Race Recap: CHICAGO MARATHON 2013

Well, the Chicago Marathon is over!  I have so much to say about it and don't know where to start, so this will probably end up a little scattered, but I'll do my best.  And I'll also probably have a post every day this week on various events of race weekend (the expo, the pasta party, the recovery, etc.) but I'll try to keep this one to the actual race recap.

Summary/spoiler alert: I finished in 3:23:15!  A PR by close to 6 minutes and Boston Qualifier!

My parents dropped off Angela, Olivia, and I as close as they could to the starting area and we made our way through the security checkpoints.  The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect for marathon running, but the morning was rather chilly.  We were wearing clothes that we could discard at the start line and never see again - to be donated to a homeless shelter in Chicago.  Angela and I discarded our clothes right before entering the corral and a man with a vest that said "Clothing Donations" was on his walkie talkie saying "we are going to need way more bins."  There were mountains of sweatpants and sweatshirts all around.

We also waited in a really long porta-potty line...but glad we did so before the race.  Once we got settled in a spot in the corral, it was time to go within about 5-10 minutes.

The first 8 miles of the race flew by.  It was definitely the easiest/most fun hour-ish of running I've ever done.  Our goal was to start at 8 minute pace for 4 miles and then pick it up to 7:30-7:40.  I don't remember splits exactly, but I think the first mile was 7:49 so we said we could ease up a bit.  The problem was that we were stuck behind the 3:30 pace group which was huge and taking up a lot of space all running together.  So over the next 3 miles, we were still doing about 7:45-7:50 working our way up and around that 3:30 group, but still not trying to go too fast.

We saw so many people throughout the course - the first being Catherine and Matt around mile 3.  I almost missed them but luckily they saw us and called out...and I heard them over my awesome playlist of music which will be a whole separate post because obviously you need to know exactly what I listened to for 26.2 miles.

 

I think I could also write a decent amount on all my spectators and signs, so I will save that for later, but the important thing right now is that I saw my family around mile 4.5 for the first time and I was STARVING (I'll explain why when I write about the pasta party...do you like all my cliffhangers?) so I yelled to my mom to buy me a bagel.

Sure enough, when I saw them again around mile 11, my dad had the bagel for me so I grabbed half and ate it while running.  I took water at every water stop, and Gatorade at I think only 2 during the first half and every station the 2nd half.  Apparently when you lose a lot of sodium, your body essentially starts producing salt, so I had a white ring around my face when I finished.  I also took GU Energy Gel 3 times throughout the race - around miles 9, 16, and 22.

Angela and I didn't talk much throughout the race, but when we did, the conversation went like this:

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:32"

"We should slow down a little and save it for later"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:26"

"We should slow down"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:34"

"This is comfortable, but we should maybe slow down a little more"

"Yeah, we should"

But we did not slow down.  I personally am glad we did not...hopefully Angela feels OK about it.  I know it is best to run negative or even splits (or even slightly positive splits at the marathon distance since negative/even splits are extremely difficult at that distance), but I also knew that by the time we were at mile 9, I needed to just go with it while I felt good.  And I did feel really good.  Angela decided to ease up a little and dropped back from me around mile 15-16.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Around mile 19, Mac magically appeared.  I was very surprised because he had passed Angela and I around mile 10, but apparently he made a bathroom pit stop somewhere along the way.  He and I ran together for about the next 2 miles until he started to fade back a little.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with how even my pacing was for all of the race.  Yes, I died off the last 10k, but not nearly as much as I could have (or did during my previous marathons).  I ran it pretty exactly according to my plan.  Since I knew I wanted to beat my time from the Columbus Marathon in 2010 and I knew my splits from that race at the 10k, half, and 20 mile marks, that's what I was comparing myself to.  I was 1:40 ahead of pace at the 10k, which worried me a little because I was afraid maybe we did go out a little too fast.  But actually, I remember thinking I was only 40 seconds ahead...not a minute and 40 seconds.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto) 

And it's a good thing I did think that because at the half, I was 58 seconds ahead of my first half of Columbus.  And knowing myself, if I would've thought that I went from being 1:40 ahead of pace to only 0:58 ahead of pace, that might've mentally screwed me up a bit...but what you don't know can't hurt you.

After we hit the halfway mark, my plan was just to make it to 20 as fast as I could, knowing that no matter what, the last 10k was going to be miserable.  I wanted to/thought I could be at mile 20 between 2:31 and 2:34.  My brain was shut down at this time, but I think I remember being there right around 2:32:00 - 2:32:30, which was 2 to 2 and a half minutes ahead of my Columbus pace.  I didn't mentally put that split into my head though because I thought they recorded a 20 mile split with the chip so I figured I'd look later, but I guess not.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Where I started to really struggle was around mile 18.  I knew I had about an hour or so to go and knew I could do it, but that's where I did start to experience some mental doubt in how fast I could realistically do those last 8 miles...I went from feeling pretty awesome to not so great pretty darn quickly.  I made the decision to walk through the next water stop I saw and that I'd walk through each one after that, which is also exactly what I did in Columbus.

So I would run all the way to the very last Gatorade person at each water station, take that cup, and start walking while I drank it and then take one of the very first cups of water, drink what I could, and make myself start running.  I imagine each stop was about 30 seconds, but really I had no concept of time.  I once again surprised myself with the fact that I really did make myself start running ASAP after drinking my liquids.

The last mile was pretty much the worst thing ever, especially "Mt. Roosevelt," the small hill within in the final 400 meters of the course. By this point I really knew I was going to finish in a great time though, so that made me push throug that final mile. And I saw Aunt Bernadette  saying "you're doing it!" Because she knew I would PR.

And then I finished!!

 (professional photo by MarathonFoto)

So I have a lot more details I could share and want to share, but those will come later this week because I've done enough rambling for now.  Basically, the race went as perfect as it could have and my pacing was better (more even...not quite as much dying at the end) than I could've ever expected from myself.

Fox Valley Marathon - Spectating Catherine's PR

There are 3 weeks left until the Chicago Marathon!!  (Actually less than that since it's Monday, but 3 training weeks left since I haven't done my run today yet.)  So that means it's time to taper!

Quick recap of last week:

Monday -  20.5 miles

Tuesday - 3.5 miles

Wednesday - REST

Thursday - REST

Friday - 5.5 miles

Saturday - 20 miles

Sunday - REST

Total Mileage - ~49

I realized I never wrote about that 5.5 mile run on Friday.  It was nothing too special.  I ran in the morning, so most of the run was in the dark.  I need daylight savings time to come ASAP.  I think we are still about a month away from that though.  So until then, I'll stick to running in the evening.

Yesterday I went to watch Catherine and Matt run the Fox Valley Marathon!  And Catherine did AMAZING and ran a HUGE PR - 3:26:58.  I don't want to tell you to many details though because she is already working on a guest post for this week!  So I'll tell the spectator side of the story.

Mac and I (he had a friend running as well and was kind enough to drive us out to St. Charles) missed the very start of the race, but we showed up to the 2 mile mark EXACTLY as Catherine and Matt ran by.  We almost missed them, but it was Matt who called out to us so that we could spot them.  Then we waited there a little bit for Ashleigh, who we just met the day before at the Coach Brendan Running group.  We told her we'd be there and would cheer for her and make her a sign.  I think she was shocked when she actually saw us with a sign for her.

The next stop was around 5 miles and we were supposed to also see them a few minutes later, after they looped around a peninsula on the river, but we miscalculated that and somehow missed them.

Then we drove down near the river where we could see the runners at mile 10 and 17.  Luckily Matt had made up some directions for us to follow so we knew where the good spectator spots were.  Mac and I met up with Catherine's parents and Matt's dad and sister Gina.  Gina was cheering for EVERYONE by name and I finally asked how she knew so many people running?!?  Their names were on their race bibs!  So then we all had fun cheering for everyone by name.  We got to see pretty much every single person running the marathon at this spectator spot since it is an out and back course so we saw the end of the crowd still cruising through at the 10 mile mark as the lead runners made their way back and approached mile 17.

We had one more stop around miles 21-22 and also used the grossest bathroom ever in a park.  It was another location where we could see them pass by twice which was cool.

Then we raced to the finish line and I got there just in time to watch them cross the line!  Catherine finished strong, but running a PR marathon takes a lot out of you.  Luckily Matt was there to hold her up.

After the race, we enjoyed freeze pops, bagels, etc.  Yes, WE enjoyed them.  I was starving so Matt grabbed me a bagel and Catherine brought out a few freeze pops from the finishers area to commemorate our high school cross country summer camp days when we ate freeze pops after each run.  Then we relaxed and reveled in all the excitement of the morning!  And took pictures.

Catherine will be writing a race recap post this week and also has a few other fun running things to share, so definitely look forward to that!!

And now I need to go do my own run and since it's already getting dark...TREADMILL.  WOOF.  But I figure this way I can use my phone for music since my iPod died and I have yet to revive it.  Let's all pray that it can be saved.

I Made It 20 Miles, My Technology Didn't

Two 20 miles runs in one week!  That's probably not recommended, but it happened.  So now I've done 3 runs of about 20 miles in this marathon training cycle.  You can read about the other two here and here.

Overall, yesterday's 20 miler felt physically better than Monday's but mentally harder.  If I was not running with Mac, I definitely don't think I would have finished it on my own.  It's Saturday evening as I write this, and as of now I don't think I'll be nearly as sore as I was on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, especially because of the foam rolling I did right afterwards.

I met the Old St. Pat's Crossroads Runners/Coach Brendan Running group at the Running Away Multisport store.  Coach Brendan's plan for today was:

20 Miles - 8 "uncomfortably easy" + 10 at goal marathon pace + 2 cool-down

I ran the first 8 miles with Mac and another guy, Greg, hitting these paces:

8:25, 8:26, 8:27, 8:08, 8:20, 8:08, 8:05, 7:53

Greg left us to run faster for the "goal marathon pace" segment, but Mac and I successfully picked up our pace after stopping at one of the Fleet Feet aid stations to take our Gu gel.  OF COURSE, the Garmin lost reception during our first mile of faster running.  But we guessed about 7:25.  At some point, the Garmin finally kept reception for an entire mile, somewhere around 12-13 miles into the run and said 7:35.  I think we still held on to that pace a little longer, but slowed back down to 8 minute pace around mile 14-15.

Also, I had my iPod during this run which allowed for the following things:

• I got to listen to music
• I made Mac and Greg play a game called Guess What Song I'm Listening to Right Now
• I could take a few pictures along the way for your enjoyment

However, I think I jinxed myself when I wrote a few weeks ago about how surprised I am that my iPod is still functional given how much I've ran with it and has been sweated on.  At some point during the run, it just stopped playing music, but was still on.  When I got home, it would not start, even when plugged it.  Sooo that's an issue I'll need to deal with.  For now, no pictures :(

Oh and technology failed me another way yesterday.  I tried to download the new iPhone software but my phone is being silly.  It does seem to be downloading on my iPad though.

Mac and I went to Nookie's for breakfast, which was delicious as breakfast always is.  And then the madre came downtown and we went out to eat at Vapiano in Lincoln Park in the mid-afternoon.  And here's what we ate (and brought home for dad since obviously this was way too much food for just us)...I couldn't not take pictures, the presentation was so high qual.

Since I finished Desperate Housewives on Netflix a few weeks ago, I have been trying to figure out a new show to watch.  Andddd I just found out that SVU is on Netflix.  This is a bad idea, Colleen.  Why?  Because it's scary and makes me think I'm going to be raped...just as we are hitting winter and it's dark out when I have to run if I want to run outside.  It's just so good though.  Dun dun.

MNF - Monday Night Fun - 20 Miles

I did ANOTHER long run in the middle of the week...and not just a moderate-distance long run, I'm talking the longest run I've done training for this marathon yet.  Mac and I ran 20.5 miles in 2 hours and 40 minutes - averaging 7:48 pace .

Would you like to know why we had to do it on a Monday night instead of over the weekend?  Mac overslept on Sunday AGAIN.  But that was fine with me because I felt a lot better running last night than I would have at 6am Sunday morning.

Here are the splits from the Garmin for 20 miles:

8:08, 7:53, 8:01, 7:44, 7:53, 7:51,7:39, 7:35, 7:29, 7:31, 8:00, 8:00, 8:07, 8:29, 8:17, 8:24, 7:59, 8:05, 8:07, 8:05

We started at my apartment and ran to the lakefront path and then ran south...really far south.  On our way south, we decided that we would turn around to be back in the downtown area at about 10 miles and then run essentially the same route as the first 10 miles of the Chicago Marathon, which would end right near my apartment.

Picture break (because I have none from yesterday and my dad loves being in blog pictures): 

The course goes north on Columbus drive, underneath some other streets for a little while, so you are basically running in a long tunnel.  We lost reception on the Garmin here, so those 2 miles I highlighted in red were skewed...the Garmin told us each was close to 10 minutes which I can tell you was not correct.  Once we were at around 8 miles into the run and started hitting some good splits, we decided to try to keep that up until at least 12 miles, which I think we did.  I'll just call them 8 minutes and leave it at that.  I was wondering though if the loss of Garmin reception in that long tunnel makes a lot of people angry during the marathon.  I bet it does, but it's in the first mile or 2, so I'm sure they get over it.  It would be super frustrating though.

And then around miles 14-15, we both really started to crash I think.  I felt like I was trying really hard, but just not moving fast anymore.  Over the 2nd half of the run while we were on city streets, we did get randomly slowed down by slow people walking/blocking the sidewalk and stopped for a few seconds at a few street lights - nothing too crazy though...so maybe if we were on the lakefront path we could've more easily maintained a solid pace?  We stopped in a Chipotle for a water/bathroom break around mile 15 and had only made 2 other quick stops around miles 8 and 12 for Gu/water.  I felt a lot better over the last 4 miles and felt surprisingly strong when I finished...although I was VERY happy to be done of course.

I went to bed shortly after the run...then woke up about 7 hours later to run again.  Mac came back in the AM and we did a super easy 3.5 mile run to stretch out.  So now I don't plan to run again for at least 36 hours.

Do you get frustrated when the Garmin loses reception?

Do you ever stop in random restaurants for water breaks?  - I usually try to find a McDonald's when I need to.

Race Recap: Chicago Half Marathon

I finished the Chicago Half Marathon yesterday!  I was not particularly pleased with the time, but also not as upset as I have been over bad races in my past.  I finished it without quitting or crying, so that's a success in my book.

First of all, I was supposed to be picked up for the 7am race at 6am.  Mac has a history of oversleeping when we are supposed to run (ok it happened once) and thought it would be hilarious to text me at 5:58am saying he just woke up.  I freaked out for about 2 minutes until he called and said he was outside.  Well played.

After parking, we warmed-up by running about a mile to the start.  We were a bit late because of the parking situation (typical Chicago), so there was no time for the bathroom and we hopped in the corral and started almost immediately.

 

This was my first race in the 25-29 year old age group.  These ladies are much faster.  I've read that women distance runners peak in their late 20s, which seems consistent with the age group results.  I would've been in the top 20 of the 20-24 year old age group.  But none of that really matters, just an observation.

There actually wasn't anything super eventful about the race.  I obviously made a sweet playlist for the occasion - all my recent/usual favorites.  The course was flat, a few tiny "hills" like when we had to run up an exit ramp off Lake Shore Drive and over a bridge.  There weren't spectators throughout the entire course, but there were enough that it didn't seem desolate.  The volunteers at all the water stations were high school students who were very enthusiastic and helpful!

The splits that the tracking device got for me were:

5 miles - 36:18 = 7:16/mile

10 miles - 1:16:31 = 7:39/mile total average and 8:02/mile for miles 5-10

Finish - 1:42:04 = 7:47/mile total average and 8:13/mile for last 5k

I also know after the first 5k I was at 22:08, which I thought was perfect because that is the exact time I was at during the first 5k of the North Shore Half Marathon in June.  My plan was to try to do the same pacing I did there, but then not die as much at the end.  I thought I'd be able to do this because my training has been  better in between that race and this one than it was the few weeks/months before that race.

It was about 5 miles into the race that I really started to feel like I couldn't keep up my pace and became a little mentally overwhelmed.  Mac was with me for about 4 miles and then he got ahead (or I slowed down, or a combo of both) and that didn't really bother me because I knew he would be faster, but I also think I should have tried a little harder to keep up.

Throughout the last half of the race, I walked about 30 seconds each mile when I was going through the water stations.  I did have one walk break that was probably about a minute long, but managed to get going again with the encouragement of some of the other runners on the course.  I really should be able to get through a half marathon without walk breaks and obviously I know I can considering I've done it plenty of times before.  But at least I know that while I was running, my pace was still decent... but a few short breaks will really get ya.

After the race, I had a lot of time to stretch out and relax while we waited for Mac's friend Bryce to finish the race.  Then the 3 of us went to get our free slice of Lou Malnati's pizza which is basically heaven on a plate.  I'm pretty sure the walk back to the car was at least as long as the race was.  But after we got in the car, put Teenage Dream on, and were heading for pancakes, life got a lot better.

And once we got to Elly's, I ran into my friend Nani who ran a PR in the race!  Pancakes are always the answer after a race.

I also used this race to see how my Chicago Marathon outfit would work out.  I have to say that I'm pretty happy with it.  I was unsure of the spandex shorts because I have only ever worn them for short runs before.  I bought the compression socks Saturday afternoon with a Fleet Feet gift card I got for my birthday and now I'm basically obsessed with them.  But I'm even more obsessed with my new blue sparkly headband.  Overall, I think the outfit was successful and comfortable.

My mom thinks I should wear a headband like Rafael Nadal and sent me this picture as an example:

Maybe if you added some glitter to it, I would.  I hope I look that intense in my official race photos.  I would however like to personally hunt down the jerk photographer who took a picture of me during one of my walking breaks.  That was not cool, dude.

Photo credit for the pictures of the race medals goes to my friend Megan.  After the race, I saw she had posted a few photos on Facebook from the finish line and she said she was there as a volunteer!  I wish I would've known ahead of time to keep an eye out.

Weekend Photo Bomb - 9/6 - 9/8

Here's a sampling of the weekend in pictures!

Friday - Rachel is training for the Fox Cities Half Marathon and needed to do a long run.  I met up with her after work on Friday to bike while she ran.  It was a great time catching up!

When I showed up to meet Rachel, we had matching running fanny packs!

About 5 miles in and still smiling!  She finished 11 miles woohooo!!  I am only half a good friend though because I left after about 6 miles because I was planning to drive home for the night.

On my way home, I went to hang out with Catherine and Matt for a little bit.  Catherine is officially in marathon taper mode now!  Her marathon is in 2 weeks, and trust me, she is working on a good guest post to write for my blog afterwards.

Saturday - Mac and I went to the Chicago Half Marathon Expo at Navy Pier.  We ran there about 2 miles and then walked around the expo for awhile.  I found 2 of the Sweaty Bands headbands to complete the marathon outfits that Angela and I will wear!  Since we had our race bags from the Expo, we just had a nice stroll back home instead of running.  And who wants to run very much the day before a race?

I can't decide what was the better purchase of the day - the headbands or the socks.  Both were better (and cheaper) than the half marathon purchase.  Races are too expensive.  But I am glad we did it.

Sunday - Chicago Half Marathon! I am going to do a whole race recap tomorrow, but here's some of the basics...  I finished in 1:42:04.  I was hoping for a little faster, but I'm over it.  Mac and his friend Bryce ran too.  This was the first half marathon for each of them and I think they were pretty pumped about the medals.  We are all winners.

And here's a giant picture of the slice of Lou Malnati's pizza we each got after the race!

Despite having the pizza right after running, that obviously wasn't enough so we went out to Elly's for breakfast.  They have such amazing pancakes.  And I ran into some other friends there too!

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Tempo Runs & Twitter

Yesterday, I read this article about tempo runs and ironically, I ended up doing a tempo run last night, which was not originally planned.

Mac and I were going to do mile repeats, but decided on just a normal run instead.  I thought a normal run would be good instead of a hard workout since we are racing on Sunday and I want fresh legs for that.  Well...normal/marathon pace for Mac = tempo run for Colleen.

I don't know all the actual splits on this because I was not in charge of the Garmin.  I think the first 2 miles were about 7:30 and then we picked it up for a few to 7 minute pace and then the last mile was back down to about 7:30 again.  I had my watch at 48 minutes and mapped it out online to 7 miles, so if that is all correct (or even if it's a bit off), that was a really fast run for me!  We did stop in the middle for a bit to stretch, etc. but that is quite alright and I needed that break.

So after I read that article on tempo runs, I started freaking out that there are only 5 and a half weeks left until the Chicago Marathon and that I haven't gotten in enough "quality" workouts or "marathon-specific" workouts.  I decided I really need to build in some tempo-paced runs.  With only about 3 weeks left before I have to taper, I wanted to know what workouts I should try to get in.  So I did the logical thing and emailed Catherine.  Subject line: important running question.

First of all, I realize this article is from 2007, but I doubt running philosophy changes that drastically (even though I do think running has gotten way more popular in the past couple years and more and more research has been done).  I just stumbled upon it yesterday because the Columbus Marathon tweeted it, so I read it.  They tweet lots of good articles.  You know who else tweets awesome stuff?  I do.  So you should follow me @CSmith_Run.  While you're at it, also follow @PJSmith9.  He tweets good stuff too (and he knows it).  Some examples:

Anyways though, Catherine and I are pretty comparable in pace and she has trained for a few marathons and knows what workouts are good.  So I trust her.  I asked what pace she does for tempo runs and if she has any good workout suggestions.  She usually does tempo runs around 7:20-7:30 pace, so that was consistent with what I was assuming.  The article says tempo pace should be 30-40 seconds per mile slower than your current 5k race pace.  I did a 4th of July 5k averaging 6:55 pace and I think I would be even a little faster than that now.  So the 7:20-7:30 tempo pace sounds pretty reasonable and manageable.

The article also said a good indication of tempo pace is the "talk test."  A simple question or answer should be possible, but conversation should not.  This was definitely true on our run last night...my sentences were pretty broken up in between gasps for air.  And then Mac got too fast for me so I was about 10 feet behind for a bit.  Conversation is not possible that way either.  I guess that means I need to get faster.

Catherine suggested a workout of 2 x 3 miles at tempo pace.  I think that would be a workout that would be very beneficial.  The article from Runner's World suggests a tempo workout of 2 x 5 or 6 miles at tempo pace, but with the warm-up and cool-down, that would essentially be a long run with tempo portions.  A workout that Mac has on the schedule in a week or two is 3 x 5k, which would also be at a "tempo" effort.  So I think I will aim to do that when he does and then make one of my two remaining 20 mile runs into a tempo workout/long run.  Two workouts in one!

Who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter?

Any good tempo workout suggestions?

Everyday is a Good Day When...

Yesterday evening I met Mac at the track to do the Yasso 800s again.  We did this workout about a month ago and will do it again in about another month, 2 weeks before the Chicago Marathon.

The regular track we go to was closed for the evening now that school is back in session and they need it for real team practices.  But luckily Mac knew of another track that we could go to instead. This track was a little less than desirable though because it was more square-shaped so it had really sharp turns. (A good photo opportunity that I missed...)

My workout did not go as planned. It was supposed to be 10 x 800 meter repeats with an equal time recovery. Last time I did them all around 3:17 pace, so my goal was to go for that again. Here's what I ended up doing:
2 x 800 meters - 3:14, 3:22 
8 x 400 meters - all were between 1:33 and 1:38, last one was 1:28

Even before we started my legs felt really tight, but I was pumped up to do this workout again because it went so well last time and I had someone else to run with. During the first repeat I could tell that my legs weren't having this speed workout. I was hoping I would loosen up as we got further into the workout, but the 2nd and 3rd still didn't feel right, so I stopped after 400m in my 3rd repeat. Instead of just being upset that I couldn't do the workout and stopping, I did 400 meter repeats instead each time Mac started an 800. Even on these, my legs didn't want to go fast. I was a little frustrated because I felt completely fine mentally and cardiovascularly (which apparently is not a word, but I say it is), felt surprisingly OK in the heat, and I know I could do the workout.  I'm not sure why they were so tight - but I'm blaming the shoes I've been wearing to work recently.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mac had an awesome workout, doing all 10 800s in under 3 minutes!!  I think we were both glad to have each other there to help push through this hard workout.

I was looking at some quotes on the Columbus Marathon's Inspiration board on Pinterest and found some really good stuff, but here's one that I think is appropriate for how I feel about last night's workout:

"Everyday is a good day when you run."

One thing I learned recently is that "good" and "bad" are such subjective words that I am basically trying to eliminate from my life (there are so many better adjectives out there).  In almost every situation or every day, there are surely both good and bad parts.  For me, in last night's workout, I'd say it was bad (frustrating, tiring) in the sense that I didn't get in the workout that I planned and I really don't like that my legs felt the way they did.  What if they feel like this on the day of the marathon?  But there was still a lot of good in it too, like that I still got in speedwork, I had someone else there to run and socialize with, and this track had a water fountain.  At least I ran and did something, even if not what was planned.

I left my foam roller at my parent's house (and that's what my legs need right now).  So that and the fact that my mom texted me this picture of what is being saved for the next time I come home, I think I'll plan a little visit there soon.

Do you classify your workouts or your days as "good" and "bad"?

What is your favorite type of ice cream? - I only eat mint chocolate chip.

Mile Repeats. Classic.

I think mile repeats are one of the most classic distance running workouts out there. I'd say they are most common to do on a track, but that isn't always available or is just boring sometimes. In grade school, we used to do the mile repeats around the school and church. In high school, we would do them on the track during track season, but around the school grounds on grass during cross country season. And in college, we usually did the mile repeats at various parks in the area to train for cross country.

My most memorable mile repeat workout was during the summer before senior year of college when I ran with Emily at Sugarcreek Park near Dayton. It's an awesome park to run at and has a few different trails. The one we usually did is a tough, hilly 3.1 mile loop. But we also had a 1 mile loop that was on a dirt trail and fairly flat with the exception of one smaller-ish hill near the end. Emily and I met a few times there that summer, including probably 2 or 3 times for mile repeats (they were on our training plan almost every weekend - Monday fun!). But there was one workout specifically that I remember just went plain awesome for both of us. We felt great and were hitting our times as planned. Naturally I just went back to my running log to see what my times were - 6:34, 6:23, 6:28, and 6:29. This was on 8/3/2009. I was pumped because I had done the same workout on the same loop 2 weeks prior with times closer to 6:50.

But that's enough nostalgia for now, because here's what's happening in August of 2013. Mac and I met to do a mile repeat workout last night. My goal was to do them under 7 minutes. He was shooting for under 6.

We ran from my apartment to the lake and then a little more down the path to get in a warm up of about 2 miles. Apparently there are mile markers along the lakefront path but I've never even seen them and we couldn't find one to start at so we improvised. Since Mac was going to be faster, he took the Garmin. We started each one together and when he got to 1 mile, he stopped and then I finished running until I got to him. In between each, we took a 5 minute break of walking, stretching, and getting water.

We were both very pleased with our times! I did my 3 mile repeats in 6:45, 6:40, and 6:38. I was really happy that I got faster on each one instead of slowing down like I have a tendency to do. I really thought that second one was going to be over 7 minutes because I felt like I was crawling so I was pleasantly surprised when I ended up faster. It was also kind of cool not knowing exactly how far into it I was, although I found myself looking at my watch and counting down approximately how long I had left. Mac had an awesome workout too. He did 4 mile repeats and got faster each one, ending around 5:40.

After we finished the workout, we just walked back to my apartment. I'd guess total mileage was 6 miles. (I did a mile cool down while Mac did his 4th mile repeat.) We also ran into Steph and Danny heading out for an evening walk along the lake since it was such a nice night!

I didn't have my phone or iPod with me so I didn't take any actual pictures during our run and just had to use one of my stock photos of the lake/city. This one was taken last Saturday afternoon on a walk. I was thinking last night that I wish I had a camera because we basically had this view of the city, but it was dusk so the sky looked pretty and the city was all lit up already.

Have you done any workouts that specifically stick out in your mind?

The Past Few Days - Birthday Celebrating!

I have been so busy the past few days and completely failing to post things here.  So here is my recap of exciting things and running things over the past few days.

On Wednesday, Katie and I had big plans of rollerblading and sitting out at her pool. The weather killed those plans though. Instead, we went to Joann Fabric, looked up some ideas on Pinterest, and had craft time. We made these little rings:

I decided to stick with the Pinterest theme for the day and cook a new recipe for the padres and Kyle. I made these spinach, feta, mozzarella croissants (without olives). Kyle took a look at the mixture before it was done and decided there were not enough red pepper flakes,  dumped way too much in, and made them a little too spicy. They were still good though.

On Thursday, I suffered through terrible traffic and met Mac at the track, but we did a normal run instead of a track workout.  My legs have been really feeling last weekend's long run.  We ended up on a trail in the forest and of course, it wouldn't be a trail run without falling at least once...and hitting a tree with my shoulder on the way down.  I had to take a picture of the scrap on my knee.  It is actually a very small injury and is done hurting now, just 3 days later.  Despite the fall, I'll still call it a good run since it was cool to run on the trails!  We probably did about 5 miles, but who's counting?

After getting all the mud off, we went to a concert!  It was the CMA Songwriter's Concert Series at Joe's bar so it was awesome to hear a bunch of country songs performed by the people who wrote them.

 

Friday wasn't anything too exciting except for some cleaning, some errands, some chatting on the phone, and a 5 mile run on the lake.  But I did get THIS AWESOME PLANT DELIVERED from Grace for my birthday!!!  So that made the day extra good and not boring :)  I will water it and let it bloom and be excited that I now have some real flowers instead of all the fake flower decorations in my ultra girly bedroom.

 

The big day of fun was Saturday!  Angela and I went for an 8 mile run in the morning (I failed to get any pictures.)  We were both just not feeling a long run, and this was nice to just run and chat and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather.  Then, to continue enjoying the weather, we went to the pool for a few hours with her sisters and Kevin and then took a walk along the beach.  I got a little burnt.

Saturday night was my birthday party!  I was so glad so many people were able to come!!  Plenty of friends, cousins, and family were all there and then met up with a few more when we went out to the bar.  Even a few UD friends that I haven't seen in forever were able to come over!  We went to Bub City, which is a newer country bar in River North and it was a lot of fun!  The line took forever to get in and I attempted to get the bouncers to let us in early since it is my birthday, but they would not and it was a nice night out so that was OK to stand out there and chat.  Once we got in, we were lucky to get a little table to stand at and there was a live band.  Unfortunately, people were not really dancing and were more just standing watching the band.  But we had an enjoyable time anyway!  Some pictures from the night:

Angela and Christina are now real DOCTORS of Physical Therapy!!

And then today was Grandma's 80th birthday party.  I don't have any pictures from that uploaded yet, so I will paint you a visual picture.  We sat outside, enjoyed a bunch of snacks and appetizers, chatted, sang Sweet Caroline to Grandma because she loves that song (I hope a lot of people will sing Teenage Dream to me tomorrow?), had some lunch including Portillo's salad, and then started the REAL birthday festivities.  And by that I mean we sang a song about Grandma that we made up, read a poem about her, opened gifts, and had dessert (including a cake with 81 candles - one for good luck).

I wish every weekend could be filled with that much excitement  :)  Basically I want it to always be my birthday.  It is the best day (or days leading up to it).  I don't understand people that don't like their birthday or don't want to celebrate it.  So if anyone wants to come to my apartment every weekend bearing gifts and to go out with me, I would love it.  Also, it would be a reason to make sure my apartment is always clean and tidy.

Have you had any bad injuries from falling while running? - My worst was the time I got hit by a biker while I was running.

How do you celebrate your birthday?

A Nice Sunday Morning Run and This Week's Training

I met Mac this morning at the Elk Grove Forest Preserve to run the 7.7 mile loop.  It was a great conversational run - I learned a bit about Mac's ranch days in Montana which involved some elk hunting (legal elk hunting, of course).  We ran the entire loop without any regard to how fast we were going or our pace.  We estimated the first half was about 8 minute pace and then we picked it up to a faster pace for the last few miles.  There was less talking and more heavy breathing during that last mile! I could not wait to get home and make some breakfast - chocolate chip pancakes.

I had more than just that little one...but I had to eat it while it was hot and the next one was on the skillet so I snapped a quick pic and then dug in.

It was such perfect fall-like weather again today.  It's terrible as far as summer weather goes, but it's absolutely perfect for running.  If the marathon day could be weather just like this - about 60 degrees, partly sunny - I would be a happy camper.  Or runner.  I think ideal marathon conditions would actually be about 45-55 degrees, but I would take 60 degrees too.  Unfortunately, we won't know what the race-day conditions will be like until 11 weeks from now.

Recap of Week 7 of training:

Monday - 7 miles normal
Tuesday - Track Workout - 3.25 miles total
Wednesday - REST
Thursday - ran about 2 miles, then walked an hour w/ Catherine
Friday - REST
Saturday - 16 miles
Sunday - 7.7 miles w/ Mac
Total Weekly Mileage - 36

So now here we go into a plan for Week 8:

Monday - cross train
Tuesday - track workout
Wednesday - 6 miles
Thursday - cross train
Friday - 5 miles
Saturday - 18 miles
Sunday - REST

I decided that I'll use tomorrow as a cross training day since I had 2 good runs this weekend and I really want to get in some biking!  I still never did a fartlek like I said I was going to do last week, so maybe I will try to make Wednesday or Friday into one.  I'm getting a little nervous for the higher long run mileage now since I haven't done these long of runs in about 2 years.  But having Angela to run with this weekend and then my training group should hopefully help me out and keep me going strong.

What is your favorite thing to eat after a run or workout?

Fast 400s and Random Thoughts of the Day

I met Mac at the track tonight to get in a speed workout.  He came up with a few things for us to do, but for the most part we made it up as we went.  Here's what we did:

1 mile normal
1 mile of striding the straight-aways and jogging the curves
4 x 400m fast
.25 walk, .25 jog cool-down

This workout seemed short, but it was tough.  We did the 400m repeats as a partner workout so the "rest" was doing a plank while the other person ran their 400.  My times were 1:22, 1:28, 1:31, 1:32 so obviously I started a little fast.  I haven't done this type of speedwork in FOREVER so I really am not a good judge of my pace.  Even though the total mileage of the workout was short, I was happy with it because it felt like we really worked hard.

Teenage Dream was on the radio this morning.  In case you (a) don't know me well enough to know how much I love this song and (b) didn't read my post on Monday which once again reiterated how much I love this song, now you know.  It makes me the happiest when I hear it on the radio because that means that probably about 415,603 people in the Chicago-land area are listening to it at the same time as me.  But those people probably aren't having as much fun dancing in their car as me and sending 10 second videos of myself dancing in my car to my friends.  Thanks to snap chat for being such an enabler of weirdness and how to pass time while at red lights.

My mom left for Disney World tonight.  She is going with Aunt Sonja, Hanna, and Jane, for what seems like a fun little girls trip.  I went with them a few summers ago and we had fun and I got my fill of Disney theme parks for the next couple years at least.  I know it's the happiest place on Earth, but I think it can be a little too much to handle.  I would rather have a relaxing vacation.  I would like to do the Disney Marathon Weekend again though!!

 

Something else I really love is matching outfits.  In a journal last week, I started a list called "Things I Love."  One of the items on the list is matching outfits.  Hanna and I have matching outfits sort of in that first picture with our stripped shirts, green shorts, and awesome 3D glasses.  I don't think we even planned that out.  But we are cousins and able to do cool things like that.  And now I want to share other things that are on my list of "Things I Love" and I know everyone is just dying to know but I will hold off for now and highlight those in future posts.  I'll probably talk about matching outfits again too because obviously Angela and I plan to have matching outfits for the marathon!

Yasso 800s: Accomplished

Happy Friday!  It's been a good week of running so far (and a good past couple weeks of running), but I think last night's workout was my favorite in awhile.  I met Mac at the track to try the Yasso 800 workout.  Any of my past few attempts at speedwork have been short tempo runs or mile repeats on the treadmill, so it was definitely nice to get out to a track with and do this.

The Yasso 800 workout was created by an executive (the Chief Running Officer - doesn't that sounds like an awesome job?) at Runner's World, Bart Yasso.  The basic idea is that you can predict your marathon time based on how fast you can run 10 800 meter repeats with an equal time of active (jogging) recovery in between each.  For example, if I want to run a 3:20 marathon, I should be able to run 10 800 meter repeats in 3 minutes and 20 seconds with a 3 minute and 20 second jogging recovery between each one.  He specifies that you don't need to be able to do this the very first time you try it in training and recommends starting with 4 repeats and gradually building up to being able to do 10.  You should be able to do the complete workout of 10 repeats about 3 to 5 weeks out from your marathon to predict what time you could run the marathon in.

Here's how we did:

We did all 10!  The goal for each was 3:20.  I'd say we nailed it.  After the 4th repeat, we decided that if we did one over 3:20, we'd give ourselves one more chance to get back under 3:20 or else we would stop.  We never let it get to that point though!  After 7, it was pretty clear that we were going to finish the 10 repeats.  Repeats 7-9 felt the hardest and then we cruised on the last one to finish strong.  For the most part, this pace felt fairly comfortable (as much as it could) for the 800 meter distance.  It was definitely hard, but not to the point where I felt like I was sprinting or giving every single last ounce of my energy.  I don't think I could have gone much faster and still been able to do 10 though, so this 3:20 (or slightly under) pace was perfect.

I was curious to see if there was any research on how effective this workout is in predicting a marathon time.  In the video on the Runner's World website (linked to above), Yasso says that he travels to races every week and runners tell him how accurate it was.  I hit the Google machine and found a bunch of blogs and forums with stories of the successes or failures of the workout to predict a marathon time.  Some indicated that the workout should be used as a negative predictor, meaning if I can't run the Yasso 800s at 3:20 pace, I can't run a 3:20 marathon.  But even if I can run the 800s at a 3:20 pace, that doesn't mean that I necessarily can/will run a 3:20 marathon.  Most of what I read said that you should do the Yasso 800 workout during marathon training, but you should also do other types of speed work like tempo runs, mile repeats, and some shorter speed work instead of only relying on doing the Yasso 800 workout each week.

I'm glad this workout went so well and it definitely helped to have someone else to do it with!  I feel like I say all the time that I couldn't have done it alone so maybe I don't give myself enough credit for the workouts I am able to do alone, but it really is a million times easier to have someone there running the whole way with me to push through it and make it more fun...so thanks Mac!  We even got in a little core workout after the run!

I REALLY wanted chocolate milk when I got home after the workout.  After staying at home in los suburbios the past few days, I got used to this diet:

What is your favorite speed workout to do during marathon training?

What is your favorite thing to drink after a workout?