21...and Done!

Saturday morning was my last truly long run before MCM.  21 Miles.  Wowsah.  While I was not exactly looking forward to a run that long, I knew I could do it, with 20 and 16 milers under my belt in the last 6 weeks.

So, in the 5am darkness on a muggy, rainy, morning, my group and I took off.  Although the humidity was brutal, the first loop around the lake was no big deal.  Then we turned off the lake and went up into the neighborhoods and hit the hills.  (And this particular area has a set of hills known as "The Dolly's" in reference to Dolly Parton's rather generous...curves...ahem.  LOL.)  Still, we persevered and made it back down to the lake at mile 12.  We took a quick bathroom and re-fueling break, then headed back out for one more loop of the lake...and yes, it was still raining.

I hit a really rough spot mentally around mile 18, and I found myself fighting back tears.  I was tired, soaking wet, cranky, and seriously doubting my ability to run the first 20 miles of MCM at the needed "beat the bridge" pace.  However, my awesome group got me through it and we continued on, finally getting back to our cars and post-run golden oreos (yum!).

3 of my group members & me post-run...and dripping wet (even though it doesn't look like it in the pic)!

Photo proof!  21 done!

I got home, examined my new blisters (even with tons of lube, with all that rain, blisters were inevitable), took an ice bath, and put on my recovery/compression gear.  We opened the doors to the now rain-cooled temperatures and let the cats explore the backyard a bit while I relaxed on the couch.  I spent the rest of the afternoon watching a couple movies and the Longhorn football game, virtually "cheering" on a bunch of my friends running the Disney Tower of Terror 10 Miler, and finally I crashed hard around 11pm and got some sleep.

So, now those super-long runs are done for this particular training cycle!  It's taper, taper, taper from here on out!  The next 3 weekends call for 12, 10, and 8 milers, respectively.  Thank goodness - those are going to be some very full weekends anyway, even without trying to squeeze long runs in!

• Do y'all ever have trouble mentally pushing through a run when you know your body can do it?
• How do you deal with race-related fears?
• Any helpful ideas for coping with the stress I'm feeling worrying about pace for MCM?

Flexibility is the Key

No, I haven't been doing my "Yoga for Runners" like I should be, so I'm not talking about physical flexibility (although that is an important aspect of running).  What's just as important is mental flexibility and the ability to adapt and modify your plan based on changing circumstances.  I'm not exactly known for going with the flow, though I have been trying to get better about that - and let me tell you, last weekend pushed me a bit further out of my comfort zone.  Saturday's long run proved to be the perfect storm of circumstances that required some serious flexibility on my part.

The Dallas area has had an outbreak of West Nile Virus this summer that led county leaders to implement aerial pesticide spraying over the weekend.  This spraying was due to take place near my group's normal running routes, so our group leaders moved our run to a local multi-purpose trail close to my house (yay for me!).  Twenty miles on the schedule meant some serious mental and physical preparation throughout the week (fueling and hydrating properly, etc.)  It also means  meeting at 4am to get ahead of the heat, but overnight Friday, storms rolled in and it thundered and lightninged through the early morning.  As 4am rolled around, many of us were sitting in our cars in the parking lot, all prepped for a long run, and watching the bright flashes above us, knowing what was coming.  Finally, the call was made - prolonged lightning meant no group run.  My pace group talked it over and decided to get at least 10 miles in on our own this weekend, and we'd re-schedule the 20 miler for next weekend.

So I headed home, and checked out the weather radar - they were still forecasting strong storms into the late morning and possibly even afternoon.  With my weekend plans, I still needed to get my miles done that morning...which meant...turning to the treadmill - blech.  I decided to break the 10 into two 5-mile segments, with a bathroom/fuel/water break inbetween.  So, armed with a new plan and my Gymboss Interval Timer instead of my Garmin, I popped The Sound of Music into the DVD player, and "took off" on the belt.  It wasn't fun, but I got it done, and with the reprise of "Climb Every Mountain" resounding in my ears, I pushed in the last couple miles and ended up with a negative split for the second half of the run!

So the key to last weekend, for me, was flexibility.  So many things were different that if I hadn't been able to make adjustments on the fly that it all could have fallen apart.  Change of location (trail instead of neighborhoods and the lake), change of distance (10 instead of 20), change of running mode (treadmill instead of road), and change of company (DVD instead of my running group).  That's ALOT of changes! 

I'd say I rolled with the punches pretty well, though, and am proud of myself for making the best of it!  Plus, I have to admit to a little extra pride that I got in some decent mileage, even though it was tough to do it on the treadmill, when the rainy weather was just beckoning me to come back to bed at 5am on a Saturday morning...  And I'm fortunate that our group schedule has a little wiggle room, so switching the 20 miler weekends should work out okay.

How flexible are you in your running?  What happens when your plan hits a snag?  Do you have a backup plan in place or do you make changes on the fly?  How do you adjust?  Is there flexibility in your training?

Last Week in Review:

• Monday - strength - 30 min bootcamp;
• Tuesday - short run - 2.2 mi @ 60:30 intervals;
• Wednesday - strength - 30 min bootcamp;
• Thursday - short run cancelled (not feeling well);
• Friday - rest day;
• Saturday - long run - 10 mi @ 1:1 intervals; 2:28:28; 14:51min/mi avg;
• Sunday - rest day.

Runnin' In The Rain

When I left the house yesterday morning, I had no idea what I was in for.  As I was leaving the neighborhood, I noticed a few drops of water on the windshield, but thought I'd driven past some overspraying sprinklers.  The further south I got, the more drops were on the windshield, and by the time I reached the RunOn! parking lot there was no denying that it was definitely raining.  A quick glance at the radar on my phone confirmed that there was even more on the way.

Despite the rain, the group was still gathering, so I got out of the car and started getting ready.  But after a couple of lightning flashes, the overall group leaders decided to call off the run.  However, my pace group had different ideas.  We all decided that we were already up obscenely early, dressed to run, and we had the group for motivation - we were going to go for it.  I was apprehensive about it, but figured "what the hell," and fell in with the group.

Let's just say it was a very soggy 8 miles.  I had actually managed to keep my feet relatively dry until I accidentally slogged through a major puddle at around 5.5 miles.  Near the end of the trail, we had all reached the point where we could wring out our clothes and all our shoes together were performing a "squishy symphony."  We just had to laugh, and keep going.

So this was another first for me - normally if it's raining I either postpone the run or hit the treadmill.  I can't say that I enjoyed the "being dripping wet" part, but the cooling effect of the rain was pretty nice, and I made it through relatively unscathed (one tiny blister on my left foot and some chaffing from my water belt).  It's not something I'd want to do all the time, or for any kind of long run, but I won't "run away" from running in the rain anymore!

We survived the rain - no melting here!

Saturday's Stats:

• 8.1 miles; 1:51:36; 13:47 min/mi avg pace

Catching Up

Wow, what a weekend!  We took lots of pictures, but I haven't downloaded them yet.  Here's my super-condensed trip report:

Friday: Arrived to stormy skies at LAX at 10:30am and, after grabbing lunch at IN-N-OUT Burger, headed west to see the beaches (Venice & Santa Monica), made a quick spin through Hollywood to see the Oscars prep, then headed to the hotel to change.  Went to the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, then back to the hotel to collapse - all the travel and the time change had really caught up with us!

Saturday:  Up early Saturday morning and headed down to the hotel gym to get in a couple miles (on the fanciest treadmill I have ever seen - you gotta love L.A.!).  Grabbed a quick brunch in the hotel cafe then leisurely got ready for the wedding.  Checked out of the hotel and headed to the church for pre-wedding pictures.  The pictures were slightly hampered by a 10-minute hail storm (crazy, huh?) but then the sun came out and all was fine.  The ceremony was at 3:30 with the reception from 5-10pm, then we drove down to Anaheim afterwards.  We made good time and checked into the hotel about 11:15.

Sunday:  Up even earlier on Sunday morning to drop a friend off at the Anaheim train station for her trip down to San Diego to visit other friends, then crossed the street to go to Disneyland when it opened at 8am.  We spent the morning in a surprisingly uncrowded park and got in almost all of our "must-dos" before noon (including getting a boat all to ourselves on Pirates - amazing!)  Since it was a Family Fun Weekend celebrating Mardi Gras, we split an order of Mickey-shaped beignets and a Mickey-shaped brioche throughout the morning inbetween rides.  Then we grabbed hand-dipped corndogs on Main Street for lunch and headed over to California Adventures.  We spent the afternoon and early evening riding rides and watching shows at DCA, then picked up our World of Color Picnics (yum) and watched the 8pm WOC show (spectacular!).  After WOC, we walked back over to DL to see the Wishes fireworks and finish up the last couple of Fantasyland rides and re-ride Big Thunder and Space.  Since we were (literally) freezing,  we decided to go ahead and leave at 11:15 and headed back across the street to the hotel.

Monday:  A super-early morning Monday to check out of the hotel, drive back to LAX, return the rental car and hop on a plane back to Texas.

Okay, maybe it wasn't all that quick of a recap.  Anybody notice a trend mentioned each day?  Not the late nights and increasingly early mornings..the food!  The crazy thing about L.A. is that the calorie content is posted everywhere - even on the "guilty pleasure" items - and no one even bats an eye when you ask for egg whites and fruit instead of hash browns...in fact, I'm pretty sure it's expected.  I think I found a pretty good balance between eating right and indulging in some signature L.A./Disney items throughout the weekend.

Since my mom is a native Californian, we took quite a few trips to DL when I was growing up.  It's only recently (the last 10 years or so) that we've been spending much more time at WDW than DL.  Before this trip I'd only been to DCA twice, so it was fun to see how much it's changed, and of course DL is always a great place to visit!

So it was back to the grind today.  I'm finally feeling normal again, and my cough is practically gone, so I figured it was time to switch back to my 5:4 intervals.  It was hard this evening, but I made myself keep going at my normal pace and push through the intervals.

Today's stats:

• 10 minute walking warm-up
• 3 mi run; 0:39:25 min; 13:08 min/mi avg. pace

A Scene Straight from Hitchcock

I experienced my own personal version of "The Birds" during my run today.  The large amount of rain we've had lately brought all sorts of bugs, worms, etc. to the surface.  This, of course, attracted hundreds of birds to the open areas of the electric transmission line easement the trail runs through.  As I ran past and disturbed them, they all took to the air and, voila!- flashback to the movie.  Now I'm no Tippi Hedren, but for a few moments this evening, I could certainly identify with her character, because it was definitely freaky being surrounded by all those birds!  I'm just glad I made it through bird-poop-free!

Today's stats:

• 10 min warm-up walk
• 3 mi run; 0:37:38 min; 12:33 min/mi

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It's the last week of Daylight Savings Time here in Texas, which means tonight was one of two last opportunities for an outdoor after-work run (no after-dark running for us), and I was stuck inside on the treadmill because it's raining.  Granted, yes, it could've been a chilly, wet, outdoor run, but we're nowhere near that hardcore!

Today's Stats:

• 10 min warm-up walk
• 3.0 mi; 0:40:02 min; 13:21 min/mi avg

Good Timing, Bad Storm

2.5 miles into my planned 3.5 mile run, the clouds rushed in, the sky rapidly darkened, and the wind picked up.  Not a good sign - so much for that predicted 10% chance of rain!  Being out on the trail, I had no choice but to complete my run ASAP.  Literally just as I was finishing, the skies opened up and it began pouring.  Perfect timing - I couldn't have planned it better if I'd tried!  All in all, it was a good run: 

• 1.01mi walk
• 2.5mi run; 35:16 min; 14:06 min/mi 
• Dog Park Loop

Caution: Low Water Crossing

Well my grand plans for a run this afternoon were sunk, literally.  While driving over to the trailhead, I noticed that the two low-water-crossings for the trail I was going to take were both closed due to high water from all the rain produced by Tropical Storm Hermine.  So it was back to the treadmill for me again today.

• 0.5mi warm-up walk
• 2 mi run; 31:40 min; 15:50 min/mi

It's raining, it's pouring...

Approx. 11am Tuesday morning.

...and thanks to Tropical Storm Hermine, I ran inside today.   Yup, I wimped out and headed for the treadmill.  We're under a flash flood watch until Thursday morning, so I chose to enjoy the rain from inside the house!

• 0.5 mi warm-up walk
• 2.5 mi run; 40:10 min; 16:04min/mi