It’s always great – it’s always an affirmation that you’re doing something right when the miles seem to just click away, or workouts go really well.  It’s easy to be confident going into a race when nothing has gone poorly yet.  But with one’s enthusiasm to stay optimistic sometimes comes doubt and overeagerness.

Today was just not my day.  Some runners I train with in Seattle – a group called ChuckIt Running – went up north to a town called Mount Vernon in Washington to race a half marathon.  The course was mostly in the rural parts of town – the farm land was flat, though going into and out of the downtown area involved hills.  I viewed Nookachamps as a run to gauge my starting fitness for a training cycle that will pear at the Eugene Marathon the last weekend in April.  In many ways it reminded me of the Boston Prep 16 Miler I had done three years ago – relatively hilly, cold and far enough from my race that I could evaluate where I was and what I had to do.  I thought I had it in me to run 7 minute pace and even get under 1:31 for the first time.  My tempos ont he treadmill were going well; my mileage build up was high and tough; my consistency was coming back.  

Not knowing the course, however, the first two miles (the second one especially) were an agressive downhill that didn’t fit well into my plans.  My legs, which had been tight, didn’t handle the descent as well as I thought they could.  My shoes, which I had worn once the week before on a long 18 miler felt stiff, and I didn’t warm up because I thought I could sufficiently stretch and wanted to avoid the rain, which was coming in waves of varying strength.  My cardio was completely fine, but every step I took landed flat – and hurt.  I thought I could ease up and warm up, but it didn’t happen and at the third mile I had to weighed the options of continuing on (and possibly blowing out my shins) or stopping and stretching.

I chose to stop, and with that decision, I had dropped my expectations of what the race would be about.  I pulled up to a guard rail along an overpass which we crossed, tried to force my shins to relax by stretching up against it, and picked it back up again, tentatively.  That third mile took nearly 9 minutes.  After I stopped, I tried to play it conservatively, in the back of my mind hoping that I could catch some of the people I let go, but refusing to look at my watch in fear that my disappointment would get the better of me.  I wanted to get my splits down, but was also afraid that my shins wouldn’t cooperate, and relaxed a little.  I would end up running most of the rest of the race by myself, my pace a little quicker than those who I had come by while I stretched.

The middle six miles of the race were relatively flat, along curving country roads.  The stretching seemed to help, and as I slowly, slowly, SLOWLY began to warm up, I began pulling myself together to bring my pace down.  I hit negative splits until the the climb back for the elevation I lost at mile 11, and I was never passed after having picked back up.  Here are my splits. 

1. 7:03
2. 7:23
3. 8:46
4. 7:44
5. 7:35
6. 7:33
7. 7:33
8. 7:08
9. 7:08
10. 7:03
11. 7:55
12. 7:36
13. 7:15 + 1:14

My final average pace was 7:35, and my final time was 1:38:57 on my watch.  I’m disappointed that I couldn’t race for a PR today, but I realize that some days its just not in the cards.  The tough first few miles taught me – or perhaps reminded me – that I need to warm up regardless of the weather outside.  It was humbling to confidently declare that I would break 1:31 only run a pace over 35 seconds what I had hoped.  

I’m still trying to be positive about my run by looking at it as a solid training run that I wouldn’t have done otherwise.  I take solace in knowing that I was getting faster as the run went on, except for the hilly last couple of miles.  The first 6.5 miles and second 6.5 miles had a 2 minute negative split: 49:51/47:52, and I think it’s shows I’m thinking to have stopped and stretched rather than kept slogging out slow and painful miles.  I also take it as a positive that I wanted more road to cover.  As I said, I hadn’t been passed after I had stopped and stretched and I had been accelerating at the finish; I wish I had those first three miles back at the end to pull myself back even more.

I’m choosing to remain positive about the run today, but even this is mixed with doubt.  Am I just fooling myself and not addressing the issues I should be looking at?  Would it be better to have more emotional investment in the activity; would that help me look at each race honestly or drive my training better?  Am I building too much too fast?  I have 15 weeks until Eugene, and I think that to perform to my best on that day I will need to evaluate my attitude and find a balance between positivity and investment.

Instead, I hit the road on Sunday for an attempted 15 miles.  I headed down my usual route, thinking I would do 5 out, 5 back and then another 5 on the track.  The day was feeling good though, and my shins seems to be doing better, so at the 5 mile mark, I opted instead to try to it all out and back.  I pace was pretty quick to the half way point, at about 7:48 pace, but I was drained afterwards and ended up easing up after 12 miles for an overall pace of about 7:52.  The uphill return plus my fatigue slowed me down a bit, but, perhaps most of all, I could tell I didn’t have store of energy from the night before.  Coming back from a longer period of casual running, I forget about the little things that permeate the life of a runner.  Last year, there would have been no way I would have let myself go to bed on a dinner of a lamb burger with a side salad from the Pub, so I guess I must be more vigilant.

In the mean time, I am trying to figure out my best option for a make up race.  Right now I am leading towards the Sound to Narrows Run, a nice 12k run down in Tacoma.  The price is right ($35 that day), I can register on site, and it’s well attended.  There’s no chance of winning, but I don’t remember when that became something I cared about.  It would be part of a 17 mile day, so I would want to do about 10 miles of jogging – perhaps 4 in a warm-up/cool-down scenario – but I don’t think that should be a problem.  The course is a bit hilly, but I think my runs on Bainbridge should help me with that…

Like I said, today I trained on the elliptical for what seemed like way too long (a little under 50 minutes) and the machine read out was only 4 miles.  I followed it with 20 minutes of lifting that I promised myself I would do to try to get some core strength back and avoid injury.  I’ve also been feeling heavy lately and have been generally unhappy with the couple extra pounds that have been on me.  I need to figure out a way to stop gorging on food all the time!

So after stalling pretty much all day, and being distracted by a certain BF who is supposed to be training for a triathlon himself, I finally got out and hit the roads for a long run that was intended to be twelve to fourteen miles.  I’m using my new shoes, which have this killer electric green on them, but the coolness factor aside, I’ve also forgotten what it’s like to wear the Asics GTs.  Now I have a bit of a blister on my arc, and I imagine it will stay there until I get used to the shoes.  Regardless, the first 6 were a bit of a labor, especially the last half, since it was pretty much all uphill.  The last seven miles (I ended up doing 13, obviously) were all on the track, a tactic I picked up in the fall, which I think I might stick to, for the benefit of keeping pace.  As it turned out, my over all pace was about a 7:27, with water breaks about every 3-4 miles.  I’m going to try to eliminate those by convincing said BF to provide water support while training on his bicycle.

Supposedly I have a 10K coming up in a couple weeks, the Olympic Medical Center 10K, one of the distances that is part of the North Olympic Discovery Marathon.  I’m actually a bit torn about this race, because I would rather be doing the half marathon that’s going on at the same time, but they are sold out.  That’s never really stopped me before, and I might actually end up doing that, but there would be definite pros to running the 10K.  For one, when I’m out running a race, I’ll be temped to PR regardless of the condition.  Well, that is to say, I’d feel much better if I could try to PR.  Of course, my fitness level isn’t at the level it needs to be to run sub-1:30 in two weeks, but I might be fit enough to try for a solid sub-42 in a 10k (I will admit, though, that I’ve never raced a 10k).  The shorter distance would also help me get speed work (and, ostensibly, strenght)  back into my regiment.  The half, though, is of interest because I would be taking care of my long run this way, and I hear it is a gorgeous run.  Add to that the fact that there were over 1000 runners in previous years in the half, as compared to less than 200 in the 10k, and it makes the decision hard.  Looking at past years’ results in the 10K, too, it would seem that there weren’t very many people running under 45 minutes, which would mean that I would be running alone, or with very few people.  So, despite that length of rambling, I don’t know what to do.

Something I have decided to do, though, it to try to incorporate lifting into my workouts to get my strength back.  My good friend David Nutt reminded me that just 20 minutes a couple times a week could have a significant impact, so I will try that the next time I am in the gym.

4 days without coffee and I find myself falling down every now and then.  Not face-planting or anything like that…more like walking into something and stumbling over.  And I find it hard to remember people’s names.  It doesn’t seem to have affected my running though, as today I was able to do a 2 x 2.5 mile with 10 minutes active rest in between at a pretty decent clip (6:37/mi about).

I finished my run a bit worn out, but still happy and hopeful that I was on my way to the fitness level I was at six months ago.  I am concerned that I’m losing weight!

Well, I am trying to start this blog up again to see if it helps me stay on track with my running.  The fact that I signed up to run Berlin a bit spontaneously – though I had been debating for a while, and was just waiting to see if I would be in Europe for school for the two weeks prior – has lit a fire under me again.  I think?  We will see.

I will also try to write about the past few – eight? – months in regards to my running.  Perhaps some perspective is what I needed.  On a positive note though, and I think there will be a lot of slow reveals in regards to the past months, though I have not yet reached my goal of qualifying for Boston, my time at the California International Marathon was a significant breakthrough at 3:14:26!  Surely I can knock off three and a half minutes this next go around.

The whole week isn’t even going to break 40 miles, and though I had originally thought I would keep my mileage where I was last week by increasing my recovery miles, I’ve opted to rest instead and gear up for this half marathon I’m doing on Labor Day.  That means, according to this workout schedule, no tempo tomorrow (according to the aforementioned plan), a marathon paced 6 on Thursday, then a shorter long run.  I think I’m going to opt to do a little longer easy run tomorrow instead, and something closer to 10 on Saturday (not 12 like the plan calls for) and off on Sunday.  After that though, as time starts to disappear before the race in December, I’m going to hunker down and build my mileage, in an effort to keep my training my up before school starts.

I keep talking and talking about this, but I really think I need to start lifting again.  I bring this up because I wonder if the soreness in my body is really founded in my overall muscle loss.  The past couple years I’ve been able to coast on the strength held over from my rowing career, but I think most of it has sadly disappeared, making myself more prone to injury.  School doesn’t start until the end of the month, so I’m going to have to figure out a way to get my strength back in the mean time, especially with a partial conversion to these lightweight trainers.

Oh, and I’m going to start doing yoga as soon as I can find a place to buy a yoga mat nearby.

On Thursday I was slated to do a 6 mile marathon pace run (marathon pace being 7:12, apparently), but cut it in half with 3 miles at about a 7:15 pace, around Battle Point Park.  Though I was happy with the pace, it was a hard effort, and I was still annoyed that I hadn’t gotten out on the roads earlier.  Instead, I needed to cut my workout short to attend a party in Seattle, and settled for the 3 quick miles plus a one mile cool down.  Hopefully, this coming week I will be able to add to the distance of my pace run, just I hope to add distance to my tempo pieces.

To make up for short workout on Thursday, I resolved to do an easy four miles Friday, even though I had a long 18 miles to figure out on Saturday.  Like I said, the running club out here – Bainbridge Runners – planned a trip out to Olympic National Park to hike/run the High Divide, a 18-19 mile trek, but I don’t really feel comfortable crashing the party since I haven’t met any of them yet.  (Plus, I wanted to actively run the whole 18 miles).

I woke up on Saturday somewhere between 7 and 7:30, resolved to head out early and get my 18 miles done early.  I had gotten fully dressed, laid out two water stops on the out-and-back trip (so 4 stops in all) and headed out with my water belt.  I almost didn’t make it out though, seeing the rain when I opened the door and going so far as to strip off my top layer, make it back into the bedroom, and almost crawl back into bed.  The fact that I had already slicked up gave me pause enough to check out the bedroom window, and make it back out, figuring that I would have to get used to running in the rain eventually.  So, after grabbing my bright orange running jacket, I headed out and hit the roads, where the rain stopped within 15 minutes.

The fifteen minutes of rain were enough to make it uncomfortable once it stopped, and seeing the mountain range off in the distance I knew that the marine layer that the area is so famous for would break, and that I made the right decision by heading out early.  The pace and my run felt good, hitting the first 10 in (slightly) under 8 minute pace.  After the turn around there was only ~8 miles left, and I had been working on trying to stay calm and relaxed during the first 60% or so.  By thinking of it as a warm up/easier run, I could gear up for the second part, and hopefully push into the run.  Though it was slightly downhill overall, there were some tough ones none the less, and I am still unsure how my pace and effort would correspond on flatter terrain.  The run back varied, but I think also felt good, though my pace might have been slower (it was a cumulative uphill).  I think I succeeded in really trying to embrace the fight of the longer run, and increased my efforts in the later miles (one stretch of 3.5 miles even hit pace at 7:50ish despite in uphill climb).

Overall, my feelings about the week and the long run specifically is that I am happy to be getting back in the routine, but slightly annoyed that my paces and numbers aren’t where they used to be.  There’s just no telling how these hilly miles correspond to the miles I’ll actually run in a race, but there are advantages, at least, of training on them, as CIM has a mostly rolling downhill course.  I will, though, be getting a taste of what type of shape I’m in when I hit the Super Jock N Jill Half on September 7, Labor day.  The course seems pretty level, with one hill about half way through the course, and I’m thinking of setting a soft goal of 1:35, or something like a 7:35 pace.  We’ll see about that.

I’m also happy with the augmented schedule that Brian has me following.  Though I am slowly transitioning to get fully onto the workouts, a major change that I wondered about were the two-a-days.  Though they consist of an easy jog int he morning and a harder workout the same evening, I wasn’t sure how it would feel.  Happily, I seem to be able to handle the additional miles, and I even enjoy the routine and feel of the double workout.

Today I capped off the week with an easy 4 mile evening jog.  I had biked 30 miles in the morning at Bike for Pie, a fun ride around the island that included tow pie stops.  The 30 miles included the 20 miles course (though it was purported to be 30, then 25 miles) and the distance to and from home.  The ride really loosened up my legs, and the 4 miles, which were slow, felt good.

Finally, I bought a pair of lightweight trainers, after grudgingly deciding it was time to change up my footwear for experimentation.  I was this close to picking up a pair of Asics Gel DS Trainer 14s, and even promised myself them if I hit the 18 well (which I think I did and I still might buy them) but convinced myself to buy a pair of New Balance 903s on sale for $40 since the new 904s have been released.  I would use the lightweight trainers for shorter runs and my tempo workouts while keeping the GT-2140s that I have been attached to for longer runs.  I actually went out int he 903s today, and they felt good and super light, but at 8 ounces (!) I wonder if they have enough support for much hard running.  Even know my shin is a little sore, and I wonder if using them (or any lightweight trainer) would lend too much impact.

So, next week I hope to continue my quest to get back into shape and get faster.  Brian’s schedule actually corresponds with the half marathon very well (we had me only running 13 next weekend) but I think I’m going to try to keep my miles about where they are at now, but with a higher percentage of easy runs.

I tried to make up for the fact that I didn’t do intervals Monday evening by trying to balance my run on Tuesday (a 6 mile out and back) with recovery and effort.  It would seem a bit difficult, but it ended up being just a little faster than the pace Brian has listed as my easy/recovery run pace.  At the same time though, it’s hard to gauge how much recover my legs are really getting: I clocked in at about 8:08/mile (7:55 out and down, 8:20ish back and up), but my effort felt harder than I would suspect.  I do understand the benefit of running on a course with rolling hills, but I wonder how much it will prepare me for a race that I think of as mostly flat (ok, not really – I need to do some downhill training).

A part of me still wants to run the rolling hills (what?) despite the fact that I’m planning on running a downhill course.  I think I’m starting to get back into running for fun, and even though my goals are to improve my times and speed, a big part of me understands that I might be able to do that if I stopped thinking so much about concrete numbers, and more about improving how I feel while I’m out.

Which is why I’m happy with the past few runs.  After Tuesday’s moderate-easy 6 mile run, I found it in me to do both of my planned runs today (Wednesday).  The first was an easy 4 mile jog in the morning (which was really noon) while the second was some tempo work at the local high school.  After the first run, I remembered to do some stretching, which seemed to help prepare my legs for the second run later that night.  I’m trying to slowly readjust my workouts to match Brian’s plan for me, and tried to do some tempo work.  I also recalled Gretchen’s workouts that seemed to be aligned to the same goals, so I wanted to do something close to what she had us do, and remembered a 2X2mi piece at 10K pace with 10 min rest in between.  I modified the workout (during the first piece) and ended up doing 2 x 1.5 mi at 10K pace (6:52 and 6:48) and resolved to add another lap to each piece in that workout for a while and work on getting the pace down to at least what it was in the spring (6:40).

So, overall, I think my spirits are improving when it comes to my running.  I’m realizing that I would like to add both yoga and lifting to improve my flexibility and core strength, respectively.  I’ve been looking into some yoga classes around the island to try to get a head start before school starts (and I’ll just be able to take a class on campus for cheaper).

Anyway, the in case you were wondering what the title of this post had to do with anything, I submit the Jason Nevins’ remix of Blake Lewis’ Sad Song, which I have started listening to quite a bit while running: