Monday -- 8 miles at 7:42 average pace. Ventured back towards maybe-mountain-lion territory, it was fine. I did too much Googling about mountain lion attacks though so now I'm scared of running in the dark. All "don't run it'll activate their pouncing instinct" "they go straight for the jugular" etc.
Tuesday -- 11.6 miles at 7:19 average pace. WOG workout was 3x12 minutes with 2 minutes of jogging rest, each 12 minutes was supposed to be 4 minutes at MP, 4 minutes at MP-10sec, 4 minutes at MP-20sec. The goal was 6:50-6:40-6:30, who knows what reality was. Something in the range of that or a little faster, it was too hard to figure out the real paces. Felt pretty good.
Wednesday -- 8.4 miles at 7:41 pace. This run had a lot of uphill in the first half, which I inexplicably ran faster than the downhill portions? I don't know.
Thursday -- 13 miles at 7:33 pace. WOG workout was however many miles with 12 x 1 min hard, 1 min easy in there.
Friday -- 8.1 miles at 7:56 pace. Saguaro NP loop, and I tried to take it a bit easy because of the long run coming up Saturday morning.
Saturday -- 20.4 miles at 7:22 average pace. In order to do some downhill running in anticipation of the Phoenix marathon course, I did a point-to-point with a running buddy. It's hard to find a 20-mile stretch of downhill, so this had some pretty significant uphills as well. Maybe 14 miles of this were downhill? Tried to do the last 4 or so at marathon pace, it really wasn't so bad. Last 4 miles were 7:03, 6:43, 6:47, 6:39.
Sunday -- 6.9 miles total. I ran the Sunrise at Old Tucson trail race today....awhile back a bunch of races went on sale and I signed up for them regardless of how they fit into the training schedule. This race is a ~4-mile cross-country style race and my plan was to run pretty easy, as it was rocky and twisty and turny and my legs were painful jello after Saturday. I was happy with my finish, 3rd place overall in an average of 7:00 pace. Sounds cool until I compare the pace to the last 4 of the long run yesterday...
Total -- 76.4 miles, 7:35 average pace. Somehow this week felt way better than the previous week with only 3.5 fewer miles. It's almost as if the body adapts to training or something. Now it's time for a down week and I am super ready.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
This blog is so boring
So boring, would not read. I wrote a long post about motivation and wow, brand new thoughts, v original, great job. Here's the take-home points:
In high school I did running like so:
1. Do as coaches say, no more and no less
2. Profit (pay no attention to the relatively weak field of competition)
Which led to compliments and being too high on my own abilities, so in college:
1. I'm talented gosh darn it
2. Hell of minimal running
3. Pray in whining voice to running gods for well deserved miracle (sarcasm font)
4. Bad results
Anyways now I do like so:
1. Run as much as possible, mucho hard work, do as coaches say plus sneak some more in there
2. Pretty good results
3. But is it too much/will I get injured/will I burn out/or should I push through to profit/oh noooo
4. Oh my god get over yourself
I also want to put a thought here which is that Once A Runner is a very popular book (among runners) about which I have mixed feelings. It stokes my misandrist fires and I think it gives young running dummies too high a sense of self-worth, but on the other hand, it's v entertaining for any running nerd and has this one good thought that I think about a lot:
“What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes."
In high school I did running like so:
1. Do as coaches say, no more and no less
2. Profit (pay no attention to the relatively weak field of competition)
Which led to compliments and being too high on my own abilities, so in college:
1. I'm talented gosh darn it
2. Hell of minimal running
3. Pray in whining voice to running gods for well deserved miracle (sarcasm font)
4. Bad results
Anyways now I do like so:
1. Run as much as possible, mucho hard work, do as coaches say plus sneak some more in there
2. Pretty good results
3. But is it too much/will I get injured/will I burn out/or should I push through to profit/oh noooo
4. Oh my god get over yourself
I also want to put a thought here which is that Once A Runner is a very popular book (among runners) about which I have mixed feelings. It stokes my misandrist fires and I think it gives young running dummies too high a sense of self-worth, but on the other hand, it's v entertaining for any running nerd and has this one good thought that I think about a lot:
“What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing, molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottoms of his training shoes."
Monday, January 19, 2015
Training 01/12/2015-01/18/2015
I have no more big races planned until the marathon, so now it's time to really get after marathon training!
Monday -- 11 miles at 7:44 average pace. I definitely had to trick myself out the door this morning. I was pretty tired from the long day on Sunday, plus on Sunday night I had 2 glasses of wine. Weak sauce! I told myself I just had to do 4 miles but felt pretty good once I got moving. The "highlight" of this run was when I saw glowing eyes from the side of the road next to me, and realized it was either a big bobcat or a small mountain lion. This leads me to a fun thought spiral -- well I only saw it because of its eyes glowing in my headlamp, so that means it's probably there every day but I don't see it...maybe it's stalking me and learning my patterns and on a weak day it'll pounce....should I pepper spray a wild cat attacking me...anyways I made it back home fine but now I'm scared to run that direction.
Tuesday -- 13.3 miles at 7:50 average pace with 12 x 100m sprints in the middle. I apparently didn't understand the planned WOG workout and thought I needed to get in extra miles early, so I had done 7 miles by the time the workout started. Oh well, miles are miles.
Wednesday -- AM: 5 miles at 8:19 pace, PM: 5.2 miles at 7:44 pace. Wednesdays are just so tough. It's hard to get up in the morning after a workout Tuesday night, and I really prefer to run in the mornings. I would love to be doing a mid-week semi-long-run on Wednesdays but I just seem to be dragging every week. Decided to give splitting up the run into two a try....I don't know if this is better than getting it all done in the morning and having 12 more hours of rest. I might be losing my handle on reality a little? Or maybe I just need an easy day.
Thursday -- 11.8 miles total at 7:44 average pace. The planned WOG workout was 3 miles MP, 2 miles MP - 10sec, 1 mile MP - 20 sec, with a 2-minute jog in between sets. Goal: 6:50, 6:40, 6:30. Actual: 6:45, 6:37, 6:27. The first two miles in the MP set were too fast, thus setting me up for torture the rest of the workout.
Friday -- 8.1 miles at 8:19 average pace. This was the Saguaro National Park east loop, a very challenging 8-mile road loop. It has many short steep hills and a 1.5 mile climb that ranges between 5-10% grade.
Saturday -- 20.1 miles at 8:06 average pace. The second 10 miles was much faster than the first. This is the first 20-miler I've done that hasn't really been that hard. I mean, don't get me wrong, 20 miles is always hard, but I didn't really feel too bad the rest of the day. This was slower than I would have liked, but that's fine...I've heard that long runs are more about duration than pace, so that's what I'll tell myself this time. I was STILL sore from the race last Sunday, am I getting old or something.
Sunday -- 6 miles at 7:29 pace. Barely enough to get 80 miles for the week.
Total -- 80.7 miles at 7:55 average pace. Well, I really wanted to run 80 miles in a week and now I know what that's like. Verdict -- terrible. Maybe it was because I started the week off sore and tired from a race, but a lot of my runs felt horrible this week and I was super tired all the time. I think that 60-70 miles seems to suit me much better for now. Although....maybe if I push on through, I'll get super fast (she said before running straight into an injury). Goal for next week is to not be an idiot.
Monday -- 11 miles at 7:44 average pace. I definitely had to trick myself out the door this morning. I was pretty tired from the long day on Sunday, plus on Sunday night I had 2 glasses of wine. Weak sauce! I told myself I just had to do 4 miles but felt pretty good once I got moving. The "highlight" of this run was when I saw glowing eyes from the side of the road next to me, and realized it was either a big bobcat or a small mountain lion. This leads me to a fun thought spiral -- well I only saw it because of its eyes glowing in my headlamp, so that means it's probably there every day but I don't see it...maybe it's stalking me and learning my patterns and on a weak day it'll pounce....should I pepper spray a wild cat attacking me...anyways I made it back home fine but now I'm scared to run that direction.
Tuesday -- 13.3 miles at 7:50 average pace with 12 x 100m sprints in the middle. I apparently didn't understand the planned WOG workout and thought I needed to get in extra miles early, so I had done 7 miles by the time the workout started. Oh well, miles are miles.
Wednesday -- AM: 5 miles at 8:19 pace, PM: 5.2 miles at 7:44 pace. Wednesdays are just so tough. It's hard to get up in the morning after a workout Tuesday night, and I really prefer to run in the mornings. I would love to be doing a mid-week semi-long-run on Wednesdays but I just seem to be dragging every week. Decided to give splitting up the run into two a try....I don't know if this is better than getting it all done in the morning and having 12 more hours of rest. I might be losing my handle on reality a little? Or maybe I just need an easy day.
Thursday -- 11.8 miles total at 7:44 average pace. The planned WOG workout was 3 miles MP, 2 miles MP - 10sec, 1 mile MP - 20 sec, with a 2-minute jog in between sets. Goal: 6:50, 6:40, 6:30. Actual: 6:45, 6:37, 6:27. The first two miles in the MP set were too fast, thus setting me up for torture the rest of the workout.
Friday -- 8.1 miles at 8:19 average pace. This was the Saguaro National Park east loop, a very challenging 8-mile road loop. It has many short steep hills and a 1.5 mile climb that ranges between 5-10% grade.
Saturday -- 20.1 miles at 8:06 average pace. The second 10 miles was much faster than the first. This is the first 20-miler I've done that hasn't really been that hard. I mean, don't get me wrong, 20 miles is always hard, but I didn't really feel too bad the rest of the day. This was slower than I would have liked, but that's fine...I've heard that long runs are more about duration than pace, so that's what I'll tell myself this time. I was STILL sore from the race last Sunday, am I getting old or something.
Sunday -- 6 miles at 7:29 pace. Barely enough to get 80 miles for the week.
Total -- 80.7 miles at 7:55 average pace. Well, I really wanted to run 80 miles in a week and now I know what that's like. Verdict -- terrible. Maybe it was because I started the week off sore and tired from a race, but a lot of my runs felt horrible this week and I was super tired all the time. I think that 60-70 miles seems to suit me much better for now. Although....maybe if I push on through, I'll get super fast (she said before running straight into an injury). Goal for next week is to not be an idiot.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Sun Run 10k race recap
Another big reason I wanted to start a blog was to write up recaps of races. Again, I always love reading these on other people's blogs, and I tend to forget race details almost immediately so I think it will be fun to come back and read these later. I've never written anything like this before, so we'll see.
As I mentioned last week, I was hoping to take a crack at my 10-year-old 10k PR of 39:35, and possibly even run under 39 minutes. I was feeling pretty tired from a long week of training, and a little sick to my stomach on Sunday morning so I wasn't too optimistic, but I know that the race energy can work magic. The weather was pretty perfect too, warm and not windy. Lots of my buddies were running this race, and quite a few of them had done 10 miles by the time the race started in order to get their miles in for the day. This is insane to me, although I did need to get in 18 miles for the day so I was planning a really long cool-down to make it happen, which may also be insane.
I did a 4 mile warm-up and a little stretching and striding. It's so fun now that I've met so many Tucson runners, to see everyone warming up and getting ready. We all agreed that we were DEFINITELY not going to go out too fast, and I know that for me and probably a few others, that plan immediately flew out the window. The race started about 10 minutes after 9 a.m.
Mile 1 -- 6:09: Maybe someday I'll be able to not go out too fast, but not today apparently. I was looking at my watch so much and trying to slow it down, but it's just so hard not to get carried away.
Mile 2 -- 6:23: I was really trying to relax during this mile and feed off the energy of a pack of dudes I was running with. There were 3 ladies (including my coach Tia who is incredibly fast and was just doing this race as a warm-up for a half marathon next week) not too far ahead and I didn't want to lose contact with them, but I didn't want to try to catch them yet either.
Mile 3 -- 6:22: Again just trying to stay relaxed. A dude next to me said something about trying to go get some people ahead of us, but that didn't work out so well. I think we caught one person, but at least I left the pack of dudes behind.
Mile 4 -- 6:13: This mile was a little bit downhill, but I was still surprised to see the split based on the fact that things were really starting to go south, lungs-wise.
Mile 5 -- 6:24: I had been warned that the last 2 miles of the race were long and hard. You have to run right past the finish line which is tough, and this mile just seemed long. Right at the 5 mile mark I pulled up to the 2 ladies ahead of me...by this time Tia was long gone and impossible to catch.
Mile 6 -- 6:23: Really just trying to hang on for dear life. At this point in races I usually start doing the math on my finish time...maybe that is a bad idea as I'm sure it ruins my focus. Sometimes it can be good though...I figured that if I didn't fall apart completely I would get a PR, although sub-39 would be close.
0.2 -- 5:50 pace: LOL at this "kick". My time was 39:08, a PR! 5th place female, 18th overall, 2nd in my age group. I think that the last 1.2 miles is where the marathon-focused training really shows...I was trying so hard to pick up the pace but had no more gears.
Then, horribly, an 8-mile cool down was required to complete the quasi-long-run. Luckily there were a bunch of other people who had miles to do so we distracted each other through the miles by talking about food. We were so hungry by the end that we picked and ate kumquats right off a tree in the park.
I spent the rest of the day laying on the couch in compression tights eating. Is this the best way to recover? If not, don't tell me, I don't care.
As I mentioned last week, I was hoping to take a crack at my 10-year-old 10k PR of 39:35, and possibly even run under 39 minutes. I was feeling pretty tired from a long week of training, and a little sick to my stomach on Sunday morning so I wasn't too optimistic, but I know that the race energy can work magic. The weather was pretty perfect too, warm and not windy. Lots of my buddies were running this race, and quite a few of them had done 10 miles by the time the race started in order to get their miles in for the day. This is insane to me, although I did need to get in 18 miles for the day so I was planning a really long cool-down to make it happen, which may also be insane.
I did a 4 mile warm-up and a little stretching and striding. It's so fun now that I've met so many Tucson runners, to see everyone warming up and getting ready. We all agreed that we were DEFINITELY not going to go out too fast, and I know that for me and probably a few others, that plan immediately flew out the window. The race started about 10 minutes after 9 a.m.
Mile 1 -- 6:09: Maybe someday I'll be able to not go out too fast, but not today apparently. I was looking at my watch so much and trying to slow it down, but it's just so hard not to get carried away.
Mile 2 -- 6:23: I was really trying to relax during this mile and feed off the energy of a pack of dudes I was running with. There were 3 ladies (including my coach Tia who is incredibly fast and was just doing this race as a warm-up for a half marathon next week) not too far ahead and I didn't want to lose contact with them, but I didn't want to try to catch them yet either.
Mile 3 -- 6:22: Again just trying to stay relaxed. A dude next to me said something about trying to go get some people ahead of us, but that didn't work out so well. I think we caught one person, but at least I left the pack of dudes behind.
Mile 4 -- 6:13: This mile was a little bit downhill, but I was still surprised to see the split based on the fact that things were really starting to go south, lungs-wise.
Mile 5 -- 6:24: I had been warned that the last 2 miles of the race were long and hard. You have to run right past the finish line which is tough, and this mile just seemed long. Right at the 5 mile mark I pulled up to the 2 ladies ahead of me...by this time Tia was long gone and impossible to catch.
Mile 6 -- 6:23: Really just trying to hang on for dear life. At this point in races I usually start doing the math on my finish time...maybe that is a bad idea as I'm sure it ruins my focus. Sometimes it can be good though...I figured that if I didn't fall apart completely I would get a PR, although sub-39 would be close.
0.2 -- 5:50 pace: LOL at this "kick". My time was 39:08, a PR! 5th place female, 18th overall, 2nd in my age group. I think that the last 1.2 miles is where the marathon-focused training really shows...I was trying so hard to pick up the pace but had no more gears.
Then, horribly, an 8-mile cool down was required to complete the quasi-long-run. Luckily there were a bunch of other people who had miles to do so we distracted each other through the miles by talking about food. We were so hungry by the end that we picked and ate kumquats right off a tree in the park.
I spent the rest of the day laying on the couch in compression tights eating. Is this the best way to recover? If not, don't tell me, I don't care.
Monday, January 12, 2015
Training 01/05/2015-01/11/2015
I always love to see people's training logs on blogs I read, plus I think it will be fun to look back on these after awhile, so I'll post the previous week's worth of training every Monday.
This was the first week in a new 4-week cycle. While training for this marathon I've been doing 3 weeks of high mileage with one easy week. This week came after a 52-mile down week, about 30% less than the week before that. Theoretically the down week should have left me feeling great, but for some reason I never think I feel any more recovered after an easier week...so I just try to trust that I'm getting the benefits anyway.
The plan for the three upcoming hard weeks was/is 70 miles, 80 miles, 80 miles. I've never run 80 miles in a week before so we'll see how next week goes!
Monday -- 10 miles at 7:52 average pace. This was the first week back after vacation, the first run in almost 2 weeks that happened entirely before sunrise and a day of work. This pace was slower than I've been running on typical easy/recovery days, and I consider it my gift to myself. Alternately, it may have been a pity party.
Tuesday -- 10.7 miles total. Workout: 2 miles marathon pace (MP), 2 miles MP - 10-15 seconds, 2 miles MP. Splits: 6:55, 6:55, 6:39, 6:47 (fell down this mile so we'll give me a few seconds), 6:48, 6:55. I don't know, I guess that's pretty close to the goal, a 3-hour marathon is 6:52 pace.
Wednesday -- 11.2 miles at 8:17 average pace. Again, super slow and I had planned 12 miles but just didn't have an extra 0.8 in me. I think I was tired out from the workout about 12 hours previous. What can you do....the occasional slower run is fine, I suppose, and when I feel terrible I like to imagine that those runs are making me extra-strong. Plus, I need to keep in mind that a year ago this run would have been typical and/or awesome.
Thursday -- 10 miles at 7:55 average pace with the WOG crew. Last mile we did 6x200 meter-ish strides. I think the pace is a little deceiving here, as a few miles were super slow due to puddles and mud in the park. Felt a ton better than the previous 3 days, although the slow paces are starting to psyche me out a little bit. This always happens before races, I start to over-analyze my training and believe that I have magically lost all fitness or am overtrained/too tired. We'll see. We included Sunday's race course in this run, which helps with my obsessive-worrier tendencies.
Friday -- 4.1 miles at 7:18 average pace. Finally started to perk up a little bit today, planning to back off on miles Friday and Saturday in anticipation of the race on Sunday.
Saturday -- 7 miles at 8:10 average pace. Paced my friend Emily for the end of her 20-mile long run. Fun run!
Sunday -- 18.3 miles total at 7:21 average pace. 4.1 mile warm-up, 6.2 mile race, 8 mile cool down. Awesome day! I will write a recap of the race this week. The 8 mile cool-down was...not the easiest. This all went by faster than a typical 18-miler though, I'll say that.
Total -- 71.4 miles, 7:46 average pace.
This was the first week in a new 4-week cycle. While training for this marathon I've been doing 3 weeks of high mileage with one easy week. This week came after a 52-mile down week, about 30% less than the week before that. Theoretically the down week should have left me feeling great, but for some reason I never think I feel any more recovered after an easier week...so I just try to trust that I'm getting the benefits anyway.
The plan for the three upcoming hard weeks was/is 70 miles, 80 miles, 80 miles. I've never run 80 miles in a week before so we'll see how next week goes!
Monday -- 10 miles at 7:52 average pace. This was the first week back after vacation, the first run in almost 2 weeks that happened entirely before sunrise and a day of work. This pace was slower than I've been running on typical easy/recovery days, and I consider it my gift to myself. Alternately, it may have been a pity party.
Tuesday -- 10.7 miles total. Workout: 2 miles marathon pace (MP), 2 miles MP - 10-15 seconds, 2 miles MP. Splits: 6:55, 6:55, 6:39, 6:47 (fell down this mile so we'll give me a few seconds), 6:48, 6:55. I don't know, I guess that's pretty close to the goal, a 3-hour marathon is 6:52 pace.
Wednesday -- 11.2 miles at 8:17 average pace. Again, super slow and I had planned 12 miles but just didn't have an extra 0.8 in me. I think I was tired out from the workout about 12 hours previous. What can you do....the occasional slower run is fine, I suppose, and when I feel terrible I like to imagine that those runs are making me extra-strong. Plus, I need to keep in mind that a year ago this run would have been typical and/or awesome.
Thursday -- 10 miles at 7:55 average pace with the WOG crew. Last mile we did 6x200 meter-ish strides. I think the pace is a little deceiving here, as a few miles were super slow due to puddles and mud in the park. Felt a ton better than the previous 3 days, although the slow paces are starting to psyche me out a little bit. This always happens before races, I start to over-analyze my training and believe that I have magically lost all fitness or am overtrained/too tired. We'll see. We included Sunday's race course in this run, which helps with my obsessive-worrier tendencies.
Friday -- 4.1 miles at 7:18 average pace. Finally started to perk up a little bit today, planning to back off on miles Friday and Saturday in anticipation of the race on Sunday.
Saturday -- 7 miles at 8:10 average pace. Paced my friend Emily for the end of her 20-mile long run. Fun run!
Sunday -- 18.3 miles total at 7:21 average pace. 4.1 mile warm-up, 6.2 mile race, 8 mile cool down. Awesome day! I will write a recap of the race this week. The 8 mile cool-down was...not the easiest. This all went by faster than a typical 18-miler though, I'll say that.
Total -- 71.4 miles, 7:46 average pace.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Goals
One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog was to get a little better at setting reasonable goals for races -- so here we go!
I guess that it's not really necessary to set goals at all, but how can you avoid it? Anyways, if I didn't set goals I'd be disappointed with every race I didn't win and/or run a blazing fast time. There are a lot of ways to set goals...it all depends on the race course and distance and your current training and all kinds of things. Of course it's always a goal to place as high as possible (I particularly love to beat men, what of it), but that all depends on who shows up on the day, and anyways when you start putting times in like a...global running scene context....we are all running at a snail's pace anyways. So to me right now, it only makes sense to set personal time goals and whatever else comes along is bonus.
What I tend to do is have many levels of goals before a race, ranging from "if I at least do this I'll be satisfied" to "in a perfect world I would love to do this". I think people call them "A" and "B" goals, etc. I don't usually like to write my goals down or tell many people my goals beyond the slowest of them. I guess that for me goal-setting is an exercise in avoiding disappointment and embarrassment? Something something pessimism something expect the worst something pleasantly surprised.
Well, let me see how honest I can be about what I'd really like to do in some upcoming races. Right now I'm hoping to set PR's in the 10k and the marathon. Currently my PR's are 39:35 in the 10k and 3:23:something in the marathon.
This Sunday, I'll be running a 10k here in Tucson. It's on roads and bike paths in a park and the course should be really flat and fast. Last year, I ran the 5k at this same event and was the first female...however, the top ladies in the 10k ran a pace that was faster than my 5k pace! Sometimes cherry-picking races like that can lead to easier prizes, at least. This year I'm going to mix it up with the big girls, however. I have avoided running 10k's for many years, since my 10k PR has felt completely untouchable. The full story behind my 10k PR will have to wait for another day, but I ran it when I was 22 on a very fast downhill course (at altitude though, so that might balance out). I am finally, 10 years later, running well enough that I think I might have a shot at a 10k PR, if everything goes perfectly. However, I am not trained for a 10k, nor am I backing off marathon training at all for this race, so we'll see. I'll say that my "at least satisfied" goal would be around 41 minutes, and my "perfect world" goal would be 38:xx. Let's not think about the splits required to run those times (6:15-6:35, lololololol), nor shall we compare them to what I have run in recent 5k's! One thing's for sure, if I'm going to go for it it's really going to hurt.
The second race I'm still working on setting a goal for is the upcoming Phoenix Marathon, which is on February 28th. Oh, HELLO, that is 7 weeks from Saturday. That means that I have only about a month of really hard training left to go! This will be my second time running Phoenix and my third marathon (but we won't count the first one as I didn't train for it at all). Last year I ran just under 3:24 at this marathon, which I was happy with at the time. I've been running so much more than last year though, and quite a bit faster, so I'm struggling to set a goal this time around. The thing with a marathon is that the chances come around much more rarely, I mean I can't exactly jump in another marathon 2 weeks later if I bomb this one. So that leads me to think I should set an aggressive goal...which brings me back around to worrying about being disappointed if I don't meet my goals. I think that if I break 3:15 I'll be ok with it, and progressively happier until, by some miracle, I could manage to break 3 hours.
All right, that's going to do it for my upcoming race goals. Luckily hardly anyone knows about this blog so my goals are not really public yet....that's how blogging works right? Keep it secret? When does the cash start to roll in?
I guess that it's not really necessary to set goals at all, but how can you avoid it? Anyways, if I didn't set goals I'd be disappointed with every race I didn't win and/or run a blazing fast time. There are a lot of ways to set goals...it all depends on the race course and distance and your current training and all kinds of things. Of course it's always a goal to place as high as possible (I particularly love to beat men, what of it), but that all depends on who shows up on the day, and anyways when you start putting times in like a...global running scene context....we are all running at a snail's pace anyways. So to me right now, it only makes sense to set personal time goals and whatever else comes along is bonus.
What I tend to do is have many levels of goals before a race, ranging from "if I at least do this I'll be satisfied" to "in a perfect world I would love to do this". I think people call them "A" and "B" goals, etc. I don't usually like to write my goals down or tell many people my goals beyond the slowest of them. I guess that for me goal-setting is an exercise in avoiding disappointment and embarrassment? Something something pessimism something expect the worst something pleasantly surprised.
Well, let me see how honest I can be about what I'd really like to do in some upcoming races. Right now I'm hoping to set PR's in the 10k and the marathon. Currently my PR's are 39:35 in the 10k and 3:23:something in the marathon.
This Sunday, I'll be running a 10k here in Tucson. It's on roads and bike paths in a park and the course should be really flat and fast. Last year, I ran the 5k at this same event and was the first female...however, the top ladies in the 10k ran a pace that was faster than my 5k pace! Sometimes cherry-picking races like that can lead to easier prizes, at least. This year I'm going to mix it up with the big girls, however. I have avoided running 10k's for many years, since my 10k PR has felt completely untouchable. The full story behind my 10k PR will have to wait for another day, but I ran it when I was 22 on a very fast downhill course (at altitude though, so that might balance out). I am finally, 10 years later, running well enough that I think I might have a shot at a 10k PR, if everything goes perfectly. However, I am not trained for a 10k, nor am I backing off marathon training at all for this race, so we'll see. I'll say that my "at least satisfied" goal would be around 41 minutes, and my "perfect world" goal would be 38:xx. Let's not think about the splits required to run those times (6:15-6:35, lololololol), nor shall we compare them to what I have run in recent 5k's! One thing's for sure, if I'm going to go for it it's really going to hurt.
The second race I'm still working on setting a goal for is the upcoming Phoenix Marathon, which is on February 28th. Oh, HELLO, that is 7 weeks from Saturday. That means that I have only about a month of really hard training left to go! This will be my second time running Phoenix and my third marathon (but we won't count the first one as I didn't train for it at all). Last year I ran just under 3:24 at this marathon, which I was happy with at the time. I've been running so much more than last year though, and quite a bit faster, so I'm struggling to set a goal this time around. The thing with a marathon is that the chances come around much more rarely, I mean I can't exactly jump in another marathon 2 weeks later if I bomb this one. So that leads me to think I should set an aggressive goal...which brings me back around to worrying about being disappointed if I don't meet my goals. I think that if I break 3:15 I'll be ok with it, and progressively happier until, by some miracle, I could manage to break 3 hours.
All right, that's going to do it for my upcoming race goals. Luckily hardly anyone knows about this blog so my goals are not really public yet....that's how blogging works right? Keep it secret? When does the cash start to roll in?
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Classic
Well! Here is a real cool story for my brand new blog!
Last night was the first night of the spring season of a group I run with here in Tucson, The Workout Group. I was pretty excited to do a speed workout and run with some people after a bunch of lonely miles over the holiday break. A lot of people, me included are training for a spring marathon so the workout was a 6 mile run: 2 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles at 10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace, and 2 miles at marathon pace again. First of all, what even is marathon pace at this point, 8 weeks or whatever out from the race? I decided to try my fastest goal marathon pace, which is a secret, thank you. It actually worked out just fine, although... I suppose that "marathon pace" should feel pretty easy for only 6 miles, right? Not so, buddy. Let's just not let ourselves think about the prospect of running 26.2 miles at that pace right now, or else I may as well just get in bed until summer.
Anyways that is not the interesting part! I am a pretty clumsy lady and prone to taking a fall now and then. As a hurdler I certainly took it in the teeth a few times! My specialty, though, is tripping over nothing on smooth, flat asphalt and it had been awhile so I was due. At about mile 4, desperate to slow down a whole 10 seconds per mile, I was looking at my watch...and suddenly I was diving towards the ground. Luckily I think my crash zones are developing a tough hide from all my previous falls and the damage wasn't too bad at all. The worst part was the large audience of pedestrians and passing cars, but what can you do...I got up, gave it my best Mary Katherine Gallagher arms-raised victory lunge and got back after it.
Very cool, very smooth, I can't wait for a loop of my dork moves to play in my head until I die. Of course I had to plaster my embarrassment all over facebook and instagram right away, and why not, here it is for your viewing pleasure too!
Bonus, here is an introduction to my firstborn baby, Lucy aka Big-Fat (I would NEVER, that is my husband's name for her). She looks concerned but we all know cats feel no such emotion, she wants me to get over myself and pet her gut. She is my sweet darling love (I KNOW how lame it sounds and I DO NOT CARE) and I will write out her story here someday if I keep up this blog.
Well all's well that ends well, in order to heal my wounded soul I ate a salad so large I had to put it in a mixing bowl, three huge chocolate-covered strawberries from the box that arrived in the mail from my extremely awesome friend Sarah yesterday, and went right to bed after a few episodes of America's Next Top Model Season 1 (indisputably the best). I suffered through my easy run this morning just fine and I live to fight another day.
Last night was the first night of the spring season of a group I run with here in Tucson, The Workout Group. I was pretty excited to do a speed workout and run with some people after a bunch of lonely miles over the holiday break. A lot of people, me included are training for a spring marathon so the workout was a 6 mile run: 2 miles at marathon pace, 2 miles at 10-15 seconds faster than marathon pace, and 2 miles at marathon pace again. First of all, what even is marathon pace at this point, 8 weeks or whatever out from the race? I decided to try my fastest goal marathon pace, which is a secret, thank you. It actually worked out just fine, although... I suppose that "marathon pace" should feel pretty easy for only 6 miles, right? Not so, buddy. Let's just not let ourselves think about the prospect of running 26.2 miles at that pace right now, or else I may as well just get in bed until summer.
Anyways that is not the interesting part! I am a pretty clumsy lady and prone to taking a fall now and then. As a hurdler I certainly took it in the teeth a few times! My specialty, though, is tripping over nothing on smooth, flat asphalt and it had been awhile so I was due. At about mile 4, desperate to slow down a whole 10 seconds per mile, I was looking at my watch...and suddenly I was diving towards the ground. Luckily I think my crash zones are developing a tough hide from all my previous falls and the damage wasn't too bad at all. The worst part was the large audience of pedestrians and passing cars, but what can you do...I got up, gave it my best Mary Katherine Gallagher arms-raised victory lunge and got back after it.
 |
| EXACTLY LIKE THIS, NO EXAGGERATION |
Very cool, very smooth, I can't wait for a loop of my dork moves to play in my head until I die. Of course I had to plaster my embarrassment all over facebook and instagram right away, and why not, here it is for your viewing pleasure too!
Bonus, here is an introduction to my firstborn baby, Lucy aka Big-Fat (I would NEVER, that is my husband's name for her). She looks concerned but we all know cats feel no such emotion, she wants me to get over myself and pet her gut. She is my sweet darling love (I KNOW how lame it sounds and I DO NOT CARE) and I will write out her story here someday if I keep up this blog.
Well all's well that ends well, in order to heal my wounded soul I ate a salad so large I had to put it in a mixing bowl, three huge chocolate-covered strawberries from the box that arrived in the mail from my extremely awesome friend Sarah yesterday, and went right to bed after a few episodes of America's Next Top Model Season 1 (indisputably the best). I suffered through my easy run this morning just fine and I live to fight another day.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
gotta start somewhere
Ok! After half-thinking about it occasionally for years, I have made a blog. Here we go! I guess I'll start by interviewing myself.
Q: Well why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
A: Sure, happy to. My name is Katie, I'm....32 years old I guess. Old enough to have to think about it for a second.
I have 4 cats. Oh don't worry, you'll hear so much about them that you'll be awkwardly looking for the exits soon enough. Just like real life!
I live in Tucson, AZ and I'm an astronomer-turned-engineer. My job involves sitting down all day looking at screens, so I keep my crazies to a minimum by running a lot.
I've been running since I was about 10 years old, when I specialized in the standing long jump and the 50-meter dash in the children's track and field program in Longmont, CO. Somehow in middle school I fell into hurdling and was a hurdler, sprinter, and long/triple-jumper all through high school and college. I also ran cross-country for "fun" since I am a real mellow person. I had a good high school career and a bad college career, and when I went to grad school I ran only intermittently for years. I pretty much figured my good-at-running days were over.
When my husband and I moved to Tucson in 2012, I finally started running regularly again, and somehow (finally rested enough after college? Tucson's perfect-for-running environment? nutso personality?) all of the lack-of-motivation that plagued me for years disappeared. I ran a half-marathon and marathon for the first time, and then decided to start a running streak that is going about 7 months strong now. I am running....a lot. For me, at least.
Q: So why "running and cats"?
A: Well, I had to call it something, and running and cat ownership are my only two hobbies, so there we go.
Q: What will you write about?
A: Running and cats. Give the people what they came for.
Ok well that will wrap up my very first, extremely fascinating blog post. Coming next, I'll talk about all my upcoming races and goals. I guess. I don't know, I don't know how to write a blog.
Q: Well why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
A: Sure, happy to. My name is Katie, I'm....32 years old I guess. Old enough to have to think about it for a second.
I have 4 cats. Oh don't worry, you'll hear so much about them that you'll be awkwardly looking for the exits soon enough. Just like real life!
I live in Tucson, AZ and I'm an astronomer-turned-engineer. My job involves sitting down all day looking at screens, so I keep my crazies to a minimum by running a lot.
I've been running since I was about 10 years old, when I specialized in the standing long jump and the 50-meter dash in the children's track and field program in Longmont, CO. Somehow in middle school I fell into hurdling and was a hurdler, sprinter, and long/triple-jumper all through high school and college. I also ran cross-country for "fun" since I am a real mellow person. I had a good high school career and a bad college career, and when I went to grad school I ran only intermittently for years. I pretty much figured my good-at-running days were over.
When my husband and I moved to Tucson in 2012, I finally started running regularly again, and somehow (finally rested enough after college? Tucson's perfect-for-running environment? nutso personality?) all of the lack-of-motivation that plagued me for years disappeared. I ran a half-marathon and marathon for the first time, and then decided to start a running streak that is going about 7 months strong now. I am running....a lot. For me, at least.
Q: So why "running and cats"?
A: Well, I had to call it something, and running and cat ownership are my only two hobbies, so there we go.
Q: What will you write about?
A: Running and cats. Give the people what they came for.
Ok well that will wrap up my very first, extremely fascinating blog post. Coming next, I'll talk about all my upcoming races and goals. I guess. I don't know, I don't know how to write a blog.
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