
But now the hip hurts like the Dickens.
Sigh.
It's an adventure, that's for sure.
I also think I need to get new shoes. It's been about 6 months, and while I know I haven't run 600 miles on them, I also know I tend to start needing new ones at around 200 or so. And I've been wearing them while weightlifting so that probably added to the wear & tear. I think I'm going to go for some new Nikes, but not the Pegasus. I might try the Moto or the Vomero this time.
Peace out.