Trail Run - 10/3/10 - 17.18 miles 03:43:37

This was my first run along the C&O Canal, starting at Riley's Lock in Darnestown.  It's really beautiful back there, trees for shade and the water on either side of the trail.  It is all gravel though and while that may not seem like a huge deal it's an uneven surface that can be tough on the ankles and knees.

I was at the parking lot about 30 minutes early, plenty of time to use the restroom and sit in my car with the heat on 85 and the heated seat on high.  It was COLD, I dreaded getting out of the car at all.  With about 15 minutes to go a coworker and fellow runner knocked on the window so I got out, figuring it was time to get acclimated to the cold.  Even though I had on a light jacket and capris and did the trying-to-keep-warm-dance my teeth were still chattering.  Makes for great running weather, but not great standing-around weather.

I was nervous that my group wasn't showing up but a few minutes before 7 I saw a lot of familiar faces starting to congregate.  We had a pretty big 12-12:30 group, I think there were 9 or 10 of us.  We ended up splitting up a little as we ran, in the first few steps Ameenah (who I hadn't seen in weeks while she was on vacation and I was so happy to see her I almost cried) fell back because I already had gravel to pick out of my shoe.  But we caught up with the group and traveled on in a pack.  First bathroom break was around 3 miles in, still going strong.  Next bathroom was around mile six, at this point I was getting warm and took off my jacket to run in our team singlet.  Ameenah stopped at this point to turn around, I'm amazed that she made it that far after having been off for a while - she's awesome.

The run was relatively uneventful, I stayed with an absolutely lovely girl named Emily who I've run with on some track days.  She's fantastic, very upbeat and positive when all I want to do is complain.  With the exception of water refills and bathroom breaks we didn't stop or walk at all so there wasn't much to complain about other than my knee which started bugging me around mile 7.  By the time we stopped for water at the halfway mark it was doing that thing where it's really stiff after I stop and it takes me a while to work out the kink.  But the more I run the less it hurts and when I get warm again it's a non-issue (unless there's a decline or stairs).  I'm pretty sure it's an IT thing so I'm going to follow the KT Tape IT instructions tonight and I ordered a Pro Tec strap.  I'm also icing and stretching and trying some light strengthening exercises and will likely take it pretty easy from here on out.  I don't know what did it this time around since it hasn't bothered me lately, maybe it was the uneven surface and maybe it was the fact that the two runs I did before this one I did pretty hard, maybe it was that I had a nasty cold and my body just couldn't react to all the stress as well as usual (I hurt much worse than normal after the run in general.  I'd rather take it easy these next few weeks and actually be able to make the marathon than run hard now and be too injured on the 31st.  Only 25 days left!

Track workout - 9/30/10 6.93 miles 01:16

Woo!  What a workout.  I wasn't sure how it would go, I did a wee bit of strength training on Monday night and my legs were still sore, tired and heavy.  The weather was cool, though, and I'd just give it my best.  According to the coaches this is the time when a lot of us come down with various aches and pains and need to remember that getting the miles in without hurting yourself is the most important thing so if you can't quite handle the speedwork don't sweat it.  The workout we received was:

2 x 1600 [30-60 seconds faster than LSD pace] recovery lap between each 1600.

Break;

2 x 1600 [30-90 seconds faster than LSD pace]

With a warm-up and cool-down, or just all the laps at LSD pace.   Somehow we got ourselves all confused and ended up not doing any recovery laps, just breaking for water every mile.  I was running with Kathy and Eugene, they're usually a bit ahead of me but they were the only other members of the 12-12:30 group there so I'm glad they let me tag along.  They always look so much faster that I figured I'd never be able to keep up but I hung with them the entire time, by the end of each mile I definitely needed the break but without them I never would have pushed myself so hard.  I knew we were moving at a pretty good clip but I didn't expect to end up with an average pace of 11:00, including the warm-up and cool-down.  Because I am quite proud of this one I will even share the splits:

 

Summary	1:15:56	6.93
1	0:11:09	1
2	0:10:33	1
3	0:10:31	1
4	0:10:32	1
5	0:10:47	1
6	0:11:16	1
7	0:11:08	0.93

Trail Run - 9/26/10 - 10 miles 02:00

Best group run EVER.  Seriously, this was epic.  It was an all-morning event, starting with a group photo taken in front of the Department of the Interior at 19th and Constitution in DC.  From there we took off and ran I don't even know where, here's the map but I sure couldn't find the route again if I tried:

Much of this is part of the Marine Corps Marathon route so I'm really glad I got a chance to run it with the group.  I ran with Hengameh only, in between the 12:00 and 12:30 pace groups and we had a great run.  We felt good, we felt fast, we ran negative splits!  10 miles in exactly 2 hours for an average pace of exactly 12 minutes.  Nice!

Though we took off in our pace groups the plan was for everyone to meet around mile 7.5, we felt bad that folks from the 9 minute group had to hang around and wait for us but sure enough they were all there when we arrived, cheering us on as we ran to the meeting spot.  When everyone had gathered all of the coaches save for Andy and Lori took off ahead of us.  We stayed back and learned that we would be running, pretty much as one big group, the last .2 miles of the marathon course up to the Iwo Jima memorial (that's a tear-jerker in and of itself).  And we did.  As we ran up the little hill the coaches lined the path, cheered us on and gave us high-fives.  Remember this feeling, they said, because it'll be even more amazing on marathon day.

We then ran back to the Department of Interior where we enjoyed a brunch of veggies, bagels, cookies, peanut butter and orange juice (or mimosas for those boozehounds among us).  We munched while listening to Andy and Lori give us pre-, during- and post-race tips they've learned from years of racing.  I think they both got choked up at points, I know I did.  We're so close we're really starting to feel like we WILL do this.

Before we left we received our singlets.  Every year the group suggests different mottoes or phrases for the back and the coaches pick one:

I had the courage, now I just have to make sure I have the determination! 

Track Workout - 9/22/10 - 2.75 miles 30:00

Good thing this weekend was nice and cool because it certainly wasn't last night!  Temperature was back up to 90 and it was terribly humid.  Not a whole lot to report as we got rained out less than halfway through our workout.  We're pretty tough, we'll run in showers and downpours but we won't run in thunderstorms.

I forgot to start my watch for the warmup lap so I'm guessing at total time here, I think it's pretty accurate though.  We didn't get a whole lot of mileage in but what we did do was pretty fast so at least they were quality miles!  I'll have to make up the mileage and turn tomorrow's planned 5 miler into a 10 or so.  It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow but hopefully it won't be too bad in the morning.

Half Marathon Photos

Heavy Medals

Philly ING Rock N Roll Half Marathon - 13.1 - 02:35:04

First official half, done! I'd run 13 miles, or more, several times before the race but this would be my husband's longest run (by about a mile) yet. Before I started training for the Marine Corps this was my goal race for the year but now I had to "run it, not race it." Not like I'm really competing anyway. We drove from Maryland to Philly (my hometown) on Saturday morning with our two Great Danes - for anyone else ever staying in Philly the Loews at 12th and Market is extremely pet friendly! All four of us crammed into a queen sized bed Saturday night so nobody got a whole lot of sleep. I was painfully nervous on Sunday morning, especially after a dog-walking outing on Saturday night left me with a really sore and stiff right ankle. But we suited up and walked the mile and a half (or more) to the starting line.

I had a few goals for the race, in order:
Don't die - Check.
Don't walk - Check.
Come in under 2:45 - Check.
Average somewhere between 11:30-12:00 miles - Check.
Don't hurt myself and compromise the rest of my training - Check.
More details and photos after the break!

Track Workout - 9/15/10 - 5.29 miles 01:09:51

I had a good feeling about the workout when I got up in the morning, I had a new pair of CW-X Performx tights to test out and the weather seemed pretty cool which usually bodes well for a good run.  I hit the bathroom at work to squeeze into my tights around 5:15, leaving plenty of room because it seriously takes forever to get those things on.  They made all kinds of squeaky noises as I wriggled and pulled and pushed and shoved but they fit well and are quite comfortable.  Perhaps a little overkill for someone as slow as I am but I'll take all the help I can get.

It was warmer than I expected at 6:30 but not humid, I don't think I sweated on my new tights at all (which get a big thumbs up, love 'em).  Because our group is so large and school is back in session they led the group on a warm up lap around the neighborhood instead of through the campus but I chose to just hang out on the track instead with a recovering runner and my dear friend Hengameh.  We've all got some kind of minor injury so we walked one lap then ran four for the warm-up at a reasonable warm-up pace (not the speedy mile we usually end up doing with the group, I much preferred this).  The on to the workout of 4x1200 40-60 seconds faster than LSD pace with a recovery lap in between each set.  We walked the recovery laps as I tend to do and we ran at a good clip for the 1200s.

The inside of my right ankle hurts like hell, worse when I stopped moving to take a drink of water so I suppose the solution is to never stop moving.  It's moderately sore and swollen now, a bit stiff, but not really painful when sitting or walking.  It didn't slow me down or affect my gait so I'm trying to just baby it and not worry about it too much until after Sunday's half marathon.  Just 44 days until Marine Corps, no way I'm stopping now!