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September 28, 2007

Rockin' in the car

One of the best feelings in the whole entire world is discovering that you love a new song or a new band. And the best part is when you’re at that point where you know most of the verses and can hum along with the chorus and you get sent out on some errand on a warm September big orange moon evening and have the whole entire car to yourself and no traffic to sit in and you can turn up the volume and rock … out. I hadn’t had that feeling in a long long time. The closest I’ve been lately was the first time I heard Louden Wainwright III’s “Daughter” (the song at the end of Knocked Up) earlier this summer when MG was just discovering the pool and the sprinkler and the hose. That one just kinda took me by surprise with its … appropriateness. And I got all emotional, of course. But last night I finally downloaded some of my ACL Fest highlight DeVotchKa and tonight on my Babies R Us errand I got to thoroughly enjoy it. My voice has been reduced to not much more than a whisper due to my allergy hack, but it didn’t stop me from singing along at the top of my lungs. It just sounded a lot like howling at the moon.

This morning was the last of our tempo runs. Seven miles. I ended up doing 5.5 then 1.5 since at 5.5 my route took me by a bathroom that I could not pass up. Unfortunately, this has been happening a lot lately. This is the first time on a tempo, though, and it was disappointing. I really was feeling good and ready to pick up the pace even more than I already had. And when I started again it took me a little while to get into a groove. I ended up at 7:08 pace on average for both sets, which is the same pace I held for 6 miles and more than 15 sec. per mile faster than I averaged for 5 miles. So there’s been progress. Yay.

We have 22 miles this weekend.

And just for fun here’s a really cute MG story. Each night before she goes to bed I sing her a little Elvis, and the other night she pitched in, so lately I’ll just sing “I can’t help … falling in love with …” and she adds the “yew.” Sometimes she even has to pull her thumb out of her mouth momentarily to say it.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:54 PM | Comments (1)

September 26, 2007

Could it be the Nasonex?

I’ve been running with less struggle lately. Sometimes it feels effortless. I’m not saying I’m running fast, but I feel much lighter. It could be that the weather has been slightly more mild. It could be that I actually am lighter since I’ve decided to pass on most sugar for the next eight weeks, but I don’t think that’s it – two weeks ago I actually weighed more than I did the week before when I’d been making no such effort, and that’s when I decided to stick with the no sugar but refrain from looking at the scale for a while.

The other thing that’s been different in the past few weeks is that it’s become allergy season again, and I’ve decided to be aggressive with it from the get go, so I’ve been taking Benadryl on a regular basis and using the Nasonex I was prescribed last winter after I’d been coughing for two months. And Nasonex is a steroid. Am I on ‘roids?

Of course, now that I’ve written about it I’m sure it’ll all go away. I hope not. It’s been nice. Being fast would be even nicer, but running with complete ease is really, really nice.

We did 15 this morning. We ran Mt. Bonnell for one of our members’ birthday. It had been a while since I’d done it, even though it’s one of my favorites. It was good to be back.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:02 PM | Comments (1)

September 19, 2007

6x 600

ACL Fest has come and gone. Again. It wasn't nearly as hot this year as it has been in the past, but it was still mighty uncomfortable at times. And I sat through some mediocre stuff. And I missed MG some of the time (although we had a fabulous setup that allowed us to hang out with her in the mornings and then again for dinner, and since she naps for a few hours in the afternoon we didn't miss that much.) But there were moments and shows that made it all worthwhile. DeVotchKa and Ghostland Observatory were two of those highlights. But there were more. For many of our friends the festival has become too expensive and crowded and hot and just too much of a pain in the ass. But it's worth it to me. It's part of my year and I'll be sad if we ever make the determination that it's too much of a pain in the ass not to go.

And I DID do my 20 miles on Sunday morning. I took it really easy on Saturday, only going to two shows other than taking MG to Austin Kiddie Limits and the Bummkin Band on Saturday morning. I had good company, and aside from flagging a little at about 14 miles, I felt pretty good the whole way.

This week is a cutback week, and I take serious liberties with my cutback weeks. We were supposed to do 10 yesterday and I did 4. We had switched two of the Pfitzinger weeks, so the 10 was actually supposed to come after a Sunday 15 rather than a Sunday 20, so I figure I'm ok. I may cut back or eliminate some of the other recovery runs, but I'll only do that if I have a good reason. If I'm just going to turn on the tube instead, I'll go do the runs.

And then this morning we did our first track workout of the program. I was actually excited to get out and run fast, since I've been feeling for the past many weeks that my endurance is good but my speed is nonexistent. We were supposed to do 6x 600 at 5K pace, but I really have no idea what my 5K pace is. I figured on 2:30 - 2:35 per 600, which would be anywhere between 6:40 and 7:00 pace. My last 5K was 7:09 pace, I think, but since my 6-mile tempo run was right about that pace I'd be safe to settle on a pace that was a little faster. My first one was 2:26. The slowest was 2:29, and the fastest 2:18. So I was faster than what I predicted, and aside from the fastest, they were probably done at my 5K p.r. pace. Maybe that's too fast, but it didn't feel too bad. Hopefully the next time we do the workout I won't be hellbent on "beating" this workout.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:25 PM | Comments (1)

September 13, 2007

Not an Ode

Yesterday as I ran past cluster after cluster of leering lawn and utility maintenance men on my weird 14-miler that started at 10:30 a.m. I thought to myself, “I should write an ‘Ode to running at o’dark-thirty with mostly male friends’.” And then I Wikipedia-ed what an “ode” actually was, and found out that it is “a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse.” Well crap. I thought it could be just a shout-out. Complex and elaborate are not my thing.

Yes, yesterday I ran 14 miles by myself in my neighborhood after dropping my daughter off at daycare and getting my first mammogram (routine / baseline.) I think I much prefer getting up at 4:30 and running with my friends. In the dark without people staring. And without the mammogram.

Tomorrow we have tempo. How I loathe thee, tempo. But it will be in the dark. With my friends. With no mammogram beforehand. So I’m counting my blessings.

It will be a quiet weekend around this blog. We will be spending most of our days in Zilker Park listening to music, although I do fully intend to meet friends at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning for 20 miles. I’m SERIOUS! I can’t skip it like I did last year. The White Stripes were the closers for Saturday night, and they’ve suddenly cancelled, so there’s really no good reason to stay late on Saturday night anyway …

Posted by jenandmats at 8:57 PM | Comments (1)

September 9, 2007

Jiggety jig

Sunday nights are always a little sad, and the Sunday night before you go back to work after a week’s vacation is really sad. How did it go by so fast? This particular end of vacation is a poignant one since we’ve made the trip to Mexico every September for the past five years or so. It marks time for us. We look forward to it for 358 days out of every year!

I made marathon training work about as much as anyone could in a place where happy hour starts every day at 3. And you’ve been at the happy hour locale –the pool or beach - since 10 a.m. or so. You don’t have to drive there or worry about parking or even whether you have your purse. If you have a key to the room – or if anyone in your party has a key to the room – you have yourself a beverage. Often a plate of nachos shows up at some point during happy hour, too, which is good, because we don’t usually leave the pool or beach until the sun is well on its way down, which means dinner is often really late, so the late afternoon sustenance ensures that we will actually *make* it to dinner rather than getting silly by 7 and in bed by 8 after that hot shower (drinking slushy beverages in the pool can make one just slightly cold, especially with the wind that picks up at the beach in the late afternoon) that has to last forever because that powdery sand is really hard to get off completely.

Oh wait. I meant to talk about marathon training and not happy hour and late afternoons / evenings at the pool or beach. Yes. I ran 11 on Sunday morning before we left, starting at 5 a.m. We had Monday off as usual. Tuesday I had a 6 a.m./4 p.m. double scheduled, but there was no way I was running twice, so I just did 6 in the afternoon on the sidewalk of the hotel zone. Wednesday I did 14 on the treadmill starting at 6 a.m. after watching the sunrise (or what little there was of a sunrise, with one big puffy cloud where the sun should have been.) I skipped my recovery run on Thursday.

We got back into town on Friday afternoon, and I went out in the neighborhood for what was supposed to be 13 but was abbreviated to 12 after stitches in my abdominal muscles made running … sucky. Then yesterday I did an easy 5 with strides at the end, and then this morning did 12 miles at marathon pace.

I was late to the run this morning (alarm volume mysteriously turned all the way down) and inconvenienced my friends, who waited for me. And then I got snippy with my friends once I got there and they started hurrying and pressuring me. And then I stressed about getting snippy. Not a good way to start a run I’ve been stressing about for a while!

I had decided to stay between 7:45 and 8:00 pace and did for pretty much the whole thing. It was good to have a range because the three-mile loop was pretty rolling, with some miles considerably slower than others. I admit that I hauled ass into the finish with a 7:09 last mile to get the pace down to 7:47. I had intended to do the first 3-mile loop as a warmup – we did 15 total – but when I saw that mile 2 was a 7:48 I thought I’d just skip the warmup. So the first mile before the 7:48 was a little slow, so I think it’s ok that I went a little fast at the end to make up.

So can you call it a success if you set your goals pretty low?! Actually, it wasn’t a walk in the park, so I think it’s a success in my ability to judge where I am right now, since I was able to pick a pace that was tough but didn’t knock me out.

So vacation week is over, and I can get back into a groove, right? Not so. Friday through Sunday of this week is Austin City Limits Music Festival. And I have 20 to do on Sunday. I may have to switch out and run long on Friday … again.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:45 PM | Comments (2)