Running . . Flossing . . Running . . Flossing

Last week I wrote that I was thinking about running the San Diego Half Marathon in March. I instantaneously became intense about training. In fact, this feeling of intensity has been building since I racked up a couple of 20 mile weeks in a row back in October. I poured over the pages of Raceplace Magazine, writing down in my training journal many exciting race possibilities.

My first race is going to be this week! A Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning back in my hometown in Illinois. My dad and I are running it together! Forecast is in the 30s, but sunny. Brrrrrrr! And I've registered for the Carlsbad Half - as a training run ONLY. I am pretty confident I'll be able to easily cover the distance by then. 

A big part of my recovery from my sprained ankle has been lots and lots of stretching, balancing work, and voodoo floss. 

You read that right - voodoo floss. It's a rubberized wrap that you can place around a joint (or muscle). Then you do range of motion exercises. The theory behind voodoo floss is similar to foam rolling - but on a smaller scale. As I understand it, the wrap is supposed to break apart scar tissue, which ultimately allows for greater range of motion. It's working for me!! I wrap my ankles up really tight and point, flex, point, flex for about 90 seconds and then write the alphabet with my toes. This takes about two minutes, and my shins are absolutely on fire at the end. 

Trying to hold back on training has been hard, but I started off my ~16 week training cycle for the SD Half with a great week of base training. 4 running days, equal amounts of treadmill and outside miles, for 25 total miles. And lots of rolling, yoga, and flossing. 

Base building - 25 miles

Monday - 11/18 

     Legs/core workout. 

     +yoga

Tuesday - 11/19

     6 mile progression run on treadmill. 9:00-8:00 with last 0.5 at 7:00. 

     +yoga

Wednesday - 11/20 

     6 mile threshold run on treadmill. 3.1 threshold miles at 7:24 pace. That's a 22:12 5k! Very excited about this workout. The 7:24 pace felt challenging at the end, but I definitely could have gone faster. 

     +yoga

Thursday - 11/21

     Yoga class

Friday - 11/22

     Rest (or, more accurately, chained to desk day)

Saturday - 11/23

     4.5 mile easy run on Embarcadero at about 8:30.

Sunday - 11/24

     8.5 mile long run on Ocean Beach bike path at about 9:00. Longest outdoor run so far!

     +yoga

two little runners 

~Kristen

Progress Progresses

Wow, I last reported in late October. Now it’s late November…where does the time go? Of late mine’s gone into the deep black, soul crushing hole of work. 

I spent a week in New York, which was made better by a weekend hanging out with Penny!

We spent an entire day shopping and neither of us bought ANYTHING! 

Except brunch at Serafina's, where we both ordered poached eggs on brioche. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so warm that we even sat outside!

I flew home on the day of the New York Marathon and watched the entirety of ESPN’s marathon broadcast on the plane. I really enjoyed the coverage, especially the exciting chase in the women’s race!

I ran 20 miles that week, 17 of which were on the treadmill. I upped my frequency of runs, even running three days in a row with no pain.

10/29 – 4.5 miles (treadmill)

10/30 – 4.5 miles (treadmill)

10/31 – 4.0 miles (treadmill)

11/2 – 4.5 miles (treadmill)

11/3 – 3.75 miles (outside, back in San Diego)

Next week was 15 miles with two runs outside. Outdoor runs are much harder on my ankle than the treadmill. So I was really pleased to get in two outside without any damage.

11/5 – 4.5 miles (treadmill)

11/6 – 5.0 miles (outside)

11/9 – 5.5miles (outside)

Last week, I spent a good chunk of time in Omaha where it was seriously cold! 9 degrees people! I managed to get 17 miles total, with two medium-long runs. INCLUDING ONE 8 MILE RUN! I am almost a runner again!

11/12 – 3.0 miles (treadmill)

11/14 – 8.0 miles (treadmill)

11/16 – 6.3 miles (outside)

So I've managed to continue steady progress in building back my running. I've had nearly two solid months of 12-20 mile weeks, and I'm ready to train for something! I'm thinking of putting the San Diego Half Marathon on my 2014 agenda. It's March 9 - almost 16 weeks away - and very conveniently located in downtown San Diego. 

One thing I've learned from previous training cycles is that it's best to allow for a long training period. This, I think, is especially applicable now as I will be simultaneously building back my strength and training for the race.

two little runners

~Kristen

Hiking in the Hudson Highlands [The Upside of Injury]

The upside of injury, is that you get to spend the time you would've been dedicating to your weekend long runs, on things like hiking on 8 miles of trails in the Hudson Highlands during Fall.

Being A Responsible Injury Owner

Eventually, we hope to get off this depressing injury loop but for the moment…

Hello, and welcome back to two little runners injuries!! This post brought to you by

Left Ankle Sprain™

[Applause]

So you’re injured…you’ve been through the five stages of runner’s grief…and you’ve accepted your injury fate. Now, no matter if the injury:

(a) was the result of stupid training decisions,

(b) was a freak accident,

(c) was inherited from a prior life/sport, or

(d) wasn’t your fault because your training was perfect and you shouldn’t have gotten injured (we all fall into this category, right?)

…it’s your injury now. And you have to deal with it! You are in charge of your recovery.

Here’s some advice on how to be a responsible injury owner. We want you back in your running shoes, stat!

First, get a diagnosis.

Not only will a diagnosis from a qualified medical professional give you a timetable as to when you might be recovered, it will give you an idea about what cross training, if any, you can safely do. Having a diagnosis will also help you to determine when to back off during your cross training so that you do not re-injure or further injure yourself.

For my ankle sprain, this meant learning the difference between a sharp—but mild—pain versus generalized stiffness. Sharp pain, even if minor on the pain scale (1 or 2 out of 10) meant to stop. With stiffness/achiness, it was okay to press forward on.

Second, check your priorities.

When we are training, our priority is to improve our speed and/or distance. When we are taking a break from formal training, our priority is to maintain an acceptable amount of fitness. When we are injured, our priority is to rehab our injury; we can try to maintain our fitness too, but it is secondary to rehabbing that injury. One thing that helps here is break up workouts into segments for rehab and fitness.

For me, that means doing balancing, stability, and flexibility exercises for the ankle in first part of my workout, sort of a warmup. This warmup reminds me that I am injured. And then I do my general workouts—elliptical, weights, etc.—all while keeping in mind that I am not at 100%. (And stopping if I feel any pain, see above.)

It also helps to do something new or fun as part of your cross training. In my time away from running, I’ve done spinning classes, kayaking, paddle board surfing, and tons of yoga. All things I’ve really enjoyed but probably wouldn’t have had the time for if I was running 50 miles per week.

Third, be extra conservative when you build back your running.

It seems urgent to get back to our former running form. But actually, it isn’t. Really. We have years and years and years of running ahead of us. So a couple of extra weeks building back slowly won’t matter in the scheme of our running careers. But it could set you back further.

This is what I’m working on now. I’ve run 12 miles per week for the last 3 weeks, all at very easy paces, and all on treadmill. Now I’m adding one outdoor run per week, and adding no more than 10% to my mileage on a weekly basis.

A big thank you to our sponsors…

two little runners ~Kristen

On The Road Again

Last time I saw Penny (mid-September), I, rather dramatically, told her that I might be done running, perhaps I would go back to tennis or get into yoga more, and she should think about what she wants to do with the blog. 

That really was the path I was on. But saying those things out loud sounded funny to my own ears, even though I had been thinking them for a long time. I decided to fully open my mind to the possibility of running again and ask (the universe?) for running back.

Now (mid-October), I’ve had three weeks of solid progress. I’m making a comeback. 

1. Week one – I ran three times on the treadmill for a total of 12 miles. Plus, workouts with weights, yoga, elliptical, and paddle board surfing.
2. Week two – Was basically a repeat. Staying at three very easy treadmill runs for a total of 12 miles. Plus, workouts with weights, yoga, elliptical, and kayaking.
3. Week three – Two easy treadmill runs plus my first outdoor run since May! For a total, again, of 12 miles. Plus, workouts with weights, yoga, elliptical, and kayaking. 

Re paddle board surfing and kayaking. I've been spending a lot of time this summer in the water in Mission Bay. It's something fun to do that occupies my weekend time formerly spent on long runs around Mission Bay.

On the agenda for this week is ~13 miles, that is +10% of last week's mileage. Doing it by the book! With one outdoor run again. 

I need to reintroduce road running very slowly. I may have maintained some of my cardio fitness, but my shins were on fire from my first outdoor run. The impact! There is a huge difference between impact on the treadmill (soft as a cloud) versus the road (hard as a rock)!

Any advice for building back to my former running self?

two little runners ~Kristen 

A Diagnosis: Femoral Neck Stress Reaction

ETA: A lot of people have been finding this page by search and might be interested in my other FNSR posts:
http://twolittlerunners.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/injury-update-femoral-neck-stress.html?m=1

http://twolittlerunners.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/so-you-have-femoral-neck-stress.html?m=1

Ever since I ran the Philly half marathon, and wound up injured and unable to run, I've been sort of avoiding el-Blog-land. Partly because I didn't know what my injury was (and wanted to wait to blog until I found out how long I would be out of action) and partly because, well, writing a running blog when you can't run can be downright depressing.

But don't worry! I'm much happier now!

Ok, so first, a diagnosis. I went to the doctor with pain in the front of my hip, which was exponentially worse when hopping on that leg. I heard that pain on impact tends to be related to bone-injuries, while pain on push off tends to relate to muscle-stuff (technical term). This was definitely pain on impact. Not good.

I saw my doctor  and he didn't like the sound of my symptoms at all (off topic, but funny story: apparently the good Doc has a few admirers. When I googled his name to get the office address, Google search options suggested "Dr Jordan Metzl married?"]

Dr. Metzl ordered an MRI, and the results revealed a stress reaction in the femoral neck. A stress reaction is a precursor to a stress fracture, and is an inflammation of the bone. A stress fracture in the femoral neck looks a bit like this:

Source

Youch, looks nasty. Well actually, it could've been a lot worse. I only had the inflammation, with no cracks in the bone. A stress reaction takes about 8 weeks to heal. An actual stress fracture in the femoral neck (as opposed to, e.g., the shaft of the femur, which is more common) can take up to 5 months to heal. And usually about 6-8 weeks of those are on crutches with little to no activity. Wowza.

It seems the reaction probably started the week before my taper week for Philly when I was running my highest mileage and did my 6x1 mile repeats. The three days before my race, I felt a little pain in my groin, that felt like a minor strain. I definitely would not have run the race, if I'd known it was a stress reaction. But in retrospect, as I said to my dad, I'm actually really glad I ran the race on it. The discomfort I felt before the race was SO minor, if I had just been training, I would've run through it and probably would've ended up with a real stress fracture. The race just aggravated it enough and pushed it to the edge that I had to stop running in the days after (and would've anyway to recover from the race) but not quite over the edge.

Anyway, now I'm in recovery/rehab/cross-training land. Week 1 after the race had no running or cross training, Week 2 consisted of two days of elliptical and some random arm-weights. Week three, I did two days of swimming/pool running, after which I saw the doctor and got the MRI.

Week 4, I would've been about to start climbing the walls, but after my diagnosis was thankfully  given the go-ahead to begin consistently strength/cross-training. I'm allowed to do anything that doesn't "hurt". Its ok if its a little achey, but I have to stay away from "impact pain."

I guess the mind-numbing, wrist-slashing boredom of pool running and elliptical don't fall into that category of discomfort.

But I should be thankful. I can finally keep up my fitness, and continue to heal properly. In two weeks I will see the doctor again and hopefully will be able to very slowly begin reintroducing running to my hip. Here's how I'm hoping that will go down:

"Running? Meet Hip. Hip, meet running. Please don't spaz out. You two will be the very best of friends."

I'll keep you updated :o)

~Penny

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all

Hello, I’m Kristen. I used to blog here regularly and then sporadically after I sprained my ankle in April. And then I went radio silent in May when my ankle didn’t heal as fast as I wanted it to (in time for a spring marathon). So now it’s October. I’ve been injured this whole time, not running, at times barely exercising, and I’m now back with my first post. We are all caught up!

It’s NOT just a sprain.

I didn’t think my ankle sprain was a big deal because it never swelled and there was no twist, trauma, or point when I knew I injured it during that fateful run back in April.

But a sprain can be a 6 to 18 month injury. That’s a major injury. It took me all summer to learn this lesson. And before I did . . .

A series of setbacks plagued my recovery: 

1. I did a trail run 2 weeks after the initial sprain caused re-sprain. Genius!
2. My physical therapist burned (froze?) me with ultrasound massage on my ankle.
3. I allowed myself to carry a bad attitude for a long time. I stopped stretching, rolling, and doing stability exercises. I was also streaky with cardio and weights.  
4. I ran 2 days in a row, 6 miles then 4 miles. Running only 1 or 2 miles was pissing me off, and I had decided it was time to be fully recovery. Ankle was not on board.
5. I lifted too heavy during weight training workouts for legs.
6. I ran 3 miles and then did 60 minutes of stair climber for (7 miles of stairs) on consecutive days. Too much impact.
7. I continued to use the stair climber.

After learning the very hard way, I’m finally back on track to recovery and taking my recovery seriously. I’m not getting pissed off about lifting light weights, or running only a few miles at a time, or at doing ridiculously easy balancing exercises. I’m stretching, rolling, and doing stability exercises daily. And I’m finally making some progress.

And, more importantly, I’m excited to run again, even if it is only 2 or 3 miles at a time, every other day, only on the treadmill, at a gym without air conditioning.

So after all this time, I finally said something nice about running.

Kristen

Things I Have and Have Not Been Doing

(1) Not running. I am on day 6 of my hip flexor strain recovery. It is much better, but not 100% and I do not want to start running on it until I'm confident it won't make it worse. First cross-training day is today!

(2) Trying new stuff and taking pictures of it. Below is me trying a Twinkie for the first time.

 Not sure what I expected, but I wasn't super blown away by them.

(3) Not running. Giving me the sadz.

(4) Getting my citizenship on! I took my oath this week to become a brand spankin' new American!

Does this mean I have to like twinkies now?

(5) Not running. OMG GIVEZ ME SOME ENDORPHINZZZZ!!!

(6) Traveling to fancy places for work, and enjoying the view of downtown Manhattan upon flying "home" to NYC

(6) Seriously if I don't get to run soon I might clobber someone.

(7) Having lovely citizenship-celebratory dinners with my hubbo.

(8) Realizing that I've almost been through all five stages of a runner's injury grief in the span of 1 week, and I probably just need to chill out. I'll be running soon, so I can stop being quite so dramatic. In the meantime, I might take up knitting. Or baking. Something better than a Twinkie.

2013 Philadelphia RnR Half Marathon Recap

On Sunday I ran the Philadelphia RnR Half marathon. This is my second time at this race; I ran it as my goal half marathon last year, and loved it. Its a beautiful course, the spectators are wonderful and the weather is usually great. This year was no exception.

A couple of weeks ago, I was aiming for a 1:30:xx goal in this race. After a couple of great key workouts, my fitness seemed to indicate I could pretty comfortably aim for a sub 1:30 this time around, so that became my "A-goal". Long story short, I didn't quite make this goal, but came bloody close, and didn't kill myself doing so.

The day before I took a bus down to Philly from NYC. I ate a granola bar on the bus, oatmeal at Starbucks when I arrived, then met with a friend for my traditional french toast lunch at the Black Sheep.

 Sorry, it kinda looks gross all half-eaten like that. It looked much prettier when there was double that toast, with a big pile of fresh fruit. Ate it all except the banana sauce stuff (didn't like) and only a little bit of the maple syrup.

The rest of the afternoon, I chowed down on the ridiculous number of freebies I scored at the expo (all "payment" for how aggravated I was that, after picking up your race packet, you have to walk through several labrynthian miles of expo in order to find the meagerly sign-posted exit...).

After my snack attack, I went for a short 2 mile shake-out jog, feeling pretty good, though knowing that my hip flexor was tight and my groin a tiny bit ouchy.

I then went out to grab some dinner, and caught this pretty little snap of the main strip and capitol building (?) in Philly:

For dinner I ate steamed shrimp, a little broccoli and about 1 cup of steamed white rice... followed by some peanut butter cups. All in all, I think I had more junk food that day than I have consumed in the last six months combined. Sometimes junk is what the bod wants.

Next morning, up at 5am, with a 1/2 cup of oatmeal, a banana, a gatorade and a couple of cups of coffee. Did the bathroom thang, and felt surprising good and not weighed down by all my junk-loading the day prior.

Also took a couple of selfies for blog.

Hey Self!

Not sure what I was going for with the side shot here. Look at my shoes? Legs ready to run?

Got to the race around 7am, and got in a queue for the porta-potties. After waiting 40 minutes, it became apparent that the line was not moving, so I jogged around and found a gas station where a few runners were waiting in line to use the bathroom. Perfect!

Except the very next girl to finish up in the bathroom, locked the keys inside. And the gas station manager didn't have any other keys. To the bathroom. Outside of which, about 10 very anxious and pee-needy runners were waiting.

By this stage it was about 7:45 and I was nervous about getting into my corral on time. So I went up to two speedy looking ladies in front of me and said something like: "Are you ladies interested in a tripartite-public-peeing-cover-up situation?" A resounding "yes" followed. So the three of us sidled up to some parked cars in the lot, and ducked behind them, keeping watch for each other. Of course, it wasn't until I stood up that I realized the gas station manager was able to see me the entire time. And was presently yelling at us for peeing behind the cars at his gas station.

Not my finest hour, I must admit, but a runners gotta do what a runners gotta do.

After Gas-Station-Bathroom-gate-2013, I did another brief jog and some strides. Hip flexor still not feeling 100% but I thought it would be fine. Jumped into Corral 1 with the sweet Megan and some of the other Central Park Track Team girls who were also aiming for a sub-90 half.

And off we went. My childhood friend Rory, had advised me to pace in the 6:50s for the first half, perhaps a little below that in the second and then to push the pace in the final 5k. For the first time ever, I actually followed my pacing plan.

Miles 1-5: 6:57, 6:37, 6:59, 6:51, 6:52. These miles clicked along easily.  It was difficult to gauge how fast I was going because (a) it felt so easy! and (b) in the city center the GPS gets all wacky. But I was happy with these splits. And my pictures tell the tale of feeling pretty comfortable.

 Miles: 6-10: 7:00, 6:46, 6:53, 6:47, 6:47.  I think the 7:00 was when I was telling myself to go easy on the pace and also when I was trying to choke down my Gu. The rest of these miles I just focused on keeping an even cadence. I know what my turnover should feel like at around 6:50 pace, so I just concentrated on that, and my breathing, to pace myself. I was very conscious of not pushing it too hard, as every other of my half-marathons I've really conked out in the last 2-3 miles.

Still feeling pretty comfy.

Miles: 11-13: 6:36, 6:40, 6:39 and 6:18 for the last 0.32. Here is where I turned on a bit of music, and concentrated on dialing up the speed. I wanted to start to feel uncomfortable, but not red-line - a very difficult thing to gauge in those final miles. At any moment I was expecting to hit the wall... but thankfully didn't.

Well, until I began running at my 5K pace for that last half mile, on the only significant uphill of the race. Which is also where my pain-place-face came to the party.

Look away! Look away!

I won't even show you the finish line photos. Suffice to say I looked like I reeeally wanted to be at the finish line.

So the end results:

Garmin times: 1:30:24, for 13.32 miles,  6:47 avg pace.


Gun times:

As you can see from the pace discrepancy between Garmin and gun, I ran 0.22 miles over the course, which represents probably a minute over time (typically I run about 0.1 over in a HM). Obviously running the tangents is part of any race, but on a course with a lot of turns, and a lot of people, this wasn't easy to do. That said, everything else about the race was perfect (weather, nutrition etc.) and there is always at least one thing about any race that you could blame those 23 seconds on!

Anyway, yes I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't quite make the sub 1:30. But my real wins for the day were (1) finally mastering a pacing strategy; and (2) breaking through a mental barrier by running 13 miles at a 6:47 pace. I theoretically knew it was possible from my workouts, but never quiiiite believed it. Here's proof!

Finally, (3) I didn't want push myself to the absolute limit in this race as I'm still training for my ultimate marathon goal.  I'm pretty sure I met that goal; in the two days post-race, (and apart from an almost expected strained hip flexor, which I hope will clear up in a week or two) my legs and feet feel like I barely even ran a tempo on Sunday.

So for now, I'm resting up, hoping to get back into marathon training, prepping for the ING Hartford HM in four weeks, and Philly in nine!

~ Penny

P.S. I really have to give a shout-out to Jake and Andrea, who I met through the fastrunningblog and their own blog, Wasatch and Beyond. They are some amazing runners, but even nicer people. They are incredibly encouraging, and have provided some great insight and wisdom on running, both to me and tons of other novice runners. Go read them!

Look Who I Found!

My other little runner is still alive! And lookin quite perty might I add.

When we're not working our lawyerly tails off, and not running, we will almost definitely be eating. 

Last night we tried out the Oyster Bar in Grand Central. 

We had three different types and I have no idea which ones were which, but they were all delicious. 

Next was a squid salad. High iron meals for the win! 

Finally we tried Sea Urchin ice cream. Because it was on the menu and, you know, it sounds amazing. 

It wasn't.

Initially its fine, right up until about 1.8 seconds after you swallow it, and you are left with an aftertaste roughly approximating that of an old wetsuit you left in the garage, in amongst mothballs and lost dreams of being a pro-surfer one day. 

And of course we found time to imbibe O' Ye Elixir of Life. At a new favorite spot, Macchiato on 43rd st and Lexington. 

To possibly be continued with a different type of imbibing on Sunday night! 

~ Penny

Philly, the Skookle and My Best Workouts

This week I got sent to Philly and Pittsburgh for work. Weirdly (for a foreigner) I actually have quite a lot of friends in PA, and so happily had some people to catch up with... and pick the brains of, concerning the best running routes in those cities.

Unfortunately I didn't get any time to run in Pittsburgh, but in Philly I was told about the Schuylkill River Trail that runs right through the city. FUN FACT: Schuylkill is actually pronounced skoo-kel. Weird. Anyway, the trail itself actually reminded me of the Yarra River Trail in Melbourne; a double-lane, dual-use trail, running along the river for mile upon uninterrupted mile. Just lovely.

 

I got two wonderful runs in along the trail; an easy-10 miler and an 11 miler including a half-marathon specific workout. It was kinda motivating running along the same road I will be running in a week's time for the RnR half!

Now speaking of workouts, I gotta say, I'm quite excited to recap my training the last two weeks. Save for two complete suffer-fests of long runs, I think I've actually been running the best I ever have.

August 25-31, 2013
Sunday: 20 miles at 8:30 avg pace (not counting tons of stops). Horrible, awful, no good, terrible. The weather was about 75 degrees but the humidity was quite high. Miles 16-20 were particularly nasty. I had planned to eat a particularly carb-y dinner the night before, which hadn't worked out, and so was also acutely under-fueled and dehydrated. Not pretty.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 9 miles, treadmill, 1.5%. From one extreme to the other. Ate two pieces of cake at work, before a run-lunch, and after getting over the initial imminent cake-vom feeling, I felt like I was going to fly off the treadmill. Kept it at an easy 8:30 pace + leg workout (3 x 20 squats (40lb); 15 standing lunges (30lb); 15 side lunges (no weight); 15 single leg deadlifts (17.5lb) and 15 leg extensions on machine (cant remember weight)).
Wednesday: 8 miles easy, around 8:30 with 10x100m strides
Thursday: XT - 50 mins on elliptical  + yoga
Friday: 10 miles, with 2x3 miles at HM pace, 1 mile jog recovery. Was totally stoked with this one as I have never completed this workout without stopping. Splits were: 6:59, 6:57, 6:44 (8:58 recovery) 6:52, 6:50, 6:43. It was really warm/humid, but I got it done.
Saturday: 8 miles very easy + planks and arm workout
Total: 56 miles

September 1-7, 2013
Sunday: 18 miles at 8:24 avg pace, with 1 mile (16) at MP (7:19). I was going to do the last two more miles up tempo, but couldn't. The entire run was brutal; 82 degrees and about 85% humidity. Had plenty of fuel, stopped many many times for water but I just couldn't beat the heat.
Monday: Walked around Coney Island and got on a few roller coasters. That counts as speedwork, right??
Tuesday: 9 miles at 8:17 avg pace
Wednesday: 10 miles easy at 8:09 avg pace. Weather in Philly turned cool (65 degrees and no wind)... such a beautiful releif.
Thursday: 11 miles with 6x1 mile repeats at HM pace, 3:30 mins jogging recoveries (between 8:30-9:00 pace, no stopping). Splits: 6:48; 6:38; 6:45; 6:34; 6:37; 6:34. 
 
A note on this workout. I did this before NJ Marathon earlier this year, and wasn't even coming close to these speeds. Its probably the most successful speed/lactate threshold workout I've ever done. I had not eaten anything that morning, but I'm betting that the 800 calories of pure carbs I consumed after dinner probably had something to do with it. I tried to slow down in that third mile, but I just kept banging out that pace as though it was nothing. I almost thought my garmin was malfunctioning!

Its fun to compare these two HM workouts with the same from earlier this year. In April I did 2x3 miles at HM pace, and finished with a 7:02 avg (last week I finished with a 6:50 avg). In March I did the same 6x1mile repeats at HM pace with longer recoveries, and averaged only 6:55 pace (last week averaged 6:39 min miles). Big difference! 


Friday: 40 mins easy elliptical
Saturday: a.m. 7 miles easy at 8:40 avg pace; p.m. 30 mins easy elliptical + leg strength workout
Total: 55 miles

This week I'm doing a mini-taper. The beauty of doing an 18-week marathon plan, has been that I have been able to schedule a couple of races in the middle, and not be stressed (I do get a little OCD with training plans) that I'm missing any significant amount of training for November 17. In fact this is the first time I have actually sketched out a planned season of racing, rather than just a single race.

You're totally engrossed by that fun fact, I'm sure.

Anyways, I'll be back next week with a race recap and hopefully a shiny new half PR!

~ Penny

Its Like Licking a Garden... and Other More Running-Related Things

Hello hello!

Well, despite work having been a lot more calm recently, I haven't become any more diligent about posting. I've been building up my miles  >50 per week for several weeks, looking to peak at about 55-60 miles per week, at which point my training plan has me starting speed workouts (adding miles and speed is no bueno for me).

Running higher mileage than ever before also has me trying to focus a bit more on what I'm eating. Not like OMG, I ate a piece of cake so now I need a juice fast to detox. Rather, I feel like at this point I just have to be a bit more conscious and deliberate about getting enough overall calories, enough carbs, and enough vitamins and nutrients.

In faithful pursuit of this effort, husband and I decided to get juices the other day on a whim. This was my first juice/smoothie thing that hasn't involved some sort of delicious ice-cream. Hmmm. Skeptical already.

Mine had apple, cucumber, kale, spinach, blueberries and ginger and looked like mud:

Indeed, husband took a sip and said: "Get this away from me. It tastes like health. Its kind of like licking a garden."

It did. It tasted exactly like licking a garden. 

So you know, nutritional health isn't that great sometimes. Not like, for instance, my #longrundayideserveit feast of mexican and margaritas:

Yummo.

Aaaaanway, apart from that, I've been just been making sure I gets ALL THE CALCIUM, in the form of chocolate milk after my runs, and a cup of greek yoghurt every day. Paranoia-about-stress-fractures for the win! And I've added some more carby snacks to my late night eats, especially when I have longish runs planned for the morning. So no diet-rocket science or anything.

Back to running... I've been enjoying the Advanced Marathoning training plan... has anyone else used this? Compared to Hansons its a longer build up, and there is a lot more time between hard runs. Its nice that my legs are not constantly feeling like they are on the crest of injury. It has the long (18+ miles) runs unlike Hansons... but not many of those long grueling 10-mile tempo runs that were Oh! So! Much! Fun! last time around.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks training for the Philly Marathon have looked like this:

August 11-17, 2013
Sunday: 15 miles easy, around 8:50 with this girl - we met at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, ran over it, through Brooklyn Bridge Park and then back to the west side highway. Beautiful weather!
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 8 miles with 5 miles at HM pace: 7:05, 6:57, 6:55, 6:57; 6:49. Ran the last 0.25 (400m) at about 5K pace as punishment for stopping after 3.5 miles for a rest. HM workouts are no joke!
Wednesday: 8 easy miles on the treadmill, around 8:30 pace + leg workout
Thursday: XT elliptical for 50 mins plus core workout
Friday: 10 miles easy through Central Park; 8:35 avg pace
Saturday:  8 miles easy at 8:30 avg pace
Total: 50 miles

August 18-24, 2013
Sunday: 16 miles with 8miles at MP (was supposed to be 10 miles, but was hungover from the night before. Oops. (See above discussion on eating/drinking for healthy running. Ahem.) Anyway, I made it for 8 miles at a decent clip, despite feeling like death: 7:16, 7:18, 7:20, 7:18, 7:15, 7:17, 7:17, 7:20.
Monday: rest
Tuesday: 9 easy miles around 8:30 avg pace on TM, with 1.5% incline + leg workout
Wednesday: 10 miles at 7:50 avg pace (had rockets in legs!)
Thursday: 40 mins elliptical + short core workout
Friday: 7 miles easy at 8:10 avg pace
Saturday: 8 miles easy at 8:36 avg pace + upper body workout.
Total: 50 miles

From here, I have 11 weeks to Philly Marathon. In two weeks I'll be running Philly RnR Half marathon for a hopeful PR.... then ING Hartford Half Marathon in October as a big marathon tempo.

And I think thats all I've got for now. Have a great Labor Day weekend! High five to me for remembering an American holiday for the first time in the 5 years I've been here!