Just another Saturday Long Run

Another 13.1 miles is done courtesy of the Suntrust National Half Marathon. I didn't have high expectations for the race and the goal was just to motor through. Mission accomplished. Two hours and twenty-two minutes later I was smiling to myself as I crossed the finish line. I was again reminded that I am healthy and alive. Not bad for a Saturday morning.

The first half of the race was spectacular and much faster than I anticipated. As luck would have it, I hooked up with one of the marathon coaches who was aiming for a 10:30/pace for his marathon. As we chatted away we were regularly clocking much faster paces --- a 9 and a couple 10's.

By mile 6 I decided I (or my calves decided for me) that I needed to pull back and as a result my running buddy and I parted ways. I think this may have been a mistake because without someone spurring me along, I started to fade.

As I rounded the turn and headed down North Capital I had vivid memories of my injury at last year's race at this point. As a result, I slowed down and took it easy.

Around mile 10/11 I stopped to stretch my left calf which has been bugging me this season. It wasn't until later that I realized my time on North Capital and stopping to stretch really took much longer than I imagined. Oops!

The good news is that I finished and saw so many runny buddies do the same.

Damn Dentists

Over the last few days I've been struggling with dental pain. It hasn't been consistent, but seems to rear it's painful head around 4:00 pm each day and gets progressively worse throughout the evening. Though I went back for an adjustment that at the time it helped...for whatever reason it still hurts. As a result, looks like I'm heading back to the dentist.

Since the dentists doesn't do house calls I decided a little aqua therapy might help keep my mind off the pain. Thankfully the hour at the pool distracted me, but now that I'm on the metro I am again in pain. So freaking annoying and not the place I wanna be with the half marathon happening this weekend.

Here's to praying that the dentist finds and fixes the problem tomorrow.

Long Weekends

What a great time to plan a 3-day weekend. Since I haven't taken much vacation over the last 10 months (my vacation accrues May to May) due to work demands, I need to burn some days before May...and last Friday was the perfect day off. Temps were in the upper 60's/low 70's. Lovely.

This was going to be a weekend crammed with activities --- social, family and training.
The only bummer was that the dental work I had done on Thursday morning really was bothering me. It aches and feels really sore. There's only so many pills you can pop. I'm going to have to go back to the dentist this week to make sure everything is ok. If you can't tell...I'm dreading it...but this pain is pretty bad...and I can't take it anymore

FRIDAY
Friday was all about being outside, family and errands.

I started off with a 20 mile bike ride at Hains Point. That's where the pix was taken. Man, I really love riding in circles. :) Bonus that I ran into a fellow Snappler.

I next headed out to run some errands, including going to look at a Felt B16 tri bike at Revolution Cycles in Rockville. What a beauty. Was surprisingly comfortable to ride in the different set up. I think I rode it around so long they actually started to worry I wasn't going to come back. I also checked out a new Trek --- it was way more expensive and surprisingly not as comfortable as the Felt. Lots to think about --- like do I need this and should I look at the Cervelo P2 b/c it's the comparable ride. Luckily there's no real rush.

I finished up the day at Mom's.

SATURDAY
Today was the beginning of the taper run before next week's Suntrust Half Marathon. We were scheduled to run 8 miles. After the prior day's bike ride I cut my run down to just under 7 miles.

After the run I headed over to a friend's baby shower. It's always nice to see friends you haven't seen in awhile and especially for such a wonderful occasion. My friend looked fabulous and so incredibly happy. I'm looking forward to meeting her new daughter when she arrives in late April.

By the time the party was over I was officially moving into "I haven't had a nap and therefore I'm getting grumpy" mode. Watch out! Luckily I was able to grab a 2 hour nap before meeting folks for dinner and a movie.

SUNDAY
After leisurely making my way to Wilson in the morning, I somehow was motivated to knock out my laps. I again was reminded that I am way too lazy to train w/o someone pushing me and have to pair up with a real workout plan...that I actually follow. If I use my old workouts from college as a comparison --- I really am a super slacker. I'm missing the good stress those workouts gave me. Man...I miss my old training partner and how we used to annihilate our sets. Red faced and heart pumping was the theme. :(

After swimming I headed out for brunch with some running folks. What a lovely day to sit outside, catch some rays, chow down on breakfast foods and enjoy some good company.

When I got home my Cannondale was calling my name so I went out for ride through the trails by my house.

What a nice way to end the weekend.
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I just can't catch a break

Seriously...seriously...it's like I'm cursed.  After Miami and after some tough training runs this season I thought that it could not have gotten much worse.  Unfortunately it can.  I ended up getting hurt at mile 10.5/11 and it was literally a mess from there.  I almost DNF-ed.  I somehow pulled through, literally at times limping along, and found some way to run the last half mile.  Likely was not a good idea to push forward, but I was so freaking pissed that I dug down to just finish as strong as I could.  I was happy to have passed two people in the last leg and finish with some pride.  

Surprisingly I finished in 2:22:05; 10:54 min/mile.  Still better than my times in Baltimore last year and this year at Miami.  Both those races were in the 2:30:00 zone.

Let's start with the good stuff ---

I started off with a good dinner and good night's sleep.  I woke up with a ton of time and got ready for the race.  I was high on adrenaline and was fully hydrated.  I got to the race really early and was mentally ready to get rolling.

The starting line was a bit of a mess with folks jammed up against barricades.   Our group jammed through a break and jumped into the crowd.  Within minutes we were off!

I took the excellent race advice from the tri team.  It was all going according to plan.  I was careful not to go out too hard and my game plan was to reel them in toward the end.  Erin and I decided to stick together and motor through for what we anticipated would be a strong finish.

Miles 1-4:  The first leg was pretty steady ---- 10:28, 10:05 and 9:50 min/mile.  We both pulled back to ease into the race and let folks smoke past us.  We were happy to stick to our plan.  We felt great.

Miles 4-7:  The second leg welcomed us with an ascent into Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan.  We've done this many times and trained on more painful hills (hello Calvert!) this season.  We kept looking only a few feet in front of us and put one foot in front of the other as we moved up the hills.  Thankfully the crowds lining the streets pushed us on...but we still felt the effect of the hills.  Our legs felt like bricks when we passed Fleet Feet.  My pace was --- 10:14, 10:32 and 10:30 min/mile.

Miles 7-9:  The third leg included a set of rolling hills.  Erin and I were recovering from the previous leg and continued to conserve some of our energy as we headed into the last set.  My pace was --- 11:23, 10:36 and 10:32 min/mile.  We were both getting super excited as we passed the water treatment plant and turned back toward RFK.

Miles 9-13.1:  And here is where disaster struck.  I may start thinking I'm cursed.  Our plan was to gain speed on the downhill at mile 9.  We had a great mile --- pacing at 9:47.  No pain, felt fantastic and did not over stride.  As we moved onto mile 10 and 11 I suddenly felt pain in my left hip.  It was all very strange since I haven't had any hip issues.  I pulled back a bit and tried to shake it off.  As I continued on I realized something was wrong.  I let Erin go and pulled over to shake it off and start stretching.  Once I stopped, I realized that I was not in good shape.  I was limping.  I ended up doing a combination of slow running, walking and stopping to stretch for the next few miles.  It was AWFUL!  It was so hard to see my finish time just slipping away, especially when I knew that I was not physically tired and had more to give.  Check out my pace for this leg --- 9:47, 13:07, 13:25 and 11:15 min/mile.  Grrrrr!

I luckily saw a friend at the finish and she helped me limp off to the side to stretch after I crossed the finish line.  After stretching, foam rolling, icing and konking out for a few hours I feel a bit better.  It still hurts and there is no way in hell I'm running or really walking anywhere right now.  I'm gonna see how it feels tomorrow and if it's not better have someone look at it next week.

Crossing my fingers that this is no big deal and just requires a little break. I need at least one positive break!

Run Miami

I decided to head out for a 6-8 mile loop this morning through downtown Miami, through Brickle and over the Rickenbacker Causeway and Powell Bridge. Little did I know that it would be closer to 11-12 miles. Luckily I walked a good part of it or I would have died. I ended up getting a bit turned around on my way back through downtown Miami. This is the route I was supposed to have taken. My return was a bit more zig-zaggy.

I am still feeling tired and a bit lazy. The tired part make sense. The lazy part is pathetic and exactly the reason my Miami race time sucked. More on that later.

I started out power walking through the Financial District and stared running through Brickle. I made my way over the causeway and the bridge. The bridge was a serious incline and was long. The view was beautiful. I was proud of myself for pushing over the bridge.

My blisters and feet are still a bit sore. Regardless, I really need to focus on training harder when I get back to DC. I am really disappointed that my Miami time was only 2 minutes faster than my Baltimore time. I technically should be fitter, but in retrospect I haven't been as dedicated --- putting in the miles, doing track workouts and making sure I'm doing strength training. I really have just been cruising...and it shows.

Baltimore was hilly and Miami was flat. Miami was humid and I didn't have the hydration I needed early in the race.  Granted I had physical issues in Miami that I didn't have in Baltimore, but it was still a wake up call to get my ass in gear or else I'll be embarrassed at the National half marathon.

Always a smart ass

To my surprise, when I opened the first newsletter from the SunTrust training program I saw myself in the corner of one of the shots.  Mark decided to modify the photo just to be a brat.  He's so nice!

It'll be interesting to read about the training, tips and how folks are doing.  Apparently there are training sites in DC, VA and MD --- all working on preparing for either the marathon or half-marathon.  Looks like a very big group when you look at all the sites.