All hail the PlankMaster!

That would be me. *beams proudly*

It will not be necessary for you to kiss my feet. Bowing and scraping will not be required. You don't even have to call me "your highness". Not that I would complain if you did...

Just hand over the Starbucks gift card. *looks expectantly at Coach Bekah*

Maybe now's a good time to explain how I became The PlankMaster. You see, last night's FAST workout was just like any other FAST workout.

We did our warmup to the cemetery and back, and then we headed to the track for our workout. The workout consisted of 4 x (400m half-marathon pace, 100m recovery, 400m half-marathon pace, 100m recovery, 400m half-marathon pace, 100m recovery, 400m 5k pace, 100m recovery). Got all that? Basically, it was half-marathon pace 400m repeats with a 5k pace one thrown in every 4th repeat. Fairly tame as FAST workouts go... although my fellow FASTies were not so lucky - the 5k and 10k runners in the group, which was everyone except me, had to run their 400m repeats much faster.

This would have been a great workout if not for two things: (1) the sun was hot and beating down on me relentlessly and (2) my Garmin was dying quickly. The heat really started to get to me after the 2nd set of 400's - I felt overheated and lethargic. I made it through a 3rd set, but I just didn't see myself being able to do a 4th set. And then as I was stopping for water after the 3rd set, my Garmin died completely. I took that as a sign to stop my workout. I had logged 5 miles for the night, and that was okay with me. And after cooling down a bit and getting some water, I felt much better. I cheered on the rest of my FAST teammates as they finished their workouts and watched my husband run the fastest 400m of the entire night (4:56 pace!).

My workout data - the 400m fast laps highlighted in blue (lap 19 includes a recovery jog - I forgot to push the lap button)

Then the fun really started. Coach Bekah had a good (read: torturous) core workout planned for us. We all got out our blankets and beach towels and spread out on the grass for some crunches and bridges and all that fun stuff. And then she presented a challenge. Whoever could hold a plank the longest would receive a $5 Starbucks gift card....

And eternal glory.

*rubbing hands together* Oooooo, I loves me some eternal glory!

And so the timer started and we all got into plank position. Everyone was looking strong. The competition was fierce.

30 seconds ticked by...

...and then 45

And Coach Brad, who had so generously volunteered to be the timekeeper (I think he did this mostly to avoid having to hold his plank for longer than about 30 seconds), told us "You've only been holding for 10 seconds!" And so I glared at him in an evil sort of way.

And then people started dropping off. Niki. Tim. Kristi. Kris. Caleb. They were dropping like flies!

Soon it was down to me, Kelly and my husband, Matt. We had been holding for over 2 minutes.

Kelly was looking visibly tired. Matt was starting to shake. I gave them both dirty looks and willed them fail.

Soon, Kelly gave out.

It was down to me and my husband. The competition had suddenly become much more significant. Whoever won this would be King or Queen of the house. Whoever won the Starbucks gift card would not be sharing it with the other. This was a competition for eternal glory and SO MUCH MORE.

I looked back at Matt, who was shaking like crazy, but still managing to give me dirty looks. Hmph. At least I wasn't shaking. No, I was steady. Calm. Unruffled. I could wait there all day if I had to.

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

And then he went down.

And victory was mine!

Turns out I had held my plank for nearly 3 minutes. And I felt the effects of that immediately as I tried to stand up and felt the extreme tightness in my lower back. Yeeeeeouch! Small price to pay for eternal glory, right?

As for my husband... he has challenged me to a rematch with side planks. I'm not as good at those, so it's quite possible he will claim victory in that competition. And then we will just have to agree that we are equally awesome and celebrate by splitting a Frappuccino and a blueberry scone at Starbucks.

All Hail The PlankMaster!

Peace. Love. Train.

Alright... Who fartleked?

Oh. Wait. That was me. Sorry about that. But it was only because my coach told me to! And it wasn't just me. All of my teammates were fartleking too. I swear!

Okay, I'm done with the stupid fartlek jokes. For now.

Yesterday in central Illinois was a real treat - we got hit with some major thunderstorms which, aside from soaking all the upholstery in my car because I left my windows cracked, had the pleasant effect of cooling things down around here. So instead of the predicted 90° at FAST time, it was only about 76°. Of course, it was also 249% humidity, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

We had a huge turnout for FAST last night, which was quite a difference from last Thursday when only five people showed up. Coach Brad's eyes were alight with anticipation and evil. He definitely had something "fun" planned for us. And when he says "We're going to have fun", what he means is that HE'S going to have fun watching us suffer.

Coach Brad has been doing this sneaky little thing lately where he tells us to do our warmup into the cemetery and then he will tell us what the workout is. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it disturbing that the workouts are being kept secret until we're in the cemetery? Of course, that didn't stop us from doing what he told us. But the air was thick with a sense of foreboding. Well, that and humidity.

When we arrived in the cemetery he told us flat out "We will not be running 800m repeats up that hill", pointing to the Hill Of Devastation.

"We will not be doing any repeats up that hill." Well, that was a relief. But I just knew he had something equally sinister up his sleeve. We weren't going to get off easy.

"Tonight we will be exploring the cemetery with a timed fartlek." Ah ha! I knew it! And that meant that even though we wouldn't be running up the Hill of Devastation, we would be doing plenty of other hills. This cemetery, as I have mentioned time and time again, is one of the hilliest places in Peoria. This would indeed be "fun".

We were instructed to run 7 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy (repeat 3-4 times for a total of 30-40 minutes) through the cemetery. So there would be a nice mix of speed work and hill work, and in some cases, speedwork on hills.

This was a tough workout. The humidity was insane. It felt like 249% humidity before we started running, but once we started running, it felt like 2300% humidity. The sweat was just pouring off of me, but the cooling effect was nil. There was very little breeze. Interestingly enough though, once I got going, I felt relatively strong. Maybe because the weather was still way better than during my Monday run?

So after running around the crazy cemetery roads (note the convoluted map below), everyone gathered together at our usual meeting spot and Coach told us he had a "surprise" for us. If his definition of "surprise" was anything like his definition of "fun", this was going to involve more sweating.

One by one, he asked each of us how fast we thought we could run a mile right that moment. And he wrote it down. Uh oh. At first I told him 8:45. But after thinking about it some more, and considering the humidity and how tired I was from the workout, I changed it to 9:15. I would come to regret that choice later.

Here's why: We were going to do a pacing exercise where we would all run a mile, and Coach would time us and whoever came closest to their predicted time would win a Starbucks gift card. And as it turned out, I would have been closer (close enough to win) to my predicted time had I stuck with the 8:45 prediction. I ended up running it in 8:54, which was 21 seconds off of my 9:15 prediction (but only 9 seconds off of 8:45!).

But huge congrats to fellow FASTie, Cathy, who was the best predictor and won the Starbucks loot!

So without any further ado, here's the workout graph. The fartlek hard intervals are highlighted in blue. The elevation chart is positively atrocious - please take a moment to appreciate it. We climbed a total of almost 300 feet last night. How's that for "fun" and "surprise"?


I wonder what sort of "fun" and "surprises" the coaches will have for us on Thursday...

Peace. Love. Train.

How To Be A Crazy Runner, Part One

Crazy Runners. You know the ones I'm talking about. The ones who are out there running in the most adverse conditions, seemingly oblivious to it all. They take the United States Postal Service motto to heart, as if it were there own personal motto: Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. I know this because not only do I run with crazy runners, but I am a crazy runner, and I've been known to run in all sorts of less-than-ideal conditions.

There are some (okay, many) who would ask "Why bother? Why not just hop on a treadmill when the weather is bad?" There are times when a treadmill or indoor track is a better choice - when the weather is dangerous (lightning, heavy storms, extreme heat or cold), or when the roads are bad (heavy snow, plowed snow along the sides of the road, or ice on the roads). But for the most part, it's really preferable to run outside in all sorts of conditions for the simple reason that whatever race(s) you're training for will not be postponed or canceled for anything short of dangerous conditions. To be well-prepared for anything that is thrown at you on race day, it is important to train in all sorts of conditions. Even if you don't run races, there are training benefits to running in adverse conditions - it can provide an increased training effect, similar to running at high altitude.

Given that the temperatures here in lovely Central Illinois have soared to over 90°F in the last few days, I think now is an appropriate time to talk about running in the heat and humidity of summer. These are difficult conditions to run in, no doubt about it. And there's a fine line between being just a crazy runner and being a crazy runner with heat stroke, so it's especially important to train smart when it's hot.

Let's start with a discussion on what happens to the body when it's hot and humid. As soon as you step outside, your body's core temperature begins to rise. Then as you start to run, your temperature increases more rapidly, and your body responds by increasing blood flow to your extremities and skin, carrying heat away from your core. This means there's an increase in heart rate over and above your normal exercising heart rate. Since blood is being diverted to your skin, that means less blood is reaching your working muscles, so they aren't able to work as hard. Additionally, you begin to sweat sooner and in greater quantity, quickly depleting your fluid stores and expelling electrolytes from your body. As you lose fluid through sweating, your blood becomes more viscous (thicker) and therefore more difficult to pump, so your heart must work even harder. The net effect of all of this is that, all things being equal (pace, route, elevation changes, etc), your run will feel significantly more difficult on a hot day than on a cool day.

Let's look at an example of this. I run 3 miles every Monday afternoon. It's an easy run (or at least it's supposed to be easy), and I generally don't worry about my pace so much as keeping my heart rate low. Let's compare the run data from my 3 mile run yesterday (when it was 95° with the humidity factored in) and a week prior to that (when it was 60 and cloudy).

May 17, 3-mile run
Weather: 60°F, cloudy, occasional light drizzle
Average Pace: 11:06
Average Heart Rate: 152

May 24, 3-mile run
Weather: 91°F, sunny, humid, heat index of 95°F
Average Pace: 11:24
Average Heart Rate: 162

As you can see, when it was hot, I ran slower and with a higher average heart rate than during the cooler run a week ago. I typically try to keep my heart rate under 155 for easy runs. Yesterday, I just couldn't seem to do that. I could have slowed down even more, but I was torn between wanting to keep my heart rate down and wanting to get the run over with faster. So I allowed myself to run at a slightly more elevated heart rate just so I could get back to my wonderfully air-conditioned house sooner. Even though it was only a 3-mile run, it was exceptionally difficult, especially the last mile or so. The good news is that the more I run in the heat, the easier it will get. Maybe "easy" isn't the right word. Running in the heat is never really easy. But it becomes more tolerable as the body adapts (and the body does adapt over time, by increasing sweat production, decreasing electrolyte concentrations in sweat, and retaining more water over the course of the day in anticipation of hot-weather activity).

And there are steps runners can take to ensure a safer and more comfortable hot-weather run. Here are some tips I've gathered from various sources:

1. Hydrate! This should be pretty obvious, but not only is important to hydrate while running, it's important to be well-hydrated before you even set foot out the door to run. It's also important to replace electrolytes, particularly on long runs. Sports drinks, gels, chews, etc are all good ways to do this.

2. Go easy. Especially the first few times you run in the heat. Acclimating to hot-weather running is gradual, so it's important to ease into it. This will probably mean slowing down, perhaps substantially. If you monitor your heart rate, focus on staying below a certain heart rate rather than focusing on pace. Don't go out on the first 90° day of summer and do a 6-mile tempo run with 6 sets of strides. In fact, super-hard workouts like this should be avoided completely on hot days. If you must do speedwork, go indoors. The risks of running hard in the heat outweigh the benefits.

3. Dress appropriately. Wear lightweight, loose-fitting running clothes made of moisture-wicking technical fabrics. Remember, cotton is the devil. Avoid it. Wear a wide-bill hat or visor to protect your face, and sunglasses to protect your eyes.

4. Wear sunscreen. Studies have shown that runners logging as few as 25 miles per week are more likely than non-runners to develop malignant skin cancers. This is likely because a lot of us think we are immune to such things (I run marathons! I can't get cancer!) and fail to protect our skin from sun damage. Olympic marathoner Deena Kastor has been diagnosed with malignant melanoma three times - and as much as I'd like to be like Deena Kastor, this is one way I do not! So let's all vow to slather it on. Sunscreen has an added benefit in that it provides a mild evaporative cooling effect - every little bit helps when it's really hot outside! Use a sweatproof sunscreen designed for athletes, such as Bullfrog Marathon Mist.

5. Run early in the morning or later in the evening. It may still be hot, but it may be more bearable if the sun isn't beating down on you. In the morning, it is usually cooler, but more humid. In the evening, it's generally hotter, but less humid. It's not always practical to run at these times, but I think it's particularly important during long runs to avoid the hottest time of day (typically around 4pm) and the peak hours for UV exposure (11am - 2pm).

6. Bring water, but not just for drinking. Pouring water over your head, face and neck during a hot run can bring immediate and wonderful relief. Try it. You'll thank me.


With all that said, it's most important to listen to your body. As you become acclimated to the heat, you may be able to dial up the intensity or pace of your runs, but always be mindful of your hydration, sweat rate, respiration, heart rate, etc.

As for How To Be A Crazy Runner, Parts Two and beyond... well, at some point, I suppose I'll address the other facets of the Postal creed: rain, snow and gloom of night. But I don't think I'll be talking about running in the snow anytime soon. *fans self vigorously*

Peace. Love. Train.