Capping Week #12: Sunday 10K tune up race

I woke up at 4:50 a.m. only to hit the snooze button three times. Finally I dragged myself out of bed to get ready for this much awaited 10K. Using The results today, I will be able to gauge my progress with my marathon training using Hal Higdon's plan. I know it's not specific enough for a 10k training, but I should see some improvement. A PR would be very sweet, but any kind of improvement would prove the program has done wonders for my training already.

I was reading the night before on some blog, that for a 10k there was really no need to eat too much beforehand. My routine has always been, coffee, banana, oatmeal, a toast with peanut butter. I chose to have only coffee and oatmeal today. Bad decision. I ate at 5:30 a.m. while the race was not until 8am. By the time I warmed up, I felt hungry! Aaaargh! I learned my lesson. Can you see where this is going?

The weather was a cool 55 degrees with cloud cover the whole time. The RD blew the air horn at 8:02 and we were off! I consciously paid attention to my pace. In the first mile I planned to go about 8:10-8:15 pace. I placed myself at the back of the pack to get the fast people away from me and also so that I wouldn't be tempted to run fast. This was good. When looked at my Garmin, my pace still showed 8:03. Somehow it didn't feel like I was going fast however. So I slowed it down. The pace felt good. I was relaxed and not huffing and puffing by the first 1/2 mile, right around the first and only hill, compared to all other times that I've raced this course. I was happy and proud of myself for sticking to the plan this first mile, the second, and then the third mile. Increasingly, the pace felt harder to maintain when I got past the halfway mark. Then out of nowhere, an incredible side stitch popped up. It was hard to breathe with each landing of my foot. I knew I was in big trouble. The only way I could tolerate the pain in my diaphragm was to slow down to a 9:00 minute crawl! I was mad. There was nothing I could do. I wished I could blame it on the weather, or the course. But it was all me. I wasted so much time and felt helpless as people I passed earlier were now hunting me down. It became a matter of surviving the run and just finishing. At one point, I even thought of walking over to the side and quitting. I had a good pace and now it was gone. After a while, I managed to just keep it together one step at a time. There will be another day where I can redeem myself. With 1/2 mile to go, I dusted myself up and focused on chasing down the final gal in pigtails who passed me last as I struggled through my side stitch. With two blocks I overtook her and made the final turn to the finish. The clock read 52:23. I missed my goal by 24 seconds! I was disappointed that I never once checked my watch to see how close I was.

This was not a PR, but a course record for me. This is my second best time for a 10K, having shaved a full minute from my old best time from the same course in 2005. From the most recent time I ran this course in 2009, I chopped of a minute and twenty seconds. So I guess I should be happy about those facts. But it stings knowing I let it slipped away and only 24 seconds shy of 51:00. Back to the drawing board. I don't know what I did different to get that side stitch. I've had it in training run, but never in a race. I sure would like to know how to prevent it from happening again. Hopefully it won't happen in NY!

Well, that is it for this week with just under 29 miles for the week #13 It was a pull back week so the mileage dropped a bit, about 50%. I needed more rest so I dropped 10 miles to recover. I am sure Hal Higdon is fine with that. Next week, I go back up to the 55 mile zone.
I feel like I've gathered more strength to face Week #14.

Mon-rest
Tues-10
Wed-7 x hills
Thur-4
Fri-rest
Sat-10
Sun-20

Happy Running!

NYC Marathon Training Week #12: Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday was a recovery run with a friend. I left my watch charging at the office so I had to go without it this morning. I also ran unplugged. That gave us a chance to talk. Well, my friend talked while I listened. It's hard for me to talk and run at the same time. I don't know how others do it.

From time to time, it's nice not to have anything stuck in your ears or glued to your wrist. I must say it was kind of liberating. But old habits die hard, I still had to ask what time we started and ended...I needed some kind of idea what our pace was. Hey I am a sucker for data, what can I say?

Yasso repeats are my favorite workout for speed. I was a little dissapointed when I asked the Coach what was more important to do tonight. She told me to hold off on the Yassos and do the following workout instead: 1000, 2x800, 4x400 each with lap recovery. She said that I would benefit more from this workout for my planned 10k this Sunday. I trusted her knowledge. I asked and I got my answer.

At the end of the night, I was so happy to see the numbers that I produced. I went out like a bat for the 1000m. I was trying to hold on to the leaders. I knew I should have backed off a little to save some gas for the 800s. The excitement got to me. I was not quite recovered yet when the first 800s started. Then after a lap recovery, I was back on track. At the start of the 400s, I kept telling myself, it's short, push it! The uncomfortable pain is only temporary. I wanted to stay close to the pack. I knew I was going fast, but I just stayed with them as best I could. The 3rd 400, I felt like calling it quits. My mind wandered off to saying, let this be your last one. After the lap recovery, I felt better and my legs were cooperative. I pushed it and it was nice to have another girl to push me when I needed it. She came up to my side with 200 meters to go. I was afraid she was going to pass me like she did in the 3rd 400, but I managed to turn the legs over faster. I felt like I was flying and barely touching the ground. Mind you, I can only run like this for less than 200 meters. I can't imagine those who can fly like this for 26.2 freakin' miles! Boy was I glad it was over. I had a huge side stitch at the end. Below are my results:

1000 4:27 (7:03 pace) 169 bpm
800 4:15 (8:27 pace) 163
800 3:55 (7:46 pace) 168
400 1:38 (6:23 pace) 165
400 1:40 (6:31 pace) 166
400 1:51 (7:32 pace) 159
400 1:43 (6:39 pace) 162

Feeling awesome! I thought the pace for my 400s were a fluke. Did my Garmin malfunction? Are those 6's for real? Shut up! Somebody pinch me!

Looking forward to my 10k race on Sunday! I'm looking to PR. It's been a while that I've done a personal best for a 10k. but my training has been going so well, I would very much like to see how much this plan has helped me thus far in the training with 8 weeks left to go. Stay tuned...
Happy Running

NYC Marathon Training Week #11: Going Long

SUNDAY BEST LONG RUN

Topping off Week #11 at 55 miles with long run of 3:24:56 in the dark at 9:30 p.m.  This has to be one my more toughest weeks so far. The two weekends with back to back 19 and 20 long runs coupled with 9 miler pace run and a 10 mile on Saturdays was definitely a challenge. Adding to the challenge was other life interruptions and finding a window to run.

1^st half 1:42:14 (pace 10:13)

2^nd half 1:42:46 (pace 10:16)

28 seconds slower in the 2^nd half.

Best mile was last mile, fast finish  at 8:52 pace

Average pace was 10:15 (66 seconds slower than my goal pace of 9:09)

The day was tough.  We had a busy day the day before with the soccer game for Little Bit and having to run to the Bay Area and back in the same day to visit my sick uncle.  We got home at 2:30 am.  Needless to say we slept in. I woke up at 9 am thinking I was ready to go, but my stomach had another idea.  I must have eaten  something that didn’t agree with my system. I had to wait around to see if it will cure itself before hitting the road—just to be safe. In the meantime, I was out of my gels and needed to get some before the run. I also need my recovery chocolate drink. On top of that my ipod didn’t charge right.  There was no way I was running the 20 without my music. Seems like everything was working against me today.  I was worried that I may not be able to complete my long run.

When the going gets rough, just work with it.  Little Bit has been wanting to play tennis, all morning she’s been asking me if we could play. Since I couldn’t run anyway, I decided to spend some time with her.  We decided to do a mom and daughter time: shopping at Target.  I got a chance to get my nutritional stuff for running, get some lunch at our favorite Chinese Restaurant and then we were off to the tennis courts.  We’re no pros, but it was fun hitting the balls around. I might have tweaked my Achilles and ankles a bit from running side to side. Note for next time: not a  good idea to play tennis before running a 20-miler.

By the time I got out there it was close to 6 p.m. I knew I was going to be caught in the dark so I brought my headlamp with me. I decided to run a tougher course with lots short hills. I ran the Baywood course in the first 6 miles and headed towards Los Osos Valley Road (LOVR).  I like this because it is a straight. There is a long gradual incline that stretches out to one mile and two steeper hill inclines.  My ankles were none too happy especially after  tennis. But I was paying attention to my footing in the dark.

It was a hard night. Somewhere between mile 14 and 15, I was thinking I need to just call home and get Hubs to pick me up. My mind was totally made up. I thought, what am I doing here in the dark? I missed my window, I still have 2 more 20 milers on the schedule anyway, I can do it then.  Make this one a short 16 and call it a night. Then I realized, I hadn’t had a gel and it was my left brain taking over.  A quick swig of water and I emptied that gel in my mouth. A few seconds later,  I started thinking, if Mike W. can whip out a 24 miler in 1,800 elevation gain, why couldn’t  my sorry ass finish this run, with only 5 more to go? Pretty soon the 15 turned into 16, then 17, then 18. When I got to 19, I knew there was no need to call Hubs, although I knew he must be worried about me.  So I did call him on my cool down to let him know I was 3 blocks away from home. While walking home, I was exhilarated that I finished..to think that I almost quit was something else.  All I was, was tired, cold, wet and hungry. After a while it felt like my shoes lost its cushion.  I felt gravel under my feet. Sure my ankles and the bottom of my feet hurt (my orthotics slid to the side, causing my arch to hurt), but other than that, I had no injuries to nurse. I had no excuses to cut the run short. I had my ipod, my gels, and my chocolate milk waiting for me when I got home.  I needed to finish this run and I am glad I did.

While contemplating about cutting the run short, I thought about missing the 55 miles for the week. I was kind of excited that I have the chance to prove to myself that I am capable of running this mileage. I’ve never come close to it. I may have run 45 miles last year during the peak of the training period for NY. This is the first time that I am running strong with no injuries to hamper my quest to reach 55.    Also, cutting the miles short would have meant that I wouldn’t be able to finish the b2b long runs.  This was sort of the last piece to the puzzle. I needed to string two long runs together with success. If I quit now, that would be it, there was no other back 2 back scheduled in the long run. This was the peak in my eyes. Everything else from here on out should be smooth sailing.  Sure I have another 2 sets of 20 milers coming up, but they are sandwiched between pull back weeks with lower mileage.  No more back to back.

It turns out that this 20-miler is one of my more consistent even pacing run that I’d ever done. I don’t know if the factor was darkness or my body being tired that was the result of the slowdown in the 2^nd half.  When I got to the 19^th mile, I was back in the lights of the town so I was able to pick up the pace, also because I could see better. There is no feeling to describe when you reach that last mile knowing you almost quit and here you are crossing that boundary.  Pushing it while you are tired and hurting is only temporary, crossing that line knowing you completed however many miles it maybe--two or a hundred--is a memory that lasts forever. This is why I live to run, the hard days are ever so sweet and rewarding. I cherish it even more so knowing I could have quit but pushed through the negative thoughts. When the body says “it’s time” and the brain negotiates “little bit more” and then finally the brain wins, you win.

For week #12, Hal Higdon’s Marathon Training Advance 1 looks like this:

Mon —Rest

Tues  —6 easy

WED —6Yasso

Thurs — 2 easy

Fri—12 easy (moved it to Friday since I have a 10K on Sunday)

Sat—Rest

Sun—10K Heritage Oaks  (this will take the place of my 6 mi pace run

Happy running and I hope your training is going as well as mine! We have 47 days left!