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October 29, 2006

Megan's theory

She thinks my slowdown may be attributable to nursing. I'm convinved that nursing *must* have some kind of effect on running, and eight months ago I was pretty sure that that effect would be that it would make you tire more easily, since you're expending energy to create energy for your little friend. But in practice this didn't seem to bear out. I did notice that I was hungry ALL THE TIME, but as I've mentioned before, I was running so well a few months ago, had no trouble stretching out my long runs, and was even able to push at the end of my long runs. I wasn't tired, and I was nursing even more frequently then than I am now. So it didn't really make sense.

What Megan pointed out, though, was that the last two races I've done have been longer than the ones I did this summer, and maybe nursing makes it harder to sustain a hard pace for a long time. It might not inhibit your speed over a short amount of time, but at some point your body is going to make sure your energy is used for more important tasks. I dunno. We both realize that there's probably research out there that addresses this dilemma (she's had a similar experience) but we prefer to speculate, thank you very much.

Another nursing/running link is the weight loss many people experience with nursing. Recently I got on the scale for the first time since my last doctor's appointment back in June, and I was at an age 19 weight. Even when I was running 80 miles per week I didn't weigh that little. Could be that I weighed even less late this summer, and now that I'm nursing less I'm getting back to a more regular weight. I'm really not that good at knowing how much I weigh unless my favorite pair of pants is too tight. And I intend to keep it that way.

So for all the people who expressed an interest in running after pregnancy I'd say this: expect anything. I thought I was prepared for anything, but I was really only prepared for a fast comeback or a slow comeback or an easy comeback or a hard one. Fast or slow, I always expected it to be linear. I never expected easy and THEN hard; to make fast progress and then regress.

As Corrado pointed out, though ... running is never a steady climb. I didn't just hit a landing though; I seem to have stumbled back a few steps. What is it Willie says, though? If we're backing up, it's just to get a running start?

I passed up a rare opportunity this morning to run a pretty flat 10K on a gorgeous cool, dry morning. Instead, I ran a very very nice 14 miles with great company and great weather. When I headed out the door I still didn't know whether I was going to drive to the race or drive to the trail. I still don't know why I chose the trail; most likely it's because I'm race gun-shy at the moment. I need to get over this ... I've got a hilly half marathon in two weeks!

Posted by jenandmats at 8:39 PM | Comments (3)

October 22, 2006

raison d'être

Something has happened this fall and I can't 'splain it. People whom I was running with (and sometimes in front of) during workouts and races this summer are now squarely kicking my ass.

I ran a 10-miler this morning on an unopened toll road. I thought it was pretty cool, aside from the complete lack of shelter from a 20mph cold, cold, wind. We even ran over a flyover, which wasn't nearly as tough as I'd thought it'd be.

I didn't salmon the thing, but I did run a well-executed race ... for someone whose goal is 7:22 pace: 8:05, 7:40, 7:33, 7:25, 7:23, 7:32 (had to double-back for some Powerade) 7:18, 7:06, 7:02, 6:12. I had a good time running it, and am very happy to have been able to pick up the pace throughout. The March/April me would have broken her arm to pat herself on the back for that race. The July/August me who was running so well, however, would have been completely disappointed. The October me, who is still recovering from blowing up so badly at the 10K, is still perplexed, but not as disappointed as I was after the 10K.

To illustrate my point, I'll crunch some numbers. From my time this morning, McMillan predicts a 21:04 5K, which I did this spring less than two months after returning to running after having a baby, on a warm muggy morning. I ran 45s faster than that on a hot night this summer. For 2 miles it predicts a 6:29 pace, but I did a 6:21 pace for 2.5 miles on a hot summer night early last month. Plus, McMillan generally predicts *faster* times for my shorter distances than I'm capable of running (it predicts a 5K time from my half-marathon time that's 45s faster than I've ever run.) I don't git it.

There is a perfectly logical explanation for it - I've been suffering from some crud for three weeks now. So we'll see what happens once I shake it.

If this all seems like one over-analyzed WAAAAH, well, it is, dammit. What else is a blog for?

Posted by jenandmats at 9:12 PM | Comments (3)

October 15, 2006

Catch-up

I have been feeling icky for two weeks now. Austin has been hard on me as far as allergies are concerned. I'm nearly positive that's what it is. Since I'm still nursing I'm pretty limited as to which medicines I'm willing to take, and last night I used a saline spray thing to try to clear out my sinuses. Oh lordy. Talk about adding insult to injury.

My running hasn't suffered too much since there's not much of it to suffer! I did do a workout on Tuesday of this week and wondered if I was doing the right thing. I felt pretty run down still, and you know it can't have been good for me to be out there gasping in all that pollen and ragweed and ... whatnot. We have a 10-mile race coming up next weekend (on an unopened toll road of all things!) and I think having been under the weather will help reinforce that my plan is to just go out and run hard. No expectations, just start easy and see what my body's willing to do ...

So ... have you heard the one about the Austin marathon? Y'know ... that blazing-fast course that brought Meghan and Leilani out here two years ago? Other than last year, we (Andy and I) have run slightly different versions of the same course for seven years. Even last year wasn't too much different than previous years. They have really changed it for this upcoming event. Rather than running a downhill point-to-point, we'll be running a loop course. Lemme just say that people who come here to run our marathon will better understand that Austin is in HILL COUNTRY. I'll run whatever marathon they throw at me, but if I decide to run a marathon for time, I'll be heading to Houston.

And in other news ... I hurt MG's feelings for the first time today. It was a horrible, horrible feeling. When I'm holding her and she gets excited about something she'll bury her head in my shoulder and BITE. When she did it this afternoon I gave her a loud and stern "no." I usually say "ow!" but this was much more stern. She startled, then stared at me with confused eyes and eyebrows raised for a moment and then buried her head again in my shoulder, only this time with a definite sad face. She didn't cry; it was almost like she didn't understand the emotion she was feeling, but she knew it wasn't good. I felt a little sick to my stomach to have upset her like that. Here's to naively hoping it's the last time I make her feel like that.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:45 PM

October 4, 2006

Salmoning

Me gusta mucho Corrado's idea of "salmoning" ... starting out at the back of a race pack and working your way through ... and it may be just what I need to get over the disaster of last weekend. But I'm pretty convinced that I have this type of running *down.* It's how I run my long runs, even. I love it.

Now, I realize that he wasn't advocating chasing a pr with this method, but I wonder if you could? Can you run your best race by starting out conservatively? Even in a 5K? Or are you always going to come up short? Right now, in my "burned fool" state of mind, I'm thinking that salmoning may be my best shot at running my best race. It certainly has proven to work in the past. I used to always race that way, but in recent years decided I was leaving too much out on the course by starting so slow. But dying is way too hard to deal with mentally; I think I may want to just stick with starting out at tippie-toe and finishing in full-on spaz mode.

ps - wouldn't *true* "salmoning" be starting at the finish line and running through the pack of runners to the start line?

Posted by jenandmats at 8:14 PM | Comments (3)

October 1, 2006

*Smite*

I consider myself fairly free of pride when it comes to running, but I found this morning that I must have had a fair amount of it because losing it seems to have really hurt. I have never been afraid of running a race out of shape and running a "bad" time. I've certainly been disappointed with race performances before, but can honestly say I've never been embarrassed by a performance. And I have blown up in marathons before. But blowing up in marathons is, I've found, really nothing to be ashamed of, because if you're really trying to run your best marathon there is a good chance you're running on the edge of that anyway. But blowing up in a 10K is entirely different. And I did it in spectacular fashion this morning.

The short version of the story is that it was warm and muggy and I started too fast for those conditions. It's possible that it could have been too fast for the most perfect conditions, but I can't tell. My first mile was a 6:40, and I had actually thought that would be a perfect pace for me to run a 10K. We'd done a 3mi tempo last week at that pace that felt so comfortable. It was slightly faster than what the running calculators predicted I could do based on my last two races, but those races were both at night in 90-degree weather. But at the end of the second mile, realizing I still had so far to go with my whole being feeling like crap and my head thinking "six miles is a long race for someone who runs 25 miles a week at the most ..." I had to slow down. I actually decided to slow way down, thinking I could regroup and salvage the last half of the race. But every time I tried to pick the pace back up it felt awful. And people were passing me left and right.

This is what happens when you start expecting things from your races. If I had come back after taking a year off and then running only 25 miles a week for several months and had run a 44:37 10K I'd think I was pretty cool. I had no expectations about what running would be like after having a baby. I was prepared for anything when I came back. But my workouts have been so great and the two timed races I've done haven't been too far off where I was before I had a baby, so I started thinking about what I was capable of doing and what I "should" do for 10K. Lemme tell ya, what I *should* be doing is running races like I know how to and the way I enjoy doing it: starting conservatively and progressively pushing throughout. Maybe I need to get in back touch with what "conservative" is. I seem to have forgotten.

Making things worse is the fact that our friend before the race had made a point to point me out to people in her running group, saying "she's fast." And people generally respond "oh, well, I'll be watching you run away from me, then." Blah blah blah. I usually don't mind - I mean, I understand that people are just trying to make conversation, but in hindsight it's really annoying. Arrrrrrrghhh. Grrrrrrrrr. Waaaaaaah. And, of course, at least two of the people she pointed me out to passed me. One was sympathetic. The other didn't say anything. Arrrgh. Grrrrrr. Waaah.

And after the race I made a good show of staying smiley and joking about the whole thing. During the race I offered encouragement to those who passed me and tried to sound like, "yeah, I blew up, but it happens. It's cool," But man, when I got in the car afterward I just felt really stupid. And disappointed.

Smited, maybe, for having been so impressed with myself for my quick comeback that I didn't even really want. I wasn't scared of the prospect of having to work a while to get things back. But it came back so easily and I guess I got greedy.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:22 PM | Comments (6)