T-6 Days

I've been a bit surprised that I don't seem to be suffering from many of the 'taper week' symptoms that I have read so much about.  This is not an easy time, despite the fact that mileage has reduced.  You tend to get sick -- check.  You tend to worry that you are going to sustain some stupid injury that makes you unable to run your marathon -- check.  But other than that, I've been okay.  Until today.

One thing that I have read about is the fact that your runs are just not very good runs.  This might seem self-evident: you have been running a lot of miles for a lot of time and your body is tired.  So clearly you will not be running your best.  But until now, I was feeling okay about my runs.  Today, not really.

Five miles was a long five miles.  This was in no way related to the weather (61F right now!) or anything else obvious.  I think that it was more of a point where my body has decided that enough is enough and it doesn't really feel like going on runs any more.  The key thing about this phase of the taper weeks is to not panic, because you won't actually run like this on marathon day.  So say the experts.  Therefore, I shall not panic.  But it was still a surprisingly tricky run in some respects.

(The time, though, was slightly faster than the last 5 mile run I did, so clearly this is not related to performance necessarily).

I've also figured out the reason that I've been so obsessive about finishing the training program.  These taper week runs are kind of freebies: they aren't actually necessary and likely won't help your marathon in any way.  And there have definitely been a few days lately where I didn't really feel like it but went anyway (such as yesterday and for much of today's run).  However, I think that there is something in my head that wants to be able to say that I ran all of the training program, even if I don't do well for the marathon.  At least I can say I put in the time and effort. 

Taper Time Begins with a Challenge

Since I started training, I've noticed that my body sometimes craves weird things.  This goes beyond those times when I find myself hording carbs in my shopping cart, although that is one good example.  What is even weirder is when I find my body 'craving' things that have nothing to do with food.  For instance, after one of my long runs, I was getting ready to go watch my football game at the bar and I realized that my feet craved for me to wear running shoes.  Seriously.  I can't explain it any better than to say it is a craving.

Today, I had a 5-mile run.  It was supposed to be 5 miles with hills, but I didn't feel like running over in the hill neighborhood.  Several factors conspired to make me less motivated: the fact that the sun goes down at 5:30 now; the fact that I did not get home until 5; and the fact that I don't like running in the dark any more for fear of tripping and bashing up my knees (or worse).  I couldn't go running in the morning because I was in Orlando.  Yes.  Again.

I came awfully close to not doing today's run.  Probably closer than I have come before.  For one, I just wasn't in the mood.  Also, I got a massage this afternoon which helped take out all of the running kinks and I was enjoying being able to move my neck freely again (the massage finished at 4:45, hence why I did not get home until 5pm).  And the weather, while not vile, is not ideal for running.  Today's heat index was in the mid-80s.  Ugh.

However, somehow my body craved (?) going for a run around my little condo association neighborhood.  By 'little,' I mean this thing loops at 0.7 miles.  Why I wanted to do this, I don't know.  It required that I circle 7 times around the little loop, then add on a tiny bit.  But for some reason, this made me happy and it really wasn't so bad.  There is decent lighting at night here, which is not true of all neighborhoods.  I ran on the road, so no uneven sidewalks to trip me.  It is a loop, but it isn't a terrible loop as far as scenery goes.  Just chalk this up to another one of my weird 'cravings,' I guess.  And that is another 5 miles that I really did not want to run done!

The Long and Winding Road (mostly long)

[Yesterday I ran 4 miles.  Nothing exciting to report.  Although there is now a 'On Purpose Stephanie Encounter' to go with the 'Random Stephanie Encounter.']

Today was the last long run: 20 miles.  And I finished it.  It was not the most pleasant run I have ever done: it started in the 60s with 85% humidity, enough to push the temperature + humidity number to 150 (which, as you may recall, is too close to 160 for my comfort).  During the course of the run, the conditions did not get much better, exacerbated by the fact that I am a really freaking slow runner so everything took a long, long time.  But no matter.  It is now done.  With any luck, these will be the worst conditions I encounter for such a lengthy distance.

I ran my normal route around the north part of the golf course neighborhood, then went over to the south part to loop miles 7ish-13ish.  Overall, it was a really nice route, particularly because there were convenient water stops: one about 1/4 (or 3/4 on the return) of the way through and another at the halfway point.  Very useful.  Probably would not have done so well without them, particularly since I forgot to pick up some of the healthy Gatorade stuff, so I was stuck with only water (and, naturally, my sports beans).  When I felt my brain wandering, I reminded myself that this was a combination of tired/need sports beans/want hydration and to keep focused.

Completing 20 miles feels like a real accomplishment, even though there is still the long race to go.  I've been thinking a lot about the overall training during the past week and am pleased that I've done a good job at getting out there and running, even when I don't feel like it.  This hasn't always been easy, but on the whole, I think that it's been easier than I expected.  I'm also really thrilled that I have such a wonderful neighborhood at my disposal because that has made everything much more pleasant.  As I ran today, I thought about how fortunate I am to live in and around a neighborhood that offers so many options for routes, while also providing shade, scenery, and very little traffic:

And pretty, colored trees!

And now, on to Taper Time!

Reflection on Sunday's run. Yes, I'm still doing that.

When I looked at the weather conditions this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the dew point was 69F at the start of my run.  Can you imagine?  According to Wikipedia, that is only "somewhat uncomfortable for most people at the upper edge" (the range being 65-69F).  Only somewhat uncomfortable!  How awesome is that?

I got thinking about Sunday's run again.  Truth be told, I've been thinking quite a lot about Sunday's horror run.  For instance, on Monday night, I expressed displeasure to two friends that I had to run again after the torture that was Sunday's run.  But I'm trying to put a more positive spin on it.  Sunday's run was probably as bad as it gets.  The heat index is not usually so disgusting that early in the morning, even in Florida.  As a comparison, Accuweather had the heat index at 106F on Sunday around 10am.  This morning it was 92F at 10am.  Still not ideal conditions, but a significant improvement.

If Sunday was as bad as it will probably get, then  I'm okay because I still did it.  I still finished my 8 miles.  I was slow but this apparently doesn't matter.  It wasn't enjoyable, it wasn't fun, and it certainly was not something that I want to repeat any time soon.  But I didn't quit.  I didn't give up.  I didn't walk.  I didn't stop running.  And that is the lesson to be learned here.  Chalk it up to more mental toughness development.

Hey, guess what? It's still humid!

I suppose that AM humid is still better than PM hot, but in all honestly, I'd rather avoid either.  Today was 6 miles (whoo!  Not 4!).  Instead of going over to the golf course neighborhood, I went over to Stephanie and David's instead.  No RSE, but I did hear the dogs in the house.  Also, the woman with the chihuahuas in the bicycle basket was out this morning too.  Not sure if she recognized me.

She did say hi, but that's because pretty much everyone in Florida says hi to you when you run.  I even had people wave hi from inside vehicles.  This ain't MA on the friendliness quotient, I can promise you that much.

It was a relatively nice day, I just would have preferred less humidity.  But what can you do?  At least the sun was not horrible.  And I remembered to put out the garbage!

According to the schedule,  I am supposed to run a 5k on Saturday, September 25.  I was hoping to be able to do the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Ranch Run, which takes place in the golf course neighborhood, but it's too early this year.  However, I found a pretty good race instead: the Lowry Park Zoo's Zoo Run Run.  I get to run around the zoo!   And I get free admission for the rest of the day.  From my experience running around the zoo is not the best course for a PR since you wind up running around a lot of tight corners that cost you time.  A couple of years ago, I did a number of 5ks throughout the fall and was down to about a 10:40 mile split.  The zoo run, in contrast, I had an 11:45.  However, I got to run around and look at the animals, which is much, much more fun than a run could be otherwise.  Zoo Run Run it is!

Temple Terrace: it's no Worcester

Today's run was 4 miles with 4 minutes uphill.  When I first saw that, I automatically assumed that those four minutes would be on the treadmill since this region of Florida is pretty bereft of hills.  All of the other places that I've lived since starting my running career have had a decent hill profile.  Boston has some killah hills, and others that are the slow and painful gradual types.  These are the ones that you don't even notice until you decide to run them, then you wonder why your run has been so awful for the past 1/4 mile.  Looking behind you, you realize that this is because you've been on a very long and gradual hill.  Looking ahead, you realize that this very long and gradual hill may never end.  Trust me, I've been on this run more than once.

When I started running in Boston, I lived in Somerville, which has several really nasty hills.  Somehow, I managed to live right near the crest of one of them.  So no matter which way you came to my apartment, the end of the run was inevitably a long, gradual, uphill climb.  I initially noticed this as I was trying to finish my very first long run (6 whole miles!) and felt like the last part of my run was all uphill.  I then realized that it actually was and that this 'all uphill' feeling was not my imagination.  This is the town with Heartbreak Hill, after all (it's a big, long, gradual hill 20 miles into the Boston Marathon, which is not where you want such a hill.  Many runners have been felled by it).

After Boston, I lived in Worcester, which is one of those many cities of seven hills.  They aren't kidding.  It's in the foothills of the Berkshires and you definitely get your hillwork done.  I ran more hills in my warm-ups than I probably do now in a month of Florida running.  There was a particularly brutal one that I used to use for hill practice which was a pretty decent incline that went on for 5-6 minutes.  Back then, I didn't even really think about hills.  They were just there.


Then I moved here, where there were zero hills.  Where I lived before, the only thing approaching a hill was a pedestrian overpass located on a running trail.  And yes, I did actually use that for hill training.  It even had the added advantage of no shade whatsoever.  So that was my hill. Or the treadmill.  Or wait for the summer and Vienna, which has some completely ridiculous gradual hills:

Yeah, I used to run that.  Up.  And down.  That's running Wiener-style.

When I was there this summer, I went on a run that had 15 straight minutes uphill.  Seriously.  And this was a casual hill compared to some.

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise and joy when I discovered that Temple Terrace does actually have a few hills.  My first concern was whether it had enough of a hill to constitute four minutes, as mandated by my training plan for today.  I decided to tackle 'the hill' to see how long it took, and wouldn't you know it?  Two minutes up.  So I ran it, circled around a lovely treed neighborhood, then ran it again.  Problem solved!

When I checked my phone upon finishing the run, I realized that Temple Terrace actually has several elevation changes in the form of long, gradual hills.  So actually, I did more than four minutes.  Hopefully this is making me a stronger runner without me even noticing -- although I don't think I'm quite ready for Comrades, the insane South African ultramarathon with completely insane hills:

Comrades profile map.  Insane.  I cannot use that word enough in describing this race.

Here is a photo of the hill I ran today.  Feel free to laugh.  I should probably put 'hill' in 'quotation marks':

It's no Worcester, that is for sure.  But I am running this marathon in coastal South Carolina, so likely I will be okay.

Last run in Boston

Before I talk about today's run, let me just say that if you live anywhere near a Whole Foods, you should run -- not walk -- to get some of the Gruyere reserve wheel cheese.  Ridiculously good.  I may have to make French Onion Soup just for the cheese if I can locate this at the Tampa Whole Foods.

Unfortunately, my friend couldn't make it out to run.  I decided to lounge around this morning and have a bit of a break.  I'm not one of those 'Must Run First Thing In The Morning' people by any means.  I think that you should run when you can...that being said, you do need to plan and make time to go.  Yesterday, I was proud of myself because I changed my plans to make sure I could fit my run in.  This scheduling stuff is important or else you can get behind.  Also, the clear advantage of going first thing in the morning is that your run is done and nothing can get in the way later.  I do prefer usually to go earlier rather than later, but either is fine, really.

Tonight was great: low humidity, good temperature, and a nice run by the Charles (again).  Needless to say, I will miss this, but there is something about running here that I will miss even more.  Even in this short week and a half, I feel like I'm developing better running technique.  For instance, halfway through tonight I noticed that my shoulders were raised, meaning that I was holding in too much tension.  So I spent the rest of my run concentrating on relaxing, ensuring that my shoulders didn't get too high.  When I get to hills, I can feel my legs powering up.  In general, I feel like there is more bounce in my step.  Today, I may have even -- momentarily -- hit a 10-minute mile...although I don't quite trust the mile splits that my phone provides because sometimes they are just wacky.  For instance, if I ran three miles in less than 36 minutes, I'm pretty sure I'm under 12-minute miles, whereas sometimes my phone disagrees.

I'm trying not to get morose about leaving Boston, although I'm pretty sure that my love for this city has come through pretty clearly.  Instead, I want to focus on what I can do to be a better runner in spite of Florida.  I am going to keep watching my technique and trying to improve in the areas that I noticed, such as keeping the shoulders down.  Part of the problem there, I believe, is that I get so caught up in the challenge of just running in those conditions that I forget about other aspects of my running.  Even though any distance feels like a challenge, it is not enough to only run.  It's time to step up the technique and make the best of a difficult situation.

Funnily enough, during the Red Sox game tonight (which is in Texas) the announcers got talking about how icky the conditions can be in the south.  They were of the mindset that no one ever fully adapted to the heat and humidity.  That being said, it sounded far nastier there than Tampa: it was 100F at the start of the game.  Ew.

I ran into a guy in the elevator tonight who told me that he has been working in Boston for three months and has only been running outside four times.  Instead, he runs on the treadmill.  Tragedy!

I don't hate running

The title for this post may seem strange: obviously if I want to run a marathon, I don't hate running, right?  Some days that is difficult to remember.  I spend so much time running in conditions that I dislike (even in winter in Florida since it's often still humid) that it can be really hard to think back to those good runs that I enjoyed.

Today was one of those good ones.

I went around 7:15PM (post-ballgame) just in time to get the light of the setting sun.  This run was next to the Charles, heading west (other runs have been east).  The temperature was in the low 70s, the humidity was under 40%.  It was fantastic.  I was a bit slow to start -- probably because I didn't go yesterday -- but shook that off pretty quickly .  Not too hot, not too cold, and I'm pretty sure my time was good (unfortunately, there was no good way to pause my phone at lights and I had to wait for a few, so my mile split was wrong).  I hardly looked at my phone at all to see how far I had gone, which is a real change from normal when I have to give myself pep talks to get through the last half of any run.

Hurray!

Here is hoping that my good running mojo continues for tomorrow when I do the Salem 5k.  And that I am not burned as a witch.

I think I'm adapting

This morning's 3-mile run was also not so bad, although it was sufficiently humid that my glasses fogged up as I ran.  The sun, however, was not terrible (this was around 8am) and with plenty of shade, I felt pretty good by the end.  Sunny moments were actually kind of nice since they helped evaporate some of the moisture.  Good enough to crank it up a bit for the last 0.1 mile.  Then I walked it off and sweated a lot.

This is great timing for adapting to the hot/humid environment since I am sitting right now at the airport, getting ready to fly to Boston.  Here is hoping that any warm-weather experience will stay with me for the next week and a half!

Slight change to this week's training plan: Tuesday 3; Wednesday 4; Thursday 5; Saturday 4; Sunday 3.  Nice pyramid.  I'm doing a 5k on Sunday, so it makes sense to switch things up a bit.

Interesting

I was reading the May 2010 issue of Runner's World this morning (I'm super behind with them) and ran across an interesting piece of information:

"If you're running at least every other day, your body will adapt to a more efficient running pattern, which eliminates extraneous motion and generates some small time improvement."

I find this interesting because I didn't really notice this from past long-distance training.  I've run two half-marathons before, but maybe the circumstances weren't right to test this theory.  After the first one, my next race was a 5k.  I did it while I was training for a triathlon, and while my fitness level should have been overall better, I was tired from the training when I did it (also, it warmed up even though it was in the winter in Florida...never good for me).  After the last half-marathon, I didn't really run anything.  So maybe this time around, I will see a difference!  I don't really expect to improve all that much, time-wise, since marathon training is more about endurance and distance, and that's fine too.

Day 1 is done!

Okay, one run down, countless runs to go. I actually was thinking along these lines a few times during my run this morning, then realized that this is stupid. If all you think about is how much there is to go, it will just be depressing. Same philosophy will apply at the start line: if you stand there thinking that you have to run 26.2 miles, you might just want to lie down and cry. Well, at least I would. Better to take it one step at a time because that way you can think about how each step is progress toward the goal.

It was by no means the most pleasant run I've ever done. Before I left, the RealFeel temperature was already in the 90s (this was around 8:40am). At least the humidity was 'low,' by which I mean in the 80% range. However, I did like the ample shade provided by the lovely trees in my neighborhood. It really does make a big difference.

I used my fancy new phone rig, which worked relatively well, except that it insists on telling me my time (that and it was preset in kilometers...good thing today was only three miles, which is a little less than 5k). I don't want to know my time. In fact, I rarely keep time except during races (and then sometimes I force myself to forget quickly). As a relatively competitive person, I realized a long time ago that keeping time on every one of my runs was more harmful than good. You don't necessarily make steady progress when you run, at least not every time you go out. Some days, for whatever reason, you will be faster and some days you will be slower. This is just how it is. For me, I found that tracking each run made me frustrated when I couldn't figure out why I was slower on a given day. Instead, I decided to just go run with the belief that gradual progress would be made. I keep thinking that someday I will reconcile with keeping time and get better with it, but I don't feel that marathon training is the time to do this. I'm not running this race for a time, I'm running to finish. That's it.

It would be super cool, though, if you did shave off time every run you did. Imagine if you ran 5 days a week, 40 weeks of the year, and every time you took off 3 seconds from your mile. You'd take a minute off your mile a year. In 5 years, I would practically be ready for the Olympics.