to send in grad school apps.
Yikes.
I've been working on my "personal statement." I found that part of my law school app to be incredibly challenging, and I'm finding it to be so in this case, too. What do I say? I need to talk about why I want to go into the field, my education, my work history, my current work status (PT aide experience), my experience as a trainer and instructor... I need to be concise and yet thorough, somehow pack the last 25 years in to two highly relevant pages.
However, the real rub for me has become, where to apply? One school is a lock. I've visited it; it has a good rep. It's local, which means a smaller life interruption. (Side question: is that a good thing or a bad thing, and would I know, either way?) Downside? They only take 30 people per year, so if I don't get in, what next? The other schools I'm interested in are out of state and therefore automatically more expensive. One is just across the bridge in Philly; another is in Pittsburgh. Pitt is the best school of those I'm considering, and the hardest to get into, and would be the greatest life interruption if I DID get in and go. Would that I were 22 and that whole severely displaced lifestyle thing was not a factor. But I do have a life and it's hard to imagine putting it aside - even for the short term.
Perhaps I need to get over that. Because right now I'm putting a lot of stock in Plan A, and I know I need to be flexible and willing to roll with plans B and C if necessary. It's like planning to fly by instrument rules: you file your flight plan, hope air traffic control gives gives you the routing you asked for, and deal with it if they don't.
-----
So as usual, I'm taking a bit of mental refuge in my exercise program. I've picked out my next race, a 50K in January, and after that I'm looking at a 50-miler in February and/or a pick your distance (up to 100 miles) in April. The entry fee for the 50-miler is a bit steep considering the ambiguities of winter training in these parts (what if I can't prep?) so I may go with the pick your distance, which is FREE but runs over a flat 8 mile asphalt loop in Philly which is considerably less interesting than a hilly trail in North Jersey. Or, not. Heh. I'm sure about January, but after that, it's a bit up in the air. I keep finding new sites with different races to consider so we'll just see how things develop. What is for sure, though, is that I do plan to keep training and racing - that little dilemma - to train/race or have a Winter of Strength - is over.
Which is not to say I'm not strength training. In fact, I'm revisiting NROL/Abs, with some changes. For starters I'm just doing each workout 4 times (instead of 6 - 8); this allows for two workouts a week and puts completion of this trip through the program concurrent with the training schedule for the January 50K. Very tidy. I like tidy. I'm keeping the exercise templates but using more difficult variations of the core work, and swapping out some of the exercises for similar ones (i.e., a front squat for an overhead squat, etc.). I'm also changing the set/rep ranges in the various phases, plus I'll be adding the "extra strength" option to Phase 2 and moving Phase 2's metabolic work to Phase 1. These changes are all suggestions from the book, so I don't feel as if I'm breaking any "rules" by making them. I think the structure of this program serves me very well, so depending on how things look post next race, who knows? I may make some different swapouts and run through the program yet again.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Blues Cruise 50K Race Report
When I was in college, I took a meteorology course. Now, I've been a weather geek since kidhood - when my peers were checking out Dr. Seuss, Nancy Drew, and the Little House books from the library, I was checking out every book they had on the weather - so in a lot of ways the class was a bit of a gut course for me, but it was nice to have a real meteorologist confirm some of the things I had long suspected, one of which being that a long-range weather forecast is worth the paper it's written on. So perhaps it was a bit naive of me to latch on to the extended forecast for race day (sunny, upper 50's - really, perfect) and more naive still to remain optimistic after it started going to pot, where it stayed. Hey, I'm an optimist - so shoot me!
Fortunately, it only rained at the beginning and end of the race; most of the day was cloudy (which isn't bad, really) but rain-free. Not that that would have made much difference on the course, much of which was apparently under water during the unusually heavy August/September rains we had. The going was on the slow side, even on what should have been the faster trails, due to mud; the overall winner was about 25 minutes over the race record.
I arrived about an hour before the start time and picked up my package and spiffy entrant's jacket in a nice light rain, then headed back to the dressing room (my car) to change. I had the foresight to pack a variety of options for race wear in my gym bag and ultimately went with a long sleeve tech shirt, my new Soloman trail shorts, and my Phillie's hat - because, you gotta represent during the playoffs! (It was a hit with the guys at the aid stations.) This was the inaugural run for these shorts, which were a combination of a light compression short under a light tech short. I decided to try this type of short after finding that regular running shorts, once soaked, as mine inevitably become during trail races, chafe, no matter how thin your thighs. Big win for me here - they were very comfortable and worked brilliantly.
Prior to entering this race, I'd heard that the course was pretty tough; lots of vertical gain and some pretty tough hills. For this reason, I was concerned, going in, with making the time, and my goal became just that - to finish the race within the time allotted. The first ten miles of the race, however, contained very little up and down. I didn't walk much, except where necessary due to mud, but wasn't exactly blazing along the trails. No, I was more or less staying with people I thought were going at a conservative pace, which was part of my strategy on the day. The strategy, suggested by an ultra runner's blog, went something along the lines of, go slower than you think you need to during the first third of the race, do what you have to during the middle third, and go hard during the final third. Sounds good, right? I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the time until around mile 7, when the person I had been chatting with for the past few miles suddenly said she thought we were going too slow to make the cut-off in time (if you weren't to mile 17.5 or so in four hours, they'd pull you off the course).
Well, that galvanized the casual right out of me. I didn't think she was right but for some reason, any semblance of mathematical ability suddenly took leave of my brain, so I couldn't confirm or refute what she was suggesting. What became crystal clear to me in that moment was my determination to FINISH the race; no way in hell was I NOT making the cut-off and no way in HELL was I not running harder now, where despite what I'd heard about the course, the going was relatively easy and I could make time. Fire lit under my ass, I left her behind and powered on. This became my theme for the rest of the day; go hard where I could, chill where I couldn't, and the Strategy of Thirds be damned. I got to mile 10 in about 2 hours, which eased my worries considerably; I had two hours to do the next 7.5 miles, which was in my mind doable regardless of the terrain.
Heh. Which was good, because immediately following the mile 10 aid station, the terrain got interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean in couple of places, I just looked up and said out loud, "Really? O.K." And up we went. And then down, and over innumerable wooden bridges (which were slippery), and through a 20 foot, thigh deep water crossing (which honestly felt fantastic).
The course was a mix of dirt trails alongside farm fields (!) and wooded trails, with a few short stints on gravel and paved roads. One of the nice things about the trail was that in a few places, it was actually relatively safe enough that one could look around a bit and enjoy the scenery, which was beautiful PA farmland. Thanks to this, I'm sure that if the course hadn't been so muddy, it would have run much faster for all, myself included. The aid stations were stocked with just about anything you could want, from bananas and oranges to various types of cookies to sandwiches to bacon. I stuck to fig newtons and bananas for the most part, with a couple of handfuls of M&Ms tossed in here and there. The volunteers were fantastic; I can't compliment them enough. There were enthusiastic and helpful and encouraging faces at every stop.
Somewhere within the last two miles - back in the steady, light rain that started the day - I knew I was going to meet my goal and I knew I was just loving what I was doing. I don't know why; my legs were yelling at me at the same time my mind was saying, "Go, GO!" and cheering me on. Throughout the race I was doing a lot of positive self-talk; my mantra was what I heard a fellow karateka, also a wrestling coach (subject of another blog post entirely) telling his kids - you look good, you feel good, you got this. No, I didn't set any records, I didn't place in my age group, I didn't set the world on fire. But at the day's end, I killed my goal, I learned new things about myself, and I was happy as hell.
So my plan from here is to take it a bit easy this week. For all intents and purposes, my 2011 race year is done, although I might still do the Dirty Bird 15K in November. Might. I think I'm finally starting to accept the idea that what I really love is this trail racing, trail ultra thing; much as I like strength training, I need to start looking at it as an integral part of a plan and not so much as a separate interest, into and of itself. This sort of paradigm shift is something I've been reluctant to make, I suppose because I take pride in my strength and don't like to compromise it. However I've never had a running season like this one; I've never run courses where strength really does make a huge difference in a practical manner (strong legs, strong core) and not so much in a numbers manner (looking just at the lifts at date A vs. date B). At my age I've put in my highest running mileage, over the year, perhaps ever and aside from a few lost toenails and an ugly blister (I'm sparing you the photos of this one), I've been running-related injury free. I'm seeing what supplementary activities make a difference for me (both strength training AND yoga), and it's falling into context. I think what I started to feel during the end of the race was a sense that I really belonged out there, and that I wanted to stay.
Fortunately, it only rained at the beginning and end of the race; most of the day was cloudy (which isn't bad, really) but rain-free. Not that that would have made much difference on the course, much of which was apparently under water during the unusually heavy August/September rains we had. The going was on the slow side, even on what should have been the faster trails, due to mud; the overall winner was about 25 minutes over the race record.
 |
| Entrant's jacket and finisher's hat. |
Prior to entering this race, I'd heard that the course was pretty tough; lots of vertical gain and some pretty tough hills. For this reason, I was concerned, going in, with making the time, and my goal became just that - to finish the race within the time allotted. The first ten miles of the race, however, contained very little up and down. I didn't walk much, except where necessary due to mud, but wasn't exactly blazing along the trails. No, I was more or less staying with people I thought were going at a conservative pace, which was part of my strategy on the day. The strategy, suggested by an ultra runner's blog, went something along the lines of, go slower than you think you need to during the first third of the race, do what you have to during the middle third, and go hard during the final third. Sounds good, right? I wasn't paying a great deal of attention to the time until around mile 7, when the person I had been chatting with for the past few miles suddenly said she thought we were going too slow to make the cut-off in time (if you weren't to mile 17.5 or so in four hours, they'd pull you off the course).
Well, that galvanized the casual right out of me. I didn't think she was right but for some reason, any semblance of mathematical ability suddenly took leave of my brain, so I couldn't confirm or refute what she was suggesting. What became crystal clear to me in that moment was my determination to FINISH the race; no way in hell was I NOT making the cut-off and no way in HELL was I not running harder now, where despite what I'd heard about the course, the going was relatively easy and I could make time. Fire lit under my ass, I left her behind and powered on. This became my theme for the rest of the day; go hard where I could, chill where I couldn't, and the Strategy of Thirds be damned. I got to mile 10 in about 2 hours, which eased my worries considerably; I had two hours to do the next 7.5 miles, which was in my mind doable regardless of the terrain.
Heh. Which was good, because immediately following the mile 10 aid station, the terrain got interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean in couple of places, I just looked up and said out loud, "Really? O.K." And up we went. And then down, and over innumerable wooden bridges (which were slippery), and through a 20 foot, thigh deep water crossing (which honestly felt fantastic).
The course was a mix of dirt trails alongside farm fields (!) and wooded trails, with a few short stints on gravel and paved roads. One of the nice things about the trail was that in a few places, it was actually relatively safe enough that one could look around a bit and enjoy the scenery, which was beautiful PA farmland. Thanks to this, I'm sure that if the course hadn't been so muddy, it would have run much faster for all, myself included. The aid stations were stocked with just about anything you could want, from bananas and oranges to various types of cookies to sandwiches to bacon. I stuck to fig newtons and bananas for the most part, with a couple of handfuls of M&Ms tossed in here and there. The volunteers were fantastic; I can't compliment them enough. There were enthusiastic and helpful and encouraging faces at every stop.
Somewhere within the last two miles - back in the steady, light rain that started the day - I knew I was going to meet my goal and I knew I was just loving what I was doing. I don't know why; my legs were yelling at me at the same time my mind was saying, "Go, GO!" and cheering me on. Throughout the race I was doing a lot of positive self-talk; my mantra was what I heard a fellow karateka, also a wrestling coach (subject of another blog post entirely) telling his kids - you look good, you feel good, you got this. No, I didn't set any records, I didn't place in my age group, I didn't set the world on fire. But at the day's end, I killed my goal, I learned new things about myself, and I was happy as hell.
So my plan from here is to take it a bit easy this week. For all intents and purposes, my 2011 race year is done, although I might still do the Dirty Bird 15K in November. Might. I think I'm finally starting to accept the idea that what I really love is this trail racing, trail ultra thing; much as I like strength training, I need to start looking at it as an integral part of a plan and not so much as a separate interest, into and of itself. This sort of paradigm shift is something I've been reluctant to make, I suppose because I take pride in my strength and don't like to compromise it. However I've never had a running season like this one; I've never run courses where strength really does make a huge difference in a practical manner (strong legs, strong core) and not so much in a numbers manner (looking just at the lifts at date A vs. date B). At my age I've put in my highest running mileage, over the year, perhaps ever and aside from a few lost toenails and an ugly blister (I'm sparing you the photos of this one), I've been running-related injury free. I'm seeing what supplementary activities make a difference for me (both strength training AND yoga), and it's falling into context. I think what I started to feel during the end of the race was a sense that I really belonged out there, and that I wanted to stay.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Why do I do this, again?
Wowza. Wound up getting the day off work, which isn't exactly good - don't work, don't get paid - but isn't exactly bad, as I've been getting some college app stuff organized, deadlines on the calendar, etc.
Of course, it also means I've been on the interwebs, and my mind had gotten to wandering, and... I'm looking at two early 2012 ultras. What on earth is wrong with me??? OK, nothing - I'm a runner, we DO this - but what happened to the Winter of Strength I've been thinking about? Didn't happen last year; is it destined not to happen this year as well? Why is it so darned easy for me to keep putting that stuff off in favor of new races? Is this just a stage of my life?
Seriously. I had the rest of the year - frankly, pretty much the ENTIRE time between post October 2 race and my hoped/anticipated start of grad school planned as successive strength rotations - a second pass through NROL/Abs followed by Maximum Strength. I kid you not. It all fits perfectly, with enough extra room for some needed recovery and the possibility of an interruption here or there.
I guess I should look at this as a happy dilemma; I am healthy and injury free (if happily anticipating taking a week off after this next race) and have the luxury of choosing exactly what I want to do. Working in a PT office perhaps helps me appreciate this all the more. The problem, as always, is that I want to do everything. I know that trying to fit as much in the schedule as I do probably compromises the quality of any one thing - i.e., I would be stronger if I focused on lifting, faster if I focused on running, more bad-ass (or whatever) if I just did martial arts - but I enjoy them all, so that doesn't seem to be an option. And, so far, the balance seems to be working for me... I'm just abjectly curious about what would happen if I ran this strength experiment, and to do it I need to seriously cut back the running.
Except some really insistent part of my brain doesn't want to do that just now. Especially now, with the weather turning more favorable for running. Bugger.
Oh well. Enough thinking on this today. I can't stop the mind from bubbling away, but no decisions until post race!
Of course, it also means I've been on the interwebs, and my mind had gotten to wandering, and... I'm looking at two early 2012 ultras. What on earth is wrong with me??? OK, nothing - I'm a runner, we DO this - but what happened to the Winter of Strength I've been thinking about? Didn't happen last year; is it destined not to happen this year as well? Why is it so darned easy for me to keep putting that stuff off in favor of new races? Is this just a stage of my life?
Seriously. I had the rest of the year - frankly, pretty much the ENTIRE time between post October 2 race and my hoped/anticipated start of grad school planned as successive strength rotations - a second pass through NROL/Abs followed by Maximum Strength. I kid you not. It all fits perfectly, with enough extra room for some needed recovery and the possibility of an interruption here or there.
I guess I should look at this as a happy dilemma; I am healthy and injury free (if happily anticipating taking a week off after this next race) and have the luxury of choosing exactly what I want to do. Working in a PT office perhaps helps me appreciate this all the more. The problem, as always, is that I want to do everything. I know that trying to fit as much in the schedule as I do probably compromises the quality of any one thing - i.e., I would be stronger if I focused on lifting, faster if I focused on running, more bad-ass (or whatever) if I just did martial arts - but I enjoy them all, so that doesn't seem to be an option. And, so far, the balance seems to be working for me... I'm just abjectly curious about what would happen if I ran this strength experiment, and to do it I need to seriously cut back the running.
Except some really insistent part of my brain doesn't want to do that just now. Especially now, with the weather turning more favorable for running. Bugger.
Oh well. Enough thinking on this today. I can't stop the mind from bubbling away, but no decisions until post race!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Howdy
Been a while. I'd love to say there's a reason I haven't been updating besides that I haven't felt like updating, but there isn't. I was planning to post a race report after the 12 hour race, but decided to wait until I got my finisher stuff, which they said would be mailed to us, to do the post. Well, I'm still waiting...
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Long story short, it was a bit of a rough day, both in terms of the course and the weather, which was warm and humid. I had hoped to do 50 miles and settled for 40. Many people I spoke to on the course also revised down their goals. I wound up finishing fourth in my age group (woo hoo!) which I take to mean I'm one of the few women my age stupid enough to have stayed out there long enough to do 40 miles. But so be it.
I'm now tapering for what might be my last race of the year, a 50K out in the same area as the other races I've been doing, meaning in the hill country. This is supposed to be quite the challenging course and there is a time limit on it; for a change, my goal for this race will be to finish within the time limit, which is, one would think, a generous 7.5 hours. If this were a flat country road race, it would be no problem (weather issues not withstanding) but it's not; reportedly there's over 7,000 feet in elevation gain. Plus, I'm still making plenty of rookie mistakes out there (which is fair, I guess, this being my first full year of trail racing). If I do my best and make no serious errors AND the weather is as currently predicted (a GLORIOUS forecast high of only 60 degrees F), I should make it. If not - eh, learning experience.
However, also, if not - well, I know myself, and I don't like ending things on a bad note, so a fail here would leave me wanting to redeem the season somehow. I'm not sure what that would look like, and hopefully I won't have to find out!
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Super quick update
Yeah. So, the last time I was here looks to have been - at least two weeks ago. Since it's almost end of the month, I've updated my workouts (why not? I'll be erasing August in a few days - lol). Just haven't felt much like writing lately; no particular reason. End of summer blues, I'd say, except I'm not feeling particularly blue - I'd just rather spend free daylight time reading than writing, I guess. So, the news, in a few words:
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
- Have been tapering for the 12 hour run. Don't know how much I like it, really. I suddenly feel very tired and undertrained. This, after fighting through a 6 hour, 31+ mile slog in a major rain storm. Well, I've been sore/achey in odd places (allegedly normal in a taper), not enough to knock me off my game physically but mentally? I'm wondering why these shorter runs feel like so much effort after doing much longer runs. It's probably not worth dwelling on, but sometimes it IS hard to believe my training is in the bank, as every source I read about training for distance runs suggests. We'll see, won't we?
- Have gone back to a Dos Remedios program, as planned, total fitness option. In deference to where I am in the scheme of things, I'm doing one less set than recommended (3 vs. 4) for most exercises. I can pick up later, if need be. What is interesting to me is going back to exercises I haven't done in a while, and seeing that my strength has increased. Makes me smile!
- Survived the earthquake, which I actually found interesting. It's the second one I've been through here. Took a moment for me to realize what was happening, then I just watched stuff move around. I suppose I should have run for a door frame or something, but it didn't occur to me.
- Survived Irene, with power. All in all, not as bad around here as advertised, although if one was paying attention to raw weather data, it was pretty obvious that it wouldn't be. The worst part was the tornado warnings, which were going off with regularity on Saturday night. That was a bit unnerving. Mostly we got a lot of rain on top of a lot of rain, causing some impressive flooding, and enough wind to knock over enough trees to keep road and power crews busy. Although a few friends are still without power, for the vast majority of folks, it was business as usual on Monday.
- The biggest news, though, is that I'm now working at the PT office where I was volunteering! I'm working as an aide, which means I help people go through their routines. I suppose objectively, it's an incredible step backwards (from cleaning up superfund sites, to fetching heat and ice packs - woo!) but it IS a step in the direction of physical therapist proper, which is where I want to go. Makes me a very happy camper.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dodging lightening bolts
Hard to believe, but the hard part of training for the 12 hour race is done.
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
And because it seems all training plans are required by fiat to go out on some kind of weird note - this one sure as hell did. The forecast was for showers and thunders showers, which isn't necessarily all bad, depending on the temperatures, and when I got up and looked at the radar, it looked as if there was a little line of heavy stuff passing through and then things would settle down. So I delayed my start time by a little bit - actually I'd gotten up earlier than usual so I just kicked back to normal start time - thinking things would improve; they didn't, so I just headed out.
As I may have mentioned in an earlier post - or not, since I haven't been posting all that much this summer - the way I set up for these long runs is to turn my car into an aide station. I put a cooler with drinks and snacks, along with a towel, visor, sunglasses, body glide, or whatever else seems appropriate given the day in the car and I pop by there after running a 6 - 10 mile loop for a short break and refreshment. This is in lieu of carrying around one of those redonkulous "fuel belts," which would allow for longer loops between refills but annoy the everloving shit out of me every step of the way.
Anyway - I set out on my first loop, which was about 8 miles, in a moderate rain with rumbly thunder, thinking it would pass by the time I got done the first loop and I'd probably be in the dry for the rest of the day. Instead it got harder as I got along, to the point of a biblical deluge! In a couple of places the roads were flooded with water that came to my shins. The lightening also got a little closer, but it wasn't all that frequent, so I didn't feel too concerned. Which was optimistic of me. When I was about 1/2 mile from home, I swear a bolt hit where I'd been not a minute before. There was a HUGE flash, an instant crack, and I smelled the ozone. Needless to say, I got my ass home, and went inside until this little bit of nasty had move along a bit.
That was the end of the excitement, but it wasn't the end of the rain. It. Just. Kept. Coming. Sometimes harder, sometimes moderate/steady; sometimes it would look as if it were going to clear and then there would be more rumbles of thunder (nothing close, I figure it was cloud to cloud lightening) and the rain would heavy up again. When wall was said and done, I did a bit over 31 miles in around 6 hours - exactly what I wanted to do - and it rained 2 1/2 inches during that time. The Phils game, which I'd been looking forward to watching while recovering, was rained out, and Philly set a record for rainfall on the day, with over 4 1/2 inches. My local reporting station said 4.69". At least the rain/clouds kept everything cool; the temperatures during my run never made it out of the 60's, and I can't believe how much of a difference that made in performance. I ran 6 miles less last week and HAD to stop at the end because I was just at the end of my rope. The additional miles yesterday were hard but no where near as hard as the last few miles of the week before, and I definitely didn't have to stop at the end, although I was perfectly happy to do so.
Now I have three weeks of taper. Ahhhh...
Monday, August 1, 2011
File this under "Weird Dreams"
You'd think (well, I'D think, anyway) the night after one did a really long run, a person would sleep like a frickin' log. Well, naturally, I never do. I have my scientific wild-assed guesses as to why this is so, the foremost being that my core temperature probably remains elevated for a looooong time after such a run, particularly since it's summer, and that always interferes with my sleeping, but whether that or any other SWAG is correct is irrelevant, since I suspect there's not much (aside from an ice bath - yikes!) I can do about it, and it resolves after a day, anyway.
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
See? Lack of sleep, amazing run-on sentence. So why am I blogging? Because I had a pretty wacky dream last night, and wanted to write it down somewhere, and I don't keep a dream log (as I don't think dreams "mean" anything other than that your brain is playing with shit that's lying around in there) and writing this down on some random scrap of paper means I'll have another random scrap of paper lying around somewhere.
The dream: I'm taking some kind of college course. It's a big class, maybe 50 people, and it's in a bit of an unconventional room. Not everyone has a regular desk; some people are using a cafeteria-style table. The teacher is lecturing about something or other, and I'm following along in my text book and taking notes. I can't really see the book (now or at any other point in the dream) or my notes. There's a group of four guys, some older, some younger, in the back, not paying particular attention. This is getting on my nerves, as I can't hear the lecture. Yet somehow I am also friends with these guys, and am semi-included in the joking, even if I am ignoring them. We take some kind of quiz, essay style, with these guys chatting all along.
Suddenly the teacher is gone, and I am at the front of the room, teaching the class, although I'm still a student, not the professor. There is a panel of judges off to the side. The four guys continue to try to make trouble, and I'm getting pretty fed up. The rest of the class is perfectly attentive. In an impulsive move, I excuse the four from class. They will not get to take the second half of the quiz, which I am to administer. Everyone else claps. I wonder how the hell I thought I was within my rights to do that, but nonetheless, nobody on the judging panel stops me. I ask one of them, who looks like Susie Fogelson from the Food Network, what is on the second half of the quiz, and she says something along the lines of, "I don't know, you tell me." So I make something up. After class I meet up with a friend I haven't seen in ages; he's moving to Pittsburgh so I start taking to him about the city.
And then I wake up. The only thing I remember about the class I was teaching is the phrase "Daedalus effect," an actual term that still tells me nothing about the subject matter, other than to suggest there was some science aspect.
I suppose if I were looking for deep meaning or a sign in that dream, I would take it as telling me I should become a teacher. In fact, I think it all had much more to do with the fact that I met with sensei yesterday and discussed the dojo schedule, and as the conversation evolved, came up with the idea of a student teacher program, which we brainstormed at some length. Also, the Phils just finished a series with Pittsburgh yesterday. Still, it was a fun dream to remember.
Now if I could just figure out the genesis of the one where my sister had a third baby, this one improbably named Leander. (Sis has thus far stuck with major Biblical names.)
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