First Bonk - The Blame Game

This morning's training run can only be described in one word (well... one word that won't make you think that I'm a foul-mouthed pirate... which I am by the way, but for the sake of appearances I will refrain):

CRAPTASTIC.

Yes, friends, it was so bad that I can't even use a real  word to describe it.

Everything about it was just painful. My legs felt like bricks. It's been a long time since my legs felt this heavy. In addition, all of the joints in my legs were aching: my ankles, my knees, and my hips. It is extremely unusual for my joints to hurt, especially my knees. And I was just exhausted. All that I wanted to do from the second my alarm went off at 5:30 am was go back to bed and I just wasn't able to shake that feeling.

It was supposed to be a tempo run. Instead, it was a completely schizophrenic run.

Oh, and it was also a mile too long. That's what happens when you don't plan adequately and decide to try some new trails on the fly.

I honestly don't know why I was achy and tired this morning. So, I'll do what all runners do and find something to blame. First, I'm going to blame the weather.

I've certainly run in worse conditions (thank goodness it was cloudy), but the humidity was just really getting to me today.

And I'm also going to blame what I believe is the culprit behind my leg pains:

I'm lookin' at YOU, PureCadence 2!

As any runner will tell you, the relationship between a runner and his or her shoes is a deep, abiding love affair. Your shoes are your most important piece of equipment - the wrong pair can wreak havoc and the right pair make you feel like every step is heaven. Getting to that right pair is often a long, annoying, and arduous process and most people cling dearly to their favorite brand and model for as long as possible - much like Rose clung to Jack's frozen but still handsome corpse in the cold North Atlantic.

Image Source
Yes, I did just reference Titanic.

(Come on, you know it's true!)

It took me a while, but last year I discovered my Jack Dawson in the form of the Brooks PureCadence. After I wore out my first pair, Husband bought me my second pair for our anniversary... and literally the day after they arrived, I broke my foot. They sat in my closet until January, when they were baptized on the vita course and became known as "My pinks."

You get the point. I loved these shoes. Correction: LOVE those shoes. My pinks helped me PR all those springtime races and then some. They went to Italy with me, carried me through Pompeii and Positano, then to my favorite gelateria in all of Rome. When I got back, I continued to wear them even though I knew they were on their last legs.

And then the WORST THING THAT CAN POSSIBLY HAPPEN TO A RUNNER HAPPENED TO ME.

THEY CHANGED MY SHOES.

And I didn't realize they were changing them until it was too late to buy 10 pairs at the sale price.

Around the time of the Monument Avenue 10k, I knew I would need to get another pair, but after reading the abysmal reviews of the PureCadence 2 on the Brooks website, I was reluctant. At the 10k Expo, I stopped by the Brooks booth just to try them on and ended up letting the guy talk me into buying a pair. I bought his story that the only thing that had changed about the shoe was the upper.

Over 100 miles later, I don't believe him. These shoes are not my Jack Dawson. They are my Cal Hockley.

I held onto my pinks until Marathon training started. On one of my first outings in the the PureCadence 2 was  the first day of MTT. You know... the day when I body surfed the sidewalk during mile 2. I should have known then that these shoes were bad news.

As the training cycle has progressed, I've almost fallen on my face a few more times (abnormal behavior for me, I swear); my foot has started to feel wonky; my up until now completely fine socks started to slip back into the heel of the shoe (annoying!); and then my knees started to hurt.

I can't attribute any of this to an increase in mileage; in fact, up to this point, my weekly mileage is still below what I was doing back in March and through April. The only thing that has changed is the shoe.

Even before this morning's horrible run, I was seeking out an alternative. Yesterday, I chatted online with a Brooks specialist to get some recommendations for a shoe that was slightly more cushioned than the PureCadence. He recommended the Ghost or the Launch. I was intrigued by the Launch, but it is apparently sold out just about everywhere (I guess because it is THAT good). I filed away the information, thinking I'd wait a little while longer to start the whole trying-to-find-a-new-perfect-shoe-dance.

But after this morning's run, I'd had enough. This afternoon after work, I headed directly to my local running store, Road Runner (not to be confused with Road Runner Sports) in Carytown and asked to try on the Ghost 6 and the Mizuno Wave Rider 16. I've heard lots of people rave about the Wave Rider and figured I have nothing to lose.

Omigod... shoes

I thought that the Ghosts would feel like bricks after running in PureCadence for more than a year, but they were surprisingly light and definitely afforded more cushion than the PureCadence 2. I wanted to love the Mizunos because I feel like all the cool kids wear them, but they felt too narrow in the ankle or something.

So, about five minutes after walking in, I walked out having blown a wad of cash on a shiny new pair of Brooks Ghost 6s.

I'm giving my legs a much needed rest day day tomorrow and won't run again until Saturday's 11 mile MTT run... sooooo I won't be trying them out officially until next Monday. 

Here's to hoping that these Ghosts do the trick, though I must say that they are not nearly as good looking as my pinks. 

Race Report: Patriots 5k

I was really excited about doing this race this year because it combines three of my favorite things:

1. The Fourth of July
2. Running
3. Marines

Hosted by the Richmond Marine Corps League (with support from Richmond Road Runners), the event proceeds go to the Wounded Warriors Project. 

Even though the 4th is my favorite holiday, I'm not a particularly patriotic person. But if I do have one weakness, it is Marines - particularly Marine veterans of World War II, who I affectionately refer to as "little old men Marines." I am a SUCKER for any old man in a uniform. At the grocery store, I can walk right past the Boy Scouts selling popcorn, the Girl Scouts shilling cookies, and the Salvation Army bell ringers without a second thought,  but on Veterans Day there is a group of vets who sell little fake poppies and I buy them every time. Whenever a news magazine-type show features a segment about a Marine, I am watching it and crying like a baby. A recent CBS Sunday Morning piece about a WWII vet who volunteers at the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans made me want to jump on a plane so I can go meet the man and hug him before it's too late.

This affinity for Marines is directly attributed to my Grandfather and my Uncle Bud, both of whom proudly served during World War II. I loved both of these men dearly and whenever I see a little old man Marine proudly wearing his uniform, I see them.

Anyway, this is a race recap. Right. SO, I was really excited about participating in this race.

This was an extremely small "club" race held at Robious Landing Park in Midlothian, Virginia. Unfortunately, Robious Landing Park is basically on the other side of the world from where I live, so I had to wake up pretty early to meet Marcey at the appointed rendezvous time of 7:45 am. Knowing that it was a tiny operation, I wasn't expecting there to be any signage pointing the way, but there was and it was simple yet charming:

Got it.

Being me, I ended up getting there early, so I parked and headed to pick up our race numbers and t-shirts. Pick up was located in a shelter just next to the parking lot and was run by -you guessed it- little old men Marines! I'm pretty sure I grinned like an idiot the entire time and had to suppress the urge to request a photo of myself with the Marines.

Marcey arrived shortly thereafter with some special holiday flair to add to our red, white, and blue ensembles:

And then I watched a group of young Marines do THIRTY push ups in the parking lot. I was completely in awe of this... I can barely do 12 girly push ups without my arms turning into noodles. And they did it so quickly, too!

Seriously. Impressive.

Robious Landing Park is right along the James River, so Marcey and I took the opportunity to take some pre-race photos to kill time until the race start at 8:30 am. 

Brown from all the rain, but still pretty(ish)

My red, white, and blue race ensemble

Marcey and I have a habit of showing up late to the starting line for RRRC races, and this was no exception. We made our way into the starting area just in time for the Star Spangled Banner, which was performed by a flute player. Pretty sure this is the first time I've EVER heard a solo flutist play the SSB at a sporting event (or ever), but seeing as how Marcey and I are both flute players, it was kind of awesome.

Even more awesome? She also ran the race.

Up until the race actually started, I wasn't sure whether I was going to actually "race" this one or just kind of bumble along the trails at a comfortable pace. When I woke up the morning of, I told myself I was going to take it easy and not push anything, as I was being risky and running three days in a row. But during the long 45-minute drive to Midlothian, I started to think that I should just all out race it because it was a small field and maybe I would be able to place. 

Even as I was standing near the back of the group of runners in the corral with Marcey, I was unsure of what I was going to do. 

The race started and we were off. I told myself to hang back and just relax... but I just couldn't do it. I normally don't think of myself as a very competitive person, but I was having way too much fun coming from the back and picking people off one by one. 

The course was two loops around a relatively narrow trail through the wooded park - sometimes covered with crushed stones, sometimes with muddy patches, sometimes with puddles of water that runners lept over (or ran through... crazy people if you ask me). It was very humid, but the wooded trail kept us almost entirely in the shade, which was a good thing because for the few minutes that we were in the sun, the temperature suddenly felt much more brutal. 

I was having a great time dodging mud, leaping over water, and enjoying the strange solitary feeling of a trail race. Near the end, I saw a young man wearing a yellow Marine Corps shirt stop to walk in front of me. As I passed him, I gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and yelled, "Less than a quarter mile, don't give up now!" He nodded at me and I heard him start to run again. 

The race had a fast ending down a paved hill. I wish someone had been closer to me so I would've had that extra little inspiration to turn up the heat as I crossed the finish line. As it was, I ran across maintaining a similar speed.

As soon as I finished I went to find some water and came up with this, which was being handed out for free:

NOS Energy Drink

I immediately began to guzzle it because I was sweating like crazy and dying of thirst. It was only after I'd drank half of it that I noticed the scary warning label that this drink contained high amounts of caffeine and was not recommended for children, pregnant or breast feeding women, or caffeine sensitive persons. I'm none of these, but I've never had an energy drink in my life so I was kind of freaked out and thinking that having something like that was probably not the best idea after running an incredibly sweaty 3 mile race (doesn't caffeine dehydrate you??).

I walked about 100 yards up the hill from the finish to wait for Marcey and managed to snap this pretty good action shot while screaming inspirational phrases (ha!):

The inspirational phrases were more like "BEAT HER! CATCH HER MARCEY! BEEEEEEEEEEEAT HER!"

Marcey did beat her, at the very last second. 

As for me? I didn't do so badly, placing third in my age group (out of ten) and 44th out of 312 with an RRRC official time of 26:12. I was only six seconds back from second place, and I'm going to blame my third place finish on the fact that I had to stop and tie my stupid sneaker during mile 2. 

Here's what the Almighty Garmin had to say:

You'll also notice that I didn't quite  get 3.1 miles... and I really wish that I had just runa nother .03 to actually get the 5k. Although this wasn't a PR (especially considering that I didn't technically run 5k), I still feel pretty good about my performance. I started in the back of the pack, this was trails and not road, and it was extremely humid. 

Post race shiney and sweaty. Yum.

Once we toweled off a bit, Marcey and I headed to Virginia Diner to celebrate the successful completion of Year of Running Race #8 and America's birthday with crab cakes (for me) and french toast (for her).

All in all, it was a fun little race that I would do again... mainly so I can giggle like a school girl as I pick up my race packet from cute little old men Marines and be inspired by young men Marines doing push ups in the parking lot pre-race.

Richmond Marathon Training Take 2 - Week 5

Last week, I started my training report by whining about how it is always raining on Mondays and ruining my morning run plans. Without fail, it was pouring rain yet again this morning. I didn't even realize it was raining until after  I had slathered myself with sunscreen. Figures.

Also without fail, here is my marathon training report:

4 runs for 23.3 miles
No cross training (bad)

Running miles logged so far: 92.3

This week was a little bit wonky because of the holiday, and as you can see I broke one of my big rules and ended up running not only 2 days back-to-back, but THREE. Cross training just didn't happen, though I did my usual combo of planks, stretches, and crunches every night.

Training highlights:

• A perfectly executed progressive speed work run completed on Monday.
• A real tempo run on Wednesday, as opposed to the usual, "Let's just run fast."
• Placed 3rd in my age group at the Patriots 5k on July 4th.

I placed first in "stupid jumping pictures."

• Survived the first double-digit run of this training cycle: a solo 10 miler on Friday. No music, no company... just me, my crazy thoughts, and an overall average pace of 8:47.

Ten miles of SWEAT.

Training lowlights:

• Not exactly a "lowlight", but I really missed running with Team Navy this week. I was out of town on Saturday and had to get the 10 miler in by myself on Friday morning. It made me wonder how in the world I did those weeks of marathon training (take 1) by myself last year.
• My mind was on my foot this week. It hasn't been hurting but I have been aware of it... and the more I think about it, the more I think it feels funny. During the ten-miler, I opted to run four laps on the dreaded vita course just in case  something went terribly wrong and I needed assistance. Honestly, I think the whole thing is 50% mental and 50% the fact that my foot swells at the drop of a hat these days and I think the discomfort is more from the foot swelling in my shoe than from anything else.
• Breaking the rules and running three days in a row. It just happened that way, ok? I was scared about it (there's the mental part of my foot discomfort), and luckily it was fine, but I will not be making a habit of it.

This week I vow to add my cross training back in and am looking forward to 11 miles with Team Navy on Saturday!