Okay So I Lied

about the “oh my body recovers fast” statement from my race report.  Because 48 hours after the marathon my quads and shins hurt. Blahhhh. But now, 72 hours later, it’s gone. Annoying.

But recovery from The Boston is going.  Like I said above, my muscles feel fine. But my sunburn hurts

and knee hurts too. Thanks for the good lucks about my doctors appointment today and it was about what I expected: slight tear in my flexor tendon and, rather than send me to an ortho and “tests” and a potential cutting-away-happy person to see, my doctor gave me a PT script to get me back faster and stronger.

AND joy upon joy, because I’m a VISTA (aka the government legitimately says I have no income) the PT place that’s in my building (who works with the free clinic patients) has discounted my co-pay heavily. So I can actually go. I probably wouldn’t have because of the co-pay price (this is why I didn’t go 5 weeks ago when the pain started). HIZZAH. Double hizzah because my first appointment is tomorrow.

So still no running post-Boston. I’ma be waiting for the PT’s go-ahead. Bleh. The funny thing is that mentally I have no desire to run right now. I saw some people on my drive to work this morning out on my usual route and I thought “hahah you @$$^&*% are out running. And I’m not”

A little discerning because I’m always itching to run.  And analyze. But I’m not doing any post-race analysis. Yet. This is the second Boston I’ve run injured so there’s obviously something wrong with how I trained.

For now, I’m spectating the Cox Providence Marathon on May 1st (a friend is running and I’m going to cheer him on) and I know that seeing others out racing and pushing themselves with likely get me going.  Hopefully by then I’ve been cleared to run. I think that’ll be the case but you never know. And with the amazingly springlike weather this week I should want to.  But I’m content with sleeping a lot and sitting on the balcony post-work reading.

And the winners of my dirty joke = music giveaway (and I loved reading the jokes!) are:

Boston 2011 Training Mix: Sarah, who wrote

A little old man shuffled slowly into an ice cream parlor and pulled himself slowly, painfully, up onto a stool. After catching his breath, he ordered a banana split.
The waitress asked, ‘Crushed nuts?’
‘No, arthritis.’

Boston Driving to Start 2010 Mix: Marcia, who wrote

why are blonde jokes so short?
So brunettes can understand them.

❤ so send me your addys to marathonmaidenrunner@gmail.com and I’ll get those out to you ASAP. And by ASAP I mean whenever I get to the store to buy CDs. If you harass me enough it’ll be on the sooner side!

A Drowned Rat Looks Better Than You

…according to my roomie after my run this morning. It was said with love though, I think, and was said because I was dripping rain all over the apartment. Even after taking off most of my layers outdoors. Boo rain.

But my run on Tuesday was really freaking good.  It helped that the weather was really nice, not as humid as Monday with  partly cloudy and mid 50s for the temperature.  And YAY I beat the rain.  The only downside was that I had to stop 4 times to find a bathroom although the plus side is that I now know all the buildings on this particular route that have public restrooms.  Win? Maybe?

It was a mid-y kind of run distance wise, last “real run” before Monday, and my legs are feeling tired and twinge-y and, well, taper-y.  Although strangely enough I finished feeling pumped up and strong. So I made the executive decision to run the risk of being late for work so I could do this

Put my feet up, eat some breakfast and enjoy the wonderful weather. I really can’t think of a better way to start the day. The mornings have been really nice lately and so have the nights, I’ve actually been able to sleep with the window open!

And yes those are the Boston 2010 chip and the WR 2010 tag on those shoes.  I guess that pair has fallen to be the “racing shoes” as they’ve only been broken out for races (I train in the same style but, obviously different pair as these guys have ~200 miles on them)

And they’ll be the ones that I wear when I run Boston again this year.  I think I probably should have switched into newer shoes (hell even these ones and gotten a new pair for the race) as my ones I’ve been running have…well I’ll keep that a secret between me and my excel “shoe miles” spreadsheet.

I did not wear them again today because it was a rainy and dreary day and I didn’t want them to get “ruined”.  Bleh. But it’s okay overall because *fingerscrossed* the weather for Monday looks clear. I can handle the rain for a few more days.  At least it’s not snow, right?

The run itself was pretty awful.  The rain made the 40* seem even colder. I was actually shivering pretty much the entire time. Not cool mother nature. Not cool. So I was miserable for 96.3453% of the run. Overall I’m okay with it because it wasn’t a confidence deflating run.  I knew that the constant, unrelenting rain factored in, so did the choice of route (hello hills!) and the fact that, due to being very busy yesterday at work, I hadn’t eaten much on Tuesday.

And it was sans music.

Lately I’ve been using my iphone to listen to music while doing my runs.  Not every one, maybe 3 times a week. It started probably with bad intentions: I wanted to not pay attention to my leg.  BAD.  But on my easy (and not 0530) runs I’ve been listening to a playlist that’s been pumping me up.  I want to dance (and actually it’s been a pre-gaming mix too) when I hear the songs. And it’s been getting me through some not so stellar training without me obsessing about pace and other runners on the pathway I run.

Which is why I want to share it with YOU.  Yes this is MM’s first giveaway.  A music one.

I’m actually going to pick two winners. The first will win the stuff I’ve been listening to during my training and this is the mix I’m debating bringing to Boston to play intermittently during the painful miles. At the very least it’s the one I’ll force my mom to listen to as she drives me to Hopkinton. The second winner will get my last year Boston mix, the one I listened to in the car on the drive to the start.

Exciting, right? I’ll will say upfront that some of the songs are *not* the radio edits.  Here’s how you can enter to win:

Tell me a joke.  Preferably a dirty or risque one.

Yup. Only one way to enter.  I hate it when people make you jump through hoops.  And since it’s a homemade giveaway I’m not going to be that mean.  Just tell me a joke to make me laugh.  It’s been a rough training cycle.  You have until Monday the 18th at 1000.  Which is when I’ll start my 26.2 mile to Boston.

Ready? BREAK!

 

Clearly Racing Means Fast Post-Race Runs

Holy Moly guys!

Thanks so much for all the amazingly nice comments on my race report from this weekend (especially the ones where you guys said that me and Lacey were way cute and adorable hahah)! It definitely makes me smile to read them and makes me feel really special 8)

I want to give you a big bear hug 🙂 (and note that his sign says "Teddy McIntosh says Eat More Fruit". Awesomeness.)

I’m still kind of on cloud 9 post-race.  It still *really* hasn’t hit me how fast I ran or how much of a PR that race was.  I can tell in subtle ways though.  Despite my saying I wasn’t sore at all the day after the race I can feel my quads and shins hardcore now.  Nothing “OW” inducing but enough that I would really like a massage.  Preferably by a hot male.

Do I have to beg?! Hahahah

I can also tell because my runs in the days that followed have been pretty fast.  Even with the muscle soreness.  I know that seems a bit counter-intuitive but I’ve typically found that after a hard effort my subsequent runs are faster.  Even if they don’t feel that way in the moment.

Here’s a rundown of my working out post-race

Monday was a run in the continued AMAZINGNESS that was post-hurricane Earl (if you could even call it a hurricane.  Neither was it a tropical storm.  Only heavy rain.) The weather truly felt like fall and the run felt good because of that.  My legs weren’t feeling fresh (duh) but my pace was an 8:33 which kind of stunned me a bit just because I had RACED HARD the day before. I also biked today because there was no food in my house when I got back from NH so my brother and I biked to a sub shop to catch up and eat — I love how I’m a bit closer with my siblings now that I’ve moved out of my hometown! I suppose I also got in some “lifting” because I had to move some more furniture to take with me.

Tuesday found me back in RI and back on the pathway.  Because of my work schedule I was able to “sleep in” and that was pleasant.  I love waking up on my own, even if it’s still pre-0700, and feeling the covers engulf you.  Of course I did eventually get up after laying there and was rewarded with sore quads and shins.  Not that I didn’t see this coming because when I woke up on Monday I felt it too but man, I really thought about going back to bed! Like always, I’m glad I didn’t because I was rewarded with this run

• 1st loop: 4.1 miles @ 8:40
• 2nd loop: 4.1 miles @ 8:33
• Add-on:     1.1 miles @ 8:15
• Total:            9.3 miles @ 8:34

A great run for sure and it was really surprising to see such a fast first loop.  I really did tell myself (out loud too!) that I wasn’t going to try and pass anyone and do racing a la Jess (which I know I’m just linking to her homepage but whenever I “race” someone I think of her!).  Well I guess the competitive juices were flowing (or my beat – frequency theory from aways back was brought up) because I wanted to pass all those runners out there.  Oops.

Wednesday was a weird start time (for a Wednesday) because there was a clinic (the 2nd Wednesday of every month has a women’s clinic and the 4th Monday has a men’s clinic in addition to the regular Tuesday / Thursday primary care ones) so I got to sleep in AGAIN.  Hoooooooooooollllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.  I woke up with an alarm though.  It wasn’t obscenely early or anything (if fact it was the same time as Tuesday) and I was able to lay in bed for a bit before getting up.  The shin soreness had subsided a bit but the quads still felt like I had lifted heavy!

I hit the pathway again with the following results

• 1st loop: 4.1 miles @ 9:01
• 2nd loop: 4.1 miles @ 8:30
• Add-on:     1.1 miles @ 8:15
• Total:            9.3 miles @ 8:42

The reason the second loop was so fast was because a thunderstorm kind of popped up out of the middle of nowhere! And, of course, it had to pop up when I was at the FURTHEST point from my apartment.  Nothing like lighting overhead to make you haul ass.  Interestingly enough when I first heard the thunder (and then saw the lightning) my first thought was “oh #$#@ I’m NOT going to be able to run faster”.  And I actually didn’t feel like I was.  But there’s got to be something said about survival mechanisms or something like that because I did run faster.  The storm passed through really quickly (it went from sunny and happy to dark and scary and then back again in a matter of 20 minutes or so) and by the time I got back to my apartment I was able to tack on the extra Add-on.

So that’s the deal-io with my running post-race.  I’m sure that running so many miles isn’t advisable.  But when have I EVER done anything advisable.  Seriously.  I dare someone to say something and challenge that.  I double dare ya 😉

Thank you google images

I just always feel good / fast the week after a race.  I figure that my body will tell me to go slow when it needs to (it has never had a problem doing so in the past!)

Looking ahead though I think that I’m racing a 5k next weekend (aka not this upcoming one but the next) And, depending on schedules and which one I end up choosing,  it might be with Lacey again (that girl is going to get SO sick of me hahahah).  I’m hoping that I can trust my new strategy of GO OUT HARD AND HOLD ON to get another PR.  I ran my first (and so far only) 5k around this time last year so it’ll be interesting to see how I’ve progressed in the past year.  I’m planning on adding one legit speed-work session and some some quicker overall runs sometime between now and 10 days from now (YIKES) just because I know I clearly have endurance but I haven’t done anything purposely fast since my Boston training days.

The same goes for the Tufts 10k this year as well (which I just found out that my work is going to SPONSOR me to run.  Maybe not sponsorship in the most technical definition of the word — because I don’t even know what that would be — and I would have run it anyway but now I just don’ t have to pay — always a good thing), which is more of a goal race than any 5k I’m going to do.  I’m ready to smash some more PRs. This past weekend was extremely cloud-9-y and scary as well.  But I’m ready to embrace it.

On a totally NOT running related note: a few weeks ago I won a giveaway from Jess (yup she gets double link love today and I also am 100% aware that I have about 3-4 reviews to do and post.  Most of them are already written I just need to polish them! Oops.) Now this isn’t going to be a review per se but I wanted to share what I won and how cool it was.

It was also my very FIRST package at my new place.  I had only been here for a few days and it was wonderful to get home from work and find this

And then when I opened it up:

Always a good thing to be told that.  Not that it would have stopped me anyway  😀

Here’s some of the loot that was inside:

Coupons and chapstick and tea. OH MY 🙂

Recipes. Yum. Maybe now I’ll actually have to start baking.

So thanks Jess! And check out these other giveaways from ShutUpAndRun and Marcia. Or not because I want them 😛

Happy 200th

First off: This is my 200th post! I was going to post my weekly stats this morning but decided I didn’t want to “waste” my 200th — even though this post is not going to talk about it from this point out hahaha.

Oh man. And to think that Monday’s shouldn’t be that busy for me.  But it’s 1830. I’ve been up since 0530 (stupid insomnia!) and this is the first time I’ve had to myself.  Sheesh.

Anyway.  Like I just said I didn’t get that much sleep last night.  I was up semi-late trying to figure out what I want to do for my proposal that I mentioned yesterday.  Needless to say it was a bit frustrating and I didn’t get anything done with it.  I just kept looking at articles but nothing was clicking with me.  Grrrrrrr. So I thought that it would translate to a terrible run.

But I keep forgetting how AWESOME I am (and I say that in the most modest way I assure you).  I mean, the run wasn’t the greatest pace wise but it was much better than Mondays of the past.  Muy bueno. My one complaint was the temperature.  The high for yesterday was 68*.  The overnight low was about 28* and about 32* when I got up.  I (stupidly) did not check the weather forecast and froze my little butt off haha.  Not really but my hands and fingers were not appreciative.  I think I need to start looking into better gloves for the winter.  Although I don’t really know why I try, I’ve done the triple layering occasionally to no avail. Stupid poor circulation!

Despite the DST change last weekend the sun still continues to rise later and later.  Boo! So now I’m waking up in darkness but after doing my core routine I have sunshine.  Gosh I really do hate going into these winter months.

Either way sunshine (and not clouds) lifts my mood.  Tremendously and I was able to get through 7 miles quite effortlessly.  My HR stayed low the entire time which was nice and, once I was done, quickly went back to resting.

The run itself was great.  The first 5 miles or so felt strong — which, despite running well the past week, has rarely been the case.  Maybe I was pushing too hard, trying to burn off that frustration of the night before as well as the insomnia.  Regardless the last two miles significantly slowed down and prolly is where the slow overall pace comes in.  The annoying thing is that I could *feel* myself fading over the last couple miles.  And there really wasn’t anything I could do about it!

Overall, however, I’m happy with the run.  I look at it as a Monday run that was much better than usual.  A bonus. I’m trying to embrace things that annoy me or that I dislike.  My theory is that if you can accept this stuff then life is good.  I’m trying it out with slow runs and winter.  We’ll see if my overall mood improves.  I’ve been content so far!

Also, I’ve been getting pretty nervous about this weekend.  I’m hitting “real person age”.  It’s a bit scary. I was thinking of running my age in miles that day, as the older I get the more miles I’d have to do (duh!).  But now I’m not so sure.  See, I’ve planned a three day extravaganza of debauchery.   Well maybe only two (Thurs & Sat as I’ll likely need Friday to recover from Thurs haha).  The thing is that my body doesn’t recover like it did back in the days (haha I sound real old now).  I guess if I take it easy Friday night — and I plan to watch El Laberinto del Fauno and take it easy — maybe I can still do it? I still got a few days to decide.

Alright back to putting my nose on the Monday grindstone.  Lots and lots to do!

Also: Natalie over at NoNo2YoYo is having a giveaway, plus that post I just linked too also has sweet info about Project Feed Me which is soooo cool.  Sign up! (and tell her that I was the one you found out about this from)

AND re: Spanish TA. I’m not sure I believe the rumors and it’s literally one or two things I’ve heard from other ppl.  Definitely not giving up yet 🙂

Hello again legs

Trying for a quick post in between assignments — we’ll see how I do 😉

Thanks for all the positive vibes from my post yesterday.  I’m glad that I cut my run short yesterday because I had a really good 9 miler this morning.  It was cold (again — maybe fall really is here?) and I wore my gloves with a tee and shorts.  Seriously, it’s a hot look.

I woke up 10 minutes before my alarm but, and this is totally unlike me, I feel back asleep! It was still dark when my alarm so rudely went off so I chose to do my core routine before my run while I waited for the pre-dawn light to show up.

I decided to do half of my add-on portion before the “main course” so that if today was a bust with the legs then my overall mileage wouldn’t be shot for the week (yes sorry SpecialK, today I was determined to get a certain distance in before I listened to my body!) Well maybe not sorry because it turned out that I did all that plus a little extra at the end because my body was feeling good.  Not Kenyon good but there were no aches and pains or overall lethargy.

I ended up with 9 miles.  Now, I know that it looks like a lot (well to me at least and before a race this weekend) but I figured that I wasn’t going to get a real long run in with the 5k so I would do a mid-distance run which, coupled with the mid-distance stuff earlier this week (well most of this week), would even out in my overall mileage.  And if I’m feeling  good being sleep deprived (like I did on Wed with my speed session) I’m really going to try hard to get a good night of sleep tonight and (hopefully) tmrw.

But I think I’ve identified part of the problem of my lack of sleep: my hydration strategy.  I drink very little during the day (despite lugging around a water bottle!) and then when the night falls I’m like, oh shoot (except a little more explicit) and drink a liter or so of water and other fluids.  Leading me to get up once or twice during the night.  Clearly interrupting my sleep cycle. So I want to start drinking more during the day.

So far today: FAIL.  I mean, there’s definitely still time to rectify this before my sleep is interrupted but failure just the same.

Before I sign off (and yes I know this really wasn’t that quick of a post, I tend to ramble 🙂 ) I have a question to pose to y’all: How important is a good night of sleep the night before the race? Typically I’ve been told that it’s the night before the night before that counts (which would be tonight).  The reason I ask is that my friend is celebrating her 21st on Saturday night.  I’m obv going (not going to get smashed though) but I’m just trying to think how late I want to stay out.  Currently I’m planning on doing the dinner / Waterfire portion on the night but heading back to campus around the time they go to the clubs and start the heavy drinking. I think it’s a good compromise but still, how important is that night of sleep / resting up?

P.S. (Gosh can I pull together a quick post? Ah the art of procrastination ha). Jess is having a great giveaway. Check it out — although I will say that I don’t really want you to because I want to increase my chances of winning!

Fierce

In my last post, the clouds were all figurative. Apparently the weather gods took a dislike to my being happy about the sun.  It rained and poured and thundered and lightning’d.  The sky was pitch black at points and it looked like armageddon.

Ok, so it might not have been *that* bad.  But it was still mighty unpleasant out there.  Luckily I am a weather.com fiend and was able to time my run so that I was out there for the only minutes of the day that was run-able.  Yippee!

8 miles. Prolly exact too.  And at an exact, even minute, pace. My inner OCD loved it. My legs were throbbing and tight today but what did I expect when my run yesterday was really fast (without intending it to be) and I pushed my entire body through strength? Even the act of getting out of bed was tough on the ole muscles. Nothing really spectacular on this run, which really annoys me as this is supposed to be a running blog.  If nothing special happens it forces me to come up with something interesting.  Which requires brainpower. Which is a very precious commodity these days. *LeSigh*

Hmmmm, well I  meant to use The Stick last night while parking my butt on the couch and watching The Closer, but that idea flew right out of my head so fast I doubt it was an actual thought. So be it though, and tonight I vow to do better. Stretch too. Very important!

I also plan on doing better in my studying.  I’ve just been so lazy on that front.  Like, I know that running and reading are important to me but this stupid test costs more than I make in a week.  I could put a little more effort into it, you know?

Speaking of reading, I am sooo into the Alphabet Series.  As I can never put together a succinct summary of anything, check out that link.  My g’ma got me into it forever ago and I’m almost caught up (the next one coming out this winter is U).  I love reading and once I start a good mystery / detective / military book, I will not put it down.  Very very dangerous when I have actual work to do, or when I need to sleep as I often unwind from a long day by reading before I go to bed.

Also speaking of reading, Monica over at RunEatRepeat has a great contest that you should check out.  Or not, as the less people who check it out means the greater chance I have of winning the prize. Heh.

Wow. Complete hodgepodge of ideas here.  I will tie everything back to running by posing this question: anyone have a favorite / really good running plan they love for a half? I’ve set my sights on 2 halfs for the fall but don’t really want to follow RWOL’s SmartCoach again.  I want something that will really really push me and make me a fierce competitor. Woah about those pictures. I had to do it. And here’s another (my personal favorite) because I really can’t resist. Story for another day I’m sure but trust me, I’m giggling with delight here, plus I totally changed the name of this post to reflect that.  🙂

Awesome Giveaway

…so I’m not giving stuff away. BUT Bobbi at NHherShoes has a great giveaway going which ends on Sunday  Check it out!