First 10 Miler

Short story:

I successfully completed a grueling 10 miles on the hills. (1300 ft ascent, 1300 ft descent, for an average grade of 5%, including a continuous 0.6 mile hill with a 9 grade). Total time 2hr 10 min (13:04 min/mi average).

Longer story:

My first double digit run started out poorly, as I had turned off the 8 AM alarm. . . and didn't wake back up 'till 8:45 when the phone rang. I was supposed to be hitting the road at 9!

Add to that, my period started yesterday, and I am not real comfy with the whole tampon thing (sorry for the TMI, gents), so I'd really wanted to get up an hour early to get all set with that in addition to getting hydrated & fueled up. Anyway, that worked out fine, thankfully, but I was pretty agitated about it.

So anyway, the ringing phone was running buddy #2, who had gotten my email last night & was up for running. So, she was going to meet me and running buddy #1 at the 2 mile point (actually 2.3 miles) in my run . . . at precisely 9:30. (This God awful early timing had been dictated my running buddy #1's kid schedule today. Scheduling a group run is going to be a lot easier when all the kids enter college in a decade or so. . . as long as our knees last that long.) In my 15 minute window, I took care of the necessities, tossed back a couple tablespoons of yogurt & a few swigs of water, and got out the door right on time.

At 9:29, I arrived at designated meet-up point right on time for our 9:30 meet up. NO WAITING CARS! WTF?!?!? Last time I had told #1 that I'd ditch her if she wasn't there on time, but I hadn’t warned either of them this time. I am usually so easy going about lateness: pre-run, kid coordinating, whatever, no problem. I don’t mind being the first and waiting; but that’s not when I am mid-run!! This STINKS!

I decide to give them 5 minutes, no more. I paused my Garmin, stretch, watch the clock on my Garmin, stretch some more, struggle against unreasonably extreme irritation, and realize that #1 was bringing me water – both for swigging now & for picking up at Mile 8 for the final 2 miles. I am really steamed now; I was counting on that water. Lose-Lose. If I ditch them, I am being a bitch, AND I am waterless for 10 miles. If I wait, I will be a bitch to them anyways with recriminations, AND I get cold, stiff, & mess up my first 10 miler.  UGH. I figure they can run with each other, and I’ll take option LOSE #1 as the 5 minutes draws to a close. With my toe, in the snow, I draw an arrow & sign my initials to indicate my direction. . . look up the road once more. . .

Then, right at 9:35, #1 pulls up. Thank goodness. Apologies, swigs of water, phone call to #2. . . and I am calming down. However, I don’t want to wait another 7 minutes for #2. We’re outta here, and #2 will have to try to find us based on my abbreviated description of where we’re headed.

So, anyway, #2 caught up with us less than a mile later, found a place to pull off to park, and joined us.

Lessons learned: Have a drop dead time for meet-ups mid run. I think I’ll have a 5 min window.

Rule 1: Drivers get there first; runners leave if driver not there waiting. Period.

Rule 2: Don’t count on running buddy for water. Carry it, or stash it ahead of time.

We had a nice time together, and I agreed to forgive their lateness conditioned upon them agreeing to forgive my irritability. Next time, we’ll have a plan: they won’t be late; but I’ll leave if they are.

So, the actual running went fairly smoothly, but I felt tired and slow. I ran a bit slower than other similar recent runs (13:04 min/mi instead of upper 12s), but my heart rate was also a lot slower. Heck, I burned fewer calories doing 10 miles today than I did in 9 miles on the same route 5 days ago! I don’t know if it was the sudden waking, the early (for me) hour, overtraining, irritation, or what, but I just wasn’t gung ho to crank up the pace. I guess I was more nervous about the footing as a fresh coat of powdery snow combined with a hard freeze made the roads icy. I guess just didn’t feel as happy as I usually do running that route. My knees ached a bit, but my ankles and the rest of me was fine. I spent a lot of time with ice packs this afternoon, and took 600 mg ibuprofen, which has me feeling pretty decent. I’m already looking forward to my next run, so I guess I am doing OK.

The extra mile I added today (to make the 9 mile route I’d done before into a 10 mile run) was an out-n-back spur on a back road at the far end of my lollipop loop. It was amazingly beautiful. You drop into this pine grove and the pine forest aroma knocked me off my socks it was so rich and wonderful. There is a nice big loop back there (with a monster hill) that I could add to the route, but it’d add about 4 miles, so I’ll either have to wait for it until I am up to 13 miles (4 more weeks according to the plan), or park at the 2 mile cross roads, allowing for a 9 mile loop. Maybe I could do that next week as a shorter run? Can I make the 9 miler fit within my training plan soon? With kid commitments early in the week, and travel at the end of the week, the only realistic day this week would be Monday, which is technically still *this* training week, and that would make my weekly mileage a highly illegal 28 miles (max 26 this week, not to mention that’s just 2 days away). I guess I have to wait at least 10 days or so to explore that loop. I will make time to drive it ASAP, though, so I can make sure the roads connect the way the maps show them. Humph.

The total mileage felt long. I was slower my last mile than I usually am; I didn’t get that last mile burst of energy I usually do. I think I missed listening to my tunes, as I left the earbuds out of my ears most of the time since I had friends along. I should have plugged them in and tuned out a bit, especially when I was irritated with the waiting.

Destination Running

Today I learned a new running slang term for my favorite kind of running: 'Destination Running'

Sad to say, destination running is not taking a trip to Hawaii or the Keys or maybe East Asia to don lycra & make a fool of yourself on foreign roads. Of course, I am sure I'd love that kind of destination running even more than the kind I am actually talking about, but unfortunately, it's not in the budget.

So, 'destination running' is running to some objective, rather than in circles around a park. I have naturally been drawn to 'out and back' routes or long single loop routes. It just hadn't occured to me that it would be pleasant to run in small circles around a park or neighborhood. Actually, that sounds like some sort of hell. Besides the obvious boredom factor, my primary motivator for obsessively using GoogleEarth and mapmyrun.com to devise the perfect out-n-back or even better, loop, for the planned mileage for the day's run. . . is that I am pretty darn sure that if I passed my car doing a loop de loop over and over. . . that I'd, uh, get in my car well before I completed my planned mileage. I do have some self control, but I am pretty sure I don't have that much.

So far all my longer runs, and every new longest-ever distance, has been an irrevocable you're-X-miles-from-the-car: run it or walk it, but you're doing it! Of course, with it being in the 20s or so most days, walking for more than 10 min in sweaty running clothes would get REALLY cold, so it's pretty much a given that I am gonna do the distance once I start, lol.

Another aspect I like about destination running is that I think of my run as various legs, each with its own destination. . .I find it very motivating to cover new territory and have various landmarks to count by, so I think of the run in sections.

For example, my first 10 mile run tomorrow morning has 9 segments (really 11):
1) the mile out my quiet street and then up another busier road (This is really two segments in my head, the first half mile is nice on my residential road, then the only yucky half mile of the run. . . up a busier country road that also sports some nasty hills to warm up on, lol)
2) mile 2 on a lovely quiet road to my meeting point with a friend & water swigs
3) half mile to the loop
4) 2 mi first half of loop
5) 1 mi RT out and back spur down a new-to-me road
6) 2 mi second half of the loop
7) half mile to drop of my friend & get water bottle
8&9) 2 mi victory lap back home via steps 2 & 1 in reverse order.

So, really, there is no part of the run that is more than a couple miles.

Step by step. . . by step. . . by step. . . I'll make it home. I hope.

So, how do I run 10 miles? 20,000 ish steps? One step at a time. Same way as I ran my first minute. . . my first K, my first mile. Same way I'll run 26.2 someday soon. . .

Saved by the Treadmill

I admit it: I don't really love my treadmill.

I convinced my husband to spend $500+/- on it as winter approached, so that I would have no excuse to miss scheduled runs. It works for that, and I'm glad to have it, but I've found that I love running outside so much more, and I can now handle our neighborhood hills, so I usually face the slippery snow or the chilly wind to run outside. I've also discovered a park trail where utility vehicles conveniently cruise the path a couple times a day to make a pair of nice little tire tread tracks in the deeper snow for me and a friend to run and chat. So, I rarely choose the treadmill, but today was one of those rare days -- a short quickie run, no muss, no fuss, right?

Why today am I so grateful to my treadmill?

A running first: I got the shits!

I knew I wasn't feeling 100%, but thought I'd be OK & well, you know me & my schedule. So, on to the treadmill went I. When I had a half mile left on my 4 mile planned treadmill run, I didn't know if I could make it. (Yes, I realize the reasonable thing would have been to take a break or cut it short, but, uh, well, there's that Type A thing about me that you might not know about. . .) I managed to finish the 4 miles & ran to the bathroom. Thank God for my bathroom. Nothing is better than a bathroom. Really. Truly.

So, what would I do on the trail? Pray to God I was running solo, I suppose. Talk about a bonding moment with my nearest & dearest running buddies.

Shudder. Shudder. Shudder.

So, what do people do? This is inevitably going to happen to me someday on a run. For privacy I could bear running into the woods on *most* of my trails (but what if I'm on the rail trail near civilization?) I'm a backpacker girl, I can go in the woods. . . Not my ideal thing to do, but I could survive it.

But, the clean up?? It's not like a kleenex would have helped. I'd need half a roll of TP. I'd consider sacrificing a sock or two, but then I'd have to finish the run with poopy feet (wrecking my shoes) or sockless (blister city?) I can see it now: a running belt supplied with water, energy gels, asthma inhaler, and a roll of TP? What on earth do mortals do?

10 weeks to go to Half Marathon

I am going to just jump in here . . . I am 9 weeks into training for my first half marathon.

Here's my week's progress . . .

Week 9: 25.1 miles

Fun, fun, fun week. All is well. Longest weekly mileage & also longest run to date.

Run 1: 7.13 miles

On the flats on the rail trail with a friend. It was a fast one. Averaged 11:18 min/mi. Felt great!
It had been a while since I'd run on the flat(ter) rail trail and the snow was clearer than it has been lately, so for most of the run I had reliable footing. I'll be tickled to see how fast we are on the flats when we don't have to worry about ice or snow at all!

Run 2: 4.2 miles

Another flat one on the trail. Even faster. Averaged 11:02 min/mi. I guess the mileage is starting to impact my speed b/c these faster runs don't feel hard.

I had gotten so into the habit of running as fast as I could stand it when I run with company from a few months ago when if I didn't kill myself my friends were totally twiddling their thumbs. . . My running buddy actually wants me to slow down! Yay!! I am *happy* to do that! :)
Footing was a bit slippy that day, but not too bad.

Run 3: 4.8 miles

Another flat one. Tried to be mellower/slower as my friend & I have been putting in the mileage a lot this week (especially my friend, who is erratic about joining me for runs, but never runs solo, so will run 15 miles with me one week, then none for a week, etc.). 11:25 min/mi felt easy. Nice! It is kindof cool running these routes at paces a bit quicker than I did a couple months ago, but now my heartrate stays in the low/happy training zone as opposed to the 'you're about to drop dead' zone. LOL.

Run 4: 9 miles

Went back to my spectacularly beautiful hills for my long run this week. I sort of added a bit, make a loop out of the middle 4 miles, to what I did last week. The new part has a lllooonnngg killer hill, which was fun, and took us up to some great views. It also cranked up the average grade, lol.

My friend met me at a cross roads so she did the middle 5 miles with me, so that was super. She even brought me a water bottle, so I chugged some at 2.3 miles in, then grabbed the bottle to carry with me for the final 2.3 miles. That was nice! Total time 1:54, so 12:41 min/mi average, with 1500 ft ascent, 1500 ft descent, for an average grade of 6.3 % over the entire route. Sweet!! I am telling you, this is the most beautiful running route on the planet.

Strength:

Completed Days 1 & 2 of Week 2 of 200 Squats, maxing at a total of 75 squats on day 2.

I think I'll likely keep doing strength just 2 days most weeks, b/c I don't want my legs to be sore on running days (if I squat the day before a run), but wowsers, when I do the squats after a run, it is harder!! I did that for the first time this week (after one of the 4-5 mile runs) and wow, it seemed a lot harder than the other days!!

So, my plan is to do strength post run on light run days (less than 5 miles) as often as possible, so probably 2 days a week. Sounds fine to me.

Cross:

+ 3 hrs skiiing one day
+ 3 mile hard core hill walk one day

Comments:

Happy girl. My knees & ankles are feeling it a bit. Just achey. I will watch, RICE, stretch. . . and keep my fingers crossed. I think it's just aches due to the increased mileage. . . and think it'll resolve on its own quickly. If it doesn't, I'll reevaluate.

Why am I running?

Am I running away from something? Towards something? Or just running to run?

I am running away from being old and weak.

I am running towards strength. I am running towards being a good example to my kids, someone they respect for my self discipline, will, and physical strength.

And, I am running just for me. Running gives me time just to be me, not a mom, not a boss, not a daughter, not even a wife. Just me. If I am not running solo and alone in a happy place with my tunes, I am running with a friend or on a lucky day with my husband. . . and having uninterrupted conversations that I never find time for unless my feet are moving over the earth. These running hours nourish my soul as much as they strengthen my body.

I am running. Just running.

I started this running journey on 8/31/2010 with my first day of Couch to 5k. I'll add some more posts with summaries of the posts I made during those early months on the couch25k forums. (I love those forums!) The encouragement and advice I found on those forums from my co-conspirators on the running journey has been essential in helping me take the next step day after day.