There have been three snowstorms this winter in Nova, and if you check, they have all come on Saturdays. While I know this pains kids and teachers, it also dismays me as my Saturday long runs are then also more difficult.
At the beginning of December, a strong storm hit, dumping big, wet flakes in my neighborhood. I pursued, but only made it 10 of my 12 miles.
After the monster storm in mid-December, my 14 mile run the next day was done by running down my street and back 28 times.
When I got up this morning, the skies were overcast, although not in a foreboding way. Having checked the forecast last night, I figured I was fine for my run. Wrong.
About five miles in, it began to flurry. It was pretty, especially as I ran along the Potomac on the Cap Crescent Trail, and I enjoyed the serenity. As I neared my turn-around point in Bethesda, the snow began to pick up. By then time I was a few miles into my return trip, it was snowing hard. I pulled my hat down in front of my eyes and trudged on. As a ran past other runners, I remembered why I enjoy racing so much. There is a palpable camaraderie among runners, which was evident by the friendly looks of encouragement I received from every runner I passed on the trail. By the time I reached the C&O canal, I was pretty much alone. The snow crunched under me, and I was able to forget for a few moments how utterly miserable I was. Wet head to tow, cold and with my water bottles iced closed and icicles forming on my eye lashes. I ran a negative split on the way back and was ecstatic when I caught site of my Civic waiting for me in the parking lot.
When I got back in my car, I took off my wet clothes and had dry sweatpants and a fleece waiting for me. Unfortunately, the roads were not very clear and it took me almost 45 minutes to get home. I took a hot shower, then got started on my post-run feast:
-Piece of honey seed break toast
-TJ's chicken chili w/ guac and cheese
-Cauliflower w/ rance
-Pita chips
-Goldfish
-Peanut Butter M&M Blondie
Annnnd I'm probably going to get more to eat soon.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Some Other Things About Me
Besides the fact that I'm training for a marathon, here are some random facts about me:
-I watch Jeopardy as often as possible
-I'm a massive bargain shopper. I almost never pay full price for clothes/shoes/bags/accessories
-I love giving gifts and tend to obsess over it a little bit
-I really enjoy reading and like it when I have a good book going at all times
-Crosswords are my other favorite lexical pasttime
-I'm a die hard Orioles fan and would do pretty much anything for them to be good again (Damn Yankees, anyone?)
-I have run four half marathons: Baltimore, National, Frederick and Baltimore again. My PR was in Frederick at 1:49:31 although I hated the race and vowed never to run it again
-I love to eat and pretty much do it all the time
-New Balance is my favorite brand of shoes because all styles come in D widths. My favorite running shoe is the 859 and I have an extra pair because I'm afraid they're going to stop selling them soon
-I love pink a lot more than I ever have before
-When I'm racing, I try to wear the brightest outfit possible so that I'm easy to pick out of the crowd. I also always wear a coordinating hair ribbon.
-Mexican food is my favorite type. I love guac, tacos and tamales, although they are hard to find.
-My favorite liquor is rum. Tequila is second, especially when mixed in a good marg.
-I don't have a favorite beer, but tend toward girly beer (BL Lime, etc) and German Wheat beers. It's in my blood.
-I blame my dad for my love of spicy food.
-I generally follow that "shop on the perimeter of grocery store" thing, although unintentionally. I eat a lot of fresh foods so I have shop every week. I will detour the cart down the Goldfish aisle.
-Labrador Retrievers are my favorite canine breed. I'm holding out on getting a dog until I have space for one.
-I want to travel the world.
-Even though I know my 2006 Civic isn't a sports car, sometimes I drive it like it is. After 7 years with a 1998 Sentra, it's pretty damn sweet.
*****
Also, I've come up with a few ideas for race day tshirts:
"26.2 ain't got nothing on me"
"26.2, what you know about that?"
"Don't Stop Believin'"
-I watch Jeopardy as often as possible
-I'm a massive bargain shopper. I almost never pay full price for clothes/shoes/bags/accessories
-I love giving gifts and tend to obsess over it a little bit
-I really enjoy reading and like it when I have a good book going at all times
-Crosswords are my other favorite lexical pasttime
-I'm a die hard Orioles fan and would do pretty much anything for them to be good again (Damn Yankees, anyone?)
-I have run four half marathons: Baltimore, National, Frederick and Baltimore again. My PR was in Frederick at 1:49:31 although I hated the race and vowed never to run it again
-I love to eat and pretty much do it all the time
-New Balance is my favorite brand of shoes because all styles come in D widths. My favorite running shoe is the 859 and I have an extra pair because I'm afraid they're going to stop selling them soon
-I love pink a lot more than I ever have before
-When I'm racing, I try to wear the brightest outfit possible so that I'm easy to pick out of the crowd. I also always wear a coordinating hair ribbon.
-Mexican food is my favorite type. I love guac, tacos and tamales, although they are hard to find.
-My favorite liquor is rum. Tequila is second, especially when mixed in a good marg.
-I don't have a favorite beer, but tend toward girly beer (BL Lime, etc) and German Wheat beers. It's in my blood.
-I blame my dad for my love of spicy food.
-I generally follow that "shop on the perimeter of grocery store" thing, although unintentionally. I eat a lot of fresh foods so I have shop every week. I will detour the cart down the Goldfish aisle.
-Labrador Retrievers are my favorite canine breed. I'm holding out on getting a dog until I have space for one.
-I want to travel the world.
-Even though I know my 2006 Civic isn't a sports car, sometimes I drive it like it is. After 7 years with a 1998 Sentra, it's pretty damn sweet.
*****
Also, I've come up with a few ideas for race day tshirts:
"26.2 ain't got nothing on me"
"26.2, what you know about that?"
"Don't Stop Believin'"
Monday, January 25, 2010
Return of "The Hill"
On December 18, the "Snowpocalypse" hit, covering Washington, DC, Baltimore and most of the Mid-Atlantic of upwards of 20 inches of snow. Fairfax County decided that instead of piles of snow on the street, they should be on the sidewalk. Then it was cold, very cold, for pretty much the next month leaving the snow in its frozen form. The gigantic ice/asphalt mountains on the the sidewalks made running the second half of my favorite loop impossible and blocked me access to The Hill.
The Hill is over a mile long and 10% grade. Ok, I exaggerate, but it is a quarter mile long and really steep (now that I have a Garmin I guess I can figure out exactly what the grade is...) I hate it. It's hard and usually comes at the end of my runs, but I tell myself every time I run up it that it's only making me a better runner. It is the perfect hill for hill repeats (either long or short), of course, I wouldn't really know because I've only been insane enough to do that once. Needless to say, like most runners, I am slightly crazy, and despite the pure torture, I began to miss it during the nearly 6 weeks it was inaccessible. When I realized on my way home from work today that the snow had finally melted, I knew it was time. I ran my Five Mile Alternate route, which involves going down the hill at the beginning, and up it at the end. My legs missed it, and pushed me hard the whole way up.
Last week I had an easy week. I was back down to 25 miles (for the week) with a long run of 10. I really needed the break. I was getting tired of training and my legs were hurting. This week I'm doing 35 or so miles, with a long run of 16. Next week its up to 38 with another 20 mile run. Yikes! The first 20 mile run was fine, I'm just hoping that the next two continue to get easier so I have some more confidence going into my race!
The Hill is over a mile long and 10% grade. Ok, I exaggerate, but it is a quarter mile long and really steep (now that I have a Garmin I guess I can figure out exactly what the grade is...) I hate it. It's hard and usually comes at the end of my runs, but I tell myself every time I run up it that it's only making me a better runner. It is the perfect hill for hill repeats (either long or short), of course, I wouldn't really know because I've only been insane enough to do that once. Needless to say, like most runners, I am slightly crazy, and despite the pure torture, I began to miss it during the nearly 6 weeks it was inaccessible. When I realized on my way home from work today that the snow had finally melted, I knew it was time. I ran my Five Mile Alternate route, which involves going down the hill at the beginning, and up it at the end. My legs missed it, and pushed me hard the whole way up.
Last week I had an easy week. I was back down to 25 miles (for the week) with a long run of 10. I really needed the break. I was getting tired of training and my legs were hurting. This week I'm doing 35 or so miles, with a long run of 16. Next week its up to 38 with another 20 mile run. Yikes! The first 20 mile run was fine, I'm just hoping that the next two continue to get easier so I have some more confidence going into my race!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
One down, two to go.
Saturday morning I completed my first of three 20+ mile runs. With Matt staying over Friday night, and feeling bad about being the runner out the longest last weekend, I opted to run alone. I woke up a little before 8, although I wish I had gotten up earlier. I got ready, ate a pb&j sandwich (my new favorite pre-long run food), had a cup of tea, and Powerade Zero, and drove down to Burke Lake Park. The weather was much nicer than last weekend, with temperatures in the low 40s compared to low 20s. I was very excited to wear my UA capris, as they are my favorite running bottoms. (I only hope that the weather is appropriate to wear them on race day.)
Twenty miles is hard! It is such a time commitment to train for a marathon and I have a new respect for people who have done it. I also feel like when I have kids, I’m definitely going to continue to run marathons so I have a really awesome excuse to get out of the house for four hours every Saturday morning. However, the run didn’t feel as good as 18 mile run the previous week. I’m not sure if my legs were fatigued, I wasn’t hydrated or what, but I’m going to work on narrowing down bad run causes the next couple of weeks. The night before the 18 mile run, I had eaten a big bowl of oatmeal around 10. I think this was great because it’s a ton of carbs, plus kept my stomach in check. I’m going to try this again before my next long run to see how I feel.
This week is one of my cut-back weeks. Usually I do light cross-training on Tuesday (like pilates or yoga), but I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and they are going to draw blood, so I’m going to go for another easy run tonight. I’m not sure how much they plan on taking, but I don’t want to run the risk of not being able to run tomorrow. I’m so squeamish with blood, too, so I’m really not looking forward to it. My mom would always come into the room with me whenever I would have to get a shot or have blood drawn to give me a hug when I was little. This lasted until I was about 18, when I had to drive myself to a doctor’s appointment to get a vaccination for college. I also have to fast before hand, so needless to say, I’m not looking forward to it. On the bright side, I am going into work late. Getting a physical is one of my New Year’s resolutions. Since I am training for a marathon, things like “exercise more,” “get into shape” and “lose weight” are not really applicable to me and I figure that it’s a good time to get checked out before I submit my body to even more running. My other resolutions were to start taking a Multi-Vitamin and Omega 3 supplements. Although I was a little late to start, I have been pretty good at taking them.
Twenty miles is hard! It is such a time commitment to train for a marathon and I have a new respect for people who have done it. I also feel like when I have kids, I’m definitely going to continue to run marathons so I have a really awesome excuse to get out of the house for four hours every Saturday morning. However, the run didn’t feel as good as 18 mile run the previous week. I’m not sure if my legs were fatigued, I wasn’t hydrated or what, but I’m going to work on narrowing down bad run causes the next couple of weeks. The night before the 18 mile run, I had eaten a big bowl of oatmeal around 10. I think this was great because it’s a ton of carbs, plus kept my stomach in check. I’m going to try this again before my next long run to see how I feel.
This week is one of my cut-back weeks. Usually I do light cross-training on Tuesday (like pilates or yoga), but I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow and they are going to draw blood, so I’m going to go for another easy run tonight. I’m not sure how much they plan on taking, but I don’t want to run the risk of not being able to run tomorrow. I’m so squeamish with blood, too, so I’m really not looking forward to it. My mom would always come into the room with me whenever I would have to get a shot or have blood drawn to give me a hug when I was little. This lasted until I was about 18, when I had to drive myself to a doctor’s appointment to get a vaccination for college. I also have to fast before hand, so needless to say, I’m not looking forward to it. On the bright side, I am going into work late. Getting a physical is one of my New Year’s resolutions. Since I am training for a marathon, things like “exercise more,” “get into shape” and “lose weight” are not really applicable to me and I figure that it’s a good time to get checked out before I submit my body to even more running. My other resolutions were to start taking a Multi-Vitamin and Omega 3 supplements. Although I was a little late to start, I have been pretty good at taking them.
Monday, January 11, 2010
I'm like the Duggars.... 18 and Counting
I don't know why, but I had it in my head that 18 miles was the "real" beginning to my marathon training. Prior to December 20, I had never run farther than 13.1, so I'm not sure why 18, and not 14 or 16, was such a big deal. Regardless, my first 18 mile run was on Saturday. Up to this point, I had done all of my runs solo, but had decided to join a local running group for my milestone. I woke up at 6:40 on Saturday morning and got ready to go. The temperature was in the low 20s, with a windchill in the teens. When I arrived, I found out that I was the one who had the longest run planned... talk about first impressions. I was actually slightly embarrassed at this. I find that I often get embarrassed when I tell people how far I run. I feel like I should be proud and show it off, but it's something I generally tend to keep to myself. I feel weird if Lauren sees me headed out the door in the evening for my run, especially now that it's dark, cold, windy and all around miserable running weather.
I took off with the 9-9:30 minute per mile group. We started on Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Island, and I made my way all the way up to Bethesda. I enjoyed running in the group, mostly listening to conversations and occasionally adding my own comments. As much as I am outgoing, I tend to stay quiet in new situations. Add in the fact that I was tackling my longest run ever and I was perfectly content listening more than speaking. I started with a group of about 8, but only had one other running companion up to the turn around in Bethesda. He dropped off around mile 11 to fix his Camelback, and I ended up running the final 7 miles alone. I felt great until about mile 15, and the last two miles were pretty tough, but I made it all the same, with about a 9:35 pace. With more than 2 months out, I know I'm in great shape to meet my goal.
Today, I did an easy 5 miles. It was going great until I had my first running accident of the season. I slipped on some ice with about a mile to go, scraping my gloved hand and banging my knee pretty hard. I walked it off and finished the run, but I now have a big red bump on my right knee. I'm icing it now, fearing that my rugby legs are going to make a cameo. I guess I'm getting soft after staying off of the pitch for the past 2 years. I should be fine, and probably lucky I've survived this horrible winter without any other damage.
I took off with the 9-9:30 minute per mile group. We started on Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Island, and I made my way all the way up to Bethesda. I enjoyed running in the group, mostly listening to conversations and occasionally adding my own comments. As much as I am outgoing, I tend to stay quiet in new situations. Add in the fact that I was tackling my longest run ever and I was perfectly content listening more than speaking. I started with a group of about 8, but only had one other running companion up to the turn around in Bethesda. He dropped off around mile 11 to fix his Camelback, and I ended up running the final 7 miles alone. I felt great until about mile 15, and the last two miles were pretty tough, but I made it all the same, with about a 9:35 pace. With more than 2 months out, I know I'm in great shape to meet my goal.
Today, I did an easy 5 miles. It was going great until I had my first running accident of the season. I slipped on some ice with about a mile to go, scraping my gloved hand and banging my knee pretty hard. I walked it off and finished the run, but I now have a big red bump on my right knee. I'm icing it now, fearing that my rugby legs are going to make a cameo. I guess I'm getting soft after staying off of the pitch for the past 2 years. I should be fine, and probably lucky I've survived this horrible winter without any other damage.
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