Monkey Business

Duffman Rocks a Mean Mohawk

2012-02-12T11:45:00.009-05:00

If I start talking about running this post will be all sorts of depressing and boring. Let's just say I've been sick (what next??) so training has been pretty low-key this week. During fleeting moments of pseudo-health, I managed to log a few sporadic runs of up to an hour and just this morning I completed a 90 minute adventure on the snow dusted trails with Brian and the pooches. This mileage is by no means the goal but, compared to where I have been the past few months, it is still progress for me at this point.

In an attempt to save the four readers of this blog from further tear-inducing ennui, I will avoid any "wah, my hip" commentary this week and turn this post to the monkeys.

8 days old and already has object permanence. BOOM.

Many of the non-human primate inhabitants at the Poolesville campus live in a three acre field station where they are free to monkey around. While interning at the NICHD in 2006-2008 I spent many hours ambling around that field recording the ridiculous things monkeys do. In science speak (take a deep breath), I was characterizing normative patterns of behavioral development in order to identify and evaluate deviant behaviors. With this information we can then attempt to define the origins, ontogeny and outcomes of a variety of behavioral phenotypes through analysis of both environmental and genetic influences. This is an exhausting way to say we identify how early experiences interact with genetic predispositions to have long-term effects on development.

Anyway, having dabbled in the art of photography since high school I also utilized the rare opportunity I was given to take tons of photos. I recently submitted one of my favorite shots for a lab contest and won! I now have the privilege of going up against images nominated by other labs in our institute. If I can trump the 80 submissions of mouse ventral root nerve sections and midbrain dopamine neurons (yawn), Miss Heather and her 6 month old infant will grace the cover of this year's annual NICHD fellows meeting guide. Fame and fortune await!

Victory is mine! (An aside: The government OWNS most of the images I've taken and will set this blog, and then me, on fire if I post them. The photos presented here are published elsewhere for scientific purposes and therefore are released from the vault. Yeah, it sucks! If this weren't the case, I would make it a habit of gratuitously posting photos of baby monkeys snuggling and then maybe throw in a sentence or two about running).

It's also about that time of year for me to pretend to be a PhD (I aspire to be the most published non-PhD in all the monkeyland) and submit an abstract to the American Society of Primatologists in order to secure a free trip to their annual conference. The last get-together I attended was in Louisville and, in addition to winning the Lagothrix Lope 5k off of 2 hrs sleep after owning the Bourbon Trail the night before, I presented this groundbreaking work:

Science!

Ok, so this wasn't really all that revolutionary but it was still somewhat interesting... for some people. Most importantly, it got me my trip.

So, what to do this year? To get to Sacramento I need to come up with some inspiring stuff and do it SOON (deadline March 15). These are my ideas thus far:

1) Does giving a monkey a mohawk increase his chances of becoming a bad-ass as an adult? (Yes, I give monkeys shaves. It helps the animal care crew identify the individual juveniles when they eventually unite and form a giant monkey ball of mischief).

2) Can I train the infants in the nursery to use toilets if I adopt the hallmark "Dissing Your Dog" methodology?

Dissing Your Dog - watch more funny videos

3) If I stare long enough at the purple and pink monkeys that sit above my desk and hold in their hands a chicken leg of prehistoric proportions, will my research idea present itself to me in a vision of genius?

Hmmmmmmm......

To be continued...maybe.

In Your Face, Space Coyote!

2012-02-06T09:15:00.011-05:00

So, I hit a low point at track this past Wednesday. I was continuing to follow the PT's advice that I could run as hard as I wanted for the allotted amount of minutes for the day before my hip fatigued. I decided to do the 20 minute-ish warm up and fall in behind the girls for the 2k and mile repeats before peeling off and cooling down. I got through the 2k at 5:45 pace which, in hindsight, may have been a bit ambitious pace-wise for me right now but everything seemed to check out OK. Too bad the hip seized up 600 meters into the mile and I had to pull off. I hosted an epic pity party of one on the backstretch after that interval. I quit running in my mind that night. Clearly, soul mates we are not.

**Insert a boring description of biking in place on a trainer and swimming back and forth with my geriatric 6am pool friends on Thursday and Friday here.**

Andy invited me to the Snapple-icious ride Saturday morning starting at Sibley Hospital and venturing down River Road towards Poolesville. I wasn't sure if I could hang so I was hesitant to commit. I eventually decided I needed to stop being a little baby about it and saddled up for the adventure. Bikes rolled just after 10am and we wasted no time jumping onto the hammer train. We flew (for me, at least) down MacArthur at like 100 mph. I tucked in and committed to holding on for as long as possible before I would surely be dropped. I hung tough through the first few hills but lost the lead group at some point as my legs burst into flames. A few other guys fell off the back and we formed a second group and worked together to try and bridge the gap. We never made it up but came darn close by the time we reconvened with the lead group at the turn-around. Fun stuff. Thankfully, the pace was much more merciful on the way back. I was elated to finish the ~2 hr ride without being permanently popped off the back. It really made me excited to try some cycling races this spring. See, running? I don't need you.

Riding my high (pun intended) from Saturday I decided on a whim to accompany Brian to the 8am run on the Greenway. It's funny how soon we forget. Running? Hurts? Nah. I arrived at the trailhead on 355 in Gaithersburg and again found myself the oddball. The run was littered with ultra-marathoners. Oh well. The run was sloppy and slow... but time kept ticking by. I waited for the pain to set in. 40 minutes...60 minutes... 80 minutes! No pain. NO PAIN. What now, PT? I CAN run longer than 45 minutes if I do it right. Psht. Granted, pushing the run to 80 minutes in the middle of the woods where I could easily be left for dead was probably a bit foolhardy but it all worked out just fine.

A must-read for my training partners this weekend

So, perhaps I divorced running a bit prematurely during a weak moment in our relationship (insight unfortunately not caused by Guatemalan insanity peppers. That would have been way cooler). Can I salvage a late-spring racing season? I'll take it one day at a time.

Addendum: This has nothing to do with anything but is pretty amazing:

Apparently, this is a breast cancer cell being attacked by antibodies. More science meets art can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16852264.

They Like 'em Thick in Harlem

2012-01-30T20:51:00.004-05:00

Or at least that is what the kind gentleman told my friend and I as we made our way the 40 or so blocks south to Central Park Saturday morning.

"You keep running like that you gonna *poof* disappear!," he added. It was quite the back-handed compliment. In any case, we nodded our heads in acknowledgement of his concern and continued onward.

Kathryn and I acting like we belong. The photo shoot in front of the Apollo probably didn't help.

Once we hit the park Kathryn opted for the highly trafficked pedestrian motorway in front of us while I made my way around toward 96th street where I was told the entrance to the Jackie O Reservoir could be found. I got lost pretty quickly in the labyrinth of pathways winding through the park but I didn't really mind. I climbed a steepish hill (I always thought central park was flat... who knew?) and stumbled upon the object of my quest. The beautiful cityscape appeared on the horizon as I ascended the hill. I crested the top and spread out before me was a running "track" circumventing the giant man-made body of water. After taking in the view I ran several laps of the 1.5 mile gravel loop along with 100s of my adopted New York neighbors for the weekend.

I really love the unique perspective of a city that running provides.

In other news, and good news at that, my baby phalanx malady may be no more. Things have been pleasantly quiet ever since the freak episode when I witnessed my foot transition through every shade from pimento to eggplant to cadaver. I attribute the significant improvement to my remedy of frantically hoarding into my Whole Foods basket every variety of citrus fruit I could find and creating a vitamin c salad that I downed like a miracle medicine for days. Apparently, in addition to warding off scurvy, this valuable vitamin is responsible for assisting in arterial repair. Booyah. Delicious expeditious healing!

Naval, blood, valencia, and cara cara oranges along with grapefruit and topped with fresh mint and sugar

The bad news regarding my maladies is my hip is STILL giving me problems. It is making "long" runs and track "workouts" a bit frustrating. I am allowed to add no more than 5 minutes to each run as long as there is no pain. Unfortunately, I am currently slamming my head into a major road block in my incremental ascension to pain-free running. On each run the past week I begin to notice the hip at around 45 minutes and stubbornly grind through another 15 or so minutes before I inevitably concede the win to my jerk body.

I went to the US Open at Madison Square Garden Saturday night and it was simultaneously exciting and heart breaking to watch. Now that the desire to race is finally back, it is beyond annoying that the body is still lagging behind.

Shot taken during the hs girls mile. Those white ghost-like blurs be runners. BTW, the winner, who will attend Georgetown in the fall, ran 4:47. Rumor has it Jerry is already in negotiations for her GRC debut in 2016.

This quote feels appropriate right now:

“Never get caught telling a hockey player, “it’s just a game.” Never get caught trying to explain to him all the things in the world that matter so much more. His mind might well acknowledge the truth to your point, but his soul will be powerless to accept it. Considering the immensity of what he gives to the sport, and the immeasurability of all it offers in return, nothing ever feels as perfect as a moment of flawlessness on the ice. No bond as strong as one that compels brothers to bleed for one and other. Not many leaders are this versed in the craft of motivation.Not many pursuits can invoke such visions of brilliance. This is why it hurts so much when skill falls short of what the will desires. This is why it’s so unforgettable when absolute passion leads unforgettable reward. And that’s all still just the start of what the game can do to you.” -Liev Schreiber (24/7)

View of Jersey City from the high line on the lower east side

Lucy (Lucinda) Smith's Debut Olympic Trials Marathon

2012-01-23T07:09:00.014-05:00

Lucy and I were fierce competitors at rival high schools in Montgomery County, Maryland. She attended the perennial powerhouse Quince Orchard while I enjoyed a brief reign of terror that Seneca Valley brought to the distance running scene in the late 90's. While I could hold my own most of the time at the shorter distances, Lucy and her twin sister, Claudin, would pretty much team up and take me down in any distance over a mile. I wanted to hate them, these invincible opponents of mine, but they were two of the nicest (and at the same time most highly motivated) people I have had the pleasure of knowing. We went to the same summer running camp in the mountains of West Virginia and while I used the week to climb back into shape, Lucy and her sister used the experience as a launching pad to boost their already stellar fitness and subsequently crush souls the following cross season. And they somehow managed to do this with grace and humility.

Lucy went on to become a force to be reckoned with in the steeple while attending Lehigh and then NC State. She continued to race with their post-collegiate club and accumulated even more amazing performances on the national scene. We didn't really keep in touch although I would see her name pop up in local results once in a while, presumably while she was home visiting family during vacation or holiday.

As fate would have it, we both signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon this past year with dreams of becoming trials qualifiers. I found this out through Sloane (also a QOHS alum) one day while I was trolling around at the PR store. Lucy and I got back in touch with each other and met up for some training runs with the intention of training for and racing the marathon together before I stupidly injured myself and had to bow out. During our runs together we would spend the miles sharing our excitement and fears as we prepared for our first marathon while also trying to reassure ourselves that our goal was ambitious... but not completely unreasonable. Lucy managed to stay healthy through the entire training cycle and was rewarded with a fantastic debut marathon in Minnesota, running 2:43 off of a 1:23 first half. She not only achieved her goal, she crushed it. I couldn't have been more happy for her. She once again proved that hard work, talent, belief in yourself...and a little bit of luck... will reward you with reaching your goals.

The following is Lucy's race recap of her 2012 Olympic Trials experience (her 2nd marathon ever):

One full week after the biggest race of my life, here it finally is: the race report. I’ve needed this week to absorb the whole experience so I appreciate your patience in waiting to hear from me. I was overwhelmed by all the text messages, emails, phone calls, and Facebook messages the days leading up to and after the marathon. It's a testament to the amazing family/friends I’m fortunate to have so please do not think I took your kind words and thoughts for granted.

Before I get into the nitty-gritty, let me emphasize that last point: the importance of having the support of loved ones. Last Saturday was hardly my most impressive race - it wasn't a personal record or a high-placed finish. It was painful and ugly. But I can confidently say that I gave my best effort that day and I'm proud to have toed the line with the nation's best. When things really got sticky, it was thoughts of you, my family and friends, that kept me tough and helped me to finish. So with that said, here goes the play-by-play.

Andy & I left Thursday afternoon for Texas to have plenty of time to prepare before the race. Since Friday was scheduled to be a full day with various technical meetings we figured having that extra day would make things a bit less jam-packed. My mother (who flew up ALL the way from Bolivia!) had already checked in and even got some shopping in before we arrived. The Mangums (Nick, Claudin, and Charlie) who had flown in from North Carolina had a more trying day of travel as they were delayed a few hours and didn’t get in until much later that night. It wasn’t until Friday until we all reunited, though, because we had each booked different hotels that were dotted throughout the city. Friday’s activities kept Claudin (my wing-woman) & I busy while my mother enjoyed the excitement of the Marathon Expo at the Convention Center and the guys entertained little Charlie back at the hotel. Between the pre-race shakeout run, breakfast, the hour-long technical meeting, credential pick-up, and mandatory uniform check, it was a non-stop day. By the time it was all done, it was 5pm and nearing the time for dinner. After all those regulatory obligations, it was very nice to enjoy a relaxed meal with my cheering squad.

Race morning came before my alarm sound as I had already been lying awake for about 20 minutes before then. I had planned to get up at 5:15, in time to eat breakfast and digest before race start at 8:15 but got up just past five instead. It’s tough forcing oatmeal down when a) your body still wants to be sleeping at 5am and b) your nerves have your stomach in knots but its essential getting in that fuel prior to running 26.2 miles. So after that, I checked all my racing gear once last time and packed up a bag to carry down to the athlete holding area. A room had been secured for athletes at the George R Brown Convention Center which was located right next to the starting line. Beginning at 6am we were invited to hang out there until race start. The hotel was less than two blocks from the Convention center so it was a quick walk over there. We were among the first to arrive so that allowed us to secure ample real estate along the back wall of the room. We set our bags down and performed the usual pre-race rituals: drink water, snack on a banana, stretch, drain the legs, visit the restroom, pin the bib number, tie the timing chip to your shoes. Then I compulsively cycled through that over and over again while the clock ticked its way towards 8:15. Most of that hour and half passed in silent retrospection as I got into race-mode but every now and then I'd voice my game plan out loud and Claudin dutifully affirmed its sagacity. The time went by surprisingly fast as I mentally revisited all the preparations I had made for this race. Emotionally and mentally, I was ready to go but physically, I was curious about how my body was going to handle the distance.

The months between running my first marathon at Twin Cities and the Olympic Trials were challenging to say the least. I had jammed a bone in my foot which led to a slew of other bio-mechanical obstacles that impeded a "regular" training cycle. I was forced to trade running with swimming laps in the pool and hours either spinning or on the elliptical machine. It was unconventional for sure. But I was determined and stayed positive because the Olympic Trails only come around every four years and who knows if I'd ever get another opportunity.

The men were called to gather @ 7:30 to head down to the start which indicated that the women had 15min until we'd have to do the same. The room was buzzing with a quiet anxiety as everyone did last-minute preparations and hit up the restrooms one final time. It seemed like no time until we too were called down to the holding area on the street. Claudin stayed by my side as far the gated area outside would permit. We said our goodbyes and she wished me luck as I gave her one last hopeful smile in response. In the cool morning air, the noise of the crowd and voices from the PA were all but muffled by the excitement of our then-present reality: we were about to run in the US Olympic Marathon Trials! During those final minutes I jogged a few laps, and did some drills and strides before frantically stripping down.

As we were ushered to the start corral I adjusted my arm sleeves and checked that my energy gels were in place. I found a good spot in the middle of the pack and waited for the gun. It was an honor to have Olympian (and former Wolf-Packer) Joan Benoit Samuelson as our starter. She spoke a few encouraging words and then, with a shot, she set us off on the 26.2 mile course that would lead three men & three women to the 2012 Olympic Games. For those who may not be familiar with the details of the course, it began with a 2.2 mile loop downtown before heading into an 8-mile loop that we'd repeat three times before finishing back at the Start.

Faithful to my race plan, I settled into a comfortable pace that felt controlled and sustainable. Surprisingly, the field went out very conservatively so that first, short loop was a condensed pack of 200 women. The streets were lined thick with friends, family, and running fans who were cheering with an energy that was not only moving but contagious. 2.2 miles rushed by in a blur of screaming faces and soon we were off on the first of the three 8-mile loops. Albeit easy, I ran those first 10 miles in trepidation as my sentiments vacillated between relief and apprehension. I felt heart-strong and my foot was holding up with no indication of injury but there were still 16 miles to go...

As we looped back by the Start, I spotted my mother who had recruited a small crowd around her to cheer for me when I came past. A mile later and away from the crowds, I saw Claudin, Andy, Nick and Charlie. It was quiet enough to hear Andy ask if I was all right to which I answered with a thumbs up. The field had thinned out quite a bit at this point so I used the second lap to see how many women I could catchover the next eight miles. It was a good game to distract my thoughts from the growing fatigue in my legs. Still though, with no significant pain in my foot I was becoming more confident that I'd finish the race unbroken. Nine women tracked down and one lap to go.

Mile 18 started auspiciously enough as I ran past Andy and this time voiced an assertive "YES" as he asked if I was OK. But not long after that assertion I started to labor and Devil's voice crept into my head. "You've got an entire loop left - EIGHT long miles", "You're so far back from the leaders those spectators aren't cheering, they're giving you the pitty-clap" "You've been WAY off the pace you ran at Twin Cities and there's no way to make up the time" "You're not even at the dreaded 21 mile mark and THAT'S where everyone usually hits 'The Wall'" I tried to shove those thoughts aside by digging down to thoughts of family and friends. I couldn't give in to discomfort when I was perfectly capable of finishing.

It wasn't graceful or smooth but I was still passing women. Apparently I wasn't struggling as bad as some so I went back to my game of Catch. This time I was in the double digits and losing track of how many I was passing. Mile 20 finally came and then my right leg shut down. From my hip to the bottom of my foot, I felt a burning stiffness set in every muscle. The entire leg was so tight that with each step I became more aware of its impact again the hard road. I started praying to everyone and everything I could think of for the strength and resilience to keep going. I reminded myself that only 6 miles remained until it'd all be over. As much of a struggle as those final miles were, they went by in an apathetic daze. I didn't care about pace or my place, all I cared about was running every last step of that marathon to the finish and defeating my inner demons. That human instinct, Survival, took the reigns as I saddled up behind for the vengeful ride. With one mile to go, I knew we had won and all I could do was send thanks out to the universe for the safe journey. Over and over I thanked my body for holding up and my mind for staying strong.

The crowd in that final straight-away was deafening as I made my way toward the finish line. I thought the crowd deserved a happy runner for all their efforts and wanted to show that despite its grueling nature, I DO love the marathon so I smiled all the way to the end, proud to be finishing my very first Olympic Trials Marathon. I crossed the line with hands clasped in gratitude and slowed to a zombie-like walk. Even with eyes half-closed and crowds of spectators and officials, I managed to find Andy and collapsed in his arms. "Oh, Andy. That was so HARD... " I whimpered exhaustively, "but I was tough." He held me tight and said he never doubted otherwise.

That day, I learned how to hurt and more importantly to persevere. I learned how to finish with determination and humility. Above all, I learned how to love even more - my family, friends and all those people who have believed in me and whose support has helped me realize this dream. When things got rough and I felt like I had nothing more to give, my loved ones gave me the strength to continue. For that, at the very least, I hope to provide similar strength to others. It’s been a long road and it’s not over, as I have ambitions yet to be achieved. But for now, I'm taking some much needed rest to get fully healed and restored.

Thanks again for the support and I'll keep you posted on the next adventure.

xoxLucinda

The Absurdity of It All

2012-01-16T21:21:00.003-05:00

The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy. -Albert Camus

If we are facebook friends, and you care enough to read the random things I decide to post, then you will already know that my road to recovery has become a bit... interesting... lately. For the unaware, I will back up and review.

So, I completed that marathon. I took a month off of running to rehabilitate the mind and body so that I could return to running ready to tear the lid off of the thing. I would be so lucky for that to be how things went down. Instead, after a few runs I discovered that my hip became sore and fatigued after about 30 minutes of running. It would become too painful to run and I would have to stop, walk, and punch a tree along the way. Frick. After each of these failed runs I would take a few days off, stretch, ice and roll and try again. Same result. I assumed this was just me working the kinks out but after 2 weeks of repeating the same insanity and contributing significantly to deforestation I gave up and went to the PT.

Lisa, the ultra-runner PT I have come to know and love, did not seem too surprised to see me. Then again, I'd seen her more than I care to admit leading up to the marathon. She bent my legs this way and that, asked a few questions about the pain, and almost immediately came to the conclusion that running the marathon on a bum ankle caused my form to suffer (if you saw any of the photos, this is a gross understatement) and for me to depend too much on the opposite hip. The gluteus medius fatigued during the race due to extreme overuse. Basically, I beat the crap out of it and expected it to bounce back ready to roll without any special care. My rehab plan was to perform several exercises to beef up the deflated muscle and slowly build up runs, five minutes at a time. Fair enough. At least I had a plan to get back at it.

And then I decided to make beef stew.

I was milling about the kitchen at a normal human speed preparing an awesome beer beef stew when I noticed that my foot felt funny. Within minutes a swelling appeared below my pinkie toe and turned bright red. It hurt, but not enough to think I broke anything. I thought it was weird but decided to wait it out (I have a tendency to do this. The summer before my freshman year of high school during a fishing trip with my dad I stupidly waded into the lake barefoot and stepped on a broken beer bottle. I sliced my foot open something wicked but told dad it was fine. I tied his tube sock around my foot to stop the bleeding that was something out of a Tarantino flick and we hit the Roy Rogers drive thru like nothing happened. All better! However, Mom was NOT thrilled the next day with me or my dad. The gaping wound was puffy and green. Maybe I did need stitches...). The next morning the swollen area was black and purple but it didn't hurt too bad so I figured it would resolve over time.

By some miraculous coincidence I had an appointment with Lee that day to get a plantar shot so I decided to just run it by him then. It turns out my foot bones crushed a large blood vessel. Of course. Time off of my feet was the cure. Or, as little time on my feet as I could manage while still operating as a biped. And I use biped loosely at this point. After receiving a cortisone injection in my left foot, and suffering from bizarre swelling in the right foot, I could barely penguin waddle my way around the rest of the day. I crawled up the stairs to bed that night like a toddler. Well, at least I had hit rock bottom. Things could only get better from here on out.

And then I made rotisserie chicken.

Again, my foot swelled and turned red over the purple/black. UGH. Whatever stupid blood vessel. You win. I knew there wasn't anything to do but shake my head and carry on. And maybe become a vegetarian? (Or, there is always...)

And then I decided to go for a bike ride.

After two days off I decided I could at least cycle. It was relatively harmless as far as I was concerned. It was too cold outside for riding so I did a spinervals workout in the basement. The workout was great and I was relieved to finally be improving my fitness, even if it was on a bike. I smiled with satisfaction as I walked upstairs to grab some food when I noticed a funny feeling in my foot. Or, more accurately, a lack of feeling in my foot. My entire pinkie toe above the bruised area was ghostly white, freezing cold, and completely numb. I could have stabbed my toe and felt nothing. Again, I was confused. Actually, bewildered is a more appropriate description. Again, I figured the waiting game was the best plan of attack despite considering going to the ER or a walk in clinic for fear of losing the toe. After 45 minutes or so the toe slowly regained color and feeling. Ok. I guess if I want to keep the baby phalanx biking is ALSO out.

As a result of the aforementioned events I am currently doing little more than bobbing in the pool with a life preserver on for fear of something else rupturing, spraining, or breaking. I occasionally seize a moment of bravery and mobilize across the pool in a fashion similar to the way a sea otter moves while also cracking oysters in his little paws.

I feel like Sisyphus, although I have no idea for what I am being punished. I didn't cheat Death. I just ran a marathon. Like Sisyphus, I need to find satisfaction in the process. He knew he would never get the rock to the top, and I know that I will never proclaim complete success in my running. This is not meant to be negative, but simply an observation that there is no single final achievement... especially so in my current state. Camus insists we must find pleasure from moment to moment if we are to be happy. It is now my objective to at least find humor, and perhaps even happiness, in the current absurdity of my running.

Now time for an uplifting sing-along (from life of brian):

Old Rag Mountain

2012-01-03T08:36:00.017-05:00

I've been meaning to do this circuit for quite some time but always seem to be preoccupied with more formal methods of exercise. Winter is a perfect time to get out to this hike because it is the running offseason so there are no important runs to be missed, the crowds are MUCH lighter than the summer when the entire east coast flocks to this gem of a trail, and the lack of foliage allows for added views during the ascent. I went into this knowing it would be tough with a rock scramble near the summit, but I had no idea just how challenging... and FUN.... it would be!

Old Rag Mountain is about 90 minutes southwest of Leesburg. It is visible from Skyline drive, which is accessible just outside Front Royal, but you can only get to this mountain if you take the back roads towards the eastern ridge.

Old Rag viewed from Skyline Drive west of the mountain. The purple monkey is a bonus find. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbstur/4279160212/)

I swung through historic Leesburg and picked up my monkey buddy Seth (clarification: he works WITH the same monkeys I do . He's not a monkey) and headed for the hills. We arrived at the base at about 10 am. It was partly sunny, chilly, and only a tad windy. There were about 15 cars in the parking lot which is apparently a very light day for this trail.

View of Old Rag approaching from the east

There are 9 switchbacks covering roughly 3 miles to get to the famous rock scramble. These first few miles are obviously all uphill but gentle enough that it can be done without too much concentration. Halfway up the mountain we were rewarded with this overlook:

We continued on and it got progressively windier and colder and steeper. I added a layer and some gloves and pressed on. Flurries started swirling about in short squalls. It wasn't too much longer before we found ourselves hand over hand climbing the blue blazed trail. Had it not been for the blue marks painted along the giant boulders the trail would have been indistinguishable from the rest of the barren rocky surface. Each time we located another blue blaze, "are you kidding" would pop out of one of our mouths as we saw where the seemingly impossible route continued. I had to think back to my days rock climbing and use some of those techniques to navigate the vertical trail.

The route becomes very steep near the first summit and transitions from a dirt trail to a rock one

Seth leading the way through some crazy thin gaps in the rock

Looking back at the false summit of boulders we just navigated. There was still more climbing to do.

Another view on the way to the top

The final climb to the summit. Are you kidding?

The wind whipped my hair into my face and my fingers swelled with strain as we made the last push for the summit. I wiped the snowflakes off my eyelashes and was struck by the amazing view around me. It felt like we were literally on top of the world. You could spin 360 degrees and see mountains in all directions. The summit is around 3200 ft and probably just about the highest point in that part of the mountain range. It was also slightly terrifying, as the summit is very small acreage-wise and it felt like an extra strong wind gust could blow me into the valley below at any minute.

After taking in the views we hiked on another half mile or so and had lunch (including Snow Day Winter Ales. How appropriate) in a shelter along the trail. The original plan was to eat at the summit but the wind chill of about 15 chased us away in a hurry. The rest of the hike was as easy as any descent typically is. The last few miles are along a fire road and felt very kind to our tired legs. We arrived back at the trail head at around 3 pm, 10 miles and 2200 feet of climbing later.

Tabula Rasa

2011-12-31T18:36:00.006-05:00

I've spent the past few weeks trying to force my brain back to the competitive and confident state it enjoyed for much of 2011. If you believe in empiricism, and that the mind is but a recording device, it should be possible to erase scarring experiences and return to a time before things went awry. However, it turns out you can't just trick your mind into a fresh mindset. You have to wipe the slate clean and gain a new perspective.

I've tried to write this blog post several times and each time it ends up sounding like a pitchfork music review, suffocating from forced literary heavy-handedness. I really just want to share that I've been battling apathy towards running so thick you could pour it over pancakes. But, with a few especially enjoyable runs and rides during this holiday break, I've been able to forget the past and regain a healthy relationship with running and competing. Coach has been beating it into my head that I need to remember to enjoy the process. It's not all about results. I think I am finally catching on. Below are some photos of the recent journey.

Christmas Eve ride in upper MoCo

Ugly plowed cornfields seem so darn pretty when blanketed with warm winter light.

This photo does not do this scene justice. My droid can't capture the beautiful contrasting colors.

A horse is a horse...

Christmas: No running. No riding. No problem.

Christmas morning with Jasper. He's cheerier than he looks. I think he is part cat.

Rides and runs in the Tennessee Valley

Billy, the stray my in-laws let sleep in their basement at night but let roam free during the daylight hours. Tennessee is weird about animals. In any case, this guy joyfully escorted me on my bike for THREE miles at over 16 mph before I turned around to lead him back "home." I was impressed with his athletic prowess but didn't have faith he could keep it up for two hours. He did end up being a great running buddy and could knock out short and easy runs in his sleep.

View from the TOP of Old Union Road, Sparta, TN. It's quite a climb to this vantage point.

I've taken to listening to my ipod while riding (I only put an earbud in one ear. Safety first!) and during the ride up Old Union one of my favorite songs, DLZ from TV on the Radio, came on. I hadn't heard it in a while and it reminded me of a great scene from Season 2 of Breaking Bad where Walt makes a strong move toward his inevitable egocentric-driven downward spiral, dragging everyone he loves with him. Based on the title of this video, I guess others agree with my assertion. I am currently in the middle of consuming every released minute of this AMC series. It just wrapped up its fourth season and gets better and better. It doesn't hurt that the soundtrack is also awesome.

Culminating 3 hr ride to Rock Island Falls State Park. Over the hills (mountains) and far away

Most of the mountains were littered with abandoned shacks. It was a bit depressing, actually. Small town, TN has been hit hard by the struggling economy. Great grandpa, grandpa, and dad's job at the local light bulb factory won't be there when junior graduates. Poverty runs rampant.

Just a few miles further up the road this lot is advertised for sale by a sign with gold trimmed letters spelling out "Rock Island Realty." These choice sites must be reserved for the transplant retirees.

Houses and boat ramps span the length of the river leading into the falls.

I have no idea what this is but it has something to do with the mill across the street. I just thought it looked cool.

Rock Island Falls, aka Great Falls. Off to the upper-left of the bottom photo you can see the Twin Falls. I would have made the hike over for a closer inspection had I not been donning bike cleats. Knowing me I would have been swept off to the Mississippi River in a hot second.

So yeah, Mr. Bueller was wise beyond his 17 years when he reflected, "life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I think the slate is finally clean.

2011: Reach for the stars. And if you don't grab em, at least you're on top of the world.

2011-12-19T18:06:00.010-05:00

http://www.carvey-running-tips.com/joggingcartoon.html

At about this time last year I had finished my 2010 season and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do athletically in 2011. My running felt somewhat aimless and duathlons were a dead-end road so I decided to take the plunge and train for triathlons again, except this time seriously. I'd done a few in '07 and '08 but barely earned the term "finisher." This time I was in it to win it. I logged endless hours of time on the bike and in the pool (I still hated the pool) and cut back significantly on running. Unfortunately, it was all for not as I came up pretty darn short of my goal at the Columbia Triathlon in May. I had a complete nervous breakdown in the lake for no logical reason and never fully recovered the rest of the race. Chicken poop.

This is what happens when you try new things you shouldn't do. You catch on fire. (tundracomics.com)

However, all was not lost as I managed to hit some road PRs despite only logging about 30 miles a week. Cherry Blossom was a big success and the good times continued to roll at Pike’s Peek and Race for the Cure. Also around this time I made the big decision to part with Pacers and jump on board with GRC. I owe a lot to Bridget’s guidance and my training partners for bringing me along from someone who, in the fall of 2008, was scrambling to run sub-20 minute 5ks and sub-40 minute 10ks. Two years and many growing pains later I was legitimately competitive in the area. However, the logistics of AU and Pacers just ended up being too much. The workout time and location for GRC was much friendlier for someone working full-time and once I heard that there were actually women training as well, I knew what my next move was going to be.

I joined GRC in mid- March and started working with Jerry who quickly decided that I was “made for the marathon.” I, on the other hand, wasn’t as quick to believe him since up until that point I thought marathons were lame (I ran 800's and 1500's in college. Even the 5k was lame). After about 3 months of subtle and not-so-subtle hints I was finally convinced a marathon might actually be doable and committed to running the full monty in the fall. I figured if I was going to do it, this might as well be the time as we were coming up on an Olympic year. Carpe Diem! I closed down my spring season in June and turned everything towards training for the marathon with the distant hope of qualifying for the Olympic Trials in Houston in 2012.

How I imagined things would go down when I qualified (Rudy)

I had a month hiccup in training due to my own stupidity (the great orthotic debacle of 2011), so my goal marathon shifted from Twin Cities to Philadelphia. Other than that, training could not have gone better. I had no idea what to expect as I had never spent that much time running before in my life. Lucky for me, Kate was also on board with training for Philly and she proved to be an essential piece to the puzzle. Her experience and overall awesomeness was just what I needed to keep my head on straight as we built up to 22 mile long runs and 10 mile tempo runs without issue. We also picked up Drea along the way (she suffered an injury that forced her out of Chicago, but refocused her for the Philly half) and the three of us became the splintered group of nutjobs on the team training for super distance. On mileage ravaged legs I managed to run a couple PRs at the Run Geek Run 8k and Wilson Bridge half. And before I knew it, we were tapering for the big day. And then it happened. And then it was over. Just like that. All the details have been erased, like any other traumatic experience one might have. All I know is I dedicated almost 6 months to the Philadelphia Marathon and in return the wily bastard delivered me a big ol’ slice of humble pie. Live and learn.

I know now that I won't let the marathon defeat me and in a few years I will try again. However, it's taken me almost a month to even consider racing again, let alone running another marathon. The first week post-race I fed my inner Chunk and ate cake and donuts for lunch and drank beer for dinner. Why not? I just ran a marathon. I deserved it. I had to replace like 46,000 calories. I've read that's how many you burn in the race. I'd burn off any surplus calories I consumed with a little truffle shufflin'.

Fractured Prune donuts are the cat's meow.

Week two resulted in more gluttony but my feasting had devolved and was driven by a need to feed the growing sadness.

When making holiday treat boxes, it is customary to adopt the strategy of "one for you, one or so for me."

I swore off running for eternity and bought the new Zelda game for Wii. I’d rather live in a fantasy world where you are rewarded with beautiful rupees for slashing your neighbor’s pumpkins. (Ironically, in my escape world I discovered Link has absolutely no aerobic fitness and practically has an asthma attack if you make him run for any more than 10 seconds. I yelled at him to do some damn cardio as I shoved food in my face hole). By week three I was a sad dumpy version of my former self and had hit rock bottom. It was about that time that GRC sent troops to do battle at the XC Club Nationals in Seattle and I saw this photo:

courtesy of Mike Scott

I mean, seriously... SRSLY. Wertz, you are an animal. My competitive fire, which had been thoroughly snuffed out, kinda sparked a little when I saw it. You can’t ignore that kind of intensity, you can only hope to contain it. I suddenly wanted to be like that again.

I dusted the cookie crumbles off of my shirt, put Zelda on indefinite pause, and vowed to get back on the bike and get my butt in gear. I would have run right out the door right there and then but I was still on running bed rest as I healed from the cortisone injection (which, btw, CHANGED MY LIFE. My foot is healed!) There's nothing like squeezing into snugger than usual, hug every fold and curve, lycra to really motivate you to get back at it!

bikesnobnyc.com

So, in a tidy end to this story, yesterday I celebrated, er, acknowledged, the one month anniversary of my first marathon by running for the first time since that fateful day. It was most awkward but at the same time felt like a big welcome home hug. I was happy to be running again. I was even happier that I WANTED to be running again. It's been one helluva year, and an even more helluva fall, but I am now super amped for next year. While I didn't manage to grab a star, at least I now stand on a higher earthly elevation than I did before. I credit the great philosophical teachings of Pitbull for this gained perspective. I am now ready to kick it Sloane-style and use my marathon experience as a springboard to obliterate my 5k to 10 mile PRs in the spring. Here's to high rollin' in 2012!

Ballin!

Touche, Sun Tzu. Touche.

2011-12-07T12:45:00.018-05:00

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. -Sun Tzu

Sometimes we do battle with our competitiors. Sometimes we do battle with the race itself. When I ran Philly, it was definitely a case of the latter. I could have been competing against dancing poodles for all I cared, I just wanted to master the distance and hit a time. Unfortunately, Mr. Tzu was on to something. Not only did I not know anything about the marathon distance, I clearly did not know enough about myself to know how/if I could handle the task for which I signed up. It was inevitable that I would be imperiled.

It makes me wonder how people can go out and nail their first attempt at the race. They obviously don't know the distance. Time trialing a marathon in practice is not an option. I guess they just really know themselves and that gives them a shot at success. Maybe this comes in the form of blind faith and unflappable confidence. I should have known going into this whole thing that I am a slow one to come around to anything. I need empirical evidence that suggests my desired outcome is favorable (you can see why I am a woman of science). I prefer the stepping stone approach to achieving my goals. No leaps of faith for me. I would have plummeted to my death on that bridge in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

I've been trying really hard to bury this marathon. It's hard to commit so fully to something and be focused on such a specific goal only to fail at what you set out to do. While the support of others was huge in getting me through the training, it also made me believe that I really could do what I intended. Not reaching that goal made me feel like I had a choice in the matter and I settled for failing... with all those people looking on. Perhaps if I hadn't spent over 6 months dedicating everything to this race I wouldn't care as much right now. It was a big investment emotionally and physically so it seems to be taking a while to shake. As a result I've had a hard time focusing on next year. You can't replace a dead relative. That's what it feels like I am trying to do as I come up with a spring race schedule. Nothing seems to make up for what happened or can make it better. Time heals all wounds, I s'pose.

In the meantime, while I wallow in the inflatable baby pool of sadness I've filled for myself, I've done nothing even remotely resembling athletics. I think the closest I came was when I dove across the nursery to snag a fleeing Milhouse. He never had a chance. I was supposed to start working out again on Monday, but then it was Tuesday, and now it is Wednesday. I think about working out. I do. Then I don't. Maybe tomorrow. I'd probably run if I could as it is much more appealing than pool running or trying to cycle indoors or in the cold. I'm off running for a few more weeks as I decided now would be a good time to address my nagging plantar problem. It's about 90% healed but I just couldn't kick that stubborn last 10% of pain I've been having. The good doctor told me this lower level of pain plus being off my feet right now is an ideal scenario for a cortisone shot to knock out the remaining issue. I had that done yesterday and let me warn anyone thinking of doing this that there is A LOT of pain involved in having someone stab your tendons. DUH, you say, but you have no idea.

I've used the hyperboleandahalf.com pain scale before in assessing injuries, and I think it will do well here. So, at its worst, my plantar pain felt something like this:

Most days, however, it's more like this:

When the podiatrist inserted the needle into my plantar tissue and slooowwwwly injected the magic steroids into my flesh, it felt like this:

Then, 5 minutes later I was all like:

Awesome. This stuff is frikkin amazing! THEN, 3 hrs later, in the middle of a presentation on infant monkey imitation, it felt like someone had climbed under the table and reinserted the needle into my foot... except this time it was ON FIRE:

You should have seen me trying to ignore the growing pain while also maintaining focus on the complex super smart people slideshow. Even better, later that evening I was a sight to be seen carrying a giant dilapidated box full of jackets across a parking lot while ignoring my foot being engulfed in flames of pain. I dropped the box twice, stumbled into a parked car, and had to take a breather half way.

Luckily, when I woke up this morning, I was happy to find my state of pain at this:

Apparently, something called cortisone flare can occur. Wacky stuff happens and your tissues get very much annoyed when you try to roid them up. The cortisone turns into crystals that slice you to pieces from the inside out. This is not uncommon and subsides in a day or so. But, wow, I had no idea that was coming. In any case, I am supposed to lay off of running for a few weeks to let the magic elixir do its thing.

So, I guess it is time to man up, dust off the bike and pool noodles, and get myself together. Hopefully plans for this spring will reveal themselves in the process.

Follow-Up Philly Footage

2011-11-29T12:36:00.009-05:00

The pre-race dinner was at Angelino's in a small neighborhood about 10 minutes outside of the main city. Mike, Kathryn's boyfriend, invented what we called "fire-ass pizza" that night. He had to unscrew the cap of the red pepper flakes in order to achieve the amount of pain he so desired. Crazy east asians.

Carrie took this shot while waiting for us to come by mile 7 during the race. She pays her outrageous NYC rent by being an artist. Can you tell?

The finish line awaits.

Obligatory Rocky photo. Apparently the shirt company models their fit off of him as well since it surely was not designed with the form of a typical human being in mind.

Still feeling in control of my fate at mile 7 or so.

My sister and her friend Sarah. I give Jess a ton of credit for being cold for that long (she used to turn blue in the pool for no reason) and even more to Sarah who had NO idea what she was getting into by spectating at a marathon. She showed up in house slippers.

Brian looking concerned at mile 24 or something like that. Yeah, I should be there already...

No worries, here I come! Just a wee bit behind schedule. I think I was in my "close my eyes and make it all disappear" phase at this point.

An orphan occupier? This guy apparently moseyed down Kelly Drive proclaiming his status as part of the 99%. I am cool with the message and get why you want to be seen, but why impede us by walking in the middle of the race? It's mile 24. We are too tired to negotiate you (there is a joke in here somewhere). Please move.

Thank you, finish line, for existing. I was getting worried you wouldn't be here.

Kate emerges victorious from the elite tent. She PR'd by over 6 minutes!! What a stud.

"Yeah, my leg is soooo sore!"

"and my hips/glutes/butt/this thing!"

Me and some of my loyal supporters. They even bought shirts! I love these guys, and particularly at that moment for basically holding me up for this photo :)

All photos (other than those borrowed indefinitely from the race photographer) courtesy of Kathryn and Carrie. Thanks guys!

Philly Marathon Race Report

2011-11-23T13:13:00.010-05:00

The day before the marathon I was definitely a nervous nelly (thanks Charlie). I sort of stumbled through the expo and somehow came out the other end with a bib number and ill fitting race shirt. Our hotel was… functional. Dinner was decent. My sister and some friends of mine trekked all the way to Philly just to support me for this race. Having them around was a nice little distraction from the increasing heaviness of the situation. That night I actually slept well for the most part due to the many sleepless nights I had before then. I was woken up once in the middle of the night by the sounds of pleasure from the room next to us. A shoe chucked angrily at the wall solved that problem.

I got up at 4am. Made oatmeal with the coffee maker and forced it down the hatch. We caught a cab to the start, located the elite tent (clutch), and did the ridiculous pre-marathon warm up thing which apparently is 10 minutes of jogging and then tying and retying your shoes 800 times. Suddenly, we were on the starting line.

Something made a loud noise and we were off to the races. Well, we were jogging fast anyway. Be patient. That is what everyone kept telling me and that is what I did. I found 6:20 pace and told myself this was my home for the first half. The first 5 miles went by quickly and I took my first gu and located a running friend who was also targeting sub 2:46. We chatted briefly about where we were from, what we did, etc and settled into a rhythm. I felt like I could actually do this. Somewhere between mile 5 and 8 I noticed that I felt really warm. And that this “easy” pace didn’t feel so easy. I didn’t really know what to do with that information so I tried to block it out as nonsense and pressed on. I then noticed that my splits were coming in more over 6:20 than under it. That is, except for the random 6:07 that popped up when I decided to run with the 6:18 pacer for a few miles. Woops. There was a steep uphill at mile 9 that really slowed me down. I felt my breathing pick up and knew that was not a good thing so I backed off big time. I tried to let gravity make up the difference on the downhill but my pace did not recover as much as I hoped it would.

By the half I was still pretty close to on pace but I felt way worse than I probably should have at that point. The half marathoners were finishing up their day as we split off to the left to begin the long trek down the river. I seriously contemplated pulling the plug on the mission then and there. Something deep in my reptilian brain would not accept this as an option and I found myself heading off to Manayunk almost against my own will. I found a group of guys and tucked in as I was carried to mile 16. I felt awful. I let the pack go and slowed the pace to 6:30's or so. At this point I reasoned with myself that I could still break 2:50. Just hold the slower pace and ride it to the finish. Mile 17. Mile 18. WHERE IS THE TURNAROUND? Why are we going across the river? Oh, just so we can u-turn around a random traffic cone and come back and continue down this endless road to Manayunk? Manayunk was becoming a mythical town. I didn’t believe it existed.

The wheels were coming off in a big way by the time this stupid town revealed itself on the horizon. I was feeling rather light-headed and felt myself stumbling over invisible bumps in the road. It was about that point that Kate had made her way up to me. I attempted words but I could only throw up my hand to half wave. My shoe had also come loose and I stopped to tighten it. Stars suddenly crept into my periphery and I was wobbling on my legs. I took a Gu, walked a few steps, and continued on. 8 more miles to go…

No 10k race will ever feel as hard as my trip back to center city Philadelphia. I made a deal with myself that I would keep my pace under 7:30 and that way I would at least break 3 hours. That arbitrarily established 7:30 red line chased me all the way home to the finish. I thought about all of the long runs we did and how we clicked off low 7’s like it was no big deal. How was this so impossibly difficult? I don’t remember much else of the end of the race other than the pain of my ankle (at some point that had turned from background noise to knives in my bones) and my overall inability to move my legs or focus on objects. I periodically closed my eyes and ran blind, perhaps expecting this all to go away. I’d open them again to find Sophia from the Golden Girls passing me. How is this happening? How am I so out of control? GUs were no help. Gatorade ended up on my face. I dumped water on my head. Mile 23. OH MY GOD.

By mile 25 I had made deals with the devil. I swore I’d never run again. Or I’d run every day. Whatever was requested of me in exchange for making this end. It was around that point I heard the cheering of my friends and family. I wanted to acknowledge them but the best I could do was glance over at them as I trudged by.

I continued on and welled up with tears knowing they had come to see me succeed and this is what they were witnessing. I took a deep breath and pulled it together as best I could to finish that last mile with what I could offer. I then got my first side stitch. Now? Ha. Like it even mattered at that point. What felt like three days later the finish line finally appeared like a mirage. Could it be? Am I done? Sprint! No. Ok, just keep running. I saw I would finish under 3 hours and it was somehow an achievement to me at that point. That red pace line I decided to stay ahead of never caught me despite me being more beaten down than I ever have in my life. I gave everything I had to that race. I was stripped of everything at the end.

I bumbled around in the finish chute like a drunk in an alley. I welled up with tears again. I still don’t know why. I am not really the emotional type. I eventually found my support crew and felt so embarrassed about what happened out there but too tired to do anything about it.

I don’t remember many of the finer details of this race. I think my brain had checked out pretty early on. However, the emotions were powerful. They will stay with me for a long time. It’s hard to close the chapter on what happened out there. It was a failure because I did not accomplish what I set out to do. I have to take solace in the fact that there were small successes leading up to and during the race. In the end, I don’t regret my decision to do the marathon. I believed I had a chance to achieve the goal I set back in May. For whatever reason, Sunday was not the day it was going to happen. At least I don't have to live with what if. At least now I know.

News Flash: Tapir and I are Breaking Up

2011-11-15T11:10:00.006-05:00

It turns out despite Tapir's advertised awesomeness, Tapir is not very nice at all. Quite frankly, Tapir is a complete jerk. I thought we were tight, but clearly Tapir's true colors are being revealed during this final week before the big day. I think we need to break up and see other... people.

Per LJ's suggestion, below you will find a snapshot of what the taper currently feels like as revealed through a simple email exchange. It appears the steps are a wee bit unstable as we "ascend to the pantheon of greatness!" (-coach Jerry)

On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 9:46 AM, Michelle Miller wrote:

It feels like this race WILL NEVER COME!!! I was so nervous on Sunday for no reason I couldn't sleep. My heart was too loud. Then I was so tired Monday night from not sleeping the night before that I passed out on the couch at like 8:30 and slept for 10 hours or something crazy like that. Most of my runs feel like complete garbage but taper has gifted me with the ability to run a 5:12 mile in the workout last week. And despite not having done ANYTHING of consequence training wise, everything is starting to hurt and my ankle feels like it is broken. Normally I would be too tired from training to worry, but taper has also gifted me with energy to THINK. I want to go into a coma and be woken up on race morning!! Can you make it happen???

Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:18:54 -0500
Subject: ascend to the pantheon of greatness that awaits them
From: LJ
To: Kate Dart; Michelle Miller

OH YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! how you girls doing??? I am SUPER pumped for your race at Philly. Excited?!?! I can't believe it's here. You must feel the same, haha.

LJ

The taper is WACK

2011-11-10T10:46:00.011-05:00

(www.loltapirs.com- obviously)

THE TAPER sort of began with three weeks to go but not really. I dropped my weekly mileage into the 60s instead of the 70s but the intensity was about the same and I still kept up with the cross training. I didn't feel too different than the norm and everything was hunky dory. This past week was the first real plummet into less running. Only 45 miles? What? And TWO days off of running? I told myself to have faith in the process and proceed with the plan. After the tempo/longish run Sunday I made the unwise decision to take the following Monday as my first day off. Why unwise? Well, on Tuesday I felt like absolute poo. I had a measly 7-8 mile run planned but after 3 miles of slugging down the road at what I am sure was 12:00+ pace I stopped in the middle of the road (it's the boonies, there are no cars for miles) and stretched and wished for a teleportation device to deliver me back to my car. I am currently still in the developmental period for that technology so I had to resign myself to dragging butt back the three miles I had already gone while the sun added gloom to the situation as it slipped behind the horizon. I was SO happy when I was done but then immediately just as confused trying to figure out why the run felt so awful. That, of course, quickly deteriorated into a quiet panic which resulted in me sending an email laced with crazy to my trusty marathon expert, Kate Dart. The following is a slightly edited excerpt:

"So, I took Monday off as one of my off days and ran yesterday evening and felt like total doo doo. Like, my legs were led bricks. I bet I was barely under 8 minute pace. What gives? It can't be taper related, since that has hardly begun. The only thing I can think of is running the 16 miles Sunday in flats which I have never done before. Maybe the legs are still recovering? GAH. I haven't felt like this even on my most tired of training days during this build up. WHY BODY, WHY?!"

She, of course, responded in a logical and reassuring way which enabled me to not jump off the taper train and board the crazy train instead. I do keep the life pass ticket for that train in my back pocket just in case the need arises. Crisis averted. Well, except that my thumb was still oozing blood over 12 hours after I sliced part of it off that morning in a hasty attempt to have sliced oranges packed for lunch. Stupid thumb.

So, Wednesday morning I woke up early and hit the pool to revive what I assumed to be my decomposing fitness. I've made pool running a part of every Wednesday morning because I really do think it has magical powers. I always feel looser afterward and it sets up well for the harder track workout later that day. Or, maybe the chlorine just corrodes nerve endings and my brain cells and thereby reduces pain and increases euphoria. In any case, the warm up at the track that night felt surprisingly OK. I wasn't feeling invincible, but I didn't feel like I had bags of bricks for legs either. The workout was 3 x mile descending from 6:00 to 5:45 to 5:30 (or faster, if we were feeling it) on 3 minutes rest. I was happy to find my legs were fine with the 6 and 5:45 so I decided to run through the first 800 of the last mile on pace and if I felt good, I would pick it up. I led us through in 2:45 on the money and gave it what I had. The last thing I needed was a torn hamstring so I made sure to keep in under control. I was able to close the second 800 in 2:27 and felt really good doing it. I was somewhat shocked at how easy the speed came since we have not dipped below 5:30 pace for anything in months. Drea and Kate also came in well below the 5:30 mark and afterward we confirmed to each other that we were going to crush Philly. It's official.

But yeah, marathon training is so weird. One day I feel like dying in a gutter, and the next day I run a pace I haven't touched since the spring and feel fine doing it. A 5:12? Really? Body, what else aren't you telling me?

Like I said, the taper is WACK.

The Bread is in the Oven

2011-11-06T16:02:00.008-05:00

Literally. I just attempted pumpkin banana bread because I like banana bread, and I like pumpkin bread, so I should extra like them together. This logic doesn't work all the time, as I can't imagine a tuna and strawberry jelly sandwich tasting all that great, but whatever. Pumpkin banana bread is just kicking up a notch something I am already down with.

And figuratively. The Philly Marathon site is counting down the 13 days until race day... in red. It's like a death march.

Today I rushed home after the workout and was able to catch the last few minutes of the NYC marathon and if I wasn't nervous before, I sure am now! It's all becoming so real. The race is no longer some far off in the distance thing that I don't have to worry about. It's like... now. Now that I have finally solved my shoe dilemma (if you even remotely know me you have probably heard me complain about my almost comical endeavor to try and find shoes I like for this race), there is absolutely nothing I can do but sit back and ride this taper to the big day.

And really, other than the fact that I have never done this distance, I don't have anything to worry about. Of course, if I know me at all, I will continue to find inconsequential things to fixate on and then subsequently have to squash. Despite a minor hiccup of a few days when my calf was wildly tight, I have missed none of my runs and my mileage has been consistently where I want it to be. Weekly track workouts feel like I am going through the motions at a 9 to 5 job. I don't know whether this is an artifact of being in really good shape, the workouts actually being easy, having a great group to train with, or me just being able to turn my brain off for the first time in my life. Long runs have also been great. The past few weeks we have also started mixing in marathon paced miles in the middle of long runs. Last weekend was probably the hardest workout we have done this entire training cycle, and much of that can probably be attributed to the horrid weather. 35 degrees and raining is a strong contender for the "most miserable weather to have for a workout" award. I think I would have preferred the snow that was falling in Damascus that same morning.

Rt 27 near Damascus

Anyway, I got in 17 miles that day with the middle 10 starting at 6:30 and working down to around 5:55. The last mile and a half I gave up on keeping splits as I could no longer use my hands. Thankfully, Jerry braved the elements and was there to keep track of them for me. I am also forever in debt to Scott who showed up to the track like some kind of running archangel and, after hanging out in the back for 3 miles, led mile 9 while I was fighting a moment of weakness with my brain that insisted I quit this madness and seek shelter and hot chocolate asap. Kate, Drea, Scott and I did 6 more marathon pace miles today in the same sort of pace progression during a 16 miler and the weather was MUCH nicer. The workout was no biggie for any of us.

So, with that, the ingredients have been mixed together with care and now the bread is in the oven. It smells good. Whether or not it will taste as good when the baking is done and the timer goes off... we shall see. I've never made this bread before, but I've made many like it and most have come out pretty darn well. I am optimistic this time will be no different.

Wrestling with an octopus on a conveyor belt

2011-10-26T09:43:00.013-04:00

Last week the miles kept piling on and although I felt great on my runs, any time I was not running I wished I was sleeping or eating. My brain is playing tricks on me as I think it is in a state of constant glycogen depletion. It’s doing things like telling me to give the monkeys drier sheets instead of monkey chow (yeah, Purina makes "Monkey Chow" in addition to dog food!) and it keeps insisting that the milk belongs in the pantry. The current level of running is getting to the point that even the dogs, who are always more than up for an easy morning run with me, are looking at me like I am crazy.

Ziggy says NO MORE

Since my brain is incapable of forming one cohesive blog entry right now, I will just yammer on about a few random runs I did. Proceed reading at your own risk.

One day last week, I don't even remember which day it was, I ran the Greenway Trail starting at route 28 and headed south. I was trying out yet another pair of potential marathon shoes so I decided to do two out and backs so I didn't spend too much time in potentially hazardous footwear. About 20 minutes into my first run I literally ran into a pitbull. The dog seemed friendly enough so I stopped and told him/her how awesome he/she was so that it didn't eat me while I waited for the humans to show up. I ambled along with the dog in tow and soon saw two 40-something year olds meandering down the path and the dog trotted to meet them. As I slowed down to side step around them I heard, “hahahaha, for a second I thought you were a giant dog!" I sort of half smiled and laughed and got ready to continue on when I heard, "And then I was like, man, why does that dog have two heads? And then I was like duh, you are a person!” UM. Half smile faded into complete confusion. “ I mean, I was worried Norman here was gonna go after you. Doesn’t like dogs at all!” While the woman continued to babble nonsense the pitbull started circling me and I feared my life would end in this most ridiculous manner. However, instead of ripping off my calf… he tried to make sweet pitbull love with my leg!!! WTF. Do I fling the beast off and end up lunch? I did not want to entertain a relationship with that musclebound porkchop of a dog. While the odd couple looked on I sort of smashed my hand in his face and he rather quickly gave up and trotted off on his merry little way. "Norman likes you! You wanna be his dogsitter?" Is this really happening? My brain is more messed up from marathoning than I thought. I babbled some sequence of words that indicated I had no desire to be Norman's lover and hauled butt out of there. As I ran the path they had just travelled, I also happened to notice the strong scent of herb. You know, the kind that you enjoy at… 4:20. I kid you not, I looked at my watch to see what time it was and chuckled to myself when I saw that it was 4:30. Seriously people? At least I had my explanation for why I was confused with a two-headed dog and I could rest assured these people had at least some hope of being functioning members of society when not under the influence. I carried on and finished my first out and back and changed my shoes. Rather than entangle myself in that situation again, I decided to go the other way on the trail. Too bad the new direction was flooded, and thorny, and ridiculously hilly. Still, it was better than being assaulted by a pitbull with a bunch of stoners looking on.

Wednesday was a "track" workout on the mall. It was a pretty backdrop for a workout and a fun change of pace from week after week at the track. It was also a good chance for those going to xc club nats to practice off road running. The downside was the slop that had formed after a day of solid rain. I was picking mall dirt out of my eyes, nose, ears, and a bunch of other places not only during the workout, but the next few days as well. There were also giant water-filled holes that needed to be negotiated. I've been reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougal (finally) and there is a bit about Emil Zapotek's form. They likened it to a man wrestling with an octopus on a conveyer belt. That is what came to mind as an accurate description of what I looked like as I stumbled through the water holes. As an added bonus(?), Kickball.com assembled on the mall for a game and was a wild cheering section for a few laps but then appeared to become apathetic towards our endeavor. Some girls even heard snarky comments. Team light blue vs team dark blue (the only apparent difference in teams was their t-shirt color) didn’t even end up playing the game. These ballers got on the metro at Rockville, travelled allll the way down to the mall, and then just sat there in the mud and drank beer while heckling runners. Yet another "seriously?"

Saturday I met up with Kate for the big 22. We convened at the ferries loop again on what was pretty close to a perfect morning. If I could bottle up that morning, and save it in a time capsule to be released on race day, I totally would. Perfect sunrise, perfect temps, perfect humidity, just... perfect!

River Road circa Poolesville

Like our last run, the miles flew by and 2 hrs and 40 minutes later we had logged our longest run of the training cycle while, without any real effort, picking up the pace to a pretty solid clip by the end. Afterward we enjoyed nature's ice bath (the rapidly cooling Potomac) while trying desperately not to end up head first in the water. A kind park service employee took the following photo. Well, she took about 5 seconds of video of us posing for the photo that never actually happened.

Stillshot of the video of us posing for a photo

After our 10 minutes was up I dried off, bid Kate a pleasant weekend, and then explored the opening celebration of the newly restored lockhouse at Edward's Ferry. The park service is restoring many of the lockhouses on the canal to reflect different historical eras This particular shelter was a shout out to the Civil War. The coolest thing I learned was that these fully furnished lockhouses can now be rented out and used as night shelters. I think it would be a lot of fun to bike the length of the towpath and rent out these houses along the way. Something to consider for the offseason...

Sunday morning I woke up at 5:00 am. Why? Well, I've been feeling a little wrapped up in my own running and embracing the inherent self-serving nature of the individualistic sport so I decided to volunteer for the Halloween Young Run in Rockville. My role involved showing up at a random intersection at 6:00 am, closing off the road to traffic, and spending 2 hrs setting off road flares to deter angry motorists from running over small children. After feeding the pyro within, at 8:00am I got to move closer to the actual race and act as a course marshal. It was really cool to be in an environment of simple and pure joy. Giant smiles, bobbing pigtails, and awkward skip-running galore!

Of course, there were the few parents out there that take this sort of thing WAY too seriously. One father, donning his 2011 Boston shirt and race tights, barked orders at his 7-8 year old son whom himself was equipped with Saucony Kinvaras and a Garmin to keep track of pace. Mind you, there are no winners or losers at the 1 mile fun run. They don’t even keep time. In fact, at some point the waves start melding together into a giant sea of toddling humanity. Not surprisingly, that kid looked like he was enjoying himself the least out of anyone out there. Anyway, overall it was a lot of fun. It was an early, but very rewarding, morning.

To conclude, I will freak out about stuff for a minute. So, I noticed a bit of calf tightness during the run Saturday but didn’t make too much of it. I’ve never had issues with my calf muscles before so I just attributed it to running a hella long time. Well, Sunday I went out to do an easy hour and 20 minutes into it I started to feel the right calf tightening again. I stopped, stretched, and continued on. A few minutes later the tightening returned. Then it got tighter, and tighter, until it felt like my calf would literally rip my Achilles right off of my heel bone. PANIC. I stopped, jabbed my fingers into the knot that was forming in my muscles and tried to pummel it into submission. The tightness abated and I managed to get home but cut the run short as a precaution. I decided to take Monday OFF and let whatever was going on calm down. That evening I scheduled an emergency massage session with Evan, the former linebacker whose trained hands bear the strength of ten thousand men. Tuesday I ran a short 45 minutes and felt better, but it was still not normal. I pool ran this morning and will attempt a slow tempo on the track today... and try not to go off the deep end quite yet.

Incidentally, Lauren Fleshman also just had a significant random injury scare and I absolutely love the analogy she blogged regarding the line we dance as we train for a marathon:

For seven weeks I’ve been filling and filling and filling a water balloon without any problems, and suddenly I see that the skin of that balloon is stretched dangerously thin.

Now here I am carrying this swollen balloon towards the promised land of the taper, aware that the slightest bump from the dullest branch can irreparably rupture what it would have taken a machete to pop five weeks ago.

Yikes!

Big time yikes.

After taking today and feeling better, I could probably do my normal Sunday run and be fine, but there is no way in hell I’m running tomorrow! Instead, my balloon and I are going to spend the day on my cushy sofa watching movies. I’m going to whip out some duct tape to reinforce the skin and let a little water out. Then I’ll feel a little safer carrying the water balloon the water balloon the rest of the way to New York City, starting Monday. (http://asklaurenfleshman.com/journal)

So, time to let a little water out of my own balloon and carry on. No need to initiate crisis meltdown mode over a few missed workouts. The greater plan is still intact.

Just Keep Swimming...

2011-10-14T13:26:00.006-04:00

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim." -Dori, Finding Nemo

This popped into my head while grinding out one of my doubles this week. Just replace swimming with running, which I eventually did, and it works. Annnyway, with no injuries to curb my enthusiasm, I have been building mileage to an unprecedented level. It has been a cautious and slow build (those who do not learn from history...), but I am finally consistently at 70-80 miles per week along with pool running, cycling, and strength training. A general sense of tiredness, with moments of mid-run insanity (Finding Nemo???), is settling in and I am finding I need more willpower than usual to get going on a run, but overall I am not too worse for the wear. There are only two more weeks before the taper starts (gulp) and the hammer is being laid down in a big way.

After the half last week I couldn't afford to back off too much so I kept the mileage up but just made sure to run as slow as my body decided to go. I picked it up a bit for the track workout on Wednesday, but still kept things in check and did a five mile progression run moving from marathon pace to tempo.

Saturday was a challenge in energy management. I got up early and put in 20 solo miles so that I could get back to my house quickly to prepare for my sister's wedding. A short shower and blowdry later I was off to my parents' place for pre-wedding madness. I was a sight to be seen rushing across the lawn to the Rafeedie household with a banana in one hand, water bottle in the other, and a fancy pants dress hanging over one of my shoulders. My hyperactive mother almost passed out when she saw me as I did not immediately fit into her vision of her youngest daughter's perfect wedding. Of course, I cleaned up just fine and everything went smoothly save me almost falling off of the alter during hour four of wearing the silver torture shoes. I am not a heels wearing kinda gal in general so my legs were very displeased with my choice of post-run foot attire. To add insult to injury I then decided to break it down on the dance floor that evening. I couldn't NOT dance the Cuban Shuffle at my own sister's wedding, right? Needless to say, I woke up Sunday and was greeted with extremely sore calves and general exhaustion.

Loo dog catching some z's

I got through Sunday's easy run but the 12 miler on Monday was no easy jog through Rock Creek Park. I was a bit tired but on top of that my feet were sore. It didn't dawn on me why until after the run when I inspected my shoes and realized I was rolling on bald tires. Apparently at some point in my training delirium I sort of stopped paying attenion to the state of my trainers. I scolded myself for the rookie move and immediately hit up the GRC store. I traded coupons for new shoes, absorbed some sage yoda-like advice from Wilson (re: race goals- "If you want to do it, just run and do it. No big deal), and now I feel like I am running on mattresses with a renewed focus and energy.

By this Wednesday I was happy to discover my legs were up for the challenge of a track workout after being in ICU after the weekend festivities. I was afraid with the Army crew being given the day off I'd be hitting this solo. However, there were plenty of brave/crazy/misinformed ( Kate and Susan :) ) runners to go around for the unpleasantly damp evening run. Again, this was another workout that ended up being less torturous than I anticipated. I think this is mostly a symptom of me building up these workouts in my mind to feel like agony when they aren't quite so bad. I also think my brain has finally adapted to hard longer efforts and can sort of go on autopilot and numb itself. Effective dissociation makes six miles of running in circles go by pretty quickly. Goal splits were 12:00, 11:50, 11:40 and we were just a few seconds quick on all three. Success.

On tap for tomorrow will be 18-20 miles with 8-10 of those miles starting at marathon pace dropping to under 6:00. I think this will be the true litmus test for if I can actually handle this whole crazy marathon experiment.

Just keep swimming...

Wilson Bridge Half Marathon Race Report

2011-10-04T10:51:00.007-04:00

I rolled out of bed at the uber early hour of 4am to get to the National Harbor by 5:45, 15 minutes before the recommended cut-off time for people to catch shuttle buses. Brian and I met Dave, Dickson, Scott, Jordan and spectator extraordinaire Andy at the remote parking location near the Harbor in order to catch a bus ride to the start. Shuttles ran frequently so we didn't have to wait very long in the frigid and gusty predawn for our ride. After about 20 minutes we were dumped out in the front yard of Mount Vernon along with somewhere between four and five thousand other runners. Flood lights lit up the site and it felt uncomfortably similar to a triathlon transition zone. Luckily, I would have the pleasure of leaving the wetsuit at home and only running this morning.

Everything was set up well and easy to find. We warmed up and got down with the get down while Stevie Wonder and James Brown played over the loudspeakers. I spotted my main competition (excluding the super fast Ethiopian/Kenyan contingent) and lined up next to her at the start. I was so excited to race that I wanted to bolt off of the line but knew the plan was to ease into this effort. It was hard to implement as the first mile is a nice downhill. Despite holding back we came through the mile in 5:50. We then settled into a rhythm maintaining my average goal pace of 6:05 and I hit cruise control. The other girl fell in behind me and somewhere along the way I lost her. I found a guy running roughly my pace and made him my new racing partner for the time being. Then, for whatever reason, this song began playing over and over in my head (sidenote: this is the first time I have seen this video, and... wow):

It has a good tempo for half marathon pace so it worked out well. At this point we were about 4 miles in and I completely zoned out and tunnel visioned down the empty parkway. The crowd support was limited to overpasses and water stops so there wasn't much to distract me from the long road ahead. There were times during the race where I felt like me, my running buddy, and the few runners on the horizon were the only people on the planet. Like, the zombiepocalypse had finally happened and yet here we were, still running down this road determined to finish our race.

Despite spending most of the parkway in a fog (literally and figuratively), for whatever reason I do remember passing by Belle Haven, probably because it is the only place I have been in that area and therefore can actually identify it. It wasn't quite as pretty on this gloomy morning as it was a few weeks ago when I met Kate and Laura there for a long run and had snapped this photo:

Speaking of Kate and Laura, it wasn't too much longer before I spotted them at around mile 8. I was excited to see faces, and familiar happy ones at that. Not long after I saw Andy jumping up and down, in typical Andy fashion, and his energy provided a little extra boost going into the bridge hill. He also pointed out that the third place runner from Ethiopia was not far ahead. That was just the incentive I needed to really race the final portion of this half.

The bridge wasn't as awful as I had prepared myself for it to feel so it went by quickly. I kept my eye on the woman ahead of me and slowly made up ground on her. I hit mile 10 as I wound my way down the spiral that unloaded pedestrians into DC from

the bridge. I was ready to finally race! I pulled up behind the woman I had been stalking for over a mile and ran with her for another mile until the long hill from mile 11 to 12. I did not slow down so she dug deep and picked it up to stay with me, a testament to her tenacity. I remember giving her mental props but then immediately wanting to drop her. I decided to use the hill, and Jordan's words of encouragement as I pulled up next to him, to really push it and try to distance myself from her there. I was glad I felt so good because that hill was a soul crusher under most circumstances being that late in the race. I soon couldn't hear her footfalls and knew the move was a success. I then committed to running like hell so she didn't rebound and catch me. Pure fear of getting overtaken again, and knowing how mad I would be afterward if that happened, propelled me through the final mile and a half.

While the course was fair to slightly challenging, I'd have to say the one annoyance of the race was the last half mile. The strong headwinds coming in off the water were God's will, but having to face that while also running jello-legged on crushed gravel (which I thought had been removed from the course from last year) was tough. Once you hit pavement again there is a good stretch of running for a few minutes before a labyrinth of turns leading to the finish line that was not evident until you were practically across it. In hindsight, I should have scoped out the final mile a little better so I knew what to expect. Luckily, the course was very well-marked (except for a few mile markers that blew over) and easy to follow despite the many twists and turns at the end. It was also nice having a crowd to cheer everyone in the last quarter mile. Overall, a very good race experience and perfectly timed for a late fall marathon.

Post race split calculations had me run this race exactly how I intended to race it. Like, eerily perfect. I ran 60:49 through the 10 mile (target was 6:05 pace) and then 18:52 for the last 5k. That last 5k was hilly enough that I felt like I was really rolling and could only manage the same pace that I did feeling like I was holding back down the parkway. So, even splits, uneven effort. Perfect. This race was just what I needed to regain the confidence I lost after giving up almost 6 weeks of proper training to the plantar injury. I don't know if I would have run faster had I gone out harder because the possibility of slowing more significantly is definitely in the cards given the late hills. Ultimately, the woulda-coulda doesn't really matter because I am happy with my approach to the race. I think running a conservative race where you finish strong might be more beneficial in a non-goal race than running a faster PR and laying it all out there. It allows the imagination to run wild with what is possible down the road.

Result: 1:19:42, 3rd place, PR

Whac-A-Mole Marathon Training

2011-09-26T10:18:00.005-04:00

I never thought I would get to this point again, but I can happily say my foot is as close to 100% as it can get while also training for a 26.2 mile race. What a huge relief! However, it appears that marathon training is one long and annoying game of whac-a-mole. Little nagging issues keep popping up that need to be addressed (ie slammed into submission). Luckily, no one issue is of any serious concern and responds quickly to some extra stretching, strength and ice. I look forward to one hell of a stuffed animal prize after this game is over.

In general, training is now going really, really well. I've been able to build up my mileage and still get in several quality sessions each week. Monday I did a 10 mile progression starting at an easy pace and worked down to marathon pace. Wednesday we had 5x2k on tap with 400 jog recovery. This would be the furthest I've ever run in a track workout and I was just a tad nervous going in. We started at 5:56 pace for the first one and cut down each interval and were supposed to end the 5th interval at 5:40 pace. Since Anna seems to love hitting 83/84's and it was just her and I left for the last one, I decided to roll with it and we went through the mile in 5:36 and then closed with an 81 for the final 400. Somehow it felt very comfortable and doable. To finish up the week, this past Saturday was the first 20 miler on the schedule. It was my longest run to date after doing three 18 milers spanning pre- and post- injury. I met Kate at the Edward's Ferry loop for two laps. I had planted some bottles at mile 6.5 so we were able to get water at our cars, at the well pump around mile 3.5, and at my stash. Again, another workout that I assumed would feel a lot harder than it ended up being... although that doesn't mean I didn't spend the rest of the day in a semi-coma as illustrated in this canine reenactment of my afternoon:

I attribute the success of my first 20 to having a running partner to chat the hours away with (she really is my sister from another mister) along with a beautiful backdrop. The run was over before we knew it and we kept drifting into 7 flat pace despite it feeling easy. I think those long bike rides followed by runs must have played some part in this seemingly easy transition to super long running. I owe you one, triathlon.

So, last week I was mindlessly going through my required annual online AWT (aka Animal Welfare Training, the government looooves unnecessary acronyms) at work. This 87 slide powerpoint presentation was created to remind me why giving monkeys water is good but putting them in the dishwasher is bad. My brain immediately drifted off because, duh, monkeys don't like to get wet. Now that the nursery has calmed down and the monkeys are independent and landing solid jobs, my thoughts at work have shifted from "omg, did that baby sneeze?" to "omg, I'm racing in a week. I should probably analyze the elevation profile and cross-reference it with insightful comments about the overall race experience on the letsrun forums". Anyway, I stumbled across the following cartoon during the training session. In addition to encouraging me to second guess giving the monkeys perms and choosing to feed them instead, it reminded me to not overanalyze everything.

Where:

Basically, don't be the naked overweight potato man on the left. Be the possessed starved dog on the right. Just get your bone!

The World Aint All Sunshine and Rainbows-Run! Geek! Run! 8k Race Report

2011-09-17T14:10:00.026-04:00

Ziggy enjoys the geek glasses provided

in the race goody bag

Just over two months ago I felt a sharp pain in my plantar on a 2k rep. I backed off running significantly and put in enough cross training to send me to the brink of insanity. Two weeks ago I was finally given the hard-earned green light to run "real" track workouts again. After a successful 5x mile effort last week and 8x800 this week, I was ready to see where exactly my race fitness was after this giant ill-timed (goodbye Twin Cities... hello Philly) hiccup in training. Ryan, Dave, Jason, Anna and I would take on the geeks on the unseasonably cool morning at Run! Geek! Run! 8k on Hains Point.

Anna and I got in a good warm up, minus her almost falling twice and ending her promising road racing career, and headed to the start line. I didn't notice any other of the usual local female competitors so I assumed it would just be us working together. We went out together and quickly fell into a good rhythm. It felt quick but not unreasonable. As we approached the moment of truth (mile 1), I began to check my watch. This is when things went downhill a bit.

We hit the mile marker in 5:35.

Correct, productive thoughts: sweet, this doesn't feel too fast even if I was shooting for 5:50, we will definitely run a solid time and work well together

Incorrect, failure thoughts (that won in my brain): Anna IS "Usain Holt" and will destroy my soul with her speed, I'm not in shape for this madness so I should slow down a bit and not die

So, I backed off after the mile, hit a slooow mile 2 (~6:00??), and then picked it up to a decent clip the remainder of the 8k. I did not push hard out of pure FEAR. Fear of what? I dunno. Failure? Mediocrity? Alien attacks? Of course as soon as I finished I was annoyed with myself. Sure I put in an honest effort, and considering I haven't raced since early June the time was pretty decent, but I am still a little disappointed in my race psyche. Anna, on the other hand, said she didn't feel too great but still ran a solid race and cruised to victory and made it look easy as usual. In any case, afterward we were presented with two geektastic bobble heads for our efforts.

So, Rocky Balboa's speech to his son in Rocky V (or VI?) might as well have been directed at me after this race (minus the whole you're my son bit... but I definitely should visit my mother...)

"Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that! I'm always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You're my son and you're my blood. You're the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain't gonna have a life. Don't forget to visit your mother." -Rocky Balboa

Basically, it's time to stop looking back and letting what went wrong with this season affect me and start looking forward and having confidence in what is possible and can still go right. The biggest take away from this race is that my foot is HEALED (!) for all intents and purposes so there is no reason to hold back anymore. I'll cut myself some slack since it was the first race back, but next time there are no excuses. There are two weeks until the Wilson Bridge Half to get my head on straight! (humorous sidenote: in addition to the jacked up trophy our team won, I also stepped on my bobblehead and his head is literally no longer on straight. How appropriate).

Result: 2nd, 28:52- PR... the previous best was a bit soft(29:51) but I'll take it just the same

How I Got My Groove Back

2011-09-09T07:56:00.004-04:00

For the past few weeks things have felt awkward running-wise as I've transitioned from cross training back to higher running mileage again. I've also been a bit uncertain of my current fitness since Kate and I have been relegated to frumpy tempo runs on the track while the rest of the team blazes by us doing super speedy fast people stuff. Feeling like an awkward prepubescent runner in clunky trainers is not the most inspirational experience. I've had multiple moments of doubt and weakness over these past few weeks. I was ready for a shift in attitude and training.

The first step in the right direction was watching every last minute I could catch of the world T&F championships. US distance running is so motivational to follow right now. We are finally returning to our heyday of the 70s when we were a world contender. Beyond the general movement the US is making, the journeys of the individual athletes are also inspiring. Reading about their experiences reaffirms that everyone, even a world champion, goes through rough spots but the successful athletes are the ones that come out on top in spite of the bumps in the road. This quote from Jenny Simpson's blog about her gold really hit home for me:

"But, most importantly, over the past 18 months, when the valleys seemed deep, I showed up to work hard and dream big and believe in my support group. When we did have indications that I was improving, I believed in it even though they weren't as public as winning a race."
(http://www.flotrack.org/blog/38345-Alchemy)

You have to love the genuine emotion of Jenny

and Hannah England crossing the finish line 1-2

As if that wasn't motivational enough, witnessing Farah's redemption after being run down in the 10k was amazing. And Lagat's intense determination to medal reads all over his face:

Mo, what are you doing?

And then there was young Matt Centrowitz who demonstrated such confidence and poise in his 1500m final. His patience during that race was rewarded with a bronze medal. Not too shabby for a recent graduate!

As Daegu wound down my training continued to build up to something that resembled a normal schedule again. I had my first "real" long distance run since the injury this past Saturday. I met Kate at the GRC store and got in a free form 8 miles running this way and that as we made our way towards Hains Point. We hit the Memorial Bridge among other DC-ish landmarks. We swung by the store again and picked up Maura for 10 more including a tour through the zoo. It's like we were running in Asia as we ascended the random mountain in northwest DC that the zoo, and specifically the Asian trial, is situated. However, the climax of the climb was, well, anti-climatic as the last animal we saw was some sort of sloth creature that was as uninterested in us (or life in general) as we were with it. But anyway, it was a really good run.

Sunday morning I headed to Baltimore to catch my first ever train ride to New Haven to spectate at the 20k championships. I thought I had timed my departure from home perfectly but of course I overlooked a race taking place that morning near the inner harbor. All major roads in that area were closed off and I would have been completely SOL if I didn't already have a general sense of Baltimore due to being all over the city's music scene back in the day and so was able to navigate my way to Penn station. Only once or twice did I fear for my life as the pimps and ladies of the night were still wandering home from a productive Saturday evening. Fortunately, the trip to the train station was the hardest part of the commute. It turns out trains are a pretty awesome way to travel. I found Luci who had caught the train at Union Station and kicked back and relaxed. There were food cars, open seating, and most importantly the ability to walk around when claustrophobia rears its ugly head.

The host hotel for the 20k championships was the Omni right by Yale and it was definitely quite nice. I hit up the hotel fitness center since it was a recovery day for me and did an assortment of elliptical, cycling and stair climbing. Since I was still entered in the race, I sat in on the technical meeting that night and rubbed elbows with some super talented folks. Each year the director brings in someone who knew Ryan Shay (he won the 20k in 2005) to keep Ryan's memory alive. This year his teammate, Abdi Abdiraham, came and shared stories of their years together. Incidentally, Abdi ended up winning the championship the next morning.

Abdi wins handily

On race morning I briefly toyed with the idea of running the race easy, but I knew that would be impossible for me to do without getting carried away so instead I headed out beforehand to explore Yale and New Haven for 10 miles. I wandered aimlessly though the campus and city streets at a meandering pace before running into what looked like the W&OD trail in Virginia. I decided to take the pedestrian expressway and see where it took me. Surprisingly, New Haven is pretty rough around the edges. This early morning run would have me encounter the same sort of folk that I saw while frantically trying to get to Penn Station in Baltimore the morning before. Who knew?

One sight in particular really captured the mood of the area. There was a fence that ran along the length of the trail separating the backyards of houses backing up to the trail. Someone had positioned two plastic lawn chairs on the side of the fence closest to the trail and pointed them at the thoroughfare as if people intended to plop themselves in those seats and watch the runners and cyclists pass by. The chairs were situated on either side of a stone fire pit. However, instead of the remainders of a fire, the pit housed a GEORGE FOREMAN GRILL powered by an extension cord that ran under the fence and back to the house to which it belonged. That about sums up the neighborhood. Things continued to deteriorate after that but I assumed (perhaps ignorantly) that anyone of the murdering persuasion would still be asleep at 6:30am so I pressed on until the trail narrowed and the woods thickened. At that point I thought it best to make my way back.

I got back to New Haven Green just in time to see the 20k start. I grabbed some ice from the hotel and parked myself on the home stretch of the race and iced while waiting for the runners to come in. I just about exploded out of my skin with excitement as the top finishers came through. I miss racing so much and getting to see the finish of a championship event was very exciting. Luci had a hard fought race but still did really well.

After the race we cleaned up and toured the city. We ate at Claire's for the third time that trip (it was THAT good) and after spotting what looked like Flava Flav on a Harley in his Sunday best, we headed out. In addition to having a fun time in general, I left New Haven even more excited for the fall season... an excitement that was already at an unprecedented level. Like, code red plus 1.

Claire's Corner Copia

And the cherry on top of this week was my return to normal track workouts with the rest of the team (which is now HUGE and very solid) this Wednesday. On tap was 5 x mile starting at a comfortable 6:00 pace and working down to 5:44. The paces were not too tough but the difficulty lie in only having 90 seconds recovery between sets. I was unsure how it would go but eagerly got to work. The workout felt amazingly easy save the 4th rep that I led where my pacing was all over the place due to my complete loss of feel for anything under 6:00. We finished up the last two intervals a hair quick but it was super encouraging that the workout was easy and my foot held up. If anything, all of that boring tempo work has made me even stronger. I never would have thought 5x mile would feel like no big deal. It was a huge confidence booster that I managed to maintain my fitness doing all of that mindless cross training the past few months.

It is great to finally feel like things are "normal" again...

Everything's coming up Milhouse

2011-08-29T19:35:00.009-04:00

After a solid 14 miler(almost back to a real long run) this weekend with very little foot pain to speak of I decided to push the pace a bit and go with how I felt this afternoon. My new favorite run location is Edward's Ferry. It is a short 2 mile drive from the monkey ranch and boasts a nice 10 mile loop offering the forgiving dirt surface of the towpath and crushed gravel of River Road. With very little vehicular traffic (I saw 6 deer, 1 fox, 1 heron and 2 wild turkeys... but only 2 cars) it is very easy to zone out and focus on the run. I started out easy but felt so good I kept dropping pace with each mile. I ended up somewhere just over marathon pace for the last mile and it felt very controlled. Perhaps it was the pent up energy from not being allowed to work out as hard as I would like... or the awesomeness of the music I was listening to...

...or maybe, just maybe, everything is finally coming up Milhouse with this injury.

Photo taken of me post run

I finished the workout with a quick walk into the river (hydrotherapy?) and then stretched while enjoying the fabulous view.

PS If you think it is ridiculous to suggest someone would take a photo of me during a workout, think again. Some random sniper photographer was taking photos of people WORKING OUT at Schaffer Trails in Germantown last week. Imagine a peaceful run through the woods suddenly interrupted by flash photography as you turn a corner. And this person expects people to purchase these photos? Of them working out? Very, very odd.

We may not be Dairy Queen, but we have great Sundays

2011-08-20T15:57:00.011-04:00

That was a church advertisement I saw during my solo ride preceding the All American ride last weekend. I must admit, it did give me a chuckle. The following road sign also made me laugh. Am I exercising caution because there are gigantic deer or itty bitty horses?

I thoroughly enjoy these weekend rides because they are at the perfect level of intensity when following it up with a longish run. I usually ride an hour on my own and then set off with the group for a fun 2 hour tour of the rolling hills of upper Montgomery/ Howard/ Carroll/ Frederick counties. This past week we ended up somewhere outside of Frederick crossing railroad tracks at least 5 times. I've never been held up by a train before during a ride, but with five crossings luck would run out sooner or later.

There is a super cool older Brit in our group with whom I find myself chatting often. After the ride he emailed us this video of a semi-famous guy from across the pond who does some amazing stuff on a bike... and in this case near a railroad. The video itself is also really well done and I dig the soundtrack:

Annnnway, after the ride I immediately ran for another hour to continue to try to simulate the effort/duration of a long run without spending the whole time on my feet. By the last 15 minutes of the run (the last 30 minutes are a constant elevation gain), I was definitely feeling the effort and was glad when I finally got back home. The best part was that my foot felt almost normal. This effort marked the end of a solid week of no serious foot pain. Because of the positive trend, I was allowed to try out a "tempo" on the track this past Wednesday. The prescribed splits were more of a marathon paced effort, but I got in 3 miles descending 6:20-6:15-6:10 and the foot held up. I had to do it in clunky trainers, but I was just happy to be running somewhat fast again.

This weekend I kept going with the increased running trend. Friday I did a 45 minute run on the towpath before meeting up with Luci for an additional 30. 75 minutes at once without real pain afterward is a huge step in the right direction for me. I might have one more transition week to go and then I will be back to a regular training schedule again... FINALLY! To keep up endurance training, this morning I did a 3.5 hour ride out to point of rocks and back. It was supposed to be 3 hours but one of the roads I picked had a river running through it so I had to detour. Unfortunately, I was also running short on time so I had to push the last 40 minutes of the ride at what felt like race pace. My arms tingled and I felt a bit woozy as I finally rolled back to the front door. I look forward to a much needed easy run tomorrow.

And now for some gratuitous animal photos from the farm:

Scottish Highland Cattle-friendliest, and fuzziest, bull I have ever met

goats munching on hay or trying to munch on my phone

The Monkeys Are Holding Me Hostage...

2011-08-11T19:48:00.013-04:00

... well, at least my sanity. The nursery is finally at capacity. This also means we are at the height of our busy season at the lab and every minute of the workday is consumed with taking care of and testing sixteen infant macaques under 2 months of age. I absolutely love what I do, but at the same time it can really kick my butt. For 8 hours a day I am busy scheduling and implementing Ullrich's play session with his friends Alma, Umlaut, and Willhelm while at the same time performing developmental assessments on Moe and Duffman. The work is demanding but very rewarding. With visiting fellow Pier Ferrari from Italy, we are currently looking at imitation and it's role in bond development in mother-infant pairs. (http://news.discovery.com/animals/macaque-monkey-baby.html) And beyond the science, the babies are pretty darn cute. In any case, I still look forward to a few weeks from now when the testing will slow down and the rhythm of each day will be a bit more humane.

With work stress in full swing, I find myself a bit overwhelmed on the training front. I have been on a roller-coaster of good and bad news regarding my inflamed plantar issue. At times I wish I would have just broken a bone. Fractures are pretty straight forward. Take X amount of weeks off to heal the injury. Return to running slowly. The end. With soft tissue injuries, there is a delicate dance that occurs between doing too much and not enough. Without a set amount of time off or a specific amount of training that is considered acceptable, I find myself in a constant state of concern over whether my training is helping or hurting my recovery. A few weeks ago the PT told me a 3/4 on the pain scale is acceptable, while a 5 or higher is not. So, with each step I have taken for 14 days I have tried to assess what number pain I was feeling... as if the difference between a 4 and a 5 is as obvious as the distinction between a donkey and an elephant. What if you are feeling something akin to a donkaphant? It is enough to drive someone (read: ocd types) mad.

At my wits end trying to decipher the pain number I was feeling, I headed to Dr. Pribut's office in DC this past Tuesday for yet another diagnosis of my cranky tendon. Jerry met me there because I assume he thinks I would just fabricate some glowing assessment of my condition and demand to do more running than the currently allotted 30-45 minutes of plodding along the soft surface of the towpath. Dr. Pribut was a rather chatty fellow frequently wandering off into stories about his glorious younger days. I had to actively keep him on target to giving me some definitive advice regarding my return to full running. He told me 2 more weeks and the tendon should have repaired itself but I have to be gentle with my running until then. TWO MORE WEEKS. Ugh. This was a death sentence for my upcoming race schedule. Not starting ramping up again until September clearly killed any chance of hitting the 20k on labor day hard... and more importantly, 2 weeks of impaired training was enough to rule out Twin Cities. Sure, I could still race it and finish fairly well, but that's not the goal. The goal is to run hard. Upon this realization I dropped my face into my hands and sobbed. "What's the point anymore?" I asked. "I give up racing." After a dramatic moment of silence, Dr. Pribut passionately responded:

It's because it's what you love...it's what you were born to do. You need speed. You need to go out there, and you need to rev your engine. You need to fire it up. You need to grab a hold of that line between speed and chaos, and you need to wrestle it to the ground like a demon cobra! And then, when the fear rises up in your belly, you use it. And you know that fear is powerful, because it has been there for billions of years. And it is good. And you use it. And you ride it; you ride it like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell, and then you win. You WIN! And you don't win for anybody else. You win for you, you know why? Because a man takes what he wants. He takes it all. And you're a man, aren't you? Aren't you?

Ok, I didn't sob... or say any of those things... nor did he recite the redhead's speech from Talladega nights, but he should have. I was definitely bummed with two more weeks of only easy running BUT I had to be happy with the fact that this thing actually had an end date finally. I left the office and plotted my triumphant return and new racing schedule as I biked my way around washington circle... during rush hour...and back to the CCT. I don't recommend that, btw. I also got caught in a rainstorm and I think I saw Erica Badu eating a gu on a bicycle, but several miles later I was back at my car on Little Falls Parkway with a new plan. I'd beg, borrow, and steal my way into the Army 10 miler and make Philly the target marathon. Game on.

In other news, this past weekend was cross training at its most epic-est. Saturday I rode an hour on my own, and then met up with All American Bikes for a 2+ hour spirited ride with a climb up sugarloaf mountain in the middle of otherwise endless rolling hills. After that I immediately hit the gym for 45 minutes of running and then 15 minutes of elliptical. By the last 10 minutes of elliptical I thought I was going to drop dead of exhaustion. An older gentleman on the next elliptical machine over glanced at my stats several times. I am sure he was concerned for my health as I had only been on the machine a handful of minutes and I looked like I would die right there in a puddle of my own sweat. "Long run"=success. Sunday I repeated the treadmill and elliptical and the foot continued to feel like it was healing with each run.

My sweet treat for torturing myself this weekend and to eat away my stresses was strawberry tiramisu. It sounds really odd but it is absolutely delicious. In short, you soak lady fingers in espresso, whip up a rum infused marscapone filling, layer in some sliced strawberry, and top with whipped cream and cocoa. Place that on a plate with pureed strawberries with a bit of blackberry liquor for extra pizzazz and... viola! Amazing on a plate. So, so good.

Batman, See-through Crabs and Maria Bamford

2011-08-01T15:15:00.008-04:00

"People think it's an obsession. A compulsion. As if there were an irresistible impulse to act. It's never been like that. I chose this life. I know what I'm doing. And on any given day, I could stop doing it. Today, however, isn't that day. And tomorrow won't be either." -Batman

Endurance athletes are very fascinating to me. We are so dedicated to our sports that it takes an act of congress to get us to quit. We take blow after blow, but like one of those inflatable clown punching things, we pop right back up after each assault. I think this behavior floats somewhere between compulsion and masochism, but I think those are qualities necessary to be successful at what we do. As part of a beautiful feedback loop, however, I also think endurance sports take the edge off for these same people. Without an outlet, these compulsive masochists would lose their brains.

I have been experiencing this observation first hand as running has been stripped from me and I have had to find my center again with other activities. When banned from running, I felt like I went through the stages of grief beginning with denial and finally ending up at acceptance. Between those two points I have to admit I was rather bummed out. If you pricked me, I would bleed rain clouds. And it isn't like I have suffered from some serious debilitating injury. If all goes well, I will be back at it in a week or so. However, the very thought of being unable to compete at the level I aim to is enough to send my brain into a tizzy.

Anyway, these are the thoughts that fly through my brain during a four hour bike ride. It's a long time to be alone with your own crazy! To counteract not doing ANY running since Wednesday's tempo, this weekend was a celebration of all things non-running endurance. Sunday was a looong bike ride beginning in Damascus and touring Patapsco State Park as well as the most back country parts of Carroll County (I was yelled at from a ford pickup for "exercizin" on the road). The route was hillier than anticipated and the sun was out in all of its glory so by the last few miles it required quite an effort just to get back to my front door. To celebrate burning more calories than most people consume in a day, I made Zucchini Whoopie pies (recipe courtesy Luci) which were absolutely awesome.

I also made a northeastern style seafood feast with bruschetta (odd combo, I know).

When shucking the oysters, I came across the creepiest little crab creature shacking up with my oyster. I felt like a seafood newbie as I had no idea what it was and shrieked as it wiggled around. Apparently, these oyster crabs are pretty common and are treated as a delicacy. Fine dining or not, I wanted nothing to do with the translucent sea creature and threw the whole thing away. Ewie.

As a warm up for Sunday, Saturday I spent 2 hrs in the pool getting prune-y. I did a workout of 1 hour pool running as 3 minutes hard/1 minute easy, followed by a mile swim of 50 hard/50 easy, then back to pool running for a half hour of the 3/1 intervals again. I downloaded Maria Bamford onto my shuffle and she kept me company from under my swim cap. I have to wonder what the lifeguards were thinking as I alternated between chuckling and gritting my teeth as I pushed through the pain of the intervals.

Jokes.com

Maria Bamford - Office Drama

comedians.comedycentral.com

Jokes

Joke of the Day

Funny Jokes

Today the foot feels much better after the time off so hopefully a trip to the PT tomorrow will result in some good news. I hope to be back on my feet before the end of the week and get back on track to racing this fall.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

2011-07-28T21:07:00.003-04:00

So, everything was going swimmingly (I cringe using that word for reasons that will become clear as this blog entry develops) with my training. I slooowly added more running while scaling back on biking and swimming a bit. I felt REALLY GOOD on all of my easy runs, long runs and speed workouts. I did an 18 miler two weeks ago and it felt like I could run forever. Then, I decided to rock the boat.

Since my overpronation issue seemed to have resolved itself over the years, it made sense to not wear the supportive orthotics as much. So, I began to wean myself off of them the past few weeks. BIG MISTAKE. Apparently, in addition to overpronating, I have weak arches. My arches were further weakened to the point of complete uselessness by depending on my orthotics for all of these years. Effectively, they are cosmetic anatomical features. (I think we would look funny w/o them, right?) So, with no orthotics to support my debilitated arches, my right arch got very angry. Well, it started out annoyed but when I kept abusing it then it then got darn right mad. In the past two weeks I have gone from 100% clean bill of health, to my plantar becoming a nagging background noise and finally to the point where I have to alter my footfalls to avoid the pain. I've been through this in the distant past so I know the routine. I already had the torture sock, I spend more time with my shoes off at work than on as I ice every 2 hours, I roll my plantar on anything I can find, I've traced the alphabet with my foot 300 times to help strengthen the muscles, and I've taken enough ibuprofen to rupture my liver. I thought I could run through it but after a very easy 2 x 2 mile tempo my foot would have no more. Game over. Time to reevaluate.

I wish I could walk up to me two weeks ago and punch me right in the face. It is so frustrating to know this could have been so easily avoided by just keeping things the way they were. And to be in such good shape, with my goals so firmly in place, and the prospect of achieving those goals so attainable, it is rather difficult for me to swallow all of this right now. I will now be relegated to logging my miles in the pool swimming and jogging or on the bike touring the entire state until this pain subsides. The best case scenario is that the pain goes away quickly without running and I can jump back into training in the next week. I should still be ok for Twin Cities. If I have to take off longer, then perhaps I might end up at Philly. It's not the best option, but it is still a decent one. Worst case scenario? No marathon. Maybe no racing this fall. Time to pick a new goal.

It's hard once the plan is laid out to accept anything else as a reasonable substitute, but I have no choice but to bend and embrace the new direction. I am doing my best to stay positive and not slip into the doom and gloom of negative thoughts. When a branch smashed through my windshield this afternoon on the way home from work (yeah, when it rains it pours) it abruptly reminded me that I should be happy just to be alive. There are bigger things than running.

But, man, I do love to run.

The Road to Hell is Paved

2011-07-24T22:05:00.016-04:00

Saturday's scheduled 18 mile long run turned into a medium 13.5 mile run due to the extreme heat. The highlight was that I finally met up with Luci to take on what turned out to be the dueling ferries route I've read so much about on the GRC blog. Except, for this run, we would only get in one loop plus some extra. In addition to having awesome company, I rather enjoyed the route because it was pretty flat and all on soft surface. It was just what I needed to keep my irritated plantar calm and encourage healing. We didn't get going until after 7, and with the heat index around 300, I lost about five pounds despite drinking FOUR water bottles. It was rather insane.

Since I didn't get in a full run in yesterday I decided to make today's bike session really count. The ride ended up being a tour of northern central maryland. I wanted to get in 2.5-3 hrs so I plotted out a 50 mile route that would allow me to ride at a comfortable but solid pace. I packed two water bottles on my bike and one in my back jersey pocket and set out around 7am. It turned out to be a gorgeous loop and for the first half hour everything glowed as if it was the golden hour for photography. However, this was due to the fact that the sun was being filtered through a giant layer of brown smog. In any case, it was pretty cool looking and I stopped several times during the first 20 minutes or so to take some photos including this shot of 108 on my out to Clarksville:

At some point during the ride I ended up on the Columbia Triathlon bike course. I expected to be overwhelmed with sorrow and anxiety since that was a pretty unpleasant experience as is evidenced by this oh so sad photo of me starting the bike leg after almost dying in the lake (apparently I was so distraught I couldn't even put my helmet on correctly):

However, it just so happens my brain has been pretty effective at wiping that terrible experience clean from my memory. I had zero flashbacks of the race. It was like it never happened. And I am definitely ok with that. After refilling water bottles at a gas station in Clarksville, I spent the rest of the ride back to Damascus dreaming of sweet carbs. Once I got home and toweled off I got right to the kitchen and made pumpkin french toast with blackberry caramel marscapone filling. It sounds odd, but pumpkin+blackberry=awesome. Later, while catching up on Weeds on Netflix, I made "elvis banana bread" which is banana bread with chocolate chips and a cream cheese/peanut butter filling. Also pretty amazing. It is a really good thing I work out so much. Anyway, here is the ride:

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Oh, and there was a BRAWL at the Monaco meet:

Oh, and Cadel Evans winning the TdF was awesome (ESPECIALLY since I successfully avoided reading any spoilers on FB). He's good people.

http://thisaintnomonkeybusiness.blogspot.com/2011/03/cadel-evans.html

The plan... is working!

2011-07-17T11:49:00.012-04:00

I am about a month into marathon training and things are going really well. I've slowly built up to an 18 mile long run and 50-60 miles a week so far. The long runs feel surprisingly easy (thanks in part to a solid and reliable weekend group including Lisa and Kate!) and at the same time I still feel really good during track workouts. Right now I am only running 5 days a week broken up as three easy hour runs, one long run, and one track workout. I will add in a tempo run in a few weeks and turn up the intensity on some of the long runs. I am also biking to and from work once a week for a total of 35 miles and putting in a longer 45-50 mile ride on Sundays. I've also kept up with one swim a week the morning of the track workout. I've found that cycling and swimming have really kept me loose and feeling pretty fresh for the runs. I am sure things will start to get tougher as the intensity increases, but I am really motivated by the fact that I have adapted pretty well to this training so far. The only complaint is that I really miss racing. I haven't raced since June 6, and won't again until the Leesburg 20k marathon pace run on August 13th. After watching the twilighter last night I was about ready to burst out of my skin with excitement to race. Soon enough...

But for now, the focus is on training and staying healthy. To ensure that I don't get injured, I have been hyper-vigilant about the other little things that go into all of this including nutrition, strength, stretching, and icing. Perhaps, as the photo below will suggest, a little too hyper-vigilant.

My plantar was a little sore after the track workout wednesday so I immediately iced it to death... literally. I've had an issue with Reynauds syndrome in the past but it never crossed my mind that a 10 minute x 2 ice session with an ice pack would destroy my foot. I guess the ice session worked because the arch has been feeling great. Then again, my nerves are corpses so who really knows what is going on down there right now.

I've also been trying to eat really well. I signed up for a CSA share with a farm in Frederick, MD and every Friday I blow out of work a little early and make the voyage across the wilds of western Montgomery and Frederick counties. In addition to producing great food, the farm provides an awesome way to unwind from the stress of the week. The ride out to the farm is beautiful and once you are there it is like time stops. It's nice being able to be completely in the here and now, even if just for an hour. Beyond that, the residents are a lot of fun to visit. I must say though, my moral stances are constantly being challenged as I often visit the animals that I end up eating one day. This week I saw the chickens I would pick up in a week. In the end I will continue to eat meat because, well, it is pretty delicious, but at least this way I know the animals are well-treated while they are still around.

Road on the way to the farm from Poolesville.

This week's bounty.

One of the farm kittens. Beware: very sharp claws.

VERY friendly goats... that tried to eat my shirt. I made them a deal and gave them some lettuce instead. Random fact: goats have rectangle pupils.

True free range chickens on the farm. I found them behind an old shed. It was definitely a little weird knowing they could be dinner next week.

Change is good

2011-07-04T11:40:00.003-04:00

I used to suffer from severe shin splints. Throughout high school and much of college, I assumed that running was inherently painful. Each day I would go out for a run and would experience pain ranging from an uncomfortable pulling to what felt like a hammer smashing directly into my shins with each step. To combat these issues, I was stuck in a cycle of running until it became too painful, taking time off and aquajogging my brains out, and then slowly getting back into shape again until the pain became too great and then was ostracized back to the pool again. For whatever reason, NO ONE ever said that there might be some biomechanical issue going on here that was causing these problems. Finally, during my senior year, I was in such great pain that I was sent in for MRIs and was diagnosed with hairline stress fractures. The doctor asked me if I had ever worn orthotics. My confused face was all the answer he needed. I was promptly fit for custom orthotics, given a prescription of strength exercises to do during a defined 4 week hiatus from running, and I was sent on my way.

Once I rehabbed and began running again, I discovered rather quickly that the orthotics were working miracles. No longer did I feel the pain in my shins. My overpronation was corrected and I could run without having to grimmace my way through the last few miles of every single run. I couldn't remember the last time I was able to go out for a run and not feel trashed afterward. It was magical. I went on that year to have my best running seasons up until that point and all was well in the world.

Fast forward to this year. I am deeply entrenched in building mileage and long runs and am hypersensitive to the slightest aches and pains because I know that little things now will turn into bigger things later that will be harder to fix. A few weeks ago I swung by Lee's office to have him take a look at my orthotics to make sure they were in good working order. I hadn't been using him as a podiatrist up to this point and I soon discovered why I should have been all along. He looked at the orthotics and said they were fine and then told me to take the walk down the hallway as he carefully inspected my gait and footfall patterns. His assessment was definitely not what I expected, especially since I have been periodically fit for orthotics for this issue with other podiatrists over the years. Apparently, according to him, whatever had been ailing me in the past to elicit the need for orthotics was no longer present. I did not overpronate at all. In fact, I had an ideal gait. This completely blew my mind as I had been operating the past 10 years as if I was a biomechanical failure. It turns out, I have been burdening myself with heavier stability shoes and orthotics for no reason. This combination might actually be the cause of other random issues I have been having. My legs and feet have been prisoners. It was quite the revelation. He explained that perhaps in the past I had weak supportive muscles which caused my feet to rotate inward and stress my shins. Orthotics were the crutches my overstressed shins needed to get some relief. However, during my acl tear surgery rehab and then more recently during my running rebirth the past 4 years, I have spent a lot of time doing strength exercises which he believes corrected this problem. He suggested I wean off of the orthotics and purchase a regular ol' running shoe. Not necessarily minimalist, just something without 18 lbs of support built in.

With my world turned upside down, I left his office and did some shoe recon. I swung by PR running since I was in the area and Chris let me try on a pair of Ghost 4s which felt amazing as soon as I put them on. I couldn't believe I had been missing out on this luxury all these years! As soon as I got home I immediately ordered a pair through Brooks and had a chance to run in them for the first time this morning. They felt amazing. It's like my feet are finally free. I welcomed the lightness of the shoe and it felt like I was more connected with my running in some inexplicable way. I'll slowly increase time in these shoes as I phase out the ball and chain pair I've been a wrongfully accused prisoner to for the better part of a decade.

KISS

2011-06-24T12:29:00.004-04:00

So, I've admittedly become a bit marathon obsessed since I decided to finally commit. I feel like a scientist studying and classifying a newly discovered life form. Today Lindsey passed a little gem of a thread on to me (at www.teamtbb.com) and a few of the stories shared by a Matthieu O'Halloran provided great perspective...and humor... on keeping things simple going into the training and racing that lay ahead (stories copied directly from the forum).

When I was in Kenya, I heard this:

Once the Kenyans came onto the world seen.
Then started getting attention for their hill reps.
Even the steeple chasers had put up a steeple on a slope!

Some of the Europeen coaches where asking the Kenyans what was optimal distance?
For a hill rep? What gradient? What surface? When? How many reps? Ect.

So Kenyans say "our hill is about 127 strides up"
Europe coaches never seen that hill.
Where wondering, what distance is that?
They calculate aprox stride lenght, height and so on.

Thinking and thinking about that distance?
Why that distance for hill reps?
It must be optimal, since they are doing it.
And run so fast.

So a while later, Euro coaches asked
"Why do you only run up 127 strides?"
Kenyan responded
"Because after 127 strides, you start going down hill"

The Kenyans where merly doing their best.
With what they got, where they got it!

AND

Hey well this one is not very Kenyan, but i heard it in Kenya.
But very good point none the less.

So sometime in my 5 months.
This tall Aussi fella named Dirk came into camp.
He was there to get away from him job as a lawyer in Perth.

I asked him if he knew how to count?
He did not get it, then i went on about the 2000 ITU world champs in Perth.
Where Carol Montgomery got robbed of a world title by the people who were responsible for the bell lap.

After that we hit it off right away.
He treated me like his younger brother.
We chatted about all sorts of stuff.

One day on an easy wake up run.
He told me about Rob Decastella.

How he was the best Aussie marathon runner ever.
And that during this one race, while leading.
He suddenly started to water and sponges his quads and glutes and hammies.

Rob went on to win that race, and many more!

But soon after that one race, there was a craze that went on.
Where all these runners started watering/sponging their legs during racing and training.
Regardless of the heat or water temperature or even liquid used.

All sorts of theories.
Theres glands in your inner quads.
You cool down your crotch therefore core temperature.
It will help buffer lactic acis.
Will loosen your muscles and give a second wind.
All that stuff and more!!!

Then big Dirk told me.

A few years later, when Rob was retired.
In a book or an interview, he got asked about that "quad watering method"
During that one race hed won.

Rob sayed:
"Mate, I shit myself near the end of the marathon"
"So I washed it away with cups of water and sponges"
"Coz I did not want to cross the line covered in shit"

swim...bike...RUN! (and a quick Race for the Cure RR)

2011-06-08T12:22:00.015-04:00

Quick Race for the Cure 5k Race Report- 40,000 people. Last race of the season. Did it to end on a non-crappy note and to have fun. Finally put a face to the name Meghan Ridgley. Super nice. Gun went off. Unknown female went out hard for 400m then fell off. Led women's race the rest of the way. Settled into an even pace and just rolled with it. 17:35. 1st place... and a free plane ticket! Not the 17:00 I was kinda hoping for but it wasn't meant to be this spring. Onward!

---

Lukas Verzbicas couldn't have picked a better time to set a new 2 mile hs record. His success was just the reassurance I needed heading into my next athletic endeavor (I'll get to that later). His backstory can be found here, http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=19585, but in short he is a developing world-class triathlete who will hang up his bike cleats and swim paddles this fall when he goes to Oregon to finally concentrate on his greatest strength, running. I find his story fascinating because he has been able to dominate the running world while maintaining the training regime of a triathlete. Verzbicas does concentrate his multi-sport training during the running off-season, but he still puts in quite a bit of what running purists would call "cross-training" throughout the year. What many people still question is if he is successful because of his diverse training... or in spite of it?

Just like everything else, I think it boils down to individual differences. Just because minimalist footwear works well for one person does not mean that everyone should go running around barefoot all of the time. Or, just because huge mileage weeks do wonders for certain runners does not mean everyone (even amongst top runners) should go out and pound the pavement for 150+ miles a week. I think this situation is very similar. Verzbicas has been given a genetic gift to work hard and run fast. It doesn't hurt that his mom was a 3k champ in Lithuania. He just happened to stumble into triathlon first and dedicated himself to improving at the sport. Perhaps tri training made him mentally tough or kept him injury free or prevented the all too common young star burnout. Whatever the reason, training for tris resulted in making Verzbicas a high school running phenom who has been repeatedly compared to the immortal Prefontaine. But, just as everyone shouldn't go running 100s of miles barefoot, not everyone should begin training like a triathlete to become better runners.

I personally was excited to hear his story because up until this point most people suggest that training like a triathlete hurts one's ability to develop as efficiently as a runner. The conventional wisdom is that improvement can potentially still take place, but nowhere near as fast or a significantly as if one were to train as a runner alone. I think that makes sense on a fundamental level because what better way is there to improve at something than to do the very thing you wish to improve? At least for me, however, there is the issue of biomechanical failures. In the past, when I have practiced running exclusively in order to improve at running, at some point my body breaks down. It simply can not handle super high mileage. Picking up triathlon in 2007 was the single most valuable addition to my training I have done up to this point. It has enabled me to train at a high level without injury. In fact, [knock on wood], I have not been sidelined from running for a significant amount of time since spring 2009. I truly believe that is the reason that I have been able to set running PRs in my 30s despite having run competitively since high school. The ability to train twice daily for several years has allowed me to really develop my aerobic and anaerobic capacity without over stressing the rest of my body. So, while running more might enable me to improve quicker, I would never know because injury would be a huge set back. Triathlon has allowed me to continue the slow climb to reach my potential.

The reason this whole thing came up was because I have decided to focus my energy on running this fall and to take a stab at the trials standard in the marathon in October at Twin Cities. I've heavily considered putting off this attempt until 2016, but I am at the point in my life where I don't want to put things off anymore. Sometimes you have to seize opportunities when they present themselves because you don't know what the future will hold. With my fall goal decided, the biggest question is how to incorporate the lessons I have learned from triathlon into this new frontier of training. It will be a bit of an experiment, as most marathoners do not entertain the idea of using cycling or swimming in a significant and meaningful manner in their training. However, I know that trying to pile on running miles in a standard approach will surely result in me on the sidelines and render the whole endeavor useless. For now, the plan is to work on building a long run while using swimming and cycling to fill in the junk miles that are done to stay loose and trained. As long as I can get in a long run, tempo, and track workout each week along with a few other random runs, the rest is just details. It will be interesting to see how everything goes down the rest of this year...

"Only the genius can control the chaos" -Jens Voigt

2011-06-01T09:40:00.006-04:00

As the Contadors of the world steal the spotlight in the cycling world, the likes of Jens Voigt spend the majority of their careers buried in the mix while pushing themselves to the brink of death for their teams. Voigt has been able to pick up occasional stage wins at the major tours, but his primary role has been to kill himself in support of his team leader. At the Tour of California this past month he broke a bone in his hand but continued to push through two stages while audibly yelling at his hand to "shut up" because, well, that is what Jens Voigt does. His doctor had to put the long-term future of his milk drinking on the table for him to finally call it quits for the tour. Of course he immediately apologized to his fans for his transgression of dropping out of the race (http://bicycling.com/blogs/hardlyserious/2011/05/24/california-crash/). Voigt's quiet dedication and personal sacrifice to the sport is truly awesome.

I've been a bit of a mental disaster my past few races but it is people like Voigt that make you realize how simple sport really is. Go out there and give it all you have every single time until you can't anymore. That's it. Plain and simple. I need to be reminded of athletes like him when I get caught up in the unnecessarily messy and destructive negative thought spiral that can happen after not reaching a goal. Swarthmore set me back quite a bit and Columbia pretty much sealed the deal on the developing mental breakdown. I am going to beat my head into a wall a little longer and give racing one last go for the spring at the Race for the Cure 5k this Saturday in DC. I really would like (read: need) to finish this season on a positive note. I've pretty much shaken out the cobwebs in the failure-hole where my previously sound brain used to rest (via some ill-advised heroic efforts on the bike, oh well) so I am hoping to take a lesson from THE domestique himself and finally keep it simple on Saturday... for realz this time.

Columbia Triathlon

2011-05-23T12:37:00.008-04:00

I starting running again in 2007 after taking several years off after college. As part of this athletic rebirth I decided to do triathlons because, well, everyone else was doing it. I got back in shape and had some fun. After 2 years of dabbling in running and triathlon I got fed up with swimming mostly due to a crummy and mean spirited masters group and refocused on running and occasional duathlons. My running really took off at that point and all was well. For some reason in October of last year when everyone else was signing up for Columbia I decided what the hell, I like a good challenge, and threw myself right back into the water again.

Fast forward to Sunday. I am bobbing in place in Centennial Lake at 6:44:30, with 30 seconds to go until the elite wave goes off. I look around and think, "what in God's name am I doing??!!" With little choice but to proceed, I found the safety of the back of the group and waiting for the G-O. The first half of the swim was the most anxiety inducing experience of my life. I knew I would be slow, but I had no idea HOW slow I would actually be. Unable to get together a rhythm or effectively stay on someone's feet, I found myself alone before the first turn buoy. I was in complete panic mode at that point. I couldn't breath, I couldn't see where I was going, and I was all alone in the lake except for the sweeper kayak. Initiate mental self-destruct sequence. At about the half way point I finally stopped, took a few deep breaths, and pulled myself together. I asked the kayaker where I was supposed to go because I couldn't see anyone and the buoys were a blur of confusion. I resigned myself to my place and circumstance and eventually settled into a rhythm. My feet finally greeted the sweet Earth 2 1/2 minutes behind the person in front of me. (14/14 for my wave, 27:12)

T1 was an epic struggle to get the damned wetsuit off. I wanted to be rid of anything swimming and that neoprene contraption put up a hell of a fight. I had the slowest T1 in my wave. Man it was a sad sight to see my bike alone on the rack. I had some serious work to do on terra firma.

The ride was a test of mental fortitude. I have never been in a race with so few people to key off of. In fact, I did not catch up to the next female ahead of me until the Homewood Rd ascent back to 108. It was a fair ride though, although my legs were a little less responsive than I would like them to be on race day. I tried to keep my effort even on the uphills and downhills, but I guess my mental game was also a bit off. I averaged 19.9 for the ride, not much different than averages I have done on this course over almost twice the distance. Not a terrible ride, but definitely not what I thought I was capable of doing either. (10/14 for the bike, 19.9 mph)

T2 was uneventful. All the bikes were back on the rack.. except mine and the one other girl I passed. Eek.

I blew out of the run like a complete madwoman and immediately had to check myself or I would surely blow up on the hills. My lower back did not take kindly to this bike to run transition and started putting up quite a fight. Same thing happened at the '08 edition of Columbia and of course negative thoughts started racing through my head. I tried to keep myself together and maintain an even effort. Again, I was waiting for people to catch. I finally found the first person on the hill to the park/neighborhood. Then another. I made my way through the hills of the neighborhood just trying to keep things calm and smooth. The tight back was leading to lower leg/foot numbness which was rather odd. I tried to stretch it out a few times but ultimately had to ignore it. I did catch a few more people and this gave me a bit of motivation as I felt like I was actually in a RACE finally. I made my way back to the lake and across the dam and on to the finish. How sweet it was to finally be done. (1/14 for the run...somehow, 41:27)

Final result-23rd overall, 9/14 elites, 2:28:59.

I'm told that triathlon is more than the sum of its parts. You have to do tris to be good at tris. It makes sense. I went into Columbia expecting to be better than I performed, but I was only adding up my individual events(modified, of course) and not considering the difficulty of putting them together for the first time in three years. I was very out of practice. I've been operating as a runner who does tris for the past 6 months but perhaps I need to change that if I expect to get better at this sport. Although, I don't know if I can abandon running like that. I need/want a focus for the rest of the year, and right now that is oscillating between triathlon, duathlon, shorter distance running, or a stab at the marathon this fall. Tough call for sure...

Keanu Reeves provides... inspiration?

2011-05-20T13:29:00.005-04:00

I decided to take today off work for the heck of it so last night I stayed up "late" (11pm) cruising the channels for something entertaining. I happened to stumble upon the Matrix on AMC. Good enough. Besides giving me dreams of being a corncob that was harvested by robots (yeah, I know it's weird), I also found motivation in the most unlikely place. When Neo visits the oracle there is a sign written in latin above her kitchen door that translates to "be thyself." While Neo went on to dodge bullets and bend spoons I started thinking about that simple statement.

I have been spending a fair amount of energy recovering mentally from my 5k disaster last weekend. I had very specific goals going into that race but did not get close to achieving them. Sure, there were a variety of reasons why it might not have worked out in my favor, but the end result was the same. All excuses aside, it was a failure and it was very hard to move past. I think part of the problem has been the amount of pressure I have put on myself to achieve specific outcomes. I've been lucky to hit my goals this year so I was not ready to deal with it when things did not go as planned based on this type of thinking. When I heard "be thyself" it led me to realize that you are not your race results. It is destructive to think that way because inevitably there will be a multitude of things beyond your control that will affect something as fragile as a time/place result. In the end, the effort you put into what you do defines you more than what place you finish or what time you receive. It's the one thing you CAN control. It seems so obvious but so easy to forget.

As Columbia approaches, I am atypically calm. Normally, the recent uncertainty of if the swim would take place... or the stacked field of competitors... or the wild swings in weather forecasted for Sunday...or the fact that I can still feel a twinge in my hip... would drive me into a twisted mess of anxiety. But Neo and the oracle really hit home. (I can't believe I just wrote that sentence). Be thyself. All you can give is all you have. Control the things you can and let go of the things you can't (reiterating LJ). I could go on with cliches and quotes that basically say the same thing. I've stopped thinking about placements and paces and goal times and am just focusing on racing the race.

It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Swarthmore Recap

2011-05-15T08:45:00.004-04:00

Official Result: 4th, 17:31 (a "PR"... by 3 seconds)

I felt good through a mile and a half sitting patiently behind the leader and just biding my time. We came through two miles in around 10:45, well on pace to destroy the 17 minute barrier. I began to "feel it" a bit with 6 to go but had only fallen a few seconds off pace. No worries yet. Then the wheels COMPLETELY FELL OFF with just under a mile left and a survivor-quest it became... struggled through mile 3 in an abysmal 87,89,90, 88 getting passed twice and then there was the last 200 of who only knows.

I just hope (need to believe) the little things nagging at me this week were responsible for this showing. Or, if not, at least accept the fact that there will be bad races and move on. In any case, I NEED to get it together for Columbia in a week.

I am NOT a sea slug

2011-05-12T13:54:00.000-04:00

So, I was getting ready to write a post full of reasons why my training week has blown banjos so far. I was going to mention the new 8000 degree lava pool I am now being forced to use to do my swim workouts. I was going to say how it makes me feel like a sea slug plowing through butter but then I planned to interject that upon further research sea slugs are pretty awesome looking... although definitely slow.

I was then going to make some joke so I could somehow stick this awesome cartoon of a worried sea slug in my post:

Then, after concluding that I have failed at swimming for eternity, I was going to go on to list the reasons why I am worried for the track meet this weekend because of my hip flexor that started bothering me this week for NO REASON. Ok, well maybe because of the tons of tempo paced work over the weekend, but anyway. Clearly, due to the slight tightness, I will be incapable of quick bipedal motion and my hip flexor will surely explode.

THEN, coach Jerry called me out today on my tendency to OVER THINK EVERYTHING. My dad failed to get me to stop over thinking when I competed in high school. I didn't care enough in college to over think anything. But now, now that I care again about running fast, I am back to over thinking. Mighty Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in."

To hell with sea slugs and hip flexors. I've definitely deliberated, now it's time to go in.

Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys

2011-05-06T15:14:00.004-04:00

Trolling the internet at work today researching "science" and other "important things that matter," I stumbled upon a forgotten piece of my past. AMAZING. I desperately wish to acquire the skills necessary to congratulate people on a job well-done via a perfectly executed plantar high five.

Jiminy Christmas!

2011-05-05T08:33:00.006-04:00

I was pretty tired after the duathlon/4am rise Sunday morning so I wasn't sure how well swimming would go Monday night. I had missed two masters practices in a row due to pool closings so I was especially nervous. I still feel like the odd ball out at the super swimmers masters sessions with my leaky goggles and inability to put on my swim cap or do consistent flip turns. Luckily, all went well despite the endurance beast of a workout that was thrown at me. The workout totaled 4100+ yards and the main set was 500-2x400-3x300-2x200-100. Actually, there were supposed to be 4x100 at the end but there was no way I was going to be able to do them all so one it ended up being. We started at 1:35 pace on the 500 and chipped away at the pace until the 100 was around 1:27-1:28. 2700 yards of tempo to race pace is unprecedented work for me so I was really happy to be able to get this in. It gave me a lot of confidence for the swim in a few weeks. I just need to learn how to swim in straight lines come race day and not tour the shores of Centennial Lake as I did a few years ago.

After a sad frumpy 75 minute recovery spin on Tuesday in gale force winds, Wednesday was an easy morning swim of long sets, builds and some short sprints followed by track fun that evening. The workout was 3xmile then 4x400 with the miles at 5:50, 5:35, 5:20 and the 4s at 75. When I received notification of this sufferfest in my email box I was pretty convinced it was impossible (mostly the 5:20 followed by 75s) but summoned up the courage to at least entertain Jerry's request. The weather was cool and dry and pretty much exactly to my liking so I was ready to roll. I jumped in the last two mile reps with the girls and we came through in 5:48 and 5:30. A hair fast but it felt surprisingly good. Unfortunately, the final mile rep would have to be done solo. I assumed the 5:20 would feel like death so I went into it expecting to feel pretty flippin' awful. I came through the 800 fast but figured that was time banked that I would surely lose as I finished up the rep. Somehow death never managed to descend upon my interval and I hit a 5:11 feeling rather in control. I honestly don't know how I did it (encouragement from teammates cooling down on the track definitely helped!) but I am pretty darn excited I did. Because I went much quicker than requested for the last mile I was given the priceless gift of only having to do 2x400... aaand on top of that Andy agreed to pace me. Win-win! I did have to relinquish my coveted timing piece to him so he could pace the intervals correctly. It was hard... very hard... to operate without a watch and trust him... but I did... with only minor lasting psychological repercussions. We hit both intervals in 74 and they felt quick but still in control. Great pacing by Andy. It seemed like everyone was rolling during this workout and spirits were up after the oppressive heat and humidity of last week's session. I was really glad I managed to hit/exceed the times and give my confidence a boost going into the 5k in a week. It's been a year since I have competed on the track and I am really excited to get back out there again and race hard. Hopefully I can also hit my sub 17 goal in the process.

Fallston Duathlon... The Race Report

2011-05-02T13:03:00.012-04:00

I decided to do this event because I wanted to get in a multisport race before the big kahuna on the 22nd of... this month (time is FLYING). I would have preferred a tri, but for some reason race directors decided to host their races the weekend before Columbia. My guess is it has something to do with Mother's Day. Really, people? Annnyway, Fallston it was.

Andy and I BOMBED up to Fallston at the ungodly hour of 4:30 am and intersected the beast/dutch/lord man Dirk at the race site at around 6:00. It was immediately evident that this was going to be a small operation and the competition would be scarce. Oh well, at least it would be a good solid workout. And who knows, maybe someone would crawl out of the woodwork and put us to shame. We jogged our warm up going UP the long climb out of T1 on the bike course and immediately recognized that this race would not be easy. My legs felt the workouts of the past week so I was a little worried how I would feel during the race. No matter, right? Just a workout. Just get the work in. Ahead of us was a 5k run/19 mile bike/5k run.

We lined up at the speed bump/starting line and were off. I fell in about 10 seconds behind a couple of guys and we rolled down...down...down the 100 feet of elevation over the first mile. I think we came in at around 5:35. I was fine with it since it was such an easy downhill. Things leveled off at the bottom of the path for a bit as we crossed wooden bridges and hit some gravel surface for the middle portion of the race. The turn-around included running the perimeter of a small pond on rolling pavement. I had managed to put myself in quite a gap between groups of men but I was not willing to slow down or speed up enough to join either group. As we made our way back up out of the park I noticed the men ahead of me faltering slightly. I kept my sights on them as we approached T1 and managed to come in just behind them. I was a little slower than I was hoping to be, but I didn't feel super great and wanted to make sure I was good for the rest of the race. First 5k- 18:36, 7th place overall.

T1-uneventful, other than I beat one of the two guys out that I had been closing in on. Nice. 6th place overall.

The bike was a series of loooong rollers on a mildly busy stretch of Fallston "highway." The overall elevation climb on the way out was about 300 ft and then we got to come back the way we came. I had left the one chap behind in T1 but I had my sights set on taking down the guy with the fancy army tri outfit. I spent the entire ride trying to take that guy down. He would look back and see me in my cosmonaut LG aerohelmet and put in a surge, but I would slowly reel him back in and settle into my legal 5 lengths back. I passed him once, but that irritated him and he took me over again on a long descent. This accordion affect kept up the entire ride. With less than a mile to go a strong rider came up from behind and took us both over in a hurry. Shoot. We leapt off our bikes and charged into T2. 19 miles, 20.6 mph... back to 7th place overall.

T2 was also uneventful. Army guy and fast biker guy had much quicker transitions and put about 10-15 seconds on me. I really need to practice those. Still 7th place.

Run 2 felt better than run 1, and for that I am most thankful. It was the same course again so I charged down the first mile immediately taking down biker guy (definitely not a runner guy) and slowly reeled in army guy who was a bit better of a runner. I caught army guy at the half mile mark and told him we should work together to get in a solid run. He told me not to worry, I had the women's race in the bag, and to enjoy the run. HUH? I told him I was here to put in an effort and left him behind. I saw Dirk coming into the third mile of his run as I approached mile 1. He clearly crushed the competition. As I cruised through the second mile I looked for Andy but saw two contes guys and was a little concerned. I hoped for him that neither he nor his bike exploded. I finally saw Andy at about a mile and a quarter and he yelled that he got lost on the ride. Woops. Anyway, I made my way around the lake again knowing the next person I could catch was Andy who was three minutes ahead. I tried to stay tough and push through the final mile up the hill but the motivation was a little lacking. I cruised into the finish in 5th overall with a 18:16 on the 2nd 5k. I also won the women's race.

The race was well run and the venue was great. The courses were challenging but not unreasonable. I'd do it again... but I also hope that it grows up a bit and beefs up their participant numbers. If they weren't competing with duathlon nationals the same weekend it might have had a greater turnout. I was glad I did the race because it was a great chance to get some practice in and it really helped to become familiar again with the pain of running hard after biking hard. I learned to embrace it. I came out of this race confident that I can get it done at Columbia in three weeks. I am sharpening up at the Swarthmore last chance track meet on may 14th and in the process looking to kill my 5k PR and go under 17. It's time to make a huge withdrawal on all of the hard work that has been banked since October. I am pretty excited to see how it goes!

Pike's Peek 10k... A PR on crutches

2011-04-19T10:02:00.004-04:00

Early Sunday morning I met up with a strong team of fellow GRC members. For the second time in a row, the women's squad would hold its own sending four solid runners to the starting line. It was very motivating see the team together and it was the jump start I needed to get mentally prepared. I had not been feeling great coming into this race and spent the better part of Saturday convincing myself to man-up and get the job done regardless. It was quite an internal struggle as my shake out run saturday felt frumpy and images of bumbling down the pike kept creeping into my head. I finally won the argument with myself and by the evening I was ready to give everything I could to have a solid race.

After a delayed start, the gun (or someone said go?) sounded and the international contingent exploded off the line along with super speedy Maggie Infeld. I knew to let them go and stick to my game plan. I settled into a comfortable rhythm and looked around to see how things were developing. Elena Orlova, still a bit faster than I am, was still behind me so that was a bit unsettling. I also saw teammate Susan looking comfortable about 5 yards ahead. She has super track speed so I wasn't surprised at all to see her up there. Laurel Jefferson, who is also always right in the mix, was somewhere not far behind. I decided I felt good with the pace and located the extremely buff Chuck Moeser (how is he FIFTY NINE?) and made myself a part of the small pack of larger wind-blocking men he was in.

I stuck to the "thirds" game plan and felt in control coming through mile 2... but that is when I derailed a bit. I was supposed to pick it up and start the build but I didn't really feel build-y at the moment. I was comfortable but at the same time couldn't locate the next gear. I faltered and decided to maintain pace through the 5k... and came through around 17:50. Brian was also there to provide a boost. A HUGE gap had opened up between the group I was in and the next group way up on the horizon. I threw out a few encouraging words to Chuck to rally the pack I was in for a push and we did pick up the pace a bit coming into congressional plaza. I had strategically placed my sister and her fiancee at mile 4 because I knew this was where things can get hairy. Her cheering really helped me through the tough spot. Not long after I passed her I heard who I believe was George Buckheit yell that triathlon great and former local Desiree Ficker was less than 100 yards away. This was a huge incentive to try and take her down. She must have been faltering because there is no way I would be able to catch her under normal circumstances. Regardless, I would use this opportunity as motivation to push. I had to leave my running companions behind and push into the ~100 yard gap and make my way toward the tiny bobbing blonde ponytail in the distance. Just before mile 5 I had finally made up most of the distance and a slight smile crept across my face. At that very moment Desiree made a sudden left off of the course onto a side street and ended her race. Perhaps she was hurt, but man I really wanted to beat her... just this once. Oh well. I looked ahead to another target and saw a fading Ethopian and slowly made my way up to her over the next half mile and caught her with about a quarter mile until mile 6. We ran stride for stride until we hit the six mile mark and just as I expected she reached for that magical gear in her back pocket and dropped me instantly. My own extra gear was nowhere to be found so I ground out the last .2 down the hill to finish 14th in 35:36.

Artistic rendition of my 0.2 mile sprint down the hill to the finish

My previous 10k best was last fall at Veteran's Day where I ran a 36:29. I am pretty sure I have improved a lot over the winter and really thought I would be capable of a greater drop in time at this race... especially so considering the favorable conditions. I didn't feel too hot going in but I am not interested in the excuses. Sometimes you just have to push through less than ideal racing days. I am fortunate that the conditions and course profile provided the crutches I needed to execute a PR race.

Running season is over for now and it is time to switch gears for a bit and get multi-sport race ready. Up next: Fallston Duathlon on May 1st then.... D-DAY, Columbia Tri, on May 22.

Mt SAC Women's 5k= awesome race

2011-04-16T11:45:00.002-04:00

Watch more video of 2011 Mt. SAC Relays on flotrack.org

Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos. -Don Kardong

2011-04-15T12:52:00.010-04:00

It's true. I've tested the theory and lived to make the necessary adjustments to essentials that should always be in my freezer.

And while I am quoting people:

"I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart."-Mike Fanelli

I ran across this quote a while back and liked what this coach was suggesting, but never really took the advice to heart. It was just a random quote on the internet after all. I generally have a tendency to break a race in half. I run the first half in control and then build and "race" the second half until I die... hopefully AFTER crossing the timing mat. It has worked pretty well for me in the past so I haven't thought much about it. After track on Wednesday I talked strategy with coach Jerry for the upcoming 10k on Sunday. His advice was a clear echo of the above quote. He also told me to break the race into thirds. Run the first third in control, the second third pushing, and throw down the final third. Maybe there is something to this after all. The biggest thing I take away from the different approach is to start the build phase a little earlier than the halfway point. Hopefully that translates to a more complete race and effort. Except for the 5k last fall, I have felt like I still had too much left by the time I was in the "racing with my heart" phase of the plan for my races. It's great to finish feeling strong, but it also leaves the question of how much more could have been given earlier on in the race. It is AWFUL to have to wonder "what if" until you race again. I will try this new plan, and hopefully experience the delicious agony (demonstrated below by 10k greats Shalane Flanagan and Yoder Begley) of a well run race.
This week has been a rather tough week so it will be interesting to see how I respond on Sunday. I have felt a bit off in general and on top of that the workouts have been coming non-stop. After Sunday's Columbia ride/run I was relieved to only do a master's swim workout on Monday. Too bad the game we played at that practice was "how long can you swim while holding your breath after sprinting to exhaustion?" I might very well have blown a hole in a lung trying to hold my breath for the amount of time it takes to traverse the length of that pool. I did manage to complete the reps..barely, and was proclaimed "tough" by my swimming coach. That's a long way from the "hey, how about you go swim over in that lane by yourself so you don't distract the real swimmers" I got back in 2008 with the other master's group. Progress! I'll take it.

Tuesday I did an easy run that was actually amazingly easy. It was hard to stay over 7 minute pace. I have no idea why it felt so good but was glad I made sure to keep the pace easy. That evening was a murderous workout on the trainer consisting of 5 minutes of threshold (195-200 watts), 4x3 minutes of HARD (245+), then another 5 minutes of threshold. My legs were toast by the last 3 minute session of hard so I was more than excited that the 5 minutes afterward felt easy by comparison. The dogs were completely confused by the actions of their food-giver. They both curled up on the floor and stared at me the entire workout. I can only imagine what they think. They probably worry that their livelihood is completely dependent on the crazy person panting to exhaustion while not actually moving anywhere.

Wednesday was SUPPOSED to be a swim but I slept right through the alarm. HUGE FAIL. I hesitantly told Todd my failure and he was actually very supportive of my sleep. He said I must have needed it. I guess so! The rest was good because that night was a ballz out workout on the track. I was on my own for pacing so had to do 6x800 and hit the times without help from anyone else. I fail miserably at pacing so I was definitely worried. I started out behind the "b" men's group and knew they would be too fast but I still stayed too close and instead of 2:45 came through in 2:41. Oops. I should slow down. Second 800, 2:41. Ok, I guess I am stuck on pace. Since the next two should be 2:40, I will just pick it up a hair. 2:36. wtf. Well, I guess I have to at least maintain that pace for the next one and only go a little faster for the last two. 2:36 again. Perfect. High five! The last two were supposed to be 2:35 so I only needed to speed up ever so slightly. 2:32. Um, ok. Well, I guess I should do that one last time... even though I am dead to the world tired now and can barely keep myself on the track. I came through in 75 for the first 400 (omg wtf) and then held on for dear life but still slowed a bit finishing in 2:32 again. HARD. I guess it was good that I could keep dropping pace like I was supposed to but I really need to learn how to pace. Kinda important.

Thursday was the long ride/run I got moved from Saturday so I could rest just a little bit before the 10k. My legs were pretty whipped from the past few days of workouts so I wasn't sure how well I could keep up with Andy, even though I would be drafting AND have the advantage of aerobars. I didn't feel too good going into the ride so I was pleasantly surprised how good it felt after we got going. I averaged around 185 watts for the duration of the 35 mile ride which is right where I should be. I then did a solid 20 minute run off the bike and felt a little off but fine for the most part.

Friday was a build-y swim session with Andy helping me keep track of the workout poolside while he also mentally prepared for his 1000yd test later this evening. Nothing too exciting other than lots of successful flip turns. Hooray!

And now it's all smooth sailing until Sunday morning...

DYNOMIIIITE!

2011-04-12T15:05:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite 30 Rock scenes that I got to enjoy again during the trainer ride last week. Netflix, you're the best!

Workouts week of 4/4/11

2011-04-12T09:40:00.003-04:00

Monday
Nice recovery day after Cherry Blossom... at least for the legs. I still ventured out to master's swim practice at gprep and swam a lot. I recall a lot of 150's around 1:30 pace however the details are as hazy as my ill-fitting goggles.

Tuesday
30 minute run during lunch and 75 lackluster minutes on the trainer.

Wednesday
GISC swim with Andy including 4x200 on 3:30 coming in at 3:05ish. That evening I did a "recovery" track workout at bcc consisting of 5-4-3-2-1 (laps) starting at around 88 pace and finishing up at 75. Felt surprisingly good considering it was only 3.5 days post race and I did a quicker than normal warm up with (read:behind) the men.

Thursday
Strength and trainer workout. Did 2x5 minutes at about 190 watts with 3 min recovery, 4x2 minutes at about 240 with 2 minutes recovery, then another set of 2x5 minutes at closer to 200. 85 minutes total including warm up and cool down. I was surprised/excited to feel even better on the second set of threshold intervals.

Friday
GISC swim including 50's. Oh, 50's. I can't swim them fast AT ALL. I am all slow switch swimming muscle... or I just stink. I was also supposed to run this evening but I got stuck late at work due to monkey madness coupled with government shutdown insanity.

Saturday
85 minute run on the greenway trails with the dogs. Kept it comfortable and didn't really pay attention to the numbers other than to make sure I turned around at a reasonable time. Felt fine except for some random ankle/calf pain... and running into that stupid tree. I swear it moved about a foot closer to the trail from when I first spotted it. The forest deities are having fun at my expense, I know it.

Sunday
Met some folks at the Columbia course to get in a solid 40 miles. Really worked on not letting my watts skyrocket during the uphills and tried to push harder on the flats and downhills. I am getting better, but there is still much work to be done. After the ride I did a short 20 minute run on the first part of the run course. It's just as ridiculous as I remember. That first hill a half mile into the run is going to make or break the last leg of that race. I need to be ready for it!

2011 Cherry Blossom Race Report

2011-04-04T11:32:00.010-04:00

Race morning conditions were pretty perfect. I love the colder weather so I was blessed with a sub 40 degree morning on Sunday. Arriving at the mall I could feel the excitement swell. I was ready to repeat a strong performance like I had in 2010. I was also excited to race with my new team and prove that I belonged. I found my teammates and did an easy warm up with the women. No pains and I felt light and ready to race. In addition, Lindsey’s intensity and Beth and Ruth’s positivity and good nature were a great combination to be around. I was pumped to race!

I opted out of the advanced women’s start again this year. The field becomes too spaced out and I had no desire to TT a 10 mile race. I would, again, be very happy with my decision to race with the men. To go under 60 I wanted to ease into pace and run no faster than 6:05. After the gun went off I settled in and came through in a comfortable 5:50 in the same group as Jordan, Scott, and my Cherry Blossom running mate from last year, Weems McFadden. It didn't feel fast at all so I went with it. During the first mile I asked Weems what his plan was and although he said 60, he also sounded rather unsure about his abilities. I gave up on the idea of using him to pace after the close of the first mile and followed the thinning group across the bridge to Virginia and back and then on to the Kennedy Center.

I maintained pace for the most part and hit the 5k in 18:18. Unfortunately, I was floored to then see my 4 mile time of 24:20. What in the world? I felt like I had been maintaing pace but apparently I was not! Scott had distanced himself a bit at this point and I spent the next half mile trying to reel him back in and get back on pace. Later I would find out the marker was misplaced but I am glad it gave me a kick in the butt to push a bit in the middle. After my mid-race surge I regained composure and felt very good coming onto the point at mile 6. I was hitting my splits well under my projected “slid in under 60” pace so I was waiting for the curtains to fall on my performance. Unfortunately, since I kept worrying about a colossal crash on the point, I kept the reins pulled in a little too tight. The woman from Connecticut who would finish third American pulled up along side of me as I turned the tip of the point to head to the finish. At this pivotal moment I had also finally reeled in Scott. He didn’t look his usual self. I offered him some incoherent babblings of encouragement and pushed on. The woman then made a move and gapped me by about 10 yards. I intended to sit behind a group of men who could block the blustery winds but I also couldn’t let her go. I took a deep breath and pushed into the gap and spent a few minutes bringing her back in. She didn’t have much of a fight so I pressed on to make the statement I was not going to be passed again. At that point it was almost mile 9 and I saw Jake fired up. It got my competitive juices going and I knew I had a lot left to give. I passed a few guys on the way to the hill as I built momentum. I pushed up the last hurdle and opened my stride as I made my way to the finish feeling very strong and in control… probably a little too in control. I crossed the line at what appeared to be 59:15 although officially it was a 59:20. I managed to best my time by almost a minute from last year.

Due to several Ethiopians pulling out at the last minute, I ended up placing 7^th overall and 2^nd for the American women. It was pretty exciting to be that far up in the mix. The unfortunate thing I found out later was that I was ineligible for overall prize money due to opting out of the women’s advanced start. The woman that took home my prize ran a 61+. Seems unfair, but the rules are the rules. I understand that they want to showcase the women’s race but they don’t get a strong enough reaction to the separate start to really make it worth it for most people. It would be nice if they did away with it all together. Having the women all start together would give the inbetweeners like me a greater feeling of competition. I pretty much spent the whole race in the front of the rest of the women in my wave so the feeling of competing in a race for placement is somewhat lost. It was like a time trial with men around. But anyway, I digress. It was great to put in a good performance and be surrounded by others with the same result. Lindsey smashed her goal and is officially a force to be reckoned with in the running community. Beth set a massive PR and Andy destroyed his conservative goals going in and many other GRCers also had great races.

I am really pleased with this race. Based on my lower running mileage, I truly believed I would be pressed to get in under 60. Last year’s 60:13 felt like a perfect race so it seemed unreasonable to expect a huge jump this year. This race made me realize that I can trust the fitness gains I have been making swimming and especially cycling. They transfer to running more than I ever realized. This Todd guy knows what he is doing! I am really excited to see what the rest of this year will bring now that I also have Jerry enthusiastically pushing me in the run. I had settled into things a bit with my run training so I am excited to shake things up and see what happens. For now, Pike’s Peek is 2 weeks away. Based on my time and how I felt yesterday, I don’t think a 35:30 is unreasonable. However, I also have a tough workout the day before the race so not sure how that will play into things.

*Photos courtesy of Jimmy Daly

Workouts week of 3/25/11 and Cherry Blossom

2011-03-31T14:59:00.012-04:00

I am notorious for overanalyzing races. Last weekend's sickness occurring just one week from Cherry Blossom really sent me over the edge mentally. I am glad to finally feel better but now that the illness is done, I am redirecting my energy into tearing apart every aspect of my race this Sunday. I know it's useless, because no matter how hard I plan and how many scenarios I play in my head, the actual race ends up being run on instinct and my strategy flexes with how things develop over the miles. I feel some pressure to perform well since I will be running for a new team this weekend and I want to earn my keep, but I think that's a good thing. It will be the extra incentive to really push through the pain the last few miles. The goal is to sneak in under an hour. I was 13 seconds off last year and although I had a great race, I am hoping I am at least 14 seconds faster this year. And while I know I am in good shape, the haunting doubts keep creeping in that warn me I have not been running as much as last year since taking up swimming. Would my training be enough to improve upon last year? I need to just trust the cross training fitness and go with it. The general plan is to stay in control and settle in for the first 5-6 miles and once I hit the point I will punch up the pace and really start racing. Hains Point will be where the race really begins, so I just have to be ready to lay it all out there when I emerge from under the bridges.

Monday

75 minute spin before work. I am not a huge fan of early morning bike rides but with the master's practice that evening, I didn't have much of a choice. Watched a solid 3 episodes of 30 Rock. Watts in the 160s. Master's practice that evening was awesome. I don't really know how I did it. It was one of those "I'll tell you what you are doing as you do it" workouts so I had no idea what was in store for me. After an extensive warm up including yardage of various strokes and some 50's, we did 6x100, cutting down on allowed breaths from 8 to 3 per length. HARD. I came through in 1:30-1:31 which is pretty much as fast as I can consistently do 100's right now. It felt like my brain was bleeding by the last 100 when I could only take three breaths before getting to the other side... while also traveling as fast as possible. Right after that we did 8x100 on 1:50. I thought this was the meat of the workout and did the first 6 at 1:31-1:30 then cut down to 1:27/1:28 and 1:25(!) for the last two reps. A 100 PR after doing that many 100's was a pleasant surprise. Done now, right? I can no longer see or absorb oxygen so surely we get to cool down now. No. We had ANOTHER 6x100, this time on 1:45. I thought to myself "@*)^$)*@" but I remained calm, at least what was perceivable to the outside world. I thought it would be wise to just maintain 1:30 again and I did. By this point I had done about 14 more 100's then I have ever done in a workout so I thought for sure I was done. NO. When he said we were doing 6x100 again I politely declined as to prevent sure shoulder suicide and cooled down with some backstroke. I was really pumped after finishing this workout though. 20x100 at 1:31 to 1:25. Never have I ever...

Tuesday

Bike workout on the trainer due to cruddy weather... again. After a 20 minute warm up, I did 6 miles alternating each mile back and forth between 185 and 210 watts, took 10 minutes to spin, then repeated the same thing for another 6 miles. I maintained around 95 rpms the whole workout and it actually felt better the second set. Solid.

Wednesday

Usual easy pool stuff with Andy at GISC in the morning. Around 2000 yards of this and that. The only thing to note is somehow I forgot how to do flip turns. I don't know if I had a small stroke or what, but I was completely incapable of doing a turn without flopping around like a fool. Thankfully, Lindsey sent me some remedial videos so that I can reeducate myself on the proper mechanics of conducting a flip turn. Open turns are NOT an option!! That evening was my second ever GRC workout at AU. To sharpen up for CB, we did 2x1k and then 4x500. I came through the 800's of my 1000's in 2:37 and 2:40 and the 400's of my 500's in 76,78,76,74. I haven't gone that fast in a workout in a while but it felt good. I mean, as good as it can feel running fast in 40 degrees at night while it is raining.

Thursday

Did a few core exercises and a painfully long trainer ride. It was only 75 minutes but it felt like forever. My legs were a bit tired from track and I just wasn't into it. Mental fortitude!

Friday

GISC swim with Andy. 2000+ yards of the usual. Did 6x100 on 1:45 50 easy/50 hard. Came through in around 1:35. Good enough considering I was lacking motivation. My mind is on Cherry Blossom so these swim/bike workouts are really hard to focus on right now!

Saturday

30 minutes of pre race running from the store with Andy, Matias, and Lindsey. Felt good.

Sunday

CHERRY BLOSSOM

Don't kick the baby!

2011-03-26T06:25:00.011-04:00

My job is generally pretty predictable. I usually work an 8-4 shift on Monday through Friday. In the "off-season" I spend my day updating protocols and standard operating procedures, entering and checking data, analyzing results, and preparing for baby birthing season. Things shift gears once the weather warms. Macaques typically reproduce during the spring and summer. The first babies start popping out in March and the last few stragglers come in during August. Our research focuses on disparities in cognitive development between infants reared in different conditions. Most infants stay with their mothers while a group of 16 to 20 infants are chosen to be reared in a nursery setting. We collect data on all mothers and infants. So, life can get pretty busy during this time of year.

HOWEVER, things can get really complicated when anything goes wrong. One of our experienced mothers recently refused to release her baby into the world. She was due to deliver in early March. No dice. Fast forward to Friday, March 25th when it was decided the best option for the safety of the mother and infant was to do a cesarean section. While it is hard on human mothers, at least they understand that the baby they hold after the surgery is theirs. Macaques don't speak human language. Mom is knocked out, cut open, and wakes up with a strange living being on her. We can't say, "hey, you had a baby... it looks just like you... yay!" and go home. In most cases, the mother takes one look at the baby and slaps it across the cage. Awesome. Enter mother-infant reintroductions.

Reintroduction is a dirty word at our lab. Basically, a reintroduction is a process that spans 24 hours a day for 2-3 days. First, once mom is recovered from surgery, we need to make sure she is at least somewhat aware of a birth taking place so we take her placenta and other goo from surgery and rub it all over her, the infant, the cage, and anything else that makes sense. It is also ideal to rub it in her mouth since if she was a good mother and delivered on her own, she would bite the umbilical cord. This whole process is THE most disgusting thing I have ever done in my entire life up to this point. And quite honestly, I can't think of anything else that will happen down the road that will rival it.

Anyway, once she is sufficiently gooped up and placed in a cage with her little bundle of joy, the fun begins. The actual reintroduction goes something like this:

1)mom slaps baby across cage

2)baby gets upset

3)human picks up baby and puts it back on mom while mom tries to gnaw human's arms off

4)repeat

In a fun alternate universe, it would look something like this:

Unfortunately, it's a little less fun. It's tiring for the human, the mother, and the infant. It just plain sucks. And that is why I am writing this blog from my work computer at 6:42am on a Saturday morning. One of my co-workers stayed after work until 9pm last night to engage in battle, another came in from 9pm until 3am, and I rolled out of my bed at 2am and somehow managed to find my way to Poolesville and into the lion's den.

Luckily, this mom is very receptive to the whole process. We are already backing off and she is choosing to accept her child. Generally, at some point the mom gets so mad at us that she realizes if she just holds her kid instead of trying to splatter it against the wall, we will leave her alone. The objective is for us to be higher than a strange infant monkey on her hierarchy of things she hates. We were really good at it this time around. I am at a point now where just once an hour I need to creep into her holding area lit only by the eerie red glow of the heat lamp and make sure she is still loving, and not mauling, her baby. I reward her newfound love with marshmallows and Prang (Tang for primates).

To kill time between checks, I was given the British version of Deal or no Deal the DVD play at home game by our PhD from across the pond. I have also officially reached the end of the internet. Seth will come to relieve me of my post at 8am and has promised me coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I can then regain my sanity and try to salvage my weekend after one more brief check tomorrow evening (as long as everything goes well... keeping fingers crossed)!

Workouts week of 3/21/11

2011-03-24T08:58:00.015-04:00

Sunday
10 mile run on the trails with Ziggy. He is finally getting back into shape after a winter on the couch. He kept a solid pace (sub 8 on greenway trails, sub 7:20 on the 4 miles of pavement) with me the entire time. That didn't mean he wouldn't find his way back onto the couch for the rest of the afternoon.

Monday
At lunch I ran an easy hour on the roads and towpath around Poolesville. It was rather humid and warmer than I expected so while I didn't feel awesome, what felt like a super easy pace was still around 7:30. Later that night I finally gave in to Andy's persistence and tried out a Curl Burke master's practice. I was completely terrified of being lapped or dropped and making a complete fool out of myself. However, it turns out I fit right into one of the lanes... and not even the slowest lane! We did about 4000 yds total with the last set being 3x200 w/ about 20 seconds rest. I hit my 2's right around 3:00 which is a definite PR for me. It's amazing the difference being with people can make. I did get reprimanded for not doing flip turns (I've never done circle swim flip turns and I choked under the pressure and resorted to wall touching... lame) but oh well. I will be making this practice a regular on Mondays from here on out. I am excited to see how much this will help my swimming improve.

Tuesday
I should have done strength this morning but was too tired from the late night practice so sleep it was. I am kind of glad I missed it because tonight would be the bike trainer power test and I would need every ounce of strength I had. 20 minutes of pure pain was on tap. As I set my trainer up to begin the workout the screw broke in such a way that a repair was out of the question. Of course it broke... perfect timing. I have been intending on purchasing a non-crappy trainer for quite some time so I immediately raced over to All American and located the discounted floor model Cyclops Fluid2 I have been eying for a while. I practically ran out of the store and charged home. I set the trainer up in record time and before I had caught my breath I was warming up for the test. The trainer felt sooo smooth that as I began my 20 minute effort, I might have pushed a few too many watts. 225 felt so easy. Well, it turns out 225 watts was a few too many because by minute 8 I thought I was going to die. My legs felt like they could shatter at any minute. How in the world was I going to make it another 12 minutes? I dug deep for anything to get me through it and managed to come up with a little something. I climbed back up to around 220 by the end although my average only ended up being 215 for the test. I improved about 10 watts from the last test although I had hopes it would be more. Still, not too terrible I guess. Moving in the right direction...

Wednesday
Morning GISC swim with Andy just doing our usual relaxed workout. 2100 yards of drills, builds, etc. Nothing to write home about. That evening I had another first ever workout, this time a track workout with GRC. I have been running with Pacers for about a year and a half but for various reasons decided that I had to make a switch. It was cool to see so many people out on the track at the same time. The attitude was relaxed but focused. I dug it. I exchanged pleasantries with some old faces and met some of my new female training partners. After a brief warm up we were off for 5x1 mile w 1 lap jog recovery. The pace was pretty relaxed for the first 4 with us coming in at 6:09, 6:05, 5:59 for the first three and me going a little faster than requested with a 5:49 for the 4th. I was given the green light by Jerry to push the last 800 of the last mile so after coming through in the suggested 2:50 I picked it up but remained in control and finished the rep in 5:30. Felt good to stretch the legs out. 6:00 pace feels really comfortable these days so I am optimistic that I can go under 60 at cherry blossom next weekend.

Thursday
The weather turned out to be a lot cruddier than I would like for a bike ride. Overcast and low 40's with a steady wind chased me onto the trainer for the evening. I did 75 minutes starting at 150 and ending at 170 watts. Nice and easy. I caught up on some 30 Rock on Netflix. Tracy Morgan makes indoor trainer rides so much more tolerable. And once again I failed to get in my strength routine. Embarrassing.

Friday
GISC swim of 2500 yards or so doing a ton of drills, some 25 meter sprints and of course a couple 300 meter builds. Andy said I swam faster than Iron Potato today. Victory. I also finally did strength training this evening. Double victory.

Saturday

The late night monkey battle plus impending sickness resulted in no bike/run today.

Sunday

Still felt sick this morning so canned the 12 miles with last 4 at tempo and instead did 50 minutes later in the afternoon. Felt good towards the end so picked it up to 6:30-6:00 for the last few miles. I think (hope) I effectively ran off the illness.

Hakuna Matata- Black Hills Circuit Race Report

2011-03-19T19:04:00.021-04:00

Saturday morning I ventured all of 15 minutes from my front door to my first ever bike race at Black Hills Regional Park. I did a TT at Church Creek last year, but that doesn't really count. This would be for real. 10 x 1.5 mile loops of bumping, pushing, surges, profanity, sprints to the finish... yeah. I was excited!

I think that the following scene from my favorite Disney movie ever, The Lion King, will effectively portray how things went down in my race.

Ignore the whole dad getting murdered by the uncle plot. It still makes me sad. Focus on the first minute or so. You will see a young impressionable cub who is full of confidence. That was me during the first 9 laps of my race. I was negotiating my way around riders, matching surges, closing gaps, and hanging with/overtaking people on hills. As we completed each lap, I felt a little more comfortable in the living organism that is the peloton and I was able to maintain my goal positioning of sitting in the top 4th of the race. Then we hit the final lap. There was an initial hard push and I hung on. Then on the back side of the loop people eased up and I was shot to the front. I approached the final turn before the final straight away (up a hill) and it was eerily quiet. I knew I shouldn't be in the lead coming into the final sprint but I didn't know what to do. I looked at the ground, saw the rocks begin to jump, and knew I was in trouble. I hit the 200 meter mark sitting in 2nd/3rd and performed a rookie ill-timed desperate attempt to fumble my way to the right gears. As my chain clicked into place for the final climb I heard the roar of the wildebeests and my soul was instantly crushed. I had no time to react. I had no strength to counter the move. I biked with all of the might I could muster but was overtaken in an instant. My muscles burned like they never have before and the finish line seemed like an eternity away. After what felt like a lifetime I finally crossed the line and immediately rolled into the grass to gather my life. I sat there for a minute trying to piece together what just happened to me. What a completely different experience from a running race! Wow. Anyway, I finished 13th for women overall against sixteen cat 1/2/3 women and thirty-one 4's. I finished 4th in the cat 4 race. Lost to some cat 4's, beat some cat 1/2/3's. Whatever that means.

I was definitely a newbie. I probably spent too much of the race in the front and burned too many matches before the final sprint. I should not have been in the lead of the chase group (one woman busted off the front early on the final lap and came in alone) coming into the final sprint. Hadn't I watched enough bike races to know better? Oh well. As the saying goes, Hakuna Matata. No worries. The success of the day was that beyond not crashing I could hang with these women for most of the race and perhaps if I was more rested and raced smarter, I would have had a better chance at/near the top. But most importantly, I am officially in love with the sport and can not wait until the summer when I plan on hitting a ton of bike races. I am just glad my next race doesn't finish on a climb. Two weeks in a row of getting schooled on a hill (something I have considered a strength in the past) is enough!

**Big thanks to Brian for support and transporting my junk around as well as for dealing with so much more lycra than is typical at any other athletic event on the planet. And thanks to Andy for his expert guidance on the warm up and for getting Loogie race ready in a pinch... and most importantly for recognizing there was a shortcut we could take on our "spin" back to Germantown that didn't involve a half mile climb on toasted legs! Clutch.

The good days and the not so good days...

2011-03-18T09:15:00.008-04:00

Last week was an awesome week leading into my race. I felt great on all of my runs, bikes, and swims. Then I decided to run down a cliff for a mile during my race and literally destroyed my quads. Even on the warm up, when I ventured down the hill just to check it out, my leg muscles begged me never to do it again. But I did. And I paid for it for almost FIVE days. Apparently, that is how long it takes my body to repair the damage inflicted from crashing into asphalt for five and a half minutes. Instead of a track workout on Tuesday I was relegated to a lackluster hour of running on the towpath and instead of feeling like this:

I felt something more like this:

Wednesday I swam some easy junk in the pool in the morning and then did an hour bike ride in Poolesville instead of my planned TT (infinite sadness!). My legs burned for a solid 20 minutes before I finally settled into a rhythm. To salvage the workout, I picked it up to tempo for the final 20 minutes and felt a bit better afterward; an effective junk flusher. I followed it up with some core strength n' whatnot.

Thursday morning I did an easy 30 minute run. While daylight savings has blessed us with hours of daylight after work, it has stolen away any morning cheer. It might as well have been midnight as I plowed through my run. I did feel better overall so I was happy with it. Thursday evening was another bike ride, this time 75 minutes. I headed out of the gtown plex and made my way to 28 before turning around to head home. Averaged over 18 mph on hilly(and of course, windy) terrain with a truly easy effort. Finally healed!

This morning was the usual with a pool swim with Andy. Nothing to note other than I was able to do all of my 100's today at 1:30 or under for the first time ever. Even though I remain in Andy's easy pace wake, I am still pleased to be progressing. If I am ever to be really competitive, I need to get my 1500 pace below 1:30. One step at a time...

Cadel Evans

2011-03-15T20:58:00.005-04:00

I just watched Cadel Evans solidify an overall win with a strong final stage TT at the Tirreno Adriatico in Italy. I consider Cadel Evans a bit of a hero after his showing at the Olympics in 2008 when he rode the road race and TT on a torn acl... and never bothered to concern anyone with his ailments. A total stud. I tore my own acl during college and know how debilitating it can be. Sure, cycling doesn't require much lateral movement, but still. It's really painful! Anyway, I've been feeling sorry for myself because I busted up my legs running down that stupid hill saturday and had to miss the track workout tonight and my highly anticipated bike TT tomorrow in order to heal up. Seeing Cadel win in his first race of the season snapped me out of it. It reminded me that things could be worse. Time to heal and then get back to the grind... and get my mind in the game for my own race this weekend. (The above photo is Cadel winning the climb to the finish of stage 6. I love that his winning salute is simply his ability to look up while everyone else hangs their heads in exhaustion)

Hills and Hairy Cows

2011-03-13T17:50:00.013-04:00

Saturday morning was the Four Courts Four Miler. I needed a March race to check in on my fitness and while I wasn't too keen on a hilly four miler, I did what I had to do. Like the 5k in February, there would be no taper, rest, or moment to catch my breath before this race. Todd has my training steamrolling through these smaller races so I end up having to dig around for whatever strength I have tucked away in some untapped corner of my body. I managed to find enough to have a good showing at the 5k, so I was hoping to make it work again. I felt pretty strong during warm up so I decided to lead out the race and see what happened. Kristi and I ran together for the first two miles. Well, we stumbled down 200 feet of elevation for the first mile and maintained a reasonable pace for mile two. By the turnaround Kristi had fallen off but there was an unidentifiable runner still lurking. I put a surge in during the flatter mile three hoping to

distance myself from the group before we hit the death hill. No such luck. The unknown runner made her move and pulled up next to me as we made the ascent to four courts. We exchanged leads five or six times, but the final lead change was not in my favor. The hill happens to pitch up even more in the last 300 meters of the race. Insult to injury. Salt in the wound. She made a move and I ran out of places to find strength. I maintained, but did not have enough to catch her. I lost. Grrr. I wanted to hate her but she was actually really nice. Once I gathered my breath (see sad photo on left), we did a cool down with her and found out she was in town for the weekend from NC promoting a new brand of athletic wear. Oh well, I'll never get redemption. Result: 2nd place, 23:45.

No rest for the weary. That afternoon I had to put in 45 minutes on the bike. A VERY easy 45 minutes.

Sunday was an extra hilly long ride with a mission to recon the course for the bike race at black hills next weekend. I did 2 hours including three loops of the circuit course. Overall, it's a perfectly fine loop except for yet another climb at the end of the loop. And since it is a 1.5 mile loop, we get to climb it 10 times. And since it is only a 15 mile race, people will be hitting it hard. Oh boy! I envisioned 1800 different ways the race could go down as I made my way back home. Most possibilities involved me getting hit by a deer (it HAS happened to me before, so not an unreasonable outcome). Anyway, after my ride I exchanged my bike for my dog and did a quick 15 minute run to continue educating my legs on the fine art of transitioning from bike to run.

elevation profile of 1 loop of the circuit

To celebrate a weekend of hard work I am making hairy cow hamburgers. Let me explain. I celebrate the lifestyle of the omnivore, but have always had a nagging voice in my head that kept arguing with me that it was not the moral thing to do because of the documented poor treatment of farm animals in commercialized agriculture. Since the idea of giving up meat was not an option, I decided to look into happy cows. I did some research on local farms and came across this place in Frederick:

http://www.sycamorespringfarm.org/

This farm does it right. They do everything organically and have a commitment to quality. Farmer Carol might be the nicest person I have ever met. She operates her store (read: old shed with two home depot shelves) as a self-service shop with IOUs as a standard. You can just show up, take some eggs, and leave a note letting her know you will pay her when you get the chance. And then there are the animals. During our initial tour of her farm last weekend, I swear every gate she opened resulted in hundreds of baby animals spilling out onto my feet. Puppies, foals, chicks, goats, ducklings... it was amazing. She showed us a baby goat that had been born a mere 12 hours before we got there. It was by far the most adorable thing I have seen. Ever. Period. Needless to say, these animals are happy. Very happy. It's weird to meet your food but at the same time I take solace in the fact that these are the happiest animals I have met. Their time on this Earth is good. So anyway, we got some beef from farmer Carol from one of her hairy cows. They are actually called Scottish Highland Cattle but "hairy cow" stuck. I haven't met them yet, but I hope to at my next visit!

Riding high and breast stroke survival camp (I died)

2011-03-09T19:09:00.008-05:00

The trainer workout this evening went most excellently. The workout was a 10 minute warm up, 10 minute build starting at 170 watts building to 205, 3 minutes rest, then 4x3 min at 205+ with 1 minute recovery, then a second 10 minute build as before and then a cool down of whatever. I felt incredibly strong and in control the whole time and ended up exceeding the wattage requirements for the workout without much trouble. My L4 intervals were well into L5 and dabbling into L6 (227+) by the end. The build also ended up in the same territory. Since it didn't feel like a max effort I am pleased to assume my zones are shifting in the right direction. One more week until the TT. I am really excited to see how much my fitness has improved since the last one back in January!

After I shoved a pizza down my gullet and pretended like I digested some of it (vomiting during flipturns with a full stomach is psychosomatic, right?), I headed over to gprep for some weekly swim clinic fun. I was excited that I had dodged a bullet by missing what I thought was the second and final part to the breast stroke component last week but noooooo, to my horror tonight would be the final part to my trilogy of swimming failure. My legs do not do the frog kick. They just don't. My surgery knee always feels awkward and I just can't get this kick straight... literally. Apparently, my arms are magical wonderments but my legs might as well be cinderblocks. I definitely do not zoom through the water as my instructor suggests this kick will enable me to do. Senior citizens and toddlers are in lanes next to me doing better frog kicks than I am capable of doing. Whatever. It makes freestyle feel that much more awesome when I get to do it. So much more comfortable! So, in short, swim clinic was an awesome warm up and cool down of freestyle and flipturns sandwiching a fail-fest of spasmic leg movements that did little more than prevent me from drowning.

Adapting, Finally!

2011-03-08T19:58:00.003-05:00

After grinding through a rocky week last week due to insufficient rest and recovery, I am relieved that, so far, this week feels like a high by comparison. Yesterday was an easy day on the legs so I am sure that helped. I did a swim in the am with 6x100 at 1:35-1:30 on 1:50. It is awesome that this pace is feeling easy and automatic these days. In the afternoon I took the road bike out for an easy ride through the neighborhoods around the GISC. I was careful to keep my rpms high and my effort easy and it felt great. It's cool that a slow recovery ride on the Dolan is still 17+mph. It's also kewl that a double of a swim and hour bike ride truly feels like an easy day this year.

The good feelings continued to be the case at the track tonight. We did a mile, 1200, 2x400, 1 mile at easy run pace, and then 5x300. We eased into the mile at 5:48 (87's), ran a solid 1200 at 84 pace, and did the 2 400s at 82 and 80. Recoveries were all less than 2 minutes. We did an easy mile at 7:30 and then went right into the 300s (w 100 recovery) coming through in 60,60,59,57,55 which translates to 80-73 for a 400. This workout felt really comfortable and smooth despite the semi-difficult long progression run only two days before. And to add to everything else, while I don't gauge my success as a runner by the WRR rankings, it was a nice confidence boost to see I managed 8th place for 2010 in the open category. I would have never dreamed that was a possibility a few years ago. It really fired me up to make 2011 an even better year.

Workouts week of 2/28

2011-03-04T13:30:00.010-05:00

Monday 2/28

AM: Swim-2400 incl. 6x75 on 1:15 at 1:06-1:09, a little tired from weekend but otherwise fine

PM:Bike- 45 min spin just to loosen up, legs felt like they were full of battery acid, not good!

Tuesday 3/1

AM: slept through strength session, too many late nights over the weekend took their toll. Sleep was essential!

PM: Track- 5x1200 with 400 jog recovery, started at 90 pace and ended at 85. Felt too easy (busted loose for last 400 of final 1200 with a 79 just to feel like I did something) so I am hoping we start picking up the pace in future workouts.

Wednesday 3/2

PM: Bike Trainer Workout- 6x1min at 148-168watts w/30 sec rec, 5x2min at 168-188 w 1 min rec, 4x3min at 188-208 w 1 min rec then 5 min all out starting at 250 and ending at 312 for last few seconds, felt really good... can't wait for the TT next week so I can hopefully bump up these training zones. They are starting to feel a little too comfortable.

Was supposed to go to swim clinic but since we were doing lame breast stroke I decided to strike out on my own at GISC. Too bad they closed 15 minutes after I arrived. Swim fail.

Thursday 3/3

AM: Light Bike Trainer workout- 2x12 min increasing effort each 3 min, started at 160s and ended in 190s for each 12 min cycle. Felt good for an early morning workout. Usually the legs are useless for anything cycling or running before 6am.

PM: 1 hr run on road, gravel, and trail-averaged 7:30 for first half on road then ended up in the 6:40s for the last few miles just going with how I felt. Very good run.

Friday 3/4

AM: Swim- 2600 incl 6x100 on 1:45 at 1:33-1:35, 300 mod at 1:39 pace, then 6x50 on :50 at 43-45 with one at 47 (zing!), felt fine overall but 50s always kick my butt. At least my flip turns during the cool down are starting to resemble something that is aiding my swimming rather than a suicide attempt.

PM: strength- core exercises at home with droopy dog in my face

Saturday 3/5

AM: 2 hr ride followed by 15 min run- Rode a little under 2 hrs with the saturday all american bikes group. A cold and rainy start gave way to rather excellent riding conditions as we capped the ride with an always grueling long corner rd climb. I rode home, grabbed the dogs and running shoes and hit a quick 15 minute run. This was my first brick of the year and man were my legs confused. I think I was running pretty quickly because the dogs were uncharacteristically dragging tongue after only 10 minutes. I really need to work on pacing off the bike. My legs forget the subtleties of running after locking into spinning in circles for hours.

Sunday 3/6

AM: Swim long sets- Nothing impressive to note other than I did the entire workout with flip turns. Wohoo!

PM: "Long" run with progression set-Torrential downpour and me being lame landed me at fitness first on the treadmill for my longer run of the week. At least Andy was nice enough to keep me company and lend me some tunes when my shuffle crapped out. I did the first 5 miles starting at a little over 8 and ending around 7:30 or so and then spent the next five miles cutting down with splits of roughly 7:20, 7:10, 6:45-6:50, 6:30, 6:15 with final quarter mile at 6:00.

Strength-Too hungry to postpone dinner and do strength. Oh well.

Workouts Week of 2/21

2011-02-28T14:11:00.014-05:00

This has been a long time coming...

So, I worked out a lot between the last post and last week but there is no way I am logging all of that on here. Let's just say I picked up a new coach, didn't get injured and got back into solid shape. I also put in a 17:56 5k effort on 2/13 after a tough training week; hopefully a sign of good things to come.

last week:

Monday 2/21

AM-swim- 2400 yds including 3x200 at 3:16-3:12- a little tough because shoulder was sore from being murdered by the butterfly stroke last week

PM-bike-45 min easy spin at 140-160 watts

Tuesday 2/22

AM: strength

PM:Track-6x800m w 200m recovery at 2:59, 2:49, 2:48, 2:43, 2:42, 2:36, felt flat but still ran pretty fast, weird.

Wednesday 2/23

PM:bike trainer workout-6x5 min L4 (187-207 watts) 4 min at 90+rpm then 1 min at 100+ rpm, felt really good

late PM: swim clinic-breaststroke- I am terrible at the kick for this stroke!

Thursday 2/24

lunch: 1 hr run- first 30 minutes at 7:35 pace then second 30 minutes at 7:20 pace. Kept it very comfortable and felt good.

PM: 45 min spin on trainer, 2x12 min with each 3 minutes increasing intensity and 3 min recovery, moved from 160s to 180s (watts) for each increase

Friday 2/25

AM:swim-2600 yds including 6x100 at 1:37 to 1:29, shoulder feeling much better.

Saturday 2/26

AM: gym

PM: Bike 2 hrs, 38 miles, avg 166 watts, felt tired at first but got more comfortable as the ride went on.

Sunday 2/27

AM: failed to do optional swim, feeling tired and needed the rest to recover

PM: 10 mile run on trails- felt tired for this workout as well, didn't pay attention to pace and just pushed through the run. I definitely need to start paying closer attention to bedtime if I am going to keep up with this demanding training.

11/29-12/26

2010-12-26T09:22:00.003-05:00

11/22-12/5, recovery:

I have been in recovery mode since I capped off the 2010 racing season with a PR performance at the King of the Road 5k. For two weeks I engaged in inconsistent easy cycling, solid swimming, and no running. I went snowboarding and made myself so sore I could feel it a week later. I was also mauled by a deer to kick off week two of recovery and ended up missing a lot of swimming as my wounds oozed... ooze. Oh well, tis the life of a crazy triath-a-lete!

12/6-12/19, preparation:

After a whimsical two weeks of relatively unstructured training, I spent two more weeks getting familiar again with murderbitch (Loogie was still in the ER recovering from injuries sustained during his run in with the deer). Enter isolated leg exercises, spin ups, rollers, spinervals, zelda on the wii and anything else I could find to make indoor riding less of a sufferfest. Swimming keeps on keeping on with a highlight being an 800yd TT at 1:41/100yd pace, 4 seconds per 100 faster than my last TT a month or so ago. STILL no running due to lingering plantar pains.

12/20-12/26, base phase kickoff!:

Ideally, I would be in the full swing of things this past week. However, life has a way of getting in the way. I was only able to squeeze in one swim this week because I was on vacation in Tennessee and people in that state don't believe in exercise... or moving with any urgency. No pools within at least an hour drive. Sigh. The upside was that there were endless hilly and scenic mountain roads I could conquer to my heart's content. And that I did. TN Bike Camp 2010 was a success and I was able to put in solid time on the bike and feel comfortable again in the saddle, both literally and figuratively. I also began running again this week after almost a month off. FINALLY!!! The plantar pain is not 100% gone, but it is a ton better than it was. It will have to do. I either need to start training now or abandon my ambitious 2011 goals and just race at sub-max (and the latter is not a possibility... so that choice was easy). I put in two 30 minute runs and one 45 minute run. I found my running legs by the second jog but I still feel awkward and definitely out of running shape. I was bumbling along at 8:30 pace in order to maintain a hr under 140 on the undulating hills. It's amazing (and a bit scary) how quickly it goes. It also fascinates me that I can be in good swim shape, be well on my way to bike shape, and yet be incapable of running my old paces without winding myself. Hopefully, my running comes back just as quickly as it left me. I just need to remember that there is still plenty of time until race season.

Tentative 2011 Winter/Spring Race Schedule:

1/15/11-Shooting Starr 4 miler (fitness check)

2/19/11-GW Parkway 10k

3/12/11-Four Courts Four Miler

4/3/11-Cherry Blossom 10 miler

4/17/11-Pike's Peek 10k

5/1/11-Havre de Grace Triathlon

5/22/11-Columbia Triathlon

Workouts Week of 11/22/10

2010-11-30T14:33:00.003-05:00

Physical/mental recovery week and the official end of running for a while (hopefully just a few weeks) so I can finally heal my ongoing plantar pains.

Monday-OFF
Tuesday- Swim form drills, etc total 2450 yds
Wednesday- Half-assed track workout 6x800 at Wootton with MCRRC starting at 6:30 ending at 5:40 pace. 6 miles total. Slow and pointless.
Thursday-OFF, gorged on turkey
Friday-Swim endurance workout (4x150 then 200m kick)x3, 1:45 to 1:34 pace. 3200yds total.
Saturday-OFF
Sunday-Swim a bunch of different junk at Tpace. 2700yds

Workouts Week of 11/15/10 and King of the Road 5k Race Report

2010-11-24T11:31:00.007-05:00

Monday-easy bike

Tuesday- am: swim pyramid, 100-200-300-400-300-200-100 ascending at tempo descending finishing at 1:32, 2000yds total. pm: Pacers track workout- 2k cutdown starting at 6:16 pace and ending at 5:40 pace. Then did 1200 at 5:36 pace, 800 at 2:46, then 2x400 at 81 then 74. 9 miles total.

Wednesday- easy bike ride on trainer

Thursday- am: swim easy sets and drills totaling 2400yds pm: 40 minute run with 6x1 min at 5k race pace (5:40)

Friday-OFF

Saturday-40 minutes of running, drills and strides

Sunday- TLC King of the Road 5k

I decided to add this race on to the end of my year because I didn't feel spent from the season and I was riding a high from putting in a solid race the week before. I was also tired of looking at my soft 5k PR of 18:02. It was a good time to finally lay this event to rest.

The King of the Road 5k is relatively flat and offers decent prize money so there is always a good turnout of fast runners. I decided that since I didn't really have anything to lose, my goal for this race would be to go out with the leaders, regardless of pace, and hang on for dear life. I often go out conservatively and finish strong. This usually results in me running something that approximates a time trial since the women running the actual race rocket off the start line and leave me behind. I also end up with good results, but nothing great. Not today. I was going to race this race and suffer the consequences and/or score a PR in the process.

My competition turned out to be a new Ethiopian I have not seen before and two runners from the Riadha group. One was Christine Ramsey who has owned me many times on the road circuit and the other was a new face I didn't recognize. After the gun went off the Ethiopian runner sprinted off of the line gaining an instant 5 seconds on me and the rest of the women. Christine fell in somewhere behind me and the other Riadha runner slid in right in front of me. I had every intention of reeling in the first place woman but I was already running really fast for my first mile. I adjusted the race plan slightly and decided that the Riadha runner was also probably moving a lot faster than I ever had gone before and would be good enough to hang on to for a solid race. My choice was wise as we ended up coming through the mile in 5:25, the fastest I have ever come through a mile on a true course. Mile 2 was a series of lead changes between me and the Riadha runner. She would pull away slightly and I would bring her back and try to make a move of my own. We lost about another 15 seconds on the lead woman as we made our way to mile 2 in around 11:00. This was definitely uncharted territory for me. I repeatedly had to ignore the urging of my body to slow down and recollect for the last mile. I ignored the possibility that I would run out of gas before I finished and pushed on. I would not fall off the pace. I would keep pushing until I physically couldn't any more.

The third mile was a test of will. There were a few slight inclines and sharp turns that tested my ability to stay with the second runner. We were definitely slowing down, but still pushing hard and not willing to give up second place to each other. We came around the last turn before the finish and I faltered as she made a move on me. By the time I was able to recollect and counter the move she had put a few seconds on me and was in full sprint mode to the finish. My hesitation cost me second place but my overall game plan worked. I crossed the line with a new PR of 17:34... 28 seconds faster than my previous best.

5k=PAIN

I realized a few things by doing this race. The most important realization is that sometimes you have to go out faster than you might like in order to stay in the race. When you aren't in the race, you are just running. Running hard gives you good times, but never the great times you secretly hope for. I also discovered what really running a 5k feels like. I had a misconception that it was supposed to feel a lot more comfortable for the first half. In reality, during a 5k you spend the first half wondering if you should be running as fast as you are and then suffering through the second half while not falling terribly off pace. Lesson learned.

2010 is over. Time to recollect, review, and develop a plan for 2011. :-)