Marathon Training Week 11: 50 Miles

For, I believe, the third time in my life, I hit 50 miles in a week. Welcome to week 11!

Monday
My weather app did that thing again where it couldn't decide if I was in the clear or would be running in rain and snow. Gun shy after Saturday's hypothermic debacle, I went back to bed, packed a gym bag, and hit up the treadmill later for this easy run.

Tuesday
When I stepped outside, it felt like spring. The fog held a chill: damp, quiet, calm. The air smelled of wet leaves. It was dark. My feet crunched on pavement, its occasional gravel under my weight.

Wednesday
Rest day. Brought clothes to do office yoga but ran out of time, so I did it at home in the evening. I used a new workout from doyogawithme. The workout wasn't as fulfilling as others I've used, but I enjoyed trying a new one and getting the benefit of a workout. It's amazing how much even a little yoga can heal things that hurt from running.

Thursday
18 degrees when I stepped outside. I was cold at first, but knew I'd warm up after a mile or two. And oh, these are the mornings I live for. I was most of the way finished before the sun really rose. Before that, I could see hints of light on the horizon, all in shades of blue, leading up to the inky, dark sky and a sliver of a moon over the lake.

The run felt easier than I expected, all but a small uphill part. I was home before anyone was awake, which let me get breakfast started and clean dishes put away.

Mmmmmmm

Friday
Shannon and I met for this easy 5 miler. Well, easy for me. She was pushing a jogging stroller containing 3 and 5 year old girls. Not so easy. But a beautiful cool morning.

There wasn't a memo. We just showed up like this.

Saturday
I must have checked the weather 40 times between Friday afternoon and Saturday. Rain or no rain? Rain or no rain? I finally decided that while it might rain, it looked unlikely to rain until at least 10am. If I started early enough, I could get this 22 miler finished before the rain came.

But just to be sure, because, lake effect, I told Shannon I'd text her before 6am if plans changed.

The plan only changed because I was a few minutes late getting out of my house. I ran the same 2.7 miles as last week to meet her. We ran 6 miles together. Without incident. I so appreciated having the company for part of this very, very long run.

Shortly after parting ways I saw a skunk. I stopped where I was, about 30 feet from it, and let it waddle itself across the road and well into the other side of the street before I proceeded. Without question, and with more thanks than I know how to express here, this was the most disruptive, concerning part of this run.

I finished out 11.5 miles to end up back at my house. I left a note for my still-sleeping husband, listened to the kids playing quietly, refilled my water, grabbed more Gu, and was back out the door. Down to the lake, a lap around, a lap through Cleveland Heights, another lap of the lake, and back toward the house. I got tired toward the end. Mile 21 was a 9:55 pace. I know enough to harness this as an opportunity to train my brain to deal with fatigue, and that's exactly what I did.

Total miles: 50. FIFTY!
Favorite run: I loved them all. Ok, not Monday, but all the others. Gorgeous sunrise one day. The smell of spring another. Running with Shannon. A successful 22 miles. It's too hard to pick this week.

Marathon Training Week 10: The Week I Learned What Lake Effect Actually Means

Monday
It's spring break at my university, which gave me the luxury of running this 4 miles mid-day. Nice.

Tuesday
As the east coast braced for soul-crushing snow, and as my older son's school was canceled, I kept watching the forecast and saying, guys, it says only 1-3" overnight. And guess what? We got about 4" of snow overnight. NBD. But it kept snowing through Tuesday, and the roads weren't great until mid-afternoon, at which point my window for getting 'er done had closed, as I was entertaining the kids. The worst part of the day was that my university also closed, so I didn't have access to the gym to do this run indoors.

Wednesday
With institutions re-opened, I headed to the gym to get my speed work done for the week. Could I have done it outside? Probably. But, SO COLD. Today was the second time this winter the cold has bothered me, and mostly at this point its because I went ahead and put the Easter wreath on my front door.

My training schedule sends me to the track only twice in this 16 weeks, and today was the first, for 800m repeats. I dutifully set my treadmill to 0.5%-1% grade (I varied it through the run) to simulate running outdoors. It might still be because I was on a treadmill, but these 800s felt pretty easy. This one was a win.

Thursday
I don't watch a ton of tv, but lately when I have, I've been all over the commercials for fried chicken sandwiches. Hell, for almost any food. Today while I was getting my 10 miles of pace running done, my husband picked up lunch. So bad. So good. If there had been two, I would have eaten two.

My once per year fast food

Friday
The only rest Friday on my entire schedule. And thank goodness, because this body is tired.

Saturday
The following are copied and pasted from an actual text conversation:

Friday 11am: "I'm showing rain and snow all day tomorrow but clear/foggy Sunday. Unless things change, I will likely do my run Sunday instead."

Friday 10:55pm: "Now it's saying maybe clear. I'm going to bed now and getting up early to check weather and will decide then."
 
Shannon, Saturday, 6:29am: "Mine is saying rain snow mix for 60-70%."

Saturday, 8:36am: "My phone can't decide. I checked twice in the last 5 minutes and it said two different things. It says it's going to rain but the radar looks clear until about 1."

Saturday, 9:21am: "I think the weather is going to hold" 

So we went. I ran almost 3 miles to a train station where I met Shannon and her bike. She biked and I ran about 3 miles east, where I wish we had aerial video of us going opposite directions around a cul-de-sac, and back. About the time we got back it started to rain/snow/ice pellet. We stopped to take a video and decide what to do.

Not counting this as a workout! We quit. We are drinking.

A post shared by Shannon (@clerunningmom) on Mar 18, 2017 at 10:00am PDT

So things weren't good at that point. We hoped the storm was just blowing through, that we were just getting the edge of something nearby, because, THE PREDICTIVE RADAR HAD BEEN CLEAR. I'd checked 487 times. The hourly forecast had been inconsistent but looked like it would be clear. I'D CHECKED.

So we kept running. The plan was to stop by my house 3 miles later anyway, so worst case, we could bail then if necessary.

Things did not get better. Things got worse. Much worse. People driving by started staring openly at us, shaking their heads. And, to make matters infinitely worse, neither of us was wearing a jacket. I hadn't had a hat until we went past her car. I was wearing regular, non-thermal, non-water resistant tights. I was wearing my lightest, thinnest gloves. Her feet were wet. I had no money on me.

We finally arrived at my house and went inside. We plainly couldn't do the other 8 miles. We went upstairs to get dry clothes. After I changed, I found her in my kids' bathroom with her feet in the tub, running the hottest water it would give her. Her toes looked like death. Fully changed, I could not stop shivering. This lasted an hour. Neither of us could have been coerced to change into real clothes or leave again for a while after that. So at some point we gave up on the day and started baking and drinking beer. I missed an event in my neighborhood in the midst of all this and I feel terrible about it. I also missed my husband's first tae kwon do belt test, and I'm sorry for that too. And I'm bitterly disappointed to have not completed a long run. But the day ended many hours later, smiles all around, after our families had a left-overs dinner at our house. The day ended like this. Yes, most of what she's wearing is mine. Especially those slippers.

What I learned: "Lake effect" does not just mean "lots of snow." My whole life, I thought that's what it meant. Lake effect means a storm is moving off the lake and it could end up anywhere, violently, quickly, and the meteorologists really cannot tell you where it will land. That my weather app kept changing its mind reflected this. That we got caught in ice pellets blasting at our faces was the result.

Total Miles Scheduled: 43
Total Miles Ran: 35
Favorite Run: No, the long run was not my favorite, but certainly one I won't forget. Ever. And it was an amazing day at the end of the day.

Marathon Training: Week 4

I'm a little late posting it, but here's the run-down from Week 4.

Monday
Short version:

It snowed. A lot.

Longer version: I tried. I laced up. The roads had been plowed but not salted and didn't look too bad. I hit go on the Garmin. I tried. And for 0.11 miles I slipped and slid and probably cussed just a little. So I turned around and walked all 8 houses back to my front door and called it a day. I had a snowball fight and built a snowman and made snow angels and drank hot chocolate with my kids. My heart was full. My Garmin, not so much.

Tuesday
Gym day for hill repeats. In the few weeks I've been doing these I've gotten on to using my employer's indoor walkway system that connects buildings. Several northern cities have these--Minneapolis' might be the best known. It's a whole world that avoids winter weather. There are coffee stands and even full restaurants set up in the corridors. And you can just peek outside at the winter while "crossing" streets.

I repeated the same workout I'd done the past two weeks, but increased the incline on most of my "rest" intervals. I got to 607 feet in vertical gain over 5 miles. Like last week, it felt easier than the week before. I can feel myself get stronger week to week on this one. Love that.

Wednesday
My schedule called for a one mile time trial. I did one a few years ago and have been looking forward to doing it again. But....the snow. My indoor track option is 10.5 laps to a mile, which certainly isn't optimal. I went and checked the roads Tuesday night and decided they looked reasonable, but we weren't sure what would happen overnight. So, Shannon and I met at 6am at a nearby school and decided we'd try the roads and hope for the best.

We did one mile of warm-up in which we learned the roads were not in fact clear. They looked clear! They looked fine. They had a thin layer of ice, not everywhere, and not visible. We ran cautiously.

We ran fast where we could for the "time trial" and turned in a 7:30 mile. That certainly is not the fastest mile either of us can turn in, but for the conditions we had, I think it was the best we could ask for.

One mile cool down, and headed home for a hot shower and breakfast. Bonus: since the schedule called only for the time trial, I made up 2 of the 4 miles I missed on Monday.

Thursday
Thursday is my super long day at work, so I decided to sleep in a bit and hit the gym at work late afternoon. In case you forgot: four easy miles on a treadmill is super boring. Also, I accidentally dressed like a blueberry.

Friday
It was like running in a snow globe about 15 seconds after you shake it--snow gently, lightly swirling and falling past me. Beautiful.

Saturday
My cut-back week long run was 10 miles. I met two of my MRTT ladies at the Towpath. Like we do, our conversation ventured into economic policy, this time around the Cold War. But we talked about all kinds of personal things too. I know them better for today. I love them better for today.

My friends head off for the rest of their miles--no cut-back week for them this week.

Weekly miles: 26 of a planned 28

Heading into Martian!

I haven't posted in a week?!? A week?!? Things have, admittedly, been busy. About three weeks ago my parents called and said they wanted to visit during their spring break. We explained that if they were OK with the fact that we are never home and work constantly and could not be their tour guides, then sure, we'd love to have them visit. They readily agreed and bought plane tickets. So on Saturday (a week+ ago) I picked them up at the airport. We wasted no time. There was a room to paint!

That's Dad in his "Diva Pants." When we told them to bring painting clothes, we thought he still had pants here. Turns out they were Mom's. Brand: Diva. Oops.
{sidenote: I am LOVING having some direction on interior decorating choices. It took a while to figure out what I wanted my "grown-up house" to look and feel like. And it was equally fabulous having help from the parentals!}

On Sunday we basked:

And just in case you can't tell, that's SPRING there under my Mom.

And then the week started again. Even with my hectic work schedule, I was able to meet them for lunch twice and we had a lot of fun. Then Saturday rolled around and we got this craptastic news:

I called my SIL, in freaking Detroit, where there was NO SNOW. I LIVE IN MISSOURI. What is this crap? She said it snowed just to piss me off. Eleven miles later, and still snowing and slushy out, I felt a renewed appreciation for the treadmill.

So all that brings me to the running portion of this post. Yes, I ran 11 miles on Saturday. Yes, my toe hurt when I was done. I thought I'd given it enough of a break. I took y'all's (I get can away with a double contraction like that because I'm from WV) advice and XT'ed until Wednesday of last week then cautiously tested it. The toe was fine after the Wednesday run (which I nailed--good confidence boost pre-race), so I thought I was in the clear. I think my choice of work footwear is part of the problem. I'm forcing myself to wear flat shoes (or at least shorter heels than normal) to work this week and keep the miles easy.

Am I ready for Martian? Yes. More ready than I've ever been for a half. Am I nervous? Yes, because I *really* want that PR. Am I excited? YOU KNOW IT!! To meet a bunch of you, see family (& let the kiddo see family!), and hopefully post a great race. I LOVED racing in Detroit in 2009--hoping for another great race!

Week 1: Check

Woohoo! Week 1 of training, check! See, I even checked off the days on my color-coded training schedule. 

So what did I learn from Week 1? This training schedule is awesome. There is nothing on it that I can't handle, and yet it is definitely a big step up from what I've done in the past. Pace runs? Brand new to me. Tempo runs? Usually done by accident in the past. Actually XT'ing? Haven't done that since 2007. I'm also slowly learning to be more disciplined about time management + training. It's hard! But there is something alluring about the discipline it takes to cram everything into every week. 

I should be able to get off the 'mill this week. My neighborhood still has patches of snow and ice, but closer to work things are basically clear. Time to re-test the Garmin, which last I checked was still misbehaving. 

But then I had a nice long conversation with Garmin support (in which the tech support guy openly admitted to keeping his VCR so he can watch 80's sci-fi. Nerd.) that gave me new hope. So check back for that...and also, my first giveaway! Coming soon to a JoannaRuns near you. 

On Training Eve

So here I sit, on the eve of my spring training cycle, with some concerns and some things to admit. 

Concerns--that I don't have the time necessary to train for a full marathon. That the pain where my left hammy attaches to my butt bone will get worse (the doctor wrote "buttock pain" on the MRI order. I can't make this stuff up. And I'm skipping the MRI). That other injuries will surface--which every, every runner worries about. 

Things to admit--I love my job. LOVE it. But I'm also pretty overwhelmed with my current workload. I am more than a little bit stressed out. And I hate to even blog this because I hate not to be upbeat. Negative Nancy I am not. But it's what has kept me from blogging here recently. I definitely need you guys--to tell me that no one hits their training plan perfectly, that I *can* get through this. Even, and this is my real hope, that all the running will help me deal with the stress. 

On a lighter note, my brother had a job interview here last week. He flew in a day early so we could hang out and I could show him the city. We had lunch at a fantastic place in my neighborhood. He liked his sandwich so much that he wrote down its description from the menu to read to his wife. While on the phone with her he says, "If we move here, it's pretty much going to be for this sandwich." 

And to answer a question from The Black Knight, no, I am still on the dreadmill! I am super impressed by all you Michiganders and Canadians (wait, what's the difference??) who are running outdoors still. Y'all are crazy. This was my street this afternoon. Completely gorgeous, but since the park rangers don't shovel or salt the paths through the park, I'm inside for a while. 

Two last things to leave you with before training starts tomorrow. First, I joined sparkpeople about a month ago and am quite proud to announce that I've lost 4 pounds! Six more to go to reach my goal. I am *so* excited to get back to a race weight I'm happy with. It makes me feel better, look better, and will help me lower my race times. Updates to follow.

Second, a while back I said that a goal of this training cycle is to re-incorporate XT into the week. Well, I signed up for an hour long PowerFlow Yoga class on Tuesday mornings. I am pretty excited about it. Can't wait to get some flexibility back and work on core a little bit.

I am so much better positioned to beat the hell out of my training cycle than I ever have been before. I'm more experienced, I'm not pregnant, postpartum, or breastfeeding, I'm not defending a dissertation, moving, or starting a new job. And for the first time, I have a training schedule that I put together with help from RunningFirst that's personalized for little old me. Are you ready? I'm as ready as I'm going to be. Let's do this thing.

724.1 down...

**In all the craziness of the holidays, I didn't thank Stephanie at It's all happening for nominating me for a Stylish Blogger Award. THANK YOU!!**

On to today--thank you all for your support over this mad dash to the finish line for 2010 goals. Kel is absolutely right that if I don't follow through on this, I'll forever have an asterisk next to 2010 when I think about it. So, how much of a compulsive over-achiever am I? Let's start with this week. I have this week off from work, a few days with the kiddo and a few days without, which is an unbelievable luxury for me. So what did I do? I not only made a to-do list for my time off, but I prioritized the items on it. Sadly, I didn't even think to feel nerdy about this until I realized my husband had probably seen it. Busted.

So compulsive me over here went to the gym at 5:30 last night and laid down 4.5 miles. Then went back today and did 6 more. That brings me to 724.1. Only 5.9 to go. I can do this. That's just one more 6 mile run. Bring it. Day after tomorrow. Gym is closed tomorrow (insert name-calling here) and my street is still a solid sheet of ice.

And while I'm at it, today was freaking awesome. I slept in. I scrapbooked (see other blog). I finally bought blinds for my scraproom--the last room in the house with nothing on the windows. I ran. It was fantastic. And tomorrow is going to rock my face off.

Rule 104.3B

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas. Personally, I ate my way through the entire Detroit region and had a great time doing it. I even ran one day on the hotel treadmill--oh yeah! My family did a vaguely-white elephantish-stocking stuffer exchange, where we all bought three random items less than $5/each and traded them amongst ourselves (kids' stocking stuffers were chosen much more intentionally). Among my items, I took a pair of red and white women's knee-high socks with white faux fur around the top. I was really hoping my Dad would get them, but no such luck. But that was actually my third gift exchange of the season. One was with my boys (and MJ & family by phone) before we left, and one was before that, with The Beastie.

I love her to pieces. I really do. We were young enough when we met that we exchanged Christmas and birthday gifts. We have continued this tradition and we always have fun with it. Our birthdays are only 4 days apart, so it's sort of a semi-annual party tradition. Anyway, this year, since we live far apart, we mailed the gifts then had a Skype gift exchange. Complete with this photo of us in front of her Christmas tree. Silly? Maybe. Fabulous? Absolutely.

What do you do to keep in touch with far-away friends?

So, Blogger Rule 104.3B, as invoked by TnT Coach Ken: if you blog it, you must follow through. Yeah, yeah, guys, I know. I'm ridiculous for obsessing over the difference between 720 and 730 miles. I get it. But do you know how much it would bother me to run 727 miles and know I was *this close* to what I said I was going to do? Have you ever read my self-description on this blog? Compulsive over-achiever. Stick with me until the end of the week--let's see how close I can come. Right now I'm at 713.6. Hellooooooo treadmill!

And....race announcement coming later this week! Stay tuned.

Uh, oops. I'm supposed to be good with numbers.

A Beautiful Bah-Humbug

Don't get me wrong--I love Christmas. Really, I do. I have great memories of sitting around the dining room table as a child, eating dinner on Christmas Eve, looking into the living room at the softly glowing tree, with all its ornaments and the gifts beneath it. All the childish anticipation of Christmas morning. Then the late night Christmas Eve service, which was always beautiful. We lit candles in church and turned off the lights, some years we processed outside onto the sidewalk, singing Silent Night with our candles, sometimes in the snow. It was all lovely.

And then yesterday on the phone with my brother I heard myself saying, "We're all excited, but I don't have time for this *%!$!"

And sadly, it's all beautiful and true. Beautiful--the stocking I finally finished knitting for my niece. My son who keeps talking about Jesus's birthday. The wrapping of gifts so lovingly picked out. True--that I don't have time to do things like clean my house and buy groceries while knitting said stocking, working, running, and continuing to settle into our house. The buying holiday cards, sending them out, buying gifts, shipping gifts, decorating, all of it. It's not that it's no longer fun--it's still beautiful--but for the first time in my life I'm finding all of this stressful.

The Dreadmill

After last Sunday's failed attempt to run, it got icy out. That's where I draw the line. Ice. So after a few busy days at work, I made it over to the rec center and signed up for a month's membership. I got two runs in, a 4-miler yesterday and 7 miles this morning. I'm really thankful for a safe place to run, but why does it have to be SO boring?!? I know we're all suffering the dreadmill right now. It gives me solace to know you're all doing the same thing with me. Time to recharge the mp3 player.

Oops

First, the good news--I hit 700 miles today! I know a lot of you passed that milestone back in August (or earlier), but this is a big hairy deal for me! It's a first!!

The bad news--I went back to my January blog post this morning just to double check my 720 goals and discovered, much to my dismay, that I actually said 730. Crap!! I sort of feel attached to the 720 goal. I can reach it at this point, and it's what I've been planning for. But it's not what I said a year ago! I feel conflicted. Time to write down a new plan for the next 13 days and see what is realistic.

How do you know?

This is a question I've mauled several times in the last few weeks--how do you know when it's time to replace your gear? I've replaced shoes after 250 miles, 300 miles, and my current pair has about 485 on them and they are just starting to break down. I would shudder to think how many times my running shirts have been washed and worn, or how much sweat they've dutifully wicked over the course of their lifetimes.

**TMI alert**

Recently I've started wondering about one of my sports bras. I've loved it. It's accompanied me through most if not all of my races in the last 3 years and gets worn at least once every week. The last time I wore it I noticed a little extra bounce. This morning when I headed out for my 3-mile recovery/easy run, the bra and I had a firm discussion about our upcoming divorce.

It will be swift. It will be a clean break. It will be hard for us both to move on.

But I have younger, more attractive things to move on to. You see, the new bra I've had my eye on (thank you, RW reviews!) happens to be one of the few running bras sold at REI. Which is right next to Whole Foods. And I am in love with the entire experience. I've never been much of a foodie (which makes me terribly un-hip, I know), but just the thought of the sandwich I had at Whole Foods the other day makes me salivate. And the REI sells a good range of Gu/Chomps/etc flavors for a decent price, plus they carry my beloved Brooks Adrenalines and this bra I've been coveting.

I suppose this is the beauty of moving to a city?!? Who knew?? It just makes me love running that much more.

In other news

I've been running! (duh) After the 12-mile treadmill run last weekend, I followed up on my plans to buy a 1-month membership at the rec center at my work. I used it to do a 5k tempo run (plus w-u and c-d) on Tuesday and a mid-distance run (5 miles) on Thursday. This morning I did a 3.3 mile recovery/easy run around my neighborhood.

About the tempo run--I want to thank you guys, especially Music Says it Best and (the gimpy but fabulous) Sarah the Savage. After my last post you guys reminded me that I need to keep my knees happy and need to stay focused on speed work if I'm going to PR both of my fall races. I needed both of those reminders. Thank you for helping me stay focused!

mileage:

383.8 + 4.0 + 5.0 + 3.3 = 396.1 miles, and clearing 400 this weekend. Something I didn't do until the Detroit Marathon last year. Which was, uh-huh, in OCTOBER.

Recap: The running date

I was so excited, I woke up 40 minutes before my alarm and couldn't really fall back to sleep. But as soon as I stepped outside I knew I was in for it. So here it is--the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Mile 0-0.65, run from my house to the neighbors to meet up.

Mile 0.65-2.5ish: Ran about 30-40 seconds/mile faster than my marathon race pace. I told my neighbor that it felt fine, but could not be sustained for the whole run. We ran past one of the very groovy landmarks of the run, the brewery. Yes, that brewery! My thoughts exactly. Until we ran past an exhaust fan and I caught the smell of beer. And then I wanted to hurl. But before I knew it we were past the brewery and headed down a gentle hill.

2.5ish-3.5ish: It started occurring to me how totally screwed I was. I was carrying Gu but no water (I hate carrying things when I run). And I was sweating unlike anything. Somewhere toward the end of this stretch we ran past a Panera, where we ducked in for a drink of beautifully cold water. (Thank you, Panera!)

3.5ish-5.8: As you approach downtown on foot or by car, the Arch is visible from some distance. Which I knew. But I had forgotten how on relatively flat land, things do look deceptively closer than they are. I kept thinking we must be close, it must be close. The Arch was our turn-around point and water stop. By the time we got there I was absolutely soaked with sweat. But, it was my favorite part of the run. It was the first time I've been up close to the Arch, and the sun glimmering off of it is captivating. Then, just as we made the turnaround to start the loop back out of the park, the sky turned dark behind us. Over the river we saw a big storm rolling in. We were sort of afraid we would be caught in it, but as we ran we saw it blow past us on the other side of the river. Gorgeous. And it brought a breeze. And then I got to run through a sprinkler. All things of beauty.

5.8-8ish: Walk breaks were becoming frequent. By the time we got back to the Panera the heat was becoming a serious problem. I felt torn. Do I do what I know is safe and not push myself in weather that cannot be reasoned with, or try not to look like a complete wimp on the first run with my ultra-running neighbor?

8ish-11: We walked most of the last mile back to the meet-up spot. As I told Mr. Joanna later, it's sort of an extreme decision for me to walk 2+ miles of a long run. But the neighbor wasn't concerned about it and by mile 10 I wasn't either.

11-11.8: I slowly ran the path from the meet-up spot back to my house, and it wasn't bad. We stood and talked for just a few minutes before going our separate ways. After just that few minutes of standing to stretch and talk, I saw that I had accumulated an impressive pool of sweat on the sidewalk. I've honestly never seen anything like it. I've NEVER come home that drenched from a run. I looked like someone had thrown me in a pool. Then I saw that it was currently 87 degrees with 64% humidity. No doubt it had been even more humid earlier, and probably not much cooler.

I appreciated the chance to go explore and the chance to get to know a runner/neighbor a bit. He seems like a good guy to know, and is very easy to run with. And I am VERY glad I got that missed long run crammed back into the schedule. But all the same, I think I'll probably head indoors for this weekend's long run. One last thing to leave you with--thank you all so much for the comments on my hill workout and the enthusiasm about my running date!

mileage: 357.7 + 2.4 + 11.8 = 371.8 miles

Rediscovering the locker room

I'm going to participate in what Caution: Redhead Running and runjessrun call Three Things Thursday. I have to say, I've had a LOT of fun discovering these blogs and the blogs they link to. I started reading a few scrapbooking blogs a few months ago, and it's fun to do the same with running. I have some ideas of new directions for this blog, I think.

1. Tuesday and today I ran on the 'mill, 4 miles each day. Like I said in my last post, I'm working on pace these days. Today, I'm happy to report, I shaved 8 seconds per mile off my average pace, down to 9:33/mile, still including a (shorter) warm-up and cool-down. I'm pretty excited about the long run this weekend, since having more miles between the warm-up and cool-down will mean more time to bring that average pace down.

2. Both days, I had no choice but to shower at the gym before returning to work. It had been a long time since I'd done this and I'd consequently forgotten the...experience, we'll call it.

On Tuesday I was half way to campus before realizing that I'd left my flip flops at home, and I didn't have time to go back. All through my run I debated what to do about this. Could I get away without showering? Could I shower in my socks (no, too porous I decided)? Did I dare shower barefoot? Then it occurred to me--running clothes are made to dry quickly. I could stand on one of my articles of clothing, then trust it to dry out during the day. But what? I settled on my shorts. So there I was, standing in the shower on my shorts. When I got out I threw them in the bathing suit drying thingamajig, then threw them in my gym bag. We do what we must. :) I wasn't gonna do something crazy like miss my run!

Today I got of double dose of gross in the locker room. Upon entering the first shower stall I saw that its previous user had stuck her boogers and hair to the wall. GROSS!! So I backed out quickly and moved down a few stalls. The partitions between stalls don't go all the way to the floor, so you see the feet of the person next to you. About half-way through my shower I looked down and saw bare feet with disturbingly long toe nails. Eeeeww!! PEOPLE--certain bits of disgusting behavior are permitted among runners (e.g., discussions about missing toenails, chafing) but seriously?!? Pull yourselves together.

3. DISCOVERY! I've read a few times recently (once in RW, once from my teammate AM) that setting the incline on the 'mill to .5% or 1% better mimics running outdoors. To be honest, I was skeptical. It just sounded like more....work. But on Tuesday I tried it and I am officially a new fan. I think that it's helped ease the common treadmill shin problems, and it really *does* feel more like running outside. Effort-wise, I don't even notice the change. Do it! And please let me know how it works for you.

mileage: 37.9 + 4.0 + 4.0 = 45.9