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February 24, 2008

Slowness!

First things first, congrats to Corrado for a speedy PR in the half! I have a good feeling that 2008 is going to be a year that witnesses a round of PRs from the running-blogs community, and from Salty, Audrey, Tuscaloosa Runner, and Mindi!

Not surprisingly, this has been a laid-back and lazy week. When I woke up on Monday morning, my quads were quivering in pain and my body as a whole was on the verge of anarchy. The pain felt more congruent to a marathon effort than a simple rolling half. But, alas, I was in the trenches and I was fairly miserable. I took Monday off and attempted to catch up on all of my neglected work responsibilities!

On Tuesday, I ran a very easy 6 miles. I thought about running more than that, but it seemed pointless. As soon as "real" training starts March 1, I will put on my tough hat and suck it up. But, for now, I am enjoying my down time :) I ran 8 miles on Wednesday morning with my sister, Colleen . . . I should add that we ran 8 miles on an indoor track! Our run flushed out my legs enough that I hopped on the treadmill after work and tossed in another 4 miles. I rarely double, but the inspiration struck and I was bored so I went after it. I took Thursday off for no particular reason, other than pure laziness.

I ran an easy 5 miles on Friday, and then Saturday marked the rebirth of our training group! It was so awesome to run with H. and friends again after a tough winter of sub zero temperatures and a blustery mix of ice and snow. The temperature was only 24 degrees, but it felt like a heat wave! Since it was our first group workout in a loooooong time, H. took it easy on us. He mapped out a half mile loop that included 2 hills and a .27 jogging/recovery path back to the start. So instead of taking a rest between intervals, we ran a quarter mile.

My friend, Tim, and I hung together and did the workout: 6 x 800. I suspect that we messed up the finish line and hit our watches too early; our times were too fast for this time in the season. Nevertheless, we clocked the following splits: 2:48, 2:50, 2:49, 2:45, 2:49, 2:55 (tired quads!). In my head, I am adding about 4-5 seconds to each of those splits.

After that workout, my twin sister and I headed to the indoor track to roll another 5 . . . and because I was deeply suspicious of my times from the morning workout, I decided to rip the last mile at a good effort. I hit the 800 in 2:45 and freaked out. I finished in 5:37 (that's actually a mile PR for me!). That was mile 14 for the day.

It's 1:40 PM in Chicago and I have yet to spin the wheels. I went to bed with the goal of running 15 miles this morning, but I woke up with a super sore throat and one of those "out of it" feelings. So I went back to bed for an hour, then I got up and cleaned the kitchen and took a little road trip to Target. I am feeling 70% better so I might run in 20 or so minutes. It would be nice to finish the week with a 10-12 miler. We'll see.

Oh - by the way - my students would certainly reprimand me for titling this blog "slowness." We had a little chat about nominalizations on Thursday and I confessed that I sprinkle a few too many into my own writing ;) Teaching has been a challenge this semester since more than 2/3 of my students are second language learners and I am not certified to teach English as a second, third, or fourth language! I worry that I am learning more from them than they are learning from me . . . hopefully the learning equation will balance out as the semester walks on.

Posted by bridget at 1:21 PM | Comments (6)

February 23, 2008

Good Luck . . .

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR HALF, CORRADO!!

I had a fun workout today, but, for now, I will send all of my positive energy and karma Corrado's way . . . I will write more tomorrow.

Happy running and racing!

Posted by bridget at 5:49 PM | Comments (1)

February 18, 2008

Race Report: Austin Half Marathon

It's no secret that I have been severely lacking in the motivation arena lately, and as the race drew nearer, I was overwhelmed with regret. I did not want to run it - I was terrified of humiliating myself and of wasting a lot of money on a frustrating trip. There were certainly elements of good, bad, and ugly involved in this endeavor, but at the end of the day, things looked pretty good.

Heading into this race I would categorize my training as less than ideal - far less than ideal. When I ran my then PR at Grandma's last June (1:23:28), I had been throwing together 13 and 15 miler back to back days on the weekends; I had been doing two solid workouts a week; I had been running consistent 50+ miles per week; I had been sticking religiously to H's prescribed schedule. I was confident when I toed the line. The race will run itself, I told myself. The miles were in the bank.

This time around was drastically different. Since October 7, I have completed two longs runs - a 16.5 miler and a 15 miler. I have been doing workouts when the inspiration strikes; I have been taking up to two days off per week; I have been wandering in the desert without a running schedule (H. refuses to give me a new one at this point; he's a big believer in patience and recovery); and I am carrying an extra 4 - 5 pounds of "baggage." Needless to say, I toed the line with a gymnastics team of butterflies flip-flopping in my stomach. I had absolutely no confidence.

(All "splits" below are from memory . . . I never take splits during races . . . I check my watch and simply do the math)

But then the gun went off and I had no choice but to put my head down and run. I tucked into a pack of women shooting for the Olympic Trials Standard; the half and the full did not split until the 10 mile mark. My first two miles were a pair of 6:22s up a pair of hills. The pace - to my surprise - felt easy. Heading into mile 3, I found myself running in between two groups of women trying to qualify. I hit the three mile mark in 18:57 and then the next two miles we coasted up and down with one (the ONLY one) nice downhill. I picked up the pace and let gravity do its job. I hit 5 in 30:40. I hit 6 in 36:54 and proceeded to have my first "oh sh*t" moment. My legs - from a lack of hill training and a lack of long runs - were starting to feel the burn.

I did a quick gut check and I told myself that I had to hang in there until mile 9 . . . that is when I expected the course to start rolling downward. Little did I know that I was completely deluding myself (the website did say miles 9-13 were "downhill," but anyone who actually gutted it out knows otherwise . . . I thought the hills from miles 9-13 were far more unforgiving than the hills from miles 1-9!). I coasted up another hill and hit mile 7 around 43:29. Trotted up another hill to 8 in 49:56. I never saw the 9 mile marker, but I hit 10 in 1:03:00 (my splits were all over the place).

I was starting to feel the fire again - I was ready to slip under 1:23 (with room to spare!).

But then I hit Mount Everest at miles 10-11 and that was the deciding factor in my race . . . a kiss of death to my sub 1:23 . . . I crawled (seriously, I CRAWLED) up the hill. The spectators actually felt bad for me! It was so awful that I am not going to relive the 42 crucial seconds that I lost here. I ran my slowest mile of the race . . . 7:00. I hit mile 11 in 1:10 :( I tried extremely hard to recover my legs, but they were out of steam. I did hit mile 12 in 1:16:05 . . . only to be greeted by yet another HILL.

I never saw mile 13 . . . but I staggered home in 1:23:17.

Instead of rehashing what was bad and ugly about this race, I am going to focus on the good :) I opened last season with a 1:27 half in March and followed it up with a 31:16 8K. I didn't want to let the year 2007 go because it was a good year, but I am finally ready to face 2008 with a renewed energy.

So now I am opening the year with a 1:23 half on the strength that I gained last year . . . I cannot wait to gradually build my mileage into the 60s and maybe - just maybe - hit some consistent 70+ mile weeks. It's been a slow progression, in terms of mileage, and a giant leap, in terms of race times.

H. spun it like this to me: when he met me in November 2006, he had to teach me to crawl again before I could walk. From his perspective, I learned to walk in 2007. Now it's time to run.

Posted by bridget at 3:57 PM | Comments (8)

February 17, 2008

Austin Half Marathon

Finished as the 2nd woman overall. 1:23:17 (6:21 pace).

More to come later . . . I have A LOT to reflect on!

Coming attractions: When it comes to climbing hills, this course makes Boston look like a warm-up . . . truly unbelievable!

Posted by bridget at 10:35 PM | Comments (5)