Training log - Week ending 4/10/16

This week was 57 miles of running, 7 "miles" of pool-running, and 2000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

The first part of this week was dedicated to recovery from Cherry Blossom and tapering for the Monument Avenue 10K, which I was planning to race this past Saturday.  However, on Thursday morning I checked the forecast, and noted that the rain I had been counting on for Saturday morning likely wasn't going to happen.  And the pollen forecast for Saturday morning in Richmond was looking very high as a result.

At that point, I decided to pull the plug on Monument Avenue.  It's sad, because I love that race.  But there was a long list of solid reasons to skip it anyway - I'm borderline over-racing, I'm not in PR shape, and Richmond is over 2 hours away.    Add in the pollen forecast, and it made DNSing a relatively easy call.

I am pretty frustrated that my allergies are starting to drive my spring racing decisions.  It's one thing to have ONE period of about 6 weeks in the fall when I know my running will be sub-par, and to plan around it.  It's another thing to have a similar period in the spring.

I've scheduled an appointment with my allergist for this Friday, to see if we can redo some allergy testing, and possibly start allergy shots, based on the results.  (we'd have to do them for the fall - it's too late for this spring).   I was last tested for allergies 5 years ago - at that point I was one of those unfortunate people who clearly had seasonal allergies, but didn't respond to the skin prick test.  Since the skin prick test was clear, I couldn't get shots (since the results of the skin prick test determine the components of the allergy shots.  But maybe things have changed.

In the meantime, I'm going to extreme measures.  I reviewed a list of "concomitant foods" that my allergist gave me a few years ago.  These are foods that supposedly have something in common with the specified allergy, and so can make one's allergy symptoms worst when consumed at the wrong time of year.  Oak pollen is the dominant pollen in the DC area in the spring.  And...what foods are concomitant with oak?  Chestnut, apple, and eggs.  I snack on chestnuts and apples occasionally; eggs are a staple of my daily diet.

Uh oh.

After reading that, I decided that, as much as it would suck, I'd have to try cutting eggs out for a few days, to see if that eased stuff any.

Eggs are honestly pretty hard to eliminate.  I need to eat a fair amount of protein and fat in order to feel good - a high carb diet (even when it's almost exclusively complex carbs, or something like UCAN) leaves me shaky and sluggish if not combined with protein and fat.

Eggs are really the perfect food for me.  They have the right balance of protein and fat, and are a complete protein to boot.  Plus they're easily portable.  Usually I have at least one egg plus some additional egg whites as part of my pre-run breakfast, and another hard-boiled egg post workout. Plus the occasional omelet for dinner.  And now I'm trying to cut that out, while still getting enough protein and fat in.

For post-run recovery, I can simply eat a bison bar.  Expensive, but easy.   It's my pre-run breakfast that is tricky.  Nuts would be one obvious candidate, but those are migraine triggers for me.  As are peanut butter, soy, tofu, and whey protein.  And my lactose intolerance knocks out milk/yogurt/etc (not that those would be good pre-run choices anyway).

Basically, it's dietary princess and the pea syndrome.  Except that pea protein irritates my stomach massively.

(And yes, this is ridiculous, bordering on diva-esque.  There are times when I've debated getting a tiara tattooed on my stomach.)

Fortunately for both myself and WFM shareholders, there is no shortage of pricey powders at the local Whole Foods.  I've invested in a tub of "rice protein" and a tub of "hemp protein."   The rice stuff is low fat and an incomplete protein (missing lysine); the hemp stuff has fat (good) but is also incomplete (missing lysine and leucine).

But I figure I can worry about complete proteins the rest of the day; for pre-run, I just need something that sits well and doesn't leave me feeling shaky.  And isn't eggs.  And the rice and hemp powders seem to be doing the trick, albeit expensively.

As for whether cutting out eggs helps?  I felt a bit better this weekend, but that could also be attributed to slightly lower pollen. I'm going to give it a few more days, and see how things progress.

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga and 7 "miles" easy pool-running; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  7 miles very easy (9:29).  Sports massage in afternoon.

Wednesday: 4.5 miles easy (9:20 pace) to the gym.  Did upper body weights, and then jogged a mile to the track for drills and strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   9.5 miles very easy (9:00) followed by drills and 4 hill sprints.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  10 miles, including a long intervals workout of 3200, 1600 in 12:43 (6:24/6:19) and 6:11.  Followed with injury prevention work and leg strength in the gym, plus 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  11.5 miles very easy in 8:36, drills and strides after.  Followed with some upper body weights and core.  Foam rolling in the afternoon.

Sunday:  14.5 miles progressive, split as first 2.5 at 8:56, next 4.5 at 8:25, next 2 at 7:56; last 5.5 at 7:03.  Followed with yoga.  1000 yards recovery swimming and foam rolling in the afternoon.

The right and the wrong of it.

I feel like morality comes in 52 flavors these days.

Nearly everyone (except Kip Litton, Mike Rossi, Julie Miller, and a few others) agrees that course cutting is wrong, whether one is an elite or back of the pack (though Jean's Marines would disagree with that last point).  But there seems to be a sliding scale in other places.

It's generally agreed to be BAD for an elite athlete to be taking EPO or meldonium (both banned). But arguably OK for an runner to take DHEA, or testosterone, or human growth hormone, or hormone replacement therapy, or any other banned substance prescribed to combat "low T" or hot flashes or menopause or inflammation or fatigue or osteoporosis or lack of sex drive or just-not-feeling-like-a-20-year-old-anymore.

After all, those medications just return us to a normal place, right?  If asthma and thyroid medications are allowed, then these drugs, which are also prescribed to make someone "normal" again should be fine too, right?  Especially for slower people.  Or older people.   It's not like we're elites?  And it's not like these medications make us superhuman?  And it's really unfair to expect someone to have to choose between treating her osteoporosis and competing, right?  There's gotta be a line somewhere.

It's generally agreed to be BAD for someone to give their bib to someone else to run Boston.  But somehow OK to sell a bib for another race that prohibits transfers.  And if you're worried about the results being screwed up, just remove the chip from the bib right?  Or give it to someone who is very slow.  That should be fine, right?   If you didn't have to qualify for the race, and if you're not affecting the results, then what's the big deal?  There's got to be a line somewhere.

So, in each of these cases, where should the runner draw "the line"?

Easy.  It is not our place as competitors to draw the line.  The line is drawn by others.  By the person who lays out the course.  By the race management, which determines when and how bibs can be transferred.  By WADA, which determines what medications are allowed, and which are not.  

The definition of competition is that we measure ourselves against each other on the same field. Under the same rules.  And those rules apply evenly to all, regardless of one's chance of winning the competition.

We're certainly entitled to our opinions on the rules - to think that a course should be routed differently, or that bib transfers should be allowed, or that a small dose of something prescribed by our doctor that makes us feel better and really doesn't help us run faster should be allowed.  But, as runners, it's not our job to decide what rules do or don't apply to us.  It IS our job to know and follow those rules.

• To run the prescribed course, no matter how long it takes us.  No matter how much we want to impress our friends.
• To know that it's not OK to let someone else run unofficially with your bib, even if it won't affect any awards, or even show in the results.  
• To look up any medication that you are prescribed, to see whether it's permitted, and to refuse to race while on it if it is banned.  Even if you don't consider yourself "fast."  Even if it was prescribed for a specific medical condition.  Even if it's a very small dose.  Even if it just helps you feel like "your old self" again.

As runners of all levels, we contribute to the corruption of our sport if we refuse to adhere to the rules that we expect the elites to follow.  Ethics shouldn't be top heavy.  Or hinge on whether a win is at stake. 

It's our job to compete.  And that should be enough.

Training log - Week ending 4/3/16

This week was 44 miles of running, 6 "miles" of pool-running and 2000 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

This week was most notable for the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, which I will hereinafter refer to as the Cherry Blast.    That's already been discussed in the separate race report, so I don't need to dedicate pixels here.

Other than the race, the week was pretty low key.  Since I'm out of shape and have been low mileage for the past several weeks, my taper looked slightly different than normal.  Tuesday-Thursday were normal mileage (though what is currently "normal" for me is equivalent to what "taper" used to be), and then I did a sharp cut-off on Friday and Saturday.

My allergies were also notable this week.  I didn't feel great on Tuesday - not horrible, but not stellar. Part of that could be that I'm just getting back into shape, but part of it also had to be the pollen count, which was very high.  Though I don't generally run very well on antihistamines, I decided to try some Claritin during my pre-race "mile pick-up" on Friday.  That run went very well, and I gave credit to the Claritin.  However, the meh feeling returned for Sunday's run.  Looking at the chart below, I think the relatively low pollen count on Friday was why I felt so much more energetic on that day, as compared to Tuesday or Sunday.

I am annoyed, though.  Historically my spring allergies have involved congestion, watery eyes, and sneezing, but I can actually run fairly well through them. It's the fall allergies that clog my fuel injector.  But this spring it's the reverse.  Maybe I'll get lucky and fall allergies won't be as bad?

In the meantime, I'll stay on the Claritin - it does seem to help a bit, in that I felt slightly better on Sunday, as compared to Tuesday.  Depending on my recovery from Cherry Blast, I may (which means probably) race Monument Avenue 10K this coming Saturday.  I'm a bit wistful, as I had registered for both Monument Avenue and Cherry Blossom as PR attempts, rather than racing-myself-into-shape runs.  But so it goes.  And at least the 7 day forecast predicts lower pollen this coming weekend (as well as less wind).

Dailies

Monday:   Yoga and 6 "miles" of pool-running; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  10.5 miles, including a workout of 2x1600, 2x800 (6:17, 6:13, 3:02, 3:00, followed by  1000 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Wednesday: 6 miles very easy (9:05 pace) followed by drills, two hill sprints, and a yoga class.   Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday:   8 miles easy (8:50) followed by drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  4.5 miles, including a "mile pick-up" in 6:14.    Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  Off - nothing but foam rolling.

Sunday:  14 miles, including a ~3 mile warm-up, a 10 mile race in 68:32, and a mile-ish cooldown.  1000 yards of recovery swimming and foam rolling in the evening.

Race report: Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, April 3, 2016

I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler today, finishing in a time of 68:32.

Getting to race morning wasn't without incident.  There was a glitch apparently in my registration, and I wasn't issued a bib number at first (I'm still not quite sure what happened).  Fortunately Cherry Blossom, being a very well managed race, had a great team at the solutions desk that fixed the issue.

The race day forecast wasn't looking great, though.

Heh - the instructions to runners remind me of how
the local club DJs used to close things down at the end of the night:
"you don't have to go home, but you CAN'T STAY HERE."

The clothing debate was real.  In an online discussion, when I wondered what I should wear, my coach advised trying a parasail.  Which had some appeal, but would only probably help about half the time.  I decided to postpone the decision until morning.

***

Around 10 pm Saturday night, the winds kicked in, and they were impressive.  I was awakened by a loud shearing noise that ended up being a downspout extension shfted by the wind.  And trees were swaying madly.

When morning came, I dressed in shorts and singlet, did my normal pre-race breakfast/stretching, and then left the house a bit earlier than normal.  I had packed my tights and longsleeve with me - based on how I felt on the way to the race, I'd preserve the option of switching.

Heavily encumbered with everything I *might* possibly need I stepped outside.  And our cat, Izzy, took this opportunity to escape as well.  She wears a collar with a bell on it to prevent this, but she's pretty smart, and has gotten better at figuring out how to move silently with the bell.

Lovely, huh?

This was the absolute last thing I wanted to deal with on race morning, but I didn't have a choice.  Cat  trumps running.  So I spent the next five minutes wrangling Izzy through thorny bushes. This resulted in Barkley Marathon-esque legs for me, but no cat.

Finally, even though she had just had breakfast, I grabbed another can of cat food and opened it up outside, and then placed her bowl just inside the house, propping the door open.  That did the job, freeing me to leave.

(and yes, Brian slept through the whole thing)

***

Izzy's face when I lectured her later.

When I got to the race, I jogged around some in my singlet and shorts, with my heavy throwaways on top.  I felt absolutely comfortable jogging in a heavy sweatshirt and pants, which led me to conclude that singlet and shorts might be too little.  It's a hard choice - on the one hand, I hate overheating, and I also find that tights and a longsleeve take me out of my racing mindset, if that makes sense.  On the other hand, the heavy gusting winds were resulting in a wind chill in the 20s, and I've also noticed in the past year that I no longer handle being cold as well as I previously did.

Finally, I went with tights and longsleeve.  I pinned my bib to my tights, and wore my singlet under the longsleeve.  That way, if I really overheated, I could just take off my longsleeve and toss it to a friend or tie around my waist.

***

I did my normal warm-up (3 miles, including a bit of uptempo running) and then loaded into my corral.  Due to the high winds, nearly all of the signs had been taken down, and so I misjudged the corrals and seeded myself far back from where I should have been.  I always like to seed myself back a bit (unless gun time is important) since I like to go out slow.  But this was too far back.

As it turned out, though, it was a blessing in disguise.  I really believe that, in large races like this, the further back you are, pace-wise, the more protected you are from the wind and the less it affects you. The first mile was into the wind, but being seeded so far back meant that I could hopscotch from runner to runner, and the wind was nearly a non-issue.  Actually I ran much of the race like that - finding a windblock whenever the wind hit hard, and then moving off to my own when we had a tailwind.

***

Due to the winds, the race had no mile markers.  Fortunately, since I run with my watchface blanked and ignore mile splits, this wasn't an issue.  I could see how it could be disconcerting for others, though.    I just tried to run my normal race, with a steadily building effort, knowing that the conditions would make some miles faster, and some slower.

Around the halfway point, I did start feeling a bit warmer than I would like.  I wasn't so uncomfortable that it was necessary to take the longsleeve off, though.  And in retrospect, I'm not sure that I would have done any better with a singlet and shorts.

After around the 10K mark (I think) we turned onto Hains Point and had a lovely tailwind.  It was tempting to really start driving here, but I decided to save energy for the return trip into the headwind.  This was a good idea, as the headwind was really tough for the last 2 miles.  Normally I close pretty well in ten mile races, but this time there was no real opportunity to do so.  I found myself repeatedly tucking in behind people who felt like they were running a bit slow for me.  But at the same time, if I shifted to the side to pass, I got pounded by the wind and worked harder just to run the same pace.  So I settled in.

Finally, we came to the one hill on course.  I like to attack this hill, and then let the downhill carry me to the finish line.   But this year that hill, and the following downhill, were directly into the wind.  I attacked and went into heavy oxygen debt, but I'm not sure I gained any time doing so, and the downhill to the finish line was survival, rather than a banana slide.

I ended up running 68:32.  3 minutes off of my PR from a few years back, but I'll take it.  That PR was set in perfect weather when I was in really good shape.  Given today's weather, and where I am fitness-wise, this was a decent race.  Plus ten mile races do good things for me, so I should be reaping the benefits from today in about a week.

Splits per my autolapped Garmin were:
Mile 1: 7:00
Mile 2: 6:51
Mile 3: 6:46
Mile 4: 6:32
Mile 5: 6:45
Mile 6: 6:49
Mile 7: 6:47
Mile 8: 6:39
Mile 9: 6:56
Mile 10: 7:00
extra .09 - 0:29 seconds

The Garmin measured long of course - part because the signal gets screwed up under the Kennedy center (I don't think I ran the fourth mile in 6:32 today) and part because there was a lot of moving around to find windcover.

My official splits from the website:
5 mile: 34:17
10K: 42:38
9 mile: 1:01:39
last mile: 6:53

Other points:

• Official weather report from Weather Underground: temp 36, DP 17.  I heard the wind reported as sustained 15-20 with gusts to 40-50.
• The pollen count was ridiculously high today - 10.7.  I took a low dose of Claritin, which helped some, but the pollen was still a factor.  I didn't feel terribly sharp this morning. As for my breathing, it was OK but never great, and it was pretty hard to catch my breath post-race.  (Used Dulera pre-race and albuterol rescue inhaler right before race).
• I decided to break my own rule and not carry a water bottle - in this type of wind, it was just one more thing to catch the wind.  Plus it was so cool and dry that a water bottle wasn't essential.
• Took half of a strawberry kiwi rocktane halfway through.  One Caramel Machiatto GU pre-race (yum)
• Last night's wind storms resulted in tree branches strewn at various places along the race course that had to be dodged (or tripped over - did that too) - an unusual risk for a major road race.
• The race management and volunteers should get a big thumbs up for working very hard in difficult conditions.
• Got to meet up with some friends from the Runners World Online Forum post-race for breakfast.  Scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes were just perfect post race.

Training log - Week ending 3/27/2016

This week was 60 miles of running, 6 "miles" of pool-running and 5000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.

Cross my fingers, I think I've kicked this viral thing.  I ran 60 miles this week - a considerable increase from the 6 miles I ran last week.  (I just took the "10% weekly increase" rule and inverted it....).   I started the week off tentatively, with a careful track workout on Tuesday (and a non-running day after, to be super careful).  But by the weekend, I was fine.

Which doesn't mean I feel great, of course.  I've unfortunately lost some fitness, which is a shame, since the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler is coming up next weekend.  But there's nothing that I can do or could have done about that - you can't play catch-up with fitness, and I'm sure that if I hadn't taken the down time, I'd feel a lot worse now.  I've got the Broad Street 10 Miler in a month - hopefully I'll be in better shape for that.

In other news, I registered for the Chicago Marathon this fall.  Yes, I still hate marathons.  But apparently I don't know when to say when.

Why Chicago?  Well...

Pros:

• Flat and fast course
• Very well organized race
• Easy logistics (direct, relatively short flight and hotels near the start/finish)
• Several friends are running it
• Chicago normally allocates entry via lottery, but they are allowing guaranteed entry to "time qualifiers" this year (they're ending guaranteed entry after this year).

Cons:

• I have to run a marathon
• I have to train for a marathon, in August, in DC
• Race day could be hot
• Early fall is very bad for me, allergy-wise (though hopefully Chicago will be better than DC)
• I have to miss the Army 10 Miler, since it's on the same day
• I probably have to miss the Richmond Half-marathon in November, since it's 6 weeks post-Chicago, which is a quick turnaround
• We're redoing our kitchen, with the construction happening in July and August.  It's gonna be hard to train for a marathon (and to fuel marathon training) if I don't have a kitchen when the hard training starts.
• I have to run a marathon

After considering all this, I decided to register and get a hotel.  Which doesn't mean I have to run the race.  But let's face it, I probably will.

And the whole training cycle, I'm gonna have this scene stuck in my head.

(The Untouchables - Connery, Costner, De Niro.  Fantastic movie - I can't believe it's nearly 30 years old)

Dailies

Monday:   7.5 miles very easy (9:17) plus drills, followed by upper body weights.  Foam rolled in the evening.

Tuesday: 9 miles, including a track workout of 2x(1200,800,400) - split 4:48, 3:02, 1:30, 4:42, 3:03, 1:25.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1000 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: a yoga class followed by 6 "miles" pool-running.  Sports massage at night.

Thursday:   5 miles easy (9:19 pace) to yoga, and then a yoga class.  Followed with 3.5 miles easy (8:35) plus drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.  

Friday:  10 miles, including a 5K tempo on the track in 20:51 (split 13:20, 6:45, 46 seconds - hot, humid, windy, sucked).  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards recovery swimming.  Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  11 miles easy (8:13) followed by drills and two strides, and then upper body and core strengthwork.  Foam rolling in the evening.

Sunday:  14 miles progressive, split as the first 2 miles at 9:24 pace, next 5 at 8:31, next 2 at 7:49; last 5 at 6:57.  Followed with injury prevention work and 1500 yards recovery swimming in the afternoon. Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 3/20/16

This week was 6 miles of running, 19 "miles" of pool-running, and 4000 yards of swimming;  -- training log is here.

This week looks a whole lot like a normal first week post-marathon.  Which is appropriate, since last week's half-marathon felt a whole lot like a marathon.

After that race, my coach had asked me to take some time off.  The fact that I didn't want to argue with him for even a second over this was a pretty strong indication that I really needed the rest.   For much of this week, I was really tired, and didn't mind the lack of activity at all.  I just slept a lot, ate a lot, tried to minimize the work stress, and pool-ran a little bit.

I did manage to get into the doctor for a physical exam and bloodwork - the physical exam found a white patch on the back of my throat, but fortunately all the tests came back negative for mono, strep, etc.   The conclusion was that I have some random persistent virus, just like umpteen other people each year.  And the remedy is traditional (if unfulfilling) - fluids and rest until I feel better. 

As for that whole yellow skin after last week's race thing?  There's no indication of either any liver issues (very good news) or that oh-so-cool Gilbert's syndrome.  The explanation is simple - I raced a half-marathon when I was still recovering from this virus, and my body's response was to wave a yellow flag of "hey dummy - this was not a good idea."

[in my defense, I honestly thought I had kicked the bug pre-race.  Plus I was pretty sick right before the 3M half, and that still went well.  Being sick before a race doesn't always mean that you'll run a bad one.  Some of my best races, including 3M, have been preceded by a bad headcold a few days before.  But I guess that's also the difference between a head cold and a virus.]

Friday morning was the first day I started missing running/physical activity.  I ramped things up slightly by adding some yoga/easy swimming to the mix, and then tried an easy run on Saturday.  I didn't feel great on Saturday, but I don't know how much of that is an indication of still being weak, versus being stale and stiff from doing almost nothing for a week.  I didn't feel any worse on Sunday morning, though, which is a good sign.  If I'd overdone it, I'd expect to feel lousy the next day.

I kept Sunday in the pool just to give the legs a bit more rest - they felt very stiff and heavy on Saturday.  But I was very cranky and annoyed about not running (trust me - this is a good sign).  Tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to run again - depending on how that goes, I may show up for the Tuesday morning workout and do something careful and restrained.

Dailies

Monday:   Off, except for some foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  5 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Wednesday: 6 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   5 "miles" easy pool-running.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  Yoga, 1500 yards of easy swimming, and 3 "miles" easy pool-running, plus some foam rolling.

Saturday:  6 miles aerobic (easy pace of 8:33, but didn't feel easy).  Followed with injury prevention work, yoga, and foam rolling.

Sunday:  2500 yards of swimming, including drills and some up tempo stuff. (500 yards of 75 easy/25 hard).  Foam rolling at night.

Training log - Week ending 3/13/16

This week was 35.5 miles of running and 7 "miles" of pool-running  -- training log is here.

The headache I reported last week after my 10K blew up into a full fledged ick - I slept nine hours on Sunday night, and woke up exhausted.  Unfortunately, taking the day off from work wasn't an option, but I did skip my normal pool-running/yoga routine.  I felt lousy the next day also, and then a bit better each day after.  (sleeping a lot helped).

Since the week was bookended by a Sunday 10K and a Saturday half-marathon, I had already planned to skip both track workouts, and just do a mile pick-up a few days before the half.  But I ended up skipping that mile also, instead doing some strides and short hill sprints.  Feeling better and getting rid of the ick was more important than leg turnover.

By Friday morning, I felt OK, and Saturday morning pre-race I felt ready to run.  However, that good feeling didn't last, and I ran out of gas again during the race, struggling in the last few miles. Not only was I slogging in those last miles, I'm told that my skin was also very yellow during the last mile of the half and immediately post-race.  I often get pale and light-headed in the finishing corral, but yellow is a new one.

My hunch is that this is nothing too serious.  It's just that I was still recovering from my bug when I ran the half, and my performance reflected this. 

As for the yellow skin color, I spoke to my doctor dad after, and learned something new.  Dad apparently has a harmless condition called Gilbert's Syndrome (pronounced Zhil-bear, not Gilbert) with a single symptom - when his body is under too much stress, he develops jaundice.  Gilbert's Syndrome is genetic and hereditary, so it wouldn't be terribly surprising to learn I have it also (though it is surprising I wouldn't have discovered it earlier).

But I know enough not to self-diagnose via Google or Web MD or doctor dad, so I'm going to try to see my primary care doctor this week.  As for feeling crappy, my coach told me to take several days of very low activity - a bit of easy pool-running is OK, but no running or hard exertion (which to me includes lifting, swimming, and power yoga).  I wasn't at all upset by this instruction, and had absolutely no urge to argue.  And that's a strong indication that I'm likely still a bit sick :).

Dailies

Monday:   Felt crappy. Off, except for some foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  3 miles easy to yoga (8:56), yoga (childs-posed half of it), 3 miles easy (8:45) home.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Brian and myself,
9 years ago

Wednesday: 7 miles easy (8:59 pace) and drills.  Foam rolling at night.

Thursday:   7 miles easy (9:05) followed by drills, strides, hill sprints.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  3.5 "miles" very easy pool-running, plus some foam rolling.

Saturday:  2.5 mile warm-up, and then half-marathon in 1:30:52.  9 year anniversary dinner at night. :)

Sunday:  3.5 "miles" very easy pool-running, plus a massage.

Race Report: RNR DC Half Marathon, March 12, 2016

I ran the Rock N Roll DC Half Marathon this morning, finishing in a time of 1:30:52.

This is slower than I had expected to run (I had guestimated 1:27 ish on a good day, 1:29 ish on a bad day), but I'm at peace with it.  I gave everything I had to give today; I just didn't have a faster race in me. 

***

Rock and Roll DC used to be known as the "National Marathon/Half" about 10 years ago.  In fact, I ran it as my first and second half-marathon.  The National Half was a race with a lot of potential, and also a lot of mismanagement (misplaced mile markers, water cups that shattered when you grabbed them, etc).  When Competitor purchased it a few years back, the quality of the race dramatically increased (as did the price).

The last time I ran this race, 4 years ago, they still ran the former course, which included a decent climb over about a mile and a half, running up Connecticut Avenue.  In the time since then, they revised the course, shifting that part to nearby Rock Creek Parkway and Calvert Street.  This meant that the same elevation gain that occurred over 1.5 miles before was now condensed into a bit more than a quarter mile in the middle of the race  A very painful quarter mile at a 6.5% incline.  So I knew that would suck.  But otherwise, I thought the course might be a good one for me, given the rolling downhill nature of the second half, reminiscent of the 3M half.

So my race plan was to run the first 6 miles of the half like a normal half, then turn race mode OFF for the hill.  I'd try to get up the hill with as little energy expenditure as possible, including power walking if appropriate, and then turn race mode back ON at the top.  From there, I'd let the rolling downhills work for me, making up any time I had lost going up the hill.

***

The race starts in downtown DC, at 14th and Constitution Avenue.  We were encouraged to use Metro and get off at the Federal Triangle station.  I partially followed that advice.   I've learned that when metroing to DC races, it's always best to get off a station early and walk the rest of the way - it's faster than spending 20+ minutes with the masses exiting at the specified station.  So I got off one stop early at Metro Center, and walked the quarter mile downhill, stopping at a 24 hour CVS on the way to buy a banana (I was still a bit hungry after breakfast).  As it turned out, when I got to the race start, they had a tent with free bananas, so that was 99 cents wasted.  At least it was a damn good banana.

Bag check, then 2.5 miles of mostly easy running, plus some drills and 2 minutes of running at half-marathon effort, and I got into my corral.  Nicely, the corrals didn't close until right before race start.  The weather was close to ideal - overcast and in the 50s.  Maybe ever so slightly warm for my tastes, but that's just nit-picking.  Said hi to some friends, listened to the National Anthem, and we were off.

***

Per my plan, I kept the first mile very conservative, and then slowly started building.  While I rarely feel great at the start of a race, I didn't feel too bad here.  I just worked on finding a rhythm and then holding that rhythm while gently increasing pace, but also staying relaxed.  And yes, that's a mouthful.

For the first 6 miles I felt good.  And then we hit the hill.  Pursuant to my plan, I did a combination of jogging and power walking to get up it, channeling my inner ultrarunner  (based on the reading I've done, most ultrarunners believe that steep hills are best tackled by power walking, rather than running).  My reasoning was that attacking this hill would only run up oxygen debt and fry my legs - I was better off conserving energy to spend later on downhill sections. When I got to the top, I picked up the pace again, trying to pick off those who had passed me on the hill.

I think this is the one mistake I made - getting too aggressive right after the hill, especially since we still had some rolling hills ahead of us, with decent climbs.  It would have been much smarter to ease my way back, and chase down people over a few miles.

At this point, I also tried to take a gel, but for some reason I wasn't tolerating it well.  Since I don't consider gels absolutely necessary for a half, I decided not to worry about it too much.

Around mile 9 or so, the course has a long downhill stretch.  The last time I ran this race, I was able to fly and really make up time.  This year, however, my legs weren't responding as well.  And when the descent ended, so did my battery.  I was out of gas.  This was unfortunate, as I still had 2+ miles to go, including another decent climb in mile 11.

Determined not to mentally give in like I did last week, I kept one foot in front of the other.  It felt exactly like the last miles of a marathon (which wasn't what I intended on experiencing when I signed up for a half-marathon).  But I kept plugging.  Then down another hill (which didn't feel much easier) and then the final painful climb to the finish.   And I felt horrible after I finished.

***

Splits were:
Mile 1: 7:08
Mile 2: 6:41
Mile 3: 6:48
Mile 4: 6:41
Mile 5: 6:53
Mile 6: 6:53
Mile 7: 7:47 (power walking)
Mile 8: 6:53
Mile 9: 6:54
Mile 10: 6:35 (nice downhill stretch)
Mile 11: 6:54
Mile 12: 7:15 (uphill, sucked)
Mile 13: 6:45
last bit: 44 seconds.

***

As for why I ran out of gas?  I was sick earlier this week, with fatigue and an elevated heart rate.  I felt better by Friday, and my resting heart rate was back to normal, but my hunch is that I might not have completely kicked it.  Or alternately I might just still be a bit short on reserves from being sick.  I don't think it's a overtraining issue, simply because I've been pretty restrained the last few weeks.  I also don't think it's an undertraining issue, simply because my training was still adequate.

Or maybe it was just a bad day.    They happen too.  For whatever reason, I just didn't have my A Game today.

Regardless of the reason for the lack of A Game, my coach and I agreed to stop the running for a few days - I'll do some easy pool-running, but no real exertion.  Then we'll see where we are.  Something's clearly going on, and shutting things down can't hurt.

Other notes:

• Left my house at 5:55 am to get on the metro.  This got me to the race around 6:30, which was the perfect amount of time to buy a banana (and eat it), check my bag, pee (twice), warm-up, and get in the corral.
• Asthma meds were Dulera in the morning, and a pre-race puff of albuterol.  Breathing was fine.
• Temps were in the low to mid 50s, with overcast skies.  Pretty good weather.
• Ran with a handheld water bottle, which I tossed at 10.5.  
• Took a Vanilla Bean GU pre-start.  This only has half the caffeine of my preferred pre-race GU, but since my heart rate's been elevated recently, I thought it made sense to back off.  Tried to take a Maple Bacon GU halfway through, but it wouldn't go down.
• My heart rate was really jacked up for this race.  A few weeks back, I was commenting about how couldn't get it out of tempo range during a 5K.  Opposite issue today - my heart rate today for the last two miles matched what I normally see during mile repeats on the track (which explains why the last two miles sucked so much).  My best guess is, again, that I'm still fighting off whatever bug I had or have.
• I saw the weirdest thing at the race expo this week.  A booth where people could have blood drawn to be tested for various things.  And people with gear bags and numbers (implying that they were racing this weekend) were sitting down and having blood drawn.  W.T.F. point 1: why the heck would you let a random stranger in a non-lab setting jab a needle into your arm?  It just screams sketchy.  W.T.F. point 2: why would you let someone take blood from you right before your half or full marathon?
  One of the booth people tried to recruit me; it took a lot of self-restraint not to pronounce in a way too loud voice "you have got to be f-ing kidding me.  Hell no!"

Training log - Week ending 3/6/2016

This week was 45 miles of running, 5 "miles" of pool-running and 1200 yards of swimming  -- training log is here.

This is going to be a short weekly write-up, as I have work to do and a bad headache to nurse.  I cut back my mileage pretty heavily this week, and will for the next few.   I didn't have a great race, but I don't think that points to any issue with the taper (and I suspect the bad headache is more the result of the bad race than the cause). Sometimes shit just happens.

The cutback week did lead to this entertaining exchange on Saturday morning.

• Me: "honey, I'm going running.  Back in about 30 minutes"
• Brian: "Wait a minute - you're going running, but only for 30 minutes?  What's the point?  Why bother, if you're only running 30 minutes?"

Clearly, I've trained him well.

In other news, I'm registered to run the RNR USA Half next weekend.  After today's sucky experience, I briefly considered skipping it.  But I don't think that makes sense for me.  I really need to get back on the horse, so to speak.  Plus I have an established history of just racing better and better when I race quite a bit, and do little in between.

I made mistakes in this race, including overreaching slightly, and also just not.having.fun.  I can use RNR USA as a chance to work on running fast but relaxed, and having fun, rather than worrying about the final time.

I don't mean for the above to come across as "well, I'm not really racing RNR USA".  I dislike it when people sandbag before races: "well...you know I'm not really going to race this one" (unless you are truly planning on running it as a marathon pace workout or something similar, or jogging it in a costume).  Statements like that are self-sabotaging - they protect your ego in the short term, but also prevent you from reaching your potential, and harm you in the long term.

But for me, "running fast but relaxed, and having fun" is a racing strategy, and usually leads to my best times.   Heck, it worked well at 3M, where I was so happy just to make it to the starting line that I had no worries about how fast I ran.  So, I need to revisit that skill.

Dailies

Monday:   5 "miles" of pool-runnng, followed by yoga; foam rolling at night.

Tuesday:  11 miles, including a workout of 1600, 4x800 (6:14, 2:59, 2:58, 2:57, 2:55), followed by  1200 yards easy swimming.  Foam rolling in afternoon.

Wednesday: 3 miles very easy (9:27 pace) followed by a yoga class. Later, another 5 miles easy (9:04).  Sports massage in afternoon.

Thursday:   6 miles easy (8:52) followed by drills and two strides.  Foam rolling at night.

Friday:  7 miles, including a "mile pick-up" in 6:17, plus six hill sprints.    Foam rolling at night.

Saturday:  3 miles easy (8:47) plus drills.  Foam rolling at night.

Sunday:  10 miles, including a ~3 mile warm-up, a 10K race in 41:00, and a half mile cooldown.  Felt horrible, with a bad headache, so skipped recovery swimming for a hot shower.   Foam rolling at night.

Race report: St. Patricks Day 10K, March 6, 2016

I ran the St. Patricks Day 10K today, finishing in a time of 41:00 flat.  That's about a minute slower than I had hoped to run, so oh well.

I'm been absolutely slammed with work this week (and very stressful work to boot), which is a blessing in that it deprives me of the time needed to analyze this race to death :).

Do I think the crazy workweek contributed?  It's hard to tell.  On the one hand, life stress mimics training stress, and so a race taper can be undone by outside circumstances.  On the other hand, I've run plenty of great races and PRs after horrible stressful weeks, enough to establish that a bad week is not a sure sign of doom.

As for what happened?  Not sure.  We had great weather and a fast course, and I started conservatively.  But I just ran out of gas physically, and then faltered mentally.  Including a brief patch of walking around mile 5.  I'm not proud of that, but I'm not going to hide it.

Though I run watchless, by feel, I do think I still "cheated" a bit here, in that I didn't stick to my "90-95%" effort rule early on.  Instead I was a bit too impatient early in the race, and overreached some around miles 2-3, which set me up for a bad patch later.

So, I live and I learn.  And hope to catch up on sleep this week.

Splits:
Mile 1: 6:29
Mile 2: 6:31
Mile 3: 6:30
Mile 4: 6:29
Mile 5: 7:00
Mile 6: 6:42
Last bit : 1:18 (downhill kick)

Other notes:

• My team won both the male and female overall team titles, which was nice.  And I was one of the scorers for my team, which means I get a check for this race.  Yay.
• Also got the age group win and top masters, so (as Brian noted) the day really wasn't as horrible as I make it sound.  There are times when I'm just a teenager with a quarter-century's experience.
• Used Dulera for my asthma med in the morning - breathing was fantastic.  
• Also took my pre-race caramel Machiato GU - delicious plus a caffeine burst. Racing is the only time I use caffeine, and I think I need to learn to be careful, since it affects my perception of how easy the first miles of a race are. 
• I'd posted previously about my frustrations in not being able to get my heart rate up - it was basically stuck at the same max HR, in the low 170s, for both intervals and tempos, for both 5Ks and half marathons?  Well...that wasn't the issue today, as it peaked at 185 today, with a fair amount of time over 180.  Of course, that may also explain some of the mental issue today - I'm just not used to that level of aerobic effort, since I haven't hit it in so long.