Mostly Running

It's been awhile since I've posted here. I have been running a lot and sleeping a lot! It's been 10 years since I've primarily run trained, and I remember sleeping a lot back then, too. Of course, I am still swimming and doing a little bit of biking.

Last week I managed 47 miles running, 15 miles walking, 9900 yards swimming and only 31 miles biking. Training time was 13.7 hours; walking time was 3.7 hours. Should I be tired as if I'd trained 17 hours? Who knows.

Last Wednesday I needed to do one of my 2 long runs since I was traveling all day Saturday. I figured I could get in about 10 miles in the middle of the day (I swam in the morning). I ended up running around the block 6 times and then ran to a park and around a couple of times. I ended up doing some strength work after work as well.

Thursday I was trashed probably because I'd crammed in about 60 miles total running/walking, some biking, swimming over 5 days. I know, I know--that is nothing compared to what I'd done back in August, but this has been fast running, fast biking and fast swimming, plus 3 of those days I was working.

Anyway, I was smart enough to basically take Thursday off from training. I was scheduled to bike, but I figured I'd do a little on Saturday during my bike fit session and besides, right now is all about running.

Friday I felt fine (as I expected), and banged out a good 4500 yard swim and ran for an hour. Saturday I was up at 5AM so I could hop a plane to Philadelphia for my bike fit session. The flight was uneventful, and David's (Mr. Greenfield, the owner of Elite Bicycles) SO, Chryssa (not sure of the spelling) picked me up at the airport and drove me to the shop.

We started working around 11:30AM, but it wasn't having me sit on a bike and pedal. David is not your typical bike fitter. He observes you at rest, in motion, tests your various muscles for flexibility and strength, talks to you about your full medical history, how you train, what you do for a living. All of these things have a huge impact on how you should be positioned on a bike, and then of course, what type of racing you will be doing. I consider myself pretty flexible, and yet I was rated fair or good on a number of measurements, which David assured me wasn't bad at all. I think that on his scale, fair must actually be pretty good!

Anyway, after all this and some measurements, I finally got on a bike around 2:45PM, and we played around with saddles for awhile. David had already moved the cleats on my bike shoes (for both LGL and Bitch), and when I started pedaling, it felt pretty natural to me. We played around with bar position (the seat tube angle had already been adjusted for me), and we finished around 4:15. So I really wasn't on a bike for too long, but I went away with a prescription for some new or modified stretches, strength work, swim tips, running tips--what I got was a holistic look at myself and what I am trying to accomplish. I am so glad that I took the step to work with David, and am confident that I will have the best fitting bike I could have ever dreamed of!

Now that things have been measured, it will take some months before the bike is ready--in large part due to my pirate paint job! But that's fine as I typically only ride the road bike on the trainer during the winter, and don't get on the tri bike until May--although that may need to change next year. So now I just get to wait for probably 4 months, and then I'll go back to Philly so they can fine tune me on the bike and I'll bring her home. I don't have a name and won't confer one until I see it built! She is going to be one sweet machine!

When I was on the way back to my car in the airport Saturday night, I just had this feeling that I was due for my annual flat tire due to rim corrosion. When I got to my car, I was right! Funny thing was I didn't get mad or upset, I just got to changing the flat, and luckily the lug nuts came off pretty easily and I got the thing changed fairly fast, drove home and tucked into a few snacks and then bedtime.

Sunday my goal was to run 17 miles and walk 5. I let myself sleep in, and watching the weather forecast which called for maybe rain, I got my sorry ass to Waterfall Glen around 10AM. The objective for the day was to do run 5'/walk 1' which is what my general plan is for the 50-miler. I wanted to see what sort of pace I would be doing with that scenario.

I'd chugged a can of Coke just before I left, so I carried 12 oz. of Coke with me, which I figured would last me for one full loop (9.65 miles). I wore very lightweight zebra-striped tights with run shorts over them, a shimmel and a lightweight long sleeve technical top from one of my Goofy races. It was low to mid-50's, good running weather. Now, right when I woke up and as I began running I could feel my legs sore in all sorts of places and also my mid-back. This was all left over from David's poking and prodding plus sitting on an airplane for 4+ hours on Saturday.

Still, no matter how I felt I needed to HTFU and get this run done. There is nothing more motivating to me than knowing I am training to conquer something that I've never done before, as it puts the fear of God into me to make sure I am as prepared as I can possibly be.

I just hit my watch splits every 12' since otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep track of what I was supposed to be doing. I held myself to running when I was supposed to for the most part except when on a big downhill, where it would be stupid to walk. I was ahead of a 10mpm pace, which was just fine by me. Actually, that's the pace I should do my long runs at, but I usually run faster than that and it doesn't seem to harm me.

I got a lot of smiles at seeing my zebra legs, and even though my legs hurt here and there, I ran well and finished the loop in about 1:30. I stopped to grab another 12 oz. of Coke and stretch a little bit, because man my legs were achy! But this was good stuff, right? Because I bet they will feel like this for much of the 50-miler, and I will need to will myself to keep running.

Somewhere along the way, I'd decided I wanted to get in 18 miles instead of 17, so on heading back out, I decided I'd run to mile 4 and then another about .2 so I'd total 18. I slowed down just a tiny bit, which was fine (I could have started out slower, too), but I kept an even pace for the 8.8 mile leg. I was proud of myself for finishing 18 miles at a good clip for me, even though nowadays I always begin thinking about my ultrarunner friends and I think I am such a lame wuss since I am not running much at all compared to them.

Anyway, now it was time to do some walking. I'd brought a change of shirts, which was good, since my upper body was quite sweaty, I changed hats, chugged a bunch of Gatorade and grabbed another bottle of it for my next foray. As I began walking, my legs were really talking to me, but how bad could it be? I ended up getting in 5.3 miles walking (with a tiny bit of downhill running thrown in), so my total mileage for the day was 23.3 miles. Not bad!

Needless to say, when I was finished, I was pretty famished, and took care of that when I got home, thought about mowing the lawn and decided it could wait (I was too tired), stretched for 45', and got to sleep early. I ended up averaging 9:34/mile for the 18 mile run, which is faster than I thought I'd go.

Yesterday morning, my legs felt better than when I started running on Sunday. I kept thinking while I was running on Sunday that my legs didn't feel "running a lot" sore, they felt "somebody made me use parts of them I don't normally engage" sore. So I was happy that when I woke up yesterday morning that I didn't feel completely trashed. But I did feel fatigued. Still, I did a nice 2750 yard swim plus some jump rope, pushups, chinups and abs work before I began my work day.

I figured my legs would be "running a lot" tired from all the miles I'd gotten in the prior week, and they were, and yet I managed to run almost 7 miles mid-day, and it really didn't feel that bad. I was a bit slower than normal for the first couple of miles, but then I picked it up and was pretty much fine. It was during the run that I noticed just how hungry I was, and it's funny because I have no idea how many calories I am actually burning with all the running and walking that I'm doing, but it must be a lot.

I stretched really well last night, ate a good dinner and got to sleep early, and here I am feeling pretty good. Today is just a bike ride and some strength work. This weekend I'm shooting for a 2.5 hour and 3-hour run, but I have no idea whether or not I can pull that off. We shall see! This is my last big week before the race, and then I taper down and see what happens. The only things left for me to do preparation wise are to go running with the headlamp on, and this weekend I will try eating some PB&J sandwiches part way through each run and see how that works. Other than that, there's not much else I can do.

Good thing Ironman Hawaii is on this Saturday so when I get back from another 18-miler I can just lay around and watch that, and then Sunday is the Chicago marathon, which will also be broadcast, but I will probably be out running while it's on. Good luck to anyone racing either of those!