Two years later...and I am back baby

Okay so it's been about 2 years since I posted on the blog. I had to abandon my 2010 marathon attempt due to a very bad hip injury (bursitis) that required a few months of PT and ultrasound. I am happy to report that it is fully healed and awesome. I ended up doing a few half marathons that year instead. I did okay, they were slow, but I got the miles in. So in 2011 I had a break through year on the running front. I dropped about 10#, and trained for my next marathon using the First Program, in which you only run 3x per week. I really got quite beaten up last time, and I think that was the problem. My body is just not good on more than that. Anyway, it worked like a charm and I ended up doing my second marathon in 4:22, 29 minutes faster than the last effort. I never walked, never had problems like hitting the wall. I was just very well trained with 5 20+ mile training runs in. Then I started training for a triathlon again, as I really did enjoy doing that back in the day. I was sucking at swimming still, but getting it done. I also decided to buy a road bike and LOVE it. While training for my tri, I took a program called Good Form running, and adopted the style of 180bpm running, to shorten my stride and get my body position corrected. Here's the thing: I went from running 9:15 min/miles on mid-distance runs to 8:30s. It was insane. So after running my tri, I ran a 10 mile run for Randy's Race and did it in 86 minutes. What? Then I ran a half marathon in GR and, after falling in the first few seconds of the race and holding back for the first 5k, I managed to finish in 1:56, PRing by nearly 13 minutes. I felt great too. At that time, I decided to do a Half Ironman triathlon. I wanted something big, and thought I'd skip the marathon in 2012. I trained quite hard, joined Masters Swim class and improved like crazy thanks to a great coach and good friends, and I got more fit. My half Iron went well, 6+ hrs in 90 degree heat. I bonked badly on the bike, and now know where I really need to focus to destroy it next year. I also ran a super sprint, 2 intermediate distance tris and two Olympics, doing very well in all of them. So in closing out this race season, I am left with one bad mutha of a race. My friend Tracy convinced me to do this, and I am kinda glad I did so as to not drop fitness. In 8 days I am running a 50k trail ultramarathon. I am nuts. I am crazy. But I have 2 20 milers under my belt and I feel really quite fit again. And it's a low pressure race so I know I will have fun. I have a little downtime after the race, and will be joining in on the 60 day Insanity Challenge that Cuz Jaime is organizing. I'd like to drop 10# more and see if I can strengthen my body a bit more to hold up to the beat down I'm gonna get next year during race season. So there's where it is after this hiatus from blogging. I'll update this more often again, as I am really looking to put the heat on next year on the ironman and tri front.

Marathon 2010: Week 3

Okay so this has been a pretty shitty week all in all. And it might just end up being the end of the marathon training for me- WHICH PISSES ME OFF BEYOND BELIEF.

So here's what's going down...
A few months back, maybe January or so, I was doing these sprint intervals on the treadmill as part of my linebacker personal trainer session. I was up to a 6.5 minute per mile sprint, pretty damn freaking fast. We'd do one minute on like that, jump off, lift for 1 minute, heavy weights, low reps, and then run back to the treadmill and sprint again. These intervals would usually go fro anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes, depending upon how saucy I was feeling that day. I would do these once or twice a week. Then add to that a little bit of running or elliptical on the other days.

Anyway one day on the treadmill I had a massive shot of pain run down my groin towards my knee. It kinda went away after another few reps, so I didnt think too much of this. It would come back occasionally. I just thought it was the usual.

The only other completely weird thing that happened between then and about April was the soles of my feet started hurting after long runs. I replaced my shoes again, thought we were done with that.

Anyway, since late April I have been ramping up the miles, averaging around 23 miles per week. Some weeks I am in the teens, sometimes, near 30. All the while the pain in my groin to the knee has been growing more common. And add to that an extreme achey and sore outer hip, so much so that I can;t sleep on that side any longer.

Mostly this fucking pisses me off. I take my ibuprofen, the inflammation subsides, and I can run through it. For the most part, the pain subsides by mile 2. But I look like an old slow woman for the first 2 miles until things start to work themselves out.

A bunch of shit was running through my brain about what it could be. I have very poor veins in my right leg and though it might be related, deep vein thrombosis or something like that. Maybe venous insufficiency. Another thought was tendonitis, bursitis or a sports hernia. But it didnt get worse when I lifted or sneezed or anything so I though it wasnt a hernia.

So I needed to go to the Dr anyways to get a few scripts renewed and thought I would be honest and mention it to her. I did and without hesitation she said it sounded like I had a stress fracture in the head of my femur. Or it was in the hip itself. Boy I wished you guys could have seen my face because I couldnt believe that one. Never saw it coming. If this diagnosis holds, buh-bye marathon. Buy-bye running for minimum of 6 weeks. FUCK FUCK FUCK.

I have 300 miles in and now I might have to shut this down??!!! For real?!!!! WTF.

So I did what a lot of other dumbasses would do- I went for a 7 mile run-walk. I've been dealing with this for 6 months so until I am told to fuck off by my Dr., I am running conservatively. The weird thing is, I felt really good, and was even running 9 min/miles.

okay so where is it now: I've been hollered at by my friends, I have not told me family (and wont until its ruled in and out) and I have a MRI scheduled for 8am on Thursday.

And my groin hurts all the time now. Kinda like your underwear is 2 sizes too small and the elastic is pinching you beyond belief and then someone hits you in the pelvis with a barbell. Repeatedly.

So for the time being I am swimming laps and on the elliptical and walking outside until I hear something.

FUCK THIS ALL

Summary for this week.
M: 3mi
Tu: 2mi
W: 4 mi
Th: Linebacker workout and Dr's appt
Fri: 3 miles on the elliptical
Sat: Fuck all. Bought new shoes in hopes of being able to wear them.
Sun: Fuck this: Run-walk 7 miles. Felt fine.

totals for this lower mileage week: 19 miles.

Marathon 2010: Week 2

Okay so here we go again. I am back at it, training for another one of these, despite trashing my body last year and having a bum hip this year. You see one of the best and worst things about me is that I am a fairly driven person. I set my mind to something and I get a little obsessed with completing that task. OCD at its finest I guess.

So despite my body falling apart, despite being sleep deprived, despite being under the most stress I have ever been in my life - IT'S ON BITCHES!

This year, I will make the 4:30 cut. And to do it, I enlisted my friend Randy. Randy has run about 10-15 marathons, including Boston. Twice. Randy rules. He has made up a training plan for me this year to get me to the finish line in one piece. Mostly we are looking at tempo runs and speed work, as well as way more miles than last year, including 3 20+ mile runs, instead of 1. I will NOT bonk this year. I will not. I will rule this.

Making things more complicated though is this hip injury. I thought it was a groin injury at first, but the pain travels between my groin and the inner part of my knee. I think I have some seriously tight hips and need to focus on stretching every freaking night. Plus I am taking vitamin B12 supplements as well, as my Mom tells me that this very thing happened to her and her Dr told her about B12. Cleared it up for her, as she was B12 deficient. I'll let you know. I've been on it for 1 week. Moderate improvement.

Anyway, I git a Garmin gps this year, so I can better track my pace. I love this thing, especially for my long runs to keep up the pace.

I do sprint intervals now too, currently consisting of 3 mil total with a 1600, 1200, 800, 800, 400, 200 ladder with 1 minute walk in between, with warmup and cooldown. Really tough but I am starting to love it. And, for the first time during training, I am dropping weight and body fat. Maybe I am on to something this year. Exercise more, eat less. Lose weight. Hmmm.

So this week besides the usual, I had another 10 mile long run over on the Waterville Towpath. I am out there at 8:30 on Sat morning but it is already hot as hell. This is going to suck. I ran 5 miles without stopping, but then started doing a 10 on, 1 powerwalk (13 min mile) so as to hydrate and do a survey of if my body is holding up. Everything is cool. I am even running an effing 9 minute mile at mile 7! what the shit! Well that was fleeting as about mile 8 the heat kicked up a notch and I ran out of water. Holy shit was that awful. Lesson learned. Two water bottles dummy. Finally found a water fountain with 0.9 miles to go. Slugged it down. Headed for home doing a 10:30 in the heat. Cool.

Anyway, I finished my run, feeling damn fine once I got in the shade. I was proud of myself for pushing through the heat. And my body felt fine to boot.

So for this week:
M: 3 mile tempo
Tu: linebacker personal trainer
W: 6 mile
Thurs: 3.5 miles intervals
Fri: 3 mile
Sat: 10 miles
Sun: REST

Total on the week: 25.5 miles
Total for the season now, since May: >275 miles. Yes that's right. Almost 300 miles already. Last year, I topped 300 at some point in late Sept. I will be better prepared this time.

Final Week: the Marathon

So I am actually posting this in July 2010, rather than October 2009. For whatever reason, mostly fatigue, injury and lab shit, I did not get to finish documenting the final results. Well, better late than never, I guess.

That week was a fairly awful week, as usual. The marathon was on Oct 18 and I turned in another el Gigante Supergrant on October 12 that was worse than the one on Oct 5. BY THE WAY, I did infact get the Oct 5 grant, just over 1.6 million dollars! So well worth the hell I endured in the end.

Besides the friggin fatigue from that grant, my folks came in to volunteer for the marathon. I had them fly in Friday to Detroit, then on Sat we drove up to GR. We checked into our hotel rooms and went to try to find some bland food for me. But, my Dad decided he wanted to try San Chez tapas bistro, so off we went. No sangria for me, but I did chow on some garlic-y goodness. I have never seen someone make such a mess at the tables as my Dad. But damn, he loved his SanChez.

I was hurting in a bad way still- al the injuries and beating my body up for so many weeks had taken its toll. My knees were awful and the ankle was a wreck. After San Chez, we went back to the hotel and I did yoga and stretched for about an hour, before parking it in bed by 10pm. I was friggin nervous, had all my clothes set out along with my gear and set two alarm clocks.

Race time was 8am, but I wanted to get there by 7:30 or so. Also my folks were volunteering the finish line. When I got up about 6:30, I stretched some more and git everything ready. Oh well, now or never I guess.

We were about 1/3 mile from the start and from my hotel window I could see the volunteers setting up the first aid station. Dad needed some coffee and something to drink, so we hit the Starbucks real fast en route. I had had a bagel in the hotel room so I was goo. Just needed to drink my gatorade and hit a portapot. I borrowed my Dads fleece since it was really quite cold- about 40 degrees at that time in the morning. I was wearing my long tights, tank, and ghetto arm warmers (mens socks with the feet cut off). I had my water belt and 4 or five things of beans. And an ipod.

Hit the portapots and then ran into my old physical therapist from wrecked ACL days, Dave. I asked him how he was and he said fine, he was running the half. He asked if I was doing the same, and I told him I was doing the full. I think I made him feel good, as he had a big part in getting me functional again.

I missed Jenn at the start. And I didnt see any of my other friends. I knew Carrie, Cassie and Paul would be at >21 mile marker.
Anyway Mom and Dad wished me well and I was off, albeit slowly.

Well things were great for 6.5 miles or so. I was easily holding my 10 min mile. I was hanging with the crowd that was chasing Oprah's time (we followed a runner holding a pic of Oprah). It was a funny crowd. It was entertaining.

Then we should run up behind me but Chipper Jenn. Seems that she and her Dad got held up due to his having to hit the pot as well. Talk about weird. We chatted for a minute or two, then she went off ahead with her Dad.

So I am in cruise control now, hitting mile 10 and into Millenium Park. I've never run this before- it's pretty damn nice and chalk full of native wildflowers. Plus it was sunny and a beautiful morning. If you were going to do a marathon, this was the morning to do it.

At mile 11, I started talking to this one lady, Lisa. She was late 40s/early 50s. She was running alone as her daughter had to bow out due to injury. Lisa and I were both doing our first marathon and enjoying each others company, so we ran together until mile 16 or so. It was nice to have someone to chat with. The funniest bit was when she let out this monster fart at one point and was apologizing. Honey, we are 12 miles into this, farting is cool.

We passed the halfway point together in 130 minutes! WTF. I am holding my 10 minute mile.

Then we pass a very tall woman standing on the side of the road. As we pass, we see "she" is pissing on the side of the road. Standing up. So we had a tranny running the race. That's cool. Tranny is holding their own at mile 13.

Around mile 15, I decided I needed a quick walk break to get some liquids and food. Lisa and I walked together for 1 minute. I scarfed my food, she did too.

At mile 16, Lisa stopped again. She had her family meeting her. I was jealous. At this point I was getting pissed as I hadnt seen any of my friends that said they would be there. Let's face it, it's getting lonely and about this point the mental games begin. Also, at this point the course has folded back upon itself and you can see the runners ahead of you. They look great. You are starting to feel like crap. But I am still holding about a 10:15.

At about mile 17.5 the turnaround. Blessed be. Now I am the faster runner that the ones behind me see. I wave to Lisa. She isnt looking so good.

Again, I am pissed. Where are my friends.

Mile 19

Mile 20.
Wow did mile 20 suck. See somewhere along the line, I screwed up my eating and I was behind. And when you get behind this late in a race, its hard to catch up. The effect; my quads have started to seize up on me. All the gas is gone in them. I have now slowed to a 11 min mile, maybe slower.

Mile 21. Life sucks.

Mile 21.5: I hear a familiar screaming. IT'S CASSIE! Holy shit, there they are: Cassie, Paul and Carrie! I immediately feel better. Carrie jumps in with me. She is going to run 2 miles with me. We prearrange that there will be no miles faster than a 10 min mile. Well that's not going to be a problem. She sees I am bonking and starts talking to me, not expecting me to talk back, which I dont. My quads are so tight now it really hurts. I tell her I need to walk for a minute to get some food in me. We walk fast. We start back up. Another mile in, I tell her I need to stop. My quads need to be stretched out. Well I stopped and tried to grab onto a post to stretch and the whole world was doing the spins. Kinda like when you drink half a bottle of vodka in college. Okay, so not gonna stop de to massive blood pressure drop. Keep running, I tell myself. You can beat this, do it.

Carrie runs for almost 3 miles with me. She gets me out of the bonk and back into 11 minute mile territory. She ditches me just shy of mile 25. I've got this. I will not stop any more. I have walked a total of about 5 minutes and that it the last of it.

Now I start to come into GR and we get some spectators. Other people are looking as shitty as me. I really want this to be over soon. But I tell myself I need to perk up. Dammit, I need one good photo from race day.

Okay, mile 26. are you for real. I see it. I see the finish. Wait, is that Jenn? She is there hollering! And then Art screams at me. And then I cross the line and completely miss my parents! My Mom never saw me and my Dad was on the can! I get y metallic blanket and my medal and continue to walk. I cannot believe I just did this shit. I feel fine. I mean, I feel really good.

I scarf some food down and see Art and Jenn. They come over and we start to chat while standing still. Bad idea. After a few minutes, I wonder where my folks are. I hobble over to the finish and see them. They are a little pissed they missed me. I kinda thought it was funny. I see Lisa cross the finish line. I give her a thumbs up. She looks worse than me. We laugh.

We scarfed some food, exchanged stories about the run (me and Jenn) and got some beer and chili. I can't believe I just did this shit. But I was pissed. I finished in 4:49. I wanted the 4:30. The bonk absolutely killed it for me.

I tried stepping off the curb and that was an awful idea. My hams and quads are the size of baseballs now.

We all said our tatas as we will be at the bar later. I hobbled back to the hotel and took a long long shower. I was salty like a pirate. And I had the most massive sports bra burn on my chest. My toes were blistered, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Weird thing, I couldnt nap. Too much adrenaline still.

Anyway the bar was good- wasnt so hungry or thirsty. Fatigue started to hit me then.

The next day we walk around downtown along the River. My legs are complaining, but they are getting better. I am not as nonfunctional as I thought I might have been. Funny thing, knees and ankle were absolutely fine during thsi whole run.

So my summary after all of this: I am insane. I finished my first marathon and the overwhelming emotion was: I am pissed. Pissed I missed the time I was shooting for. Pissed I effed up my eating which led to the bonk. Pissed. And I determined at that moment I would do this again and be faster.

Of course since then a lot of things have happened. I injured y back pretty bad in November and had to see a chiropractor. I couldnt walk upright for a few days and for weeks, I didnt run. I ended up gaining about 7 or 8# during this time, mainly as I am still eating like I am running 30 miles a week when I am running none. And I have since developed a nagging hip injury. Not sure what's going on there, but I slog on.

I have since completed another Irish Jig and all but shotgun-ran the Riverbank 25k in 2:30. I also ran the 6.5 mile long leg of the Toledo Marathon, team competition. I feel a lot slower this year, but I think I am working back into it at a better pace, while watching this hip thing. I need to train better this year, to avoid falling apart like I did this first time. I have now lost the weight I put on, and am working towards another 15# in the next 3 months. I think this will help me with the joints and I will look smoking then too.

Anyway that's the conclusion of marathon #1 I'll be starting the chronicles of Marathon #2 next, so you can see the progression from a goal of completion progress into "I'm gonna effing kick that marathon's ass".

Week 19: OMG! It's coming!

Holy crap I really can't believe this that it's my last full week of kinda sorta training. I've been at this shit for 19 documented weeks and I need it to be over. My body needs a rest man. I dont know about these people that run a few of these things throughout the year. Maybe it's like biking where you have to kind of break your ass into your seat, so your sit bones dont hurt like a mo-fo when you ride distances? Dunno.

Anyway, I submitted el gigante supergrant on Monday and so Monday night I drank beer and then passed out cold on my couch before 9pm. Woke up at 1am with couch fabric marks on my face. Cool.

Tuesday I went to trainer and ran for 2 miles. It was good. I felt better. I was still so incredibly tired, but I am going to get to bed early anyway.

Wed: non functional still. Skipped all exercise. went to bed.

Thursday: Trainer running FAST (8 min/mil) for 2 miles on treadmill. Then I splot and ran another fast 3 miles around my neighborhood. Felt really good and fast. NOthing hurt enough t report about!

Friday: drove to GR, MI to do house maintenance and drink beer, eat sushi w friends

Sat. ran my old stomping grounds of Reeds Lake. 4.5 of pathetic slowness. My knee was not cooperating (clicking behind knee is getting old!). Took about 3 miles to work out the kinks and then it was good. I think it's just fatigue still haunting me.

Sun: RECOVERY MOUNTAIN BIKING!!!!! 6 miles out at Ionia with Art. Was quite a bit more tentative than usual (grrr) as all the leaves dropped on the trail, and it was slippery from the rains on Friday. In the end, a good ride to work out the weirdness behind me knee, and to gain a few more bruises on my healing ankle, as i ENDO-ed in a big way in the last ,5 miles of the trail. I dont know wtf I did. I just laughed because I am a dork.

so I'm gonna chill this week- nothing more than 5ks, and nothing over 2miles on Thurs/Fri.

so 2+2+4.5+6 bike=14.5mi TAPER BABY. LOve it!

Week 18:Taper Baby! Taper!

In honor of the beginning of the two week long taper, I'll keep this week's recap short. Mostly because I'm entering this a week later than I should have and cant really remember the week's events, outside of the fact that it was nuts as I was submitting my first ever R01 el gigante super grant. It's kind of a blur as I wrote the grant in less than 2 weeks, sfter staying up for 20 hrs or more every day for said two weeks. I cant do that shit anymore, man.

So if I recall, through the writing and healing from the freaking walnut incident (OMG the ankle was huge!!!! and purple!!!) I ran about 3 days, only 2 miles x2 and then a 5 miler on Saturday. Mostly I was trying to stay off the ankle as it wasnt looking good. I iced throughout the early week and elevated it as much as possible. I did get a mall lace-up brace, which helped a lot. I think the weirdest thing though was the lack of pain. Usually I cant walk on these when I turn my ankle and I am out for a few weeks. Surprisingly, the ankle deflated in about a week or so, never hurt except for the evening that I did it, and when I started to run on it again, after crosstraining through the week, IT WAS FINE! As long as I dont touch it on the sides, it's all good to go I guess. So I am currently making the call as to whether I am running with the brace or not.

Anyway, that's about it. I nearly killed myself on a walnut, on a grant submission and need to sleep.

9 miles total this week on the taper.

Week 17: Foiled by a.... walnut?

okay so I left you last after a really shitty run through the rapids in GR on a Sunday with my friend Jenn. Jenn smoked it. I did not- even though I made my time goal TO THE SECOND.

This week though, I was feeling the pinch of some major overuse in my left knee, despite wearing the strappy knee cap thingee. I was also feeling freaking exhausted, fatigued, fried- you name it. I was these. I think this is probably encroaching upon the dreaded burnout. Let's face it. I have been abusing my body for 17+ weeks now without fail, without a weekend off. And it was starting to weight heavily on me.

So I decided to go against my training book and rest up. No 5 milesx2 runs this week. Instead it was 2x2 miles running during the week, coupled with only one trainer session. After all, allegedly I was supposed to do some 22 miles run this weekend (Ack!).

So here's the low-down.

Monday: 0. Sleep. Try to work on grant. Oh yeah, I have a 1.7 million dollar research grant going in on Oct 5, followed by a 1 million dollar one on Oct 15. Did I mention that crap too?!

Tuesday. No trainer. She has to work her second job that night. So I went out for a 2 mile test run, as my knees were in terrible shape. It was awful! I was limping and wanted to cry for the first 5 minutes. Then I STFU and ran. Worked it out by the 2 mile mark, but stopped there. 11 minute mile. Fine. I'll take it.

Wednesday. No trainer. Bailed on my strappy class to go and try out knees again. Again, awful forst few minutes, followed by focusing on lengthening the stride, standing upright and S-ing TFU. Worked. I felt good after 2, and did them in a 10:30.

Thursday: Trainer. Decided to do the versa climber to give my joints a little break again as I was still a bit creaky. We're dropping the leg weights now too for the next few weeks, to give my muscles a little bit f a break. It's all good. I'm still getting my ass kicked, so no worries.

Friday: 0. Beers with a few other faculty after work. SCARFED down food later that night in anticipation of the 22 miles on Sat. Only to be

Sat: foiled by rain. foiled by science. I thought about it and I needed to crank out a full day and a half on the grant before blasting my body and mind with 4.5 hours of continuous exercise. So I worked, ran errands and rested everything. Also started the preemptive ibuprofen in the evening.

Sunday: here we go. I needed to be on the trail by 2pm, best I figured, since I was anticipating 4.5 hrs at an 11-12 min mile for 22 miles or so. I actually felt great. Lubed up, decided to run sans hat this time since I look awful in any picture where I am wearing a visor and I have been running (vanity, I know). I wear shades anyways, so it wasnt necessary. So I decided to run on the Tpwpath, along the river, on a stretch I have only done once. The plan was to run 10 miles out, 10 back, and do a 2 mile loop to finish up.

I started running and felt AWESOME> Rest and eating does a body good. I was enjoying the run on the unpaved trail (crushed limestone) and be careful not to steo upon any felled walnuts from the trees that lined the path. Apparently I wasnt careful enough as my left foot stepped right on a big fat green one; my left ankle turned outward and I went down on my left side HARD. "broke" my fall kinda with my left palm, losing a chuck of flesh to the trail. You dont WANT to know the language that came out of my mouth after I caught my breath (Jenn would have a good idea). I was so pissed, and when I tried to get up, it was obvious that I had sprained it. What did dummy here decide to do? Dammit- run another freaking 19 miles, that's what I did. The ankle blew up by mile 6, but dammit, I was getting this last run over with. As long as I did not stop, things were fine, as it's a very easy, non rolling motion, this running thing- when done right. So I just kept motoring at more like a 12 minute mile at first, which feels LIKE YOU ARE CRAB-WALKING. Eventually I brought it up to a n 11 min mile and I was happy again. The point of it was, if it doesnt hurt and get gradually worse, you didnt break anything therefore keep going. At least in my stupid world that's how it works.

So things learned on this long run:
1. if you're not first, you're last
2. if you can still move forward, shut up and do it.
3. Lube your triceps. You lose form at mile 19 and they rub against your boobs
4. Lube where ever your sportsbra touches your body
5. Drink more water between miles 10 and 17.
6. Tennis balls are awesome for moving fluid out of your resulting cankle.

and most importantly, AVOID WALNUTS LIKE THE PLAGUE!

Total for the week:
2+2+22=26 miles.

Well folks, it's on to the TAPER! I cannot wait. I have a few days to kinda take it easier on the foot, doing some crosstraining, and then hit a 6 miler this weekend to test out my blue and purple cankle.

Week 16: Since when is a 10 mile run a "rest up" week?

Okay, so when I left off, the knee pain was starting to kick in and I was employing the little knee strappy thingee, some drugs and some gumption to power through this mess. And power through that 18 ile training run I did. ANd the blessed 90 minute massage (all together now, ahhhhh)

This week was a hot mess on multiple fronts. One: I am three weeks away from submitting my first ever NIH R01 grant. It's a big sucker: 25 pages of research proposal, about another 50 pages of administrative junk. Basically it's a request for 700,000$ or so for 5 years worth of work. It's pretty difficult to project out 5 yrs, let alone 5 weeks! So the runs are kinda a nice break for me.

Now due to this craziness, I am actually very glad to be training during this time, as everyone I know loses it during this last push, usually resulting in weight gain. So at least I can hold steady during this time, due to the training. And I am keeping my neck muscle seizures to a minimum right now. They still creep up when I want to throttle people, but not as bad as 6 months ago, when they incapacitated me!

Anyway, this was a not very good week for the knees. After the weekend's exertions, Monday was a bad day for knees, but I had to go and test things out. I was supposed to do 5 miles or so, but I decided to do 4.2 in the back meadow again, so as to keep off the pavement. I cant tell you how much it hurt to start running for the first 2 minutes. I was kinda throwing my right (good) side around and hopping on the left side. The biggest problem was that my left knee is locking in the straight position on the back pushoff. It's basically trying to buckle backwards. Now, if I focus on form and LIFT MY KNEES, I can start to resolve these issues. But it's only working so much. I have screwed with my knees for so long now, this was bound to happen. I mean basically I have done 25k training before. But the longest run I do for those is a 12 miler, and I only do that once, along with a 10, a 9 and two 8s. This has been 12-18 miles like 8 times now! Anyway, with a little bit of run-walk, I slogged through the 4.2 miles in an 11 minute mile. Okay. I can deal with that. I iced my knees that night though, and drugged out on some ibuprofen.

Tuesday I had my trainer session and we backed off on leg extensions, which was good. Did a lot of upper body and hamstrings. I ran on the treadmill for about 3 miles, as we did linebacker for 60 minutes as a threesome, instead of the usual 30. It was rough. The circuit was treadmill, weights, versaclimber. I passed out that evening at 9pm.

Wed: I went to my strappy cardio strength training class. A lot of step aerobics to start, so I immediately felt like a 90 yr old woman. I slogged it out and got another great upper body and hip workout.

Thursday: No trainer today so I went and hit the meadow again for another 4.2 miles. This tie I did not walk any parts of it, and after pushing through a very uncomfortable 2 miles, decided to say screw it and kick it into a 9:30 for the last 2 miles. It kind of worked things out and my stride elongated and I was nt doing the Quasimoto shuffle any longer. I also diverted my attentions during this run by constructing a letter to Oprah in my head, cursing her for setting the bar at a 10 minute mile for the damn race. Curses Oprah, curses! Anyway, made it through, unscathed. Iced it up big time again when I got home.

Friday: not an off day. This was CUSTER DAY! Hurray! Custer is my FAVORITE mountain bike trail in MIchigan, where I am two-time defending champion (in my age group, and class, but pay no mind to the details). I love to go really fast at Custer as I have been able to memorize a good portion of the trail, and despite munching it BIG time there during a race, I still come back for more as it is a technically demanding trail. I took a half day from work (really should not have) and went to meet Graveels and Jenn. This was Jenn's inaugural ride at Custer and I think, despite her teeth grinding and mumbling, she likes it. I have never seen a 100lb person wipe out and kick up such a ginormous cloud of dust as Jenn. Anyway. Custer was what the Dr ordered. We did 8 miles or so- I would have liked to have done 15-20mi if I had the time, as it just worked out all the knee pain from the past week. It was unbelievable.

Saturday: Worked at my house digging crap up again. Didnt eat enough as usual. And then Graveels had a brilliant idea to make nachos for dinner. Mind you this is a pre-race dinner as I am in town to run the Bridge run with Jenn.
I
AM
Dumb
I was so hungry I scarfed it down, damn the consequences, which reared their ugly heads at 6am. I'll spare you the details.

Sunday: race day. An exercise in what not to wear. Like the long sleeved shirt. Dont wear the giant long sleeved shirt when running, just because it's 45 degrees at the start. Because you'll want to rip it off within 2 miles. Okay so here's where I meet Jenn and we jog to the start line from the stute. It's pretty pathetic since she is hurting from her Custer falls, and my knees have reawoken just in time for the race. We talked it over and were shooting for a 10 minute mile + pace. Apparently Speedy Gonzales had other plans- like an opening 8:45/mil pace. What the shit?! Well, we also discussed that if one was faster - just go. This was not a no-drop run. It was a race. So Jenn powered ahead and I kept looking for a damn portapot, as she convinced me that my full bladder would just go away once I started running. Ummm, no. Hit one at 6 miles finally, and came out, and the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I felt 15 lbs lighter!

I had promised myself to finish in 100 minutes, a 10 minute mile for 10 miles, and holy crap I finished in 100.00 minutes to the second! I am glad I did this race, although I gotta tell you, I was seriously flogged afterwards.

So our tally, going into the last huge training week prior to the taper...
Mon 4.2
Tues 3 + Xtrain
Wed Xtrain
Th 4.2
Fri 8 mile bike
Sat 0
Sun 10.

so run: 21.4 mi + 8 mi bike
And this was a back down week? WTF!

Week 15: Stairs suck. And other tales of life with crappy knees.

Okay so last week, I rocked my 17 miles run and did some crazy recovery biking and all. I crashed so hard that weekend, it was NOT EVEN FUNNY.

See up until now, being tired and hungry have been the only side effects of all this training. That's been fine. But then this week came along and my knees logged a pretty solid protest to what's been going on for the last few months. Truth be told, I have been surprised at the lack of vocalizations on the part of my knees, as they have been fairly cooperative until now. Well it seems I have a good old boring case of patellar tendonitis- basically from overuse during the weekly long runs. My tendon has been beaten up a little and my kneecap is tracking in weird places, causing inflammation. Well after icing and ibuprofen, things werent looking so good, until I said screw it! I went to the Walgreens and decided to give one of those knee straps a shot. Those things work by putting compression on the tendon, basically tightening things up so the kneecap stays in place. SON Of A BITCH it worked like a charm within the first hour of wearing it around the lab. I went for a short run with it on and no pain whatsoever. The real test would come later in the week, when I went for the longest run of my life- the 18 miler!

Here's the thing about running 18 miles- you get bored when you do it by yourself. And you get bored of your music, your trail ( I ran the meadow a few loops to preserve joints, and to keep known water and bathroom sites near). And your mind starts running in all directions about how this sucks, you are slow, you look fat, why are you doing this, your hips hurt., etc. It's just kind of an attn deficit disorder nightmare of non focused thoughts. My naive dreams were that I would take that time to think about stuff and work out problems from experiments, or garden design from my house, or whatever. It just doesnt work like that for me if I run on my own. So it's more like running with a three-year old. Only that three year old is you.

Another thing you learn when you are running for 3.5 hrs straight (yup, no run-walk, only running with 4 or 5 minutes of down time for water/bathroom/stretch) is what foods your body can handle while running. I tried carbo loading this week again, after that massive bonk last week and it consisted of two servings of ziti on Thursday and a big bowl of rice on Friday. Basically it made me feel uncomfortably full, like a bad Thanksgiving overload. I went into food coma and fell asleep. This is not the way to do it for me. I need to do some loading at lunch, and by loading they say to have an extra roll, but without butter, or an extra bagel, no cream cheese. Pretty much it's going to be about an extra 300 calories for me- that's it- according to their little calculator. I guess for me, it's more about rest and eating on the fly, than it is about stuffing my face a few days out. Oh and addressing the former, it's all about the sportbeans now, instead of powerbars. These things are awesome, the choking hazard not withstanding. It's just a matter of being talented enough to run and get them out of the package without tripping yourself up!

Lastly, you get good kharma when you run these distances. I saved a MAssiVE praying mantic from getting squished on the trail. THe thing was HUGE. Very cool. dont know quite how I picked that out from the trail when I was on mile 14, but was alert enough to zoom in on her. So I saved her so she can rip the head off her mate later that week.

Anyway, no real repercussions from my run, just soreness in the knee. Nothing major in the muscles. That is until after I got my 90 minute massage on Sunday. My masseuse abused my back and legs with her elbows. I was wincing the whole time, but walked out on a cloud of air when she was done. I have to admit though, my back is sore today (mon) from her breaking up all the knots and adhesions in my back. What can I say, I am a trainwreck all around.

So let's tally this up:

Monday: 5.0 miles

Tuesday: 3.3 miles

Wednesday: crosstraining strap crazy-tricep destroying class 45 min

Thursday: personal trainer 30 min with 1.5 miles running, then 60min cross training strappy tricep-destroying class part II

Friday: off. pass out.

Sat: 18 miles

Sunday: epic massage

total 27.8 miles

ONE MORE LONG TRAINING RUN TO GO UNTIL RACE DAY. I hope everything hold together for the taper...

Week 14: Why put off till tomorrow what you can do in one insane-o day?

Okay so it was beerfest when I last left you. And that was a blast of boots and brats and sunshine and wind. It was a fine excursion except for the part where Carrie and Dave got lost in the Toledo Hood without a gps or a map. oops. And believe you me, the T-hood is not a nice place to be at 9pm whilst driving your big old minivan!

Sunday we all went for a hike along the river where we saw a hawk in the brush, about 5 feet away from us, ripping up this small rodent for lunch. It was crazy nasty and awesome at the same time!

Carrie and I went for a 2 mile run to work things out- kind of a delayed recovery run from the 15.5 miler. Mostly my hips were very tight from that long run and then sitting in the beerhall. Our run was a good one along the river and downtown. we had a good dinner at home and then I kicked their asses to the curb by 10am on Monday. I took Monday off from exercise- passing out at 9pm.

Tuesday: 3 miles running + 30 min personal trainer

Wed: no running today. I decided to do a crazy class at the Y called TRX strength training. It's straps hanging from the ceiling and you do all sorts of strength moves using your body weight as resistance. I gotta tell you the worst was the pushups while your legs were suspended in the straps. HOLY CRAP. I got 15 of them cranked out, and I had to take a break due to my arms being like spaghetti.

Thursday: ran 3 miles, then did 1hr cardio/strength training TRX again. It was really difficult. but good.

Friday: I went to my MI house to clean up the yard. Busted my ass for 5 hrs out in the sun. Went hot tubbing in the evening at the hotel with Cassie and Paul.

Saturday: Okay so here it goes. I decided to crank this day out, as I wanted to be back in Toledo for the evening. So last minute I decided to do my long run on Saturday up in GR. Did a mapmyrun and found a decent run through Ada and Cascade on the newer off street paths. I left at 8am and got back at 11am. The run was good except for the fact that I started to bonk at mile 12. I really did not eat enough through the week and then again on Friday after working so hard. I basically ran out of steam and the one powerbar I had with me simply did not cut it. Top that off with nearly choking on my powerbar at one point (I needed to stop to basically give myself the heimlich maneuver) and it was an okay run. I have to do a beter job eating the days leading into a long run (this week will be an 18-19 miler so that will be good practice!). But at least I know how to push through a shitty 5 miles. Thats right folks- 17 miles! Officially, that's the most I've ever run. But did I stop there? Nope. Got back to the hotel for a fast shower and chill and headed out at 2p to go for an 8 mile mountain bike ride with ARt and Wicked Pete. This turned out to be a fantastic idea- for real- as I felt great, not tired or sore, and I think it help me to work out any lactic acid or tightness. After all that, NO MUSCLE SORENESS. NADA! NOTHING! Even after driving 3 hrs home 2 hours after biking, it was all good. This was very encouraging. And the reward- I got to sleep in on Sunday. Well that is I got to go back to sleep after waking up at 6am with RAGING HUNGER. I had to scarf a bagel and immediately went back to bed until 10am. It rules. this was my best plan evah!

So the run tally:
Sun: 2
Mon: 0
Tues: 3
Wed: 0
Thurs: 3
Fri: 0
Sat: 17 run + 8 mile bike.

so running for the week: 25 miles. Count the biking and we're at 33. Not bad!

Week 13: There's a giant penis chasing me. And some running too.

Okay so I'll get to the title in a few moments, so just indulge me.

This week was a decent, quieter week for me, after hosting my friends Amy and Jenn the previous weekend. I was freaking flogged from the get go this week though- this running gig is really taking it's toll on my sleep I tell you.

Well this week I was gearing up for another round of visitors for ...


BEERFEST! see my facebook page for details and video.

So I had to plan accordingly and get the cleaning, shopping, laundry done, not to mention crap at work and all the running. I started the week off right by taking the rest of Sunday off and taking a 2 hr long nap. Lordie I needed it after ditching those crazy ladies.

Monday I had one long-assed day at work, but that did not stop me from getting in a slow recovery run. Only did 3 miles at a slow clip, but it was all good. I tell you the first damn mile made me feel like an 80 year old woman as I just needed to work out the aches and pain. See, I havent taken ibuprofen but once or twice over the last 13 weeks. From what I understand it impedes muscle repair, which is good, and I honestly havent felt like I have needed it yet. A few aches is about it for me thus far, and so I'll just walk, or in this case, run it off.

Tuesday: I decided to go run a 5-er on the trail in Maumee, part of my usual Sat run. I had a blast on this run, mostly because I ran so damn fast due to the fact that my bladder felt like it was going to explode. The trail was a bit busy, otherwise I would have ducked behind a bush! The bathrooms were at the midway point. Needless to say my last 2.5 miles were 3 minutes faster than the first after a visit to the commode. Cranked a ~9:30 for this run. <48 minutes. No trainer session today as my trainer called out today.

Wed: I actually had fun on Tuesday's run, so I decided to do a repeat, only seeing if I could better the time. Busted it out and back in 46 minutes for a 9:20 average. Even I was impressed with myself. Nevermind that I crashed by 10pm that night.

Thursday: I had personal training again, with a different trainer, as Denise was out again. Holy legs and arms Batman. She killed me on bicep curls and then leg presses with 300lbs for 1 minute, followed by walking lunges with 30lbx2 barbells for 2 minutes. Ran another 1.5 miles here.

Now to Friday. I have to work all day. And it's a busy day. And my friends are coming to town that night. So I need to split from work at 5 and go directly into a 15.5 mile run so I can make it back in time to clean up my self and my house before guests arrive at 9pm. Problem is, it's pissing down rain for the majority of the day and I am also FLOGGED. Well I finally see a clearing at 4pm, and check the local radar, where a giant band of rain shaped like a big ole penis is roaring its way right at Perrysburg (where I live). So now I have to wait until the schlang passes before I can go, as it's a bad storm. I drive home as the storm is hitting, park the car in the garage, turn it off, and PASS OUT COLD in the drivers seat for 20 minutes. I mean head didnt even hit the pillow pass out. Guess I was tired, ehh. That and I could barely pick up my damn arms and legs still from yesterday's trainer session would explain that pass out.

woke up and storm was just finishing, so I decide to make a run for it, literally. I hit a new route on the east side of the river this time. It was a decent run on the road, despite the fact that there was a very narrow shoulder. But people in their cars were cool, even when the rain kicked in again. Crossed the River at mile 7 and hauled back along my more familiar route. Ate twice during the run (half powerbar each time) and, most importantly, never took a walk break, hearing Jenn's voice in my head calling me a wimp. Well I pulled it in just at dusk, finishing my 15.5 in 2 hrs, 38 min, a little over a 10 min mile, which was WAAAAY faster than I should have run that. But I was fine- a little creaky in the hips from the road running, I presume. and my arms were still very sore as you really do use them a lot during the run too. But dammit now I was done running or the week and could now take Sat for beerfest!!!


So the tally for the week:
Sunday: nada
Monday:3
Tues: 5
Wed: 5
Thurs: 1.5
Friday 15.5
Sat: 1.5 hike followed by copious beers

31.5 miles!!!! I have now cracked my first 30 mile+ week and I am mostly functional (just tired). I might be on to something folks!

Week 12: Lots of Daveshit. And some running too!

Okay so this week, I was traveling back from CA, and also having my first "back down" weeks where I do about 70% of the previous long run. It's a technique to basically prevent injury as well as burnout. Only problem is, it left me feeling like a loser since my miles for the week were so much less. Maybe this running gig is growing on me. Or not. Or maybe. 

Okay so I did my 14.1 miles along the beach between LaJolla and DelMar. Pretty friggin hard to beat that as it was just phenomenal! So I woke up from that run, after scarfing down my el gigante burger from room service the previous evening and I was, gasp, fine. I could walk, bend over and touch my toes, hips were good, etc. It felt strange to be in good enough shape to have survived that run without any stiffness or soreness. So I decided to go out for a while with my friend Art and his family to check out the Hale Observatory with an enormous 200 inch mirror on its telescope. If you are a science nerd, that's kinda crazy to think about. So here it is. Take 6 yard sticks, out them end to end and then construct a perfectly polished continuous piece of glass that is several inches thick. Then transport that Bitch up a 5000 ft elevation with gnarly switchbacks (mind you, it's like 1930 when you are trying to do this), then install it without breaking it! Pretty impressive. If that werent impressive enough, the signs for "Rattlesnakes! Beware!" had my gourd running in circles too. 

Traveling sucked as usual, with teeny tiny seats on the airplane. I paced the aisle barefooted like a mental patient, reading my book "Pride, Prejudice and Zombies", garnering freaky looks from many a folk. Eh, screw you. Turn the tv off bozos and pick up a book. ANY BOOK, cause reading is fundamental. So there went my entire Tuesday. 

The rest of the week passed rather quickly as stuff seems to implode when I go away from the lab. Damage control. 

By Friday I am ready for my friends Amy and Jenn to come into town the next day. Jenn is coming in to do the longest run of her life (9mi) with me, while Amy is tooling around on the bike, acting as the water wench. The run went great- meadow trail again. This time there were tons of deer out and about, particularly this pair of twin bucks with their antlers all fuzzy. They were about 5 pointers, At first, Amy wanted to shoot them, but I think she warmed up to them after a while. Of particular note was that Jenn and I smoked the run in less than a 10min/mile.

We decided to go for some Indian food as a reward, but I completely picked the place with good food, yet the WORST service ever. This was compounded by the fact that we were VERY HUNGRY from our run and it took about an hour just to get Naan. I think this took some wind out of our sail as we made off for the Village Idiot Bar a mile or so from my house. I have been meaning to try this place out and I am glad we did. Very hot, friendly and dry witted bartender that had the hots for Amy and more Simpsons stuff than one knew what to do with. They even had a tap with Milhouse on it!!!  And they had Oberon. I like this place. We hung out for  while, doing some Daveshit.

Okay, so if you've gotten here from Facebook you are now mystified by this term Daveshit. No we are not doing drugs. It is now an all encompassing term for  anything you do. You see I was describing the antics of my cousin Dave down in Mexico like 10 years ago and my friends asked me what he was doing, towit I answered " I dont know- Daveshit". Bam. Another Kate-ism is born, along with my friend Pete's fav "outerior" where my brain couldnt quite parse out exterior or outside and it came out as "outerior". So no drugs. Just Daveshit. 

So here is the lowdown then on this week of Daveshit...
Mon: hike 2 miles
Tues: airplane ride from hell. Pacing at 35k feet does not count in the training methinks.
Wed: 4 mi HARD run  at 9:20/mi
Thurs: 3 mi + personal training
Fri: off
Sat: 9 mi

So in this backdown week of 18 miles, I now have this weekend of BEERFEST, friends and a 15 mile solo run to look forward to. Another week, more daveshit.

Week 11: Welcome to the land of Hill training.

I am in sunny California this week at a science conference. But does this prevent me from ticking off my training runs, including 14 miles along the coastline. HELL TO THE NO. Dedication? Stupidity? Addiction? You be the judge... here's how the week went down in CA, with a few surprises throughout the week.

Sunday: My family was in town visiting and so I chilled with them, doing a 3 mile hike along the Maumee Bay State Park trail system, where Maumee River meets Lake Erie. It was about 93 degrees outside and a 100 degree heat index. But heat be damned! We hit it and saw some great sights, including the 3ft Eastern Watersnake that slithered right in front of my Mom and I while we were walking.

Monday: Sent my family packing and went to work to sort shit out there. Since it was still so hot, I ran on the treadmill inside. Did another 3 miles and then had to call it quits to go get some sleep.

Tuesday: Personal trainer (1mi on treadmill) + 2 miles inside. Had to cut it short so I could pack for my trip.

Wednesday: Travel Day. I hate those little seats and the large men that are in front of you that put their seat back and the little kid behind you that kicks your seat. I could barely walk after that. throw in the 3 hr time difference and I am flogged. But that shan't stop me from body surfing with friends. We hit the ocean at Torrey Pines State park with the boogie boards for 2 hrs. Lets call that cross training.

Thursday: Conference. Ate sushi in the sunshine with peers. Sat on my ass for 8 hrs at conference. Got in a quick 2 miles to relieve stress.

Friday: Got up at 6am, hit the UCSD campus loop. Holy hills! Did 4.2 miles around the campus, checking out their sculpture collection, and running through the pines. It was a bit unlike what I have been doing, as it was non-stop hills so my quads got hammered. Recovered pretty fast though and after sitting on my ass again at the conference, went with friends down to the beach below Salk Institute. The clothing optional beach. We descending a cliff to get down there, which was quite a workout. We were rewarded with a beautiful surf and schlangs in our faces every which way you look. You see this was a mostly gay nude beach, apparently reserved for overweight men in their 50s and 60s. It was a little awkward, but you got over it pretty fast as no one seemed to care. Except for the man wearing what we will refer to as "The Apparatus" starting talking to our friend Kiki (name changed for privacy). Kiki was sitting on the beach whilst apparatus man stood above her, wearing a button down shirt and the apparatus, his member making a guest appearance hear and there during the course of Kiki's conversation with him. Talk about creepy. Kiki handled it well. Needless to say we packed it up soon afterwards and climbed up the cliff. We will just call this a cross training day of the eye opening kind.

Saturday: Off. Had to give a talk at the conference and couldnt sneak out. This is my normal long run, but that is being delayed until Sunday.

Sunday: LOng run along the Coast line. Ran along Torrey Pines Golf Course, skirted the ghekkos and various lizards in the desert trail, descended another cliff again (via runnable switchback) and ran along the beach up to DelMar. Turned around and met a local lady, with whom I ran for 6 miles. She told me about some trails I needed to hit in my last day in CA. The run was great, sunny, 70 degrees and fantastic surf. The only problem was I had to ascend that switchback cliff. It was, for my GR friends, like 20 Hall hills or Michigan hills strung together. It felt like a 1000ft ascent over 0.5 miles, but ended up being a 400ft ascent over 0.7 miles. It was insane to do my tip toe sprints up that. I did have to stop and walk a little, as my heart was pounding. Kicked that hill's arse and kicked it into a 9:30 for the least 3 miles of my run. Got back to my swank hotel on the oceanfront and PASSED OUT. 14.1 miles total.

So totals: 3+3+3+2+4.2+14.1=29.3 miles.

So tired. Got one more relaxing day in California before I head back to reality

Week 10: Aunt Katy Boot Camp

Okay, so this week was a bit challenging, as I had family in town, various ridiculous crises at work and it was ridunculously hot!!! Here's how it went down...

Sun: was down in Akron for the weekend and went for a recovery run with my sister Margret after hitting it for 12 miles on Sat. It was a good leisurely run in cute lakeside hood. Stuffed my belly with awesome Indonesian and Dutch food whilst there. Cranked it out to Toledo late in the evening, plus one niece, 14 y/o Ally, who was enrolled in Aunt Katy Bootcamp for one week.

Monday: off from exercise but various crises at the lab. Brought Ally into the lab and then we went to lunch and a movie- G Force. Not porn. It was the Guinea Pig movie. Then we hit the Greek deli for dinner. Walked a mile or so around the hood. Crashed HARD that night!

Tuesday: So since Ally is 14, she sleeps until 10:30 and then requires an hr of inline time to catch up with what shit has gone down overnight. I use this time to got to the lab and deal with more crap. Upon returning home about noon, gather up the kid and we are gonna hit the train for 3.3 miles prior to personal trainer session. Despite my threats to be ready to run 2 miles, that wasnt to be, so Ally adopted the run-walk approach of run 3 min/walk 2 min. I did it for a mile with her, and then I just had to ditch her and get in a loop and a half of running while she walked the loop. Caught up to her again, and we got the run walk back on for the last 1.3. Personal trainer was pretty damn funny as Ally said she hadnt used those muscles in forever. Another mile there on the treadmill. She passed out hard that evening, after computer time to tell everyone how much I sucked. She did not like the push ups or plate pushes.

Wed: We are running again, this time along the river. Ally was dogging it this day and was crying a bit that she couldnt do it. Her attitude quickly changed when the bare-chested high school cross country team came running past us. She perked up and picked up the pace. We did run-walk again and she did a good job there. 3.5 miles there.

Thursday: We are running and doing personal trainer today again. We are doing projects around the house first and only get to do 1.5 miles prior to personal trainer. We get a good clip on though at PT. Another 1 mile on the treadmill. Then we went to teh farmers market and I wailed on her sore arm since there was a VW bug. Sorry kid that's the rule. She did not enjoy that.

Friday: This should be an off day but since the heat of Hades is a comin', we decided to hit the trail for 13.1 miles (I run it, se bikes it). It was damn hot in the late afternoon, and especially out on the prairie. Whatever I did, I need to keep doing it as I was running a 9:30/9:45 clip with only 4 1-minute walking intervals over the entire 13 miles. I felt great. I have now completed a half marathon and minimal aches and pains. I can definitely do this, barring any injuries or burnout. We celebrated with Chili Cheese Dogs and beer (me anyways).

Sat: off. My mom and sister come in for a visit and to pick the kid up so just walking a mile in the hood after having a burrito.

So the tally: 2+1+4.3+3.5+2.5+13.1+1=27.4miles!

This week will be tricky as I am traveling to San Diego for a conference and I need to get in a 14 miler over the weekend. Wish me luck on this one.

Week 9: HOW many more miles do I have to run?!!

Okay, so when we left off, I was limping around from my last long run in my crappy shoes, and I had just dropped a bundle on my new shoes...

the changes are astounding. Knee pain is virtually gone, shins are back baby and calves have been worked over thoroughly. Of course, some of this happened via a thorough beating from my masseuse. Once a month I get a massage due to some severe neck tension problems I've developed over the last year. My regular dude wasnt there this past week, so I went with a young woman who was strong as an ox and put the beat down on my muscles. I was cringing in, well in pain, but it was working all the crap out from the prior days long Sat run- so it was all worth it in the end. She did some insane neck stretches on my too that scared me but again, kinda worked things out for me. I am going with this woman again after an excessively long run.

So I got my massage and cleaned out my old crappy apartment and moved the last load of stuff on Sunday. So no running. Supposedly that was a rest day, but you be the judge. I was done by 8pm I think. The good news is that I hit the store and scored some new spanky running gear so I can thro out some of the cotton tank tops that are getting quite skanky. My new look rocks. I am even running in pink shirts!

Monday I took the new shoes for a test drive and I dropped back into 9:30 territory immediately. 5 miles.

Tuesday I ran outside again- 3.5 miles. Then hit PT session for 30, with another 1 mil or so.

Wed: Off. I had some faculty function and so I ate Indian fud instead. Good call for me.

Thursday: Made up for my Wed off by running 4 miles, then PT for 30 min. Maybe 1 more mile during PT.

Friday OFF. went home after work (5pm!!!) and ate chicken wings and drank beer. I think I was in bed by 10pm, I was so whipped.

Sat. Got up. Not feeling the running love. Gotta get my arse in gear though as I need to drive 2 hrs to Cleveland to pick up my niece for her weeklong visit to Ohio. Finally get out the door by 10:30 and nail the 12 miles. Felt great. Ran my meadow run again to give the joints a break again and twas a good strategery! I ran up this bluff (real slow like) to check out the monument for the battlefield from the 1790s that I was running on. The overlook was phenomenal! There was some wedding going on over in the corner by the swampy lake and a blue heron was chilling on its banks. I dod my walk-run with 12-14 minutes of running to one minute of walk, except for 60 minutes in when I took 3 min to walk and chow down on a powerbar and chug a lug some water.

Got back to the house, stretched and snoozed after cleaning up. It was all good, except I was feeling really dehydrated. I drank a 40 oz diet soda on the way down to Cleveland and didnt have to pit stop for 4 hrs. Dehydrated much?

So tally

5+5.5+5.0+12miles=27.5 miles.

Getting there folks. I have now surpasses in one week what I need to run in one day.

Week 8: UPGRADES!

okay, so we left off last week with me thinking my damn shoes were bricks and I had to do something about it ASAP. So I waited until AFTER yet another long run (this Saturday's run) and another night of wtf! knee and calf pain to go and get some expert opinions on my shoes. Turns out they do, indeed, suck. They are high quality shoes, just the wrong shoes for me.

Here's the lowdown:

I have flat feet (apparently you can find this out for yourself by stepping in water barefooted and looking at your footprint. And the uber-stabilizing shoes I had are completely wrong for that! Then they asked me to walk barefooted for a little while and turns out I do NOT over-pronate. All this combined pretty much means that the shoe I was in was causing my problems, not solving them. I ended up with saucony hurricanes, and dropped 135$ in the process!!! HOLY SHIT! Well after running in them once, and not shuffling or flailing even once, I dont care what they freaking cost. And to boot, I went from a 10+ min mile to a 9:30 today. Awesome!

And I am in the entirely wrong field of employment. I got a referral for a nutritionalist seeing as my eating is all out of whack. I'm hungry, I'm tired, etc. So the clinic called me back (Diabetes and Nutritional Therapy) and I find out insurance likely wont cover it (I expected that) but the rates are 52$

not for a hr

not for 30 min

FOR 15 MINUTES!

yes, they require a mandatory 60 min first session for 208$ per hour.

Books at the library and stuff on the internets are free, I decided.

So the recap on the week:

Sun: off

Monday: 3.3 miles

Tuesday: 3 miles + personal trainer + 1 mi

Wed: 4.5 miles

Thurs: personal trainer + 1 mi

Friday: O-F-F! Drank beer and had take out Chinese. Was passe out cold by 9pm.

Sat: Had a fantastic 11 mi run through Fallen Timbers Battlefield (from the War of 1812). I decided to off-road it to help out my severely aching knee and ran on grass trails and pea gravel. It was really beautiful (through the meadow in bloom with all sorts of birds flying by) and very relaxing. Before I knew it, I had knocked off 8 miles! Then brought it home for 11, showered, SCARFED FUD and passed out for an hour. It was a very good workout.

Tally: 3.3+3+1+4.5+1+11=23.8!

The Goal is Revealed

okay, just a quick post on a funny conversation with the lady at the check in desk at the YMCA I go to. Her name is Roz and she is a really nice black lady that loves to talk about things in general. I like her. She puts me in a good mood. Like today- she asked why I was putting in longer hours as of late. I told her about the marathon training. Immediately she says, "you know Oprah ran one of those". Then the cat was out of the bag.

You see I read in my one training book about the marathon goal of just being faster than Oprah, and I immediately adopted that mantra. No preachy self-righteous ninny is gonna beat my sarcastic-know-it-all ass. So here's the problem- freaking Oprah trained with a running coach for like 12 months and then he ran with her and she finished in 4:30 apparently. That is a damn good time. That is a 10 min mile, guys, which is my goal. I now fear The Oprah.

Anyway, Roz started laughing something fierce when I told her the goal, and she told me she would mention it in her next e mail to Oprah. Apparently Roz emails Oprah weekly to let her know what's going on. She doesnt know if anyone from the show reads it, but Oprah is Roz's email friend. So we both got a good laugh and as it stands, Roz will narc me out to Oprah tonight.

Week 7: Rules of Engagement

okay so last I left off, the ipod was dead, my legs were tired and i have like 3 more months of this to go.

AWESOME

So this week was really tough. My body just bonked on me midweek and I had to skip one shorter run in lieu of a nap. I think the move, the driving, the biking, personal training and the lab, etc was doing me in. And I dod some reading on the NY Times Run Well Blog and I think I am definitely undergoing a protein bonk. Tonight's dinner: big effing HAMBURGER!

Anyway, this week it is all about re-introducing myself to my calf muscles. Holy crap wtf did I do to them to deserve this? So I think it's my new shoes. I havent effectively broken these in beyond a 9 mile run. They are essentially a newer model of my other pair, which I rotate into the week's activities. I dont have the big problems with my old shoes.

So quick back-story. I run like an idiot. I have a left leg that flails around and whacks the right calf when I am getting tired. Graveel et al make fun of me, but screw them since I am faster thean them on the long runs. So the Gazelle sports guy a few yrs back gave me this shoe that is supposed to correct this problem- and it did very well. I am now thinking that since blowing out the knee, having the reconstruction and now REALLY having strengthened the muscles up, I might not need these crazy super stabilizing shoes, that they might actually be causing a few problems, like the stomping, since they are kinda clunky and rigid. So FINALLY, I have a weekend here in town in Toh-lee-d'oh! and so I will be heading out to a new running store to get a second opinion.

Shoes aside, I kicked some ass on Sunday mountain biking with a non-hungover Jenn, and Leanne- both of whom rocked. My legs felt great, even after the 8.5 mil I ran the night before.

Drove home and could barely walk after the 3hrs drive.

The recap on the week:

Sun: Mtn biking 7 mi

Mon: Off

Tuesday: 5 mi + 30 min personal trainer (another 1mi run)

Wed: no running. PASS OUT

Thursday: 2 mi + 30 min personal trainer (another 1mi at 6.5 min/mile sprints)

Fri: off, but lots of friggin yardwork

Sat: 9 mi run. rescued a toad on the second lap of Reeds Lake. Yay me

Here's the clincher. After running 9 mi, drove home right after catching a ghetto shower in the restroom. I just wanted to get home, and since I was way behind in my schedule due to visiting friends in town, I was too late to do my EGR high school locker room visit. Aside from be a smelly mess, and tired, hungry and thirsty, my legs were seizing up as I was driving. What a retard. Got home at 9pm and popped 4 ibuprofen and was D-O-N-E. Unfortunately insomnia kicked in and ruined a perfectly good Sat night crash.

Totals:

Run=5mi+1mi+2mi+1mi+9mi=18mi

Bike: 7mi

Totally flogged. Trying to kick these miles up to 25 this week, so we'll see if I hold up! No biking for a few weeks though since I'll be sticking around here...

Week 6: Death by Sweat- RIP ipod Shuffle

Okay, so where the heck did we leave off. I guess it was last Saturday. I had a really good long run over the 4th holiday and caught up on some much needed rest. This is really very important for me since I have figured out that with my fat ass I have a lot of potential energy and can run till the cows come home if I keep my mind occupied. That's why I like to find all these new runs along the River AND why I wear an ipod. I've been meaning to re-load my ipod with some swanky new muzak though, especially some techo tunes like what my friend Rich has previously given me (sound track from Run Lola Run- try it out, but substitute Kate for Lola). I've gotten kinda bored from a lot of the music on the pod, except for some fun stuff my friend Steve gave me (Pirates of the Caribbean and flight of the bumblebee) and of course, some BLue Oyster Cult "Dont fear the Reaper"...okay quick side story about that song. I was as mile 15.1 on the 25k last year when that song came on. NOt the freaking song you want to hear while finishing up your race!...

Anyway, here's my advice to you all re: technology- it is not designed to be drenched in sweat. I was doing a lovely make-up run on Monday (for a missed Sun run) and I was cranking it out when the damn thing went whirwhirwhir and all of a sudden Daughtry went all Barry White like and died a painfull death. Buh Bye ipod. Since the new ipod shuffle gen 3 is a waste of money (apparently its very sensitive to sweat) AND it talks to you (this fact creeps me the frig out), I forked over the cash for a new 45$ 2nd generation shuffle. Now I have to figure out where the least sweaty part of my body is to clip it to...all of you can shut up now.

So the rest of the week was about learning to run without distractions, and it was decent. I am trying to focus on the breathing and the heel toe, and this was the week to do it!

So for the week:

Sun : off

Mon: 4 mi

Tues: 30 min weights w my trainer; 4.5 mile run + 1.0 during training

Wed: 4.5 mi

Thurs: 30 min weights + running w my trainer- 1.0 mi

Friday: OFF

Sat: 8.5 mi around Reeds Lake in the sunshine- 2 laps, one on my own, one with Jenn.

some great critters spotted around Reeds including a snapping turtle, a muskrat and some mother duck and her ducklings all lined up on a log. I rewarded myself with sushi and margaritas at carrie and Dave's in the evening and then PASSED out on the couch at 10:30.

So the total: 4+5.5+4.5+1.+8.5=23.5mi

just think, if I ran another 5k, that's what I would need to run to complete one damn marathon. In one day.

I am screwed.

Week 5- Movin Movin Movin

Okay, so this week was one of those weeks that just hands you your ass all gift-wrapped with a bow on it.

You see I was moving from an apt into a nice little house this week, and I hadnt really done much packing. I hired movers since all my strong guy friends are back in Michigan, but you still have to pack all the shit for them to move. And apparently I have a lot of shit.

So Sunday was my off day, since I was quite flogged from running and biking and driving in one day. Try running 6.2, biking 7.5 and driving 180mi in the span of 12 hours and you tell me how you feel. SHITE. That's one descriptor. I used Sunday as a opportunity to pack my car up full and bring a load over to the house.

Monday was much of the same sentiment. I was non-functional in the lab by 2pm, so, being the boss, I went home and took a 2 hr-ling nap. It was exactly what the Dr. ordered (and I am a Dr, not just on tv)

Tuesday my personal trainer cancelled, which was fine, since I was still not very functional, due in part to not getting any sleep for a few days (stress in KTE= wicked insomnia- a new fun fact about your friend Kate). But I decided I needed to run, so I put the hammer down on 4 miles at a good 9.5 min/mi. My lungs are still full of garbage, and this is getting really old, man.

Wed I moved and while the movers moved big stuff and a lot of boxes, this did not mean I was sitting back eating bonbons. I filled my car up again with little stuff again and supervised the move. I started at 5:30am and ended at 4am the next morning (again too wired to sleep). So you kow this is going to be bad...

Thursday I took the day off from work to move in. Well I was moving furniture around all day on my own, wedging stuff with my thigh and knee, which was a bad freaking move as I heard the most major POP from my right knee. WAAAAAY louder than the normal protests. This worried me quite a bit, since my knees were already very shagged out from the move. But I went to my training session, and despite the tiredness, cranked out pullups like crazy and did dips with vigor. But I decided to bail on the make-up run, seeing as I bailed on the Wed run.

Friday was supposed to be off, but screw it! Slept in, moved more furniture around, unpacked boxes and hit the trail to test my aching knees out. They were starting to hurt. Wobbly 0.3 miles ensued and then I tore it up for 4 mi to my surprise! Knees are fine folks. I rewarded myself with beer and fireworks that night, sitting with my neighbors outside doing both. Here's the thing about my neighbors that I met last night. I felt like I was in a scene from the movie Cocoon, but scene from before when they swim in the pool of youth. It ws 30 minutes of repeating everything they said 1 minute ago, "what"s, "ehh"s and "what's your name again". One was so hard of hearing they thought I actually lived with Sid Vicious, my significant other. The punk rock icon of the 80s apparently is alive and well in suburban Perryburg, Ohio, according to these guys.

Sat was a long run, and I was finally starting to feel like I was catching up on my rest. Boy it feels sooooo lazy to me when I do that, but screw it and my critics. I napped not only in the morning before I ran, but also in the afternoon after I ran. So I ran a new run this time, from my new house over across the bridge and the debris from last night's fireworks. Then I hit the Toepath for a few miles along the River, then up to the River Road and then stopped at a Nature preserve for 5 minutes to check out the park. Upon return, it was cool since the Fort Meigs on the other side of the River was shooting off their cannon and doing 21 gun salutes. I had a bird's eye view of that and I completely forgot the fact that my last mile was all uphill at a fairly ridiculous angle! So I clocked in 8.0 miles + some nature hiking. That run was, gasp, enjoyable and I completely forgot about my breathing. What this taught me is the importance of rest. Missing one run will not kill me. 8 hrs of sleep and a nap is priceless man!

Tally for the week:

0+0+4+0+0+3.5+8.0=15.5

A lot less than last week's 20+, but that 8 miler was at such a comfortable clip, I could have run for another hour without a problem. Note to self: REST!