The lazy blogger signs in

Didn't mean to race and run...  Just haven't been in the bloggiest of moods lately.  Just a few things going on:

1) School is going well.  I guess it sounds a bit boastful, but the WORST grade I got on my tests last week was a 100.  Yes, thanks to the power of extra credit, my test scores ran 100, 102, and 103.  So, all the studying paid off.  But it only gets more fun from here on out in A&P: we're on to memorizing all the bones (and the attachments, holes, and funky parts there of), and will next go on to all of the muscles.  Who knew you had so many holes in your head? 

2) Instead of having a hard training calendar, I've set up a template for myself.  I have three weights days a week, three to four run days a week, yoga class, and four slots for karate, class numbers/length varying.  There is no formal off day, but I suspect off days will present themselves to me.  I had expected to take a partial day off (no run) today, in fact, because it was supposed to be POURING this morning, but it was just humid as all hell, so out I went.  When this next race is over, I plan to MAKE myself rest for as long as I can stand it.  (What that usually looks like to me is taking out the running and weights, and leaving in karate and yoga.  So, I guess it's more like a recovery period.)

3) I feel a bit odd about abandoning the rest day proper.  I've long advocated for them, but lately I've found I have a really hard time sleeping if I don't do SOMETHING reasonably athletic, and that's not so great, either.  So I will try to balance harder and easier days as much as possible.

4) I'm doing self-designed weight workouts.  I originally was planning to use the FBB stage 3 and 4 workouts, which look pretty interesting, but I made these two up to sort of fill in a time gap, and like them enough to want to continue with them for a while.  They both include a variety of leg and glute exercises, some rotational exercise, core or ab work, and either vertical or horizontal push/pull elements.  Nothing brilliant, I'm sure, but different enough from what I've been doing to be fresh and basic enough, I think, to be useful.


5) Yay, Phillies! 

Time to chill a bit before karate.  I'm feeling a bit like Grif, here, right now:

Belated, but here nonetheless, Race Report: Philadelphia Distance Run

a/k/a, the ING Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon.

Grif inspects my race T and finisher's medal.

It was, as expected, a near perfect day for a race.  Temps were in the 50’s when I started out for the train station, and the forcast temp for the end of the race was low 70’s.  Wouldn’t have minded a bit cooler, but after this summer, it seemed like a gift. 

I took the train mainly because I was concerned about finding parking in Philly, and as I walked over I was wondering how many other people might have had shared my brilliant idea; I’ve seen the train platforms packed at odd hours and hoped it wouldn’t be standing room only.  As it happened, it wasn’t all that bad, and to my very pleasant surprise, at the second stop, two folks from the dojo also boarded the train, headed to the race!  The first was sensei’s wife, with whom I’ve done a few tris; she was headed over to watch her sister race: the second was the mom of a kid I’ve taught, who was actually running (the mom, not the kid).  Made for a nice train ride and walk to the start.

I am not really big on getting to race events early and hanging out, waiting for the start.  I find 1) there’s nothing to do, frankly, and 2) it’s usually too cold to just stand around in race clothes.  1 + 2 = a cold and bored me.  So I usually try to time my arrival so that I just have time to drop off my gear, hit the (usually vile) jakes if necessary, and hit my corral running, so to speak, and I pretty much nailed it.  The race actually officially started – meaning the elite runners started - while I was still in the potty line, but because I was in the 10th corral, my group would likely cross the start line a good starting a good ten minutes behind them.  I was able to join the four or five minutes before we crossed the start line, and  then we were off!

The first five miles or so went through center city, Philly.  It’s been a while since I did a huge race and I seemed to recall rolling with the crowd usually got me off to an overfast start (I ran something like a seven and a half minute mile when I started the Marine Corps Marathon, WAAAAAY too fast for the likes of me); this particular crowd really didn’t seem to be blazing out of the start, but I just kept with the pack because there was really much room for maneuvering, and it didn’t really feel THAT slow.   However, by the time I hit mile one, I could see it really was that slow, nearly a minute off my planned pace, and between the crowd and the narrowness of the streets, I figured I probably wasn’t going make up any significant time in the city, and immediately despaired of my hoped-for finish time.  (This, in retrospect, was a Lesson Learned, but I’ll do those later.) 

Somewhere around mile 5, the course headed out of the city and into Fairmont Park (right around when I hit this marker, the WINNER crossed the finish line, having complete the race in a hair over an hour – officially, 60:15).   By this time the race had opened up a bit, and I was starting to feel pretty good, a feeling that, unfortunately, wouldn’t last all that much longer.  However, around mile 6 I had a chance meeting with an acquaintance from my home town, someone I didn’t even know was a runner!  We ran and chatted together briefly before parting ways, having had one of those neat, uplifting surprises.   Shortly after that, though, the race went from fun to arduous work.

At around mile seven, my quads started to feel really tight and heavy, like they could cramp up at any moment.  There was nothing in the race that prompted this – the course was pancake flat – and I didn’t have a clue at the time as to what the trouble might be.  The quads had been bothering me for a couple of days prior to the race, but I attributed that to taper-related phantom pain, and nothing else.  (I was wrong.  Yet another Lesson Learned!)  It was a weird place to be, mentally; I can honestly say I had no significant aches or pains anywhere during my training, so I had to wonder what on earth was up, and why was it just showing up then?  I went to the side of the course and stretched for a moment and then pressed on, figuring that since nothing felt MECHANICALLY wrong, the worst that could happen would be that I’d get hauled in on the meatwagon, a cramped mess.

And that was the story of the last five, six miles of the race.  Run, pause, stretch; run, pause, stretch.  I don’t know if the pausing or the stretching, alone or in combination, helped, but I never did cramp up, and as I got closer to the finish line, I realized I actually wasn’t all that far off my goal pace, another very pleasant surprise.  When all was said and done, finished only three minutes over my goal time of two hours!   All things considered, and in light of the valuable lessons learned, I’ll take it.

I picked up my finisher’s medal and foraged through the runner’s food/snack area, then searched the support area – in vain, as it happened – for a massage tent.  They usually seem to have them at tris, and I was surprised when I couldn’t find one at the race.  But I did find a tent with some yoga mats, so I took full advantage of the opportunity to do a much more thorough stretch, which felt pretty darned good, then picked up my gear and started the trek back to the train station.   And who did I run into before I was even out of the race area, but sensei’s wife!  We had a nice walk back to the train together, and as predicted, I was home before noon.

So, the lessons learned:  Lesson One, which I settled on a few weeks ago:  As much as I hate letting a stopwatch dictate individual runs because I find it more or less sucks the life out of them, obsessing about a finishing time – which I WILL do if I publicly or privately share a race goal – sucks the fun out of training.  So, henceforth, while I know I can’t prevent myself from mentally setting time goals, my stated goal will ALWAYS be to finish the event and have fun doing it.  So there!

Lesson Two:  Race starts are tricky things.  I’ve been sucked into fast starts, and now mentally tripped up by a slow start.  In truth, for these big races, it’s hard to really set your own pace at the start if you’re mid-pack; however, if it’s a LONG race, keeping reasonably close to pace at the start is probably fine.  In particular, I know that I tend to really get rolling a few miles into a long run, and frequently finish running faster and easier than when I head out.  So…  I should have just gone with the beginning of this race, and not sweated the clock so much early on.

Lesson Three:  When the training schedule says to do a 30 minute tempo run four days before the race, do a 30 minute tempo run.  Do NOT go and run full out for half an hour because it’s a beautiful, cool morning and you feel like blasting away.  Working the legs, and in this case the quads especially, that hard may leave them sore for a few days, and that half hour of fun MIGHT just come back to bite you on the ass during the race.  D’oh!!!

Will I do that particular race again?  I don’t honestly know.  The half itself is a nice distance to run; I found training for a full marathon to be a part time job toward the end, and it was comparatively easy to keep a schedule that included weight training and a full karate load throughout the half training.  In terms of foot traffic, at 15,000 people, Philly was big but not monstrous; while the start felt congested it opened up well enough later on, which was nice.  As for the crowds – I have to admit, I was a little bit disappointed.  I’ve heard this race compared to the Broad Street Run, which is basically a ten mile long, impromptu-feeling block party.  Well, there really is no comparison; Broad Street has it all over the slicked-up Rock ‘n’ Roll half.  I don’t really run FOR the crowds, but they make it a hell of a lot more fun; without them, I might as well just run 13 or however many miles around the neighborhood.   In terms of travel, though, it doesn’t get much easier than a commuter train ride to do a race – so maybe I will be back some time in future.

And for my next trick, it’s on to the Dirty Bird, my inaugural trail race.  Here’s to sane training!

I live!

Just a quick HELLO type post.  I feel bad that I haven't had a chance to post before now, and that this will be short - I want to blab about the race and shit but it's just one of those weeks.  So, short style:

1) Completed the race!  Was 3 minutes over my goal time, but I'm not too wigged out over that in light of the training lessons learned.  More on that when I do actually post a race report!

2) Survived my first lab practical.  I studied like a mofo for this - much of the day Saturday, not really at all on Sunday (did get in some study time for psych), and all freaking day on Monday.  There was a TON of material to cover so I just dug in.  I think it went quite well; there were 36 questions and I was not sure of one of them, and in retrospect, I think I SWAGed the correct answer.  Of course I could be completely wrong about how I did but I don't think so.

3) Got back from class yesterday and immediately got an urgent message from sensei - he was held up in a board meeting and could I teach class?  I thought I might be better off studying, but agreed to anyway.  Put in a few hours study time before I headed over and was so brain dead I was happy for the break.

4) Just got back from a great AM training session with Sensei J; we spent a lot of time sparring and my head is just filled with stuff.  I feel like he's taking the restrictor plates off everything I learned previously.

5) Today is yet another heavy duty study day.  A&P exam tomorrow plus a psych test that is all about the A&P of the brain.  Woo!  So no race report likely until Friday.

6) Still not sure what my program is going to look like, training for the trail run.  It will involve weights, hills, and trails, but in what order, I don't know.

And my ride to yoga is going to show up any second now, so I'm off!

Half Eve

This time tomorrow - OK, let's be honest, I'll be watching football.

The race is close and starts at 8 am, so I should be done, back, showered and fed before the Igs (qb'd, as I feared, by Mr. Vick) kick off.  Went into the city yesterday to pick up my gear and had to practically RUN out of the expo - there was a lot of good stuff there and I could have dropped a couple of hunderd $ in a heartbeat.  I especially coveted a bright yellow vest/windbreaker that would be PERFECT for early morning runs, now that it's darker (& cooler) in the morning...  It was hard to rein back from that one!

Anyway I have my number and some kind of new timing device that looks a bit like the twist tie from a large, plastic trash bag.  (For those who have never run a 10,000 plus entrant race: you are timed by a small transmitter that you wear, usually attached to your shoe, that picks up your signal electronically when you cross mats placed at the start and finish lines, and sometimes at various points in between.  That way, you get your exact race time, also called your chip time, as opposed official race start time vs. your finish time.  This is helpful because, obviously, not everyone can start at the start line at the same time.  They used to give you something called a Champion Chip, which was reusable but had to be removed and turned in at the finish line, which created traffic jams that nobody really appreciated.)  The only think I'm not 100% certain about right now is how I'm getting there.  I had originally planned to drive, but as it turns out I'd have to park at one of the pay garages in center city, which means I'd have to leave VERY early to have a chance to get in a garage near the event, for which I'd probably pay out the ass.  If I didn't get in a close garage, I could have an even further walk than I would from the subway station, so I'm thinking it might be best to cut my losses.

Anyway, the weather looks as if it should be near-perfect, high 50's to around 60 at start time, upper 60's when we're done.  I have no thoughts now as to how I'll run the race, i.e., press for time or not.  I've been feeling out of sorts for the past few days, I presume from the mini-taper; hopefully that will translate into good energy available for tomorrow. 

School stuff:  Got an A on my psych test, actually a perfect score.  (Woo!)  Not a bad way to start the semester.  BUT, I have three tests this coming week; an A&P lab practical, an A&P exam, and another psych test.  So, it may take me a few days to post a race report.   And - I really had better go study now.

The speed hack strikes again

Over the past week or so, I've been doing a lot of "lasts" in prep for the half.  Last Wednesday was my last 1/4 mile repeats, Thursday - last run/lift double, Saturday - last pace run, Sunday - last long run, etc.  Today was my last tempo run.  As I've mentioned before, I have utterly no sense of pace, and now that the weather is cooler, runs feel about 8 zillion times easier, and I've been running a bit faster.  It's one of those things I figured would happen when the weather cooled off, but even knowing that, after a summer of slower than I really expected running, I was beginning to wonder if I hadn't lost a step somewhere along the line. 

Well, maybe not.  I put what felt like a normal effort into my tempo run this morning, and finished in what for me was a relatively blistering pace (low 8 minute miles).  So that was kinda cool.  Also had a great karate class last night; got to spar with sensei for the first time in a while, and I could tell he was having fun.  We really got on a roll there.  Also had a good session with sensei J this morning.  Nice when things are going on all cylinders!

I'm still a bit up in the air about Insanity.  I've told sensei I'm not committing to doing the whole program; the timing is just wrong.  But, I AM free to take any of the classes any time, so I might just do it when/if I feel like it and catch a full rotation some other time, when it's scheduled more to my taste.  I really do want to give it a go, but this just isn't the way I personally would care to do it.  So my plan for now is to take a recovery-ish week after the race, go easy until I feel antsy (which may only take a couple of days, but whatever), and in that time sort of figure out how I want to prep for the trail race.  I'm thinking 1) hills and 2) offroad, and since my offroad/trail runs around here are pretty much flat, I might have to find someplace else to do a few runs.  I'd like to do weights 2 - 3 times a week, and I'll probably continue with the FBB workouts with a few minor mods (sub in harder ab work - swiss ball crunches? srsly? - sub back hypers for cobra, make the giant sets, super sets, because they'd otherwise be too hard to set up at my gym).  I have to think some on how much running I think I'll need/want and decide from there how many weight workouts.  Not something I'm going to do today.

Had my first test yesterday, in Psych.  Think I did pretty well!  And now I have to bolt.  Maybe more later, maybe not!

So, perhaps no Insanity

Jeezy creezy.  I've mentioned before that we're going to be running Insanity out of the dojo (or more specifically, a Beachbody "coach" - BB-ish for "salesperson" - friend of Sensei's will be running the program); it's free to karate school members, costs $ for non-members.  I'm not really sure who's doing it, specifically - as far as I know, I'm the only person from the dojo, aside from sensei, who is interested - and I've had no input on when it's to start, when the classes would be held, etc.  Seriously, would YOU start this thing the day after you do a road race you've trained for for months?  I'd rather take an easy week, thank you, but whatever.  The time has fluctuated, but the latest I'd heard was it would be held M, W, F at 7:30, T and TH after karate - which is late for me, probably wouldn't start before 9, but I offered to come in and run the program at 4:30, before classes as an alternative, and Saturdays at around 10.

Got the final schedule yesterday and it's just a clusterfuck.  Whomever is setting the final schedule wants to do it at 8:30 on weeknights and not at all on the weekends (um, but it's a six day a week program, no?  How is that going to work out?).  To which I say, pffft.  I'm sure you night owls are saying, 8:30?  So what?  But I'm a morning person, always have been, and am usually shut down or well on my way there by 9, so this doesn't fly for me.

So much has fluctuated since this idea was originally presented that for all I know, it'll change again, but if not - maybe I'll catch it next time.  Plan B is to go back to lifting three days a week and running three days a week, with the focus on prepping for the trail run (for which my only goal is to finish).   Which is probably the better plan, anyway...  So, we'll see what happens.

Yesterday was pretty much a suck-ass sports day for me.  US Open Men's Final - rained out.  They play today, but I was looking forward to it and it would have been a nice diversion from the truly SUCKY Eagles game.  I was yelling at Andy Reid (the coach) before the first quarter was over, the new starting QB was out with a concussion before the first half was over, and our replacement was none other than the infamous Michael Vick, with whom I have a loathe/detest relationship, and also whom I can't forget is one talented bastard I would have gladly had on my team before - well, before.  Which in a way, ALSO bothers me because I wonder to what extent it's a double standard.  I know he's not the only person in football - in sports, for that matter - who has done despicable things, but I hate on him especially because I know about them?  And yet, how do you turn a blind eye to what he did?  So, yes, my feelings toward Vick are incredibly mixed, and I've been wishing he'd just go away because if he's not in Eagle's green, I'm under no obligation to deal with him.  Now, based on the play calling before Kolb (the new starting QB) went down and the fact that Kolb has a concussion, meaning who knows when he'll be back, I wonder if Vick will be the starting QB, and for how long?

And oh yeah, I watched a good chunk of the night game, and the Redskins have this new QB - #5? - who looked solid, if unspectacular.  Mc-something or other.

Study Break!

I have my very first test on Tuesday, in Psychology.  I've also been scrambling like a nut to get up to speed in A&P; we started with a HUGE reading load (because so much of the material in the first chapters was review of bio and chem - never mind that I last had bio and chem in the 80's and not last semester, as it's presumed one did, so I was really scraping rust of the brain).  I am basically up to date with that now, and hopefully things will be a bit more sane from here on out.  I'm still pretty excited about school and tend to babble at anyone who asks me about it, and since I just unloaded on my sister (who also went back to school, for a masters), you're spared any further talk for the day.

Training stuff has pretty much gone apace, although I missed karate this past Thursday because I was just mentally and physically dead by class time.   Generally I find I can get through a class if I'm either mentally present or physically present - one will carry the other along until it picks up - but if both are shot, I'm more likely to do something stupid like walk into a kick or a punch that isn't even aimed at me, so it's best not to go.  That was my last double workout (run + weights) day of half training, so I don't figure that will be a problem in future.  And, yes, all of the runs and lifts have gone down as prescribed, including today's long run.  Which was a damp one.  I have to say, as much as I really don't MIND running in the rain, I find it hard to get myself out the door when it's raining before I even start.  But I finished feeling really strong and good, and in the end it was the kind of run that just feels good to the core.  I really do love these moderate distances, stuff in the 8 - 15 mile range.  Also, my time for this run, which I was trying to do at an easy pace, was really pretty good, and suggests I might actually meet my time goal, although I have managed to divorce myself from it to some extent.

It's been interesting.  First, I've wondered why I've been so hung up on what amounts to a more or less arbitrarily picked number.  Which isn't really rocket science - I figure it's a combination of pride and a sense of personal expectation, which I don't actually consider bad things.  BUT, I'm not sure I picked a training program that was necessarily setting me up for success.  And I don't mean that as a cop-out; I don't expect to be far off goal unless the weather is utter crap - but I don't have any good training predictors of race performance, so I don't know if I've done all I should have to reach goal or not.  My timed training runs were done to the best of my ability and at what I thought was a good pace; but what the f do I know?  Anyway, done is done, I'm sure you're about as sick of reading about this as I am of writing about this, and as far as I'm concerned - I do my best next week and take the lesson learned.  Which is:  NEVER set a time goal for a race I haven't done before.

And starting immediately after that is Insanity.  I know almost nothing about this program other than it's some kind of twist on interval training plus bodyweight exercise (I think), plus people who have done it say it's the hardest thing they've ever done.  Which just sounds like a challenge to me, so I jumped on the chance to do it in a group.  Since I don't really know what it's about, I don't have any specific goals for it; I plan to keep lifting twice a week through it and if I can, to fit in some runs here and there, and I'd like to maintain my weight, which remains in a good place.  I may take some before/after photos for grins and giggles. 

Oh, and I finally saw The Expendables.  Had a bit more "plot" than it needed, but was otherwise the expected fights and explosions action guy romp.  I don't know why Wendy gave up Jason Stratham, though.  Damn! 

Ugh. Shopping.

I finally did it - I killed my blender.  Crapolita.   I am a fairly frequent protein shake flier, usually having one a day after my hardest workout of the day because I do believe in post workout refuelling and I really can't face solid food when I'm hot and sweaty.  Dunno why, but I've always been like that so I go with what works.  (I'm even more fussy about eating before a workout.  It's all about avoiding nausea, but it's a PITA.)  I like my shakes fairly thick - approaching Wendy's Frostee thick - so the milk/pp to frozen fruit ratio tends to favor that outcome, which can be hard on a table top blender's engine.  I used the Magic Bullet for a while, but the teeth in the base broke off.  Tried a fairly cheap smoothie maker, and that worked fairly well - until the jar cracked.  Finally invested in a "real" blender, a Cuisinart, and the thin lasted me - eh, I'm guessing three years?  Which probably isn't bad, all things considered, and given the price (I think I spent about $60). 

Poor thing had a really hard time of things this morning.  Even using the ice crush feature, it had a hard time breaking things down, and when I went into regular blend mode... the noise was not good.  After about a minute smoke started coming out of the base, which I also figured was Not Good, so I unplugged the thing and enjoyed a chunkier than usual shake.  The base "works," in that the motor turns, but it sounds ill, and I doubt it could crush an overripe tomato.  Soooo, I need a new blender.  I'd love to buy a fancy Vita-Mix or Blendtec, but for upwards of $400, that's not in the cards right now.  I'm probably going to wind up with a Kitchenaid model for less than a quarter of that, so here's hoping their blenders are even half as good as their stand mixers.

Also coming out of the budget, all of a sudden - for whatever reason, I decided to try on my jeans yesterday.  Holy flaming shit, they don't even nearly fit.  I don't think I weigh that much less than when I bought them, but I guess I've done some serious body restructuring because I SWIM in them - they would look stupid even with a belt, and that is by my decidedly questionable fashion standards.  So, shit.  Now I need jeans, and what's worse I need to refigure out my size.  Which means, I can't just order online, and let the jeans appear at my door, as is my preferred way to shop.

Crap.

Woo hoo!

Made it through my pet sitting gig with all four kittehs alive and well.  Yay!  I'm so relieved I didn't have to deal with the passing of the older two, who are both holding strong.  Whew.  

Had a very warm but good run this morning; I incorporated a bunch of hills into the run and was overall satisfied with the time.  Tomorrow should be another warm one, and then the weather is supposed to change for the much cooler ( :D ) after Friday.  I'm really interested in seeing how the weekend runs will feel, given how crappy the past two Sundays have been.

And tomorrow, dun dun DUN - I start school.  I have so much nervous energy, I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight.  I'm planning to haul all of my books over tomorrow, hopefully for the only time - although truthfully the heaviest book is my A&P text, so if I can leave that home hereafter, I'll be happy.   Wow, here we go, for real.  Hopefully, the first step toward a new career.