Training log - week ending 1/17/2016

This week was 61 miles of running, 5000 yards of swimming, and 7 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

The most notable thing about this week was the prolotherapy shots I got on Tuesday.  This was a "booster" to my previous PRP and prolotherapy (I did PRP in November and December of 2013 and May of 2014, and my first round of prolotherapy in September 2014).

[As a refresher, I struggled with chronic injuries for a long time, including a bad combo of a high left hamstring tear and recurring tendonitis in pretty much every tendon in my right ankle plus the plantar fascia.  The causes of all these injuries were difficult to unwind; they turned out in part to be an old unhealed tear in my right groin and very loose ligaments in my right ankle, lumbar area, and SI joints that contributed to instability in my running gait and nerve pain, plus an SI joint that would NOT stay in place. For me, the key to being able to stay healthy, running-wise, is prioritizing my stability while running, which means a) making sure all my ligaments stay tight; b) consistent gym/yoga work focused on stability; and c) avoiding soft/unstable running surfaces and cushioned running shoes]

During the previous injections, I was told that I'd probably need to come back at some point in the next year - the injections tighten up and heal stretched out ligaments, but the wear and tear I put on them through running (especially since my gait is still slightly uneven) stretches them back out.

I made it well over a year.  Frankly, I thought I was done with injections.  But then, right before Philly Marathon this past fall, my left leg sciatica/weakness issues started acting up again.  And my left SI joint started popping out of place again.  At the time, I attributed the flare to the reduction in my injury prevention routine (cutting out yoga and weights during taper).  But the issue persisted after Philly, as I rested, recovered, and then started ramping up again.

I gave myself a solid 6 weeks of focused injury prevention work plus two PT visits, and then bit the bullet and went back in to see Doctor Wagner last week.  Yup, though my SI joint and lumbar was much better than they were at the start of my saga, they were looser than they should be.  Time for more shots.  And another credit card bill, since insurance doesn't cover PRP/prolo.

Some have asked me what the difference is between prolotherapy and PRP.  In short:

• PRP: this is where they draw a few vials of your own blood, spin it down to the super-magical healing platelets, and inject it back in.  It costs more, hurts more, and requires rest and then a careful ramp back to activity post shot.  It also takes at least 10 days to kick in. 
  
• Prolo: they inject what is essentially sugar water, with the goal of stimulating inflammation and kick-starting healing.  It's pricy, but cheaper than PRP.  It also hurts significantly less, since they can use a local anaesthetic.  You can resume normal activity right after (I went straight from the doctor's office to the grocery store), though you want to avoid swimming for 48 hours and hard workouts for a day or two.  It starts working right away.

So, given my descriptions of the two, why would anyone opt for PRP over prolo, when the second is cheaper, hurts less, and kicks in quicker?    Because PRP is a lot stronger.  My understanding is that PRP is the right choice for torn tendons, and also for tightening loose ligaments when those ligaments are going to suffer a lot of strain in the future (i.e. athletes).  Prolo works well as the only step for milder soft tissue issues in non-athletes, and as a "booster" (my term) to PRP in athletes.  As my doctor described: the PRP creates a fire, and then periodic shots of prolo add logs to the flame.

Happily, I'm now in the prolotherapy phase, so the shots were pretty much a non-event.  I ran the hill workout in the morning, and then took a "lunch break" midday for a doctor's appointment.  The shots took about 10 minutes, so not a huge time investment.

The shots did hurt some - bee stings is the best analogy I can come up with.  But they weren't horrible.  Dr. Wagner did 6-7 shots in each SI joint, plus 5 in the area near L4-5.  We also did 5-6 in my left hamstring where the old tear was, just to be safe.  I pay for the procedure, not per shot, so there's no reason not to jab everywhere.  

What was also reassuring was that the shots in my lumbar and left SI joint caused my sciatica to flare while I lay face down on the table - confirmation that we were targeting the right area.

[One interesting thing I noted too: my pain tolerance for medical procedures is directly correlated to how desperate I am.  When I got the PRP, I wasn't sure if I'd ever be running again at the level I had before, and I was willing to hurt as much as it took to get better.  Now?  I'm doing pretty well, and so I found myself whining (internally) a lot more about the prolo shots, even though they hurt much less.  Funny, that.]

And then I drove home. That's another nice difference between prolo and PRP, by the way. - I feel totally comfortable driving home after prolo shots; PRP hurts enough after that I don't feel safe driving.

As for how I felt - I was sore right away, but also felt better, in a strange way.  The unstability and sciatica was gone immediately, replaced by significant soreness in my back - like I had done far too many deadlifts in the gym.   A different pain, and a much better one.  What was also interesting is that the areas where I really needed the shots (left SI joint and lumbar) were far more sore than the areas that we treated just to be safe (right SI joint and left hammy).  I obviously don't know why this is - my uneducated guess is that the areas that were damaged inflamed much more in response to the prolo.  Again - just a guess.

I ran carefully the next morning, but everything was fine.  I felt the shots a lot during yoga, and was very careful during practice.  I didn't feel the shots at all when running - I just enjoyed the lack of sciatica.  And by Friday I was totally fine. 

The one other side effect of the prolo was that I swapped asthma inhalers for a few days after the procedure.  Because my allergies have been flaring and my lungs are pretty inflamed, I've been using my Dulera inhaler, which has a steroid in it.  However, you're supposed to be very careful about using anti-inflammatories when you get either prolo or PRP, so I shifted back to my Foradil inhaler (no steroid) for a few days.   As I learned pretty quickly on Friday, the Foradil ain't cutting it right now, asthma-wise.  But not a big issue - I can just swap back, now that I'm a few days out from the prolo.

This upcoming week will be a cutback, as I race my half-marathon on Sunday, and also have a business trip between now and then.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 7 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  10 miles, including a hill workout of 7 repeats up Iwo Jima (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill, followed by injury prevention work and 1500 yards of easy swimming.  Prolotherapy injections into SI joints, lumbar area, and left hamstring at mid-day

Wednesday: 2.5 miles very easy (9:47 pace) to yoga, and then a yoga class.  Followed with 6.5 miles very easy (8:51).  Foam rolling at night

Thursday:   5 miles very easy to yoga (9:19 pace), followed yoga and some upper body weights and core.  Then did another 4 miles very easy (8:33), plus drills and four strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  10 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 26:38 (6:45/6:41/6:40/6:33). Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1750 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:   7 miles very easy (8:51) to the gym for upper body and core; then 3.5 miles easy home (8:34), plus drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  12 miles progressive, with the first 6 miles averaging 8:55; the next 3 averaging 7:27; and the last 3 averaging 6:44.   Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1750 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.

Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1250 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Training log - Week ending 1/10/16

This week was 67 miles of running, 4000 yards of swimming, and 6 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

So this was a pretty good week - I'm definitely feeling fitter and fitter.  Friday's tempo was faster than I expected it to be, and Sunday's long run/workout was MUCH faster than I had expected.

To be honest, the Sunday workout of 4, 3, 2, and 1 mile intervals with 1 mile recovery was supposed to be at marathon effort, but my actual effort was a bit harder than what I could sustain for 20+ miles right now (I also kicked during the final  mile repeat, but that's allowed if you're feeling good).

When I saw the splits, I worried that perhaps I had left my race out in a training run.  But it really doesn't feel that way - it was a hard workout (as it should be), but I didn't go to the well, and I've done this workout at a slower pace at other times and felt worse during it.

One conclusion, based on how I felt this week and during the long run, is that perhaps I am better off on lower mileage and less long runs.  I was concerned about Sunday's run going into it - over 16 miles seems like a long way when you've only done one run longer than 12 miles in the past 8 weeks.  And yet the distance was an absolute total non-issue, and my pace just got faster as the workout continued.  I think I just need to recognize that my strength is my strong point and to trust that I don't need to focus on that much, instead prioritizing recovery and speed.  But it's hard to resist the more-mileage-is-always-better mindset, especially when that has worked for so very many others.

Or as I noted to my coach, "perhaps I don't need many long runs or a lot of mileage."  (He gave me a well-earned side-eye and noted he'd been saying that for years).

***

Charts from Sunday's long run.
This is a big graphic, so I shrunk it. 
You can click on it to see it full size.

I also played with a new data feature on my fancy Garmin 920.  It now measures two additional things - "vertical ratio" (how much you bounce) and "ground contact time balance" (how much time you spend on one foot versus the other).

I've only run with it three times so far, so I'm just starting to get a feel for the data.  It is interesting, though I'm not sure how useful it is.  The thing about running (and life) is that we assume that if we can measure something, we can gain useful knowledge from it, and improvements will be measured in the metric.   I'm not sure that's always the case.

Garmin claims that a more even "ground contact time balance" (GCT balance) is better, and also that a lower "vertical ratio" is better.  Both of these make some sense to me - the first more than the second.   But it also "makes sense" to train for marathons with 26+ mile long runs, so I resist placing all my analytical eggs in the sense basket.  I'm somewhat skeptical of the value of this data.

But it is fun to look at.  And after three runs - a tempo, an easy run, and the 4-3-2-1 long run, a few things do stand out.  First, I'm unbalanced - my right foot generally spends a bit longer on the ground than my left.   This isn't surprising, given my injury history, and the fact that my left leg tends to be nervy and weaker.

More interesting, though, is the fact that I'm apparently "better" at running when I run faster.  Looking at Sunday's long run, my vertical ratio is consistently orange (not good, according to Garmin) when I run slower, and green (good) when I run faster.  My GCT balance also improves slightly at faster speeds, though not as notably.  It's also worth noting that my GCT balance was worst on Saturday's easy run, and much better on Sunday.

(my heart rate, stride length, and cadence also all increased with the hard parts, and dropped with the easy, but that's not surprising at all.)

I don't know what to do with this information, other than waste time staring at it.  But it sure beats what's on television these days.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 6 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  10 miles, including a hill workout of 7 repeats up Iwo Jima (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill, followed by injury prevention work and 1250 yards of easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 3.5 miles very easy (9:08 pace) to yoga, and then a yoga class.  Followed with 8.5 miles very easy (9:03) plus some drills and two strides.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   4 miles very easy to yoga (9:20 pace), followed yoga and some upper body weights and core.  Then did another 4.5 miles very easy (8:39), plus drills and four strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  10 miles, including a long intervals workout on the track of 3200, 2 lap jog, 1600.  Splits were 12:55 (6:28/6:27) and 6:07. Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night

Saturday:   10 miles easy (8:26), plus drills and four strides.  Followed with weights work in the gym and foam rolling.

Sunday:  16.5 miles, including a workout of 4, 3, 2, and 1 miles at "marathon pace" with one mile recovery.  Splits were:
4 miles: 27:32 (6:53/6:58/6:53/6:48)
3 miles: 20:40 (6:56/6:54/6:50)
2 miles: 13:26 (6:47/6:39) 
1 mile: 6:34

Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1250 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

What I wore

The DC area has been hit by another cold snap this week, resulting in frigid temperatures that rival the north.  Yesterday morning, the air temperature for our workout was 15 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of -5.

I try not to complain too much about the cold (though I do whine some).  For one thing, I believe that the more you whine about the weather, the worse you perceive it.  And running-wise, I much prefer 15 degrees to 80 degrees and humid - I find it much easier to breathe in the former.

Plus, I have running friends in New Hampshire and Minnesota and other such places, and I really can't complain in any medium that they might be reading (though I do want to note that yesterday it was actually colder in DC than it was in Duluth, Minnesota).

However, without whining, I do want to note that it was cold yesterday.  Colder than it's been for about a year.  Which means it's been a year since I dressed for these conditions.  Which means that I was rummaging through my closet early that morning, trying to remember what I wore last year.

And so, I am now going to document what I wore, and what worked very well for me.  This may help others; I know it will help me in a year's time.

You can click on this to expand it.  As you can see
artfully arranging things for nice blog pictures is not in my skill set.

First, a picture:

A) thick headband
B) snowboarding mittens
C) clear lens sunglasses
D) sportsbra
E) tights
F) thick longsleeve
G) compression shorts
H) running jacket
I) disposable handwarmers
J) petroleum jelly
K) thin socks
L) "anklewarmers"



And next, the description.  I do want to note that my personal thermostat is a bit wonky, due to some autoimmune/circulation issues.  I tend to be very cold when I'm still, but warm up rapidly when I run.  Furthermore, my core tends to overheat, while my extremities stay very cold.  So, the balance I've struck here may not work for all.

For my lower half,

I wear compression shorts (G) underneath a pair of fitted running tights that are not super tight (E).  For workouts, I've found I prefer looser tights that let my legs to move more freely than compression tights allow. 

I layer the compression shorts under the tights to make sure my hamstrings stay warm, given my past history of injury there.

For my feet/ankles,

I wear very thin socks (K), and then homemade "anklewarmers" (L) to cover the gap between my tights and socks.  It may seem surprising that I don't wear thicker socks, but my cold feet stem from lack of circulation, and thick socks crammed into shoes just make things worse.  The pounding from running does a good job of warming up my feet and keeping the blood flowing, so I just deal with numb toes for the first 10 minutes and then I'm fine.

Close-up of the anklewarmers
(my cellphone camera ain't great)

I made the anklewarmers by taking a cheap pair of thick tube socks and cutting off the foot.  (I made a second pair from cutting the toes off of the remaining foot).  I have a history of tendon issues in my ankles, and I've found that keeping the gap between socks and tights covered and warm is essential to avoiding injury.  This is why you will never see me wear capri tights - because they cover my knees (which rarely have any issue with the cold) while exposing my sensitive ankles.  Right fabric, wrong place.

For my upper body,

I wear a sportsbra (D), and then one of my thicker longsleeve t-shirts (F) (white, because we're running on streets in the dark).  While warming up for the first mile or two, I'll layer a running jacket (H) on top - that jacket gets shed before any hard running. 

If I'm just running easy mileage, I'll go with a tanktop instead of sportsbra, plus just the running jacket without longsleeve.  Longsleeve+running jacket works well for the first few miles of a run, but I'll be massively overheated by the end of 8-10 miles.

For my hands,

I wear snowboarding mittens (B).  The snowboarders and skiers really are the experts when it comes to dressing for winter conditions - I really don't understand why most runners limit themselves to running gloves.  In my experience, the cheapest snowboarding mitten is more durable and warmer than the priciest running glove.  Plus, manual dexterity is not important to running, so there's no specialized function inherent to a running glove.

(Seriously, why do we need separated fingers?  Other than to flip off motorists?  Which actually is a pretty good reason, come to think of it.)

Within the mittens, I carry disposable handwarmers (I).  I swear by these - they make a massive difference and really don't cost much in the broader scheme of things.  By my math, seven pairs of handwarmers costs less than one cup of coffee from Starbucks, and keeps my hands a lot warmer over a week.  Plus many types of handwarmers can be "suspended" by sealing them in an airtight bag between runs, so that you get two or three runs out of a pair.

For my head,

This one's easy - thick headband to cover my ears (A), and petroleum jelly (J) glopped on my face. Trust me, don't apply it, glop it.  The thicker the better. 

I religiously use the petroleum jelly any time the temperature drops below 40, or it's windy, or it's raining - it protects my face from the elements.  I've tried balaclavas, but generally am not a fan - I don't like breathing through them.


I prefer the headband over a beanie or similar because it works better with my ponytail.  I know some beanies have ponytail holes cut within them, but the opening never aligns with my ponytail.  Additionally, beanies never stay in place on my head, while headbands generally do.  Factoring into this decision is the fact that my long hair already provides some natural insulation - only my ears need protection, not my scalp.



***

So, how did it work?  Pretty well. I was cold for the first mile of my warm-up, and then fine.  I shed the jacket after warming up, and was cold for the first repeat, and then fine thereafter.  By the end of the workout, I was barely starting to break a sweat, which tells me I got it right.  I didn't want to be cold, but it would be worse to start sweating and then REALLY get chilled.

The one thing that didn't work was my sunglasses with untinted lenses (C).  I wore these yesterday morning in hopes that they would protect my eyes from the wind.  However, I found that even the clear lenses interfered unacceptably with my night vision - preventing me from seeing the details of the road.  Additionally, they kept fogging up.  They ended up with a free ride on top of my head for the workout.

One thing not in the picture above, but essential nonetheless, was a sense of humor.  If you can manage to laugh, just a bit, at the absurdity of it all, you'll find the air is less biting.  And good running buddies are key also, as they make wonderful wind blocks, both physical and mental.

Training log - Week ending 1/3/16

This week was 46 miles of running, 3000 yards of swimming, and 13 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

And, another week in the books.  After marathon training nearly continually since April, it actually feels nice to be running a bit less mileage, especially since life (including work) is getting pretty busy.  Saturday was my first progressive long run since the marathon - until now, I've had a limit of 12 miles.  And it went pretty well. 15 miles with the last 3rd at marathon pace effort was a non-issue, and not the strain I had partially anticipated.  My race on Thursday, though not a mindblowing performance, was also pretty good for where I am right now in my training.  So two confidence boosters in a week - not bad.

It's nice reminder to me that I don't need to overfocus on my strengths.  I tend to buy into the "more miles always better" mentality, since that's a truism for many.  And I like running lots of miles - it's right in my wheel house.    But, in my case, I fell like I'm thriving from backing off on the miles and increasing the quality of my runs.  I'm stretching out of my comfort zone, and just trusting that my endurance will be there when I need it.  It will be interesting to see how this all works out in a few weeks in my half-marathon.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 7 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  8 miles, including a hill workout of 6 repeats up Iwo Jima (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill.   Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy (9:35 pace) plus some drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   In the morning, foam rolling and stretching.  In the evening, 2.5 miles warm-up plus a 4 mile race in 26:35.

Friday:  6 "miles" of pool-running, followed by 1000 yards swimming and a yoga class, plus foam rolling.

Saturday:   10 miles very easy (9:11 pace), plus drills and four strides.  Followed with upper body/core weights work.   Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  15.5 miles progressive, split as first 5.5 at 8:56, next 4.5 at 7:50; last 5.5 at 7:07 pace.  Followed with lower body strengthwork and 1000 yards easy swimming.  Yoga and foam rolling later.

Race Report: Fairfax Four Miler, December 31, 2015

I ran the Fairfax Four Miler last night, finishing in 26:35.  Despite the fact that this is a fairly slow course and I'm out of shape, I set a PR by over a minute.  Of course, the last time I raced a four miler was in 2008, so a PR was pretty much a certainty - my former PR was at a pace slower than my current half marathon PR pace...

And that's really the entire reason I ran this race.   Four mile races are not that common in this area - there's only four that I'm aware of.  And heck, what better way to end a year than with a near-guaranteed PR.

This was an evening race, starting at 6pm. And I hate evening running/racing.  For many reasons.  For one thing, I find it challenging to manage my digestive system for an evening race.  Morning running is easy.  My stomach is generally empty when I wake in the morning, and so I eat one easy-to-digest meal, drink some water, and I'm good.  For evening races I have to plan out what I'm eating all day, to make sure I hit that optimal balance of enough fuel to run but not so much that I experience a premature exit.

I also hate evening running and races because they screw up my sleep schedule.  Running after about 2-3 pm guarantees insomnia.  But hey....it was New Years Eve, and since I had some plans for later that evening, I knew I'd be getting little sleep anyway.

Finally, I hate evening running simply because I can't seem to keep my shit together (to put it in technical terms).  Tell me that I need to start running at 5 or 6 or 7 am, and I'll show up on time, with everything I need.  But when I run later, I get distracted by other things before hand, and stuff gets messy.

***

Messy pretty much describes my pre-race prep yesterday.  It all started earlier that day - I was enjoying a rather relaxed New Years Eve day at work.  Until I realized in the mid-afternoon that New Years Eve was also the end of Q4 2015.  And all the back burner stuff that was no rush, but just needed to be finalized by the end of the quarter, now had to be finalized TODAY.  Before I left for the race.  Because Q4.

Oops.  But I got it done, and only left about 10 minutes later for the race than I had planned.  And since I always build in some fudge time when getting to races, I was still fine time-wise.  After all, the race start was a quick trip out interstate 66....

And that was my next issue.  In the DC area, certain roads change directions or are limited to HOV (cars with 2 or more people in them) during certain times of the day.  It's one way we cope with having arguably the worst traffic in the nation.    Since I don't commute on I-66 much, I had forgotten that it was limited to HOV-2 from 4-6:30 pm on weekdays.  And just like that, my short drive on the interstate became a longer drive on backroads.  But it was OK, because I had, y'know, fudge time.

Getting to the race a bit later meant that it took longer to park, since more people were there.  And then longer lines at packet pick-up.  Compounded by the fact that they couldn't find my registration, resulting in the erosion of the last of my fudge time.   But it was OK - I now had my number and my race flats on.  Instead of heading back to my car to drop off my race "premium" sweatshirt (which is a fancier way of saying "the stuff we give you so the entry fee looks like a better deal") I left it at bag check and started jogging.  I generally need about 3 miles of easy jogging before I'm ready to do anything faster, and I had just enough time to fit that in, plus some strides.

Of course, that was assuming that nothing else delayed me.  And....as I discovered about a mile and a half into my warm-up, I hadn't executed my pre-race fueling plan terribly well.


Annoyed at my innards, I stopped running and joined the porta-pottie party line.  I have a list of race scenarios to avoid, and at the top of that list is trying to find a porta-pottie 15 minutes before race start. Fortunately, this was the rare race where there actually were enough porta-potties, and I dumped my excess fuel without too much delay.

Having made my offering to the gastrointestinal gods, I headed back out to finish my warm-up.  I had less than 10 minutes before race start, so I gave up on easy jogging and swapped to drills and strides.  It wasn't optimal, but at least I had been moving around all day, so I was a bit more limber than I would have been for a morning race.

***

I lined up, the air horn blew, and we were off.  This race started off with a decent uphill.  It also started with a large group of adults and kids charging off the line.  Any race associated with a Federal holiday, be it Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, or New Years, seems to attract a large population of inexperienced racers whose ambition exceeds their aerobic capacity, and this race held to that pattern.  So I held back and let the wave flow past me.  About a minute or two in, the tide turned, and many of the runners started to flow back.

The course continued on, essentially following a path around the campus of George Mason University.  In the darkness, the campus really looked more like an office park than a campus, but that was fine - I don't race for the scenery.  The course was a loop of rolling hills, plus two little out and backs to add some distance.  I've run races here previously several years ago, so I was somewhat familiar with the terrain.  I knew that at one point there'd be a long downhill; there'd also be a series of smaller rollers that were net uphill.

By the end of the first mile the race had thinned out and I was running in a group with several others.   Trailing right behind me was another female masters runner whom I was somewhat familiar with.  Normally she's a bit faster than me, and so I was pleasantly surprised to realize that she was with me.   I didn't know how long that would last, as I also didn't know where she was fitness-wise.  Perhaps she was just taking the race out easy before killing the second half.  Or perhaps she was just coming off of long break.

Either way, I know that I'm a very good downhill runner, and not so great at uphills.  So when we hit the longest downhill of the course, I figured that it was my best chance to build a gap on her.  So I pushed it a little harder than I normally would like, this early in a race.

As it turned out, she hung with me easily, and then dropped me when the incline changed, demonstrating that she had indeed been biding her time.  Oh well.  It was worth a shot.

For my own part, I spent the rest of the race coping with the oxygen debt I had given myself early on.  It wasn't the most enjoyable two miles I've ever run, but that's racing.  Finally I was on the homestretch, and looking desperately for the finish line.  I knew it was there, somewhere, ahead, but I couldn't see it in the dark.  No arch, no bright lights.

Then suddenly there was a timing mat and a clock, and I was mercifully done.   I was surprised that the line was so hard to see, and I'm not sure why they didn't make it more visible and obvious.  I like to think I could have kicked a bit if I had seen it earlier.  Of course, I was in a lot of pain by that point, so who knows.

I clicked stop, and checked my Garmin.  26:35, which destroyed my old PR of 27:39.  Of course this new PR is still a slower pace than both my 10 mile and 10K PR paces, and also slower than some of my four mile tempos on the track when I'm in shape.  But I think that this just reflects that I'm pretty early in my training cycle, and also that hilly courses in the dark aren't terribly fast.  And heck, if I can just find another four mile race I can PR again.  (easier said than done.)

Splits were:
Mile 1: 6:35
Miles 2-3: 13:17
Mile 4: 6:42

Other notes:

• 7th female, and 2nd master.
• Weather was absolutely perfect for this - low 50s.  And obviously no sun.
• Racing in the dark was interesting - I don't think I've actually raced in the dark before (my previous evening races have been in the summer, or on the track).  This course was mostly well lit by street lights, though there were a few portions where it was hard to see the road.   The darkness definitely added some challenge to this race, since it was hard to be certain where you were on the course, and what was coming next.  And as I noted above, the finish line wasn't visible until you were right on top of it.
• Basically reversed my normal meals, and had dinner for breakfast, and then my pre-running breakfast for dinner, plus a Maple Bacon GU and half of a Salted Watermelon GU.  As I noted above, this didn't work out great..  However, the issue was easily remedied via toilet, so perhaps the real lesson is to allow plenty of porta-pottie time before evening races.
• I used my Foradil inhaler 90 minutes before, and my rescue inhaler about 5 minutes before.  Despite both of these, my breathing was in pretty bad shape by the end of the race  What's more concerning is that despite all these preventative meds, I had an asthma attack about five minutes after the race ended (shout out to my friend Andrew for keeping an eye on me until the rescue inhaler kicked in).
  
  Post-race/workout asthma attacks always throw me for loop, just because I'm not expecting them at all.  Because I've already stopped stressing the lungs, y'know?  This was also the strongest attack I've had in a while.  I suspect part of it may be that the freakishly warm weather around here has triggered my allergies, and so I need to shift from the Foradil back to the allergy season asthma meds, which include steroids.  I'll give that a try and also schedule an appointment with the pulmonologist in a few weeks, in case things don't improve. 
• I wasn't sure how to taper for this evening race.  For morning races, I usually do 6-8 miles two days before a race and 0-4 plus drills+strides the day before.  This time, my coach didn't want me to skip Tuesday's hill workout, so I did that (making sure not to crush it), and then did 6 miles with drills and strides the day before.  The morning of the race, I just stretched, foam-rolled, and did some easy glute activation exercises.  And used my normal running time to browse kitchen appliances at Home Depot.
• Left my house at 4:30 pm for this race, which was too late.  Need to leave by 4:15 at the latest.
• I really need to run another four miler.

Training log - Week ending 12/27/2015

This week was 65 miles of running, 2000 yards of swimming, and 7 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my first full week of training, post-marathon, and it's great to be back in the familiar rhythm: intervals/hills on Tuesday, something tempo-ish on Friday, and a long run on Sunday.

Of course, there were a few deviations this week.  On Tuesday, I woke with a sore throat, so I opted to go back to bed and skip the team hill workout.  Later that morning I felt better, so I decided to take a "lunch break" from work and go for a run, perhaps run a hill or two.  As it turned out, I felt better as I went, and ended up cranking out 7 hill repeats, each one of them solid and faster than the previous week.  

The fact that I could have a great workout also demonstrated that I wasn't really sick - it was just my mold allergies popping up with a vengeance due to the unseasonable (and unreasonable) combination of warmth and moisture that we've had in DC this past week.

I normally tempo on Friday, but of course that was Christmas Day this year.  I debated running it on Thursday morning instead, but opted to wait: I wanted the extra day's rest between hills and tempo.  I'll also fess up that Thursday was miserably rainy and warm (in the 70s), while Friday morning was a bit better. 

Xmas team photo.  I'm in the center in the longsleeve
(which was tied around my waist while running
-it was nearly 70 degrees.)

So Christmas morning came, and I treated myself to 2x2 miles around Hains Point, timing my cooldown to meet up with some of my teammates in front of the National Christmas Tree by the White House.  Though it was far from my "best" tempo pace-wise, there was magic in tempoing by myself on a deserted peninsula through the mists as the sun rose.  I ran hard, with a smile.  And then I met my teammates by the Christmas tree, and that was special too.  Running the streets of Washington DC on Christmas morning is reliably one of the best runs of the year.

On Sunday, I did another not-quite-a long run of 12 miles progressive.  I'm running a net downhill half-marathon in late January, so I was glad that today's route had the "fast" part of the progression on a downhill that's just a bit steeper than my half-marathon.  I intentionally pushed the pace to close to half-marathon effort for the final miles, to give my quads a bit of "fastdownhillrunning" proofing.

As an aside, it's interesting to note that my pace for my 2x2 mile tempo on Friday was slower than the final four miles of Sunday's progression run.  Friday's run was definitely the harder workout by far, but it was done on flat ground with temperature and dew point in the high 60s.  By contrast, Sunday's run was in significantly cooler conditions, with a solid downhill assist.  To me, this reflects the importance of training off of effort rather than pace.  And also that I'm one of those people that really gets a speed boost from downhills.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 7 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  11 miles, including a hill workout of 7 repeats up Iwo Jima (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 3 miles very easy (9:57 pace) to yoga, and then a yoga class.  Followed with 7.5 miles very easy (9:08) plus some drills and two strides.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   2.5 miles very easy to the gym (9:57 pace) followed by some upper body weights and core.  Then did another 7.5 miles very easy (9:20).  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  11.5 miles, including 2x2 miles at tempo effort with 4:30 jogging recovery.  Splits were 13:35 (6:49/6:46) and 13:15 (6:43/6:32). Followed with lower body strengthwork, foam rolling, and 1000 yards recovery swimming (yes, there was a gym/pool open on Christmas day).

Saturday:   10 miles easy/aerobic (8:16), plus drills and two strides.  Followed with weights work in the gym and foam rolling.

Sunday:  12 miles progressive, split as 2 miles at 8:57 pace, 6 miles at 8:18 pace, and then 4 miles at 6:38 (downhill, but into a headwind).  Followed with lower body strengthwork and yoga.  1000 yards easy swimming and foam rolling later.

Training log - Week ending 12/20/15

This week was 53.5 miles of running, 3000 yards of swimming, and  6 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

I did my first workout since the marathon on Tuesday, followed by my first race since the marathon on Friday.  Both were pleasant surprises, in that I'm in better shape than I thought.

Which doesn't mean I'm in good shape right now, but that's not the point.  I feel rebooted from my few weeks of "do what the heck I want" and that's good.

I'm about a month out from my half marathon on January 24th, and  I've only got two runs longer than 12 miles scheduled before that race.  I'm guessing that this is because I've still got a ton of strength left from the fall cycle, so there's no need to work on that right now.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 6 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  9 miles, including a hill workout of 7 repeats up Iwo Jima (~500m up, then 200m jog, 100m stride, and 100m jog down to base of hill.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1250 yards recovery swimming.  Sports massage at night.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy (9:30 pace) to yoga, and then a yoga class.  Followed with 4.5 miles very easy (9:17) plus some drills.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   2.5 miles very easy to the gym (9:44 pace) followed by drills and four hill sprints, and ome upper body weights and core yoga.  Then did another 5.5  miles very easy (9:40).  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  3.5 miles very easy (9:10) plus drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:   10 miles, including a not-quite-6-mile race in 38:29.  Followed with yoga and foam rolling; 1750 yards of recovery swimming in afternoon.

Sunday:  12.5 miles very easy (9:01 pace) plus drills and four hill sprints, followed by yoga.  Foam rolling later.

Race report: PVTC Christmas Caper 10K, December 19, 2015

I ran the PVTC Christmas Caper "10K" yesterday, finishing in 38:29 - a substantial PR.

[In case you haven't guessed, the course was significantly short.]

Despite (or perhaps because of) the mis-measured course, I was pretty happy with the race.  I really just wanted to get back out there and race and have fun and remember why I enjoyed racing.   And this low key inexpensive hand timed small race fit the bill perfectly, and let me do just that.

When signing up for this race, I had my choice of running 5K or 10K.  After thinking about it, I decided to go with the 10K.  Any fitness I have right now is just the remnants of my fall marathon training cycle, and I am far from sharp - the only fast running I've done since before Thanksgiving was a cautious hill workout on Tuesday.  I figured that, given my lack of fitness and training, I'd be running the same pace whether I raced 5K or 10K.  So I might as well race the 10K.

I did have a bit of trepidation about the longer distance, though.  With so little speedwork, I didn't know how I was going to handle 6+ miles of fast running.  However, I rationalized that I couldn't have lost all of my marathon strength, and that would carry me through.  Plus I have a half-marathon in late January that I'd like to run fast at - the 10K would be a better workout.

The other concern about the 10K course was the course itself.  The 5K was one out and back, while the 10K would be two loops, turning just short of the finish line to head back out again. 

That's a bit mentally challenging, especially when you have some trepidation about the length of the race to begin with.  But I decided to don my big girl panties and give it a shot - I'd just go out at tempo effort for the first loop, and then up the effort for the second loop.

***

As it turned out, race morning featured perfect running weather.  The forecast had been for very windy conditions, which would have been miserable on the exposed peninsula that is Hains Point.  But the wind held off until after the race, giving us crisp and clear conditions for the race, with just a slight wind from the south.

I met with my teammate Patrick to do my standard warm-up - 3 miles very easy.  When he headed over to the start line for the 5K (which started 10 minutes before the 10K), I shifted to drills and strides, plus a pre-race inhaler puff.  Then I lined up with others behind the freshly painted start line.  At these small races, it's always hard to figure out who your competition is.  I noted a few other women who looked like they might be about my speed.  [by the way, this whole visual assessment is quite amusing, given that I don't necessarily look like "my speed."].  I also noted one very young looking blonde girl, either in high school or in college, who looked like she could be fast.  Or she could just be young.  Either way, I'd find out in a few minutes.

The starter sounded "go" and we were off.  I managed to tug on my own reins pretty quickly and restrain myself to tempo effort, letting other surge ahead of me.  Young blonde girl, on the other hand, exploded off the line like a lightning bolt.  I watched her fly, fairly amused.  Going with her was not an option.  Either she was REALLY fast, or she was a high school kid pacing her race like most high school kids, and was going to have a very painful race.

Per my plan, I held tempo effort for the first out and back - an effort level which allowed me to slowly close the gap on several runners male and female.  By the halfway point, I was in third place for women, with the second about 30 seconds ahead of me.  As for young blonde girl?  She was literally out of sight.  

For the second loop, I tried to up the pace a bit, but wasn't really able to.  I think my limits here were mental, not physical.  Since I haven't done much in the way of hard running recently, I'm out of mental shape right now.  I'm not currently able to be comfortable and relaxed while running really hard and hurting, so I didn't let myself push it to that point.  I'm not too worried about this - it will come back with a few workouts.

I was fortunate enough to pull along side of a male runner partway through the second loop.  Sometimes I'd build a small gap on him, and then he would fight his way back.  For the rest of the race we dueled - it was awesome, because it distracted me from the discomfort of racing, and gave me some much needed mental practice.  At the same time, I could also see the second place woman, and realized I was closing the gap on her.

Unfortunately, before I was able to catch up to her, the finish area came into sight.  Mr. Male Runner (for lack of anything else to call him) started kicking, and I responded. We were neck and neck coming into the corral, but he did manage to edge me at the last second.  No problem - I was so happy to have the chance to practice battling someone else to the finish that I actually didn't care which one of us won - it was the practice that mattered.

As we came through the finish, the clock read 48 minutes.  I knew immediately that was wrong - no matter how out of shape I was, there was no way I had run 48 minutes for 10K.  I then looked at my Garmin, and saw "38:29".  I had about 2 seconds of "holy shit" and then I noted the distance - less than 6 miles.  Yup, the course was way short.  Ah well.

While others were upset about the course (it appears a volunteer misplaced the cone used for turnarounds 1 and 3), I wasn't terribly mad.  I'd have been pissed off if I had paid a lot of money for this race, or if I had been in good shape and targeting a PR.  But neither was the case.  I signed up for this race to get a hard run in, to practice racing, and to have fun.  I achieved all three and also managed to kick my post-shitty-marathon blues, which have been lingering since Philly.  All in all, it was a good morning.

As for fast young blonde girl?  She won the race overall, finishing the short course in just over 33 minutes.  I did some googling afterwards, and read that she had a PR of 33:xx for the 10K on the track.  Just goes to show, no matter how lowkey the race, you never know who is going to show up.

***

Splits from my Garmin (set to autolap) were:
Mile 1: 6:40
Mile 2: 6:44
Mile 3: 6:44
Mile 4: 6:38
Mile 5: 6:39
Last .79: 5:05 (6:26 pace).

According to my Garmin, the total distance was 5.79.  My Garmin is usually very accurate on Hains Point.  On the other hand, my Garmin does like to short change me on hairpin turns, assuming that I turned sooner than I did.  That may have happened some here, as I know that miles 2 and 3 were run much harder and faster than Mile 1, despite the splits above.  But even if my Garmin was inaccurate, there's still no way this was a 10K, and probably not even close to 6 miles.  But again, I wasn't up for a PR, just for a good time and a chance to race someone else, so it doesn't matter in the end.

Other notes:

• Weather was 32 degrees at the start - perfect.  I wore a long sleeve and tights for this race, which is more than I'd normally wear for a 10K in these conditions.  But again, I was racing this for fun, not a blazing time, so why not be a bit more comfortable at the start line.
•  Looking at my Garmin after shows that my heart rate never got out of tempo range (low 170s) which is consistent with my perception that I never really hit true race effort.  I'm not too upset with this - running hard requires practice, which I'll get in the next few weeks.
• With regard to asthma meds, I took a puff of Foradil in the morning, and then a puff of Albuterol right before race start.  The second (and perhaps the first) might have been unnecessary - my asthma is almost always a non-factor in cold December temperatures.  But there was no harm to playing it safe.
• As part of my ongoing caffeine experiment, I also had a Sea Salt Chocolate GU in the morning, plus one Black Cherry shot blok.  It seemed like they helped some.  And they were also yummy, so that's a plus.
• My normal taper for a 10K is 6-8 miles with a mile pick-up at 10K pace two days before, then short and easy the day before.  Since I just started workouts again, I skipped the mile pick-up this time.  It just seemed like overkill to start back with a hill workout, then a mile pick-up two days later, and then a race two days after that.  Better to go into the race cold than cooked.
• Won my 10 year age group and got a Christmas ornament.  Asked if they had any that were cat safe, and got a strange look.  Oh well.

Training log - Week ending 12/13/15

This week was 60 miles of running, 5000 yards of swimming, and  4 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

This was my last week of ramping back up from the marathon before jumping into workouts.  I hit 60 miles, which is roughly where I'll hold my mileage for a while.  I've found that I get much more injury prone when I drop too far below 60 - my best guess is that I need a decent bit of mileage to stay strong enough to reduce injury.  At the same time, there's really no need to go much higher.  I'm not training for a marathon, and I've certainly got a strong base from the last marathon training cycle that should persist for some time.

As part of my reverse taper, I increased my drills and strides.  I also cut back my yoga some - I've now got my strong core and leg stability back, so my time is better spent on other things. 

One of those things was harder swimming, including 5x100 yards hard on Wednesday, and 10x100 yards hard on Sunday.  I did this to give myself a little mental prep for returning to speedwork next week - the focus needed to complete workouts in the water isn't that much different from what's needed on land.  And it was fun, in that weird runner way, to push my heart rate up.

The hard swimming also gave me a chance to play with my new swimming heart rate chest strap.  Historically, Garmin heart rate straps haven't worked in the water - the ANT+ signal doesn't transmit through water.  However, the latest version of the strap has a memory function, and so stores your heart rate history during the workout, before transferring the data later when one is out of the water.  You still can't check your heart rate in real time, but you get to see the data at some point.

What I've found so far is that my heart rate for easy swimming isn't much different than it is for running.  In fact, it's slightly higher, which probably is an indication that I'm much more efficient at running than at swimming. 

However, during hard workouts, my swimming heart rate is lower than my running heart rate.

Here's my heart rate for Sunday's swim. 
Started and ended with easy stuff and drills;
Intervals (100yd hard on 2:00 base) in middle.

  Hard intervals lasting between 90 seconds and two minutes, with short recoveries, would have my heart rate up into the low 180s on land.  In the water, I peaked at 161.  Part of this is probably due to the coolness and the pressure of the water.  But my sense is that this also reflects that I am much more skilled at running than at swimming - I'm just not a good enough swimmer, technique-wise, to be able to push myself truly hard.

Next week I get to start running workouts (which means no more hard swimming workouts).  I'm excited to be back.  No long runs for me for now - we're capping my long runs at 12 miles until further notice.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 4 "miles" easy pool-running and 800 yards easy swimming.

Tuesday:  8 miles easy (8:44) plus drills, plus some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 10 miles easy (9:01 pace), and then 950 yards of swimming, including 5x100 hard on 2:00 .  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   4 miles very easy to yoga (9:28 pace) followed by yoga and then another 6 miles very easy (9:26) plus some some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  5 miles very easy to yoga (9:22 pace), yoga, and then another 5 miles easy (8:42 pace) plus drills and two hill sprints. Later did 1050 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:   10 miles very easy (8:47), followed with drills and strides.  Then did upper body weights, core, and foam rolling.

Sunday:  12 miles aerobic  (8:08 pace) plus drills, followed with lower body injury prevention work and 2200 yards swimming (with 10x100 hard on 200).  Foam rolling later.

Training log - Week ending 12/6/2015

This week was 55 miles of running, 2200 yards of swimming, and  10 "miles" of pool-running -- training log is here.

Second recovery week, and I'm feeling fairly good. I've kept most of my running very easy, but did let myself pick up the pace a bit on Saturday.  I'm also letting some of my easy runs become more "moderate" of lack of a better term.  Still very comfortable, but I don't feel the same need to keep everything to a crawl when I'm not running hard workouts.

This week I also reintroduced swimming and strides and drills.  I realized quickly just how much I missed swimming - it's ridiculous how great I feel post-swim.  On the other hand, drills and strides feel awkward and clunky, which likely indicates how much I need to keep doing them.

One more week until I start workouts again.
 

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga plus 6 "miles" easy pool-running; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  4 miles very easy to yoga (10:12 pace) plus drills, yoga, and then 3.5 miles very easy (9:41), plus some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 10 miles very easy (9:46 pace), and then 800 yards of very easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   5 miles very easy to yoga (9:24 pace) followed by yoga and then another 3 miles very easy (9:06) plus drills and some some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  5 miles very easy to yoga (9:33 pace), yoga, and then another 3 miles easy (8:25 pace) plus 600 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:   12.5 miles aerobic (averaged 8:18 pace, started at 9:30ish, ended around 7:30 ish for last few miles).  Followed with drills and strides.  Upper body weights, core, and foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday:  9 miles very easy (8:24 pace) plus drills and strides, followed with a bit of very easy effort pool-running with friends and 800 yards easy swimming.  Yoga and foam rolling later.