Confessions of a Delinquent Blogger

Forgive me Michele, for I have blog-sinned. It has been 84 days since my last blog post. 

My dear friend, and only blog fan Michele (who tries to cheat in 5k races), pointed out to me today that I haven't updated my blog in, like, forever. So I am here to rectify that, and keep Michele from crying over my lack of blog posts.

I tried to tell her that I have nothing interesting to say.  I haven't been running with the FAST group, because it just doesn't fit well with my schedule.  I haven't seriously trained for anything in months. I haven't even run any races at all since October. So what should I talk about?

*scratching head*

Well, I guess I can talk about my future running plans.

My big running news for 2013 is that Marathon Evily is on her way back. I have not seriously raced a marathon since October 2011. I took a year off due to major personal life changes, and I am just now regaining my 2011 fitness levels.  I have now built my running base up to 40 miles per week, consistently, and I feel I am truly ready to begin serious marathon training again.

I am registered for the Illinois Marathon on April 27. And, as of today, I am also registered for the inaugural Naperville Marathon on November 10. That gives me two chances this year to prove my marathon prowess.     I am really hoping at least one of those will be a sub-4:00 victory.

Of course, simply hoping for a sub-4:00 really isn't enough. I'm going to have to work my ass off to get there, just like I did in 2011. My training plan for Illinois is aggressive (for me, at least), and similar in total mileage to my training for Lakefront Marathon 2011.  I figure I may as well start with what worked for me before.

I will peak at about 55 miles per week in this training cycle, barring injury or illness or total burnout. It's scary to think about running that much mileage after a year of barely being able to get in 30 miles per week. But I am in a better place now, mentally and physically, and I feel well-prepared to handle it.

Also, I have new shoes.

*squeeeeee!*

There is nothing more motivating than shiny, pretty, colorful, cushy new shoes to run in. I mean, aside from the desire to achieve one's goals, blah blah blah.

So remember, there are three important benefits of marathon training: (1) the satisfaction of achieving one's goals (2) improving one's fitness and performance, and (3) pretty new shoes. Not necessarily in that order.

Peace. Love. Train.

Taper Week 2: The madness begins...

Ahhh.... taper sweet taper...

Finally, I have been given some reprieve in my training. The mileage has dropped. The intensity has decreased a little bit. Rest time between intervals has increased. Frankly, it feels wonderful.

The problem is that I have way too much time on my hands now. Instead of using this extra time for good, productive, useful things like tending the garden, or cleaning out the basement, or alphabetizing my canned goods, I've taken up less desirable pastimes such as buying way too many running shoes, and completely freaking out about my ability to run this marathon.

Yes, my friends, it has officially begun...

*begin echo-y voice* Taper Madness *end echo-y voice*

I know what you're thinking... Just how many shoes are we talking here?

Well, I've added two new pairs of running shoes to my arsenal in the last couple of weeks, including one pair of custom NikeID Lunarglides. These are the shoes I intend to wear for the marathon.



Aren't they beeeeeeeeautiful? For those not in the know, my friends call me Evily, thus the RUN EVILY personalization. There is, naturally, a long story behind that moniker, but we'll save that for another time and place. The point is, these shoes have marathon awesomeness written all over them. Not literally, of course, because "Marathon Awesomeness" doesn't fit within the 10 character maximum... but you know what I mean.

So how many pairs of running shoes does that make now, you ask? Um... a fair few... *looks sheepish*


*ahem* Please stop gaping, everyone.

In my defense, the pair in the back left corner was just retired from use last weekend, as it just hit 400 miles. Also in my defense, I got a really good sale price on several of these. And also in my defense, I tried on a pair of new Nike LunarEclipses yesterday and despite the fact that I loved them, I did not buy them. I do have some self-control, people! Geesh.

I think buying new shoes and taking inventory of my running shoe collection helps take my mind off of the more serious aspects of marathon tapering. Namely: the looming marathon. It's only nine days away now. NINE DAYS, PEOPLE!!! Do you have any idea what this means???

Um... well... it pretty much just means that the marathon is nine days away. But this is an extremely dire situation! I can't run a marathon in nine days! I haven't packed my gym bag yet! I haven't memorized the locations of the aid stations along the course! I haven't charged my Garmin! I haven't prepared my bag of Sharkies! I haven't polished the Nike swooshes on my shoes! I CANNOT POSSIBLY RUN 26.2 MILES NINE DAYS FROM NOW!!!

I don't think you all understand the gravity of the situation. Do you have any idea what 26.2 miles looks like? For those of you who do not, allow me to show you. This is the Chicago Marathon course in its entirety (you might want to sit down for this):




Now do you understand? I mean, sure, the video makes it look easy because it only takes 9 minutes from start to finish. It will take me roughly 33 times longer than that to run it!

Okay, let me get a show of hands: Who just got out their calculator and figured out how long that is?

Nerds. :-P

But I digress.... The point is, I have reached the point in Taper Madness where I spend a lot of time freaking out. I'm not sure I'll even remember how to run when I get to the starting line. I keep going through a million different "what if" scenarios in my mind. What if the weather stinks? What if it's really windy? What if I trip and fall? What if I have to stop and use the port-o-potties? What if I run out of Sharkies? What if my Garmin dies? What if I forget to set my alarm that morning? What if I show up on the wrong day? What if I forget to bring my oatmeal and banana? What if my Nike swooshes aren't shiny enough?

There are so many things to worry about. And now that I'm tapering, I have so much more time to worry about them! Nine more days of this could drive me to the brink of insanity. I'll be running 26.2 miles straight to the loony bin. I think there's only one thing that will help me through a crisis like this...

Who wants to go shopping for new running shoes with me???

Peace. Love. Train.

Taking "sweat like a pig" to a whole new level...

That was the essence of FAST last night.

I am pretty sure we've had hotter workouts at FAST before, but I think last night it was a lot more humid. And that led to excessive sweating with no way for the sweat to evaporate. The end result was a bunch of runners who looked like they had just climbed out of a swimming pool, doubled over and panting. I honestly can't remember the last time I've been so completely drenched in sweat. It paints a lovely mental picture, doesn't it?

There was nothing exceptionally difficult about the workout last - it was a very typical FAST kind of run: a 1 mile warmup into the cemetery, 5 x 1000m repeats at a hard effort with 2 minutes recovery between, and a 1 mile cooldown out of the cemetery. The 1000m repeats were effort-based, not pace-based, due to the heat and high humidity. For this, I was thankful. I felt like I was running 5k pace or faster, but in reality, I was running a bit slower.

I ran the first two repeats by myself... or so I thought. But Coach Brad quickly noticed that fellow teammates Jess and Jose were starting and finishing very close to me (Jess slightly ahead and Jose slightly behind). So he advised us to run together on the remaining three repeats, which meant a slight pace increase for me, and a slightly greater pace increase for Jose. Coach Brad asked Jose, "Does it scare you that two women are leading you into the woods in the cemetery?" He said he wasn't worried, but I could see the fear in his eyes.

We took off for our first group repeat (our third repeat altogether) and my effort level suddenly skyrocketed. Jose and I really struggled to stay with Jess - it was most difficult during the uphill portions of the repeats. But ultimately, we kept up. After that, I wasn't sure I could stick with Jess for another two repeats. Coach Brad gave us some words of encouragement and we set off for the next one. This one felt even more difficult, but somehow I found a little extra energy at the end to give a final kick and pass Jess. Coach Brad said to me "I thought you said you couldn't run with Jess again!" To which I replied "Well, I didn't run with Jess. I ran ahead of her!" But I was pretty wiped from that so I subtlely asked Jess to go easy on us for the last repeat by saying "So, you look pretty tired... You planning to run the last one as hard as the others?" She insisted she wasn't going to run as hard, so I felt a little better about running with her for one more lap.

But then she went and ran the same pace as the other repeats anyway. DANG IT JESS! You tricked us! Somehow, Jose and I managed to stick with her one more time and finish without dying, or worse, puking. So I just want to say thanks to Jess for pulling us along, and way to go Jose for sticking with us.

You will notice the run graph is missing a repeat. That's because I was dumb and pushed the Stop/Start button instead of the lap button before we started the 3rd repeat. So the 3rd 1000m is not included in the data. I assure you, it looks very much like the final two 1000m repeats. Notice the first two repeats are quite a bit slower, because I wasn't running with Jess and Jose. So that just goes to show you the power of running with other people. The 1000m laps are 4, 6, 9 and 11.


After our FAST run, we had another fun get-together to honor one of our members who is moving away and getting married (we'll miss you Kelly!). Here's our group last night, enjoying beer and Irish food at Kelleher's.


Yes, most of us were sweaty and stinky. The good news is that we were seated outdoors so the smell could dissipate more easily.

In somewhat related news, you may have noticed my new piggy logo (designed it myself, thankyouverymuch!). It is with great pleasure that I announce the opening of the Sweat Like A Pig e-store, where you can purchase all sorts of Sweat Like A Pig goodies and gear (including a running singlet!). All proceeds from sales on my Sweat Like A Pig e-store between now and October 10 (the Chicago Marathon) will be donated to the Organization for Autism Research, so now's a great time to stock up on necessary things like aprons, postage stamps, and coffee mugs.

For those of you who don't know, I am running Chicago for OAR, in honor of my good friend and fellow FASTie, Niki, who's son was recently diagnosed with autism. There's a link for my fundraising website in the sidebar ---> if you would like to read more about Aiden. You can also donate directly to OAR through my fundraising website, if you are so inclined. Every little bit helps!

Now, don't you think a piggy tote bag would go great with those shoes you're wearing today???

Peace. Love. Train.

Marathon Week Madness

Well, folks, it's finally here. Marathon week. If you look over there ----> at the countdown clock, you'll see that it's less than 5 days now. At this moment, 5 days from now, I will be done with my marathon (if all goes well, that is).

Remember my discussion on Taper Madness? Well, Marathon Week Madness is a subset of Taper Madness - a more acute, more panicky, crazier subset of Taper Madness. See, I'm still tapering. But instead of thinking about my random aches and pains, and wondering if I'm losing my ability to run long distances, I find myself thinking, instead, about race preparation, and what-if scenarios. "Oh that's a good thing! It's good to be prepared," you say. Ha! It's one thing to be prepared. It's another thing entirely to be obsessive.

The first element of Marathon Week Madness is the packing list. There's nothing unusual about making a packing list before going on a trip, right? But what if said list looks like this:

Running Gear

1. CW-X Shorts
2. CW-X Capris
3. CW-X Long tights
   
4. Runner's World Challenge short-sleeve shirt
5. Pink Nike sleeveless shirt
6. Purple Adidas tank top
   
7. Black arm sleeves
8. Injinji rainbow toe socks
9. Under Armour socks
10. Green Nike shoes
11. Grey Nike shoes
12. Large amphipod (fanny pack)
13. Small amphipod
14. Road ID necklace
    
15. Garmin watch
16. iPod armband
17. Earbuds
18. Under Armour black sports bra
19. Nike white sports bra
20. black headband
21. pink headband
22. Adidas windbreaker
23. sunglasses
24. Sharkies
25. Bonk Breaker bars
26. Oatmeal, cinnamon, raisins, bananas, and green tea bags
    
27. Lucky Harry Potter mug

Non-running stuff

1. Clothes
2. Toiletries

Might I mention that we'll be in Cincinnati for a whole weekend. I will be running for less than 10% of the total time we'll be there. And yet nearly 95% of my packing list is extremely detailed running-related gear. Well, in my defense, all the experts say you need to show up to the marathon prepared for all possible conditions!

And speaking of race conditions... that brings us to Marathon Week Madness element #2. The weather. Despite all of my best attempts, I cannot control the weather. Indeed, it seems as race day approaches, the weather controls me. I have been checking the extended forecast since late last week. It is not good. Not good at all. The entire weekend will be cloudy and rainy. Which, by itself, is not bad. In fact, that's decent marathon-running weather (as long as it doesn't rain hard). But for Sunday, race day, the forecast calls for thunderstorms. As we all learned in grade school, thunder is caused by lightning. And as we all learned in race director school, lightning equals a canceled race. My number one fear for this race is not that I won't be able to finish the distance. It's that's I won't even get the chance to finish the distance.

It is a rare occasion for a marathon to be canceled. But it does happen. Just last weekend the Nashville Country Music Marathon was ended early due to severe weather. Over half of the people who showed up to run the full marathon were unable to finish the distance, and were diverted to either the half-marathon course, or a 20 mile course. For anyone who poured their heart and soul into 4+ months of training and was told they couldn't finish, it must have been simply devastating. But I guess it's better to not finish a race than it is to get struck by lightning. Marginally. Maybe. Frankly, I think I'd be willing to take my chances with the lightning. I just hope Mother Nature cuts us a little slack this weekend so that I don't have to bust out my mad lightning-dodging skills. If the weather does cause race-day difficulties, I guess I can drown my sorrows in a Graeter's brownie sundae.

Which brings us to the final element of Marathon Week Madness: food. I think about food a lot under normal circumstances. But during marathon week, I must plan my food with great precision. When we get to Cincinnati, I will know where we are eating, what I am ordering, and when we are eating for pretty much every meal. Obsessive? Maybe. But food is fuel and I intend to fuel up on high-octane stuff before my race. I have mapped out all the restaurants and how to get to them from the hotel. I have looked at menus online to decide what I will be ordering. And perhaps most importantly, I have decided what indulgent and delicious meal to have for the post-race victory dinner. That particular meal is not about high-octane fuel, but about gluttony, pure and simple. After all, it wouldn't be a Flying Pig marathon without an appropriate post-race pig out. *oink oink*

But I can't really think about the post-race meal just yet, because I have a bunch more stuff I still need to add to the Running Gear section of my packing list....

Peace. Love. Train.

"Just keep turning right", he said. "It's easy", he said..

Uh huh. Right. Those were the famous last words from our fearless leader last night. And then half the team proceeded to get lost and confused.

I suppose I should provide a little background info. Thursday night was, as always, the Hill Of Death. Coach Brad started us out with a 2 mile warm-up to the cemetery and back to the bottom of the Hill Of Death. No problem. Then he told us to run the hill twice, but instead of coming back down the hill after the second time, to stop at the top to await further instruction.

The hill was torturous, scary, and painful. As usual. But, I must say, that now that we've been running the Hill Of Death for 3 weeks, I find it becoming more doable. Not easy. Never easy. But I can get up it a little bit faster now. Just a little bit. I do believe I'm *cue angels singing* getting stronger. And so continues my love-hate relationship with the Hill Of Death.

As I was instructed by fearless leader Brad, I stopped at the top of my second trek up the hill and awaited further instruction. When I say "awaited further instruction", I mean "doubled over and gasped for air while trying to hold onto consciousness long enough to understand Brad's instruction". We were to run a couple of loops in Upper Glen Oak Park, where we've never run before as a group.

Now, I pride myself on not being directionally challenged. I am actually pretty darn good with directions. So when Coach Brad explained to us where to run, and then said "It's easy, you'll figure it out", I believed him. He very clearly said (and I have witnesses), "You will only turn left twice - once at the beginning and once at the end. Everything in between, you will keep turning right!" He said it would end up being about 2 miles.

Being the obedient runner that I am, I did exactly as he said. And I realized very early on that something wasn't quite right. So I did what anyone in my situation would do: I stopped and scratched my head in utter confusion. Soon enough, some other teammates, who were familiar with Upper Glen Oak Park, caught up with me and pointed me in the right direction. I ended up making two wrong right turns before I finally figured out what it was coach wanted us to do. And after that, it was smooth sailing.

During these loops of Upper Glen Oak park, we were supposed to do a few pick-ups at about 5k pace. I don't think I really achieved that - I was too flustered from the whole "Where the hell am I supposed to be going?" fiasco. Although if you look at my speed graph below, there are a few spikes in pace during the last 2 miles. So maybe I didn't do as poorly as I thought.


When I got back down to the bottom of the hill, I found out that I was not the only one who had gotten confused about where to go in Upper Glen Oak Park. Indeed, several others had been led astray by the seemingly simple instructions of "just keep turning right", and ended up running around aimlessly in order to get to 2 miles. In the end, though, it was all good. It doesn't really matter where you run, as long as you run, right?

In other news, I got a new pair of running shoes yesterday. They got broken in on the Hill Of Death - poor things probably didn't know what hit 'em. My old LunarGlides have accumulated over 350 miles, so it's time to start phasing them out. They have served me well. The new LunarGlides are funky and fresh (just like me, right?) - perfect for springtime!


Peace. Love. Train.